5 Heart Of A Cultivator [I]

Like an arrow, time flew by. And like a beautiful petal in the wind, it flowed by softly. When a watcher made a decision to think of time, only a memory of it that was left behind would be caught. Right from the beginning of creation, the precious time had always been proving evasive.

"Son, it's now time for you to practice your meditation."

For five good years, Zhang Xiu Ying had been watching the growth of her son. Even now, the cruel time was still fleeing from her. Their beautiful moments together seemed to be accelerating away at an exceedingly fast pace which was making her grimace in sadness. More time was all she wanted, but knew more time she wouldn't get. She would have to make the best of the present time she had.

"Yes, that is good. Raise your feet a bit more like this... You now need to continue breathing in and out, just the way I taught you. Very good. Continue like that until I tell you to stop."

Zhang Xiu Ying continued to watch her son who was sitting down in a lotus position with his eyes closed, breathing in and out like an unborn foetus. He was practicing the Timeless-Soul breathing technique which filled her heart with abundant joy and a bit of sadness. Sadness of the swift passage of time. Oh, how quickly the days passed by. Her son —Ju Feng— was already five.

Five!

Despite not inheriting the Asuran bloodline, her son was still growing up fast and strong. Probably too fast. The most significant one was the amount of Chi in his dantian, and his strength's level. They were truly alarming for his age. With that rate of development, the rest of the family knew his mind would need to be properly nurtured to prevent it from collapsing on itself.

Due to all those developments, the whole family had come to a decision. For the mean time, they would only teach him meditation, basic Chi sensing and farming. They would wait until he was six years old before teaching him martial arts, mystical arts and cultivation technique. They had concluded his mind needed to be tempered from a very young age to balance his reasoning with his Chi and strength levels since the power of the mind could not simply be described.

The mind was the true existence while the body was simply the tool. Therefore, tempering the heart would attune it to the way of the universe. A true oneness with the universe would result from adjusting the mind to embrace the truth of the cosmos. Only a tempered heart could achieve that.

And with the way Ju Feng was growing so fast in strength, his heart needed to be framed to be free of pride and arrogance. Those two attributes were destructive distractions to all cultivators. Their outcome was always death.

Zhang Xiu Ying closed her eyes and continued practicing her soul meditation. As an Asura, she could see what was happening around her and their hill-cave clearly. Although as for the whole village in its entirety, she could only see the events vaguely. Hence with her eyes closed, she could see her son still closing his eyes and breathing in and out, in utter concentration. So, she decided to leave him for a while to avoid causing any form of distractions.

Several hours later, after Zhang Xiu Ying was satisfied with her son's progress, she sent her voice into the mind of her son, bringing an end to their stay in the cultivation chamber. They left and headed towards the living area.

Zhang Li Qiang was preparing to go to the farm when he saw his daughter and grandson. Deep in his heart, he still couldn't believe that he was a grandfather. Yes, a grandfather! If he had been asked about being a father a thousand years ago, he would have answered otherwise. But with the recent developments, it was a different story. How would he not be happy?

"How's my grandson doing? Good?"

"Grandpa! Yes, good. I was meditating."

"That's my grandson."

Zhang Li Qiang picked Ju Feng up in a swirl.

"I can't even stand properly carrying you. Very soon, you will be the one carrying me."

"Grandpa!"

"Hehehe."

Zhang Li Qiang laughed heartily with his head thrown backward. Afterwards, he turned to his daughter who was also grinning widely.

"How's my daughter too? "

"I'm well, Pa. You look great yourself, especially in those beautiful old farm clothes."

"What's better than the joys of a simpler, farming lifestyle?"

He asked smilingly while putting down his grandson.

"The joys of your daughter and grandson?"

"I was only talking about lifestyle, little-flames. Not my daughter and son."

Zhang Li Qiang answered with a long suffering sigh as he shook his head at Zhang Xiu Ying's broad happy smile.

"Do you want to follow me to the farm today, Ju Feng?"

"Yes, grandpa. See you later, ma."

Ju Feng happily followed his grandfather outside and they both headed towards the direction of the farm.

"See you too."

Zhang Xiu Ying looked at their back and shook her head.

"Time is really moving too fast and he's growing up even faster. He spends less and less time with me, his mother. He's no longer his mother's child alone. Sooner or later, he will have to leave to explore the big world. Oh, life. I need to spend more time with him before then."

Worryingly, Zhang Xiu Ying looked around the quiet place before departing to look for her mother.