"You got to be kidding me," I muttered. I shouldn't have said anything, as it only made Pearyin look at me with worry, tears not too far away. "It's not anything to worry about, sweetie. I just realized your cultivation had increased more than I expected in my absence. You must have worked hard."

The compliment worked wonders in her fragile mode. She nodded shyly, then kept her gaze down.

I said nothing else as I kept my essence cycling in her body, while, at the same time, adding some Qi to the mix to make sure my earlier assessment was not a mistake.

However, it just confirmed my earlier diagnosis. She had an Immortal Root. It wasn't a problem all in itself, but everything I had learned about cultivation told me that Immortal Root was rare, especially for children from mortal parents.

I didn't have the exact numbers, but previously, the impression I got was that it was closer to one in a million than one in a thousand. The fact that Pearyin, the random waitress that somehow stumbled into my life having one could technically be just a coincidence.

Just like how my earlier arrival or events of Markas could be a coincidence.

I hadn't been a believer of fate when I was growing up … but being sent to a new world by an unnecessarily vindictive goddess went a long way to change my perspective. Unfortunately, that didn't even begin to answer what I should do.

Admittedly, I could see the benefits of helping her cultivate. Having a cultivator loyal to me would open up a lot of paths to the future. Unfortunately, the risks were not small either. For once, she couldn't stay in the mortal kingdoms. The sects didn't appreciate it, and I didn't trust Pearyin to be able to keep it a secret.

I decided to stop thinking about it for a moment and focused on healing her. "Tell me, what happened?"

"A few martial artists visited the store, asking me to donate all the pills I had to the war effort. And, once I refused,, they started breaking things," Pearyin said.

"It looks like they had been looking for a fight in the first place," I commented. Either that, or they were entitled enough to rob a random shop, which didn't bode well for the royal authority, but I didn't care about the problems the king might face due to that.

I was fulfilling my patriotic duty to him by keeping one of his wives happy and satisfied.

"It looked like that way," she commented.

"Why didn't you just give the pills to them, and leave the shop once they went away?" I asked. "Or better, why not just slip out from the backdoor after you beat down the first ones. I'm guessing they didn't visit such a crowd."

"No, they did not. But, I couldn't just let them have everything. They are yours," she defended.

I sighed. "As much as I'm happy to see your determination to keep my possessions safe, we both know that there's nothing valuable in that shop. We opened it just to allow you to gather some of the gossip. Even if they didn't send the experts, the moment you fought against the other martial artists, the shop would be infamous, turning it useless for our purposes."

"I'm sorry," she repeated.

"Don't worry about it. That shop was just training for you in the first place. Just be more careful the next time," I reminded her.

"The next time… You're really not sending me away," she said desperately, clearly expecting me to send her away.

"No, of course not," I said. Admittedly, I was tempted to find a nice village for her to live in and do exactly that, but discovering her immortal root went a long way to change my mind. Having a loyal cultivator was simply too tempting.

However, to do so, I needed to find a place for her to train, one that was rich in Qi, safe, and out of the way of the other cultivators. Unfortunately, the closest I had to that was the misty mountains, particularly the outskirts.

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Unfortunately, it wasn't enough. Even if she could cultivate rapidly, it wasn't safe. There were too many itinerant cultivators there, and some would inevitably target her. Pearyin was too softhearted to survive there.

And, that was with her cultivating rapidly, which wasn't exactly something guaranteed. Unlike Martial Cultivation, I couldn't just feed her a few pills and use acupuncture to boost her cultivation. Such a thing might not bee been possible in the first place, and I certainly had no idea how to do so.

Luckily, it wasn't a decision I needed to make today. "How's your reading?" I asked. "Have you made any progress?"

"Some," she answered. I pulled paper and brush from my bag and wrote a few quick sentences on it, using some of the simpler words. She was hesitant, but she still managed to read, while the complicated words gave her some trouble.

Still, considering the complicated nature of the writing here, it was an incredible progress. Either she was smarter than I gave her credit for, or there was a significant cognitive increase that came with higher realms.

Unfortunately, I couldn't use my own development as a test. Language jade, system lessons, martial aptitude pill… I had too many benefits to confidently pin down the source of my improvements. Ultimately, it wasn't particularly important.

Pearyin's rapid learning was useful, and I had no intention of starting a martial arts school.

"Very good. Just a bit more studying, and we'll make a scholar out of you as well."

"Women can't be scholars," she commented.

"Well, no one else has to know," I said with a wink. It was stupid, but discrimination often was. I certainly wasn't volunteering to fix it. "Now, do you have anything you want to do urgently?" I asked. She shook her head. "Good, we're going to find you a cave, and you're going to stay there for a day or two. I should have returned then," I started, ready to explain quite a bit once she asked.

She didn't ask anything, just nodded.

I sighed. Sometimes, I underestimated the lengths of her deference. No wonder the System didn't trigger with her anymore.

Once we were sufficiently away from the crowd, I lifted her in a bridal hold and carried her. Despite her Connate Realm cultivation, it was the faster method. My Rabbit Dash martial arts was fast. Ridiculously so.

Together, we traveled in the opposite direction of Markas. The last thing I wanted was to put Pearyin in the middle of the upcoming clash. I should return by then, but no need to tempt fate.

She was enough of a bitch already without tempting it further.

Only when we arrived at a nice cave that was technically not a part of the capital's territory but another city, I slowed down. All the while, Pearyin said nothing, but in my arms, her earlier panic lessened significantly.

"I want you to stay here for a couple days. Can you do that?" I asked.

"Of course, sir. What do you need me to do?" she asked.

"Nothing for now. Just stay in the cave and meditate, preparing for the future," I said after a brief moment when I considered telling her about her Immortal Root. But, in the end, I decided against it, mostly because I still had to visit Markas to deliver the Queen's letters and make the other arrangements. Explaining Pearyin about being a cultivator was too much of a challenge.

Even I was having trouble handling that revelation. The last thing I wanted was to leave her alone with that realization. Instead, I decided to search for a meditation art that didn't belong to the Verdant family, in order not to make things even more complicated.

It wasn't like a few days would matter. Everything I had learned about cultivators showed that Pearyin already missed the best time to cultivate, and it would take a miracle for her to even reach the first realm without significant external help.

Cultivation was a difficult path. Otherwise, the cultivator market wouldn't have been filled with itinerant cultivators of the early stages of the Qi Gathering.

"Just that?" she asked.

"Sure, just that," I said as I paused, trying to remember the map. "I will return in two days unless there's an emergency. If I don't return, wait for a week, then sneak into this village and wait for me here," I said to her.

As a connate realm master, it was easy for her.

Then, I pulled a piece of paper, and my small pouch holding my spirit stones. I grabbed the smallest spirit stone, and my talisman brush. I grabbed the stone, activated the meditation art, and pushed my Calligraphy to the limit as I wrote a simple character.

Forest. However, it was imbued with the essence of the forest dance. Hopefully, it would help her cultivate. Since it was merely an impression rather than a technique, I didn't need to subdue the Qi.

She looked too curious. "Feel free to ask if you have any questions," I said.

"What are those, sir?" she asked as she pointed at the spirit stone pouch, her gaze bouncing between the dust from the depleted stone and the pouch.

"Just something to help focus martial essence," I said, not willing to explain to her that I was also a cultivator. Less about trust, and more about not wanting her to get even more respectful.

"May I check one?" she said.

"Sure," I said. After all, the spirit stones were pretty harmless without the interaction from a cultivator. I passed the largest one. She grabbed it…

And, the Qi immediately drained by her, responded by a flicker from her dantian.

What the hell had just happened.