Heaven's Golden Finger - Chapter 21: Chapter 21

Old Shirong's memories of his adopted father were of a doting old man who thought his child could do nothing wrong. Given all the mischief old Shirong had gotten into, all the trouble he'd caused for his Shixiong, that was obviously false. Not that Sect Master Qiong Lou would ever admit it.
Right that minute Master Qiong was pacing, head down, eyes narrowed, brow furrowed. He obviously didn't like Shirong's obstinate unwillingness to blame Shu Shun for his troubles. "What did that demon do to you?" he demanded.
"Nothing, father." Here in private, old Shirong would have treated the master with more familiarity. Shirong had to maintain the pose if he was to avoid being caught out. Were transmigrated persons common in this world? And either way, what would they do to him if they figured it out?
"We found shadows of your spirit in the path to the Abyss boy. Don't tell me he did nothing."
"Shadows? Of my spirit?"
The old man smiled wanly at him. "Every spirit has a share of resentful energy, boy. I know you don't like studying, but surely you remember that much."
"I do," Shirong admitted. "But I don't understand what you're talking about."
An odd expression flickered in Master Qiong's eyes. Was that annoyance? Shirong thought it was and thought it was high time the old man stopped treating every word from his mouth like it was spun sugar. He did his best not to let his opinion show as he gazed back innocently.
"Oh, child. The shadows of spirit we found were broken parts of your resentful energy. Now, granted, losing them did you no harm, quite the contrary, but that demon surely had no good purpose it stealing them."
Resentful energy. So that was why the thing that'd attacked them had seemed so hollow. All it'd been were the shattered pieces of old Shirong's ambition and selfishness. "What did you do with them?"
"Obviously we dismissed them, child. You're the Chosen One. You've no need of such things."
Shirong felt a little sorry for old Shirong. No, a lot sorry for him. What'd happened to boy when Shirong had transmigrated into this body? He remembered what the notes for the Heavenly Attribute Elixir had said. Failure meant shattering one's soul across eternity. He forced back a shudder. "The resentful energy was following me ever since I had that accident. That was why I left the sect. I was afraid it'd cause trouble. Shun Shixiong had nothing to do with it."
A sneer. "No doubt he took advantage of your moment of weakness while you were trying to create the elixir. No doubt the accident was his doing."
Not a single word of defense could get Master Qiong to change his mind about Shun Shixiong. Maybe another tack would work? It had before. "Heaven and Earth my witness, father, Shu Shun has only helped me. Our fates are tied together and I would have it no other way."
Master Qiong threw his hands up in disgust. "You go to your room, boy. I'll talk to you when you're sensible."
Bowing without actually agreeing, Shirong rose and was about to leave when a thought occurred to him. "Why is my Shizun in seclusion?"
"Isn't it obvious? He encouraged you and that demon child to leave the mountain. Encouraged you to go looking for trouble in the mortal world. I sent him to reflect on his wrongs, sending the Chosen One and his Adversary to travel together."
Adversary. That the term they used for the person the Chosen One had to face. Shirong wished he'd a better understanding of the whole thing. He only knew what Master Qiong had told him and that'd been limited to the Chosen One being a great hero, the Adversary - namely Shu Shun - being a great villain, and the certain fate of the Adversary at the hands of the Chosen One. At some point, Shirong was going to have to find someone less biased to explain the whole process to him. He just didn't know where.
Seeing no reason to keep his adopted father there any longer and wanting to find Shun Shixiong and make sure he was safe, Shirong bowed again. "This son has been enlightened. He will go and consider what he must do next."
"As long as what you do next is prepare yourself to battle that damned demon child when he descends to the Demon King's throne, I'll be happy."
Hoping and praying his body's adopted father would be doomed to disappointment, Shirong left the room.
Outside the interrogation room, Shirong asked the first guard he saw, "Where did you take my Shixiong?"
"Shixiong? Oh, the snake demon? You'll have to talk to Young Mistress Lu about that. And she's busy with the auction right...."
A shout interrupted the guard's explanation. "He's gone! That damned priest took him!"
The scene that followed reminded Shirong of his video games or war movies. Guards rushing to and fro, confused demands for explanations and getting none. Realizing it might be his Shixiong the excitement was about, Shirong followed behind and found the guards gathered around a small dark room whose walls felt painfully oppressive. A spirit binding cage, then?
Craft Master Feng Xi knelt by the wall, examining something while Tong Si watched. She wiped a white cloth against a spot and came up with a smear of blood. "He didn't go willingly."
"How can you be sure of that?" the guard captain demanded. "That priest was traveling with them earlier, or so Mister Tong says."
"That's true, though I didn't say she was the boy's ally," Tong Si interrupted. Noticing Shirong, he added, "Young Disciple Xu here will tell you she showed up out of nowhere and begged to be allowed to travel with us. She and Disciple Shu barely spoke to each other."
A scoff. "As if that proves anything."
"It doesn't," Master Feng agreed. "But the boy bled here and I sense the remnants of the same Gods' magic that knocked that youngster over there unconscious."
Shirong followed her pointing finger and realized a young man lay on the ground just inside the chamber. He was dressed like the other guards, so he guessed he'd been keeping an eye on Shun Shixiong when the incident happened.
"But why would Priest Housu kidnap my Shixiong?"
"A good question, young disciple." Feng Xi stood up and gestured out the door. "Why don't you come with me and we'll discuss the matter more carefully."
"But, what about Shun Shixiong?"
"He's been taken, willingly or not. There's nothing you can do here and a great many questions I'd have you answer."
Unable to argue the point and not wanting Master Qiong to catch up with him, Shirong followed her outside along a labyrinthine passage to a portal leading to a lovely red lacquered house atop a cliffside.
"Is this place in the real world?"
"Of course not. It's my and my husband's soul space. I don't want anyone coming in to bother us while I talk to you."
Another soul space? Complete with a house and garden? Master Feng and her husband were powerful cultivationists. "This disciple is honored to be permitted to visit you here."
"Don't be so formal, boy. I don't care about that sort of thing. Besides, it doesn't come naturally anymore, does it?" At his blink, she added, "You've been in some future time, boy. Don't try to pretend."
He sat down on the rock wall and a stone protested. "HEY!" A turtle? A little white turtle? A little white talking turtle? Every time things seemed to be getting comprehensible, this world threw another bit of weirdness at him.
"Sorry. Sorry." He jumped up and found a better seat. "Ma'am, I don't know what to say."
"You don't have to tell me about that future. From the feel of it, it's too far away to matter to us." She turned to the turtle. "Heshen, go fetch tea. And be quick, because I don't think we have much time."
The turtle shape-shifted to a white-haired boy in his early teens. "I'm a turtle. Why are you asking me to run?" Despite the objection, he did indeed move quickly, bouncing off into the building singing something incomprehensible.
Master Feng found a seat on another part of the wall. "You concocted the Heavenly Attribute Elixir, didn't you?"
Truth to tell, it'd been old Shirong who'd concocted it, not him. But he didn't dare say so, for fear of having his status discovered. "Tried and failed. It blew up the cauldron."
"No surprise. You'd have to be entirely pure to make it without blowing something up. But your spirit was clear enough that it didn't destroy you. Just sent you on a tribulation."
Just sent him on a tribulation? No, that wasn't true. "I don't understand."
"You'd be dead otherwise. And since you're the Chosen One, that would have caused an imbalance that would have destroyed young Shu Shun as well." She shrugged it off. "Don't worry about it, child. You survived your tribulation and you're on your way towards the thing you're needed for. Rushing into such things seldom helps."
Shirong still didn't understand but he guessed she wasn't going to try explaining. Instead he asked, "Why would Priest Housu take my Shixiong?"
"A good question. One I can't answer. It would depend on who she's a priest of."
"She called on several Gods when we were fighting some bandits."
A puzzled expression crossed the craftswoman's face. "Several Gods? Priests don't generally look to more than one deity. It's considered rude. Yet another mystery to be solved, then."
The biggest mystery, at least from Shirong's point of view, was the fact that Shun Shixiong was missing and probably abducted. He said as much. "I really need to find him. He gets into so much trouble when I'm not around."
"I suspect he gets into trouble no matter what. An Adversary is, by nature, a creature of chaos." A fond smile crossed the woman's face as she added, "I, myself, had to be very careful where I went and what I did."
Stunned, Shirong stared at Master Feng. "You? You're an Adversary?"
"Well, yes. I was for several centuries until Shun was born." She smiled. "It's a responsibility, child. Not a curse."
Now Shirong knew he had to find his Shixiong. "Can you help us, then?"
The smile broadened. "Of course, boy. As your Adversary's predecessor it's my duty to make sure he comes into his power properly." She took the bit of cloth she'd used to wipe the wall with and added, "The first thing I'll need to do is create a way to trace him, using this."
Young Heshen ran in, carrying a tray of tea, perfectly balanced atop his head. "Here you are. Nice and hot. You can't rush good tea, you know."
As the young turtle spirit set the tray on the wall between Shirong and Master Feng, the lady added, "Drink up and we'll go work on that device together."
Shirong was surprised to find how easy it was to shape the materials Master Feng gave him for the device. "I need an object that resembles Young Shun physically. You know your Shixiong best, so I'll have you shape the clay."
"I'm not much of sculptor. Not any kind of a sculptor."
"You needn't worry. That's a special clay. As long as you have a good mental image of the person you're modeling, it'll work."
The clay did feel oddly cooperative. Certainly better than any of the clays or modeling compounds they'd given Shirong back in school. To test it, he envisioned a frog and watched the stuff reshape slowly to the image in his head. It even changed color to match his vision.
"Nice, but isn't he a snake demon?"
"Sorry, I wanted to be sure I knew what to do." Shirong grinned at the craftswoman and refocused his thoughts, envisioning Shun Shixiong as best he could.
The clay drew back together, rose to a small pillar about five and a half inches tall and colored a pale ivory shade. Slender limbs took shape. A smooth torso, finely muscled and elegant, formed. Exquisite features appeared on the smooth ball of a head. Black hair, hanging loose and soft, swept down to just hide the figure's buttocks. Nothing, however, hid what lay on the other side.
"Ah, you may want to remember his clothing. I suspect he won't be happy with you if he sees this and realizes how carefully you've studied his... ah... assets."
Somewhere behind Shirong, the turtle giggled. "Pretty nice looking. Is he taken? I could do with a boyfriend."
"Hush, Heshen. You're still a baby."
"Am not! I'm big enough for that sort of thing at least."
While the two argued, Shirong hurriedly imagined Shu Shun's clothes. And even that was embarrassing because for some reason his brain insisted on garbing his Shixiong in a brilliant embroidered robe that glittered like rainbow obsidian. Shu Shun's scales had been that color, no doubt inspiring his choice.
"Is this good enough?" he asked, interrupting the argument once he was done.
She examined the work. "Idealized, but sufficient. You have deep feelings for him, I see."
There was a truth. Deep feelings that'd just kept getting stronger. Shirong managed a small smile. "Maybe a little. Is it wrong? I mean, if I really am the Chosen One, isn't it my job to defeat him?" He didn't want it to be his job at all. He'd like to find a way out of the situation. "At least that's what your husband's prophecy says."
"Nonsense," Heshen snapped. "Anyone who takes every word that crazy sorcerer says as precise and accurate is asking for it."
"Heshen, hush. That's not true either." Feng Xi turned her attention to Shirong and seemed to see his fear. "My husband's prophecies are accurate but it's possible to misinterpret their meaning."
"How can you misinterpret 'Blessed by Heaven and Earth, a forest of strength will rise to restrain the Demon King,' or 'The Demon King will rise from a burning lake to avenge himself on those who slighted his mother, and only the blessed one can subdue his rage,'" Shirong demanded.
"Restraint doesn't have to mean force. Doesn't have to mean mastery. The same with subdue. That your Sect Master interprets it so doesn't mean you have to as well. How you and young Shun deal with each other is up to you. Not every Chosen and Adversary are enemies. Tong Si and I never have been."
Shirong stared. "Tong Si? He was the last Chosen?"
"And deeply relieved to be free of the position. Though he's none too happy with his current one, either." Feng Xi grinned, chuckling. "His predecessor and mine were husband and wife. The ones before that killed each other in a moment of sheer stupidity. You and young Shun will have to find your own way."
She took the statue from Shirong and set it at the center of an array with the bloodied cloth hanging over the head. The sight gave Shirong a chill and she smiled at him when she noticed his expression. "It's no omen of doom, child. I'm just imbuing the blood into your work so you can use it to help you find your Shixiong."
Hoping she was right, Shirong waited for her to finish her spellwork, trying and failing to understand what she was doing. Her methods were simply too different from what old Shirong had been taught in his cultivation. Nor did he dare ask, for fear of interrupting her and ruining the work.
At last she handed him the statue, the tiny figure warm in his fingers. "Now, child, we go hunting."
"We?"
"I'm coming with you. After all, I've no wish to be Adversary again while the world waits for another like me to be born." She gestured towards the exit. "Quickly, boy. We don't want whomever it was stole your Shixiong to figure out what we're doing."
Now there was a thing they could both agree on entirely.