8 Chapter 6 - Bestowing Gifts

Mei Lien led Ao Wen from the garden into a vast library. "Before I begin, there's something you need to understand. Right now, in this moment as things transition from me to you, you can see the entirety of your Soul Palace. Once I'm gone, what you can reach here will be a fraction of everything you've built and collected. Having too much before you're ready would only hurt you and you cannot bear the weight of it all yet anyway."

"So why show it to me now?" Ao Wen asked.

"It's not about showing our not showing. Some things just are. Right now, this is how it is. Soon, things will be different. Now, let me explain what's about to happen." Mei Lien waved her hand and six burning cards appeared before her. "Each of these represent a portion of your inheritance."

"Earth and Fire I understand," Ao Wen said looking at two of the cards. "Is that why I was born into a family with these bloodlines?"

"Perhaps," the Immortal Empress said. "Destiny isn't a simple thing and I've always believed that we forge our own way to the future. But these words represent far more than your bloodline. They are foundations of your strength that you can rely on. Should you choose to cultivate them directly you could be a powerful Sorceress. You'll also find that they compliment some of your other opportunities. For example…"

"Alchemy," Ao Wen whispered with wide eyes.

"Indeed. In eighteen lifetimes, this is the first time Alchemy has come up since the beginning. Your talents here should be extraordinary."

"Then what about the Scroll?"

"Knowledge is power," Mei Lien said with a smile. "Return to Alchemy for a moment. An Alchemist masters many forms of knowledge. Herbs, compounds, poisons, anatomy, medicine, the list goes on, but in the end, it's all interconnected and serves a singular purpose; the practice of Alchemy. The Scroll represents a different kind of knowledge. History, astronomy, literature… How many books do you think you've read these past few dozen millenia?"

"Dozens of millenia… I can't imagine that kind of time. Hundreds of thousands at least?" Ao Wen asked, struggling to comprehend the scale of it all.

"Millions," Mei Lien replied. "Within your Soul Palace, you'll find a library of everything you've ever read. You won't be able to recall everything in the library directly, but if you meditate on a volume you'll find that it's more like rereading something you've read before than learning it from scratch."

Blinking several times, Ao Wen tried to imagine that many books and failed utterly. She didn't think they're were that many books in all of Turning Leaf town! "What about Saber and Song?" Ao Wen said, clearly puzzled. "Am I a scholar, a warrior, an artist or a mystic? Don't tell me all of them at once! It feels so random."

"Yes, all of them at once. It's the meaning of the phrase 'Myriad Paths, One Summit.' In this life, you can walk any road you like," Mei Lien explained. "At a certain point, all things begin to converge as you approach the top. How you get there is up to you."

"You make it sound like my destination is already carved in jade," Ao Wen said with a frown. "What's the point of all these paths if they all go to the same place?"

"The journey is what matters," Mei Lien said with a smile. "All cultivation is a journey to the summit. It isn't just your destination, it's everyone's. Feng Xi's too, whether she understands it yet or not. Still, there are mountains beyond mountains and realms that you've never reached in any lifetime. Perhaps you'll be the first to break that barrier. Perhaps you won't. It doesn't matter. What matters is the journey between this day and that one."

"So am I supposed to choose one of these six to start with?"

"That's up to you. You can pick one, two, six, even none," Mei Lien said with a smile.

"You're not being very helpful," Ao Wen said, becoming frustrated. It felt like half her questions were met with uncertainty and the other half were left as choices for her to figure out for herself! "Is there any advice you can give me? Shouldn't you be nice to yourself? After living so long, surely you have more you can tell me don't you?"

"I am being kind to myself. But there are two last matters in which I will advise you." As she spoke, the grand library faded away, replaced by a hexagonal room. On each wall, one of the cards settled and a door formed below it. "This is the beginning of your inner world. It occupies a corner of your Soul Palace. As you grow, you'll find more here. The more you absorb from these rooms the more of your previous lifetimes will come into focus. Be mindful to not lose yourself here or Ao Wen will become nothing more than an echo of the people you were before. Now, I mentioned two things. This is the first."

With a wave of her arm, three drops of azure liquid formed in the air filling the small room with a thick aura of draconic might!

"Dragon blood?" Ao Wen gasped.

"Blood Essence of an Immortal Azure Dragon. A gift from a dear friend to safeguard you in this life. If you absorb this blood essence, you'll gain the bloodline of the Azure Dragon. Your might will soar like a dragon taking flight, quickly surpassing Martial Champions and bestowing the ability to take Dragon form. In this life, you would become his blood sister, something I'm sure would please him greatly. Would you like my help absorbing it?"

Ao Wen shook her head rapidly, instantly rejecting the idea. "No. How can I become the sister of someone I don't even know yet? And besides, don't I have the blood of the Earth Dragon already? I feel like I'd be turning away from myself to take this."

"Mmm," Mei Lien said with a slight smile. "Then I'll place it here," she said, inscribing the word "Dragon" on the floor of the room and placing the blood essence beneath it. "Here, it will passively nurture your own Dragon bloodline. Should you require this power though, know that it's here."

"And the second thing?"Ao Wen asked, feeling that she'd made the right decision about the blood essence. Had it been a test? She felt like there was too much the Immortal Empress wasn't telling her.

Mei Lien gestured again, summoning the three colored flames from earlier. "Based on the first decision you made, I think I know what you'll say to this. Like the blood essence, you could merge these flames with your own vermilion flames, gaining the flames of a Three Tailed Phoenix, but diverging from your own nature as a Vermillion Bird."

"I imagine there's also a better option," Ao Wen said, thinking about what those flames could mean. "Wait… Alchemy! Don't alchemists have different colored flames?"

"Exactly so. The Crimson Flame burns the hottest of the three making it excellent for applications where you need the most intense heat to extract the essence of an ingredient. The Azure Flame is the most docile, well suited to precise control for delicate concoctions. Finally, the Emerald Flame burns to purify. You'll find that using it in refining produces superior results. There's more I'm sure, but you're the Alchemist, I'm sure you'll learn all the nuances in time," she said, flicking a hand and sending the flames through the door marked Alchemy.

"Now, one last piece of advice. After I depart, before you wake, select a saber art for yourself. Everything else can wait, but you're already attracting toads," Mei Lien said with a frown, recalling the young men Ao Wen had encountered earlier. She didn't wish her new self to be as powerless before such people as she had been. "Even if you don't inherit my curse of attracting trouble from men, I have no doubt you'll need something to keep yourself safe soon."

"I will. Thank you. Will I see you like this again?" Ao Wen asked. She felt like she hadn't known Mei Lien long but so much had changed so quickly that the thought of losing the only guide she had was a little frightening. It would be comforting to be able to visit her past self for advice on the future.

"Who can say? Probably not, but the world is full of a myriad of possibilities. Now, it's time to make things formal," the Immortal Empress said. With a wave, she summoned the resplendent crown and lifted it off her head before speaking the last words of her too short life. "The Myriad Paths Immortal Empress Mei Lien is dead! Long live the Myriad Paths Immortal Empress Ao Wen!" Placing the crown on Ao Wen's head, it flared brightly in resplendent colors for a moment before fading away, leaving Ao Wen alone in her inner world.

"Myriad Paths Immortal Empress?" Ao Wen said with an ironic laugh. "When I finish my Awakening I'll tell everyone that I've become an Immortal Empress… I'm sure they'll think I've been mentally crippled by the awakening incense!"

Perhaps… Perhaps she could tell Feng Xi. It felt so extraordinary and unbelievable, Ao Wen was half convinced that she'd dreamed the whole thing. If anyone would believe her though… she hoped that Feng Xi would.