A month after she started walking, it was finally time to cultivate. Only Lin Yue knew how many sleepless nights she had, waiting for this day to come.
She and her mother sat in a lotus position, and she had her eyes closed as ordered by her mother.
"Abstain from thinking, try sensing the qi around you" She heard her mother's ever-gentle voice.
Little Lin Yue did as she was told, she didn't think anymore and instead try to perceive the Qi.
At first, she only felt endless darkness, but after almost five minutes, a trace of white air appeared in her mind.
"Can you sense it?" She heard her mother ask.
"Yeah, it is white in color" Little Lin Yue was excited, still having her eyes closed.
Xie Mingzhu nodded and Lin Yue could hear the smile in her mother's voice, "That's good, this is one of the basic steps in cultivating, and this shows whether you can cultivate or not"
"So Mother, what step is next?"
"Patient, Yue'er" Her mother chided, but Lin Yue didn't hear the tone due to the excitement she was feeling, she only heard the word.
"Uh, is patient the next step?" Her childish voice was filled with innocence as she waited for her mother's reply.
"....." Her mother was dumbstruck as she shook her head, wondering in her heart why her daughter's intelligence was like this—sometimes like an adult and the other time like a child.
"Should I open my eyes?" Little Yue asked somewhat hesitantly when she didn't hear anything from her mother.
Xie Mingzhu inhaled and explained softly,
"Don't open your eyes yet. The next step is to absorb the Qi, don't rush, try absorbing it and tell me what happened"
Lin Yue nodded her head and she put all her concentration on the Qi, with a thought, the Qi swarmed towards her and she could feel it travels to her chest, where her soul core was located.
The Qi surrounded her soul core and the moment they were absorbed, she felt peaceful and contented.
"What do you feel and see?" Her mother's voice traveled to her ears.
"I felt free and contented, my soul core also lit up" She looked at the Qi that was still being absorbed and continued, "My soul core gives out a purple and red color light"
"What?! Red color?!" Xie Mingzhu's eyes widened in surprise and her shout caused Lin Yue to open her bright and big eyes in confusion.
"Mother, is something wrong?" Lin Yue asked with her sweet but innocent voice.
Xie Mingzhu placed a palm on her daughter's shoulder and asked with a fervent gaze.
"Are you sure that your soul core gives off a red color?"
Lin Yue could hear the excitement present in both her mother's gaze and tone, though, she didn't know the reason why her mother was like this, she still nodded.
"Yes, Mother"
Xie Mingzhu inhaled a deep breath and then shouted, "Ranran, Ranran!!!".
"I'm here, my lady" A sharp-looking maid walked in.
The maid, Ranran, was her mother's personal maid. Ranran was just 18, but she was very talented, she was a level one grandmaster already.
"Ranran, go and get me the Core checker stone from the store" Her mother ordered with seriousness.
"Sure, My lady" Ranran bowed slightly and retreated.
Two minutes later, Ranran returned with a smooth and shiny white stone and handed it to Xie Mingzhu.
"You can go now, Ranran" Xie Mingzhu waved her hand and Ranran retreated.
"What is the use of this stone, Mother?" Little Yue asked, her big eyes shining with curiosity with her elbow on her knee and her palm placed against her cheek.
"This stone here is known as a core checker and just like its name if you placed your hand on it, it will reflect the color of your soul core"
"Do people need this? Wouldn't they already know their baby's element when they were born, why do they need to check it?" Lin Yue frowned.
"Now her brain is working," Xie Mingzhu thought and explained.
"Yeah, that's why it is regarded as junk to some people"
Lin Yue nodded. "So you want to check my soul core again?"
"Correct, okay, now place your hand on it".
Lin Yue obediently stretched out her hand and place it on the stone. The stone's surface was just like a soul core, it's surface was hard and cold.
The moment her palm was placed on the core checker, the dull stone started to light up and started giving out a bright purple light, the process was extremely slow and when it remained only a quarter to be filled, another color emerged instead, red.
Under the surprise watch of the mother and daughter, the red slowly filled up the remaining of the soul core.