Nie Ruyi
“You’ve got three sets of veins?!” The second elder demanded, looking vaguely disgusted. Nie Ruyi was starting to feel like she should at least know this woman’s name if she was going to be so very against Nie Ruyi’s everything.
“Yes, this Disciple was told by Physician He Qina that this was the case.” She explained. “Is that… odd?”
Elder Chun sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. “It is indeed. Elder Xiao is only commenting as it will be difficult for Shimei to cultivate. However, with veins like that, Nie-Shimei will excel with the practice of Glowing Fragrance Chill Earth Style.”
“What’s the difference between the Roots you were discussing and the Veins this one was told about?” Nie Ruyi asked, if only to hedge off her own annoyance at how clearly these two were treating her lesser.
“Spiritual Roots are where spiritual veins come from.” The now identified Elder Xiao explained, looking Nie Ruyi up and down as if she were some weird thing a cat dragged in. She lifted a hand and pressed a finger to her own heart. “Roots begin at the heart chakra, and the Spiritual Veins spread out from there throughout the rest of the body. To have three sorts of spiritual veins means to have three spiritual roots. One spiritual root can take a lifetime to hone enough to awaken as a Nascent Soul. Three spiritual roots to balance? Such a person would have better luck cultivating a field for all that they’d be able to make it to immortality.”
Ah, that’s why the attitude. Nie Ruyi sighed, wishing she had less experience with teachers being disappointed in her. She took a deep breath in, and put on her customer service smile. “This one has discussed with Physician He at length what might be done to accommodate this one’s condition. Will it impede this one from being able to learn how to defend herself with Glowing Fragrance Chill Earth Style?”
“No.” Elder Chun said, firm. “Practice it, and you will excel.”
“Then this one would like to join Elder Chun and Elder Xiao’s classes going forward. Is there anywhere this one might copy down the schedule for these classes?” Nie Ruyi asked, straightening her back. Elder Xiao’s feet shuffled and she waved a hand. Elder Chun nodded in her direction and Elder Xiao headed off somewhere.
Elder chun then turned towards Nie Ruyi, making sure she was watching, and then turned and began to walk off. Nie Ruyi jolted, realizing she was meant to follow, and so ran back to the bench to snatch up her books, and then turned to run after the Elder.
Walking through the dark-wood pathways of the courtyard, she noticed that the very air here smelled different from her own rooms. As if the scent of flowers perfumed it. “Does the Willow Hall use different incense? This one very much enjoys the scent.”
“Lotus incense is burned in the Willow Hall, to encourage the flow of Yin Qi. There are many Yin Cultivators who study in Willow Hall, and therefore we must carefully cultivate the Feng Shui to accommodate them.”
“Yin Qi?” Nie Ruyi asked, and as the elder’s shoulders rose, she realized this was probably another thing she was expected to have already known. So many expectations placed on her based on her age, place in the sect, and her gender, and she’s failing all of them. “Ah, This one would also appreciate if Elder Chun had any suggestions for books on etiquette and general knowledge. This one is trying to bring herself up to speed as quickly as possible.”
“Did you have no mother to teach you, Nie-Shimei?” The woman snapped, only to pause and take a breath. “Nevermind. You should go to Magnolia Hall for such things. They have lessons for the orphaned disciples there, and that should help you.”
“Thanking Elder Chun.” Soon, the two of them entered what looked to be an office, ascetically decorated. Elder Chun turns to the wall next to the door, where there are scrolls hung up.
“These are the schedules of when teachers are available. As you can see it is based by week, so do not assume that the class will be available the same days of week each week. For this next week, we will have classes on the sixth, seventh, ninth and tenth days. These classes will almost always be at Shen Shi. If you miss them, that’s that. The schedule will be posted here every first day. Any changes to the schedule will either be announced the class before, or via message.”
“Thanking Elder Chun for this wisdom.” Nie Ruyi said, as she took in the six rows of ten columns, in which three of the ten-day-weeks have been marked up, leaving three more. She realized suddenly that she was definitely not going to be able to use her current planner to keep track of this. She took a deep breath and decided she needed a trip to a book-printer, if those existed, and also to figure out who and how to keep track of a calendar here.
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“Do not thank this one yet. If Nie-Shimei wishes to catch up to the classes she’s joining, she will need to do some training outside of class. This Elder recommends six laps around the Willow Hall courtyard, and a series of warmups performed each morning and evening before bed.” Elder Chun pulled a thin booklet from the shelves, and handed it to her. “This will detail the warmups. Do not slack off, or this one will know.”
Nie Ruyi nodded, and bowed, “Elder Chun is kind to provide this for this disciple. Is there anything else this Disciple can do to prepare?”
“...Eat well, and do not skimp on the meat. Shimei’s body will need the protein to build new muscles. And be prepared for pain. Hot baths and cool compresses will help.”
Yeah, Nie Ruyi had already figured that much just from what she’d absorbed from gym-bro culture that she’d seen on the internet back home. Still, she nodded as if this was sage advice and waited.
“Does Nie-Shimei intend to darken my door for much longer?” Elder Chun asked, sharp. Nie Ruyi jumped, and then bowed respectfully.
“No, Elder Chun. Please have a pleasant evening, this Disciple will take her leave!”
And with that she did, scurrying off towards her own rooms. She’d need to figure out where Magnolia Hall was tomorrow, but for now, she had a lot to mentally digest. And oddly, she felt more energized. She had a new goal, and actions she could take towards it.
When she arrived back at her own rooms, she greeted Sun Xirong and set down the books she’d gathered in the meantime on the table. She pulled out her planner again, and only then realized that she was missing something.
“Izzy? Goober?” She called, thinking maybe the two sludge hounds had come back home. She realized she hadn’t seen them since she went inside the library.
But instead of the two beasts coming out of her bedroom, or perhaps somewhere else, the two of them seemed to sublimate up from the bottom of her shoes! Alarmed, she yelped and stepped out of the way, only for the two of them to nearly trip her while crowding around her. Izzy’s spines brushed gelatinously along her arm and she found herself flinching back.
The two hounds froze, as if sensing her sudden flash of panic. She shook herself out of it, remembering that these animals couldn’t possibly know why she was scared of them, so she quickly began petting them to let them know they weren’t in trouble. “There you two are! You scared me, you know?”
She sighed, “So you two can hide on my shoes like gum, huh? How does that work? What about conservation of mass, huh, you monsters?” She teased in a baby-voice, scruffing the both of them along their chins and around their many eyes. What lovely creatures.
“Alright, well, you two go rest while I write some things down, hm?” She pushed the two big hounds towards her room, knowing they were going to crawl up into the canopy of her bed and live there as piles of melty flesh.
Once they trotted off, she turned to her list and began working on it again, quickly.
- Basic Physical Comprehension for Beginning Cultivators - pg 18.
- The Women’s Analects - Pg. 27
- Bestiary of Xiancheng Lake and surrounding areas - Pg. 12
- Glowing Fragrance Chill Earth Style manual - unstarted
- Warmups manual - unstarted
- To do:
- Continue attending baby cultivator classes
- Practice Combat 2 hours daily (GFCE style classes can replace this)
- Write observation diary for Pets
- Get Planner made for the calendar (ten day cycle + hour-segments rather than hours)
- Get pen/pencil made
- Visit Magnolia Hall
- Attend Glowing Fragrance Chill Earth Style classes
- Find out more about how to grow roots and veins
- Six laps a day around Willow Hall
- Warmups twice a day
- Things I want:
- New books to read
- Cultivation good enough I won’t die
- A family (eventually)
- Defined as: a husband and kids.
- To go home
- To learn Glowing Fragrance Chill Earth Style
Feeling more settled, she smiled at her list. “There’s so much to do now.”
Mini Character List -
Nie Ruyi - Our protagonist. 34 year old american woman - Yeah, life is so much better when one has goals. Okay. Let's get started!
Lao Xiaojun - Lao Minghui's little brother and Sect Heir. Mr. Does-Not-Appear-In-This-Chapter
Cai Bingtian - Disciple of Severing Firefly Sect. Still Mr. Does-Not-Appear-In-This-Chapter
Song Fengling - Nie Ruyi's little assistant. also not appearing in this chapter
Missy - Worried, although it does not know how to express that.
The Green Egg - Not forgotten. Currently lives wrapped in blankets on Nie Ruyi's bedside table.
Goober & Izzy - Sedimentary Sludge Hounds who now live in Nie Ruyi's canopy of her bed. Happily resting now after their very nice walk.
Sun Xirong - Nie Ruyi's maid, a fifteen year old mortal girl. This particular flower is giving her trouble... maybe if she folds this this way?
Elder Chun - An elder of the sect, who is in charge of teaching one class of the Glowing Fragrance Chill Earth Style to the young women of the sect. Begrudgingly responsible enough to help Ruyi get her feet wet.
Elder Xiao - an elder of the sect who works with Elder Chun to teach. Convinced Nie Ruyi is trash and should probably just find a husband and get out of the sect.