Chapter 17:

Chapter 17.

~~~~~Tai Su~~~~

Qi… Qi is a strange thing that is difficult to put into words.

Qi is not something that can be explained properly to those that have not experienced it. The people of this world treat it like a substance that the more one interacts with the more ways one can find it interacts with themselves and those around them.

One of the more common interactions Qi has with the human body in enhancing it, making it faster, harder to damage or even more powerful, but Qi is not limited to that as in sufficient quantities it can turn a Mediterranean climate, a word I don't even have a way to describe in my new language, where citrus trees such as oranges and lemons grow to a place when snow reaches several meters up into the air as I have experienced.

It is also the best way to get personal power for anyone on this world, and for some reason it would not obey me.

"Still nothing." I grumbled.

It's been days since we started our trek and none of us managed to do more than sense Qi. We couldn't get it inside our Meridians even, let alone use it.

"If it was this this easy everyone would be a cultivator." Bao said softly.

I sighed at that, I suppose that was true, but it was difficult to think about it reasonably when our survival depended on it.

"Where are the others? It's about noon and they should be here." I asked.

"Da Xiu and Yu Zong are off testing the heavens forbearance, Ya Xue went to refill the water skins." She replied morosely.

I sighed at that, at least Ya Xue could stay focused on a task. Those other two needed daily sex to function it seems, and at this point I'm sure that if Yu Zong is not pregnant then she will be by the time we reach the sect.

"Any luck?" I asked her.

She was the only one that hasn't managed to sense Qi yet. My Water Meridians meant I could sense Qi easier even if Ya Xue struggled a bit more, while the other two could compare notes and help each other as they had the same technique, but she had a separate technique on account of her meridians being something in-between.

"No." She pouted.

"You'll get it eventually, we've only been at it for three or so days. We'll try and match our location with one of the trails on the map for a few more days and you'll have plenty of time to find out how to do it." I assured her.

My words didn't seem to assure her, if anything they made her discontent even worse.

I rose up and went closer to her spot on the wood stump we made our camp around.

"What is the issue Bao?" I asked as I settled near her.

She continued looking in front of her at nothing.

"When will we be getting properly married and have children Tai?" She asked out of nowhere.

"What brought this question?" I asked back to buy myself some time to make sense of my thoughts.

"I want children Tai, I want a proper home and I want them before one of my parents dies, I want them to know out family continues to grow and be prosperous." She answered.

I wanted a similar thing too, but now was truly not the time to have it.

"When we finish this trial, we'll look over the exact details around child rearing and pregnancy among cultivators. When we know that we can think of options, as we quite frankly don't know enough about sect life and how that works to say for sure." I said simply.

It was the only answer I could give as I truly did not know much about how the Blazing Fist Sect handled this sort of thing.

"And assuming that wasn't an issue? That we could just have a child or two without issue?" She asked again.

"Then as soon as we can get a proper home to raise them in." I promised.

Marriage here was not determined by fancy parties or rituals or official events, it was determined by our families and became official when it produced a child and Bao wants plenty. So do I but first we to make sure we have a roof over our heads that belongs only to us.

She smiled at that and it was a genuine and heartfelt smile.

"I'll hold you to that promise." She replied.

"I'll hold myself to that promise, now it's your turn to try to cultivate, I'll keep vigil." I said.

She proceeded to do just that and closed her eyes as she tried to sense Qi.

Feeling Qi is like feeling hot air, but not with you skin, but with another set of veins you can't consciously feel or even see until you feel Qi coursing through them.

I can feel them, my meridians. They feel like thick ropes in-between my muscles, but it felt like they belonged there despite the sensation feeling like nothing I've felt before.

What I can't feel yet is the Dantian, the part of myself that is supposed to keep the Qi the Meridians collect, but that will come in the following days, now I need to look over Bao and wait for the others to return.

~~~~~Ya Xue~~~~~

"I did it I can feel it!" Bao Xiaoli exclaimed just as the day started being replaced by night.

The others in the group cheerfully went after her to congratulate her on the accomplishment, the same way they di for me, albeit her husband was far more cheerfully than when he did it for me.

It's been days since I've joined this group after my banner abandoned me and if it's one thing that is different here than among my own banner is the lack of competition.

"Congratulations Bao." I said with a false smile and went to hug her.

Oh, I was happy for the other girl, especially as she worked hard for it, but the entire scene made me feel bittersweet.

Among the cherry banner, before they abandoned me, I can't imagine them actually being this happy for my own accomplishments, ever. It was always thin smiles that hid daggers, or condescending congratulations.

I've never had this sort of fuzziness when I was among the others and it made me bitter to realize that I could have had this, that life could have been like this and that it once again wasn't my fault that my life ended up with me so distant from everyone including most of my own clan.

The hug felt nice, as if I was once again home and father and mother were both home. It's been a long time since that happened and the memory is all I have of that time.

"Thank you , thank you! You guys are right, it does feel weird, it's like rope, but inside the body, but it feels like it belongs there." Bao said.

I stopped the hug, despite wishing to continue, it would be strange if I kept it for much longer.

I made to return to my place near the fire before Tai Su prevented that.

"Excellent, now come gather up everyone we need to discuss our next step. Yu Zong, please bring up the map, you're the closest to it." Our leader asked.

I came near our leader with my spear as always. Bao looked at me strangely, but mine was hardly the only spear at our little gathering, as the men's spears never left their sides either.

Big sister Yu did as he asked without comment and everyone started gathering around him as we waited for big sis to bring the small map Bao made. The men stood near one another, their wives at their side and me on the end of our group.

I moved a bit to let Yu settle down comfortably and looked at the map. It wasn't the best map ever done, but it was done in a hurry which made it far, far better than anything I could do.

The small map showed the surrounding area and on them were a number of flags and darker areas.

"We are here, at the first checkpoint and supply drop point. There were no supplies here except firewood which tells us that others managed to find it, but now we need to determine our next two stops." Tai Su declared.

"The next one is obvious, the next supply drop point down south, it's the next one we need to discuss, do we go for the one that's south east but pass the river or do we go south west and go around where the river ends?" Da Xiu said.

"The river does tell us that we're at the right spot if we do find it." I observed.

"The big rivers are where the big beasts frequent the most, if we go there we risk a confrontation and I think we should save that until all of us can cultivate. There's boars in this forest and our spears won't help much with them." Yu replied.

I shuddered and I wasn't the only one, Bao and Tai Su were both shuddering with me.

Boars are worse than even bears, despite being the smaller of the two, because boars don't care. Bears will look at you and will more often than not decide you are not worth the effort and go chew on bamboo, especially when you are in a group and armed with spears.

Boars will actively take that as a challenge and die to kill even one of you even as you spear them through. Their meat might taste good, but nobody with sense hunts them without preparing specifically for a board hunt for a reason.

Tai Su took a coal piece and traced two rough lines, one from the outpost to our current location and another to our next stop.

"I propose we go to our next stop and stay there for a few days until we can all cultivate and enhance our bodies according to our cultivation manuals. If it takes more than a week we go south west."

"We would be cutting it close then, the last stretch of land is where there's the most beasts." I interjected.

Interjecting myself into conversations and planning, that's something else I rarely did before, but the lemons seem to appreciate it where my old banner frowned at it.

"What do you propose?" Da Xiu asked.

"We skip the first stop and go to the supply point to the south west directly, find where the river ends then rush it to the sect day and night in a forced march. The predators are less likely to be active during the night and the animals don't make burrows near the river if what we managed to find out about them is true. A forced march gets us at the sect the fastest, makes sure it's impossible to miss it and then we can cultivate once we're sure everything is handled." I answered.

"It would be a long trek through the parts of the forest with the most beasts.", Big sister Yu said.

"A lot of things could go wrong in the dark and we would not have a lot going for us." And Da Xiu continued.

I looked at Tai Su and Bao and it seemed that they weren't convinced of my plan either.

"At the very least following the river would allow us to not get lost around the area. You saw what the books said before we left. Most of the sect is underground and the exact location is difficult to spot above ground if we don't know exactly where it is, following the river makes it clear that we have a clear path to our destination that we can't miss. We could be spending many days just trying to find it and bumbling into beasts, a direct path is better." I replied.

We don't even know how the entrance looks and we were told it's deliberately hidden too and only the river serves as a way to reach it. If we follow it we reach where we want with the least possible complications.

"We vote, all in favor of the original plan? We go south to the next supply point, then try and figure out cultivation before pushing forward and deciding if we go near the river or not or do we go south west and see if we can do a force march? Rise your hand for my plan." Tai Su said simply.

Three arms up, Tai Su, Bao and Da Xiu.

We looked at Yu.

"I like the sound of keeping things simple." She answered.

"Three on two regardless, we go with my plan." Tai Su declared.

"Could we link up with the others? There's safety in numbers , especially if we link up with the cherry banners." Bao asked.

The others looked thoughtful at that but I winced. Thankfully, it seemed that in the setting darkness nobody noticed.

"I don't think that's a good idea." I replied softly.

The other Applicants might be someone we can talk and work with, but I did not trust my fellow bannermen where our superiors can't see them.

"Why not?" Tai Su asked curiously.

"Because the last thing we want is some lemon shits coasting off our tails or a traitor that went to join them after she tried and failed to go above her station." A harsh male voice shouted.

It wasn't my voice that answered it, but a familiar one I really wanted to not hear ever again.

All of us prepared for a fight, me the most of all of us because I recognized that voice. I was thankful I had my spear near me because the man that shouted was not the type that liked talking much with others.