Immortal Connections - Chapter 38 preview

Chapter 38 - Wu Ying

Vice Minister Yu walked with Wu Ying to the gates, a small smile on her lips. The day had dawned bright and cheerful, and he found himself matching the weather, as word of his judgment had filtered in late last night. It had only taken a few days of deliberation before they had come through and now, Wu Ying was walking out the doors of the Lesser Harmonies Palace for the final time.

All through the gates and doorways, he noted quiet guards that watched. Quiet attendants swept out of the way as they finally came to the massive gates that demarcated the border between the palace and those outside. 

On the other side, clear skies, a wide expanse of white clouds that Wu Ying felt he could walk upon. He would have to, eventually. As he came to the end, he paused at the open gates and turned to her, bowing a little as he did so.

"Thank you, Vice Minister Yu for hosting me for so long."

"It was what was required," she said.

"Of course, but still..." He bowed his head again. “Your welcome has been warm and gracious. I will miss the environs of the Lesser Harmonies palace.”

“You have spent your time here well,” Vice Minister Yu said, a small smile quirking her lips. “Though you were unexpected in your goals, it seems. I would have bet that you were to join the Ministry of War or perhaps, Justice.”

“You are too kind to me,” Wu Ying murmured. “Such heights are above me. I am but a poor wandering gatherer and am content in doing so.”

She turned to regard him properly, eyes sliding along his body and then outside, all along his unseen aura. Or perhaps, not so unseen for her. “A wandering dao of knowledge and learning. No, I guess the constraints of our palaces were never yours. It seems that you might be another.”

“Another?”

“A wandering sage, a hopeful bodhisattva or an itinerant saint in the making. Perhaps a chaotic trickster like the Great Sage. One whose ties to the Jade Palace are tentative and prone to interpretation.” 

“You make it sound that it is not unusual.”

“We have stood tall for millennia, guiding the movements of immortals and mortals alike. You case might be unusual, but not uncommon. If anything, it was the debate about precedent that took so long with regard to the disposition of yourself.”

“So the orders I’ve received are… routine?” 

“As much as such things can be considered routine,” Vice Minister Yu gestured down at his hands and where the small immortal storage ring he had been able to trade for rested, the document with his orders and his pass residing within. “Your acquisition of the required herbs – or failure – will dictate the palace’s continued forbearance. Even the Great Sage bends to the dictates of the heavens at times, undertaking necessary tasks.”

No need to explain what those tasks were. After all, his great journey to the west was an immortal story, told and retold to children by parents and in elaborate plays and operas alike. The Monkey King was a familiar and popular character for children, an unrelenting force of chaos and mischief that was, eventually, tamed – by no other than Buddha himself.

“Still, it seems that the list was rather… biased?” 

All he received was a blank, polite smile at his tentative outreach. He mentally sighed, understanding that she would not offer him further details. Turning back to the exit, he noted the almost invisible outline of a gate that awaited him, one that would take him soon after he exited the boundaries of the palace.

“Are you certain that it is the first heaven that you wish to enter?” Vice Minister Yu asked once again. “You have adapted well to the heavens and your body could easily handle more intense concentrations of immortal chi.”

“Thank you for your concern, Vice Minister.” He touched the edge of a ring with his thumb, reassuring himself that the newly acquired ring was still there. “However, some of the items requested may be more easily found on the lower realms. Better for me to familiarize myself with such locations first before pushing ahead.”

“Even if the gates between worlds are difficult to find and access? And the timeline offered to you, tight?”

Wu Ying nodded and the Vice Minister smiled. “Good. If you have a plan, I shall not delay you any longer.”

“Vice Minister.” A single additional inclination of the head before Wu Ying stepped clear, letting the winds take him to the gate. He saw, in the distance, the thundering horses of the Imperial Guard, moving in their routine patrols and he wondered if Captain Mao was among the group. 

Then he reached the gate and all attention turned to it. Energy – immortal chi – drifted inwards, sucked down into the other realm like a hungry taotei. Outside of the protective boundaries of the Lesser Harmonies Palace, he felt the pressure of the greater realms immortal chi concentration, a sickness that pained his body as it infiltrated his form.

He could not last too long without the formations around the palace. Immortal chi would sicken him, poison him like too much salt or alcohol. Which was why he was leaving now, into a lower realm, to complete his tasks.

One last look at the world around. He spotted the Jade Palace, hanging high above them all, a massive edifice that was so close and yet, impossibly far away. An astounding and awe-inspiring building, the goal of so many immortals that had Ascended. A place that Wu Ying might never see again, for his own journey was so different.

Then he turned back, to the new world. The glowing edges of the doors surrounding him, his body pulling apart as the formation runes transported him across untold dimensions and li to his new destiny.