It starts slow the next morning and takes a couple of hours before the first customer benign to pay for our untested treatment. The second is right after me and then the floodgates open. We raise price twice the first day and decides in the end to take four dima per hour or treatment. Even with this my whole first week is booked full.

It is first the second week when I again visit San Ma Can the business really take off. “Good morning Su.” The elder says when I meet him outside what seems to be his residence inside the fortress. “Good morning to you too respected elder,” I say and bow with respect to him, I don’t know but without the man beside him, I probably would not have acted with so much respect. “This is Mane Be Tein the administrator for this region.” San Ma Can introduce the man beside him and I bow even lower again. “He heard of your amazing hands and asked to be here when you came next.” San tells me and I smile “Your interest honour me.” I tell the administrator and bow slightly with a smile. The kowtowing will be murder on my back, but no matter I will earn money from this. Not from charging them, but from charging their sycophants. “Well, let us have a look at what you can do then?” The man says in somewhat of a brusque tone. I smile and we retire inside for my session with San.

“When do you have time for another appointment,” the administrator asks me when we sit outside waiting on San getting back to himself after our session. I began working on his calves and leg now and at the moment he is incapable of walking. “Give me some time to recuperate and we can have a look at you to determine the treatment needed,” I tell him and he agrees so I use some time to meditate again. The treatment is entirely standard, but I use some more time and goes in depth. If something is different is it that the man has far more heavenly energy in the body than any of the other people in the city. Working on makes me entirely exhausted, but the results are just fantastic. His skin is clearer and I can feel a lot of different stress damage and what must be battle damage being healed by the man.

While sitting outside the little house in the shade on the veranda I wonder about the heavenly energy in this world. I know manipulating it and fighting with it is a big thing, but then again it seems not to be either understood or actually used all that much. Rule of law and custom is strong, the evidence is our beef with the merchant and tax collector. When they met enough resistance in us they fell foul of other forces in society very fast. There are sects and schools for heavenly energy, but they seem more concerned with their own existence rather than interfering with the world at large. It is strange to me and another thing I wish to explore. At least to have knowledge of an important entity in this world.

“Thank you,” Mane says to me with a very small bow. “I hope you have time for another weekly appointment.” He says and I nod “It would be my honour.” I tell him and bow a bit lower. The money is going to be pouring in if this keeps up, I might expand the area I wish to claim. Or maybe even change it, I have thought of the plateau above the village, would have to build a fairly expensive road up there. I am daydreaming while meditating and gathering strength for the road.

I say my goodbyes to the old men lounging in the sun beside me. They look happy and content at the moment. I am not sure, but they seem like close friends in the way they are lounging. On the way out I pass by the administrator who gave me my license, Li something or other. “Good midday” he greets me and gives me a slight bow. “Good midday to you too,” I say and smile back while also giving him a similar bow. The etiquette is formal and mysterious for me, but I am happy that I am thinking old and very conservative form. Might seem like a country bore and simpleton, but no one can fault me for it. “What brings you out in this beautiful weather?” he asks me and I smile back unsure of what he knows. “An appointment with respected elder San Ma Can I tell him. He smiles at me and invites me to lunch which I accept, free food is always nice.

Li it turns out is a good nice guy, and that is about it. We talk about small stuff, nothing earth-shattering for either of us. Turns out he paints and after lunch, I follow him to his house and see some of his paintings. He has a very traditional style painted on rice paper. I see his problem as more hiding in other shadows rather than actual lack of talent and tells him so. “Dear Li, this is not my place but let me ask you this. Why do you paint the same as everyone else?” I ask him and look at the paintings. It is the same style as I have seen around town and in the few shops for paintings, I have seen. “You are an artist, paint with your heart,” I tell him when I leave and thank for the enjoyable meal. After this pause, I have an appointment with one of the older merchants outside the walls. Ha admonishes me for being late and then we are off.

While I was off building a better relationship with the merchants and petty nobility in town Xi had his own adventure. When we come back to the inn we find him sitting in the bar drinking. This is strange because Xi usually drinks nothing stronger than a weak beer, and still here he is with wine in the cup.

“Xi, what has happened?” Ha asks him when we have had a good look at him. “I saw other cultivators fight.” He tells us and begin describing his first meeting with other cultivators. “After being done for the day I packed up faster than usual and had plenty of time before you came back.” He begins and only stops to take another drink. “I wanted to have a look around and find out the lay of the land, you know like Su tells us to do. Listen to the gossip and gather knowledge. Well after looking around the merchant district by the wall I followed it, the wall, around. On the outskirt of town, there is a lot of open farmland. You know, for wheat and stuff, not like rice like we farm. Nice stuff too, could really hide in it and hunt game in new fashions.” He begins rambling about hunting while also drinking at the same time, just when I am about to make him go back he snaps into focus again. “Well there is saw them, two men a bit older than Tatum. They just stood there for a long time looking at each other. Then one guy drew his sword and cut a huge swath of grain in the same swing, really destroyed that field. The other one stopped his swing with a punch, the punch somehow had flames in it.” Xi stops and looks at me before beginning to speak while still looking at me. “Why do you not teach us to do stuff like that, not all the healing all the time?” I smile at him and shake my head. “Finnish your story and I will tell you why. “Well, there is not much more to say, they destroyed a poor farmers field, one of the men managed to cut the other and they bowed and went their separate ways after.” Xi finishes his story and looks at me again. “Why?” I shrug and tell him the truth. “I know it is possible, but I just don’t know how. You will have to find your own way to do stuff like that.” Xi and Ha nod and I think I see a new determination in their eyes. Seems there are more to being a healer than just technique.

Work work work. It turns out Ha really enjoy the wealth we are gathering and so does Xi. They both enjoy spending nights counting coin and dreaming of what future it might buy. Had they not been close and family I would have begun wondering about their motivation. For myself, the money is becoming a problem. It is enough for it to become a target of thievery from the gangs and just vagrants. I look for something like a bank, but it seems not to exist. People travelling with wealth hire guards. Luckily for me, I have begun having connections around town.