Spirit Cultivation

"Wow…" He muttered as all the information he had absorbed from the previous owner of the body settled in his brain. "This world is… amazing."

There were no other words that came to his mind upon realizing where he was right now and who he would be from now on. He realized he should really be thankful that he retained the memories of the previous owner of his body as living in this new world would be difficult without them.

His name was Liu Xuefeng, which was surprisingly similar to his old name in his old world. He was also the son of Liu Xiaobei, the leader of the prominent Liu Clan.

Apparently, this new realm called "The World of Spirit Cultivation" was a lot bigger than Earth where he came from – probably a hundred times over. He now lived in Phoenix City, in a country called Aurora. Based on his memories, Aurora was the same size as Asia on the map – and it's not the biggest country there.

"I wonder how big the other countries are…"

Liu Xuefeng tried his best to imagine how huge the other kingdoms were when another thought crossed his mind and he paused as if in shock before a smile split his face upon the realization.

"I actually reincarnated into a cultivation world!"

Cultivation was only a concept on earth wherein ordinary humans could prolong their natural life by practicing a set of martial and spiritual arts achieved through meditation and the gathering of qi or energy. The ultimate goal, of course, was to become an immortal or attain the level of a god.

Liu Xuefeng, in his sixteen years of life, had only ever heard and read of this concept as a genre in literature. Who would have thought that in this new world, it would truly exist!

The knowledge that he's now in a magical world made him feel elated. In spite of initially thinking he would have a hard time adapting to his new environment, he was now totally excited about the future.

On the other hand, in this world, strength stood above everything. It didn't matter whether you're right or wrong as long as you had the power. No one could ever defy the strong. 

"I guess I need to be careful and conscious of my actions…"

One would never know if he was going to offend someone powerful. When that happened, then he would be in danger and had no means to defend himself – at least, for now.

Why?

It was because the previous owner of his body didn't know anything about cultivation as his dantian or his spirit core or energy center was broken since birth. In a way, the guy, Xuefeng of this world was handicapped.

Xuefeng cursed under his breath.

"I hope it's repaired after my reincarnation," Xuefeng wished it was the case.

It would be truly tragic to be in this world and could not even practice any kind of magic.

At that moment, the door gently opened and someone entered the room. Before Xuefeng could even turn his head to look at the person, he heard a scream.

"Aaaaah! Young Master, you can't stand up!"

A sweet voice of a young lady called out to him, and his heart skipped a beat at the familiar sound. He turned swiftly to face the newcomer and saw a young lady in a modest dress, obviously a servant, running towards him in a panic.

"Please go back to the bed," she pleaded, her voice breaking with worry as she reached him.

"Wuying…" the name left his mouth instinctively, surprising even himself. 

Wuying was the name of the servant, who his predecessor was in love with.

She had run up to him, carrying clean bandages in her hands, but she placed them on the side unthinkingly in her hurry. Her hands automatically reached out to feel his chest with the aim to check if he hadn't worsened his injuries by suddenly getting up on his own. 

"I'm fine. Don't worry," he told her gently with the hopes of appeasing her obvious anxiety, but she didn't listen. She started to pull at the bloody bandages, taking it off but was shocked when she spotted no wound underneath.

"Young master, what happened with the injury?" she asked in awe – a mixture of astonishment and confusion as well as happiness rang in her whispery voice as her eyes continued to scan his body, her hands touching where the supposed injury was.

Xuefeng had an idea that she was greatly puzzled. He guessed that she was probably wondering where his injuries had vanished into since she must have been the person who had taken good care of him the night before, and he was right.

"You… You had a huge wound across your chest. I even applied some medication on it just last night," Wuying continued to speak in bewilderment and almost to herself as if she was convincing herself that she hadn't just imagined it.

Xuefeng glanced at his chest where she was touching and shrugged upon seeing its surface, at skin without even the slightest scratch on it. 

"I don't know. It must have healed when I was asleep," Xuefeng said evasively as he tried to calm down his raging emotions.

Whenever he looked at this young, brown-haired beauty, he could feel his heart tightening up, which was probably caused by remnants of the previous owner of the body's feelings for her.

Xuefeng watched as her blue eyes widened in surprise and her full lips slacked open in a shape of an "O".

"That's wonderful!" Wuying cried as she threw herself in his arms, her firm bosom touching him as her soft hands wrapped around his neck. 

She stayed that way for a while, holding onto him tight as if her prayer was answered and she was so happy until she finally realized her actions were inappropriate and stepped back, horrified. Blushing heavily, she stood up and ran towards the doors. 

"I will inform Milady – she must be worried," she called out, before rushing out. Only after she left did Xuefeng calm down.

"Now I know why you fell in love with her," he muttered as if the previous Xuefeng could hear him.

For a normal boy, the intimate touches he had been subjected to would be hard to resist. Even the person he was right now had a hard time. But it was mostly because of the previous owner's heart beating in his chest. He could have sworn that it felt as if he was the one who loved her earlier.

"I need to somehow lessen those emotions. They are not mine after all," Xuefeng decided after thinking it through.

Five minutes had passed since the girl left when he heard hurried footsteps coming down the hall from behind the door. The heavy wood opened soon after and three people entered. This time, in addition to Wuying, there were two older people with her: an elegant lady and a dignified man.

From his memories, he could tell that this black-haired man was the current clan leader as well as his new father. The woman that looked as if she was in her twenties was his mother, Mu Lan.

Liu Xuefeng's parents…

He thought that emotions would come rushing this time as well due to the previous owner's relationship with these people, but surprisingly, he didn't feel much. He wondered if it was because the emotions were not strong enough to break through.

He looked at them with his curious blue gaze as he continued to stand by the bed in his purple robes. He couldn't make the first move as he had no idea how he'd act towards them.

"Feng'er, Wuying said you were still severely injured an hour ago but now you're already recovered – let your mother check." 

His mother's crisp voice traveled into his ears as she approached him. There was an urgency in her movements which was understandable considering what happened to him was somewhat a miracle. Her gentle but firm hands meticulously searched his person for any type of injury but came up empty. 

"Impossible. How did you recover so fast? I heard you were injured gravely just yesterday," his mother asked in confusion and awe, the same way Wuying did just earlier.

It was a good thing that Xuefeng had already prepared an alibi upon seeing the servant's reaction to his miraculous recovery minutes ago. He was able to come up with something that could match this world and that also gave a justified explanation to his sudden recuperation.

"Actually, a week ago, when I was on a stroll in the city, I helped an old beggar by giving him a loaf of bread. To repay me, he gave me a medical pill. After I was injured yesterday, I swallowed it before going to sleep," Xuefeng lied through his teeth, narrating the story he prepared.

"When I woke up today, not only was I healed, but I could also feel something in my stomach unlock." With this, he turned to the elderly man with an excited look on his face. "Father, can you check if my dantian has also recovered?"

"Oh?" Liu Xiaobei raised a brow in interest as he held out his hand towards his son. "Show me your hand!"

Xuefeng didn't hesitate to take it, and he felt a weird sensation spreading from his hand to every part of his body as soon as their hands touched. They remained that way while the others looked on in tense silence before it was broken by the clan leader himself.

"Ahahahahahahaha, God did not abandon us!" Liu Xiaobei guffawed as if he'd gone mad with laughter before turning to his wife. "Lan Lan, our son's dantian is not broken anymore!" 

"What?"

 Xuefeng watched as his father walked over to his mother to give her a hug. The two of them were visibly elated; their happiness was all over their faces. Well, who wouldn't be thrilled to learn their formerly handicapped son was finally… normal?

"Let's see which bastard will say my son is trash again!" Liu Xiaobei challenged, his hands balled into fists as if remembering the taunts and name-calling Xuefeng had endured in the past years.

"Oh, you!"

Xuefeng's mother chuckled at his father's antics, before turning to him. "May I verify it as well?" she asked with a smile, and of course, he obliged. Mu Lan checked Xuefeng's dantian to confirm for herself and got excited like her husband.

"Feng'er, this is such great news!" 

She hugged her son tightly while Wuying who was watching the whole time jumped in joy.

"Feng'er, there will be a Spirit Awakening Ceremony for all ten-year-olds in our clan in two days. Although you are a little bit older, it doesn't matter. After you get your first spirit, you can start your cultivation," his mother mentioned happily.

Xuefeng paused for a while as he tried to search his memory for the event, and nodded upon remembering what it was. The Spirit Awakening Ceremony in their clan was when the beginner practitioners first awakened the spirit which they would cultivate. Someone would normally go through with it at ten years of age, but since his dantian was broken when he was born, he had never done it.

And now, he's finally qualified…

"Right! I need to contact the Resource Department Elder. Now that my son can cultivate, Xuefeng should get his part of the cake," Liu Xiaobei announced with enthusiasm of someone ten years his junior. He looked the part as well. It was as if the good news made him visibly younger.

"Son, you should rest now, we will take care of everything. I will send someone to teach you the basics of cultivation tomorrow," his father advised, and all he could do was nod in agreement and watch them leave.

Liu Xuefeng sighed in relief as he sat on the bed and look at Wuying who stayed with him in the room. It was a good thing that his dantian was indeed repaired else living in this world would be horrible. He could finally relax and stop worrying about it.

Outside, as soon as Liu Xiaobei and Mu Lan closed the door of their son's room, the happy expressions on their faces vanished, exchanged with serious ones.

"Shadow," Liu Xiaobei called out.

As soon as he did, his shadow on the floor shifted as it expanded forward and soon, turned into a black-robed man. His face was hidden behind a black mask.

"Yes, my Lord," he answered his master's summons with a deep, dark voice.

"Did you hear what my son said?"Liu Xiaobei asked, but didn't wait for an answer before he continued with his command. "Investigate. I give you a day."

"Right away, my Lord," the black-robed man answered, but instead of returning to his master's shadow on the floor, he vanished into thin air.

"Let's go," the clan leader said before guiding his wife towards their chamber.

As soon as they reached the confines of their room, Mu Lan broke her silence.

"Only rank three pills can heal a broken dantian. To create such a pill... there is only one such person in Aurora Country who can do it," she wondered out loud before she and her husband exchanged looks with realization in their eyes.

"Qiao Jingyi!" The couple spoke at the same time.

The two of them mentioned the name of a popular alchemist in the country who created potent medicine. However, the man was a very picky eccentric who sold medicine only to those he liked.

"But he is currently in the capital. There is no way that he would come to Phoenix City, dressed as a beggar and give a random kid a rank three pill in exchange for a loaf of bread. I asked him many times to sell me one of his rank three pills, but he never agreed," Liu Xiaobei contemplated.

"What if, it wasn't a medical pill, but a poison pill he got? He would be dead by now. You can't even protect your own kid. Why do you even keep your Shadow Guard if they can't do their job properly?" Mu Lan scolded her husband and whacked him at the back of his head with her bare hand.

"Aw! Calm down, woman!" Liu Xiaobei rubbed the back of his head. "There is no way a rank three alchemist could enter Phoenix City and I wouldn't know about it. Our son probably lied to us to hide something. We should ask Wuying to investigate as well. She has gotten really close to him recently."

If other people had seen the powerful Clan Leader being scolded like that, he would become the laughingstock of the city. But no one knew that his wife Mu Lan was a lot stronger than him. He himself didn't even know by how much, but every time they sparred, he would be defeated in a few moves. 

"Eh, don't even mention her! Where was she when our son was injured?" The lady was ultimately displeased with how the events had transpired. If her son was still injured, she would have been totally livid until now.

At least now, Xuefeng had not only survived, but he had also somehow managed to recover from his handicap. The days from now on would be very vital for his development, and Mu Lan would never accept anything unfortunate happening to her child again.

"Don't send her on any missions from now on. Just let her stay and guard our son at all times! Now that he can cultivate, he needs to be protected," she demanded, but her husband found it unreasonable, thus he started to complain.

"But she is the leader of my Shadow Guard. She needs to participate in group training…" he tried to reason, but his voice trailed off upon seeing his wife's cold stare. He was not able to do anything but swallow his protest and agree. "Okay…"