“Hello old man,” I said.

“Hello young Triss. How can I help you today?” he asked with a friendly smile.

“Well, how about you start with getting out of my head,” I said sourly.

“Oh?” he laughed.

Suddenly, my memories of all interactions with him returned in clarity. It was really painfully obvious he was fishy as heck.

“I resent that sentiment. I have nothing to do with fish,” he protested.

So he could read thoughts in real time? I stiffened, and stilled my thoughts forcefully.

“Your self control is indeed frightening. It seems like something you practiced though, no one can control themselves like this naturally, isn't it?” he asked.

“Of course. I started after meeting Lioness. If one can cultivate something as stupid as lion intent qi, it should be very much possible to cultivate specific aspects of other species too," I said. "Why do you think my heavenly oaths include a part about thoughts?"

“I will have you know that beast cultivators are some of the most powerful cultivators alive. It doesn't do to call them stupid,” he said.

“It’s not stupid to do it, nature has some very specialized beings,” I explained. “It’s stupid you can even do it.”

“Hmm. I can understand that point of view from someone like you,” he mused.

“Someone like me?” I asked, but forced myself to stay on point.”Wait. That doesn't matter now. I am here because you messed with my mind. You will stop that or we are going to have a serious problem,” I stated.

“Sure,” he easily agreed.

“Sure? Just like that?” I asked, baffled.

“Of course. The compulsion to forget about anything pointing towards me being a cultivator is a simple one. You can see it as a test. A test to show you are worthy of my time,” he explained.

“So I just had to ask you about your cultivation to pass?” I asked. “How boring.”

“You did. That’s just the way of the world young one, sometimes it doesn't live up to expectations,” he said. “You are wrong though, I am no mind cultivator.”

“You're not? What are you then?”

“I am an Infernal Fire cultivator,” he said and a small, normal flame came into being between us.

“Infernal Fire?” I asked with a raised eyebrow.

“The foolishness of youth. You have an advantage there,” he said.

“How did you get in my mind then? I can create a fire in the air too,” I stated. “I'm sure one as old as yourself can do something so simple too.”

“I am not old. In fact I am quite young for my level of power,” he stated. “Do show me that fire though.”

“I can't. Qi techniques don't work in your shop,” I stated.

“They do now,” he denied.

I shrugged, and thought about what I wanted to do.

There should be enough water in the air to produce fuel for a fire. And I knew how to kickstart it too. So, I concentrated on my sense of gravity, on the uncountable strings of gravity I ignored usually. And then I did what most cultivators did. I bullshitted myself through half knowledge and stubbornness.

I focused on the water in the air, on ripping the water molecules in two, and storing hydrogen and oxygen into two seperate bubbles, bubbles protected from the normal air by me. I burnt qi, and felt the bubbles increasing in size. A handful, a full fist, the size of a human head.

By now, nearly three quarters of my qi were depleted, but I succeeded. Good enough. I focused on my qi once again, creating a powerful lens of gravity to focus on a funnel I created between the two gases. With the concentrated light there to light the fire, I soon had a small fire burning between the two of us.

“I see. Yes, that is indeed a fire. Now, you can stop keeping it up,” he said.

I did, and waited for the small wave of fire to pass before speaking up.

“So. A fire, easy enough, though it did take quite some qi, something you should have enough of” I said.

“Yes it took most of your qi. I can keep that flame up for hours, yours would have been depleted in a few more minutes at best. Commendable, but also something a cultivator of your power and age should not be able to know. Do you not want to keep your secret?” he asked.

“I would. But you told me you knew about it anyways. I mean, if you really are a fire cultivator, that means you use the strange world manipulation stuff to read my thoughts, which means you’re at least a fourth realm cultivator. Probably more, considering all I know about you,” I said. “So you know about it already and there is no reason to not talk about it.”

“A logical conclusion. Also true, if not in its entirety. You did not actually think about your reincarnation when meeting me. No, I have been sent here to monitor you upon your birth, and decided to stick around after,” he said.

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

“You knew when I was born?” I asked.

“Everyone that truly matters does,” he answered honestly.

“And you came here just for me?” I asked.

“I did,”

“Should I feel honored then? That a cultivator as powerful as you moved just because little old me was born?” I asked.

“If you want to. Normally we just check up your ilk with our aura, but I decided to take a little break from the wider world, so here I am,” he said.

“There are more like me?” I asked intrigued.

“There are. Every other year one of you is born in this world, and we check up on them. Most are from world more like our own, and not yours. Those we just ignore, they aren't dangerous. It’s those like you that we monitor until they develop a qi intent,” he explained.

“What's so significant about doing that?” I asked.

“You can't change your qi intent once formed, only evolve it,” he said. “And some of you decide to abuse their old knowledge to cultivate a very deadly intent. Radiation or something similar. As you can surely imagine, we don't want people like that running around in our world.”

Radiation? How stupid did you have to be to cultivate that? It just sounded deadly, without any use for your everyday live.

“So, I am not abusing my knowledge?” I asked, just to be sure.

“You are. But not in a way that matters to us. You don't go and kill every cultivator you come across, and you actually help others with your knowledge. Well, those in your small clan at least,” he said.

“I am running a business, not a clan!” I immediately denied.

“A business focusing on selling spirit clothes to other cultivators. That sounds just like a clan to me,” he said with a small grin.

“Clan means more of a family then, and my people aren't family,” I stated.

“Well, perhaps in your old world. A Clan in this one is just a gathering of a small group of cultivators, with a single one at the top, like you are,” he explained.

“That does indeed sound familiar. So sects aren't actually religious fanatics that worship a random god? Who knew,” I mused.

“Everyone knew, I don't know why you came up with that translation,” he agreed.

“I see. So, getting back to the topic of my visit. How powerful do I need to be in order to at least detect someone like you messing with my mind. Because I really don't like the thought of it. And on that note, what benefits does passing your test bring me?” I asked.

“Well, you can now see my actual merchandise. Not that that is all that useful to you, you are too weak to have a use for most, and you lack the money to buy anything even if you weren't. As for your other question? I’d say you’d need to be in the fifth realm at the very least,” he said.

The fifth realm huh?

I didn't know how long I’d need until I reached the fourth, but assuming the fifth was just condensing your qi again meant I could get the required time with a little maths. First off, my current cultivation. It had taken me most of my life to gather it, though most was done in the last two years.

Now, qi condensation seemed to progress at a observable curve. It took around four hundred fifty times the concentration of liquid qi to reach a solid state, a little more than double the previous concentration. Following that logic, I’d need roughly nine hundred to one thousand times the concentration of solid qi for it to reach its next stage. Which meant I needed to increase the initial volume of my core by one thousand. Which meant getting a core with ten times of my core’s initial radius. I had tripled the radius in the last years already, but to reach the required size, I’d need thirty seven times the qi I had now!

That sucked.

I’d need ages to gather that much qi, nearly a sixty years in fact!

How did normal cultivators ever advance? It’d take nearly a tenth of my current lifespan to get that much qi.

“You forgot the fourth realm. It’s independent of your amount of qi. And an immortal has all the time in the world to gather qi. Also, THAT SUCKED? LESS THAN A CENTURY TO GET THE QI FOR THE FIFTH REALM!” he yelled.

“GET OUT OF MY HEAD PLEASE!” I yelled back. “And you know my speed of cultivation, what stopped you from doing the math yourself?”

“I didn't see the need,” he said, a little embarrassed. “But really? You're dissatisfied with that speed? Just build a huge qi gathering array in the middle of nowhere,” he said.

“A huge qi gathering array in the middle of nowhere?” I said. “That does sound like a very good idea indeed.”

What would I need for that though? A new method to make arrays, because my current one was unsustainable for anything of a large area. Rope? No, that sounded like a recipe for disaster.

I’d have to think about it later.

Still, if I managed to cut that time down by a decade or two it’d be worth my time. And I even could elevate my employees with me and have them fight for me. Yes, that did sound like a good idea.

“It is. Your last fight was a disgrace,” the old man agreed.

I just sighed. It seemed old people were the same in all worlds, no interest or respect for privacy.

“I resent the label of being old. Have you ever looked at me?” he asked.

I looked at him, and sure enough, he did look like a young adult now. I shrugged. That did not prove anything. If he still looked like this once I was able to detect tampering with my mind we could talk about it. For now and ever he’d just stay the old man.

“I see. A revenge for my actions. I will allow you that small victory for now,” he said.

“So, my fight was a disgrace? I think I did pretty well considering the circumstances,” I said.

“No. You nearly died, and only survived because of your clothes,” he said. “She should have never been able to hit you. The more power you get, the more problems you’ll face. You need to work on your techniques, just flying, messing with someone’s gravity and moving stuff telekinetically doesn't cut it in the higher realms,” he said.

“It worked quite well this time,” I disagreed.

“All fourth realm cultivators can fly, so just dropping them doesn't work,” he explained. “And many third realm cultivators can fly too, though most not as well as you do.”

“Yes, but I don't actually want to fight anyone. Fighting is a surefire way to die eventually,” I said.

“Didn't you want to die of old age?” he asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Well. I thought about it and decided I really like living. And dying of old age is something different from dying because you fought someone,” I said.

“The life of a cultivator is a dangerous one,” he agreed “Even if you do try and avoid fights, you’ll still be in some over your long life. It is better to be prepared.”

“Who’d attack a harmless seamstress though?” I asked.

“Those that lost because they did not have your robes? Those they lost because you robes weren't good enough?” he said, naming a few examples.

Stupid examples, but something that sounded right up in the alley for some of the cultivators I had met so far.

“I see. So I need to speed up my guards cultivation even more, so they can catch up to me,” I said sagely.

And also think up a few more things to do in fights. I wouldn't kill anyone still, but I wasn't opposed to stomping stupid people in the ground where they belonged.

“I see you are capable of seeing reason. Now, your guest is about to wake up and I think you’d like to be there when that happens,” he said.

She was?

“Thank you. See you later old man,” I yelled, and shot out of his shop, my invisibility snapping back in place as I left his shop.