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Feng Yu turned and waved before disappearing down the winding mountain path. Xiulan squeezed Mei Chen’s cold hand and studied the steep cliff face before them.

"Mei, we’re going down the hard way." Xiulan gestured toward the sheer drop. "Can you float?"

Mei Chen tilted her head, dark eyes scanning the rocky descent. "Yes?"

"Great." Xiulan released Mei Chen’s hand and stepped to the cliff’s edge. "I’ll go first—follow when it’s safe."

The first outcropping jutted from the cliff face twenty feet below. Xiulan gathered qi in her legs and leapt. Her boots struck solid rock with a satisfying crunch. A second ledge beckoned another fifteen feet down. She pushed off again, landing in a crouch. Three more precise jumps brought her to a wider shelf.

Xiulan glanced up to check on Mei Chen—and nearly lost her balance. The ’wrathful spirit’ hovered just overhead, completely inverted.

Mei Chen’s brown ponytail dangled toward the ground as she gaped at Xiulan. "Xiulan, be careful! You could fall!"

A weak laugh escaped Xiulan’s throat. "You’ll catch me if I do."

Determination transformed Mei Chen’s features. She held out her clenched fists and nodded firmly. "Yes."

Xiulan chuckled and continued her descent through a cluster of cypress and pine trees. The slope gradually leveled out, and Mei Chen touched down to walk beside her.

"Where are we going?" Mei Chen kicked at loose stones. "Why didn’t we stay on the road with Miss Feng?"

"We’re looking for a special spot." Xiulan traced the flow of ambient qi through the mountainside. "Somewhere with strong spiritual energy."

Feng Yu had extracted the location from Ren Chun—a rare qi-rich spot where he achieved his breakthrough.

Xiulan scanned the dense forest ahead. Blackmere suffered from spiritual drought, making cultivation spots as rare as diamonds in mud. The alternative meant venturing into monster-infested wilderness beyond the county borders.

She glanced at Mei Chen. No way would she risk that right now.

Still, she needed to find the place. Her cultivation now lagged behind both Ren Chun and Feng Yu. The golden pill’s power helped, but she refused to fall behind so badly.

The forest thickened as they approached the area between manor and city, closer to where mist rose from the distant swamps. Untamed wilderness stretched in every direction.

Mei Chen sniffed the air. "I don’t smell anything special."

"Keep trying as we walk." Xiulan stepped over a fallen log. "Your senses might detect it before we get there."

"Yes!" Mei Chen straightened and lifted her nose higher, determination etched across her pale features.

Xiulan quickened her pace through the dense forest. Behind her, Mei Chen showed off her new supernatural agility—floating over fallen logs and darting between trees. Her delighted laughter echoed through the branches.

The sun climbed higher as they pressed deeper. Sweat dampened Xiulan’s robes while she maintained her enhanced speed for hours, scaling small ridges and navigating around thorny thickets.

"Xiulan! Xiulan!" Mei Chen bounced in the air. "I can smell it!"

Xiulan halted mid-stride. "What do you smell?"

"The forest scent grows thicker there." Mei Chen pointed northeast. "Different from everywhere else."

Following Mei Chen’s direction, Xiulan pressed forward until the ambient qi density shifted. The spiritual energy thickened like honey in her meridians with an entirely new resonance. Perfect.

A small clearing opened before them, ancient stones arranged in a perfect circle amid a small break in the forest canopy.

"I need to refine my muscles like Feng Yu explained." Xiulan turned to Mei Chen. "It might take a while and... I’ll probably smell terrible. Could you patrol the area and keep watch?"

"Stinky?" Mei Chen tilted her head.

Xiulan reached out and flicked Mei Chen’s nose playfully. Mei Chen yelped and rubbed her nose.

"Yeah, but not as bad as the first time. Though with your sensitive nose it might be... worse," Xiulan said.

"I’ll guard you while you do it!" Mei Chen declared.

Xiulan nodded and then began removing her gear and outer robes.

"Miss Xiulan, you’re getting naked!" Mei Chen squeaked and spun around.

"Yes." Xiulan mimicked Mei Chen’s tone with a laugh.

Mei Chen moved to a safe distance and floated up to a tree branch to sit and watch.

Xiulan finished disrobing completely, leaving nothing on to be ruined by whatever left her body. She settled at the center of the stone circle in a meditative lotus pose.

The air felt different, charged with potent qi that pulsed through her meridians. Thankfully any remnants from Ren Chun’s breakthrough a few days earlier was completely absent. The qi flows likely dissolved any residual filth quickly, unlike the gunk that had marred her courtyard back at the manor.

She closed her eyes and focused inward. Muscle reinforcement, including my regular organs . The first step in the physical aspects of body refinement.

She visualized her meridians, tracing their paths through her body. Over time, she had roughly mapped out which meridians corresponded to which muscles.

Breathing deeply, she extended her qi thread through as many meridians as possible. She’d doubled the number of nodes she could reach simultaneously, now managing sixty to seventy at once.

That was nowhere near what she had seen Feng Yu perform with her muddied—well, previously muddied—meridians.

The task before her was deceptively simple: thread qi through every muscle in her body, reinforcing the tissue while flushing away impurities. It was grueling, yes, but still the ’easiest’ part of body refinement. The stages ahead—skin tempering and bone reinforcement—would only grow harder.

The last stage, she knew, would almost certainly require specialized alchemical drugs or a pain tolerance bordering on the inhuman. Thankfully, she didn’t have to worry about that at the moment.

Xiulan took a steadying breath. She would approach this in ten stages, one part of her body at a time. Starting with her feet and lower legs was the most logical choice. A strong foundation was essential, both for cultivation and for life.

Or well… if she fucked it up, she wouldn’t be brain dead, just crippled.

Her qi began to flow. Slowly, she directed it into her feet, coaxing the energy to spread through the muscles of her soles and arches, ensuring the qi reached every part. She felt resistance, the impurities clinging stubbornly to the tissues, but she persisted.

There was a subtle flush as the process finished. She moved on to her calves, focusing on the main muscles in the lower legs. Black droplets of impurity beaded on her skin, rolling down to join the growing puddle beneath her. The process burned—not with fire, but with the deep ache of transformation as qi flowed smoothly through the muscles.

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She progressed methodically upward. Thighs tensed and released as qi threaded through the large muscles at the front and back of her thighs, ensuring strength and stability. Her core muscles trembled as the energy suffused her abdomen, targeting her stomach, liver, intestines, and other lower organs, purging toxins from them and reinforcing her center.

Each group required precise control to avoid damaging the tissues while expelling accumulated impurities.

Sweat mingled with the dark discharge as she worked through her torso. The qi coursed through her chest and back, strengthening her lungs and heart, which pulsed rhythmically with the steady flow of energy. It surged through the rest of her internal organs like her kidneys, flushing toxins from the deepest parts of her being.

Her arms shook as she threaded energy through the muscles of her upper arms, forearms, and shoulders. By the time she reached her neck, every movement felt like pushing through mud. She focused on the muscles supporting her head, ensuring no tension or toxins remained.

A final push cleared the last impurities from her face, including the muscles used for expression and the organs of her senses, leaving her vision clearer and her mind unburdened. Her brain came last, and with it came a sudden release of tension and exhausiton.

Shit. She should have started there first…

Everything suddenly felt much more clear after the slog.

Opening her eyes, Xiulan looked up. The sun had shifted position, they were well within the later half of the day. She stood up and took a deep breath and released it, the qi circulation rushing stronger than she had ever felt before.

It felt like her new lungs could pull in a substantially larger amount of qi with each breath.

Fuck why hadn’t she pushed toward doing this sooner?

Well… the place of power had not been handy, but she could have found one so that excuse felt weak. It really had just been that she’d failed to practice her qi thread capability then…

Ugh.

She blinked and surveyed her surroundings. A pool of black ichor stained the stone beneath her, giving off a rancid odor. Ick.

Looking up, she spotted Mei Chen perched at the very top of a towering pine. The girl pinched her nose dramatically while peering down at Xiulan.

"You really do stink!" Mei Chen called from her safe distance.

Xiulan flexed her fingers as they walked toward Blackmere City. Each movement felt amplified, precise—almost dangerous. She misjudged her strength twice, snapping small branches she meant to push aside.

It was getting late when they finally arrived. Not much time to take care of the rest of the tasks she had planned for the day. At least, not with the help of the sun.

Her plans couldn’t wait. People were going to have to put up with a long work day this time.

The city’s muted atmosphere greeted them at the gates. Mei Chen stayed close, occasionally sniffing the air and pointing out different scents with childlike enthusiasm.

The Treasure Pavilion’s ornate entrance came into view. Brothers Mo and Long stood at their usual posts, maintaining their vigilant watch.

"Miss Lin." Brother Mo executed a formal martial salute.

Brother Long followed suit, though his eyes tracking Mei Chen’s presence. "Welcome back."

Inside the courtyard, Ming Lihua emerged from the main pavilion’s entrance hall, her purple robes catching the evening light. "Ah, Miss Lin. I hope your trip proved fruitful?"

"It did." Xiulan placed a hand on Mei Chen’s shoulder. "Could you watch over Mei Chen while I attend to some business in the city?"

Mei Chen’s lips curved into a pout. "I want to go with you."

"I know." Xiulan gave her a squeeze around the shoulders. "But I need to speak with some military officials. How about we play Go tonight before bed?"

Mei Chen’s face brightened. "Promise?"

"Promise. I’ll be back before nightfall."

Ming Lihua beckoned to Mei Chen. "Come. I have some interesting artifacts you might enjoy examining."

Xiulan watched Mei Chen follow Ming inside, then turned toward the merchant district. She had scattered military officials to track down.

The main watch building buzzed with disorganized activity. Junior soldiers rushed past each other without purpose or direction. Papers scattered across desks, and half-eaten meals sat abandoned.

"Where’s the Captain?" Xiulan grabbed a passing soldier’s sleeve.

"Don’t know, Miss. Haven’t seen him since yesterday."

Three more soldiers gave similar answers. At the captain’s desk, Xiulan rifled through scattered reports. A hastily scrawled note caught her attention—orders for immediate transfer to a distant village, signed by the Captain himself.

Coward.

A broad-shouldered sergeant hustled past, barking orders at two recruits. Xiulan stepped into his path. "Sergeant. Your name?"

"Liu Bao, Miss?" He straightened his uniform.

"Miss Lin Xiulan. Your lord’s sister. Congratulations on your promotion to Acting Captain, Liu Bao."

His weathered face paled. "But Miss Lin, I’m just a commoner. I can’t—"

"You can and will. Round up every soldier in the city. Appoint new unit leaders from your most capable men. I want everyone assembled at the government building within four hours."

"The men won’t listen to a commoner’s orders."

Xiulan grabbed Liu Bao’s arm and pulled him toward the officer’s quarters. Dust coated the abandoned room’s surfaces—papers scattered across desks, half-empty tea cups growing mold. She yanked open drawers until the glint of brass caught her eye.

"Here." Xiulan pressed the officer’s seal into Liu Bao’s calloused palm. "Now it’s official. Your second task: locate Instructor Han Shun and gather information about our family’s soldiers."

Liu Bao studied the seal. "Some Lin guards integrated with city patrols after the attack. The rest..." He shrugged.

"What a mess." Xiulan pinched the bridge of her nose. "Listen carefully. Gather everyone—all one thousand guards—tonight. Anyone who refuses faces arrest, regardless of rank. They’ll hear a decree from me."

"Yes, Miss Lin." Liu Bao straightened his spine and hurried out.

Good. Xiulan hurried out of the building. She had the hard part to take care of now.

The city magistrate’s building came into view as Xiulan strode through Blackmere’s streets. The doors were abandoned. She pushed them open and froze. The chaos inside surpassed even the watch building’s disorder.

Papers littered the inner courtyard. Inside, overturned desks and empty wine bottles painted a picture of abandonment and chaos. The scent of spilled ink and stale alcohol permeated the air.

How many days had it taken to devolve into absolute anarchy and utter abandonment of their duties?

The two assassin cultivators had truly destroyed all morale and discipline…

A snore drew Xiulan’s attention to a portly official sprawled across three cushions. She grabbed his collar and yanked him upright. "Wake up!"

The man’s bleary eyes snapped open. "Wha—"

She released him and stormed through the building. Empty offices. Scattered documents. A trail of destruction that spoke of hasty looting rather than organized evacuation.

A flash of movement caught her eye—another official trying to slip out a side door. Xiulan crossed the room in three strides and seized his arm. "Get everyone. Now."

"But—"

"Now!"

Twenty minutes later, two dozen trembling officials lined up before her. There should have been at least forty. Their wrinkled robes and unwashed faces betrayed days of neglect.

"Pathetic." Xiulan paced before them. "You abandoned your posts when the city needed you most."

Several shuffled their feet. One stared at the floor.

"Tell your missing colleagues they have until tomorrow to resume their duties. After that, they’ll be branded criminals." She stopped pacing. "Spread the word."

She stopped and looked at them, her gaze probing. "Who’s the highest-ranking official present?"

Silence answered.

"Dead or fled, Miss Lin," someone mumbled.

Xiulan pointed at a middle-aged man with ink-stained fingers. "You. Congratulations on your promotion."

The man stammered. "But I just handle tax records—"

"Not anymore. Listen carefully: Stock the granaries. Check the fire-fighting equipment. Fill every cistern. Keep the streets clear. These are the priorities to be taken care of immediately."

She swept her gaze across the group. "Tomorrow, we begin the draft. Any official who fails their duties goes first on the list."

The assembled bureaucrats straightened their spines and bowed. "Yes, Miss Lin!"