65:

“You’re joking, right?” Xiao Feng asked, his tone flummoxed by Beast Master Zen’s assertion.

“I will teach you what I know,” Beast Master Zen replied, as he returned to Liulian’s side, taking a seat next to the sleeping umbral fang. “But no, my words were not intended as a jest. The soul is a complex matter. I do not believe that even ascension to the Nascent Soul stage guarantees a complete understanding of the subject. Yours is different from mine, as is mine from yours. I can guide you towards the beginning of the journey, but the destination is yours to find.”

“Tell me what to do,” Xiao Feng replied, trying to keep the realisation he had just thought of from showing on his visage.

“Good,” Beast Master Zen nodded in approval. “First, close your eyes,” He guided.

Xiao Feng’s eyes blinked shut.

“Now, set your mind free of distractions. Free it from the burden of want. Do not think of the task you have set out to accomplish, for the soul is already where it belongs. Allow yourself to fall into a meditative trance, as you focus on your breathing, letting your qi flow through your dantian before cycling across your meridians,” Beast Master Zen directed, his tone as slow as it was soothing.

Xiao Feng’s breathing slowed as he began to cultivate, focusing almost all his attention on directing his dantian.

“Now, the only advice I have left to give you…,” Beast Master Zen trailed off, his tone thoughtful as he waited for Xiao Feng to register his words. “...Is to think on what makes you, you. The burning desire in your heart that you keep concealed from others. The truths that belong to you and only you. The personality that drove you to seek glory in the martial division and the new you, the one that changed. The one that wants to become an alchemist. Do not lie to yourself and the door will open for you,” He explained.

For ten whole minutes, Xiao Feng did as he was told. He tried to think of his burning desire to open a tea shop in the martial district. He thought of truth that only belonged to him, the fact that he was from a whole another world and admitted that on some days, it made him feel lonely. He thought of his own personality, though he found it hard to characterise his own traits. He was passionate about what he liked, always had been. He had been quite happy-go-lucky in college, but he wasn’t sure if that aspect of his personality would have endured after he entered the real world. He had never been the most ambitious in class, but he did enjoy learning new things and giving it his best shot.

Who he had been though, that question wasn’t something he was qualified to answer.

Are you going to help me, or do you want to see me squirm for another few hours? Xiao Feng thought.

“Maybe I should let you be. Cultivation is good for you, you should do it more often,” The reply came from his predecessor, his tone sounding only a little exasperated.

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Drinking tea also has a lot of health benefits. Never saw you drinking any, Xiao Feng countered with a verbal jab of his own.

“Are you really comparing the pursuit of the Grand Dao to an unassuming mortal beverage?” His predecessor asked, his tone almost sounding pained.

Yes, Xiao Feng replied without hesitation.

“I really should just let you be,” His predecessor replied with a sigh.

Okay, okay, please, Xiao Feng hurriedly changed his tack. I’m sure there’s a type of person that can meditate their way to their soul, but that person isn’t me. If I want to save the egg and gain a partner instead of a follower, this is the only way.

“Beast tamers. They are interesting,” His predecessor replied. “This Beast Master may not be a fighter, but his control over his Qi far surpasses most core formation cultivators I have met. I suspect he is downplaying the true benefits mastery over the soul provides. A pity the Frontier Sect did not find me worthy enough to impart that knowledge.”

Is that why I couldn’t sense any Qi from him without using the essence cultivation art? Xiao Feng asked, his tone intrigued.

“Yes”, His predecessor answered. “His control is more suited to an assassin than a beast tamer.”

Can you lead me to it? Xiao Feng asked, willing his words to sound hopeful.

“Must I?” His predecessor wearily asked.

I don’t think I can force you, Xiao Feng replied. Neither would I want to.

“Bah, you’re bound to figure it out eventually,” His predecessor replied. “Forget what the Beast Master told you. Focus on my voice. Not on my inflection, but instead, where my voice is coming from.”

Xiao Feng did as he was told, looking around not with his eyes, but his mind instead. If his predecessor was leading him towards something, it could not be in the physical world. Yet, he had not chosen to appear before him.

Minutes passed and his predecessor continued to talk, urging him to find the source of his voice.

Xiao Feng’s frustration grew with every passing moment, until suddenly, he froze.

What am I doing? He asked himself. He couldn’t find his predecessor by using his sense of hearing, even if they did share the same mindscape. The pathway to the soul could not be such a shallow thing.

No, he had to sense it.

Xiao Feng chased after the only hint he had been given. He thought back to the moment where his predecessor had revealed himself for the first time. The poise and grace he carried with himself. The calm in his gaze that concealed the iron hidden within. The serene white robes he wore that would have been anything but on the battlefield.

He searched for his sensation and to his surprise, he found something that resembled it.

Xiao Feng looked inwards and his perception shifted.

He found himself standing in an expanse of endless white fog, a solitary door without anything to house it, the only thing of interest in his field of view.

A door that he recognized. Xiao Feng was certain that the lightly scratched and somewhat dinged wooden door that was once painted matte black but now was only a faded, chipped black was supposed to lead to his mother’s modest two-bedroom apartment.