9 Chapter 9: Farewell Mother!

"You don't even know what a Dantian is?" said his mother while rolling the both of her eyes as she face palmed herself.

"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 spiritual Qi, I don't know why and am no longer surprised by your cheating abilities."

- Cough! Cough!

"Haha… just what is this 'spiritual Qi' for mother?" Duan Li asked feeling quite curious as he choked on himself a little bit, embarrassed that his mother would categorized his abilities as cheating. He smiled awkwardly looking at that annoyed face of his mother as he scratched the back of his head.

"You can do a lot of stuff with spiritual Qi. In fact, most martial arts requires it to be executed just like the skill used by Sister Ling Yu the other night. Furthermore, even a normal punch or kick 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 and pathways 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 you the best!" 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 Meng Yue! I've come to pick up Duan Li!" said 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 warm 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 whom was too weak to have fainted from executing his own secret art..." 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 currently inside his room.

- Creak!

Emerging out of his room, Duan Li closed the door to his room gently with a melancholic look. He then slowly caressed 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 this mother of his seemed to be cool and unfazed. But as a son, Duan Li could naturally saw through that façade. From her eyes, he could feel the hidden sadness within it.

"Mother, Duan Li your son here, will visit you some time during the weekend okay? Don't feel too sad about it..." said Duan Li slowly.

"Who is sad?! I am the one who decided to send you to the academy! Humph!" harrumphed his mother with crossed arms while pouting.

"I will make mother proud!" he said as he laughed for a bit looking at that adorable reaction from his mother.

"You... you take care of yourself over there, you hear me? Don't let others bully you! I will not acknowledge it if my son were to turns out to be a weakling!" replied his mother with a little stutter in her sentence as she looked at another direction, avoiding direct eye contact with her son.

She was trying very hard to suppress her brewing emotions so as not to betray her unfazed expression. Otherwise, she might just really bawled out in tears right now. If that were to happen in front of her own son, not to mention her junior, she wouldn't have the face to go out of the house anymore.

Duan Li smiled meaningfully.

Bowing down towards his mother at a 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 are at a breaking point right now.

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.

"Eh? Duan Li my boy! I heard you fainted yesterday while hard at practice! You should just take things one step at a time…" said grandma Ying slowly with a worried look.

"Ah... yes..." replied Duan Li, embarrassed as he scratched his nose.

He then spoke out, "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 defence 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 about it 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.

Seeing that worried look on Duan Li's face, grandma Ying smiled as she said, "Don't worry, grandma will naturally come visit her often. You should take care and focus to study hard! Be sure to return with a title that will make your mother proud!"

Hearing the reassurance and encouragement from grandma Ying, Duan Li found himself to be more motivated and 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 sometime during the weekend!"

"Oh! And pass 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 and its atmosphere…"

He knew that once he step foot into the academy, he wouldn't be able to return as often. Thus, he burned the scenery of the Xuan Village deep into his mind.

Things will change.

...

After roughly around 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 five meters encircling the village. These gate and walls are guarded with some patrolmen in their light leather armours doing daily routine checks, while the station guards were donned with a full plate of heavy iron armours. They serve to protect the village from the seasonal monster attacks.

Stepping outside the gate, Ling Yu turned towards Duan Li as she said, "From here on out, we will go to the nearest Airtrain stops located about 80 kilometres northeast."

"W-what? 80 kilometres... 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 with a wink.

Duan Li's face turned red as he blushed seeing that seductive charm and slowly walked forward to close their distance. They are now less than a few inches apart from each other. This caused Duan Li's heartbeat to pump loudly. In addition he could faintly smell the perfume she was wearing too!

Ling Yu smiled teasingly as she patted her right palm onto Duan Li's shoulder and chanted a spell, "Feather flight!"

- Woongg!

Suddenly, Duan Li felt his body to be as light as a feather. He floated one meter off the ground automatically.

"W-whaaa??!!" he exclaimed, sounding a little bit terrified as he struggled to balance himself in mid-air.

"Calm down! It's 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 around 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 about 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 him, they moved forward slowly as they began to accelerate faster and faster...

- Psheeww!

...