Immortal Connections - Chapter 21 preview

Author Note: Preview chapters are rough/first drafts. These chapters have not been edited, expect that there may be errors - however, feel free to point out consistency issues!

Chapter 21 - Tou He

They tried to hide, Tou He had to give them that much credit. The escaped demons had poured their corrupt energy into the world, mixing it with the natural chi of this one and twisted the very fabric of reality to turn vision and smell and sound away from their encampment. They'd utilized the natural depression in the ground as well to give them further cover from those who would be watching them, making sure the physical trail leading to them had been cleared and hidden as well.

All in all, it was a rather admirable job at hiding. If it had been anyone but Tou He hunting them, the demons might even had gotten away with it. 

However, for the Purifying Flames of Heaven, the very use of their demonic chi had given them away. The more that they utilized, the wider they spread it across the surroundings to hide their presence, the larger the sign they had created to guide him to them. Letting his aura spread and interact with the corruption as he arrived ensured that they noticed him long before he dropped to the earth, flames burning shades of dark purples and bright oranges and garish yellows in the air as they caught the fuel of their existence.

He could have tried to sneak his way in, but unlike some of his friends, he was a blunt object. He had no skills to hide his presence, not from something as simple as mundane sight. Nor would his aura, retracted all the way to him, have not reacted to the taint in the air. No, being loud and intentional in his presence was the best that he could offer to them.

Tou He glanced down at his robes, having stopped only briefly to switch out from the black edged with dark green sect robes that had marked him as an Elder of the Verdant Green Waters sect for the traditional orange robes of a monk. While he was not – technically – a monk any longer, he still held as closely to their beliefs as he could and traverse the jianghu as a cultivator.

More importantly, these robes could – hopefully – provide him with a brief moment of respite, reduce the level of antagonism that he faced. He needed a chance to speak with the others, and at the least, his people had interacted with certain demonic realms and factions peacefully.

Though, as they greeted him with an array of sharp objects, empowered by demonic chi and muscle alike, he doubted it was this one.

“Amithabha! I come in peace,” Tou He said, leaning and turning to the side to dodge those attacks that were destined to hit him. He kept walking as he did so, shifting ever so slightly with each step to avoid the attacks.

He took another half dozen steps before halting, a hand rising, palm outwards. He projected energy into his hand, through his oldest and most reliable technique – the Mountain Abides – and reinforced his aura. The entire martial technique was a protective one, meant to safeguard the user and those he was sworn to guard and had few attacks. However, in turn, it made it extremely hard to penetrate or wound a wielder.

As the spear, thrown with the full fury and might of the demonic assailant found out. The spear shaft shattered, the spear head itself crushed and falling to his feet inches from meeting his bare hand. Ruined metal and wooden splinters fell, the wood bursting to flames moment later as his aura cleansed the taint.

“Peace! Hah. Your very presence is a danger to us,” the voice that shouted slurred the words, mangling them in tone but with sufficient context that Tou He was able to grasp the meaning. It was not the main dialect of the western kingdoms that issued forth but that of the eastern plains. Thankfully, Tou He had studied that too in his time. Though he might not have ranged as far as his friend, part of his early lessons – and ones that he continued – had been history and language lessons.

Still, curious.

“I can withdraw my aura a little, such that you may speak. Nor will I approach your camp further.” A truthful portion of him, a devilish one forced him to add. “Not yet, at least.”

Silence, then furious whispers. He could sense the change in passions, angry words exchanged between multiple parties that still hid under the warping, twisting element before them. The very air vibrated in myriad colours, both the natural ones of this reality and more garish, twisted and sickened ones. His flame, that portion of him borrowed from the heavens and imbued from the droplet of dragon blood, sought to spread; but he controlled it as he controlled his mind. Waiting, patiently.

Eventually two individuals emerged, parting the shimmering air of colours. They were of a demonic race that he was unfamiliar with, humanoid in shape but twisted – their skins plated like a bug or centipede, an extra pair of arms that emerged from their back like pincers – and holding a pair of spears in each hand – and with large, bulbous eyes and mouths like flies. Instinctively, Tou He recoiled, the flame within him surging in strength and fury at the sight, braying the depth of their antipathy. 

“I told you, old man!” the younger of the pair – easy to tell from the lack of cane, the way he stood upright unlike the other had fallen back, snatching a strange stick-like object from his sides. The spears reared back, ready to throw.

“Ksshkka!” Noise issued from the other, though no recognizable words. Still, the interposing of the other demon’s arms in the way of his companion stopped another series of attacks and was unmistakable in intent.

“My apologies,” Tou He said, taking back the step he had unconsciously taken. “Your presence was surprising.”

“You mean we aren’t like you soft flesh,” the young one said again, his accent the better of the two.

“Quiet,” this time, the old demon spoke in their shared language. “You change words only. Broke shell!”

A ducking of head, a lowering of the arms indicated that the rebuke at least was heard. Tou He did not understand the context entirely, but at least it was clear they were willing to speak. More importantly… “I do not have much time. Others come, soon.” He ignored the way the boy shifted in agitation or the increase in volume behind the shimmering illusion. Only the eldest stood, unperturbed. “I must know some things. How many are there? Are there women? Children?”

“Women?” the old man turned, speaking fluidly in that alien tongue. A short conversation, with the words women and children traded off before the elder had his words translated. “You ask about brood layers and larvae. Why? Do you seek to end our line after we escaped?"

"Escaped?”

“From the Niuquhe.” A weird amalgation of their words, it translated roughly as Twisted Lotus Eaters.  "They found our encampment, killed our people. Drove us from our-" a hesitation as the boy searched for a translation of the words. "home."

"That was not the word your leader said," Tou He said, guessing.

"It is the closest." A shrug. "I know not word."

It was not as though Tou He was the most fluent in all the languages of the demons and the mortals he had studied. If not for the fact that many mortal languages were similar, he would have struggled. Well, that and the expanding aspects of his own dao and the aid of the purifying flames from heaven had made such things simpler. 

"So you escaped. But why the Middle Kingdom? Surely you know you cannot survive here."

"Where else?" A shrug. "We knew of old, the way. It was our only chance, though the Lotus Eaters will come anyway."

Now the monk frowned even more. "There will be even more demons?"

The boy looked offended at the word demons, about to raise an objection. There was a short argument there, but in the distance, Tou He sensed a new presence. A series of them in truth. He had run out of time it seemed, since a small party of the local army was arriving. 

"You killed a village, a while ago. Why?" Tou He's voice grew harsh, insistent.

"See! I told you. He wants us dead." the boy snarled, the spears rising. The older demon looked back and forth, prodding the other till he explained. When he did, he looked perturbed at the monk.

"You killed innocents," Tou He pointed out.

"Attacked us." Now the old demon spoke, the words issuing forth with a struggle. "Not choice."

"And the women and children? The brood layers and larvae?" 

Now the boy looked puzzled. He repeated the words to the older man who blathered on, hands splayed open, his confusion evident in body and movements too. "We cleansed our enemies. Do you not?" 

“Ah.” Tou He breathed out, tiredly. He understood now, what a part of his dao had told him. Finding a balance point between the purifying flames of heaven that sought to destroy all those that objected and the mercy of Buddha, that understood that all creatures struggled under their own yoke had been difficult. Even now, his morality and understanding teetered on a pin head.

He had to act, that was clear. To leave them alone would see calamity arrive. He had always intended to deal with the adults, for they could understand what they did. The women, the children, the elderly, those might have been spared if possible, if they had not partaken in the slaughter.

Now, though, a culture built on blood and death, that saw nothing adverse about the destruction of a village, could he allow them to survive? Knowing that existence for the demons on this world was a torture, that their presence defiled the natural world. To allow them to live was to sacrifice thousands of other lives, the ants and insects, the earthworms and the insects that flew through the air, the grass that grew and the trees that offered sheltered.

If all life was sacred, then even those lives should be valued. Perhaps not to the same extent, for one’s basic existence often dictated a degree of callousness to other life. Eating, living, existing required death, a cycle of growth and rebirth that was never-ending. It was here that Tou He had found himself conflicting with Buddhist theology, the sacrifice of personal enjoyment in pursuit of purity and a higher state of being.

It was admirable, how monks sacrificed creature comforts and personal belongings, withdrew from the mortal realm in search of enlightenment. Purified their minds and bodies, strengthened them sometimes, all the while preaching peace and humility and mercy. But their very action left behind those unwilling, unable to progress further.

Their very action left behind everyone else in the world who were not, in the end, monks. In the meantime, the world turned and humanity suffered, the cruel and the unenlightened were free to act as they wished. Cultivators sought and found a higher form of existence, though it was not one without pain.

Tou He could not justify either path, not entirely. He understood, straddled the line between sacrifice and greed, searching for a middle path. Failing, all too often. Now, here, he was to choose, to sacrifice either the demons to expedience and quick mercy or to allow another to act, perhaps with less consideration.

If he had more time, if their very existence was not anathema. If he was stronger. Then, perhaps, he might have options.

"I guess, we do." Tou He whispered, head bowed. Liquid leaked from his eyes, as he conjured his staff. Exhaustion, pulling at him, at the choice he was to make. Had made.

Sometimes, it seemed, being in this world left no good choices at all.