Mareus silently followed her to an open space between the back of their home and the edge of the cliff. The yard was decorated with marks from her blade. Near one side of the house was a brown ring permanently engraved into the grass, closer to the cliff were two oval indents worn into the stone surface.

“This might be a little early. But, in my opinion waiting until your ninth birthday is more tradition than necessity. It’s important for you to at least have an understanding of the basics.”

The blood rushing to his face made him feel hot. A low thumping radiated from Mareus as he bounced in place. His hands clutched against his chest as if he was afraid they would fly away.

“Really?! What are you going to teach me? Am I going to learn some secret technique? Maybe a style passed down in our family for hundreds of years? What is it? What is it?” He repeated.

“You’re going to learn…”

Mareus leaned in.

“How to…”

All of his weight was on his toes.

“Breathe.” She finished.

Mareus’ head dropped faster than his legs as he fell down. He pressed his face into the soft soil.

Grass is bitter. He thought.

Mareus looked at his grandmother, completely unaware of the green streak now running down his face.

“I already know how to breathe. I do it all the time.” He whined.

Granny Zhu let out a nasally laugh before composing herself. In one movement she knelt down and used the sash from around her waist to wipe his face. As she cleaned she began to explain.

“The body is an amazing thing. Without ever being taught it knows what to do with the food you eat. How to make dreams. And even breath in and out while making sure you don’t blow up like a ball.” She made a noise as she imitated a ball inflating with her arms.

Mareus hopped into a seated position and smacked his hands in his lap. “Exactly! Why do you want to teach me that then?”

“That’s where you’re mistaken.” Granny wagged her finger. “I’m not going to show you how to breathe in air. Here, watch me closely.”

She raised her stance and shifted her feet apart until it looked like she was sitting on an invisible chair. In a moment that seemed to go on for too long she took in a breath. At the same time, her hands flowed up her legs to her stomach and then up to her chest where she held both them and her breath. Until she threw them forward in a powerful shot. There they floated down back to her knees before she did it all over again.

Ripples formed in the air around her as Mareus watched. Nothing too noticeable, and if he lost focus they went away. But, they were clearly coming off of her.

Granny Zhu’s movements changed like a breeze and her arms began to dance in a new pattern, ending as she gently extended her hand towards him. A chill ran up from the base of his spine and he felt his hair float up before he got a small shock on his nose.

“Augh!” He fell backwards.

“See? I didn’t just breathe in the air. I also breathed in some of the energy all around us.”

Mareus scrambled to his feet and rushed over to his grandmother before chanting, “Teach me. Teach me.”

“Alright, alright.” She tossed his wild hair. “But you won’t be able to do anything like that without a lot of practice.”

They sat across from each other in mirrored lotus positions with their hands resting palm upwards. In unison they inhaled, each of their stomachs deflating as their chest grew. And then reversing the motion as they exhaled. Mareus’ movements, noticeably more exaggerated than his grandmother’s.

“Good, you’re starting to get the rhythm of your breathing right. It’s important to make sure the flow is circulating properly before adding more energy.”

Gongzhu sat with him as they kept up the exaggerated technique. She placed her hand on his chest and matched his pattern, then gradually changed it again and waited for him to adjust to the new tempo. They continued adjusting to each other for another hour, until he had finally reached the correct balance of forced inhalation and relaxation.

“There we go, the next step is to become one with your surroundings and feel the flow of heavenly energy.” She leaned back into her upright position.

Mareus wasn’t exactly sure what she meant. He watched his grandmother for any clues, maybe he would be able to see something change in the air around her. Or maybe the grass would start to tremble around her.

But nothing stood out, it was like she was a statue. A tree? Something that didn’t move. That was when he got an idea, her breathing had stopped so maybe he was supposed to hold his breath for this part. Was he supposed to inhale first, or maybe…

While trying to remain still, Mareus took in a deep breath and held it before his stomach started to expand. Nothing changed at first except that his chest started getting tighter. He did his best to fight through the pressure struggling to not show that he was suffocating.

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Granny is doing this without even trying? He thought.

The edges of his vision were growing dark, his heart sounded like it found its way between his ears. Moments from passing out something changed, his whole body started tingling. The sensation spread from his chest down his arms and stretched out from his finger tips.

Granny Zhu smacked the side of his head.

“What do you think you’re doing? You need to keep breathing.”

The frantic gasping helped his body return to normal. Although, his mind was still lagging behind.

“What would make you think to stop breathing?”

“Wha- What do you mean?”

“This is a breathing technique, you need to breath for it to work.” She sighed.

“But, it looked like you stopped breathing.”

Gongzhu scratched at the back of her head. She looked like she was annoyed by having to explain it.

“I won’t confuse you with the names or anything. Just think that I was doing it so well that it only looked like I stopped breathing.”

His blank face told her all she needed to know.

“Never mind, keep breathing like you were before.”

She let him fall back into his base rhythm and after a few minutes she stepped behind and placed one hand on his back and the other on his core.

“Keep breathing.” She reminded.

Gongzhu gently pressed on his stomach, keeping him from inhaling fully while urging him to keep going. With each forced inhale his stomach grew hotter until he had to stop from exhaustion. It took several more rounds of false starts and stops before the heat was able to escape to the rest of his body.

“Good, first you must get your body used to feeling the energy pass through you.”

He laughed, “It tickles.” Energy crawled along his skin as if he had thousands of tiny frozen needles lightly pressing against it.

“That is the energy that is around us moving inside of you.” She stepped away and watched her newest student. “Your still not quite there, follow the flow of the energy and it will help guide you.”

She watched her grandson practice for a few moments. The exaggerated motions tightening up as he fell deeper and deeper into his meditation. His expression relaxing as the effort became easier.

Good. She thought to herself. He seems to have found the pattern. Now we just might be able to see…

Her thoughts were interrupted by several faint strands of steam rising off of him. Had he already reached this stage? It was too soon for him to be like a furnace. Gongzhu started getting her hopes up that maybe he was a genius, a new wave of heat told her something was wrong.

Granny Zhu frantically placed a hand on his abdomen and forced her mind into his core. She caught a glimpse of rainbow light in the form of a whirlpool before her attention was sucked into an endless well.

She fell back drenched in her own sweat. “MAREUS, you need to stop!” She cried. “This shouldn’t be happening!”

His breathing had become almost imperceptible at this point. And all of the energy around them rushed towards him. It was like he was pulling it directly out of the environment.

“How is this possible?” She grabbed the boy by his arms, screaming to pull him out of his trance. “Can you hear me? You need to break your cycling. This is too much.”

Any experienced cultivator knew that a person could only withstand a certain amount of heavenly energy at a given stage, much less integrating it with their own qi. Mareus should have long surpassed his own limit by now.

“I’m sorry, my child.” She kissed his forehead before preparing a palm strike. “This will hurt, but it’s better than the alternative… I promise.”

Her strike wasn’t powerful on its own, it was more of a light slap really. The energy she pushed through it though prevented her palm from connecting for a moment. Once it did make contact, a burst of force exploded from his back and knocked the growing gale over the cliff side.

In that single thrust the yard settled back down into a peaceful scene overlooking the village. She laid him down in her lap and brushed his hair aside as she watched him sleep.

Mareus coughed up blood that stained the vibrant blue-green grass a dark almost violet color.

Even that wouldn’t explain this. The old warrior thought.

“Granny?” Mareus managed to eke out.

“Shh, everything will be alright child. Just rest.”

He weakly gave into his exhaustion as his eyes fluttered shut.

Mareus awoke to hushed voices outside his door. “I wasn’t sure what to do. Everything happened so… And then when…”

“I’ve never seen anything like this… There are some stories… I’ll have to do more research…”

“Do you think it could be…”

“No, that alone wouldn’t explain…”

The conversation stopped when Mareus’ cough shook the bed. Fresh blood trickling out the side of his mouth.

“You’re awake.” His grandmother rushed to his side. “Thank goodness.”

“What…” He began.

“Drink this for now, this medicine will help you heal.” A middle aged man interrupted and handed him a bowl of muddy green liquid.

After Mareus forced himself to finish drinking it through several gags and almost vomiting it back up. The man introduced himself as a physician from outside the valley.

“Can you tell me what you remember?” He asked.

“Um…” He tried to recall. “I was helping with the boar for Big Brother and Sister’s wedding. The wedding!” He panicked.

“It’s okay my child, it’s not until tomorrow, the village is still finishing preparations today.” Granny Zhu reassured him.

“Your grandmother told me she was teaching you something.” The man prompted.

“She said she was teaching me how to breathe.”

“Good, now can you tell me what happened? Start from when you started practicing.” The physician urged.

Mareus recounted him struggling to imitate what she showed him and making changes based on her guidance.

“It was like I was river full of mud and a big storm washed everything away. But the rain wouldn’t stop and the river kept getting wider and wider until it was going in different directions.” He paused. “That’s when it happened!”

“When what happened?” The man asked.

“The river didn’t matter anymore, I could tell the water where to go. So I kept breathing and more and more kept coming.”

The physician stood up and whispered something to Granny Zhu before saying. “I think I know what happened then. I’ll need to head back down and pick up some more ingredients for your medicine. But, I have something difficult to tell you.”

Mareus was unconsciously holding his breath now, a tightness slowly growing in his chest.

“My boy,” He put a hand on his arm. “You have diverted meridians, and what that means is…”

The physician looked back at Hua Gongzhu as if to make sure it was okay to tell him.

She nodded for him to continue.

“It means that you’ll never be able to control heavenly energy when you cultivate. And because of that every time you try, you risk crippling your core.”

“W-what does that mean?” He stammered.

“It means you can’t cultivate.” Granny’s tone was soft despite her words.

“It’s not safe for you.” The man continued. “Without cultivating you can still live a mostly ordinary life, there are hundreds of thousands of people who do. But, if you try and the energy runs wild then you won’t be able to utilize even the smallest traces of qi. And at that point it would become difficult to sit up like now.”

Shock washed over Mareus as he sat there. He could only look at his own hands, question after question rushing through his mind. The only thing he managed was, “B-but, but, bu…”

“You should go get the ingredients you need. I think it’d be best if we’re left alone for now.” Granny Zhu interrupted.

“I’ll come back later tonight with the medicine, his injuries should be healed enough for him to walk around the village starting tomorrow.”

Granny Zhu held Mareus’ hand and the two sat in silence until he fell asleep in her gentle embrace.