I'm not going to lie to you.

Cultivation felt amazing.

After finishing a proper session it was like I had spent a day at the gym with a proper trainer, followed by a massage and a sauna.

I felt the delayed onset of muscle soreness all over my body. Except it also felt far better than it ever had. Cycling qi the way that Wei showed me had me progressing. I could feel that I was getting close to something.

I opened my eyes again and now, it was midday. I had been cycling for at least two hours. I was ravenous.

Trainer Wei was setting up a spread of food in front of me. I looked at him expectantly.

"This is for you from Xiru. He said something about a down payment for future services?"

I nodded, standing to stretch. I had felt myself working through the basic twenty four stances while I cultivated. There's no better way to put it than when I arrived into my dream scape and then... Well, I was having a lucid dream about martial training.

"Mister Pidge, it comes to my attention that you have a large amount of dream Qi stored up in your dantian. It's nearly equal to the amount of neutral qi that you have been producing."

I blinked.

“Dream qi? How can you tell?"

I pointed to the food and he waved me to eat. Then he stood up straight, placing his arms into either sleeve, folding them over each other.

"Once you reach the third realm, it's a bit easier to feel what someone else's source is, and there seems to be a lot of it. Are you interested in a dream technique? Or is this just happenstance? Higher realm cultivators of the dream aura are able to create unparalleled training grounds where there is a greatly reduced chance of death. They have other tricks that they tend to pull, many of which I would call underhanded. I can pull a path manual for you, especially if you're going to be working with cousin Xiru."

I chewed on a response. This back and forth favors was good for my purse. I didn't know if it was going to get me anywhere in the long run, but the more I knew, the better I got.

"You're going to want to master three to four techniques at your level before advancing to the second realm, and forming your foundation. The foundation of your body... " He stared off into the distance, contemplative,"Regardless, while you are working for Moon Xiru, you are welcome to join some of our clan training. We promise that we won't try to aggressively recruit you to join the clan. There aren't any current non partnered women of marrying age either so you don't have to worry about..."

He visibly shuddered.

"Wei!"

"Wei who is this strapping young lad!"

"When were you going to introduce us?"

"...the aunties."

He groaned.

Three older women with impeccable qipaos power walked past several rows of sparring Moon clan enforcers. Their hair was invariably done up in something so complicated that I had to reconsider who was the real power behind the clan. Their form fitting dresses were all white, the only difference was that each had a different colored sash. One was purple, one was blue and one was pink.

I noted with glee that they seemed to stop and bend around attacks that the paired fighters would throw at each other. This would be an excellent challenge.

"Wei! Introductions please! This young master seems on the cusp of the first realm already," the woman with the purple sash said.

Mentally I tagged her as the queen. The queen purple dragon. Her buddies were the pink panther and... Bluey

"*Purple dragon* you know I hate it when you try to recruit my clan disciples. Consider this one off limits," Wei said dryly.

"Oh but cousin, you know that we still have needs," the pink panther crooned.

"Like we need to know who this one is," bluey added.

"Exactly," Pink panther said.

I crossed my arms as they stopped a few meters away from me. I waited, trying to see what outlandish thing they would request from me. Or from Wei. He looked like he was ready to duck out of the entire enterprise and become a hermit.

"You are the one helping the tea brokers union, yes?"

I nodded. The purple dragon took her place in front of the three, like they were going to challenge me to a dance off.

"Tell him, Moon Hou," Pink panther said.

"This is Moon clan territory. We expect you to be on your best behavior at all times. You are to keep your hands off the *merchandise*, "

I cocked my head. Was she talking about the clan members or perhaps the clan members' members? Or..

"You're aware that the Moon clan is well known for making commemorative tea sets. It's our primary business."

I really had to hold back from laughing. I was starting to see why Moon Xiru would be having such trouble. If the Moon clan at large was responsible for manufacturing large tea sets, and Moon Xiru was a leader Tea Broker, then yeah they probably needed to diversify.

"That's not our only business," the pink panther said, "but it is the most fragile."

"This isn't about keeping away from some honored daughter or son?"

"Heavens no," Bluey said.

"That wouldn't be right," Pink panther said.

Moon Hou, the purple dragon herself harrumphed.

It was like watching the power rangers if they were three women in their fifties, dressed to kill. I expected them to have some signature dance that would magical girl change them into a higher form of life.

"Just to be sure-and I know this is a weird question-you three aren't about to dance and change into your battle mode dress?"

The three women exchanged looks.

Trainer Wei, used to my non sequiturs by now, just shrugged.

"We're going to ignore that comment, just know that we will be watching you," Hou said.

I bowed to the three women before they decided that their time would be better spent elsewhere.

"They're always like that. It's not just you," Wei said as I watched them go.

___

"It's brutal. It's the hardest decision you may ever have to make. It's not easy, but going no contact may be the best for your situation."

Usually when someone is dealing with a clinically 'would be diagnosed if they ever stepped into a therapist's office textbook narcissist' parent, I advise the gray rock method. They get a rise out of pushing your buttons, so when there's no buttons, they don't get that whole feedback loop. Just a bland answer and perhaps a statement about boundaries. The biggest thing that you have over your parents as an adult is your physical presence. You decide where to be at all times.

"That ... Makes sense," she said.

My current client, Audra, was a referral from another client I had done extensive work with. They both had post traumatic stress disorder, but in this case, Audra kept getting re triggered by her parents. Her mom in particular was nitpicking her decisions, and trying to back seat drive her life.

Safe to say that the mom hadn't taken the boundary of 'you will not talk about my body to me in any way' well. Audra had enforced the boundary and I don't want to say that it backfired, but it had exactly the resolution that we wanted it to have.

Her mother had stopped talking to her for a while. She felt relieved. Then she felt guilty for feeling relieved. Then she arrived in my office for the day and she felt her feelings.

"I want to process this and move forward. I still want a relationship with her."

"Do you think that she is capable of holding the boundaries you want?"

"I don't know."

"Do you really think despite everything she has put you through that she is capable of the introspection that she needs to do?"

"I wanted to go to therapy with her initially and she totally agreed with me. Then the actual time came, and she flaked."

"It's not a reflection on you. You by all accounts have been a model daughter. This isn't and has never been about you. It's about her."

The tissue box had remained unmolested in the corner up until that moment. It was no longer.

"You need to think about what you want out of this relationship, and if she is capable of that," I said when we started up again.

It just wasn't worth it to keep going through someone processing their trauma.

"It's not just you," I said,"She is always like that. She doesn't have the introspection to examine herself and change. She was supposed to protect you. She was not supposed to betray your trust and do terrible things to you."

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

"I still miss her. Despite everything."

"And that is still completely normal."

It didn't help her as much as I wanted it to, but processing trauma would take some time. The uncomfortable part? The sitting there and dealing with it part? Yeah that was where we needed to go next.

___

Wei gave me some breathing exercises and told me to come back the next day. I took his notes and thanked him for his time. He had decided that something about me was worth his time. Before I left he passed me a small purple tablet.

"This is a basic technique. You will benefit from learning what is possible from it," he said,"of course you will need dream qi to use it, so continue to cultivate that as you find it. This uses a heart meridian if you haven't opened one yet."

"Thank you, Trainer Wei."

"Now I believe my cousin is here to take you back."

I gave Wei a bow which he returned. There were probably some etiquette rules that I needed to learn. This wasn't the time but perhaps Egiya could tell me more of how to carry myself if everything would be so formal.

By this time I was well and truly toasty and I needed the upcoming down time.

Moon Xiru probably had another idea. As we walked back to the Raven's nest, he mused at length about the meaning of the new encroaching tea shop.

"Truly this is ill tidings if such an abomination is allowed to continue. One could only hope that the right amount of pressure from an inclined party would cause it to be closed," he mused.

The whole tea shop as an unnatural force was silly to me. I liked the idea that new forms of commerce were really getting to the older generation in some logical cyclical route. Also seeing the Moon clan making its money off tea sets, I was beginning to understand the dug-in stakes in the ground.

As we walked, I noticed a large totem that seemed far out of place. The sculpture was dead center in the middle of a large road, and in the stylized shape of a dragon on a cloud.

"Moon Xiru, did we pass through this way before?"

He awoke from his reverie. The man was probably thinking up new curses with which to fling upon the poor proprietor of the Mogui Chaguan tea shop.

"We did. Ah no we did not," he said, regarding the totem.

"Care to explain what this is?"

"This one believes that this is some cultivator totem to keep bad spirits away."

I examined the wingless dragon icon. It looked so vivid, the artist must have known what he was doing rather well. The white stone it was made of had three large rings along the bottom and it oozed with energy. I felt processed qi in its formation. Trying to look closer as we walked it looked like layers of writing had been stacked one on top of the other.

The whole thing was a big distraction and I almost noticed when I walked into a smooth made up face.

"My word! Please watch where you are going, miss, the Cultivator is quite clumsy," Moon Xiru snapped.

"It's quite alright Miss," I said, extending a hand,"You!"

She grabbed it, hard. If I wasn't as strong as I was now, she would have pulled me to her instead of the opposite.

"Ah, Cultivator Pidge Joseph, what a pleasure. Why I was just thinking about you..."

Moon Xirus gray beard and top knot bobbed in the wind. He looked to her, then to me, then back. Her familiarity combined with his formality probably threw a syntax error in his robotic brain. He couldn't parse me knowing her or vice versa, and so he stood there in stark indecision, as if waiting for one of us to pull him in. I was more than happy to let the situation sit, but she was also doing something similar.

"Pardon, but this one will be off," he said before scrunching his face up, "shall send a runner?"

"That's not going to be necessary. I'll... Head to the Moon clan and leave a note tomorrow for you Moon Xiru."

He nodded before disappearing into the madding crowd. Seriously, I hadn't been paying attention to the amount of passers by. When Egiya showed up, they had kept moving and I had not.

"Hello. It's good to see you again."

"It's good, ah you always have a way with words."

I didn't think that I was that suave. She probably wanted something from me. To be fair I was pulling her for info dumps. I gave her the dad look. The 'is that what you really want to do' look.

"What are you doing out here? Shouldn't you be minding your shop?"

"Thi-I closed up early today. I was looking to see if perhaps you had dinner plans?"

I blanched. I'm a nondescript American male, that someone had once called 'the basic skin' when they tried to describe me. As if I had been the choice for someone who was trying to customize their gotcha game protagonist. I wasn't too offended at the time, since it wasn't a heavy jab. When a woman showed interest? Even if it was just being catcalled? Yeah I was happy.

Just to make sure, this is consensual cat calling I'm talking about here where you both know each other at least enough to know that the other would be receptive to that. Lauren and I had a back and forth. She was a jersey girl-a transplant- with a fight inside her. I liked a bit of back and forth, as it felt like a healthy way to get things moving.

Egiya? She wore her heart on her sleeve. Either she had a lady boner for me, or she had never had a friend, like ever.

"Kang Egiya, do you have friends that you can rely on? People that aren't customers or a part of the Sect?"

"I...I used to when my father and I lived outside of the demonic sect's territory."

At that, my attention was all on her.

"Demonic? Care to elaborate?"

"You really aren't from around here, are you?" She sighed.

"Guilty. But we're still sitting here. Did you want to talk before or just go to the nearest...?"

"The Mogul chaguan is too much?"

"I'm certain that there is another option. Also did you wear this to work, because going forward uh?"

I eyed her robe.

"What? Is there something wrong with this?"

"I'm trying to be a bit more incognito," I said,"I need to tell you something."

I looked about for anyone listening in.

"Before you get involved in anything I am doing, you should know that there are several Sects trying to recruit me."

"That's normal."

"That's normal, yes but how often do they *kidnap someone to shake them down for more information*?"

Her expression blanched and she stood stock still.

"Happened to one of my associates. I am going to do my best to travel incognito from now on. If you're in this for the long haul, I would like to make sure you're aware. Also I need a new place to stay."

"That is a lot. You'll pardon me if I need a second. They kidnapped someone?"

"One of my friends from the Moon clan. Well he is more like a handler or retainer."

"Friend, huh? That's interesting."

"Interesting how?"

I crossed my arms across my chest, putting both hands inside of my ridiculous robe and doing my best 'intrigued' face. Despite the power difference I think she had caught on that I was a cream puff on the inside. What? Things happen when you have two girls. Yes, I am capable of terrible violence and all that but honestly I would rather not.

"I thought you were new in town."

"I am, I-"

"Are we friends?"

The question brought up a whole range of questions. Without an actual backing of a professional organization or a read guiding regulatory body, I was in a murky grey zone with her and my relationship. I should probably just stick to the way things should be absent some big sign from her.

Maybe I should explain it the way my professors explained it. You see, healthcare professionals have a duty to their patients. If a nurse who sets someone's bones feels a slight uptick in their heart and it isn't malignant tachycardia, then they can after the person is healed, pursue a relationship.

A psychiatrist or psychologist, or in a broad sense any therapist, can never see someone who they have treated. Full stop. It's like insider trading with someone's genitals. You can see how by knowing someone's mental state, one could manipulate them into doing a lot of things. We get to see a side of them that maybe a handful of people do during their lives

So it was with trepidation that I thought about the answer behind the question. Were we friends? I guessed we could do that.

"Yes," I said after far too long, "but maybe we should talk about what that means?"

"I... I have never had a friend before and..."

I'm not going to lie. I cried a little. I sighed, heavily exhaling

"Then we're friends."

"Oh... that's," she looked shocked, and took a second to compose herself,"I just I haven't ever spoken like that with anyone. It was so direct and fresh."

I smiled. I nodded to her to see if we could begin walking.

"Wonderful, say let's walk about. You're not in the middle of anything, are you?"

"I am not. I was going to sketch one of the totems ... It's something I do to center myself," she said.

"Totems, eh? Mind if I tag along?"

"That would be appropriate, I guess. Do friends do these things together?"

"I can't say that I have done whatever you're about to do, but I have tagged along for weird things before."

I was not worried that whatever I was about to see would be important. We cleared Spirit Hall and continued moving in the direction I assumed to be south, opposite the direction of (white chapel?).

The first landmark we passed was the construction site that had to have been that cultivator meeting place I had found on my first day here. The smell of actinic concentrated qi and aura was the tip off. As we walked, she explained the most of what she did was sell paper. In essence if you forgot that someone was writing on the paper, it meant that you had to deal with shipping paper. She copied manuscripts and scrolls using a complicated formation array but that was her family's business. By virtue of being the only mundane person of this small generation, it fell to her to run it.

It took us one hour to reach the outer edges of the city to see our totem. The twenty foot tall marble and stone carving looked animated. It wasn't actually moving, but since it had the appearance of a human, the eye filled in some details. This was my view as we approached it.

When we did arrive, I was surprised at how different things felt out here. It was sparsely populated, just like where I had arrived. All roads led into the city.

None led out beyond the totem. The cultivator totem looked towards the city of Western Jewel, as if keeping the peace inside. His robes looks real. I wouldn't have been surprised for them to flutter in the wind.

"Uh, pardon me as I'm missing a big piece of something here. What are these for? They're nice and everything, but?"

"They keep evil spirits out."

"For real life?"

Her blank stare made me giggle.

"I mean, are you serious? Is that a real thing?"

"Evil spirits, good spirits, uhh miasma, the toxic untamed wilderness..."

I didn't want to say that it sounded like some woo woo bullshit, but with everything I had seen so far, I was inclined to believe at least she thought that was the truth. I would play along. If the cultivators were pulling the wool over everyone in such a manner it would be a big scandal.

"Would you care to explain that? You see I'm super new here and..."

I gave her the look of a confused tourist in need of guidance.

"Cultivators must clear the impurities from the land before mortals can live upon it. These include the malignant spirits that would easily kill or transform mortals into their servants. Additionally the land is toxic for cultivators below a certain threshold. To purify the land, and drive out the spirits, cultivators create ever larger circles of totems. It's how commerce can exist. Travel between cities is dangerous because of how many higher level threats exist outside of the bounds of their shields."

We paused on our walk to cross a bridge over calm waters. Here, even more gondolas floated back and forth, their movements a testament to the multilayered logistical approach.

"Wait. Why are you doing this again?"

"My father maintains the totems, so he gave me a rudimentary knowledge of what to look for, and he gave me a map to follow so.... Didn't your parents try to get you to do their work?"

"Well my father was an industrial engineer and I became a therapist so no on that count. My mother was... Also an engineer."

"I'm not familiar with this word."

"More like an architect? Or a builder perhaps? Either way we didn't overlap much. He really wished that we had, but it wasn't in the cards."

"My father is a formations expert. He constantly gets called up to fix broken wards and inspect totems."

"Oh? What happens if a totem breaks?"

Egiya already pale face went nearly translucent. We stepped down from the cobblestone bridge into another large neighborhood full of three and four story tenements.

"It would be bad. Spirits would have to notice it but then those that did would wreak havoc in the borders. It's why so many of the formations are overlapping. More layers of protection means that people inside are safer," she said, her face slowly returning to a normal hue.

Before long we were standing in front of an outer totem. When I had arrived I had apparently been in the far reaches of the exterior formations. Otherwise I might have succumbed to evil spirits or the miasma or something. Let's be honest, I would easily get side tracked by a brunch spread. The totem looked away from the city of Western Jewel. It was another stylized cultivator statue, this one raising an arm to strike. Outside of the spot where all of the city stopped, there was a glorious field of green and brown.

"It's outside of the formation, and our cultivators frequently go there to purify the area. So it's slowly being reclaimed for one of the Sects to expand their holdings. They require a lot of land. New third realm cultivators are also granted plots to turn over if they decide that they want to go their own way, usually this is after a certain amount of time in the Sects. At least that's what my father told me."

"I want to inspect it. Can you tell me what I'm looking at?"

This totem felt a lot like the last one. I wondered if there was any difference.

"The totem has writing along the edges that denote what it is supposed to do. Children make a game of copying the inscriptions because they're often low to the ground. Cultivators who make the scripts make certain that they won't react on paper. Usually they require a small amount of qi to startup and then for the most part maintain themselves with the local aura."

"That's... unexpected. I have to say when you said spirits and oh wow..."

The aura in the air all flowed towards the totem. I could see actinic lines moving around the totem in a pattern. The formation was thick. Like a well known Brazilian plastic surgeon, it looked like someone just kept adding more. Also like a plastic surgeon someone had spent major time on the formation.

"How long did you say that this took?" I gulped.

Egiya pulled out a small notebook. I noticed that hers was the deluxe version.

I was totally green with envy.