The little project of mine helped a lot through the days, it was very calming and gave me a sense of fulfilment.

  I started to get into a proper routine, it lasted for another week and a half, until one day Li Tian suggested something to me.

  “Wanna try sense Qi?”, he asked me casually. He said it as if it wasn’t some magical energy that would make me superhuman. Well, to be fair it was normal to him.

  “Of course. How do I do it?” I asked eagerly.

  “Well,” he started, scratching his head, “I don’t really know how to explain it well, but I’ll try, first sit down and cross your legs.”.

  I complied and sat down, internally agreeing with his assessment of his ability to explain things. “What next?” I asked.

  “Close your eyes, then take deep breathes for a minute and clear your mind.” He instructed.

  I once again listened to him and did what he said, I tried my best to forget what I was trying to do, trying to calm my pounding heart.

  After a minute, he continued speaking, “What do you see?”.

  Confused, I said “Nothing?”. This made him chuckle, “That’s because you are looking with your eyes!”.

  This guy…

  He made no sense at all; how else could I look? I channelled my inner nonsense detector and tried to imagine what he could mean, what kind of absurd meaning could it have?

  Maybe… feel?

  I tried to imagine it, feeling my surroundings. That’s what they generally tried whenever I read some sort of story or film, so I simply did the same.

  Of course, I failed.

  “What do you mean?” I enquired further, admitting defeat.

  “Well, you know, “, I could hear the gentle sounds of robes as he probably waved his arms in the air, “try to like, feel it? There is Qi everwere, try sense the energy. Kinda like when you know someone is looking at you when your back is turned, use that sense.”

  Well, that was sort of what I was trying. Maybe not focused enough?

  I fixated on the rhythm of my breathing to keep it steady. Then I focused on ignoring all my other senses, becoming void almost.

  The obvious solution to being able to sense Qi with a sort of sense I had never used before, was to get rid of my other ones as best as I could.

  I tried to ignore the smell of the air, taste of my mouth, feel of the ground and the black I saw from my eyelids.

  After this I felt what was left, what sense was left?

  Nothing.

  I couldn’t feel it. As expected…

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  Things rarely worked the first time, but that doesn’t mean it wont work a second, or a third time. My disappointment in failure broke my concentration so I had to start again.

  I wasn’t sure how many attempts I made, I wasn’t thinking about that. I just focused on sensing the Qi around me.

  Eventually, I felt a spark behind me. Just a tiny spark, almost imperceptible.

  I didn’t see it; I felt it there.

  It disappeared in a just moment, but I felt it. It was probably Fire Qi.

  I knew how to do it now; I had experience in actually sensing some Qi. However, the fact that I actually did it made me way too excited and caused me to lose focus.

  It took me a little while to get back into my previous state and try again. This time there were more sparks, three.

  The next time there were five and a green glow. Through the next attempts more and more showed up until I could feel all the five elements of Qi around me.

  In my new ‘vision’ I noticed sparks of red Fire Qi, the soft glow of green Wood Qi, a splash of blue Water Qi, a blob of Metal Qi, and spiky yellow Earth Qi.

  Each one felt full of life and energy; it was entrancing.

  It’s beautiful.

  …

  I opened my eyes to see the sunset, I expected to be sitting down with my legs crossed, however I was laying down looking at the sky.

  “That was incredible” I said.

  “I agree.” Li Tian replied, I had to turn my head to see him. He was sitting crossed legged, one arm on his leg and supporting his head with it.

  “I bet you didn’t even realise” Li Tian said with a slight laugh. “Realise what?” I enquired, “The fact you passed out a while back.”.

  Huh? He was right, I didn’t even feel it.

  He continued, “I mean, it happens to most of us who sense Qi for the first time. Even happened to me too, that’s how I know. Being so concentrated on sensing Qi leaves us vulnerable and unable to realise what’s going on physically.”.

  He stood up with an unusually grave look on his face, he then spoke in a serious tone. “We let it happen on the first time, to let you realise the danger. When you sense Qi ,you let go of other senses and you are defenceless. You must be very careful when do you this, make sure only do it when you are protected well. Understand?”.

  He was right, I couldn’t feel my body’s condition, my fatigue went unnoticed. “I do, thank you.” I said, thankful I was around someone I could trust.

  He simply nodded, “Time for you to go sleep. You need your rest after that, tomorrow we can do the real fun part, using Qi.”.

  It was time for the good stuff.

  I wearily made my way back to my courtyard, admiring my work with the garden. I had planted some simple flowers, cut the grass and cleaned up the area of any weeds.

  It was a small improvement, but I did it all with much care, so it made a big difference.

  When I got inside, I fell onto my bed, I thought that if one day I went to bed without exhaustion it would feel odd now considering I was so used to it by now.

  Even so, I drifted off with excitement, Qi was fascinating, and I couldn’t wait to try using some tomorrow.

  …

  I woke up still in my robes from the previous day, but I didn’t care. I instantly left to the training grounds. Today was the day I would use Qi.

  I was quite giddy; it overwhelmed my usual morning grogginess too.

  When I arrived, Li Tian was already waiting for me, we exchanged greetings before we both sat down with our legs crossed again.

  “So,” he started, “now that you have sensed Qi, you need to learn how to draw it in to you. Remember, this isn’t cultivation, this is only using Qi to enhance yourself temporarily.” He explained to me.

  I nodded to show my understanding, and to not interrupt him. He continued after seeing I understood.

  “We won’t be able to move Qi willingly before becoming a cultivator, so we must actively seek it out. You have to move to the Qi, then you must allow it to flow through you. First start with your finger, just move it to any one of the elements, it doesn’t mater which one at this point because we are only using the energy contained within it.”.

  It all made sense, other than one part. “How can I do that when sensing Qi means I’m not aware of my body?” I asked him.

  “Good question. It’s quite difficult, but you just have to do one after another. Sense where the Qi is, then move to it, then sense it and integrate it with your muscles.”.

  That was confusing. “Then how come you use Qi freely? Wouldn’t you need to stop and start constantly?”. I asked.

  he explained to me, “In general, that would be how it is, however as you gain more tolerance and get better at integrating the Qi, you can store it for later use. I wouldn’t be able to go on forever without replenishing.”.

  That made a little bit of sense, kinda.