บท 120: Preparing to move the Camp
"What do you suppose the Clan Leader wants to talk to the Sage about?" Chénli asked Dàilán, as she handed clothing to her mistress in the dimness of the tent. The two of them were standing side by side, separated by a simple bamboo and silk privacy screen as Dàilán changed.
"Knowing Father, he will be asking questions and trying to make sure the Clan has not been harmed by my hasty decision," Dàilán replied from the other side of the screen as the men's clothing she had been wearing was thrown over the top of the screen.
There was a pause, "by the heavens - he did remake everything with Essence Silk," there was a pause then she continued slowly, with muted rustling indicating she was examining the new clothing, "the cut and style has changed too."
Chénli choked and held up the battle robe between outstretched arms to examine it more closely as further, more energetic rustling came from behind the screen as her mistress put on the repaired clothing, "The formation stitching on the battle robe is… gone," Chénli said slowly, putting the sleeve of her own robe against it to compare.
There was a sharp crackle and a yelp from Chénli as Dàilán came out from behind the screen in her new clothing, smoothing out the fabric with one hand and holding the pair of gloves and scarf that went with the robe in the other as she looked at confusion at her best friend, "What was that?"
"I channeled Essence into your Battle Robe because - the formations are gone - but it reacted as if they are still there," replied Chénli, still looking down at the robes shining with a metallic luster on her arm, "actually, it reacted as if the Formations are much stronger."
"He must have fixed them," remarked Dàilán, "I would have thought that would have been impossible, given how badly they were shattered."
Chénli looked up at her mistress sharply, "You did not mention that."
"I am almost certain I did," Dàilán answered calmly, plucking the robes off her bodyguard's arm, draping it over the arm of the hand that held the pair of matching gloves and scarf and moving towards the entrance, "I am going to show these battle robes to Monitor Leng and get him to evaluate the Formations. These other clothes," she gestured to what she was wearing, "are just 'plain' Essence Silk, but I should let our Formation Expert double check the battle robe and its accessories before I wear them - are you coming?" she tossed the question over her shoulder and her friend scrambled to follow her.
The pair of them stepped out into the bright morning light and markedly upbeat tone of the camp, "Where do you think the Monitor went? They were all here a kè ago," the young Heiress asked her friend idly as she looked around, "everyone seems to have vanished."
"Well, the previous atmosphere was quite awkward," Chénli pointed out delicately, "he probably went back to the command center."
Dàilán nodded sharply in satisfaction, "One move for two gains then. I need to talk to him about moving the camp to… the Sage's mountain."
She frowned as the pair started walking slowly, "I do not know what that earlier foolishness - with the Senior Enforcer practically accusing the Sage - was about," the heiress enunciated sharply as they started walking slowly through the tents, graciously inclining her head at the greetings from Clanswomen they passed, "I will have to reprimand the Senior Enforcer, her behaviour towards Sage Lin was coming close to treading on my own honour."
She eyed Chénli narrowly from the side and her friend blushed, "we… are just concerned about him. You have to admit he seems… young - and it is not just his disguise, he - feels - young. It is the dichotomy between how young he feels and the abilities he appears to have that sets… her on edge."
"She is one to talk," grumbled Dàilán, "she goes around looking like she is a girl younger than us."
"But she feels old, if you pay attention," replied Chénli, "so her strength is expected. But this… Lin, feels like he is as young or even younger than you - and yet he is behaving as if he is a high leveled Cultivator. It is concerning."
"I am nearly the equal of anyone in the camp," Dàilán answered acerbically, "no one sees my strength as strange despite my age."
"Sky level cultivation is at least acceptable, if unusual, at our age," answered her friend slowly, "but… what you claim he did - and everything else…"
"You would not be saying such things if you had seen him do what I have," fretted Dàilán, "I hope he does not take offence."
"If you trust him, why are you taking the Battle Robes to be checked?" asked Chénli skeptically.
Dàilán rolled her eyes, "and what would everyone's reactions be if I just wore them without having them tested?"
"That is true," admitted Chénli, "So you are really going to start the camp moving just on his request?"
"I believe it to be our best option at this stage," the young heiress responded flatly, "and there is a limit to how much more questioning I will tolerate."
Chénli blinked, "Mistress…? I am just advising you as I always have."
"I am grateful for it," Dàilán reassured her friend gently, "But now I am Sect Leader and Heir to the Clan - so after I have weighed the advice and made my decision - I must lead and the others will follow without further questioning. Would Grandmother or Grandfather have allowed others to question their decisions once made?"
"It would have been most disrespectful," replied her bodyguard slowly, "calling in question their ability and position… en, I see… I apologise, Mistress."
"I do not mind questions and input before - in fact, it is vital. But once I make the decision…" Dàilán trailed off as they reached the command tent where Monitor Leng could be seen bustling about.
"I understand and agree, Mistress. I will remind the others," Chénli dipped her head in acknowledgement and Dàilán sighed, "I will have to be firm with the Senior Enforcer - no doubt she is unhappy that such a young person is now her leader."
Monitor Leng noticed the pair of them and came over, making a respectful dip of his head as he drew near, "Sect Leader, how may I be of service?"
"Is the camp prepared to start travelling again, Monitor?" asked the young heiress firmly.
"Yes. You wish to start moving towards the Sage's territory?" confirmed the Knife Security and Formation specialist.
"Precisely. As soon as possible - before anyone who might be interested in our whereabouts is able to start looking with far sight techniques. You can answer anyone who asks about contacting anyone back in Hujian, that we will contact any allies once we are established and protected, but for now we must remain unreachable."
The other Cultivator bowed slightly and turned to a couple of younger women who were standing nearby, "Pass the word. Prepare the camp for rapid travel."
The girls nodded and darted off into the camp as the Monitor explained, "with the jades not working, we have had to fall back on old-fashioned methods."
"Good thinking," Dàilán praised, then she adopted a serious mien, "But I mainly came to speak to you about these," she raised her arm with the battle robes draped over it.
Monitor Leng's eyes lit up, "I presume those are the robes the Sage said he would repair?" Without further words, he reached out, took them from Dàilán's arm and moved quickly over to a long bench that was situated to one side of the command table, covered with various esoteric tools and instruments. Following behind him, Dàilán recognised a number of items as relating to creating, maintaining and monitoring Formations.
Monitor Leng had a slightly manic look in his eyes and was mumbling under his breath as he laid the robes out on the bench, "...no formation, stitching, embroidery… gone… Sss... all Essence Silk… En…" he looked up and waved over another young lady standing nearby, "did any of the Guan battle seamstresses escape with us?"
"I believe several apprentice seamstresses are in the group, Enforcer," reported the other young Cultivator, "Should I see if one is available to assist?"
"If you please, Runner Ni," agreed the Monitor as the girl grinned and dashed off like a rabbit into the tents.
Chénli blinked in surprise, "Runner?" she asked, her eyebrows rising in question as Leng looked over at her.
Monitor Leng had the grace to look faintly embarrassed, "Some of the younger girls that were sent out from the Guan Clan - not all of the Peak Mortal levels went with the other two Guan Heiresses. But Mortal levels cannot really help with the Formations or actually fight against more than other Mortals, so they have been mostly helping with the physical odd jobs of maintaining the camp - their Cultivation makes them as strong as a adult non-Cultivator and they have enough Essence to use basic tools act as nurses and put up tents and so on - freeing up stronger Cultivators to fight."
Dàilán held up her free hand, her brows creased in concern, "I was not aware that we had - any - Mortal level Cultivators with us; I was under the impression that Earth Level Cultivators were the lowest rank in the group."
His hands went back to the robes, bending back over the bench as he spoke, "Some of the youngest - and a few of the older girls with lower Cultivation. Either they were just too old to be adopted or too insistent that they fight."
"How many?" asked Chénli, "Eight of them," replied the young Monitor, "by the time they were discovered, it was too late to send them back and their number seemed auspicious - it would have invited bad fortune to try and break off a group to return them to the city."
He shrugged, "When the jades stopped working they all volunteered to work in shifts - so there are always some waiting here to let me issue instructions to the rest of the camp. They started calling themselves Runners. Something of a point of pride for them I think, so I make a habit of using the title when I can. They have certainly earned it."
"I think I saw a few of them fighting some of the lower level Mortals in groups during the battles with Grass," remembered Dàilán, "but I am glad they are focusing their efforts where they can be the most effective."
"I am thinking they will come in handy when I have to start reforming our intelligence apparatus," agreed the Monitor and the young heiress nodded, "appropriate."
"This analysis will take a while, Sect Leader," reported the Formation Master after a few breaths of time, standing straight from the bench and studying the glyphs that flared over an instrument as he waved it slowly over the cloth, "I can tell already that there are powerful formations within the Essence Silk itself, rather than embroidered or sown into the robe - at first glance, they appear to be enhanced versions of the formations that are sown or embroidered into the battle robes we usually commission from the Guan. More specific details of how it was done and what the exact changes are and thus, if it is safe to use the robes, will take some time. The Seamstress will help - I might need someone from the Essence gardens as well, by the looks of this cloth - it almost seems grown rather than woven."
"We shall leave you to it then," agreed the Heiress, stepping forward to the bench to deposit the gloves and scarf on the bench beside the robes, then stepping back as the bustle around them began increasing in pace and volume - obviously the directive to start packing the camp was spreading, "I will go and look for the Senior Enforcer," she declared as Chénli paled beside her.
---
Dàilán returned to the command area half a Shi later, with an expressionless BloodWitch following a half pace behind her on the Heiress' left side with Chénli matching her steps at Dàilán's right shoulder while looking resolutely ahead.
The late morning crow-light beat down on the trio as the hurried, organised chaos of the camp reworking itself for travel spun around them. The Monitor looked up as they arrived, a pair of older women working beside him, murmuring to each other as they gestured, spinning out techniques towards the robes and muttering over the results.
"Sect Leader, I have given orders to pack away the tents entirely," Leng began without preamble, "I venture to anticipate from your earlier statements that we will not need to keep the camp in a battle state with the Sage guaranteeing our safety - that means we should be able to move quicker towards our destination."
"I believe you are correct," agreed Dàilán, "still, I will check with the Sage when I find him."
"Before you go looking for him, we have the results of our examination of the Battle Robe," explained Leng, barely containing his excitement.
"Ah, excellent," answered Dàilán, "are they safe to wear?"
"We believe so, Mistress," answered the two women who had left the bench and had approached, bowing. Their expressions were enthusiastic, "can you ask the Sage to share with us how he made this robe? With a product like this - we could easily become very powerful. Cultivators would pay a great deal for such powerful robes."
"It is likely a secret - and even so, I would rather reserve such powerful treasures for our group for now," cautioned the young Heiress firmly, "Can you explain what you have discovered?"
"The honored Monitor is correct," said the Apprentice Essence Gardener, "this cloth was grown into this form - not woven. The formations in the cloth are part of its normal structure."
"I am not sure how it is possible," added the seamstress, "I could not find any seams of separate threads - all the decorations and components are one contiguous robe. It was not fused together into one piece with the usual techniques - the signatures for those sorts of techniques are missing."
"The Formations seem to be a natural part of the cloth," ended the Monitor, "rather than added onto the robe or even woven in. And they are much more powerful than the original Formations when energised. Sky level attacks do not damage it or anything it is placed on - as well as protecting from a much wider range of effects - including cooling, drying and warming as appropriate for the environment. I estimate that it would fetch a kingdom's ransom at an auction."
"That seems a little exaggerated, surely. Otherwise such robes would make anyone wearing them invincible," responded Chénli skeptically.
"They draw a substantial amount of Essence from the wearer - though not as much one might expect for such powerful formations; they also do not cancel out inertia transfer - if you are hit with a great force, for example, you will not receive the concussive effects - but you will still be bodily thrown away unless you can counter the force of the impact yourself. It is also cloth still, so it has the potential to shift and expose vital points during movement - more so than say, leather, bamboo, jade or metal armour." Leng rattled off this explanation in a single breath, his eyes gleaming, "the Formations are remarkable - the only place I have seen anything close is in the very oldest forms that I was shown while I was within the Heart."
"And of course, there are the natural properties of Essence Silk to consider," added the seamstress, "there is a reason why Essence Silk is restricted to the Imperial families of the various Empires."
The Essence gardener grunted in realisation, "actually, keeping this secret is probably very wise. At least until we are strong enough that others discovering we have it does not bring destruction on us."
Monitor Leng nodded wisely, "A Treasure too great for one's strength is a calamity, not a blessing," he intoned an faux-wise sage sort of tone, causing the other women to smile.
"En. Monitor, if I could have my robes back, please?" Chénli moved over to the bench and picked up the robes at Leng's bow of agreement. "Yes Sect Leader - it gives me a feeling of security that you are wearing such a strong defense."
"I will see if I can convince the sage to provide similar robes for everyone, but…" Dàilán trailed off as her friend brought the robe over, opened it and held it out. Dàilán stepped backwards into it then wrapped it around herself, leaving the hood down - channelling Essence into the silk.
It tightened around her to fit itself perfectly to her and Dàilán felt a refreshing coolness ease the growing heat of the morning.
"It is likely that robes like this are not easy to make," warned the Monitor, "I expect there will be limitations on how many items like this can be made at a time, how quickly they can be completed - or both."
Chénli handed her the gloves and scarf that accompanied the robes. The young Heiress pulled the gloves on then tucked the scarf around her neck and down the collar of the robes. Instead of making her feel overly warm, she felt an additional burst of freshness from the scarf around her neck. Blinking, she thought for a moment, then pulled the scarf up in the position she normally had it to hide her features.
She breathed in and felt the cool air of an early morning fill her nose and mouth. Breathing out, the fabric over her mouth and nose did not move - as if carved in stone, rather than cloth, "useful, it conceals my breath and purifies the air."
The Monitor nodded, "I think we can add similar Formamations to our own clothing - I have a lot of ideas about modifying and creating my own versions that can be stitched into our clothing."
"That would be a better idea than trying to get the Sage to remake all our robes," suggested Dàilán, "I am guessing they will not be the same as his?"
"I have no idea how those Formations were created," admitted the Monitor, his eyes blazing with an almost fanatic fervour, "they are almost like smaller versions of the formations formed by the changes in the landscape - and I have no idea how he did that either," he turned away mumbling to himself about the Heart and other things Dàilán could not hear as he wandered back to the bench, gesturing with his hands in the air.
The other two Cultivators exchanged glances and bowed awkwardly to Dàilán before turning to follow him.
"Lost him," remarked Chénli with a sort of exasperated fondness, "He is often like this. Now that he is not as perverted as before he experienced the Heart, it is almost cute when he gets wrapped up in his research."
Dàilán laughed, "I am not offended. I need to go and find Father and the Sage anyway."
---
Walking around and talking to various people pointed them towards the hill behind the camp. The three of them headed in that direction, only to see two figures coming down the hill towards them as they exited the edge of the camp towards the base of the hill.
Dàilán halted and waited for her Father and Chún to reach them.
"Lan'er," greeted her father once they were a few steps away, "Your new friend Lin is not bad. He has convinced me that you made a wise choice."
Dàilán bowed, "Thank you, Father. I have ordered the camp to make ready to travel."
Her father studied her for a moment before nodding, "En. We should move towards Lin's mountain as soon as possible."
"That is my thought also, Father," agreed Dàilán, nodding. She turned slightly to face their new ally, "Sage Lin, I have permitted the camp to be packed away to maximise our travelling speed. We will be unable to maintain our defensive Formations as we move this quickly - although we can establish them once we stop for the night."
Lin shook his head slowly, "it is good that you will not maintain the traveling defense formations - they cause conflicts with the Natural Dao. I will protect the group as they travel - although I recommend you still have defense teams out to guard against roving Essence Beasts that do not answer to me. Do not raise your Formations in my lands - they are causing damage."
"But if the Formations are prohibited…" Dàilán slowly protested and 'Lin' held up a hand. A moment later a small miniature diorama of the landscape between the camp's current location formed out of the ground between them - like a map made of earth in three dimensions.
"You will find naturally protective formations created by the landscape - here, here, there, there, here and here," 'Lin' pointed out the relevant locations on the relief sculpture map with the butt of his staff and the spots he touched glowed with white Essence, "You can stop for the night at these locations and the camp will be safe unless there is a sky level beast tide. If that happens - I will arrive before it does to help defend the camp."
Chénli looked at her mistress and indicated the 'map' with a tilt of her head, "I will go and get the Monitor" and vanished in a blur. A few moments later, she reappeared with Leng beside her, who immediately went down on one knee to study the map intently and hold out his soul tablet over it for a breath of time.
"Remarkable," he breathed, then nodded and rose back to his feet, "I have it. I will plan our route to match. Now if you excuse me, I must get back to directing the preparations for travel - we will be ready within the shi." He bowed and vanished in a blur.
"Well, that is that," remarked 'Lin' stamping his staff lightly on the ground, causing the map to crumble and vanish back into the dirt, "Princess, you know the route. Please lead your group towards the village. I will let the villagers know to expect you - the village is a suitable basing area until you survey the area around the Mountain and decide where to establish your new Clan or Sect - it has the basic amenities I am sure many of you are beginning to miss."
"That is true," agreed Dàilán, "will the village be able to accept so many travellers at once?"
"I will make sure of it," replied 'Lin'. He hesitated and looked at the group, "One last thing - if you do have to kill any Essence Beasts - make sure the carcasses are completely harvested - especially their Essence Stones."
Dàilán blinked, "I am sure we would be glad for the Cultivation resources, but why do you feel the need to remind us?"
"This is the Wilderness, Sect Leader," the BloodWitch spoke up stiffly from her spot at Dàilán's left shoulder, "The high Essence levels mean a risk of Essence Wraiths - the corpses will reanimate and come after us for vengeance if you do not remove their Essence Stones."
"Yes," 'Lin' shuddered, "All it takes is one Essence Wraith coming after you - you never make that mistake again."
"That sounds unpleasant," agreed Dàilán, "We will pass the word."
"Take care and I will see you at the Mountain then," 'Lin' bowed and exploded into a thick cloud of Essence Mist. When it cleared, he was nowhere to be seen.
Dàilán looked around at the stunned expressions on everyone's faces and shrugged, "I told you."
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WheeledWriter
WheeledWriter So... this was for some reason a difficult chapter even though I knew exactly what had to happen in it. It fought me down to the last lines and the late hours of Saturday night.
I hope that the writing is up to standard. If anyone spots any serious issues I may have overlooked, please let me know
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