Ablution

Seasons changed and slowly Ireya grew fuzzy in her memories of her father, just like that 4 years passed.

"Hey, Raya I heard you started cultivating today!", a short Ireya began shouting towards a girl with black hair running towards her in the distance. Ireya had grown quite tall and was already around 4ft tall, her hair had grown out and was quite luscious.

"Yeah, It's so hard though!", Raya responded as she got closer.

"Tell me about cultivation, my mummy hasn't said anything about it yet."

"I don't know much except some of the beginner stuff, the first realm of cultivation is called Ablution, that's about it."

"Heeeeeee... Tell me more!", Ireya continued nagging at her.

"But I don't know anymore..."

"Awww...", Ireya looked quite sad at this news.

"Tell me more about Ablution then!", she quickly rejuvenated herself.

Raya went on to explain, "Okay then! The Ablution realm is about sending some sort of energy all around the body and purifying each section of it, from your the flesh of your fingers to the bones of your fingers to your heart. You have to purify all of it to reach the absolute peak of this realm."

"That sounds difficult!"

"It is!"

Thud. Thud. Thud.

They were interrupted by the sounds of strong footsteps.

"Papa!", Raya ran off to the source of the footsteps.

"Hoh! I heard you started cultivating in school today Raya! That's my girl for you!", a proud look stained the man's tough face, his beard growing out and his hair short and neat. His muscles bulging out of his clothing.

"Raya's Papa, hello!", Ireya greeted him.

"How are you doing Ireya, don't tell me my daughter was annoying you again?"

"No me and Raya are best friends!"

"All of you seem to be having fun!", light steps came out of the house they were standing in front of. A lady with exquisite blonde hair stood there gently smiling.

"Miss Fanelle.", the bulky man nodded at her.

"How are you doing Mr. Rudelle?"

"Fine thank you!"

"I'll have to apologize for the interruption, I just need to bring Ireya back in for a little while. I'll let her back in a bit to play with Raya. Plus I'm pretty sure you also need to chat with Raya about something important now."

Rudelle pulled Raya over to himself, "We'll be going in, for now, see you in a little bit."

"See you later Raya!", Ireya waved at Raya and turned around to follow her Mummy in.

After entering the house Fanelle made sure she secured the perimeter and placed some sort of blue barrier around the house.

She sat down on a sofa and placed Ireya to her right, "What's all of this for Mummy?"

"You see Ireya, this world is a bit weird. I've taught you many basic things in the past 5 years but I've never taught you the world's history, I've kept you away from all of that, it has something to do with your Daddy."

"Daddy?", this was a bit of a hazy memory for her, but she still remembered his golden hair and soothing voice.

She then began patiently explaining, "You see in this world there are these people called cultivators, they train to get stronger and stronger and to live longer. But cultivating takes a lot of time, and so you won't be able to have fun with Raya for the next few years as she beings cultivating."

"So I won't be able to play with Raya anymore?", she felt quite sad hearing that.

"No, you can, just not for another 3 years. You see our world revolves around one saying, 'One must forge their path, blaze an endless trail for generations to come, only then have you fulfilled your destiny.' this means that everyone has to train and become powerful and live for many years to come, those who don't pass away or are killed. Our world is cruel."

"But Mummy, everyone in the city is happy, the shop owners give me sweets all the time!"

Fanelle looked at her naive face, 'Why did you leave me to be the one to give her this lesson...'

"That only happens in this city, every other city contains poverty and dying people all around."

"But Mummy that's wrong!", Ireya tugged at her Mummy's arm.

"You can stop that though, if you become strong enough, like your Daddy!"

"Strong! So fighting!", her eyes glistened at those words.

"No not fighting Ireya, killing."

The mood around them turned a bit dark after she said that, even Ireya remained quiet for a minute.

"Anyways that's all for now! I'll let you start training a month from now okay?"

"Okay, Mummy!"

---

And just like that Raya disappeared from Ireya's life for a little while, the weeks passed by and Ireya only grew lonelier. Each time she complained to her Mummy she would get the same response, "Raya is going through the same thing, but even worse. You have to get used to it okay?"

And just like that, the one month time period had passed.

Sitting on a mat made of silk Ireya faced her Mummy.

"I'm going to inject energy into you okay? You have to try and take control over it using the Ten Sovereign Swords Manual I gave you."

"Okay."

Fanelle began pumping a white mist into Ireya's body, she made sure that each bit was as safe as possible. Of course, there was nothing in this world that was 100% safe, and so there was always a risk.

An itchy feeling overtook Ireya's senses, she could feel the itchiness begin from her back then slowly spread throughout her body. 'They feel exactly like ants! It's a bit ticklish too!'

She began laughing due to the feeling and tried controlling the itchiness just as the manual instructed her to, so focused on each 'ant' individually, the first step was to be able to control these 'ants' to perfection. Once that was done you could then begin using your energy to cleanse your body of all impurities and filth.

"It won't be easy Ireya, so focus."

Ireya continued testing each 'ant' one by one to find one she could control easily, however, none of her efforts ended up working out.

'Just listen to me already...', as she kept on communicating with the energy she fell into a small trance.

She watched as all the 'ants' weaved through each other, how they moved in perfect synchronization, they seemed exactly like the flower patterns in front of their house.

'So beautiful!'

Pop!

One of the 'ants' suddenly grew restless and trampled the orderly file it was previously in. Ireya's eyes opened up in the excitement and she began laughing out loud, "I did it, mummy, I did it!"

"You did it Ireya!"

"Mhm!", she continued watching this ant, ordering it all around her body, from her pinky to her eyes back down to her feet.

"From here on out you have to gain control of all of those 'ants' in your body, only then will you truly be able to start cultivating. That's why you won't be able to see Raya for 3 years, both of you from today onwards will practice until you control all of them."

"Okay Mummy! But how do you know that Raya will also take 3 years?"

"Secret!"

"Aww..."

"Mummy will go, for now, continue practicing just like that for another hour. Mummy needs to prepare a few things for you."

---

Within a forest lay a broken-down house.

Chop! Chop! Chop!

"That's the 10,567,356th tree now!", a short young man with stubble on his face picked up his axe and walked towards another tree.

The young man began talking into the forest, "I heard Uncle Seven has a child now, even more competition for me!"

"Don't get cocky brat, any child of Seven would be a monster just like him.", a voice replied echoing throughout the forest.

"I know father, plus they wouldn't be able to catch up to me any time soon."

"They would at this rate, you've just been chopping trees for the past few years now.", the voice began mocking him.

"This is necessary and you know it too, so stop looking at me with those eyes, okay?"

"Humph."

A strong wind blew the young man's hair into a mess and broke down a few of the trees, the wind then left completely.

"He's finally gone, I should be able to breakthrough in 15-20 years at this rate. I wonder what sort of surprises I'll have thrown at me once I'm done!"

He snickered to himself as he continued walking towards another tree in the distance.