Chapter 45: Year’s End (2)
Sen had to seek out Ma Caihong’s help to come up with a gift idea for Uncle Kho. Her recommendation had been so straightforward that Sen felt a little stupid for not coming up with it himself. He was very happy that it was something he could do without traipsing all over the mountain. Sen’s recent advancement had gone a long way toward making time spent in the cold something he could handle without much thought, up to a point. A few hours, even most of a day, he could take in stride. Two days in the freezing misery of the upper mountain had informed him that he was still vulnerable to the cold if got cold enough for long enough. It might take longer for the cold to seep in and kill him, but it could still do it.
As for Uncle Kho’s gift, it took him most of a week and several wasted scrolls, but Sen finally completed the project up to a level that he found satisfactory. He tucked it away in his storage ring next to Ma Caihong’s gift. In the end, it was Sen who came up with the idea for Master Feng’s gift. He had to enlist both Auntie Caihong and Uncle Kho to make it happen. Sen was glad, for once, that Master Feng was off on another one of his excursions to dig up information about spirit beasts. It gave him time to practice with Ma Ciahong and get feedback from Uncle Kho.
Then, the day was upon them. Sen spent his morning practicing outside, as he usually did. Master Feng came out and observed him for a while but didn’t seem inclined to make any corrections. He only made one casual comment.
“I see that you’ve taken to Ma Caihong’s jian style.”
“It seems practical to have the option,” said Sen, feeling a little nervous.
Master Feng nodded. “It is. I’d have encouraged you to wait a little longer before you learned a second style, but it hasn’t seemed to hamper your growth.”
“Thank you, master.”
Sen completed his routines, cleaned up, and then banished everyone from the kitchen. He slaved over the stove for hours, obsessively checking and rechecking everything. He did let Auntie Caihong come and help him dish everything up for the meal. Then, they invited the others to join them. Master Feng stopped dead when he saw the food on the table. For a brief moment, Sen thought the man might cry. Then, Master Feng gave Sen a huge smile and sat down. They ate and ate until everyone was full.
“Thank you for the gift, Sen,” said Master Feng.
Sen gave him a bow. “You are welcome, master.”
“I suppose I have you two to thank as well?”
Uncle Kho waved it off. “I just tasted the practice runs to help them get it right.”
“I have been teaching him to cook since the two of you certainly couldn’t. I consider it part of that training.”
Feng’s eyes twinkled at their excuses.
“Since I’ve started, I may well as finish,” said Sen, standing up.
He retrieved a scroll from his storage ring and gave it to Uncle Kho. The old cultivator lifted an eyebrow and gently unrolled the scroll. His eyes went a little wide and then his whole expression softened. Sen could see the artistic, or as artistic as he could manage, brush strokes on the paper.
“Do not let the mountain ahead of you distract from the road before you,” read Uncle Kho. “One of my favorite sayings.”
Uncle Kho shot his wife a sly look, but she sat there simply radiating innocence. With that, Sen retrieved his final gift. He’d had to get Uncle Kho’s help to make the box because he needed something that would safely preserve what was inside. He held the box out to Auntie Caihong. She smiled at him as she took the box and opened the top. Her expression froze for a moment before she gave Sen a surprised look.
“A lunar winter’s heart blossom,” she said. “Is that where you went for those two days?”
“It is. I met someone up there who helped me find it. They wanted me to tell you that Laughing River bids you an auspicious new year.”
Uncle Kho groaned, but Auntie Caihong let out a delighted laugh. “Thank you, Sen, for the gift and the message.”
“I hoped that fox was dead,” muttered Uncle Kho.
“Quiet, you. Laughing River isn’t that bad.”
Uncle Kho didn’t keep going, but Sen thought he heard Uncle Kho muttering something about a red-furred menace under his breath. With his part out of the way, Sen settled back. Master Feng handed out his gifts first. He presented Uncle Kho with a scroll as well. Given the way that Uncle Kho gasped, Sen assumed it was something good. Then, he made a cauldron appear that he presented to Ma Caihong. She seemed genuinely moved.
“Ming, this is truly too much. It must have cost you a fortune.”
Master Feng dismissed that with a gesture. “Nonsense. I couldn’t find a good one, so I just decided to make it myself.”
Master Feng didn’t see the woman’s jaw drop as he turned to Sen and held out a tiny box. “This is long overdue.”
Sen opened the box and saw a dark stone ring. He picked it up and recognized it as the storage treasure it was. “Thank you, master.”
“It’s like mine,” said Feng. “Not as big, but you can keep things like food fresh in there. You can even keep plants alive in there for a while.”
“Oh, that’s always helpful,” said Auntie Caihong. “You really never know when you’ll chance across some rare specimen out there. One time, I ran across a two-hundred-year-old ginseng plant that had an ice qi attribute. I’d never seen anything like it before. The ideal situation would have been to take the plant and replant it somewhere. Of course, I was nowhere near civilization at the time. I didn’t have a good way to transport a live plant. Instead, I had to just harvest it. It still fetched a lot when I sold it, but it would have been worth so much more as a live specimen.”
Sen promptly slipped the ring onto a finger, not willing to chance even the possibility that he might misplace or lose something so valuable. Master Feng gave Sen a big smile and sat down. At that Uncle Kho turned to Sen.
“Now that we’re not hiding everything from you about cultivation stages, and you’ve solidified your gains at your current stage, I can finally give you this,” said Uncle Kho.
He extended his hand and a small booklet appeared in it. Sen reached out and took the booklet. It looked old to Sen’s eyes. In fact, it looked old enough that Sen had the sneaking suspicion that it might be valuable as well. He carefully leafed through the pages. Everything was hand-written and saw some familiar, if simplified diagrams of the body that highlighted the dantian and qi channels. He looked up at Uncle Kho.
“I’m not sure what I’m looking at,” he admitted.
“It’s a cultivation manual, Sen. Most likely, it’ll be the first of many. This one is designed to help you form more of that liquid qi, but it has some other benefits as well. Don’t worry, we can talk over all of the details later.”
Sen was overwhelmed, but he shot a questioning look at Master Feng.
“We discussed it beforehand. It’ll be a good approach for you at this point.”
Sen offered both Master Feng and Master Kho a deep bow. “Thank you, Uncle Kho. Thank you, master.”
Sen immediately started reading the manual, only to hear a loud cough from Auntie Caihong. He looked up to catch her giving Uncle Kho and Master Feng a murderous glare. The two men found interesting things to look at in other parts of the room. She took a deep breath and then focused on Sen.
“I can see now that I should have gone first. Oh well, I think you’ll still like this.”
She left the room briefly and came back with a small wooden case. She presented it to Sen, who took it and carefully laid it across his legs. He unlatched the case and opened it to find an inkstone, inksticks, and several fine brushes. Sen gently ran his fingers over the brushes. He could feel that they had been reinforced with qi. He didn’t know how much life that would add to the brushes, but he expected that Auntie Caihong expected him to use this set for years to come.
“Thank you, Auntie Caihong.”
“You understand that I expect you to send occasional letters back to let your poor old auntie and uncle to let us know that you’re alive. Once you head out into the world, of course.”
Sen laughed. “Where would I send them?”
“To your grandmother, of course,” said Feng. “I’m sure she’d be willing to hold them until someone stops by.”
“Of course,” said Sen, although he doubted that was a real long-term solution.
At that, Auntie Caihong gave her husband another withering glare and said, “I’ll go first this time.”
She accessed her own storage treasure and removed a jian. Although, it was very different from Sen’s jian. That sword came in a red-lacquered scabbard that looked like it was inlaid with gold. There was a ruby inset in the pommel, and the guard was carved to look like two dragon heads. As fine as the sword looked, Sen felt an almost instinctive dislike for it. There was something wrong with that sword. Something, Sen searched for a word that hit the right note. There was something corrupt about it. As for Master Feng, his eyes were locked on the sword.
“How did you get that?” He asked.
Ma Caihong smirked. “The old-fashioned way. I took it from his corpse.”
“He’s truly dead, then?”
“Oh yes, quite thoroughly and truly dead.”
Feng reached out and took the sword. There was a look of such malicious satisfaction on his face that Sen was startled. Feng noticed the expression on Sen’s face and sighed.
“The man who carried this blade was someone I wasted a lot of time trying to find. He spent most of his life doing whatever he wanted, and what he wanted was mostly to hurt and kill people. Of course, he knew I wanted him dead, so he ran and hid whenever there was even a rumor that I was closing in on him. He’d go underground for decades at a time,” said Master Feng before turning his eyes to Ma Caihong. “How did you find him?”
She laughed. “I didn’t. He found me. Except, he thought he was finding some lone woman in the wilderness. He was so surprised.”
Feng snorted. “Yes, I’ll just bet he was. Thank you, Caihong, for finishing my tasks and bringing me this. I’ll take great pleasure in destroying it.”
Uncle Kho gave his wife a pouting expression. “I suppose I know how you felt, now. Well, here you go, Ming.”
He tossed Feng what looked like a storage ring. Master Feng held it in his hand for a moment before he gave Kho a little grin.
“Is this what I think it is, Kho?”
“Yes, and it wasn’t easy to make. So, you’d better spread it around that that little miracle was my work.”
Feng laughed. “Of course, all credit where it’s due.”
After that, everyone fell into conversation, although Sen mostly just listened. His mind and his eyes were consumed by his new cultivation manual.
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