Chapter Text
Liu Bai looked down from the cloud he was half-sprawled over. His long white sleeve sank through the soft material to drift in the breeze below. A thousand Li down, the landscape shimmered in the early morning light, dew-fresh and dazzling. The wispy shadows of clouds drifted across the regimented outlines of fields, only to dissipate amid the uneven tangle of shadows within the untamed wilderness.
Rolling onto his back he turned his gaze upward. The warm dawn light of the mortal realm blended into the dusky evening hues of the heavenly realm above. In the far distance the golden palaces of the Immortals blazed with light from their cloud-islands. But from where he lay, their splendour was a faded echo as if seen through a gossamer silk screen.
Letting himself sink backwards through the soft cloud mass, he emerged from the underside, losing sight of the golden palaces as he hurtled through the sky towards the earth far below. As he fell the dusky evening hues and golden glow faded from sight, hidden by the veil that separated the realms. Leaving him bathed in the pale light of the mortal dawn.
The rush of air buffeted his body as he fell through the sky, whipping his loose robe against his limbs like multitudinous whipcracks. As he plummeted, he thought back on his life before his ascension. His clan, the fruit of his life’s ambition. So small and new when he had last seen it, but full of promise. His closest family had been long dead by the time he had left. His wife, a peak core formation beauty, had eventually succumbed to the passage of time while he had still been mostly mortal.
His beloved Dao Companion, Guo Jinyu had reached the peak of nascent soul but had died attempting to ascend. They had planned to ascend together, with Guo Jinyu going first to get a head start on their immortal lives. Liu Bai had his Liu sect after all, and had still been getting his affairs in order and waiting for his eldest son to reach the nascent soul stage before handing everything over.
He had almost failed his own ascension after Guo Jinyu’s death. But he knew they had a better chance at reuniting if he managed the climb. So he had, and would wait for Guo Jinyu’s reincarnation for as long as it took.
Which brought his mind back to where he was, hurtling through the sky as the ground drew ever closer. Taking one last look at the now blue sky far above, he finally flipped himself over and studied his landing zone.
Several minutes later he gathered his internal qi, spun up his golden core and directed the energy into his feet and legs. Instead of impacting the ground at high speed, and causing serious damage to the surroundings, he activated old disused qinggong skills and bounded through the tree tops. Using the limbs to both dissipate his speed and redirect his momentum. Until he soared gracefully from the top of a stately willow to step lightly along the stone-paved road. Only a few mortals were walking slowly along and aside from several startled looks and one shouted curse, they ignored his sudden arrival.
Sweeping out his voluminous sleeves to settle his windblow appearance, he dipped his head to the few mortals that looked his way, then he joined the flow of traffic, wandering along at a similar pace to the locals.
For several months, Liu Bai traveled throughout the Shu kingdom. Walking the well maintained roads between large settlements. Sometimes hiking over mountains to visit more remote villages. Always following the will and whimsy of the wind, allowing it to blow him along the path of it’s own choosing.
Each time he came to a settlement he rented a room and spent several days searching. Yet each time he ended up moving on, not having found that which the wind whispered to him. The thread of fate that had pulled him down from the higher realm.
The wind had been particularly forceful of late, tugging his robes with impatience as he wandered. It directed him to a small village in the midst of a sea of green. Farmland. Mortals worked the fields, bent over with skirts and trousers hitched high, their bare feet covered in mud from the recent rains. As he drew near, several small children who had been running along the dirt road suddenly skidded to a halt, staring at him. Then after an urgent, whispered conversation that was entirely audible, one split off and raced back the way they had come.
The others hung back, but stayed close, falling into a huddle behind him as he slowly walked into the village. The settlement was small and dirty, but the houses were well maintained, their roofs intact and the bare front yards swept and weed free. Clearly the people who lived here were poor but proud.
Mas he walked into what was likely the village center, an older man emerged from one if the buildings mear by, followed by the child that had raced off earlier. His clothes were old and many times mended, but he possessed a stately bearing. As if he were the head of a large noble household.
Liu Bai clasped his hands before himself and bowed deeply to the old mortal. The village elder returned the bow, then straightened and studied the visitor.
“What brings a stranger to our small home?” He asked, not harshly but obviously wondering how Liu Bai had even found their village, tucked as it was in a valley surrounded by foothills and thick forest. The only road was of dirt and hardly maintained.
Liu Bai finally releases his bow and tucked his hands into opposing sleeves. “I’m just a wanderer, following the will of the wind. May I impose myself upon you for a night or two if lodging?” He asked politely. “I can pay well.”
The village elder looked him over consideringly then finally nodded. Liu Bai knew what the old man saw was not his real self. He had hidden his immortal form with its striking white hair and blue eyes behind the facade of an average mortal man in his middle years. Long black hair up in a guan, dull gray robes instead of his pure white ones - to which dirt and dust could not stick. His projected self was dusty and stained from his long walk, the hem of his threadbare robe slightly tattered.
Turning the elder motioned for him to follow.