The next day, while Uncle Huang was inspecting the house in the morning, he found a small figure exercising alone in the front yard.
It was Hui'er.
Uncle Huang watched her move through the postures of the Tang Clan Eight Movement Fist Song, surprised at what he saw.
The little girl's movements were still halting, yet every posture showed the unmistakable foundation of the Tang Clan Fist Song.
Hadn't he only taught her yesterday? Just one time through?
Uncle Huang studied her movements. Every punch, every shift in stance—even without qi driving them, they still displayed the principle of power transfer.
Did this child have a photographic memory?
The Tang Clan Fist Song's difficulty lay not in memorizing the external postures, but in transferring weight from one point to another. The little girl's natural talent for this impressed him.
Uncle Huang checked his wristwatch. Early dawn—still about two hours until breakfast. He walked toward the little girl.
"Would you like Uncle Huang to train with you?"
He'd appeared without a sound, startling Hui'er out of her concentration. When she saw who it was, relief washed over her face.
"Uncle Huang, when you first cultivated, was it difficult?"
Hui'er's curiosity carried an edge of worry. Yesterday's failure still weighed heavily on her.
"Mm... when I first cultivated, sensing that small thread of qi in my body took quite a long time."
Uncle Huang smiled. He understood exactly how she felt.
When he first began cultivation as Tang Tianjie's close confidant, followers like him received benefits alongside their young master.
Back then, even after Tang Tianjie had broken through to 2nd-stage Qi Gathering, he still couldn't sense qi at all.
He'd felt so disappointed in himself, convinced he was talentless.
Later, though, once he finally entered Qi Gathering level, his progress became so rapid he overtook his young master Tang Tianjie within months.
"So what did Uncle Huang do?"
Hope lit up Hui'er's eyes.
"Mm... for me," Uncle Huang pondered.
Cultivation was a matter of fate, he'd always believed.
"It's not something you can rush. When the time's right, Hui'er will succeed."
He gave her an encouraging smile.
"If you'd like, I could give you special morning training sessions?"
That was exactly what the little girl wanted. From that day on, the child and the old man trained together every morning.
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Later that morning, Bai Fanxian emerged from the study lost in thought. For someone like her, going without sleep posed no problem. She'd spent the entire night searching through ancient texts in her dimensional workshop.
Hui'er's problem worried her.
The child's physical condition showed no abnormalities. Her meridian points and qi channels were perfectly intact—Bai Fanxian's pure qi had circulated through the child's body countless times already.
So why couldn't Hui'er generate her own qi?
Bai Fanxian's training method had a near-perfect success rate on the first day. It was a special technique used many times in her Goddess Alchemy Palace.
Every child Bai Fanxian had taken in and raised had successfully begun cultivation without exception.
Guiding them with her qi current allowed them to quickly familiarize themselves with their own meridian points and qi circulation.
Ancient texts documented people born with defective qi channels, along with various other conditions that prevented cultivation.
Yet Bai Fanxian still hadn't identified Hui'er's cause.
She spotted them in the yard—the child and the old man training together. Determination filled the little girl's face. Sweat poured down her exhausted frame, yet her eyes still sparkled. She refused to give up.
"..."
Bai Fanxian sighed and returned to the study. No one could guess what weighed on her mind.
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The little children's cultivation training began every afternoon. Bai Fanxian would guide qi through Hui'er's body for hours. Even when a day passed without success, Hui'er never gave up.
Tang Yeye trained separately. Each day she received one elixir pill and had to sit cross-legged, circulating qi and digesting the pill's power completely before dinner.
Uncle Huang watched Tang Yeye's development with growing admiration.
In just one week, the little girl broke through to 2nd-stage Qi Gathering.
Tang Tianjie was overjoyed when he came to visit. The Tang Clan elder returned home to celebrate, his happiness lasting for days.
Yet his worries about Hui'er's situation deepened.
Two weeks had passed since that first cultivation session. The little girl still hadn't generated her own qi even once.
Uncle Huang knew that while he'd taken months to enter the cultivator world, Grandmaster Bai's method with these children was far more advanced. If Hui'er still couldn't create qi, there had to be a reason.
He worried the child's body had some hidden abnormality.
He'd brought this up with Grandmaster Bai when they were alone in the study.
Even she couldn't reach a conclusion.
And she'd absolutely forbidden him from telling the little girl.
Yet how could Hui'er not notice? She was a smart child. Every day she made no progress while Tang Yeye, living right beside her, advanced steadily. Tang Yeye's qi grew stronger. Everyone praised her.
Each time the child ran in, Hui'er's anxiety deepened.
She remained stuck in place. One day, even Tang Yeye would become strong like her lady.
Would she still be necessary then?
Would her lady still want a worthless, useless child like her?
The darker her thoughts grew, the harder she pushed herself. Uncle Huang noticed how Hui'er shadowed him after morning training, helping with everything—cooking, cleaning, inspecting the house.
The child wanted to be useful.
He also discovered that at night, beyond her morning sessions with him and afternoon training with Grandmaster Bai, Hui'er would slip out to meditate alone after everyone slept.
She'd sit with her eyes closed, frowning in concentration.
Uncle Huang often glimpsed teardrops at the corners of her eyes during training. Whenever he tried to comfort her, she'd wipe them away and put on a cheerful face.
Especially around Grandmaster Bai—Hui'er never showed sadness. No matter how many times she failed, she'd get up and ask to try again.
Yet Uncle Huang knew that lately, Hui'er cried alone every night.
And he knew Grandmaster Bai was aware of it too.
Sometimes when he checked on the little girl at night, he'd catch sight of Grandmaster Bai's slender figure nearby.
Worry etched her features. Lately she'd been studying modern medical texts and Chinese medicine. Uncle Huang knew, since he was the one arranging for those books to be delivered almost daily.
If even Grandmaster Bai couldn't find a solution...
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Two days later, while Uncle Huang was preparing lunch, he heard several cars approaching along the road. They had to be coming here—this house was the only one at the end of this private road.
Before he could investigate, Hui'er had already walked out from her training area.
He wiped his hands and followed. At the front gate, unexpected guests were arriving.
"Huang Zihuan. Didn't expect to meet you here."
An elderly voice rang out, full of authority and unmistakable fierceness. The old man leading the group stepped forward.
Mountain Tiger, Grandmaster Han Junpo.
Behind him followed more than ten Martial Master level cultivators, each radiating hostile intent. Uncle Huang narrowed his eyes and began circulating qi.
"Heh! Tang Clan Fist Song? Decent form, but worthless without qi."
Han Junpo glanced at Hui'er, who'd come out first. Initially he was impressed that this child had already mastered the Tang Clan Fist Song's basic level.
When he looked more carefully and confirmed with Heaven Sense, he sensed no qi power in the child's body at all.
For Grandmaster-level cultivators, ordinary people held no value whatsoever in Han Junpo's eyes.
The old man hadn't intended to mock or pick on such a small child. With habits and identity forged over decades, though, his words always carried an edge of fierceness.
Yet they cut the little girl deeply.
Being looked down on for her deepest insecurity—for a child, this could leave scars that lasted into adulthood.
Han Junpo made a dismissive sound. He glanced at Hui'er with open contempt. Athao had confirmed before he came that Bai Fanxian's power was only at Martial Master level, so he didn't need to show restraint. Anything related to Bai Fanxian became an eyesore.
Even a tiny child.
Whoever dared harm his granddaughter and trample on the Han Clan's dignity would pay back a hundredfold.
"Bai Fanxian probably isn't much. Heard she's only got two little children as followers. Didn't think she'd even take a talentless one."
Hui'er's hands clenched into fists. She could endure insults about herself—however much they hurt.
Her benefactor lady, though?
That she wouldn't accept.
"Don't talk about my lady!"
Hui'er shouted. The 6th-stage Martial Master following Han Junpo moved, charging at the tiny child without mercy, his hand raised to deliver a slap.