Chapter 8: Cultivating Qi - p2

Now I'm alone, seated in the grass. A few fireflies flutter above me, and a dog barks in the distance. A car passes by on the road. A frog croaks in the pond.

All these sounds sync together as I stay in this position. It's as if everything is flowing. Everything is connected. I close my eyes and begin my first step to cultivation.

For a few minutes, my mind attempts to scatter away. Try to remember Mei's jugs. However, I resist the urge. After this, I can juggle as much as I want. I don't break my focus on the process of gathering Qi.

For a while, the foreign sounds just keep coming. I keep my eyes closed, not allowing myself to open them and break my focus.

Suddenly, my hands feel like they've attached. Almost like my two palms are stuck together. I figure that this was the so-called "Connection." But I still feel no energy running across my body.

No power.

I wonder if it really does take 5 days of continuous meditation. However, I cannot take back my resolution now. I stay in the same position without flinching.

I hear the snaps of switches out in the streets. The faint glow that comes even when my eyes are closed gradually fades to darkness. It meant the neighbors or Mei switched off some of the lights inside the houses.

And they only switch off lights around 9.30 pm.

Quite a while of meditation passes by, and I feel like my entire body is connected now. It feels like I am floating in the air. Even then, I do not break my process. According to the internet, you feel a great energy running across your body when you maintain this position for a while.

If that's true, then I have gathered no Qi as of yet.

The continuous cry of crickets surrounds me. A car passes by our house rarely.

Time passes by.

Suddenly, I hear Mei sliding the glass door open. Now, I was in sync with everything around me.

Mei begins to walk toward me. I hear the grass blades rustling. But – more importantly, I feel as if something ever so noticeable is approaching me.

'So… I can feel other's Qi now?' I guess, feeling this powerful energy before me.

Mei's presence is a powerful thrust. I never knew she had this much power. Now I know how strong a woman she is.

She sits down before me and stays still for a long time.

///

Chao Mei smiled.

Even she had to take a few breaks in her first session of gathering Qi, and this little guy didn't flinch even now. She was at the age of 11 by then. She was surprised by Xin's resolve.

Chao Mei sat down before Xin, letting him continue. The food had gone cold already, though. She would have to warm the food again when he finally stops gathering Qi.

For a while, the two sat like this. Chao Mei watched the boy intently, and in her eyes, the image of the 13-year-old former Bai Xin overlapped with Xin.

Suddenly – she felt something spark within Xin.

"Gah ~" She cried out, stumbling backwards in shock. She wiped her eyes and gazed at the little boy once more.

'Is he already…? Is he already gathering Qi?' she asked herself inwardly, gulping.

She took her phone from her pocket and stared at the time.

[10:15 pm]

'Wha – in a mere 2 hours and 15 minutes… Xin was able to gather Qi?'

"He's truly a little genius," she said, smiling at the boy.

However, Xin didn't seem to be able to hear anything she said. Or, he was too focused to respond. Either way, Chao Mei felt immensely proud for her little Xin to be such a genius in Cultivation too.

'He's just like you… Bai Xin. A wonderful, naughty little genius.'

"Isn't he?" Suddenly, a not-so-familiar voice called out to her.

She was stunned to hear this voice.

She instantly looked around, only to see a sparkling beautiful woman, with no clothes on, standing atop the roof of her house.

Her heart skipped a beat upon seeing her.

"Wha – after so many years… you came back?" Chao Mei asked, her eyes glimmering with fear. "Why did you come back?"

The sparkling woman jumped off the roof and landed in the garden. Then, she turned to Chao Mei and grinned.

"I came to visit you and my kid. I have loads of things to tell you… about him too." She turned to Xin.

"Xin? What about him? You said – you said I'm his mother now! Why'd you come back, Chang'e?" Chao Mei asked, furrowing her eyebrows.

Chang'e smiled.

"You see… when he was a baby, I needed to ensure that you'd be a good mother for him. Afterward, I didn't come back to meet you – but I did meet him."

Chao Mei was confused.

The memory of the Moon Goddess coming to visit in the first years of Xin came back to her. Her last words echoed through Chao Mei's mind.

"From now on, you shall be his mother… not me. I beg of you. He's the destiny of Xian itself, and your lover's soul is with him. I believe that he will become a great cultivator, Chao Mei. When he calls you Mother, there won't be any need for me. You shall bear this child."

Chao Mei gulped.

"You came back to take him from me?" She asked, her eyes beginning to fill with tears.

Chang'e smiled at her and shook her head. "No no… I didn't come back to take him away from you. I only tested if you really wanted to bear this child's life as a mother. And – you passed. He truly wants to be with you… and care for you, Mei."

Chao Mei's tears suddenly seized. As if the void in her heart got filled in an instant, her heart began to beat. She wiped her eyes.

"But –" she cried out. "How can I trust you?? How can I know you aren't going to just steal him from me… it's true that he loves me –"

"Yes, yes. I know that you can't believe me entirely just yet… but wait till I explain," Chang'e replied, calmly. "You see, I have visited this young man ever since I stopped visiting you at full moons. I had enough trust in you, and I wanted to see if the boy believed you the same. And I wanted to tell him some things as a mother, myself."

"So…" Chao Mei's face grew dark. "You told him that I wasn't his mother?"

Chang'e was silent upon hearing this. 'So, Xin never told her about being conscious the entire time since birth, did he?' She asked herself, lowering her eyes.

"I…"

"Hm… It's ok. You are his true mother, after all." Chao Mei replied, wiping her eyes.

Right at that moment, the eyes of Bai Xin shot open. "I did it!" He cried out, throwing his hands into the air cheerfully.

Chao Mei and Chang'e instantly turned their heads to face the boy.

"Oh, Mom… you're here, did you see me cultivate –" Bai Xin seized his words for Chao Mei midway as he saw Chang'e standing beside her.

"MOM??" He cried out again.

"Wait – MOMS???"

//Author's Note//

Leave a power stone if you need more chapters and want this book to continue! I hope you enjoy the stuff I wrote. Plus, leave a comment and a review. It makes my day.