Jingyi Bo had decided to give it her all on awakenings. Despite never seeming to talk to anyone but his close friends, Chao Da apparently heard all sorts of things - including about the benefits of awakening one’s mind and body. An awakened mind could recall all sorts of things in exceptional clarity, think faster, focus better. An awakened body barely needed to eat or sleep, and healed wounds faster and better. Both of these seemed like exceptionally useful abilities to have, but the one thing that intrigued Bo the most was the idea of the mana sense - from the vague descriptions she had heard from others, it seemed almost an impossibly useful extension of herself that would greatly improve her Endless Steps technique.

On the days that Jingyi Bo was with Elder Ienaga, she had no choice but to meditate on her body awakening. Over time it seemed more and more like something undesirable was leaving her and something else was taking her place. More and more, her running seemed to come easier. Her body ached less, her breathing felt better, her stamina expanded. Bo heard that it sometimes took weeks to awaken in any given discipline, but her progress here gave her confidence that she would awaken her ki in no time at all.

The days between her running were spent meditating, focusing on awakening her mind. Bo had heard that Hwang’s classes would be largely pointless to her until she awakened, so instead of focusing on them, she meditated. The old owl didn’t seem to mind that his lectures were falling on deaf ears - if anything, there was a bit of a twinkle in his eye when he saw Jingyi Bo eagerly meditating. He was probably more than aware of how poorly this was going, though. Something about the noise of the lecture made it easy to concentrate, but every time she tried to chase that little mote she was meant to catch, she found it was some other thing floating around, some bit of qi floating by - or, mana, she supposed. Bo had much more luck at home, able to meditate freely without issue.

--

It had been just shy of a week later that Jingyi Bo managed to awaken her ki. At some point she had been running around the track during Ienaga’s lesson, along with a scant handful of other Qin students who had stuck around (Chao and company included). Bo had hit the usual wall of exhaustion that meant it was time to give up running and collapse into a meditative puddle. For some reason, some soft little voice in the back of her head said, Just keep going. Just this once. Just a little further now. Just focus on your body, and I’ll make it alright.

So she did. She kept running despite the fact that she was entirely exhausted. Elder Ienaga’s meditation technique came in handy, but it was difficult to do while she was so tired, or while she was running. The fact that the meditation only made Bo more aware of how her muscles were screaming was not particularly helpful. But there was this odd, cooling sensation flowing through her body, a calming wave that restored her stamina. It was almost like something was helping her. That’s it, that little voice crooned, Just a little further. Just a little bit more. You’re nearly there. Apart from this voice, all Bo could hear was the blood rushing in her ears. Her vision was slowly going dark, her body slick with sweat. She didn’t know how she could tell, but she knew her friends weren’t behind her this time - they had given up at an appropriate time. With her body crying out, all that kept her going was that soothing voice. It sounded so much like her own, but the Bo that Bo knew would never strive to be anything more than what she was, if this pain was the cost.

Breathe. The voice was getting insistent. Breathe. Breathe. Breathe. It was all Bo could do to keep breathing. It felt like she was forcing her way through a stone wall, but also partly like someone was shoving her through it. Breathe. BREATHE. Her lungs felt like they had been filled with fire, or sealed up with mud. It might have been twenty steps or two before Bo’s body gave up.

When she finally stopped, Bo did so with an unpleasant cry. Something was violently erupting from her skin, some kind of corrupted ki pouring out all over her. Bo was aware that this was meant to happen, but nothing could prepare her for the sensation of it. It smelled awful, tasted awful as some came up her throat - she fell to her knees and vomited it up. The vile, black sludge seemed to burn the ground as it touched it, before evaporating into a similarly nauseating mist. The corruption seeping from her pores similarly seemed to slough off like some kind of disgusting oil - her robes were irrevocably stained, but it didn’t cling to her skin as badly as it should have.

When she had managed to stop retching, Bo realised that she was feeling amazing. Her body was suddenly filled with this glorious second wind, her muscles feeling like they had spent a day under the care of an imperial palace masseuse. She thought she would have to struggle to her feet - instead she leapt up like it wasn’t the slightest problem. Ienaga arrived to congratulate her.

“Congratulations on your awakening. It seems like your corruption is a bit less than usual,” Elder Ienaga noted the sludge, “An auspicious sign.”

“This is auspicious … ?” Trying to wipe the filth from her clothes, Bo hadn’t meant to blurt out at her instructor - suddenly realising her error, she bowed deeply. “F-Forgive my disrespect. Thank you for your praise.” I think.

Elder Ienaga chuckled.

“It’s not often I see a Qin student with such a talent for martial arts, let alone a Qin student of your … particular nature.” The great martial artist was no fool - she wouldn’t be tricked by Jingyi Bo’s vaguely tomboyish appearance. “You will return for advanced classes … or perhaps … “

“Perhaps … ?” Ienaga looked her over once more, as if thinking deeply.

“Perhaps it would be best to keep you out of sight of the rest. A Qin student awakening their ki might make more waves than someone like you would like. I would suggest keeping your efforts to yourself, for now.”

With that said, Elder Ienaga sent Bo home to rest. She had anticipated the awakening and had already sent ahead a spare change of clothes, knowing Bo’s current clothing would simply have to be destroyed. Eager to keep her secret from anyone who would be able to put two-and-two together about the state of her garments, Bo took a long, secluded way home.

When she arrived, sure enough, a new set of robes was awaiting her. A small slip of paper rested atop it, but Bo was in no hurry to be reading. Tearing off the corruption-stained robes and throwing them onto the firepit, she ran the bath and hopped in as soon as she could. Even scrubbing as hard as she could, it took an hour to truly remove the last of the filth from her skin. It was as though, even though it came off easily, more kept coming out to replace it. The water had gone black, and Bo was just thankful that whatever formation dispersed the conjured water back into mana was able to take the filth with it.

--

After soaking for some time in a cleaner tub of water, her muscles now starting to ache once more, Jingyi Bo clambered out of her tub and slipped on her new robes. Fully dressed, she opened the small slip of paper. It said two words.

Congratulations. - Admin.

Who the heck was ‘Admin’? How did they know to congratulate her? Bo’s mind raced. The last letter from this ‘admin’ had insisted she bathe - only someone who had seen her would know how filthy she was when she arrived. Now, this person seemed to know about her awakening. Just who in the world was it? A stalker? A rival? A secret admirer? Bo was fairly certain she didn’t want anything to do with any of those people. Maybe it was that stonefaced man, Guan, or his snarky friend Xin? But what would they have to gain from watching what she was doing? Mysteries upon mysteries.

Sighing, Bo balled up the paper and threw it into the fire pit … only to notice she had forgotten to light it. The corruption-stained robe was still there, and even having become somewhat inured to the scent, it reeked to high heavens. Bo only hoped the shed’s smell wasn’t permanently changed. As she reached forward to activate the firepit’s charm, Bo hesitated.

What exactly is the corruption? What’s it made of? Why does it come out like that? Surely, these were questions that had been asked by countless cultivators before her. But had it ever been asked by a member of the Everchanging Way Sect? Reaching a fingertip out, she collected the tiniest sample of the stuff on her nail. It looked like a kind of oil, smelled of all the worst things in the world, and generally displeased Bo to look at. Concentrating on it, she attempted to transform it.

Something odd happened. The transformation failed utterly, and the matter simply vanished. Looking inside herself, Bo saw what had happened. All of her unused meridians were now lined with that same corruption - that slurry of mixed elements. It reminded her of awakening as a cultivator in the first place, cleansing her meridians so they could even be used. Was it really the same substance? It also reminded Bo of the mana slurry she accumulated when using her Endless Steps of Transformation, except concentrated to some extreme degree. It was like a bad, wrong version of every element. A useless, failed reflection - barely even junk. It was like a meal cooked and burnt so badly that you couldn’t even feed it to an animal.

“More mysteries. Even the mysteries have mysteries!” Bo couldn’t help but shout. There was surely a reasonable explanation for all of this, if she only continued her studies. So, she did. Even that ominous rumble of thunder in the distance couldn’t dissuade her. It was time to finish her final awakening!

---

That final awakening had come almost entirely as a surprise. Following Elder Hwang’s meditation and breathing techniques, she had spent the better part of two more days simply trying to corner this darned mote of whatever-it-was. Every time she turned, it turned. Every time she snuck up on it, it jumped out of the way with her. Every single trick, trap and treachery she knew failed. It felt to Bo like this thing knew her every move. How could it possibly know? Was it a part of her, somehow? In connection with her mind? Was it … her?

This revelation slammed into her mind with stunning force. She had spent all this time functionally chasing her own tail. It hadn’t been avoiding her, it was her! Bo was concentrating on trying to catch up to a mote of her own consciousness, with that very same mote. Alone in her room, where she had stayed since her ki awakening, Jingyi Bo laughed aloud. She felt so foolish! At the same time, now that she had realised that this mote was her, she could use it to feel wise.

Jingyi Bo looked around with it, feeling the mana in the air, seeing it for the first time. It was as though she had spent her entire life with an eye shut and had only just now thought to open it. The mana sustaining the fire pit followed the tongues of flame oh-so-perfectly. The stone floor had this vague glimmer she instinctively knew was traces of stone mana from when the thing had been conjured. The walls and roof of the shed didn’t glimmer like that, so Bo could guess that the stone had been conjured in to avoid quarrying, but the wood had been simply cut down to clear the area.

The beauty and majesty of her mana sense was so overwhelming that Jingyi Bo began to cry. She could see the elements around her! Her aura, this wonderful field around her body that her consciousness could swim around, even seemed to allow her to interact with the elements without touching them. She experimentally turned some of the stone floor into earth, watching the elements reshape themselves over there. Bo realised she had been functionally using her Endless Steps completely blind. Now that she could see, it was so much easier. Her tears fell freely down her cheeks and into her lap. It was all so amazing, so gloriously useful … so extremely late!

“WHY DIDN’T ANYONE TELL ME IT DID THIS?!”