The Commencement of the Qinggong Practice
“It’s me, uncle!”
The voice of a young man answered the question right after the knocking stopped…
“Hai-Gang!?”
“Can I come in?” The young man was Hai-Gang, the son of Hai-Gu’s…
“Come on in.” Kong-Shi let Hai-Gang into his house…
Squeak!
“Greetings, uncle!”
“Don’t act like you’re a stranger! What’s brought you here, Hai-Gang?” Kong-Shi asked out of curiosity…
“My father asked me to come get you to the meeting, uncle? It’s urgent.”
An urgent meeting…?
“What’s it about?” Kong-Shi wanted to know what the meeting was about…
“I don’t know, uncle. I came here to get you to the meeting according to my father’s order.” Hai-Gang did not know what the meeting was all about either…
“All right. Wait for a second. I need to go get ready.” When Kong-Shi saw that Hai-Gang did not know the meeting agenda, he quickly ensured the young man that he would go get ready. It was an urgent meeting, so it was not wrong that Hai-Gang would not know about it…
“Yes, sir.”
When Kong-Shi finished the sentence, he went back to his room to change right away to answer Hai-Gang's summon that he was needed at the meeting…
Hai-Gang was hanging by the door, waiting for Kong-Shi. He glanced in the direction that Zheng-Fu was sitting and saw him, so he asked, “How have you been Zheng-Fu? You look strong…much stronger than before.” He talked to Zheng-Fu and gave a warm smile to him. Zheng-Fu and he were like brothers. Hai-Gang had always been there for Zheng-Fu, so both of them were very close…
When Zheng-Fu heard that, he let out a smile and scratched his head at the same time because he felt shy. Then he gave a humble smile and said, “I’m not there yet. I cannot compare to you, brother Hai-Gang.” Zheng-Fu responded with a light giggle…
“Hahaha, you’re being too polite. I’m just an amateur. But if there was someone giving you a hard time, anyone at all, just let me know right away. All right?” Hai-Gang said and stroked Zheng-Fu’s head lightly with adoration…
“Yes, brother Hai-Gang. I appreciate your kindness!” Zheng-Fu said and smiled back innocently…
“No need to act like that. We are brothers. We must be there for each other.”
“Yes, brother!”
Clomp! Clomp! Clomp!
“I’m ready. Let’s go.” Kong-Shi rushed out of his room after going back to get himself ready for the urgent meeting…
“Yes, sir.”
Kong-Shi turned to Zheng-Fu and Tang-Ling and said, “Honey. Zheng-Fu. I’m leaving. I’ll come back home right after the meeting.” Kong-Shi said and turned back to the door to leave…
“Take best care, dear. Kiss kiss!”
“Please come back soon, father.”
“All right!”
After Kong-Shi and Hai-Gang left, Zheng-Fu went back to his room to review the fighting techniques that he had been practicing. This time, he drew all the techniques’ movements onto pieces of paper in a bid to record and analyze them in a whole different way. These were the techniques that did not exist in this world…
In the Xianxia stories from the previous world, Zheng-Fu knew there were clans and sects like the Vice of the East Sect, Shaolin Monastery, Wudang Quan, Emei Sect, The Five Mountains Alliance, Beggars' Sect, etc. However, there were no such clans and sects in this Xianxia world. There was only something that sounded similar to the names…
“If the “Index of the Sword of the Wind” skill can be practiced and used here, other skills and techniques that I know from the previous world must do so. But now I am going to achieve in practicing them to make them work. There must be some kind of method to make it happen.” Zheng-Fu mumbled while contemplating the whole idea…
Suddenly, Zheng-Fu remembered the mysterious shadow that he had met earlier. It was that shadow that helped him achieve the “Index of the Sword of the Wind” skill. This prompted Zheng-Fu to come up with the thought that he could ask the shadow to check out all the fighting techniques he had brought with him from the previous world…
But then Zheng-Fu was discouraged by the fact that his clan was getting stricter in banning the visit to the Forbidden Forest. He thought that it would be a rare chance that he could go there as usual…!
Gosh!
“What am I going to do now? It would be great if I knew how to do Qinggong. But it seemed impossible because our clan only allows the martial artists who are at least in the Foundation Building stage to practice it. What am I going to do?” Zheng-Fu said and felt blank at the same time…
Zheng-Fu tried to think the whole night about how he could get back into the Forbidden Forest, but no matter how much he tried, he could not come up with a way to get back there…
The next morning…
“Zheng-Fu! It’s time to wake up!”
Knock! Knock!
Squeak!
Wait…
“Where has he gone?” Tang-Ling came to Zheng-Fu’s room to wake him up so he could get to his breakfast. But when she knocked on his door, he did not answer, so she opened the door and found that her son was already gone…
Zheng-Fu left his room early in the morning. He always went out to exercise because he wanted to strengthen his weak body. This morning, Zheng-Fu left earlier than usual because he wanted to try something…
At another forest of the Tian-Tang Clan…
Zheng-Fu left his house and headed to another forest next to the clan’s estate. It was a forest that was safe to go to. That was why he chose to go there…
There were many Monitors scattered around the Tian-Tang estate to keep everything and everyone safe. Their job was also to keep the clan’s elders up to date on a daily basis. Zheng-Fu chose to come to this forest to try to practice Qinggong skills, something that he could remember from the previous world…
“This forest should be a good place to practice the skill, even though there are a lot of people monitoring the place. They would not know what I’m doing because, after all, I’m just a small boy.” Zheng-Fu ensured himself with a sense of satisfaction…
Then he started to do the regular exercises. He jogged around the place and used the workout routines from the previous world. Then he started to practice according to the “Practice of Fundamental Martial Arts" manual. He kept on training and rested after one shichen had passed…
“I guess this should get me ready to practice the Qinggong. As far as I remember, to do Qinggong, I must reduce my weight and balance my energy. Then I should be mindful of the Qi energy and move the energy to my legs and then…”
Woosh!
Thud!
As soon as he finished doing what he thought he should do, Zheng-Fu’s body moved forward for a few yards and then fell with his face down instantaneously.
“That…That was…” Zheng-Fu quickly got up on his feet and exclaimed delightfully…
A smile started to appear on the corner of his lips. Although the move seemed like a failure, Zheng-Fu saw it clear that it was a success. From the perspective of others, it would look like he just jumped up and fell on his face. But what actually happened was he moved forward at a very fast speed so much that he could not control his balance, and that caused the fall…
“I’ve got to try that again!” Zheng-Fu said and prepared to start again and then…
Woosh!
Thud!
After the first try, Zheng-Fu was eager to try it again. However, he tended to fail to control his balance and fell again and again…
“Why? What’s wrong? How come I cannot control it?”
Flows of thoughts ran through his mind. No matter how much he tried to adjust the ways to practice his Qinggong, he failed over and over…
*Sigh!*
“I guess it’s time to call it quit today. Look at me…so dirty. Mother is gonna kill me.” Zheng-Fu released a long exhale with anguish before going back home…
Squeak!
“I’m home.”
“Zheng-Fu!”
Clomp! Clomp! Clomp!
“Where have you been?”
“Well…”
“Wait! Why are you so messy like this? Or did you get bullied?”
“Um…”
“Wait! Did you get hurt anywhere? Let me check!”
“Um…”
“Your arms, legs, face, or your back…?”
“Let me explain, mother!”
“A…All right, dear.”
“I’m fine. I just went out to play. That’s all. You don’t need to worry about me, mother. No one was bullying me.”
“Is that so? Well, if that’s the case, are you hungry?”
“No, mother. I had eaten. I’m very tired, so please excuse me. I need to clean myself up.”
“W…W…Wait!”
Zheng-Fu rushed to his room right away after explaining to his mother…
*Humming!*
“Taking a cold shower is real bliss. I need to succeed in Qinggong tomorrow.” Zheng-Fu could not stop thinking about achieving Qinggong skills. He planned to try it again tomorrow, so he wanted to turn in and rest as much as he could. He wanted to be fresh for the mission tomorrow…