1 Wei Jin

Where is she?

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A small boy was resting on a wooden bed wrapped in the warmth of the sunlight streaming through the window.

His eyes snapped open to reveal a pair of green eyes that radiated slight confusion.

"What was that?"

His small immature voice spoke quietly as he thought about something for a second. It only lasted a second though before he flipped the sheets off from his body a sprung up.

This boy Wei Jin was 3 years old this year, and the son of an elder in the Wei clan. It was one of the minor clans that populated Spring flow city.

Spring flow city was the main city that dominated the surrounding region and was the capital of the Xian Empire that ruled the continent. As one of the minor clans in the city their house had a certain amount of property and power throughout the city and continent. Competing against various clans to score cultivation resources and property they were a well off clan.

They had offended no major clan or any of the Middle Clans and lived rather peacefully.

As the son of an elder of the clan Wei Jin had a higher standing in the clan and was well off. Not needing to worry about food or a house to live under, his playful personality bloomed in the short years he had lived.

Cultivation could only be started at the age of 4 as the 1-3 year period could only be used to strengthen the bodies' quality and constitution. Any actual cultivation of the body in proper cultivation techniques before this would lead to detrimental results.

This was a well known fact, so the younger members of a clan would usually eat high class foods filled with spirit Qi to strengthen them, but do nothing else. This lead to a lot of free time for the younger generation as after simple teaching of reading and writing they would have free time.

Not being the son of the patriarch or head of the clan, Wei Jin didn't have to worry about someone coming for his life and was free to go out and play.

Springing out of the bed his mind spun with thoughts on what he wanted to do for the day. After the short few hours he would have to spend learning, he would be able to roam around the city.

Brushing his teeth and having a quick bath he rushed out towards the 3rd biggest building in the clan. It was the clan library which had a side room to teach small kids. As the only one in his generation in the clan, he would have personal training with the elder in charge.

Walking into the library and waving towards the old librarian that always sat at the desk he moved towards the room. Opening the door it creaked slightly as he popped his head in a smile on his lips.

Once he confirmed the elder in charge of education was there and reading a book, the smile grew even wider and he burst into the room.

"Mother"

The woman that looked to be in her late 20's that was hunched over and reading a book, showed a dazzling smile as she slowly raised her head and put down the book.

Wei Jin rushed over and dived into his mother's arms giving her a big hug nestling into her body. He always felt warmth when he hugged her.

Yes the elder of teaching and education in the clan was his own mother!

She smiled happily down at young Jin and wrapped her hands around his back. Planting a kiss on the top of his head she held on for quite a few seconds. She was so happy to see her son, as she didn't get to see him much.

After the age of 3 years old and before a child would cultivate they would separate from their family and live in a separate room to them. It was meant to build character and an independent spirit and wasn't used in every clan. It was used in the Wei clan and was a practice that had been used for ages past.

Even though it hurt her heart to be separated from her son at such a young age, she would still be able to see him all the time.

Children had to become self-independent from the moment they were separated from their family. They could still see them and have their food. But it was a practice that they would learn how to make their beds and self-care for their bodies.

They wouldn't have to do stuff like laundry or other things till a later date, but it was a good start.

They continued to hug with neither of them wanting to release their grip; Wei Jin being a 3 year old had only been separated from his family recently and was still dependent on his mother and father. And his mother wanted to hug her son for longer.

Finally after a minute or 2 they let go of each other and Wei Jin moved to a seat on the right. His mother sat down happily and began to teach him how to write and read. It was a slow process but was required knowledge for the kids of the clan.

She was very adapt at the teaching as she had been doing this for a few years now and had a lot of information running through her head, the fact that it was her own son also motivated her. She wanted to give him information that would make sure he would live for a long time.

The cultivation world wasn't nice world.

She looked gently at her son as she continued to talk on. After clearing the teaching of writing and some new words she started on to the main subject.

"So where were we last time?"

"I think we were talking about cultivation Realms mother."

She smiled down gentle at his reminder even though she knew perfectly well where they were at, she just wanted to test him a little.

"Right.Right. So Jin, son, once you reach 4 years of age you know that you will have to start cultivating."

Wei Jin nodded his head before she would continue; she would do this all the time, stopping to make sure he was listening.

"Once you start cultivating you won't immediately become a cultivator, what you will cultivate at the start will only be body refining techniques. They will make your body stronger so you can really step along the path of cultivation."

Wei Jin nodded again.

"Good boy. So once your body is strong enough you will be able to truly start to condense Qi in your body."

Wei Jin raised his hand in the air fast; he was taught to always raise his hand when he had a question. He was almost jumping about as he raised his hand up. He would always get a reward for asking questions.

"Yes go ahead."

Wei Jin's mother smiled widely at the sight and couldn't help but to reach over and ruffle his hair. He giggled happily and then spoke his question.

"What's Qi? What's Qi??"

He asked the question fast and loud as if she wouldn't answer fast, if he didn't ask it just as fast himself.

She became even more amused as she slowly explained it to him.

"Qi is the condensation of spirit energy in the air and lets us become cultivators. Once we are able to focus it into our body we will be able to become stronger and get closer to the heavens."

Wei Jin shot his hand up again but this time she just gently lowered it.

"This is just a quick description of the cultivation realms son, I will go into it in detail later. So I'll just talk a little about it now."

He looked a bit saddened from the words but quickly recovered and started paying attention again. Giving an approval nod she continued.

"When you cultivate Qi inside your body this is called Qi condensation realm. After this real when your Qi is powerful enough you will enter the foundation establishment realm."

Another nod before she continued.

"This is where you will fully cultivate your body and soul and consolidate your meridians, the Qi in you will be compressed into something like water or a stream. Once your foundation is set and sturdy, you will be able to create your dantian. This is the golden core realm."

Seeing the quizzical look on his face she couldn't help but give out some more information before she continued. Yes I've got to do this right, for my son! She thought to herself.

"You see son, until you create your dantian core, the Qi that is running through your body will be just flowing through it and able to be used by your body. Once you create your core, you will be able to store Qi and condense it further."

A glimmer of understanding finally passed through his eyes.

"As this realm you will be able store Qi and have a deeper connection with heaven and earth, making it easier to call upon and store Qi."

"And that is all for now."

A disappointed expression flashed across Jin's face, he was starting to get interested, and he couldn't help but ask.

"What are the higher realms?"

His mother giggled lightly before patting his head again.

"Don't get ahead of yourself; you haven't even gone into body refining realm yet. You'll find out when you get stronger."

She laughed happily while Wei Jin's face was painted the color of disappointment, determination crossed his face as he stared hard at his laughing mother.

Giving his strongest voice which sounded more like a miny tantrum he spoke.

"I will become stronger and find out what the next cultivation realm is. Then I will become stronger so I can learn an even higher cultivation realm than mother. Then we'll see who wants to know what it's called"

Mother Wei couldn't help but to cover her mouth and laugh even louder.

"Ok, Ok. I believe you"

She then pinched his cheek, while he struggled helplessly.

"You know your great grand uncle is only in the Golden core realm?"

Wei Jin's face immediately slackened at the thought of how his grand uncle was so old. If it took him that long to become a golden core expert, it wouldn't be worth it.

If his mother knew what he was thinking she would laugh even louder. She had wanted him to know how powerful his uncle was, and thought his slackened face was because he imagined it.

She had forgotten to mention how powerful a person would be as their cultivation rose.

So she just smiled happily at the dumbfounded expression and continued to talk, from the way she talked it was clear how much she revered her grand uncle.

"Yes as the patriarch of the clan, it is because he is at the early stages of the golden core realm that we are a minor clan. If he can become a late stage expert our clan would be able to become a Middle clan."

He was still preoccupied with his thinking of how old his great grand uncle was that the words from his mother barely registered. And just as his mother might have caught on to the fact that he was zoning out a slight bell chime from the middle of the city rung out.

A sad expression flashed across mother Jin's face as the sound rung out while a happy but sad expression appeared on Jin's. It was the bell that announced the end of lessons, and the start of his free time.

He gave his mother a big hug before he sprinted outside and headed towards the gates. He loved to go and explore the city.