Monday morning.

  "So, that was it?" said Henry, catching up. "You got Rachel and gave your step-uncle the middle finger. I thought you'd beat him up or something. Doesn't it feel like you let him get away too easily?"

  "Well," said Daniel. "Let's say I didn't let him off completely. Had to be professional for the court papers to go through. But after all that was done…"

  He smiled.

  Well, who says having supernatural powers didn't have its perks.

  "I know that face," laughed Henry. He leaned in closer. "Tell me the details later, pssh, I want to know."

  "Yeah, later," said Daniel, rolling his eyes. "Still, see you later at the shop?"

  "Yeah, I'll stop by. You heading up to the library?"

  "Yeah. The group is going over a few notes we've been compiling. I think we're on to something."

  "Alright, cya later."

  Daniel stopped by the library. The doors still looked the same, the dull gray, but a new banner had been draped across the front. A new book had come out. The cover had a boy with a lightning scar on his head. Apparently, it was pretty popular.

  He stopped by his usual spot and logged in.

  RisingPhoenix72: Alright. We've all been digging into different areas for the last few months. I think it's time we lay it out and see if the pieces fit together. Crane, you want to start?

  WulinCrane66: So, the problem we've all been working on for a while is well what now. What do we do now that we can use qi. And what does getting stronger even look like?

  If we were wizards. We'd learn spells. But we're martial artists. So, what are our spells. What are our limitations and strengths according to history?

  I've been going through the Xingming Guizhi and the framework I keep finding is Neidan. Internal alchemy.

  The easiest comparison for those of us in the west is the philosopher's stone. Nicholas Flammel was trying to transmute natural resources and create a stone which would grant its user immortal life.

  In Taoism, the concept is almost identical. Except we are the philosopher stone. From all the stuff we've put together. The rough idea is Taoists refine the raw materials inside their body and achieve a transformative change. This is the origin of every immortal story out there, at least as far as I can tell. This is where I think we should focus our energy and research towards.

  DrunkenScholar: so in the west you make the elixir and drink it. in the east you are the elixir.

  WulinCrane66: Essentially, yes. And interestingly, Taoists did have an alchemy practice almost identical to the western half in the 2nd century BCE. It was called Waidan, External Alchemy. And sometime after the Tang Dynasty, it all switched to Neidan.

  RisingPhoenix72: So, they all shifted much later? Could that be a response to the lack of qi?

  WulinCrane66: That would be an interesting thought. They used External Alchemy when Qi was available, but when qi started to die out. They had to switch to a completely different magical system. It'd put our previous discussions about qi disappearing at roughly one thousand years ago. Meaning it was a slow and steady decline.

  If we go by when Waidan became virtually extinct as a practice. Then it'd mean by the Ming Dynasty. Qi no longer existed anywhere in the world.

  MoonlessSky: Interesting. But stay on topic, please.

  WulinCrane66: Right. So the core idea behind Neidan. The body is the furnace, and the practice is the fire. You're refining what's already inside you.

  The classical texts describe the process as purification. You take the raw material of the body and you burn away what doesn't belong until what's left is something closer to the source.

  Assuming of course we can figure out how the refining process worked. This is where most people have died, historically.

  BrokenBamboo: Complete guesswork then? Would we even survive that kind of experimenting?

  WulinCrane66: Hard to say, but I venture to guess there are organizations out there with less ethical means to figure out what works. Even if we do nothing. Just knowing the framework would allow us to maybe figure it out once supernatural powers become more common.

  RisingPhoenix72: Which brings me to what I've been looking at. The Classical Three Treasures of Taoism. Jing. Qi. Shen. If we are going to be a furnace. We need to build up a body that can withstand that kind of enhancement. Physical training. And whatever magical related forms that will achieve that.

  Daniel paused, remembering Li Qinghua's words.

  It was odd to see her lectures about the Three Treasures coming up through someone else, but he only smiled. What's true stays true, no matter who says it.

  WulinCrane66: And furthermore, I think the distinction when coming up with our future practices. No matter what path we choose, taking from either Western Traditions or East is the concept of Xiulian. It's a term that I think ties all of this together.

  It breaks down into two characters. Xiu and Lian. Xiu means to repair, to improve. Lian has the fire radical. It means to smelt. To put raw metal through a furnace until the impurities burn away.

  Together it's the process of improving yourself through fire. Refining what's inside you until what's left is pure.

  LaughingSword: so it's just another word for training.

  WulinCrane66: Yes, but think of it like forging a sword. Lian is the hammering, the heating, the folding. But xiu is the quality of the steel itself. You can hammer all day. If the metal is impure, the blade breaks.

  DrunkenScholar: so we've all been hammering without checking the purity of the steel. that tracks. Maybe, that's why some of us are able to use qi faster than others? They were born with better quality steel?

  BitterTea: so the dantian, the jing qi shen, the furnace metaphor. it all sits inside xiulian? (′?ω?`)

  WulinCrane66: That's right.

  HiddenDragon88: I guess we can also think of it like a video game. Each part of Xiulian is a step. You have to complete the first steps before going to the next one. Dantian. Meridians. Jing, rinse and repeat.

  LaughingSword: please tell me you did not just compare training to a video game.

  Love what you're reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.

  HiddenDragon88: Doesn't it sound that way? If I refined myself, doesn't that sound like leveling up?

  DrunkenScholar: That he's making sense makes me hate it.

  RisingPhoenix72: So what level are we?

  DrunkenScholar: zero. absolutely zero.

  BrokenBamboo: still meditating

  BitterTea: zero (′；ω；`)

  LaughingSword: zero.

  MoonlessSky: zero.

  SilentMountain: Zero.

  LaughingSword: though some of us might have started at level one.

  WanderingTofu entered the chat.

  WanderingTofu: Hey everyone.

  BrokenBamboo:….

  DrunkenScholar:…..

  BitterTea:…..

  LaughingSword: Isn't the same guy who tried becoming a bird, sat in the middle of a pond, trying to eat raw fish….

  RisingPhoenix72: I gave him an invite. He can use qi.

  LaughingSword: Well, I guess he can't make the conversation any dumber than it is at times.

  WanderingTofu: Sorry if I'm interrupting.

  WulinCrane66: Well, that brings us to one thing. What do we call it? Or better yet what do we call ourselves? Martial Artists or Xiulian is nice, but it doesn't have a ring to it like magic or wizards. I think conceptually what we're trying to do here is also difficult to explain to new people.

  It might be best to use a term more people would understand since we'll be using the word a lot. Especially as our group gets larger. The closest English word is refining, but there's this self-improvement aspect to the Chinese word that isn't quite captured by English.

  BrokenBamboo: So, would we then call ourselves qi refiners then? Instead of martial artists? It doesn't quite sound right.

  BitterTea: I aim for heros! Xia!

  LaughingSword: Too close to comic books. People would think we're some sort of flying firefighter.

  WanderingTofu: Well, in another group I'm in, they've been calling themselves cultivators.

  DrunkenScholar:…

  BrokenBamboo:…another group?

  WanderingTofu: Yeah, ever since RisingPhoenix posted his Basic Sensing. A whole lot of other people started trying it and saying they got results.

  LaughingSword: Okay, but in this other group. What does farming have to do with any of this?

  WanderingTofu: It's not like farming. It's more like cultivating yourself. You start with something small, take care of it, it grows. It's been catching on.

  WulinCrane66: It's a nice thought, and the parallels are there. But there is one issue. The word 'cultivation' loses the fire aspect of the Taoist process entirely. It reduces the whole concept to agriculture, when the actual process is much closer to blacksmithing.

  BrokenBamboo: it does sound like we're growing vegetables.

  BitterTea: (???) i don't hate it actually.

  LaughingSword: what? you should hate it. I hate it.

  HiddenDragon88: Well, I kind of like it too.

  LaughingSword: you too? but why? It changes the meaning entirely. It's a fake word, that means nothing.

  Daniel paused, typing. Thinking about how martial arts were like people, casting shadows big and small. Regardless of what they called it the essence would always remain the same.

  HiddenDragon88: I think we should think beyond that. We call things differently all the time. Germans? They are really called Deutsch. Japanese? Nippon. We should just give ourselves a name that's easy to say and figure out the rest later.

  LaughingSword: but this feels like two steps backwards. If we went to China, not a single Chinese person would know what a cultivator is. It's a completely made-up word outside of farming.

  BrokenBamboo: Britannia rules the waves.

  LaughingSword: Don't get me started on British appropriation. I dare you Bamboo.

  HiddenDragon88: I mean as long as we know what it means wouldn't it be okay? Besides. Maybe, it'll turn out for the best somehow?

  LaughingSword: Tsk, how can calling it 'cultivation' ever be good? I for one will not call ourselves farmers. I live and die by at least practitioners or warriors.

  WanderingTofu: It's not so bad once you get used to it. I've been using it all the time. Cultivators. We are cultivating.

  LaughingSword: This bird eating idiot. Come over here and I'll slap some sense back into you.

  Daniel chatted some more and then logged off. Grabbed his bag. Walked out into the afternoon. Back to training. That part didn't change.

  Henry was already at the courtyard, doing laps. It was almost like everything went back to normal. Well, not quite normal.

  A little girl was twirling two swords, barely reaching Daniel's chest, her ponytails bobbing in the air.

  "Hiyaa!" yelled Rachel, waving two swords around. "Sun! and Moon!"

  Henry shook his head.

  "How long has she been doing that?" Daniel asked.

  "Since I got here," Henry said. "I still don't get it. Ah, this is so unfair! I had to get my ass beat before I could use qi! And she…She can just do it by making up some bullshit…"

  And then Rachel leaped up, qi humming through the sword.

  "Hehe, it's because I'm a genius don't you know?"

  "Genius…my ass…." Henry looked at Daniel. "This is all your fault. The King of Bullshit."

  Daniel smiled and shrugged.

  Henry made a fist and punched the air.

  It snapped the air. Much lighter than Daniel's full strike, but it tinged with energy.

  "I just started. You wait and see. I'll catch up."

  "Well, if you want, I can give you another beating and see if it works better the second time around."

  "Yeah, right."

  Henry flipped him off. Daniel laughed.

  Rachel went back to swinging. Henry went back to Tiger Claw. Daniel sat on the steps and watched them.

  "So," Henry said between reps. "Did you get the tickets?"

  "Yeah." Daniel pulled them out of his bag. "San Francisco to Hong Kong. Two layovers."

  Rachel stopped swinging. "Tickets to where?"

  "China," Daniel said. "The Wudang Temple. I need to find out if Wudang is still there and hand over the sword. As well as visit Mount Hua and pass on Li Qinghua's ashes."

  "Two tickets," Rachel said, looking up at them.

  "Two tickets."

  "For you and Henry."

  "For me and Henry."

  Rachel lowered the swords. Her lip trembled. "So, you're just going to leave me here? After everything?"

  Daniel looked at her. She looked back. Her eyes were getting wet.

  "I just got you back," she said quietly. "And now you're leaving again."

  Daniel felt his chest tighten. "Rachel, I..."

  "I'm not a little kid anymore. I can help. I can train on the plane. I won't complain about the layovers. I promise I'll be good and..."

  Daniel looked and then had a familiar feeling.

  "Aye, are you faking it," frowned Daniel.

  Rachel broke. Full grin. "Of course! I gotta get every advantage that I can get!"

  Henry rolled his eyes.

  "Dang already learning how to make you feel guilty. You're going to get played for the rest of your life."

  Daniel smiled. "Well, I wouldn't mind that either."

  He raised his hands up.

  "Alright, I'll get another ticket. Three tickets."

  "Three tickets!" Rachel said. She picked the swords back up. "I'm going to China!"

  Daniel smiled. He kinda liked this new normal. He wondered what the other forum members were doing now. Were they heroes of their own stories, doing their own thing outside of sight.

  He closed his eyes.

  In a neon city, cars rolling past. MoonlessSky walked down a corridor a hood over his head, blood on a curled sword. His eyes dark under the moonlight.

  In a candle-lit room, RisingPhoenix sat surrounded by texts and cold tea, a faded banner on the wall behind him. Large characters. Murong Clan. He made a note in the margin of a page he'd read three times already.

  Far beyond the mountains, SilentMountain climbed up the path towards a monastery, his robes catching the wind, a wooden staff in his hand.

  In London, BitterTea sat cross-legged on the floor of her flat in a white and red Miko robe, porcelain dolls arranged in a half circle around her. Ofuda talismans covered the walls.

  A book of hand-drawn symbols and notes in three languages lay open in her lap. She turned a page and one of the dolls fell over. She set it back up without looking.

  Back in the courtyard, the fog had thickened.

  Henry's hand curled into Tiger Claw and the qi held at his fingertips longer than it had all afternoon.

  Rachel swung the swords and the fog pulled apart where the blades passed through. Everything returning to what it was. The mysteries returning to the world.

  Detective Carter signed the last form and dropped it in the outbox. "Asian Art Museum case. Artifacts recovered, suspects at large, but HQ says without an active lead the case is closed."

  "Finally." His partner stretched. "That was a mess. Gang violence, property damage, the whole thing."

  "Yeah." Carter glanced at the file one more time. Something about it still bothered him, but he couldn't say what. Witness statements that didn't quite line up. Damage patterns that didn't make sense. He closed the folder.

  A memo sat on top of his inbox. New letterhead. He picked it up.

  "Hey, you seen this? Some new federal agency wants copies of our reports."

  "Which one?"

  Carter squinted at the acronym.

  "OSCS. Office of Supernatural Containment and Security."

  He looked up.

  "The hell is that?"

  His partner shrugged. "No idea. Some new task force. Feds create them every week."

  "Says here they want any cases involving 'anomalous phenomena.' Especially those related to mysticism and the occult." Carter flipped the page. "They flagged a bunch of our files."

  "Weird."

  "Yeah." Carter initialed the memo, added it to the outbox. He paused. "Oh, and there's a note from the federal liaison. Says a keyword keeps popping up in their system. Asked if we'd encountered it."

  "What keyword?"

  Carter checked the attachment. "Cultivation." He frowned. "That mean anything to you?"

  "Like farming?"

  "I guess?" Carter shrugged. "Doesn't ring a bell."

  "Probably some gang code word."

  "Probably." Carter tossed the file in the archive box. "I'll forward it to them. Let the feds figure it out. Not our problem."