(POV LEE SHUN)
On the second day of the summer in 1215 ED, Lee Shun woke up in the outer sect like he always did, but today was special. Lee Shun finally earned enough sect points mining. With those points, he traded them in to switch duties. He liked mining as it made him strong, but something more important caught his eye.
The Hua Sect's flower maintains the herbal garden. Luo Ning managed the garden due to selecting it as her inner disciple duty. Due to her beauty, she preferred to stay away from other disciples and cultivate herself surrounded by plants and flowers.
Lee Shun caught sight of her watering flowers one day on the way back from mining and instantly fell in love. A few days ago, one of the two out sect worker spots opened in the garden. So Lee Shun traded all the points he's saved to gain the job.
The miners told Lee Shun he was stupid. He could've bought a few techniques for the price he traded to switch jobs.
"Alright. Today is going to be great."
Lee Shun stepped out of his abode wearing his cleanest outer sect robe. The boy, shy of sixteen years old, looked very bulky for a kid. He charred his skin and muscles from tossing ores into the large furnace.
Lee Shun then looked up the mountain near him where his new job was located.
Looking at the base of the hill where he worked, "Thank you, mountain cave, but it's time to see what's on your peak."
As he made his way to the trailhead, Lee Shun greeted many fellow disciples. Most of them heard of his stupidity and pitied him. While walking the path, he felt like someone was watching him.
After being in the cave, Lee Shun developed a sixth sense for people near him. Otherwise, they would've bumped into each other often while working.
He continued up the trail as he didn't want to be late on his first day.
"What is this?"
Lee Shun stopped to look down at his hands. He could feel the energy thicker as he climbed the mountain.
"The energy known as Qi is thicker due to Hua Sect placing a formation on the mountain. That is how much the first sect leader valued the herbal garden."
Hearing that, Lee Shun snapped out of it to see a man in a tattered outer robe and long messy black hair making his way up the mountain trail.
"I didn't know that. Are you the other garden worker?"
The man didn't respond but continued upward. Lee Shun followed after the man but couldn't keep pace. Even though his upper body was tempered due to mining rock, his lower body was not so much.
Soon he lost sight of the man and began to tire out.
Lee Shun began to pant and couldn't catch his breath.
"Use the Hua Mantra to regain your strength," said a voice from up the mountain.
Lee Shun looked up from where the voice rang down. It was the man from before helping him. Lee Shun sat down and began to chant the mantra.
With one breath, Qi entered his body. He then pushes the energy to his dantian. Once there, the dantian, his cultivation organ, releases endorphins speeding up the body's natural recovery.
In the Qi Condensation stage, cultivators can only store Qi in their dantian and use it in very rudimentary ways. Since Lee Shun was only in stage 1, he could only gather very little Qi.
After a minute or so, Lee Shun stands up to resume his trek. Every few hundred feet, he would pause to restore his reserves. Soon the cloud cover broke, and he laid his eyes on the most vibrant green garden he had ever seen. The herbal garden was breathtaking.
Rows and rows of herbs and flowers were neatly placed. At the center of the garden was a temple. Lee Shun kept looking around until his eyes fell on the most beautiful flower.
She pointed out certain herbs for the older disciple that helped him earlier. She then looked up and saw that the new worker had arrived. Luo Ning motioned him over.
"Welcome to Hua Sect's herbal garden."