Heaven's Golden Finger - Chapter 23: Chapter 23

Shirong wasn't surprised to find Master Qiong waiting for him. Wasn't surprised to be grabbed by the ear and dragged off. Was completely surprised to find himself being stripped and redressed in Leifeng Sect's most formal uniform.
"Father? What is it?"
"Hush, boy. I want no more argument from you. I don't know what you were thinking, wandering off like that." Master Qiong made Shirong sit down. Began dressing his hair. "Stop squirming."
"But, what are you doing? I'm not old enough for a proper crown yet." Admittedly, Old Shirong's birthday was just around the corner, but there was a whole ceremony he was supposed to go through before he could wear the elegant little headpiece that said he was an adult.
"You're old enough. Close enough."
Suddenly stubborn, perhaps because old Shirong would have been, he pulled away. "I haven't had the ceremony. It's not fair. I should have the ceremony first." It was easy to sound like a spoiled child. He just had to imitate his predecessor, after all. Besides, he really didn't want Master Qiong to be the one to give him his first crown. It ought to be Shun Shixiong.
"We'll have a proper ceremony once you come back to Leifeng. But you've been summoned to the Bazi King's court and I'll not have the Chosen One looking like a child."
The Bazi King? Why in the Gods' names would Shirong be expected to meet him? He still stepped back. "I am still a child. It's not appropriate. And what happens if he finds out and decides I'm deceiving him?" If there was anything Shirong had learned from all his wuxia films and books, it'd been the fact that lying to the ruler could be fatal.
That actually got Master Qiong's attention. He tightened his lips. Glared at Shirong. "You've become difficult. Impossible to manage. What happened to the sweet obedient child I raised."
Sweet? Biddable? Say rather spoiled and selfish. Shirong was ashamed of his old self's behavior. He didn't think his predecessor ought to have died for it, but it was certain old Shirong had gotten exactly what he'd asked for when he'd made that damned elixir. "I'm the Chosen One. I have to act rightly."
A sigh. "Fine. Very well, boy. At least comb your hair properly."
Obeying, Shirong let his hair fall down his back and pulled it into a simple knot at the back of his neck. "Why am I to see the Bazi King, anyway?"
"He's heard the Chosen One is here in Tang City. He wishes to meet you."
All right. That sort of made sense. Shirong had yet to fully understand what being a Chosen One really meant, but he knew it was important. "I need to tell my companion."
"Companion?" Master Qiong was momentarily puzzled. Then he seemed to remember. "Ah, the snake demon? The one bound to your service? Your slave?"
Though he hated the word 'slave', it was all too accurate. "Yes, father." At least Master Qiong wasn't upset about that part. Perhaps it was because Mo Qingshe was under his control? Likely so.
"You'll have to be quick but yes, tell her. I don't want her slithering after you into the Summer Palace, trying to follow her master." Master Qiong ushered Shirong out of the room and gave a sharp look at the woman waiting outside for them. "Craft Master Feng."
"Sect Master Qiong." Feng Xi bowed, just an inch short of being impolite. "This Crafter greets you."
A tight expression formed on Master Qiong's face. "Greetings. What is it you require? I've little time to waste."
It occurred to Shirong that his Sect Master was being horribly rude himself. Feng Xi was a highly prized Craft Master. Even if she had been the Adversary at one time, she wasn't any longer. Nor did it matter, he suspected. He gave Feng Xi an apologetic look over Master Qiong's head.
The lady smiled. "I've come to escort your disciple to the palace. The King himself has asked me to do so."
Master Qiong argued with Feng Xi for several minutes, but he finally gave way when she showed him the gold seal that marked her as one who acted on the King's behalf. "Very well, you may accompany us...." he began.
"No. Sect Master Qiong was not invited to this meeting. Only young disciple Xu Shirong."
More argument followed but Master Qiong lost it fairly quickly. Even the Sect Master of Leifeng Shan couldn't defy the King's decree. If he wasn't wanted, he wasn't wanted.
Following Feng Xi once again, Shirong was surprised when she didn't lead him out of the auction house. Instead it seemed she was leading him deeper. "Ma'am?"
"Don't worry, child. Young Mistress Lu has opened the way to the palace for us."
Accepting the answer, Shirong fell silent, only to find a new worry to replace it. "What about Mo Qingshe? I haven't seen her since we were dragged into that other place."
"I've sent young Heshen to fetch her. They'll meet us back at the inn later." Feng Xi kept moving. "Where were you taken, by the way? I didn't get the details."
Quickly, Shirong described both the strange Imperial court he'd fallen into, as well as its inhabitants. When he told the lady about the three-toed dragon, though, she stopped momentarily and stared at him. "Three toes? Imperial dragons have five."
Now he thought about it, she was right. "This dragon didn't. I don't know what that means."
"It means someone wanted you to believe they were the Emperor of Heaven. But truly impersonating an Imperial Dragon is liable to draw attention. They must have hoped you wouldn't notice."
"What did they want with me?"
She chuckled. "Child, you're the Chosen. The one who will maintain reality by your existence. Up until now, you've been safely hidden in Leifeng Shan's hallowed walls. Now you're out, alone except for your Adversary, and clearly unprepared for the task you've been given."
That led to another question. "Master Qiong never taught my predecessor...."
"Predecessor?"
"You said it yourself. My soul comes from the future." He didn't know how Feng Xi knew, but she did, and that made her one of the few people he could talk to.
She blinked. "Child, your soul was sent into the future as a tribulation and returned having survived it. You're still the same person, even if you did live an entirely different life there."
He stopped. Stared. "What?" His voice broke. It hadn't broken since he was thirteen. "That can't...." He remembered the wording of the recipe. 'The greatest risk to this noble elixir it is the test it requires of the creator. To claim the blessing of Heaven, one must be worthy of Heaven's blessing. The creator must refine his own soul within the crucible of time and cleanse themselves of their ill-intentions. If they fail, they will fall to their own corruption and shatter, losing their Selves to eternity.'
She took his hand. Dragged him along patiently. "You didn't realize? You thought you were a soul thrown back to this body with no history and no connection?"
"I...." He tried to pull free. Wanted to run. "Shun Shixiong hates me!" he wailed. "And I deserve it!"
"The point of the tribulation is to learn," Feng Xi told him gently. "To gain understanding. You must have needed a great deal of distance from now to have been thrown so far into the future. But you survived it. You came back. And you are whole; divested of the things that would have made you a terrible Chosen."
Shirong's heart raced. Old Shirong, the self he'd dismissed and disliked and wanted to kick was himself? He looked at his memories. Shuddered. Gods. What an absolute idiot he'd been. What a fool, letting himself become so spoiled, so bratty.
No wonder he'd had to go through life as Song Shirong. He'd deserved it; from being raised in an orphanage, unwanted and unloved, to being forced to prove his worth to the world over and over again as a martial artist, to dying of cancer - with only the books that showed how stupid his self-image had been. Chosen One? Rotten self-absorbed goose, that was.
Feng Xi stopped at a huge golden door. Turned to him and wiped tears dripping from the corners of his eyes and down his cheeks. "We all have our foolish, darker, sides. You've learned better. Now do better with what you've learned."
He trembled. "Shun...."
"Is not a fool. And I could see he values you."
"He values the one he thinks is a fake. What will he do when he finds out the truth?"
"You'll have to find out. But that's between you and him, child." She wiped more tears away. Wiped a bit of snot from under Shirong's nose. "Now, can you face the King with a brave face? Because it's high time we finished this nonsense so we can go find your Shixiong."
Shirong managed to nod. Followed her through the huge golden door into a room far bigger and far more impressive than the one he'd appeared in earlier. This one had more people in it, too. Men and women in formal attire, some in dark and elaborately beaded robes, their elegant crowns topped with animal symbols. Old Shirong... his old memories... told him they marked the wearers' ranks in court.
And there, at the far end of the hall, partly concealed by a drapery of sheer fabric, was the throne. A man sat there, features blurred, his outfit similar to the beaded robes his courtiers wore. The color was bright gold, with a lion's head embroidered on the front and glittering beads hanging along the sleeves.
A voice called out, "Craft Master Feng Xi, formally the Adversary and bringer of Chaos, approaches the throne. Leifeng Disciple Xu Shirong, the new Chosen, approaches the throne. Offer respect!"
They walked forward and Shirong was deeply uncomfortable to find everyone bowing to them as if they were important. Admittedly, he supposed they were, but knowing what a complete asshole he'd been before his tribulation just made the whole thing embarrassing.
Coming to a halt just a yard or so from the sheer curtain, Shirong and Feng Xi both knelt and bowed. "Craft Master Feng Xi greets the King." "Leifeng Disciple Xu Shirong greets the King," they said in unison.
"The King of Bazi greets his subjects."
The voice was calm, amused and terribly familiar. It took all Shirong had not to lift his head and stare up at the face partially hidden by the curtain between them. Tong Si had said he wasn't the King when he'd shown himself to be important enough to chase away those soldiers the other day.
Tong Si had lied.
"You lied."
Tong Si lay back against his couch in his private quarters and laughed and laughed. At last he said, "Show me a king who doesn't lie and I'll show you a dead king."
He was probably right, but Shirong was already in a bad mood, having learned his own truth. "Were you following us? Hunting Shun Shixiong? Going to do something to him because he's the Adversary?"
A surprised expression crossed Tong Si's face and Feng Xi said quietly, "Sect Master Qiong has mishandled his upbringing. He's doesn't understand how the whole thing works at all."
Now Tong Si looked angry. "I knew I should have insisted on bringing him here." He turned his attention on Shirong. "You at least know I was your predecessor." It was not a question.
"Craft Master Feng Xi told me."
"Ordinarily, when a new Chosen appears, the former Chosen will spend some time training them in their duties. The same with the Adversary. Ordinarily you don't appear quite so close together." Tong Si rose from his couch. Poured himself a cup of wine. "If you'd been born anywhere else I could have used my position to force your family to release you to my care. To hand young Shun over to Craft Master Feng Xi."
That didn't make sense. "You're the King. You can order anything, surely. Even Leifeng Sect couldn't refuse you."
"Ah, that's where you're wrong. As long as you were on Leifeng Shan you couldn't be taken away easily. I'd have had to send an army to fetch you. Your adopted father was adamant. Your father was one of his beloved pupils, you see, and he claimed he owed Xu Sheng for sacrificing himself to fight the Demon King."
Shirong blinked. "And he kept Shun Shixiong, why?"
"Because my husband predicted he'd be the next Adversary." Feng Xi shook her head, eyeing Shirong sympathetically. "Really, no one's told you the real truth of what happened, have they?"
"It's obvious they haven't." Tong Si beckoned for Shirong to sit down. Handed him a cup of wine. "Shall we tell you?"
If no one told him the truth, Shirong would never work out how to get himself and his beloved Shixiong out of this trap. He had to. He needed to prove to Shun Shixiong that he knew he'd been wrong. That he understood his mistakes. And most importantly, that he'd make no more. Try to make no more. "Tell me. Everything."
"It begins with Shu Shun's parents falling in love."
That part Shirong knew, but he didn't interrupt. No matter how much was repeated, he'd listen for every last detail, try to hear what wasn't said. And, most importantly, dismiss nothing until he'd looked at it properly.
Shu Duan and Xu Sheng had been best friends from childhood. They'd sworn brotherhood the day the younger, Shu Duan, became an adult. For over a decade they'd been known as the Sword and Shield of Leifeng Shan, traveling with their master Qiong Luo and increasing Leifeng Shan's reputation. Until, that was, Shu Duan met a lovely young woman.
That woman was, of course, the King of the Demon World. The White Snake Xing Baishe. Newly risen to her position, she was curious about humans and loved watching them. She and Shu Duan became trapped on a mountainside and though she could have used her demon powers to escape, his insistence on protecting her and promise to save them intrigued her. She let him try and only revealed herself when he'd succeeded.
They met, over and over again afterwards, growing closer and closer to each other as time went on. Except Master Qiong Luo, suspicious of demon-kind and not liking the way things were going, persuaded Xu Sheng that Xing Baishe was plotting to steal Shu Duan's lifeforce and use it to increase her immortality. Worried for his martial brother, trusting Qiong Luo's judgment, Xu Sheng attacked Xing Baishe with the intent of driving her back into the Abyss.
By this time, of course, Shu Duan had quietly sworn himself to his beloved. Moreover, they'd mated and she'd lain an egg, one they each carried in turn to keep close to their hearts. When Xu Sheng attacked and nearly killed Xing Baishe, Shu Duan gave the egg to his father and carried his injured wife into the Abyss; despite the effect that place would have on him.
Devastated, realizing how terribly he'd wronged his brother, Xu Sheng left the sect. Broken by his mistake, he'd found a farmer's daughter, married her and settled down with her family. Only to have his wife and her family killed by bandits. Left with a small baby - Shirong - to care for, he'd taken his son to his old sect and disappeared; searching for what, no one knew.
The story was similar to the one Shirong remembered from his future life's folktales. Similar but not quite the same. There hadn't been a sworn brother in that one. "None of this explains why Master Qiong kept Shun Shixiong and I from knowing what being a Chosen and an Adversary means."
"No, it doesn't. And to tell the truth, I've no idea what Master Qiong was thinking, keeping you two hidden away and ill-educated. It does our world no good for the Chosen and their Adversary to be so ignorant." Feng Xi sighed, pulling out a jade tablet to work her skills on. "It may have to do with my husband's prophecy. It does suggest the Adversary is avenge his mother. Master Qiong might fear Shu Shun's coming into his powers."
Master Qiong was Sect Master. Was supposed to be wise and brave. But thinking about it, his adopted father, kind and good to him though he'd been, wasn't a good parent. And he was so desperate, now, to see Shun Shixiong suffer, simply because he'd been born the Adversary. And he still didn't understand that part at all.
Tong Si continued. "From what I can tell, Master Qiong made sure neither of you learned what was to be your duties. Granted, there are many who don't really understand. I blame the names. It's hard not to see it as a conflict when you're dealing with a Chosen One and an Adversary."
"So what are my duties, and Shun Shixiong's."
"Shun is a creature of chaos. Most demons are, of course, but an Adversary can be pure human like Feng Xi here. The main aspect is that where he goes, the energies of the outer realms, the basic forces that go into creation, will follow."
That didn't seem like a bad thing. When Shirong said so, Feng Xi murmured, "Adversaries are followed by trouble. It creates the strangest of luck for them until they can find a way to control it."
"The strangest luck? Wait, does that mean I'm not why things keep going wrong around him?"
"It depends on your attitude towards him."
Which explained far more than Shirong liked. Master Qiong had never directly taught him to regard Shun Shixiong as an enemy but he'd made sure Shirong thought him a rival, someone to conquer by his skills. If Shirong hadn't already wanted Shun Shixiong's affection and appreciation, he probably would hate the older boy by now.
"How can he control it?"
"Chaos and magic are close kin. He'll have to learn to be a sorcerer. Being part demon, he'd have to anyway, but now his seal's broken, he's going to need new teachings. More importantly, he's going to need someone to help him keep the energies from leaking. That's where the Chosen comes in."
Oh. Oh! That was what the prophecy really meant. Shirong was supposed to keep Shun's new powers from causing trouble. Not bind him. Not control him. Just help him control himself, if the energies got too much. "Heaven and Earth my witness," he whispered thoughtfully.
"Indeed. We both can see the effect of your oath to him. A good, solid, beginning. A Chosen and their Adversary don't have to like each other. Don't have to trust each other. But it helps. Otherwise you run the risk of being forced to kill each other."
Shirong didn't like that idea at all. "I won't hurt him. I utterly refuse to hurt him."
"Then the next thing we have to do is find him. Because right now he's out there, seal broken and entirely ignorant of his true nature. Gods know what might happen if he forgets himself and loses control."
Agreeing, absolutely determined to save his beloved Shixiong, Shirong rose to his feet. "Then what are we waiting for. Let's get started."