Chapter 28: Chapter 27 – A Path is Drawn

“When I healed you, Ai, I got an idea of what your spirit root was.” Once again, the group goes quiet. Ai and Lin appear shocked, but it could be because they never expected me to mention it. Gong appears shocked, but thoughtful soon after.

“Lin mentioned it to me, pretty seriously, for her. However, it was such a crazy concept… that I wasn’t sure it was true,” Ai whispers. “If that’s the case, then you really are a treasure… in multiple ways. We need to make sure you know what you are doing… and saying.”

Gong speaks suddenly, “I feel I should let you all know something, that he’s done to me.”

Okay, the way she said that came across as weird. Stop giving me those accusing glances, Lin! And why does your face look so sympathetic, Ai?!

“He’s healed my demi-human curse.”

“I’m not even surprised by this anymore,” Lin intones.

Ai, however, goes again for the logical route, “Well, while that is still outrageous, it’s not outside the realm of possibility. At least, for the level of things we’ve already heard and seen. I mean, he’s healed my condition and even made it better.”

“It would make sense if he’s able to heal something like that, he’d be able to figure out other things about the body. An idiot savant of some sort?”

“Definitely.” Gong responds.

 

With a thought on that statement, everyone nods and comes to an understanding. Wait, I get the savant part, but why idiot?

Gong continues, “One thing I didn’t realize because of the shock of the situation, is that because he healed my curse, he actually removed humans’ automatic revulsion to me. I found out from Big Sister Crane, though she let me know that I shouldn’t be too concerned.

“I don’t totally get it, but people’s existing thoughts will automatically cause them to do it, because of their habits. Especially, since I’m so obviously a Demi-human. She called it a ‘trained’ response.”

 

She gives a sigh, “What this means though, is that I will need to go out less and use my spiders and others more as my hands and eyes. In the short term, I’ll still need to go out, but be cautious about who I interact with.”

Ah, I didn’t even consider that could happen because of my healing. While it is good that it might not be an issue… I will have to remember that there are certain aspects of groups that are expected and can cause issues if they aren’t present.

I don’t know, my natural inclination is to reach out and help people, if I have the power to. It’s so difficult to pull back and not help them. I did that so much in my old world, using excuses to make myself feel better. Thinking that things won’t really change for them, even if I help. Knowing full well I could make a difference.

Now? I know I have the power. You are either healed or sick. Even with the potential of causing issues for myself and others because of it, I’m still struggling if wondering if that could just be another excuse for not doing the right thing.

I must think on this more. On how to make it work.

 

During my internal monologue, Ai turns to Lin with a certain look after hearing Gong. “Lin, could you grab our plan, the one we would follow, in case things got better for us?”

Lin jumps up and heads into the next room, while Ai leans forward. She starts by speaking about me, but is now looking at Gong.

“James has way too many powers that don’t fit his status or strength. Eventually, one of them will come out… he literally just has too many of them. And I’m pretty sure this isn’t everything, yet. We don’t want these to pop out either accidentally or in an emergency, without a Plan B or an excuse. I think you already know, that there is only one big way to hide this level of ability.”

Gong nods, knowingly. “Cultivation. He has to become a cultivator.”

Ai affirms this and looks at me. “James, as Lin had told you earlier, there are cultivators in this world, along with large sects that rule these lands. The sect that rules this area, is called the Revolving Heavenly Light Sect.”

“You need to join this sect. As soon as is possible.”

Well. She raises a good point.

This could actually be the way to allow me to get away with healing people. Making that difference. However, Lin knew little about the cultivator world, so she didn’t teach me all of this. While I could act like I know something about it, I shouldn’t make assumptions.

Time to ask.

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“Okay, I can understand that. Could you tell me about the cultivators, though? Lin knew little about it, so she skipped it.” Ai looks over in the direction that Lin left in. “I know I taught her about it so many times now… it can’t be helped.”

Looking back at me, “So. What do you know?”

“They can fly.”

“wow.”

 

“Okay, I was mostly joking on that one. I know that there are tiers of cultivators and that there are clans and sects. Within the sects, there are levels of statuses. I also know that spirit roots help to determine how quickly you advance in cultivation and effect where you get placed in a sect.”

Any more than that? No, it might be better to get context from the people who live here. Especially Ai. She has both the critical eye and from what I gathered, has some actual knowledge on these things.

 

“Okay, that actually is better than I suspected,” Ai responds. “I’ll start with the tiers I know of.”

“For cultivator tiers, they go in the following order: Body Cultivation, but only if they are rich enough to do so; Qi Condensation; Foundation Establishment; Core Formation; and Nascent Soul. There are levels above that, but they are rarely mentioned in the books I’ve read.

“From what I’ve been able to gather regarding body cultivation, is that only the rich can afford to get their bodies to the peak position to accept qi flow and prepare themselves to store it. Whether that is through specialized training or medicinal items, nonetheless they can open up and optimize themselves.”

Huh, that sounds pretty familiar… where have I heard that before?

“Moving on from there, one major clan you’ll hear about for this area is the Heavenly Skies Sword Clan. They are a sword technique focused clan, that is based within the Revolving Heavenly Light Sect, but I’ll explain more on that later. Just know not to mess with them and you should be fine.”

Okay, I’m pretty sure that old la--- beautiful cultivation woman flying on her sword was part of that sect. A Senior Gu?

“Okay, so now we can move to sect statuses. Your status is typically determined first, by your cultivation tier, spirit root, cultivation base and techniques, and finally by your outside connections. The status levels from highest to the lowest are,”:

1. Sect Founder: The Founder is not always the Patriarch, if they’ve fallen out of power.
   1. Patriarch: If weaker than or deferential to the Founder, they will come in second
2. Council Sect Elders/Advising Sect Elders
3. Sect Elders/ Spell Formation (Array) & Talisman Experts/ Alchemy Experts
4. Core Disciples
   1. Sect Elder Direct Servants: Treated with respect by lower rankings, but less than from core disciples
5. Inner Court Disciples
   1. Core Disciple Direct Servants: Should be treated as respectfully as Inner Court Disciples
6. Outer Court Disciples
7. Sect Servants
8. Normal People

 

Even as a sect servant, you get remarkable benefits compared to the normal person. After many years of service, you get to cultivate one basic cultivation technique from their library. Though it is called basic, it is leagues above anything you could find outside the sect. You have a safe place to work and live for both you and your family. Well-fed and regular payment.”

It is at this point that Lin comes in. She reveals a scroll that had instructions, detailing when and where to go, to join the sect. It also had a Plan B, in case Ai died, before they could do it together.

“My plan was for us to get accepted into the sect, to at least become sect servants. While I initially thought I wouldn’t have been accepted, I assumed they might accept Lin, since she didn’t have any apparent illnesses. Now that I know my spirit root and what it is, there is a slight chance they would have tried to heal or treat my condition. They definitely would have accepted Lin.”

She continues, uninterrupted “The last thing, would be the spirit roots themselves, which I think you know, but want to be sure.”

She then explained information, which was very similar to the spreadsheet my scan had come up with earlier. The only real addition was a mythical rank called Jade Flower Void.  Just as a quick check, let me take a look:

 

Either way, these look pretty similar to what I’m familiar with in wuxia novels… with a key difference. I haven’t heard one wink about a Dao or something similar. Maybe I should assume that doesn’t exist here.

“Thanks for the information. So, what else do I need to know and do?”

 

 

 

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