Happy April everyone! This chapter ended up taking a good bit longer to write/edit than I would have liked, but I think I'm pretty happy with how it turned out! As usual, would love to see what y'all think!
The kitchen was silent but for the soft pad of footsteps and the whisper of a brush across paper. From the corner he’d eventually settled into, Calvin watched curiously as Wallis paced around the room, his agitation written in every stiff step and jerky motion, while Lulu sat hunched over a page of notes idly chewing on the end of the cheap brush he’d given her, her expression distant.
It was an interesting dichotomy. Most of the time, Wallis was the calm, immobile thinker while Lulu was prone to movement, aggression, and agitation. Typically he took the forefront when interacting with others, negotiating deals, and making plans. However in matters of cultivation, it was Lulu who was the more talented and knowledgeable. It was rare to see her so focused without a weapon in her hand, and Calvin was reminded that, though her star had waned somewhat in recent years, his formerly-senior sister had once been considered one of the most talented disciples in the outer sect, her entry into the top ten lists an inevitability.
Lulu shifted, tilting her head to the side and making another mark in her notes before setting the brush aside. Leaning forward, she took another look at the manual Calvin had presented to his friends, her finger, held just above the page without touching it, tracing the path of a spiraling qi channel. Her finger stopped and she sat unmoving for nearly a whole minute, lost in thought, then sat back and brushed a few strands of hair away from her face.
She checked her notes one last time, then methodically cleaned the tip of her brush with a technique and recapped the inkwell she’d been using. “We’re going to need uprooting pills,” she announced. “At least three for me, maybe four. Half again as many for Wallis.”
Wallis stopped practically mid-step, glancing at Calvin for a single moment before turning to his dao companion. Their eyes met and a whole conversation seemed to pass between them in the space of a moment. It was especially impressive because he didn’t think either of them knew a mental communication technique usable without a Core realm cultivator’s spiritual sense to provide a conduit. There were certainly some benefits to a relationship as close as theirs.
Lulu rolled her eyes and slumped back, crossing her arms under her chest as she regarded her partner. “If we can’t trust Calvin, who the fuck can we?” she demanded more than asked. She jabbed her finger towards the manual. “You know as well as I do that this thing is worth more than every point and treasure we’ve earned since we joined the sect. And he’s just letting us look at it! Just like that!”
She stood up suddenly, her chair sliding back across the floor and nearly toppling from the force of her ascent. “Fuck!” she swore, her voice echoing loudly in the small kitchen. “I thought I knew what I was doing! I thought I had a good grasp of this shit. If a fucking privileged child can figure out how to arrange her dantian, then so could I! But I was just banging sticks and stones together and calling myself a master refiner!”
Wallis tried to cut in. “Lulu, the Foundations you designed for us are more than just adequate. You’ve proven that a dozen times over, matching blows with––“
She cursed violently, brandishing her arms wildly. “Wallis. Wallis. Wallis! You know we’d have been lucky to ever break through to the Core realm. If I’m right, this Foundation is stable enough to support us to the peak of the Soul realm.”
Wallis blanched, turning to stare at the page on the table with new eyes, and Lulu turned in a circle, hands twitching at her sides. She went to kick the wall, caught herself before she could destroy Calvin’s kitchen, and instead paced back and forth like a caged tiger. She was breathing heavily, muttering words Calvin couldn’t quite catch under her breath, and the qi in the air around her churned like smoke trapped in a hurricane’s winds. Wallis watched her helplessly, hands clenched into fists at his sides.
She stopped as abruptly as she’d started, sinking into the chair Wallis had previously occupied, sitting backwards so she could rest her chin on the crest rail. She looked exhausted. “We’re going to need help with this, Wals,” she whispered. “Maybe if it was just me I could figure things out, but I have no idea how any of this is going to interact with the Hidden Sword, Open Grotto. And who the fuck else are we going to ask? Kid’s a genius. Even with a manual, he opened six dantian and fifteen meridians in what, five years? Less? That’s insane.”
Calvin shifted awkwardly in place. Thankfully, his friends were much too busy staring at each other to notice. Was that the name of the dual cultivation method they practiced?
Lulu continued, “I wouldn’t trust anyone else short of an elder to help us figure out how to adjust our Foundations, and there’s no way we could afford an elder. Fuck, we can’t even really afford Calvin.”
Calvin wasn’t entirely sure what exactly Lulu thought they’d need help with, but he’d already been fully prepared to help his friends study the Foundation manual and its associated technique. This seemed like little more than an extension of that; another step towards paying them back for the treasure he’d claimed during their mission. “I’d be happy to help if you think you need it.”
Lulu groaned, and Wallis stepped up beside her just in time for her to burry her face in his chest. “Damn it, Calvin. Why are you like this…” she whined. “I’m such a total bitch to you half the time, and you’re always so fucking nice!”
Wallis wrapped an arm around her shoulders and half-turned to Calvin. “While I wouldn’t put it in quite such terms, I must agree with Lulu. You have been eminently generous with us. This…we can’t accept this, Calvin. We––“
Lulu’s hand shot up, clamping over Wallis’s mouth. “Yes we absolutely can,” she blurted out, as though afraid Calvin might actually listen to him. “Your generosity knows no bounds, senior brother Calvin.”
Calvin shrugged. “It’s the least I can do. I told you guys I’d pay you back. Swore it on the heavens.”
Lulu laughed hysterically and Wallis looked like he’d been hit over the head. Calvin could guess what they were thinking, but how could he explain just how valuable that innocuous metal cylinder they’d found might turn out to be when he didn’t truly know himself? He just had to make his best guess.
“You guys have done a lot for me,” he tried. “Of course I’m happy to help you out when you need it.”
Lulu leaned back, an exasperated expression on her face as she craned her neck to look up at Wallis. “You know,” she said evenly, utterly ignoring Calvin’s words, “I think I finally understand what Miss Ladyness sees in him. You never gave me any courting gifts half this good.”
Wallis shrugged. “The pleasure of my company?” he tried.
Lulu rolled her eyes, but she did lean her head back against his chest. “Hey Calvin,” she joked, “when you’re a high and mighty Core disciple, do you think you could find a spot in your palace for a couple of chumps like us? I’m not much of a cook, but—“
“Of course.” What kind of a question was that?
Her voice turned serious. “So, before this doofus tries to refuse again, what are your terms?”
“Um,” Calvin nervously licked his lips. In hindsight, that was something he probably should have thought about more seriously. The Sect used Imperial Contracts to protect its techniques––he’d had to sign three just the previous day. The technique did not actually prevent him from sharing the techniques he’d taken from the repository, but it would alert the Sect if he tried to do so. Then they could punish him at their leisure. He most certainly did not have access to such a technique.
“Just, uh, don’t spread it around, please?” It wouldn’t actually be too bad if the technique did spread––it wasn’t actually the Foundation he practiced, so studying it for weaknesses would serve little purpose––but it would be extremely inconvenient if people decided he must have other treasures lying around.
Lulu covered her eyes with her hand. “Calvin…”
Was that too much? Maybe it was. Maybe they didn’t want to spend their whole lives within the Eight Peaks sect, even if they advanced to the Inner or Core sect. Perhaps they’d like to join a lesser sect, start one of their own, or even just pass their techniques down to their children. A Foundation like the All-Seeing Pillar could offer them a great deal of opportunities. “If you do really need to share it with someone, I’d prefer if you didn’t tell them who you got it from, at least.”
Wallis pinched the bridge of his nose and echoed his dao companion. “Calvin…”
Feeling unbearably awkward, Calvin decided to change the subject. “You still haven’t even looked at the back! The Foundation comes with a pretty good, super compatible sensory technique! I know a Foundation specialized in sensory techniques isn’t exactly what you’d prefer Lulu, but like you said, it’s better than nothing, right?”
Lulu and Wallis shared a long look, then Lulu turned away, rubbing her eyes with her fists. She really did look quite tired. Between their spars this morning, her activities with Wallis, and her usual training, she was probably exhausted. Calvin decided to make himself useful. “Here, you guys look at that, and I’ll make us some more tea. Then we can talk details. How does that sound?”
“Tea…tea would be good,” Wallis agreed.
It was late evening by the time Calvin finally saw Lulu and Wallis off, and he felt utterly drained. Sometimes talking to people was easy, like the apology dinner he’d shared with Gwen or chatting with Lulu and Wallis during their travel back to the Sect. Other times it was worse than carving up his own spirit, a constant balancing act that left him feeling exhausted. This evening—like his most recent meeting with Ariadne—certainly fell into the latter category.
Or course it hadn’t been all bad. After they’d gotten past some of the initial awkwardness, the discussion had turned primarily to matters of cultivation. Namely, a method by which to convert their makeshift Foundations into something compatible with the manual he’d gifted them without crippling their spirits. Not an easy task by any means, but theoretically manageable.
Whereas he had advanced to the Foundation realm with a specific plan to work towards, neither Lulu nor Wallis had had that luxury. They’d had to figure things out as they went, attempting to piece together a stable Foundation from scraps and clues. They’d known that it was possible to advance with a three-three Foundation––three qi nodes connected into a makeshift triangle by three qi channels––and had a very limited understanding of what it meant for a Foundation to be stable. They’d also known that to some extent, more qi nodes meant more power and more channels meant more flexibility in wielding that power, but that the spirit could only sustain so much strain.
Given that starting point, what they’d accomplished was genuinely impressive. Lulu had taken the time to walk him through their process and goals, sketching out her current Foundation, how she’d reached that point, and her former plans for how to continue forward, and she’d only made a small number of mistakes. It was hard to say for sure––unfortunately the Scroll did not consider Lulu’s scrawled notes to be an assessable cultivation manual, he’d checked––but he was pretty sure her path would have eventually resulted in a Foundation capable of supporting her cultivation at least into the late stages of the Core realm and perhaps further beyond.
Her current Foundation included five qi nodes and eight channels, the majority of which thankfully overlapped with the requirements of the All-Seeing Pillar. Her heart, stomach, tongue, and genital qi nodes would not require any serious adjustment, nor would most of the channels connecting them. A few channels would need to be rerouted or replaced entirely, but that was not impossible––simply extremely painful and somewhat difficult. The real problem would be the node she’d formed in her liver, which would need to be either fully excised and replaced or moved. The first was an extremely dangerous, potentially crippling options that would severely weaken Lulu’s spirit in the short term. The second was much more difficult, but less dangerous overall, especially with the aid of uprooting pills.
Wallis’s situation was somewhat more complicated. He currently had one fewer channel formed than Lulu did, which was one less channel that would need to be removed, healed over, and reformed. However his fifth qi node was a second heart node, which introduced a whole new layer of issues. Removing that node would almost inevitably cause serious damage to his heart, a potentially lethal or crippling injury. Cultivators of their strength could survive without a liver for a few weeks, but the heart was a rather more essential organ. Uprooting that node would also potentially damage the other heart node beside it, and that could permanently cripple his spirit.
It was definitely not going to be cheap transition. The sect sold uprooting pills for approximately a hundred points each––not cheap, but manageable––but the medicines the two would need to survive the process were even more expensive. Furthermore, the two had just spent the vast majority of their combined contribution points, including everything they’d earned during this past mission, so it was going to be some time before they could truly go through with it.
That was not to say that the manual wasn’t already quite useful. It had apparently included several details on channel creation that neither of them had ever come across before, and now they could move forward already knowing how to arrange their Foundations. They’d have to modify the ordering somewhat––the stomach was meant to be the second to last node formed, and several of their existing channels were similarly ones that would only make things more difficult in the short term––but overall they were certainly better off with it than without.
An additional layer of complexity came from the dual cultivation method that Lulu and Wallis practiced together, Hidden Sword, Open Grotto. They hadn’t shared the method in its entirety just yet since they didn’t carry it on them, but apparently it was something that Wallis had discovered in a crumbling ruin, and Calvin was very interested in taking a look at that manual. Even if he didn’t necessarily intend to ever engage in dual cultivation himself, his knowledge of how such techniques functioned was extremely limited and who knew what sort of secrets he could discover by examining it! He was also curious of what quality level the Scroll would assess the method to be. The dual cultivation method available for purchase in the archive was of Wretched quality, and cost an arm and a leg, but what he’d heard so far made him think their’s was a big step up.
Any changes made to the pair’s Foundations would have to be done in such a way that they remained compatible with the method’s requirements. Lulu didn’t think that would be an issue––the All-Seeing Pillar included qi nodes in both the tongue and genitals––but it was something to keep in mind.
Those discussions had been interesting and engaging. What had been a lot less pleasant was dodging around the occasional questions Lulu and Wallis had asked throughout the night. They hadn’t pressed him on how he’d acquired the manual, nor just about anything else he’d been reluctant to address, but each question had felt like an accusation and each non-answer a thorn in his side.
He hadn’t thought much of it in the past, but the most damning issue was his general knowledge of the mechanics of the Foundation realm, something he’d learned primarily from the Scroll’s knowledge tokens. Before, he hadn’t truly realized how little information his peers were working with. It was a miracle that anyone managed to make it to the Core realm from the Outer sect––excluding those who’d inherited Foundations from outside the sect––and no wonder that so many people crippled themselves. Lulu hadn’t even been aware it was possible to form a qi channel that connected a node to itself, a crucial balancing element without which he doubted it would be possible to create a Foundation nearing the quality of his Nine Gates foundation.
And he had absolutely no good way of justifying some of that knowledge. It certainly wasn’t something he’d received within the sect, and there was only so much that could be gleaned from the manual he’d shared. They hadn’t said anything, but they hadn’t needed to. They knew he was hiding things, and it felt like it would only be a matter of time before they decided to push him for answers he wasn’t willing to provide.
He watched the pair’s back’s recede down the path away from his home, then resolutely shut the door. Leaning heavily against the wooden barrier, he breathed slowly and evenly until the meditative rhythm calmed his racing thoughts. He had to think of things objectively.
That…could have gone worse. A lot worse. They’d taken it well. Hadn’t been resentful. Had been grateful for the opportunity Calvin offered them. Almost too grateful. Wallis had tried to refuse the gift three times, much to Lulu’s consternation. They’d shared a lot of their own secrets with him, details about their Foundations and dual cultivation that they’d never spoken of except with one another.
That meant something.
Calvin sighed deeply. Well. What was done was done. Hopefully he’d someday be able to look back on this day as an unmitigated success. For now however…
He only had a few days left before his duel. He’d already put things off longer than he’d have liked. If he wanted to have time to get used to things, it was finally time to reintegrate his attunement into his Foundation.
He couldn’t wait.