“Don’t be concerned when I say ‘standard’ that it’s subpar or that there’s a better, rare, esoteric technique that I’m holding. This breathing technique is the standard because it’s the best widely applicable technique our sect has.”

Shen Lan then waved her hand and three balls of light shot towards each of them. As Ji Kang caught his, the light died down to show that it was a very thin book. Taking his first look at this book he could tell it was just a couple of pages.

“This book contains a breathing technique and also advice on how to sense Primeval Qi for the first time. This is all you need until you reach Qi Condensation. In order to reach Qi Condensation you must be able to store qi inside your body, to do that you must open your dantian and establish a circuit of flow for qi in your body. Now that you are all my disciples, you will live in this house with me, all of your needs will be taken care of and your entire focus should be on cultivating. If you fail to reach Qi Condensation in a week, you’re out. I agreed to take you on as disciples, but I will not brook laziness or incompetence. Go.” With that final declaration Shen Lan dismissed them to find rooms for themselves in the courtyard residence.

While leaving Shen Lan to find a room in which to seclude himself until he reached Qi Condensation, the biggest worry on Ji Kang’s mind was Lu Wu. What if Lu Wu didn’t take this seriously and ordered Ji Kang and Yu Shuren to waste their time running errands? Ji Kang had to obey Lu Wu’s commands even over their master’s and he knew Lu Wu to be childish and short sighted.

Ji Kang saw Lu Wu peeking into rooms, weighing the rooms against each other, trying to decide which he liked best, so he took that opportunity to claim the smallest bedroom with a window that looked out straight at a cliff wall just outside, and Ji kang immediately closed and locked the door. Out of sight, hopefully out of mind, he wasn’t going to leave this room until he had achieved Qi Condensation.

Ji Kang read through the book and immediately reread it, he could not allow the slightest miscomprehension or mistake in this crucial beginning.

The technique manual described a specific breathing rhythm and a number of physical movements and postures. Ji Kang soon understood that this was not a one-size-fits-all situation. According to the manual, every cultivator’s journey was unique and sensing Primeval Qi for the first time was a personal process. For some, performing the series of physical stretches while following the rhythm and feeling how the energy of the world approached and flowed through them was the best way, for others sitting peacefully and focusing the entirety of their attention inside and watching patiently to distinguish the subtle patterns and flow within themselves was best. The manual also mentioned that in a rare few cases, contorting the cultivator’s body in extreme ways could be helpful in highlighting how the qi flows through their bodies by slowing or stopping that flow.

This was a question of knowing yourself and picking the right method for you. Some teenagers might have no idea who they truly were, but Ji Kang knew. As much as he would like to be a man of action and physicality, where a martial kata exercise would be what helped him the most, he knew that he was a being of introspection and reflection.

He immediately chose to sit cross legged in the middle of the floor, close his eyes, and turn his attention inwards as he synced his breathing to the rhythm described in the book.

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Hours passed, boredom came and went and then came again. A servant opened the door of Ji Kang’s room to leave a meal inside and left without Ji Kang so much as flickering an eyelid. Late into the night, Ji Kang opened his eyes to claim his food and eat, but he never stopped the breathing rhythm.

He timed his bites around the rhythm and he paid the closest possible attention to the movements inside every part of his body as he ate. His body that hadn’t eaten all day, sensing the arrival of food, the initial loosening of his tightened stomach to allow food in and then it tightening back up to crush that food. He could almost feel the nutrients entering his bloodstream over the course of the next several hours in the boost of energy he received, all the while he continued searching for the feeling of ‘flow’ described by the manual.

This state of extreme concentration remained the same for Ji Kang through the night, past the next morning until around noon of the next day when he heard Lu Wu come out from his room. Ji Kang instantly recognized Lu Wu by his gait and the sound of his breath.

In a sudden moment of clarity Ji Kang knew exactly what was happening. Lu Wu had been focusing as hard as he could, but he had lived an undisciplined life up until now. Not just in the sense that no one was disciplining Lu Wu from the outside, but also that Lu Wu had never built the self discipline needed to ignore hunger, stiffness, and boredom for long periods on end.

And so, just like back on the boat, Lu Wu had become bored and decided to spend time with Ji Kang and Yu Shuren who he considered to be his property.

That wasn’t going to work for Ji Kang. If Lu Wu failed to meet the week deadline, he would return to his rich family in disgrace as a failure, but he wouldn’t go hungry. He would never be put out on the street and cut off if he were to go back. But for Ji Kang, this was it, he could not go back. If he failed to meet the deadline, he would be giving up his chance of immortality to return to hunger and scarcity, he would be resigning himself to living the rest of his life on the bottom rung of society.

All of this crystallized inside Ji Kang’s mind within a moment of recognizing the sound of Lu Wu’s footsteps and he knew he had to act now to avoid being forced to put his own cultivation on hold in order to entertain Lu Wu.

From a kneeling position he stood and dove out the empty window before crouching against the wall underneath the window frame. As Ji Kang was beginning to lean against the wall he heard the door of his room slide open.

“Ji Kang?” Lu Wu called for him.

Ji Kang knew he would be forced by the contract to follow any commands Lu Wu gave him, so he could not allow himself to receive any commands from Lu Wu. Ji Kang plugged and covered his ears with the collar of his robe and his hands.

He heard Lu Wu say something but like he had hoped, he was completely unable to distinguish what had been said. Lu Wu walked around Ji Kang’s room and called out a few more times before leaving, Ji Kang assumed he went in search of Yu Shuren.

Given this close call Ji Kang knew he could not show himself in front of Lu Wu until he had reached Qi Condensation. To appear before Lu Wu before that would be to risk the entirety of Ji Kang’s future on the whims of a child who saw him as property and saw his time as entirely at Lu Wu’s disposal.

Ji Kang decided to find a place to meditate away from Shen Lan’s courtyard residence. He could explain to Lu Wu later that early on in the first day he had felt suffocated inside his room and thought he would do better if he was out in nature rather than inside a man made room with walls blocking the natural breath of the world. From what Ji Kang had read that explanation seemed eminently plausible.

Lu Wu was going to throw a tantrum the next time he saw Ji Kang either way, but if Ji Kang had a reasonable explanation and pleaded ignorance to the fact that Lu Wu was looking for him it should blow over.