I return to the same training hall and find the same cushion I sat on before conveniently vacant, so I claim it for the second time. I adjust the skirt pooling around my hips and then pull my feet up and loop them over my bare thighs to get started with the jingangzuo.

  I’ve never worn such short skirts before.

  Granted, I chose this and could easily have selected trousers instead, but I thought I’d try to match the rest of the girls. The outer robe is longer, but only front and back, which means the short underskirt is more revealing. It is not a fashion I’d expect in Tiansheng, but I’ve been noticing that clothing is substantially less conservative in this region for one reason or another.

  Years of martial arts training has done wonders for my otherwise spindly limbs. I am not shy, and I can confidently claim that I am proud of my body, which I understand isn’t as easy for other girls. So, if people want to look, I will not complain. In fact, I will revel in their attention, doubly-so if it helps my fellow ladies feel more comfortable!

  I side-eye Song Ling who is seated next to me again. ‘Except they won’t be looking at me...’

  I sigh.

  “Nervous?” she inquires.

  “Not particularly. You?”

  She shakes her head. “No, but I am not looking forward to another of these pills. I had so much energy last night I couldn’t sleep a wink!”

  “Oh! I know, right? I was pacing around the living room for hours.”

  “Do you think you made any progress?”

  My head wobbles. “I don’t know. Maybe? I know I can’t draw in Qi on my own yet, but I feel like I can tell it is there sometimes. Sort of like catching a whiff of a familiar fragrance before it disappears in the wind.”

  “Then you have made progress,” Song Ling nods proudly. “My siblings have described it like that. Eventually, you’ll be able to tell it is there all the time, and even determine what nature it is!”

  “By smelling it?”

  “Uh… that I don’t know. I’m pretty sure Qi isn’t something you smell, but we’ll learn soon enough.”

  Elder Cai’s entrance is accompanied by the excessive jingling of her ornaments and accessories; she is definitely not the type to sneak up on people. She moves about the dais and places her own cushion front-and-center before bowing to us. We rise and bow in return.

  “Welcome back, initiates,” Elder Cai begins with a smile. “It is a pleasure to see that all of you returned.”

  ‘Why did she have to look at me when she said that?’

  We sit back down and Elder Cai addresses us while moving several of the paintings around. “You all performed admirably yesterday, so I hope that you will keep up the good work today. Yesterday was about introducing you to qi, and now today we will attempt to retain some. To that end, the first step is familiarizing yourself with the various components involved in the process.

  “This diagram shows the dantian, which is divided into three: the upper, middle, and lower. Most cultivators will refer to the dantian as a singular thing, and when they do so, it almost always refers to the lower dantian due to the more evolutionary nature of the lower dantian. However, we will leave that one for last and begin from the top!”

  Elder Cai uses a long stick to draw our attention to the diagram. She taps it against the figure’s head. “The upper dantian is located between your eyebrows, though a little further back. It serves as the control node for the entire meridian system. It is to your meridians what your brain is to the rest of your body, so if it is disabled or injured, you cannot manipulate your qi in any way. It fulfills a few other roles, but they aren’t going to be relevant to your training for some time, so we won’t worry about them just yet.

  “The middle dantian is located centrally and is level with your heart. It is what allows you to draw qi from the environment through breathing techniques, and then helps circulate qi through your meridians. It stands to reason that if it is damaged then you cannot use your qi. These two dantians are relatively static and do not change or grow much during your early cultivation, but can be reinforced like any other organ through sufficient training.

  “The lower dantian is unlike the other two. As you cultivate, it grows and strengthens. It serves as the storage for your qi , and in conjunction with your spiritual roots, it will condense qi from vapor into liquid, and eventually into a solid known as the jindan. Learning to feel your dantian, and then manipulate it freely, will be critical in the early stages of your cultivation, so today that is what we will focus on.”

  Elder Cai presents a lot of information very quickly, but the diagrams prove crucial in my understanding. I’m able to make a bit of sense from it, so I take the time to make a few notes for later review while Elder Cai answers questions and even try sketching a rudimentary diagram of my own. Admittedly, it is cuter than it is functional.

  ‘Let’s see… paraphrasing it as upper, control; middle, collect and circulate; and lower, store and refine should work. Not perfect, but suitable as a quick reference.’

  “Did you feel any of that stuff yesterday?” Song Ling asks with a whisper.

  “I don’t know. I think I felt the lower dantian.”

  “We have another pill today, so maybe we will get to try again?”

  Elder Cai interrupts our brief exchange. “Now that you know what to focus on and what you need to work on, we’ll proceed. I hope that you’ve all noticed the second pill. Since we didn’t have many issues yesterday, you will all take them together — when I instruct you to, that is.

  “Some of you may have also noticed the incense I am burning today,” Elder Cai suspiciously grins, like someone playing a prank. “This is a rare incense that releases an abundance of qi when it burns, but it also smells a lot like feet. The pill will fill your dantian and meridians with qi, but as before, you will lose it all over time. The added qi in the hall will make it easier to breathe new qi into your system. It is wood natured qi, so some will benefit more than others, but it is also so potent that it won’t matter at this stage in your development.”

  Elder Cai flicks her wrists outward, causing her robes to flutter as she drops down onto her cushion. “Let’s begin. You may take the pill.”

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  I pick up the pill and take a deep breath while Song Ling confidently pops it into her mouth like a piece of candy. I shake my head and follow suit. A few heartbeats later my body is awash with energy, coursing through my meridians and filling every fiber of my body. It feels amazing; euphoric, even, but so potent that it is almost twisted into an uncomfortable sensation.

  Elder Cai’s instructions return to the forefront of my thoughts. ‘Breathe! I must breathe!’

  I gas and double-down focusing on establishing a steady rhythm. As the storm subsides and the turbulent surge of qi diminishes, I begin to understand today’s lesson. There is no doubt that the bulk of qi ended up in my lower dantian. The feeling accompanying it reminds me of the pill itself, like my belly is full of swirling storm clouds roaring with untamed energy and ready to discharge at a moment’s notice.

  ‘I feel the qi. I feel it in me, and when I breathe, but also how it subsides between each breath. How do I stop it from dissipating? Hold my breath? Take in more than I lose? Is it that simple or is there more to it?’

  I wrack my brain for an answer, but none is forthcoming. In the absence of clarity, I begin experimenting. I start by focusing all my effort into forcing the qi back into my dantian, which is extremely challenging. It is like trying to hold water in the palm of my hand. It just slips through my fingers and escapes my grasp. As soon as the qi escapes into my meridians, it feels impossible to bring it back.

  “Focus on controlling your qi,” Elder Cai instructs as she drops down from the dais and begins patrolling the rows of initiates. “You will not be able to keep it all, so it is more important to refine your control than it is to contain it. Take advantage of the incense to replenish what you lose and practice as much as you can.”

  ‘So, I can’t keep it all. If the qi will escape no matter what I do, then refilling it as fast as I can is the solution for now. Like Elder Cai says, I merely need to focus on the qi itself. Move it around, learn to make it flow under my command, and try to store as much as possible for as long as I can.’

  The next hour proves to be a very lengthy one, but by the time the incense is expended and burnt out, I feel certain that I made great strides. Not only was I able to contain a greater portion of the qi I breathed in, but I can also release smaller, controlled quantities on command. However, the most critical accomplishment, in my opinion, is my enhanced perception. I now feel confident that I can feel the qi around me, especially when I breathe it in. It is in the air, the objects around me, and even radiating from other initiates. It’s not a smell, nor a taste, but something similar to both that tingles just behind my forehead.

  I smirk triumphantly.

  “Wonderful work!” Elder Cai claps her hands together once to draw our attention back to the dais where some servants deposited a pair of boxes. “Keep working on what you’ve learned today while we proceed with the second portion of today’s lesson — and your assignment for tomorrow.

  “As daoists and cultivators, we naturally seek understanding of the dao. The dao is a complicated subject, yet infinitely simple. The dao is often considered a path, or a series of paths. The path we tread in understanding the dao, is our dao,” she chuckles dourly. “Make sense? No. Then here is the first part of our lesson regarding the dao.”

  Elder Cao sits down and pulls one of the boxes closer to her. She looks around to ensure we are all paying attention, and then reaches in and pulls out an object. She sets it down in front of her.

  “What is this?”

  There is an awkward silence as we all stare at what is undoubtedly a simple tea cup. The truth of it cannot be denied. It is a cup.

  A boy seated in front of me finds the courage to answer: “It is a cup!”

  Elder Cai’s smug smile reveals her amusement. “Indeed! It is a cup.”

  She holds it up again so that everyone can see it, then places it back on the floor and reaches into the box again and pulls out another object. It is a nearly identical cup.

  “What is this?”

  “A cup!” the majority of us answer in unison and with complete confidence.

  “Fantastic!” Elder Cai pulls out a third object and sets it down beside the two cups. “How about this?”

  I narrow my eyes. ‘It is a pot…’

  There’s no doubt that the tall, narrow container is a pot.

  Several of the bolder initiates decide to answer.

  “It is a pot! Good!” Elder Cai nods and places her fingertips against the lip of the pot. “Why isn’t it a cup?”

  I gulp.

  No one answers.

  “Hm?” Elder Cai holds the pot aloft and whimsically swishes it back and forth. “What makes this a pot and not a cup? It is cylindrical with an opening in the top, it is intended to hold a liquid, or perhaps some sort of solid. It can be drunk from, eaten from, or have some sort of material poured from it. It has handles like the cups and is even painted to match. So, why is this a pot and not a cup? More importantly, why are you so confident that it is a pot and not a cup?”

  She waits and observes until one enterprising initiate speaks up. “It’s because it is shaped differently — and much larger. No one would mistake it for a cup!”

  “A different shape and size, hm?” Elder Cai nods in agreement. “Certainly the size and shape makes a difference.”

  She sets the pot aside and tugs the second box closer. She reaches inside and pulls out a comically large version of the smaller cups.

  ‘Wait! Why do I think that it is a cup?’ I blink and glance down for a moment to think. ‘Why am I so confident that it is a cup?’

  “Surely, this is a pot!” Elder Cai boldly claims, but after a moment of silence she grins again. “Or is it a cup?”

  No one dares answer. It is clearly a trap.

  “The size matches the pot, yet the shape is that of the smaller cups. Is it both, is it neither?” Elder Cai pauses for a moment in case an initiate wants to chime in, but none take the initiative. “What if I told you all of these are cups? None of them are cups? What if I told you these are vessels, not pots or cups?”

  Elder Cai sets the large cup aside and chuckles. “Your assignment for tomorrow is to bring me an answer to this question: how can we use the dao to determine the nature of these objects?”

  I exchange a nervous glance with Song Ling as Elder Cai rises from her cushion.

  “You are dismissed. I will linger for a while to answer any questions you may have regarding today’s lesson. I will not divulge anything further regarding your assignment, however.”

  Song Ling releases a heavy sigh and slouches a bit. “That took a lot out of me.”

  “No kidding,” I weakly match her smile with one of my own. “I am exhausted.”

  She scoots her cushion closer to mine and leans in to whisper. “Is it just me, or does this qi stuff make you feel all grimy, too?”

  “Grimy? Oh, yeah, kind of,” I look myself over and then do the same to her. “I get all sweaty but you look no worse than when I first met you. If I didn’t know better, I’d say you’re more advanced than you let on. Is that the case? Are you trying to fool me?”

  She giggles at my teasing. “Nothing of the sort!”

  “Should we get out of here? Elder Cai wasn’t lying when she said that incense smells like feet.”

  Song Ling laughs. “It does, doesn’t it? Which reminds me, I stumbled across something last night while I was wandering about and unable to sleep. I think it is the perfect time to check it out. How about you come with me?”

  I raise a brow. “Oh? What is it?”

  “A secret!” Song Ling hops to her feet and holds a hand out to help me up. “You’ll just have to trust me when I say it is going to be perfect.”

  “Mhm…” I take her hand, but remain skeptical.

  Character & Setting Guide

  Taiyi Sect (Tàiyì — 太意) — One of Longzhou’s Five Great Sects and Zhou Ran’s future sect; located outside Nangao and is loyal to Ruyilong, rather than the Emperor

  Red Dust Pavilion — Taiyi Sect Headquarters

  Cai Lingxian (Cài Língxián — 蔡绫娴) — Third Elder of the Taiyi Sect

  Zhou Ran (Zhōu Rán — 周然) — The main character; initiate #427 of the Taiyi Sect

  Song Ling (Sòng Líng – 宋玲) — Taiyi Sect Cultivator

  What is the answer?

  I'd be curious if anyone knows the answer to Elder Cai's question. Do you know how this little exercise relates to the Dao? I can't really give out any awards, but anyone who can provide a good answer will get my praise and maybe a special bonus later on!