The morning sun crested the eastern limestone ridges. It burned away the silver mist that clung to the upper mountain terraces.
High upon the northern bluffs, where ancient wild cherry trees rooted themselves into clefts of dark granite, Lin Xiao stood looking down at a steaming fissure in the rock. Beside him, Tie Shan leaned on a massive star-iron crowbar, Elder Lu Da checked a paw-drawn survey scroll covered in charcoal contours. Gu Qingfeng—already wearing his clean, dark-blue teacher robes with an uncharacteristic spring in his step—tapped the ground eagerly with his green willow twig.
“Right beneath our sandals, boy?” Gu Qingfeng asked, his gray eyebrows twitching with undisguised impatience. “You swear there’s a deep earth-heat artery up here? The lower communal pool in the valley was a fine start, but Old Gu didn’t wake up at dawn just to admire mountain rocks. My ribs have been aching since the fourth watch.”
“Patience, Martial Uncle,” Lin Xiao replied with a relaxed grin, adjusting the cuffs of his gray scholar sleeves. “Good tea needs time to steep, and our swelled mountain bathhouse needs proper building. The valley pools rely on shallow stone runoff. But this northern bluff taps the true deep-earth vein. If you just crack the rock open without regulating the pressure, you get a violent fiery geyser that scalds everyone within three leagues. We want a royal soak in the Upper Cedar Basin, not a steam explosion.”
Lin Xiao spread a large roll of tough bark paper across a flat granite boulder.
On the sheet, Lin Xiao had sketched a fine, detailed bathhouse blueprint to expand their bathing facilities far beyond the first valley pools. It featured separate men’s and women’s dressing pavilions, polished cedar wooden walkway planks, wooden washing buckets, covered resting verandas with cold barley tea stations. An ingenious three-tiered bath array fed by underground gravity.
“Look here, Tie Shan,” Lin Xiao pointed with an ink brush. “We don’t just dig a muddy hole. We build gravity-fed stone water gates along this natural slope. The raw earth-heat discharge enters an underground settling water tank first, where fiery foam-stone straining removes heavy settled mud and coarse rock dust. Then, the clarified water passes through red copper chimney pipes forged in your workshop, allowing us to regulate the heat exactly at the perfect soaking heat before it spills into the bathing basins.”
Tie Shan stroked his braided beard, his small bear eyes gleaming with deep metalworking appreciation.
“Red copper chimney pipes and foam-stone filters...” Tie Shan rumbled, nodding with deep satisfaction. “Aye, Master! Copper conducts heat better than iron. The foam-stone will catch the sulfur grit without dulling the water’s natural spirit qi. Combining human stonework with river hydraulics... This will be a masterpiece of craft!”
“Earth-heat scan finalized, Host,” the Dao Spirit chimed smoothly within his mindscape. “Three hundred feet beneath the northern granite bluff lies the intersection of a dormant fiery magma artery and a high-pressure underground stone underground water bed. Stone composition features high concentrations of sulfur, quartz dust, dissolved magnesium, and trace jade-marrow qi. Natural deep water pressure is enough to sustain an uninterrupted surface flow of four hundred liters per minute.”
Lin Xiao turned to Tie Shan. “Tie Shan, split the surface granite along the eastern fault line. Three paces wide, forty paces long.”
“Leave it to me, Master!” Tie Shan bellowed with a wide grin.
The seven-foot titan bear raised his five-hundred-jin smithing hammer high above his shoulder. His gold-plated prosthetic arm flared with blinding runic light, channeling the crushing strength of the Divine Titan Bear bloodline.
KRAAA-BOOOOOOOM!
The hammer struck the bedrock with the force of a falling meteor. A clean, razor-sharp fracture line raced across the granite ledge, splitting the huge stone slab into two neat halves without shattering the surrounding cliff.
“Now, the boreholes,” Lin Xiao murmured.
Lin Xiao raised his right hand, extending two slender fingers toward the fissure. From the tip of his fingers, he let loose a needle-thin [High-Pressure Smooth-flowing Jet] infused with the cutting care of his Ancient Chaos Golden Core.
HIIIIIIIIISSSSSSSSSSSS!
The four-thousand-bar water-jet pierced the three hundred feet of solid granite like a hot needle sliding through beeswax. In less than two minutes, Lin Xiao carved four upright pressure-relief chimney pipes and a main intake channel. He cleared away rock debris with fluid water-flow suction.
From the depths of the mountain, a deep, rhythmic rumble echoed through the stone.
FWHUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!
A plume of pure, white underground steam erupted from the fissure, billowing thirty feet into the morning air. It carried no noxious sulfur reek. Instead, the steam smelled of warm minerals, sweet mountain rock, and the clean freshness of underground jade.
Elder Lu Da and twenty skilled river otters right away sprang into action.
Carrying linked troughs of hollowed red cedar and smooth fiery foam-stone tiles, the otters laid out the gravity-fed spreading channels. Elder Lu Da directed the construction with sharp chirps, placing adjustable bronze water gate gates to divide the rushing torrent into three distinct, tiered pools.
Human master masons, working shoulder-to-shoulder with earth-bear stonecutters, laid down the pool basins.
The bottom of each pool was paved with thousands of smooth, river-tumbled jade pebbles that massaged the soles of the feet. The outer edge walls were lined with thick, aromatic planks of ancient red cedar, rubbed smooth with beeswax to prevent splinters.
Meanwhile, Su Ling’er and a cohort of fox maidens arrived carrying stacks of fresh, bleached linen towels, wooden washbasins crafted from mountain pine, and bars of fragrant herbal soap made from pressed camellia seed oil, wild lavender, and dried mint.
By mid-afternoon, the three-tiered earth-heat complex was complete.
The Upper Cedar Basin, perched on the highest private ledge beneath a canopy of blooming cherry blossoms, was designed for Lin Xiao and his core companions, offering an uninterrupted view of the misty valley below.
The Middle Communal Pool, an expansive sixty-foot-wide stone basin fed by gentle waterfall cascades, was built to accommodate dozens of citizens, beastfolk, and mortal artisans seeking relaxation after hard labor.
And the Lower Shallows, a winding, knee-deep canal of warm run-off water lined with flat slate benches, allowed anyone to sit and soak their feet while chatting or sipping tea.
“Hot-water fine-tuning achieved,” the Dao Spirit reported. “Upper basin maintains an exact balance of forty-one point five degrees. The dissolved stone matrix accelerates cellular regeneration, dissolves spirit vein fatigue, and provides a permanent healing medicine boost to mortal lifespan.”
Gu Qingfeng stood at the edge of the Upper Cedar Basin. He stared at the steaming, crystal-clear water with eyes wide with starving desire. Small clouds of fragrant steam curled around his gray beard. It carried the soothing scent of cedar and stone jade.
“Forty-one degrees...” Gu Qingfeng whispered, dropping his willow twig onto the wooden decking. “Soft water... Cedar rim... Mountain view...”
Without another second’s pause, the Wandering Sword Saint threw off his blue robes and kicked his grass sandals across the platform. Wearing only a pair of coarse linen shorts, he stepped onto the underwater cedar stairs. Then he slid down into the steaming pool.
SPLASH.
The hot stone water rose to Gu Qingfeng’s chin.
The old swordsman’s head fell back against the smooth cedar lip. His mouth opened, and from the very depths of his soul, he released a long, trembling groan of pure, pure bliss that echoed across the northern ridge.
“AARRRRRGHHHHHH... Mother of Heaven...” Gu Qingfeng wheezed, his toes curling in the jade pebbles at the bottom. “The heat... The heat is getting right into the marrow! The cold frost from that bastard Xuan Ji’s ice sword sixty years ago... It’s gone! Fully melted! Those pompous sect fools sit in frozen caves meditating on emptiness. Meanwhile, the true pinnacle of the Dao is soaking in forty-one-degree water!”
He floated on his back, paddling his arms through the warm water with a blissful grin that made him look like a happy sea otter.
“Boy!” Gu Qingfeng yelled toward the porch, splashing a spray of warm droplets into the air. “Bring the wine! Bring the floating wooden tray! If anyone tries to pull me out of this tub before the winter solstice, I’ll sever their eyebrows!”
Lin Xiao laughed, walking out onto the porch with a wide wooden tray crafted from light cedar wood.
On the tray floated two celadon bowls of chilled mountain melon slices and a glazed flagon of Aged Jade-Dew Wine. With a gentle push, Lin Xiao sent the floating tray drifting across the steaming pool straight into Gu Qingfeng’s waiting hands.
Down along the lower terraces, former demonic elder Han Gu arrived carrying an empty wooden basket. The old man was dressed in coarse gray farmer’s cotton, his hands coated with dry garden loam from a full morning of weeding the spirit turnip beds. He stopped by the entrance of the Lower Shallows, hesitating as he looked at the steaming stone canal.
Lin Xiao leaned over the upper railing, calling down with a friendly wave: “Elder Han! Take off your sandals and soak your feet. The magnesium in the run-off is wonderful for arthritic ankles.”
Han Gu blinked in surprise. He looked around sneakily, seeing several mortal wagon drivers and badger miners already sitting on the slate benches, laughing and splashing their feet in the warm water.
With slow, tentative movements, Han Gu set down his basket, untied his worn hemp sandals. Then he lowered his wrinkled feet into the steaming stream.
The moment the warm stone water wrapped around his calloused toes, Han Gu’s shoulders slumped. A long, quiet sigh escaped his chest. The dull ache in his knees, worn down by three hundred years of violent blood-training, softened into a pleasant, throbbing warmth.
He leaned back against the smooth slate wall, picked up a wooden cup of herbal tea offered by a passing fox maiden. Then he closed his eyes under the warm autumn sun, a quiet, peaceful smile gracing his wrinkled face.
Lin Xiao leaned against the upper cedar post. He watched his people gather across all three tiers.
“Well,” Lin Xiao murmured, feeling the pleasant afternoon breeze on his cheek. “The water is hot, the wine is chilled, and our friends are at peace. Tonight, we celebrate the Commonwealth.”