As Chang Guan entered the camp, he could smell the fragrance coming off the pot in the middle of the fire. He used his Qi to find Itou Hachirou, after having located him, he briskly paced towards him. It had been about 40 minutes since Chang Guan had left and as such, Itou Hachirou suspected nothing from Chang Guan and asked,
"So, did you find anything?"
"Nothing"
"Good, we're eating soon, walk over to Taiki for your dinner."
After a short conversation, they parted, with Itou Hachirou heading over to the high-quality carriage where Itou Ayaka and Itou Ueda were, and Chang Guan wandered towards Yoshida Taiki who was eating by the campfire.
===
Inside of the high-quality carriage, the 3 Itous were sitting. Itou Ueda and Itou Hachirou was talking about trade and such when Itou Ayaka suddenly said,
"Today I saw an fairy!"
Hearing this, the 2 Itous turned and looked at her. Itou Hachirou said gently,
"Really? Is that true?"
"Yeah!"
"That's nice."
Itou Ayaka pouted when she realized that he was trying to coax her and didn't really believe her. She said,
"Really! I mean it!"
"Yeah, yea-"
"Wait."
The 2 were interrupted by Itou Ueda, who had a slightly serious expression. He took a deep look at Itou Ayaka and said,
"This fairy of yours, how did it look?"
Being taken seriously, Itou Ayaka was satisfied and said,
"He was a bit older than me. He had charming green eyes, black hair and had a secluded feeling around him. I was just sitting when he came behind me and started to play with me."
Itou Ueda's face paled drastically. Noticing this, Itou Hachirou asked nervously,
"Whats wrong? You can't take her words seriously, she's a kid!"
"You don't understand!!"
Itou Ueda shouted with a stern voice. then he said,
"Asaka is a smart girl, who doesn't lie. Besides, if I'm not then this situation could be very bad. Asaka, do you remember anything else about your fairy?"
Ayaka thought for a moment and said,
"Oh yeah, I remember just before he left, he put a pretty stone to my head, my head hurt but I started to feel some new information go into my head. After that, he said something, but I don't remember all of it."
"What was it?"
"He said something about it being 3 stages of Qi Condensation or something like that and that I shouldn't tell anyone about it."
At this moment, Itou Ueda's face went from deathly pale to as red as a tomato. He asked excitedly,
"Qi Condensation?! Is it really Qi Condensation?!?"
"Yeah!"
At this moment, Itou Hachirou butt in, clearly confused about the situation, asked,
"Dad! Please explain what's happened."
It took a moment for Itou Ueda to calm down, but he soon answered,
"Alright, so as far as I understand, a wandering immortal came by and felt like giving Ayaka the method of cultivation."
"Cultivation? What's that?"
"Hachirou, remember that breathing technique I had you practice? That was something made by a friend of mine based on cultivation. Unfortunately, it doesn't have the same strength. I recall him saying something about Qi Condensation being the first step of Cultivation."
"Really? That's great! If we have a more powerful version of the breathing technique we could make a proper clan here in the Purple Forest region and become a regional powerhouse!"
"Exactly! Ayaka, did he say anything else?"
Ayaka, who had been watching her brother and father so excited, responded energetically,
"He said that if I can master the 3 stages of Qi Condensation in 10 years, I should go to the Black Desert region and join a sect."
"Ok, was that all?"
"Yeah, I don't think he said anything else."
"I see, Ayaka, could you please write down the Qi Condensation manual?"
"Okie Dokie"
After having been handed a sheet of paper and a pen, she copied down the manual from her memories. Oddly enough, the manual was written in perfect handwriting, something that both Itou Ueda and Itou Hachirou knew was not her forté. Although they found this weird, they attributed it to the power of Cultivation, something that neither understood.
It took about half an hour for the 3 Itous to sort everything out before they eventually left to eat dinner.
===
While the Itous were ecstatic from this pie falling from the heavens, the culprit, Chang Guan, was eating dinner with Yoshida Taiki. After having sorted out at least some of his lingering regrets, Chang Guan was feeling much better, as he looked around at the surroundings, he found that all of a sudden it all seemed a bit more pleasing. It felt as though he could see everything for what it truly was.
Maybe it was a coincidence, or maybe it was because of his good mood, Yoshida Taiki struck up a conversation with him. It was truly a pleasant conversation and in the end, Chang Guan ended up learning a surprising amount about him. He learned that Yoshida Taiki was actually a tailor before an adventurer. Apparently, his parents died when he was young but he was taken in by a nice couple. Now he even has a wife and 2 children at home.
Chang Guan was surprised that even someone he perceived as ordinary had their fair share of troubles. Suddenly, Chang Guan entered a short state of enlightenment. This was a small enlightenment, only about half a second long, but despite only being shorter than a second, for Chang Guan, it felt like hours. Then, as the enlightenment was ending, he began muttering to himself,
"I see, or do I?"
It was at that moment it ended. Still slightly drunk on the feeling of an enlightenment, Chang Guan walked away from Yoshida Taiki and stumbled his way over to his tent. He fell over on his bed and instantly fell asleep. Just before falling fully asleep, he thought to himself, `If only that enlightenment had lasted half a second longer. I felt like I had almost grasped the essence of Ninjutsu...´.