Demonic Tribulations - Chapter 65 preview (Patreon)

Chapter 65 – Tou He

It was truly a demonic land.

Once before, Tou He had climbed to the peak of a mountain. It had been done on a whim, barely half a decade ago, when he had grown tired of the never-ending politics. He had thought to attempt to be a hermit like the Sages, find a place to cultivate while close to the heavens and, most importantly, be gloriously alone. Without the demands the Verdant Green Waters sect might place upon him, without the questions that younger cultivators asked or the insistent teas and dinners of his peers.

His friends were busy, all of them. They had lives, careers and students to take up their time. Not Tou He. So he had made note that he might enter closed door cultivation, shut the doors of his own villa – and what a fuss they had made, demanding that he use them, and then even more when he did, to house the servants and the elderly of the sect – and left.

He had climbed to the peak of the mountain range behind the sect, seeking out an appropriately lofty mountain, but one that lay unclaimed. At its peak, he had looked around himself, taking in the surroundings and saw the world spread below him – clouds over the mountain range, white capped mountains poking their head out of the foamy cloud spray – and the sprawling green of the untamed forests all about. A winding river and, later, when the night fell, splotches of light where humanity existed.

For a whole week, Tou He had marveled and cultivated on that peak. Hand behind his back, his other holding forth the prayer beads that slid – one after the other – over his finger. Drew in the untamed, unsullied and untrammeled chi of the world and the heavens, even.

When his insistent cravings had driven him down, Tou He had learnt a lesson. Not just in the geography, but in his own greed. He still liked roast duck, stewed pork, succulent chicken and steamed chicken all too much. For all his growth as a cultivator, he failed as a Buddhist, unable to follow even the most basic of instructions.

It would be a pain, when he died. Surely those he harmed for his base desires would peck him, too, to death. As they should.

Now, here, on another peak of another realm, Tou He had a moment to accept gratitude that he had seen that vista before. It gave him something to compare what he had seen to, and in that comparison, marvel at the greater beauty of the new realm.

Like salt and sugar, both were necessary to amplify a dish.

Over there, to the east and north, the world was bisected by snow fields that approached a shard of ice and crystal that jutted out of the ground. No explanation why such a location might be there, but snow and ice gathered in the clouds that drifted over the surroundings constantly. Tou He could have sworn he heard the howling of wolves and the shriek of pitiless snow from that direction and the flame within him throbbed, sensing the challenge and – to his surprise – almost quailing from it.

A sideglance caught Biamin staring at the distant north, naked longing and loss on her face. She reached a hand outwards, as though she could hold onto the surroundings. Her other, buried deep in her companion’s fur, the creature leaning against her thigh in comfort as it looked too at their former home.

Not far away, a town surrounded by the fields of civilization. Long grain harvests, not rice – even he could recognize that – but something grown on dry lands. Forests swayed and surrounded the city, bisected by roads all about as outposts of civilization lay. Few enough rivers, though he noted one not far from here, joining a massive lake.

A lake that frothed and churned, its edges spotted through drifting mist. Something about the mist disturbed Tou He and made him watch it closer. It took a few seconds of study before he realised what the problem was, not so much the mist, but the lake itself.

No birds. No signs of life. Not even a town by it.

“The Great Lake of Mourning,” Minsci said, softly. “Some of the clans who live close by use the waters to send their corpses there, where they will lie undisturbed. Creatures rise from the lake, attack nearby settlements sometimes. None can survive the mists for long, for the poisons within choke and kill.”

Manufactured hand rose, pointed down the corridor. “The first great city of the western border, Kangri.”

A beautiful vista, dotted with sights of civilization. The cities in the distance were more often than not smoke clouds and walls that rose up, though some lay open, tiny buildings often overshadowed by a single larger building. Castle, fort, palace. Magistrate’s residence. Mattered little, Tou He understood it for what it was.

Over there, a grinding plain of dust and rock that must have been at least dozens of li long and nearly as wide, if he could see it from here. It had a strange shape, and it took him a moment to realise what it was. A massive hoofprint, struck into the earth and dug in, the sloping corves of the front of the hooves digging deeper to create small lakes where water gathered and everywhere else, jutting rock that floated and struck one another. No greenery in those slopes.

“The Great Ku. They once too a step down, to spring onwards through the realms.” Biamin’s voice was reverent as she explained. “There is another, out of sight, on the opposite end of the capital where it’s other foot struck. That one is filled with boiling lava.”

All the examples of geography that Tou He could imagine were here. Ice, water, plains and forests. Marshlands, glimpsed further south, though those seemed at least to transform slowly. Desert behind him, the world ahead mostly lush.

“Is that city ahead, in the far distance, the capital?” Tou He pointed with his finger. It was a dark speck, but considering the distances involved, it must have been a massive city. Easily able to contend with the capital of the kingdom of Shen.

To his surprise, his question brought forth laughter from his companions.

“That? That’s just the regional capital, Fraono.” Minsci said. “Even from here, it is impossible to see the capital.”

“Do you understand now, the scope of what you seek to do?” Biamin gestured down, at the vast expanse of land. “We must traverse all this and more as fugitives.”

“Interesting.” Tou He bent his head in thought. “All the more reason then, to complete what we set out to do. There can be no peace for your people, not when your enemy has such vast resources to draw upon. Sooner or later, another army and another general will arrive.”

Biamin sighed, but did not contradict him. She knew he was telling the truth, though it was an uncomfortable truth anyway.

“Still, it seems, we must find a faster method of travel,” Tou He muttered. “And I shall, I fear, be forced to wear a mask. And hood.”

The demons shared a look before Minsci let out a long sigh. “Then, to Kangri we go. From there, we might find what is necessary. Horses and enchantments alike to carry us forward. Materials for me to make enchanted carriages.”

“Best we get moving then,” Biamin said.

Tou He nodded, agreeably. Took a moment to take another deep breath, letting the thin air of the mountains fill his lungs. He turned, looking back the way they came. Dusty plains, rocky land and a connecting trail of caravans and civilisations. He wondered, briefly, what might lay to the east.

Perhaps one day, he might find out. For now, though, they had a mountain to descend.

He watched as Biamin sat astride her wolf companion and rode it, the pair leaping down the steep slope. Bounding from one snowy outcropping to another, the creature never sinking more than an inch into the snow before they launched themselves off.

“Show-off,” Minsci muttered.

Tou He let out a long, rolling laugh. Taking a step forward, he let himself flop backwards, allowing his robes to cushion his fall. The soft armor of his robes bent and tightened upon contact, shielding him from the snow even as he was dragged to the earth. The land below beckoned him, and he slid, feet first down the mountain, every moment gaining momentum.

Minsci snorted, extracted his rolling conveyance from his storage pouch, the entire thing expanding as he pulled it apart. It began to roll down immediately, a snowy outer layer forming and shedding one after the other as he bounced down the mountain after the other two, chasing after them.

If the three, powerful demons and human alike laughed like children as they slid down the snow-capped mountain, only the mountains and snow spirits were there to hear.