“If you want to become stronger, the first thing we need to do is acquire more knowledge. It’s said that the first step to becoming stronger is being smarter about how you train. Perhaps we should head to the library. They may have some books on how to get started,” Wu Meiying suggested.

Wu Jian agreed, but they were unable to leave the hospital wing before the door opened and someone else walked in. She wore a white and blue ruqun hanfu with floral designs printed on the fabric. Her skin was tanner than both his and Wu Meiying’s, but she was still a pretty woman with a kind smile and black hair tied into a bun on her head.

“Oh, my. Jian Bao and Mei’er, what are you two doing here? Did one of you get injured?” the woman asked. She was Wu Jian’s mother, the first wife of his father, and therefore the most powerful woman in the clan.

“Àiliàn Āyí,” Wu Meiying greeted. She paused and bit her lip. Wu Jian could see it in her eyes. She was thinking of telling his mother about what happened between him and Wu Yong.

“I just…slipped on the snow and smacked my face,” Wu Jian explained.

“Is that really what happened?” his mother asked with a raised eyebrow. Wu Jian looked down and nodded once. His mother remained silent for several seconds, but then she sighed. “I see. I’m glad that’s all that happened. Please, be more careful in the future. I would hate it if something happened to my little man.”

“Mother…please don’t call me that,” Wu Jian muttered, but his mother laughed his words off, stroked his and Wu Meiying’s hair, and sent them on their way.

His mother was his father’s first wife, and therefore the primary wife. She was something of an oddball among the clan, too. Everyone called her a free spirit, though there were some who also called her stubborn. His mother liked to do whatever she wanted, which meant she often did a bunch of different activities within the clan, and woe to anyone who tried to stop her.

That was probably why she got along with Wu Meiying so well.

Of course, she did all the things a clan leader’s wife was supposed to do. She oversaw the management of the household, including supervising the servants and organizing domestic tasks, but she also possessed an adventurous spirit that led to her engaging in unconventional hobbies. Wu Jian still remembered when his mom had decided to learn lock-picking and went around unlocking the doors to various clansmen’s rooms as a prank. Wu Wei had not been pleased and had lectured her for several hours, though all it earned him was a headache when she ignored his words.

He and Wu Meiying traveled to the library next. It was a two-story pagoda even bigger than the hospital wing. Wu Jian entered alongside his best friend and looked at the shelves lined with books and scrolls. There weren’t a lot of people in the library, but that was because most people preferred to train their bodies instead of their minds. They only used the library when they needed to find a new technique to study.

“Oh ho ho. If it isn’t Jian Bao and Mei’er. What are you two doing in the library? Are you here for another book?” asked a person sitting behind a desk. He was an old man with gray hair bordering on white and a drooping Fu Manchu mustache. His back was stooped like he had spent his entire life leaning over his desk.

“Wu Yéyé, we’re here to look for a cultivation method for Wu Jian,” Wu Meiying said.

Wu Yéyé was the custodian of the Wu Clan Library, and had been since before Wu Jian was even born. He was a kind old man. Wu Jian would often visit the library to read because it offered him an escape from the bullying of Wu Yong and the other kids. The library gave him solace. He and Wu Meiying loved to read all the storybooks. Their favorites were the books about heroes going on adventures and saving the people from great evil. Wu Yéyé always knew what books to pick for them to read.

Wu Yéyé stroked his beard. “A cultivation method, you say? My dear girl, you know that both you and Jian Bao are far too young to cultivate, do you not? Attempting to cultivate your Qi before you turn eighteen years old is detrimental to your growth. Not only will trying to cultivate before you reach adulthood leave a sequela, but it can also result in deformities forming in your body. You wouldn’t want Jian Bao getting strange growths on his body because he tried to cultivate before he came of age, do you?”

“We know that, but that doesn’t mean we can’t find a good cultivation method to use once he comes of age, right?” Wu Meiying said with a smile.

Wu Yéyé stroked his beard thoughtfully. “Oh ho ho ho. Yes, that is true. Hmm. Well, I wouldn’t recommend looking for a cultivation method right now, but how about I give you an introductory scroll that teaches you about cultivation, instead?”

Cultivation wasn’t taught to clansmen until they turned 16, the age of maturity when a person’s dantian and meridians fully formed. That was the age when children were considered adults. However, that did not mean they couldn’t study it on their own time before then.

“That works,” Wu Meiying said after pondering for a moment.

“Thank you, Wu Yéyé.” Wu Jian held out his hands, placed his right fist in the palm of his left hand, and bowed his head in a show of respect. This was called a martial bow. All children of the clan were taught to do this at a young age. It was supposedly a commonplace bow that everyone across the continent did.

Wu Yéyé waved off their thanks with a smile. “Think nothing of it.”

He walked over to a bookshelf with scrolls sitting on displays, plucked one from the shelf, and handed it to Wu Meiying.

“This one should suit your purposes,” he said.

“Thank you, Wu Yéyé,” Wu Meiying and Wu Jian said in unison.

They didn’t travel into the library to sit at a table. Neither of them were tall enough for their feet to reach the floor. Instead, Wu Jian and Wu Meiying walked to the passage connecting the library to the dojo and found a place to sit. Their favorite spot offered a great view of a snow-covered courtyard. There were many such courtyards in the Wu Clan compound. During the spring and summer, these courtyards would become filled with flowers, flowing streams, and an array of trees, but right now, it was a winter wonderland. Branches with no leaves were instead covered with a layer of white snow.

Wu Jian shivered a little.

“Are you cold?” asked Wu Meiying.

“A little,” he admitted.

“Then let’s sit closer together. That way, we can warm each other up.”

Wu Meiying scooted closer until their shoulders and thighs were touching, then spread the scroll across their laps. He touched the aged parchment, which crinkled under his fingers. The scroll had a lot of writing, and a diagram of the human body. Both of them could read what was written; clan members were taught to read and write at a young age.

“Let’s see what it says,” Wu Meiying murmured, her breath coming out as white steam. “Cultivation is the art of gathering Qi into one’s body to increase your strength, live longer, and attain unique powers that normal humans cannot use. There are as many ways to gather Qi as there are stars in the sky, but the most basic method is gathering the yin and yang energies of the world into your dantian to increase your strength.”

Cultivating sounded difficult to Wu Jian. He didn’t understand how someone could gather the yin and yang of the world, but perhaps that was because his dantian hadn’t activated yet.

Wu Meiying continued reading out loud, finger tracing a line across the scroll. “A person’s cultivation can be separated into nine realms. Each realm has nine subrealms. The Deva Realm and Body Forging Realm are the only exceptions to this rule. The realms are divided into the following: Body Forging Realm, Hunger Realm, Anima Realm, Asura Realm, Human Limit Realm, Deva Realm, Seeker Realm, Realization Realm, and Perfection Realm…hmmm…”

“Is something wrong?” asked Wu Jian.

Wu Meiying furrowed her brow as she finished reading off the realms listed. Something was bothering her, though he couldn’t for the life of him imagine what. He waited and watched, lightly swinging his feet back and forth, the ends of his shoes kicking up small motes of white powder as they grazed the ground.

“I feel like there is something wrong with this explanation,” she said, pursing her lips.

“What’s wrong with it?” he asked.

“Um. I’m not sure, but I feel like there should be a lot more realms, shouldn’t there?” asked Wu Meiying like she wasn’t sure, herself. Shaking her head, she continued reading. “The Body Forging Realm is the first realm, and breaking through it to reach the Hunger Realm is considered a rite of passage for children entering adulthood. It doesn’t have any subrealms since it’s about training the body and not gathering chi. The Body Forging Realm is measured by the physical strength of the cultivator. Hey! Doesn’t this mean we can train in the Body Forging Realm?”

“Maybe?” said Wu Jian.

“I think it does,” Wu Meiying said. “Look here. It says the reason children aren’t allowed to cultivate is because our meridians and dantian aren’t fully developed until we turn eighteen. However, the Body Forging Realm isn’t about cultivating. It’s about strengthening the body so we can cultivate. This must be why all children of the Wu Clan are required to practice martial arts from a young age.”

Once someone in the Wu Clan reached the age of six, they were put in classes designed to strengthen the body and train in martial arts. Wu Jian hadn’t known why, but if he was to believe this scroll, then they were probably training their body so they could break through to the Hunger Realm. That made sense, as he had often wondered why he and Wu Meiying had been forced to train and why their strength was tested every year.

“That settles it. I think we should begin training our bodies. I mean, we’re kind of already doing that in class, but I think we should begin training on our own time, too,” Wu Meiying said with a nod, as if it was already a done deal.

Wu Jian wasn’t as sure as she was, but he eventually nodded anyway. “Okay. But how are we supposed to train our bodies?”

Wu Meiying tilted her head. “Well, by exercising and stuff, right? I’m sure Wu Yéyé will know of a book or scroll we can read that has strength training exercises.”

“We can talk to Wu Yéyé later, then. I think we should read more about cultivating right now,” Wu Jian suggested.

“Good idea. Let’s keep reading,” Wu Meiying agreed.