25 The Silver Lining

Cha Ming was walking down to the woods for his usual walk. Instead of choosing to take his morning bath, Cha Ming noticed a fork in the road. The new path was beaten down and seemed to lead uphill. He followed this forest trail for the full morning until he came to the edge of a cliff. Both sides of the cliff were made of red rock, and a river raged loudly beyond the edge. He couldn't see the bottom of the river, as it was obscured in a thick white mist. Surprisingly, there was a large vine strung out across the deep river chasm. The vine had been fashioned into a simple bridge, and it spanned for what seemed like two to four thousand feet before making it to the other side.

Looking to the center of the bridge, he saw a familiar figure. An alluring lady in red was standing there looking out into the mists. Her lips formed a hint of a smile as Cha Ming walked toward her.

They stood together for about an hour, not saying anything. Finally, the lady in red let out a deep sigh. "I couldn't let my son be taken away by a bad person. If he were to be taken away by a selfish human, I might as well have killed him myself. The world has never been kind to us demon beasts." She continued to gaze out at the mists while Cha Ming looked at her pensively.

"Likewise, I would rather let my son die than have him be ungrateful and cowardly. I'm glad he rushed back to save you when he saw you were in danger. He was never meant to be mediocre. It's in his blood…" She bit her lip as she hesitated. After making up her mind, she rushed up to Cha Ming and held his head in her hands.

"His name is Ba Huxian. He is not an ordinary fox; he is something called a yin-yang bagua fox. I'm sure he will make the best of companions."

A complicated expression flashed across her face as she ran her finger to his lips, pressing him into silence. She didn't want to hear his answer, as a no would only break her heart. This was her gamble. She had bet everything on Cha Ming, and who knew if that gamble would pay off. She walked off toward the other side of the cliff and disappeared in the mist.

--

Cha Ming awoke to sounds akin to a high-pitched snore. It was the only sound he could hear aside from his breathing. Each breath he took came with a sharp pain, the tell-tale sign of a broken rib. As he opened his eyes, all he could see was a pure and endless darkness. He shivered as he became aware of his wet clothes, as well as various cuts and bruises that peppered his body. He felt sharp pains at various key points in his body.

I must have broken several bones after falling into the river, he thought.

Despite the cold, a little bundle of warmth radiated from his chest. It was Huxian, cuddled up to his abdomen, trying frantically to warm him up. Huxian suddenly stopped shivering and let out a yip of joy as he heard Cha Ming groan in pain. He started dutifully licking his face, bringing Cha Ming back to full alert.

A light glow quickly surrounded the baby fox, enveloping a thirty-foot radius around them. They were currently in a large cave. There was a small pool in the ground not far from where he was. He guessed that they had somehow tumbled through an underground river as they were washed toward the bottom of the main river. They had somehow surfaced in this underground cave, and it was clear that Huxian had dragged him away from the pool of water so that he didn't drown or freeze to death.

What a strong little bugger, he thought.

The small cave led to a ten-foot-wide passageway. A faint blue glow originated from deep in the tunnel; regrettably, he didn't have the strength to investigate. Gritting his teeth, Cha Ming sat himself up painfully. One of his legs was fractured in two places, and so were three of his ribs. Fortunately, he had avoided permanent damage to his organs.

The most important thing now was to recover his energy so that he could start healing. Everything else was out of the question until he could heal his wounds. He sat himself up against the cave wall, and Huxian cuddled up beside him, exhausted. Entering a meditative state was quite difficult, as Cha Ming was in extreme pain. Despite the pain, he persevered and managed to recover a bit of his qi. As soon as sufficient qi had formed, a dozen pearls from the rosary on his wrist floated up to his torso, forming a light green palm imprint, which regenerated any damaged tissues. His first priority was to heal any internal injuries before taking care of other things like his broken bones. He had fortunately avoided fracturing his femur.

After a half day, the pain from his ribs finally receded. He petted the sleeping fox lightly. "Good boy, Huxian. You really saved us back there."

Hearing his name, Huxian quickly woke up and started licking Cha Ming's face. He laughed softly, realizing that healing his broken ribs had indeed been the correct decision.

The healing process continued for three days. Over these three days, both Cha Ming and Huxian ate dry rations. Eventually Cha Ming had to cope with the fact that his leg would heal improperly if he left it alone. To solve this problem, he first manifested the second form of the healing pearl manifestation, Healing Bandage.

Thirty-six beads spread out in a long rectangle, which he quickly wrapped along the injured leg. Then, mustering most of his strength, he used his fist to forcibly break his leg. The pain was so great that he passed out. He awoke a few hours later, very weak from the blood loss. He then made himself a makeshift splint out of beast bones and sinew he extracted from hound corpses in his bag of holding. Huxian ate up the freshly cut meat greedily, as he'd not had a decent meal in days. Cha Ming stuck to his dry fruit and nut rations. He wasn't desperate yet.

The healing process dragged out for another week. Such large bones were very difficult to heal at Cha Ming's current skill level. After quite a bit of effort, Cha Ming was finally able to move about freely. He would be able to fight at about eighty-percent strength if he had to, though this would worsen his injuries. Huxian scampered along playfully. He'd wanted to explore the cave for a long time, but he was very worried about Cha Ming and hadn't gone ahead to explore.

As they wandered through the caves, Cha Ming realized that the glow came from many different caves. One cave became two, two became three, and three became too many to count. He soon found that they were lost. He frowned for a bit, but then he realized that Huxian was sniffing the air and heading in a specific direction.

Oh? Does he have a special sense for these kinds of situations? Having nothing better to do, he followed Huxian's lead down the network of tunnels.

After several hours, Cha Ming noticed that the blue glow became stronger, and the caves grew brighter. Finally, they entered a very large cave. In the middle of the cave there was a small silver-blue pool. The pool had clearly been formed by a large dripping stalactite. Huxian excitedly walked up to the pool, sniffed it, and greedily started lapping up the contents. Cha Ming cursed inwardly because he hadn't warned Huxian to be careful. He was just a baby, after all. To his surprise, Huxian finished quickly and darted up the sleeve of his robe, falling asleep on his shoulders. At least the liquid wasn't poisonous; spirit beasts and demon beasts had strong survival instincts.

As he approached the small pool, he noticed a humming sound coming out from his personal bag of holding. Frowning, he looked through his bag to find the source of the humming—the white brush! He took out the brush cautiously to examine it. To his surprise, the brush darted out of his hands and dove down deep inside the pool. After a minute, the pool had drained a whole foot. After fifteen minutes, the pool was completely drained and dry, after which the brush darted back to his hands as if satisfied.

Cha Ming was quite puzzled. He knew this was a talisman brush, but he'd never realized that it might need to be fed these types natural treasures to function, like how it needed to "drink" ink before writing out talismans.

Are all magic treasures this way? He didn't even know what the liquid was, and it was already gone. He held the brush in his hands and observed it in detail. The dark lines showing all five elements were no longer black; green, red, yellow, silver, and blue lights now danced about the brush. As he stared at the brush, a golden light flashed, and he could make out a line of words on it.

Why not paint the heavens with this Clear Sky Brush?

Suddenly, a white mist shot out from the brush and darted into his forehead. Cha Ming sat down quickly as he struggled against the mist to no avail, eventually losing consciousness.

--

Cha Ming took a few steps forward, the sound of dull footsteps echoing through the vast emptiness. He was surprised, because below his feet he could not see anything. Or rather, his surroundings were pure and white. The air around him was indistinguishable from the floor. Was there a difference between walking on the floor or the ceiling? As soon as the thought ran through his head, he became aware that he was now walking upside-down. His point of view changed, and upside-down became right-side-up. Regardless of his orientation, his footsteps kept echoing throughout the vast emptiness.

True to his nature, he decided to experiment. He thought of stairs, and soon he was "climbing" stairs and "descending." He thought of skating, and soon he was gliding down a slippery white "rink," with no end in sight. Unfortunately, he eventually thought of running face-first into a white "wall," and his light frame came to a screeching halt, nearly breaking his nose in the process.

Okay, time to stop experimenting before things get out of hand. Cha Ming had a very vivid imagination, and sometimes it got the better of him, much like when a friend tells you not to think of an awful thing only to put a picture of said awful thing stuck in your head.

"Are you done having fun?" asked a calm voice behind him.

Cha Ming immediately regained his senses and turned around and saw an impish man with reddish brown hair. The man had a very plentiful red beard with prominent sideburns. He also held a gray staff in one hand, which he didn't seem to need for support.

"Confused? I would be." The man continued to stare at him with an impish smile, with one hand stroking his beard and the other twirling his staff. At some point, he threw the staff up into the air, only to have it balance on his finger. After a while, the staff started to shrink, and it continued to shrink until it was the size of a toothpick. He then put the toothpick in his mouth, using it to pick his sharp, pointy teeth. The man stared at Cha Ming, and the look in his eyes indicated that he was taking pleasure in the young man's confusion.

"Sit down, son. Let's have a chat. I haven't been on the outside in a thousand cosmic cycles. Don't even try to think about what that means; it's much too long for a youngster like yourself to imagine."

Just as Cha Ming was thinking about where to sit down, the man waved his hand, and a set of stone benches appeared. The man's bench was significantly taller, and he smirked while waiting for Cha Ming to take a seat.

Is he a man or is he a teenager? Cha Ming thought. There was no point in overthinking it, really. He didn't know where he was, and perhaps by giving this man a modicum of satisfaction, he could gain information on where he was. He sat down obediently and waited for the man to sit down, much like a child would wait for an elder. Satisfied, the man put his hands inside his gray robe's sleeves and sat down after him, as if enjoying the feeling of belittling everyone around him.

"Look around you. What do you see, son? Don't think about it too hard." The man waved around him, and an invisible wind seemed to pick up and travel out into the white expanse. Cha Ming frowned at the open-ended question but threw out a guess nonetheless.

"I don't see anything. It's a blank slate with no form. It's just pure and white nothingness."

The man gave him a surprised look and scratched his messy red hair.

"That's right, it's nothing! Likewise, it's also everything. Most people would give me a random bullshit guess to try to impress me. I'm glad you didn't do that—that kind of person disgusts me the most. I don't need sweet talk, and I don't need anyone to give me any fake surprise.

"Anyhow, like I said. It's nothing, and it's everything! It's basically the start of all things, including myself. That's saying something for someone as great as me, the Great Sage, Equal of Heaven, the Mightiest of the Strong, the Undying Holy One. Oh, I know! You can call me Almighty Heavenly Teacher. Say it! Say it!" As the man's excited voice sounded out, black lines started appearing on Cha Ming's brow. This guy is a little too full of himself, he thought.

Biting back his embarrassment, he thickened his skin and clasped his hands while bowing to the man. "I was blind and failed to see Mount Tai . A beautiful lark sang a song to me this morning, and I was sure an important figure would appear soon. Surprisingly, it's the Almighty Heavenly Teacher! I'm pleased to finally be blessed enough to have to opportunity to greet you."

A pleased smile appeared on the man's face as he shut his eyes and nodded his head. "What a proper member of the younger generation. Honest, and full of sincerity, not embellishing anything in the slightest. I'm not surprised you've heard of me." As he was nodding, a thought seemed to pop into his head. "Oh, I know! As a prestigious figure, it's only right that I give you a gift on first meeting. Come, come, I'll show you something."

The impish man got up quickly and scampered off while dragging Cha Ming behind him with gusts of wind. The man was shameless, but he didn't seem to mean any harm. In what seemed to be the blink of an eye, they appeared beside a set of clear steps. There were a total of five steps arranged in a circle, and the circle stepped down toward a light blue pool. The light blue pool was the same one that the brush had just absorbed.

"Almighty Heavenly Teacher, are we inside the white brush?" Cha Ming exclaimed. He really had not considered that this was a possibility. The man with the red eyes nodded, still playing with the toothpick in his mouth and fondling his beard.

"Yes, kid, we're precisely inside of the Clear Sky Brush. I've been sleeping for a long time, and as the brush's treasure spirit, I couldn't wake up until you sucked up that pool of elemental essence. Truly, at my level, it's way too hard to recover once someone kicks you down. Although this elemental essence is cheap garbage, it does have its usefulness. You'll notice that it's a little lighter than it was before. That's because I took the good part that you can't use to wake up." Taking out the toothpick, he extended it to its original size, two inches in diameter and seventy-two inches long. He then continued explaining.

"Now that you've sucked up this elemental essence, you've probably noticed that there are five characters on the brush that are shining pretty brightly. You're the only one that can see these characters, since you're the owner of the brush." He then waved his stick in a circle, and a cyclone of wind appeared, seeming to drag everything in from a distance. The pool of elemental essence didn't show a single ripple. After a few moments, five characters appeared, dancing in the air. These characters were two-dimensional and would always face Cha Ming no matter how hard he tried to look around them. The man in gray took out his stick and tapped the nearest character for "wood."

"Normally, when people make stuff like Daoist talismans at your level, they try not to infuse these basic characters with essence without anything accompanying them. There's a reason behind that. The reason is that a two-dimensional character is too deep. It's infinitely deep, and it can hold infinite power. You can't underestimate the five basic elements. Every material thing in the universe is made from at least one of them. Myself, I was born from a piece of primordial rock. It took far too many cosmic cycles until I finally gained consciousness, and subsequently, through my great efforts, I achieved immortality, surpassing most people in the universe. But back to the main point, the true name of the basic elements is represented in these characters, and they can't be underestimated.

"Now, that begs the question. What if we gave the characters depth?"

His hand made a spinning motion, and the previously two-dimensional characters became three-dimensional, rotating slowly so that Cha Ming could comprehend their basic structure. His original thought was that these three-dimensional characters would just continue in straight lines for a finite distance. Nothing could have been further from the truth. Each character's continuation was drastically different, as if representing some subtle truth contained within each element. Despite these differences, they all seemed the same from a two-dimensional vantage point.

The character for wood seemed to grow a teeming forest out of its back. The forest was only a foot wide and a foot deep, but the amount of detail in the character would be enough to write the character a thousand times over on a sheet of paper. Likewise, the character for fire was written like foot-long dancing flames; the character for earth was composed of multiple shifting and cracked plates; the character for metal was composed of hundreds of blades and spikes; the character for water was made up from hundreds of waves.

While Cha Ming was still marveling at the mysteries of these characters, the man coughed lightly to grab his attention. "Youth is truly a wonderful thing. You're already distracted at such a simple picture. The truth of these characters is much too profound. You can stay here for as long as you like. You're not technically here, you see; only your mental projection is here.

"Once you think you can draw the characters, try starting with the character for wood. It'll be useful for when you try to escape this hole in the ground. You can use the elemental essence to draw the characters out in the real world. Anyhow, feel free to come and visit me often; it's very lonely here."

The man then walked away, disappearing in the pure white surroundings.

After pondering for half a day, Cha Ming finally figured out the answer to the question that had been nagging at his mind since he'd first laid eyes on the intricate characters.