Just a short moment after Dong Xin yelled “Come out!”, William saw a foot, then a whole leg, and finally the person attached to it come flying out of the doorway as it exploded in splinters. Dong Xin blocked the kick with his staff, though he moved back… gracefully.

“Who’s old?” The new figure half yelled. He was now standing outside the house, and continued his rant. “I’m barely sixty! Unlike you…” Dong Xin coughed and his eyes gestured toward William. William’s grandfather turned to look at him, stopped talking for a moment, then continued. “Hey kid, which of us looks older to you, huh?”

William wasn’t sure if he should answer honestly, however… Dong Xin, while he looked middle aged, had not a speck of grey in his hair. Yu Jian’s beard was quite grizzled, and his hair was almost purely grey. “Umm…”

William’s grandfather frowned. “Is it actually that hard to decide? Look at that guy’s wrinkles!”

“Look at yourself, old fart,” Dong Xin interjected.

Yu Jian looked down at his hands. “What are you… oh. I sure do look pretty old now, hmm.”

“Of course. How do you expect to stay young and healthy cooped up in a shed? Not even taking time to see your own grandson.”

“Grandson?” Yu Jian tilted his head. “I don’t want to see any of my grandsons. They’re all stupid.”

“You don’t even want to see Zhan Huiling’s son?”

“Hmph! Of course I do, but I have to wait two more years or…” Yu Jian spun around. “It’s you isn’t it?” He sighed deeply, then smiled. William felt that this smile felt like a real grandfather. Unfortunately the smile quickly faded. “Unfortunately I shouldn’t see you or I might do something stupid like what happened with your sister. Go on your way.”

William was going to ask what happened with his sister, but Dong Xin spoke up first. “Old fart, I know how you feel about that, but in this case it shouldn’t matter. You should have realized it by now, unless you’ve gone senile?”

Yu Jian turned toward Dong Xin. “Noticed what? Why did you bring him here anyway, you know what happened before, how I couldn’t help but try to use my ki to… ki…” He swivelled back towards William. “Ki. Aren’t you eight?” He turned his head toward Dong Xin. “Did I lose two years somewhere?” He turned back toward William. “No, you definitely look eight.”

“I was indeed born eight years ago.” William thought it felt weird to say it that way, but it felt like lying to say that he was eight years old. Not that it was something that would have been incorrect to say, either… but William still usually chose to say how long ago he was born, instead of “how old” he was.

Yu Jian pointed a finger at William, then swivelled until it was pointing at Dong Xin. “Did you have something to do with this?”

Dong Xin shrugged. “I just taught him how to use the staff. He could already use ki.”

William’s grandfather turned back toward him. “How did you learn to use ki?”

William shrugged. “From my sister. Then from the library.”

William’s grandfather started spinning in circles with his arms up in the air. He seemed frustrated, and trying to say something, and face William and Dong Xin at the same time. While William found his humorous, he thought it was probably bad to let his grandfather lose such dignity in front of him, so he moved over until he was standing next to Dong Xin. His movement also seemed to shock his grandfather into proper speech. “I didn’t… I didn’t tell her! How could she even know!” He held his face in his hands. “Still though, nothing should have happened. How did it happen?”

It seemed that William was actually being asked the question, so he explained. How he concentrated, following the thinking patterns of the beginning cultivation method, and then just fell into his spiritual sea, somewhat naturally.

Yu Jian shook his head. “And it just worked? It shouldn’t have done anything. Not at eight…”

“Well, I was six at the time.”

Yu Jian almost fell over in shock. “Six?” He looked to Dong Xin, who nodded. “Six?” he muttered. “That shouldn’t be possible.”

William shrugged. “It just happened.”

Dong Xin smiled. “The kid’s something of a genius, after all.”

Yu Jian shook his head. “You know that isn’t enough. You have to be old enough, or it just doesn’t work. If you try to force it… you get something like what happened to his sister.”

This time, William took the opportunity. “What did happen to my sister? She seems quite healthy, after all.”

Yu Jian sighed, and looked regretful. “I was so excited to have a granddaughter. She could talk at just two years old… she was so smart. I thought, maybe she could learn ki. I taught her the method… but nothing happened. She couldn’t sense any ki.” He shook his head again. “I thought that maybe… just adding a little ki would give her a boost, letting her start ahead of everyone else.” His voice grew stern. “It doesn’t work. I knew it shouldn’t work, but I was blinded by stupidity. Instead, it just ruined her future. She won’t be able to achieve much of anything in cultivation. I ruined a bright future.”

William nodded. “That is pretty unfortunate, but she’s still quite smart. I mean, it barely took anything for her to learn magic. Her future should be fine.” William looked at the expression on his grandfather’s face, but couldn’t interpret it. He looked to Dong Xin for help, but also saw that he looked somewhat stunned. “What? Do you not believe she’s smart?” William thought over what he said. Had he somehow used the wrong words? “Ohhhhh. Is it too late to pretend I don’t know what I’m talking about?”

Of course, it was far too late for that. Otherwise, William would have just shut up and attempted to look puzzled.

William’s grandfather spoke first. “Magic, is it?” He raised an eyebrow.

Dong Xin nodded to himself, but stayed silent with a contemplative look on his face.