Chapter 14 – A Way

Qingqing dragged her tired body home. A burly man sitting cross-legged with his eyes closed in the house opened his eyes.

This burly man was named He Jianyong, the leader of Teamount Outpost and Qingqing’s father. He Jianyong looked very tall. His strong arms, exposed outside his short shirt, were covered in crisscrossing scars. His shoulder-length hair was tied into a ponytail at the back of his head. The hairstyle gave him a bit of a Yasuo vibe, but shorter and messier. His rugged face showed a hint of gentleness when he saw Qingqing.

“Qingqing, where did you go play? Why are you so tired?”

Qingqing suddenly smiled and said mysteriously, “It’s a secret. I won’t tell you.”

He Jianyong laughed heartily, amused by Qingqing’s demeanor.

Qingqing suddenly thought of something, wrinkled her nose, and said to He Jianyong, “Dad, the answer you gave me was completely wrong! I’ll never ask you questions again.”

He Jianyong was full of questions. “What answer?”

“The one about what to do when someone is sick and doesn’t need to see a doctor.”

He Jianyong became interested. “Oh, it was wrong? Then what’s the answer?”

“The answer is a blind person!”

He Jianyong was stunned for a moment, then suddenly realized and burst into laughter, holding his stomach. “Hahaha. Interesting, interesting! It is indeed a blind person.”

Qingqing stomped her feet angrily. “Dad, you’re still laughing. Xiang Wu said anyone who can’t answer is an idiot, and he doesn’t play with idiots.”

He Jianyong laughed again: “Third Brother’s son is interesting. Qingqing, play with Xiang Wu more in the future.”

“Hmph! You can’t even answer this question, why do I need you to tell me what to do!”

He Jianyong awkwardly scratched his head.

…

Su Hao dragged his exhausted body and walked back slowly. As soon as he entered the door, he saw Wu Cloud Sky handing him Vegetable Egg Soup.

Su Hao didn’t stand on ceremony, took it, and drank it down in a few gulps.

Wu Cloud Sky took the bowl away, pointed to the cushion that had been laid out, and said: “Sit here and slowly feel the changes in your body.”

After speaking, he went out, closing the door behind him.

How to feel? Su Hao didn’t know either, so he could only try to explore slowly. First, empty his mind, let himself enter a dazed state. At this time, a person’s spirit will be at its peak, just like meditating. Then…

Then Su Hao fell asleep.

He was too tired and couldn’t help but fall asleep. A miscalculation.

Checking the log, an hour of Harmony time had passed. During this time, his father came to check on him once. Seeing Su Hao asleep, he left with a smile.

He stood up, stretched his numb legs, and began to self-reflect.

“How could I fall asleep during such an important matter? Su Hao, Su Hao, your willpower is too weak. You still want to practice martial arts like this? Dream on!”

He decided to control himself next time and not fall asleep.

But when he thought about having to make himself exhausted before the next meditation, Su Hao couldn’t help but wail: “It’s so hard to be a sports student.”

The next morning, the sound of neat running could be heard from the Grain Field.

Yuan was originally something Su Hao did alone, but since He Qingqing and the two followers knew the secret to becoming smart, they joined Su Hao’s team. The four little ones started running with panting. To add credibility, Su Hao also gave He Qingqing a question: “There are 3 fish in the stream. One was caught, how many are left?”

He Qingqing quickly answered: “2!”

“Correct! See, after only one day of running, Qingqing can already answer questions correctly! That’s amazing!”

He Qingqing beamed, and the two followers’ confidence soared.

…

Back home, Su Hao drank the Vegetable Egg Soup and suddenly asked: “Father, why are we drinking Vegetable Egg Soup?”

“Because it absorbs quickly.”

Since this was the reason, Su Hao no longer had any other thoughts. Instead, he focused on perceiving his body. However, he still had no gains today. The good news was that he had controlled his desire to sleep.

One month later.

Su Hao opened his eyes from meditation, but shook his head inwardly, still no luck. For this past month, he had exhausted himself every morning, then drank Vegetable Egg Soup, and meditated. But no matter how he tried, he still couldn’t perceive the Blood Qi his father spoke of. He was starting to doubt if the method his father taught him was flawed.

However, this month of running, meditating, and sitting wasn’t without its rewards. His body had become much stronger, the flesh on his limbs no longer soft and flabby, and his stamina had greatly increased. He no longer felt his legs tremble after just a short run like he did at the beginning. Of course, with increased stamina, exhausting himself daily had become a difficult task. As his stamina grew stronger, it became harder to deplete it.

Through meditation and sitting, Su Hao’s mind had fewer distracting thoughts. It was no longer like the beginning, where as soon as he sat down and closed his eyes, he would be thinking about what to eat for dinner the next day.

Now, when meditating, he could quickly discard distracting thoughts and focus his mind on one thing. His thinking became clearer, and he had also grown to like this feeling of sitting alone in meditation.

In simple terms, he liked spacing out.

However, spacing out couldn’t help him find Blood Qi.

One day, Su Hao found Wu Cloud Sky and voiced his doubts. “Father, I’ve exhausted myself as you instructed, then meditated and sensed. But a month has passed, and there’s still no change. I still can’t find where Blood Qi is. Am I doing it wrong?”

Wu Cloud Sky shook his head. “Xiang Wu, you’re not doing anything wrong. But seeking Blood Qi isn’t as easy as you imagine. It’s the threshold for ordinary people to become warriors. You can only cross this threshold yourself. If you can’t find your own Blood Qi, no one can help you. This is also the reason why not everyone in our Human Clan is a warrior. Every year, countless people are blocked from becoming warriors by this threshold.”

Su Hao frowned. “Then what should I do now?”

Wu Cloud Sky comforted him. “Don’t rush. Sense it slowly. Let your heart completely immerse itself. If you can’t find it in a month, it might take half a year. If not in half a year, then a year. You’ll find it.”

Su Hao suddenly asked curiously, “How long did it take you to find your Blood Qi, Father?”

Wu Cloud Sky immediately fell silent. Could he tell his genius son that it took him a full year and a half to barely find Blood Qi? The answer was no. Because he couldn’t gauge when his genius son would suddenly find Blood Qi. If that happened, how would he be able to face him? The best course of action was silence, letting him guess. This son had given him too many surprises over the past year. Even if he suddenly told him tomorrow that he had found Blood Qi, he wouldn’t be surprised.

Seeing Wu Cloud Sky’s prolonged silence, Su Hao thought his father was slow and was too embarrassed to discourage him. He immediately said with indignation, “Alright then, Father, don’t worry. I’ll work hard and find Blood Qi as soon as possible.”

Wu Cloud Sky nodded. “I have something to attend to and will be leaving for a while.”

He left without looking back.

Su Hao was left alone, feeling dejected. “What should I do? What exactly is this Blood Qi? It’s so mysterious…”

After thinking for a while, Su Hao suddenly raised his head, his eyes shining with brilliant light.

“I have an idea! It’ll definitely work!”

(End of Chapter)