Chương 96: Chapter 94

At hearing my words, my mother stares at me for a moment that stretches longer than I would like and with an expression I can't quite decipher. I can see how her eyes move minimally, as though evaluating the firmness with which I just pronounced that refusal, and for an instant I fear she's going to insist, to press me to tell her anyway, something that would put me in a more uncomfortable position than the one I had been imagining this morning, and that's saying a lot.

But then, instead of insisting, my mother lets out a sigh. It isn't a short sigh, but rather one of those long, deep sighs she only releases when a situation has gotten the better of her, and as I hear it I feel a small part of the tension I've had accumulated between my shoulders begin to give way.

"If Master Mu has made you promise not to tell anyone, then there must be a good reason for it", she finally tells me, and there is a note of resignation in her voice that mixes with something resembling respect.

"So I'm not going to pressure you and I'm not going to keep asking about that method." The relief I feel is so immediate that I have to make an effort not to let it show too much on my face. Because, being honest with myself, I didn't know how I was going to sustain that refusal if my mother had decided to insist, and now that she herself has closed the door on continuing to ask, a considerable part of me can finally allow itself to stop being on edge.

But, before I can let myself be carried away by that sense of relief, my mother makes a pause I recognize perfectly, the kind she adopts when she's about to change the subject and what she's going to say next requires my full attention.

"Now then", she continues, and her gaze fixes on me again with a different intensity from before.

"Although I had forbidden anyone to talk to you about the stages following Body Tempering, it's almost certain that you've been gathering whatever information you could about the Gate Opening." The statement, which is not a question, draws a small inner grimace from me, because of course she's right.

I've been gathering that information for years, although, to be fair to myself, most of what I know was in the papers Lianhua found in the Celestial Fragment of the Sands, so it isn't really something to be proud of either.

"So, to make sure you don't have any incorrect information, I want you to tell me what the Gates are and their effects", my mother adds in that tone that admits no evasion. I resist the momentary impulse to tell her that I actually have a great deal more information than that, and I resist it for two equally important reasons.

The first is that I've already given her enough surprises for one day, and the second is that I have no desire to tell her again that I can't tell her how I obtained that information because it's a secret. So I simply inhale, organize the information in my mind, and begin.

"The first is the Nature Gate, which is located in the liver", I tell her, trying to make my voice convey the modest assurance of someone who has studied the subject, but not so much as to raise additional suspicions.

"Upon opening it, the person gains a greater capacity for healing, as well as an increase in both their stamina and their recovery." My mother nods almost imperceptibly and waits for me to continue.

"Then there's the Fire Gate, which is located in the heart", I go on.

"This one increases resistance to extreme temperatures, whether high or low, and also produces an increase in the regeneration of the blood." Another minimal nod from my mother, so I continue.

"The Earth Gate is in the stomach", I tell her.

"It grants the ability to absorb and digest more quickly what is ingested, as well as the ability to consume substances that, under normal conditions, would not be edible." I make a pause here, not so much because I need it but because the uninterrupted enumeration is starting to feel mechanical to me and I prefer that it sound like I'm remembering rather than reading from a list, and then I resume the explanation.

"Next would be the Air Gate, which is found in the lungs", I tell her.

"It provides the ability to store air, allowing one to hold one's breath for longer, in addition to the ability to filter small quantities of toxins that may be present in the air." My mother continues observing me with that attention she devotes to the things she considers important, without interrupting me even once, and that calms me enough to keep going.

"Next would be the Water Gate, which is in the kidneys", I continue.

"It grants an increase in resistance to poisons and diseases, as well as increasing the time one can endure without drinking." I stop here for a moment to organize how to continue, and in that instant I notice a movement at my side and, looking, I see Lianhua, who has approached silently and offers me a cup with a little cool tea.

For a moment, I stay looking at the cup as I wonder where the devil she got it from, because I would swear she had no tray in her hands when we entered the study and I don't recall having seen any side table with tea in this room either. But, as has been customary for years when it comes to Lianhua, I decide not to ask questions and to simply accept the small everyday miracle that has materialized at my side.

"Thank you, Lianhua", I tell her simply, and I take the cup to drink a small sip that refreshes my throat just enough to keep speaking without my voice starting to sound rasping. I return the cup to Lianhua and resume the explanation under my mother's attentive gaze.

"Next would come the Yin Gate, which is on the forehead", I tell her.

"This one increases the senses of the person who has it open, and also increases memory and comprehension." And here I arrive at the point where the enumeration becomes complicated, because the last Gate is a delicate one for this society, and explaining it requires a decision I have to make immediately. I make a pause as I try to think about how to explain what the Yang Gate does without breaking the modesty and the taboos that everyone in this world seems to have about such topics.

I could use circumlocutions, euphemisms, indirect references that my mother would understand perfectly without my having to say anything explicit. It would be the socially correct thing to do and, surely, what my Etiquette teacher would expect of me if she were present.

But just when I'm weighing that option, another part of my brain, the part that comes from my previous life and that refuses to be constrained by the taboos of this world, decides that no, that this has to be explained clearly and that enough is enough with juggling euphemisms when it comes to important information. So I decide to be utterly shameless and say it without holding back.

"And the last would be the Yang Gate", I say, and I pick up the thread before my courage can abandon me.

"It is in the sexual organs, and its function varies according to the sex of the person who opens it." I can notice how, at the mention of sexual organs, something changes in the atmosphere of the study, but I decide to ignore it and continue.

"In men, it increases their sexual potency and the probability of getting women pregnant", I tell her with a precision I refuse to soften.

"And in women, the capacity to regulate their moon affairs, in addition to being able to decide whether they wish to be in a state to become pregnant." When I finish, I allow myself to look briefly around to assess the damage. My mother has an expression that combines discomfort with something that closely resembles disapproval, as though she had just witnessed something she would have preferred not to witness.

Lingxi, beside her, has adopted a very similar expression, although with the advantage that, not being my mother, she can allow herself to make it slightly more evident. And, behind me, I can sense that Lianhua has also reacted, although due to her position I can't see her face and I have to settle for guessing that she probably has a similar expression. I hold the gaze without ceasing to feign innocence and wait.

For a moment, no one says anything, and the silence stretches enough that I begin to wonder whether perhaps I've overstepped, but then my mother lets out a sigh that is shorter than the previous one and speaks in a tone that is slightly, though not entirely, disapproving.

"Your description of the Yang Gate is correct and accurate", she tells me, and the way she pronounces those words makes clear that it costs her to admit it.

"But your etiquette classes ought to have prepared you to be more discreet." Before she can continue with what, I'm sure, would be a more prolonged scolding about decorum and proper form, I decide to interrupt her while the impulse is fresh.

"I could have been more discreet and spoken in euphemisms, Mother", I tell her, making an effort to make my tone sound more reasonable than defiant.

"But euphemisms can be misinterpreted, and for this I preferred to be exact." Stolen novel; please report. And then, because part of me can't help it, I add with a slightly more mischievous look "Besides, it's not as if anyone else is going to hear me and then go off to spread rumors about me." My mother listens to me with that expression she adopts when she knows I'm right but doesn't at all like that I am, and after a moment she sighs again, although this sigh is more a surrender than a complaint.

"You're right", she tells me with that tone parents in every world reserve for when their children win an argument they shouldn't be winning.

"But, please, don't be so direct on certain topics. As I'm sure your etiquette teacher has repeated to you many times, a well-bred young lady has to be modest." After hearing my mother, and aware that I'm facing one of those discussions where neither side can fully win, I make the most sensible decision I can think of in this moment and simply concede.

"I understand, Mother", I tell her with all the docility I am capable of feigning. My mother looks at me for a moment, as if evaluating whether my docility is genuine or merely a tactical maneuver to put an end to the matter, and then, apparently without deciding on one option or the other, prefers to let it go and continue with what really has us gathered.

"Aside from everything else, your knowledge of the Gates and their effects is fairly accurate", she tells me.

"I have nothing further to add." I feel a small inner pride upon hearing her, although I decide not to let it go to my head because there isn't much merit in it either, given that I obtained all the information by deciphering some papers in a language so similar to ancient Egyptian that any reasonably decent Egyptologist could have done it.

Although that Egyptologist would have had to use several computers and specialized programs, while I did it with paper and a quill pen, I also tell myself in order to preserve some of that pride.

"And now, tell me", my mother continues, oblivious to my thoughts.

"Have you already chosen which is the first Gate you're going to open, or do you want some advice?"

"No, I've already chosen", I reply without hesitation.

"And in my situation, I think the best option is the Yang Gate, since it will save me many future inconveniences." And as I tell my mother this, a considerable part of my brain is thinking that with one previous life dealing with my period I've had more than enough, and that if they're giving me the option of never having to deal with it again, it's more than clear I'm going to take it. Thank you very much, but no, I do not want to go through that again if I can avoid it.

"Even so, if I were to want your advice on something", I add before my mother can comment on anything.

"I have a few doubts about some of the effects and I'd like you to clarify them for me."

"Of course", my mother replies, and there is something in her tone that suggests she seems satisfied that I'm consulting her.

"I'll answer all the doubts you have." I make a brief pause as I order my questions in order of importance, and I decide to start with the one that has intrigued me most since I began gathering this information.

"About the Earth Gate, that bit about being able to consume substances that aren't edible", I ask her.

"What exactly is that referring to?" My mother listens to the question and, after a brief moment, responds.

"That capacity is mainly for being able to take pills or foods made with substances rich in Qi, such as, for example, the meat of spirit beasts", she tells me.

"Substances with a high concentration of Qi cannot be eaten in great quantity by someone who does not have the Earth Gate open." I frown upon hearing the explanation, because that doesn't fit with a very specific experience I had not so long ago.

"But the Yao clan gave me two pills and I was able to consume them normally", I tell her, allowing my perplexity to show in my voice.

"Most likely, and because their use was mainly for people who didn't yet have the Earth Gate open, the pill was specifically created so that anyone could take it", my mother replies patiently.

"That's why it didn't affect you adversely." The explanation, after thinking about it for a moment, seems perfectly logical to me. A pill designed for someone who hasn't yet entered the Gate Opening stage clearly has to be one that can be taken by someone who hasn't yet opened the Earth Gate, which is almost obvious.

"That makes sense", I admit, and I move on to my next doubt.

"Taking pills seems normal to me if they're useful, but why would people eat foods with a high concentration of Qi if you need to have a specific Gate open in order to consume them in large quantities?"

"For the simple reason that, by eating them and being able to digest them, the Qi those foods contain can be used to supplement cultivation", my mother replies.

"And, therefore, increase it in an alternative way to the normal one." I open my mouth to ask something else, because the answer immediately raises another obvious question, but my mother cuts me off before I can speak with the ease of someone who knows the next step in this conversation.

"I suppose what you're going to ask me", she tells me, and there is something resembling a repressed smile at the corner of her lips.

"And the answer is that you haven't seen that kind of food before because, ever since you were born, I've forbidden spirit food in my residence." I remain silent, processing the information.

"It can be very harmful for people who consume it without having formed their protodantian", my mother continues.

"And I didn't want you to suffer any accident from taking one of those foods when you shouldn't have." She pauses and, when she resumes speaking, her tone has taken on a darker shade.

"That has happened before", she adds.

"And sometimes, it happens without it being an accident." Her words settle into the air of the study, and I don't need more than a second for my mind, with a clarity that is almost painful, to make the connection with my still-recent poisoning attempt. Because if there's an elegant and practically untraceable way of poisoning someone who doesn't have the Earth Gate open, it is precisely by having them consume spirit food disguised as ordinary food.

And my mother, with that foresight she always has but that I never quite appreciate as I should, had the clarity of mind to eliminate that possibility from occurring long before I even knew that possibility existed.

"It has been a very wise decision, Mother", I tell her, and there is absolute sincerity in my voice.

"It clearly would have benefited everyone else in their cultivation to have access to that kind of food, and even so you forbade it because there was a small possibility that it might harm me." I bow to her from the chair with all the respect I am capable of conveying in a gesture.

"Thank you, Mother", I tell her.

"I've just realized everything it must have cost you." My mother looks at me with an expression in which surprise at my gesture mixes with something resembling tenderness she tries, without much success, to disguise.

"It hasn't been such a sacrifice either", she tells me with a smile that softens her face.

"A dozen years without eating spirit food now and then, since it isn't something one can eat every day either, is no great loss if it eliminated a possible source of trouble." I smile back at her and think for a moment to see if any other question occurs to me, but, after a moment of mentally reviewing the information I have, I realize that, with what I've just learned, the picture I have is practically complete.

"I can't think of anything else", I tell her.

"Even so, I'm going to tell you a hidden advantage", she replies.

"Because there is something one usually doesn't think about when hearing the description of one of the Gates' advantages." I raise my eyebrows in a clear invitation to continue, and my mother proceeds to do so.

"When the Nature Gate is opened, the increase in stamina and recovery means that the person who has opened it only needs to sleep between two and three Periods per night", she tells me.

"Which means that it considerably increases the amount of time they can devote to other activities." I process the information of the surprising revelation she's making to me, but she continues adding yet another surprise.

"They can even endure several days without sleeping without a significant increase in their tiredness", she adds.

"And, after doing so, they can recover with a shorter period of sleep than any other person would need." I stay looking at my mother, now genuinely surprised by the revelation. Because someone with the Nature Gate open only needs to sleep between four and six hours a night, and since regardless of the world you're in useful time is always scarce, it's an enormous advantage that has absolutely nothing to do with the simple official description of increasing stamina and recovery.

And then, as though a piece of a puzzle I didn't even know existed finally fell into place, I suddenly understand where Lianhua, who always seems to be at my side, gets the time to cultivate, train, and carry out the many other activities I'm sure she doesn't even tell me about.

Because if she only needs to sleep four hours per night while I sleep eight, she has four extra hours every night that I don't have, and that's twenty-eight hours a week, that is, one hundred and twelve hours a month, an amount of available time that begins to explain why she seems capable of multiplying herself. Before I can fully process that new understanding, my mother's voice once again reclaims my attention.

"After hearing this", she asks me with a smile that is clearly provoking.

"Do you want to reconsider which is the first Gate you'll open?"

"No", I reply without hesitating for a single second.

"Without any doubt I'll stick with the Yang Gate. Even if it isn't the most beneficial from the point of view of immediate utility, it is without doubt the one that will make my life easier in a future that may not be so distant." My mother nods after hearing my response, and her teasing smile transforms into a more resigned one.

"If you're so certain, then I have nothing more to say", she tells me.

"Then it's better to start wrapping up the meeting." She makes a pause in which her tone turns more serious.

"And, of course, what just took place and the Zhāohuán's current cultivation level shall never be spoken of", she adds, and the formality of using my title instead of my name clearly indicates that this last part is directed at Lingxi and Lianhua just as much as at me. At hearing my mother, all of us present nod in silence, as though sealing a pact that, in truth, none of us had any intention of breaking.

But before my mother can declare the meeting concluded, there is a question that has been wandering around my head since Lianhua brought me to the study and that, now that everything else has been settled, I want her to answer for me.

"Even so, Mother", I ask her, "how are you going to explain having emptied the Pavilion?" My mother smiles upon hearing my question, and her smile has that slightly mischievous edge she adopts when she's about to share a political maneuver she feels especially satisfied with.

"In the best possible way", she replies.

"And that is by giving no explanation." I stay looking at her, genuinely surprised, because of all the possible answers, that one had not occurred to me, and it makes me recall another conversation we had in the city of Xi'An that ended with a similar phrase, although on that occasion I was the one who made that statement.

"Why is that the best solution?" I ask her.

"Because it will cause rumors to start running through the court", my mother explains with the patience of a teacher explaining something basic to an advanced student who has not yet learned all the nuances of the game.

"And each person will have their own theory as to why I have done it, which will fill the Imperial Palace with unfounded rumors that will muddy the waters and make many people slow down their own plans, since they will not be able to be sure whether what happened today has anything to do with them or not."

I take in the explanation as I try to follow the steps my mother followed to reach that conclusion, but what I'm clear about is that the consequences are an unknown number of conspiracies slowed down by uncertainty and all attention diverted toward speculations that don't come even close to what has actually happened. And then my mother smiles openly as she looks at me with that conspiratorial smile I've seen her wear only a few times.

"And, of course, the best part of all is that none of those rumors will come even close to the truth", she adds.

"Since it is so absurd that it's impossible for anyone to think of it in the first place."