Huabe focused on her Sanjian along her spine. She breathed deeply and focused on drawing Qi towards herself. The Dominion's rings spun, but instead of the Qi appearing inside her Sanjian, it was instead drawn into her lantern.
She finished the meditation with one last deep breath and then opened her eyes. Looking down at the lantern, she could see glowing characters carved into the metal of the lantern slowly losing their light as the meditation finished.
White light glowed from within the foggy glass, illuminating the darkened surroundings. Because of all the snow, the windows were blocked from letting in light, with the only illumination created by intermittent candles.
Huabe looked at the characters written into the copper-coloured metal of the lantern. Apparently, the characters were a different language than the common tongue she now understood. It was a language called Celestial. It was a very odd language. Looking at the words engraved, she somehow knew what some of them meant and how to speak them. And yet every time she tries to speak the words they get stuck halfway in her throat, and it ends in a coughing fit. Meanwhile, for some of the other engraved words, she had no clue what they meant.
She had been given the lantern by Minister Vin. He called it a ‘Dan Lantern,’ and of course, the first question that came to mind was, ‘Who’s Dan?’ Apparently, the lantern was named after the organ that spiritual cultivators use, the Dantian.
Despite the stupid name, the lantern was very useful. It was like she had a second Sanjian. Plus, the Qi that she collected, which was called Qi light, could be used as currency.
Well, currency appropriate for her stage of cultivation. As she cultivated, there would apparently be other forms that Qi took that would work as a currency, Qi light just being the lowest denomination.
“Sooo, when do we start cultivating?”
Huabe looked over to Tiaosu, who was currently trying his hardest to maintain a meditative posture. “Well, from what I have learned, not for a couple of years. Not until we join with a sect.”
“What?! Nooooo! That’s so long!” Tiaosu shot to his feet and began to pace back and forth within the room.
“Well, we need a cultivation method to cultivate, and sects are apparently hard asses when it comes to handing those things out.” It really did stink. But at least she could continue to collect Qi, thanks to the lantern. “Besides, your Sanjian isn't even full yet. What's the rush?”
“What's the rush? What's the rush?! Come on Bay! I need to be ahead- I mean. We need to be ahead of the game!” Tiaosu laid his hand on his chin, bit his lip, and closed his eyes, mimicking the pose Wenku often took when thinking of something. “Ooh! I’ve got it. What if we make our own method? I mean, the first cultivators had to start somewhere, right?”
Huabe shook her head. “That would be a complete waste of Qi. I’ve heard. I haven't tried it, but I don’t know why Minister Vin would lie. Anyways, creating a new method takes a long time. Also, a lot of Qi would be wasted in the experimentation. It is much more efficient to find a method that is close enough to our Dominion and then tweak it a little to fit us better.”
Tiaosu took on his thinking posture again and then sighed. “I guess your right.” he flopped down onto the floor.
They were both silent for a moment before Tiaosu spoke again. “Do you think Duan and Tye are going to get the same Dominions as us?”
Huabe snorted. “Obviously. I mean it doesn't take much to put two and two together. The fact that the Dominion is black and white.” Huabe pointed at her own black and white visage, “Is a pretty obvious sign. But I would say the most damning factor is that you got the same Dominion as me. According to Minister Vin's face when he heard, I am guessing that is near impossible. Which must mean that that Dominion is somehow connected to us.”
“Ok, ok.” Tiaosu nodded his head.
Huabe nodded alongside him. “It’s just the one thing I don't get. What is with the timing? I mean, why did I get it super early, but you just got it three weeks ago?”
Tiaosu’s eyes gained a knowing look. “I think I know!”
She looked at her brother. “You do? What?”
“Well, after you told me why you killed that thief, I remember feeling a sense of clarity. Like, you know, agreement? I don’t know, it was just very clear that the robber deserved to die.” Tiaosu stated.
“Well, obviously. You thought he should have lived?” She questioned Tiaosu.
“Well, not anymore. Ha! Man. Looking back, I can't believe how much time I wasted thinking about that thief.” He said with a dismissive look on his face.
“I have an idea.”
.—...—.
Duanso was playing outside today. He would not say that he loved the cold, but the snowball fights were undoubtedly very fun. Case in point, he had just smoked Huabe right in her face with a large snowball.
“Hahaha!”
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His laugh was interrupted when a ball of snow the size of a kickball was dumped onto his head. Yantye stood above him, laughing, until he too was slapped across the face by a snowball from the side thrown by Tiaosu.
The four siblings continued the snowball fight, which eventually turned into a wrestling match, forming a pile of arms and legs wiggling on the snowy ground.
They eventually separated, each of them breathing heavily. Their breath formed clouds of white vapour in the cold air, which rose until it met the roof of ice overhead. The only light in the area came from candles inside the chimney-like street posts. The candles had been switched for the winter. These candles burned with a bluish-white light dissimilar to the orange he was used to seeing. They also did not give off any heat, only light. But they did give off a thick blue smoke that thankfully rose through the chimney. His father had called them marsh-wick candles. Apparently, they were created by harvesting the wax of marsh bees, which lived underwater. Bees, underwater. It was a very peculiar thing, water-breathing bees.
As he sat there, he observed another group of children enter the circular area. It was not uncommon for other children to be here. After all, there were only so many cleared spaces under the snow overhead.
Duanso got up and began to leave, but he was stopped by Huabe tugging on his arm. “Don’t you want to try playing with some other kids with me?” She pointed toward the slightly older kids.
“Hmmm.” The four of them usually only played amongst themselves, but he guessed it couldn't hurt. In the corner of his eye, he could see Tiaosu dragging Yantye forwards toward the other group.
He turned towards Huabe, “Sure.” and then walked towards the other group to introduce himself.
Soon enough, another game was afoot. It was him and his siblings vs the other four kids. They each hid behind short mounds of snow and pelted each other with snowballs.
Suddenly he saw Huabe pop up behind the other team. But oddly enough, she didn't throw any snowballs. Instead, he heard her say something, but it was unintelligible from this far away. Then one of the other kids punched her in the face.
“What!?” He rushed forwards and punched the other boy in his face. Then he felt an impact as another kid kicked him in the stomach. Duanso fell to the ground holding his belly as he looked up at the angry red face of the older girl. That look was quickly replaced with surprise as she was lifted off the ground by the collar of her robe and thrown into a snow pile. Behind her stood Yantye with a similar angry look, but this time directed at the other group.
The snowball fight devolved into a much more violent fight than he was used to with his siblings, with blood being shed. Soon enough, there were flecks of red and black marring the white of the snow.
The fighting was interrupted by a gruff voice, “Hey! Stop that, Stop!” A guardsman began to separate the pile of fighting kids into two groups. The last to be separated was Huabe, who had the biggest kid in a chokehold with her thighs and was beating him across the face. She gave one last hit with the flat off her palm, and an audible crack was heard.
“Ahh! My nose! That bitch broke my nose!”
Huabe was finally pulled off by the guard, and the two groups stood to either side, breathing heavily.
Duanso inspected himself and noted the scratches and bruises on his face and hands.
“What the hell is going on here?!” The guard questioned.
“They started it!” Duanso pointed at the other group. “They hit my sister!”
“Only because she called me a name!”
“That’s enough!” The guard rubbed his forehead. “Is the sister you?” He pointed at Huabe.
“Yup,” Huabe responded.
“Did you call him a bad name?”
“Yup.”
The guard let out a long sigh. “You four go home.” He pointed at the other group.
“But-”
“I said go home!”
The other group walked out while shooting nasty looks over their shoulders.
“Now then.” The guard stared down at the four of them with a disapproving look. “Lead me back to your house. I will need to talk with your parents.”
…
Duanso, Tiaosu, Yantye, and Huabe, were all seated in chairs facing a blank wall. It was one part of their punishment, the other being a to-do list of chores.
“Are you conflicted?” Huabe suddenly spoke.
“No. Maybe. It’s just, why did you have to start a fight?” He didn't expect Huabe to do something like that.
“Just a test. But they deserved it. Someone punches you, you punch them back. It's as clear as that.” She responded.
“Well. Huh. I guess it is pretty cut and dry, isn't it?” Duanso guessed that the reason for the fight was pretty simple. The other side started it, so why not?
.—...—.
Yantye listened to Huabe’s words and agreed. If someone was prepared to punch his little sister, they better be prepared to be punched back.
“What is that?” Yantye suddenly noticed something crawling up the leg of his chair. Its black and white tendrils pulled up a body made of four rings riddled with eye’s the same as his own.
“What the fuck!” Duanso similarly jumped up onto his chair and looked down in surprise at the odd creatures.
“Huh. So it worked.”
Yantye looked up at Huabe, who was looking at the creatures with a smile on her face. Slowly the pieces fit together in his head, but before he could say anything, Duanso beat him to it.
“That’s why you started the fight?”
“Yeah. My suggestion is to try and relax. Because what's about to happen does not feel nice.” Huabe rubbed her throat.
“I fully agree! It is very unpleasant.” Tiaosu nodded.
Yantye scrunched his brow, “Why wouldn't you just tell us that before?”
“Well. I didn't want to chance it. You see, there is this thing called luck. I’ll tell you more about it later, but for now, all you need to know is that you guys may have been very unlucky if I had told you about my plan beforehand. Maybe. I am still not completely sure how luck operates. Chances are, you both might have been fine if I told you, but it is a chance I am not willing to take.” Huabe picked up the black and white creature. “Now open up, and become a Domain cultivator.”
Yantye looked at the creature in apprehension. But he eventually opened his mouth and allowed Huabe to slide the creature down his throat. He shivered as he felt its tendrils brush against the side of his throat as the thing pushed itself deeper.
He began gagging, but the little monster stayed where it was, forcing itself deeper. Then the feeling disappeared as he felt aware of a new area inside his body being created. A sudden feeling of clarity washed over him, allowing him to see clearly for the first time in his life. Then the feeling disappeared, but traces of it remained.
Next to him, Duanso similarly swallowed the Dominion.
“Sweet! Now we are all cultivators! Now, what you want to do is,” Tiaosu began explaining how to gather Qi.