"You're continually hearing that they did the best they could. You're hearing that food, water, shelter and all that was enough. They nourished your body but not your soul. You wanted more. Does that about sum it up?"

The woman in my office cried. Sometimes all Lisa did was cry the whole session. Certainly the first time, she couldn't help it but now?

We had made a breakthrough. Her parents were complete narcissists and she had just realized that the idea of her parents ever considering her or putting her first was something that wasn't going to happen. The image of their perfection was shattered.

"You have to mourn the idea of the parents you wanted. You have these two and you get to decide if they're in your life or not. You can set up a boundary, go low contact, grey rock or even go no contact if they continue to trample on your boundaries."

"I don't know how to tell them."

"You're an adult. They're adults in one sense of the word. The only thing you control is your presence. You don't have to be present where they are. You don't have to engage with what they're doing- and though this might be hard- you can opt out."

"I just want them to be more considerate. Maybe I actually care about something in my life. They only seem to care about their lawn, and their extensive Greek art collection. If I didn't have the potential to have kids someday, they probably would have kicked me out at fourteen."

She had shown me their villa, which was decked out to look like the coliseum. They really had marble pillars out front of their very normal looking yard. It looked like they had spent the money making it look authentic, because they sure as heck didn't spend it on Lisa.___

I was reminded of Lisa's family house as I entered the Moon clan pavilion. Many men and women sparred back and forth in the middle of a large compound. The pale white walls and pillars could have been a fixture at an earth museum. Here?

They were decorations.

Moon Xiru walked me back to a small building in the center of the compound.

The open air building had a good view of the entire area and one man sat in contemplative meditation in the center. As we approached, he opened his eyes.

The white irises struck me as I'd never seen eyes fully white like that. The white eggshell color on porcelain eyes made him distinct. He also had a palpable aura around him. I could feel power emanating from him.

He stood up, one fluid motion that notably did not involve either hand.

No joke. For the first time since I had arrived here, I thought that I was in real danger. The man radiated danger. If someone had decided to bottle up the potential energy of several battalions of Marines, he would be the result.

His white steel gaze penetrated my defenses like I was a swifty whose boyfriend had scored her the tickets.I bowed to him. It seemed fitting.Xiru bowed as well.

"Cousin!" The strong man said, rising to return the bow. Xiru waited for him to move return to standing

"Elder Brother Wei. This is the man that was discussed."

"Ah. Perhaps with time he will help you fight the scourge of small business owners with novel ideas about tea."

Xiru clearly held back from saying something.

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"One can but hope, Elder Brother. This is Cultivator Pidge Joseph. May he grow to defy the heavens like the Moon clan."

"Indeed. I believe that he could build a strong foundation."

He paused to look me over.

"When did you awaken?"

"Three days ago, er pardon, what do I call you?"

"You can call me trainer Wei. Or trainer is fine as that is my title in the Moon Clan."

He relaxed, I relaxed and then Xiru made himself scarce.

---

"Don't forget about our game later this week, cousin!" Wei yelled at the tea broker.

Wei paused as the air around him seemed to float heavily. It was like he shimmered. I was really hoping that I wasn't about to walk into a damn vampire situation. Ever since my ex wife got really into twilight- ugh yeah I'm not even going to think about that.

"Tell me about your previous training."

"I'll be honest. I just awoke whatever this is four days ago and it has been a blur. I trained extensively in martial arts with my mother as a youth and I kept with it."

No need to mention that I was speaking about Tai Chi. It seemed to work against Jin Xueyie, and the combat implications of the art itself with the proper application of force and speed was immense.

"Most cultivators in your realm are full of impurities. It is curious that I don't feel any of those within you. Could it be that you have cultivated and pushed that out? But no that would mean that...hmmm.""

I had no idea what he meant by that statement. I wondered if honesty was the best policy here. They probably wouldn't kill me, right?

"I'm going to be honest, Trainer Wei, I don't know. Not only that, I don't know what I don't know."

"That is an interesting statement. *I don't know what I don't know.* I will probably need to meditate on it."

I nodded.

"Well in that case. Let's start with the basics. Every day or frequently you need to consolidate the things that you have learned through cultivation. This involves cycling the energy in the air-the raw aura- and gathering qi. It's processing the aura into Qi that separates the mortals from the immortals. That and the impurities which you seem to have none of. This is curious. There are several realms above which will advance your soul and body..."

I noticed that he said soul not mind as I began to make my list of things to seek clarification on. I would save things for a pause in his lecture.

"... But at the first realm where you sit, all you need to do is begin to develop your dantian, through the use of spiritual arts and creation of your meridians. What I don't know for certain though, is since much of the work to open meridians is focused on removing impurities, I couldn't tell you if you would be able to open yours easier."

"Could you perhaps explain how to do so?"

"Imagine a new partition- an energy pathway from your core- extending outwards. Most cultivators open meridians to their legs or arms first to aid in their physical cultivation. Some open them to the brain."

I tried to remember anatomy and physiology and the lines of nerves, veins and arteries connecting all over my body. Then I imagined a core.

"Sit in a lotus post and try to push one out now."

I sat, thinking about pathways.

There had to be a way.

I felt around my body with closed eyes. I was looking for a core, which according to him would be around where my belly was.

Then with a start it was clear. I could feel the knot of qi that I had drawn before there, next to all of the aura that ai had drawn in and it was a fair bit. Nothing to do but try to fine a way to use it, and that was how I pushed my first meridians on either side of my spine up to my brain area.

It wasn't like he had described it. He had said that other cultivators had to clean off impurities as they went. This felt like I was just- I don't have another word to describe it- but just threading a needle. The meridian itself existed already, I was just opening it.

The world was awash in vivid colors as I opened my eyes again.

"Was the compound always this... colorful?" I asked the awestruck man.

His eyes had grown two yellow circles that separated the two types of whites. No- they had always been there, hadn't they? It could just be a part of the moon clan's legacy.

"You just... You just opened two meridian lines to your brain withoutany difficulty."

He sat down looking sheepish.

"Well don't stop there! Keep going!"

Under his tutelage I pushed a second set of meridians to my arms.

They went from what I could only call "good enough" to "damn!".Moon Wei stroked his non-existent beard. Then he raised his left hand making a gesture I didn't know.A Moon clan disciple arrived far faster than they had cause to do so. I judged him to be about where I was. His aura was a clear distinct and separate entity, a large scale halo that wrapped around his entire body. It shone like a reflection.

"How about a friendly spar? We should slow down your meridian opening to consolidate your gains here."

The cultivator across from me bowed and I dropped into snake creeps into the grass. It felt like the most Kung Fu type shit ever.

It was mood as fuck.