(not so) friendly Sparr (1)

Same day, overnight. Long Ming meditated on his bed in the lotus position.

After a few minutes of meditation, his mind entered a kind of void, where no more information passed through his mind, and in this state his senses became sharper and more powerful, allowing him to hear, feel and 'perceive' all the things around him. with much more precision.

In this state, he guided his senses into his body, following the sensations left behind by Xie Meng Fei's help in healing him. Soon, he noticed several 'paths', where his senses diverged and began to travel, passing through various points on his body until, finally, his senses came together again at a specific point on his body, close to his navel. .

Long Ming kept his senses to the maximum at that point, and after some effort, he could notice a kind of bluish mist in that place. it was a relatively fine mist, but it stood out due to its bluish glow.

In the next instant, his concentration broke and he opened his eyes again. His breathing quickly became labored, as if he had run an arduous marathon, as he lay in bed trying to catch his breath.

'I did it...', he muttered to himself, while remembering that feeling, especially the fog that was inside his body.

'I was able to feel my own Qi', at that moment, he recalled the information he knew about the subsequent realm of cultivation, the Qi Gathering realm, as well as the signs of progress towards it.

To reach the realm of collecting Qi one must complete three stages.

The first step is, of course, being able to feel the Qi, whether that of nature or your inner Qi. This is usually the first step for all cultivators, and it is also the fundamental part of the entire subsequent cultivation path.

The second step is to be able to control your inner Qi. By passing through this stage, the cultivator could consider himself to be at the half-step stage to the Qi Gathering realm. Hu Tao, Zhi Hua and that assassin were at this stage.

And the third stage, the most important and also the one that gives this kingdom its name, is being able to collect and refine Qi from nature, to strengthen and increase your Qi reserves. To reach this stage a specific cultivation method is necessary, as collecting and refining Qi from nature is an extremely complex and abstract task, so it can be done in countless ways, and each way has its own advantages and disadvantages. By going through this stage, the cultivator has reached the initial stage of the Qi Gathering realm and, therefore, could consider himself a "true" cultivator.

Long Ming heaved a sigh of relief after passing the first stage, as this demonstrated that he had a chance of reaching the Qi Gathering realm.

'It will probably only be a matter of time before I get through the second stage... and with all these manuals of mine, I should only need a few more months, or a year at most. In the worst case scenario I will still have reached the Qi Gathering realm by the age of twenty,' he mused, after momentarily theorizing the time he will need to accomplish each step.

Long Ming was quite confident in being able to pass through the second stage as he was already quite accustomed to handling Qi because of its resonant state. And as for the method, he felt that it was also just a matter of time, effort and dedication.

Upon pondering all these things, he stood up and took out all the cultivation methods and books he had on Qi, and began to study frantically.

Without him realizing it, the day dawned, and at some point, a knocking sound sounded on his door, before a maid came in with a bowl of food.

"young master, here is your lunch," she said politely, before setting the bowl down on the desk next to the bed. upon noticing that Long Ming nodded in agreement, she said goodbye and let him continue studying.

After a few more minutes, Long Ming put away all those books and wrote a few more sentences in his notebook, before putting it away as well and eating the food in the bowl.

'hmm, I think it's worth testing', he thought as he reflected on all his notes and conclusions about Qi. Because it is something he has studied for a long time, Long Ming had a reasonably deep understanding of it, however, because of his cultivation he was never able to put his ideas into practice.

But now, he was extremely eager to do just that, so after finishing eating he went out into the courtyard to start trying to realize some of his ideas.

As he sat down on the floor again, he repeated his meditation. This time, it was faster, and in a short time he could 'feel' his Qi (that bright, bluish mist). In the next instant he enveloped all his Qi with his senses, and tried to mobilize it.

Unfortunately, his concentration broke again and he opened his eyes dissatisfied. Then he began to reflect on why he had failed and, after a few minutes, he tried again.

This time he was able to mobilize his Qi, however, when he seemed to be close to withdrawing it from his dantian (the place where Qi resides, inside the body), his concentration broke again and he obviously failed.

So he tried again. This time he was able to move his Qi along those paths, his meridians, until it carried out a complete cycle throughout his body. However, when he opened his eyes, he lost control of Qi and returned to step zero.

Long Ming continued in this way until dusk.

At midnight, he was now able to perform some simple exercises while moving Qi through his meridians, however, whenever he tried to perform a strike or movement strengthened by Qi, he ended up failing and he returned to his dantian.

Then a few more hours passed, it was already dawn, and Long Ming was now able to perform some simple movements, strengthened by Qi. at the moment, he possessed very little Qi, so he was only able to coat a single part of his body (such as a hand or a foot) at a time. Furthermore, whenever he performed a movement strengthened with Qi, its 'brightness' weakened, until it almost completely disappeared and he was temporarily unable to use it.

Due to this, during the morning, he no longer had Qi left so he had to stop these tests and training.

Long Ming was extremely satisfied with the results of this session, and looked at his hands with delight, noticing all the calluses and scars with relief.

'At least my efforts won't be in vain', he thought with a mix of emotions.

"ahem!", at this moment, he heard a forced cough coming from a specific place. As he turned towards it, he was surprised to notice that there was Wu Yuying.

"oh! Lady Yuying, what are you doing here at this hour?", he asked curiously, as he approached her.

"You seemed quite absorbed in this training of yours. In fact, I didn't expect you to be already at the half-step stage of the Qi Gathering realm," she spoke, there was a clear admiration and surprise in her tone. Long Ming had the impression that she was actually starting to see him with different eyes, although she wasn't quite sure what that meant.

Wu Yuying was really impressed that he was at the half-step stage, however, after reflecting for a while, she thought it was quite plausible. In her opinion, Long Ming should be around 18 to 19 years old. And this is a reasonable age for reasonably talented young masters to reach this level. She herself, at 18 years old, was also at the half-step stage and could reach the initial stage at any time.

But if Wu Yuying knew that Long Ming was actually only 17 years old and that he had only been training for 13 years, she would be truly shocked. After all, in the first years of life (up to the age of twenty) is when the cultivator makes the fastest progress. In other words, at this age stage, each year (and even month) makes a substantial difference in the level of cultivation.

"I actually had a fortuitous encounter recently, which allowed me to break the barrier from peak to half-step stage," he commented casually.

"I see, so that's why I was looking for a cultivation method? I guess it makes sense...", she spoke in response, as if contemplating on this matter. He decided not to dwell too much on this issue so he spoke then, to change the subject: "by the way, why did you come here? Do you have something to talk to me about? Or could it be that you were starting to miss my presence and my attempts at seduction?" he asked teasingly, a mischievous smile on his face as he subtly approached her.

"I-it's nothing like that! I just came here to... invite you to an event that will take place tomorrow", Wu Yuying took a few steps back when she noticed Long Ming's approach and hurriedly tried to justify herself, however, she froze because a few seconds when he realized that his purpose might be misunderstood, but then he hurriedly revealed it.

"is it really? an event?", Long Ming was intrigued by this and asked what event this was about, and the reason for the invitation.

"You may already know, but in two days the championship of the Great Geniuses of Jianshang will begin. And it is a tradition in the city that, the day before the beginning of this championship, the young masters from the families of cultivators get together to socialize and, even, to do some friendly sparring. So, I wanted you to accompany me during this event. As many people have already seen us together during that auction, I believe there will be no impediment to your presence", she explained in detail but avoiding looking at Long's eyes Ming, she seemed to still be quite embarrassed by this request.

Long Ming contemplated for a few seconds, then a mischievous smile widened on his face before he asked provocatively, "I see, so you want to use my presence to ward off those annoying young masters who might try to flirt with you and ask you to be their girlfriend, is not it?", faced with his blatant question, she gave a small jump of fright and, nervously, tried to explain herself.

"i-it's not that, and—"

"alright, I accept," before she could come up with any justification, Long Ming interrupted her and accepted the invitation.

"In any case, it will be quite beneficial for me to face these young talents from the city", he then added. With that said, the two talked for a few more minutes, before she said goodbye and Long Ming walked towards the exit of the residence.

'I should visit that old man to find out more about these families...', Long Ming thought, remembering the encounter he had during his walk through the city.

Almost half an hour later, he stopped in front of an old building, with several dirt stains and some holes. Surrounding the building was a bush almost one meter high, covering the entire floor and making it difficult to approach.

"an old and decaying building, huh? I think it can only be this one...", Long Ming murmured as he observed this building very carefully, there was a subtle smile on his face along with a little amusement in his tone of voice. Without thinking too much, he packed the things he had bought on the way (mainly clothes and books) into his spatial ring and entered the building.

While walking through that thicket, he had the impression that he had crushed some things, but he ignored it and soon entered the building.

The first thing he noticed, upon entering the building, was three people sitting in different corners of that room. Everyone was wearing ordinary, dirty clothes, and seemed to be sleeping carefree.

Observing them, Long Ming noticed that one of them seemed to be around his age, the other was a bearded man and the last was exactly who he was looking for, an old man, short and pot-bellied.

Long Ming lightly reflected on that place, but soon after started walking towards the person he was looking for. When he was two meters away, the man opened his eyes and, still drowsy, looked at him with confusion, before a kind of understanding dawned on his expression.

"Oh! Didn't you really come here, boy? Were this old man's words that convincing?", the man asked with curiosity and amusement in his voice, as if in disbelief at Long Ming's innocence in coming there.

"I have a very good intuition for seeing people who are much more than they seem, sir. And you triggered this 'super sense' of mine," Long Ming replied with an ambiguous smile on his face. Then he got close enough to the man and greeted him with a respectful salute.

"This junior has come in search of your wisdom and experiences," Long Ming stated while bowing.

"HAHA! There's no need to bow down to a humble beggar like me, boy. What if your family finds out about this? I bet they'll flog you for such dishonor!", the man said, slightly shocked by Long Ming's attitude. In his opinion, given Long Ming's clothes, he should be a rich young master; and young people from these origins need to be very careful not to "stain the honor" of their families, therefore, this boils down to maintaining a higher level than that of ordinary people.

"family? you don't need to worry about this, old man. I'm a simple wandering traveler, my family is too far away to care about such things. besides, as a simple peasant it's the least that I respect my elders", Long Ming replied casually as he put his hands inside his sleeve and took out a bottle of alcohol from his spatial ring.

"So, can we drink while talking about each other's lives, old man?" Long Ming said with a small smile on his face as he showed the bottle to the man.

"HAHAH! Alright kid, there's no way I can turn down a good drink," the man said as he stood up. Then, he looked at the other two men who seemed to still be sleeping and said: "wake up, you lazy ones! This boy invited us to drink!"

At the same moment, the two woke up and celebrated, so one of them went somewhere to get some glasses while the other said he would bring some appetizers to accompany the drink.

"By the way, what's your name, boy? You can call me Pan Chang", the old man, Pan Chang, introduced himself.

"I am Long Ming, Senior Pan," Long Ming then said respectfully.