Immortal Connections - Chapter 2 preview

Chapter 2 - Wu Ying

Golden buildings with extensive walled compounds and soaring towers, sloped roofs that jutted up to the sky to cast aside falling evil spirits and numerous carvings of powerful spirits all alongside them. Unlike in the mortal realm where such carvings were mostly for show, these Wu Ying could tell were either enchanted to host the essence of the spirits to offer additional protection or were spirits, asleep and resting.

How that played into the actual structural soundness of some of the buildings, he had no idea. Then again, it was possible that when and if such creatures were necessary, minor concerns of a building lasting were low on the list of concerns.

From the angle that Wu Ying and the dragon approached the building, he could see the main palace itself, flanked by numerous floating courtyards and minor palaces, the entire thing replete with a hundred courtyards if there were one. Too many to count and impossible to ascertain with his spiritual sense or even the wind, both being neatly blocked by the over-riding spiritual pressure that emanated from numerous points in the complex.

The spiritual pressure itself was complex, a mixture of both watchfulness and privacy, a dao of secrecy and an overpowering one of control and order that permeated the space. That dao of order was interesting, for Wu Ying felt it would allow those who were correctly placed to see within, to sense that which was blocked to him.

Useful, if you were, say, a guard tasked with watching for newcomers arriving in the distance. If you were dressed in golden laminar armour, full bodied including greaves and pauldrons and helmet and rode upon a majestic steed that gave off emanations of immortal bloodlines themselves. 

Sort of like the half-dozen that approached the pair as they slowly closed in on the Heavenly Palace with its fountains and green and stone courtyards, with its towers and pagodas and countless rooms, of sprawling fields of grass and picturesque hillside gardens and even a few groves of fruit trees that could be passed by with ease. It was only the former farmer in Wu Ying that noted the lack of true fields to feed the ones within, the infrastructure required for a massive complex like this.

Then again, perhaps immortals just required less - or nothing at all - for their sustenance. If that was the case, Wu Ying knew a mortal who would be intensely disappointed.

"Lord Protector of the Seven Winds and Thousand Lesser Palaces, who is it that you bring with you?" the first guard that arrived asked the dragon, himself and his steed positioned such that the guandao that he carried could easily be brought to bear against Wu Ying if necessary from its tucked under position beneath the armpit. The radiant pressure, a pulsing conceptual sharpness emanated from the head of the singular, curved blade of the polearm such that it hurt Wu Ying to look at or even extend his senses towards it. 

Even his own sword - Ren - was no match for the weapon before him. A weapon made of inferior materials and half-understood daos compared to a masterwork made with the most exquisite of items and forged by an immortal who had conceptualized and embodied a dao of forging of some form.

"A newly ascended immortal, Guardian Chu," Xiao Shui said.

"Another one?" Guardian Chu said, somewhat disdainfully. "It seems His August Emperor and his advisors were correct. Hard times do create the conditions for enlightenment."

"I'm sorry, but are you saying that the drought was brought about to force additional immortals to rise?" Wu Ying said, somewhat incredulously. 

"The drought?" Guardian Chu said, looking confused for a moment. "Oh! Yes. There was one wasn’t there? No, no. I speak of the withholding of immortal aid in the last century. The drought was but the latest manifestation of it.” 

Then, he looked Wu Ying over, a sudden pressure forming as the man turned his spiritual aura and sense upon the newly ascended immortal. He felt the other pierce his defenses with distressing ease, scan him over and weigh him and his dao before withdrawing as quickly as a spring squall.

“Now, be silent. You were not spoken to.”

Wu Ying kept his mouth shut, knowing better than to play at defiance. Such games were for children and when the stakes were lower than being banished or summarily killed. Imprisonment might be the smallest of his punishments if he chose to act like a petulant child.

Anyway, he was sure, compared to some of the denizens of this realm, the entirety of his lifespan was but a blink of an eye.

“How many others have risen?” Xiao Shui asked, curiously.

“We have a hundred and twenty four currently residing in the Palace of Lesser Harmony.”

“None presented, as yet?” 

“The Emperor has yet to schedule an induction ceremony.” A nod of his head towards the silent Wu Ying. “I shall take your ascendant to the palace and leave him with the Vice-Minister.”

Xiao Shui turned its long sinuous body such that it faced Wu Ying head-on. The long whiskers that ran alongside its mouth floated in the breeze, the creature hovering in the air with ease. There was a trace of something in the dragon’s eyes, an emotion that Wu Ying found hard to pin down, though traces of perhaps concern and guilt lay within. When they spoke, however, it voiced none of those concerns.

“Then I shall leave you, Immortal Long. I look forward to hearing of your progress in the Heavenly Palace.” 

“Progress? Leave?” Rather than answer, Xiao Shui turned and flew away, disappearing into the cloud banks within moments.

He left Wu Ying confused as to his future. There were no text about what happened after a cultivator rose to immortality, what they might expect. Stories abounded of immortals, but they discussed heroic deeds and battles, of actions taken on the mortal world against rogue dragons and immortals, of demons and beasts that defied the heavens.

Such documents as existed did not discuss the day-to-day of their existence, or if so, only in passing. From the impressions he had been given, life in the Heavens were either one of indulgence or routine work serving the celestial bureaucracy.

Staring into the face of an uncertain future, Wu Ying felt his breathing tighten, his aura compress. As though a great burden had been placed upon him, such that he had to exert ever more strength to stay aloft. It was an unexpected burden, one that he tried to push aside but found impossible

“Come, ascended.” Guardian Chu gestured with his polearm, the other one still holding the reins. Perhaps it was for convenience, or perhaps it was a pointed reminder that whatever else, Wu Ying had little choice but to accede to their requests.

“Of course.” Wu Ying commanded the winds to bring him over to the man’s rein-holding hand’s side, ignoring the increased pressure by borrowing the strength of another. His casual ability to fly was a minor surprise to the other guards by the way the escort shifted, widening their circle a little and moving such that encircled him entirely. “I would still be grateful if Guardian Chu could enlighten me on where we go and what is expected of me.”

“Not my task.” The guard grated out, the entire troupe trotting towards the palace compound. Not directly to the main palace but angling to the left where a palace compound lay, closest to them and farthest away from the main palace itself. “Vice Minister Yu will enlighten you of your role.”

“Of course. I had not meant to imply as much.” 

Eventually, when they were nearly halfway there, Guardian Chu relented. “The Vice Minister is extremely particular about modes of address and etiquette. I would not test her on her areas of responsibilities.” A slight hesitation, then he continued. “Listen to what she has to say, do not cross the boundaries of the Lesser Harmonies palace without authorization. Rebellion is punished harshly these days.”

“These days?” 

As though realizing he might have said too much, Guardian Chu clamped his mouth shut. Leaving Wu Ying to wander exactly what was going on in the heavens. Most of all, though, he wondered how he was going to back to the mortal realm to fulfil his promise.