It was now morning and the brother-sister pair had returned t their home, which was currently left in a dirty state if put nicely and if put honestly in the most disgusting state.

The two had managed to sleep very little that night thanks to not being able to calm down easily but no one was pressuring them so they took some time from the morning to sleep.

Since they needed to eat, and because attracting predators wasn’t their favorite past time the tow had to toughen up and clean the corpses…. Or at least what was left of them since animals seemed to have taken care of most of them, living only some bones and clothes scattered around the place.

Their tent and everything inside had been destroyed, though most of their stuff had been secured inside the place Edward had made. They used many bottles of water to make the water muddy before getting to essentially dumping it down the cliff, the same one Mike had fallen down, not that there where many options.

Though they picked up all the pieces of clothing they saw and placed them in plastic bags that Edward would drive down to throw in the trash. They didn’t want to incur the wrath of the forest or something like that by polluting it.

Big portions of mud fell down the cliff, they landed on the side of a small pond f crystal clear and almost shining water. They covered a very big portion of the surrounding area as the mud expanded, covering some shoe marks on the dirt along with everything else.

Thankfully the pond’s water flowed and it would eventually become clean because it would have been a shame if it turned into a blood and mud covered pit, since the water had some amazing qualities that would go to waste if that were to happen.

It took some time and they weren’t very happy to do it but they still sat down under the Cherry tree who danced in the wind and cooked up some lunch to it.

They enjoyed it as they talked and laughed, it was a pretty calming experience for both of them, though it ended quickly enough.

It was time for them to get serious. They didn’t have a tent so they would have to sleep in the car again but what they needed to do was to move. Even though Edward really liked the Cherry tree their current pace wasn’t exactly the best place, it was close enough to people that it wasn’t very hidden as they had discovered it the hard way, and also there were places with much better concentrations of Qi like the place of the path that Edward had scouted out when they had first come here though now he didn’t know if that was the best choice.

Thinking about all that didn’t stop them, and mostly Ed since Adel was still hurt, from getting down to business. Adel took the car on her own down the mountains to load something they had ordered with most of the money they had left, other than that kept aside for food and water.

The order was big and it would take many trips but they couldn’t do much differently. They didn’t want anyone to know the exact place they where making their home at and even if Adel and Edward were willing that didn’t mean that they had the money to pay for tracks and workers to come up there, and that didn’t even take in consideration if the road could take it even if it was cleared up.

Generally building with outside help was never an option even if they were okay with it. And so Adel was stuck acting as the transporter as Edward went about cutting more trees for wood, making supports out of the logs they had, and clearing the path to the place they where eventually going to build.

There was no particular rush for the house to be built right away and so they used a big part of the day studying essentially. They read Taoist and Buddhist texts and took whatever they found useful from those texts in an effort to use Qi and finally, Edward experimented slightly.

Edward didn’t experiment on his body but instead spent large amounts of time trying to make the Qi inside of him or close to him move.

It had been one week when two things happened a few hours apart.

In the morning right after the sun had risen Edward was already up. Some slight perspiration gathering on his forehead and sliding down to his furrowed brows.

“Puhaaaaaaa! Damn… I should try a different approach.” Edward said to Adel as he smiled, although not because of success but in resignation.

“You’ll get it eventually. Rest up for now and wait till afternoon to try the Natural Qi manipulation.” Adel said as she went turned down to look at the nice little breakfast she had cooked.

Edward had been trying for the past week to make the Qi that he could feel spread inside his body to move. He had tried and eventually he got it to elicit a response but at that moment his mind told him he was doing something wrong and right as he felt a stinging pain he stopped and everything subsided.

He would have to see how the afternoon session went, which he hoped would go well since he finally got Qi to elicit a response for the first time today and he wanted it to not be a onetime lucky event.

He went about completing the many physically demanding tasks he had to do till evening when he finally sat down again after dinner ready to Manipulate some Qi.

It took him a while to concentrate enough and faze out all other things as he sensed the Qi around him. He focused on his intent as he thought of making Qi in a certain space move. He did it once and twice and then on the third time he finally felt it. No! he saw it! Qi moved to his will.

It flowed towards him as he even felt the wind near his arms move. It may have been simply wind but he almost knew that he had produced that effect. Edward jumped to his feet and yelled out in happiness at the success. He had been trying hard, one step, it was only one small step forward, towards his goals and dreams but that was all he could have asked for.

Slowly but surely, one small step at a time he would march on ahead.

Though for now all he could do was fall to the ground as his vision darkened. Before he smashed on the ground a warm pair of hands grabbed his back and pushed him up.

“I told you not to get up like that, stupid Ed!” Adel said while laughing brightly. “Congratulations!”
“Thanks.”

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It has been one more week from then and if anyone where to go at the spot of the lone Cherry tree, other than stumps of cut down trees, they wouldn’t find any signs of people being there. No tents, no makeshift storage, no pots and pans, no smell of food, and certainly no people were there.

Though the Cherry tree had a little carving on it made by a certain appreciative man of the scene when he picked up the sweet cherry of hope, he had eaten that day.

Kilometers up the mountains a pair of siblings were working hard at building a wooden structure. A makeshift house using trees and leaves as well as some big sticks and branches stood silently a little further away from its two and only dwellers were working hard at making a creation that served the same purpose as if it wasn’t enough.

And indeed, Ed and Adel were doing just that. They were pretty fed up with how they had been living for the past month, there was only so much that they could take. Two weeks in a tent, one week in a car, and one week in the open with some simple roofing acting as protection from the rain.

They still had a lot of work to do but it was getting done much quicker than every other house had ever taken before. The base was set up on top of extremely steady foundations and many huge logs were already there as supports. From outside it already looked like a traditional Japanese/Chinese home. It had dark wooden walls and sliding doors and big windows that could give incredible ventilation in the hot summer but at the same time from the inside albeit not nearly close to completion it looked more like a modern house.

Some of the rooms were planned to look traditional both inside and outside but the two bedrooms and the living room as well as the kitchen would be too cold in the winters to live if they didn’t have proper insulation, with foam and wooden boards and everything like that.

Next to the house as a field had been prepared as the two had already planted seeds for potatoes and other vegetables since it would be extremely annoying and unsustainable if they had to go to the city to shop every week.

Behind the house, a big pond calmly sat. It was more than two meters deep and even fish existed in it. It had slowly but constantly flowing water since a stream passed through it and went down the mountains to connect to the nearby river.

Although not many bamboos shot up high near and around the pond with trees spreading on the opposite side. As well as all around, large Spider-monkey tree fern’s Gingko’s, Cathaya’s, Dove tree’s as well as many others, the variety was huge not only in species since all the trees mentioned differ hugely. Orange, white, dark green or bright green, red. Some were tall some others were short.

It was a truly marvelous scene just based on the looks but if someone took into consideration that most of these trees were alive when their grandfathers were born it really makes one feel small and filled with the wonder of nature.

On a completely different note progress had been happening elsewhere as well. Probably the most important event of the past two weeks happened. Adel managed to obtain Qi sense and the way she obtained it made Edward almost completely sure of his theory.

At first, thanks to all the influences that he had that said otherwise, Edward thought that anyone could obtain Qi sense on their own in meditation and only if they didn’t have talent would they not be able to do so, but on the other hand that hadn’t happened to him. Instead in his case, and the only one he knew off, he consumed something that had great amounts of Qi stored inside of it.

Thus, his theory formed. Humans had to consume energy-rich products to establish Qi sense and begin cultivation. Though there would be exemptions to this currently Edward was pretty sure that this was a fact.

And just like that, by drinking from the pond next to their house, as well as some bamboo that they tried to make into different foods, Adel managed to get Qi sense and embark on her journey, down her own path.

At the same time, Edward had made progress. He still wasn’t able to move his inner Qi but the Natural Qi he could and much better than previously. It took a lot of work to make it do things meaning that he could do it for only a few times before he was mentally exhausted but he could nonetheless now make it swirl around and create a little tornado-like airflow in front of him.

And it had to be mentioned that their bodies were constantly improving, and their overall physical capabilities, now that they moved even closer to the center of the node where the Qi was extremely dense compared to the outer areas.

Today though was going to be the biggest day yet. Edward decided that it was finally time he tried what he always thought in the back of his mind to be the correct way to control inner Qi. He was not sure and if he was wrong it would be painful, but he had hope. He was planning on taking the Dantian concept he was familiar with and twisting it a little.

With his thoughts gathered Edward sat down and concentrated.