Ad Astra

I launched myself forward, clumsily tightening my leg muscles to try and time my leap and get more power out of my attack. My error in timing caused the punch I threw toward Alice's face to be thrown too early, which let her take a slight step backward to dodge and take advantage of my vulnerable position to launch a kick into my side.

My increased processing speed and reactions let me watch as she shifted her weight to her right foot and kicked out, giving me enough time to ply my earth qi to flex my muscles and rapidly move my arm to block her kick. I tensed the muscles in my arm just as the kick landed, feeling like someone had swung a metal pipe at me.

I winced, but the pain was slight and bearable. I tried to grab her leg, but she was lightning quick; she retracted her leg, planting it firmly on the ground and pressing her counterattack.

I parried and deflected her rapid fire series of punches, making the most use I could out of the enhanced senses I now had access to. She seemed to determine she wasn't going to be able to beat me just by punching so she started going for grapples, hoping to end the fight like she had before.

She reached farther this time, stepping in closer with rapid steps. I tried to jump backward, but my experience and reaction time weren't up to snuff and she got behind my guard. I tried to push her away, but she snaked her arms around my left arm before turning her back to me, grasping at the collar of my robes, and leveraging an insane strength to pull my arm and launch me over her shoulder and onto the ground.

I cursed as I flew through the air and tensed my core to flip myself over as I flew. I managed to get almost all the way flipped, landing on my feet but still bent over backwards to a degree that would have been impossible before.

I found myself in the awkward position of looking upward into Alice's eyes that I could have sworn had a gleam of smugness in them. She still held onto my left arm with an iron-like grip and I was unable to break free from it, despite my struggling. She pushed me down with both her arms, my core fighting against the movement but she had more leverage and, despite my newfound limberness, I fell to the ground roughly. Alice pounced when I landed, trying to put me into another arm-bar.

Despite my expectations, the pinning move that had previously immobilized me now felt like a nice stretch instead of a painful hold. Remembering just how flexible I was now, I twisted my hips violently while tensing my core, launching my right foot at the girl's face.

At the rapid attack, Alice let go of my arm, rolling away and pulling her legs under her, quickly getting to her feet and readying to re-engage. I did the same, and definitely just as deftly and expertly as she did. It certainly did not take me nearly twice as long, and I definitely didn't stumble trying catching my balance.

I was going to attack her again, but a short clap from Elder Hazeon signaled the end of our duel. I dropped out of my combat stance at the same time Alice did and Elder Hazeon walked over.

"Astra, that was a great showing for your first time sparring with proper body cultivation! Not only did you last nearly a full minute without being taken to the ground, but you also managed to escape from Alice's grapple quickly. There are obviously a lot of improvements to make to your combat experience, fighting style, and body cultivation control, but if anyone with doubts as to your status as my personal disciple saw what you've accomplished today, they'd be struck silent."

I frowned.

"People are doubting me being your disciple?"

Elder Hazeon grimaced. But Alice was the one who responded.

"During my time with Vice-Head Researcher Rin, while you have been in closed door cultivation, she has come to your defense on at least five separate occasions when she overheard sect members speaking ill of you."

I smiled slightly at the thought. Rin would have gotten all up in arms at hearing something like that.

"Alice's experience has become more common as of late. It seems that word of you bowing out of the elder's disciple tournament has become common knowledge throughout the sect. You shouldn't bother yourself with those kinds of gossip. You've shown incredible promise today, and should you continue growing, their doubts will die in their throats after seeing your success."

That made me feel a little better, but it didn't feel good to know people thought I was unworthy. Those insidious feelings of inadequacy welled up within me once again and I tried to quash them, but they were persistent. Standing still wasn't helping, and I was still so far from mastering this new body cultivation technique, so I decided I just needed to keep training; Jia was waiting for me after all.

I dropped back into a combat stance, Alice mirroring my movements and jumped back into spars, Elder Hazeon not interrupting our training until it was nearing sunset and both Alice and I were exhausted from hours of fighting. Finally, with both Alice and I huffing and puffing on the ground, our limbs all wrapped up together from our latest spar, the sun fell past the cliff, disappearing behind the roaring waterfall that even now thundered in my ears if I didn't make efforts to tune it out.

I had pushed myself hard during the spar and succeeded in pushing those awful thoughts out of my head. Now laying there on the ground with Alice—a girl thrust through time and suddenly separated from everyone she had known—helped put things in perspective for me.

Whether I was worthy or fated for something big didn't matter. What did matter is that I had people right here right now that I needed to help, and now with this new body cultivation method, and my spirit cultivation, I had the tools to make a difference. I could finally help people instead of hurting them.

As the last vestiges of the fiery colors of the sun dissipated from the sky, a burning warmth kindled within me, my resolve firming. I would continue getting stronger and do everything I could to stop the demons, help Alice grow, and protect everything important to me.

***

Over the next few months I alternated between body cultivation using the Harmonious Elemental Gathering Formation and learning to control my body cultivation during spars with Alice. Despite becoming much more proficient with properly using my body cultivation, I still never managed to properly beat Alice. Her combat experience far exceeded my own, and the best I managed was improving my physical capabilities enough that she and I tied in terms of pure physical combat prowess.

On the day I was nearing the low level of the viscera forging realm with all of the elements, Yin entered the secluded cultivation chamber with news that the elder's disciple competition would be taking place today and she had come to fetch me. I deftly stood from my cross legged position and stretched backwards, alleviating the imaginary stiffness I still hadn't trained my mind to realize no longer existed.

I jogged over to the showers and stepped inside, Yin waiting for me at the entrance.

As I undressed, I examined myself in the mirror. Compared to the emaciated waif of a girl that had woken up the day I left the sect for the trial, I had become much healthier.

My ribs were no longer visible through my torso, my eyes no longer sunken, and my skin had recovered from its previous sallowness. I was now at a much healthier weight, my body's natural balance now restored since I started taking care of myself again. The muscles that had previously wasted away due to my sedentary lifestyle now rested at a well defined and toned state. While the effect of the body cultivation had technical and physical limits—I couldn't turn myself into some towering hulking mass of muscles—I still had a broad control of my musculature. Through consistent use of the technique, I was able to build up my muscles rapidly even when not plying my body cultivation actively.

I admired how much more defined my muscles looked because of the training and had to admit the small amount of vanity I felt from becoming strong and looking good made me happy. Plus, the training outfits were really cute and just my style, athletic and simple in design. I had already asked for quite a few of them to be made specifically for my own wardrobe and regularly wore them under my sect robes. That made me think of Alice who rarely went without her body suits. After seeing how much she liked them, Elder Hazeon had ordered more for her which brought a smile to my face. She hadn't truly improved much on her path to humanity, but I think having clothes similar to those she wore when she was with her family was helping.

Done admiring myself, I moved to the showers and luxuriated under the hot waters, though I didn't spend nearly as much time as I normally would, Yin had already waited long enough for me and I didn't want to keep her waiting. I finished washing up, donned a fresh set of training clothes and took a few vain seconds to smile and admire them in the mirror.

They were solid black, and consisted of two separate pieces. The bottoms were form fitting but comfortable, insanely breathable and soft, and only went down to my mid leg. The top was a bit larger than traditional underwear would be. It was made out of the same black material, though I asked the tailors to add in the rainbow stitching of the sect to the hem. It was easily enough to cover my chest and made performing complex acrobatics during spars much simpler. All told, I was a huge fan.

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I put on my sect robe, and followed Yin to the competition arena. The arena was a lot like all of the tournament grounds I had seen in the past, though now elevated pavilions dotted the top-most row of seats around the arena. Sitting within each of the pavilions I recognized various elders of the sect from that day we returned with Alice. I figured we'd be sitting in one of them as well, but Yin led me further down the stands until we got to the lowest row of seats. There I found Elder Hazeon and Alice in her typical outfit, her white sect robes worn up to her waist where she had it tied off using the sleeves, and her black body suit covering her upper half.

She had just started wearing it like that one day and I had to admit she wore it really well. She looked fierce and like a paragon of combat prowess on top of the look being very stylish. It looked like Rin was in a good mood this morning because Alice's hair was expertly braided into multiple threads on one side of her head while the other side was left almost alone, though I could tell some work was put into making is a bit more wavy. I wasn't sure the clashing styles totally worked, but it looked like Alice didn't mind so who was I to step in the way of her individuality.

I sat down next to the girl, tactfully ignoring the murmurs and whispers that began as I walked into the arena. Myriad eyes watched me as I took my place next to Alice and watched me with interest, though my attention was focused on the fight in the arena instead.

From what I could tell, it was a fairly even fight between a metal cultivator and a dual spirit root earth and wood cultivator. It was the first time I had seen a plant cultivator fight in person like this and I enjoyed the experience. The fight wasn't particularly impressive considering I had been sparring with Alice for months, but if we excluded that combat monster they were both very capable core formation realm cultivators.

If I compared it to the first sect competition at the Blooming Violet sect, the fight was on a completely different level. It was hard to remember that the scale of combat was so different between realms due to the time I spent in Shironia. The multi-day long siege warped my sense of scale. Watching two core formation realm human cultivators fight was almost…boring? Luckily it ended before too long and Rin's fight was next.

I was excited to see her fight, not truly having time to watch her fight in the trial, but was disappointed when she finished the fight without much trouble. I could tell after sparring with Alice so often that Rin was leagues above her competition in terms of battle sense and combat experience. Round after round she barely broke a sweat as she overpowered each opponent, though she did have to start using her fire cultivation techniques in earnest against the last few foes.

After each win, I looked to Elder Yang's pavilion, though the stern woman only smirked at her disciple's victories. In contrast, a sizable group in the stands across from where we sat were waving flags and chanting Rin's name. She always looked to them at their cheers and raised her hand in triumph. I smirked in amusement at the sight. Rin seemed to have garnered quite the group of fans during the time I had been growing my cultivation, and by the time her final fight concluded, I was chanting along with the group to Rin's victory, much to Elder Yang's chagrin if her scowl was anything to go by.

Her final opponent put up a much more significant fight, Elder Chien having trained his disciple well, but he was unable to handle Rin's superior combat techniques which were reminiscent of a familiar blonde haired swordswoman if I had seen correctly. Rin even coalesced a sword of flame from her qi to fight with, surprising me. Rin's final blow, a sword strike that disarmed her opponent, only seemed to be decisive to everyone else in the arena than the competitor.

"I refuse to accept this result! She must have cheated somehow!" He cried out, garnering a chorus of 'boos' from Rin's gathered fan club. I didn't think it was particularly appropriate behavior for an elder's disciple, but some of the murmuring of nearby spectators echoed his sentiment which soured my mood. What? Rin couldn't be leagues above him in power for some reason? Ridiculous.

He was getting even more upset at this point, the animated reactions from the crowd spurring on his emotions further, but before anything could happen, Elder Chien appeared next to him as Elder Yang did the same, appearing next to Rin.

"Elder Yang, it appears you've trained your disciple well, though her combat forms don't resemble yours any longer. I applaud your willingness to allow your disciple to spread her wings and learn powerful combat techniques." Elder Chien said, a wide smile that didn't reach his ears plastered on his face.

Elder Yang scowled.

"Miss Everwood is my disciple. I trained her from a young age. Even if her combat techniques are…different from my original teachings, it does not change the fact that she bested your disciple quite handily. She's brought honor and prestige to me as her master," She retorted, puffing out her own chest and causing Elder Chien's own smile to falter.

Rin, ignoring the ship measuring contest between the two elders, waved out to her fan group in the stands as she addressed the spectators.

"I'd like to dedicate this victory to all of the members of the Hearth Flame guild! I'd have been unable to perform so well without all of your support. Together we'll grow stronger; a powerful unquenchable flame spreading its warmth to the farthest reaches of the universe!"

When had that happened? She certainly had been busy, though I supposed that Alexis's influence on Rin was significant so her wanting to build a guild made sense. I looked over to Alice to ask if she knew when Rin had made this guild and saw she now wore a fancy pin on her solid black body suit. The pin was in the shape of a stylized flame not unlike the symbol on the side of the research vessel, though the coloring was closer to a sunset than the divine flame's resplendent orange-white.

I narrowed my eyes.

"When did you put that on? And where did you get it?"

"Vice-Head Researcher Rin told me that inclusion in her guild would help with Project Eden. I was told this pin should be worn during her final fight in the competition to show solidarity with the other guildmates."

She pointed out the group across from us who were still cheering at Rin's words and I sighed. I supposed it didn't hurt anything, and Rin seemed to be enjoying herself. If the sense of camaraderie a guild could provide could stoke the flames of humanity within Alice, it was a good decision, plus I didn't have any say in her decisions either way.

Elder Yang didn't seem to like Rin's announcement as much as the girl's guildmates did based on how much she currently resembled a fish, though her expression quickly morphed to anger.

"Miss Everwood! This is highly inappropriate behavior. I've spoken to you countless times about this. You should spend more time training and practicing instead of wasting your time on something as foolish as creating a guild!"

Rin, jovial expression gone, turned to Elder Yang.

"Master. While I understand you have issues with my path, I'd ask that you refrain from insulting the guild I've built. It's clear that you do not understand what the guild stands for, nor what its inspiration stood for."

Rin's icy cold tone, audible even from where I sat, sent shivers down my back. It reminded me that I shouldn't get the older girl angry.

Elder Yang took a step back, stunned from the girl's outburst before she lashed out.

"You are my disciple. I've put up with your petulance over the last few months after your return, but it stops now. Hazeon's blue haired stray has clearly been a bad influence on you but I will let her poison your mind no more. You'll come with me and—"

Elder Yang's tirade was abruptly cut off by a torrent of fire qi from Rin. The flames fluctuated violently, and the Divine Flame within me trembled at the outburst. The thick flaming chord within me thrummed with power. I could tell it was close to some…unknown threshold, though I was unsure what would happen if that barrier was passed. I frowned, unsure of what was happening. The threads existing in the first place was strange, though I thought they were just something I was creating in my head to visualize the relationship between my friends and I, but was it somehow more than that?

I didn't have long to think about the strange feeling as Rin's anger seemed to reach a fever pitch.

"Elder Yang. Being my master does not give you freedom to insult my guild or friends. Astra has treated me like a true friend. Traveling and fighting alongside her has helped me find my path, my Dao. I've found the direction I want my life to take, and if you continue to insult those who are now part of my path, I will renounce you as my master and leave the sect if necessary."

Elder Yang looked like she had been slapped at Rin's words, then she grew furious, her face reddening to an insane degree.

"You-…You!…After all I've done for you over the years, you'd throw it in my face?? I trained you to become strong and independent so you wouldn't need to rely on others for strength. This world is not one where others will willingly collaborate and help you. You must strive forward on your own until no one will look down on you!"

"You may have taught me that for years, but I'm traveling a different path now. I will not shirk away from relationships with others. I have seen the strength of bonds forged through the fires of adversity. You may think it a mistake, but this is the only path I will follow for the rest of my life. Perhaps our paths diverge too much to continue a master disciple relationship, Elder Yang."

Rin turned to leave the arena, heading in the direction of the section of the stands where her guildmates sat. I felt the thrumming thread within me calm down even as Elder Yang's anger dissipated and her voice trembled.

"Everything I taught you and gave you were for your sake! To allow you to grow powerful and survive! Everything was for your sake!"

Rin didn't stop walking. Her fiery qi dissipated as she left the arena, Elder Yang watching where she had disappeared. To my surprise, Elder Hazeon approached Elder Yang and spoke a few hushed words to her. She flinched and then nodded before leaving the arena herself. He returned to his seat next to us and I raised an eyebrow at him, the question not needing to be asked.

To my disappointment, he shook his head.

"Elder Yang's history is not mine to tell, but I will say her path has had…numerous difficulties over the years. I would caution you against making assumptions about her from this unfortunate confrontation. Even young miss Everwood is not aware of everything, though I doubt that would change her position. I'll speak with Elder Yang further after she has had some time to calm down. Now that the tournament is complete, you should return to your body cultivation training; that is if you still want me to allow you to travel to the Rimewood?"

I nodded and accepted it. It wasn't my place to interfere anyway. Rin was my friend, but this was a matter between her and Elder Yang, though maybe a little interfering and advice wouldn't hurt? I'd have to check in with her after going to the Rimewood.

I stood from my seat, before realizing that Alice had disappeared at some point. I frowned down at her seat, wondering how she had slipped away, but figured she must have gone after Rin for some reason. I shrugged, glad the girl didn't need an order to go back, though I was starting to feel like I was neglecting her, much like when I didn't interact with Text often. Though nowadays I did try to talk to the inheritance more as I meditated to pass some time and alleviate the small guilt I felt toward him.

I vowed to spend some more time with Alice soon as I made my way back to the formation building and restarted my body cultivation training. I still had a lot of progress to make before leaving for the Rimewood.