Jun Nee arrived for her shift, accompanied by Yin Zheng, who wanted to check up on his friend as well as give him the package he was holding in his hands. They found Wang Zen and Shibi, sitting alone. Shibi was curled into a ball besides Zen while he gazed out at the courtyard. There were shrubs and bushes that had bloomed into brightly coloured flowers. Planted in a way, as to welcome the viewer to walk deeper into the garden to the centre, where a rock garden was.

“Zen’er,” Yin Zheng said. “There you are!”

Zen looked back and offered them a half-hearted smile. “Hello guys.”

“Wang Zen, what’s wrong?” Jun Nee said, going to him and kneeling beside him.

Yin Zheng joined them by also sitting on the floor and setting the package he had been carrying aside.

Shibi, ooked a greeting but remained in his position, next to Zen.

“The Healer examined me.” He said.

“Oh?” Zheng said. “Good news?”

Zen shrugged. “She said she could perform an operation on me to heal my diantian.”

“That’s good!” Jun Nee said.

“But there is a 50% chance that it might fail.” Zen said. “And if it fails, I’ll die.”

Jun Nee gasped and put her hand in front of her mouth.

Yin Zheng looked down in sadness.

The three friends kept quiet for a while.

“There must be some way she can improve the odds.” Zheng broke the silence.

“There is.” Zen said. “We could wait until I’m 30 to complete the operation. That is when there will be the most chance for it to be a success.”

“Then that’s what you’ll do, right?” Jun Nee said.

“I don’t know. If I do that it means for over 10 years I’ll get weaker. Even if she is able to put a seal over my diantian that ensures that I do not lose too much energy, It still won’t change the fact that all my peers will move far ahead of me, cause I will not be able to cultivate.” Zen sighed in sadness.

“So what if they get ahead of you?” Jun Nee shouted.

This stunned the two boys as she rarely raised her voice at them

“They don’t matter, Zen’er! They don’t! Your life matters!” she said, her eyes growing shiny.

Zen smiled sadly and looked away from her to the garden. “But Jun Nee, I have goals that I need to achieve. Goals of my own. Goals I inherited from my father. And goals that my family needs me to achieve. All these goals will need power. Power that a 30 year old man, who has not cultivated since his teens will not be able to achieve.”

“But…” Jun Nee was about to say again.

Zheng raised his hand, to stop her from speaking further. She frowned at him as he shook his head sadly.

“Wang Zen, I understand.” He said. “Whatever you decide, Jun Nee and I will be here to support you.”

Zen smiled and nodded his thanks.

“Here, I brought you this.” Zheng said, placing the package he had been carrying at Zen’s feet.

Zen looked at the package in wonder. “What’s this?”

“Open and find out,” Zheng smirked.

Zen pulled the string holding the package together, allowing it to open like a flower opening in the morning.

“Zen’s fighting clothes.” Shibi said.

Jun Nee was startled at this. “Sh-Shibi can talk?”

Zen nodded. “He doesn’t do it in front of everyone. He must really trust all three of us now.” Zen smiled. He lifted the brown shirt up. “You actually brought me new ones.”

“Yes, I told you I would.” Zheng said. “Your old ones looked so tattered. It was obvious they had been through some intense battles, so I brought you new ones.”

“Thank you, my friend.” Zen smiled at him.

Jun Nee silently wiped tears away.

“I better go take my medicine before my mother has a fit.” Zen said with smile. “Thank you, both of you.”

He got up and left, with Shibi following, leaving Zheng to comfort Jun Nee.

Zen saw Ding Wu standing in the courtyard. He was chewing a piece of barley with his hands in his pockets.

Zen made his way to him, careful not to spill the bitter medicine brimming his cup.

“Ding Wu!”

“Master Wang!” Ding Wu said, turning to him. “Are you okay? I can imagine you would need some time alone after the news you got.”

Zen nodded. “Ding Wu, if you were in my shoes, what would you do?”

Ding Wu scratched his head. “I’m not sure, Master Wang. The problem here is I’m not in your shoes and I can’t imagine what you must be feeling. Hmm… but, if I could guess. If I could apply your situation to me. I was born to a very poor mother and I have no father. My mother died early in my life and I had to run with unsavoury types just to get by, that is until Yin Bhiki found me and offered me a job with your family.

That meeting and my ability in a fight got me to where I am now. It got me off the streets to a more stable life. And now… even Yin Bhiki is gone”

He took out the single piece of barley he was chewing and twirled the chewed stem between his fingers, while watching the head spin, “sometimes I feel like I can rely only on myself. So if something happened that threatened my ability and some healer said that they could heal me but there was a chance I would die, I would not hesitate. I would take it. But that’s because I’d have no choice.”

Ding Wu looked at Zen and smiled.

“But you have a choice, Master Wang. You have an amazing support structure around you. People you can lean on in tough times. And those who really care about you would not hold your choice against you. If you chose safety over power, I and many others would still be here for you. If you chose to take the risk, we would be there, hoping that you make it out okay.” Ding Wu laughed. “Listen to me, I’m rambling. Not sure if I helped.”

Zen smiled and nodded, “Thank you, Ding Wu, you did.”

Wang Zen and Shibi made their way to Wang Lin’s office. When he opened the door he found his mother and Jao talking. They both kept quiet as he entered.

“Son, how are you?” Wang Lin said.

“I’m still fine, Mommny.” He said. “Just as I was fine when you asked me an hour ago.”

“Boy,” Jao began, “We were talking about what we are going to do. We should wait until you are 30. That way we don’t waste all that money on something that could fail. In the meantime, we’ll keep renewing that seal on you diantian, so you lose even less power over the years.”

“I thought this was my decision to make.” Zen said.

“It is, ZenZen.” Lin said.

“But you have to be practical,” Jao said. “You’ll need…”

“No!” Zen said. “I am making the decision!”

Jao scowled and twisted his face in anger.

Zen turned to his mother. “I want to go through with it.”

“What?” Jao said, rising to his feet. “Do you know how money…”

“Father!” Lin said, looking at her father with serious eyes.

Jao sighed and closed his mouth.

“Leave us be, Father. I want to talk to my son alone.”

Jao began making his leave. “Yes, talk some sense into him, Daughter.” He said as he left and closed the door behind him.

Lin’s expression softened. “ZenZen, are you sure about this?”

Zen nodded. “Yes, I want to do it.”

She rose to her feet and embraced him, hugging him close to her chest.

“You know you don’t have to, right?” she said, her voice shaking and her eyes shining with tears. “You don’t need to be afraid of getting weak. Because I am here. I will be your strength when you are weak, just as I would be your eyes if you could not see, or your ears if you could not hear. I would be anything you need to get by, son. Because I am your mother. I would do anything for you because I love you.”

“I know, Mom.” He said. “But… I still want to. For myself.”

She nodded, tears falling from her face and into his hair. “Alright, son. It is your decision. I’ll be there for you. We all will.”

They separated. Wang Lin wiped the tears from her eyes and smiled at her son.

“Now, let’s get the healer ready.”