The family makes plans on what to do and how they plan to move from here, while I continue to think about the daughter and her peculiar trust towards me.

Of course, I use my scan to fill in on the historical aspect of her.

I quickly begin seeing a pattern of two exceptional parents and their genius child. A family under siege for generations.

Father and mother are skilled traders, extremely intelligent both in business and politics. Able to quickly take advantage of a deal and leverage it to the benefit of all.

But that are consistently stopped by stronger and wary organizations.

There seemed to be a common statement by their competitors and other groups when they were younger… ‘Don’t underestimate the Xing family.’

It was only 5 generations ago that their family still had cultivators. An attack by ‘demonic’ cultivators changed that.

‘Coincidentally’, it happened when they would be unprepared. It was clear to all that losing their strength was a political machination to weaken them, but still drain them dry of their resources.

Despite the forces against them and the losses they incurred; the pieces of the family that remained held fast to the righteous morals emphasized in their family teachings.

Parents that are empathetic and cared deeply about their child, sparing no expense to make sure she succeeds.

And succeed she did.

She soon surpassed her mother and father in business, even at a young age. At 10 she began formally advising on business deals and family actions.

Her intelligence was such that she could see almost 20 moves ahead of her opponents.

This is easy to say, but frightening in practice. Especially when a person in the most random situation can seemingly predict every action and already have a response ready.

There were even tests done to see if she had a divination ability, which she didn’t. For some, this was a relief.

For others who were much more experienced, it terrified them that much more. Because it meant that this wasn’t the limit to where she could grow. She’s not even a cultivator… yet.

Like I had seen with Da Xia, the young necromancer girl, high spirit roots are usually indicative of a high starting point and vice versa. With this much skill, it was indisputable that she would be a great cultivator.

This is where the doom of her family was spelled out.

Against normal people and low-end cultivators, she was undefeatable. But some of these competing families have core formation experts, whose minds they have tuned to the highest possible level.

Where she could see twenty moves, they could see 100. Not only that, but they forced her family into an unwinnable situation, only mitigated by what assets they had left and their own skill.

So, they poisoned her. Which she took willingly, being the only safe way out for their family line.

Gave her a disease to shut down their family, while stripping them of resources. A disease that prevents her from communicating in any way, even blinking. Fully aware but locked in her body. Being able to barely hear and feel, but nothing else.

That was 15 years ago.

It has been a few years since these organizations have relaxed their guard, having placed the family into a situation which they couldn’t come out of.

Thus, my thoughts return to the daughter, Xing Xun, and her trust in me.

Of the fact that their family didn’t rush to each other after I healed her of such a condition. And thinking of actions she took when she woke up, that might be a sign to her family to give her space to think and predict.

A shiver crawls down my back, as I realize through my scan the number of indicators I’ve been giving away.

Even with me controlling my reactions, some still get through. Also, the way I describe things and reference them belays my cultural background and biases.

She’s likely already predicted the type of person I am, and has been testing me this whole time.

Starting from the time that she stared at me while I healed her. Something that conventional healers (a lofty position) would take some offense to, in addition to surprise. Let alone a noble.

My not doing so, speaks volumes.

Also, a bit frighteningly, she turned towards me and gave me a smile just as the shiver went up my back. Which gave me a reassuring feeling.

Until I realized it happened far too naturally.

What if she realized that I have the scan?

Subconsciously, I freeze up at this thought, which she immediately catches.

Her smile grows slightly wider, and I can see a twinkle in her eye as she looks at me.

I then realized something else.

For the whole time I was healing her, I was extremely physically close to her. She must have gotten an extensive dose of my pheromones.

For someone who has been locked away from their sense of sight and smell for that long, I can only imagine the effects that might have on them paired with the natural pleasurable effects of healing.

Adding to that is that I’m clearly planning to help their family… that could cause certain thoughts to emerge.

My only reassuring thought is that as a highly intelligent, genius individual, she’ll likely be able to separate those things from the logical part of her mind. I can tell at the least, she should be able to recognize it, based on her history of reading people.

As she turns back to her parents and continues explaining, I can only hope this to be true.

I DO NOT need a genius Yandere arc to this journey.

When a natural pause comes into play, I interrupt and let them know I’d like to lead them through the preparation process to begin their cultivation technique.

As would be normal, they get quite excited. Even the daughter mirrors this, though I suspect that it’s something she’s already predicted…

They have good reason to be excited, though.

The difference between having someone guiding you through the preparation process and doing it alone is immense. The only reason I could do so is because of my scan and the control that it gave me over my Qi. Not to mention the immense amount of healing that was correcting any mistakes I made.

Without further ado, I work on the dad first.

Despite them seeing everything I’ve been doing; this is a very serious step usually done by foundation establishment cultivators.

If something goes wrong, he would want to be the one to take the hit.

Just before we start this, I tell him to take the heavenly roots, along with the local wine, to boost his spirit roots.

I then sit on the floor in front of him, directing him to do the same.

From there, I teach him diaphragmatic breathing while examining his body to make sure he does it correctly. I adjust him as necessary to make sure that it’s reaching the right patterns.

This goes on for a good 30 minutes until he’s finally able to maintain a steady breathing rate according to the Technique.

While he does this, I place my hands just below his stomach so that he can get accustomed to it being there, for when we actually manipulate his Qi.

Taking a risk, I lower my Ki shield just enough to direct healing towards him while he goes through this process. This process will also require me to use another strand of my qi to guide him.

Unlike the one that I showed the personal group from the mountain, this is the full technique. One which I’m planning on sharing with them once I'm more secure.

He continues breathing like this, getting into a rhythm, for about 15 minutes.

From there, I tell him to search for the Qi within his body, while giving him indicators on where to look for the largest concentrations. At this point, with the way he’s breathing, it is flowing in and out of his body in slight amounts.

It takes a while, but he grasps the feeling, and I can see the Qi in his body shivering from his attention. This is when I make my move.

With my hands just below his stomach, I slowly and carefully draw some of my Qi out of my body and into his. I tell him to move it towards certain areas. I assist by providing the power to move it, but letting him steer where it goes.

The best example would have a car in neutral with someone driving and someone pushing from the back.

Together, we move his Qi around his body. Clearing out and allowing him to use the full span of his meridians.

All the while, I’ve been implementing tricks and techniques that will help him get better control over his Ki for the future while allowing him to expand his meridians and dantians.

By the time we reach the lowered dantian, He’s been moving his Qi himself, and quickly at that.

As expected with this level of preparation, he quickly breaks through this area and recirculates his Qi back through his meridians.

Even with someone guiding them, this can be a very difficult step if you don’t have a good foundation. Normally, such a thorough job of clearing out the meridians and dantian isn’t possible.

We soon we move to the next challenge.

The middle dantian.

Sensing some difficulties here, I tell him to focus back on his breathing and recirculating his Qi continuously through the lower area and throughout his body, before tackling it.

We take a good half hour, just doing this.

Once he’s ready, I then have him push it into that area as well.

It clears through thoroughly and with little issue. Mostly because of the preparation and caution used during the whole process.

And of course, the scan being able to identify any issues and taking care of them along the way helps.

The upper Dantian, similar to mine previously, is practically closed.

I should be able to help him open that later, when we go through the Meridian improvement process.

From here, I let him get used to circulate this around his body before letting him know we can move on to the cultivation method.

I’m curious to see how this method will be done, as the jade slip gave him all the knowledge he’ll need for the cultivation method.

And once he’s done, I can move on to the mother and then the daughter, which shouldn’t take that long.

… Though, I suspect the daughter will surprise me somehow.