Yun Tian excitedly opened the door of his room and walked in. Unaware of what he made happen with his words to Shen Yu, he sat down on his bed and prepared to start cultivating once again. He really liked the feeling of cultivation and wanted to make his parents happy with his cultivation progress so he read the cultivation manual once again looking to find the way to complete the first layer of the Meridian Opening Realm.

‘So, to fully complete the first layer I have to completely open my acupoint and subsequent meridians until they no longer enlarge and absorbing qi is completely natural. Qi has to be naturally drawn to my body.’

‘Oh! As an after effect of the qi in your body, your strength would grow to be as great as the strength of three average men. Woah! So I can become really strong just by completing the first layer! How strong can I become if I complete the entire Meridian Opening Realm!?’

Anticipating his huge increase in strength, he put the book down and began cultivating. His mind was entirely focused on cultivating. He barely felt the time pass by as he kept on absorbing slightly larger strands of qi each time he went through a circulation of drawing in qi.

‘Ah, I can just feel myself getting stronger! I bet I could even pick up Yu with no problems now! I wonder if I’m faster than her too!?’

Feeling a good amount of time had passed, he opened his eyes and saw that the burning incense was close to going out.

‘Mom said to stop cultivating after two hours, but I feel like I can keep going for a long time still. I really don’t want to stop too...’

He felt quite tired actually, but for the first time, he felt like going against his parents words for the first time in his life so that he could make them happy.

‘If I can make quick progress I know it will make Mom and Dad really happy like they were earlier. And I really feel like I can do more and I really want to. Sorry Mom, just this once.’

So even at night while being tired from lack of sleep and feeling drained from being focused while cultivating for so long he kept on cultivating. He could feel himself getting stronger and his meridians being saturated with qi. Especially as he kept on cultivating he felt the process getting easier and more natural for him.

Eventually he stopped as he opened his eyes and thought, ‘Woah! I am so tired.’

He had in fact cultivated for a total of around four and a half hours, over double the time his mother had told him to. He didn’t know this as the sun wasn’t up and the incense his mother gave him was his only way to tell the time, but it had long gone out. So, he could only stop since he was just too tired thinking, ‘I hope I made good progress!’

Then he laid down on his bed and fell asleep right away.

He woke up the next day feeling more full of energy than ever before.

He stood up and walked outside his room before entering the garden where he found Shen Yu waiting.

She saw him walking over and ran to him saying: “You got up late today!”

They usually got up very early in the morning, but Yun Tian got up late today as he had cultivated late into the night, but he also didn’t sleep for too long as his body was already greatly changing since he started cultivation. He didn’t know it as his parents hadn’t told him this, but as you cultivated and grew stronger you would need to sleep less and less.

Yun Tian, replied sheepishly, “I was working hard cultivating last night and went to sleep later than usual. It's not my fault.”

He just remembered, ‘I usually spend time with Yu after dinner and in the morning.’

Shen Yu was upset for a moment, but only said, “Fine, but you still have to play with me.”

He replied, “Why wouldn’t I? But then his eyes suddenly sparkled as he said, “Oh, let me try something!”

After that, under Shen Yu’s confused and surprised eyes, Yun Tian walked closer and actually picked her up seemingly as if it was easy for him.

Shen Yu said, “Woah! How are you so strong!?”

Yun Tian replied with a smirk, “Cultivation!” but he was also slightly feeling the pressure of holding her. His strength had increased, but he had only been a normal young boy yesterday and he only spent a single night cultivating. Their bodies were around the same size and his frame was quite skinny, almost like a scholar. Still it wasn’t too hard for him to hold her up.

He put her down and at the same time his mother walked into the courtyard before saying with a smile, “It seems your cultivation went well.”

Yun Tian nodded and said, “Good morning mom!”

Shen Yu didn’t say this as she had already greeted her mother a little bit ago.

Liu Qing then said, “Alright, breakfast is ready. Let’s go eat.”

Both Shen Yu and Yun Tian assented and followed behind their mother to go eat.

It was just the three of them as their father, Yun Peng had already left to go do some stuff for the clan. After they finished eating, Liu Qing said, “Alright Yu’er we can go out now then.”

Yun Tian was confused as he asked, “Where are you two going?”

Shen Yu spoke first, “Me and Mom are going shopping since you are going to be busy cultivating.”

Hearing this, Yun Tian was a little jealous and wanted to go with, but as he saw Shen Yu’s smile he didn’t say anything.

‘Whatever. I can cultivate yet she can’t. Mom should be trying to cheer her up.’

Liu Qing smiled seeing him not say anything and patted his head.

She said, “Don’t go overboard cultivating. Your father might not be back anytime soon and I plan to stay out for a while with Yu. So, a servant will bring meals here at the usual times.”

Shen Yu then ran up to him and hugged him before saying: “See you when we get back!”

Yun Tian nodded and wore a bright smile as he saw them off. They left through the hallway and then out the front entrance.

Suddenly, Yun Tian felt a little… empty and even a little anxious. He was almost six years old, but he had spent nearly all of his entire life accompanied by someone, except when he went to sleep.

Especially Shen Yu, they were basically inseparable even sleeping together when they were younger. It was only when he became three years old that their parents made them sleep in separate rooms.

This was the first time in his life that he would be spending a long time, almost a whole day most likely, with none of them by his side.

He calmed himself thinking, ‘Well I guess I should go cultivate.’

He went back to his room and sat on his bed.

He took the book his parents left him and looked through it once more naively thinking, ‘If I complete the first layer by my birthday, I wonder how surprised Mom and Dad would be?’

With that, he sat down once again and started absorbing qi.

‘With each cycle of qi I am drawing in more and more qi!’

He continued drawing in the qi around him for a good three hours before he took a break. He was quite tired from focusing for so long, but he felt the process was not as much of a strain as yesterday.

After stopping, he laid on his bed and just did nothing. His mind was empty, he was basically meditating. He had learned from the book that the best way to rest between cultivation sessions was just to let your mind rest and do nothing. Meditating was the perfect way to do this.

He did this for around half an hour and then once again started cultivating again. This time it was only for around an hour though. He looked out the window of his room and estimated the time. After this, he got up and left to the table they ate at.

Waiting for him was a recently prepared meal that he quickly ate. Instead of going back to his room, he decided to cultivate in the open air of the garden. He sat down under the tree in the middle and felt it was much better to sit out here with the fresh breeze and flowers around him.

His day went by while he either cultivated or rested. When it got late at night, his mother came home with Shen Yu.

The two of them came into the garden and Yun Tian stopped cultivating. He stood up and received Shen Yu’s hug as she came running in.

After letting go, Shen Yu laughed and started to tell him about all the things she bought with their mother while shopping.

They talked for a while and then his mother who had been sitting near them said, “Alright Shen Yu, time to go to bed. Let me talk with Tian for a moment.”

Shen Yu looked like she didn’t want to leave just yet, but still obediently left as she thought about why she couldn’t cultivate yet. Before she left though, she and Yun Tian wished each other goodnight.

It was just Yun Tian and his mother left in the garden as he asked, “What did you want to talk about Mother?”

Liu Qing smiled as she looked at her cute son and became serious as she asked, “How was your cultivation today?”

Talking about this Yun Tian’s face lit up as he said, “It went great. I think I am making great progress. I feel so much stronger already.”

Liu Qing was still a little worried as she asked, “You didn’t find it boring or anything did you?”

‘Huh what is Mother talking about?’

He replied, “No, I love the feeling I get while cultivating!”

His mother breathed a sigh of relief.

But then he tilted his head as his mood dropped a little, “Well, I did miss spending time with Shen Yu though.”

Liu Qing shook her head as she stood up and walked over. She rubbed his head as she said, “You can spend time with Yu’er whenever you want. Cultivating is great and it seems you love doing it, but like anything else it is not the only thing you do in your life or even just the only thing you do all day. While me and your Father hope for you to achieve great things in your cultivation. You can still do other things and have fun everyday. What me and your Father want most is for you to be happy.”

She then added, “Besides you shouldn’t overdo cultivation all the time. It is something that requires great effort but is also something you should do in moderation. You need to rest and clear your mind every now and then. Ah! For example, don’t me and your Father spend lots of time with you two? We spend a lot of time cultivating but make sure to make time for the two most important things in our lives, the two of you.

“As for Shen Yu though, she won’t be bored or lonely as she will also start cultivating soon enough and until then she will also be doing some other chores so she will also be busy. You don’t have to worry about her and can just do whatever you want. She might not have time to play around either.”

Yun Tian sank into his thoughts for a moment and tried to digest everything his mother said. It was a lot and he had a lot of conflicting feelings in his heart.

‘I love cultivating. But I also want to spend time with Yu, Mom, and Dad. Hmmm.’

He racked his brains and eventually decided, ‘I will just focus hard on cultivating but also do my best to spend time with them.’

He brightened up and hugged his Mom saying, “Thanks Mom.”

The two of them wished each other, “Goodnight,” before he went to his room to cultivate a little more and then went to sleep.