A Chronicle of aWandering in the Dao
* * *
"...And so it was, in your six-hundredth, fifty-second year that you and a team of adventurers
infiltrated Buzi fortress.Your mission was to subdue the warlord within, Xiang Lun, to
alleviate the oppression of the local peasants.As previously detailed, restoring just governance
was a mission you had undertaken scores of times in the past. Unlike your mortal companions,
you felt neither excitement nor anxiety about pursuing your objective. But like them, you
were steadfast in your commitment to freeing the local populace of tyranny.
Your group approached on foot under the cover of darkness. Everyone hid once the fortress
was within sight.You instructed your companions to count to six-hundred while they waited
for you to clear the east wall of its patrol.When they were done counting, they would make
their approach and ascend a ladder.You had fashioned the ladder earlier in the day and now
carried it with you as you approached the east wall of the fortress. Listening closely, you
waited until the patrolling guard above had moved far enough away.You made a single great
leap, and landed silently on the walkway holding the ladder above your head.
Checking your surroundings, you could see that the guard had paused with his back to you.
Quickly you lowered the ladder over the wall. It wasn't tall enough to reach the top; your
companions would have to leap one by one from the top rung to grab a hold of the wall and
pull themselves up. Seeing this, you quickly closed in on the guard and rendered him
unconscious.You laid him flat upon the walkway, splashing him with some wine from a gourd
you carried. For good measure, you sprinted around the top of the fortress walls disabling
every guard you could find, before returning to the eastern wall. Below you, you could hear
the first of your companions climbing the ladder.You helped each of your comrades make their
way up to where you stood.
Reunited on the fortress walls, you apprised your comrades of your work neutralizing the
guards.You expressed your desire to avoid bloodshed as much as possible, and they assented
to try to honor your request.Your band was then split into two parties: the first party, of which
you were a part, would sabotage the armory, then serve as a distraction for the second party;
it was that group's task to confront warlord Xiang. Thus, your endeavor to free the local
peasantry began its final stage.
You subdued the guards outside the armory before they could raise an alarm. Neither you nor
your companions could find a way into the building without making a lot of noise, so you set
it ablaze.The armory fire drew the attention of all within the fortress, which fit seamlessly
with your party's other objective.
Some of the warlord's men were injured, a few were killed, though none by you in the melee
that ensued. Indeed, though in the heat of battle, risking their lives, your companions revered
your wishes to avoid bloodshed and felt no thrill when it was necessary to kill an opponent.
A Chronicle of aWandering in the Dao
The fighting grew intense.You began to worry for the safety of all involved, when you heard
one of your band from the other party shout over the fray. He held aloft Xiang Lun's head, and
said that any man who didn't lay down his arms at once would meet a similar fate.You deemed
the loss of the warlord's life regrettable, yet you knew that your companions had tried to avoid
spilling his blood.
There was confusion and chaos within the fortress. Some men threw down their weapons and
ran away; others wished to fight to the death, despite the loss of their lord. However, you
prevented any further bloodshed through a show of power.You clapped your hands together
three times, and each time the sound boomed like thunder, shaking the very ground upon
which the fortress stood.You called down a single bolt of lightning from the night sky, and
made it dance between your open hands.
Everyone within the fortress prostrated themselves before you, even your companions. No
one present had ever seen such acts. Some began to wonder, in quiet whispers, whether or not
you were a god.This displeased you, and you bid everyone to rise and stop being foolish.You
denied being a god, and said you were merely a humble student of the Dao.You admonished
the warlord's men for exploiting the peasantry and told them to make amends.You turned to
your companions, who were shaken by the turn of events, not having known your true nature.
You told them to remember everything you had said to them about the Dao, and then bid them
farewell.Then, in one leap, you sprang over the fortress walls and vanished into the night.
* * *
It was in the Spring of your eight-hundredth and second year that you transformed yet again.
You became a Dixian, an immortal who's human body is so perfected that it barely requires
food or water; immune to every disease; whose flesh cannot be burned, cut, pierced, or
crushed.Your mastery of your Qi was perfected.
This new transformation stirred only the mildest sense of affirmation within you.You knew
that becoming a Dixian was what would follow from your studies during your time as a Shijie
Xian.The change was expected.
Now, you were almost without limits.You could fly, breath underwater, change into any animal
or plant, or any number of other things, if you chose to. Other than gods, only the Dixian and
the Tian Xian possess such mastery over their forms.
However, you also recognized that your transformation-- miraculous though it might seem to
a mortal-- also presented a barrier to you. Perfection means an end to growth, to
improvement.You realized that further growth and mastery would require you to give up your
earthly form, yet you felt doing so would be counter to all that you had achieved up to that
point. For the first time in centuries, you were faced with a conundrum you could not solve.