Chapter 378 - Friendly Spirits

  “Let’s make camp here for a bit.” Yuzu said after some consideration, “We won’t be bothered on this side.”

  Yuzu settled onto a rge ft rock away from her companions. She carefully studied the Tapestry of Fate, its golden threads glimmered in the depths of her pupils.

  The valley around them was peaceful and full of wildlife. There were plenty of regur animals— mice and frogs were abundant, Gilded pheasants rustled through the meadow’s tall grass. Red weasels and small wild dogs prowled the edges of the forest. The stream itself glimmered with the strings of fish and water fowl. Each of the several hundred animals in range of Yuzu’s spiritual sight had their own golden thread. But more than that, there were thousands upon thousands of ants, wasps, beetles, mantises, ticks and moths.

  Further into the mountain Yuzu found a herd of spotted deer being stalked by a pack of bearded wolves. A bck bear zed around in the boughs of a tree. There were so many animals that Yuzu had only read about in books, and many more that she hadn’t.

  The myriad threads of these creatures formed the rich fabric of the tapestry. In Fuha though there was still life in the swamp the tapestry had been patchy, damaged by centuries of life energy being drained from the nd. In Kumin, particurly in Chenmai forest the tapestry was quite simir to the tapestry on this side of the stream.

  The mountain range in Ying Zhen was somewhat normal, despite it being a pocket dimension in the spiritual pne — with the caveat of the Chamber of Divine Judgement, whose ‘tapestry’, if it could be called that, was rigid and organized like a constructed cage of golden wires. The tapestry in Okuron’s Great Library had been sparse, but the threads that y in the darkness were sharp and deadly. In the Verdant Wild, the God of Life’s Divine Kingdom, it was so dense with life it practically appeared solid.

  In short, Yuzu had seen many types and qualities of tapestries. For the most part the base yer of Fate’s Tapestry served as a backdrop to the more interesting threads of people and Exalted. Since she could easily distinguish and isote the different types of threads in her spiritual vision she usually paid it little mind.

  Across the stream though, this base yer of the tapestry took had a completely different feeling than any she had seen before. Numerous silver threads were interwoven throughout the tapestry, not from Exalted, but from the spirits that lived in ZhongShan.

  These spirits were wild creatures, but Yuzu despite being able to clearly see their strings, she found it difficult to gauge exactly what they were. Hovering her hand over the spirits’ threads in the meadow directly across the stream, she only saw bdes of grass swaying in the breeze. Did it mean that the region was so rich in the Spirit Domain that even some of the grass had its own thread…?

  Frowning, Yuzu focused her spiritual sight on one particur thread, honing directly in on its owner. Only after several minutes of close observation did Yuzu’s eyes glimmer in understanding. In fact, the owner of the thread was a bde of grass, or rather, many bdes. This clump of grass hid among other, normal grass, acting like a normal pnt. However, it had a consciousness and sentience to it.

  As she watched, the a tiny aphid nded on a bde of grass next to the grass spirit and was immediately seized from all sides, the bdes wrapping around it like a squid's tentacles.

  Yuzu tried examining other silver threads, but found herself perplexed the more she tried to seek out the various types of Spirit creatures. Yuzu could tell that a particur spirit was around a particur area, but many of them didn’t seem to have tangible bodies, even in the spirit pne.

  “Is it dangerous in the mountains?” Char Char approached. She held out a leaf-wrapped rice ball and a sweet bean paste bun for Yuzu, adding, “Here’s some breakfast. There’s more if you’re hungry.”

  “Dangerous? No… Not that I can tell…” Yuzu accepted the food without paying it much attention, “But there are a lot of spirits on that side of the stream. Most of them seem about as harmless as bugs, but when we cross, a lot of them are going to be attracted to us, and I can’t decide what to do about that. I could chase them away, but it seems like if we were to wander the range without any spirits around us, that in itself would be unnatural and might attract even more attention…”

  “Oh, I know about this!” Char Char’s eyes lit up, “There’s actually a lot of folklore around the spirits that live in the deepest parts of the mountains. Like you said, most spirits are harmless. They’re said to take the form of drops of morning dew, or gusts of wind. The Huan people consider pces where the spirits live to be blessed.”

  “So I shouldn’t worry about them?”

  “It should be fine… Spirits are supposed to be curious, but mostly don’t pose a threat to people.” Char Char rubbed her chin thoughtfully, “Of course, if we come across a Hikko, or a Ubusana spirit, that might not be good.”

  “Hikko… Ubusana?”

  “Hikko are said to live under the roots of old trees, causing the roots to bulge out of the ground as they grow in size. They feed off of the life energy of passing creatures. If you fall asleep next to a tree where a Hikko lives, you might not wake up the next day. And Ubusana are fog spirits that gather in the low parts of valleys. They take over the bodies of people who get lost in the fog. Really strong Ubusana can control dozens of people, which they control like zombies to find more prey.” Char Char expined with enthusiasm, “I have a book that’s full of illustrations at home!”

  “That… Isn’t that just a children’s book?” The memory of an old, thick tome with yellowed pages bubbled up in Yuzu’s memory, “Those are just a bunch of folk tales!”

  “Well, I mean. Yeah.” Char Char said matter-of-factly, “I’ve been telling you all this time that it’s all real!”

  “I really doubt that even half of the stories in that book are true.” Yuzu sighed, her expression sour, “And even if they are, how does this help us?”

  “Well— I guess, if we’re looking for the monastery, then we’re going to want to attract helpful spirits. Obviously.” Char Char said seriously, “So we’re going to be looking for a Ginko, or Kaesei, or if we get lucky we might find a friendly Ukohaki!”

  Yuzu couldn’t decide whether to be impressed or exasperated by the sudden usefulness of Char Char’s childhood obsession of all things spiritual.

  “Folk tales often carry more truth than people give them credit for.” Firuzeh and Kai strolled over, seemingly ready to start moving again, “The Huan province has strong ties to the Spirit Domain. Knowledge of the local spirits could prove useful. What do we need to watch for?”

  “Ginko live in the middle of bunches of berries or flowers. They like humans and are considered good luck charms!” Char Char’s eyes shone, “Kaesei take the form of small reptiles like lizards or frogs. If you feed them something sweet, they’ll repay the kindness by acting as a guide through the mountains. And Ukohaki are friendly guardian spirits that watch over the animals and spirits that live in the mountains. They can speak our nguage and take many different forms. Most Ukohaki dislike humans and avoid them, but they’re said to be able to sense the nature of a person’s soul and will help those they consider pure.”

  “Pureness of Heart, that was one of the keys to finding the Monastery.” Firuzeh noted thoughtfully, “Perhaps it could be reted?”

  “Ukohaki most often help children in the stories.” Char Char offered, “Um, and they sometimes like monks.”

  “None of us are children or monks, so can any of us here be considered ‘pure’?” Kai remarked.

  “Char Char’s basically a child.” Yuzu couldn’t help but remark, “And she can’t help but throw herself into harm’s way to help people.”

  “Is there a way to attract or find any of these good spirits?” Firuzeh turned to Char Char.

  “I’m not sure…” Char Char shrugged, “Usually those kinds of meetings happen by chance. I guess mostly the spirits come out at night, too?”

  While the three Chaos Exalted discussed the various folklore spirits that Char Char was aware of, Yuzu’s gaze drifted off to the other side of the river. Unfortunately Char Char’s descriptions of the spirits really didn’t help Yuzu sift through the thousands of strings in the tapestry. She was also hesitant to unnecessarily alter the tapestry, in case her touches left traces for others to find.

  Fate Cycling, however, was a tool that Yuzu was fairly confident didn’t leave traces, and so she spent a few moments cycling through various ways and times of crossing the stream.

  Yuzu sighed internally, shaking her head. She was still holding onto the bean paste bun, having already finished the rest of her breakfast, and found herself splitting it in half to keep her hands occupied. The pastry was soft and fresh, but only mildly sweet. She chewed on it absentmindedly, wondering if they had no choice but to just cross the stream and deal with spirits and challenges as they came. At the very least, she didn’t see any immediate dangers or Exalted threads in the valley around them.

  She was just about to suggest setting off when a delicate silver thread quietly wrapped itself around her own. The thread drifted down toward and across the stream, where its owner sat hidden in the reeds nearly one hundred meters away. Yuzu paused before extending her hand over the thread to take a look.

  The image of a small spotted frog bubbled up in her mind, its globur eyes fixated directly on the remaining half bun in her hands.