Starting from my feet and spreading out in a massive circle encompassing the entire clearing. Unfortunately, the cobbled road also took a bit of damage as shoots of vibrant green grass, saplings, and hundreds of multicolored flowers sprang from the ground. Then the world went black as I fell to the ground. At the same time, I wandered through strange dreams where I lived in strange worlds and sometimes in even stranger bodies. Weirdly enough, I was a woman in more than one of those different lives. I don't recommend getting high on qi, or is it qi deficiency? Anyway, It messes with your head pretty bad. Eventually, the myriad visions stopped spinning, settling on one where I sat on the top of a building so tall I looked down on the clouds below. Then the body I was watching through picked up a mirror and winked at me. I don't know how I knew he did. It was a feeling I got at the time.

I jerked into a sitting position, shocked into wakefulness, and saw the oddest sight I thought I would ever see. The fancy clothed jerk sat cross-legged with his eyes closed, breathing in a steady rhythm while all twenty soldiers were either doing the same or rooting around in the grass, carefully cutting a blade of grass here or a flower there. Turning around, I found May sitting with Meera between her legs, calmly talking to the girl who looked like she was a tad drunk. Meera would occasionally start to waver to one side or the other, but a soft murmur from May and she sat straight again, legs crossed and taking deep breaths with her eyes tightly closed. I slowly got to my feet, vision still swimming, and half stumbled to May's side, where I crashed right back to the ground before sitting beside her. "How long was I out?" All I got in answer was a glare and a finger pressed to her lips to silence me before she began guiding Meera on how to clear her mind and breath properly.

This is as good a time as any to get free lessons from May, so I listened to her for a little while before closing my eyes and following along. I could feel that the air in the clearing is filled with qi, almost to the point it felt like I was breathing in a liquid form. (AN - Imagine 90%+ humidity on a day over 100 degrees Fahrenheit) I hadn't been cycling the qi for more than a minute when May punched my arm, causing me to fall over in surprise. Her annoyed whisper let me know what happened. Apparently, I was causing the plants around me to grow faster and, in so doing, create more qi. I looked at Meera and noticed how red her face had gotten and cringed before heading to the other side of the clearing. As I walked by the cage, I noticed the prisoner meditating as well. Well, we can't have that now, can we? I pushed a small amount of air qi, making a bubble around the cage that blocked any qi from entering. It's amazing how my qi does whatever I want it to, although I need to be careful since apparently, I don't have much to use at any given time. Or so I thought at the time. I eventually learned not to waste massive amounts all at once.

I found a corner to myself near the horses and sat down. I decided to continue the breathing exercise May was teaching to Meera. After several minutes I frowned not because It wasn't working but it worked too well. I pulled in many times more qi than I could cycle back into the land and sky. Furrowing my brows, I decided to gather as much qi as I could while the area was so saturated and store it to use in my normal method later. I pulled in the qi until it permeated my entire body then forced it into my dantian. I continued until my dantian started overflowing, then used a tiny amount of earth qi to compress it together and pulled in more from outside. I have no idea how long this lasted nor how many times I compressed my qi. Eventually, I could no longer do so, and I felt a slight pressure. I was going to leave things there, but I felt a soft hand on my own before May's voice whispered in my ear. "Don't stop. Keep going. One final push, and you are there." Deciding to trust May, I did as she asked. I did get distracted by an irritating voice grumbling about me, barely moving to Zhuji at my age, but that voice was cut off.

Minutes that felt like hours later, I opened my eyes. I could feel that I had grown much stronger. I turned to grin at Meera only to find she had left at some point. Looking around the clearing, I noticed all the soldiers were meditating along with the irritating man. I raised an eyebrow when I also saw that the coach was missing. Nickering from the horses caused me to turn completely around. Sitting on one, I found May with Meera sitting in front of her while the reins for the other were in May's hand. Both girls had fingers over their mouths. I chuckled to myself and nodded. We left the clearing making as little noise as possible for the next half a mile or so. After that, we took a small path off the main trade route headed south into the unknown wilderness. Well, unknown to us anyway.

Chen Mei-ling, aka May

When I felt Walter begin pulling in qi, I was dumbstruck at the amount flowing toward him. However, It was good for Meera since it took the pressure off her. I told Meera to continue her meditation while I went to check on Walter. Or Papa, as Meera insists on calling him. Not that I blame her. She is barely four, and Walter is the first man in her life that ever paid her much attention. When I asked why she doesn't want to call me Mama, she gave me an exasperated look as she threw up her hands. She told me that I couldn't be Mama because I am not married to Papa. Ah, child logic, you really can't argue with it.

When I sat down next to Walter, I used my qi to probe at his body to see what was going on, and surprisingly his qi didn't push me away as it should have. I was shocked, to say the least. He is literally pushing through every stage of Zhuji in minutes instead of months or years like everyone else. I thought he was barely in the middle stages of Lianqi, or did he barrel through that blockade without slowing too? I probed around his body, noticing that his foundation had no impurities meaning he had never used a pill to reinforce or speed things along. Maybe that's why he didn't pause at the peak of Lianqi like I did. Then again, can I talk? in the last month, I have leaped from the fifth stage to the eighth with barely a pause because of all the spirit grass he left behind in his wake. Today though is crazy. Even without trying, I pulled in as much qi in a few minutes as the previous week combined. This is why I had to give Walter a tiny bit of help. We had to get out of there before the clearing drew in a beast we couldn't handle.

I know leaving those soldiers and civilians behind could be seen as cowardly, but they're soldiers. Protecting civilians is their job anyway. I mean, we could have dragged them all to the nearest town, but most likely, someone in that town is working with the slavers. The pig in the cage would have been released with a fine, and the innocents would have been left with the collars on. At least by getting the imperial army involved, there will be a full investigation. Probably involving the entire province, if not the kingdom. It all depends on how deep the rot has set. After what happened to the Emperor's mother a century ago, the imperial family will turn the country upside down to rip the filth out by the roots. Also, we don't owe these people anything.

When I felt Walter begin to relax, I gave him a slight hint then stood up. The idiot Prince had also come over and started to mock Walter making me smirk again at his stupidity before I chased him off, mocking him for being bottlenecked for five years already. I mean, instead of using this windfall to its fullest, the moron is trying to pick a fight with the same person that wiped the floor with his face not even an hour ago. A moment later, I returned to Meera, whom I found smiling happily while picking flowers. I snuck up right behind her and began tickling her sides, making her squeal and laugh. "Why arent you meditating as I asked you to?"

Instead of answering me, she placed a purple flower in my hair before clapping. "You look pretty Ling Ling, I bet Papa will agree." I wasn't sure about Meera using that particular nickname, but it's better than what she tried to call me when we first met. I don't think I am nearly old enough to be an Auntie.

I pinched one of her cheeks, giving her a mock evil smile. "What happens if I take all Papa's attention away and he forgets all about his little Meera?" The look of shock only lasted for a moment before we were both laughing. After I placed a purple flower in her hair to match, I picked her up, carrying her to the coach. After I placed the entire coach into my storage ring, which is now full, well, I might be able to put a few small items inside... maybe. I asked Meera what made her start calling Walter Papa. Her answer was, as usual, full of child logic. Once she asked her mother what a papa was, Meera's mother told her Papa is a man who takes care of cute little girls without expecting anything in return. She obviously didn't tell me in those exact words, but I decided to summarize what turned out to be a rather long explanation. In fact, it lasted well after I got the horses saddled and both of us seated. "Okay, sweety, we need to be really quiet now. When Papa wakes up, we need to sneak away from the annoying people so they don't try to follow us." Meera nodded, placing her fingers to both of our lips, making me smile.

When the three of us left the clearing, we should have been more careful. We would not have had nearly as many problems over the next few months. Alas, back then, we were still naive children. Even Meera had a much more worldly experience than either of the so-called adults. Although no matter how hard she tried, Meera could not get Walter to notice or even comment on our hair ornaments over the next several hours.