"Ta da. This is my home. Well now it is our home" Luo said as he pointed towards his wooden shack with just one bed. Xun had a peculiar expression on her face, as she struggled between showing thanks to him and showing disgust at the condition the room was in.
She finally settled on a forced smile "Great. It looks gr-great brother."
After settling down and having some food, Xun changed his bandages again. "It's getting late, we should sleep." Luo said to Xun.
"Who gets the bed?"
"Who? Me of course. HAHAHA"
"You know if you weren't hurt trying to protect me, I would've made you sleep on the floor. Hmph."
" Made me? Did you say MADE ME? How would you have done that?"
"You will find out." Luo was surprised at this little girl's stubbornness, but this kind of a silly fight made him feel warm as well. He never had anyone to fight with in silly ways.
He smiled as he looked at her when she said "What?"
" Nothing. Of course you can have the bed. I'll take the floor" He bent down and kissed her on her forehead and settled down on the floor and closed his eyes. Xun slowly smiled as she lay down beside him on the floor and snuggled contently.
As morning came, Luo took Xun to the administrative building of Ancient Zither abode to look for Fu Lin. As he went to the desk and saw a familiar scene of Pan Hua dozing off. He cleared his throat 'HM HMM' in hopes of waking him up but there was no effect.
He repeatedly increased the volume of throat clearing and after the fourth try Pan Hua woke up , drool slathered on the desk and looked up at Luo.
"Who? Ohh, it's just you. What do you want?"
"Brother Pan, do you know where Master Fu Lin is? I have some business with her and want to meet her."
"Ohh, she should be in her office." Pan Hua pointed to a building and gave the directions. Luo thanked him and started making his way to Fu Lin's office.
On his way he started hearing the sound of a Zither coming from the direction he was headed in. As he progressed, his Qi began fluctuating and the surrounding energy started making its way into his Dantian.
The more progress he made the more his soul was under the pressure from the Zither's tune. Even as the pressure built up until his steps became slower and slower, he still took one step in front of another.
The Qi from the surroundings kept rushing in and just as he reached the office of Master Fu Lin and opened the door, his Qi surged and he made a breakthrough to the 3rd layer of the Gathering Qi. The music from the Zither stopped as Fu Lin looked at him in surprise.
"What are you doing here? Did you walk through to my office as I was playing the Zither? I told Pan Hua not to send me guests when I was playing as the Zither's pressure can be dangerous to the soul." Luo was panting as he looked for a chair and only then did he realize that he had dragged in Xun with him as well.
He had forgotten that his hand was pulling her when he was fully focussing to walk as the Zither was playing. The Qi around Xun was very abundant and she was in pain.
Fu Lin saw this as well " You fool, why did you bring a child through that as well? Sit down! Immediately, both of you. I will help you stabilize your Qi. You should circulate the excess Qi and try to break through or the excess Qi will damage your meridians."
Luo helped Xun sit down and he sat down beside her. Fu Lin walked up to them and examined them. " You seem to be fine Luo, you can stabilize it on your own. It's this girl I'm worried about. I don't even think she felt Qi before. The pressure from the Ziher must have forcibly opened her meridians. I will help her now." Fu Lin placed her hands on Xun's back and whispered instructions into her ear. Xun followed obediently even though she was in a lot of pain.
Luo closed his eyes as well and worked on circulating the Qi and stabilizing it. After a few hours of cultivation, the Qi in his Dantian had increased considerably. He now had 5 drops of condensed primal Chaos Qi liquid in his dantian. He opened his eyes and saw that Xun looked better as well, but was still working on stabilizing it with master Fu Lin's help.
Another 3 hours passed and Xun finally opened her eyes. She had directly broken through to the 5th layer of Gathering Qi. "Luo, this girl is a genius. At ten years old, and her first time experiencing Qi and she was able to utilize the opportunity to breakthrough directly to the 5th layer. It's stunning. What is your name girl?"
" My name is Xun Yu, master."
Fu Lin smiled at her and then looked towards Luo "You broke through as well. But only to the 3rd layer."
She thought 'Hmm, surprising! The pressure from my zither and the excess Qi should've helped him get as much Qi or even more than Xun. Why is it only one layer's worth?'
Luo smiled at her praise and apologized to Xun for the pain caused. "So, what is the purpose of your visit, Luo?'' Luo grabbed Xun's hand and narrated the entire encounter to her, omitting the part's of the techniques he used to kill the wolves.
"Quite the adventure you had Luo. So you were able to kill a Tier1 boss monster and 8 wolves by yourself? Good job Luo. And it is indeed suspicious that an entire village was killed by these beasts. Such events are usually not coincidences in my experience so it's a good thing that you got out of there immediately."
"Thanks master. But about Xun, I am poor and I don't have money either, could you give me advice on how to take care of her?"
"Well... you mentioned that you had monster cores from those wolves and the skin of the Alpha right. You can sell them to the Ancient Zither Abode in the pavilion below. It should give you enough money to live on for at least 3 months."
"Thanks master. I will take my leave then."
Xun looked at Luo and then towards Fu Lin "Master I have a question."
" Yes, little Xun, what is it?"
"Is there any age limitation to the Summer competition? Can I take part in it, even though I am only 10?"
"This...well there are no specific rules for age limitation other than that the contestants must be under the age of 18. Usually we only see applicants from the age of 16. If you qualify the three tests then you can join a sect provided you get their jade slip. Why do you want to rush? You can take part in the coming years when you will be much stronger."
Xun just nodded and then bowed respectfully to master Fu Lin and rushed out of the door with a resolute expression on her face.
They then went and sold all the beast cores and the wolf skin except the alpha's core. They got 500 silver taels[1] as compensation for this. "This should take care of the food expenses for a few months. Let's head back Xun."
After returning to the shack Luo sat down and looked at Xun. "Why do you want to participate in the tournament now? What are you thinking Xun?"
Xun was silent for a while but then muttered in a low voice "Brother Luo is very strong and will definitely qualify in the tournament. Then you will go to the sect and I will be all alone. You promised that you will take me wherever you go. So I need to work hard and go to the same sect as you."
"That...is very sweet. But promise me that you will take your safety as first priority and will not act recklessly to qualify. Ok?"
"En, I promise", Xun hugged Luo tightly, pleased and excited that she would be participating in the tournament.
After Xun slept, Luo sat down to refine the Alpha wolf's beast core. It was glowing and green in color. As he started to refine it and assimilate it, the beast core levitated in front of him, as he concentrated and started to assimilate its powers.
This core contained the poison attribute which would have been hard for anyone on the Gathering Qi realm to resolve but the Primal chaotic Qi in Luo's Dantian absorbed it in its entirety. After he resolved it, His Layers of Chaos technique could now extract Poison Qi as well.
Master Yin's voice chimed in 'Brat, I see you've learnt another form of Qi. The Poison Qi was a branched out form of Yin Qi, so to extract it, first the Yin Qi must be extracted and then from that the poison Qi must be extracted.
Qi which have an attribute like this are Tier 2 Qi's. Yin and Yang are Tier 1 Qi's and the Primal Qi is the origin of them all. In this lower realm, I doubt you will find many who even have the Tier 1 Qi's. You however, can use all forms of Qi without them conflicting with each other.'
'So I can use Ice and Fire Qi both at the same time?'
'Yes. You can try that. But I have only taught you the split of Chaos Qi into Yin and Yang Qi. Extracting Tier 2 Qi's from them and using them will be up to your cultivation path. If you refine special beast cores or artifacts and treasures which give you that attribute, then you can use that Qi from the Layer's of Chaos technique.'
'This technique is omnidirectional then? I can use all the Tier 2 attributes if I unlock them?'
'That's right brat'
'What about the deficit I get when I use too much Yin or Yang Qi? Does this apply to the Tier 2 Qi's as well?'
'No. you will experience a deficit only when using Tier 1 Qis i.e the Yin and Yang Qi. Your perception of this is quite good, brat. I will praise you for that. HAHAHA'
'Thanks master Yin. How about you tell me how to resolve that deficit then?'
'Think I will fall for your sweet talk? You must resolve this on your own.'
'Hooo..... okayyy master.'
It was morning by the time Luo refined the beast core. Xun woke up as well. Both Xun and Lou headed to the waterfalls that Master Yin had taken him to the last time, after packing necessary supplies. Once they reached, they ate and then sat in meditation to cultivate.