I smiled upon seeing Liuxiang, receiving a light smile of my own from him. Stepping aside, I let Liuxiang walk in, closing the doors behind as I walked in.

“Thanks for coming so quickly. I’d actually expected you to be busy and take some time, if not just refuse,” I said, watching Liuxiang’s eyes lightly run across my room before returning to me.

“Surely senior jests. After what this one had read in that letter, how could this one not rush here? This one has already seen these exploding pills in work before at Taizhou. To be able to improve upon them would provide for a great weapon.”

I grinned in reply, happy to have the excitement for drugnade 2.0 shared.

“Forgive me for prying Senior, but are those the obfuscation formation Senior had asked this one about?” Liuxiang asked, his eyes turning towards the papers with the barely functional formation stuck on my walls.

“Ah yeah. I tried my best, but I doubt it’s anywhere near good enough. I tested and felt it worked well enough for my purposes, so after some trial and error I decided to stick to this one.”

Liuxiang nodded, walking closer as he touched one of the slips. “Senior has imprinted the characters, but this one can note a lack of understanding of the Eight trigrams.”

“Eight trigrams?” I asked curiously.

“Senior isn't aware?” Liuxiang asked in surprise.

I shook my head. I felt as if I’d heard about something similar, but that was far from actually understanding what he was talking about.

“Very well. Would it be okay if this one redoes the formation?” Liuxiang asked.

“I’d be extremely grateful if you did.”

Liuxiang walked up, extended his hand. A pulse of Qi had the slips of paper peeling off the walls and flying into his hand. Nearly folding them, he ran his hand across the papers, erasing the characters from them.

“If this one could have a brush,” Liuxiang said and I walked over, handing my brush. Taking a seat, Liuxiang set the papers on the ground and began to write.

“Senior should surely know of Yin and Yang, and of the five elements?” Liuxiang asked, and I nodded.

“Fire, Wood, Earth, Water and Metal right?” I said out loud.

“Indeed. Those form the basis of the world within which we live. Yet the cycle of Yin and Yang is not limited to purely those. There are eight principles, upon which the cycle of Yin and Yang depends. The formation arts are based upon these, and this one formation, is the formation of Wind,” Liuxiang said, his hand gliding on his page smoothly.

I marvelled at the beautiful writing and the uniform spread of Qi placed within each slip of paper. It was quite good, something even my untrained eyes could see.

“What would the eight principles be?” I asked, my curiosity piqued.

“The first and foremost are the Heavens, or the Sky above. The source of all within this Earth, the heavens represent creation in its whole. After the heavens, is Lake, or Marsh. Then there is Fire, Thunder, Wind, Water, Mountain, and lastly, the Earth. These eight form the eight pillars for our reality, at the crown of which remains the heavens, the origin and end of all.”

I frowned, thinking over his words. The Heavens were the origin of all, that was what the cultivators of the empire believed. Yet, the vision I’d seen from the world spirit had shown Heaven and Earth, the two ends of Yin and Yang, forming a whole, and the combination of which had formed all the other elements.

Perhaps there were some secrets that the Qi wished to keep from the cultivators, and the nature of Cultivation both Heaven and Earth could be one of them.

Doing so would not only require cultivating Qi and Gu, but would also require not just gathering insights and elixirs to grow stronger, but a deeper look within oneself to battle your inner demons, and overcome them. Thus, taming the Gu within your heart, and cultivating it. Because no one was without any flaw, and learning to deal with them.

Perhaps ignoring the Gu, and their inner demons was part of why the cultivators were so arrogant and borderline Psychopathic. It was something to think over.

I watched as Liuxiang finished his work. He raised his hand, as the slips of papers lit up with golden Qi, before spreading in eight directions all around him and sticking to the walls. My ears popped as an invisible dome covered my chamber, and I felt the ward come into place.

“Senior’s little garden should be enough to keep this ward functioning on its own,” Liuxiang said and I nodded in gratitude.

“I’d be interested in learning more about the formation arts and the Eight principles of nature from you. But for now, let’s work on the thing you have come here for,” I said, picking up my notes and setting it in front of Liuxiang. “Have a look,” I said, opening the area of the drugnade that I’d written in the language here for Liuxiang.

I watched as Liuxiang went through my notes, smiling when I noted the wide eyes and brief emotional responses as he read.

“Is Senior sure about this? Alchemy with Gu, is such a thing truly possible?”

“Guess we’ll find out,” I replied with a cheery smile, as Liuxiang stared at me, a moment later, his lips curving up just a little as well.

“Leaving that aside. Is the formation something that you can recreate? It’d need to respond to my specific Qi only, so that random people cannot trigger the drugnade as I carry it. It’d also need to combine the Qi and Gu, and have a method to ignite, carry that heat throughout, and maintain enough pressure until the breaking point cracks the seams of the shards from the inside.”

Liuxiang frowned looking down. “This one would have to work out the specifics for the workings of the metal contained, and the moving plates. But it certainly looks doable. It would likely also be quite expensive to make each of these.”

“Oh yeah, I definitely expected that much. It’ll be a weapon I don’t plan to use unless I really and absolutely need to,” I replied, and Liuxiang nodded.

“This one doesn’t understand the purpose of these bumps. It says they are to act as projectiles that pierce the body of any nearby at high speeds. But wouldn’t the explosion eat through them. Not to mention that the projectiles would only harm those at realm two or three. Anyone within the second circle is unlikely to get injured heavily with these,” Liuxiang asked, looking at me with a frown.

“I can see your point. But the goal is not to kill. There is always the option of layering the shell with Gu, which would be devastating, but that is not something I plan to do. The little thin seams between each projectile shard is where the metal will break apart, launching the shards at ridiculous speeds. There would be little way to dodge it, and getting hit in the eye with it could kill even a cultivator. The main strength of the weapon also comes from the strength of the explosion as well. So the shards just provide extra range,” I said, and watched as each word widened Liuxiang’s eyes wider in surprise.

“Such a weapon- it would be indiscriminate in its path and ruthless. This one's- does Senior truly wish to create more of such weapons?” Lixuaing asked, staring at me with his unblinking stare that he sometimes did.

I smiled, a rueful smile. If only that was the extent of the merciless and indiscriminately killing weapons humanity had invented back home.

“As I mentioned. I plan to only use this if the need arises. As for further weapons. Well, I have some ideas. There is a lot that can be done, but a lot that needs to be tested first too. I don’t plan to start any wars, but in this harsh world, these are the only cards I have to play,” I replied, my voice determined as I matched Liuxiang’s unblinking stare.

He nodded, looking satisfied with my reply. “Very well. This one is willing to help senior on this weapon senior has, but this one would like to receive one such weapon as well.”

I nodded, I had already been thinking on how to repay Liuxiang for his help. This would be a suitable way.

“I do hope you know the risks that come with carrying a weapon with Gu in it? I trust you enough to know you won’t misuse it, but I’d still just like to remind you,” I said, looking at Liuxiang.

“Senior need not worry. This one does not intend to use this weapon at all, unless it is a matter of life and death, if even then.”

I nodded, as my smile began to return. “In that case, shall we start then?”

Liuxiang nodded, as the two of us sat together with my notes and began to discuss ideas. Time flew past, as I felt a strange sense of satisfaction. For the first time ever, I could share some of my ideas and theories with someone else. There was still much that I couldn’t share, unless I taught them english, but even just this was enough to make me feel really happy.

I smiled, and relished the few hours of joy, as I shared my love for discovering and exploring with someone else.

***

Sunlight faded, as I bid Liuxiang farewell. Time had passed in a blur as the two of us had bounced back ideas for the outer casing, the respecting formation arts and the mechanisms of the drugnade 2.0.

There was still much to be done even now, as we’d barely started but the legs of our project had started to form, and I was a lot more knowledgeable about the workings of formations now than I was a few hours ago.

I stood at my gate, sensing two sources of familiar Qi walking closer towards me. Sheldon walked in with Labby lying on his back, her Qi subdued and dim.

“Had fun?” I asked Labby, who let out a tired squeak instead of replying, as my two spirits walked in.

Labby felt exhausted, and I let her have her rest. Whatever she had gone off to, and done, it had helped her settle down. The constant rumbling of her Qi ever since my tribulation had finally settled down, as if she’d found her peace with something. I smiled, feeling a little melancholic at watching my little baby rat growing up on her own.

Sheldon paused as he turned to look at me, words touching my mind briefly.

“Saw. Broken. Cycle?”

I nodded in reply. “I did, and I have a lot of questions. Something I’ll need to think over in the Inner World as I cultivate.”

“Chirp!” Sheldon replied, dumping Labby onto the ground as the turtle walked into his little sectioned off pool, swimming within it.

I realised how one section of my room must look, dug in with a pool of water with a lotus in it, and covered in plants and spirit herbs growing. The herbs had slowly but surely begun growing on the walls too as nature began spreading from that section.

I’d need a section of the spirit herb garden so that it doesn’t spread beyond the little area it was in right now. Truly, the work never ended.

I felt fur on my feet and looked down to see Nyan rubbing against me, with a scroll in his mouth. I bent down, petting the little cat as I handed him his two pills and took the scroll from his mouth.

I opened the message, and looked within, reading the contents as a smile covered my face, followed by surprise.

Su Lin, Granny and the rest had reached Taizhou.