Chapter 6: Dragons and Dogs

Xue Wei was excited beyond belief. He had come to terms with the fact that he would never become a great warrior, yet today the opportunity presented itself, and Xue Wei was eager to grasp it.

Although Xue Wei wanted to do nothing else than just lock himself in closed-door meditation, he knew that there were other things he needed to deal with first.

Although Xiao Lei had managed to find a scripture that worked for Xue Wei, the child could not help but be realistic about it. He was right now a mortal, and as a mortal, he could only go around one day without food before his condition would start to deteriorate, and his performance would decrease rapidly.

Although Xue Wei had read about cultivators who were capable of going for months without food and water, he was painfully aware of his own mortality and knew that to survive he needed at least two meals a day.

Looking at the desk, Xue Wei found that the items that Xiao Lei had described were there as explained, and he filled his purse with coins and took the deeds into his robes. He did not dare leave the deeds lying on the table so that everyone could come and take them.

Xue Wei started walking across the mansion and found that although many servants and maids had left, there were still three or four faithful servants remaining, including Xiao Lei's estate manager and two maids.

Amongst the guards, less than half had quit their jobs. Usually when Xiao Lei went out on a trip, he would fire everyone apart from the manager and tell them that he would rehire them when he returned home, but this time he had asked all of them to serve Xue Wei, following his every command.

While the guards had accepted this task, most of the servants were incapable of accepting such a loss in status. To go from working for Xiao Lei, the hero of humanity, to work for Xue Wei, the trash of town, was simply too big of a difference and thus after Xiao Lei left, the majority of all servants decided to to quit their jobs.

Xue Wei did not mind it. If anything, he felt sorry for their short-sightedness as he knew that he too would become a cultivator soon, and although it would take time for him to catch up with the other younger-generation geniuses, he had faith in himself and his ceaseless desire to work endlessly.

Xue Wei had planned to go to town himself to buy provisions for the next long time, but when he saw that a few people had remained in the mansion, he smiled and started to feel the benefits of having people to help him out.

"Manager Su, please wait," Xue Wei called out as he saw the manager walking across a corridor in front of him, and the manager raised an eyebrow and looked at Xue Wei.

Although the manager did not like Xue Wei, he did not loathe him either, and since his master, Xiao Lei, had ordered him to look after this young nephew, he would do so within his might.

"Young master, what can I do for you?" Manager Su asked with his dreary voice, and his eyes looking quite surprised. Xue Wei usually never spoke to anyone else other than Xiao Lei. Even Shen Mu had to use quite a lot of tricks to get an answer from this young man, and those two were considered best friends.

"Manager Su, I know that uncle have left for some time. I am going to seclude myself with some books I have gained," Xue Wei said casually, "please use this gold to ensure that I have three meals placed in front of my door every day. When I finished reading these books and fully understand them, I will come out, but until then, please let no one interrupt me."

The old manager Su had followed Xiao Lei for a long time, and he was rather smart. He was also a Sky Warrior, someone who was considered a strong expert within Tiankong City; he was even considered a strong expert within the entire kingdom of Heping.

Manager Su could instantly tell that something was not as Xue Wei had explained, but he saw no reason to question him, and instead, he accepted the purse that Xue Wei handed him and weighed it in his hand. It was clearly filled to the brim with coins, and this many coins could easily allow for the mansion to run for a long time.

Manager Su's only task was to look after the mansion. He cared not for whatever Xue Wei was doing, or if he was there or not, and in fact, he was relieved when he heard that the young man would seclude himself in his room. That way he would cause no problems.

Having handed the coins to Manager Su, Xue Wei had no reason to wait with his cultivation anymore and rushed back to his room where he locked the door, sat on the floor with his legs crossed and took a deep breath to calm himself.

Xue Wei was fully aware that cultivation was not easy. He had tried so many times but failed every time.

It was not that he could not sense the Qi in the surrounding air, nor was it a problem to drag it into his body, but as soon as it came to stay within his body, it failed and leaked out like the air of a broken balloon.

Xue Wei steadied himself and slowly closed his eyes. He sensed the Qi that was everywhere around him, and he gathered a wisp of energy which he sucked into his body.

He memorized the path that the Qi had to flow through his body and he led it through every single step before he reached his dantian.

Xue Wei frowned. His dantian was supposed to be a cave-like existence within his body around his abdomen, but instead, he saw a small white pearl.

This pearl was clearly located where his dantian was supposed to be, and when the Qi reached the pearl, it was dragged inside, and the white pearl started shining slightly.

Xue Wei felt his body strengthening. From that one single wisp of energy, he could feel his entire body transforming, and he gaped.

"My dantian is quite different," he mumbled to himself, "but it is able to contain energy! I am finally on the way to become a true cultivator!" Xue Wei's eyes gleamed with excitement. His breathing was ragged and his palms sweaty.

He had been so worried that he would not be able to cultivate this time either, but he had succeeded finally! Although it was only a single wisp of energy, Xue Wei felt better than he had ever felt before and he was sure that his strength and speed had already increased.

"When I was younger, uncle examined my body and said that I did not have terrible talent but a special dantian. I wonder if this is what he meant." Back then, Xue Wei had not fully believed him, because when he had searched within himself, the dantian had looked exactly like any other dantian was described, like a small cave within his abdomen.

However, today was different. As to when it had changed, Xue Wei did not know. He had not been looking at his dantian often because he had been depressed every time he did, but now he was surprised to find it had transformed into a small pearl.

Xue Wei did not think more about it. Instead, he just grinned. His uncle was the most reliable Primordial Beast Hunter in the Heping Kingdom, and now Xue Wei was able to follow his footsteps.

Xue Wei started cultivating from scratch. He had absorbed one wisp of energy, and it had been a success. Xue Wei was not going to give up, and he grinned to himself as he slowly calmed himself. It was time for him to fully focus on cultivating.

Xue Wei was now fifteen years old. He would have one year before it was time for him to go to the battlefield, and he understood that if he did not manage to reach a high enough rank on his own, his life would be endangered.

If he lost his life, then he would not be able to live out his dream. Xue Wei turned serious and consumed one wisp of energy after another. He made sure to be careful with every single wisp and ensure that it followed the path perfectly, to purify it enough so that when it reached the dantian, it was of the highest quality.

Day after day went by where Xue Wei was locked within his room. The remaining maids were curious as to what exactly was going on with their useless young master.

He would have lived in the library every single day, but now he did not even leave his room, and while most of them were curious. Manager Su went to his room once with a meal to check out the situation for himself, and he was surprised when he sensed how the Qi in the air was being sucked into the room and vanished.

A smile spread across his lips, and laughter ran through the mansion that day. Manager Su was happy that he had never treated Xue Wei badly before, and now he knew that a dragon like Xiao Lei did not have a dog nephew.

The days went into weeks and the weeks went into months. Shen Mu came a few times to visit, but the manager turned him away both times, saying that Xue Wei was busy examining an ancient script that took all his attention.

In Tiankong City, it was not only Shen Mu who thought that something was strange. All the young masters and young misses were starting to wonder if they had beaten Xue Wei too badly, and that he no longer dared venture outside.

Li Jian was especially in a bad mood because of Xue Wei's sudden disappearance. "Now that your uncle is gone, there is nothing to stop me from crippling you!" Li Jian sneered to himself, and he had great plans, but he never came into contact with Xue Wei. It was as if he had vanished into thin air.

It was not before three months had passed that Xue Wei left the confinement of his room. He had managed to break into the third layer of the Ordinary Warrior rank, and although he was far from being as strong as the geniuses of the younger generation, the speed with which he was progressing was many times faster. If they had had three months when they first started to cultivate, they would have made it to the first layer of the Ordinary Warrior rank, but Xue Wei had climbed all the way to the third layer.

The first person that Xue Wei saw after exiting his room was Manager Su who was looking at him with a knowledgeable smirk.

"Welcome back to the outside world, young master," he said, and this time the young master was filled with a tinge of respect compared to before.

"You have managed to become a warrior! What an accomplishment. I am sure that your uncle would be proud of you by now," he said with his dreary voice, and Xue Wei flashed one of his very rare smiles as he nodded his head.

For once, Xue Wei was truly happy, but then he frowned. Xue Wei was aware that he needed more than just Qi if he wanted to survive in this world. He had to get his hands on some martial art skills, but to get those he had to enter town.

Xue Wei frowned as he was reminded of what his uncle had said. That his ring was filled with secrets.