The sun had already begun to disappear below the horizon yet still graced the fields bordering the city with its golden light. Here and there, a watchtower could be seen, casting a long shadow on the ground as if trying to reach for the walls. Three layers could be observed, each further away from the other, yet at the same time, their shadow made it look like they were linked.

The flickering lights from torches were dancing atop each of those towers, revealing to anyone willing to observe the presence of its watchers. Three or two could be seen at each post, isolated sentinels in a verdant sea.

Below, people were milling about. Some were walking to and from a tower. From their straight posture and the spear in their hands, they were clearly warriors on patrol. There weren’t many of them, their presence only apparent on the furthest ring of towers.

In the fields, though, many a man or woman were working. Sometimes, a beast could be seen helping them ploughing their field. At random intervals, a cabin was built on the border of a field or in its centre, tools often lining its wall. Some had one of those work-beasts tied to a stake on their side.

Despite the many people still busying themselves in the field, quite a lot were also seen walking back to the city, orderly groups submitting themselves to the scrutiny of the guard lining the city’s gates.

Meanwhile, the shadows from the setting sun could barely be seen in the city. Even the buildings at the core, those composing the four founding Sects of Blaze, Sky, Fang and Scale, could not hide how active the city was in this nascent night.

Myriads of lanterns were hung along the streets, their colours as diverse as a rainbow's. And a voice could be heard for every light casting a shadow away. Each was giving strength to its sister, allowing it to spread further, either brighter or louder.

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Atop the roof of a residence, two siblings were watching the chaotic scene happening beyond the walls of their family’s compound. They were still too young to leave the compound alone, but even at this hour, they were still allowed to stay up.

It had more to do with the presence of the eldest child. For any other of their age, the rule would’ve been different.

There was a boy and a girl, each sitting cross-legged. The girl, who was barely five years old, was sitting on her elder brother’s lap, her back resting against his chest. She had light hazel hair, falling below her shoulder yet not quite reaching her waist. On each side of her head, a duo of small braids were tying up her hair, making it all the easier to see her eyes. They were blue and grey, yet also very pale. Unlike a cloudy sky, they were much brighter. It wasn’t quite like ice, but something more metallic, not that anyone among their family had ever heard of a metal with such a colour.

Although they were only one year apart, the boy looked much taller. He could easily put his chin atop his little sister’s head, although he kept a straight posture. From his physique, anyone who didn’t know him would have thought he was closer to seven or eight years old rather than six. His hair was of a much darker shade, a brown bordering dark. They were tied up tightly in a bun, not hiding his face or his neck. it made it clear he had already lost most of his baby fat, the only exception being his cheeks.

Contrary to his sister, his eyes were much warmer. If the girl was akin to silvery moonlight, he was closer to a fiery sun. His eyes were like two glowing ambers of a vivid orange sparkling with life.

Of the scenery around them, only the boy had any idea of what was currently happening beyond the city walls.

Indeed, after five years of training, Nate had made significant progress in his cultivation. He could now improve his senses to the point that he hadn’t any reasons to be envious of hawks and kestrockells any longer. However, it was mostly applicable when he was dual-cultivating with someone, as he could draw on the other’s senses to refine his own further. By himself, his senses weren’t even half as efficient. It was still more than any other mortal, but not enough to look beyond the city’s walls and across the fields, some couple of miles away.

As practical as channelling Qi across their body to improve his sense could be, it was only one of Nate's minor breakthroughs with his training. Indeed, it was a by-product of his success in dual cultivation.

Since he started practising with his mother five years ago, he learned how to manipulate Qi. That step hadn’t been as difficult as he had feared. Indeed, with Nate having started to channel Qi in the same manner as he initially did with his spiritual sense, that is, through each other dantian, it was only a matter of time before the two forces could influence each other.

Then, with Qi Manipulation becoming available to the young cultivator, progress was much easier. The first step had been to help Diane’s vessels adjust to an increased flow of Qi, allowing Nate to speed up his own circulation of Qi and reducing how much his mother’s body was drained of Yuan Qi.

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Something which became all the more important when Diane became pregnant with her third child, a girl named Nilah, slightly more than a year after Stelia’s birth.

Indeed, Nate had already decided to intervene, as he couldn’t accept letting his mother exhaust her body through repeated pregnancies. By now, herbs had been discovered that could prevent periods from occurring, but it was a recent find. And not only were those herbs expensive, but their side effects were also mostly unknown. To Nate, it was much safer to directly manipulate his mother’s body to block pregnancies until he could see she was healthier and before she worried too much about her inability to bear another child.

Diane’s third child and first delayed pregnancy was the one she had been the most worried about, as Nate could clearly see how she needed to rest more. The next one, welcoming a boy named Allik another year and a half later, was much easier to manage. The rumours of herbs that could induce the same sterility were very much welcomed.

Concerning Qi, and more specifically Yuan Qi, it was relevant because while everyone lost some Yuan Qi as they grew, a ninth of a woman’s reserve of Yuan Qi was drained from her for each birth. This meant that compared to men, women would be depleted of Yuan Qi much earlier, before even their twenty-fifth year, while a man would still have some until their thirtieth year. It was also part of the reason for women’s faster maturity. As for the consequences in their later year, there weren’t many. The faster usage of Yuan Qi did have some benefits since the purer Qi allowed a healthier foundation. But it also had some drawbacks, making it easier at a later age to get affected by illnesses and such. Both pros and cons generally compensate for each other.

Nate’s intervention ensured that Diane eventually wouldn’t deplete her reserve of Yuan Qi outside of her pregnancies. While his dual cultivation would ensure her body was just as nourished in Qi as before, if not better.

Nate’s success in bettering his mother’s health made it much easier to ensure he could help his siblings. He had to wait until his sister was four years old before her meridians were stable enough that foreign Qi wouldn’t cause issues. By then, the eldest child had had plenty of time to train and refine his technique. Preventing his younger sister’s meridians from merging with her physical body wasn’t too hard. However, reducing the visible side effects that an improved health and flow of Qi could have on her appearance was much harder.

Both technically and morally. Convincing himself that making his sister slightly uglier was for the best, as he otherwise feared she would turn into a fairy, was an almost painful decision to take. Doing it, then, turned out to be a challenge. After all, he didn’t want to change her appearance, only to reduce how impactful her beauty would be. Knowing he still had some time since, for a few years, they would mainly be seen as cute was a relief. And a good opportunity to first train this kind of body manipulation on himself.

It had taken him more than a year before he was satisfied, but the results spoke for themselves. Nowadays, Nate could shift his traits to any other boy of the same mass. Similarly, he could reshape his siblings’ and mother’s physique. The restrictions were similar, as if he could mould a figurine made of clay but couldn’t add or remove matter while keeping the same general shape.

It was easy to move layers of fats from one part to another. It was much harder to do the same with muscles. As for bones or organs, it was better not to mention it.

While reshaping was tricky, manipulating was another matter. Nate had resisted the temptation for a while, but ultimately, he did succumb. At least he tried while his test subject was sleeping, thus forcing his sister to sleepwalk occasionally. Only when Nate saw he could do it easily enough did he stop, finding the practice a bit freaky to watch. That he was the one puppeteering his sister’s body didn't make it any better. If, because of those events, Stelia had an easier time learning to walk and run, albeit she sometimes started dancing to tunes she didn’t know, Nate swore it had nothing to do with him.

“Naa~ate? I wanna hear the moon story!”

“Do you not want to hear another? You already asked for this one yesterday.”

“Nuh-uh, moon is the coolest!”

“Alright,”

“Yeaa!”

“Can you see the moon above you? This crescent of light in the sky? It’s the home of a very special being.

A very long time ago, it was living on the same land as us, running happily in the lands and munching all the grass it wanted. Except it couldn’t stop itself from always wanting to eat something new. So much so that over the years, that being had gone among all the grasslands that existed and couldn’t find anything new.

Yet, it wasn’t enough. It knew it wasn’t good to eat everything, so instead of continuing to eat grass, it changed to leaves, moss and other greeneries.

Unfortunately, it never proved to be enough. Once again came a time when that greedy being had tasted every new thing it could find. Its only option was to finish eating what he had already tasted until now. It wasn’t the best, but it was hungry and didn’t want to end up famished. So it ate, and the plants disappeared in its path one by one.

Before it had almost devoured everything, a woman finally noticed what happened. She was passing by, hoping to find some interesting plants to add to her garden. Upon seeing the desolation left by the greedy being, she decided to take matters into her own hands and punish it.

Thus, she picked a barren rock and made it float in the sky. Then, she brought that being on the rock and ordered: ‘From now on, that is your garden. You will care for it, for it is your only source of food.’

Of course, she wasn’t cruel either, and for a time, the lady taught the greedy being how to grow plants and ensure they stayed healthy.

It was exhausting work, and over the years, as the being kept caring for its new garden, the rock kept growing, allowing more plants to be cultivated. So much so that nowadays, the being needs a full month to look after its garden. The light that we can see is because that being is watering its plants. Like when there is a rainbow, and we see light thanks to the falling water. Since it's very far away, we only see a white light. Very rarely, it is red when it's time for the harvest.

And ever since, the moon rabbit keeps its garden tidy under the watch of Lady Chang’e.”