Two months later.
Morning light spilled into the small courtyard like scattered silver coins. Lu Haotian stood barefoot on the cold stone, breathing slowly. Above him, the sky was pale, the last stars fading as the sun climbed higher.
He raised his arms, then lowered them, following a simple rhythm.
Inhale.
Hold.
Exhale.
This was the Veiled Mist Qi Gathering Technique.
Unlike other children, he could not rely on one element. Fire made his body ache. Earth weighed him down. Water scattered his focus. Wind left him unsteady. Metal stiffened his limbsshone.
The technique guided him to imagine qi as mist sinking into his skin, not rushing, not forcing its way in. Just soaking slowly, like cooling after a warm period.
Sweat rolled down his back.
His skin felt tight, faintly cool, then numb.
Still, when he finished and checked his body, the result remained the same.
Qi Condensation 1st layer.
Lu Haotian let out a quiet breath and lowered his arms.
Behind him, small footsteps hurried closer.
"Young master! Young master!" his maid whispered loudly, then remembered to whisper properly. "You're up again? You didn't even eat!"
She is nine, one year younger than him, with messy hair and sleepy eyes. She held a bowl nearly as big as her face.
"You'll faint if you keep doing this," she added seriously, like an expert.
Lu Haotian accepted the bowl and took a sip. "I won't."
She frowned. "You always say that."
They sat on the steps together as the sun rose higher.
Across the Lu Family grounds, other courtyards echoed with shouts and laughter. Wooden posts cracked. Training dummies shook.
Other children were making rapid progress.
Most with average roots had already reached the third or fourth layer of Qi Condensation.
Lu Haotian knew what those levels meant.
The first layer, qi enters and stays. Dantian forms a thin misty gas (like faint fog). Basic qi sense awakens. Strength two to three times that of mortals.
The second layer, Misty gas thickens. Small wisps swirl. Endurance improves; qi can coat fists for sharper strikes.
The third layer starts condensing into tiny liquid droplets (like dew). First real liquid qi appears..
By the fourth, the droplets merge into a small liquid pool. Qi pressure faintly noticeable.. Endurance increased. Recovery become faster.
That was why most children could now train for hours without collapsing.
And Lu Haotian was still at the start.
His maid swung her legs. "Young master," she said carefully, "why are you still… you know… on the first one?"
He didn't answer right away.
On the far side of the grounds, a loud crack rang out. Someone had shattered a wooden training pole.
She leaned closer. "Is it because your roots are… many?"
"Yes."
She nodded like she understood completely. Then asked, "So if you have five roots, does that mean you need five times more time?"
"Something like that."
Her eyes widened in horror. "That's unfair."
Lu Haotian almost laughed.
At the central training field, Lu Chenfeng stood confidently, aura faintly detectable as a soft mist when exerting power through the air. His strikes were fast, sharp, full of force.
Qi Condensation, Sixth.
His body was becoming dense and durable, able to support qi later on. Even among the clan, this was rare.
His sister stood nearby, movements lighter, her steps guided by invisible currents. Also at the sixth layer.
The gap between them and everyone else was obvious.
The gap between them and Lu Haotian was painful.
Later that day, during group training, the elders called out levels one by one. Children straightened proudly as they were announced.
"Third layer."
"Fourth layer."
"Fourth layer."
When it reached Lu Haotian, there was a pause.
"First layer," the elder said calmly.
A few snickers followed.
Lu Chenfeng didn't laugh. He smiled instead. Slow. Certain.
Lu Haotian lowered his head politely and stepped back into line.
At night, the courtyard was quiet again.
Stars filled the sky like scattered dust.
Lu Haotian lay flat on the stone floor, arms spread, eyes open. He let the starlight wash over him, imagining it sinking into his skin, touching every corner of his body.
The Veiled Mist Qi Gathering Technique was slow.
Painfully slow due to his mixed spirit roots.
But it did not reject him.
And that alone made it worth enduring.
His maid tiptoed out with a blanket and gently covered him.
"Young master," she whispered, "when you get strong… will you fly?"
He thought for a moment. "Probably not for a long time."
She smiled anyway. "That's okay. I'll wait."
Lu Haotian closed his eyes.
Tomorrow, he would try again.
After he practiced this Scripture he surmised that Veiled Mist Qi Gathering Technique he took from the library. Despite its humble, degraded state and slow, unremarkable pace, this very incompleteness suited Lu Haotian perfectly, matching his five-element mortal-grade spirit roots (earth, fire, metal, water, and wind); the scripture's basic, neutral flow drew in ambient qi without favoring any single element, allowing his naturally balanced yet unremarkable roots to absorb and refine energy evenly across all five affinities without the bottlenecks or imbalances that would plague a more specialized or advanced method.