That Night

“Haha! Little Butler, why do you look so happy!?” one of the servants who was in his 20s asked. All servants, both male and female were eating dinner.

“If you hear good news, then wouldn’t you be happy?” the boy replied with a smile.

“Really?” the servant replied with a curious expression. It seemed that this servant had a good relationship with the boy. Actually, that was the case for most of the male servants. Although they would feel bitter when he was surrounded by the maids, all of them knew that this was just a case of maternal and sisterly feelings of the women. After all, the boy was only nine, the maids weren’t that depraved to ‘eat’ a nine-year-old boy…

…well, actually, some of them might be but let’s not get into that!

“Has spring finally come for you?” the servant asked with interest.

“Where would I find a girl my age here!?” the boy threw him a glance. “Brother Liu, your delusions are getting out of hand!”

“It’s called a ‘creative mind’!” the servant, Brother Liu, cleared his throat and spoke righteously.

“Hah, right!” the boy shot him a look of disdain, “Didn’t you get beaten up just last week for spreading scandalous rumors about Maid Qing and one of the guards?”

“He beat me up for no reason!” Brother Liu spoke indignantly.

“He was right, you know.” The boy lowered his voice and whispered, “Maid Qing, to put it lightly, doesn’t have good looks, so no wonder that guard beat you up!”

“And if you put it harshly?”

“She looks like a man!”

As soon as he said that, Brother Liu looked at the boy with a cheeky expression, “I wonder what she’ll do if I told her you said that.”

When the boy heard this, his smiling face immediately turned expressionless. He looked at Brother Liu and asked, “Hey, do you know the perks of being good-looking?”

“Of course!” Brother Liu patted his chest smugly, “Good-looking guys, like me, are chick magnets! Sometimes, women can’t help but fall for them. They would find themselves giving their everything for the guy!”

But as he was talking, he remembered their original topic and looked at where the boy was supposed to be. But he wasn’t there! He looked around and saw him heading towards Maid Qing with an aggrieved expression.

The boy tugged at Maid Qing’s sleeve. She turned around to see the aggrieved boy looking at her. W-Why is he here?

“Sister Qing,” the boy addressed her pitifully. When she heard his pitiful call, Maid Qing felt a pang in her chest and warmth swelled in her heart. She looked down at him with gentle eyes. Even while she was sitting, she was still taller than the boy. “What’s wrong?”

“Old Liu-” the boy pointed at Old Liu who was overseeing this exchange with a dumbfounded look, “-he said that you looked like a man and called you an ugly hag!”

When she heard what she said, Maid Qing’s eyes instantly turned cold as she snapped her head towards Brother Liu. Maid Qing, Qing Ai, knew she looked masculine compared to other women. She was teased by others in her village and this caused her to be insecure about her appearance. Though she learned that others wouldn’t shame her when she beat them up, she still had this shadow in her heart.

Everyone in the dining hall knew this. So, when they heard what Brother Liu ‘allegedly’ said, they couldn’t help but think, “Just what the hell is he smoking?”

“You-” Brother Liu himself nearly fainted. He was on the verge of tears. When did I say any of that? Weren’t you the one who-

However, his thoughts remained incomplete as Qing Ai slammed the table and stood up. She spoke through gritted teeth, “Liu! He! Good, very good!”

When Brother Liu, Liu He looked again, he saw Qing Ai advance towards him, step by step. She was tall, incredibly so. Standing at 1.90 meters, she completely dwarfed the boy. The other women at Qing Ai’s table also looked at Liu He with cold eyes. Actually, any woman in earshot of the boy’s words looked at him with the same eyes.

This was because all of them had a very good relationship with Qing Ai. Even if Qing Ai looked masculine, she was still a woman. Her appearance did not create any problem for her within the female circle. She was especially popular with the few maids who preferred women.

The boy had basically finished eating and slipped out the hall quietly. He mourned for Old Liu in his heart and made his way out. When he closed the door, a scream reached his ears, “You liar- Aiya!” followed by sounds of getting beaten up.

As he walked alone towards his room, he sang:

Fly Me to the Moon[1],

And let me play among the stars.

Let me see what spring is like,

On Jupiter and Mars.

In other words, hold my hand.

In other words, darling, kiss me.

There was no particular reason as to why he sang. It was merely on a whim; a soft song like this was a good company to the lonely night.

Fill my heart with song,

And let me sing forevermore.

You are all I long for,

All I worship and adore.

In other words, please be true!

In other words, I love you!

He sang softly as he made his way towards his sleeping quarters. He hummed and opened the door. Closing the door behind him, he changed his clothes and crashed onto the bed. A strong feeling of sleepiness assailed him. It was as though the moment he closed his eyelids, he’d be off to dreamland.

He remembered what he needed to do and resisted the urge to sleep. He weakly sat up cross-legged on the bed. Closing his eyes, he tried to focus. Old Man Ouyang had told him that the first step to sensing Qi is to meditate and focus. Only by emptying one’s mind of the worldly, can one sense the spiritual.

One minute.

Two minutes.

Ten minutes.

Half an hour!

The boy opened his eyes and frowned, clearly disgruntled.

He couldn’t get into that meditative state Old Man Ouyang mentioned. He closed his eyes and thought about what he was missing.

What does it mean to empty one’s mind? Is it to cease thoughts? To forgo thinking...? No. Then that would be having a lack of focus. I cannot see nor think about anything so I can’t focus on anything. Is it the emptiness I should focus on? Then would I not be thinking about the emptiness?

Swoosh!

The wind whistled outside. He opened his eyes and decided to not sweat it. He still had a few more days till the exhaustion became unbearable, so, he believed that he would find the answer within that time.

He listened to the whistling wind. As he kept on listening, the buzzing of insects and the hooting of owls reached his ears. Soon came the howling of wolves, the swaying of leaves, and the crackling of flames. He continued to listen with his eyes closed and soon, he forgot about himself, immersing in the sound of nature.

The flowing of rivers, the chattering noises of the people, the subtle breathing of sleeping fauna; everything that could and couldn’t be heard reached his ears. The more he listened to nature, the less rooted he felt. It felt as though he was merging with the world nay, nature itself!

After a few minutes, the sounds ceased. Yet, he still had his eyes closed. He no longer heard the noises but the familiar darkness of his closed eyes changed. There seemed to be a warm current in the air. It was extremely smooth and soft; it felt like air and at the same time, a thick liquid. It was as though someone had doused him in a pool of thick milk.

He understood after a minute or two that this was the Qi he so desperately wanted to feel. His body felt an instinctive pull towards the Qi around him. The scenery inside his mind was something he felt with his entire being. A sea of warm, smooth and flowing substance; however, there was something else. Inside this sea, there were colored wisps of light or light particles. They danced around him like faeries. The red ones felt extremely hot, the blue ones were gentle and conforming, the green ones were full of vitality, the brown ones hard and unyielding while the Kingsport ones were metallic.

Aside from these, there were five more as well. There were light green translucent ones that flew around like wind, icy blue ones that were cold, purple-silver ones that felt electrifying. But the most mysterious ones were the remaining ones. The transparent light particles would sometimes slow down, speed up or stop altogether. The remaining gray ones looked like it was glitching. It would stay still at one moment but be at another at the very next!

All these light particles danced and played around him. The boy was fascinated but didn’t forget to achieve what he wanted to do. Instinctively, he pulled the Qi towards him. The Qi came funneled towards him and entered his body. He felt Qi entering his every pore. Though he was feeling so, the Qi around started entering through the 107 acupoints excluding the Zhongmen acupoint on his glabella.

No matter how fascinated he might be, he would never lose sight of what he needed to do. The Qi entered his body and traveled throughout. The Qi felt like a warm current as it traversed, making him extremely comfortable. It could be likened to a mother’s embrace, not that he remembered.

The Qi roamed throughout his body, merging with his muscles, skin, and bones, nourishing them. His pale face regained its previously rosy appearance. The eye bags under his eyes healed. Soon, he was back to his previous self, more handsome and pleasing!

After the Qi finished wandering around in his body, they came together and converged in his abdomen. There was now a slight bit of Qi in his dantian.

After a while, the boy opened his eyes. His blue eyes were like the ocean surface reflecting sunlight, bright and sparkling. He let out a turbid breath of air. There was a slight smile on his refreshed face as he got up from the bed and looked outside the bed. It was twilight outside. The sun is about to right. Unknowingly, he had cultivated for an entire night.

But he was happy; for he had taken half a step into the world of Cultivation.