It was 4:00 AM and where the shadows waited and the earth itself appeared to be preparing to greet the day.
He paused at the well in the side yard--the well that his grandfather had dug by hand sixty years before. Its mouth was lined with stones which were rounded smooth by generations of ropes which drew the water. Zhenwu touched the cold masonry, and he could feel the pulse of the earth beating deeply and quietly. This well was fed on the same springs of the same mountain which had filled the veins of Heishan and had made the family thirsty by drought and flood, by pleasure and pain.
Out of the dimensional space of his ring he made a single pill--no bigger than a pea, but with a low, internal radiance that held constellations in its small body. The Pill of the Rejuvenation of the Earth was the quintessence of a thousand-year spirit root and had been distilled in the core of a dying star. It was the very thing that would cause even the Dao Sovereigns to act in the higher realms and jeopardize their lives.
He pressed it between his thumb and fore finger.
The dust that had dropped to the bottom did not merely dissipate--but glittered on the waters like moving starlight before settling down into the chasm, and spreading along the rivers which wound through the earth, linking this village to the mountain itself. The water of this well and all the springs which it serves would in a few days be impregnated with that power. Just enough to do no great miracle, but to make bodies well, and minds keener, and some livelier all that drew water out of it. An obligatory little payment on the debts that he owed this place.
He thought wryly. When a butcher kills a chicken with a cleaver. Such lavish methods to such plain designs. But in a hundred thousand years after making use of his power on sublime, vast scales, there was something oddly satisfying in applying it at the humbler end in making the vegetables that his mother grew grow a bit crisper, and the joints of his father ache a bit less.
He went to the garden he had examined in the previous instance, the one now with the unnatural energy it was full of. Once his hands had rewritten the laws of the world, now they chose with great care the fattest tomatoes, the softest spinach leaves, the best green onions. And he had worked with the intent eyes of a workman of great skill, but the medium with which he had dealt was water and earth and growing things.
When he came back to the front courtyard with his harvest, a spot of darkness at his feet became deeper and moved on its own, without connection to the morning shadows. The shadow demon which he had sent out before had risen out of the nothingness, and its formless shape had solidified into something loosely human before fading back into two dimensions beneath his feet.
It spoke to him in his mind, and its voice was as the rustling of dead leaves, "The report, Master, it said, this time. The void-eater aura attacks only the spiritually-grounded ones. The scarcity of the qi density of Earth implies that not many of them are naturally formed. The relationship is exact--the greater the spiritual potential, the more effectively the target takes in the corrupting energy.
Zhenwu kept placing vegetables on the stone table by the kitchen door, and did so very leisurely. "Numbers?"
One out of 1. 2 million humans has visible spiritual foundations. Only one of every thousand of these has roots large enough to be affected by Corruption very quickly. The targeting seems to be not random, but systematic.
The atmosphere of Zhenwu fell a few degrees. Frost made exquisite designs on the stone table, but his face was the same. One of those who had one of 1.2 million was his daughter. Even more--being of her peculiar race she would be one of the most vulnerable.
He sniffed his index finger to his temple, and closed his eyes. His awareness stretched over that short distance to where Xuanxuan lay asleep knocking down walls and doors as though they did not exist. No, he examined her with the quick and accurate scrutiny with which a master studies a priceless object, but rather with the thoroughness of the art critic when he is analyzing a masterpiece.
One minute passed. Then two.
Yin and yang, so in harmony that it was not only harmonious but a kind of complement to each other, a concept he had scarcely ever seen. An ocean of unlimited possibilities, just waiting to be directed. And well deserved the title of daughter of this emperor. It is no wonder she had been the target. The techniques applied to her were more civilized than the Third Realm brute-force approach to poisoning. This was sharp work, indicating that the people who carried this out had a specific target by what they were searching.
Watch out in the shadows round my daughter, make watch of the darkness, said Zhenwu to the darkness beneath his feet. And not even the slightest scratch come to harm her.
Hardly had the shadow melted away into nothingness, when a certain familiar face appeared in the courtyard. Xiao Hei did not come with celestial applause, but as a great black village dog--the type that might lazily wander in any Chinese village homestead. His tail frenzied at the sight of Zhenwu and his tongue waggled at the thought of him.
However, as soon as he saw that the shadow demon was still hanging at the feet of Zhenwu, his attitude changed. His ears were flattened, his lips drawn in, to show great fangs, and his chest growled.
Little demon, hiss Xiao Hei, you have the nerve to appear in my sight?
The shadow answered in its usual unemotional voice, "Mad dog, you have at last got out of your hole.
"Who are you calling a mad dog? You're the mad dog! The whole of your lineage are mad dogs! And who's hiding? Had I not been living in Master mountain and river space, I would have done with you long before!
The shadow responded with a bored response, I cannot bother with you. I must attend to more pressing business--the security of the young mistress.
That last rejoinder put the shadow altogether to pieces, and left the common morning darkness below the feet of Zhenwu.
Xiao Hei looked up at Zhenwu, and a feeling of injustice seemed to be emanating out of his whole person. He had not even seen this young mistress, but that fatuous shadow was appointed to watch her? Unacceptable! He must establish himself with this new little master. He had to get on her good side!
Zhenwu bent down, rubbed his nails behind the ears of Xiao Hei, and just there the back leg of the dreadful Taotie prodded the ground with its canine delight.
Enough, Xiao Hei, said Zhenwu, with a commanding and loving voice. He heard precisely what passed in the mind of his companion--all that which always kept that mind busy and that was food and rank in that order.
But, but, why remember me, Master," Xiao Hei whined, switching back to mental communication as the shadow had disappeared, why remember me? I was even about to go out to the Fifth Realm to the door of that prince. I would have swept out their whole game! Kill the hen to frighten the monkeys!
Zhenwu took one of the tomatoes in the garden, which was here and there a red. The hook is out and the snare laid. now we wait till they become complacent. To come in at a flat rate would merely make them wary of it.
He cut the tomato with a steady finger after which he cut through the tomato with a straight line that uncovered flesh that was crimson jade. Particularly when it is their favourite food we are offering. Occasionally The mantis preens upon the cicada, And knows not the oriole behind.
The dog eyes of Xiao Hei opened up in comprehension. You are using the young mistress as--
No, No, Zhenwu interrupted him, and his voice was too sharp to have made Xiao Hei start. I am taking advantage of their spiritual background interest as the bait. It is just that my daughter is the most inviting object in this world. They will come for her again. And when they do..."
He did not even have to complete the sentence. Then the cold in the courtyard decreased still more, and in a quarter of a moment Xiao Hei did not behold the returned son of Qingshan village, but the Unconquered Emperor who had once caused celestial creatures to prostrate themselves at a glance.
For now, Zhenwu said when he collected the vegetables, but his voice remained elevated, and his parents were going to have breakfast cooked by him. You may assist by not frightening the chickens when they get up.
Xiao Hei stood by and Zhenwu took the stuff to the kitchen, the domesticity of the whole situation being so extreme as to be set in direct opposition with the vast potential of their conversation. His terrible Taotie, the eater of worlds, now was put to work in the keeping of poultry.
When the dawn, the real dawn, started to tint the east sky, and the mountains of Heishan were turning gold and rose, Xiao Hei took himself a seat in a sunshine spot beside the kitchen door. His mind was busy with the plans of how to insinuate himself into the young mistress and at the same time devising how to destroy a dynasty that spans multiple realms.
Within, Zhenwu strode about the kitchen to which he had long been accustomed, in a natural fashion, not one who had been away four years and subjective millennia. The beat of his knife on the chopping board, the sizzle of the oil in the wok, the smell of fresh vegetables and ginger--these were really the music of homecoming.
His parents would wake soon. His daughter slept comfortably and with the protection of shadows. The door was guarded at the door by his faithful, but trouble-making companion. And somewhere out of sight of the mountains, foes plotted in worlds untreaden.
At this intermediate stage between night and day, Liang Zhenwu made breakfast.