Green
In the dark of his barracks, Wang Lei sat and breathed, trying to focus qi into his dantian. Although basic training was over, he had yet to unlock his qi, and he refused to let this stand, no matter how long it took. But to correct it, he needed to meditate. He ignored the snoring of his bunkmate. He ignored that he needed the rest for his patrol tomorrow, and the months of work with no progress at all and that he still wasn't sure what a dantian feels like and. He sat and breathed. Finally, he felt something. At first it was so small he believed that he had imagined it, but then the feeling grew as energy suffused his body until it was as if his steps could shake the mountains and his fists could split the heavens. Even as he collapsed, one thought remained. 'I want to keep feeling like this'
Over the following weeks, Lei had adjusted to life as a cultivator, and found it to his liking. He could move more easily, think faster, and was, if not good, at least decent at everything he tried. Civilians on the street respected his authority. He felt powerful. He was powerful. Even if he couldn't shake mountains, this was enough.
Looking at the broken body of the spirit beast before him Lei realized that he had been wrong, his strength was nowhere near enough. This beast was not exceptional, merely grade 2, if a powerful example of such, and yet it had carved a swathe through the guards who had confronted it, until it had finally been brought down by several officers working together. If he hadn't been patrolling on the other side of the city at the time, he would be dead. He needed to get stronger. Fortunately, he knew just how to accomplish that.
Every day Lei's squad would go out drinking together. While not every member would attend every time, most showed up a few times a week. Despite this he had refrained from attending all week, drawing concern from his friend, Feng De.
"Wang, are you sure you don't want to come? You've been shutting yourself in all week"
"Yes, I need to keep cultivating. I can't let myself stay this weak."
"You know that you're never going to be stronger than the beast was, right?
"That's only true if I stop trying."
Finally, after years of effort, cutting costs to afford just one more spirit stone and spending every spare moment cultivating, he could feel his dantian surging with energy. Joyfully he pushed his qi against its walls and could feel it start to give. He kept pushing until… Pain! He collapsed to the floor crying tears of blood. As he slowly crawled to the medic's office, he finally understood the real reason so few reach yellow.
As he attacked his bottleneck, refilling his dantian only to be wracked with pain and start again, Lei expanded his focus. Although he refused to give up when he was so close, there were other paths he could also follow. He spent endless hours practicing with his spear, ironing out inefficiencies in his gait, and otherwise trying to perfect his every action. After years of blood, sweat and tears his efforts were recognized, and he was promoted to second in command of his squad, with a corresponding increase in salary which he fed back into his cultivation.
As he meditated, his dantian refilled for the tenth time, Lei realized something. True strength is the ability to keep walking. No fist, no matter how strong, accomplishes anything if not swung. No leg, no matter how sturdy, accomplishes anything if it takes no step. Then, as if striding forward, his power surged. Finally, he had broken through!
Lei sat, nursing a drink, as his squad partied around him, celebrating his breakthrough to yellow, his imminent promotion, and probably that his replacement would likely be more lenient than he. There was something about the whole thing that bothered him, but he couldn't figure out just what it was. As he sat, Feng De approached holding out a stronger drink
"Stop brooding Lei, this is supposed to be a celebration. Now that you've reached yellow you can live the good life. Unless you do something really bad they won't dare fire you just so they can have another yellow guard, and they'll pay you better too."
"You say that as if I'm as lazy as you, De." Lei grumbled, taking the drink
"True, you wouldn't do that, but that attitude of yours just means you'll soon be at the top instead." Feng De laughed as he walked off.
Sighing, Lei realized why everyone's attitude annoyed him. They were acting like this was the biggest thing he would ever accomplish, that going further wasn't even a possibility. He supposed he would just need to prove them wrong. "Although" he mused "delaying just one day wouldn't hurt. This is a milestone after all." Taking a swig, he moved to join the party.
Over the next decades, Wang Lei advanced through the ranks of the Shaohai city guard, until his friend's prediction came true and he advanced to become captain. In that position, he applied the same relentless determination that he had learned from his cultivation, improving the training and organization of those under him. His refusal to give up also inspired those under him causing a small but significant increase in the yellow cultivators within the guard. Even as time after time his body and qi rebelled against him he still refused to give anything less than his best into everything he could do, attempting to break through again and again until…
As he pushed once again against the walls of his dantian, Wang Lei found himself drawn into a vision. He stood on a steep slope, extending far beyond his ability to perceive. To his left was a mysterious cave, to his right was a plateau where his friends were laughing and drinking together, and below was a peaceful lake. As he looked across the mountain and the choices arrayed before him, Lei laughed. He already knew what he was going to do, he had known for years by now. He was going to climb, and then he was going to keep climbing, because even if the path was too hard to finish, he refused to be so weak as to give up.
AN: This was inspired by the realization that even someone at talent 2 can reach green in a few decades with minimal resources.
