Immortal Connections - Chapter 19 preview

Chapter 19 - Fa Yuan

It was her role as his elder sister to bring the news of Long Wu Ying’s success to his parents. She might not be bound to him by blood, but theirs was a closer bond, one forged through frantic moments of battle and ties of martial learning, of sweat and tears in training and the shared motivation to ascend, ever higher through the realms of mortality.

An ambition that the pair that she visited now did not share. Good  - great parents perhaps - they might be, yet Ah Ying's father and mother were content to live their lives as mortals. Found peace in the knowledge that they could not - in this life at least - ascend further, that their way had been blocked off.

Something that Wu Ying, that she, had never been willing to accept, not once they truly set foot on the path. It had taken the boy some time to come to this resolution, at first tentatively walking the steps of cultivation, seeing only the benefits of greater strength in mortal cleansing. 

Only later, as the pressures of cultivation, of needing ever greater levels of strength had he resolved himself to the true path. Only when faced with mortality - their Master's, his own - had he come to the desire to climb ever further. All the way to the peak, and then, beyond it. 

She was proud of him, so very proud, though a small, ignoble part of her resented his ascension. She had once been called a prodigy, once traversed the very same pathways and could have ascended to that peak as well. Yet, she had found a different calling, a more important one here in the Middle Kingdom. One that required a minor delay, as she not only resolved and strengthened her own dao but also the fabric of society, torn apart by a sect seeking only its benefits.

The dark sect, the enemy that she and their Master had fought had done much harm. Poisoning orthodox sects with beliefs of power and the intrinsic rights of Elders and men, such that more than one promising young woman had her cultivation path twisted to their ends and needs.

Tearing the roots of those beliefs out was the work of multiple lifetimes and numerous hands. She was not arrogant enough to believe such poison was the sole work of the dark sect, or that she herself could change the course of society herself. However, with time and effort, with the aid of others she could revert the sects back to a more balanced state.

That was her work, for now. Work that helped reinforce her own dao, that would allow her to cross into the next stage in time. But that was for later.

Now...

"Uncle Long, Auntie Long," Fa Yuan bowed to the pair. 

"Please, stop! You should not be bowing to us." Ah Ying's mother pulled at her hands, made her straighten. Of course, Fa Yuan allowed her to do so, for there was no way that a mere Body Cleansing mortal like Auntie Long could move if she did not wish it. "Cultivator Yang, you do us too much honor." A beat later, she added. "Do you have word?"

"I do. He is healed," Fa Yuan said, choosing to extract the needle swiftly. Best not to leave the pair wondering at her presence here, in the village beneath the Verdant Green Waters Sect mountain where they lived.

"Merciful Buddha," Uncle Long breathed, putting out a hand to lean against the wall as he sagged. She watched him carefully, ready to catch him if necessary, knowing the limp and injury to his leg had grown worse with age. Both of them had grown old, easily looking to be twice her own apparent age, though she knew they were not that much older than she was. A decade perhaps, decade and a half maybe?

One of the benefits of a higher cultivation base, of journeying towards immortality.

"I have more news." Not good news, she would not characterise it like that. Not to these two. "He has succeeded at ascending."

Eyes widened, the mother's breathing stopping for a moment. Strength left the man's legs and she swept over, catching him and depositing him in a chair in a flicker of movement, so quickly that Auntie Long had only restarted breathing when she was done. Tears fell, from her face. He kept his own stoic, though they swam with unshed moisture.

At first, Fa Yuan stood, awkwardly, watching as the pair dealt with conflicting emotions. She knew them well, for she had felt them too. Pride of course. So much pride, for immortality was long sought after but so few managed it. A rare prize indeed, all the rarer as the one who caught that golden peach was one so deserving.

Joy and happiness, that did not need describing. Cousins to the pride, making that emotion shine all the brighter in the reflected warmth of those emotions. 

Love, so profound and deep. Not the bright burning passion of a lover, or the slow and kindly warmth of a grandparent but the protective and intense love of a parent that had seen ones first steps, ones first words and, yes, one’s first mistakes. A love that transcended faults and flaws to encompass all.

A parent’s love and faith, paid for in spades in an achievement that would ring out through the kingdom.

Most of all, grief. Grief, lesser for her than them. His parting with his parents had happened long ago, the separation of child and parent; the necessary separation to allow the child to grow, to become his own man. Yet the grief was no less deep, the knowledge that neither party would ever see the other again. A gulf now lay between them, one deeper than death – for in death, the chance of rebirth and meeting in another life was always possible.

No longer, not when Wu Ying was immortal, so long as he lived.

“He’ll be fine.” A hand reached out, blindly, seeking her husband’s. She clutched it tight when she found them, fingers digging deep. “Maybe next life, we should try harder, eh?”

“To become an immortal, like him?” A small trace of amusement there, in the pain of his voice. “If it were so easy…”

“What, you’re going to let your son show you up?” Teasing, a little, seeking to cover pain.

“Yes!” Fiercely now, pridefully. “He’s done so long ago. No shame in saying he is better than me.”

Fa Yuan bowed her head, spoke firmly. “He is only as strong as he is because of you both. Because you gave him the foundation to grow into the man that he is.”

A slight hesitation, then they turned and bowed to her, causing Fa Yuan to frown. 

“Not just us. He learnt a lot from you and Master Cheng. I just wish…” the father trailed off.

She understood. They had lost their Master long ago. That loss still pained her, his injury, their abandonment of him as he struggled to purge the poison – or die – after Wu Ying had rescued her from the dark sect. It was a painful recollection of her own weakness.

Another reason, to ensure that the dark sect was uprooted, root and tendril all from the orthodox sects. Repayment in kind, for the loss inflicted upon her.

“Come. Join us for dinner and tell us what you have heard. And how,” the mother said, finally finding her manners. Gesturing for Fa Yuan to sit down at the table, a glare shot at her partner who clambered, weakly, to his feet to get the snacks.

She accepted of course. There was much to tell, and she could, for a time, set aside her own burden to relieve theirs. All too soon, she’d have to return to the sect after all.