Upon a desolate mountain located in the eastern reaches of the Long Tang Mountain range, inside a tidy courtyard with not even a speck of dust or stray leaves from the trees that existed just beyond its tiny, thin walls sat an unassuming boy who was currently in silent meditation with his eyes closed. He was akin to a statue as he remained unmoving in the gentle breeze of wind that was caressing him. His only movements were the rising and lowering of his chest as he breathed in a very slow and controlled pattern. Strangely, even inside the boy’s mind, there was not a single thought that passed by. This was Ip An.

As Ip An continued his meditation, the sky slowly began to turn from a calm blue to a lazy, dark shade of purple. Still, he remained in place. Suddenly, at this moment, Ip An grasped at a seemingly spiritual substance within his lower dantian. Upon discovering this, his face expressed a slight hint of surprise for the slightest moment.

However, Ip An’s expression returned to normal as he swiftly calmed his mind, body and spirit. Fortunately, he maintained his grasp and he slowly began feeling his way around this substance. With every breath, he discovered more and more of what had been burrowed deep within himself. A few moments later, he fully encompassed it with this new, very strange sense. It wasn’t anything he had experienced before.

This was Ip An’s inner qi.

After a whole month of arduous meditation, he had finally sensed it! Like a ghost, it had constantly eluded him no matter how focused and concentrated he had become. There were many moments of doubt and times where he felt like giving up and just doing something. But, he soon realised something. If he gave up so early like this how would he ever be able to face anything difficult in the future? How would he be able to have the courage to speak to his future self? This would be nothing in comparison to the things he imagined himself doing in the future.

Finally, he had gained the ability to sense his inner qi. The book he read called it spiritual sense, the exact same sense cultivators used to sense spiritual qi. Though, there was a slight difference between the two.

Ip An wasn’t done yet. He continued to familiarise himself with this new sensation and his inner qi in fear that he would suddenly forget and be forced to start all over again. That would not be pleasant. Once he became confident that he now had a temporary grasp on this new sixth sense, he opened his eyes. Right in front of him in the exact same lotus position as him, was Manzi. He was currently staring at him with a very odd glint in his eyes.

Seeing that Ip An had finished his meditation he began speaking in an almost envious tone.

“One whole month to grasp your inner qi? You’re not half bad monkey!” Manzi stroked his chin with crazed laughter. He gazed at Ip An as if he was an incredibly fascinating animal that had just performed a trick from him!

Hearing this praise from Manzi, his face turned a bright red as a very awkward smile formed.

With stiff laughter he humbly thanked Manzi. Inside, Ip An became very alarmed and exposed. How exactly did Manzi know this? He knew that he was awakened just by looking at him once, and somehow he knew that Ip An had grasped his inner qi just then. This made Ip An only want to know who Manzi truly was?

“How long had uncle been waiting for me?” Ip An asked embarrassingly.

“I had only arrived a few short moments ago!” Manzi answered with an innocent smile.

Hearing this, Ip An became confused. Only a few moments ago? Wouldn’t he have heard something then? How did he approach him without waking him up?

“Uncle, when I was meditating I did not hear you approaching at all! How could this be?” Ip An asked curiously.

“Haha!” Manzi laughed with all his white teeth showing, “Ever since I was a young teenager, I had always been light on my feet!”

Ip An knew that Manzi was most likely making excuses. But he would just have to accept that he was unwilling to reveal anything. As Ip An ate dinner shortly after, he noticed Manzi mumbling underneath his breath incessantly, having not touched his food in the slightest. After finishing another steaming white bun that he packed some rabbit meat into, a combination that had become his favourite over the past month, he asked, “Is uncle okay?”

When saying this, Ip An remembered what happened the last time he asked Manzi the same question. For a small instance, he tensed up, preparing himself for Manzi’s killing intent and a punch that both inevitably didn’t come.

Manzi lifted his eyes up from his plate of food and stared at Ip An with conflicted eyes for a few moments. He let out a sigh filled with dread while rubbing his temples with one hand, “It seems you have forced my hand. I didn’t expect an awakened to have such monster talent. One month to sense your inner qi? That is simply unheard of.”

Unheard of?

‘Could it be that I’m a genius?’, Ip An wondered. He couldn’t stop the corners of his lips from slightly curling into a tiny smirk.

Manzi’s voice became incredibly imposing as he stared at Ip An in the eyes, “I underestimated your talent monkey. As any sensible person would do in my position, I am going to have to make you disciple. But, I’m going to tell you this right now. Countless geniuses have grovelled at my feet, begging me to take them in as my disciple. Yet, I ignored them and even senselessly beat a few who had been a bit too persistent. In comparison to you, however, they are trash. Mere insects. If you become my disciple I can guarantee that your strength will become unrivalled, comparable to even peak qi condensation disciples in this very sect!”

Ip An was in disbelief, his small dissipating as his jaw slightly lowered, not fully accepting what Manzi just said. He was a genius? What made him a genius? He knew that in the past month, he had put in an immense amount of effort. He was proud of himself and was happy that he now was able to sense his inner qi, but he didn’t expect that what he did to be so extraordinary. Wasn’t he just ordinary?

At the same time, hearing that Manzi was potentially a remarkable person he became curious. It made a lot of sense. After all, why did he have a killing intent that could literally paralyse him? He had ignored this fact for the past month, knowing that directly asking about it wouldn’t get him any answers. But now, he had a chance to satisfy his curiosity and see what kind of hidden strength Manzi had. Additionally, an opportunity to learn under this man as a disciple, and not as a servant.

“Excuse me, but I have never seen Uncle’s strength before so I am feeling unsure. If Uncle could demonstrate some of his strength, then I will be able to feel at ease and come to a decision much faster. After all, deciding to come under a person’s tutelage is a life-changing decision that would heavily impact a person’s destiny is it not? Is this too difficult for Uncle to fulfil”, Ip An didn’t give immediately take in Manzi’s offer just yet?

He remembered that one of the five books he had learned to read back in The Fith-Step Village, was a story about an unassuming imperial scholar who would fight toe to toe with very influential and powerful figures over internal affairs. He ended up overcoming every single one of his opponents through sheer wits and became a legendary figure amongst the imperial court. However, in the end, he ended up on the wrong side of history and was slaughtered in a coup de tat by a rebelling prince.

Using what he saw the scholar did in this book, he cleverly enticed Manzi. Other than his grandfather, this very book was one of the reasons his speech was so refined for his age.

Manzi chuckled with a confident smile, “Alright, I’ll show you a bit of my power. You are quite fortunate, not many have witnessed my strength and lived to tell the tale.”

Manzi stood out of his seat and lead Ip An out the back of the house and to one of the mountain’s cliff faces that weren’t too far from their house. The cliff face was perpendicular to the ground, extending thousands of meters up into the air. Stacked in front of the cliff face were multiple humongous odd-shaped boulders and rocks.

Manzi stopped just short of the cliff face and delegated with a pondering expression before silently walking over to a boulder about the size of an adult mammoth. He raised his right hand in slow motion and then hit the grey boulder with a normal punch. For a couple of seconds, nothing happened and Ip An had doubts for an instant while he watched on with expectant eyes.

Suddenly, a crack formed down the middle of the boulder, with where Manzi punched as it’s origin point. Several cracks branched out from this crack and then several more cracks appeared from those ones in quick succession, this occurred with each and every crack that formed. All at once, the boulder collapsed both on the inside and outside, completely turning into dust.

Manzi then turned back to Ip An with a sly smirk, “Did you think nothing was going to happen for a second? Ha! What do you think? I’m happy to have you prostate yourself right now if you want!”

Ip An’s jaw completely dropped, his eyes bulging to the size of ripe fruit. Manzi had just turned a boulder into dust with seemingly the slightest bit of effort. This was going to be his master? Manzi was right! He was willing to drop onto the dirt right now and prostrate himself, worried that he would go back on his offer.

Ip An praised with a slight bow and cupped hands, “Uncle, I have no more doubts about Uncle’s strength. If you may, I wholeheartedly wish to learn from Uncle!”

Manzi gave a satisfied smile and immediately had Ip An perform three kowtows and a short initiation ceremony with him repeating a few words after him several times. And like that, it was completed.

“Now that you are my disciple, I guess I will have to excuse you from your chores and hire a servant again like I used to before you came. Go get plenty of rest tonight, you will be needing it tomorrow and every day thereon”, Manzi explained as he walked back with Ip An to the house with his hands behind his back.

“Yes, Master!” Ip An replied with pride, knowing that he had just gone under the tutelage of a profound master.