Dual Body Cultivation

by A P Gore

  But he didn't need to care about a dantian anymore. The path he chose would go to immortality, even without a dantian.

  As Jei sifted through the new information, his eyes shined with fresh knowledge, and his heart filled with a host of new possibilities.

  There were three realms he needed to reach before Heavenly Sea realm. Houtian, Xiantian, and Violet Palace.

  As Jei processed the basic understanding of the different realms, a few cultivation techniques floated in front of him, but the information in them was blacked out. He knew what cultivation techniques were. Qi condensation experts in Cloud Dragon town used the Purple Cloud Qi Cauldron method to cultivate. It was the generic method the Purple Cloud Sect branch sold to anyone with money.

  "Josh, why is the information in cultivation technique unavailable?" Jei asked.

  "Because there is too much information, and you only need one method. The best of them all. Look at this." Senior once again pushed a blue thread inside Jei’s forehead.

  This time it contained only a single piece of information.

  Fiendgod Body Refining Art (Eight Gate Art) - Silver Level.

  There were eight gates in a person's body, and once he opened them all, he would enter the peak of the Heavenly Sea realm. Master Yu had already opened one with force, but the more he read into it, he found himself lacking in many aspects. Once he’d opened his gate of healing, his speed and strength should have doubled already. It said that at the peak stage of gate of healing, a cultivator could lift 200-kg weight with one hand.

  Jei couldn't even lift a 20-kg stone. Why? Was it that he was doomed to fail? Was something lacking in him? Would this opportunity go to waste as well?

  Chapter 9

  A chilly wind blew across Jei's soul palace. For a moment it completely startled Jei in his soul form. Seeing the green grass blown over by the strong wind induced awe to fill his heart. How could it feel so alive? It was just his soul palace.

  "Kid, what happened?" senior said. "You don't look happy. Don’t you like my home? I can add a hot spring on the mountain for bathing. I wonder if I can conjure girls too, that would be fun.” The senior chuckled at his evil thought. Jei was far away from thinking about a girl right now. Many things in the manual bothered him.

  "Senior, this doesn't make sense. According to the manual, when I open the first gate of healing, my strength should be doubled, and I should be able to lift a two-hundred-kg weight. But right now, I can't even lift a twenty-kg stone. Why is that?"

  Senior's face darkened, all the happiness that had been there, slipping away like qi spilling from a broken dantian. "Let me check." With a flick of his hand, a mirror appeared in front of him. It contained Jei's picture.

  "Senior, why are you looking at my picture?" Jei moved closer, but a strong wind pushed him back. A tug of anger rose in his heart. How much worse could it get?

  The senior traced his hand over the mirror, and Jei's body turned into a black silhouette with red and blue veins. Soon the veins were covered by pinkish flesh. It was like watching his own insides, but how was senior doing it?

  "Senior..."

  "I'll kill you if you keep calling me senior. Can't you just call me Josh?"

  A strong presence swept over Jei, pushing him another step back.

  "Josh, is that my body?"

  "Yes," senior replied without looking at Jei. He concentrated fully on the picture in the mirror. "I get it." He pointed at the black matter residing around the blue vein connecting Jei’s brain and spinal cord.

  Jei had studied parchments on the human body. A teacher had lived next door to him and Xue a few years back who taught them reading and writing. He’d had a good collection of old parchments on the human body. Jei had read all of them and memorized the information. The teacher left one day, leaving Jei behind without sufficient education to get a job. When their grandmother died, he had no choice but to join the raw talisman making workshop to survive.

  "This is the first meridian of healing." Senior put a finger on the blue vein. "When the manual says the gate of healing needs to be opened, it means this black matter inside the meridian needs to be dissolved." He turned to face Jei. "By the way, how did you open your gate of healing?"

  "I didn't. Master Yu opened it forcefully by inserting his qi into my body."

  Senior sighed. "What a jerk. Didn't he know he could have destroyed your first gate by flooding his qi through your meridian carelessly? That explains it, kid. That jerk -Master Yu only managed to open 10% of your meridian of healing. It's only providing you a bare minimum healing power." He paused, contemplating something. "But at least he didn't destroy it. That would've been unfortunate."

  Jei bit his lower lip. He didn't understand everything, but he didn't like Josh calling Master Yu a jerk. If not for Master Yu, Jei and Xue would have died on the street by now. "Please, Josh. He is an honored master in my eyes."

  Senior shrugged. "Whatever. Now for the good news: I can open this with your help. You just need to hurt your body for a month, and it should open on its own."

  "Hurt my body? How?"

  "Let me check." Senior closed his eyes. A blue aura covered his forehead. "It says punching a tree for a thousand times every day would do the trick. Do that." He waved his hand, and a tree appeared in front of him. He punched it, then cried out in pain. "Damn, it hurts! Do it with your physical body one thousand times. Daily."

  Jei couldn't believe the golden-haired youth. Was he making fun of him? Punching a tree? 1000 times, daily? He would be dead before that.

  "Or you can kick it, or fall from a cliff. Whatever injures your body will do. The other option is I can lend you a hand and slowly open it. But that would take at least a year."

  A wave of relief washed over Jei. "A year sounds good. But I don't get it. How can you open it? You can't leave my soul palace, can you?"

  Josh winked. "I've learned a few techniques from the soul crystal, and I can combine the knowledge of my world into this. It's quite easy you know. I just need to trigger a reaction of the black matter inside your meridian, and it will slowly dissipate."

  "Okay, senior. Whatever you say." Jei felt like a mountain of information was crushing him. "I'll leave first. Xue must be worried about me." And he disappeared. One year sounded really good now. Steady and slow. It was his life's mantra.

  LYING ON THE THIN MATTRESS that failed to prevent the cold from reaching his body, Jei spent half the night restless. The cold invaded his chest with every inhalation, and everything felt chilly. The only thick sheet they owned was covering Xue. She needed it more.

  But soon this would change. Master Yu had once said that heat and cold didn't bother qi condensation level 2 experts. A year, and everything would change. Once he ascended to that level, he would take care of Xue better than ever.

  Spring chicken, no problem. Three wing parrot meat, no issue. She can eat any delicacy she wants; her brother will get everything.

  Dreams of reaching a realm unknown to humans flashed in his mind again and again throughout the night.

  Sometime after midnight, sleep overtook him.

  He was coughing and wheezing the next morning, and his head hurt too. Even opening his eyes was painful. He wanted to go back to sleep, but he had to go to Master Yu's workshop. He would be angry about Jei's two-day absence.

  But with Madam Yu his side, he wouldn't scold Jei too harshly. At least Jei believed that.

  Half an hour later, he was sweeping the semi-solid floor with a small broom; he had put a bowl of porridge on to boil for Xue. He would put it next to her head, and she would eat it when she got hungry. This routine had been going on for the last six years; it worked every day. After taking a quick bath with freezing water in a makeshift outdoor bathroom, he pulled a green robe out of his closet. It was his last neat robe. He might have to buy another one soon. The last one he’d worn had been tattered by that bastard Ki Ning's attack. Only if he’d had a functional gate of healing opened, he would have beat Ki Ning instead of
dying by his hand.

  Once my gate of healing opens, I'll teach you a lesson. Wait for me, bastard.

  "Brother Green, time for some poison." Jei called his pet snake, who was the source of all the poison in his blood.

  Every day, Jei would get bitten by Brother Green for a fresh dose of poison. He needed it for creating raw talismans.

  He sighed. If he had a dantian, he could have used pure qi and external poison to create raw talismans. Without his dantian, he did it the opposite way, with poison from his body and qi from a storage talisman to create the poison qi required for the raw talismans. One of the ingredients had to come from the user's body, or the soul signature wouldn’t be branded on the talisman.

  Master Yu once told him that a soul signature was required for the user to activate the talisman.

  Anyway, he pulled back his sleeve and let Brother Green inject some poison into his body. In a breath’s time, the poison entered his body. Normally it felt like hot water permeating his veins. It was manageable, but today something was different. His blood boiled like lava had entered his blood stream.

  Screeching pain emerged from his heart, and every muscle in his body convulsed in pain.

  What is happening? Why my body is burning from inside?

  Shouting in pain, he slipped into unconsciousness. Maybe today he would die.

  Chapter 10

  Golden Robed Elder

  Icy cold wind blew past the black manor built on the highest peak of the Purple Cloud Mountain of Cloud Dragon town. The manor was built thousand years ago by an elder who had gone on a mission to settle fifty new branches of Purple Cloud sect on White Phoenix. He built the manor for himself, but then it was used for the guests coming from the main branch. Not that many guests came to this side branch.

  Today was different. A man wearing a golden robe stood outside the main gate, his eyes fixed on a white sword, half buried in rock.

  They say the sword was thrust into the rock by the elder that set up this branch, and since then no one could pull it out. It was called the Sword of Immortal, a symbol of undying will, specially shown to the new recruits of the sect branch.

  The man hated this branch. It was the edge of the world, and coming here every year was waste of effort. Or, at least it was until ten years ago when he found an interesting girl with soul searching ability. Since then, he’d waited for the time to visit this town.

  A whizzing sound filled his ears. A sword flew toward him. He spread his senses. It was Yu, his disciple.

  "You came," the man in golden robe said, narrowing his brown eyes.

  Yu jumped down from the sword and kneeled in front of the golden robed man. "Master, please order."

  "What's the progress on the girl?" He turned to face Yu, who had a slender body and sharp eyes. He wore a blue robe with a purple cloud embroidered on the chest—a common uniform for branch sect elders.

  "The subject is alive and progressing slowly," Yu said. "There is no flesh or soul danger to her condition. Her brother, a fool, is taking care of her—though not as you'd have liked. He provides her enough food to live on until she turns 18."

  Three more years. He had to wait three more years to pluck the fruit he was patiently waiting to bloom. The golden robed man snorted. "Her abilities. Is there any improvement?"

  "No, master, she is only capable of soul searching. I wonder if she is the one you are searching for."

  An intense pressure swept across Yu, his breathing ragged, but he couldn’t oppose. The elders made sure their servants wouldn’t.

  The man in the golden robe smiled. That's how a slave is supposed to work, not opposing his master even if his master wishes to kill him. And he had only applied a tiny bit of soul pressure. Nothing that could kill him.

  "Don't underestimate her ability. Ten years back, the light of enlightment fell on those two children. No one knows what changes it brought in the boy, but for that girl to have a soul-searching ability at the age of 4? Outstanding." His eyes shone with greedy delight. "She’ll be a great asset in my arsenal. Too bad I couldn't grab her because of the deadly duo protecting her. Impudent fools." He paced around the sword. If only that bitch hadn't recruited the deadly duo to conceal the girl's power and protect her, he could have grabbed her already and nurtured her to be his servant.

  But that could happen once she turned eighteen. Until then, he would endure and keep her safe. As for her brother, by all appearances the light of enlightenment had given him nothing. He’d even lost his dantian in the process, preventing him from cultivating. If he’d had a dantian, the golden-robed man would have broken it to prevent anyone opposing him in the future.

  "Now go, and make sure you keep a keen watch on them. I've paid a high price to make you an elder in this tiny branch. Don't make me regret it." The golden-robed man pulled a flying fan out of his spatial ring and shot off toward the clan's main branch.

  Chapter 11

  Joshua

  The soul crystal pulsed with intense light, sending a beam of rays towards Joshua. He sat under a large pine tree, immersed in the soul cultivation technique he’d learned from the soul crystal.

  The wind around him roared like a tiger, the grass around him shook violently, and the river behind him produced tsunami-like waves, but he remained calm and steady. Like a Buddha.

  With every passing moment, his soul refined further into a pure entity. The White Buddha Soul Cultivation technique offered by the soul crystal was a legendary technique which would make his soul as tough as iron. For the last six hours, he’d been practicing, and he had no intention of stopping for another few hours. The benefits were outstanding.

  As his soul turned pure, he craved pizza, filled with yummy cheese and godly chicken meat. If only he could make a pizza here, he would die for it. He vowed to ask the stupid crystal about it once he had a chance to talk with the crystal again.

  Well, well, well. The crystal offered him a chance, by sending a beam of light directly into his forehead. But it didn't fill his mind with new information. Instead it pricked his senses with danger.

  Something wasn't right. The air around him had turned deathly gray, the grass wilted to black, and the river sucked of life.

  Jei, the kid was in danger.

  Quickly conjuring the mirror of flesh, he looked at Jei's body. Dread filled him as he observed the changes.

  Jei’s body was filled with poison. Poison dragons were attacking his internal organs, destroying them with their toxic flame.

  What’s going on? Was he bitten by a snake?

  When Joshua had seen poison present in his blood stream before, it had startled him for a moment. But he never got a chance to ask Jei about it. If Jei was already living with that much poison, then his body seemed to be adapted to it. With the soul crystal's knowledge, he understood it could be one of the mystical things about Jei’s body.

  He never thought he would see the poison fight back the very next day.

  On top of that, Jei was unconscious, unable to resist.

  Gate of healing. Yes, I need to open his gate of healing. It's going to be difficult, but I must try or this kid will die.

  Joshua utilized the secret technique the soul crystal had transferred to him and entered Jei's spinal cord where the meridian of healing originated. Black marrow filled it to the brim. It was secreting a hint of yellow liquid into Jei's bloodstream— the healing energy—but the quantity was so tiny that there was no way it could overcome the poison.

  Joshua flipped his hands. Calling upon his soul power, he conjured a soul flame, a unique flame that could burn the impurities away.

  He’d wanted to open Jei’s gate of healing slowly over time, but now he needed to do it before the poison killed the kid.

  His hands waved in an intricate motion, fueling the soul flame with his own soul power. It ached; his soul ached like someone was crushing it from all sides.

  Soon, the pain became so intense that every moment he burned the soul flame, it felt like his body was im
mersed in hot oil.

  Did he need to do it? Couldn't he give up?

  No. If he wanted to survive, he had to help the kid. Even if it burned his soul in half, he had to save the kid.

  Seconds passed, and then minutes. His own soul power started diminishing rapidly. Soon, it became too hard to continue.

  He was about to give up, not because he feared death, but because he had no soul power remaining.

  But blue light wrapped around him, and he gained access to unlimited soul power. It was Jei's soul power. Over the years, the soul crystal seemed to have nourished Jei's soul beyond comprehension. The good thing about soul power was that it could replenish slowly, unless someone broke it completely in two.

  Closing his eyes, Joshua pulled a thread out of Jei's soul power and replenished the soul flame in his hands. The soul flame slowly started burning and clearing the black marrow from Jei's gate of healing. But it wasn't enough. He needed more.

  There was no other way.

  Joshua drew harder on Jei's soul power and added it to the soul flame, turning it into a forest fire. The black marrow melted under the intense scorching pressure from the combined fire. But it was still painful, like a thousand blades were cutting through his flesh.

  Fuck this!

  Joshua endured. Moments passed, seconds passed, minutes passed, and 10% of the black marrow evaporated under the soul flame. By his calculations, it would finish in four hours’ time.

  But would Jei live that long? Joshua glanced at the flesh mirror.

  It didn't look good.

  Poison had invaded the first layer of Jei's flesh.

  At its current rate, it would take two hours to reach vital organs.

  I have to stop it somehow. But how? I can release the gate of healing, but at 20% it won't be able to stop the spread of the poison. The soul crystal said something about a poison dispelling pill, but I don't have one.

  The soul crystal had been passed down by an immortal. When Joshua consumed some of its power, it made a contract with him: to save Jei. The moment Joshua touched the soul crystal, he understood how powerful this world was. He didn't know all the answers, but the soul crystal showed him a way to co-exist alongside the kid. Why couldn’t he choose a win-win way? He didn't want to invade Jei's body.