88 – The New Year is Here!

The new year is coming! The new year is coming!

Disciples of the Jiushuang Sect poured across the massive plaza that stood high above the glowing lava of the volcano far below. Despite the deadly heat of the mountain’s heart, a cool, pleasant breeze swept through the grounds as though the sect rested upon an ordinary peak rather than one of the largest volcanoes in the Xiān Empire. Tables were carried into place with cheerful calls. Guqins, flutes, and other instruments were carefully arranged. It was the Jiushuang Sect’s long-standing tradition to greet the first light of the new year with a grand performance. An invitation of blessings for the year ahead, and a chance to display talents beyond cultivation alone. Laughter and bright conversation filled the air as disciples moved about in high spirits, already half-lost in the excitement of the coming celebration.

All except one.

Hanmei had returned to the sect ahead of the others, accompanied by her sisters and one of the elders. The journey home had been drab and heavy. She had prepared herself for exile, or worse, the destruction of her cultivation. Through most of the trip she had kept her silence, even when her sisters’ scorn grew open and cutting. Qianxue, in particular, no longer bothered to hide her contempt. Yet one event after another had twisted the expected outcome into something far different.

The matter was brought before the Sect Leader almost immediately. She was a woman who appeared to be in her early forties, her long white hair still framing a face that retained most of its beauty. Her presence was difficult to describe. It was the first time Hanmei had ever stood before her. Then the unexpected decisions began. The Sect Leader overruled the entire council of elders and, instead of punishing Hanmei, ordered Qianxue’s exile. The reversal shocked everyone. Qianxue had long been a favorite of the elders and had even enjoyed the Sect Leader’s own favor in the past. In the end she was permitted to leave with her cultivation intact, a final concession for previous services, but without one arm, for there had been no time for proper treatment before her departure. In the same breath, Hanmei was elevated to become the First Elder’s personal disciple, taking the place Qianxue had vacated.

The speed with which her sisters’ attitudes shifted was jarring. Where there had once been a sense of belonging, then open scorn after Qianxue’s fall, there was now sudden praise and careful courtesy. The rapid change made it difficult for Hanmei to trust any of them.

Then the eastern horizon began to brighten. Fingers settled lightly upon guqin strings. Flutes were raised to waiting lips. The first soft note of the new year was only a breath away…

BREEEEE-REEEEE NEEEE-EEE 

The hands that should have plucked the strings froze in place. Mouths that had been ready to play the flutes opened in startled gasps instead. A single, long, reedy blast. Loud, shrill, and utterly without elegance, roared across the mountains and kept rolling outward as though the instrument had been deliberately crafted to carry as far as humanly possible. The offensive drone smashed straight through the carefully prepared festive atmosphere like a brick through silk.

Outrage erupted at once. Disciples shot to their feet. Divine senses flared westward in a furious wave, searching for the offender even as the first true light of the new year’s dawn spilled across the world. Illuminating a performance that had been ruined before it could begin. The First Elder of Jiushuang and Elder Guyue of the Tianhe Sect both rose in the same instant, faces tight with anger. Their divine senses locked onto the source almost immediately.

There, atop a distant mountain peak, stood Xuan Danxing, cheerfully blowing into some strange, bag-like instrument that continued to pour its shameless, far-carrying wail across the entire range.

—

“So how is that?” I asked proudly as I moved the pipe from my mouth, tucking the bagpipe under my left arm.

Ningguang’s face was neutral. But her eyes looked left and right, hoping someone would answer first. Wanxia no longer covered her ears. While Wendao nudged at Huiran who rested a hand under his chin and considered his words with great care.

“So you play this every new year?” he asked, choosing diplomacy.

“Something like that.” I shrugged. “I lost a drinking match, so my Irish friend taught me how to play the bagpipe, the House Atreides soundtrack, and made me swear I’d perform it every new year.”

Huiran closed his eyes and nodded slowly, as though reaching a profound conclusion. “Brother… how have you not been stoned yet?”

“Who’s going to stone me? If anyone tried, I could just tattle to the cops and have them unleashed on the masses for disrupting a cultural performance.”

“So the instrument is culturally sacred?”

“Traditional and national, actually.”

“This Irish bagpipe, as you call it…”

“This one is more the Scottish variety, actually.”

Huiran picked up a rock and threw it at me. He clearly did not need the full picture to decide I was full of shit. The stone bounced harmlessly off my AT field.

I gasped, scandalized, and immediately projected two officers in modern power armor.

“That guy over there, OFFICERS!” I screamed, pointing with the full conviction of a wronged victim.

One of the projected cops grabbed the other and hurled him head-first toward Huiran, who casually slapped the flying figure out of existence. Before the remaining officer could take another step, an overwhelming pressure of Qi slammed down on all of us.

Two Golden Core elders now stood in the sky above the peak. One was Elder Guyue. The other wore the colors and robes of the Jiushuang Sect.

—

The massive stone door slammed shut. Once again, Huiran, Wendao, and I found ourselves thrown into an isolation cave. The Qi inside was still reasonably abundant, so the confinement was closer to house arrest than true punishment. Regardless, the three of us would be spending some time here until the worst of the outrage cooled.

“I’m innocent,” I defended myself. “How was I supposed to know there was a New Year performance I was about to ruin?”

“Brother, just be grateful they didn’t punish us more severely,” Huiran said as he chose a spot to sit and opened a book.

As for Wendao, he already started cultivating as soon as we were thrown here.

“But what about Ningguang and Wanxia?” I asked both of them. “Why only us get thrown here?”

To my question, Huiran beckoned me closer with his hand. Already thoughts to just ignore him flashed. Things usually went wrong when someone tried to divulge some scandalous and unreliable rumor. So I sat beside him and leaned to the side so he could whisper properly.

“I heard Jiushuang sect just hates men in general.” he murmured.

Well, that’s not so bad, just one more society filled with misandry.

“So they castrate men they got in custody no matter the crime.”

I leaned away as soon as I heard that. I would frown if I still had eyebrows, so I leaned back to hear more.

“Then from what I hear, those who get castrated are given a choice to cultivate a method that gradually turns them into females.”

Alright that’s enough. I moved some distance away so I can resume my tinkering. Pulling out an unfinished set of interconnected formation arrays from my Sea of Consciousness. Preparing something so I can defend myself just as the founding fathers intended. This shit would be very expensive in terms of Qi expenditure though even with my Qi reserve that was doubled, but I now have plenty of allowance and spirit stones to spare to cover the cost.

“Are you making another carriage?” Huiran asked as he leaned over to peek. Seemingly able to deduce what I’m about to make just from the array framework.

“Are you out of things to read already?” I asked, shielding my formation arrays.

“I haven’t read the two manuals.”

“Then go read it and don't bother me.”

“Gladly. But first…” He reached in with surprising strength and tapped one section. “This formation is inefficient.”

“Oh, fuck off. You’re ruining my first draft.”

“Finish the draft. Then I’ll review it properly.” Huiran commented like that annoying IT coworker that kept peeking and reviewing other’s code.

—

Meanwhile, Ningguang and Wanxia followed Elder Guyue and the Sect Leader of the Jiushuang Sect in silence. Even walking behind them, both young women could feel the tension stretched taut between the two elders. For Ningguang the sensation was especially sharp, every so often their attention brushed against her like a physical weight. In previous visits Elder Guyue and the Sect Leader had never stayed this close to her. The change was unsettling.

They descended deeper than the usual paths, into the sect’s innermost sanctum. Where most sects placed their most important halls on the highest or most fortified peaks, Jiushuang had buried theirs closest to the volcano’s heart. Yet with every step the stone underfoot grew colder, and their breath turned to pale mist.

Neither elder offered any explanation. Ningguang and Wanxia had not even been given time to speak with Hanmei, though both had noticed her presence and Qianxue’s absence, the moment they arrived.

At last they stood before a pair of flat, empty black-slab doors. The moment they drew near, every cultivator’s Qi and cultivation base were forcibly suppressed. Even Elder Guyue and the Sect Leader were not exempt. The doors and the chamber beyond were made entirely of Greybane stone. A material that radiated an energy capable of smothering a cultivator’s power. It had been named after the grim discovery of dozens of cultivators whose bodies had turned grey as they died of old age inside a crevice of the same stone, the walls still scored with desperate claw marks. Ordinary mortals would not have survived standing as close as the four of them now stood. Such stone was usually reserved for the most extreme prisons or training abodes.

“Child,” the Sect Leader said, turning to Ningguang. Her voice was cool, yet unmistakable softness and fondness lived in her eyes. “How did you survive the breaking of the seal?”

Ningguang drew the Sun in a Jar from her storage ring. The light and gentle warmth pushed back against the Greybane’s oppressive energy. For a heartbeat the Sect Leader’s hand drifted toward the jar. Ningguang instinctively recoiled.

“My apologies,” the Sect Leader said at once. “Curiosity overrode my manners. Please remove the seal.”

Wanxia took her place behind Ningguang, ready to pour Fire Qi into her the moment it was needed. Ningguang slowly unfastened the sealing bracelet. Ice and Yin Qi surged out of control. Her body shuddered, her legs nearly gave way. She clutched the Sun in a Jar to her chest as Wanxia forced every drop of Fire Qi she possessed into her back. Wanxia collapsed a moment later.

When Ningguang’s breathing finally steadied, she caught Elder Guyue and the Sect Leader exchanging a long, intent look. Almost certainly conversing by Voice Transmission. She already knew the subject.

“How long do I have left?” she asked, gathering what resolve she could.

“If this attempt fails as the last one did,” the Sect Leader answered before Elder Guyue could speak, “less than a year.”

Ningguang nodded and walked toward the doors. The Sect Leader opened them with her own hands. The Greybane stone immediately crushed the chaotic Ice and Yin Qi back into Ningguang’s body. Beyond lay a chamber lit by a pool of concentrated volcanic lava. The highest point of the caldera where the mountain’s Fire Qi gathered most densely.

The short walk was as painful as it had always been. Greybane choked her from without while her own Qi tore at her from within. The door remained open a few breaths longer than necessary before the Sect Leader sealed it again.

At the edge of the lava pool Ningguang set the Sun in a Jar on the stone, stripped, and forced herself into the molten heat until the lava reached her neck. The clash of external Fire Qi against her internal constitution created a third, familiar agony. For any other body cultivator this would have been one of the most extreme tempering methods in existence. For her it was only another desperate attempt to suppress what she had been born with.

She leaned sideways until her cheek nearly touched the warm glass of the jar.

If this failed, she had less than a year left.

Just when she had finally found a reason to live for herself.

~ Valarion