"You don"t even know what is a Dantian?" said his mother while rolling both of her eyes."A Dantian is where the human body stored their spiritual Qi that they have absorbed from the surrounding." she explained.
Hearing this, Duan Li thought for a while and asked, "How do we do that? By eating?"
"No silly! We absorb spiritual Qi into our body through breathing exercises!" she giggled and added, "As for how your stomach managed to transform your digested food into a spiritual Qi, I am no longer surprised by your cheating abilities eventhough I don"t know the reason why."
"Cough!" Duan Li coughed dryly.
"Haha.. what is this "spiritual Qi" for mother?" sounded Duan Li feeling curious as he chocked himself little bit, embarra.s.sed that his mother categorized his abilities as cheating. He smiled awkwardly looking at that annoyed face of his mother.
"You can do a lot of stuff with spiritual Qi. In fact, some martial arts requires it to be executed just like the skill used by sister Ling Yu the other night. Furthermore, even normal martial arts becomes powerful when imbued with spiritual Qi." replied his mother.
"Basically, spiritual Qi lets you do wonders and perform miracles. For now, you don"t have to think about it yet. After learning the various meridian channels inside your body and mastering them, the academy will explain to you the numerous methods for you to gather spiritual Qi. After that, you just have to pick one that suits your needs." explained his mother.
Thinking about it, Duan Li conjectured that this spiritual Qi topic might be too difficult and advance for him as of yet. Thus, he relented by nodding.
...
"knock knock!"
"Sister Ming Yue! I"ve come to pick up Duan Li!" sounded a voice from outside the door.
"Ahh, sister Ling Yu has arrived.." Duan Li"s mother said as she opened up the door. They greeted with a hug.
"Sister.. about the other night.." Ling Yu spoke up with a small voice sounding quite guilty.
"Don"t worry about it! It"s my son who was too weak to have fainted from executing his own secret art. Haa.. " sighed Meng Yue as she shook her head slowly.
To think that her son would suddenly fainted on the spot from executing his own abilities in front of her junior sister, she felt a little bit ashamed.
"Come on Duan Li, sister Ling Yu is waiting for you!" shouted Meng Yue, beckoning for Duan Li who was still in his room.
Emerging out of his room, Duan Li closed the door to his room gently while looking melancholic. He then slowly carressed the door as he sighed.
"Stop being so overdramatic and come quickly! You don"t want to miss the airtrain!" said his mother as she rolled her eyes.
Coming forward while sighing again, Duan Li turned to look at his mother. On the outside, it seems that his mother seemed to be cool and unfazed. But as a son, Duan Li could clearly see that his mother was just acting. From her eyes, he could feel the hidden sadness in it.
"Mother, Duan Li your son here, will visit you every weekend okay? Don"t feel too sad about it.." said Duan Li.
"Who is sad?! I am the one who decided to sent you to the academy! Hmph!" harrumphed his mother with crossed arms while pouting.
"Duan Li will make mother proud!" he said as he laughed for a bit looking at that adorable reaction from his mother.
"You.. just.. you take care of yourself over there, you hear me? Don"t let others bully you! I will not acknowledge if my son were to be.. a weakling!" replied his mother seeming to stutter in her words a little bit.
She was trying hard to suppress her brewing emotion so as not to betray her unfazed expression.
Duan Li smiled.
Bowing down towards his mother at 90 degrees, Duan Li then hugged her as he whispered, "I will mother, you too.. take care of yourself.." with a gentle voice.
"Silly boy.." replied his mother, her inner emotions almost broke out.
As Duan Li and Ling Yu departed into the distance, they both waved to Meng Yue as she waved back with a wide smile. Looking at their disappearing figure from their backs until they are completely gone, the trace of sadness finally expanded as it engulfed Meng Yue.
She looked inside the house, feeling empty.
"Now.. I"m all alone.."
She slumped to the ground slowly, and reclined her back towards the door frame. Burrowing her face with her arms to cover it, a silent cry of a mother was then heard by no one, but the wind.
...
"Grandma Ying!" called out Duan Li as he waved at the grocery store owner where the incident took place a few days ago.
"Ehh? Duan Li my boy! I heard you fainted yesterday while hard at practice! You should take things one step at a time.. " said grandma Ying slowly with a worried look.
"Ahh.. yes.. " replied Duan Li, embarra.s.sed as he pat his own head.
He continued, "Starting today, I will be living in the dormitories at the Jixue Knights Academy grandma Ying, I"m here to bid you farewell..".
Hearing this, grandma Ying nodded as if she already knew.
"Yes, I"ve heard about it. After that incident happened here a few days ago, the village folks had reported to the village head straight away in your defense as they were afraid that the academy might deal with you unfairly." she said.
"However, when the village head heard about this, knowing the regulation of the academy, he just smiled and said to not worry about it as you have already been accepted as part of the academy. The matter would be treated as a duel between fellow students. Thus, everyone was already quite aware of it.. except maybe you, hehe.." she giggled while covering her mouth, seemingly to tease Duan Li.
What? They all already knew beforehand? And it seems that I was the last one to know about it in the end?
Duan Li was crying in his heart.
"Haa.. it is as grandma Ying had just said.. I only just knew recently.." he said with a sigh. "If it is not troubling, I hope grandma Ying could accompany my mother once in a while, she gets lonely easily.." added Duan Li with a concerned voice.
After all, he knew best about his own mother. As tough as she was, he found out that his mother would sometimes act like a little sister instead with that adorable face of her"s..
Seeing that worried look on Duan Li"s face, grandma Ying smiled as she said, "Don"t worry, grandma will come visit her often. You should take care and focus to study hard! Be sure to return with a t.i.tle that will make your mother proud!"
Hearing the rea.s.surance and encouragement from grandma Ying, Duan Li finds himself to be more motivated, as his worries lessened.
Duan Li bowed 90 degrees to grandma Ying as he bid his farewell, "Thank you grandma Ying! I have to go now.. please take care of your health! I will return every weekend!"
"Ohh! And pa.s.s my thanks to the other village folks for their help as well!"
Duan Li waved at grandma Ying as he continued to walk forward. Looking at the never-changing busy street of this village, he expressed inwardly to himself, "I am going to miss this village.."
He knew that once he step foot into the academy, he wouldn"t be able to enjoy such kind of atmosphere anytime he wanted anymore.
Things will change.
...
After some roughly thirty minutes walk, they have finally reached the end of the village. He could see a big red gate and concrete walls as high as three meters encircling the village. These gate and walls are guarded with some patrolmen in light leather armors doing daily routine checks and station guards donned with heavy iron armors plates. They serve to protect the village from the seasonal monster attacks.
Stepping outside the gate, Ling Yu turned to Duan Li as she said, "From here on out, we will go to the nearest airtrain stops located 80 kilometers northeast."
"W-what? 80 kilometers.. we didn"t bring any supplies for such a long travel.." said Duan Li, shocked to hear that the distance to the airtrain stops would be so far away.
Ling Yu giggled seeing that shocked expression, "Silly, we are not going to travel by foot! Come closer!" she beckoned to Duan Li with her index finger while winking at him.
Duan Li"s face turned red as he blushed seeing that seductive charm and slowly walked to close their distance. They are now less than a few inches away from each other. Duan Li"s heartbeat pumped loudly as he could faintly smell the perfume she was wearing.
Ling Yu smiled teasingly as she patted her right palm onto Duan Li"s shoulder and chanted, "Feather flight!"
"shiingggg!"
Suddenly, Duan Li felt his body to be as light as a feather. He floated one meter off the ground.
"W-whaaa??!!" he exclaimed, sounding a little bit terrified as he struggled to balance himself in midair.
"Calm down! Its a magic for a short, long distance travel." she said as she chanted the same spell and her body also floated one meter above ground.
"Don"t move too much, this spell is quite taxing for me since I"m using it for you too. I could only do this for perhaps thirty minutes before we stop to rest for a while." she added.
They both then floated higher and higher as they finally reached five meters above ground. Duan Li covered his mouth with both hands as he look dead forward, afraid to look down.
Then, as if some invisible force was tugging at them, they moved forward slowly as they began to accelerate faster and faster..
"psheewww!"
And so, off they flew into the distance..
...