บท 126: Burning Light

"You are attacking this situation incorrectly," Tai's disapproval flowed through the link between the two of them, although Chún could feel that it was not deep, more like resigned, "you are not a Battle Cultivator; the Dark Lady has the physical combat requirement covered - while she has the attention of the Yin Worms - I think you should be playing to your strengths as a True Cultivator."

Chún furrowed his brow, taking a mental step back from the effort he was putting into blocking the peripheral yin laden winds and Essence sharpened shards of ice that were being flung out of the tornado of destruction that was screaming around the enormous worm covered valley, swallowing his impulse to snap back a sarcastic reply to his locus.

The bitter winds stung his nose and froze his tongue in his mouth when he tried to breathe, until he stepped behind a tree and let the Cloak's Essence Mist cover his head as he leaned up against it facing back into the forest away from the Yin Worm nest.

"What do you mean?" Chún asked carefully, noting the intensity of the storm was decreasing as he sent his answer down the link.

"Even if the Xuánwǔ chops all of the worms into mince meat, they will regenerate faster than she can mince them, since they are sitting on top of a set of corrupted Essence sources," Tai answered patiently, "remember, this area was originally similar to the location where your Immortals Cave is. The corruption needs to be removed before the Yin worms can be defeated."

"Un - that is my area of expertise - but such a large area?" questioned the young True Cultivator, "and additionally there is all the wild and violent Essence to consider."

"Gather all the corrupted, wild, unbalanced and damaged Essence in a small area - absorb it, cleanse it and direct the purified Essence against the Yin Worms," instructed his locus, "like what you did against the Devourers, but a step at a time and using purified Essence, rather than tapping into an Essence Spring."

"...purified Essence," replied Chún thoughtfully, his eyes brightening, "these worms rely on the corruption so purified Essence will strike against them, right?"

There was a sense of satisfaction in the link and Chún felt his lips pull back from his teeth, "I understand. Pull out their support and turn it into a weapon against them - while also repairing the damage to the Land. It does play to my strengths."

He straightened up as he spoke and dropped deeper into Essence Sense, opening his body to pull in the raw, corrosive and tainted Essence that frothed throughout the area, "small steps..." he muttered to himself, pulling the damaged Essence in through the World Tree staff which began to light up.

A small area around him, about 1 yǐn, shivered and shimmered as a the choking and damaged Essence funneled into the staff and then pulsed outward in a flash of white Essence at the base of the staff, cleansing the immediate area.

"You have to direct it," reminded his locus and Chún grunted, "En, I still have some of the Essence circulating, but…" he dropped his senses deeper and stepped out of the cleansed circle - about five zhàng towards the battle - and grounded his staff again.

The pulse of white Essence that raced outward this time reached the edge of the bowl and there was an immediate reaction from the worms that writhed and thrashed at that edge as the white Essence came in contact with them. They recoiled away from that section of the bowl like depression as if they had smelt something foul and bellowed in protest - thrashing inward headless of the immediate increase in damage caused as they threw themselves towards the center of the bowl-like valley that had been collapsed out of the side of the mountain, where the diminished Yin Storm still shredded them.

Chún could sense a figure still moving rapidly back and forth from one end of the valley to the other, worm segments and icor flying in her wake, but to Chún's Essence Sense her movements were noticeably slower than at the start of the battle. The occasional strike of deathly black energy occasionally cracked down like the black lightning it appeared to resemble, the worms it touched turning to black dust that was sucked into the violent winds, but the Guardian was definitely appearing to flag.

"As a Guardian, her abilities are now heavily restricted away from Hidden Mountain," reminded Tai, "she is battling with her martial abilities and Cultivation rather than drawing on the power of being the Lady of the North Heavens. As a full Guardian she is now tougher than she was previously, but she cannot not unleash her Xuánwǔ abilities without attracting the attention of the North Guardian of Yellow Crow. You should hurry."

Chún nodded and stepped forward another five zhàng, this time ending up about five chǐ inside the edge of the cleansed circle. Looking down he let his lip curl up in satisfaction. If consecutive purifications built up in strength and the area they affected, then… he grounded the World Tree Staff with a solid thunk, burying its base several chǐ into the ground and pulled in as much of the contaminated Essence in as he could, repeating the process of cleansing another circle.

A reasonable amount of the cleansed Essence left over from the smaller consecutive cleansings was circulating through his body and the staff, so it was slightly easier to effect a larger area and tolerate a greater volume of the corrosive Essence without causing himself damage.

The next area was twice again in circumference than the previous circle - the blast of purified Essence literally melted the corrupted Essence like flames burning through butter - as it raced halfway down the valley slope. The Scream from the surviving mass of worms literally rocked the ground; Chún stumbled then pushed himself into the air to avoid the resulting ground-quake.

"You have to do it again," Tai instructed urgently, "as big as you can manage this time!"

"Bigg…? But I am already feeling close to my channeling capacity," Chún protested, feeling his body vibrating with the amount of leftover purified Essence from three consecutive cleansings.

"Push the excess from the next one out towards the Yin Demons - you better hurry!" Chún pulled his attention away from the link to see the remaining mass of worms thrashing its way towards his direction despite the damage the recently purified Essence was doing to their bodies - curling up like frying noodles - as they attempted to reach him.

"Ah... " reminded again of the blast that he had made when fighting the World Devourers, Chún gritted his teeth and called the Staff to his hand; it snapped into his waiting palm even as he ignored the threat of the mass of worms approaching and started flying directly towards the raging creatures, deliberately pulling in the contaminated Essence as hard as he could - not bothering to control the limits of the Essence he was affecting as he moved faster and faster. The massive flow of Essence began swirling around him in a immense cyclone of wind and clouds stretching several hundred lǐ into the rotting forest outside the shallow crater to cover the entire area of stagnant and damaged Essence.

A breath is pulled in, filling the lungs...

The young True Cultivator is glowing like a falling star, blazing brighter and whiter as a roaring scream tears itself from his mouth - challenging and overpowering both the senses and the bellowing of Yin Worms - as he races towards the center of the crater; the True Cultivator is not conscious of the fact that he is screaming, all that fills his awareness is the burning pain as he tries to purify all the Essence he is pulling in from the entire valley.

He is unaware of the entire mass of worms physically lurching away from the blazing beam of purified Essence light and sound he has become in a desperate attempt to avoid being immolated; unaware as the entire wave of foul flesh tries to frantically reverse their own momentum as he slices through the wall of writhing bodies like a block of soft tofu.

Where the steadily brightening lance of power sears across the sky, the sound of the vile, screeching creatures become as quiet as a mosquito's buzz as they vanish into little more than puffs of mist; even as the cyclone of Essence draws everything together in an inescapable net, even as the great spinning current of Essence collapses the Xuánwǔ's storm...

...a streak of darkness darts upward and away, escaping from the beam of light...

… the light falls to earth in perfect stillness as it replaces the black tornado with a pillar of white, actinic light. The forms of the worms waver and shift, becoming as insubstantial as shadows.

Shadows vanish as a star was born…

...the breath is released, smoothly flowing from the nostrils.

Between breaths, an evil is cleansed.

---

Chún came to his senses, kneeling against soft grass, one hand gripping tightly to his staff. Blinking, he looked around, slowly realising he was on one knee in the center of the crater that had been carved out of the side of the mountain - the bowl shaped valley that had been the worm nest.

There was no sign of the Yin Worms now. Everywhere he looked, soft green grass and bright flowers carpeted the surfaces of the valley up to the hills that surrounded it. The air was clean and pure and Chún looked skyward to see a wine dark sky above him, with no sign of the miasma that he remembered.

"It worked…" he murmured to himself, slowly climbing to his feet, both hands grasping his staff as he rose.

"It did," replied a quiet voice, cool and matter of fact, but as he looked up at the fine, cold beauty of Lady Bingqiǎo who was standing a few steps away, Chún's senses could feel an undercurrent of something else in her tone. Her eyes were wide and something flickered in them he could not place, "Chénqiè, would appreciate - warning next time."

"Ah… oh?" Chún's face flushed as he realised that his strike with Purified Essence would have threatened her as well. He barely remembered what had happened - just pain and light, but…

""Chénqiè escaped… was being encircled - the demon worms - strike was wise... Just..." She shook her head and the tips of her lips curled slightly upward, "...Impressive."

There was a brief pause and her black gloved hands flicked up her hood and hid her lower face as she pulled up the black mask that seemed to resemble a turtle's beak now that Chún thought about it, "congratulations on your advancement, Wànsuìyé."

She bowed slightly and Chún raised his eyebrows, letting his Essence Sense circulate around his body quickly, "...True Sky," he murmured. He shook his head ruefully, "it seems my Cultivation advances every time I am forced to break my limits," he absent-mindedly flexed his fists and felt a solidness that made his previous strength seem much less impressive even as he floated into the sky effortlessly, making his earlier attempts at flying seem amateurish.

"Old records of True Cultivators say as much," the Xuánwǔ agreed, floating up to match his height, "my Palace is almost complete. I can train you in martial techniques that are less - absolute - soon." There was a hint of humor in the cool voice.

Chún shrugged, "under the circumstances, it seemed appropriate."

There was a quiet tinkle of laughter from the Dark Lady, "Indeed." She tilted her head to one side as if trying to work something out for a moment then her eyes squeezed into crescents and Chún got the distinct impression she was smiling, "Good Fight. Thank you for invitation," she paused then bowed again gracefully in midair, "with your permission, I should return to the North Heavens."

"Will I need her help anymore, Tai?" asked Chún into the link.

"No, the region is safe now," his locus assured him, "better to let her go before any of the Golden Crow Guardians notice her presence."

"Of course," Chún replied aloud, "Thank you for your assistance. I would not have been able to build up the purified Essence required for that strike if you had not held them off."

The Xuánwǔ nodded slightly, then blurred and vanished. Chún sighed and shrugged then called the World Staff to him. It flowed into a chain of odd shapes that resembled dao patterns that leaped into the air like ink and wound themselves into the familiar tattoo on his arm. Chún regarded his arm with surprise, "That was not…"

A quiet rumbling interrupted his thought and as he looked down at the ground a few chǐ below his feet, a gush of sparkling, clear water leapt up from the spot where the staff had been embedded in the ground and started collecting in the center - the lowest part - of the crater.

"Un…" Chún blinked and his locus' explanation flowed down the link - the blast of purified Essence had travelled in all directions, including downard and particularly from the base of the staff, cleansing and opening a channel for an underground water source to come up.

"En… so… where are the Essence Sources that were originally corrupted," Chún asked Tai.

"They used to be within a cave on the side of the mountain, similar to your own - so if you head towards the collapsed side of the mountain…"

"Yes…" Chún moved quickly through the air, quickly realising the scale of the area the worms had dug out of the mountainside and extended into the forest at its base. He estimated it was a at least fifty lǐ from the center to one of the outer edges - and as the young True Cultivator flew closer to the mountain side he could see that this side of the bowl shaped 'valley' extended deeper into the Mountain - almost digging beneath it.

"This must have been painful," he remarked to Tai, who sent a wash of agreement through the link, "thankfully that is not part of me any longer," his locus admitted.

In the large hollowed out area where the mountain loomed overhead, patches of corruption still lingered. Chún began to repeat the process of drawing in Essence and cleansing it sending it out every few chǐ, clearing out the last of the dirty Essence mists.

The Essence Springs were at the back of the edge of the furthest edge of the crater which dug deep into the side of the mountain. Too wide and open to be called a cave, but evidently this was the worm burrow where the largest of the Worms had lived - traces of their bodies had been permanently scarred into the rock - leaving ugly rough patterns and groves everywhere in the area around the springs of Essence that released the five main Essence types.

"This is a mess," grumbled Chún, coughing slightly at the remaining yin miasma that still clung to the walls and ceiling of the worm burrow. He decisively called out the World Tree Staff again and slammed it against the floor of the worm burrow, pushing as much purified Essence into the staff and out the base as he could while simultaneously pulling in as much of surrounding Essence as he could, cleansing it and pushing it back out through the staff again.

Sinking deeper into the Essence Sense he did not try to force any form or shapes on the changes caused by the waves of bright Essence that swept out, not even watching what was happening. Instead he let himself fall deeper into the flows of Essence - focusing on the concepts he hoped to become part of this area - his eyes closing as his forehead came down to rest between his clasped hands that wound tightly around the World Tree Staff as it began to pulse in time with the heartbeat of Golden Crow...

"Power…"

"...Protection…"

"Home… Clan… Family..."

"Danger to those who threaten… safety to those who protect...."

"...Strength… Shelter..."

"Rest… Revive..."

"Hidden… Secret… Ancient... "

"...Immortals… Sect..."

"Legends…nightmares..."

"...Whispers in the mist…"

"...justice, vengeance…"

In his mind's eye the figure of the young Consumer Heiress floated to the surface, the patterns of Essence he had observed within her becoming part of the dao patterns that spun outward. He sunk deeper into his trance, never noticing as the land itself began to shift and move around him and thick Essence Mists composed of all five colours - Green for Wood, Air and Life, Blue for Water, Gold for Metal, Brown for Earth and Red for Fire began to pour outward from the Essence Source to cover the whole area even as the shallow bowl began to rise upward as the ground beneath it began to ruble and push upward to form a second slightly, lower mountain peak wreathed in concealing mists.

---

Once again Chún found himself coming to consciousness holding onto his Staff. Unlike last time, he appeared to be standing in an enormous cave made entirely of the five types of Essence Crystal. The pressure from the level of Essence reminded him of the sensation near the cliffs that guarded the World Tree - although not quite as intense.

"Your efforts transformed the area into a foundation any Sect would go to war over," Tai's voice sounded quite pleased, "the Essence Source is finally free to act as was intended and rejuvenating Golden Crow."

Chún looked around at the reflective crystals that covered every surface, glowing with Essence. Thick Essence mists swirled around and out of the cave, condensing into liquid Essence that dripped down the points of crystals that hung from the ceiling like rainbow stalactites, although their edges glittered sharply under the omnipresent glow of Essence and the motes of Essence that swirled about the enormous space.

"I have seen this before - this is an Essence Node… Well, this is a real Treasure," he remarked, "not what I expected when I thought of the grounds for a Sect but - if they guard and use it wisely…"

"They will become very strong, very quickly," agreed Tai, "even better, the existence of the gateway into Hidden Mountain and any Essence released through it will be totally obscured by the amount of Essence the new knode and all that Essence Crystal is pushing out. Of course the Essence Crystal is also absorbing and locking most of the excess Essence as it is supposed to so it will not be obvious how much Essence is actually present without someone coming here."

Tai paused before continuing, "There is going to be a massive increase in Essence plant and animal affected life as well as Essence beasts attracted to all the Essence - especially with them being attached to my original site which already has high ranked Earth Beasts living on it - which is also useful when you need resources to establish a Sect."

"It is going to attract Consumers like flies to honey though," Chún pointed out with some dismay as he walked out of the clouds of Essence Mist and out of the mountainside, "...oh…"

He blinked in surprise as he realised that the entire crater was now situated on a new peak approximately three quarters the height of the original, expanded Mountain that Tai had become before it had advanced into a separate plane. The new peak formed a second smaller mountain that almost looked like a 'shoulder' on the original mountain that was completely obscured by Essence Mist, giving it the feeling of an island floating in the clouds.

"If this had happened at any other time, someone would have taken notice of a Treasure Land forming, but the Essence being thrown around in this area over the last fortnight has completely obscured sight," reassured his locus, "besides, the Consumers have more than enough to deal with at the moment coping with the chaos caused by the collapse of your Fairy's Sect - they had gateways all over the planet and they - all - exploded like the one near here. They are coping with a massive increase of Essence Levels and major destruction anywhere where one collapsed - especially the gates closer to population centers. Fortunately, Sect mostly tried to hide their transport gates away from cities or places they would be easily discovered by outsiders, but locations like the edges of the Fusou are very low on their list of priorities right now. As for the future… Go and examine the Dao Patterns in the mists that cover the peak."

Chún frowned and flew to what used to be the edge of the crater and was now a true valley and focused on his Essence Sense as he looked at the thick mists that flowed around the entire bowl-shaped valley.

"Hiding, Secrets, kill… no access to outsiders…" he blinked as he recognised parts of distinctive patterns - first his own, which made his eyes narrow, then…

"...huh, that is her pattern… and this place is so heavily protected no one else can get in unless one of us leads them in… she is going to have to learn how to change that…" Chún rapidly lost himself in fascination of examining the Dao Patterns.

After a Shí of moving around the valley examining its borders, the Young True Cultivator had established several things; firstly, no one was coming up here with hostile intentions without possibly an army of Peak Sky Consumers or maybe a World level or two; Secondly the valley was maybe a quarter the size the original worm-nest had been - which made it much more practical as an inner restricted area of a sect - and finally, the Dao Patterns appeared to react to his thoughts, several times shifting when he had thought that something would be better if it was modified.

"It will do that for your Fairy as well - at least as first. They should have no trouble finding caches of suitable material for constructing their Sect - at least in the beginning," his locus informed him helpfully, "that will mean she will be able to adjust the defensive and offensive Dao Patterns to her wishes as well, which is good, since you do not want to have hwe calling you down everytime they need something changed. Eventually only the Elders of the Sect will live up on the peak anyway, the rest of the disciples will spread out around the base of the Mountain as we originally intended."

"She is not - my - Fairy," Chún replied irritably before waving a hand, "the current group will all fit up here at the moment though which is probably a good thing," Chún thought out loud as he began to fly out and up the original Mountain side back towards the rift that led back to Hidden Mountain, "Will that much Essence Crystal form Crystal Guardians and Essence Sprites?"

"Almost certainly," agreed Tai, "perhaps even an Empress or at the least a General. Which is all to the better for protection of the Essence source. It will stop those consumers from getting too greedy in generations to come as well."

"Not at all what I expected when you told me about a suitable spot for them to settle," Chún admitted as he crossed back into Hidden Mountain, "well, I am looking forward to bathing and sleeping in my own home for a change." He frowned as a thought occurred to him, "I wonder how her group is doing - hopefully they have not run into any serious problems."

If Chún had been less exhausted from the day of battles and massive amounts of Essence Channelling, he might have noticed the slightly furtive air that filled the link between him and the locus.

As it was, the sensation passed before he could consciously register its presence and it was only after the young True Cultivator was fast asleep that his locus allowed itself to murmur, "Forgive me, but she cannot become dependent on us. They must be able to stand and fight without your assistance - or it will be our undoing'.