A Brief Meeting

The village Elders looked at each other uneasily and Chún was glad that being a high level Cultivator gave him complete control over his facial expressions; it would have been difficult to hide his amusement at the fact that people who would not have noticed his existence a season ago - except maybe to curse - were now reluctant to annoy or offend him.

"Bah," as always, the old Storyteller and priest of Shennong seated at the end of the table was the first to speak his mind, "he cannot help if you do not speak and unless you say something particularly stupid, we are not likely to be worse off than before."

The harsh old man - although he had always been one of few people in the village who was kind to Chún - grimaced as he raised the cup to his lips, making a displeased expression as he lowered it, "could you not have put some decent wine in these instead of hot leaf juice?"

Head Wang's expression was rigid with displeasure as he tried not to react to the loss of face, placing his own cup down on the table softly, ignoring the old man as he responded to Chún's question instead, "we have received runners from the farmers that sell their crops though here and rely on us for the items they cannot produce themselves - the rains outside appear to be part of a much more dangerous storm that is growing in strength beyond the mists that shroud the area around the mountain."

"He is correct," Chún's locus confirmed between breaths, "the typhoon which is being powered by the ying yang spiral is growing in strength as it leaves the restrictions and Dao Patterns we have grown around the mountain. It is likely to last a considerable amount of time and travel a great distance - and do significant damage to farming families between here and Hujian."

"The mists are the result of protective Formations around the Mountain," replied Chún mildly, "they hide and protect the area approaching the mountain, including this village. That is probably why the storm is not being felt as badly here." He tapped deliberately on the table as he placed his own teacup back on its surface, "I would suggest that you send word to the other villages to move their families here to take advantage of that protection - or to Hujian - for their safety until the storm blows over. They can consider it as an extended Market Day. The storm is going to become much more dangerous before it is over."

The Elders exchanged glances and nodded, two of them immediately rising to their feet, "we will see to it," they agreed, moving quickly from the room. Chún's eyes narrowed thoughtfully as he took note of how quickly and smoothly they moved.

"It appears you are more than simple villagers," he observed carefully as he raised his cup back to his lips to hide the fact that he was paying rather more attention to them than before.

"This is new," he remarked internally via the link to his locus, "I am sure none of them were Consumers when I lived here."

"Mid to high Mortal level Cultivation levels," agreed Tai, "if you think about it though, with the recent improvements in the Essences Levels it would have been more surprising if they had not begun to Cultivate. I am not noticing any significant Dao deviations in their patterns either, so it may just be a natural result of living and working in a higher Essence Level environment."

"Recent changes have affected the village in surprising ways," admitted the headman, "we found ourselves being able to do more with less and remaining full of energy even after a day of work - especially if we ate some of the Essence Beast meat or Essence Herbs and fruits the hunters and gathering teams brought back."

A burly Elder sitting a little way down the table made an enthusiastic noise, "the lesser Essence Beast and Herb populations have exploded in the last two months. There is more than we can sell - especially since visits from the travelling peddlers and merchants have dropped to almost nothing lately. As it is, we are keeping only the most powerful beast meat we hunt back for sale and using the rest ourselves - and that has changed several times as the Hunters have more successful hunts of higher ranked beasts. Even the farmers outside the village have benefited."

"Everyone has seen improvements," the priest confirmed, "even this old man has not felt this well for many years," he shrugged, "I know a few basics of Cultivation from my days wandering Jianghu - meditation and breathing, foundational combat techniques - so I have been teaching what I could to whomever wants to learn. We thought with those cultists out there it might be a good idea if we were able to defend or escape next time they came to visit - especially since the Mountain has given us the resources to enable us to do so."

Chún considered, nodding, "Your own Dao knows the best way for each of you to Cultivate - with the opportunity available it will guide you to improvement if you are willing to listen -

most of the Cultivation techniques out there would do more harm than good," the young True Cultivator advised slowly, "with such a rich Essence environment, being mindful as you work and go about your daily lives - as you say, meditating and breathing - will almost provide more benefit to the villagers than any technique you might buy or hear about."

Other than the old Storyteller priest, the eyes of the Elders lit up and they bowed, "We thank Senior Lin for his advice."

The priest grunted, "I told them they did not need to find Cultivation Techniques yet, but it sounds like you are suggesting they not look for them at all."

Chún scrunched his nose deliberately and picked his words carefully, "being in contact with the Mountain Spirit has taught me a few things; one is that most of those techniques do more harm than good in the long term - which is why even the Righteous Cultivators are dangerous to be around if you are less powerful than they are. It is also why the Mountain raised the Formations - if the average Cultivator found out what has happened here we would have a plague - like locusts."

The burly Elder scoffed, "you do not need to tell me about that; I used to lead expeditions into the Fusou - funny how all these high level types do not seem to know the basics of tracking and finding wild animals. The number of times I have seen Cultivators hunt a particular beast until their populations are devastated - it is like they assume there is a never ending source for all resources - especially anything to do with Cultivation."

"Well, you are starting down the same path," Chún cautioned, "do not fall into the same traps."

"We are farmers and hunters before we are anything else," declared the Headman and the others around the table made noises of agreement, "most of us came out here to get away from all that stupidity anyway," he looked at Chún, "Relic Hunter Lin, we are grateful for the mountain protecting us... but the mists have cut off the road. We have not had any peddlers or traveling merchants come through for almost a week…"

"But the messengers from the farming families arrived safely," the young teen pointed out, calmly interrupting the older man's concern, "so it is not the mists keeping the merchants away. There has been a great deal of upheaval and some extremely dangerous Essence disturbances occurring since the explosion - including sudden weather changes and Beast Waves. It is likely that the average merchant simply cannot risk the route to the village even if it only likely skirts the edge of the wilderness."

Chún paused, "as for general travellers - the formations protecting the mountain will confuse and distract anyone with ill intentions towards the village, so you may see a drop in travellers once the current crisis subsides," he held up a finger in warning, "it is not perfect - remember that Grass Cultivator that came through? He was not marked as a Grass cultist, focused on someone else and did not care about the village so the Formations let him through."

"My hunting teams have been reporting the same problems," agreed the burly Elder, glaring slightly at the village headman, "I told you as much myself yesterday. We have been staying within the mists as much as possible."

Head Wang looked abashed, but frowned slightly, "how much longer do you think before regular travellers will be able to use the road again. As it is we will have difficulty hosting the next Market if no traders arrive - and the farmers, hunters and gatherers rely on the Market to sell their produce and gleanings, to say nothing of the local crafts people."

Chún shrugged, "I do not know. This storm will drive the Essence Levels in the area higher for a time as well. I would expect to see an increase in Cultivators travelling through after this rather than mortals or civilians - you should make sure the village is able to cope with the sort of demands they are liable to make."

There was a wave of displeased muttering from the other men in the room, Head Wang rubbing tiredly at his glabella, "as you remarked earlier, Cultivators are something of a disaster. Last meeting you mentioned that you had accepted some Cultivators willing to settle down and protect the area? Will they be available soon?"

Chún looked out the window where the heavy rain drummed against the tiled eaves, "the recent difficulties have slowed their progress - they will not be here for at least another week. But once they arrive they will surely be able to purchase any surplus goods and food the village has - they are rich in Essence stones and components from their journey but are close to running out of most of the basic comforts."

"That is good," another Elder remarked in a relieved tone of voice, "none of the higher quality facilities have been completed yet, but we should be able to finish them before they arrive."

"Higher quality facilities?" Chún questioned and the village headman nodded enthusiastically, "after our last discussion and since most of the villagers have had to stay within the village we have been working on building a village inn - the gathering teams have managed to find some low rank Essence Wood to use for building materials."

"We have been having less success finding an appropriate location for building village baths - we have not found a hot spring near the village," added another Elder, "I am Ni Lai - Master Builder Apprentice - I have been organising the village reconstruction since the Bloody Night."

"En," Chún inclined his head in understanding, "I can probably help with the hot spring - I can ask the Mountain Spirit to bring one to the surface," he paused and tapped the table carefully, "in regards to improving the village for Cultivators, you should work on adding a proper sewage handling system and paving the streets - as your Cultivation improves you will find that your senses improve and foul odors become overwhelming - unless you develop a technique to filter or block it."

The Elders made confused faces but the old priest and Storyteller nodded in agreement, "yes, that is true - although it has been a long time since my level was that high…"

"The other thing I should mention," added Chún as the other men scratched their heads in puzzlement, "is another reason you should make sure everyone stays within or close to the village until things calm down. Storyteller," he inclined his head towards the old man as he got the attention of the old priest, "do you know any tales of the Yāoguǐ?"

Of course, Chún knew that the StoryTeller did know such tales, having heard them himself in the past - but having to act as if he was 'Lin' he could only ask the question this way, "this multiple identity idea is less fun than I thought it would be," he thought to Tai in irritation as the old man narrowed his eyes thoughtfully.

"It was your idea as I recall," his locus reminded him, "how much longer must this discussion drag on?"

"Surley for a mountain it is barely an eyeblink," Chún replied in the link, the suffering of the boring meeting somehow lessened by the fact that his friend was suffering alongside him.

"This old man knows a few of the old stories," the Storyteller agreed slowly, "but the only way such a question would have any relevance to this discussion would be if…"

Chún nodded in assent as the old man rubbed his chin, pulling on his wispy beard, "...the Yāoguǐ are returning?"

"Yes," agreed Chún, "because of the increase in Essence levels, many of the ancient legends are returning. They only disappeared because the Essence was vanishing from Golden Crow and they could not survive."

"The Mountain Spirit told you this?" questioned the old priest as the other village elders exchanged alarmed looks.

"Yes - so you might get some unusual visitor in the near future," cautioned Chún, "the Mountain's protection will prevent them from actively harming the village or people within the mists - until everyone comes to an agreement, it might be best if everyone stayed within them."

"Agreed," Headman Wang added sharply, "is there anything else you feel we need to know about?"

Chún blinked and shook his head, "Not at this time, Village Head," he answered gravely.

Head Wang looked around gravely, "under the circumstances I feel it is best if we end this discussion and inform everyone that they need to stay within the mist covered areas until all these issues have been dealt with. It will need to be handled carefully to avoid a panic."

He looked grim, "unfortunately my long distance jade to the local travelling magistrate has not been functioning since all these disasters started, so I cannot report this upward. We will have to hope a merchant comes though soon and agrees to carry a letter."

Chún winced but kept his silence as the group hastily rose and left the room, bowing to him as they passed him on their way out the door.

After a moment he rose and left the room also, sighing internally. He had already made many suggestions that might be considered strange if one took the time to examine them too closely - it was probably only the villager's respect for his position as the liaison to the Mountain Spirit and his status as a powerful Cultivator that helped the village narrowly avoid disaster that was keeping them from asking too many questions. If he suggested that the village should keep everything to themselves it would probably raise their suspicions.

"I better go and look for a place to raise a hot spring," he muttered to his locus, "we will have to deal with questions and investigations from outside parties eventually. I just hope I can get the Heiress and her group settled before then."

"At least that meeting is over," grumbled the Hidden Mountain, "by the way, there are a small group of Consumers who have tripped the Grass detection lines on the outermost defensive patterns traveling towards the village - they will be here in a shí or so at their present speed."

"I am surprised they are making it through the chaos out there - they must have sent a fairly high leveled group of Consumers," remarked Chún, "that is irritating - I was hoping the Cult would be too busy with other concerns to worry about the village - given their current situation."

"They are probably looking for that Young Master of theirs that you killed for the girl - their missing members that disappeared in this direction too - although the fact that half of them seem to be on the verge of dying already might answer that without our involvement," the locus remarked thoughtfully.

"Keep track of them," Chún suggested, "if they break without coming in range of the village - they are coming along the usual road right?"

"Yes," replied Tai, "they are just starting to have difficulty navigating - now that they are inside the outer layer of my Dao Patterns - on top of all the other problems out there."

"En, if they leave of their own accord before they get close, let them go. It is better if they report that their men died because of how dangerous the Fusou has become than disappearing themselves," Chún walked out of the house and picked up his Gliding Horse, starting to push it through the streets again as the heavy rain lashed at him, "but let me know if the get close. In the meantime, I am going to grow that hot spring."