The next morning, Li Tianlei rose before dawn. After a quick wash, he put on a fresh changshan and tied his hair back loosely before heading to the main pavilion. The stone paths were still wet with morning dew, and the soft rustling of leaves filled the air as he walked.
When he arrived, Li Qing was already waiting outside, dressed in a simple dark blue training robe, hands clasped behind his back. Without much conversation, they left the compound together.
They followed a narrow stone path that led westward, weaving through the outer reaches of the forest. After a while, the trees thinned out, giving way to a wide open plain.
Out in the distance, a massive barn came into view, its dark-blue walls towering above the surrounding grasslands like a quiet sentinel. Rows of neatly aligned pens stretched around it, each one occupied by animals. Despite its scale, the entire place was eerily still. No workers were tending to the animals, nor were any carts or tools left about, yet everything was impeccably clean and well-maintained. Tianlei had passed by it several times in the past, always meaning to ask about it. He knew it belonged to the family and was somehow tied to their wealth, but the adults never offered more than a nod or a shrug.
Not far from the barns, maybe a few hundred meters away, stood a large wooden building.
It wasn't ornate, but it stood solid and proud. The building stretched wide across the plain, its tiled roof slightly curved at the edges, weathered by time but well maintained. The front doors were broad and thick, designed primarily for function rather than appearance.
"This is our dojo," Li Qing said, leading the way toward it. "Built when the family first settled here."
Inside, the floor was smooth and polished, faint scuff marks betraying years of use. The interior was cool and quiet, sunlight streaming through the high windows. Tianlei removed his shoes at the entrance and stepped onto the floor barefoot.
Li Qing gestured to the center of the room.
"We'll begin with a quiz. Let's see if you actually studied that jade slip." He said, and for the next fifteen minutes, he asked a stream of questions, from names of forms, balance points, what to pay attention to when gripping the swords, footwork angles, and many more things. He didn't ask anything too advanced, just enough to check whether Tianlei had taken the task seriously.
And Tianlei answered smoothly. His upgraded memory, courtesy of the stone tablet, had everything perfectly categorized, and he could go into his sea of consciousness and grab any piece of knowledge he wanted among the ones modified by the stone tablet. He didn't just recite facts; he understood them, explained them, and even added small practical notes Li Qing hadn't expected a beginner to know.
The latter didn't comment, but his eyebrows lifted slightly by the end, satisfied by his grandson's answers.
"Alright," he said, stepping back. "Let's warm up."
Then, they stretched and moved for another fifteen minutes. Nothing complicated was done. They only did basic arm rotations, leg stretches, and balance drills to warm themselves up and avoid injuring themselves. It was mostly for Tianlei, and the latter followed along carefully, listening to the rhythm of his breathing and keeping his movements precise, following the knowledge in his memories.
After warming up, Li Qing placed a wooden practice sword in Tianlei's hands, and the next hour and a half passed in steady, focused repetition.
The first half hour was all about stances and basic footwork. Tianlei's posture was slightly off at first, his knees bent too deeply, or his grip was too tight. However, Li Qing patiently and calmly corrected him from the side. After every correction, Tianlei adjusted, and each time, the stone tablet inside his mind would quietly give feedback.
He would feel a subtle pulse, like a tug of attention, and immediately see clear corrections in his mind, tiny notes like: left foot too far forward, angle of wrist off by three degrees, leaning too much weight on the back leg.
He followed each cue without question, adjusting one detail at a time, and soon, his stance stabilized.
Li Qing nodded slightly, not saying much, but watching closely.
Then they moved on to the basic swings, vertical (up and down), horizontal (left and right), diagonal left, diagonal right, and the thrust. They were simple forms, but essential.
Just like his experience with the earlier exercise, Tianlei's movements were messy at first. His slashes were either too wide or not fluid enough. But the moment he finished a swing, he'd pause, get the correction in his mind, adjust, and try again.
Then again.
And again.
Each time a little smoother and a little sharper.
Within the first hour, his swings had become consistent. They lacked real force or speed, but the form, the bones of the movement, were almost flawless.
On the side, Li Qing crossed his arms, staring at Tianlei.
'He's picking it up fast…'
He didn't say it aloud, but in his mind, he felt a quiet sense of satisfaction.
He had trained many disciples in his past, some talented, some not. But this speed of adjustment and this level of body awareness weren't normal.
"His talent with the sword might be on par with mine." He thought.
He didn't know that Tianlei was mostly following a strange, instinctive guide, subtle tugs and impressions in his body that corrected each movement as he went. It was as if something deep within him knew exactly how the strike should feel and would tell him. The stone tablet gave no direct instructions, only silent judgment and instructions, but Tianlei adjusted without hesitation. Watching him, it was easy to believe he was simply born gifted.
Eventually, he no longer needed corrections. He just kept repeating the motions, over and over again, committing them to muscle memory.
Two hours passed like that.
Sweat soaked his entire body, dripping from his chin and matting his clothes to his skin, but his movements remained sharp. Just as Li Qing opened his mouth to call for a break, the dojo door slid open with a faint thud, and a woman stepped in.
She was tall, dressed in a long dark blue robe that swayed slightly with her steps. Her features were gentle, but her eyes carried a clarity that made people instinctively take her seriously. As she walked in, Tianlei froze mid-swing, glancing toward her with surprise.
Li Qing's expression shifted subtly.
"That's enough for now," he said, voice steady. "We'll stop here."
She smiled faintly as she walked in, eyes moving between Tianlei and Li Qing.
"I'm back."
Wu Shitao, Tianlei's grandmother, had returned.
She was the second Foundation Establishment cultivator of the Li family and Li Qing's wife. For the past month, she'd been away on business, traveling north to deliver supplies to the Spirit Sword Sect, the ruling sect of the entire Yunzhou State.
While the Li family compound was calm and peaceful, it wasn't just a place for cultivation. Inside the pond in the heart of the estate, they raised spiritual fish, creatures that absorbed the pond's concentrated Qi and were fed specific spiritual feed. The pond was 8000 square meters large and 200 meters deep. The fish raised in there reached either Level 1 or Level 2, making their flesh valuable for Body Refining, Qi Refining, and even Foundation Establishment cultivators.
Further west of the dojo, behind a small fence and near the edge of the plain, they kept spiritual beasts, mostly tame creatures raised for meat and material. They were housed in large barns, not far from the dojo building. Like the fish, their levels ranged between 1 and 2.
And as for the trees that circled the family compound, though their spiritual nature was modest, the Qi-rich environment allowed them to grow into useful resources over time. Once every two years, the family cuts down the mature ones. The wood would be processed into catalysts for drawing talismans, tools essential to every talisman maker.
Everything Level 1, fish, meat, and catalysts, was sold in the local Wanshu Market. But anything Level 2 and above was delivered directly to the Spirit Sword Sect. It wasn't a rule written in stone, but everyone followed it.
In Yunzhou, giving anything valuable to anyone without informing the ruling sect was practically asking for trouble. If you were smart, you paid your respects and sold directly to them. It kept things simple and safe.
For the past month, Wu Shitao had been making that delivery to the Spirit Sword Sect. She brought every level 2 spiritual fish, spiritual monster meat, and catalyst to the sect and sold them to them.
Inside the dojo, Li Qing gave her a small nod, acknowledging her arrival.
"How was the trip?" He asked, prompting Wu Shitao to make a face and wave one hand lightly.
"Boring. No one with more than two brain cells would try to rob me." She answered, making Tianlei blink at her bluntness, before chuckling quietly.
Li Qing's lips curved faintly.
"Mm. A Foundation Establishment cultivator robbing mortals or casual cultivators would be a waste of cultivation. Anyone still doing that at that level is either desperate or mentally unstable."
In Yunzhou, reaching Foundation Establishment wasn't just about pure power; it came with respect and influence. A cultivator at that stage could build a family, open a business, or join any sect other than the Spirit Sword Sect and become an elder. You become some sort of mini-boss at the Foundation Establishment stage, so robbing people like a common thing isn't an option for cultivators at that stage.
Most robbers were in the Qi Refining Realm, strong enough to threaten weaker mortals or low-level cultivators, but still common enough to blend into the population. Anyone weaker, like a Body Refining cultivator, was too feeble to rob anyone that mattered.
Then, Wu Shitao took a small silver ring off her finger and tossed it toward Li Qing. That was the revenue from selling the goods to the sect.
He caught it casually, slipping it into his robe sleeve without checking its contents. He already knew how many Qi-stones were supposed to be inside, and he trusted his wife. Even if she took some of the money, it wouldn't matter, as that was the last thing they lacked in this family.
As soon as the ring left her hand, Wu Shitao turned toward Tianlei, her expression softening.
She stepped closer and knelt in front of him, producing a clean towel from thin air, another storage ring she took out, and reached out to gently wipe the sweat from his forehead.
"I heard you finally broke through," she said with a warm smile. "Congratulations, little cultivator."
Tianlei felt a strange warmth in his chest as he gave a small laugh, trying not to grin too hard.
"Thanks, Grandma." He said. Then, unable to help himself, he leaned forward into her embrace. She hugged him gently, one hand stroking his back as if he were still a toddler learning to walk.
It felt nice. And for a moment, he didn't think about sword forms or cultivation progress, just the warmth and the feeling of having a loving family.
After a few moments, Wu Shitao leaned back and looked him over.
"Are you hungry?" She asked, already knowing the answer. This morning, he rushed out of his house, eager to start practicing with his grandfather. So, he forgot to eat anything before going out. However, Tianlei still turned to glance at his grandfather, looking for approval.
Li Qing let out a long breath, clearly knowing what was coming. So, he nodded slowly, but in his mind, he was already frowning slightly.
'He's too used to being pampered. I need to toughen him up before he grows soft. This world doesn't spare the weak—not even children.'
Still, he said nothing more as Wu Shitao stood, pulling a new ring from her sleeve and slipping it onto her finger. With a small flow of Qi, she activated it.
A rectangular table and three wooden chairs appeared in the middle of the dojo with a faint shimmer. The table legs thudded softly against the dojo floor as it solidified.
Then came the food.
Plate after plate of steaming dishes appeared on the table, bowls of fragrant rice, stir-fried spirit beast meat, steamed spiritual fish glazed in herbs, and a mild soup that radiated gentle warmth.
Tianlei took a seat without hesitation. Wu Shitao followed, sitting on his right, while Li Qing lowered himself across from them without a word, ready to enjoy the meal.