9. Insulator

Since Junior Edina had left a letter on the table near her bed, informing her that if she received the letter, it meant it was another Tuesday, confirming Senior Edina's theory of awakening solely on Tuesdays. With a smile, Senior Edina murmured to herself, "Well, it's another day and I am still in the past. I should begin preparing for the plan." The plan to reclaim financial independence from Aunt Li Mei was merely the beginning. Since no one could easily wrest custody of Junior Edina from her grasp, they had to either compel her to relinquish it or ensure she couldn't take any action to maintain her hold over Junior Edina. This proved to be quite challenging. Even with Junior Edina gaining financial freedom, there was no evidence to suggest that Li Mei was unfit to care for her. This made it difficult for her grandfather or anyone else to contest her authority. Li Mei had a firm grip on the spy network, a ready scapegoat, and enough support to sway things in her favor. The only solution Senior Edina could envision to remove Junior Edina from Li Mei's custody involved making Jinwei Mansion extraordinarily wealthy, gaining influence over enough influential individuals and factions to surpass Li Mei's supporters.While pondering a thought clouded Senior Edina's mind, why Aunt Li Mei harbored such animosity toward Edina and her mother, Elara? just as it had in her past life, she didn't expect to find an answer in this lifetime. She didn't know why Aunt Li Mei hated them, but she was resolved to press on either way. There was no point dwelling on information she didn't even know where to find. Senior Edina grabbed her cane and headed to the bath, as she did every day, the water was moderately warm. Under her breath, Senior Edina muttered curses at Xiao Min as she bathed, then swiftly got ready in a matter of minutes. Although she had relived this harrowing childhood for the past two days once again, she couldn't grow accustomed to it so easily. After all, she had spent a considerable portion of her previous life in the luxurious surroundings of the Leon Empire. She began her walk toward the grand hallway, but instead of heading towards the Mu Mansion for her usual classes, she made her way to the Wisdom Mansion. This was why she had woken up early today. She wanted to verify something, as her memory from 19 years ago, when she was just 13, was rather hazy. She needed something within the Wisdom Mansion to confirm her hazy memory.While walking, Senior Edina theorized in her mind about the possible cause of her reincarnation. Could it be related to her death at the hands of a demon lord? But that didn't make any sense; magic shouldn't have any effect on her. That was precisely why she remained impaired. Qi healing techniques or magical healing spells were futile against her, as her body couldn't conduct them and merely insulated them. So magic or advanced Qi techniques used by immortals couldn't be the answer. It could perhaps be alchemy, a life force type used by demons from the underworld, but Senior Edina knew well that even that wouldn't work on her. Therefore, she had no idea how she ended up in the past or what mysterious force had sent her here. She deemed it a waste of brain energy to dwell on this as she reached the Wisdom Mansion.Senior Edina looked around and saw many merchant carriages entering and parking in a line near the entrance gate of the mansion. Guards were checking the contents of the carriages and the documents of the merchants to allow them entry. The influx of merchants was due to the Cha Ling Family being the provincial governors of Gunghua Province. For generations, the head of the Blazing Dawn Sect had been the governing authority of this province, owning many businesses and investments. These merchants were here to report business earnings and investment returns for the past three months.Although the Blazing Dawn Sect was the governing body of the province, their power wasn't as extensive as it had been 200 years ago. The sect didn't manage the province's taxation; this was handled by the imperial department of finance, which sent only a small portion of the collected taxes back to the sect. The sect could make province-level laws within the framework of the imperial code of legislation and ethics. They were responsible for executing these laws alongside imperial government officials, who changed every three years to prevent the governing families from forming close alliances with them. Senior Edina was here to check if the sect still had ties with a certain clothing store in downtown Ganso City, the capital of Gunghua Province. This store was crucial to her plan, but she couldn't remember when the sect had cut ties with it, as she had been very young at the time. She decided to confirm if the connection still existed.As Senior Edina was intently observing the gathering merchants, she sensed a familiar Qi aura approaching from behind. Although she wasn't a martial artist or a mage due to her condition, she had learned to read the movement of Qi and Mana after years of survival. Her body insulated any type of life force, but she could still feel it bouncing off her. This ability allowed her to calculate a martial warrior's or mage's level. While martial artists spread a small amount of their Qi to gauge an opponent's strength, Edina used the Qi that bounced off her to determine the other person's strength.Martial artists purify the properties of life force into Qi by removing unnecessary elements not used in martial arts. This purified Qi is then stored in their bodies and utilized during martial arts practice. Similarly, mages convert life force into Mana, which is stored in their bodies to cast spells. Both martial artists and mages are ranked based on the capacity of disposable Qi or Mana their bodies can hold at a time.Martial artists start at the lowest rank, grade 1, and progress through to grade 9. Beyond this, the advanced stages are termed master, grandmaster, and great grandmaster, respectively. Mages follow a similar ranking system, beginning from sequence 1 and advancing to sequence 9. The subsequent stages are referred to as wizard/witch, grand wizard/witch, and great wizard/witch, respectively.The Qi she felt was grade 1 half step, Half step is a denotation to the period of a martial artist transition between two grades in the Han language. Meaning someone of grade 1 about to transition to grade 2 but hasn't fully done so is a grade 1 half step martial artist, is an unofficial term used by Han people to differentiate between a normal grade 1 and someone that's more powerful but not enough to be considered grade 2, similarly half formative is used for mages in Leonese to refer to the transition period. Leonese didn't have a word for it but after making contact with the central plains it was added to their vocabulary since it was pretty helpful to have intermediate stages between sequences.She immediately recognized who it was by the Qi aura, it was her cousin! Just as the realization hit her, she heard a familiar voice say, "What are you doing here?!"Read 12+ advance chapters by becoming a patron : patreon.com/kn1is7otaku