“The Third Law is that each element is more easily accumulated at its apex point,” said Xia Fei.

“Apex point?”

Xia Fei nodded, “This could be one of three things, either in a place where the energy of that element is particularly abundant, with a tool that aids in its accumulation, or, at the time of the Daily Cycle when that element is most prominent”.

“The time-of-day matters?” asked Kai Lan, it seemed silly now that he’d asked it. He had noticed that his Ba and Ma liked to cultivate at certain times during the day.

“Yes, the Earth Element is best cultivated in the hours of the morning from after dawn until mid-morning, the Wood element in the late morning. The light element is best cultivated around midday when the sun is at its peak in the sky. Water is cultivated in the afternoon, and air in the evening. Shadow is cultivated in the hours where the moon rises and shadows are longest and darkest. On a day of no moon, shadow can be cultivated all night. Metal is best cultivated when it is coolest, in the latest hours of the night, and fire in the hours of dawn”.

“What about Spirit?” asked Kai Lan, who noticed one of the elements missing from the list.

“Well Spirit is a little different from the other elements, it relies heavily on the health of the environment one is cultivating in,” said Xia Fei, “In an environment such as this, calm, peaceful, and without a natural disaster in living memory, Spirit can be said to be a good element to cultivate, though it is even better if cultivated as a place of spiritual gathering like a temple or the Lake of Stars. But if there has recently been a disaster to the natural environment, the emotions and faith of those living nearby, or even the base spiritual power has been removed from a location, it will be far more difficult to cultivate spiritual energy”.

Kai Lan nodded in thought, “What about cultivation tools, what are those?”

Xia Fei smiled, “These can be naturally crafted treasures or jewels, or those that are blessed by spiritual energy. Or they could be tools that were made, like pills, potions, jewellery or other items. My necklace here helps me to gather the fire element”.

Xia Fei pointed to the small red choker on her neck and Kai Lan nodded as he looked at it.

“It looks very pretty…and expensive,” said Kai Lan.

Xia Fei nodded, “Most cultivation tools are. There’s a reason most pill masters or craftsman are so highly respected and well-off”.

Kai Lan nodded.

“Alright, we’re losing the morning light, we’re a bit late to start in the most opportune time, but sitting on the Earth Element itself will help nonetheless,” said Xia Fei, “Now, what are the 3 stages of the second law?”

“Accumulation, Purification, Integration,” replied Kai Lan.

“Good,” nodded Xia Fei, “Now, when you Integrate, I want you to focus on filling your Primary Meridians first”. Xia Fei then stood, moving over to Kai Lan to run her finger along his body as she quoted the locations of the Meridians, “The Lungs, the Large Intestines, the Small Intestines, the Stomach, the Spleen, the Pericardium, the Triple Burner, the Gallbladder, the Liver, the Kidney, the Heart, and the Bladder. The Secondary Meridians are located along their channels, but you will need to discover their locations for yourself. First, focus on the root of each Meridian and push the energy from your Golden Core to those points. Understood?”

Kai Lan nodded, “Yes, Xia Fei-Jie”.

Xia Fei smiled and stood, standing back, “Good, begin when you are ready”.

Kai Lan straightened his back and closed his eyes as he took a breath in, then out. Once his breathing was regulated, he circled his arms before placing his palms before his core, one face up and one face down, with a space between that he summoned his golden core into.

“Good, Kai Lan, keep going,” Xia Fei encouraged.

Kai Lan took another few breaths before he focused on the brown wisps of energy around him. The earth was solid beneath him, full of abundant energy, Kai Lan reached out and coaxed several of those wisps of energy towards his golden core. Once he had accumulated many wisps of energy, Kai Lan slowly began pulling them into his golden core, purifying them as best he could. It was difficult, he failed several times, the wisps of energy bouncing away from his core and disappearing back to the earth before Kai Lan finally managed to refine a single wisp of energy. He found that he had a feeling of fullness as he did so. Not in the sense that he had eaten a lot, or that his bladder was bursting, it was more like…like feeling a sense of fulfilment physically.

He moved to purifying another wisp of energy, and as he did, he felt that fullness within his golden core grow to the point of bursting.

“Don’t over-strain your core, Kai Lan,” Xia Fei warned, “You are only just beginning in Cultivating, you cannot purify too much elemental energy at once”.

With this reminder, Kai Lan’s immediate worry after watching Xia Fei purifying several tens of wisps of energy was alleviated. He let the other strands of earth elemental energy go, and focused on moving to the third step. Kai Lan allowed the purified energy to flow from his golden core and into his body, channelling it to the first primary meridian he felt, his lung meridian about three fingers below his right collarbone. He felt a sense of stability there as the energy filled the meridian, then Kai Lan breathed in and out as the energy settled before he circled back to the accumulation stage.

Kai Lan continued this until lunch time, Xia Fei giving him pointers whenever he was struggling.

Finally, after two hours, and purifying 18 wisps of energy, his Primary Lung Meridian was solid and full.