Chapter 5 - Incense and Flowers
Waking up in a bed drowned in pillows, Aiden reflects on how Qi-infused materials negate any advantage modern beds have over his current one. He gets out of bed and dresses in the same martial robe he wore the day before.
After they came back to the Duckweed Courtyard yesterday, both he and Du Jun were exhausted. They had a light dinner supplied by Cui Zhong and then went straight to bed.
Aiden looks around to find Du Jun spread out all over the bed next to him with half of the pillows from his bed on the floor.
Picking up one of the pillows on the floor, Aiden throws it in Du Jun’s face.
Sputtering some from that gentle wake-up, Du Jun looks around frantically until he recognizes Aiden.
“Good you are awake! Mother wants to have a talk with me about something over breakfast. So see you later, good luck with your cultivation.” Aiden says to a very confused Du Jun.
“What?” Du Jun blurts out as Aiden walks out of the bedroom.
Aiden is both happy and surprised by the fact that he hit where he was aiming. He was never great at sports so the realization that Tian Yan seems to have way better hand-eye coordination is a pleasant one.
Strutting down the corridor like he owns the place, which he technically does, Aiden is curious as to why his mother wants to see him. It must be a good reason since he is supposed to start cultivating today so his mother would not disturb him for something trivial.
The porch is in the back of the house and has a beautiful view of his mother’s private garden. Gardening is among the few things his mother indulges in and the results can be seen from where they normally have their breakfast together.
When Aiden arrives his mother is already sitting on a pillow with a small table next to her as she faces the garden.
”Little Yan, come sit down with me. You just disappeared all day yesterday without even telling me anything about your gains from yesterday’s ritual. It is okay to be excited but you should at least check in with me so I do not worry.” His mother tells Aiden.
Aiden sits down next to her with the table between them, the garden is stunning. It might not have any of the more extraordinary spiritual plants growing in it but his mother has always chosen beauty over practicality.
“It was not my intention to make you worry, I just got stuck at the library longer than I planned.” Aiden responds.
“Good, just do not do it again.” his mother says with a gentle smile. “Did you just look for a technique for Du Jun or did you have some gain yourself?”
“I found an old unfinished manual I might spend some time on.” Aiden says.
“So you feel you have enough to start your cultivation with what you received from the ritual then?” His mother continues to question him.
Like with Du Jun, Aiden is not sure about telling his mother that his Soul Awakening Ritual was a catastrophe in regards to his cultivation options. There also might be another problem. What if his mother thinks Aiden has possessed her son? It seems like a possibly bad idea to tell her so he should avoid it for now. He is however saved from answering by a girl his age who arrives with a breakfast tray.
An Yu was the daughter of one of his mother’s servants back in the northern continent. The woman had died in childbirth around the time his mother left for the Heavenly Court. An Yu had arrived at the Duckweed Courtyard a year ago after his mother heard she was being mistreated by her family and wanted to help the child of one who took care of her as she grew up.
After she arrived at the court An Yu had been given training as a servant but Aiden’s mother had also made sure she received a top-notch education.
“Mistress, young master! Breakfast is ready.” Au Yu says as she unloads her tray. There are some slight wobbles as she balances the trey but she is surprisingly adept for a young child.
Just like yesterday, the rice that is put in front of Aiden is decorated while his mothers’ is not. Au Yu beams an almost blinding smile as she puts the bowl in front of him.
“Is there anything else you need from me?” Au Yu says.
With Aiden’s experience, he has at least a pretty educated guess of what is going on here but he chooses to do the mature thing, ignoring it until it goes away.
“No, that will be all dear. How are your studies going? Aiden’s mother says to Au Yu with a fond smile.
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“They are going well, Teacher is very happy with my letters. He thinks I might have an aptitude for crafting talismans but it is too early to tell before my cultivation advances further.” Au Yu answers.
That is wonderful news, talismans crafters are always needed and it could give you a bright future.” His mother praises An Yu.
The girl looks happy to receive the pairs but glances over at Aiden, getting no reaction her smile slips a little.
“Thank you for filling in for Cui Zhong, you should get back to your studies now.” His mother says.
Au Yu bows and leaves the mother and son pair alone again.
“You should be nicer to her, she is such a sweet girl.” Aiden’s mother says as she starts eating some fruits.
“It is just a childish crush, she will grow out of it.” Aiden answers as he pushes aside the decoration on his rice and starts eating.
His mother looks at him with a strange look on her face and continues.
“If it is ever okay to act childish it is when one is a child.” His mother says.
“Responsibility is the death of childhood” Aiden counters.
When there has been no response for over a minute Aiden can not stop himself from looking over at his mother. She is staring at the garden with a heavy feeling lingering around her.
“Just remember that someone else's memories are still just their experience. Learn from them but do not treat them as your own. You are still my little boy and you will have to grow up yourself before you can start acting like an adult.” His mother says. She turns around and looks at him. It feels like she is trying to gaze at his soul.
“If she only knew.” Aiden thinks to himself. Feeling a need to change the subject fast, he answers his mother’s earlier question. “I will first focus on building a strong foundation for my cultivation and I have plans for that. When that is done I might have more options for my cultivation so I do not want to decide prematurely.”
Thinking that should sound profound enough to make his mother stop worrying for a while. If he can keep up the same cultivation speed as the other normal children of the court it should be fine.
“That is good, the main topic I want to discuss with you is related to your cultivation foundation.” his mother says as she picks up her tea and takes a sip.
With those words, she manages to gather all of Aiden’s attention. He can bluster and pretend as much as he wants but in the end, he needs to cultivate and do it well and he has scarce few options.
“I am all ears.” Aiden encourages her to keep going.
His mother smiles, pick up a small jade jar and puts it on the table in front of Aiden. “This is a herbal incense mix. I have been growing some of the flowers required for it for years but also had to trade for a few of the rare ones. It also relates to that flower your father punished you for taking.” his mother says, her smile completely gone by the time she stops speaking.
That last part stomped out Aiden’s good mood thoroughly. Among Tian Yan’s memories from before the Soul Awakening Ritual, there is only one that Aiden actively tries to avoid thinking about. The day he met his father for the second time and circumstances surrounding the event.
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It had been two years and Tian Yan and Du Jun were playing in a park close to their courtyard. They were not supposed to leave the Duckweed courtyard but the boys who recently became friends had encouraged each other's adventurous side. They were currently out looking for a fortuitous opportunity which was something they had learned about from a nighttime story Cui Zhong told them.
In the story, a cultivator called the Purple Thunder Cultivator had been pursued by a sect after he had beaten up their priced disciple in a tournament and taken the first prize that was intended for that disciple.
When the people from the sect caught up with him at the ledge of a deep ravine with a river flowing through it all seemed lost to the Purple Thunder Cultivator. He had a short shouting match about face and that if he could not have the prize no one could before he jumped towards his death in the river.
The Purple Thunder Cultivator was later washed up barely alive in an underground cave where he found a glowing pond with a thick liquid. In the end, he cultivated there for 3 years, gradually consuming the liquid and then returned to the sect and exterminated the entire place.
Tian Yan and Du Jun were not that impressed with the Purple Thunder Cultivator. The sect had only had Core Formation elders so how hard could it be?
What had made the two boys' eyes sparkle as Cui Zhong told the story was the description of randomly stumbling on a magical treasure that could enhance their cultivation. So that was what they were currently doing, trying to stumble on a treasure.
Surprisingly enough, or maybe not too surprising considering they live in the Heavenly Court, they actually did find a crack in the wall of a sectioned-off part of the park. The crack was just big enough for a five-year-old to squeeze through.
On the other side of the wall, the temperature was noticeably higher. It felt like it switched from an early spring day to a summer heatwave when entering this place. The area was filled with a variety of plants and roots but also a large number of red crystals arranged in a spiral pattern. This spiral pattern was enforced with glowing formation lines that intermittently were joined by smaller swirls coming from the various plants.
In the middle where the spiral ended, there sat a single red flower.
This whole setup was so obvious even the two five-year-old boys could tell the red flower was something special and therefore it was their fortuitous opportunity.
Long story short, the flower was eaten after a few games of rock, paper, scissors, with minimal cheating, but that seemed to have triggered some sort of alarm in the formation.
Seconds after the flower was gone, Tian Zhao had appeared.
The rest of that memory was pure torture… literally. Tian Zhao had been outraged about the missing flower and it got even worse when Tian Yan admitted he had eaten it.
His father had spent the rest of the day with Tian Yan, pushing bamboo splinters under his fingernails, breaking bones, and burning him with his Qi just to the end of his life.
Luckily Du Jun had been ignored and went to get Tian Yan’s mother who had begged for her son's forgiveness since he was in no state to do so himself.
With all of the amazing possibilities that came along with using Qi in medicine, it had still taken a week to heal Tian Yan physically. It had taken him half a year to heal somewhat mentally and he had still been terrified of seeing his father at Soul Awakening Ritual even two years later.
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“This herbal incense is specially made to work with the Scorching Star Orchid that you consumed a few years ago. Cui Zhong told me your fire affinity is still lower than your wind affinity which is normal, the Scorching Star Orchid takes a long time to fully integrate into your body. This incense will help integrate it but also use some of its energy to burn away the blockage in all your meridians which will help both with finding them and opening them when you are in the Qi Gathering Realm.” His mother continues.
Aiden is dumbfounded, “had to trade for a few of the rare ones”, his mother must have spent almost everything she got for something like this. Pills and medicine that help open “all” meridians are extremely rare and even if it is quite common among the princes to open all their meridians it is still something Aiden needs if he is supposed to keep pace. Just the price to hire an alchemist to blend such an incense had to be huge.
Seeing Aiden’s shocked look his mother smiles at him. “There is enough here for you to use for 3 years if you use it sparingly. By then you should be entering Foundation Establishment anyway and it is no longer of any use to you.
Feeling a cutting sensation in his heart while looking at this woman who was forced to leave her family and home to come to the court all alone. She had done everything in her power to help and protect Tian Yan as he grew up and now she had invested heavily in something she thought would help his future progress.
Aiden turns away from the beautiful garden to face his mother, in one fluid motion he bows deep to her and says with complete sincerity. “Thank you”
He does look up to see her reaction but just tries to express his feelings before she asks him to raise his head again.
They stay together for a while longer, the mother and son pair finish their breakfast while immersed in the garden with beautiful flowers in front of them.