I wasn't really sure what I was expecting inside the hidden chamber - something dramatic, surely. Impressive. Spooky even. Something on the scale of the Chamber of Secrets, at the very minimum.

What we got was… more like someone's cozy cabin. I can't imagine why they would choose this place of all places to build a cozy cabin, but that was sort of undeniably the vibe. Woven mats lined the floor, a number of low chairs surrounded a low table and wall scrolls - aged and dusty - decorated the walls.

There was even a fireplace with a kettle.

My only confusion was why someone who was clearly powerful would bother - to build such a thing in such a place, and to have such guardians before it… that isn't something easy to do, I'd wager. But if you were powerful enough to do all of that, why build… a cabin? Or whatever this is?

It feels like something I'd do… minus the choice of locale.

"Is this a kitchen?" Hou Bohai murmurs, scrutinising what looks like an oven carved into the wall. He unlatches the little door and peers into it, nose wrinkling. "They burnt it, whatever it was they were making."

I perk up a little. "They did?" In a few seconds, I'm over there next to him, trying to inspect the contents. Two hunks of… something, burned and practically fossilized. Judging from the shape and size… hm.

Cracking it open with my knife reveals… "I think it was bread." How domestic. How normal.

How… perplexing.

"I don't suppose there's any medicine…?" Tian Mingfei calls, already slumping into one of the seats.

There might be - I want to say we can't really guarantee whether anything is actually still usable after so long, but isn't that a thing, that pills basically last forever? We'd have to find some first.

"There's another room," Zhou Cheng calls, as he pushes a sliding stone out of the way to reveal something that seems more promising… maybe.

A library of sorts - scrolls, books, crystals on stone shelves, all carved out of the rock. A part of me wonders how long that took. The rest of me wonders why you'd bother having a library when you could just… carry everything in a qiankun pouch or spatial ring.

Was there a reason you'd leave everything behind like this? I guess if it wasn't that important, but I don't know. I fully intended to basically live out of mine.

"No pills that we can see," Mo Jianyang calls back, already examining the shelves with wide-eyed amazement. "But lot's of-ow!"

Probably shouldn't be too surprised the moment he tries to touch something, it shocks him. I'm more surprised something more serious didn't happen. "Okay, maybe let's let Zhou Cheng do all the touching, ah? This place seems to accept him for some reason. We can try to figure out how to deactivate the security measures after."

Mo Jianyang nods sourly, like a scolded child, and it probably doesn't help that Hou Bohai is now sending him smug looks.

For his part, Zhou Cheng selects an item from the shelves - a hefty looking tome - and peers at it carefully. He mouths something that I can't read - presumably the title of the book? - and then cracks it open carefully.

No vengeful ghosts are summoned or anything like that, but he seems to read the first line before making a face. "It's a story book," he declares with a bemused air, placing it back.

… Huh. I wonder if it's any good? Really, this place is definitely feeling like some guy's vacation home or something.

"And this one's a recipe for fish stew…" Zhou Cheng mutters, putting another item back, "This one's a… history book? This one's about music…"

Broad tastes. Definitely some kind of personal library.

He picks up a crystal after a long moment of wary consideration, and turns it over in his hands. "Lian-er, do you know how to… work these?"

I'm not really sure why you're asking me, Cheng-ge. "Don't you just… put some Qi into it?" I glance over at everyone else, for the slightest chance of confirmation, but it doesn't look like anybody else has much of a better idea it seems.

Zhou Cheng purses his lips, clearly not satisfied with that but without any other better alternatives… that's what he does.

I think everyone's a little startled when the crystal lights up and starts projecting a scene. It was almost like one of those scifi little holoprojectors - only with a Qi-powered crystal.

The image was fuzzy at first, but then started to sharpen, revealing… a man hunched over a workbench working on a crystal?

"Gege, gege!" coos a decidedly feminine voice - we can't see the speaker but they sound… young. Not much older than us I'd wager. "Are you still working?"

The man glances over, revealing a sharply handsome face once he brushes his long, shiny dark hair out of the way. He has a look I can only describe as 'irritated fondness' on his face. I'm pretty sure I usually have the same expression when dealing with Cheng-ge. "Of course I'm still working - you should be training as-is that one of my crystals?"

"Mmhm!"

He sighs, exasperated. "Those don't grow on trees, you know."

"I know. I wanted to keep some memories around, for after we ascend to Heaven, so people can look back and see how we did it!"

'Gege' raises an eyebrow, more amused than anything from his expression. "And you thought it would be best to show me… carving some crystals?" He leans back a little and gestures at his workbench - the view shifts a little to capture more of it in detail.

It's… well, it's just a workbench with a chunk of crystal on it, with a number of tools around it. Not sure what I expected.

"Well, I thought it would be best to get you in your natural environment seeing as you don't come out to eat with us anymore."

He sighs again. "Practicing inedia should be second nature to us by now - I really don't see the point."

"The point is that we barely get to see you. Even Master's starting to get worried. How long are you going to be working on these crystals, gege?"

To his credit, he seems pained by her words. He glances over to the crystal he was working on, and sighs again. "... I'm sorry. I've been insensitive. Will you ever forgive me?"

"Hummm… maybe!" The camera (well, 'crystal' I assume) shakes a little. "But you have to come celebrate New Years with us."

He cracks a wan smile. "I suppose I can share some nian gao with my precious sister."

"You better! It's on record now too, so you can't make excuses!"

The vision flickers and fades, leaving all of us staring at the now empty space it used to occupy.

That felt… it felt voyeuristic, almost. A peak into someone else's life. More then anything, I just felt that sense of connection and kinship.

I don't know how long ago that recording was made - I don't know if they're still alive or not. If they're practicing inedia, they're obviously cultivators, and whoever built this place cared enough to keep the crystal here although it's hard to say which of the two did it. But they're just… human.

So painfully human. I could see myself in that exact position. I could see Zhou Cheng bothering me and demanding I spend time with him.

"Are there more?" I'm a little surprised to find myself asking, but I just… I've got a strange but insatiable need to find out more. To learn more about them, which of them built this place, which of them…

Which of them wanted somewhere cozy and comfortable, which of them treasured small pleasures like a good book and memories of friends and family, because if they can make it, so can I.

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

Zhou Cheng gives me a little look, but shrugs and starts filtering out the crystals for me. He's still on the hunt for more traditional resources, and it seems like he does find a few things of interest that he sets aside, but whilst the Juniors and he go over those, I have a small pile of crystals.

In order to give them some space to focus on their own work, I head back into the… living room I guess? The living room to keep Tian Mingfei company.

"No medicine?" she asks. Her breathing isn't that laboured, but she's probably still in pain.

"No medicine yet," I answer, plopping the crystals down. "But we did find these. Want to watch them with me?"

She grimaces. "I don't really think I have much of a choice right now, Junior."

I beam back at her. Finally, some payback! I pick one at random, and pour a touch of Qi into it.

Immediately, it lights up and starts projecting an image.

The same, sharply handsome man appears. He says nothing, merely frowns into the 'camera', and seems to fidget with it. The visual skips a little, his face shifting from one expression to another without any transition, until finally he speaks. "I… think it's recording. Ahem. Test number one of recording crystals, test performed by-"

Before he can finish that sentence, a young girl pushes up besides him. "Why are you talking into a crystal?" She's definitely around our age, with wide guileless eyes and bright red hair pulled up into a high ponytail.

"Wh-you!" the man blusters, "I told you not to bother me whilst I'm working!"

She shows no remorse, merely shrugging lightly. "I heard talking so I was worried you finally went insane."

"Trust me, when I snap you will be the first to know." The expression on his face suggested he wasn't far off at that point.

"So why were you talking into a crystal? Have you lost your mind?"

He let out an irritated sigh, arms folding over his chest. "It's a recording crystal. I've been trying to make my own as part of my research - hopefully, I'll be able to use it to record my research."

"Oh," she says, in the tone of someone who understands nothing of what was just said, "... Why not write it on paper then?"

"Because this will last better - I know, I know, I could treat the paper and use better materials, but the crystals are useful to my research anyway."

She makes a face. "Gege is so weird."

He narrows his eyes, and then does something to the crystal that makes the feed cut off.

"They're cute," Tian Mingfei offers, shifting a little, "Is this his place?"

I can only shrug in response. "Maybe?" It's… definitely someone's. "I'm leaning towards hers though - she seems like she'd be the one to have a place like this."

I'm not sure which crystal to use next - the boys are still poring over their reading material and will probably be at it for a while. Maybe this one? It seems more intricate than the others. Could be interesting!

This time, when the image projects, it's to an empty room. The view shifts a little, as though the crystal were being moved, but there was no other visible change.

Then, a familiar voice. "Kuye, what are you doing?" the man from before asks, sounding much more tired.

"I was looking at your crystals," 'Kuye' replies, sounding somewhere between bored and disinterested.

"I can see that. You've got it the wrong way around, you know."

After a moment, the view turned around, revealing a bored looking youth. He had wild looking silver hair, and almost predatory golden eyes and my first thought was 'Who is this shonen protagonist looking motherfucker?'.

The man from before was behind him, not quite in view but not quite out of it either. He seemed… worn from the last time we saw him. Not visibly aged, but you know, cultivator. That didn't mean anything. "Why are you looking at my crystals?"

"Bored. Curious." Kuye squints into the lens of the crystal. "Long and Chyou don't want to spar."

The man sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose. "That's because you don't know the meaning of restraint. You're not supposed to try to kill your opponent in a friendly spar, Kuye. That's why it's 'friendly'."

"That's dumb," he responds immediately, "If I don't fight them seriously, then it's disrespectful."

"He reminds me of you a little."

I expected my little jab to get a reaction, but Tian Mingfei is scrutinising the projection like it holds the secrets to the Dao within it.

The man says something else in a tired voice, but I couldn't hear him clearly as Zhou Cheng chose that specific moment to call out from the other room. "Lian-er! Come take a look at this!"

I give Sister Tian one more glance to make sure she's okay, but she's too absorbed in her thoughts for once to really react to me. Well, so long as she doesn't bleed out or anything.

In the other room, all three of them are huddled around a small chest they seem to have found, poring over the contents. Mo Jianyang is emptying a qiankun pouch of an impressive quantity of pills, all in various labeled jars; Hou Bohai is examining some kind of flute carved out of what looks like some kind of precious stone; and Zhou Cheng is studying some scroll.

"Can you check the pills? I want to make sure it's safe to use."

Really? You drag me over here to be a glorified pill tester? Cheng-ge, please. At least call me over because I brighten up the room or something.

Still, I sigh and sit down and start checking the labels. "Medicine… medicine… these might be good for Sister Tian's state… medicine…" There's… a lot of medicine, actually. A concerning amount. Like, are you trying to run a hospital levels of medicine. Most of it is for specific conditions or symptoms - less 'Take this to have legs again' kind of regenerative medicine and more prescription things. Medicine to treat Qi Deviation, medicine to treat poisons, medicine to purge foreign Qi, medicine to purify the soul…

"Oh, this could be useful," I murmur, examining one jar in particular. 'Divine Dragon Fruit'. An interesting choice and something that's not explicitly a pill or elixir of some kind. I wonder why it's with them then?

Well, I peel the seal back carefully, and open the jar. The moment I do, Zhou Cheng sneezes with a startled squeak, snapping towards the jar with a shocked expression.

"What is that…?" he mumbles, rubbing his nose a little - and sneezing again. "It smells like-like thunder?"

Ozone then? Interesting. "It's a fruit, apparently." And it sure looks like one, albeit one covered in scales. "Do you want me to move it away?"

He shakes his head. He looks like he's about to sneeze again… but manages to restrain it. "I'm fine," he declares, and maybe he is.

I just shrug and turn back to the fruit. It's… definitely powerful. I suppose… I could cook it, but it's a fruit. Cutting up fruit and eating it just like that is the best way to enjoy it, in my opinion. Hopefully it's edible, but I'll just try it first and if it kills me… well. It kills me, I guess.

Attempting to slice it proves harder than I thought though - my knife can't get past the skin. It's like trying to slice a steel ball. Narrowing my eyes, I try to bring my knife down for more of a chop but all that happens is a faint clang.

"Okay," I mumble, "Fruit's tougher than it looks."

The cheeky little shits snicker at my expense, but I tune them out to focus on the fruit. Maybe the scales are the key? When I butchered that wyvern all those years ago, I did it by working my knife under the scales and… I think I'm getting somewhere now.

It's slow going, but I manage to peel the scales off, bit by bit and reveal something kind of resembles a rockmelon underneath. The smell is strong enough that it's making my eyes water, and Zhou Cheng quietly moves away to a safer distance.

Okay. Real test now. Slice a teensy bit off and place it on my tongue. It hasn't hurt my hands or anything yet, so I should be fine. No… stinging or burning. It's sweet, which is nice, but with a strange aftertaste to the juice. Alright, I'll just swallow it now and be ready to take some antidotes if-"Gh!"

It feels like a bomb just went off in my meridians - or more like a sudden tidal wave. It's not painful, but it's just unexpected. There was a lot of Qi in that little bite. It feels like storms and thunder, so not something that's all that useful for me, and is more work to integrate than I'd like, but…

Hot damn.

"Are you alright?" Mo Jianyang asks, a little concerned at my facial journey.

"I'm fine, I'm fine." I wave him off, coughing a little as my system settles. "Just… unexpected. It's quite a boost."

I could try to condense it into a pill and that'd probably be incredible… for one person. Furthermore, I don't think I have anything on hand to really help with that, still. I could wait for the auction, but I was already going to make a pill out of that pearl.

So I'm just going to slice it into fifths - one piece for everyone. That way nobody complains.

A few moments later, we were all situated in what I'd started calling the living room, the plate of sliced fruit set before everyone. "It's pretty intense," I warn, just so everyone's on the same page, "So be careful. Maybe go slow."

"What are we waiting for?" Hou Bohai asks, already reaching for his slice, "Let's get on with it!"

Impatient brat. It's not like we really need to say anything more though, so everyone grabs a slice, myself included. I learnt my lesson earlier, so I'm just going to take a small bite and-okay, everyone is wolfing it down like they're starving, did nobody hear what I just said?!

Power roils off of everyone around me. Mo Jianyang and Hou Bohai both double over, gasping as the Qi surges through them. Zhou Cheng and Tian Mingfei both manage much better, but I can see them sweating and breathing heavily as they try to integrate it smoothly.

Honestly. I set my slice aside and just put a hand on each of the Juniors. I'm not going to do anything to regulate their Qi unless they really need it, but I just want to keep an eye on their systems. Or I guess a finger on their pulses is more accurate.

It takes them a while to finish - I'm a little annoyed I'm the one left out right now. I feel like a designated driver, or that one friend who doesn't drink at a party and just watches everyone else slip into stupidity.

Hou Bohai and Mo Jianyang start to break through at the same time, in an impressive show of synchronicity. A little later, the feel of Zhou Cheng's Qi starts to change as well, intensifying considerably. I'm not too surprised that the fruit has gone a long way for him - it's well suited to him, after all.

Finally though, it's over, and everyone starts to visibly relax, although it still doesn't look like any of them are going to be in any position to do anything for a little bit.

But they're okay, so… I guess it's my turn?

I'm tempted to do what they did, but nah. Little bites.

Each little bit is an explosion of Qi, and it takes me a minute or two each time to recover and integrate everything properly. Even then, I'm pretty sure I'm wasting more than I'm keeping. I feel the pressure reaching capacity at around the fourth bite, and I can feel it condensing into my Foundation.

I've read a little bit about this - you fill the Dantian up, and it starts to overflow into your meridians and allow you to start strengthening the body. It's… a strange feeling honestly. It reminds me almost of drinking so much soup you feel swollen. Not uncomfortable, but strange.

Then finally, once I'm sure it's settled down some, I finish off the last bite and feel the power settle in. Foundation Establishment… Second Step, I think? I'm pretty sure the Juniors are ahead of me now though, and Zhou Cheng remains yet a whole Stage ahead once again.

Ah well. I think after that little adventure we ought to have lunch.