Lijiang moved forward, trying to get a better look at the monument. "Before we get to the history behind this courtyard," Senior Disciple Yue said, as she analyzed Chen, "why has the Elder ordered you into this lesson early?"
Her question shocked us. "Elder Yun changed our assignments after we took a job unloading a delivery to the Whispering Pass warehouse." Qin answered.
She blinked asking "And you finished the job?" her voice analytical.
I went over what we had told the Elder and about him also assigning us to unload another delivery in a week.
She blinked "How long have each of you been cultivating?" I had to think for a moment before looking at the others. "I think the earliest any of us ignited our dantian was a month and a half ago" I said cautiously.
As the others nodded in agreement, I felt a similar presence as when Elder Yun had looked at me, only much weaker. My Qi instinctively lashed out, causing Senior Disciple Yue's head to snap back.
She bowed deeply. "Apologies for the intrusion. I merely meant to measure your progress to understand the...unusual circumstances you have described."
Chen looked at me, checking for any injuries. A shake of my head told him I was alright, but he stayed cautious.
"How is it unusual for cultivators to unload eight wagons in two hours." Tang asked, her crossed arms barely hiding her finger tapping a rhythm on her arm.
Senior Disciple Yue's gaze widened in astonishment. "If you were in the third or fourth stage of the Earth realm—the Body realm, as it's commonly known—your power would be comprehensible. But you're all still in the first stage. You haven't even discovered your aptitude or even contemplating one. You should still be purifying and fortifying your bodies with Qi before reaching this point. This implies one or all of you accessed an extraordinary source to reach beyond your current limitations." Her hand instinctively reached for something, then, recalling her outdoor location before the stone monument, she subtly withdrew it.
Lijiang nodded before looking at up at a cloud making its way across the sky. "The merchant did ask me something as we got started." she said contemplating the issue. "Tang had been struggling with the first stack of sacks, when I heard something. It seemed to fill me with energy and made checking the cargo easier. The merchant had asked if I was using a technique or a formation. I told him I didn't know any and went back to work." As she finished Lijiang brought her gaze right to me.
Tang, whose foot had joined her finger in its rhythm, asked "What did you hear?"
Without batting an eye Lijiang said " Xufeng started that song."
I didn't even have to ask what song she was talking about. My father, Xanders father, had loved cadences even before he enlisted. That they always made difficult jobs easier while the two worked in the carpentry shop every weekend was an added bonus. And since I wasn't busy texting with venue management or motels to negotiate or fix a problem, I hadn't been too distracted to let the old habit take over. I had started with the classic "Hard Work", which Lijiang (Lisa) used to pretend to hate. Even though I had caught her humming it when she thought no one was around. Heck, I had been so in the zone I hadn't even realized I had been singing in English until a driver had given me strange look.
Before Senior Sister Yue could ask, I said " It's a haozi I heard as a child." A partial truth, but hopefully enough of one she wouldn't dig too deeply. But thankfully my memories as Xufeng helped make it more believable. "I learned it from a soldier from a distant land who grew tired of fighting and started making wooden toys. He said he found great joy in it, so he learned to make more things and eventually became a wandering carpenter." My father's journey before he met my mother had also included more inner demons and intoxication, but such details wouldn't have been shared with a child.
Senior Sister started tapping her chin in thought. "Did the others know this command song?" she asked
Lijiang jumped in to cover for me. "Know it! He taught it and others to all of us during free time the day before." she said with exasperation. " If I actually knew what the words meant that would be one thing..."
Senior Disciple Yue’s eyes narrowed, in suspicion. “A command song,” she murmured, tapping her chin. “So, Xufeng, you are saying you accidentally unleashed a Qi-amplifying song on your companions while unloading eight wagons in two hours?” She leaned closer, her voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper, the suspicion in her tone warring with an undeniable amusement, “And this ‘wandering carpenter’ from a distant land… did he happen to have exceptionally strong lungs and a penchant for… spirited ballads? Or perhaps this whole tale is just a fanciful fabrication?” The amused glint in her eyes that had been undeniable, died instantly, her last question more a demand for the truth. Before any of us could stutter out another partial truth, she clapped her hands together with the sharp report of a tiny thunderclap. “Excellent! A perfect demonstration of its power. Now, to truly solidify this newfound… talent… we shall see how well this method lends itself to sustained exertion.”
And that’s how we found ourselves, not back in our cozy rooms contemplating the mysteries of the universe, but rather, forming a slightly ragged line, doing laps around the immaculate courtyard. Senior Disciple Yue, perched serenely on a stone bench, would occasionally call out, “A bit more oomph in that chorus, Chen! Imagine the stone dust is extra sticky today!” or “Tang, your voice sounds a little… half-hearted. Are you sure you’re not secretly channeling your inner opera singer?” The absurdity of it all was almost too much to bear. Lijiang, despite her earlier feigned exasperation, was surprisingly enthusiastic, belting out the lyrics with a gusto that threatened to shatter the very memorial stones we were circling. I, on the other hand, was trying my best to keep my laughter contained, picturing my father, a hardened soldier, teaching me this song while I envisioned him more as a gruff blue collar worker than a spiritual guru.
As we panted our way through another lap, with Senior Disciple Yue offering sarcastic critiques like, “Lijiang, that high note was almost… otherworldly! Perhaps that carpenter was also a master of vocal cultivation?” I couldn't help but chuckle internally. This was certainly not how I'd envisioned my early cultivation journey. Yet, there was a strange camaraderie in our shared misery, a certain lightness in the air despite the burning in our lungs. Even Chen, who had looked so deflated earlier, was now chugging along with determination, his voice adding a surprisingly deep baritone to our motley choir. Perhaps Senior Disciple Yue was accidentaly correct; maybe this was the best way to truly understand the power of a good, old-fashioned, Qi-boosting work song.
When we finally stopped running, I felt less tired than I would have expected. And from what I could see, so did the others.
Senior Sister Yue was watching us with a clinical eye. Her face suddenlybecoming unreadable "That...solved part of that puzzle. I am sure Elder Yun will be pleased to learn it was the accidental use of a Qi manipulated song that helped you finish the job and not a prohibited technique or formation." she said, her shoulders losing some of the tension, her eyes flickering to the monument.
Chen, being the most energetic of us, saw the glance and asked, "If it was suspected we were doing something prohibited, then why did you bring us to a memorial designed for divination work?"
Senior Sister Yue's gaze drifted from our panting forms to the weathered stones of the monument, a profound sadness clouding her features. "This memorial," she began, her voice dropping to a low, resonant tone that commanded our full attention, "stands not just as a marker of past endeavors, but as a somber testament to a path walked and then abandoned because of tragedy. It commemorates sects, once revered for their foresight, who delved too deeply into the currents of destiny. Their obsession with glimpsing the tapestry of the future became their undoing. They saw potential threats, whispers of future betrayals, and in their fear, they acted. They purged those they deemed a future danger, creating a cycle of preemptive violence that ultimately consumed them from within, leaving only ashes and cautionary tales like this courtyard." The weight of her words settled upon us, heavy and chilling, painting a stark picture of power unchecked by wisdom.
The implication hung in the air, a silent question begging to be answered. If the Elder suspected us of using a forbidden technique, why bring us to a place dedicated to the very art of divination that had led to the downfall of others? "Divination, in its purest form, is a tool of understanding Heaven's will, not of control," Senior Disciple Yue continued, as if reading my unspoken query. "But when the pursuit of knowing tomorrow morphs into the compulsion to dictate it, when the fear of what might be overrides the acceptance of what is, then the path diverges into darkness. These stones serve as a constant, stark reminder of that divergence. The sect who once occupied this very ground were brilliant, their understanding of cosmic flows unparalleled. Yet, their ultimate downfall came not from a lack of knowledge, but from a perversion of it, a desperate attempt to sculpt fate rather than to navigate its tides. They believed they were protecting themselves, ensuring their continued existence, but in their relentless pursuit of eliminating future threats, they extinguished their own present."
A shiver traced its way down my spine, a cold sensation that had nothing to do with the lingering fatigue in my limbs. The idea of wielding power not just for immediate gain, but to preemptively alter the future, was a terrifying concept. It spoke of a profound arrogance, a belief that one could truly comprehend and control the intricate dance of causality. "Elder Yun," Senior Disciple Yue concluded, her voice barely above a whisper, "likely sent you here to impress upon you the gravity of such power, and the profound responsibility that comes with it. You are now warriors for the Empire. This is your test to see if you have the talent and the character to be trusted with more power."
"Is that why there are so few cultivators that are not martial focused." I asked, my thoughts springing from my mouth before my brain could process them. "Because people have abused other paths to the point they are now viewed with suspicion?"
With eyes that seemed to be looking at a great distance Senior Sister Yue nod. "Ever seen a cultivator chase power with blind abandon?"
My gut clenched. The memory hit like a physical blow: the earth-shattering roar, the suffocating darkness of the cell, the chilling clink of iron as chains were yanked from my wrists by an Imperial Inspector whose gaze bored holes through my soul. The air in the interrogation chamber had still tasted of ozone and desperation.
Chen, his brow furrowed in thought, his voice a low rumble, mused, "Martial arts can twist that same hunger, can't it? Power whispers to anyone. So what stops the rot from spreading?"
Senior Sister Yue’s gaze swept over us, a silent challenge. Her fingers, calloused and strong, tapped a steady rhythm on the polished table. "The Emperor's decree. The laws he carved, defining what we owe, what is owed to us. And the Inspectors, the Emperor's keen eyes, tasked with sniffing out the taint of demonic cultivation, root and branch, and extinguishing it when it threatens to consume us all."
After we separated, with us once more headed to the dining hall and Senior Sister Yue headed to the Inner Sect, I couldn’t help but feel like something was wrong. "
Qin nodded his head. "
Chen jumped in "Has anyone else thought about what affinity we might have?" He asked in the Imperial language. To anyone else it would look like he was uninterested in the conversation, but even in a now body he still used that blase attitude to show he was nervous.
Qin actually smiled at the question. "I was thinking about a book I once read. It mentioned that in music there are five notes." his answer seemed unusual, but he almost always had a logic for his thoughts that were difficult to ignore. Except about spiders. He couldn't stand the things. "And while looking at the memorial I noticed five elements repeating..." We all looked at Chen for an explanation.
His grin indicated he was going to have fun. "The Stems take the duality of Yin and Yang and add in the five elements, making the Ten Heavenly Stems. This intersects with the zodiac, or the Twelve Earthly Branches. It's used in multiple ways because there are a set number of combinations before they repeat. Which is sixty. And it follows the cycle of creation so each decade is easy to understand as either its element or number."
Qin jumped in before Chen could truly build up momentum. "It was the five elements that I wanted to really focus on. I did some reading last night before curfew. Each of them is associated with a color, a cardinal direction, just so many different aspects of the Heavens and the mortals. And if they are each tied to a specific note in music, is it possible they are tied to specific instruments?" Qin and Chen grind at each other, which was definitely a sign of trouble.
Lijiang and I shared a look of concern while Tang joined them "If there are instruments that match up with an element, do you think we might be able to use them as a tool for technics. Like instead of pushing Qi or pills into someone with a broken bone I could beat my drum and fix it?"
Lijiang, trying to restrain the growing storm of enthusiasm, cut in. "You would still need to learn how to properly manipulate your Qi so that you don't throw the body out of balance, cause the bones to grow back in a way that leaves the person crippled, or accidentally give them cancer!"
Her words caused the other three to become still at the implications. The reality that not knowing what we were doing, or how it might interfere with others brought back the lesson about the sect of diviners.
"We can't become obsessed with power." I said, looking each of them in the face. "The memorial might be a scapegoat, but there is still the danger. An unhealthy obsession can drive people to sacrifice anything and everything to fulfill it."
"So we learn." Chen said, his eyes full of determination. "Not just how to get stronger. But how to heal as well as how to hurt. How to build and how to destroy."
Each of us nodded in agreement.
"In that case then tomorrow during the rest day we will test out this theory. Chen, Tang, and Lijiang already have instruments so check if any of them overlap after supper. We don't have a flute yet," the others chuckled at my discomfort at realizing I might need to perform around people, "but I should be able to find or make one. Although if I try making one now it would be very crude."
We each had our after supper tasks. I just hoped it didn't end in disaster.