In the quiet morning where even the bird hadn't risen yet to chirped, Li Kong woke up from his sleep, feeling more energized than usual except for the numbing pain permeated on his lower back.
He stared blankly at nothingness for a while before something hit him suddenly and he checked the top of his table on the side of his bed and there he found the smooth white bead placed on top of a fabric.
'It's real...'
Yesterday really felt like a wild fever dream to him. From the near-death encounter with White, the fact that he was someone fated to met White, the lingering feelings left behind by White's memories and most importantly, the fact he would be cultivator soon.
All of that happened in a span of a single day and it completely destroyed Li Kong's whole worldview and he even doubted it for a second before but here was the evidence, the white bead right before his eyes.
After that, Li Kong jumped out from the bed and washed his face before doing his morning routines.
On his way while jogging, he met with his neighbors and they all asked about the state of his bum after being spanked by Zheng Liyang which Li Kong could only respond with an awkward smile.
Having circling the village, Li Kong slumped down on the chair on his terrace and let the breeze of morning cooled his body.
After that, he cleaned himself and dressed up to welcome the new day and then he went to the field and chatting with people there before the time to work came and they worked on the field together.
Soon, noon befell and all of the workers avoided the heat of the sun.
Li Kong, who was in his usual spot, found that Yu Mei was coming and after a few friendly banters, they sat besides each other and talked.
"What's going on? Something good happened?" Yu Mei asked.
"Oh, about that..." Li Kong formed the biggest grin he possibly could. "You won't believe this but I-" Li Kong stopped all of a sudden.
'I don't know yet if I can tell other people about White...' Li Kong was torn whether to tell Yu Mei about the truth.
While on the other side, Li Kong's internal struggle was evident to the naked eyes as he unconsciously pinched his chin and creased his eyebrows, habits Yu Mei was fully aware.
After a few moments trying to ransacked for every ideas to escaped this predicament, Li Kong had concocted a brilliant plan as he looked at the glaring Yu Mei.
"You know what? It's nothing."
"Nothing? What do you mean by nothing!" Yu Mei wasn't happy at all.
"You'd draw my attention so you better take the responsibility and tell me what is it right now!" Her tone sounded demanding.
"..." Li Kong exercised his right to remain silent and refrained from answering any further questions.
"Oh, you're doing that? Then take this!" Yu Mei reached out her fingers to the side of Li Kong's ribs and tickled it.
Li Kong remained steadfast even in front of the constant tickling like a rock unfazed by the hit of the rain's droplets.
Seeing the expressionless Li Kong, Yu Mei realized that her effort was futile but she didn't lose hope and rather redirecting her area of tickling to somewhere else, to the sole of Li Kong's feet.
The moment her fingers touched the sole, Li Kong immediately broke out laughing and was wriggling on the ground like a worm having a meeting with salt.
In his laughing, Li Kong desperately trying to get out from Yu Mei's hand but seemingly anticipating the move, Yu Mei had already locked down Li Kong's feet in place before he could escape.
"Stop! Please, stop!" Li Kong's words was unclear because of the laughing and tears started to coming from the corner of his eyes.
"Hah! You dare to leave me in silent! Do you still dare to leave me in silent again" Yu Mei repeated those words to Li Kong's ears to listen as she pinned down Li Kong's feet and mercilessly tickled the sole.
Although Yu Mei was smaller than Li Kong but somehow Li Kong found himself pinned down to the ground by the young girl with ease.
Li Kong struggled between holding his laugh and trying to control his strength so that he wouldn't kick Yu Mei on the face which undoubtedly would make the situation far worse than what is it now.
After few seconds, Yu Mei finally feeling satisfied and let the exhausted Li Kong lied on the ground tiredly.
After that, she departed from the place and as she took a last glance at Li Kong, she let out a loud "Hmph" sound before saying, "You better tell me what it is later."
Li Kong still hadn't recovered yet from the tickling torture he had experienced. His chest heaved up and down and the traces of tears still evident on the corner of his eyes.
"That crazy woman..." His breath shaky.
"She's trying to kill me for real!" Li Kong looked at the young girl's back with great resentment before leaning onto the nearby tree and heaved out loudly.
"Hah... I'm dying right now..."
...
After Li Kong arrived at his home, he instantly plunged to the bathroom and cleaned himself before going to his bedroom to finally submerged himself into a deep slumber before something inadvertently crossed his mind.
"Oh, right! I should continue my practice."
With great effort, he reluctantly jumped out of the sweet embrace of his comfy bed and reached out for the shelf nearby and took out a ordinary-looking book from shelf.
"Mhm... Mhm... Mhm..." Li Kong mumbled in a low voice.
Done reading, he closed his book and placed it on top of the shelf beside his bed and pulled his buttocks backwards to the soft side of the bed.
After that, Li Kong crossed his legs and with a closed eyes, he did a short, rhythmic breath and gradually his body was relieved from any kind of tension as he slowly submerged in the meditation.
Once again, Li Kong arrived at the lake and he immediately went to search for the ripples.
After a long time, Li Kong finally sensed a tiny ripple on the surface of his lake and he memorized and etched the feeling deep within his heart and following that feeling, he began noticing the countless ripples on the lake.
The numbers grew quickly from tens and then hundreds and finally, innumerable.
This time, Li Kong was prepared and didn't get overwhelmed by the sensation. He kept his breathing steady and willed his mind to stay focused.
After the number of ripples stop growing, Li Kong unconsciously knew that he already on the verge of success and at this moment, the content of the book that he had read earlier flashed through his mind.
'Guide the Qi to the lower abdomen area...' He muttered the content of the book quietly in his mind.
'But how do I guide it?' He asked himself.
'Although the Qi was touching the lake and manifested itself in ripples, I never actually felt it directly on my skin...' Li Kong pondered deeply in his meditation.
'Then what is the lake?'
'The lake is not my body. I don't feel the sensation of Qi touching my body and if so, what is it then?'
He tried recalling his memories of "A Basic Cultivation Manual and Qi Methods" book.
'Then is the lake a part of my heart?'
'No... The heart couldn't sense Qi...'
'Then is it my consciousness?'
'You're not even a cultivator yet... How could you already utilize your consciousness outside of your body?'
'Then what is it?'
'...'
He racked his entire brain for a long time but still couldn't mustered a single satisfactory answer.
Feeling frustrated at the situation, his concentration began to crumble as the sensation of the countless ripples quickly overwhelmed his mind, threatening to break the meditation but fortunately, Li Kong managed to successfully control the situation.
'Calm down, Li Kong. There must something in your mind.'
Li Kong dwelled deeper to his mind.
'Xiao Jia crying? No... Then what about this? Yu Mei embarrassed after burping and immediately rushed in her room? Haha, that face of her was so funny but no. Uncle Zheng spanking me when I replaced his water with vinegar? I think I went too far...'
Li Kong continued to search for any clues inside of his mind but rather than useful information, the only thing he saw was his mildly interesting past.
'Hoh, not a bad reaction.' Suddenly that flashed through his memories.
'Reaction?' Li Kong felt something ticked in his brain.
'What's related to reaction? Instinct or maybe, intuition? Intuition, hmm... Wait. Could the lake be my senses?!'
Li Kong felt something in his mind clicked.
'It makes sense now why I know there is Qi but I can't feel it.'
'But still. How do I guide the Qi into my body?'
Li Kong dwelled back to his mind and pondered for a long time before he realized something was unusual.
'Now I think about it, I feel like my senses was sharper on some part than the other.'
The more Li Kong paid it more attention, the more he felt something strange was happening with his senses.
Li Kong found that he was able to discern and react more sharply to the thing farther away from him than the thing closer to him.
But it didn't mean Li Kong's senses was failing detected anything nearby him but rather his body was subconsciously shaped his senses to be more perceptive to the things far from him.
It felt like there was an invisible boundary around his body, dividing into inner and outer parts where his senses was more focused on the outer part.
Li Kong wondered what might be the cause of this situation but that could be a question for another occasion.
'What if I try to pull my senses inside?' Li Kong considered the method for a while before deciding to give it a try.
Although Li Kong said it was pulling, in actuality he just tried to sense the area inside of the invisible boundary.
Unknowingly, his eyebrows creased and burrowed deeply between his eyebrows, creating a deep valley through.
But the method seemed to be failing as no notable change was being made and before long, Li Kong couldn't hold the meditation any longer.
"Damn it!" Li Kong cursed out while entrusting his body to the comfy side of the bed.
As his body sinking in further to the bed, Li Kong saw a white bead floated in front of his eyes.
"Ghost!" Li Kong frantically tried to get away.
"Who did you call ghost, you disrespectful brat!" A light voice filled with raging fury resounded through the room.
"Oh, it was you White." Li Kong had reached the bedroom's door at this point and he walked back slowly while wiping his forehead.
"You don't have to scare my heart like that, White!" Li Kong complained.
White was reaching his breaking point but when he saw the manual on top of the bed, he decided to let the youth go for this time.
"Did your attempt successful?" White asked.
Li Kong shook his head and explained everything to White.
"Hmm... I think I've heard something like this before."
"Really?" Li Kong's eyes was sparkling. "Where did you hear about it?"
"Please don't stick your face too close to me." Li Kong felt invisible energy pushing him away from the white bead.
"I have a friend who happened to encounter the same problem. He spent years as a hunter and perhaps the experiences had shaped his sharp senses to becoming like that which caused his senses to be sharper the farther away. After all, a hunter should be constantly aware of his surrounding."
"Woah. You know so many things, White!"
"Of course I am. Who do you think I am?" White was feeling a little prideful at the moment but he quickly chased it away.
"For your case, Li Kong. I think the hunter training provided by your uncle had ingrained a habit to your body which transformed your senses."
Li Kong remembered about the past few months where he was just recruited by Ye Cheng to join him in hunting but he quickly shut it down as he spent the next few minutes shuddering,
'I don't want to go back to that time ever again.' The experience had left a giant mark on Li Kong's life.
Li Kong quickly forgot about it and asked, "So how did your friend did it, White?"
"Oh it was..." White began his explanation while Li Kong was seriously listening to him and even taking a note and asking a few questions and the explanation seemed to be going well that was before Li Kong decided to ask White about some tales about the outside world and even details of his own adventure.
Basking in the glory of the past, White began to boast his journey and for some reason, Li Kong was even more focused than before as he gasped, clapped, whistled, and cheered.
As White continued telling his share of stories, the sky had darkened and the somber yet serene light of the moon had shone down the world.
"It's night already?!" Li Kong was shocked beyond recognition.
"I need to take a bath now!" Li Kong left the room in hurry, leaving the white bead behind.
For quite sometimes, the room was filled with silence before a blurry white figure emerged out of thin air and took a seat on the window's frame while watching the moon. The moon was beautiful as always.
"I wonder what's wrong with me... I never been this distracted before." The blurry figure mumbled.
For some reasons, the blurry figure couldn't concentrate at all when he was with the young boy and when they needed to discussed something important, they always ended up having a conversation with an entirely different topic.
"But it's not necessarily a bad thing." A hazy curve appeared on the figure's almost transparent lips.
How long was it since the last time he ever had conversation with other people like this?
For a hundreds of years, he had roamed aimlessly and crossed through a thousand worlds all for the purpose of fulfilling the task that was given to him and the years before he was separated by his "real" weren't a good thing too especially towards the end of his life.
But was it really centuries of isolation that lead him to the state he was now?
"No." The blurry figure firmly shook his head.
Before he was a remnants, he once was a great cultivator, what a thousand years for someone with an almost infinite lifespan? It would be lucky that those thousand years were worth even a grain of sand to him.
"That child was different from the others had met." The blurry figure recalled the child's unwavering eyes.
On those big round eyes reflected only pure curiosity and compassion for others while bearing the resolute gaze of someone destined for greatness.
"Or maybe it was because the others disappeared immediately after giving out the inheritances so they never felt this way." The blurry figure let out a little chuckle at the end of his words.
"No matter what is it." The blurry figure stared at the moon before a curve appeared on the corner of his lips. "I'll take care of this child to my best capability."
Suddenly a sound was heard from the outside of the bedroom and as the door opened, the blurry figure promptly disappeared, leaving the white bead mysteriously glowing under the moonlight.
Li Kong had arrived back at the room with wet hair and a towel to his name at the moment.
"How come you take so long to take a bath? Are you a woman?" White snickered.
"I have my mighty rod with me. How can I be a woman? It's because the water was too cold, I have to boil it first." Li Kong wasn't at all happy with the accusation as he replied grumpily while putting on his clothes.
White sent a loud whiff, "Sure you do."
Li Kong was feeling indignant and refuted White's claim furiously while White calmly countered it all with his lifelong wisdoms.
'But it's not a bad thing.' A smile formed deep inside of White's heart