Late the next morning, after doing all the regular chores — tending to the vegetables and fruit plot, the latrine, filling the stew pot with meat, collecting the minerals from the 'salt pan', refilling the 'salt pan', and so on — while deep in conversation with the Mountain, Chún searched around the clearing in the forest, the damp scent of churned earth and crushed leaves still lingering after the battle two nights before.
"So, you are certain this is acceptable?" questioned the young teen through the link as he grunted with exertion, the bark rough against his shoulders and branches creaking with every step. He had found a towering forest tree that fell during the battle two nights earlier and was exerting his strength and Essence to carry it back to the clearing.
"Yes. The tree is dying or dead. Its Dao has ended. If you provide it with Essence, you will give it a new Dao — and then you can create that Dao to match your needs," the Mountain reassured him patiently.
"I still say the difference between 'creating' a Dao in something and pushing Essence through an external Formation or technique is semantics," argued Chún as he slowly carried the enormous tree back towards the clearing.
"But the external Formation is forcibly applied — like a brand or the imprisonment of a criminal. As opposed to convincing the criminal to reform. Or the difference between beating obedience from a beast of burden instead of rewarding and caring for it so it helps you willingly," answered the Mountain.
"Very well. Perhaps I am simply not wise enough to understand the difference." Chún stopped in the centre of the clearing and, with a harsh roar of exertion, threw the tree off his back. Then he worriedly jumped back as the Heaven and Earth Vine's feeding roots appeared and proceeded to strip and peel the tree of smaller branches, roots, dirt, leaves, and bark, the wet rasp of roots sliding across wood echoing softly through the clearing, until only the trunk and large main branches remained.
"I asked the Heaven and Earth Vine to clean up the wood for us," explained his locus. "Now — a gliding horse is fairly simple. You said you knew all the required parts?"
"Yes," replied Chún, "but I can easily make it by chopping the tree up and carving out the needed parts. In fact, there is a lot more wood than I need."
A familiar sense of lecturing came down the link.
"I know you could — but this exercise is a simple version of a more complex Creation. If you can teach the wood to change into the pieces you need, they will form naturally without a lot of cutting, sawing, and other destructive techniques. Eventually you will learn to do this to living things as well — adding to their Dao without destroying it or them — but this is a good first step."
Chún rolled his eyes.
"I almost think I preferred it when you did not talk so much."
There was a confused silence.
Then an image of Chún reaching out to touch the wood and slowly filling it with Essence floated down the link.
"Hilarious," Chún snorted. "Most amusing."
But he sat down cross-legged in front of the bare wood and placed his hand on it. Closing his eyes, he let his Essence and his Essence sense flood into it.
"The tree is not actually dead," he said aloud, frowning as he felt it beginning to draw on the Essence to survive. "Most of it is still alive inside. It might live again if I replanted it and fed it Essence."
He focused his sense on what he was seeing. The tree's Dao was fraying and slowly bleeding away, but it could be restored.
"This feels wrong," Chún said firmly.
He stood up and picked up the trunk, slowly carrying it back into the forest until he reached the original place where it had fallen. Slamming it butt-first into the hole, he sent a determined pulse of Essence through it, beginning to mend the tree's Dao as he had done with the little wolf cub. Then he linked it to the Mountain's pulse and pushed his Essence into it.
Slowly at first, then faster and faster, the tree's Dao beat stronger and stronger. Dull and frayed portions of the pattern revitalised as roots and bark reappeared. Smaller branches and twigs began sprouting along the bare main limbs, quickly becoming covered in new leaves and flowers.
There was a familiar thrumming and thundering which, to Chún, had come to signify an Essence ignition. A large pulse of Life Essence washed out from the now fully replanted and living tree, carrying the fresh green scent of sap and new growth as the tree glowed with a familiar swirl of Essence mist and motes.
Chún breathed deeply, feeling refreshed and recharged by the ignition wave.
"So now you have a Living Essence Tree," came the Mountain's voice in amusement. "It was just an ordinary tree, you know? You just made it into something it was not before."
"It was a natural advancement of its Dao," pointed out Chún. "Convincing it to turn into the parts for a gliding horse would not be."
"True. So how do you plan to make your gliding horse?" inquired the Mountain.
"I need wood that is actually dead," answered Chún.
---
Sometime later Chún sat in front of another large trunk of completely dead wood. He had carefully checked every fallen tree he found, replanting several of them. The forest now sported several brand new Essence Trees of different types, but this particular trunk had been completely dead for years. Other than the usual insects, fungi, and mosses breaking down the wood, there was absolutely nothing living inside it, only the dry, hollow feel of long-dead wood beneath the moss.
The Dao pattern was completely inert, consisting only of Wood — not Tree.
Chún nodded to himself. This suited his needs.
Picking it up, he began hauling it back
Eventually he threw the wood onto the clearing in the same place as the previous tree had been. Once again the Vine cleaned the wood — with even more relish than last time, it seemed.
"She prefers the partially decomposed wood, bugs and so on," explained the Mountain helpfully.
Chún shrugged and once again sat on the ground, placing his hand on the wood in front of him.
Focusing his Essence sense on the sound portions of wood within the trunk, he slowly filled them with Essence. Unlike the previous tree, the wood sat inert, not reacting to the Essence.
Carefully, Chún visualised the pieces of wood and the shapes he required — a wheel with wide, sturdy spokes and a thin but strong rim around a central axle; long handles pierced to hold that axle; and a flat tray that would rest upon supports between the handles.
Moments later the trunk flashed with white Essence, a soft crackling running through the grain like distant frost splitting bark, the glow flowing through the grain of the wood — and when it faded, the trunk had already become the pieces he had imagined, each perfectly formed from a single section as though shaped by the hands of a master carpenter.
Chún slowly assembled the pieces — sliding the axle through the wheel, setting the handles so they angled outward until they reached shoulder width. Supports bridged the handles and the tray settled neatly across them.
Each joint he fed with Essence so that the pieces fused together, until he had a gliding horse that appeared to have grown as a single structure of wood — except for the wheel and axle, of course, which needed to move.
There was still some wood left, so using the same technique he fashioned a wooden railing around the tray so that goods could be carried without sliding off. He even adjusted the handles so the wood subtly reshaped to match the form of his hands and fingers exactly.
"I have said it before and I shall probably say it again," mused Chún as he looked at the perfectly formed gliding horse — which had taken him less than a shí to complete. "Essence is cheating."
"Add Dao manifestations of strength and lightness," suggested the Mountain. "It is a blank slate so… like this."
Chún watched in fascination as, within his Essence sense, he saw Essence flowing upward from the ground into the gliding horse. Dao patterns formed within the wood pattern itself and then naturally spread and stabilised.
"See? Now it is strong, light wood," explained the Mountain. "A Consumer would add a formation that strengthens the wood externally, or a formation that counteracts the weight of the cart by pushing upward. But the wood itself would remain unchanged. Do you understand the difference?"
"I think so," said Chún, fascinated. "You added to the nature of the wood itself, but it is still wood. A Consumer would ignore the wood and simply place external formations on the gliding horse."
"Yes. Not that the approach would be bad," explained his locus, "but you could remove those formations and the gliding horse would become weak and heavy again. You cannot remove the Dao from the wood without destroying it entirely."
Chún frowned thoughtfully.
"Can we add resistance against fire?"
"More difficult," opined the Mountain. "Wood is weak against fire. But if we suggested that the type of wood was one that is naturally much harder to burn…"
Chún blinked.
"A strong wood that is also light, but does not burn easily? Does that exist?"
The Mountain laughed.
"Yes. The pattern looks like this…"
---
Sometime later Chún looked with satisfaction at the completed gliding horse.
He had loaded it down with the Dao pots filled with Essence herbs, pelts, ivory, and furs, and tested pushing it along. With his Essence strength and the inherent lightness and resilience of the Dao-imbued wood, it was easy to manoeuvre, the wheel rolling smoothly over the packed earth with a soft wooden rumble.
However, he had also added ropes of tough vine to form a harness that could loop over his shoulders and tie to the ends of the handles. This distributed the load across his whole body rather than relying only on his arms.
Just because he was stronger now did not mean he could not still be clever in how he used that strength.
Looking speculatively at the trade goods, he pointed out the obvious.
"There are a lot of pelts, furs, and ivory. But there is not really a wide range of items to sell. The herbs and plants are good, but I only have a few. There are still nine days. You mentioned making medicine previously — could you teach me to make some simple medicines in that time?"
"You could learn to make simple healing ointments. Perhaps something to cleanse the skin of sores and rashes as well. For true medicine, however, you need a cauldron," answered the Mountain.
"Would a pottery cauldron be enough?" asked the silver-haired boy. "The stories always describe alchemists' cauldrons as being made from metal."
"The way we would make it, it would be superior," claimed his locus. "Metal reacts and must be accounted for when making medicine. Properly made ceramic is inert. You could sell properly made Dao Pottery cauldrons for a fortune."
"I think it would be better kept secret," mused Chún. "Anyway, did you not want me to learn how to create 'relic sites'?"
"You have already done a great deal of Essence work today," replied the locus. "The gliding horse is sufficient practice for now. Instead, consider how such techniques could be applied elsewhere. Why not go and visit the World Tree?"
"Not a bad idea. All right, if you still want me to take it easy, I will go for a walk. Hopefully a peaceful one," agreed the teen as he lifted the half-loaded cart and parked it near the entrance to the cave tunnel.
"Bring a couple of Dao pots in case we encounter herbs worth harvesting," requested the locus.
"En."
Picking up a couple of pots and his sack filled with fruit and dried meat, he began walking toward the tree line, the forest alive with the chirr of insects and distant calls of birds, bowing to the Heaven and Earth Vine as he left, not even blinking as he stepped through the thick Essence mist boundary that shrouded the clearing.
"What is the big deal about a World Tree?" he asked as he walked casually through the forest. His cloak materialised around him in a swirl of Essence mist as his staff appeared in his free hand.
"The Flood Dragon made it sound important."
He paused to tuck the sack and the pots into the cloak, which swallowed them easily and made it appear as though he carried nothing.
"A World can only have one World Tree," answered the Mountain. "Likewise, only planes that are large and complex enough to be considered complete Worlds can host one. As I was only a comparatively young Mountain…"
"Hmm. So why only one World Tree? Surely more would make a World stronger?" asked Chún as he leapt upward into the trees, increasing his speed as he headed toward the site where he had lost his staff previously.
"The World Tree is the World it grows upon. It literally holds the sky aloft — defending against forces from beyond the World and strengthening both the defences and the Essence of the World," explained the Mountain.
"A plane without a Tree is not a true World — merely a realm or fragment. And if another Tree grew, then wherever it grew would become its own separate World. Such is the nature of the Dao."
"So if the Tree becomes stronger, the World becomes stronger?" speculated Chún. "And damage to the Tree weakens the World?"
"Yes," replied the Mountain — or perhaps it was the World itself now. A strange thought.
"Is there anything important I need to know about it right now?" the teen asked as he bounded quickly from tree to tree, leaving the jungle influenced by the Heaven and Earth Vine and entering the more widely spaced forest he remembered from his previous journey.
Unlike before, however, the forest now felt warmer and far more vibrant. Motes of Essence drifted everywhere and wildlife moved boldly through the trees, the air warmer and thick with the sweet, living scent of growing things.
The World Tree's presence was clearly increasing the local concentration of Essence.
"For now," said the Mountain, "simply understand that the World Tree is the best place to make changes to the World as a whole. If the Tree changes, so too does the World — and vice versa."