Later that Evening, Yu Jiao ran back for dinner, making another stop off at the kitchens before she arrived. Some servants questioned why Yu Jiao would come here so much and a few even started gossiping that she would come down for extra food.
However Yu Jiao had the filial daughter role to play when it came to her mother. It had been 3 years since Yu Xue had given birth to her - of which Yu Jiao had effectively brought her death forward 100 years. When the servants found out that Yu Jiao was taking certain foods from the kitchens, as well as constantly asking for more medicinal plants and herbs; they were all truly touched.
Yu Jiao however saw a free specimen to use as a guinea pig.
The awakening ceremony had reminded her that due to her interference, her body was fundamentally different from the others and if she did nothing this would soon be uncovered.
Thus she needed data about regular bodies from this world. She started with the common foods, different beast meats and medicinal herbs, testing them herself and having jason record the results; then whilst her mother had fallen asleep (with her own mix of sleeping medicine) forced small portions down her throat and finally slipped an acupuncture needle into her brain to use as a conduit to intercept her mother’s electrical signals in her brain.
It was as harmless as she could make it - after all, if her mother died early then Yu Gan would be crushed and things would be more difficult. He might even start to (rightfully) blame Yu Jiao.
In return for her mother’s silent contribution, Yu Jiao had stimulated the production of a few select proteins that allows prolonged cell division - if Lady Lie were to check Yu Xue again, she would find her “longevity” to be strong enough to last a further 4-5 years. Of course this wasn’t giving further life to Yu Xue, at best it could be termed as moving around resources to be more efficient. As wondrous as the natural body is; it’s far from perfect.
In return Yu Jiao gained a vast amount of knowledge as to the body of a normal human practitioner and how it reacts to most foods and common medicinal plants. This data was gratefully stored away for future use.
As soon as she had run out of ingredients, Yu Jiao nonchalantly pulled out her acupuncture needle from her mother’s skull and withdrew from the room quietly bringing away the trays of food and boxes of herbs. Once she returned the leftovers to the kitchen and stowed her equipment away in her room.
She sat on the bed and continued conversing with Jason about their recent gains of knowledge. The medicines she had tried and tested could be called similar if not stronger versions compared to the pharmaceuticals found on earth. However their medicinal strength was slightly stronger than she had expected - considering their deduced composition. Again she assumed this difference to be due to the Qi environment. She shuddered to consider the strength of a strong poisonous herb here, or even a demonic beast’s venom. It seemed like Qi would just affect everything in this world. The sooner she could deduce the fundamental truths of qi; the better. Of course right now this would be akin to Socrates explaining dark matter.
Thankfully the intricacies of the human body were by in large similar to earth, they had the same major organs, similar bone and muscle structures etc. and Yu Jiao with the aid of Jason calculated that changes could be made internally within the week available to her until the ceremony.
Six days later.
A large banquet was in progress for the awakening ceremony. Servants walked around holding large trays of food and carrying large gourds of wine. The entire Yu Clan had always come together once every few years to celebrate this event. It signalled the beginning of a new part of the younger generation taking their first steps into cultivation.
This time four children would be undergoing their ceremony, of which they were allowed to sit upfront in the banquet alongside their Elder level parents. This was the day when they would truly be honoured as children of the Yu Clan.
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Their age ranged from the youngest Yu Jiao at three years old; with the oldest being six, and most notably the six year old, Yu Gang, had sensed Qi a year before.
Yu Gang even as a child was strongly built. Yu Jiao frequently saw him appear for morning practice, alongside the stern shouts of his grandfather the High Elder Yu Dong. Yu Gang himself wasn’t arrogant to the other children - he had tried that once and had received smooth and brutal discipline from his grandfather.
High Elder Yu Dong was a proud and loyal man. He turned down being appointed to the Patriarch of his generation and in return backed the current patriarch loyally. It was rumoured among the servants that both had been sent off by the ancestor to partake in an island siege ordered by officials of the Qin dynasty. They and 300 men had been dropped off on an island fully taken over by bandits and pirates. 20 men returned with their armor permanently red, as well as a sack each. Each one filled with heads of the bandits 3 days later.
Yu Dong kept the armor as a trophy.
The other 2 children Yu Heng and Yu Guo were twins.They were typical arrogant and ill disciplined brats. They would mistreat the servants and look down upon the common populace of Blue Cloud City. Yu Jiao was secretly appalled by the quality of parenting.
A Gong sounded out among the festivities before Great Elder Yu Míngzhì stood up from one of three chairs sat at the head table. He proceeded towards the stage where his voice resounded across the courtyard “Will the selected children alongside their selected elder please come up to the stage so we can begin the testing.”
Yu Gan held Yu Jiao’s hand as four pairs walked up to the stage and stood in front of the Grand Elder. Each Elder was given an orb of which the children had to place their hand on top of.
“We will proceed from oldest to youngest, if you are able to sense Qi already, then you must do your best to empty your mind and not manipulate it during this process. Does everyone understand?”
The four elders and four children nodded sternly. Even the children could sense the gravity of the current situation and stood perfectly still.
“Elder Yu Dong, please begin!”
Both Elder and grandchild stood with their eyes closed, Yu Dong’s one hand holding the bottom of the orb, with his other holding down his grandson’s hand on top of the orb. 20 seconds passed before the sphere started to glow a bright Earthy yellow before both Yu Dong and Yu Gang both opened their eyes and stared at the orb in their hands before giving off broad smiles.
The grand Elder declared “A grade 8 Earth Spirit root - genius level talent.” Everyone below started cheering. Once Elder Dong and Yu Gang descended the stage and back to their seats, many people came up to give their congratulations. For many it was worth investing kind words and gifts in order to get into the good backs of a future genius. Good relations with those in power or future powers was one of the few things a group could rely on in hard times.
Yu Jiao tapped her father and whispered to him “father, what are the talent grades? How are they measured?”
“Everyone who can cultivate martial arts will have an innate spirit root with characteristics of the 5 phases. Rarely someone will have a mutated root that has an added characteristic like ice in a Water spirit root.”
“And the grades?”
“Spirit roots are rated from 1 to 10 on their compatibility with the five elements. Your cousin Yu Gang has huge compatibility with the Earth element of the five phases - thus his root is classed as grade 8. However there hasn’t been anyone in Blue Cloud city that is known to have a grade 10 spirit root.”
As Yu Gan explained all this to Yu Jiao the twins Yu Guo and Yu Heng had finished their assessements. Yu Heng had a grade 6 water spirit root and his twin Yu Guo had a grade 6 Earth spirit root - much to the amusement of their parents.
“Yu Gan and Yu Jiao, please step forward”. Yu Míngzhì announced loudly.
Both father and daughter stepped forward and placed their hands on the now transparent orb and closed their eyes
“Unknown energy detected invading the body, I am unable to block this invasion.” Jason’s alert sounded out in Yu Jiao’s mind. She braced herself before relaxing and letting Yu Gan’s Qi flow through her meridians and up to her soul.
“ROOOOAARRRR.” The Fish-like creature residing in her mind roared out - causing her mind to reel in pain. She heard her father’s urgent voice in her ears “exert your will, think of the qi being pushed out from the depths of your soul!”
Yu Jiao ignoring the pain, did as she was told and soon the orb started to glow brightly. One could see two colours - A grey silver and streaks of red thunder.
Upon seeing the unusual colours, Yu Míngzhì’s eyes squinted in thought before announcing: “grade 8 metal spirit root, grade 7 Fire mutated spirit root of thunder!”
Cheers roared out below amongst the many members of the clan ceremony; some guests even stood up to come and greet the newly announced genius.
Yu Jiao’s mind was still reeling from the creature’s roar as it continued ringing out without pause. The shining orb in her hand began to shake and soon;
KACHA, the orb burst into fragments much to the shock of the onlookers.
A white light flashed out from Yu Jiao’s head before revealing what was in side.
That same horrifying creature had shrunk down to an arms length and a naive look in its eyes. Yu Jiao breathed a sigh of relief as the pain stopped, she looked beside her at the fish that had seemingly come out from her mind.
Yu Jiao’s facial expression turned to that of utter bewilderment, her mouth agape.
This small fish from her mind; it was floating in the air.
It’s fins began to move slowly. It started swimming.