Chương 50: Chapter 48

Finally, after an exhausting morning and a flurry of activity that I can only describe as stressful, I breathe a sigh of relief as I sit in one of the inner rooms of the Celestial Lotus Palace, where light streams in through a window and illuminates, a small lacquered wooden table, the breakfast carefully arranged on a tray and consisting of sweet rice buns, candied fruit, and a white porcelain teapot with the scent of jasmine.

"I can't believe this is the first thing I'm saying after all this morning", I murmur as I take a rice cake.

"Thank you, Lianhua. If you hadn't shown up with this tray, I would have started devouring the table."

"I knew you'd be exhausted and hungry, Zhāohuán Wen", she replies, bowing slightly.

"It's been a busy morning." I can't help but let out a quiet laugh.

"Busy is putting it mildly", I tell Lianhua.

"Waiting for my mother to get dressed nearly wore out my patience, but the worst part was the mountain of paperwork. Why does a simple personnel transfer order have to involve so much red tape? It almost seems like they do it on purpose so no one wants to do it."

I almost think I see a smile flicker across Lianhua's face as she replies "Watching you and your mother deal with the paperwork almost makes me thank you all over again for taking me into your service, since this way I won't have to write another report for the Yushitai." Hearing that, I widen my eyes dramatically, raising my arms while holding a half-eaten bun and exclaiming in jest "Good heavens, Lianhua just made a sarcastic remark! The world must be about to end."

Seeing my reaction, Lianhua simply narrows her eyes and says nothing, so I just keep eating the bun and, after taking a sip of tea, remark "And then there's my mother's order to the Nei Baihu to send copies of everything via the fastest Nei Wei, since that hadn't occurred to me, I assumed there were messengers in the cities for such tasks."

"It's not customary", Lianhua tells me.

"But it's also not unusual for imperial troops to be tasked with delivering important messages to minimize the risk of them getting lost or intercepted."

"Well, all the better, that way there's less risk for us", I finally reply to Lianhua before continuing to eat breakfast in silence. And I'm just finishing breakfast when I hear voices and commotion coming from the palace's main gates, and I raise an eyebrow, without even needing to look at Lianhua, knowing she's already pricked up her ears.

"And I suppose the moment we feared has arrived", I murmur as I set the teacup I was drinking from back on its saucer.

"It's almost certain that all this commotion means my imperial brother's entourage has arrived."

"Would you like to go to the entrance, Zhāohuán Wen?" Lianhua asks me as she approaches where I'm sitting.

"There's no reason for that", I reply to Lianhua, shaking my head with a slight sigh.

"We've already laid out the plan to follow, and no matter how high my rank as Zhāohuán may be, no one is going to take a nine-year-old girl seriously in the case of a prince's disappearance, especially since, to top it all off, I had a fight with him. So you'd be more of a hindrance than a help to my mother. Besides, your presence could cause tempers to flare even more if they saw you." Lianhua doesn't answer, but I see her nod with that gesture only she has, full of silent approval.

"The best we can do right now is take care of something truly important", I add in a more serious tone.

"Take me to my room, it's not good to leave Xia alone with her thoughts for too long at a time like this." Hearing me, she leans toward me, picking me up in her arms with a fluid motion, and as she carries me away from the commotion in the courtyard, we enter the palace while the noise gradually fades away. When we arrive, the door slides open gently, revealing a room barely lit by the dim light streaming through the window, which is covered by curtains.

And on the bed, like a small porcelain statue, Xia remains in exactly the same position we left her in. And I can't help but sigh when I see her, since it's almost a repeat of how she was when we brought her here and her brother had to leave.

"That won't happen again if I can help it", I declare with renewed resolve.

"Lianhua, sit me in the wheelchair and then wake her up." Without wasting any time, she skillfully settles me into the chair and approaches the bed.

"Ling Xia", she calls softly at first, but seeing that she doesn't respond, she insists a little more firmly "Ling Xia, wake up." The girl frowns, stirs slightly, and mutters irritably "Leave me alone."

"No", I reply instantly, my voice firm.

"Lianhua, if Xia doesn't sit up in bed within the next minute, you have permission to do it for her."

"Understood, Zhāohuán Wen", Lianhua replies in a voice loud enough for Xia to hear. Xia sits up abruptly with a look of annoyance as she says to me "That's not fair! Using Lianhua to bully me! Today I wanted you to leave me alone."

"That's not possible, Xia", I tell her without hesitation.

"There are only five months left until you turn eight. And if you want to be even halfway competent when you start cultivating, you must start training, since it was my mistake not to have started training you sooner."

"Train? I've never heard that you must train to cultivate", Xia says suspiciously upon hearing my words. I smile and sit up straight in my chair with as much dignity as I can muster.

"That's because you haven't heard of my unique and special method. You should know that I started practicing it when I was five years old." Xia looks at me with narrowed, suspicious eyes as she asks "Aren't you trying to scam me? Nobody starts cultivating at five years old." I'm instantly taken aback by her words and start to say "I didn't say cultivate, I said train! And my method is genuine and thoroughly proven! You should know that thanks to that method, in my first…"

"Zhāohuán Wen", Lianhua interrupts me in her calm voice.

"I remind you that your mother and the emperor wish for that event to remain a secret." I sighed resignedly at Lianhua's interruption, realizing that I had let myself get carried away, once again, by my childishness.

"You're right, Lianhua", and then I look at Xia, who is now watching me with eyes full of curiosity, which I assume is because the name of the emperor came up alongside the word secret, so I decide to take advantage of the moment. The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

"I'll tell you what happened", I say, adopting my most serious tone.

"But first you have to promise me that you'll never tell anyone what I'm about to say. And although it may seem unfair to ask this now, I also have to ask you never to tell anyone what you heard last night, when you were pretending to sleep." For a moment, Xia falls silent as her expression, which had been one of simple curiosity, briefly darkens, as if a shadow had passed over her eyes.

Seeing that look, I don't need her to say anything, since I know perfectly well that she's remembering what she heard last night when she was pretending to sleep, when Lianhua spoke of her brother. But that veil of doubt doesn't last, and like a gale sweeping away the clouds, her expression transforms into a look of determination. With her lips pressed together and her eyes steady, she looks me straight in the eye and nods.

"I promise", she tells me in a clear voice. Hearing her, I take a deep breath without letting it show. Not only because she has promised to keep silent, but because that means Lianhua wasn't wrong about her. For Xia has chosen to keep our secrets, especially everything that happened in the Celestial Fragment. But I set those emotions aside, unnecessary now, and smile at her affectionately, searching her face for traces of the bright, stubborn girl who has always made me smile.

"Very well", I say in an almost festive voice.

"So, let's see if you can guess how long it took me to temper my skin when I first began cultivating." Xia blinks, confused by the sudden question, and brings a finger to her lips thoughtfully, then murmurs in reply "Six months?" I burst out laughing, amused by her look of doubt and her attempt to appear confident.

"Wrong!" I say dramatically "Try again. You're way off." Xia frowns as she tries again "Five months?"

"Wrong again!" I reply, raising a finger in a gesture of denial. Before I can continue the game, Lianhua, who has been silent until now, interrupts in a calm but firm tone "Zhāohuán Wen, stop playing with Ling Xia. If you're going to make her guess, you'll be here all day. It's completely impossible for anyone to guess." I look at her with narrowed eyes, making no effort to hide my annoyance at her ruining the moment, but in the end I sigh. Lianhua, as always, is right.

"All right… all right…" I concede with resignation and turn toward Xia, who has been watching both of us with growing curiosity, and I sit up straight in my chair as I tell Xia proudly.

"The truth is, in my first cultivation session, I completed Skin Tempering in just under three periods." Xia freezes completely, as if in shock, after hearing me, and blinks once. Then she blinks again, and her face is expressionless for a moment, but suddenly she frowns and her body tenses as her eyes fill with tears.

"You don't have to lie to me just because I'm a little girl!" she suddenly yells at me, her voice breaking with what seems like anger and helplessness.

"I know that's impossible! I had cousins a little older than me, and they always bragged to me about how hard it was! No one can do Skin Tempering in three periods!" And before I can react, Xia jumps out of bed and runs toward the door with determined steps.

"Lianhua, stop her!" I shout, alarmed by her reaction. But she doesn't need to say it, because Lianhua is already moving and in two strides catches up to her, lifting her into her arms before she can reach the door. Xia, in Lianhua's arms, squirming and kicking in frustration, her tears already streaming freely down her cheeks.

"The way you're reacting right now is exactly one of the reasons why the emperor and my mother made me promise not to tell anyone", I say seriously, fixing my eyes on hers.

"Because no one would believe me. And if you still don't believe me, we can go and have my mother confirm it for you later. Although that would probably get me punished for the rest of the year." Xia stops immediately upon hearing me, and her body, still tense, gradually relaxes as she takes a deep breath and her tears stop. She looks at me from Lianhua's arms, then turns her head toward her.

"Lianhua, is what Wen says true?" she asks in a whisper.

"It's true", she says gently.

"I was there when it happened, and it really is just as Zhāohuán Wen has said." Upon hearing their conversation, I feign exaggerated offense and cross my arms as I say to them "So now what Lianhua says is more credible than what I say, huh?" Xia looks at me with a frown, her cheeks still streaked with her recent tears, but with less anger and more bewilderment.

"It's just that what you're saying is too unbelievable to be true", she murmurs.

"If anyone else had told me that, I wouldn't have believed it either…"

"I thought I'd have more credibility with you", I reply as I let the joke fade and my expression softens.

"But I understand."

"Lianhua", I say as I regain my composure.

"You can put Xia back in bed." She nods without needing to say a word and, with her usual efficiency, tucks Xia back under the blankets. Xia doesn't resist and simply wipes her tears with the sleeves of her pajamas, rubbing her face hard, as if she wanted to erase her moment of weakness.

"Are you okay now?" I ask in a softer voice. Xia nods without looking directly at me as she says "Yes." I nod at her, though inside I breathe a sigh of relief. I was afraid of another relapse, but it seems the storm has passed.

"Good", I say.

"So, after breakfast, we'll start training you using my method to help you progress faster." Xia blinks in surprise, and her eyes regain a sparkle I hadn't seen since before she started crying.

"And with that method, will I be able to do the same as you?" she asks me hopefully. I stay silent for a second, hesitating, since I don't want to give her false hope.

"I don't know", I answer honestly.

"As far as I know, I'm the only one who can do it, so I don't have anyone to compare myself to."

"Excuse the interruption, Zhāohuán Wen", Lianhua suddenly says in her usual tone before looking at Xia and telling her "Ling Xia, never try to compare yourself to Zhāohuán Wen when it comes to cultivation, because you'll always end up getting frustrated." I look at her, narrowing my eyes and unable to suppress a wry smile as I say "Lianhua, don't you start too. I already have enough of my mother picking on me about that, so I don't need you to start now as well."

Lianhua held my gaze unflinchingly as she said "I'm only saying this so Ling Xia doesn't get her hopes up." I sigh resignedly as I turn to Xia, who has been watching us intently, her eyes darting back and forth between us as if she were following a silent strategy game. When she sees that we've finished talking, she turns to Lianhua and asks with genuine curiosity, "So, is Wen like those protagonists in stories who always cultivate faster than everyone else?"

Lianhua, her face impassive, replies without a second thought "Sometimes it's even worse." I narrow my eyes again, ready to retort, but Xia looks me straight in the eye and says firmly "Then I'm ready. But first, I'd like you to tell me what that method consists of." I swallow the retort I was about to throw at Lianhua, thinking that it can wait and that this is more important right now.

"The first thing you have to do", I tell her, my tone now more serious.

"Is forget everything you think you know about Qi and how it's cultivated. Just do what I tell you, without questioning it." Xia nods immediately and says "Okay."

"Good", I continue.

"The first step is for you to try to sense Qi, since that's what every cultivator does at the beginning and is therefore essential. But since we don't have any Qi-gathering training at the palace, my mother didn't want to give me any, I don't know how long it will take you."

"It usually takes seven days on average," Lianhua interrupts me with a slight nod.

"Thanks for the heads-up", I say gratefully, after which I turn my attention back to Xia, who is listening to me with wide eyes.

"Once you manage to see it, you'll notice that the Qi looks like a stream of specks floating in the air", I continued, speaking to Xia.

"You'll also notice that a few of them will give you strange sensations, but most won't give you any sensation at all. Those are the important ones, and the ones you need to focus on." Xia nods slowly, seeming focused as she processes every word.

"And what do I do with them?" she asks after a moment.

"The next part is simple and difficult at the same time", I explain to Xia.

"You have to use your mind to try to grab one of those specks. And most importantly, you must keep it still. Don't move it, don't pull it toward you, just keep it still where you've caught it." Xia frowns as she listens to me.

"I don't have to draw it in?" she asks, visibly confused.

"I've heard the opposite."

"Never", I reply firmly.

"That's why I told you to forget what you'd heard. Drawing in Qi is the last thing you should do, since that would mean starting to cultivate. And you can't do that yet because you're not eight years old. And as long as you just hold it in the air, what you'll be doing is training." And I notice how Xia looks at me, confused, with clear doubts on her face, as she asks "And what good will that do when I start cultivating?"