n

n

n

"Yes and No…

"

n

"NO in the sense that, the first stage after opening all your meridians is the Qi Sensing Stage…

"

n

"Then after that comes the Qi Manipulation Stage and finally the famous Qi Absorbing stage; it is at this final stage that one would be able to absorb the energy around them and use it to nourish their body, do battle and finally store it within them…

" Uncle Min explained…

n

"The moment that person overcomes the hurdle and is finally able to store Qi within himself, then such a person would face their first tribulation, and if by luck he overcomes it, then such a person would have been said to have entered into the Qi Sea stage…

" Uncle Min added;

n

"But I have only known one person who has ever entered the Qi Sea stage, and he is the current leader of my tribe…

" Uncle Min revealed;

n

"Unh?

"

nDara exclaimed in surprise before asking one of his most curious questions;

n

"I'm sorry Uncle Min, but why were you banished from your tribe?

"

nDara asked with the most respectful tone he could muster, and after sighing deeply and thinking for about a minute, Uncle Min finally spoke;

n

"Well, you could say I was naïve, stupid and entitled…

"

n

"Would you believe if I told you that I was the next in line Tribe Leader of my tribe?

"

nThat question was not meant to be answered and neither was it rhetorical, but for some reasons, Dara felt he wasn't supposed to answer or speak and he was right;

n

"My father had been the tribe leader for about 30 years; basically ever since I was a little child…

"

n

"Being the only son of my father, I had always felt entitled to the position of the tribe leader…

"

n

"I flaunted my father's status wherever I went…

"

n

"I rubbed it in other's faces, and when I find it hard to get my way with things, I also use it to threaten my way into getting whatever I wanted…

"

n

"I neglected cultivation which my father so much as begged me to take seriously, and instead focused on the affairs of the flesh, and before I knew what was going on, I had made so many enemies within my own tribe due to my stupidity…

"

n

"But if that was all, perhaps my life would have been salvageable, but nope, instead things decided to turn for the worse, and it all happened when my tribe went to war with another tribe who had been trying to take over our Min Tribe…

"

n

"My father led his men into battle and won, but that victory came at a very gigantic cost; my father was fatally injured during that battle and was stabbed in the heart…

"

n

"Initially he was able to use his QI Sea stage cultivation to keep himself alive for much longer, but everyone within the tribe knew it was only a matter of time till they lost their tribe leader…

"

n

"Let me guess; then you began to see the true colors of the entire tribe?

" Dara chipped in;

n

"You are almost completely right…

"

n

"Though I truly saw their true colors, but I knew then that was the effect of my wayward living back when my father was still ruling strong…

"

n

"But if that was all, then I wouldn't have resented my tribe…

"

n

"But those of them who had been eyeing the position of the tribe leader came into my father's home and killed him in his weakened state…

"

n

"Then I began investigating; wondering where my father's guards were when it all happened, or where his retainer was…

"

n

"I also checked for his healer, and questioned her aggressively, and it was then that I found out who did it; my father's right hand man…

"

n

"His best friend of 40 years; and though, I tried to tell everyone the truth, but who would believe me; especially with the way I have lived up till that moment…

"

n

"Apparently, my father's healer was sleeping with my father's best friend, and it was in that moment that she was introduced into their plan; she was to give my father a sleeping potion, and his guards, potent laxatives…

"

n

"Thus, all three of my father's guards were not on duty when everything began to happen, and because my father was in deep sleep, he was just like a defenseless new hatchling in the presence of a famished viper…

"

n

"But then, I understood that even if I was telling the truth, it was obvious that the entire tribe would definitely object to me taking my father's position…

"

n

"Then I simply ceased my efforts and decided to lay low within the tribe, and then I tried to start focusing on my cultivation, but my father was no longer around to teach me; but I did learn something from that, and that is to cease every opportunity once it crosses your path…

"

n

"In a bid to get rid of the festering danger which was me, my father's friend; the new tribe leader, schemed against me and framed me with a crime punishable by banishment from the tribe, and that was how I was sent packing out of the tribe…

"

n

"Then I had thought that was the end of it all; to me, it appeared like the man was trying to kill me by sending me out here, so that when the news about my death returns to the tribe, everyone would think it is the doings of the beasts in here; or so I thought…

"

n

"It wasn't until about a week after I left the tribe and came into the grey lands that I began to feel like I was being stalked, and without thinking too much about it, I figured that these people weren't planning on letting me die by the hands of the beasts, but instead wanted to do it themselves just to ensure that every potential threat had been cleared out of the way…

"

n

"But luckily for me, they were much stronger than I was and as a result they attracted the attentions of the beasts within these Grey Lands; and thus, those who were sent to prey on me, became prey to something else within this lands…

"

n

"But it was also during this fleeing period of my life that I met Lin'er, who also seemed to have been a victim of some sort of similar scheme, and thus we hit it off right from the start…

" Uncle min revealed…

nDara couldn't say much, or more like he had nothing to say…

nHe had already had this notion earlier on, and thus, Uncle Min's story didn't shock him that much, but then he asked the second most curious question he had in mind;

n

"Uncle Min, you have spoken about yourself, Aunt Lin, your tribe and even your father, but I have never hear or seen you mentioning anything about your mother, why is that?

"

nUncle Min looked over to Dara and ruffled his hair before speaking with a melancholic expression;

n

"You are very keen and intelligent, do you know that?

"

n

"Well the reason why I don't mention her is because there is nothing good to truly mention about her…

"

n

"She was an embodiment of bad memories and sorrow to my father who was always depressed whenever she crossed his mind…

"

n

"Though, my father wouldn't tell me most of these things, but I was able to find some of them out myself…

"

n

"All in all; I would say she was the one who made both I and my Dad end up this way…

"

n

"I know it is a bad thing to blame someone else for one's inability, but I can't just seem to shake the feeling that there is a possibility there that she might have made things different if she hadn't abandoned us to rot in the lowest reaches of the Land Of Light whilst she fled to the central hub of the Land of Light to marry a royal…

"

n

"We will discuss much more about her later on as she is not as important to me anymore to be a topic for discussion; let's talk about you now…

"

nUncle Min said as he looked towards Dara with a seemingly doting expression…

n

"About me?

"

n

"But I already told you everything about myself…

"

nDara was a little uncertain about what exactly Uncle Min was referring to;

n

"No silly… Of course, I know we are both rejects of what was supposed to be our family, and I don't think it is ordinary coincidence that three people who had been cast away and banished by their kin would meet one another in this specific part of this dangerous and vast Grey and Dark Lands...

"

nUncle Min ruffled Dara's hair once again before he replaced his smile with a serious expression as he asked once again;

n

"I know you have been training hard to force out your meridians, and whist I don't know when your meridians might reveal itself, I might have some ways to ensure that you cultivate just as much and fast as those at the center of the Land of the Light…

"

nUncle Min revealed with hushed tones as Dara gasped in shock before slightly turning his head towards Uncle Min with slack jaws and a nod that sought confirmation of what he'd just heard, and when he saw Uncle Min reaffirm his statement with a nod of his own, Dara completely turned to face him and asked;

n

"How!?

"

n

"You see, my father was a man who sought to understand things before jumping into it…

"

n

"No matter what you do in his presence or whatever he had heard, or read or experienced, until he gets to the root of how that thing truly worked, my father would ever indulge himself with it…

"

n

"He usually repeated one quote to me, time and time again, and it said;

n'One who understands the behavior of a fish to its most familiar level won't need to fish before he catches one, but those who on the other hand do not know much about the fish would spend ages by the river bank and end up not catching the sight of a single one…'

n

"He told me that, for the fisherman who has studied the behavior of the fishes, all he needed to do was to act it, and the fish wouldn't know any better and flock towards him to mingle...

"

n

"But as for the other fisherman, he would forever appear as an anomaly to the fishes whenever they see him, and they would be compelled to stay as far away from him as possible…

"

n

"My father was someone who knew the secrets of the Kingdom of Shangri La…

"

n

"He discovered how the natural energy of the entire planet was distributed, and how one could use that knowledge to their benefit.

"

nUncle Min paused at this point and allowed Dara to open his mind to what he's about to reveal…

n