“Youngsters do not know what is best for them. It is up to us Elders to make sure they choose the right path.” Elder Li turned her head to look at Wu Ying. “Studying to be a pill refiner might be your eventual path, but have you considered what would happen if you have no talent for the practice? There is no pill scent on you, so I doubt you have touched a pill cauldron.”
Wu Ying shook his head. In truth, he was not sure it was the path he wanted to take. As Elder Li pointed out, he had yet to even touch a pill cauldron. That was why he was working in the blacksmith guild too, learning the basics of forging. Though Wu Ying was making mundane items at the moment, since he had little practical experience to draw upon. He had many more hours left before he could be expected to produce anything useable.
“Who do you think gets pills first? The martial specialist who protects the pill refiner, the blacksmith who can only trade his goods, or the harvester who supplied the refiner?” Elder Li asked. “Our skills might not be well known or highly lauded, but they are necessary and in demand.”
Wu Ying nodded, accepting her words. It was not as if Elder Li had given him much choice in joining her.
Seeing her opponent defeated, Elder Li pointed toward where Ru Ping worked in the fields. The laborer was shorter than Wu Ying and fatter, having kept a layer of pudge even through all the cultivation. Once Wu Ying spotted Ru Ping, Elder Li walked away without another word.
“Junior Long Wu Ying greets Senior,” Wu Ying said as he arrived before the portly harvester.
“You are the new recruit?” Ru Ping straightened his back, looking over Wu Ying. “Poor choice in clothing.”
“I did not expect to be working here today,” Wu Ying admitted.
“Elder Li does have a tendency to assert herself,” Ru Ping said. “You may call me Ru Ping. We don’t bother with all that Senior or Junior nonsense.”
Wu Ying dipped his head in agreement, though he felt uncomfortable with the notion. Still, he offered Ru Ping a half-smile. “What is it you need me to do?”
“You’ve worked fields before, correct?” Ru Ping said. “The way you crossed the grounds showed your background. For one, you didn’t trample over everything as you walked.”
“Have people done that?” Wu Ying said in surprise.
“Oh, yes. Why do you think Elder Li took us?” Ru Ping said. “What’s your background?”
“Rice farmer.”
“Mine too,” Ru Ping said, nodding happily. “Not many of us in the sect. But that’s neither here nor there. It’ll be good to show a man around. Most of our workers are women who dabbled in gardening before. But there are some things men are better at.”
Wu Ying felt a deep dread forming at Ru Ping’s words. In short order, he found that his intuition was correct as Ru Ping brought him before piles of compost.
“We need the first, second, and sixth piles turned. Leave the third and fourth piles alone; they’re cooking. And the fifth we need to add more manure to first,” Ru Ping said, clapping Wu Ying on the shoulder. “Once you’re done, there’s a book inside the box in the tree. You should study up on the plants we grow on the seventh to tenth piles.”
Wu Ying glanced over the numbered piles. While the smell of the compost piles was muted, showing they were extremely well cared for, he saw the steam coming off the piles as the compost broke down the refuse. The heat from the decomposing compost piles helped in this case, allowing the gardeners to grow plants that would not be otherwise viable in this cold weather. Of course, Wu Ying wondered why they did not use the greenhouse, but he was certain the book would provide the answer.
Hours later, Wu Ying had turned the compost piles, including the newly refreshed fifth pile, and was upwind, reading the provided book. It was a fascinating book, listing all the plants currently growing and many more which were not present. The book itself was structured different from the Principles, focused as it was not so much on the uses or an index of plants but on the assessment, observation, and care of the flora. There was even a section for the proper transportation methods for each listed plant.
Reading the book provided Wu Ying an understanding of why these plants were grown out in the open instead of being in the greenhouse. Being dual-souled plants, each plant needed both the yang heat gained from the piles and fresh sunlight and the yin chi of death from decomposition. The greenhouse, on the other, hand was pure yang heat from the sunlight, providing none of the necessary yin chi to allow these plants to grow.
As he read and later, when he was directed to help clear a ditch, Wu Ying found himself, for the first time in a long time, content and comfortable. Out here, among the plants, Wu Ying had a form of expertise that was valued. Perhaps the Elder was not so wrong after all.
Chapter 12
In.
Out.
In.
Out.
As Wu Ying breathed, he felt the chi twisting in his dantian. He pushed against it, feeling the way the chi struggled to escape, to find a new level. He had been gathering his chi for some time─weeks of careful progress. He was nearly ready─so close to achieving a breakthrough.
Eyes half-open, Wu Ying picked up the Lesser Bone Marrow Pill he had traded precious sect contribution points for and popped it into his mouth. A dry-mouthed swallow later and the pill was in his stomach, dissolving and releasing the chi contained within. Wu Ying’s eyes opened even as he clamped down hard on his aura.
Each pulse of energy from the pill he swept into his dantian, trying to contain as much of it as possible as it overflowed his dantian and meridians, breaking through the porous barrier of his aura membrane and escaping with each breath. For all the waste, Wu Ying still managed to grasp and contain some of the chi. As the pill released its contents into his body, Wu Ying felt the growing pressure in his lower dantian, the way it struggled to contain the increasing flow. And yet Wu Ying refused to allow his chi a release. Not yet.
Not yet.
Wu Ying felt a spike of pain go through him as an unexpected surge from the pill disrupted his careful collection of chi. He shuddered, the rampant chi running through his body as he tried to contain it. By the time he was done, his dantian felt even more fragile and Wu Ying found himself coughing. Wiping the blood from the lips, Wu Ying grumbled mentally. It was a mid-grade pill, but even so, the release was not as smooth as it could be. The assimilation process was not going as smoothly as Wu Ying desired, and a thread of fear ran through him as he considered how much longer he could hold.
As his dantian creaked again, threatening to break apart, Wu Ying finally released his hold on the chi within it. Wu Ying quickly pushed the released chi into his meridians, sending it along the previously opened meridians first to ensure they were fully cleansed before he directed the remainder at his tenth meridian. Pain coursed through his body as the chi flooded the constrained and filthy meridian, cleansing and scouring it clear. Wu Ying felt the corruption get carried away through his body to be deposited on his skin and also to his kidneys, where it was filtered out and pushed into his bladder.
Wu Ying breathed, forcing air in and out of his body as he cultivated, borrowing the power of the spirit pill to push for the next level. Hours passed before the chi surge from the pill finally died down and Wu Ying stood, his body rank and filthy. But beneath the dirty skin, he glowed with happiness. His successful ascension and reinforcement had carried him to a new level of strength.
Two more meridians to cleanse, then he would finally be able to progress toward gathering enough chi to cleanse his first Energy Storage meridian. Of course, that step would be much more difficult since the amount of chi required was so much higher. Storing so much chi in one’s dantian was dangerous and required the slow broadening of the dantian, as well as compacting the gathered chi to ensure it fit.