Chase was lying on the trimmed grass in front of the small house. His head was supported by his hands and his lifeless eyes were staring at the sun's direction without discomfort. The day was still bright and the sky was clear blue. The air in the forest was fresh and the tall trees added a relaxing feeling to the environment.
Chase could still see nothing but darkness. But he read his environment by the minute sounds that reached his ears. The martial art that Mason passed to him was an art that cultivated the ears. Chase murmured to himself, "The ears become the eyes and the eyes become a decoration."
He suddenly threw himself up by applying force to his hands on the ground. He then flipped on the air once and landed on the ground with his middle finger on the ground supporting his body that was upside down.
After he acknowledged Mason as his master 2 weeks ago, Mason made him to lie on the grass every morning to listen to the environment and get used to the invasion of different sounds on his ears. When he got out of the cave after his body was reformed, his ear was sensitive to the most minute sound and it almost made his head explode.
He had to be able to control the amount of information that enters his ears and needed to know how to interpret their meanings quickly and efficiently. Mason also taught him different body positions that will strain his body and senses making it harder to concentrate on the environment changes for example, his upside down position. He had to be able to distinguish different sounds and their meanings while maintaining his body's balance.
When the sun began to wave goodbye to the forest, Chase got down from his upside down position and walked to the small lake that Mason brought him to when they first met. The lake was 6mins walk from the house and no beast dared to roam around that area or even drink from the lake.
Chase could now walk around by himself but with the support of a long stick though. He walked at a normal pace towards the lake and when he got to the shore, he took off his clothes and laid his support stick on a rock beside his clothes. After the reformation of his body, His build was now a little sturdier and taller compared to a normal 12years old kid. He walked to the lake and gradually immersed himself in it until he was no longer visible.
The lake looked beautiful. The scene of the setting sun's reflection on the lake was a view that a painter would die for.
...
Mason appeared beside the lake and sat on a rock beside Chase's support stick. He waved his hand and his black zither appeared on his legs. His fingers began dancing on the strings and a melodious tune sounded at the lake's surrounding. It added to the beauty of the lake making it seem like an immortal's abode.
Chase suddenly poked his head out of the water and listened to the sound of the zither. When the music came to an end he asked, "Old Lu can you teach me how to play the zither?"
Mason chuckled "Brat...my skills are divine. I will teach you if I feel like it."
Chase pouted when he heard the usual answer. Apparently he was already used to this answer from Mason. Since he realized that Mason could play the zither and refine pills on the air, he had been begging Mason to teach him. But Mason gave the same reply. Chase took it as a way to train his mind or else, he would have rained curses on Mason's 10 generations. 'Damn...Just you wait old man..I will have my revenge...' He was still 12years old after all and kids don't really like receiving a 'no' for an answer.
Mason looked at Chase who was stimulating different revenge tactics in his head. "Hey brat...Do you want to make babies with the fishes? how long do you wanna bath."
Chase blushed and walked out of the water towards his clothes and support stick. He didn't seem to care that he was naked in front of Mason. His heart had already accepted Mason as a fatherly figure, after all, it was Mason that brought him away from death's door.
Mason "Brat, do you know the good side in being blind?"
Chase looked at Mason in surprise. "What's good in being blind? I can't think of anything."
Mason said in a serious tone "The fact that things like killing intent cannot be read from your eyes because your eyes are dead."
Chase "..."
Mason chuckled, "You're still a toddler. You will understand when you go the outside world."
Chase looked at the sky when Mason mentioned the outside world. Memories of his family flashed across his mind. "When will I be able to go back?"
Mason looked at Chase and answered with a straight face "It depends on you. It might be in 8 years time more or less."
"8?!!... Am I spending my teenage years in the forest?" Chase felt frustrated. "What the hell. That's torture."
Mason laughed at Chase's reaction. "I said more or less. It depends on your training speed. If you go back when you're not strong enough, you'll just be inviting another tragedy upon yourself. I did not accept you as my disciple to teach you how to commit suicide. Besides, before you go back to your clan, you should probably develop a mercenary group in another state to be your support...or a bandit group...hehehe."
Chase felt that Mason's words made sense, well, apart from the part about forming a bandit group. Who the fuck advices his student to become a bandit.
Chase "Old Lu, in the martial arts you passed to me, it is said that I will be able to tell the colours of things around me, the physiology and anatomy of a person or beast, the cultivation level of someone provided the level difference is not too ridiculous, the expressions on a person's face, the intent of a person and so on. All that with just my ears. Is that really possible?... It sounds like a scam."
Mason almost puked out blood. This brat is suspecting a legendary martial arts of being a scam. I just wanna dump him in a pig sty. "You've not even cultivated with the martial arts for up to a month and you're already calling it a scam..."
While the two were chatting, Chase had finished dressing up with his support stick held tightly with his left hand. The two chatted as they slowly walked to the house that could be sighted far away sitting lonelily in the midst of dense tress.
Chase "Old Lu, why do you live in the forest?"
Mason "I love nature."
Chase "You're weird."
Mason "..."
Chase "When will I start learning real fighting techniques? My affinity changed from fire to air when my body got reformed. You're also an air elementalist right? What rank are you? are you up to rank 5?
Mason's mouth twitched, he said in his mind, 'Rank 5? Just how low am I in this brat's puny brain.' He then answered Chase, "you might start learning fighting techniques 1year later more or less."
Chase almost tripped when he heard that. "More or less again? Old man... If you don't wanna answer then don't answer."
Mason chuckled. "All the things you mentioned earlier about being able to identify colours, a person's physical structure and so on, you have to achieve small success in them all before you start learning fighting techniques. And you have to achieve maximum success in all of them plus defeating me on the same rank as you before you can leave this forest..hehe..good luck brat." He laughed again and disappeared.
Chase stood there stunned. 'What did he say?' "H..Hey!... Old man..Old ma...Master Lu wait! let's talk things true!" He immediately ran towards the house direction.
Surprisingly, he was running and was able to perfectly avoid tree branches and other obstacles on his way. His feet moved quickly and air element was sipping out of his legs. It looked as if he was running on the surface of grasses. But he did not have the time to notice all this. His brain was occupied by Mason's requirements.
Mason stood on the roof of the house and was looking at the forest in front of him. He could see Chase running. Surprise flashed in his face. "This brat has reached rank 1 late stage so fast. I guess he will reach rank 2 before the year is over....3months to winter. I wonder how I should torture him during winter...hehe."