2 Chapter 2- Mysterious Sword

Behind a cottage, a youth was punching the air. "Finally! I have finally made some progress on the Wing Breaker's Fist. I can feel myself becoming one with the wind. My fist is getting a breeze and soon, I'll be able to punch faster and harder." Wang Wei said excitedly. "Practicing the Wing Breaker's Fist is really tiring. I guess it's time to cultivate." Wang Wei sat down criss-cross and started to meditate.

When cultivating, a person will take in the qi that is around them and circulate it throughout their bodies. The qi will then strengthen and cleanse different parts of the body depending on where the qi is circulated. In the Mortal Realm, the body is most important, as it is the foundation of everything. After the Mortal Realm will come the Earth Realm, which increases the affinity of one's body to nature. Once one is close to nature, the spirit is next to be enhanced in the Heavenly Realm.

After a while, a black fog was released from Wang Wei's body.

Wang Wei jumped up. "Stage three of the Mortal Realm! Haha! Wait till I meet that Wang Fu again, I'll give him a beating he'll never forget," he exclaimed. "Well, time to get back to practicing the Wind Breaker's Fist. Now that I am at stage 3, it might be easier."

...

"The sun is about to rise. I should go back inside before Mother catches me out of bed," Wang Wei said full of sweat. He grabs a towel and starts to clean himself while looking up at the sky. The sun was about to come up when a line zoomed across the sky and seemed to land in the forest outside the village. Oddly enough, as soon as the line touched the ground, the sun came up. Wang Wei, seeing this, became curious and decided to wash himself to go look for the place where the line of light touched the ground.

As he walked through the forest, he remembered his father's words, "If you see the Red-Eyed Lion, kneel in front of it and act subservient. He won't attack you if you do that because of his pride, but if you see the Purple Snake, say your prayers and run like the wind." The Red-Eyed Lion was known as the king of the forest, its strength reaching peak 9th stage of the Mortal Realm. While the Purple Snake, was trying to take the forest from the Red-Eyed Lion and was at late 9th stage. Wang Wei just reached the 3rd stage, so how could he possibly win against either of those beasts?

Struggling to find his way, Wang Wei pushed onwards. The branches were just slightly thinner than a normal human's arm, while the leafs on the ground were past ankle height. For some reason, birds flew from the forest, the exact location where Wang Wei was headed. Smoke was rising and Wang Wei grew excited. "I'm getting close," he thought.

When he arrived to where the smoke was coming from, he was shocked. He thought that there would be a crater from whatever hit the ground, however, that was not the case at all. A single sword cut deep into the earth, with a couple branches and leaves around from when it came in.

"A sword? How could that possibly fall from the sky? It must be special in order to survive that crash, but it looks so rusty and old. I hope it isn't dangerous," Wang Wei said aloud.

He approached the sword with caution. The sword had a weak golden glow and the closer one got, the warmer it felt. At last, Wang Wei got within arm's length of the sword and reached out to touch it's hilt. When he did, the strangest thing happened. The glow started to grow much stronger and started to enter his body. The mysterious rusty sword was actually fusing with Wang Wei! The pain throughout that process was unbearable, and lasted for about five minutes.

Afterwards, Wang Wei had trouble standing and collapsed on the ground. At this time, a lion was patrolling it's area and stumbled on Wang Wei.

On the ground, a youth slowly opened his eyes. "Huh? Where am I? I thought for sure I collapsed in the forest, but this is clearly a cave," the youth said. As he turned his head to the left, what he saw made him jump. A lion with red eyes with a mighty aura was sitting down and staring straight at him. Wang Wei was paralyzed with fear, and nearly forgot to kneel in front of it. What happened after shocked Wang Wei even more. When he kneeled, the lion actually laid down, and looked downwards, as if it was before it's king. "What is this?? Why is the famous Red-Eyed Lion that has a peak 9th stage strength lowering his head to me?" Wang Wei was extremely confused.

The lion however, kept his head lowered. "What should I do? Command it? Run? I have to do something, but what can I do without losing my little life?" Wang Wei was clueless about this situation. Mustering his courage, his said as calmly as he could, "You may rise. I thank you for helping me, but I must leave." The Red-Eyed Lion lifted it's head, but still laying down, and Wang Wei started walking towards the exit of the cave. "Please let my choice be right," he prayed as he walked.

A bright light shined on Wang Wie's face, a smile appeared when he thought about how he escaped death. "Judging by the place of the sun, it should be before noon. I need to leave home and come up with some excuse about why I'm so late," he said while sighing.