ã€ŠEmpire of Saltã€‹


 Prologue

    I woke in total darkness, with a loud, steady beat thumping in the background. It sounded a little like a heartbeat, but the heart to make such a sound would have to be huge, bigger than any animal I had ever heard of.

    I wondered what it was, and moved to activate my night lamp.

    Something was wrong.

    Moving my arms felt like moving through jelly, and no light activated after I finished my motion.

    This sounded like a nightmare, or a horror film. Darkness and very slow movement, just great.

    It had to be a nightmare, because I was no actress. And even if I were, I sure as hell wouldn''t work in a horror film. Well, if the money offered was right? But no, I was no actress, and definitely didn''t remember starting to work on a film.

    Wait, if I knew I was dreaming, shouldn''t that mean I could control the dream?

    Yes, I was quite sure it did.

    I imagined myself, standing on a sandy beach, wind caressing my form as the sun shone on my back, a large towel next to me, ready for a very relaxing session of sunbathing.

    I smiled as I opened my eyes, ready for a great time, only to be disappointed.

    After all I was greeted by the same old, slightly red darkness I was imprisoned in before that now embarrassing episode. With nothing better to do I started trying to explore my surroundings with my hands.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

    I was in some kind of bubble, with my belly connected to a fleshy tube. I now knew why I felt like I was suspended in a liquid - because I was. I began to struggle, tried to rip the tube out of my stomach, but to no avail. I could move, but not apply a significant enough force for it to matter.

    I started struggling even harder than before, panicking just a little before exhaustion hit me like a freight train. I started drifting off, my mind slowly shutting down.

    No! Someone probably noticed my struggle and increased the drugs I just knew were affecting me. I couldn''t fail now! I would n''t fa il n o w!

    When I woke again I knew a lot of time had passed. I didn''t know how I knew that, but I did. I felt healthier, stronger now than I did back then, but was still suspended in the liquid, and still felt weaker than before my abduction. Nothing seemed to have changed about my situation anyways, so I resumed my futile tries of escape once again, until I drifted off to sleep again.

    When I woke for the third time something changed. My head felt like it was forced through a small opening. I twisted my body for a bit, until I felt a little less constricted and waited. After all this time something was finally changing and any change from this darkness had to be good!

    Finally, after what felt like hours I was able to take a deep breath for the first time since I woke up in darkness, and it felt glorious. So good even I managed to ignore the icy cold that seemed to permeate my whole body for a moment.

    But just a moment, as my body acted without my promoting, and I started crying my lungs out. That felt surprisingly good, and I was picked up by someone moments later, given a blanket and some liquid food. The warm food and blanket made sure I fell asleep immediately, without having any time to inspect my surroundings.

 Chapter 1

    When hunger woke me sometime later I was looking up at an unfamiliar ceiling, a fire crackling in the background. I lay there for a few moments, wondering what I was doing here, before I remembered the darkness. Panic surged through my being, and I jumped up, ready to flee or fight for my life and freedom.

    Or that¡¯s what I wanted to do anyways, as I couldn''t even get my head up, much less actually moving my body or standing up. My emotions got the better of me, and I started crying loudly. I tried my best to shut up, to not warn anyone of my waking, but my efforts felt hopeless, completely futile.

    Soon enough a giant woman entered my field of view, and picked me up.

    She smiled down at me, and I honestly didn''t know what to do, or think. What just happened? I smiled back regardless, something I could luckily do, and waited for her to do something. Perhaps she didn''t want to eat me? I never smiled at my food!

    Though to be honest what just happened was so completely outside of my expectations that I just went along with the flow, and when the woman started feeding me I just went along, with my cheeks burning with a blazing red.

    Once my hunger was satisfied I tried asking her what happened, but I couldn''t speak, just like I had next to no control of my body. It was terrifying! As the giant left I looked at her, and had to wonder, she looked just like a normal human, which made no sense.

    She could pick me up like an infant, which meant she had to be at least six metres tall. And beings that tall couldn''t have the shape of a human! Well, they could, but a human shape wasn''t meant to be that tall, it wouldn''t be something one naturally evolved into.

    Wait.

    I was small, small enough someone who looked like a normal human could easily lift me. The normal looking person was huge. I cried easily.

    Oh no. I didn''t want to. Nope. The woman was a giant, nothing more.

    Still in denial I tried to remember the last thing I did before the darkness, but came up blank. I remembered going to bed, but that''s about it.

    I tried moving again, to prove I hadn''t changed, only to find nothing had changed. I was still weak, unable to move under my own power just like an infant. I was different. And felt different.

    Damn.

    I was reincarnated. Without even meeting a god, what a serious letdown. I looked around, but couldn''t see anything. The walls of my crib blocked my view of just about everything. And I felt too weak to even turn my head!

    So, I closed my eyes, and tried to remember what I saw when my probable mother fed me. A room. Everything looked wooden, walls, floor, ceiling, furniture. And not the new, modern looking wood, no. The wood looked old and worn.

    With some serious problems I turned my head just a little, and focused on the wood in front of my face. It looked brown, with no paint, and without the polished look every parent would want to have near a newborn if they had a choice.

    That combined with the large fireplace, small window and the smell I did my best told me all I needed to know.

    The world¡¯s technological level seemed to be close that of the middle ages, or something very close to them. The times of famine, of hunger and of war.

    Great.

    Why couldn''t I be reincarnated in some cozy science fiction world without work or problems?

    But no. I had to be born in the middle ages. The darkest period of human history. Well, I had been reborn, so perhaps not all was as bad as it looked. Reincarnation did imply the presence of something more, something bigger after all.

    And then there was this nagging feeling that I tried my best to ignore ever since I woke up. Like something trying to enter my body through my skin.

    That feeling could mean many things though, but I decided it meant the most interesting. Magic. The only possible upside I could think of, so the one I decided to look for. For if I learned magic I should be able to solve the biggest downsides of living in such a savage, unhealthy time with little problems.

    And perhaps start the industrial revolution early. I didn''t know how to build a steam engine, but I knew the theory, so how hard could it be? People found out how to build them in the seventeenth century, without all the theory behind them.

    First I had a grueling six months ahead of me though, months without the ability to move under my own power. And even worse, I highly doubted I''d leave the room in all this time. Just great. Trying to learn magic would probably be my only companions in all this time.

    I didn''t want to dwell on those depressing thoughts though, so I closed my eyes. I''d sleep for a bit, and try to learn magic right after.

    I didn''t immediately cry for my mother when I woke up and instead closed my eyes, and ignored my sense of sound, smell and touch.

    I didn''t know the first thing about magic, but figured it would involve some kind of extra sense, a connection to the world, something different from my memories. Like the nagging feeling I still felt. If I managed to find its origin I should be good to go. And all feelings came from the brain, so I focused my attention on my head.

    I did not find anything tangible in the little time I managed to ignore my hunger, but felt I made a little progress nonetheless. I knew something felt different after all, so it would only take time and patience to find the feeling¡¯s source. Time I had more than enough of, and patience would come in time. Because I had nothing better to do anyways I felt supremely confident I would succeeded.

    About a month later I was glad I had something to do. Searching for something different was one of the most boring things I had ever done, but perfect for my situation. I would sleep, search for magic until I couldn''t ignore my hunger anymore, cry until I was fed and finally move my body as much as infantly possible until I fell asleep.

    I had just woken up, and was ready for another round. Doing meditation such as this bored me out of my mind by now, and I already tried to find another way, but only meditation and introspection seemed to produce any results, get me closer to the source of the feeling. Furthermore I knew I made steady progress, as the vague sense of something different had transformed into the knowledge of something being just out of my grasp.

    I got ready for another half an hour of grueling boredom, took a deep breath and closed myself to the world.

    Immediately I felt something different. Somewhere in my torso, where I knew my lungs to be, something had changed. Normally I didn''t feel much when doing this meditation, but this time was different. I just knew that one muscle right above my heart was right there. Which surprised me, considering I hadn''t even known I had a muscle there.

    My perception, usually spread over my whole body after a month of just focusing on my head, immediately zeroed on that feeling and vague knowledge that came with it.This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

    I felt my perception expanding beyond its previous bounds, all the energy that suffused my whole body, not just the small part I finally noticed, rushing towards my brain. Not literally, as it stayed right where it was, but figuratively as the knowledge of its presence rushed in my mind.

    That feeling, that expansion of myself was too much for my small body to handle. I fought against the blackness threatening to enclose me, against the feeling of losing control over my mind in addition to my body. I held to the new feeling in my body, the feeling of energy.

    When I came back to myself I felt ravenous. Food! Everything else had to wait. I started wailing, loudly, until my mother finally came to take care of me.

    After she lay me in my small bed again I had time to check on the condition of my body. Time to check what happened. As always when training to perceive magic I closed my eyes, only to be surprised.

    I had a very vague feeling of my body, how it looked, like a subconscious feeling had been lifted to the forefront of my mind for the first time of my life.

    There was more though, I could feel how my lungs connected me to the outside world, a small steady stream of energy entering my body and blood through them. The very same energy that I felt pressing against my skin ever since I woke up, trying desperately to get in.

    The energy felt charged, full of life, movement and possibility.

    There was so much of it too, not in my body, but in the air in my lungs. And only a very small part of it entered my body at all times.

    It was fucking annoying!

    How could any self respecting infant even begin to think about sleeping when they felt something like that? I didn''t have to feel it all the time though, as of now I had to focus to perceive this energy, something I knew would change the more energy my body contained.

    I shifted my attention from the energy in my lungs, towards the energy I felt filling my body, to try and see what it did. I felt it nourishing my body, slowly being absorbed and used to supplement my food.

    Most of the energy was concentrated in my torso, around my lungs and heart, while the least was found in toes and fingers.

    That wouldn''t do!

    I had to find a way to control this energy, as I was sure it would be better to concentrate the energy just about anywhere else in my body. Where though? My heart would be the most obvious answer, as it would spread the energy through my body with my blood. But did I dare do that? After all I already felt the energy supercharging my body where it was, and a supercharged heart sounded like a recipe for disaster, like a heart attack.

    So somewhere else. Where though? My other organs had the same possible problems as the heart, though less deadly. Perhaps my blood? But how would I do that? Wait. Blood. Bone marrow produced blood, and just didn''t if you had enough, and bones couldn''t be too tough. That sounded like a good idea.

    Just fill my bones with the energy, let it radiate outwards into my body naturally, through blood and, if the energy did that, diffusion. That it would diffuse was an educated guess though, after all how would I have any energy in my body otherwise, the energy in my body felt different from the energy in the air after all.

    Perhaps a quantitative or qualitative change? Or my body didn''t accept all energy, only beneficial energy? Well, I had ample time to find out.

    Days turned into weeks as I tried to find a reliable way to control the energy. I tried imagining mental fingers, to take and drag it, forming a sphere of consciousness to encase a small part to move it, just willing it to move and many more, yet none of them worked.

    I had no vague feeling to guide me this time, so I spend most of my time experimenting. Still, after weeks of no progress I was frustrated, and would have probably have given up if I had anything better to do.

    I didn''t, and so I closed my eyes again, thoroughly demotivated but unwilling to waste my time moping about my inability to move. Something I did sadly regularly.

    As my mind concentrated on my body I didn''t know how to continue. I tried everything I could think, and my mind was completely blank. Perhaps this was it?

    I let go of my worries, my dreams and wishes, and just immersed myself in the feeling of energy entering my body.

    I focused on the energy, and suddenly I saw a mountain. A dragon. A huge wolf. An ocean.

    Surprise shocked me out of my meditation, and a huge grin spread over my face.

    It seemed the energy saved glimpses of its previous users. A way out! A way to escape the insanity I slowly felt creeping up on me!

    Another three weeks passed, and while I had yet to make any significant progress my mental state had improved significantly. Seeing the outside world, even only a glimpse of it, felt great, refreshing. Like I regained a little of the freedom I had when I could move around with my own power.

    I wanted to move, to explore the world I now had a deeper connection with, more than ever before. It would take years though, but until then I was resolved to continue to gain magic. To gain the power to travel this world, for I would need it, considering some of the beings I saw in the energy.

    I would once again bask in the outside today, I decided, I had years to find a way to control the energy. My mental health was just as, if not more important than my physical health.

    Once again I simply immersed myself in the feeling of energy entering my body with every breath, even the smallest perceivable unit being full of glimpses of its past, waiting for me to be experienced.

    I once again immersed myself into the ebb and flow of the life giving energy, marvelling how much my perception of energy had improved as time went on.

    I dove deeper, letting go completely, ready to leave my problems behind me for a time. Then it hit me. I was so dumb.

    I only ever tried to force the energy, and never to guide it, without any forcing. I already knew energy diffused into areas of lesser energy concentration, so perhaps I could try to create an artificial area without energy? I had to try that now, so I thought about how to best move the energy. It seemed to want to diffuse within my body anyways after all.

    In the last month I had spend some time watching the energy, and how it moved. It seemed to prefer to follow my veins, but a small part of it would diffuse outward from its original location even without any veins.

    It was time to try. Heart pumping like crazy I concentrated on my pinky finger, vaguely feeling where my bones were located in it, and concentrated on the energy surrounding them. Instead of forcing my will on the energy I imagined my bones to be void of any energy, and send that picture into the energy in my finger.

    Ioh and behold, the energy moved, some of it faster, as it had blood vessels to catch a ride, but all energy in my pinky finger moved towards my bones, and the void in them. Well, the energy I wanted to move anyways. There was no void in reality after all, so the rest of the energy stayed where it was.

    It took a whole day to move all energy in my pinky finger, and I could feel that the energy slowly radiated outwards again, but my bones had proven to be surprisingly good at stopping the energy from diffusing, so I was confident most energy would leave as part of new blood.

    Now I only had to do that for all other bones and energy in my body. I let out a groan, that would take ages! There had to be a better way to do it, humans did things smarter, not harder after all! Otherwise we would have never conquered the world. Or did we? I had no clue what our place in this new world was.

    So, how did I do this smarter? Of course I could try and imagine all bones as a void at the same time, but I very much doubted I had the mental capacity to do that, and it seemed like a case of trying harder regardless.

    But perhaps I wasn''t all that wrong, only my method was. When doing my experiment in my pinky finger I imagined all four bones individually, but did I need to?

    I already knew the energy was far more than simple energy, otherwise how could it be influenced mentally? Perhaps I could be vaguer?

    Could I concentrate on all energy in my body at once?

    No way to find out but try.

    I spread my attention over my whole body, trying to connect with all the energy present in my body. It worked, but to a lesser degree, I didn''t feel as deep a connection to the energy as before. Still, it worked, even if not as good as hoped.

    Nearly perfect.

    I imparted the energy in my body with the impression of my bones, and specifically my bone marrow being completely devoid of energy and waited.

    I did not specify which bones, but hoped it would work regardless.

    It did.

    I could feel all energy in my body slowly moving through my body, towards the nearest bone, leaving only a token of energy behind. Well it also moved slower, but it moved, which was enough for now.

    Perfect.

    I still didn''t know what the energy was used for other than strengthening the body, and a quick experiment revealed I couldn''t actually project any energy out of my body, it was stopped by the same thing stopping the energy outside to move in my body. Regardless I had a lot of work to do for now.

    Potential uses would have to wait.

 Chapter 2

    My spirits rose sharply over the next three months. My plan worked perfectly, with the energy concentrated in my bone marrow the rest of it was perfectly distributed through my body. Not evenly, but my blood was made to transport nutrients where my body needed it most, and did the same with energy, which meant my head had the second highest concentration of energy after my bones.

    Surprisingly my kidneys had the highest concentration of energy in my body, even though my head held more total energy than my kidneys!

    Still, my body was coming along perfectly, by now I managed to turn on my own, and crawl around my crib for a few hours a day.

    I had no clue of my mother''s language, as she didn''t have anyone to talk to, not even her, which voided me of any chance to learn it. A pity.

    I didn''t care all that much though. because of my newfound ability to move on my own most of my days consisted of moving through my crib and moving energy when I was exhausted. I was thoroughly bored by both though, so for today I would cry until my mother let me out to explore the room on my own!

    Plan set I started wailing my heart out. And I could wail with the best of them, courtesy of the energy coursing through my veins, refreshing me at an unnatural rate. Or what seemed to be unnatural for me, perhaps all infants had this much energy.

    My mother didn''t take long to come, and picked me up, ready to feed me. I wasn''t hungry though, I wanted to move, to explore! So I ignored her, and continued crying.

    I looked up at my mother''s face, and saw she was at a loss. She seemed a little desperate, and even started talking to me, something she didn''t often do. So I turned my head towards the ground, stretching as if to escape her grasp.

    She didn''t take long to understand me, and set me down on the ground. The moment she did that I stopped crying, and shot off, more than ready to explore.

    I heard my mother''s steps following me, but didn''t care.

    Freedom!

    My body felt full of energy, revitalised by being able to move more than a few centimetres on my own. I looked around, trying to map the room from my new perspective. To my left, blocked by my mother was the fireplace and cooking pot.

    A table and two chairs were to its right, with the only window in the room above the table. It was closed with some kind of leather most of the time, and quite small. A good idea seeing we didn''t have any glass.

    A large cabinet filled with food was to the fire''s right, though rotated by ninety degrees on the next wall.

    The only way out of the room was next to to the food, a small, currently closed door. A massive dresser was on the other side of the door, with a small painting of some man hanging on the wall above.

    My mother''s bed and my crib were on the wall next to the dresser, with a closed closet separating the bed and table.

    The floor was wooden, and a large grey carpet was hiding most of it, which seemed extravagant to me, but I wouldn''t complain. The wooden floor was quite cold after all. I made my way over to the carpet before anything else, a huge smile nearly splitting my face in two.

    I quickly tired myself out, and my mother tucked me back in my small bed, before going back to her work, whatever she did.

    My night was better, and more refreshing than any night I had on this world, I felt glorious. Free.

    My next day started even better, I woke with mom picking me up, before moving to leave the room. After feeding me she set me down on the ground, secure in the knowledge the fire was behind a locked door this time, for there was no fireplace in this room.

    I surveyed what I assumed to be a workroom and was astounded. My mother was a tailor, or seamstress or whatever. She worked with fabrics and clothes at least. The room was a little cramped, mainly because it was filled with supplies. Rolls of colorless fabric filled the cabinets lining most of the walls from floor to ceiling.

    I didn''t see a loom, so I assumed mom did not produce the fabric herself, only worked with it. Only four parts of the walls were free, a small window, a small desk with a chair, and two doors. The middle of the room wasn''t free, it was filled by a large table, which I assumed to be mom''s worktable.If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

    I gave some happy sounds from me, approving of the new room, and started exploring after mom set me down. It was a paradise for a freshly mobile infant, full of decently soft, if scratchy material. I could ''hide'' from the others in the room, which was only my mother, but still. With both doors closed my mother also didn''t have to worry about me, seeing all potentially dangerous tools were in her sight.

    As I explored the room I noticed something terrible. It was really boring! I had nothing to do! I was in luck though, as mom had another surprise for me. She actually started talking to me! Her voice was soft, and soothing and I finally heard some actual words.

    They were without context, but any words were good, I needed to start somewhere!

    I crawled under the table and sat up, contentedly listening to my mother''s voice. Learning the language was something I wanted to do for ages, and finally I got the chance. I wouldn''t waste it for the world!

    Once my body was tired I only had to cry a second before my mother picked me up to put me back in my crib. She resumed working in the other room, so sadly I wouldn''t be learning any more words. Tired from the excitement and boredom of today I closed my eyes and started moving the energy filling my body into my bone marrow once again.

    It was work, something I had to do every day after all.

    Recently I was having problems with that though, over the last three months I had effectively purged my body of energy and I didn''t get enough from my surroundings to replace it fast enough as my control improved. Sure, the amount of energy leaving my bones as new blood grew as well, but I didn''t need all that much new blood, something I hadn''t thought about before.

    As it was I effectively starved my body of a probably essential energy, and if I didn''t do anything about it my growth would be hampered.

    There were no two ways about it, I had to find a way to get more energy into my body. I had a stopgap measure I could use until then, refresh the energy in my bones less regularly, but I didn''t want to go that far just yet.

    I didn''t know if it was possible to increase my energy intake though, after all the ambient energy had resisted my attempts at influencing it so far.

    At the same time all my energy had been ambient once. The only difference I could find were the impressions the ambient energy contained. My own energy didn''t have anything to tell, no glimpse of something more.

    I already knew how to control energy, and could perceive the energy that constantly entered and left my lungs. Didn''t that mean I just had to strip the energy of its impression to make it my own?

    How would I do that? Perhaps a small change to my void? I wouldn''t affect the energy in my body if I didn''t want to, and while my lungs held nearly as much energy as the rest of my body combined I knew I could affect that much at a lesser degree of efficiency. It was time to try.

    I imagined a bubble around my lungs, its rim a void like the one I used to move energy. Once the bubble was in place I imagined a small film of energy moving up and down, cleansing the energy in my lungs of its impressions.

    Failure. A small amount of energy moved, but it was only marginally more than normal. Hell, it was less than when I immersed myself within the energy directly.

    Wait, that was it, wasn''t it?

    I ''cleansed'' the energy by viewing its stored impressions. Now the real question was if I could use that information or not? After all the energy wasn''t actually intelligent, or influenced by the thoughts I send it so far.

    Could I perhaps replicate that reliving without doing so?

    Definitely worth a try.

    I reconstructed the bubble of void around my lungs, but added a set of eyes, ears and a nose inside of it. Now I just had to wait and see, these impressions were miniscule, just a moment of something''s life, so I should see results any moment now.

    Nothing. Perhaps I was doing it wrong? I decided to try something a little more abstract next. Instead of trying to fool the energy directly I just filled the bubble with a general feeling of observation and general alertness.

    I could feel the tickle of energy entering my bubble increase to a small stream. Better, but wasn''t ready to give up just yet. How did I feel when I tried seeing the impressions in the energy?

    I wasn''t watching attentively, I simply let go, ignored everything else around me. I observed, but did not search, I watched, but only as a bystander inside my own mind.

    I recreated the bubble of void once again, and filled it with a feeling of presence, passively observing nothing and everything at once. I highly doubted it would work, but testing didn''t cost me anything but time. And I had time.

    Success. What had been a small stream of energy before now felt like a steady river, more energy entering my body with each second.

    Holding those two images in my mind all the time should not be a problem, so long as I only did so an hour at once. I soon felt exhaustion creeping up on me, and knew the time had passed. I collapsed the bubble, and took stock of my body.

    The area around my lungs brimmed with energy. I had only managed to filter a small part of the energy that was in my lungs at any moment, but it was enough.

    If I took in the same amount of energy every day my development wouldn''t be hampered. And if I managed to hold out longer, it would maybe even speed up.

    I concentrated shortly, moving all new energy into my heart so my blood could transport it everywhere in my body, I felt too tired to do so manually right now. Tomorrow I would move the energy in my bones before getting more, and repeat it until a new problem turned up. A new problem I didn''t know about, but was sure existed.

 Chapter 3

    I grew bigger with every day as weeks turned into months, and months turned into a year. My diet had changed into water, soup and some bread somewhere along the line, making eating a lot less awkward for me. By now I was capable of understanding just about everything my mother talked about, though I still had problems some speaking myself.

    I learned much over the those months, for example the energy was called qi, and the act of gathering it cultivation. I thought nothing about that word right up until I learnt one could use the same word for growing crops. Strange.

    Well, it didn''t really matter to me, as nothing changed knowing both of those words. Nothing but what I called them at least.

    By now the concentration of qi in my bones had nearly reached the level of ambient qi I could feel pressing on my skin at all times. I didn''t even have to concentrate to feel qi anymore, it morphed into just another sense to me, so I could also ignore it when necessary. Still, my qi sense meant I always knew the position of all parts of my body simply due to the nature of my cultivation. I was still unable to sense qi outside of my body, yet, at least as long as it wasn''t in direct contact to my body.

    Furthermore I felt thoroughly sick of crawling, and thus decided it was time to relearn walking.

    How hard could it be?

    I crawled over to my mother''s chair, and grabbed its legs. I worked myself up, soon standing for the first time in my life. Right up until I fell down just a moment later, losing my balance after letting go of the chair to take a step.

    Not one to be discouraged by such a small setback I repeated my action, making sure to hold on this time.

    "Mama." I beamed, looking upwards. My mother looked down, just in time to see me falling on my butt again as I forgot to keep holding onto the chair¡¯s leg again.

    She beamed back, and set her stuff down and picked me up.

    "You want to learn how to walk? Let me help you my baby." She cooed, moving the both of us into our living room with me clutched to her chest, and setting me down near the wall before walking a to the other side of the room.

    I pouted, there was no way I''d manage to go that far!

    "Mama not fair." I complained. I got up regardless, and followed the wall towards my mother as best as I could.

    For a step at least, until I fell again. Mom came back to help me, stabilising me a little as I made my first few steps. I laughed happily, finally walking again, even if assisted by someone else, felt great.

    I took only one month and many, many falls to fully relearn walking and start trying to run around. I felt my abnormal cultivation, or at least I assumed it to be abnormal, was partly responsible for that.

    And I finally saw some of mom''s customers while playing in her workroom.

    Most would buy her pre prepared clothes with only minor adjustments, but some of the nicer looking folks wanted custom orders. They did not look actually rich, just like they really wanted to be. In reality I thought they were just a little more successful than her usual customers, and wanted to flaunt that fact to their peers at any opportunity.

    Kinda stupid if one asked me, especially as they came to the same seamstress the people they looked down on did, defeating the purpose of these clothes.

    Currently mom was out of the house, probably to buy some more food for the both of us. She left me in my crib, where I was sleeping when she left. But I slept a lot less then I did a few months ago, and sadly for her I was bored. I would have very much wanted to accompany her, and see something of wherever we lived. Did we live in a town? A city? A village? Something smaller?

    I would have to teach her leaving me cooped up while she was out wouldn''t work, she had to take me with her. I already did my daily cultivation, practically brimming with energy and more than ready for some serious exercise.

    Luckily my crib really wasn''t meant to contain someone my age and mom hadn''t gotten around, or didn''t know she had to buy a new one yet.

    When standing up I could comfortably look over the edge, and infants were really fucking agile. Far more so than almost any adults could hope to match.

    Some preparations were in order though. First I picked my pillow up and hoisted over my head, throwing it on the ground to arrest a potential fall. My blanket soon joined the pillow, and I felt as ready as I was going to get.

    First I used my arms to pull myself up as much as I could, which wasn''t far, before raising my left leg up, and over the crib''s ledge. I braced my second foot against the wooden bars, and slowly worked myself up, using all the strength my small body could muster.

    I didn''t take long to arrive at the top, and decided a small rest on the ledge I had just climbed was in order. My eyes locked on the floor, and I had to admit I was a little scared. My pillow and blanket looked to be a looong way off.

    I wouldn''t stop now though, not when I was as far as now, so my second leg went out of the crib before I could hesitate. My legs failed to find any purchase the moment I moved, leaving me plummeting towards the ground an instant later. My hands barely had the strength to arrest my fall for a moment, and I fell all the way down onto my pillow and blanket.If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.

    Ouch.

    Still, my plan mostly worked, I was on the floor. And unhurt. Yay me. I''d count it as a win anyways.

    What to do now? How much of a shock did I want to give mom? What possibilities did I have?

    I looked around the room, seeing all those delicious possibilities. I could play close to the fire, climb on her bed, wait, I should do that this night, infants liked sleeping with their parents didn''t they? A thought for later.

    Now where was I? Ah yes, go and build a nest in one of the lower drawers. Or perhaps climb on the table?

    I liked that last one, climbing sounded really good right now, after my earlier success. I padded over to the table, and looked up. It looked mightily tall from here, not something I''d want to fall down from. I went back towards my stuff, dragging blanket and pillow to the chair I planned to use to conquer the tall table.

    My mother''s chairs looked both solid and heavy, like medieval furniture usually did, so I didn''t think they''d tip over if little old me were to climb them. Taking precautions never hurt anyone though, so I''d start under the table, eliminating the risk of the chair tipping over in the first part of my climb.

    My plan would be doomed without the stretcher between the chair''s legs, as I was simply too small to reach the seat without it using it as a substitute ladder. Well my arms were just long enough to reach to top of the seat, but not strong enough to pull me up. Still, with the strecher the chair was nearly perfect for a little climbing. I put both feet on the stretcher, one after the other, and pushed myself up.

    Once standing I did some gymnastics I''d never be able to repeat in a few years, and put one of my feet on the chair''s seat, right next to my two hands. Once I managed that it was nearly trifling to climb up on the seat proper.

    After a short rest to plan my next move I set out to climb atop of the table. This would be a little harder, as I had to squeeze myself between table and the chair''s back, bracing my feet to the back and holding on for dear life to the front.

    I stood up, my head already in the crack between table and chair, and gripped the table''s edge with my hands. I stepped on the lower rail with both feet, and pushed up. Next I searched for the mid rail with my left leg, and after finding it, worked myself up again.

    Lastly I moved one of my legs up on the table, pushed off with my other foot, and heaved myself up in a feat of herculean strength.

    Surveying the room from my perch I felt both satisfied and accomplished, far more than I thought I''d be considering where I was.

    What now? I could climb down again, but didn''t think I''d manage to get back up here in time to shock mom. I''d just have to wait then. And maaaybe play with that mug. Possibly. Yeah, no need to lie to myself, I''d definitely play with that mug.

    I peered inside the cup, and saw there was some liquid left in there. I picked it up, and brought it to my mouth, taking a careful sip. It tasted just like the water I drank over the last months. So I took several deep gulps, draining the mug of its content. Now I just had to wait until I heard mom coming back.

    I didn''t have to wait for long, hearing the door open only minutes after I was ready, the mug already tipped over long before that. It was embarrassingly fun to just roll it from one side to the other, watching its momentum get stopped by the handle every single time.

    The door to the living room opened, and mom came in with a basket full of food, with a prime sight of me, proudly perched upon the table as I was.

    "Mama.¡± I cried, ignoring the boring mug and beaming up at her.

    I could literally see mom''s face registering my presence, harmlessly sitting on top of the table. Somewhere she definitely did not leave me, and right next to the currently open window.

    Damn. I lost a great opportunity there, the shock would''ve been so much greater if I sat on the windowsill.

    Well, there would surely be a next time. Mom quickly set the basket down, nearly dropping it, before lunging towards me. She practically heaved me up, forcefully pressing me to her chest.

    After a few minutes she let go of me, setting me back down on the table and checking me for injuries. She didn''t find anything, unsurprisingly, and picked me up again, gently this time. She walked over to her bed and sat down, me still secured in her arms. Mom looked down on me, and I knew what would come now. The lecture.

    "Why did you do that?" She asked, sternly.

    "Mommy leave me. I follow." I answered.

    Her face melted into a smile, looking both relieved and sad, looking into the distance. Still, she forced the stern look back on her eyes, her eyes refocusing on me.

    "Promise you won''t do that anymore." She said.

    Looking into her eyes I could see it was important for her. Far more so than I imagined it would be.

    "If mommy doesn''t leave me again." I answered with a pout. Concessions needed to be made after all.

    "Don''t worry, I will never leave you. I promise." She said, tears threatening to burst out of her eyes again.

    Those wounds looked deep, and I couldn''t do much to help for now. Still, I could do something, even now, so I did.

    "Don''t be sad mommy. I will stay with you forever." I said reassuringly, giving her as big a hug as my arms could manage.

    Mom smiled at me, a sad look still on her face, but the tears had receded a little.

    "I didn''t think you would." She answered. "Now how about showing me how you got up there? Because I really didn''t think you could do that."

    I nodded with a smile, and struggled out of her arms. I crawled towards the bed''s edge, and dropped down before mom had a chance to react. I expertly arrested my fall by landing on my feet, and collapsing backwards on my butt, making sure my head didn''t hit the ground in the process.

    The crib''s upper edge was far taller than mom''s bed, so I immediately got up, without making a fuss, not even feeling any pain this time. Afterwards I moved to repeat my earlier acrobatics.

    Now that I already had some practice it was far easier, and I only needed two thirds of the time.

    I turned back to my mother with a big smile, only to see she was hovering just behind me, ready to catch me should I fall. I grinned right at her, getting a conflicted smile in return. Mom took another few moments to compose herself, before returning to her usual disposition.

    "Let''s get you something to eat for you first. We''ll visit a carpenter after, you need a new bed." She said, turning around to pick up the freshly bought food.

    I smiled to myself, life was good.

 Chapter 4

    About a week had passed since I escaped my crib. Nothing about my life had really changed, apart from me now having an actual, small bed next to mom.

    Of course that was ignoring my new toys. While we visited the carpenter, and he talked to mom, his apprentice, or son, or whatever was forced to entertain me. I had pitied him a little at the time and decided not to be too difficult. Something that turned out to be a great idea as he entertained me by carving some simple wooden toys to distract me.

    They were made out of leftover wood, so the carpenter just added them to the bed without any upcost.

    Playing with these toys - just two vaguely human figurines - brought me far more joy than I ever thought it could, or should. Especially considering my actual age. I wouldn''t complain anyhow, having something novel to do made my day.

    The door snapped open with a loud bang. My head shot upwards, my small eyes glaring at the guy that made the noise.

    I contemplated crying, but decided against it. Part of that was my mother anxiously shooting a look towards me before kowtowing toward this person. The other part were his looks. He wore an expense looking dress, rich in color and make. Apart from the strange choice of clothing its state made me hesitate.

    The dress was ripped in a few dozen places, worn down by travel, and full of dust and blood. As I wondered what a mad murderer was doing in my mom''s shop he spoke up.

    "Behold the mighty Brayden." His eyes focused on mom, as I struggled to contain my laughter.

    "You seamstress, have been chosen to fix my robe. I have been told you''re the best seamstress in town. If you impress me I might even remunerate you." He intoned.

    Mom''s shoulders dropped, her eyes focused on the ground submissively and her feet shuffled nervously.

    "Someone must have played a trick on you master, I am by no means talented, nor do I have the materials needed to repair a robe as splendid as yours." She answered.

    The man looked taken aback for a moment, his shoulder slumped a little, before he noticed his posture and straightened again, an arrogant expression returning to his face.

    "I am sure you will find a way. Give me your best robe, I will return in an hour." He answered.

    Randomly choosing one of the ''robes'' (most definitely a dress) from the shelf and changing into it, dropping his dress on moms worktable and marching out.

    The encounter had been brief, and so strange I had not made a single sound during it. Surprisingly mom picked me up moments later, my toys still clutched in my hands.

    "Momma is so proud of you baby." She cried. "Go play in the back. And be silent please." She added seriously.

    I blankly stared at her for a moment, before nodding jerkly.

    "Ok mommy." I answered.

    Mom deposited me in our living slash bedroom, before returning to the workroom. I felt at a loss, what just happened here? Why did mom let the young guy roll over her like that? Was he noble or something?

    So many questions, yet no answers. I stood up, toys forgotten on the ground, and sat down on my new bed.

    Let''s start from the beginning then, what did I notice?

    His dress was high quality, if one ignored the tears and dust. It even had a color! He held himself like someone who thought he was better than others, so probably a noble or priest. He looked pretty roughed up though, even though I saw no visible wounds.

    He didn''t seem to have any guards either. Furthermore considering the hurry he must have been in, stealing clothing from mom and all, and leaving his stuff behind, he must be fleeing from someone or something.

    I did not know from what, his own family or their enemies, but I definitely knew neither mom nor me wanted anything to do with him or his ilk.

    Wait.

    Names.

    I did not have a name. And excluding the arrogant guy just now I didn''t know anyone''s names. Or if they even had one! My mother and her customers only addressed each other by profession at the very least, and before today I had yet to hear a single person mutter a name. Strange. Very strange.Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    Thinking about names now made me wonder why I never noticed, even though I already knew why. Mom was responsible. It simply never came up, and mom always used pet names to address me, so I never noticed. Luckily the new ''customer'' gave me the perfect excuse to ask, after all his name was a word I never heard, and I always asked mom about words I didn''t know. Always!

    I shuddered a little. What if only a select few had names? Like only nobles or some similar unreasonably selected group? Everyone else would just be part of an unimportant statistic, lacking the most basic and simple of individual identifiers.

    It would elevate the few with names far above anyone else, increase the gap between those powerful and those less fortunate by a significant margin.

    Or the guy was just an idiot, yelling his name out for all to hear. It wouldn''t be hard for any pursuers to find him.

    ¡­ Ohh no, oh no he didn''t. Did he? For me it looked like he expected someone else to hear his proclamation, otherwise there was no reason to declare his name that loudly. At least none I could think of.

    My heart started beating faster, and for the first time since my birth I felt scared, what could mom or me do against the rich? One was a seamstress and the other a small, helpless toddler.

    With nothing to do I decided I might as well hide under the bed. That small, dark space seemed awfully tempting right now. I took my blanket and crawled under the bed, right until I hit the wall. And packed myself in, rolling into a small ball.

    With nothing better to do, and no interest in further thinking I started cultivating, the act of drawing in new energy never failed to calm me before, and didn''t fail me now. I had wanted to increase the time I spend cultivating daily for some time now anyways, but always found an excuse so far.

    I was startled out of my cultivation when the weirdly dressed guy returned, once again loudly announcing his presence. I did a double take, he actually returned?

    Well, now I knew it was his family that wanted to get rid of him, no powerful or rich people would want a moron like that tainting their name! The rest of the conversation took place at a more reasonable volume though, so I didn''t hear what mom and the noble talked about.

    Luckily he left without any problems, and mom soon came into the back. I crawled out from under the bed after making sure it was her, and checked her over. She looked unharmed, hell she looked kinda ecstatic, like she had recieved a grand gift. Mom only had a small booklet in her hands, so I assumed it to be related or responsible for her expression.

    I didn''t know what it was about, and didn''t have to. I smiled at my mother, hiding the fear that drained out of me, seeing her alive and well.

    "Mommy, is the evil man gone? Did you repair his dress?" I asked.

    Mom''s expression morphed from the blissful smile into quick grin, before she managed to compose herself and return to her normal, calm face once again. She lay the booklet on the table, and moved to pick me up.

    "Let''s not call him that, the exalted cultivator bestowed a grand gift upon us after all." She contradicted.

    "But he didn''t say he''s a cultivator. He''s a Brayden." I stated with a pout.

    "That''s not a job, that''s his name." She explained.

    "What''s a name?" I asked.

    As my heart started beating a little faster.

    "Names are the privilege of cultivators, like tall houses or wearing robes. You are allowed to add one syllable per realm reached." She explained.

    "What''s mommy''s name?" I asked.

    I ignored the second word for now, I could always ask about it later. Mom looked at me, a contemplating look on her face, before shaking her head, as if to herself.

    "I''m no cultivator, so I don''t have a name, like most of the world." She finally answered.

    I looked at her, that answer seemed highly suspicious, especially because she hesitated before answering. I hoped she would tell me if it was important, or I was older.

    "Aww. What did he give you?" I asked.

    "A very basic cultivation manual. It will bestow the knowledge of cultivating upon its first reader." She explained.

    Why didn''t he use it then? And how did she know? Well, mom wasn''t yet finished, so I decided to wait for her words.

    "I don''t know where he got it, but he told me it only contains significant knowledge about the first realm, and basic knowledge about the second and third realm." She said.

    That did indeed sound interesting, but I was already cultivating, and mom wasn''t.

    "Mommy take it then." I said.

    Mom shook her head, looking a little sad.

    "I''m too old to start cultivating sweety. Barring several fortuitous encounters at least. Encounters that I would have to leave you for and that could very well be fatal." She answered. "No, I want my baby to have the best possible future, and will teach you how to read just to read that treasure."

    My eyes lit up. Reading! Sure we didn''t have much in the way of books, only the ledger mom used for bookkeeping really, but I reading was an essential skill for anyone to have. I still remembered my surprise when I saw mom writing, reading and writing seemed like strange skills for a seamstress to have in times like this. Mom broke me out of my thoughts.

    "If you are a good girl." She said, laughter in her eyes.

    "I''m always good." I pouted at her.

    "You are." Mom agreed, before adding, "Most of the time. Mommy has to return to work now. Be good and don''t make a ruckus should someone come. Ok?" She asked, daring me to do so.

    I nodded, and squirmed my way out of her arms, retrieving my blanket and moving under the table. I had to cultivate to get a name, and reach some kind of ''realm'' whatever that was, so I best get started now. I wanted one!

    I could ask mom about ''realms'' this evening, the terminology was secondary after all. Actions counted.

 Chapter 5

    I really was lucky. Mom quite obviously didn''t have the slightest clue how a normal infant grew up, just like me. I would have normally told her about my origins, she deserved to know after all, with me replacing her daughter and all, but lacked I the words.

    At the same time I also wouldn''t believe me myself, a small infant talking about a world so foreign it could only be made up. The same way I did not accept being reborn at first, but without reality slapping me in the face, forcing me to accept facts. I would try when I grew up a little more.

    As things stood I currently used most of my free time to cultivate, drawing in ever more energy per day. I also stopped returning qi back in my bones as often, now doing so only once a week. My body just didn''t need as much new blood as it once did. I still felt a little scared about moving too much energy in my heart and organs, though I felt pretty sure it wouldn''t harm me by now.

    I didn''t want to risk it!

    The day after I first moved qi after it settled down I had felt miserable, my whole body being sore like I did a full workout for every cell in my body. At first I was worried, I remembered hearing that too much training was harmful for children. My body didn''t seem off worse though. So I concluded that luckily at least this kind of exhaustion wasn''t harmful for me, something I knew thanks to my qi informing me of my body''s condition.

    While I would have jumped to learning how to read the moment my mother offered, she didn''t seem in a hurry to start the lessons.

    Not even a week later, or a month, or a year. Currently I was nearing three years of age, and was about a metre tall already. The qi in my bones had already far exceeded the concentration of ambient qi too, but the thing I speculated would happen didn''t. What a letdown. Still, if I were not to return qi into my bones every week, and allow it to diffuse equally throughout my whole body I felt would already be a little above the ambient qi too. But that didn''t seem the thing needed too. Strange.

    "Honey, come here for a moment." Mom called from the side.

    I looked up, and saw the sun was about to set. Mom herself sat on the table, waiting for me. I dropped my toys, ran over to her and drew the second chair back, satting down in front of her. With my head just reaching over the tables edge. I must¡¯ve looked hilarious.

    I looked up to her, and saw her smiling down at me.

    "You''re three now." She started. "And I know you want to learn how to read. I don''t remember much from my childhood, but know I didn''t learn reading with three, so I am very proud of you regardless of what happens.

    I will try my best and teach you, see how you can keep up and delay my lessons further if you can''t." She explained.

    Mom stood up, and took something from the topmost drawer in the sideboard near the door, hiding it behind her back. She kneeled down in front of me, presented me with a blackish slate.

    I stared blankly at her as she set the board down on the table, before picking me up in an embrace.

    "Happy birthday honey." She said. "Let''s get started. No more sleeping all day, if you want to make mommy proud and learn how to read and cultivate you''ll have to practice digillenty. Perhaps you can even be a powerful cultivator."

    "I don''t wanna be a cultivator, I wanna be like mommy." I stated.

    "Life is so much easier as a cultivator. You can be a cultivating seamstress too, if you want." She consoled me with a sad shake of her head.

    That was an obvious lie, but I couldn''t call her out on it. There was some deep seated pain there still. I¡¯d really have to ask one of these day.

    "Now let''s get started." Mom said.

    The written language of this world, or at least this nation, was far more complicated than the latin alphabet I knew and used. It wasn''t as bad as some of the asian ones, luckily, but still had more than double the letters.

    It was easier to use and learn though, as all characters were written exactly like they were spoken. It also connected language and writing on a deeper scale than I ever thought possible. Making learning one easier if you knew the other.

    And as I knew the language, even if I still couldn''t speak it perfectly due to bodily limitations, I had a relatively easy time learning, taking only three months until I knew all letters by heart.

    Mom still didn''t give me a way to learn how to earn a name, stating I only had the one chance, and she wouldn''t let me read the booklet until she was sure I wouldn''t waste the chance.

    Six months after my third birthday I was finally deemed ready. I sat nestled against my mother, the small booklet secure in my hands. Now that I could directly touch it - mom kept the booklet from my hands until now - I felt it brimming with qi.

    The small booklet held nearly as much qi as my skull! Well, it made sense I supposed, qi was quite ill suited to hold memories, but I couldn''t think of a better way to teach something like this other than direct memory transfer.

    I also noticed a problem, any knowledge I gained through that book would be tainted by whoever produced it, and looking at the poor state and make of the book that was probably the dress guy. He probably stole it from some poor fellow, and filled it with his qi, to produce this booklet.This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.

    But that also meant he planned on paying mom from the beginning! I hoped he was ok, and his family didn''t catch him! Though, to be honest he didn''t seem like an all that successful cultivator to me. Not that I knew how one looked, for all I knew they could all be like that, wearing torn clothes filled with blood.

    Nope. I didn''t want to have anything to do with such people. At all. Ever.

    Stop it. Enough delaying.

    I opened the booklet, and started reading, feeling the qi within the first page streaming directly into my brain, overwriting the written text. The qi solidified directly into the knowledge contained in the first page.

    "I do not know who you are, but know that I am about to bestow you with my great wisdom.

    I am Brayden, a mighty second realm cultivator and member of the exalted Secret Grove Sect."

    Wait what? A secret sect and he just named them on the first page? Whatever.

    "The seed of all cultivation is qi, the energy that permeates everything and everyone. Qi is life itself, and connects to all life. With qi, we can do wonderous things no mortal can hope to replicate.

    Cultivators are stronger, faster, more powerful than mortals, they are better, in short, we are superior."

    What a waste of space. Somehow he managed to drone on about a perceived superiority that smelled of a serious inferiority complex for the next three pages, adding some religious drivel in between, only sparingly mentioning some useful information.

    "Cultivation is separated into realms. As far as I know there are infinite realms, but those are increasingly hard to reach. The first realm is the easiest to enter, a living being just has to perceive their own qi.

    Such cultivators are useless, no better than mere mortals, worse really. To really start cultivation you need to learn how to force qi to move to your will.

    Most simply lack the will and drive to achieve that, and will forever be stuck at the cusp of greatness."

    And here it was, misinformation. Why would I try and force qi to move when controlling it differently was so much easier? No matter, this was quite interesting.

    "Once you earned the right to cultivate by demonstrating your resolve to the heavens you can actually start. There are as many ways to cultivate as there are people under the endless heavens, but some are simply superior to others."

    He then proceeded on to describe a convoluted way to move qi through your body, mainly strengthening skin and the muscles in your arms and legs.

    I felt my IQ drop reading it, as so much of your time was simply wasted, though it seemed directly controlling qi had one advantage - it didn''t leave its designated paths as fast as my qi did, allowing it time to bond with his body. It also sounded like a perfect way to harm yourself while fighting, never strengthening any important bones or organs.

    He mentioned viewing the snippets of information held in qi only once, and not to increase cultivation speed. Just something about using the insight of cultivators of old. To me, it seemed he mainly relied on spending time drawing in pure qi from your surroundings or something called ''spirit stones''. They looked just like normal gems, and I made a mental note to try adding a crystal lattice to my cultivation. Perhaps it would help speed it up further.

    I really only knew the molecular setup of salt and diamonds though, and figured the latter would be better. No reason not to try both though.

    As it turned out I shouldn''t be cultivating as fast as I was, which didn''t come as that big of a surprise. Living beings were shielded from ambient qi until their body reached an equilibrium with it. That usually happened at around ten years of age for humans, which meant I was far ahead of the curve.

    These guys really were fans of harder not smarter though. Or perhaps it was just a cultural blindness caused by inherited bias and keeping secrets.

    "After accumulating enough qi you will need to force it together, beyond what was possible for you before, and produce your first drop of liquid qi. Doing that will break you through to the second realm, and is what marks you as a true cultivator."

    That didn''t sound too hard, a few weeks of having qi seep out of my bones should be enough reach an equilibrium with my surroundings. I estimated my cultivation speed would further skyrocket after qi could enter my body through my skin in addition to my lungs. My cultivation method would need some changes to account for all that new qi though.

    But liquid qi? Did you have to fill up your body like a glass of water to further advance, or perhaps the term was more of a way to describe what happened?

    "The second realm is all about adapting your body to cultivate better. To produce the drop of liquid qi you will need to use up most of your qi, tempering it beyond that of a mere mortal, and allowing you to change it to your will. To a degree at least.

    The first, and most important step is forging your meridians, allowing liquid qi to freely move through your body and reinforce it at will. After that you will have to open your dantian, located right under your navel. It will allow you to store more qi than your physical body can, and will be the center of your being for the rest of your life."

    The center of my life? Were the first cultivators all drunks? Or why would they need to concentrate most of their qi near their kidneys otherwise? Perhaps the world was filled with poisonous animals? I made another mental note to store more qi in my kidneys, just in case.

    "After opening your dantian you have to meditate upon and imprint your qi with an intent, which will influence your entire cultivation from then on. After all your qi is transformed you once again compress it, creating a core seed and breaking through to the third realm.

    The first realm is called mortal realm, as, like their namesake, cultivators in it are barely worth mentioning for anyone of real power.

    The second realm is called earth realm, as cultivators in it are bound to move just over the earth, while their betters move above them, as is their right.

    The third realm is the realm of cores and named after them. Core Masters are above us, just like they move and live above our heads.

    The fourth realm and above is dominion of immortals, and a lowly cultivator like me has no business knowing their great insights and secrets." He finished.

    Great. I didn''t learn all that much, only how he felt qi - quite similar to me, how he moved it - really inefficient, and information about what was to come - probably heavily tainted by cultural bias.

    Ah well, I would''ve never thought about ''liquifying my qi, and probably cultivated until that happened naturally. I still didn''t understand why I should liquify it though, liquid held less energy per mass than gas did. Sure, it could be stored easier, but gases still held far more energy. Perhaps qi was different?

    Well, I''d see in time. For now I should make use of all the free qi floating around in my head, cleansing it of the cultivator''s words and incorporating it into my cultivation base.

    I really only needed the knowledge it held, not the feelings and impressions he stored within.

    I couldn''t wait for my body to reach ambient saturation though, I really needed that second syllable for my name!

 Chapter 6

    The booklet crumbled into dust as soon as I finished reading it, or more like finished experiencing its contents, as I didn''t do much reading. Still, it explained why mom said it could only be used once. What a waste of good paper.

    "Did it work? Do you know how to cultivate?" Mom asked, hope filling her voice.

    I looked up towards her, and saw her eyes shining with some unshed tears, a big smile on her lips. Yep, I wouldn''t get to live a peaceful life if I were to ever tell her about my actual cultivation. She would probably sent me to one of those ''sects'' the guy talked about. To nourish my talent or some madness like that. I shuddered inwardly, please no, even the small glimpses I got when he mentioned his sect made me know I didn''t want to go there.

    Just a bunch of muscle heads bashing each other all day.

    I didn''t want to disappoint her too much though, she looked really hopeful, and just a little bit desperate, so an outright denial was out. What a shame.

    So I answered.

    "Yes."

    And assumed the strange meditative pose described in the booklet. It was a strange pose for sure, but allowed me to maximise the air I took in with each breath, and thus cultivate faster, which was useful for now, considering I got all my qi from the air in my lungs.

    I started up my cultivation method, storing all new qi in my heart. Something I noticed when reading the manual and making fun of his method - my own didn''t make all that much sense itself. Sure my bone marrow produced most of my blood, but the qi would still get spread through my body by blood. And the heart moved all blood. Sure, back then I was a little confused, and scared of dying via heart attack, but in the three and a half years of my life qi had never harmed me. Not even once.

    My thoughts back then made sense, though even now. When I thought of qi as just another source of energy to fuel my body and not what it was. Qi was no simple fuel, and I didn''t actually use any of it up. I didn''t know how it strengthened my body, but knew it somehow did, and it could do and was so much more. It was magical really. Keeping most of my qi in my bones was a waste, it''d be better to spread it through my body.

    So it was safe to just store all new qi in my heart chambers, and wait for my blood to spread it through my body. I could only do that now though, now that I knew it to be safe. To be honest I would still make the same decision as I did back then, at least if I had the same knowledge.

    Well, I should have changed my method faster, and not be scared by potential consequences! Live and learn. Live and learn.

    Qi increased the strength of my muscles though, and increased strength needed stronger bones, so I decided I wouldn''t remove any qi from my bones, instead only moving new qi into my heart, to let it spread through my body just as needed.

    Later I would have to move some qi in my bones manually, to keep the level of qi in them higher, or equal to that of my muscles at least. No need to break my bones when moving after all!

    That really was my biggest problems with the only other cultivation method I knew of. It did nothing for any organ other than skin. It didn''t increase the survivability of its users, making many die of internal injuries without any attack breaking their skin. Using qi like this seemed just plain stupid to me, and like a path I would and should do my best to stay from. I could do without any inflicting life threatening injuries on myself by existing, thank you very much.

    To be fair, all of his body got some qi still, as even tightly controlled qi diffused in areas of lower concentration, even if slower when forced along a certain path. The cultivation manual never mentioned moving qi once cultivated too, which also explained the warning about breaking through into the second realm. If you never moved your qi after it was cultivated, it would settle and merge into your body, and removing all that sounded painful.

    Hell, it was painful after just a week of settling in my body. Not to talk about months, or even years!

    I didn''t know how effective qi was when merged with the body like this. Not all that effective if I thought about it logically, qi was energy, and liked to move, not stay still. It was a magical energy though, so who knew? And qi did feel different once it entered my body and control. I''d just have to test it.

    Probably in my pinky finger, like all tests I did. I had two of them, didn''t really use even one, and could life without one. Though I would prefer to keep all my fingers, so I vowed to be careful.

    Why didn''t the cultivator use his bloodstream to transport his qi though? Blood was a body''s built in system to move resources just where they were needed, and should thus be perfect for cultivation!

    Probably another stupid cultural or traditional reason, so safe to ignore. I knew I would keep doing things my way, I saw no downside in doing so, only upsides really.

    Three weeks had passed since I read the cultivation manual, and ever since then I spend most of my days cultivating, encouraged by my very enthusiastic mother.

    Without my intervention most of my qi had drained out of my bones by now, leaving only slightly more qi inside than directly around them. I decided to keep it at that, and wait for my experiments in my pinky finger to finish.

    Taking stock of my cultivation yielded the expected results, a big part, about fifteen percent, of all qi in my body was located in my brain. My other organs held significantly less qi than my brain, but far more than anything else in my body. If one were to ignore the brain my kidneys surprisingly full of qi, about eight percent, giving the theory of a dantian some credit, or a reason for it at least. More than I thought at first at the very least - the concentration of qi in my kidneys was actually higher than that of my brain, as they were far smaller than the brain.

    Muscles, tendons and stuff like that held the least qi, though the more I had strained a particular limb the more qi these muscles held. I tried to keep my exercise about even, so no big imbalance came to be. Unsurprisingly skin had the smallest concentration of qi, even though the total qi inside of it was quite impressive, about half as much as my brain.

    Finished with my introspection I returned to cultivating. If all my qi were to be evenly spread through my body then its concentration would surpass that of the outside by now. Hell by now everything but my skin held a higher concentration of qi than my surroundings.

    I felt I would get the required qi for my skin to reach equilibrium today, though it would still take a little while for my blood to spread all that qi all the way through my body.Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

    I woke with a start. Something was happening. I opened my eyes, but saw nothing. It was completely dark. I looked around carefully, but saw no moving shapes. I strained my ears, but heard no rustling clothes or creaking leather. So probably no thief. Hopefully.

    Anything else?

    My cultivation! Was it time?

    I closed my eyes, and focused on the qi in my body. Only for them to shoot open a few seconds later. There was so much qi. So so much! More than I could ever hope to cultivate at the very least. My qi sense had immediately expanded a few centimeters beyond my body, and the movement of all qi around me made me a little dizzy.

    I needed a few minutes to center myself again, and I turned my senses inwards, to see if the invading qi affected my cultivation base.

    It did. Thankfully my qi didn''t actually move out of my body, but sometimes a wisp of qi would cling to some of the foreign qi moving through my body, before settling down somewhere else inside me.

    I didn''t like it.

    My qi should roughly stay where my body transported it to, not move somewhere else! Somewhere I didn''t want it to be!

    Could I do something about it though? I just saw qi could affect other qi, so it should be easy to use some of my own qi to shield my body. Yet my qi didn''t stop any outside qi from moving through my body, so I''d have to change something. What though?

    How should I do it? What made my qi different from ambient qi? I cleansed it of memories. So perhaps I''d need to add something, some kind of unique identifier make it mine in truth.

    What to use though?

    It would be easiest to continue on with the theme I had going on so far? My void was essentially a vacuum. Something space related then. Light? No, that sounded boring. Cold? But space wasn''t really cold, it just lacked stuff to be warmed. Space or time? Nah, that didn''t feel right, or like me.

    So what remained? Heat and gravity. Gravity?

    Yeah, gravity sounded perfect.

    How should I implement gravity in my qi though? There were many ways I could go. I didn''t need to use the scientific explanation, not that I could, gravity was still one big mystery back home after all.

    I could do a simple downward acceleration, with the center of gravity being the qi¡¯s initial location. Not enough gravity, and I very much doubted it would work, qi couldn''t hold all that much information, and such a very specific identifier seemed useless to me. Furthermore doing it like that would only starve the problem, not solve it.

    Perhaps reversed gravity? I shuddered in disgust immediately.

    What? Where did that come from?

    I''d have to think about it later.

    What could I use that wasn''t downward acceleration though? That''s all what gravity was really.

    Wait. Orbits. Gravity was responsible for objects orbiting the sun or planets. Or the center of the galaxy.

    Yeah, orbits would do. If my qi could affect other qi anyways.

    I expanded my consciousness, embracing my entire cultivation base, before trying to force it to change. I felt a resistance, but no block. Strange.

    Perhaps it was because I wanted to change the qi itself, not just have it react to something. Well, the resistance didn''t seem unsurpassable, but it would be hard. Not something I could or wanted to do in the middle of the night.

    I checked again, but my cultivation wasn''t in any real danger. I could always reverse any changes the ambient qi made if they got out of hand while I slept. I closed my eyes, ready to sleep through the rest of the night.

    After a hearty breakfast I felt ready to change my qi when I noticed I had two pinky fingers. Changing all of my qi would be a huge step, so a small experiment was in order first.

    I really needed some lab rats, experimenting upon myself would ultimately only lead to injury. And I wanted to avoid injuring myself if at all possible.

    I focused on some of the qi located in my pinky finger when I had a great idea. Qi in the air was unbound, always moving, but my body seemed to bind it.

    Perhaps all living matter had this property? Or solid matter in general?

    I stood up, got myself a small crumb of bread from the floor, and returned to my bed. I made use of my newly expanded qi sense, and impressed a small amount of qi to move into the breadcrumb.

    It worked!

    The qi moved, and while I lost some when it left the protection of my body, the rest arrived in the bread, and stayed there.

    Perfect.

    Now to change it. I concentrated, calling the image of a gravity well in my mind. The gravity didn''t actually work to capture qi though, any qi coming near it would come at an imaginary ''''angle'' and simply fall ''past'' the crumb of bread. Like slingshotting something of a heavy planet or a star.

    I pushed this image on the qi, right through the resistance. I didn''t know why, but I felt I could not circumvent this, and would only regret it if I tried. So I didn''t.

    It took quite some time, and my whole body felt stiff, and I was drenched in sweat once I finished. Most of my qi felt dull and unresponsive, that added on top of the headache splitting my head in two made me feel wonderful.

    But I had succeeded!

    I took a look at the breadcrumb still in my hand, and noticed it looked just like before. A quick check with my qi sense told me of my success though, as no qi entered the bread, only moving just past it.

    Good. Very good.

    I would have to change my approach a little though, cultivating like this did seem significantly slower, and like quite the bother. I would have to recover for a few days before though, that took all I had out of me. I contemplated on eating the crumb, but didn''t know what it would to with my qi, so I just drew the qi back out in the air and let it move on naturally.

    Ouch. Looked like I wouldn''t be controlling any qi until this headache was gone, because moving that little qi made my head throb in pain.

    A whole week! It took me a whole week of feeling miserable to recover from the strain of changing a little qi. And I¡¯d have to feel the same again, for another week!

    Luckily I managed to hide my misery from mom, mainly because she had lots of work to do this week, with a wealth of new customers coming for different clothing each day.

    I felt more than ready though. With a week of time to ponder on what I wanted my qi to do I had reached a conclusion. I would just have my qi take in other qi, and force it into a stable orbit around my body, just in range of my qi sense, and thus ready for me to cultivate. This would help speed up my cultivation, as my qi would do work for me even when I didn''t actively cultivate.

    I opened myself to my own qi again, feeling all qi held in my body. All my qi together was already me-shaped, with areas of more qi sharper than others. I impressed the modified image upon it. Of the qi becoming a powerful qi gravity well, causing qi moving in its range to orbit around it, or slingshot past me if that wasn''t possible..

    Once done I only felt marginally better than last time, and my qi sense told me nothing new.

    Now I only had to wait and see. If my experience from last week was anything to go by the qi in my body would need a day to recover. Qi seemed to be able exhaust itself, and would enter an inert state after doing so, so I could probably use it to enhance my body beyond my current limits by doing that.

    I just had to find out how to do that.

    For now my qi would react to nothing though, not other qi, not me, it''d just sit there. I''d have to wait a day to see if I was successful.

    Now it was time to bug my mother to amuse me though, as I spend most of my days cultivating, and starved off any boredom I felt that way. Now that I wasn''t able to do that mom would have to entertain me! It was her duty as a mother!

    I grinned evilly, she didn''t know just how annoying kids could be, yet. She would learn though, oh yes. She would definitely learn.

 Chapter 7

    My plan worked perfectly. After a day of bothering my, by then, very exasperated mother, and a good night''s sleep I could control my qi without any additional headaches once again.

    I still felt a little miserable, my body felt weak, my head hurt and I was tired, but something that small wouldn''t stop me!

    Whatever changing qi actually did, it allowed my qi to influence other qi, something it couldn''t do in its pure form. Luckily my qi sense could also discern the difference, as my qi now felt a little more in tune with the world and me, with a slight impression of circling. In my specific case that influence stopped all foreign qi from entering my body, and instead caused it to form a small tornado of qi around my body.

    Not really stealthy, so I would need to make sure to not get in the vicinity of any powerful cultivator, but they were said to be quite rare. Even more so in a backwater town such as ours.

    Mom once explained only the town''s mayor held any real power here, with the captain of the guard a very distant second.

    While good for me I still thought that sucked. The mayor''s only qualification seemed to be his power. He wasn''t voted for, or sent to rule the town, no. He was just powerful enough that no one bothered or dared to challenge him for his position.

    To be fair, he didn''t do that bad a job, as the town seemed to be flourishing over the last years, at least as far as I could see.

    Still, what to do now? While I could cultivate in my state, and knew it would help me get a little better I wanted to move, to run, to explore, if only a little. And I wanted to see just how much qi the whirlwind surrounding me could safe. Yes. That was the reason. Not that I didn''t want to work right now and was procrastinating. Most definitely not. Yep.

    Still, that meant boredom. And I was really bad at dealing with boredom, as my mother could testify.

    As I thought about going out to play a scary thought entered my head. I was three and a half years old and knew no one. Well, not no one, I knew my mother, and passingly knew the old shopkeeper we bought our stuff from.

    But no one else, I had no friends, no enemies, no bullies. Though to be honest I didn''t need any of the third category.

    The fact remained. I was a loner. What a scary thought. Time to do something about that.

    I marched towards the house''s second room, opened the door, happy I had grown enough to do so without help, and walked up to my working mom.

    "Mom, I wanna go outside." I said, giving her my best puppy eyes.

    "Why?" She asked.

    "I want to have some friends. You work all the time." I explained.

    A contemplating look entered mom''s eyes, and I made sure to force some tears to appear in my eyes, something surprisingly easy while still being as young as I was.

    "You have until midday. If you''re not back by then that will be the last time you''re outside for half a year young lady." She relented.

    Probably thinking about yesterday, and the stress she''d have to go through if she were to deny my wish now.

    I cried "Yay, I love you mommy." and went to hug her legs for a second before I ran outside, moving as fast as possible to avoid mom regretting her decision and revoking her consent.

    ¡°Don''t you dare go into the forest young lady! You will never leave this house if you do!¡± She yelled after me.

    Once outside I wondered where to go. The town was quite small for a town, at least by my standards. More of a village in the modern world really. It was quite safe, both thanks to captain of the guard and the mayor, so it wasn''t like I was in any real danger.

    Hell, I heard even theft was a rarity here.

    Where would I find kids to befriend though? I could go to the marketplace, but what would kids do at the market when there was no market?

    I thought hard, what did I know about the town?

    Started as a fishing village, so apparently at the ocean or a big lake. Fish was still a main product of the town, though less than a few years earlier. It hugged a forest on the other side of town, which mom had just forbidden me to enter. That was about it. Not even a church? I would have to ask mom tomorrow.

    Where to? The forest was my first thought, but kids probably wouldn''t go in there unless for a dare.

    So, onwards to the beach, searching the town itself for peers wasn''t something I wanted to do.

    That trip would prove useful even if no one was there, I was sure I''d be able to catch a crab or two, to experiment on. Not as good as a rat, but good enough. And crabs would do, after all they were less prone to spread diseases, even at a loss of similarity to humans. Pigs would be best, but I doubted I¡¯d find a pig in town.

    And even if I did, it was very doubtful a farmer or rancher would let me experiment with his livelihood.

    As I walked through the town I was surprised once again, it was quite clean considering the level of technology I was forced to life with. Perhaps I should try to get rich? Shouldn''t be too hard with my memories. And then pay someone to build me a shower. Showers were easy after all, even without plumbing, you just needed the money to pay someone move water up for you.

    The beach was gorgeous. Sure it being filled with fine gravel instead of sand was kind of a big letdown, but the picture in front of me stopped my all thoughts for a moment.The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

    A large bay, filled with deep blue water, the sun in my back, reflecting off the water surface. Old, rustic boats were in sight, dragging large nets behind themselves.

    I didn''t see any children though.

    How much time did I have left?

    I looked at the sun''s position.

    Not all that much, about an hour and a half.

    Finding friends would have to wait then. I moved out on the beach, in search for an unwilling test subject ¡­ wait no, a volunteer.

    There were a few tests I wanted to do, tests that were too dangerous to do on myself. Like plasmatic qi. I didn''t know if it existed, but it''d make for a great distraction to run away from any fights I would be forced to participate in otherwise. Of which I hoped there would be none, but you never knew living in a world filled with savages.

    I didn''t take long to find a crab with the help of my qi sense. Now that my cultivation moved free qi around me. Anything living disturbed that cloud of qi, so hiding in range of my qi sense was useless. I could detect anything with relative ease, hiding or not.

    So, could I deposit my qi in something else? I moved a little bit of my qi into the crab, and my qi immediately started to fight the crab''s own. I immediately moved more qi into the crab, if it wanted to fight me it would regret that!

    In the end only very little of my qi became inert, as I just flooded the crab with my qi, overwhelming its own with sheer quantity. Could I relinquish my qi to the crab? If I couldn''t I wouldn''t be able to properly test my theories. So I threw the crab up in the air, just outside of my area of influence, and caught it when it came down again.

    Crap.

    I didn''t remove any of my qi still in the crab, and had lost control of all that qi. I couldn''t reestablish my connection, it was the crab''s qi now. Whatever.

    I released my victim .. volunteer, and went to search for a new one, it would be easier than overwhelming my leftover qi. I didn''t take long to find a new, and very willing test subject, and defeating its qi for some experiments. And a maybe an explosion or two.

    How did I get my qi to become plasma though? Normal plasma was just some matter pumped full with a lot of energy. But qi was an energy already, not matter. Furthermore I already knew qi would become ''liquid'' when compressed with other qi, so adding qi wouldn''t work.

    Adding other energy? Perhaps, but how would I do that?

    Perhaps just imagining it would work? I removed most of my qi from the crab, and told the remaining what to do, before throwing the crab into the ocean with all my power.

    Nothing, not even a ripple in the ambient qi.

    What did I do wrong? How did liquid qi work?

    Wait, the cultivator did not talk about filling the body with qi from the feet up, which meant qi didn''t really change into an actual liquid.

    Probably the first cultivators lacked a good way to describe what really happened, and decided to use the next best example.

    Qi stayed an energy, it just got compressed beyond a certain point of stress. Probably dependent on volume then.

    Could it really be that easy? Just a matter volume and perhaps concentration? Nothing to do but try. I took a moment to hunt another crab, and overwhelm its qi. Then I returned most of my qi back in my body, leaving only a speck of qi the size of a grain of sand remaining.

    I focused on that little bit of qi, and imagined it being surrounded by a massive sphere of void, with about a metre diameter, before throwing the crab from me once again.

    A weak wave of qi passed me only moments later, and I couldn''t help but grin. I succeeded. That wave was weak, barely noticeable standing only a few metres away, but the qi required to produce it was negligible.

    I looked at the sun, and decided any further experiments would have to wait until tomorrow. I needed to get home as soon as possible, so I took off running.

    I was back at the beach a day later, the original plan of finding friends all but forgotten.

    I hunted myself another crab, overwhelmed its qi, and searched for yet another crab. That didn''t take all that long, and after I pinned it with a few heavy stones to prevent flight I retreated a few metres myself. Repeating yesterday''s actions, I took the time to aim at my other volunteer, and threw the crab, wondering if adding a little more qi to my first victim had been a smart choice. Still I wanted to see what this ''plasmatic'' qi did to a living being.

    I hit dead on, and shortly after the shockwave if qi passed me again, this time a little stronger. I felt a little queasy from that, with some of my qi being affected by that wave, bypassing my qi''s defence.

    Something to look out for in the future.

    I went over to inspect both crabs. Interestingly the one I threw wasn''t off much worse, if I were to ignore the broken leg that came from being thrown. On the other hand the trapped crab was off far worse. Its qi was in complete disorder, and the crab itself didn''t look much better. I quickly took care of its qi, sending my own inside to see what happened.

    Wow.

    A quick bash to the head ended the crab''s suffering. Its internals were a complete mess, ruptured veins, bleeding organs and ripped muscles.

    Not a tool to flee then, I didn''t want to kill anyone if I could avoid it after all. Still, it seemed the shockwave didn''t affect exhausted qi, so exhausting all my qi should be a good protection.

    Now for the other end of the spectrum, what made getting liquid qi so hard, and why was it special enough to warrant a new realm?

    I looked down at the crab near my feet, trying to stealthily scuttle off, and picked it up again. I sat down, the crab secured in both hands, and started cultivating, pumping the freshly purified qi into the crab instead of myself.

    The crab was small, and didn''t actively cultivate, so I quickly quadrupled the qi held in its small body.

    Instead of having a large void sphere around the crab I created a sphere of void the size of a grain of sand in the crab''s center of mass, watching and waiting.

    Nothing happened. Still too big, or perhaps not enough qi then. I added a little more qi, doubling it this time, as I tied to think of something smaller than a grain of sand that wasn''t an atom.

    I took embarrassingly long to find something I could actually picture, but didn''t waste any time. I concentrated again, created a sphere of void the size of a speck of dust, and watched as qi moved.

    Fascinating.

    My qi senses, and thus I, noticed the moment critical concentration was reached. The qi within the crab lit up like a miniature beacon. A short removal from my aura later and I was watching as some sort of pulse spread through the crab, originating from the small speck of liquid qi within. Nothing really seemed to change at first, and the changes were far less the farther from the origin of the liquid qi I cared to look, but stayed noticeable, if barely.

    Interesting. So the location you created your liquid qi in mattered. Good to know, but I''d need several crabs to test everything. Especially if there were any negative consequences for doing so in a brain. And what creating another round of liquid qi did in a body, if it caused the same reaction. Sadly I didn''t know if I could do that last one, the liquid qi in the crab''s body swallowed any qi I send into it with ridiculous ease, with my own qi only putting up a minimal fight.

    I''d really like to take this one home, but suspected it would only get eaten. And I had no clue what eating liquid qi did to a being not in the second realm.

    Worst case was that the same thing that happened to the dead crab happened to me or mom, and I would most definitely not risk that.

    "Run little crab." I said, setting it free, before returning home.

    Perhaps I would explore the forest tomorrow. After asking mom about dangers lurking within. There had to be a reason it was forbidden after all.

 Chapter 8

    The forest was filled with monsters. Or beasts as mom called them, but they sounded just like monsters to me, so I¡¯d call them that in the secret of my mind.

    While I didn''t know if there actually were any monsters in there. Mom could have just lied to keep me in the town just as well, though she hadn''t ever lied to me. That I knew of at least. I decided not to risk venturing inside a potentially dangerous area until I was older. Old enough to run away from danger. As young as I was now I would be hard pressed to run from normal animals, let alone monsters.

    I wouldn''t even be leaving the house today though, just looking outside made me shudder. Water was pouring down from the sky, transforming the streets into small rivers. Confined to the house as I was I decided it was due time to go over my plans for the future once again.

    My main goal still stood, get a good apprenticeship first. Finish that apprenticeship, and live a nice, happy life. And all that without involving myself in any wars, struggles for power or similar, stressful things. All told, I wanted an easy life, with as little stress as possible.

    I didn''t need worry about the apprenticeship too much - I''d be very confused if mom wouldn''t start teaching me in two or three years, so the rest should come with time.

    Considering the poor state of this world''s justice system - might makes right, from what I had seen and heard until now - I''d probably need some personal power myself, to smooth my way and reduce my overall stress. The tried and true way for that, at least here, seemed to be cultivation, so I''d have to advance mine further. Getting to the third realm should be quite easy in all honesty, as I just had to compress my qi to do so.

    What came after that though? Considering the way one cultivated up until that point probably compressing your core to some kind of supersolid. Or whatever. That felt like something future me would need to worry about though.

    I''d see if I should bother with that in due time. Immortality sounded quite bothersome in all honesty, who''d want to live forever, watching everyone around you die? And I really didn''t want to spend eternity as an old crone, which seemed a distinct possibility, after all immortal just meant not dying of age, not that you stopped aging.

    For now I had to make a decision though. Two actually. Did I want to keep my mostly fluid cultivation, to move my qi every other day, if only a little? Or allow my qi time to settle into myself, like some already did in my bones? Or how it happened naturally in all living beings I checked so far? And did I want to advance to the second realm right now or a little later?

    The second question was quite easy to answer, I did most definitely not. Too many question were still left open. Like what did the transformation caused by liquid qi do? What difference did the initial amount of liquid qi have? Did the location of the liquid qi creation have any impact on the changes? What happened if you created more liquid qi somewhere else in your body afterwards?

    I could answer none of these questions right now, which meant advancing was one big folly.

    The first question was one I best answered now though. Once qi bonded with a part of my body, probably on a cellular level, it would reinforce and energize that part. I had a little bonded qi in my test pinky finger, and lots in my bones - and nothing I did allowed me to control that qi, which meant I would have less free qi to actually use. My qi would still be mine, but not as readily accessible as it was now.

    I had also seen the other downside of bonded qi through - an explosion of plasmatic qi, or similar things, would rip bonded qi right out of the body, and rip the body with it.

    In the end there was no question, while I felt superior to the inhabitants of this world on just about every level, and honestly was, they had thousands of years to test what was better. Furthermore even nature agreed with them on this, as bodies allowed qi to settle into them like it did - after all my blood carried my qi through my body, and was thus able to affect it, and my qi would naturally bond with my body if I didn''t consciously intervene all the time.

    On the other hand my qi made sure no outside qi could disrupt my cultivation without sufficient strength. That made my cultivation nearly immune, and kinda invalidated the need for bonding my qi just to secure it to my body.

    In the end the question was if I needed more free qi or a stronger body. I didn''t really have a use for free qi though, did I? I knew some uses existed, but didn''t know any of these ¡®techniques¡¯.

    I could always get more free qi though, while I could not get bonded qi on a short notice. Which meant I would let my qi bond, and cultivate like a madwoman over the next weeks. All the while trying to find a way to exhaust my bonded qi - I''d call it structural from now on - at will, to reduce the danger bonding qi brought.

    I didn''t want my body to look like that crab''s after all, that looked both painful and deadly.

    ---

    Bran loved life in the Soaring Phoenix Sect. Life was hard, but good. They had an elder giving them pointers every other week, the ambient concentration of qi was high, and the pure qi in it even higher.

    He didn''t know how the elders did that, but did not care. He was a lowly first realm cultivator, and needed to advance quickly to gain more cultivation resources, to deservingly soar past his lesser peers.

    He sneered, the peasants didn''t know their luck, being accepted into this illusterous sect. He focused on his body, his qi, and pumped himself up.

    The first time he tried to break through to the second realm had been premature and painful. And nearly crippled his cultivation. He knew what he did wrong back then though, and would do better this time.

    He focused on his qi, the heavenly energy coursing through his body, and carefully ripped it out of his body. He gritted his teeth as the pain hit, but continued on nonetheless.Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

    One by one the qi saved all over his body moved just below his navel, where he knew he''d open his dantian in due time. Once all his qi was gathered, and his body hurt all over, he pressed.

    And pushed.

    And strained.

    And pressed.

    A supremely confident Brandim staggered out of the cave of advancement a few hours later. The elder sitting at its mouth, guarding the disciples wanting to break through, sat there, unmoving as always.

    "Congratulations on your breakthrough disciple." He said without moving.

    "Thank you elder." He answered, bowing to the old immortal.

    Brandim left the sect¡¯s mountain two days later. The next step of his cultivation technique secured in his pack, and ready to be used. Apart from that several new techniques were in his possession, liberated from some of the peasants that wouldn''t know how to use them anyways. Useless trash.

    He would travel back to the city, to awe his family with his spectacular success, and continue on a cultivation journey after, to find as many fortuitous encounters as possible.

    "By the heavens I solemnly swear I will not return to the sect before reaching the third realm." He vowed.

    He felt his qi reacting, the heavens way of telling one they accepted the vow, and would make sure he kept it. Or deal out appropriate punishment if he didn''t.

    The visit to his family was short, only to inform them of his journey and gather information about interesting rumors. Sleeping in a real bed was nice too, for a change.

    Nothing really interesting happened around the city - no surprise there. There was a forest controlled by a forest lord a few days walk from here, but it was small, and the forest lord was said to be foul tempered.

    He''d move inland instead, hunting a few bandit groups and similar things the really powerful didn''t bother with.

    His father''s network of information really was something else.

    Brandim dodged another arrow as his feet flew forwards, steps buffered by wind. His arms were encased in a blade of wind, his robes bloody with enemy blood.

    This was the third group of enemies he faced in his journey, and they were weak, not enough to get his blood pumping.

    Boring really.

    Brandim changed his angle, and just moved past the bandits, they weren''t worth his time to kill anymore.

    "You think you can flee now, little cultivator? I will show you what attacking my Red Snakes group means!" A loud voice called out.

    Brandim''s heart reacted to the voice, and the qi that accompanied it, finally a worthy opponent.

    "I am Brandim, and know I will kill you!" He shouted back, adding qi to his voice just like his adversary.

    "The boss will show him."

    "Stupid upstart killing all of us."

    "He should kowtow and beg for his life, perhaps the boss will grant him a fast death."

    Brandim sneered, and memorised their faces, they would all die after he dealt with the ''boss''.

    Brandim checked his qi, and saw his new meridians were still filled with active qi, dealing with these imbeciles hadn''t been all that hard. He didn''t allow the boss time to answer to his statement, and dashed forwards instead, another blade of wind forming on his arms.

    He swung his left arm, the blade shooting at his adversary. The bandit was running at him too, and had no time to evade. Instead the bandit punched forwards, fire forming on his fist and disrupting the qi in his technique.

    Brandim grimaced, that fight favored his opponent, wind strengthened fire after all, at least if the wind wasn''t widely more powerful. He dissipated his other wind blade - it wouldn''t be useful here - and focused on reaching his opponent before he had a chance to send a technique his way.

    Moments later Brandim crashed into the bandit, his fist on its way to his head.

    The bandit evaded, but was obviously slower, lacking a powerful movement technique like he had. A savage grin lit up his face as he started pummelting his enemy, forcing him to defend himself.

    A sharp sense of danger forced him to abandon his attack and lean to the side, only to see an arrow passing him.

    Fury cursed through his veins as his eyes locked onto the bystander that dared interfere.

    "Don''t you dare run, I''ll take care of the interruptions first." He told his enemy, before turning to slaughter the ants that dared stay, and get in his way.

    His enemy simply couldn''t keep up with his qi boosted speed, trailing uselessly behind him as he killed the dozen or so bandits that stayed to interrupt his fight.

    Once he returned to the bandit captain, whose face was a little white by now, he let out a growl.

    "Let''s finish this, you bore me." He stated.

    "You will regret what you did." The bandit roared, running at him with rage clouding his eyes.

    Brandim grinned, the fight just got a lot easier. He dashed forwards himself as his enemies fists filled with fire again.

    When they clashed there was no burning fist blocking his punch. He grinned, even as his enemies nose pulped and blood spewed out, before sending out a blade of wind, decapitating his smiling opponent.

    Why did he smile? He lost, and died?

    A burning pain spread from his stomach right up to his spine. Brandim looked down, and saw his robes burning, and two burning fingers having penetrated his stomach. He let his body collapse on the ground closed his eyes and started fighting the powerful fire intent qi threatening to burn his body and meridians.

    He would not die like this!

    He would not be a nameless corpse on a nameless road!

    Brandim opened his eyes half an hour later. He still had a hole in his body, but was safe from the foreign qi. Now he just had to take care of the wound before continuing his travels.

    Burning pain entered his mind again, this time from his legs. He looked down in surprise, and saw an arrow sticking out of his leg, blood gushing out of the wound with worrying speed.

    He would not die here! Not now!

    His eyes scanned his surroundings, searching for the hidden attacker. He didn''t take long to find him, a young man, more of a boy really, looking at him with hate filled eyes. The image would be better without the tears though.

    Brandim couldn''t help but laugh out loud.

    "Do it." He laughed. "It''s not like you have to guts to kill a member of the Soaring Phoenix Sect."

    Fear entered the boy''s eyes for a moment, before his eyes returned to steel, and he drew the bow back a second time.

    Fear entered Brandim¡¯s mind for the first time, as reality entered his mind. He might die here. He struggled to get up, to muster qi, anything.

    Brandim stood after what felt like an eternity later, and made a single step, before falling down again, his wounded leg unable to support his weight.

    "DIE!" A desperate voice screamed.

 Chapter 9

    A year and a few months had passed since I first left the house on my own. I was a little over five now, and my body was filled with qi. My skin held about twenty two times the concentration of ambient qi, with the rest of my body already far beyond that.

    Thanks to my experiments with lots and lots of crabs I knew I needed about one hundred eighty seven point three one times the concentration of ambient qi to create liquid qi. Considering the way qi spread through my body that meant my brain wouldn''t need much more qi for me to break through into the second realm without any effort of my own.

    I lacked any real comparison, but thought I was pretty far ahead of the curve by now. And not just in cultivation too. My body was far stronger and tenacious than it had any right to be, reasonable, considering I still moved some qi when it was half bonded to my body every other week. Because of that I felt downright untiring. Add onto the ability to ¡®burn¡¯ qi for a temporary boost in strength at the cost of exhausting my qi meant I could defeat a weak adult at my peak. Qi really was absolutely ridiculous.

    All that advancement naturally meant mom still thought I was struggling just to perceive qi for the first time.

    The biggest reason for my fast cultivation was my qi¡¯s aspect. Which wasn''t an actual part of my qi, but my aura, the area I could perceive qi in. Any qi under my control instantly had my aura¡¯s aspect, regardless what it was before.

    Anyways. The whirlwind of qi just about tripled the ambient qi around me by now, as it grew more powerful together with my cultivation. By now my aura extended out by nearly metres, increasing my cultivation speed further.

    Yet, as always when I thought about my experiments, my expression soured. Most were going really well - I had the creation of liquid qi down to an art for example , but others not so much. I wouldn''t be so angry if some of my experiments went wrong - like adding new liquid qi to a crab, it simply wasn''t possible to overwhelm the qualitative change liquid qi went through with quantity for example, but no.

    Any crab I tried to find again a day after I experimented with it just vanished. Regardless of what I did. Bury it under a large stone? Gone. Hide it in a hole? Vanished. Use a string to hang it from a roof? Nothing. Even the string was gone!

    Someone was playing tricks on me, and I didn''t know why, or who. Or how to make them stop. They would get a really stern talking to if I ever found them though!

    Still, my anger changed nothing. I still had no clue what the extended consequences of liquid qi may have on a body. Which really sucked, as I would naturally break through within the year, barring any intentional slowing down. Which I didn''t plan, after all initial exposure didn''t have any harmful effects on the test subjects, and sometimes you had to risk it, as seen by my stupid cultivation method of the first years of my life.

    I snorted, bone marrow, what a stupid idea.

    While the results and changes liquid qi did to a body changed depending on the location of initial creation of liquid qi, as well as the extent of changes depending on the initial amount, nothing ever harmed a crab. That I could see at least.

    Not a single one of nearly one hundred and fifty crabs had shown any signs of short term harm.

    All that meant I was about to take a risk. With a crab struggling in my hand, and several small, qi filled stones in my pocket - something a had mom add to my clothing on my request as it initially lacked any - I made my way towards the forest.

    It was a really scary forest too, with tall, dark trees looming above. The sounds were normal for a forest though, mostly birds chatting, bugs chittering and the wind blowing through the forest''s leaves and tree tops.

    What I was about to do was honestly just stupid, but I didn''t want to forge ahead without any knowledge, and the forest was forbidden. I really hoped who or whatever took my crabs wouldn''t dare enter there.

    Of course I was ready to flee, and even kill a monster should it become necessary - plasmatic qi didn''t need to expand nearly as much as gaseous one needed to be compressed, so it''d be easy to do, even in a bind.

    The amount of qi in my projectiles wasn''t much, just enough to cause an inconvenience to myself really, but I hoped it would be enough to scare assilants away, allowing me to escape without any killing.

    With a deep breath I took a step forwards, and another one until I entered the treeline. Crab clutched in one hand, and a small pebble in the other.

    ---

    Alranutsu looked up from his perch. Someone just entered his domain. Qi swirled around them, obscuring them from casual inspection, as if ready for a fight. Damned humans, they didn''t even know how to leave someone a little piece for more than single small a moment.

    He growled in anger, he had just settled down comfortably, and now he''d have to move again! Alranutsu stood up, still angry as leaves of nearly a decade fell off him, and took a step.

    He appeared at the edge of the forest, and looked at the human kit standing there, completely oblivious. If not for the qi swirling around her she''d appear completely harmless and would have been ignored, like all insignificant humans entering his domain.

    He did a throughout inspection, searching for the reason qi near her behaved as it did, but found none. Apart from an odd second realm crab in her hand, a little qi in her body, and some strange, qi filled stones in a small ingenious pouch sewn into her clothes, she looked like a normal human kit. As far as he could tell anyways, he didn''t really know humans after all.

    "What are you doing in my forest human?" He boomed, allowing the human kit to see him.

    She jumped up, obviously startled by the sudden voice and his majestic form. The human¡¯s green eyes didn''t take long to find him, taking in his glorious form. The human was really lucky, he didn''t kill kits, and she most definitely counted as one.If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    "Excuse me if I intruded. I didn''t know I entered your property." She answered finally. "I did not yet chose a name for myself, so I am seamstress''s daughter."

    "I am Alranutsu." He answered.

    The human''s eyes widened for a moment, before returning to her previous expression.

    "Nice to meet you. Say, you wouldn''t happen to know of a place I can keep this crab?" She asked.

    Alranutsu looked at the human kit, astonishment filling him.

    "What would you want to do with a lifeform as lowly as this? And why here, aren''t your dwellings made to keep stuff?" He asked.

    "I want to see the long term effects liquid qi has on a body. And someone or something always snatches my crabs in town, and I don''t want them at my home, and have what- or whoever does that near my mother." She answered honestly.

    ¡°I don''t have anything of the sort, the weaker beasts would be happy to consume such a small morsel.¡± He answered.

    The human looked dejected for a moment, before her eyes focused upon him, intently.

    ---

    I looked at the strange fox, who claimed to be an immortal. When he told me his name I had been scared for a moment, before deciding he would kill me if he wanted, and had as much power as he claimed, and there was nothing I could do about it.

    So I handled him like I would any obviously intelligent person regardless of their looks, be they fox or human. Or something else. The fox actually looked so normal I needed a moment to process it could speak at first .

    And apparently teleport.

    Still, the sheer presence the fox excluded made me sweat just a little bit, and I had thought about breaking through right then and there, but luckily managed to stop that panic reaction. After all I already got some useful information here. My crabs were probably snatched up by some seagulls or cats. Great.

    Now I just had to leave alive.

    ¡°So, what does a powerful beast such as you do every day?¡± I asked, only to regret my question immediately.

    Somehow the fox managed to express disgust and sadness with a face that normally lacked the muscles needed to do those expressions.

    ¡°I really just want to relax for a few decades. But every time, EVERY SINGLE TIME I settle down some new human or beast comes into my home, disrupting my rest.¡± He complained. ¡°And all attack when we meet, none seem to have the time for a chat.¡±

    ¡°Have you tried offering them something to drink?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Why would I?¡± The fox asked, astonishment on his face.

    ¡°It¡¯s polite.¡± I explained. ¡°If you have guests you will at least offer them something to drink. And you really need to work on your greeting, it''s not polite to scare people as a greeting. It¡¯s downright rude even.¡±

    The fox looked at me like I was mad, and perhaps I was.

    ¡°What?¡± I asked. ¡°It doesn''t hurt to try.¡±

    ¡°That''s not how the world works human kit.¡± He said.

    ¡°Anyone coming here wants to challenge me, otherwise they wouldn''t be here.¡± He stated, slowly, as if speaking to an imbecile.

    ¡°Have you tried? I didn''t even know this was your property. It¡¯s not like you have a ¡®Keep out!¡¯ sign anywhere. How should I know?¡±

    ¡°You didn''t know I was here? Didn''t your sect or clan warn you?¡± He asked.

    ¡°I don''t have a sect or clan. I only have my mom.¡± I explained. ¡°And why would I want to join a bunch of religious fanatics.¡±

    He fox laughed with a bark.

    ¡°Don''t let any of those sects hear about that. But that does sound quite accurate to me.¡± He said.

    ¡°So, would you like something to drink?¡± He asked after a small pause.

    ¡°I would be delighted, but mom said I have to be back before sundown, so I won''t have much time for anything else.¡± I answered.

    ¡°That''s fine.¡± The fox said.

    Qi shot out of him, and suddenly we were somewhere else, in the middle of the forest, with a small creek of water flowing in front of me. I looked around in wonder, wondering how any light came through the dense foliage.

    The fox bowed down, and drank some of the creek¡¯s water, before looking at me in anticipation. I looked between water and fox, and wondered if I should tell him.

    ¡°Humans don''t drink like that, we use a cup.¡± I finally said.

    ¡°What''s a cup?¡± He asked.

    How to explain something like that? Wait, did I need to? The fox was a powerful cultivator, perhaps he could tell me how to store memories in my qi, just so I could just show him.

    ¡°How do I store memories with my qi?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Oh, that¡¯s easy, just put some qi into an object. Then you just have to focus, and push those memories into the qi. If you stored enough qi the memories will be stored. If you add some kind of runes that you feel express the same you can reduce the qi needed significantly.¡± He explained, puzzled.

    Well, I¡¯d have never found that out by myself. As it was I pulled out one of my stones, added lots of my free qi into it, and added what was important about a cup, mainly its form and use.

    ¡°Here you go.¡± I said.

    I yelped as the stone suddenly floated out of my hand, and landed on the fox¡¯s head. He blinked for a moment, before vanishing for a moment, and appearing with a stone cup floating next to him when I after a single blink.

    ¡°There you go. Thank you for that gift.¡± He said. ¡°Is that what you have those pebbles for?¡±

    ¡°No. They¡¯re for self defense.¡± I answered. ¡°Mainly running away to be honest.¡±

    ¡°Those pebbles wouldn''t even help you distract a mortal wolf, let alone a beast.¡± He said.

    ¡°They do. Just watch!¡± I pouted, transforming one of the stone¡¯s qi into plasmatic qi and throwing it from us with all my might. A weak wave of qi passed us moments later, and the fox¡¯s head sharply turned towards me.

    ¡°How did you do that?¡± He asked, astonishment filling his voice.

    I looked at him in confusion, what I just did was just a logical conclusion of reaching the second realm!

    ¡°I just transformed my qi into plasmatic qi.¡± I answered regardless.

    ¡°And how did you do it? Without killing yourself? Because what I just felt felt just like someone exploding their cultivation to kill their killer.¡± He answered.

    ¡°It¡¯s just doing the reverse of creating liquid qi. You just have to expand normal qi by about a hundred times.¡± I explained.

    This time the fox actually bowed towards me, before I found myself back at the forest¡¯s edge, the cup in my hand. Nothing about it changed, apart from the qi now filling it. Hmm. What a strange creature. I turned around, bowed towards the spot he appeared in for the first time.

    ¡°Thank you for your gift, I will visit you again.¡± I said, before leaving the forest, dropping the crab as I went back home. I¡¯d look into the cup back home, it probably held a message, as that meeting ended really abrupt.

    I¡¯d need to tell him that was rude too.

    I smiled, the fox really was quite nice. It seemed I had my first friend.

 Chapter 10

    ¡°Thank you for your insights little human. Barring unforeseen consequences I will meditate upon them for a few weeks. Feel free to come visit me again in the future after that. And try to learn a way how to retrain your strange qi spiral, it¡¯s a signal torch for any immortal within dozens of miles. Being loved by the heavens is no boon for one such as you.¡±

    Well, I wouldn''t visit the forest for a little while then, no need to tempt fate, and annoy the powerful beast.

    And seeing that my crabs were apparently a delicacy for all animals near them made making one survive long enough to matter for my experiments highly unlikely. Which meant, for now, I could just focus on breaking into the second realm.

    And perhaps telling mom I reached the first realm sometime in the next few weeks too. Just perceiving qi didn''t do much after all. Except giving me the right to choose a name. Something I¡¯d need to think about, after all what better way to announce my breakthrough than to tell mom the first part of my name? There was none.

    Two weeks later I had nearly reached the required concentration for my qi to reach liquid state in my entire head. It really only needed a small push to reach liquid state. Naturally I gathered the required extra qi in my skull, and pushed it into my brain. As always when I created liquid qi it lit up my senses, but this time more happened.

    A wave of cold spread through my whole body, originating from everywhere in my brain. The world seemed to slow down a little, and my thoughts got clearer.

    My qi sense expanded significantly, nearly quadrupling, finally reaching about five metres.

    The cold continued to spread through my body, and I could feel it changing me, making my body more receptive to qi, especially liquid qi.

    Interesting, now that the changes occurred to me, and not someone else, I was able to perceive the change itself a lot better than before. I even knew what all these changes did this time!

    If my qi didn''t hide something from me at least. Which it had never done as far as I knew. Anyways, it seemed there would be no negative consequences at all. Perfect. Taking that risk was definitely worth it.

    Well, if I discounted being visible on any qi sense that came within five metres of me from now on. Breaking through really strengthened the whirlwind of qi to ridiculously obvious levels. I''d have to make it far more inconspicuous for sure! Especially as I practically felt the concentration of the qi within it increasing every second I waited.

    I once again concentrated on my qi, noting the interesting was liquid qi spread through my brain. It really looked a little more like a liquid than gas, with thin lines of qi spreading through my whole brain instead of the spread out, more gas like look from before.

    It looked great.

    Still, I returned to my previous task almost immediately, I had no need or interest to be found by a cultivator and be forced to join their sect. No sir.

    Could I create additional liquid qi?

    I tried in my heart, as quite some qi was still stored there for transport. I could, but without the wave of cold appearing again. Perfect.

    Perhaps I could now use something else out of the cultivation manual. Crystals. I had tried cultivating using a crystal matrix, but crystals were slower than my usual method, and didn''t add to it, so I had discarded it until now.

    Before doing anything though, could I move liquid qi?

    I created another speck of liquid qi in my pinky finger, and tried moving it like before. Nothing. No reaction to my void. I tried moving some gaseous qi through it, but the liquid qi only absorbed the weaker energy, and grew a little.

    Damn, I''d need a new method then. What did liquids react to best? Reaching a state of lower potential energy. And what gave potential energy? Gravity. Perfect.

    I imagined the liquid qi falling in the direction I wanted it to go, but nothing happened. I got a feeling though, I could move my qi that way, but that would do something permanent.

    Probably those meridians the manual spoke about. So I couldn''t freely move my liquid qi through my body like I could my gaseous qi until now?

    That required planning. And would require a lot of precision now. I carefully, very, very carefully, returned all liquid qi not in my head back towards its previous form - I didn''t need clumps of qi stopping my cultivation normal. It would take years until all qi in my body reached liquid state after all. And liquid qi in my heart would be bad, completely stopping my cultivation.

    Now where to put my newest idea though? Somewhere out of the way, near my skin probably.

    Perhaps the back of my head? I had quite some space there, though not a lot of depth. Wait.

    What was I doing?

    I stopped experimenting with myself once I got access to crabs! And I didn''t lose that, even if they were useless for long term experiments for now.

    "Bye mom, I''ll return later." I yelled, running out of the house.

    "You know the rules.¡± She called back, never looking up from her work.

    She really didn''t have to, I had shown her I never broke the rules she set. Barring some really extreme conditions. Conditions that never took place until now. I decided it would be easier for both of us that way. She didn''t need to worry about me, and I didn''t need to sneak out of the window to leave the house whenever I wanted.A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

    Her rules were restricting to be sure, but I was free to do what I wished while outside. Without any adult oversight. Something like hunting crabs for example. Or visiting the forest, though that was technically forbidden.

    I should really look to visit the fox again some time. Though I doubted he¡¯d notice if I only came back in a few years. I couldn''t imagine seeing the world like him, couldn''t imagine seeing something happening once a decade as happening all the time. Immortality really seemed to warp your perception of time. Or perhaps just age? Or power? Ah well, one less reason to try and reach immortality really. Though, at least he didn''t looked aged.

    I arrived at the beach in record time, forgetting to slow down while lost in thoughts, and started searching for a volunteer. Crabs were ever easy to find, so I didn''t take long to have my victim ¡­ ehh, volunteer in hand, its qi suppressed even easier than ever before.

    So, could I change the crab¡¯s aura? Probably not, but that shouldn''t pose all that big a problem. I cast my senses out, and started pulling in and depositing qi in the crab. More qi than I had ever put into any one crab.

    It was the first time I really cultivated since breaking through, and it felt great. The rush of new power flooding through my aura, even if not into me was simply invigorating, refreshing my still tired brain. I could understand spending a lot of time like that. Years even.

    Soon enough the crab was brimming with qi, qi nearly dense enough to naturally form liquid qi. Damn, that went really fast. Faster than ever thanks to my larger aura.

    Instead of forming the qi into a simple sphere, or in my case a brain, I instead started forming a thin, intricate crystal lattice of void inside of the crab. The qi moved, quickly, spreading just like I wanted it to. Perfect.

    As the crab broke through I set it down, using the short moment it didn''t try to escape to pin it down with a heavy stone. I took a few steps back, allowing the crab to assimilate my qi, before picking it up again. A short jog up and down the beach to refill the spiral around me with qi and I was ready to resume my tests.

    If this worked I¡¯d need to modify the orbit qi took around me, but that¡¯d be fine. If my plans succeeded my qi would just cultivate for me, whether I slept, or moved, or worked. Or just whenever I did not actively cultivate really. I¡¯d be a great help for the future. After all I felt pretty secure in the knowledge that my childhood wouldn''t last all that much longer, and I¡¯d have much less time to cultivate while learning how to sew.

    I send a steady stream of my qi into the crab, watching what happened like a hawk. This crab wouldn''t get to try and escape for quite some time, crystals needed time to purify qi, so I¡¯d sit here until I had to return home, watching if the liquid qi would do what I hoped it would.

    My plan worked. But wasn''t workable for me. The crystalline matrix did indeed purify any qi moving within, but all that qi would be transformed into liquid qi too, and clump up around the strands of liquid qi. That in turn stopped that part of the matrix from working. Great.

    I¡¯¡¯d need some way to transport my liquid qi, and somewhere to store it afterwards.

    So I¡¯d need to advance my cultivation, map out a good plan for my meridians and open my dantian. That last point was something I couldn''t test on crabs if I remembered what it was correctly, but meridians shouldn''t be too hard. At least seeing how they were formed, if I had to do so at once - probably not - and some more things. Like if I had to expect pain.

    Still, tomorrow I¡¯d look if the fox was ready for another visit, and if it wasn''t I¡¯d prepare the plan, see about ¡®forging¡¯ my first meridian.

    If that last point made any problems I¡¯d just fill my body up with liquid qi bottom to top, handling it just like filling a vessel with water. I¡¯d see what would happen in time anyways. Now I had to return home, mom was waiting for me and I¡¯d need my freedom more than ever.

    ---

    The crab squirmed in my hands as a drop of liquid qi wormed its way through its body. Pathetic. I was feeling pretty sure of it as of now, the crab shouldn''t be feeling any pain at the moment! I had already killed and dissected several crabs after this procedure, and not a single one had a physical channel for qi running through them.

    None of them were off worse until I killed them, regardless of where I created that channel too, be it brain, chitin, muscles or organs.

    Creating meridians was quite easy actually, you just had to move liquid qi through a body. The qi would then get used up, slowly forming a meridian liquid qi could use to move through the body.

    My plan or map for my own meridian pathways was coming along well. The origin of all my meridians would obviously be my brain. I planned to start right in the middle of my skull, with dozens of hair thin meridians spreading through my brain like a spiderweb.

    Four small meridians, with one each going into my eyes and ears. Eventually I planned to let them end in a bigger bubble, about as large as each eye or ear. But I¡¯d wait for that until I was fully grown up, and had my whole meridian network planned out.

    A slightly bigger meridian, a medium one, which started just where the four small ones would, was going straight into my skull, and finally winding through it. I planned to eventually have all of my skull full of liquid qi, but those thin lines would have to do at first.

    A big meridian went right to the back of my head, forming a spiral that spread all through the back of my head. That meridian would allow me to siphon off all liquid qi that''d otherwise clog my crystalline threads, allowing me to auto cultivate.

    The biggest meridian would start in the same spot as the others, right where I wanted to open my dantian in the future, and go connect to my spine. It¡¯d then follow my spine down until its end. All other meridians in my body would split off that single big one, or others splitting off from it.

    Three other major meridians split off from my main one, one into each arm, and a third one into my heart. At the end of my spine the main meridian split into two, with two decently big meridians going into my legs, splitting in five before reaching my feet.

    Generally I had a meridian following each bone in my body, and at least one going into each of my organs. As my qi needed a way to exit my body, I had about half a dozen decently big meridians ending just under my skin, allowing my liquid qi to enter and leave my body at my leisure, should I ever need or want to do that.

    Lastly, I added several dozen branching meridians to wind through muscles, tendons and my skin. Over time I planned to extend my network of meridians through my whole body, just like my bloodstream.

    But those were plans for the future, and those plans would need qi. Lots and lots of qi, even my current plan would take several time the qi I had in my body. The first thing to do was forging the meridian to the back of my head though everything else could come later.

    Investments were best done as early as possible after all.

    As it was I would use all new qi to forge my meridians, and leave any liquid qi in my head where it was. I wouldn''t start all meridians at the final thickness at first, but only spread hairline thin paths everywhere, expanding them as time went on.

    Actually expanding meridians was harder than creating them, but still well within my abilities, as tested on several crabs.

    I felt confident in my plan, even though it was quite ambitious. It was the best I thought I could do right now, and I accepted nothing but my best for anything I did. Especially for something that would obviously influence me for the rest of my life.

 Chapter 11

    Pain. I finally understood why my crabs had struggled as much as they did whenever I did my testing. Getting meridians wasn''t nearly as painless as I thought it to be. It felt like worms were eating themselves right through my brain. Which was complete bullshit, because my brain didn''t even have any nerves that could signal any pain! Stupid qi, and stupid meridians.

    There was no way around it, I just had to power through it. Nothing I tried to circumvent the pain worked, not slowing down, or speeding up, using less qi, using more qi, making a thinner meridian. Nothing.

    It was like there was more than just my body, and I had to burrow through that more part of me to move my qi. Which made a strange amount of sense, as moving liquid qi through dead crabs didn''t create a meridian. Liquid qi just moved a little slower through dead crabs, or all solid matter really, than it did through air.

    I decided I needed a break. I only managed about half of the meridian towards the back of my head after three days of cultivation, though that should speed up once I had my setup ready. Hopefully. Otherwise the next few years would be long and painful. And feel even longer.

    I really hated pain. Especially self inflicted pain.

    I looked out of the window, and saw the sun standing tall in the sky, just past midday. Perfect, I had until dinner then. Just enough time to visit the forest and see if a certain fox finally deigned to get up and greet me. I missed speaking to someone with about as much common sense as me. It was refreshing, especially being treated like an adult.

    ¡°Hello, Mr. Fox!¡± I yelled. ¡°Are you here?¡±

    To my surprise the fox faded into view a few moments later, his aura feeling far more solid than the last time we had met.

    ¡°Hello human kit.¡± His voice droned. ¡°Why are you here?¡±

    ¡°We are friends, so I decided to visit. It¡¯s something friends do.¡± I explained. ¡°But you''re really lazy, I was here several times over the last weeks, but you didn''t answer before now. How was your month? You do seem more powerful.¡± I answered.

    ¡°I am. Thanks to your insights. But really why are you here?¡± He asked.

    ¡°Isn''t it obvious? The both of us are loners, and living beings need company. And seeing as you seem too stubborn to get up and visit me on your own, I decided to do it.¡± I explained.

    ¡°And what would you do?¡± He asked.

    ¡°I don''t know. What do foxes to for entertainment? Play tricks on humans? Hunt some rabbits? Just wander through the forest? I''m still a child you know, you¡¯re the adult, so you have to decide.¡± I said.

    ¡°Entertainment? I cultivate and nap. That''s it.¡± He stated.

    I looked at him, shocked. He only napped and cultivated? How boring! Something like that couldn''t hold my attention span for more than a few hours at most!

    ¡°We are going to do something new then! You¡¯re so old, you need some change in your life. It sounds dull, boring and like you need someone to help you entertain yourself, to bring a little excitement that isn''t battle in your life!¡± I said. ¡°Where is the next human? And can you hide us from him?¡±

    Alranutsu looked at me like I was stupid, before we vanished and appeared next to a man carefully stalking through the forest. His eyes scanned the forest constantly, but passed right through us.

    ¡°Alright.¡± I whispered. ¡°What do humans search in here?¡±

    ¡°Mainly weeds filled with qi. They, together with other irrelevant beasts, fight for them all the time.¡± He said after a moment.

    ¡°So, you can hide us from him, can you do the opposite, and show him something that isn''t there, or is somewhere else?¡± I asked silently.

    ¡°Of course. Why are you whispering though?¡± He asked loudly.

    ¡°Well. Because we are hiding from someone. You have to whisper if you hide, or it takes half the fun out of it.¡± I explained patiently. ¡°So, how about you show him an image of the stuff humans like the most? Always give him a glimpse, just beyond the next tree.¡±

    My small friend nodded in agreement, befuddlement at my request obvious. I watched in bated breath as the cultivator¡¯s eyes lit up suddenly, and he dashed just past us, towards one of the bigger trees. He frantically looked around, and his eyes found something a little deeper into the forest.

    I laughed, as he dashed off again, chasing something I couldn''t see. It was great, watching someone chase something not actually there, greed defeating reason, just felt incredibly satisfying.

    Soon enough, the cultivator was out of sight. I managed to gather myself again.

    ¡°Did you have fun?¡± I asked.

    ¡°It felt fresh at least.¡± He admitted.

    ¡°Great. I''m going to return in a week, and we¡¯re going to do something different. And don''t you dare ignore me again!¡± I stated, shaking my small fists at him.This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

    ¡°A week?¡± He asked, horrified. ¡°That''s no time at all! I can''t even do a nap in that time, much less cultivate.¡±

    I looked at him, like he completely lost it.

    ¡°Do you know how long a week is? It¡¯s like forever! I even thought about your age, and how old people like you have a different sense of time than I do! If you really want to, I guess you can get two weeks. But that''s as high as I''m gonna go. Being too far from where you come from can''t be good.

    You''re always yourself first, and your origins make up a big part of yourself.¡± I said. ¡°So, I will be here in two week, and you will be too.¡±

    ¡°Admittedly you humans do live awfully short lives, I guess I can delay my cultivation for a hundred years to so, it¡¯s not like that matters.¡± He relented. ¡°But are you sure you don''t need that time to do human things? Like spinning grass into fur, ripping weeds out of the ground?¡±

    ¡°Good to see one can reason with you. And I do none of those things. I''m just a child, I don''t have to work yet.¡± I explained. ¡°And I can create a whole meridian in two weeks too, there''s no activity that I can think of that would take that long!¡±

    ¡°Oh. You did break into the second realm. Congratulations you kit. It¡¯s always a joy to see young ones start on the path. Do you need any pointers?¡± He asked.

    ¡°I wouldn''t mind some. I mean I read a cultivation manual that described the process, up until I reach the third realm, so I feel quite prepared, but declining advice from someone as powerful as you would be stupid.¡± I answered.

    ¡°Hmm. Let me think. It has been quite some time since I was in the second realm. A millennium or two really.¡± He mused. ¡°So. You start with meridians, which are really just moving liquid qi through your body and soul, forming paths for it to move.

    Then you will have to open your dantian, a window to the soul, at the biggest concentration of meridians. Finally you can pick up a qi intent, but that isn''t strictly necessary until you reach the third realm. To break into the third realm you only have to create some solid qi in the middle of your dantian.¡± He explained.

    ¡°What''s qi intent?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Qi intent is a truth of the universe. It can be everything, from a simple study of a small weed, to trying to understand the fundamental forces of the universe. You have to impress your understanding of that intent upon your qi, and break its resistance. Any cultivator without intent is prey to a cultivator with even the most basic of qi intents.¡± He explained. ¡°It¡¯s hard to explain, and something you have to experience yourself to really understand.¡±

    ¡°Thank you for your insights. Can I ask you more, should questions come up?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Of course. So little human, what now?¡± He asked.

    ¡°Now? Now we¡¯re going to talk about manners again. You need some if you want to interact with humans.¡± I said with an evil grin.

    I was looking forwards to this. Sure, it may not be the smartest thing to try and annoy an immortal that could kill me with a blink of his eye, but really, he was a big softy, and wouldn''t hurt me.

    ---

    Alranutsu patiently listened as the small human kit explained more of her strange ¡®manners¡¯ to him. Stuff she called ¡®standard rules of social interaction¡¯. He really didn''t get how humans came up with stuff like that, or if only this particular human was like this.

    And she really was a strange one. She was a cultivator, as evidenced by the qi coursing through her body - a truly ridiculous amount considering both her age and the time she had been in the second realm. She couldn''t even lie, considering she¡¯d been in the first realm when they first met a few weeks ago.

    Alranutsu still felt the exhilaration of the breakthrough in his understanding, that small human could do just about anything with him. Playing tricks on the human had, admittedly been quite fun.

    Still, her strange demonstration of her measure of ¡®self defense¡¯ had helped him make a step towards the fifth realm. And he had not make a real step in that direction since nearly two centuries ago. So he would tolerate the kit¡¯s speech, and all her antics. Who knew what she¡¯d be able to come up with as she advanced her cultivation? He knew one thing though, he would be there all the way.

    And she was kinda funny, completely innocent. At least compared to the other human cultivators he met.

    He did look into her after a throughout session of thinking sometime in the last weeks, and was quite baffled to see the girl living in one of the strange the human dwellings next to his forest.

    At first he thought that the ¡®mother¡¯ she spoke about was a scary powerful cultivator, considering the respect the strange human showed towards that person. But the human designated as mother was completely normal, no additional qi in her body, really just an average human female. The kit was probably stronger than that mother person right now, and would continue to outgrow the other human for a long time.

    He really didn''t understand that species, perhaps listening to some of the stuff the kit explained to him would allow him make some sense of it all.

    The lecture did get a little boring by now. Perhaps the human was hungry? He vaguely remembered getting annoyed at everything back when he still needed to eat. So he stepped somewhere else, towards the flowers he had the other human chase for his human kit.

    His human looked around confused, before her eyes focused on him.

    ¡°What did I say about teleporting?¡± She said.

    ¡°No teleporting without warning, it¡¯s rude.¡± He answered.

    ¡°And why did you do it then?¡± She asked.

    ¡°But I can''t teleport!¡± He stressed. ¡°I just stepped here, and took you with me.¡±

    ¡°No stepping then. It¡¯s like teleporting to me.¡± She answered. ¡°What do you want me to do?¡±

    ¡°You were annoying, so you probably felt hungry. So I took you towards some human food.¡± He explained to the slow kit.

    ¡°Humans don''t eat flowers you know? We only eat specific plants, and some dead animals.¡± She explained. ¡°They¡¯re pretty though, can I have one?¡±

    ¡°Of course. Just take what you want, I don''t care about them.¡± He answered.

    ¡°Ohh, thanks. You know, it¡¯s getting late anyways. So if you return me back towards the town, you¡¯ll be rid of me for two weeks.¡± She said, picking up one of the flowers.

    ---

    I returned back home in good spirits. I still had the flower the fox gifted me stowed in my pocket. It was filled with a little qi, as I took the one with the least qi I found, I didn''t really want something so obviously valuable near my mom.

    And a plant filled with liquid qi was just about as valuable as things got. At least probably. Well, I¡¯d just kill it, take control of the liquid qi, carefully transform it into gaseous qi, move it towards my brain, return it into liquid qi and grow my meridians if absolutely needed. I really needed at least one meridian finished, just so I could take in any liquid qi that I happened to come across into my body without the extra work.

    Now, back to cultivating. I¡¯d move around the beach a few hours a day, just to get more qi into the whirlwind of qi around me, and speed up my cultivation. My body wouldn''t fill itself with meridians after all. I¡¯d have to work hard for them.

 Chapter 12

    Nearly three weeks. That''s how long I took to finish my first meridian, which was now a direct path to the back of my head, and an expanding spiral spreading over a third of the back of my head, right under the skin beyond my skull.

    And still, it was nowhere near as wide as I planned, as I decided to just finish the bare bones of my meridians first, and expand them later. The next years were going to be really painful. The sacrifices one went through for cultivation. Maddening.

    For now I would create my cultivating aid, a crystal matrix of liquid qi inlain between my meridians, ready to purify qi. Qi that would be send in there by my aura, after a new modification.

    Wait¡­ I wanted to create that crystal matrix. Out of liquid qi. And my meridians were created out of liquid qi too. Why the extra step?

    Did meridians work that way?

    I needed a volunteer, or several.

    To the beach!

    I was stopped short as I opened the door. A curtain of water greeted me. Great, I completely forgot it was raining. Why did it always rain when I wanted to test some new idea? Did the world hate me that much? Because mom absolutely forbid me from going outside while it was raining, talking about some strange dangers that came out in the rain, prying on small beings.

    I¡¯d have to wait then. Not really a problem for me normally, after all I needed ever more qi to expand my cultivation, and grow my network of meridians. I would work to fill my single meridian now though, if my plan worked I would need all the qi I could get, to kickstart my crystal lattice meridians.

    But if I were able to create my crystal matrix out of meridians instead of liquid qi that would be simply great. Creating liquid qi wasn''t meant for precision, and while I could get pretty damn precise by using hair thin strands of void, doing so was tedious and did tend to randomly cause problems every now and then. Creating meridians with liquid qi was far more precise, and could be done at a far smaller scale. I had yet to see my qi randomly get out of control when directly controlled.

    Directly using meridians would also decrease the chance of liquid qi muddling up the lattice, and forcing me to redo it from zero every now and then. I couldn''t remove meridians though, so I¡¯d have to be extra careful with those. And careful meant slow. Great. More pain. I really hoped I¡¯d get used to that kind of pain soon, or I would go mad before long.

    Well, madder than I already was anyways.

    Wait, if I was doing some meridian research I wouldn''t need to go to the beach, something smaller should suffice, like a fly. My eyes scanned the room, searching for one of the ever present pests.

    I didn''t find any. Honestly that wasn''t all that surprising, considering I went through the trouble of killing nearly two dozen flies earlier that day. I hated the small, persistent pests. They were bad back home, but here, with no way to close the window with something other than a sheet of leather they could get in whenever they wanted.

    And just like rats flies were really good at transmitting diseases. And getting seriously ill in this world probably meant death for me and my mom. And I really had no desire to die, and be born in worse circumstances. If I were to be reborn again at all, I had no clue why I was in the first place anyways.

    Which meant going through the trouble to kill any pests entering our house with extreme prejudice, trying my best not to actually touch any of them directly. Well, it wasn''t like I was in a hurry, though a distraction from the pain would have been nice. Real nice.

    A day later I was outside once again, holding a crab in my hand. And all I could do was stopping myself from laughing out loud like a maniac. It worked! Hair thin meridians spread through the crab, slowly filling with liquified qi as I pushed ambient qi into the structure spreading through its shell.

    It worked even better than the ones I made out of liquid qi in my earlier tests a few weeks ago, as qi got purified significantly faster. And new qi didn''t block the crystal lattice like it did when I used liquid qi directly. Though the increased speed was probably a result of the superior precision caused by me having direct control over the process, and not simply abusing a natural process like I did with the creation of liquid qi.

    This changed things. I had already planned to spread vein like meridians through my body in due time, but didn''t actually plan to fill it with liquid qi crystals, as that would be bothersome and restricting. But now? If I ever wanted to cultivate as fast as possible, I had new possibilities.

    I could join a caravan, gobble up all that delicious qi on the move without any effort on my own, and naturally advance ever further, without any effort of my own. Well, with no effort after I finished all those meridians at least. Not that I wanted to do that though, travelling in medieval times was dangerous. And I didn''t need any danger in my life!

    Did I want to change my meridian map because of that? I could start by gathering some liquid qi all over my body, just under the skin, and start creating cultivating meridians right there. It would be the best thing to do, probably.

    At the very least it would maximize the total qi I gathered. But that would also mean creating meridians not originating in my brain, and I didn''t know if I wanted that. It could very well be that didn''t matter, or it could absolutely matter. Because I had to open my dantian at the center of my meridian system, as told about by my fiend, so it stood to reason that center would also have to be the center of my expansion.Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

    In the end the increased speed really wasn''t worth the risk. Sure it would speed up meridian creation significantly the earlier I started, but at the rest of having the center of my meridian network somewhere else. I decided I¡¯d continue as originally planned, with the minor change of connecting the occasional meridian to my skin. To siphon off all the liquid qi created by the hair thin crystal lattice meridians that I would spread all throughout my skin.

    It would take a long time to finish all that still, and I really didn''t envy all those that stupidly kept to tradition, and made everything by hand. They¡¯d have really weak meridians, or have to cultivate for a long time. Or use a stupid amount of qi filled resources, which didn''t sound all that good to me.

    I was getting ahead of myself though, I really should get my first set of meridians first, before planning anything else. Furthermore by now I often saw mom glancing at me with a conflicted look on her face. I guessed it had something to do with me not having officially broken through into the ¡®first¡¯ realm yet.

    She wanted me to be a cultivator, but we got more and more customers ever since about a year back, and mom was drowning in work. She really needed any help she could get. I probably had entered the age one normally went to search or get an apprenticeship normally, meaning my future prospects would look quite bad if I didn''t manage to become a cultivator soon.

    I¡¯d ask her in a few days.

    Though, I decided here and there that I wouldn''t officially ¡®break¡¯ into the first realm until my apprenticeship was going on for a few months. Until then I had plenty time to think of a one syllable name for myself.

    ---

    ¡°Hello Alranutsu, are you there?¡± A voice called out.

    Damn. She found out. Using an immortal¡¯s name in their aura always alerted said immortal of that person. And a persistent young human was waiting at the entrance of his forest. Three weeks! She had only left three weeks ago, practically the blink of an eye really, and here she was again.

    Alranutsu sighed loudly, and got up from his resting spot. The human was surprisingly persistent. He got some water, shaped a cup, and allowed her to see him, standing next to her with the cup floating between them. As always when she saw him the human¡¯s lip quivered for a moment, like she suppressed some kind of reaction.

    ¡°Hello little human. Do you want something to drink?¡± He asked.

    ¡°Sure, thank you.¡± She said.

    His small human took the floating cup, taking a sip of the spiritual water within.

    ¡°This is good.¡± She said. ¡°So, I have three hours before I have to return home. What do you want to do?¡±

    ¡°Return to cultivate. You stopped me right in the middle of it.¡± He grumbled.

    ¡°Oh come on. Don''t be so grumpy!¡± She cried. ¡°I even gave you another week, to finish my first meridian.¡±

    ¡°You gave me time?¡± He grumbled. ¡°You do know I am a powerful immortal and you a second realm cultivator?¡±

    ¡°Of course I do. But what does that have to do with anything. You¡¯re old and grumpy, and need someone to help you appreciate the finer things in life. You only seem to do one of those, sleeping. But I don''t think you eat, or drink, or have any kind of other fun. That can''t be healthy. And the mental health of one as powerful as you is even more important than that of someone weaker.¡± She stated. ¡°So I am going to help you.¡±

    ¡°I don''t need any help. I am just fine.¡± He tried explaining the slow human again,

    Fruitlessly, as he talked on deaf ears, his human ignoring the argument.

    ¡°Good to see you agree. So, today we¡¯re going to visit some nice landscapes. Take me to a waterfall with a small lake.¡± She said.

    Alranutsu sighed, but complied. Apart from killing the human nothing would make her shut up, and he kinda liked the brave little thing. And stupid, but she was human, but that was a state of being, not something she could change.

    ¡°You really have no idea what I am talking about, don''t you?¡± The human complained.

    He didn''t know what her problem was. There was water falling into a small creek right in front of them. He really liked drinking that water too, back when he still drank stuff.

    ¡°Let''s go somewhere like this, I am sure a forest as vast, and beautiful as yours has something like it.¡± She said.

    A small marble flew towards him again, filled with a little qi. He touched it, and an image of a large waterfall, and a small lake beneath entered his mind. The sensation accompanying it were strange, alien really. So he destroyed all but the picture itself.

    Did his forest have something like that? His aura swept out, searching for such a waterfall. There. Not the exact same thing, but similar enough to satisfy his human. Hopefully.

    ¡°Beautiful.¡± The human whispered as they arrived.

    He looked at the waterfall and lake, but really couldn''t see anything special. Just some water falling down into more water.

    ¡°You don''t get it, do you?¡± The girl asked. ¡°Close your eyes, breathe in, breathe out. And repeat. Feel the aura of this place, the peace and quiet. The tranquility.¡±

    He did as asked, and sure enough, he could feel the aura of this place. Peaceful, but with an undercurrent of competition and killing. It really felt perfect.

    ¡°Now, open your eyes again, and see how the aura and the location interact with each other. How they build a perfect picture of a healthy forest, a place where life meets to drink lifegiving water.¡± She commanded.

    He did, and had to admit the picture did look good. The peace and calm he liked and needed while cultivating, but also the excitement of stalking prey, catching them unawares and ripping into their unsuspecting form. Like a good hunt needed to be.

    It made a good picture. Not good enough to come here on his own, but what fox couldn''t appreciate the simplicity of nature, of the nature of beasts.

    ¡°I can see what you mean. A little.¡± He admitted.

    ¡°Took you long enough.¡± The human said with a grin. ¡°We stood here for nearly an hour before you managed to find what I mean. You are slow, old fox.¡±

    ¡°Impudent human!¡± He grumbled.

    Still, he felt great, refreshed, and ready to cultivate. So he moved his human back towards her town, and returned to cultivating by himself. The human would return in time, and he was looking forwards to it. A little. Maybe.

 Chapter 13

    By now I lived ten years in this shitty world. Well, not shitty for me, though I did miss the convenience of the modern world. For all my grumbling I was happy just where I was. Sewing was just the kind of slow, boring job I wanted.

    Thanks to my cultivation I easily had the coordination needed not to worry about fucking my work up, and thus was a great help for my mom. My cultivation had increased significantly over the last years, with nearly half of my meridians done. Not at the thickness I wanted them to be, but that¡¯d come with time. By now, nearly a third of my skin was riddled with hair-thin crystalline meridians, purifying the ambient qi coming into contact with them.

    I had to change my aura, of course, forcing qi in an unstable, upwards spiral around my body. A spiral that made sure the ambient qi affected by it only hit the part of my skin I wanted it to. Still, after all these years I couldn''t help wondering where all this qi came from.

    Hell, I vividly remembered the day I opened up to the world, several years ahead of my peers. Speaking about my peers - cultivators in this instance - they probably mostly awoke near my age, with ten, when they opened up to the world.

    Which made today seem like a perfect time to officially awaken. Or any day in the last, and next months. But I felt ready today. I concentrated on the feelings I felt back then, the world had felt oh so significant, so empowering. And I pushed those feelings to the top of my mind, and on my face.

    I paused my work for a few moments, tilted my head until I was sure mom noticed it, before continuing my work. Having to choose your own name sucked though. If your parents named you, you had that name and had to live with it. But doing so yourself? You had to find a name you were happy with, and a name that would hopefully fit for the rest of your life. And most cultivators probably wanted a name that could easily grow with them.

    Not caring about getting a longer name opened up a lot of unique names for me luckily, one of which I felt connected to. Triss. My mother would not hear that name until dinner though. She¡¯d immediately stop working, or make a mistake out of happiness her daughter achieved ¡®greatness¡¯. Pah, what nonsense.

    Making a mistake now would be quite expensive, considering the silk the mortal merchant lady supplied to us, for a dress looking at much like a robe as possible without being one. Because only cultivators were allowed to wear robes. A stupid rule, who¡¯d want the ¡®privilege¡¯ to wear a robe? More like punishment. Because I just knew mom was going to force me to leave pants and shirt behind and start wearing expensive robes.

    We didn''t take long to finish today''s work, and mom started making dinner.

    "Mom," I called out.

    "Yes honey you did good today," she said.

    "Mom, you can call me Triss from now on," I stated.

    Mom whirled around, an elated smile on her face.

    "You did it," she cried. "How, when, why didn''t you tell me?"

    "Today. I felt a wave of something pass through me while we were working, so I concentrated on that feeling, and I broke through," I answered. "And I knew you''d react like that, so I didn''t say anything, that''d ruin the dress and silk."

    Mom nodded but did something I had never seen her do before. She pouted!

    "Berated by my ten-year-old daughter," mom grumbled. "And she is right. That''s just not fair!"

    "Don''t talk to yourself mom," I said. ¡°It¡¯s embarrassing.¡±

    But was ignored. Mom continued grumbling for a bit, and somehow found a bottle of something I knew I had not seen ever before.

    She gave me a mug about a tenth full of the stuff but gave herself a third of the bottle.

    "This calls for a drink," she said.

    Mom took a small sip, so I copied her, knowing full well what would happen. The vile, bitter taste of bad, cheap alcohol entered my mouth and burned all the way down to my stomach.

    I shot mom a betrayed look.

    "Mom," I protested. "Do you want to kill me? What was that?"

    She only laughed, a twinkle of amusement in her eyes as she took another sip. I matched her in spite of my feelings about the quality of that drink, seriously considering to change my profession to distilling alcohol. How hard could that be? I could surely do better than that though because that was quite literally the worst brew I ever had the displeasure of drinking. I glared at mom as she continued to sip on her drink and pointedly set the mug down in front of me, ignoring it. I wouldn''t drink any more of that if I wasn''t forced to. And that forcing would have to be quite insistent for me to give in.This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

    "So, Triss. How does it feel, being a cultivator?" Mom asked with a smile.

    ¡°I don''t know. Doesn''t feel all that different,¡± I answered.

    Mom¡¯s eyes nearly popped out.

    ¡°How can you be so dismissive of your achievement! Only very few humans ever manage to break into the first realm! You have a name now honey!¡± She said, obviously excited.

    ¡°Yeah, yeah. Exciting,¡± I grumbled. ¡°Everyone should have a name, it¡¯s such a basic thing.¡±

    ¡°Don''t say such a thing, we mortals can live without one just fine,¡± she said.

    I could only shake my head at the extent of either fear or cultural indoctrination mom displayed there. It was kinda sad. Not that I could, or would do anything about it but grumble, I was just a simple seamstress¡¯s apprentice after all.

    ¡°Mom,¡± I said seriously. ¡°I hope you won''t tell just about every customer about that. I still don''t want to be a cultivator. I am fine with being a seamstress. I really am.¡±

    ¡°But cultivators are powerful beyond compare, they are more than normal people,¡± mom tried to convince me.

    ¡°They would also be naked people if we didn''t make clothes for them,¡± I explained with a grin.

    Mom spluttered, quickly suppressing a grin herself.

    ¡°That''s not how you talk about your peers young lady! And that''s not how I raised you!¡± She said. ¡°Just because you are a cultivator now doesn''t mean you can do what you want! She stressed, breaking her cultural bias for the first time I noticed.

    ¡°But I''m just a seamstress¡¯s apprentice mom. I don''t want to go out and fight beasts. Or humans. I actually don''t like fighting at all,¡± I explained. ¡°I don''t understand why anyone would want to fight, especially at close range.¡±

    ¡°How would you fight otherwise?¡± Mom asked.

    Wait what?

    "How about throwing stuff at others really fast? It''s not hard." I asked.

    ¡°I don''t know anything about fighting myself Triss,¡± mom admitted, ¡°But I¡¯ve never seen someone use a weapon that did that. Perhaps some eccentric cultivators are using weapons like that somewhere, but ranged weapons are not common.¡± She explained.

    Strange. But weapons were mainly force-enhancers, so if you could not get enough of your own force behind an attack it wouldn''t be worth it.

    Still, a sling should be a very useful weapon for cultivators. Well, I hoped I would never have to find out. Perhaps cultivators used qi to attack in the distance somehow? Stop it. I shouldn''t let mom¡¯s dreams affect me as much. Bad Triss.

    ¡°Good to know I guess. So when is the lady coming back?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Don''t worry about it. She¡¯ll probably be here tomorrow, merchants like her have a knack of being at the right place at the right time,¡± she explained.

    ¡°How do you know that?¡± I asked. ¡°That''s not something I¡¯ve ever heard about.¡±

    ¡°Your father told me about it,¡± mom admitted.

    ¡°My father? Tell me about him,¡± I asked.

    A pained, conflicted look entered mom¡¯s face for a moment before she straightened up.

    ¡°Are you sure? There are really only two things you need to know about your father,¡± she asked.

    ¡°Yes. Tell me,¡± I answered.

    ¡°Very well. He was a powerful cultivator and is dead,¡± she said,

    ¡°Come on mom, don''t just stop there!¡± I complained.

    ¡°Fine, fine. I just don''t like to talk about him. Those times are filled with painful memories. As I already told you, your father was a cultivator just like you are. But he was powerful, very powerful. When we met he was already gathering qi to break into the third realm for nearly half a decade, which is impressive considering his circumstances.

    I don''t know much about his past, but do know he was hunted before we met. By who, I don''t know. Our first meeting didn''t go well, your father entered my shop, bloody, and told me to dress his wounds if I wanted to live.

    I agreed, of course, I didn''t want to die.¡±

    ¡°My father threatened your life?¡± I asked. ¡°How did I come to be then?¡±

    ¡°Well, we didn''t get off on a good foot at first, and it didn''t get better at first. He decided to hide in the back of my shop until he healed, and there was nothing I could do about it. His wounds were severe and poisoned, or so he told me later.

    Anyways. Living with the same person for months brings you together, and soon enough I was pregnant with you. Soon after that, his pursuers caught up with him, and they fought it out, destroying my old shop in the process.

    I saw your father get killed right in front of me,¡± mom sobbed once, before continuing. ¡°At the time I felt devastated, but we really didn''t know each other for long, and to them, I was just another irrelevant mortal. I didn''t know what to do with myself back then, but you forced me to look forwards, so I packed all my surviving gear and moved to start somewhere new.

    Back then the mayor had only recently taken over and was making some significant changes to the village. When I entered the village on my way to the city he had one of his underlings offer me a house to stay in return for my work for the village. I agreed of course, as my chances in the city were dim at best, which made that chance the best I would ever get.

    And I was right to trust into the mayor, just look at the town now! It¡¯s ten times the size it was over ten years ago, the people are wealthy, and we did not have a single problem with food!¡±

    What a story. Luckily mom was still alive.

    Still, my father was hunted? What did he do?

    I had no way to know, and investigating the death of a random stranger, whatever familial relations we had was not something I had any interest in. I was glad I didn''t have to meet the guy! Because if we did meet? I¡¯d have some serious words with the creep!

    ¡°Thanks for telling me mommy,¡± I said and got up to hug her, the tears in her eyes belying her previous words. She very much missed him still. Mom hugged me back, pressing me against her chest, tears dropping on my hair.

    ¡°Don''t be sad mommy, you still have me,¡± I said, trying to console her.

    ¡°I do. And you won''t ever leave me,¡± mom sobbed.

    ¡°Don''t worry, I promise I won''t,¡± I said.

    After mom calmed down we had a very nice dinner as I tried to describe her how I felt qi, but you really had to feel it yourself. It probably was like trying to explain hearing to a deaf person. But still, it was a good distraction for her. I would sleep in her bed just in case though.

 Chapter 14

    Pleasure cursed through me as I finished the last of my meridians. For now. I had taken a little less than a decade to finish them all - with some minor changes along the way - but now I finally did it.

    While I still had the same setup I planned upon initially I split all my meridians in two with a thin wall of liquid qi. After all if I wanted my meridians to be something similar to my blood veins the qi needed a chance to circulate. Which wasn''t really possible with my initial plan. So it had to be adapted. The adoption wasn''t anything major in theory, but it was. I had to change the basic setup a lot, to have the main meridian flow uninterrupted.

    Well, anyways it was time to try and open my dantian. Which was a problem because I spend most of my days working, with only one day off.

    Right now I was thirteen years old, quickly nearing fourteen. Which meant my apprenticeship would be finished in about two years, though I could do just about anything mom could. And more, considering I had started imbuing qi in some of the leftover cloth. Which had some very interesting effects, but wasn''t something I could sell, seeing as clothes like these lit up on just about any cultivators qi senses.

    Ah well, I shouldn''t stop working while thinking. Especially now. After all mom had spend just about as much time in teaching me how to craft clothes as she did with the economics of being a seamstress. What you had to look out for when buying cloth and other fabrics, how much to sell these clothes for. The basic, but useful stuff.

    If I really wanted to get rich I¡¯d have chosen a different occupation though. I didn''t see anyone in the entire town producing salt for example. Though I probably didn''t even need to change my occupation to make more than mom.

    Paying a few kids to spread my name, make a few posters, basic advertising really, would go a long way to get more and with the right type also wealthier customers. Good thing I wouldn''t need to bother with all those things.

    Today was my day off, so I went to visit the forest. It was nice and secure, and the qi inside felt fresher, more energetic than it did in the town.

    Which was strange, considering it definitely had not been like that when I first met him. Perhaps it was because of his increasing cultivation? He did say he was getting closer to a breakthrough. I tried telling him that forcing qi to do stuff was stupid, seeing as you could just trick it into doing what you wanted.

    He told me that was just another form of control, which I guessed was true in a way. But also not. I just abused the natural properties of qi, which made things easier.

    Well, old people didn''t like to change, and he was older than anyone I ever knew before. By far.

    As I entered the forest I felt a chill pass through me from behind. Something was wrong.

    Qi seeped out of my body, and formed a tight circle around me as I started burning some of the qi in my body. The world slowed down, but nothing entered the area of my perception, there were no unnatural sounds, no moving leafs.

    Nothing.

    The feeling didn''t return after a few minutes, and I let out a sigh of relief. The fox had started ambushing me sometimes, to ''train'' me and prepare me for my life.

    He didn''t seem to understand I wanted nothing to do with fighting. Nothing.

    I was really exasperated when he started sprouting religious crap too. Something like ''the heavens make sure a cultivator''s life is filled with an equal amount of luck and peril''. Nonsense.

    It was like saying bad luck would seek me out again and again. After all his understanding of luck and peril only differed by the outcome. And only seemed to revolve around fighting.

    Any fight was bad new though, while my body was far over its peak, I had neither an idea how to nor the will to fight anyone.

    If I wanted to do physical activity I''d go jogging. Or swimming. But swimming was out, because ''the lords of the seas don''t take intrusion lightly''. Which apparently meant all oceans were filled with old, grumpy fish.This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    And while I liked eating fish I very much doubted they''d like that topic of conversation very much. Yet on the question on why the fishers in town were ignored he told me mortal creatures were too insignificant for their notice.

    Which meant I was quite lucky not to be born a fisher''s daughter, because then I''d probably be dead by now.

    Anyways, I moved towards a cave I knew to be near here, a gift from my friend for my last birthday. Ever since I got it I did most of my cultivation in there, at least on my free days.

    At first only to please him, because he was so stupidly strong to see me everywhere I was, but later because it was just relaxing. Something about that small, rustic cave just felt perfect for that activity.

    I tried finding the source of that feeling for a while, but was unsuccessful in the end. It seemed harmless though, so there was no reason to stop.

    Especially because it eased the pain of what I hesitatingly called my soul when forging meridians.

    I arrived at the cave, not wondering for the first time how no one seemed to be able to even perceive the cave. I had tried searching if there was any qi embedded, or some aura of fear, but nothing.

    Probably smell, something my still very human nose could perceive. I had noticed that small detail about a year ago, and decided to completely ignore it, no need to smell better than I already did, and smell all the ''delicious'' smells this world in my nose all the time.

    I banished all those unpleasant thoughts out of my head, lay down on the comfortable pillow I made myself out of leftover cloth.

    Time to try and open my dantian. What was a dantian? A vault for my qi? A space to store more qi than your body could hold? Perhaps all or none of those?

    I had no real way to know, but did know they weren''t perceivable for all but the most powerful cultivators. Which meant they were only loosely anchored in the body, if at all, but in the soul.

    So that''s why I created all those meridians? To get a feel for my soul? That made quite some sense. Damn. It worked for sure, after all I had a permanent connection to my soul, thanks to my meridians. Those were mainly anchored in the body though, and only loosely in the soul.

    So opening my dantain was just pushing qi fully into my soul? Perhaps? It sounded plausible, and painful. Very, very painful. Damn it!

    I hated pain, and didn''t look forwards to experiencing even more of it! But I needed a dantian, after all my meridians still lacked a ''heart'' to pump qi through them. Otherwise I''d need to adjust my plan, but so far qi seemed to behave like I wanted, and expected it to. Even contrary to how others imagined it actually, which meant there was a heavy mental factor involved too.

    Well, did I want to open my dantian now? I had only one day of liquid qi in my body, and just creating meridians took a lot. And that only pushed through a minor part of the soul, not directly into it.

    Yeah.

    Better safe than sorry.

    I''d wait until my meridian network was filled with liquid qi before I tried anything. With me actively cultivating, as well as my crystal meridians helping all the time, I''d need about seven months to gather all of that qi.

    Long, but not outrageously so.

    I got up, and moved to leave the forest.

    I knew something was wrong the moment I left the forest. There were a bunch of people surrounding our house, chatting loudly, and excitedly.

    "Mom." I sobbed.

    I broke out in a run, my legs nearly blurring as I sped forwards. I only stopped when I arrived at the backs of the people before me, and forced my way past.

    They didn''t really notice me, but moved aside unconsciously.

    The building was guarded by two of the guards, who stopped me from entering.

    "Child, please step back." He said.

    I nearly brushed him aside too, feeling he was weaker than me, but caught myself just in time.

    "Let me in." I demanded definitely. "This is my house."

    "You are too young to own a house." He said.

    He was trying to probe my body with his qi in the meantime. I absentmindedly absorbed it, doing that was considered rude without consent. The guards eyes widened, alarm entered his eyes, and he took a step back.

    "What is your relation to the owner of this house?" He answered cautionatly.

    "I live here, with my mom. Now let me in!" I said, nearly crying by now.

    Pity entered the guards eyes, but he took the step forwards back, before speaking up, while his partner entered the house.

    "You really don''t want to enter." He said.

    I considered wasting more time on him, but in the end just stepped around him and entered through the now open door, long before he had a chance to react.

    "No. no. no please no." I whispered.

    It couldn''t be. Not mom. Not me.

    But there was no denying the scene in front of me. Two guards were in the room, one whispering something to the other, and my mom.

    Or her lifeless body. Because she wasn''t moving, and while there was no blood there was no doubt. Her chest had been crushed.

    I dropped to my knees, forgetting all those and everything around me as sobs started wrecking my body.

    I felt someone awkwardly patting me on the back, and words being spoken, but I ignored them. They didn''t matter.

 Chapter 15

    Captain Tiger was having a great day, as usual. That was until one of the fisherkids came running in the guardstation.

    "Papa send me to get you revered immortal. He found a dead body." The kid shot out, excited.

    "Aru, Uru, follow me." He commanded.

    Normally he liked dealing with kids, they were naive, innocent and always respectful. But a murder in his turf was serious business, and needed his full attention.

    Otherwise the mayor would have his skin. Maybe even literally if someone important enough was killed.

    "Who is the victim?" He asked.

    "Seamstress. The one with pockets." The boy answered.

    "Lead the way." He commanded, already wrecking his brains for what he knew about that particular woman. Not much. A cultivator like him simply did not have any relation to a mortal. Even that he knew about her was just luck really, seeing as her idea had been added to all clothes in the town.

    And surrounding towns. Probably even to a city. She had a daughter, didn''t she? At least she wasn''t important. Not really.

    "What about the girl?" He asked.

    "I don''t know. Papa said to find you." The boy answered.

    "Tell me where it is." He said.

    The boy did, and moment later he arrived at the scene of the crime. Of course townspeople already stood around, chatting loudly.

    "Clear the way." He yelled.

    The people took one look at him, and his armor and moved out of the way. At least one good thing about those ridiculous armors that mayor insisted on, people respected them immediately.

    He entered the house, and looked around. The fisher that found the body had naturally long vanished, and seeing as he heard both of his guards take their place outside the boy too.

    Mortals were slippery that way. Anyways.

    His eyes refocused on the body in front of him. Well, the fisher was certainly innocent, no mortal could kill that way.

    The body''s chest was crushed, but that seemed to be the only wound, with the skin still unbroken. He knelt down besides the woman, and send his qi into her.

    Every being cultivated a little, until their body was saturated by qi. Qi that would move out of the body as new qi moved on, no longer blocked by every living beings aura.

    Together with the qi flow in this room he would be able to determine the time of death. The cause was obvious.

    And the cultivator couldn''t be more powerful than the first realm, perhaps in the early stages of the second. Otherwise the room would look different.

    The woman died about three hours ago. Where was the daughter then? He got up, and walked towards the second door when he heard a commotion outside.

    Someone was talking to Uru, their voice shaking.

    He continued on for another step, when Aru entered the building.

    "Sir, the daughter appeared. And she''s probably a cultivator." He reported.

    Interesting. Just as he finished that thought a young girl entered the building, and Uru yelped in surprise.

    He watched as the hope died on her face as her eyes fell on the woman''s body. Uru entered behind her as the girl collapsed into a sobbing mess.

    "Close the door." He commanded.

    His underling nodded, and followed the order.

    "Make sure she doesn''t leave. I''ll look into the backroom first."

    The second room of the house did not look suspicious in any way, no signs of fighting, blood or something else. Just what a mother and her daughter would have.

    And while the qi in the room behaved a little strange it did not move suspiciously enough to warrant a search. So he returned to the workroom. The girl still looked like a mess, with tears streaming down her face. But at least she actually reacted to his two guards.The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    By scuttling away from them whenever they moved towards her.

    Great.

    Children were only fun until they were frightened. So he donned his best drill instructor face and droned on.

    "Name." He practically yelled.

    The girl''s face snapped up, directly towards him. She stood up, and retreated into one of the corners.

    "Did you kill my mother?" She asked.

    "Answer my question." He yelled.

    The girl shrunk back into herself before straightening out again, and staring back definitely, a glimmer of something in her eyes.

    "No!" She replied forcefully. "Answer mine first. Did. you. kill. my. mother?"

    He knew that look. And wouldn''t be getting any answers without a little bit of tact.

    "I did not. Neither did any of the townsfolk. Your mother was killed by a cultivator." He answered, before shooting his question again. "I won''t repeat myself. NAME?"

    She looked towards him, towering over her, and his guards, blocking off all escape.

    "Triss." She said.

    Good. She wasn''t dangerous then. Just a first realm cultivator. He didn''t know how she managed ascend, but it seemed karma caught up to her.

    "Follow me." He commanded.

    Looking at her he decided to add. "And don''t you DARE run. I will hunt you down!"

    The girl nodded meekly, wiping the tears out of hear eyes, straightening her clothes, and fixing her black hair a little, before moving out of her corner. Slowly, and ready to run.

    Women. Tiger couldn''t help but snort.

    "Let''s go. Uru, you stay here, guard the scene, I will send someone to replace you later." And clean the scene, he added in his mind. Uru saluted, and took a post in front of the small house as they left.

    "We will take the girl under the mayor''s protection for now." He yelled. "Nothing to see here, move along, back to your work. Time to disperse."

    They arrived back in the middle of the town soon later, and entered the guard barracks. Now what to do? The girl''s mother had just been killed, and while her reaction, as well the new drive in her steps, seemed genuine she was still a suspect.

    After all, he didn''t know what any cultivator worth his salt would want from a mortal. He could just ask her to swear a heavenly oath. Unconventional this early in an investigation, but possible.

    Especially as she was a cultivator herself, and not solving that case could have serious repercussions later on.

    "Would you swear a heavenly oath that you did not kill your mother?" He asked.

    Anger entered her eyes for a moment before her eyes returned to steel.

    "What is a heavenly oath?" She asked.

    "You swear something to the heavens, they will hear you, and judge your words. They will also deal out any punishment they deem necessary." He explained.

    The girl contemplated for a bit, before agreeing with a resolute nod.

    "You will search for the actual murderer if I do?" She asked.

    "Yes. And learn to curb your tongue in presence of your betters." He commanded.

    ---

    All sadness had long been washed into the abyss by anger. Someone killed my mother. And then this prick abducted me from home, from her body! And tried intimidating me in a way that''d never work if I was emotionally stable.

    And now he wanted me to do some religious bullshit. As if that would prove anything. Best get over it. How did I make this sound as grandiose and pompous as possible? Religion was mainly ritual after all.

    "Anything I need to know or add?" I asked, just to be sure.

    "No. Just include the heavens in your oath." The stupid giant answered.

    Good.

    "I thrust my soul to be judged by the endless heavens. To see I did not kill my mother, nor did I want, plan or participate in any such plan. So I swear." I said.

    The giant gasped a little when it happened. I felt something enter me, my whole being.

    It locked my qi, the qi in the room, before lighting up the room and vanishing.

    Well.

    That happened.

    Just great.

    Now I''d have to think over all religious stuff I had discarded over the years, and examine it with a grain of salt. This day just got even worse.

    I refocused on the giant, and felt his qi senses trying to invade my body. No sir. Though it did look kinda clumsy. I nearly pitied the guy.

    "So." I said, breaking his concentration. "What now?"

    "Goddammit girl. Didn''t you see I was concentrating?" He swore.

    Of course I did. Which is why I said something. Why did he do it like that though? I could sense everything in a sphere around me, only blocked by solid objects.

    Perhaps his range was less than mine? I did have significantly more qi, true, but my qi sense would have included him even when I just broke through.

    Strange.

    I''d think about it later.

    For now he started trying to probe me again, so I spoke up again.

    "Sorry." I said meekly, letting my tears start flowing again. "But what now?"

    The giant, who still did not tell me his name, sighed, and gave up.

    "I will check who entered the town in the last few days. Aru will register you, and go over anything you know." He said, resigned.

    Great, a talk with the idiot. Who''d want to be called Aru? I''d rather be nameless!

    As the giant left the room I followed the other guard towards a second, arriving in what could only be called a mess hall.

    "Get yourself something to eat, you need it." He said to me. "And GET OUT, official investigation." He yelled towards the few guards loitering inside.

    They grumbled a bit, but soon moved out. Well, I noticed all of these guys were mortals when they moved past us, so no wonder.

    I really felt rather hungry though, so I moved towards the one table I could see full of nonperishable food. I didn''t look great, but better than nothing. Water would be quite important.

    Especially because of what was about to come, there were so many people that visited the business over the last weeks.

    Good thing my memory was getting better the more qi my brain held, if needed I could draw an accurate picture of a third of our customers, and vaguely describe all. I did not know if wanted posters existed in this world though.

    And didn''t stop to think about it. I couldn''t stop. Not now. Never.

 Chapter 16

    "Do you know any cultivator?"

    "I do. Several in fact." I answered. "They were our customers at one point, supplying materials so mom could make them something directly. We even had to upgrade our tools to work with all those valuable materials." I explained.

    "Did any of your customers leave unhappy, swore revenge, or something similar?" He asked.

    "Not that I remember. They all seemed quite happy with our products." I said.

    "Do you know of amy cultivator that would want to kill your mother or you?" Aru asked.

    "No. Wait, yes. Mom told me my father was a cultivator, and killed by a bunch of them." I remembered.

    "Do you know who they were, where they were from, anything?"

    "No. Well, not from here." I said, my head hanging sadly.

    Aru sat up straight suddenly, his eyes focused.

    "Do you remember your father? The robes those that killed him wore? What sect he was from? His power?" He shot out.

    "No, he was long dead before I was born." I answered lifelessly. "But mom said he was at the peak of the second realm."

    The guard in front of me nearly whistled, before catching himself. He opened his mouth for a moment, but no sound came out. He tried for another few times, before giving up with a sigh.

    "We''ll have to wait for the captain to continue with that." He finally said. "Can''t do much more without our records, which means I might as well get you registered now. Wait here, I''ll be back in a moment."

    While I waited for the guard to returned I focused inwards, on my own cultivation, and did my best to quiet the turbulence I found there.

    Yet that turbulence led me straight back to my own thoughts, away from the little island of sanity that would allow me to function until my emotions overwhelmed me.

    I just hoped I could keep up until night fell, I was alone and could mourn in peace. Luckily the guard returned before I managed to sink into a pit of sadness and loss, and sat down loudly.

    I gave him a grateful smile, wiping any new tears from my eyes and face, before refocusing on the man in front of me.

    "So what now?" I asked, happy for the interruption.

    "Now you''ll get registered. Any human settlement with a cultivator more powerful than yourself expects you to announce your stay. If you don''t you''ll get in some serious problems." He explained. "Which is why we are confident to find your mother''s murderer, at least in name, if not in person. Now. Let''s get to it, you ready?"

    "Yes."

    "Ok. State your name, and how to write it if you know." He started.

    "Triss." I said, telling him the syllable it was made of.

    "Good. Since when have you been a cultivator? He continued.

    "I broke into the first realm with ten. When my body reached equilibrium with the ambient qi." I answered.

    "Why didn''t you come to the watch? We would have taken you gladly." He said.

    "I was happy. I didn''t want to fight. I just wanted to work and live my life. And I didn''t know I had to tell anyone, neither did mom." I said.

    "The answer to this question is obvious then, but I have to ask nonetheless. What''s your occupation, and what did you do in the town?" He asked.

    "I am a seamstress. Well, officially an apprentice, but I already learnt everything mom could teach me. And I planned to work here for the rest of my life." I said.

    "You planned? What about now?" He asked.

    "I don''t know. I will have to think about it." I said honestly.

    "Thank you for your cooperation. You are currently under the protection of the mayor, and will have to sleep in here if you want to keep it. I can show a free room to you." He said, eyeing the setting sun outside.

    I nodded, and the both of us stood up, with Aru leading me towards another part of the compound.

    Once in the room I only closed the door, pulled a table in front of it, and collapsed onto the bed with my clothes still on.

    I hugged the small pillow to me chest, and allowed myself to go. Deep, long sobs wracked my body as I mourned my mother, and slowly drifted off into an uneasy, and nightmare filled sleep.

    After a way too short night I was woken by someone loudly knocking on the door. I opened my eyes, and shot up, where was I? Why did my eyes feel raw? I didn''t know anything in this room!

    When whoever woke me knocked again my eyes focused on the door, the door I barricaded, everything came back. No. A sob escaped my throat, before I managed to gather myself a little better, now that I slept a night and cried myself out.Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators!

    I needed some water.

    First I would need to open the door though, because someone didn''t stop knocking!

    I got up resolutely, marched to the door, removed the obstacle, and opened a small crack, glaring at the man standing in front of me. It was one of the two that accompanied the big guard yesterday, but I didn''t know which - they looked the same.

    ¡°Yes?¡± I asked.

    ¡°The captain wants to see you.¡± He said.

    ¡°No.¡± I stated. ¡°I will not leave this room like this. I need at least a bowl of water to refresh myself.¡±

    ¡°One of the servant is already on her way, don''t worry. The captain even send her to get you some fresh clothes.¡± He said kindly, before leaving.

    ¡°Don''t take too long, the captain is no patient man.¡± He added.

    I nodded in agreement, before slamming the door closed again. A few minutes later an older woman knocked on the door again, one of our standard robes and a bowl of water in her hands.

    ¡°Hello there honey.¡± She said kindly. ¡°Is there anything else I can help you with?¡±

    I shook my head, took her offerings, and returned into the small room. After getting fresh, and changing into the robe. Why a robe? I hated those things!

    At least it somewhat fit.

    A guard - this time a mortal - was waiting for me when I left the room, as composed as I managed. Which was hard, because even though I already went through puberty once it still influenced me.

    And I needed to be at my best now, dealing with cultivators always did. They were all arrogant pricks, though the guards seemed decent enough.

    Well, they did work as guards for mortals.

    Except the captain. He was a prick like all other cultivators I had met so far.

    On the way to wherever I''d meet the captain I thought about what I wanted to tell him. That heavenly oath did absolve me of crimes after all, so he shouldn''t be too suspicious.

    Cultivators were rude people though, and he was one, even if not all that talented. Well, I did not know how talented he was, I had never tried changing my aura after all. It did sound like a good skill to have, anyone more powerful than me could easily lick me up like this.

    How did the mayor not do so until now? It wasn''t like I even knew could could hide or control your aura until now. I''d just have to ask.

    I would have to ask a lot of things. How did the watch deal with murderers? Would I get punished for hiding until now, even though I didn''t know about that law. ¡­ Well, better not ask about that last one, no need to remind him of that small little detail.

    Perhaps I could probe the guard in front of me for some information?

    "Excuse me, where are we going?" I asked meekly.

    "To the captain." He answered, gruffly.

    "What for?" I continued.

    "You''ll see." He said.

    "Are we there already?" I asked.

    "No."

    I pouted. That wasn''t fair! He should answer me, I was but a small child after all!

    "What happens to me now?" I asked him.

    "Ask the captain, we''re here." He said.

    And knocked on the door, and mentioned me in when we were bid entry. The captain was still a giant, even sitting he was nearly as tall as me. How was that fair! I wouldn''t grow all that much anymore, yet here he was, towering over me!

    "Good to see you are still here." He said to me, before turning towards my escort. "Private, I can take it from here, return to your post."

    "Yes Captain Tiger." The man answered.

    Captain Tiger? I barely managed to keep the grin off my face. Who''d name himself tiger? A five year old?

    "Did you sleep well?" He asked.

    I gave him a blank stare, trying to express just how stupid he was asking that question in my eyes. Of course I did not sleep well! Didn''t he know how to use his eyes?

    "Right. Stupid question. Anyways, I read through your interview yesterday. Triss. How did you come to that name?" He asked.

    "I liked how it sounded." I said.

    How did he chose his name? Differently. The giant sighed, before speaking up again.

    "Right. Of course you did. So what do you plan to do now? I know, or at least think I know who killed your mother. And he''s not someone even the mayor can afford to offend or kill." He said.

    "I don''t know." I said.

    Mom''s loving face appeared in my mind, and. my resolve hardened even more. I would get revenge. He would regret killing my mother for the rest of his life!

    "But I will get revenge, no matter what." I continued, steel in my voice.

    The giant sighed, sadness entering his eyes.

    "And how do you plan to kill him? You''re a thirteen year old, and he''s a fresh second realm cultivator. A true talent considering he is only eight years older than you are."

    So a pushover. Nevertheless, I fixated the man with my eyes again, once again showing just what I thought about him.

    "Why would I kill him? That''d just make me like him. And he''d not be able to regret his actions if I did! Oh no, I am going to destroy him. And everything he holds dear." I explained, savage glee entering my voice as I thought about my revenge.

    After all vengeance was a dish best served cold.

    "So, who was it?" I asked.

    "Treden, youngest son of the patriarch of the Waid Clan." He said, obviously expecting a reaction.

    So? Who was that? Did he expect me to know every random family in the world? I was just a seamstress''s daughter for heaven''s sake.

    "And?" I said.

    "The Waid Clan is powerful. They have several branches in the region, with their main branch in Goldbloom City." He explained.

    Wow. That was really helpful, I felt like I knew what he meant now. Not. How could you explain something without mentioning a single detail? That guy really was a musclebrain. It should''ve been obvious I lacked anything resembling common sense to him!

    "So will you stop your doomed vengeance, and do something with your life instead?" He asked. "I am sure the mayor would be delighted to hire a spirit seamstress. Cultivating crafters are the most precious resource a town has after all. You can also join the watch, and make sure something like this doesn''t happen again." He said.

    "Can I think about it? I need a little time. And some fresh air. Where is the mayor by the way?" I asked.

    "Of course. You have two weeks. You can stay in the barracks for that time. I will need an answer by that time though, we don''t feed freeloaders." He said. "And the mayor is out of the city, or the clan member wouldn''t have dared kill your mother, he''s in the mayor''s own town after all." He said.

    "Ok." I said.

    Now. What to do? I had two weeks, which wasn''t much time to plan my future.

    I''d also have to find a way to control my aura, and should try to find one to mask my cultivation. Great.

    I left the building and made my way to the forest, I needed some time to myself, and nobody went into the forest but me. Well, I saw some kids do so for a few minutes once, but that was likely as a challenge of bravery or something like that.

    It was just what I needed now.

 Chapter 17

    "So, where do you get your salt from?" I asked.

    My mother had died three days prior, and I needed a break. While I could function reasonably well again, far faster than I thought I would my current training was no fun. Controlling my own aura was hard, harder than I thought it could possibly be. Especially considering I already changed it. I thought it was similar, or that I could find a way around it again, like having my aura manipulate itself, but no. I did not find a way to circumvent training so far. Which really sucked.

    ¡°I buy it from a merchant coming from out of town.¡± He answered.

    ¡°Interesting. How they get that salt?¡± I continued on naively.

    ¡°Well, that''s easy. Cultivators take some wooden chips or similar things and fill them with salt intent qi.¡± He explained.

    Whaaat?!? They had a perfectly fine - and salty - ocean right next to them and ate salty wooden chips!

    "You don''t actually eat them." He said, seeing the look on my face. "Just break them over your meal, and the qi will flow into it."

    Well, that was better, but still.

    Was this world filled with idiots? Qi intent was something only people that had progressed pretty far along being a cultivator had managed. But perhaps that was only the optimal time to develop an intent for your qi, and you could do it earlier? To bridge the downtime to gather enough liquid qi to break into the third realm? After all if qi cost increased like it did before you''d need four hundred times more qi than you did for liquid qi.

    That did sound logical. Something to think about later.

    Well, no reason not to buy some salt.

    "How much does it cost?" I asked.

    I was short on money right now, after all my house was still locked. I''d be pissed if they stole it. Really pissed. Nearly all of my good memories in this world were in that house after all.

    "Three silver for a handful." He said.

    Damn, that was expensive. Still within the money the captain gave me yesterday, to ''buy myself something nice'' but it would take most of my founds.

    Could I afford to waste money like that? Not really, and my meals were already salty, so I couldn''t even use them, but the chance was just too good.

    I had never had the chance to study qi intent, and considering the power of the cultivators I had met so far, excluding a certain, currently absent friend, I probably wouldn''t need all that much qi to open my dantian. If my assumptions were correct that is. They had a good chance of being correct though, after all they made a lot of sense.

    "I will take half a handful then." I said.

    The shopkeep nodded, and vanished into the back as I counted the coins. He gave them a once over, and handed me my newest toy ¡­ experimental substance.

    "Say, are there any other types of salt?" I asked, just in case he used the good stuff. Or the bad.

    "Of course. There''s also spirit salt. It''s found in and near mountains. It a weak spirit stone, too weak for even the poorest of cultivators to bother cultivating with, but quite the sought after resource for rich mortals, or cultivators in the mortal realm.

    Spirit salt holds a little more qi than the ambience, but it doesn''t even cleanse it, though it does taste far better than normal salt. It''s significantly harder to transport though. Even a little water and the cargo is ruined. I don''t stock any, it¡¯s simply not worth the cost" He explained.

    "Thank you for your information." I said with a small bow.

    The shopkeep chuckled, before nodding to me.

    "Good to see you little one. Don''t let your mother''s death defeat your thirst for knowledge, will you?" He asked.

    "Of course I won''t! Don''t worry mister shopkeep." I said.

    The shopkeep was a strange man. He knew just about anything murdane, but ¡®knew¡¯ nothing about cultivating. He was like a walking library, so just perfect for little old me. How did he know all that stuff? I didn''t care! He was just a friendly old shopkeep after all.Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

    And how could he be a cultivator without having a name? He couldn''t.

    I once again congratulated myself to that perfect piece of flawless logic, and turned on my heel.

    ¡°Say you don''t have a wooden bucket you don''t need anymore¡¯?¡± I asked.

    ¡°I do. What do you need a wooden bucket for though?¡± He asked.

    ¡°That''s a secret.¡± I said.

    He laughed, and soon came back with my second order.

    About a quarter of an hour later I marched into the barracks, a bucket of saltwater in my left hand, a stick in my right and a pack of salt in my pocket. I got some strange looks, especially the bucket, but I didn''t care. It was time to experiment.

    I immediately retreated towards my room, ignoring the fire in the mess hall. People didn''t need to know what I was up to! I pulled a string out of the mattress, secured it with the string, and lowered it into the bucket.

    Now to see just how much salt I could get out of that.

    That bucket would need stay there for the night, so I turned towards more interesting projects. The small packet in my pockets. Lots of wooden chips I had seen at home from time to time, apparently filled with salt intent qi.

    I took one out, and focused on it for the first time in my life. Yeah, something different was in there. It didn''t feel like real salt though. It felt like salt tasted, but had none of the characteristics of salt.

    Still, I wasn''t interested in how incompetent the people that made this thing were, I wanted to know how qi intent worked, and how it differentiated from just changing how my aura, and the qi behind it did.

    First point of observation was the fact that it did, in fact, not lose the intent after leaving the creator¡¯s aura. If the creator wasn''t powerful enough for his aura to span a whole continent. To be honest that would be hilarious, but very unlikely indeed. I did a quick count, and saw I had a total of fifteen wooden chips in my possession.

    Good enough, I could destroy one or two then. First I simply send in a weak tendril of qi, so see what happened.

    Nothing.

    The qi simply flowed past the intent qi, not ever coming into contact with each other.

    Interesting.

    Could I, perhaps directly influence the qi, it was created by a cultivator after all, and out of their aura. I extended my mind, in just focused on moving a little of the qi. Failure. It did not budge. Well, next try. I excluded a little of my own liquid qi though one of the pores in my hand, and moved it into the wooden chip, ready for the same thing to happen again.

    But my qi brushed past the other qi, and took a little with it for a moment, before losing it again.

    Interesting. Perhaps intent qi had more in common with liquid qi than the gaseous qi it felt like then? I tried moving it directly again, only this time without a void, but falling towards something. It worked, if a little bad. So it was a mix in between the two? Strange. I could see two reasons for that, that qi had not been cleansed by me, and thus wasn''t really mine, even now, or perhaps something different. What if a little of the cultivators understanding of qi stayed with it. And he thought qi had to be forced to move, not compelled.

    So I¡¯d have to cleanse it again. Ew. That stuff felt really salty. Anyways, as always when I was cultivating I send the qi inside the wooden chip the feeling of getting observed, all the while constructing a mental crystal around it.

    Well. It worked.

    But slowly. Quite fascinating really. Also quite scary. Qi intent did not dissolve in ambient qi, and came under your control faster than it lost its intent. Which probably meant you had to cleanse all your qi of its intent before you could get one of your own.

    And I shouldn''t be eating salty food because that meant further taking in foreign qi intent. Great. Nope. I would not stop eating decently tasty food for a faster cultivation, where was the fun in that after all.

    My eyes focused on the bucket of saltwater in the room, I really couldn''t wait to get real salt out of it.

    Now I had something to do when I wasn''t waiting for water to evaporate at least. I refocused on the qi inside, and noticed it was nearly all cleansed, and already reacted much better to my commands than it did before. Good.

    I stopped my cultivation, that stuff was fine as it was now, I didn''t need it to cultivate. I took out another chip, and checked the qi inside. It was different. Now only the intensity of saltiness had changed, but the whole feeling of qi. So it was made by someone else. I checked every single one of the wooden chips, and not a single one was made by the same person.

    Well, that made sense. If people specifically trained some people to produce these they¡¯d need a lot of people to supply even a city, much less an entire region.

    And if you needed to cleanse all your qi of other free floating intent, however it came there, then you¡¯d be at an advantage the less power you had. So these salt workers probably were off worse than actual salt miners had been back home.

    And salt mines had been brutal.

    Anyways, qi all this intent seemed to be a little like a memory stuffed into the qi, only a little more vivid, and far more focused. It was also more, like it was the entire understanding this person had of salt, faulty as it might be, which made it harder to cleanse for me.

    And probably even harder from all others, depending if they knew what they were fighting against at the time, or simply tried brute forcing their way through. ¡­ It would be brute forcing, like everything seemed to be for cultivators. Such a waste really.

    Now did I have any intent qi integrated in my own cultivation? Time to find out. I sat down in meditation pose, something that I had been told meant I wouldn''t be interrupted unless absolutely necessary, by anyone, and focused inwards.

    Perhaps it was prudent to do this before I opened my dantian, so long as my qi was still static all the time, settled in my body right where I wanted it. That did seem wise, but created several more questions. Did I have enough to qi open my dantian? How long would it take to cleanse all my qi of any lingering intent? What happened if the original owner of said qi came into my presence, could they wrestle with me, and try and interrupt my qi control? Take back as their own?

    All disconcerning, and none something I could really do tests with. Until I had my own qi intent. I already know what that would be though. Gravity. What else could it really be, nearly all my cultivation revolved around it, or its consequences after all.

 Chapter 18

    The saltwater wasn''t all that concentrated, not that I knew what was normal. My whole bucket had evaporated after two whole days.

    And that was with me getting impatient and setting it down next to the fire in the night. All in all there wasn''t much salt gathered on the strong, though more than I''d feared in my worst case predictions.

    Still, any business relying on salt would need quite some time to take off. And if I used the same methods as we did back home - just letting the water dry out in the sun - it wouldn''t take long until someone copied my methods, and my monopoly would be broken.

    Which meant I''d need to do something in the meantime. I could just move into the forest, but I was a creature of the modern world still, and living without any amenities, even the very basic ones this town had, meant I had to stay.

    Well, working as a seamstress wasn''t all that bad. It was kinda fun by now actually. Which meant I''d need to make a decision. Did I want to sell qi enhanced clothes, or stay a normal seamstress? Both had their advantages, though I''d likely have to move if I wanted to stay a normal seamstress, seeing as the captain hadn''t even considered that possibility.

    Which meant it was too strange to consider and thus not worth trying to convince him of. It was tough! I didn''t know what to do!

    And I had no one left who I could ask for advice.

    After getting myself back together, and freshened up a bit more, I headed out once again, on my way to the shopkeeper of my trust. I knew the fox better, but he had even less knowledge of humans and their professions than I did. And he probably wouldn''t understand my sadness, seeing where he came from and what he was.

    "Hello again. How can I help you today?" The shopkeep asked with a friendly smile, the shop itself once again empty apart from the two of us. How his shop was ways empty, I didn''t know.

    "I''m here for one thing." I said, pausing for dramatic effect. "A little advice. You''re one of the only people I can ask. And the oldest."

    "It always warms my heart, helping youngsters. Ask you question girl. And I will do my best to answer." He said.

    "It''s Triss now." I corrected. "But that doesn''t matter. So, what''s a spirit seamstress?"

    "Holt it right there Triss. I will be right back." The shopkeep said, and vanished in the back for a moment, returning with two glasses and a bottle a moment later. Actual glass!

    "Doesn''t matter she says. You are wrong young Triss, advancing your cultivation is always a reason to celebrate. Now drink up." He said.

    I pouted at him. Once again an irresponsible adult, children shouldn''t be allowed to drink alcohol this young. Or someone in mourning! I took the glass of wine nonetheless, and glared at the old man. If that drink wasn''t significantly better than mom''s I wouldn''t drink more than a sip!

    I gingerly brought the glass up to my mouth, and took a quick sip. I''ll be damned. That was one good wine. At least compared to mom''s. I took another sip, feeling it burn down my throat only slightly.

    Quite some alcohol in there then. Good.

    "What?" I asked, seeing as the old man was looking at me strangely.

    "That''s not how you drink wine with another person young lady." He said.

    Before continuing to explain me basic rules I knew, but decided to forgo in the heat of the moment.

    "Old men and their rules." I complained nonetheless.

    The shopkeeper in front of me only laughed, taking a sip himself.

    "So. You want to know about spirit seamstresses or tailors then." He mused. "I guess the mayor''s lackey offered you to work as one. It''s a good job. Lots of different things you can do as one too.

    The easiest is probably just making normal clothes, and imbusing them with qi. It''s quite the unpopular method though, seeing as you have to sacrifice a part of your own cultivation to do so.

    No most spirit tailors use rare, naturally qi filled materials to achieve the same effect. I don''t really know how either does their stuff, but you''re a smart girl and sure to figure it out." He explained.

    We clinked out glasses, and both took another sip.

    "It''s quite the prosperous profession, as cultivators generally have more money to spend than mortals do, and are doing so quite frivolously, seeing as they are only one fortuitous encounter from gathering more." He continued.

    Be took another sip, and looking down, I saw my glass was nearly half empty.

    "You will have problems getting your revenge that way though. Spirit tailors aren''t all that powerful, and while rich they are not that rich. Sure, you could give all enemies of your enemies a discount, and not sell to them, but that''d be very unlikely to work.This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

    Now I am sure you have things to do, being an important cultivator like you are now, not some gossiping old man like me, so drink up and get to it. No rest for the wicked." He commanded.

    I glared at him. And I was going to gleefully tell him what he just told me. In detail.

    "It''s rude to drink a big gulp of wine. And so obviously throwing someone out. It''s simply not something you do." I explained with a shiteating grin, took a small sip, and opened my mouth to continue.

    "Now, now. I apologize for my previous lecture. But it would really be for the best were you to return to you activities now." He stressed.

    "Fine. Thanks for the drink, it was delicious." I said, gulping the rest of my glass down in a single turn, turned on my heels, and marched out of the shop.

    Now, what was he alluding to? Probably the mayor returning soon. Which meant I should be out of the barracks by then, or have my aura under control, one way or the other.

    I did not know how long I would take to get my aura under control, and didn''t feel close to a breakthrough too. Which meant I should move out.

    Easy enough.

    I entered the barracks, and made my way over the to captain''s office, knocking on the door the moment I arrived.

    "Enter." He called.

    "Hello there Triss, what can I help you with today?" He asked. "Did you make a decision?"

    "I did." I answered. "I''m going to be a spirit seamstresses, for better or worse I am no fighter, nor do I want to be."

    He didn''t need to know my plans after all. My nice life was over, my cultivation exposed to the wrong people. Really, how could my plans have changed that much over such a short amount of time. Regardless, my eyes focused back on my opposite.

    "Very good, I am happy to see you made the right decision. You can move back in your house until better accommodations have been found. Anything else?" He said with a smile.

    I huffed. What an oblivious idiot.

    "I don''t need a new house mine is just fine! What about my mother though?" I asked.

    "You can find her at the chapel. She has already been prepared, so you just need to go there, to release her soul from its mortal bonds and gift it back to the heavens." He said.

    "Thank you. Where do I find the chapel?" I asked.

    "It''s on your side of the town, furthest from the ocean. A really big building, can''t miss it." He said.

    "I''ll be off then, thank you for taking care of me." I said.

    I turned around and marched out if the door. A short detour had my clothes and bucket returning in my possession, and I was off.

    I remembered that I did have some formal clothing, a robe a all things, so I''d wash, change and go see my mother''s soul off.

    I stood in front of the chapel, it really couldn''t be missed, and hesitated.

    "And who might you be child?" An old voice asked.

    I looked up from the speck of dirt I had been staring at for the last few minutes, and saw an old person. They were so old in fact I couldn''t discern any gender, though they looked quite fit for that.

    "I am Triss. And you are?" I answered.

    "I am but a servant of the heavens. What brings you here, to my doorstep?"

    "I am here for my mother." I said. "To send her soul to join the heavens."

    "Ah yes, that poor woman is your mother then." The priest person said. "Come on in then. Do you know what you have to do?"

    "No. I have never been here." I answered. "And no offense, but I''d rather not be here right now."

    "None taken young Triss. Now, mourning the dead is hard, especially when their soul still lingers in the mortal plane.

    Her body is already prepared, as is the pyre. I see you already wear mourning clothes, so you are set.

    You will have to carry your mother''s corpse, and walk the hall of mourning, letting all your feelings of sadness, of regret, of bitterness, of rage and anger flow into your clothes. First you will place your mother on the pyre, and add your clothes on top of her.

    The heavens will ignite the pyre, and cleanse your mother''s soul, free you of the heavy weight her death left you with, and allow you to move forwards. And allow you to smile when you remember her again." They explained.

    "I''ll need a second pair of clothes?" I asked, already turning around to fetch one. "I didn''t know, sorry!"

    "Don''t worry child, you will not. The heavens will only cleanse your robe, not destroy it." They said.

    Soon enough I was standing next to my mother'' body, and her soul apparently. She looked just like she was sleeping, now that I couldn''t see the terrible injury that killed her anymore.

    I spike of sadness and anger shot through me, but I suppressed it, picked her up very carefully, and moved through the now open door next to me.

    I walked, and felt myself. I felt my soul, stronger than I ever did before, how it was still in turmoil, how my emotions affected me still. And I examined them, one by one, and pushed those pertaining my mother''s death out, to be caught by my clothes.

    All my grief, my sadness, my refret about never having a chance to tell her the whole truth, the anger at her murder. Everything.

    Just as I finished the feeling faded, I was back in my body, though it somehow felt lighter, easier to walk now.

    I respectfully placed my mother''s body upon the pyre in the middle of the round garden surrounding me, stripped out of my clothes, and carefully draped them over my mother''s form, taking a single step back.

    A moment later the whole pyre burst into flames, flames that ate and consumed the whole pyre at once, before forming into an image of my mother.

    "I love you child." She said, and her form exploded into light with a flash.

    When I could see again nothing was left in the middle. Nothing but my robe, perfectly clean and ready to be born again.

    I quickly dressed, and followed the new way out of the garden that appeared once I finished.

    I arrived next to the priest again, with no door behind my back.

    "How do you fe child?" They asked.

    I took stock of myself, and i did feel better. It seemed the suffocating feeling of sadness and rage that had accompanied me for the last days had been washed away.

    I still missed her dearly, but wouldn''t collapse in tears the moment I stopped doing something, or thought about her for a moment.

    "I feel better." I said. "Thank you for your help."

    "I am but a servant of the heavens, you can always seek me out for advice child, I am here, will always be here, and have been here since this building existed."

    They said, and vanished.

    Time to go back home. I had work to do, plans to make and a revenge to plot. After all I still felt the burning desire for vengeance. Though that desire mostly stemmed from the fact that I did not want to be known as a cultivator, and now was.

 Chapter 19

    I had no one to learn how to be a spirit seamstress from, and only did a few experiments before my mother died.

    So when the guard came to my home one week after I moved back in, asking if I was ready for my business to be announced for the world I shook my head, and told him I needed a little more time to experiment.

    And I did. Currently I was seeing if I could imbue the qi I threaded through the clothes I made with memories, for example of rockness. A pseudo intent so to say.

    And of course testing the products. And I could say it worked, to an extend. With the added bonus of being useless as a cultivation resource for people that didn''t know how to cleanse qi.

    Of course all those experiments didn''t take all that long, but I spend most of that time learning how to control my aura.

    Something that felt significantly easier than it did before I left that chapel. My time in there felt like a dream, but I knew what I experienced, even if it was strange. At first I had been worried - after all my head had been messed with, but the benefits had been tangible, so I decided not to complain.

    This time.

    I would stay as far from that building as possible anyways. Better safe than sorry after all.

    Extending it in a thin tendril was still hard, really hard even. Just compressing it down into my body was something I managed to do quite quickly, and while that stopped my aura from getting .ore qi to fall into my body it should also allow me to fool anyone into thinking I was a first realm cultivator.

    If they didn''t look too close. My control wasn''t perfect, and still wavered from time to time, but all in all I was ready to open business.

    So I left the house, this time not to buy some food but go into the town hall. The mayor had returned by now, and I had to speak with him before I was allowed to open business.

    I wasn''t worried, after all cultivators were rare, and cultivators that didn''t want to fight or at least learn a craft probably even more so. I had decided to wear robes, as much as I disliked them, and filled them with a thin net to of qi to reinforce it. I added a thicker net of qi at critical points for both robe and human too.

    I hoped it wouldn''t come to that though, and had a cloth napkin filled with qi in case he asked for a show of my skill.

    I hoped he''d be distracted by the craftsmanship and not look into my cultivation base. I wasn''t sure if I could rebuff him after all, and even if I did it wouldn''t be possible to keep my secret.

    The town hall itself was located in the middle of the town, in the central plaza just like the barracks were, so I took a little while to get there.

    I was lucky, and one of the guards I knew was on duty when I arrived, so he knew what I wanted, and where to direct me.

    The mayor was in his office, which was located in the highest point of the town hall, the only room on the fourth floor in the entire town.

    Office was no fitting name. Cultivation chamber would probably be a more apt name for the room I just entered.

    After all it was filled with qi, enough qi to normally fill a room four times this size usually. Interesting, but unsurprising. After all I could do something simar. I just didn''t need to anymore.This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

    "You must be the small cultivator Captain Tiger told me about. Triss. Good to see you finally found it in you to visit me." A voice said.

    I looked around, but didn''t see anyone. Great. Another person that could hide himself from me, though this one was probably less thorough than the fox. He just decided who saw him and who didn''t. This guy just used a trick.

    As I considered if I should tell him that doing that was really rude, a middle aged man stepped out of what seemed to be a wall.

    "Sorry for that, but I can''t stop doing that." He said.

    "It''s fine." I said.

    But made sure to glare at bit, though just long enough to show it wasn''t and make sure he got the message.

    "So, what do you think about my domain? Quite impressive, isn''t it?" He asked.

    "I''ve never seen something like it." I admitted honestly.

    Pah, impressive. Good thing I had my full mental faculties to me right now. Directly lying to him could be stupid. After all who knew what bullshit a third realm cultivator could do? I certainly didn''t.

    "So. Your name is Triss. Are you happy with that name, or want more perhaps?" He probed.

    "Nope. I''m fine. I like my name. No reason to change it." I answered happily.

    This was going splendidly.

    "Did you manage to control and cultivate qi yet? If not I fear you will not be able to be a successful business." He asked.

    "I did and am able to." I said.

    Not supplying any additional information.

    I drew the napkin out of my pocket, and threw it right to him. If he couldn''t catch something that slow moving I''d be seriously surprised.

    He did catch it, and inspected it. Probably with more than his eyes, but with my aura restrained I couldn''t sense qi beyond it. Or anything else really. Quite frustrating to be honest.

    "Very good. You are quite talented. Do you know how much you could sell this for?"

    When he spoke up again the mayor was speaking a little faster than before, but only a little, just as much as someone in the first realm could manage for a few minutes.

    Or what I assumed someone in the first realm could do at least. I based that on the stuff Brayden talked about in the cultivation manual. A drop of liquid qi to break into the second realm.

    Which was honestly a laughable amount. Anyways. I decided to be around half way, which meant I had perhaps three minutes time to do that.

    "No. If it wouldn''t trouble you too much I''d like to know about the average price range of my profession." I said.

    "Oh, it doesn''t trouble me at all. You are going to help me much more than I am going to help you, just by living here after all." He said. "Quite impressive you know this trick, did someone teach it to you? How long can you keep it up?" He asked.

    "I learnt it myself."

    True, but only half of it, I had been told what to work for after all.

    "And it''s rude to ask about someone''s cultivation. Especially if you are a stranger. But I can continue a little longer if I have to." I said.

    Also true, but very much misleading.

    "Very well. Are you sure you''re living fine where you are? As a cultivator you deserve a far better house than you have right now." He continued, back at normal speed.

    "I''m fine." I grumbled. "Why does everyone want my home? A cellar would be nice though."

    "A cellar? That''s easy. I''ll have one of my people take care of it immediately. You''ll probably have to move back into the barracks for a week or two though, digging a cellar under an already existing house is hard, loud work. Are you ok with that?" He asked.

    "Yes. But I can''t really work in the barracks, too little space." I warned.

    "Good, and I thought as much. You are a serious craftswoman after all. What do you want your cellar furnished with?"

    "Nothing much, a few cabinets to store my materials in." I said.

    "Perfect. You are excused then. Some of my people will arrive at your house soon, to do you cellar. Until then you can prepare for opening shop, I imagine you''ll get your doors ran in once the announcement is out. Now shush." He said.

    Actually shooing me towards the door!

    "The prices sir mayor." I coughed.

    "Ah yes, one of my people will create a list, don''t worry about it." He said.

    I nodded, bowed towards him, and left the room before he got any ideas. Like checking my cultivation. Now I just had to wait for a bit, before my plans could start. I really hoped there was bamboo to be found, and if not that than something similar. It was the basis of my plans after all.

    It was going to be glorious.

 Chapter 20

    "Behold" Yet another customer started.

    "Yes. Yes. I''m Triss. What do you need? Let me guess, a robe." I interrupted the man in front of me.

    Being the singular provider of cultivator made clothes was great. Sometimes. Sadly my work was just about as boring as work got, all I had to do was create the same robe over and over again.

    Well, at least I had much more free time than ever before. After all, all the qi I shoved into the robes I sold had to come from somewhere.

    And normal cultivators couldn''t get qi all that fast. Cultivators weren''t even real wizards, but still kept secrets like they were! Or I assumed they did at least, after all I found the thought of no other human or beast ever trying to speed up their cultivation by purifying qi ridiculous.

    My eyes focused back on the man in front of me. Tall, dark robes. Geh, boring.

    "So, you part of a clan?" I asked, extending a tendril of my aura from my body, and convetly checking his cultivation. Still first realm.

    "Yes. I am the great great"

    "Stop it." I said, interrupting him again.

    "Just the name of your clan. You can even add your own if you leave out the embellishments."

    I added a silent "Can''t you read?" because I had a sign outside. ''Spirit Seamstress, no grandiose speech allowed!'' outside. It was a really pretty sign too. And of course he heard my whisper.

    "Of course I can read." He said, getting agitated.

    "Why did you not read my sign then? It''s there for a reason." I asked.

    "No one reads shop signs!" He exclaimed.

    I could only shake my head in sadness. One day! Someone would read that sign one day!

    "So. Your name. And what to you want? I guess a black robe like yours? Ever thought about adding a little color? Black is quite obvious in the dark, a dark green, or blue, hell even a dark red would be better." I said.

    "I am Ti of the Moonless Sky Clan." He finally answered.

    Quite the accomplishment. Most cultivators that visited me took far longer to get to that point. Well, to be fair he was the first out of town cultivator to visit me.

    All of my other customers of the last five months and a few days had been from here. There really were a lot of first realm cultivators in this town. Far more than I thought, and all they did. was search the forest for treasures, and  them to the mayor.

    Well, and me too. I got a really pretty flower standing in my living room. Sure, it was supposed to be used as cultivation aid, but the pitiful amount of qi inside didn''t make killing it worth it.

    Anyways. My stuff was in hot demand, simply because qi filled robes had a lot of protection compared to simple cloth robes. Not that it really mattered, because those idiots just went somewhere else, somewhere more dangerous and came back for new robes every other month.

    "Arms out, back straight. I need your measurements." I said. "And what about those colors?"

    Yeah. Color. Every cultivator wore robes, but needed it to be made out of a different color. It was maddening! And I couldn''t even buy robes, because qi applied after the creation process worked far worse. Which was why I now had a loom in a corner of my cellar.

    I never used it really, after all there was no reason to do more work without more revenue.

    "Why do you think I''d be up in the night, and want to be seen less?" He asked.

    He took a step back, and his eyes started scanning the room.

    "Why would you wear black otherwise?" I asked. "Anyways, I don''t judge, I''m just a seamstress after all."

    The man, Ti, probably going for Tiger too, like so many of them, nodded, and returned in my clutches. Good.

    "So Ti, what can you tell me about the world? I''ve never left the town myself." I asked.

    While he thought about that, I turned around, getting something from my desk. I returned with a book, containing lots of colorful strips of cloth, something I stole from the big furniture retailers from earth.

    "You can look through this while you talk, find a color you like." I commanded.

    "I have not travelled all that far myself, to be honest this is the first time I am leaving the city myself. I plan to stay here for a while, and gather some spiritual treasures in the forest." He explained.This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

    "Them tell me about the city. And you should totally think about getting a second, colorful robe not for fighting. If you wear it all the time you can easily avoid situations like the one we just had." I told him.

    "That''s a good idea. Hmm, the city. There''s not much to tell really. It''s huge, far bigger than this town. And we had walls, really big walls. Yeah, that''s about anything I can think of." He ''explained''.

    I had to  suppress a snort, there was much more to a city than its size and walls. Well, I''d have to see myself. In time.

    "So, you made a decision?" I asked.

    "Yes. I''d like this one. You labeled it as dark blue." He answered.

    "Perfect." I said. "I''ll need some time to make that, and fill it with qi, so see you in about a month." I continued.

    "Very well, I will return in a month''s time." He said.

    I looked around the room, and had to admit something to myself. I needed a new house. I simply lacked the space to properly work.

    And to market myself. That sucked, but while I really liked my house, I had to admit it was lacking.

    And getting the needed changes would probably cost just as much as a house in a better location. Like near the beach. Because getting my saltwater turned out to be really hard to do unobserved, because I could only do so at night.

    Well, now I just had to plan my house, have the mayor approve it, as well as the location, and either finance the building myself - which would be costly, and take quite the long time, or hope he would.

    So what did I need? I knew I had the right to have two stories. Everyone had access to a single story above ground - even mortals - but you needed to be a cultivator to get another one.

    Meaning first realm cultivators could have two floors, and a cellar, if they were useful enough.

    Second realm cultivators could have three floors, and so in. It was yet another way to discriminate the normal population, and I didn''t like it one bit.

    Anyways.

    The second floor would be for me, my living space. What did I need? And how big could I allow my house to be? Well, a small bedroom plus wardrobe were a must, as well as a kitchen with place to store food.

    A living room to entertain guests, a smaller, cave like room to cultivate and a bathroom. So five, and a hall to connect them.

    What did I need on the first floor? Well, a workroom, a storeroom, though two would be better. A room for my shop to entertain and advise customers. A room for them to change, next to the shoproom.

    And another hall, to contain the stairs up and downwards, and to connect the rooms.

    That did sound good. Now I just needed to create a rough floor plan, and go convince the mayor I needed that. And rid my house of suspicious stuff, like all the saltwater in my cellar, and the salt I managed to create so far.

    Which was a pitiful amount compared to the time I had been at it. Not even a kilo in five months! It really was too sad.

    Getting a new house was really annoying. First, I went to the town hall to get myself a meeting with the mayor, but being there already, I decided to ask the nice secretary how I could get a new house.

    She didn''t know, but send me to a person who knew. Someone who actually worked for the mayor, just to plan his town''s development, and plan the town.

    "Hello, what can I do for you child?" He asked.

    Damn my body, I really needed to get older! Just so everyone would start treating me like an adult.

    "Hi. I may or may not need a new house. Which I already declined." I said.

    I decided to be honest here, just so it couldn''t come back to bite me in the butt. The woman rose one of her eyebrows. Damn! I wanted to be able to do that to, now I''d have to waste time on training it!

    "What is it? Do you need a new house or not." She asked.

    "I need one. I can''t work at my best as it is." I said.

    "Good. That''s a reason I can buy. Now what was that about already declining a new house?"

    "Well, you see. My mother died, and the mayor asked me if I wanted a new house. I said no, because I missed her and didn''t want to leave my home." I explained.

    The woman looked at me in surprise.

    "You met the mayor? What''s your name child? And what do you work as?" She asked.

    "Yes I did. I needed his explicit agreement to work as a spirit seamstress. And I''m Triss." I said.

    "I see. What do you need? Did you think about that already?" She asked.

    "Of course I did, here, let me show you." I said.

    I stepped forwards, and took out a scroll of paper. I had wisely decided to take my floor plan with me, just in case I needed.

    "So, as you can see here, I" I started explaining.

    I made the plan as clean as possible, with the house being a rectangle and the hallways being parallel to each other.

    "I also have this plan, which would be better for me, but I didn''t know how feasible building it is." I said.

    Unrolling the second scroll, I didn''t start explaining, after all I had already explained her how to read plans like that.

    "I should have everyone bring me those, they''re really useful." She mumbled as she poured over both of my plans.

    She turned to me after a few minutes, and nodded to herself several times.

    "Yes. We can do both. If you say the second one is better for you we''ll make it. Where do you want that house to be?" She asked.

    "Well, all my customers always rush into the forest after I finish my work anyways, to get ot destroyed." I started. "I near the forest, I don''t care, you can put me on the edge if you want. Other than that, I really like the sea, so put me as near to the ocean as possible."

    "I see you put quite some thoughts into it, that''s a good idea. I''ll run this by the mayor, but don''t see him disagreeing. You''ll probably have to supply some stuff for the guard as payment, but building houses isn''t all that expensive. Mostly materials as it is honestly." She finished.

    "Thank you for your help. Do you need that first plan still?" I asked.

    "I''d like to keep it if you please. I want to teach it to my people, so we can use that as a standard, it conveys all you need to know at a glance, and even normal mortals can understand it."  She said.

    "That''s fine. We''ll see each other." I said, excusing myself.

    This went well, now I just had to wait. Perfect, things were looking up.

 Chapter 21

    Watching a bunch of cultivators build my new house was enlightening. It took them all of two hours to dig my cellar. And another one to dig several deeper holes and stick long, wooden supports in them.

    Three hours to finish the cellar for today. First a layer of gravel, then a layer of clay, then rough wooden planks, and another layer of clay, and another layer of wooden planks.

    Then they build the cellar walls, just a bunch of clay bricks encased in yet more clay.

    Once those walls were about half a metre off the ground they filled the house with cheap firewood, and lit it on fire, letting it burn for the rest of the day.

    The second day was filled with people shoveling ash out of my cellar, giving it a rough cleaning. Then some of the workers started building my stairs down in one of the edges, while others started laying long, wooden beams in the gaps left in the wall yesterday.

    They started hauling in more planks, this time of finer make, and started laying the ground floor''s floor. Some others came with more wooden supports, those smaller than the ones yesterday, and already dry. The smaller supports were connected to the beams, and soon both stairs and floor were finished.

    The workers, who were cultivators one and all, then went on to build my inner walls, really just wooden planks secured to the straight beams, with a little clay in between, to fill any gaps.

    My outer walls were the most interesting part, seeing as they got two layers of wood, with a very thin layer of what looked to be wool in between the two.

    The stair guys had already finished the second stairs, and even more wood came, thin supports, and more beams. I continued watching for a little, but they seemed to be doing the same as before.

    So I returned home, secure in the knowledge my new home would actually be  ready as promised.

    Two days later my house was finally. The cultivators helped me move all my stuff over, but left me to decorate and move my furniture around.

    I was fine with that. After all they did not know how I wanted my stuff and it would only stress us more than necessary.

    Now I could really start to work. Though to be honest it wouldn''t really speed my work up all that much. After my work was mainly gated by qi. At least it''s officially was. I could do far more, but that would show my capabilities. And I did not want that at all.

    It was time to start working on my part of the bargain after all pain a bunch of cultivators to do all that work wasn''t cheap. I probably got off quite good, just having to do half a dozen gambesons over a year.

    Hah. The mayor thought he shafted me with that deal, but really, I got the most out of it, after all I got to to something new!

    Sure gambesons weren''t all that interesting, but they were better than the endless robe! And far more protective too. I would probably add a little of my fake intent qi if not for the fact that I decided not to use it. After all who would be be stupid enough to use their armor as a cultivation resource? No one.

    No. I would hold off of using fake intent qi until I was officially deep in the second realm. Which, by my plans, should take at least another decade.

    And I didn''t know if I would really still be in the same job as now. All I knew is was coming for a certain clan! One way or the other.

    Still, with the new house ready only one month after I asked for it, and only a week after it had been build, I was more than ready to open my dantain.

    Originally I wanted to wait until my meridians were all filled with qi. But I had long since decided that would be unnecessary. After all I had yet to see another cultivator cultivate with the same speed as me. They all only had access to small percentage of the qi I had seeing as they did not know about purifying qi.

    Which meant they had access to a lot less of the stuff than I did, and even getting a meridian network as expansive as mine would be highly unlikely in their lifespan. perhaps not after all I did not know how I how or if qi changed a beings lifespan. Well I knew keep significantly increased the lifespan of the really powerful old monsters.Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

    Like my friend. I should really visit him again, it had been quite some time, several months in fact. Well, I doubted he¡¯d noticed the passage of time, that did seem like his biggest weakness after all. Or strength, it all depended how you saw it after all.

    For now, it was time to cultivate in my new house for the first time. And what better way to do that than to advance? Even if only a step in a realm and not a whole realm. Anyways. I had spend quite some thoughts on the process I planned to do, and spend quite some of my time just meditating on my soul.

    Which didn''t help all that much, I still had no clue what my soul was made of, but I had managed to strengthen my connection to my soul significantly. I felt I had a good feel on its shape at least, and that shape seemed to be a representation of my body.

    Anyways, I gathered all my free liquid qi in the meridians near and around the center of my brain, took control of a small part right in the middle, and focused on my soul, on the connection my meridians held to my soul. And I imagined that qi falling right out of my body, into my soul, using the strongest gravitational well I could imagine, a black hole.

    I had debated about that for a long time, after all black holes also had a gravity so strong nothing, not even light, could escape them. Well, gravity could, but that was neither here nor there.

    Focus Triss!

    I felt as the qi¡¯s connection to my body became less and less, even as it¡¯s connection to my soul grew stronger and stronger, with a surprising lack of pain too. Refreshing.

    I added a little more qi, making sure the connection to my body stayed strong, and waited, only adding more qi when the connection to my body started breaking. After all I didn''t want to create solid qi, and concentrating a lot of qi in a small space had a tendency to do that.

    By now, I was pretty sure it was succeeding, but so that I would run out of qi before long. Would my dantian only be able to store liquid qi? Unlikely, I decided, after all I should create my coreseed out of the liquid qi stored in the dantian.

    As time went on, and my qi moved closer and closer to my soul I felt something enter my mind, an awareness of something new. And a lack of something too, a lack of an definitive picture.

    Interesting. I reduced the pull of the black hole as much as possible without stopping the process to have some time to think, with a minor part of my expanded mind concentrating on keeping the process running, on adding qi from all meridians I wanted it to connected to to the qi I already had.

    Well. It seemed I could actually supply a picture to my dantain, how it should work. Most cultivators probably chose a body of water. Well, if they chose. The feeling was faint, hell, I barely felt it. Which made it very easy to miss.

    Anyways. What to take? Something that fit in with my theme so far, and the intent I knew I''d chose in time, gravity.

    The black hole I used to move my qi right now did sound quite good. It was the ultimate expression of gravity. But it was also absolute. Nothing escaped a black hole.

    Well, nothing but gravity. Perhaps I should take a little more than a black hole? Just to be safe. Yeah, I''d add the immediate surroundings of a black hole, beyond its event horizon, where stuff could still escape, and even orbit around it.

    Yeah. I constructed a picture of the black hole like I wanted. And its surroundings of course. I didn''t want the extreme surroundings a black hole was sure to have, and which I had no idea of, but some nice and controlled ones.

    So, I imagined the black hole, and its event horizon as a small point in the middle, which always held the highest concentration of qi in my body and soul. Just beyond the event horizon was a large, stable orbit of qi, all in the same state, but one less than the qi beyond the event horizon.

    That large space would or could expand, just like the black hole, depending on how much qi it held. Once done I added theoretically infinite orbits, every single on holding a lesser form of qi than the previous one.

    They didn''t actually have to hold any qi, but having them could prove useful, so I just did the extra step.

    I made sure the black hole always had to hold more qi than all orbits combined, if it didn''t qi would feel an inwards pull until it did again.

    Now, whenever my core''s qi reached a higher state of energy it would send out a pulse of gravity, creating a new, inner orbit.

    As it was this would also allow the qi to move outwards if my core reached a higher state of being.

    Still, something was missing. A way for qi to change orbits, or move beyond the event horizon. Me. So I added myself to the picture, everywhere and nowhere all at once, always ready to give something to move to a different orbit, up or down.

    No, something was still missing. A way to move qi out of, or into my dantian. So what to do? Ah. Easy. I created wormholes, two for each meridian, in each orbit. One would allow qi to move out of the dantain, the other in. And both wormholes were still connected to each other, which meant to cycling qi would move into them at speed, move through my meridians, and come back into the dantain by itself.

    Perfect.

    I pushed that complete mental picture onto the still waiting feeling, and felt something click. I had long since connected all meridians I wanted, and now I let go, and watched.

    My mind expanded first, and I could feel the spot my qi concentrated in, and then expanded, creating a dantain just like I pictured.

    Black hole, event horizon, and orbit after orbit after orbit. All infinitely small, but ready to expand to hold as much qi as needed.

    Now I just had to find all the foreign qi intent in my qi, cleanse it, and concentrate some qi to break into the third realm. Once I felt ready for that.

 Chapter 22

    Everything was easier ever since I advanced. Though I made a mistake. All liquid qi in my meridians, new or old, inevitably fell into my dantian, and the event horizon of the black hole. Which made it unusable until I advanced to the third realm.

    Well, I decided just to circle normal qi through my meridians instead, which worked just fine. Probably better even, as the high amount of qi in my meridians meant some qi diffused out into my body. And as my meridians wound all throughout my body the spread was decent.

    And, now being only a few dozen metres from the ocean meant I had wondered something for the first time ever since waking up in the world.

    What about floods and climate in general? I mean, the tides made sure the ocean retreated a few metres every other hour, but other stuff?

    I had not seen a single flake of snow in the fourteen and a half years of my life. Stuff didn''t seem all that dry, even though it rained only rarely most of the year, and we had no river.

    Well, we were right next to an ocean, and the wetter was generally sunny and warm, so the season of rain probably was what counted as winter here.

    Good for me, my house may be isolated, at least a little, but winter would get really uncomfortable regardless. Well, I¡¯d survive it. I was pretty sure I would survive just about anything to be honest. Well, I didn''t know about a flood, or other cultivators, but just about everything else.

    I felt I could break through into the third realm right now too, if I really had to. First I had to purify all my qi of foreign qi intent. Which would take quite some time, and called for a change in my aura again, something that luckily was much less of a problem now, just three hours downtime usually.

    I concentrated, and changed my aura. Now my qi would once again cause other qi to avoid me completely, though on a very tight orbit around me, just a few millimetres from my clothes.

    Which also meant my cultivation would come to a standstill until I cleansed all qi within my body. Well, it would still advance, but not in the amount of energy in me, just its purity. I didn''t know if I would ever get a better opportunity to do that though, after all, all those cultivators did get an intent in the second realm for a reason.

    Cleansing all the qi I accumulated in my life took long. Long enough for me to get some bamboo from my favorite merchant, lay a very leaking, and long, pipe to my house. Long enough for me to reach sixteen, the age you were generally seen adult as in this world.

    And long enough for the town to grow ever bigger, though the forest''s edge moved not a single millimeter.

    Anyways. My business was thriving. The added protection my goods offered led to my customers finding more cultivation aids, and riches, in the forest.

    Which meant they outperformed their competitors in similar towns, who in turned moved here, to catch up.

    I thought it was great. After all, all those guy gave me the chance to drive up my prices to unseen levels. Having a monopoly on certain goods was just great.

    And, seeing as there were a bunch of cultivators running in and out of the forest all day long meant an opportunity for me.

    A small bribe had one of the people handling new cultivators tell them about me, and that I would buy all kinds of different stuff. Stuff potentially interesting to work with.

    I''m the end I mainly bought different fibres, though I had a lot of qi filled bark waiting in my cellar too. I told the guy he''d get a robe if he brought me something equally interesting, and fully intended to keep that promise.

    Anyways. Cleansing my qi was tiring work, so having some experiments to do was always quite the welcome pastime.

    Currently I skipped along, on my way to the town hall. The mayor had called me to a meeting, and while I didn''t know what it was about I wasn''t worried. After all my shop was a goldmine for him.

    A very good goldmine considering the taxes I had to pay.

    "I am here to attend to a meeting with the mayor." I told one of the clerks.

    "Ah yes. Miss Triss. Please follow me, I will show you the way." He said.

    Leaving the counter with one of his colleagues taking his previous spot.

    "So what''s this meeting about, I was only told to come, not more." I probed.

    "It''s a normal meeting, all cultivators important to the town are invited, though not all chose to come. I am surprised you came to be honest." He answered. "Your business is booming after all, and someone could break in."

    "I don''t need to worry about that. A word to all my would be customers and the thief will be found in no time. And all cultivators know that too, and are not conceited enough to try." I explained.

    "I see. Good to know. We are here." He said.

    I nodded in thanks, knocked and entered. I took in the room, and noticed I didn''t know any of the cultivators in here. Well, I knew both the mayor and the captain of the guard, but apart from these two? Not a single one. Yet somehow everyone of them wore one of my more expensive robes. And I only sold a few of those, ten. And considering six people were in here that meant something.

    Idiots. Those robes must be really uncomfortable, seeing as I made them to the measurement of someone else.

    I shook my head, chose a random seat, and sat down at the empty table, waiting for this meeting to be over. Why couldn''t I know it wasn''t mandatory? This was going to be so boring.

    "You!" Screeched and angry, shrill voice from behind.

    It was quite obviously addressed at me, but I ignored it. I knew I didn''t look like I had eyes on my back after all.

    "Don''t ignore me." The voice continued.

    Heavy footsteps approached me from behind, so I turned around to see a fat man stomping towards me, his face angry.

    "And you are?" I asked. "Haven''t seen you before."If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

    "How dare you disregard me. I am a powerful second realm cultivator and will not grace you with my name until you cede your evil poaching!" He yelled.

    I looked up at the puffing tower of fat and anger, and shrugged.

    "Fine." I said.

    I turned around, and went back to ignore the pest behind me. I could hear his mouth snap open and shut, as he fought for words.

    Well, good for my ears.

    "And please, be a little quieter when you speak again, my ears are still ringing." I added.

    "I will not have a mere first realm cultivator dismiss me like that! Turn around and face your betters." He yelled.

    I stayed right where I was, but raised a single hand, turned it around, and mimed a mouth.

    "Speak to my hand, perhaps it is interested in what you have to say." I said.

    A murmur passed through the small crowd of onlookers as my opposite was once again visibly searching for words to say. And failing, as he proved, considering he just started screaming obscenities at my hand. I held it up for a moment. He stopped, so I took a handkerchief out of my pocket and cleaned it.

    "Please scream at something else this is disgusting." I said.

    He continued before my hand was back up, so I didn''t bother returning it up. Before the situation could further deteriorate a single clap passed through the room, silencing everyone.

    "Now that we are all here, please take a seat." The mayor said.

    After a little while to sort out seating arrangements around me - the screamer got the short end of the stick again, and was now glaring at me with eyes promising eternal vengeance. I didn''t care. After all, I never willing offended him before now.

    ---

    Lady Chela''s eyes crinkled in amusement. The show the new addition to their circle had proven to be was great.

    Romain was a merchant, and apparently the little minx had been directly buying materials from cultivators. Materials he thought she should buy over him.

    Many had wondered how she would handle him in the meeting, if she would shrink under the red headed man or not, considering her subbar cultivation and young age.

    But the casual disregard she seemed to hold for all of them, though Romain in particular, was amusing. He even gifted all of them one of her robes, under the condition they''d wear them today. She could certainly say his plan backfired, after all he got completely humiliated in front of the mayor.

    Well, on all of them. The look in the girl''s eyes after she saw her robes on them didn''t seem impressed, or intimidated. It spoke of them being idiots.

    All in all it was a great day. She''d have to visit the girl for a proper woman''s talk, and some proper clothes sometime.

    Perhaps even the secret to her hair, because that looked great.

    "Let''s begin." The mayor called.

    "We have a problem." He stated. "Too many new cultivators come to our town, there''re a lot of factors to that, but it boils down to two. One, we have a successful craftswoman they can afford. And two, we produce more cultivation resources and spirit materials than the other towns do because of that." He explained.

    Chela couldn''t help but agree, the town had been getting lively over those months, a little too lively for her tastes, but that was neither here nor there.

    "We need to do something, or our town will soon be unable to handle and support the influx of new materials a large part of our population can neither use nor afford." He continued. "Any suggestions?"

    "We should export our wares into nearby towns." Romain said, greed filling his eyes.

    "That will only delay the problem, not solve it. You can make some investigations though, perhaps we will need some delays. Anything else?"

    Chela''s eyes scanned the room, but did not expect to find anything. Most of them had someone to handle business for them. They would ask their advisors, and send their advice to the mayor as their own.

    "Perhaps the newcomer has a great idea." Romain said suddenly.

    Sadistic glee filled his hateful little eyes. Chela thought about speaking up, when the girl''s soft voice filled the room.

    "I don''t see the problem." She started. "Have you ever heard of supply and demand? If you only buy the stuff you need you will find out those that can''t find it or supply different things will move to a different location and buyer."

    She had a sound take on economics. But while that would address the problem, it would do so in the wrong way.

    "The mayor wants all of them to stay though, because more cultivators mean more protection and thus more mortals and a bigger town." She explained.

    "Then I still don''t see the problem. Just hire some of them for the watch. I recently made some interesting discoveries with spirit bark, and am sure we could come to an agreement for its use." She said.

    "It is not that simple still, though we do need more guards." Tiger said. "They crave for battle every minute of their life, and the forest doesn''t offer enough of a challenge. They will get rowdy soon."

    "Then clear a patch of beach, put a rope around it, and have them go at it. Anyone who loses has to sleep outside for a day, and can''t sell his stuff in town. Everyone who wins can stay for a day. If one kills another they are banished." She explained. "Most are dumb muscle heads, no shame losing a few to other towns. We will have the best after all."

    Could it really be that easy? Not the girl''s idea - it wouldn''t work - but the basis. She looked around and see it in everyone''s eyes.

    Yes. A tournament was needed. With appropriate rewards, but they were getting more than enough raw materials to supply a tournament. And like she said, no one would miss the few losers that''d leave because they couldn''t bare the shame.

    And tournaments had a way of attracting all sorts of people. Another spirit craftsman was just what they needed. After all they all knew the girl would soon start selling a new collection of robes, considering how much materials she was buying.

    "Well, it seems everyone here has the same idea. A tournament." The mayor said. "Great idea little Triss."

    A quick glance at Romain showed him fuming, his idea having backfired specteculary.

    "Let''s talk rewards then." The mayor said. "After all what''s a tournament without proper rewards? Nothing."

    Immediately everyone in the room spoke up, but Chela knew how it would end. They''d buy lots of raw material from cultivators, demand a seemingly small entry fee, and enrich the few that managed to win while still netting the mayor a nice limp of money.

    Well, and perhaps the girl, she looked like the only one who didn''t plan to participate.

    "So that''s how it is going to go." The mayor said, and explained what she had thought. With a little exception. He threw a medium spirit stone towards the girl, who inspected the gem couriously.

    "What can you make with that?" He asked.

    A good question, after all most crafters like her were only gated by the qi they had acess to.

    "That depends on what you want. I can make one very good robe. Or a dozen crap ones." She explained.

    "Very good. We will see how it turns out, and offer it as part of the first place price." He said.

    The girl tilted her head for a moment, nodding.

    "I will agree to that. On one condition. If one of the Waid Clan takes part and wins, they don''t get my work!" She said resolutely.

    She stared right at the mayor, her eyes filled with fiery hate.

    "That''s fine." He agreed.

    A wise move. One did not get between a cultivator and their grudges. Especially one that you needed more than they needed you.

    "This meeting is finished. How long do you need to complete the robe?" He asked.

    "About a month, if I start from scratch. Longer if I need to import material." She answered.

    "Very good. The tournament will take longer to organize anyways." The mayor said, got up and left the room, followed by the captain of the guard.

    "I demand satisfaction!" Romain cried. "I demand a fight against you!" He yelled.

    The girl really looked at him for the first time, her green eyes scanning his form.

    "I refuse." She said brazenly. "It wouldn''t be fair after all. And I have nothing to gain from a fight."

    "I don''t care about fairness! You insulted me brat, now take responsibility for the consequences of your actions." He screeched.

    "That''s not what I meant. It wouldn''t be fair from me, after all you can''t even lift your arm enough to hit my head. Much less do so often enough for it to matter." She said dismissively.

    "If that is all, I''ll be off. I have work to do after all. You should really work on your body." She said, leaving the room.

    Chela left soon after, having enjoyed watching Romain raving madly for a few minutes. The slimy bastard deserved to be taken down a peg!

 Chapter 23

    A tournament. What a waste of my time. I really just wanted them to hit each other for the right to stay, they weren''t good for anything else anyway.

    And now I had to create a valuable robe for the winner of the tournament. Great. Well, at least I''d get a chance to create something new, and show off a little.

    Now what materials should I use? And what dye?

    Well, first whatever fibres I''d use would need a day to take the dye, then I''d need a week to make the cloth for the robe, already adding some qi in the end of that process.

    When I had the cloth ready it really was only a matter of a few days to sew the robe together. Wait. I didn''t have measurements of who I''d make it for. Which meant it would have to fit many people.

    Well, at least it would be a challenge to make. Time to start planning. I already knew the material I''d be using, a special type of spider web I had a supplier of. The small strips of web I made into cloth were really silky, and what I made my own stuff out of actually. It felt just like silk, but was a little thicker and better overall.

    The stuff also looked quite shiny if in the sun.

    Well. That was for later. Now I had a real spirit stone in hand, and it was time to properly inspect it.

    Well. The spirit stone was a gem. A gem filled with qi.

    I didn''t know what I expected to find, it wasn''t like I was a mineral expert or something. So it looked like a gem to me. A cut gem, which was strange, but a gem no the less.

    Well, how fast was it?  I went down in my basement, and prepared some of the spider web and a bunch of paint. I infused the spider silk with some of the qi inside the stone, just a fraction of what would end up in it in the robe really, and went back in my workroom. Now I just had to wait. And wait. And wait. After lots of waiting, really more than an hour, some of the qi inside had replenished. Barely enough to be noticed though. Which meant the crystal was shitty. But it would definitely allow me to sell more stuff, after all it purified qi. And that qi I could use easily.

    Well, I best get started with the cloth. And send someone to find the girl I always got that silk from. I needed ever more of it somehow.

    "So he doesn''t buy anything from you because you wear my stuff?" I asked the cultivator in front of me.

    "Yeah. Something about starving you off money until you cave in." He said.

    "Have you tried selling to the town hall, I heard they have been buying stuff like crazy." I suggested.

    "No, I didn''t know about that. Thank you." He answered, bowing to me before he left.Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

    I could only shake my head at the stupidity of a certain merchant. The cultivators wearing my stuff had the best chance to get more valuable materials than those that didn''t.

    And now that the town hall bought all this raw material for the tournament I just had to wait,ean back and watch how he ruined himself.

    After all valuable stuff would ways find a new owner, though not me. Hell, they could use most of it themselves, but just wanted a few extra funds to spend.

    I had still inquired about purchasing a warehouse when the first cultivator came to me with that info, but was sadly rebuffed.

    Otherwise I''d have a warehouse full of valuable materials standing next to my house by now. Well, it had been worth a try. Anyways. I picked up the box I used to hide the robe I made over the last month, and closed my house, leaving towards the town hall.

    "I need to speak to the mayor." I stated.

    "What for? I will ask if he is available for you, but can''t promise anything." She asked.

    "I have some goods to deliver to him." I answered.

    The clerk suddenly sat up straighter, and hastily spoke up.

    "He is waiting for you, please head right up miss Triss."

    "Thank you. Have a good day." I said, and was on my way.

    "So you finished. Let me see." The mayor said.

    "Hello to you to mayor." I said.

    The moment the box touched the floor the mayor was upon it, opening it eagerly.

    "Let''s see what you made there." He said, taking out my work.

    It looked great if I do say so myself. I decided on an expensive dark green as the main color, with hints of  black mixed in to add a little more to the color.

    A pattern ran through the robe, perfectly blending the two colors. It just looked great. And was brimming with all the qi from the spirit stone, integrated into the robe while I was creating it.

    That stuff wouldn''t get out of there, it was a part if the robe just like silk it was made of. I formed a plate of qi on the chest, as well the back. The rest of the robe was filled with a net of structural qi, denser in more important areas.

    "Looks very impressive." He said. "But don''t you think it''s a little too plain as a reward?"

    "No." I answered. "I suggest holding it in the sun."

    The mayor raised an eyebrow, but did as told. He moved over to a window, and held the robe in light streaming in.

    The moment he did the robe practically lit up as the strands of a particular material I acquired shortly before starting the crafting process, broke the sunlight hitting them. To be honest it was plain unusable for any real clothes, far too annoying really, which is why I added a few well concealed strips of cloth.

    Closing them would stop the effect.

    "You can stop the effect if you move this, this, and this." I explained.

    The mayor did, and the robe returned to its previous, dark green and black color scheme.

    "I must say I am very impressed. It''s not something I say lightly, but you managed to impress me. It truly is a worthy first price for the tournament.

    You have a choice to make now. Do you want to participate and have a go at fighting yourself? Or do you want to just observe, and earn a small percentage of the winnings for yourself, payed in spirit stones?" He asked.

    "That''s not a choice." I said. "I have never fought anyone in my life, and am not about to start now."

    "A wise decision. Seeing as you are the supplier of the first price, do you want to be present when I present it? You will have free entry to watch the tournament anyways." He said.

    Free promotion! It would be a great chance to induce some variety in a cultivator''s dressing style! And seeing as I was about to get a lot of spirit stones for this I would be able to increase the speed I could sell robes at too.

    "I would very much like to be present." I answered.

    "Good. Good. Do you have something in mind? Wear something special?" He asked.

    "I will. It will be glorious." I said.

 Chapter 24

    The tournament came just right to be honest. The mayor announced it about seven months ago, and the town was packed full by now. Full of cultivators, who all wanted to do that last bit of cultivating before the actual event started.

    And myself? I stopped all work for the last few days, as I wouldn''t finish something new while to tournament went on anyways.

    Which was quite fitting, as I used these days to do my final push to purify all my qi. Which I did.

    It was finally time to continue my cultivation! That meant filling myself with qi full of intent. There was no question what that intent was going to be. I felt it in my bones, my muscles, everywhere. I would fill my qi with gravitic intent. At first I had debated on using only specific aspects of gravity, but learnt that was unnecessary over the last months.

    Unlike my aura my qi intent and qi did not influence other qi. Or at least it didn''t do so passively. It was very much possible that I could actively use qi filled with an intent to influence other qi. Or not. I would see in time.

    Anyways. I closed my eyes, released control over my aura, and focused on all of my qi. On the qi in my bones, my tendons, my muscles and organs. On the qi in my dantian, still filled with just as much qi as it held over the last months. And on my meridians, where qi moved through my body, propelled by my dantian and ready to return in it.

    And I thought of gravity. Of it being an elemental force of nature. Of the way all livings things were the way they were because of gravity. Of the power this seemingly innocent word held if taken to the extreme. Of the way moons were held in a planet''s gravity well, and a planet in its sun''s gravity well. And suns in that of their galaxy, and the supermassive black hole it probably held in the middle.

    How gravity could influence even space and time, warp it even. But also how even the smallest bit of mass was origin of a little bit of gravity, and influenced even the biggest object in the universe, if only a little. And finally how gravity got exponentially weaker with distance, but never actually stopped influencing stuff.

    And then I pushed all those thoughts into my qi. Unlike when using fake intent I actually felt a resistance. But it was weak, seeing as my qi was in an unnatural state. Only a small part of all qi was pure after all. And I had cleansed every single speck of qi in my body.

    Which meant I just had to push a little to make the image stick. Perfect.

    I felt a shiver pass through me the moment my qi accepted the intent.

    Wow. I felt like the first time I sensed qi as my whole world expanded by another sense. I could feel gravity around me. It was strange, like miniature lines connecting everything to everything, and a bigger line connecting everything to the ground.

    The feeling was much more than that though, but it was hard to describe. There was more to it too, I knew without knowing that an infinitely big amount line connected me and everything else with each other. I could feel and find the lines I wanted, but they were too weak to show up without that.

    My new sense for gravity was enough to already start doing improvements on my understanding of gravity. To be honest I could sit here and just watch gravity for days.

    How far out did this new sense of mine go? Right to the edge of my aura. Sad, but to be expected. Now. Tests!

    Could I influence gravity like I could qi? I felt I could. Time to test it out. I went outside, got myself some of the gravel from the beach, and went back inside.

    All those small stones were spread through my living room a moment later, at varying distances from me, some even hidden behind objects.

    And every single one was connected to me with a small, straight line. So I pulled on that line. And nothing happened. I pulled again, this time with a little qi. Nothing.

    Great.

    Wait.

    I pulled on the line, and burned a little qi. The stone jumped towards me, but fell to the ground again. I grinned. I pulled again, and burned qi until the stone was secured in my hands.

    I could finally do real magic. I opened my window, threw the stone out, and pushed, burning some of my qi again.Stolen story; please report.

    It shot off towards the ocean. Good. Now the real important test.

    I returned towards the middle of my living room, and pushed on the line connecting me to the world. I burned some of my qi, slowly ramping it up. As I watched, still carefully regulating the qi I burned as I slowly moved into the air, until I was levitating in the middle of my living room, having reached an equilibrium. I smiled, I could FLY!

    Right until I had burnt all my qi, and fell down, sprawled all over the ground. I quickly looked around, making sure nobody saw that, just in case, before standing up and dusting off my clothes.

    That was embarrassing.

    Lucky no one saw that.

    Still, if I wanted flying to be useful I''d need more qi. Far more actually. Well, I better get to it then, qi didn''t gather itself. Well, now that I thought about it, it actually did. I just had to change my aura to allow qi to actually hit my body again. Before I went that far some tests were in order though, like what happened when my qi intent came into contact with normal qi, purified qi and foreign qi intent.

    The last one would take some time, qi intent was quite rare after all. I suspected qi most qi intent in the air was released when a cultivator died, with a small percentage of those foreign qi intents being actually planted with malicious intent.

    Well, time to get to it. First I released a small cloud of my qi, and watched as it stayed under my control, not being corrupted by the ambient qi for the first time. Fascinating, it seemed qi intent was superior to natural qi.

    Next, purified qi. I drew my own qi back into a small cloud, had it encase some of the qi in the atmosphere, and quickly purified all qi within.

    I watched, equally fascinated and horrified as my qi clashed with the pure qi. Well, clash was wrong. It was a massacre as my qi lashed out, gravity pulling the pure qi apart, slowly converting it to be my own.

    Well. I definitely knew what would happen if my qi were to meet with foreign qi intent. They would nuke it out until there was a winner, with the loser utterly assimilated.

    Well, probably at least. Nonetheless I really should advance my understanding of gravity, or what I understood of gravity at least. To be superior to all qi I''d randomly encounter, though my qi should win simply because of quantity, seeing as any qi intent in the air was a small speck of qi at the best of times.

    Before opening the floodgates I really should wait though, just in case.

    Three hours later different feeling qi entered my perception. A quick peek confirmed my thoughts, fire intent qi. Which did seem to be the most common qi intent I found. I send out my cloud of qi to intercept the free floating qi, and then watched.

    Nothing actually happened visibly, but through my connection I felt the fire lash out, creating streams of fire as it tried assaulting my own qi.

    But my qi was gravity, so it simply ripped the foreign qi apart, swallowed the even smaller pieces and drowned out any fire trying to act up. Soon enough the cloud of qi had grown a bit, having eaten the fire intent qi.

    I checked it over to the best of my abilities, and found nothing of the fire remaining, all of it having been extinguished by me. Perfect.

    The tournament would start in three days, and with my qi acting as a vacuum cleaner for pure and intent qi I could focus all my attention on purifying natural qi, which was strangely exempt from being absorbed and cleansed by my own.

    Anyways. A thin cloud of qi floated at the edge of my extended aura, eating up a small part of the qi entering it, held in place by a small part of my attention.

    And for the next three days the rest of me solely focused on cultivating purifying as much qi as I possibly could.

    My meridians cleansed all qi directly coming into contact with me, and a regular pulse of my sphere cleaned up all free floating qi cleansed by me.

    It wasn''t the most efficient method - I''d have to fully extend my aura for that - but would have to do for now.

    Suddenly something lit up on my qi senses. My qi had found yet another packet of qi intent, but the battle was going strangely.

    I didn''t like it! Not one bit!

    I took a single step in the direction of the battle, and moved my sphere to press on the foreign qi from all sides. Then I send some mental feelers into the foreign qi, and found something strange.

    I knew that qi. I had ready cleansed it in my sessions once, and still remembered because it fought back the most.

    So much in fact I simply moved it out of my body. Well, here it was again, bigger. You wouldn''t escape me now!

    With the qi imprisoned in all of my qi, and all of it trying to assimilate it the qi had no time to evade my mental probes, and soon enough I was staring at the most intricate qi intent I had ever seen.

    And what an insidious intent it was. The whole purpose of this qi seemed to be burry inside another''s cultivation base, hide inside it. For what I did not know. But someone had spread his qi around on purpose, and a lot of it, considering the world''s likely size. I wanted nothing to do with that, and I knew I had no clue about any such insidious qi.

    No sir.

    But I knew the strange qi inside my own had to die, whatever it was. Die in fire. So I constructed a mental crystal around it, encased in several more crystals just to be sure.

    It took longer than I had ever seen something like this take, but eventually the qi was purified. I shuddered. That was most certainly unpleasant. Luckily it was still night of the second day, so I had time for a little sleep, and time to fresh myself up before the tournament started.

    It was going to be great, though I didn''t look forwards to watching idiots bashing themselves in the head for an extended period of time. But considering the absolute hype all other cultivators seemed to feel at the mere mention of a tournament it would be too strange not to attend.

    And I wasn''t old enough to be comfortable being seen as that weird. Yet. As I drifted off to sleep I small smile came to my face nonetheless, tomorrow would be so fun!

 Chapter 25

    Everyone was staring at me. Hardly a surprise considering my clothes. After all I wasn''t wearing the traditional robe of a cultivator, yet I was in the lodge with the mayor.

    No I had chosen a far more modern attire. I had some specifically created high heeled boots with about five centimetres heel, in black of course.

    I had contemplated on showing some really scandalous stuff, but in the end I had to choose between creating a dress or pants with a shirt.

    I went with a pair of tight, black pants, a simple dark blue shirt and a light brown coat.

    A dress would have probably been more culturally acceptable, especially because it looked a little like a robe. As it was I felt great, finally some real clothes!

    While everyone in the emporium looked at me I took a moment to look at each of them. There was the mayor of course, tall and powerfully built like all long time cultivators.

    Then there were a few of the cultivators from the meeting - the fat merchant, who was giving me the evil eye still, and a woman. I remembered she called herself Lady Chela.

    She was the only one of the meeting to come to get her robe adjusted too, which was a plus in my book.

    I didn''t know any of the others, but seeing as the woman was in the second realm, the others probably were second or third realm cultivators too.

    There were six of them. An old man, wearing a long beard, with a bear stitched on his robe. He was the only one not staring at me, having only glanced my way when I entered, before dismissing me.

    Then there was a pair of cultivators, man and woman, with a golden tree on their robes, probably representatives of the Secret Grove Sect or however they were called.

    A single, middle aged woman took part too, her robe simple and completely unadorned. If not for the wolf on her robe. She glared at everyone, but me especially.

    The last two unknowns did not wear any decorations to identify them with, but were eyeing my attire with interest.

    Guests of the mayor probably. Well, we had not been introduced, and none of them invaded my aura so far. At least I couldn''t perceive anything. As long as that stayed that way we didn''t need to talk to each other.

    A small movement of my head later, and I could see a small part of the seating for the townsfolk and other unimportant mortals and cultivators who didn''t participate.

    Well. Fuck it. I turned my back to everyone behind me, to take a look at the whole of the arena, I had only seen it from the outside so far after all.

    So far the arena floor was filled with fine sand. All two hundred to one hundred metres of it. That floor alone was crazy expensive, all that sand had to come from somewhere after all, and it sure as hell didn''t come from the beach.

    The arena was packed from floor to bottom, with the cheapest, stand, right down only a few metres of the ground being filled with the most people.

    They were all standing, so these places could hold a lot more people than the more expensive seats did. Well, simple space constraints did that.

    "Welcome, welcome." The mayor yelled.

    He stood up a few moments ago, and clapped loudly, silencing thousands of people at once. Quite impressive.

    "Before I start I''d like to welcome our guests from the powerful Secret Grove Sect, the Bear Clan, the Wolf Clan, and two exalted core experts that wish to remain unnamed." He announced.

    The people in the arena exploded in sound, especially at the mention of the third realm people. Or experts as the official name seemed to be. Welp, the people surely were looking forwards to this. Unlike me. With all those cultivators in the third realm I had to be careful about what I did.

    Luckily I held back and didn''t fill my clothes with liquid qi like I thought about, though they held enough qi only a very little push was required to reach that state. Well, a small push for me, from the conversations I had with cultivators over the years they seemed to have quite some problems with it.

    My thoughts kinda drifted off as the mayor continued his speech, with boring stuff like how the tournament was going to go, the low level rewards for participating. He really need to learn how to talk to a crowd, though it appeared his lame ass speech did get this crowd rolling. Good for him.

    ¡°So, what¡¯s up with these clothes?¡± A low voice asked.

    I turned to see Lady Chela next to me, looking at my clothes from up close.The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

    ¡°What do you mean what¡¯s up?¡± I asked back. ¡°I wanted to wear something more interesting than a robe, they are boring. There are so many interesting clothes you can make, why bother with something so simple?¡±

    ¡°Because they are tradition?¡± She said.

    ¡°Yes, but sometimes you have to break tradition. I know for a fact my clothes are less restricting than a robe, which means even you maniacs should think about dressing differently.¡± I answered.

    The woman pouted a bit, before answering.

    ¡°That''s not very nice, saying it like that. Not everyone can be gifted at making stuff.¡±

    ¡°Of course you can.¡± I contradicted. ¡°It just takes a few years of hard work and dedication.¡±

    ¡°And you hit the crux of the matter, why go through all that bothersome stuff if you can just go and hit someone.¡± She said.

    I looked at her, judging if she was joking or not. Apparently not.

    ¡°You know fight takes just as much time to master, don''t you? Even more in the case of a cultivator, which means you¡¯re learning a craft still, only said craft poses a risk on your life in addition to your wallet.¡± I returned.

    Lady Chela chuckled.

    ¡°Conversations with you are always a great distraction. Your view on the world is still fresh, and largely untainted by our culture. How you managed that I do not know, but it¡¯s always refreshing. We should meet up sometime, just to talk.¡± She added.

    I grinned, she was surprisingly self aware for a cultivator, which made talking with her easier than it did to just about any other cultivator.

    ¡°Sure. Now let''s watch this, perhaps you can even learn something.¡± I said.

    Noting the mayor. had just paused in his speech, I stood up, and joined him.

    ¡°And now for the grand prize. The prize I know you all have been waiting for.¡± He droned. ¡°This amazing robem made by a young expert home in our town, Triss. Not even twenty years old, she is someone all of you know, the sole supplier of cultivator made robes this side of the forest. And this is her best work yet!¡± He yelled.

    He presented my robe, simple, dark green and black. Suddenly the seams all over it moved to the side, and it started glowing, reflecting and breaking the sunlight hitting the robe. An appreciative murmur passed through the crowd, and all cultivators present on the emporium.

    I could only shake my head. Cultivators, no this whole world didn''t appreciate the more subtle things. I could probably increase the gravity for everyone in the room when I entered, and they wouldn''t even think of it as deliberate.

    Well, I still had tons of experiments to do. I only tried pulling and pushing on gravity so far after all. It would be great if I could do more. Like perhaps bend a line? Depending on the difficulty of that flying could be far closer than I thought. Though it wouldn''t be flying. It would be falling sidewards.

    Anyways. The mayor finished praising my work, so I returned to my seat, watching as a bunch of cultivators went on the stage. Fifty. So we¡¯d start with a free for all? Perhaps I¡¯d see something interesting.

    ¡°So what do I need to pay for such a robe?¡± A voice sounded out next to me.

    I looked at it, and saw the Wolf Clan lady standing there.

    ¡°That depends.¡± I said.

    Watching the fighters get into position.

    ¡°Entirely on what you want. The glowing part is easy, I still have lots of the stuff. The qi I used for it is another matter entirely. And material is a matter of personal preference for most. I just used what most of my customers wanted for this one.¡± I answered.

    ¡°So you don''t do any work without commission?¡± She asked.

    ¡°Nope. Why would I? My workload is nearly as much as my cultivation can sustain already, and why would I make stuff I can sell for less when it doesn''t change my workload.¡± I answered half honestly.

    ¡°I see. On another note, you are young, why are you up here and not down there, fighting for prizes offered freely?¡± She asked.

    ¡°Why would I? I can''t fight, and I can get most of the stuff I could win as payment.¡± I answered.

    The old woman shook her head, muttering something about young idiots to herself, before leaving me alone again. Just in time to see the fight start. About half of the cultivators in the arena rushed right in, while the others stayed back, some in small groups, others with their back to the wall. Well, those in the middle had problems.

    As I watched I saw one cultivator in a plain, grey robe. Unlike all others he was neither rushing, nor was he retreating to the arena¡¯s edge.

    ¡°This is going to be good.¡± One of the unknown cultivator¡¯s said, just as the man reached the middle of the arena.

    ¡°I am TIR-GO! Bow your head and surrender or suffer my righteous wrath!¡± He yelled at his opponents.

    What an idiot. None of the cultivators in the arena seemed all that eager to bow their head at him too, and all those hasty cultivators stopped their fighting, only to rush at Tirgo.

    I watched curiously as the sand below his feet started moving, slowing being attracted towards him.

    Before any of the cultivators had a chance to arrive near him the man was surrounded by a shroud of sand, and dashed towards one of his opponents, leaving a trail of sand in his wake.

    ¡°I said. BOW! YOUR! HEAD!¡± He yelled, supporting each yell with a fist to his opponents body, clad in a rolling cloud of sand. The last hit dropped his opponent to the ground, and he turned his head towards a new victim, the old one out cold.

    Soon after all twenty one cultivators in the arena¡¯s middle were moaning on the ground, having received a brutal beating by this Tirgo.

    The culprit himself was looking quite happy with himself and the world, standing in the middle of the arena, daring anyone to challenge him. No one did, how boring. He needed a lesson in humility.

    Seeing that the center was occupied had the remaining twenty eight cultivators at the edge start fighting each other, at first hesitantly, but upon not seeing Tirgo move more confident.

    A flash of fire here, a searing of light there, a little ice over there. Lots of elements joined the fray, with more being probably used and just missed by me. Still, all those fights were a little more even, so long as the numbers stayed the way they were.

    The two big groups at the edge quickly caught some single cultivators, and eliminated them, ending the first round after only twenty cultivators remained.

    ¡°I see we have some worthy contenders here.¡± The mayor yelled. ¡°What did I see there? The rare qi intent of sand being used so freely? Truely a young genius is among us!¡±

    After a short pause for a few cheers the mayor spoke up again.

    ¡°But was this his limit? Or will he soar even higher? I know I am looking forwards to seeing more of him.¡±

 Chapter 26

    The next round of combat started just like the previous one did. With a lot of people rushing to fight in the middle of the arena and the rest holding themselves back, staying at its far edge. This time no one overly powerful was there to interfere, and the groups took out nearly all of the smaller groups of people at the edge before the mayor called stop, and they returned back to where participants stayed at.

    A wise move, ridding themselves of the opposition that was more cautious. It could also backfire, if the really powerful enemies went to the middle because they were confident in their abilities. Well, those that deserved it would surely advance. Probably.

    Anyways. As the next group entered the field a grin crept on my face. I immediately saw one of my customers. He was strange for a cultivator, ready to try new stuff, if it helped him win. So he told me he¡¯d buy a robe that held the most protection I could manage. Which was a lot. He was in the second realm already, and I was pretty sure he had some heat qi intent, because no normal human could actually use the monster I created.

    Ten layers of different, qi filled cloth, and an additional layer of spirit bark, woven into one, single robe. I attached a hood to it, meaning everyone attacking him had to effectively hit on solid wood.

    It was a masterpiece. There was no other word for it! Everyone wearing it would look fat though, as the armor, for that thing was no robe anymore, was designed to resist both impacts and cutting. Even the bark was woven as a fabric, so it wasn''t all that useful against stabbing, but I had yet to see someone use a stabbing weapon, so he was good to go.

    My customer easily survived the first round without moving even one metre. He sat down at the start of the round, but my armor protected him even with three cultivators giving their all. It was simply great to watch. The sheer futility of people beating on my ¡®clothes¡¯, the frustration they must have been feeling while doing so. It made me giddy.

    I should offer discounts for people that wore my stranger designs. Perhaps some would come to test them now that this one armored robe performed as good as it did. After all he defeated his opponents in the first round by doing nothing.

    ¡°Say how many free for alls are there?¡± I asked.

    ¡°How do you not know? Do you never leave your house?¡± Lady Chela asked.

    ¡°Well, not often no. I pay a bunch of mortals to go and buy me my stuff, and why would I leave the house otherwise.¡± I said.

    ¡°To go out, to meet people perhaps?¡± She asked.

    ¡°But why would I do that? People are boring, experimenting with stuff is a lot more interesting. Though I could use a few life test subjects again.¡± I mused.

    ¡°Life test subjects?¡± She asked.

    ¡°Oh, nothing, a folly of my childhood. I was very good at finding crabs, and used them for a lot of things. Anyways. About those free for alls?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Oh yes, well there are over one thousand one hundred cultivators participating. So we¡¯ll see twenty four of those. Afterwards there will be a bunch of one versus ones until we reach the seventh round, where we will see four free for alls between five cultivators until only two remain standing. That will be followed by another two rounds of best of ones.¡± She said.

    I couldn''t help but groan.

    ¡°What''s the matter?¡± She asked.

    ¡°It¡¯s going to take forever!¡± I complained. ¡°And I don''t want to sit here and watch a bunch of morons ehhh excuse me, watch a bunch of cultivators hit each other for a whole month!¡±

    ¡°Don''t worry it won''t take all that long. The first round will take a few days, sure, but everything after that will take less than two days. Don''t worry, we won''t be here for a month.¡± She said, tactfully ignoring my outburst.

    ¡°Ahh, but I can''t see anything happening. They¡¯re all holding back for later!¡± I said.

    ¡°Do you fancy a small spar then? To see a few of the more flashy techniques I have.¡± She suggested.

    ¡°I wouldn''t stand a chance, you¡¯re a second realm cultivator after all.¡± I said. ¡°But sure, I can visit you sometimes. Just not to fight!¡±

    ¡°Great, I will hold you to that!¡± She said. ¡°Now watch, it¡¯s Tiger¡¯s turn. He may be a musclehead, but he¡¯s quite the good fighter. And he knows some flashy techniques.¡± Chela explained.

    ¡°Though he probably won''t use them.¡± She admitted.

    I did as told, and looked over the assembled cultivators down below. And right as she said, there was the giant form of captain Tiger down there. And he was still a giant, even among other cultivators. Well, it¡¯d be interesting. Because I spotted a group of cultivators eyeing their giant competitor, clearly debating whether to bother the giant man or seek easier targets.

    Even from all the way up here I could practically see it. Their pride and their instinct of self preservation battling it out.

    Well, he¡¯d probably have to deal with five to ten of them. It would be interesting.

    ¡°Say, how good is the giant?¡± I asked. ¡°Because his control over his aura sucks.¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s the second most dangerous fighter in the town. Or at least he was before the tournament was announced, who knows what hidden experts came to join in?¡± She said. ¡°But I do have to admit, while his fighting is great, his other areas are a bit lacking.¡± She said, adding a cheeky, ¡°All of them.¡± in the end.

    ¡°Good to know. He¡¯s too old anyways. Where would you rank yourself then?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Well, I''m somewhere in the upper middle of the pack.¡± She admitted.

    ¡°So why didn''t you join in? You do admit you enjoy fighting after all.¡± I asked.

    ¡°I had a bad run in with a bunch of beasts a few days prior, and am still healing. Fighting now would be a folly.¡± She explained.The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

    ¡°So, you got hurt. Ever thought about using armor?¡± I asked. ¡°I do make armored fabric too, on demand.¡±

    Chela laughed, but shook her head.

    ¡°Armor is for soldiers, guards, and some .. special cultivators. I prefer my robes as they are. You should really think about getting some information on arrey symbols though, it would allow you to do more than just strengthen the material with a bunch of qi, but get actual effects.¡± She suggested.

    ¡°And where would I get something like that?¡± I asked. ¡°The only merchant importing in town hates my guts.¡±

    ¡°Well, I am sure you could just pay a bunch of cultivators to go on a quest for you, find you a manual of some kind. We love to do that kind of stuff.¡± She said.

    ¡°Huh. Well I might just do that. Arrays do indeed sound interesting.¡± I admitted.

    ¡°Shush now, it¡¯s starting.¡± Chela said.

    I shut up, and looked back at the arena. Just like I thought captain Tiger was facing seven cultivators, with the rest of the arena giving the group of wight a wide berth.

    ¡°So you dare challenge me?¡± The captain laughed. ¡°I will show you why I held my job for over a decade!¡±

    With that he dashed forwards, far faster than any man his size had any right to be, and swung a left hook at his first opponent slash victim. The woman simply dropped, her lights knocked out with a simple punch.

    As he turned around to face his next opponent the rest of the group arrived, screaming bloody murder, and swung at him. They had to stagger their attacks, he was tall, but not that wide, meaning the captain had ample time to defend against all attacks.

    Right until he intercepted the left hook of one of his opponents, picked the man up, turned him around and cleared the area around him.

    ¡°I like his style.¡± I admitted openly.

    ¡°His fights are a joy to watch.¡± Chela said.

    Tiger used his beating stick to batter another attacker a few metres away. He then proceeded to throw his weapon at someone standing still, concentrating a few metres from him, picking up a new weapon shortly after. His three remaining enemies looked at each other, and one took a step back. The moment he did the others bolted, leaving a disappointed looking captain of the guard behind them.

    Considering his earlier speed he could have followed, which meant he chose not to. Which meant he wasn''t all that disappointed in reality. Interesting to know.

    Anyways, time to watch on, plot and see what happened, hoping for a few more, exciting fights. Not that I was all that hopeful, we were still in the first round, with all the dregs fighting it out.

    It was the later rounds that would be really interesting. After all I didn''t, hell, probably couldn''t even imagine all uses qi had. And I would only get to see some of the easier ones, considering the tournament didn''t allow anyone beyond the second realm to attend, so those really powerful wouldn''t be there to show their understanding. A pity.

    Looking at the sun this would probably be the last fight for today, which was good. Those fights were quite boring, so long as none of the more powerful participants decided to make a show. Which not all of them did, I imagined, only those that were supremely confident in their abilities, and thought they could manage to defeat all opponents on the field. This time none of those was a part of the fight, which meant a bunch of cultivators hitting each other until enough of them collapsed.

    I spotted some more of my customers, which made the fight a little bit more fun to watch, but also had me taking notes. After all if I knew how my robes held up in a real fight, and saw where they were hit the most, I could improve the protection of my clothes.

    Wait, I should do that anyways, no reason to limit myself. I smiled, perhaps this tournament wouldn''t be the colossal waste of time I initially thought it¡¯d be.

    ¡°Hello, mr Fox. Are you there?¡± I asked into the night.

    Sneaking out of the town was surprisingly easy with as many cultivators present as there were.

    "Hi." He said.

    From right behind me. I spun around, as waved at him.

    "So, how are you? Are you fine with all those humans in your forest?" I asked.

    "Don''t worry, some human kits don''t scare me. I see you have made quite some advancements in your cultivation. Now would you like something to drink?" He asked.

    "I would be delighted." I answered.

    "Very well." He said, and we were somewhere else.

    I pouted. I did my best to catch the movement, but the moment I blinked he moved me. It just wasn''t fair! Ah well. Next time.

    ¡°So, did you improve your cultivation?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Yes. I am getting ever closer to the fifth realm. Just a few more centuries and I should be able to reach it. How about you?¡± He answered.

    ¡°That''s great.¡± I responded. ¡°And I''m doing fine. I recently finished purifying all qi in my body, and got myself some qi intent. Let me show you!¡± I said, and burned some qi to increase the gravity of the world on him.

    I didn''t know what to expect, but the fox simply stood there, completely ignoring my gravity.

    ¡°Gravity is it? Are you sure you can progress down that path long enough to reach critical understanding?¡± He asked while nodding to himself.

    ¡°Critical understanding?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Well, the upper realms are mostly about understanding, and advancing your understanding, and much less about sheer power. The moment you reach critical understanding you can advance your understanding by simple observation, as you gain a new sense. And fundamental forces, like gravity, or heat, are extremely hard to understand.¡± He explained.

    ¡°So like I did with my gravity when I gained it a few days ago?¡± I asked with a small grin.

    ¡°You gained a new sense? Already? But you are only in the second realm!¡± He explained.

    Before grumbling ¡°Stupid natural talents and their luck.¡±

    ¡°Hey, I had to learn stuff for nearly a decade to reach that understanding!¡± I protested. ¡°And you didn''t even flinch when I did that!¡±

    ¡°What did you expect, you¡¯re a small human, I am a mighty immortal!¡± He said. ¡°So why are you here in the night? Don''t you humans normally sleep in the night?¡±

    ¡°Well, we do. But I don''t need all that much sleep as a cultivator, and I can''t come and visit during the day. There¡¯s a stupid tournament going on, and I have to attend because I made the prize for first place.¡± I explained.

    ¡°A tournament. Who can join?¡± He asked, perking up.

    ¡°Not you. It¡¯s only for first and second realm cultivators. The mayor wanted to cement our town as the most important and powerful around.¡± I said.

    ¡°Oh, you were given that honor, perhaps I should visit, it¡¯s been some time since I left the forest.¡± He said.

    ¡°Do that, but don''t cause a scene. I don''t think it¡¯ll end well with that many cultivators hyped up at once. But why can all those cultivators enter the forest? I thought you hated visitors, when you came to confront me when I entered back then.¡± I said.

    ¡°I don''t hate visitors. I usually ignore the humans that come in to pluck some weeds, but you seemed like a challenger to my half sleeping mind. You know, when immortals fight, we create a spiral of qi just like you had back then, to increase the qi at our disposal and deny it from our enemies.

    Checking such a spiral with your own aura, especially when your enemy is prepared, is a folly and only leads to ruin, so I didn''t. Otherwise I would have left you alone.¡± He said.

    ¡°Wait, you can do more stuff with your aura than see qi and gravity?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Of course! Your aura is your most important defensive tool in a fight! It stops your enemy from directly influencing your qi and rip your body in half! There is so much you can do!¡± He said.

    Huh. That called for experiments back in town, in the safety of my own home! Yay!

    ¡°Thank you for that. Well, I have to go if I don''t want to be seen missing, I¡¯ll visit you sometime later again.¡± I said.

    ¡°Don''t come too soon.¡± His voice called.

    I appeared near town, out of sight from any of the guards. Welp, I would come back in a few weeks. Now, I still had a few hours to cultivate more qi, which I intended to use to the best of my ability. Training my aura and gravity qi would have to wait until after the tourney.

 Chapter 27

    The second and third day of the tournament went just like the first, with a few interesting or amusing fights in between the long slog of weak opponents hitting each other. I was sure someone that had any idea about fighting would see quite some skill involved, but I only had some martial art lessons as a child, over a lifetime ago.

    And those didn''t interest me too much back then, much less now. Especially because the martial arts I was taught didn''t have super strength and toughness in mind. Anyways, why didn''t the idiots tell me my robes protected some of the wrong areas?

    Every single one of my previous customers was going to get a very stern talking to! Just watching all these fights showed me at least three places the fighters usually went for that got some of the least qi in the robes.

    Oh they were going to regret that! How much I could have reduced the wear and tear of these things if I had known!

    "You look like you are planning to murder someone." Lady Chela commented next to me.

    "Well, I am not. But some people are about to have some very uncomfortable talks with me after the tournament." I explained.

    "And I probably need to learn the basics of fighting both humans and beasts." I admitted sourly.

    Her face lit up, after all she did offer to train me.

    "Very good. Why the change of mind though?" She asked.

    "I picked some things up, watching all these guys beat each other up. And I don''t know where to aim, so I don''t know where to use the qi inside them to the most effect. And I can''t support my work being subpar!" I exclaimed.

    "Your reasons might be skewed, but at least you show the inherent drive to improve every cultivator has." She sighed.

    Soon enough several days passed, and the last fight was fast approaching. And what a fight it was going to be, I thought. A new challenger was on her way into the middle of the arena.

    "I am Lion. And I challenge all of you. Keep up with me and walk on. Don''t and your fight will end here!" The woman in the arena roared.

    I rolled my eyes, though I had to admit she rolled with her name. Her robe had a lion head sewn onto the front, was at the golden brown color lions usually had, and her hood did look like a lion''s head.

    Now if she was going to be using anything not in theme with her name I''d be a little surprised, and a little disappointed.

    Still, her opponents obviously decided not to risk approaching the bold woman by themselves, and had grouped up as forty nine. Quite stupid. After all she was a single, small human. They were only giving her an advantage by going into melee, limiting the way they could attack, and giving her free reign between them.

    Just throwing some long range qi attacks would have been a smarter decision. Someone in the lodge seemed to agree with me too, as I heard someone mutter "Fools."

    I returned my eyes on the budding fight, and saw the group had encircled the woman, and was approaching her at an even pace.

    "We don''t have all day. Come! Fight me!" She roared.

    The woman dashed off the moment the she finished her second roar, and a spectral lion seemed to form behind her back.

    Qi seemed to manifest around her hands, creating claws ready to rip their victims apart. Qi intent, I guessed. So she was cultivating lion intent qi? That existed?

    Perhaps I had to rethink a few more of my general theories about cultivation. After all I though intent only came as a physical reality, but perhaps it just needed an idea. Or a concept you could imagine.

    Well, if those things were like the re thing those cultivators were in for a world of pain. A. opinion they seemed to share as the whole group turned on itself, intent to knock out as many of their competitors as possible.

    "Cowards." The woman roared.

    And sped up again as a lion legs appeared on her legs. She hit the group of fighting cultivators like a wrecking ball. One cultivator straight up flew up more than a metre, a large gash splitting his robe''s front.

    The nearby cultivators all turned towards her, knowing escape was impossible. She spun, and jumped towards the nearest enemy, one clawed hand on the way towards his face, the other held still near her body.

    The cultivator desperately raised both hands, blocking the attack on his head for a bloody wound in his stomach.

    As he dropped the woman was moving again, blood dripping from her spectral claws. Her next target, a brown haired woman, panicked, and started running, only to get put down with a bloody gash in the back.

    I watched in horrified fascination as the woman moved between her victims, her superior cultivation and qi intent outclassing her enemies by a league.

    In the end she dropped seventeen of the requited thirty cultivators herself, with the last one falling to his knees and simply surrendering.

    As the stage was cleaned up - mainly just removing any motionless cultivators and putting a little sand over the blood - the mayor stood up.

    "Well, this was exciting!" He yelled. "With the first round finished we will stop for today, and return tomorrow. Get ready, because things are only going to get better."

    I couldn''t help myself. This stupid tournament took too long! Instead of cultivating like planned I was going to test gravity qi.

    I knew it was stupid, and risky, but I really wanted to. First some adjustments though. After all I forgot some stuff, got some things wrong. It was time to fix them. The biggest problem I had in my first picture of gravity was the lack of origin. After all as it was now I saw gravity pulling in the direction of the nearest surface, which was plain wrong, and hella confusing.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

    No, gravity ways pulled towards the center of mass of any object.

    My whole vision shifted, lines righting themselves, and the little vertigo I always felt when concentrating on my gravity sense.

    Perfect.

    Now. I lay a small pebble down in front of me, reached out with a strand of aura, and focused on actually bending the line of gravity connecting us upwards, pulling it towards me at the same time, and burned some qi.

    The line actually did bend, if only a little. Nonetheless the stone did a short hop, before being pulled down by the planet''s gravity again.

    Now, how far could I bend those lines? I concentrated on the line connecting, ¡­ wait.

    Why a line? Gravity only pulled towards the center of mass, it didn''t attack at it. Gravity attacked at every point of a body at once.

    My perception changed again, this time it felt like a hundreds, millions of lines combining into one. More realistic, but way too confusing.

    I didn''t like it. So I focused again, and imagined all the individual lines connecting to the center of gravity of any object combining into one straight vector.

    Perfect.

    Now back to bending the direction gravity attacked a body from. Which made tero sense, now that I thought what bending the lines meant, but had already worked, so I''d just try again.

    I focused on the powerful line connecting the planet''s center of mass to the pebble, and just forced the line to bend, right until it did a full turn upwards.

    The pebble flew upwards, followed the bend of the line, and landed back on the ground. I grinned. That took a lot less energy than directly cancelling out gravity.

    I pouted, this wasn''t something I could use without some serious practice, after all if I were to fly this way I''d just fall sidewards. What happened if I stopped bending the line while it was still falling along it?

    Time to try.

    I repeated my previous experiment, but bend the line up a little farther, to have more time to react and observe. I also slowed down my perception of time by about fifty percent.

    I watched the stone fall up again, and noted curiously that I had no idea how strong gravity on this planet actually was. Well, it wasn''t all that important for now.

    As the pebble reached the halfway point I let go, and watched as its previous speed was bled by the right gravity reasserting itself.

    Good.

    I checked my qi, and saw I had most still left, meaning I could sustain about half an hour of flight like that. Well, at least if I could survive reaching terminal velocity, and the eventual stop. Which was doubtful, even considering my improved constitution.

    Well, flying should stay a last resort for now, it was far too dangerous to do without a lot of practice.

    Well, I still had plenty of qi left, so it was time to train! That pebble was going to be flying through the air all night long! And in the coming nights too, after all flying under their own power was every human''s dream. Planes just couldn''t compare. Well, perhaps flying one on your own did, but I never did that.

    The tournament started bright and early on the next day, with me being a little early. I took a moment to appreciate the arena''s exterior.

    It was build a little like the colosseum, tall wide arches of white stone holding the large construction upwards. It looked a bit squashed though, seeing as it was only three stories tall, but nearly three hundred metres wide and four hundred long.

    Well, perhaps it''d get another story when the mayor broke into the fourth realm. Though if seemed to be the more likely moniker, considering the secrets of the fourth realm were well kept, and he didn''t have a friend he could just ask like me.

    Though I had avoided anything more than general questions so far, after all I didn''t befriend the fox for the benefits I would gain by doing so. And discovering stuff on my own was more fun, I just had to know it was there!

    Anyways. The arena. You could enter for a small fee, about as much as a whole week of food costed for a mortal, so not cheap, but not hideously expensive. Well, it would probably take some time until the mayor made back the money he invested into this, after all you needed a lot of money just for the materials, let alone hiring the builders.

    I should suggest a few things like the romans did. Fights against wild animals and beasts, fights against death row prisoners, all the good shit.

    Yeah, people would like that. Perhaps a weekly event?

    Still, I felt pretty sure the arena was more of an investment for later than for now, after all a town, even as big as ours had grown to be, couldn''t support such a big arena for long.

    Mortals weren''t made out of money after all, and they made up a very big part of the population, so they''d be responsible for the biggest part of the revenue.

    "Hello there beauty." A voice whispered in my ear.

    I spun around, and slapped the jerk in his face.

    "And you are?" I asked cooly.

    "You don''t know? Didn''t you see my martial prowess in the arena?" The guy asked.

    "Nope. Doesn''t ring a bell. You can''t have been too impressive then." I said, and turned to leave.

    Qi invaded my aura, so I apun around again, and letting my qi loose. There was no fight, seeing as he didn''t have any qi intent.

    "Do that again and we are going to have a problem. Understood?" I asked.

    The cultivator dropped to his knees, and nodded up and down like his life depended on it.

    "Good. If you tell anyone about what happened I will find you." I said.

    Looking around, I saw we had attracted some attention. All mortals though, so I gave them a warning glare, and marched off.

    Enough time wasted, it was time to get back into the arena. Lucky I didn''t use all my qi for training though, or this could have gotten unpleasant. Well, no need to waste a second thought on this guy.

    "Welcome to the second round of the tournament." The mayor yelled. "Let''s get to what we all were looking for, shall we? The one on one fights!"

    The arena exploded in sound once again, yet the sounds in the lodge stayed at an acceptable level. Strange, but probably some qi shenanigans.

    My eyes turned towards the arena''s floor, where all four hundred eighty remaining participants stood. And ten wooden fighting rings.

    Well, those would be trashed by the end of the day.

    Soon enough the first twenty participants were gathered on the ten stages, and I noticed all of them were from the last group of fighters.

    Interesting. So all those teams would have to eliminate themselves before advancing a round?

    Well, that was easily exploited too, but as good an attempt as any.

    Who to concentrate on though? The lion woman''s opponent was shaking in his boots, just about ready to collapse on the spot.

    What a wimp. He wasn''t one of my customers though, so I wouldn''t see how my products held up in front of a second realm cultivator. Ah well, some other fight then? My eyes scanned the arena, and I finally managed to spot a cultivator donning a simple robe - one of mine. It was strange, but all of my robes looked simple and plain when compared to a cultivator''s usual robe. Their colors were reserved, I added no garish decorations, and kept them simple and practical.

    I couldn''t understand these people. Why fight in a robe at all? Sure I made mine with as few restrictions to mobility as possible, but they were still a robe in the end. And robes weren''t meant for fighting!

    Yet none of the cultivators even entertained the idea of using more practical clothes even once. There had to be some cultural significance to robes I didn''t get. Perhaps yet another way to elevate themselves above mortals? I had never seen a mortal wearing a robe after all.

    That seemed likely. And stupid, like all restrictions on mortals. After all if you saw yourself as better than someone else, as simply superior, you didn''t need to suppress them to prove that.

    Which made cultivators seem very insecure to me. If they needed to elevate themselves above their origins so desperately.

    Anyways. Now I only had to sit through twenty four of these fights, which hopefully wouldn''t take as long as the first round had. The mayor should have eliminated more people in the first round, having most of our population not working for an extended period of time was a recipe for economic disaster.

    Not my problem, I had more than enough funds to start anew in a new town. Or perhaps a small fishing village on the other side of the forest? I was sure I''d find something.

    Well, so far the mayor seemed to know what he did, so I''d give him the benefit of the doubt before asking a friend to move me to a different location.

 Chapter 28

    The first fight ended with the lion woman''s opponent surrendering before she managed to reach him. It was something I only managed to notice at the edge of my awareness though, as I concentrated on my customer''s fight.

    She was in the first realm as far as I could see, not actually remembering her myself. She wasn''t using any flashy techniques like her opponent though. Well, not that those techniques were doing him any good, considering he didn''t hit with any of them.

    It looked quite impressive, seeing her weave around all of his attacks. Well, not all of them, some, those without qi augmenting them, were allowed to hit her, but only on the most protected part of the robe, and traded for an attack herself.

    It seemed attacks that did not have any qi augmenting them were useless against the qi I stuffed into the cloth. Good to know. Though evolving your fighting style to rely on external means didn''t seem all that smart to me. Sure it was an unexpected way of fighting - as proven by the frustrated look on her enemies face.

    It worked even better against cultivators, who only used flashy attacks, but also made her predictable.

    If a cultivator could augment their attack fast enough she''d be too slow to dodge that attack.

    And I had yet to see how my robes held up against a qi augmented attack, though I guessed they would do quite well so long as the qi within wasn''t overwhelmed.

    I needed to hire a cultivator or two to do some real stress testing. And I didn''t even have to wait for that, after all the town was still filled with lots of cultivators, recently having lost in the tournament.

    Why didn''t I think of this earlier?

    Well, something I could regret later.

    For now I returned my focus on the fight in front of me, seeing it nearly finished. My customer had her opponent in a corner, his robes held together by threads, and he was swaying unsteadily.

    Well, it appeared he got hit by several good hits while I was musing about the future. "I surrender." He said.

    My customer nodded, did a slight bow and jumped off the stage, unsteadily followed by her previous opponent.

    I turned my head to another fight, watching as the twk just hit each others arms over and over again. Boring, next.

    As my head turned I had an idea, and looked back. Indeed. They were purposefully using their arms to block all attacks aimed at them. Well this would explain the reason all my destroyed robes came back with completely ripped sleeves. People didn''t want to get hit in the core of their body.

    Noted.

    I moved on, silently thanking the two cultivators for their contribution to my work. A flash drew my eyes to another fight, and I saw two cultivators standing at the edge of their arena, throwing balls of fire at each other.

    It looked so silly I couldn''t help but grin for a moment. They were clinically insane. After all the fireballs moved too slow to hit them, and would be quite useless even if they did hit - the short explosion of fire wouldn''t even sear the hair from their bodies!

    But both were too proud to admit that, continuously doing the same thing over and over again.

    And somehow expecting a different result.

    Insane.

    As the two idiots continued their ''fight'' I moved on, they''d eventually run out of active qi, and turn towards plummeting each other with their fists.

    All other fights were already finished though, so I reluctantly returned my attention to the last fight. It played out just like I expected. The two even ran out of qi at the same time.

    In the end one managed to win by a lucky hit, as the other seemed to have some qi left still, and moved in a way that surprised his opponent. The winner helped the loser up, they laughed, and moved from the stage in a moment.

    The eleven rounds of the day went just as fast, with me noting a dozen improvements I could do to my work in the process. None of the fights were really memorable, or worth watching to be honest, but to a total novice like me it was an eye opener.

    My whole work would have to be revised for maximum effectiveness. Everyone using ranged qi techniques was using things similar to the weak fireballs of the first turn.

    So until I started getting more powerful cliente I could completely ignore their existence, as the material I used was strong enough to withstand them on its own. In total seventeen of my customers fought on that first day, with only one losing dje to the difference of power between his opponent and himself.

    The rest won their fights, usually by exhausting the qi of their opponents and striking when they were weak.

    Good. Using their brains then.

    Still, I sold far more than seventeen robes over the course of the last three years. Sure, I only did two robes per month at first, until I started getting qi filled materials that could be used instead of my own qi, but I knew I sold a couple of hundred robes.

    Some were destroyed already for sure, all my work of the first year or two at least, but still. My output had been more like five to six robes a month for that last year, meaning over fifty of my robes should still be out there somewhere.The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    If someone sold the stuff I was going to be cross ¡­ Well, no, not really. But I was definitely going to increase my prices. After all better work and quality called for higher prices. And none of the cultivators that bought my stuff looked all that stricken to part with their stuff.

    I practically dashed out of the lodge when the last fight finished. After all the best time to hire someone just as they lost, and were still depressed.

    Of course I had asked the mayor where to find the fighters in this massive building, and learned the losers weren''t all that far from me. So I had to be fast, and reach them before they left for the day.

    The more recent the lose the better.

    Soon enough I came upon the first cultivator whose face I made sure to remember, one of those that shot fireballs at each other. He wasn''t likely to agree, seeing as he didn''t seem all that sad about the loss, but still worth a try.

    "Say, you wouldn''t be interested in some work, would you?" I asked.

    His eyes, previously closed while he cultivated, shot open and focused on me.

    "What kind of work." He asked.

    "Well, I need someone to stress test my work. In essence I would pay you to shoot your fireball at my stuff and let me observe how it reacts. You can also use any other techniques you may know to try." I explained. "If you go a further step, and suggest how I can improve the protection of my robes you can even earn a bonus."

    "Hmmm. I don''t know. I would have to talk about it with my brother. What do you pay? And where would I find you?" He asked.

    "Just ask about Triss, everyone knows where I live." I answered. "And I can pay in both cultivation resources and money. Whatever you prefer."

    "Well Triss. Nice to meet you. I will be sure to think about your offer. Can I return to my cultivation now please? As you surely know cultivating while your qi is exhausted is the most effective and I don''t want to lose a single second of it." He said.

    "Of course. May the heavens be kind with you." I said.

    It was the same phrase i heard when I told people I was going to cultivate, so it seemed appropriate. Anyways, cultivation was more efficient when your qi was exhausted? That did sound like something to test, though I wasn''t sure it still counted once you had your qi intent. After all if I were to cultivate with just qi intent and free pure qi - like the cultivators of this world seemed to do - then just extending my aura to the maximum and running at top speed seemed like the best way to cultivate the moment you got your qi intent.

    Perhaps qi intent only reacted that way once you reached sufficient understanding of your intent? Nothing I could test out without help, so it was on the back burner for now. Once I officially reached the second realm perhaps.

    I continued on my way, my eyes scanning the present cultivators for the faces I remembered. All of them didn''t seem all that beaten down about losing though, and every single one of them was digillenty cultivating.

    By now I had passed about half of the one hundred and twenty cultivators that lost today, and only found another single one of my targets. He declined immediately, not even pausing to hear my offer. How rude.

    I started hearing voices as I continued on, someone was yelling. Well, it looked like not everyone was as content to lose as those guys. Or they were just idiots. I followed the voices, right until I came upon another chamber. Three cultivators were in there, two of then cultivating like the rest, with a third hitting the wall over and over again, muttering something to himself. I scanned the room, saw none of my targets were there, and contemplated weather to approach the angry young man or not when he noticed me.

    "Perhaps it''s my lucky day still." He muttered to himself.

    What was it today? Two creeps on a single day?

    "Hello there, what can I, the great Wolf, do for you my flower?" He said.

    As the man swaggered over to me my brain stopped working for a moment. He thought that would work? Nope, I was so outta here.

    My aura expanded, until I could feel gravity affecting him. A short flare of my qi later, and the creep lay on the ground, unconscious where the sudden downwards acceleration left him. I looked the the sprawled form in disgust, checked the two cultivators with us - they were still dead to the world - and marched out of the room.

    I continued searching the rooms, finding the last eight of my targets near each other. One declined, being from a clan meant he didn''t need any money, while the other seven all asked for time to think about it too. Good enough. I had another week to find more people, as all that lost today were only first realm cultivators.

    After another night of cultivating - exhausted qi really did increase the effectiveness of cultivation - I returned to the arena again.

    The second day of the second round went like the first. All those that showed promise in the first round got an easy matchup, advancing into the third round while the rest fought desperately.

    This looked rigged. Well, the mayor never said it was going to be a fair tournament, and the crowd loved those stomps.

    I had no real stakes in this tournament, so I wasn''t outraged. And all those powerful cultivators would have a go at each other later on anyways, so it wasn''t like we missed out on anything.

    Still, I tried to see all of the ten fights at once, and even asked Lady Chela who of those that lost was the best. With that another twenty one cultivators joined my list of potential employees, and working through them was quite a bit more successful than yesterday. I had three outright agree, and told them to come meet me after the tournament. Ten of them seemed ecstatic to be given the chance, but asked for some time to think nonetheless, with the rest declining outright. Still, it was a very productive day for me, even though I did not learn all that much.

    There was only so much gained from watching from afar after all.

    After the day was over, I used some of my time to make several new robes, this time thinking about everything I had learnt so far.

    There were several ways to implement the new ideas and information, which meant my work for the next days was cut out. Sewing robes, even if only those made out of prepared cloth, took some time if I wanted the additional qi to settle into them.

    "Ohhh." A whisper passed through the crowd. The third round had started a few hours ago, and the lion lady was currently facing a cultivator clad in wooden robes.

    The lady was mad with rage, her roars nearly shaking the arena as she lay into my work. The cultivator she was facing was objectively weaker, but only her most powerful attacks managed to penetrate through all the layers of protection I wove into the robes.

    Still, the man was forced to attack and defend himself actively, or he would lose in time. He didn''t have any qi intent, so his attacks were only augmented with qi - a simple tactic, but the woman''s previous opponents slash victims had shown everything else was too slow to hit her.

    The guy would still lose though. I knew him, and he didn''t have the qi to keep up with someone that cultivated long enough to form a meridian network and open their dantian. Even if it was in a suboptimal location. It was fun to watch though, seeing her having to work for her win for the first time.

    In the end my prediction proved true, though the woman looked quite battered after she finally shredded my robes. Her opponent didn''t look all that healthy, he was pale from blood loss and had large, bloody gashes all over his body. But he was grinning like a madman, and insisted on bowing towards the woman before collapsing and being taken off the stage. She inclined her head a little, and marched off the stage herself.

    After that amusing little interlude the tourney continued on with little surprises, though some of the wins I saw looked suspicious - like someone held back, to barely winning. Those suspicions were confirmed by the knowing looks the people around me had, and the sudden acceleration at the end of the fights.

    Some people were here to win, not to show off.

 Chapter 29

    The fourth round started a day later. It was the first round that would take less than a full day, and would be fought together with the fifth round today. Which the previous tactic of simply outlasting their opponents wouldn''t work for those that used it anymore - a cultivator would have to keep a careful look on the qi they used if they wanted to succeed in the next round, as the tournament only sped up from now on.

    Only the final would have a day of rest before it, to see the finalists at their peak form. Which made the next two days all the more interesting for me. Who won or even fought in the finals themselves mattered not, they were unlikely to accept my offer anyways, as even getting into the top ten offered enough prices that I could not compete easily.

    I still could compete of course, but it would ruin me for little gain.

    ---

    Lion smiled. The rumors about the tournament happening in this backwater town had been true. And the rewards were great, just thinking about the glowing robe had her salivating a little. None of the other participants had shown much promise to her, a disciple of the Great Savanna Sect. She couldn''t wait to return with stories of great victories, her ring filled with treasure.

    Perhaps the creator of the robe could be persuaded to make her an over robe? One with a lion head on it? After all the signature animal of her sect had to be proudly worn, for all to see.

    Well, first she had to win, and the real powerhouses of the tournament had yet to show their head, having chosen to ignore her early challenge. Well, they¡¯d need to step up their game in the next rounds, qi exhaustion was a serious concern for most.

    Not her, she had plenty of spirit stones, a rarity in these backwater, and savage lands, to replenish her stock for an occasion just like this. While some would surely grumble at her use of the precious resources she didn''t care about their opinion. Wealth was a different kind of power after all. Yet all the wealth in the world couldn''t buy something that wasn''t there, meaning she had eat bland meals ever since she left the city.

    Even using her intent to enhance her nose didn''t produce any results, not even the mayor used salt! A third realm elder, who didn''t even bother to use any spices! This place truly was the worst.

    For now, she focused on her new opponent, he, like several of the cultivators, wore a qi enhanced robe. She really couldn''t understand how such a backwater place produced a spirit craftswoman, even if the young woman wasn''t producing the best work.

    It was passable, especially considering she probably learnt her craft from a mortal, but not comparable to any real sect craftsman. Well, her prices weren''t comparable too, so that evened out.

    Still, one so gifted shouldn''t waste in a town like this, and the sect always needed new craftsmen or women. She¡¯d offer after the tournament, though she had to be careful, even her powerful intent stood no chance against a third realm expert, no matter how backwater.

    ¡°I will finish this with one attack." He stated.

    "I am waiting." She answered.

    Lion grinned. Now this was going to be interesting. Just in case she started using one of her sect''s techniques ''skin of the lion king''.

    Her enemy exploded, with flames flying off his form. He dashed forwards, and started roaring.

    "Dragonfire!"

    That sounded serious. Immediately Lion send more lion qi into her skin, before dashing forwards herself. The fire around her opponent changed into a dragon head, reared back, and shot forwards. Right at her face.

    Mistake.

    She executed her movement technique, Speed of the Lion, and dashed from the area the fire was going to hit, appearing right in front of her enemy.

    His eyes became wide, even as her claws raked across his form. As always she held back, not forming any life threatening injuries.

    Well, not always. That strange cultivator in the wooden robes had taken her all, but his robe had been made for defense. She had thought about commissioning something like that, but the heat she saw in there made her stop. Lions got lazy when things got too warm.

    Anyways, that fight had been fun, a little like the fights back home, instead of all those out here. Well, her enemy was panicking, and fire formed on his skin again. She executed her next technique, paw of the lion, and boxed him in the head.

    Her opponent was too concentrated on his own technique, so he didn''t block, and immediately collapsed as her qi shot forth, miniscule displacing some if the qi in his head.

    Her opponent dropped like a sack of potatoes, and she sighed. She wanted a real challenge! Now this. One weakling after another.

    Perhaps the next fight would be more interesting. In the meantime she should ask people about having a friendly spar or two. You couldn''t ever fight enough!

    First, she checked on her qi.

    Still more than enough left. The fight had been easy.

    Lion returned to her place on the arena, having just watched the rest of the fights in the last round. Things didn''t look promising. Sure, the giant looked promising, but the sand cultivator from the first round already lost to another cultivator. Again one that cultivated fire. What was it with backwater places and fire cultivators? No self respecting cultivator in the heartlands cultivated fire!

    Well. About ten of the fighters managed to avoid revealing their most powerful techniques yet. Which made them dangerous.

    Like the woman in front of her. She had yet to use any powerful technique, and didn''t seem all that concerned to face her. That was concerning.

    The woman would get her full attention.

    "Start!" The mayor yelled.

    "Roar of the Lion." She roared.

    Immediately she felt invigorated, but her qi was draining rapidly. She executed all her techniques, and dashed forwards, all thoughts but the hunting of her prey vanishing into a cold, calculated stare.

    Qi? Ninety Percent.

    Distance to her enemy? Ten metres and shrinking rapidly.

    Her enemy? Moving towards her.

    Her aura? Concentrated half a metre around her.

    All good.

    They clashed, but her enemies attacks couldn''t put a scratch in her skin. But that didn''t matter, as she also couldn''t land a single blow on the slippery enemy.

    Stage two then.

    She roared loudly, enhancing the sound with qi. Dodge that. Her enemy flinched for a moment, and that moment was all she needed to lash out with all her might.This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    Her hit connected to the woman''s robe, but was absorbed by the qi within. That was a lot of qi in that part. But also much less in some others. She''d have to ain for those.

    Time for another check.

    Qi? Eighty three percent.

    Distance to the enemy? Melee.

    They clashed again, with her enemy enhancing her blows with simple qi this time. Not enough. Good. Lion intentionally stepped into an attack, to deliver her own, into the nearly unprotected side of her adversary.

    The robe ripped, but only a small scratch appeared on her opponent''s skin.

    Lion grinned savagely, looking down at her opponent. First blood!

    They clashed again, her enemy''s hand filled with ice this time. Lion got another hit on the plate of qi on her opponent''s chest, but several icy scratches appeared on her skin in return.

    They seperated for a short breather again, which Lion took as a chance to channel her Recovery of the Lion technique.

    Her qi was draining even more rapidly than before, but it would be enough. When they met again she roared right in her opponent''s face, mixing a little blood into the air.

    Her opponent flinched again, this time less from the sound and more from the blood splattering her face.

    Lion jumped to the opportunity, attacking the weak spot she had created earlier, leaving a savage wound behind.

    Her opponent''s face grimaced in pain, but she didn''t waver, her eyes solely focused on Lion. Well, that was to be expected. Now she just had to press the advantage, not give her opponent time to use qi to stem the bleeding.

    The fight was over the moment she hit that blow, and both knew that fact. Her opponent put up a good fight nonetheless, wounding her several more times.

    By the time the woman collapsed from blood loss Lion was running on fumes herself, several long bloody gashes lining her body.

    Lion skin wasn''t made to block ice.

    But she won. Without revealing her trump card too, though revealing two of her techniques hurt a little. Compared to ost fighters here her bag of tricks was quite small, though each of her tricks were far more powerful than normal.

    Lion returned to her quarters in the arena, and spend most of the night forcefully energizing her qi with several spirit stones.

    It felt like a waste - the stones would need a long time to recover all that energy, and a time she couldn''t put them in her spatial ring. But being at the top of her game was going to be important for the three rounds today.

    "I am RHINO of the Waid Clan. And I am going to show you just how my clan fights."

    The boy didn''t look older than twenty. So his cultivation was quite impressive. His name wasn''t though, it spoke of arrogance, of reaching higher than you should.

    And he did not feel like he cultivated Rhinoceros intent.

    So she laughed at him.

    "You need to cultivate for another decade before you can challenge me. Boy." She said.

    Yeah, just like she thought. A hotblood. Just this single, tame insult and his head looked ready to explode.

    "I do have to wonder though, how did someone like you get so far? Perhaps rising on the coattails of your clan? Not that they can be all that important, I have never heard of them after all."

    Reason left the boy''s eyes, as he started glowing red, and running at her. A berserker then. How stupid. Berserkers, or cultivators who cultivated anger intent qi, were the weakest if emotion cultivators.

    Well, at least those that went the path of unbridled anger. A short flex of qi had her at the edge of the arena, as she wondered how he managed to get this far. Fear perhaps? No reason to mention his clan otherwise.

    Well, no backwater clan, no matter how powerful here, would dare threaten a disciple of the Great Savanna Sect.

    Her victim had arrived at her previous spot by now, and was raving madly at her, before moving again.

    Yup.

    Berserker.

    She laughed again, loudly, to stroke the flames a little more.

    "Come on. Are you too weak to even catch me?" She asked.

    Moving to her previous spot, she watched with growing amusement as the incompetent madman turned around madly, finding her.

    "Now now. How did you end up there? I haven''t even moved." She said with a big yawn.

    Her plaything roared again, and dashed towards her once again. Berserkers were too predictable, this fight was boring, time to end it. The trick about fighting people like this was easy. Don''t get hit. They hit like a rhino, but were easier to predict the more angry they were.

    And this one was just about ready to explode. Just a little more.

    "Even a toddler could run from you. You are a shame on your clan." She stated.

    She could practically see as something snapped in him, his speed exploded, and his hands forming into the imitation of a claw.

    "Ohh, scary." She said sarcastically.

    It was all about position, and the right moment. So she stepped out of his way the moment he wouldn''t be able to stop anymore. Watching an enraged berserker break through the railing of the fighting ring, and land in the sand, face first, was always amusing.

    They just had an air around them ''bully me please''. Well, to be honest if an anger cultivator managed to control their rage they were terrifying.

    But this one had a long way to go. Well, he was hopeless to be honest.

    The next round started about an hour later, and she finally faced the opponent she had been waiting for since the first round.

    The giant.

    The way he used other cultivators as a club had spoken to something deep inside her.

    "I,Lion, am looking forwards to this fight." She stated.

    "I will allow you to know the name of the man that defeated you. I am Tiger." He stated.

    Well. If this was back in the sect she''d be concerned. After all tigers, unlike lions, were loners. But here? Every second cultivator had an animal name, without having earned it. And this one didn''t seem different, though he had been deceptively fast, and had yet to reveal his intent.

    Time to start then. She had watched his fights, and knew he relied on his superior reach to go for grapples and throws, somewhat negating superior cultivation. The fight would be interesting for sure, it was time to test that fighting style of his against a real predator.

    She didn''t know how hard his last fight was, seeing as she had a little fun with the berserker, and the giant thus finished his fight before she did, but he didn''t seem all that exhausted. Just like her. Good.

    Now, should she use Lion''s Roar from the start or not? That technique burned qi at a ridiculous rate, so better not.

    The giant was fast, but not fast enough for her normal speed. Well, a little roar wouldn''t hurt, just without qi. She dashed forwards, her clawed hands already swiping towards her enemy.

    He moved to grapple her, but she was waiting for it.

    A little use of her qi later, and she appeared inside his guard. Fighting someone who relied on range at their terms was a was that only lead to ruin after all.

    Her swipes continued, one towards his throat and the other towards his stomach. The giant dodged as predicted, leaning his head to the side and taking a step back. Good.

    The hand that originally went towards the stomach severed downwards, ripping a wound in his thigh. The wound was shallow, as he noticed her attack a second too early, but it would still restrict him.

    Now she only had to press her advantage, score a hit above his eyes, and blind him to win that fight. She smiled savagely, and had to suppress the lion for for a moment. It wanted to taste blood. Later.

    Lion roared loudly, but her enemy already knew that trick, and didn''t even flinch. She shrugged, it was worth a try.

    Suddenly her enemy took an unexpected step forwards, his leg appearing behind hers, as he stepped back again, and his elbow hit her chest.

    That hurt.

    Lion stumbled, the maneuver so unexpected she didn''t react in time. Instead of trying to correct her position, and move into her enemies waiting hands, she threw herself into the fall, cursing she''d have to use that now.

    A spectral lion appeared behind her again, as the claws on her forearms grew into lion''s legs. She caught her fall with her arms, and leaped at her enemy with a loud roar, claws poised to rip him apart.

    He took a step back, but was too slow due to the wound in his leg. Her claws cut his face, right over both eyes. Her feet came moments later, still human, and landed on the giant''s stomach.

    She jumped, and landed a few metres from him, a savage snarl on her face. The lion tasted blood, and suppressing again it would need a moment. She started circling, taking care to stay on the side of his injured leg.

    The giant didn''t want to give her time though, he knew his eyes would soon be blinded by his own blood, so he charged.

    Lion snarled again, he could have could have used the time to heal the wound. Which meant he either knew of her predicament, or thought to end this in one last attack. So she let the lion loose a little more instead.

    Familiar instincts entered her mind, the desire to hunt, to eat, to mate, to rip into her prey. She had trained with the lion for nearly a decade though, so these instincts didn''t overwhelm her, no they empowered her. She would win!

    Lion roared loudly, and the world slowed down. She fell on all fours, a lion made of qi forming around her as she pounced on her prey. Her head opened, and bit down on his, eating it whole.

    Or that would''ve happened if she didn''t stop in time. Not even a new wound appeared. Well, perhaps a small nibble, as was her right.

    She stood up, and looked around. Everyone was staring at her, cultivators and mortals alike. She shrugged. That happened when the lion came out, especially if she was pushed in a fight like right now.

    Lion marched towards the giant.

    "Good fight." She told him.

    Lion turned around, and left the fighting ring. She had won, and only needed to win one more fight to two more fights to reach the final. A five way free for all, and another one versus one.

    Both today. She couldn''t wait. This was life!

 Chapter 30

    "And now, we come towards the thing you have all been waiting for." The expert yelled. "The five way free for all. Only four of twenty remaining fighters will advance to the semi finals. Are you excited?"

    While no fights were in progress the sound suppressing formation on the floor was turned off, so Lion could hear the cries of mortals as they agreed to the elder. The sounds felt refreshing, invigorating to her.

    Bringing the lion back under control had taken a lot of her mental energy. It was bad form to leave it out, though the people here didn''t know that.

    Soon enough Lion walked onto the slightly bigger stage, and eyed her enemies. All four of them were part of a clan, as seen by their robes.

    Two had the same robe as the berserker, but lacked his simmering anger. Either they cultivated a different intent, or they were able to control themselves. Both options were bad, considering how she embarrassed their clan member earlier.

    The other two were part of a different clan, one of the dozens of wolf or bear clans found around here. The bear clan was looked at the two with open hostility, while the wolf clan looked at them with questioning eyes.

    So a two against three, if the bear clan cultivator had any sense in him. She shot him an asking look, just to make sure, and he nodded towards her. Good.

    "Let''s get this party started!" She roared.

    Qi surged through her body as she bounced forwards, intent to take one of the Waid Clan out first. They knew how to fight together after all.

    Long claws formed just above her fingers even as her target retreated behind the other. Instead of risking a melee engagement with the two, something they were trying to bait her into, she turned at the last second, her claws raking across the wolf clan boy''s chest, spinning him into her erstwhile ally.

    Who proved to be just as boring as most cultivators in these lands, as his fist exploded into fire. The wolf clan member had just enough time to react, making sure only his arms were fried, instead of his head.

    Lion clicked her tongue, disappointing. Though seeing how the boy broke down in sobs moments later perhaps pressing the attack might have been a waste of qi.

    She returned her attention to the tow clan members in front of her, both sneering at her.

    "You will regret angering the Waid Clan, trash." One of them said.

    "Why should I fear a backwater clan again? The best you will have is some weak immortal. My sect master eats those for breakfast." She bantered back happily.

    Both of them gulped, a little fear entering their eyes. Lion sneered. The sect master wouldn''t bother to move here for a small disciple like her. Just as their clan elders wouldn''t. The sect master didn''t eat anymore really. And popular rumor said the sect master thought humans to taste disgusting, though no one knew if he actually ever ate a human. She didn''t see a need to test that out anyway.

    Banter was a part of fighting, and they didn''t seem all that well versed.

    Well, if the only amusement they were worth was found in fighting then she''d fight. And show them how to properly fight too.

    Lion nodded to her partner, and they dashed forwards, towards their two opponents. The spokesperson of the two faced her, with his second facing her partner.

    Good enough. Lion''s tongue followed the outline of her lips, searching for a drop of warm blood. She found none, but that would soon change.

    In the finals, if she had any say about it.

    They attacked each other at the same time, her opponent suddenly surrounded by a wooden aura.

    Well, that was a mistake. Lion extended her claws just that little bit more, and started sharpening her claws at the unexpected tree.

    Her opponent was forced further and further back, small scratches appearing all over his skin as she shredded his robes, her claws becoming sharper and sharper as time went on.

    And he couldn''t even drop his technique, seeing as her claws would completely shred his skin if he did. A win win situation.

    Lion threw herself to the side as the second clan member tried attacking her from behind. But he wasn''t sneaky. Especially for someone with a lion''s nose.

    She she jumped one of the claws left her hand, and flew into the sneaky attacker''s leg, piercing straight through and disbanding after.

    Before he, or her scratching tree, had a chance to react on the new development she pounced forwards, as the second attacker stumbled upon hitting the floor. Her claws ripped across his back, creating long, deep and very bloody gashes, catapulting him off the stage in a moment.

    Lion jumped back, and surveyed the stage. Two formed were curled on the floor, with her and her scratching tree still standing. She started circling the tree, watching as he repaired his shell, until she had eyes on both collapsed forms.

    A simple burn wound shouldn''t take a second realm cultivator out of a fight for long. And she didn''t see any wounds on her previous ally.

    Well, grinding her claws on trees that didn''t collapse immediately was fun, and didn''t use much qi. So she could just continue on until something new happened. After all she was winning.

    When Lion came in range of the tree again, something changed. It actually grew branches, branches that moved to attack her as she came closer.

    He should have done that earlier, when her claws weren''t sharp enough to simply cut these branches in half. Lion felt a little silly as she advanced, cutting slow moving branches like a mortal gardener.

    Panic formed on her enemy''s face as she came closer, deeper into his aura yet her claws still cut. Perhaps he should learn how to really fight, not rely on complex qi techniques.

    Lion suddenly stopped her advancement, as all branches sped up, aiming to imprison her in their midst. The panic changed into an evil grin.

    A grin that finished the moment she did, but unlike her it did not reappear as she appeared in front of him.

    She made sure not to cut him too deep, and slapped him off the stage with a second attack.

    Her eyes scanned the other two participants, obviously watching her from their position on the ground.

    Both didn''t move to get up though, signalling their surrender. Lion nodded towards them, before leaving the stage. She had three other fights to watch, to scout the final competition.

    The semi final was about to start, and Lion was facing off against an ice cultivator. Which was a problem, lions weren''t made for the cold, and this one seemed to use his qi in the worst way possible. He created a slowing area of cold around him.

    ¡°IMMORTAL DEMON FREEZING BLIZZARD!¡± Her opponent yelled the moment the fight started.

    How long could he keep that up? She didn''t know, but ice or cold cultivators seemed to be able to keep using qi techniques forever. How, she did not know, but she didn''t expect him to run out of qi anytime soon. So either she¡¯d have to try and deal with him from afar, throwing claws all the time. The technique really only worked in a melee fight though, extending her range to unexpected levels.Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    Time to let the lion out again then, he¡¯d have a day to sleep after anyways.

    ¡°Scared to come closer lion girl? Then I will come to you!¡± Her opponent taunted, moving towards her.

    Lion only roared, and released her control over the lion for the second time in a day. All her techniques activated, and familiar instincts entered her mind. She ran forwards, her claws extending to the max, and lunged once she was in range.

    She could feel ice start settling down on her robe, and all exposed skin, even as the enemy jumped out of her attack. He was slower than her.

    Plan in mind Lion retreated out of the zone of icy cold, waited for feeling to come back into her limbs as she deactivated all but her basic techniques. Once warm she jumped in again, swiped at her enemy, and watched him jump out of the way again.

    Perfect. Now her win was just a matter of time.

    They repeated the same thing for another two times until her enemy caught on, and started chasing her around the stage. It felt like a game of cat and mouse, with her always just staying at the edge of his aura and attacking in moments of inattention.

    She had yet to land a single hit, but her qi kept her fresh, and the movement kept her warm. She repeated the cycle for a few more times, now having to dodge icicles leaving her opponents hands. She kept a careful eye on his face, slowly seeing anger creep on his face. Perfect. Anger made a cultivator sloppy. Time to add a little salt to the wound.

    ¡°You call that a blizzard? It can hardly be called snowfall. And that name, really? If you want to kill demons you should cultivate purity.¡± She taunted.

    She also slowed down to get in another attack like the previous one, and laughed as an icicle flew past her head. The anger grew, and he sped up again. Stupid. Ice cultivator relied on burning qi to move fast, they did not have access to more efficient movement techniques. She increased her speed just like he did, always barely dodging his attacks and staying in his aura for longer.

    It was actually starting to affect her too. A really powerful technique to be honest. Not as much as she was faking though. She let one of the icicles hit her in the flesh of her left arm, and felt ice spreading through her body.

    Now!

    She turned on her heels, a lion¡¯s head forming above her own as she lunged forwards, suddenly faster than she had been for the last minutes. Her enemy flinched when she and the lion roared as one, and that was all it took.

    She arrived atop of him, feeling the slowing effect increase in strength the closer she got. And she bit down on his shoulder, blood sprouting out of the wounds, and freezing before it hit the ground. Wow, that was really cold.

    With the lion¡¯s head holding the enemy in place he had no chance to escape as the claws on her hands started laying into his stomach.

    ¡°I surrender!¡± He cried, as her claws broke through his robe¡¯s protection.

    What a letdown, she was looking forwards to ravage his stomach. What a disappointment.

    Lion rubbed her arms together as warm air returned onto the stage with a loud whoosh.

    ¡°Good fight. But you really need to work on your emotional control in a fight.¡± She said, offering the enemy her hand.

    The cultivator took it, and nodded at her, as they both left the stage and arena. Perhaps he¡¯d be up for some fun? The lion needed to be tamed again, and doing so properly was easier for both of them.

    ---

    Lion¡¯s blood was pumping through her body. The final fight. The end of the tournament. Her opponent was might, probably just waiting to ascend to the third realm like she did. Waiting for opportunities like this tournament, to gain last riches and fame before entering closed door cultivation.

    She thought what she remembered about his previous fights. Sadly being healed took too long, and she missed the second semifinal, which would have been important to catch. Anyways. He used water intent qi, and apparently could control thousands of raindrops around himself.

    So probably slowing her down, and drowning her. Either by waiting until enough water gathered in her robe, or moving it all to entomb her in water. Probably both. So, she¡¯d have to start at full throttle, no holding back anymore.

    She shot her opponent the most savage grin she could manage, letting the lion leak into the expression.

    Her opponent answered with a grin just as savage.

    ¡°Try not to fold too fast.¡± He said.

    ¡°We will see how you handle a real lioness.¡± She answered.

    This would be exciting! Sure, water wasn''t a lion¡¯s natural element, so she was at a small disadvantage, but she still had her biggest trump card secret. She just had to get close.

    ¡°Start.¡± The signal.

    Lion let the lion take her and fell on all fours, charging her opponent as drops of rain exploded outwards. Her wide robe caught much of the water, and she felt it actively working to slow down her every movement. Lion grinned, and shook herself like a cat leaving the water.

    All water clinging to her body and clothes was thrown off her, and she grinned as her opponent looked at her like she was mad.

    She roared, louder than ever shown in the tourney, and sped up before her opponent had a chance to process the new development. Her spectral lion solidified even more as she blazed through the rain, the water clinging to her qi instead of herself now.

    As her and his qi intent fought for superiority she closed the last of the distance, and her claws shot out. Only for her opponent to burst into water, his real self appearing on the other side of the arena.

    Lion roared in approval, this was a real fight. She disappeared for a moment, reappearing at the same spot, already running towards the sneaky prey. It couldn''t run forever! In her excitement and joy her form flickered a little, the lion losing its mane for just a moment.

    Solid balls of water formed all around her, as the rain was deemed useless, clinging to her form regardless of any shaking, creeping all over her body and restricting her movement.

    With a burst of qi she shook herself free, and shot to the side. The prey couldn''t hide its smell!

    The cultivator appeared out of thin air, a thin bubble of water spread around him. He saluted her, before dashing into her direction. They met with a roar and an explosion of water, a long gash appearing on his side even as water crept in her open mouth.

    She gulped it down, clearing it of qi with her aura, and breathed in again, spinning around to slash at a blade of water appearing near her back. She completed her spin, the lion¡¯s mouth snapping forwards and drinking a drop of blood.

    Suddenly the location of her enemy appeared clear in her mind, unimpeded by the bubble of water surrounding them. She lashed out, her claws seemingly missing, but suddenly being stopped by something invisible. Blood appeared in the water as Lion jumped back, excitement causing her blood and qi to flow faster and faster.

    She took a deep gulp of air, and dove in again, once again slashing at seemingly empty water. She grinned savagely, and released all the air stored in her lungs with a directed, explosive roar, displacing all water in front of her, and revealing her heavily bleeding enemy. She got him good. Another deep breath, and a small fight of qi as her enemy wanted to deposit water in her lungs, later and they were trading blows for real, her opponent seemingly stopping any tricks.

    But he was a water cultivator. The only cultivators worse than these guys were light cultivators! Lion shook, displacing all water on both herself and her spectral lion, and swished her tail, breaking a wave of water as it appeared behind her. Two could use tricks! She burnt some more qi for a moment, and vanished from her previous spot, two of her appearing a moment later. Together they lay into him again, one form forcing him to dodge into the other¡¯S attacks.

    Her opponent vanished too, two of him appearing out of the cloud now surrounding them. Lion roared approvingly, and both form went for another prey . But she still felt his blood, smelled his wounds, and sweat. And all this came from one of the copies only.

    So she herself went for the other, with her copy going for the real opponent. Only for all that qi to explode outwards, as the forcefully disconnected from her qi, dispersing the clone. Her prey flinched, lacking the preparation she had had.

    Her head snapped forwards, biting down hard. She pounced forwards too, and rode the prey to the ground, her head moving to savage her prey¡¯s throat. His arm, as well as lots of water shot up to block it, soaking the lion as the prey lay there.

    Lion started happily laying into the defenses, her qi intent cutting through his water intent and forcing him to use qi to reassert control over his water. Lion and the lion both roared in approval, this was how you fought. Qi against qi, body against body, wits against wits. Use everything. Win.

    Her head bit down for the last time, pushing through the water and pulling the prey upwards. But only the spectral lion moved, lion herself stayed in her position, biting down too, while her hands broke through the water, on their way towards his throat, towards the kill. The prey had lost and was hers to take!

    Suddenly she stood somewhere else, and looked around confused.

    ¡°That''s enough. You were killing each other.¡± A voice said.

    Lion looked around and saw her opponent looking just as confused. She searched for the voice¡¯s origin, even as a hush spread through the crowd, and a heavy presence descended.

    ¡°I would have stopped them in time too, old fox.¡± A second, really old voice sounded.

    A second presence appeared, and all knew who appeared.

    ¡°I wonder what you do here though, it¡¯s rare to see you move at all.¡± It continued.

    ¡°Someone told me about the tournament, and I wanted to see it for myself, experience some old memories again.¡± The first voice said.

    Lion fell to her knees, as did everyone else in the arena. Her heart sped up even more, Immortals!

    ¡°So, old man, will you take over? They are your people.¡± The first voice said.

    ¡°Yes, yes. Always those impudent pups, making their elders move the second voice said, even as the first presence vanished.

    The girl won, she would have killed the boy first.¡± The second voice said, and vanished too.

    The crowd waited, holding their breath for a moment longer, before they started cheering.

    Lion smiled. She had lost control in the end, and that was something she¡¯d have to work on in the future. But now, it was time for fun.

    Still the lion was quite quiet, considering the circumstances. She checked on it, and saw it was still cowed by the presence of a greater predator. It would recover, she decided, and raised her hands.

    The crowd exploded into even louder cheers, and she smiled. Life was good.

 Chapter 31

    The winner of the tournament was standing in front of me. And she was glowing, how annoying.

    "You want what?" I asked. "And stop that light, it''s annoying."

    "I want a robe to wear over this one. Longer sleeves, a hood, and a lion on its front. And for you to join my sect." She explained. "How do I stop this?"

    "You can hide the material doing the glowing by overlapping these strips of cloth." I explained.

    "And don''t take this the wrong way, but I really don''t want to join a sect." I added.

    The woman¡¯s eyes bugged out, and she looked at me like I was some kind of idiot.

    ¡°But the amount of resources you can get in a sect, especially as a crafter as talented as you, are far greater than anything you could get on your own.¡± She said.

    Suddenly my doors were pushed open, and three guy entered.

    ¡°I am part of the great Waid Clan, and you are going to work for me and my brothers. You may bow, and feel honored we bless you with our presence!¡± Their leader announced.

    I eyed him, and remembered him as the angry guy from the tournament. His two followers didn''t ring a bell though.

    ¡°Nope. Now piss off, I have an actual customer to talk to.¡± I said, long buried feelings surfacing again.

    Mainly anger. The same emotion the guy I just talked to seemed to feel, as his cheeks started to redden.

    ¡°YOU WERE GIVEN AN HONOR! YOU WILL REGRET DENYING A SECOND TIME!¡± He threatened.

    ¡°Hmm. How about this?¡± I said. ¡°By the heavens, I solemnly swear I will not create a robe for the Waid Clan, or one of their proxying knowingly.¡±

    Everyone in the room gasped as golden light settled down around me, and I felt a restriction settle upon my soul. Looking at the horror on the young men''s faces they knew I would never be able to create stuff for them.

    I shot the guy a triumphant grin.

    ¡°You can leave now. And don''t bother to come back, I don''t deal with murderers.¡± I stated.

    I didn''t give him a chance to react, completely turning him out as I concentrated on the lion woman again.

    ¡°So you want your original look again. It¡¯s going to take some time, after all most cultivators want a different color for their robe. So I¡¯d need to send some guys into the forest, to find me the material required for a yellow or golden color. Are you fine with waiting?¡± I asked.

    A quick glance saw the two lackeys drag their leader out of my shop, even as he struggled to jump at me. Perhaps I could have been a little more polite? Ah well, he wouldn''t do something stupid, after all I was a gold mine for the mayor.

    ¡°Why did you do that?¡± The lion woman asked.

    ¡°He¡¯s a second realm cultivator. And you¡¯re not.¡± She said. ¡°Sure, he¡¯s a berserker, but you don''t look like much of a fighter to me. What did that clan do to you to react this extreme?¡±

    ¡°One of them killed my mother.¡± I answered.

    A thread of foreign aura entered my own, filled with qi. Well, that was a problem. First, I took a step back.

    ¡°That¡¯s rude. I suggest you stop before things get serious.¡± I stated.

    The woman followed me regardless, and her aura entered my own, tightly controlled aura again, this time filled with qi.

    Damn. I wouldn''t be able to talk my way out of that, no matter what. So I concentrated my aura, and battered her¡¯s aside. She recoiled, and looked at me in astonishment, before her aura repeated its attack.

    Damn squared. I started burning some qi, to slow down my perception of time, and get some time to think.

    What should I do?

    I could just let her inspect my body, but my meridian network was ridiculous for a cultivator my age. Just as my aura control really. So I¡¯d have to pit my qi against hers? I felt confident I¡¯d win, but looking at her age, around thirty years or so, that¡¯d be more than unusual too. Still, it was better than her seeing more of my cultivation.

    I allowed my aura to expand, to encompass the whole room, and moved some of my qi out of my body, forming a shield of qi around me.

    The woman¡¯s eyes widened a little more, but she pressed on nonetheless, until my qi met hers. They immediately started clashing, with our qi intents being a lot closer than I thought possible, but it didn''t matter. I was there to help my qi along after all.

    As I thought she cultivated lion intent, not something I had thought existed two weeks ago, and I gravity. How would a lion fight against gravity? The answer was it didn''t. Not really.

    ¡°Who are you?¡± She asked breathlessly.

    I felt the foreign aura retreat, so I did the same. No reason to chance someone randomly entering after all. A lot of my customers needed new robes after all.

    ¡°I am Triss.¡± I answered. ¡°And you know that already. The mayor told everyone who I was after all.¡±

    Lion shook her head.

    ¡°That''s not what I meant. You have qi intent, and its of one of the fundamental forces of nature. No one cultivates these by themselves because they are too hard to understand. Yet here you are, a young woman, in one of the most backwater towns around. And your understanding of gravity is powerful enough to compete, and win against my qi intent!¡± She said. ¡°What¡¯s your real, your full name?¡±

    ¡°My full name is Triss.¡± I answered. ¡°I don''t need anything else added to it.¡±

    The woman nodded to herself several times, before she broke the silence, her posture straightening, a savage glint entering her eyes.

    ¡°So. What happens now?¡± She asked. ¡°Are you going to kill me? Because I''m not going to go down easy.¡±

    I looked at her in horror.

    ¡°Why in all hells would I kill you? I haven''t killed a single person in my life, and don''t plan to?¡± I exclaimed.

    ¡°Because I know your secret.¡± She answered.

    ¡°And what secret is that? That I am no first realm cultivator anymore?¡± I asked.

    ¡°That you are a powerful third realm expert in hiding.¡± She answered.

    I looked at her like she was stupid.

    ¡°And what would happen if you told someone? The mayor is the most powerful cultivator here, if you ignore the fox and the old man. Anyone else wouldn''t dare offend me if that were true. And that''s if they believed you. I have nothing to fear.¡± I explained. ¡°And you gain nothing from telling anyone too. You want something from me after all, not the other way round.¡±

    The woman thought to herself for a moment, before nodding towards something unseen.

    ¡°Good point.¡± She admitted. ¡°But now I really need you to join my sect. Someone as promising as you shouldn''t fall into the hands on any of our rivals.¡±

    Well, damn. That backfired. Not that there was something that would have changed had I handled this situation differently. Well, if I hadn''t sworn that oath things could¡¯ve gone differently. I didn''t regret anything though.

    ¡°Look.¡± I started explaining. ¡°I really have to interest in joining a group of maniac animal fighters several months of travel from here. I don''t have an interest in joining any sect really. I just wanted my calm, live my life. And perhaps offend the Waid Clan whenever possible.¡±A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

    The woman looked at me for a moment, thinking.

    ¡°You are joining my clan, no matter what. But what did this clan do to you to risk something like that?¡± She asked.

    ¡°I. am. not. going. to join. a. sect.¡± I stressed. ¡°And one of them killed my mother.¡±

    ¡°You can''t run. I can smell your fear, you should just join. We can help you learn how to fight, to get your revenge too. I¡¯d even personally help you.¡± She said.

    ¡°Are you deaf? I don''t want to kill someone. And if the guy is dead he won''t be able to regret anything! And true, I may fear you, but it is not like you can catch me.¡± I said. ¡°And even if you could, I¡¯d just have to reach the town hall, the mayor would fight you. And while you are powerful, you are still a second realm cultivator.¡± I reasoned.

    The woman raised her eyebrow.

    ¡°Lions are hunters. You can''t run from me. And reaching the third realm won''t take long.¡± She said back.

    ¡°Lions are also bound by gravity like everything else. You need it to live, to move. In a way it even allows you to breathe.¡± I explained.

    The woman¡¯s eyes widened for some reason, and she opened and closed her mouth several times.

    ¡°So, I can see why you wouldn''t want me join one of your rivals, which seems to be your main problem.¡± I interrupted. ¡°So, how about you bribe me to swear a heavenly oath I will never join a sect.¡±

    Lion did a very good dead fight impression, a contemplating look entering her face.

    ¡°Are you really ready to go that far? You can''t break a heavenly oath before reaching immortality.¡± She said.

    ¡°Of course I am. And how hard can reaching immortality be, it¡¯s not like cultivation gets harder the more powerful you get. You really just need a rough guideline, the rest can be found with a little experimentation.¡± I complained.

    ¡°So, what would a successful cultivator such as you want for not joining any sect but mine?¡° She asked.

    Ignoring my previous words, as a rough hewn stone appeared in her hands. Wait! Where did that come from? Were lions in this world capable of teleportation?

    ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± I asked, indicating the stone. ¡°And where¡¯d you get it from just now?¡±

    ¡°Hmm? It¡¯s a communication stone, and every sect disciple leaving the sect gets a few. For emergencies and unexpected opportunities.¡± She explained, before raising her hand. ¡°And I stored it in my spatial ring.¡±

    Spatial ring? Magical storage? That sounded useful.

    ¡°So, how rare are these rings?¡± I asked innocently.

    Only to be looked through immediately.

    ¡°In the mainland? Not so much, there¡¯s a clan dedicated to just producing them. Out here? In the hinterlands? Very. Only really powerful cultivators will have one this far off from the actually powerful sects. Or someone like me, on who¡¯s journey brought them here.¡± She explained.

    So, they were products of qi. Probably something related to space. Could I do the same? Maybe. But the only way gravity stored stuff was by compressing it, like matter in a black hole, so nothing I put in there would ever come out, or least not come out whole. So I would need to get one some other way, and a source just stood before me. But I really wanted a book on array creation too. So should I start negotiations big, or not?

    No question there, you always started negotiations on a high price, and both sounded quite valuable to me.

    ¡°So, how do we do this?¡± I asked. ¡°I will need both a manual on arrays and a spatial ring, as well as five medium quality spirit stones, to make such a restricting oath. Especially because it will affect me for the rest of my life.¡± I demanded.

    ¡°That''s impossible.¡± She said immediately. ¡°I can get a book on array creation easily enough, and the spirit stones aren''t hard either. But a spatial ring? It can not be affected by spatial magic not of its creator. I can offer a high quality spirit stone in return. They are several times better than medium ones, as they store liquid qi instead of normal qi.¡±

    Well, what a letdown. I really wanted a magical storage, now that I knew they existed. Perhaps I should change my qi to space? But I didn''t know two things about space, and really liked gravity. No, changing my qi intent sounded like a terrible idea.

    ¡°Well. How much is a high quality spirit stone worth? I really only trade in raw materials. Now that I think about is my stuff is too cheap. I need to increase my prices.¡± I stated, thinking.

    ¡°A lesser spirit stone is enough to feed a mortal for a month. A medium one enough for half a year, and a high quality spirit stone can feed an entire family for a single year. All that are rough estimates that depend on your location though, the value of all spirit stones sinks the less cultivators are there to use them.¡± Lion explained.

    Well. You couldn''t have everything, and having a source of liquid qi ready should be helpful to, a good reason to break into the second realm soonish.

    ¡°Do you agree that you will not join a sect other than the Great Savanna Sect in a weeks time, upon being provided with a manual on arrays, ten spirit stones of medium and one of high quality?¡± She asked formally.

    Seeing how readily she agreed I probably sold myself short. So I better add in something to that. Something valuable, but not of monetary value.

    ¡°If you add in a small favor from your sect I am sure we can come to an agreement.¡± I said. ¡°Why the one week of time though?¡±

    ¡°The heavens punish you if you swear too many oaths in too short a time.¡± She explained. ¡°How do you not know this?¡±

    ¡°How would I?¡± I asked back. ¡°I never had a mentor for all that stuff.¡±

    ¡°You don''t have a mentor?¡± She shouted.

    ¡°I didn''t.¡± I agreed. ¡°Well, there was my mother, but she only taught me how to make clothes.¡±

    ---

    Lion looked at the young woman in front of her. She obviously didn''t know just how much she denied herself with this oath, but she wouldn''t say no. The girl obviously didn''t have any fighting experience, but she wasn''t really weaker than herself in terms of cultivation level.

    Which meant antagonizing her would be a bad idea, considering she was only half her age, and seemed to have lacked any cultivation resources as well as instruction growing up.

    ¡°I will return in a few days.¡± Lion announced.

    ¡°Wait.¡± The girl called. ¡°What about your robe? You want to use it for a hot climate from the sound of it?¡±

    She¡¯d still work on her commision even after being threatened?

    ¡°Yes. That sounds fine.¡± She answered.

    Leaving the small house, definitely unfit for a cultivator like the one within, she turned towards the forest. She¡¯d need a little quiet to contact a sect elder, and the forest lord was said to keep anyone above the second realm out of his home. By force if necessary.

    ¡°Hello sect elder.¡± She said, bowing towards the apparition of qi in front of her.

    The elder growled in anger, letting her leopard leak out a little.

    ¡°Don''t call me elder again daughter.¡± The apparition growled. ¡°And your last report is three weeks off! I was about to leave the sect in search of you.¡± Her mother added.

    ¡°Mother!¡± She complained. ¡°I am over thirty, and you know that this treatment is the exact reason I left.¡±

    ¡°Yes, yes. You are thirty. So you¡¯re still a kitten really and you know it too!¡± Her mother said.

    ¡°You¡¯re just too old. Everyone else can tell you the development of us humans is the most pronounced in our first years of life. Old cultivators don''t change.¡± She said. ¡°But that''s not why I contacted you. I need a good manual about arrays.¡± She explained.

    Her mother raised an eyebrow at the unusual request.

    ¡°And what would you need that for? Until now you never seemed interested in arrays. So? Sending anything that far is expensive, so you better have a good reason.¡±

    ¡°I met someone. A crafter. She made the final reward for the tournament I won just a few days ago. I''m wearing it right now.¡± She explained.

    Lion felt as her mother¡¯s aura exploded from the stone in front of her. It easily pierced her own defenses, and inspected both her robe and her cultivation.

    ¡°Still in the second realm daughter? How sloppy!¡± Her mother criticised.

    Lion winced, but was more than glad her mother had not seen the final fight. That had been a disgrace, and would have resulted in at least a year of additional training before she could leave the sect again.

    ¡°The tournament required me to delay my ascension.¡± She explained.

    ¡°Passable excuse. The robe is of good make, but nothing that will be useful once you ascend.¡± Her mother said. ¡°So?¡±

    ¡°Well, the crafter is pretending to be in the first realm, which must have limited her options significantly.¡± She explained.

    ¡°A tailor? They can''t be too powerful, considering you¡¯re still alive, and know about their supposedly secret cultivation.¡±

    ¡°A seamstress. She¡¯d be one of the scariest persons at my power I know, if she would actually know how to, and want to fight.¡± Lion admitted. ¡°Her aura control is decent, considering she never had a teacher. And her qi intent won against mine, with the lion helping out! Her gravity intent qi!¡± She added.

    Her mother¡¯s eyes widened, which meant nothing. Well it was her mother saying she was impressed, but not more. Immortals had perfect control over their bodies, so they only showed expressions they wanted to.

    ¡°So how¡¯d you get someone like that to agree to anything?¡± Mother asked.

    ¡°She didn''t want to join a sect, or give up her home. So she proposed a deal, she would swear a heavenly oath not to join a sect other than ours if I bribed her.¡± She explained.

    ¡°She asked for a bribe?¡± Her mother chuckled. ¡°And she only wants a manual about arrays?¡±

    ¡°And five medium spirit stones as well as a spatial ring. I increased that to ten medium and one high quality spirit stone in our agreement. She agreed to swear the oath next week.¡± Lion said.

    ¡°Why not now?¡± Mother asked.

    ¡°She swore a heavenly oath as I was in her shop. That she wouldn''t work for an insignificant clan, ever. Something personal.¡± Lion explained.

    ¡°Very well, you know how this works. I expect to hear back from you soon.¡± Her mother said, fading back into the ambient qi.

    Lion sighed. Talking to her mother was bothersome, as always. She¡¯d better search for a quiet place to ascend in the next few days, or she wasn''t going to hear the end of it anytime soon.

    ¡°Don''t ever do that again!¡± A voice suddenly called out. ¡°I don''t like immortals on my territory!¡± Lion looked up, and saw a small fox standing in front of her. Glaring at her. She bowed, her heart nearly exploding. She already knew who stood in front of her, considering the reaction of her lion.

    ¡°Of course, honored lord of the forest. My mother¡¯s appearance was unexpected. I apologize for any inconvenience.¡± She said.

    ¡°Humans. Why do I even bother?¡± The fox grumbled, and disappeared. ¡°And don''t come back once you break through. I don''t tolerate people of the third realm in my forest.¡± He added.

    Lion gulped, and made her way out of the forest. Two immortals on a single day were too much. Way too much. She¡¯d need to sleep a day. Breaking through would have to wait!

 Chapter 32

    The next two days passed in a flash, when an unexpected, but welcome surprise entered my shop. The fireball duo. They would be useful, though really only to see how my stuff reacted to fire. Fire was the most common intent I had seen after all, which was strange. What use did it have outside of fighting? You could ignite a fire, but I had a flint and steel for that.

    Warm yourself?

    Not needed really, we didn''t live in a climate cold enough to warrant that, even the ¡®winters¡¯ never got all that cold. Anyways. Fire. It didn''t have any mass behind it, so explosions and anything else wouldn''t really pack the punch required. A lot of cultivators used some kind of napalm like fire, that stuck to the surfaces they hit. Nasty, but even that didn''t seem all that powerful back then.

    Qi created fire simply lacked a material component. Just using air to fuel it in addition to qi would probably increase its power severalfold.

    ¡°Hello there. Did you think about my offer?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Hello. And we did. We saw the power of your robes, and would like to purchase some. In return for two robes we will help you to the best of our ability.¡± He answered.

    ¡°Good. So, what are your names?¡± I asked. "As you probably know I am Triss."

    "We are named Neho and Naho." Naho answered.

    Wierd names. But they sure had a plan, seeing how similar those names were.

    "Nice to meet you. I already prepared several pieces of fabric, just wait a moment and I''ll get them." I answered.

    Apart from a large, wooden tub full of salt, really just my way to get myself some real salt, my cellar was filled with all kinds of materials. Dye, prepared fabric, and lots of string-like materials.

    Most related to my business. Not all though, mortals were the only people not wearing robes, and they were too afraid to buy stuff from me. Which meant the experiments I did for real clothing would only benefit me. At least until someone else joined the trend.

    Not that I could wear most modern clothes, people here were prude, and I''d lose all social capital if I wore them.

    Depressing really.

    Anyways.

    I went to the back of my cellar, where a bunch of cabinets stood. They held all my recent experiments, some robes ready for being tested, and lots of experimental fabrics made to work against one qi intent or the other.

    I took those that should resist fire, and a few that didn''t, and moved back up.

    "Follow me, I don''t want you to ignite my house." I said.

    Leaving through the back door we arrived at the beach, with a bunch of wooden stumps set up a good distance from my house. About ten metres.

    I deposited the fabrics, and went to join the brothers again.

    "So, all you have to do is fire a few different fire techniques at the fabrics there. As diverse as you possibly can really." I explained. "It really doesn''t matter if they survive that, so do your best."

    "That''s all? Nothing more?" One asked. I had already forgotten who was who.

    "Well, you can tell me how you actually fight, and where you need the most protection. And against what you need said protection the most." I said.

    "We can do that, now let''s get this party started." The the speaker said.

    Both went to one of the tree stumps, and started off with one of their fire balls. The fire washed over the fabric, and I took a small step forwards, extending my aura to cover my work. Unsurprisingly neither fabric was even singed.The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    Simple qi fire like that lacked the power to overwhelm the qi inside the fabric. Good. I continued watching as more techniques impacted the fabrics, slowly turning the qic inside inert. The fabric I made to resist frost, giving the qi inside a general feeling of heat, actually was far better against fire. The faux intent actually clashed, and actively worked against the fire, while the superior, and cultivated fire intent easily defeated the faux fire intent.

    Interesting. So I''d have to use opposing qi, instead of the same. At least as long as the faux intent added would not be superior to the intent of the attacker.

    Which would honestly be very much possible to do, at least for some of the intents I had seen, but why should I?

    I''d look at the qi in my clothes for sure, which meant other cultivators would do the same. Probably. And I didn''t feel like expanding their knowledge. At all.

    Anyhow, nearly all qi in both fabrics was inert by now, and the fabric started to get singed. To a different degree all over, because I had segmented the fabric in its creation, using different materials several times.

    I waited for another few techniques, before speaking up.

    "Very good. That''s enough for today. I''ll need a day or two to pour over the results, so how about you return in three days, and think about what you want in a robe. Any extra special wishes will be calculated on top of the standard price." I said, walking forwards.

    Now I just had to see how fire affected the different fabrics, and I''d have a way to make a very efficient robe against fire attacks.

    And repeat this with all the qi intents I could find, and get to work with me.

    -

    "The most important thing about fighting is control. You have to control the flow of the fight, you want to control your enemy during a fight, and you need to control yourself." Lady Chela explained.

    I nodded along, not understanding everything.

    ¡°Mastery over your body, your qi, and your emotions is the first step for an effective fighter. Your emotions influence you all the time, and will run high during stressful situations, like a fight to the death.

    But decisions in a fight are crucial, more so than any other. After all a bad one can very well be fatal. So controlling your emotions is only the first step to being an effective fighter.¡±

    Well, that sounded true enough. But humans were inherently emotional, and while controlling them was possible, this seemed to go in a different direction. Getting rid of emotion, becoming something less than human. Not a good idea, I very much liked who I was, and saw no need to change that!

    Well, perhaps a little less impulsiveness could be good. I really didn''t think some of the things I did through to the end. Which was a bad idea, seeing as there seemed to be no shortage of enemies to be made. And the first response to any offence was either beating someone up or straight up killing them.

    Stupid world!

    ¡°So, how does one control their emotions?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Training. Time and training.¡± My opposite answered. ¡°But that¡¯s more of a long term goal, that leads into an even bigger one. For now we should go through the basics of fighting cultivators. What part of the body do you mainly cultivate?¡± She asked.

    ¡°All of them.¡± I answered.

    ¡°All of them? How long did it take you to work out a cultivation path for that?¡± She asked, her eyes bugging out.

    ¡°About a minute or so? I really only need to move all new qi into my heart, and my blood does the rest.¡± I explained.

    ¡°WHAT? You don''t move your qi yourself?¡±

    ¡°Of course I do. Into my heart chambers. My body knows where it needs resources best, who am I to interfere?¡± I asked.

    "But that''s not how you cultivate!" She stated. "So, where is most of your qi?" She asked.

    "In my brain and kidneys." I answered honestly. "What difference does that make though? If you fight based on your cultivation then someone will learn how to exploit that. I''d rather have a solid, and more generalized foundation rather than a hyper specialized one that can be exploited by someone with the right knowledge and experience."

    "To be honest your way probably is best for you. You won''t excel in any one field, but be good enough in all of them. I can only teach you the basics of fighting with your whole body though, that''s not something many people use. Most of us cultivate our legs, because they can develop the most power naturally. Which makes us really bad at fighting other cultivators, but very effective against beasts." She explained.

    "But like I said, I know the basics of most fighting styles, as I took time to try all of them out before I started cultivating for real.

    So, do you stretch? Train your body? If not you will have to start now. It''ll also be good for your cultivation, cultivating after physical exertion is far more effective than doing so normally."

    "Nothing of the sort. I am a seamstress, why would I do stuff like that?" I said.

    "Because it''s good for your health?" Chela said with a hidden smile. "We are going to meet for some training every morning from now on, no excuses!"

    I thought about resisting, but really. Why should I? My body was healthy thanks to my qi, but it could use some more exercise to be honest.

    Perhaps the exercise would even help me balance my emotions? Nothing to lose but time after all.

    "Fine. When do we start?" I asked.

    "Now."

 Chapter 33

    I felt completely wasted. My body really wasn''t used to exhaustion. Or workouts. That couldn''t stay that way!

    I resolved to work out at least an hour a day. With my qi I could even cheat. Well, not really cheat, but find ways to train every muscle in my body to a similar degree. It would be great! And painful. But I was used to pain, and physical exhaustion was a satisfying pain, unlike creating meridians.

    That just felt awful.

    Anyways. I wasn''t going to do any work today, which meant I was sitting in my shoproom, generally waiting for someone to come in to bother when the sect lady, Lion returned.

    ¡°Congratulations on your breakthrough.¡± I said.

    She looked surprised for a moment, before she answered.

    ¡°Thank you. How did you know?¡± She asked.

    ¡°Your presence changed. It¡¯s something all cultivators give off, regardless of power. First realm, or fourth. Or anything in between.¡± I answered. ¡°So, how was your week? Did you get what you were looking for for me?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Yes.¡± She said.

    A thick book, more of a tome really, appeared in one of her hands, and a small pouch in the other.

    ¡°There you go, an array manual, and eleven spirit stones, ten medium quality, one high quality." She said, depositing the tome and pouch on my counter.

    I took both of it, groaned a little from the pain on my overstrained muscles, and moved towards the cellar.

    "Turn the sign and follow me." I said.

    My head indicated towards the open slash closed sign I had me made. Lion nodded, and followed me as we went down up towards my living space.

    I set both tome and pouch on my table, and went to find a quill, and the contract I wrote over the week. Two of them.

    "So, read this, and sign it. One for me, the other for you. I will swear the oath after you are finished." I said.

    Lion read the contract I had prepared carefully, and the second one too, to see if anything was different, before giving both to me.

    "There''s a mistake, I am Lioness now." Lioness said.

    I nodded, and added the third syllable to her name, after which she signed the contracts.

    I took one, and the other vanished in her ring.

    "By the heavens, I swear I will not join a sect other than the Great Savanna Sect in my life, in return of a small favor from the sect, as well as the goods already provided to me." I swore.

    As always, a golden light descended upon me, confirming my oath as genuine, and recognized by the heavens. Whatever they were.

    "Perfect.¡± She said. ¡°How about my overrobe?¡±

    ¡°That¡¯ll take some time. At least if you want it to be anything special." I explained. "Currently I am testing a few new designs and materials, as well as how they react to different qi intent. So, what do you want? Something more general, or something specialized?¡± I asked. ¡°Though the quality of my general robes will increase too, in time. I just need to know how someone fights most of the time, and will increase the qi in the areas they get hit in the most.¡± I explained.

    ¡°Well, I don''t plan to stick around here, I really only came for the tournament. And now that I reached the third realm I need to return to the sect, to take the next step on my journey towards immortality.¡± Lioness said. ¡°Though, to be honest I don''t really have a use for the robe you made, now that I am in the third realm. It¡¯ll only be useful against enemies that I don''t need to fear anymore, considering your self imposed restrictions that¡¯ll not change anytime soon.¡± She admitted.

    ¡°Well, so just a sturdy robe, looking like a lion? Or a lioness? What do you prefer?¡± I asked.

    ¡°A lioness. A cultivator¡¯s robe should always reflect on their qi and name after all.¡± Lioness answered.

    ¡°Very well, if that''s what you want then your robe will be ready in a week. Say, you wouldn''t want to destroy some stuff? I need to see how to make qi intent against some of the more abstract qi intents. And your¡¯s is as abstract a qi intent as I¡¯ve seen so far.¡± I asked.

    At the mention of destroying stuff her eyes lit up.

    ¡°Of course! I can''t explore the forest, because the forest lord doesn''t allow third realm cultivators inside, so I wouldn''t have much to do in the next week anyways.¡± She said.

    ¡°Perfect, let''s get started.¡± I said. ¡°Do you want any payment? Salt, cultivation resources?¡± I asked.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

    ¡°SALT!¡± She yelled. ¡°Where did you get it? I haven''t seen any salt since I left the city.¡±

    ¡°Well, that''s a trade secret.¡± I said.

    ¡°I¡¯ll buy as much salt as you can part with! No matter the cost!¡± Lioness said.

    I looked at her like the weirdo she was. Sure, food without salt was kinda bland, but not that bad. Perhaps her strange qi intent? It did seem to affect her more than mine did me. Far more in fact. Perhaps her qi affected the way she tasted stuff?

    But even if it did, lions ate their food raw. So perhaps she was only slightly influenced, like with an increased sense of smell and taste? So bland food was worse for her than me?

    That sounded good, though I wouldn''t know without asking.

    ¡°Say, why do you seem to enthusiastic? Salt makes food better, but not all that much, and not for your reaction to be this intense. It¡¯s from your qi intent, isn''t it? It affects you far more than it does me.¡± I asked.

    ¡°How did you come to that conclusion? And it¡¯s rude to ask someone about their cultivation.¡± She answered.

    ¡°It makes sense, that''s all really. And I don''t care about rudeness. I asked at least, you just intruded my aura!¡± I said.

    Lioness winced, and followed me out of the room as we went downstairs.

    ¡°I could have handled that better, true. But it makes sense? You noticed my qi affects me in a different way than yours does just from me wanting some salt?¡± She asked.

    ¡°Well.¡± I answered. ¡°I did wonder how your qi would express itself when you reach enough understanding, after all, sensing lions within your aura doesn''t seem all that useful to me. But it just comes with an extra set of instincts, and judging by the way your qi fought, some kind of basic awareness for your qi. Like I said, it just makes sense.¡± I answered.

    ¡°You are one scary cultivator. To see someone deduct so much out of something so simple, I¡¯ve never seen anyone but immortals do it.¡± She said.

    ¡°Oh, you know some immortals?¡± I asked.

    Lioness winced again.

    ¡°You don''t have to answer me if you don''t want to. Wait here for a moment, I¡¯ll get some stuff for a baseline.¡± I said.

    I went down into my basement, getting some basic fabric. I¡¯d need to add some fake intent into a few more fabrics after my guest left, so see how it reacted to her strange qi claws tomorrow. Lioness looked a little awkward, waiting there when I came back up, but it seemed she had decided to answer my question nonetheless.

    ¡°My parents are both immortals.¡± She said. ¡°And I grew up around the other sect elders, who were all immortals too, so I can tell you quite some tales.¡± She finally answered.

    ¡°Interesting.¡± I said. ¡°So, why are you out here, months from your sect?¡±

    ¡°I worked hard. Very hard to earn the right to explore the world on my own. My father is no problem, he is a free spirit, and doesn''t care what I do so long as I don''t die. My mother is different. I had to reach the second realm as the first of my generation, without any help, to be allowed to leave.¡± She answered. ¡°How do you know where my sect is though? I know I never talked about its location.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s another of those obvious things. Your sect is called Great Savanna Sect, you cultivate lion intent qi, and have obviously seen a lion or two in your life. And lions don''t live around here. It¡¯s too cold for them. So, I guessed you come from down south.¡± I answered.

    Lioness nodded along, and followed me as we left through the back. I really ought to get myself a fenced off area, now that I wanted to do some experiments. Experiments of the explosive kind.

    ¡°Now, you really just have to destroy these, while I watch.¡± I said, indicating the two squares of fabric I put on the tree stump in front of us.

    ¡°It¡¯ll establish a baseline of your destructive potential, and tomorrow we can go about testing some different fabrics, to see how they hold up against you.¡± I explained.

    ¡°So I really just have to destroy these?¡± She asked, just to be sure it seemed.

    ¡°Yep, go wild.¡± I answered.

    Lioness grinned savagely, and claws of qi sprang into existence around her hands. I extended my aura, and watched as the woman lay into the fabric with savage abandon, her powerful qi and qi intent easily exhausting the little qi I stored in the fabric.

    The fibers of the fabric themself didn''t hold up any better, easily getting cut in half. The second fabric didn''t hold up any better, and soon I was on my lonesome, thinking.

    How would I go about countering such a strange qi? Her intent gave her qi increased cutting power, or was it her technique? I took a look at the sorry fabric in front of me. It didn''t look cut. It looked ripped. Which made sense, lion claws didn''t really cut, they ripped. Just like their fangs.

    My robes didn''t need to work against any defense, that''s what weapons were for after all, so I didn''t need to worry about the other strange factors of her qi. Like increased defense, throwing off water, or increased speed.

    So, what intent would run counter to ripping? Mending? I knew a lot of how to mend clothes after years of working with them. Worth a try.

    So, I took one of my test fabrics, and changed the qi within, filled it with a fake mending intent. I¡¯d have to see how it did tomorrow. And I still had a lot of time before it was time to start my nightly cultivation.

    So another try. Perhaps this time not to counter the effects of her qi, but her qi intent itself?

    So, what would work against a lion? No animals came to mind immediately. There were some that competed against them, but none that hunted lions.

    So, a competitor? Wait. Humans hunted just about everything. Lions included. But that didn''t seem like something I¡¯d want to add into a robe, it sounded far too complicated to be of use in making robes. Humans couldn''t be reduced too much after all, or they wouldn''t be humans anymore.

    The same for any living being really, which made cultivating their being as qi intent a little logical.

    So, something simpler than human. How would humans take on a lion though? Shoot it. Or poison it, or put it to sleep.

    I really liked that last one. And introducing guns to this world, even as faux qi intent, didn''t seem like a good idea. Especially if I wanted to stay away from war. After all a nation that got access to guns long before another would look to conquer the other in no time.

    I took another square of fabric, and filled with with faux sleep intent. And another one with poison, not a deadly one, just paralysing poison intent. Just for good measure. After all if it worked it would work against any animal intent qi. And even human intent qi really.

    Once I finished preparing for tomorrow I went back into my cellar, got some more salt to pay my testee, and returned into my living room. It was time to cultivate for the rest of the night.

 Chapter 34

    The tome held no qi. Well, no qi meant to transfer any memories at least. Which meant I would have to read through all of it. I took another look at the book, this was going to take a while.

    "Arrays are a way to direct qi outside of your aura. In a way, you could say they use techniques without needing any qi intent."

    Interesting. But I didn''t know any techniques as far as I knew, but hopefully this book would change that.

    "Arguably, one could say arrays are far more important to any sect than most cultivators. They secure their outposts and cities, their mountains and forests, and most importantly their inner sanctum.

    And most sects have some secret arrays prepared for dire times."

    As I continued to read about arrays and their uses something sprang to mind. Arrays were a cultivators way to be useful to society beside being a hired muscle. And they''d be my way to get a shower!

    Just the thought of taking a hot shower again, or for the first time, nearly had me moan in pleasure.

    Time to read on, and finally find out how to create arrays. I''d be able to find how to, and what to use them for myself. Without a third of the tome talking about it.

    "Creating arrays is easy in principle. You just need to combine different runic symbols to achieve an effect. And fill them with qi.

    But the meaning of these symbols was lost in time, and only a few array combinations are still known from the past.

    Most get discovered by brave cultivators experimenting on this explosive subject."

    Wait. How did that happen? The meaning of array symbols was lost to time? They were like civil magic, the most important part cultivation added to a society!

    For something like that to be lost in time some serious shit must have happened in the past.

    Something like the meteor that killed the dinosaurs, or perhaps the equivalent of a nuclear war. Or a super plague empowered by qi.

    I shook my head, clearing my thoughts of increasingly hideous causes for that loss, and returned my attention to the book in front of me.

    "Arrays need constant throughput of qi to work, and can be powered by many things. Spirit stones, ambient qi, a cultivators qi. Everything containing qi can power an array."

    Interesting. How''d that work though? I had yet to see something not living affect qi that wasn''t qi itself. Wind for example didn''t have any effect on qi that I could observe.

    All living things did though, parting the ambient qi like a boulder did with waves. So, what made these array symbols so different? It couldn''t just be the material, after all all the qi in different materials was practically inert until someone interacted with it.

    Well, I''d see. For now, the tome on arrays.

    "Arrays mainly need practice to be made, the better and more precise array symbols are created, and put in relation to each other.

    In the following pages, many of the most common arrays, as well as all known array symbols, will be listed in the following pages."

    So, precision and relation. What''d be the best way to do it? I''d just have to see. Though it didn''t seem all that perfect for clothes. I could easily stitch some symbols into the robes I made, but those symbols would never perfectly align with each other, nor be as precise as they''d be in a non moving, solid object.

    Well, time to see how arrays looked.

    Arrays were runic circles. The simplest array was just a triangle, connecting three different array symbols, which was locked in a circle.

    The array description simply said it increased the structural integrity of everything within. Which while simple, didn''t seem all that useful to me. Perhaps place it around the chest? So that hits to the chest would get weakened?

    Worth a try. For now, I took a look on the three array symbols. They were strange, just a bunch of interlocking lines. There was no rhyme or reason that I could see, or anything that connected the three. Still. Looking at them created a particular feeling. Like something was missing, like they were incomplete. I read on.

    "This is the most basic array possible. Using less than three symbols is ill advised, as such arrays are prone to break anytime. Without any apparent reasons.

    Looking at these symbols should make you feel uncomfortable, like something is missing. That is true in fact, as something is missing. All array symbols written down like that feel that way.

    The feeling will only go away once you add in depth, which is hard to do, and something most people don''t bother. Especially because the feeling of wrongness never goes away, it weakens a little, and such arrays are better than normal ones."

    Wait. So array symbols were three dimensional? Or perhaps even four dimensional. So I''d have to add a fourth dimension, how would I even do that?If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    Or even more, after all it didn''t sound like just adding a fourth dimension would do the trick. Perhaps array symbols were like this one theory about a universal language I had once heard about? e8 or something.

    Anyways. If array symbols were indeed made of a universal language, and some cultivator of old had found them, then I really didn''t want to know what happened to the civilisation that brought about that genius. Or perhaps a group. Humans always worked better in groups than they did alone after all.

    So, testing. Should I start with fabric, or use some volunteer crabs? I didn''t really gain anything from using fabric, after all I''d have to power the array myself which wouldn''t be the case if I used a crab.

    Case settled I went out, hunting for a few volunteers.

    Hunting for crabs was ever fruitful, the waste of the fisherman being a perfect breeding ground for bottom feeders like that.

    Anyways. Now that I had a home myself I got myself a barrel of saltwater, to keep my subjects for longer than a day. Armed with a sharp bronze knife - pig iron was weaker than good bronze, and steel to expensive out here - I strapped a test subject to the table.

    With my tome open next to me, I set to copy the simple array onto the crab''s chitin.

    First the symbols, then the triangle, and finally the circle to finish it. Thanks to the increased dexterity coming with both my cultivation and my work I didn''t take long to accurately finish the array.

    I could feel the topmost symbol immediately starting to attract the crab''s qi, until all lines were filled with qi. Qi that didn''t take long to be burnt, and go inert. The qi managed to power the array about five minutes in total. Which felt like a pittance.

    Some non organic test were in order. I''d have to test the effect size had on the drain on qi, if qi intent had a different effect, if I could somehow delay activation. And if qi drain increased when I attacked the array itself.

    And more. Lots and lots of tests.

    I looked over at the half finished robe for Lioness, and decided to finish it. And take a break from work after, it was time to officially break into the second realm, and use the time I''d ''need'' for that to research arrays and their creation.

    And how to best use them for my work.

    The tome''s author was a bastard. While the arrays I tried had all worked, the symbols themselves changed. Not by much, but whenever he used the same symbol it changed a little. Which had me confused until I remembered the multidimensional nature of these array symbols. He always rotated the symbols just by a few degrees, making the same symbol look different from itself.

    I only noticed because the qi gathering rune was used in every single array, and while he rotated that one the most, it had the same effect regardless of orientation. Which made noticing that little deception a matter of time, and of will to learn the idea behind arrays.

    After that I didn''t take more than half an hour to complete a mental picture of the rune. The rune, or symbol, did not have an end. It was just a single line that wound through itself several times, until it finally reconnecting to itself. Very strange, but perhaps it worked as a three dimensional representation of a higher dimensional symbol. How would I know, I didn''t really understand higher dimensions, and I didn''t plan to go that deep either. The only thing I knew about the fourth dimension was that it somehow moved. Or something like that, after all I had once seen the animation of a tesseract, or a four dimensional cube.

    And a little bit of the theory of relativity, but that knowledge was vague, and I had no clue if it still held true. Though, high gravity did influence one¡¯s perception of time, so I may even have some success adding a fourth dimension to my arrays, if I could use my qi intent for something like that at least.

    Perhaps I¡¯d try in the future, forming array symbols out of my own qi, but have in affect the time of the array symbol in a way that it would seem like a small dot following the line, instead of a complete line. That sounded like it would need time though. Lots and lots of time, some added insight to my qi intent, and qi. Lots of qi.

    A point to try later anyways. For now, I should return to my experiments. Experiments that went quite well, all things considered. For example the efficiency of all arrays increased significantly the smaller they were made. In a way it was still the same. The radius of the circle seemed to be the thing directly responsible for the power needed for the array. The qi the array burnt was then used to spread its effects through the circle itself, and the area that decreased by an order of magnitude compared to the circle¡¯s radius.

    I had a test fabric based off my tests. A fabric I took longer to create than several normal robes. Arrays didn''t power up until they were encased in a circle after all. Something I abused by just creating the symbols, using them for six of the triangles at once, and only adding the circles once the whole fabric was filled with miniature symbols and triangles.

    As I had used a differently colored fiber of each part of the array, the fabric looked positively magical. It would sell great at the very least.

    Anyways.

    That small, simple fabric was ridiculous. Nothing I did could damage it, as all those interconnected symbols were hyper effective compared to their bigger brethren, and pulled in qi from each other. Which meant you didn''t try to break through one, powerful array, but nearly a hundred small, significantly more efficient ones at the same time.

    And, something I had forgotten when I learnt how to create this one for the first time - the array protected anything within it, which meant you had to drain it of qi first. Qi which seemed to move freely through the fabric as all single arrays were linked.

    Sadly Lioness had already left the town, or I would allow her to have a go at it, so for now other cultivators had to do. Second realm cultivators. I made the array out of the highest quality of material I had access to, but could already see some degradation of the materials. Something the book mentioned. Arrays put stain on the material they were added to. Which, if one asked me, made them perfect to add to a living creature. After all, living beings healed, and when you added these arrays with something that wouldn''t naturally heal, then you¡¯d have nearly indestructible skin for as long as you had access to qi.

    Which would be quite a while, considering even the biggest array I created was several times more effective than simply shoving qi into a material, and hoping it would work against any attacks directed at the robe.

    Well, qi worked. It was simply outperformed by arrays.

    I sighed. Just doing research with this simplest of arrays had taken me nearly two weeks. And my customers were getting antsy, which meant I had to open my shop again. And go visit the mayor¡¯s office, ascending to a new realm had to be reported after all.

    For now, my research would have to be slowed down, as I worked through the backlog of stuff I¡¯d have to do. I really should start using my nights to cultivate too, one good night¡¯s rest was more than enough for a week after all.

    I sighed again, there was just so much to do, and too little time to do it. Create robes, research arrays, cultivate, work out, find new ways to use my gravity qi.

    Weren''t cultivators supposed to live longer? And thus have time for all the stuff they wanted to do?

    I really should hire myself a mortal or two, to clean the house, prepare food, go shopping. Man my shop. All the little stuff that took several hours a week if counted together. Hours I could use for different things.

    Though, with the power of my brain growing together with my cultivation, I should try and start working on several things at once. For example simply holding a sphere of gravity qi around me, sucking up all ambient, purified qi like a vacuum cleaner shouldn''t be too hard to maintain. Well, at least if I wasn''t in my shop, doing it there would just be stupid.

    I¡¯d have to do some serious planning, now that I had made my first steps into the wider world, even if only with an oath. For now, I¡¯d just continue as is and see where it got me.

 Chapter 35

    So, what were my plans for the future? I had my first real contact with the wider world, and it didn''t go as planned.

    I was forced into a quite restricting oath, though I did get some useful stuff out of it. I only started exploring arrays and their uses recently, and had yet to even try out more complex ones. That''d be done as I went along.

    First things first, did I want to leave the town, or stay here? Lioness wouldn''t be able to track me down if I just packed up and left after all. I''d really need more information about sects and clans, and their power.

    Clans. Damn. There was that too. I had insulted the clan that killed my mother in a rare moment of stupidity.

    That was a reason to leave too, to avoid any fallout from that. Damn. I really liked it here. Could I go another route?

    Power. If I could advance my cultivation to the late third, or maybe early fourth realm, the clan probably wouldn''t bother with me. So, how fast would advancing towards the fourth realm be? I didn''t know the first thing about the fourth realm, but considering the way advancement worked so far, it seemed reasonable just further compressing qi would work.

    Which was a problem. You needed a little less than a hundred times the concentration of plasmatic qi to create normal qi.

    And about two hundred times as much qi to create liquid qi.

    There were several possibilities how this would further evolve. The requirements could continue to roughly double, which would be bad. They could also grow exponentially harder, which would be worse.

    On the other hand, qi could also reach new states in an logarithmic fashion, which would make the requirements stagnant sometime. That could be both good and bad, depending where on the graph I was.

    Either the requirements would raise ever higher, only evening out far later, becoming useless for me. Or they''d even out after liquid or solid qi, it useless for me.

    I''d need a third datapoint to even begin to guess, which meant breaking into the third realm. Well, time to get to it then. I''d have liked to have more qi filling up my dantian by then, but the qualitative change in my qi would expand my aura significantly, increase its density when controlled, and allow me to cultivate faster.

    So, break into the third realm, leave the town, or both? I didn''t know. But I would have to decide soon. I¡¯d decide after reaching the third realm, if I couldn''t manage to do that, then staying would be stupid. So, what more? I knew I wanted to continue researching arrays, and how to use them.

    Which would need one thing, time. So, if I didn''t leave, I¡¯d need some mortal employees. Perhaps some that I could elevate into the first realm. It shouldn''t be too hard, considering a mortal¡¯s qi was negligible. If I added a heavenly oath as part of awakening them, and the possibility of future training, it should be easy enough to get some useful pawns.

    After all, if I stayed by my lonesome I probably wouldn''t be able to dodge fighting with the Waid Clan. But, if I had lots of cultivators working for me, doing errands, cooking, and protecting my home when I was away, then they¡¯d have to think twice.

    After all moving resources in a world like this was quite the challenge, even though not as much a challenge as I thought, considering the existence of spatial rings. Anyways, just my work could easily support a dozen cultivators all things considered. So, if I wanted to hire more, I¡¯d need to expand.

    In theory I could increase my output of robes, but perhaps it was time to start on a plan I originally hatched when my mother died. Salt trade. There was a reason salt had been called white gold in the middle ages after all. And while the strange spirit salt definitely put a small wrench in my plans - producing it seemed quite cheap, which meant I¡¯d either have to offer luxury products, or bully my competition out by competing with their prizes.

    And perhaps some healthy advertisement.

    Now, where to base that operation though? And did I want it to lead back to me?

    All things to consider later, first though, I felt the time had come. The third realm waited for me.

    I moved into my meditation room, and sat down. I closed my eyes. Something I really didn''t need to do anymore, but doing it felt calming. I had done that action everytime I cultivated, so by now it was a natural part of my cultivation.

    My inner senses focused on myself, my head, and my dantian within. It¡¯s vast expanse, filled with gaseous qi, and a small part in the center. The black hole floated there, filled with the majority of my qi, unusable for now. It was time to ascend into the next realm. Sure, the black hole could hold more qi until I naturally broke through, at least I thought as much, but this much should be enough.

    Still, I pulled as much qi out of all the spirit stones in my possession as possible, and integrated it into my cultivation.

    Once that was done I was done stalling. Wait.

    It would be stupid to break through in town, with as many cultivators still present. So I got up, and left my house in the dead of the night, towards the forest. I didn''t take long to arrive, easily passing the guards watching the forest unseen.

    I entered the forest, and made my way towards the small cave Mr. Fox gifted me. Once there, I lay down again, now feeling finally ready to break through.

    I focused on the black hole, and allowed all the liquid qi just beyond the event horizon to be drawn down, towards the center of the black hole. Immediately my qi reacted, propelled by the immense gravity it thought there, and nearly teleported downwards. All the liquid qi I had gathered over the months came together, and compacted, drawn ever deeper by the immense gravity of the black hole. A gravity so powerful, so unavoidable it ripped suns apart, and caught even light.

    So my qi compressed, unable to stay in its previous form, but also unwilling to leave it. I continued concentrating, forcing my qi to compress, beyond the point of stress, until something snapped. Immediately my qi fell into itself, forming strange, highly compressed crystalline patterns. I could feel the black hole still pushing, compressing the qi, but stopped supporting it with my mental strength and power. I didn''t want to jump a realm after all, and miss out on the stuff one was supposed to do in this realm.

    For the first time in months, I allowed my aura to expand to its full form, soon sensing both qi and gravity in a sphere of nearly a hundred metres around me, increasing its radius by nearly five times it¡¯s previous width.. I could see the wildlife filling the forest, some unlucky cultivators sleeping in the forest, too poor to afford the overfilled inns or barracks of the town.Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

    Well, all of them were up, looking around alarmed, but seemingly unable to find me. I grinned.

    Before I could do anything, a certain fox appeared before me.

    ¡°Hi. Good to see you.¡± I said.

    Planning could wait.

    ¡°Hello.¡± He said, looking around. ¡°Did you see a third realm cultivator around here? I know I just felt one!¡±

    ¡°Of course I did. I just broke through.¡± I answered.

    His eyes widened, and for the first time I could feel his aura, as it passed through mine like it wasn''t there, inspecting my whole body, until finally finding my dantian in my head. His aura passed inside, searching, until it found the small crystal of solid qi in the black hole in its middle.

    ¡°What in all the heavens is that nightmare?¡± He asked.

    ¡°Hmm, what do you mean?¡± I asked.

    He indicated my dantian.

    ¡°What is that thing in the middle of your dantian? It eats qi! Its hungry, ready to swallow everything!¡± He shouted, worried.

    ¡°Oh, that''s just a black hole. I made it to help my cultivation.¡± I explained.

    ¡°What is a black hole? Another part of your strange, human knowledge?¡± He asked.

    ¡°Well, I doubt many humans know about them.¡± I answered. ¡°But black holes are the ultimate expression of gravity. They are so powerful, so strong not even light can escape them.¡± I explained.

    ¡°And how do you know about them then?¡± He asked. ¡°I have never seen something like this!¡±

    ¡°Well, that''s easy enough. Black holes are gravity in its purest, most destructive form.¡± I said. ¡°All stars you see in the sky, the sun, and even the moon and planet orbit a black hole. But you can''t see it because no light escapes.

    I can feel it if I want to though. The pull out here is weak, barely noticeable even compared to the moon or sun, but it¡¯s there. Always.¡±

    ¡°So, how does this work for you? You can''t use a majority of your cultivation base like this!¡± He said. ¡°I don''t feel like that is worth it, for a small help in breaking through.¡±

    ¡°Well, I can still affect gravity with the qi within.¡± I answered. ¡°I just need to exhaust it while concentrating on what I want to do. Like changing the way gravity works on things, increasing or decreasing someone''s or something¡¯s gravity. Like this.¡±

    I quickly focused on a small pebble on the ground, bending the gravity that affected it upwards, and watched as it fell up, and then along the line. Watching that was always great!

    ¡°Well, yes. That would still work I guess, but direct manipulation is less effective than techniques. You should really learn a few. There¡¯s a reason most cultivators use a technique instead of direct manipulation, even if direct manipulation is arguably more powerful.¡± He said.

    ¡°But I don''t know any techniques. And I doubt you know any I could use, seeing as you don''t cultivate gravity yourself.¡± I answered.

    ¡°I don''t. But techniques are easy. You really already use one. Controlling ambient qi, getting it to do your bidding is really all a technique is.¡± He answered.

    ¡°Wait. Techniques are a part of aura manipulation?¡± I asked. ¡°How does that work?¡±

    ¡°Qi can affect other qi, even if it''s ambient qi.¡± He started explaining. ¡°So, you can use both your aura and qi do give ambient qi a simple command, like you did. Rotate around me. The ambient qi will go and exhaust itself, fulfilling your command. The trick to techniques is not how to use them, but how to do so fast, and without using too much qi.¡±

    ¡°So I can just develop techniques of my own? By using my qi and aura to affect other qi, which will exhaust less qi than directly manipulating the world?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Yes. It¡¯s quite easy. Congratulations on your breakthrough.¡± He said.

    ¡°Thank you. So, could I ask you some questions?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Sure.¡± He answered.

    ¡°Good. So, how powerful are Clans? And Sects? And is there something above these?¡±

    ¡°Hmm, I am not the best to ask stuff like that, sects and clans are inventions from you humans, and I don''t really care about them.

    I can tell you what I know though. Clans are led by one, powerful cultivator, usually in the third realm, sometimes an immortal. They are all part of a big family, usually, and have a few secrets they jealously guard.

    Sects on the other hand have at least one fifth realm cultivator leading them, and at least one or two immortals as sect elders. They all cultivate in a certain, narrow way, control a city or two, and war with other sects, competing for small towns and villages between their territory. I heard some humans talk about bigger, more powerful organisations, but never met one of their number.¡± He explained.

    ¡°Thanks. Say, I can still visit you, can''t I? After all you said third realm cultivators aren''t allowed to enter the forest.¡± I asked.

    ¡°Of course, you¡¯re harmless. Just don''t go around, hunting beasts and stealing actual treasures.¡± He said.

    I smiled, and nodded.

    ¡°Good. Now, a second question, how many cultivators would I need to make a clan hesitate to come after me?¡± I asked.

    ¡°At least two dozen second realm cultivators, and about a hundred first realm cultivators. Minimum.¡± He explained.

    Well. That was going to be annoying. I¡¯d have to expand my business then, and add a new branch. So I¡¯d have even less time to do the really interesting stuff, for now at least.

    ¡°Thanks. I think I need to prepare some things for the future.¡± I said.

    ¡°You know, you can also let me deal with them. I am on my way towards the fifth realm, and making good progress. Because of you.¡± He said.

    ¡°That''s a nice offer.¡± I said. ¡°But I made that mistake myself, and will have to deal with it by myself.¡±

    I paused for a moment. That offer did sound really tempting to be honest. But it was my own fault, and it would set a bad precedent, letting my friends deal with problems I created myself. Especially because that would only invite making similar mistakes again later. And dealing with a clan sounded possible, but anything more powerful would be a big problem.

    ¡°As you wish. I¡¯d like to clear my karmic debt to you, now that you are slowly entering the realm of the really powerful.¡± He said.

    ¡°But I didn''t tell you any secret to help you.¡± I answered. ¡°What would be an appropriate compensation for you? Perhaps some detailed tips how to advance through the third realm?¡±

    The fox¡¯s expression lit up. It seemed that was enough for him.

    ¡°Yes. That would suffice.¡± He answered. ¡°The third realm is all about advancing your qi intent, to reach critical understanding and expand your senses. Normally that is. Once you reach that point, you lock yourself on your path, and will have to forge ahead into the unknown. Anyways. You have done that in the second realm already. Anyways. The next step is to grow your core to the size of a marble, expand your meridian network, as well as your meridians, and finally, to break through into the fourth realm and ascend to immortality.

    Immortals are different from normal living being. We do not have a body and soul. No, an immortal¡¯s soul is their body, as their body is their soul.

    The last step in the third realm, and into the fourth is the hardest. You need to sense your soul, fill it with your qi, and drag it into the world, to perfectly blend your body and soul into one, single whole. Your mortal body will die, as it is not made to be connected with your soul on such a deep level.

    And, like a phoenix from the ashes it will be reborn. Perfectly fit to conduct your qi through your body, a single extension of your will. Being immortal is to be yourself, to find yourself and your qi, and become one with every part of yourself.¡± He explained. ¡°There¡¯s more to it, but I said enough, otherwise the karmic debt would reverse.¡±

    ¡°Thank you very much.¡± I said.

    ¡°So, what do you think, how long until you reach the fifth realm?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Not all that long. Perhaps three decades. You should return to your own though, little Triss. There is someone approaching your home.¡± He said.

    ¡°Thank you for the warning.¡± I said. ¡°See you later.¡±

    I turned around, and ran back towards the town. No one should come visit me this late in the night, which meant they meant ill. I¡¯d have to see what to do, all depending on what they planned to do.

 Chapter 36

    What to do? It was still dark in the night, which meant I should be home, not snooping around outside. How''d my friend know said person was on their way towards my home though?

    To see that they''d need to be right next to my house. Though, to be honest any cultivator coming towards my part of the town was on their way towards my house. Still, they must be quite close to my home by now.

    I decided to do something reckless, as I wouldn''t arrive home in time if that person did something stupid. Like setting a fire, something that was very easy to do as a cultivator.

    I flared my qi, and bend the gravity of the planet slightly upwards. As expected I fell off the the face of the earth, falling upwards until I cleared the treeline. Strangely calm, I set myself to fall forwards, towards town now, as my upwards speed slowly bled away and I accelerated forwards. I didn''t drop, as gravity pulled me forwards instead of downwards. As I passed the two thirds mark to my home I turned around, and reversed the gravity, having it pull me slightly down and bleed off my speed forwards. Then I flared my qi again, and increased the power of gravity acting on me.

    I landed near my front door, only a small cloud of dust announcing my arrival. That worked way better than expected. I dashed inside of my home as I spread my aura around me, searching for whoever tried to sneak up on my house.

    I put my tome and my spirit stones into a small bag as I found them. I had never seen that person, but knew I needn''t have worried. They were only just in the second realm. And while the man did indeed plan to lit my house on fire - evidenced by the tinder and firekit in his pack - he was moving slowly. Carefully.

    Good enough for me. He decided to cross me, so he''d learn my wrath. I checked on my qi, and was quite surprised to see only a small part of my core had been exhausted. Perfect.

    What to do with him though? My bottom line would stay as is. I would not kill a person!

    But he didn''t need to know that! How many people did I need again? Two dozen second realm cultivators? Well, he was going to be the first.

    Did I strike now, or wait until he actually did something.

    I''d wait.

    He moved really slow. If he didn''t speed up he''d still be on his way when the sun rose. I couldn''t do anything to speed things up, so I sat down, and started drafting his employment contract, which would be enforced by a heavenly oath.

    Half an hour later, with me just finishing the second draft, he finally arrived at my house. As planned, he started laying the tinder and firewood against my house.

    I stood up, it was time to move.

    With a small flare of my qi the cultivator fell down, flat on his stomach. Sudden acceleration of the brain worked really well to disable people.

    I moved outside, picked up all the wood and tinder, as well as an unconscious cultivator. I deposited the wood in my store room, and the cultivator in my cellar. Within moments he was bound tight and gagged. I sat down on my chair, and started a third draft. This needed to be perfect. No loopholes whatsoever.

    When my aura detected his eyes moving sometime later, I stood up.

    "I see you''re awake. Good." I said.

    He shook his head back and forth, obviously wanting to say something.

    "Look." I started. "I really don''t care why you wanted to burn my house. Fact is, you tried. And we can''t have that. I will allow you to speak now. If you scream, there will be consequences. Understood?"

    He nodded frantically, and I moved to ungag him.

    "Please don''t kill me. They forced me. I didn''t want to. But they forced me." He cried.

    "They?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.

    "The ¡­ ¡­" He said.

    "So you can''t tell. So you probably swore a heavenly oath." I stated. "That''s unfortunate. But doesn''t change much. First things first, are you compelled to tell them the truth?" I asked.

    "No."

    "Good enough. Here is how things are going to go. You will stay here, under my watch, until you can swear a heavenly oath again, so a maximum of a week. You are going to swear to work for me, the exact words of which I will provide. Afterwards, we will see. Understood?" I asked.

    He nodded up and down.

    "Good, how long until then?" I asked.

    "Two days." He answered.

    "Perfect. Enough time to finish that contract then." I stated. "Did they set a time limit on your task?"

    "No. But they didn''t need to." He answered.

    Problematic. But I could not trust this guy, especially if his taskmasters had leverage over him. Leverage enough he risked crossing the mayor.

    "By the endless heavens, I swear this to Triss. I will not divulge her secrets to anyone without her consent, neither by speech, or by thought. I will not divulge her secrets in any way I can think of.

    Additionally, I will work for her, and follow her orders, if provided a fair payment. I will protect her life should it be in danger, even if it endangers my own. This I swear." He said.This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

    Perfect. I allowed a small smile to appear on my face.

    "Very good. Let''s get to it then." I said. ¡°All I''m going to tell you now is a secret. Understood?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Perfect. So, I''m going to pack some stuff that I can''t afford to lose. I am going to leave the house to visit the town hall, and announce my break through. You will burn my house down while I am there. I need a new one anyways.¡± I explained. ¡°Any questions?¡±

    ¡°Yes, What am I going to do once I am done.¡± He asked.

    ¡°Obviously you¡¯re going to go to your taskmaster and tell them you completed their task. And if they don''t give you all they have on you then the mayor will know all you know about them. After all you paid someone to deliver a letter to the town hall beforehand.¡± I explained. ¡°Now, after you¡¯re free of them, meet me at my new house when it¡¯s finished. Until then, just live your life like nothing happened. Or cultivate a bit.¡± I said.

    He nodded, and turned to leave.

    ¡°Wait a moment longer.¡± I said. ¡°Seeing as you are my employee now we need to advance your cultivation faster.¡±

    ¡°And how would we do that, you¡¯re barely in the second realm yourself.¡± He said.

    ¡°And that''s where you are wrong. I broke into the third realm the night we met.¡± I said.

    My aura expanded, and pressed on his from all sides. He flinched, before dropping to his knees.

    ¡°Excuse my rudeness exalted mistress. I would be glad to gain your insights.¡± He said.

    ¡°That''s not necessary.¡± I stated. ¡°Especially not when someone can see it. Understood?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Good. Now. Have you ever mediated, and just observed qi?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Yes. The insights were too profound for me to understand.¡± He answered.

    ¡°Pah, there are no insights to gain in there. That''s just normal qi that''s filled with a short moment of the past. Anyways. You cleanse the qi of this memory if you watch it, gaining pure qi, useful for cultivating.¡± I explained. ¡°After all your cultivating speed is mainly limited by the qi you can gather.¡±

    ¡°Thank you for the insights.¡± He said.

    ¡°Good. Now, let''s get to it. You know the plan. We¡¯ll see each other in a few days.¡± I said.

    I left the house with a bag slung over my shoulder. I would miss my cozy home, but needs called for a bigger, more grandiose house. A house that would allow me to run a second business as well as expand my current business.

    ---

    Velgo watched as his new employer left the house. The seamstress was strange. Obviously very powerful, sure of herself. But also cruel and hellishly smart. That oath she forced him into would restrict him for life, and finding a way around it seemed impossible. All wouldn''t be so bad though, she did promise him fair pay, and the secret she told him would be valuable indeed, if it worked.

    At least he could safe his wife. He waited a little longer, before leaving through the front door, a small fire burning on the counter. Instead of running, what his usual reaction would have been, he just walked along like he had been told.

    He went into the forest until leaving the sight of the town, swapped his robe to a different one, a ragged and slightly ripped robe filled with a little blood, and returned into the town on a different entrance. The guards watched him with interest, searching for any treasures he could have fought for, but found nothing they could tax for the mayor. Disappointed, they returned to watching the forest edge.

    Velgo smiled a little. His first task had been completed ¡®get seen by the guards wearing this robe¡¯. He went to one of the stalls standing there for an occasion like this, and dressed into a third robe, before leaving the town¡¯s edge, and moving deeper into the town. He had a successful task to report, and a medicine to get.

    Looking up in the sky, he saw a plume of black smoke rising into the air. His fire had been successful. Cries came up around him, as the townsfolk rushed towards the nearest well, to douse the fire, and stop it from spreading. It¡¯d be too late for the one house that mattered though.

    He knocked at one of the backdoors in a tall, three story building in the middle of the town. A building he could have too, if he had the money. Which he didn''t. A servant opened the door, and saw his appearance.

    ¡°Come in. I will tell the master of your arrival.¡± She said.

    ¡°Thank you.¡± He answered.

    Now he just had to wait. The merchant liked his power plays after all.

    ¡°Velgo my boy. So good to see you succeeded in your task. It would have been a shame if someone else had bought the medicine you need, wouldn''t it?¡± The disgusting merchant said.

    ¡°Master Merchant.¡± He said with a deep bow. ¡°I am overjoyed to tell you I managed to complete your task.¡±

    ¡°Ah yes. I can see the smoke from here. Good job. Really good job. Here is your medicine, now get out.¡± He said dismissively.

    ¡°Of course. I wish you a pleasant day.¡± He said.

    The moment he left the merchant¡¯s home, he took off running home. No time to lose. He arrived at the small house his wife and he owned, and ran inside.

    ¡°Velgo, where have you been?¡± A weak voice asked.

    He rushed in the back, and fell to his knees, seeing his wife still alive. Not well, but alive.

    ¡°I got what we needed.¡± He stated.

    ¡°I hope you didn''t do something stupid again?¡± She asked weakly.

    ¡°Of course not.¡± He answered silently. ¡°Now, take this.¡±

    Carefully, he fed the spiritual medicine to his wife. Now it was time to wait. To wait and plan.

    ¡°How do you feel?¡± He asked.

    ¡°Better.¡± She said, looking at him.

    Her eyes soon found the robe he was wearing, and widened a little.

    ¡°You did something stupid!¡± She chided. ¡°Never do that again!¡±

    ¡°Of course. I promise.¡± He said.

    As long as your life is in no peril, he added, silently, to himself.

    Three weeks later, and Velgo was out of the house again. The fire was still THE talk of the town, and many angry cultivators were stalking the streets, searching for the culprit, seeing as their robes were lost in the fire.

    Hell, Velgo still shuddered from the memory of the angry scream coming from the town hall that day. Someone was going to die for that, one way or the other. Anyways, for now he had an oath to fulfill.

    He didn''t take long to arrive at the seamstress¡¯s new house. It was near the ruins of her hold one, but grander. Three stories high, instead of the two from before. And richly decorated. It fit better to someone this powerful, though the building lacked a fourth story. How the mistress managed to get such a building build after her whole shop burned down was a mystery to him, but she did seem quite well off to him.

    He entered the building, but didn''t see the woman he expected to see. Just a normal looking mortal standing there.

    ¡°Hello master cultivator.¡± She said. ¡°What can I do for you?¡±

    ¡°I am here to speak the Miss Triss.¡± He said. ¡°I am looking for work.¡±

    ¡°I will call the mistress immediately. Please take a seat. Would you like some refreshments while you wait?¡± She asked.

    ¡°No, thank you.¡± He said.

    ¡°Very well.¡± She said, beating a small bell.

    The woman left, and another entered the shop from another door, and manned the counter. A few minutes later the first mortal returned, and bid him to follow.

    ¡°The mistress is expecting you.¡± She said as they neared a large, decorated door at the end of the hallway.

    He nodded to the mortal, and knocked as the woman retreated back towards the shop.

    ¡°Enter.¡± A voice called.

 Chapter 37

    ¡°Hello Miss Triss. What can I do for you?¡± The clerk asked.

    ¡°Why, hello there Mr. Clerk. I need to see the mayor, I have a proposal for him.¡± I said.

    ¡°Of course. I will notify him of your arrival. Do you want to wait, or shall I send someone notifying you of the appointment?¡± He asked.

    ¡°I will wait. I have different business to do too. I need to report my breakthrough in the next realm.¡± I said.

    ¡°Of course. One of my colleagues will come shortly.¡± He said.

    I nodded to him as he left, idly watching the hall around me. It had grown. I could feel the qi in the air, thicker than anywhere in the town. The building itself didn''t grow though, which meant someone placed an array. Interesting.

    ¡°You broke though?¡± A voice from behind asked.

    I turned around, and saw a certain giant standing there, still stupidly tall.

    ¡°Yes. Did I have to report that to you?¡¯¡± I asked.

    ¡°You did. Follow me.¡± He said.

    We left the town hall, when a cry came from a mortal. I looked around, already knowing what happened. And sure enough, a plume of smoke rose in the air from the beach. Right where my house stood.

    ¡°That''s not normal.¡± I commented.

    ¡°It is not. Follow me, we can do your evaluation later.¡± He said.

    Tiger took off running, and I followed. Sprinting like we were, we didn''t take long to arrive in front of my house. My burning house.

    ¡°That''s not good.¡± I said.

    ¡°It¡¯s sabotage. The mayor will be furious.¡± Tiger said.

    ¡°I really liked my house. But I don''t think it was worth that much.¡± I said.

    ¡°It¡¯s not about that. Someone went against the mayor in his own town. Heads are going to roll.¡± He said.

    We watched in silence as my house burnt down, I immediately noticed when the flames reached my cellar, seeing as the fire transformed into yellow for a short while. Good, that was the salt.

    The townsfolk worked to stop the fire from spreading, carrying bucket loads of sea water and splashing it over the nearby buildings.

    ¡°That fire seemed awfully convenient, don''t you think?¡± I asked. ¡°Just as I left my house.¡±

    ¡°Oh yes.¡± Tiger growled. ¡°This was planned. And would have happened regardless of your timing. They had someone watch you all day long, and decided to strike when you left. It¡¯s going to be nearly impossible to find the culprit, they most likely left the town by now.¡±

    ¡°So, what am I going to do, all my stuff was in there. Sure, my tools probably survived, as did my money, but all materials are destroyed.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re really in the second realm?¡± He asked.

    ¡°Yep. I freshly advanced into the next realm.¡± I answered.

    ¡°You don''t need to worry then, the mayor would¡¯ve offered you another, bigger house anyways. You¡¯re the wheel that drives the expansion of his town.¡± He said.

    ¡°So, I need to think about a new house, and plans for it? I need to talk to the mayor beforehand.¡± I said.

    ¡°I will have to report to him anyways. You can follow me.¡± Tiger said.

    ¡°Thank you.¡±

    We turned around, and ran back towards the town hall. The clerk already waited for Tiger, and didn''t even blink as he announced I¡¯d accompany him.

    ¡°Tiger! What happened?¡± The mayor, who¡¯s name was still a mystery, asked.

    ¡°Someone insulted you my lord.¡± Tiger answered. ¡°They burnt her home down.¡± He said, pointing at me.

    ¡°THEY DID WHAT? WHO?¡± He screamed.

    Ouch. That hurt my ears.

    ¡°I don''t know my lord. We weren''t present when the fire was lain.¡± He said. ¡°But it was a cultivator wrought fire, the flames turned yellow while burning.¡± Tiger said.

    ¡°Of course. Do you know anyone that would want to harm you?¡± The mayor asked.

    ¡°Well, I can only think of two people. But there could be many more, after all I don''t work for entitled pricks.¡± I said.

    ¡°Who?¡± The mayor asked.

    ¡°First of all the Waid Clan. One of their number came into my shop, demanding I work for him. I declined, and when pressed my emotions got the better of me and swore an oath I¡¯d never work for his clan.¡± I explained. ¡°The second is the fat merchant. He really dislikes me because I don''t respect him.¡±

    ¡°Hmm, it can''t be the Waid Clan. All of them left soon after the tournament, sir.¡± Tiger reported. ¡°But merchant Gredy could be a very real possibility. He wouldn''t do the deed himself, but pay someone for it.¡±

    ¡°So. Gredy. He is going to pay for that. Tiger, fetch him.¡± The mayor commanded

    This wasn''t good. My involvement was secret and would stay that way, but I had a second realm cultivator in my employee. And losing workforce like this would be quite the setback.

    ¡°How about something different.¡± I spoke up. ¡°He hates me because I am competition. Sure, I''m small time compared to the business he seems to have, but that can change. Don''t you think hitting him where it really hurts, in this instance his purse, would be far more satisfying? The slow realisation he did something he shouldn''t have. The feeling of being powerless, the knowledge of his inevitable fall from wealth. It would be delicious.¡± I explained.

    ¡°Are you sure? He could try the same again. And I won''t build you a third house.¡± He said

    ¡°Of course I am. I am just going to have to hire some guards.¡± I said.

    ¡°Very well. What do you plan?¡± He asked.

    ¡°Well, I didn''t have any time to plan. Give me a day or two, and I will present you with a building and floor plan, as well as a detailed way how I¡¯m going to bully him out of the business.¡± I said.

    A day later I returned into the mayor¡¯s office, floor plan in hand. He looked at it, raised an eyebrow and said a single word. ¡°Explain.¡±

    ¡°Sure. As you can see, the building has three stories and two basement floors. The third floor is my own living and working space. The second is where the first realm seamstresses I''m going to hire live and work. The first floor, where a few mortal clerks will live, will be used to sell and buy products. And my office for visitors. The two cellars will be where I store material and completed products.¡± I explained.The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

    ¡°I see. And how do you plan to force him out of his business like this?¡± The mayor asked.

    ¡°Well, that plan has several steps, and will take some time.¡± I said. ¡°First, it starts with only selling robes and other clothes to those who do not sell anything to him. Anyone that does will be blacklisted by me, and forced to pay double for the rest of their life. Secondly, after accumulating some funds I will start buying stuff for more than the merchant. And lastly, I got to know someone who has a stable supply of spirit salt. Which I will start to sell sometime soon, to anyone not a customer of the fat merchant.¡±

    ¡°I see. You did put some thoughts into this. How are you going to fiance it though? All your stock burnt down.¡± He said.

    ¡°Well, the fire was hot, but not hot enough to melt my money. So I am going to venture in there, and dig out all that money. It¡¯ll be enough to overcome the short period of adjustment.¡± I explained.

    ¡°So, do you know anyone looking for work?¡± I asked the man in front of me.

    Currently I was sitting in a tavern, chatting with the owner.

    ¡°Who asks?¡± He asked.

    ¡°I''m Triss. My business is going to expand soon, and I''m in need of some mortal employees.¡± I explained.

    ¡°You''re the seamstress?¡± He grunted. ¡°Didn''t your house burn down?¡±

    ¡°Yes it did. But I was going to expand anyways, so it¡¯s no big deal.¡± I explained.

    ¡°What do you need mortals for?¡±

    ¡°To man my shop. I also need two apprentices.¡± I said.

    ¡°What for?¡± He grunted.

    ¡°I broke into the second realm. So I''m going to create clothes for more powerful people. And I need others to do the work for normal cultivators.¡± I explained.

    ¡°I know a few people that may be interested. Where do they find you?¡± He asked.

    ¡°I live in the town hall currently.¡± I said.

    ¡°Good enough. You going to eat or drink something?¡±

    ¡°Nope, cya.¡± I said, leaving a generous tip.

    This was the third such tavern I had visited, after all everyone knew barkeepers knew people. Now I just had to wait and see. And hope for a few promising workers to come along. I purposefully didn''t add anything about forcefully breaking through my workers, as that would not give me the people I wanted. No, I wanted someone that wanted a stable life, not someone that wanted to seek excitement.

    The town had a few more taverns I could visit, but for now I¡¯d wait. My house would take about two weeks to be build, so I had time to find workers. Probably not enough workers as I wanted to have in the end, but enough for now. Guards would have to wait until my house was finished, after all no cultivator would want to guard my old house.

    Idiots.

    I¡¯d really like to test my new, third realm powers, but being this close the the mayor made me hesitant, and the week leading up to this had been too hectic. Well, I¡¯d see in time.

    ¡°So, you want to be my apprentice?¡± I asked the girl in front of me.

    She nodded shyly. Heavens, she couldn''t be older than six.

    ¡°Do you really want to work for me, or do your parents want you to?¡± I asked.

    Eyeing the two other adults in the room. They were the first ones to not flinch at the accusation, which was good.

    The girl¡¯s reaction was even better.

    ¡°No! I want to!¡± She yelled.

    Her parents flinched at her outburst. But I smiled. Good.

    ¡°Very good. My house will be finished in half a week. If you''re still interested by then, you know where to find me. Do make sure to think what you want though, do you want to move in with me, or stay with your parents.¡± I said. ¡°No. Don''t answer yet. It¡¯s your decision, and doesn''t matter to me. Now shush, go home, enjoy your last week as a child."

    Very good. This girl was the first to come to me on her own. Teaching her would normally be quite time consuming, but really, why be a cultivator if you didn''t cheat everytime you could.

    Getting some clerks had been really successful, with five mortals - all pretty woman - expressing interest to work for me. All got the same response as the girl, they had time to consider if they wanted to work for me or not, and visit my new house if they still did.

    I knew those five would come though, just as I knew the girl would. Working for a cultivator was too great an opportunity to pass up.

    Or honor, as I heard many people call it. Hypocrites. They saw it as an opportunity, and calling it anything else was just deceiving the other party or oneself.

    I''d also need some labourers sooner or later. And buy a cart or two. I would not start exporting until my business finally flourished again, but painting some stuff on a cheap tarp would be good enough. Then I''d just have to leave the cart somewhere on the market place, and have free advertising.

    I''d also need to hire a town crier to something like that, to announce my shop to the world. Well, all in due time. First I had to start organizing some fabrics to work on, a new loom to be made, and several sets of tools for my potential apprentices to work on.

    Rebuilding your life really was work.

    Well, at least I still had all of my most valuable possessions, as well as nearly all of my money.

    Anyways, for now I just had to wait and see. Just another week and I''d be free to do whatever the fuck I wanted.

    My new house did look magnificent. Three stories high, with the first one made of marble. A small flight of stairs led up into the main entrance, filled with a solid wooden door. Large, glass filled windows made sure enough light entered the show- and shoproom, with normal, smaller windows lining the rest of the rooms.

    The two upper floors were made out of wood, but painted to look more impressive. With a smile on my face, I entered the building, my bag on my shoulder.

    Exploring the building would have to wait for now, I had seen some of my future employees in the small crowd gathered around the building.

    ¡°I see you decided to come. Good.¡± I said. ¡°Can you read?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Yes.¡±

    ¡°Good enough, join me.¡± I commanded.

    I took out the contract I prepared for this occasion. It basically depicted working hours, pay and secrecy. It also said that, barring unforeseen consequences, I would awaken them in a half a years time, should none of my secrets come to light. Not the finest way to do something like that, but I didn''t need to care about employee protection laws here.

    ¡°Now, take this. It¡¯ll teach you everything you need to know. If you still want to sign afterwards, you can just add a X under the contract. And later the name you chose for yourself.

    I¡¯ll be in my office from now on, send anyone searching for me to the back, into the last room in the back. There¡¯s two girls coming for an apprenticeship, as well as seven others, to work like you.¡± I commanded.

    As I walked, I relaxed my aura a bit, covering the whole of my house, as well as its immediate vicinity. No reason to allow someone to burn my house down again. The mayor wouldn''t sponsor another house. This one was expensive enough, I really should gift a few good clothes to the watch, they¡¯d need it in time. As my aura spread through the house, I took a moment to check on everything. Two rooms full of bunks for mortal employees, as well as a large communal room, two bathrooms and a kitchen? Check. Ten rooms ready to be lived in by guards and apprentices? Check. Two basement floors, filled with enough storage to last me for a long while? Check. My own well in the basement? Check. Personal story, with meditation room, a room for a personal servant, a bathroom with a ¡®shower¡¯, a bedroom, a kitchen, several unoccupied rooms? Check.

    Everything was in place. Now I only needed to start working myself deeper into formations, and I was good to go.

    As I sat down in my office chair, a thought came to mind. I needed a white cat to insult annoying people. After all, what easier way to dismiss someone than stroking a cat as they entered the office, not stopping once to greet them?

    Yeah. Hopefully house cats existed in this world, or I would need to get myself a substitute. And while those worked the same way, they just didn''t feel as right as a cat would. And I liked cats.

    In short order, all seven of the remaining woman came into my office, and read the contract. Or were given the knowledge of reading by me after agreeing to learn with qi - and signed with an X. Now, I only needed my two apprentices to come, which wouldn''t happen today, both had been quite young, and something like the crowd infront of my house would probably scare them away.

    Thanks to my preparations - round marbles filled with instructions stored by qi - they all know what I expected of them. Someone manning my shop as long as the sun was up, taking up orders from customers, assigning priority depending on politeness, price and the special wishes of each customer. They¡¯d then transfer said list to me, and my apprentices, and send some runners I¡¯d hire in time to search for the cultivator in question, and tell them their order was ready.

    Like this, I would reduce my work load significantly, and have more time to do more interesting stuff. Like studying arrays, cultivating, and similar stuff. For now I¡¯d get myself some clothes with a basic, interlacing protection array. Like the one I did with my test fabric. Only this time I wouldn''t keep the arrays at the same size, the more important an area was, the denser I¡¯d lay the arrays, reducing my workload significantly.

    For now, using simple fabric would have to suffice, seeing as I would take a little to build up my stores of non-cotton fabric and fibres again. Anyways. That meant keeping the array active wouldn''t work, I¡¯d have to activate it for only short moment, like when something dangerous was about to hit. Tough to use, but cost and work efficient. And considering the change I went through after my first advancement, I¡¯d be surprised if something similar didn''t happen again.

    It was good to have a house again, because now I could cultivate in peace and quiet, assess the changes to my body, and plot my further cultivation. There was much to do, with so little time. At least I now had more time on my hands!

 Chapter 38

    As expected my two apprentices came a day after my house was finally finished. Unlike my mortal employees, these two had to agree to a stricter contract. Mainly involving an oath of secrecy when I finally broke them through.

    At least if there was no harm involved for them. To test that, I caught a bunch of crabs, and forcefully elevated them into the second realm. With my own, big house it was easy to find a room to store them in, For now, my crabs were in a tub full of seawater, and one of my mortal employees had the task to feed them every day. Having someone working for me really did ease a lot of things.

    For now, I had stuff to concentrate on though. Like the two children anxiously waiting in front of me.

    ¡°So, you decided you want to learn how to be a spirit seamstress.¡± I started. ¡°A good idea, especially as I am going to help you reach the first realm in a few months. For now, you need to learn how to be a seamstress first. After all you won''t be any good to me if you don''t know the foundation. Any questions?¡±

    ¡°How are you going to teach us?¡± One girl asked.

    ¡°Well. I gave you a few stones when you signed the contract, take them out.¡± I said. ¡°And hold them to your head.¡±

    Both of the girls did as bid, and recoiled in shock as information entered their mind. It wasn''t much information, all things considered, but for a mortal that never felt something like that?

    While I could just give them a book filled with the knowledge they¡¯d need for the work I planned for them, that wouldn''t be what I promised.

    No, I decided to keep the teaching at a slow pace. Faster than my mom back then, but I didn''t need to teach them directly. Just the basic knowledge of each lesson, with practice sessions in between, would allow me to cut the time needed to train them significantly. Sure, I¡¯d need to do more work while they were still in training, but these girls were an investment in the future.

    ¡°Now, I''m sure you¡¯re filled with questions, so ask away.¡± I said.

    ¡°What did you do? Can we do that too? Why do I know so much now?¡± One asked.

    I¡¯d really need to break them through soonish, after all, both girls having names would make things easier. Wait. I didn''t need to break them through by force, like I did with crabs. Just send them the feeling of qi. Like the cultivator did in my manual.

    I opened one of the drawers in my desk, and took out another of the many marbles stored in there.

    ¡°I gifted you some of my own knowledge about creating clothes. Less than the very basics, but if you really want to learn, then you¡¯ll need to experiment yourself, work out what works best for you. I will join the two of you upstairs, in your workroom, and do some work myself. If you need or want to ask something, just do. I will do my best to answer.¡± I answered

    ¡°As for you other questions. Yes, you will. Something like that is basic, and something I plan to teach you.¡± I explained. ¡°Now, take this. It¡¯ll show you how I sense qi, and should speed up the time of your awakening significantly if you put in some work. It¡¯s harmless, but requires you to do some work yourself. Now, follow me.¡±

    The three of us moved upstairs, into the second floor¡¯s workroom. Unsurprisingly, both of the girls had decided to live with their parents, and only come here to work. Good for them. Now, I had several orders to work on, mostly stuff for some first realm cultivators that came yesterday. And some of the previous requests, from before my house burnt down.

    Most wanted some relatively cheap robes, made out of prepared fabric. Which was fine for me, making robes was easy, and didn''t take all that long. Especially considering I could work both faster and more concentrated than normal humans, thanks to my cultivation.

    Three days after reopening my business, one of my clerks came to find me in while working.

    ¡°Mistress, a certain Velgo is here.¡± She said. ¡°He claimed you¡¯re expecting him.¡±

    Good. My new guard finally came to start his work. I stood up, and looked at my two apprentices.

    ¡°You know what you have to do, I¡¯ll return later, if you have any questions, write them down for later.¡± I said.

    ¡°Follow me.¡± I commanded.

    The clerk followed me, as I left the room, and moved down the stairs, into my office. I sat down, and mentioned towards her.

    ¡°You can go get him now.¡± I stated.

    ¡°Yes, I will return in a moment.¡± She said, excusing herself.

    ¡°Hello Velgo. I hope you are free of all other obligations now? Does the second party still have leverage over you?¡± I asked.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

    ¡°No. I got the medicine my wife needed.¡± He said.

    ¡°Good. Are you ready to start your work?¡± I asked.

    ¡°I am. What do you want me to do?¡± He asked.

    ¡°You¡¯re going to be a guard.¡± I explained. ¡°You main job will be standing in the main room, and glower at all cultivators coming in, and make sure my workers aren''t threatened. And protect them if they are threatened. Furthermore you need to wear a uniform I already prepared.¡± I said.

    ¡°When do I start?¡± He asked. ¡°And can you hire my wife too? We don''t want to be forage the forest anymore.¡± He said.

    ¡°That depends, is your wife a cultivator? I won''t hire mortal guards, as they wouldn''t be useful considering my intended clientele.¡± I said.

    ¡°Yes, my wife is a first realm cultivator. Will she be forced to swear an oath too?¡± He asked.

    ¡°Yes. But only an oath of secrecy. I can''t have anyone know my secrets, because some are quite spicy.¡± I said.

    ¡°I did wonder about that, why do you keep your cultivation secret? I would have never dared going against you had I known your power.¡± He asked.

    ¡°At first, I didn''t really think about it, I just went along with the flow after my mother was killed.¡± I explained. ¡°But after I saw how much problems even reaching the second realm others had, I decided I didn''t need the extra attention. After all I broke into the second realm years before most cultivators even open up to the world and qi.¡±

    ¡°You broke into the second realm before reaching ten?¡± He nearly screamed.

    ¡°Yes, yes. I was about five at the time. No need to scream, someone could hear you after all.¡± I said. ¡°Cultivating is really easy. You people all try too hard, just abusing the natural properties of qi, and the secret I already told you, makes reaching higher realms quite easy. I already know what I need to do to reach the fourth realm, but really don''t know if I want to, immortality doesn''t sound all that appealing to me.¡±

    ¡°But. Immortality is every cultivators goal.¡± He protested.

    ¡°Yeah, and you all don''t ever think what that means. You don''t think it through.¡± I said. ¡°First of all, there is the problem of everyone you know dying around you, one after another. Which doesn''t sound all that appealing to me. And immortality doesn''t mean you can''t be killed, or die any number of ways. You just can''t die of old age. And statistically, the longer you life the higher the chance you¡¯ll die is.¡±

    ¡°Huh? The longer you life, the more powerful you are! Which increases you chance to live even longer.¡± He protested.

    ¡°That''s not how statistics work.¡± I explained.

    And continued on explaining how the averge age of a group of people would naturally tend towards the many, not the few, and that the longer a cultivator lived the bigger the chance he''d die would be, as he was further from the statistical average.

    ¡°That doesn''t make any real sense. The math may be correct, though I can''t do it in my head, but you ignore so many factors its irrelevant.¡± He disagreed.

    ¡°Math doesn''t lie.¡± I stated. ¡°Sure, it may not represent reality in its actual form sometimes, but it doesn''t lie.¡±

    ¡°It still makes no sense.¡± He complained.

    ¡°It doesn''t have to make sense for you.¡± I said. ¡°Anyways. Immortality may not be such a lofty goal for you, considering what you did to save your wife from the fat merchant. I know I can elevate anyone into the second realm easy, and even carve their meridian paths, but anything after that isn''t something I think I can do.¡± I said. ¡°So, unless something drastically changes when reaching the fourth realm, which it might, all things considered, means you will have to watch your wife die of old age in time.¡±

    ¡°You can elevate anyone into the second realm, and carve their meridian paths?¡± He asked in shock, completely ignoring the other parts of my speech.

    ¡°Of course, it¡¯s not hard. You just have to create some liquid qi in their body, and move it around to create meridians.¡± I said.

    ¡°How would you even know something like that?¡±

    ¡°Well, that''s easy. I tested it on some crabs. I even got some right now, to see if doing so has any harmful effects on living creatures. Though I don''t have any meridians carved, people will have to do that themselves. But breaking them into the first realm, and maybe the second? I plan to do that for all my employees in the future, under the condition they swear an oath of secrecy of course.¡± I said.

    ¡°You¡¯ll do it just for the oath, won''t you?¡± He criticised.

    ¡°Obviously. Just like any powerful organisation on this world probably does. Heavenly oaths are just too useful a thing not to abuse for stuff like this.¡± I said.

    ¡°But the heavens are beyond mere cultivators. Using them is wrong, blasphemy.¡± He protested.

    I shrugged.

    ¡°When have we humans ever cared about that, it¡¯s useful, so it gets used. The heavens are a part of nature, and thus they get exploited like nature.¡± I explained patiently.

    ¡°I don''t think we will be able to agree on that point anytime soon.¡± He said. ¡°But don''t tell me I didn''t warn you, when the heavens come down to punish your for your impudence.¡±

    ¡°We probably won''t. Anyways. You can start working today, or tomorrow morning. Your wife can come anytime she wants. You know the conditions, and can tell her about the oath of secrecy.¡± I said, dismissing him.

    ¡°I will return tomorrow then.¡± He said, turning to leave.

    ¡°Very well. Be there at sunrise.¡±

    So. The heavens would punish me for abusing heavenly oaths? A few years ago I would have dismissed it as complete bullshit, as religious drivel. But the fact that heavenly oaths existed, and were actually enforced by the heavens, made taking them serious a need.

    I still felt sure of myself though. Heavenly oaths were far too useful not to try and find a way around them.

    I¡¯d need to do some research into the heavens. How smart were they, actually intelligent, or more like a computer program? What if I changed my oaths from directly including me, to actually mean my business. They¡¯d stay the same, only now not directly meaning me anymore. I¡¯d have to visit the temple slash church again.

    I groaned, more things to eat my time. I really couldn''t wait to get some work taken off me. Perhaps I should introduce some actually modern production practices? Division of work and hyper specialisation. Doing that would certainly speed up work, require less secrecy, as all workers would only know one step, and require less training overall.

    That sounded like a good idea, but it¡¯d still require cultivators. Not real cultivators, as those wouldn''t do such work, but perhaps cultivators like the ones that produced common salt. Forcefully breaking someone into the first realm, and use the qi they gather to produce products?

    Certainly something to think about. For now, I¡¯d continue as planned. Proper industrial production would require a larger consumerbase than the cultivators of a single town.

 Chapter 39

    Nine days had passed since I moved into my new house. Between working on my backlog of orders, teaching my apprentices and other employees, and training my body I did not find any time to check on my cultivation.

    Which meant I told my apprentices to stay home for today, and my clerks to close the shop. I needed to know what changed, what I could do now, and what I couldn''t. My newly furnished meditation room welcomed me in its unused glory.

    I focused on myself, my dantian and the core within. With all the liquid qi I had in my dantian before my breakthrough now compressed into a solid, crystal core. The crystalline structure was absolutely fascinating, far more complex than any of my own crystal meridians.

    It wasn''t as small as core seed implied though. A seed had a few millimetres diameter at best, but my crystal core held nearly half a centimetre in diameter.

    I did a little mental math, and compared the quantity of liquid qi I had before my breakthrough to the size of my core. Well, damn. The requirement to get solid qi from liquid qi more than doubled. Reaching a state of solid took about four hundred seventeen times as much liquid qi actually. Well, now that I had a core, growing it should be easy enough, just allowing liquid qi to fall into it should work.

    I¡¯d test the capabilities of my core later. For now, my gaze moved outwards, leaving the black hole in my meridian. I had not cultivated over the last month, so the liquid qi held inside my own meridian was negligible. It still existed though, as my meridians and aura continued cultivating qi for me even when I didn''t.

    I tried coaxing the liquid qi to leave my dantian through one of the wormholes. And it did. Perfect. Now I had access to liquid qi for all my needs. Perhaps filling my dantian with a black hole wasn''t all that smart? I could still burn the qi inside, using it to directly manipulate gravity, but not move it outside.

    Well, that ship had sailed long ago, so no reason to worry about it now.

    Anyways.

    With liquid qi starting to move along my meridians, instead of the gaseous qi from before, I hoped it wouldn''t take all that long for liquid qi to naturally appear in my body - if it didn''t, I¡¯d just have to flood it with gaseous qi until it naturally transformed. Qi wasn''t actual matter, but there were similarities. And from my observation liquid qi was far less prone to moving than gaseous qi was.

    So I would make for a far better type of structural qi. If the trend continued, solid qi would be even better structural qi, but even for me, something like that was in the far future.

    Finished with my dantian, I moved my gaze outwards again, into my whole body. Unlike the creation of liquid qi, solid qi did not seem to have changed anything. Well, I did create it in my dantian, thus my soul. A soul which I lacked any real perception of, but would need to develop perception for if I wanted to advance in the future.

    Seeing as nothing changed, my body was in perfect health, I moved on again.

    I extended my aura to its full radius, before taking control of it. Instead of just compressing it, I moved my aura upwards, into the air, shrinking the radius at the same time. As the cylinder around me grew, I could feel the qi inside my aura decrease minimally. Furthermore, the farther the end of my aura extended past my natural limit, the harder controlling it got, and the denser I needed to make it. By the time my aura¡¯s radius decreased to three hundred metres my aura extended up for about seven hundred metres, instead of nearly the kilometre it should¡¯ve. I continued on regardless, seeing as doing this would allow me to use all of my aura to cultivate, and should skyrocket the amount of qi I gathered at all times.This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

    In the end, my aura had a radius of about fifty metres around me house, and extended upwards for nearly two kilometres. Nearly good enough. I shrank my aura down a little more, until it¡¯s radius was about thirty metres, and its height around a kilometre and a fifth.

    Now I just had to keep this up for the rest of the day. And then week, month and year. While a part of my mind kept concentrating on keeping my aura in its current shape. The rest of me concentrated on my aura, and I changed it again. My previous aura had only taking in qi, and slowly circled it in the center, something that could still work, but needed some adjustments. With my aura now being a cylinder, instead of a half sphere, I would need to complicate things a bit.

    I concentrated on my aura, and imagined all qi inside of it slowly circling ever inwards. Right up until it reached about a metre radius, where it suddenly accelerated downwards,towards me. I felt my aura change, and soon enough the qi inside of it changed its route. Perfect. Now I just had to use a small part of myself to keep my aura in that shape, and my passive cultivation would increase significantly.

    I got up, and made myself some food, watching the ocean as time drifted past. It really was a gorgeous ocean. A shame I wouldn''t be allowed use it anytime soon, if the tales were to be believed.

    Now, techniques. I needed some, which meant I needed to use my qi and aura to force ambient qi to do something for me. What though? How far could I take this?

    First, directly increasing someone¡¯s gravity to force them on the ground. Wait! Why didn''t I do that with myself? If I just increased my own gravity while training, then my training should increase in speed significantly. Something to try tomorrow, today was my day off after all.

    I went down in the cellar, and got myself some string, before moving back in my living room, binding a small pebble from the beach to the string, and hanging both from the ceiling.

    With a part of my mind still keeping my aura in shape, the rest of me concentrated on the gravity of the pebble right in front of me. I burnt my qi, but instead of trying to affect gravity directly, I tried forcing the qi around me to do so.

    I imagined qi, not mine, burning up, increasing the planet¡¯s pull on my target - the pebble. It took quite the effort not to affect gravity like I used to, affecting the ambient qi instead, but I managed. Just.

    I saw the string go a little more taunt for a moment, before snapping back up. Not enough qi then. I repeated my previous experiment, trying to affect more qi this time. I managed, barely. Still, the string grew taunt for nearly ten seconds before snapping back up. How much of my qi did I need to use to affect ambient qi?

    This was going to take a while.

    Still, I managed to keep my aura in shape all this time, so perhaps I should try something else first? How much of my, apparently far expanded self did I need to control my aura, do my daily tasks, and experiment?

    Multitasking was a skill I could really use right now, but never bothered to try - true multitasking was impossible for normal humans after all. The best they could manage was switching between tasks fast enough it seemed like multitasking.

    But I left baseline humanity behind me more than a decade ago. And I distinctly remembered both experimenting, and keeping my aura in shape all the time. Perhaps I should use the rest of the day to find out what my mind was capable of, how much things I didn''t do because I lacked critical knowledge about myself.

    I spend the second half of the day going through my memories, searching for stuff I didn''t think about. I also went over my plans, controlled my aura, and started cultivating at the same time.

    Doing anything more was not yet possible, but I didn''t feel all that far from doing a fifth thing. I also tried several more things, like doing some mentally challenging work - which only allowed me to do two things at once, and one of those was controlling my aura, a skill I had honed ever since finding out about it, and could do while sleeping.

    Which probably meant I had been multitasking ever since discovering I could control my aura. Well, good to know. Still, as I went through all the conversations about cultivators and cultivation I could remember, I came to a realisation. While cultivators stored most of their qi in their dantian and near their kidneys, and all the stupid things they did, their mind was their scariest asset.

    The ability to unconsciously delegate things to themselves - like techniques - was a scary thing. Learning things also came easier and faster to me, and I assumed other cultivators as well. It was time to revise my plans with the addition of two new things I could do at the same time.

    One would have to be either cultivating, or developing techniques. The other would learn techniques or read and think on my book about arrays, while the last would work and teach.

    Perhaps I should do some aura sweeps over the town, to get myself a cat. Because I still wanted that cat, and searching my surroundings every other hour wouldn''t cost much.

 Chapter 40

    ¡°So, you want to be a tailor?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Yes.¡± The teen in front of me said, heated.

    ¡°And why are you here by yourself?¡± I asked.

    ¡°My parents forbid me from coming, so I ran away.¡± He told me proudly.

    ¡°And why don''t they want you to work for me?¡± I asked with a raised eyebrow.

    ¡°They don''t want me to waste my talents by working for you. They told me I should join a powerful clan or sect instead.¡± He explained.

    ¡°So you¡¯re already a cultivator?¡± I asked, ignoring the fact that my business was the equivalent of a powerful clan around here.

    ¡°Yes. I am.¡± He said.

    ¡°Your parents aren''t wrong, you know.¡± I started. ¡°Established organisations will serve you better regardless of what you want to do.¡±

    ¡°But joining them is hard, and advancing in them even harder.¡± He contradicted.

    I smiled.

    ¡°You know I do not plan to create a sect or clan, do you? My business will mainly focus on producing clothes, and selling them to all willing to buy our products. And from what I managed to gather until now, that will create some powerful enemies.¡± I said.

    ¡°I always wanted to follow my parents in their trade.¡± The body said. ¡°But awakening as a cultivator put a stop to those plans, they won''t teach me a thing, and you¡¯re the next best thing I could find.¡±

    Wait, what? How come he suddenly had different reasons for joining? That didn''t make any sense! And it really wasn''t like I needed another apprentice, especially one that obviously wouldn''t accept being taught by my older apprentices, regardless of their talent and experience.

    ¡°I can always use more cultivators in my employ, but working for me as a cultivator needs certain concessions from said cultivator.¡± I said, regardless of my musings. ¡°All cultivators that want to work for me need to swear an heavenly oath. An oath whose exact wording I will supply.¡±

    The teen recoiled, and a little fear entered his eyes. How interesting. Perhaps there was more to him than met the eye? While I had never seen him before today that didn''t mean much - the town grew with every day, hell, I¡¯d even go so far as calling it a small city by now. True, the town lacked the wall needed to be called city, but the mayor probably wanted the town to grow in power before even trying to call it a city.

    ¡°A heavenly oath? Are you mad?¡± He yelled at me.

    ¡°I have some serious secrets in need of protection, so of course I will need a heavenly oath. I force no one to work for me, it''s all voluntary.¡± I explained with a small, hidden grin.

    ¡°I will need to think about it, can I hear the exact wording?¡± He asked.

    ¡°Sadly that is not possible.¡± I said.

    ¡°I will return then.¡± The young man said.

    I sighed. The young man didn''t give me his name, despite claiming to be a cultivator. Which was quite strange, because that alone was rude enough that most would refuse teaching them anything at all. Secondly, he¡¯d been the third such person coming here in the last month.

    A young human, spouting strange reasons why they wished to work for me, oftentimes contradicting themselves in wishes and reasoning. And all three were absolutely horrified at the heavenly oath I demanded, wanting to hear the exact wording and excusing themselves after I denied.

    Quite suspicious, especially because that never happened before. Sure, some of my employees - by now all cultivators - didn''t like the fact they¡¯d have to keep my secret, but all agreed to do so regardless, to keep working for me. And to be a cultivator. Though, sadly cultivators such as this were useless.

    They lacked the inherent drive, the drive to better themselves, to grow stronger, that all real cultivators had. For them, reaching the first realm was enough. Well it was enough for me too, they would keep my secrets regardless of what they made of my gift.

    I sighed again, and put the boy out of my mind, turning my attention to a different problem. While a part of me surveyed the building, looking at all the stored up clothes rotting in the basements, and the three dozen cultivators working at making more on the first floor, another stood up.

    I rarely made clothes myself by now, leaving everything to my older apprentices while I ran the business itself. Still, I liked to show myself every once in a while, to answer any questions that may have come up and let them see me.

    As I left the room, one of the guards fell in behind me, and both of us made our way up.

    ¡°Everything is going fine I hope? Any questions?¡± I asked.

    ¡°None Miss Triss. We have everything under control.¡± Trisa said.

    I really liked the girl, she was the only one that didn''t take me up on the offer to forcefully awaken her, instead doing it the old fashioned way. With only a little help on my part she managed to ascend into the second realm by herself. Her diligence, drive and skill made her my second in command easily enough, and made her the one to train my newer apprentices.

    ¡°I see. Keep up the good work. I will probably have to go on a larger trip soon enough, so make sure to prepare for that.¡± I said.

    ¡°A long trip?¡±

    ¡°We produce too much robes for the town. We need new customers, so I plan to expand into the nearby towns, maybe even the city.¡± I explained.

    ¡°We do? Perhaps we should stop hiring so many new apprentices then?¡± She wondered.

    ¡°No need. I don''t intent to hire new tailors or seamstresses, but we will need even more guards if we want to expand, to guard our caravans.¡± I said.The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    ¡°I''m sure you''re going to find more than enough people willing to work for you, even under that oath, by now everyone with half a brain should have noticed that all real cultivators working for you cultivate significantly faster than anyone else.¡± She answered.

    ¡°True enough. It¡¯s a real good recruitment pitch too.¡± I said.

    ¡°Yes. So, how do you plan to plan your trip?¡± She asked.

    ¡°How do I plan to plan it? Well, first I''m going to be visiting a friend or two.¡± I said.

    ¡°You have friends?¡± She asked, completely taken by surprise.

    ¡°Of course I do!¡± I answered.

    ¡°But they never visit!¡±

    ¡°They don''t want the attention.¡± I lied. Well half lied.

    Lady Chela, my combat ¡®instructor¡¯ really didn''t want the attention, but the fox really just was too lazy to visit me.

    Before Trisa had a chance to reply I burnt some qi, using gravity to bend light to move around my body.

    ¡°How does she even do that all the time? She cultivates gravity for heaven¡¯s sake.¡± Trisa grumbled, before turning around. ¡°Back to work, never seen a cultivator turn invisible before or what?¡± She yelled.

    I chuckled silently, and walked up into my rooms, jumping out of a big window. My knees bend lightly, absorbing the impact as I walked forwards, using my aura to see where I was going. Really, the only problem about this invisibility was the blindness that came with it. But while floating eyes would intimidate some people, seeing simply wasn''t all that necessary for me anymore.

    ¡°Hello old man.¡± I said, entering the only shop I still personally visited.

    As always when entering his shop, my qi cloak vanished into thin air. How did he even do that? Well, he was just an old man, obviously, so he wasn''t responsible.

    ¡°Ah, Triss my young customer, how can I help you today?¡± He asked.

    ¡°I need some advice. Someone as old as you surely travelled his fair bit.¡± I said.

    ¡°Ask away young one. Though I am not well travelled by any means, I will do my best to advise you.¡± He lied.

    ¡°Sure. So, I need some information on the surrounding towns. And maybe the city.¡± I started. ¡°I need to expand my business, and wanted to ask you if you knew of any bigger towns that are in need of cultivator made robes.¡±

    ¡°I see. Well, you do have a lot of people working for you, true. But you are not yet ready to enter the battlefield that is the city. I¡¯d advise you to just send a caravan to tour the surrounding towns, not set up a new shop yet.¡± He said.

    ¡°I see, that''s a good idea. Thank you.¡± I said.

    ¡°Don''t worry about it, I always like to help the younger generation.¡± He answered. ¡°Now shoo, there are some real customers coming soon, and you have a few others to talk to too. And a caravan to organize.¡±

    ¡°Bye.¡± I said, leaving the still empty shop. Pah, real customers, the old man didn''t have any customers other than me.

    As I left my qi cloak snapped back into place, hiding my leaving from his shop. I burnt a little more qi, and suddenly fell upwards before leveling out just above the treeline, shooting towards the middle of the forest. After flying for about half an hour, I landed somewhere in the forest.

    ¡°Hello, Mr. Fox, you there?¡± I yelled.

    Moment later a certain fox appeared out of nowhere. I still couldn''t replicate or even perceive his strange way of ¡®stepping¡¯ through the world. Sure, he told me you needed to be a fourth realm cultivator for that, but cultivation usually was more fluid than this.

    The only thing that changed in the fourth realm was depended on the soul, meaning I spend a few hours a day trying to use my soul in any way. With no success so far. I could sense it a little, thanks to my ever expanding meridian network and my dantian, but I simply lacked any kind of direct control.

    Perhaps a matter of qi? Expanding your core to the size of a marble took a long time - even with my completely ridiculous cultivation speed, sucking up enough qi per hour to forcefully ascend two thousand mortals, my core only grew slowly. It had started as a small seed, about a millimeter in diameter, and I had since tripled that radius, but sadly the volume of a sphere grew cubically when compared to its radius, and I still had to quintuple my core¡¯s radius. Which meant I needed one hundred twenty five times the qi I had now.

    That did explain why you needed to ascend into the fourth realm when you did - to ascend via qi again would take a truly ridiculous amount of both time and qi, far more time than even a third realm cultivator had.

    ¡°Welcome back Triss. What do you want to do today?¡± He asked.

    ¡°I wanted to ask you about the humans always entering into your forest, and if you perhaps know if a similar forest nearby where you¡¯d like to have them better.¡±

    ¡°Well, they are humans. Like you. Some are female, some male, all are cultivators. Not like you though. They are normal cultivators that don''t have enough insights in the world to make an immortal green with envy.¡± He grumbled.

    ¡°Hey, it¡¯s not my problem you all don''t know the next thing about how the world works.¡± I defended myself. ¡°And that you don''t share with each other. Do you know how far this world could be if all cultivators shared their knowledge, and didn''t hoard it like dragons do gold?¡±

    ¡°You are doing to same.¡± He stated, amused.

    ¡°I do not!¡± I protested loudly. ¡°My apprentices all know more about qi than I did at first. They¡¯re just lazy and unimaginative.¡±

    ¡°And all the other cultivators?¡±

    ¡°They¡¯re pawns. I will publish a book on basic qi theories when I reach immortality, outlining some of the things I discovered about cultivation. People can do whatever they want with that.¡± I said.

    ¡°Why only when you reach immortality?¡±

    ¡°Because those in power don''t like the status quo changing, and such a book surely will cause a lot of waves. Anyways, about my question?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Well, I do know a few annoying beasts around here. I wouldn''t mind a few more humans going in and disturbing their peace.¡± He said.

    ¡°They¡¯re both in the north, if you follow my forest line. There¡¯s the eternal forest, the other eternal forest, and the endless forest. All within two months from here, if you¡¯re a slow human.¡± He said.

    ¡°I see, thank you. But two eternal forests?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Well, we beasts really don''t get along with each other. I thought about naming my forest eternal forest too, but couldn''t be bothered in the end. The two lords controlling them always fight with each other, and fighting is bothersome.¡± He explained.

    ¡°So they don''t get along?¡±

    ¡°They are best friends actually. And are still competing who of them gets to keep the name. I don''t think one really wants to win too, they¡¯re fine with the status quo.¡± He explained.

    ¡°I see. Now, I have a business trip to plan, and to travel, so I¡¯ll be gone for a while.¡± I said. ¡°See you later.¡±

    ¡°Good luck. Don''t come back too fast.¡± He answered, vanishing

    A silent ¡°Bye.¡± sounding in the wind.

    With that, I flew back home, once again invisible to the naked eye. Any cultivator could still easily find me with their aura - any cultivator of the same realm at least. And if they had developed their aura at all. I was still young, but accomplished enough work and experimentation for at least three years in the last year alone, all thanks to multitasking.

    So, north. Not that I could go south, or east really, with a huge forest and the ocean in my way.

    With three magical forests or however these things were called to expand my business to I should be able to have more demand than supply, something every business that wanted to make profit wanted to have. After all, I could raise my prices when I had less product than customers, with meant more possible work, more cultivators working for me, and more power to deter any clans that didn''t want me messing with their heirs.

    Now I just had to hire a new guard, prepare several of my workers for my absence, and see about expanding my market. As I touched down on my living room floor, and light appeared around me again, I noticed my heart was beating a little faster than normal.

    I was looking forwards to something for the first time in a while. It was going to be great!

 Chapter 41

    ¡°Let''s go.¡± I commanded.

    I laid back on the wagon and allowed my aura to spread out as far as possible. After all, I wanted to catch any eventual pursuers right now, to not be surprised by them later. Sure enough, only minutes after my caravan left the town a bunch of cultivators left too, following just out of sight.

    ¡°We have a few tails, three dozen cultivators. None in the third realm, five in the second and the rest are just first realm cultivators.¡± I said.

    ¡°Shall we go and take care of them, mistress?¡± Targo asked.

    He was one of the most powerful cultivators in my employ, and would soon ascend into the third realm thanks to a little help from me.

    ¡°Don''t worry about it. So far they¡¯re only following us. But if they attack? Knock them unconscious if possible, and rob them blind. If they come a second time? Show them the error of their ways, and get a heavenly oath out of them.¡± I said.

    ¡°So, all as normal.¡± He asked.

    ¡°You got it. He who doesn''t take warnings will have to deal with the consequences of his actions.¡± I said.

    ¡°Will you do some fighting yourself?¡± He asked, excited.

    ¡°No. Only if our enemies actually have a third realm cultivator here. I doubt that though, just imagine the loss of image they¡¯d suffer from sending a third realm cultivator to deal with an uppity little second realm cultivator.¡± I said with a grin.

    ¡°Your insistence on hiding your cultivation, as well as your strange attachment to your name continue to baffle me.¡± He said.

    I grinned again. All real cultivators in my employ seemed to suffer physical pain from my actions. They simply couldn''t perceive a world where they¡¯d do either of the things I did. It was great.

    ¡°What can I say, I like my name, and don''t see a need to change it. And would you want to deal with an old third realm cultivator? I sure don''t, I just broke through a little more than a year ago. There¡¯s only so much I can catch up with my methods.¡± I said.

    ¡°Yes. Only so much. You mean like reaching the third realm in less than two decades, without any cultivator helping you, or any resources to call your own?¡± He asked.

    ¡°Exactly.¡± I easily agreed.

    ¡°And you don''t know just how ridiculous that is?¡± He asked.

    ¡°No? I don''t really. I don''t have anyone to compare to. Anyone with the same starting conditions I had at least.¡± I said.

    ¡°What do you mean, perhaps all these powerful insights you hide inside of your head?¡± He asked.

    ¡°You got it. I didn''t meet anyone like me so far, so I can''t compare. I do know people like me have to be there though, because it really wouldn''t make sense if there weren''t.¡± I said.

    ¡°I see. And you still won''t tell anyone where you gained your insights from? We talked about my qi intent for three sentences, yet you managed to advance my understanding by leaps and bounds. And your insights into the nature of qi, insights every cultivator would kill to know. And we get them free of charge, just by working for you with no additional cost to us. Even the dead weights.¡± He protested.

    ¡°I am pretty great, aren''t I?¡± I said with a small smile. ¡°But you miss something. If you are more powerful, it can only help me. After all, I really don''t want to fight, so if my subordinates are more powerful, I won''t have to fight myself. I like to plan and plot, but fighting? Just not for me.¡±

    ¡°But you can fight? I remember Velgo retelling your first meeting. You just took him out without any time to notice you. And the captain of your guard is powerful, so taking him out without his notice straight after your ascension should be impossible.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not that hard. You just have to accelerate the other''s head fast enough. And gravity is very good at accelerating things if you multiply it by a few times.¡± I explained.

    ¡°Gravity is just a downward pull. Not something to fly with, and definitely not something to go invisible with.¡± He said.

    ¡°But it is.¡± I denied. ¡°Gravity is the most powerful force I can think of. Sure, it¡¯s a little unimpressive on a planet, but you have to think on a bigger scale. Our planet orbits around the sun because of a combination of speed and gravity. And our sun orbits around a black hole in the middle of our galaxy.¡±

    ¡°I have literally no clue what you just talked about.¡± He admitted. ¡°As so often.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯ll understand in time. At least if you continue on your way.¡± I said.

    ¡°But how? You may know how to ascend into the fourth realm, which is another one of your strange secrets, but we normal cultivators need to join a sect for that sacred knowledge.¡± He said.

    ¡°I actually have an inkling about two different ways on how to ascent in the fifth realm, and the sixth one after, considering the way you ascend to immortality.¡± I said.Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

    ¡°Of course you do.¡± He said with a snort.

    ¡°What? I didn''t find out how to reach immortality. I have a friend who told me in return for something else.¡± I said.

    ¡°So, you have an immortal friend who had enough of a debt to you to tell you how to reach immortality? That doesn''t really make anything better.¡± He said.

    I sighed.

    ¡°Don''t be like that. I''m just a normal girl with some extra knowledge and a lot of ideas.¡± I said.

    And smiled. That had been the lie I told my employees to tell others if they asked about me. Though it really was only half a lie at best. I had been a normal girl in my first life and would have been one in this one too - probably at least.

    And I had a lot of ideas, all thanks to the knowledge the civilisation I was originally born in had gathered over the ages. Of course, said knowledge limited me too, for example, I would probably make a really bad shadow or frost cultivator.

    After all, both shadow and frost really were nothing on their own. You needed light to have a shadow. Just like frost was just the absence of heat or the absence of molecular vibrations, a shadow was the absence of light. Though, not even that. Without light, you had darkness, but you needed light to even get a shadow.

    That meant I didn''t hire anyone cultivating these qi intents, or intending to do so. I could not help someone cultivate the absence of something. The absence of natural forces was just a fact of those forces existing, not something in itself. At least for me.

    ¡°Oh. They sped up.¡± I noted.

    At the same time, a small packet of qi entered all of my guards, informing them of everything I managed to find out about our enemies so far. Their power levels as far as I could tell, their meridian networks, any strange exits for qi in their body, to surprise their enemies in the fight.

    Everything.

    Wait, who was this guy? Why couldn''t I penetrate his aura?

    ---

    Hatsume of Clan Waid watched his pupils follow the small caravan with a dispassionate gaze. This would be easy. Sure, their enemies were generally more powerful and had spirit robes, but he had the numbers.

    And should things go south, he¡¯d still be there to step in. And while embarrassing, losing anyone here would be much worse. Not that either would happen. Their enemies were simple, independent cultivators. Sure, they gathered around that insolent spirit seamstress, but she didn''t have any backers either. Apart from the irrelevant mayor of her hometown that is.

    ¡°Kill the girl, I don''t care what you do with the rest.¡± He commanded finally.

    ¡°Yes, revered elder.¡±

    His pupils moved forward quickly, hoping to catch their enemies by surprise. Something alerted them though, and they turned towards his people. Idiots, he hissed. Suddenly, he stiffened. A powerful spiritual sense just swept over the area.

    But his cloaking held up.

    ¡°Why don''t you join in? It¡¯s not like your people stand a chance without you, mine know everything about yours, every little secret, their qi intent, their meridian paths. Everything.¡± A voice next to him said suddenly.

    Hatsume jumped up in surprise, seeing his quarry standing there without a care in the world.

    ¡°How did you get here?¡± He yelled.

    ¡°I walked here.¡± She answered like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

    ¡°You''re really good at hiding yourself. I mistook you for one of the others until you didn''t come with them. And your aura. I couldn''t penetrate it without you noticing.¡± She said.

    Damn.

    Their information was completely wrong.

    ¡°So you are a third realm cultivator?¡± He asked.

    He started preparing for a fight, young geniuses like her were a pain to deal with, despite their relative inexperience.

    ¡°Well, I guess that cat is out of the bag. By the way, do you know where to find a cat? I need one.¡± She said. ¡°You are going to swear a heavenly oath that you won''t tell anyone of course.¡±

    ¡°And who do you think you are, whelp, to command me like that?¡± He asked, angry.

    ¡°I am Triss, stupid.¡± She said.

    Hatsume allowed the rage he felt at her dismissive words flow through him. But he kept a tight leash on the rage. He was the master, the controller of his emotion, his emotions didn''t control him. Slowly, a red aura formed around him.

    ¡°Let''s get this show on the road.¡± She said.

    Suddenly, he felt incredibly heavy, despite the power of rage running through him. His enemy stood a few metres from him, so he charged. She managed to evade in the last moment, stepping in between his legs the moment he passed. Hatsume fell on his face, and the rage flowing through him increased.

    ¡°Watch your step, moving in high gravity is bad for your joints.¡± She taunted.

    Hatsume took in her words, used them to empower himself even more than before, and charged again. Only for his enemy to float out of his reach.

    ¡°That was way faster than before. You''re one of those emotion cultivators, aren''t you? Probably shame, considering how you always miss me.¡±

    Hatsume yelled incoherently, jumping up to catch the elusive prey. Flying was impossible for him, but just jumping was easier than any type of flying technique he knew.

    His prey easily evaded him, but now his win was just a matter of time. He reached the third realm nearly a decade ago, so he had far more qi than his opposite did, regardless of her talent.

    ¡°Ohh, close one. Better luck next time.¡±

    ¡°Good jump, you really put those legs to good use.¡±

    Still, he couldn''t help but worry a little, as his prey continued to evade. Until he suddenly felt lighter.

    ¡°You nearly had me there, you''re getting closer.¡± She continued to mock him.

    She was running out of qi and had to use all to stay afloat. Hatsume grinned savagely, and jumped up, soaring higher than ever before in this fight. His prey moved ever upwards, her flying technique seemingly unrestricted in height, until he reached the apex of his jump.

    Gravity reasserted its control over him, and he started plummeting to the ground.

    Suddenly the forces attacking him doubled, tripled, quintupled, and he fell down fast. Too fast!

    Worried, Hatsume made sure to fall feet first, hoping to absorb the energy of his fall in time. Suddenly, his head snapped to his side, a bright red copy of a small hand appearing on his face.

    ¡°That looked like it hurt. Do you think it¡¯ll stay for a bit?¡±

    She slapped him! KILL! His fall forgotten, Hatsume twisted around, hoping to see the savage that didn''t stop insulting him since the moment they started fighting!

    She was floating out of his reach again and pointing downwards. He followed her finger, seeing something he forgot, the ground! With a cry of rage, he tried to right himself again but was too late. His feet touched the ground, and pain shot up through his legs, his spine, and his arm.

    He watched his opponent land next to him, as pain defeated rage, and finally him.

    As his vision faded, he cursed his luck, dying an insignificant death, trying to kill an insignificant no one.

 Chapter 42

    Targo led his fellow cultivators'' charge, his head filling with information about the enemies they were about to face. Their meridian network, their qi intent, hell even small, even some never properly set bones.

    Mistress Triss really was a terrifying cultivator. She seemingly managed to invade the bodies and auras of all thirty-five cultivators in the little time since they left the town, and prepare a memory packet for all of them. Wait. Thirty-five? Didn''t she say they were followed by three dozen cultivators? A quick count show she only had information about thirty-five cultivators too, meaning one was too powerful to casually invade.

    ¡°Let''s be fast, I want to see the mistress fight!¡± He yelled.

    None of them had ever seen the mistress fight. And now that she met with another third realm cultivator? He wouldn''t miss that for the world. The other guards around him sped up too, wanting to see their employer fight as much as he did.

    Their enemies were powerful. If they were fighting him from half a year ago, he would have been outclassed. But now? With powerful advancement in his understanding of both qi and his qi intent, the silly looking gambeson they needed to wear, something called small unit tactics the mistress insisted they develop and the additional motivation of seeing her fight?

    The enemy never stood a chance.

    After all enemies were knocked unconscious by them they looked towards the hill. Targo sighed. The fight had already started. But only recently. He looked at her enemy and saw a red aura surround him. A berserker then.

    ¡°Watch your step, moving in high gravity is bad for your joints.¡± She taunted.

    Of course she taunted a berserker. The enemy charged again, only for the mistress to fly upwards. Targo nodded his head. Yes, flight in the third realm, that sounded absolutely reasonable for someone that cultivated a force that pulled someone downwards. Just like suddenly going invisible or knowing how to advance into the sixth realm.

    They all watched with bated breath, seeing the two third realm cultivators dance. As the Miss flew higher and higher, and her enemy angrier and angrier he wondered how long they would keep that up. Just jumping seemed to take less qi than actually flying, but you didn''t know with some people.

    Suddenly, the enemy jumped significantly higher than he had ever before, with the Miss moving out of the way like she did every time. Only this time, her enemy fell faster. Far faster than before, and than was natural.

    So she won. Targo couldn''t say he was particularly surprised, considering her insights. But one thing reignited inside his chest, seeing her fly, and him jump. He wanted that power too. More than ever before. Looking around himself, he saw that same fire burning inside the eyes of every other cultivator too.

    And another feeling he agreed with. Working for her, despite the conditions, was the best decision of their entire life.

    ¡°Let''s tie these lumps up, and strip them blind as she commanded.¡± He said.

    The other guards jumped to do his bidding, even as he himself took a step forward, she¡¯d want to hear a report.

    ---

    I watched the cultivator to my feet with a complicated expression. On the one hand, he had tried to kill me, but on the other, he really looked quite pitiful, unconscious and with broken arms and legs.

    ¡°I see you had your own fight handled. I didn''t know you can fly mistress.¡± Targo said.

    I looked back at him, and the line of my guards, each stripping our attackers from their possessions.

    ¡°This was the first real fight I¡¯ve ever been in.¡± I admitted.

    ¡°You handled yourself admirably, though I have to admit I doubting the wisdom of taunting a berserker.¡± He said.

    ¡°He did seem to get stronger over time.¡± I admitted. ¡°But I can''t really leave him like we¡¯ll leave the others. I doubt they saw me fight, being occupied with being beaten up by you, but this guy? He knows I''m in the third realm.¡± I said. ¡°Fetch me one of the more expensive robes, we¡¯ll take him with us for now. He¡¯ll have to swear a heavenly oath he won''t reveal who beat him up. Or I will have to kill him.¡± I said.

    Targo raised an eyebrow, but I just nodded towards the man on the ground, who¡¯s breathing had just paused nearly imperceptively.This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

    ¡°I will return in a moment.¡± He said.

    Running off, on his way towards our wagons at full speed.

    ¡°What do I do with you?¡± I mused. ¡°I really don''t like to kill, but you¡¯ll just work against me in the future if I don''t, won''t you?¡±

    A kick in one of his legs caused him to grunt and his eyes opened, glaring at me.

    ¡°Did you really think I wouldn''t notice?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Do whatever you want, but if you kill me my clan will come after you.¡± He threatened.

    ¡°But they¡¯re already after me. And to believe that little old me could defeat you? Don''t be ridiculous! There are two immortals confirmed to live around here, you must have angered one of them.¡± I said with a snort.

    ¡°I would never anger an immortal!¡± He yelled.

    ¡°Are you sure? I mean, you are a berserker. You could have just lost control after they insulted you.¡± I said back, calmly.

    ¡°That''s never going to roll, and you know it!¡± He snarled.

    ¡°Well, as I said, I don''t want to kill you anyways. You¡¯ll be a good boy, swear a heavenly oath not to reveal how I kicked your butt in any way, and I''m even going to set your bones, so they can heal properly.¡± I offered.

    ¡°And how would I know you will keep your word?¡± He asked.

    ¡°Obviously you don''t. But can you really afford not to?¡± I asked back.

    ¡°I see. You really got us good, didn''t you? What did we do to anger someone like that much?¡± He asked with a frustrated sigh.

    ¡°That''s easy. One of your number killed my mother. I just snapped when that one guy entered my shop, demanding I work for him.¡± I said. ¡°Now, after me.¡±

    ¡°After you?¡±

    ¡°Obviously. Heavenly oaths are only good if you design them to your own advantage.¡± I said. ¡°You could easily swear not to tell my power to anyone, and then deny all other possibilities when asked. It wouldn''t take long to find out who bested you.¡± I explained.

    He flinched, obviously caught. I exerted my qi a little bit, with about a third of my total still remaining active and lifted him off the ground with a little application of my will.

    ¡°I¡¯ll think about your oath for a little, but before that, I will set your bones. Cultivators heal too fast sometimes and any minute I don''t do anything is one where I have to break something else to properly heal you.¡±

    We moved back towards the wagons, me walking and him floating next to me.

    ¡°We reached an agreement. I will need some tent poles too.¡± I said.

    Once I had everything, I simply used my aura to overwhelm his own, and my senses invaded his legs. Damn, that did look quite nasty. Both legs were broken in at least three places, with a few bone splinters going off somewhere they should not be.

    Taking care of a cultivator was quite easy, in all seriousness. We died very hard, healed fast, and didn''t need all that much food while healing either. And with something a powerful and convenient as aura at my disposal, I didn''t even need any prior knowledge, I just had to puzzle stuff back together.

    ¡°This will hurt like a bitch.¡± I warned him. ¡°If you move, I¡¯ll knock you out again.¡±

    ¡°I can endure a little pain.¡± He answered with gritted teeth.

    ¡°You can move on, I¡¯ll catch up later.¡± I said to my people.

    I could easily imagine the guy starting to fight me again, once I was done. He was a cultivator after all.

    I shrugged, my muscles wouldn''t get shredded that happened, and I¡¯d win again. First, the bone splinters. My qi couldn''t directly control things, but over the months I had learned how to do something similar to telekinesis with gravity. My victim, ahm, patient immediately started squirming as the splinter moved back, so I paused, choked him until he fell unconscious again, and returned towards my task. All in all, I took two hours, and three chokings to treat all his broken bones, more than enough time to think up a heavenly oath.

    ¡°You''re good to go. Time for your oath.¡± I said as he woke once again.

    ¡°You choked me!¡± He exclaimed.

    ¡°I did. It was the safest method to render you unconscious without further injuries.¡± I explained.

    ¡°You could have done it in another way. I''m sure there are some herbs around that could do the trick.¡± He protested.

    ¡°I could have decked you over the head, but that would have been more dangerous. And I make clothes, not drugs. Anyways, I ironed out our contract, and just need your name.¡± I said.

    ¡°I am Hatsume.¡±

    ¡°Good. Now repeat after me: By the heavens, I, Hatsume, hereby swear I will not, through action, inaction or thought, reveal the actual power or other secrets of the cultivator Triss to anyone. In exchange, she will allow me to leave with my life intact.¡± I commanded.

    I felt the attention of the heavens fall on me for a moment, but seeing I did not see myself as Hatsume, they did nothing.

    On the other hand, my opponent was engulfed in a golden glow, indicating the oath taking effect. Good.

    ¡°Good choice. Now, I really don''t care what you do, but you won''t find me as forgiving if you come after me a second time. And remember. I am eighteen. And I reached where I am without any clan or sect to support me.¡± I warned.

    Before he could say anything else, I actually decked him over the head, knocking him unconscious and took anything looking valuable on his person - two rings, and some spirit stones. To the victor go the spoils after all. With a grin, I started following the road again, leaving a bunch of unconscious and injured cultivators behind.

    That grin widened as I inspected the ring in my hand - my head was suddenly filled with the image of a largeish room, filled with all kinds of stuff. A spatial ring. This must really really hurt.

 Chapter 43

    I did not feel any hurry to catch up to my guards. My fight had given me the knowledge that I could escape anyone that wasn''t immortal, and if an immortal wanted something from me I had different problems.

    So, I decided to take my time to appreciate the untamed nature around me. Something I had never seen in my old world. But here? The moment we left the grain fields surrounding the town behind, only a small road remained as a sign of civilisation. As I walked along the large, grassy fields I couldn''t help but wonder why. Normally humans sculpted the world around them wherever they went, but here, only a few dozen miles from the city I only saw a road?

    Something about the nature of qi, or the world itself seemed to force humans not to do so outside of their direct living space. Several possibilities came to mind, either the road was well travelled enough nature never had the time to reconquer the road - doubtful considering I had not met anyone after setting out several hours ago - or the road was special, built to last in the wilderness.

    Finding out which of the two theories was right, if any, should be easy enough to find out though. Sending my aura in the ground beneath wasn''t something I normally did, mainly because of two reasons. One, I didn''t see the point. Two, aura needed to be significantly more concentrated to move through solids, so I¡¯d essentially cripple my cultivation speed by doing so. I knew how to do it though, having long since tested something so potentially useful. A small part of my aura formed into a concentrated spike and stabbed down somewhere along the road.

    Qi. The road was filled with fake qi intent. Qi intent similar to what I sometimes used in my clothes. Interesting. A little bit of prodding later, and I couldn''t help but laugh. The qi essentially worked as a weedkiller. All plants wanting to take root on the road would have to survive the qi first. Which also meant plants rooting on the road would probably be either poisonous, resistant to poison, probably valuable or all three.

    With that mystery solved I started walking again, lengthening my stride to catch up before night. As I walked, I resumed cultivating. After all, cultivation was the most useful after a fight. Being as far from other humans as we were now, I expanded my aura outwards, using the higher concentration of qi near the ground to my full advantage. My new aura cylinder went about forty metres up into the air and had a radius of roughly one and a half kilometres. Perhaps I should think about building a facility deep in the untamed nature, just to make use of this phenomena? Doing so in a city or town seemed like bad form, and would probably make sure lots of angry cultivators ended up on my doorstep, but who''d complain if I did so somewhere else? No one.

    With one part of me walking, the other cultivating, a third used the perception my aura granted me to look for possible threats. Watch the sheer density and diversity of life all around me.

    I saw normal foxes using the waist-high grass to stalk rabbits, a pack of wolves hunting a lone deer. Hundreds, if not thousands of rabbits nibbling at the grass. Ants hunting other bugs, or rearing aphids. Rabbits hunting foxes. Wait! My attention focused on the strangely large rabbit. It actually seemed to be stalking one of the smaller foxes around! Strange. I continued watching with interest. Yes, that rabbit stalked a small fox. But how did it want to kill that fox? Seemingly sensing my question, the rabbit formed a large horn of qi on its forehead and pounced.

    A small application of qi later, and the rabbit sailed over the fox, obviously confused. I didn''t cost me anything to help my friends relative out there, and the sheer confusing the rabbit looked around with after missing was worth the little qi I used. I laughed a little, before moving on. I never knew so many beings lived around me before. To be honest, I never looked for them before either, so I wasn''t all that surprised. I continued watching as small rodents were either out hunting some of the millions of insects inside currently inside of my aura or nibbling on some plants. Watching those small rodents being hunted by other, slightly bigger rodents. Small birds pecking up seeds, a small ferret-like creature hunting a rabbit.

    Wait, ferrets ate and hunted rabbits?

    Intrigued, I focused on the ferret and rabbit duo, watching as the ferret killed its prey by clinging it its back. Interesting. Perhaps I should expand my search for a cat to species of similar size? Like that ferret.

    Of course, just getting a wild animal wouldn''t work, I¡¯d need a child, one that could still be trained. My attention swept through my aura, searching for holes in the ground for burrows, and searching these burrows for my new pet. Sadly I didn''t find any within my aura. Yet, I would continue to search.

    There! A strange ferret hunting for fish in a small lake, right next to the road. And an old rabbit burrow filled with six small ferrets on the opposite side of the road. I left the road, making my way towards the burrow, uncaring of all the animals I scared while doing so. I was the biggest predator around, they were right to fear me.

    I observed the small ferrets in their burrow, debating which of those I wanted. Sadly, I didn''t see a white one, which would have been my first choice. So the one that looked the most beautiful then. Which meant I had to dig them up first. Aura mainly ¡®saw¡¯ qi, but you could also ¡®see¡¯ everything in contact with qi through it.

    Thus, living beings were easily visible - especially cultivators - as their qi seemed to wear an impression of themselves like I wore clothes. Not so much these young ferrets. They were nearly devoid of qi, and only had a very vague idea of themselves at the moment.

    I arrived at the burrow but didn''t see a second parent anywhere near, protecting the spawn. I shrugged, that really didn''t matter to me, one of those ferrets would come with me in the end, one way or the other.

    Moments later, loose soil and six small ferrets babies were floating in front of me. They were crying for their mother with all the strength they could muster, but I ignored that. After releasing all the dirt, I started carefully inspecting each of my prospective pets, their fur, teeth, their smell and their claws.

    They were vicious little things, trying to bite and scratch me whenever I inspected one of them more closely, but I ignored that too, they were too weak to even hurt my skin. So I took my time.

    In the middle of my inspection, I felt something start gnawing at my leg. Looking down, I saw the big ferret had returned and was happily, or perhaps angrily trying to eat my leg. I ignored her after seeing she couldn''t penetrate my skin either, she was just trying to defend her young, no need to get angry over that, so I returned to my inspection.Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

    Ten minutes later I had decided. My new pet was the second smallest of the litter, had a soft brown fur like her siblings, but I liked her fur the best as it felt softer. She had a cute white spot of fur under her little maw too and was currently glaring at me with a surprisingly human expression. She was no white cat, but good enough.

    I allowed the other five ferrets to return to the ground, landing them next to their mother. Who immediately herded them away from me, obviously smart enough to know I would keep her last, still pitifully crying child for myself.

    As the small family of ferrets took off, I set my pet on my shoulder and took off into the air, the ferret secured to myself with a little bit of qi.

    I had taken quite some time to choose her and had some catching up to do. While doing that, I sorted through my memory of the small skeletons I saw inside the burrow, noting what I needed to properly feed my new pet.

    Small fish, all kinds of rodents, probably rabbits considering I saw another ferret hunt a rabbit earlier. But that ferret had looked different. Perhaps these plains had several ferret species living in them? Mine probably liked water, considering I saw her mother diving earlier. Something to think about when we arrived back in town.

    My pet ferret quieted down a few minutes into the flight and curled herself up into a small ball. She probably was exhausted from the racket she and her siblings made earlier and needed to sleep that off. Still, I checked if she was warm enough, it wouldn''t do for my new pet to die now. As I flew, I snatched one of the smaller rabbits, disabling the power of gravity attacking it until it was near enough to be killed and snatched up by hand.

    With me flying, I didn''t need all that long to catch up to the caravan and soon landed near the outer edge of the camp, noting the sun was about to set.

    ¡°I see you have returned mistress.¡± One of the guards said. ¡°Targo is waiting for you near your tent.¡±

    ¡°I see. Thank you. Keep up the good work.¡± I said.

    I made my way towards the biggest tent, my ferret still on my shoulders and the rabbit floating next to me. I would not touch that!

    ¡°Welcome back mistress. We prepared a report for you to read at your leisure. And why do you have a dead rabbit floating next to you?¡± Targo greeted me.

    ¡°My new pet will need something to eat.¡± I answered.

    ¡°Your pet?¡±

    I just indicated to the small ball of ferret still sleeping on my shoulder.

    ¡°I see. Why a mink though? I thought you wanted a cat?¡± He asked.

    ¡°Minx? She¡¯s a ferret, no minx. It does sound like a good name though, thank you.¡± I answered. ¡°And the town didn''t have any cats, I looked. But a ferret is good enough.¡±

    ¡°Your ¡°pet¡± is a mink. Not a ferret.¡± He said.

    ¡°Are you sure? Because she looks like a ferret to me.¡± I said.

    ¡°Mink live near a body of water and are very good swimmers. Your pet is most definitely a mink just by looking at its fur, ferrets have stripes and far less fur.¡± He explained.

    ¡°I see. How come you know about ferrets and mink?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Ferrets are sneaky little thieves. They are one of the most common beasts, simply because they steal everything they can get their thieving little hands on. They steal everything from small knives to powerful cultivation resources. Every one of us probably had to deal with a ferret beast sometime in their lives. You probably didn''t, but you aren''t a normal cultivator. Most of us need to make do when we just ascended.¡± He explained.

    ¡°But my little Minx here wouldn''t steal anything, would she?¡± I said.

    And took the ferret - mink - from my shoulder and cuddling her against my chest.

    ¡°We will see. Have fun with that thing. But remember. She can''t have a name until she¡¯s a cultivator.¡± He said.

    ¡°Yes yes, now go do guard stuff. You can keep what you got from the big guy''s minions to yourselves.¡± I said. ¡°See it as a bonus for a fight fought and won.¡±

    ¡°Thank you, mistress. I''m sure the others will be delighted.¡± He answered, leaving me to my own devices.

    All in all, I was quite happy with how today panned out, I reflected. I won a fight, got myself a long-needed pet, and we finished nearly sixty kilometres of our journey. Wait. Sixty kilometres? That felt way too far for empty land without any settlement in between, but I knew for a fact that I did not pass any human dwelling today.

    Well, I also saw no significant body of water except for that small lake, but weather around here was wet enough a simple well should suffice. So, something different. What though? The forest. There was no forest around here, only wide, empty plains filled with normal animals. It should be enough for a settlement to be founded in my old world, but in this one, perhaps one needed more than food to attract more people. Mainly cultivators, as they were the main source of fighting power this world had. Not all that surprising, considering I could probably take on a small army of mortals all by myself.

    So, towns would only be near locations with plentiful qi, valuable resources or both.

    Food was grown and hunted locally, meaning simple farming villages would be few and far in between if they existed at all. Which meant small villages in the middle of nowhere would be very suspicious. Something to keep in mind should I ever find such a village.

    If the map I bought from the old man was right, then we should reach the next town on this road in two days if we didn''t get delayed anymore. No need to worry about that now though, we had enough food for a month, and there were enough animals around us to stretch that nearly into the infinite.

    After laying my ferret - mink - down near the rabbit, I turned my attention towards the report. All cultivators I had met thus far had been warriors or fighters. They fought individually, without any thoughts of their allies. Naturally, I had my guards train as a group, protect each other''s backs, train how not to get in each other¡¯s way, to do attacks of opportunity against another''s opponent, all the good stuff.

    I would have liked to help them more than a simple command to do stuff, but I had no idea what worked best for cultivators, and they had more than enough free time for lots of sparring and figuring things out without me.

    So, now I had to read through the fight¡¯s report and see what I could glean from it, suggest improvements if I found any. Doubtful, but knowing how to best fight in a group was useful, even for me. As I read, another part of me continued pulling ever more qi towards me, storing it a very large spiral around me until my meridians had space for more.

    Storing qi like this was a little risky normally, but had the added benefit of speeding up my people¡¯s cultivation speed even further, and I judged it worth the risk of my power being found out.

    Another part of me considered how to tame my ferret, no my mink. Her mother had been quite smart, so getting her to do what I wanted shouldn''t be too hard. After all, I had qi at my side. I only had to start her cultivation and make sure enough qi gathered in her pretty head to make her even smarter.

    How to make sure of that though? By doing so myself. Just give her packets of memories, instructions. All that qi would naturally gather inside her head, where she could process it further. Knowledge of human speech, gestures, what I wanted her to do when I did certain gestures.

    Where she could pee, where not. What she was allowed to rip into and what not. All the stuff that took ages to teach a pet normally.

    Now, I didn''t want to overwhelm her small brain, so the first packages would need to be small. Something simple, that made her forget I stole her from her family as soon as possible. Food. The way into the heart of any animal.

    I took the rabbit back, glad my pet was still sleeping and started cultivating with nearly all of my attention, only keeping a small thread of attention on my surroundings and pet. She¡¯d wake up in time, and would need to approach me for food. A perfect plan.

 Chapter 44

    My pet woke a few hours into the night and looked around, panicked. I made a small cooing noise, and send her an image of approaching me for food. We had to start small after all.

    Minx looked around the tent and darted under the low table one of the guards put there for me the moment she spotted it. Moments later she cautiously peeked at me. How cute. Still, I repeated the suggestion and waited. I knew she must feel pretty hungry by now, and that juicy rabbit was just waiting for her to dig her little teeth into its side.

    Now, I just had to wait. Successful cultivation required no small amount of patience, and I was content to simply sit here and wait until her hunger was greater than her fear.

    She started crying after a few moments, probably hoping for her mother to come and save her. Her mother could not rescue her though, being more than a dozen kilometres from here. Instead, I send her a feeling of calm. By now I probably fed her more qi than she had ever had in her life simply by using my qi to communicate with her. Now I just had to wait for her to stop crying, and maybe repeat the image of the rabbit next to me being free to take a few times.

    Only minutes after she woke she finally approached me, deciding defeating her hunger was more important than the huge, unmoving form next to the rabbit. I barely concealed my smile and watched her tear into the rabbit with relish.

    After her feast, my pet went to explore the tent a little, as in search of something. Water! How could I forget that? I moved slowly, forming my hands into a cup, and floating some of the water in a nearby decanter into my hands. Minx immediately retreated under the table, carefully watching my once again unmoving form.

    I send her another image in her head, she could find water in my hands.

    This time she took a little less time to approach me. Carefully, she climbed my sitting form, followed my arms, and took a careful sip. And another. After nothing happened, she started drinking without reservation, uncaring for even a minute movement I made to test her courage.

    Good.

    After she was finished drinking, she returned under the table, rolled up in a ball and fell asleep.

    I looked next to myself, and the bloody rabbit lying there. Most of it was still there, uneaten by the small being. Though she did eat surprisingly much of it. I shrugged, scraped all of the remains from the ground with liberal use of gravity, opened my tent flap, and catapulted the rabbit far out of the camp. I¡¯d just spoil before my pet woke up again, and hunting food for her was no challenge to me.

    How would I transport her tomorrow though? Forcing her to sleep on my shoulder again wouldn''t be a good way to build trust between us. I needed some way to transport her though. This shouldn''t be too hard to solve. My aura still covered everything around us, so it was trivial to find a bunch of sticks of about equal size, and pluck some grass from the ground.

    With deft, practised hands I wove the long grass into a piece of fabric.

    With a little more grass, this time woven into a thin rope, I build a small cave, a cave I deposited my new pet into, carefully lifting her with my gravity qi, making sure she didn''t wake up. I didn''t have to worry though, she slept like a dead man. Perfect.

    The rest of the night passed quickly, and soon enough, I was once again sitting on one of the wagons. Only this time, a cage of grass and wood sat on the wagon behind me. I could feel a weak gravitational anomaly from within, pulling at everything that wanted to escape the cage unseen. Like a small mink. I didn''t even know if she would try to escape, but if she did, keeping her in there only took a negligible amount of my qi - my cultivation sucked in more qi every second than it took to keep the anomaly up for two hours.

    Roughly four hours had passed since we started moving and a certain someone finally woke up. I called one of the many small rodents around us into my hand, broke its neck, and climbed in the back.

    I opened the small flap in minx¡¯s cage slash cave and repeated my actions of the previous night. If she wanted to drink, she needed to do it from my hands. If she wanted to eat, she needed to come up to me.

    She was a smart little mink, drinking and eating directly after another, allowing her to minimize the time she had to be near me, before returning into her cage, rolling up to sleep again. A pity, I would have liked to groom her a little.

    I reapplied the qi technique, and returned towards the front of the wagon, scanning the road ahead for threats. As always, I found none and started watching nature again, searching for some more of minx¡¯s relatives, to see how they hunted, lived, acted. Just about everything I¡¯d need to know to allow her to grow up as healthy as possible.

    I didn''t find all that many of them though, I was simply unable to take in everything within my aura at once, and sorting through all those beings took time and effort. So I cultivated, talked with my guards, about their hopes, their dreams, about cultivation and even the weather.Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

    And cultivated.

    Travelling was boring. I¡¯d send someone else to do this the next time! This time it had to be me but after that? I would not leave my home again, before inventing the car or something.

    When planning my journey, I decided I didn''t want to insult the mayors of the towns I wanted to trade and sell products in by sending one of my underlings to negotiate an agreement. I let loose a sigh. That had been a lie. I didn''t care about the mayors of those towns or insulting them. I just wanted to travel a bit, explore the world.

    But the horses were so slow! Sure, they were faster than they had been back on earth, but really? Sixty kilometres a day? Travelling anywhere would take ages! I wished I had a car right now.

    I could drive down the whole route in a day, and return on the next. No wonder travelling was a privilege of the rich in the middle ages. Any vacation to a warmer climate would take several months. Months that couldn''t be used to work.

    Even my small trip would take a month at least, and I only made my way over to some of the towns near the first eternal forest. I planned another few trips toward the other two forests, but considering I felt bored by this trip only a day in? I wouldn''t be going on those!

    Not a chance. If the mayors of these towns were angry I didn''t come to visit them personally? They could come to me to express their displeasure, I didn''t care.

    The next three days passed in a flash, only interrupted by a fox chasing one of the strange rabbits over the road in front of us, and me hunting another of these rabbits down to feed my pet. After all, if I wanted to keep her for any length of time I best start feeding her qi rich meat now and hope she managed to break into the second realm naturally.

    And maybe make her break into the second realm with liquid qi naturally creating itself in her head, making her even smarter. Because Minx was a smart mink. She knew where to get food without prompting after only two feedings, and didn''t need her cave anymore - she decided to just sleep curled up on my shoulder, hidden under my long black hair. Sure, I had to take care she didn''t fall off, but she was light and thus easy to keep glued where she slept with a little use of gravity intent qi.

    Now a town had entered my aura though, significantly smaller than my home town, with only a thousand or so inhabitants. But they had a forest nearby, a forest that felt very similar to the forest of my friend.

    ¡°I will need two of you to guard the wagons, while I go talk to the mayor.¡± I said.

    ¡°The rest can go dive in the forest if you want, but make sure to allow everyone some time in there if they want to. I won''t be able to help you in there, you all know that third realm cultivators aren''t allowed inside such locations by their lords. And I don''t want to cross a forest lord.¡± I said.

    ¡°Yes milady. But I think only very few will take you up on that offer. The fight gave us a lot to think about, and we are burning to try some of the things we saw need improvement.¡± Targo said.

    ¡°I see. Well, you probably will have a lot of free time for the next few days. I''m sure the mayor will want a sample of my goods. We¡¯ll just park our wagons in the middle of the marketplace, the inscriptions will allow everyone to know just what we sell.¡± I said.

    ¡°You know what to do, just behave as you would in my shop.¡± I said towards Talia.

    She was one of my original clerks, but had taken to cultivating and fighting more than store work, and changed towards being a guard herself.

    Still, for the trip, she had agreed to act as a clerk again.

    ¡°I know, don''t worry. We have you as a backup after all mistress. Few cultivators around here can best you.¡± She said.

    I sighed. I had seen it in all of their eyes, at least a little. Worship. Apparently, they finished the fight extra fast, just to see me fight. And flying was rare enough that they saw me as some kind of genius, even worse than before. I let loose another long-suffering sigh and banished the thoughts out of my head.

    They were unimportant now, negotiations needed to be approached with utmost focus, even negotiations with a random second realm cultivator like the one I felt sitting in the town hall. Well, I didn''t need to worry about anything happening to us in this town.

    ¡°The mayor is just a second realm cultivator, but let''s not anger him anyways. Angering cultivators always comes back to bite you.¡± I said.

    ¡°You don''t need to worry about us mistress. Worry about yourself.¡± Targo said.

    ¡°I will control myself.¡± I said confidently.

    Adding a most likely inside the secrecy of my mind. I reacted badly to insults, and insufferable pricks talking down on me after all.

    Did I want to trade with the idiot running this town though? The town hall didn''t have any mortals inside, the cultivator themself had not moved since he entered my aura. And few cultivators lived inside the town. Though they probably entered the forest by now, searching for treasures. I sighed, and left the caravan behind myself, entering the town hall.

    ¡°And who would you be? Barging into my house without so much as a knock?¡± The young man asked.

    ¡°I am Triss, a second realm cultivator. I and my people are here to sell some spirit robes.¡± I introduced myself.

    Suddenly, a cone of fire left the man in front of me, crashing into my robe. I made sure it did not disrupt the small being sleeping on my shoulder and sighed. I would have to be insulting.

    ¡°Now that''s just embarrassing,¡± I said. ¡°That fire couldn''t even hurt a fly.¡±

    ¡°Now that''s just rude. I didn''t want to hurt you if you turned out a fraud.¡± He said.

    ¡°And attacking a visitor is not rude? Anyways. This is what''s going to happen. I will sell my stuff for a few days and be on my way again. Afterwards, my people will visit regularly.¡± I stated.

    ¡°How about a duel?¡± He asked. ¡°I don''t have problems with your business if you agree to a real duel.¡±

    ¡°Defeat one of my second realm guards first. I don''t care which one. But be prepared to lose, I don''t fight fair.¡± I said, turning around to leave.

    ¡°You really don''t care about me, don''t you?¡± He asked.

    ¡°Of course not. You''re the mayor of an irrelevant little town in the middle of nowhere. If you go out on a journey to get revenge on me and manage to catch up? You¡¯ll owe me.¡± I said with a shrug and left. This town was too small to matter, the few cultivators living here wouldn''t be the market I needed.

 Chapter 45

    Hatsume woke with a raging headache. His headache wasn''t the only thing that raged through him though. He lost and had to swear an oath to a random upstart.

    Hatsume formed his hands into fists, and slowly calmed the raging storm of emotion inside him. How long had it been since he lost control like that? Not long enough. But the fight had been the most frustrating fight he had ever been in.

    An enemy that didn''t even fight back, and just evaded, taunting him with every missed attack? Just about the worst matchup a berserker could get. Sure, anger was power, but uncontrolled anger was uncontrolled power. And the power you didn''t control was worse than the power you didn''t have.

    He thought back towards the oath he had to swear to survive.

    I, Hatsume, hereby swear I will not, through action, inaction or thought, reveal the actual power or other secrets of the cultivator Triss to anyone.

    Now, that oath said nothing of the useless louts that were his disciples. He allowed his aura to sweep over the area, and saw his disciples in the grass next to him, all still unconscious. He moved to get up, only for his bones to remind him that would be a bad idea right now.

    He sent his mind inside the ring on his finger, ready to retrieve a healing pill he stored for such occasions, only to come up empty. No extra space opened to his mind, no room filled with his belongings. Nothing. Panicked, he checked himself, finding only the clothes he was wearing. Everything else had been removed.

    Hatsume cursed at his adversary, the thieving scamp.

    After ten minutes of that, he felt a little better. Losing his ring hurt. Hurt more than just about anything else she could have done to him. But it didn''t hurt as much as losing his life would have. What to do now? He would have to wait at least another hour until his bones healed enough for him to move again. That meant he had ample time to think.

    He swore he would not reveal her power in any way. Nor her secrets. Why did she want to stay hidden? Hell if he knew. He knew one thing for certain though, he''d stay as far away from that girl as he could, regardless of what happened. She had most of the advantages on her side after all. She lived in a remote town, had enough cultivators working for her to found a small clan, and somehow managed to reach the third realm in less than two decades without any additional resources.

    Attacking a third realm cultivator on their home turf, with several dozen other cultivators supporting her would need more resources than the clan could move into such a small town. At least not without exposing the move to their enemies, who were liable to offer the girl help in exchange for her joining them. What clan didn''t want a genius in their ranks after all?

    Of course, if the girl had made any moves against the clan that would be different, allowing someone like this to live for any longer, just waiting for them to grow in power would be utterly foolish.

    Even with the blood debt working for her, she wouldn''t be able to defeat a couple of third realm cultivators after all. No, they needed to avoid crossing paths with her as long as possible, and hope she forgot about them. Because they would meet again, considering their clan owed a karmic debt to her.

    An hour later, his disciples were all woken with a rough kick into the ribs.

    ¡°Wake up! Enough sleep.¡± He yelled.

    His disciples woke up one after another, crying out in anger after realising they had been robbed blind. That girl really seemed to like robbing people for whatever reason.

    ¡°Master, what happened?¡± One of his disciples asked.

    ¡°You lost. I was ambushed by a third realm expert and barely managed to fight them off. They ran, and when I turned you were all knocked out and robbed, with our prey nowhere to be seen. I decided against pursuing the target, in case the enemy expert returned. Their attack felt highly suspicious to me.¡± He lied. ¡°We are leaving. The mayor wouldn''t have dared cross us, especially now that the girl has people that can continue her work. Which means we have opponents we don''t know about. And you don''t fight such opponents on their turf."

    "Yes, master. We will ready ourselves for travel." The disciple answered.

    "Good. Once you''re done, come to me. I need to know how you lost." He commanded.

    A few minutes later they slowly walked back towards the town, and the disciple returned to his side.If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

    "You''re here to tell me about your fight?" He asked.

    "I am. We charged the girl''s guards, and they charged us in turn. They ran in a strange formation, like they all had a place inside of it, and hit us in the middle, separating us in two groups.

    Once we were split, they started attacking us viciously, like they were in a hurry. Started herding us around as wolves do with deer." The boy remembered with a shudder.

    "They fought you like wolves? A single wolf or a pack?`" He asked,

    "Like a pack of wolves master. We never stood a chance regardless of that though. They knew all of our secrets, our meridian pathways, our qi intent. They probably got information from the third realm expert you fought."

    Now that was really concerning. Not the part about the girl''s guards knowing his men''s secrets - he could do the same easily enough. No, the way her guard fought.

    If she continued growing like this, she wouldn''t take longer than a century to reach immortality. And considering all her guards were reported to grow faster than they had any right to grow too? She must have found a hidden inheritance.

    A powerful one at that.

    "I see. Good thing we are leaving. I don''t care what she did, but creating a wolf guard, or something similar means she has bigger plans than this town. Probably bigger plans than us too." He mused.

    "We should hurry back, leave while the other third realm expert is still healing from our fight." He said.

    "Yes, master. I will inform the others." The disciple said.

    Two weeks of intense travel later, and they arrived back at the clan compound near the city.

    Hatsume immediately went to report to the clan master. He sent the rest of his disciples to sleep. They barely managed to walk straight. He scoffed, weaklings. He remembered walking two weeks without break running off anger alone, back in the second realm.

    ¡°Hatsume, I see you have returned. You have succeeded then?¡± The master greeted him.

    ¡°I did not. We attacked the girl and her guards when they left the town." He started explaining.

    "You did not? What are you doing here then?" The clan master yelled.

    "I am here because we were fought off." He explained with a sigh.

    "FOUGHT OFF? How incompetent can you be, being fought off by a mere second realm cultivator!" The clan leader yelled.

    "My disciples were defeated without dropping a single enemy. I couldn''t support them because a third realm expert ambushed me." He explained.

    "DID YOU KILL THE ONE THAT INSULTED OUR CLAN? DARING TO AMBUSH YOU?" The clan master screamed.

    "I didn''t. I fought them off, barely, but my disciples were knocked out, our prey nowhere to be seen. I could not identify my attacker, not even their gender." He lied.

    "Who do you think attacked you?" The clan master asked, voice low.

    "I don''t know, clan master. I know I never fought that enemy before that though." He explained.

    "Who do you think dared? The mayor?"

    "Not the mayor. He said he doesn''t care about the girl as long as a spirit seamstress remains. We didn''t attack her compound, so he wouldn''t have to interfere." He explained.

    "I see. A hidden expert then. Perhaps the girl''s father?" The clan master mused.

    "I do not know. Her mother was killed by a cultivator though. No one knows who that cultivator was though." He lied.

    He did know, someone from his clan, but that was a secret, and he swore to keep her secrets to himself.

    "What did you find out? You were gone long enough to find out a thing or two. Tell me what you know, I''ll send another group. You are needed elsewhere." The clan master said.

    "There isn''t all that much." He said. "The people see her as a genius. It''s an open secret she already opened her dantian, and managed to create her own qi intent. No one but her workers know what that intent is, and the only thing we managed to find out is that it allows her to move and leave her house nearly unseen.¡± He explained.

    ¡°Why didn''t you get one of your people to join her then?¡± The clan master asked.

    ¡°Because she requires an oath. A heavenly oath you have to swear before she tells you anything. If you don''t swear that oath? You don''t get to know anything.¡± He explained.

    ¡°Anything else?¡±

    ¡°All cultivators working for her are far more powerful than they were before. Than they should be.¡± He said.

    ¡°I see. I will double the size of the group then.¡± The clan master said.

    ¡°I don''t think we can afford to send that many man, clan master.¡± Hatsune cautioned.

    ¡°We can and we will.¡± The clan master yelled. ¡°She insulted one of us in front of a sect member, so she has to die!

    ¡°You are acting foolish. Control your anger and think about it. It¡¯s very doubtful the sect would have started any ties with us because of a lowly member. And no one but your son and two of his lackeys was present otherwise. We lose nothing by ignoring her.¡± He reasoned.

    ¡°WE LOST FACE IN FRONT OF A SECT! THAT CAN''T STAND!¡± The clan leader yelled.

    ¡°I see you are set to follow this path.¡± Hatsune sighed.

    A pity.

    ¡°I am. Now go, and don''t you dare lose again.¡± The clan master said, ice in his voice.

    Hatsune left the raving madman behind. He wouldn''t have to worry about him anymore. This operation was stupid, wasteful and embarrassing. It also was the straw that broke the camel''s back.

    Hatsune went towards his chambers. He had to plan for the future. For the future of his wife, his children and the others that relied on him. They needed to leave this doomed clan before someone they couldn''t deal with came for them.

 Chapter 46

    A month and five days after I left the town we came back into town. And I was so ready to stop travelling. This world was barbaric, but I had managed to build myself a little bubble of comfort and civilisation inside of my own house. Comfort that I lacked while travelling. I shuddered just thinking about some of the stuff I needed to do over the last weeks.

    I also felt glad I cultivated as much as I did, my cultivation allowing me to live without eating more than once a week, and the unpleasantness that came with it. The month had been productive nonetheless. I made deals, or simply told the mayors or leaders of the towns I visited what would happen. My approach depending on their behaviour. Or if they agreed to my demands. Which weren''t all that many really. A small shop, and telling all cultivators when my caravan was expected to stop by.

    Selling all the extra robes we produced to the outlying towns, with the implied information of better quality robes being available at my home town. After all, why not help the town out a little more, getting even more cultivators to join in.

    And those cultivators surely could escort a couple of mortals to town as well, increasing our overall population. Not that we needed more mortals, considering the way the town had grown after the tournament.

    Something else that grew quite a lot was my new pet. She wasn''t fully grown yet, at least from what I could tell, but close enough. And about the size of a small cat, meaning she was perfect for my original purpose. Having an animal to pay attention to when talking with people. Like the prick in front of me.

    ¡°You can feel honoured,¡± he said.

    ¡°Wait for a moment,¡± I interrupted him, snapping my fingers.

    Minx, who had been exploring my office up until that moment, ran towards me, jumping on my sitting form. I took her in my arm and started stroking her soft fur.

    ¡°You can continue now,¡± I said.

    The cultivator in front of me sputtered a bit, his eyes looking between me and Minx, taking a few moments to gather himself.

    ¡°You can feel honoured, for I have decided to allow you to hire me to work for you,¡± he stated.

    ¡°Have you now?¡± I asked with a smile, never looking up from the animal in my arms.

    ¡°I have. You need someone of my incredible power, to protect you. I am a modest man and will only take a fifty percent share of your profits,¡± he explained, a little anger in his voice.

    ¡°You can go. I don''t care about you, and I don''t need a random, useless and lazy noname in my employ. You¡¯re barely a second realm cultivator. I could defeat you with my eyes closed and a hand bound behind my back,¡± I said.

    ¡°WHAT! USELESS NONAME?¡± he yelled, throwing his arms in the air.

    ¡°You forgot lazy and random,¡± I added helpfully.

    ¡°I demand a fight! To show you my awesome power,¡± he stated out loud, a proud, angry glint in his eyes.

    ¡°Come back when you¡¯ve reached the third realm, you don''t stand a chance against me otherwise,¡± I said. ¡°You can go now, and stop wasting my time.¡±

    ¡°This guy wants to be shown his way out.¡± I called out, alerting the guards standing next to my door to ¡°show¡± him the way out.

    ¡°THIS IS NOT THE END! I WILL RETURN AND YOU WILL REGRET DENYING ME!¡± He yelled as my guards easily dragged him out of my office.

    Yeah yeah. He would return, just like the other entitled brats like him. And be beaten down by my guards when he got pushy, not even having managed to enter the third realm as I told him to.

    Like really. Progress until the third realm was easy and relatively straight forward. After that things got a little more obscure, but I was sure any third realm cultivator would eventually get the idea to connect their soul and body - we lived stupidly long lives after all. Though, cultivators had a strange obsession with the work and secrets of their predecessors. On the one hand, I could understand them a little, considering the precursor civilisation managed to find runes and stuff, but on the other? Not so much.

    Using old knowledge was only useful if you used that knowledge to build on it, to improve and grow with it. Just endlessly repeating the same old stuff was useless. Sadly, even my employees had this shortcoming. I was slowly managing to cure them of it though, having started re-educating them from things they already developed individually. Techniques.Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

    After all, every cultivator knew best what their qi intent could do, and using another¡¯s technique meant you used a suboptimal one. Why did doing other things your own way not work better too then?

    The answer I mostly got was because their elders didn''t do things this way, which infuriated me to no end. After all, it was the same! But, no it wasn''t for whatever reason. Still, I allowed Minx to leave my arms, and return to explore the room. After all, she needed to know her new home. Qi really was a cheat though. Taming an animal with only positive reinforcement was as easy as breathing if you could tell it what to do.

    ¡°Come,¡± I said a few minutes later.

    Dutifully, Minx bounded over to me and waited to be picked up. I bent down, putting her on my shoulder before making my way up. I had apprentices to check on personally, a few questions to answer, and a mink that needed to know my flat.

    ---

    ¡°Finally,¡± I exclaimed, looking at the work in front of me.

    It was the first array I designed myself. The first major array that is. This one was quite simple still, but if it worked, it would increase the security of my house significantly.

    The array itself was made of several, interlocking geometric shapes, for now just carved into a slab of stone. An array that created a physical, normally invisible forcefield was in the middle. It was simple, only projecting a force field that repelled solids and fluids directly above itself. That triangle was surrounded and connected to three cubic arrays, simply bending the forcefield itself into a dome. Those arrays themselves were connected to two hexagons. I compressed that array down to about a quarter of a square metre and surrounded it by a circle of arrays simply meant to gather and store qi. Now, I only had to finish the array by carving the last line.

    I breathed in and out.

    And carved the last line.

    A dome of glowing blue immediately surrounded the plate. Good, the colouring worked then.

    Immediately, I threw a small stone against it. The stone bounced off. Perfect.

    I took one of my test crabs, now also being used as snacks for Minx, and threw it against the dome. The crab bounced off the dome and was immediately jumped upon by a small mink, who retreated after a warning glare from me. Arrays were off-limits for her!

    Now, the moment of truth. I took a small, wooden amulet, keyed to work only with my personal qi, and touched the dome.

    My arm passed without problem, the forcefield appearing as a simple illusion. Perfect.

    That¡¯d make things easier. With this, I could create doors that only I or anyone I keyed into them could pass unobstructed. And, considering I built that array from the ground up, only using the things I gleaned from my book - a few runes, and the basic geometric shapes, the need of qi to power it, and my early experiments in linking arrays, I could start to think up ways to add arrays to my other work.

    An array that formed a shield to block fire, or water. An array for all of the most typical qi intents around. And one for all of them, at less efficiancy of course.

    I looked at the masterwork in front of me and used a little gravity to crush it into dust. No need for someone to see my proficiency in arrays. I never forgot something I didn''t want to, and my knowledge about arrays steadily expanded, so I could redesign it if I wanted to.

    Still, getting as far as I got wasn''t hard. Which meant the book did not describe any advanced stuff. And a sect should be more than big enough an organisation to have several highly intelligent people working on stuff like this exclusively.

    The bastards held out on me!

    Probably once again the strange importance most cultivators had on keeping secrets. I just hated it. Why would anyone try to willingly halt the advancement of their society? Exchange of thesis was an integral part of advancement, after all your own viewpoint was skewed towards your own thesis. With another person thinking about it, you could find problems you never thought about.

    And with another thousand thinking on it, completely new ideas could come up. And you could use that stuff to better your own ideas. It was simply stupid, like crippling yourself because you didn''t want another to learn how to walk. Absolute idiocy. I sighed a little more, and retreated into my cultivation chamber, filled with arrays to gather and store qi.

    It was finally time to advance my cultivation further. Not by breaking into the fourth realm - I was still far off from that, but my qi intent. I had long thought about it, about its current state. I still agreed with most of my previous thoughts but planned to add onto them.

    Gravity was the reason life as we knew it existed. It was one of the four fundamental forces of the universe and the force behind the most powerful natural phenomena I could think of. A black hole. Everything massive regardless of its total mass had its own gravity, whose influence decreased exponentially over distance, but never stopped. The force that made a moon orbit a planet, a planet orbit a star and that star orbit the galaxy.

    How the gravity of smaller masses combined into a bigger one if they were near enough to each other, and the gravity of an object always pulling you towards the centre of its mass if you were on its surface. How the moon and star were responsible for tides, and weight depended on mass and gravity.

    But also how any gravity altered the fabric of space-time, slowed time when it was powerful enough, directly swallowed light itself, or could work as a lens.

    I pushed my modified version of gravity on my qi, changing it a little more, aligning it with the universe more than before and thus increasing its power further.

    Bettering your intent was a subtle way to gain power, just like opening your meridians and dantian were. I decided to just stay here for a moment though, and bask in the sheer amount of qi around me. It didn''t hold a candle to the qi in my body but felt great nonetheless.

    Perhaps I should build such an array for my workers? Before you entered the third realm getting qi was quite the challenge, considering you lacked the huge aura I had now. Yes, that did sound like a good and useful thing to do. Increasing their power made sure I didn''t have to do as much fighting.

 Chapter 47

    ¡°This room is off-limits for the next few days,¡± I said.

    ¡°What for? What do I tell the guards? It¡¯s our break room,¡± Velgo said.

    ¡°Well, I am dissatisfied with your cultivation speed, so I''m going to help you out,¡± I explained. ¡°I''m going to build an array that gathers and increases the density of qi inside, to help you get more qi despite your abysmally small auras.¡±

    ¡°You know how to build qi gathering arrays?¡± He asked.

    ¡°Of course I do. To an extent at least, but designing something simple like this is no problem by now. The amulets you¡¯ll get in the next few days were significantly harder to design,¡± I said.

    ¡°Yes, that does make sense,¡± Velgo nodded. ¡°How did you learn how to make them?¡±

    ¡°I got a book with a few arrays, I read through it and taught myself how to make them with it,¡± I said.

    ¡°I see. Yes, I shouldn''t have expected otherwise,¡± he said.

    ¡°My knowledge about arrays is part of my secrets, but you can freely tell the other workers why the room will be off-limits for now,¡± I said.

    ¡°As always then. I hope you succeed,¡± he said.

    ¡°I will don''t worry. I already tested the array out myself, it works,¡± I said.

    ---

    Feloga of the Waid Clan cursed her luck. Everything went wrong over the last weeks. For her, and for the Clan. First, that traitor Hatsume lost a battle, then he took his wife and nearly a quarter of their promising young members and left.

    THEY JUST LEFT!

    Losing so many of their young generation had hurt of course, but the loss of two third realm cultivators hurt far more. Somehow, their enemies heard of their misfortune and attacked while they were still reeling from the revelations of that loss. Then the Clan Master, already absolutely livid, actually sent her to kill a random cultivator in the middle of NOWHERE! She considered leaving right then and there and could partly understand why Hatsume did.

    But the clan was her life, her everything and she was NO TRAITOR.

    So, she swallowed the insults that came to mind, the desire to tell the leader to go and do it himself. Which meant she was making her way toward a backwater town, filled with insignificant no names right now. All just to kill a small, insignificant cultivator that insulted the Clan Head''s son. The task itself was already an insult against her, sent to kill a mere second realm cultivator! But no, she had to go because the stupid brat whined to his father. Pah, what berserker couldn''t control his feelings?

    A useless one!

    She sighed, before continuing her run. The clan master apparently stopped caring about face, considering he send her to deal with the girl, with no second realm cultivators to look over. Not that she needed any, a third realm cultivator could easily take on nearly any number of second realm cultivators. They would lose face should this come into the attention of the public though, a clan that sent someone like her for a task like that?

    Laughable.

    She arrived at the town a few days of uninterrupted running later, the sun had just left the horizon a few hours earlier, and she was ready for a little rest.

    This stupid town really was in the middle of nowhere!

    ¡°Halt, who goes there?¡± A voice yelled.

    She watched as two weak first realm cultivators in a ridiculous getup moved to block her.

    ¡°Get out of my way or regret it,¡± she warned and moved to pass them.

    ¡°By the order of the mayor, HALT!¡± the speaker yelled, actually daring to touch her.

    ¡°YOU DARE!¡± she yelled, flinging him inside the city. ¡°Do not try to stop me. I won''t be so merciful again,¡± she warned the second.

    He gulped but moved out of her way. Good.

    Now. Where to? The night was still young, and the guards had annoyed her enough for her emotion to run high, enough to suppress her need for sleep. Which meant she needed that break even more than she thought. Instead of marching towards her target at once, she went inside one of the houses nearby, threw the mortals within out, and went to sleep for the first time in days.

    Feloga woke to a kick hitting her head.

    Immediately, her arm shot out, blocking a second kick.

    ¡°What are you doing here?¡± a dangerously calm voice asked.

    ¡°WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE? HOW DARE YOU DISTURB MY SLEEP!¡± she screamed.

    When a third kick come for her, she finally opened her eyes, and extended her aura, so see who dared attack her. The person, a tall, cleanly dressed man blocked her probe with ease.

    Feloga jumped up, wary. That man was a third realm cultivator. And they knew of two confirmed third realm cultivators in the town. A hidden expert and the mayor.

    ¡°DO YOU EVEN KNOW WHO I AM?¡± she yelled.

    ¡°I do not. But there are rules. Rules even someone like you will have to conform to,¡± he stated.

    ¡°I don''t know who you are, but I have the power to ignore rules. You better not do that again,¡± she warned, her voice dangerously calm.

    ¡°I am Vegaro. The mayor of this town. And I have beds ready for all passing cultivators. Those that follow the rules, don''t attack my guards. Repeat your actions and suffer the consequences!¡± He stated, the air around them freezing.

    ¡°Suck it. You don''t dare do anything to me,¡± she stated. ¡°I already know you are a spineless idiot. You even let that traitor Hatsume roll over you.¡±

    ¡°So you are another of the Waid Clan then? Get lost rat,¡± he stated dismissively.

    ¡°RAT? WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?¡± She yelled.This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

    ¡°I am the mayor of an ever-expanding town. Do you know why I founded this town? Like all people of my age, of my power, I feel the need to settle down in a place that''s mine. I moved into this town and made it into what it is now. I got the mother of the girl that''s the wheel driving my town ever forward to move here,¡± he stated. ¡°You though? You are one of the last revenants of a dying, irrelevant clan. I won''t tolerate the likes of you anymore.¡±

    The revenants of a dying clan? She would show him what dying meant in time! They only encountered a temporary setback.

    ¡°Fine, I''ll leave,¡± she said with a huff. and return to take care of the arrogant upstart later! Nearly immortal, what a joke.

    ¡°This was your first and last warning. Cause any more trouble, attack my guards, bother my mortals and you won''t have to worry about anything anymore, now get out of my eyes,¡± he stated, turning to leave.

    He would regret that very much. Feloga left the house with a huge scowl on her face, she would have liked to sleep a little longer.

    She sighed. She should just go and follow her orders and leave the town right after. She could always return for the mayor later, when she reached immortality. A Waid did not forget!

    She thought back to the report she had about her target. The girl lived in a large house at the beach, had several dozen cultivators working for her, all under a heavenly oath.

    Nothing to worry about.

    Finding her target wasn''t hard. There was only one group of buildings of the right hight at the beach, with the biggest one in the middle. That building felt off somehow, and for a moment, she thought about ambushing her target when she left. But in the end? Her target was a mere second realm cultivator and did not have the power to prepare a proper trap. Her aura detected a large amount of qi inside some of the rooms, probably crushed spirit stones to increase cultivation speed. A big secret to increase it, what a joke. The girl just had too much wealth. She didn''t care enough to check further, that was enough. There was a second realm aura inside a room that looked very much like an office to her. That had to be her target.

    As she entered the building the feeling of danger increased, but she continued ignoring it. Danger was there to sharpen oneself, to become a better cultivator.

    "I am here to talk to your leader, take me to her," she stated.

    "Do you have an appointment?" the woman sitting at a desk asked with a pleasant smile.

    "I do not," Feloga scowled. "And I don''t need to. You, a mere first realm cultivator like you better not stand in my way if you like your life."

    The woman''s eyes widened, and her hand went towards a protective charm hanging from her neck.

    ¡°Yes of course. Excuse me, you can follow me,¡± she said.

    The woman opened the door to her left and held it open for her to pass. Feloga ignored her, and strode deeper into the building, moving towards the office she knew was there. Two guards already waited for her, having the same charm the woman had, opening the door for her too.

    Feloga strode past them too and allowed her eyes to roam the room.

    ¡°And who do you think you are?¡± a calm voice asked. ¡°Threatening my employees like that.¡±

    ¡°I am Feloga of the Waid Clan!¡± She stated proudly.

    She finished her inspection and focused her eyes on the target.

    The girl was of average height, had black hair, bright green eyes and looked to be in the prime of her life. As all long-time cultivators, she was a picture of health and beauty. Nearly a shame she would have to end that life.

    ¡°Another one of you then,¡± the girl sighed and suddenly clapped her hands.

    A small being jumped in her arms moments later, and she started stroking it, seemingly unaware of her impending doom.

    ¡°So you¡¯re another one of their lackeys? Send to kill me for whatever? It''s not like I started our feud, you killed my mother first.¡±

    ¡°I am,¡± she answered.

    Killed her mother? Good she arrived right now then, or things would have gotten dangerous for them.

    ¡°Are you sure you want to do that? I gave the people you sent the first time a chance. You won''t get another one. The first was the last warning,¡± the girl threatened.

    Rage shot through her as the girl recounted the same words as the mayor did only minutes earlier. Feloga flared her qi, and dashed towards her target, ready to take her out.

    Only to suddenly start flying, losing her footing and crashing into the wall.

    ¡°You see, I thought about how to deal with the likes of you when I took care of your friend. You seem unable to do anything with your qi that''s not affecting your body. It¡¯s just rage, rage and more rage,¡± the girl said idly stroking her pet. ¡°I have no clue how anyone would ever want to cultivate something so dull, but here you are, stuck to my wall.¡±

    Feloga cried out, and kicked off the wall, moving towards her target, to kill her. Only to severe out of the way, crashing into the ceiling.

    ¡°Manipulating gravity is really a wondrous thing, don''t you think? Every living being requires it, relies on it on a level so fundamental we can''t think of what happens if we lose it,¡± the girl continued.

    Feloga tensed her legs and jumped with all her power. But instead of flying forward, her feet broke through the ceiling, sharp wood painfully scraping against her skin.

    ¡°Just look at you, stuck to a ceiling like a dead fly, unable to think up a proper way to fight. And now think what would happen if we were outside. If you had no wall, or ceiling to stop you? You would simply fly up and up and up until no more qi to power the technique is left. Do you think you can survive that?¡± the girl threatened.

    A chill entered her. What the girl said was true. But only to an extent. Qi left her body, stopping any foreign qi from nearing her body. She saturated the entire room with her qi, trying to stop any techniques from being used. Trying at least, for an aura at least as powerful as hers fought her, and powerful qi intent stopped hers from advancing. Still, her sense of gravity returned, and she fell to the ground as things became clear as day.

    Hatsune had not been defeated by a hidden expert! Their prey was the hidden expert! And he left after he couldn''t convince the clan leader to drop the plan. A plan that was doomed from the moment they attempted it.

    Still, she had a few tricks left. To her luck, a cultivator as young as her opponent simply lacked the time to prepare as many tricks as she had. And the small room was more of a problem for her enemy than it was for herself.

    ¡°I am not finished yet,¡± she growled with barely controlled rage.

    Immediately, a good chunk of the qi inside of her core exhausted itself, as she shot forwards faster than she had ever shown someone. She would end this fight with a single attack.

    She could see the girl¡¯s eyes widen as she moved, a panicked sliver of qi tried to stop her from coming within striking range.

    Not again! Feloga burnt even more of her qi, forcing all qi around her to do nothing, to stay in its natural state as she reached the target. Her leg shot out, a shimmer of qi forming on her shin as she kicked, intending to separate her opponent in two halves, to crush her soul and the dantian within, to stop any possibility of recovery. A life crippled would be an even better punishment than a life lost.

    Feloga watched as her target was launched across the room, only stopping once she hit the wall. She debated whether or not to finish her off when the girl stood up again.

    ¡°That fucking hurt!¡± she cursed. ¡°I know why I want to avoid fights as much as possible!¡± A slight chill crept down her spine.

    She wouldn''t have survived that kick without serious injury.

    ¡°Do you know how long it took to create these clothes? TWO WHOLE WEEKS! I had to inscribe each an every single array with perfect precision, and you? You JUST DESTROYED it! the girl ranted.

    Arrays? Carefully, hoping not to be seen Feloga moved to leave. She had burnt most of her qi for that attack, while her enemy barely used any.

    ¡°Oh no. You are not leaving now. We have some very important things to discuss,¡± the girl stated.

    Once again, gravity stopped working in the way it should. Feloga spun in the air, hoping to follow her enemy''s movement.

    ¡°Can you survive another such attack?¡± she asked. ¡°I may let you live because you did survive the first one, but only if you stop this foolishness. You can''t win girl!¡±

    ¡°Really? I saw what you did there. You used most, if not all of your qi to do that attack, and ignore my gravity. You''re just bluffing,¡± the girl said, picking up her small animal again. "Just look at you, floating there as you do, why don''t you escape again?"

    How did that thing survive the fight?

    ¡°Guards. We need a carpenter, I need new furniture and someone to repair the ceiling,¡± the girl yelled, picking up a random stone on the ground as her ferret climbed on her shoulders.

    ¡°I will kill you, and any that enter this room,¡± Feloga lied.

    ¡°I don''t think so, see you later,¡± the girl said, and threw the stone at her.

    Feloga moved to dodge, but she couldn''t move, and the stone moved too fast. She burnt the rest of her qi to strengthen her head, to stop the hit from killing her.

    Moments later, the stone arrived, and everything went black.

 Chapter 48

    I looked at the unconscious woman in front of me with a grimace.

    I hurt! Sure, I didn''t break any of my bones, but slamming into a wall after a kick that overwhelmed my arrays was very painful indeed. At least I had managed to drop Minx in time to avoid losing her.

    What should I do with her though?

    That woman had been far more unreasonable than her friend. And her power to ignore qi techniques affecting her with sheer rage? It made no sense, and was honestly so stupid I hadn''t even thought about the possibility. Live and learn I guess.

    Now, I had to deal with the aftermath. The mayor did not have his aura overseeing the town constantly, probably doing something very similar to myself with it. And with my more successful employees having earned themselves a house next to my own, so no one should have been near enough to hear our scuffle.

    Which meant I now had a third realm cultivator no one needed lying on my floor. What should I do with her? I could do the same I did with Velgo with her, but I did not want someone that unpredictable working for me. That could only backfire horribly. No, any serious organisation needed to be completely legitimate until they were powerful enough to ignore pesky stuff like that. So, what to do? A heavenly oath not to talk about the fight, not to attack me or mine again. Added onto that she¡¯d have to keep my secrets.

    How did I get her to agree to that though? Cultivators hated swearing heavenly oaths, and doing so to someone you viewed as your enemy?

    Wasn''t going to happen now that she knew I defeated her friend and let him leave. Well, perhaps she would. If not I would need to take some more extreme measures.

    ¡°What do you want to do with her mistress?¡± Velgo asked as he joined me.

    I''m not sure yet. I''m going to offer her to swear the same oath as I did to her friend,¡± I answered. ¡°If not, I¡¯ll have to think about it.¡±

    ¡°Not like me then?¡± he asked.

    ¡°No. I was in a bad state of mind at the time, I would have offered you the deal as I did to her friend otherwise,¡± I said. ¡°Sorry about that.¡±

    ¡°Don''t worry. You are the best thing that happened to me, to most of us,¡± he answered. ¡°We¡¯d be nothing but average cultivators without your guidance. Honestly, you should found a clan or sect, you¡¯d rise to power in no time.¡±

    ¡°Nah. I¡®d never join either,¡± I said, conveniently ignoring the fact that I said nothing about either joining or founding anything.

    ¡°If you say so,¡± he answered doubtfully.

    ¡°I am just fine where I am, don''t worry. With Targo going out and increasing the knowledge about us, we¡¯re going to be ready to expand into the city in no time,¡± I explained.

    ¡°You plan to expand into the city, why not now?¡± he asked.

    ¡°We¡¯re not ready,¡± I intoned.

    "We''re not ready? How do you know that? Have you ever been to the city?" He asked.

    "The old man told me about it," I said.

    "Old man? What old man?" he asked, perplexed.

    "The old man owning the shop in the middle of the town," I answered. "He''s old and knows lots of stuff."

    "I don''t know of any old men that own a shop in the middle of the town," he stated. "And I have lived here for years. Did you ever send anyone there?"

    "I did not. Which is strange, I do not shop since I got someone for that,¡± I said.

    I flared my qi, and called several wooden splinters in my hands. I filled all of them with the memory of the conversation, and stabbed them into several different parts of my body.

    ¡°We¡¯ll talk about it later, at a better time,¡± I said. ¡°For now we have a prisoner to secure. She should wake up in a few minutes, so get some robe, and I¡¯ll secure her.¡±

    ¡°Good idea. We don''t someone like that raging around in here,¡± he said. ¡°And get someone to fetch me a replacement chair. How good is our light cultivator with Illusion by now? What was her name again?¡±

    ¡°Luxa. She¡¯s decent, why do you need her?¡± he asked.

    ¡°I am going to suppress her aura with mine. The two of you just need to stand behind me menacingly, while Luxa hides the damage of the fight and I pet Minx,¡± I explained.

    ¡°So another one of your strange ideas, I¡¯ll take care of it,¡± he said. ¡°She¡¯ll need some help with the illusions though, she¡¯s still practicing what you told her.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s no problem,¡± I said.

    Strange ideas. What a joke. No, I did what I did to have a psychological edge. Being tied up and floating in the middle of a room you just trashed, missing your most important sense would intimidate anyone.You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

    Well, I should clean up a little. I called all the debris lying around into the air with a thought, making sure my still jittery pet stayed in my arms. After that I just floated the stuff out of my office, it could be dealt with later.

    Soon enough, Velgo returned with the small woman. Luxa. Right. She came here as a second realm cultivator already, only lacking qi to break into the third realm. But getting qi was the big thing of the second realm. Like a baby version of the third realm now that I thought about it. There was a lot more to these realms than I gave the cultivators credit for. They were modular, but organized in a way that allowed the smoothest progression. It still required dedication of course, but not as much as it would if it were organized differently.

    Our timing was impeccable as only minutes after everything was finished, our guest woke. She was tied up, and floating in the middle of the room. The room that looked just like it had when she came in here earlier. With the exception of me stopping any qi from nearing her, and my aura was forcefully suppressing her own. Which I could only to because she had exhausted her qi.

    We fought for a while, but resistance was futile.

    "Why am I still alive? You want to gloat?" She barked.

    "Well. I will offer you the same thing I offered to your friend. If you want to take it or not doesn''t matter. For me that is. It very much matters for you," I said.

    "What deal? He gets to live, but has to betray his clan? Pah, I swore I would never do that years ago," she spat.

    "How''d you get that idea?" I asked perplexed.

    "Because he left. The TRAITOR just left us!" she screamed

    "I see. Well, you won''t believe me whatever I say," I started.

    "Damn right I won''t believe you! Just kill me already." she said.

    "By the heavens, the oath binding the Cultivator Hatsume and me did not involve the betrayal of his clan, and should the Cultivator in front of me swear an oath worded by me I will not kill her either," I said.

    Golden light encased me as the heavens responded. I really loved heavenly oaths, they were just so convenient.

    The woman looked quite shocked at my action. I waited, continuing to stroke Minx. And waited.

    "So? Do you want to swear the oath now, or do you need to be further convinced?" I asked.

    "I will have to think about it," she said. "How about you ask in another day."

    "How about no. Your qi will have returned at the time, and you''ll try and flee," I denied.

    The woman clicked her tongue, and fell silent.

    "Look Feloga. You''re a third realm cultivator. You would probably not survive my convincing. And dying here is the ultimate betrayal," I said

    She stiffened, and looked at me, wide eyed.

    "Your clan always wants to escalate things. You killed my mother. You demand I work for you. You send a third realm cultivator after me. And another," I have done nothing to escalate our conflict," I reasoned. "Now I have no clue about politics, and will stay away from them, but I could have escalated things very quickly if I wanted to."

    "You''re threatening to escalate things by killing me and doing what? Working with our enemies, sure we''re in a tough spot right now but we''ll come out ahead," she said.

    Tough spot?

    "So the loss of another third realm cultivator and the appearance of cultivator made robes on everyone of your enemies wouldn''t destroy you?" I asked with a grin.

    She admitted weakness, while she was in a bad spot. No seasoned negotiator then, or only from a position of strength.

    Feloga deflated.

    "Fine. I will swear an oath to you, if you do not start to sell robes to our enemies," she said

    "Good. Now, I already prepared the contents of your oath, here," I said, floating a qi filled stone over towards her head.

    "By the heavens, I Feloga of the Waid Clan swear I will not reveal the power of the cultivator Triss, nor will I ever fight her, or her followers in any way. I will do my best to stop my clan from continuing our revenge,¡± she swore with a golden light enveloping her.

    Good enough.

    I flicked another one of the numerous pebbles in my office at her, watching as she felt unconscious.

    ¡°Say, you don''t happen to know of a way to keep a third realm cultivator imprisoned?¡± I asked.

    ¡°You''re not going to let her leave?¡± Velgo asked.

    ¡°Of course not. Why do you think I didn''t include a secrecy clause? She can go, but not now. Didn''t you hear? Her clan is in a tough spot, so I can just wait for them to die out,¡± I said.

    ¡°I don''t know how you could do it. She¡¯s a powerful berserker, and a third realm cultivator. These strange arrays you have protecting our houses won''t hold anyone above the second realm for long,¡± he said.

    ¡°A pity. Well, I already planned for that. She swore she wouldn''t fight me after all,¡± I said.

    ¡°How does that help?¡± Luxa asked.

    ¡°Isn''t it obvious? I''m going to build a cage of these force fields, and tell her she¡¯ll be fighting against me if she tries to break them,¡± I said with a grin.

    Both of them looked at me like I was mad.

    ¡°That''s not a fight!¡± they exclaimed.

    ¡°Of course it is. It¡¯s not a literal fight, but still a fight,¡± I said. ¡°You can fight someone without ever trading a blow.¡±

    ¡°What other way is there? Exchanging techniques?" Velgo asked.

    "Well, that too. There''s also a battle of wits, a fight with your spouse, a fight," I started.

    "Yes yes, we got it," Velgo said. ¡°So, how long are you gonna keep her here?¡± He asked.

    ¡°Well, that depends really. I''m going to ask the mayor about the city when I get the chance. Then I¡¯ll send someone to scout it out, see if it¡¯d be possible to establish a presence there. We¡¯ll need to get a better name, and a good marketing strategy too, hire some mortals that drive through the city to have our logo on their wagon, the basic stuff,¡± I said, already lost in dreams of all the scummy business practices I could use.

    Bully competitors out of business with cheap prices, spread rumors about them. Hire the mafia. The good stuff.

    Well, I¡¯d also have to find a way to protect myself against espionage. My employees wouldn''t talk thanks to heavenly oaths, but I¡¯d need to find a way to defend against spying via aura. Or that weird stepping my friend always did. I needed to advance into the fourth realm.

    I grimaced. I still had some reservations about the fourth realm, but it did seem I needed to advance if I wanted to be serious about my business. Because it would keep expanding. I sighed, and absentmindedly rubbed my hands.

    A sharp pain shot through my fingers, and my aura found a qi-filled splinter inside. Puzzled, I sent my senses inside, only for a memory to replay before my eyes. A memory I definitely did not have anymore.

    I would have a talk with an old man first it seemed.

 Chapter 49

    ¡°Hello old man,¡± I said.

    ¡°Hello young Triss. How can I help you today?¡± he asked with a friendly smile.

    ¡°Well, how about you start with getting out of my head,¡± I said sourly.

    ¡°Oh?¡± he laughed.

    Suddenly, my memories of all interactions with him returned in clarity. It was really painfully obvious he was fishy as heck.

    ¡°I resent that sentiment. I have nothing to do with fish,¡± he protested.

    So he could read thoughts in real time? I stiffened, and stilled my thoughts forcefully.

    ¡°Your self control is indeed frightening. It seems like something you practiced though, no one can control themselves like this naturally, isn''t it?¡± he asked.

    ¡°Of course. I started after meeting Lioness. If one can cultivate something as stupid as lion intent qi, it should be very much possible to cultivate specific aspects of other species too," I said. "Why do you think my heavenly oaths include a part about thoughts?"

    ¡°I will have you know that beast cultivators are some of the most powerful cultivators alive. It doesn''t do to call them stupid,¡± he said.

    ¡°It¡¯s not stupid to do it, nature has some very specialized beings,¡± I explained. ¡°It¡¯s stupid you can even do it.¡±

    ¡°Hmm. I can understand that point of view from someone like you,¡± he mused.

    ¡°Someone like me?¡± I asked, but forced myself to stay on point.¡±Wait. That doesn''t matter now. I am here because you messed with my mind. You will stop that or we are going to have a serious problem,¡± I stated.

    ¡°Sure,¡± he easily agreed.

    ¡°Sure? Just like that?¡± I asked, baffled.

    ¡°Of course. The compulsion to forget about anything pointing towards me being a cultivator is a simple one. You can see it as a test. A test to show you are worthy of my time,¡± he explained.

    ¡°So I just had to ask you about your cultivation to pass?¡± I asked. ¡°How boring.¡±

    ¡°You did. That¡¯s just the way of the world young one, sometimes it doesn''t live up to expectations,¡± he said. ¡°You are wrong though, I am no mind cultivator.¡±

    ¡°You''re not? What are you then?¡±

    ¡°I am an Infernal Fire cultivator,¡± he said and a small, normal flame came into being between us.

    ¡°Infernal Fire?¡± I asked with a raised eyebrow.

    ¡°The foolishness of youth. You have an advantage there,¡± he said.

    ¡°How did you get in my mind then? I can create a fire in the air too,¡± I stated. ¡°I''m sure one as old as yourself can do something so simple too.¡±

    ¡°I am not old. In fact I am quite young for my level of power,¡± he stated. ¡°Do show me that fire though.¡±

    ¡°I can''t. Qi techniques don''t work in your shop,¡± I stated.

    ¡°They do now,¡± he denied.

    I shrugged, and thought about what I wanted to do.

    There should be enough water in the air to produce fuel for a fire. And I knew how to kickstart it too. So, I concentrated on my sense of gravity, on the uncountable strings of gravity I ignored usually. And then I did what most cultivators did. I bullshitted myself through half knowledge and stubbornness.

    I focused on the water in the air, on ripping the water molecules in two, and storing hydrogen and oxygen into two seperate bubbles, bubbles protected from the normal air by me. I burnt qi, and felt the bubbles increasing in size. A handful, a full fist, the size of a human head.

    By now, nearly three quarters of my qi were depleted, but I succeeded. Good enough. I focused on my qi once again, creating a powerful lens of gravity to focus on a funnel I created between the two gases. With the concentrated light there to light the fire, I soon had a small fire burning between the two of us.

    ¡°I see. Yes, that is indeed a fire. Now, you can stop keeping it up,¡± he said.

    I did, and waited for the small wave of fire to pass before speaking up.

    ¡°So. A fire, easy enough, though it did take quite some qi, something you should have enough of¡± I said.

    ¡°Yes it took most of your qi. I can keep that flame up for hours, yours would have been depleted in a few more minutes at best. Commendable, but also something a cultivator of your power and age should not be able to know. Do you not want to keep your secret?¡± he asked.

    ¡°I would. But you told me you knew about it anyways. I mean, if you really are a fire cultivator, that means you use the strange world manipulation stuff to read my thoughts, which means you¡¯re at least a fourth realm cultivator. Probably more, considering all I know about you,¡± I said. ¡°So you know about it already and there is no reason to not talk about it.¡±

    ¡°A logical conclusion. Also true, if not in its entirety. You did not actually think about your reincarnation when meeting me. No, I have been sent here to monitor you upon your birth, and decided to stick around after,¡± he said.Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

    ¡°You knew when I was born?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Everyone that truly matters does,¡± he answered honestly.

    ¡°And you came here just for me?¡± I asked.

    ¡°I did,¡±

    ¡°Should I feel honored then? That a cultivator as powerful as you moved just because little old me was born?¡± I asked.

    ¡°If you want to. Normally we just check up your ilk with our aura, but I decided to take a little break from the wider world, so here I am,¡± he said.

    ¡°There are more like me?¡± I asked intrigued.

    ¡°There are. Every other year one of you is born in this world, and we check up on them. Most are from world more like our own, and not yours. Those we just ignore, they aren''t dangerous. It¡¯s those like you that we monitor until they develop a qi intent,¡± he explained.

    ¡°What''s so significant about doing that?¡± I asked.

    ¡°You can''t change your qi intent once formed, only evolve it,¡± he said. ¡°And some of you decide to abuse their old knowledge to cultivate a very deadly intent. Radiation or something similar. As you can surely imagine, we don''t want people like that running around in our world.¡±

    Radiation? How stupid did you have to be to cultivate that? It just sounded deadly, without any use for your everyday live.

    ¡°So, I am not abusing my knowledge?¡± I asked, just to be sure.

    ¡°You are. But not in a way that matters to us. You don''t go and kill every cultivator you come across, and you actually help others with your knowledge. Well, those in your small clan at least,¡± he said.

    ¡°I am running a business, not a clan!¡± I immediately denied.

    ¡°A business focusing on selling spirit clothes to other cultivators. That sounds just like a clan to me,¡± he said with a small grin.

    ¡°Clan means more of a family then, and my people aren''t family,¡± I stated.

    ¡°Well, perhaps in your old world. A Clan in this one is just a gathering of a small group of cultivators, with a single one at the top, like you are,¡± he explained.

    ¡°That does indeed sound familiar. So sects aren''t actually religious fanatics that worship a random god? Who knew,¡± I mused.

    ¡°Everyone knew, I don''t know why you came up with that translation,¡± he agreed.

    ¡°I see. So, getting back to the topic of my visit. How powerful do I need to be in order to at least detect someone like you messing with my mind. Because I really don''t like the thought of it. And on that note, what benefits does passing your test bring me?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Well, you can now see my actual merchandise. Not that that is all that useful to you, you are too weak to have a use for most, and you lack the money to buy anything even if you weren''t. As for your other question? I¡¯d say you¡¯d need to be in the fifth realm at the very least,¡± he said.

    The fifth realm huh?

    I didn''t know how long I¡¯d need until I reached the fourth, but assuming the fifth was just condensing your qi again meant I could get the required time with a little maths. First off, my current cultivation. It had taken me most of my life to gather it, though most was done in the last two years.

    Now, qi condensation seemed to progress at a observable curve. It took around four hundred fifty times the concentration of liquid qi to reach a solid state, a little more than double the previous concentration. Following that logic, I¡¯d need roughly nine hundred to one thousand times the concentration of solid qi for it to reach its next stage. Which meant I needed to increase the initial volume of my core by one thousand. Which meant getting a core with ten times of my core¡¯s initial radius. I had tripled the radius in the last years already, but to reach the required size, I¡¯d need thirty seven times the qi I had now!

    That sucked.

    I¡¯d need ages to gather that much qi, nearly a sixty years in fact!

    How did normal cultivators ever advance? It¡¯d take nearly a tenth of my current lifespan to get that much qi.

    ¡°You forgot the fourth realm. It¡¯s independent of your amount of qi. And an immortal has all the time in the world to gather qi. Also, THAT SUCKED? LESS THAN A CENTURY TO GET THE QI FOR THE FIFTH REALM!¡± he yelled.

    ¡°GET OUT OF MY HEAD PLEASE!¡± I yelled back. ¡°And you know my speed of cultivation, what stopped you from doing the math yourself?¡±

    ¡°I didn''t see the need,¡± he said, a little embarrassed. ¡°But really? You''re dissatisfied with that speed? Just build a huge qi gathering array in the middle of nowhere,¡± he said.

    ¡°A huge qi gathering array in the middle of nowhere?¡± I said. ¡°That does sound like a very good idea indeed.¡±

    What would I need for that though? A new method to make arrays, because my current one was unsustainable for anything of a large area. Rope? No, that sounded like a recipe for disaster.

    I¡¯d have to think about it later.

    Still, if I managed to cut that time down by a decade or two it¡¯d be worth my time. And I even could elevate my employees with me and have them fight for me. Yes, that did sound like a good idea.

    ¡°It is. Your last fight was a disgrace,¡± the old man agreed.

    I just sighed. It seemed old people were the same in all worlds, no interest or respect for privacy.

    ¡°I resent the label of being old. Have you ever looked at me?¡± he asked.

    I looked at him, and sure enough, he did look like a young adult now. I shrugged. That did not prove anything. If he still looked like this once I was able to detect tampering with my mind we could talk about it. For now and ever he¡¯d just stay the old man.

    ¡°I see. A revenge for my actions. I will allow you that small victory for now,¡± he said.

    ¡°So, my fight was a disgrace? I think I did pretty well considering the circumstances,¡± I said.

    ¡°No. You nearly died, and only survived because of your clothes,¡± he said. ¡°She should have never been able to hit you. The more power you get, the more problems you¡¯ll face. You need to work on your techniques, just flying, messing with someone¡¯s gravity and moving stuff telekinetically doesn''t cut it in the higher realms,¡± he said.

    ¡°It worked quite well this time,¡± I disagreed.

    ¡°All fourth realm cultivators can fly, so just dropping them doesn''t work,¡± he explained. ¡°And many third realm cultivators can fly too, though most not as well as you do.¡±

    ¡°Yes, but I don''t actually want to fight anyone. Fighting is a surefire way to die eventually,¡± I said.

    ¡°Didn''t you want to die of old age?¡± he asked with a raised eyebrow.

    ¡°Well. I thought about it and decided I really like living. And dying of old age is something different from dying because you fought someone,¡± I said.

    ¡°The life of a cultivator is a dangerous one,¡± he agreed ¡°Even if you do try and avoid fights, you¡¯ll still be in some over your long life. It is better to be prepared.¡±

    ¡°Who¡¯d attack a harmless seamstress though?¡± I asked.

    ¡°Those that lost because they did not have your robes? Those they lost because you robes weren''t good enough?¡± he said, naming a few examples.

    Stupid examples, but something that sounded right up in the alley for some of the cultivators I had met so far.

    ¡°I see. So I need to speed up my guards cultivation even more, so they can catch up to me,¡± I said sagely.

    And also think up a few more things to do in fights. I wouldn''t kill anyone still, but I wasn''t opposed to stomping stupid people in the ground where they belonged.

    ¡°I see you are capable of seeing reason. Now, your guest is about to wake up and I think you¡¯d like to be there when that happens,¡± he said.

    She was?

    ¡°Thank you. See you later old man,¡± I yelled, and shot out of his shop, my invisibility snapping back in place as I left his shop.

 Chapter 50

    My guest slowly opened her eyes and looked around confusion in her eyes. It didn''t take long before her aura exploded outwards, only to be smothered by mine.

    "I see you are back with us," I said with a friendly smile.

    "You knocked me out!" she yelled.

    "I did," I readily agreed. "No need to be rude, you''re going to be here for a while.

    "Release me at once! I swore your oath!" she yelled.

    "You did. But I thought about it, so now you''re still here," I said.

    "Why?"

    "Because your leader will not see reason. He already knows someone capable of defeating his lackeys is here, yet here you are. And if you return unsuccessful once again? He will send someone else, especially because it''s obvious I don''t kill anyone. So he has nothing to lose sending them," I reasoned.

    "Apart from me, there''s only the clan head and he can''t leave the clan grounds unprotected. You have nothing to fear from us," she said. "My people need me."

    "I don''t think so, the risk to both me and my people is simply too big," I said. "It''s not like you can do anything about it anyways. I made that barrier myself, and you swore you wouldn''t fight me."The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    Concern entered my mind as her face relaxed.

    "So that barrier isn''t strong enough to hold me?" she asked.

    "It''s not, but that doesn''t really matter, does it?" I said with an easy smile, hiding my concern.

    "It does. I swore an oath, and will keep it to the letter, yet I won''t allow a perversion of the meaning to stop me," she stated, and punched out.

    I could feel the ward shudder, and she punched again, and again, until the weak barrier collapsed.

    "Let me tell you something about heavenly oaths youngling," she started, moving to pass me. "They only work if you actually perceive your actions as breaking them. And just destroying a weak barrier array? That''s not a fight," she said, and took off.

    I followed until she left my property, all the way thinking about a way to stop her.

    It was of no use though. Subduing her again wouldn''t be all that hard, but I had no way to actually imprison her that wasn''t to utterly inhumane killing her would be a mercy instead.

    "If you don''t keep my secrets, your whole clan will come to regret it," I warned her as she sped off.

    Damn. That did not work as intended. My warning would perhaps hold her hand for a few weeks, but cultivators searching for revenge had a way of advancement that was closed to the rest of us.

    Which meant this really wasn''t the last I''d hear of them.

    I sighed. There was no real way around it, was there?

    I had to really train fighting, if I wanted to stand a chance against anyone that wasn''t a very strong and angry human. And I would have to become immortal and beyond even faster.

    Just great.

    Time to send some of my guards out to scout for a good area for our new headquarters. As for myself? I needed to develop some qi techniques to help me in a fight, and design several arrays to gather and direct qi, as well as some stronger ones to protect the new location from beasts and random cultivators.

 Chapter 51

    "So you want us to search for a good spot to make a new facility? What kind of facility?" Velgo asked.

    "New headquarters. They''re mainly meant for our cultivators to get stronger, for me to get stronger and test new arrays and ways of producing robes," I said.

    "So a smaller facility. I''ll send some people to look around. Is there anything you''d like to have access to?" he asked.

    "A river would be great, I want to test some things. Other than that, an easy way to get quality material, so near a forest would be best," I said.

    "That complicates things a bit," he mused. "Rivers are very much sought after to build towns."

    "Don''t worry about it too much, it doesn''t have to be a big one," I said. "Anyways, you know our people better than I do, send everyone you want to send to me, I''ll outfit them with a proper robe."

    "Will do," he said.

    I nodded towards my chief of guards, and moved towards Trisa.

    "What can I do for you mistress?" she asked.

    "I will need to do some meditation and self reflection, so make sure no one bothers me unless absolutely necessary," I commanded. "On that note, Velgo will send a few of the guards up here, outfit them with some of the special robes, they have a different job to do for now."

    She nodded, and I left her to her own devices, moving up into my own apartment.

    I retreated in my meditation room, and couldn''t help but sigh. I only knew a single way to feel my own soul, which was carving meridians. Which was still painful, even after carving a whole network of them through my own skin.

    Even worse, I now needed to actually pay attention while doing so, not ignore the pain as best as possible.

    Still, it had to be done. Now, a single question remained though.

    What kind of meridian did I want to add? My network of meridians was intricate, deliberate and didn''t actually need any additions. Once again, I had to wonder who made the cultivation system as it was. Most cultivators I met seemed to embrace pain, even the pain of effectively mutilating your own soul for power.

    They didn''t know they''d need perception of their own soul to advance further, but whoever created these realms did. I really hoped I''d get to meet the sadist once, just to give them a piece of my mind.

    Anyways. Did I know any other way to perceive the soul? No. And I sadly did not have the time try and find one too.

    I sighed, what you did for life.

    Liquid qi flooded my meridians, circulating through my whole body. Pain flooded my mind as I carefully controlled my qi, enlarging my main meridian by a fraction of its diameter.

    Instead of fighting the pain, I embraced the pain for the first time and carefully tried to follow it to the origin.

    I failed, but my meridian network was the most extensive I had seen so far. I had lots of meridians to widen and more than enough qi on my hands to do so until I succeeded.

    I left my self isolation a week later, disgruntled, hungry and a little frustrated. This would take some time. I''d have to set aside a few hours to meditate per day. My soul had proven frustratingly elusive.This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

    I knew my path would lead to success eventually, but barring any unforeseen breakthroughs that success was far in the future.

    Absentmindedly, Minx flew in my arms with only a small application of gravity as I walked into my living room, falling down into my custom couch with a loud sigh.

    I needed to do something else for a change. The first thing was visiting the mayor, and tell him I broke into the third realm. Not because I really wanted to, but if I wanted to sweep my aura over a large area every now and then, searching for an aura as powerful as mine, he''d notice and angering another third realm expert wasn''t in my interest.

    Especially after I got my ass handed to me by someone whose only strength was being too angry to be affected by hostile qi.

    Which was still stupid, if obviously entirely within the possible. I sighed again, and went to dress in something proper. A robe or something else?

    A robe, I felt generous today. And I didn''t want to use the energy to dress in something else.

    After dressing in one of my expensive protection robes and filling it with qi and spirit stones. Once done, I opened one of my windows and jumped down, bending light to hide my form and restricting my aura into a bubble with three metres diameter around me.

    The trip towards the middle of the town was fast, even if I walked and soon enough I entered the mayor''s own aura. His control was impeccable, probably even better than mine. Moments later, he appeared in front of me. I undid my invisibility, appearing in the middle of the street and causing the cultivators around me to jump up in shock.

    "Young Triss, I see we have much to talk about," he said. "Follow me."

    "Mayor," I said, inclining my head.

    He moved towards the edge of the town, swiftly running out into the plains. I followed, ready to fly off should this devolve into a fight. Well, should he be able to fly at least. Anyone that couldn''t fly was fair game after all.

    We moved for about half an hour at full speed, the town vanished on the horizon long ago.

    "So you broke into the third realm," he stated. "I suppose congratulations are in order."

    "I did, and thank you," I agreed. "Why are we here?"

    "I assume you want to take control of the town now," he said. "Our fight is between us though, with no need to involve mortals and our followers."

    "WHAT? NO!" I denied. "I don''t want to take control over the town. Controlling my business is tedious enough already, doing so for an entire town doesn''t sound worth the minimal gains I could get."

    "Leading a town is quite profitable," he disagreed.

    "Leading a business empire is more profitable," I said.

    "I''ll have to take your word by it, considering you don''t pay any taxes but the equipment for my guards," he said. "So you don''t intend to challenge me for control?"

    "I do not. I just wanted to warn you that I''ll scan the area for third realm cultivators from now on, after my last, unfortunate run-in with one," I said.

    "She went against me? How''d you survive?" he asked.

    "I broke into the third realm years ago," I admitted freely. "I have no clue how you didn''t notice until now, I wasn''t all that subtle at first."

    "A few years ago? That does explain some things," he mused. "You wouldn''t know, never having been part of an established sect or clan."

    "I wouldn''t know what?" I asked.

    "There are some unwritten rules all cultivators follow," he explained. "The one I am referring to mainly means you don''t seek out hidden cultivators of similar or greater power unless you seek guidance or a fight. Naturally, I need neither so I left the new third realm cultivator in my town to their own devices. Especially because you didn''t seem to cause any trouble for yourself, which does make even more sense now."

    "So you knew I was there, but not who I was and didn''t bother me because I didn''t bother you?" I asked.

    "Exactly," he agreed.

    "Good to know. So, can I finally get your name? Now that I''m in the third realm myself?" I asked.

    The mayor thought for a few moments, before nodding.

    "I suppose you can. I am Vegaro, a pleasure to meet you young lady," he said.

    "Same. Why do you hide your name normally?" I asked.

    The mayor laughed a little, before answering. "It just turned out that way. When I moved into the town, a which was a small fishing village back then, none of the mortals dared call me by my name. The first cultivators to emerge were locals as well. When the first cultivators moved here, I introduced myself as the mayor of the town, forgetting my name. These days, I''m more The Mayor than I am my chosen name."

    How fascinating.

    "So," I started. "Seeing as you came here expecting a fight, and I came here ready to defend myself how about a little spar? Recent events did show me I need to work on my fighting skills considering another cultivator nearly killed me by being very angry."

    "It would be a pleasure to spar with you young Triss," he answered with a polite smile. "It has been sometime since I had someone to spar with myself."

 Chapter 52

    "Any rules you would like to add?" he asked.

    "I can think of none but one. No deadly blows," I said. "but that should be normal for spars anyways. How do we determine who wins?"

    "Receding your aura counts as a surrender. If you are sure you can land a deadly blow, cut it down by half. Other than that, I agree," he said. "Let''s get to it."

    The moment the last word left his mouth my aura exploded outwards, colliding against his. Moments later, I shot up in the sky as gravity started bending light around my form. Immediately after, I moved from the center of my aura, and observed my opponent.

    The mayor had a vortex of ice floating over his head while he himself stood on a pane of ice, slowly floating upwards himself.

    I had my aura move downwards rapidly, using qi to bring a few dozen small stones in my hand. I filled the stones with ambient qi and accelerated them right at his head.

    The moment the stone hit the mayor''s aura, his head swivelled towards my hidden form, and dozens of icicles left his vortex, all homing on my position.

    I dropped down at once, watching as his head suddenly burst apart in shards of ice, the decoy destroyed by my projectiles.

    I had to find him then. I concentrated for a moment as I flew high up in the air again. So. Frost or ice qi. He could be in the middle of that ice vortex, but ice was perfectly capable of bending light too, meaning he could be invisible himself. Hell, he already showed the capability of doing so with the ice clone earlier.

    I couldn''t think of a way to fly fast with either, meaning he''d just make himself a big target if he actually tried to contest me in the air.

    Carefully, my eyes swept over the area we started the fight at, looking for a spot he might use to hide himself.

    I sent a small vortex of gravity, just three times as strong as normal gravity at the cloud of ice. I couldn''t be sure he wasn''t in there, and it didn''t cost me much to try. The cloud compacted upon contact with my qi, but I didn''t feel anyone within.

    So he was on the ground still.

    Careful to keep my intentions hidden I concentrated my aura on the ground, with only a thin membrane matching the mayor''s aura remaining at the same thickness as before.

    I took a deep breath and my aura exploded outwards only a few centimeters above the ground, cleanly shearing through his aura, and colliding with a clever construct of ice moments later.

    I grinned, gotcha. My aura retracted into a smaller sphere, and a flex of my will had chunks of earth suddenly leaving the earth all around me and accelerate towards his hidden form. At the same time, I created a strong source of gravity high above me.

    The prison of ice burst into glittering shards of ice and my attack went wide as the mayor dashed out of the way seemingly protected by his ice. I smiled.

    Gotcha.

    Qi left me as a small hill rose in the air, homing in on the mayor as I looked upwards, using the light bend by my gravity to aim at and around my target.

    With my attack shielded from his eyes before it entered his aura, he could only form a protective shield of ice around himself before a small hill of soil came crashing down around him, immediately followed by a singularity, sucking in all loose soil around him, imprisoning him.

    Before my next attack hit, his aura receded.

    I smiled, doing the same and drawing the qi out of my next attack, using it to draw the soil off him instead, coming down next to him moments later.

    The mayor bowed to me respectfully as I returned the gesture.

    "Good fight young Triss. You really caught me off guard with that invisibility," he admitted.This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

    "A good fight indeed," I agreed. "Using ice to bend light really caught me off guard for a moment."

    The mayor laughed, before getting serious again.

    "Didn''t you say you needed to learn how to fight? You did pretty good right now, though I''ll have to stop going easy on you from now on," he said.

    "Well. Due to the nature of my cultivation I won''t really have any success if I try to get up close and personal," I admitted.

    "Is that so," he said.

    "It is. Anyways, as you know most beings I''ll ever face will rely on sight as their main sense, so removing their sight from the table has to be my first move," I explained.

    "A wise decision, and one that took me way too long to realize," he said.

    "Anyways. My qi attacks can be really powerful, but need some setup, which necessitates pinning my enemies down for a few moments," I said.

    "Which you do by flinging hills at them. Is that really the best option you could find?" he asked, doubtful.

    "Well, maybe not the best. But it''s quite cheap on qi and looks really cool," I said.

    "To each their own. Are you up for another round, or do you need some time to recover your qi?" he asked.

    "I''m down for another round," I said. "Same rules as before?"

    "Same rules as before," he agreed.

    We separated, standing on two opposing hilltops a few kilometres to the west, unmarred from our previous battle.

    After a small countdown we started again, me bending light to shield me from view while I shot upwards, and a vortex of ice ascending above the mayor.

    Where''d he hide this time?

    I picked up the top of the hill I stood on by changing the direction of the gravity acting on it again, sending it to crash into the vortex of ice, just to keep him on his toes.

    Before the hill arrived, his vortex exploded, filling everything I could see with small shards of ice. I created another gravity mirror high above me, trying to look behind the wall of ice, only to find it filled with shards of ice too.

    Damn.

    I allowed myself a moment of distraction, to burn the beautiful imagine of a huge, glittering sphere of ice in my mind before refocusing on the fight at hand.

    How would I find him in there?

    Did I even have to?

    Keeping that up would need a constant supply of qi, and quite a lot of it. I''d just have to hold my hand until he tired himself out. I slowly lowered myself to the ground.

    As my feet touched the ground they broke through a thin sheet of ice, and I knew I fucked up. I immediately tried to fly upwards, but the form of the mayor left the cloud in front of me, the whole cloud of ice following him as he rushed my rising form, an armor of ice protecting his body.

    Damn.

    I accelerated backwards and to the side, giving ground. Getting caught in that cloud would mean my loss. Moments later, icicles started flying out of the cloud, filling the air everywhere around me, giving me no room to dodge.

    I sent qi in my foot, finding a few shards of ice clinging to my feet still, filled with the mayor''s qi. I flushed it out, but the damage was done. He knew where I was, and wouldn''t let me slip away that easily.

    I threw another hill at him, hoping to slow him down while I left the area, but his sword expanded and simply cut right through my projectile. Icicles continuing to impact my robe as I fell ever backwards, when the mayor suddenly accelerated again, jumped and soared right at me, sword in hand.

    Desperately, I tried to evade, but the space around me was still filled ice and he easily corrected his course, homing in on me as the cloud of ice compacted behind him, propelling him forwards ever faster.

    I burnt more qi, to move faster, higher but all the ice around me restricted my speed, forcing me to limit myself or lose yet another week of work in a spar.

    Could I still win this?

    Possibly.

    But I knew my limits, and direct combat was not one of them, especially when my opponent could use their qi to create a weapon. Ah damn.

    With a sigh, I retracted my aura, conceding my loss.

    "Well done. You held up better than I thought," he said.

    "Thank you. So, how''d you know I would try to land?" I asked.

    "It''s common sense to preserve your qi as much as possible while you fight. There''s only so much ambient qi you can use, and assuming that cloud took a lot out of me was the right choice," he explained. "So it was a trivial matter to set up a trap to find you."

    Godsdamnit.

    I could use ambient qi to fuel my techniques! How''d I forget that? I let lose a few choice words, before focusing back on the mayor.

    "You know that I''m going to expand to the city in the near future?" I asked.

    "I suspected as much. Your ambitions are greater than my small town," he said.

    "They have to be. I fucked up my dealing with the angry woman, so it''s only a matter of time until they come at me again. So I need to be ready. I need a location so fortified no immortal would dare challenge me in there without an army at their back," I said.

    "Good luck with that. You will definitely need some experts from the city for that. As well as a lot of money," he stated. "Be warned that I will keep myself out of your dealings if I can."

    "That''s fair. Anyways, we should have daily spars until I leave, I could really use the practice, even if you aren''t so ignorantly angry as to ignore my qi techniques," I said.

    "Speaking from experience?" he asked with sympathy.

    "Yes," I said. "Let''s get back to town, I need a hot bath and a few hours of meditation."

    "Let''s." he agreed.