“Ruo’er, remember to stay inside. The villagers won’t bother you as long as they do not see you.” My mother repeated these same words every morning. Her sunken face aged way beyond her years. Her long black hair was unkempt, but her deep black eyes were filled with love when she looked at me. My mother was human while I… I was a monster. My black horns and black-scaled dragon tail were scorned within the village. There was no one else like me. I was called a little demon and was forced to stay hidden away. If not for my mother, who loved me with every fiber of her being, I would have probably been killed or fed to the demonic beasts in the forest.

My mother cares for me deeply, but it still pains me to see her withering away like she is. She doesn’t think I notice her suffering in my stead. But I notice everything. 

Ever since I was very young I have always been watching my surroundings. It was a kind of instinct that was instilled in me since birth. I see how much she eats, how much she sleeps, and how she sometimes comes home with wounds all over her body. She struggles to even get out of bed some days. All because of me…. All because I am unable to do anything for her because I am too weak….

I might not be human like my mother is. I might not be like the others in my village, but I will never sit still while the woman who birthed me is suffering because of me and continues to suffer as she is. She is all I have in this cruel world that only cares about strength. 

A world where those with higher cultivation are king, and people like me are stuck worshiping such people, hoping one day to be like them. While most people succumb to their fate of being weak. The desire to be strong is something I can not give up on. My life… no…. That’s not right…. The life of my mother depends on it. This is why, even though she tells me to stay inside, I still sneak out and go to a certain place. 

My house, if you could call a run-down mud hut a house, was at the end of the village, closest to the mountain. If there was ever a demonic beast stampede, we would be the first to die under the wave of beasts as they rampaged through the village. Not that they would get much. My mother and I were both skin and bones.

But if I can learn what the other kids are learning, then maybe, if such a thing ever happens, I can bring my mother to safety. This was why when my mother left in the morning to go pick herbs and gather our other daily needs, I went to my hiding spot on top of the village chief’s house to listen in on the village chief’s teaching the other kids how to cultivate. There was a single loose roof tile that I would slide out just enough to peek through to see what was going on below. 

I would not have dared to do this if it was not for the waterfall nearby that was loud enough to mask out the noise I was making. Although I was doing my best to be quiet, it was not always so simple. 

As always, I climbed up the side of the house using the large tree that hung over the roof. Scaling the tree and onto the tree branch before lightly stepping onto the roof. It was there that I would move as quickly and quietly as possible over to the loose tile I used to peek through and gently move it to the side so I could see what was going on below. But today, I was more excited than normal since today I would be able to hear how to take in spiritual qi.

“To take in spiritual qi, you must first sense it. Normally, this will take you at least a year to do, which is why you will not see anyone entering the body fortification stage until they reach the age of seven. That is unless you are talented.” The village chief was never very good at explaining things. He was always quite vague in his explanations. But sensing spiritual qi was something I have been trying to do for a while, so I was hoping he would give me some insights today. 

Normally, only those who were six years of age could come here to take lessons. Me, being five, would not be able to come here at all, and more so because I was not fully human. If I did not sneak around like this I would never be able to learn how to cultivate. 

Right now my only problem was figuring out what I needed to do to sense spiritual qi. “To sense spiritual qi, you need to go into a meditative state and feel your surroundings. Only when you sense spiritual qi can you begin to cultivate and will the spiritual qi around you to enter your body. I want everyone to take this time to begin meditating. The rest of the class will be feeling the spiritual qi in the air. Open your senses and forget about the world around you so that you can  see the unseen.”

I did not dare stay any longer. I got some hints, but it seemed it would take more than just someone telling you what to do. I quickly placed the tile back and left the way I came. I decided to head home and soak in everything I heard. I needed to practice as much as I could.