7 days later
"What do you mean I can't sell anymore wood?!"
"You've already sold me enough wood to last me half a year, I can't afford to buy anymore."
Zhou Fan was in an argument with Old Man Yang. After 7 days of logging and earning a silver coin each day, he has already filled up Old Man Yang's yard with wood. Zhou Fan has been cutting down trees and bringing them back every hour of the day for the last week.
"Wait at least a month and then you can bring me some more wood. Until then, find someone else's yard to fill."
Realizing that he could no longer win this argument, Zhou Fan decided to head back home and get some much needed and much earned rest.
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Heading out to the bakery, Zhou Fan calculated how long his money would last him. If he spends 6 copper a day on bread, his 7 silver will last over 100 days. He practically had no other expenses, therefore, calculating anything else would be pointless.
After 10 minutes, he returned home and had a meal that consisted of 5 slices of bread and some water. While to others it may seem like a terrible meal, Zhou Fan has been eating it for the last 4 years.
After a meal, Zhou Fan finally sat down and got lost within his own thoughts. Remembering the gray speck from 8 days ago, he contemplated what it could possibly be. Unable to come up with any thoughts, he decided to imitate what he had done the first day. Although he had tried touching the lightning tree over the last week, he could no longer feel anything. It seemed that he had used whatever was in it up. Crossing his legs, he put all his needless thoughts to rest.
Zhou Fan clasped his hands together and cleared his mind of all thoughts. After 30 minutes of sitting in that position, Zhou Fan finally fell back into the state he was in when he touched the tree. Much faster this time, he noticed a grey speck. Zhou Fan tried breathing it in but it wouldn't budge. He tried again and again with no results whatsoever. After an unknown amount of time, he finally decided to stop trying. Looking outside, he noticed the sky was already dark.
Hopping into bed and closing his eyes, Zhou Fan decided to try to gather another speck of dust tomorrow.
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The next morning, after filling himself up with bread, he decided to attempt gather another speck of dust.
On second thought, Zhou Fan felt it was inappropriate to continue calling that incredible thing, 'a speck of dust'. After thinking for a while, he decided to call it 'Qi'. He had no reason for calling it that, he just decided to make a random sound and name the speck of dust after it. Isn't that how all words were made?
Recalling the first time he absorbed the Qi particle, he remembered that he had not breathed in with his mouth but with his mind. Although he had no idea how to do that, it was better to try than to not try.
Crossing his legs and clasping his hands, he fell into his mind once again. This time, it took only 5 minutes. Within the infinite darkness of his mind, he saw the Qi particle. After 5 minutes of trying to breath in with his mind, he finally saw the Qi particle move a bit! Excited, he frantically continued to bring it in. After 10 minutes, Zhou Fan successfully absorbed it!
He felt a wave of energy spread throughout his mind and body. All the fatigue from the past few days were washed away in an instant. Luckily for Zhou Fan, no gook came out of his body this time. Instead of stopping there, Zhou Fan decided to continue absorbing Qi. In just 3 minutes, he spotted another Qi particle! Thanks to his previous experience, Zhou Fan was able to bring it in much faster this time. Once again, Zhou Fan absorbed a Qi particle and felt a wave of refreshment.
He continued this cycle for almost 3 hours before, all of a sudden, an audible cracking sound came from his body! If the sound scared him so much he almost jumped, then the sudden influx of Qi particles made him feel like his soul was dragged from his body. Within his mind, the space that had always had no more than 1 Qi particle ,had 10 at the same time! Frantically taking this opportunity, he absorbed the Qi particles at a much faster rate than usual. After 10 minutes, he finally absorbed all of the Qi particles and felt a wave of refreshment much bigger than any other he had felt before! This wave covered every inch of his body!
Like the time he had absorbed his first particle, Zhou Fan felt as if the world had opened up a new door. Opening his eyes, Zhou Fan once again smelt the nauseating smell of the gook.
"Dam* it!" He shouted, "Not again!"
Running to the river at an even faster speed than before, he made it to the river in 3 minutes! Although the first time it happened he took 3 minutes, this time, he was even farther away from the river. Before the lightning tree, it would have took 12 minutes to make it to the river from his house! Bathing in the river once again, he had a nagging feeling that he would be seeing this river for a long time to come.
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The next day, he awoke near the river. After taking a bath, he decided to sleep while looking at the stars. 3,123. That's how many stars he could see last night.
Walking in front of the tree, he suddenly decided to punch it. Halfway through his action, he realized what he was doing. Too late to retract it, his hand collided with the tree. BANGG!
Instinctually, Zhou Fan closed his eyes. However, after feeling no pain in his hand he decided to open it.