Where is my Qi?

["Michael Trist, once you turn 15 years old and reach the 1st level of Qi Condensation you will leave this house. You shall not return until you provide the corpse of a rank 1 wild beast you have killed with your own hands.

Upon receival of the corpse I shall bestow you a warrior name, as is Tradition in the Trist family. I, Jonathan Trist hereby declare that my son Michael Trist will inherit my place as head of the Trist family once he has completed his trial."]

Knock knock

"Brother, Father says it's time to go collect herbs again" Rosa's cute voice could be heard behind the door as she yelled out to her brother.

"Ugh..." Michael awoke to the sound of Rosa's voice and massaged his temples. For a moment he forgot where he was as he looked around the room through bleary eyes.

"Y…Yeah I'm coming" he replied. Upon sitting up on his bed, a foul smell assaulted his nostrils.

Holy Shit what is that smell? He asked himself while trying not to vomit. Looking down at his arms and shirt he could see what looked to be dirt and scabby substances strewn over his body. He suddenly had the impulse to roll around in a fire to cleanse himself of the stench.

He leaped off the bed and grabbed a pair of clothes, his herb satchel and supplies before climbing up to the windowsill to leave the house. He hesitated momentarily before going back inside and fetching the Qi Technique book and placing it in his satchel. He then hastily jumped out of the window toward the mountains in hopes of not being seen by anyone. As if being seen in this filthy state would repulse anyone and everyone.

After some time, Michael finally made it to the foot of the mountain. His sweat was now mixed in with the substance on his body and shirt. Without a moment to lose he jumped into the cold lake he visited yesterday. Withholding a shriek that made its way up to his throat due to the freezing cold water, he removed his clothes and used them to furiously scrub his body.

"By God, how can such a smell exist?"

Michael made his way to the bank, not before ensuring every inch of skin was scrubbed clean and inspected. Completely naked, he gathered some kindling and firewood and began to create a fire. The grass, still wet from the morning dew reflected the sun which had made its appearance in the sky. Michael put his hands in front of the fire as he dried himself before changing into the fresh pair of clothes he packed in his bag.

Looking at his old clothes which were now dyed black from the earlier substance, Michael made an action of prayer before kicking them into the fire.

Whooooosh

Startled, Michael swore that he could see smoke in the shape of a skull and crossbones make its way out of the fire as the tainted clothes burned. Obviously, this was figment of his imagination.

"Shit, even its smoke smells disgusting" gripping his nose tightly, he moved further away from the fire.

Now that the imminent danger to his life (or rather, reputation) was resolved, he finally recalled what had happened last night. Using his mind's eye he looked inside his body, and the first thing he saw were the damaged meridians caused from the Qi rampaging through them during his cultivation. Following along the channels he saw tears and even tiny holes throughout walls of his meridians.

"Shit… I really took it too far last night" cringing at the sight of the damage, Michael continued toward his Dantian where the Qi from his cultivation settled last night.

"Huh, why is it empty?" he cried out in surprise. Shockingly the place that should have held Qi was now barren. As if not believing his eyes, he rubbed them with the back of his hands and looked again. Unfortunately, he was met with the same result.

Now in a panic, Michael started to fumble in his bag and pulled out the Qi technique before flipping to the second page. The only thing on this page was the earlier diagram he used to start his cultivation last night, however the next page had some text.

<1st level of Qi condensation is achieved when the Dantian has been activated and contains Qi. The Qi should have a mist-like consistency and the user should be able to freely control it>

Hastily reading the neat words, Michael was dumbfounded.

"I definitely reached the 1st level last night; my damaged meridians are the proof" he said while panicking.

"Maybe I just need to refill it?" seemingly making up his mind, Michael crossed his legs and entered the lotus pose once again. Before long he felt the same sensation as last night as the Qi gently brushed against his skin, causing goosebumps to appear.

"Ughhh" Almost instantly he felt a sharp nauseating pain from his damaged meridians as he started to absorb the Qi in his surroundings.

"How the hell am I supposed to refill my Dantian if my meridians are damaged?" he lamented loudly.

"I need medicinal herbs to treat my meridians before I can start cultivating again" surveying his surroundings, he first got to his feet before gathering all his belongings and turned toward the mountains. For the first time, Michael was motivated to harvest medicinal herbs. He ran forward with haste in the direction of his usual hunting grounds.

In record time he arrived at his destination at the foot of a rising valley, nestled between two mountains. Normally due to his lazy nature, Michael would not venture far into this valley and merely harvest the outer herbs out of convenience. Due to being regularly harvested, these herbs were of little potency and value with most rarely exceeding the age of 1 year old.

"For damaged meridians, I should probably harvest some Mugwort" with a determined look on his face he made his way into the valley. Before long he had found his intended herb, however these were clearly of inferior quality judging by the soil and tinges of brown seen on the normally green leaves.

"Tsk" he clicked his tongue in dissatisfaction. This was his own meridians he was talking about, there was no way he'd use an inferior herb to treat himself.

Ignoring the faulty herbs, he continued deeper into the valley while using his keen eyes to survey his surroundings. Remembering that he was originally heading to the mountains to obtain herbs, he quickly collected some Ginger, Wormwood and Ginseng without much effort in his search for Mugwort. Obviously, the quality of these herbs were lacking as they were harvested out of convenience.

"There it is!" Michael shouted in elation. Situated upon a steep rockface was a beautifully green Mugwort seemingly dancing in the wind. Due to the size and stature of the plant, he could tell that it was at least 10 years old.

"Perfect, the size of that Mugwort will easily make enough for 10 doses" he said gleefully.

Ensuring the satchel was firmly secured around his body, he started to nimbly make his way up the rockface. The wiry frame dashing up the rocks were akin to a monkey scaling a tree to secure lunch.

Michael reached the summit in next to no time, clearly this was something he had done many times before. He approached the Mugwort and confirmed that it was indeed over 10 years old, made clear by the warm green colour coalescing from the leaves edge toward the centre. Reaching for the root, he adeptly harvested the herb with no damage to the stem and leaves before carefully placing it in his satchel.

"Now I just need to go home and prepare it" he stated triumphantly. He peered over the edge of the steep rockface before easily swinging over and making his way back down. When he was about 20 feet from the bottom he was met with a huge fright as a large sound was heard from the top of the rockface.

BANG!

"F***"

Michael looked up in haste only to see several large rocks tumbling down toward him. He had very little time to manoeuvre as the rocks were careening down the steep rockface. Managing to dodge the first three, he held his body as close to the rockface as possible, hoping and praying that they all miss. Unfortunately, his prayer was misplaced. Michael was hit on the top of the head by a 10-pound jagged rock and quickly lost consciousness as he lost his grip and began to freefall.

Thud!

End Chapter 3