“You’ve returned.”

  Yu Chen opened his eyes at Xiao Huang’s words, his expression solemn as he looked up at the dragon. They observed each other for a short moment. Yu Chen was the first to move, slapping his hands together and bowing his head before speaking.

  “Thank you, Shizu.” The words were sincere and came from the bottom of his heart. He leaned forward, placing his palms on the ground before pressing his forehead into the dirt.

  “Thank you,” he repeated once again, kowtowing to his master.

  He’d always known Xiao Huang was special, but the technique had shown Yu Chen just how extraordinary he was. He felt a deep sense of gratitude for the dragon’s teachings and could only thank the heavens for bringing them together.

  Xiao Huang rumbled in satisfaction. Yu Chen held the pose long enough to show his sincerity, and when he looked up the dragon was still preening. The boy smiled at his antics before looking around. He was back outside of the Memory Palace; in the same spot he’d been ejected from a week ago. He spared the towering structure half a glance before returning his attention to Xiao Huang.

  The dragon regarded him as well, before leaning in. “Tell me hatchling, what have you learned?”

  Yu Chen straightened, rising to his feet and looking down at his hand. He could feel Xiao Huang’s gaze, weighing, measuring. His attention turned inwards as he considered the dragon’s question. He shut his eyes, and there it was–right behind his eyelids. The dragon’s claw. It was still as fresh and perfect as the first time he’d seen it. He breathed in, watching as the claw rose. He breathed out, watching as it fell.

  Why tell Xiao Huang, when he could show him? Yu Chen prodded at his qi, feeling it stir at his touch. It was quick and lively, responding faster than ever before. A result of his advancement? Or perhaps some effect of his bloodline? He pushed the question from his mind, pulling hard on his dantian.

  His first attempt was… overzealous to say the least.

  He could picture the ten thousand streams of qi in his mind as clearly as if they were his own. Picture? He could feel them. Yu Chen lifted a single finger, mimicking Xiao Huang as ten thousand streams of qi roared out of his dantian to surge down his arm. Joy blossomed, then shattered. The technique was too much; his control was too little. The energy raged as it broke free, tearing through his arm and leaving it a shattered wreck.

  Yu Chen cried out, feeling the meridians in his arm shrivel up as they were burnt to a crisp. A wave of pain crashed over him, so intense it sent him to the ground. Thankfully, this was his inner realm. Anywhere else and the backlash would have left him crippled for life, but the arm he’d destroyed wasn’t his real arm.

  His body might be safe from his foolishness, but his soul, only recently healed, rippled. Long stretch marks formed as it was pushed beyond its limits, and pulses of pain ripped through him whenever he moved.

  Xiao Huang nosed at him. “Hatchling?” He asked, before nudging him again.

  Yu Chen didn’t respond. He couldn’t. He was lost in a world of agony, but before long his ruined arm flickered, returning to normal. His eyes fluttered open as he came back to his senses. He tasted dirt in his mouth, and the iron taste of blood. Groaning, he pushed himself onto shaky feet, trying to figure out what happened.

  He wavered, still unsettled by the recent experience. Why hadn’t it worked? He’d done exactly as Xiao Huang had. He groaned again, rubbing his head. The world spun around him, snapping in and out of focus. It felt like a spiritual concussion. His clarity wavered, one moment seeing his inner world with stark clarity, only to see reality bleeding around the edges the next.

  Xiao Huang didn’t speak, but his silence spoke volumes. He spun around, drifting into the courtyard. Yu Chen shook his head in frustration, stumbling after the dragon. A familiar sight greeted him inside, Xiao Huang floating above a red cushion Yu Chen recognized from their first meeting.

  “Sit.” Xiao Huang rumbled, pointing down with a clawed forefinger. The sun glinted off his scales, painful to Yu Chen’s eyes.

  The boy nodded, before collapsing onto the soft cushion. He did his best to make himself comfortable despite his pounding head. It took a long time for him to get settled and focus his attention wholly on Xiao Huang. The little dragon tugged at a whisker, considering him before opening his mouth to speak.

  “The path towards mastery begins with controlling your qi.” Xiao Huang said, and Yu Chen couldn’t help but flush a deep red as the dragon’s eyes fixed on him. “Some of this you learned during the condensation stage. How to gather your qi and how to stabilize it. How to compress it, and how to condense it. To go further you must learn to combine these skills and others, practicing until they come as naturally as breathing.”

  “We will begin hatchling, with a single drop of qi. Flood your hand with as much energy as you can hold and then condense it. Whatever you do, don’t lose control.”

  Yu Chen nodded, taking a shaky breath before prodding at his qi and moving it through the patterns he’d learned from the Diamond Forms. It leapt at his touch, racing down his arm like a bolt of lightning, moving so fast he never came close to condensing it. Before he could grab it it’d already exploded from his knuckles, flooding the air before him with a dense burst of qi.

  The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

  He blinked in shock. Had he just… He stared down at his fist in amazement. His first time externalizing qi, and it happened entirely by accident. Something that would have been impossible for him not that long ago now felt effortless, accomplished without thinking.

  This was the qualitative difference that existed between realms, as different as water from air.

  “Again,” Xiao Huang said harshly, interrupting his thoughts. “Control is what separates dragons from beasts.”

  Yu Chen didn’t hesitate, flooding his arm with qi once again. He was faster this time, but it still escaped him. He tried again. The world narrowed around him as he breathed out, twisting his arm and throwing a punch. The qi raced through his arm as it had so many times before, and he almost, but not quite, caught it at his knuckles.

  It burst from his fist, flooding uselessly into the environment around him. A low growl escaped Yu Chen as his eyes sharpened. The world didn’t narrow this time, it disappeared, and he lost himself in practice. He stood up, striking out again and again as he slowly, but surely, learned how to control his new qi. It took more than half the day for him to adjust, but it was good training, familiarizing him with his new body and allowing him to harness the full potential of the abilities he already possessed.

  Then, he finally caught it. He laughed in delight as he felt it condense on his knuckles. A smile crossed his face as he struck out with a fist crackling with force. Closing his eyes, he ran through the motions of the Diamond Forms, throwing out a number of powerful attacks in the space of a few heart beats.

  It had nothing to do with what Xiao Huang was trying to teach him, but he did it anyway, laughing as he pushed his body through a series of motions that would have demolished any of his previous foes with blistering speed. There were no Concepts to his attacks, or any fancy techniques. Only raw strength and boundless qi, the building blocks of what made a good cultivator.

  The rest would come, soon enough.

  At least, that’s what he thought. He sat back down on the cushion, retreating into himself as he fell into a rhythm of condensing his qi and attempting to hold it. But try as he might, the next step proved to be nearly impossible.

  In the outside world, day turned to night. His physical form meditated, revolving his breathing technique with unconscious ease as he absorbed the qi in the environment. In his inner world day remained day, and he didn’t notice the difference. Time passed as he continued to practice. He’d take a brief pause every third night, disappearing to eat something and rest before returning to practice some more.

  A week passed before he was able to hold it for what Xiao Huang considered an acceptable amount of time. Yu Chen nearly wept with joy. Every failure over this period of time had cost him dearly. He’d lost control of his qi countless times, allowing it to rampage through his hand, breaking a finger if he was lucky or mangling it beyond repair if he wasn’t.

  Every attempt stretched out his soul, damaging it at a rate far faster than he could heal.

  Worried, he’d asked Xiao Huang about it. The dragon had been more than happy to explain, expounding on the nature of the soul, but truthfully most of it went over his head. He picked up on the important parts though, something about soul realms, and avatars, and damage to the soul. That was what worried Yu Chen, but Xiao Huang didn’t care about the risks.

  Yu Chen couldn’t help but notice that it wasn’t his soul being damaged, but Xiao Huang claimed that he’d come out of this experience with his soul stronger than ever. Yu Chen hoped so. It was in a constant state of disrepair these days, and he’d taken to keeping the piece of jade on him at all times. It steadied his frayed soul, keeping the worst of the damage at bay.

  It was necessary, as Xiao Huang’s training grew harder.

  Once Yu Chen could hold the drop of qi he made him stand up. It was harder to concentrate while moving, and that simple motion caused his qi to rampage out of control once more. Yu Chen stared at his mangled hand in dismay as he felt his soul ripple again.

  It only got worse. Xiao Huang waited for him to recover and condense another drop of qi before forcing him to run. As soon as the run ended the jumping jacks began followed by a long swim in the river. His qi rampaged so often his hands began to ache, taking longer and longer to return back to normal. Yu Chen was forced to vary where he held it. Sometimes in a foot, sometimes in his shoulder. Sometimes on his shin, or against the back of his knee.

  The Diamond Forms hadn’t touched on the things Xiao Huang now taught him. The technique had been all about unleashing a blow of force at the moment of impact, but now he could hold that force, fight with it in his hands. It made his fists harder and allowed him to unleash it whenever he pleased. The sense of progress elated him. He redoubled his efforts, but anytime he achieved success Xiao Huang added more to his load, forcing him to expand his abilities.

  Days passed.

  Yu Chen gasped for air as he threw another arm in front of him, using his powerful body to swim against the current of the yellow river. How long had it been? He couldn’t say. He’d lost track of the time hours ago, but Xiao Haung hadn’t told him to stop. Yu Chen pushed on, stubborn, a point of condensed qi in each of his hands and his feet. Another one, denser that the rest, revolved on his forehead. Xiao Huang thought it’d motivate him. Yu Chen thought it’d kill him.

  Yu Chen’s face dripped with sweat as he pushed off the ground, the weight of a dragon pressing against his back. “Again.” Xiao Huang commanded. Yu Chen lowered himself until his chest was half an inch from the ground before pushing back up. He had to inject more qi into the points on his body, condensing it further as Xiao Huang grew heavier on his back.

  Yu Chen rested atop the palace, looking out at the endless fields of grass covering his inner realm. A hundred and seven different points of condensed qi revolved across his body. They covered his acupoints, danced at the tips of his fingers, and the ends of his elbows. In the middle of his chest, atop his dantian, between his brows. Breathing out, he condensed one more.

  Days passed and Yu Chen grew, gradually stepping beyond the beginning levels of Foundation Establishment. He was still in the early stages, but his time in secluded meditation had gone a long way towards firmly establishing him as a Foundation Establishment cultivator.

  “Tell me, hatchling,” Xiao Huang said one day, peering down at him. “Of all the Concepts under the heavens, which one speaks to you the most?”

  Yu Chen didn’t have to think about it.

  “Water, Shizu,” he replied, looking off into the distance. “I can feel it in the river, and sense it in the air. I can hear it, roiling around in the bodies of others.”

  Xiao Huang rumbled in satisfaction.

  “Very good.” He said, spinning around Yu Chen’s head. “Follow me.”