I felt completely wasted. My body really wasn't used to exhaustion. Or workouts. That couldn't stay that way!

I resolved to work out at least an hour a day. With my qi I could even cheat. Well, not really cheat, but find ways to train every muscle in my body to a similar degree. It would be great! And painful. But I was used to pain, and physical exhaustion was a satisfying pain, unlike creating meridians.

That just felt awful.

Anyways. I wasn't going to do any work today, which meant I was sitting in my shoproom, generally waiting for someone to come in to bother when the sect lady, Lion returned.

“Congratulations on your breakthrough.” I said.

She looked surprised for a moment, before she answered.

“Thank you. How did you know?” She asked.

“Your presence changed. It’s something all cultivators give off, regardless of power. First realm, or fourth. Or anything in between.” I answered. “So, how was your week? Did you get what you were looking for for me?” I asked.

“Yes.” She said.

A thick book, more of a tome really, appeared in one of her hands, and a small pouch in the other.

“There you go, an array manual, and eleven spirit stones, ten medium quality, one high quality." She said, depositing the tome and pouch on my counter.

I took both of it, groaned a little from the pain on my overstrained muscles, and moved towards the cellar.

"Turn the sign and follow me." I said.

My head indicated towards the open slash closed sign I had me made. Lion nodded, and followed me as we went down up towards my living space.

I set both tome and pouch on my table, and went to find a quill, and the contract I wrote over the week. Two of them.

"So, read this, and sign it. One for me, the other for you. I will swear the oath after you are finished." I said.

Lion read the contract I had prepared carefully, and the second one too, to see if anything was different, before giving both to me.

"There's a mistake, I am Lioness now." Lioness said.

I nodded, and added the third syllable to her name, after which she signed the contracts.

I took one, and the other vanished in her ring.

"By the heavens, I swear I will not join a sect other than the Great Savanna Sect in my life, in return of a small favor from the sect, as well as the goods already provided to me." I swore.

As always, a golden light descended upon me, confirming my oath as genuine, and recognized by the heavens. Whatever they were.

"Perfect.” She said. “How about my overrobe?”

“That’ll take some time. At least if you want it to be anything special." I explained. "Currently I am testing a few new designs and materials, as well as how they react to different qi intent. So, what do you want? Something more general, or something specialized?” I asked. “Though the quality of my general robes will increase too, in time. I just need to know how someone fights most of the time, and will increase the qi in the areas they get hit in the most.” I explained.

“Well, I don't plan to stick around here, I really only came for the tournament. And now that I reached the third realm I need to return to the sect, to take the next step on my journey towards immortality.” Lioness said. “Though, to be honest I don't really have a use for the robe you made, now that I am in the third realm. It’ll only be useful against enemies that I don't need to fear anymore, considering your self imposed restrictions that’ll not change anytime soon.” She admitted.

“Well, so just a sturdy robe, looking like a lion? Or a lioness? What do you prefer?” I asked.

“A lioness. A cultivator’s robe should always reflect on their qi and name after all.” Lioness answered.

“Very well, if that's what you want then your robe will be ready in a week. Say, you wouldn't want to destroy some stuff? I need to see how to make qi intent against some of the more abstract qi intents. And your’s is as abstract a qi intent as I’ve seen so far.” I asked.

At the mention of destroying stuff her eyes lit up.

“Of course! I can't explore the forest, because the forest lord doesn't allow third realm cultivators inside, so I wouldn't have much to do in the next week anyways.” She said.

“Perfect, let's get started.” I said. “Do you want any payment? Salt, cultivation resources?” I asked.

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“SALT!” She yelled. “Where did you get it? I haven't seen any salt since I left the city.”

“Well, that's a trade secret.” I said.

“I’ll buy as much salt as you can part with! No matter the cost!” Lioness said.

I looked at her like the weirdo she was. Sure, food without salt was kinda bland, but not that bad. Perhaps her strange qi intent? It did seem to affect her more than mine did me. Far more in fact. Perhaps her qi affected the way she tasted stuff?

But even if it did, lions ate their food raw. So perhaps she was only slightly influenced, like with an increased sense of smell and taste? So bland food was worse for her than me?

That sounded good, though I wouldn't know without asking.

“Say, why do you seem to enthusiastic? Salt makes food better, but not all that much, and not for your reaction to be this intense. It’s from your qi intent, isn't it? It affects you far more than it does me.” I asked.

“How did you come to that conclusion? And it’s rude to ask someone about their cultivation.” She answered.

“It makes sense, that's all really. And I don't care about rudeness. I asked at least, you just intruded my aura!” I said.

Lioness winced, and followed me out of the room as we went downstairs.

“I could have handled that better, true. But it makes sense? You noticed my qi affects me in a different way than yours does just from me wanting some salt?” She asked.

“Well.” I answered. “I did wonder how your qi would express itself when you reach enough understanding, after all, sensing lions within your aura doesn't seem all that useful to me. But it just comes with an extra set of instincts, and judging by the way your qi fought, some kind of basic awareness for your qi. Like I said, it just makes sense.” I answered.

“You are one scary cultivator. To see someone deduct so much out of something so simple, I’ve never seen anyone but immortals do it.” She said.

“Oh, you know some immortals?” I asked.

Lioness winced again.

“You don't have to answer me if you don't want to. Wait here for a moment, I’ll get some stuff for a baseline.” I said.

I went down into my basement, getting some basic fabric. I’d need to add some fake intent into a few more fabrics after my guest left, so see how it reacted to her strange qi claws tomorrow. Lioness looked a little awkward, waiting there when I came back up, but it seemed she had decided to answer my question nonetheless.

“My parents are both immortals.” She said. “And I grew up around the other sect elders, who were all immortals too, so I can tell you quite some tales.” She finally answered.

“Interesting.” I said. “So, why are you out here, months from your sect?”

“I worked hard. Very hard to earn the right to explore the world on my own. My father is no problem, he is a free spirit, and doesn't care what I do so long as I don't die. My mother is different. I had to reach the second realm as the first of my generation, without any help, to be allowed to leave.” She answered. “How do you know where my sect is though? I know I never talked about its location.”

“It’s another of those obvious things. Your sect is called Great Savanna Sect, you cultivate lion intent qi, and have obviously seen a lion or two in your life. And lions don't live around here. It’s too cold for them. So, I guessed you come from down south.” I answered.

Lioness nodded along, and followed me as we left through the back. I really ought to get myself a fenced off area, now that I wanted to do some experiments. Experiments of the explosive kind.

“Now, you really just have to destroy these, while I watch.” I said, indicating the two squares of fabric I put on the tree stump in front of us.

“It’ll establish a baseline of your destructive potential, and tomorrow we can go about testing some different fabrics, to see how they hold up against you.” I explained.

“So I really just have to destroy these?” She asked, just to be sure it seemed.

“Yep, go wild.” I answered.

Lioness grinned savagely, and claws of qi sprang into existence around her hands. I extended my aura, and watched as the woman lay into the fabric with savage abandon, her powerful qi and qi intent easily exhausting the little qi I stored in the fabric.

The fibers of the fabric themself didn't hold up any better, easily getting cut in half. The second fabric didn't hold up any better, and soon I was on my lonesome, thinking.

How would I go about countering such a strange qi? Her intent gave her qi increased cutting power, or was it her technique? I took a look at the sorry fabric in front of me. It didn't look cut. It looked ripped. Which made sense, lion claws didn't really cut, they ripped. Just like their fangs.

My robes didn't need to work against any defense, that's what weapons were for after all, so I didn't need to worry about the other strange factors of her qi. Like increased defense, throwing off water, or increased speed.

So, what intent would run counter to ripping? Mending? I knew a lot of how to mend clothes after years of working with them. Worth a try.

So, I took one of my test fabrics, and changed the qi within, filled it with a fake mending intent. I’d have to see how it did tomorrow. And I still had a lot of time before it was time to start my nightly cultivation.

So another try. Perhaps this time not to counter the effects of her qi, but her qi intent itself?

So, what would work against a lion? No animals came to mind immediately. There were some that competed against them, but none that hunted lions.

So, a competitor? Wait. Humans hunted just about everything. Lions included. But that didn't seem like something I’d want to add into a robe, it sounded far too complicated to be of use in making robes. Humans couldn't be reduced too much after all, or they wouldn't be humans anymore.

The same for any living being really, which made cultivating their being as qi intent a little logical.

So, something simpler than human. How would humans take on a lion though? Shoot it. Or poison it, or put it to sleep.

I really liked that last one. And introducing guns to this world, even as faux qi intent, didn't seem like a good idea. Especially if I wanted to stay away from war. After all a nation that got access to guns long before another would look to conquer the other in no time.

I took another square of fabric, and filled with with faux sleep intent. And another one with poison, not a deadly one, just paralysing poison intent. Just for good measure. After all if it worked it would work against any animal intent qi. And even human intent qi really.

Once I finished preparing for tomorrow I went back into my cellar, got some more salt to pay my testee, and returned into my living room. It was time to cultivate for the rest of the night.