Arriving at the plaza, Ye Mo placed himself beside the huge fountain. Small fishes of multiple colors swam inside but his knowledge was lacking and he couldn't recognize them.
As he observed, a hand suddenly tapped on Ye Mo's shoulder.
"Still daydreaming in clear daylight?" Wang Fei stood there appealing Ye Mo to follow him.
"I couldn't sense him at all when he was this close? He's dangerous, i should avoid him as much as i can after we're done with this." Ye Mo didn't react and followed Wang Fei but internally he was on guard.
They walked some time until they reached a small temple. Wang Fei followed by Ye Mo got inside and walked on the wooden floor as only the creaking sound of their footsteps could be heard.
Wang Fei slide a door and entered a room with Ye Mo. It had no window or any connection to the exterior, only candles on the walls alighted the room.
"Take this, it's a basic breathing technique we use to measure the talent of disciples that weren't tested yet." Wang Fei raised a plank from the floor and retrieved a small, slim book.
"Before we start you have to understand something fundamental. Qi is the natural energy of heaven and earth. It's everywhere all around us and from which is born all life. Cultivation is the act of elevating yourself in a greater being capable of unnatural prowess, from lifespan to sheer power."
"However cultivation goes against heaven's will since you distance yourself from a creation of the heavens towards a more unique existence unaffected by the natural course of things. As such, the further you go, the more difficult it becomes to advance. We, cultivators have to face all kinds of hurdles to reach our objectives."
"Now if you're ready, sit down and use the breathing technique i handed to you to draw the Qi in the surroundings inside your body."
Ye Mo listened to every words with rapt attention then sat with his legs crossed and opened the book.
In less than a minute he was done reading. Like Wang Fei said it was the most basic of technique. You just had to breath in a certain rythm and gather the Qi in your meridians.
At the same time, Ye Mo felt something on his back. When he looked back he found Wang Fei sat behind him and placed his hands on his back.
"I will assist you and watch the process at the same time, you can start."
Ye Mo nodded then turned around, breathing according to the manual instructions, sometimes fast and other times slow, at times he would take a deep breath then followed by multiple light breathes.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
Soon you could see light blue turbid air escaping from his mouth with each exhalation.
Qi was entering his body and flowing in his meridians.
"Good, now lead the Qi through all your meridians, making one full circulation as it goes through your whole body."
Ye Mo tried to control the flow of Qi but quickly realized he could only slightly affect the direction as it made one round circulation from high up in his body to down to up again.
Once the flow of Qi made one full circulation, reaching it's starting point, it disappeared. At the same time, 3 inches under Ye Mo's navel, a wisp of Qi appeared in his dantian. It was light grey in color and looked like smoke, completely different from the Qi of heaven and earth. The wisp of Qi looked faint, almost transparent.
"I stopped using the breathing technique to focus on the circulation of the Qi i gathered in my body but if i multitasked, breathing and leading the Qi through my meridians at the same time, i would have been able to gather enough Qi to replace the amount that disappeared during the circulation enabling me to keep cultivating until exhaustion." Ye Mo had many insights during his first round at Qi cultivation before he started to pay attention to the wisp of Qi in his dantian.
He realized it was much easier to move it around compared to the flow of Qi from the surroundings.
"Only rank 2?!" Ye Mo that heard Wang Fei mumble behind him turned around. His instructor face expressed genuine surprise but Ye Mo didn't miss the flash of disdain in his eyes.
Ye Mo didn't mention it as he asked directly, "What's rank 2?".
"This is the rank of your talent in cultivation of course." Wang Fei stated like it was evident.
"Humans are separated in five levels of talent from one being the lowest to five. You must have understood by now, the wisp of Qi you have in your dantian is much easier to control than the one you absorbed through the exterior. This is because different to the Qi of heaven and earth, this wisp is your own, a creation of your body and its manipulation only depends on your talent and mental fortitude."
"You see, a rank 3 talent would have been able to create a wisp of Qi in half the time you needed, a rank 4 in a quarter of the time and a rank 5 even less. The speed at which you create these wisp of Qi is primordial, only when your dantian is full of them to the point where you can't produce one anymore can you attempt the condensation of your Qi and breakthrough the next layer." Wang Fei talked with confidence and composure.
"But didn't you say what i used is only a basic breathing technique, wouldn't people be able to fake their talent by testing themselves with a real cultivation technique." Ye Mo asked as a rough understanding of cultivation took shape in his mind.
"Hahah, no. Everyone even outside the institute use the same kind of techniques with around the same speed to test themselves. Obviously there has been some foolish people in the past who lied about their talent by using the speed of a real cultivation art for the test but once their peers would start their cultivation journey, these cheaters would lag behind and their real level would be exposed. By then they would mostly leave the city out of shame or get ridiculed for life without talking of the punishment if they are part of a clan or an institute."
"Also there isn't only one method to check your talent. In sect and great organisations, they have formations and pentagrams that immediately reveal your potential once you stand upon but it's out of reach for us. Well, i would like to answer more of your questions but i have a report to make, you generated a wisp of Qi so right now you are a first layer Qi Gathering realm cultivator. Since you became a member of our institute you will have the occasions the learn much more about it but you should first use the tokens you received as rewards." Wang Fei adviced Ye Mo before he left the room, leaving him contemplating the grey wisp of Qi floating in his dantian.
This was hope towards infinite power!
Quickly Ye Mo stood up and left the temple. The red tint of the sky indicated the arrival of the night.
Ye Mo woke up in the afternoon and after following Wang Fei and discovering his talent the sun was already setting. He returned to his stone house and cultivated with the same breathing technique he used previously.
He managed to produce two more wisps of Qi before going to bed.
"At this pace i would need thousands of them before i can fill my dantian." Ye Mo calculated as he fell asleep.
The next day, early in the morning, Ye Mo didn't go retrieve a cultivation technique nor did he go pick a battle skill like other members in their first day or as Wang Fei suggested but he rushed to a very large square building. Above was a huge golden dome that served as a roof, overall the edifice was very imposing and people would feel like an ant standing beside it.
It was the library of the Tiger Martial Institute.
"What i lack the most currently is knowledge, going to choose a martial art in this state... I could make the wrong choices, wasting more time and slowing my cultivation." Ye Mo knew perfectly what he had to do as he planned every steps of his stay in the institute before being a part of it.
With resolution, Ye Mo walked inside the structure.