WarbyPicus
patreon
Sky Pride Vol. 5 Chapter 16- Gathering the Young Experts
🕑 Added 2025-12-29 15:00:55 +0000 UTCTian looked at Sister Su, trying to figure out if he had heard what he thought he heard. She sipped her tea, and made a minute nod of approval. It seemed he had met her expectations. Tian glanced at Liren, who nodded casually.
“Not like it’s a secret or anything,” She said.
“Wasn’t it? Sealed trial ground, ancient and precious treasures waiting for the first brave enough to come and take them…?”
Liren, Brother Wang and Sister Su all shook their heads as he spoke.
“You always stay out of the sect politics, Brother, so you probably haven’t picked up on how radical the changes are since we all got trapped on the Mountain. We have a few things at play.” Brother Wang started counting on his fingers. “Number one is that we are trapped here. None of the Elders could so much as make the array respond, let alone damage it. Number Two- that means our resource base is whatever is on this giant mountain. The good news is, that’s a lot. The better news is, thanks to the high qi density, the stuff that is on here, growing here and made here is all of a comparatively high spiritual level. Which leads to point Number Three- population.”
Tian smiled wryly at that. Brother Fu’s questions about an arranged marriage and grandkids had a sort of itchy quality to them. Lingering and hard to ignore.
“Comparatively, there aren’t a lot of people competing for most of the resources. Which is good. But there are very few people producing those resources, which is bad. It also means that certain bottleneck resources, think various specialty sulphers or cinnabar, rare herbs or herbs that only grow in certain climates, specific animal products, etcetera, can choke off entire production lines.”
Tian had to shrug at that one. “I don’t know enough about crafting to have a useful opinion, but that makes sense.”
Sister Su leaned in. “Take sword manufacturing. Normal steel is simply iron and carbon mixed to very precise ratios. Two smiths could take the same billet of steel and make products of wildly different quality based on forging technique, but in terms of material composition, it would be the same steel. But ‘normal’ steel is insufficient for cultivator use. An ordinary spiritual metal like, say, redflake iron would replace mundane iron in that simplified recipe, and the carbon might come from a charcoal made from a thousand year old fireblood pine tree. Without those two ingredients, you would struggle to make a fire aligned sword of acceptable quality, regardless of the smith’s skill.”
Tian nodded along. “And we might have the trees, but not necessarily the iron in your hypothetical.”
“Indeed.” Su nodded faintly. “But it’s actually considerably worse than that, because smiths have been finding replacement metals and carbon sources since time immemorial. What’s hard is things like flux, rosin, glue, alchemical catalysts, or paint additives. Small things that, yes, we can substitute for, but their specific alchemical makeup makes the substituted goods inferior.”
Tian was quickly getting lost, but just nodded along. “It all sounds like good reasons to send everyone who can get through the formation into the sealed trial grounds.”
Wang nodded. “And we will. Just… later. What I’m trying to explain here is that there is a tension between having enough people making goods and having enough bottleneck resources to make goods. It means that goods that rely on bottleneck resources are now a politically delicate topic, and natural treasures are even more so. Let me put it directly- our internal economy, internal to the Sect as we have until now understood it, is dead. The elders know it too. We, and I’m including the Wang Clan in this as we are crafters and merchants, are all still trying to figure out what comes next. Now, everyone on this side of the ward was selected for… being a decent human being, essentially. Having merit, being a reformer, that kind of thing.”
Tian felt a little stab in his side, thinking of all the very decent people he knew on the other side of the ward, but didn’t interrupt. He knew what Wang meant.
“Nobody is going to get too crazy, as long as everything feels fair and follows sensible rules.”
Tian stared at the big man, looked over at Sister Su, then buried his face in his hands. “We need to make a well designed system. The one thing no one has ever managed before, ever.”
Wang had the decency to look awkward, while Sis Su simply nodded and said “Correct.”
“We are a test case, Brother. Or not even a test case, more of an indication of how the Elders intend to run things in the future. Remember what Disciple Fu said? The talented will get more opportunities, the weakest get the most support. Well, this is an opportunity, and a big one. And we have a lot of merit, but it is a really big opportunity. Those resources have been sitting for untold thousands of years. Not everything continues to accumulate spirituality indefinitely, but the odds are very good that those trial grounds would have life-changing natural treasures for just about anyone.” Liren explained.
“And… we are the first ones to go in. We have a need, we have the merit of finding out what’s in there, we have provided a lot of valuable manuals.” Tian worked it out slowly. “Which is good, but we also have a significant amount of patronage, nepotism and, sorry Brother Wang, Sister Su, Sis’ Liren and I have the biggest fists in the Outer Court.”
Brother Wang just nodded, while Sister Su’s reaction was pretty flat.
“So it really depends on how you look at things.” Tian concluded. “And both ways are right.”
“Yep. But there is an easy way to ease the negative reactions, at least a bit.” Brother Wang parted his hands.
“Open it to everyone?”
“Yes, but not immediately, because then there is no reason for anyone to make an effort in the future. We get the first crack at the trial ground that will be of the most use for us, and we will bring others with us. We get the fruit and the ice, everyone else gets what they can pick up along the way.” Hong explained.
“Cliques. Just nepotism and feeding those with the biggest fists.” Tian shook his head.
“Lighten up! We have the first pass-through, but there is another way to look at this. These testing grounds have been sealed for thousands of years. Tens of thousands, probably. So the odds are, whatever is still in there, is something that could survive that long. Which makes it either a Heavenly level existence, a powerful natural phenomenon, or something with a stable enough ecosystem to keep reproducing all this time.” Hong emphasised each point with her hands, chopping down on all negativity.
“Ah. Send in the juniors with the highest probability of survival, to assess the danger for others.” Tian smiled faintly.
“Exactly.” Brother Wang nodded, before biting down on a haw. Tian followed suit. They really were pretty tasty.
“And, of course, we would be clearing out the most dangerous threats, making it much, much safer for our ‘juniors’ to come in behind us. It is an efficient arrangement.” Su nibbled her own haw.
Tian nodded at that too, before going in for another haw flake. He didn’t want to acknowledge the haw flakes. They were too sweet, too tangy. They would brutally overpower more delicate teas. He took another bite, focusing on the experience of the crunch and the dissolving sugar on his tongue as the bright hawthorn started sparkling around his mouth.
Terrible. Far too luxurious. Rice crackers were the truth. He would serve them whenever possible.
He took another haw flake. He would have to destroy these, before his sibling’s palates were ruined forever.
“That covers the Fire and Water valley. What about the others? I don’t think any of us cultivate the sword. The sword path would be a poor fit for us.” He asked. Then he cleansed his mouth with a cup of red tea. Perhaps it was the yang deficiency, but the red candy and the red tea weren’t terrible together. Not right, of course, but not terrible. Tian took a bite of the haw flake to test his memory, and found it satisfactory.
The silence had dragged on for a moment. Tian looked up from his tea to find his sectmates all looking lost. “What?”
“You are correct. None of us cultivate the sword, nor the saber. In a group of five cultivators, it is rather startling.” Sister Su snorted.
“I sort of thought you might use a sword as a backup weapon.” Hong looked over at Su, who sharply shook her head.
“Swords take an extremely long time to master, and the only ones who really maximize the benefit of them are those who pursue a sword dao. I don’t pursue any sort of weapon dao. My darts are a tool I use to resolve problems with maximum efficiency. Any other tool would reduce efficiency, and as they are non-optimal, must be ignored.”
That, Tian reckoned, was about as efficient a summary of Sister Su as could be made.
“Brother Wang, no backup weapon?” Tian asked.
“What could be more of a backup than a portable wall to hide behind and a big club to whack things with? My ‘backup’ is javelins, and I’ll be the first to admit I’m lousy with them. I’d do better just walking over and falling on the target.” Wang chuckled.
“Are all the juniors from the Windblown manor coming on this expedition? We are just missing Sister Lin.”
“Yes, and the crane.” Hong confirmed. “Sister Lin uses a bow, but as far as I know, nothing else.”
“While you cultivate the pointy stick, and your backup weapon, other-pointy-stick.” Tian’s face was not creased by even a hint of a smile.
“While you cultivate the noodle-pokey, and the smaller pokey.” Hong likewise was a graven image.
“None of which answers the question about what will be done with the other valleys.” Wang said, admirably trying to climb his way out of the spiraling madness.
“It’s going to depend on how it goes in the Fire and Water Valley. I think the hope is that the tests won’t be too dangerous, and we will take the first crack at four of the five testing grounds.” Hong sounded a little helpless at that. “I’m not sure what they will do about the Sword Path.”
“Mmm. Extreme yin and extreme yang. Oppositional pairs. Very daoist.” Tian half smiled. “Minor yin and minor yang never seem to get any love, and poor old earth is just hanging out in the middle of it all.”
“Oppressed by all, while upholding all. Truly the Earthly suffer.” Wang looked tragic.
“You never hear about yang aspected water, do you?” Hong chuckled. “Even though it must exist. I mean, if there is yin aspected fire-”
“A rushing river would be one example.” Sister Su crunched her own haw flake. She seemed quite content with them. “A stormy wave might be another as well as more esoteric examples like sundrop liquid or redcut water.”
Tian idly wondered what the yin aspect of wood would be. If the cosmos tree was an example of yang wood, yin wood would be small and flexible. A sapling or a vine, yielding and moving with the wind, rather than rigidly opposing it. The roots of Blackwater Willows were about as yin a wood as he could easily think of, and didn’t that take him back!
He chuckled at the thought silently, until a different part of his brain tapped on his mental shoulder and pointedly coughed. Tian was confused for a moment, then buried his face in his hands. His siblings had no trouble hearing the barely muffled “IDIOT!” even if they weren’t sure why they were hearing it.
Comments
Gregory Clifford
So, Patreon and RR are good and all, but when can I buy the actual book(s)?
kapo
“Terrible. Far too luxurious. Rice crackers were the truth. He would serve them whenever possible. He took another haw flake.” hehe this made me giggle. I’m drinking milk oolong after eating a bunch of Trader Joe’s sour jelly beans, which somehow goes together but don’t ask me how.
Sean Shivers
I'm not sure that i agree that they're particularly privleged within the context of those trapped on the mountain. At the end of the day they're still earth realm. I can see the "woe is me, I'm so poor" getting old if they were talking to people who were actually poor... and using it as an excuse to deny resources... I will also say that you dont stop being poor just because you get money... that shit has lingering effects... and their method of coping with that systemic trauma seems pretty benign. At the end of the day the actual essentials seem pretty evenly distributed. Soap, water, food, clothing, accessible shelter, education... Everything they're talking about are... not quite luxuries but certainly they're not necessities. And they are redistributed from those who have seized opportunities to those who need support
DT
I wonder if the crane will pickup sword dao. -Inserts meme goose with sharp pointy object in mouth-
Felix Giron
Since Wang is no longer in danger of being tortured and Tian is unlikely to confront corruption in the current context, it might be time for them to reconsider their respective "poor me" coping mechanisms, to figure out who they are proactively rather than reactively. As much as I genuinely enjoyed and snorted during the theater of the faked poverty, their performance also left a lingering acrid taste when considering their power, wealth, and privilege in contrast to the potential situation beyond Crane Mountain. It may be time for new shtick and character growth/transformation to emerge from this context of uneven abundance and their new status as powerful actors. As such, I look forward to our heroes confronting new types of challenges, responsibilities and moral conundrums with significantly less oversight. I also have faith that fabulous new comedy routines will also be generated during that process which is likely to be both lengthy and full of pitfalls and pratfalls. Rethinking their respective public faces might also lead to a more creative approach to constructing a better system in preparation for venturing out to the wider and more desperate world after the barrier eventually falls or is taken down.
Sean Shivers
"Rice crackers never go rancid. They are perfect basically forever." Tian probably
Sean Shivers
"having merit" & "being decent" feel like two fundamentally different things
Bruh
Honestly it’s refreshing there is no sword user in the group 👍🏾
Sean Shivers
They gave all the manuals to the sect. They only gave their free copy to their friends.
Notcreepycreeper
With all the build up to a better system and reform and all that stuff. It's a bit of a let down that what it seems to boil down to is showering Tian and Hong with resources - who in turn pretty exclusively share their gains with Wang and Su. And Wang is starting his tycoon run despite previously having anarcho-socialist ideals. Id do the same for my friends. And I'm not sure what the optimal radical change looks like. But "Less corrupt than before" feels like a bit of a let down
João Vene
To be fair, just that part about "The talented will get more opportunities, the weakest get the most support" is better than the previous system, because before it was "the talented get everything, the rest get nothing" But yeah there's still a lot of room to improve, specially once the barrier comes down and they have to expand their brand new system to a war ravaged landscape
Ranger Science
Noooo you can make a better system! You have the opportunity, the mentality, and the time. Don’t just repeat the past with better excuses!
Patrick Camp
Pretty sure he had to use all the supplies for the Tian Hong soup after they were attacked by the heavenly person
Isak Mark
It's cute that they have tea dates with other married couples. I'm guessing Tian had a revelation about his lotus body or the snake head vine body.
Sean Shivers
The censor did, right?
Mike lee
Did the ever make that skin cream for Hong? From the magic oranges?
Pete
"Tian felt a little stab in his side, thinking of all the very decent people he knew on the other side of the ward, but didn’t interrupt. He knew what Wang meant." - that made me think about how hard it is to know whether people are actually decent without knowing them in a variety of situations. Most people can be nice, pleasant people if they have no reason not to be and they don't dislike you. To truly know them you need to see how (among other things) they act when they have something to gain in an immoral way or doing the right thing is hard. Though I guess decent is a lower bar than good
Scion
Grandpa, I miss you
John Smith
I’ve always thought it was funny no major character uses a sword in this story and Warby touching on swords to this extent makes me wonder who will be doing so. Maybe Jin Treasure. Sword Dao best Dao btw
João Vene
Surely Starsieve told his direct disciples? Or if he didn't straight up tell them, they could figure it out from his teachings
Joshua Flowers
Ah, I like this thought. This epiphany can help improve their cultivation and queue them on what to look for in each respective trial ground; their constitutional imbalance is their issue. Tian has realizes he might need another Lotus soup to improve his Yin physique with his predominantly Yang Wood Cultivation. Not sure if this extends to Hong’s cultivation at all though given that she is fire aligned talking about water and rivers. Personally I always thought Hongs Yin counterpart wouldn’t a river or flame but a distant star or constellation given how her cultivation is referred to as “igniting a sun”. At her apex I picture countless stars or suns blinking in and out of existence in some brilliant celestial body like a galaxy. I think she needs enlightened on the hidden element; void/space
Gardor
Hey, do people know why they're on the mountain? Like, did Starsieve leave a manifesto, "good people get to live on the mountain, immoral assholes get the boot"? Do people actually KNOW what happened, other than the two 16 year olds with overflowing protagonist energy?
Gerald Ransom Jr
The build up is insane
Diarmuid McGinnity
Or maybe that he’s only been using the yang interpretation while its actually both?
Nil
Lotuses are yin wood? Is that why Tian thinks he is an Idiot?
Andrew Lechner
I think Tian just got another idea for a soup.
Zenopath (AEV)
I wonder what realization Tian had in that last paragraph...
Abhi
Just realized Snake Head Vine Body is a Yin art so he can still use it didn't he?
ioajfidsnmfomds77
rice crackers ARE the truth
William Johnson
Tian’s rancid tea snack game is always a delight.
![Ace Avoe [EXKILLO] from patreon](https://leaqio.com/kistorage/36211.jpg)
