Cha Ming cleared his throat. “What’s next on the agenda?”
“So impatient,” Sun Wukong said. “So hardworking.” He lifted his hand, and a cauldron appeared. “Today, we’re going to learn about fire.”
“Again?” Cha Ming groaned. It was his least-favorite subject.
“You have your strengths, and fire isn’t one of them,” Sun Wukong said. “You might cultivate five elements, but your proficiency in each isn’t balanced. You’re going to have to work ten times as hard as anyone else to be an alchemist, and the only reason you have half a chance is because of your absurdly strong soul.”
Cha Ming closed his eyes. “What will it be this time?” he asked, accepting his fate.
Sun Wukong grinned. “You’re finally accepting your place. Great! To celebrate, I’ve thought up an extrafun activity.”
He closed his fist, and Cha Ming disappeared and reappeared inside the cauldron. Sun Wukong’s voice came from all directions. “Evade the flames for as long as possible.”
Ten flames appeared in five different colors. “You’re to evade them while keeping five different flames summoned and circulating, as I taught you.”
Cha Ming gulped. After all, unlike before, he was here in the flesh; whatever had brought Jade Moon Garden into his Clear Sky World had changed the Clear Sky World on a fundamental level.
He summoned five different alchemical flames, one for each of the five elements. The blue flame controlled flow while the red one controlled temperature. The brown flame separated while the golden one lacerated. Finally, the green one gave life. He circulated all five of them along a complex runic pattern he didn’t understand, using over nine-tenths of his transcendent force to make it happen.
Meanwhile, the ten flames in the cauldron danced. He used his remaining soul force as a sort of peripheral vision, twisting and turning to avoid them as they attacked. Before long, he made a mistake; his soul projection suffered a minor burn.
As time passed, the drill gradually became easier. When he finally managed to control his flames and resist the attacks, ten more flames appeared for a total of twenty. Then, when he bested twenty, ten more appeared. Their training session ended after ten hours. Cha Ming’s body and soul were scorched, but he had to admit that his gains were noticeable.
He appeared as a collapsed heap outside the cauldron, where a flurry of rainbow fish appeared to greet him. The smallest among them was grinning ear to ear. “Cha Ming! Cha Ming! Do you want to play a game?”
He smiled sadly. “Sure, what game would you like to play?”
“Chicks and eagles,” the fish said. “You make a great eagle, and it’s so difficult to run away.”
Memories of playing the same game with Yu Wen surfaced in his heart, and the warmth eased the pain of the burns he’d just suffered.
“Sure,” Cha Ming said. He looked to Sun Wukong. “Are you game as well?”
The Monkey King snorted. “I’ll be in my cave. Go ahead and play your childish games.”
The game soon started, and for thirty brief minutes, Cha Ming knew peace. Then, he woke.
Chap
ter 2: Journey into the Deep
The Northern ocean was cold, far colder than most mortals could stand, even in this magical world. Yet despite the frigid temperature, its salty waters stubbornly refused to freeze. They were laced with something—a trace of gold qi that kept its molecules from forming an orderly structure. No ice could form, so no icebergs or ice sheets ever graced these Northern waters.
Cha Ming shivered as he plunged directly into the vast ocean, escaping the howling winds and open skies. The cold intensified as he dove, but as a late-marrow-refining cultivator, the pain it caused him was tolerable, almost pleasant. And as they descended, Huxian and his friends changed.
The small fox’s fur became oily and coated with thick demonic energy; his swimming changed from a slow wade to an effortless rush. Likewise, Silverwing’s feathers receded, making his wings more like flippers. Lei Jiang’s weight adjusted his buoyancy, and small extensions of demonic qi extended from his short legs. Gua was the only one who didn’t change; his amphibious nature made him more or less immune to the trials they’d face in the depths of the ocean.
How are you four holding up? Lan Xuan asked. The man had donned a necklace that enveloped him in a powerful blue membrane. He wielded a trident, a suitable weapon given the oceanic environment. The dreamer had vanished upon awakening, leaving a fearsome warrior in his place.
Did you study the diagrams as I instructed? Cha Ming asked the four.
We did, but we didn’t have the knowledge to understand it, Zi Long said. What was it for?
Cha Ming was disappointed but not surprised. They’d progressed far on their own path, putting the runic arts he’d taught them to the wayside. He held two fingers to the front and summoned a swirl of ink from the Clear Sky World. It separated into mostly blue runes and complementary red, gold, brown, and green runes. Once the last of the runes had formed, they shot out toward the four and imprinted themselves on their skins. A membrane spread out from the runes, completely encapsulating their bodies.
The suits can be banished at will, Cha Ming sent. They’ll decrease your friction underwater, fight pressure and cold, and enable you to control buoyancy. While you don’t need to worry about breathing, it will also supply you with air if you so wish. They nodded in thanks, but their embarrassment was clear. This was fine by him, since shame was a great motivator.
The ocean grew darker, and a few miles away from the rocky shore, the slightly tapered seabed plunged down into the black unknown. Their vision almost instantly lost its effectiveness, making it necessary to rely on their souls to probe their surroundings. The transition was a bit jarring, but soon they were introduced to a whole new world.
Mostly blue and purple reefs littered the sandy landscape while smaller
