“Well done, Kai Lan,” said Xia Fei as he banished his golden core.

“Can we try again, after lunch?” asked Kai Lan.

Xia Fei’s eyes were serious, “You mustn’t be too greedy, Kai Lan. I know this is new and exciting, but if you don’t take the time to allow the acquired energy to stabilise in your system, you will hurt your meridians. You’ve already pushed it by creating a solid meridian on your first try, just leave it be for now”.

“Then I should limit my Cultivation?” asked Kai Lan.

“I would recommend no more than two hours a day for now, Kai Lan, understood?” asked Xia Fei, “Unless you have a tool helping you”.

Kai Lan hesitated, but nodded nonetheless, “Yes, Xia Fei-Jie. Thank you for your help”.

“Instead, after lunch I’ll be leading you in stretching your body in order to build flexibility, balance and strength, understood?” asked Xia Fei.

Kai Lan grinned, “Really? Thanks Xia Fei-Jie!”

“You say that now,” Hei Hei chuckled as he approached from the greenhouses where he had been helping Wu Lan, “But Xia Fei has never been easy on her students”.

Kai Lan tilted his head. It sounded ominous, but for some reason, Kai Lan was still eager to see what this Heavenly Realm Cultivator had to offer.

“Is he being a good student?” asked Wu Lan.

“Quite intelligent,” said Xia Fei, “And eager to learn. Perhaps too eager, but at the very least he is open to correction”.

Wu Lan nodded smiling down at Kai Lan, “Come, we’ll go and get some lunch together and talk about what you learned”.

Xia Fei took him to the space beside the cultivation Garden after lunch. She then proceeded to show Kai Lan the movements that she would be teaching him initially, all of them stances that he would have to work through and learn to stabilise in order to grow in strength, flexibility and balance.

Xia Fei then helped him into the first stance. It was so uncomfortable that it hurt.

“It hurts,” Kai Lan complained.

“Good, I will count a minute and then we will rest,” said Xia Fei.

Xia Fei did so, Kai Lan not daring to complain again after hearing her tone.

“And rest,” said Xia Fei.

Kai Lan practically collapsed onto the ground, breathing hard.

“Circulate your breathing,” said Xia Fei, “Let it carry the pain away, relax the muscles”.

Xia Fei breathed with him for another minute before she instructed him to take the stance once more.

They carried on five times before Xia Fei moved him on to the second stance.

They moved through nine stances over an hour and a half before Kai Lan practically collapsed, exhausted, and Xia Fei carried him in to Ning Wei who rudely woke him up in an ice bath.

“Ah, Ma! It’s so cold!”

Kai Lan went to rise and get out but Ning Wei pushed him back down into the water, “Enough, you wanted to train, this is what happens. You’ll bathe in ice cold water for ten minutes when it’s painful in order to stop the bleeding of your muscles, then I’ll use my herbal rub to massage you and sooth the aches”.

Kai Lan pouted as he shivered, and let his mother wash him for ten minutes before she lifted him out, dried him, then took her herbal rub and began rubbing it into his skin.

Kai Lan slowly fell asleep to the smell of herbs as exhaustion settled upon his being.

He woke briefly for the evening meal, eating heartily despite his sore muscles.

“Will we train again tomorrow?” he asked Xia Fei.

“We will train for two hours on cultivation in the morning,” said Xia Fei, “Then the Nine Stances after Lunch. In between, I think your Ma wanted you to help with sorting herbs”.

Kai Lan turned to Ning Wei who nodded, “Yes, I do need your help. The newly dried batch will be done”.

Kai Lan sighed, “Yes Ma”.

“Don’t knock back those kinds of skills, Kai Lan,” Xia Fei advised, “You never know when they might be useful”.

“Xia Fei is right,” said Wu Lan, “While we don’t have all the herbs in the world here, there are many that have healing properties, or even properties that help to boost cultivation when prepared correctly and mixed appropriately with other herbs”.

“You mean Alchemy?” asked Kai Lan.

Wu Lan nodded, “Indeed”.

Kai Lan turned to his mother, “Can you teach me that, Ma?”

Ning Wei smiled, “Perhaps not Alchemy, but I can teach you what I know about potion making, that is a step below Alchemy. Besides, you don’t have a high enough cultivation to sustain a flame correctly”.

“A flame?” asked Kai Lan.

Ning Wei nodded, “One of the many reasons that alchemy is such a renowned and respected crafting form is because in order to craft pills, one must bathe the pill cauldron in flames created from one’s own cultivation energy”.

“Does one have to be of the fire affinity then?” asked Kai Lan.

“It helps, but no, Alchemy flames are different,” said Ning Wei, “One must be at least in the Profound Realm before attempting to create them though”.

Kai Lan nodded in understanding.