Chapter 2

" " = Talking

' ' = Thinking

* * = Action

When Zhang Qie got back into his optimum state his consciousness slowly started to shift, from being able to feel the cushion he was sitting on, or hear the murmurs of talking they gradually diminished, until only silence could be heard.

Once Zhang Qie 'opened' his eyes again all that he could see was a field of flames, the flames weren't aggressively moving, but had an uncanny sense of peacefulness surrounding them, they moved ever so slowly, like gentle ocean waves, this was his mind scape.

Every human had a mind scape, but not all humans could actually use them to their full potential, only those who could had the qualifications to be a cultivator.

Not only that but every mind scape was unique to an individual and could be changed due to major life altering events, way of life, and other factors. These changes affect the mind scape and you could form a sea of flames in your mind just as Zhang Qie did, but the flames would be slightly different.

These mutations in the mind scape are not only for cosmetic purposes. They also slightly effect how you should do your cultivation, in Zhang Qie's situation one way that would make his cultivation grow faster is by killing people, That's not to say that he can't cultivate in a normal fashion, it's just that it will be slower than if he used his preferred methods.

In his current situation Zhang Qie had no choice other than to cultivate slowly, not because he abhorred killing, but rather he was just too weak to even think about it.

In his past life Zhang Qie had killed an uncountable number of people to become the strongest, it came to a point where it became a sort of hobby to kill people. He didn't kill people that hadn't provoked him, but he would not hesitate to kill someone that provoked him the slightest amount, and now that his cultivation was gone it seemed that he would have to actively search for people to kill after he gained a little bit of strength.

After he drifted around in his mind scape for awhile and found nothing of interest in it he slowly came to a stop and tried to sense the base cultivation energy, ether.(not going to go into a in depth explanation on ether because it's literally just the base energy, nothing special about it.) After sometime he gradually felt a unique feeling, he felt like he was being embraced by soft clouds and it should have been quite an enjoyable experience, yet even though it should have been an enjoyable experience Zhang Qie was clearly frowning. He expected that the amount of ether in the air would be thin compared to the higher realms but only now did he truly understand the difference between the realms, he even wondered how he managed to get to a high enough cultivation to ascend in his past life. Of course this wouldn't discourage him, he was the strongest in the past and he knew a lot of tricks to speed up his own cultivation, mainly pill concoction, but he couldn't do that now, he didn't have money for ingredients and even if he had the ingredients he didn't have a cauldron to use. He would just have to kill more people when the time came than he initially thought.

Slowly ether gathered around Zhang Qie and entered his body, forming a gaseous cloud just below his heart. The ether would gradually condense and with enough time he would step into the cultivation world. The stage that he is in now is called the ether gathering stage, and while it does have stage in the name nobody actually considers it a stage in cultivation, it is more of a kick starter, letting you get a feel for absorbing energy. (I couldn't think of any other way to describe it so sorry, calling it a foundation would be misleading because in this stage literally nothing happens except feeling and absorbing a little amount of ether.)

Time passed and eventually he was jolted out of his mind scape due to an outside force. When he opened his eyes he saw a pair of golden eyes staring directly into his eyes, it was his sister, while she had the same eyes as him she also sadly inherited the average face of the family. She had black hair that went down to her upper back and a mild figure, while it seemed that she had potential for growth due to her youthful looks that was sadly a lie, she was over 20 years old and the only thing that would change now would be her temperament.

Zhang Feng: "Brother, what are you doing?"

She was concerned because while she was working when she looked towards her brother she saw him in only one position, she assumed that he must be studying very hard but when she got off work and went to get him she saw him in a trance like state.

Zhang Qie: "I was meditating. You should try it some time."

Zhang Qie calmly replied, and while it did make sense, she was still confused, after all what person stays for hours in one position, much less a person that is young. Still she did not question it, if her brother said that he was doing something then that was what he was doing, what right did she have to think otherwise.

Zhang Feng: "Ok, the next time you meditate I will join in."

While Zhang Qie was a little surprised at how quickly she accepted the idea, and went even further beyond the suggestion, he was happy. With this idea he would be able to give some hints to his sister while also not overly interfering with her self discovery. He was still doubtful that she would meditate, he thought she was just humoring him.

After the conversation they left the café and got into Zhang Feng's car, they quickly got home and had a light meal before they each went to their respective bedrooms. After Zhang Qie went into his bedroom he undressed until he was just in his boxers and laid down on his bed, after that he started to analyze what he did that day. Once he finished analyzing he slowly drifted off into sleep.