Pleasure cursed through me as I finished the last of my meridians. For now. I had taken a little less than a decade to finish them all - with some minor changes along the way - but now I finally did it.

While I still had the same setup I planned upon initially I split all my meridians in two with a thin wall of liquid qi. After all if I wanted my meridians to be something similar to my blood veins the qi needed a chance to circulate. Which wasn't really possible with my initial plan. So it had to be adapted. The adoption wasn't anything major in theory, but it was. I had to change the basic setup a lot, to have the main meridian flow uninterrupted.

Well, anyways it was time to try and open my dantian. Which was a problem because I spend most of my days working, with only one day off.

Right now I was thirteen years old, quickly nearing fourteen. Which meant my apprenticeship would be finished in about two years, though I could do just about anything mom could. And more, considering I had started imbuing qi in some of the leftover cloth. Which had some very interesting effects, but wasn't something I could sell, seeing as clothes like these lit up on just about any cultivators qi senses.

Ah well, I shouldn't stop working while thinking. Especially now. After all mom had spend just about as much time in teaching me how to craft clothes as she did with the economics of being a seamstress. What you had to look out for when buying cloth and other fabrics, how much to sell these clothes for. The basic, but useful stuff.

If I really wanted to get rich I’d have chosen a different occupation though. I didn't see anyone in the entire town producing salt for example. Though I probably didn't even need to change my occupation to make more than mom.

Paying a few kids to spread my name, make a few posters, basic advertising really, would go a long way to get more and with the right type also wealthier customers. Good thing I wouldn't need to bother with all those things.

Today was my day off, so I went to visit the forest. It was nice and secure, and the qi inside felt fresher, more energetic than it did in the town.

Which was strange, considering it definitely had not been like that when I first met him. Perhaps it was because of his increasing cultivation? He did say he was getting closer to a breakthrough. I tried telling him that forcing qi to do stuff was stupid, seeing as you could just trick it into doing what you wanted.

He told me that was just another form of control, which I guessed was true in a way. But also not. I just abused the natural properties of qi, which made things easier.

Well, old people didn't like to change, and he was older than anyone I ever knew before. By far.

As I entered the forest I felt a chill pass through me from behind. Something was wrong.

Qi seeped out of my body, and formed a tight circle around me as I started burning some of the qi in my body. The world slowed down, but nothing entered the area of my perception, there were no unnatural sounds, no moving leafs.

Nothing.

The feeling didn't return after a few minutes, and I let out a sigh of relief. The fox had started ambushing me sometimes, to 'train' me and prepare me for my life.

He didn't seem to understand I wanted nothing to do with fighting. Nothing.

I was really exasperated when he started sprouting religious crap too. Something like 'the heavens make sure a cultivator's life is filled with an equal amount of luck and peril'. Nonsense.

It was like saying bad luck would seek me out again and again. After all his understanding of luck and peril only differed by the outcome. And only seemed to revolve around fighting.

Any fight was bad new though, while my body was far over its peak, I had neither an idea how to nor the will to fight anyone.

If I wanted to do physical activity I'd go jogging. Or swimming. But swimming was out, because 'the lords of the seas don't take intrusion lightly'. Which apparently meant all oceans were filled with old, grumpy fish.

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And while I liked eating fish I very much doubted they'd like that topic of conversation very much. Yet on the question on why the fishers in town were ignored he told me mortal creatures were too insignificant for their notice.

Which meant I was quite lucky not to be born a fisher's daughter, because then I'd probably be dead by now.

Anyways, I moved towards a cave I knew to be near here, a gift from my friend for my last birthday. Ever since I got it I did most of my cultivation in there, at least on my free days.

At first only to please him, because he was so stupidly strong to see me everywhere I was, but later because it was just relaxing. Something about that small, rustic cave just felt perfect for that activity.

I tried finding the source of that feeling for a while, but was unsuccessful in the end. It seemed harmless though, so there was no reason to stop.

Especially because it eased the pain of what I hesitatingly called my soul when forging meridians.

I arrived at the cave, not wondering for the first time how no one seemed to be able to even perceive the cave. I had tried searching if there was any qi embedded, or some aura of fear, but nothing.

Probably smell, something my still very human nose could perceive. I had noticed that small detail about a year ago, and decided to completely ignore it, no need to smell better than I already did, and smell all the 'delicious' smells this world in my nose all the time.

I banished all those unpleasant thoughts out of my head, lay down on the comfortable pillow I made myself out of leftover cloth.

Time to try and open my dantian. What was a dantian? A vault for my qi? A space to store more qi than your body could hold? Perhaps all or none of those?

I had no real way to know, but did know they weren't perceivable for all but the most powerful cultivators. Which meant they were only loosely anchored in the body, if at all, but in the soul.

So that's why I created all those meridians? To get a feel for my soul? That made quite some sense. Damn. It worked for sure, after all I had a permanent connection to my soul, thanks to my meridians. Those were mainly anchored in the body though, and only loosely in the soul.

So opening my dantain was just pushing qi fully into my soul? Perhaps? It sounded plausible, and painful. Very, very painful. Damn it!

I hated pain, and didn't look forwards to experiencing even more of it! But I needed a dantian, after all my meridians still lacked a 'heart' to pump qi through them. Otherwise I'd need to adjust my plan, but so far qi seemed to behave like I wanted, and expected it to. Even contrary to how others imagined it actually, which meant there was a heavy mental factor involved too.

Well, did I want to open my dantian now? I had only one day of liquid qi in my body, and just creating meridians took a lot. And that only pushed through a minor part of the soul, not directly into it.

Yeah.

Better safe than sorry.

I'd wait until my meridian network was filled with liquid qi before I tried anything. With me actively cultivating, as well as my crystal meridians helping all the time, I'd need about seven months to gather all of that qi.

Long, but not outrageously so.

I got up, and moved to leave the forest.

I knew something was wrong the moment I left the forest. There were a bunch of people surrounding our house, chatting loudly, and excitedly.

"Mom." I sobbed.

I broke out in a run, my legs nearly blurring as I sped forwards. I only stopped when I arrived at the backs of the people before me, and forced my way past.

They didn't really notice me, but moved aside unconsciously.

The building was guarded by two of the guards, who stopped me from entering.

"Child, please step back." He said.

I nearly brushed him aside too, feeling he was weaker than me, but caught myself just in time.

"Let me in." I demanded definitely. "This is my house."

"You are too young to own a house." He said.

He was trying to probe my body with his qi in the meantime. I absentmindedly absorbed it, doing that was considered rude without consent. The guards eyes widened, alarm entered his eyes, and he took a step back.

"What is your relation to the owner of this house?" He answered cautionatly.

"I live here, with my mom. Now let me in!" I said, nearly crying by now.

Pity entered the guards eyes, but he took the step forwards back, before speaking up, while his partner entered the house.

"You really don't want to enter." He said.

I considered wasting more time on him, but in the end just stepped around him and entered through the now open door, long before he had a chance to react.

"No. no. no please no." I whispered.

It couldn't be. Not mom. Not me.

But there was no denying the scene in front of me. Two guards were in the room, one whispering something to the other, and my mom.

Or her lifeless body. Because she wasn't moving, and while there was no blood there was no doubt. Her chest had been crushed.

I dropped to my knees, forgetting all those and everything around me as sobs started wrecking my body.

I felt someone awkwardly patting me on the back, and words being spoken, but I ignored them. They didn't matter.