Baling city was a residence for around thirty thousand people, an up and coming fashionable place that artists and writers flocked to all the time. It was culturally rich, with an abundance for nourishing creativity, and the Ouyang Sect was known to be generous benefactors to the talented in need.

They were able to support the city due to their ability to produce the best quality cotton, selling it at a higher than average price because of its superiority. They quickly made a name for themselves as entrepreneurs, as they used all the parts of the plant.

Wei Ying had asked Ouyang Zizhen about the best place to land, and he told them about a meadow which was usually empty of people, and that they could be fairly discreet in their coming and goings.

But not today, it wasn't.

Today, this meadow was teeming with excited folk milling around and talking, stalls of hot food being sold cooked on site, carnival performers demonstrating their skills, tightrope walkers, jugglers, and acrobats. There were people performing tricks, scamming innocent passers-by with tales of glory and jealousy, bravery and sneaky attacks. There was a flea circus, a man with his pet monkey that he had trained to pickpocket, and finally, a lady sitting in the middle of all this chaos playing her erhu.

It was a miracle that they managed to avoid crushing anyone by accident.

"Hey, I thought you said this place would be empty!" Jiang Cheng hissed at the young adult whose Sect supervised and looked after this merry place.

"It was a genuine mistake!" Ouyang Zizhen protests, looking around. "What's the date?" He suddenly asks, blushing.

They tell him, though the other ducklings show him no mercy in roasting him.

"Omg, then it's today!" He gasps, ignoring their teasing.

"What is?" SiZhui asks him, ever the sweetest boy.

"The Tree Climbing festival. Look!" He points at the tallest tree in the field, cordoned off for today's event.

"What are you supposed to do?" Jin Ling asks.

"Climb it, Duh!" JingYi laughs at him openly. "Think you'll be able to do it, Mistress?"

"Absolutely, and don't call me that!" A bit of pushing and shoving happens until Jiang Cheng intervenes.

"He's not wrong," Ouyang Zizhen says, beaming. "And it's about to start. My family will be attending as well. Let's go and find them!"

They begin to make their way through the crowds.

"Hui Gai, it might be hard to keep a track of the Babies here, with so many people around. We don't want anyone to get lost, even by accident," Wei Ying whispers.

"Oh, right, hang on." Hui Gai stops them moving. "Lor has been teaching me things about the flora and fauna of the Nether World. Watch this." He produces a huge black flower out of thin air and crushes it in the centre of his palm. It dries immediately, turning into a black, fine dust. With a single blow, he manages to contaminate every single child on the now bigger carpet.

"Wow, that's impressive," Wei Ying says, confusion evident in his beautiful silver eyes. "Is there a reason for that? Other than getting them dirty?"

Hui Gai laughs kindly.

"Indeed. It's like your binding spell. Think of each speck of dust as able to connect with the others. I am able to cast a Web over all that have even faintest traces of this powder and pull them together. No one is getting lost on my watch, PengYou."

They look at the children who were only a few seconds ago, covered in the black micro dust of the dried flower, but now it's as if their clothes have absorbed the powder to leave no traces of its presence at all!

"That's incredible!" Wei Ying is in awe. "An easy solution, then."

"Hmmm. What's so special about this tree, though? I am sensing a deeper magic." Hui Gai closes his eyes and examines it.

They're closer to the tree now, and can properly see its magnificent boughs laden with star-shaped fruit. Its leaves are also of an unusual shape, like tiny little green feathers whispering in the wind. Its bark is a rich and verdant green with mustard coloured lichen. The tree stretches up into the sky, high up above them.

There is a magnetism about it, the life source contained within thrums under their feet through the sizable roots that must be spreading underground. It is a remarkable tree.

"Can anyone enter this contest?" JingYi nudges his friend.

"Of course! But beware, it's not going to be as easy as it looks." Ouyang Zizhen tells them seriously.

"Why? What's the catch?" JingYi asks him in a rare moment of shrewd thinking.

"Let's find out!" Jin Ling takes SiZhui with him in one hand and drags JingYi with his other.

All the contestants are gathering in a circle around the tree, getting ready to race towards it and start climbing when they get the signal. SiZhui looks back at his parents, and Wei Ying is waiting for him to do just that, giving him his blessing by blowing him a kiss for good luck.

There are around fifty contestants ready to climb up.

"Is it just for fun, or is there an actual point to climbing it?" Wei Ying asks, looking around him.

A deep voice interrupts his thoughts.

"There is a point. Do you know how old this tree is?"

They turn and see the leader of the Ouyang Sect bowing in greeting, and they bow back. Their son happily throws himself into his father's arms, not at all embarrassed about ditching the more traditional greeting. But he bows anyway, afterwards.

They exchange a fond banter of wellbeing and curiosity about Zizhen's trip to Gusu, and then Ouyang Zhongzu turns the conversation back to the tree.

"I'm afraid we cannot tell the age just from the height." Wei Ying admits. "Though I've heard that when a tree is chopped down, the rings of its bark can be counted to determine its age."

There's a collective gasp and Wei Ying realises that his words could be misunderstood.

"Ah, that's, um, of course I'm not suggesting anything like that!" He blushes deeply, wanting to facepalm himself.

"You are correct, Yiling Patriarch. The race is about to begin, so let us watch. Afterwards, we will go closer to have a proper look." Ouyang Zhongzu turns back to face the front.

As the Sect Leader, he has the honour of being right in front of the action, and because they had arrived with Ouyang Zizhen, the Baby Disciples have the best view, sitting down and being able to watch without a hindrance.

"Who do you think is going to win, Wei-Xiong?" Nie Huaisang asks.

Wei Ying starts, shocked because when had Huaisang joined them?

"Oh, I caught a lift on that magic rug. Quite the experience," he winks back, unrepentant and flirty.

Lan Zhan glares at him, just a warning, and it's enough to have the master schemer whip out his fan and start using it, hiding behind its delicate barrier.

"Oh, look, it's starting," he points out, unnecessarily.

Drums start beating and six players wearing red and gold robes circle the tree. When they stop playing, silence descends upon the waiting crowd like a blanket of fog muffling all sound.

A tall man wearing the blue and gold colours of the Ouyang Sect steps forward. In a loud voice that carries far and wide, he announces, "Welcome to the annual Tree Climbing festival. Lots of candidates are ready and waiting to see who will be able to successfully meet this challenge!

"It is said that this tree was planted a hundred years ago, by the head disciple of Lao Tzu himself, Zhuangzi. He blessed this tree and said that whoever was able to climb this tree and reach the top, would be able to open the doors of Heaven for himself. A truly remarkable gift, indeed.

"But participants, beware! For this is no ordinary tree, and if the prize is so unique and valued, then do not make the mistake of thinking this will be easy!" He laughs in delight, fully aware that he is captivating his audience with this dramatic speech.

Wei Ying feels a tugging on his sleeve and he looks down to see Li XiWang grab his hand. She draws out characters on his palm: I need to talk to Gege.

She looks towards SiZhui, who is letting his gaze rise up with the height of the tree in admiration for its beauty.

"Send him a butterfly," Wei Ying whispers back, not wanting her to draw any attention to herself.

Meanwhile, their host is still speaking.

Wei Ying splits his attention between his daughter and what the man in front is saying.

Li XiWang sends the tiniest butterfly towards SiZhui, watching her brother's sharp hearing catch the sound and then he opens his palm to intercept it.

"In the last sixty years, since we have been holding this tournament, only four participants have managed to climb to the very top. Let us wish good fortune on all of the contestants today!"

The crowd goes wild with cheers and the drums play a deafening rhythm of beats, making everyone excited!

The man in blue and gold comes forward and bows towards Ouyang Zhongzu, holding out a lit incense stick. There is a row of firecrackers nearby, and Ouyang Zhongzu goes to them. He bends and lights them up, and soon as they start exploding, it is the start of the race!

Jin Ling presses a warm, soft kiss on SiZhui's lips for good luck, and then they charge forward to the base of the tree.

The Tree is alive, and not only in the way that most trees are, in terms of growing. This tree is spectacular, and filled with an ancient magic, because it drags its branches down to cover all the young people currently under its shelter.

Wei Ying is marching forward without even realising it, and it's only because Lan Zhan is holding his hand, and then another palm landing on his shoulder is what stops him.

"Wait. Watch." Ouyang Zhongzu tells him, looking straight ahead.

Lan Zhan squeezes their hands, reassuring Wei Ying that nothing is wrong so far.

"Look closely," is all he says.

Wei Ying does that, and is relieved to see lots of boots going this way and that, and he wonders what is going on in there.

There are no branches low enough to jump onto, is the first thought in SiZhui's mind, as he walks around the base of the massive trunk. They're not allowed to use their swords to fly up, because this was supposed to be a challenge open to all, both cultivators and ordinary folk.

And then, the tree covers them from above so that they are cocooned under its thrall, sheltered from anyone on the outside who would help them. Here, the world has become silent, with no sounds around them except for songbirds and the rustling of the whispering leaves above them.

"What did the butterfly say?" Jin Ling asks SiZhui.

"Li XiWang told me to bow to it," SiZhui admits, his face looking pinker than normal.

"So let's try that. She might be weird but she's a little genius, too." Jin Ling says, turning towards the tree.

SiZhui thinks he has nothing to lose, and so, shoulder to shoulder, he and Jin Ling bend at their waists, bowing together. Their upbringing lends a sincerity to their action, fully appreciating this beautiful tree, and thanking it for the shelter it provides during the changing seasons.

SiZhui feels a whispering feathery touch on his face, and he sees a branch lower itself so that he can climb on top of it. He pulls Jin Ling up with him, who grabs JingYi at the last minute and hauls him up with them.

After that, it's easy to climb. The tree seems to be helping them too, and whenever they falter, a branch appears under their feet out of nowhere, boosting them up higher and higher.

But their actions hadn't gone unnoticed, and once the others figure out how to get on the good side of the tree, they all begin to bow first and then begin climbing up.

However, the tree is discerning in whom it chooses to help, and those that it deems insincere, it flicks them away like loose, dry leaves, only useful for compost.

In the end, out of the fifty contenders, only around thirty make it into the actual trunk of the tree.

And because there's not much room, the young people become hasty, and desperate, a dangerous combination.

They give in to the thoughts in their heads, the ones that suggest cheating is okay, and even before they reach for their opposition to pull them away, they themselves are flicked away with the same importance as cattle flicking away mosquitoes.

Just like that, only five people remain among the highest branches of the tree.

It is physically taxing not to use anything except arm strength to climb, and that is what gives JingYi and SiZhui an advantage over everyone else. Jin Ling is strong in that department too, because Jiang Cheng has made him train extensively for the day he will be the sole wielder of Zidian, and so he too, doesn't break a sweat either.

One by one, the other contestants have fallen away, either expelled by the tree for less than honourable behaviour, or their strength has failed them and they are not physically qualified to climb further.

Now, only JingYi, Jin Ling, SiZhui, and two others are closest to the top.

A scuffle breaks out underneath, and one of the two strangers yanks on JingYi's ankle, trying to stay upright but he loses his grasp and falls. From this height, if he continues to plummet with no intervention, he will surely die, so JingYi lets go of the branch he's holding onto and quick as a flash, pulls out a rope and makes a lasso, expertly catching him around his waist and gently lowering him onto the ground.

Unfortunately, this gives the fourth stranger an advantage over him, and he tries to make JingYi fall out of the tree in a bid to surpass him, but Jin Ling pushes SiZhui right onto the topmost branch and lunges to help his friend.

The two of them succeed in disabling the cheater, and they leave him being taken down by branches as the tree decides to help them.

Finally, three of the four ducklings are standing together on the highest possible branch, and a rain of flowery petals shower down upon them!

They've done it! They have successfully climbed this tree, and it is a personal achievement for them as well.

"My love?" Wei Ying says, with a wicked grin.

"Mn?" Lan Zhan looks his way, and knows Wei Ying wants to do something outrageous.

"Shall we go and get our children?"

***********

A/N

Dear Beautiful Readers,

An extra long chapter for you!

I couldn't update last night because of Brain Mush, and I hate when that happens. A combination of heat and waaay too much to do at work, and too much maths, trust me, not at all good. Thankfully, today is a lot cooler.

It's so unfair that what I have to do during the day leaves me in such a bad state on some days that I can't do what gives me the most pleasure, which is writing, and I hate that. So hopefully, today won't be so bad.

Chocolate is the only thing right now🍫🍫🍫🍫🍫🍫

Charlie