David

"Are you feeling alright?" Small Wei asked a third time, her upper lip trembling.

"Yes, I'm fine," David confirmed again. They were headed down Earth Peak after David had spent a few minutes convincing Big Wei that he didn't need to be carried - he could walk and his lungs felt fine. "I'm not hurt, I promise."

Big Wei was in a better mood. "So, junior, who would you consider your favorite Peak Master?" he boomed.

David didn't even have to think about it. "Fairy Guan," he said.

Big Wei winked at him. "I suppose we should take you to go see her, then, to tell her the good news."

They continued onwards in three silences - one worried, one jovial and one contemplative. They'd passed the entrance to Earth Peak by the time David had finally figured out the question he'd wanted to ask.

"What did I do wrong, exactly?"

The Weis stopped, exchanging glances, then continued to walk. It was clear that they were both deep in thought, so David let the silence stretch on.

Northern Tianbei, where the Ascending Sky was located, was a well-to-do residential area. Not many of the houses were walled off, but they were wide and had well kept lawns and were numbered two to David's estimate of a city block. The residents enjoyed a good relationship with the sect - many of them waved from their porches and windows. David waved back, but the Weis ignored most of the greetings.

"What do you know about the nature of qi from natural sources?" Big Wei finally asked. They were halfway to Sword Peak by this point, several blocks from the entrance that was too tall for any man, too narrow for any giant.

David shrugged. "I know that there's qi in everything and everywhere, anything that's living and sometimes things that-"

"In the caverns of Jiangxi," said Small Wei, who was desperate to explain herself, "there exists evidence of the oldest civilizations - four or five dynastic cycles ago, stretching into time before time. These memories were carved by the Moonlight Immortal. We call him that out of respect - we have no idea if he or she truly ascended."

David frowned. He was unsure of where Small Wei was going with this.

"Scrawled by finger into stone was a history of the world to date, drawings of technologies that predate cultivation - one of which is used to this day is the printing press, and, of course, the oldest Scripture known to us - the Moon Phases. The scripture is lost - it was a secret too jealously guarded to survive. But it is how we know the nature of qi."

She paused. "It got many things wrong, as far as we can tell. It is why the sun is named Tai Yang, even though we’ve known, by conclusive proof, that rays of light from the sun are Yin energy. But it did show us the basis of cultivation and teach us some principles that are ingrained within us. Tell me, what happens when Yin and Yang collide in contest?"

David didn't know, so he shrugged.

“It’s dangerous to begin with, and you chose the most dangerous path, the Heart Meridian of all things,” whispered Small Wei. She sucked in air through her teeth. “New friends are few and far between for cultivators.”

As abruptly as the moment came, it went. Small Wei's expression twisted and then settled into something happier. "But today is a day of celebration, regardless!" she said, even finding a skip in her step. She grabbed him by the wrist and dragged him along, looking for all the world like the little sister David had never had - an illusion, but a welcome one.

In no time at all, they were standing before the door of Sword Peak. It was not guarded - not like Earth Peak. But the Weis did not try to open the door. Big Wei's fist shot out suddenly and slammed into the door soundlessly.

Within seconds, a voice - so melodic it could only be one singular Fairy.

"Who knocks before the Gates of Heaven?"

"Inner Disciple Ji of the Ascending Sky," Big Wei frantically whispered into David's ear. "Say it!"

David did as he was told. "Inner Disciple Ji? Of the Ascending Sky," he said to the door.

“Is that so?”

David jumped - the voice had come from right beside his left ear.

It smelled of lilacs.

Fairy Guan still wore her white robes of mourning. David supposed it was to be expected - she had been the Widow of Tianbei’s inheriting disciple, after all. David struggled to wrap his head around how many years they must have known one another.

“This Sword would like her fellow Peak Masters to be notified,” she said, nodding at the Weis. They immediately split up - heading in different directions.

“As for you,” Fairy Guan said, a finger finding David’s cheek, “my talented, talented boy,” she murmured. “Do come inside with me.” The finger found his palm and the doors to Sword Peak opened with the barest sound of the Song.

In seconds, they stood together on the Sword Platform. It felt rather empty without the plinths raised from the ground.

Fairy Guan brought him to the center of the platform and with both hands applied the slightest pressure on his shoulders - bidding him to stay put. She took a position across from him.

“You’ve been wounded recently,” she said, suddenly. “Tell this Sword who laid hands on you. If someone believes this shoddy work in healing you would hide the marks of the Star-Seeking Palm from me…” she trailed off.

“Disciple Wei,” David said.

A flash of anger sparked in Fairy Guan’s eyes - David realized they were the lightest shade of green. “Tell me why Disciple Wei attacked you.”

“Upon forming my core, I attempted to Ignite. Disciple Wei stopped me,” he explained hurriedly. He didn’t want Small Wei to get into trouble with Fairy Guan.

It seemed he was successful because that flash of anger was replaced with obvious relief. “Which meridian did you attempt?” asked Fairy Guan. Her voice remained casual and light, but her eyes were locked onto his with such intensity that it was almost scary.

“The heart,” David said.

Fairy Guan was in front of him suddenly. “Know this and know this well, Disciple Ji,” she said. “Your twelve meridians are not made equal.”

She was suddenly tracing a pair of fingers from between his eyes to his lips and past his neck and down his chest. In sharp contrast to the way the Fairy normally conducted herself, there was nothing flirtatious about this - her voice had dropped to a deadly whisper and there was something powerful and revealing.

David heard the sound of the Song and shivered. He thought suddenly of exactly how badly Fairy Guan could hurt him if she’d wanted to. It made him almost uncomfortable enough to recoil away, but he steeled himself.

Fairy Guan’s fingers ended over his lower dantian - his newly formed core, and then sped back up his body to find his upper chest.

“This is your most important meridian - your heart. Do you know what we of the Middle Continent name the Ignition of the Heart Meridian?”

David remembered. “Coronation by starlight,” he whispered back. The empty sword platform echoed with every word spoken.

Fairy Guan nodded. “Which meridian did you try to ignite?” It was a rhetorical question.

"There are no stars," David realized. When he’d followed Fairy Guan into Sword Peak, the noonday sun was just beginning to peek through the clouds.

The Sword Fairy gave David an indulgent pat on the cheek. “Did you think it would go better at a different hour?” Her voice hadn’t been raised from that whisper. In her eyes, David saw the defiance of someone who had survived tribulation - someone desperately angry, not at him, but at the world.

She took a step back, finding that spot across from him once again. “If only it were that easy,” said Fairy Guan. “You've stepped onto a ship, Disciple Ji - a ship that the Great General, a Venerate of the Stars Above, had named the Last Ship. You can no longer board any other.”

Fairy Guan gave him a smile that was clever and welcoming. “Until this point, you’ve been cultivating. Today, you’ve become a cultivator.”

David opened his mouth to ask her what she meant.

Her smile widened as Fairy Guan placed a finger over his lips. “We cultivators are known for speaking in riddles.”

The mirth fled from her face as her eyes became serious once again. “Stars are only visible in darkness.”

As if on cue, the doors to Sword Peak opened and in came Peak Master Ling with Small Wei in tow. He was down the stairs in an instant and he clapped David on the back with such force David stumbled.

“Congratulations, young Disciple! The future of our Sect is bright indeed and-”

He paused, frowning suddenly.

“Who attacked you?”

“Don’t worry about it,” said Fairy Guan. “It was for his own good.”

Ling narrowed his eyes at her. “Are you beating our students again?” he asked, his voice still jovial.

David saw a grimace from Small Wei, who had descended the stairs with much less fanfare.

Fairy Guan rolled her eyes at him. “I’ve never-”

“Touched a disciple in my life, unless they’ve asked for it,” came a voice, shrill and mocking, from the door.

It was Peak Master Feng, of course. Immediately ahead of him entered Big Wei, and, to David’s surprise, Alice.

She looked to be in a bad mood, but when their eyes met, Alice smiled.

Big and Small Wei plopped down at the front row of the ampitheatre that was the Sword Platform, flanking Alice, as the two Peak Masters took their positions on either side of Fairy Guan.

“The Sword of Sword Peak requests that Inner Disciple Ji kneel.”

David knelt. It was a feeling he resented - but he presumed it was tradition.

“And now stand-” Peak Master Ling roared into his ear, suddenly behind him. The shock bolted David to his feet.

“Inner Disciple Ji of the Ascending Sky will never kneel again,” Peak Master Feng shouted at the ceiling, towards the heavens.

“On the day Inner Disciple Ji makes good his promise, he will light a lantern and send it towards the sky. Whether it be in this realm or the next, the Sect will remember,” promised Fairy Guan.

The Peak Masters began to pace around David, slowly, counterclockwise.

“Inner Disciple Ji may now come and go as he pleases,” continued Peak Master Feng.

“But he will give the Ascending Sky a single act of service every century,” said Peak Master Ling.

“His first task will be on this day,” said Peak Master Guan.

The pacing stopped and the Weis clapped enthusiastically. Alice looked from side to side and began to clap as well.

“Congratulations!” said Peak Master Feng, grandiose and overwhelming. “Come see me in my study before sundown, I’ll have your assignment for you.”

“Do you have any questions?” Fairy Guan asked, her voice soft and serene.

“Do I get a Core Formation Ceremony?” David blurted.

The Peak Masters looked at one another. Feng rubbed his eyes.

Fairy Guan gave David a short pat on the head, and then realized how patronizing that must have been, because she stepped back, shaking her head. “Disciple Ji, no civilized sect has had a Core Formation Ceremony for a disciple in this dynasty,” she muttered.

“Maybe things are different in the South,” said Peak Master Ling, looking almost embarrassed for him. “You should go pack some belongings,” he said, changing the subject as quickly as he could.

“What?” came Alice’s voice from the seats.

Fairy Guan looked over with a sort of pity that David didn’t like. “Disciple Chow,” she said, “have you been separated from Disciple Ji in your travels so far?”

Alice shook her head. David realized he was shaking his head as well.

“This will be the first time,” said Fairy Guan, as gently as she could. “I can promise you that unless it is by your choice, the next will only happen when you form your core as well. It won’t be for more than a week or two,” she promised.

Alice looked horrified. David was sure he must have as well.