It had been five days. Ah-Le had argued herself hoarse. Ki No had schmoozed with the women that had arrived apparently with the explicit intent to join their clan with the Za clan. Neither one of the siblings had told the Elders Za, parents of Fa Za, about his intentions towards Jessica Kim, the elder of the Cold Steel Sect.

It was starting to become rote.

“Elder Fa Za, you understand that we have to go speak to the people of stonefish,” She said on the morning of the fifth day of festivities.

“They won’t do anything.”

Ah Le had never seen the man despondent, but if she had to guess he was getting there.

“Elder,” she said, “ This is serious!”

He looked at her with dread in his eyes.

“I qi jacked into a presentation from one of these potential,” he gestured vaguely across the way to the other table where twenty women were seated in a circle around Elder Ling Za, “women… and my mother dismissed it as me trying to not pick a wife.”

Ah Le really tried to be sympathetic. She really did. She thought about what Elder Jessica had said to do when someone was feeling down.

“That sucks,” she said.

Her brother meanwhile was munching loudly on some unknown bird that had been brought via airship to celebrate the occasion. The occasion, that of the inevitable Ling Za picking a wife for her son. The celebration of their own visit to the far branch Sect of the Heaven’s Mountain School was just a little month-long fling that they had decided needed to happen.

“Elder, we still need to give them a chance. Elder Jessica wouldn’t want us to stand on this. Can you help us sneak out? Why are you looking at me like that? She is right behind me isn’t she…”

Ah Le sighed.

“Who, my dear is Elder Jessica?”

***

“You’re telling me that in your world, people don’t just stab each other all the time?”

“That is not how we do things, no.”

“Then how do you get your stabby feelings out?”

“Stabby feelings? No one has stabby feelings.”

The group had made camp for the night, just long enough for everyone to cultivate. Jess had found that there was a drop in cold qi ahead and she made the executive decision to let every one cultivate until their cores were filled again. Second realm cultivators sat in an inner circle around Jess, Hu, and Sa Kon.

“I used to have a group of friends that I hung out with,” Jess said, holding the spear up, “And we used to get together and argue about Epistemology, play games, and drink.

“Epistemology?” Hu said, raising his mug, “Never heard of her. Is that one of your friends?”

Jess nodded.

“It’s the search for truth, Sa Kon, how do you think we know the truth?”

“By searching for and piercing it? That seems like the way.”

Hu grunted in appreciation.

“I have a mental model of how I look at the world and predict things. Let me see, ah, so back in my world I had a bowl in which I mixed two types of candies. I would then draw at random and guess which one I was about to eat without guessing. It would be obvious when I ate it which one it was, but I wanted to in a small way get better at guessing a random thing. Well, that might be a terrible example.”

“Were they good candies? This one would be curious to taste such things.”

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

“They were pretty great, cultivators would love them. Lots of sugar and chocolate. But here let me think of something else. In my world, a lot of people were predicting that this big thing would happen soon. The thing itself, Artificial General Intelligence, one person would say 50% chance in thirty years, and another would say 100% in five years or something. Both of them were experts. So which do you listen to?”

Hu paused for a second.

“The stronger one?”

“That’s not how it works on earth. Usually, you go by the smarter one or the one with the better track record. But you need to think about why they are making that prediction.”

“Okay, but the stronger one is right? Or if not, the faster one, or the one with a better technique?”

“The one that you can stab better?” The spear ventured.

“It’s neither of those, really. Before I got here, what did you think that the odds were that the Sect would be crushed by a giant mountain beast?”

The spear and the scout were silent for a long minute in the dark. Jess reached out, feeling each person down the line. The cold was a familiar friend, and to be out of it well she wasn’t sad about it, but it would be different. The poor second realm cultivators would have to crowd around her later the next day as she was going to make a small area super cold for them to draw aura from, at least the ones that used unarmed combat as their primary method. The ones with weapons could use their weapon aura.

“This one never anticipated it before.”

“Now, it has happened once. Does that change how often you think such a thing would happen?”

“It uh….”

“Oh, I understand! If one person is stabbed, that makes it more likely that another one gets stabbed?”

“That…how did you… Sa Kon,” Jess said, stunned, “Hu, the spear….it’s learning?”

“This one hopes so, for our sake. The old jokes are getting a little stale.”

“Hey!” the spear squeaked.

“We don’t mean you and disrespect spear sir, but we have heard all your jokes by now,” Hu said.

“Is that spear… acting sullen?” Jess said.

Jess and Hu both watched the spear.

“This one thinks that he might need to stab something.”

“Take point when we move. Let’s see if he can help take out some of the rock beasts en route.”

***

At the end of the second day, Jess was pleased to see a long line of weary faces ahead of them. Not that she liked seeing refugees, but she vastly preferred to see living people.

Six hundred souls passed by them, all from blessing. The scout that had been tagging along with them was relieved to be swapped out.

The elders watched as good stores were swapped into happy hands. The cultivators needed less, but the spirit of helping the refugees invigorated them. There was the hope that their homes would not be destroyed, and that this would just be a brief visit to the Sect, but the grim determination on their faces told Jess what she needed to know.

They might not have had to suffer through the divine beast's wrath, but they were affected by it.

They weren't angry or mad, well a few looked terse but they were all there. Grace smiled at Jess.

"None of these will die from Rahelish," Grace said, standing close enough for comfort.

"Not if I have anything to say about it. They will all die fat and happy if I have my way."

A brief moment later Jess reached out with her nascent soul. She felt the people one by one, looking for someone, anyone with the spark.

Slowly, methodically she worked her way down the line.

"Hold my hand and try to feel what I am doing, Grace."

Jess extended her nascent soul to Grace's core trying to pull her own mystical senses out.

The first hundred were all strong, and Jess could see that a few of them would make good students.

One in the middle, an older man, appeared to have already reached the top of the first realm, but Jess could see twisted meridians. He probably lived his life in agony whenever he cycled, and she wondered how that felt.

"Do you feel that man?"

"He… is strong but his meridians lie dormant… no, they twist! Curious!"

"Ko Sa should evaluate him. Strange that neither of the scouts noticed him. He must have a strong veil in place, he could have developed it over years."

Grace shrugged.

"That makes sense."

"Do you see how you can use your new nascent soul to search through the people?"

"As long as you can teach me that light touch you have going on, this one can keep the rough feelings…to other times."

Grace let Jess' hand fall playfully.

Jess, a bright red tomato who just got into touch with her feelings, melted into ketchup.

"That...you… oh Grace!"

Grace smirked and jogged down to see Ko Sa, leaving Jess with a slightly elevated heart rate. A slightly elevated heart rate and a longing for an actual vacation.

***

For half an hour rations were handed over and hugs were given. The aunties looked ecstatic that so many were about to join their number and Jess saw Mary writing something in the snow.

Upon further inspection she was showing them where the little hot springs were. Jess couldn't put it past her that she would be trying to recruit already.

Even the aunties wanted fresh meat for their eyes and ears network.