"Now, to finally answer Cai's question," I said, pulling out small bracelets and tossing them to the four listeners.

"You will each wear this bracelet which will collect all of the excess qi you produce and feed it back to you later this month in order to increase your rank."

"But--"

"Yes, your dantians can't produce enough qi to fill up the bracelet by the end of the month, that's why I will also be giving each of you these!"

My hands flashed and a few pill bottles came to be in front of them.

"These are qi production pills. They will constantly be consumed, refined, and digested by your dantians over the next month and the bracelets will absorb all the qi you produce."

"Why does it have to be our qi?" Chin asked. "Could we use some other qi to get to the next stage?"

"Nope. If its not your own qi then you can't use it. The natural part of you wouldn't be able to use it. Its like planting seeds you've never heard of and relying on them to feed your whole village."

Chin frowned deeply at this analogy.

"Alright, take one pill per week at the start of this class. We will meet next week to discuss our progress and questions, understand?"

They all nodded.

"Oh and for this week's homework, I want you to think about what the dao means to you. What does it mean to be alive? What are the best parts of your life? What's your purpose? And why do you find meaning in it? I want you to think about the reason you wake up in the morning. And while you live your lives, I want you to feel the flow of the world around you. Class dismissed."

Po Pen got up and bowed to me, handing me a small note before he left. Cai Xuin did the same. Medin gave me some more dumplings and Chin was already out in the fields in that instant.

I ate the dumplings and stared out into the sky. The clouds were thinning and the rainy season was just about to end. There were about two more weeks left and Chin was panicking.

The village had grown as had cultivator town and he was worried about having enough crops to sustain the ever growing valley. That meet up of his was tomorrow. The one with all the cultivators of the region gathering around for Chore Day.

That would be fun to watch.

I felt a tug at my robe and turned to see Nai riding on top of her dog.

She pulled, hoisting herself off the dog and onto me, climbing onto my robe and up my back.

"Argh!"

"Really?"

"Aue bah bahl!"

"Oh wow."

I shifted her over to my hands and kept walking. She was talking but not about anything specifically. It was a ramble of meaningless gibberish. She was just practicing talking and wanted me to help her.

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"Ough bo cheeeeeee!"

"Oh those were good. Are those new sounds you just made?"

"Aur!"

That was a yes.

"Good job!"

She cooed and smacked her hand against my chest.

In response, I brought out the monster.

The tickle monster.

She screamed and turned and tried to run, but I was using the very concept of tickle itself to do this. And she laughed. She laughed and laughed and almost cried, then she pooped.

I stopped.

"Whoops!"

Nai gave me an angry glare while I changed her.

"Bow!"

I've gone two weeks without pooping myself! You made me break my streak!

"I apologize."

She crossed her arms and frowned as I cleaned her up. I teleported the poop away. Three dumplings later, she had all but forgotten about the poop streak.

I walked around for a bit with Nai holding onto my shoulders. We said hello to the farmers, with most of them saying hello back. They were less afraid of me then they ever had been. Chin gave Nai a fresh fruit and a pat on the back. Medin gave her some more food.

Mei Shan and Fey Lin Fo nodded at Nai.

Fey Lin Fo stared at Nai for a good minute before pointing and asking.

"How did that baby reach the fifth rank?"

"She's a talented fellow."

"Talented?" Fey Lin asked. "What kind of talent does she have?"

"The best kind."

"Auorgh!" Nai yelled.

"How did I not sense her before?"

"She can hide if she wants to, right Nai?"

"OOOOO!"

That was a yes.

Fey Lin Fo looked terrified.

"Is she your child?"

At this, everyone turned and looked at me. Mei Shan, Fey Lin Fo, and even Nai.

"She's not my direct kin," I answered. "But yes, I guess she is my child."

Nai was on my right shoulder, holding tightly onto my robe. I could feel her hold on a little tighter.

"In all the ways that matter," I added. "She's my child."

Nai smacked my head and burped. Tob, who had been following us this whole time, barked.

"Tomorrow's Chore Day, right? Are any of your sisters going to help?"

"We all are," Mei Shan answered. "Chin is worried about the growing population and the lack of potential food is distressing him."

"Unplanted seeds distress him."

"Yes," Mei smiled. "But both me and Lin here are planning to help him out. She'll limit herself to the fifth rank and work along with us."

The farmlands were a good concern.

"I think I'll help as well," I replied.

I teleported us away from the room and had us floating, just beyond the valley.

This place was intricate to me. It wasn't the land that mattered but the arrays I had built into it. I had worked on it for untold eons, and now I knew more.

I'd have to spruce up my designs.

But that would be for later.

For now, I took out a drop of water. It was diluted and had been reduced to the peak of the sixth rank.

But still, it was just a drop of water. I had cured the thirst underneath the desert once. I had found the shadow of the man devoured by his own dao, a mass of nothing but desire, and I had destroyed it.

But the land was still dry and the desert was still empty.

"Shouldn't you discuss this with Chin and the village council first?" Mei Shan asked.

"Nah," I shrugged.

Then the drop fell into the valley, then beneath it. It dropped down beneath the soil and into the dry desert earth the valley stood upon.

Then the desert drank.

Tens of thousands of people were still crossing the Great Desert Strip at this very moment. Beasts of all kinds were stumbling their way through the land, being pushed forward but cultivators trying to peddle their goods across the region.

A whole lot of people were traveling to the village as well, but all had one thing in common. All of them bore the heat of the land and all of them struggled.

But then the earth beneath them changed. It didn't grow grass or blossom flowers. Trees didn't suddenly erupt from the sand dunes and greenery didn't suddenly take over.

But the earth tightened. The sand turned to ground and the dry air had moisture in it. All the cultivators could sense a pulse of qi flowing through the ground.

It spoke of one thing and one thing only, water.

The desert crabs were the first to truly feel it. The ground didn't attack them anymore. The thirst they had learned to accept as natural, suddenly went away.

Then the people felt it. The ground mushed and mudded over for about an hour before it dried and turned into earth.

Over the course of the next day, the desert would become an immense field of grass. Within a week, the first new villages would have started migrating over.

And tomorrow, a happy farmer would make many a sect elder toil away on the fields.

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