Chapter 147: Days of Madness - Aftermath
Dàilán did not know how long she fought with Chénli at her side; occasionally, her Father, the BloodWitch, another Cultivator or Yāoguǐ fought alongside, in front or behind them, lashing out with weapons - sword, teeth, claw - or Essence techniques both simple and drastic.
Father's sword crackled with Lightning Essence, searing raving corpses into quiescence, quick and almost silent like a ghostly avatar of death. In contrast, the Bloodwitch crushed her targets mercilessly, shattering and sundering lings, torsos and skulls with the enormous slab of metal she called a sword, her child-sized body almost too small to be noticed in comparison to the monstrosity she wielded.
Only the constant cackle of her laughter gave away that there was more than just a big hunk of metal smashing its way across the battlefield, shredding Essence quickened flesh and spraying blackened blood in its wake.
The Yāoguǐ breathed flame, roared blasts of ice, screamed deadly jets of water and gales of air, or smote great paws or staffs on the earth causing quakes and cravasses that shook the landscape to raise bulwarks or shatter the ground to delay the horde, who clawed madly as they crashed against the walls or tumbled into open rents that closed after them moments later.
Others struck the air or the bodies of their foes directly with claws that slashed rents and gouges of Essence through the air and the bodies of Essence Wraiths.
Subtlety and caution were abandoned as the Essence Wrath pressed the assault - defensive and offensive Formations were constructed and desperately powered by the Guan Cultivators despite the Monitor's earlier warning. When one has to choose between the certain death by Yin crazed maw versus devine strike, one tends to act first and then accept the risk of being struck by Buddha after the fact, rather than be consumed by Essence Beasts driven to madness.
The first time someone did it on reflex to avoid a fatal strike and the statues did not react, the cry of, "Formations are safe! Put them up - drown these dogs in the Yellow River where they should have stayed!" and within breaths every Guan Cultivator was activating their Battle-Formations which only added to the general cacophony.
Eye-watering lights and shattering noises; voices yelling orders, screams of fury and shouts of pain, putrid smells - scorched fur, rotting blood and viscera - filled the world.
---
Dàilán decided she hated the Essence Wraith birds the most - they struck always when you committed against one of the ground bound Wraiths. She did not have the breath to complain though, so she blinked away the fishy smelling blood that dripped out of her hair and ran into her eyes, despite her robe's best efforts and grimply stabbed upward, efficiently bisecting the creatures skull and causing its core to collapse in the now tedious explosion of stinking feathers and sickly purple-green and white Essence.
After the second or third time one of those detonations had left her seeing spots, Dàilán had pushed the Veil into her eyes as she had done in what now seemed a long ago arena. She reminded Chénli of the trick the first opportunity she got - one of the innumerable times they took cover behind the temple guardians as the statues struck with bolts of Heavens Wrath an age or so ago.
Just as the two young women were doing now - for the, who knew how many-th - time. Hugging the cover of the guardian statues, in the breath between waves as the Buddhas struck out again, Chénli's robes sticking to the stone of the statue they learnt their back against, due to being soaked in noisome fluids, futilely trying to wipe black blood - and less savory fluids - out of her face.
"It appears that stupid tournement was good practice after all," her best friend's ironic humor was somewhat strained as she tried to clean her face, "do you think you could pull that trick with the lightning bolts again?"
"If they give us the luxury of standing still, sure - but the Battle Formations we are already using are better," Dàilán pointed out, "my Essence Robes are better than anything I can improvise anyway."
Chénli glared at the spotless robes - they shed everything that landed on them - leaving Dàilán's face and hair dirtier than the silk.
"Your ass of a boyfriend is gifting me a set of those robes, next time we see him," she bit out.
"He is not…" Dàilán started to protest, but Chénli cut her off, "save it for someone who cares, sister."
Dàilán rolled her eyes as the Enforcer looked over her shoulder to peer around the statue, "The guardian statues are stopping; the Essence Wraith are…"
"Coming back up the slope, no doubt," Dàilán sighed, hearing the familiar screams that seemed to be trying to tear a hole in her skull - although… she blinked.
"Is it just me or does it sound a lot less…" she stepped around the statue to see a visible reduction in the number of Essence Wraith charging towards them - that is, rather than an uncountable mass, there seemed to be twenty or so widely spaced Essence Wraith converging on their position - and no more emerging from the trees behind them.
"Not just you," agreed Chénli, then the two of them marched out to butcher efficiently once again.
The Wraith attacked as madly as they ever had, but this felt almost pitiful in comparison to the previous unending wave. Within several fēn, the two of them stood warily on their bit of hill unopposed as the blasts of the last few damaged Essence cores died away to be replaced by cheering from the other defenders.
A grinding noise took their attention away from the cratered and blasted slope and they turned to watch the Buddha statues fold themselves into seated positions with their hands in their laps or held in mudra poses, before ceasing to glow and appearing as ancient lifeless stonework.
"Wait? That is it?" Chénli asked after a breath in surprise as they looked back at the slope littered with shredded, charred, frozen or blasted meat but nothing moving, "The way the BloodWitch was talking…"
"You would call this easy?" asked Dàilán, bending down watchfully to wipe her blades on the grass, then reconsidering with a grimace as she registered how soaked in gore it was. The stench of rotting corpses hit her then, now that she was not focused on fighting and she worked to keep the reflexive gorge response down.
"Nooo, but… did we lose anyone?" questioned the other young woman, "I mean…"
"This is not over," the BloodWitch appeared from nowhere, covered head to toe in rotting gore, but seemingly unconcerned, "the concentration of Death Essence beyond the hill has not decreased."
"More are coming?" Dàilán was immediately alert, casting out her Essence threads and even a small pulse, then growled as both techniques frayed and disappeared once they went into the trees below the hill.
"I do not see any immediate concentration of Wraiths," replied the Senior Enforcer, "but these were following someone - from somewhere else. I suspect…"
"You suspect, what, exactly?" Chénli asked darkly as the Bloodwitch trailed off, looking around, though judging by her tone, Dàilán thought Chénli knew what the Senior Enforcer was about to say.
"These were just a small group following that Yāoguǐ that got here just before they did," the older woman answered coldly, "I suspect that wherever they came from…" the BloodWitch smiled madly her voice taking on a brittle quality even as it slipped into sing-song, " ~there is ~a ~gre~at ~host of Wr~aith."
Dàilán fought not to curse at the idea that the battle they had just gone through was nothing but a minor skirmish, then jerked her head towards the top of the hill, "I saw one of the Yāoguǐ grab the wounded one at the beginning of the fight."
Sighing and pushing Essence out to clean the worst of the mess from her hair and face, she looked back up at the temple buildings at the top of the hill, "it appears we have a guest to speak with, could you check the butcher's bill on this… mess, Senior? I suspect I will be in the healer's tents," she directed, turning and beginning to march up the slope as the Senior Enforcer bowed sharply in acquiescence.
---
With the adrenaline and Essence Techniques leaving her body as she relaxed, Dàilán winced as strained muscles and ligaments protested her brisk pace. As she reached the main cluster of the temple ruins, Monitor Leng appeared from behind one of the artfully crumbled structures and fell into step beside her, "Reporting to Sect Leader, all defensive positions are manned. Wounded in the tents. The Formation Masters are setting up defenses around the hill now that we know the Buddha does not object. We were able to rotate fighters out for fresh defenders once the initial defense positions were set."
Dàilán blinked, "I did not notice you had set up rotations," she rubbed her eyes, "it probably prevented casualties, so you have my thanks."
"Well, once we knew Formations would not cause problems, some of the Battle Formation Squads went out - gave the wounded fighters a chance to retreat." He looked slightly apologetic as he glanced at his young leader, "unfortunately, we did not have enough Squads spare to pull the Sky level or even the peak rank Earths off the line…"
Dàilán waved his apologies off, "the battle was not threatening for Sky levels - just unrelenting. You made the right choice - without the higher ranks anchoring the defense - the lower level groups would not have been able to hold the Wraiths back."
Monitor Leng nodded, "the Healer set up in a building that she says was the temple hospice. Apparently it is strangely functional despite being a ruined structure," he stepped in the direction he gestured, subtly leading the young Heiress towards the healers.
"Seems to be a running theme around here," agreed Dàilán, automatically matching her steps with his.
"We have your friend to thank for that I suppose?" Monitor Leng asked rhetorically, before moving directly on, "the Yāoguǐ that the BloodWitch was defending appears to be a messenger of some sort - checked them for weapons and Formations but they only have old fashioned message sticks. They had not regained consciousness the last time I checked with the Healer. The Yāoguǐ travelling with us set a guard - as much to protect us as the messenger, I suspect."
"They must be fairly important if the Wraiths were chasing them," mused Dàilán, wincing at the increasing discomfort as more aches and pains made themselves known the further she walked.
The Monitor shook his head, gently guiding the younger woman through the ruins, "none of those Wraith were old enough to have intelligent thought. Such a Wraith is very rare - as most Essence Beasts who consume their Essence Core to recover from death or fatal injury, eventually revive as a lower leveled version of themselves."
He shrugged, "as we just saw, that does not apply if they happen to revive in a group of other Wraith - then they are injured again until they fall back into Wraith state. Wraith tend to group up so that becomes a self-perpetuating problem, once there is more than a few Essence Wraith"
"I did not know there could be intelligent Essence Wraith?" questioned Dàilán, "I know that a Wraith reacts automatically to kill anything it encounters before it is fully revived - some of the Scholar's writings I have read suggest it is a sort of instinctive defense to keep the beast safe while it cannot think for itself, but as you said… any that are not destroyed eventually revive."
"There are a few old records of Essence Wraith that somehow are too injured to revive fully, but remain Wraith permanently," muttered Monitor Leng, "if they survive long enough in that state, they develop more than instinctual thought. Imagine, if the Wrath you just fought did more than blindly charge into your weapons…" he paused, "since you brought up the idea of the Wraith deliberately chasing down the Yāoguǐ, I assumed that was what you were referring to."
Dàilán shook her head, "no I did not know… I misspoke, thinking in terms of a regular enemy…" she rubbed her eyes, "BloodWitch suggested they were just a part of the main Horde…"
"Likely, given the amount of Death Essence and the fact it is still everywhere…" agreed the young man, rubbing his chin, "perhaps the messenger managed to escape from the rest of the Horde…"
"They pulled that group after them you mean…" the young woman stopped short as the Monitor waved her into a large building with a number of people moving in and out.
"This is the Hospice," explained the other Cultivator, "I was just going in to see if the messenger has awoken yet - to hopefully provide a better explanation than our speculations." He gently took her arm and gently pulled her through the open doorway.
Dàilán was starting to feel very light headed. Perhaps she had been wounded without realising it?Her attention drifted as she tried to think what she should do about it, distracted at how nice the inside of the ruined building felt - the small hall they stepped into was cool and bright, with a soft glow coming from the stones and wood of the building itself, supplemented by almost artfully placed rents and holes in the ceiling and walls that let golden feathers of crow-light in.
One of the women passing by the entrance - Dàilán faintly remembered seeing her training with the Healer in the Healer Tents in that first camp in the shadow of a hill, where their current predicament had begun - passed the entrance as they entered and recognising Dàilán, hustled over with obvious alarm at her state to help the Monitor catch her as the young Heiress staggered, feeling the exhaustion of travelling at her top speed for half a day - she had been moving in circles around the caravan the entire time to keep watch - then running straight into intense Essence draining combat…
...endless tides of Yin Essence, flares of purple and green, rot and stench and screaming…
Dàilán snapped upright, blinking memories furiously away - held up between her Clanswoman and Monitor Leng, her head spinning - the Monitor staring at her with wide, frightened eyes on one side even as the young woman on the other side gently carried the other, her gentle support at odds with her the anger in her voice, as she glared at Monitor Leng, "...and you made her walk here? Idiot!"
"She seemed fine," the Monitor protested feebly, "I was just guiding her here anyway, but she did not seem wounded…" he trailed off as the novice or apprentice healer glared at him.
"Do you have experience as a Healer, fool? Even if there are no obvious wounds, she is clearly suffering from Essence Exhaustion - put her down on this bedroll," the healer instructed without breaking stride or the flow of conversation, her tone suddenly business-like and clinical.
Dàilán groaned involuntarily as she was lowered onto something soft, "good, you are aware, mistress - are you able to release your robe so I can examine you for wounds?" she looked at the Monitor, eyes flashing, "you - out!" she pointed back the way they had come and Leng immediately disappeared from Dàilán's field of view - one that was swimming more than she liked.
With a mental effort that felt equal to all her previous efforts, she withdrew her Essence from the Robes - immediately feelingly slightly more alert - and more than a little stupid for not realisng she did not have enough Essence to spare at the moment to support the Formations of the silk robes.
"Good. Now you just rest, young Mistress… I will just call the Head Healer…" the young apprentice was briskly weaving medical Formations and simultaneously carefully removing her battle robes as she spoke, "you can relax now... it is safe here…"
Dàilán floated away into nothingness even the last words left her clanswoman's mouth.
---
Dàilán slept heavily. Some semblance of awareness meant that she registered the presence of other people when they came near her through the night, but she never fully roused.
Her next coherent thought had her blinking in the early morning light that cast feathers of crow-light through the gaps and holes of the stonework and ceiling of the room that she was in.
Rubbing her head to clear the fuzzy thoughts into some semblance of order, Dàilán looked around slowly, finding herself on a bedroll. Other bedrolls containing other sleeping occupants were neatly laid out throughout the long room.
Dàilán looked down and saw that she was wearing a simple shift, causing her to purse her lips in annoyance. The healers always insisted on dressing all their patients in these basic, shapeless robes any time they treated anyone, so that probably meant she was still somewhere in the hospice.
A splash of bright green caught her eye and she recognised her Essence Silk robes and other clothes at the foot of the bedroll. She stood up from the bedroll and bent down to reach out a hand and threaded a small amount of Essence into the pile of clothing.
The silk swirled around her immediately in response and moments later, Dàilán found herself fully dressed in her robes and the rest of her clothing, with the patient's robe's at her feet.
Biting back her first reaction to exclaim in surprise, Dàilán raised an eyebrow at the clothes reaction to a simple check.
"That is new," she muttered to herself lowly, taking care to keep her voice below the threshold of even Cultivator hearing, "it even placed my weapons and footwear on correctly," she shifted about slightly, checking the fit and fall of the fabric and raised the other eyebrow as she realised everything was hanging correctly and organised the way she preferred.
'I am definitely using that from now on,' she thought to herself, bending down to pick up and fold the patient robes and leaving them where her own robes had been placed.
Carefully, she moved quickly between the sleeping people to the nearest exit at one of the ends of the long room and slipped outside into a familiar looking corridor. Dàilán vaguely remembered it from the previous day from when she had entered the hospice - before passing out from Essence Exhaustion.
She considered what she should do next, then sighed. If she did not find at least one of the healer apprentices now to agree she was fit to leave then no doubt she would be subject to much - polite - disappointed nagging once the Head Healer caught up to her later.
Besides - she was not sure why she had become so exhausted? Was there an injury she was unaware of, even though she felt ok now?
She turned along the corridor to walk further into the building, carefully spinning out a couple of Essence Threads to try and sense who else was awake in the building and which direction she should look for others.
After a moment she located a cluster of several individuals a little way along the corridor, so she moved in that direction, arriving at a closed door after a few steps. Her brows drew together, but she pushed it open to reveal a short empty hallway.
This part of the building was more complete than the other sections, with only small breaks letting in the feathers of the Golden Crow to light the small space.
"Hmm…" Dàilán examined the small area which appeared to be some sort of antechamber - there were three more doors - one on each side and a final one at the end of the small hallway.
The sense of other people's Essence circulation was behind the door on the right; Dàilán recognised the Head Healer's behind it - as well as a weaker, less organised flow, that indicated injury or other problems. The raw, animalistic feel of the fluctuating Essence indicated the injured Cultivator was a Yāoguǐ.
Strangely, there was the Essence flow of another Yāoguǐ slightly separated from the other two Essence signatures - a strong, structured circulation indicating an unwounded warrior.
Dàilán frowned. There was only reason she could think of for a warrior Yāoguǐ to be close by an injured one while the Head Healer was attending them - and it brought back a fuzzy memory of a comment that Monitor Meng had made the day before.
"That must be the fox Yāoguǐ the Essence Wraith were chasing," she realised, speaking her thoughts aloud before knocking on the door, which was opened a moment later by a burly Yāoguǐ she could not immediately recognise. On recognising her the warrior, immediately saluted her with grave respect, "Niángniang. It is good to see you have recovered from the battle! Do you wish to speak to the Húlijīng's emissary?"
"That is the one who the Wraith were pursuing?" asked Dàilán and the guard nodded in agreement, "En. They are still injured, but they urgently wish to speak with the caravan leader - your Healer and ours have been taking turns to help her recover - and convince her to wait until her recovery is stabilised before they go searching… but since you are here..."
"I came to get the Healer's permission to leave, but if I can help the Healer's patient calm themselves, it is a fortunate happenstance. I can shoot two hawks with one arrow, I suppose," the young Heiress agreed.
The guard bowed, "En," and moved to let her enter into what appeared to be a small entry room that contained only another door that the Yāoguǐ had been standing guard in front of. The room had no obvious damage in its ceiling or stone work, and was lit by a soft undefinable light source, leading Dàilán to suspect that the original building had some form of Formation reinforcing its structure in this area.
"The healers believe this is the secure wing of the hospice," the guard spoke, correctly interpreting her careful glances around, "it either survived almost entirely intact due to Formations used or stronger construction materials, or your Teacher - the Ancient - made certain to completely rebuild this section. The Head Healer quarters are at the end of the main chamber behind you and this is one of two private, secure rooms. The one on the other side is identical."
The guard shrugged broad, thickly furred shoulders at her questioning expression to his words, answering her unspoken query, "I heard the Healers talking when they first moved the emissary here."
"Ah," Dàilán bowed in thanks, "will the Healer be finished with the emissary soon, do you think?"
The guard shrugged again, "she has been in there a while. Perhaps she will finish soon."
Even as he spoke, the inner door of the small room opened and the Head Healer came out. Dàilán got a glimpse of a larger, brightly lit room, as the healer came through and closed the door behind her.
"Sect Leader," the healer cast a professional eye down her body, "you appear recovered. Has anyone checked your Essence levels?"
Dàilán shook her head, "No, Head Healer. I just awoke."
The healer sighed and looked back at the door she had just exited out of, "come in here. You look alright, but I want to check your Essence levels," she looked back at Dàilán irritably, "the patient has been insistent on speaking with you anyway - perhaps she might stop trying to leave her bed once she does so."
"Of course," Dàilán gave a Cultivator's bow to the older woman, who sighed and opened the door, gesturing impatiently into the room, "Heavens spare us from Battle Cultivators who cannot be trusted to look after their own health…"
Dàilán hesitated slightly as she took a step, "does the emissary know I am not a Yāoguǐ…?"
"I will guard," rumbled the Yāoguǐ guard, "I was on the battlefield yesterday. I saw you anchoring our push against the Wraith with the rest of us lower levels - you are a worthy Herd Leader, even if you are not Yāoguǐ. If the emissary questions this, I will inform them."
Dàilán's eyes widened and she bowed in thanks - her surprise causing to be at a loss for words. The guard made a dismissive hand gesture, but the set of his face was solemn.
The Head Healer clicked her tongue, but made no other comment, turning back to the room she had just exited.
The room was an average side and plain, lit brightly with the same sourceless light visible in the previous room.
There was a small fox with two obvious tails laying on a large raised 'nest' of bedding in the middle of the room. It looked up weakly as they entered - the guard going to stand against one wall. The Fox Yāoguǐ tracked their movements warily, her muzzle flaring slightly.
"Sit on the edge of the bed," directed the Head Healer peremptorily, "the emissary is in no position to cause you injury and this way she will not have to strain herself by speaking loudly if she still wishes to speak with you."
Dàilán blinked but slowly went to do as directed even as the healer turned to the fox Yāoguǐ, "Huli - this is the person you wish to speak to."
"Human…" the voice of the fox Yāoguǐ was soft, "but you have the scent of an Ancient on you…"
"She does not treat us differently from her tribe," rumbled the guard from the wall, "emissary, I vouch for her strength and wisdom. She defeated Mówáng Xióng and negotiated equal terms between our people. She is not a Consumer. She is more like the Cultivators of old - the ones in the old stories. And she is barely more than a youngling."
Dàilán blinked in shock and confusion at the guard's words, but covered her confusion as best as she could as the the large furred Yāoguǐ continued, "I count it my honor I was chosen to travel with a student of an Ancient One - change has come and she is in the center of it. The Shamans' aguries all point to it."
The Healer looked irritated at all of this and guided Dàilán firmly to the edge of the bed, "yes, the Sect Leader is very impressive, but she was exhausted enough to fall unconscious after fighting the battle you brought to our doorstep yesterday, emissary - so forgive me if I am more interested in your health - both of you - rather than ancient legends." She began to perform some form of technique and glared at Dàilán, "remain still, Princess."
"I am leading my people to a safe haven promised by the one you refer to as an Ancient," Dàilán explained carefully to the fox, "some of Mówáng Xióng's people agreed to travel with us to seek out trade and establish old ties. Their border troops travel with us for mutual support. I do not know why you wish to speak with me, emissary - I presume you come from the territory of the Huxian Húlijīng?"
The fox nodded fervently from her position in the 'nest' of bedding, "Yes! Please, Niángniang - my Mistress sent me to beg for aid from Mówáng Xióng. If his troops travel with you… you must help us… before it is too late - this unworthy one begs of you!"
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
WheeledWriter
WheeledWriter 27/5/21
Apologies to my Readers
I have placed this book on Temporary Hiatus as I have been unable to write this week's chapter due to real life taking up my attention.
I will resume publishing when I have a sufficient buffer of chapters to ensure the situation does not reoccur
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Transition chapter. The Journey to the Mountain mini-arc is taking longer than I had planned.
But I hope it makes the eventual establishment of the new sect/clan of the FL and what happens afterwards as a result more reasonable rather than just saying - 'The FL agreed to settle on the ML's mountain, guard it and invited all her family to help. Then greedy people tried to crush the new sect to get at their resources' :)
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