Consciousness slowly returned to Shao. When his eyelids slowly fluttered open, he was sitting upright. He tried to move his body, but something constricted his movements. Shao looked down and saw that a long length of rope had been looped around his midsection several times. Based on the rough texture brushing against his back, he knew that he was tied to a tree.

Shao looked up and saw that he was deep in the forest outside of the village. While he had been further from the village before, he knew that it would probably be several weeks before anyone would wander to this part of the forest. Just as Shao’s senses fully returned to him, he saw Shen Jian appear from behind a tree with a smile on his face.

Seeing his kidnapper suddenly appear, Shao began to strain against the ropes holding him in place. Pain flared through his body, starting in his injured hand and foot before flaring outward.

Shen Jian gestured at Shao with one finger before saying, “First lesson: don’t engage your enemy in combat until you know how strong he is. It doesn’t matter how good your plan is or how many secret techniques you know, you’ll never be able to beat someone who is five steps ahead of you in a fight.”

“Let me go,” Shao snarled. “This is kidnapping. I’ll call the town guard.”

Mostly ignoring Shao’s statement, Shen Jian said, “That brings me to our second lesson. Laws don’t really apply to cultivators.”

“What!?” Shao asked.

“For laws to apply, they must be enforced,” Shen Jian said, gesticulating like a school teacher. “Any organization on this island with the power to enforce laws on cultivators has no interest in it, and that is broadly the case everywhere in the world. The only thing preventing murder in the wider world is the threat that the victim’s family would seek vengeance. That, and the victim’s own strength.”

“It sounds to me like all cultivators are murderers.”

A smile that was equal parts self-deprecating and sadistic appeared on Shen Jian’s face. “You’re basically correct. Everyone in this world must abide by the whims of those above him. There is one way to escape from this hierarchy, however.”

His interest now piqued, Shao leaned as far forward as he could without hurting himself and asked, “How?”

“You just need to become the strongest man in the world.”

“Ha,” Shao enunciated. “Very funny. I guess I’ll just do a few push ups and become the strongest man in the world, then.”

Smiling and recognizing that his words were finally starting to get through, Shen Jian said, “For you, that might not be impossible. Every cultivator plateaus at a certain point, and that point is largely determined by natural talent. If my hunch is correct, you won’t hit your plateau until the fourth realm… or possibly beyond.”

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Shao did not say anything for nearly half a minute, and Shen Jian allowed him to sit with his thoughts. Eventually, Shao said, “Fine, I’ll listen to you talk for a little while, but I’m not going with you to Shigong Temple. I’m not interested in living alongside a bunch of superhuman murderers.”

“Well, it’s a start,” Shen Jian said, but his expression was that of a man who knew he would get what he wanted eventually.

“Let’s get into it.” Shen Jian clapped his hands together happily before beginning his lecture. “Cultivation is the process of self-actualization through the absorption and concentration of life energy, otherwise known as ki. The end goal of cultivation is immortality, and it is said that immortals once lived in Haishan. The process of cultivation is split into several realms, also known as stages. Within each realm, there are nine steps.”

“You said that I’m in the first realm, and you’re in the third realm, right? So you’re only, like, fifteen steps ahead of me. That doesn’t sound too far.”

“To begin with, I’m twenty-one steps ahead of you,” Shen Jian said, frowning, “The word ‘step’ and your own quick progression seems to make you think that the process is easy. If you can get through a step within a year, that’s considered exceptionally good progress. Plenty of people dedicate their entire lives to cultivation, and they never even make it to five-star LianQi.”

“You called me a six-star LianQi earlier. What does that mean?”

“Right. That’s what we call a cultivator in the first realm. Someone in the second realm is called a ZhouJi, and someone in the third realm is called a JinDan. And I have to mention that, to reach a new realm, you have to pass through a ‘gate.’ If you fail to step through the gate, you’ll have to restart that realm from the beginning.”

A look of acute confusion appeared on Shao’s face as he said, “You have to walk through a gate? Where are these gates?”

“No, no,” Shen Jian corrected him. “The gates are metaphorical. They’re tests that you have to overcome to reach the next realm. When you reach a gate, you can feel its presence. The gate blocks your progression until you figure out how to get past, and every subsequent gate is harder to get through.”

After thinking about it for a moment, Shao said, “I don’t get it.”

“I take it you’re more of a physical learner,” Shen Jian sighed. “You’ll understand when you reach the Second Gate. For now, you just need to train your body, and you’ll reach that point eventually.”

“Well, I can’t exactly start training my body right now.” Shao looked at Shen Jian pointedly. “Most of the bones in my foot are broken. Untie me so that I can spend the next week in bed sleeping off my injuries.”

Shen Jian reached into his pocket and produced a small object wrapped in a leaf. He removed the object from the leaf, revealing a small brown sphere about the size of a fingertip. Shen Jian held the small object out to Shao and said, “Swallow this.”

Shao struggled carefully against the ropes for a few seconds until he was able to free his good arm. Shen Jian placed the sphere in Shao’s palm before saying, “Careful, that healing pill is worth more than that bag of gold I gave to your clan Patriarch.”

“Pill? What’s a pill?” Shao asked, frowning down at the object he held in his hand.

“Something you’re supposed to swallow, now hurry up.”

Shao placed the pill in his mouth and allowed it to slide down his throat. Within seconds, far before the pill had time to reach his stomach, a warm sensation filled his injured hand and foot. The persistent ache Shao had been feeling ever since he woke up suddenly stopped. He gingerly flexed his hand and foot, finding that his injuries had completely disappeared.