Dual Body Cultivation

by A P Gore

  "I dare not. I have couple of questions about martial arts."

  Aunt Bei laughed. "That drunk? You think he'd has pointers for you? Alright, I'll tell him to stay home so he can answer your questions."

  "I must trouble you for it then." Jei clasped his hands once more.

  "If you're truly hoping to get answers from him, you’d better get him a gourd of wine." Aunt Bei winked and left their house. This was the first time she’d ever supported her husband’s drinking habit.

  So, Aunt Bei knew about Uncle Hei's excellent martial art talents.

  Tingles spread across Jei's body as the excitement took over him.

  AUNT BEI'S HOUSE WAS a bit larger than Jei's house. It was built using the One Leaf wood instead of the stones and loose soil like Jei's, so it was much sturdier. There was one extra room as well which aunt Bei used as her kitchen. The walls were painted with Tarnish Blue Ink paint—easily obtained from Tarnish Blue Ink trees, and cheaply available in the market. Most of the Poor White's district people used it to paint their houses. It wasn't only cheap, but it also produced a unique fragrance that kept filthy smells at bay. Jei had thought about painting his own house in the same paint, but his house’s lose walls wouldn't hold it, and it might come off in a couple of years. He just couldn't waste money like that.

  Jei sat on a wooden chair in the main room of the house, waiting for tea. Aunt Bei's tea was famous in the district.

  A medicinal aroma filled the outer room as Aunt Bei brought the tea in with her. She knew a bit about medicine and always prepared medicinal tea for Xue. For Jei too, if he was in the house.

  "Li Jei, enjoy your tea. Uncle Hei will be back any minute." Aunt Bei handed him a delicate ceramic cup with a flower design on it. It looked costly to Jei's eyes. The cups he owned were made from baked mud and didn't have paint on them. Maybe he could paint them himself. Why hadn’t that thought come to him before?

  "Thank you." Jei set down the wine gourd which he had brought from the market.

  Suddenly, the front door whooshed open and Uncle Hei barged in. He reeked of wine. His eyes were blood shot, clothes tattered.

  He snorted as soon as he saw Jei sitting there. "Li Jei. What are you doing here?" Then his eyes jumped to the wine gourd. "If you are here to give me that, then it’s fine. Wang Hei can allow you to stay in his house for a breath's time. Enjoy the tea and get out."

  "Uncle Hei, I’ve brought this for you." Jei picked up the gourd and smiled. "But I have some questions to ask first."

  Uncle Hei's eyes filled with greedy anticipation. He tossed the empty gourd in his hand outside through the still open door and rushed toward Jei.

  Jei flipped the gourd away. "Uncle Hei, questions?"

  Uncle Hei's eyes turned darker.

  "Okay. Two questions. And I can't guarantee I'll answer them."

  "I know you have the answers." Jei smiled, giving the gourd to Uncle Hei.

  Uncle Hei's brows connected. He had a strange look in his eyes.

  "Speak." Uncle Hei snatched the gourd from his hand and took a big gulp from it.

  "What's the logic behind the angle in the fist martial art?" Jei had grasped the feeling, but if he wanted to move forward, he needed to go beyond the grasp and understand the logic behind it.

  Uncle Hei smirked. "You're indeed clever for seeking the core of the issue. But did you really grasp what I told you?"

  Putting the empty tea cup down carefully, Jei stood and demonstrated the fist attack. Now he could activate the feeling twice in five punches.

  Uncle Hei nodded with approval. "Good. You're fast for a newbie. You've already achieved the Angle of the Fist realm. Good." He took another sip. "Okay, as you are my neighbor, I'll answer you." He paused, staring into oblivion. "Do you know our body has one hundred eight occupants?"

  "One hundred eight?" Jei knew some theory behind the occupants. These were the control points on the human body, and there was a medicinal branch which studied it specifically, but he didn't have any deeper knowledge than that.

  "Yes, one hundred eight. Those are your power points. Occupants. If I'm not wrong, you are training in Fiendgod body cultivation, right?"

  Jei nodded.

  "So, like these mysterious eight gates, the body also contains one hundred eight occupants, twelve meridians, three dantian and so on and so forth. Like your body cultivation, there exists a secret technique that opens up one hundred eight occupants to enhance one’s body. Unfortunately, it was lost. Though we can't train in the occupant’s body cultivation, we can still find out where one’s occupants are."

  He continued, "However, we can't really open them, yet we can manipulate them to our advantage. There is one in each of your arms. So, when you attack with your fist at a certain angle, it triggers the tiniest part of that occupant energy. Remember, tiniest, but that’s enough to increase your speed and power."

  "So, if I somehow trigger my occupant would my fist be powerful as yours?" Jei asked.

  Uncle Hei lifted the wine gourd as if to strike him with it. "Are you dumb? I've trained for...." He paused. "So many years. You’ve only been training for one day. How can that happen? It'll just increase your potential and nothing else. The base power, you’ll need to cultivate to higher realms." He sighed.

  "I embarrassed myself." Jei smiled, sheepishly.

  "Now ask your second question."

  "Can you help me achieve ten punches in one breath?"

  "Why do you want to do that? What divine art you are practicing?"

  "Hidden Dragon Fist"

  "Never heard of that. Can you tell me the theory behind it?"

  "I can show that to you." Jei pulled a piece of paper from his bag. He suspected Uncle Hei might ask about the divine art, so he had drawn the first three stances. His drawing skills were quite good, and he could mimic anything from memory just fine.

  Uncle Hei stared at the technique for a moment before his eyes went wide and he set the technique on fire.

  He turned to face Jei with bloodshot eyes. A deadly aura emanated from his body.

  An intense pressure beat down on Jei's body, like a mountain crashing down.

  "Li Jei, where did you get this?" Uncle Hei's voice echoed inside his mind. "If you lie even the tiniest bit, I'll kill you."

  Chapter 23

  Jei's heart slumped as he sensed Uncle Hei’s killing intent. His breath quickened, his chest constricted, and his mind went into a frenzy trying to figure out how he should answer. The temperature inside the normally cool room rose by a couple of degrees. His heart pounded like a hammer in his ears.

  "Senior, what should I do?" Jei sent mentally. He got no reply whatsoever. What was he going to say? That he had a soul crystal and the soul of an outsider in his soul palace? That would be crazy.

  "DON’T tell him about the soul crystal or me,” Senior said at last. “Just make something up. You're not supposed to have a soul palace. That's created when you reach later realms. This fucking fatty. Why does he want to know anything?" The senior's words ran together. Even he seemed to be frightened by the sudden pressure Uncle Hei was putting on them.

  "I found it in the forest near the Master Yu's house,” Jei said. “I was coming home from the workshop, and Ki Ning attacked me. He almost killed me, but when I was on the verge of dying, my Gate of Healing opened, and I was thrown some ways away. I found it there." Jei didn't think Uncle Hei would buy his lie. Heck, he didn't even make sense to himself. What the hell was he talking about anyway?

  The pressure on Jei's body increased once again. His heart pumped faster, and sweat poured out of him like a river.

  If the force increases one more time, I'll be dead.

  "Hei, stop pressuring the kid. You better not hurt him. Don't forget why we are here," a voice said from the corner of the room. Aunt Bei zipped forward and stood in between Jei and Uncle Hei. The pressure vanished. "Just accept that he found it in a fortuitous encounter. Don't you feel it's better this way?" Aunt Bei was a changed woman. Her voice
struck at Uncle Hei like a sword blow. Uncle Hei stepped back and focused on drinking from the gourd.

  "Hmm. It's good this way. But Li Jei, you can't practice this divine art until you become a heavenly core expert. I forbid you. Do you understand? Otherwise, you die."

  Uncle Hei's eyes were like a fiery dragon, ready to jump at Jei if he declined.

  "Josh, do you have any other technique I can use?" Improving his battle power was essential. If he wanted to give Xue a better life, he needed to improve his strength. Without the divine art, he would be nothing but a sword stuck in the ground.

  The senior sighed. "No, kid. I don't have anything else. That was the only divine art I received from the soul crystal. And there is nothing more coming from him."

  Jei felt his pain from that sigh.

  "Yes, Uncle Hei. I promise." Jei bowed his head. "But then I won't have a fist technique. You have to teach me one." Jei decided to gamble on this. Though he always seemed drunk, Uncle Hei’s fist could break a red pine tree in half. Whatever technique he used; it must be strong.

  "Scram!"

  A wave of wind pushed Jei a couple of steps back.

  "I think you can bestow the technique you created. Nobody would blame you for giving a helping hand to this kid here," Aunt Bei said.

  "I can't teach him Drunken Master Tiger art." Uncle Hei snorted.

  "Uncle Hei, please. I'll give you an extra gourd every month. Or every week."

  Uncle Hei's eyes shone with new light. "If you make it daily, then I’ll think about it."

  "Drunken bastard." Aunt Bei snorted and walked into the kitchen.

  Jei was taken back. Daily? 5 silver, daily?

  "Kid, say yes," the Senior said. “Once we get our hands on a two-colored bee and my spatial bag, we should have enough money.”

  "Okay, Uncle Hei. I'll give you one gourd daily. Can you teach me now?"

  Uncle Hei smirked. "Yes, but first go and get me a gourd for today."

  JEI RAN BACK TO THE market and bought a gourd of wine for Uncle Hei. Though it was already dark outside, and people were supposed to be sleeping, for a cultivator every moment was training time. And when a teacher was ready, Jei would have given up eating to learn. How did sleep even compare?

  Uncle Hei was waiting behind their houses, drinking wine and humming a strange tune. It was easy on the ears, but Jei didn’t recognize a single note of it.

  "Master Hei, I acknowledge you as my master." It was a tradition of the White Phoenix Continent. Even a half teacher who passed some knowledge needed to be respected. Jei wouldn't fail to pay respect to a teacher who would teach him a divine art. For Jei, Master Hei was like a god.

  "Leave the formalities and watch carefully. This Drunken Master Tiger divine art is a combined technique for movement and fist attack. The one you were practicing was too powerful for you to train, but this one can be used till—" He stopped abruptly. "That's not your concern. Just practice and use it."

  "Yes, Master."

  "Hmm. Watch this first." Master Hei moved toward a tree. To the naked eye, it seemed like he was moving drunkenly in a zig zag path, but Jei's houtian realm eyes could observe the seamless pattern in Master Hei's movement. He moved like a painter’s easy stroke. Not stopping anywhere, knowing exactly where to go. In less than a breath's time he had already reached the boundary tree that was 400 meters away.

  "Your speed..."

  The next moment, Master Hei stood in front of Jei once more. He was too fast. If Jei hadn’t known his master was executing a movement technique, he might have thought it was teleportation.

  "That's the first stance of the Drunken Master Tiger divine art: Drunken Walk. Now see the punch." Master Hei once again executed the first movement stance and reached the boundary tree in a breath's time. "I'm going to use only a hundredth of my strength and do it slowly for you to observe." He gulped from the gourd. " I'll teach you every day, until the gourd is empty. Once's that's finished, your time is done."

  What? How cruel could one be? But what other choice had Jei? He nodded in response. He peered intently, trying to grasp every single movement of the master's fist.

  Master Hei's arm moved. No, it actually rode the air like it was weightless. It was a completely bizarre movement, but when it stuck the red pine tree, a large crack spread across its trunk.

  "How— How did you do that, Master?" Jei's eyes were filled with wonder. He just couldn't see through the movement at all.

  "It's easy. You just have to have ten liters of wine in your stomach. For that one punch I expanded ten liters of wine's energy."

  Jei's jaw dropped. "Do I also need to drink wine to learn this?" Drinking wine to learn a technique? Was it worth it?

  Chapter 24

  Master Hei suddenly let out a thunderous burp. The odor of wine wafting from him became so intense that Jei felt like someone had thrown him in a wine tub.

  The rice in Jei's stomach threatened to come back up.

  I'll never drink such a disgusting wine.

  "Master Hei, do I need to drink wine to use this technique?"

  "I'm so sorry, Li Jei. But your wine is finished, so I can't answer your question. Take this jade slip, and practice moving your essence following the method written on it. Don't move qi, it won't work..." He paused. "Oh, I forgot you don't have qi. It should be fine. Tomorrow, come with another gourd and we'll talk."

  "Master, just one question. How do I read this jade slip?"

  "Tomorrow." Master Hei sputtered, then stopped. "Li Jei, how did you open your first gate? Did you use a cultivation method?"

  "Cultivation method? Don't I need qi for that?"

  "No, you circulate heaven and earth essence, not qi." Master Hei actually looked sober in that moment. "Did someone open your gate for you?"

  Jei wondered how he should answer this. "Yes, and no. Master Yu partially opened it to help me. And then when I almost died, the gate opened automatically. I don't know how." It was partially true. The senior had opened the gate when Jei was dying, so technically he told his master the truth.

  Master Hei's eyes burned with fury. "Is he a fool, or what? Trying to force open a kid's first gate with brute force? Really? Li Jei, consider yourself fortunate that you didn't die. Without circulating essence, you can't train in any method, be it a Body Cultivation or a Qi Cultivation. What a jerk..." He turned to go. "Bring two gourds tomorrow. I'm teaching you multiple things. You’ve got very low talent."

  Jei snorted and turned away. Dealing with a drunken master was troublesome. He went back into his house. Xue slept, motionless. A calm expression covered her face. She was a child of destiny and had the purest heart.

  "Senior, do you know how to read this jade slip?" To the naked eye, it looked like a small rectangular slip without anything written on it, but since Master Hei had given it to him, it should have something in it.

  "Kid, I know how to do that. Let me help you with that," the senior said. Suddenly, Jei felt his senses passing into the jade slip, and a technique became visible to him. It was a map, a map of meridians he would have to make natural essence pass through. It was quite complex.

  But how do we get the essence?

  Jei probed further into the jade slip and found a simple method for gathering and circulating essence through all the meridians.

  Great! Now, I just need to sit cross-legged and meditate to sense the essence.

  Jei smiled as he read about the circulation art senior imprinted on him. According to the information, whenever using the Drunken Master Tiger divine art he needed to circulate his essence using the specified method to his legs or his fists to achieve the desired result.

  There was another circulation method explained there too, which he could use to replenish his body’s strength at other times. It was a Copper Tier Body Cultivation art. Curious, Jei studied it in detail. He had access to two other circulation methods, but he had never studied them like this.

  Half an hour of study later, Jei better understood how Body Cultivat
ion differed from Qi Cultivation, adding to the knowledge the senior had already imprinted upon him.

  Qi cultivators also circulated natural essence, but it only moved through opened meridians and was converted into qi in their dantian. When they needed strength, they would use that qi as their fuel to attack, defend, and move.

  Body cultivators moved the same natural essence, but it didn't go to their dantian. Instead, they nourished their bodies with the essence. That nourishment provided them with explosive attacks, defenses and martial skills. But even for body cultivators, meridian opening was important. Until this, it was same as what the senior had said. But the senior hadn’t told him a method to move his essence through his meridians.

  That must be in the manuals Senior gave me.

  He compared the two and found that the circulation art was present in both manuals. Comparing them to what Master Hei gave him, it looked vastly different. According to Master Hei's method, it would take years to reach the houtian realm with continuous practice.

  Then how did I open my first gate and achieve Poison Body? I never circulated the essence, not even once.

  He quickly accessed those two manuals side by side.

  For Asura Body, he had to absorb a thousand drops of poison over a period of time. It required him to circulate natural essence through his first meridian, along with the drop of poison which would get converted into poison essence and be stored in his cells. The better the poison quality, the better his Poison Body would get. There was a list of animals whose poison could be used, and the myriad-eyed snake was among the top ten. He had achieved a perfect Poison Body, entirely by accident.

  So, the poison I took from Brother Green helped me in this way. But the circulation?

  He moved on to the Fiendgod Body manual. He was surprised that it was an earth cultivation art, while Asura Body was heaven level. To open his first gate, he had to circulate natural essence through the same meridian, but push it into his spinal cord and attack his Gate of Healing slowly. The manual described the method in detail.