A Balance of Heaven

"Many of us have spent thousands of years debating that, Young Chún," mused Yijing quietly, leaning on his stave and watching the Thousand year grass sway, "So far all we can agree on is that we are the Heaven's Balance to the ones that call themselves Cultivators. I would say", he turned and spat meditatively, "that we are True Cultivators, where the Locusts are Consumers. We grow and cultivate the," he turned and jabbed his stave at Chún, "as you call them - treasures of Heaven and Earth - we strengthen Essence and are strengthened in turn".

Looking towards the setting sun he paused and remarked, "We can talk while you gather your flock".

Chún jumped in shock as his attention was drawn to the lengthening shadows and honks of the geese already gathering at the entrance to the pasture and spun to gather his items. "Senior, it was barely the time of Soaring Crow, what happened?"

"Igniting essence always takes time. Especially in the beginning - you will lose yourself. Fortunately, you are talented and it was only a small Thousand Year Grass, so it was only a few hours", Yijing's voice took on a lecturing tone, "So if you ignite essence alone, start small and make sure you are in a safe area where you will not be found. Do not attempt to ignite an essence larger than your level of ability", he said sternly, "You will either die of essence drain or be immolated from essence overflow - and if you are cursed to escape that - you will overload and detonate when the ignition wave hits you".

Chún blinked. "Senior, how will I know when an essence is too large?" he panted, chasing the last of the flock together to the entrance and calling out the marching sound, "Yi, yi yi...", starting the flock bustling down the mountain trail with their usual cacophony.

"Do not attempt to ignite essence any larger than what we did today, until," Yijing looked at him sternly, "you feel no effect from the ignition waves. Then only select essence slightly larger - repeat the process and so on."

"The ignition wave - that is what happened at the end? That ripple?" clarified Chún, setting Yijing's head nodding in satisfaction. "Good, boy you have a sensible head on those shoulders. Yes, that is the wave of essence that is produced when the essence ignites - our bodies are purified and strengthened by it - it literally burns out the impurities in our bodies, tempering it and empowering it to channel and amplify larger amounts of essence."

Chún thumped his herding staff on the ground thoughtfully as the flock continued down towards the village. Headed for their pen where they knew warmth and food awaited, they needed little herding on the trip back. "And igniting - is like lighting a fire in the essence?"

Yijing shook his head. "No, it is more like strengthening and adding to it - the spark is already there but it is not large enough, yes? You said you heard chimes and saw the mist?"

Chún waved his staff at a few geese that seemed to be getting slightly rambunctious and grunted affirmatively. "That happens naturally, especially in places like the mountain," answered the old man in response, "in certain places the energy of Heaven and Earth collects and becomes essence. That spark was likely Earth essence from the hollow, Water from the mists of the stream and Fire or Power itself from the 'Golden Crow' - as the Consumers insist on calling it.

Yijing thumped his staff again as they continued down the trail, "Over a long period of time if nothing disturbs it, the essence grows concentrated enough that it invokes the Dao Laws of the essences that have collected - and creation itself - which in turn releases more essence..."

Yijing's voice became softer, reverent, so that Chún had to concentrate to hear him. "One of our number says, the universe itself was born from a single ignition of the Dao like that, and the Dao of Fire in the sky also... that the act of creation releases energy itself..."

He tapped his stave authoritatively, "We - you and I and others like us - are born with the ability to amplify the essence - we channel it from around us and out to form the Dao Laws as guided by the spark. You, heard the music strengthen as you followed it, yes? The essence guided you in what was required for it to reach its Dao."

"So I did not make the Thousand year grass then," Chún said thoughtfully, "It was always - no, the possibility was there. I just fed it fuel... from around me?"

Yijing smiled, "Yes, we draw the essence in and concentrate it as we are guided - and then it feeds us - when the act of creation creates more essence. In essence - hah - we balance consumption and creation."

"And each wave of essence strengthens the energy of Heaven and Earth where it touches, creating more sparks... I saw so many afterwards..."

"Yes, Young Chún. That was a small wave, as only a small treasure was born, so it wouldn't have affected much - perhaps half a li, or so".

"But how is that different from Cul - forgive me Honored Senior - Consumers? The tales say they temper their bodies with essence and treasures and they create artifacts and gather essence with formations and..." Yijing's stave poked Chún sharply in the ribs and he snapped his mouth shut, rubbing his side sheepishly.

"Consumers do not temper their bodies with essence directly," the old man snapped sharply, "They consume it and try to hold it inside of them in areas where essence pools naturally in their bodies. The tempering is an after effect as they circulate essence through their meridians artificially using techniques they've developed. They lose some back outward while they consume, but in the end there is always LESS than what was there to begin with. Any they retain or build themselves they hold tightly - and only release it out to perform their techniques. Then they consume even more essence to replenish what they lost."

Yijing shook his head wearily, "Artifacts and pills are the same - essence resources are burned and forged to create something else. The only exceptions are Heavenly Tribulations - they release a great deal of essence as the Consumer forces the formation of Dao - that is what they refer to as 'breaking through' - but they are formed naturally and the essence released is destructive. Once in a great while a Consumer will grow past the consumption stage and understand Dao so that they begin to produce the laws naturally - then their tribulations are beneficial. But those are World stage existences and above - they begin to create worlds of their own, becoming actual Cultivators that generate more essence than they use - but those are 1 in 1000 trillion Consumers - and to get to that stage they burnt through countless treasures - enough essence to create a universe".

Chún listened raptly as his new mentor continued sadly, "And for every Consumer that begins to create instead of Consume, there are uncountable others all burning through essence treasures as fast as they can get their hands on them".

Yijing snorted, raising his voice "And where do all these treasures - essence stones, essence beasts, essence weapons, million year fruit of beat-the-other-Consumer's-face into-a-pig's-head come from? Why", here the old monk puffed his chest out like a peacock and spoke in a sonorous, wise tone, "...from ancient treasure troves of Great Sects of the past, great treasure gardens that exist forever, Caves of essence and at the bottom of great pools or 100 thousand season beasts, of course..."

Yijing lowered his voice and muttered out of the side of his mouth, peering around shiftily like a thief planning to rob someone, "Want to guess what they used to say a thousand years ago about where the treasures came from?"

Chún thought for a moment then groaned quietly. "I am enlightened Senior, of course - they said the same."

"Hah - as did those before them and those before that and them lot behind those... and always, always, burning treasures. Oh sure, sometimes there is genuinely a Sect collapse that no one might find for a while, but it takes time to build resources of treasures;most sects wither away because they run out of treasures, not just collapse leaving everything behind - usually they are conquered and get plundered straight away."

Chún's voice held a note of bewilderment "And yet with so many Consumers there are always more treasures and secret lands...and you said it takes a long time for enough Essence to gather naturally to create treasures... how don't they see it, Senior?"

Yijing sighed; "Mostly it is because we hide."

As they reached the base of the mountain, Yijing stopped walking as the flock turned for home. "I will not follow you into the village, my friend. Tell the villagers you are leaving and come back to the Thousand Year grass as the Golden Crow begins its flight. I will be waiting for you."

Chún swallowed heavily. "Teacher." Dropping his staff, he knelt in the dust of the path and kowtowed three times. Feeling a light touch on his head he looked up, but only the lights of distant Dao greeted his eyes as the last of the light disappeared behind the mountain.

Looking upward Chún felt tears run down his cheeks. "The Heavens have eyes," he whispered, gazing upward...

"...Treasures of Heaven, Your Grandmother! The Geese...!"

In the deepening twilight, a True Cultivator, a Balance of Heaven... runs after a flock of honking geese.