Chapter 4; Starting to Cultivate

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Qi Cultivation is an art of strengthening and the enlightenment of nature. There are several levels and they define the strength of the cultivator.

From the lowest realm to the highest, they are; Body Tempering, Foundation Establishment Realm, Qi Condensing, Earth Realm, Sky Realm.

“Interesting. According to the book, there are realms higher than the Sky Realm that are not mentioned. And yet, if this book is not merely exaggerating things, Sky Realm has already gone pass the point of being a human.” Shui Yuhan silently spoke while he reads.

After briefly discussing the levels of cultivation in the first few pages, the book finally started to instruct how to cultivate. Shui Yuhan imitated the figure drawn on the book and sat with legs crossed inside his crib.

The book reads “First step, tuning in with nature to sense qi. To do this you just simply need to focus and as you enter a strange state, you will begin to sense energy or life in the air. That is qi...”

Shui Yuhan did what was instructed in the book. He closed his eyes and focused on feeling qi. For quite a long time, he still did not feel anything aside from feeling frustrated. Nevertheless, he persevered. Soon, it was already midnight. A child no more than two weeks old sat like an old monk inside a crib, his figure showered by moonlight. It was a surreal scene and anyone who saw it would doubt they are awake.

His parents were currently sleeping nearby. Shui Yuhan would often stop in the midst of his practice to pretend sleeping when his parents check on him. But now he doesn’t need to worry about that as he was sure they wouldn’t wake up unless he cause a loud noise. With a fabric covering the sides of his crib, even if they wake up, he would immediately hear them before they see him cultivating.

It would be hard to explain if they saw him sitting like that.

Suddenly, countless white strands appeared in the air. They spun around Shui Yuhan and eventually got absorbed in his flesh. More and more strands endlessly appeared out of thin air until Shui Yuhan’s figure was not visible anymore.

Shui Yuhan felt the change and he was excited. ‘So this is qi!’ He exclaimed in his mind. But then he felt his consciousness getting blurry as the image of the violet star he saw during his time as a soul appeared in his mind. The violet star looked as lonely as before, it was rotating slowly while sending out pulses that pushes everything away from it. Suddenly, the star reversed its rotation and Shui Yuhan became terrified. He saw the entire field of stars got pulled and collided with the violet star in a blink of an eye. A world shaking explosion occurred and the very fabric of space got shredded to pieces.

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Shui Yuhan who was immersed in the vision thought that it was all real and he woke up in shock. The moment he opened his eyes, an unnoticeable ripple in space spread out in all direction with him as the center. At the same time, the image of a violet star suddenly appeared on the sky above him. The stars surrounding the violet star distorted and darkened. No stars shone in its vicinity. The image only lasted a moment before fading away and no one noticed its appearance.

However, that night was silent, not a bird or insect made a sound.

Shui Yuhan in his room was covered in sweat. “What in the world was that…” He muttered as he fell on his back. He had forgotten all about cultivating and sensing qi. The scene of the world ending was replayed countless times in his mind. He could not think of anything aside from it.

When he finally recovered after a bit of rest,  he continued cultivating. There were no interruptions this time and the same scene of white strands circling around him occurred again. He breathed in and slowly absorbed the white strands surrounding him without consulting the book. As he did, he could feel energy build up inside him, nourishing and strengthening his flesh. Right now he felt like he was floating.

He decided to stop when he started to get dizzy. He opened his eyes and exhaled a mist that came out of his mouth like a serpent. He knew that a lot of change happened to him this day, but he decided to confirm that tomorrow. He lied down and fell asleep with a smile on his face.

The day arrived, Shui Yuhan woke up earlier than he used to. He felt extremely energetic. He leaped out from his crib and landed lightly on the ground. When he leaped, he rose two meters high but he still managed to land silently. He carefully walked out of the room to avoid waking up his parents.

He went into the backyard where his father does his training. He picked up a small stone and tried to crush it in his hand. There was a crack and when he opened his hand the stone was already reduced to pieces. Then a dazed look appeared on Shui Yuhan’s face. “ I did it. I succeed!” He happily exclaimed.

While feeling happy, he did not notice the slight change that occurred briefly in his soul. It was trembling, like a dam about to burst open. It was holding back a mysterious power that could obliterate his body if he were a bit weaker.

He walked towards a boulder nearby. He clenched his fist, then with all his might he released a punch. Bang! Half of the boulder was destroyed when his punch landed. Shui Yuhan looked at his fist that was bruised and then at the half destroyed boulder. ‘I definitely should hide this from my parents’ Just when he was thinking that, he hear someone call out “Yuhan are you okay?!” He turned and saw his parents running towards him with worried looks. They were awakened by the commotion he caused.

His smile stiffened. “This is going to be difficult to explain.”

“What happened to your eyes!?” Asked his father. His mother also had a questioning gaze.

‘My eyes? What about my eyes?’ He wanted to ask, but he was just an infant. They would probably think that he was possessed if were to speak words now. Staying silent and leaving the answer to their imaginations would be best.

The two probably realized they were speaking to an infant and they carried Shui Yuhan back to his room while they carried a private conversation about what happened to his eyes.

 At his room, Shui Yuhan found a bowl of water to look at his reflection. He was shocked at what he saw. He had his usual black hair, but now his usually normal eyes turned violet. He wondered whether it was normal to have such drastic change in appearance after cultivating. ‘Probably that weird vision has something to do with this.’ He concluded. Whenever he saw his eyes, he couldn’t help but think of the violet star.

As he was gazing at his own eyes a strange feeling suddenly wells up from the depths of his being. The power his soul instinctively tried to hold back finally exploded out. “W- what is this?!” Alarmed, he staggered back. However the feeling did not disappear. It grew intense every second until invisible waves rippled out of his body. The waves distorted the space as they travel outwards. It was unnoticeable to anyone but him.

He then felt something come from his soul and then slam itself with great force to his mind. His sight became blurry and he had the urge to vomit. He staggered and fell down, gasping for breath. “What in the world was happening to me…” He said as he rested. He felt pain all over his body, yet he did not even scream. He wondered why this was; a pain at this level would have made a normal person faint, let alone an infant.

After resting for a while he decided to reflect on himself and felt something different in him. He felt very powerful. He knew there was no change in his actual strength and yet he somehow feels very confident. ‘It wasn’t a change in strength, but in attitude…or maybe something else.’ He thought staring at the wooden ceiling.