He never had a plan, he just went with the flow

Chapter Twelve

The ground was covered in a thin white blanket; winter had hit the area hard. Wei Ying couldn't help but be reminded of his time in Gusu. The sheer cold, the snow, and the expanse of white that seemed to touch everything.

He pulled his doupeng closer to his body; the cold doesn't affect him the same way it affects humans, but it does have an effect. It makes him feel a bit...sleepy. He isn't sure what the word for it was. Anyway, it makes him sluggish and slows his reaction time down. Not by much, but enough for him to be grateful for his new traveling companion.

Speaking of traveling companions, "I think we should start heading further west." Xiao Xingchen turns to him and lays his palms on his knees. "For the meeting?" He smiles despite the black sludge on his skin. Wei Ying frowns in disgust for spraying him with his finger gun.

Xiao Xingchen let out a surprised gasp. "Did it happen again?" he asked as he pulled the dirty water off him and dropped most of it on the ground. He frowned at it before looking at his Shijiu. "Why do you get covered in that black stuff whenever you meditate?"

Xiao Xingchen tied his sash in place before picking up his dachang. "It's proof that I'm in the fourth stage of cultivation." Wei Ying allowed the sludge to drop to the ground, "The fourth stage?" He muttered to himself before it hit him, "Ah, those cultivation stages you told me about! The fourth one was called 'Soul Refinement' if I remember correctly." Wei Ying snaps his fingers before spinning to face Xiao Xingchen.

"So you're refining your soul or something? Wait, didn't you say I was also in that stage? Why don't I have that black sludge, too?" Not that he wants to have that covering his pristine form. They start walking back to where they left their spiritual steeds. "The body must be refined for the soul to refine itself. But the body is full of impurities that can easily develop and build up, causing a blockage. That's why the most superior method, according to my master, is by constant mediation and cultivating one's abilities."

"You had me at the first bit but lost me at the end. Why don't you just meditate until you reach the fifth stage?" Xiao Xingchen stops with a sigh, "Because the body needs to be prepared for when its nascent soul is born. The shattering of the soul will destroy the body if you only focus on mediation."

"Ah," Xiao Xingchen lifts his finger with a smile, "Plus, cultivation can make it easier for the impurities to travel to the surface. And it naturally causes you to draw in impurities, so you can meditate to stabilize your meridians while clearing your body of impurities afterward."

Wei Ying hummed, placing his hand under his chin, "That makes sense. So, do I lack impurities or something since I don't leak that black sludge?" Xiao Xingchen shakes his head, "No, you have impurities like all of us. It's just that you unconsciously purify them before they can solidify."

His body and core are probably too used to absorbing and purifying any corrupted energy in him, and it just purifies the impurities automatically. "I see. So once my body is stable enough, will my core shatter?"

"No, once your nascent soul has...I think a good term to use would be 'reached term.' It'll be born on its own."

"Ah, I see, I see." He doesn't, but he's good at pretending to understand. They continued walking back to the horses, who were kicking water at each other. "MingFu, XueHua! We're back!" He ran over to the horses, who turned to them. XueHua is a horse he created for Xiao Xingchen because he didn't want to make him walk while he rode on MingFu's back. She was physically very similar to MingFu but had a tattoo that resembled Xiao Xingchen's frost fall technique on her butt.

She was less snarky than MingFu and just as patient. She was a swift horse that connected with her rider, which is weird because he doesn't remember giving her telepathic abilities.