Jason sat cross-legged in his room in the outer sect, his eyes closed in deep concentration. His mind was focused solely on the task at hand - refining his meridians to reach the second tier of Qi condensation.
He had been training for the past month, but progress had been slow. His meridians were still weak and needed more refining. He knew that he had to be patient and persistent if he wanted to reach the next level.
He took a deep breath and began to gather the Qi around him, pulling it into his body and channelling it through his meridians. He felt the Qi flowing through his body, cleansing, and purifying his meridians as it went.
The elders in the outer sect provided lectures about the Qi condensation layers, explaining that the first three focused on refining the meridians and the latter three focused on strengthening the body. He knew that he had to focus on refining his meridians before he could move on to strengthening his body.
As he continued to meditate, he felt his meridians becoming stronger and more flexible. The energy flowed more smoothly, and he could feel a sense of power building within him.
Hours passed, and he remained in his meditative state, pushing himself to refine his meridians further. Finally, he felt a surge of energy flow through his body, and his meridians began to give off a yellow light signalling his reaching of the first-tier refinement.
He opened his eyes suddenly and let out a breath of turbid air and a smile creeped onto his boyish face. As he basked in the feeling of accomplishment, his thoughts began to wander back to Grandpa Yin's shack. He remembered the gruelling training Grandpa Yin used to put him through to prepare him for this moment.
Jason also remembered the nights he would spend with his sworn brother playing, arguing or even talking about their future accomplishments. It was at this moment that he realised how much he yearned for that time again.
Shaking his head, he quickly said to himself 'It won't be long till he comes to the outer sect. Then it'll be like old times again.'
A thud could be heard as the door was promptly opened by a muscly figure that seemed to be drenched in sweat. Liang who had just been practicing his martial arts in the summer sun had just returned to wash up and grab another pair of clothes when he saw Jason sitting on ground.
Instantly he scrunched his nose up in disgust, "Gods, I thought I stunk. Why don't you go clean yourself up before we need to torch this whole room."
"Ah?" Jason was taken aback, almost offended at the words spoken. He liked to think he took good care of himself so hearing the insult was jarring. He quickly looked over his body and was suddenly assaulted with a rancid smell. Trying his hardest not to wretch, he quickly began to disrobe so he could dispose of his clothes that were ruined by his impurities that had been cleansed and brought to the surface.
Liang chuckled at the sight of Jason panicking before he sensed a presence coming this way. Knowing instinctively who it was, he blocked the door.
"What are you doing?" a female voice could be heard.
"Nothing." Liang answered nonchalantly, "I just feel like standing here."
"Well can you move? I need to get some things." Lina retorted, starting to get annoyed.
"Nope. You'll have to wait." He said in an authoritative tone, making sure to block any chance of seeing inside. Truthfully, he couldn't care about Jason's naked body being seen by others, however, he wanted to protect his sister's innocence as much as he could.
Frustrated, Lina sized up her big brother, while her big brother lacked in socialising, he made up for it with strength. She casually walked up to him and without any fanfare curled her fingers into a fist before punching him in the pit of the stomach.
Liang who was using his senses to check the progress of Jason's "clean-up" was not paying attention to his little sister, thinking she would just wait patiently. With a whoosh, Liang felt all of the air leave his lungs as he doubled over in pain.
It was in that moment of Liang bending over that allowed Lina to see what was happening inside. She saw Jason stark naked holding his clothes with a panicked expression on his face. He looked up after hearing the commotion and their gazes met. She blinked twice, not understanding what was happening before screaming. "Ahhhh!"
Jason who had been in panic mode due to the smell, had forgotten that they shared a room with a woman. After locking eyes with Lina who had her eyes wide open in shock, he quickly ran to the bathroom, almost taking the door off its hinges.
"B-Brother, w-what was going on in there?" Lina asked in shock.
Liang who was still doubled over and winded could not answer for the time being. Lina continued "I didn't know you were into… Guys" she turned red at the scary thought of her big brother having those… inclinations.
Liang tensed up at Lina's words and almost spat a mouthful of blood 'I was protecting your innocence!' he shouted in his heart.
Seeing her brother tense up at those words and not immediately refute her words, her expression softened a little. "It's okay big brother, no matter what your… tastes are. You'll still be my brother." She said compassionately.
With that, Liang could not take it anymore and fainted.
Seeing the scene in front of him, Carl was stupefied. He had overheard majority of what Lina had been saying. He looked at the person who was now fainted on the ground with a look of disgust, homosexuality, while not unheard of, was considered very peculiar in this world.
"Um. Excuse me" Carl said softly toward Lina.
Lina turned around and saw a middle-aged man dressed in servants' robes. She ignored the fainted Liang and said with a cold voice "What do you want?"
Carl gulped before managing to find his words. "I have a message for Jason, is he here?"
Hearing the name of the naked man she just witnessed, Lina frowned. "Yeah, he's here, what's the message I'll pass it on."
Heaving a sigh of relief Carl responded, "It's a message from his brother, saying meet me at the alchemist division tomorrow at noon."
'Alchemist division? Didn't he say his brother isn't a cultivator yet? How could he be there?' Lina thought to herself.
"Message received, now leave." She said coldly.
Carl bowed quickly and ran from the scene like a criminal.