Descent from the Mountain

A Thousand Li Short Story

By

Tao Wong

License Notes

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

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Descent from the Mountain: A Thousand Li short story

Copyright © 2021 Tao Wong. All rights reserved.

A Starlit Publishing Book

Published by Starlit Publishing

PO Box 30035

High Park PO

Toronto, ON

M6P 3K0

Canada

www.starlitpublishing.com

ISBN: 9781990491320

Descent from the Mountain

“Old Master, come, sit. Rest your feet. You must be weary after climbing all the way down.”

The voice that called to him was high and cajoling, filled with fake warmth so common among merchants. Khoo Huang Shen looked over, piercing dark eyes under bushy grey eyebrows scanned over the merchant and read all his intentions in a single glance. Greed, but underneath that, desperation.

Whim took over Huang Shen and he shifted course, weaving his way adroitly around the other pedestrians in the city, cloth slippered feet brushing against tile paving stones. The rumble of slow-moving carts, some pulled by horses and others hand-pushed, filled the air as did the delectable smells of the dishes the restaurants cooked right in front of their establishments to entice new customers.

It was to the nearest small establishment, a bare half-dozen tables propped up against a wall out of the way of pedestrians, that Huang Shen walked over. Unlike many of the other restaurants, this one was empty of patrons, though the stewed lamb in one pot wafted with enticing smells.

“Old Master, come. Sit, sit. I have twenty four stewed lambs’ meat with my family’s special spices and handmade noodles. Refreshing on this day,” Gao Liang said. “I have a longan drink too.”

Huang Shen smiled. “It sounds good. Two bowls.”

“Of course, of course.” Gao Liang hurried back to his pots and table, pulling the noodles from under the damp cloth and dropping them into the boiling water. Huang Shen watched him for a little while before turning his attention away, taking in the city.

So strange that the city was here. The last time he was here, it had been but a tiny fishing village at the foot of his mountain. Now, it was a sprawling metropolis with tens of thousands of residents, a bustling metropolis of mortals and cultivators.

Cultivators.

Huang Shen’s eyes narrowed, his spiritual sense expanding to touch upon the entirety of the city. So many cultivators, almost the entire population. All trained, all clearing out their Body Cultivation meridians. Few of them had managed to clear out more than a few meridians, but all of them had started on the road to immortality. More Energy Storage cultivators everywhere, a smaller percentage by far, but enough to be different. A handful of Core cultivators, the magistrate, his head of guards, a Sect Patriarch and his visitor and the man above an expansive gambling den. The most hidden member of that elite club was an old woman by the water, washing clothes for a couple of coins each time.

“Old Master, please!” A bowl of lamb noodle soup dropped, its contents offering a delectable smell to Huang Shen.

“Good. I noticed some stewed pork and innards over there. Please, ask them for a bowl,” Huang Shen said, a hand moving over an empty portion of the table to deposit a series of coins.

Huang Shen noted how Gao Liang paused upon seeing the coins. A brief push with his senses allowed him to spot the other coins changing hands, to see the differences. Ah. They had changed the make a few years ago. His were old. Still, coins were coins, though it did mark him as different and out of touch.

“Old Master, I… must apologise,” Gao Liang said, bowing low. “Ah Shu, he refuses to deliver over here. He says, if you wish to eat, to come to his table.” At Huang Shen’s frown, he gulped but forged on. “I should also tell you that he will not let me deliver mine to him.”

“Really.” Huang Shen turned his memory backwards, to the conversation he had overheard. He did not, of course, mean to eavesdrop. It was just a consequence of his expansive spiritual sense. Anything within a few li of himself was something he sensed and noted intuitively. As for their conversation, the most remarkable aspect was the fear that he noted on Ah Shu’s face.

Fascinating.

“Come, laoban, sit. You have the time, do you not?” Huang Shen said, gesturing to the empty chair. He could see the struggle in the proprietor’s face, but once he cast a glance at the crowd who steadfastly ignored his table, he sat.

“What does the Old Master wish of me?” Gao Liang said.

“Why do you keep calling me that?” Huang Shen said. He ducked his head low, focusing on eating the noodles, slurping loudly to dissipate the heat. He took the generous slices of lamb, chewing on them and the mint, cracking the whole black peppercorns in his teeth and savouring the taste. It was rustic, basic fare but hearty. Nothing like the spiritual foods he was used to eating, but still tasty.

“I… well… your dress. Those robes, they’re old. Your feet and sandals are dirty with the red clay from the mountain, your demeanour of a sage. Even this one can see the mountain the Old Master represents,” Gao Liang said.

“A good eye and good location. You speak fairly, you cook well, but you have no customers,” Huang Shen said. “Why is this?”

“I…” Gao Liang was about to speak, only to spot the fearful look his neighbour with the stewed claypot pork shot him. He clamped his mouth shut, shaking his head vigorously. Not that Huang Shen could be expected to see any of that, since his head was buried in the noodle bowl, drinking down the broth. “It matters not, Old Master.”

Of course, Huang Shen noticed the entire byplay. The shaking head, the flashes of fear in both their demeanours. More than that, he had been tracing the trail of chi Gao Liang had left in the city as he made his way to his spot in the morning with his cart. All the way back to his residence a few blocks away where a beautiful young lady – barely more than a child, in truth – was standing over more pots of stewing lamb.

He also noticed the group coming down the road, thugs one and all. They sauntered and strutted, pushing aside pedestrians and acting like a rooster newly crowned. Six of them, each wearing a yellow-green strip of cloth around their waist to mark their allegiance and carrying smaller straight swords, closer to large knives than actual jian. Huang Shen even noticed how, behind the group, a pair of city guards had entered the street, hearing the disturbance, and then quickly turned the other way upon spotting the group.

“My other bowl, laoban!” Huang Shen said, deciding not to pursue the question right now. Instead, intrigued, he kept his senses extended over the city. There, on that street corner, another band of thugs with the yellow-green cloths. Eleven more buildings, the thugs around, some gambling dens, others brothels. Three more groups wandering the city, and next to the Core cultivator, a dozen more, lounging about.

Huang Shen was not trying to hide, and so he was only mildly surprised when the Core cultivator amongst the thugs sensed him. He felt the flexing of the Core cultivator’s chi, his imposition of his nascent dao field. It pushed against his senses and Huang Shen chose to allow himself to be pushed out as the gambling den disappeared from his senses.

Amusing.

He was halfway done with his second bowl, debating getting a third or moving over to try that stewed pork – and leaning heavily towards the latter – when the thugs arrived, making their presence known with their loud words and boorish manners.

“Gao Liang! We told you to stop opening your stall. Do you want another beating?” A heavy smack of club in hand. Huang Shen tilted his head to the side, curious as he felt the slight dao vibration that the club carried when it did that.

That man-boy, the one with the pocked face and rat-like eyes, he had a small grasp of a dao. Even in Body Cultivation stage, he had stumbled upon an understanding of a dao – a dao of thuggery, of intimidation, of violence, true, but a dao – and was wielding it.

“Ah Shu, I already paid you for this week. I have to open to eat,” Gao Liang said, his voice almost a whine.

Another smack, of stick on hand as the faithfully named Ah Shu strode over. “You know what kind of payment the Boss wants.”

“She’s too young!”

“One night, and it’s all over,” Ah Shu said, shaking his head. Then, turning to his thugs, he gestured towards the tables. “Break them all.”

All the while, the pedestrians, the commoners around them, had scurried away. Even Gao Liang’s neighbour had started packing up, putting away his bowls and hurrying his customers to finish eating. No one wanted to get involved it seemed, and everyone knew what was happening.

Huang Shen ignored the byplay, putting the second bowl down. There was still some broth, some meat and noodles left, though he had finished most of it. The longan drink he reached for was knocked over by an offending stick as a cocky leg was raised and put on the bench beside him.

“You, old man. You’re new, so you don’t know, but Gao Liang’s stall is off limits. Now, pay us for offending us, and then get lost!” Another smack of stick in hand to punctuate his statements, a not-so-subtle threat.

“You should pay me,” Huang Shen said, calmly.

“What?”

“I said, you should pay me.” Then, taking on the tone of an adult speaking to a particularly slow child, continued. “You see, you spilled my drink.”

Laughter exploded from the thugs, enough so that they stopped destroying Gao Liang’s tables and overturning his implements. Ah Shu leaned forward, resting his arm and weight on his raised foot as he used his free hand to tap the table with his stick.

“You’re funny, old man. Old and new to the city, so I’ll do you the courtesy to tell you how it works here. We yellow scarves, we’re the rulers of the city. You do what we say, and we won’t have to hurt you,” Ah Shu said.

“I thank you for the courtesy. I’ll be sure to show that to you too,” Huang Shen said, tilting his head and looking up sideways at the scrawny cultivator. “But surely the magistrate and the guards have something to say about all this?”

“They do their thing, we do ours. They handle the Sects and the cultivators and leave the mortals to us,” Ah Shu said. “Now, I think… hmmm… one tael should be enough.”

“One tael?” Huang Shen blinked. “Do you think I have that much.”

“Well, if not, we need a new door guard, don’t we boys?” Another round of laughter.

Huang Shen nodded to himself, having gathered part of the information he wanted to know. There was just one thing left, something that disturbed him. He spoke, his voice cooling a little. “You mentioned the laoban’s daughter. What kind of payment, exactly, is your boss looking for from her?”

He noted how Gao Liang shrunk back, his eyes widening at the change in tone. The thugs however were less perceptive. All but Ah Shu, who suddenly straightened and took his foot off the bench, squaring up and dropping his weight. Huang Shen ignored the signs and Ah Shu’s demand that he get up and leave.

He could even, if he so chose, ignore the stick when it swung at him. Ah Shu might have some small grasp of the dao, but it was no more than a feather’s weight. It might give his weapon a little more heft, make it strike a little truer, bend the aura of a mortal. Against his own, it would do nothing.

Still, Huang Shen decided not to flex his aura or put them down too hard. He had just come down the mountain after all, breaking his years of solitary cultivation. Making a fuss so soon after would likely make his Elder Sister laugh at him. Never mind his other peers.

He leaned back a little, letting the stick pass by. Then he tapped – gently – the man’s arm, piercing a meridian point and forcing Ah Shu to drop the stick. Another strike with his pair of fingers near the hips dropped him to his knees.

“Boss!”

“Shu Kor!”

“We’ll avenge you!”

Noisy.

Huang Shen struck and twisted, occasionally extending the aura around his fingers. He could have chosen not to do so, but then his table would have been damaged and he might have had to move from his seat. Better to stay seated and finish them off with small pokes at their meridian points. Exerting the minimum force necessary.

When it was done, the half dozen thugs were groaning on the ground, some frozen in rictuses of pain. A small gesture, and Ah Shu was dragged closer to Huang Shen. Leaning on his fist that he’d placed on the table, Huang Shen spoke.

“Now, you were going to tell me about what he wants the laoban’s daughter for.”

And, to his credit, Ah Shu knew where the wind was blowing now that the typhoon had arrived.

***

Huang Shen had not needed Ah Shu to show him the way. He could pick his way through the busy streets of the city with ease. And if he had not guessed that the Core cultivator – Boss Wang – was the man involved, the gambling nest that now boiled like an ant nest kicked over would have been clue enough. Runners had taken off, collecting the various members of the Yellow Sash group together at the gambling hall, all to wait for him and Ah Shu.

He had not needed the rat-eyed man-boy, but his presence was not unpleasant. Not once  had he stopped fearing for his life, and he started answering questions about his dao, at least.

“I did have a moment of enlightenment, Old Master.” A bobbed head, a sheepish smile. “It was when I was striking a member of the Black Tortoise. We were fighting to take over the north quarter and the Black Tortoise, they all have this style, makes them stronger. My stick kept bouncing off his arm, you see, and I couldn’t strike him hard enough.”

“Then?”

“Then I did!” A wide grin. “It wasn’t about how hard I hit, you see. It was about how hard I hit.”

“And that was all?” It would have been nonsense for any other, but Huang Shen could sense the fluctuations in Ah Shu’s aura when he spoke, in the threads of Dao. It had been a moment of enlightenment, but so shallow he could not even explain it properly.

“Well, that was the first time. I had another one a few months ago, when I was practising, you know? Just against the board… but the way it shifted, the dents in the cloth…” A shrug. “It wasn’t just the speed and weight of my stick.” Said stick hefted up. “It was how the cloth looked – how the body was angled. Each kind of hit, it’s not just about pain or breaking things. You sometimes just want to make noise or make people fear, you know?”

“Not really,” Huang Shen admitted. “It is not my dao. But it is all part of the same thing.”

A series of furious nods. “Yes, exactly!” Then Ah Shu’s face fell. “Everyone else laughs though, when I talk about that.”

“Perhaps if you broke through meridians…”

“No, no way. That’s dangerous. I won’t do that,” Ah Shu said, immediately.

Won’t instead of can’t. How fascinating. They had no more time to talk though, for they had arrived. Even without Ah Shu noticing, the crowd had parted for them, subtly pressured to step aside to allow the pair to move unimpeded through the city. A slight flex of Huang Shen’s will.

In front of the gambling house, a large group of thugs. A full score on the street, another dozen in the now-empty-of-gamblers building. Those were stronger, nearly half of them in the Energy Storage stage. It was quite surprising how strong this entire group was. Numbers enough to make the guard consider an all-out fight for sure.

“Do you think you can–” Huang Shen’s question was interrupted by the hiss of crossbow bolts fired at him. He waved a hand, long flowing robe moving with him, the entire thing shrouded with his partly solidified aura.

The crossbow bolts crashed down, bouncing off as though they had struck a particularly hard stone wall. Huang Shen’s eyes narrowed in distress. He had meant for his aura to be like clay. Obviously, he had misjudged his strength.

“Old Master!” Ah Shu gasped, surging forward belatedly to protect Huang Shen by instinct. Only to stop, when he realised that the attack had stopped.

“Go, hide in the doorway,” Huang Shen said, turning his attention to the thugs.

Well, there was only one solution to a lack of control.

Practise.

***

The doorway shattered, the pair of bodies flung through the broken wood pieces. Following close behind, a dirty robed figure with a long white beard and bushy grey eyebrows. In the street, he left behind a group of whimpering bodies, all of them clutching limbs and stomachs as their chi was blocked from moving.

The Energy Storage cultivators within were the strongest, the hardiest and most experienced members of the Yellow Sashes. They had been through numerous fights, cut and bled in fights for prestige and streets. They were hardened warriors, one and all, able to scare off even the Lieutenant of the Guards.

They lasted all of five breaths.

Then, Huang Shen was ascending the stairs.

“Tea? Or is wine more appropriate?” The speaker that greeted Huang Shen when he entered the office unmolested was calm, the drinks arrayed on his desk. It had been cleared of everything but the teapots and teacups. Behind him, a pair of paired daos hung on the wall, Spirit-level weapons to Huang Shen’s senses. Off the furnished office, another door, which led to a bedchamber. A bedchamber that had been warded from initial survey by talismans.

And which, now that Huang Shen was closer, reeked of yin chi, of blood and shadow chi and a slimy dao. Huang Shen chose not to interact with the dao, even though it too had its place in the world. It was not his path. Closer now, as he took the offered cup, he could confirm a few things with his senses.

Still, it was best to ask.

“You have been forcing yourself on the young women, have you not? To utilise a double cultivation method?” Huang Shen said.

“Never force!” A quick shake of the head. “I offer money, give incentive. They come to me on their own accords.”

“After you starve them out and beat their family.”

“Ah… that’s just business.” A smile, one that hid the probing the other was doing with his own spiritual sense. Huang Shen ignored it but to solidify his own aura control. Let the man probe, he would find nothing that Huang Shen did not choose to reveal. “The girls, they come to me.”

“Too young to have solidified their cultivation, soon after their entrance into womanhood.” Huang Shen shook his head. “And for what?”

“Why else do we do anything?” the Yellow Sash leader said, sneering. “To grow, of course. My cultivation method is faster, with the right partner. One night, and I send them back with a handful of tael.”

“And their bodies and minds soiled.” A shake of Huang Shen’s head. “Foolish, to chase after power without firming your foundations in the dao.”

“Who are you to say what my dao is like?” A growl, a hand slapping down on the table. Tea sloshed out of cups. But Huang Shen was turning around now, walking towards the exit. “Where are you going?”

No answer, for Huang Shen felt no need to answer him. The Yellow Sash leader’s actions might be despicable, but it was not Huang Shen’s place to put him down. He destroyed his own path to immortality with each step, added to his karmic burden. Yet, despicable as he was, removing him could have significant unintended consequences. The underworld in this city was stable, the number of deaths and fights minimal it seemed.

The magistrate whose city it was chose not to take action. Nor did the head of his guards. Who was Huang Shen to question their decisions? He had come here on a whim and to answer a few questions. He might walk a heretical path, but people like Gao Liang also had options. Sell their wares, leave the city. Cultivate to grow strong.

No, this was not his place to choose.

And anyway…

Noise behind him. Swords on the wall taken in hand, anger at being judged lashing out.

Huang Shen would not take action to stop a foolish cultivator from destroying his path to immortality. But he would not let another strike at him without retaliation.

And if his control was still a little shaky, well, that was a consequence of solo cultivation for so many decades. He had forgotten his own strength. Especially against some minor Core cultivator who had not even managed his third layer.

He did, however, make sure that neither swords, corpses or disintegrated building portions hurt the mortals below.

***

“Old Master, please take this one as his disciple!” Forehead pressed to the ground, arms splayed before him, kneeling on the ground, Ah Shu was waiting for him at the front of the gambling den.

A consideration. A review of their interactions.

Amusement.

“Yes.”

“Old Master, please recons–” Ah Shu froze, words catching up to him. The ex-thug looked up, realised the man had moved away, and scrambled to his feet. A few minutes of running later, he caught up to Huang Shen, who was striding away. As before, the crowd parted for them both, though this time around it seemed the action was a little more conscious.

“Thank you, thank you, tsifu!”

“Whatever. Walk faster.” A bobbed head, Ah Shu nearly jogging to keep up with the old man. “And control your breathing!”

Ah Shu automatically fell into a proper breathing pattern, drawing in air from his diaphragm rather than his chest. They passed a few blocks before Ah Shu finally grew brave enough to ask. “Where are we going, tsifu?”

“Away. We need to leave before Elder Sister hears of this. Or else she’s going to be really irate,” Huang Shen replied.

Ah Shu nodded, following after his new master. He did have to wonder though, who could scare a man as powerful as his master. A man who was at least a Nascent Core cultivator.

Then, realising his master had sped up even more while not seeming to do more than walk, Ah Shu broke into a full sprint.

He’d probably find out, sooner or later.

###

The End

Author’s Note

Thank you for reading this! I hope you had fun reading this story. Check back on the store (https://www.mylifemytao.com/shop/) to see if we released any additional short stories!

Please check out my other series, the Adventures on Brad (a slice-of-life fantasy LitRPG), the System Apocalypse (a post-apocalyptic LitRPG) and A Thousand Li (a cultivation xanxia series), and Hidden Wishes (an urban fantasy Gamelit). Book one of each series is named:

A Thousand Li: The First Step (Book 1 of the A Thousand Li series)

A Gamer’s Wish (Book 1 of the Hidden Wishes series)

A Healer’s Gift (Book 1 of the Adventures on Brad)

Life in the North (Book 1 of the System Apocalypse)

In addition, please take a look at other series/books I have co-written:

Leveled up Love! by Tao Wong & A. G. Marshall

A Fist Full of Credits by Tao Wong & Craig Hamilton (Book 1 of System Apocalypse: Relentless)

Town Under by Tao Wong & K.T. Hanna (Book 1 of System Apocalypse: Australia)

For more great information about LitRPG series, check out the Facebook groups:

●     LitRPG Society

●     LitRPG Books

If you’d like to support me directly, I now have a Patreon page where previews of all my new books can be found!

●   Tao Wong Patreon

About the Author

Tao Wong is an avid fantasy and sci-fi reader who spends his time working and writing in the North of Canada. He’s spent way too many years doing martial arts of many forms, and having broken himself too often, he now spends his time writing about fantasy worlds.

For updates on the series and his other books (and special one-shot stories), please visit the author’s website: http://www.mylifemytao.com

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About the Publisher

Starlit Publishing is wholly owned and operated by Tao Wong. It is a science fiction and fantasy publisher focused on the LitRPG & cultivation genres. Their focus is on promoting new, upcoming authors in the genre whose writing challenges the existing stereotypes while giving a rip-roaring good read.

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Short Stories in the A Thousand Li series

The Favored Son

The Storming White Clouds Sect

On Gods and Demons

Clifftop Crisis and Transformation

Imperial March

Villages and Illnesses

Descent from the Mountain

The Divine Peak

Fish Ball Quest