The Laws of Cultivation: Qi = MC^2

I felt the bumping and shuddering of the carriage beneath me. That sound had accompanied me for the past three days. We had been traveling without stopping for the entire duration, trying to cover as much ground as possible, before the weather conditions forced us to stop. All the stops that we made had been for necessities, and that only for very short periods of time. Almost everyone within the caravan was a cultivator and did not really need to sleep or eat as frequently.

Someone like me rarely needed to do either, but even then, three days of travel with barely any stops took its toll on me as well. And most people were not as strong as I was.

And thus, as the sun slowly began to near the horizon, I could hear the talk as we began to make preparations for our stop for the night. The carriage I sat in also had Ash, Su Lin, and Labby. Ash had spent nearly the entire time meditating, with silvery flames occasionally lighting up around his body as he sat with his legs crossed. Labby had tried to do the same but hadn’t had nearly as much patience. I could see that she felt jumpy and restless to get out and stretch her limbs.

I can certainly relate, even though I was fine and I could have sat here for nearly a week straight without too much physical issues, I was tired mentally. Most of my time had been spent reading books that the old man told me to look through.

He was traveling in the Lord’s carriage, at the center of the caravan surrounded by guards, and right next to the auction items.

Yan Yun, Leiyu and Lei sat in one carriage together, the one traveling just behind the Lord’s. I had occasionally checked on them. For the most part I was focused on my own work and studying up on the techniques that the old man intended to teach me.

Su Lin, on the other hand, simply spent most of his time eating or sleeping. The man had been surprisingly carefree during the journey; it almost looked like he was on a vacation. I felt a little jealous of his ability to just pass out and rest with such ease.

After a little more travel, as the skies began to turn red, I felt the carriage shudder to a stop, finding the location that we intended to spend a night in. I looked outside and saw an open clearing. The ground was muddy and wet, likely from having snowed just a few days ago, and the sky was still overcast, but I knew that the further we moved towards the capital the warmer temperatures would become. That was one more thing to look forward to. I didn’t hate winter, but I certainly wasn’t a fan of the cold, even if it did not affect me nearly as much anymore.

After checking the surroundings I opened the doors and Labby rushed out, stretching her limbs before she walked around the area, trying to help. I woke up Su Lin who jerked awake looking around in surprise before he realized that we had stopped.

I looked at Su Lin with a strange expression. “Did you really intend to sleep all the way to the capital? No, we are stopping for the night. People are tired.”

Su Lin scratched his cheeks, embarrassed, before he headed out as well. And I followed behind him, and Ash after me. When I felt a strange urge to stretch my limbs I gave in to the impulse, feeling my muscles sighing in relief as they finally got some movement.

I looked around and saw the others walking around as well. The men from our sect and the Lord's people were already working to prepare camp. Firewood was being unloaded, alongside food and any other necessary items.

I took the time to survey the land making my way around the area as I helped out where I could while supervising in other places. Within the hour a mini town of sorts was standing here.

It was not very hard to find the Lord’s tent, however. It was the largest and fanciest of them all, and if Zhou Fang was to be believed, that was actually bigger on the inside and more luxurious than it looked.

The boy himself, though, had a much simpler tent than his father. I watched everybody hard at work before I found a good place to set up my own tent, which Qiao Ying had gotten for me. It was surprisingly nice, and had a formation built to keep it warm and protected. There was even a bed inside, I wasn’t sure how they had brought that with them but I didn’t complain.

Labby walked inside my tent, taking a look around, before she flopped onto the bed. “Labby’s so tired,” she said, wiggling and moving her limbs to start to cozy up.

“Don’t go to sleep just yet, you should eat something first,” I told Labby, smiling at her antics as she pretended to be asleep already.

Su Lin walked inside as well, yawning. “I’m tired as well,” he said.

“From what? Sleeping?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.

Labby broke her facade to giggle while even Ash snorted.

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“Shut up,” Su Lin said, and I laughed, before the boy himself joined in with us.

As we chuckled and laughed, he then looked outside sniffing his nose. “Seems like they have made dinner. I’ll be going out to eat, not sure how much you want to join me given that… uhh… cultivation stuff and what not, as you don’t gotta eat.”

“I’ll join. I may not need to, but I do enjoy eating,” I said, following Su Lin as they walked outside.

The sun had vanished rapidly, plunging the world into darkness and torches and campfires sprung up lighting the place instead. Multiple campfires were set up around various tents of all sizes and shapes as people began to gather around them and talked amongst each other.

I saw both the disciples from my sect with the Lord’s guards sitting together and eating as they mingled and cracked jokes. I followed behind Su Lin as he walked up to one of the groups, grabbing a bowl of the rice and meat, before taking a seat.

As I said I could hear the talks getting quieter as people noticed my approach and began to nod and bow their heads.

“No need to be so formal here, right now I’m just a guy who would like to eat some food and be warm,” I said.

“You can believe him. This guy really ain’t like a bigshot cultivator. It’s weird, but he seems to like being this way,” Su Lin said, with his mouth full of food as he spoke between bites, and the people relaxed.

I simply sat there, as the conversation slowly began to pick back up. Talks of the journey, of what they would go and do within the capital, sites they wanted to see, things they wanted to buy to bring back for their families, and so on began to fill the campsite.

Su Lin discussed things with them with ease, knowing the names of many of these people, as he cracked jokes about one of the men who had just gotten married. I was fascinated by the discussions. I had never been very good at socializing, though I had always enjoyed making friends. Whereas Su Lin from the very start had been much better at it.

He had remained connected to these people, and had remained a part of their lives, while my own Path had rather quickly separated me, putting me on a pedestal of respect. But that also came with its own burdens, and inability to form connections in the same ways.

I felt a little jealous, but not too much. All of us had our advantages and disadvantages, and socializing was always what Su Lin has been good at. As the conversations began to shift towards travel, I looked at one of the men and asked. “How long do you think it will take us to get the capital at our current speed?”

The man, one of my sect’s many new disciples, hummed to himself and thought. “About 6 to 7 days, if the weather remains good throughout,” he said, glancing at one of the Lord’s soldiers sitting next to him.

“Just about. Hard to predict though. This deep into winter, the way to the capital will have snow, so a storm could delay it by a week or two very easily.”

“Better make an offering to the Divine tree then, for some luck. I would rather not be stuck out here for two weeks,” one of the other men said, as they all nodded.

That was one more thing that had been interesting. The ease in reverence with which they had accepted the Divine tree and had started worshiping it. It wasn’t even something intangible and cultural, but a constant stream that I could feel from their souls connecting me to them. I put the thought out of my mind for now.

“Lord Jie, I actually have one of your books,” one of the Lord’s men said, looking at me with excitement.

“Oh really?” I asked, surprised. I was not the type to judge very quickly but he certainly did not look like someone who read books like the kind I had written.

“Yeah, one of my friends is a scribe that works for the Lord and had the book. My son had always been interested, and his mother had taught him how to read, so my friend decided to give him the book,” he said.

“Of course he did. If he had given it to you, you have just used it as a pillow to sleep on,” one of the soldiers said, as they all laughed.

“Yeah, I tried to look at it, but none of it really made sense to me. My son really liked it though. He said it was very interesting, and even though I can’t really tell what the book is about or the profound things it talks of, I could tell that it contained valuable knowledge and just wanted to thank you for sharing it with us,” the man said.

“Of course! Elder Jie is extremely generous,” another man spoke up. This time a younger one who wore the robes of my sect. “Joining the sect and accepting the Divine Tree into my heart, let even a mortal like me gain Chi. Something that I couldn’t have ever imagined in my entire life. It has changed everything for me forever, and for the better, and I could not thank you enough Elder Jie,” he said.

Another man raised his bowl up in the air. “To Elder Jie,” he said.

The other men followed, raising theirs as well. “To Elder Jie!”

I watched them talk, and all of a sudden, there were no more boundaries between us. It felt… strange. But I sat there and laughed and joked and learned more about these people all around me, and something shifted inside of me.

Those little threads that connected me to them, began to grow, and began to strengthen. This was what I was fighting for. These people are what I had been working so hard for, to bring change in their lives. And now that I sat here and saw the difference that I had made with my own eyes. Something about it felt different.

And the flames that burned in my heart began to grow. It was good to be reminded why I was doing all this. And for who.

After we ate, putting our empty bowls aside, and the fires began to die, I got up and began to make my way to my own tent. The men had gone to sleep, leaving behind the few that remained awake to stand watch for the night. But I found myself too awake to even try to sleep.

Walking to the tent and I started to think of how I would spend my time when I saw the old man walk by.

“There you are, Lu Jie,” he said.

“Oh, do you need something?” I asked, surprised to see the old man.

“Did you forget already? The training is not yet done. Come to my tent, I have prepared something,” the old man said, heading ahead.

I smiled to myself. Guess I won’t have to worry about how to spend my time.

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