As Wu Ying finished his meal and moved to get another bowl, Ru Ping arrived next to Wu Ying, his bandaged face somber. “How are you feeling?”
“Tired.”
“Hold out your hand.”
“What?”
“Hold out your hand and keep it steady,” Ru Ping commanded again.
Too exhausted to argue, Wu Ying removed one hand from his bowl and held it out for Ru Ping. Ru Ping stared, eyebrows sloping together before he allowed Wu Ying to retrieve his hand and more food.
When Wu Ying sat back down with his meal, Ru Ping spoke up. “Your hand is trembling.”
“A little,” Wu Ying admitted.
Cultivating and channeling chi was not supposed to be a physically demanding act. But doing so for four days straight with little break would take a toll on most bodies. The constant churn of chi through meridians and dantian would affect the physical body in the same way channeling chi could increase a body’s strength or agility as a directed effect.
“You will not take your place at the next rotation,” Ru Ping said.
“I won’t?”
“No. Elder Li has determined she requires someone with both working eyes. Eat, rest, cultivate.” Ru Ping fished in his robe and pulled out a pill. “Take this when you have finished eating. It will dissolve while you sleep and provide nourishment for your body and increase your passive absorption rates.”
“What is it?” Wu Ying said, taking the bottle with both hands and turning it around to see no label attached.
“A Yang Metal Water Chestnut Pill,” Ru Ping said. “The yang chi within increases your passive chi absorption while the metal aspects help to cleanse your body.”
“And the water chestnut?”
“Tastes good.”
Wu Ying blinked and looked at Ru Ping. The other cultivator’s face was bland, offering no clue if he was joking. In the end, Wu Ying thanked the other for his aid and returned to his food. Even the brief surge of energy from a full stomach had faded as his body hungrily drew on whatever source of energy it could to fill the gaping maw in his dantian.
In short order, Wu Ying stumbled away from the cookpot, stuffed. He swallowed the pill before he collapsed on his bedroll, a part of him grateful for the balmy summer evenings before he fell asleep.
The next day, Wu Ying woke to the high morning sun beating down on his eyelids. Wu Ying threw a hand over his eyes before memory returned. Shooting up from his bedroll, Wu Ying was surprised to find his muscles moved without the usual aches and pains that had plagued him the last few days. Even more surprising was the extent his dantian had filled overnight. He was nearly half full, the highest amount he had been from a night’s sleep since they started this process.
After completing his morning ablutions and dealing with an overfull bladder, Wu Ying returned to the campfire. To his surprise, Wu Ying saw Elder Li working the campfire, frying up sticks of dough and warming a pot of soybean. Wu Ying scratched his head, surprised to see the civilized meal, and even more surprised when Elder Li made a stick of marinated meat appear in her hand to roast over the fire.
“Come, help me turn these,” Elder Li said without turning around.
“Yes, Elder,” Wu Ying said and hurried over.
Together, the pair cooked then handed out the fried bread sticks, warmed soybean drinks, and when it was ready, the barbecued meat.
When the initial rush was done, Elder Li turned to Wu Ying. “Eat. Then we’ll talk.”
Doing as he was commanded, Wu Ying scarfed down his meal before he was forced to raise his hands again, showing them off to Elder Li. Next, she ran him through his aura suppression exercises. As Wu Ying did his best to contain his chi, the Elder scowled.
“Pitiful,” Elder Li said. “If your cultivation was not as low as it was, I would rather use Ru Ping. Do not cultivate further. The less chi you have, the less you will affect the kurinji. Go practice your aura suppression until it is time. When you are reaching for your aura to strengthen it, make sure to not overreach. You must imagine the aura…”
Over the next few minutes, Elder Li detailed the numerous things Wu Ying had done wrong. From overreaching to the inept way he had smoothed his aura, the Elder offered criticism and solutions. By the time Elder Li was done and Wu Ying had time to consider her words, he realized by using both her knowledge and his own, he would likely reach the Greater Achievement level in the exercise.
Excited as he was by the accomplishment, Wu Ying could not help but look into the distance where the three Elders stood. A short distance from them was the reason for their entire expedition—a single bush that had altered its own destiny. The bush sat all by itself, the other nearby kurinji plants having died off due to the mutated plant hogging all of the chi in its surroundings.
Wu Ying let his eyes narrow on the plant, staring at the still closed buds. Wu Ying looked around and noted how other plants were close to flowering and in some cases, were flowering. If the mutated plant followed the same timeline, he had less than six hours to put his new learning into practice.
Moving a short distance away from the campfire, Wu Ying took a seat and cycled his breathing until he calmed down. Then, taking into account what Elder Li had said, he practiced, tightening his aura and smoothing out the imperfections in it. Working to make his presence ever smaller, ever more mundane. Ever more… mortal.
Hours passed in a flash, Wu Ying achieving minor gains through the process. Increased understanding or not, only through the process of practicing could Wu Ying gain a proper understanding and, most importantly, affect the change in his aura. Each minute, each pass over his aura saw an improvement, a gradual tightening that reduced his presence and decreased the leak. To Wu Ying’s surprise, the addition of the strenuous four days of channeling practice was what allowed him to make further strides. The constant flow of chi through and out of his body allowed Wu Ying to sense his acupoints with even greater precision. That allowed him to more closely tighten those acupoints and sense the outflow of chi to the aura membrane.
After hours, Wu Ying was awoken from his training. Ru Ping jerked his head toward where the Elders stood, at the edges of the boundary of the mutant kurinji flower. Even here, Wu Ying could sense the difference, the way the chi flow in the clearing had changed. As he turned his head, Wu Ying spotted how some of the other flowers in the meadow had already opened, others on the cusp of blooming.
“Go. Keep tight hold of your aura,” Ru Ping said.
“What will you be doing, Senior?” Wu Ying said.
“Harvesting. The other kurinji flowers are not as valuable, but they are rare. We can use them for a variety of pills.”
“Of course, Senior,” Wu Ying said. “There will be a lot of work.”
“I know. I’ve already started. I best get back to it. The flowers are only valuable when they have bloomed.”
“Good luck, Senior,” Wu Ying said. He walked forward, letting his gaze dart around the clearing.
Most of the cultivators at the seven formation flags were their strongest members. Those included Chao Kun, Liu Tsong, and Li Yao. Tou He was seated beside the fire, cultivating along with a couple of others. Another cultivator lay, sleeping. Only the Elders were up and active.
“Elders,” Wu Ying said as he bowed to the group as he arrived.
“Wu Ying. You have improved,” Elder Li said, looking the boy over. “Good.”
“Thank you, Elder.”
“I know we have spoken of this before, but let me reiterate. We enter a few minutes before it blooms, holding our auras tight to our bodies,” Elder Li said. “Once within, I will set up the harvesting material we need. I will conduct the entire harvesting process, but you will help me hold aside the branches I indicate. To store the flowers, we will place them in the chi-capturing cold jade container I have prepared. After which, you will take the container to Elder Wei as she prepares the pills.”