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“This is where we’re staying?” Azalea muttered to herself. “It’s a lot smaller than my room.”
Kid Vremya glanced at the structure. It wasn’t a building; it was closer to what one would call a landscape. It was a circular mound with three entrances: there were two entrances on the bottom and one entrance above them, each leading to a different cave. Without saying anything, Kid Vremya entered the room on the left. He could sense the spiritual energy within the cave was denser than the rest. It was barely noticeable, less than a one-percent difference, but every little bit mattered.
“Hey, who said you could have that cave?” Ruby asked. Whether it was due to fate or some other reason, Kid Vremya was stuck in the same mound as Azalea and Ruby. The elders claimed it was because they were the strongest of the batch; therefore, they were given the best location in the area designated for new disciples. When Ruby saw that Kid Vremya had zero intention of replying to her, she scowled. Back at home, no one ever ignored her, but now, there was someone treating her like she treated her servants. It was unbearable! She stomped towards the cave entrance Kid Vremya had entered and promptly walked into an invisible barrier, smooshing her face flat.
“You’re not allowed to enter someone else’s abode without their permission,” Azalea said to Ruby, who was clutching her nose with tears in her eyes. “It was in the rulebook.”
“I hate him!” Ruby said. She climbed up the mound and entered the cave above the rest. Once she was inside, she jumped up and down, hoping to disturb the arrogant brat living underneath her. Azalea scratched her head before taking the last remaining cave.
A few hours later, Azalea stepped out of her cave. She looked up and found that Ruby’s cave was already vacant. The defensive formation was turned off, indicating she wasn’t inside. So, Azalea walked a few feet over to the entrance of Kid Vremya’s cave. She knocked on the transparent barrier. “Hello, it’s me, Azalea. Are you hungry?”
“No.”
“Oh.” Azalea scratched her head. “Did you already eat?”
“No.”
“Oh.” Azalea scratched her head again. “Are you going to eat?”
“No.”
Azalea blinked. Although Kid Vremya was pretty strong, judging by the elders’ reactions, that didn’t mean he didn’t need to eat. Only foundation establishment cultivators could ignore food and substitute with spiritual energy instead. “Are you a foundation establishment expert?” she asked. If he was, then it definitely made sense as to why all the elders were fighting over him. When she had first left to join the sect, her father and mother told her that with her talent, she’d definitely become the personal disciple of an elder, but because of Kid Vremya, her parents were made into liars.
“No.”
“Then…, do you want me to bring you food?”
“No.”
Azalea pursed her lips. Her neighbor was really too unfriendly. “Do you even need to eat?”
“No.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
Oh, her neighbor did know how to say something other than no, but was he really telling the truth? “Really, really? Only foundation establishment experts can go without eating.”
A deep sigh came out of the cave. “If I teach you how to do it, will you stop bothering me?”
Azalea’s eyes lit up. A method to ignore eating? If she could learn it, then she could survive anywhere without food! “If you teach me, I’ll promise to do all of your chores for you whenever I can!”
There was a moment of silence. Then, the barrier disappeared. “Alright, come in.”
Azalea beamed and skipped inside the room. For some reason, Kid Vremya reminded her of her older brother. He was mean and rude and didn’t really care about anyone, but he was still a big softie when it came to her. Kid Vremya’s cave looked identical to hers. All there was inside of it was a cushion and a blanket meant to be used as a bed. She took an extra look around the room, seeing if Kid Vremya was actually storing food somewhere and playing a prank on her.
“Come here,” Kid Vremya said, waving his hand. He was sitting on his cushion with his legs crossed in the lotus position. “Do you know how to perform introspection?”
“Introspection?” Azalea’s brow furrowed. “I’m not very good at it, but I’ve done it before.”
“All you have to do is perform introspection, identify which parts of your body need nutrients, and inundate them with your spiritual energy. When you reach the foundation establishment stage, this process becomes automatic.” Kid Vremya frowned at Azalea. “Do you understand?”
“You talk like my dad.”
Kid Vremya frowned. “Do you get it or not?”
“Let me try,” Azalea said and sat down on the blanket. She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath. Introspection was a little difficult for her to do. First, she had to completely clear her mind. Then, she had to focus on the qi flowing through her body. It was hard to find, a little like looking for a piece of hair in a river. Her mother told her it would be easier to do as she got stronger because her qi would be thicker. It took her a while to locate the strand of qi. Once she did—
“Are you done?”
Azalea’s eyes flashed open. “I was still introspecting! Don’t you know it’s rude to distract someone while they’re cultivating?”
Kid Vremya stared at the girl who had repeatedly bombarded him with questions while he was cultivating. Next time, he would activate the sound-isolating barrier as well. He thought someone like an elder would approach him for something important, so he had allowed sound to pass through just in case. “Keep working on in it then. Remember, you have to introspect, find what’s lacking energy, and inject spiritual energy inside.”
Azalea nodded and closed her eyes. It took her another long while to grasp her qi. It took even longer to find parts of herself that were requiring energy. It seemed like every part of her needed energy, but she only had so much qi to spare. She tentatively injected some of her qi into her heart, and it went from being dull to bright. It worked! By the time she finished injecting qi into all parts of her body, the strand of qi was so thin that it felt like it could be blown away by a mere breath. Her eyes opened. “I did it!”
Kid Vremya opened one eye. “About time.”
“About time?” Azalea asked. “What do you mean?”
“That took you four hours.”
“Four hours!?” Azalea’s eyes widened. She glanced down at her body. Her stomach gurgled. “I’m hungry again!”
Kid Vremya shrugged. “It’s not my fault you’re so slow at it. I taught you how to do it, so you have to keep up your end of the bargain.”
Azalea’s expression darkened. Her old brother was right! All boys were trouble and up to no good! It was much easier to eat than do this introspection-feeding technique. It used up her qi, and it also took time away from her cultivation. Not only that, but she had to do all of Kid Vremya’s chores now too! In the sect, the new disciples were in charge of cleaning the bathrooms, making the food, washing the clothes, cutting down the wood, and taking care of the plants and animals. Of course, that would change after becoming an outer disciple, but the test to become one happened at the end of the year. “Fine,” Azalea said and crossed her arms. “I said I’d do it, so I’ll do it, but you still owe me!”
Kid Vremya grunted. It was nice that someone had volunteered to do all the dirty work for him. He could spend all his time on cultivation that way. So far, he still hadn’t come up with any techniques involving gravity. Although he had a few theories about the concept, he hadn’t verified them. With his pitiful amount of spiritual energy, he couldn’t even touch the basics—just like how it was impossible for an ant to generate any meaningful amount of gravitational force. At the very least, Kid Vremya had to reach the foundation establishment stage before he could start experimenting. For now, all he focused on was absorbing as much spiritual energy as possible.