"Your family is safe," Mr. Lee said in a low voice that rumbled through Leon's panic like a sickle.
"Tiger's thugs made another attempt this afternoon." He paused and moved toward Leon.
He placed a hand on Leon's heaving shoulders. "They were… discouraged after seeing Feng there."
Mr. Lee's words, which at first sounded like the trigger of a universe blast, turned into a storm that calmed the sea in Leon's head.
The fear of hearing his family being tormented or hurt now lifted, allowing him to breathe properly.
Mr. Lee pulled back his hand and stood in a combat-ready posture. "Now," he continued in a commanding tone, "strengthen yourself. You have one last lesson to learn before you face your storms."
Mr. Lee planted his feet on the ground, not in a stiff stance, but as if he was sinking them.
"Follow my movement like we did the last time. This time, don't lock your knees. Let them bend a little so you feel your weight sink like roots pushing into the ground."
As Mr. Lee saw Leon perfectly picking up, he loosened his hips and straightened his spine in a manner that looked as if a thread was pulling it from his head.
Then he raised his chin slightly and dropped it down, tucking it enough so his neck stretched long.
His gaze softened into a calm stare, watching the air as if it held secrets beyond him. His shoulders sloped down first, followed by bending his elbows outward in a soft curve.
"Never force the arms," he murmured as he saw Leon forcing his stance. "Watch and learn."
He raised his hands slowly, opened his palms, and spread his fingers apart as though he wanted them to catch an invisible breeze moving between them.
"Let them follow only the waist. The rest will obey after you center your waist."
He shifted his weight to the left, then glided his right foot forward. His heel brushed the ground first before it rolled down.
Then his knees bent with the gesture as his waist spiraled. His arms floated forward as if the air itself was guiding them.
"Breathe," he instructed as he saw Leon gasping for air forcefully.
"Breathe in through the nose and exhale softly through the mouth. Let your belly rise." He placed his hands on Leon's stomach and pushed the bloated stomach in.
"The only thing that carries the body is the breath you inhale. Do it again."
Mr. Lee pulled his palms back and continued with the same movements over and over again, always making sure Leon was following, one step at a time.
"Feel every step, every turn, and every breath. Connect them into one." He moved with the direction of the clouds above.
"You are not just moving in the air; you're moving with it. Try again!" The lesson kept on increasing, changing from normal to brutal training.
Mr. Lee didn't waste a second in making Leon redo a wrong action. After a long while that seemed impossible to attain, he pushed Leon to the edge of refining the barest flicker of the power he had.
Then, in the long run, he saw Leon actually holding onto a single glowing spark at the tip of his finger. But it died out in just ten seconds of concentration.
Leon tried again, but this time, it didn't even last for two seconds as he remembered the skeletal beings he had seen.
"He will speak of them," Mr. Lee hissed in a low, cold voice. "He will vividly describe hurting your sister. Not just hurting her in context, but having her for himself."
Every word Mr. Lee said seemed to give Leon a courage far more powerful than wealth.
"He will speak of your mother. Not just as blind, but he will describe how she screamed when he put a burning rod in her blind eyes."
Mr. Lee paused and placed a finger on Leon's chest and pressed in so hard it looked as if he wanted to dislocate Leon's heart.
"He will do it to make you rage. To make you wild. Your anger is the fuel he will use to burn you out and consume the ashes that would be left. But you shouldn't give it to him."
Every word, every pull, every push Mr. Lee did strengthened Leon's control. Then, in the blink of an eye, the spark appeared again.
This time, it wasn't there for a minute; instead, it stayed there till Mr. Lee walked out of the room.
The lessons and movements all replayed in Leon's mind as he watched the sky through the small window.
'What if I'm still not able to even stand a chance against the first five opponents before I face Kang T?' His thoughts screamed as he saw the moon hiding behind a thick cloud.
Even as he knew control was not peace but a weapon sharper than any sword, his mind kept giving him excuses to make him change his mind.
Slowly, the morning light shone on Leon's face, pulling him awake. The moment he rose lazily from the bed, he stretched and walked to the bathroom.
He gasped and looked into the mirror on the wall. His mind showed him Tiger's and the other opponents' bodies, comparing them to what he was seeing in the mirror.
'How can someone skinny like me even get the chance to take part in this after all?' he thought as he flaunted in the mirror's surface like a bodybuilder.
"So I'm going to fight with this body?" He laughed, then walked under the shower, turned the handle, and stood there, letting the water splash on him.
Standing there for almost twenty-five minutes, thinking, he stretched and picked the blue soap he was given to use for bathing.
He turned off the water, foamed himself with the soap, and turned the water back on. After completely washing himself, he rinsed off, exited the washroom, and got dressed.
Then, as he spun the door open, he turned and took a last glance at his room, then grinned.
As soon as he began walking in the hallway, eyes drew to him so hard he felt shy in an instant. But as he saw someone struggling to raise himself after being beaten by three broad-chested guys, the shyness vanished.
Slowly, he helped him up and walked out of the boy's sight, and opened the door leading to the platform itself.