Emotional beasts are unstable, and only an idiot would want to fight against something like that.

~Cernunnos, Lord of the Wild Things

Song Xue was staring at Crow when he turned around.

“Hey, Fae—uh, Song Xue.”

No! Don’t call her Faelan. It didn’t change the fact she was staring him down like a wolf eying prey. He didn’t really understand why her presence caused his emotions to be in chaos. Like right now, she was putting him on edge, and the way she was grinning told him she knew exactly what she was doing.

She didn’t say a single word, but her eyes fell to his chest, and her head tilted curiously. Involuntarily her small pale hand reached out, and her fingers traced along his heritage. The tree on his chest formed naturally, so its design was naturally flawless.

“Is this also part of the thing on your back?”

“No. Let’s go.” Crow felt the faint stirrings of arousal and rushed to sit down in front of Song Lin. He could still feel her icy fingers against his burning chest—it was too much stimulation, and he didn’t want to think about her smell or soft hair. Dammit, don’t think about those things. Arrgh!

Song Lin stared at Crow’s red cheeks and smiled. Other than that, she remained professional.

“Crow, I changed my mind,” Song Lin said after a second of internal debate. “Lay on your stomach, and Song Xue… sit near his head and make sure he doesn’t overheat.”

Laying down, he put his hands out and felt somewhat exposed and awkward.

“You are so tense, little bird. Do you need me to relax you?” A voice whispered in his ear, causing his body to spasm, and goosebumps rippled across his skin. “You better relax, these needles may not hurt much, but if you move around at the wrong time, it could seriously harm you.”

“Xue’er, stop playing around,” Song Lin admonished.

“Fine,” Song Xue snorted.

“Crow, perform the Qigong breathing. Song Xue, place your hands on either side of Crow’s head and use your Ice Qi to keep the fire at bay as much as possible. Crow, my needles will stab into you using my Ice Qi as well. You’ll sense a minor shock or vibration—just concentrate on your cultivation and guide it toward those vibration points. As you breathe in, you must keep Qi moving along the same path constantly. I’ll stab needles in every breath or two, and you follow them like a breadcrumb trail. It gets easier, but the first few cycles take a lot of mental focus.”

“And what do I do after I move it all the way through?”

“It isn’t about moving a little energy at a time. It’ll be like trying to keep a river inside its channel. So the cycles continue endlessly. If a river has boulders, logs, and other debris blocking it, the water backs up. Advancement is about clearing out that debris and sculpting the channels in a way that allows Qi to flow effortlessly. Each acupuncture point will feel like a dam, but don’t rush knocking it down. That dam is actually protecting you. If you tear it down, it’ll flood the next point, forcing it to break, and so on. It’ll create a catastrophic breakdown of your meridians. The point is to dismantle it a little at a time. So a cycle is basically moving your mana sense through each node to clear up the blockage a little at a time.”

“And by doing this, I’ll reach an equilibrium with my right and left side pathways?”

“Yes,” Song Lin said. “These pathways are loops connected back to the chakra. If done right, you’ll allow for more and more Qi by expanding and sculpting your meridians. Accumulating Qi is necessary to force the next chakra open. Also, this first set of meridians is critical because it’s the foundation for everything. We are creating a self-contained cultivation system inside you that bypasses your Source until the very end. It is a method our ancestors used before the advent of Shields. It is possible to reach the pinnacle of power using this method alone, but it takes impossibly long without luck.”

“I’m following so far,” Crow said.

“Good. Our bodies are a mirror between left and right, but they aren’t perfect initially. It is something body cultivation will perfect over time. This means that you’ll have two rivers of Qi, one on the left and right. It is imperative you control the flow of both sides, so they mirror each other exactly. The closer you can get both sides to operate at the same speed, time, and power, the better. Only after that equilibrium is near flawless will you be able to open the next chakra.”

Crow nodded.

“Let’s cultivate, and once you feel the acupuncture points flare-up, adjust your rotation to it,” Song Lin commanded. “Last thing. This part is very forgiving initially and provided your aptitude is good, mistakes won’t cause any lasting harm. Once all the needles are in, you’ll feel the sluggish points. Just increase or decrease the rotation until you can handle it. Once exhausted, we’ll stop—don’t even think about acting tough.”

Breathing while laying down on his stomach was harder to manage than he wanted to admit. Once he stabilized his breathing, Crow shallowly ignited Soul Burn and prepared for a long cultivation session. One needle at a time slid into his flesh. The pain was nonexistent, but the Ice Qi that entered actually pulsed. It felt like a fish nibbling at flesh. The Qi jumped channels, almost as if a vortex had opened at the acupuncture point, and pulled it onto the correct path. As more needles slid in, Crow felt like he was on a hunt for an elusive beast.

After the needles were all in places, he started the second cycle of cleaning the gunk from his meridians. It was clear that his Qi flow was thicker and moved a little bit easier, but it was barely a trickle above what it was. By the fifth cycle, his meridians were now like a riverbed. Qi, like water, flowed along the path of least resistance. It meant his focus could not shift almost solely toward the acupuncture points.

A dozen cycles later, Crow finally understood why this was a body cultivation method. Impurities from his bones and tendons were flushed out of his body through his pores and sweat. It increased his bone density, and his tendons hardened like tiny threads of metal wire. The most noticeable to him was his mind. His mental state stabilized, something Crow hadn’t realized he needed. It was hard to quantify the improvements, but it felt like he was formalizing the relationship between his mind, body, and spirit.

Soul Burn had left sequelae on his soul because trauma like that didn’t come without cost. Empowering the body, the vessel that contained everything that made him whole, had started a healing process throughout his mortal cage.

Crow wasn’t sure how long he kept at it. Once the exhaustion set in, he took note of his ragged breathing. During the entire process, the Song sisters attended him without fail. Neither seemed to mind the smell coming from his body, nor the sweat, and various other things that would scare a lot of women away. Crow suddenly felt overwhelming gratitude toward the girls that he engraved deeply onto his soul. Not once did they complain about helping him.

Knowing that this was not a sprint, he slowed the Qi circulating through his body. Continuing at the pace he was would have ended badly. As his control slipped further and further, he slowed the speed of the Qi to match. Mostly, he could tell he was about done mentally and physically. He felt numb, but as his awareness returned, he could feel the mirrored channels he’d formed.

“Good, you exhibit restraint,” Song Lin said weakly. “That is the hardest lesson our people have to learn. Knowing when to stop. Come prepared tomorrow, and we’ll continue. By the end of it all, you should have caught up with most twelve-year-olds in our clan. Don’t cultivate anymore today, and if you do Qi Gong, only focus on the physical exercises. There is one side-effect I didn’t mention previously, and that is your heightened emotional state—umm, the crying is natural. Y-you know what, I’ll create some pills. You should start taking them before we cultivate every morning.”

Crow laughed and cried and Song Lin’s strange admission. Mostly he laughed but wasn’t sure why it was funny. Reaching up, he touched his cheek and felt the tears running down them. Confused, Crow sat up and saw how exhausted the two looked.

“Thank you,” Crow said, unable to get on his knees or stand. He wanted to bow or something, but then he started sobbing. Both of them were trying hard not to laugh at this point, and no matter how confused he was, their smiles were enough to brighten anyone’s day.

“Crow, after we finish these sessions, you and Xue’er will cultivate together until we are ready to open your next chakra. I need to pull back some for your own growth’s sake. You cannot create a dependency on me. Xue’er, you need to take this seriously. None of your usual tricks. You need to guide him true.”

“Big sis, I got this,” Song Xue huffed, but Crow could sense her exhaustion. Seconds later, she fell back and laid next to Crow with her arms spread out. Eventually, her ragged breath calmed. Crow found it hard to look away from her rising chest and felt uncomfortable in his vulnerable state. “Don’t think I didn’t feel your roaming eyes, pervert.”

Crow coughed before an awkward laugh escaped his lips. Her uncouth manner was somewhat refreshing, but it always took him by surprise. Other than Mara, most women in the clans would never talk like this, and he realized he preferred people that spoke their mind. The more he thought about it, the more he liked the way Song Xue and Mara spoke. It was honest to who they were.

“Alright, time to get up. Crow, I’ll help you to the lodge, but you’ll definitely want to bathe. I heard that some people are leaving to go to the ancestral ground for All Hallow’s Eve. So they’ll want to wish you well,” Song Lin told him.

“I wouldn’t count on it,” Crow muttered under his breath, and Song Lin pretended she didn’t hear it, but she felt a slight ache in her heart. She couldn’t help but feel the clan was entirely too shameful to ignore the merit and worth of a person like Crow. He worked harder than any ten of them put together and even cursed, he didn’t give up.

In some ways, his condition disrupted her own cultivation because burgeoning anger didn’t align with ice control and frozen emotional states. Either way, she brought him to bathe and made him some medicinal tea while he cleaned himself up. She kept him company while he sat on the lodge’s front porch. Only a handful of his cousins came to say goodbye—among them was Aine and Brian. Shortly after that, she went to the House of Danu to work.