I was sixteen and hopped up on hormones that had stretched me out like chewing gum. The chubby kid was gone and in his place was a gangly teen with a face full of acne and a head full of self-esteem issues and sexual fantasies.

I stood at attention behind my master as he discussed business with the Monk who had come to commission our work, fidgeting slightly as my tenuous attention wandered.

He was a tall man, my Master, easily as high sitting as I was standing. His wizened features and flowing white hair and beard lent a kindly cast to the towering man who had absolute power over one of the five largest sects on the plane. I loved him as I would a grandfather.

Opposite him, causing the chair to creaky from her mass, sat a mountain of fat. No other imagery can do justice to how morbidly obese the woman garbed in a saffron sarong was.

She had a perpetual smile wide enough to crinkle her eyes and elongated earlobes that, along with her shaven head, added just the right amount of mysticism to her look to drag her appearance from weird to exotic.

In the time I had spent analysing her, their conversation had come to its tail end. Both sides seemed satisfied with the arrangement and she saluted him with folded hands while my Master offered her a slight nod, letting me know that her status wasn’t simple. Very few people in the world were eligible to receive my Master’s acknowledgement.

Her squinted eyes landed on me for the first time during the meeting and they seemed to flash a brilliant gold for a brief instant. Immediately, my ennui evaporated and the hairs on the back of my head stood on end as contradictory feelings of peace and bloodlust welled up from the depths of my very soul. As soon as her gaze slid off me, the feeling vanished leaving me drenched with cold sweat.

They shared a glance and my Master sent me out of the room with instructions to wait outside.

For what seemed like hours, I paced nervously outside the room, almost wearing a rut into the hard stone.

Monsters, fantastical creatures born of human imagination and given life in the spirit world, sometimes reincarnated into the world of mortals as humans instead of beasts. These people with human bodies and monstrous souls usually lived out their lifespans among human society undetected and most of the time, unaware of their own status.

A successful reincarnation as a human solidified their unstable essence and when they returned to the Ghostdom upon their death, they gained the capability to become a Tutelary God that could shelter monsters.

They were known as Monster Gods and if they chose reincarnation as a beast, Monster Emperors. Each of the restricted areas were populated by monster tribes under the leadership of one or more Monster Emperors.

The Monks had strange techniques to ferret out these souls and except them, nipping a future threat in the bud. In my extensive reading, I had come across tales of the Monks’ crusade against the Monsters. Most depicted the possessed humans as sly and deceitful people who tried to entrap the Monks via their nefarious schemes or even seduce them while the Monks in the tales were shining beacons of moral excellence who refused to give in to temptation and managed to reap their lives.

The commonality between all the stories was that the humans with monster souls were extremely sensitive to World vitality, even inspiring the term monstrous talent when referring to those with excellent aptitude for cultivation.

I was often referred to as such. Combined with the strange response I had to the Monk’s gaze… for the first time in my short life, I didn’t find the term flattering.

By the time they came out side by side, I was a nervous wreck and I couldn’t help but sink to the ground as my legs gave way in relief when my Master gave me a reassuring smile.

I was informed that as soon as I reached the peak of the Attuning to the Heavens realm, I was to represent the Sect and complete the commission that had been discussed today.

And to my utter dismay… till then, I had to remain celibate.

At that time, the Monk’s smiling face, to me, seemed like the grinning of a Devil.

I don’t really know what motivated me more, my love for architecture and runes or the protest of my teenage hormones at my abstinence when my peers rubbed their rose-tinted lives in my face. Whatever it was, it caused me to attain my breakthrough, both in terms of my cultivation and my proficiency in runes in time for my twenty sixth birthday, making me the youngest person to reach my realm in the recorded history of the sect.

After my birthday party, my reputation as a prodigy overspread the region under the sect’s control… as did the rumours of my impotence after I had to reject every advance from the daughters of the eminent families looking to make an alliance.

I cried myself to sleep that night. Fucking monks.

The next morning, I was raring to go to the Kunlun Mountains and get the duty over with so I could get on with my life. My Master had other plans.

When I entered his office, I found all seventeen of my senior apprentice brothers and sisters were present. My misgivings were confirmed when Master arrived and informed us that his retirement was overdue and it was high time he chose his successor.

Thus, while I was busy completing my assignment in the Kunlun Mountains, the rest of them were to spread out across the land and utilize their skills to benefit the sect. The time limit was till when I returned… by that time whoever had earned the most either in terms of cash or connections, would be anointed as the successor. Given that I was the youngest and most inexperienced, I would have the advantage of having a pre-set assignment. Other than that, all of us would be turned out of the sect with only a few coins and the sect identity token.

I shook my head as I returned to the present.

Sighing, I switched off the illumination runes, plunging the cavern into darkness that was only illuminated by the starlight seeping through the narrow entrance. I snuggled into my bedroll, positioning my body to avoid the pricking of the gravel on the ground. Here I was, having traversed hill and dale to reach this cave after months of hard travel.

The journey had helped me mature from a sheltered youth into a capable adult. I was intelligent enough to avoid falling for the same trick twice and after being ripped off several times, I had grown savvy enough to consistently get the better end of the deal in my future interactions. I missed my rolls of lard from my younger days, at least they would serve me better in this environment than the muscle I had recently developed. Burrowing my way deeper into the sleeping bag, I fell asleep.

…

I awoke to the sounds of chanted sutras and the smell of sandalwood. Startled by the change of scenery, I jumped out of the woollen blankets and took in my surroundings. The room I was in was tiny, with just enough space for a bed and a writing desk. My backpack was placed on the desk and after a quick search, nothing was missing. I found my parka folded neatly by the bedside and donned it.

Finding the door unlocked, I stepped out of the room and was greeted by the sight of a valley that gleamed golden under the light of the morning sun.

A voice interrupted my thoughts, “Beautiful isn’t it?”

Snapping around, I saw a young boy grinning up at me, the sunlight glinting off his tonsured head.

I was relieved to know that my abductors were the Monks and let loose my vigilance, turning around once again to take in the sight of the holy land.

It was a bowl-shaped valley with terraces cut into the sides. The area I was in had row upon row of cabins similar to the one I had exited from… probably the residential area for the Monks, while the terraces on the opposite side were used for agriculture. The base of the valley had a multi-storeyed pagoda resplendent in jade and gold surrounded by stone pillars topped off with burning incense that sent thin tendrils of smoke snaking around the entire valley. In the empty space surrounding it, I could see Monks of all ages practising martial arts or meditating under the shade of the artistically arranged trees.

I could only nod. It was beautiful.

The boy said, “Come. You must have a lot of questions. Master is waiting for you in her meditation chamber. She will bring you up to speed.”

I followed him up the slope after freshening up using a pail of water he had brought along, stopping to greet the Monks who were exiting their rooms with folded palms. Soon, the cabins became sparse and progressively larger until we finally reached an isolated cabin at the highest point on the edge of the ‘bowl’.

The boy yelled, “Lady Guanyin, I’ve brought the guest.”

A familiar voice resounded from the room, “Come,” and the door to the room swung open.

“See you around, brother.” The boy smiled and waved as he left me alone in front of the cabin.

I smoothed out my appearance as best as I could and stepped through the door. The interior was dim with only the sunlight from a small window and the flickering light of a lamp dispelling the darkness.

I could make out the ample outline of the female Monk who had come to our sect all those years ago, wrapped in a halo of sunlight from the window behind her and illuminated by the soft glow of the lamp in front of her.

She indicated me to take a seat on a jute mat across from her. I acquiesced.

Her voice was melodious, as if chanting sutras.

“Long years ago, Kunlun was the name of a devil that spewed its burning hatred onto its surroundings, turning it into a purgatory of fire and brimstone. It raged against the world till one fateful day it erupted with all its vitriol, exhausting itself and left with a hollow in its heart. That is the valley that you see today.

“After its final eruption, the devil which only knew how to deal death, put down its butcher’s knife and walked the path of benevolence. The burning rock that had scorched the land now cooled and solidified into the most fertile of black soils, giving birth to the dense forests and fertile farmlands that cover this region.

“Our Order of Monks moved into the crater left in its heart and set up our base here. Normally, the rainwater would turn it into an elevated lake but the summit of Kunlun towers over even the clouds. The rain it gets is just sufficient for our crops to grow without the danger of flooding.

“An illusory runic formation has been set up around it so intruders without proper tokens will lose their way in the mountainside, which is why, upon detecting you, I had you brought here in your sleep to keep the path of entry a secret. I hope you won’t mind.”

I hurriedly assured her that it was fine, which made her smile even wider than before.

“Good. Then its time you knew of your heritage and the reason I chose you for the task of sculpting Kunlun into a three-dimensional formation.

“Your karmic imprint is a perfect match for the Kunlun Mountain. Your soul contains traces of both the fire of Karma and the light of Karmic Virtue in equal amounts which means that in your previous life you had spent part of your life as a Devil, perpetrating the most heinous of sins and yet somewhere down the line, you had realized the folly of your ways and set about seeking atonement by benefiting the world. Upon your death, the Fire of Karma had failed to immolate you due to the protection of your Light of Karmic Virtue and sent you into the cycle of reincarnation.

“Thus, you were born with a new soul tinged with both types of Karmic attainments resulting in your extraordinary talent. If you were to fashion the formation for the Mountain, the resonance between your Karma will make reaching Nirvana easier for those who practice here.

“In return we will impart the alchemy technique The Nine Turns Riverboat to you. It was created by a senior Monk in the last cycle of his reincarnation before he reached Nirvana. It details his journey through life and death and contains his insight into the deep meaning of Karma. It will help you in completing this project. It is good that you could resist the temptations of the flesh till now as it requires one to be burdened by the minimum amount of worldly attachment possible for one to initially perceive it.”

…

Pakura opened her eyes as the visions faded away. For a moment she was confused as to who she was, the youth Lin Feng or a former kunoichi of the Sand. Then the deluge of her own memories washed away her confusion and she shuddered.

Turning around, she found Lin Feng monitoring her reactions as they stood in his white mindscape. Looking down at her hands and clenching her fists, she felt a bit more corporeal than the last time she was here.

His words interrupted her self-examination. “Was the memory transfer successful?”

“Yes. It was quite vivid and for a moment there I had an identity crisis.” she replied.

“Hmm. That is quite common as far as side effects of reading the memory off a foreign soul go. You get better at separating yourself and maintaining your identity with practice. But, usually it is only possible when someone is dying and his soul is on the verge of dissipating. Reading the memory generally causes the soul to get destroyed. Our bond actually allows us to share memories and emotions without negative consequences.”

“So, what is it? You said that you had it figured out.”

“A Karmic bond. It is also known as the Red String of Fate. It generally forms between two people who have an intense attachment between them causing them to reincarnate in pairs as long as both souls exist. A plot device rife in the tragic romance fictions in my world.

“In our case, my special soul and the difference in how the principle of Karma works in both worlds along with our common ground of having merged with pieces of the Will caused an insight into the principle and bonded us.”

“You seemed very excited about it so how does it help us… Wait! I remember you telling me that an insight into a principle was needed to enter the Grasping Principles realm… and that you could only get it after reaching the peak of the Shattered Void realm and even then, it was dependent on luck.”

“Exactly! Now that we have this insight, all we need to do to advance into the Grasping Principles realm is cultivate to the peak of Shattered Void. No need to lie about waiting for a turning point.”

“Congratulations. It seems like this world is a lucky place for you.”

The idea that the gap between them would widen even further was quite unpleasant and she couldn’t help but feel a little depressed. Some of her emotions must have leaked through the bond because he turned to her and grinned.

“Who said I was the only beneficiary in this arrangement? You can use it to access my sensitivity towards world vitality as well as most of the skills I got by absorbing the tailed-beasts and start your cultivation… with your foundation and the boost from Samehada, I believe it won’t even be a year before you reach the crystal Qi realm, the realm prior to Shattered Void for the Demonic path.”

Her lips couldn’t help but curve upwards.

He might have promised to take her along with him down the path to immortality, but she would much prefer it if she walked alongside him rather than as a burden to be carried on his back.