“Where the hell are we?” Wei Chow whined like he was wont to do, being the person with the least amount of stamina. The incessant heals had eventually led us to a foggy environment, much more forested than the previous hillscape we had found ourselves in.

Lin Leng had gone to hunt, providing us with breakfast, while the Monk subsisted on our rations. We liked to avoid rations as much as possible, living off the land whenever possible, and the venison that Lin Leng had caught for us would last us for a while, as he had cured it and salt-treated it so we could nibble on the way.

With Deng Ming navigating us, we could finally spot a set of stairs from within the fog. We stopped before it, barely able to see thirty or so meters in the fog.

“Huangshan,” Deng Ming responded. “This time of the year, the fog is especially dense. As long as we follow the stairs, we will find our way, alright?”

I turned to the party and assessed everyone’s faces. Although they seemed to understand, the gravity of the situation didn’t really seem to register with them. “If we’re somehow separated in the fog, it’s gonna be a bitch and a half to find your way without Deng Ming, so keep your eyes peeled for the person in front, alright?”

They nodded variedly. With that, we went to scale the staircase with Deng Ming in front. The rock was moist, probably from all the water inside the fog, so I made sure to be mindful of my footing while still keeping an eye on Deng Ming’s back.

We had walked for over twenty minutes, now. The staircase was uncomfortably dangerous, with no railing to keep us inside, so when I slid minutely on a wet patch of moss, I looked down to center myself, using stabilization and lightening to keep balance.

“Sorry,” I said, looking up and turning around to the people behind me.

There was no one. Just a thick wall of fog behind me. I turned to face forward, expecting Deng Ming, but seeing nothing. I ran up the staircase, jumping five steps at a time, but Deng Ming was nowhere to be found.

This wasn’t adding up. There wasn’t a single deviation from our main staircase. There was only the one path, so unless the people behind me had decided to stick behind, or Deng Ming had decided to just run up as fast as possible, or jump over me to run down, there was no explanation for this.

My stomach dropped at the thought that they had fallen off, but that made less than no sense, either. I would definitely have heard their screams, and the fog only obscured eye-sight, not sound. I ran up even faster, now, trying to find an end to the incessant steps.

Enemy combatants. That had to be it. High-leveled ones, too. After all, they managed to sneak up on us all, and somehow take everyone out one by one.

That meant I was the last one.

I pushed grief out from my mind and entered my ‘Unwholesome State’, dredging up anger as I prepared for a battle. I stood still and waited. “Show yourselves,” I said, hardening my vocal chords as I spoke.

I waited.

And I still waited.

Where they trying to play games, scare me into submission? Ah, that had to be it. They were scared to fight me when I was prepared, so now they were willing to wait for me to give into despair.

That wouldn’t work.

Because my name is Kang Yilan, and my spirit would never break.

Without much else to sate my appetite for action, I continued to walk up the stairs, fiery fury burning deeply inside me, fantasizing about what I would do to the people that had killed my travelling companions.

I was so caught up in my thoughts that I barely even noticed it when the stairs had ended, and what stood in front of me was a door.

A door with a demonic face etched on it, dark brown, a snarl with large, sharp teeth. I didn’t bother to open the door as much as I destroyed it with my fists. What awaited me was not more stairs, but a flat plateau of rock.

And on that plateau, icy trees grew from tiny pockets of dirt, an elderly gardener tending to them fastidiously.

“Where are my companions?” I asked him harshly, startling him from his task and turning to me, slightly panicked before slowly calming down.

“Ah, a guest,” he said. He ambled over to a tree where he picked out a low-hanging peach fruit. “Hungry for peaches?” He tossed it at me, but I just swatted it away powerfully. It flew off from the plateau in a rather straight trajectory. “Well, that’s a first.”

“Where are my companions?” I repeated, still standing where I was standing. I couldn’t afford to walk into a trap, and where I stood was best.

…unless he gambled on me thinking that way.

That kind of circular thinking wouldn’t do me good. Quickly, I dispelled the thought-process and focused on what was now.

“Elaborate?” He asked, slightly lost. “I’m but a humble Divine Gardener.”

“I was walking up here with a group of people,” I said. “Where are they?”

“Ah,” he smiled. “You are not actually a pilgrim, are you? Oh, what a waste. You say that you wish to see your companions again? It shall be done.”

“Wait,” I said. “Just like that? Why am I even here? And why did you take them?”

He shook his head, rubbing his hands together. “Truly too ignorant for your own good. Your companions never went anywhere. You did. You are here, and they are there,” he tilted his head towards a random direction.

“Then what is this place?”

“A mere garden,” he said.

“Why would you put a garden all the way up here?” I asked. “What’s the logic in that? Isn’t the air too thin for the trees here?”

“This is Divine Wood,” he said simply. “Much hardier than your earthly stock. Don’t disrespect it so.”

“I’m… sorry?” I said. “Look, can you, uh, send me back already?”

“On one condition,” he said, raising his index finger. “You are here unintentionally, yet you managed to walk past the Gate of Sin. Only the most devout of Daoists can do such a thing.”

I raised an eyebrow. “You mean the door with the demon face? I… punched through it?”

He looked flabbergasted. “Why would you do that?”

“Because I thought you had my friends!” I replied indignantly. “Look, I was angry, and I thought I was going to fight someone, but turns out it’s just a weirdo planting trees on a mountain plateau.”

Affronted by the rude appellation, he almost seemed to get angry before turning to laugh. “Oh, wow, never have I seen such a simplistic, brainless approach to the tenets of Daoism!” He laughed a little more. “Ohohoh,” he wiped a tear from his eye. “Oh, just give me a moment, ohahahahaha!”

I sighed. “Can I go back to my companions, now?”

“Not yet,” he smiled. “Follow me, child,” he walked into the fog and I followed so I wouldn’t lose him. I saw a dark and tall shape in front of us which gradually became sharper and sharper until I could make out what had to be the largest tree I had ever seen. He gestured towards me, and suddenly, an invisible force held me up, levitating me. I kicked about ineffectually, stuck in position.

Great. He was a peak expert. And I was mouthing off to him.

He rose, too, towards the top of the tree, on and on we travelled, for what felt like hours, faster as we rose, until the tree turned into a blur as we rose each level.

Finally, we reached the top, with a single peach on top. It was golden, ripe, and as large as my fist, looking extremely delectable.

He plucked it all casually and summoned a simple net which he deposited the peach into before handing it to me. “This is your reward for your take on the great Dao. A peach. It will help you on your journey to cultivation.”

I took the net with the peach in my hand and nodded his way. “Uh, thank you.” I wasn’t sure why he was giving it to me. What the hell was the ‘Dao’, anyway?

He giggled friendlily before turning to look at my… chest.

“Oh my,” he frowned. I tried to maneuver away from his view indignantly, but finding myself stuck, I turned to cover my arms over them.

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“What the hell?!”

His stare did not waver, even as he stared at my arms. He looked at me, concern evident on his face. “I cannot in good conscience take away a gift, but I do suggest you not eat the peach until you have figured out your…” he gestured at me. “Bodily situation.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“I don’t know,” he responded. “You are an abomination.”

I would so have throttled him if he wasn’t capable of casually smacking the shit out of me. “Okay,” I said. “You’re entitled to your opinions, even if they’re stupid. Can I leave, now?”

He sighed. “Young woman, though it pains me to say, but it would be better for you if you return the peach. It is for your own good.”

I nodded slowly, tossing him the bag with the peach while he looked at me, sadness evident in his eyes. What the ever-loving hell was his deal?

“You can’t leave,” he said, and I instantly grew wary. “Not without something to replace the peach, but I do not possess anything nearly as precious as the peach in this plane of existence. There can be no remuneration for your loss.”

“Letting me go will be remuneration,” I said to the crazy cultivator.

“Ai,” he muttered. “Such ignorance. You know not what you have lost. Will you allow me to give you something less precious in return?”

“Whatever,” I said impatiently. “I need to leave. My companions could be worried for me.”

He seemed to cheer up only slightly from that. “That’s… reassuring, to an extent.” He turned back to the tree and ripped out a branch from it, a piece at least three meters long, four inches wide. He turned to me and held it in both hands almost reverently. “This piece of Divine Wood can be fashioned into anything which you desire, be it a weapon or a tool. What would you desire it to be?”

This was coming straight from out of the blue. Really, I had no idea what I wanted with it. “What’s so special about Divine Wood, anyways? Is it, like, unbreakable or something?”

“Yes,” he nodded eagerly. “Many wish to fashion them into weapons like staffs and bows, with abilities that far outstrip that of regular weaponry.”

“Well,” I shrugged. “I’m not exactly a staff-woman or a bow-woman.” I cracked into a smile. “You’re giving me useless gifts, you know.”

“Useless?!” He seemed to be almost on the verge of crying.

“Relax,” I rolled my eyes. If a weapon was right out, then I might as well think of a tool he could make it into. Then again, I wasn’t much of a non-combat person, either. “It’s just… I don’t really have an idea on what I could do with this.”

He nodded. “It’s… regrettable, then, that you have come here completely empty-handed when all that come here are granted eternal fortune. Is there anything that you lack that I could give you? Your adherence to the Dao, whether you know of it or not, is quite impressive. Your frugality knows no bounds, but I cannot let you leave this plane without giving you something.”

What was it that I had wanted for a while, now?

Well, a boost to the Martial Path would be exceedingly cheap of me to ask for. Besides, it wasn’t a path if you could just jump straight to the end. If Mentor had taught me anything, it was to trust in the method, to believe in the journey.

I would beat Tian Mo in good time, and I would become strong in good time. Asking for a short-cut would be wasting a wish.

Was there anything I truly coveted, that was both somewhat material, and that he could grant me?

I tried to backtrack to the one thing that I was upset that I could not do. External Chi manipulation would come with time if I practiced, so I couldn’t ask for lessons on that. Besides, it would be like I was betraying Mentor’s tutelage.

The last thing I had really wanted was…

…an Elemental Blessing.

Wei Chow had his. He could make things heavier, and in a drawn-out battle, he would be unbeatable, walking about light as a feather while his enemies became as heavy as giant lead statues.

Was that… was that even possible?

“Speak up, young woman,” the gardener said with an excited smile. “I can see that you are mustering courage to ask your question! No judgment here! Whatever it is, I will grant it!”

I washed away my uncertainty and nodded. “An Elemental Blessing,” I said. “Can you… can you give me that?”

He stared at me wide-eyed, then at the branch he held in his hands, before cackling wildly. “Hahahahahahah! Why did I not think of that?!” He danced a little ditty as he finally found the one thing he could give me so I could leave this quite-frankly depressing space.

How did the trees even grow in this area, so utterly devoid of sunlight?

He brandished the piece of wood and turned it into a pike before directing it at my stomach. “Hold still, girl!”

Wait… wait, what?!

I thrashed around as he brought the pike closer to my stomach, cursing myself for trusting this eccentric expert, thinking he would really entertain my nonsense.

Suddenly, the force holding me aloft redoubled, completely inhibiting me from movement.

There was no use fighting someone so vastly more powerful than me. I wouldn’t let my spirit break in despair, either. I fucked up in this life, but in my next, I would become the strongest.

The spear slipped into my stomach, into my core, where it slowly melted and conjoined with my Chi. “Seek Enlightenment,” he said to me. “The next bit will require your own effort, now, so quit ogling the process.”

I closed my eyes and sought Enlightenment, immediately finding myself inside my body, watching and observing for any abnormalities as the pike of Divine Wood was slowly shoved into my core.

Finally, once it was over, it was time to investigate what was happening.

My Chi was growing wooden, gnarly, multiplying at a faster rate than I could control. If I let the process be, I would explode with wood and death would come slowly.

Immediately, I launched into pruning the Divine Tree forming inside my core, clipping away branches, shortening it, trying my best to ensure my survival, but it wasn’t working. If I cut one branch, two more would sprout from each one, and the more I cut, the more powerful it would become.

And it was growing much faster, now. I could do nothing but cut, but as cutting meant speeding up the process, I was forced to respond to the branches much faster, and faster still until my reaction speed and processing speed would finally be outmatched by the cancerous growth of the tumor-like tree.

And I was getting tired…

…No, not tired. Chi-deprived.

Immediately, I stopped looking at the branches, and started looking at the roots, digging into my core, siphoning off my Chi and making itself stronger that way. The cretin of a tree had been making itself stronger on my Chi?

Fuck. This.

I imagined a big, Earthen pot which I shoved the tree into, only throwing some Chi inside. The tree, not to be starved, started punching holes into the pot.

Okay, then a metal pot.

The tree-roots were still digging through the pot, as if it could not be stopped. What a monstrous tree it was. How the hell did anyone even survive Awakening if it was this perilous all the time? Did Wei Chow have a hard time at it like this? I should probably ask the guy.

No. Stop with the distractions.

I asked for this, so I better sit upright and take responsibility for my idiotic ideations, and NOT. DIE.

Okay, okay. So the issue with the tree was the Chi would feed it. The tree could only exist inside my Core.

Why was that?

The Core was a whole realm onto itself. The way I had imagined it ever since I had unlocked it was pretty straightforward: a ball filled with life-energy. That was what Chi meant, anyways, a more obscure term referencing the energy of life.

But that wouldn’t help me in this situation. After all, how could a tree exist inside a ball of energy?

A tree had to grow on soil.

Finally, the abstract had been shattered. There was a tree, now, on soil. Albeit inside a dome, which I wagered was the boundary to my core.

What else did a tree need?

Sun. A sun that sat on a blue sky. With clouds that would occasionally herald rain.

Okay, so now the dome is a sky, there is a sun, and there are some clouds. All made of Chi, mind you.

Now, where would the Chi be stored?

I wracked my brain for a solution, before finding one, an obvious one at that.

A lake of Chi. I materialized a vast lake with Chi right next to the lake, and then, I realized the sheer genius of the maneuver.

The sun would heat the water up, making it cloud, and the cloud would rain on the tree, and the tree would be fed.

But…

…there had to be a way prune the tree periodically.

How did trees become lighter in this situation? Did all trees just…

…just grow til infinity? That made no sense. Otherwise we would have a bunch of ancient trees around, too big to cut down.

Humans cut down trees to build houses, but there were places out there where no human went, and those trees were never too big. Why was that?

I couldn’t spend so much time ruminating on the answer, even, because while I had slowed down the stupid fucking tree’s rampant growth, I had still not even come close to solving the problem.

I had maybe, what, a full minute before I had to go lumber-jack again…

…wait.

I cut the tree from above its root.

Fuckthathurt.

On the soil where the tree had fell, it gradually seeped into the earth as fungus and insects fed on it, before grass began to grow on it. Then, the grass began to spread elsewhere, using the cut tree as food for its growth.

These were principles that I had never even actually read about, things that seemed so obvious, though I always took for granted.

Slowly, saplings began to dot the grasslands, and their growth was fast up until there was too little Chi to go around, terminating their growth to a dead trickle at about three meters. Nine ‘trees’ stood like that, including the stump of the main tree, which was slowly beginning to sprout a sapling.

The whole arrangement felt much more stable, but still, I felt there was something vital missing.

Right…

The tree was of my Chi, meaning I had to mark it as mine before I could control it.

I had to become one with the tree.

And with the most straight-forward solution I could think of, I imagined a body for me to walk around inside my core, a rather beautiful environment I had constructed, and walked towards the stump of the big tree, almost three-meters wide, and a meter tall.

I fell into it, and slowly sank into the wood, becoming one with it just as much as it became one with me.

And when it did, I learned something new.

Growth.

I woke up, still floating in front of the Divine Gardener. “Congratulations,” he smiled. “Now I may let you leave,” he turned me around to a door with a sign on it that I vaguely recognized, that of a circle, with two sides, one black and one white, the border between them both wavy. On each color side, there was a small circle of the opposite color. “Once you have figured out your little situation, then you may return to this plane to reap your reward. I have opened the gate to take you to your worried compatriots directly, so there will be no searching for them. A tiny favor that still will not pay back what you are due.”

I still had no idea why he was going on and on about some peach, but I decided to humor the insane cultivator that had also just given me a boon. Despite the opulence of his gift, I sincerely hoped that we would not meet again.

I walked on the air, towards the door and opened it.

From the other side, I heard voices through the thick fog. “-would make no sense to leave her here!” Yu Jie said sharply. “She could actually die!”

I walked faster though the voice, spurred on by her concern for me. Finally, I saw them, all standing by a fence which no doubt kept them separated from a thousand-foot-drop.

“Finally!” I yelled, walking towards them. They all turned to me, a range of emotions running through their faces. The Monk was elated, Deng Ming with a constrained expression of contentedness, Bai Guo smiling stonily, Wei Chow with unrestrained excitement. Hell, even Lin Leng seemed relieved, tension leaving his frame.

And Yu Jie…

Tears welled up in her eyes before she shot towards me. I prepared to defend myself, only to feel her arms wrapping around my mid-section, her silent sobs probably staining my clothes.

She had been so worried. Guilt causing tears to well up in my own eyes, I reciprocated the hug. I honestly couldn’t name the weird attachment I had found myself sharing with her, having just met not even a full week, but… it felt right.

“Where were you?” She muttered sadly.

“Lost,” I said, looking up at the sky. “Very lost.”