Drawing in Qi to Temper the Body

[The aptitude of a crippled spirit root really was pitifully poor.]

[You sat for two hours until your legs went numb, yet still could not sense where the spiritual energy mentioned in the Qi Guiding Formula was.]

[But you were happy. Just a few hours ago, you had still been a mortal incapable of cultivation, yet now you had begun trying to draw in qi to temper your body.]

[Only when the rooster crowed did you lie back down, close your eyes, and doze for a while.]

[Everything that morning was the same as in the previous simulation, except that you had been trembling with fear then, whereas now you were much more composed.]

[After watching the matron leave, you seriously considered what you should do in this simulation.]

[Although you now had a spirit root, your aptitude was poor, and you had no cultivation.]

[Besides, you were a little maid who had been unknown for eight years. Suddenly stepping forward and saying you had a spirit root would seem strange in every way, not to mention that some of the young masters and mistresses in the manor had no spirit roots themselves.]

[What right did a little maid like you have to possess something even your masters lacked?]

[You realized something: your spirit root was indeed precious to you, but exposing it before you could protect yourself would be no different from a child carrying gold through a bustling market.]

[When that happened, forget being taken in and nurtured-you would count as having a fate tough enough to withstand anything if those masters did not kill you.]

[This path would not work.]

[That left only one path: escape the Marquis's Household and, preferably, join an immortal sect afterward.]

[Your aptitude was too poor, and your internal cultivation method and external techniques were too poor as well. If you simply buried your head in arduous cultivation, your achievements in this lifetime would be very limited. But as long as you joined an immortal sect, you could find a reliable channel for obtaining cultivation methods. With a little more luck, you might even meet a good master, and you would no longer have to cultivate blindly in the dark!]

[In your view, this was the best shortcut currently within your reach.]

[But how to escape the Marquis's Household was a problem.]

[Time waited for no one. The sooner you got out, the younger you would be, and the greater your chances of catching an immortal sect's eye.]

[Secretly climb over the wall? An expert at the Houtian Fourth Stage stood guard in the Marquis's Household. A novice like you, who had only just touched the threshold of cultivation, would meet certain death if discovered.]

[Beg the matron to let you leave? What a joke. Although the matron was a mortal, after eight slaps, even if you were Thick-Skinned, you would still have to pretend it hurt like death.]

[You sighed and decided to lie low in the manor while cultivating, watching how things developed and looking for a chance to escape as soon as possible.]

[Or...]

[With your memories of the first simulation, you believed that once you had acknowledged the matron as your godmother, she absolutely would not stop you if you told her you had a spirit root and wanted to leave to join an immortal sect and cultivate.]

[You could even escape the manor directly without relying on the matron, provided your cultivation rose high enough.]

[The more you thought about it, the more optimistic you became, feeling that this simulation was completely different from the last.]

[Three years later.]

[You faced reality.]

[Just where was it different? You were truly at your wits' end. A crippled spirit root really was garbage. For two whole years, every single day, you wondered what exactly you had been so happy about on your first day of cultivation.]

[It was just ordinary spiritual-energy body tempering, yet you had spent two years tempering yourself and still had not succeeded!]

[You chopped vegetables and washed dishes in the kitchen during the day, then returned to your room to sit cross-legged in meditation at night. You did not even dare sleep much, afraid of wasting time you could spend cultivating.]

[And the result?]

[You remembered what Liu Daye had said in the first simulation: "People with crippled spirit roots are just poor souls who have spirit roots but no aptitude. They're a little better than us martial artists, but only by so much."]

[You had refused to accept it then, thinking that a spirit root was still a spirit root. However bad it was, how bad could it possibly be?]

[Now you knew.]

[It could.]

[It really could.]

[You took a deep breath and told yourself not to get angry, not to get angry. As long as you could cultivate, that was enough. Didn't poor aptitude just mean you needed time? It did not matter. You had the simulator; time was what you had most.]

[But these two years had not been entirely fruitless. Through your efforts, the matron had successfully acknowledged you as her goddaughter.]

[Worried that the bond between you was not deep enough, you had kept your spirit root a secret all along, just to be safe.]

[But unlike in the first simulation, you worked harder than everyone else and spoke more sweetly too. Whenever the matron had a headache or fever, you cared for her even more attentively than a biological daughter would. With perfect naturalness, the look in the matron's eyes when she saw you changed from "This girl is quite clever" at the beginning to "This girl is my own daughter."]

[In the fourth year, you were nineteen.]

[You finally succeeded in tempering your body with spiritual energy, officially entering the Houtian First Layer and becoming a glorious Houtian martial artist.]

[You were so excited that you nearly cried!]

[As it happened, the matron came to see you that day, bringing you a new pair of padded shoes she had made.]

[When you opened the door, you had not yet had time to wipe the smile off your face. The matron paused. "What has you so happy today?"]

[You opened your mouth and ultimately chose to tell her the truth.]

[Afraid the matron would not believe you, you also smashed a brick in the room with your palm right in front of her.]

[Although you were already a Houtian martial artist, you were still uneasy, afraid the matron would blame you for hiding it, afraid she would think you were too scheming, afraid she would turn around and leave.]

[But then...]

["Good!" After a moment's stunned silence, the matron simply slapped her thigh, her eyes shining even brighter than yours.]

["Good! Good! Good!" She said it three times in a row, clutching your hand, her fingers trembling with excitement. "I knew it! I knew it all along! Those other maids all sniveled and cried after a slap from me, but my daughter was different. Never mind not making a sound-your face didn't even swell. You were surely destined for great things!"]

[You: "..."]

[For a moment, you did not know how to respond, but the matron clearly did not care about such trifling details.]

[The matron had been delighted at first, but as she spoke, she grew worried again. "Having a spirit root is a tremendous blessing. I've lived to this ripe old age-what haven't I seen? Those immortals from the immortal sects fly through the heavens and burrow through the earth, living forever without growing old. What an extraordinary blessing that is! But you were right to be cautious. Here in the marquis's manor, unless you had a spirit root from the very beginning, otherwise..."]

[She did not finish, but you understood it all.]

[You were just about to say something to reassure the matron, but she waved a hand, indicating that you need not say anything more.]

[She pushed the padded shoes she had made herself into your arms and declared, "Just wait without worrying. Within a month, I'll sort everything out for you and send you out of the manor! Once you're out, your godmother won't be able to help you anymore. I don't ask that you achieve anything great, only that you stay safe and sound and live well."]

[You froze.]

[Within a month? So soon?]

[This was a good thing, yet you were not all that happy. "Godmother, you..."]

[The matron waved a hand, cutting you off. "Don't ask so many questions. Just focus on cultivating properly. Your godmother will handle everything else."]

[She stood, patted down her clothes, and walked to the door, then looked back at you. Her gaze held reluctance to part and pride, along with a little of the determination to put a promising child of the family through school no matter what.]