“Sister Xue, get up! I don’t even know what you’re talking about.” Said Lin Tian as he tried to help Lin Xue up.

 

 However, she couldn’t be budged and refused to stand up as she said, “No, not until you forgive me.”

 

“What for?” Asked Lin Tian. He was quite confused. He had no idea what he should even be forgiving Lin Xue for.

 

“On that day three years ago, only you were punished. Lin Zhou stole several martial skills for you, but only you had to pay the price. You not only lost your finger, but you’re home as well.”

 

“I don’t even blame Lin Zhou for that, but what does it have to do with you?” Asked Lin Tian.

 

“Who do you think gave Lin Zhou that idea?” Said Lin Xue.

 

Lin Tian finally put all the pieces together. He now understood what she was talking about. Lin Tian didn’t always live alone in this wooden shack. He was raised alongside Lin Xue and Lin Zhou in Aunty Wei’s home up till roughly three years ago.

 

Three years ago, was when he started cultivating. He was given the Lin family breathing technique, but even after several months, he wasn’t able to sense even a strand of spiritual energy. So, he decided to put in more effort. This was perhaps the darkest time of Lin Tian’s life. During those months he barely ate or slept. He became irritable and reclusive. Choosing to spend his free time cultivating. He didn’t even meet with Lin Zhou or Lin Xue during that time. He invested all of his hopes into cultivating, but it was slowly slipping from his grasp.  

 

Lin Zhou noticing Lin Tian’s difficulties approached him with an idea. Just because one method failed, didn’t mean that another would. So, he borrowed several different martial skills and cultivation methods to give to Lin Tian. Lin Tian saw hope once again, but it didn’t last long. The punishment elder, Elder Yi, found out about Lin Zhou giving him those martial skills.

 

Disseminating martial skills without permission is a huge taboo within a family clan or sect. If the skills were to fall into the hands of an outsider, or even worse, an enemy, then that would be a huge loss for the clan. As per family rules, Lin Tian was supposed to have lost his hand, but for some reason Elder Yi chose to cut off only his finger. A lesson. However, Lin Zhou wasn’t punished for the matter at all.

 

It was after this that an old man appeared before Lin Tian and found out the reason that he couldn’t cultivate. He was born without a dantian. This devastated Lin Tian. To make matters worse, Lin Tian was taken from Aunty Rou’s house to live alone in this wooden shack. The eyes of the other youths also began to change. Besides the exception of Lin Zhou and Lin Xue, the other children of the Lin family used to ignore Lin Tian. Now, they sometimes would seek out and cause trouble for Lin Tian. This change all started from that one incident, and it was Lin Xue’s idea. However, Lin Tian couldn’t find any hatred in his heart for her.

 

“Fine! I forgive you. Just get back up.” Said Lin Tian as he helped her straighten up. She reluctantly stood back up, but still had a troubled look on her face.

 

“Lin Tian, do you really think that what you’re doing is a kindness?”

 

“Huh?”

 

“Even if you can just forget about it, we can’t. I know that Lin Zhou is especially beating himself over it. We want you to yell at us, hit us, resent us. It wasn’t fair to you.  Don’t you see us as your friends?”

 

Lin Tian was slightly at a loss. What he thought was kindness, was actually hurting his friends. He was the only one that wasn’t treating them as equals. Without even knowing it, he was putting a wall between them.

 

“Okay, then. Sister Xue, I’m going to hit you now.” Said Lin Tian once he made up his mind.

 

Lin Xue looked slightly surprised but nodded her head. It was what she was expecting in the first place. She closed her eyes and waited for Lin Tian to strike. Yet after only a moment she felt her head being knocked lightly on the head. She opened her eyes in shock and saw Lin Tian looking at her with a goofy smile.

 

“That was it? You’re…You’re not playing fair!” Exclaimed Lin Xue. This wasn’t what she was talking about at all.

 

“Haha, that’s right. I’m not playing fair. So, what are you going to do about it? You think you know what’s best, but you don’t get to decide your punishment, I do!” Said Lin Tian as he continued to gently smile at her.

 

Lin Xue decided that she couldn’t win against that smile and shook her head, “You really are just an idiot. Fine, we’ll do things your way.” Said Lin Xue as she reopened her fan, “But make sure that you don’t go easy on Lin Zhou’s punishment.”

 

“I wouldn’t dream of it.” Smiled Lin Tian as he escorted her out of the house. Lin Xue just gently nodded her head before leaving under the moonlight.

 

After Lin Xue left, the entire atmosphere of the room seemed to darken. With a new lead to follow Lin Tian prepared to go to sleep but found something to be missing. Every night around this time he would usually try to cultivate the Lin family’s breathing technique.

 

He was unsure whether or not he should even continue such a pointless exercise, but after feeling uncomfortable about not doing it yesterday he reluctantly took the Qi stone from its hiding place.

 

“Well, at least it can’t hurt.”

 

Lin Tian clenched the Qi stone with his right hand and sat down in the lotus position. He always diligently practiced this exercise and tonight was no exception. He sincerely closed his eyes and cleared his mind to try and sense the surrounding spiritual energy.

 

However, unlike the previous times when he practiced there was a change. Lin Tian coughed up a mouthful of blood as he felt a source of raw energy battering against his stomach.

 

“What’s happening? Where did this energy come from?” Thought Lin Tian as he tried to focus his mind.

 

The energy seemed to have awoken after Lin Tian began cultivating and it was trying to merge with his body. However, there was nowhere for it to go. He had no dantian.

 

It caused a ruckus inside Lin Tian’s body as it thrashed around. After realizing that it wasn’t able to merge with Lin Tian’s body, the ball of energy started dissolving. Lin Tian’s body started to bloat up from all the excess energy.

 

“Shit! I’m going to die at this rate if it doesn’t stop.” Thought Lin Tian as he felt his body tear and his mind waver, but he couldn’t think of anything to do.

 

Lin Tian’s consciousness was slowly fading away as he just let the energy rampage inside his body. His body was nearly twice its usual size and his bones started to creak from the pressure.

 

Just as he was about to head into the abyss Lin Tian sharply bit his tongue and screamed out, “NO!”

 

Lin Tian forced his mind into focus with the pain and tried to think of a solution. Just as the situation seemed hopeless, it finally hit him. The Lin family breathing technique. He thought back to when Aunty Rou first explained it to him.

 

She not only explained how to cultivate it, but the process behind it. The Houtian realm isn’t only about being able to sense and gather spiritual energy, but body refinement as well. The dantian is what allows a cultivator to make a connection with and store spiritual energy. The cultivator would then take that energy and refine it into their body, cleansing it. Lin Tian was always stopped at the first step, but didn’t he have a lot of energy in his body right now? All he needed to do was guide it through his meridians.

 

Lin Tian stood up and began a set of punching and kicking exercises. Normally, you would first absorb as much energy as you could and then slowly release it throughout your body as you performed these exercises, but this wasn’t a normal situation. Lin Tian was unable to control the release of energy. He would either assimilate the energy or die.

 

Lin Tian felt extreme pain and misery from moving. Blood trickled from his body and his bones threatened to break. Yet, he would not stop.

 

One, two. One, two. One, two.

 

There seemed to be some progress as Lin Tian thought he could feel a change in his body, but it still wasn’t enough. It was almost like the energy was hitting a dam with not even a single drop being let through. He needed a bit more. Lin Tian took several deep breaths as he contemplated his next action. After a few breaths, he got a decisive look in his eye as he swallowed the Qi Stone.

 

Several times he threatened to throw it up, but he managed to just barely swallow it. Another small burst of energy came out in his stomach and mixed together with the other energy. It was just enough. Popping sounds could be heard as the energy was finally able to merge with his body.

 

Lin Tian finally fell to the ground and fainted as he hit his absolute limit. The energy rampaged everywhere. His skin, bones, blood, everywhere. The energy passed through every inch of his body and left it ravaged, but where there was destruction, there was also growth. His body was continuously broken down and connected back again. Every cycle would leave his body stronger than before. This process would last the entire night.

 

It wasn’t till after the sun had already risen high in the sky that Lin Tian awoke and found himself in a pool of blood and covered in black filth. Lin Tian picked himself off the floor and discovered the changes in his body.

 

Everything seemed different. All of his senses seemed to have been greatly enhanced. His eyes could easily follow the different grains in the wood beneath his feet. He could make out voices from people in nearby residences. Even his sense of touch allowed him to feel minute changes in his body. Unfortunately, his sense of smell also seemed to be stronger and he could smell a foul odor coming from his body.

 

Finally, there was a fundamental difference in strength. Lin Tian released a powerful punch that was over a hundred jins in force. Before, he would’ve lucky if he was capable of even a third of that.

 

“Hahahaha, Yes! I can cultivate!” Shouted Lin Tian to the heavens. Even if this still wasn’t quite enough to say that he stepped into the Houtian realm, it was still a start.

 

Lin Tian sat down once again in the lotus position to try and eke out more understanding of his current situation. He started practicing the Lin family breathing technique to feel the energy in his body. However, this time when he started to cultivate, it felt like he was sent back to square one.

 

“Can I cultivate, or can’t I?” Asked Lin Tian with his brows furrowed. Even though his body changed, his constitution hasn’t. He still wasn’t able to sense the spiritual energy in his surroundings. Worse yet, he could sense a large amount of energy within his body but was unable to control it.

 

“What changed?” Thought Lin Tian. The only thing that Lin Tian could think of was meeting Jiao Lu. Lin Tian felt a chill down his back as he suddenly had a sneaking suspicion that a certain ‘snake’ was the cause of this.

 

Lin Tian was prepared to explore more of the changes within his body till he suddenly stood up as he realized what time it was. The sun was already high in the sky and he should’ve been at the Herb Pavilion hours ago.

 

“I’m late!” Yelled Lin Tian as he spent only a few moments to roughly wash up and run out the door.