[Young Master Xian]—❈—22:: unnamed

A/N:: so, uh, after a few rereads, quite a few edits were made to the previous chapter, i.e. chapter 21.

Now, you don't have to go back and reread it. But, it might not be a terrible idea, seeing as it's now almost 400 words longer.

Sorry for the inconvenience. I promise not to make a habit of this.

—❈——❈—

—❈——❈—

Meng Yi sits within the cultivation circle, Golden Mango in hand and a hard to read look on her face as she stares intently at it.

We’re in the cultivation room within the mansion, and Meng Yi has been like this for over two minutes now.

I’m starting to think she’s stalling.

“So, is your plan to stare at it until it turns beast rank or something?” I ask after a while. “Because, jokes aside, that would be a neat trick. Not at all a profitable one, but still neat.”

Meng Yi shoots me a look. “This is a significant moment for me, Young Master Xian,” she says, and that makes me pause.

I suppose it is a significant moment for her, isn’t it? This is like if, in my old life, I’d made a rich friend and then they’d gifted me like a house or a car or something.

For her this is probably a dream she never even dared to dream.

“You’re right,” I say. “I’m sorry.”

Meng Yi nods in acceptance of my apology.

“You know,” I say after a moment, “this makes me wonder what it’s like for royalty. Imagine being from a family so wealthy that you’ve had divine or noble rank supplements boosting your cultivation before even learning a method. A method that, after all of that, will be divine rank.”

I think about that for a moment, trying to imagine what such people would be like based on my own experience from being noble rank, and just that mental image leaves me in awe.

“There must be some terrifying monsters in the world,” I say.

“Resources like that have to be earned,” Meng Yi says, “even for royalty. One has to prove themselves talented enough, or competent enough, to deserve such an investment, so, yes, you’re right, such people would be quite terrifying.”

Meng Yi looks back down at the mango, the golden light reflecting off it lighting up her face.

“You’ve earned it, Meng Yi,” I say honestly, and she looks up at me.

“No, I haven’t,” she says. “But I will. I promise.”

And with those words, Meng Yi takes a big bite of the fruit.

A wash of qi explodes across the room, slamming into the walls so hard they shake.

Meng Yi’s eyes widen, her body locking up for a moment, then with a light of determination in her eyes, she swallows, and her body glows gold.

The qi of the fruit mixes with Meng Yi’s own, altering it, making it finer, smoother, better in some way that is entirely beyond my understanding… then Meng Yi takes another bite.

The explosion of qi is even greater this time, as is her struggle to swallow. The piece of the fruit seems practically lodged in her throat.

Crap, she’s not going to choke, is she?

She is, but before I can move to help, Meng Yi slams a hand against her chest with all her might, and the morsel goes down.

The golden glow emanating from within her triples, making her a mere outline bathed in sunlight.

The qi within the room triples with the light, becoming so much now that it feels like a physical thing, almost like a liquid I’m submerged under.

Breathing in pulls it into me, and breathing out pushes me into it.

Curiously, I inhale in that way I’ve learnt triggers my cultivation.

The sun within my chest flares, and it promptly begins sucking in the qi of the Golden Mango from around me ravenously.

It’s like a vacuum on max, like my very skin has begun to take in this energy too in an attempt to maximise the rate at which I can consume it.

Apart from the noble rank qi pills given to me by my rolling power, this is the first qi I’ve consumed that’s actually at the right rank to matter to my cultivation.

Even as my body sucks it in from around the room though, I know this isn’t enough. Not even remotely.

For this to do anything for me, I need to go right to the source.

Tough luck, cultivation, because the source is someone else’s property now. And you know what Barney says about stealing.

I exhale, and the sun cools, my body relaxing in its attempt to play qi vacuum.

I note the outline of Meng Yi’s body move as she takes another bite of the fruit.

I watch her carefully, to see if she’ll again have trouble swallowing, but thankfully that doesn’t seem to be the case this time, as the golden glow of her body quickly brightens once again.

If she gets any brighter, I just might go blind. As it is already, I’m pretty sure I’ll be seeing spots for days.

Meng Yi does get brighter, but not by much, because by the time she takes another bite, she’s already begun to dim some.

I don’t know how long I stand and watch Meng Yi eat and glow, but I know it’s a long time. Long enough that I find myself in need of a bathroom break.

Even after she finishes the fruit, it takes a while for Meng Yi’s qi to settle, my qi sense detailing to me the slowing and eventual cease of the alterations the young woman undergoes.

The glow is the last thing to go. Fading out entirely as Meng Yi rises.

I observe her. She looks fine. Better than fine actually, she looks radiant. Beautiful and capable. Not even the mango juice staining her mouth and chin can ruin the image.

Her cultivation has definitely advanced. But, more than that, I understand fully now why Meng Yi had warned me that no one will miss the boost the Golden Mango will give her; more than just advancing, Meng Yi feels… better now. In every conceivable way.

The only thing I can liken it to, is what it was like when I upgraded my cultivation to noble rank. Nowhere near as significant, of course, but similar.

“How do you feel?” I ask.

Meng Yi licks her lips and rubs her fingers together.

“Sticky,” she says.

I laugh. “Yeah, mangoes tend to be,” I say, then point at the seed still in her hand. “What are we doing about that?”

“I don’t know,” she admits. “Maybe we could bury it.”

I shrug noncommittally. “You think it’ll burn?” I ask.

Better a suspicious pile of ash than a noticeable mound of freshly dug earth that can easily be dug up, in my opinion.

Meng Yi studies the mango seed closely for several seconds. “It might,” she says finally.

It does. Almost depressingly well, in fact. Meng Yi cuts it up first, in the hopes it will make it burn easier, then we toss it in the huge kitchen stove that looks big enough to roast a pig in.

I watch the fire take the seed, feeling a little disappointment in how… ordinarily it burns. There is no great release of qi, no esoteric colour to the flames, not even a funny smell.

The seed of a noble rank fruit and it burns as easily, and as unimpressively, as anything el—the fire turns green, flares brightly, and, feeling a sense of imminent danger like I never have before, I grab Meng Yi and throw us as far away from the stove as I can.

BOOM!

Being caught in an explosion is nothing like seeing it on a screen. It is a significantly different experience. And I can say, with zero doubt in my mind, that henceforth, I want all my experiences with explosions to be from behind a screen, thank you very much.

With ringing ears, I pull myself up, coughing from the dust and the smoke as the warm, meaty form beneath me stirs.

“Are you okay?” I ask, helping her sit up. She nods, but she looks dazed, and I hope to high heaven that it’s simply shock and not a concussion.

I scan her head, checking for signs of injury. There seem to be none. I hope that’s the case.

“Yi!” I hear a voice shout. “Qigang!” Is that Xiuying?

Xiuying comes rushing into the house, through the giant hole in the wall that is where the stove used to be.

What the hell? How powerful was that explosion?

The woman takes in the two of us, then the room.

“What are you doing here?” I ask.

Xiuying’s mouth works soundlessly for several seconds. “What the fuck happened here?” she fires back.

“Uh…”

I look at Meng Yi. She looks at me. I look back at Xiuying.

“I tried to cook,” I say.

—❈——❈—

—❈——❈—

A/N:: Now, I know this is a short chapter. But the next one is significantly longer, and will be out within 48 hours. It's about half done already.

Please, bear with me.