The moon sat high in the sky as its light once more lit up the world at midnight, once more in his room filled with clutter and various items Shu He was sat in mediation in the middle of the floor.
It was the night after the day where he had received some teachings from Dong Jie and watched the two other people he was close to at his age leave the village to pursue their paths, although he rarely spoke with them in the recent couple years he still felt a little off having seem them go.
'Maybe I liked them more than I thought?' He said to himself, at the end of the day having some people his age to just mess around with seems to have meant more to him than he thought, in some ways he wished he hadn't grown distant with them for the past few years.
But he shook his head.
'What's done is done, maybe if I see them in the future we can continue to be friends' Was his thoughts, it was entirely possible they would see each-other sooner than later.
'More importantly' The memories replayed in his mind, the words that Dong Jie left with him, the basics of cultivation, the first three stages.
"Qi Ignition, Blood Enhancement and Meridian Awakening" He recited to himself, he felt he finally had a set goal to move forward to.
But there was a single problem plaguing him…
"This golden flame, this pale gold 'Core Flame' that currently resides inside me, it's wrong!"
He couldn't progress along the three stages with this flame inside him!
'I have next to no control over it outside of my use of Qi Perception and the other time was when I almost permanently injured myself trying to reinforce my body… it's not possible to progress the Blood Enhancement stage!'
The golden flame radiates with a warmth when activated, but nothing more, in order to progress to the next stage he needs to infuse his blood and marrow with QI from the Core Flame, making advancements impossible for him.
He sighed, loud and long.
'I thought, maybe I was stuck, unable to progress'.
"But… "Forego your prejudice and common sense, open your mind and accept the incomprehensible"".
'Was I wrong from the start?'
He observed the pale gold flame gently flickering inside of him, scrutinising it.
'Is this not 'Qi'? Is it something else entirely? If so, what is it? The 'Qi' that Dong Jie used was a pale blue, it felt familiar…'
He thought about it for a second, before getting up and going to his desk, laid on it were small cases containing portions of a familiar paste, Qi Gathering Paste!
He had rushed to make some more after he returned, he felt he would need to make use of it again; He hadn't used it since he initially ignited the golden flame.
He went through the process he had ingrained in to his body over the strenuous two years he had spent before, carefully lining his body with the diagram like lines of paste to use it as efficiently as possible.
And then he sat back down, now in the nude once more, fortunately he was entirely used to it by now, his skin having gained a slight tan since the days past and a few minor scrapes or minor scars from his recklessness when self-training.
He cleared his mind like every time before, steadily breathing and relaxing his beating heart, his mind full of thoughts steadily emptied, leaving only the void of the world to enter.
He could feel it.
The golden flame of his, it constantly drew in something, it drew from the great expanse he felt before, ever vast and all encompassing, it was the same feeling he made contact with every time before, the source of his flame; It was like before, he was drawn to it, the brilliance that smothered everything else.
'But this isn't the 'Qi' that I need' He forcibly shifted his mind, he cut his focus and connection to that expanse, it was hard like a light that forcibly followed your eyes no matter where you looked, or a beautiful flower that overshadowed the weeds it was among.
Steadily, he faded it out from his mind and re-tread the first steps he took when he first tried to cultivate.
He needed something basic, not grand.
He slowly felt it, it passed over his skin and run through the house, it came to and from everything that lived, it was like a fine mist, a gentle breeze or a calm stream, never-ending and perpetual.
He entered a trance, he breathed in and it flowed in to his body, entering his organs, his blood, his bones, he breathed out and it expelled itself, flowing in to the surroundings.
He instinctively knew, this was it, this was 'Qi'.
He breathed in once more, it flowed in and instead of expelling it was like his body turned in to a greedy child, he kept up the pace as he relaxed and let it happen naturally, in and out it steadily gathered towards a single point in his body before expelling the excess.
It was like a ball of yarn steadily being constructed thread by thread.
This process continued for hours unknowingly to Shu He, his body was as still as a statue during the process, if he had not been steadily breathing one might think he had passed away.
The surrounding Qi steadily flowed towards him and then out like a black hole that expelled its mass, yet the physical surroundings were undisturbed, if one could see the Qi it would create a picturesque disharmony.
Soon, it reached a solid form, a perfect sphere of dense pale blue light.
And then, a familiar sensation stuck Shu He
*Strike*
The feeling of a sudden burst of energy emerging from his very core.
His body felt like it was washed with a gentle breeze filling and bouncing around every part of his body, it was similar and yet different to what with the golden flame, as it flowed he felt an almost euphoric feeling in his cells like his entire body was being rejuvenated.
His eyes opened gently, through the entire process he felt not a single tinge of pain.
As he cycled his breathing he could feel it naturally with his body, it was like there was a mist everywhere, entering and leaving his body, soaking the surroundings, it didn't give off a humid feeling like real mist, but it felt right; Like he had been missing something his entire life, now given it for the first time, he felt overjoyed.
He activated his 'Qi Perception' and looked at the surroundings.
He felt he could understand it now, before he struggled to do so, but he could see it, everywhere, flowing between everything, a pale blue film.
'So THIS is Qi?' He was happy, he had been worried that he had done something wrong and locked himself off the path of cultivation forever, but this proved him otherwise.
It wasn't difficult or painful like the creation of the gold flame, rather it felt natural like he was being guided along by a gentle mother and welcomed in to her embrace, in the end it felt like his world view had been changed forever, he could see and feel something a normal human could not.
He felt the qi inside himself, it was rather thin yet as he willed it, it moved throughout his body, it was not an external power, this was his 'Qi' and he could control it, if he focused it to his hands he felt like he was resting them in a gentle spring, he knew his limits and what he could do with it.
He looked inside himself and saw it there.
A pale blue flame.
And right next to it.
A pale golden flame.
He was both relieved and confused, to him, he had finally entered the known path of cultivation, now he could progress, but at the same time he felt unease, this pale gold flame didn't seem normal; Dong Jie didn't seem to notice it at all, and made no mention of it, and Shu He felt like he wasn't hiding anything.
'Did I set foot on a path far beyond my reach?' Was what worried him, will this flame, flickering innocently, harm him in the future?
The recent incident of his came to mind.
The white old man that appeared all of a sudden, it was clear to Shu He now that this flame was likely the reason, there was no other explanation.
'I need to tread carefully with this thing' He thought as the saw the two flames side by side.
He got up from the floor and stretched, as he did he looked out the window and saw that the light was beginning to rise on the horizon.
'I thought it was only an hour tops, it took all night?'
He yawned out of habit, but he felt like he had gotten a full nights sleep with his body full of energy.
'Either way, with this I should be at the first stage, right?'
"Qi Ignition!" He excitedly said to himself with a smirk.