Chapter 5

The book explains that the spiritual roots are in the middle dantian and that qi absorbed travels there first. It is then spread throughout the body from there. First Sena had to be able to sense qi. After that she would need to absorb it into her body only then would she be someone in the Entry stage.

Sena was very excited as she focused her attention on her middle dantian while she meditated. She put one hand over her heart, focusing on her breathing and her heartbeat. When she felt satisfied with the rhythm of her breathing she put her hand down and continued to meditate.

As Sena meditated she felt more and more comfortable. In the past all her focus was put into keeping her mind clear. Now she simply listened to her breathing, the steady rhythm making her relax. As she relaxed more and more she started to feel fatigued. Despite this she did not stop meditating. Sena constantly tried to make progress in vain. Forcing herself to continue into the morning of the next day. She felt aggrieved. It didn't seem fair to her and knowing she reached her limit she slept.

As Sena slept she dreamed.

In her dream Sena found herself in foggy room. She walked closer to a wall when she got closer she realized the wall was a mirror. The mirror was tall enough that she could not see the end of it.

Sena looked at the mirror.

She stared at it for a bit without seeing anything. Just as she was about to start wandering in her dream a woman's hand reached out of the mirror and grabbed her hand, pulling her in.

The woman's features were sunken. Her hands and arms were boney. Her skin was paper white and Sena only reached her chest. Sena looked up at the woman and the woman looked down at her.

She had no eyes. Staring at Sena's eyes were pitch black empty sockets. Sena felt alarmed. She started trying to walk back to the mirror but the woman's grip was strong. Instead she was pulled into the woman's arms.

The woman put her hands on both sides of Sena's face and leaned over her. Blood started pouring out from her sockets and directly on to Sena's face. Sena froze as the smell of rust filled her nose and blood covered her body. When she was soaked the woman let go of her face.

Without thinking twice Sena ran out of the mirror, a squishing sound accompanying every step. When she exited the mirror she heard a cracking sound coming from behind her but she didn't dare look back. Running as fast as her legs could carry her the cracking continued behind her.

CRASH!

The mirror shattered violently. In a panic Sena ran even faster. Unfortunately the mirror shards still reached her stabbing into her back, arms and legs.

Sena's was in pain as she struggled to drag her body along. Suddenly Sena fell to the ground impaled through her heart from behind by a large shard as thick as her arm.

Soon a sharp pain came from the wounds with mirrors in them, the pain was followed by a sizzling sound. Sena screamed in agony while she desperately tried to pull out the shards. Sena was quickly reduced to ash.

Sena jolted up violently and fell on the floor. She hurriedly checked herself for injuries. After she confirmed she was not hurt, she sighed in relief. She felt agitated so she paced around the room. She tried to remember the content of the dream, but every time she came close to remembering Sena shuddered. Sena smiled a smile that didn't reach her eyes and muttered, "I still haven't made any progress in my cultivation. I'm probably just feeling anxious." Sena looked at the sky seeing it was dark she did as usual.( I should buy a phone one of these days otherwise I'll never know what the time is.)

When Sena finished her routine she sat cross legged on her bed and meditated. It still didn't work. However, Sena slept as soon as she felt tired. She did not dream that night.

The next day Sena went out to buy a phone. Thankfully the black card worked and she didn't have to hear a card decline announcement. Sena went to buy clothes and more food. She did not waste time and returned immediately and set up alarms on her phone. . She had no plans to use it for communication so she didn't get a number for it.

Sena started meditating again.

As Sena focused on her middle dantian she nearly jumped in surprise. She could faintly feel little balls of energy floating around her. They weren't big, roughly the size of a large house fly. Sena thought she could directly absorb them but they stayed drifting in front of her despite the effort she put into pulling them to her. Even though she could not absorb the qi in the air yet Sena could not help but smile.

For the next few days Sena continued trying to absorb the qi but did not achieve much. This went on until she started her first class.

On this day, Tuesday, a lot of students from the buildings in the area were heading to the same place. Sena realized that these were probably her classmates. However, Sena didn't go over to talk to any of them. All of them were giving her a pitying look and some girls were giggling while whispering to each other and sneaking glances at her.

Just like home. The difference is indifference being replaced with pity.

With that thought she stopped paying as much attention to the crowd. Arriving at the former testing area Sena felt like it was larger than the last time she was here. After a while her fellow students stopped coming but there wasn't anyone there besides the students. Their instructor was missing. The area was in tumult.

Seeing that there was nothing better to do Sena started stretching as a warm up. Since she didn't know what they would do when the instructor arrived she did not want to do anything excessive.

One hour went by, then two and three.

'F***!' Sena wore a gloomy expression. The others in the crowd were not much better. They did not need to ask why their teacher didn't show up. It was never said or written anywhere that someone would teach them. The three hours ranged from being a self study lesson or a social gathering, depending on the person. 'We're just regular people why would they put in any effort to help us pass? Let us stick around to take up dorm space?' Even though she thought so she felt the need to attend class. Maybe it would be a rare thing or maybe the instructors want to see how long until people stop showing.

Sena decided consider her classes as an afternoon jog. Sena left after making up her mind. She started cultivating as soon as she got home.

Time passed by uneventfully. A fortnight later Sena found herself attending her afternoon jog. The group that showed up now was only a fifth of the one that came on the first day. Everyone present lined up neatly, as if they had done it before.

Standing in front was a new face, he was tall, had very gentle but ordinary features and was dressed in a neon lime two piece jumpsuit. In his hands he held a book. His face was twisted and he seemed to force himself to speak, "Nice to meet you all. I will be your instructor until you advance to the Entry stage, switch subjects or are expelled. You may call me Sir. Are there any questions?" No one had any.

"Then for your first lesson kneel and raise your arms." After saying this a chair and an umbrella a metre in diameter covering it appeared, he then sat down in the shade. It must be said that it was a rather hot day, it was hot but cloudy not a patch of blue in sight. The weather was random. The only thing one could try to figure out the weather from is what was common in the area. The seasons had long stopped having any meaning. Even in the middle of a so-called summer there could be snow.

Sena and the rest reluctantly did as they were told. A hour in the majority of raised arms were trembling, unfortunately Sena was part of the majority.

Two hours. Half of the tremblers had started putting their arms down and stretching. The Sir in front didn't react, leading to more people putting their arms down. Despite her arms' bending and lowering Sena did her best to keep them raised. She was scared of what would happen if she dropped them. The Sir didn't mention what would happen if their arms dropped. Sena had a fear of unsaid words etched into her bones.

Finally three hours passed the Sir got up and put away his things. He walked between the lines kicking people whose arms were always raised, telling them to leave. Sena was one of the last to be excused. Curiosity made her stay on the edges of the field to see what would happen to the rest. She saw the Sir sit down again while they raised their arms kneeling. Sena left hurriedly.

When she reached her room she started cultivating, she didn't practice with her weapons because she could not put enough strength in her arms.

She wanted to advance quickly so she could get a new instructor. 'On his first day they were essentially punished for three hours. Such behavior usually escalates becoming worse. Eventually he might have them perform deadlifts!' Kneeling for long periods of time can cause knee problems. Similarly other every day activities and exercises can lead to injuries or underlying problems.

Sena felt he intended to cripple them. Between his expression, lesson and the punishment after, Sena was certain being in that class for too long was yet another threat to her well being.

She put in extra effort into sensing the little balls of qi. She wanted to know what their attributes were. She would then be one step away from success.

Sena focused on one specific ball of qi. Since she couldn't sense them all she wanted to try becoming familiar with one so she could recognize others of the same attribute easier. Sena followed her chosen ball as it drifted around the room. As she watched it drift she noticed that it had the tendency to stay high in the air, almost sticking to the roof. It rarely floated downwards. As she came to this conclusion she realized that it was no longer pure white but had an extremely faint tint. And the rest of the qi that behaved the same way were also tinted.

Having made a huge amount of progress Sena stopped cultivating. She stood up and jumped on her bed in glee. Rolling around as if to rub it in.