Chapter 15: The Weed in the Garden

Chapter 15: The Weed in the Garden

When Paike emerged from his cultivation chamber, he found that the sun was just rising, and Guan Li was cooking breakfast in the kitchen.

“Good morning,” Guan Li greeted in his extremely casual manner of speaking.

“Good morning, Guan Li,” Paike responded.

“Are you feeling any better?” Guan Li asked as he set down some food and slid a bowl across the table to Paike.

Paike had to step forward quickly and stop the dish from sliding off the edge and falling to the floor. He grunted in response, “Mm, a bit.”

“I was thinking,” Guan Li continued, “You should ask Elder Chu to take a look at you. Liming told me a little bit about what happened, but I don’t think she has the full story either. You had some sort of fight with an ancient spirit, right? Did it poison you? Inject some sort of toxin?”

“Hmm, nothing like that. Not really.”

Paike said and briefly explained what had happened. How he gave up some of his cultivation to reclaiming it, but finding it changed and possibly tainted. “I think I stabilized my cultivation so far, but something is different now. I’m not sure exactly about the mechanics… I also seem to have smoothed out the power differential, making it so it’s not unsafe to have the higher realm qi inside me.”

In fact, Paike felt good. Better than he had in a long time. His qi still wasn’t moving like it should, but he felt energized, powerful—like he could take the world by the ears and ride it across the sky.

“Is that why Elder Ji told you to progress?” Guan Li asked.

“So you heard that? Well, I don’t know. Maybe, probably. But it could have been something else. Advancement is the right answer at least half the time if the stories are right.”

That feeling of power lasted well into the spiritual cultivation class, where they reviewed some of the more nuanced parts of opening meridians and learning arts.

Paike paid particular attention to this, as he hoped to soon be able to start practicing his new art in earnest. But for now, it was simply on the back shelf until he figured out his more immediate situation. This time, after class, he joined the queue of people asking questions. He wasn’t exactly eager to have everyone overhear his problems, but he didn’t want to hold back either.

After a few people had their turn, he stepped forward in front of Elder Chu. She looked just as casual as ever in her odd clothing, her straw hat held at her side. Occasionally, she would use it to fan herself as if it were sweltering. Before he even had a chance to say anything, she snapped her fingers and gave him a considerate look. “Kong Paike! You know, I’m surprised you didn’t die.”

He blinked. “What?”

“Well, your cultivation… You pulled in tainted qi with higher realm toxicity into your dantian directly, and you managed to survive. Normally, that would have killed someone in Ruby almost instantly.”

Paike wasn’t sure how to respond to that, or how she could know all that from just looking at him. So he just stared at her for a half second. “Elder Ji said something similar,” he said after a moment, “but didn’t really give me much advice.”

Elder Chu nodded, not saying anything, waiting for him to ask his question.

“Uh… my qi moves slowly. Is there anything I can do to fix that?”

She looked at him with a pitying glance and let out a heavy breath, puffing out one cheek as she sighed. “I don’t think I can help you with that problem. Talent is something that some have, and some don’t.”

Paike grimaced. He knew the answer. She had been more encouraging than most of his family who had addressed this issue, but still, it wasn’t easy to accept. “What I mean to ask, though, is… is there anything I can do with my qi to fix my other issues? Is— is my lack of talent helping me in some way?”

Elder Chu tapped her lips with a finger as she thought. Paike glanced around, wondering what his classmates were thinking. But surprisingly, they didn’t seem to have reacted to anything he said.

“Oh, don’t worry,” she said, seeming to read his thoughts. “No one can hear us.”

Paike tried to think back and remember the first couple of questions the others had asked. He had thought he was simply too focused on his own thoughts to pay attention. Still, now that he reflected on it, he hadn’t understood any of the words spoken before him ever since she had snapped—just a jumble of sounds that resembled words. He nodded his appreciation for the Elder’s gesture of privacy.

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