We were bunched on the floor of my small cave, except for Safi who had commandeered my bed and was stretched across it indulging herself in the fluffy duvet. Chit had her legs crossed with her arms resting calmly on her lap while Eleb was hugging her knees and looking around my room restlessly.
“Shall we start then?” I asked which was answered by nods of approval. “Forgive me but in order for this to make sense for Safi, I’m going to have to start with the basics,” I said which made Safi sit up realising that she would need to concentrate.
“Cultivation is the path to immortality. The journey is extremely long, and it begins with Qi Foundation. A realm that you have already surpassed. Your body gathers blank, or unintegrated qi in order to stimulate your soul root, this requires a lot of qi. Once a certain amount of qi is reached, you will breakthrough. That breakthrough is your soul root activating.
“Next stage is Qi Integration. Now that the soul root is alive, you can begin to channel a technique through it which imprints the qi you have gathered with a pattern that provides you with far more control over the qi. We also use this stage to gather even more qi, all our body’s qi when not being utilised resides in our dantian.”
“So,” interrupted Safi. “We draw in qi from our surroundings, which is then imprinted with our technique by our soul root, then it goes to our dantian where it’s stored for future use.”
“That’s exactly it,” I responded.
“You and I are still in the Qi Integration realm?”
“We are, the more qi we manage to gather here, the easier it will be to breakthrough in the future.”
“So is it possible to cultivate at this stage forever?” she asked.
“It is, but the amount of qi you have access to is not what makes you strong. There are also more opportunities to gather qi in future realms. Which brings me to the next stages. Body Qi and Soul Qi. You can cultivate either of these stages in any order. If you would like to prioritise a strong and capable body, then that’s where you can start. If you would prefer a more robust soul, then you would start with Soul Qi.”
“I have a choice?” she asked, almost taken aback.
“Well, not really. Your priority should be fairly obvious.”
“Soul Qi,” she said without hesitation. The rest of us smiled at her quick thinking.
“Right. Beyond that is the beginning of the Immortal Path. We won’t need to think about that for a while so we’ll stop here.”
“Wait,” said Safi again. “What realm was Teteli in?” I chuckled at her wide eyes.
“She was well on her way along the Immortal Path. When we see her again I’m sure you’ll understand the kind of monster we happened across.” Safi gulped.
“What about Elder Laaka?” she asked again.
“She’s early on the path, but she’s on it.”
“I see,” nodded Safi. “Then what about these two.”
“They’re not. Chit has been struggling with Qi Body and Eleb is finished with Qi Body and is working on Qi Soul.” It was now Chit and Eleb’s turn to gulp. After all, I had not had a chance to probe them with my qi so I could not have known.
“What - How did you know?” asked a spluttering Eleb.
“I guessed,” I laughed which made Safi laugh too. Eleb puffed her cheeks cutely, Chit just relaxed her shoulders with relief. “In fact, I’m sure Chit is on the cusp of an irreversible mistake” Her shoulders went rigid again.
“I am,” she muttered.
“It’s good you stopped when you did,” I remarked. She nodded in response.
“Can we see?” I asked. She slowly reached her hands up to her head and began unravelling the tightly wrapped cloth. She revealed her face, it was cracked and distorted like a dried lake baked for years under intense heat.
She stroked along one of the cracks and winced. Her skin was raw and sensitive, the cracks in it revealed the parched tissue underneath. There was blood dripping from a few of the splits.
The damaged skin continued down her neck and chest indicating that a large portion of her body was in similar condition. Safi and Eleb were both shocked at the revelation, they had no words for the unfortunate girl who sat before them.
“I’m sure it has been a harsh lesson,” I said.
“Torturous,” said Chit with a slight hitch.
“I can help, but it will take time. Will you allow me to explain to them?” I asked her. She gave her permission with a nod.
“She cultivated a technique that was a severe mismatch with her soul root so it imprinted the qi badly. Once she began to feed her body with it, her body rejected it. This is what that rejection looks like.”
“You poor thing,” whined Safi who had shed a couple of tears.
“She’s going to have to start from the beginning. Expelling her imprinted qi and restoring her body’s condition in the process,” I said with a slight grimace, it would not be an enjoyable process for her. Getting rid of imprinted qi was extremely gruelling. “Finally, there’s you,” I said and pointed at Eleb.
She pointed at her own chest and gave me a questioning look, still not quite ready to form words. “What about her?” Safi asked.
“Nothing much, she’s just using a crummy technique.” In response to this Eleb reared back looking slightly insulted.
“But if the qi is already imprinted, then you can’t change the technique,” said a rightly confused Safi.
“Correct, you can’t change the technique. But, you can improve it.” All three girls looked at me perturbedly. “Well, I can, at least.”
“Is anyone else feeling a little annoyed at this know-it-all?” asked Safi. Chit was the only one who shook her head. Eleb did not respond but I could see that she was politely annoyed. I could only sigh.
“Eleb, would you mind telling me what the far-side tournament is and when it’s happening.” I decided a subject switch was best as Chit began to wrap her head once more. Eleb sat up sharply in response and looked at me in disbelief.
“Is that what you want the team for?” she asked.
“I don’t know. Is it a team-based competition?”
“Yes, and it’s brutal. It’s a tournament that decides the next Expeditioners.” Before I could continue that line of thought, we heard a yelp from Safi who started to look frantically around my bed, tearing away covers and sheets.
“What are you doing?” I asked as I leaned back, my hands moving behind me to prop myself up.
“Something poked me,” she said. Finally she found what she was looking for and revealed it. “This bloody thing,” she said. She was holding a green feather. “What is this doing here?”
“A carrier’s call!” exclaimed a panicked Eleb.
“What?” I asked quickly. “What is it? I already found two, is it something important?”
“You found two of these already?” she asked, not calming down.
“Yes,” I admitted sheepishly.
“And you ignored them?” she asked, even louder.
“Well I don’t know what they are!” I tried desperately to defend my apparent ignorance.
“Come with,” she coughed a little in panic, then recovered. “Come with me. I’ll take you to the carriers.”
“Who are they?” asked Safi who was very much caught up in the excitement.
“Well, he can tell you when he gets back. If he gets back,” said Eleb who was already at the door. Without much choice in the matter I got up and followed her.
Casualperv I know this was a lot of exposition but it's high time I let you know how exactly cultivation works in this world. This is also the chapter that pushes this novel over 40,000 words which I think deserves a click of the heart.
Quick reminder that I have a Ko-fi account now if you would like to support me more directly it would be greatly appreciated. I am also thinking of running some writing workshops if anyone would be interested in that.
As always, thanks for reading!
We were bunched on the floor of my small cave, except for Safi who had commandeered my bed and was stretched across it indulging herself in the fluffy duvet. Chit had her legs crossed with her arms resting calmly on her lap while Eleb was hugging her knees and looking around my room restlessly.
“Shall we start then?” I asked which was answered by nods of approval. “Forgive me but in order for this to make sense for Safi, I’m going to have to start with the basics,” I said which made Safi sit up realising that she would need to concentrate.
“Cultivation is the path to immortality. The journey is extremely long, and it begins with Qi Foundation. A realm that you have already surpassed. Your body gathers blank, or unintegrated qi in order to stimulate your soul root, this requires a lot of qi. Once a certain amount of qi is reached, you will breakthrough. That breakthrough is your soul root activating.
“Next stage is Qi Integration. Now that the soul root is alive, you can begin to channel a technique through it which imprints the qi you have gathered with a pattern that provides you with far more control over the qi. We also use this stage to gather even more qi, all our body’s qi when not being utilised resides in our dantian.”
“So,” interrupted Safi. “We draw in qi from our surroundings, which is then imprinted with our technique by our soul root, then it goes to our dantian where it’s stored for future use.”
“That’s exactly it,” I responded.
“You and I are still in the Qi Integration realm?”
“We are, the more qi we manage to gather here, the easier it will be to breakthrough in the future.”
“So is it possible to cultivate at this stage forever?” she asked.
“It is, but the amount of qi you have access to is not what makes you strong. There are also more opportunities to gather qi in future realms. Which brings me to the next stages. Body Qi and Soul Qi. You can cultivate either of these stages in any order. If you would like to prioritise a strong and capable body, then that’s where you can start. If you would prefer a more robust soul, then you would start with Soul Qi.”
“I have a choice?” she asked, almost taken aback.
“Well, not really. Your priority should be fairly obvious.”
“Soul Qi,” she said without hesitation. The rest of us smiled at her quick thinking.
“Right. Beyond that is the beginning of the Immortal Path. We won’t need to think about that for a while so we’ll stop here.”
“Wait,” said Safi again. “What realm was Teteli in?” I chuckled at her wide eyes.
“She was well on her way along the Immortal Path. When we see her again I’m sure you’ll understand the kind of monster we happened across.” Safi gulped.
“What about Elder Laaka?” she asked again.
“She’s early on the path, but she’s on it.”
“I see,” nodded Safi. “Then what about these two.”
“They’re not. Chit has been struggling with Qi Body and Eleb is finished with Qi Body and is working on Qi Soul.” It was now Chit and Eleb’s turn to gulp. After all, I had not had a chance to probe them with my qi so I could not have known.
“What - How did you know?” asked a spluttering Eleb.
“I guessed,” I laughed which made Safi laugh too. Eleb puffed her cheeks cutely, Chit just relaxed her shoulders with relief. “In fact, I’m sure Chit is on the cusp of an irreversible mistake” Her shoulders went rigid again.
“I am,” she muttered.
“It’s good you stopped when you did,” I remarked. She nodded in response.
“Can we see?” I asked. She slowly reached her hands up to her head and began unravelling the tightly wrapped cloth. She revealed her face, it was cracked and distorted like a dried lake baked for years under intense heat.
She stroked along one of the cracks and winced. Her skin was raw and sensitive, the cracks in it revealed the parched tissue underneath. There was blood dripping from a few of the splits.
The damaged skin continued down her neck and chest indicating that a large portion of her body was in similar condition. Safi and Eleb were both shocked at the revelation, they had no words for the unfortunate girl who sat before them.
“I’m sure it has been a harsh lesson,” I said.
“Torturous,” said Chit with a slight hitch.
“I can help, but it will take time. Will you allow me to explain to them?” I asked her. She gave her permission with a nod.
“She cultivated a technique that was a severe mismatch with her soul root so it imprinted the qi badly. Once she began to feed her body with it, her body rejected it. This is what that rejection looks like.”
“You poor thing,” whined Safi who had shed a couple of tears.
“She’s going to have to start from the beginning. Expelling her imprinted qi and restoring her body’s condition in the process,” I said with a slight grimace, it would not be an enjoyable process for her. Getting rid of imprinted qi was extremely gruelling. “Finally, there’s you,” I said and pointed at Eleb.
She pointed at her own chest and gave me a questioning look, still not quite ready to form words. “What about her?” Safi asked.
“Nothing much, she’s just using a crummy technique.” In response to this Eleb reared back looking slightly insulted.
“But if the qi is already imprinted, then you can’t change the technique,” said a rightly confused Safi.
“Correct, you can’t change the technique. But, you can improve it.” All three girls looked at me perturbedly. “Well, I can, at least.”
“Is anyone else feeling a little annoyed at this know-it-all?” asked Safi. Chit was the only one who shook her head. Eleb did not respond but I could see that she was politely annoyed. I could only sigh.
“Eleb, would you mind telling me what the far-side tournament is and when it’s happening.” I decided a subject switch was best as Chit began to wrap her head once more. Eleb sat up sharply in response and looked at me in disbelief.
“Is that what you want the team for?” she asked.
“I don’t know. Is it a team-based competition?”
“Yes, and it’s brutal. It’s a tournament that decides the next Expeditioners.” Before I could continue that line of thought, we heard a yelp from Safi who started to look frantically around my bed, tearing away covers and sheets.
“What are you doing?” I asked as I leaned back, my hands moving behind me to prop myself up.
“Something poked me,” she said. Finally she found what she was looking for and revealed it. “This bloody thing,” she said. She was holding a green feather. “What is this doing here?”
“A carrier’s call!” exclaimed a panicked Eleb.
“What?” I asked quickly. “What is it? I already found two, is it something important?”
“You found two of these already?” she asked, not calming down.
“Yes,” I admitted sheepishly.
“And you ignored them?” she asked, even louder.
“Well I don’t know what they are!” I tried desperately to defend my apparent ignorance.
“Come with,” she coughed a little in panic, then recovered. “Come with me. I’ll take you to the carriers.”
“Who are they?” asked Safi who was very much caught up in the excitement.
“Well, he can tell you when he gets back. If he gets back,” said Eleb who was already at the door. Without much choice in the matter I got up and followed her.
Casualperv I know this was a lot of exposition but it's high time I let you know how exactly cultivation works in this world. This is also the chapter that pushes this novel over 40,000 words which I think deserves a click of the heart.
Quick reminder that I have a Ko-fi account now if you would like to support me more directly it would be greatly appreciated. I am also thinking of running some writing workshops if anyone would be interested in that.
As always, thanks for reading!
