The following day, it wasn’t soon after I left the painting that I encountered a servant who dragged me down to the basement jails.

  Ignoring the fact that I didn’t even know the house had a jail, it seems that the cultivator had in fact noticed my presence and reported it to Xiu’s husband, who didn’t take kindly to my nighttime wandering and had ordered my temporary imprisonment.

  As I was dragged down the basement steps, my nose was automatically hit with the bitter iron scent of blood. Lots of it.

  My heart sank in realization of what I was about to see, but despite my disgust, I couldn’t bring myself to turn away.

  As I rounded the corner from the stairwell, my eyes widened as I took in the sight of literal piles of bodies.

  Blood guts and viscera were strewn about on the floor and walls, while the few remaining live prisoners within the cells sat with empty eyes and sunken frames.

  I bit my tongue to stop myself from speaking. I clenched my fists, driving my nails into the palms of my hands as I shook with rage.

  Burning hot anger filled my chest at the sight of this. This wasn’t just cruelty. This was completely inhuman… To think my creator Xiu had been married to the perpetrator of such madness…

  “Don’t make any trouble with the other prisoners Xiu. The master lost interest in you years ago. Now he finally has a good reason is to get rid of you entirely”

  The servant pulling me by my arm unlocks a cell and bodily throws me into it. Smming against the wall, and sending me reeling for a moment. Just long enough for me to be too dizzy to try and run for the door before he sms it shut and locks it once again.

  I slide down against the wall as I lose the strength in my legs to stand.

  My head spins with this new information. Hàorán had already been pnning to get rid of us?

  Why? It was clear from Xiu’s memories that she hated him, but he seemed to like her quite a bit. Why try to get rid of her now?

  Something even Xiu didn’t know about had to be at py here. Perhaps even if she hadn’t taken her own life she still wouldn’t have survived this god forsaken pce…

  I try to breathe slowly in order to calm myself, but every breath is choked with the thick scent of blood.

  The best I can do is sit and try to meditate in order to clear my weary mind.

  I sigh as I cross my legs and begin to breathe through my mouth to avoid the rancid smell.

  I almost cough as I even begin to taste the sour fvour of blood with every breath.

  But I keep my head clear and simply continue to breathe.

  Though difficult I eventually manage to retreat into the retive peace of my own mind. In that pitch bck void I can bck out all other thoughts and sensations. There is no blood. No bodies piled high and rotting. No sense of despair and no other prisoners.

  Just the quiet peace of a clear and controlled mind.

  A tickle of enlightenment goes through my mind for a moment before disappearing as suddenly as it came. I sigh, but don't try and grasp in the dark for it again. Instead I focus and search for any surrounding Qi.

  Much to my surprise there is some. And not merely some, but in fact a lot. Being underground has flooded the space with earth Qi but there's even more around than that.

  Sticking around the metal frame and bars of the cells are small clouds of silvery threads. And floating near the bodies and wounded prisoners are qi strands of a dark scarlet shade. The red Qi sent a shiver through my whole body as there was no doubting what that was.

  I couldn't afford to focus on that however. There was metal Qi here, and if I hoped to escape at all, I'd need to take advantage of that hidden blessing.

  My first step into cultivation had come.

  Discover and Gather

  Within my mind's eye, I slowly probed at the strands sending them from around the cell in my direction. Like a kitten batting at a mite of dust floating in the air. Though the process was slow, The Qi began to smoothly flow from around the room into my abdomen.

  The feeling was warm and comforting, and for a moment I could even forget where I was.

  The warmth builds slowly within my abdomen growing warmer and warmer, but never hot. Remaining just at a level where it’s comfortable.

  According to the manual I stole… borrowed

  I should continue to gather the Qi into my sor plexus until the Qi has acclimated to my body, and my body has acclimated to the Qi.

  It takes some effort to not immediately attempt to dive into the next stage, but I continue to simply gather the Qi within myself. Bit by bit.

  Like this, minutes turn to hours. And hours turn to days until suddenly I feel the flow of Qi pull to a stop.

  There’s no more metal Qi in this prison. I’ll have to wait for more to appear before I can resume cultivating.

  Slightly disappointed, I opened my eyes and looked around the cells again. It seems that while I was meditating, the servants had brought in another prisoner.

  The prisoner in the cell across from me meets my gaze. The first person to acknowledge my presence at all.

  An old man in disheveled and filthy robes. Despite his advanced age and miserable appearance, his eyes are sharp and clear as crystal.

  His eyes wander over my face for a moment before he speaks in a coarse and gravelly voice.

  “You are… not the Xiu that I raised”

  I freeze.

  “Mmm. don’t worry. I have a good idea of what happened. Even if I had negative intent, I’m in this cell just like you are. Nothing I could do even if I wanted to”

  A relieved breath escapes my lips.

  But who is this man? He said I wasn’t… the xiu… that he raised? This must be…

  I looked through Xiu’s memories for a moment and found what I was looking for.

  The memory overpped with the face of the man in front of me. Her father.

  If this old man was Xiu’s father then I could trust him. Xiu’s recent memories were far from happy, but the few good ones she had all involved this man.

  I paused for a moment thinking about how to phrase my words.

  “Xiu… she missed you. She never stopped hoping you would come save her.”

  The old man's expression crumbled in an instant as he turned away to hide his eyes. A moment ter he spoke again. This time in a shaky voice.

  “I tried. Hàorán was much stronger than I had anticipated. I tried desperately to come for her, but It was too little too te. I wasn’t prepared to deal with Hàorán's strength, and by that time… well, Xiu was likely already too far gone.”

  I looked down, remaining in silence. It felt wrong, almost cruel to be speaking to Xiu’s father with her appearance like this. I wasn’t his daughter despite our simirities. I couldn’t give back what this broken man had lost and loved so dearly.

  “Were she still alive today, I would understand if she never forgave me for this…”

  Something wet dripped down my face and I lifted my hand to wipe it away.

  My fingers came away with a few clear drops.

  I was… crying?

  Wait, why?

  As I questioned it the tears grew more and more until I couldn’t stop them from pouring down.

  My chest ached as though my heart were trying to pound right through and get to the man sitting across from me.

  A few simple words rose up in my mind. The st dying vestige of Xiu’s memory crying out from beyond.

  And those words rose out of me uncontrolbly.

  I

  …

  Love you

  So please

  Forgive me for leaving you, as I have already forgiven you.

  Father…