Aaron jolted with surprise as the voice rang out. He had no idea why he had come to this courtyard, let alone why the woman within would know his name. Hesitating for only a handful of seconds he opened the door, which was somehow unsurprisingly unlocked. He entered the courtyard, his eyes instantly fell upon a woman who appeared to be pushing one hundred. Her hair was thin and colored an ashy gray, while her skin was split by wrinkles that seemed to cover every free inch. The old woman wore a set of the most intricate robes he had ever seen. The robes were primarily an almost gunmetal gray, bordered in golden thread, with elaborate images of flowers and phoenixes threaded in silver. The old woman’s dantian was incandescent, and he could see the light flowing throughout her meridians. He was suddenly sure that she was filled with qi, rather than essence.
“Apologies, honored senior, but I am afraid that I do not know you.” Aaron bowed to the only woman as he spoke.
“Hmm, yes, a foreigner to our world indeed bowing like that.” The old woman spoke, before giggling in a way befitting a woman six decades her junior.
“How do you know about that?” Aaron said, redistributing his weight to be more ready for an attack.
“I am afraid that stance will do you no good” Aaron heard the woman’s voice from where she had been sitting. Before he could blink, the old woman was standing before him, one finger resting on his forehead. The old woman had crossed nearly fifty feet faster than his enhanced mind and senses could process. Aaron’s heart began to race as he realized that this woman could kill him like he was a bug.
“And to answer your question, there is nothing that occurs in this empire that escapes my senses.” The old woman spoke, just as suddenly back in her previous position. Aaron gazed upon the woman seated on what appeared to be a rattan mat, her legs folded under her in an almost kneeling position. His heart was still beating out of his chest as his body trembled in fear.
“Come, young man, sit and have some tea. We really do have much to discuss.” With a motion of her hand, the old woman summoned from her spatial ring a low table and a second sitting mat. A full tea set appeared as Aaron settled down into the same sitting position as the woman. Steam already wafted from the kettle. The old woman gracefully poured tea into a pair of cups before placing one in front of him. He clasped the cup and lifted it to his lips, noting as he did that these cups had no handle.
“I felt you as soon as the transmission array in the woods activated.” Aaron drank the deeply flavorful tea as the old woman spoke. “That array has been broken for nearly two hundred years. I never entered it because I sensed that the other world would be lethal to me. From what you described to Deng Fang of your world, I was right. The lack of essence in your world would have caused my qi to rapidly expand back into essence, tearing me apart in the process.” The old woman spoke of her own death like he would talk about the weather.
“Ah…apologies, young one, I have yet to introduce myself. My name is Lai Daiyu.” Lai Daiyu jolted in surprise before she spoke. “Now then, I must admit I do not know how you found this place on your own. I was not planning on contacting you until later tonight.” The old woman’s eyes narrowed in consideration as she spoke.
“Ah, I simply followed the feeling and it led me here.” Aaron said as he allowed Lai Daiyu to pour him another cup of tea.
“What feeling were you following, exactly?” Lai Daiyu leaned forward as she spoke.
“It is a tingle at the base of my skull, paired with a warmth in my Dantian. On Earth, following that feeling led me into possession of many items filled with essence before I even reached Meridian Cleansing” The old woman’s eyes widened slightly as Aaron spoke.
“Tell me, young one, can you see the essence in this?” Lai Daiyu placed a rectangular platinum coin on the table as she spoke. This coin glowed brightly, much more so than any other coin he had seen. The object appeared more like a rectangular prism made of light, and yet he simply knew the item's appearance, even if he could not see it.
“Yes, I can. It looks to me like it is made of light, I cannot even see the coin itself under the glow.” Aaron spoke forthrightly to the old woman. Lai Daiyu could clearly kill him at any time, and yet she had not reacted violently to him finding her out of the blue.
“You grow ever more interesting, young man. Tell me, how long have you been cultivating?” Lai Daiyu leaned back, now seeming far more invested in the conversation than before.
“Eleven days, by my count.” Aaron jolted backwards as the old woman sat straight at his words, her mouth nearly hanging open as her eyes grew wide. It was at this moment, staring at this impossibly powerful woman staring at him as if he was a living impossibility, that Aaron truly began to understand just how little he knew about cultivation.
Aaron spent the next several hours conversing with Lai Daiyu about his cultivation journey so far.
He spoke of the instant and agonizing opening of all of his meridians. Lai Daiyu hypothesized that due to the low essence volume on Earth, Aarons intake of impurities through essence was equally low. This meant that Aaron’s entire meridian system contained less impurities than a single meridian for one of Lanura’s residents.
He spoke of the helical system inside of his meridians. This concept deeply excited Lai Daiyu, who attempted the structure in her own meridians. The old woman required instruction from Aaron on the correct angle after the first attempt only caused increased outward pressure. Lai Daiyu marveled at the fact that the structure increased her essence intake ten fold.
He spoke of the fight with the Cloud Eating Tiger and the appearance of the yellow essence. Lai Daiyu was staring at him as if he were a monster by the end. She explained to him that colored essence was representative of an individual's elemental affinity. Access to which was vanishingly rare before the Nascent Soul realm. It was usually indicative of an unusually powerful soul, which could be to say, a soul which was partially bloomed. The fact that his soul had bloomed, even partially, in low essence conditions was extraordinary.
“This conversation has been deeply enlightening, young man. You are very much an enigma, an outsider with no knowledge of cultivation. Yet you are also capable of feats which should be impossible, and the source of fresh ideas we as a society had not considered.” Lai Daiyu gazed contemplatively into the distance as she spoke. The old woman’s eyes locked onto him as she apparently came to a decision.
“You should return at dawn tomorrow, and I will teach you how to advance your cultivation” Lai Daiyu spoke, her previous somewhat flippant air now gone, replaced with grave seriousness. “Our society will eat you alive if you do not advance. Yet if the Meridian Helix method is any indication, you clearly have much to offer us.” Here the old woman’s face softened into something distinctly more maternal. “I will do as much as I can to help you thrive here, for you are alone in an unfamiliar land.”
Following the more somber ending to their conversation, Aaron began the trek back to the Weeping Crane. Tension began to build within him as he maneuvered through the streets and alleyways. It quickly became clear to him that he was being followed from the shadows. Searching his memory, he made haste to a small square, now empty of people, the storefronts dark. His shoulders loosened as five men detached themselves from the shadows in various alleys. Aaron Glanced quickly between the men as he backed away. This revealed one man at Bone Condensing, three men at Blood Thickening, and one man at Organ Reinforcement.
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
“Give us the butcher’s pay and you can go.” The strongest man stepped forward and spoke. The other men stood in a line behind him, with the weakest man on the far right side.
“Apologies, but I don’t believe I will be giving you anything.” Aaron spoke as he began walking back toward the men.
The front man snarled in frustration before drawing a knife from his belt and slashing at him. Aaron ducked under the slash before punching the man in the side with a right hook. He turned and dashed toward one of the men on the left as his first target collapsed from the blow to his liver. Aaron knew that, thanks to his reinforced organs, the blow would only incapacitate the man for a few moments.
The two men on the left side showed a surprising degree of coordination, one going for a punch to his jaw and the other for a kick to his right knee. Aaron blocked the first man’s punch with his left arm before punching into his nose with his left hand. While doing that, he raised his right leg to meet the second man’s kick shin to shin. Aaron plunged a brutal jab into the first man’s throat with his left hand, feeling his windpipe crunch under the blow. He swiftly turned, dragging his right leg along the second man’s leg, catching the top of the man’s foot to drag his leg out straight. He then slammed his left elbow into the man’s knee, shattering it.
Aaron turned from the now screaming man to see the leader rise to his feet. He had been right, the liver strike had barely kept the leader down for one minute. The leader, now much more cautious, motioned the remaining two men forward. Aaron moved a dozen feet to the right as the men moved forward. This ensured that the incapacitated men were not behind him.
The two men came forward, warily watching Aaron, while the leader began to move around to the left. Aaron suddenly lunged forward, causing the weaker of the two men to flinch backwards while covering his head. He drove a feint kick towards the stronger man’s right knee while his companion’s vision was obscured. The man raised his leg to block the presumed strike, at which point Aaron drove his leg down to bear his weight. This allowed him to bring his left leg up between the stronger man’s legs. He turned as the stronger man collapsed in agony, reaching out and seizing the weaker man’s arms as they began to lower. He stepped forward and wrenched the man’s arms wide before slamming the top of his skull into the weaker man’s nose. He felt blood splash over his head as the weaker man’s skull gave slightly under the blow.
Aaron released the weaker man to collapse senselessly to the ground, already turning. He then felt danger and quickly ducked, feeling the leader’s blade pass through where his neck would have been. He shifted to the side to avoid a knee aimed at his face, before seizing the leader's leg. Aaron lunged sideways while the leader was off balance, forcing the man onto the ground. He released the leader’s leg just as the man hit the ground, lunging up the length of the man’s body and seizing the leader’s knife arm. The two men struggled against each other for control of the blade for a moment. Then Aaron drove an elbow strike into the leader’s chin with his other arm. He slapped the knife out of the leader’s slackened grip before driving the previously occupied hand into the leader's throat, feeling his windpipe crunch under the force.
Aaron stood, his chest heaving, among the crumpled and screaming bodies of his foes. The nearby streets were filled with the pounding of booted feet. Aaron knelt and raised his hands as a dozen men in heavy metal armor rushed into the small square from four different streets. One of the guards, his armor bearing extra embellishments marking his status, stepped forward.
“Alright, you with your hands up, what happened here?” The guard, likely a captain of sorts, spoke in a gruff tone.
“These men attacked me in an attempt to take my payment from a beast butcher I visited this morning.” Aaron spoke forthrightly to the captain, knowing he had done nothing wrong.
“You expect me to believe that one Skin Tempering cultivator defeated five higher stage cultivators unharmed?” The captain spoke, sneering at him the whole while.
“Higher cultivation does not outweigh poor skills, these men were sloppy and untrained fighters. They were clearly more used to their targets giving up when threatened.” Aaron spoke simply, stoically ignoring the captain’s obvious contempt for his cultivation.
“Sir, these men are all noted for being thieves, marked to be taken in when caught.” One of the other guards spoke up from where a group had been examining the downed robbers.
The captain grumbled to himself as he considered the situation. “What do their wounds look like?” The captain’s words were clearly directed at the guard who had just spoken.
“Their wounds all appear to be from barehanded strikes. Most of them have broken bones of damage to their throats” The guard spoke after examining the robbers for a moment.
“Alright, the situation seems clear enough. Be on your way, citizen. Some of you take these criminals to the guardhouse, one to one. The rest of you return to patrol.” The captain was clearly still suspicious, but motioned Aaron away before barking orders to the other guards.
Aaron slowly made his way back to the Weeping Crane, carefully keeping to the main thoroughfares. He entered the inn to find the taproom still filled with customers. He made his way to the bar, avoiding several rowdy men singing as they stumbled about.
“Ah, you’re Fang’s companion yeah? What happened to you?” Hou Jiayi spoke to him immediately as he stepped up to the bar.
“A group of men attempted to rob me on the south side of town. They wanted my portion of the payment from the beast butcher.” Aaron spoke as he settled onto one of the padded bar stools.
“Terrible luck, that is, you seem unharmed though.” While Hou Jiayi’s tone was polite enough, Aaron knew he was asking if he could still pay.
“Yes, I was far more dangerous than they expected. I defeated them, then the guards hauled them off.” Aaron spoke, looking directly at the inn keep. “Now then, how much for one week, meals included?” Aaron asked, before considering. “I could also use something strong to drink right now.”
“One mark, four squares for one week, and four chips for the drink.” Hou Jiayi smiled as he spoke, clearly happy both for the coin and for Aarons safety. Aaron paid the requested amount to the inn keep, who moved off to pour him a drink.
“It occurs to me that I still don’t know your name, stranger.” Hou Jiayi spoke as he placed a heavy ceramic glass before him.
“Ah, right, my name would be Lannen Aaron, by your naming conventions.” Aaron answered the inn keep, before taking a long swing of his drink. The alcohol, clearly some variety of rice wine, burned pleasantly in his throat. Hou Jiayi’s eyes widened as Aaron spoke
“Now that is certainly a strange name. There has to be a story there, perhaps related to your meeting with Fang?” Hou Jiayi asked, his voice filled with curiosity. Aaron noticed that several nearby patrons had turned to listen to their conversation.
“There certainly is, I am a stranger to this world. I came here by a transmission array hidden in the Great Eastern Wood. I met Deng Fang after he saved my life. I had collapsed after fighting and defeating a beast much stronger than I am used to. He guided me back here and helped guide me in the ways of this foreign world. He has proven to be a true friend to me.” Half of the taproom was listening, Thoroughly enraptured, as Aaron spoke.
“Fascinating, I will buy all of your drinks tonight if you are willing to tell stories of your homeland.” One of the patrons, a younger man with the air of a scholar, spoke up. Several of the other patrons made sounds of agreement with the idea. Aaron chuckled at their enthusiasm, before nodding his ascent.
He spent the next several telling stories of a fictional homeland. He told stories about a world where only one person in one thousand was capable of cultivation. Where royal and aristocratic dynasties were made up entirely of cultivators, and all non noble cultivators were found, trained, and then employed by the nobility. He spoke of his hatred for his position, and his disdain for the people who treated him like a trained hound. His story ended with the discovery and use of a still functional transmission array in a monastery high in the mountains.
After his story finished, he stumbled up to his room, having consumed over a dozen large glasses of the powerful alcohol during his story. He did retain enough sense to lock the door to his room. Stumbling over to the bed, he attempted to retrieve his mattress for several seconds. He then remembered that it was in the spatial ring still in his pocket. Having successfully set up his bed, he slumped into the mattress, too tired to get undressed.