There are certain effects that are unavoidable when you cultivate certain energies. Those who cultivate strongly in Yang, as an example, tend to build more muscle. They tend towards ruggedness, strength, and have sturdier constitutions - this is because Yang is associated with all of those things. No, that's the wrong word. It's not 'associated', so much as it is those things.

Yang is Life, it is Strength and Harshness. It is often associated with heat or fire, but it's truly more of Light than either of those things necessarily.

The Gentle Mist Soul is something that is inarguably Yin-aligned on the spectrum, but it is a spectrum. If I were to put it on a scale, where Zero is Pure Yin, and a Hundred is Pure Yang, Gentle Mist Soul is probably around a Forty. It leans towards Yin, but is not strongly Yin. A few years of cultivating through the Gentle Mist Soul have lent me a softer face and frame than I might've had normally, and that never really bothered me if I were particularly honest.

Cultivating makes you prettier and more handsome as a general rule of thumb, because the basis of cultivation is in 'refining' - your particular style just helps push you to what you are refining towards. I know that some of the older Inner or Core Disciples I've seen have begun to show signs of that as well, with their bodies growing… 'inhuman' is probably the wrong word for it, but I know there is at least one Disciple who has little nub-like horns starting to form on their forehead, and another at the Artifact Pavilion has scales the way one might have vitiligo.

I'm not actually sure what kind of scales though, beyond 'red'. It's tempting to say 'dragon', but it could really be anything.

After a while though, you will hit a peak of power where your appearance becomes a suggestion. Truly, there is no reason a powerful Yin cultivator cannot be a towering hulk of muscle, and no reason a dainty fairy cannot be brimming with powerful Yang. These things do not happen all that often, admittedly, because when you set off on a particular path, you tend to do so because you're embracing all that it means.

Having muscles on muscles is not something many Yang cultivators take as a downside. I think I'd look a little ridiculous like that though - I've always thought bodybuilders always looked a bit silly, personally. Impressive, but not really my thing. Thankfully, that's not a concern for me.

Although going too far the other way isn't ideal either for my sense of aesthetic, and I'm a touch concerned the Yin Vessel Cauldron Technique might be doing that. It's obviously more strongly Yin than the Gentle Mist Soul, and it might be a little too Yin if I'm not careful, especially if it's having a result like this after cultivating it for a few weeks.

… Admittedly, it's been a few weeks of me mostly rebuilding my foundations. Although as this is Qi Condensation, perhaps it's more accurate to say this is… remixing the concrete for the foundations? It's stretching an analogy a bit, but I suppose if I think of it that way, a profound effect isn't too surprising.

My skin is clearer and softer than it's ever been, and my hair has a silken lustrousness to it that makes me want to pose in a shampoo commercial - which is something that doesn't exist in this world, but still. I have this realisation whilst collecting water for a shower, temporarily mesmerised by my reflection in the water.

I suppose the more I look at myself, the more it doesn't look that dramatic - it's just been a while since I've looked at myself in the mirror. I'm far from looking like a supermodel or anything like that. In a village, I'd probably be considered a prime specimen - probably prettier than even the prized flower. In a decently sized town though, I'd just be a pretty face. A very pretty face, but nothing to write home about.

Well, I'll just have to grow and become even more beautiful. All those Icy Fairies will have nothing on the likes of a peerless beauty like me, Hei Lian!

"... Pfffft." Okay, no, that's too much for me.

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The problem with sitting down and living off the land in a place like the Forest isn't actually the Spirit Beasts. Those are a problem, sure, but they're actually relatively rare.

The real problem is finding food. I chose this spot to have access to water, fish, and fruit, but as the days wear on, I find the latter increasingly difficult to forage - and the fish are starting to vacate the area as well. I'm not so gluttonous that I've eaten them all - I eat maybe a few day - but I think they're starting to learn this is no longer a safe place.

Furthermore, there is only so far I can venture from my little campsite and still reliably find my way back. I'm not actually sure what that distance is, but I'm doing my best to avoid finding out the hard way, which means the surrounding area is quickly becoming picked clean of fruit, nuts and other edibles. Last time I was only present for a few days, but I intend to be in the Forest for much longer this time.

I'm going to have to move.

Everything gets packed back up, and I start heading along the stream bank once again, following the flow in the vague hope it'll lead to more fish - or at least somewhere with more edible fruit to gather.

The Forest truly is a beautiful place, in an ephemeral, kind of dream-like fashion. The mists drift through the branches of the trees in small patches, glittering like jewel dust. The trees gently sway in the breezes, leaves of every shape and colour - some vibrant, some muted, but all of it drawing the eye in one way or another. The rushing of the stream colours the air, adding a soothing ambience that's kind of at odds with the occasional whispering I hear.

It feels a little like I'm walking through Alice in Wonderland, I imagine - or if Lisa Frank vomited over a forest.

As I'm passing a small grove, something catches my eye. There's a lot that catches it, to be fair, as there's a lot that's just straight up eye catching. What manages to hold it is the fact that it's fruit. Exactly the kind of thing I'm looking for! And a lot of it too! There's a tree of sorts with branches laden with what are definitely some kind of fruit. It's a little hard to see them properly, however, as they're fairly transparent from the looks of things. It's only the way the light catches on them that even tells me they're there.

… It's too good to be true, isn't it? That kind of bounty of fruit has to be a trick. But in saying that, so long as I'm careful… it's worth checking out, isn't it? If I'm afraid of everything, there's little point in even coming to the Forest. I could probably cultivate just fine staying in the Sect Compound.

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No, I'm after resources like this. I have no choice but to risk it - or rather, I've already made the choice ot risk it the moment I came into this Forest.

The area around the Tree is relatively clear - there's patches of wild flowers around, but nothing particularly stands out, and that alone makes me more worried. I think if it were more hidden, I might be more willing to reach for it. Still, I begin to approach carefully, straining my every sense to the fullest extent.

The flowers smell intoxicatingly sweet, which is probably a good reason to avoid them, I think, however pretty and enticing. I can't hear anything except a gentle breeze that, for once, isn't making any creepy noises that the wind shouldn't be making. The wind, for its part, just feels like wind. Which isn't saying much - it's not like I'd really be able to feel out any danger. Sight is probably the most untrustworthy of my senses, but there's nothing that stands out there either.

The tree is dark, its leaves are glossy, deep indigo - an odd colour to be sure - and the fruits are shimmering and resplendent things. The grass I walk on has a sunset orange tinge to it, and the the flowers around me are so dazzling in their variety to describe them would take me all day.

The most important sense of course is how it feels in terms of Qi. My… I guess you could call it 'Qi-sense' for lack of better word - I think the Sect tended to refer to it as spiritual awareness? - wasn't particularly refined. I was good at feeling for the presence of things that were there, but was a lot like saying I was good at fumbling around in the dark. It works fine against things that allow themselves to be felt, but in the Forest, it wasn't beyond belief that anything with Qi might be trying to hide it.

I… felt Qi from the tree. I'm pretty sure I could even feel it concentrated into the fruit. I can't tell if that's better or worse. Is it luring me in, or is it a bounty I'm too afraid to approach…?

Only one way to find out. I take each step carefully, pausing and waiting as though expecting a trap to be sprung on me, like I'll go too far and feel the ground give way or hit a trip wire (trip vine?) or something ridiculous.

First step… fine. Second step… fine. Third step… fine. Fourth step… fourth step?

I glance down at my foot, trying to see what I'm caught on - but it seems more like I might be what's caught. There's a vine wrapped around my ankle, and when I try to lift my foot, it starts to crawl a bit further.

Okay. Maybe it's based on movement? It's still crawling slowly, but if I stay calm and move slowly, I should be able to get out of this. Careful. Easy does it. Lower myself slowly and gradually, draw the knife from my sleeve, prepare to cut the vine…

Now!

One stab is all it takes, the vine writhing desperately like a living being as I shear it off, leaking milky sap everywhere. Whew! Safe at-fuck it's on my wrist!

Forgetting all about 'not panicking', I tug instinctively at it, and the vine (well, a new one it seems) curls up my arm, squeezing tighter as it goes. Shit! I can't… get the knife around to cut it! I have other knives, of course, because I'm not an idiot, but they're all in my qiankun pouch and that's on the same side of my body as my knife arm.

I have to try and reach for it anyway… but all it does is get both my wrists grabbed, another vine shooting out fast enough that I'm pretty sure it definitely knows what its doing. I can't decide if that's worse - do I want to be eaten by something that doesn't think or plan like an idiot, or do I want to be outsmarted by a plant? Because those are my options right now.

"Let… go!" I hiss, as though the plant was going to apologise and do exactly that. That'd be too easy. It starts drawing me in to whatever nightmare hell it intends to kill me with, and I half expect something like a Piranha Plant to show itself. Instead, what happens is more vines snake out, wrapping around my limbs and torso, one grasping around my neck.

And then I feel it - it's draining my energy. It doesn't need to eat me, not when it can siphon away my essence directly. I let out an angry huff, tugging desperately at the vines some more as I rack my brain for a solution.

How do you deal with plants? Cutting them's out. Weed killer? With what chemicals? Tear them? With what muscles? Burn them? With what fire?

… with my fire. I've never done anything like this. I've never tried it. It's definitely not a part of any cultivation manual I've read or technique scroll or anything but-Qi is energy, right? Well, technically it's 'Vitality', but that doesn't matter right now, what matters is that you use it to do things. Kong Meiling uses Snow and Ice Qi, Shan Guojin uses Mountain Qi - Qi can be those things. It can take on those elements.

To have your Qi take on an element requires understanding. You can't just will it to be something, you have to know what it is. What is fire? Fire is a chemical process. It's combustion. It's oxygen, heat and fuel combining into a process that transforms energy and releases it as heat and light.

What is heat? Heat is energy. All energy is motion. I know how this works on a scientific level, and more than that, I have burned myself a million times on the stove, on fires, on ovens. Perhaps not in this life, but does that matter? I know what it is. I know how it works.

Who would dare say that I, Hei Lian, know nothing of the hearth?

"You want my Qi?" I hiss out, "Then choke on it!"

Heat roils off me, so intense my robes actually ignite. The vines don't stand a chance, smoking and burning almost instantly. I half expect to hear something shriek, but all that happens is the vines retract rapidly back into the grass they slithered out of - and the grass around me smolders and smokes, flowers wilting under the pressure of my Heat Qi.

I cut it off almost immediately, slick with sweat and still smoking slightly. Is it possible to give yourself a sunburn through raw heat? I don't want to find out, but it feels like I was the one being baked there. A few quick pats see the smoking patches of my robes safely out and I let out a breath, suddenly more tired than I expected.

Right. That's why they tell you 'Don't use Qi attacks in Qi Condensation'. Just doing that drained me severely, and if I kept it up a little longer, I probably would've regressed and that's just embarrassing. Better to regress than die, though.

My next few steps are cautious and careful again as I eye everything around me just in case there's any movement. I can probably use the heat a few more times before I'm completely tapped, but let's not let it come to that. I don't want to be the only Disciple that left for the Forest only to return with less cultivation than before, I have so little face as it is.

Finally, I reach the tree and now begins the final test. Is this tree going to give me shit? It's not moving as I approach. It looks like a tree. I'm going to just reach out and gently touch the bark, see if it does anything.

The moment I do touch it, I pull back so fast you'd think it burned me… but it didn't do anything. Okay, more gradual touch… still fine. I think I'll be fine. The fruit's not easy to reach, so I'll have to climb up, but that's easy enough to do. A tree's not a mountain, after all, although I'm sure there's one giant mountain sized tree somewhere.

Finally, when I'm in the branches, I position myself carefully. It's not so high that I'm particularly worried if I fall, but I'm still leery of any tricks.

But once I'm stable and confident, I reach out for the fruit and-

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I open my eyes slowly, lifting myself up with a small yawn.

"You're up early," a voice notes just before a pair of arms encircle around my waist from behind. "Sleep well?"

"Mh," I murmur, leaning back against the welcome warmth, "I had the strangest dream…"

"Tell me about it?"

I shook my head, raising one of his hands to give it a gentle kiss. "Perhaps later. Breakfast won't cook itself."

"Ah, but what if it did? Then we could stay in bed…" There's an alluring lilt to his voice, but I laugh it off, moving to remove his hands - but he tugs me a little closer.

"You know I have to cook breakfast - and a hundred other things besides."

"Stay with me a little longer, Hei Lian?" he murmurs, and I let out a long, exaggerated sigh.

"Of course. As long as you need me."