Orange-crest wasn't sure he liked cultivation.

  It was so dark, this deep beneath the earth. He felt like he was floating in a sea of night, his brother's voice and the cold stone beneath his feet the only things that were real.

  "Li Hou, I need you to focus." His brother said sharply. "You can have as much wine as you can drink tonight, but only if you succeed here."

  "I focused." The monkey snapped. It was not his fault his brother could only speak in unknown words and nonsensical riddles!

  His brother sighed.

  "We have two more hours. Perhaps hoping for yet another miraculous advancement was too greedy. Let's begin anew."

  "Yes. Again."

  "You feel the cold."

  "Abyssal Yin." The monkey said. Orange-crest's memory was not the issue here.

  "Yes. And what do you do with the Abyssal Yin?"

  "Let cold in. Let cold out."

  "Exactly."

  Orange-crest shivered. It was hard to let the Abyssal Yin in. Even if his brother said the cold was good, he knew it wasn't that simple. False and strange as it was, he could feel that this was a killing cold. And letting it out was even harder, once the chill settled in his bones, it refused to leave, unless he flared his heart-fire.

  And his brother would flick him on the ear, every time he did that.

  Somehow the bastard man always knew exactly where his ear was. Orange-crest wouldn't know where his ear was in this perfect darkness if it wasn't attached to his head!

  Still, he tried. A deep breath, swallowing the blackness. The cold crept in. Orange-crest tried to ignore it, let it 'temper his dantian'. He had no idea what that meant.

  "Better." His brother said. "Don't speak. Just breath. Let the cold in. Don't resist it. Let it pass through you. The cold is not what you seek. But it is not to be resisted either. It simply is."

  His brother kept talking, constant variations on the same refrain. Orange-crest didn't understand the point of it, of saying the same thing a dozen slightly different ways. But, it was nice, to hear his brother's voice. A reminder that he wasn't alone in the cold dark.

  Then the words changed.

  "Open your eyes. See the darkness of the pit. Feel the way the world presses in on you."

  Orange-crest obeyed. It was easy, how could he not be aware of the pit? Of the hard stone that sapped the life out of him, leaving his bottom sore and his feet stiff. He longed to be elsewhere, anywhere but here in this dark cold hell. He did not know what an hour was. But one was gone, leaving only two. He knew numbers, drew faith from them. His resolution to understand felt so distant, so far away. How would this help him wrestle a tiger? The flame within him felt more feeble than it had since awakening, struggling against the hateful cold he'd allowed to creep in.

  "No. Focus." His brother admonished. "Let the cold out. Feel the deepness of the earth. The weight of the mountain."

  Deepness. Mountains. Feel. He knew these words. But the combination was strange. How could he feel the deepness? He could not touch it with his hands. It was all around him, inescapable.

  A sudden sense of weight gripped him. Breathing became hard. His chest was so heavy, the world he knew so far away.

  Orange-crest felt gentle hands cup his face. He almost jumped from the sudden touch, the sudden warmth.

  "Be still, little one. You are doing so well."

  Orange-crest felt a fire in his chest that was not heart-flame, not qi. It did not warm him, like his brother's hands did. But he cherished it anyway. He tried his best to obey. It was so hard to resist the warmth, the overwhelming urge to cuddle into his brother's false-skin. To rage and weep until his brother took him away from this awful place.

  "Good?" He echoed. The cold rushed in, almost washing away his awareness.

  He felt something in his brother's warm hands. Liquid poured into his mouth. Cool, but not cold. It tasted of ginseng and hot-leaf-juice. His heart-flame flared in answer, stoked by the strange concoction.

  "One hour. Endure."

  Endure. He knew an endure. Daoist Enduring Oath. The brother of his brother. The mountain of a man big enough to wrestle even big-butt. Endure must mean strength.

  He would show his brother strength. The rising fire in his chest tried to burn away the cold. But orange-crest didn't let it. He breathed in, welcomed the cold. He breathed out, and bid it leave as friend. The fire in his chest flickered, pressed on all sides by the killing cold.

  "Yes. Keep going. The cold passes through you. The deepness of the mountain tempers you. The strength of the earth remains, settling in your bones."

  Orange-crest let his mind become as it was before. Without concern for time. He simply endured.

  Slowly, then all at once, he became aware of a pressure. A weight on his chest, in his chest. Like the fire suddenly was too large for his small frame. Distantly, he felt the warmth of his brother's hands upon his shoulders, fireflies before a burning forest.

  "This is it. The boundary of the second stage. Flare your qi. Break through."

  Orange-crest didn't understand his brother's words. Qi? Second? But the pressure was intolerable now. He was too hot and too cold all at once. It simply seemed obvious what to do, how to struggle. He pushed out the cold. Threw back the weight. Reflexively, he rose to his feet.

  There was so much he did not know. But this, throwing back the cold, raging against the dark. This he knew. Fire surged through his blood, his bones braced themselves against the pressure.

  "Skreee!" He screeched, giving voice to the intolerable heat within him. Qi raged through him, burning away something he had never noticed was there. Something weak and rotten. In its wake, a powerful heaviness settled. A sense of solidity, like he had taken something of the mountain into himself.

  He felt like he could crush bone between his fingers. Like his blood was lightning. The surging strength within him felt so right that it circled right around to feeling wrong. Like it was a crime to feel like this.

  His brother's hands cupped his face once more. Orange-crest reflexively struggled against them, pressing back against anything that would hold him down. But his brother's gentle hands could not be denied. No matter how he struggled, he could not budge them. The hands pressed a pill into his mouth, then covered his mouth and nose. Orange-crest swallowed, there was no other choice. The unyielding hands released him.

  He fell backwards, the sudden burst of strength exhausted. His head began to feel heavy. If something of the mountain had settled in his bones, it felt like the entire mountain was pressing down upon his head.

  He struggled to remain conscious. To endure, like his brother had asked him to.

  "Shh." His brother's voice was gentle. Like a summer breeze. "You did it. You can rest now."

  Rest. Rest was good. Orange-crest let his eyes close once more. How strange. The Fathomless Well was so dark that it was brighter behind his eyelids.

  "The sect will have a problem with you. But after today, I will not allow any to deny that you are a cultivator in truth."

  Orange-crest smiled. He was a cultivator? That was the monkey's last thought, before a deep sleep claimed him.

  --------------------------------------------------------------------------

  Daoist Scouring Medicine cradled the small monkey in his arms like a parent would a sick child. Funny, a week ago he would have found this demeaning. Beneath his station. He'd barely tolerated carrying the beast by the scruff of its neck, immobilized.

  Admittedly, Li Hou was far cleaner than when he'd first grabbed him. He'd spent an entire day brushing up on treatments for lice and nits. He hadn't had any real need to deal with that particular mortal nuisance since he was an initiate learning medicine out of scrolls.

  Daoist Scouring Medicine would never admit how close he suspected he'd come to allowing the monkey's infestation to take root in his furniture.

  He'd taken a leap of faith, feeding it that qi condensing elixir. It was a good one, despite its low realm. High quality ingredients, minimal impurities. Earth forward, wood and fire secondary. Better than anything Daoist Scouring Medicine could produce, as much as it frustrated him to admit. A product of a late stage core formation alchemist he'd purchased to study. It was simply purer than anything he could refine, rudimentary ingredients purified by flames nigh three realms more profound.

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  The risk had been worth it. He'd overcome the gulf in comprehension with perfectly arranged external conditions.

  This was what he'd needed, the final step to raise the monkey from an animal, to something more. The Mind-Opening Pill required a great deal of qi circulating through the body to work to best effect. Since most of the candidates for it were not intelligent enough to cultivate properly, that meant the ideal time to take one was immediately after a breakthrough. He'd caught the monkey relatively early the first time, but the difference between taking one hours after breaking through, and being fed one seconds after stabilizing an advancement was like the difference between heaven and earth.

  He'd given the monkey a human name. His old surname, even, not that it was unique. There were more Li families on earth than there were clouds in the heavens, and his was far from famous among them.

  When it awoke, it would have a mind to match it.

  He looked down at the beast in his arms. Eyes scrunched tightly shut, small snout relaxed. A thin thread of drool trailed down its cheek. It was so very small, bundled up. So much of its height was in its thin limbs. Even with his senses, he couldn't feel the changes taking place in the animal's mind. Not without his needles. But he didn't need to feel them to understand them, he'd performed all the relevant analysis in advance.

  But when it awoke, the monkey would be forever changed. This variant of the Mind-Opening Pill had been optimized to consume the abundant earth and yin qi the monkey had absorbed. He had no doubt it would complete the process, push the monkey's mind as far as it could be pushed by this crude method.

  Far enough for it to truly be a worthy candidate for a disciple. At least as capable of learning and memory as the average man.

  He wondered how its speech would sound like a year from now. He had no doubt Orange-hair, silly a name as that was, would become a most eloquent fellow. Even now he had a certain knack for making his opinions known. Would it work hard to speak flawlessly, exterminate its accent to ape the voices of men? Or would it cling to its differences, play them up to be underestimated? What sort of verbal flair would it replace its mocking hooting and chirping with?

  The daoist who had set aside the name Li Xun forty five years ago winced. That was assuming the monkey lived that long, of course. He would give the little animal the best odds he could, but the plans he'd made for its development were not gentle. Tournament season was only eight months away.

  He had a number of paths to produce a scandal great enough to force the sect to dismiss him. But... Most of the best options hinged upon the monkey.

  The outcome would be far worse, if he were forced to act directly.

  Forcing a grudge public enough to demand a duel would only work against a senior daoist or elder. Someone who thought they could defeat him easily. Putting himself in a position where he could credibly threaten to cripple such a cultivator in a duel... It would be a path paved with knives. Surviving the fight itself would be difficult. Injuring them beyond Elder Weeping Lotus's ability to heal without resorting to clearly demonic poisons would be harder still.

  No, outright desertion might well be less risky. The great problem with that sort of gambit was that it had a way of devolving into a situation in which one was actually forced to make good on their threats.

  The bounds of what was and was not acceptable in a duel were a nebulous thing. A daoist might be mild or polite, but none who stood high beneath heaven were meek, or incapable of violence. Death was simply an inevitable possibility, when tempers ran high enough that grievances could only be settled with violence. Doubly so, when the gulf in realm between adversaries was wide enough. The elder might kill through insufficient restraint, but a junior using forbidden arts could be no less dangerous.

  It would cost Ren Yuhan a great deal of face to execute one of his own daoists. But it wasn't unthinkable if he really poisoned an elder to the point of crippling. It would be a flimsy shield indeed, to claim he did so out of desperation. None would believe it, when he so blatantly sought such conflict.

  The monkey remained his favored plan. If Li Hou made it to the final matches, he would hold the sect master's oh so precious reputation in his hands. There were so many things the monkey could do to its opponents, or before the assembled dignitaries, that would make the Azure Mountain a laughingstock. He could imagine the sect master's smug face now, forced to choose between dismissing Scouring Medicine and his student, or having the monkey smear its shit across a noble scion's face in front of the Seventh Prince.

  And the monkey would do it. He didn't know how exactly he'd make that request, but he had no doubt he could convince it. The animal had little conception of social status, but he was quite sure that once Li Hou acquired it, he would disdain the idea immensely.

  Li Hou had little enough respect for Daoist Scouring Medicine after all, extending his master a bemused tolerance, despite the impossible gulf between them.

  But for that threat to be credible, the monkey would need to become a monster. Peerless in its generation. Capable of withstanding even the foundation establishment treasures that the most talented and highest born would carry. Not merely win its bouts, but control the flow of battle enough to toy with its foes.

  He had his work cut out for him. But one way or another, he would walk away from the sect before the new year dawned. Wandering cultivator, deserter, or demon. Alone, or with a monkey by his side. Whatever it took. He would not be held back by cowards and fools.

  The sound of distant footsteps reached Daoist Scouring Medicine's ears. A dozen pairs, perhaps. Snowclad Heart's class.

  Daoist Scouring Medicine set aside his many fears and hopes for the future. Snowclad Heart was Elder Lu's creature. Not a bad man to offend, so long as he didn't make enough trouble for his master to intervene directly before Scouring Medicine was ready for him.

  He'd levelled the ground in their last conversation. Now it was time to lay the stones of the foundation.

  The sound of slippers on stone rose and fell regularly as they descended the twisting tunnel that tightly circled the Fathomless Well. They were but one or two revolutions above him now. Daoist Scouring Medicine reached down, wiping away the drool on the monkey's cheek.

  He doubted Daoist Snowclad Heart could see it, in this darkness. He hardly could, despite how refined his eyes were. But it was the principle of the thing.

  The gentle bend in the tunnel meant that when Daoist Snowclad Heart finally appeared, the two of them were hardly a bu apart, all but face to face.

  "Are we there-"

  "What?"

  "Stop." A third disciple hissed.

  Ah, mortals. So blind in the darkness. He could see them piled up behind their teacher, surprised by the sudden stop.

  "Daoist Snowclad Heart, a pleasure as always." He greeted.

  "Daoist Scouring Medicine. Leaving before your allotted time has fully elapsed?"

  Scouring Medicine smiled, exaggerating the expression beyond the well bounds of decorum. A manic enthusiasm that would all but demand commentary. He watched carefully for a reaction. He wasn't sure how advanced his junior's bodily cultivation was. Nothing, not a hint of reaction from the man. Embarrassing, but not unexpected. So many neglected their senses in favor of raw power.

  "You know how it is, three hours is such a long time to cultivate for a fresh initiate."

  He watched the sneer slowly spread across on his counterpart's face.

  "I see your monkey couldn't handle the pressure of the Fathomless Well. Understandable. I cannot imagine his attention span or courage are up to our usual standards. In truth, it is commendable that you were able to make an animal sit still at all. I suppose one must do what they must, when denied men to teach."

  Daoist Scouring Medicine chuckled. He let the laughter lapse for a moment, watching carefully. The moment Snowclad Heart's lips part to speak, he began laughing gently once more. He continued just long enough to be sure he left the daoist irritated and the disciples uncomfortable.

  As Snowclad Heart moved to speak a second time, he raised his voice a fraction to cut him off.

  "Tell me, brother Snowclad Heart. What is the shortest time you've ever had between two small realm advancements?"

  The man frowned. He knew the question was a trap, but it was also an opportunity to boast.

  "A month, between the second and third realm of qi condensation."

  "Not bad. Better than I expected, in truth. You must have had some outstanding fortune that month." Daoist Scouring Medicine mused. "I see why Elder Lu looked so kindly upon you as a disciple. But I suppose it's only natural that a man so enthusiastic about the red dust he all but snorts it would cultivate more slowly than my monkey."

  "What exactly, is that supposed to mean?" The fool asked, his voice the dry rasp of bared steel against ice. Oh, he must be backfooted indeed to leak his nature like that. And hardly eloquent either, to so allow his foe the initiative.

  "Oh, only that before you I'd never met a daoist who felt the need to pay for the fairer sex's companionship." Daoist Scouring Medicine said in a jocular tone grievously unsuited to his words. "Tell me, is it that face? Or are your proclivities so perverse that you can't find any fairies willing to indulge you?"

  Through the velvet darkness, Scouring Medicine watched the man's face descend into a rictus of fury. Oh, his sight truly must be poor, if he thought it was safe to shed his composure to such a degree. He watched the man clutch at his sword like a child its doll. 'Strike me' he mouthed silently. Trust in the darkness to protect you. Heavens above but it felt good, to unlimber his tongue and tell the whole sect what he thought of them.

  Truth be told, he didn't even judge the man that harshly for his indulgences with courtesans. Daoist Scouring Medicine had been celibate for a long time, but he was no ascetic. He appreciated the charms of women, but he had greater things to chase than skirts. Fairies were troublesome, mortal women fleeting, and patronizing prostitutes wasteful and indulgent.

  But such a crude habit was a rather easy target to strike. Easier by far than convincing of the man of his small part in what the sect had become.

  The disciples had the good sense to remain quiet as corpses. Standing so still they scarce dared to breath. Wise. If they wanted to keep breathing, they'd never acknowledge this conversation within earshot of their teacher.

  It would of course spread like wildfire outside of his earshot.

  "Such a free tongue you have, fellow daoist." Daoist Snowclad Heart all but spat, doing his pathetic best to match Scouring Medicine's lighthearted venom. "If we are to speak so frankly with each other, I suppose I must repay your candor with the same. I worry for you. The ancestors say a cultivator must stand alone, but surely they did not mean to eschew all bonds of fellowship? Who in the sect yet opens their doors to you? You are friendless here, and even abandoned your student after doing them injury. What future might you have as a daoist of the Azure Mountain Sect when the only one who will even speak to you is a monkey?"

  Ah, that might have hurt twenty years ago. It stung far less now. He did not want a future in the sect.

  "Perhaps you should reflect on why the entire sect finds you intolerable before criticizing your juniors on the basis of envious rumor." The pompous man continued. "It is crass to speak of one's fortunes in romance, but-"

  "One week." Daoist Scouring Medicine cut him off.

  "What?"

  He stepped forward, forcing the man and his students to press against the wall, lest they be forced out of the way by his far superior physical strength.

  "One week. Two small realm breakthroughs." He repeated as he passed by. "What future do any of you have, in the Azure Mountain Sect, if you cultivate more slowly than a monkey?"

  He tuned out the indignant squawking that echoed after him through the tunnel. A pity Daoist Enduring Oath wasn't a betting man. Perhaps Li Hou would warm to the vice in time. He would love to set odds on whether Daoist Snowclad Heart would demand satisfaction in one week, or three. It would depend, on what exactly Elder Lu gave him.

  No outcome of this would see him released from the sect. Daoist Snowclad Heart was not important, in the grand scheme of things.

  He would start on the Quaternary Heart-Fire Pills while the monkey slept. That formulation was far from stable, but it would keep for a few weeks.