That evening Jemman went to bed exhausted. Without knowing it she'd been using qi throughout the day. It had made her movements more meaningful and subtle. It also demanded much more of her body. Though she was clueless about what was happening to her, Jardin had carefully watched her throughout the day and could see regular signs of someone on the cusp of true cultivation. If he'd known it he had acted a lot like a piano tuner. When she wasn't quite using enough qi he'd tighten her. When she was using too much he slowed the rhythm down and loosen her actions. By the evening she was in tune. Unfortunately, like a piano Jemman could and would slowly go out of tune unless he taught how to self-regulate her use of qi.
To that end, the next morning he sent Kraem off on another meaningless task that made him feel very important. After three hours of habit-forming training he and Jemman sat down to finalise her cultivation. Well, the beginning of it.
"Today you start a journey. How you begin to travel is the way you are travelling in that moment. Today you will form your habits and today you must determine to never do any less than your best. Imperfection is death to a cultivator.
"That being said, you cannot start a journey at the destination. You are never perfect until you learn perfection through sacrifice. You cannot be perfect at the start of any journey.
"Do you understand?" He waited, making it clear that he expected an answer.
"I think so. Your warning me to always do my utmost to achieve perfection. If I ever do less than my best I'll fail in the end."
"So, you understand a little. Put what I just said together with what we've been learning nonstop about boundaries. Cultivation is going against the heavens. You always need to do more than your current best. Even more than is possible.
"You can't do it with your brain, it takes your whole being. That's why you need a bloodline. If it was just about understanding, the smartest person would always be the best cultivator. It has to come from who you are."
Intrigued Jemman asked, "What is a bloodline?"
"A bloodline is the essence of a creature's being. They sacrifice a part of themselves to enable someone they esteem to become greater than they currently are. It is not usually a permanent sacrifice to them but it is painful and slows down their personal power for a while.
"It is much more than blood, it is them." Having said this Jardin took out a small thimble and concentrated his whole being into creating ten drops of his pure essence. "This is what will give you my bloodline. I freely offer it to you."
Jemman was stunned. "I cannot. Why would you...?"
"Without it you will never cultivate all Four Heavens. The four creatures nature's and blood are not compatible with each other. But my bloodline is Wolof. It allows you to take on the nature of another and work with it. Wolof blood essence has never been given to one outside our race. It cannot be taken from us unwillingly. Will you truly give up such power?"
"Will you tell me why?" She had watched the warrior age before her eyes and saw pain in his every movement.
"I already told you, Only Eight. But if that is not enough, the concern in your eyes is another reason. You will take on something of my nature if you accept it. Don't you think a nice set of canines would be attractive?"
Jardin laughed at the horror written on Jemman's face. "Or cute little wolf ears? I gave up part of my life and you're worried about growing a tail?"
After laughing again he added, "It will help with the alphabet song though and that's also important. I've heard you howling as you run around. It's been truly sad. So please accept this gift."
Jemman stood up and bowed deeply from the waist. "I would be truly honoured to accept your essence, though I'm not sure how to use it."
Taking out a small pipet Jardin put two drops on her forehead. He then placed drops on her wrists, feet, back and heart.
"Usually only one or two drops of blood essence would be fine, particularly for a new cultivator. But wolofs are different. Ten drops will set you free to become who you will."
Jardin then began to instruct her on opening a meridian. He began with a point on her right hand. Jemman, take a moment and feel the energy around you. Jemman tried, but for once it seemed impossible. It was similar to when Susie had been depressed in her teens, she knew she had the drive to do something but for some reason the energy was just out of her reach.
Jardin said five simple words. "Pretend you are assassinating Kraem."
Immediately, Jemman began to attune herself to her surroundings.
"Now, feel the heat on your skin and move it to the palm of your hand."
As he was talking he slapped her hand. She jumped up, but she could actually feel the transfer of heat from her skin to her palm resulting from his action.
"Now, move this qi to a point." Touching a fleshy part of the palm between her ring finger and pinky, he left a light indent with his sharp claw. "Keep pouring it in, pulse the qi until the flow breaks through your meridian." With that he he began tapping the meridian with a metronome-like beat.
Over the next few moments the flow seemed to come from within her rather than from without. As the meridian broke, energy fluctuated along her arm and towards her pinky. Sweat poured from her right hand and she started to tingle.
"Congratulations Princess, you're on your way to becoming a dragon."
She looked at him wolfishly, "A hidden dragon."