Unrelated bonus: Cultivator Therapist

I wrote this last year, it's just been sitting there ever since, and I realized that I think probably a lot of you would find it interesting. It's not a new chapter of Magic is Programming, but it hasn't delayed the next chapter because all the work to write it was done several months ago. So, while you wait for me to catch up on writing the story you're actually here for, I hope you enjoy this sample of something different.

This was inspired by v4c43: Perseverance of Beware of Chicken, which tells in brief the story of a minor side character named Shao Heng. He is a cultivator who lost his way and stalled out his cultivation progress, and whose efforts to fix the problem just made it even worse, because of peer pressure and a widespread misunderstanding of what the true most important principle of cultivation in that story really is. Shao Heng only begins to recover when one of the protagonists encounters him, helps him, and corrects his misconception about what really matters, in both life and cultivation.

After I read that chapter back in September, the idea of a story centered around that kind of help got stuck in my head, and I couldn't stop thinking about it until I got all my thoughts about it written out into the story's introduction. I wrote these 2 chapters in just 2 days last year, total, and that finally got it out of my head so I could focus on Magic is Programming again.

I doubt I will ever continue this side story. I don't have any particular plans for where its overall plot would go. If I ever do return to it, I will likely give it a major overhaul, along with planning an actual storyline for it. Even then, it would only be after completing Magic is Programming.

I also experimented with a 100% dialogue-only style for this. I think it works well for the concept so far, but I'm not sure if it would be sustainable for a full-length novel.

As bonus side content, this will remain exclusive to Platinum tier and higher, until and unless I someday expand it into a full story and start publishing that story, if that ever happens. I hope you enjoy it.

Title: Cultivator Therapist

Chapter 1: Therapist

"I am told that you can help break through bottlenecks that are preventing advancement in cultivation."

"I have done so for many cultivators, yes. Are you seeking my aid in this yourself?"

"I..."

"Come now, you can hardly seek help for a problem without admitting that the problem exists."

"... Yes. I have plateaued. I had thought that continuing to the next stage was only a matter of time, that I just needed patience for the accumulation of the necessary amount of refined qi, but it has been... too long. Far too long since the last time I felt even a hint of advancement. I should have entered the next stage by now, and people are already whispering behind my back about my slowness, but I am stalled not even half way through my current stage. I have been for decades, but I refused to see it."

"Your willingness to acknowledge your bottleneck is good. That is the first step toward fixing it. It is unfortunate that so many cultivators believe bottlenecks to be shameful. Most believe that bottlenecks are rare, and the result of shameful personal failure, but the truth is that they are common and varied. I have studied bottlenecks, and their frequency and causes, perhaps more than anyone else in history. I could tell that you have a bottleneck the moment I noticed you with my spiritual sense. Of the 382 other cultivators I can currently sense, here in the Inner Sect, not including you or myself, would you care to guess how many currently have a bottleneck?"

"You can sense bottlenecks in other cultivators?"

"Yes. A benefit of my dao."

"What dao is that?"

"The Dao of Therapy."

"I have never heard of such a dao. Or... 'therapy'?"

"It is so far unique, to the best of my knowledge. I have not yet found a fitting disciple to teach it to. In any case, my question? Two more cultivators entered my range, so I can now sense 384 other cultivators. How many of those do you think have bottlenecks right now?"

"Hmm. Perhaps 2."

"Not even close. 73."

"What?!"

"I sense bottlenecks in 73 of the 384 other cultivators currently in range of my spiritual sense. Many of them will work through it on their own, solving their own personal bottleneck in a matter of months or years, quickly enough to seem merely a bit slow in the end, and go on to pretend it never happened.

"Some will seek out dangerous missions, hoping to find a hidden treasure or defeat a powerful spirit beast and take its core. Most of those will die in the attempt. A few will succeed and use what they gained to force their way through to an advancement. I pity them, for that course adds flaws to their cultivation base, and all their future advancements will come slower, and be more difficult and dangerous. Worse, the exact same bottleneck will return within three stages at most.

"Perhaps about 15 of them will ultimately prove unable to break through on their own and unwilling to accept the risks of seeking a sufficiently powerful treasure or beast core. Of those, I estimate 5 will come to me. The other 10 will accept their failure, and simply endure the public embarrassment and shame of being known to have bottlenecked for however long they live. Some of those may eventually suicide to escape the constant scorn of their peers. A sad waste."

"If you believe it a waste, why do you not help them, to prevent that waste?"

"I cannot help those who reject my aid. I offer. I spread rumors about what I can do. The Sect refuses to allow me to openly advertise the things I would say about bottlenecks, for it bluntly contradicts firmly established Sect doctrine, but I do what I can to see the information spread without calling down too much wrath on my head. I sometimes seek out and speak directly with a cultivator who has reached the point of giving up. Nearly all of them refuse, and angrily accuse me of offering false hope."

"I see. And you cannot simply force your treatment on them? At least some of them must be multiple whole realms below you."

"You have not been told about how I help break through bottlenecks. Haven't you?"

"I have not. Finding people willing to even confirm the rumor I heard at all, and especially finding anyone willing to admit to having personally benefited from your help, was difficult. I could not find anyone who would speak a word of how it was done."

"My treatment inherently cannot be forced. Willing cooperation from the bottlenecked cultivator is necessary for the treatment to work."

"That is a strange requirement."

"You will understand it once you have experienced the treatment yourself. You do want to go through with this, yes? We can begin immediately if you have some time available."

"Yes. Please. I... I do not want to end as another 'sad waste' in public shame, and this... I have thoroughly searched the entire Sect library, including the restricted sections with my access as an Elder, for every hint of ways to break my bottleneck, and nothing I found and could try had even the slightest effect on it. I tracked you down after overhearing a passing comment from a junior disciple, desperation driving me to take it seriously. You are my last hope."

"Then let us begin. First, review and sign this contract. Read it in full, and ask questions as needed to ensure you fully understand it. Your understanding of this contract is important for my ability to treat you."

"That is exceedingly strange. Please explain why. How could understanding of a contract have anything at all to do with breaking through a bottleneck?"

"The best way to explain that is to demonstrate by treating your bottleneck. Which I will need you to understand and sign this contract in order for me to do."

"You are sounding increasingly like a con man."

"Do you honestly believe that a con man could ever achieve my position in this Sect without being discovered and expelled?"

"... No."

"I'm sorry for the mystery, but explaining in advance would only replace one strange thing with other strange things, for the treatment relies on truths about the nature of bottlenecks that severely conflict with what you believe you know about them. At some point, you will just have to take it on faith, or perhaps on hope, that I'm being genuinely honest with you. Only the results of success will be proof enough to convince you through evidence."

"... You are my last hope. Very well, if I must."

"Here. Read, and do not skim."

"The price seems absurdly low for what you say you offer."

"I charge a fee only to discourage the merely curious from wasting my time. My true reward is that providing this treatment aligns with the truest core of my dao. By helping others advance their cultivation in this way, I also help my own cultivation advance."

"The... Dao of Therapy."

"Yes."

"Strange dao, but fair enough. Hmm. Why the emphasis on frank honesty in these... 'therapy sessions'?"

"To successfully help you break through your bottleneck, I will need to know what caused it. Since you do not know its cause yourself - otherwise you would not need my help to break it - I will need other information to figure out the cause. Some of the information needed to identify the bottleneck's cause may be deeply personal and private, perhaps even secrets you would like to take to your grave. Even so, for the treatment to succeed I will need to learn that information, and I will need to learn it in truth and in full, with neither lies nor omission."

"Now you sound like a spy, trying to trade hope for secrets from the desperate."

"Read the next clause, and note that this contract is bound to my qi and my dao."

"Total confidentiality? You are promising to reveal nothing at all of what I say, even if the Patriarch personally conducts an Inquisition on you?"

"Absolutely. And even the Patriarch cannot release the binding on my qi and dao without triggering its failsafe in the attempt. It would take the total destruction of my cultivation, while somehow keeping me alive, for me to even be able to breach this confidentiality. How could I possibly expect you to freely tell me what I will need to know without a true guarantee that the information will go no further?"

"I... see. That is... I hesitate to call it excessive, but you are making an extraordinary commitment. And this is standard for you, for all the people you give this 'therapy' to?"

"Of course!"

"Still seems strange to me, but it's on your head, not mine. Next clause... You do not guarantee success?"

"I cannot guarantee success. Success depends on details of your specific individual bottleneck that I do not yet know, and it especially depends on your cooperation in telling me those details and heeding my instructions. Remember, this treatment requires your willing cooperation in order for the treatment to work. Some of those I have given therapy to refused to answer some of my questions, or lied and never corrected the lie, or withheld the full truth, or rejected the solution I ultimately gave them, and remained bottlenecked. That said, of the 528 cultivators who fully cooperated with my treatment, all 528 broke through and advanced their cultivation again."

"Why would anyone reject a solution that you've already identified?"

"Because if the solution worked it would prove certain truths that they firmly believed were false, and in some cases those truths would bring them shame, or guilt, or a loss of pride, that they refused to accept."

"... Still more strangeness, but I suppose it costs me nothing of significance to play along."

"And you have so very much to gain!"

"So I hope, at least. Very well, it's signed. Can we begin the actual therapy, whatever that is, now?"

"Of course. To begin with, many bottlenecks trace their causes all the way back to the beginning of cultivation. So, how did your cultivation begin? Why did you become a cultivator?"

"That was a very long time ago."

"Nonetheless, I have found that it is usually best to begin at the beginning. Even if the problem began later, knowing the beginning can give important context to notice and identify what changed and went wrong."

"... You're the supposed expert. Fine. Seven centuries ago, I was a poor son of a remote village..."

Chapter 2: Introspection

"... I have not spoken of my origins in a very long time. All who knew me back then are long since dead, and I have not even thought of those times in... centuries, I believe."

"But you do still recall them, yes?"

"I do. It's just... There is nothing for me to be proud of in what I was back then. I was a frail child, and almost a beggar."

"I do not judge. Here, in this therapy room, you are safe from any consequences of shame. Whatever you might tell me, I will only consider how it might relate to your bottleneck. Your words are information to guide your treatment, nothing more. And nothing less."

"... You asked about the beginning of my cultivation, correct?"

"Yes."

"My journey to become a cultivator... began with a spirit beast. A great and deadly boar, bigger than any house in my village. I never learned why it came, why it seemed to hold a fierce hatred for our village, but the fact of that hatred was clear enough just from seeing the way it glared at the buildings it demolished, and savagely tore all in its path. I was hiding in a barn when it burst through the wall. It turned to glare at me, and I knew I was about to die.

"Then the spirit boar suddenly flew to the side, crashing through the barn's remaining wall, and in its place a cultivator stood, pulling back his extended fist. The barn began to collapse on top of us, but the cultivator moved in a blur, something warm took hold of me, and I found myself watching the barn's collapse from outside. The cultivator had saved me. I thought he was a hero and, in my ignorance, I decided I wanted to be just like him. A hero who saved people."

"So your purpose when you ignited your dantian was to help others?"

"I have long since learned better than that youthful foolishness, I assure you."

"But all the way back then, seven centuries ago, you desired to protect and aid other people?"

"I cultivate to challenge the Heavens, of course! ... But yes, when I was a fresh initiate of Qi Condensation, I wanted to be a hero."

"Hmm."

"Surely you don't think that is the problem! Any bottleneck caused by that should have happened before I diligently rooted out that flaw from my spirit, not now."

"The connections to a bottleneck's cause can be complex and at times bizarre. An issue can lie dormant and unnoticed for centuries, until a strange and elaborate confluence of circumstances brings it to the surface. Other times it is simple and straightforward, but forms a truth that is difficult to accept. I must build a full picture, discarding nothing prematurely, to be certain of the solution."

"... You speak vague notions that try my patience, and my tolerance for disrespect from one junior to me."

"Yet you need my aid, where I do not need yours, and you dare not call Sect attention to your visit to me, for it would greatly damage your reputation. Remember your hope for a breakthrough, and humor me a while. Shall we continue?"

"... Yes."

"Where were we? Ah, yes, you were an aspiring hero in Qi Condensation, and advanced through those early stages easily and quickly. Am I right?"

"Yes, but Qi Condensation passes swiftly for anyone with even a modicum of talent."

"True enough. So you progressed onward to Foundation Building, and joined the Sect. Tell me about that."

"What do you want to know?"

"The things that seem important to you. Don't try to assess their relevance to your bottleneck, that's my job, just whatever you think mattered for the course your life took."

"Well, I was taken in as an outer disciple and trained in combat. My martial skills improved quickly, and I built my foundation aligned with the Dao of Battle."

"Not heroism, or protection, or anything more closely related to your original purpose?"

"No. I did suggest something like that, but my master advised against it. Too inflexible and limited. Lacking offensive power. Too dependent on others. Weak against tribulations, where every cultivator must stand alone. I have since grown out of such childishness, and I am grateful to my old master for preventing me from making that mistake."

"Ah. Continue."

"I won the first-year bracket of the outer disciples tournament, proving my talent and skill in combat, and I was placed on one of the junior rapid response teams, responsible for dealing with bandits and weaker spirit beasts in areas near the Sect. From time to time, a report of trouble would come and my team would fly out and dispatch the offender. I envied the Golden Core team leader for his ability to fly under his own power. It motivated me to greater dedication to my cultivation, seeking to match him as soon as I could.

"When trouble did not call for us, my days were spent learning the ways of battle, practicing with all kinds of weapons, sparring and trading pointers with the best fighters I could talk into it, and cultivating. I would exhaust myself by mid afternoon with training, then cultivate until well past nightfall, and repeat the next day. I reached Core Formation in only seven years, and passed my tribulation with ease."

"Impressive. How did you feel about your duties on the rapid response team?"

"I was proud of my victories, and exulted in proving my strength."

"Is that the full truth? I'm sure that is what you told everyone, but think back, and remember. Pick a day when some danger threatened a village, and you came in response, and remember that day. Remember the trip out, your emotions as you flew, your thoughts and hopes and concerns as you approached the village. And afterward, when the battle was won, remember the feelings that came through you the moment you realized it was over. Now answer me again, knowing that breaking through your bottleneck might be at stake: How did you truly feel, in your own mind and heart, about your duties?"

"I... No. You are right. What I said was true, but not the full truth, or even the main truth. I hid it from my fellows, but back then I still wanted to be a hero and protect others. While flying out, I was worried about how many might die before we could save them, and wished that I could somehow speed up our trip to arrive sooner. I would look first for people in danger, and only second for enemies to destroy. When the last foe fell, I felt relief for those that were now safe, and pride that I had saved them. And when my tribulation came, my foremost thought was of how the increase in power at Core Formation would enable me to save more people."

"And yet you encountered no bottleneck, racing through the stages of building your Foundation easily and faster than 90% of all cultivators."

"Well yes, but I don't see your point. Bottlenecks at Foundation Building are all but unheard of."

"Technically correct, but only because so few ever speak of them. I have sensed plenty of bottlenecks in Foundation Building cultivators. However, advancement in that realm is still easily sensed and quick enough that any bottleneck is noticed almost immediately, and nearly all cultivators quickly realize what recent change caused it and break the bottleneck on their own in short order."

"Huh. I suppose that makes sense, but I still don't see where you're going with your comment."

"I was just making an observation. So, you advanced to Core Formation. How did things change for you in your new realm?"

"Primarily, I was reassigned to a senior rapid response team, one led by an Elder in the Nascent Soul realm. We were called for less often, because dangers great enough to require such a force are rarer. By that point my weapon skills were difficult to improve, for I was already better than the vast majority of those I might seek instruction from. Instead, I learned combative qi techniques, and formation crafting, and honed my skills with those to a fine edge."

"What kinds of techniques and formations were you the most interested in?"

"Barriers, movement, misdirection and concealment. I also focused a great deal of effort on making wind blades sharp enough and strong enough to cut foes that matched my realm in two."

"About the techniques and formations that are not attacks, do all of them cover areas, or can be used on others?"

"Uh. Hmm. Wind Wall, Wind Slide, Dust Cloud, Sound Barrier, Air Dome, that other one I always forget the name of... Hmm. No, that next one's an attack, this one yes, yes, attack, yes... Hmm. ... Those three... And that one... Huh. How did I never notice that before? Yes, every technique or formation I chose to learn either is an attack, covers an area, or can be used on others. How did you guess that?"

"I'll explain later if it's important. For now, let's move on. We still need to help you identify your bottleneck's cause."

"... Fine. What next, whether my misguided heroic notions persisted through Core Formation?"

"I wouldn't put it that way, but yes. Also whether your cultivation continued to advance easily and quickly."

"Ok. Then yes, and yes. Can we stop dwelling on the mistakes of my youth soon?"

"That depends on what we learn and realize, and when. How long did it take you to advance to Golden Core?"

"62 years. I was hailed as a prodigy, and assigned to lead one of the junior response teams."

"The tribulation for that advancement, were your thoughts as you went through it still focused on saving others?"

"Yes, damn you! A shame I thought I'd bury forever. Why are you so obsessed with it? I have put it behind me, for good!"

"Again, I do not judge for shame. If you told me that you have bedded ten thousand women and maintain a personal brothel with yourself as its only client, I would merely take note of the information and consider whether and how it might be connected to your bottleneck. I have been told even stranger and more shameful things than that in this very room, and some of them did indeed lead me to a bottleneck's cause and solution."

"A personal brothel!? What? Are you implying that I...?"

"It was an absurd hypothetical to make a point, nothing more. Whatever shame you might feel for the things you tell me, I will not scorn you for any of it. And even if I did, you know I cannot reveal your secrets to others. Please, calm yourself, and remember what is at stake for you."

"... Give me a minute. I need to meditate."

"Of course."

"..."

"Was your progress through the first stage of Golden Core swift?"

"The first stage? Hmm. Yes, I suppose it was."

"How did your experience as a team leader go? What changed, and how?"

"Most obviously, I was now the one who provided flight for the team. I still wished I could fly faster, however, and envied the speed of Elders. I was involved in planning and organizing. Sometimes I was in charge of deciding which team would respond. I... A few times, I sent a senior team just because they would get there faster, even though the enemy was well within what a junior team could handle.

"I was disciplined for it. After the third time, I was warned that doing it again might get me expelled from the Sect, both for wasting an Elder's time and denying juniors valuable combat experience. My master must have remembered my youthful foolishness, because he privately told me that ensuring as many people would be saved as possible was not the Sect's concern, and should not be my concern. Mortals live short and unimportant lives, and speeding the advancement of cultivators who live centuries or millennia and grow to millions of times stronger is what truly matters."

"How did you respond to this?"

"Truthfully? ... I am loath to admit it, but I was angry. I seethed inside for weeks. My master noticed my attitude, and arranged a temporary suspension of my duties to allow an extended period of closed door meditation and cultivation. I meditated on his words, purged my anger through my qi, and focused on strengthening my cultivation, taking in qi and compressing it into the secondary layers of my core.

"I advanced two stages in that room, and emerged determined to do better in the future. I would focus on improving myself and my fellow cultivators. A few mortal lives lost would be a small price for giving combat experience against weak threats to the lower realm cultivators who would actually benefit from it, rather than having an Elder sweep the threat aside with a casual effort and learn nothing."

"How long did those two stages take you?"

"... Longer than I would have liked."

"Longer than you were accustomed to? More difficult, with the qi responding less easily to your will?"

"Yes. But it was the Golden Core realm. It is normal for progress to slow as a cultivator advances through the realms."

"True, but the major changes in speed normally come with the achievement of a new realm. These two stages of Golden Core were slower than your first stage of Golden Core."

"Hmm. Slower than my first two stages, come to think of it. Still, I advanced at a reasonable pace. I passed through all of Golden Core and awakened my Nascent Soul, becoming an Elder, in 427 years. A few incidents in the first couple decades of being an Elder brought it to my attention that I was still feeling impulses to look out for the welfare of mortals more than was proper, especially for the dignity of my position as an Elder. If I did not deal with the problem, I would risk becoming an embarrassment to the Sect."

"And the tribulation of your advancement to Nascent Soul?"

"It was... difficult. The closest I have ever come to death, since facing that spirit boar as a mortal child."

"Hmm. And how have your 200-some-odd years of Elder-hood been?"

"Frustrating. I spent a decade in closed door meditation, ruthlessly hunting down and rooting out every vestige of my childish idolization of heroics, and emerged remade, ready to lead as an Elder should. With my long experience in the rapid response teams, the Elder previously in charge of the whole division was glad to hand over that responsibility so that she could go into closed door cultivation. Under my leadership, the disciples on those teams have advanced rapidly. A few died facing underestimated threats, but their compatriots triumphed and grew stronger for having faced and overcome such danger. I was praised and rewarded for my expert guidance and mentorship of my juniors."

"None of that sounds frustrating."

"... My bottleneck. I have allowed my recent difficulties to overshadow my earlier accomplishments in my mind."

"Hmm. When did you begin to realize you have a bottleneck?"

"21 years ago. I heard an idle comment that I was due to advance to the second stage of Nascent Soul soon, and I was stunned to realize that I had been an Elder for two centuries and yet did not feel even close to the second stage. The typical time for that advancement is about 170 years. By now... whispered rumors plague me that I have fallen from prodigy to failure."

"Hmm. So, let me summarize: In Qi Condensation, you pursued a passion for heroism, advanced quickly, and had an easy tribulation. In Foundation Building, you pursued a passion for heroism, advanced quickly, and had an easy tribulation. In Core Formation, you pursued a passion for heroism, advanced quickly, and had an easy tribulation. In Golden Core, you turned away from heroism, advanced more slowly, and nearly died in your tribulation. In Nascent Soul, you have firmly rejected heroism entirely, and your cultivation is completely stalled. What do these acknowledged facts suggest to you?"

"... What. That's... You are implying that my foolish pursuit of heroism aided my cultivation, and that turning away from it caused my bottleneck? Preposterous!"

"Why do you believe it preposterous?"

"Because that is the opposite of how bottlenecks work! They are caused by flaws in a cultivator's spirit, and turning away from heroism was fixing a flaw!"

"And what is that knowledge about bottlenecks based on?"

"... What do you mean?"

"How did you learn that about the causes of bottlenecks?"

"My master taught it to me, of course. And my research in the Sect library confirmed it, repeatedly."

"Did your master, or any of the books you read, or anyone else, ever explain how this knowledge was originally discovered? Has any source ever given a reason to believe it, other than that it was what they, too, were told?"

"I... don't recall any."

"Will you listen to what I have seen borne out, time and again, in the ways that I have personally helped to break hundreds upon hundreds of bottlenecks?"

"... Yes. I will listen."

"The essence of cultivation is the gathering and accumulation of qi, which is a spiritual energy. Qi responds to the desires and exertions of a cultivator's spirit, and it responds most strongly when a cultivator's body, mind, and actions are well in tune with their spirit. Bottlenecks occur when a cultivator comes into conflict with their own spirit, denying and suppressing parts of themselves, and attempts a path that is not theirs, and does not suit them.

"The dominant belief about the cause of bottlenecks is so ancient that its origins are lost to history, but I believe it most likely began with one exceedingly stubborn and ambitious cultivator whose own purpose truly was to challenge the Heavens, and who managed against all odds to succeed in that purpose, ultimately ascending to the Heavens. Others, possibly this cultivator's students, saw that incredible success and concluded that this path must be the best and proper path, and ever since then nearly every cultivator's ability to progress in the higher realms has depended on how well their spirit matched the path that they were taught was the one and only correct path.

"People see that those whose spirit does not match this path encounter bottlenecks, and pronounce the spirit flawed, never considering that the issue might lie with the path instead. In truth, the issue is neither with the spirit, nor with the path, but with the mismatch between them. However, it is all but impossible to change your own spirit to a degree that would matter. That leaves changing your path as the only solution."

"... You're saying that I must embrace heroism again in order to break my bottleneck."

"Precisely. I have seen this play out 528 times. A cultivator accepts and embraces the path that their spirit truly desires, and the bottleneck dissolves as though it had never existed. Many of them immediately begin advancing their cultivation faster than they ever have before. You might have heard of a few unconventional late-blooming prodigies in recent decades. I cannot take credit for all of them, but a substantial number of those bloomed because they took my advice."

"I see. ... I understand now, why some of those who sought your help rejected your solution. If I become an open advocate of improving the protection of mortals, and engage in heroism as I once dreamed of, I would become a laughingstock. Resuming my advancement would be little consolation for being expelled from the Sect and losing all my authority and access to resources."

"It does not have to be so open as that. Take my own path, for example. If it were possible, my spirit would demand that I must announce the truth behind bottlenecks to the entire Sect, and even the world at large, but I know that the information would be swiftly and brutally suppressed, and the attempt would be punished by expelling me from the Sect, or even breaking my cultivation. If I believed it would achieve something worth that price, I might do it anyway, but I know that I can help far more from inside the Sect, even with how secretive and circumspect I must be, than I would ever be able to as a wandering cultivator.

"I pursue the path that I believe will allow me to bring the help of my therapy to as many as possible, and I consider the Sect's likely reactions and account for them in assessing what that path is. I wish that I could achieve more, but I know I am doing my best for the situation I am actually in, and my cultivation is progressing without issue. You could apply the same principle to your own path; seek to protect and aid others, but restricted to ways the Sect will accept. With the many centuries of an Elder's lifespan, you might even be able to gradually change the nature of the Sect itself, transforming it to be more accepting of your path."

"You are already attempting your own such transformation of the Sect, aren't you?"

"Oh, of course! I dream of the day I will at last be able to teach my knowledge openly to the entire Sect without condemnation. Every cultivator I help, every cultivator who already knows and believes the truth of what I say, is another step towards it. When that day finally comes, I will not be surprised if I advance an entire realm at once."

"I see. ... I am still not fully convinced. You present a compelling argument, but it is difficult to believe that so many have believed something so wrong for so long."

"Allow me to prove it to you. You have locked away and held certain parts of yourself suppressed for well over a century. You have more than enough strength of will to lock them away once more if you choose to. Let us indulge in a brief experiment, and then you can decide."

"Very well. What exactly do you propose?"

"Think back to your youth. Remember the desires that prompted you to send senior teams just to more quickly eliminate dangers. Remember the elation you felt after successfully saving everyone that you hoped to. Think and consider, is there something you could do, something the Sect would find acceptable, that would align with those desires, and perhaps let you feel some of that elation once more?"

"Hmm. I could train my teams to focus more on saving people first, and defeating the threat second, and frame it as aiming for a more challenging goal, which will give correspondingly greater improvement for those who succeed in it."

"Is that something you would be willing to do whether or not this works out for breaking through your bottleneck?"

"Yes. The justification I will give for it is a genuine benefit that the change will cause, and that no one will take issue with. I... actually have thought of it before, but rejected the idea because I believed it would be giving in to my flaw, even though it also would have helped work toward the goals I had chosen."

"Perfect. Then make the decision: You will train your teams to focus first on rescuing those in danger. By doing this, you will indirectly save some people who would otherwise die. Think forward, to the day a team returns from a mission, and they report that they saved someone from the brink of death, and that they did it because of how you trained them. Imagine hearing that report, and let your feelings respond naturally, in whatever way your spirit wants to."

"I feel... relief. Gladness. Regret that I did not start that training sooner. ... Nostalgia, for the days of my youth when I did not have to hide these feelings. Eagerness... to find other ways to skirt around the Sect's opinions about this."

"...And?"

"Wha-? I- I- That- How!? Impossible! ... Ha. Haha. Ahahahahaha! ... Wow. Just... Wow. Is this... normal?"

"Advancing an entire stage and part of the next in seconds after breaking a bottleneck? That was the most dramatically large bottleneck breakthrough I've seen, but it's not surprising in light of how long you've had that bottleneck. Qi was blocked from properly joining your cultivation base, with its connection to all three of spirit, mind, and body, but it was still accumulating in your spirit all this time. You are not fully caught up to where you would have been without this bottleneck, the qi buildup was slowed by the backlog caught in your spirit, but you have regained perhaps 60% to 70% of what the bottleneck cost you."

"I... Thank you. This is beyond, far beyond, any result I dared hope for. I owe you, greatly. If you ever have need of me, call, and I will answer. I swear it."

"Thank you. Perhaps someday, when enough others are ready and the time is right, I may ask you to speak out and help sway the Sect as a whole, to accept the truths I have to teach, and change the doctrine taught to new disciples."

"When the time comes, I will do that gladly. ... You knew, didn't you? The moment I first spoke of my childhood heroic aspirations. You already knew that early what the problem was."

"Yes. But if I had told you immediately, would you have believed me? Would you have even considered the possibility for an instant?"

"... No. I am ashamed to say it, but I would not have. I would likely have stormed out in anger and despair, convinced that my last hope had proven to be a fraud."

"And that is precisely why I did not tell you. Often, identifying the problem is the easy part of what I do. It can be far more difficult to convince my patient to accept the truth of it. And that very acceptance is what brings mind and body back into harmony with spirit, breaking the bottleneck."

"Yes. Your strange requirements make sense now. Hmm. I have four personal disciples, and I have been concerned for a while that one may have a bottleneck. With the insight into bottlenecks you explained to me, I think I might be able to discover the cause, but... I have doubts about my ability to convince her of it. The things I have said to her in the past... I regret it now, but I have been very scornful of bottlenecks and the flaws that I believed caused them, and if I change my stance on that so dramatically now, she might believe I am testing her resolve."

"You have my blessing to send her to me. I will be glad to help. And from what you say, it may be better to tell her I am a 'cultivation guidance expert' or some such, leaving out any mention of bottlenecks."

"As you say. I shall do so. Thank you again."