บท 123: Days of Madness - Disturbance
Despite the bright morning crow-light, Dàilán's heart felt uneasy as she walked with the main column. The wild Essence in the air outside the small dell the group had spent the night in prickled against her skin, a sensation immediately noticeable once they stepped outside the border of the calm and peaceful protected area.
The ebb and flow of the Essence pressure constantly fluctuating - each time the ebb less and the peaks higher, leading to a steadily increasing pressure that pressed heavily on each person - cast a serious and intense mood over the entire group of refugees as they moved through the forest as it grew increasingly overgrown.
They had spent the first shí after the Golden Crow had poked its beak over the Eastern Mountains in the dell, packing and reorganising the group for travel in actively hostile territory - warning everyone that it was likely that they would attract attention from higher leveled Essence Beasts and that everyone had to watch for areas of dangerous Essence.
The dangers caused by high Essence levels were common knowledge amongst Cultivators, even those who had never travelled the Jianghu for whatever reason, but as Dàilán described some of the difficulties she had had to deal with the last time she travelled this way, many of the older Cultivators - if any of them could really be considered 'older' - exchanged worried or grim looks, while the younger ones looked excited or frightened.
As had been discussed by the leaders the previous evening, they had pulled the patrols in towards the main column, keeping within a lǐ of the main group and the number of patrols were cut in half, with six Cultivators in each patrol. That left three additional high rank Earth Cultivators to accompany the main column along with the young Heiress - all of whom followed her example and circulated up and down the line of march to keep an eye on the lower leveled Cultivators and younger women.
The other change they instituted was something Dàilán had thought of that morning. With everyone within a lǐ distance, the Air Essence technique that her Cousin had taught her in the Market was usable. Unlike the communication jades, the Essence fluctuations did not disrupt the technique - at least not over such a short distance - although actual air turbulence beyond a stiff breeze would.
It was still better than shouting and attracting unwanted attention, so Dàilán suggested it as a backup to the communication jades, even though over such a short distance the jades did work. However, they tended to interrupt or have volume issues, either suddenly blaring or dropping beyond audibility randomly, so people were reluctant to use them - especially when some glowed and began to burn the people using them from a near overload of Essence - while the group travelled through an Essence gradient that increased sharply as they passed.
A few other household items and camping tools that used Formations to draw a charge off ambient Essence also glowed or shot off small sparks of Essence as they suddenly absorbed a lot of Essence in a very short period of time, prompting a flurry of hasty deactivations. Thankfully more robust Defensive Formations such as the ones in battle robes would need enough ambient Essence to char a person to ash before they had similar issues, but it was another reason why they could not use the protective moving Formations the camp had been using previously.
"...swarm, incoming from East..." The warning transmitted via the Air technique from one of the patrol groups shook Dàilán from her increasingly frustrated musings and she held up her right hand, in the simple signal system that everyone had become practiced in out of necessity over the past week, to indicate a threat then pointed to the East. There was a rustle around her as everyone tightened their spaces and picked up the pace, pushing Essence into their movement and battle techniques.
"Remember, we do not stop and we stay together - unless the threat has long range techniques," reminded one of the other Earth level Cultivators that had remained with the main group. Dàilán was proud to see nothing but determined expressions around her in response, as one of the younger girls added, "and do not get stuck fighting one opponent, that is for the boys," Dàilán fought back a grin as all the other women around her chorused, "we know!"
"Is there a problem, girls?" asked Dàilán with a faux-innocent tone in her voice.
"No problem, Mistress," came a saccharine voice from somewhere behind her in the group, "just that you higher levels have been repeating the same thing a lot since we left the hot springs camp. We have not had a chance to forget anything, yet!"
"We should have stayed at the hot spring," remarked another wit, prompting a ripple of laughter through the group and Dàilán let the grin out as the first brushes across her Essence strings, the sounds of fighting and a low humming buzz alerted her to the attacking Essence creatures, "we will have to settle for giving these bugs a hot welcome instead," she shouted firmly over the swell of noise and pushed her Essence through the Mountain Winds technique, guiding the blast of gale force wind towards the insects she could see appearing between the trees directly ahead of them.
Her technique broke the cohesiveness of the swarm of oversized insects and other techniques from the women around her flashed, boiled, froze, roasted or otherwise smashed large swathes or individual bugs to the ground as the the main column kept marching forward, breaking through the mass like a ship battering its way through a heavy sea - or what Dàilán supposed it might be like from her reading, as she had never been sailing.
The swarm recoiled from the personal defense Formations on the robes or defensive items of the women at the head of the column and split to avoid the lashings of offensive techniques. Deprived of a chance to gather and overwhelm their target with numbers concentrated at a single point as the column kept moving as it attacked the group of Essence insects lost cohesion half way down the column length and became a scattered mass of individuals that were easily picked off as they fled away, eliciting a small cheer from the women.
"That was weird - it almost felt half-hearted," remarked one of the older women, "I thought an Essence Swarm was supposed to be really big and dangerous"
"Speak for yourself," shouted someone else, "I hate bugs. It was satisfying, crushing so many. Only wish I thought of it in the past instead of screaming and flailing ineffectually."
"If the Dragon had ever caught any woman in the compound blasting bugs with Essence techniques, she would have made us kneel overnight in the discipline hall and write out a copy of the 'Virtuous Female' by Sage Confu," someone else retorted, prompting much giggling.
"This is better," declared a younger voice to general agreement, although Dàilán noted approvingly that despite the banter everyone was looking around alertly for the next threat - as a pained roar of some sort reverberated from ahead of them.
"Bear - Earth Level, following…" came the same voice in her ear and Dàilán grimaced, "that explains the swarm being the worse for wear," she muttered to herself then raised her voice, "single Earth level - split by groups and avoid direct combat!"
The women around her broke into five or so groups of six, the column breaking apart and splitting away from the trail with large gaps of several chǐ between them to move abreast instead of in single file. The idea was to avoid a single large attacker being able to hit the entire column - half of the women in each group raising defenses while the others prepared offensive techniques, many paling despite their expressions of determination.
The Earth Bear smashed its way out of the trees, clearly injured from a combination of the Essence insect swarm and fighting with the patrol group, its eyes bloody and clearly enraged. Dàilán frowned deeply. The fact that the patrol had broken off their attack indicated they had been forced to transfer their attention to something else, which was not good, "Clear out of its path - do not engage unless you have no choice!" she shouted, "use your long rage techniques to convince it to keep moving!"
The battle groups scattered quickly, confusing the Essence beast. It roared angrily and seemed to pick one group at random who immediately began bombarding it with techniques - causing it to recoil and turn clumsily away as Dàilán and the four other high rank Earth level Cultivators rushed in to take its attention off the weaker members, slapping or stabbing it with weapons - then using their speed to break off in a different direction each time it tried to slap, claw or bite them.
Dàilán noticed the Essence Beast's eyes and snout were swollen shut and bloody - clearly the swarm had targeted the bear's most sensitive areas; this meant that the creature was basically flailing blindly which was lucky for them - it merely attacked in the direction of the last irritant, meaning as long as everyone kept out of its way, the stronger Cultivators could 'lead' it away from the main column.
Thankfully, it only took a couple of Fēn for the bear to basically bumble past them, crashing and roaring back into the forest even as the six groups of people darted in the opposite direction along their previous line of march. The young Heiress looked around, worried about what was coming next as the four stronger Cultivator joined the other five groups of lower leveled Cultivators. What could have caused the forward patrol to let the bear through.
Making a split decision, she made the signal for defense causing the groups to come together smoothly in a defensive circle even as they kept moving - slower, but still faster than a non Cultivator would have moved - down the route that the Mountain Spirit had marked, "East Patrol - status report," requested Dàilán via the air technique, growling under her breath after a Fēn passed without a response.
"West reporting, East patrol is not responding," came from another angle and Dàilán stifled a curse, signaling for the group to hold position, "North - status?" she questioned, swearing at the lack of response - North had the BloodWitch in it - there should be no reason for them to have gone silent without warning - at this distance they should have noticed anything that could have killed them all in a single strike.
"Mistress, Air Essence increasing sharply," came a calm voice - she recognised Monitor Leng who was with the West patrol, "Essence destablis…" the technique cut out and Dàilán felt a sharp prickle of dangerous Essence sweep across her skin. Judging from the alarmed cries and stiffened postures of the other Cultivators around her they felt it too. Dàilán bolted for the nearest forest giant, "Unstable Essence Storm - everyone pick a trunk and anchor in. Do not shield actively - the wild Essence will actively be attractive to active Defense Formations. Physical and passive defensives. Activate your robes!"
"Tie yourselves to the trunks!" shouted another of the higher level Cultivators, "keep within arms reach of each other and tie ourselves together," she was suiting actions to words as everyone bolted for the biggest trees. Dàilán felt proud as despite the situation, everyone reacted calmly and followed instructions - none of these women would be Empty Vases.
Dàilán reached a tree and anchored herself to the trunk with Essence, looping the strong and sturdy rope across her shoulders in a rough harness. The other Earth level cultivators did the same - they would have to act as anchors for the lower level Cultivators as it was unlikely lower leveled Earth or Mortal Cultivators could withstand the force of gale force winds or worse.
Even as a freezing wave of heavy pressure rolled over them, Dàilán felt some relief in her heart. The loss of contact between the patrol teams and the sudden encounters with fleeing Essence Beasts should all be because of the storm. Hopefully, the patrol groups composed of purely stronger Cultivators should still be safe…
The weight of icy Essence was suddenly accompanied by screaming winds that battered her thoughts from her head and ripped her Essence threads from her grasp, even as visibility whited-out in a swirling blizzard. Icy flakes edged in razor sharp air and ice Essence lashed at her exposed skin and she hurriedly tugged the hood of her robes down over her face even as she pulled the scarf-mask up over her mouth and nose. Warm air - in comparison to the icy blasts that had been forcing its way down her throat - let her take in a breath unobstructed.
With a little concentration, she sank into a half meditative state while clinging to the trunk, observing the violent spirals of Essence that was blasting the forest. She could see the formations woven into her Essence Silk robes easily shrugging off the assault of the wild Essence so she ignored her own situation and placed her attention into the Essence that was thrashing around her, searching for the others.
The unstable Essence battered at her ability to feel the flow of Essence outside her body, quickly causing a bone-deep ache. Nevertheless, she persevered, searching for the Essence of the others in her group, using the flaring and shining of the Formations within her robes as a guide.
After three or four breaths, she spotted the first Cultivator, their personal defense formation shining brightly in her mind's eye. They did not seem to be having much trouble so she brushed past them with her focus, doing her best to communicate encouragement and confidence as her Essence brushed theirs.
Slowly she found all of the others, doing her best to linger when she located someone who was struggling, until their Essence brightened in response. When she had managed to locate everyone from the main group including the other high ranked Earth leveled Cultivators, she slowly untangled her Essence from the wild Essence that savaged it.
Coming back to herself, she found herself coughing up blood. With effort, she extracted one of Chún's healing pills and stuffed it into her mouth, fighting back the urge to vomit as her temples pounded and her Essence roiled weakly through her meridians.
The refreshing pulse of healing from the pill soothed the aches, but Dàilán's Essence felt - threadbare - for lack of a better description. She groaned softly, "that was probably a bad idea,"
as she carefully dropped back into a deeper meditation in an effort to restore her Essence; being exposed to the wild Essence had somehow shredded her own Essence.
As she circulated her Essence, she noticed that threads of it seemed burnt or frozen in addition to feeling worn or frayed. It seemed that the Ice Essence had literally frozen her own Essence, freezing it so badly that it seemed burnt.
Slowly, she circulated her essence, trying to melt and recover it. Several times she found herself coughing up additional blood, but after an unknown amount of time she came back to herself as the pressure of the Essence around her rapidly eased and the wild Essence calmed as rapidly as it had appeared.
Slowly she took a steadying breath feeling stable but tired, "I hope it is not going to be like this all day," she whispered to herself, "or we will never make the next safe area before nightfall."
Carefully, she detached herself from the trunk, looking around. Others were doing likewise nearby and she looked around at the fast melting snow, "Call out if you are in distress!" she shouted with effort, leaning against the trunk as a wave of dizziness and keeping her head down in an effort to keep from falling.
A steadying hand gripped her by the shoulder, "You seem to be in some distress yourself, Mistress," came the low voice of one of the Earth level Cultivators and she shook her head, immediately regretting it as her surroundings spun, "overexerted my Essence keeping track of everyone in the storm, I will be fine momentarily. Check the others."
"I noticed that. You should not concern yourself over this one, Mistress," there was a brief rustle as the person bowed.
"Nonsense, it is my responsibility," Dàilán refuted, waving her free hand and leaning against the tree, "go, check on the others."
"En." The other Cultivator rushed off and there was soon a soft chattering in the area as everyone gathered. There was a small commotion as the patrol groups returned; the healer was soon quickly going around checking everyone and Dàilán raised her head as the healer's technique soothed away the vertigo.
"That was unwise, Sect Leader," the Healer reprimanded her softly, "we have a long way to travel and many we could encounter many battles - we cannot afford to have you incapacitated."
"En. I know," answered Dàilán, "how is it? Did we lose anyone?"
"A few of the younger ones had mild frostbite from the blizzard and strained meridians from the heavy Essence pressure, but no serious injuries. Your symptoms are the worst," the healer answered reprovingly.
"I was worried about the others. I will avoid it in the future until I get stronger," Dàilán agreed and the Healer grunted but did not say anything further, her hands leaving Dàilán's temples a moment later and then moving away.
Dàilán looked around at the rapidly melting snow and spotted a familiar figure making a direct course to her, "Chénli," she acknowledged faintly, "are the patrols alright?"
"Better than you are from the looks of it," her bodyguard and friend observed, "everyone made it through - but if we run into much more stuff like that we will be struggling to make it to the next sanctuary before the crow-light is gone."
"How much time did we lose?" Dàilán asked in concern and Chénli shrugged expressively, "about a half Shí," she answered, "the good news is that instability appears to have scared away or killed most of the local Essence Beasts - unless they were somewhere in the Sky Levels, but we have not found any sign of those - so we should have a slightly less hazardous path for a while."
"We will only have to watch for more Essence Instabilities," the young Sect Leader and Heiress replied wryly, "pull everyone into battle groups - the Patrols are not working. We travel together."
"Separate the higher levels among the rest?" asked Chénli prompting Dàilán to shake her head, "I do not think that is wise; we still need the heavy hitting groups - but check with the other 'Elders' to see if they agree." She looked around at the thick forest where the late morning crow light was filtering dimly through the thick forest rapidly erasing all traces of the abnormal blizzard, "we need to move."
The other young woman snorted, "'Elders… hah. I will let the others know," she called over her shoulder as she dashed off and Dàilán smiled then raised her voice, "We have to move!"
---
As it happened, the other seniors thought it would be best if there were at least two higher leveled Cultivators with each group before they continued, so they travelled in battle groups of seven moving within eyesight of each other with at least two High Rank Earth Cultivators in each.
It took another Shí of the group of refugees travelling deeper into the forest before Dàilán started feeling increasing pressure from Essence again, coinciding with the visible sounds and signs of wildlife, "pay attention everyone," the BloodWitch's voice was audible via the air technique to everyone simultaneously, "we are moving out of the range of the area that Essence storm affected."
A few more Kè passed with nothing more than a few low to mid rank Essence Beasts choosing to flee their path and Dàilán was just beginning to hope that it would not be as bad as she had feared - when without any warning the pressure of Essence suddenly became crushing, driving everyone below mid Earth rank to the forest floor.
The forest floor exploded with massive columns of stone smashing through the ground, uprooting the forest giants like immense fingers spearing upward from some immense hand bursting free of a grave.
The world cracked open, gushing rents of steam and fumes blasing from sudden widening rifts as trees toppled in a sudden mad cacophony, sounding as if the very planet was bellowing in pain.
"Anyone who can move - grab the others and leave the area," the voice of Dàilán's Father resounded in their ears - this is an Earth Essence disruption. We need to get clear!"
Dàilán heard a harsh bubbling sound and saw the glow of molten rock visible from the rifts in the ground as the previously solid earth heaved like liquid. Pushing Mountain Mists she leapt across the closest one to grab two young women who were struggling against the oppressive weight of Earth Essence and leapt as another of those columns of stone thundered into the sky using her Essence to grip onto the rough stone as it lifted all three of them skyward.
"Move, move, move…" she found herself chanting as she leapt from ascending columns as they crumbled to the next on instinct. Around her she spotted other Cultivators doing the same - as the column rose into the sky, the grip of Earth Essence vanished and the lower levels were able to move again, so Dàilán released the two she had pulled off the ground to flee under their own power and spun Essence out to check for any losses.
The recent reorganisation of the battle groups had clearly allowed the high leveled to grab anyone that the Earth Essence increase had been affecting as she could not spot any bodies or missing people. She had very little time to check though, as she could not afford to stop moving.
"Are we missing anyone? Report!" Her Father's voice issued out in her ear again as she made another mad leap as the column she was riding started collapsing with the sound like an avalanche, "Dàilán, still moving," she replied, even as other voices started calling in.
There was a heavens-condemned caterwauling sound from below and she looked down to see the Forest suddenly heaving up in a single mass of green; appearing to literally be attempting to smother the area of erupting Earth.
Massive trees grown to several times their prior height - which was terrifying, considering those trees had already previously been the largest she had ever encountered - strode forward like actual Giants from the old stories, stretching massive, gnarled branches like arms to crush the rock columns and push together the rents in the Earth. She saw a massive wooden face, wrinkled like an old man, with glowing green Essence for eyes glaring up at her, as the column she was leaping from fell apart.
"What...?"
"Earth feeds Wood," came the voice of someone she did not recognise, "the eruption of Earth Essence is feeding the Forest - the trees are Advancing but the breakthroughs are out of control! They are enraged!"
"No one fall down there," the BloodWitch's voice was like steel, "they will crush us like bugs."
"The Forest is trying to soak up the Earth Essence to stop the destruction," she recognised Monitor Leng as she pushed herself off another column of rock.
"There is Fire down there," pointed out another voice, "Wood feeds Fire!"
"It is localised - get away from the Earthquake and we can move back into a less mobile part of the Forest - the Earth Essence should feed the Forest enough that it should be able to keep any Fire from taking hold - I hope," Dàilán shouted as she leapt off the last column and saw the relatively normal and unmoving forest ahead of and below her, "do not forget your falling techniques or whatever else - help the lower levels land safely - it is a long… way… down…"
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WheeledWriter
WheeledWriter A shorter chapter this week.
Part of that is because, is that even though I knew the sort of things I wanted to describe happening, I found it hard to write it in a way that felt engaging and interesting, so its late Saturday night (AEST) that I'm finsihing posting this which is more or less last minute. I don't really have the time to finish another five or six pages of a seperate subject.
The other part is that I had to move Chun's part into the next chapter simply because it was going to be too long and a completely seperate sset of events.
With the description of the first real segment covering the refugee's Hell March taking up eight A4 pages already, I decided to stop here. I hope that doesn't disappoint too much.
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