SUMMARY

SCENE: DATES - APRIL 11, 2023 THROUGH APRIL 19, 2023 // GUANGZHOU, GUANGDONG, CHINA

APRIL 11, 2023, 13:15 CST

SIMON HIU

The day after I had that revelation on the Mountain of Destiny, I felt deep in me I had to do something big. I need my Sifu again, so I decided to book the earliest flight to Guangzhou to get back to the Monastery. I landed in the morning of April 11, and took a beat before making the trek up Luofu Mountain again.

This hike was a lot easier than three years ago… I wonder if it's solely due to the Guardian Spirit… or if I'm actually in much better condition than back then. I shake off these doubts as I keep climbing; I have to put my mind forward. As I continue hiking, I make my way to the cavern entrance shielded by the invisible cloak. With no hesitation, I head in and make my way through the cavern. This time, however, the crystals in the cavern aren't glowing green, so I take a few deep breaths and the Guardian Spirit inside me begins to glow softly and consistently, giving me a light to see.

I soon see that light at the end of the cavern, the exit to the Monastery.

As I make my way to the exit of the cavern and to the entrance of the Monastery, the Guardian Spirit fades and I see the monks in the middle of training some Tai Chi sequences. The sight is so nostalgic. This feeling, this peace… I miss it. As I walk forward a bit, I see one of the monks I had trained alongside very closely three years ago and up until a few months ago.

"Simon?" I hear them say.

I turn my head towards them. "Fong-Si!" I say in surprised pleasure as we greet each other with a hug.

"What are you doing here?" he says.

"Er… Some… things have happened recently. I need to see Sifu, where are they?"

"They're at the Bagua circle where you had the Rebirth Ceremony three years ago. Come, I'll take you to them," he replies.

I smile long and sympathetic to Fong-Si. "Thank you," I reply softly and begin following them. We get to the circle.

"Sifu, guess who's–" Fong-Si begins.

Sifu Sing gets up from the lotus position and turns around. "I know," they chuckle. "My child, how have you been?" they open their arms to me.

I go in to hug them. "Sifu, it's been some time. I hope everyone has been doing well.. Sifu… Can we talk?" I ask with a sense of vulnerability.

"Of course, come, let's sit and have some tea," they say and then lead us to the common room where we would have meals. As we get there, a couple monks help set up the table with a teapot and three teacups.

"Fong-Si, stay. I want you here too," I smile at him, and he sits next to Sifu Sing across from me. I get up onto my knees and grab the teapot and pour all of us cups of tea. I then kneel back down to sit.

"My child, you look as if you were three years ago when you stumbled into the Monastery. What happened?" they ask.

"Sifu… I think I may have embraced the destiny of the Guardian too soon. I was in a battle recently… and I lost control. I know I can't take back what I did, only continue on forward and work to be better… but I've come to believe I am not fit to be the vessel of the Guardian Spirit…" I explain.

Fong-Si and Sifu Sing nod and look back at me with sympathetic eyes. Sifu Sing responds, "well, you have to remember that you are human, you can lose control. Even in the three years you've been with us, you are still prone to it. You will make mistakes, and that's okay. Now, you say you believe you are not fit to be the vessel of the Guardian Spirit, why is that?"

"Sifu, I know I can and will make mistakes… however… being the sole vessel of the Guardian Spirit… something so ancient and powerful… It is too much power. It may be benevolent… but holding it all in me… it is too much power. I don't think I should be the vessel," I explain and conclude.

"I see now. That is… understandable," they respond.

"Sifu, what do I do? I'm a Guardian by birth. I only embraced the destiny and the Spirit three months ago. If there's a way to give up the Guardian Spirit and I do that, what, who, am I?" I ask with a slightly worried tone.

"Learning to guide the Guardian Spirit and embracing that was not all that I taught you here at the Monastery. While you were here, I also counseled you to look beyond labels and identity. The Guardian Spirit is not what makes you who you are. The Guardian Spirit chose you upon birth because you already had the potential to embody a guardian. And what that means, is up to you. Without the Guardian Spirit, you would still be who you are. Someone willing to fight for what's right, and guide others to their path to their peace." Sifu looks at me, takes a pause and a sip of tea, and then continues, "Have you ever wondered how you were able to advance so quickly in our trainings three years ago? It's not because of the Guardian Spirit. The Guardian Spirit did not make you open your mind and your heart. You found us already like that, and you woke up each morning in the Monastery with that same mindset. The Guardian Spirit does not make you the Guardian you are growing into," he explains.

I look at Sifu Sing and Fong-Si with vulnerable eyes, and then look down and see the Guardian Spirit pulse a bit. I bite my lip and a tear falls from my left eye, another tear about to fall from my right. I grip my abdomen and close my eyes. All of a sudden, I hear a voice in my mind,"...it's going to be okay. I know you know what you have to do, and I know it's for the best. So do it. Everything will be okay…" I take a deep breath, wipe my tears, and open my eyes, take a sip of tea, and shift a soft but certain gaze at Sifu and Fong-Si. "Thank you, Sifu, truly. I know what I must do. I cannot be the vessel of the Guardian Spirit anymore," I say gently.

"It sounds like you've made your decision. I understand, Simon. So, what will you do?" they ask.

"Well, the Guardian Spirit… it is too much power for one person to have, for any person to have. It originally was this Spirit of the Earth, part of the Earth and nature itself. Wherever it concentrated itself, natural life bloomed and thrived. What if… what if I sent it back, back to where it came from, back to the Earth itself?" I ask and take another sip of tea.

Fong-Si asks, "You can do such a thing?"

"Yes," I reply, "I read of this ritual of beginnings while I was translating the 'Book of Guardians' you had given me, Sifu. The place where destiny and the Spirit is embraced is a place of beginnings. That was different for each Guardian who had lived. But mine… was here. Throughout my time and training here, we have guided the Guardian Spirit to circulate through my body like blood and qi would. I need some time, but if I spend the next week here, at that circle, meditating, I can gather the Guardian Spirit into the Lower Dan Tian and sink it back in and disperse it throughout the Earth. This ritual was never done before, so besides this being the Place of Beginnings for me, I need you, both of you, Fong-Si, Sifu. I need you both there when I begin the ritual and throughout, to watch after me," I explain with a calm resolution.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Fong-Si asks.

"Yes, I must. The Guardian Spirit just communicated its understanding as well. It's time for it to return home," I nod and say with a slight quiver in my voice, a reflective smile forming. As I take another deep breath, I finish my cup of tea.

"Very well Simon, we can start at sunset tonight. That's the best time to cultivate Qi and let it flow back to the lower dan tian, so we will begin that guidance of the Guardian energy down there at that time," Sifu says.

I nod and we all get up. "Thank you Sifu, thank you, Fong-Si, for everything," I go to hug Sifu and then Fong-Si. We exit the common room and spill out into the courtyard. I take a look at all the monks training and close my eyes to take another deep breath. I then open my eyes and calmly smile. Fong-Si approaches me from my left and places his hand on my left shoulder, "let's go, brother, let's train." I look to Fong-Si and smile, and follow his lead to train with the monks until sunset.

18:50 CST, APRIL 11, 2023 THROUGH APRIL 18, 2023

It was like three years ago. Each morning through the afternoon, I'd gather in the courtyard with my brothers and train with them again in the multiple forms of internal martial arts, spar with them, and then each night at sunset, I'd gather at the Bagua circle to meditate and guide the Guardian energy circulating throughout my body and localize what I could into the lower dan tian to then allow it to sink and seep into the ground and disperse. As each day passes, I feel the Guardian Spirit less and less actively inside me. With all my training here and with the fights I've gone through so far, even as I train with and spar with my brothers, I don't feel any big difference in endurance, durability… the strength that the Guardian Spirit granted me, it's like I never noticed, but now, I do. However, it doesn't feel like I'm weakening.

As the sun begins to set a full week later, and I meditate at the center of the Bagua circle to gather, sink and disperse the remaining Guardian energy back into the earth, the symbols on the circle begin to glow again, like it did three years ago. As I continue to meditate, Sifu Sing and Fong-Si continue to observe the glowing circle as the glow gets stronger and stronger, the remaining of the Guardian Spirit leaving my body and back into the earth. When I open my eyes again, a huge pulse of green energy spreads throughout the Monastery from the Bagua circle as the epicenter.

DATE: APRIL 18, 2023, TIME: 19:45 CST

I rise up to standing at the center of the circle, feeling the same sense of peace and enlightenment I felt three years ago.

"Simon, how do you feel?" Sifu Sing asks.

"I feel… lighter. I don't feel the Guardian Spirit in me, but I know it's out there, everywhere," I say.

Sifu comes to me from my right, gently grabbing my right shoulder and turning me around slowly. They feel me up and down, smiling at me and then bringing me in for a hug. "I am so proud of you, my child." They then bring me back out and put their right hand on my heart. "Even though the Guardian Spirit is not in you anymore, remember my child, it chose you. You remain connected to it forever, even though it is all over the Earth itself. It will take a more active effort to call upon it, but you can still do that due to your innate connection to it, due to it having chose you as its vessel in the beginning. Be careful, however, as moving forward, you don't have the miraculous healing abilities inside you anymore. When you summon the Guardian Spirit actively, those powers of vitality will return to you for the time you need it, but once it is no longer needed, it will return to the Earth. Additionally… summoning the Guardian Spirit here on out… you won't be summoning all of it, only the amount of it it deems necessary that you need," they explain.

I nod to Sifu Sing, and then calmly smile. "I understand," I say and then kneel down and place my left hand on the ground. "Thank you, for everything, Wai San," I mentally say, hoping it can still hear me, and as I say that, the ground where my hand is pulses softly. I smile again, and then look back up at Sifu Sing and then to Fong-Si. "Thank you, both of you, for watching over me during this time," I say and then hug Sifu and then go to hug Fong-Si.

"Alright, let's all retire to our chambers and rise with the sun tomorrow. Simon! Join us all for one last training and sparring session. Now that the Wai San does not reside in you anymore, perhaps we can discover what could be different. Until then, sleep well you two," Sifu Sing says.

DATE: APRIL 19, 2023, TIME: 05:50 CST

We all wake with the sunrise, as I did three years ago with everyone. Everything as it was back then, I have come to re-appreciate the true peace this place has to offer. As we get ready, we all slowly occupy the courtyard and do our morning stretches and routine sequences. We all then begin sparring with each other, switching partners every half hour.

I then end with Fong-Si, and we spar continuously, and to my surprise, I keep knocking him down while keeping relatively good posture and composure, no visible signs of weariness or exhaustion, though I do pant a bit more as Fong-Si and I practice this last two-person sparring set and get to the closing sequence.

"Phew!" I let out. "That felt amazing," I turn and say to Fong-Si. I then approach him and give him a handshake and then bring him in for a hug.

Sifu then approaches us. "So, my child, how do you feel?"

"Well, I do feel a little tired now, but other than that, I feel pretty good!" I say with a subtly enthusiastic tone.

Sifu Sing looks me up and down, then replies, "so, it looks like you've definitely retained all your skills, and your natural strength, endurance, durability, and reflexes are still considerably high, higher than a good portion of people around your size and build, though not as "unbelievable" as they once were when the Guardian Spirit was in you. They also continue to increase with more time and the more you keep yourself active. Your training here throughout the three years and even this past week gives you the foundation you need to really keep yourself growing. You never needed the Guardian Spirit to prove anything. Keep training, keep growing yourself. I believe in you, my child," Sifu smiles and nods to me. He then brings me in for a hug. "Alright, come, have lunch with us before you depart again."

I smile and get a bit emotional as Sifu explains their observations and then passes down their affirmations and faith in me. "Thank you, Sifu," I smile back at them and then walk with them, Fong-Si, and the other monks to the common room. We eat lunch, I share some stories of my travels so far since I left the Monastery, we laugh and just enjoy each other's company. Lunch soon wraps up, and my time at the Monastery once again comes to an end. Sifu and Fong-Si walk me to the exit of the Monastery. We embrace one final time.

As I head down the path of the exit and appear again in the Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport, as I did three months ago, I know now, I really did the right thing. I sent the Guardian Spirit back to where it originated. The Earth is its home, and now it is out there, everywhere. I'm still connected to it, although it's not in me anymore. I am a normal human being now, and I know I still have what it takes to fight well against anyone I have to. And though the mystical spirit isn't in me… I am closer to discovering what it means to have a guardian-like spirit, to be a guardian. I carry the peace and the enlightenment of the Monastery with me, so much more stable and sustainable than ever before, so deep in me it cannot be shaken.

TO BE CONTINUED

Published: 2023-05-01, viewed 33 times.