"What do you mean I can't go there for a year!?" I said, my voice rising.

Elder Hazeon's brows furrowed, but he still answered me.

If you had not been delayed for nearly a month it would have still be possible; but twice a decade, the northern reaches of the continent become impassable for those below the domain creation realm. A year long blizzard plagues the wastes and the outer reaches of The Rimewood, preventing passage in and out of those zones.

Until the blizzard subsides, you're unable to go to the Celestial Rimewood sect." He explained.

That…wasn't good news, but how bad could a blizzard be? I'd have to be in the domain creation realm to even travel through it??

"If it's just a blizzard, why can't we just go through it? At the core formation realm, and you at a much higher equivalent realm in body cultivation, it should be no problem dealing with a little cold." I retorted, unsure if I was being punished for something with such a flimsy excuse.

He sighed again.

"True enough. If it was only normal cold, there would be nothing truly stopping you from going. But that is no normal winter storm. The purity of the ice qi within the storm is at a level that to this day we cannot explain. Even powerful marrow forging ice body cultivators find it difficult to spend even a day within the blizzard; the howling gusts, and biting cold strip away any protection their understanding of the element may give them. That amount of time would be enough to make it a good way through the wastes normally, but the storm has some kind of mental effect as well. It becomes impossible to tell which direction you're moving when inside the storm.

You, as you are, would last a few hours at most, maybe a little longer with the protection of that powerful flame of yours.

If the cold wasn't bad enough, powerful demonic beasts flood the wastes and the Rimewood, far from their territories in the furthest reaches of the Glaciate Tundra near Hanshuang Feng, the towering mountain far to the north that suffers an eternal blizzard.

Even Domain Creation realm cultivators need to be careful against these powerful beasts, you can imagine how long you'd last being chased by beasts even I would fear.

Taking all of this into account, it's safer to wait out the blizzard and then travel to the Rimewood."

I frowned. That…was a really good reason actually. It didn't sound very safe to travel on foot, but…maybe we didn't have to travel on foot?

"Couldn't we fly these using the research ship? It wouldn't need to fly through the blizzard, we could fly over it?" I suggested.

He thought for a few moments and nodded.

"I suppose that would work, yes. In that case—" He started but Alice interrupted him.

"The fuel reserves for the research vessel have been almost completely depleted. Travel over long distances is currently impossible without finding a source of qi enriched fuel to power the qion drives." She said, splashing cold water on that idea. Well that was probably just a minor inconvenience.

"Any idea where we can get qi infused fuel?" I asked Elder Hazeon, unsure I even knew what that was, let alone where to find it." He shook his head.

"No, it's been many years since I spent time off-world. I don't know anything about fuel for ships. It would be best to reach out to an organization like the Beltigo Corporation. Perhaps their ships use the same fuel?" He suggested.

I thought back to the short time we spent at the Beltigo HQ on the western continent and the time I spent growing up on Setria 9. I couldn't really call most of my life after Mom and Dad died on the mining colony good, but It wasn't that awful. The Beltigo corporation did have basic rules in place to ensure a basic level of survival for people living there. I wasn't sure I had the best opinion about the company considering they allowed that weird pseudo-government control all of the cultivators on Setria 9, but if they had the fuel we needed, it would make sense to talk to them.

I shrugged.

"That makes sense, should I prepare to go to the nearest branch of the corporation?" I asked. To which Elder Hazeon shook his head.

"No, you're in desperate need of body cultivation instruction. Little Fu has a contact at Beltigo already, and quite a high ranking one at that, though their relationship is somewhat…strained. He's been lazing around ever since I've been cured and he handed out all of those demon sealing techniques and manuals. It's about time he got some exercise." He said, a wry smile on his face, though I could see the tenderness in his expression, and the concern over Zi Fu.

That made sense. Zi Fu had been at the Beltigo Corporation headquarters when we met him, so it made sense that he knows someone there. But if I wasn't going to handle the fuel issue, what did I do now? Just train for a year? It felt weird but I couldn't think of anything I needed to do right now. There was no ancient city to save, no girl thrust through time to awaken, and no urgent tasks to get to for the impending was against the demons. I just needed to train for a year and then go find Jia? As I thought through it, a tension I didn't know I was holding in slowly released its iron-like grip on me.

Now that everything had calmed down, and I didn't feel like I needed to make any decisions, I was starting to feel exhausted. I started swaying on my feet and Elder Hazeon must have noticed.

"That all can wait until tomorrow. You need to head back and get some rest." He said, sending me away. I obeyed, too tired at this point to want to stay up any longer. I dragged myself to my home in the sect and flopped down onto the bed as soon as I walked through the door, fully ready to fall asleep. As I was about to drift off, I felt someone looking at me and cracked an eye open to see Alice standing next to my bed, staring down at me.

I sighed deeply. I forgot to ask Elder Hazeon about finding somewhere for her to stay. I'd have to bring it up with him tomorrow. For now though, I'd just let her stay with me. I rolled over to the far side of the bed, ending up face down in the bed and patted the spot next to me.

"We'll figure out where you're sleeping tomorrow, Alice. For tonight you can sleep in bed with me." I mumbled to her. She must have heard me despite the excellent padding in the bad as I felt the bed shift next to me and once it settled I deftly kicked the blanket to cover us only missing the first few times until I managed to cover myself enough that I couldn't be bothered to keep adjusting it.

"Goodnight, Alice." I said, yawning as I did so, her response lost to the abyss of slumber as I succumbed to the built up exhaustion of nearly a month.

***

I woke up the next morning feeling fully refreshed. It was surprising that all I needed was a night's rest, but considering I must have slept for the better part of a full day and through the night I supposed I needed it.

I sat up in the bed and stretched, though I didn't get any satisfying cracks from it. I didn't even need to do it anymore since my body cultivation reached the bone training realm, but some habits were hard to break.

I looked around the room and was a little surprised to find myself in my room at the sect. It had been so long since I was last in the sect so it was a little jarring to finally be back.

Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.

I moved to get out of bed but was stopped when I encountered a body. Confused, I looked over and saw Alice laying next to me, her eyes open and looking at me.

"Good morning, Head Researcher Astra." She said.

I almost recoiled at the sudden sight of the girl, but managed to keep calm and return her greeting. I got out of bed, Alice following behind me and decided I'd start the day off right with a long bath after such a long time away from home.

I led Alice to the nearest baths, glad a passing disciple could lead us there—though her confusion at us asking to begin with was a little embarrassing. The mirror in the woman's changing room showing my hair and clothes totally disheveled, though I seemed to be bothered by it more than Alice was. I had to basically order her to get in the bath but eventually she joined me in the water after a quick almost too late check to make sure the water wouldn't affect her internals.

After a nice long soak and an explanation to Alice about why it was imperative to Project Eden that we take nice, long, relaxing baths, we found a pair of new sect robes for both Alice and I waiting in the changing room, our old clothes missing. I was getting dressed but Alice wasn't. She had a look other than placidity on her face for once. She was looking at where her clothes had been placed before and looked upset?…ah.

I wrapped a towel around myself and quickly found one of the attendants and asked them to bring her clothes back to my residence once they were cleaned, just to make sure she'd get them back.

"Don't worry Alice, they'll bring them back to my place once they're cleaned!" I told the girl, trying to assure her with my tone as best I could. After a moment she flinched and then grabbed her new clothes.

"It is important to Project Eden that I integrate myself with the local culture. Vice-Head Researcher Delta and Head of Bio-mechanical Design and Implementation, Artemia, taught me it would be important to the project to learn about how girls of my perceived age dress. The robes I have seen most people wearing do not seem particularly suited to close combat. There are too many places that can be grabbed and exploited during combat, but if this is what is best for the project, I will wear them.

I figured she might have been forcing herself some, but I got the feeling I shouldn't push her about it. I did let another attendant know to ask Elder Hazeon to let Alice choose some clothes she'd be more comfortable fighting in to wear.

We got dressed and I took some time to style Alice's hair into something I hoped Artemia would have appreciated. Alice had to be convinced this was important as well which was only getting a little annoying, but there wasn't anything I could do about it. Despite her protests, she seemed to be in a better mood after I did it, which made me smile. Alice, now with a cute half up braid after some delicate application of wind and fire qi to give her hair some volume, followed me as I made my way to Elder Hazeon's office to talk to him about my training, and her living arrangements. To my surprise, Zi Fu was sitting in his office already, laughing heartily with Elder Hazeon. Upon seeing me, he raised a hand in greeting

"Astra! Good to see you're doing better." He said, looking quite a bit younger and healthier than when I had last seen him, and the bags had even disappeared from under his eyes. He was like a completely new man.

I hopped forward and side hugged him from where he sat in his chair, the man returning the embrace.

"It's nice to see you too, Little Fu. Where have you been all this time? I wasn't really in the best head-space when I got here, but this is the first I've seen you." I told him, teasing him a little with the nickname Master used for him.

His eyes narrowed at my use of the nickname before he looked over to Elder Hazeon who looked away and pretended like his bookcase was particularly interesting in that moment.

"Master! You promised you and the old witch would stop calling me that. It's been decades since I was a child. Can't you at least come up with a cooler nickname? Something more refined like 'Whirling Hurricane' or 'Lightning Speed' would be a way better nickname than something the hag came up with when I was a child." He lamented, really laying it on thick about how upset he was at the nickname.

Elder Hazeon scoffed.

"Firstly, you've always had a horrible sense of naming things. Though, to be fair, Bing Bing has proved to be quite the long lasting nickname. What kind of hurricane wouldn't be whirling? And lightning speed wouldn't make sense. You don't use lightning at all! No. Little Fu is quite the apt nickname considering you still act so childishly sometimes." He told him, nodding sagely.

Watching the two interact brought a smile to face. Zi Fu was quite dour, and grumpy, when we initially met, but it seemed this was closer to his true self than the drunkard Jia and I traveled with would have implied.

They bickered back and forth for a while while Alice and I watched, but eventually Elder Hazeon remembered we were there and motioned for us to sit down.

"Little Fu just returned from the western continent. I was filling him in on your recent mission and everything that transpired after it, though I'm having trouble convincing him to do what we talked about yesterday." He said, a tired look on his face.

"I told you, I'm not going back to Beltigo! I did my time working for Artorius, and if I never have to see him again, it would be too soon." Senior Zi harumphed, crossing his arms and acting a little childish considering his age.

"Don't be petulant, Fu. The stakes are real, and keeping the research ship fueled may prove to be imperative to finding the other inheritors. I know you're excited to be back and see your junior disciples, but we do need to be serious." He sighed, Senior Fu sighing as well and then sitting up straighter.

"I suppose you're right. Though even if I left right now, Artorius won't be at Beltigo HQ. He went off world to try and deal with some squabble on a space station. Honestly, I wasn't keen on staying longer than I needed to, so by the time he was preparing to go off-world I was pretty checked out."

Elder Hazeon frowned.

"Do we need Artorius? Wouldn't some secretary be enough to order some fuel?"

Senior Zi shook his head.

"I checked out the ship when I got here. Elder Miao was glued to one of the terminals but I used a different one to take a look around after finding Rin and making her give me access. You're missing a pretty rare type of fuel. We've moved past that type of fuel for most of our ships nowadays, but this ship won't work without that specific type of fuel. Artorius would be able to get some for you, but only Artorius would be able to. He'd have to call in for it from off-world though."

"Senior Zi, I thought you were born here on Dou Can, it's surprising to hear you have experience with ships and technology." I told him, genuinely impressed he was able to navigate the ship's system and knew about fuel and ships on top of that.

He grimaced, but Elder Hazeon answered for him.

"Despite his protests, Little Fu spent quite a lot of time with Artorius, and the Beltigo Corporation, growing up. Before I picked him up like a stray cat and brought him to the sect, he spent his spare time tinkering on spare parts when he wasn't cultivating. Even after joining the sect he kept something of a friendship with Artorius, though the Beltigo heir has grown into quite the adept merchant, taking after his father like he was a copy of the man."

The warm smile Elder Hazeon gave to the memory put a smile on my face, though Zi Fu seemed chagrined to be reminded.

"More like he's grown unscrupulous and conniving. He charged me for information I needed to save your life, Master. There's fewer things I detest more than greed and betrayal. He's no friend of mine." Zi Fu spat, a venom I hadn't expected tinging his voice. I was surprised, but I thought I could understand the feeling. If someone had charged me for something I could use to save Jia or Rin? I would probably resent them too.

"The universe is vast, Fu. And finding a cure for my condition was something we all thought to be impossible. Even a domain creation realm wood cultivator was unable to help. Anything that may have been able to help me would have cost a steep price. Considering the only price you had to pay was a year's time helping Artorius, wouldn't you agree that you got a good deal? I think Artorius may feel differently about your friendship than you do." Elder Hazeon said.

Zi Fu stood abruptly, hands clenched at his side.

"Some things can't be simply forgiven, Master. I went to Artorius to ask for his help and he couldn't see past his greed for a moment to consider that some things may be more important that money. Don't bother sending anyone else, Artorius will send them away. I'll go see him again once he's back on world. Like you said, there's a lot at stake and I won't let my anger blind me like his greed has blinded him." He said before he stormed out of Elder Hazeon's office.

I watched him leave, surprised at the sudden turn in the mood of the conversation, before turning back to Elder Hazeon who looked to have aged a few years during the short back and forth with Zi Fu.

"I hoped that his anger would have subsided somewhat by now, but that boy has always had a principled stance on things like loyalty." He said, seeming to look past the closed office door wistfully.

"That was a lot of anger for one interaction, if they were friendly before. Did something else happen between them?" I asked, curious what could make him react like that.

"You'll have to ask him yourself. It's not my story to tell, nor do I know any details anyways." He said, then smiled at the both of us.

"That's enough about that, though. You both have quite a lot of work ahead of you. We have around a year before you can head off for the Rimewood, and from what I felt yesterday, Astra, your body cultivation is far behind your spiritual cultivation. Will there be any issues with your cultivations if they get too far out of sync. All things in the universe are about balance, so I would image that allowing them to diverge from balance is unwise." He said, moving on from the clearly touchy topic.

I nodded.

"Yes, I can feel that if my spiritual cultivation grows more before I can continue forging my body, I may become unable to continue on both paths. That's part of the reason we came here this morning, I need your help learning more about body cultivation."

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.