Chapter 6: Arc 1: Chapter 5

“Here, Bianca. This tea helped me when I made a mistake in my cultivation and suffered some mental damage,” Song Ming handed her a simple grey cup filled with a warm green substance, “Are you sure you’ve recovered? Yesterday-”

“It was just surprise. I hadn’t remembered a single thing about this, and I had gotten used to just seeing… well, non… uh… what did you call it?” Bianca responded, subduing any hints of her lies with the very real headache she was still experiencing, “Planar something? I just needed a while to amend my understanding of the world.”

She accepted the cup of tea, blew away the steam from the surface, and brought it closer to her lips to test if it was cool enough to drink.

It seemed good enough, so she took a sip – and froze.

Whereas the previous day’s mental torments exhausted her greatly, this tea managed the opposite, revitalising body and mind in a manner she couldn’t have imagined. The sensation faded quickly, and the effects did not seem to be as great as she had imagined at first, but it did cure her headache.

“This is… very good tea. How much of this do you have?” Bianca asked, hoping she could get a daily supply.

“Enough for a few more cups. This stuff is two star quality, so we only got a small amount when the Sacred Rivers Sect had come to train the village ten years ago,” Song Ming explained, sitting down beside Bianca, “I can’t imagine what it’s like to suddenly realise that there is so much to the world that you just hadn’t noticed…”

Together, they were a short distance from the village, sitting on a fallen log with an open field before them. After Bianca had nearly fainted the day before, it was deemed that it would be a good idea to show her some of the smaller aspects of the planar cultivation everyone had been talking about before the Calm Skies Sect arrived. Otherwise, she might have another poor reaction to their arrival, and miss out on anything that they are able to offer.

“So, planar cultivation… that’s not farming or anything like that, right?”

“N-No!” Song Ming shook her head, clearly trying her best to subdue laughter or giggling, “It’s a cultivation of the self, with the planar energy of the world around you. It’s broken up into nine realms, and each of those have nine stages.”

She glanced at the field before them.

“Should I show you now, or would you like to rest a little more?” Song Ming glanced at the mostly full cup of tea.

“I should be fine. Go ahead, just go slowly, like… like I don’t know a thing about it. Since, you know…”

Bianca hardly needed to explain, so she instead took a second sip of tea and released a satisfied sigh, since that would be better than outright moaning at how pleasant the pain relief from the tea was. Then again, Song Ming had drunk it before, so perhaps she had been less restrained in her reactions. Perhaps-

‘No, that’s not a good direction to go in… Good thing I’m not a guy, or else my dirty mind would be much more obvious,’ she focused on the current Song Ming instead, the one right in front of her, as she sat down on the grass, her legs crossed in some type of meditative pose.

She placed her hands on her knees, straightened her back and took a deep breath before shutting her eyes.

For a moment, nothing happened, so Bianca instead observed her outfit. It wasn’t the usual fancy dress, a thing that was far superior to the outfits of most of the people in the village, and instead a training garb. Simple dark cloth formed into a dark top with loose sleeves, bound with a sash of the same material, and went atop trousers that were less loose, though it couldn’t be called tight by Orbis standards.

It might have made most women look plain, but as always, Song Ming managed to impress. Her usual beauty seemed to be able to shine through any outfit and any mood, though Bianca usually only saw her when she was embarrassed or shy.

“Alright, I’ll begin now.”

Before Bianca could think or say anything else, she felt it – and even saw it.

There was something in the air, and it was being pulled towards Song Ming, the very air distorting as a faint violet light appeared in the air and mixed with a subtler blue shade, surging towards the young woman. It poured into her body through her skin and mouth, and there was even a faint glow within her body, flowing in a pattern that Bianca could not fully comprehend.

All she knew was that she was, most likely, not seeing things. One instance of distant glowing light could be explained with any number of reasons, though the fact that it persisted for a whole day made that more challenging, but this was not some distant mirage.

It was right there. She could see it. She could feel something about it. Perhaps she would be able to taste this phenomenon, if she chose to stick her tongue out. Maybe there was a faint sound amidst the rustling grass and leaves that was produced by it, though one thing she was sure of was that this light lacked a clear smell, since her nose would certainly pick up on it regardless of her own mental state. Regardless, it was there.

If she was imagining it, then her imagination had greatly improved from her days on Orbis.

“Whoa…” the sound of amazement left her lips against her will, but Song Ming didn’t seem to notice as she continued to – presumably – cause this amazing phenomenon for a few minutes.

In that time, nothing significant seemed to change about her or the glowing light, confusing Bianca as to the purpose of this so-called cultivation, but she was polite enough to let the young woman do her thing before asking potentially distracting questions. Her stance seemed to be similar to one that would be taken for meditation, so it likely required concentration.

Eventually, when Song Ming did stop, the lights fading, the pull ceasing, and her eyes opening, Bianca had a lot of questions.

“What exactly was that?”

“I just… well, I think it should be best for the Calm Skies Sect to introduce you, since they’re sending out disciples specifically trained for this, but I can give you a brief explanation,” she replied, rising and returning to her earlier position on the log, “What I did was absorb planar energy from around me, selecting the particles that suit me and pulling them into my body, into my meridians. There, I circulated the energy in a pattern specific to my technique to correctly control the energy, then sank it into my dantian – that’s right here, by the way.”

Song Ming tapped a point just beneath her navel, where Bianca had seen the strange light gathering towards. Unfortunately, the explanation just prompted more questions, and it seemed that the young woman wasn’t even done.

“Within the dantian, it gathers and slowly progresses my cultivation. Once I have used my cultivation technique on enough energy, it will fill the dantian and let me advance to the next stage. Once I’m at the peak of the second realm, I will have to undergo a lightning tribulation to progress to the third realm, and then other challenges on each realm after that,” she said casually, as if she was describing some average walk in the park, “It’s still far off for me, though. Lin Shuming and Kong Xi are both closer to that point than I am, and even Lin Shuming, who is in the eighth stage, had been there for the last two years, so it will probably take quite a while for him to make progress.”

“Is… that about it?”

“Yeah, more or less. I can’t give you specifics without going into my own cultivation technique, but I wouldn’t want to mislead or confuse you. I’m not that great of a teacher,” she blushed again.

“You… never mind. First of all, what is the dantian? I didn’t realise there was something for, uh, cultivation in that part of the body,” Bianca tried to talk around the fact that she had seen quite a few images of the human body and skeletal structure, meaning that she knew that there shouldn’t be a single thing there.

“It’s a bit weird, actually. It’s there, and if someone was to stab you, their blade would hit, but a casual search would never show it. Also, if you were to examine a body after they… passed, there would be no trace of it in most cases.”

“Then… where is it?”

“In the body. I showed you already.”

“No, I mean, if it isn’t really there, not always, where is it at other times? What space does it occupy? How does it appear? Are you born with it? Does this cultivation create it?”

“You sound a bit like I did when I first learnt of this…” Song Ming muttered under her breath, then returned to her usual volume, “No, it’s there at all times. You’re born with it, though cultivation shouldn’t be started until you’re ten at least. It’s what lets you start your cultivation, but, again, I’ll let the Calm Skies Sect explain. There’s a lot of risk to just attempting to cultivate without a suitable technique, and you might get injured – maybe even permanently – and have the chance of damaging your mind, as well. If you had another hit to your memory… it would be awful.”

“Then, meridians. Are they actively present?”

“A bit like the dantian, I’m afraid.”

“For fuck’s sake… Sorry, I-”

“No, it’s fine. I can see how this would be… overwhelming, to say the least. I was born into this, so I knew a bit before the Sacred Rivers Sect arrived, but since you lost your memories…”

“… So, everyone has these things?”

“Everyone has meridians, and I think most people have a dantian, but some people lack the ability to sense the energy around them. If they can’t absorb the first drop of energy from a planar shard or the air, they won’t ever be able to proceed to the higher realms.”

“I see… How does this cultivation thing work, anyway? What does it give you, and what are all of these realms you’ve mentioned?”

“The realms… there are nine. I can go through the first three, but I’m hazy on the rest,” Song Ming slid a little closer, and since Bianca wanted to hear this in full, she moved over as well. They ended up much closer to one another than either one expected, the width of a hair away from physical contact, though neither one focused on that fact.

Instead, Song Ming recalled the details about the cultivation realms, and Bianca tried to force her mind to keep all of this information with as much clarity as possible, since it was bound to be important.

“The first realm is Planar Condensation. It’s what you enter after you absorb the first bit of energy. At this point, your energy is too weak to go outside your body, a gas that will disperse the moment it goes past your skin. However, you can still affect your body, strengthening yourself and enhancing aspects of your body, like your sight. I’ve heard that a good way to practise using this energy, to the point that it will have some constant effect regardless of realm, is to focus on something important, like your stomach, or…”

The young woman glanced down and paused, but pushed herself to speak anyway.

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“Down there, to prevent that time of the month from being as bad… Ahem, as long as you keep using your energy, it will settle into your body, and it will keep you healthier and stronger than usual. During this realm, all you need to do is fill the dantian – the planar aperture, as it’s sometimes called – until the cloud of energy condenses further, becoming more compact and more powerful.”

‘If I can cultivate, the first thing I’ll do is ensure I don’t have a painful period ever again. The last time was a few days ago, back on Orbis, so I should have enough time…’ Bianca did her best to commit this to memory, and in the process, leaned in a little bit more.

“Once you reach the ninth stage, you’re at the limit. The moment you surpass it, you will be entering the Planar Pool realm, and with it you'll experience a Scene of Completion.”

“A what now?”

“It’s like a small gift from the heavens. It helps you make use of the realm’s main feature for the first time, which is externalising energy and spiritual perception. The Scene of Completion will depict something based on who you are, and what technique you’ve chosen, and should let you get a feel for the manner in which to bring your planar energy outside the body.”

To soothe the headache that returned with a vengeance, Bianca downed half the remaining tea in one go, then nodded to prompt Song Ming to continue.

“As you enter Planar Pool, your energy will condense into liquid, so, when you bring your energy out of your body, it will enter a gaseous state, but you should be able to control it within a metre of your body. Similarly, your spiritual perception… wait, did I explain that?”

“No… let me finish this tea first, though,” Bianca did exactly that, putting it down to her right, leaving Song Ming to her left as the main focus on her attention, “Is it some more magic?”

“Magic? Don’t be silly, there’s no such thing,” Song Ming giggled, and likely had no idea how hurt Bianca’s heart and head was, “Anyway, spiritual perception is something you have from the first realm. It’s something that lets you see inside your own body, to scan it and understand what’s going on there. You can send it into the dantian to see the state of your own cultivation, or examine any injuries or changes that might have occurred within you. From the second realm, though, you’re also able to bring it out and perceive other things, other people, objects, or even the planar energy around us.”

“That’s… useful… and causes headaches, apparently,” as much as Bianca complained, she could see the value of such a thing clearly, and one potential use came to mind moments later, “Wait, is it stopped by things like clothing?”

“No. Most materials won’t have much of an effect, and the worst you can expect from hard, dense things like stone is to have your range of spiritual perception reduced when passing through them.”

The reply was calm, but as they paused for a while, remaining rather close to one another, Song Ming’s mind also stumbled onto the thought that initially prompted Bianca’s question. She glanced at Bianca’s clothes, at the pair of peaks hidden beneath her shirt, and then at her hips, her gaze gliding over to her ass.

As she looked, her cheeks became flushed from her thoughts.

“I… um… I hadn’t… uh…” Song Ming’s words were barely louder than whispers, but somehow everything about her overwhelmed the sounds of the wind and forest around them, “It had never… come to mind…”

“Right. But…” Bianca paused as she considered whether she wanted to push this – whatever this even was – beyond the current limits, swallowing the saliva that filled her mouth, “Would you like a look?”

She put her hand just behind Song Ming and used that to support herself as she leaned in every closer, their faces nearly touching. They looked into one another’s eyes, blue meeting green, warm breaths landing on each other’s faces. Bianca couldn’t read minds – and neither could Song Ming, most likely – but from the fact that the young woman before her remained in place, it seemed that she was considering the proposition.

Each moment seemed to drag on for hours, time stretching out to accommodate their interaction. It felt as if they would remain in this grassy expanse forever, and would have the chance to comprehend one another’s feelings and amend the current one-sided understanding of one another’s bodies.

Unfortunately, they were interrupted by the breaking of a branch behind them, prompting them to part and turn.

“How have you been doing here? Bianca, has your headache subsided?” Old Man Song asked, emerging into the clearing with no indication that he knew what he had disturbed, “Ah, I see you have finished the tea.”

“Y-Yeah, I have… It’s better than before, though it’s still hard to get my head around cultivation.”

Song Ming had been a little slower to recover, but she managed to provide an affirmation a moment later, “I… I had been telling her about the properties of the first three realms. I had gotten up to Planar Pool, and explained spiritual perception as well.”

“I see. Don’t let me interrupt you two,” he said, but managed to do perhaps the most intrusive thing he could and sat down on the same wooden log Bianca and Song Ming had been sharing for a while, sitting to his daughter’s left, a short distance away from them, “It’s been a while since I’ve taken the time to listen.”

“… I repeated most of this stuff a month ago, dad.”

Old Man Song chuckled awkwardly, “Can’t I just want to listen to my lovely daughter once in a while? You’ve not made many friends in the village, so I’m glad that you’ve gotten close to another woman your age.”

“I, uhm… yeah…” Song Ming couldn’t find a better way to put it, especially to her dad, so she just had to nod, “So… third realm. That’s Emergent Anchor, I think.”

She glanced at her father, took another deep breath to calm herself, and proceeded.

“In the third realm, the pool of energy formed in the second realm is condensed into an anchor that is then surrounded by the pool. Planar energy becomes solid, and liquid while outside of the body, but in order to reach it, you need to pass a nine round lightning tribulation, which can be called at any point in the second realm, but it will be really difficult and will greatly limit your future strength if not undertaken at the ninth stage,” Song Ming gaze lost some focus as she focused purely on her recollection.

As the young woman leaned back and gazed at the clear blue sky, Bianca saw that Old Man Song was just as focused on her words, though clearly for different reasons. He seemed like a good parent, wishing for his child to do well, so much so that Bianca felt a little bad that she might be taking Song Ming down the wrong path.

“I haven’t experienced the tribulation, nor has anyone in the village, but I hear it’s a challenging one, with an element that opposes your own. When you do progress, the heavens will form your planar anchor, a structure that allows you to further condense energy and externalise it to a greater distance, growing to somewhere between three and nine metres – according to the Sacred Rivers Sect, at least,” she continued, “Your spiritual perception will also grow by about two metres… um, and the anchor can be placed outside during combat, or when you need to amplify your strength for any other reason, like if you were to learn alchemy or one of the other great arts.”

Just as usual, Song Ming managed to bring up a bunch of things that just intensified Bianca’s headache, though it wasn’t as bad as when she first realised that magic – or cultivation, a distinction that she couldn’t quite understand – was real.

However, it was clear that these realms were like specific steps in a corporate ladder, each with growing power, or levels in a game, though she was no expert in either regard. Every level brought something new and improved other things, so if she ever managed to progress through them, she certainly wouldn’t refuse the opportunity. After all, even the first realm should let her reduce the number of visits she needs to make to the local ‘bathroom’, also known as a hole in the ground with some leaves stacked beside it.

The leaves did have a toilet paper-like feel and effectiveness, but it was still rather unpleasant for a city girl like Bianca.

“Oh, right! Cultivation also increases your lifespan! Usually, we will live to eighty at most, but the first realm increases that to one hundred, and the second brings it to one hundred and fifty. The third realm apparently doubles that number, and it also slows your aging for the most part, so you could meet someone that looks as young as you or me, and yet they’re many times our age.”

“Right… How… how does that work?”

“What, exactly?”

“How does this process of cultivation boost your lifespan? What about absorbing some energy cause you to suddenly not age as much, and to live for twice as long? I don’t get it.”

“Uh… it just… does,” Song Ming appeared confused at Bianca’s questioning, glancing to her father for aid and receiving none, as he too failed to understand, “That’s just how it works. It’s like things falling to the ground, or the existence of the heavens and Dao, or the nine realms of cultivation, or the Western Continent’s Primordial Deities. That’s just how the world is, and maybe there are sects that know more, but… well, none of us are part of those sects. I wasn’t even taken as a proper disciple by the Sacred Rivers Sect…”

Although Bianca had no clue what that meant, seeing as she still had no understanding of how or why cultivation behaved the way it did, it was clear that it meant a lot to Song Ming. So, she got a little closer to the young woman and put her arm around her, pulling her into a light hug.

It was a chaste one, without any attempts to grope or otherwise inappropriately touch her, so it wouldn’t provoke any suspicion in the old man near them, but it was still rather… intimate to touch her so closely. Bianca felt herself blush for once, but luckily, both of the people near her interpreted it correctly, at least on the surface, since Song Ming did give her a look filled with a little more than friendly gratitude.

“I don’t really know what the sects are even about, but I’m sure you have plenty of talent. As I understand it, cultivation takes time, and yet you’re in the same realm as two others in the village, both of whom are notably older than you, so you must be doing something right.”

“You… thank you, but it’s a little hard to take that seriously when you barely know a thing about what you’re saying,” Song Ming giggled, “Still, thank you.”

“I do my best. Perhaps if I had been less explicit in what I didn’t know, it would have come out a little… smoother, but it would also be much easier to make an ass of myself,” Bianca shrugged, idly rubbing the young woman’s shoulder while doing her best not to focus on her natural, feminine scent, “You know that I’m ignorant in this regard, so there’s no reason to pretend otherwise.”

“That is truly wise,” Old Man Song suddenly remarked, making Bianca wonder whether her words didn’t quite translate into the language of this world, “Perhaps you had been a scholar prior to the loss of your memory.”

“I doubt that… I didn’t say anything especially clever, just something that’s rather obvious.”

“But many in the world fail to grasp it. Heh, just look at Lin Shuming – he cannot let go of his pride, and so he ‘makes an ass’ of himself regularly,” the old man chuckled, “Those in the sects can have similar issues… They are truly powerful, though, so perhaps their pride is truly earned, but that is not for me to conclude. Only the heavens will know the truth.”

Although Bianca had admitted her ignorance in some regards, she wasn’t ready to admit it here, given that the heavens, Dao and the like seemed very integral to this world. Whether they were real or not – she would prefer that they weren’t, if only to save her from an even worse headache – admitting that she knew nothing about them would be odd when she had such a good recollection of so many words and concepts that were of lesser significance.

“So, I’d be glad to hear more, but first, could I look into your training in the future? I’m curious to see what the average cultivation session looks like, just in case I’m able to do it as well.”

“Sure!” Song Ming nodded eagerly, though her volume fell greatly when she continued, “I wouldn’t mind if you watched…”

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