Wang took the stance, hitting the wooden dummy dead in the center. “Come on…”

The dummy watched it, ever so triumphant, the smug, mocking look still there.

“You are still doing this?” he heard Su’s voice and stood straight. “You are going to make your injuries worse.”

“I’m feeling great, actually,” he rubbed his hand, not feeling the pain. “All thanks to the pills you gave me,” he added with a smile.

She shook her head. “You should go easy, for a while. So the pills could work better.”

“Yeah, sorry,” he mumbled and went to sit on the haystack he used for a bed.

“Good,” she smiled. “don’t worry about those three, they won’t bother you today.”

He gave her a quizzing look.

“They are trying to break into the second step of the Iron Body.”

Wang stilled. They were getting more powerful while he was sitting here, impotent. And they would bully him with that new found strength.

“Don’t worry, you will get better, too,” Su assured before beginning to walk away. “After all, the pills that I gave you were meant to do exactly that,” she winked and vanished into the village.

He did not realize how widened his eyes were until he blinked and felt it. Those pills weren’t just for healing, they were cultivation pills. And cultivation pills required time to dissolve, to spread the contained chi within his body, and he needed to center that chi in his center. His Dantian.

So he sat – cross legged and calm, fingers intertwined – and breathed like they were trained to breathe. Inhale through the nose, hold it inside for ten breaths, then let it out through your mouth. Focus on your breathing, slowly sink into the rhythm.

In, hold, out. In, hold, out. In. Hold. Out.

Until he felt something, something strange.

It felt like a chill, made into strands. It crawled and writhed within him, and it felt like the faintest of blues. They were weaving around a tiny orb.

Wang opened his eyes and blinked when he began to feel the chi that was seeping into his muscles. He was so surprised that he broke out of the focus, the meditation state. He was never able to feel chi before, nor his dantian. Was this also the effect of the pills Su provided him?

He nearly grinned as he returned to the task. Breathing, trying to calm down, slowly falling into that mindset.

It took longer, perhaps because he was excited, but he eventually did it, again. He was successful, once more, in feeling those threads. It was like looking at himself while his eyes were closed. To see, not the body, but the energy.

But it was being scattered away from his dantian, rather than into it. He frowned. Wang did not know how to gather that scattered energy into the dantian, and the only person that knew how to cultivate was someone that came to this village long ago.

Master Fu Kung showed them, children at the time, the basics of cultivation. The breathing, the meditation, the forms. They watched him everyday, him and the other kids, and were almost glued to him.

Those were better times. The others were better people, too.

Master Fu Kung eventually left, leaving behind scrolls for the techniques and medicinal knowledge. No one knew when he left, or where to. The only thing that he left behind was a ring, a ring that the master promised him, he managed to grab that from the house before the others did. A ring that he hid, and was most likely the reason why their friendship fell apart.

A ring he will keep well hidden until he can protect himself from them.

He realized, belatedly, that he was drifting away from the main focus of this. He needed to focus, try to get those loose threads into the dantian before he lost it all to scattering.

But how?

He thought about tugging them, and it had a minor effect of making them wriggle like worms. Then he tried ordering them to move into the dantian, and to his surprise…

Nothing happened.

How can he absorb those-

Just as he thought about the word absorb, the threads began gathering and moving into his dantian, slowly. So he focused on that, absorbing.

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Slowly, but surely, his dantian began increasing in size, if only in the smallest of senses. He noticed the colors – ones that he could not see, but feel – going deeper.

It felt like an eternity had passed, but when he opened his eyes, everything seemed to be the same, not even a minute gone, if he guessed correctly. He did not have an incense stick to judge time more accurately.

He could feel something, though. Strength. Clarity. Wang stood and faced the dummy, taking the stance. He took a deep breath, held it in…

Punched.

----------------------------------------

Medical Observations: Josh (501)

Doctor David watched, as he always did. Today he moved his chair closer to Josh’s room. This case was particularly interesting to him. Aside from the man thinking he was a chinese person, for some reason, everyone else was too.

The problem was that the other cases were thinking that too.

They were using some strange terminologies to describe things, pretending he didn’t exist, but interacting with nurse Olga with no issues.

It was all so very fascinating to him, so he took notes regularly, almost zealotly. Before the patients were moved on to the new treatment, next week.

The pills seemed to be working well on them, as they all sat quietly in their rooms after a while.

Josh was still trying to punch a hole into the wall, or so David thought. He kept at it with great dedication, it was almost a shame he wasn’t a normal person, because – in David’s professional opinion, at least – he would be destined to greatness with that sort of fortitude and perseverance.

“You still do this?” Olga walked into Josh’s room, clearly unimpressed. “You open your wound, I don’t fix you again.”

“Actually, I’m feeling great,” Josh replied, blushing as he held his hand. “All thanks to the pills you gave me.”

“Pills no work if you no rest,” Olga scolded, wagging a large index at the man.

To his surprise, Josh dropped on the bed and began speaking softly, “yeah, sorry.”

“Other patients better now, they ready for second step of treatment,” she said, no doubt trying to convince him that he will be better soon. Josh was frozen in place, eyes as wide as a dog begging for your burger. “No worries. You get better too,” she clarified, “the pills you have before make you get better,” she moved away, walking by Doctor David and placing a chart down on the table beside him.

He wasn’t interested in that, though.

Josh went as still as a dead person, it lasted quite a bit too before he even blinked. Then he began patting himself frantically, a stupid expression on his face. Then he crossed his legs and took a yoga’s pose.

David blinked.

What the hell was going on?

Josh began breathing, long inhale, hold, exhale. It happened a few times before he opened his eyes and mouth in surprise, then looked towards his chest. A huge grin on his face.

Then he returned to that… meditating.

Did nurse Olga mistake his regular medicine with xanax or something?

At least he remained in that position instead of trying to harm himself, David mused. It got boring after a while, though. So he decided to get up and check on the other three patients. He grabbed his cup of coffee and walked towards their rooms.

“Master’s legacy, master’s legacy,” James mumbled. “A ring, a ring…” he kept on mumbling as he swayed back and forth on his bed while biting into his fingernails. David felt sorry for him, but the new treatment plan was supposed to be better, and they would be on the way to recovery soon afterwards.

William was busy eyeing a squirrel that stood on the window’s sill. He was glad there was an iron mesh on the window, because William began thrashing and trying to attack the squirrel. “Legendary twin tailed rat king! You are mine, mine!” he laughed maniacally at the creatures that eyed him in an unimpressed expression as it munched a large acorn.

“Nurse Olga?” David called, hoping she was at Daniel's room, which was the last one in this corridor. “William is trying to kill a squirrel.”

Thankfully, she walked out of Daniel’s room, with Daniel chasing close behind her. “What do I need to win your hand in marriage, oh fair Su,” he cried, literal tears. “I yearn for us to be joined together in the holiest of bonds.”

Olga turned and pulled his ear before continuing towards William’s room again.

“Oh my peerless beauty,” Daniel sobbed, “those twin peaks… The slender willowy waist… That jade like skin,” he extended his hand, and David had to turn around to look at Olga. “those soft hands, your tiny lotus flower feet, your cherry lips and golden silk hair… how can I resist, dear Su?”

David had an eyebrow raised as he watched the barrel built nurse, blemished skin, large digits, and messy blonde hair wrapped into a bun. Daniel’s sobbing made him turn back.

He was walking back to his room, head lowered in what he could only call as shame.

“Doctor,” someone called him, it was the elder chief of this establishment, doctor Peter. “How are you finding your research stay with us?”

“Oh, it is certainly most intriguing,” David nodded enthusiastically. “I fear I won't get much time to study these cases before they are moved to the new treatment plan. It is such a shame, really.”

“Ah,” Peter laughed. “Do not worry, there are still steps to be taken before that happens, you will get enough data for your paper.”

David hoped that would be the case.

“It’s almost lunch time,” Peter walked away, sparing a glance to nurse Olga carrying William off the window. “How about you join me? You can continue this tomorrow.”

“Certainly, I am quite famished,” David smiled and followed.

-

David sat in the seat, watching Josh, still meditating.

Even after a day, he remained in the same pose.

Interesting.

David sipped his coffee – almost lukewarm now – and watched.

The others were calm, too, miracles of modern medicine were too amazing and intriguing to him. A tiny pill can cause maladies to vanish like they didn’t even exist.

Josh stirred and jumped on the bed, looking calmly at his surroundings.

He grinned widely before he jumped off the bed, took place in front of the wall, took his stance, and punched.