After feeling disgruntled for a minute or two, Sen realized that suppressing the glow wasn’t really any different than his passive cultivation. It was just one more thing he needed to do and then push into the background of his thoughts. With yet another core advancement and, maybe not an advancement, but a change to his body cultivation, he discovered that wasn’t a real effort. Every advancement seemed to make his mind more efficient even as it made his core more powerful. With that reminder, he finally looked at his core. It was larger than it had been but otherwise looked unchanged. He could feel the qi inside the core, more potent than ever. However, it was the state of his dantian that drew most of his attention. This advancement seemed to do naturally what he’d done artificially all those years ago and expanded his dantian. That was welcome news, as it meant that he’d be unlikely to run dry of qi in any but the most extreme circumstances.

What he wasn’t sure about was what was filling his dantian. That strange double helix formation had sped up the process of refining liquid qi, but its transformation had come with a transformation to the qi it made. The liquid qi it had always made was now substantially thicker than it had been. It was still liquid, but it radiated a strength it never had before. Sen sighed. He’d been closing in on the end of adapting to his body’s new strength and speed and now this. The added potency his techniques would get from this new, denser, stronger qi would be welcome if things went wrong getting into or out of the ruins, but it also meant he’d be a danger to any ally that was too close by. While the horde had seemed largely disinterested in relatively minor techniques being thrown around in the forest near them, he wasn’t as confident that they’d ignore him testing his limits. It might also attract more traditional spirit beasts that he’d rather not fight. If he had to fight, he’d have to learn about his new strength as he went, which was the least ideal way of doing it.

“At least I’m going into those ruins alone. No allies to accidentally injure while I do that,” said Sen as he changed into fresh robes.

When he stepped out of the room where he’d been sleeping, he found Laughing River waiting for him. A quick glance around showed that they were alone in the common area of the galehouse.

“She’s not here,” said the fox. “I sent her back to feed and water that sect girl.”

“Li Yi Nuo is a person, not a houseplant,” said Sen.

Laughing River waggled a hand in the air to indicate that he wasn’t convinced about that comment.

Sen rolled his eyes. “You need to lay off that poor woman. She isn’t a terrible cultivator. She’s not even a terrible person. She’s just normal and inexperienced as cultivators go. You’re too used to dealing with nascent soul cultivators and freaks like me. She’s going to end up with a heart demon if you belittle her like that to her face.”

Laughing River went very still. “I hadn’t considered that. Alright, I’ll try to be a little nicer to her if we ever see her again.”

“Didn’t you settle things with your granddaughter? Couldn’t you just tell her to give Li Yi Nuo back to us?”

“I did settle things with her, but I don’t want the sect girl back. Sun Linglu knows that. You’ll have to work out that trade for yourself.”

Sen frowned at the name, Sun Linglu, before he remembered that was what Misty Peak made most people call her.

“Great, like I didn’t have enough things to do right now.”

“Speaking of doing things,” said Laughing River, “would you care to enlighten me as to what in the name of Glorious Moon happened to you?”

“Glorious Moon?” asked Sen.

“Ugh! You humans and your terrible education. She was my great, great, great, great,” Laughing River started counting on his fingers and then shook his head, “bunch more greats grandmother. She was supposed to be the first nine-tail fox. Forged herself an empire that lasted for three thousand years. There was love, betrayal, tragedy, a vow of eternal vengeance. All the usual stuff. Now talk!”

“I had an advancement. Added a layer to my core. Not that special.”

“Ox shit! I’ve seen thousands of advancements in my very long life, Sen. Exactly none of them looked even remotely like that.”

Sen offered a sheepish half-shrug. “The heavens might have been sending me a little message.”

Laughing River leveled a flat look at Sen. “You don’t say?”

“Don’t look at me like that. It’s not like they sent a letter along explaining what they were doing or why. I’m making educated guesses here. And I really did advance, for the record.”The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

“Oh, I know you did. It’s just so common for someone to jump from the middle stage of core formation clear to the end of late stage core formation. Happens all the time. Just how thick was that layer you formed?”

“I, um,” Sen hesitated. “I honestly don’t know how to answer that question. It was thick-er than the other ones I’ve made.”

“I should fucking well think so!” Laughing River shouted.

“Why are you so angry at me?!” Sen shouted back. “I didn’t plan it.”

Laughing River, who was visibly shaking, made a very obvious effort to get himself under control. The fox paced around the room for the better part of two minutes. He turned to say something to Sen a few times, only to change his mind and continue pacing. Sen decided not to waste the opportunity. He started brewing tea and searching his storage ring for something to eat that didn’t require preparation. There was still a stone table, but it was too big for his current needs. Sen waved a hand and some earth qi reshaped the table into something smaller. Laughing River and Sen both stared at the spot where the new table sat. Sen had gotten faster at reshaping the stone elements of the galehouses with time, advancement, and practice. This time, the process took a mere second or two. Well, I guess that’s useful, thought Sen. One test successfully completed. He put the tea and fruit onto the table before summoning two chairs. He dropped into one of the chairs. Laughing River stared at the other chair briefly before he sat down in it.

“I apologize,” said Laughing River. “I shouldn’t have been barking at you like some kind of crazed dog.”

Sen frowned. “Are foxes some kind of dog?”

Laughing River looked like he wanted to say something cutting, but he resisted that impulse.

“Foxes are distantly related to dogs. We’re a little closer to wolves, but even that isn’t a close relationship. The distance only gets bigger when you’re dealing with a nine-tail fox. I’m probably more closely related to you than to a dog or wolf.”

“Huh. I never knew any of that.”

“I guess that is the intended purpose of a question. To learn something. Seriously, though, you should never ask another fox that question.”

“Why?”

“You’ll probably end up in a fight for your life. It’s a cultural thing. It’d be a bit like me asking if you’re some kind of monkey.”

“Okay, I can see how that might not go over so well,” said Sen before he thought of something. “Am I some kind of monkey?”

“You really want to ask me, a fox, a question like that?”

Sen thought it over and realized that it had probably taken most of the fox’s restraint not to start mocking him immediately.

“I’m thinking that the right answer here is no.”

“As long as you’re aware. The answer to your question is that you’re related, distantly. How do you not know this?”

“How would I know it?” asked Sen.

Laughing River just looked at Sen for a second. “Oh, right, wrong world. Damn it. I need to get you up to speed on some things. But not right this second. Right now, we’re talking about you.”

“Apparently,” said Sen. “So, now that you’re a bit calmer, can you tell me why you’re so upset?”

“Because that isn’t how advancements happen,” said the fox. “That isn’t how heavenly qi shows up, either. People strive for advancement. They work at it. They chase it. They don’t have it shoved down their throats like medicine that tastes bad. As for divine qi, the barest sliver of what you got would have been enough to propel most people into an advancement. I don’t even know how you survived that, let alone what you did with all that qi. It should have burned you up like a piece of tinder.”

Sen almost told the fox about where all that extra divine qi went, but he stopped himself. He liked Laughing River well enough. The fox might even have some insights to give him. However, that felt like a secret that he shouldn’t share with anyone that he didn’t have absolute faith and trust in. Without understanding exactly what happened and what it meant, revealing that information might put him in danger without Sen even realizing it. No, better to hold that back until he had a chance to talk with Master Feng, Auntie Caihong, or Uncle Kho. If nothing else, they could advise him about whether to share that information with anyone else. Well, he’d tell Falling Leaf about it because she was Falling Leaf. He wasn’t going hide something like that from her. Sen could tell that Laughing River was studying him.

“You’re not going to tell me,” said the fox.

“No.”

“Because you don’t trust me.”

“That’s not the only reason, but it’s one of them. I trust that you probably won’t kill me in sleep, but giving you insights into the deepest parts of my cultivation. Come on? Who would tell you about that? I notice you haven’t volunteered any information about what you do or how you do it.”

The fox looked like he wanted to protest, but then he snorted and gave Sen a familiar grin. “Yeah, I suppose that’s fair. I see that the glowing thing was temporary.”

“Yeah, I wish,” said Sen.

He relaxed his control over the concentrated points of divine qi, and they immediately rose to the surface of his skin. The fox looked startled for a moment before he peered at Sen with curious eyes.

“You know what that is?” asked the fox.

“I know what it is. I’m hazier on what it does and why it’s there at all.”

“I’m not sure how much insight I can give you about the why. I assume it’s related to your body cultivation, but anything beyond that is pure guessing. I have seen things that look like this a few times before. Qi that’s embedded that way. There hasn’t been much rhyme or reason to what they do, though. Sometimes, it’s defensive. Sometimes it’s involved in an offensive technique. Sometimes, I never saw it do anything.”

“So, I’m just going to have to figure it out the hard way.”

“Probably,” admitted the fox. “Since it’s you, though, I imagine it’s part of an offensive technique.”

“Why?” asked Sen.

“You’re almost obnoxiously resilient. You don’t particularly need more defensive measures. So, I’m betting it’s something to help you fight.”

“That sounds depressingly plausible,” said Sen.

The two sat lost in their own thoughts for a time. Sen roused himself enough to warm the tea with his qi and lift the cup to his lips. He took a sip. Just as he was swallowing, the fox struck.

“So, have you seduced my granddaughter, yet?”

Sen choked on the tea.