Yan Ming sat in a meditative pose as Qi gathered in his dantian.
It had been about 2 month since he joined Violet Petal Sect.
He sighed to himself. His talent was extremely bad. Up to this point, he was only able to reach the first stage of Qi Condensation.
For a scope of reference, geniuses would that take 2 months would be around the 7th or 8th level by now. A decent talent would be at the 3rd or 4th, and the untalented would be 1st and 2nd stage.
He already knew the problem.
There's not enough resources.
Yan Ming needed to go outside and try his luck, but he was afraid. Outside of the sect, he would be thrown into a dog eat dog world that didn't care about his life. Of course, competition inside the sect was a similar world, but at the very least if you keep your head down, no one will trouble you.
Having experienced the helplessness and the fleeting values of cultivation with no talent, he was seriously considering to quit.
He once again sighed as he walked outside for a change of pace.
Maybe...it would be better to go back home to take care of mother and father than waste my time here.
"Taking a break from cultivation?"
Yuan Jinghua spoke from behind him. If there was one thing that stopped him from completely quitting cultivation, it was Yuan Jinghua.
"Take this."
She hands him a pack of rice. This wasn't ordinary rice, but actually spiritual rice with energy imbued into them. These were rewarded equally to disciples, but those who had talent would get more. Disciples could also buy them, but the cost were quite high.
He waved both of his hands, quick to decline it. "No, no, no, I can't keep taking this! Miss Jinghua has helped me too much."
She smiles, "Don't worry, I was rewarded with some extra rice that I wasn't able to finish. Just take it, here." Yuan Jinghua pushed it onto him.
"Sigh, I really appreciate your kind gesture, but I really can't. It's too wasteful."
"Yan Ming, if you don't take it, I'll throw it away. Then that'll be wasteful."
"But..."
"No buts. Just take it."
Yan Ming hesitantly nods. He felt guilt and shame. The more she was nice to him, the more burden his heart felt.
"I'll definitely repay you in the future!"
"Okay!" She smiled.
Yuan Jinghua turned to leave and waved him goodbye. Yan Ming could only look at her back.
Fire erupted in his heart, he rushed back into his room to practice again.
How could he repay her if he never breaks through? What about his mother and father? He has to break through! He must!
With a handful of spirit rice, he chugged them all and felt a current of waves of spiritual energy soar through his veins to his dantian.
It felt painful to say the least. It felt like knives were pushing against his meridians as they sliced towards the dantian. Sweat flowed down his back and forehead like a waterfall.
Still, he endured and endured to no end.
Finally a burst of energy mixed together, intertwining with one another like threads. His dantian became bigger and was much more vibrant than before.
Yan Ming breathed heavily.
"F-finally reached the 2nd stage! Hahaha!"
To anyone, this was almost a shameful achievement. But Yan Ming had been struggling so much for these past 2 months, that he felt a relief in his heart after breaking through.
No matter. As long as I'm by miss Jinghua...that's right! I need to tell her about this!
He got up, but then looked down to see himself drenched in sweat.
"After a bath.."