All around the lake, the Scholars of the Amber Lily Academy spread out for their various tasks. Alchemist Huang Yeyan led several mortal workers and a handful of research assistants in preparing to wade into several shallow areas of the lake to harvest plants that would be affected by the light of the eclipse. The alchemist expected to harvest as many as a dozen Lunar Eclipse Lotus Blossoms and easily promised Wu Ling the second best of the ones she collected.
Nearby, a researcher studying formations had erected a light gathering formation to help transform a stand of Blood Root Reeds into Bloody Moon Reeds, a rare ingredient that could be used in elixirs to restore fertility to female cultivators who had sacrificed their fertility in the pursuit of cultivation or who had lost it due to cultivation deviation.
Elsewhere, other ingredients with potential were noted down but the odds of a transformation occurring under the light of the lunar eclipse were low enough that the Scholars intended to check them only after their most important components had been fully gathered. For some things, it was important that they be harvested during the eclipse itself, others could be harvested afterward as long as the item in question had absorbed enough of the right type of energy during the eclipse.
Further down the shore, a different set of scholars laid out a grid of markers to take precise angular measurements. They intended to document each phase of the eclipse in ways that were relevant to their own professions. Tan Hehei paid close attention to the movement of other constellations through the sky waiting to see which ones might be adjacent to the eclipse in a way that would align the event with one prophecy or another.
Another scholar placed several spirit crystals along a grid of strings to see how the natural flow of energy over the world would be disrupted and by how much to determine if any disasters might be provoked by the surge of energy from the eclipse. Events like the opening of a gate to a different mortal realm or a mini-realm were vanishingly rare, occurring once every thousand years or less, but the energies unleashed by an eclipse could have strange effects and the scholars wouldn't miss an opportunity to see if something grand might be triggered by this one.
Wu Ling stood slightly apart from all of the bustle with a blank canvas before him. Turning away from the bustle of activity from the Scholars he drew a narrow charcoal pencil from the box of supplies he'd brought and began sketching the outlines of the features he intended to include in his painting. The sun hadn't slipped entirely beneath the horizon yet and the clear sky burned in shades of yellow and orange, perfectly contrasting with the dark mountains and helping Wu Ling to rough in their shapes and positions around the lake.
A full month had yet to pass since his awakening and already his entire world had changed. The confrontation with the Red Tiger's Den had put him face to face with his own powerlessness in a way he would never forget. He'd become a mighty cultivator standing above millions of mortals and at the same time, he stood at the very bottom of the tens of thousands of cultivators in Silver Sword City. If he'd needed a lesson to remain humble despite his growing power, that had proven all the lesson he needed.
Still, the same encounter had provided a glimmer of hope for what would come. He'd managed just enough power to get both himself and Su Xiang out of trouble. Looking around the sky he finally spotted the first star of the evening and marked it on his canvas. Like the night sky, he'd accumulate endless methods across myriad arts, but everything started from one moment, one light, one instant… one star. That one star would guide him in everything that followed, lighting his path even when there were no other lights in the sky.
The Illusory Butterfly Immortal Empress Hua Jue was his one star, lighting the way for everything that would follow. Without her manual, without her help in awakening, where would he be? The gift of his Master's guidance weighed on him like the mountains surrounding him, layering onto his painting as though to say 'this part is important.' A Master's kindness could never be repaid in full but one day, he would find his way to her and pay proper respects as a disciple should. At that point, if she asked anything of him, he imagined that he wouldn't refuse.
Slowly, the sky darkened, the silvery moon rose, and more stars began to fill the sky with their twinkling light. Reaching down, Wu Ling traded his charcoal pencil and picked up the palette he'd prepared for tonight's painting. Starting with the sky he blended rich blue with inky black until he found the right shade of midnight to cover the canvas with. Night had been part of his life from the day his father died.
Cast out by the Shining Blade Hall he'd joined his mother in the world of darkness and nighttime entertainment. From living in the shadow of a courtesan to becoming a performer himself, the darkness of the night had reached out to welcome him. The sisters at the Bamboo Silk House had pulled him further into the shadows before he'd been old enough to understand but looking back, he never minded being dipped in shadow. The things he learned there helped him find his way when he and his mother had been cast out yet again.
Switching brushes, Wu Ling worked his way up from the water's edge in rich dark greens for the forest-covered mountains. Toward the peaks, the green would give way to the powdery white of their snow-covered tops but here at the base, tree branches interlaced with each other to create a web of deep and inky shadows, calling out to the child of the night he'd once been.
Did any of this matter to him now though? Putting his brush down, Wu Ling stared at the bright silver moon, losing himself in the pure and shining energy that radiated from its soft surface. Shadowed sects, nighttime entertainment, disguises, hiding his dreams from the only person who'd stayed with him his entire life…. Wasn't awakening about stepping out of the darkness and into the light?
Looking around he saw several women rolling up their sleeves and tying up their skirts to wade into the frigid waters. Elsewhere, women laughed and joked with each other as they set up their experiments or noted down their observations in thick, leather-bound journals. Nowhere on this mountain was there another man. Most days, he'd been comfortable being considered 'one of the girls' but now, tonight, as the silver moon climbed high in the sky and the women around him prepared for an expedition created exclusively for other women, he felt very, very alone.
Looking back at the moon he realized that a dull red shadow had begun to creep across the surface of the moon, bringing with it a thick bloody aura that dyed the world in its crimson-orange hue. The more the shadow crept across the moon the more Wu Ling felt uneasy in his current guise. The dress that fit so well and complimented his features so nicely felt like something he'd borrowed from his mother when he was two sizes smaller. It no longer fit and it bound him to smaller movements than the bold strides he wanted to take.
Looking back at the painting all he could see was endless reflection and seeking. Whether it was looking to the star of his Master, looking to his shadowed past in the trees, looking to all the worlds he'd left behind, everything about the piece looked at something other than himself.
Finally, in the deepening red light of the eclipse, Wu Ling realized why he'd felt increasingly uncomfortable as this mission progressed. He'd poured himself back into the mold of a man in hiding. He'd stepped back into a world where he locked away parts of his real self to go where he wouldn't normally be allowed. In doing so, he'd fallen back into a number of other bad habits. Outside of the battle at the bridge, he hadn't been taking bold steps forward. He'd been shrinking himself away to ensure that he wasn't discovered. He'd let the people around him define him and shape his actions instead of defining himself. These past few days, his disguise had started wearing him instead of it being the other way around.
Now, when he'd come to paint his path forward, all he'd managed to do was paint the road that led him here. He'd oriented around a guiding star instead of orienting his path around himself. He wasn't about to reject his Master's instruction but he needed to find his own way and nothing he was looking back on would let him find a new path forward.
"Hou," he called out, releasing the young Golden Crow from his Inner World. Pointing at the unfinished painting, Wu Ling spoke decisively. "Burn it until nothing's left but ash. I need to look inward to look forward."