Primal Yang Entered His Belly

Wang Qi sat cross-legged on the roof, searching for the feeling of entering meditation to cultivate qi.

Below him, Wang Dashan wore a look of envy. Although he had taught Wang Qi how to do this, he could not do it himself.

Entering meditation to cultivate qi seemed simple, but it carried another, very important implication... Wang Qi was a promising seedling who could quiet his mind and hold his focus to cultivate internal arts.

Though Wang Dashan was a powerful fighter, he ultimately followed a path from the external to the internal. Compared with Wang Qi, who could already cultivate both together, he had started on an entirely different level.

And so, as the rugged man watched the boy on the roof, he felt both envious and warmly pleased... His little Qi had a much higher ceiling than he did.

Looking at Wang Qi again, he really had been born with a fine physique for martial arts.

His build was well proportioned, if slightly bulky, thanks to the firm, swollen muscles from years of training. He did not quite have a "tiger's back and a bear's waist," but one glance was enough to tell anyone he was strong.

His long, ape-like arms nearly reached his knees when hanging naturally at his sides. If he specialized in techniques using his hands, he would surely be formidable.

Wang Qi himself seemed rather dissatisfied with this physique, though. He fell right between "a tiger's back and a bear's waist" and "an ape's arms and a wasp's waist." Stuck halfway between the two, he ended up looking like an ordinary person with no distinctive features...

Combined with his honest, guileless face, he was a far cry from either the fierce battlefield general or the dashing wandering swordsman he had imagined.

So what was the point of entertaining wild fantasies? He might as well quietly cultivate his qi.

Perhaps thanks to his earlier gains, he entered meditation very quickly this time. In barely ten breaths, his entire mind had sunk into it.

Yet the instant he entered that state, just as he emptied his mind and prepared to circulate his internal qi in time with his breathing, he suddenly felt a great radiance within his body...

It reminded him of the radiance he had seen just before waking earlier.

He had originally assumed it was merely dazzling sunlight. Who would have thought he had brought that light into his body?

Then the radiance faded into a gentle glimmer that sank into his dantian. Warmth slowly spread from his dantian throughout his body.

Wang Qi opened his eyes straight out of meditation. Only as he reflected on the sensation did he realize what had happened to him...

At that moment, Wang Dashan had only just turned away, intending to practice a boxing routine to loosen his muscles and joints. Suddenly, he sensed something and turned back in astonishment.

He tilted his head slightly, then asked in confusion, "What was that just now? You seem a little different."

Sitting at the edge of the roof, Wang Qi said with lofty disdain, "Do you know what 'first yang arises' means?"

Wang Dashan was even more astonished. With his experience, he could still recognize what had happened, so he asked, "Of course I know the Yang Arising realm, but how did you manage it?"

Wang Qi lifted his chin even higher and said scornfully, "If you don't know, how would I?"

Indeed, everything he knew about cultivation, both knowledge and experience, had come from Wang Dashan. So he did not know how he had done it, nor was there any reason he should.

But one thing was important: achieving "first yang arises" could be considered the ultimate goal of cultivating "lesser yang qi"...

Lesser yang qi was the qi cultivation method Wang Dashan had taught Wang Qi. In fact, it was also the Foundation Establishment method used by the vast majority of aristocratic clans in the Great Peng Kingdom.

There was nothing particularly outstanding about it, nor was it especially quick at accumulating internal qi.

But lesser yang qi had one truly exceptional advantage...

It belonged to an orthodox Daoist lineage and was balanced and gentle. It could transition into almost any subsequent cultivation method without concerns over converting one's internal qi.

Yet although many used lesser yang qi for Foundation Establishment, few truly devoted themselves to practicing it until "first yang arises."

Moreover, achieving "first yang arises" did not seem to have increased Wang Qi's total internal qi. It merely felt as though his body had received a buff, leaving his whole body suffused with warmth from the inside out.

He did not know the specifics, since no one had ever taught him. He was completely at a loss.

Seeing this, Wang Dashan scratched his head for a while, then simply steeled himself and bellowed, "Come down! A little sparring between us will tell us!"

His voice was so loud that the withered leaves overhead trembled. Before long, a whole shower of them drifted down, making quite a spectacular sight.

Wang Qi always felt that, if not for him, Wang Dashan could surely have risen through the army to become a valiant battlefield general... Unfortunately, for his sake, Wang Dashan now had no choice but to live in seclusion in this mountain village.

"No way!"

He promptly jumped off the roof and ran toward the woods...

What a joke. How could these little arms and legs of mine possibly "spar" with a brute who had thirty years of external body training under his belt?

Just run!

If he did not run now, he feared his little house would be smashed flat for the umpteenth time.

Still, to be fair, the instant he leaped from the roof, he distinctly felt that his body had become much lighter and more agile.

Perhaps the movement was still the same, and he had not become any faster, but there was a greater ease to it.

Wang Dashan noticed a hint of the change as well. The two of them had only each other to rely on, and he was extremely sensitive to any changes in Wang Qi.

So he wasted no words and immediately gave chase.

Wang Qi sprinted ahead, his internal qi circulating naturally. That warmth seemed to warm up his body all at once, bringing it into peak condition as quickly as possible.

Chasing behind him, Wang Dashan was surprised to see not the slightest awkwardness as Wang Qi bounded and ran through the mountain woods. He marveled inwardly.

Wang Qi did not run far. He merely led Wang Dashan in circles through the woods surrounding their little house, treating it as morning exercise.

Then he discovered that, after entering the "first yang arises" realm, his internal qi seemed to replenish itself endlessly. With each breath, more rapidly sprang up within his body.

Along with that, his stamina recovered quickly as well. As a result, he sprinted through the mountain woods for over an hour without even getting particularly out of breath.

His Uncle Dashan, on the other hand, had been run ragged by then, panting hard and so furious that the three corpse spirits within him seemed ready to leap.

Of course, this only meant his stamina had grown. In terms of sheer strength, he was still far behind Wang Dashan.

But watching Wang Dashan rage like thunder, Wang Qi felt that if he stopped now, he would most likely be caught and forced to "spar"... So he simply steeled himself and decided to test the limits of his stamina.

Another hour passed, and he found that the energy within him still flowed without end. His Uncle Dashan, however, was already half-dead... Excellent. He had successfully tested the limits of Wang Dashan's stamina.

Only then did he circle back home in satisfaction. He was covered in hot sweat and his stomach was hungry, so he lit a fire and boiled some water, planning to make a pot of porridge to tide himself over.

But seeing how little grain remained in the house, he could not help worrying... He was still growing, and this little rice clearly would not feed them for more than a few days. Before winter arrived, he would have to head into the mountains and hunt more game to trade for rice and vegetables.

He had already started fretting over firewood, rice, oil, and salt at such a young age. It really was because that brute could eat far too much...