That year went without a winter season, though I personally didn’t complain. The children wanted more snowball fights, but we needed the extra harvest the qi surge provided.

With the nexus points unlocked, qi was flowing freely again and elements mattered even less than they used to. Turns out that a lot of what we “knew” about the world was just what the Four Heavenly Kings imposed on it. Kaoru was doing a lot to set things straight with the scriptures given her by the Goddess.

Wasn’t entirely sure why she couldn’t put everything in an information jade, though. When I asked, I got something about “tenth-dimensional thought patterns” being too complex for the stones, and how they didn’t last all that long anyway, just a few centuries.

Apparently the gods think on different scales than even the most enlightened of mortals.

Xiang wasn’t entirely untouched by her own encounter, beating up Kaoru first chance she got. For a month. Apparently, the Tiger King was… less-than-satisfying to fight. I was just glad I needed more time to try my own ascension.

With all lands cleared and healed, people spread out more and started building more cities, including a new capital in what was formerly the central lands of the newly-titled Xiangli Empire. I was a touch bemused at the name, but Xiang made her hatred of it pretty clear to us.

Kaoru usually didn’t have to spar with her twice a day, after all.

So time passed as crops were planted, cities planned, and foundations laid. We were guaranteed at least two bumper crops of… well, everything… so we all worked hard to plant and harvest what we could and store it away. Doubly so when the other major side-effect of a qi surge became clear.

To put it bluntly, contraception magic failed. Every trick we knew was completely ineffective, though Kaoru assured us it was temporary. But it meant that, by the spring equinox, every sexually-active male/female couple was expecting. Song and Chen bumped their wedding date up a few months to ensure they and the entirety of their female guest list and attendants wouldn’t go into labor during the ceremony.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Xiang and I didn’t kill our eldest son, but he does have a few burn scars from Kaoru’s… discussion… concerning young Chiaki. Thankfully she’d attained her mastery, but we all considered their form of celebration a touch inappropriate at their age.

I’d honestly miss seeing them when the new capital was finished. Chiaki would be overseeing the Song Valley Monastery, while Chang took over the running of the village, once again needing a new name as Xiangli City was to be the name of the new capital.

And with Shun being the new mayor of Rivermill, that would mean all of my eldest were leaving me for new lives. Well, maybe the two other gods Kaoru mentioned will give Song and Chen their attention when they reach Elder rank. Shouldn’t take either of them too long.

The younger children are all doing well, and I’ve got reports of our military’s gradual disbanding as we slowly reduce our forces back down to cultivating monks and tradespeople. Even as the world outside discovers us, we feel little need to be on the offensive anymore.

Ah. Speaking of.

It turns out “the world” as we knew it was just a small portion of a much wider sphere. With the harsh conditions the Four created gone, we now have caravans reaching us from the far west, interested in trading goods we’d never seen before for things we found almost commonplace. To the east were a cluster of islands, where we traded some of our technology for their pottery. They had a thing for fertility idols, and… well, a few of the ones we got had rabbit ears after they saw Xiang.

There were also lands to the south, though the mountain barrier made travelling there difficult by land. But the spices were worth re-learning the shipwright’s trade for, and Xiang loved the cuisine. Lots of vegetable dishes, and apparently rabbits were sacred creatures to them, and thus not to be eaten by men.

Made no sense, but it meant Xiang could, and did, try everything on our first visit.

Spring passed, summer faded, and when autumn colors showed, it was time for the harvest feast held at the equinox… and for the first of my children to be given away in marriage.