The black-haired boy, shedding his youthful appearance and stepping into young adulthood, took a long breath.
Wind stirred as breath entered and left through his mouth and nose.
Heuuup...
Haaaa...
Flesh is substantial and spirit is insubstantial, and also earth is substantial and heaven is insubstantial.
Flesh is born from earth and spirit is born from heaven.
Exhaling stale energy and inhaling new energy is called "breathing in and out," and the numinous energy of heaven and earth circulated in the sky and entered through the breath wind.
Therefore, the foundation of breathing in and out is respiration, and deep breathing was great energy cultivation.
Heuuup...
Haaaa...
Heuuup...
Haaaa...
The black-haired boy, Xu Xin, breathed in and out the spiritual energy of heaven and earth.
As much as his flesh was trained and his spirit nourished, his breathing deepened. Xu Xin's spiritual body absorbed the spiritual energy that entered through his breath and became nourished.
As he recited the formula of Primordial Unity Breath Kung Fu and practiced in a state of selflessness, Xu Xin suddenly opened his eyes.
Raising his head, he saw a purple-haired girl floating in the air.
The girl was resting her chin on both hands, staring down at him with a languid face as if sleepy.
"Xu Xin. Isn't it uncomfortable to always sit and doze like that?"
"I'm not dozing. I'm just breathing with my eyes closed."
"I simply can't understand this game of yours called martial arts. I don't know why you do it."
Lethe slowly descended on the wind and sat in front of Xu Xin.
"Xu Xin. Are you curious about what I did today?"
"Yes, I'm curious. Did something fun happen today?"
"No. Nothing fun happened. I just swept away some boring magical beasts. But I heard something incredibly hard to believe. Can you believe it, magical beasts can become stronger than us."
Lethe elaborated on everything that had happened or heard today. While doing so, she complained that dealing with magical beasts wasn't particularly difficult, just very annoying.
It had already been over ten years since Lethe began living in the Platinum Tree Palace under Eve's care.
Though this whining had been repeated countless times during that period, Xu Xin always kindly smiled, praised, and encouraged her as always.
Only after indulging in childish behavior to her heart's content did Lethe say:
"Xu Xin. Did you stay here all day again today without going outside? Playing your martial arts game?"
"Yes, I did."
"Martial arts games aren't fun. To think you stayed all day doing boring martial arts alone. You must have been very bored? Poor Xu Xin. Shall I specially play with you?"
Xu Xin answered, pretending to be delighted.
"Yes. Let's think about what game we should play together."
A hint of anticipation slowly appeared on Lethe's languid face.
"Shall I tell you a story?"
"I won't listen if there aren't any new stories. You always tell the same stories again and again."
"Hmm. Shall I draw you a pretty picture?"
"You drew a lot of those last time. Something different today."
"How about hide-and-seek?"
"The hiding places here are obvious. I don't like it, I won't do it."
Xu Xin sank into deep thought. Having played with Lethe in various ways over the past decade or so, he was gradually running out of ideas.
'Should I bring out what I've been saving?'
He took out a wooden board and white and black stones that he had asked the Elves to make. These were items he had prepared in anticipation of such a day.
"What's this?"
Lethe asked, looking at the wooden board engraved with neat vertical and horizontal lines.
"It's a Weiqi board. And these are Weiqi stones."
The new game Xu Xin was going to teach Lethe was none other than Weiqi (a.k.a. Go game)
'Once you get absorbed in it, you'll be so engrossed you won't even notice the axe handle rotting. Isn't Weiqi truly an immortal's pastime?'
Xu Xin explained the rules of Weiqi to Lethe. Lethe was very intelligent and memorized the rules in one go.
"Now that you've learned the rules, shall we try playing?"
"Yes."
Xu Xin placed his moves with consideration, making it easy for Lethe to learn Weiqi and enjoy it.
His Weiqi skills were unmatched even within the Wudang Sect, so he could naturally guide Lethe.
Lethe, who seemed to be fumbling a bit at first, understood the game with surprising speed. She gradually began to immerse herself in Weiqi.
'Since Lethe has a calm personality, her skills will improve quickly.'
Thinking this to himself while playing Weiqi, when the Elves brought fruit, Xu Xin subtly made a decisive move. Then he said to Lethe:
"It seems I've won this round. Let's have a meal and play the next round."
Lethe answered without taking her eyes off the Weiqi board.
"I'll eat while playing."
"A-Alright then."
Xu Xin and Lethe ate fruit while playing Weiqi.
※※※
Xu Xin spent his days practicing Tai Chi Fist, Primordial Unity Breath Kung Fu, and Cloud Ladder Lightness Skill. And occasionally, when Lethe came to visit, they played Weiqi together.
Lethe was extremely fond of Weiqi. Once she started playing Weiqi, she wouldn't leave her seat for quite some time.
Whenever she had free time, Lethe would eat, sleep, and play Weiqi at Xu Xin's quarters, and the Elves who served her didn't dare to stop her.
"Lethe. Playing Weiqi together is good, but sometimes it can be excessive."
When Xu Xin said this one day, Lethe stared at him.
"Why? Do you dislike playing Weiqi with me? Are you tired of it?"
"No. Playing Weiqi with you is always enjoyable."
The longer the time spent playing Weiqi with Lethe, the more it affected his training, but Xu Xin had never once considered it a hindrance or interruption.
"Then why?"
"I'm saying this because you don't respond when Eve calls you for lessons. Eve keeps coming here to fetch you."
Whenever Eve came to the quarters to fetch Lethe, Xu Xin felt embarrassed and awkward. That's why he was bringing this up to Lethe with difficulty.
"Don't worry about it. Eve actually seems to enjoy coming to fetch me."
"...?"