“Captain, how much longer?” Fa Yuan asked as she came up onto the deck.
The presence of the august Elder put a damper on the jovial mood of the sailors, who quieted down immediately.
Er Gu bowed. “A few more hours, Fairy Yang.”
“Let me know when we have arrived,” Fa Yuan said. “And send a meal down to my cabin.”
“Of course.”
Fa Yuan turned to stare at Wu Ying, looking him up and down. “You have reinforced your rise in cultivation. There is still much to be done, but it seems you have been working hard.”
“Thanks to Senior,” Wu Ying said, standing and bowing to Fa Yuan. “Your pointers have allowed me to progress much faster than normal.”
“As they should,” Fa Yuan said with a sniff. “Make sure to bathe more often though.”
“Oh. Yes. Sorry!” Wu Ying flushed red while nearby sailors snickered slightly.
They all fell silent when Fa Yuan swept her gaze over them before they came to rest on the lounging quartet of nobles. They, in turn, stood and bowed to Fa Yuan. For a time, the cultivator stared before she turned and walked back down the stairs.
“Interesting,” Er Gu muttered softly.
“Captain?”
“Ah. Sect politics,” Er Gu said, looking at Wu Ying for a second. He shook his head when Wu Ying moved to ask. “No. I do not get involved.”
“But I’m—”
“A member of the sect.” Er Gu cut Wu Ying off before stomping off to chivvy his rowers.
Hours later, the ship finally pulled up to the small town at the base of the cliffs. It was there that the horses for the sect were stored and where rice, vegetables, and other necessities were off-loaded and carried up the mountain to the sect. Fa Yuan strode off the ship’s plank with barely a glance behind her, while the nobles hastily placed instructions with the captain for the care of their animals. Because of this, Wu Ying found himself standing behind Fa Yuan as she finished speaking with one of the supervisors. Rather than inadvertently eavesdrop, he looked around the small town. All around them, dock workers unloaded ships while other workers packed five-feet-by-five-feet canvas bags held together by a simple bamboo structure. The moment a bag was packed, waiting coolies slipped the bags over their shoulders and took off.
“We made good time because of your help,” Fa Yuan said, glancing at Wu Ying as she waited impatiently for the group.
“Thank you.”
“Being helpful is dangerous in the sect,” Fa Yuan finished, shutting Wu Ying’s mouth with a flat look. “Watch yourself.”
“I—”
“Finally,” Fa Yuan said, cutting off Wu Ying as the nobles arrived. A moment later, five large canvas bags were deposited by their feet by coolies directed by the supervisor. “On the sixth street to the east, you will find the gate leading to the sect. You will each take a bag, climb the stairs, and deliver your bags.” Fa Yuan looked upward before smiling slightly. “As it’s your first time, I will be generous. You have until sundown.”
Together, the group turned their heads. A short distance away, a waterfall blocked off the entrance to the higher peaks of the mountain, the distant thunder of the waterfall muted. Still, even in the river, the expansive greenery that surrounded the waters gave life to the sect’s name.
High above, the group glimpsed the start of the sect’s outlying buildings among the lush greenery. Many of those buildings dotted the roadway that led upward, lying among the water and untouched forest, stretching to the peak. At the edges of their vision, they could just barely catch glimpses of the green-trimmed roofs, decorated with the wisps of clouds, that marked the start of the sect proper.
Together, the group gulped and looked at the bags by their feet. At this point, they realized that Fa Yuan had left. Quickly looking around, Wu Ying’s jaw dropped when he spotted the cultivator skipping across the water toward the cliff face. In seconds, she arrived and was lightly jumping upward, directly ascending the mountain beside the waterfall.
“No wonder she left us…” Wu Ying muttered.
Climbing the way she did, Fa Yuan had a significantly shorter journey than if she had taken the “normal” route. Of course, her path required a certain level of expertise in qinggong. Turning back to the task set before him, Wu Ying blinked at the others.
“What are you doing?” Wu Ying exclaimed.
“Lightening the load,” Yin Xue replied calmly. With a last tug, Yin Xue finished knotting up his bag, the bag of rice that he had extracted now on top of Wu Ying’s bag.
Following his lead, his friends had added another bag of rice to Wu Ying’s bag, reducing their burden. Wu Ying glowered at the group as they took off running, laughing at the prank they had pulled.
A single bag of rice was not much of a reduction and could easily be blamed on bad packing by the dock workers. However, the additional four bags would mean his trip up would be significantly tougher. For a moment, Wu Ying considered discarding the rice bags there. After all, it was not his job to carry theirs. But—what if he was punished for leaving the items? Certainly, Fairy Yang had not been the kindest of mentors.
“I’ll just consider it more training,” Wu Ying said after a moment.
It didn’t take him long to get rope to secure the rice bags, which allowed him to heft the now extremely heavy contraption to his shoulders. Together with the five original bags, he now carried nine rice bags—each weighing twenty jin[8]. Breathing deeply, Wu Ying started at a slow walk to get used to the weight.
By the time he had reached the gate and the slate-covered staircase up, Wu Ying was moving at a slow jog. Nowhere near as fast as the coolies who brushed past him, their long, wiry legs pumping with the ease of constant practice. Still, having achieved a rhythm, Wu Ying concentrated and began the process of cultivating while moving. After all, he was just climbing a mountain.
An hour and a half later, Wu Ying caught up with the first noble. Having overheard their conversation, Wu Ying knew that this particular recruit had only just achieved Body Cleansing 4 before the army arrived. Furthermore, from the snide remarks passed between the group, Wu Ying was pretty certain the noble had achieved the majority of his development from spiritual herbs, rather than hard work. And while such methods worked, they left gaps in one’s cultivation, in his body.
“You. How are you walking with all that?” the noble panted, hands on his legs.
Wu Ying mentally tutted. His teachers and father would have beaten his back till he straightened up. Still, after calming down his cultivation and sending the threads of chi back into his body, Wu Ying replied. “Because I have to, no? After all, we have come this far. To go back now, it would be a shame.”
Discarding the noble from his mind, Wu Ying took another step. Even that momentary stop had taken its toll on his strength and stamina. Perhaps stopping was not the wisest idea after all.
“Idiot peasant. I can’t let him beat me,” the noble muttered behind Wu Ying, who ignored him as he strode upward. As a coolie jogged down the trail past Wu Ying, he heard a question that intrigued him. “Hey, you, yeah. Coolie. How far is it up?”
“For us? Two hours. For you… six.”
Six. Grimacing, Wu Ying did the math quickly. There was, perhaps, another four hours before the end of the day. And while he was faster than the noble, he was not that much faster. To be safe, he should try to double his speed. Leaning forward slightly, Wu Ying pushed off his back foot, speeding up. Once he’d established a new pace, Wu Ying let his conscious mind slip into his body once more, touching his dantian and the core of energy that sat in it.
A gentle push, and his chi flowed through his meridians. He absently noted how the coolies who came up from behind him sped up their steps to pass him faster, the stench of his impurity-laden sweat lingering in the air. Thankfully, deep in his cultivation, Wu Ying could not smell himself.