Chương 17: Mother

Jianyi inspected his meridians to gauge the outcome of his first attempt with the Martial Meridian Art. The one in his palm seemed free of all impurities, while the one in his biceps had a large hole where some parts still clung in place. As the last time, he gathered more qi to gently brush past the tender channels, which was revolting but helped to remove the last bits. Quickly, he took one of the yellow pills as nausea threatened to overwhelm him.

As the heat of the pill burned the impurities out of his body, the ensuing stench was too much. Jianyi had to vomit and barely made it to his bathroom, where he settled down in the shower, water running down on him even while the process was ongoing. After a few minutes, he had calmed down enough to scrub the remaining impurities from his body—it was slow going as he could only use his left arm, his right hung down limply, and was full of bruises. Even while doing that, he struggled to keep his eyes open.

A few moments later, still wet, he dropped onto his bed and fell asleep.

Jianyi woke to heavy knocking on his door. He still felt exhausted, but slowly his mind cleared. It was daylight outside, so he must have slept for a long time. He grabbed a pair of pants and awkwardly put them on with the help of his left hand only, then opened the door, his body aching from the movement. Minghao looked at him, brow raised.

"Are you still alive?"

"I am not sure. What time is it? You woke me up."

"It is early afternoon. If you slept until now, you must have been out for more than 18 hours. How did the procedure go?" Jianyi had to confirm for himself, so he looked at his meridians and found both of them in his right arm free of any impurities. He grinned at Minghao.

"It went well! But it was quite rough, I must admit."

"Rough enough to make you reconsider?"

"Never!" he exclaimed fiercely—and he meant it. While he had lost some time waiting for the new technique, and he currently felt like a washcloth wrung out by a body cultivator, he had made significant progress. If he could keep this up, he just needed three more procedures—and given how his pathways looked, he probably couldn't have sustained many more than that anyway. His path to meet and hopefully exceed his potential was open; now it just depended on him putting in the work. Minghao patted him on the back.

"Very good. Congratulations on the progress. That means you are halfway to twelve meridians.

"However… that is no reason to skip on training," he said with an evil grin.

"Dress properly and then meet me in the courtyard. Given your condition, we will focus on footwork today." Jianyi groaned internally but nodded and quickly followed his teacher outside. Maybe the physical exertion would help distract him from the tenderness of his meridian channels. He doubted it, but one could always hope.

Elder Sun visited them in the courtyard during their training session.

"Congratulations, Jianyi, on the breakthrough. That is quite an achievement. I am going to the city today, and I was wondering whether you wanted to join to visit your mother?"

"Yes! Yes, I would!" he almost shouted. Elder Sun and Minghao both laughed at his enthusiasm.

"Very well. I'll pick you up in an hour." After they finished the training, Jianyi got cleaned up, trying to make sure his hair, which had grown quite long over the last month, was presentable. Shortly after, he walked beside Elder Sun down the path toward the paifang that marked the edge of the inner sect. They nodded to the guards, walked a few steps further down the path, and then the elder picked him up with the force of his qi and raced down the mountain at a speed that was still unfathomable for Jianyi.

Quickly, they were back in the plains surrounding the city, and soon they were inside the city walls. The elder deposited Jianyi in a side street of the merchant district, not far from the central plaza. It was not an area that Jianyi knew well, but he had run some errands for his mother, so he would find his way to the plaza without too much of an issue.

"Let us meet here again an hour after sundown." Jianyi bowed.

"Thank you so much, teacher. I really appreciate this kindness." Elder Sun winked at him and vanished so quickly he might as well have teleported. Slowly, Jianyi walked to the plaza, trying to familiarize himself more with the new area that was his—or rather his mother's, he guessed—home. It was strange to think of them having separate homes, but it was reality. Maybe a few years earlier than it would happen in a mortal family, but not that much earlier.

There was a lot of traffic on the streets, and the differences from their old district were clear. Everything was cleaner and more orderly—the smell was radically different: there was a lot less of it. The shop fronts exuded elegance with ornate signage and lacquered doors. And finally, most of the people were better dressed; vibrant colors, fine materials, and sophisticated cuts dominated the scene. If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

Only now did he realize how his own well-made but plain clothes must look to the people in the sect. He was not ashamed of his roots and wore the clothes that his mother had made with pride, but getting the standard outer sect robes would help him in his quest to blend in more. He arrived at the square and slowly turned to take it all in and find his mother's new house and business. After a few moments, he thought he found it slightly to the left of the street from which he had come.

It was a three-story building where every level had a slight overhang over the one below it. It was made from gray stone with wooden framing and ornamentation. The walls of the ground floor were covered with white plaster. Beside the large window hung a red wooden sign, its top carved in the form of a dragon, with golden lettering reading Zhao Tailoring and listing the services offered inside. Even though he had been prepared, Jianyi was still floored.

The discrepancy to their old home with his mother's tiny business, largely operated from their living room, was just too big for his mind to process. He took a few tentative steps toward the building, but with each one, his stride grew steadier. Instead of focusing on the difference from the past, he focused on how much better life for his mother must be, and that filled his chest with warmth. He opened the heavy wooden door and stepped into the establishment.

The main room was tastefully decorated with two mannequins dressed in silken robes, one with the short, hip-length coat and the muted colors that rich merchants would wear, the other in a brilliant red and featuring a long skirt, floor-length robes, and sleeves that extended far beyond the arms of any woman. Two young women that he did not know were carefully packaging a robe for pickup. They looked up as he entered, and the older one took a step toward him, sizing up his outfit.

"Are you here to pick up the robes for Master Chen?" she asked. He shook his head.

"No, I am here to see Mistress Zhao." The young woman seemed hesitant.

"Is there something we can do instead? The Mistress is quite busy."

"No, I am afraid not. The Mistress is my mother…" The woman blushed and covered her mouth. She bowed.

"My apologies, Master Zhao, I wasn't aware you would visit today. We will get her right away." Jianyi waved her off.

"No need to apologize, please call me Jianyi." The younger woman had immediately taken a few steps back to open one of the doors toward the back. It seemed to open into a large workshop where several people were working over hip-high tables. A few looked up as the door opened—one of them his mother. Her face lit up like a red lantern on New Year's night. With quick steps, she came into the main room and hugged him close.

"Yi'er, this is the most wonderful surprise!" He felt something loosen up inside him with his mother's hug, though it was painful and only partially succeeded in returning the hug with his right arm, which was still a mess of bruises.

"What is with your arm, Yi'er?" she exclaimed, immediately noticing his pain.

"It is nothing serious, mother. It will be gone in a day or two," he tried to reassure her. She looked at him skeptically, but then nodded.

"Come! Let's go upstairs." She looked different from the last time he had seen her. It was not just the clothes she wore that were probably worth more than all her old wardrobe combined. It was more the way she carried herself—how she waved toward the girls in the showroom to not disturb her under any circumstances. She also looked healthier, less tired. It warmed Jianyi's heart.

"You look well, except for your arm. You have broader shoulders," she said as they walked up the stairs to the second floor, which was split into a front part, which held a study, and a back part that was a large living area. She pointed out that there were stairs to their bedchambers and guest rooms in that area as well.

"So do you, Mother. I can hardly believe that all of this is yours."

"Ours, my son. I am doing this so that you will always have a safe place to return to. If you ever decide to step off the path of a cultivator, there is enough money and a good life to live… and don't say that will never happen, let your mother dream a little," she said with a sad chuckle. He hugged her with his left arm as she led him to the kitchen, where a maid was cleaning, and got clearly flustered as the Mistress of the house entered her domain.

"They hate it if I do anything on my own," his mother whispered to him as she ignored the maid's offers to prepare tea for them and started to prepare a basic meal. It seemed that she had changed her clothes, but not yet all of her other habits.

"Now," she turned to him, "tell me everything!" For the next hour, she pried every morsel of information about the last six weeks of his life out of him. She was especially interested in Minghao, as he was his main point of reference. After a bit of probing, she accepted that he had not yet made friends with people of his own age, as the term hadn't started yet, but she prodded him again to make that a priority soon.

She also accepted that he hadn't traded the Skin of the Granite Tunneler card in, as he couldn't use any techniques yet. But she was very keen to understand what he was eating every day and was pleasantly surprised to learn that he had picked up some cooking skills.

After they had caught up and she had described how she had found her new home and how she had hired a mix of experienced people and folks from their old neighborhood, she gave him a tour around the house, which ended in the large workshop he had glimpsed earlier.

She introduced him to the tailors working, and Jianyi paid close attention as she explained some of the differences between the way she had worked in the past and the new techniques she had to use with the different materials and cuts her new clients required. While they were still new, they had picked up a lot of the clients of the previous owner of the shop and then some, as she wooed the clientele with her quality and speed.

She led him to one wall of the room where three mannequins displayed three beautiful sets of clothes. One clearly for more formal occasions in the style of young nobles or merchants—it was light blue with dark blue borders and embroideries. Legs and sleeves were slim, and the coat was short and form-fitting but layered. The other two were plainer but of excellent workmanship and closer to the style of cultivators. One in a green so dark it was almost black, the other in gray.

As he got closer, he saw that all three had the characters for discipline and dignity embroidered on the side, usually hidden by the sleeves, but currently displayed with the help of a few strategically placed needles. He looked at his mother, who smiled proudly.

"They are beautiful. Did you make them?" She nodded.

"Every single stitch. My second-best work ever—for my very best work ever. I am glad you like them. Let's pick them up so that you can change upstairs!"

"For me?" Jianyi had known that they had come into money, and he knew that all that money was probably nothing compared to what cultivators spent on pills and potions, not to mention cards and formations, but just a few short months ago, he had not dreamed about wearing robes this fine. Sure, he had dreamed about being a cultivator, but none of those dreams had felt so tangible as the silk of these robes. As they returned to their living quarters, his mother described the crafting process in detail.

"I chose the colors to work with your green eyes, and I made the cut to take into account that your shoulders would broaden further—as they have. But we can make adjustments if necessary." The robes felt wonderful, and after having tried them all, he placed two of them into his storage ring—which his mother was excited about—and continued to wear the gray one. Time flew by as they had another meal, he learned some more rumors about their old neighborhood, and soon after, he had to say his farewells.

For both of them, the farewells this time were much happier, knowing that the other was in a good place and that, with a bit of luck, they could continue to see each other from time to time.

Elder Sun's face was grim as they met again at the agreed spot.

"I learned about another lair hiding some cursed demonic cultivators. We will go and eradicate them now."