The man cleared his throat, “Excuse my behaviour from before. I was just testing you.”

“Uncle was testing me?” Ip An repeated those words in extreme fascination, emphasising his use of the word ‘uncle’ very heavily to try and pretend as if hadn’t just gone off on the man in frustration just earlier.

“I was incredibly disappointed. You froze up the second I used even a slither of my killing intent”, the man complained as if Ip An was a faulty product, “It had been years since I had seen someone with awakened Inner Qi, and it just had to be some scrawny kid from out in the sticks? I would rather be living with a monkey right now.”

The man crossed his arms, giving Ip An a hostile look. Ip An’s heart skipped a beat, and he felt a hit to his self-esteem and pride at the man’s criticism.

“Though I guess I can excuse this since you came here with some very nice books indeed”, the man patted the small stack of books laying on the table very sensationally. These were the books that Ip An had brought from the Sect’s library when he was with the long-faced man.

“What is your name?”, the man asked while slightly turning his head. His eyes were still partially focused on the books on the table, treating them like priceless treasures.

“Ip An”, he answered with a clear voice, “What is Uncle’s?”

“You need not know my real name”, the man informed, “Call me Manzi.”

“Yes! Uncle Manzi”, Ip An shouted with enthusiasm.

“Good”, Ip An calling his name brought a pleasant smile to his face, “However before you settle in here. I want to make some things very clear. From now on, you will be doing all the chores around here. Secondly, you are to not enter my room without my permission. And most importantly, you will listen to everything I say, and do it, no matter what it is. Is that clear?”

Ip An nodded vigorously, afraid to make Manzi think otherwise.

“Good. Now follow me so I can show you what you’ll have to be doing every day from now on”, Manzi stood out of his seat, signalling for Ip An to follow. In the time it would take to finish a meal, Manzi led Ip An around and outside the house, telling him everything he would have to do. But by the end of it all, Ip An could feel that Manzi’s attitude towards him was similar to that of a mere chore boy. Not a Bloody Path Sect Disciple.

After, as Ip An had an awfully silent dinner with Manzi, consisting of some fresh cooked rabbit, rice and vegetables, he thought with careful consideration about what he was going to do with his time.

Since he was unable to cultivate, he decided he would practice mortal martial art techniques instead. Unlike cultivation, anyone could practice them! That’s when Ip An had an idea. Cultivators are beings that dedicate their whole lives to transcending their mortal form. Therefore, they should be very knowledgeable on all matters concerning the human body.

That’s why he asked the oddly kind and very talkative long-faced man, named Li Shufen, about inner qi and awakening. Plus, after hearing what he had to say he became incredibly excited to start learning. Li Shufen explained that inner qi existed in every single living organism, big or small. It was even present in even the tiniest blades of grasses! Though in extremely miniscule amounts. Inner qi could be utilised to perform supernatural feats such as jumping over buildings with a single leap and breaking boulders with a single punch. This explained why Ip An had suddenly gained such raw strength and speed when he had fought Huang Shu.

However, he was confused as to why he suddenly lost these supernatural abilities once he had defeated Huang Shu. During his journey to Peerless Cliff City, no matter how hard he tried, focused or willed it to happen, he wasn’t able to replicate what happened at the temple. He used this opportunity to also ask why this had happened.

Hearing this, Li Shufen gave a small chuckle as if what Ip An had just said was a funny joke. Ip An became confused but Li Shufen quickly explained that in order to be able to consciously use inner qi, he would have to spend many gruelling years learning how to sense and manipulate it. He had only been able to use his inner qi because he was in a life or death battle. He had subconsciously manipulated his inner qi in order to help him escape death.

As for Ip An’s awakening, Li Shufen was pleasantly surprised when he realised he had awakened. Essentially, a person would awaken when their life energy was roused by an external force. This usually involved being in a life or death battle, but could also be caused by other things in extremely rare cases.

Once a person awakens, their connection to their life energy and inner qi would significantly increase. Their life energy would also increase, usually allowing them to live past one hundred years of age as they would become impervious to disease and illness. But in rare cases like Ip An, who underwent an awakening during a period of growth their life energy would also have a higher capacity in the future, increasing future potential.

In addition to these things, Ip An learnt a few things about cultivators. Firstly, the depth of one’s cultivation could be split into five stages: Qi Condensation, Foundation Establishment, Core Formation, Nascent Soul and finally Celestial Transformation. Qi condensation consisted of twelve layers. While every other stage consisted of an early, mid, late and peak stage. All representing a person’s progression through that stage.

The Bloody Path Sect, for example, had several thousand qi condensation disciples, several hundred foundation establishment disciples, a dozen core formation elders and one nascent soul ancestor. As for Celestial Transformation cultivators, there were none.

As for realms that existed above Celestial Transformation. No one knew what they were or if they even existed at all. It was merely speculated that those of even higher cultivation layers had already ascended to a higher realm.

After finishing his dinner, Ip An retired to his room and as soon as his head hit the bed, he fell to sleep. The next morning, he began his chores like Manzi ordered him to. He tended and maintained the backyard garden, cleaned the house with a wet rag using water from a nearby pond and a duster and then swept dust off of a small, stone-tiled courtyard to the side of the house using an old, wooden broom.

And by the time he was done, it was almost noon. With sweat beading down his forehead, he stripped naked and jumped into the pond that he had taken water from. He let out many blissful moans, relishing in the satisfying feeling of having done all his work. After several minutes, he hesitantly left the pond as if he was leaving the embrace of a long lost lover.

He patted himself dry with a towel and then reclothed himself with a new pair of robes that were the same exact red and white as the ones he had received from Yu Zhedong. Strangely, Manzi had several dozens of pairs of robes all in varying sizes in a tiny closet in one of the hallways. But it was very convenient!

Now that he had done all his work and had cleaned himself he began reading the books he had borrowed at the dinner table. There were three books in total, “Immortal Matters in the State of Xiang Province”, “Elementary Fighting Arts”, and “Insights of Inner Qi”. Ip An was only given three books to borrow. So, he only borrowed the most necessary things. A book that helped him understand the world of cultivation. A book on manipulating and using inner qi, with some additional basic techniques he could practice. Finally, a book that taught him basic fighting stances and moves.

Ip An read in relative silence until sunset, reading each word with focus, trying to intake as much information as possible. He was determined to make the most out of these books. Then he had dinner. Though this time Manzi said he was quite pleased with him as he had done all the chores with no complaints or resistance. This made Ip An feel a bit of pride in his work. After, he fell asleep.

In this manner, one week flew by. During this time, he read both “Insights of Inner Qi”, and “Immortal Matters in the State of Xiang Province”, twice, and “Elementary Fighting Arts” once. Ip An gained some decent insight into the State of Xiang’s current immortal affairs. And he had finally understood how inner qi worked quite thoroughly and what he had to do in order to learn how to manipulate it to his will.

With this, Ip An the following day after he completed all his chores, instead of reading, had actually taken the bamboo mat from his room and chose a shady spot to sit down in the side courtyard. Once he was settled, he began breathing very slowly.

“Before learning how to manipulate my inner qi, I first have to learn how to sense it. Fortunately, I have awakened so this process should be slightly easier than it would be for other people. As long as I put in the time, effort and dedication I should succeed. Let’s begin”, Ip An silently thought to himself as he began slowing his breath.

In order to sense his inner qi, he would have to basically unlock a sense that he didn’t even know existed. Fortunately, the book “Insights of Inner Qi” , listed techniques employed by nearly every single mortal martial artist when trying to first discover their inner qi.

However, if an outsider saw Ip An trying to do this, they would shake their head many times. They would say what Ip An had to do first was condense a baseline of inner qi over the course of a few years so that he actually had something to sense. He couldn’t just condense inner qi for a couple of months and then start trying to sense it. It would be akin to grasping at small threads with a blindfold on. But, if he condensed inner qi for several years, it would go from grasping at threads to grasping at a small piece of rope. There was a massive difference!

Yet, when they realised that Ip An had already awakened, their eyes would turn red in jealousy!

Ip An’s awakening had caused a small thread of inner qi to condense. This seemingly insignificant tiny thread of inner qi had actually saved him potentially several years of pain. This was the reason he was so excited to start cultivating earlier. He had such a massive jumpstart compared to everyone else!

From noon till sunset, all Ip An did was breath in and out at a slow pace while performing meticulous introspection, trying to grasp at his inner qi. Yet, by the time Manzi entered the courtyard, calling him for dinner, he hadn’t even the slightest clue if he had done the right thing. Had he progressed or had he ended up taking a step back? It was a very straining thing to do, especially when he was just ten years old. But his determination was too strong for him to give up any time soon.