• Day-10

Their dinner that night was quiet... unbearably so. Moreover, Li Feng's glances only worsened this.

"What is it?" Finding it unbearable to keep ignoring the glances, Haoren asked with a frown.

"..." Li Feng remained silent as she met Haoren's frown with her gaze, after a moment of pause her lips parted, "...Do you often do things like charity?"

"Charity?" Haoren's frown deepened, "I just feed them every now and then if I feel like it, there's nothing more to it."

Although his words were altered by his body, Haoren still believed that what he did was no charity. Rather, on the contrary, he had a lot of fun doing this. Playing around, running in a game of tag and having conversations... These were all things he couldn't have even hoped to possess in that dark hospital room.

"Well, since the lives of slum dwellers here are much easier than in other cities..." Haoren was surprised by Li Feng's words but, then he realized that he himself knew nothing about the lives of the slum dweller.

Most of his memories came from the hospital room and even they were scarce...

Moreover, Li Feng continued this statement with yet another one, "It's good that you only do that every once in a while, it would be troublesome if the others grew envious of the kids... Moreover, there are a lot of menial chores that everyone relies on the slum's children for."

"Is that so..." Saying this Haoren lowered his gaze and continued his dinner.

...

'I feel tired...'

Haoren thought as he lay down on his bed. "Fortunately, the outing went surprisingly well..."

Haoren was afraid that Li Feng would get in trouble if they went out so he wanted to avoid that... Or rather that was the excuse that he was trying to make himself believe in! 

In fact, he was still feeling awkward after having accidentally "peeked" on Li Feng... He didn't want to look at her right now as he felt immensely guilty.

"Ughh...! Should I apologize? B-but, How?" Haoren was a young boy both in body and in mind, despite how he looked he was in fact only 16 years of age.

As for his mind... Let's just say it was a bit younger than that. Moreover, as he was always inside of the hospital room he never really interacted with the opposite gender and that caused him to not really know how to process this kind of situation.

He rolled around in his bed like a... a... a maiden in love? I'm not so sure who does this kind of thing...

As he stopped doing that, Haoren's mind wandered off to the other event that happened today...

'I almost caused a lot of trouble didn't I?'

He didn't know anything about the slum's system... In the worst-case scenario, the kids could've been harmed because of his mistake.

'She's really knowledgeable, huh...' 

Despite being of a similar age as him, Li Feng seemed to know so much more... It was something that truly surprised him, to some extent he admired how cool she could be when it seemed like she knew everything... In comparison...

'Always causing trouble...'

}"████ Don't worry about it! It's not your fault... You just didn't know"{

He had always been like this... 'Damn it..'

With a bitter taste spoiling his mood, Haoren fell asleep.

...

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...

'I feel tired...' 

Li Feng grumbled while on her bed, today's events had been mentally taxing for Li Feng. From learning the cultivation method to meeting the bear, a lot has happened.

And a specific detail weighed heavily on her mind, "That bastard's nothing like what he seems!" 

Li Feng had till now assumed Haoren to be a rich idiot, a potential pervert and a cynical demon, but... Today, she saw him play around with kids, feed them, help a mother(bear)...

'Then why does he have to act like a mid-boss level villain?! Ah! Damnit!'

Li Feng felt ashamed, till now she assumed the worst possibilities regarding Haoren but, all of that was wrong. She felt like a fool. But she did not want to apologise as it would require her to admit that she made such foolish assumptions.

'Maybe he's one of those 'tsunderes' I've heard of!' She skillfully deviated from the direction of her thoughts avoiding the idea of apologizing.

'But that bear's mate is probably...'

The bear Li Feng killed was most likely the mate of the female bear... She had taken the life of the bear yet, he had not only spared the bear's life but also helped it.

Her words changed to accommodate others and his were always rude no matter what, yet it was he who helped others and she simply did not do anything that didn't provide her merit. They were like the very opposites of one another.

'Damn it...'

With a bitter taste fouling her mood, Li Feng fell asleep.

...

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...

• day-12

"As you gather spiritual qi within your body you will feel it travel your body through certain pathways and gather at a certain place..." Haoren spoke the words that Gongsun Jiang had once told him when he taught 'Haoren'. "Can you tell where it is?"

"Mhm..." Li Feng nodded with furrowed brows as she traced the faint thread of energy flowing within her. "The abdomen?"

"Indeed." Haoren nodded, "But where exactly?"

"..." Li Feng's frown deepened as she remained silent...

"How about now?" Li Feng felt a cold yet soft touch on her forehead, "Can you feel it now?"

"The cold sensation spread from her forehead to the entirety of her head bringing a sense of calmness to her mind... Her senses sharpened as he could feel the strands of qi within her body, they flowed towards her lower abdomen... "Lower abdomen..." 

Haoren's voice once again resounded within her mind, "Focus on it... try to see through the veil of mortal vision and find what that place is like..."

Usually, Li Feng would've complained about the uselessly mysterious wording of Haoren, but currently, she understood everything as she instinctively focused on her lower abdomen... 

Within the darkness of closed eyes, slowly, a feint veil appeared, "It's like mist..." Li Feng stated.

"Good, that is your Dantian..." Haoren's voice was calm, "Your Dantian is where your spiritual qi is stored and refined. The mist form of qi is proof of you being in the mist-gathering stage, after this will come the cloud-forming stage, then rain condensing stage and finally Spiritual sea stage. These all accumulated together will be your first step in the journey of cultivation."

After saying this, Haoren fell silent,

"..."

"..."

The silence remained for a few minutes as Li Feng just sat there waiting for Haoren's instructions.

"You may open your eyes now." Finally, Haoren spoke and Li Feng opened her eyes.

'He's still like that?' Li Feng thought as she saw that Horen was standing with his back facing her. Even yesterday morning he was the same, not looking towards her and avoiding her.

"Do you have any questions?" Haoren spoke with his back towards Li Feng.

'Well, of course I do!' Li Feng felt annoyed but, she decided to take out her annoyance later, "How do I enter the next stage?" 

"Your meridians, the pathways that lead spiritual qi to your Dantian must be refined. As you refine qi within your Dantian, you'll be able to use it to refine your meridian. Once it has been refined, the quantity of qi you possess as well as its quality will improve and once you've refined all 9 of your meridians, you'll have formed your Spiritual Sea."

Li Feng nodded till she realized something, "...You mentioned this being the first step into cultivation, does that mean there are stages beyond this?"

"We'll talk about that once you reach that stage."

...

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...

Haoren was in a rather troubling situation, he needed to apologize but, he didn't know how. He never had any experience regarding something like this. Moreover, he was afraid of how his words could be warped by his body.

The guilt ate away at him and since he hadn't told Li Feng about this, he had to discretely be prepared for when she might be bathing or changing clothes and then go completely blind for a while.

'AARRGGHHH!! I can't take it anymore!!'

Having hit a literal wall yet again, Haoren was at his limit. The mental burden was too much, he had to get it off his chest and apologize.

...

Yet another quiet dinner, Li Feng didn't really mind the silent meals at first but now they've begun to bother her because of the awkward mood around Haoren.

Finally, Haoren who had just finished his meal got up and with his hand on the table spoke up while looking at Li Feng, "I need to talk to you about something."

"What?" Li Feng wasn't exactly sure about what Haoren planned to ask her but it probably had something to do with the awkward mood that enveloped him the past two days.

"You must've wondered how I am able to navigate through my day-to-day life despite being blind, right?" Haoren asked with a slightly strange demeanour.

Li Feng nodded, she was indeed a bit curious about this.

"Well, I can see through an ability of mine which lets me see through the world in a different way... which is not limited by my eyes... and..."

Haoren's voice quietened and turned to mere mumbles that didn't even reach Li Feng's ears, "What did you say?" Li Feng asked.

"What I said was..." Haoren paused for a while as his gaze turned downwards. Finally, after gathering his courage he met Li Feng's gaze, "I'd like you to let me know when you're taking a bath beforehand so that I can avoid accidentally peeking!!"

Within a single breath, he yelled it all out, leaving Li Feng stupefied for a moment, "Wait... Does that mean... You saw?"

Haoren's head lowered instantly, "...I am sorry..." His shoulders drooped and his voice grew quiet.

'Cute.' Li Feng remarked as he saw the Haoren before her, his ears reddened like tomatoes, 'Is this what they call the charm of a tsundere?!'

Looking at such a Haoren, she decided to tease him a bit more, "I guess my lord is truly a "young" lord~"

 Haoren's face reddened even further and Li Feng continued, "But, to think you'd peek at me... Tsk! Tsk! Such a thing can't be excused just cause you're young~"

As he was continuously being bombarded with such teasings, Haoren finally snapped, "Well at least I didn't steal someone's clothes!!"

"How did you know about that?!"

'So, it was you?!'

During their first outing, When Haoren passed by the city gates the guards looked at Li Feng and the image that surfaced in their memories was a "boy" with tattered clothes.

Haoren who had seen those memories, recognised these tattered clothes... They were his.

But he couldn't talk about that at the moment since Li Feng might find out about his abilities...

But now he was too irritated to care about that.

"Are you sure you didn't take a peak back then?"

Haoren continued his attack on Li Feng who yelled back in response.

"Don't turn this on me!"

...

After this, both grew closer than before... I think.