Demonic Tribulations - Chapter 58 preview (Patreon)

Chapter 58 – Wu Ying

Passing through the portal, the pair were met by a patrol already awaiting their presence. No chance of escape, no chance of slipping away into the high heavens. That was the routine over the next couple of days, near constant travel as they passed through lands to the farthest reaches of the heavens so that they might finally reach one of the few, unguarded entrances to the demonic realms.

At first, the pair conversed, filling one another in on the world below. He learnt what he could of his parents, little information as Yang Mu might have. Tucked away the aching sorrow of loss and loneliness to be looked at later. He would never wish to have changed the pathway he had walked, though regrets lingered no matter how he tried to discard them. Perhaps that was okay, for regret and pain and grief was what made him human, was the price that one paid for having lived and chosen to live.

Better to miss those he had moved on, by choice; than to regret not having made a choice at all.

Once they had journeyed pass discussing their friends, they spoke to one another of the quiet moments apart. Having covered the major events already, now was time for the small events that they had seen or experienced that they had wished to note for the other, to share with them.

A flower plucked and gifted in a preservation box, pink petals and red center with a long stamen whose scent brought forth memories of the most wondrous summers. Warmth basting another’s lungs and filling the air as they rode.

A green dai* in the ke form, with jade belt hooks and a tasseled ending with a hanging wooden gourd. A simple design but elegant, made with high class materials that would wear well and were worked to allow dirt, oils and water to slide off. The gourd could be opened and a small spirit stone could be inserted to empower the low-grade enchantment. Yang Mu presented that with a shy smile, forcing Wu Ying to rise up on his stirrups to put the entire thing on, immediately.

“You could have waited,” she said, exasperated. “And you certainly don’t have to preen.”

“Ah, but a man must be clear to value the gifts given to him by his beloved,” Wu Ying said.

“There’s no need to rub in our status as single dogs, though,” grumbled the latest captain of the guard riding by their side.

“Young miss, I’m sure you’ll find someone,” Wu Ying said. “It just takes time. And some luck.”

“Don’t young miss me,” the captain eyes flashed, mascara-highlighted eyes burning with passion. She guided her horse with one hand lightly on the reins, the other holding the polearm by her side where its butt rested on the saddle-spoke meant for such things. “I’m at least a few hundred years older than you!”

“Really? But you look no older than in your twenties,” Wu Ying said. “Still wide eyed and with the bud of youth upon your cheeks.”

“Flattery will not make me like you any more. Now sit down.” Still, he caught the slightest of blushes on her cheeks.

“Ying is not wrong. Luck does have a large part to play, but surely you have had some opportunities finding a companion,” Yang Mu said.

“Oh, I have. Most of them though are pigs. Rooting around our trunks, searching for our lotus bushes, as though their presence alone is enough. So many of them, their egos are so full that there is no place in their eyes for anyone but themselves,” she grumbled. “And those that aren’t self-important in their regard of themselves are filled with the Dao. Caring not for immortal companionship, basking in the great light of the world.”

“You almost sound like you resent the Dao,” Wu Ying commented.

“For some of us, we have accepted we are but two parts of the one. I have no desire to become one wholly, but would prefer to find  a companion. One whose presence might expand upon my understanding of the one,” the captain said.

“A dao companion.” Yang Mu shot a glance over at Wu Ying. “Or less?”

“A companion. A family. The expansion and development of a virtuous family is the greatest virtuous act a man and woman might contribute to their nation,” the captain replied. “Better that, than wandering off into the mountains to be a hermit. As though society could function with only mountain dwelling sages alone. We would all collapse, for there would be none to guard the borders or fix the roads.”

“Or farm the fields.” Wu Ying smiled. “I’m sure you will find one. Is it not the advantage of immortality, that one has time.”

“Yes. Even if it drags.”

Another gate, another transition. Another set of patrols. No more gifts to offer one another, even conversation slowly fading, as presence and new sights took their attention. The heavenly realms they journeyed through, somewhere in the middle level from the pressure of heavenly chi, was fascinating.

Not a single spread across land, but a world built upon the twisting boughs of a massive tree. As though the entire realm itself was nothing but this tree itself, with massive lakes cupped in the branches of a tree and islands, floated or grew out within.

Roads that flowed upwards and around the tree, carrying the patrol, Wu Ying and Yang Mu ever upward. Cities clustered inside tree hollows, multiple houses carved right into the bark of the plant itself, such that three, four families were stacked right on top of one another comfortably.

With such sights to see, with new foodstuff – purchased from roadside stalls and chipped spirit stones floated over as payment – to taste, how could discussion of the lower kingdom be sufficient. Yang Mu, seeing the heavens for the first time, watched everything with open mouth and glittering eyes, her fingers twitching to grasp at goods, to check quality and materials.

Yet, for the most part, their guards were taciturn. The shopkeepers grateful to accept payment, but leery of continuing conversation as they rode pass, letting projected conversations die at the barest courtesies. And still, it was enough for her.

Enough for him too, as the winds – tamer and more well-behaved – swirled around him. Bringing with them snippets of conversation, gossip and rumors alike.

“…tree rot found on the sixty seventh branch. The magistrate it’s being taken care of, but he said that about the sisxty sixth branch too and see where that got us…”

“… the next wresting games are in two months. Are you sure you’re ready, you know we can’t let the thirty second heaven win again. Just because they have for the last two decades with Ah Fu doesn’t meant you haven’t improved. But you must want it, Li….”

“…did you see the size of his stalk? No wonder Madam Woo was all over him…”

Realms of heavens above and below, but here they were, and in some ways, they were all the same. Gossip and scandal, rumors and fears. The immortals might be a little more high minded, more open to one another and less possessive about matters of the body or materials good, but they were still, recognizably human.

Still caught in the clay and mud of existence, forgetting the flow of the Dao.

“… Jade Emperor is being led astray by his administrators. They lie to him, telling him all is well in the heavens, while the rot spreads…”

“…the spring water is changed, I tell you. The taste is no longer as pure. I won’t take this shipment…”

Long, delicate fingers squeezing his arm brought him to the present. He turned, spotting the slight crease between her eyebrows and smoothened over his own expression. The question in her eyes had him shaking his own, even as he pointed to a spinning child’s toy, the whirling paper and wood construct whirling through the air, carried by playful winds.

“It’s so different,” Yang Mu murmured.

“Worth all the effort to come here?” Wu Ying said.

“Yes.” The hand squeezed again, withdrawing. “To be with you, certainly. To see marvels I might never have experienced, certainly. To watch the colours of the world blend, and change…”

“So much to see and learn from. A thousand lives might not be enough,” Wu Ying said. “So it’s good, that we’re immortal.”

“Yes. I’d love to explore more of the immortal realm, if possible.”

“As would I.” A nod to the guards around them, before he added. “After our mission.”

“After.” The word was a promise and statement alike.

Footnote: * Dai 帶 – General term for belts and silk bands worn on the outside to secure ancient robes and whose appearance has changed over time.