The moon hung high and heavy over Green-Hollow Village. It was casting long, shifting shadows through the bamboo canopy. The sounds of the Tapping Festival were fading into a dull roar in the distance as Li Yu, Si Luo and Bai Ruo stumbled back toward The Cloud-Nest Inn.

  Or rather, Li Yu stumbled. Si Luo floated with a slight drift to the left and Bai Ruo walked with mechanical precision, though she occasionally corrected her trajectory by bouncing off a bamboo wall.

  They reached their suite near the crown of the giant stalk. The door slid shut and cut off the noise of the outside world.

  "That," Li Yu quietly said while falling backward onto the silk-covered bed, "was a lot of purple wine."

  "The fermentation process here is top-tier," Bai Ruo agreed. She already reverted back to her cultivation level and was sitting at the table and organizing her notes. "I've never seen wood-element Qi integrated so smoothly into a liquid. I need to figure out how they stabilize it without using array formations."

  Si Luo stood in the center of the room. She had a playful and dangerous glint in her eyes. She looked at Li Yu who was sprawled out and defenseless.

  ‘This would be a good time to tease him a bit and test if his techniques have actually made some progress. If he is the one that asks for the test, he is already prepared for it. That wouldn’t be the case normally.’ She thought.

  "Li Yu," she whispered as she walked to him.

  Li Yu cracked one eye open. "Yeah?"

  "We never finished our training before," she said.

  "Training?" Li Yu groaned while not really realizing what she meant. "At this hour and after enjoying the night? Perhaps tomorrow."

  "Not physical conditioning," Si Luo corrected him. "Mental fortitude."

  Before Li Yu could protest, Qi flared around Si Luo. The elegant silk dress she had worn to the festival dissolved into motes of light.

  In its place, her attire shifted back to her the lingerie-like clothing she had worn when they first met. It was an outfit that left very little to the imagination and showed off her body to the extreme.

  "Round Two," Si Luo declared while getting closer. She didn’t strike any kind of pose, her body was such that it always seemed to be in some kind of alluring position. "Endure, if you can."

  She waited for the reaction from Li Yu. The one that she had grown fond of since it was so different from how he was normally. She expected the sputtering, the red face, the frantic looking away that usually accompanied this "training." She was ready to tease him mercilessly before changing back and going to sleep.

  Li Yu blinked. He sat up while rubbing his temples. He looked at her. He looked at her. Not down. Not all over and not away.

  His gaze was steady. His eyes, usually so expressive, were calm and clear, like a deep mountain pool. He met her eyes and held them with little effort.

  "You changed your clothes," Li Yu stated. His voice was level. "That looks cold for sleeping."

  Si Luo blinked. Her body faltered slightly.

  "I am... exposing my form," she clarified while stepping closer. "Does this not disturb your focus? Does your heart not race anymore?"

  Li Yu frowned in surprise and was checking his own pulse. "No. Actually, I feel normal. Like... incredibly normal."

  He looked at her figure. He felt like he was looking at a very nice painting from a master artist. Appreciative of the details, shapes and curves but overall detached.

  "It's weird," Li Yu muttered while tapping his chest. "Usually, I wouldn’t be able to control my eyes and instincts. But I just feel a cooling sensation. Like ice water running through my veins."

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  "Ice water?" Si Luo frowned, starting to question her appeal. She stepped even closer to him. She stepped so close that she was looming over him. "Look closer."

  Li Yu looked. He scanned her figure from top to bottom.

  "Yep," Li Yu nodded. "Still very symmetrical. Good aesthetic."

  Si Luo stepped back and was genuinely confused. Not much time had passed and it was like he was a different person. She looked down at herself. "Is the lighting poor? Have I lost my luster?"

  "I don't think that's it," Bai Ruo chimed in from the table without looking up. "Li Yu is different tonight. The aura he is giving off is different from how he normally is when your clothes become bare."

  Li Yu suddenly snapped his fingers in realization.

  "The tea!"

  "What tea?" Si Luo asked while crossing her arms which, inadvertently, pushed things up, but Li Yu remained stoic.

  "Back in the Hidden Village," Li Yu explained. "Matriarch Su gave me a cup of tea. She said it was special.”

  He rubbed his chin.

  "I thought it just tasted pretty normal. But I think... I think it reinforces the soul against distraction? Maybe suppress impulse? Whatever it is, it's strong. I feel like a monk and am unbothered. I don’t even have to use my technique, Tranquil Spider Mind Technique! First Form: The Blind Fish."

  Si Luo stared at him. She felt a mix of relief and indignation. Relief that he was still himself but indignation that a cup of tea was stronger than her allure.

  "A monk," she repeated flatly.

  "Yeah," Li Yu said. Just then his eyes darted down involuntarily. His breath hitched.

  Then, the cooling sensation rushed back and his eyes snapped back to her face.

  "Okay," Li Yu exhaled. "It's not perfect. I definitely just looked. But I recovered much faster than before. It’s either I am getting used to you, our training has been effective or the tea. Probably a combination of it all."

  Si Luo saw the slip. A smug smile returned to her lips. A bit of her pride on her looks and figure returned.

  "So, it all has limits," she noted.

  “Please change back, Si Luo. My will is stronger now but I'm tired. I want to go to bed."

  Si Luo chuckled but she didn’t stop. She crawled into the blanket that Li Yu was using and snuggled up to him. She gave him one last big hug as a final attack. Li Yu blushed when he realized what she was doing, his face became hot and slightly red.

  Then she crawled out and with a wave of her hand, the violet silk dress materialized and covered her once more.

  "You pass, Li Yu," she said softly. "Barely. But we shall attribute this victory to Matriarch Su."

  "Goodnight," Li Yu smiled and said back. He wasn’t in perfect control in these situations just yet but improvements were being made. They each went to their own beds and went to sleep.

  Sleeping was something the girls had to get used to again since they never did it before, after they had become strong cultivators. They didn’t need to sleep but after experiencing it again and doing it daily. It became routine for them and they often slept when Li Yu did.

  The next morning, the Green-Hollow Village was slow to wake. The hangover from the Purple-Mist Vintage lay heavy over the canopy and even the birds seemed to be chirping in hushed tones.

  Li Yu, Si Luo and Bai Ruo left the inn early. They wanted to explore the parts of the village that weren't dedicated to getting tourists drunk and well known spots.

  They wandered away from the central platforms and moved deeper into the bamboo grove where the stalks grew closer together and the walkways were narrower.

  Here, the varnish of the tourist area faded. The bamboo houses were older, their surfaces weathered grey by rain and time. Laundry hung from lines strung between stalks; Children's tunics, patched trousers and simple bedding. The smell of expensive wine was replaced by the scent of rice porridge and woodsmoke.

  "This is the residential district," Li Yu noted with a quiet voice. "Where the people and workers live."

  It wasn't some sort of slum, the villagers were too proud and the forest too bountiful for that but it was humble. There were no jade inlays here. Just life as normal.

  They turned a corner and found a large, sprawling structure built across three connected stalks. It was a bit more run-down than the rest. The roof had been patched with mismatched leaves and the railing was reinforced with rough rope.

  But it was loud.

  Laughter, shouting and the patter of many small feet echoed from the courtyard.

  Above the entrance hung a crooked sign carved into a piece of drift-wood: "The House of Little Shoots."

  Li Yu stopped as he watched.

  In the courtyard, about thirty children were playing tag. They were all wearing simple and clean clothes that had been mended dozens of times. Some were missing teeth, others had scars from accidents but they were playing with an energy that defied their surroundings.

  Watching over them were three elderly elders. Two women with backs bent by time but eyes sharp as hawks. And one old man who was missing a leg and was hopping around with a crutch as he chased a giggling toddler.

  "An orphanage," Bai Ruo stated softly.