The sounds of wooden swords colliding resounded. In an unkempt arena, two young men battled, brandishing long swords with shining blades. Attacks rained across the arena, but their skills were closely matched. Their swings produced a dance of shining sparks as the qi in the swords collided and forced the two back while illuminating the arena. Beside the arena, a crowd of about twenty young men and women stood, some watching in awe, others absorbed in their thoughts.

Although one side was much more aggressive and forceful, neither weapon conceded before the other. The two youths were engaging in a battle of endurance. Their faces were glistening with sweat despite how cool it was.

After the strike, one sword suddenly stopped emanating a blue light, causing the other party to grin. Clearly the fate of the match would be decided in this last exchange. Suddenly, the youth with the dim sword lunged forward in a low position swinging his sword in a wide motion.

The sword was instantly snapped in half by the still-shining sword. Just when the youth with the sword let out a breath of relief and his body relaxed, his opponent’s speed suddenly shot up within a blink of an eye. The sharp edge of his broken wooden sword surpassed the defenses of the youth who was in no position to defend because of his previous swing.

“Zhao Fan wins”

A middle-aged man dressed in green robes proclaimed loudly at the sight of a sword held by the neck of the youth.

Zhao Fan, who was completely drained, sat on the ground when he heard the middle-aged man. His opponent on the other hand had much more energy, lightly sighing while walking off of the arena platform, “Zhao Fan, your hidden technique might have surprised me but don’t think that the outcome will be the same during the Academy competition!”

Zhao Fan looked at his opponent and scoffed in his heart when he saw him walk past him. Despite his obvious disregard, he was somewhat justified. If Zhao Fan did not hide his movement technique until the last match, he would undoubtedly lose.

As Zhao Fan was walking off the stage to join the crowd, the green robed man started to speak, “The Academy competition won’t matter much to you if you keep that attitude. You already lost to one Zhao Fan, what about those better than Zhao Fan? Even a tiger knows to go all out when killing a rabbit, what gives you the confidence to relax during the fight?”

The teacher turned to Zhao Fan and continued. “As for you, Zhao Fan, you were able to take down someone one level higher than you! However, don’t get cocky because of this victory, your opponent underestimated you too much. You would do well to focus on cultivation rather than techniques, afterall, you lack the right cultivation to even qualify for the competition.”

“Yes, Teacher Li” Both students performed a slight bow to the green-robed man and mixed into the crowd.

“Now, Zhao Fan, do you want to fight Huang Jingyi in your current state, or will you concede?”

“No need, I am completely exhausted” Zhao Fan replied while gasping for air.

“Very well, do not forget, the Academy competition takes place two months from now. Work hard and don’t disappoint our class, after you collect your reward you are dismissed.” The man finished speaking and started to give out small bags to a hurriedly formed line of people. After Huang Jingyi got his bag, the elder maintained his straight face and sneakily handed him a slightly smaller bag than the winner of the tournament. Breathing excitedly, Zhao Fan quickly performed a short bow and found Chen Cai.

“Brother, thank you for your help. Here are ten spirit stones, please don’t reject it.” Zhao Fan opened the bag and took out some spirit stones.

“It was through your own effort, how could I take it?” Chen Cai firmly denied and brushed away Zhao Fan’s hand.

“If you didn’t let me win and made me use a lot of energy to fight you or if I had to resort to exposing Spirit Dash early, either way I would have no way of getting second.” Zhao Fan once again extended his hand.

“Listen, Brother Fan, you might be surprised why I did this even if we are not that close. The truth is, I am a son of a farmer just like you, but my talent is not high at all and neither do I have any chance in the competition. I have already resigned myself to my fate, at most I can become a simple hunter like Huang Jingyi’s father and make some money. You, on the other hand, work hard during the day and the night. When we came to class in the morning, you would always be tired and sore but your progress in cultivation and circulating your qi reached the top among us poor peasants.” Chen Cai’s eyes held a hint of melancholy as he stopped walking to look at Zhao Fan.

“Everyone who has reached the second-level of Qi Condensation are people with at least some background. Unlike us, they have tutors, spirit stones, medicinal concoctions, basically everything someone might need! We are born in the same world and city, we go to the same academy and have the same teacher, yet our starting points are so different!” Chen Cai clenched his teeth and kicked a nearby rock, sending it into a field far away.

“You clearly know this and you haven’t given up, I can tell you are still ambitious and want to compete and slaughter your way to top ten. To be honest, I don’t really believe in your ambition, but the least I can do is offer you a helping hand when you need it most!” Chen Cai placed his hand atop Zhao Fan’s and held it firmly.

Zhao Fan looked deep into his eyes and saw traces of sorrow. The fires of motivation in Zhao Fan’s heart burned brighter and brighter amidst the harsh winter which was reality. The extra twenty five spirit stones were like coal being gifted during the winter, it was not a huge gift but it touched him deeply because it was exactly what he needed.

After the distribution of rewards was done, the crowd behind them quickly dispersed and the students walked away while chatting excitedly about the coming competition, some rushing home to tell their parents about their success while others went to enjoy themselves. Zhao Fan thanked Chen Cai again and they parted ways.

Zhao Fan walked while calculating in his mind. He placed second out of the twenty people in his class, but this didn’t give him any more hope. After all, there were tens of classes and theirs wasn’t anything special. Previously he thought that with the reward he could probably charge into the top twenty-five if he really gave it his all. But at the same time, he now better understood the difference between a poor peasant like him and the sons of important families. If the difference in cultivation now was one realm, in two months it might be three or four.

He had bitterly cultivated for the past two weeks and even managed to train a movement technique to the initial success stage while training it rarely due to needing qi which showed his talent. Despite all of this, he could only achieve the first Qi Condensation realm because of how poor he was.

But what use was worrying about it?

Zhao Fan quickened his pace and walked towards one of the poor districts in the Golden Leaf city. While he was walking along the road, he saw scantily clad women walking down the street and men carrying heavy loads of goods, as well as small and shabby houses decorating the background. It was as though he was not in a prosperous city but a poor village. However, Zhao Fan was long used to this, afterall who wouldn’t be after being born and raised there for so many years?

If anything, what he felt wasn’t disgust but determination to change his life.

Creak

Zhao Fan opened the wooden door to his run-down home and saw the familiar sight of an empty house. His father, the last family he had, worked long hours doing cheap labor and the only sight of him he usually saw was a bowl of cold porridge and a note left on the table.

Zhao Fan sighed and sat down at the table, making sure to eat the entire cold meal. He felt his eyes burn when he thought of his hard-working father who never once failed to put food on the table for him.

After eating, he glanced briefly at the note his father left and scribbled some words on it before leaving the house. Despite the approaching night, Zhao Fan did not go to relax or enjoy himself after the intense tournament in class that day, instead, he broke out in a jog towards the training field.

Why would he go to a place far from his home in order to train? To others it might seem illogical but to him it was obvious. How could he cultivate in the constant clatter and bustle of the busy city? Moreover, this was a secluded field close to the city wall where people rarely passed by. Even before he set out on the path of cultivation, he came there to practice and escape the city life.

By the time he arrived, Zhao Fan was already panting. He sat on the dirt ground and took off his backpack, taking out a spirit stone from a small bag he earned in the class tournament. Eyeing it regretfully for a moment, he sat in a lotus position and began absorbing it. A familiar sense of warmth at a far greater magnitude than he was used to rushed through his meridians and filled his dantian, eventually expanding it slightly. Time passed by and Zhao Fan gradually got lost in the pleasant sensation of cultivation. At this moment, he could understand how cultivators could spend years in this state.

After a few hours, he reluctantly opened his eyes and saw that the bag was empty, however he did not feel regret. He was now at the peak of the first realm of Qi Condensation! This was signified by the dantian no longer expanding as it reached its maximum size. If one were to observe it over the course of his cultivation, the change in his dantian was hardly visible, increasing from a small bead to a slightly larger bead.

Spirit stones were definitely much more efficient than simply absorbing qi from the surroundings, alas it was a pity that he did not have many. Without the small bag, it would take him a few days of work to make the same advancement which took him a few hours. Zhao Fan got up from the ground and thought about his current situation.

The sect competition would start in two months and he could definitely reach the third qi condensation realm, however that was it. The top competitors would definitely charge into the sixth and even the seventh realm by that time using spirit stones. The difference between the third and seventh realm was that the latter had probably more than ten times as much qi storage! At Zhao Fan’s current pace, even placing in the top 25 would be impossible.

Thinking this, he sighed deeply and started practicing his movement technique.

Slight gusts appeared behind his feet as he executed the most run-of-the-mill movement technique, spirit dash.

Spirit dash is a body technique which involves guiding qi from one’s dantian to the meridians in the legs which greatly boosts movement speed. Initial success refers to being able to guide qi to the feet meridians and being able to suffuse the muscles with qi. Perfection of this technique would not only make it more efficient but also would allow the user to execute it faster.

Qi is an energy present almost everywhere in the world. Most of the time, it is found in the gaseous form and most people would not think about it even though it is all around them like air. However, to cultivators it was a much bigger deal.

During the fight, both Zhao Fan and Li Peng used a technique they learned in their first week, a way to channel qi through their arms and into the sword, but even though Li Peng’s qi reserves were greater, Zhao Fan won because of his sudden execution of the spirit dash. In all honesty, the Spirit Dash technique wasn’t even as much of a technique as it was just a basic instruction of how to guide and diffuse qi throughout the leg muscles.

Nevertheless, this simple use of spreading qi to his legs and sword allowed the fifteen year old youth to effortlessly match even the highest-tier mortal swordsman with years of experience. This was the power of qi! That is why embarking on the path of cultivation proved to be a serious hurdle, afterall a mortal cannot compare to even the weakest cultivator!

Soon, Zhao Fan was out of qi and panted heavily as he crashed on the ground. Body techniques like spirit dash revolved around overloading the muscles so he was not only spiritually but also physically exhausted.

While lying on the ground he suddenly thought about something. Since Spirit Dash was a simple application of qi to the leg muscles, wouldn’t the top geniuses be able to learn how to apply qi in a much better way? This was the difference between cultivation resources. Even if Zhao Fan knew how to use other body techniques, would he really have the energy to focus on more than one body part? Others could use concoctions, baths and much more to enable them to recover their tired bodies and practice for far longer than Zhao Fan. Additionally, after factoring in the guidance of masters in the techniques and other factors, the difference between the rich and the poor was like the difference between the heavens and the earth.

He flipped on his back and looked at the moon and shining stars in the sky. Thinking about the competition, he had a pensive expression. Even if he practiced ten times as much as the others, the gap only widened due to his lack of resources. Only a fool would think that they could win by just relying on their hard work, this was not some fantasy world afterall.

Zhao Fan packed up and went home.

“If hard work won’t make me strong, then there is only one thing I can do!”