Chapter 22-Foundations 3
Perhaps it was the influence of the qi locus they had found, or the burning of dicinal energy in her dantian from the pills and notes Li Suyin had gifted her, or simply her determination to succeed, but Ling Qi found the cultivation of the third stage of the Argent Soul Art coming to her easily.
In the third stage, Ling Qi had to compress the qi she cultivated, carefully pressing it against the surface of her dantian until it began to congeal into a flexible layer reinforcing her dantian against rupture and damage. This thick qi could then be drawn away in strands and woven into muscle and bone, further fortifying her body.
Ling Qi spent her afternoons between lessons on this process, gradually accumulating the Argent Qi in more potent quantities as she mastered the third stage.
In the evenings, Ling Qi tutored Li Suyin in physical cultivation. Li Suyin’s own efforts had taken her close to a breakthrough. Once she had grasped Elder Zhou’s initial lessons as relayed by Ling Qi, Li Suyin reached the first level of the Gold Physique.
Elder Su’s lessons continued to be trying due to Ling Q’s other classmates, but they were fruitful as well. The Elder was beginning to delve into more complex aspects of qi, which included sothing that had confused Ling Qi. Naly, she got an explanation for what a ‘Yin Aspected’ art was. Despite there being dozens of qi types beyond the basic elents of earth, wind, water, fire, mountain, lake, thunder, and sky, all arts fell into one of three categories.
Yin, Yang, and Balanced.
As the basis for everything which existed, the study of these concepts was a deep and complex subject, and even Elder Su’s lessons were only a beginner’s prir. Yin was reactive, passive, or absorbent and was more used in internal and support arts. Yang was active, aggressive, or impenetrable and was more used in the ‘flashy’ external arts typically associated with immortals.
There were many details and many exceptions due to the sheer number of arts and the unconventional ways in which qi could be expressed. Ultimately, the most important thing was that Elder Su taught them how to feel the difference between Yin qi and Yang qi.
Argent Soul, the Sect-given cultivation art, was an example of the third option, Balanced. Balanced was neutral with Yin and Yang equally present.
Her other arts were exclusively yin. That wasn’t particularly surprising for the moon arts she had gained – given the moon’s traditional association with yin – but she had been unsure about Zephyr’s Breath.
Ling Qi thought she had caught Elder Su eyeing her and Li Suyin speculatively once or twice over the course of the week. She had a good feeling about placing in the top five for the prize. She needed to keep striving for excellence. Despite how busy she was, Ling Qi had not forgotten the other task which she had set for herself in the lead up to Elder Zhou’s test. She was more determined than ever to find a way to give back to Bai izhen.
One cold and windy evening when their schedules had coincided in both of them being ho, she found her opportunity to ask.
“Are you sure you don’t want any?” Ling Qi asked as she loaded her plate with the al – extravagant for her – she had cooked. A few months ago, the idea of roasting an entire chicken for herself would have been ridiculous. Even if she had managed to steal and strangle one of the vicious, feathery little monsters, she certainly wouldn’t have eaten the whole thing. Now, she found that even if she didn’t eat often, when she did, she tended to be voracious.
Bai izhen eyed the well-cooked poultry on Ling Qi’s plate with ill-concealed disgust from across the fire. It was a little insulting. Ling Qi didn’t think her cooking was that bad, especially since she had access to decent seasoning.
“I am sure. Thank you,” the pale girl responded politely, belying her expression.
“Alright.” Ling Qi wasn’t going to push, even if it was a bit depressing that she couldn’t even give the other girl back sothing as simple as a al.
“So... About those two from my physical cultivation lessons...?”
They had already spoken earlier on Fan Yu’s... injury. While the poison Bai izhen had inflicted would permanently cripple a mortal, soone with qi could apparently clear the paralysis after a ti spent circulating their energy and ditating. The other girl had seed baffled at the implication that even that might have been excessive.
“Kang Zihao, I have not personally heard of,” Bai izhen said, nursing a cup of tea as she usually did, Cui coiled loosely around her neck like a jade choker. “The Kang family is prominent in the capital and well favored by the Imperial court. I believe Kang Guanzhi is the current head of the Palace Guard, although that is a position with a high rate of turnover. I’m afraid I could not say if he is one of the man’s younger sons or rely a cousin however. As for Cai Renxiang, I am sowhat shocked that you do not know of her.” Going by Bai izhen’s raised eyebrows and stern expression, Ling Qi felt like she was being scolded for ignorance again.
“Why would I know of her?” Ling Qi asked defensively after she finished swallowing her current mouthful of food.
“One should at least maintain basic civic awareness,” Bai izhen responded with disappointnt. “Really, if this is the state of education in these southern cities...” Ling Qi shifted uncomfortably, suddenly reminded that she had never really clarified exactly how low her birth was.
“Cai Renxiang is the daughter and heiress to the Duchess of this province,” Bai izhen said. “The Cai family is very new, of course, at a re three generations from their first cultivator, but Cai Shenhua is the youngest White cultivator in the Empire. It is not surprising that the Cai seized the governorship of a province.”
Ling Qi really hoped that the girl’s interest in her wasn’t malicious then. “Er... I think I can guess, but what exactly does being a ‘White’ cultivator denote?”
Bai izhen sighed.
“It is the eighth and highest realm of spiritual cultivation one can achieve in the mortal plane. To go beyond it or the physical equivalent is to beco a great spirit. There are typically around ten such cultivators in the Empire at any given ti.”
Ling Qi had thought it was sothing like that, but the idea still boggled her mind. A person could beco a great spirit? “Has that ever actually happened before?”
“Of course. In fact, the last ascension was quite recent. The previous Emperor ascended to beco an aspect of Death and is now the Great Spirit Inexorable Justice.” Bai izhen’s tone was grudgingly respectful even as she spoke of sothing absurd.
Things like that were way too far beyond Ling Qi for her to worry about. She needed to bring the conversation back to the real reason she wanted to speak with her housemate
“Right. That’s... Thank you for the lesson. Putting that aside, if you don’t mind, I wanted to ask you about sothing else.”
Bai izhen nodded, seemingly content with the change in subject, although she wrinkled her nose as Ling Qi continued eating.
“Go ahead. Is there soone else you feel concerned over? I noticed that you seem to have stirred up the rabble of lesser nobles sohow.”
“Nothing like that,” Ling Qi responded.
“Actually... I talked with Cui a couple weeks ago because I wanted to do sothing for you since you’ve been helping
so much, you know?” The little serpent flicked her tongue at Ling Qi as she awkwardly stumbled through her statent.
Bai izhen glanced down at her companion, who flicked her tongue a few more tis and twisted her head to the side.
“That is unnecessary, but I suppose I thank you all the sa. I am sowhat surprised that you managed to speak with Cui. She is impatient and lazy after all.” Ling Qi didn’t think she had ever seen a snake manage to look affronted before.
“I really do want to do sothing,” Ling Qi responded quietly. “Cui ntioned that you had your eye on a talisman? A jade dragon pendant so girl was wearing? I can get it for you if you want. I’m sure it wouldn’t be too hard.”
Bai izhen blinked, then blinked again, apparently trying to rember the girl in question. This didn’t do much for Ling Qi’s confidence that Bai izhen actually wanted the talisman.
Then, sothing strange happened. Bai izhen’s golden eyes widened, and she... blushed? Her unnaturally pale cheeks went pink, and she glared down at Cui.
“T-that won’t be necessary. Cui was simply exaggerating a passing interest.” The last words ca out almost as a hiss and seed to be directed more at her serpent companion than Ling Qi. It was odd to hear Bai izhen sounding almost flustered.
Ling Qi didn’t really understand what was going on between Bai izhen and Cui, but surely, there had to be sothing she could do.
“Alright. So you don’t want the necklace. Is there sothing you do want?”
The flush was already fading from Bai izhen’s cheeks as she considered Ling Qi’s question.
“... I am sorry, but there is nothing at the mont.” Ling Qi’s shoulders slumped slightly. Was she really that useless? “Once you break through into the Yellow Soul or Silver Physique however... There is sothing you can assist
with then.” Bai izhen seed slightly uncomfortable with making the request.
“... Alright,” Ling Qi responded, looking down at her half-finished al. “I won’t take too long.”
Ling Qi felt surprisingly warm when Bai izhen nodded as if she really believed her.
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