We didn't make it to the waterfall the next morning, or even in the next week. I made sure to bring a guard with me when I went to get some gifts for Yu Qianqian, but thankfully she began to avoid me a little herself and I didn't have to chat with her too much.

Spending someone else's money bothered me, but I found myself buying a lot of things for Xiujian, too. When I went to talk to him one morning and had the chance to see his living quarters, I got a bit upset. I was aware that Yu Qianqian spoiled Rong Xiugang excessively, but comparing their rooms... Xiujian didn't have a personal servant, and there was thick dust in the details of his warped and worn furniture; his blankets were rougher; and while I'd thought that he typically wore clothing of a coarser weave because he was still young and silly, I found that he only had two quality outfits. Everything else was of worse quality than Sisi’s. Xiao Qiang made sure I knew that it was he who bought those two decent outfits, as well, and not Yu Qianqian.

I nearly brought this blatant ‘favoritism’ up with Rong Yutang. Wasn't this ridiculously cruel, if you compared the two? Why didn't anyone else seem to notice? Of course, I knew they would notice EVENTUALLY, that this would be a stain on Rong Xiugang's reputation. But why didn't anyone stop to think that these were kids, that adults should have gotten involved?

Xiujian himself had noticed, but didn't seem to mind. He was baffled but pleased when I oversaw some servants bringing in his new furniture.

“Is Mother okay with this?” he asked me. “She said to wait a while until there was enough money…”

I shook my head and said, “I've been saving up my allowance lately so it's all good. Now our rooms will match!”

In truth, I'd found out through Sisi that the amount of play money assigned to Xiao Qiang was enough to redecorate two rooms with the best Guoyang had to offer, and still buy plenty of candy with the leftover. Just what was this money supposed to be for?

“Okay!” Xiujian seemed to really like that idea. He accepted new sheets and new clothes easily when I phrased it that way again - as matching with me. He really did admire his older brother and wanted to be like him.

Xiao Qiang wasn't convinced by Xiujian's admiration, and he didn't like what I was doing. But I was a bit sick of catering to him.

Yu Qianqian and I didn't talk about the matter of Xiujian's furniture, but she was there when we delivered the sheets. I handed over some fresh desserts to her personally, and she accepted them with a mournful face. Yu Qianqian clearly wanted to use this as a chance to victimize herself - she wanted me to scold her, yell or something. But if everyone else could pretend not to notice unfair treatment, I could naturally do the same.

Her schemes weren't very serious at the moment, but I started being much more ‘careful’ during meals. Xiujian even ended up laughing at me for how I made it a point to have two hands and an elbow involved any time I lifted a liquid in Yu Qianqian's presence. She also tried to smile, but I could tell that she was getting frustrated. This is part of why I waited so long to try and go back to the waterfall.

Xiujian himself had to bring it up. We were walking back together from training one day when he said, “Hey, what if we snuck out to that place tomorrow morning?” Instructor Yao had taken leave for the next few days for some family thing, so our schedule was open.

I cocked my head at him, wondering why Xiujian seemed a little anxious about this.

“Well, I was thinking… Maybe Father would bring us on his next mission if we could just break through this week, I mean, he's taking a pretty big group to Duan village, some other beginners are going…”

Ah, Xiao Qiang said, and since he didn't seem angry I listened for the rest. Duan village; that should be fairly close to Mt. Mian.

“That would be really cool,” I agreed. It was hard to shut down my brief wave of excitement at the mention of Mt. Mian.

“Um, I know we should bring an escort, but I don't really wanna show that place to anyone else…”

“Nah, we can go on our own,” I said decisively. “We're gonna be cultivators soon, right?”

“Right!”

Rong Yutang was home at the moment, and would be here for another few days. Even if we ran late for lunch, that man would be understanding. I'd done some sucking up with Yu Qianqian, so I was pretty sure I could afford this risk. Just in case, I told Sisi about our plan, and asked her to be frank and honest with Rong Yutang if he came to ask. He was such a laid-back guy that I doubted he'd mind us sneaking off to the woods to meditate.

As I lay in bed that night, I tried to chat with Xiao Qiang. “So, if we make it to Duan village, what do you think the odds are of sneaking off to that mountain alone?”

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So you want to talk now?

“Yes,” I said, not sure why I felt shameless for it. “You want it back as soon as possible, right?” By ‘it’, he should know I meant ‘his body’. “Maybe this is our chance.”

You're so sure that you can breakthrough? Our lips pulled into a sneer. I was fifteen when I pulled it off. This body really isn't talented.

“If A’Jian at least can breakthrough - hey, listen for a minute before you bristle up. If A’Jian breaks through, Rong Yutang will feel a bit bad for me, right? I can use that to beg to go along with everyone.”

Alright. But how are you going to sneak away from a group of cultivators as a non-cultivator?

I frowned. That was really the problem, but… “I have talismans from D- Rong Xiumei. Maybe I can fall mysteriously sick or something and have only Sisi stay with me -”

She won't go to Duan village. Haven't you noticed that Sisi never leaves this estate?

I blinked, realizing that was true. “Alright, no Sisi. Hmm…”

Xiao Qiang was dismissive of most of my ideas, but I felt that he was more himself as we plotted together. However, he sneered again when I dared to ask him about entering the qi refining stage. I suspected it was more because he didn't know how to explain it than because he didn't want to, and I felt much lighter as I fell asleep.

I woke up the next morning feeling more relaxed than I had in ages. Slipping out of bed, I peeked out the door and looked to the sky; I could faintly see that the eastern horizon was lightening up. There was a full moon casting long shadows from the other side. Good.

After getting dressed and checking my bag, I left my room and crept over to Xiujian's. His head poked through the door before I could knock, his smile a little different than usual. He sure is confident, Xiao Qiang grumbled.

We had no trouble leaving through the usual dog hole, as we didn't play around this time. We walked together wordlessly under the stars; whatever it was that made me feel calm seemed to have contaminated Xiujian as well.

The glow to the east grew stronger as we crossed the city, nodding our heads whenever we encountered someone. The forest path was chilly, with fog clinging to the trees; we had both anticipated this and dressed in layers.

As we came up to the last corner, Rong Xiujian took my hand and squeezed it. Finally, he and I had found our way back to his waterfall. It had quieted down a bit, the snow melt decreased by a little bit of colder weather, but it was still louder than Xiao Qiang’s voice.

We both seemed to have the feeling that this day was special, and quickly settled in to meditate back-to-back. I tried to follow the same pattern of thought as before, focusing on my awareness of this body, on the breathing technique.

I remember getting distracted by my clothing, the layers pinching at me. I remember idly worrying about the time as I noticed that the world was growing brighter, bluer. When I began to sweat, I contemplated taking a break to strip down a layer, but I didn't want to risk disturbing Xiujian. He hadn't moved at all.

The mindless state from before was not easy to reach. After the rocks were bathed in a golden sunrise, I was still thinking unnecessarily; I found myself spending a lot of time thinking about my aching back, sure, but also remembering odd little facts I'd learned in my first life.

There were many trees below, and some grasses grew through the rocky outcropping. I thought about them, tried to remember if this was or wasn't a world where plants could become Yao(1). I had been interested in plants, and spent a lot of time on the internet researching things like, ‘can trees see?’ ‘do plants feel pain?’ ‘do plants use smell to talk?’ It would be really cool to me personally to experience a bit of how the world looked from their perspective. I hoped qi would allow me that.

At some point, I felt heat radiating from behind me - from Xiujian. There was also a new and unpleasant smell; I remembered that having toxins excrete from your skin was often a part of advancing your cultivation in this sort of novel.

Xiujian leaned back, and through the point where we touched, I felt a spark. Unlike whatever I'd felt last time, this feeling didn't fade right away; I focused on it, then remembered this was right beside the heart and tried to drag it toward my lower abdomen. Of course, in the process, I lost the spark.

Getting so close that I could taste it motivated me and I tried to be more serious. My breath, my muscles, my lower dantian. I forced my mind to stay on those three things. I found my heart distracting again, but turned my ears toward other rhythms.

I lost sense of time, gradually going numb, my whole body tingling until pain was also gone; something like that. And when I regained consciousness, I knew that something had changed. The sparks within me were settled below my navel, no longer fleeing.

I moved my attention around my body before opening my outer senses; every bone felt more solid, my flesh lighter, and - I don't know how to describe it, really, but I noticed that my ability to focus had definitely changed.

I focused on my ears - first the sounds of my organs, then the waterfall, the branches swaying, the insects flying and crawling. Xiujian's breath, his heartbeat.

Moving to my nose, I noticed that the previous bad smell was much stronger, but some of its components were now identifiable. There was a strong metallic odor, an underlying overly-sweet scent, something like fermented soybeans, and of course the stink of sweat.

I opened my eyes last, or tried to. They were stuck shut. Bringing my hands up to wipe them, I realized there was some kind of sliminess on my hands also. Disgusted, I wiped them on my robes. I could hear Xiujian’s heart rate increase, sense him crouch in front of me.

His grin was the first thing I saw. He'd done a crappy job of wiping the slime from his face, leaving streaks across his cheeks, which I felt had changed shape slightly.

“Gege,” he said - quietly, but it was easy to hear him. “We did it, didn't we?”

I answered with a grin that, unfortunately, brought some sludge into my mouth. I coughed and gagged as he jumped up and let out a joyous yell.

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(1) Yao - complicated concept to translate; something like a monster that is formed from an ordinary non-human living creature, often with some sentience and human characteristics.