Chapter 98: 167. Visitation

The trip to Yangye was not nearly as eventful as their travels from Noguchi to Nayeong. The gaudy palanquin had been replaced by a simple carriage drawn by oxen instead of being carried around by people, and beasts of burden had been purchased to take over carrying the supplies. Jia didn’t even bother entertaining the carriage this time, preferring to go by foot and not waste any precious time that could be spent training while on the move.

True to her word, Ja Yun generally stuck close to Jia and Eui, even showing an interest in their martial arts training—though she blanched a bit when she heard what she’d have to do in order to awaken her own ki. Though her job was ostensibly to ‘chaperone’ them, as she put it, that mostly just involved hanging out and being friendly—at least during their travels—and Jia quickly found herself endeared by Ja Yun’s awkward exuberance.

The rest of their escort kept their distance, for the most part. Sagong So spent most of his time in the carriage with Hayakawa, while Han—whose full name they learned was Han Shin—stayed at the perimeter of the group and commanded the rank-and-file soldiers of their escort. They were quite diligent about proactively clearing any potential threats off the road, which meant that Jia was bored out of her mind—she was too accustomed to her time hunting magical beasts in the wilderness.

The biggest moment of excitement on the entire journey occurred while Jia and Eui were passing the time by helping Ja Yun try to awaken her ki—which she’d resolved to do despite her reservations. They were following her endless sprint around the caravan with effortless ease, offering the exhausted Ja Yun encouragement to keep running—or in Eui’s case threats, which paradoxically seemed to have the opposite of the intended effect—when Jia and Eui instantly froze up, sensing a domain pass over them. Razor sharp, deadly, focused—they relaxed at the familiar feeling, but Ja Yun had noticed their sudden change in attitude and stopped. She glanced between them as she tried to catch her breath, taking the excuse to sneak in a break from the endless running.

“What...what’s wrong? Why did we stop?”

Jianmo appeared out of thin air right behind her, a smirk playing out on her lips.

“Probably because of me, darling.”

“AAAH!”

Ja Yun jumped nearly a foot in the air, fell on her face, then scrambled back to her feet and ducked behind Jia and Eui despite both of them being much shorter than her. She peered out from between them at Jianmo while Jia gave her a questioning glance. Was she going to be okay? Wasn’t she supposed to be a high ranking war mage? Jianmo, meanwhile, was laughing heartily at the poor girl’s expense.

“Ahahaha! What a good reaction! My disciples could learn a thing or two. I don’t hate scaredy-cats, either.”

Ja Yun blushed fiercely, staring up at Jianmo in awe as she stammered.

“Wha—buh—who—um...”

Eui ignored the blubbering war mage clinging to her robes and glared up and Jianmo with her arms crossed.

“What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be off chasing that sovereign whatshisname?”

Jianmo wagged a finger and tut-tutted at Eui, smirking.

“Tsk tsk, my little disciple. Jianmo is not the one who does the chasing. Why should I when everyone already wants a piece of me? This particular suitor can’t seem to take no for an answer, so I’m afraid I can’t stay long. I don’t hate persistent men like him, hahaha!”

Jia sighed at Jianmo’s typically suggestive double-speak. After enough time, even Jia had become a little bit more aware of such things. Like the fact that Ja Yun was staring and fumbling over her words the same way she did around Rika, or Hayakawa...or Eui. She filed away that particular realization for later, focusing on the present as she addressed her fickle ‘master.’

“But why are you here? I assume you came looking for us for a reason.”

Jianmo shrugged affably.

“Does a master need a reason to visit her cute little disciples? Ah—should I not have said that in front of your cute little tongue-tied stray?”

Ja Yun made a strangled incoherent sound that might have been indignation, but could well have been something else entirely. Jia pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed.

“No, it’s fine. We already told Hayakawa and Rika about you. I’m sure Ja Yun can keep a secret, right?”

Jia turned to the girl in question who scrunched up her face in an ugly grimace.

“W-well, I mean, technically I am supposed to report any—”

Eui cut her off with a death glare, and Ja Yun shut up entirely, blushing and nodding meekly. Oh ancestors, they were definitely going to need to talk about that later. Jianmo chuckled at the display, grinning at them as she spoke.

“Good enough for me. Anyway, it’s been months since we had any lessons, and what kind of master would I be if I didn’t find the time to occasionally teach you something?”

Eui scoffed indignantly.

“I’m not sure what you do can really be classified as teaching.”

Jianmo just laughed, unperturbed by the casual insult.

“Do you want some training or not? I wasn’t joking when I said I can’t stay long.”

Eui nodded her head in the direction of the caravan, giving Jianmo a questioning look.

“What, right in front of everybody?”

Jianmo sorted dismissively.

“I’ve already hidden our presence from them. No worry about getting caught—except by that cute little lion, but she can join too, I’m not picky.”

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Ja Yun wilted under Jianmo’s gaze, turning beet red. Jia rolled her eyes.

“Stop flirting. I actually did have some questions I’ve been meaning to ask you, actually.”

Jianmo opened her arms.

“That’s what I’m here for!”

Jia nodded, taking a moment to collect her thoughts.

“About spirits...you started out as one, right? A tsukumogami, like Murayoshi’s forge. Now you have a human body—sort of. Is that unique to you, or is it something that any spirit can do?”

Jianmo whistled a low note.

“Well well, little kitty certainly isn’t starting small. You really want to know the answer to that?”

“Don’t patronize me! I’ve been thinking about it recently. Beasts aren’t really mindless, and elementals have their mana cores as bodies. The more I think about it, they must have souls too, right? And I’ve spent enough time with Heian to know that as weird as it is, she has her own mind as well. They may be weaker in certain beings, but everything has a mind, body, and soul—in the first place, they’re all part of one cohesive thing. I don’t understand it and it’s driving me crazy! You’re the only spirit I’ve met with their own body, and you’re more or less sane. If anyone has the answer to this it’s you.”

Ja Yun stared at Jia in absolute horror as she ranted at the seven foot tall demon. For her part, Jianmo just giggled.

“‘More or less sane’ she says. I don’t hate that fearless attitude of yours. The simple answer is that any spirit can do it—quite easily, actually—but not here. Not in this world.”

All three girls frowned in confusion. Even Ja Yun had picked up on the fact that this was huge information. Jia shook her head.

“What? What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Spirits are born from the thoughts and emotions of humans—well, any sapient being, really, but you humans are quite prolific. Unlike fiends and elementals—which do have their own little proto-souls before awakening—they are born lacking one of the essential essences of life. However, they are also big cheats—they have domains from the moment they pop into existence. They are domains, for all intents and purposes. They are practically born with the ability to manipulate divine essence, so crafting themselves a fabulous body like mine is as simple as that.”

Jianmo punctuated her statement by snapping her fingers.

“I may have started out as an angry little sword spirit fueled by the anguished souls of the tortured dead, but back in the divine realm, it only took me a few dozen millenia to figure out putting together my own body so that I could cultivate of my own accord.”

Ja Yun let out a strangled squeak at the mention of ‘anguished souls’. Eui ignored her, scowling up at Jianmo.

“Then how come they can’t do it here? Something to do with the seal cutting us off from the divine realm? And a fat lot of good that’s been doing, by the way.”

Jianmo chuckled.

“Good guess. You’ve been to the spirit world. Every mortal realm has one, and it’s usually the source of divine essence within the world—a sort of stepping stone between the divine realm and the mortal one. But this realm is sealed off, no divine essence in or out. No ascension. It shouldn’t have any essence at all, but a certain little artifact has flipped things around.”

Jia frowned thoughtfully. The Sovereign’s Tear, an artifact hidden in the secret realm of Jianmo’s former master and the reason that the gods descended in the first place. Supposedly, it had an effectively unlimited supply of divine essence, and single-handedly sustained their realm’s continued existence. Jianmo went on.

“So, the spirits—who normally have a monopoly on divine essence—have none. In order to get any, they need to find connections to the physical world, where all the divine essence is coming from. Vessels, like the paper mannequins you’ve been learning how to make, or a well-loved tool, or a willing host.

“Unfortunately, mortals are just so darn fragile. The spirits of this world don’t have enough time to figure out creating their own bodies. Human hosts tend to burn out or become demons and eat the spirit possessing them, tools wear out or the user dies, plants wither and die. And the few that do succeed?”

Jianmo pointed up at the sky.

“Kaboom! The heavens don’t like that. Tribulations are a normal part of cultivation—weeding out the unworthy—but in this world they’ve been twisted. That seal is more than just a barrier, you know. It’s a horrid, unnatural abomination of nature that corrupts the very nature of the heavens. The tribulations of this world are cruel—the one you experienced really should have killed you.”

There was a long silence as Jianmo’s words sank in. To Jia’s surprise, it was Ja Yun who broke the silence.

“U-um, so...I feel like I’m not really supposed to be hearing any of this, and it’s kinda going over my head, but uh...what does that mean for us half-spirits?”

Jianmo’s expression hardened. She held her hands up to her mouth together and inhaled deeply through her nose.

“I have no idea! Your people didn’t exist ten thousand years ago, and that’s all I know. Seems to me like some clever little spirits tried to house themselves in a lineage of people rather than an individual. A sly path to immortal embodiment—though it didn’t work out too well from the looks of things. That’s just a guess, though! You’d have to ask your ancestors.”

Ja Yun’s face fell, Jia had been curious about that as well, but it was secondary to her current concern. She looked up at Jianmo with a worried expression.

“What about Heian? We’ve been trying to teach her how to be human, and our ultimate goal is for her to be able to form her own body, but from what you’ve said the heavens will destroy her for trying.”

Jianmo tapped her lips thoughtfully.

“Hmm, that is a problem isn’t it? You’ve got all the right pieces together. She’s safely housed in your soulscape, has access to all the essence she could ask for, and you’ve even shared minds to help further her understanding of the connections between body and soul. Well, I suppose that just ties into what I wanted to start teaching you anyway. If you’re going to survive that little tribulation you’re going to need to learn how to manipulate divine essence and create your own sacred arts!”