The Fourth Wall - Chapter 34 preview

To no ones surprise, the opera troupe left the caravan at the next major stop, begging off as the needs of the crowd. There was some truth to the matter, for they had filled the hall for all their performances – day and evening- and still the crowd clamoured for more.

However, they knew the final decision had little to do with the crowds and performers desire for adulation and coin but more objectionable reasons. In truth, Wu Ying was glad for their departure. He had little enough rest over the last few days, being both wary of Chun Fu and agonizing over his injuries that had flared up again.

It was not till they were two days away from the city that Wu Ying allowed himself to relax. Though threats might still abound on the roadways leading them north and east, the departure of one irritated and disapproving Nascent Soul cultivator did much to ease his concerns.

More than that though, the delivery of the scholarly work he had encountered in the library had brightened their prospects. While not an original work, it was believed to be a close translation of the original text, allowing the pair to pore over the contents for further clues.

In this way, utilizing maps acquired through Yang Mu’s connections, the pair began to chart the journey of the speaker, highlighting points that were definitively spoken of and the timeline of travel. Utilizing geographic, cultural and descriptive clues, the pair were able to narrow down the potential location of the mystic realm.

Knowing how far they had to travel, and with greater understanding of distances involved, the pair no longer felt the need to tarry in each city to acquire further details. Instead, they traveled with all due speed that the caravan and, eventually, by themselves – could reasonably sustain.

In the meantime, rumblings of discontent and movement in the jianghu reached their ears. Letters, flying from their hands and winging their way through the air found fond recipients. Favors were traded, actions taken or information passed onwards, as the pair sought to aid her parents and the Verdant Green Waters at a distance.

For rumblings of the new mystic realm that had formed, the contention between kingdoms had begun. That it was set in the border between Wei and Cai should have meant that it had little to do with the Verdant Green Waters sect or the state of Shen, but greed and blood shed had seen both elbow their way into discussions.

Now, a three party détente was occurring, the massive Verdant Green Waters spiritual instrument of a pavilion gifting them the necessary pre-requisite to be added to the talk. If not for the addition of other opportunistic vultures adding themselves to the Cai kingdom’s own party, they would have been driven away. As it stood, an uneasy alliance of sects and the current Cai ruler of the west sought entry to the new mystic realm.

Of course, Wu Ying was tapped for details about the realm he had given up. Maps of the world that he recalled, the continent and how it had been laid out, listings of herbs that had been carefully cultivated within and most importantly, the animals he had raised.

In theory, and if all had stood as it was, the realm itself would have been a defenseless and amazing opportunity. The World Spirit Ring in its original form had been devoid of dangerous demonic or spiritual creatures. It should have been a treasured land.

However, the first expedition to enter after the portal to the realm had stabilized had reported significant changes. Fortune telling and soothsayers alike had managed to ascertain that the flow of time and space had twisted, the energies that formed the World Spirit ring transformed due to its interaction with the ravening dao of the Cai Meng De.

More, the king’s own dao had taken so much into it. Numerous lives, hundreds of spirit and demon stones, land and earth and metals and the stored and borrowed energies of the demonic realm which had gifted it to him. A portion of that energy, a portion of those lives and spirit stones had embedded themselves in the mystic realm. 

Combined, with time having passed for thousands of years, the land itself expanding and warping in unexpected ways during the transformation and breakdown of the ring, the mystic realm itself was entirely unknown. 

It was certain, however, that it was no safe place. The first expedition had managed to return sans three members of their team and only the expenditure of a powerful escape relic had seen their return to the real world. Projections of the size of the realm defied imagination, and so, further exploration was currently curtailed till a proper expedition could be put together.

In the many letters he received, Wu Ying was gently pressured to return when he could, to join the expedition. Even if his knowledge was out of date, he was still the closest individual to being an expert on the realm. That advantage would erode soon and disappear entirely, as expeditions were mounted.

“It’s strange…” Wu Ying was saying to Yang Mu as he waved the Sect Head’s latest missive in front of him. “How they all want me to help, but none of them – even the Sect Head – acknowledges how I might have sole claim on the realm itself.”

“Politics, Ah Ying. You know that. If they acknowledged the origins and your claim, they would have to pay you for access. Or at least, take steps to compensate you somehow. This way, it is easier.” Yang Mu said. “How do you feel about it? Really? Do you really think it is yours still?”

Wu Ying hesitated, then shrugged. “Strange, as I said. It is not as though I could keep it, even if I thought it was more in truth. Arrogan, I might be at times. But three nations are a Shao Much, even for me.”

“You’d challenge one, but not three?”

“Exactly.” He shared a smile with her at the joke before going on. “I wish they did acknowledge the sacrifice. I want to be compensated for it. Surely something is owed, if naught more than for our involvement in the battle.” Then he shook his head. “Yet, in reading these letters and reports, I cannot help but feel that my ring has outgrown me.”

“So no possessiveness?”

“Can one feel ownership of a country? A continent?”

“Surely so.” Yang Mu lifted a hand as she spoke. “Or what else would you call nationalism?”

Wu Ying nodded. “True enough. And kings and princes are quite jealous of their prerogative within their realms.” He smiled wryly. “Yet, when I gave it up to destroy the tyrant, I did give it up. The ties that bound me to it, I severed.”

“Like your master.”

“Yes. He was not entirely wrong that our ties to this world can hold us here.” 

“Have you not chosen to stay bound though?”

“To the people, yes. Not to things. Better to break all those ties, for material objects are no more than weights binding one down.”

Yang Mu tilted her head to the side. “And so that is part of your new dao? Or is it an older one?”

“Perhaps a clarification on the path I was already walking. The wind has no use for material objects. As for my new path…” Wu Ying closed his eyes, trying to find that certainty of position and understanding. He found nothing, just the certainty that he had more to learn of this world, this land and the people who lived on it. 

“Still nothing?”

“Just the usual questions.” He rubbed at his chest where the pain had begun to burrow within once more, the rocking and bouncing of the wagon managing to force itself into him.”

Yang Mu nodded, benignly. “You will find your way,”

“Thank you.” Glancing at the paper again, Wu Ying let out a long sigh. He would write again to the Sect Head tomorrow, assuring him he was progressing his own healing as best he could. However he would not be joining the initial expedition, or any of the ones after. Wherever his path lay, he knew it was not within the mystic realm.

That was his past. He would find no new answers there. Let some others explore it.

He had a different future to explore.

***

Another half year of travel, Wu Ying slowly parting himself, reshaping his soul and body to fit together. The pin and festering injuries continued to grow, even as they crossed multiple kingdoms to reach their destination. 

Kingdoms were entered and left behind, languages altering slowly or in sudden leaps as differing cultures clashed. Geography changed as well, the dry dessert of the west and lush greenery of the south left behind for drier, colder climates and greenery of a different form. Eventually, Wu Ying knew, it would give way to rolling plains and grasslands and then, further north, the never ending landscape of ice and snow.

They crossed the ever present Mother River of the land, the massive waterway where multiple rivers joined together before it eventually breached the land into the ocean far to the south. Swollen with newfound bounty of water, crossing was perilous as young dragons and water serpents rejoiced at the return of the high waters. The presence of two powerful cultivators on the ship was gratefully received, even as they carefully shrouded the vessel in their aura.

As the year turned from winter to spring once more, the pair found themselves within the vicinity of the rumored mystic realm. Of course, once the presence of a pair of powerful cultivators interested in such a location was known, the locals had joined together, stonewalling further enquiries.

“It’s not as though they actually use the damn realm!” Wu Ying groused to Yang Mu. 

Leaning against the second floor railing of the inn they were currently occupying, Yang Mu could only shrug. The city of Nanzhou was second largest city in the kingdom of Zhou, only overshadowed by the current capital. Even a hundred years after the imperial family had moved residences, the city had only declined a little – its previous geographic importance suiting it well.

With hundreds of thousands of residents, the noise from the city was constant, the smells redolent and persistent. Such was the sheer volume of individuals, the press and swelter of the humid spring that even the taste of food had changed. Auras - small and tremulous or large and overbearing mixed all over the city, playing havoc the cultivator’s spiritual senses.

In such a populous land, with so many potential converts, it was no surprising that were multiple competing cultivator groups. Rather than joining together in cultivator sects or martial sects, the powers in the city were made of powerful families and their branch lineages. In this way, three such families contended for the position of most powerful, each of them vying not just for cultivators and strength but commerce and political power.

“Give it time,” Yang Mu counseled. “Once they are used to us, the normal pressures of competing against one another will split them again. Then, we can learn the location of the realm.”

“If I had my ring...” Wu Ying muttered, recalling how he’d split apart such families before, playing one against the other as he offered his services and spirit herbs together.

“Were you not the one who mentioned lacking regrets?” 

“Not wanting it back or regretting my actions is not the same as not regretting what I lost access to.” He sighed. “But you are right. Regretting what cannot be will not change the present. But I cannot say that I am content to wait, not this close after so long.”

“Understandable,” Yang Mu said. “But what would you do?”

“Aren’t you the merchant? The one with knowledge of politics?” he said. “Cannot you think of something?’

“Do you really think I can conjure miracles, just by waving my hand?” At the look he gave her, she sighed. “Perhaps I have done too much to make you think so highly of me.”

“And yet, you have not said you cannot do so.”

She hesitated for a long moment, before she broke out into a small smile. “I have secured us a meeting with the Su family tomorrow evening.”

“Another meeting?” looking away from her as he said it, he never caught the smile on her lips. “What is it? The sixth now?”

“This is not with one of the lower members of the Clan, no branch family member, not even a lower status member of the main family. Instead, we speak with the grandfather.”

“Grandfather?” he turned now, noting the small smile. “Why him?”

“Because though he isn’t the current head of the family, he was once a contender for the position in the generation before. More than that, he was active when the last time the mystic realm was in play.” 

“Then we have a chance.” Frowning, he said. “So what does he need? Gold? Spirit herbs? Cultivation manuals?”

Now Yang Mu looked unhappy. “I must admit, I do not know.”

“You? But how did you get the meeting if you didn’t know what he wants?” That was the usual way. Entice the other to speak with you by hinting or even outright stating the items that you had for the other. He had seen her do that, more than once in their journey. 

“I... have to admit. I did not acquire the meeting myself.” Yang Mu said, embarrassed. “In truth, I but intercepted the missive. It was sent to us.”

“Oh.”

“Yes.”

Wu Ying could not decide what that meant. When she admitted she had no idea either, Wu Ying realised that when they arrived tomorrow evening, they would be at a disadvantage. 

Never a position a swordsman enjoyed.