Chapter Six;; The Plot For The Seamless Introduction Of Xian Qigang 2.0
Meng Yi's plan is brilliant.
Utterly insane, mind you, but brilliant. And like all insane but brilliant plans, it is simple but necessarily layered.
See, in this world, there are things called hidden realms.
Basically, they are pocket dimensions, and their entrances spontaneously pop up and disappear in completely random locations worldwide.
Since these hidden realms are… well, hidden, and, in proper xianxia fashion, the older certain plants get, the more powerful they become, these hidden realms are oftentimes treasure troves of ancient and powerful cultivation resources.
At least, that's the popular opinion. An opinion so prevalent, in fact, that, according to Meng Yi, virtually every fictional story about an underdog cultivator begins with the unwitting hero stumbling upon a hidden realm.
In the eyes of most people, even cultivators, there can be no greater boon in life than finding a hidden realm.
Naturally, of course, the truth is a lot less exciting.
While there are hidden realms, and while some of them are life-changing treasure troves, the keyword there, is some.
Most hidden realms, in truth, are simple, ordinary spaces that are hardly any different from anywhere else.
This doesn't matter though. What matters is that there are hidden realms with great treasures in them, and that is the first layer of Meng Yi's plan.
The second layer was kindly provided by Xian Qigang, the idiot who threw a tantrum and got himself lost in the mountains for six days.
It was that same idiot who, due to embarrassment, had kept mum about the events that took place up on that mountain, even though everyone knew that the idiot had simply gotten himself lost.
For the third layer of Meng Yi's plan, there is a very, very valuable fruit called a Celestial Plum, and this is the most important part of her plan.
Celestial Plums are, as I understand it, fruits of enlightenment.
Supposedly, even just a single bite from a beast rank one, could help a peasant, and possibly even sage rank cultivator, breakthrough in their cultivation.
Meng Yi doesn't know if this is true (seeing as the fruit is largely wrapped in legend and hearsay), but she does know that Celestial Plums are invaluable, rare to the point of nonexistence, and their power, especially at the higher ranks, is considered to be virtually limitless.
Most important though, is that there are rumors that, enlightenment, especially when forced in the manner that Celestial Plums do, can sometimes have side effects on the mind. Side effects that can adversely affect one's memory… and even personality.
I imagine you see already where this is going.
Rounding out the foundation of Meng Yi's plan, is the Path of The Sun Emperor Cultivation Manual given to me by the weird gacha power I've found myself with access to.
So, the plan: first Meng Yi will clear out the mansion, telling all the employees that Young Master Xian Qigang needs privacy for some closed-door cultivation.
Then, I'll learn the noble rank cultivation method as quickly as I can, within which time, Meng Yi will ensure word leaks that my journey into the mountains hadn't been as fruitless as I'd led everyone to believe.
The story will go that I had in fact chanced upon a hidden realm, and within it found a great treasure, a noble rank celestial plum.
Eating it had granted me the enlightenment to improve my cultivation by two ranks, but alas, the side effects had wreaked havoc on my memories and my identity, leaving me a whole new man.
Le gasp! What horror.
Honestly, I'm dubious about this plan, but, as they say, beggars can't be choosers, and I must admit that this is the best way for me to learn the noble rank cultivation method and not have to act like a total git.
I just hope people buy it.
Within two hours of deciding on the plan, the mansion has been emptied of personnel and sealed, and, for the first time since I woke up in the body of Xian Qigang, Meng Yi lets me move around the place at my leisure.
Unfortunately, we have a plan, and said plan has a timetable, so we skip the tour and focus on work.
Neither of us know how long the effects of a noble rank Celestial Plum should last, but we figure the quicker we finish, the more believable this will be.
Meng Yi takes me to a small, windowless room in the house lit with candles that burn with a blue flame.
In the center of the room, a stone circle of about eight feet in diameter sits on the ground.
The stone circle itself is about a foot wide and half that tall, and glowing silver veins pulse round and round it, a little like strobe lights.
"That's a cultivation circle," Meng Yi says. "It aids in cultivation, especially in the Weaving phase. It protects your meridians from being overwhelmed by the qi of the manual."
"Is that what happened to me yesterday?" I ask, remembering how my body had felt like death warmed over.
Meng Yi nods. "This is only peasant rank," she admits. "But it should be better than nothing."
Hmm. Peasant rank, huh? Looks flashy.
I reach out and place a finger on the cultivation circle.
It's cold to the touch, and I feel qi of the potency that I'm starting to recognize as peasant rank cycling through it.
That's not what I'm looking for though.
1 – 500 (Beast Rank)
501 – 800 (Peasant Rank)
801 – 950 (Sage Rank)
951 – 999 (Noble Rank)
1000 (Divine Rank)
Roll: Yes || No
That's what I'm looking for.
'Roll,' I decide.
Rolling…
293 (Beast Rank)
Reward: Nil
I tsk, then, curious and hopeful, try again.
Failure
Cannot roll same item twice
I tsk again.
Oh well, can't blame a guy for trying.
"Young Master?" Meng Yi asks curiously.
"Oh, sorry, just… checking something out," I say.
Carefully, I step over the circle and into its center, sitting down in a lazy man's lotus pose (with legs loose).
I look around.
"I don't feel any different," I say.
"You're not supposed to," Meng Yi says.
Opening the box of peasant rank qi pills we picked up from the vault on our way here (a box that I'd somehow missed the first time I was there, likely thanks to being distracted by all the gold), Meng Yi picks out a single jade pill and hands it to me.
"Sixteen left," she says, closing the box and stashing it inside her robes. "Let's hope it'll be enough."
I roll for the pill.
Rolling…
977 (Noble Rank)
Reward: Noble Rank Xian Refinement Method Qi Pill (Foundation Realm)
My eyes widen.
Whoa. That's certainly a reward. And wait, Xian refinement method?
"Did my family make this qi pill?" I ask Meng Yi, holding up the peasant rank pill to her.
"Yes," she says. "The Xian refinement method is the best qi pill refinement method on the market as I understand it; over twelve percent more effective than second best.
"Your mother created it about a century and a half ago. It's how your family has made much of their wealth and how your mother first earned The Sunrise Empress' favour."
I gape at her words.
"Wait, so my mother is over one hundred years old!?" I ask.
"The Xian matriarch is a Domain Realm cultivator of divine rank, Young Master," Meng Yi says. "Having a child in her second century of life is hardly noteworthy."
I gape harder.
I mean, intellectually, I know I'm in a xianxia world, but to have it smack me in the face like this, really puts things into perspective in ways that I hadn't considered before.
Shaking off the thought after a moment, I swallow the peasant rank pill, feeling the flood of energy rush through me.
Meng Yi hands me the Path of The Sun Emperor Cultivation Manual.
"I'll pull you out in six hours," she promises.
I nod, then with an arming breath, I roll open the purple scroll and force myself to focus on the golden words.
—❈—
The following days are a blur for me; wake, eat, bathe, take a pill, cultivate, take another pill, eat, sleep, wake, rinse and repeat.
From the very first session using the cultivation circle, and taking a pill before and after cultivating, I notice the difference.
Peasant rank or not, the cultivation circle is worth its weight in gold, and I notice immediately that, between it, the pills, and the shorter sessions, my body is handling cultivating the noble rank method much better than in my first disastrous attempt.
Or, at least, that's what I tell myself at first.
Eventually though, I have to admit the truth to myself; yes, my body is holding up well, but I'm not cultivating the Path of The Sun Emperor method. In truth, I've barely made any progress. And I think I know why.
Session after session, day after day, I've played it safe, going for six hours and no more, but that's not what the Path of The Sun Emperor is about. Not even close.
"Last pill," Meng Yi says, holding it out to me.
This is the ninth cultivating session I've done. There had been seventeen pills in the box when we started, and with two being used per session, there's now only one left.
Well, there's only one pill left in the box, but, seeing as I've rolled for every pill I've taken and the dice gods have been pretty great to me, I've actually got ten qi pills of varying ranks in whatever pocket dimension the gacha power stashes my rewards.
I've discovered in the last few days that rolling the rank of the item I'm rolling for gives me an exact replica of that item, so, with my rolls so far, I now have three peasant, three sage, and four noble rank Xian refinement method qi pills in my reward space.
I could use them, but Meng Yi will definitely notice. She'll want to know where I got them, and while I'm pretty sure that she'll respect my wishes if I choose not to say, I can't keep betting on that forever.
Then again, the question does need to be asked: does it really matter?
With all the secrets Meng Yi is already in on and helping me with, does keeping the gacha power to myself even make any real difference?
Besides, I have a plan to ensure that this is the last session I spend trying to learn the Path of The Sun Emperor, and if I succeed, cultivation circle or not, I'm pretty sure I'm going to need a qi pill.
A noble rank qi pill.
Am I really going to deprive myself of something I need, something that will help my well-being, simply to keep a secret from someone who already knows enough about me to screw me three times over if she wanted to?
Looking at the pill in my hand, I roll for it.
1 – 500 (Beast Rank)
501 – 800 (Peasant Rank)
801 – 950 (Sage Rank)
951 – 999 (Noble Rank)
1000 (Divine Rank)
—
Rolling…
501 (Peasant Rank)
Reward: Peasant Rank Xian Refinement Method Qi Pill
Huh, just on the mark.
That's nice. I mean, it's no noble rank, but it's definitely better than nothing.
I throw the pill in my hand into my mouth, feeling the familiar rush of energy it immediately melts into.
Meng Yi hands me the cultivation manual.
I take it.
"Is something the matter?" she asks after a moment of me staring at her.
"The qi pill box," I say. "Open it."
She looks at me strangely, but without question, she obeys.
I hold out a hand over it.
"Don't pull me out this time," I say. "The Path of The Sun Emperor isn't something that can be learned by playing it safe. You have to commit; do or die. Through or burn. I am an Emperor, and my crown is the sun."
I open my hand and drop four noble rank qi pills into the box.
"I'll be needing those when I'm done," I say to the wide-eyed Meng Yi, then, with the ease of practice, I open the cultivation manual, focus on the words, and dive into the visions of The Sun Emperor.
Interlude;; Xiuying
Surnames tell a story.
In many ways, they are a proclamation to the world about who you are, where you're from, and who stands behind you.
A strong surname can make a small man bigger. And a weak one can make a big man small.
They hold power. In politics, in business. They offer safety, companionship, respect… or they can strip it away.
Xiuying had no surname. And this too tells its own story.
To not have a family name means that you either have no family, or you would rather not be associated with them.
It is a declaration to the world, that you stand alone, that you walk alone, and that you're perfectly fine with this.
In the world of politics, of business, and of cultivation, where pride and ego stand tall and are easily bruised, it is a dangerous thing to make such a declaration.
Xiuying's lack of a surname was, as one would expect, a personal choice. There had been ample opportunity for her to pick one for herself, but always she refused.
Some would call it pride, others stupidity, but in truth, it was mostly stubbornness.
See, Xiuying began life as a gutter rat.
She grew up in the slums of Rainbow City, one of the many children who seemed to sprout out of its very sewers, and all too often, wither away just as quickly, their corpses usually left to rot in those same sewers.
Her birth and how she survived infancy are unknown, even to her, but what she does know is that, by the time she was five-ish, life in the slums of Rainbow City was all she'd ever known.
By all logic, Xiuying should have died. And, as a matter of fact, she did die.
But, dead or not, Xiuying was stubborn to a fault. Stubborn enough that her heart resumed beating after thirty seconds of stillness as she clawed her way back to life.
She was twelve at the time, and she had died defending half a loaf of mouldy bread.
The experience was an eye-opener for Xiuying.
Stubborn enough to claw her way back from literal death or not, life on the streets was untenable in the long term. And, for the first time in her young, harsh existence, Xiuying found herself thinking beyond her next meal.
She wanted more.
She wanted a life.
Being who she was though, Xiuying wasn't exactly spoilt for choice, so, as soon as they were willing to let her through the doors, she chose the one path that wouldn't see her joining organized crime or spreading her legs for men four times her age. Xiuying joined The Sunrise Empress' Army.
The Army took everyone, even gutter rats like Xiuying, and, as long as you could prove yourself a worthwhile investment, everyone had the opportunity to have their cultivation ignited and funded, up until advancement into the Sprouting phase.
It hadn't been easy; the training, the tests, the rigorous discipline required of soldiers of The Sunrise Empress, but Xiuying was stubborn, and if there was one thing she knew how to handle, it was hardship.
Smart enough to understand its importance, Xiuying traded favours with some of her educated colleagues for lessons, and so it was that while in boot camp, training to prove herself worthy of becoming a cultivator on The Empire's expense, the street rat Xiuying came to learn her numbers and her letters.
Boot camp lasted three months.
By the end of it, Xiuying's efforts had paid off, and she came out the other side to a pat on the back and the resources to get her started on her path to heaven.
Things were looking up for her; for the first time in her life, she never had to worry about food, about a roof over her head or a bed under her back. For the first time in her life, she had people she could call friends.
But then Xiuying made that most grievous of mistakes that someone like her, with a background so poor she had not even a surname, could make; she began to excel.
It was with little things at first; she made fewer mistakes, mastered tasks quicker, showed a clear aptitude for leadership, the sort of things that, at first, even earned her the admiration of her colleagues.
But then the differences began to grow; her cultivation advanced faster, she was indisputably the strongest fighter in her cultivation level, she was winning the approbation of the sergeants.
Xiuying was standing out, and when she stood out enough for her to be one of very few rewarded with a peasant rank method upon reaching the fifth layer of Ignition phase, it became too much for some.
Now, Xiuying was no peerless genius. Far from it. In fact, by the standards of The Empire, she barely just made the cut to count as gifted.
But, among faceless extras doomed to a life of mediocrity, Xiuying had more than enough talent to glow like the sun.
Xiuying was a big fish in a pretty small pond, and, as it turned out, some of the smaller fish didn't appreciate some nameless gutter rat taking up all that space.
Because that's what it was really about in the end, her background.
If Xiuying had been the daughter of some important person, even just one who was only important in the way that small town politicians are, the same people who hated her would have instead sucked up to her, claiming her 'genius' as a matter of course.
But she wasn't the daughter of someone important. She wasn't the daughter of anybody. She was Xiuying the nameless. Xiuying the gutter rat.
How dare she stand above her betters?
In the way of these things, it started small. And in the way of these things, it didn't stay small for long.
Within months, what were snide comments behind her back and petty acts of sabotage, became a literal dagger from the shadows.
Being the incurably stubborn person she was, Xiuying would have stayed and fought. Her sergeant, on the other hand, knew that she would have fought and died, and hardly anyone would have cared.
So, he had her reassigned to a regiment in a different city, and it was the first time in Xiuying's life that someone seriously advised her to pick a surname and make up a family history. Because even the name and history of a peasant family trumped the nothing of a gutter rat.
Xiuying refused.
She would not curate herself to match the tastes of people who simply weren't worth it.
Fuck them.
Her experience with her first regiment left its impression on Xiuying.
During her time in the slums, there had been no friendships, no trust, not with people who were likely to kill you for literal peanuts.
She'd thought The Army was different. Thought that she'd finally found a place where that secret desire for family she'd held for so long could finally be fulfilled.
She'd been wrong.
So she held back. Treated her colleagues with distrust so she could never be betrayed. She armoured her heart.
As one would expect, this attitude, paired with her talent and the background she refused to hide, did not endear Xiuying to her colleagues, who saw her as snobbish.
Nothing as bad as with her first regiment, but it didn't need to be. For, while Xiuying had talent, she was still a nobody who had nobody, and nepotism has long legs.
Upon advancement into Sprouting phase, at the point where her career in the military was supposed to truly begin, Xiuying found herself posted to go serve as Vice Commander in a nameless, little outpost out in the Bloody Fang Mountains.
She had been livid.
She had worked her ass off to stand out, all in the hope that, when she entered the Sprouting phase, she would be posted somewhere worthwhile. Somewhere she could build her career, and maybe, just maybe, earn real power.
Instead, she was being sent out to a place where careers went to die.
She'd hated it. A part of her still did. But she could never imagine changing it even if she could.
Because it was at that nameless, little outpost out in the Bloody Fang Mountains, that she found the family she'd craved for so long.
Commander Yan (or, Old Man Yan, as the people of Silver Springs called him) was two things: old and nice.
A ninety-five-year-old beast rank cultivator who never advanced past the third layer of Sprouting phase, Xiuying was his undisputed superior in cultivation when she showed up there, and like inferior people had always been towards her, she expected him to be antagonistic.
He wasn't. In fact, he was so welcoming of the young, standoffish cultivator, that she began to feel like the villain.
For the first time in Xiuying's life, she came to appreciate how exhausting it could be to be discourteous to someone who was nothing but perfectly nice in return, and, powerless in the face of Commander Yan's divine rank niceness, she thawed.
Those years were the best of Xiuying's life, and her biggest regret was that she never worked up the courage to call the old man Father.
Not until he was on his deathbed.
Five good years she had with him, and though she was still unsatisfied with the posting, Xiuying took pride in knowing that she would be protecting the people that her father in all but blood had loved.
Then Xian Qigang came.
Unpleasant, self-centred, scum. None of those words carried the weight needed to quantify just how obnoxious the individual was.
He was the worst of the worst kind of people that Xiuying had despised so much, and, to top it off, he was weak.
Born into such wealth. All the resources he could ever need or want at his disposal, and yet at twenty-eight he was still stuck in the fifth layer of Weaving.
How unsightly.
Of course, a man like him, his ego hadn't been able to take it, the simple truth that was his superior in every way.
In his envy, he made the mistake of trying to lord his authority as Commander over her, threatening to have her punished for insubordination if she disobeyed any of his commands.
In return, Xiuying told him quite candidly that if he did that, then there wasn't really anything stopping her from beating him to death.
"Sure," she'd said, "if I did that my life would be over, since your family would have to retaliate. But here's the thing though, you would still be dead. So, I guess the question is, are you willing to sacrifice your life just to ruin mine?"
The fear in his eyes in that moment is a memory that she was sure would give her pleasure to her dying day.
While she was safe from Xian Qigang however, others were not, and there wasn't a whole lot that she could do about it.
It rankled, but Xiuying grit her teeth, bore it, and focused on the things that she could do something about.
And that was how it was, day after day, month after month, until one day two years later, while she was training in her private yard and Tao Jin came running up to her.
"Commander Xiuying—" everyone called her that because no one wanted to remember who actually held the position "—you're not gonna fucking believe this," he said.
He was right, she didn't fucking believe it.
Chapter seven;; Xian Qigang 2.0
I open my eyes to a familiar ceiling, my body spread out on a feather soft bed that I've come to cherish deeply in the short time that I've been here.
My mind is clear, my body brimming with energy, an invigorating heat flowing through my veins from a source somewhere in my torso.
It's like there's a candle in my chest… no, not a candle, a sun.
This is no hellish summer heat though. It feels more like basking under the rays of the sunrise after a chilly night.
It's pleasant; life-giving.
I draw in a deep breath, the sun flaring within my chest, and, for a moment, a crystal-clear image forms in my mind.
The Emperor walked through the frozen wasteland, crown of gold and solar fire adorning his brow.
Where he walked the frozen earth melted, plants sprouting from the soft, dark dirt, reaching for him and seeking his life-giving warmth.
I release the breath in surprise and the image fades, the sun within me cooling with the shocked exhale.
That was weird.
I thought I needed to be reading the cultivation manual to see those visions.
Do I not need the manual anymore? Is it because I've learnt the method?
Or is it because I've learnt it but haven't mastered it? Because I know enough about cultivation to know that mastery of a cultivation method is what advances you to Sprouting phase.
I also know enough to know that the higher in rank a cultivation method is, the more powerful, yes, but also the more… layered, it is.
What exactly these layers are, I don't know, the beginner's guide to cultivation I'm still making my way through didn't say, but I suspect that it has something to do with this vision.
Feeling a tad adventurous, I close my eyes and focus on the sun within me, feeling its warmth. I suck in a deep, slow breath, and though the sun flares with the breath and its heat grows and flows like sunlight through my veins, I get no visions.
I exhale with a frown, the sun cooling once more.
Am I doing it wrong?
Again, I inhale, the sun flares. No visions.
I exhale; it cools.
In again. No visions. Out again.
In once more, and still nothing comes but the pleasant feeling of sunlight cycling through me in a complex, beckoning pattern. Out.
In. I trace the golden light with my sense, not quite vision but a thousand times better than proprioception. Out.
In. I follow the light, weaving through—oh, this is my qi network. Wow, it's beautiful. Like an endlessly layered tapestry with a billion billion threads winding through and across each other in a million intricate patterns. Out.
In. The tapestry lights up with the sun. Golden light rushing through the threads. Lighting this beautiful, inner world. Out.
In—"Young Master," Meng Yi says, shaking me.
I open my eyes to her face.
Meng Yi always looks calm, always without a strand of hair out of place.
Not even the first time we met, when she'd gone from… you know, to finding out that I wasn't Xian Qigang, had she been anything but calm and collected.
Consequently, when I open my eyes to see Meng Yi wide-eyed and pale, her forehead dotted with sweat, it blares in my mind like an air raid siren.
"Are you okay? What's wrong? Did something happen?" I ask, my mind conjuring vague and vaguely horrifying explanations for her present state.
"I'm fine, Young Master," she says, forcing herself back under control. "But, perhaps in the future you should refrain from cultivating a noble rank method in your bedroom. If it had been one of the mortal servants who walked in, we might have a real problem on our hands."
My eyes widen. Oh, crap.
"I'm so sorry," I say. "I didn't think—"
"It's okay," she cuts me off gently, a hand rising to settle on my shoulder consolingly. "You're new to this. Mistakes are to be expected."
I frown. "You're right, but… even so, it is the duty of those with power to wield it responsibly. I guess I just have to get used to the reality that I have power now."
Real power too. Power so great I could literally knock someone dead with my aura alone.
I swallow.
That's not unsettling at all. Nope. Not even a little bit.
Meng Yi is giving me one of those looks she gives me every now and again when I do certain things.
I have a strong suspicion why, but I ask nevertheless; "What?"
She shakes her head. "No one is ever going to believe you're Xian Qigang," she says.
I frown again, in confusion this time. "Well, yeah, but isn't that why we came up with the whole Celestial Plum plan?" I ask.
She nods. "Yes, I know, I simply meant…" she takes a moment to find the right words, and then those brown eyes of hers hit me with emotion that damn near steals my breath away. "I'm glad that you're nothing like him."
Our gazes lock for what feels like forever, then I smile. "Me too," I say. "And since we're on the subject of things we're glad for, I'm glad I met you." I fail to hold back a grimace. "This whole thing would be a lot harder without you helping."
Regardless of whether or not her actions are motivated by self-interest, that does not change. Without Meng Yi, this would likely be an unsurmountable problem for me.
"It is my honour and my privilege, Young Master Xian," Meng Yi says, head dipping in a small bow.
Idly, I wonder how much of her bowing and deference is done out of genuine respect towards me, and how much of it is simply done to keep up appearances.
Feeling the curiosity to test it out, and also because this is something I would like to have, I say; "Can I ask you for a favour?"
"Of course, Young Master," she says.
"When we're alone, can you call me by my real name?" I ask. "It's—"
"I don't think that would be the best idea, Young Master," Meng Yi cuts in.
And there it is.
Her reaction is unsurprising, but I must admit, it still rankles.
"Is it so wrong to want something, this little thing, to remind myself of who I am?" I ask. "Can you tell me that in my shoes you wouldn't do the same?"
"No," Meng Yi admits easily.
"And yet you ask it of me," I counter.
"You know why," is all she says in return.
I sigh, a little pouty. I do know why.
We may have found a workaround to my needing to act like Xian Qigang, but that doesn't change the fact that I still need to be Xian Qigang.
I need to be able to answer if I hear his name in a public place. I need to be able to see his face and think 'wow, I look tired'.
None of that can happen if I have someone in this world reaffirming my… I hesitate even to think it… my old identity all the time.
As insane as it is to think, J—no, the old me is gone. Xian Qigang is who I am now.
Like she can see the turn my thoughts have taken, Meng Yi says; "We should get you ready. I believe it's time Young Master Xian Qigang was introduced to the world."
She makes sure to place extra emphasis on the name.
I scowl at her, but without real heat.
"You know that thing I said about being glad to have met you? I take it back."
Meng Yi smiles. "As is your privilege…" a deliberate pause. "…Young Master Xian Qigang."
I sigh. "Lord, give me strength," I mutter dramatically.
Chapter eight;; Xian Qigang 2.0 takes a bath
Meng Yi titters, and I roll my eyes at her, then roll out of bed with a grace and fluidity that shocks me.
"Whoa," I say.
I bounce on the balls of my feet, rolling my shoulders.
Curiously, I get down on the floor and do a pushup; one, two, three… I think I could literally fall asleep like this.
I pull my right arm off the floor and fold it at my back, my body not even needing to adjust its weight distribution; with raw strength alone, my body is posed in a position that requires two arms.
I do a pushup like this; one, two, three, still no strain.
Deciding to see how far I can take this, I lift my legs off the ground, needing to adjust the tiniest bit now so physics doesn't get too pissed off, then I hold the pose, parallel to the ground and still with zero strain.
I dip into three more pushups; nothing. It's like I weigh nothing.
Pushing with my fingers, I lift my left palm off the ground, suspending my weight on my fingertips. Still nothing.
I lift my thumb. Nothing. My forefinger. Nada. My middle finger, and finally, with only the tips of the pinkie and ring finger of my left hand holding up my entire body's weight, I feel some strain, but only in those fingers.
Bloody hell.
Xian Qigang's… my new body was always a well-oiled machine, functioning in ways that made me wonder if that is what it felt like to be an Olympic acrobat.
This though (no doubt the result of my new noble rank cultivation) is some superhero level crap.
No normal human can accomplish this, and certainly not with the level of ease that I have.
"Having fun, Young Master?" Meng Yi asks, and I start, catching myself before I faceplant on the ground.
I rush to my feet, face red with embarrassment, and Meng Yi shoots me a teasing smile.
"Right, um, you said something about introducing me to the world?" I ask, changing the topic with all the grace of a bull in a china shop.
Meng Yi's smile doesn't fully go away, but she graciously lets me maintain what's left of my dignity as she rises and says, "Indeed, Young Master. A bath has been prepared for you."
We walk together to the master bath, a huge room with a small pool and the usual opulence casually displayed in every corner of this house; like silver faucets, a floor-to-(the very high)ceiling mirror, and the aforementioned (heated) pool that Xian Qigang would probably have called 'a small tub' or something equally ridiculous.
We enter the bathroom, two maids standing there beside two racks of towels and bathing accessories that I can't even imagine what half of them do.
"Good morning, Young Master," the young women bow.
"Um, yeah, good morning," I say, and I notice them shoot surprised glances at Meng Yi, who replies with a look of 'told you so'.
Ah. I see her plan is already in motion.
Well, in that case, time to help it along.
"So, uh, what are your names?" I ask.
The women look up at me, eyes wide, but when they meet my gaze, they quickly look down again.
"This one is Fan Si, Young Master," the one to my left says. "And this is my sister, Fan Hai."
Sisters? Huh, never would have guessed. They look nothing alike.
"Well, Si and Hai, I'm sure I've met you both before but, as I'm sure Meng Yi has told you, my memory isn't exactly what it once was. So, whether I've done this before or not, let me welcome you to my home."
The women look astounded.
"Um, thank you, Young Master Xian, you honour us," Si, the spokesperson for the pair, and likely the older of the sisters, says.
"Si, Hai, excuse us, please," Meng Yi says, and with a bow at her, and a lower one at me, they make their exit, door closing behind them.
"In five minutes, the manor will know what happened here; in an hour all of Silver Springs," Meng Yi tells me. "You did well."
"Glad I could help, fair maiden," I say, bowing graciously, and Meng Yi's face twists like she just saw someone kick a baby.
I rise slowly. "I'm guessing it's the bow," I say, a little sheepish.
Meng Yi nods woodenly. "Please, never do that again," she says.
I nod seriously.
It's a little ridiculous, in my opinion, her reacting so strongly to a simple bow, especially when she's aware that I'm not really Xian Qigang.
Regardless of my feelings on the matter though, if the expert on this world's cultures says not to bow, then I'm not bowing. Simple as that, I guess.
"Anyway, uh, I should bathe," I say.
"Not yet," Meng Yi counters. "You need a shave. Come."
She beckons me over to the bench before the mirror, then she pulls the racks of towels and accessories over.
What follows is an… interesting experience.
Meng Yi cuts my hair, shaves my beard, and then proceeds to shave the rest of me too.
And by that I mean the rest of me.
It's… weird, and a little scary having her hold a blade at certain places, but also (as weird as it is to admit) nice.
I resist at first, of course. No one has ever handled me like that down there, or anywhere. And certainly not someone I've had carnal relations with.
But then Meng Yi reminds me of my position, telling me that I'll need to get used to people waiting on me hand and foot now, and when I point out to her that there's a clear difference between having someone lace my shoes or fluff my pillows and having them shave my balls, she points out in return that I don't really have anything she hasn't seen (or handled) before.
Not having a counter to that, I give in and let her do her thing.
Trying to rationalize it internally, I remind myself that back on my (old) world people get full body waxes, butthole and all from other people, so really, this isn't so strange or out-there, as the kids say.
When she's done, Meng Yi washes my hair and my back, and after measuring out all sorts of scented oils and soaps into the pool, I get in for a soak.
Sitting under the hot water with only my head sticking out, I stare at the placidly watching Meng Yi.
"What about you?" I ask. "Won't you bathe?"
I hadn't meant anything by it, but when Meng Yi's eyebrow climbs, and she says; "Are you asking me to join you, Young Master?" I realize how the question could be seen.
I'm about to utter a quick denial when I think about it, why should I be the only one who gets to be naked and plucked and scrubbed and stared at?
I'm the Young Master here, I should be the most comfortable.
Not really in my nature to boldly answer yes to such a question though, I say instead; "What if I am?"
I'm not quite sure how I expected her to react to the question, but when Meng Yi begins to strip calmly, I'm surprised.
I don't tell her to stop though… I don't think I can.
Casually, the layers of her clothing come off, discarded on the floor one by one, and soon, what must be the most beautiful woman I've ever laid eyes on in person is standing naked before me.
I think I may have forgotten how to breathe.
Meng Yi reaches up and pulls the pin holding up her hair, and a river of lustrous black tresses pours down past her shoulders.
Slowly, she wades into the pool towards me.
I notice immediately that she isn't trying to be sexy. There's no extra sashay to her hips, no sultry eye contact. She simply is, and by Heaven what she is is so beautiful.
Since that first moment waking up here, I've been distracted enough that I haven't really had to try to not think of her in a sexual way, but, right now, the memory of those first few minutes of my arrival to this world is almost all I can think about.
Meng Yi reaches me finally, and with me sitting on the bench at this edge of the pool and her standing, my eyes are level with her plump breasts.
I do one of the hardest things I've ever done in my life and lift my gaze to hers.
"Well, Young Master," Meng Yi says. "Here I am."
There's a look in her eyes that I can't decipher, and something about it makes my mouth suddenly dry.
I swallow.
"What are you doing?" I ask, suddenly uncomfortable now that she's so close I can just reach up and—
"Giving my Young Master what he asked," she says, and with those simple words my raging libido loses some of its steam.
"And what if I ask to take you? Right here and right now?"
"Then you would take me," she says, like it is a simple fact of life.
Although, I suppose for her, it is.
My lust loses more of its passion.
"But you wouldn't really want me," I say. "You'd just be protecting your job."
And therein lies the rub. I want a woman to want me. That's my desire. That's my fantasy. That's the thing that would make me so turned on I don't think even a nuclear war would distract me from shagging her senseless.
Meng Yi's response to my words is a shrug.
"People have done much worse for comfort," she says.
"Yeah," I agree. "But they shouldn't have to."
And to that she has no ready reply.
"What if I gave you money?" I ask. "Enough that you didn't need this job anymore. You could quit and go do whatever you want with your life. God knows you've earned it after putting up with him all this time."
Meng Yi blinks, completely caught off guard by the offer.
After a moment, she recovers and asks with a teasing smile; "And who will manage your estate if I leave?"
I hadn't actually considered that.
"I'm sure I can find someone to take your place," I say after a moment.
"And will this someone also help protect your lie?" Meng Yi asks.
I hadn't considered that either.
I sigh and look at the naked, beautiful, young woman ready and waiting to be taken by me.
I could probably do it, regardless of my hang-ups. But what then? What do I do after, when I wonder every time I look at her what she really thinks about me, regardless of whatever she said in the moment?
After all, by all evidence this woman was sexually involved with him, and I can't imagine she liked him a whole lot. Clearly, she's an expert at saying what wants to be heard.
I rise from the water, my desire cooled enough that my dick now hangs mostly limp between my legs.
"I think I've soaked long enough," I say and walk out of the pool, Meng Yi following behind me.
Chapter nine;; Xian Qigang 2.0 is kind of scary
I stare at myself in the gold-framed full-length mirror of my bedroom, as Meng Yi finishes dressing me in fine, blue (no doubt, stupidly expensive) silk robes.
You know, an asshole he may be, but this Xian Qigang is a fine asshole.