“However” Her smile returns “That fact won't remain true for very long now that you exist.”

Ken awkwardly shuffles in his spot at her declaration, he glances at Dongmei seeking some sort of guidance.

"You look like you've just seen a ghost, are you afraid of speaking what's on your mind?"

"I- I am, master cultivator." He bows in a polite response.

"I see, I see. I always forget how poorly Verdant Sword cultivators treat their subjects" she nods understandingly as she cups her chin "You don't have to worry about anyone from Twilight Blossom indiscriminately going around and killing mortals or fledgling cultivators like yourself. And even if I was that sort of a cultivator…"

"...Well, if I'm being completely honest, nothing that you can say at the moment will be capable of making me upset, not now and not at any point in the future. It's so exhilarating for there to finally be a naturally advanced human cultivator in our ranks. You could call me a whore and a bitch and I'll be too busy thinking about the future possibilities to care." She ends her sentence with a laugh that shakes the foundations of the building once more.

Now that Kenki can think clearer and concentrate, he can feel the thick, ethereal Qi radiating off the woman in front of him in what appear to be literal rivers. The Qi bouncing off the floor, walls and ceiling should be what is causing the shaking. The inscriptions on the surfaces glow under the strain.

The woman pinches the foot of a nearby chair in between her pointer and thumb, lifting it up and tossing it over to Kenki. He catches it reflexively.

"Take a seat. I'm not here to interrogate and grill you over the coals. You must have many questions on your mind, ask them without fear. As long as they aren't something that will trigger a tribulation I will answer them."

Ken places the chair down

'Anything I want?" seating himself down he looks at the towering cultivator, taking in her whole form. His eyes are once more drawn to that injury.

"What happened to your leg?"

"Oh, this?" She taps the fleshy injury with her tail "Twilight Lotus is at war with Verdant Sword. I just came back from a battle with a couple of their elders so I haven't had time to clean up and heal"

'A war?'

"It sure doesn't feel like there's a war."

"Well of course, wars are strictly forbidden by the Empire, at least in the way that you are imagining them. When cultivators at our level are involved it is very easy to reduce a large chunk of land into barren wastes. If we were to go all out, sooner or later, there will be an imperial agent coming around to investigate why the latest round of taxes didn't arrive in time. And when he finds that the lands are nothing but rubble and ash the days of both sects will be numbered."

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Ken stashes the piece of information about the imperial agents in his mind for the future. It's the first time he'd heard anything about how the empire works.

"And what role will I play in this war? I'm sorry for saying this but I really don't want to join"

"You're still in the initiate's realm so you don't have to worry about that." She dismissively waves him off "To take a part you need to be at least on your master's level, at the point where you can become a village guardian. When the time comes for you to join you will do so of your own volition, I can assure you of that… but, the fact remains that we still have no idea on how to take care of a human cultivator, meaning that there's no chance for you to get there in the first place" She looks off into a random point in the room, her gaze distant.

"I'll give Verdant Sword this, they're very good at keeping their methods under lock and key. Even their initiate realm techniques are difficult to get. Unlike with our sect their recruitment tactics are vastly more different. You'll never see a village guardian taking on a personal disciple like little Dongmei has with you. You'll never encounter a branch of the sect placed near some random and insignificant city, filled with thirty or forty disciples at most. Instead, they have five colossal sect compounds, dozens of kilometers in size and filled with inscriptions and powerful cultivators that make them impossible…" her eyes suddenly widen, and it doesn't go unnoticed by Ken "...to get into, short of setting up a siege."

"Is something wrong"

"Of course there is." She says with no small amount of glee in her voice. "But first, could you hazard a guess as to why it is that we can't take you in?"

Ken shrugs.

"Lyraxi techniques are dangerous for the humans that use them?"

She nods. "That's indeed it, Dongmei doesn't know that so it's probably why she took you in. Human techniques are also dangerous for the Lyraxi, using something that isn't specifically tailored for your race will inevitably result in Qi deviation and sometimes death. To make it easier to understand, imagine an ant trying to use a technique meant for a moth or a roach. They may both be insects, but that is the only thing they have in common, both on the inside and on the outside there are vast differences between them."

"This is the main reason why the two continents where Humans and Lyraxi reside have remained divided for so many millenia. Not being able to recruit from the natives that you've conquered is a massive problem. Why go out of your way, traversing the beast infested oceans and skies, just to conquer some land you can't even obtain manpower from? Why not conquer the lands of the small sect that is right at your doorstep? You get what I'm saying?"

"I do, but what changed? You're here on the human continent now aren't you?"

"What changed is that there are no more sects for us to absorb." The woman shrugs as she gives the answer "Both the Twilight Blossom Sect and the Verdant Sword sect have grown nearly parallel to each other for hundreds of years. Fighting, growing, surviving through whatever disasters have been thrown their way, facing whatever challenges are presented to them. Everything. And at the end point, each of the sects has beaten all the competitors in their home, turning them into a continent spanning super-sect. All that's left is for those two sects to fight each other. And that's the time we live in now kiddo."

"Now then" she claps her hands, suddenly standing up. "I hope that you're able to understand how significant the meaning that you carry is." She playfully flicks his forehead.

"You existing means that the entire Twilight Blossom sect is ahead of its enemies, isn't that just lovely? And the war began only four years ago too."

"...Ahem." she places a closed fist in front of her mouth "Dongmei"

"Yes!" Dongmei calls out once she hears her name.

"Gather what you have. You're coming back with me. Elder Zhishi, the head of the Ascension Affairs, would like to have a word with you. Someone else will replace your position, they should arrive in a couple of hours."

"As for you, Kenki," she turns to face the young boy. "Answer my following question truthfully… life in this village has become boring for you, has it not?

"A little bit" he awkwardly scratches his chin.

"You also said, and I quote 'I might as well see where the wind blows me and go from there' did you not?"

'Where is she trying to go with this?' Ken apprehensively looks at the cat-woman, feeling that something he may or may not like is coming.

"I did"

"Then that's perfect for what we have planned ahead. I have a proposition for you, one you will be very interested in" her smile widens, turning into one resembling that of the cheshire cat.

Ken watches as the cultivator kneels down to the point where she is at the same height as himself. A hand is gently placed on his head, ruffling his hair.

"Twilight Blossom may not have the techniques necessary to ensure your growth, but there is one other sect in these lands that does."