A Thousand Li

by Tao Wong

  “Fine…” Wu Ying said tiredly.

  He raised the drink to his lips but hesitated as it touched his lips. Already, the rank stench made his nose curl. He was certain he could see the octopi’s legs and the black soil from a seven-year-old grave floating in the concoction. Not to mention other even more unmentionable items.

  “This year?”

  Goaded, Wu Ying tilted his head backward and let the gloopy herbal brew slide down his throat. Root vegetables, bark, and soil, all of it flooded down his throat. Bitter and sour in equal measures, there were other tastes that Wu Ying could not—would not—describe. It dribbled down his throat, warming his body as it did so, before ending in his stomach which, thankfully, did not rebel.

  “Every single one of these taste worse than the last,” Wu Ying complained. A cup of tea helped to clear his mouth a little before he stuck a mouthful of mint under his tongue before getting to work.

  The manual’s method of cleansing was simple, in theory. It would work better the further along the cultivator’s body had progressed, which was part of why Wu Ying was so excited by it. It basically required Wu Ying to alter his innate chi into both unaspected and wind chi in proportions that varied depending on which meridian, extremity, and organ it would be directed toward. Once in the appropriate location, the wind chi would be directed to subsume itself in the body, displacing the other forms of chi and any pollutions or corrupted portions of the body. In turn, the unaspected chi would sweep up the newly revealed polluted chi to deposit within his kidney and stomach, where the brew would absorb the waste. After which, he would exude and otherwise dispose of the tainted residue.

  Simple.

  Of course, that was all in theory. As Wu Ying flowed chi through his body, he had to grumble at the fact that he had to constantly alter his chi first to wind chi, then separate it within his dantian, then, when he was ready, send it to the appropriate location with his unaspected chi.

  If he had a soul cultivation method that allowed him to produce wind chi, or even keep it within his body, it would have been much simpler. And technically, he could draw wind chi from his wind-aspected body, but considering the entire point was to flood his body with new wind chi, basically pushing out the tainted aspects of his body, doing so would actually be counterproductive.

  After all, using chi in any way generally ended up with a net loss. The energy would escape, be used up, and otherwise be lost as he processed it. It was why cultivators constantly cultivated, because if they did not, they would see a net loss through the simple act of living.

  The process of acquiring more chi than they lost was also part of the answer of why cultivators lived longer than the average mortal. The higher the cultivation level, the more chi flowed through the body, the more it reinforced the body and soul, which resulted in a slowdown in aging. Obviously old age eventually reduced the amounts of chi an individual had and the body broke down, but it helped.

  As Wu Ying gathered enough chi to begin the cleansing process, he sent the entire block of chi swirling through his chest. It was the first location suggested for cleansing since it had a significant number of capillaries and was most closely tied to the wind aspect. He had to be careful not to impact his own heart, but the meridians that flowed through that region were generally separated enough that he could do so with minimal exertion.

  Each breath he took, he drew in more wind chi, and each exhalation sent out the tainted unaspected chi. During the cleansing process, Wu Ying breathed a small modicum of tainted chi from his lungs, but the majority reentered his meridians to be pulled down to his stomach.

  Hours passed as Wu Ying slowly extended the cleansing process to other aspects of his body. Eventually, exhaustion took its toll on him and he released his cultivation, settling his flow before he opened his eyes.

  To wake to an all-too-familiar stench.

  “It looks like it’s working. Smells like it too,” Tou He called, sensing when Wu Ying stopped his cultivation and opened his eyes.

  “We shall see. Give me a few minutes. And you don’t have to stay here while I clean up.”

  Tou He did not need to be told twice, scrambling out of the room for fresh air while his friend stripped down and began the long process of cleaning himself and the room.

  When Wu Ying came out, wringing his hair and clad in new robes, he found his friend in the waiting room, quietly cultivating. Wu Ying sat down, pouring himself a cup of tea while he waited for his friend to finish his latest cycle. While he did so, Wu Ying ran a mental and physical check on his body, searching for changes.

  It did not take him long to ascertain that the cleansing process had worked. To a limited degree, obviously, since it was his first attempt. Still, compared to the body cultivation method that he had undergone before, which only reinforced his existing strengths, the cleansing process had cleared out some of the corrupted chi and lessened the area that was being damaged.

  Of course, the amount lessened was to a degree that if Wu Ying had not been intimately familiar with his own body, he would never have noticed. Still, it had been his first cleansing session. The next question, obviously, would be to ascertain what happened when both the body cultivation method he had purchased and the cleansing process were done, and how fast his body continued to degrade.

  In the best-case scenario, his cleansing and reinforcement would overtake the degradation in his body. However, to truly tell, it would require a few weeks of careful training, research, and practice.

  Before Wu Ying could continue plotting out his training for the next few weeks, Tou He released a long breath and opened his eyes.

  “It went well then.”

  “Why do you think that?” Wu Ying asked.

  “You’re not the most subtle of individuals. And I know you well enough.”

  Wu Ying snorted. “And you? How’s your research going?”

  “Well enough. We’ve narrowed it down to three potential options. I need to do more research into the backgrounds of the practitioners. Hopefully that way I can narrow it down further.”

  Wu Ying nodded. “And then we need to go and actually get our contribution points.”

  Tou He nodded amiably. The monk was, sometimes infuriatingly, serenely agreeable and accepting about the future. A part of Wu Ying knew he should be like that, learn to accept the future when it arrived and only then. But he was still too young, too eager to let himself become so old and… boring.

  At least for now.

  Chapter 16

  The next few weeks for Wu Ying were filled with cultivation practice, cleansing practice, time in the library, and even more time spent teaching the various Double Soul, Double Body Sect members about spiritual herb gardening.

  Wu Ying, to his surprise, found that he enjoyed passing on his knowledge. Especially since, he soon realized, much of what he had to teach was not regulated but basic theory. Some of it, he drew from his experience as a farmer. Crop rotations, proper weeding and trimming, gauging soil density, dampness, and nutrition.

  Other aspects were slightly more complex and leaned on the information Senior Goh had imparted to him. Judging the chi flow in a particular field and the external environment, then adjusting the locations of herbs so they could benefit from the natural contours of the garden. Elucidating on the kinds of herbs that would need to be planted around a garden to benefit the spiritual worlds as well as planning physical features like running streams or the location of the compost pile.

  All that was general knowledge, available in numerous manuals. In fact, Wu Ying spent an afternoon in the library, working with the attendants to ascertain the contents of the library, before he created his final reading list for his assignments. The fact that they had not taken the initiative to research within the library spoke of the lack of true interest among the group, rather than a lack of resources. It was so much easier to receive a training guide than do the research oneself.

  Still, it all benefited him, as Wu Ying was brought back again and
again to answer questions and verify the ongoing development of the gardens.

  Even in the winter, there were spiritual herbs that could be grown, lands that could be prepped, and in the Elders’ cases, formations that could be set up to provide artificial levels of elemental chi. Of course, it would have been simpler to build a proper greenhouse, but that was the difference between a simple Energy Storage cultivator and the knowledge of a true master of her craft. Developing a multi-layered chi greenhouse was just out of his skill set.

  Thankfully, for Wu Ying, all of this continued to increase his store of contribution points. It was sufficient for him to consider picking up the next body cultivation method, knowing that the ones he had right now were but stop-gap measures. On the other hand, Wu Ying was looking into complementary soul cultivation methods, which was when he ran into his next issue.

  While the cultivation cleansing method for the Eastern Gust and Western Breezes Body was allowing Wu Ying to improve himself, the minor variations between the body cultivation method he used and the cleansing method had begun to create issues within his body.

  Furthermore, the full Eastern Gust and Western Breezes cultivation method was flawed for his specific body type, in conflict with the soul cultivation methods that were recommended. While Wu Ying could continue using the Yellow Emperor method, it was obviously not ideal. Switching to a flawed soul cultivation method would just end up causing chi deviations between the two, leading to further problems down the road.

  Even worse, as Wu Ying researched other soul cultivation methods that had been recommended, he found many of those either missing important portions or just wrong for his body. It was here that the deviation from his bloodline surfaced.

  If Wu Ying wanted to continue pursuing the current body cleansing exercise, he would either have to find a Core cultivation manual for the Yellow Emperor and then, somehow, locate the long-rumored and lost Nascent Soul manual. Or he would have to end his cultivation journey as an Energy Storage cultivator.

  Neither of those options were particularly attractive to him.

  Which was why he was staring at the Five Winds Body cultivation manual, or specifically, the summary that had been provided. With the summary of it and the soul cultivation technique the Patriarch and the originator of the Five Winds technique had used, he could compare the two and verify if they were likely to work for him.

  But that left one small problem…

  There were no indications of a cleansing technique being part of the Five Winds technique at all.

  “Then how did he survive the poisoning?” Wu Ying grumbled, turning toward another document. It was one of the many accounts of the Patriarch’s life—provided to him free of charge as a way to promote the strength of the Double Soul, Double Body Sect—and it revolved around a fight between the Patriarch as one of the Sect Guardians before his ascension and a visiting demon cultivator who used poison.

  There were numerous passages involving the damage and destruction their fight had caused and the poisoning of the Patriarch. And yet the very next day, the Patriarch had turned up for an Elder meeting, unhurt and showing no effects from the poison. Which should be impossible without a thorough cleansing technique.

  By his side, the attendant Wu Ying had called over to question just shrugged. “He was the Patriarch.”

  “He wasn’t at that time though,” Wu Ying rebutted. “Are you certain this is a true account of what happened? Was maybe a visitation to a physician left out?”

  “It is an account by Elder Hiu. It is an authentic and unvarnished work, as it is drawn from his personal diaries. He never expected his personal work to be used in such a manner.” The attendant lifted his head, staring down at Wu Ying as he struggled to contain his sneer. “Nor would we lie about such things.”

  “Fine. It still doesn’t explain how he handled the poison.”

  “That is not something I can answer.” The attendant shrugged. “Now, if that was all…”

  Wu Ying reluctantly nodded, watching the attendant walk off. He turned back to the documents, grumbling under his breath at the lack of help. Over the past day, he had perused documents on the life of both the Patriarch and his second disciple in a bid to tease apart the secrets of their cultivation methods and their lives.

  Sadly, none of the documents had led him any closer to an answer.

  How had he managed to handle being poisoned? How had they survived fights with dark sects, demon sects, and even the ingestion of a bad batch of apothecarist pills? Too many questions, no answers within. In the end, there was something within the manual itself that would help him that was not listed in the summary.

  Or he would have to choose another way forward.

  Unfortunately, after so many weeks, the different parts, the different options he might have, kept reducing. Put out and exhausted, Wu Ying returned to reading, hoping to find a clue.

  Somewhere.

  ***

  Evening again, this time the group was having dinner in a restaurant. While the repast in the inn was more than acceptable, the innkeeper had a limited repertoire of meals. As such, Wu Ying and the group had taken to eating out on occasion.

  In this case, the restaurant they were dining in was one of the more popular establishments. Mostly to do with the simple, hearty, and abundant nature of the meals served, rather than any particularly astonishing gastronomic delights. All around them, outer sect disciples and a scattering of inner sect cultivators sat, consuming the platters of deep-fried meat, stir-fried vegetables, and bowls of rice. Unlike more expensive restaurants, there was barely a trace of chi embedded in the food, but none of that took away from its simple, fresh, and hearty palate.

  “So you’ve broken through again?” Wu Ying said to Tou He as he eyed his friend. The ex-monk had arrived late to the dinner table, his clothing in slight disarray.

  “Congratulations. That’s your seventh meridian opened?” Yu Kun said.

  “Thank you. And yes, just now. Cleaning up was the reason why I am tardy.”

  “Understandable. But isn’t it…” Wu Ying gestured at his friend’s torso, choosing not to give voice to his friend’s issues directly. After all, they were in public.

  “The solution we have settled upon actually requires me to be at the peak of the Energy Storage stage before we attempt it,” Tou He explained. He did not seem particularly worried about discussing his issues, at least in general. Which, Wu Ying figured, made sense. Outside of the escorts like Yu Kun, almost every outsider in the city was there due to some problem with their cultivation.

  “Oh, well, that’s good,” Wu Ying said. It was a little off-putting, since he had not progressed his own cultivation since arriving and his friend was already multiple meridians ahead of him.

  Beside them, Yu Kun sighed. Wu Ying looked over, then seeing that Yu Kun was not doing anything in particular, turned back to Tou He again.

  “So how long do you think it will take?” Wu Ying asked.

  “To reach peak Energy Storage?”

  Wu Ying nodded.

  “Maybe another three to four months,” Tou He said.

  Yu Kun let out another, deeper sigh.

  “Demon-spawned genius,” Wu Ying accused his friend gently.

  Tou He shrugged, having finished spooning rice into his bowl. He then picked up pieces of meat marinated in a sugar sauce then fried, before chewing on the whole thing.

  Again, Yu Kun sighed.

  “Enough already. What did you want to say?” Wu Ying said to Yu Kun.

  “Nothing. Beyond that you both are horrible friends.”

  Tou He raised an eyebrow.

  “What?” Wu Ying asked.

  Yu Kun threw up his hands. “Can you not sense the change in my cultivation base?”

  Wu Ying frowned. He stretched out his senses, touching upon Yu Kun’s aura, drawing a breath to taste it. The ex-wandering cultivator always had good control over his aura, unlike so many of the other sect cultivators. As it had been explained to
Wu Ying, aura control was quite important when one was traveling through the woods. Though having met other wandering cultivators in the Verdant Green Waters Sect, Wu Ying held certain doubts about Yu Kun’s explanation. In either case, Yu Kun’s control seemed to have grown even stronger.

  “Not really. You’re not leaking much at all,” Wu Ying praised.

  Yu Kun froze, his face betraying both pride and chagrin as he realized why his friends had not congratulated him.

  “When did you break through?” Tou He asked.

  “About a week ago,” Yu Kun said. “Some of us aren’t geniuses. It takes us a bit.”

  Wu Ying snorted, completely understanding Yu Kun’s feelings. Though considering the ex-wandering cultivator was also older than Wu Ying, perhaps his friend had even more reason to be jealous.

  “Congratulations, belatedly.” Wu Ying glanced around the table. “Both of you. Since you both have progressed, I’ll pay for today’s dinner.”

  Tou He smiled, while Yu Kun narrowed his eyes. “Wait. You’re doing this so that you don’t have to pay for a more expensive congratulatory gift, right?”

  Wu Ying smiled innocently. “Would I do that?”

  As Yu Kun glared, Tou He and Wu Ying broke into laughter.

  ***

  Dinner finished, the evening moon well on the way to crossing the middle of its path at night, the group was walking back to their temporary residences when Yu Kun brought up the expedition.

  “I think we are ready,” Yu Kun said. “It won’t take us very long to get there, and I have arranged for horses for everyone. We will be joined by another four, all in various stages of Energy Storage. We should be able to deal with the flock without an issue, if we work together.”

  “When do we leave?” Tou He asked.