Power of Qi

Li Zian huffed and used the sleeve of his black robe to wipe the sweat off his face.

'Only three more forms left…'

It had been five years since Li Zian broke through to the Qi Condensing Realm and begun to learn the Rainfall Sword Technique.

When he first received the technique, he assumed that it would be easy to learn- he just had to remember the correct movements and flow and control of qi.

But boy was he wrong. It was far more difficult than he initially believed. He felt stupid looking back on how naïve he had been.

The Rainfall Sword Technique is one of the best three techniques in the entire Li family for a reason.

The technique revolves around the transformation of qi into water qi, fluid motion and overwhelming strikes.

Techniques like the Azure Dragon Blade involved transforming qi into blue sword qi that was extremely heavy and carried singular, powerful strikes.

But the Azure Dragon Blade's qi transformation was much easier to control, as it simply involved transforming all the qi into a mass of powerful sword qi that covered the sword.

But the Rainfall Sword Technique was much more difficult- it involved the transformation of water qi, but the water qi didn't coat the sword but instead hover around the blade.

Thousands of individual water qi droplets that each had to be controlled.

The Azure Dragon Blade's technique was like controlling a single sword. The Rainfall Sword Technique was like controlling a thousand swords.

But the difficulty of this sword technique also had a bonus- its power. Each droplet carried the power of a single sword, and when there were hundreds of thousands of droplets it was completely overwhelming.

Li Zian was satisfied and slid his sword into it sheathe. The trees he had cut down began to regenerate, and he left the woodlands area back towards the villa.

During these past five years, he had been training vigorously every day. He woke up at six in the morning, ate his breakfast, bathed, changed clothes and then began to cultivate as eight o'clock in the morning.

He cultivated for six hours, and at two o'clock in the afternoon he finished and took a one-hour break.

Then, at three o'clock, he made his way to the woodlands where he would practice his sword techniques for another four hours until it was seven o'clock in the evening.

He gazed beyond the walls towards the sun the hung extremely low, barely peaking over the stone brick wall.

The sky was rapidly darkening, and nature was quiet this late in the evening.

He entered the house that was also quiet.

'Father must still be out...'

His father spent more time outside the villa grounds recently and seemed quite stressed.

His mother was also out of the villa recently, and he only saw them when he woke up and went to bed.

Despite being a cultivator of the Qi Condensing Realm, he still needed to sleep and eat.

Apparently once a cultivator reached the Foundation Establishment Realm, they could nourish their body with their qi to maintain high energy levels and satiate their hunger and thirst.

They essentially never needed sleep or food, and if they grew tired all they needed to do was cultivate.

But Li Zian was only at the sixth layer of Qi Condensing- still quite far from the peak.

When Li Zian first entered the Qi Condensing Realm, he assumed it would be as smooth sailing as the Body Training Realm was.

Once again, he was wrong.

The Body Training Realm had no real levels, the goal was to simply reach a point where your body was strong enough to support qi.

But the Qi Condensing Realm is different- it has nine layers, and each layer is harder to break through.

When he first broke through to the second layer, it took him half a year. Then it took him a year to break through the third, and the time continued to increase after that.

He entered the sixth layer last year, and believed it would take him at least two years, but his cultivation speed had increased suddenly.

His father told him that children of cultivators between the ages of eight and ten would naturally awaken their talents, as that was also the point at which their impurities vanished.

His impurities had vanished when he was born, and his talent had awakened recently.

He was talented, that was for sure, but he was definitely not one of the top talents.

But he had his zero impurities and keen mind to make up for that matter. He was also extremely determined to become stronger, never missing a day of cultivation and training.

Li Zian wandered through the villa and focused.

He could hear every minute noise, every miniscule movement, and feel the entire villa as if it was a part of him.

This was a skill he had been developing over the last few years- his father called it divine sense.

The ability to expand your senses across a large area and feel it like it was a part of you.

He searched the entire house with his divine sense, and after a few seconds confirmed that nobody else was around except for a few maids going about their usual business.

He frowned- when he first came to this world, he enjoyed the comfy feeling of being around those he loved, but those people had slowly been growing away from him.

Three years ago his brother travelled beyond the walls of the villa to the Li family and made his first appearance to the world. Li Zian hadn't heard from him ever since that day three years ago, but his father reassured him that Li Shen was doing fine.

On the outside, Li Zian didn't seem to mind being alone, but on the inside he was lonely.

But he grew to accept that this was just a part of his new life- the path of cultivation is one of loneliness, and he needs to embrace that.

People who fail to catch up with him will die. There will be battles that he'll win or lose, and people will lose their lives in them. But he made the resolve to keep pushing forwards.

But he didn't know how he'd react to such situations when they finally happened. And he didn't want to find out.

He made his way to the bathroom where a warm bath was waiting.

He pulled his clothes off and climbed in.

His body had visibly undergone change from his cultivation, but he didn't feel like it was enough. He could break walls and smash through trees with a single punch, but he was still too weak.

He didn't know the level of people on the outside, but he knew that they were all much stronger than him.

Swoosh…

He heard a sharp gust of wind and spread out his divine sense again.

Suddenly, he felt a pain in his head and retracted his divine sense. This person was strong!

The only people who caused this kind of sensation was grandfather who visited once every few months.

His mother and father always had their guards down when around him, so they didn't cause such pains.

Was it grandfather? No, this person didn't possess such a sharp and mysterious aura.

In fact, this aura was like his father's. A person of the Deity Transformation Realm…

An idea of who this person was appeared in his mind.

He climbed out of the bath and dried himself off quickly before pulling on some new robes and entering the main hall of the villa.

A woman stood in the hall, looking around casually. She turned her head towards him when he entered and smiled.

This woman was quite tall, donning a dark grey long dress with golden dragons woven into it.

Her hair was pitch black in colour and fell down her back. She had a pretty face, and a refined aura.

Her appearance reminded him of his father, and that robe…

"You must be Li Zian?" She asked and approached him.

"Yes, that's me." He nodded his head, remaining cautious around her.

She got closer and then placed a hand on his shoulder.

He was a bit confused at first, then he felt it. A horrible pressure fell upon his body, forcing him to his knees.

Li Zian's breathing became harsh and his body trembled violently. The floor beneath him creaked violently, and his bones seemed to be scraping against each other.

It was an unbearable sensation, and he let out a cry of pain.

'This woman…' He gritted his teeth and placed his hands against the floor, lifting his body up against the terrible pressure.

She raised a brow in surprise and smiled, watching him rise under the pressure.

"It seems my brother has raised quite a talent," she spoke, and suddenly the pressure vanished.

"You… You're my aunt?" He asked.

She nodded her head. "At least you recognise your beautiful aunt."

"You're a devil…"

"Pardon?"

"I said you're a devil," Li Zian told her calmly.

"This kid has got some balls. You should treat your aunt with respect," she snorted and turned around. "Where's your father?"

"He's out."

"I see. Your mother?"

"She's also out of the villa."

"Huh… Oh well."

His aunt glanced around the hall and then an idea appeared in her head.

"Brat, follow me."

He followed behind her begrudgingly, out to the stone arena.

He was confused by the attitude of his aunt. She seemed to just be doing whatever she wanted as if she owned the place.

"What are we doing?" He asked her.

"Attack me with all your strength. I want to know what level you're at," she told him.

He hesitated. This woman was at the Deity Transformation Realm, there's no way he'd even be able to get anywhere close to her. Her mere presence alone gave him a headache.

"Ah… Fine, I guess," he sighed and ran inside to fetch his sword.

He came out and unsheathed his blade.

"What are you waiting for? Hurry up," she yawned.