91 'One Mountain Cannot Contain Two Tigers'

Taken aback at the Tiger's - Bái's - enthusiasm, Chún blinked rapidly a few times, then slowly shook his head, automatically infusing his voice with Essence to let it carry over the howl of the occasional, gust of wind, "I am not a blacksmith, I do not have the skill or the knowledge. I was only just learning how to extract pure metal Essence - my locus knows how metal is formed naturally, even metal hearts… I just sped up the process with my Essence."

Bái's eyes flashed, but he remained lazily draped across the rocky surface of the mountain that had been warmed from Chún's efforts, seemingly unconcerned by the harsh winds infused with metal essence that swirled around the peak or the acrid stench of burning metal, his voice a slow rumble, "What were you planning to do with a heart of metal like that then?"

"Well, my locus was going to show me how Essence Forging is usually done… it can show me memories of anything the Land has seen - all hundreds of thousands of years of forging..." Chún replied uneasily, somewhat unnerved by the mystical Beast's intensity, "...and I was going to modify those techniques so I can forge directly using Essence… and Dao Patterns… like I worked out with pottery…"

The pressure from the human form tiger seemed to increase and Tai's link with him recceeded to a faint feeling in the back of his skull. He sucked in a breath in distress and with as much steadiness as he could muster, he bowed his head slightly in respect and asked. "May I ask how I have given any offence, Prince Bai?"

The Tiger Prince looked surprised, before frowning, "You have not - although it seems a waste to use such exquisite material on pots or pans."

"Then could I request your Highness restrain your… domain…? It is making it difficult to contain the metal heart," Chún pointed out as politely as he could under the circumstances.

Bái's eyes widened, then he suddenly looked abashed, his 'headdress' ears drooping "My apologies, I had not realised I was releasing my domain," he brightened up as the pressure rapidly decreased and pointed at the young teen, "hey - you are strong, though - you were not even showing any discomfort! We should share pointers."

Chún let out a relieved breath as his link to Tai opened back up and the restless metal sphere calmed, "Please convey my thanks and welcome to the Tiger Prince," Tai's voice rumbled down the connection between them.

The young teen true cultivator smiled, "I do not know I would provide you with much challenge, your Highness - my only fighting skills are learnt from watching the Monkey Movement Dao and being beaten on by the son of His Majesty the Flood Dragon. Tai says thank you and welcome, by the way," he tapped his temple by way of explanation.

The Tiger Prince leapt to his feet and bowed respectfully, "The honour is mine, Great Mountain. I accept your welcome and pledge my strength to protect this world in return."

Chún's essence sense suddenly resonated, with the sound and feeling of a great gong being struck. Tai's voice spoke out from everywhere like a rolling earthquake as the ground trembled, "Pledge accepted - White Tiger of the West. A Mountain can have only one Tiger King. Defend the Mountain."

The 'King' symbol on Bái's 'headdress' glowed brightly as its ears pricked forward and his ice-blue eyes brightened with a desperate hope - as well as glowing with Essence. A massive, partially transparent, Essence illusion of a soundlessly Roaring Tiger suddenly appeared behind the burly young man as he went proudly to one knee and clasped his hands together in a martial artist's fist-in-palm in acceptance.

"I accept!" His voice roared and rumbled in time with the illusion as the mountain shook in response.

A moment later, he sprang to his feet laughing uproariously, "Yes! Glorious! Finally, no more wondering about my destiny!" He swung around and clasped Tai on the shoulder, then danced back to circle around the molten metal still roiling in the air, bouncing on the balls of his feet, "My friend, White Tiger Kings are famed for their skill in working metal. My Father taught me - and as I was not wasting my time trying to battle my way up his mountain, I achieved some skill in it! Come, such magnificent material must be made into a weapon - it will be a work of art! And now that I am to be a true Guardian Beast, I need to have a custom weapon to defend this world with! As payment for this metal heart, I will teach you how to Essence Forge and create wonders!"

Chún was thrown out of his concentration as Bái's enthusiastic explanation and 'friendly' slap slammed him forward off the boulder; he only managed to save himself from sprawling face first onto the jagged and rocky surface by grabbing his staff still embedded in the rock. Panicked, he clutched at the World Tree staff and tried to refocus on the molten metal in desperation - then realised it had not changed in the slightest despite his own predicament - it hung there serenely.

"I have it. I told you, Tigers work metal. The metal heart will not change its state until I let it," Bái spoke authoritatively, turning to face him, "And now that I am the Tiger King, it is part of my domain in this World and in my control."

His face split into a fierce grin as the headdress' ears rose, "Lesson one of forging a mighty weapon - you must know its wielder fights!"

Then the young man leapt for Chún, his right fist already drawn back in a mighty punch, "Watch my fist!"

The sudden turn of events left Chún completely confused; he was still trying to understand what was going on when The World Tree staff in Chún's hands reacted by collapsing and flowing up his arms like a pair of bracers. The sudden loss of support sent him tumbling to the ground as his Cloak burst outward in a cloud of Essence Mist that concealed his form.

Chún instinctively converted his fall into a roll away, his eyes widening as the boulder he had been sitting on split with a sharp crack as the Tiger's fist slammed into it with a sound like a sledgehammer - and chips of stone keened past his ear like shrieking ghosts as he rolled rapidly away from his previous location.

The Cloak contacted tightly into its armour form, wrapping around him like flowing liquid as he came out of his roll, the World Staff reforming into its usual shape with a thought as he rapidly pushed Essence into it - widening and lengthening it. The Dao patterns under its black lacquer-like surface gleamed as it surged and extended then cracked out like a whip, flexible rather than solid.

Bái leapt aside as the tip of the black whip parted a few bits of fur from his 'tiger-skin' cloak, chuckling, "Yes! Not bad. Again!" The Tiger Prince bounded forward with powerful leaps of his legs, powerful thigh muscles visibly clenching and releasing under tanned skin as he lunged towards Chún. His right arm curled outward from his shoulder, swinging inward in a massive open handed slap, the fingertips curled like a tiger's claws.

"What are you doing?" Chún yelled in frustration as he let his Essence flow into Snake Movement Dao patterns - sliding sideways and outwards to the right, dodging the blow. It whiffed past his left ear and smashed into the ground - causing the surface to crack further and setting lose scree to jump and rattle.

Seeing an opportunity, Chún breathed in a lungful of the knife-cold air, acrid from smelting fumes and slid from Snake patterns into the Monkey Movement Dao - his black whip reforming into a staff, extending and smashing at blurring speed towards Bái's right ribs in a single attack.

The Tiger Prince's right foot curled powerfully, the leg muscles bunching as it pushed his body faster forward, upward and away from the strike. "Tiger comes Down from the Mountain!" he roared as his waist twisted around in midair; the partially transparent Essence illusion of the immense tiger reappeared, surrounding his falling body as he and the illusion pounced downward in tandem - arms outstretched with claws to grasp and tear Chún's shoulders as his legs swung forward towards Chún's stomach - and the hind clawed feet of the illusion reached out to gut him.

Chún swept the staff upward, slamming it into the falling target. Bái's hands and the illusion's clawed paws struck out at the staff, but instead of deflecting it away, sparks flew - and the illusion flickered and vanished as it made contact with the surface of the staff.

Momentarily scrambling to defend himself, Bái bellowed in shock at his complete failure to make any impact on the piece of the World Tree. Chún switched back into the Snake pattern and twisted away, using the force of the staff hitting his opponent's body to push the young True Cultivator out from under Bái's attack, even as the staff strike redirected the force of the Tiger Prince's falling body away and into the jagged, rocky ground with a crushing thump, sending up a cloud of dust, grit and fine stone chips.

Chún slid to a stop next to the metal sphere at the centre of the broken and shattered surface of the small mountain peak, blowing out the smell of fine rock grit and the stench of heated metal in distaste.

"To learn how to Essence Forge weapons, the forger needs to learn how the person who will wield it fights," repeated the voice of the Tiger Prince as he strode out of the dust cloud, rock fragments pitter-pattering and clicking as they fell back to the rocky surface, "Anything else would be a waste of a Heart of Pure Metal like this."

The young teenager held the staff warily across his body in a defensive posture, ignoring the sharp gusts of wind, "I may not know much about forging, but I know than any Master Forger would disagree with telling a complete novice to start with crafting a weapon."

Bái growled and shook his head, the 'headdress' shaking from side to side as its ears flicked upward in reflection of Bái's mood, "I will be forging. You will be observing, providing the Essence and assisting me with laying down the Dao patterns - you are able to sense and weave Patterns, yes?" He walked up close to Chún and stood on the balls of his feet, looming aggressively with his arms crossed.

Chún narrowed his eyes, ignoring the intimidating body language, "It is interesting you know that."

The Tiger Prince huffed irritably, "White Tigers that have held their Heaven up long enough can rise to Legendary Demi-God Level Beasts, True Cultivator. My father has been King of the Mountain in his Heaven for a very long time. He knows a great deal about True Cultivators - which he taught me."

Chún chuckled, "In that case, you probably know more about what a True Cultivator is supposed to be able to do than I do - but, putting that aside - what does this have to do with fighting?" He grounded the staff emphatically with a heavy thud, its Dao Patterns still glowing.

Bái grinned, his headdress tiger ears flicking from side to side and dropped his heavily muscled arms from his chest, "You said you learnt how to fight by learning Monkey Dao and," his face twisted as he turned and spat to one side, "Snake Dao, by fighting or watching fighting…"

The young teen's mouth dropped open and he dragged a palm down his face as he understood, "You want me to learn Tiger Movement Dao - and… somehow add the Dao patterns into the weapon…"

"Obviously," The Tiger Prince extended right arm, wrist and thumb out and upward vigorously - the tiger ears on top following suit, "if my weapon fits with the way I fight, then it is going to be much more effective…"

"And how much would an Essence Forger charge to create such a weapon normally," Chún drew his brows down, glanced at the molten sphere of metal still spinning slowly in mid air, radiating a welcome heat against the wind - and then looked back and glared at Bái, "not to mention that I appear to be providing the very rare materials required."

The Tiger Prince grinned dangerously, "Fair trade for learning the Scared Forge Arts of White Tiger and the White Tiger Martial Style," he shrugged unrepentant as the tiger ears flicked forward, "besides, no Essence Forger living that I know of has the ability to naturally add Dao Patterns to a Forging. Most Essence Forgers use family techniques, pushing their Essence into the Forging and adding special materials to create an opportunity for a weapon to potentially develop patterns during forging."

Chún scratched his head, "It still is an unfair trade. I know," he spoke quickly, raising a hand to forestall Bái's objections as he opened his mouth, "the style of the White Tiger is one of the Four Sacred styles that can encompass all movement."

Bái subsided, clear surprise visible in his expression and the cant of his tiger ears as the teen True Cultivator continued.

"I also know that learning from a Master Forger is a rare opportunity - but I would still need to be beaten to an inch of my life before I learnt the White Tiger Movement Dao well enough to be able to incorporate its patterns into forging," he rolled his eyes at Bái's bloodthirsty grin and nod, "we would be using the heart of metal I was able to create, we would be doing something only I can accomplish, according to your own words - and - we will be using my Essence and my control over it. I want something else to balance the scales."

As Bái's eyebrows rose along with the tiger ears, Chún shrugged, "I can always just study Snake Movement Dao with Shé Yin," he grinned at the Tiger Prince's disgusted look, "until I learn the Dragon Movement Dao."

Bái's nostrils flared, the tiger ears folded and he grunted, but his eyes were sparkling with enjoyment, "It is good you do not just accept the first offer," he held up a finger, "one favour."

"I wish to continue learning forging from you even after this weapon is completed," countered Chún solidly, "in addition to one favour."

The Tiger Prince threw his head back and laughed then held out his right arm, "Deal."

Chún nodded solemnly and clasped it at the forearm in a warrior's greeting, "Deal." After a moment the two young men released each other and jumped to the edges of the small summit.

"Now, we battle!" declared Bái emphatically, sliding into a ready stance, the tiger ears standing straight up.

"It took me days of sparring with Shé Yin to grasp even part of the Snake Movement Dao," Chún replied, "can you hold onto the metal heart for that long? Will it not cool? And, I do not really wish to fight for days on end…"

"En, it will be fine, it will not take you days - a shi at most," replied Bái dismissively, "you know what you are looking for after doing it twice before - focus on watching the Dao Movement patterns while we spar."

Chún sighed and then pulled the Wild Essence that was already scattered around the mountain summit from their previous clash through his staff, cleansing it and strengthening him as he channelled the resulting pure Essence. The excess essence burst out of him in a wave of Essence that sank into the small mountain, sending ripples across the surface of the molten sphere and blowing back the fur of the Tiger's 'outfit'.

While Bái was still blinking, his tiger ears gone flat at the sudden rise in Essence Levels, Chún charged - holding his body low to the ground - blurring across the jagged, rocky surface at his opponent.

"An afterimage!?" yowled the young strongman as his hackles raised in warning; he leapt to avoid the striking staff as the True Cultivator's form standing on the other side of the shattered surface of the peak blurred and vanished.

"You are fast, True Cultivator," growled Bái as he landed and slid slightly where Chún had been only a shùn before.

"My name is Rén Chún, Tiger Prince," responded Chún, standing where Bái had started from, "and we do not have to do this - there must be a better way for you to teach me the Dao Patterns you need to be added to the metal than this."

"Too much talking," snarled Bái, tiger ears flat as he lunged across the intervening space like a bolt of white lightning.

Chún's Essence Sense had seen the unfurling of Dao Patterns within the Tiger's form - the same ghostly image of the White Tiger pouncing superimposing over Bái's body; the shùn the Dao pattern began forming Chún was already moving left; Bái's attack missed his right shoulder by a háo. The Essence charged material of the Cloak swirled and splashed away from the razor sharp winds that wrapped around the Tiger illusion, fighting to protect Chún from damage.

The Cloak's efforts were only partially successful; Essence sparks flew from the skin of his shoulder as he slammed his staff into the rock to keep the slipstream from pushing him off the peak. Holding onto the embedded staff with his left hand, he charged his right arm and fist with Essence, the Cloak's Essence wrapping around his fist in a swirling, glowing cyan blaze as he slammed it into Bái's left ribs.

Well, that was the idea. There was a sharp grunt from Bái, but Chún's arm was forced down by an immense force into the rock. There was a deafening thump as the Essence was discharged and exploded in a bright blue-white flash, flinging both of them away - and Chún up into the air.

Chún controlled his Essence and slid to a stop in mid-air into a Monkey Crouches on Branch stance - the staff out and behind him, floating about a zhàng above the summit - watching Bái rolling across the ground below in a cloud of dust and stone fragments as he fought to gather his feet underneath him with a frustrated roar.

"Any good ideas," the young teen thought desperately down the link to his locus, "I cannot defeat him."

"You should not be trying to; the Tiger Prince may not be at demigod cultivation level yet but he is certainly several levels above you; if you push him into a serious fight, he will tear you apart. And Tigers are not known for their forbearance once irritated," warned Tai, "the point of this is to learn the Dao Movements from the White Tiger martial art, not to win the spar."

Chún blinked, the Essence flows and Dao Patterns he had seen inside and around Bái flashing through his mind's eye, suddenly recognising that his relative position in midair to the Tiger Prince was ideal for…

...his Essence shifted straight from Monkey, through Snake and connected into a Dao Pattern he had seen in his Essence Sense less than half a kè previous. As his Essence flowed into the Dao Pattern, Chún's staff snapped in half, flowing into black liquid that surged up his forearms and over his fingers to form wickedly clawed gauntlets - engraved with glowing Dao runes - as an immense illusion of a glowing white tiger wrapped around his body.

The Essence mists of the Cloak exploded into a thickly glowing fog, filling in the soundlessly roaring illusion with blue stripes, highlights, electric blue eyes and white 'fur' as it formed around him and obscured him completely.

All of this takes many words to describe; but less than a niàn passed between Bái's frustrated roar and Chún's body vanishing inside the 'White Tiger' that had snapped into existence in midair. A stunning vociferation of "Tiger comes Down from the Mountain!" thundered out of the Essence Form's gaping maw - in defiant answer to the Prince's own frustrated roar as it pounced onto the still scrambling Tiger Prince.

Bái looked up, eyes widening in shock and tiger ears crumpling to fold against his skull. The illusion flashed downward like a homesick meteor, just missing the Tiger Prince in an thunderous explosion of Essence sparks and lightning as Bái lunged to one side. Essence twisted and exploded into a bright flare - and then there were two Tigers facing each other.

Both gigantic beasts lunged at each other simultaneously, the cyan and white illusion less than a niàn behind the movements of the Tiger Prince's own, mirroring each attack and defense, sparks flying as claws clashed against fur or Essence.

Waves of Essence and hot, acrid smelling wind washed out with each thunderous clash, sending the Molten Metal Sphere at the center of the summit trembling. A moment later, it darted into one of the deep fissures that still glowed a dull red form the True Cultivator's earlier extraction and smelting. Then a pesupood of liquid, molten metal drifted warily up to just above the lip of the crack, turning and shifting as it clearly observed the spectacle.

Rearing and jumping, slapping and lunging; mid-air twists and evasions, gaping, tearing bites and vicious kicks; lightning and metal essence flashed and sliced with every movement, spin and pounce as the air around the small summit grew heavy with spent Essence, drawing in heavy clouds around it. Soon each roar and contact was punctuated with lightning and thunder that bellowed and flashed out of the clouds around the two battling titans, sending sheets of lightning and icy rain flaring across the already shattered slopes of the Magnetic Mountain.

A few bolts of Essence charged lightning even stabbed down into the crack where the metal heart was hiding, but it seemed unbothered, as faint sparks of lightning Essence seemed to slowly accumulate then crackle through the shifting form of the watching extension of molten metal.

As the fight continued, fēn after fēn, the glowing white and cyan illusion's movements became more and more fluid until there was no way to track who was making the first moves anymore.

Rather than following the Tiger Prince's patterns, Chún's illusion was matching him blow for blow simultaneously - in a violent yet graceful dance of power.

And then, after more than a shi of constant combat, the illusion blocked one of the Tiger Prince's strikes and followed it with a mighty forepaw slap that pushed him back a step.

The Essence illusion froze, seemingly surprised by its own success - and then as Bái sat back on his haunches and started rumbling with laughter, the illusion around Chún blew away into a cloud of Essence that vanished - leaving the young teenager standing in a pose very reminiscent of a tiger's foreleg strike, the clawed gauntlets on his arms, hands and fingers lending even more verisimilitude to the stance.

"Well done, Bro!" There was that blinding flash of Essence and light again and the burly young man re-appeared, laughing, "I was right! We are going to be the very best of friends! You have truly grasped the Essence of the White Tiger style… dare I hope, you know the Dao patterns to go with it?"

Chún blinked and grinned back, "Yes, Bái. I do." Then his smile faded slightly as he realised the conditions of his surroundings. With a wince, the gauntlets flowed back into the World Tree staff and the young True Cultivator again channeled the massive amount of Wild Essence that was causing the violent lightning storm into the staff and through himself to cleanse the Essence.

The equally massive surge of pure Essence of all Elemental types that flooded into the Magnetic Mountain and surged outward as he released the cleansed Essence, caused both Bái and Chún to blink away spots from in front of their eyes as the lightning storm around the small Mountain dissipated within moments.

"That is the second time you have done that," remarked the Tiger Prince, the tiger's ears flicking back and forth in clear curiosity, "what… I can feel the Essence - it feels powerful and strong…"

"Part of the duties of a True Cultivator," replied Chún quietly, "to return wild or destructive Essence to its pure form and back into the Land, to be used to help the land prosper. When a lot of Essence is thrown around for whatever reason - a battle or a natural disaster, for example - some of it hangs around and causes problems, rather than returning to the natural cycle. Too much puts things out of balance. Causes problems - the Essence and energy is making things worse - rather than being available for the Land to use."

"Ah… I can think of a few old battlefields that fit that description," rumbled the Tiger Prince, "it definitely feels good… ah, but that was a good fight! Now we can start talking about forging!"

Chún opened his mouth, but before he could say anything a large glowing ball of molten metal zipped between them to float in midair - sparks flowing over its form - which shifted and began changing shapes into fluid statues of two miniature tigers battling, flowing from pose to another.

The Tiger Prince's eyes opened wide with surprise and excitement, "it appears that the metal heart has advanced."

"Does that mean it is alive?" asked Chún.

Bái rumbled thoughtfully and placed a massive hand on the sphere of fluid molten metal, ignoring the smell of scored fur as Chún repeated his question to Tai silently through the link.

"No, it has merely absorbed some of the Dao Patterns used during the spar," replied Tai in the link, "it has no consciousness, merely an instinctive wish to advance."

"So it would resist being used in a forging, then," Chún thought back in disappointment to his locus and received a wave of amusement in turn.

"Why? If you help the metal heart advance to a more complex form, help it absorb more Dao Patterns as well as give it the ability to defend itself from things that might wish it harm, why would it not participate enthusiastically?" pointed out the Mountain Planet, "it is not as if forging could cause it harm."

"I only sense the beginnings of instinct," replied the Tiger Prince, "it is more responsive to threats than a newly born Metal Heart would be and it appears to have absorbed lightning Essence as well as some notion of the White Tiger Dao Patterns - there is an eagerness for more," Bái lifted his hand off the metal heart and licked his palm absentmindedly a few times, then looked up, back at the younger teenager, "it is even more suited for forging into a Essence Weapon for me than before."

"My locus agrees," responded Chún, "but maybe we should plan out the forging before we start? I do not know about you - but I could do with a bath and maybe some food before we start - maybe even leave it until tomorrow? Bed sounds great at the moment too."

Bái's eyes lit up, "Food? Yes! And Wine too. We should toast our new friendship!"

Chún coughed in amusement, "I am afraid I will have to disappoint your Highness," he replied as he led his new friend off the side of the Mountain, the Metal Heart floating beside them as they leapt off, "the Mountain this Planet started out as was in the middle of nowhere, so good wine was not exactly in supply; as an orphan it is not something I would have access to anyway - and having dealt with one crisis after another since this whole thing started, I have not had a chance to try my hand at brewing any."

"Tch…" The pair vanished off the summit, their voices growing fainter as they descended the Mountain, "...no girls either then… a pity!"

"Bái - I am thirteen summers! At most!"

"...Great… to start!"

"Bái!"