Chapter 5

Master’s Hut

Dun led the little incubus up a small winding path away from the main buildings.

After climbing for sometime they reached a large open field, in the middle of the softly rolling grassland was a small one story cream coloured building, with a dark clay tiled roof, and a raised wooden porch, Dun was guiding him directly to the hut.

Pausing to look off over the view, Xie Jie sighed in wonder, he could see out over the different greens of the trees and fields far below, the villages were little more than small dots. He realised he had climbed far higher in the mist than he should have, and marvelled once again at how amazing cultivators were.

Xie Jie knocked on the door, when there was no answer and Dun still pointed in, he opened the door and stuck his head inside.

While his eyes adjusted to the dim interior, he called out, "hello, is anyone home?"

There was again no answer, so he moved inside, while Dun wrapped loosely around his shoulders and lay still with a contented air of a job well done.

Realising this was indeed where he was supposed to be, Xie Jie said, "thank you for getting me safely here." He reached up and stroked the chain.

The hut was all one room about 6 meters long by 2 meters wide, with a wooden floor and white walls. There was a fire pit for cooking at the left end, then a small table with a couple of cups and bowls on it, moving through the room there was a sleeping mat lying on the floor and a large writing table with dark red cushions. Scattered on and around the desk were lots of scrolls.

Xie Jie picked up one of the scrolls and unfurled it, the dust hit him in the face and he coughed, sending more dust into the air. Disorientated, Xie Jie opened the small window beside the desk to let some air in.

The air swirled in and he saw the entire hut was covered in a thick layer of dust, he wondered, ‘when was Master Hao last here?’

All of the loose scrolls blew across the floor and Xie Jie dived after them, glad they all blew into the hut and not out the window.

Many of the scrolls unravelled and Xie Jie could see that they were about different beings, this one was about flower demons, another was about woodland nymphs, another about the interaction between ogres and trolls.

Staring at the scrolls Xie Jie wondered, 'is this what Hao Kong does? No wonder he knew to kiss me to give me power.’

Thinking of that too short kiss Xie Jie touched his mouth for a second, lost in the memory of Hao Kong’s soft lips.

Coming back to reality he thought, 'well this won't do.’

Carefully stacking the scrolls up, he grabbed the broom in the corner, and swept the hut out.

When he got to the door, Dun lifted off his shoulder, "don't worry I'm not running away, just cleaning."

Seemingly satisfied Dun lay back down. Happy the place was now dust free, Xie Jie turned to clean the floors, this time he would have to go out to find water.

"Dun where is there water? I need to scrub the floors and my self for that matter."

Dun returned to his guiding position, wrapped around the incubus’s waist, and pointed out the door.

Once outside Dun pointed round the left side of the building, furthest from the path they had come up. Out back of the hut there was a wall running up the mountain from the right corner of the building, creating an open courtyard.

In the middle of the long grass Xie Jie saw a stone bath, with a fire section underneath to warm the water.

Excitedly he ran to the edge of the bath but recoiled in shock, if he thought the hut was dirty, this was filthy. Algae was growing around the sides, the bottom was black with residue and it looked like something had died in the fire section.

Well it was just another thing to clean, it's not like he had anything else to do till Master came back, and they had talked about having a soak when they came here.

The image of Hao Kong relaxing in steaming water came to mind and Xie Jie sighed happily, how he wanted to see that, he would definitely clean the bath.

So he set about cleaning, Dun showed him the way to the well that was just up from the hut, then returned to the incubus's shoulders to relax.

Xie Jie rubbed his cheek against Dun's smooth chain, "thank you.”

Dun gently rubbed the young man's cheek back.

With the water Xie Jie first cleaned the hut then went for the dirtier bath.

Done cleaning, he stripped off while he waited for the water to heat. Dun shifted on to his bare shoulders, and Xie Jie started cleaning his clothes, sat on a little stool near the well.

The sound of a lot of excited people walking up the path made him look briefly up, but hidden in the half courtyard he was unconcerned and continued with his cleaning.

Xie Jie was hanging his clean robes up on the well, when there was a shout from behind him.

"Hey what do you think you are doing here! This is Master Hao's place!"

Xie Jie turned to see lots of angry disciples who were about the same age as him, they were dressed in white robes and brandishing spears.

Xie Jie thought, 'Why does everyone want to stab me with a metal spear, but no one seems to want to stab me with a man's spear?'

To the people in front of him, who were going red in the face with "anger", he said, "Master Hao sent me here. I'm not currently allowed to leave."

Seeing the stances of the people in front of them, Dun unwrapped from Xie Jie's shoulders and raised in between the two parties.

One of the young female disciples, said to the others, "he's a demon look at his tail,"

Xie Jie looked at his feet, 'always the tail.'

"We should get one of the Masters." she finished.

The one who had yelled first, a tall stout boy with light brown hair, replied angrily, "what is the point of us doing all this practicing if we run away from the first demon we see?"

The boy advanced towards Xie Jie and went to stab him with his spear.

Xie Jie dodged to the right, but he needn't of moved at all, as the spear came towards him Dun reached forward, wrapped round the spear and pulled it out of the boys hands. Turning it in the air the chain stabbed the spear deep into the ground with tremendous force.

The disciples all jumped back, but with more bravery than brains the boy grabbed the spear of the girl next to him and threw it at Xie Jie, Dun’s metal gleamed in the sun as it’s links whipped through the air and smacked the spear into the ground to the right of the group.

The utter fool grabbed a spear from the boy to his right and threw again. This one Dun slammed into the ground to the left, close to the bath.

Xie Jie yelled, "ah not Master’s bath! Dun please be careful."

Dun turned to look at the little incubus and at just that moment, the boy threw yet another spear, this one flew past Dun and scraped the side of Xie Jie's left arm, a tiny line of blood ran from the cut.

Xie Jie put his hand on the cut, as Dun shook with rage and lunged at the boy, while all the other disciples screamed and scattered.

Dun pinned the boy to the floor with multiple links of chain, then raised up at the tip like a viper about to strike. The whole thing took but a second.

"Dun please don't!" Xie Jie yelled and grabbed hold of the chain with both hands, "he is just young, he doesn't know what he is doing and I'm fine it's just a scratch."

Dun paused above the youth who was crying in fear, but not being as forgiving as Xie Jie, the chain struck a tiny wound across the boy’s left cheek as a reminder.

Returning to the young incubus the chain wrapped gently around his wound checking it was alright.

Xie Jie stroked the chain, "I'm sorry I distracted you at an important moment, I won't do it again, please forgive me."

Dun gently rubbed against Xie Jie's hand and arm.

Glaring down at the boy still on the ground Xie Jie said in a stern tone, "get out of here, today you were lucky Dun was merciful. Many strong beings would have just struck you down, let that cut be a reminder that attacking is not always the best option." Dun nodded along with Xie Jie's words.

Released from the chains, the youth ran after his companions with tears streaming down his face.