Chapter 57: Darkrain Mountain (Patreon)

I sat in a circle of boiling storms. The inner world formed by the Mind Tempering technique felt increasingly solid and real around me. I managed to hold the image together for almost a minute when I heard the sound of pounding on a door. My head flicked to the side, staring at the spot of open air that corresponded to the door in the real world.

Then I forced my eyes open. The image of the inner world persisted, slowly cracking apart as I stood and walked to the door. I paused for a second, retying my hair, then I removed the key that sealed the door and slid it open.

Despite being much older than me, Grim Ming was shorter than me. He stared up at me with a wary but excited expression.

“Greetings to the Scion — to Young Master Sai.” Ming interrupted himself, using my preferred name, and smiled nervously.

“Dinner already?” I asked, stepping out into the hall. Then I looked back to the door. I couldn’t leave it sealed without being inside of it. Anyone could simply come by and pluck the key away. I pocketed the key in my robes instead.

"Ah… the Elder is ready for your meeting. I was sent to find you.” Ming said.

The Elder had asked to see me after the assignment of the first Trial — capturing or killing an Omen Alligator. I frowned. Attracting the attention of an Elder of the Grim Tempest was something I was working to avoid. I hesitated.

“The meeting should not be postponed.” Ming said.

“Lead the way.”

It would be disrespectful not to hear the Elder out.

I expected the Elder to have a room high atop the tower with a massive view. To my surprise, Ming led me downward through the spiralling halls of the tower. We veered away from the animal pits, but headed deeper still, until all the light in the halls came from embedded yellow stones. Then the construction of the building took a turn.

The original creators of this place, surely the Heavenly Cloud, had a construction style that was immediately recognizeable. Large smooth surfaces, smooth carved columns, arched entry ways, and golden stones that provided light all gave way for what was clearly new construction.

Dark purple brick with harsh white lights led down a new hallway. We were underwater. There was an intensifying quantity and density of qi, much like outside the formation that shielded this tower from the climate of the Stormwall. Unlike the storm and water qi that choked the air outside, here there was a qi that sang of salt and the sea. I sensed elements of water in it, but even more so, the conceptual element of the ocean.

Blue light seemed to swim in the halls from an open doorway. As we neared it, the sense of qi prickled and stung. I turned inside and paused, not even realizing I was in the Elder’s presence until his aura washed over me.

I stared up at a transparent ceiling that showed the lake above. Shadows swam in the murky dark and the suns light cast their shadows down onto us. Pedestals and stables were covered in books and ocean element treasures. Ocean and storm-qi roiled off of them in equal measure.

I finally looked at the Elder

Elder Grim Shui had eyes that shifted like a boiling storm cloud — literally. His hair was curled and black, almost looking like a pitch black storm cloud. Yet there was nothing inhuman about his old and weathered face.

“Greetings to the Elder Grim Shui. I pay my respects.” I said, offering a clasped fist salute and bowing. I felt a nervous prickle of sweat on my forehead. It had been years since I had pulled out all the stops with such a formal address. The Feng Patriarch had eventually stopped caring that I attend political meetings and stopped funding instructors to beat lessons into me.

Elder Grim Shui smiled. It was an unnerving expression; it was like he was imitating an expression he had seen on others, rather than one that came naturally.

“Greetings Grim Sai. I’ve read your record and the reports on your cultivation. Would you give this Elder face and answer a few questions I have regarding your cultivation?”

My breathing hitched. Did he know about the System? How I had rapidly shot through cultivation stages?

“I have a report? There’s a report on me?”

Shui’s smile fell a little. It looked a little more earnest. He could read the fear on me.

“Don’t worry. There’s nothing wrong. Among the duties of the Attendants, such as Outer Disciple Grim Wen, the monthly report of the status of the cultivation and progress of the Scion’s is a foremost duty. Your personal Attendant missed many months, but that is not uncommon.” The Elder made a gesture of waving away a problem. “It includes your recent upward progression in Cultivation Realm. I can see at a glance that you’re already making progress toward the Third Realm.”

Time seemed to crawl in my perspective as I stared at the Elder Shui. What could I do if he demanded answers? I couldn’t escape him. At his cultivation realm, with his aura washing over me, he could feel my heart beat if I lied. I scanned his face. There was no malice there. There wasn’t curiosity, either. His eyes only held greed.

“Do you know that cultivators are actually born inclined to one qi element or another?” Shui asked, walking over to the pedestals at the side of the room. His eyes scanned over them one at a time.

“What?” I asked, not to clarify his confusion, but shocked at the sudden turn of focus.

“Like you, I was born with meridians which did not match the broadest of the Darkwind Scion paths. My father was from Shui, while my mother — she was a Grim Tempest Scion, no different than you or I. She gave birth to me shortly after winning the Storm Tournament.

“Shortly before my own Storm Tournament, I stole into the library of and read the texts of the Shui clan. Like you, I had hovered within the First Realm. Until I attempted to cultivate the Shui’s Tidebringer Path. Cultivating a different technique was disastrous for my foundation… but I learned to integrate the Ocean and Water qi, allowing me to gather and refine enough to form my Dantian. If a cultivator focuses on the elements aligned with their path, they will progress much faster. You understand, yes?”

Grim Shui took on the confident tone of an educator. He fell into the cadence of a lecturer with a practiced ease. He turned back to me, as if expecting me to say something. I searched.

The only thing on my mind, however, was that he had returned to the Shui after the Tournament’s end.

“You returned home to the library before heading to the Grim Tempest.”

“Of course. It is not so simple to uproot an entire life — every disciple will return to their home for their ceremonies and goodbyes before heading to the sect proper.” Grim Shui sounded impatient. I darted my eyes around the room, trying to determine what he was saying between the actual words he spoke.

Grim Shui had a room full of ocean element treasures. He was marked as a cultivator of the Darkrain path, rather than Darkwind. And he mentioned that Scions were always given the Darkrain path. Did that mean he created the Darkrain path himself? Or were cultivators given a new path after reaching the Third Realm?

He was Ocean aligned. Or at least more heavily Water aligned than Wind or Storm. Like my own Meridians were unfit to cultivate the Darkwind path and stalled my progress. He was the same.

But what did he want from me? I was too weak to be an ally or even a pawn in any political game. Unless he wanted me to lose. But if that was the case, he wouldn’t be offering me all this information for free.

“I believe that I may… be a poor fit for the Darkwind Scion path… Elder Shui.” I said. I almost said as well, or like you, but I stopped myself both times. It might not go over well to imply the Elder is bad at anything. Cultivators pride and face could be incredibly touchy.

“Do you know why an Elder would take this assignment to the Stormwall?” He asked, changing the nature of the conversation again. I hesitated.

Advanced cultivators could be erratic. Their speed of thought led them to entirely different segments of conversations before the other side had reached them, and their wide perception kept them with a constant stream of stimuli.

“I saw that the platform in the gathering hall was a formation key.” I replied quickly.

Elder Shui nodded once, seemingly satisfied.

“That’s one of the reasons. The remains of the formation created by the Heavenly Cloud redirect the storm qi through the entire Stormwall, pouring a prodigious river of power here in ebbs and flows. And the other?”

I could feel the weight of the water element treasure the Elder had thrown to me resting in my spirit ring. Of the ones around the room. I scanned the room, looking between the priceless treasures and him.

Why would an Elder invest so much time to bring resources here? Why would he invest so much time nearly making a game of questioning me?

This tournament was one of the only ways that new blood joined the sect. There was only one reason why an Elder of this caliber would volunteer here.

“You’re taking disciples.” I said.

From the way Grim Shui smiled, I knew I had answered correctly. But that smile just served to unnerve me further.

“You have impressed me. If you continue to impress me, I may invite you directly to the Darkrain Mountain after your entry to the clan.”

I offered a clasped fist salute again.

“I’m unworthy to receive the Elder’s praise.” I said.

“You don’t know how great of an honor this is.” Grim Shui said. It wasn’t hostile. It was the soft condescension someone had for a child. His deep eyes were searching my face.

“I admit I am ignorant to the workings of the Grim Tempest.”

Elder Shui’s face fell.

“Once you enter the Sect, you will join the Outermost initiates. Through hard work, merit accumulated via missions, or martial success in intrasect competition, you can be promoted into one of the more specific Mountains. Called Mountains, but there actually aren’t enough Mountains for each to sit on. Often, they specialize in different aspects of crafting… I digress. The Darkrain has a presence both in the Inner and Outer sect. In effect, you’ll be able to skip the long process of initiation to an Outer Sect.”

I hesitated. That sounded… good. It sounded like I would have the loose backing of an Elder the moment I joined the sect. I squinted suspiciously.

“Won’t I be bound to you, then? I wouldn’t be able to join any of the other Mountains?”

The Elder’s face darkened. He chuckled.

“You are as greedy as cultivator should be. If anything, it will make it easier to join the other Mountains. Don’t think that it will be so easy, though. The second Trial will not be as easy to pass as the first. Come and seek me again if you pass the second trial. I will give you more resources to progress your cultivation.”

There were definitely strings attached. They just might not be strings I could turn down. After a moment of hesitation, I saluted and thanked him again before returning to the hall. Ming met me and led me to the dining hall.