Meng Yi gapes. “Did… did you just…?”

“She just advanced!” someone says in awe.

Okay, again, I ask; what the actual fuck!?

—❈—

While everyone looks awed and amazed, or, in my case, confused, Xiuying looks terrible.

Her skin is pale as a sheet, her forehead sweaty, and her muscles spasm as she struggles to suck in air in short, breathless gasps.

“Is she okay?” I ask Meng Yi, more than a little worried.

That random guy just said she advanced, but, I don’t know… I thought that was supposed to make you stronger?

Before Meng Yi can answer, someone shouts from the entrance; “Commander!”

A man in armour (lighter and clearly of lower quality than Xiuying’s) who looks about my age rushes to Xiuying’s side.

“Commander, are you…” he begins to ask worriedly before the question peters out as he really observes the woman.

He looks at Meng Yi and I (but mostly me), suspicion writ large on his features.

“How is this possible?” he asks, then; “What did you give her?”

I shrug. “I didn’t give her anything,” I say. “Just… helped her get a taste of enlightenment. It made her advance. I think.”

Xiuying is making strides at getting her body back under control, but she still doesn’t look in good shape.

Making a decision in the moment, I reach into a pocket sewn on the inside of my robes, summon one of the peasant rank qi pills from my reward space into my hand, and offer it to Xiuying.

I’m filthy rich, my family literally makes qi pills, and until a few days ago, I was a peasant rank cultivator myself; who on Earth is going to find it at all weird that I have peasant rank qi pills to just give away?

Well… who besides Meng Yi, who knows for a fact that I should have no qi pills at all, much less peasant rank ones?

Like the dependable person I’ve come to know her to be though, she shows no signs of there being anything weird about me having the pill.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

In fact, the person who acts weird (or, I guess, weirdest) about the pill is the person I’m offering it to; Xiuying looks at me like she can’t quite figure out why I would just hand her a pill, and if it’ll be safe to take it.

It’s obvious why this is happening; enlightenment or not, two years of Xian Qigang the former has left its mark. It’ll take time for people to acclimate to the idea of all my actions not being motivated by egomania and (often petty) cruelty.

In light of that, I say; “If it makes you feel better, you can pay me back for it.”

It’s a shot in the dark, but it works, because Xiuying reaches out a shaking hand to take the pill, and puts it in her mouth.

Her colour improves instantly, and her shaking slowly subsides as her breathing calms.

You know, this actually reminds me of what I went through the first time I tried to cultivate the Path of The Sun Emperor method.

Is that what’s happening here? Was Xiuying’s cultivation… overwhelmed somehow?

“Commander, are you—” Xiuying’s subordinate begins to ask, but Xiuying gently cuts him off.

“I’m fine, Jin,” she says, then she takes one last deep breath and rises. “Everyone,” she announces to the staring restaurant, “sorry for disturbing your meals. Let me make it up to you by covering your bills. Headwaiter Wuhan, please add any damages and what you feel is proper payment for the trouble.”

She bows, low enough that even I can tell that she’s showing them great respect (or face, as I think they say around these parts), then she looks at me with a complicated expression.

She bows to me, lower than she had to everyone else.

“Thank you for your hospitality… Young Master Xian, but I must excuse myself now; I need my rest. Enjoy your meal.”

With those words, she turns around, and, followed by the utterly confused Jin, marches out of the restaurant.

Everyone’s eyes are on Xiuying as she leaves, and when she does, their gazes turn to me; weighing, assessing… wanting.

Meng Yi tsks. “What an ungrateful woman,” she says. “She should be kowtowing before you and swearing to serve you for a hundred years.”

“Is it really that big a deal?” I ask, still noticing the eyes that many of the restaurant’s patrons look at me with.

Meng Yi gives me a serious look. “You just saved her ten years or more on her cultivation, Young Master Xian. It is a very big deal.”

I see. There are lots of questions I want to ask her about what just happened and what it could mean for me. But, not only is this not the place for those sorts of questions, I’m also starting to get very uncomfortable with all the staring.

“Can we leave?” I ask Meng Yi.

The observant woman looks around at the eyes on us, our observers not even making a polite attempt to be subtle, then she nods.

“Too bad, I was planning to leave the Vice Commander with a hefty bill, since she so kindly offered to pay,” she says regretfully.

She rises, and I follow her lead.

Headwaiter Wuhan, once again, materializes beside us.

“Thank you for the service,” Meng Yi says without preamble. “We’ll be on our way now.”

The Headwaiter bows. “Thank you for your patronage,” he says. “Please, come again.”

We walk out of the restaurant, eyes on our backs the whole way out.