-12 Red Stones
+1 Life Essence Salve
Once Ling Qi, had finished her meal and her tea, she slipped out to pick up an extra dosage of healing salve and stored it away in her ring. The little iron loop remained her favorite talisman she thought. The ability to simply store things away without care was incredibly useful. Ling Qi was careful to keep from the main roads though and to keep an eye out for any potential watchers, although Meizhen could take care of herself, she didn't much care for the idea of being followed by Huang Da again.
She didn't see so much as a hair of him though, and so eventually she snuck off the beaten path, cutting through the scrubby woods on the lower mountain slope to reach the path crossroads Bai Meizhen had asked her to meet at.
"Did anyone follow you?" Ling QI asked as she stepped out of from beneath the darkened eaves of the trees that lay on the right side of the path. Bai Meizhen stood near the tone marker placed at the paths splitting point, her arms folded over her chest.
"Not that I am aware of," she replied quietly, seeming to have no more trouble seeing in the dark than Ling Qi did, going by the way her golden eyes tracked Ling Qi's movement. "There are few who would dare, and of those fewer still would opt for such tactics," she added with haughty confidence.
Ling Qi nodded carefully even as she cast a wary gaze around them. "Where are we going then?"
"The chamber lies near the base on the south side of the mountain," Bai Meizhen answered, turning to set off on the path leading in that direction.
"Opposite the entrance huh," Ling Qi mused, she hadn't had any reason to look at that part of the mountain. All the facilities were higher up, and even the vent was closer to the peak. She followed Meizhen in companionable silence for a few minutes. They made a visually interesting pair she mused. Meizhen's snowy white hair and skin along with her bone colored robes made her stand out in the dark, whereas Ling Qi was very much the opposite, a dark figure blending into the night's shadow.
Such musings were of little use though, and soon Ling Qi decided to break the silence. Given that they were still on the path it seemed like Meizhen had no intention of actively sneaking anywhere after all. "Bai Meizhen, do you mind giving me a little advice?"
Her friend glanced over at her out of the corner of her eye without slowing her pace. "I suppose not, what troubles you?"
"It's just… now that I've broken through to the second realm, I'm a little unsure as to how I should proceed with my cultivation, going into the third," Ling Qi admitted. "Do you have any tips? Anything in particular I should do?"
Bai Meizhen hummed thoughtfully to herself, hands clasped loosely behind her back as they began to descend the increasingly steep and rough path. "Each person's path is different of course, but I suppose there are a handful of commonalities," she responded evenly. "You're qi pool is impressive given your current level, but I would suggest expanding it significantly. Half again as large as what you have now at the very least."
"How do you know how much qi I have anyway?" Ling Qi asked, filing away the information anyway. "Is it something to do with how Cai Renxiang could tell I had broken through?"
Bai Meizhen gave her an unhappy look, and Ling Qi realized that she had interrupted the other girl. She still felt a thread of fear at the powerful girls disapproval, but it didn't reach her face, she just dipped her head in apology. "My perception art grants me such sight… You have seven meridians in use, two of which are devoted to wind, one to water, and the rest to darkness. You should be careful not to unbalance yourself toward a single element so much," she answered Ling Qi's query anyway. "I assume Cai Renxiang has a similar art, yes. Such things are hardly unknown among the better families."
"Hm, guess I won't be able to do the same then," Ling Qi responded, feeling a bit put out. She would like to able to get such detail about her enemies.
"Returning to the original query," Meizhen replied with a disapproving huff. "I can only suggest that you diversify your arts further. I have mastered four arts to the limit of my cultivation and four others to a lesser extent, in the interest of utility and a well rounded skill set," she continued matter of factly.
Ling Qi nodded, she had been thinking much the same. Her current techniques were good, but she could do to have more options than simply playing her flute or throwing knives. "What do you mean about unbalancing anyway?" She asked. "Gu Xiulan uses nothing but fire, and she seems fine."
"Does she now?" Bai Meizhen asked tartly, giving her an unimpressed look, a hint of her arrogant condescension returning to her tone. "Tell me, does she lose her temper easily, and pursue her passions with far more than appropriate intensity?"
Ling Qi glanced away, fiddling with a strand of her hair. "Sometimes yes," she admitted. "But she is so bad as you make it sound," she replied, feeling the need to defend her other friend.
"I did not say that she was," Meizhen replied simply. "Some clans choose to accept the… quirks that come with such specialization. For the Bai, we focus our arts around water, darkness, and the more yin aligned aspects of wood. It is best to use at least three elements in abundance, in order to keep a degree of personal balance."
"I see," Ling Qi murmured under her breath thoughtfully. "Is that…"
Bai Meizhen raised her hand for silence as they reached the end of the path proper, there was now only a narrow crumbling cliffside ahead and dark trees below. "We may continue this discussion later," she said seriously. "For now, let us concentrate on the path. The way is treacherous."
Ling Qi straightened up and nodded. Time to focus on the task at hand, she could consider the advice Meizhen had given later. The two of them descended the cliff carefully via a narrow ledge barely wide enough to walk one at a time. Ling Qi was certain that were she still a mortal she would have slipped several times or fallen when a bit of stone crumbled under her feet, but as she was, descending was easy enough. What came after was far more difficult. Despite the fact that the darkness was no hindrance to her the paths through the thick trees and undergrowth seemed to shift slightly each time she blinked, and the hairs on the back of her neck rose with the feeling of being watched.
Meizhen lead her confidently on though, apparently knowing the way and unaffected by the twisting of perceptions. Several times she almost lost sight of her companion only to be guided back by Meizhen taking her hand in her own, seeming to simply melt out of the twisted landscape from nowhere. She needed to work on her ability to resist such things, Ling Qi thought. She wouldn't always have Bai Meizhen with her. Perhaps she could ask later what a good method for training oneself in that regard would be.
In any case, that was what lead her to walking hand in hand with the pale girl by the time they reached the wide mouth of the cave her companion had mentioned. Unlike the crevices that she had seen up to now, this opening was a yawning hole in the side of the mountain, twice her height and nearly eight meters across. She cast one more glance over her shoulder at the twisted forest, but found now only a normal nighttime scene.
Wordlessly the two of them descended into the cave, following the shallowly sloping tunnel down into the lightless underground. She could hear the distant dripping of water, and the air soon grew cool and moist, her breath coming out in wisps of steam. Her grip on Meizhen's hand tightened as they reached another chamber, the simple beauty of it taking her breath away. Her night vision was colorless, but still the elegant natural artistry of growing stone was a sight to see, the ceiling was a honeycomb of free hanging and joined stone growths, and many twisting and smooth pillars of rock rose from the damp floor. This place was alive she could feel, and the Qi in the air was thick and cloying.
Growing Cavern: +5 to cultivation of Earth, Mountain and Water arts.
-Only one location bonus can apply to a given roll at a time.
Meizhen didn't pause though, casting a brief look Ling Qi's way before tugging on her hand. She thought she saw the other girl's lips quirk upward in amusement for a moment though. Ling Qi flushed, she must have been gaping like a fool. She hurried to follow her companion across the rounded stones that formed a path across the small, still lake that spread over the center of the cavern.
They left the beautiful cavern behind, taking another exit down and a narrower and steeper tunnel, which soon opened into a much more unassuming rounded chamber. A pair of great bronze gates were set in the far wall, carven with coiling dragons along the edges. There were four indents, two on each door in the shape of spread human hands, each pair surrounded by a complex circle of characters.
She supposed that explained why Cui couldn't do this for her.
"I do not know what lies beyond," Bai Meizhen said, finally breaking the silence between them as she released Ling Qi's hand and stepped toward the door. She saw Cui slither down to the floor from under the hem of Meizhen's gown, already growing larger with each passing second. "The door requires that we activate each at the same moment. It is simple enough, but be prepared for the unexpected,"
Ling Qi nodded cautiously, stepping up to the door alongside Bai Meizhen. "Alright, let's do this," this would be easier with arm meridians, but presumably Meizhen would have mentioned if that was needed. She could still direct Qi into the structure in front of her. She hoped she was ready for this. "So, on a three count?" She asked, placing her hands in the cold metal indentations.
Bai Meizhen nodded, Cui now at full size and coiled around her feet. "That would be appropriate I think," Ling Qi could see the eagerness in the girls golden eyes, their glow keeping making them sole spots of color in her vision. "Three…"
"Two," Ling Qi murmured in time with her, steeling her nerves.
"One," they said together, and as one they pushed their Qi outward, the vast, cold pressure of Meizhen's energy erupting beside her as her own less obtrusive qi awoke, and she exhaled, a thin stream of blue -black misty energy enveloped her hands.
The doors lit up, a dozen characters, then a hundred and then two making themselves known on the mirror sheen on the doors. Ling Qi shuddered as she felt her qi connect to something vast and aware. For an instant, she felt the crushing, impossible weight of its attention, a mountain pressing down on her shoulders, bowing her knees from the weight.
She had an instant to see Bai Meizhen shoulders shaking from the pressure and expression drawn into one of defiant determination, before darkness consumed Ling Qi's vision.
There was an instant of weightlessness and a strange floating sensation, and then Ling Qi was swaying on her feet standing on uneven stone. She blinked blearily, catching her balance on the nearby wall. She felt a surge of panic as she realized that Meizhen was no longer standing beside her, and a further one when she peered down at the floor below from the ledge she stood on.
The floor writhed. She stood on a narrow ledge halfway up the wall of narrow cavern, more of a small chasm given it's length and width. Below her though there was a veritable swarm of squirming life. Centipedes and other vermin crawled over one another making a susurrus creeping legs. Some were as small as the ones she had seen in old buildings as a mortal, others were as wide as her wrist and as long as her arm, with wickedly sharp mandibles that didn't put her at ease. The creeping things swarmed over the remains of some massive beast that lay at the bottom. She could see four limbs and a long body, including a sinuous tail, but little else under the carpet of insects. At the far end of the chasm, beyond what she thought to be the creature's head was a wide cave mouth, leading out and down.
Her eyes were drawn upward then, to the loud sizzling that had caught her ear over the sound of the vermin below. There was another opening on the ceiling, rough and circular, but wide enough for her to climb through. It dripped wetly with some kind of viscous substance though.
Ling Qi faught to keep her breathing and nerves under control and consider what she should do. This… the elders were aware of most things on the mountain… even if this was real, it was likely another test. So… what should she do? She should try to find Meizhen obviously, but she had no leads on that now, so what was her best bet?
On one hand, despite her revulsion at the sheer number of insects below… that corpse was very large. A spirit beast that huge… wouldn't it's core be incredibly valuable? It might not be present any longer, but could she really pass up a potential treasure like that? Meizhen had a real sensory art after all, if she stayed in one place the other girl would probably find her.
On the other hand.. Wading through tens of thousands of hungry biting insects didn't appeal. She might not be afraid of such things precisely, but well… who wanted to do that? She also wasn't sure she was comfortable passively waiting for Meizhen to find her. She had come to help after all, not to be rescued. There were two exits one going up and the other going down.
[] Stay, loot the beast corpse
-[] Wait for Bai Meizhen afterward
-[] Continue on down
-[] Continue back up
[] Down through the cave mouth
[] Up through the sizzling tunnel
