[Dear readers, if you're enjoying this fan fiction, I'd love to hear your thoughts—so don't forget to leave a comment! Your support means the world to me. If you'd like to help the story grow, please consider dropping a few power stones and adding it to your collection. Every bit of encouragement keeps me inspired to write more!]
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After breakfast, Bruce spent the morning helping Jackie with cleaning the antique shop.
While Jackie swept the courtyard and managed the scroll archives, Bruce took over tasks like dusting Uncle's treasured bookshelf and organizing display shelves with ancient vases and other items.
The quiet buzz of activity and smell of aged paper gave the place a meditative quality that Bruce had come to appreciate.
Later that afternoon, Uncle and Jackie gathered around the kitchen table and, over bowls of hot noodles, they laid out Bruce's daily schedule.
"Morning begins before the sun raise" Jackie said, slurping some broth. "You'll train your body with me—No Martial Arts yet, only exercise, stances, breathing and balance. The body must be disciplined before learning Martial Arts."
"Afterward, chi meditation with Uncle," Uncle chimed in. "You must understand your Chi's rhythm and map your internal pathway. Only then will growth be possible."
Bruce raised an eyebrow. "And then chores?"
"Aiyah!" Uncle replied, sipping his tea. "Hard work grounds the spirit."
"One More thing! Jackie, give him more Chores"
Bruce gave a sarcastic side look to Uncle, but didn't mind the extra chores
That weekend passed in a blur of routine.
Bruce's muscles screamed at him by the end of each session with Jackie, while his Chi training was progressing smoothly under Uncle's chi guidance.
He has already started mapping out his inner chi pathways, but it will take a long time to completely it.
On the other hand, Understanding his Chi Rhythm and Flow has not been progressing as smoothly as mapping chi pathways. It was slow and sometimes, his meditation sessions didn't yield any result, but he pushed forward, trying to slowly growing familiar with the mysterious energy as each day passes.
By Sunday night, Bruce collapsed onto his bed with a sigh of satisfaction, muscles sore, but his mind more focused than ever.
The next morning, Bruce woke up early as usual and after physical training with Jackie, Uncle's Chi guidance began, today involved and important explanation about Chi Journey.
Uncle set down his teacup with a sharp clink. "Chi is inside everyone and mastering it is a journey which is same for every practitioner, but destination is different. Each journey has it's own difficulties and Wild Chi is the most rare, unique and difficult among them"
Bruce raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean by 'unique'?"
He knew it was rare potential and didn't mind the difficulty part and doesn't mind working hard for it, but why use the term 'Unique' along with rare and difficulty?
Uncle took a sip of tea and continued "Chi's potential, flow, rhythm and pathway are different, but the journey is same and only the destination changes, except Wild Chi.
For Wild Chi, the journey can start like the others, but the practitioner will walk it alone because it is the unknown, so you must be prepared" Uncle finished
Bruce, not getting a clear picture turned to Jackie, who understandingly stepped in "The Weak, Balanced and Strong Chi potential that are following the Lotus method go through the same steps to reach their different destination, like Uncle being good at Magic, but I'm only good at physical combat.
How fast they reach the destination and how strong they are is entirely up to their effort and understanding, but with Wild Chi, your journey may follow the Lotus Method, but you will face many obstacles and setbacks that the other three potential's don't have.
Basically, you must understand and prepare for the fact that Wild Chi means Unique and your Journey will also be one of kind with unknown challenges. All me and Uncle could do is to prepare you to the best of our ability because in the end, you will be walking that path alone
This week, it's was all about foundation, both Mind and Body. Your must keep building on to face your journey." Jackie finished to which Bruce nodded and continued with his routine.
Finishing breakfast and Uncle handed him a broom and Bruce got to work and after finishing with the floor, he continued to the library and his day continued as usual
[Morning Routine]
Each day started before sunrise. Jackie would wake Bruce with a simple knock on the wall. "Up! The sun is lazy. We are not."
They began with tough workout—exercise, stances, footwork, breathing and more. Strong body and Martial Arts are Jackie's specialty and he is making sure Bruce's body was always pushed to the limit, so that his Chi will recover his body and make it stronger.
Some mornings were endurance training like long runs through nearby paths and climbing steps.
"The Body is like a Poem" Jackie explained while Bruce laid flat on the ground, reaching his limit doing crunches "If your lines are messy, the whole verse falls apart."
Bruce grunted. "This poem hurts." but summoned the strength through sheer willpower and continue doing crunches
Jackie smirked "Good poetry always comes from pain." but nodded at Bruce's strong will
Event though every morning training is brutal, Bruce's body was able to keep up because of his Awakened Chi.
His Chi gets to work by healing and recovering his body, making it stronger. Bruce body was being tempered like samurai blade.
[Mid-Morning Meditation]
After training, Uncle would call him inside for Chi Meditation. The room filled with the scent of incense, and the floor was padded with old mats. Uncle sat beside Bruce, guiding his breath.
"Close your eyes. Breathe deep. Follow river inside you," Uncle would say, his tone soft, but unwavering.
Bruce learned to feel the flow of chi through his body. Some days it moved like a warm breeze, other times, like a blazing tornado.
Bruce tried to move it, but Uncle sensed it "Do not force," Uncle scolded when Bruce grew impatient. "Chi is like a cat. If you chase, it runs. If you sit still, it comes to you."
Bruce was getting impatient because his Chi flow was not stable enough to understand and was drastically fluctuating, some times it is calm but other times it was savage and untamed, but he took Uncle's word to calmed down and continued meditating.
Bit by bit, Bruce continued mapping the inner pathways—the invisible routes within his body while also trying to understand his Chi flow
[Chores]
Afternoons were spent cleaning the shop—dusting shelves, sweeping the courtyard, making tea for Uncle, which hasn't been perfected yet according to Uncle, but still insisted Bruce brew the tea every day.
"Tea is meditation in liquid form," Uncle said. "It teaches patience, timing, control. You want to master chi, master tea."
Bruce chuckled. "What happens if I burn it?"
Uncle squinted. "Then you drink your failure and make Uncle new tea."
Bruce just shook his head and focused on the task in hand-perfecting tea and his hard work started to pay off.
By midweek, Bruce's was skilled enough to improve his tea skills and his hands were steady enough to pour without spilling a drop.
[The Ancient Language]
One afternoon, Bruce approached Uncle with a curious spark in his eyes. "Uncle, I want to learn the old language."
Uncle raised a brow, intrigued. "You want to learn the Ancient Language?"
Bruce nodded. "If I can read and study it, I can find my own way during future research. Afterall, My career choice is Archeology"
"Aiyah…" Uncle muttered, walking slowly to a locked drawer. "You ask for heavy burden. The Ancient Tongue is not for casual minds. One symbol has many meanings. One meaning hides many truths."
Bruce stepped forward with excitement. "Stounds fun, just the thing I need to keep my mind stimulated and active"
Uncle nodded and pulled out a thick leather-bound journal and a weathered book wrapped in cloth. "These are Uncle personal translation notes. Took Uncle twenty years. Do not spill tea on them!"
Bruce received them with reverence. "And this," Uncle added, holding out the old book, "is a book on paper talisman crafting. In original script. Your first test—translate and study the entire book. Only then, You may move forward."
Bruce blinked. "That's a lot of pressure."
"One more thing!" Uncle snapped. "No making paper talismans. You make it wrong, you make explosion. Small one… if lucky."
Bruce grinned and bowed slightly. "Challenge accepted"
Every night that week, Bruce spent some time decoding symbols, cross-checking with Uncle's notes, and creating his own notes as he started understanding the Ancient Language while slowly unlocking the knowledge in the book on talisman crafting.
By the end of the week, his legs sore, his notes were plenty and his mind buzzing with newfound knowledge. He was half way done with translating the Paper talisman book, but the Language was as vast like the ocean.
He came to understand that Ancient Language Symbols isn't like a normal language. The meaning changes as the order and combination of Symbols change which leads to different interpretations.
'So that's why in the series, Uncle always goes into research mode when facing new threats.' Bruce thought to himself. Understanding a complete Language was easy to Uncle give his Talent, age, experience and knowledge, unless the language characters led to limitless possibilities. Ancient Language is a never-ending Journey.
Yet through it all, Bruce felt something unfamiliar—something he hadn't felt since waking in this world: Purpose.
He was no longer surviving. He was progressing and climbing towards his Dream
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[Dear readers, if you're enjoying this fan fiction, I'd love to hear your thoughts—so don't forget to leave a comment! Your support means the world to me. If you'd like to help the story grow, please consider dropping a few power stones and adding it to your collection. Every bit of encouragement keeps me inspired to write more!]