Back in the adventurer's carriage, Chang Guan was meditating. Since he couldn't absorb Qi so fast, he had to meditate very regularly. The carriage was quite large for Yoshida Taiki and Chang Guan to share, as there was likely enough space for 4 people if necessary.
On one side was the meditating Chang Guan, and on the other, Yoshida Taiki was reading a book about botany. Its title was "Overview of Poisonous plants", and for him to read this was completely normal.
Chang Guan had no reason to read such books since he could use his Qi to force normal poison out of his body but for a normal person, knowing which plants were good and bad to eat could mean the difference between life and death.
Suddenly, the caravans began moving. Chang Guan thought to himself, `If the carriage is moving, that means it's 2 o'clock´.
Yoshida Taiki seemed as though he was bored and wanted to talk to Chang Guan, but was a bit too nervous to do so. After about 1 hour of cultivation, his Dantian could no longer handle the pressure, and Chang Guan stopped cultivating. He looked at Yoshida Taiki who was resting and said,
"So, what is it?"
The question woke Yoshida Taiki who hurriedly said,
"Ehhh, what?"
"Don't you want to ask me something? If not then I'll be resting now."
"Oh! I was just wondering, your name, Chang Guan, it doesn't seem like it's from the Purple Forest region."
"Correct, it's from the Black Desert region."
"Black Desert region, huh. That's quite far. Are you heading home now?"
"Yeah, there was no direct request from the Adventurers Guild to the Black Desert region, but at least this is going in the right direction."
Yoshida Taiki sighed and said,
"I see. Do you have any family living in the Black Desert Region then?"
Chang Guan's face darkened and said,
"That's none of your concern"
Then, he closed his eyes and laid down on the seat, trying to get some rest. He couldn't continue absorbing any Qi for now, but he could still increase the rotation speed of his Qi. Currently, his rotations a second was 65 R/s (Rotations per second), which was well above the necessary 50 R/s needed to reach the Green Mask.
As Chang Guan laid on his seat, time seemed to fly by as he was immersed in increasing his R/s, and before long, it was already 7 o' clock.
Suddenly, the carriage stopped, and someone opened the carriage's door. It was Itou Hachirou, who had come to tell the 2 inside to help set up camp. Neither Chang Guan nor Yoshida Taiki was surprised that they needed to help, as it was standard for adventurers to help merchants with odd jobs.
Chang Guan, who was in the middle of his Cultivation, was very unpleased at being disturbed but didn't let it show on his face and went out after Yoshida Taiki to help.
Although he went out to help, he had never set up tents and such, so he left that to Yoshida Taiki while he asked Itou Hachirou what he should help with. Itou Hachirou responded after a moment of pondering,
"Well then, please search the area for any sort of danger. Animals and people alike. If you can take care of it then do so, otherwise return here and we can think of something."
Chang Guan nodded and was about to search the area when he saw a little girl out of the corner of his eyes. Using his Qi as a method of detection, he noticed that this girl, Itou Ayaka, had a striking resemblance to Ryuu Mami, his cousin.
Watching the innocent girl, his heart quivered but he temporarily ignored it and went to search the surroundings. He instantly spread out his Qi to search the area finding absolutely nothing of importance.
Since he had finished, and couldn't go back since it would seem unnatural, he decided to slowly walk towards Itou Asaka.
Seeing this as a chance to clear up some of his regrets, Chang Guan used his Qi to create a barrier surrounding Itou Asaka and himself, hiding them from the outside, then he removed his disguise, revealing the appearance of a 14-year-old boy as he approached her from behind. As he got closer, he could hear her talking to herself with quiet, sad voice.
"Why? Why does no one want to play with Asaka?"
"That's not true. I want to play with you. May I?"
He said gently from behind her, startling her greatly. Then, he took a seat next to her and listened as she said,
"Really, you will?"
"Right. What do you want to play?"
"Let's play tag!"
"Sure!"
And so the two children, one 11 and the other 14 played a game of tag. After having played for about half an hour, Itou Ayaka looked over the camp and said,
"I probably need to go soon, do you want to come with me?"
"Sorry, I can't, but I also need to go, but can I first talk to you a bit?"
"Sure"
Then she smiled sweetly and said,
"My dad and brother always say talking to me is fun!"
"All right then. Then can I start with a question? Do you have anyone you love?"
"Yeah! I love my dad. And my brother too!"
"Hahaha, I don't mean that sort of love. But I guess it's fine if you don't understand yet."
Chang Guan smiled bitterly and continued,
"I loved someone, she looked just like you. But now she's gone, and I doubt I'll ever meet her again."
Itou Ayaka looked at Chang Guan, with a confused look on her face. Seeing this, Chang Guan laughed and said,
"Nevermind, it was fun playing with you."
Then he pulled out a jade from his Spatial Ring, held it up to his forehead, and then to hers. When the jade touched Itou Ayaka's forehead, her mind was filled with information. The jade was something called an Imprinting Jade, this was something you could imprint information and then transfer that to other people.
"I have passed you the first 3 steps of the Qi Condensation stage. If you can master it within 10 years, you should leave towards the Black Desert region and look for a cultivation sect to join. Also, you should keep this a secret, until you have reached the second layer."
He had found those 3 steps in his ancestor's notes but had no use for them, and as such felt it alright to pass it on to her. The reason he didn't give her the Ninjutsu stages was because he didn't want her to be found and chased by the person that annihilated his clan.
After doing this he and the barrier vanished, and at the same time, he disguised himself again and entered the camp.