Chapter 27: Cultivation Bombs

Chapter 27: Cultivation Bombs

“Young mistress? Please come out, the great master is starting to get concerned,” Zu Ri called from outside the chamber. The older handmaiden could’ve easily entered the chamber at any moment if she wished, something both Yan Yun and Zu Ri were aware of.

Yan Yun, buried her face in her knees, not responding as she sat in a corner in her room. Thunder crackled around her in a furious display, as Zu Ri continued to stand outside.

“It has been three days young mistress, you need to come out now,” Zu Ri spoke in a stern voice from the outside and Yan Yun further buried her face into her knees, wishing she could die to hide from the embarrassment and shame that plagued her.

The only emotion that could overcome her embarrassment, had been anger at Leiyu. She’d refused to talk to her spirit, sending the prideful little bird to her grandfather as she’d refused to cultivate or spar, spending her time huddled in a corner as she relived through her shame.

The laughter of the other boy, alongside the dumbfound look of the boy, burned itself in Yan Yun’s mind, as Lightning crackled once more, leaving burnt marks on the floor mats.

Yan Yun felt the shadows ripple in the room, as Zu Ri made her way into the room. She did not react, as she continued to stew in her corner.

She could hear her handmaiden sigh, as she walked closer. Yan Yun continued to stew in her shame, but she withdrew her Qi inwards, to not have her thunder lash out at Zu Ri.

“Young mistress can’t be staying in here all day. The great master has made plans for you and is starting to get concerned. I think we both know how the great master’s ire is,” Ru Zi spoke.

Yan Yun sat in silence for a while, unsure of what to say. She’d just made a fool of herself in front of those two disciples. The entire sect must be laughing at her by now, her name tarnished as some sort of foolish deviant girl.

“The entire sect must be calling me a fool now Zu Ri. Similar to how that boy had laughed at me. Nothing remains of my name, and grandfather would be served best if he cut ties with me,” Yan Yun spoke, feeling shame fill her words.

“Nothing has happened, young mistress. The boys haven’t spoken a word, and will not be if they know what is best for them. I can have the boys expelled from the sect. One of them is stealing low-grade herbs as it is. The other boy seems to be making simplistic pills from those to sell. Just expelling them would still be a light punishment,” Zu Ri spoke.

Her words, finally had Yan Yun raise her head. She felt her cheeks flushing as she did, yet she silently shook her head. “Don’t do that Zu Ri. The tournament will begin in a few months, and that’d come too close to breaking my oath. I can’t have my cultivation be set back so close to the tournament.”

“If the Young mistress is aware of that, then she needs to talk to Leiyu and makeup with him. Your spirit is prideful, and barring him from this courtyard has wounded his pride.”

“I don’t care. He’s a fool that only cares about how he can grow stronger, and beat other spirits and cultivators up. He’s a foolish, prideful brutish bird who doesn’t care about me and my image at all,” Yan Yun spoke, feeling anger fill her core. Thunder crackled around her, as the Qi expressed her rage with strikes of lightning.

“Young mistress is just letting her anger get the best of her. She needs to think clearly. Leiyu is a companion, your companion, and the young mistress had ignored his words often, indulging in her fantasies far too much, resulting in this,” Zu Ri spoke, her voice sympathetic yet harsh.

Yan Yun sat in silence. It stung to admit it, all the more so because she knew, Zu Ri was right. “I’ll have a message sent to ensure they don’t speak of it,” she added.

Yan Yun felt her Qi churn, her emotions mixing with turmoil. “Don’t... I’ll talk with them...” she added, receiving a silent nod from Zu Ri.

“I’ll be looking into their backgrounds, and how far this little thieving of spirit herbs goes, in that I won’t be budging young mistress,” her handmaiden spoke and Yan Yun nodded.

A couple were still just slightly toasted, and I called Labby closer. I’m sorry the basket got burnt. But this is still quite tasty. You can taste the fire essence.

I heard the equivalent of a muffled sniff come from Labby as she walked closer to the site of destruction. I handed her the toasted spirit herb as she began to nibble on it. If her eyes could go wide, I would be expecting them to be shooting open about now, as she began to munch on the leaves with renewed vigour.

I smiled, internally breathing a sigh of relief. That was a disaster averted, and possibly a new spirit herb dish to add to the recipe book. I paused for a moment, as I realised something. I didn’t remember the last time I ate food.

Going through my memories of the last week, realising it’d been well over three days since I’d had any food. A strange thing, as I hadn’t been cultivating at all to make up for food. Lu Jie had gone months on end with no food, as long as he’d cultivated, but even cultivators needed the energy to fuel their bodies. And a lot of food at that, if they didn’t cultivate at all. I’d partially been making up for it, by eating spirit herbs, yet somehow, something had changed ever since I’d formed my spirit herb garden.

I sorted the thoughts to be reviewed at a later point. Just another mystery to untangle among the many.

I hummed in thought as I looked at the burnt area on the ground. The question of how I’d be using these explosives remained. Will I be making explosives? Will they even matter against cultivators? The pills were potent enough to be functional grenades for any non-cultivators, but a mixture of a manual mentally infused trigger made it susceptible to someone else simply blowing them up on me. A safety trigger, and then added piercing chunks mixed in with an actual explosive would give me a functional and destructive firearm that would be usable by anyone, as long as they had spirit stones to use.

That is if I could figure out how to make black powder, which I had no idea how to do. But even leaving that aside, there was the ethical question of whether I should be doing this in the first place or not. The idea of giving weapons to the masses bothered and scared me a lot, and it wasn’t something I was comfortable with doing.

Inciting war was not my goal, increasing education and spreading the scientific way of thinking was. Yet, with understanding, revelations like these and more will become more and more common. If there was no one around to regulate the existence of firearms, then there was nothing to say history wouldn’t take the same path here as it did back home.

I stood silently for a while, thinking over the question. Eventually, I decided to let the decision off for a while. I’ll continue my research into the pill and potential avenues, but I wouldn’t be making working prototypes or firearms just yet. Possibly never.

I decided to lay off on any more explosion tests as the grim thoughts were laid to rest. I’d rather not traumatise Labby any further either.

Going through my mental to-do list, I arrived at the next test I’d had in mind for this trip. Walking towards the charred mark of land, I settled down crossed-legged on the floor and began to cultivate.

Time flew by in a blur, as I cycled my Qi. One cycle into another, an eternal balance. I breathed in sync with the life around me.

I opened my eyes, to find grass growing through the burnt ground. New life budding as fresh leaves began to sprout in front of my eyes.

I smiled, feeling awed at the impossible feat I was achieving so casually. Yet, I found no link to this patch of grass, the way I did to my spirit garden. I wasn’t the anchor, here, the grass around me, mundane and not a part of my own cycle.

I frowned, trying to understand what was different yet falling short. I was clearly doing something. Yet I couldn’t tell what it was.

I needed access to the second floor of the library. Perhaps even the third. My desire to learn what was different began to grow stronger as my frustration began to increase.

Sighing I got up, picking up the burnt spirit basket, with a sleeping Labby in it as I decided to make my way back.

Guess I was going on a quest to gain some sect tokens.