Apparently, Asha lived close. After passing only a few buildings, they turned into the courtyard of a villa. It was quite large, even by his city standards. A servant bowed as Master Chiro approached and led them to an inner courtyard. There was a large practice area in the center for fighting and a small garden in each corner growing various small plants and flowers. To the side, Lin Le and presumably Asha sat drinking tea beside each other, while two empty seats remained.

Asha gestured for them to sit while she poured them each a cup of tea. Following Chiro’s lead, they both sat and drank and enjoyed the peace silently for a moment. Quan took a moment to try and unobtrusively observe this new master. She appeared to be in her mid-twenties, was fit, beautiful by any measure, with long black hair that she wore done up. Her skin was pale and she had striking blue eyes. She finished her look off with immaculate clothing of high quality that spoke of money and servants. But her expression gave nothing away to her personality. “I am pleased to see you, brother, but it is unusual for you to visit so early in the day. What brings you to my door?”

“I have found a young man who has a talent for cultivating. He has training as a blacksmith’s apprentice, and I invited him to see if he could learn at my feet.” Chiro gestured to Quan, “he has ambitions to learn both the path of crafting and fighting. I have told him this is a path of much pain that few can follow. Yet he desires it still. I could think of no better teacher than you for him.”

Asha paused a wisp of surprise appearing on her face for but a moment. “What is your name and age, boy?”

“I am 15. My name is Quan,” he rankled a bit at being called boy so derisively. He was 39, including Earth years, by his math.

“The boy from the temple?” She asked, and Chiro nodded. “He is too old only to begin the path.” Asha snorted, “And why are you so small if you are 15 and a cultivator?” Quan was indeed quite short at 5’3. “You would be years still learning to cultivate properly and will miss entirely the stages of growth you need. Did you only recently learn you had the ability to cultivate? If not, why did you not approach the sect when you were 12 as is traditional for those seeking to learn?”

Quan’s heart froze as he realized he might have limited his future growth and even the chance to learn at all by waiting. Still, he had something they did not know, which he hoped would be enough to make up for his foolishness. “I was aware that it is common to come at the age of 12, I did not realize that there would be much risk in starting late. I am the eldest son and thought to help my father until my brothers were a little older to help my father.”

“So, you are an idiot as well as behind. Do you not know that a cultivator’s compensation is paid to any family whose child is taken in by the sect? The gold I am sure my brother handed your father today is enough to buy any help he might need for many years. If you are a dutiful son and train hard, by the time that gold runs out, you should be able to provide enough for your parents never to work again.”

Quan’s eyes opened wide at this, and he shook his head ruefully, “I did not know that.” He had never heard of anyone getting a bounty in the town before. Asha said nothing, clearly unimpressed and unmoved to take him as a student. Quan thought for a moment, and after his father’s open acceptance of being a reborn soul, he decided his only chance was to tell them everything, as risky as it might be.

“There is more to my story if I may speak briefly,” Quan asked, and at Asha’s nod, he continued. “I do not believe it will take me years to learn to cultivate and catch up. I am not like other children. I am what my father calls a reborn soul. I lived a life in another world, though I was not a cultivator there. Upon my death, I was brought to this world and given another chance. The body I was placed in was broken and dying, full of sickness. The god, Manu, came to me and gifted me with a cultivation method which I have practiced and used to repair this body all my days.”

“You would tell us stories? If you had been cultivating so very long, you would have long since passed into the second stage and have formed a core.” Asha laughed.

“I have, as you’ve pointed out, foolishly, held back from crossing that final stage to stay with my family. For over two years now, I have held myself back from forming the core that I knew would reveal my ability.” Quan spoke quickly.

Asha frowned and looked to her brother, “Are you playing some joke on me?” He shook his head, equally astonished at the tale.

After a moment, she smiled and said, “Your tale is easily tested. You claim to have held back and be on the cusp of forming your core.” She pointed to the center of the training area, “Go, sit there, and do not rise until you have formed your core.” Quan looked at her for a moment, then stood and bowed as he walked to where she had pointed. He sat cross-legged and began to meditate.

“I am sorry, Asha, I would not have brought him had I known he had such foolish ideas,” Chiro said.

“Perhaps, yet he didn’t hesitate to take my test. It would also go far in explaining how a boy defeated several armed men. It would be an unusual choice for my first student.” Asha said as she stood, she ordered servants to bring buckets of water to the courtyard while they waited. "Perhaps most importantly, if he is telling the truth, we would be a fool not to try and learn all we can about a god-given method. It would have to be the greatest treasure the Sect has seen in generations."

“How long will you wait?” Chiro asked, clearly thinking of leaving him here in the meantime.

“As long as he is willing to try. If his tale is false, he will not succeed, and how long he tries will be interesting to see. If he is telling the truth and has been holding himself on the edge of formation for years,” she paused in thought, “Actually, I do not know. It would have taken a fierce will to hold back for so long. I know some schools encourage such, but only for a short time to strengthen one’s base and body. He may find himself unable to let go, like a hand cramped after holding on for too long. You should stay, brother. If he is telling the truth about his sickly body, restored through 15 years of cultivation, we should be in for quite the show.”

Chiro considered his sister’s words, then looked to the buckets her servants had brought. “Perhaps we should ask for more buckets.”

Quan sat on the stone pad, under the midday sun, as he concentrated on flowing Ki. The Ki in his body had long ago reached the maximum density he could achieve and was pushing towards forming a core. That core would be the foundation of all that was to come on his path. To his Ki system, the Core would be like both his heart and lungs, drawing Ki into his body and pushing it out to all the parts of his body. Years of practice let him turn his sense inward and view his own body. He could see his blood vessels flowing with energy, his muscles wrapped in energy down to each fibre, and even the marrow of his bones was saturated in Ki.

From the guidance Manu had left behind, he knew this was the first of many key moments. He needed to bring the energy together into a core, to focus the energy into a spot just above his navel that would connect and flow to the meridians of power through his body. Right now, it was like an atrophied muscle, having never been used. The years spent absorbing Ki into his body priming it for use. This would change everything he had done so far. Previously he had to bring in the energy and clumsily direct it to where he wanted it. Now it would become internal. He would cultivate directly to his core which would then spread to his body, allowing for greater efficiency. This first step would grant him a core of mist. If he succeeded, the Ki would no longer be intangible, but inside his core, like a condensed gas, he would see and feel it.

He tried to let it happen as he pulled energy in. Many times before, he had felt the first stirrings of formation but found himself holding back on pure instinct every time he reached the edge. Having trained himself to stop, he now found letting go to be harder than anticipated. He forced himself to relax to let the process occur, he would guide it as he knew he must, but first, he must let it begin.

After nearly an hour, he felt his core begin to form, and he was able to resist the urge to stop it. He felt the Ki flowing to his center, and a whirlwind of power began to pull in more energy. He tried his best to expand the edges of that center to give his Ki the room it needed to expand and work. The whirlwind grew, and Ki flowed into him faster than he had ever done before. He saw the boundaries of his core form as Ki flooded in and rushed out into newly born lines of power that were spreading throughout his body.

Euphoria flooded his mind at the magnificence of it. At long last, he had taken this step. He felt alive like never before as the Ki reached new heights and rushed through his body like a river. Then his joy turned sour as he felt a pain like something had stabbed him in the stomach. His muscles screamed in protest as his blood began to burn. He heard bones break and cried out in agony as the pain registered in every limb. He felt like every sickness and illness he had from childhood revisited him each in its turn. His sweat turned a sickly black ooze as his body pushed out the imperfections leftover from the transformation he was undergoing. Soon it spread till the ooze ran from his eyes and nose. He vomited the stuff till it flowed from every part of his body. He tried to scream in pain, but he had no breath as his lungs burned and his bones cracked and twisted until he fell unconscious from the pain.

Quan woke when cold water splashed his face as a servant emptied a bucket on his head. Before he had a chance to get his bearings, the servants dumped two more buckets of water on him. Asha dropped a bar of soap on him, "Use all of it. Then we will talk. You stink."

A rotting stench filled his nose as he looked at his clothes. They were stained and ruined by whatever he had excreted from his body. He looked around quickly for a place to disrobe. Asha waited a moment to torture him, he was sure, then gestured for some servants to bring a privacy screen they had obviously prepared. He pulled his oddly tight clothes off and dropped them on the ground. A servant used wooden sticks to pick them up and move them over to an open firepit and dropped both the clothes and sticks into the flames. Quan began scrubbing the soap while praying they would be bringing something new to wear. As he scrubbed the filth off, he noticed his body seemed stronger, muscles seemed more defined. Comparing himself to the servants bringing a steady stream of buckets, he wondered if he had somehow grown taller in the last few minutes.

Asha pulled a sheet back and revealed a mirror she had brought out while he cultivated. "Take a look, the first purging is always the most significant. Your will barely recognize yourself. This is who you are now, so its good to take a moment and see yourself."

He turned to the mirror as he washed. The most obvious change was a drastic growth spurt. His black hair hung down to just past his shoulders in long silky strands. Dark brown eyes stared back from a face that looked to have skipped the awkward teen years. His skin was unblemished, his tan lost in the purging. A strong jawline and lean neck completed the look that could only be described as handsome. He giggled a little at the changes and poked his nose and cheek to see if anything felt different.

Eventually, he had scrubbed his skin raw, and the scented soap had overpowered the filth. He dressed quickly in the clothes someone had left for him to wear after this ordeal.

Asha walked to the center of the yard to stand a few feet from Quan. "Well, it seems at least parts of your story are true. I have never heard of such an impressive cleansing. I think you've grown nearly 5 inches. That must have been painful."

"It was, but I feel fine now. Great, actually."

"Your body is adjusting to having a core and its new vitality. It is best to exercise quickly to get used to it, then meditate on the changes. Now, how much martial training do you have?"

Quan thought about all the time he'd spent in dojos. He'd gone more as a form of exercise than anything else. Still, he had spent several years, even if he'd never pushed to a black belt. Then he considered that he was in a world devoted to martial arts, perfected by people that lived hundreds of years as a minimum. "None at all." He said.

That turned out to be the first wise decision he'd made in a while. He was incredibly awkward with his new body and took time to gain his balance again as she kept testing him. Asha spent the next two hours, half sparring, half instructing. She criticized every movement, every position, and demonstrated why by constantly throwing and knocking him to the ground. He shuddered to consider what she would have done if he'd claimed any expertise. Afterwards, she led him to the table where they had tea, and her brother still waited.

“Your skills are wholly inadequate for your age. However, you may have the potential to learn. You will train with me exclusively for one week. At the end of that week, I will either accept you as a disciple, your masters will work out your training, or I will send you back to him, never to return. Drink your tea. Then a servant will show you to a room where you may meditate, be here at dawn.”