Aimless Ascension

"You can make those right? How much will it cost?"

"I can make them, but I don't think it'll solve anything in the long run," Gale said as he started to prepare a drink for his disciple. It was an incentive to help her grow physically. "Eventually, as you rank your need of Life and Plant Qi would rise, I don't think this little place would be worth it for you to cycle here. You can do the morning here as Life Qi was the most vibrant then, but outside that refrained from now on.

"As for the formation? I'll put together something to protect the plants. It's easy. You don't have to pay me anything."

Wang Li nodded contemptuously.

"Apart from that, you can always cycle anywhere you like, but you have to be deliberate about not harming the environment. Simple meditation without absorbing energy has advantages too."

"I'm learning new things every day," Wang Li said. Well, all this wouldn't be too hard for her to figure out. At copper rank, she wouldn't particularly worry about hurting the environment.

With natural energy density terribly low here, it was in the iron rank where everyone needed to worry about.

"Well, you can always consume rich herbs or potions," Gale said and handed Xiaolin the cup of green drink. "It's way easier."

Wang Li snorted. Of course, if she asked her grandma, she would collect all the herbs she would need to break through into iron within two months. But Wang Li couldn't trouble her grandma anymore.

"Master, it smells terrible," Xiaolin said, wrinkling her nose.

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"But you can feel the rich energy within it, no?"

Xiaolin became silent and peered seriously at the cup. She took a deep breath and gulped down everything in one breath.

Her face turned unsightly. . . no, not unsightly. She was never unsightly looked at. In contrast, she looked rather cute with her sour look.

Gale took a mental note to keep a recording construct in hand when he would make her eat that again later.

"Master, what's the difference between the energy within a spirit coin and within a herb?" Xiaolin asked. "I always felt there was a clear distinction between them. Is it because spirit coins are the pure manifestation of energy, whereas herbs are processed energy?"

"You answered your question on your own," Gale said, patting her on the shoulder. "Your answer is just about right. Like how humans processed the energy to their own Qi, plants do that too according to their needs. For example, a Phoenix tree accumulates fire and life energy and turns them through its internal processes. It isn't always as twisted as a practitioner's Qi. That way, most of the time, herbs aren't poisonous to us."

"It's weird how energy turns to Qi," Xiaolin muttered in contemplation. "How do we do it, really? I know I deliberately cycle the energy throughout my channels, but that's it. How does the energy turn to Qi?"

"That's a great question." Gale smiled. Most practitioners, even those geniuses, always went on with relentless practises and never stopped to ask questions like these. "Linlin, why do all your clothes have your smell in them?"

"Because I wear them every once in a while."

"That's right," Gale said. "You wore the clothes to make it your own, and it even has your signature smell in them. Energy is like that too. The first school of spirit arts, when they founded the cycling arts, they discovered everyone has a different Qi signature. Even two identical twins have different Qi signatures. Even if they cycle in the same environment, and deal with the same issue, nobody can have an identical Qi signature with another person.

"The reason for this is complex, but I'll give a simple reason to explain this. This worldly energy we absorb, they resonate with our spirit when we channel them through our body. No single person is identical to another. Why would our Qi be identical?

"Meridians, channels, these are all imaginary lines for practitioners to cycle more efficiently. Even without a proper way, one can accumulate Qi if they keep at it for decades. We're built like this. We pollute the natural energy within our body with our blood and spirit and then condense it to make it our own.

"Practitioners are pretty terrible creatures. Even the spirit arts we practise dictate us to take things by force. It's pretty easy to get used to it." Gale sighed. "Now, did all this quench your curiosity even a little?"

"Somewhat," Xiaolin said truthfully.

Gale patted her on the head. "These are the type of questions that wouldn't let me sleep when I first started practising spirit arts."

"That must have been over a century ago," Wang Li didn't forget to glib in. "Isn't that correct, oh great master?"

"Actually, no," Gale said and turned to his disciple. "I started pretty late. Hmm, I was about Xiaolin's age when I started, and it had been about six years in your calendar."

"What?!" his disciple exclaimed, standing up.

"That's outrageous," Wang Li said. "You want me to believe that you became a master in six years?"

"No, I started practising script art a little late," Gale said with a smile. "It took me four years, to be honest."

Wang Li glowered at him, while his disciple stared at him in a new light, full of admiration.

"I'm not saying all this to demotivate you," Gale said, staring at both Wang Li and Xiaolin, "but the other way around.

"I came to this world with nothing, naked, with no latent talent for spirit arts, and in the most terrible situation, you can dream of. I didn't have talent like yours Xiaolin, to my merits or demerits, nor had I managed a perfect fusion with my first fate-lock. But what I had was boundless curiosity and a will to live.

"Although you two had suffered, and got your heart broken, believe me when I say this: it isn't too late. There's still time for you to rise up and do things you can be proud of. Nobody will give you what you want, you have to take it for yourself. In the end, all will depend on the path you choose.

"Talent, potential, wealth, all these are good, but you won't go far if you don't have the perseverance to follow through."