Qing Shan had settled himself into a nice routine this past week. He attended classes in the early morning, showed up for blacksmithing lessons with his new master in the late afternoon, and grabbed lunch with Bai in the evening. They had found a quaint little shop with absolutely amazing dumplings. Then at night, he would spend a few hours practicing with his KI. Nothing new or intensive, just the basic of enhancing the body.

It was slow going to familiarize himself with his lifeforce. He could feel how inefficient it was. When he coated his entire body he lost energy incredibly quickly. He didn't know how to focus it more precisely, he was merely saturating and pouring it everywhere. The energy seeped through his skin and was lost in the air. He needed to condense it more, to control it's flow and not let it escape from him.

From within his abdomen at the solar plex, he could feel a small core of energy. It was merely half the size of a nail, not even a marble, yet he could tell it was his Dantian, the center of his energy. Looking within him he could sense the tiniest of wispy strands flowing from it. He couldn't tell where they lead as they were too minuscule for his senses, but he noticed they shook and danced to the beat of his heart.

He had a vague hypothesis on how to improve his energy output, but even he didn't dare to carry out such a risky experiment on himself. Contrary to popular belief back home, he was not insane nor had a death wish.

Deep in meditation, he let his awareness flow through him, following along the movement of the energy. It's path and speed constantly changing as it traveled around his body. He merely had it churn within him and observed, not truly using up the energy for any purposes. It allowed him far more time to make out the details in comparison to the scant few minutes he could maintain it before he exhausted himself.

After an hour he stopped. His Ki levels were getting low and he didn't want to risk the chance of hurting himself in his excitement of learning. The words of his old caretaker echoed loudly.

'Sometimes you got to pace yourself if you want to win, life isn't a race kid, its a marathon.'

He went to sleep with a content smile on his face. It was a bit slow, but he was becoming more in attune with it day by day.

The morning had arrived a bit too early for Bai it appears. Her hair was an unruly mess, her cover had been kicked off and she was sprawled half off the bed. Her mouth was open and a trail of drool leaked out the side of her mouth. She clutched onto her new sword as if it was a teddy bear, snuggling it against her bosom.

Qing Shan had gone to get her after seeing she didn't show up for breakfast, something they always ate together. He had knocked on her door and called out to her, but to no avail, and so he decided to wake her up. Which was how he found himself staring at such a scene. Truly she was the definition of a tomboy, he could tell just by looking at her that she must've stayed up too late and spent the entire night playing with her new toy.

It was the most unladylike scene he has seen ever since he entered this world, and he couldn't help but snort in quiet laughter. Part of him wondered if he should prank her, but looking at how peaceful and content she was, not even he was so evil as to go through with it. He'll give her a free pass, just this once.

He struggled a bit to put her back on the bed, but after a few minutes, he had managed to tuck her back in with the cover over her. After all, even without much snow, it was winter and he didn't want her to get sick. He wiped her cheeks with his sleeves and closed the door.

Rolling out the room he gently closed the door behind him before heading towards the kitchen. Normally he did his best to isolate himself and not interact with any of the people here, servants or otherwise, and considering he barely saw even a shadow of his 'family' he'd say he did a good job, but this time he needed the staff to do something for him. Normally his breakfast and other necessities were merely dumped at his shack and he didn't mind. He would feel bad for Bai though.

It was the crack of dawn, and hardly anyone was up yet besides some servants working to prepare things for the Long family. He entered the kitchen and grabbed the attention of one of the workers, a young girl that was barely a preteen. She had her hair tied into two buns and soot covering her face.

"Ah! Young master! How can Lei Ping serve you today!" She was nervous and her words were awkward and loud considering he was merely a few feet away. The smoke from the fire she was attending too made her eyes watery and the dusk had smudged on her eyes from when she rubbed them. She looked like a small panda.

"You don't need to be so tense, Lei Ping, I'm not that scary am I?" He spoke softly and low as he saw how scared she look. She avoided eye contact with him and had her head hung low as if not daring to look at him in fear of being punished. Which was sadly a very real possibility as although they were called servants they were slaves in all but name.

"N-no Young master, I'm sorry Young master."

"No need to apologize. Anyways I came here because I had a request to make, could you tell the staff that I'd like another set of breakfast to be sent in my private quarters at 10? I have a friend who is sleeping inside the former servant's housing there. Make sure she eats please."

"Yes, Young master. Lei Ping will make sure to personally deliver it!"

She gave him an enthusiastic nod to show she understood his instructions. It seems his calm tone had made her more at ease as she could now at least face his general position.

"Thank you, I'll see you later Lei Ping."

He gave her a smile before heading towards school. Today would see the second round of his class fighting it. The first had ensured all of the weaklings and hopeless were weeded out, now it was time to pick out the more exceptional amongst the bunch. He had made to the entrance of the school when someone called out to him from behind.

"Hey, retard!" He turned around only to face an incoming kick from Ying Yue. Although her foot was dainty and her legs slender, the force of the blow was no joke. The sheer control and amount of Ki behind it made her pink shoe fall with the force of a sledgehammer as Qing Shan was sent flying backward. Even his reinforced wheelchair groaned and creaked from the impact.

'This brat, did she get even stronger?'

Although he couldn't match the other kids in pure physical strength, with his keen mind and diligent work ethics he was catching up in terms of Ki. Yet Ying Yue had easily plowed through his defenses like wet tissues!

"Hoh? So you blocked that, did you? Good! It's more fun when there is a struggle" She masked the great surprise she felt with a cocky grin, but she was shocked that he could react in time and even take one of her blows. She had been aiming to break one of his arms again like last time.

'How did this damn bastard improve so quickly?'

One had to remember that it wasn't that long ago that he was the weakest one in the entire school. No, even a peasant kid could've easily bullied him. Yet he had managed to stop one of her attacks head on without flinching. She wasn't the strongest one in the first years, but she wasn't far from it and was only growing stronger by the day. Thinking of how Qing Shan was actually so strong yet remained so low key made her blood boil as if all their taunts and actions before now was a joke to him. Like he was mocking her efforts.

'Just like back then'

With a venomous glare, she charged forward for another attack.

"Wow! I didn't think you were this scared of me!"

The sudden shout from Qing Shan not only stopped Ying Yue's mad charge because of the confusion but elicited murmurs from the other students who were near the entrance of the school.

"What? Scared? Why would I be scared of you?" the little girl scoffed at the mere idea. The others laughed at Qing Shan's idiotic words.

"If you weren't scared then why did you sneak attack me right before the second round of the tournament?"

Suddenly the waves of laughter stopped cold as his words resounded in their heads. That shouldn't be true, but the logic was there. Ying Yue not only ambushed him with his back turned but also had three followers behind her. Was she trying to eliminate competition? Even if not for herself, then securing a spot for her underlings? How despicable!

"I- What- Why you!" She spluttered as she felt the eyes of everyone on her. "You think I, Ying Yue, from the Yue family would need to resort to such underhanded means to beat a cripple like you?"

"Is that why you hit me from behind when we could've easily met in the ring? I see, as expected! The methods of the great Yue family are surely too complex for a simpleton like me to understand it seems." Although his tone was soft and polite his words were sharp and piercing. Implicating the prestigious reputation of the Yue family and her abilities in one go.

"Hmph! That was just a greeting. If you couldn't even block such a weak blow then you have no right to participate anyway. If I was to get serious I could beat you with ease!" She crossed her arms and let out a glare full of contempt at him.

He merely raised an eyebrow in amusement and an infuriating smirk.

"Oh? Is that so? Then how about a bet?"