Fey was in the middle of cultivating. She was hoping to finish the current meridians today to pass through to the next level. She always worked on pairs. Yin Qi to the yin and Yang Qi to the yang meridian. This was the method she had been using since her teacher Frank had decided to train her. She didn’t have a cultivation technique so it was slow going. Each level harder than the previous one.
Today she was having a tough time focusing. The events of the past couple of months with Frank going through her mind. At first when she woke up in the cave she had grieved. She had even at one point gotten suspicious of Frank being with the Bandits. He had disappeared right before. She discounted that quickly. She knew better than that. He was no bandit. What bandit would teach cultivation to their captive? No he had saved her from a fate worse than death. Then he had given her hope for the future. Her brother wouldn’t be with her, but she could remember him and become a strong cultivator.
Then there was the odd couple of months here in Chunwa. Fey would wake up and make breakfast for Frank. She didn’t like to eat before cultivation, but she never even saw Frank cultivate. Instead he would get up and eat then leave for an hour and then come back. As soon as he walked in the door she would get up to head to the table. He would then start to recite. Each time it was a different cultivation technique. She was in awe of this. How was he getting them? How did he memorize them so quickly? Once he was done reciting them she would go back to cultivation as he was drawing the diagrams.
Once I tried to follow him. My curiosity getting the better of me. I mean… after all, he was bringing home knowledge that would cost many tens of thousands of gold if you could find someone to teach you the techniques. We got a block away and then he was gone. Unexpectedly, he was behind me when I turned around. I still shiver when I remember that conversation.
“Is cultivation not enough?” He asked, looking at me with those steel grey eyes that were normally so kind. “I don’t mind if you want to come with me, but to follow me without permission is a breech of our trust wouldn’t you say?”
I was shocked. I had no idea how he had known I was following him. “I’m sorry.” I said as I bowed to the waist, cupping one hand in the other. “Cultivation is more than this one deserves. Please for give my foolish actions.”
“I will this one time. Go home” He said and then walked away.
It was the only time he ever spoke coldly to me. I didn’t want to ever see him looking at me that way again. I ran home and from then on if I wanted to go out with him I simply asked. He always obliged. Most of what we did on those days was read in a library or go to various cultivators asking about techniques. Those were the only days he didn’t have 5-10 techniques to record. I knew I was slowing him down, but I was also happy with the time we spent together.
In the evening we would train in martial arts. That was another area I was always amazed at Frank’s knowledge and ability. I have always tried to mimic others when they fought. Only talented cultivator women were ever taught martial arts and even that was rare. They were usually pushed to become Alchemists or Qi Healers. Stagnating their own cultivation and leaving them at the mercy of others. Frank was not only happy to let me watch his practice, but always seemed to know where my abilities were lacking.
First, he had me train my balance, then strength, then my low kicking, then grappling. Sometimes he would stop and look at some part of me and say something like “No. If we continue you will be injured. Go massage and stretch your calf now.” I always did what he said except for one time when I was about to win a spar before he said we needed to stop or my arm would be hurt. I didn’t want to believe him so I forced him to continue. Sure enough, less than 10 seconds later my arm spasmed and my neck hurt. It was as if he had already seen the future. Frank, much to my shame, had to go get a Qi healer to fix me. From them on I always listened to him. I owed him more than I could imagine anyway. As long as he would have me I was his student.
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Things had been going great. I was able to coble together nearly 400 cultivation techniques. I was starting to think of myself as a pretty good thief and conman too. A thief and Conman that was able to reverse time the seven times he failed that is… Maybe not so good. Of course I was also a thief that hadn’t ever stolen anything… in this timeline. Haha! Things were going well with Fey too. Our life here was simple and she helped me from going crazy by myself. There was just one problem though. It was time to go back.
I had recorded the cultivation techniques while here because some were not in the form of a cultivation book that would just put it in my mind. Those I had memorized the old fashioned way before going home to recreate them. Others I record because I was worried with the number of techniques floating around in my head I would start to forget parts. That didn’t seem to be an issue though. I had great retention of everything. I wasn’t sure if this was because of being a body cultivator or what, but it seemed to stay filed upstairs in my brain and I could pull out whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted.
There were no more techniques I could find in this town. I had looked. Believe you me. That meant it was time to go back to Yandel and record everything once before going on to the next town. This time with Yandel. Chunwa was the biggest town near enough for a quick trip like this. I couldn’t leaver her behind on the next one. The next place was another city like Chunwa just over a 1000 miles from where Yandel was. When traveling with a Caravan they only went 10-15 miles a day and not in a straight line. The fastest way was a flying carriage. This was mounted to the back of a huge mutant beast called a cultivating hawk. They were tamed, but to use them for travel was very expensive. Almost 400 gold per person for a long trip. Only Cultivators or rich merchants used them. With that in mind we would be traveling by caravan…I’m not cheap… I’m thrifty. That meant 3-4 months to the next town by caravan.
I really wasn’t looking forward to this next part. I had to go back with Time Return. Record everything and be ready to go by the time Fey’s caravan was ready to go. Then I would have to figure out how to explain things to Yandel about the Bandits… and get Fey out again. It was going to be a nightmare. I had just a couple things to do first and then I would make the trip. First on the to do list wa…
“Two warrior women? This is all?” I heard a voice I had been dreading to hear and then there was a flash of white.
When my eyes could see again I was back in front of Morgianna. Having already thought about this meeting I knew how I wanted to act. I quickly knelt and said “Greetings Morgianna. I am happy to be in your presence again.” That’s right call me what you want… teacher’s pet, whatever… I needed to be on this persons good side.
“Don’t try to sweet talk me. Explain why you only have helped two warrior women in 5 months. Careful how you answer or this experiment is over and you can move on to your next life.”
I started to sweat a little at this. I knew how to deal with a demanding boss though. Show. Your. Work… “Before I can raise up others I have to learn myself Great Morgianna. I have studied cultivation and practiced teaching it to the women you mentioned. I have also spent every day searching for cultivation techniques that I can teach to the warriors I plan to find in the future. Every day has been spent in service to you.”
“Hmm… yes I see you have amassed nearly half of the techniques found on this hunk of rock. Very well. I will allow you to continue, but I demand better results next time. Not two. I expect tens if not hundreds of warrior women lifted up by your hand by my next visit.”
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“I understand Great Morgianna. Can I know when that might be?”
“No. I am busy and will come when I will. Be ready.”
“I understand.” ‘Well that changes things’ I thought. ‘Cultivation Hawk here I come.’ There was one thing I really needed though. “My I ask for my boon then?”
“Oh yes. I did promise a boon for your work. This hardly is worth of much of boon though. Careful in what you ask for. I will not give you as great a boon as Time Return for two warriors.”
‘That’s fine… I know how to ask for this.’ I thought. “I would ask for a boon not to increase my power, but to help me be a better teacher. I need the ability to know which cultivation technique will work for which warrior woman.”
“Ahh. Yes that would be advantageous to your work. It also doesn’t favor you. This is acceptable. I will also give you a ring to store your library in. Bond it to you with blood and none can take it from you. You merely need to send some Qi into the ring to use it”
“Thank you Great Morgannia. This will aid me a great deal.”
“Yes. I also notice you haven’t progressed much. Can’t have you falling behind the women, now can we?” She said with a smirk. “I will give you your technique as well. Be grateful. It isn’t one you would find on this backwards world.”
I couldn't believe my luck at getting what I needed tailor made for me… or I guess selected. “Thank you Great Morgannia!”
“Yes you are a rare type. Any other technique would have crippled you. With this technique It should make your soul shine like a star in the darkness of space.” She then gave me the first kind look I had seen on her face. “I would also have a word with you about what happened with the Bandits. You seem to think you’re can use Time Return to save people. That is not why I gave it to you. You are starting on a long path and if you are worthy you will grow to have great power. If you don’t understand what to do with that power, only calamity will befall you… and those you care about. We who lead are supposed to make people stronger so they can bare the load of life and decide what to do with their freedom. Not try to protect them from the harm of the universe. We could only do that by taking freedom from everyone. That would be wrong and stunt their growth. Would you swaddle a child until they are the age of 10 and can’t even walk? No. You let them stand and fall and stand up again. Even in death there is learning for the soul. Use your power to build others up, not to hinder their progression.”
I bowed my head. That was a lot to take in. I nodded to let her know I had heard her. I wasn’t sure I really understood.
“I am also re-setting your limitation on Time Return to today. You may want to hurry back to Yandel. See you soon… Frank.”
With that I was back in the street… Dumbfounded. I got what I needed, but my plans to Time Return was shot. It took a minute for my brain to catch up to everything that meant. Yandel has been alone for 3 months and I could do nothing about it. I really hope she is ok. I headed right back to the apartment I shared with Fey. We needed to get going!
Once back in the apartment I checked out the ring I was given. I put a drop of blood on it. It glowed. I felt it bind to me and knew it was safe now. I found out by putting a little Qi into it I could see a room full of shelves. Some were the size of books, but there were others of all shapes and size. I quickly loaded up the cultivation techniques into the shelves by simply grabbing them and thinking about placing them on the shelves. This was awesome! If it wasn’t for my worry about Morgianna’s last word about hurrying back to Yandel I would have played with it more.
The flight back to the town Yandel was in was only 200 Gold for the 2 of us. The ride to the next town, Rastian, would cost us 1200. When we got there even with some of my investments having paid off over the past couple months while in Chunwa we were going to be down to 500 gold. That sounds like a lot until you realize I would be bringing in a large number of people to train. I wasn’t sure how I was going to make it work.
When we got to my home everything looked ok. The problem was Yandel wasn’t there. The one cultivation technique in the hidden room wasn’t there either. That didn’t bother me. I could just re-write it. Yandel on the other hand wasn’t replaceable. I walked back outside. I asked an older neighbor. I knew she was always sitting out on her porch. She said some men had come earlier that day and taken Yandel away. I looked up at the sky. “So this is why you said to hurry back.” I said to the air. Looking back at the woman I asked if she knew who they were.
“I don’t really want any trouble. Besides what did you all ever do for me?” She said.
“I understand. Would this make it worth your while?” I said and handed her a bag with 100 gold coins in it.
Her eyes shown with greed and she said “It is enough, these men wore the colors of the Red Cliff clan.” I thanked her and then promptly Time Returned to when I came back out of the hidden room. “Greedy lady” I said with a huff. Fey was waiting and sensed my mood when she saw me come out and her gaze sharpened. “She isn’t here.” I said. “If she isn’t here that means she has been taken and I know by who. Pack everything up while I’m gone and go to book our passage on the Cultivation Hawk. Here’s the money.” I handed her all our funds. “I’ll be there in two hours. Be ready to go.”
When I mentioned Yandel being taken, she looked ready to fight, but by the time I was finished talking all she said was “It will be done.” then turned and went deeper into the house. ‘All right’ I thought to myself ‘this should be interesting.’
It took me two hours to find the Red Cliff clan house the first time. One Time Return later and I got myself there in 15 minutes. Then I spent the next several hours using Time Return over and over again to gain entry and then search for Yandel. During my search I came upon a guard in front of a door with a big lock on it. This looked promising. I walked up to the guard like I was meant to be there. He called out “Halt, who are you?” holding his arm out as if to say stop with it, but by that point I was already close enough to him to grab his hand. I yanked it towards me to get him off balance then kicked him in the face. I didn’t stop there though. I needed to end this before he could yell for help. While he was dazed from the kick I pulled him down and hammer fisted the back of his head. That put him out like a light.
I got the door open with the key on the guard’s belt and saw Yandel inside. I dragged the guard inside the room and then took stock of Yandel. She was a mess. She was sitting in a room with no windows. Not sure if it was meant to be a cell, but what room this size has no windows? She had been worked over and looked like she had gone 10 rounds with a UFC fighter. Thinking about what to do next I checked my watch. All told, all of this in real time it was only another 15 minutes since entering the building on top of the 15 minutes to get here. I was ahead of schedule.
I quickly fed her a pill I had from the Alchemist that was too speed up healing in a cultivator. That seemed to bring her back out of the stupor she was in. Her eyes cleared and I could visibly see cuts starting to close up and disappear without a scar. I was glad of that. I needed to get another of these pills. Too bad they were so expensive! Yandel looked up, finally registering it was me, and said “Master! How… I’m so sorry. A thief came in the night and took your book. Today the Red Cliff clan came and brought me here. They wanted to know what else we had and where we had gotten a cultivation technique. I told them nothing, but they will be back soon with a professional torturer.”
‘Red Cliff clan must be a front from some kind of mafia organization.’ I thought. To Yandel I just said “Don’t worry. We are getting out of here. Can you walk?”
She tried to stand up, but faltered. “Not yet. I feel the pill you gave me working, but I think it will take some time to heal my feet.”
“Not a problem.” I said and picked her up.
This was going be a little difficult. I tried heading back the way I came in, but no dice. A group was in one of the rooms I had passed through. I Time Returned to the room and tried a different way. That didn’t work either. I tried every pathway. I couldn’t find a single way out that didn’t involve running into someone. I couldn’t wait for a path to clear because when I tried that the alarm was raised. I couldn’t fight with her on my back and trying to head upstairs and climbing down the outside of the building was out. I needed some rope to lower her down… ‘Here we go again’ I thought and Time Returned all the way back to the house. This time before I left I grabbed some rope. I ran back to the Red Cliff clan building and back inside to Yandel. This time I carried her upstairs and then lowered her down from a window into an alley and climbed down. Then we were off to meet Fey.
Fey was waiting for me even though it had only been an hour. I could have kissed her if I hadn’t just had a talk with a certain someone I knew would love nothing more than to punish me. Instead, I lavished her with praise and we all got on the Hawk. She took Yandel from me and after getting her strapped in started to clean her up. I couldn’t hear what they were saying after we took off because I was SCREAMING… well inside anyway. In reality it was too loud with the wind to hear them… but the ride was a wild! It was like being strapped to a bull at first with the Hawk taking off. Once it was up at altitude it was smooth sailing. I looked around and drank in the view. After a while I the sat back to relax for a long and (please, pretty please) peaceful ride.