Zhao Gang wanted to observe the girl’s progress, but the requirements of the formation made doing so impossible. Many thought that the spiritual sense of the great masters was completely separate from the use of Qi, and it was, but it still relied on natural energy to function. Once a certain stage of cultivation was reached, it became possible to turn one’s attunement inside-out, using it to send the consciousness out rather than to draw energy in. To do so had strict requirements, but it was possible. All this meant that even a True Immortal such as himself could not view where there was no natural energy, meaning that the formation was impenetrable even to him.

When the girl emerged three hours later, Zhao Gang was waiting patiently. Even as the disciple was picking her up he was moving. Now that the girl had left the formation, there was no reason to expend the effort to attempt to inspect her from a distance. His footsteps were calm and even but each one devoured distance at a pace that would leave a mortal dumbstruck. In less than ten seconds he had exited the hidden chamber and made his way to the courtyard where his disciples were tending to the girl, who had exhausted herself to the point of unconsciousness.

The disciples made way for him as he appeared, leaving the girl for him to examine. Zhao Gang once again placed a hand over her forehead and core, sending delicate traces of mind to explore the girl’s condition. What he found was… concerning. And exciting. But primarily concerning.

“She has indeed begun to attune herself,” said Zhao Gang, “But she is unstable. The mixing of aspects has led to disharmony.”

“Then the experiment is a failure? She will die?” Xinasa’s voice was concerned but not overly so. It was obvious that while she cared for the girl as a disciple she had long accepted a truth that all mentors on the path of the martial Dao accepted - disciples die.

“No,” said Zhao Gang resolutely. His mind was calmly examining the possibilities in front of him. The spirit pulse had indeed done what he’d postulated, shifting the girl’s natural aspect. He could even feel traces of impurities being expelled in her sweat and on her breath, a sign that her body was adapting and letting go of pieces of those aspects which disrupted the balance. Its efforts were simply too slow. Zhao Gang considered for a long time before he nodded to himself.

“It seems that after each round of attunement, we will need to assist the body in purging impurities, lest the balance of her aspect be thoroughly disrupted and she dies. The shift so far has been tiny, thankfully. Any more and it might have killed her already.” Zhao Gang looked up at his disciples. “Take care of the other children. I will care for this one. She will be back in her bed by morning.”

Zhao Gang suppressed a smirk as both his disciples looked up sharply to find the other children all watching the happenings around Tara nervously. Some were on the verge of tears, their fear evident. Immediately Xinasa reacted, stepping back up to the stage and taking control of the situation. Zhao Gang didn’t stall to hear how she handled them. She had proven adept thus far; he had no reason to doubt her. Instead, Zhao Gang picked up the girl and carried her to his rooms. There, he laid her out on a table.

Once he had her positioned he examined her again. The issue would be easy to resolve; he had no doubt he could cure the girl. No, his mind was focused on the larger problem. If he simply resolved the issue now by helping the body to remove the harmful impurities that were now effectively poisoning the girl she would be able to continue the experiment. However, once she did this would happen again, meaning that he would once again have to intervene. While he was not averse to shepherding the girl through the process, it was far from ideal. After all, his goal wasn’t to develop one girl with extraordinary talent but an entire sect of them. If he had to intervene personally for every disciple he would spend his time doing nothing else.

No, another way was needed.

Rather than treat the girl right away - she was in no immediate danger, though he doubted she would wake until she was treated - Zhao Gang meditated on the problem at hand. He started by examining the facts. Fact one, the girl couldn’t circulate Qi yet. If she could, this whole process wouldn’t work. Fact two, her body was experiencing spirit pulses, which instead of being focused to break open her core were instead being dispersed. These dispersed spirit pulses shifted her natural aspect. Fact three, the shifting of her aspect was causing previously harmonious energy to become poisonous. Her body was attempting to rid itself of these poisons, but since she couldn’t circulate Qi she couldn’t assist in the process, which means it was happening naturally and far, far too slowly. Fact four, properly done acupuncture can easily force out the impurities that are causing the problem. Doing so is a relatively simple fix, but if they were going to continue the process he would have to do it for her after every session. Multiply that by the number of students and it makes for a rather substantial burden. One of his disciples could handle it, but since the students can’t circulate Qi, the stress of going through multiple cycles of this could leave serious damage behind that they wouldn’t be able to fix until they reach the upper tiers of foundation realm.

Next, he broke down the solution he could accomplish. If he could apply the theory of the solution on a larger scale, that would solve the problem. In this case, he would have to infuse his own Qi into the needles and deliver them into the meridians, starting from the those directly around her core and working outward. He would use these needles as gateways, attracting the impurities to them with his Qi and drawing them out, leaving her Qi relatively pure. The process wasn’t particularly time-consuming, but it did require both expert knowledge and complete focus.

The ultimate aim was to draw out the impurities. Some of these impurities would be physical, but a large percentage would be energy. Was there another way to draw out these impurities? His thoughts landed first on Body Cultivation. However, the theory of Body Cultivation didn’t work for what he needed. Simply put, body cultivation required Qi, lots of it. In the beginning stages, one typically relied on extreme exercise to break down the body enough to allow Qi to flow in. Of course, this wouldn’t work since the students couldn’t circulate their own Qi yet.

Next, he considered spirit medicines. This had slightly more hope of working, though it presented different problems. Typically spirit medicines were used to deliver energy to the body. The specific aspects of the energy, as well as the meaning it was imprinted with when it was created, would determine the effects of the medicine. Because spirit medicines delivered outside energy to the body they also increased the body’s impurities, not decreased. Also, if he introduced energy into the student’s body, they would need a way to expel it. Either that or suffer serious harm. That would likely only make the situation worse, not better.

Giving up, he decided to look at the process differently. The goal was to remove impurities. How did the body do this naturally? Through waste and excretion. The urine was the most likely candidate, but as soon as he considered it he knew it to be a bad idea. The impurities were mostly spiritual, that is that they were energy rather than physical forms, but there existed a very clear physical component. If he caused the student’s kidneys to attract the impurities there was a chance that they could crystallize within, causing no end of pain. Worse, removing such crystals was no easy task, though well within his power. Still, it was a complication he didn’t want to deal with.

Excreting through the bowels was possible but… naturally speaking digestion is a process where the body takes and never gives. To allow the body to expel the toxins thus, he would have to reverse this particular order of nature. Not only would it be difficult, expensive, and only moderately effective, it would also be extremely unpleasant. Not his first choice.

Of course, the primary way that the body expelled spiritual waste or impurities, wasn’t through physical waste at all. It was through the breath. The thought caused him to pause for a moment and examine the girl again. Yes, she was indeed expelling a small amount of the impurities out through her breath. It wasn’t enough, not nearly, but it was by far the most effective way the girl had at the moment. He pondered for a few minutes, watching closely as the girl inhaled and exhaled. She wasn’t pulling in natural energy like a cultivator yet, but she was expelling impurities like one. If he could enhance that process, encourage it, then he could likely balance out the entire problem not just for this girl but for all the students in one move. A perfect outcome.

Yet how would he achieve such a thing? Inhaled powders might work, but that was mostly for poisons. Off the top of his head, he couldn’t think of a single powder that provided a truly beneficial effect. The closest he could come up with were those that put their targets to sleep. If they were already asleep, however, inciting their bodies to expel the impurities through their breath would be quite simple.

Inspiration struck then like a bolt from the blue. He didn’t need to put them to sleep, they all slept here. They were on rigid schedules and even all slept at the same time. It would be child’s play to affect even an entire dorm. A few experts could handle the entire class without worry. He just needed a way to draw out the impurities.

The natural inclination, again, was to look for some medicinal answer, but that felt wrong. Instead, he reviewed what techniques he knew that manipulated the air. Since Wind wasn’t a large naturally occurring facet for humans it wasn’t considered one of the primary elements. Because of this, techniques to use the wind were relatively few. Yet Zhao Gang was very old and had experienced much, so he knew more than one would suspect, though he had yet to bother mastering any of them. Still, he was quite familiar with their theories at least, if not their application, which meant that he was not entirely outside his comfort zone. Despite this, he realized rather quickly he would need outside assistance. A quick thought brought up the names of his disciples that did specialize in some form of wind manipulation. With another thought, he summoned three of them.

“I have need of your expertise,” he said bluntly when they arrived. Quickly he explained his plan, giving a detailed explanation of his goals and his reasons for accomplishing them. He held nothing back that might be relevant.

“The girl in there,” he said once he was done, “Is our test case. If we can make it work for her we could likely achieve my goal for the entire school.” The three disciples looked at each other, each wondering which of them would speak first.

Finally, the eldest, a disciple that had been Zhao Gang’s disciple for close to twelve millennia, spoke up. “This plan is quite audacious. I fear that none of the arts I am aware of would function thus. If either of my juniors has such, please speak up.” In response, both of the others shook their heads.

“Yet the theory is relatively simple, the meaning clear. It would not require an intensely concentrated meaning. An ordinary technique would do quite well. We should be able to develop such a thing rather easily.” Zhao Gang was insistent. His disciples could only curse in their hearts. Was developing even a basic technique so simple? Silence reigned while Zhao Gang waited for an answer.

Finally the youngest, one of his grand-disciples, a girl barely three millennia-old and still far below the others in terms of her progression as a cultivator, spoke up. Her voice was hesitant, obviously unsure of her right to speak in such a gathering. “I might have an idea, Master Zhao,” she said in a small, timid voice.

“Well, do not keep it to yourself girl. I summoned you here for your assistance, not so that you could gawk.” That wasn’t quite true, of course. Zhao Gang had chosen the three disciples carefully. He could have summoned a more experienced disciple in her place, but he had wanted to give this girl a chance to both listen in the process of generating a new technique, something done rarely and typically with great effort, as well as to allow her to begin building connections with the higher tier experts among his disciples. He hadn’t expected the girl to contribute substantially.

“My biggest problem has always been imposing Qi directly onto the air. It is a difficult task and why, I think, many avoid using the wind directly.” The others all nodded but remained neutral, unsure of where she was going. “I was just thinking that… well, it might be easier to have some medium, something that could be dispersed in the air but was still separate from it. I have several arts that can manipulate smoke, for example.” Again they all nodded, this time with some approval.

“Smoke you say?” said Zhao Gang, intrigued by the idea. “The problem, of course, is choosing a medium that aligns with our purpose. We intend to draw out impurities…” He trailed off, a thought striking him. It was obvious he wasn’t the only one when his disciples all began smiling in unison.

“Incense,” said the eldest. “Normally it is used to fight evil spirits and internal demons, but it should be quite suitable for this purpose.” The others nodded while the eldest turned to the youngest disciple. “A very good suggestion.” Approval was obvious in his tone.

“Thank you, senior. It was only a passing reflection on my inadequacies.” The disciple paired her words with a blush and a duck of her head.

“Nonsense,” said Zhao Gang, “You offered, from your own experience, something applicable to our situation. It was well done.” Having finished praising the girl, and given her a moment to regain control of herself, they moved on to discuss specifics. Before half the night was over, they had acquired an appropriate incense, developed a rudimentary art, and tested it on the girl. To their surprise it was quite effective, opening the lung meridians and drawing out the impurities. After maintaining the technique for two hours, the girl’s meridians were completely clear and she had stabilized.

“Very good,” said Zhao Gang. “This is even better than I’d hoped. It should be possible to extend this technique to anyone within range of the incense. It is designed to work on a sleeping form, but such is both acceptable and necessary, as using it on wakeful forms would be much more difficult. This solves our issue perfectly. I expect you all to continue to develop this art. It may have other uses in the future.” He went on to reward his three disciples generously, gifting them each a technique and resources which would allow them to progress further on their path. Finally, he had one of them take the girl back to her dorm where she would wake up naturally with the other students.