Riding through the now almost empty streets, Ku Lo repeated his question. “We’re alone now. So how did you manage to use Qi?”

Gingge’s head shifted on his back, but it took a moment for her to respond. “ …I don’t know. It happened during the first round. I was hunting crystal deer, following a herd. They kept running away, I couldn’t catch more than one at a time. I got desperate, but then, there was a surge in my body. Everything was red. The entire herd stood frozen in place. When I realized, I had learned to recreate the technique.”

“And you can use my Qi to perform it?” He looked over his shoulder despite Gingge being too close to him to be seen.

“Yes. I could feel its resistance, but something overpowered it. Something I can’t quite grasp. It feels… mighty, but comprehending it is always just out of reach.” Her hands relaxed their grip around his waist as she trailed off.

When he reached behind to grab her, the breathing on his back had already turned even. Ku Lo chuckled and continued to ride towards the Huang clan.

Being idle made him think about the fights he had witnessed and participated in. Especially those involving members of the three big clans piqued his interest.

In terms of raw power, they appeared to be above him, but none displayed any techniques. 

There was the sword, but the Qi it gave off had felt different from Za Huan’s.

It makes sense since they’re not actually part of the sword sect, but why aren’t they?

His estimates of their stage were vague at best. Yet being stronger than him, the distance to Qingling couldn’t be big enough to justify the former remaining subsidiaries while the latter was hailed as a genius and important enough to mobilize the sword sect in case of desertion.

There is the fact that she was regarded as trash until the age of twelve, but if cultivation begins before that, shouldn’t Gingge’s difficulties have been revealed then?

And if not, what other factors count into ‘talent’ besides raw speed?

Meifen in turn had chosen to support him based on this aspect alone.

Or she had another way of measurement. In either case, his knowledge of this world of cultivation he had been thrust into seemed to shrink the more he tried to figure out.

What is this special factor? Does it also apply to dual cultivation? If yes, how did Fen’er measure it? Or did she bet on the thing at hand? Doesn’t help that I didn’t pay much attention during her lessons… 

When he was about to direct his thoughts elsewhere, he came to a realization. They are close to her in cultivation speed. But what made Meifen curious about me was how quickly I learned the Yin Paw. While they could be independent symptoms of the same quality ‘talent’, the difference in treatment tells otherwise.

But the techniques he had seen so far didn’t appear very useful to him, at least not enough to explain the need to absolutely prioritize this learning capability over advance in cultivation.

Images of boulders vanishing in the blink of an eye as they were chased by the mountain bandits were still very vivid in his mind, but the techniques relied on power. 

If he possessed their cultivation base, his Yin Paw would be capable of the same, regardless of whether he went through the trouble of shaping it like a charging animal.

The Divine Physician sect was the sole exception he knew of from hearsay. But according to Qingling, the ability to heal anyone was courtesy of their special Qi, which was also tied to one’s cultivation base. 

There were what he, for lack of a better term, called abilities. Qingling’s peculiar gliding, the rock grizzly’s oppressive aura, the Wuu sister’s scream, and Gingge’s secret move.

And at least for her he could say that nothing appeared unusual about her that he knew of. Well, there’s the replaced Qi, but what would I have to do with floating swords?

Unlike the techniques Meifen had taught him about, however, they relied on more than Qi, otherwise he would have been able to replicate them, which he wasn’t.

It didn’t help that he had rarely experienced any of them often and controlled enough to intentionally analyze their structure, but even though he was rather confident in his replication of the rock grizzly’s Qi flow, the sole result was gaining a second technique that matched his sword of the swordless in expenditure.

Regarding practicality, it was even worse. All it did was release a thin, harmless cloud of Qi into his surroundings. Something’s missing and I can’t put my finger on it… 

The sword of the swordless had also behaved unexpectedly for him. Thus, his conclusion was that replicating Qi flow worked worse the more of this missing aspect made for the technique's power.

Perhaps the biggest silver lining was that he would have two of those abilities available for study now. Having Meifen to ask would of course have been better, but the circumstances were unchangeable and even if: her lessons never including anything of the sort could also be an indication of her not knowing either.

He approached the narrow gate of the Huang clan. Two guards stood on either side, but they let him through before he could rouse Gingge for her token.

Having left early due to her exhaustion, they had arrived before their escort and only some servants were moving about, one of which he handed the lead for his own horse and Gingge’s, that had been bound to his saddle.

Gingge woke up as he brought her down, but snuggled up to his chest, signaling her wish to be carried.

While fulfilling her wish, he directed a question at the servant. “Did the family head leave a message for us?”

“No, she has not left her room since the morning.”

So the narcotic is still holding up? Probably for the best. 

The path to their bed was not far, but his consciousness faded the moment he hit the sheets.

… 

Feng Huling slowed down her horse as they entered the bustling city. Having begun their travel with light clothing, she had been shivering through much of their recent journey. Especially the last night that Rin Tin Tin had insisted for them to spend outside had been sheer torture.

Which in turn made her all the more thankful for the comparatively warmer streets filled with blazing fires. How can the mild climate around the sect drop to everlasting winter within a six days’ travel?

With Rin Tin Tin in front of her, she needed little attention for her path and could focus on the conversations around them.

Many seemed to be about a certain ‘tournament’ that had happened the day before. The conversation of two workers that transported logs on a wagon next to her piqued her interest.

“-heard the Ingen are recruiting explorers. My uncle said they’d offer a seat of honor to whoever finds a new vein.”

“I hope they do. My family has debt in their name, so we’d be dragged down with them if they are driven up a cliff.”

“There’s no avoiding that. The genius girl from Huang has shaken up the Wuu. And with her companion taking the Za’s side, anyone else would have cut their losses already, but that stubborn Ingen fogey won’t stop until he’s dead.”

“watch your mouth, what if someone hears you?”

“Uhg, fine. But that genius does live up to the name. When she used her power, nobody was able to move! It was like someone pointed swords at every inch of your skin, horrifying!”

“Quit blabbering as though you’ve been there when all you do is echo rumors…”

They took a turn soon after and got out of her sight. But it occurred to her the next moment that she had no idea of her own destination either, so she spurred her horse on to catch up with Rin Tin Tin.

Before she could even begin to talk, she was greeted with a different question. “Anything useful from eavesdropping?”

“Huang Qingling has made enemies with two families here and used a technique to lock her opponents’ movements.” 

“Better to know than not. Found where Ku Lo is staying?”

“No.”

“Then why don’t you ask some people around here?”