Chapter 7: 5 Years Old

Bandit’s Home, Jade Empire

Mark saw the white fox in Jennifer’s arms and her tattered clothes. He immediately recalled the past and said, “You saved another animal? Are you crazy? Don’t you remember we almost died last time?”

“Everything turned out okay didn’t it?”, she pouted.

“Let me guess, Kai saved you?”, he accurately assumed.

“...H-hey wasn’t Teresa looking for us? We shouldn’t make her wait”, she avoided. She moved around Mark and made a beeline straight for their house.

Kai looked at Mark and shrugged. Mark sighed in defeat and shook his head. Walking together, they made their way towards their house.

When they arrived, Jennifer wore an ashamed expression with her head lowered. Besides her, Teresa was towering over her head, scolding her. Teresa, along with the two boys, were nine this year and were a head taller than Kai and them. Noticing Kai and Mark walking through the front door, she turned her attention to them.

“Why didn’t you two stop her?”, she inquired. Placing her hands on her hips, she emitted an imposing ambiance.

Kai and Mark opened their mouths but were unable to think of a proper explanation. Jennifer raised her head at the moment and spoke in their defense.

“Don’t blame them, it was all my fault. But I outran the boar so everything is okay, right?”

She never forgot her promise with Kai so she spun a false tale of how she escaped the beast's clutches in both incidents. A pained expression appeared on Teresa’s face as she replied, “What’s done is done… but do you not remember what happened to Cindy?

Jennifer shook her head and returned to her previous expression with an even greater sense of shame. The occurred when they were young but they were still able to vaguely recall the day.

One windy afternoon, Kai, having completed his training regime for the day, was with Jennifer and Mark as they played in the forest. Suddenly, a heart wrenching scream resounded throughout the forest. Concerned, they moved towards the scream and found Sandy holding a distressed Teresa in place as they stood next to a pool of blood.

“Teresa! Stop! She’s gone!”

“NO! I HAVE TO FIND HER! I PROMISED HER. I-”

Without finishing her sentence, she fell to her knees, buried her head in the ground, and cried her heart out. The sorrow in her voice was so intense that it surprisingly brought tears to Kai’s eyes. When the men and boys arrived, Sandy promptly explained the situation to them. The knelt next to Teresa and hugged her while forming tears of their own.

“I p-promised… t-together fore-ever…” Teresa stuttered. Silence ensued as they all took the time to mourn their loss. From then on they were more cautious in the forest and made sure to stay close together.

Jennifer, however, went against their rule of safety and endangered herself, and Mark, by saving a bird. Now she endangered herself once more by saving another animal. The memory of Cindy’s death replayed itself in Jennifer’s head and her eyes slowly formed tears. Teresa noticed the sudden change and immediately pulled her in for a hug, placing her against her chest. 

“I just don’t want you to be in danger, any of you three. I see you have a really good heart. Always listen to it but please, only take action when you have enough strength to protect yourself otherwise you’ll just get yourself killed. That is actually one of the reasons I called you three today.”

Teresa patted Jennifer’s head then sat down and gestured for the rest of them to sit in front of her. They obeyed and waited for her to speak. Jennifer and Mark failed to guess her intentions but Kai was secretly restless with anticipation. 

 It has to be about cultivation!

“So I have good news and bad news. I’ll start off with the good news. All of you are around five years old now so starting from today it’ll be safe for you three to cultivate Ki or Qi.”

 I was right!

Kai clenched his fist with a smile.

“First I’ll tell you some basic information. There are different levels in cultivation. The first level that you three will be starting in is the Infant Level. This level is where you will see if you are a Daoist or a Taoist.”

“How do we feel it?”, Kai immediately asked. Teresa saw his enthusiasm and knowingly smiled. Being the person that raised Kai, she was felt extremely close to him and when she taught him basic worldly knowledge, she picked up on his extraordinary desire for cultivation.

“First you three need to close your eyes”, she slowly explained. They closed their eyes and waited further instructions. “Now focus on your senses… your hearing… your sight… your taste… your touch… your smell…”

She carefully enunciated each sense like a soothing chant. Kai entranced himself in his senses then he felt something. A sense of nostalgia hit him as a memory quickly flashed by his mind. He felt like he was floating in water and a nostalgic voice echoed inside his mind. The voice was muffled and before he could discern it, it was replaced with a peculiar feeling.

His memory faded as quickly as it came and he suddenly felt another feeling; another sense. An inexplicable feeling washed over his body. He felt as if he was ‘impure’ before but now he was cleansed.

They opened their eyes looking slightly disoriented. Jennifer and Mark mulled over their lack of feeling but Kai was pleasantly surprised with his discovery. He gently questioned, “Teresa, do we have a sixth sense?”

Teresa’s expression changed drastically as her eyes widened. “You felt it?”

Kai firmly nodded his head.

“Wow… you might be a genius, Kai. Instantly finding your sixth sense… I heard it takes weeks before anyone can find their sixth sense. The adults and the boys took nearly three weeks and I took two weeks. Even Cindy took a whole week and the adults called her a genius.”

Emotions running on a high, Teresa mentioned Cindy’s name in the passing without being hit with a pang of grief. Jennifer and Mark looked at Kai with admiration; this was the big brother they acknowledged when they were young.

“You probably have a lot of talent, Kai”, Teresa stated with a heartfelt smile. She wasn’t completely certain since everything she learned was from the adults and she knew their knowledge was limited, but she was hopeful that Kai could be a strong genius. She was happy that he could grow strong and protect himself but she secretly hoped that if she were to overcome the bandits one day, Kai would grow strong enough to help.

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“Okay where did I leave off… Ah! So when you do feel it, focus on that sense and you will be able to see the energies in the air. Then you absorb it in your body. I don’t know how to explain what Ki or Qi looks like as energies but here is how Qi looks like when I use it now.”

She stopped her explanation and laid her hand out her lap. She formed a fist and the next second it was suddenly encased in a body of white light. Releasing her fist, the light disappeared and she continued talking.

“When you gather enough Qi or Ki you will enter the Novice level. But even if you find out you can use Qi, you cannot use the elements until you reach the next level.”

“How do we know if we’re in the Novice level?”, Kai interrupted.

“Don’t worry, you will feel it when you become a Novice. There’s no way you can miss it”, Teresa patiently answered.

Kai nodded and apologized, “Sorry for interrupting. Please continue.”

“It’s okay. If you three have any questions as I talk you can ask them.”

Jennifer and Mark were still absorbing the previous information and were unable to think of questions. Kai hesitantly moved his arm. Catching this action, Teresa laughed and reassured, “Don’t worry Kai, just ask.”

“What are the higher ranks? What is above a Novice?”

“Good question. Hmm…”, Teresa momentarily paused before answering, “The only ones I know after Novice is Baron and Lord. I don’t know about the higher ranks but I do know they exist. The strongest person I know right now is the bandit’s leader. He’s a Peak Baron and the head of my village was a Mid Baron…”

Trailing off on the last word, her mouth formed a frown as anger and fear gradually consumed her thoughts. Jennifer and Mark were babies in her village so they remembered nothing from their village but it was unforgettable for Teresa. The day the bandits invaded was especially engraved into her mind.

The memory suddenly seeped into her thoughts. The air became harder to breath and she smelled the scent of burning houses. She saw flashes of scorching flames engulfing the houses in her village, the house she lived in. The familiar voice echoed in her ear; ‘Take care of the children’.

She remembered her mom releasing her after uttering her last words as she rushed around the burning houses to assist the villagers in battle. She remembered successfully gathering the children only to be captured by bandits. She remembered seeing the burning corpses on the ground and knowing that everyone had died except for them. She remembered swallowing her sadness and convince herself that at least they were alive. 

But Cindy died. She failed her mother’s final wish.

Jennifer and Mark were oblivious to her thoughts but they saw the change in her demeanor. Losing her calm expression, she stopped talking and began to tremble. Her face went pale and tears formed in her eyes. Anger, fear, sadness, threatened to devour her as she unconsciously recalled her past. Kai vaguely guessed the thoughts going through her mind but was unable to come up with comforting words.

“Teresa…”, Jennifer finally murmured.

The worry in Jennifer’s voice snapped her thoughts back into reality. Teresa stared at her surroundings and realized the state of her body. Taking deep breathes, she wiped her tears and calmed herself. 

“Ah sorry, I was just thinking about something”, she reassured with a bright smile. She never told Jennifer or Mark about the tragic day, not wanting to give any potential thoughts of vengeance to their immature minds. As for Kai who was not from their village, she only wished for him to be happy but also secretly desired for his assistance if he grew strong enough.

“... Right, so as I was saying. When you absorb enough Qi or Ki you will break through the Infant level and become a Novice. The Novice level and every level above it has three degrees; the Initial degree, the Mid degree, and the Peak degree. When you break past the peak degree you will enter the next level. At least that’s what Sandy told me. I am only an Initial Novice.”

She gave a short pause in case they had more questions and Mark raised his hand.

“Yes, Mark?”

“What’s the bad news?”

“Oh”, Teresa started with a sympathetic smile, “starting from today you three will have to work.”

Jennifer and Mark frowned but Kai remained unfazed. He knew they would eventually work; how could bandits raise slaves like they would raise their own children?

“Sorry but we have to obey the bandits. Sandy and I have stalled the Watchers for as long as we can but they are getting really impatient.”

Jennifer and Mark slowly accepted their fates and nodded.

“Starting from today, Jennifer will join Sandy and I on our work. Kai and Mark, you two will join the guys in the forest. I think they were cutting wood today at the usual place. Let’s get started before the Watchers come over here and complain.”

She stood up and walked towards the door, beckoning Jennifer to follow.

“Ah! Let me get Snow comfortable first”, Jennifer requested.

“When did you give her a name?”, Mark asked with an incredulous expression.

“Just now”, she replied absentmindedly.

She hummed and walked over to the edge of the room where a red bird was asleep in its nest. She put Snow down next to the bird and instantly, the bird sensed its new companion and gave look of disdain. Snow growled in response.

“Hey! Flare! Snow! I’m going to leave now so you girls play nice!”, Jennifer commanded as she pointed a finger in their direction. Flare and Snow immediately became docile and affectionately rubbed against her finger.

“How do you know they’re girls?”, Mark asked, now more confused than doubtful.

“I don’t know. I just know”, she automatically answered. Satisfied with Snow and Flare’s situation, she turned to leave with Teresa.

“What…”, Mark muttered with his mouth agape.