59.ii Nebula's Parting

~ Sun Ritsu ~

Our monkey king walked alone towards a spot where he hoped a certain spirit would be.

In his right hand he carried the gift bestowed on him by the guardian elk – a golden peach pit.

A sweet immortal peach pit to be precise, Dear Traveler. Sweet immortal peaches may be plentiful in the Ninth Heaven, but viable seeds are very rare. Should you grow your own holy peach tree, so many wonders would open up to you. If you could only imagine.

In his other hand, Ritsu held something that he always carried with him, but had not brought it out into the light until now.

Phoenix down.

Remember the blessing of the dying phoenix in the Hall of Perfect Light? This was the gift he had bestowed upon our monkey king back then.

So here was our hero. Walking alone with a blessing in each hand, a diamond body as his shield, and the legendary Golden-Hooped Rod of Compliance hanging from his ear.

What did it all mean, Dear Traveler?

Was it Luck? Or something greater… something scarier.

Was it time for him to… do something with all of this?

Whatever it was time for, Ritsu felt the end of his stay in Kawaii Village was drawing near…

Yes, Dear Traveler, you heard right. I did say the end. Which means… I’ll be leaving soon too.

Didn’t I tell you that I would give you a heads up? Consider this it.

So then, are you ready to hear the final moments of this tale?

The ending starts with Sun Ritsu approaching Sun Zhaoling, the Barefoot Sun, right as he was about to enter his training paper space.

Before he could get too close, however, several sheep spirits wearing dark shades and wool business suits swept into action, blocking Sun Ritsu’s path and fussing over Zhaoling’s need to rest as opposed to socializing.

Genuinely surprised by Ritsu’s presence, but not put off by it, Sun Zhaoling waved off his crew and invited Ritsu inside the paper space for a private chat.

“Don’t tell my managers that I did this,” Zhaoling said as he started warming up with stretches.

Ritsu looked around the inside of the paper space. It looked exactly like his.

“Why did you come here, Sun Ritsu?” Zhaoling said from a few feet away in mid-stretch. “This conversation won’t work if we’re both shy.”

“You don’t use immortal peaches to gain rank.” Ritsu said, his eyes downcast.

“Generally speaking, no.”

After that there was a deep silence.

Strangely, Ritsu was not hearing the Rod protest what he was about to say.

“Show me.”

He looked up to meet the champion’s eyes.

“I want to know how it’s done without… without the Immortal State.”

Understanding broke out across Sun Zhaoling’s features. He interrupted his series and beckoned Ritsu over.

“Walk with me.”

Together they walked the perimeter of the waterfall basin. Or rather, Ritsu walked while Zhaoling gingerly limped beside him.

“My staff, Nebula’s Parting, was designed by the luminaries. It cancels out randomness whenever it’s within range. Though you’ve probably heard the rumors that it repels Luck. That is how most spirits interpret its properties, but they are not quite the same.”

Ritsu nodded, remembering one of Bodhi’s debriefings.

“The staff helps me stabilize my appearance. Because you see, without it, many would mistake me for always being imbued with holy peaches, when in fact, I am not.”

Ritsu didn’t understand. Sun Zhaoling could tell this, but he was patient. “Wait right here.”

Zhaoling left Ritsu’s side. He limped all the way to the banyan tree where he stuck his staff in the crook of one of its branches. Then he turned and made his way back to Ritsu.

The more distance Zhaoling put between himself and the staff, the more his skin glowed, the more the ends of his bleached hair lifted. He stood taller, Dear Traveler. He walked straighter.

His plain clothes began to ripple about his form as if there was a vent under his feet. Light and spiritual energy flowed out of his body in a directly vertical path like an infinite geyser.

The ray of light extended forever and forever north. Ritsu wondered if it stretched far enough to touch the cosmos were they not confined to a paper space.

By the time he reached our hero, Sun Zhaoling was a walking pillar of pale, buttery fire.

“To clarify,” Zhaoling’s canines broke past his lips as he spoke, “I am not here to defy the Immortal State, Sun Ritsu. I mean to embrace it.”

The light emanating from the sun clone’s body had its own unique song, Dear Traveler. It filled the silence with it now, a soft vibrating laser of creation and hot, fluctuating spirit energy.

“There was a time when the State was not a thing that monkey kings needed to tap into,” Zhaoling explained. “It’s something that has become suppressed over time. The idea that we require a peach to unlock our true potential has become normal for so many.”

Ritsu was still trying to take it all in. “So you’re… you’re in the Immortal State? Right now?”

Sun Zhaoling made an approximate gesture. “I’m more than halfway. This is similar to the in-between state that one acquires through caffeinated peach beverages. I’m at the tail end of that.”

Uncertain, Ritsu swallowed. “And you got there on your own.”

Zhaoling nodded. “Mm-hm. Through ancient cultivation methods that have been lost to time. You can only find them preserved in the jungle temples deep in the Frog Province.”

Ritsu looked away. For a moment, Zhaoling’s light dimmed. “You think I’m cheating, don’t you?”

Ritsu raised his eyebrows. “What? No. If this is how you always are, then I can understand that it’s not something you can simply turn on and turn off. It’s just…”

Zhaoling relaxed a little. “It’s the State itself, then. The idea of Ascension bothers you.”

When Ritsu didn’t say anything, Zhaoling went to retrieve his staff.

“Sun Ritsu, listen.” He came back, no longer glowing and back to limping and slouching now that his staff was in his hand.

“Your Radiance is just that. Yours.” Zhaoling tapped the center of Ritsu’s chest for emphasis. “The more you run from it or try to keep it separate from your day-to-day self, the more alien and invasive it will feel to you.”

“But I’m not in control when—”

Sun Zhaoling made an agitated sound. “Yes you are. You just don’t recognize what control you have. Yet.”

Ritsu bit his tongue. He knew Sun Zhaoling was only trying to help him. But the Barefoot Sun wasn’t blind to the frustration in his opponent’s face.

Sun Zhaoling sighed. “It is difficult to hold on to power, I know. For some spirits, it isn’t hard at all. Some are addicted to it. Others feel like it is their right to wield immense power. But for you – and I can even admit this about myself – power that comes when we are radiating in the truth of our nature, it can feel like too much. We become so consumed by the weight of it, that we forget who we are. That’s when the byproducts of that disorientation emerge.”

Ritsu’s brows came together, “Byproducts?”

Shrugging, Zhaoling said, “Our misdirection. Our playfulness. The things that get the other spirits so flustered in one sense or another.”

Ritsu couldn’t help but smile a little. Then he said something that had been on his mind since Zhaoling’s trial.

“I noticed that while you were growing out the bonsai, there were times when you looked to be in severe pain. But also times that you seemed, I don’t know, so happy and free.”

Zhaoling was now crouching beside the water. He dipped his hand in to caress a koi with bright red scales.

“The bonsai makes for a good metaphor for what I feel is a full existence. Like how you start off with so much potential – a blank canvas for your life. So you build what you can.”

When the fish attempted to swerve in a new direction, Zhaoling simply rotated his wrist, stroking it once more.

“You try to force things that shouldn’t be forced. You let things go that have inspired you and made you proud just as easily as they have disappointed you. All of us fly. We all land. We lose our footing at times. Blossoms completing their cycle, we eventually drift back to the source.”

Ritsu watched the fish finally swim away. “It sounds like poetry.”

Carefully, Zhaoling got to his feet. “I don’t know if anyone has ever told you this, but your straightforwardness is disarming.”

Ritsu suddenly blushed. “Oh. I uh…” He realized how aggressive he had been up to now, showing up at Zhaoling’s training site and demanding to know the secrets to his fighting style.

“I’m really sorry.”

Zhaoling shook his head. “Don’t be. I’m having fun with you.”

They held eye contact for a moment. Ritsu became aware of the heat coursing through his body. He had never admired another Sun like this before. He had never been this intrigued or drawn to any member of his kind. Maybe it was rude to keep staring at Sun Zhaoling, but he couldn't help it.

Based on the gentle mark of amusement in Sun Zhaoling's otherwise unreadable features, then yes, this more experienced Sun was thoroughly enjoying the attention.

Without breaking eye contact, Zhaoling asked, “Do you want to hold my staff?”

Ritsu broke out in a sweat. He didn’t know why.

“Don't worry. I'm not going to pull something like you did with Tie Quan. It's safe to touch.”

Right, Ritsu thought, Blue Force and Zhaoling are friends.

He looked sheepish about the memory, but after one more encouragement from Zhaoling, our hero took hold of Nebula’s Parting.

That’s when reality suddenly shifted in ways Sun Ritsu had never experienced.

~

Transported to an astral plane,

surrounded by stars and nameless nebulae,

he sees a tree in the distance, radiating warm, summer-blessed light

It draws the monkey king in

This wasn’t like the bonsai, wild and wrathful. This tree was immense, its root system, though out of sight, could be felt underfoot

He may have walked hundreds of miles or just one step; he arrived at the base

Gazing up into the glowing, rustling network of branches and blushing fruit

A sweet immortal peach tree —

A tree among the stars

Old enough to be born at the same time as The World

Something so primeval could only be a relic of the past

That or whispers… of a ripening, fast-forward

into some golden future