These last five days have been going very smoothly. I would spend the days tending to the fields, keeping the house clean, preparing future meals, and preparing my body for the poison demon ritual. Baro spent most the days sleeping over, said my hammock was more cozy than the bed at the academy or the trees he'd like to nap on. He'd still disappear for a few hours every day to do his special secret training with his older brother. Turns out the reason he's leaps and bounds above the rest of our classmates is due to prince Charrock personally seeing to Baro's cultivation.

Noana would visit after class. Ash suspected the training regime he provided to be too arduous for her but she actually took to it rather well. Cardio in the morning, with stretches and calisthenics, followed by specialized strength training at night. At first she complained about the foods I prescribed, but after we judged her for being too much of a wimp to eat some liver she told us to take it back and ate it all. She nearly got vitamin A poisoning, that crazy girl. She said the workout routine was not much different than what she would do at home with her teachers, but back then it was forced on her so it was really annoying.

Turns out it makes a huge difference when you choose what you want to do. Still, those belligerent Belleveres trained her up well. It's no wonder that she has qi at such a young age too. Outside the training and food routine, me and Baro took turns giving her qi lessons, and she took to them very quickly. Absurdly so. Her trash deflection pulse and garbage collector's glide were almost on my level. On top of that, it hasn't even been a full week and the trashman meal plan is showing tremendous results for her. Her gait alone says it all. Before she would shyly walk with her head sunk low, wholly covered by that silly mushroom cap, but now it's held high. There is strength in her blue eyes, and a healthy fullness to her face that practically glows.

It actually hurt my pride a bit. I have a whole alternate life worth of knowledge to rely on, and have been acting on it since I was first able to, and yet she's closing the gap in such little time. At this rate she'll surpass me.

I smile as we all sit by the table and drink the bone apple tea. Even Baro started partaking once he realized it's the reason why my bones were so sturdy. It started four days ago when he asked how I was able to use junk-fu techniques without meeting the prerequisites. He explained that if he tried to use advanced techniques that his bones would literally shatter into dust from the strain, that that's how it is for everyone who tries to go well beyond their limits. Without my saying a word he concluded that I must have secretly been cultivating my bones, and that he wants to partake too. I told his dumb bald face that only Khal sect members are allowed to reap the rewards of the trashman meal plan, and to focus more on shining his head. He left that day and returned with a bag of spirit stones, easily a million gillards worth.

Turns out when he told the prince that I successfully used a qi master technique at a qi expert level, the prince instructed him to learn to do the same. He gave Baro all those spirit stones to buy my service, along with a note.

Be grateful I'm paying you instead of extorting you, slave. Now, teach him your ways or feel my rage.

That note zapped me, made me cough blood. It was healed simply enough but that prince Charrock is one annoying bastard. I only wanted to give baldy a hard time, of course I'd let him have some bone apple tea, but now I don't even want to do it. Still, I got one hell of a payout for it. I intended on selling those stones, but Baro smacked the heck out of me when I tried. Baldy has really grown in power this last week, leaps and bounds above me. He said the main reason why was the spirit stones, that qi absorbed from them becomes one with the body. To sell them for money is the height of foolishness. I acquiesced and decided to use them, gave a few to Noana as well.

I've yet to use them but seeing Noana's rapid rise in power... it's become rather tempting. Still I resolved myself to wait. I've never used spirit stones, even in the old world. A sudden surge in qi may disrupt the fragile equilibrium in my body, and interfere with the poison demon ritual. After tonight, when I confront the demon and stabilize, I'll give them a chance.

We drank the tea in silence. The rough-hewn logs held together by string made for a pretty uneven table to drink on, the only thing that keeps it from looking sad is the cloth I threw over it for the sake of aesthetic appeal. It never mattered much to me or Janne but now that I routinely have guests over it's not a bad thing to upgrade the style of my home. Afterall, the youngest prince of the kingdom of Sec and a noble are here.

Noana was taken aback at first. The ground floor is just a small hearth for cooking and warmth, with shelves lined with foraged goods, tools, and hunting equipment. I took the drying rack outside out of consideration for them. She kept staring at the meat and herbs hung from it, and would look back at me as though I were some savage. To be fair, this cabin doesn't even have a real kitchen. I get my water from the river, and use a separate table for preparing ingredients.

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They both know what I plan to do tonight. It was my intent to go at it alone, but they kept probing for details. After realizing just how horrid the poison demon ritual truly is, they vowed to stay by my side in case things go awry. I insisted them not to, that it would endanger their lives. If I fail, I die. Nothing will change that fact, but their choosing to stay needlessly puts them in danger too. Baro would not hear a word of it, said if I wanted him away that I'd have to force him. I can't force him though, he's officially stronger than me. Noana is troublesome too, I could still beat her in a fight but not with Baro there.

The atmosphere is depressing. How could it be anything else though, might as well end the formalities and get it over with. As we finish our tea, I get up to gather my ingredients. Noana looks down solemnly

"Ash..." she says.

Baro puts a hand on her shoulder and shakes his head. He knows there's no stopping me from doing this. He threatened to put his cultivation on pause until I completed my ritual just to make sure I won't start without him. That shady baldy really knows how to get what he wants. The tournament starts in 2 days, if I delay the ritual because of his insistence then there's no way I can beat him.

Last time I performed the ritual I lost my mind, severely hurt three disciples. If sect master wasn't there to stop me then people would have died. Sect master didn't do anything to help me succeed in the ritual, only restrained me. It really doesn't matter if the disciple can maintain their mind during the ritual or not, since all well be well so long as the disciple survives. The only reason the other disciples were there was because it's common practice to show them exactly what they're in store for if they choose to move forward, as seeing the effects of the ritual is much more effective than merely being told about it. Two of them dropped out after that incident. It took me a day of rest to regain my mental strength after I survived. Once the ritual succeeds, the body is elevated to a new state of being and is able to recover significantly faster than before.

The accumulating poison becomes fully integrated into the homeostasis process, allowing the disciple to utilize the toxi-grip without fear. Without this poison integration, the strain of using the toxi-grip would completely shatter ones bones, unleashing the vast stores of poison throughout the body. The meridians would clog, and cultivation would drastically drop. I think it's for these reasons that these last few days I haven't been able to accumulate power as effectively as Noana and Baro. Thankfully my body was already at the precipice before I went ahead and disturbed my equilibrium. Despite my meridians being clogged up, I still have a strong enough foundation to perform the ritual.

Once it succeeds, and the poisons are integrated, my meridians will open up again and my cultivation will increase by leaps and bounds. This is another reason why I've been waiting to use the spirit stones. Their use could disturb the equilibrium of my body, and on top of that I'm not in the best condition to effectively absorb it's qi. Afterall, the meridians are what move qi throughout the body, and mine are heavily damaged by forcefully using the toxi-grip.

I haven't told Baro just how much that event impacted my cultivation, that I risked everything to save him. I don't want to tell him, it would shatter his pride to know the reason he's getting so much stronger while I'm stagnant is because I saved him. Still, I feel he has his suspicions. I can tell from the way he looks at me when he comes back from training. How he gets stronger every day while I still haven't improved from our last battle. He can tell when we spar, how my qi doesn't move with the same expertise it did when we fought. Though I'm still at a qi-expert level, if I don't succeed in this ritual I'll forever be at that level.

On top of that... I really want to show those bastards just how great the Khal sect could have been if they didn't kill me. I want to become strong, stronger than sect master, and the traitors too blind to see past their own egos. I'm really no better... I want it all to myself. I could find a different way, to not risk doing the ritual. Afterall, with my meridians so clogged up my chances of success have been seriously impacted. Still, what's a dream if you can't put your life behind it? If I'm not even willing to do that much, then I have no right in reviving the Khal Sect.

A qi-expert cannot revive the Khal Sect. Even if I succeed as an incredible teacher, I can't just teach someone everything and leave it to them. Firstly, I'm too young. I can't just wait twenty or so years to become a teacher and then start my project. If I succeed this ritual, I can start as early as after the tournament. By then the sect will already be revived, I'd have a series of disciples, and we'd have cleaned all the trash in the city. The difference is night and day, on top of that there is no guarantee I can survive twenty years as just a qi-expert. I've offended too many powerful people, who'd no doubt long surpass me by then. If I just leave a book of everything I know, that book could fall into the wrong hands eventually. There is little ways to guarantee the return of the sect under those circumstances. If I keep cultivating, the chances are significantly higher. It's worth putting my life on the line to succeed in the poison demon ritual.

Or so I keep telling myself that. I know I'm just being selfish.