Chapter 6: Tao Part II

Merchant Hua was babbling on about something. Words tumbled from the fat man's lips faster than the rain poured from the sky. “Thank you, thank you, honored immortal, this lowly merchant offers his utmost…”

The man was kneeling, panting, blood from his torn robes soaking into the dirt. His face was pale, exhausted. But his eyes were sharp. Alert. The eyes of someone used to staying aware to survive.

Tao stepped slowly forward. His spiritual sense turned its attention to the man’s energy signature. Still in disarray. Still this man was wounded. But there was no hostility. The stranger was not preparing to strike.

The man’s hands were open, his palms visible at his sides. It seemed he was trying to show that he meant no harm, but who was this person? Where had he come from?

Tao had never worn robes like those. Blue and silver, even torn and stained. Even splattered with sectarian blood. Not the style worn in this region. Not the style worn anywhere he had heard of.

And those techniques. Fire without fire stones. Water drawn from empty air. Earth shaping to bind a beast at Foundation Establishment. Wind blades sharp enough to kill. All drawing on spiritual energy that was not qi.

Tao needed to know more.

“Who are you?” he asked, trying to keep his voice neutral. And flat. Not friendly, not hostile.

The stranger’s eyes focused on him. He stared blankly for a moment. Then he shook his head. Raised a hand to his ear. Shook his head again.

Some sort of gesture. He did not understand Tao’s words.

Tao and Merchant Hua looked at each other.

The merchant’s eyes were wide. It was not something he had expected either.

The stranger did not speak their language. That made the matter more complicated.

Merchant Hua seemed to have recovered his courage. The fat man approached the stranger careful, like someone approaching a dangerous animal. When the stranger did not move, Merchant Hua moved bolder still. He pointed at the dead massive beast. Held his finger out to the stranger. Then pressed his hands together before his mouth and bowed deeply, the gesture for gratitude.

The stranger nodded just once, enough to show acknowledgement, but his neutral expression did not change.

Tao watched the exchange between them. The stranger understood gestures at least. That was something. But communication would be very difficult without words.

Merchant Hua was talking again, gesturing down the road. Toward the next town. Offering something. Shelter? Food? The merchant was grateful enough that he was willing to share.

The stranger looked in the direction Merchant Hua pointed. Then back at the merchant. He pushed himself up on to two feet from three prostrated. Dingy clothes rustled with chains. He gestured his acceptance.

Good. That meant they would be travelling together. Which meant Tao would have time. Time to observe this person. Time to learn from him if possible.

Tao had been trying to advance in his cultivation for three years now. He had reached the third layer of Qi Condensation through self-study and Elder Wan’s basic advice. But progress had been slow since. Elder Wan only knew basic techniques. The cultivation manual in the village had been incomplete. All the advanced methods were missing, and Tao had reached the limit of what he could learn in isolation.

He needed a teacher. A real teacher, not some senile old man who could barely remember his own training from forty years ago.

The sects wouldn’t take him. His spiritual roots were too average. The recruiters in Falling Leaf liked to look for genius talents, children who could reach Foundation Establishment before they turned fifteen. Tao was not that. He had decent talent, and the sects did not waste precious resources on decent talent.

But this strange man, this man who killed Foundation Establishment beasts while injured, who waved around techniques Tao had not known existed until only a minute ago...

If Tao could learn even a fraction of what this man knew, it would make him much stronger. Strong enough so he could protect better the village that had saved his life. Strong enough that he might be able to take harder missions that paid more. Strong enough, that the children of Falling Leaf Village would never have to go hungry as he had when his parents died.

He didn't yearn to fly. He didn’t yearn to be a great immortal who lived for ten thousand years and more. He just wanted to be strong enough to take care of his village. That was all.

But the question was, how could he convince this man to teach him?

The language barrier made communication difficult. And even if they could somehow communicate, why would a powerful cultivator lift a finger to instruct a random nine year old boy with average talent?

Tao would have to figure something out. He was good at figuring things out. He had survived as an orphan in a poor village. He had taught himself to fight. He had learned cultivation from an incomplete manual. He would find a way to learn from this strange man too.

While he had been lost in thought, merchant Hua and the strange person had started moving toward the overturned wagon. Tao followed a little ways behind, keeping his distance but not letting them out of sight.

The man's energy signature fascinated him. It was like qi and yet at the same time not like qi. Something similar, yet different. Tao’s spiritual sense could feel several different, distinct frequencies in the man’s internal energy. All separate, yet flowing together.

How was that even possible?

Cultivators only had one type of qi.

You refined it, compressed it, advanced it through the realms, but fundamentally, it was all the same - qi.

This man had at least seven different types of energy. Tao counted them as he watched the battle. Fire energy. Water energy. Earth energy. Wind energy. And other types Tao could not identify. All flowing through the same man. All under his control.

That shouldn’t be possible. But he had seen it. Clearly, then, possible and impossible were different things to that man.

The wagon was a complete wreck. The axle had completely broken. Merchant Hua stared at it and made a noise of unhappiness, "ruined," he murmured. "Completely ruined. The cargo, the wagon, all ruined."

Tao helped him pull his goods from the wreckage. Most of it was intact. Bolts of silk, sealed containers of spices, a few boxes of jade ornaments. The wagon itself was a writeoff, but the cargo could be carried.

The strange man watched them, he seemed to be recovering. Blood hadn’t flowed from his nose for a while now. His color was better. And after a few minutes of staring, he moved to help, despite still being injured.

Merchant Hua made protesting noises. “No, no, honored senior, please rest. We can manage this.”

The man didn’t understand the words, but got the meaning. He kept helping anyway.

Tao watched as the stranger lifted one of the heavier boxes of cargo. The man’s arms were shaking with effort. He was definitely still injured, but clearly pushing through the pain.

The sight reminded Tao of himself. How many times had he worked on missions when he was completely exhausted? How many times had he ignored pain to finish what needed to be done? This man understood duty. That was good. Even without speaking the same tongue, they were the same in that way.

They finished salvaging what they could. Merchant Hua had rope in his sustenance supplies. They bundled everything salvageable they could take, and made a set of carrying packs. It would be a long walk back to the next town, but it was possible.

The sun was sinking now. Maybe two hours before darkness. They needed to move. Spirit beasts were more active at night.

The strange man walked over to the massive Foundation Establishment beast. He knelt beside it, moving stiffly, and placed a hand on the corpse and with his other hand, pulled out a small pouch from his torn robes.

Tao watched closely. The pouch looked…ordinary. Simple leather, maybe the size of the man's palm. Nothing special about it. But when the man held it over the body of the massive beast, something impossible happened.

The corpse vanished.

One moment the massive tiger was there; if it had been standing upon its hind legs it would have easily reached the height of a draft horse and weighed hundreds of pounds. And yet, the next moment, it was gone. It had disappeared into the small pouch as though it had never existed.

Tao’s breath caught. He had heard of storage rings. Magical items much like the man’s pouch that held objects greater in size than themselves, placing them in a separate space that existed outside of normal reality.

Elder Wan had mentioned them once, and said that only Core Formation cultivators and above would be able to afford such treasures. A single storage ring, he had said, would be worth all the things contained within Falling Leaf village combined.

Tao had never seen one. Never expected to see one. They were the stuff of legends, items that belonged to the great sects and powerful clans, not an orphan boy of a poor village.

Yet the man had one. Not a ring, but a pouch which served the same purpose.

The strange man stood and walked to the first of the unconscious beasts. The one Tao had punched in the skull. It was breathing still, but barely alive, and the man placed a hand on it while holding the pouch over. The beast vanished just like the first.

Then the man did the same with the second Qi Condensation beast. Another impossible disappearance into that little leather pouch.

Three monstrous spirit beasts, gone. Stored somewhere that Tao had no capacity to perceive. The man tucked the pouch back into his robes as if what he had just done was completely normal.

The difference between him and Tao made his weakness clear. Tao had struggled against the weaker beasts. The strong one would have killed him instantly. The gap between his ability and true strength was large.

Not insurmountable though. The strange man had shown him that. With the proper techniques, enough skill, any cultivator could overcome superior power, even if crippled. Tao just needed to learn the techniques. Needed to become skilled enough.

He would find a way. Somehow, he would convince this man to teach him. Even just a little bit would do. Tao did not need much. Just enough to grow stronger. Enough to defend his village better.

The strange man was watching him. Their eyes met. Tao saw calculation in that gaze. The man was thinking something. Planning something. What?

Tao gave a small nod. Respectful. Acknowledging the man's power. Showing he understood his place. It was important. Powerful cultivators typically did not like children who were too bold or too presumptuous.

The man nodded back. Then he turned and walked down the road toward the next town. Merchant Hua hurried after him, already chattering again in a tongue the man could not understand.

Tao picked up his own pack and followed, already working through the possibilities. How to communicate without language. How to demonstrate value. How to show this strange powerful person that taking Tao as a student would not be a waste of time.

The road was long but worked in his favour, it gave Tao time to think, time to plan, time to figure out how to change his fate from poor village orphan to student of a powerful cultivator.

He did not know if it would work. But he would try. Because that was what Tao did. He tried. He persisted. He survived. And sometimes, if he was lucky and smart and persistent enough, he succeeded.

The sun continued on its way toward the horizon. The three travelers made their way down the dirt road. Behind them was the devastation wrought by battle. Ahead of them lay a town, safety, and an uncertain future.

Tao kept his spiritual sense extended around them. Just in case more beasts came. But also, so he could monitor the strange man’s energy signature. He was learning, always learning.

That was how Tao had survived for five years as an orphan in a poor village, learning, adapting, taking every opportunity that presented itself, no matter how small.

And right now, walking down the dirt road next to a powerful injured cultivator who didn’t speak a word that Tao understood, this was an opportunity.

Maybe the best opportunity he had ever had.

He was not going to waste it.