Flipping onto his hands, he commenced his morning workout routine: one hundred pushups, one hundred sit-ups, and one hundred bridges, followed by post-workout full-body stretching. Once done with that, he pulled his legs into a crisscross. Then closing his eyes and sitting with good posture, he attempted to cultivate "Monkey King qi".

"Monkey King qi" was a type of qi that gave its user the ability to manifest a monkey tail with all of the benefits that come with that. It wasn't something Wu Niu particularly wanted, but he would take whatever he could get at this point.

***

Hours had passed, and the sun had moved out from behind the mountain. The color of the sun changed from the dawning yellow of before to a more neutral mid-day white. Many other things in the environment had also changed since dawn, but the Wu Niu remained unchanged. He sat there, completely still.

-About what I was expecting

After all of that time of Wu Niu trying to cultivate his qi, he failed to absorb even a single drop of Yin-Yang energy.

Ever since Wu Niu had reached the "Half-Purity" body tempering stage, he had been trying to cultivate his qi, but as far as he could tell, he was completely incapable of cultivating any Yin-Yang energy.

His father told him that when fledgling practitioners reached the "Half-Purity" body tempering stage, they would be able to cultivate at least small amounts of Yin-Yang energy, but for whatever reason, no matter what cultivation method he used, not a single drop of Yin-Yang energy could ever be absorbed.

It was normal for many people to have a hard time when cultivating Yin-Yang energy, especially if their souls were weak. At least in their cases, they could still cultivate a tiny bit.

When one cultivates their qi, no matter how talentless they may be, a grey incorporeal flame always engulfs the one cultivating, as it absorbs the surrounding Yin-Yang energy and converts it into qi. For whatever reason, there was no such flame when Wu Niu cultivated.

Nobody but him knew of this problem as he kept it to himself. He was very worried about what people may think were they to know that he couldn’t cultivate.

To the Wu Family, Wu Niu was there prized genius who was going places because of his dedication to the Martial Arts at such a young age. Everyone, more or less, assumed that he was going to have a naturally strong soul. Not to mention the strength of a soul is partially hereditary, and Wu Niu’s mother had an abnormally strong soul for Wu family standards.

He had read every cultivation book within the Wu Family estate and had tested every single cultivation method in those books, to zero results. It had even gotten to the point where he had now shaven his head bald so that he could try the "Wise Sage of The Monkey King" cultivation method. Of course, that too was a bust.

-Am I really this talentless? Should I…?

Wu Niu glumly glared at his open palm. After a moment of hesitation, he tightly clenched his fist and then scowled with a renewed determination.

-No! Even if they tell me I have a weak soul, and that I'll never be capable of becoming a practitioner, I won't give up! Who cares if I don't have qi? I only need to train harder and improve my body tempering!

Tilting his head up to the sky, he yelled out, as loud as possibly could.

"You hear that! No one will tell me what I can and can't do! Got it!"

"Brother Niu, who are you yelling at?"

The girlish voice startled Wu Niu, caught midst a humiliating outburst. Searching for the source of the voice, he spotted at the base of the mossy boulder his 10-year-old sister, Wu Mei.

Wu Mei was considerably more well featured, then her brother Wu Niu. With black braided pigtails that exuded childishness and clothed in a pink hanfu, she was about as close as it got a fully-fledged girly girl.

With a pout, Wu Mei shouted out to the Wu Niu.

"Brother Niu, father said you need to go back to the estate for the soul tests today."

Having had completely forgotten what day it was, Wu Niu called out with a wide smile.

"Oh yeah! Thanks, sis!"

Scoffing with repulsion, Wu Mei turned around and skipped away. She doesn't like her older brother, Wu Niu, for some reason unbeknownst to him.

-She probably thinks I'm embarrassing. But, I don't really care.

Jumping to his feet, Wu Niu began climbing down the side of the mossy boulder. Arriving halfway, he let go and fell the rest of the way down.

Joyously smiling, Wu Niu turned to the dirt path lined with smooth stones and leisurely sauntered upon it. Small gaps between the tree let the morning light pierce through, as pink tree leaves fell with the grace of a feather.

Today was the yearly festival, where the kids who reached 12 years of age would have the strength of their souls tested for all to see. It was a yearly event that the Wu family did to see which kids were most fit to become practitioners.

-I wonder how strong my soul will be!

"I can't—"

Wu Niu’s smile quickly faded.

"wait."