Chương 28: Chapter 26 (R)

I wake with a strange sensation of disorientation, not entirely sure where I am, so I look around as I gradually recall what happened before I fell asleep. I notice I'm in one of the uncomfortable beds in the carriage and that, moreover, it's moving, which makes me wonder how long I've been asleep that we're no longer at the inn.

In the center of the carriage I see my mother, Lianhua, and Lingxi seated, so I call out to them, or at least try to, because when I attempt to speak only a strange noise comes out that fills me with embarrassment. But the strange noise I make is enough for Lianhua to turn around and exclaim "Guifei Xiang, Zhāohuán Wen is awake!" My mother stands up and approaches the bed where I am while Lingxi leans out of one of the windows and tells the Nei Wei to stop the carriage.

I notice that Lianhua also stands up and seems anxious to come closer to where I am, but stays in place to make room for my mother.

"Wen, are you all right?" my mother asks me as she places a hand on my forehead.

"Both the Nei Wei's physician and the Elder of the Yao clan told me it was normal, but you've been asleep for so long that I was beginning to worry." Those words make me worry too, so after several attempts and clearings of my throat I finally manage to ask in a hoarse voice "How long have I been asleep?"

"You've been asleep for ten days, Wen", my mother replies. It's an answer I wasn't expecting. I could have guessed one or two days, but at ten days I wasn't basically asleep, I was in a damned coma. While I think about my situation and try to recall all the problems derived from being in a coma, suddenly I realize that in this world IV drips and intravenous lines for feeding patients don't exist, and soon I become aware of another situation. I look at my mother and tell her "I think I have a problem."

My mother becomes alarmed and quickly asks me "What's wrong, Wen?"

"I'm not hungry", I tell my mother.

"I've been asleep for ten days without eating or drinking and I'm neither hungry nor thirsty, that's strange." I see my mother sigh with relief and tell me "Don't worry about that, Wen. The Nei Wei's physician has been giving you fasting pills that they always carry for emergency cases." That explanation seems to satisfy my mother, but it tells me nothing, so I ask her "What are these fasting pills?"

My mother smiles at me as she strokes my head and replies "They are pills that provide those who take them with enough sustenance to survive for a day. They aren't very popular due to how expensive the alchemists sell them for, but they're very useful in the right circumstances." I'm left in shock at hearing my mother's explanation and decide to want to know more about the pills, since between these fasting pills and the one that allowed me to breathe water, their effects are little short of miraculous.

But another more mundane thought suddenly assails me, and I realize that these pills are the definitive weight-loss medication. They suppress hunger, they nourish you, and they don't seem to have side effects. If I could manufacture them and return to my old world, in less than a year I would become the richest person in the world.

My mother continues stroking my head without speaking while my mind continues drifting into improbable and unconstructive notions as I usually do, when Lingxi interrupts us by approaching and telling my mother "Furen, they've decided to take advantage of the stop to have lunch." My mother stops stroking my head and after looking at me tells Lingxi "Since we gave Wen a fasting pill this morning, I think it's better that she not eat anything today."

I want to protest at this injustice, but my clear lack of hunger makes me reconsider, and in the end I decide not to. Instead I ask her "Mother, may I speak with Lianhua for a moment?" My mother smiles at me and stands up as she tells me "Of course. Take all the time you want while I go fetch the physician to examine you." My mother leaves the carriage and Lianhua approaches the bed I'm in and kneels at my side as she asks me "What is it that you want, Zhāohuán Wen?"

"You've been at all my sessions with Jiaoliu Feng", I tell Lianhua.

"I was going to ask you when we got to the city, but I think now it's more important. Do you think you'll be able to help me with the exercises I used to do with her?" Lianhua looks pensive for a moment, but quickly replies "I don't think there will be any problem, Zhāohuán Wen. They aren't very complicated and if we notice any issue we can correct it as we go."

"Perfect", I tell Lianhua.

"Then when you finish eating we'll have a session. I feel uncomfortable, I suppose from being lying down so many days in a row. A stretching session can help a great deal in this situation." Lianhua nods seriously and while we wait for them to call her to eat, I keep asking her about what happened during these ten days, and from her answers I realize that being asleep has been almost a blessing, since that way I haven't had to endure another ten days of boring travel.

Although I regret not having seen the Marsh of Mists, since I was curious to see what it was like. After a while Lianhua leaves to eat and a Nei Wei, who I assume must be the physician my mother spoke of, climbs into the carriage and asks me a series of questions and performs an examination of my physical condition, concluding at the end of it that I am fine and would recover with time without problems.

She also indicated that starting the next day I would begin eating, but for the first day I would only have porridge and then light meals, since because I had not yet completed the Tempering of the Entrails and Veins, I had a weak stomach from the fasting and had to get it accustomed to food again. After her instructions the physician leaves and Lianhua returns.

She lifts me from the carriage, and I see she has placed some blankets on the ground, where she lays me down and helps me slowly perform my exercises so as not to hurt myself on the first day, all of it under the attentive gaze of my mother, Lingxi, and the Nei Wei, who seem to have made the sight of my exercises something to entertain themselves with while they wait for me to finish. After finishing we get back into the carriage and continue the journey.

The next two days pass without much to do beyond the exercises with Lianhua, which have been accompanied by advice from the Nei Wei, in addition to the light and clearly unsatisfying food they've been giving me. On the other hand, I've been trying to verify how effective the bath the Yao clan gave me really was beyond leaving me in a coma for ten days, but without noticing anything, in the end I give up and simply have Lianhua bring me the books I bought to devote myself to reading them.

And finally, around mid-morning of the third day, the landscape changes and in the distance, with that strange perception that comes from seeing far-off things in a world that has no curvature, I see what looks like a city, and I notice that the cultivated fields begin to be more abundant and the peasants more numerous. Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. As we approach the city and see its details more clearly, I notice the differences from the imperial capital.

Although its walls are just as tall, the outskirts beyond the wall are full of low houses of poor appearance, although they don't quite reach the level of being called shanties. As we approach, it seems someone has been alarmed at seeing a large number of armed people approaching the city, since a group of riders, clearly guards or soldiers, approach from the city and I see them stop to intercept the procession.

Upon reaching the riders we stop and the Nei Wei at the head of the procession exchange a few words with them, after which I see one of the riders set off at a gallop in the direction of the city while the rest of the riders take position at the head of the procession and clear the way for us toward the city. Once we enter the area of shanties I see that people quickly move out of the riders' path while watching the procession with curiosity from the windows of the houses and the adjoining streets.

But beyond the curiosity of the crowd, nothing remarkable happens and we arrive at the gate in the wall, which is already open and with a contingent of guards who seem to be waiting for us. We stop again and again the Nei Wei speak with the guards, after which one of them runs to our carriage and approaches my mother, who is leaning out of the window, and tells her "The captain of the guards tells us the city's governor wishes to meet with you. What do we tell him?"

"Tell him I am tired from the journey and need to rest", my mother replies.

"Also tell him that when I am recovered, I will send a message to the governor to arrange an appointment with him. Aside from that, tell him we would appreciate it if some of his men could guide us to the Palace of the Celestial Lotus so we don't have to keep asking and going in circles around the city." The Nei Wei nods and returns to the head of the procession, where she exchanges a few words with the man I assume is the captain of the guards.

After a brief discussion, I see him, along with half a dozen guards, take position at the head of the procession, and we set off behind them. As we make our way down what I assume is the main street, I clearly notice that the form of the buildings in this city is different from those of the capital. There is still a clear oriental theme, but there are enough differences here and there to have formed its own style. And the same goes for the clothing of the people who stop to watch us pass.

The cut is similar, but the patterns and colors are radically different. If in the capital the people I saw on the street wore garments with patterns in bright colors, here it seems the fashion is for plainer, flatter colors. What I do notice is that many of the people I see in this part of the city almost make me believe I've walked into some kind of medieval fair or, even worse, into some kind of adventure video game. Many of the people I see are armed and even some of them are wearing armor.

Almost all those I see armed carry edged weapons such as swords or sabers, but here and there I see other weapons like spears or even the occasional axe. I know from my geography studies that the city of Xi'An is near the border, but it can't be that dangerous, can it? I decide to clear up my doubts and ask "Mother, why are there so many people with weapons on the street, and the guard says nothing to them?"

"Wen, those people are what are usually called wandering cultivators", my mother replies.

"They are people who want to follow the path of cultivation, but for one reason or another did not make the cut to be recruited by the sect or by the Army."

"Since they don't have access to the resources the sect or the Army provides, they have to make a living however they can", my mother continues with her explanation.

"And the city of Xi'An is near a region called the Forest of Lurking Shadows. It's a place where they go to hunt beasts and look for resources such as spirit herbs that they then sell, trade, or use to advance their cultivation."

"But isn't cultivating just attracting Qi like when you temper the body?" I ask my mother with what I think is a more than reasonable question.

"Wen, what happened during your initiation into cultivation has made your view of cultivation biased", my mother comments as we continue our journey through the city's streets.

"People take a long time to cultivate, and the lower your talent the longer each step takes. To use myself as an example, since my talent is average and I would never have been chosen by the sect or the Army, even with the support of my family because of their expectations of a good marriage for me, it took me almost ten months to do what took you less than a day." I blink as I take in what my mother has told me and suddenly understand a little more clearly all the reactions of that day.

What I did is the equivalent of, without ever having trained, participating in a hundred-meter dash and breaking every world record in existence.

"I see that in your little head you've at least understood a bit of what you really did", my mother tells me upon seeing my expression.

"As for your question about cultivation, there are ways to accelerate it, although in the Body Tempering phase the only way to do so is by using a formation like the one your father let you use."

"There are places where formation masters have created such formations and rent them out to anyone who wants them", my mother continues.

"But doing so is expensive, very expensive. There's no way an ordinary person could pay for it without saving for several years. That's why wandering cultivators risk their lives in dangerous places hunting beasts that can kill them if they make mistakes, since it's the only way they have to earn enough money to advance their cultivation and get anywhere."

"But how do they earn money with the beasts?" I express my doubts to my mother.

"There's no way the hide of a wolf or a bear could pay the kinds of sums you're suggesting."

"They don't hunt ordinary animals, Wen", my mother replies.

"They hunt spirit beasts like the horses pulling our carriage. To use the example of the wolf, they would be wolves nearly twice as large, twice as fast and more resistant than a normal one. And moreover, their fangs and claws would be sharper and harder, capable of easily piercing the skin of a cultivator despite their increased resistance."

"But that doesn't tell me the reason they're so valuable and how money can be earned from them", I complain to my mother.

"They are so valuable because their hides, meat, bones, and even blood have a multitude of uses, but all of them are for cultivators who are beyond Body Tempering", my mother tells me in response to my complaint.

"When you finish Body Tempering, which I imagine you'll do without any problem at twelve years old when your dantian finishes forming, we'll talk about Gate Opening and what it means." I cross my arms and sulk in clear protest at my mother's habit of hiding what she knows about cultivation. With no desire to continue the conversation after the clear case of abuse of power over information, I look out the carriage's window and see we have arrived at another zone of the city.

In this zone I see the clothing is more luxurious and I don't see any of the people I would not hesitate to call adventurers in any other context. Finally we arrive at an enormous plaza in which a huge palace standing on one of its edges stands out.

For a moment I think it is the Palace of the Celestial Lotus where we are going to reside for the next two years, but in the plaza we turn toward the opposite side from where that palace is, and I see we are heading toward a palace that, although it is large, doesn't reach the size of the monstrosity on the other side of the plaza. As we approach the palace, I see above the gate the symbol of the imperial family, so there is no doubt that we have finally arrived at our destination.

At the gate I see a couple of guards with bored faces, which quickly turn into expressions of surprise upon seeing the procession heading toward them. I see that the captain and the guards who escorted us here separate from the procession upon arriving and head toward the enormous palace on the other side of the plaza, giving a nod of the head toward our carriage as a farewell as they pass by.

Meanwhile, the Nei Wei are arguing with the gate guards when my mother looks at Lingxi and hands her a metal plaque with an engraved design as she tells her "Make sure we can pass through quickly. Tell them clearly that I will not be very pleased if they make me wait, with grave consequences if that should happen."

"As you say, Furen", Lingxi replies, after which she steps down from the carriage and heads toward the gate. Faced with the situation, I abandon my resolution not to speak from the earlier conversation and ask my mother "Why aren't they letting us through? We're in a carriage with the imperial symbol and the Nei Wei are clearly imperial soldiers. I don't understand it."

"Politics", my mother replies with a snort.

"Most likely the Zǒngguǎn has given orders to delay us in order to try to intimidate us and to make us understand that while we are here he will continue running the Palace as he has until now."

"What he doesn't know is that your father has given me full authority over the place", my mother continues with a smile that sends a shiver down my spine.

"And I do not intend to allow some fool to ruin the years we are going to be here." I hear a noise outside and look out the window to see where it's coming from, and I see how the great gates of the Palace are opening to allow us through, I assume. To confirm my thoughts, the procession sets in motion and we head toward the gates.

My mother also looks out the carriage window as she tells me in a voice full of coldness "I only hope what just happened is merely a simple gesture and not the symptom of something more serious. I would not want to have to begin our stay in the city with a purge."