On the third morning, Steven's senses, sharpened from yesterday, anticipated the familiar cold shock. As he dodged the first bucket, a smile formed on his face. He barely had time to celebrate it when the second splash hit him full force.

"Really? A second bucket?" Steven sputtered, shaking off the chill.

The tiger only let out a light, curt, meow.

It motioned for him to follow.

As Steven and the tiger trudged out of the cottage and into the ancient groves, the call of nature settled around them. The forest canopy, dense and vast, filtered the sunlight into gold-green flecks that danced on the forest floor. Every now and then, a silhouette would dart across, breaking the continuity of the light above. But the place itself had a secret it didn't want humans to discover…

The boy looked around, his gaze lingering on the scenery. Sensing curiosity, the tiger smacked Steven into the dirt.

"Meditate," The tiger motioned.

Steven wiped the dirt off his face. He sat down like a pretzel and closed his eyes.

"Most humans start at the 'Houtian realm'," the tiger began, "an impure base state. Think of it as the state most humans enter after their birth into this world."

"But the 'Houtian', itself, is composed of three stages, starting with 'Gathering Qi', which some cultivators call 'Purifying Qi'. And every breath you take," the tiger continued, drawing a deep breath to demonstrate, "is 'Kong Qi' or Air Qi."

Steven tried to visualize the process. The scent of pine mingled with the musky aroma of the forest floor. Somewhere, water droplets pattered softly against leaves. He took a deep breath.

"Now, when you eat, you consume 'Gu Qi', the essence of food. 'Kong' and 'Gu'. These two forms of Qi combine in your body to create 'Zong Qi'."

The tiger suddenly pounced on a distant rustle, returning moments later with a freshly caught piece of 'grass?', which it offered to Steven.

Steven took the piece of grass and slowly ate it…

Gulp!

As he swallowed, the energy from the grass within his mouth bubbled up and met with the air he had breathed in. The merging within him was like the meeting of two clouds, combining to form the intermediary product: Zong Qi.

"There are many impurities in the world: like pollution, microplastics, humans, and body odor." The tiger mulled wisely, "So, when you've taken in Kong Qi, make sure to draw out the nasty little stuff."

"Same thing with Gu Qi," The tiger grumbled something about pesticides.

Steven delved deep into his inner being, almost like he was a filter trying to sift out little impurities. Filter the pollution from air. Separate the junk from food…

The tiger, sensing his understanding, added, "Zong Qi, once gathered in your chest, strengthens the heart and lungs, giving overall strength to the body. But the refinement doesn't end there. Zong Qi is further transformed into…"

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"Zhen Qi," Steven murmured. True Qi.

"That's right!" The tiger pulled its whiskers, "Zhen Qi is the true form of qi."

"Now to transform 'Zong' into 'Zhen Qi', that's where the natural talent comes in. Natural talent is 'Yuan', or the origin. The ancient Chinese thought of it as a spring bursting off the cliffside, the place the river starts."

Yuan: the source.

Seriously, all these terms were confusing. Steven felt that this was really hard to follow along since he was quite bird-brained. But he was sure if he brought it up, the tiger would definitely be on his back about it.

"See," The tiger continued, "'Yuan Qi' is a hereditary form of energy located in your kidneys. Every human has it, but to varying amounts. And quite a number of humans have too few stores to utilize 'Yuan' properly. Think of it as what you humans call 'talent'."

Steven vaguely remembered being lectured about this, so he nodded.

"It looks like you already know how to do this. Now, I find it odd that you started cultivating so late." The tiger patted Steven's shoulder, "But you would already be at a higher stage if you started early."

"Am I a rare talent?" Steven asked curiously. Maybe he had tons of Yuan Qi, and could cultivate really fast.

The tiger whacked Steven's face into the dirt again.

"No, you're weak. We're getting you to 'Core Formation', the third stage of Houtian, in the next couple of days."

"But I haven't even reached the first stage yet?" Steven protested, getting up.

He could still feel the mossy ground on his face. Gingerly, he wiped his face.

"That's not true." The tiger's orange eyes stared at him. "Haven't you noticed a change since yesterday?"

Steven felt a dry taste in his mouth. Actually…

He delved into his inner consciousness. There, he saw the same colorful nebula he had seen, but it appeared larger than before. And somehow more pure. What did he do differently than the first couple of times he had cultivated? It was hard to describe, hard to understand, like an intangible concept.

Perhaps, this was why some people failed at the first step.

"I don't know," Steven said. "But something's different."

"Bleh," The tiger waved its paw like it was trying to shoo a mosquito. "Don't overthink it. Let me continue the lecture and then we'll start."

The tiger drew two Chinese words on the ground, with a stick, and then started rapidly drawing diagrams. There was the human body. The 'Kong Qi' in the lungs. The 'Gu' in the spleen. The two together for Zong… Yada.. yada…

'Zong' + 'Yuan' = 'Zhen.'

Oh. That made much more sense. Steven nodded.

"The refined 'Zhen Qi' can be used as 'Ying' and 'Wei'. The Ying flows in your blood, the Wei protects." The tiger gently poked Steven's arm, emphasizing the muscles beneath. "Wei Qi is responsible for your physical strength and immunity. Think of it as the guardian of your being, while Ying Qi, flowing with your blood, helps in healing and providing endurance."

Steven's eyes widened as he began to grasp the intricacies.

"Everything is connected!" The tiger told him, as they headed into a cave. Then it handed him a broom.

"This is an important task!" It said, "Just like the flute, you need to connect with the broom, understand the way of the broom… it's the first step to true mastery!"

The tiger continued, "You must master using this broom, before you can talk to me. Think of how to use the 'Wei' and the 'Ying' to do these tasks faster."

Then it leapt away.

[New Task: 'Sweep the Cave' X]

[Penalty: '100 slaps from tiger' X]

Steven stood there, speechless. He looked at the broom and picked it up.

Well, there was no harm in trying. He channeled the Qi inside of him to sweep the ground faster than what would normally be possible…

But as soon as he did, his foot snagged over something.

Silence.

Then… SWISH!

Arrows? His eyes darted around.

Emerging from the shadows, arrows, one by one, started flying at him from inside the cave. He dodged and rolled, channeling the qi towards his legs.

But he wasn't fast enough. Another arrow grazed his arm, leaving a burning line of pain in its wake.

Think… Wei Qi for protection. Could he also use it for agility and defense?

The barrage of arrows continued to grow more intense, but he managed to dodge.

Turns out that to understand all this cultivation stuff, all he needed was to get shot at by arrows. It really wasn't enough to just listen to a lecture. And besides, wasn't he doing pretty well?"

Lost in his thoughts, he tripped over something else.

A massive chasm opened in the wall, and he fell onto a spike. It punctured into his body.