Listening to the Metal Mantra by Poyang Lake

In the fifth month, the locusts stirred their legs; in the sixth, the katydids fluttered their wings.

When Yunqi heard the katydids begin to sing, he knew it was time to set out.

On the morning of the first day of the sixth month, Yunqi shouldered a suitably sized bundle, fastened Autumn Water at his waist, and walked out of his home.

This time, he did not slip away in secret. He had already told the townspeople beforehand.

He pushed open the door. Though only a faint light showed in the sky, the entrance to the Cheng Household courtyard was already crowded with people. At the sight of Yunqi, the crowd shifted and opened a path.

Yunqi smiled and waved to everyone. "I'm setting out on a long journey today. Sorry for the trouble, but please look after the old house and my parents' graves."

Only then did the silent crowd suddenly burst into voices.

"Of course, of course."

"Take care on the road, Yunqi."

"Come back and visit often, young master!"

"..."

Everyone spoke at once, and Yunqi smiled and nodded in reply.

He followed the path the crowd had opened. After three or five steps, he turned to look once more at the words on the plaque beneath the eaves:

A lofty journey begins; joy and blessings arrive.

With a smile on his face, he strode away.

After leaving town, he followed the familiar road to the Rainfall Temple. This time, however, Yunqi did not enter. Like many of the worshippers, he placed three sticks of incense in the incense burner in the square before the temple gates.

As he bent to bow, he saw the temple master standing at the entrance. He raised Autumn Water and waved it a few times in the air.

Over the past few days, he had visited the temple almost daily to discuss swordsmanship with the temple master, gaining a great deal. Though the old temple master could not tell Yunqi how to follow the road ahead, he had held nothing back in recounting the detours he himself had taken. It would not have been an exaggeration to call him half a teacher to Yunqi in the way of the sword.

Yet at this moment of parting, there was little left to say.

The temple master, too, wore a faint smile as he watched Yunqi go.

The little boy attending him looked up at the old temple master and wondered, Why does Grandpa Temple Master look a little younger again? Could he really be an immortal?

Yunqi descended Graceful Splendor Mountain and headed west. On this journey, unless he encountered some natural barrier too difficult to cross, he did not intend to ride the clouds.

More than twenty days later, it was late in the sixth month, and the summer heat was steadily mounting.

Summer dawns were curious things. One moment, everything was pitch-black; then, seemingly in the blink of an eye, the sky turned a dark blue-black. Let one's attention wander again, and it became gray-white. Day broke remarkably quickly.

In a nameless mountain forest, atop a mountain of no great height, stood a dead tree. Its bark was charred black, its trunk hollow, and its broken branches bare of leaves. It looked as though lightning had set it ablaze and burned it dry.

For several miles around, this tree was the tallest thing, with nothing to obstruct it.

Yunqi sat cross-legged on a slender branch at the top of the dead tree. The summer morning breeze made both him and the branch sway gently.

The previous year, He Bingkun had told Yunqi that only when he could sit steadily on a speeding Thunderbird would his meditation skills count as having crossed the threshold. Back then, Yunqi had not even been able to stand firmly. Now his body was light as a leaf, and he could enter meditation on a thin branch in the wind. Only a year had passed.

Yunqi's eyes were lightly closed, his lips almost sealed, save for a small opening between them. As he exhaled, turbid breath escaped through that opening, and a faint "xu" could be heard. When he inhaled, wisps of wood-aspect spiritual energy entered his nose aperture, then passed into his throat aperture and through the twelve-storied tower. They completed a single-aspect wood lesser celestial circuit, becoming a strand of wood-aspect magical power that settled near his liver aperture.

Suddenly, a ray of light appeared on the eastern horizon. Crimson radiance fell across Yunqi's eyelids, and the "xu" in his mouth naturally changed to Ha, drawing in fire energy.

Had Master Sukong entered the little world of Yunqi's inner bodily landscape again at that moment, he would have seen countless crimson fireflies circling the fire mansion, a far more magnificent sight than around the other four mansions. Among those four, water and earth magical power were the most abundant, followed by wood, with metal the scarcest.

The weather was excellent that day. The clear sky looked freshly washed, without a cloud for ten thousand miles, and the sunlight blazed fiercely. When he encountered weather this fine, Yunqi was in no hurry to travel. From the hour of the Rabbit until the hour of the Horse, he did not move, drawing in the sun's fire energy all the while.

Only after the hour of the Horse had passed did Yunqi leisurely open his eyes and stop consuming energy. After that, the sun's fire energy became mixed with dusk energy. He intended to refine true yang bing fire, and consuming too much dusk energy would do him no good.

The Daoist tipped his body to one side and dropped from the tree, then picked up the bundle on the ground, ready to set out again.

This was how he had spent the better part of the month: consuming metal energy wherever he encountered mineral veins, wood energy in forests, water energy beside rivers, fire energy beneath blazing sunshine, and earth energy everywhere else. The Daoist deliberately traveled through deep mountains and vast marshes, places rarely touched by human footsteps. In the towns of the mortal world, the spiritual energy of heaven and earth was simply too thin.

Before he left, however, there was one more thing to do. He drew his sword and sliced a palm-sized piece of charred bark from the tree. He had already recognized it as a jujube tree. Jujube wood struck by lightning carried the vigorous yang energy of thunder and fire, and could be used as talisman paper for thunder or fire talismans.

It was not particularly precious, but a chance encounter with it was still enough to bring delight. Such things had always been a case of flowers carefully planted refusing to bloom, while a willow cutting casually thrust into the earth grew into a canopy of shade. When the day came that he truly wanted to find some, it would likely take a good deal of effort.

This was another benefit of traveling. As long as one paid attention, there were always unexpected delights.

Yunqi did not take more than he needed. One small piece was enough; he would leave the rest for others whose paths brought them here.

He put the lightning-struck jujube bark into his bundle, returned his sword to his waist, and set off again.

After he crossed the modest stretch of mountain forest, a rich surge of water energy rode the wind toward him, meeting the Daoist in a full embrace as he emerged from the trees.

Yunqi took a deep breath and, almost instinctively, naturally began consuming water energy with the Blow incantation.

Suddenly realizing something, he looked into the distance. To the south stretched a boundless lake, its misty waters vast and shimmering, dotted with mountain islands. Just then, a flock of white cranes flew past, making it seem a splendid realm of water.

He had reached Poyang Lake.

Poyang Lake, also known as Dan Stone Lake, was one of the Five Lakes, a great lake of a size seldom seen beneath heaven.

Three Pure Ones Mountain lay southeast of Poyang Lake. Yunqi had traveled west ever since leaving the mountain, so he should now have been at the lake's southern corner.

The Daoist walked toward the lakeshore. Having passed such a magnificent place, he certainly could not miss it. Yunqi planned to stay for a while. The abundant water energy here would allow him to accumulate plenty of water-aspect magical power. Moreover, each of the five great lakes had its own elemental affinity, and Poyang Lake belonged to metal, making it beneficial for metal-aspect cultivation as well. Places with a metal affinity were the rarest among the five elements, and metal was currently the weakest of his own five aspects.

Poyang Lake stone was also renowned. Beneath the water, there were sure to be pieces of metal essence ore with both metal and water affinities. If he happened to find three or five, he could stockpile some food for Autumn Water. Back in his dwelling at his mountain sect, Yunqi had a stone lamp given to him by He Bingkun, refined from this very Poyang Lake stone.

The great lake seemed close at hand, yet even with Yunqi's pace, it took more than two hours to actually reach its shore. That alone showed how vast it was.

Standing on the shore, he felt a little warmth in the afternoon lake breeze. The rippling gleams were like gold leaf floating on the water, somewhat dazzling to the eye.

Yunqi watched with narrowed eyes, but even straining his sight to its limit, he could not see the northern shore. He had never seen the sea, and thought, If both stretch endlessly into the distance, what difference is there between a lake and the sea?

Yunqi looked to either side. He could not see the end of even the southern shore, and had no idea where it stopped to the east or west. All he knew was that the place where he stood was lush with vegetation. Tigers roared and apes cried around him, while rhinoceroses and crocodiles gathered in herds before his eyes. Only human habitation was nowhere to be seen.

Looking around as he went, Yunqi walked along the southern shore, stopping from time to time. After about half a quarter of an hour, he finally found a choice spot.

One stretch of the southern shore jutted into the lake. It was flat ground, with nothing around it to block the morning sun, and tall osmanthus trees grew throughout. Several enormous rocks stood scattered among the trees, the largest rising a little higher than even the osmanthuses. It was a fine place to meditate and cultivate.

Most importantly, of all the places where he had consumed energy along his journey, the metal energy was strongest here. No wonder osmanthus trees grew in a grove.

Yunqi summoned the Dragon Chariot and rode a cloud high into the sky. He surveyed the area within fifty miles of this osmanthus grove, finding nothing unusual. Nor did he see anyone else's cave abode or traces of their movements. It was wilderness throughout.

Returning to the great rocks in the middle of the osmanthus grove, Yunqi decided to build himself a hut here and stay a while-perhaps a dozen days, perhaps a month or two, or perhaps until the osmanthus flowers released their fragrance.

He set down his bundle and took out a length of vine. Nine wooden bells grew on it: eight the size of fingernails, and one about half the size of his palm.

This was a set of magical artifacts called the Eight Trigrams Mother-and-Child Bells. The eight Child Bells were placed around the user according to the positions of the eight trigrams, with the user in the center. Whenever any fluctuation of magical power occurred nearby, or anything with vigorous blood and vital energy passed, the Mother Bell would ring a warning.

This was also one of the few magical artifacts Yunqi had purchased in the mountains for his travels. It had cost ten taels of snowflake silver.

He plucked off the eight Child Bells and hung them on trees roughly three miles around the great rock, following the positions of the eight trigrams. As soon as a bell approached a trunk, the stem at its top joined itself to the wood, as though it had always grown on that tree.

Returning to the center of the eight trigrams, he brought the woody vine close to an osmanthus tree. It climbed onto the tree of its own accord, needing no further attention.

A simple protective warning arrangement was now in place. Being outside was not like being within his sect. One must never harbor the intent to harm others, but neither could one do without a wary heart. If he planned to stay for a while, he still needed to make preparations.

Yet magical artifacts were ultimately lifeless things. Having a Walking Corpse or a spirit pet to guard him would have been far more convenient and safe. Yunqi had neither at present. In his pocket, there was only the corpse of an insect that did not move at all.

Yunqi glanced over the great rocks. There were four altogether, each measuring more than a dozen paces across. The smallest was as tall as a person; the largest stood two zhang high.

Yunqi chose one about twice a person's height, examined it, and gave it a pat. Its substance was reasonably solid, not brittle. He sat on the ground against the osmanthus tree bearing the Mother Bell and murmured to himself, "I hope it doesn't rain over the next few days."

From inside his robe, he took out a jade slip he had kept close against his body. It was the Guangcheng Edict of Emptiness Wish-Following Mantra.

He pressed the jade slip to the space between his brows and sent his mind into it with practiced ease. Once again, he saw the forty-nine golden characters within that boundless white emptiness. Yunqi looked at the character for Rend and, without hesitation, directed his consciousness against it.

This time, Yunqi's consciousness was again drawn into a blazing white world. It was like a hell of mountains of blades, like a vault of raining swords. Sharp energy filled every corner, and golden threads drifted everywhere. A White Tiger stretching across the horizon appeared and disappeared from view.

An illusory Daoist sat cross-legged on the tiger's back, his features indistinct. His left hand formed a seal, his thumb bent over his middle and ring fingers, while his index and little fingers extended straight, pointing directly at Yunqi.

At that moment, countless weapons throughout heaven and earth turned as one toward the direction indicated by the hand seal. They rang and shrieked, answering the syllable that burst from the Daoist's mouth:

"Rend!"

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