Chapter 34 - Interlude Two: Poison Master

Wind howled around the broken and jagged peaks of the Myriad Knives Mountain Range. Five hundred years ago the mountains had born a different name but that name had long been lost to mortal memory in the centuries since the Myriad Shadows Blade Hall arrived in the Purple Cloud Mortal Realm and made this mountain rage their home.

Natural defensive formations made this region treacherous to begin with, spires of jagged rock rising into the ominous clouds like knives piercing the Heavens. Narrow paths wound between sheer cliffs and wind-worn crags. Anyone bold enough to walk these paths would find themselves buffeted by stinging winds that sliced through even the thickest robes as though they were summer still, chilling to the bone the lucky few who weren't sent tumbling to their death.

One such figure cloaked in dark forest green robes covered with menacing angular black runes made her way along these deadly twisting paths as though taking a holiday in luxurious gardens. The winds whipped her soft auburn hair, revealing many places where her hair had shifted from auburn to a dark inky green.

Moments later, four figures emerged from the shadows, dim twilight reflecting dully on their wicked blades. Two carried shortened swords, the compact weapons designed to be easily concealed while still allowing Sword Cultivators to give play to the full range of their techniques. A third cultivator carried heavy-bladed knives in each hand, curved wickedly and shining with a dark purple energy that would chill the hearts of anyone not able to resist its poisonous bite.

"I'm afraid that uninvited guests aren't welcome on these dangerous paths," the man with the glowing blade said in a flat voice. A black mask covered his face with the unmoving sculpted features of a cruel demon.

"Brothers, sound the alarm!" The fourth man wasted no time, unfurling a barbed silver whip in each hand, weaving them into a figure-eight pattern as he charged forward. "She's Imperial Night Blossom!"

"Sect Master of the Myriad Death Blossom Pavilion?" One of the sword cultivators shouted in shock, drawing his blade and condensing an array of ethereal sword shadows to surround his body.

"Foolish," the woman said, raising a billowing sleeve and splaying delicate porcelain fingers to release a cloud of glittering crimson pollen in the path of the charging man with whips.

The instant the crimson pollen enveloped the man his body jerked, muscles spamming and sending him hurtling face-first into the rough wind-scoured ground at his feet. The spasms became more violent, curling his body on itself like a shrimp, bones creaking with strain as his muscles contracted violently.

The other men watched in horror as the poison cloud worked mercilessly on the man, his neck and face puffing up and turning an alarming shade of pink, his eyes bulging and bloodshot, foam spilling from his mouth. "Spider Silk," he choked out, "have revenge..."

The woman sighed heavily. "So a remnant of the Spider Silk Weavers Guild crawled his miserable way here to learn how to kill me," the woman said coldly. "Worse than foolish. Futile." Reaching into her robes the woman pulled out an ancient medallion, at least ancient by mortal standards, having been struck nearly four centuries ago. "Tell me, is this old woman welcome here?"

Starting at the medallion clutched between long pointed green nails the man with the glowing blades gulped before dropping to one knee and bowing deeply.

"Myriad Shadows Blade Hall inner sect disciple Nalan Ju greets Grand Elder Su Xian." Hearing his pronouncement, the two sword cultivators quickly followed his actions, kneeling and calling out "We greet the Grand Elder!"

Meanwhile, the man writhing on the ground felt his world crumbling away before his eyes. All this, all the years of searching, the painful training, everything he had done to reach this point only to be defeated in an instant. He was going to die here, unfulfilled and unavenged!

"Take me to the Sect Master," she commanded, stowing away the medallion. "He's expecting me. And carry this man to the disciplinary elder. The pollen I used is weak, it will wear off in the time it takes for two sticks of incense to burn, leaving nothing but unpleasant dreams. Kill him for treason or not, it doesn't matter to me," she said in a voice completely devoid of emotion.

A short time later, Su Xian was led through a labyrinth of twisting tunnels and vast caverns to arrive at the private subterranean villa of Sect Master Yurong Fen. There, in a quiet room surrounded by formations that blocked both physical and mystical methods of spying, Su Xian moved about familiar tasks as she prepared tea for the Sect Master and herself.

"I've missed your tea Junior Sister Su," the lean dark-haired Sect Master said, inhaling the rich aroma of soft green tea that carried with it hints of citrus fruits grown alongside the tea leaves. "It takes the hand of a Master to bring out so many subtle notes," he complimented with a warm smile.

"Deacon Yurong praises me too much," Su Xian said, looking at how the Sect Master had changed over the years. Despite the lack of Immortal energy in the Purple Cloud Mortal Realm, his skin remained as unmarred by time as it had been the day they left the sect in the Divine Realm. That didn't mean time had left no marks on him. His previously inky black hair had become long stands of a light devouring abyss and the shadows in the room clung to him when he moved. Dark Gray eyes had become orbs of polished steel and the aura of sharpness that emanated from the man now contained the essence of Myriad Blades rather than the pure Sword Aura he'd possessed when they arrived.

"I don't think that I do," the Immortal replied with a slight smile. Like him, Su Xian had been unable to progress her primary form of cultivating ever since leaving the Divine realm. While an alchemist of her talent could always comprehend new formulas or discover new poisons, if she took one step into the Immortal stages, the Heavens themselves would force her to ascend to the Immortal Realms. Given the restriction placed upon them, Su Xian had responded the same way he had, spending the past five centuries cultivating her soul.

It had taken the approval of a sect Elder before they departed the divine realm in order for Su Xian to obtain her unique cultivation methods. The Myriad Shadows Blade Hall wasn't dedicated to Alchemy, or anything related to the wood element. Nonetheless, once he understood her intention he'd made a passionate case for how it would benefit his sect to have a cultivator with the skills she wanted to acquire and the sect had agreed.

Much like his own appearance had altered as he became a stronger Mystic, Su Xian's appearance could be attributed to her Moonlit Soul Garden cultivation method. Within her Soul Garden she tended countless deadly plants, able to unleash their toxins directly from the depths of her soul. Four centuries ago, she'd set out from the Myriad Shadows Blade Hall to found a sect of her own but the alliance between the two had flourished in the dark places between his rugged mountains and her lush valley.

"But," he continued after savoring her delicate tea, "I didn't call you here to talk about tea. I called you hear to talk about the opening of the Blood Slaughter Jungle mini-realm."

"Oh, has it come around again?" Su Xian said, a hint of mild surprise coloring her voice. "When it didn't appear five years ago I thought we had finally reached a point that it would no longer form intersections with our mortal realm. Do you want me to send a few of my girls to accompany any young villains you're sending to temper themselves this time?"

"Not exactly. This time, you'll be leading the trip," he said. "Not for the ten days that the realm gates stay open. You'll be staying."

Su Xian frowned. "The Blood Slaughter Jungle mini-realm moves in an oblong path through the void. If it's like last time, I won't be able to return here for over a century. What's so important to commit that much time?"

"A lost mortal realm with a lost branch of the sect," he said, pausing a moment to let that sink in. "We don't know why, but this branch of the sect predates the rule of the Singing Lotus Immortal Empress Mei Lien. It might even date to the era of Hua Jue, the Illusory Butterfly Immortal Empress."

"So my mission is to do what?" Su Xian said, regaining a hint of the enthusiasm she'd commonly displayed before leaving the Divine realm. "Rush into the lost mortal realm, find the sect, and evacuate it to the mini-realm before the realm gates close?"

"No," Yurong Fen said, his face grim. "You're to seize or establish a place of power and wait for members of the lost sect to enter the realm. Make sure they survive to either ascend or exit in the next realm. If need be, you can accompany them when they leave, even if it means ascending yourself."

"That," Su Xian paused. "That's quite the order," she said, holding her thoughts close in a way she hadn't five centuries ago.

"The order didn't name you specifically," Yurong Fen said. "But you are the best person to send. You have five days to prepare," he said, offering no further details beyond a jade slip he had prepared for her. "When this mission ends, perhaps we'll share tea again," he added with a soft smile.

"Perhaps we will, Deacon Yurong," she said with cupped hands as she departed to begin her own preparations.

Minutes later, long after the tea had cooled but before Su Xian's lingering scent had faded, Yurong Fen sighed. "Would it have killed you to call me Senior Brother just once? When it's just the two of us? After all these years, is your Senior Brother Hao still the only one in your heart?"

For five hundred years, they'd walked side by side, the last four hundred of them as peers, both sect masters in the eyes of the mortal world. But still, in her eyes, he was Deacon Yurong and she was Disciple Su. Perhaps that would only change once she reunited with her Senior Brother. Perhaps then all three of them could move forward.