Jun Li hopped quickly across the uneven earth of a hoary forest, far from the borders of the Zhao Kingdom. She lacked the need for a heavy pack, but almost desired to carry something bulky, only so it might help her retain a bit more warmth in these increasingly trying climates.

  Looking up towards her Master, who strode ahead, Jun Li spoke. "It's getting cold…"

  Not slowing his pace, Zhu Enlai replied. "Yes, it is. But it's not enough, it needs to be colder if you want any chance of reaching your goal in a mere twenty years." If he was bothered by the growing cold, he didn't show it.

  "You picked up that 'Ice Lotus Scripture,' right? There are only two ways for you to learn that sort of sorcery at this point, either you'll need an extensive amount of resources at your disposal, or you'll need a training location perfectly suited to the technique." Though Jun Li couldn't see it, her master smiled brightly as he plotted out her training, eagerly disregarding common sense and concocting a regimen that could only be described as 'theoretical' by the most optimistic of Cultivators.

  "Ambient Qi will naturally gather around tall mountains. We just need to find one cold enough that ice won't melt, oh! And it has to have a waterfall too, a nice tall one!" As her master continued to rattle off the more minute criteria he was looking for, Jun Li began to feel they would be running up mountains for a long, long time.

  Unlike her master, Jun Li seemed dour, or perhaps more accurately, numb. She had no will to complain. Comfort and indulgence were far from being a priority to her now.

  If it meant obtaining the power she sought, Jun Li would deprive herself of even the most basic of human comforts.

  Only… one concern continued to plague her mind: Little Yun. Even now, the snake continued to trail along behind her.

  It keeping pace across the craggy earth was impressive, considering the beast's inability to jump across the many cracks and gaps that Jun Li navigated.

  Yet Jun Li could see that the pursuit was taxing. Little Yun hadn't eaten anything of substance for days.

  Requiring far more sleep than Jun Li or her master, Little Yun would curl up and fall dormant as soon as the two stopped moving, rousing itself to continue following the moment Zhu Enlai called for Jun Li, unable to find time to hunt for itself between rest and pursuit.

  In her pity and guilt, Jun Li had thrown Little Yun bits of cured meat from her spatial ring, even knowing it was a poor meal for a snake.

  Little Yun had grown to be somewhat important to Jun Li, and she would have preferred the young beast to stay home with her family, but even if Little Yun insisted on following her for whatever reason, she couldn't compromise her attention to take care of them.

  Either Little Yun would keep pace with Jun Li, or they wouldn't, and they would be left behind.

  Minutes of walking stretched out into hours, the silence only broken by Zhu Enlai occasionally educating his disciple, offering piecemeal guidance when her attention couldn't stray elsewhere. "The Crimson Palace stage is deeply foundational, and your efforts here will determine the potential of all your future Cultivation. Don't rush it."

  "Like the Qi Condensation realm, the Crimson Palace realm is separated into four minor stages, but unlike with Qi Condensation, these stages are not linear. In order of simplicity, they are known as Bone Forging, Muscle Refining, Viscera Tempering, and Nerve Purification."

  "If someone was called an 'Early Crimson Palace Cultivator,' that would mean they've completed one of these stages; 'Middle' would mean two, 'Late' three, and 'Peak' all four. You, on the other hand, would be considered at the 'Initial' level."

  Zhu Enlai spoke sternly for once. "You are not to leave your training place and venture into the Jianghu until you have completed one of these stages, and that won't be for quite some time. I'm not about to have my first and only disciple cripple their potential in a rush to get stronger."

  Although she spoke no affirmation, Jun Li listened with intent, eager to learn anything her experienced master was willing to share. "Ah! This looks promising…" Hearing her master exclaim, Jun Li looked up and followed his gaze, out towards the horizon.

  Whatever he saw, she couldn't. All around them were mountains of grey stone, and distant peaks capped with white. Her eyes had already grown numb to these dreary surroundings.

  "Lovely, and it didn't end up being all too far from the Zhao Kingdom. Let's go settle in for the moment." Although her master spoke lightly to Jun Li, this was a strange experience, traveling so far from the only land she had ever known, and on so little rest.

  It had unsettled her more than she expected, and she was glad that her long hours of travel were at an end.

  … … … … … …

  The deafening sound of hundreds of tonnes of water being displaced filled the air, washing over Jun Li as she looked on in awe at the absurd waterfall in front of her.

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  From so close, a primal fright welled up in Jun Li at the sound of the horrendous cacophony, one that disoriented her ability to so much as move properly. "Perfect!" Zhu Enlai spoke with a smile. "Now, let's establish some rules for your training here!"

  Beckoning Jun Li to follow him away from the deafening waterfall, Zhu Enlai spoke carefully, transmitting his words directly to Jun Li's ears through the noise, and making sure she heard everything he had to say. "I won't be able to stay here and train you every day, I'm under an obligation to finish my tenure at the Zhao Kingdom's Alchemist Association Branch after all."

  "I'll drop by every month for the first few months, then I'll increase the interval to three-month gaps between my visits, once I'm sure you've got the hang of things here. I'll bring medicinal herbs, supplies, any interesting alchemical documentation I stumble upon, and I'll even try to transcribe some of my own Martial Techniques for you to study."

  Once the pair got far enough from the waterfall that the noise was a soft hum in the background, Zhu Enlai began looking around for a place to make a home for Jun Li.

  "Where do you think would be a nice spot for a… cozy, livable cave? If you could choose?" Zhu Enlai asked his disciple casually.

  Deciding not to read too much into the odd question, Jun Li pointed out a mostly flat wall of stone, below a sheer cliff edge. "Over there would be convenient enough, I suppose. It's not too far from the waterfall, but not too close either."

  Hearing his disciple's words, Zhu Enlai nodded and stepped over to the mountain's surface. Gently tapping the stone with the back of his hands, he muttered to himself.

  "Hm… five, no, six meters deep, and a bit more than two meters wide…" Satisfied with what he felt in the stone, Zhu Enlai nodded his head. "She can expand it later if she wants."

  He took a long step back from the cliff wall and raised his fist. After a moment, Jun Li could see dense waves of heat and pressure slowly flow down from her master's arm, warping the air around it. Even from where she stood, the ambient temperature seemed to rise a few degrees.

  She looked on as, without a sound, her master's entire body flickered, a great 'snap' echoing out that caused Jun Li to flinch, before seeing the oddly underwhelming sight of her master, having moved only a step forward, his fist shallowly embedded in the stone of the cliff wall. 'Just the sound of his punch hurt my ears, and that's all it did?'

  As Zhu Enlai drew his fist from the stone wall, he fell back into a normal posture and looked on casually as the stone where his fist struck began to crumble. "Yes... that should work out well."

  As the master and disciple watched, the intensity of the stone's crumbling seemed to double every second. Within moments, the sound of the recursive force boring through the stone was so intense that Jun Li was concerned a landslide was imminent.

  After a minute had passed, the rumbling had subsided, now merely a strange whining from deep within the stone, that force had spread no more than her master intended.

  It looked as if the mountain wall had been cored like a fruit, the silhouette of a small cave emerging, with stone crumbling to gravel and pouring from the cave like pulp.

  After a few more seconds, the noise petered out, and Zhu Enlai spoke. "That should serve as a fine shelter for meditation. Feel free to clear the rubble at your own pace."

  When he noticed how Jun Li's interested gaze was fixed on the new cave, he spoke again. "Ah, yes. When I mentioned my intent to transcribe some of my own Martial Techniques, I did have that Technique in mind. Fist Techniques are my specialty when it comes to combat."

  Jun Li felt the weight of her impending curriculum grow with each sentence her master uttered, and couldn't help but smile nervously. "With all of these secondary aspects to study, I wonder how much it will delay my Cultivation…"

  Zhu Enlai perked up when he heard Jun Li's words. "Oh, don't bother thinking about it. Too many people think you can get by with just a strong Cultivation."

  Zhu Enlai paused for a moment, formulating his thoughts into words. "Let me just say… I'd rather fight someone two stages above me that's done nothing but cultivate for a century than fight someone on my stage that's done nothing but refine their Martial Techniques for a decade."

  "It won't take a decade." An odd change in Jun Li's tone caught Zhu Enlai's attention. "Oh?" For the first time in quite a while, Jun Li felt an eagerness well up within her.

  Despite the overwhelming obligations she had placed upon herself, Jun Li felt a unique sense of freedom being this detached from her life up until now.

  "Bring out every technique that could possibly be of value, within just a few years, I'll master everything you can throw at me, from alchemy to Martial Techniques, Sorcery, and even the etiquette of the Jianghu." Before Zhu Enlai's eyes, Jun Li visibly relaxed.

  Her words would have seemed a silly boast if they came from any other young Cultivator, but Zhu Enlai couldn't help but believe in his strange disciple.

  "Then, I won't go easy on you!" Zhu Enlai focused on his Spatial Ring, pulling a large barrel out and onto the snow, alongside a smaller crate. "The barrel contains food pellets, easily enough to last you until I return. And that crate contains a collection of Medicinal Herbs. Refine them into at least seven different types of pills or elixirs before I return next month."

  "I'll seek out an appropriate Cultivation Method for you before I return next. In the meantime, study what you have on hand. I won't let you get away with doing the bare minimum!" Zhu Enlai turned to leave quickly, feeling now that his disciple needed no encouragement.

  "Wait…" Jun Li called out with a serious expression. "When you bring back Medicinal Herbs, try to get something that's supposed to affect the soul, or the spirit?"

  With an expression of equal curiosity and distaste, she spoke quietly. "That… thing inside me… I'm not just going to let it sit there, I'll keep experimenting with it until there's no question left unanswered."

  Zhu Enlai was pleased to see his disciple's thinking, but was equally concerned, remembering that baleful presence inside Jun Li with a visceral lucidity. "...Well… I'll see what I can do."

  'You are right to desire understanding, Jun Li… but it's no simple thing you're prodding at.' Taking a few steps away, Zhu Enlai vanished from Jun Li's sight, leaving her to begin her solitary training. 'I pray I can be there when you start peeling back the veil, to ensure that your need for understanding doesn't drive you to ruin.'