The next day Quan returned to the smithy and observed the others in their work. He asked a few questions about when they were or were not directing their Ki, so he felt when he should see something. He understood that Chiro indicated he shouldn't need to know that he could see the natural state and when they used their energy, but he figured he had a better chance when usage was at its peak and working backwards from there. It was a frustrating morning where he wasn't able to achieve anything. How did one force their eyes to see what they did not?

After lunch, Lo Ren appeared to take Quan on the run by the most indirect path possible to Asha’s villa. He cycled his Ki to boost speed and endurance and was able to keep pace with her, though never quite catching the fleet-footed girl.

Asha started to put him through the forms as usual, but today she instructed him on how to move the Ki as he did. He quickly realized as she spoke that what she thought he'd done in the forest and what he'd actually done were two different things.

She instructed him to push a string of power from his core to his back leg as he turned in one movement when he finally spoke in frustration. "I don't know how to move Ki in just my leg or direct it from my core. When we ran in the forest, I just made my core pump energy to my entire body faster."

Asha’s eyebrows rose and after a moment said, "Show me," and thrust a fist towards him. He blocked, poorly, and she kept pressing him. His only chance to keep up was to cycle as he'd learnt the day he'd trailed Asha in the woods. As he did, he felt an intrusion into his body that instantly reminded him of the scans Manu had done. He knew that Asha was looking within him as they fought. She kept pushing him to the limits of his abilities. For the first time, he was aware of his core being depleted. After only a couple of minutes, he was at half, shocked to realize he could gauge it this way. As he fought on, he tried to control the cycles to meet his needs and no more, to endure the fight. But soon, he was down to less than a fifth of his energy when Asha abruptly broke off.

"You are the most absurd person I have ever heard of. Your method is wholly inefficient. You leak Ki like a pail with mighty holes and throw water in the river while fighting a fire. For all that, the fight should have drained your core in a fraction of the time you lasted."

"Your core is beyond anything I have seen a warrior claim. If we can train you to use it properly, you will be a monster. Sit and meditate to restore your lost Ki." Asha beckoned to Lo Ren, who was practicing her arts on the other side of the yard. "If you would be willing to assist my student, would you practice the forms I taught you with the proper energy flows that he might try to perceive them?"

"If he is to watch me all afternoon, he must be careful not to fall in love with me," Lo Ren declared seriously.

Quan glowered at the absurdity of the comment. "She's just a child," he said into Asha’s smirk. Thanks for making this awkward, he thought to himself.

He settled in to meditate and to keep aware of Lo Ren as he did. He realized how vital this skill was as he considered it. He could probably figure out how to move energy within his body as Asha wanted, but so long as he couldn't see the examples she demonstrated, his progress would be dismal at best. He tried to catch glimpses of energy as Lo Ren moved. He imagined a sort of x-ray vision that saw beneath the skin to the energy within. After several minutes of that, he turned his mind back to what Chiro had said. This blockage was possibly a heritage from Earth. Had he unknowingly trained himself not to see Ki? Or were all humans on earth ki-blind? But he'd cultivated on earth. That was what had started this. He eventually reasoned that wasn't proof he could sense Ki the way his masters wanted. A blind man can still stumble upon a bowl of fruit he didn't know was there. Perhaps his cultivation was equally blind. He didn’t sense Ki around him. He just knew to reach out and pull it in. Only then could he sense the energy now within his body.

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Quan tried to focus on how he was sensing that energy. It was similar to seeing and, in some ways, overlayed his normal sight. Yet he could see the Ki in his organs, blood and bones in a way that had nothing to do with sight. He could even see his internal body with this second sight. When he closed his eyes, he found he could see the Ki much better.

He tried pushing that sense outward to move his vision to the world around him. As he meditated, a mantra started to form, ‘as within, also without.’ He felt along the boundaries of his senses and tried to push them outward. Sometimes he tried to push like a flashlight aimed at a spot. Others he tried to grow his range like an aura extending his form. The sun, set, rose, and set again while he sat in that training square.

It was with the rising of the sun he achieved revelation. He felt the warmth of the morning sun spread over the land, and he basked in the feeling as it chased away the slight chill of the night. In that moment where the boundaries of heat and cold met, he caught the energy he had been seeking as it was bound in that heat. He marvelled as his mental vision expanded to include the Ki inherent in the sun's morning glory. Once he had come to grasp that, he was suddenly able to see it all. As his understanding grew, the immensity of it began to overwhelm him. He struggled with the feeling of Ki all around him, suddenly swimming in a sea when he should be on solid ground. The air seemed heavier and harder to breathe, and gravity was suddenly stronger. He could feel the rough gravel under him in such delicate precision it caused him pain. Eventually, he found a balance that let him function, aware but not overwhelmed. He felt Ki in all life, the plants and creatures around him. It truly was like he’d been blind. He wept quietly with the beauty of it all.

He tried to cultivate and realized before he had been tossing a bucket into the world and dragging back what he could. Now he could reach the Ki directly; it was much more efficient. His growth would be much easier now.

He opened his eyes and saw a servant waiting for him. Once he moved, the servant quickly brought water and sent for food. The sight of it made Quan realize he was famished. As he was eating, Asha came striding out of her villa towards him. “I’ve seen enlightenment trances before, but I’ve never heard of using one to understand their spiritual sense. You sat there for two days unresponsive to anything."

"Two days? It felt like a couple of hours." Quan shoved large pieces of fried pork belly in his mouth as he spoke. "Is it normal to lose time like that?"

"Deep meditation is often required when advancing understanding of a Dao. There is a reason old monsters go into seclusion. It is said some can meditate without moving for years on end."

"I'm starved after two days. How can they last so long?"

"The further you move away from mortality, the less its requirements will hold you back. Now tell me what insights you gained. I presume it was towards your spiritual sense and that you have not run on ahead and gained some insight into one of the Dao?"

"I'm still not sure what the Dao are, so no. I was considering what I could sense inside my body and how to push that sense outwards. I believe I have overcome the issue."

"Expand your senses. Tell me what you sense."

Quan swallowed down another dumpling before answering. "I feel energy everywhere. I can't wait to cultivate tonight. I think it will be so much, I don't know, enhanced than before. I feel life. There are six people in your house. There is an area that blocks my sense in your home. I feel you before me." He frowned and realized he could compare himself now. "You are way more powerful than I am."

Asha nodded and stood. He felt her power dwindle until it more closely matched him, and she began the forms. Now he could see how she directed the flow of Ki within her at each step when she moved. Blind indeed.

"I am suddenly surprised and grateful you took me as a student when I was blind to this," he said as she demonstrated.

"I was sure this obstacle would not last long. Now we may begin your training in earnest."