Aunty Song
Li Zian sighed. "You're really annoying," he muttered.
His aunt scowled and watched as he transformed his qi into thousands of water droplets that then assembled in the air around the blade.
Li Zian swung his sword in a horizontal arc and the water droplets twisted and transformed into a crashing tidal wave.
"Rainfall Sword, form one; Storm Wave," Li Zian spoke the name of the technique.
His aunt smirked and watched as the wave of water qi soared through the air towards her.
An ordinary person would be cut to pieces by this single slash, but she was obviously not a normal person.
She reached out and touched the wave of water qi.
Li Zian watched, bewildered at the sight before him. She caught the qi between her index finger and thumb and applied some force.
The qi exploded, making a noise like shattered glass.
He bit his lip and performed the second form.
He moved his body and thrust his sword forwards. "Rainfall Sword, form two; Rain Cannon," he growled.
The water droplets condensed into a small point at the tip of the sword and then fired forwards in a beam, like a cannon, and smashed into his aunt.
He was convinced that this wouldn't hurt her. He used a large amount of his qi in that attack and hoped desperately that it caused even a tiny cut.
The cannon of water qi faded away, and smoke rose from where his aunt had been. The ground across the arena was broken and was slowly mending, and from the smoke emerged his aunt, completely fine.
"That's all? You disappoint me," she spat her words.
Li Zian tightened his grip and furrowed his brows.
'This woman… Every time she speaks it makes me dislike her even more.'
He huffed and pointed his sword into the air, speaking quietly the name of the technique.
"Rainfall Sword, form four; Soaring Water Wheels."
He poured all his remaining qi into this single attack, and fifteen wheels of water appeared, spinning at ridiculous speeds. Each wheel was two metres in diameter.
The wheels moved through the air, filled with bursting power. It seemed as if these fifteen wheels could mow down an entire army, but before his aunt they were nothing.
He focused on his aunt and pointed his sword at her.
The water wheels soared forwards, spinning constantly, and then struck her.
Normally a person would be torn to pieces by such a destructive technique, but his aunt merely raised her hand.
"Let me show you a real technique. Violet Mist Palm, form one; Breaking Mist."
She struck out her palm, and violet qi burst out of her arm, spiralling down it into her palm where it then flew out in the shape of her palm.
The violet palm that flew out was small and appeared like nothing next to the terrifying water wheels.
But it was so much more. The violet palm touched a water wheel; the water qi was torn apart and broke.
The other water wheels quickly followed suit, all the water qi breaking and the technique failing.
The stone arena began to shake, and chunks of it rose into the air.
Purple, thick mist appeared everywhere, and the koi fish nearby began to tremble.
The palm flew towards Li Zian, and there was nothing he could do.
The palm was too fast, and none of his techniques would be capable of breaking it.
He huffed. He knew that if this palm struck him, he would die. But he stood his ground, knowing that such a thing wouldn't happen.
Just as the palm reached him, it faded away.
"Why didn't you try to block it?" She asked, slightly confused. "Are you just stupid?"
"I don't believe you'd try to hurt me. Grandfather, Father and Mother would never let you get away with it," he told her.
"Hmph, that's a stupid judgement. If this had been a real battle, you'd be dead immediately."
"When I leave this place, I don't plan on picking fights with Deity Transformation Cultivators."
"I guess so. My name is Li Song, you can call me Aunty Song!" She appeared in front of him and patted his shoulder.
He winced and expected that terrible pressure to befall him again, but it didn't come. Was she finally being friendly?
"Why did you come to the villa in the first place?" He asked, shrugging her hand off his shoulder.
"I wanted to talk to my dear brother about some issues, but it seems like he's not here. I guess I should go.
Li Zian frowned. "What did you think of me?"
"Hm?"
"You said you wanted to know what level I'm at."
"Oh, right," she nodded her head. "I guess you're pretty good for your age. If I had been at the Qi Condensing Realm then I'd have stood no chance against your technique," she told him.
He felt satisfied.
"Well, I'm going now. Tell your father I was here."
Li Zian nodded his head and watched her shoot up to the sky and vanish into the distance.
He sighed and realised that he had never finished his bath- he was quite sweaty again, too.
He made his way back to the bath, washed himself, and then pulled on some clean robes.
He sat down on his bed and began to cultivate a bit until his parents got back home.
He concentrated, feeling the spiritual energy prickle against his body.
The spiritual energy began to rapidly absorb into his skin, seeping through his muscles and blood and moving towards his abdomen.
To the dantian.
The dantian is a space inside of the abdomen where the spiritual energy is condensed into qi. It is also the place where the divine sea is located, and qi is stored.
All the spiritual energy he absorbed poured into his dantian and was pulled apart.
The impurities contained inside the spiritual energy were separated from the pure parts, and so the impurities were tossed out of the dantian.
The pure spiritual energy began to transform, collapsing in on itself into small, concentrated points.
The concentrated spiritual energy transformed into droplets that fell through the dantian into the divine sea- this was his qi.
Every second that passed, dozens of droplets of qi were condensed.
His divine sea that had nearly been emptied from his battle against Aunty Song was quickly replenished, and after half an hour he rose from his bed and spread out his divine sense.
He sighed. 'They're still not home.'
His body ached and he was tired, so he pulled the bed sheets over him and went to sleep.