Fighting to be Kind in a Cultivation World

When I nod to her affirmation, she gives me another hard look.

As if trying to figure out who I am and if it would be worth pushing it through now.

When I see her eyes squint, I fidget, as it feels like she’s starting to put the pieces together. As expected, this makes her stop.

Even if she figures it out, I’ve stated my intention to stay anonymous. That’s enough to make her cease pursuing my identity.

After all, this policy is one of the great things about the Healer’s Association. This policy allows those normally ostracized or marginalized to prove their skills in a neutral setting.

But whatever she figured out has finally convinced her, causing her to look in the distance. Likely communicating with the other Masters in the city. Assembling those who would judge me.

Within moments, I feel four other presences shoot toward this area. Each between low to high Core Formation.

They appear before us, each intimidating in their own ways. But to my surprise, there is something that I haven’t seen much of yet. That most of them are females.

Four older, powerful women stand before me, including Madame Qian, with one elderly male. All of whom look like, at least physically, are between their late 30s and 50s.

Breaking through my thoughts is Madame Qian. Her voice is melodic, though still daunting in its depth.

“Sorry to disturb you all, but as previously mentioned, we have an applicant for Master-level accreditation.”

Madame Qian combs a hand through her brown hair nonchalantly, but squares her broad shoulders toward the group, as if preparing to discuss this in-depth. This doesn’t go unnoticed by most of them.

One of the other women, a white-haired woman flowing with finesse and poise, speaks up.

“Where are they? I only see this…”

She looks around, seeking someone older than I, but I can tell there’s a growing suspicion as her eyes return to me.

One of the others seemed to have grasped the situation.

A small woman, whose qi aura shines behind her, the power of her cultivation strong enough to not be fully hidden, shakes her head in disappointment as she speaks.

“Lia… it’s obvious, isn’t it? We all could tell there was no one else here, even before we got here. As much as we might hope, it’s just this young one.”

She turns toward Madame Qian.

“My question is why you seem ready to just let him take it, with little vetting?”

At her words, the rest of the Masters look at her. She says nothing for a while before speaking out.

“This applicant has chosen to stay anonymous. You can make your own assumptions from that.”

From that, I see four sets of eyes turn toward me.

I can’t help but focus my attention on the last two who haven’t spoken, curious about their reaction to my appearance.

The two, an antsy, old man with gray hair and a grim-looking older gothic woman, fix their gaze on me. Hiding away their reactions and opinions, for what may be different reasons. From the little I can sense, the man may be cautious from taking a side from previous experiences.

The woman, on the other hand, gives off the feeling of a war veteran. She has experienced everything and beyond, yet remains silent because it's just another typical day for her. Doing whatever is necessary to get back to her life.

It looks to me like none of the others expected them to say anything, so are just looking between the three of themselves.

The small woman gives a sigh, as she seems to come to a conclusion, nudging Madame Lia and whispering something in her ear.

…Couldn’t she just have just used telepathy?

This seems this is something commonly done between them.

Lucky for me though, I can hear it with my senses because of it.

“Do you think it’s that guy everyone has been talking about?”

Madame Lia’s eyes shoot to me, squinting before she nods.

“Yeah, I’m thinking so, Liqin…”

Both of them straighten up, stopping their whispering to turn toward me. Ready to proceed. Madame Qian is rubbing her forehead, since she definitely heard everything with her enhanced senses.

So, I’m pretty sure they know who I am. Or at least have an idea.

…I probably should have expected this. Especially considering how rumors travel around in the cultivation world. I’ve been doing some crazy things with healing lately, so it wouldn’t be unreasonable that healers in other parts of the Chia Continuum would catch word of a young, dark-skinned healer with low cultivation healing everyone and their mother using new techniques and alchemy.

Though it was probably the time at the Fortress of Healing that would have really gotten my description out there.

Seeing that everyone is mostly in agreement to begin the accreditation process, Madame Qian continues speaking, turning to me.

“With that settled, let’s begin. Do you know the steps to accreditation?”

I nod, making everyone more assured. After all, it wouldn’t be good if the applicant came in blind to a well-known testing procedure.

My scan has already laid out the process.

The first test is one of practicality. Healing 50 random people, both generally and within my specialty. Each person can have varying difficulties to heal them, determined by the other Masters. Ones with the highest difficulties should mostly be within the specialty I choose.

After all, different masters have various cultivation methods and specializations. The only shared marker of being a master of healing is whether they can heal most people well, with their best work being within their specialty.

The second and final test is one of the mark of a true Master. Solving or putting forth a potential reasonable solution to any one problem that other Masters in your specialty struggle with. Each of them will put forward a problem. If I can solve any of their problems or put forward a reasonable solution, then they’ll approve it.

The next to speak is the grim-looking, old, gothic woman, drawing surprise from the group. Reaffirming my thoughts that she rarely speaks or interacts if necessary. Her eyes pierce through me, feeling as if they can see everything.

“Kid. What will you choose as your specialty?”

I take a breath, wording this as best I can, using with my conversation scan.

“I can do it all.”

…

…

Silence.

A raspy male voice breaks through it.

“…Are you fucking kidding me?”

Everyone’s eyes turn to the antsy old man who immediately goes quiet, realizing he said that out loud. Even though, it was definitely what everyone was thinking.

Soon after the old woman stands up a bit higher. Which is when she unleashes her cultivation in force, in waves. Causing half the weight of her cultivation to fall on me.

With her being a peak core formation, that equals the spiritual pressure of a mid-core formation expert.

There’s only one thing that comes to mind before I feel it descend on me.

…not again.

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