Jake and Ling Lin walked out of the hall. As soon as they had left Jake released her hand and turned to her.

“Thanks for the help Ling Lin.” He said bowing slightly to her.

“Don’t be silly Jake, we are friends and I would do whatever I could to help you.” She replied then hung her head. “I am sorry I have not talked to you this past year. My grandfather told me not to, I have not been a very good friend. My grandfather has had me in seclusion most of the time imparting the family’s techniques to me.”

“I understand.” Jake replied. “You could not associate with trash after all. Fatty Bo and I still kept in touch though.”

It was Jake, Ling Lin and Fatty Bo, inseparable friends until age 12. Fatty was small and fat, when he was younger and a lot of people picked on him. However Jake stood up to all the bullies, it did not matter what their age was. Jake and Fatty had spilt a lot of blood together and each regarded the other as their true brother. Ling Lin was the little sister, and they played and trained together. But Jake could not cultivate at age 12 and Ling Lin was told to stay away from him by her grandfather. The funny thing was that Fatty had very little skill but at age 12 he learned to cultivate and took to it quickly. He quickly trained to Houtian level 4 and also physically grew. Then he became the protector of Jake as much as he could. The problem was the last 4 months he had left to train with his father and the old bullies, who also learned to cultivate, began to bully the mortal Jake.

“I thought you could not cultivate Jake?” Asked Ling Lin.

Jake looked at her and did not answer right away. He did not know he could cultivate, it had just happened when Wang Ha pressured him. He did not even know how to use a storage ring until he had tricked Elder Hang into saying it.

“I found that I could store a little qi a few months ago.” Lied Jake. “I did not believe it myself as I was told there was a hole in my dantian. It was not until today with the pressure from Wang Ha that I finally gained level 1. My basic cultivation must have patched the hole somehow.”

He did not want to tell her that he had never felt qi until today and he had jumped to level 6 in one go, it was too unbelievable.

“I have no idea how to use qi or spirit or anything else.” Jake said. “I have never been given any techniques or had anybody explain anything to me. I was not allowed to go to the classes or the library since I could not cultivate. I have worked all the dirty jobs and have been treated like a servant or slave.”

“Well that will change now!” Said Ling Lin excitedly. “I will ask grandfather to give you access. The sect cannot stop you since you can now cultivate. Also what was that about getting your villa back?”

“I was driven out of my villa after Fatty left.” Explained Jake. “I was beaten unconscious and tossed out into a hovel by the trash heaps. That is where I have been living.”

Ling Lin hung her head in shame and blushed. She did not know about this. Grandfather had kept her away from everyone until these past few days. He had her cultivating their family techniques. If she had not told her maid the day before to ask after Jake she would not even be here today. Someone had told the maid about Jake today coming to the mission hall and the mission. That is why she had rushed here today.

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“I need to cultivate and try and better understand my new situation.” Jake said. “I will not be going with you to your grandfather right now. If you want to mention it to him on my behalf you may. I will head to my hovel and cultivate. Thanks and I will see you later.”

With that Jake bowed and walked away from Ling Lin. He walked to the outermost area of the sect, where the animals and garbage were kept. It was one of his jobs to take care of the animals, shoveling manure and also handling the sect’s garbage. Trash handling the trash was the joke that he heard almost everyday.

He finally reached the small hut attached to the side of a stable. There was no door and the window was empty. Inside was a small pallet with some blankets and a broken trunk. This was all the belongings he had. It was things he had scavenged from the trash. Everything was taken from him when he was forced from his villa.

He sat on the pallet in the lotus position as his parents had taught him long ago. They taught him this when he was young to get him ready to cultivate when he was older. It was part of the meditation technique he had learned to clear his mind. He could quickly relax because of the practice he had done over the years. The other part was the breathing technique he had been taught.

He relaxed and started to breathe in, hold and out. He let go of all the problems of the day and trouble and his mind floated. He could feel the qi in his dantian for the first time and just immersed himself in it. At the same time a wisp of black smoke moved out of his dantian and descended to meet the left side of his large intestine. It then wound up past his stomach and crossed his diaphragm. It then entered his left lung. It passed up the left side of his windpipe to the throat and moved into the hollow region near the front of his left shoulder. From here it passed over the shoulder and down the front of the arm along the outer border of the biceps. It reached the outside of the biceps in the elbow crease and continued down the forearm to the wrist just above the base of the thumb. The wisp then crossed the height of the thumb muscle to finish at the corner of the thumbnail. After this it moved back up the arm parallel to the channel it had created until it reached his dantian creating a path.

Once the path was created a small bit of qi started to follow that channel and worked its way around the pathway until it came back to the dantian. As it started to cycle the qi became stronger and also the muscle and tissue of this left pathway and the surrounding area became stronger as well.

This was all unknown to Jake as he continued his breathing exercise, sinking deeper into the study of qi. In concert with his breathing the qi continued to cycle. Then another wisp of smoke left the dantian. It descended to meet the right side of his large intestine. It then wound up past his stomach and crossed his diaphragm. It then entered his right lung. It passed up the right side of his windpipe to the throat and moved into the hollow region near the front of his right shoulder. From here it passed over the shoulder and down the front of the arm along the outer border of the biceps. It reached the outside of the biceps in the elbow crease and continued down the forearm to the wrist just above the base of the thumb. The wisp then crossed the height of the thumb muscle to finish at the corner of the thumbnail. After this it moved back up the arm parallel to the channel it had created until it reached his dantian creating a second pathway.

Once the path was created a small bit of qi started to follow that channel as well and worked its way around the pathway until it came back to the dantian. As it started to cycle the qi became stronger and also the muscle and tissue of this right pathway and the surrounding area became stronger as well.

This was all unknown to Jake as he continued his breathing exercise. In concert with his breathing the qi continued to cycle now along both pathways. If an expert could see inside his body they would see this as the lung meridian or the Taiyin Lung Channel of Hand or Hand's Major Yin Lung Meridian, one of the 12 standard meridians in the body. In the future Jake would be able to run qi here and greatly increase the force of the strikes using either hand.

If Jake had opened his eyes he would have noticed his breath being lightly colored on his exhales as well. This was the effect of the impurities in his lungs and surrounding tissue being removed. Jake just kept breathing totally lost in his meditation.