"Senior Brother, what new gadget have you made this time? Is it another quick-deployment formation device?"
On this she would swear by Supreme Pure Grand Master — Blue Ling'e had asked exactly that one question, and was summoned over, shut inside a wooden cage, and made a guinea pig to test this particular "technological achievement."
The cage stood a little taller than a man, built from thirty-six lashed-together rods of Thunderfall Wood and lined inside with a fine varicolored "iron" mesh — bound piece by piece, so it looked rather shabby. Above it rose a single seven-hued long needle; at the base sat a six-pointed star ring cast from Thunder-Storing Seven-Spirit Iron. But this was no formation — it bore no prohibition whatsoever, purely six-pointed in shape.
When a Qi Refiner crosses his tribulation to become an immortal, no formation can shield him; the thunder of Heaven's Tribulation ignores every barrier of the array craft. Forge a treasure in the later days and it gains all manner of uses through the prohibitions carved inside and out. After years of study, Li Changshou had settled one fact: prohibitions and formations rest on the same principle — both use fixed "symbols" and "patterns" to stir spiritual energy, differing only in complexity and scale. That was exactly why he excelled at formations yet was poor at refining treasures: he had only been cultivating a little over a century, needed no sleep, and was forever splitting his hours between cultivation, pill-forging, poisons, and arrays. On his "sidelines," he had to choose.
The tribulation also ignores the vast majority of defensive treasures; only a few rare ones can shave its power. But Li Changshou had an edge others lacked — nine years of compulsory schooling. This cage was the "Far-whatever-cage" from his upper-secondary physics textbook, meant for lightning deflection, a fixture of those pleasant electric-shock performances. He'd half forgotten the theory, but he was fairly sure he hadn't misremembered the construction.
"My Brother," Li Changshou cautioned as he locked her in, "don't touch the netting around you."
Inside the cage, Ling'e shivered, standing on a wooden plank and peering up at her senior brother with a pitiful air. "Senior Brother, what exactly are you trying to do?"
"Just don't move," Li Changshou said calmly. From his sleeve he pulled a few talismans, tossed them to a spot ten zhang above the cage, and with his left hand pointed a finger vaguely toward them.
Crack-crack — thunder fell from a clear sky. Several bolts struck the Thunderfall Wood atop the cage; the "iron" mesh around it lit instantly with fine arcs, and the Thunder-Storing Seven-Spirit Iron below at once split the lightning apart and melted it into the earth...
Blue Ling'e, who had been crouched with her head in her arms, slowly looked up, craning this way and that in wonder, full of admiration. "What kind of treasure is this? It can actually resist the thunder."
"This," Li Changshou said plainly, "is a Far-Whatever Birdcage. Stay in it a little longer — I'm going to turn up the power and try again."
"Senior Brother! Never m— oh dear!" Before Ling'e could finish, Li Changshou fished a stack of yellow-paper talismans from his sleeve, and flung them over the cage's top. Bolt after bolt came crashing down, and a whole sky full of thunder hammered the wooden cage! In that instant light exploded in a surge, and birds rose startled from Little Qiong Peak.
In practice, this Far-Whatever Birdcage worked rather well; the only question was whether it would shatter apart against a true tribulation. As long as it could blunt the master's first thunderbolt, everything else would fall into place. "Come out. My thanks for your trouble." He began turning over ways to reinforce it. Ling'e grumbled, "Senior Brother! Why not just throw a fish in there instead of me!"
"I wanted you to feel a bit of involvement," Li Changshou smiled. "Helping the master cross his tribulation, the two of us each did a part." Ling'e pressed her lips together, tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear, and murmured: "Senior Brother, will you be trying again next? I have low cultivation, but I can still be of use with this sort of work."
"From here on you can't stay inside. Take my meaning and go find a bucket and a fish. The thunder I need to test would land straight on you, and you could never bear it." He brought out the five-hued radiant rope and went back to work. Ling'e turned and hurried off toward the lake; moments later, the lightning blazed over Little Qiong Peak once again...
This went on for three full days. Outsiders took it for a cultivator practicing his thunder arts, and no one minded. It was not until the old Taoist Qi Yuan woke from meditation, satisfied, and turned around that the lines on his forehead sank into black grooves — the lakeside clearing, once green grass and lovely scenery, was now a black pit, and his two disciples were squatting at the bottom tinkering with an oversized birdcage...
Qi Yuan sighed helplessly and scolded: "The two of you, not cultivating properly — what are you useless lot up to down there!"
"Master, you're awake!" Blue Ling'e yelled in excitement. "Senior Brother made you a treasure to resist the tribulation! We've struck it with lightning dozens and hundreds of times, and the fish inside is still alive!"
"Master, please wait a moment," Li Changshou added. "This object is nearly finished."
"Oh?" Qi Yuan's expression stirred, and he made to come down and see just what novel treasure his disciple had crafted this time. But the moment the old Taoist's foot moved, his face abruptly changed, and he fixed his gaze on the eastern sky, standing stock still. Blue Ling'e looked up and asked, "Master, what is it?"
"Alas." Qi Yuan clasped his hands behind his back and said softly: "The tribulation is here."
Just four words, and the smiles on Li Changshou and Blue Ling'e's faces vanished in an instant. The two leaped out of the pit and looked where their master's gaze had gone — in the east, a patch of ashen-black cloud was streaking toward Du Xian Sect. "Ling'e, quickly!" Li Changshou said at once. "Take this cage to the tribulation ground the master chose at the back mountain! Whatever you do, bury those six Seven-Spirit Iron beneath the earth!"
"Yes!" Blue Ling'e hoisted the Far-Whatever Birdcage onto her frail arms and dashed off on a cloud toward the back mountain, not sparing a thought for goddess-like grace.
Right now Li Changshou was more anxious than his own master. He drew a brocade box from his sleeve and rushed up to Qi Yuan: "Master, this is a precious medicine your disciple refined with all the care he could muster. It will carry you through one tribulation strike. Once the first tribulation thunder has passed, if you feel the next one may be beyond you, take it at once."
Qi Yuan looked at him with a smile, a light flickering in his gaze, and murmured, "Keep this precious medicine for yourself to use when your own tribulation comes. No need to waste it on your master."
"Master!" Li Changshou knelt straight before Qi Yuan and pressed the brocade box into his hands. "The master has raised your disciple, led him into the Dao, never once laying a harsh word or demand upon him. This is the one thing your disciple can do for you. If you refuse it, your disciple will destroy it this very moment!"
Qi Yuan gave a bitter smile. "Why put yourself through this? Does your master not know my own condition?"
"Ah, right — your disciple has eleven more besides!" Li Changshou changed tack. "I can swear by the Great Dao there are absolutely eleven more identical pills, and each Qi Refiner can use this precious medicine only once!"
The old Taoist wavered. "Truly?"
"Abundantly true!"
"Very well." Qi Yuan took the brocade box in hand. "Let's go to the back mountain. Don't let the tribulation destroy our home."
The grey-black cloud from the east had by now nearly reached Du Xian Sect. Li Changshou drove a white cloud, tugging his master toward the back mountain. "Master, save your spiritual power. And Master, are you well stocked with pills? During a tribulation all manner of medicines can be used — have you prepared the wound salves and the qi-recovery pills? How did this tribulation come with so little warning!"
"Prepared, prepared," Qi Yuan said with a smile, watching Li Changshou ahead of him, a memory rising unbidden — that timid, bewildered little boy when he had first brought him up into the mountains... So many years, gone in a blink. The child of those days had grown into a man of worth; and he had poured the last accumulation of Little Qiong Peak into him, only ever hoping to see him cross smoothly into immortality...
"Changshou, ah. If your master cannot survive this tribulation, Little Qiong Peak is yours to manage. If the sect tries to take the peak back, do not resist — obey the sect's arrangements. I have already begged a few fellow disciples I know well, and they will take you and Ling'e to cultivate on other peaks."
"Master, you will surely cross this tribulation!" Li Changshou said firmly. "Have confidence! You must not falter now — this is the tempering Heaven's Dao lays down for us. Pass it and you'll have sky and sea before you. Every dead end holds a thread of life; cast into a corner, it is the struggle itself that lets you survive!"
Qi Yuan gave a wry smile. "My good disciple, do you not know these truths? Why then are you so timid and cautious in daily life?"
Li Changshou answered in a low voice: "The truths you have taught me, Master, your disciple has not forgotten for a single moment. My caution is only to keep me from ever being cast into a corner."
In a trice they reached the back mountain of Little Qiong Peak. Ling'e waved ceaselessly from a clearing in the woods, and Li Changshou tugged his master down, and without ceremony pushed him into the freshly finished wooden cage. He crouched to hurry-check how the birdcage had been set, tossed a pile of porcelain bottles into his master's hands, then latched the cage shut, grabbed Ling'e, and flew sharply backward.
That grey cloud now hung above Du Xian Sect, casting the whole sect into shadow. Li Changshou shouted: "Master, fight with everything you have! That precious medicine must only be taken after the first tribulation thunder!"
Qi Yuan nodded with a grave expression and looked up at the tribulation cloud, mana surging in waves around him, his sleeves and the hem of his robe stirring though there was no wind. Ling'e cried out, "Master, you can do it!"
"Your master, too, must gamble once for himself this time!" Looking up at the sky, the old Taoist's eyes gleamed. One gamble, against Heaven's fate!
All at once a dragon's cry descended from the clouds. From the grey mass burst a thousand-zhang cyan dragon whose whole body blazed with crimson fire-scales, its claws slamming into the grand mountain-protecting formation. Light surged through the formation; the peaks quivered; a great rumble ran through the earth. At the same instant a gritty voice dropped from the sky: "Whoever presides over Du Xian Sect, come out and respond!"
Hold on. A cyan dragon? The one who calls out? This cloud lay beyond the mountain-protecting formation; it did not share that property of ignoring all formations... Though it carried pressure, on a careful feel it was not the might of Heaven...
"Eh? Isn't this the master's tribulation cloud...?" Blue Ling'e cocked her head. Li Changshou clapped a hand to his forehead; standing inside the Far-Whatever Birdcage, the old Taoist Qi Yuan felt the corner of his mouth twitch. He slowly turned around, and slowly, slowly crouched down.
Supreme Pure on high — this time, he had made an utter fool of himself.