Jake and Ling Lin quickly walked towards her house. You did not keep the first elder waiting, it was a sign of disrespect.

As they walked Ling Lin kept making glances at Jake. She could not understand what was happening. If he was attacked a few days ago by ten people he would be beaten almost to death and would take weeks or months to heal. But here he was walking next to her after beating the head disciple and all his flunkies. Wang Hu was probably the best disciple in their year and Jake seemed to have handled him easier.

“Am I that handsome, that you must keep staring at me?” Asked Jake with a grin. “Or is there something on my face?”

“Humph who is handsome?” Retorted Ling Lin. “I was just seeing if you can keep that ugly swollen head on your neck.”

The unfortunate part was that Ling Lin thought that Jake was even more handsome, his skin was clear and unblemished, many young ladies would love that have that texture of skin.

“Your skin looks different Jake.” Said Ling Lin. “Have you been using something on your face?”

Jake thought about it for a second. The only thing that has changed was the flow of qi through his upper body and face. Would that make him look different? It did take a lot of sludge out of his body.

“I have not done anything different.” Replied Jake with a teasing grin. “Just using the plants at the pond as usual to wash myself. If you want you can bathe with me and I can help you scrub your skin.”

Ling Lin smacked Jake on the shoulder. But it did not affect him, in fact she hurt her hand when she did so. How did he get so tough? She was level 4 and should have hurt him a little.

“Humph, what person would bathe with a pervert like you?” Retorted Ling Lin with a little blush. “I will tell grandfather what you just said when we get there. He will fix you.”

Jake started to sweat. He did not want to anger the elder. “No need, I was just joking Ling Lin.” Said Jake quickly. “No need to bother him with little jokes like this.”

Ling Lin grinned at Jake and laughed.

“Why did he want to see me anyways?” Asked Jake. “He has not talked to me since he learnt I could not cultivate.” Jake had expected more from him. Their families had been so close and it hurt that the old man had done nothing for him.

“You will have to ask him that.” Replied Ling Lin. “He just told me to bring you to him.”

She knew the reason but was not sure what grandfather really wanted so did not want to say anything to Jake.

They reached the villa and went inside. They walked over to grandfather’s courtyard and knocked on the screen.

“Little Jake can come in.” A voice said. “Little Lin go and fetch tea and snacks for us.”

Jake opened the screen and walked in and closed the screen. He saw the first elder in a lotus position sitting on some cushions in the courtyard with the sun shining on him. His eyes were closed. Jake walked up to him and bowed.

“Hello First Elder.” Jake said formally.

“You used to call me grandfather when you were young, Little Jake.” He replied. “You can do so now.”

Jake smoldered a bit inside. He had expected some help from “grandfather” during the past year. Instead he was ignored.

“I called you grandfather when our families were friends.” Retorted Jake with a sneer. “You have not been a friend to me for a year, hmm since I could not cultivate. Is this why you want to see me now? Because I am now useful because I can cultivate?”

The first elder opened his eyes and stared at Jake. Jake then felt a pressure pushing on him. Jake started to run his qi to fight back against the pressure. The pressure grew, Jake knew it was grandfather pushing him with his aura. His knees started to bend and he started to sweat. He pushed the qi harder in response. The black smoke came out of his dantian with the increase in pressure and coated the inside of his body. Jake then started to stand up slowly. He thought it was his own qi helping him.

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Grandfather stopped the pressure and sighed inwardly. He was a little surprised that Jake could handle the pressure so well. The black smoke went back into Jake’s dantian.

He had probably not handled it perfectly after Jake could not cultivate but Jake was a mortal and had little value. He thought that pushing him out of the sect was the best answer.

“Little Jake I am not all powerful.” Grandfather said with a sigh. “Please sit down.”

Jake sat on a cushion and glared at grandfather.

“Answer me this Jake.” Asked Grandfather. “What use to the sect were you as a mortal?”

“I did the basic tasks around the sect.” Replied Jake. “I cleaned, and did odd jobs that cultivators did not want to do.”

“Is anyone else doing these jobs as well?” Asked grandfather.

Jake thought about this for a minute. Except for family members of the cultivators there were very few mortals in the sect.

“Most of the jobs are done by lower level disciples.” Replied Jake. “The only mortals are family members of cultivators.”

“And why do you think that was Jake?” Asked grandfather.

Jake pondered this. He had always wanted to cultivate so had never thought about this. The shit jobs were done by the lowest. Was this to make them work harder?

Jake sighed and replied. “The jobs are done by low level disciples. It is to make them work harder to get stronger to get away from the drudgery.”

So why was Jake allowed to stay? He looked at grandfather and then stood up and bowed deeply.

“Thank you for your aid grandfather in the past year.” Jake said solemnly. “I understand now.”

Jake had only been allowed to stay because of grandfather. He could not keep his villa and other things because they really belonged to the sect or were rewards from the sect. A mortal could not own these things. It was a waste of precious resources.

“I did not expect you to stay as long as you did.” Replied grandfather with a smile. “You are just like your grandfather, he was so stubborn when we were young. I expected you to leave and I had things prepared to help you when you left the sect. I did not think you were secretly cultivating and had healed your dantian. Come here and let me check you.”

Jake stood up and moved over and sat next to grandfather. He took Jake’s wrist and pushed his aura into Jake. He looked into his dantian and was amazed at its size and the purity of the qi. The hole was really gone.

“Run your cultivation.” Grandfather said.

Jake ran his basic technique. As he did so the qi flowed around his upper body, through his arms and back. When it did so it purified the qi. Also the qi from around the air poured into Jake.

Jake looked at this in astonishment. He had never seen a qi flow like this. It seemed to make Jake’s qi stronger.

“Ok, stop, now stand up and throw a punch and then a kick.” Said grandfather.

Jake stood up and took a basic fist stance and made a small punch with his right hand. Inside, qi started to flow through the meridians that had opened when he was meditating earlier. When he finished the punch a sound like a loud bang was created and the air in front of his fist was distorted.

Jake then took another stance and made a kick. It did not have the same effect as the punch. He then took another stance and punched with his left hand. When he finished the punch a sound like a loud bang was created and the air in front of his fist was distorted again, the same as with the right hand.

“Ok stop and sit.” Said grandfather. “The flow seems to enhance your punches but not your kicks. I remember reading something about this a long time ago. I will have to try and remember. Come in Little Lin.”

Ling Lin pushed open the screen and was flowed in by a servant. The servant lay a tray down before them filled with tea and some snacks. Ling Lin sat down next to grandfather. The servant left.

Jake started to salivate. He had not eaten all day and had burned a lot of energy earlier fighting the disciples.

“You may do the honors little Lin.” Said grandfather.

She then knelt and started to pour tea for all of them. She then passed the cups around.

“Help yourself Jake.” Said grandfather closing his eyes and smelling the tea. He loved a good cup of tea. This was a special blend that help cultivation as well.

“Ladies first.” Said Jake looking at Ling Lin with a saucy grin.

They then had some snacks and chatted a little. Soon the tray was empty of food and tea. Jake leaned back with a satisfied smile. It had been a long time since he had such nice food. He had been scavenging for food for the past year.

Grandfather took out a badge and handed it to Jake.

“Ok this will allow you to draw supplies from the stores and also to the first level of the library. It will also let you attend basic classes.” Grandfather said. “Little Lin, you may take him around and help him. Look at the techniques in the library and if you find anything you like you may take one weapon, one defensive and one fist technique. You may both go now. You can stay in a room here for now.”

Grandfather had a lot to think about. He needed to think about how Jake could use his qi like that. He needed to look through his old scrolls to see if he could find the reference he vaguely remembered.

With that Jake and Ling Lin stood up and bowed towards grandfather, thanked him and left the room closing the screen behind him.

If they had looked back they would have seen grandfather sitting there with a very intense look on his face as he stared at Jake.