Breaking into Qi Gathering Stage

In the dead of night, six people are gathered together in a cave, five of whom try to start the meeting and keep one awake through it.

Xia Mengzhu pinches the bridge of her nose, more upset that her rest time is disturbed rather than them invading her cave. "This seat is just waiting for the fifth to come home before having a meeting about it."

"Master, fifth sister could spend months outside to dodge loan sharks, if we wait for her, then might as well wait until this Bright Moon competition to start," Huang Junya argues helplessly

"Bright Moon competition?" Xiao Yue'er looks around, confused.

Huang Junya sighs as he glances at his master, eldest brother, and youngest sister. "It's like this, second sister. Sixth sister found a pamphlet outside inviting sect and loose cultivators to join a competition that will be held next year or in ten months to be exact. It has a prize money of one thousand low-grade spirit stones for top one hundred."

Hearing about the prize money, the others glance at Cai Qingyin who purses her lips guiltily. And when they hear about 'top one hundred', they look at each other.

"Top one hundred sounds difficult," Xiao Yue'er expresses.

"It does sound difficult," the third disciple, who sits in the shadow, echoed.

"Yes, I think it's too high too." Huang Junya nods along.

Xuanyuan Yu gazes down at his pessimistic juniors, who have already given up the race before even starting it, and chuckles. "I think it's a good practice opportunity." He touches the worn pamphlet on the stone table, using the tip of his fingers to pick it up. "Reaching top one thousand, top one hundred, or even the top, isn't it all the same? It will take efforts and luck."

"There are five hundred spots to be a listed apprentice alchemist every year, if it's all the same, I could have become an apprentice alchemist eight years ago," the third disciple murmurs. He catches Cai Qingyin's sullen face and quickly speaks up again. "But of course, sixth sister is talented and lucky. I'm sure she can reach the top one hundred."

His praise and reassurance do nothing to Cai Qingyin; her head lowers even more. "Master... is it really alright to do this...?" she mumbles. "It feels wrong to put up a fake façade just to keep Feng Xing with us. Moreover, you're doing this for me. I feel terrible."

Xia Mengzhu stares dazedly into space. Nobody bothers her when she does this; this is just how their master is. "You need to win the top one hundred spot in the Bright Moon competition." Xia Mengzhu pauses to let her disciples digest what she just said while she warms her hands on the cup of hot water on her lap.

Predictably, Xuanyuan Yu frowns first and glances at her. "Master, you're putting unnecessary pressure on junior sister." Cai Qingyin has been the youngest for a really long time, all of them practically watch her grow up, and they equally can't stand it when she gets into difficulty. Not to mention, the girl has been sensible and kind since childhood and never wasted their care in vain, how could they bear putting any pressure on her?

In Xuanyuan Yu's mind, it's fine if Cai Qingyin wants to join the competition regardless of her intention to win prize money, but it's another thing if their master asks Cai Qingyin to win a spot in the top one hundred.

Xia Mengzhu doesn't say anything for a few seconds. All of her disciples are mild in temper. Like her, they never had any great ambition. As long as you can live in peace, what's to worry? Ideally, that's the life they want.

Unfortunately, life is never ideal.

Xia Mengzhu pulls out a piece of folded paper from her sleeve, and their attention slowly diverts to her delicate, dainty hand. "Your fifth sister had an idea..."

When the sentence falls, everyone instantly blanches.

The fifth disciple, who is currently still outside, is the most restless of them all. Impetuous and eager are often adjectives used to describe her. She has a good heart and good intentions, but her brain is an enigma. She was fifteen when she first descended the mountain alone and promptly got involved with a gambling den.

Sometimes, she can win a lot and provide relief for them all. Other times, she would meet a tough opponent and suffer a loss. That is the nature of gambling.

Any of her 'ideas' always involve gambling in some form. Their master never mentioned this on weekdays, but now she mentions it, it can only mean bad news.

Huang Junya only has two hands, and he struggles to choose whether to cover his face or his ears when Xia Mengzhu inevitably continues her words.

Xia Mengzhu unfolds the piece of paper slowly like she's unfolding a snack wrapper rather than a letter from her disciple in distress. "She is in debt, about three thousand low-grade spirit stones deep."

"What?!" Huang Junya chokes out and coughs severely with a hand over his heart. "We don't have that money!" he coughs. He is in charge of the sect's management and naturally also holds the account book to monitor their income and expenses. He has gone the palest when the fifth sister was mentioned, simply because this isn't a one-time thing.

"She's currently on a run and might need a few months to return safely. She will find a solution to come back eventually."

Xia Mengzhu talks leisurely, not a single sign of her being concerned for her wayward fifth disciple outside. Instead, it is her present five disciples who feel frustrated and desperate. Once she unfolds the letter completely, she passes it to Xuanyuan Yu, who has been waiting to be handed it ever since he saw it.

Xuanyuan Yu reads the letter and his eyes reveal a deep exasperation. "Fifth sister is worry-free as always."

"Well, the debt still needs to be paid," Xia Mengzhu says. "...or we might need to sell off this mountain."

Huang Junya gasps loudly. "Even this backwater mountain can be sold? Master, be realistic, not even rats burrow here!" he's not undermining the place he's been living in for years, but he's being realistic. They can live here purely because this is the only place they can live quietly in and also because of their joint effort to build a life here. This mountain only looks good in appearance, but it's been long abandoned, its spirituality has been drained, the terrain is hard, the geography is bad and far away from many places, and not many animals even live here, not even mortals are willing to live around the mountain.

Selling this mountain? To whom??? Which sucker will be stupid enough to buy it?

Everyone roughly shares Huang Junya's opinion, though they feel the most unwilling to lose their home. This mountain is not much in value, but the time they spent here is priceless.

Xia Mengzhu props her chin on her palm. "That's why, win." She smiles. One smile can destroy a nation and reverse the Luo river's flow, so potent it could result in devastation. Luckily, the light is dim in the cave, the people in front of the beauty do not get the full impact of the smile, aside from the slight twitch of their eyes, they can only endure the desperation and turn to the youngest.

"Junior sister, we can only leave this to you and junior brother." Huang Junya hits his chest regretfully. "We're incredibly poor."

"Junior sister, good luck."

"Junior sister, do your best."

"Qingyin, senior sister is useless." Xiao Yue'er bows her head.

Faced with her seniors, whom she had relied on for most of her life, bowing their heads to her, Cai Qingyin suddenly feels an endless urgency to fulfil their wish. Determination courses through her blood, and her eyes redden. "Senior brothers and sister, I will definitely not disappoint you!"

For most of her life, they had been protecting and raising her. This time, she finally has the chance to stand in their usual position of being relied on. A hatchling has to grow and leave the nest eventually, she doesn't want to stay a pampered youngest sister who can only follow her seniors instead of making her own contribution.

She also knows that now things have come to this, Feng Xing will be indispensable. She can only make the best of it and pretend with the rest of the sect to create the image of a sect that Feng Xing has in his mind.

Even if... even if Feng Xing's mind is incredibly rich.

"Alright, all of us will cooperate to create an ideal sect and fulfil the seventh brother's expectation so he will stay with us until the Bright Moon competition." Huang Junya straightens up, and everyone nods agreeingly.

Cai Qingyin looks at the faces of her seniors and smiles ruefully. The situation is already like this, they can only march on.

.

.

.

Feng Xing meditates hard for an entire night, forgetting dinner. When morning comes, his stomach gurgles in protest, and he goes out with depression in his heart.

No matter how hard he tried last night, he still couldn't sense even a smidge of qi in the air. This simply makes Feng Xing ashamed and worried about himself. If he can't even be one-hundredth of the senior sister above him, he is afraid he might be deemed unworthy to stay here.

But even with all the obstacles, Feng Xing is still firm in his desire to cultivate and become stronger. He's just worried about how his peers in the sect will look at him. One thing Feng Xing couldn't tolerate is to be a deadweight.

He gets up, changes his clothes to the new ones he got yesterday. When he puts the new robe on, he is surprised to find it is the right size and very comfortable to wear. "Second sister has a talent!" he exclaims uncontrollably before slapping himself.

The second disciple of a hidden sect naturally has a talent, why wouldn't she?!

The robe he's wearing is dark in color with embroidered koi fish on the sleeve. On the right top chest area is the number '7' embroidered in red thread. He traces the number 7 on the fabric and smiles. "This is as close as a uniform we can have." He chuckled.

He's met four seniors and can say for sure there's no uniform for this sect but no one dresses fancy either, adding a more relaxed atmosphere to the place.

"Let's stop meditating now. I should go and clear my mind." Meditating for an entire day gives him no progress, then, all he can rely on now is to strengthen his body first.

He makes his way to the courtyard and sees Master Xia sitting on the bamboo chair with her eyes closed. His legs, which were going to take him to the stairs, halt mid-air and turn his course towards the devastating beauty with the mentality that as long as the master shows her face, that means it's okay to bother her.

Feng Xing is unlike most boys his age, he might be a little optimistic about himself, but he is not proud. He's very flexible, if he can ask a question, even if it's a basic question, he will definitely ask.

"Master." He bows.

Xia Mengzhu opens her eyes slowly. Fortunately, Feng Xing's eyes are not on her or his knees will buckle again as those eyelashes tremble and disturb the morning dew that had gathered on them. She carelessly wipes her eyes. "Seventh." She nods. She thought Feng Xing came up just to offer his respect and would move along, so her eyes flutter close again, but her new seventh disciple subverts her expectations.

"Master, disciple has failed to introduce qi into his body," Feng Xing says humbly with a polite self-depreciating statement.

Xia Mengzhu looks up. "Did something go wrong, and your sea of qi got destroyed when you tried to infuse it with qi?"

Feng Xing opens his mouth and chokes back, gazing at Xia Mengzhu in disbelief. While Feng Xing is too dumbstruck at Xia Mengzhu's unconventional conversational skills, a commotion comes from the kitchen and the door slams open, revealing a man with a severe expression on his face.

"No, there is a mistake—" Feng Xing exclaims.

The man is in front of Feng Xing in four large strides, and Feng Xing consciously has to hold himself from reeling back, knowing this man is probably his senior brother whom he hasn't met yet.

Once the solemn-faced, cold man is in front of him, his eyes flick up and down Feng Xing's body. "I don't have a pill to fix a destroyed sea of qi, but here, have a stomachache medicine." He shoves a bottle into Feng Xing's palm.

Feng Xing is disoriented by Xia Mengzhu's question but becomes even more baffled when he looks at the medicine in his hand.

How could you equate a destroyed sea of qi with a stomachache?! That's like equating a mosquito bite with a car crash, okay?!

Feng Xing shakes his head. "I still have my sea of qi!" He exclaims again. "Master, please don't curse me like that!" He falls to his knees and begs desperately.

Xia Mengzhu is the calmest in the scene, she merely glances down at the kneeling Feng Xing. "Then, what do you mean you failed to introduce qi into your body?"

Feng Xing raises his head and smiles bitterly. "I meant to say I can't make progress and sense qi so far."

Xia Mengzhu tilts her head. "Then, it's not a failure, you just haven't succeeded yet," she smoothens imaginary creases on her sleeves. "Words have a power, seventh. Don't say things you don't mean, or else it will bite you back."

Feng Xing's eyes widen, and he nods heavily. "My apologies, master. Feng Xing understands."

The man who gave Feng Xing stomachache medicine suddenly sighs in relief. "So it's just master's nonsense."

Feng Xing finally looks at him and finally scans the man's appearance. The man is pale and tall, a little taller than Huang Junya but not taller than Xuanyuan Yu. He's wearing a black robe that is loose-fitting on his body, giving him a stern temperament yet also casual.

There are two more people he hasn't met yet, one man and one woman. Who else could this man be if not the third senior brother who had an explosion in his cave on the first day Feng Xing came here?

Sensing Feng Xing's gaze, the third senior brother nods and calms down. "I'm your third senior brother. My name is Tang Yan. Call me whatever you please." Unlike before, his countenance calms down a lot, and he looks like a dignified and unfettered cultivator.

Tang Yan looks cold, and even his smile looks like a mere twitch of the corner of his lips, insincere-looking. If it isn't for his genuine concern and fluster earlier, Feng Xing would have thought this third senior brother is difficult to get along with.

"Third brother, it is my honor to meet you." Feng Xing bows. "A couple of days ago, Qingyin wanted to introduce me to you, but something seemed to have happened inside your cave, so we didn't go in."

"Yes, don't worry much. I just failed refining a pill," Tang Yan replies without hiding anything.

"Is third brother an alchemist?" Feng Xing's eyes brighten. Alchemist, a prestigious occupation everywhere else in the world of cultivation. Feng Xing has suspected the third brother is an alchemist from the explosion inside his cave three days ago, but he held back his curiosity then.

"I try to be," Tang Yan remarks calmly in answer to Feng Xing's question.

Feng Xing grins. Now it is confirmed that Tang Yan is really an alchemist, Feng Xing feels boundless satisfaction.

One of his senior brothers is an alchemist, this is a reassurance more than anything. If he has any talent, then just ask this third senior brother to teach him alchemy.

"But let's talk about that later. Are you disheartened because you can't make progress after just two days?" Tang Yan waves off.

Feng Xing blinks, and he quickly swipes off his yearning to learn about alchemy. How dare he think about that now when he can't even sense qi yet?

"I'm worried that I'm letting master down," Feng Xing admits and sighs. "Qingyin could immediately introduce qi into her body in two minutes, I can't compare with her."

Tang Yan blinks rapidly, disbelieving what he's hearing. He turns to Xia Mengzhu to confirm they both are hearing the same thing, but his lazy master has long closed her eyes again, dead to the world as she passively sunbathes.

Clearly finding no reliable person to share his incredulity, Tang Yan is forced to believe himself and his own hearing and turns his attention back to Feng Xing.

"Comparison breeds a demon," Tang Yan starts slowly. "Everyone has their own pace, the start can be fast, the progress will be slow. The start can be slow, but the progress will be fast," he remarks.

"I am grateful if my inability to catch up to sixth sister's two-minute mark is acceptable to master." Feng Xing nods.

Tang Yan nods absently. 'I heard that right...' he thinks bleakly. How could Cai Qingyin exaggerate that far??? Tang Yan feels so surreal, he distinctly remembers Cai Qingyin is really bad at lying, anyone in this peak could spot her lying miles away, and she never tried to better that particular skill at all. Tang Yan suddenly thinks he might have spent way too much time in his own cave to practice alchemy. His own naïve junior sister has grown so much and can lie now...

No, she might still be the same junior sister. Two minutes for qi introduction? That's too exaggerated! 'At least be realistic, junior sister!' he screams out in his heart.

In her abode, Cai Qingyin sneezes awake.

Back in the courtyard, Tang Yan calms down and changes his mind. Cai Qingyin might have exaggerated and lied badly, but...

Tang Yan scrutinizes Feng Xing critically.

'...Isn't he too naïve, too?' Tang Yan muses.

His junior sister couldn't lie better.

His new junior brother trusted people so easily.

Such a perfect pair.

"We are not demanding in this sect," Tang Yan says patiently. Seeing Feng Xing is clearly still feeling down, he adds. "Once you step into Qi Gathering stage, I'll teach you basic alchemy."

Just give a promise first, it'll take a long time to introduce qi into the body in this kind of environment. Tang Yan predicts he can just wait till then and promptly avoid any mention of learning alchemy later.

Feng Xing nods trustingly. "Third brother, can you give me any tips to cultivate?" he asks eagerly. Although the third brother looks somewhat cold, Feng Xing still feels rather at ease interacting with him. After all, Tang Yan is a man, so Feng Xing can bother him. If Feng Xing is asked to bother Xiao Yue'er, who is also quiet, he might not be able to do it.

Tang Yan smiles indifferently. "Cultivation can't be rushed. You should carefully adjust your mind before you can step into Qi Gathering stage. Remember, starting is hard, but once the wheel is turning, you just need to direct it." He sits down on a bamboo chair nearby and motions to Feng Xing to stop kneeling on the ground and sit down on the chair beside him.

Feng Xing follows his lead and sits down on a chair. "Can third brother tell me how your experience was when you first drew qi into your body?"

Tang Yan pauses and recalls the memory. He doesn't find anything special from that experience aside from the joy of being able to do it, but he feels that it is not sufficient to intrigue Feng Xing. But unfortunately, Tang Yan is not someone talented in waxing poetry or making up gallant story. "I forgot." He said lamely.

Feng Xing's glimmering eyes dim down slightly, but he understands deep down. The third senior brother probably already has an advanced level of cultivation, he no longer remembers a small feat such as drawing qi into one's body.

Tang Yan looks away, thinking carefully. "Don't be stuck obsessing over one thing. Try to look at it in a bigger picture."

"But master said I must cultivate step by step." Feng Xing tilts his head.

Tang Yan is stunned for a bit and quickly tries to correct himself. "Then fuse some small steps into one," he blurts out and promptly regrets. Fuse some steps into one? This is exactly something he does while trying to refine medicine in his cauldron. Although sometimes it succeeded because it's a minor change, most of the times it failed...

Ah, just treat it as nonsense. Feng Xing will not think too heavily about this, right?

Feng Xing stares blankly at Tang Yan while Tang Yan maintains his blank expression with difficulty. Feng Xing looks away first.

"Fuse it..." Feng Xing murmurs and closes his eyes. "If I ignore that I can't sense qi..." then try to draw the invisible matters anyway...

Something seems to break with a loud clink in Feng Xing's head, like a lock being smashed ruthlessly by a stone after the key is not found. The lock shatters and scatters on the ground. The way of entrance is rough, but the main goal is to open the gate, isn't it? Then why does it matter how you open it?

Feng Xing feels his mind open, and he grasps onto the mysterious state. Trickles of clear energy is drawn into his body, his meridian points light up one by one as he controls the flow of qi through them and lets it pour into his sea of qi.

Outside Feng Xing's body, the air thickens, and the boy's body glows a faint light under the morning sunlight, nearly unseen. Tang Yan looks at the boy, feeling more and more incredulous as time goes on.

He wants to go and wake up Xia Mengzhu, but worried that he will disturb Feng Xing's state of enlightenment, so Tang Yan just sits there and observes as the new junior brother draws in qi into his body like a vortex.

'This is the new junior brother...?' he stares at him in disbelief as the energy around Feng Xing surges and calms down.

What kind of monster his master takes in as a disciple...?! Tang Yan inhales deeply.

Just as Tang Yan is at a loss and mildly panicking, Feng Xing opens his eyes and bursts into a bright grin. "Third brother, I succeeded!" Feng Xing stands up and laughs. "Thank you for your pointer, third brother! Now I'm at the first level of Qi Gathering."

Tang Yan nods blankly. "Congrats... junior brother," he says quietly, hiding the tremors in his voice.

He needs to discuss this again with everyone.