1 A lazy boy

In the remote province of Shandong, a small village existed for decades, forgotten by everyone and lost in the mountains. A little over two hundred villagers were active every day ignoring the world around them.

This peaceful village was named Shouwei and if its citizens decided to live in isolation it was due to the will of the founder's village and their ancestor, who had passed this will to their descendants until this day. As the reason for this, it was explained that very moment in an old building entirely made of wood which had been used as school for years.

A young boy with messy black hair was standing in the school, he had just reached 16 years old today, as tradition it was time for him to be initiated to martial arts, but to the great despair of his teacher he had the head in the clouds.

You could hear shouts coming from the building :

"Xiao Yu!!! When will you listen!?"

Xiao Yu snapped out of his thoughts and quickly bowed his head: "Xiao Yu apologizes to senior Gang Wu."

Gang Wu in front of so much courtesy had to suppress his anger: "Humph, try to be more attentive from now on."

This old man main's role was to teach the younger generation for many years but he never had a student as much daydreamer and inattentive than Xiao Yu. He then kept going about the explanation of the village's origin.

Shouwei had been created 1000 years ago by an expert of martial arts, who had reached an unequaled level in the country, realizing he was close to death he tried to prolong his life as much as he could with special medicines but efficiency of this kind of medicine will be reduced every time and death was coming again after him.

While traveling this expert found an old woman in a big town, who called him from her little shop, saying she knew what he was looking for. Usually the expert didn't pay attention to these kind of shout, but when he saw the name of the shop « Divine Prophecy » he sensed something special but didn't know what, this small interest was enough to make him chat with the old lady. She knew he was trying to escape death like the majority of cultivators and she related him the legend of the Dragon Gate, it was a well known story:

--Somewhere would exist a huge waterfall where the water falls down faster than a rain of arrows, where the infinite color variation of the carps would reflect on the cascade creating a large rainbow and where you could see the carps through the clear water of the pool, trying everyday to climb up this barrier of water, jumping higher and higher with the hope to be born again as a dragon if they succeed to reach the summit.--

The expert already knew this legend, but the old lady added up an important detail, if someone could attain enlightenment of this waterfall then he could also found an opportunity to be reborn as a dragon.

"But senior, are you talking about the Shanguang waterfall?!!" Xiao Yu reacted.

"Yes it is indeed the waterfall near our village, behind the Savage Forest, but let me finish!" answered Gang Wu with a strict tone, but inwardly he was very happy to finally succeed getting this absent-minded youngster's attention.

Due to this encounter, the martial arts master started to search for this legendary waterfall, after 3 months without success he tried to see again the old fortuneteller, but no one knew where she was, even more strange no one remembered a shop named « Divine Prophecy ».

Depressed, the expert still kept searching and three years later, he finally found the waterfall hidden by huge mountains from every side, however only the deafening roar of waterspouts falling down reflected the legendary cascade. There were no carps in the clear water of the pool at the bottom, no multitude of color and no rainbow, even so he knew he had found what he was looking for. He decided to found a village to guard this place, he left behind a cultivation technique and only one order for the villagers in order to protect this treasure place:

"Wait for my return or a sign from the waterfall, until this moment close all your relationship with the outside of these mountains, I sealed this place, everyone trying to enter this place from outside will forget what they wanted to do and will return home."

Then he left for the waterfall and until this day he never returned nor did we received a sign, we have kept the will of our ancestor, the Shanguang waterfall became a sacred and forbidden place, and this history and the cultivation technique he let us, is passed down to every youngster reaching the age of 16 years old.

"Now that I have explained why you are here, I will teach you a little more about the martial art world." Gang Wu began his explanation: "Before starting, you need to know that in your body reside two main energies, the first one is called the Spirit Power which is linked with your analysis and thinking capacity, some expert with a strong spirit power can attack the mind of their opponent, or control the elements or even invoke creatures."

Xiao Yu could not help to gasp:

"Creatures ?! So cool, what kind of creature can they invoke?"

Gang Wu answered :

"There is not much details about the Invokers in the archives, and no one had success in these domain in our village but as I know, it could be savage beasts or even infernal beasts coming from the darkest hells."

Xiao Yu found this really astonishing, it was like a new world opening to him.

"The second energy possessed by each living beings is the Qi, the source of the life and the foundation of the body, its quantity determines the strength of the body, and also its longevity, so it is often the first measure used when comparing two martial art cultivators."

Gang Wu stopped talking and his hand flashed under his dress to reappear an instant after with a scroll, he extended his hand to Xiao Yu : "This is the cultivation technique passed down from generation to generation, study it, it will teach you how to feel your Qi."

Seeing there was already a lot of information to assimilate for the poor Xiao Yu, who started to feel dizzy, Gang Wu decided to finish the lesson : "We will stop here for today, come back if you succeed in feeling your Qi."

"Thank you, senior." said Xiao Yu.

The old teacher watched Xiao Yu's leaving, he thought he would not see him again for a while, indeed in the village only a small proportion of villagers could achieve this first step on the martial art path, and the fastest one was the strongest genius of the village, Shen Ming, the nephew of the village's chief, in only 1 month he succeeded in feeling his Qi and could have started his cultivation.

After the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, Xiao Yu finally arrived at home, when he opened the door, he heard his mother's voice :

"Xiao Yu!! You came back sooner, how was the ceremony with Gang Wu? I hope you were polite and attentive, you are always lost in your thoughts? You didn't forget to buy some bread as I asked you ? Did you saw your uncle on the way? ..."

In front of this unceasing stream of words, Xiao Yu reacted as always, motionless he let his mind roaming, reminding the legend about the Koï becoming a dragon and wondering if this renowned martial art expert found enlightenment from the Shanguang waterfall.

He would like to go one day to see from his own eyes but it was a forbidden area, so he just let out a sigh.

"Xiao Yu!! Do you hear me? Don't tell me you didn't listen anything I have said? You are exasperating me, go in your room we will discuss this later."

Xiao Yu went to his room, as soon as he came in, he felt on his bed where he finished by falling asleep, still holding the cultivation technique he received a moment ago. Xiao Yu was known in the village to be a dreamer and a slacker, but it could be explained by the lack of activities of the village, each day will repeat itself like the previous one. He was interested by the world outside and preferred stay alone with the nature and the calm than play with the other young people of his age.

When Xiao Yu awoke it was already late afternoon, he looked around him, his gaze rested upon the old fishing rod hung up on the wall, it belonged to his father who has disappeared few times after his birth, his mother told him his father left the village because he couldn't be retained here, his insatiable thirst for knowledge led him to broke the main law of the village. It became a sensitive subject that Xiao Yu and his mother didn't talk about. Xiao Yu's gaze kept moving until resting on an unusual object, it was an ancient scroll laying on the floor, it was the technique cultivation Xiao Yu received this morning, it should have dropped on the floor when he felt asleep. He picked it up and started to read it on this bed.

« Low cultivation technique 3rd degree – Qi Absorption »

Martial art techniques are ranked according to their power and rarity, from Low then Medium and above the High quality, each one being divided from the 5thdegree to the strongest the 1st degree. This technique was not really what we could have called a peerless treasure, but it was the only one the villagers had.

Xiao Yu read the part below:

« To master this technique you will need at first to establish a link with your interior Qi, the best way is through meditation, you should sit cross-legged following the lotus position and close your eyes, then feel your breath, forget everything around you just focusing on each breath, trying to sense the energy circulating in your body. Concentrate your mind on your dantian where the Qi naturally accumulates. »

Xiao Yu made some place on the floor and sat down, following the instructions he closed his eyes, his body in the position of the lotus, his mind started to soothe. He found this situation really strange as if all his life he had the same feeling, a familiar sensation he had felt every time he had lost himself in his thoughts, but never he had received instructions or a direction as to where he should direct his mind.

Time passed quickly, the last rays of sunlight fell on his head when all of a sudden Xiao Yu felt something, like a spark, a strong light but still so small compared to the size of his dantian, it lasted only an instant before Xiao Yu heard his mother's shout:

"Xiao Yu !!! Dinner is ready !!"

The poor Xiao Yu wake up suddenly and lost his balance, he tried to recall the feeling he just lost without success. After this incident, he decided he will never meditate again at home and went to join his mother for dinner.