Bai Feng's heart pounded as she sprinted through the seemingly endless alleyways. And though as far as she could tell she wasn't being chased by anything, she just knew that if she were to slow down something terrible was going to happen.

"Bai Feng."

No matter which way she went the only thing she found was more of the same. Every once in a while she'd catch a glimpse of something more in the dark shadows of the different paths and she'd run after them desperate to find a way out and for a moment afterward, it seemed like they might be leading her towards somewhere better only for that to turn out to be a lie, finding only more of the same.

"Bai Feng."

Eventually, though she could feel her breathing become truly ragged and her legs start to slow, exhaustion was starting to take her. Just as she took what she had felt would be her final turn before it claimed her she saw her salvation. Ahead an overgrown path leading into even more greenery and an endless field of grass lay, a far sight better than the dark alleys she had been running through. Pushing herself to keep on going it came closer and closer only for some unseen force to grab her just before she could reach it. Panic flowed through her as she desperately fought it but slowly and surely she was being dragged back into the-

"Bai Feng."

Bai Feng shot up from the bed, sweating and panting in her dress which she had opted to not change out of last night. Frantically looking around she saw that she wasn't in some endless alleyway but rather just in the bed of her new home. And standing right at the doorway of her bedroom was Yi An with her head tilted to the side and her expression neutral, well as neutral looking as it could be with her piercing gaze.

Bai Feng took a deep breath to steady herself as she wondered how long she had been standing there. "Uh, good mornin' Yi An."

Yi An gave her a nod. "Good morning Bai Feng. You may wish to begin moving soon. Lessons on spiritual cultivation will be beginning soon. I will not be attending them myself since they will almost certainly be covering topics I am already well informed in but figured you would not wish to sleep through them."

Wait the lessons were beginning soon? Bai Feng glanced towards the window and saw the sun already having risen a decent bit into the sky. Usually, she woke as soon as it began to rise, rarely had she ever slept past that. Thank goodness that Yi An had woken her. Shaking her head to help clear thoughts of the remnants of the nightmare she slid out of the bed. "Shit, can't believe I slept in for so long. How long do I got Yi An?"

Yi An gave her a slight frown while Gracefully stepping back from the doorway. "Language. But to answer your question around eight minutes."

Bai Feng felt a bit bad that she had offended her new friend a bit with her cursing but it couldn't be helped right now. She could make it in eight minutes but she'd need to be quick. She rushed over and flipped her chest open and took the lonely-looking bag out of it and slung it over her shoulder before slamming it shut. Rushing through the doorway and towards the entrance of their home, still something that felt weird for her to think, she shot an apologetic look towards Yi An.

"Sorry, sorry, but thanks a ton fer savin' me there. I owe ya big time."

Yi An let the frown fade from her face before simply nodding.

Bai Feng all but shoved the front door open before closing it behind her with her leg. She began to swiftly run down the path to the lecture hall, pushing herself to move quickly but not pushing herself to the limit. Eight minutes of running was still eight minutes of running and she knew well enough her own limits to know that if she sprinted at full speed she'd be forced to slow down considerably a few minutes in and she couldn't afford that.

She passed by a few other less hurried disciples walking by as she ran, were they not attending just like her roommate? She didn't have time to ponder that and kept on moving, focusing on her destination.

Soon enough she found herself past the bridge and at the lecture hall where a few other disciples were still heading in, she made it! Panting heavily now she pushed herself to move even faster as her goal came closer and closer. It reminded her a bit of the nightmare she had been having earlier but this time she would not fail. She'd make it.

Bai Feng caught the door as it was closing after the last disciple and pushed it open. To her relief, the elder hadn't arrived yet but it couldn't be long now. There were far fewer people here than there was yesterday too, at a glance she only counted around fiftyish people, not even a third that'd been here yesterday. Sweaty and a bit exhausted now she took a seat close to the entrance heedless of whoever might be sitting there.

As she was setting her bag on the desk she heard a sharp gasp full of shock come from whoever was next to her. One that sounded strangely familiar...

Looking over to her side she had to double-take at the familiar face she saw there. His brown eyes were currently looking at her with a mix of both trepidation and shock, and the undercurrents of something else there. And there was no mistaking his dark brown hair and somewhat lighter skin even if it had been cleaned up. He was Lu Jia.

The same Lu Jia who'd joined her gang nearly a year ago after his parent had lost their home in order to help support them. The same one who had devised clever traps to drive off other gangs without having to risk injury fighting them. The same one who'd earned her and the other's trust over the year and had helped to plan that final fateful heist.

The same one who'd betrayed them.

Bai Feng knew her face had taken an ugly look as she opened her mouth only for nothing to come out as the sound of rushing water began to drown out everything else. The elder had arrived.

Lu Jia warily looked away from her and towards the center of the room and after a second Bai Feng followed suit. Oh, she was still furious at him, and afterward, there was nothing that was going to stop her from going off on him. But right now she needed to focus on whatever lesson the elder was going to give and she wasn't about to let herself miss what was likely going to be an essential lesson for her future.

There in the center of the room in the small pool of water stood the serene Elder Ning once more. She was silent for a moment as the sound of rushing water began to fade before she began to speak. "Greetings once again. I would introduce myself but that would be quite redundant considering I did that just yesterday." She smiled as she continued on. "Nonetheless, I will be handling the beginning of your education on the more spiritual side of cultivation and its nuances."

"Now, before we begin I do want to set some of my own ground rules for your conduct when you're here for these lessons. Firstly when I am speaking do be quiet. If you truly need to ask me something you can simply raise your hand and when I find a good moment to stop I will let you ask your question. But I can and will just drown out other sounds if necessary and when I am forced to I do make notes of those that force me to do so. Do so enough and you'll be asked to leave for the day. If you intentionally start causing problems for those around you during this class I will not hesitate to keep you from attending these lessons in the future." Her normally serene face took on a hard edge. "These lessons are after all just one of the many privileges we provide here and not strictly necessary for us to provide."

After that Elder Ning's face softened and her normal serene look returned. "Now that we are done with that unfortunate bit of ugliness let us begin the lesson. One's Spiritual cultivation is one of two essential parts of growing as a cultivator, with its counterpart being physical cultivation. Though both are necessary to properly and safely grow, spiritual cultivation focuses on your mind and soul, on what is within. In the beginning, it will help you to perceive what is around you, clear your mind of errant thoughts, and improve one's memory. And it is essential in the usage of cultivation arts and ones meridians, though we will be going over that tomorrow. Spiritual cultivation of course is capable of far more than I just said but much of that will come later on."

"Now spiritual cultivation is divided into eight different distinct stages of the soul, but I will mainly only be going over the first two stages this year, Amethyst and Aquamarine which both have four layers to them. These two stages are sadly the limit that a majority of cultivators will ever reach throughout their lives. This however does not apply to most of you." Elder Ning began to smile in a bit of pride. "The Flowing Waters sect excels at bringing out the potential and talent that lies within you all and is considered by many to be one the most prestigious sects in the continent. As such, if you are here then you have a degree of talent that will let you reach for the greater heights of cultivation."

As she said that she clapped her hands together and a small geyser of water erupted around her obscuring her for a moment before raining back down, the water only landing back in the small pond without it ever once seeming to change in level. "Even if only a scant few of you will truly reach the peaks, all of you in time will be able to reach further than most as long as you put in the effort to do so."

"Now, getting back on topic the Amethyst Soul is the first of many and the key to unlocking the true potential of your cultivation. A proper foundation set in the Amethyst stage will serve one well for the rest of their life as an immortal. Likewise, an improper foundation set now will serve to only hold one back. And once your foundation here is set the only way you have to fix it would be to start from the very beginning once more. So it is in everyone's best interest here to listen well now and set it properly the first time as by the time one would likely find out their foundation is full of cracks it'll almost certainly be too late."

"For those of you who haven't yet awakened do not fret. It is a simple affair to awaken, you must simply start the flow of qi within your dantian."

If Bai Feng hadn't been paying attention before, which she was, she was certainly paying attention now.

"The Dantian is where all the qi in your body is gathered and stored. In everyone, even mortals, there is a small presence of qi within it that has yet to start flowing. Accomplishing this will require one to meditate deeply in order to begin feeling their dantian which is located just under one's navel. Feeling your dantian is a deeply personal affair and beginning its flow even more so. Without any help, it can take years to accomplish this. Fortunately for you all, you already have this help." Elder Ning snapped her fingers and suddenly a glowing spirit stone shot from the water underneath her and into her waiting hand.

"Simply holding a spirit stone while meditating will cause the qi within it to naturally gravitate towards the qi in your dantian, and vice versa. This will let you identify where it is within you and once you do you can begin to direct the qi within the spirit stone and into your dantian which will naturally help jumpstart the flow of qi within it. Of course, there are many nuances to this process and the state of mind one must reach in order to begin is not easy to reach. Which is why I shall be going over this now. I do apologize to those of you who are already beyond this but before I begin talking about more things more relevant to you all I must first ensure that everyone here knows at least the basics and will be prepared to learn alongside you."

After that Bai Feng hungrily hung on to every one of the elder's words about the process of awakening and making use of the spirit stone. It was an enlightening experience, though there was one serious problem she had now that the elder's teaching had ended. She had given everyone present and delivered to all not here a jade slip containing something she called a cultivation art she called the Flowing River technique. And contained within was not only the art itself but the meditation method best used to utilize it. And after taking a quick peek at it after a torrent of water had deposited it on her desk she simply could not understand it, after all, she couldn't read. That really was going to become a recurring problem, wasn't it?

She ended up putting it away and in her bag during the final moments of the lesson. Hopefully, Yi An would be able to help understand it. But now that the lesson was finished and people began to leave she would be able to 'talk' with Lu Jia. She would respect the non-violence rule the elders had put in place of course but she would be damned if she didn't give him a piece of her mind for what had done.

It seemed he was resigned to his fate as well when she glared over at him. He was watching her with wariness now that the elder had finished.

He sighed before he spoke in his somewhat smooth voice, "I can't believe that you're somehow here too, but before you say anything can we at least take this outside? I think we can at least both agree that doing this in the lecture hall would be a terrible idea."

Bai Feng snorted, it was a good idea honestly but she was still furious at him and it also gave him an easy opportunity to escape even if she chased after him. "What, so ya can run away?"

Lu Jia shook his head. "No, if I tried that there'd be no way this would ever end. I'd rather just settle this now, but not in here."

Bai Feng frowned but relented, forcing her fury under for now. "Fine, but know if ya run it isn't goin' to stop me."