by Tao Wong
When Elder Ko had finished speaking, he turned around and handed Wu Ying a small manual. The manual was more of a notebook than a full document, but by this point, Wu Ying had gotten used to the idea that many of the cultivation exercises recorded in the library were jotted down thoughts, well-constructed workarounds, or small techniques that his predecessors had created. Only a few were extended documents.
“Now for the second option, we can expand your dantian.”
Wu Ying could not help but interrupt Elder Ko at this point. “I thought the Sect did not have any of these manuals?”
“We do not have many.” Elder Ko glared at Wu Ying disapprovingly. “Especially compared to some other sects. But it does not mean we do not have any. We would not be the largest, most prestigious sect in the kingdom if we had none.”
The scorn in Elder Ko’s voice made the student quail and bow low while offering a profuse apology.
Seeing that Wu Ying had learned his lesson, Elder Ko moved on with his explanation. “In truth, there are many varieties of cultivation exercises that focus on the development of the dantian’s size. As one of the most important areas in the first two stages of cultivation, it is an area of intense interest. As with most types of cultivation exercises, the various exercises are variations on a theme. Like cultivation styles, certain types of exercises work better for others. The majority will suit most of our Sect members who might need to expand their dantian a little. After all, you do not need to achieve full compatibility with the cultivation exercise when you are only going to be using it for a short term and for marginal improvements. It’s only when a dantian is compromised or otherwise an issue that more variety or specific exercises are required.
“In this case, what we are looking at”—Elder Ko passed Wu Ying a bound scroll—“is a simple exercise that suits you.” Wu Ying felt a chill as Elder Ko stared at him, a small smile on his face, almost hidden by his beard. “As you are studying the Reinforced Iron Bones technique, this will complement that exercise. Especially during your second stage. You only need to adjust your current concoction a little. The pain should not be significantly worse.”
While Wu Ying was considering what Elder Ko meant, the head librarian had already moved on to the next row. When he came out this time, he was holding a much, much larger book. Instead of handing the book to Wu Ying, Elder Ko flipped through the pages until he’d located the section he desired.
Elder Ko pulled out a small strip of silk and slid it between those pages before he shut the book. “If you decide to go with this technique, you will need to copy out the instructions yourself.”
“Yes, Elder.”
“So, this exercise…”
“Elder?” Wu Ying held out his hand, ready to take the book.
Still, the Elder refused to hand the book over, looking reluctant and unsure for the first time that Wu Ying had ever seen. “I am uncertain if this is a good choice.”
“May I ask why?” Wu Ying said. “It is dangerous?”
Not that that would necessarily stop Wu Ying, but he was not looking forward to practicing something that could cripple or kill him. There were, unfortunately, quite a few cultivation methods that walked that line much closer than they should. Cultivators were well known for taking risks for power.
“No. Well, no more than normal.” Elder Ko shook his head. “It is the work itself. It came from a cultivator who walked one of the heretical paths. The exercise itself is not, in itself, heretical, in my judgment. But it is close.”
“Oh.” Wu Ying fell silent.
Heretical paths were, by nature, uncommon. Unlike Demonic daos, heretical paths were not in and of themselves wrong. They were just strange. Deviant. Possibly dangerous to follow for many. That it suited a few special groups, a few heretical sects did not make them clean or widely accepted. For example, the famous heretical sect Seventh Plate, Third Serving, whose initiates all followed a single dao—the dao of gluttony.
“And the author’s dao?”
Elder Ko said, “A shamanic path.”
“Oh.” Shamanic paths were strange to Wu Ying. Some of the smaller clans were rumored to still have them, groups of individuals who held to old religions. Old beliefs. More in the north and west, not so much in the civilized east. But… “What does the cultivation exercise actually do?”
“Regeneration. Again, it suits you. You tend to push yourself to the maximum,” Elder Ko said. “And this will allow you to refill your dantian faster. But it requires you to consider the flow of the world in a way that is not normal to our current teachings of the five elements.”
Wu Ying’s eyes widened. Refilling his dantian, refilling the amount of chi he had was of utmost importance to him right now. He had to gain at least twice as much chi as he normally wielded if he wanted to again attempt a breakthrough. And that required the slow process of drawing in chi from the external world, purifying it, and storing it. It was not as if he was trying to restore himself to his normal levels—he was trying to achieve an overabundance. Which was always harder.
“Don’t be too excited. It will do nothing for your current needs,” Elder Ko said. “The process only works for your normal refinement. Everything above that, it will be of significantly less use. In fact, you’ll have to discard the additional chi you now hold to practice this method.”
That made Wu Ying frown. What he wanted was a way to speed up his cultivation, not another way to slow it down.
“Don’t look like that. Read them over first,” Elder Ko said. “There are notes about the efficiency within.” When Wu Ying made to thank him, Elder Ko waved. “Go.”
Wu Ying nodded and exited the stacks with the cultivation exercises. He quickly found an empty table and placed down the exercises, casting a glance around and spotting no others. In short order, Wu Ying delved into the works, reading them in detail. This level of scrutiny, the ability to read the actual documentation in depth was not something allowed with a cultivation manual or even a martial style.
Those kinds of details were often either locked away via a spiritual seal for rarer manuals. For the ones that Wu Ying had access to right now, the librarians just kept a close eye on the Sect members, ensuring they read no more than the first few stances and the principles. The details of cultivation manuals or martial styles were often so dense that a quick browse would be unlikely to garner the important, subtle details that made a martial style exemplary. A minute difference of an inch might not seem like much – until that inch was the distance to your heart.
In the end though, the advice of someone like Elder Ko was what would sway someone at Wu Ying’s level to purchase a martial style or cultivation manual. Though Wu Ying had heard of more than one unhappy inner sect member who had purchased multiple manuals due to a lack of suitability.
Cultivation exercises were simpler by significant degrees. As such, reading through the documents was not particularly difficult or time consuming. Within a few bells, Wu Ying had finished analyzing the works and sat back, tapping on his lips in thought.
Speeding up the flow of his chi could be useful at the Energy Storage stage and the Core Cultivation stage. However, Wu Ying had noted several comments by those who had studied this work indicating that the progress they saw was insignificant when one advanced their cultivation. That, Wu Ying knew, was a matter of proper suitability and tiers. It was the problem with the various tiers of cultivation, especially once one had advanced past the Core Cultivation stage. Body Cleansing and Energy Storage cultivators were still within the mortal realm of strength. A particularly skilled Body Cleansing cultivator could beat an Energy Storage cultivator under the right circumstances. Unless the heavens themselves were looking down upon an Energy Storage cultivator, they stood no chance against a Core cultivator. This level of disparity continued through all the stages onward. As such, while increasing the flow of his chi now would help in the next stage, it was possible that the improvement and time spent would matter little at the Core Cultivation stage.
Expanding his dantian faced much the same issues. During the Core Development stage, the dantian was assimilated within the core—the gathered energy hardening and becoming the core itself. The various stages of Core cultivation included the hardening and layering of that newly developed Core. All the chi a cultivator had created became part of the core that a cultivator would use from then on. Of course, a larger dantian meant a larger core. That, theoretically, meant a more powerful cultivator. The difference in sizes of a Core, for most individuals, would not be a huge factor though—other issues like density, speed, and quality of the dao and chi mattered just as much in the Core Cultivation stage.
Just as important was the dao path that a cultivator was on during this period. Of course, it was not of the same level of importance as during the Nascent Soul stage. After all, during the Nascent Soul stage, a cultivator was beginning to embody the dao that cultivator studied. Only if he embodied it fully could he ascend.
Still, for all that, Wu Ying could not help but think that this was the most presently useful exercise. It would increase his strength and his chance of breaking through to the next stage, and it could provide benefits in the future.
The last cultivation exercise puzzled Wu Ying. After staring at the book once again, Wu Ying pulled it open and reread its contents and the notations made by the Elders. Once he was done, Wu Ying sighed. Like before, he was still uncertain about the exercise. He could not understand why Elder Ko had offered it to him.
Sure, the cultivation exercise allowed him to recharge his empty dantian faster. However, it was most effective when his dantian was empty. Regeneration rates would reduce as he grew fuller. And as Elder Ko had mentioned, it would be much less effective when he tried to overfill his dantian for breaking through to the next stage.
Of course, the most interesting thing about the cultivation exercise was the way it was built. Increasing his regeneration rates came in three forms. Firstly, he would pick the type of chi that entered his body during the acceptance stage from the world. It required an adjustment of his aura, allowing him to individually tease out the strands of chi that most closely suited his body. In this case, since he practiced the Yellow Emperor’s cultivation method, it would be unaspected chi. The way the exercise required him to alter his view on the world, the way he sensed it, was the semi-heretical part. It didn’t mean looking at the five elements but at much, much more, as each element that Wu Ying sensed had a “spirit” of its own. As such, even what he would consider “unaspected” chi might have spirits that required filtering out.
Next, he had to convert the chi within his body from unknown, unaspected chi to one that suited his body. It was like stamping his own mark on the energy. In normal cultivation, he would be converting aspected and unaspected chi types before he made it suitable for his body. Here too, the cultivation exercise was different as it taught Wu Ying a new method to imprint his own mark, his will on the chi at a greater pace.
Finally, the third aspect of the cultivation exercise created a small vortex flow within Wu Ying’s dantian so that he drew in chi from the world faster. It was like a small whirlpool in Wu Ying’s dantian, a complex flow of energy that was dictated by his level of mastery of the exercise. Of course, it looked nothing like a whirlpool, instead made up of multiple whirls and whorls.
The simple cultivation exercise had multiple aspects to it, all of which would force Wu Ying to stretch himself. And he had to admit, most of those exercises would probably be useful even if he ascended to a higher cultivation stage. Whether it was to strengthen his aura or being taught to process the chi of the world at a faster rate, it could not be harmful. At least in Wu Ying’s mind.
Yet Wu Ying hesitated long and hard over his choices. Elder Ko’s advice was generally extremely incisive. However, the Elder was also known to test cultivators. In that sense, blind faith in another could be harmful.
Cultivation, at its heart, was a lonely exercise. Finding one’s dao was something that only an individual could do. A Master and Elder might provide a few signposts along the way, but it was a cultivator who had to walk the path. Knowing one’s heart and knowing what one truly desired, and being willing to take the risk, was the only way a cultivator could truly ascend to the heavens.
Knowing all that, Wu Ying sat quietly with the cultivation exercise before him and considered his next step.
***
A week later, Wu Ying was in the gardens behind Elder Li’s residence, hauling big baskets of compost into the greenhouse. As spring arrived, the entire gardening and gathering section of the Sect was thrown into high gear. That meant everyone, from inner sect members to outer sect servants, were forced to do the most menial of tasks. Unlike any of the other departments in the Sect, there were no complaints. Gardening or gathering, herbology at its base roots was about getting your hands dirty. Those who could not, would not, accept that simple truth were of no use to Elder Li and were discarded in short order.
That did not make hauling woven bamboo baskets full of compost back and forth a particularly agreeable task. Unfortunately, being both a martial specialist and specializing in external herbal gathering, Wu Ying was one of the more suited members to this task.
“Good job.” Senior Goh slapped Wu Ying on the shoulder. “Two more runs and you should be done.”
Wu Ying grunted, trotting into the warm greenhouse. The greenhouse was built with a large retaining wall along the backside, facing perpendicular to the movement of the sun. That allowed the heat from the sun to enter the greenhouse through the entire day, warming not just the main section within the greenhouse but the back retaining wall. Smaller sections within the back wall itself circulated heated air through the greenhouse, the fires being fed from the outside. Of course, living as far south as they did, the semi-transparent glass that made up the ceiling of the greenhouse and the embedded ritual wards were sufficient to keep the greenhouse warm during all but the coldest winters.
Within the building itself, soil was stacked three levels high on standing, movable shelves. Gardeners worked each shelf of plants, mixing soil and compost together with other, more specialized fertilizers to ensure the growth of the spirit herbs. Wu Ying had vivid memories of gathering some of that fertilizer—fire beetles, fruit bat dung, and the innards of golden koi were the least objectionable types. In addition, each gardener had a few bags of crushed demonic cores to disperse into the soil as they worked. More than once, Wu Ying felt the tremors of wood and earth aspected chi flow from a cultivator into the soil.
Every single cultivator worked with intense focus, driven even higher when Elder Li, with her wooden cane, strolled by, peering over their shoulders. At times, the old woman would provide words of encouragement or correction before moving on. Wu Ying quickly dumped his bag and trotted out, not wanting to engage the Elder at this time.
In short order, Wu Ying finished delivering the compost bins and trotted over to Senior Goh. He breathed deeply, clear of the burdensome containers, circulating his chi through his body as he tried to reenergize himself.
“You look tired,” Senior Goh said, frowning. “The bags weren’t that heavy.”
“It’s an exercise,” Wu Ying replied.
Ever since he had made the decision to go with the regeneration exercise—amusingly entitled the Never Empty Wine Pot—Wu Ying had been training with his dantian as empty as he could. That required him to continually speed up the flow of his chi, an exercise that would also toughen up and train his meridians. If only marginally. More to the point, by setting up the first of the eight levels of chi vortexes within his dantian, he was working on improving his regeneration rate. At the same time—because, in theory, setting up the vortex was a one-off act which just needed to be continued—Wu Ying was adjusting his aura. Since he was “stuck” in the Aura Strengthening phase of his aura development, this would allow him to continue his progression in his studies there as well.
“Carrying bags of compost? At your cultivation level?” Senior Goh sno
rted.
“Cultivation exercise,” Wu Ying said.
One of the disadvantages of having a mostly empty dantian was the exhaustion it engendered. Wu Ying felt as though he was constantly only a quarter-full, having only finished a single steamed bun every meal. Except this state persisted throughout the day until he woke, when his constant expenditure of chi stopped and his natural regeneration refilled him.
“Ah. Is it going well?” Senior Goh said, cocking his head curiously.
Discussions between cultivators, even those within the same Sect, were always tenuous. Cultivation secrets were common, because knowing what another cultivator did gave you an advantage in battle. On the other hand, members of the same Sect were prone to practice the same cultivation forms and might be able to provide some degree of advice and support. And of course, being cultivators, most of their lives revolved around the progression of their immortality. Avoiding the topic entirely left one with few conversational topics.
“Not really,” Wu Ying said. “It’s… been a struggle.”
Wu Ying had debated if he was trying too many things at the same time and pushing too hard. He could progress the vortex without being nearly empty. It was easier to notice the differences and its disappearance when he was so empty, but it made it harder on Wu Ying. On top of that, because he had blocked out—or was attempting to block out—the flow of chi to his body that was not properly aspected, the total amount of chi he was drawing was lower than normal. It was like supping on soup using a spoon meant for children while one was ravenous. Slow, painful, and frustrating.
“Huh.” His Senior shrugged, having no more to say.
In truth, there wasn’t much to discuss. Not without giving more information. And this was one exercise that Wu Ying decided to keep to himself.
“Well, keep working on it.”
“I will,” Wu Ying said. “What next?”
“For the garden?” When Wu Ying nodded, Ru Ping pursed his lips. “We have more than enough gardeners inside. And the weather sniffers say that there should be no more chills, so…” Ru Ping turned his head, his gaze landing on a series of standing stones in one corner of the expansive gardens.