The following day was really uneventful. Cao Yun was so tired that he could not do anything at all. Instead, he only focused on cultivating his mind, practicing his spear mentally and cultivating his Qi. As he was really getting close to Perfection with the Zhi character, he decided to spend a little more time on it.
He also discussed with Huang Cixi, disguised as his servant, Mei Yuzhi. They mainly talked about cultivation as Cao Yun wanted to reward his little servant by sharing some insights.
She actually gained quite a lot and was feeling pretty strange about it. The more time she was spending with Cao Yun, the more confused she was getting about her own desires. The mourning of her family was getting further and further from her. Instead, she was recovering her composure. The more she observed Cao Yun, the more she realized that he was sincerely a good man.
-
The next day was the last one of the week. Elder Tang had told them that they should probably rest two days after the first training session, and he was right. But Cao Yun did not want to stay idle.
He walked through the courtyard to get some fresh air. He also took his spear with him and did some moves. As he didn't want to destroy the courtyard, he did not circulate his Qi to its full potential. While he was training, he mainly focused on slow moves to feel each technique and to recover at the same time.
In the middle of his training, he sensed a small presence watching him from afar. It clearly was a child, probably one of the servants, so Cao Yun did not mind.
When he was finally done, he heard a small applause.
"You were so cool, Older Brother!" The voice was very small and cute.
Turning around, Cao Yun immediately recognize this cute smiling face. The last time he had seen it, it was still covered in blood. She was the little girl who got beaten up by Luduo Bu.
"Older Brother, thank you for saving Mei Ying." The girl spoke with a brimming smile.
"Mei Ying?"
"Yes, that's me, Mei Ying." The little girl seemed confused by his question as if it was obvious. "You were so cool with this big spear. But ain't it too big for you?"
"Wait! Whose servant are you?"
"I'm not her servant! I'm her sister!" Mei Ying started to pout and stamp the ground with her feet.
"Whose sister?" This strange answer was really confusing for Cao Yun.
"Mei Ying! I told you not to leave your bed!" To answer his question properly, Mei Hua came running outside. As she tried to grab the little girl, Mei Ying jumped behind Cao Yun.
"Older Brother, protect me again! She wants to make me sleep all day long!"
Mei Hua had not even seen Cao Yun here and got surprised. All of a sudden, she realized that she wasn't properly dressed and arranged her clothes. She wasn't even wearing her uniform.
"Chen Guo. I wanted to speak to you."
"Is she your servant?"
"No! I'm her sister, not her servant!" Mei Ying protested again.
Sighing deeply, Mei Hua explained. "She's indeed my little sister. Like me, she enrolled in the Wubei Sect this year, so she became a servant. Usually she should have to compete with the other servants to have the right to choose the disciple she would serve. But an exception was made for her so that she could stay with me."
"I'm not the servant of a stupid alchemist!" Mei Ying pulled on Cao Yun's uniform. "Hey, Older Brother, don't you want me as a servant?"
"Mei Ying! Stop it!"
"No! You only want me to sleep! With Older Brother, I'd learn cool moves all day long. You just sit and cook, that's boring!"
"It's alchemy, it's not boring at all, you just don't understand!"
"Isn't it just cooking some beans? I can do it better than you!"
"You little..." Mei Hua jumped toward her little sister who started to run across the courtyard.
"Bean cook! Bean cook!"
This was a sight to be seen for sure. Remembering his own little sister, Cao Yun could not stop himself from smiling and laughing a little.
After a while, Mei Ying went back to him. "See, Older Brother, she's mean! She always wants me to do boring stuff! I want to be cool like Older Brother not some lame bean cook."
Cao Yun got down to her level. "Come on, your sister is just worried after what happened to you. And if you want to be a cool fighter, you'll need alchemy at some point."
"Well, if Older Brother says so, it's probably right..."
"You little..." Mei Hua could not imagine that she would be betrayed by her own sister. She would not listen to a single one of her words but everything this guy said was pure gold. "Wait! Older Brother? You know him?"
"Of course, silly. He's my older brother. I told you about him. Stop cooking beans, it's bad for your head!"
Mei Hua was so used to her teasing that she simply disregarded it. "Chen Guo, it's you who saved her?"
"Well, I didn't know she was your little sister, but yes, I did."
Mei Hua was even more mortified than before. She already wanted to apologize because of her behavior but now it turned out that he was the man who had saved her sister. "Listen, about the other day..."
"I know. You probably had learned about your little sister very soon before." There was a heavy pause in his voice. "I can understand that it was hard to process.
Are you doing anything today?"
"What?!" This sudden question shocked Mei Hua as she imagined that Cao Yun was interested in her.
"Well, I thought that I could show some moves to Ying'er if you don't need her." He stroked her head, and it exasperated her sister. Each time she tried to only pat her head, she received hundreds of insults about alchemy. However, she was absolutely obedient with this guy. Well, he had saved her life after all... "I know you're worried about her but moving around should be a better way to recover than lying in bed."
"Older Brother is so great! Come on, Sister..."
"Fine, fine. But please, do go overboard." When she heard that Cao Yun wanted to spend time with her little sister and not her, Mei Hua felt a little relieved but very frustrated.
"So, what weapon do you want to use?"
"The same as you!"
Cao Yun broke a small branch and made a wooden spear for the little girl. Even though it was small, its length was still twice the size of Mei Ying.
As soon as she got it, she waved it around trying to mimic what she had seen. But she clearly didn't know what to do with it.
"Let's play a game, it's simple, just try to touch me with this 'spear'."
"Easy! Yah!" She tried to attack by surprise just after speaking but Cao Yun dodged without any problem.
She kept trying to touch him again and again without any success. Mei Hua, who had left them alone, went out to see them from time to time. Huang Cixi too came out and was surprised to see Cao Yun playing with a little girl. When he was still with the Cao family, he loved playing with his little sister, so he found it very refreshing.
"You're too fast, Older Brother! I can't touch you..."
"No, I'm not too fast. I'm only moving as fast as you are. The problem is not my speed, it's your moves. You use too much energy in every strike. Stop waving the 'spear' around, it allows me to see your movements sooner. And you'll be tired faster."
They kept playing around for at least an hour. Cao Yun took the opportunity to give real pointers to this little girl. After an hour of trying to hit him, she got better and better at wielding the spear. As she got tired, she could not do big movements anymore, so her technique became smoother and more refined.
Finally, sensing that she was at her limit, Cao Yun let her touch him once, just barely. This way, he would not discourage her but she would still want to improve again.
"Almost!" Mei Ying got so tired that she literally felt asleep in the courtyard. Cao Yun took her in his arms and went to Mei Hua's room.
-
When she opened the door Mei Hua was a little surprised to see Cao Yun coming to her room. Then she saw her little sister in his arms.
"I'm bringing her home."
"Of course, come in."
Mei Hua showed him where her bed was and thanked him again. "Without you, I don't know what could have happened to her... I'm very sorry about the other day."
"I understand. But I can tell you again that I'm not belittling alchemy. It's even more complex than I thought, but I must say that I got more and more interested as I read the 'Four Seasons Cycle Classic'."
"Well, of course, alchemy is the oldest and best science that we have. It's said that before people discovered cultivation, they were using alchemy to try and achieve immortality. Some even call cultivation the internal alchemy for this reason." Mei Hua hesitated a little. "If you have any question, feel free to ask me. I know that Elder Xiao has chosen a good instructor for you, but you can still ask me."
"Thank you, Sister Mei. That may be a little indiscreet, but I was wondering how you knew Elder Xiao."
"Oh, it's no secret. I used to be a servant in the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute until last year. Actually, I wanted to enroll there this year, but then I learned that Elder Xiao was going to be a guest elder in the Wubai Sect. Back in the institute, she had asked me to be her disciple when I would finally enroll. So when the decision was made, she tried to have someone else take me in in her stead. But I'm convinced that Elder Xiao is the best alchemist in the entire kingdom."
At the same time, Cao Yun learned that Xiao Xuefeng came from the Golden Flowery Fragrance Institute.
"So you decided to follow her here."
"Yes. If everything goes well, she should officially accept me as her disciple once all the paperwork for the new year is done. Well, there's also this matter with Mei Ying." She paused while looking toward her sister. "Elder Xiao is busying herself to make sure that this bastard gets nailed down."
Both of them talked for a little while but Cao Yun also had other plans so he bid her farewell and got back to his own room where Huang Cixi was preparing the dinner.
After eating, Cao Yun's mind felt invigorated. This day had been great for his recovery.
He decided to start cultivating his mind while he was in a good disposition. With the Frozen Heart Pill's medicinal energy still infused in him, he drew the Zhi character again and again.
This evening, he finally achieved the 108th repetition, the Perfection stage. Once he did, the Zhi character became perfect, there was no crack at all on it and it was as solid as the Yi character. At that exact same moment, the Yi character resonated with the Zhi and they moved a little closer to each other. As both of them influenced each other, the Yi was now pure gold and the Zhi looked like a piece of onyx naturally formed in the shape of the character. It was perfectly reflected in his sea of consciousness and in the Drop of Wrath.
Coming out of his meditation, Cao Yun had once again a new perception of the world around him. It was more subtle than with Yi, but he felt a small change. In his eyes as well was now a new glint. Taking a brush and a paper, he sat down and drew the Zhi character perfectly.
He then proceeded to write a letter to Feng Yingyue. Earlier he had decided to write to her every time he advanced significantly in his mind cultivation. In the letter, he described everything that had happened and even talked about his alchemy experience. He could not talk about his past and the way it affected his emotions though, because it was always possible that someone else would read the letter at some point.
When he was done, he took the 'Sealing the Seven Demons in the Nine Peaks' manual and went to the next character. This one was pure red. Now he was used to this cultivation so he started to draw the character in his mind by using the other two as a basis.
This time, he only achieved four repetitions, even with the Frozen Heart Pill's medicinal essence within him. It seemed like it was getting more difficult. Without Zhi and Yi he probably wouldn't have been able to draw even one character.
But now that he had, he understood the page. This red character was Shen, the Fire Spirit. It pertained to your decisions, the perception of what you are, what makes you. After the two characters which were pretty concrete, this one seemed a bit more elusive to understand. Of course, with his new knowledge of alchemy, Cao Yun saw through the pattern of these five characters. Each one was affiliated to an element.
The Frozen Heart Pill was strong in Water element. That could explain why his cultivation of Zhi, the Water Will, went so smoothly once the pill consumed. On the other hand, Shen was the Fire Spirit so the Frozen Heart Pill would not be so useful. It still helped Cao Yun focus and calm his mind but it wasn't optimal.
In his sea of consciousness, the Shen character was very ethereal, almost invisible to the naked eye. Apparently, it was going to take a longer time for him to master it.
Today was the last day of his first week in the Wubei Sect. Thus, tomorrow he would finally receive his emblem.
-
In various buildings in the outskirt of the outer yard, many people were busy. Tomorrow, the new outer disciples would be fair game. Before this day, no faction could approach the new disciples and try to recruit them. The top ten were of course the most prized targets, as every faction wanted them on their side and would do anything to prevent the others from getting them on theirs.
There was a silent war in the shadows and the first-years had no idea that hundreds of eyes were now on them.