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—

The sun as just moments away from peaking out over the horizon and her body jolted upright. Her internal clock, and her cultivation, ensured that when things were normal she would always be awake and alert to catch the first rays of sunlight. Something many people didn’t know about her was that she actually liked to sleep in. Years of practice and cultivation had in some ways robbed her of that habit.

Now she woke alert. There was no grogginess or fogged mind. She was alert and ready. She could not luxuriate on the bed, allowing the softness of the pillows and the smooth sheets to lull her back to sleep. She was already on her fight by the time that niggling little betrayal of a thought whispered in her ears.

It wasn’t all bad of course. Yang tried to go to bed early when she could, getting as much sleep as possible. Yet that wasn’t the best part. As she stepped out of the window and launched herself onto the rooftop garden of the inn, she waited for the moment the sun’s light hit here.

It was a rush every time. Perhaps that’s what really broke her habit of sleeping in. The wonderful feeling of life and energy that filled her every time those first rays of sunlight hit her. It was such a shame she was not yet advanced enough in her cultivation to feel like this all the time. The later parts of the day not carrying the same renewing properties, the same meanings, and being all the weaker symbolically for it. Nor was she strong enough to treat the stars as distant, smaller suns. Focusing not on the quality from their main star, but from the quantity, the number of stars to take energy from. It was a high level technique, apparently, and one she desperately looked forward to one day.

For now though, those were hopes and dreams for the future and her cultivation required her to experience the NOW. Granted, Yang did not completely forsake her surroundings. As taboo as it would be to interrupt someone clearly cultivating idiots and enemies were depressingly common and happy to use this as a chance to cause someone else issues. Perhaps just a stray rock? Maybe a bit of timber? If Yang was too deep into her meditation she knew a bit of rain could set her back days. She’d never forget that lesson.

.....

It was early on, when she’d just started cultivating and didn’t have a proper sense of the outside world. She’d thrown herself as deeply into her cultivation as she could that day, like usual for the time, yet the first droplet of water. That single drop. The sky was not covered in rainclouds. The dew on the ground was being ignored. Yet the sky let a single drop fall upon her nose. It nearly crippled her.

That drop of water had disrupted her concentration and Yang hadn’t yet made dragging Qi through her meridians into a skill so ingrained in her body it could perform the actions by itself. That disruption caused her to lose control of all that energy. It had exploded in her meridians causing considerable damage. Xuena and another senior healer had worked on her recovery. The senior insisted it was minor damage and not to worry. Yang would later learn that was very much not true.

Xuena would take her aside and explain that she was lied to, to ensure that no heart demon formed from this mistake. Xuena however, wanted to make it very clear that had Yang had even a hair less compatibility with her cultivation technique and sunlight in general, it would have crippled her forever burning out her ability to cultivate in such a way only expensive medicine really meant for cultivators much stronger than Yang was could solve.

That was how Yang learned that pushing yourself deeper and deeper into cultivation needed to be a gradual process, and that cultivating had to be a constant job. Your body needed to remember how to move the energy all by itself so that you need not fear if you were caught out. A hard lesson, and one she did not need to learn so young. Yang did however, feel she was better for this hardship.

Once Yang felt like she’d eked out all the meaningful gains she’d be getting from the morning sun she left the inn quietly and picked up a nice cupcake from the nearby baker. It was monstrously expensive for common people, but for a cultivator it wasn’t much of a cost. Though, many would say that the cost was not in money but in reduced cultivation speed. *And I think those people are idiots. Sure impurities are an issue and mundane food is full of them...

But frankly most cultivators wouldn’t know good food if it turned around and tried to eat them instead. Always trying to squeeze as much refined Qi out of their food as they can. Letting cooks abuse the fact that for a cultivator, that rush of energy is pleasurable enough to offset the fact it’s undercooked.

Sugar is great, and while I do need to make sure I’m not eating them by the cartload, a dash of sugar for a handful of happiness is such a good trade in my book. Idiots talk about ‘stilling the mind’ and ‘becoming one with yourself on the path to immortality’ but those idiots overlook just how much a bit of joy can settle you. Not that I think it’s helping me this time. *

And it wasn’t really. Yang could feel that edge of impatience creeping in again and was thankful it had stayed quiet at least for her morning cultivation routine. It was not something that should EVER be rushed.

*Still. What am I doing here? The money could be wonderful. The auction might have ingredients we need... but of course. What does it really matter in the end? Time is what is most valuable at the moment. Xuena is fine... probably. Treating her poorly won’t help. It’s not like they need her to spill some incriminating information or betray her home. The frosty bastard could wipe it all out himself.

So why do I feel this need to rush? I bet that when we arrive, Xuena will be in a state of the art alchemy lab making pills all day at the behest of her captors. Groaning about how much it sucks to be locked up but loving every extra minute she can use high quality tools for once. Or is that just what I want to tell myself to feel better?*

Yang didn’t know. It was the fact she didn’t know that was perhaps the true thing that plagued her. She could wish, and believe and hope all she wanted that the Lord Reverend Icy Dick was doing the smart thing. Using Xuena’s talents as well as her status as a hostage. It was so much more useful long term. Xuena wouldn’t chafe under her chains as much, he’d get high quality alchemical items. But nobody ever said high level cultivators needed to be smart.

*Maybe I should go train? I haven’t been able to fight anything while traveling for once. The bandits all ran away, the fish were dealt with by Kat. The SNAKE was dealt with by Kat. If she was just another cultivator I’d certainly be feeling a lot worse about this whole arrangement. Like I was being constantly challenged.

Maybe that would help me feel less like I was taking a vacation while Xuena suffers.*

Yang mentally kicked herself for the line of thought but it was becoming such a sticky and pervasive one. So many things kept turning her mind back to the facts of life. Her best friend was not safe beside her and the only keeping her alive was a trump up cultivator with a hard on for ice attacks. Granted, Xuena was ice based as well but... no best not go there.

*Yup. I do not want to consider that at ALL. At least the great Lord Ice-In-My-Ass’ son isn’t ice aligned. That’s a small mercy, that might in truth be a much larger one then I want to contemplate.*

Yang shook her head to clear it and absorbed a bit of extra sunlight to try and help combat her dark mood. It wasn’t a real technique, just a bit of mental trickery at the moment... but Yang had hope that perhaps one day it would become something more than that. Perhaps a vain hope, but never let it be said that she was unambitious.

*Ok. So I need practice. I need both actually for practice and to get away from these darker thoughts. Now where can I find a suitably strong opponent that won’t leave me crippled? I don’t want to need any more rest or healing until we get to Xuena.*

A certain redhead Succubus popped into her mind and Yang couldn’t help but gain a wry smile. *Hmm... perhaps that’s not so bad an idea at all...*