“You complete idiot.” Asha raged, “I cannot believe you would do something so stupid and reckless!”

“What do you mean, isn’t this the kind of opportune encounter cultivators dream of?” Quan defended.

“This is the kind of thing that gets baby cultivators killed.” Asha shot back. She breathed in deeply. “Let me get this straight. You let an ancient, unknown ghost of a supremely powerful cultivator bind you to a promise and put something you don’t know inside you?”

“You say it in a very negative manner. It’s not like that.”

“Please explain to me what I said that was wrong then.”

“Well, no, I suppose technically what you said is accurate.”

Asha threw her hands up in the air, then punched the wall where Quan said he’d gone in.

“I don’t think you’re gonna get in that way.” Quan said quietly.

“No, it got what it wants already,” Asha turned back to the pond. The lights that had been a feature of it were no longer glowing and spinning above it. “Follow me.” She commanded and started to run. After she had put some distance between them and the cave, she no longer trusted as safe and secure she stopped.

“Sit here while I try to see if I can spot anything foreign inside you that may be dangerous.” She gestured in front of her.

Quan sat before her in uncomfortable silence as he felt her aura wash over and through him. For several minutes neither said a word as she concentrated on her work. Finally, she spoke, “I can find nothing. We’ll have to have an elder look as well, though if this creature was as powerful as you say, it might be pointless as well.”

“I really think you’re making a bigger deal out of this than it is.” Quan said again.

“Let me list the ways this could be bad. You should have thought to consult your master before agreeing to anything. First, you made a promise to go somewhere you don’t know, in conditions you don’t know. A promise against your cultivation can destroy it if you don’t follow through. But you don’t know what conditions were placed on it when he put it inside you, or how soon they trigger."

"Second, you have no idea who or what that thing really was. It could have told you anything. It could be a ghost after a new body. It could be the world eater it pretended to have stopped."

"Third, you agreed to send a message, contents unknown, to parties unknown, who have vast power. The message will at the least draw their attention here and more directly to you. Bugs have been squished for less."

"Fourth, you don’t even really know what he put inside you, except that it will apparently feed off of you to keep itself alive. Draining power you may need to grow, fight, and advance. Who knows how much power it will need? What was minuscule to such a being might be life-threatening to you. And those are only the problems I’ve thought of in the first seconds of hearing about your stupidity.”

“Okay, you bring up some good points.” Quan said. “He seemed very trustworthy and just needed a helping hand! Just drop off a message at a place I’d be going anyway. No big deal.”

Asha shook her head again and said, “The capital is a long way from here. I have heard talk of a testing tower there, but it no longer gives rewards to those that try it, if I recall correctly. At least we know where you need to go. But you’re nowhere near ready for such a trial, even at an extraordinary growth rate, you would need years.”

“The remnant said the same, actually.” Quan inserted.

“Did he now,” Asha muttered, not mollified in the least. They stood there a few more minutes in silence as she collected her thoughts. “Well, there’s nothing for it now but to pray to the ancestors that your remnant is on our side. Keep at your training. Get youself ready. Have an elder see if they can sense more than I can. You said he gave you items and a storage item as well? Let’s inspect that and see what we can learn from it. Pull everything out for us to see.”

Quan pulled out the first four piles quickly while he debated if he should pull out the pile the remnant had asked to be kept private. He knew if Asha was right, that’s where the trap lay. If she wasn’t, he was going to break his word about having it looked through.

The first lot was a surprisingly large amount of items, enough to live in comfort, beds, tents. All appeared fully deployed. Asha spent some time running over the fine goods, unusual textures of materials made from things not seen on this plane. In the end, nothing seemed amiss that she could find.

The second pile had some healing and restorative pills. While useful, they wouldn't enhance anyone’s power or insights. Though they expected they'd be very potent if he were injured. There were a few herbs and plants neither he nor Asha recognized.

In the third pile were pills that seemed designed to enhance various elements in cultivation or perhaps one's insight into those elements. Most were based around fire, air and light. All items too advanced for him to consider now, some of which impressed Asha greatly.

The fifth pile was all heady pills that gave off an intense medical aroma. Asha had him put them away, heeding the warning that they were meant for beings beyond their understanding and likely fatal to them.

"I'll take the unknown plants and items to see what Master Wung can make of them and assign a value. The rest I advise you to keep. Don't flaunt that ring as it seems to be a quite large and valuable storage chamber. It may be the most valuable thing you received, no sense tempting a thief with your low defence." Asha started packing up the various items into her bag while leaving most for Quan to take in again.

“That sounds wise.” Quan hesitated, then finally said. “There is one more pile of items. But the remnant said they were personal to be returned if I could and asked me not to go through them as a part of his legacy.”

Asha looked at him seriously and considered all she’d seen and heard so far. “I suppose that you have to make the decision. You stepped into this mess. Trust in its good faith and honour the request, or make sure there’s nothing to fear in that last pile.”

“I choose to trust. Everything else he said and provided has been on the level. I’ll keep alert for any reason, now or later to change my mind. But I’d rather trust until I see a reason not to than the other way around.”

“Well then, I hope this works out for you, for all of us,” Asha said and gathered the last items she intended to keep.

"How is something like this made?" Quan asked, looking at his ring. "I mean, I've basically got a few hundred pounds on my finger, but I feel nothing." There was a four-post king-size bed inside the ring and a fully erected tent bigger than some houses.

"A crafter gifted in the dao of space. The more powerful the crafter, the larger the storage area. For those that don't wish to follow the warrior’s path, it can be quite profitable." Asha replied, "but I haven't the patience for learning such arts. I prefer the wilds and exploration."

"Before we return to the sect, there is something else we must discuss," Asha spoke seriously as the last item vanished. "You have spent these first months with us as a guest, in honour of your father and our sect's failure to protect the area. If you wish to remain with the sect further, you will need to give up the privileges of guest and become a full sect member."

"Meaning what?" Quan asked.

"First, you will move out of our guest rooms and join the other junior members in a very modest hut. Accommodations improve as you rise in rank in the sect. You will begin as the other unranked first years until the yearly competition in six months.

"You will be expected to carry out various duties to earn your way and pay for the cultivation resources you are given. Training time with a master, such as myself, will cost you merit points as well.

"You will still be an apprentice to my brother, and I will list you as an outer student of mine. This will put you at both the bottom and the top of the unranked, and I expect the other students will challenge you for it. This is why I've kept you isolated as long as I could and driven your training to a level you may be able to defend yourself.

"Well, that sounds like a giant pain in the ass." Quan said. "I was really getting used to servants."

"Work hard and earn your own." Asha returned.

"Well, I suppose it's only fair. I must thank you for apparently bending the rules to help me land on my feet here." Quan considered the news, "Does this mean I will only get to train with you when I can pay for your time now?"

"No, as my student, I am expected to guide and teach you. However, as an outer student of low rank, it would be inappropriate to give you too much direct attention. Normal students are to prove themselves worthy by taking the bits given and advancing a path that fits them. Normally finding that path also means finding a master that suits. And that master’s senior students would assist you more. I, like most masters, also have duties I need to focus on and do not generally have so much time to give.

"But you choose a path for me first and have no senior students." Quan quickly pointed out.

"Which is why you have gotten, and will get, more time than is normal for a student of your rank, but now you also have the opportunity to follow that path we have begun or find a new one," Asha said. "If you find my path is not your own in the months ahead, you must do what is right for you. Cultivation is a selfish game. If your instincts tell you my way is wrong for you in the days ahead, listen to that. At least discuss it with another master or me, instead of letting yourself be held back by something that feels wrong."

“I promise to talk to you before I do anything else to get me called stupid.” Quan. “You really can yell when you put your mind to it.”