by A P Gore
After finishing the two manuals, a tremor went through him. An immense pressure weighed on him.
Foolish.
A cold shiver passed through him as the dangerous road he had walked revealed itself. He’d been so close to death, but somehow snuck through.
How did I survive going through two different methods without any preparation and achieve perfect success?
If there had been the slightest mistake, he would have died.
Jei's mind filled with immense gratitude for Senior Joshua. Even though he didn't understand the techniques, he’d saved Jei in the end. If not for him, he would have surely died.
And then he’d accidently opened all Jei’s meridians, making his future path easier. So, the accident left him with a happy ending.
Okay. I must thank Senior a hundred times for this. And I’d better learn how to cultivate the Fiendgod circulation art first, to attack the second gate.
Jei sat cross-legged next to Xue and entered his soul palace. He had to learn the Fiendgod circulation before trying anything else.
Senior Joshua was nowhere to be seen in the soul palace. He must be sleeping, Jei thought.
Jei picked a spot next to the river and sat cross-legged. With eyes closed, he accessed the Fiendgod Body cultivation manual and focused on the circulation technique.
As he focused on the first step, gathering the heaven and earth's essence, small essence particles slowly floated around him, hugging his body.
How is this possible?
Energy rushed inside his physical body as the particles entered his soul. He didn’t understand what was happening. There shouldn't have been any essence in his soul palace. The reason he’d elected to practice the cultivation technique here was because he wanted to feel it. Soul palace meditation enabled him to absorb the mysteries behind the techniques. But absorbing real essence? That had never happened before.
"Kid, it’s good to see you. I was going to tell you about this soon," the senior said.
Jei opened his eyes to find Senior Joshua standing in front of him in a black robe that resembled Jei’s green robe. If it wasn't for his golden hair and blue eyes, the senior would have looked like someone from White Phoenix continent.
"Josh, this junior is all ears waiting for your wisdom." Jei clasped his hands.
The senior’s eyes shone with a mystic light. "Any more of your drama, and I'm fucking kicking your ass."
Jei chuckled. He had grown up knowing the importance of respect and giving face to elders, masters, and teachers. He had been doing it diligently but being with the senior was different. He could be free, say anything. The senior was like his long-lost big brother.
"It's a secret," the senior said. "You can't tell this to anybody. Not even your sister."
Jei's eyes narrowed. What kind of secret was it that he couldn't even tell his sister?
"When I descended into your body, I fought with the soul crystal, and in that process something happened. Your body mutated in some strange way. Do you see a difference in your soul palace before and after?"
Jei glanced around. He found no difference other than the new mountains and other things the senior had created. "The only difference is the mountains and river."
"That's fucking awesome, isn't it? Did you know, according to the crystal's memory, no one—even the higher beings—can create anything inside their soul palace? It always remains empty."
He sighed when he saw Jei's dumbfounded expression. "Okay, let me rephrase it. Normally, once you reach Heavenly Core realm, you can form a soul palace. But at first it’s only a tiny space. Enough for storing a drop of blood. But see how big your soul palace is?"
Jei glanced around. A drop of blood? He could store a sea of blood here. It was so huge that a mountain and a river could fit inside.
"Do you get it?"
"But my soul palace was half this size the first time I accidently came here," Jei replied in a confused tone.
"The second thing I learned about soul palaces is that they can't store anything inside them. Nothing other than its owner’s soul. And even getting your soul to enter your soul palace is a very troublesome process."
"So, this mountain, river..."
"Those are made of heaven and earth essence. Your soul palace can gather the natural essence and store it inside it."
What? Jei great flustered. Was he different somehow? "What's the use of that?"
The senior rolled his eyes at the calm river flowing in front of him. "I don't know much. But today I discovered a strange thing. Let me show you." The senior conjured a mirror in front of him. Jei's real body sat cross-legged in the mirror. Then senior sat cross-legged next to the river and closed his eyes. "I'm going to cultivate the Asura Body Cultivation art and use the inherent circulation technique. You concentrate on your real body in the flesh mirror."
As the senior went into deep meditation, small essence particles gathered around him, and at the same time a small number of essence particles spread across Jei's physical body visible in the mirror.
"Senior..." Jei was flabbergasted. The mirror showed his physical body gathering essence. So, when the senior absorbed the essence here, Jei’s physical body also had an influx of the essence?
The senior opened his eyes. "Did you notice the change?"
Jei nodded.
"Your body absorbs the natural essence and fills the soul palace slowly. This means that I can help you with cultivation. Though it'll be quite slower than you doing it yourself, it'll still benefit you as you have two different methods of cultivation."
Jei understood everything. "I'm going to spend my time cultivating the Fiendgod sixty percent of the time and the Drunken Master martial art forty percent of the time."
"And I'll cultivate at twenty percent efficiency in Asura Body - Poison Body for you. This way you can traverse two different paths." The senior wore a profound smile.
Jei beamed in happiness. His unique soul palace and the senior would solve a big problem for him.
"But Senior, what if I cultivate here? Will I use the essence from my soul palace?"
"Not actually. If you cultivate here, your real body will cultivate outside. That's another unique advantage a soul palace gives to the owner. It's your fortune that you have a soul palace so early in the game." The senior gave off a proud smile.
"Wow!" Jei couldn't believe it. This way he could train twenty-four hours a day. "Senior Joshua, I can't really express my gratitude toward you."
"Here let me make a wooden cabin for you. When you’re training, I'll sleep, and when you’re outside, I'll train for you." The senior waved his hand, and a cabin formed near the river. It had a small bed and a table inside.
Jei's eyes flashed with a new light. His path of cultivation had finally begun.
Chapter 25
Jei bowed to the senior and went inside the wooden cabin. It was made of five leaf wood, the most expensive wood one could buy. An intrinsic pattern marked it, like a beautiful dragon painting. Tracing his hands over the wood, he felt the smooth texture. It felt the same as the walls of Master Yu's study room. It too was made of five leaf wood.
In reality, the wall he touched was made of natural essence, and yet it felt just like the real thing. Even the unique sweet scent it gave off was exactly like real five leaf wood. How could it seem so real?
What colors would make it come alive on the canvas? Watery brown mixed with the thin shade of dark brown? Or would I need to add a hint of tarnish yellow?
He sighed. It was time to study the circulation art, not waste his time thinking about painting.
Jei sat cross-legged on the wooden floor and started going through the steps given in the Fiendgod circulation art manual. Seconds passed, then minutes, and a small number of essence particles appeared around him, covering him in a thin sheet of white. His body greedily absorbed the essence. As soon it entered his body, he sent it toward his first meridian. The essence passed through it and then into his flesh. Every cell in his body
hungrily absorbed the essence like parchment absorbing water.
Two hours passed, and his essence absorption slowed. His body gave off a sense of fulfillment. Once that happened, Jei concentrated on directing his energy to the second gate, the gate of opening. The gate was nothing but a small meridian connected to the top of his spinal cord and his brain. It was situated right next to his Gate of Healing and filled with black marrow. The essence Jei directed to it struck the black marrow and dissipated. It only broke away a fraction of the marrow. Less than 0.01 percent, actually.
It was a very slow process; he had to circulate the essence through his meridian first, and then redirect it to attack the second gate. The black marrow was stubborn like a stone, and his attack was like that of an ant. In one attack only a tiniest part of the black marrow would break and dissipate. After two hours of continuous attack, only a tiny fraction of the black marrow broke off.
When he was fatigued, Jei gave up and went back to the normal circulation method to replenish his body. Once again, his body hungrily absorbed the natural essence and filled with strength. Once he felt better, Jei again attacked his second gate of opening.
The cycle continued until daybreak, when Jei left his soul palace and opened his eyes.
"Big brother, go and wash yourself. You reek with a bad odor." Xue'er said as she spotted Jei opening his eyes.
"Sorry Xue'er. I was training." Jei was ashamed. He shouldn't have sat next to her head. He quickly went to take a bath and then cooked food for them.
"Brother Jei, you should go to Master Yu's workshop." Xue had a bit of sorrow in her voice.
"I can't. Until Brother Green comes back, I don't have access to poison."
"Kid, why don't you try circulating with the Asura Body circulation art?” the senior said. “You might be able to use that poison essence. Or you just sit relaxed and let me try it myself.”
"Okay Josh." Jei sent mentally and engaged Xue in some random talk. Though he was talking with Xue, his senses were focused on his body. It was absorbing a faint amount of essence and moving it through the first meridian in a different path than he had with the Fiendgod circulation art. At the end of the path, the essence was converted to poison essence, and his flesh radially absorbed it. He felt his own strength increasing slowly.
Half an hour passed, and his body was once again full in a different manner. It was a different feeling than being full with the Fiendgod body natural essence. It was like having two stomachs full of energy.
When the next cycle of circulation happened, the senior forced it toward Jei's index finger, and a drop of poison appeared there.
"Big brother, are you able to produce poison now?" Xue's eyes filled with wonder. She knew the struggle Jei had to go through to get the poison from Brother Green, so she was well aware of how important the poison was.
Jei noted the amusement on her face. "Yes, but don't tell anyone I can do this. Can you keep this a secret?"
"Off course, big brother. Little sister would never tell her brother's secret to anyone. I'm so happy that you won't have to get bitten by Brother Green anymore." Her voice lowered to a bare whisper when she spoke Brother Green's name. Jei knew she missed Brother Green very much. He missed him too.
"Don't worry Xue'er, Brother Green will come back safe."
Jei then left for Master Yu's courtyard. Master Yu wasn't present that day. Seeing Jei, Madam Yu reprimanded him for missing work, but when he told her that he was sick, she “forced” him to drink some of her tasty hot chicken soup. She was an excellent cook.
He then continued producing raw talismans with the others. Thanks to the senior, he could produce poison and continue circulating natural essence through his body. The only difference between earlier and today was his speed. Completing twenty talismans took only six hours today, while they’d taken ten hours before.
On the way home, they discussed the next step in Asura Body Cultivation, but for it to advance to the next stage they had to accumulate 500 types of poison—which seemed impossible at that moment. So, they settled on opening the second gate as soon as possible.
A couple of hours passed. He went to the market and bought two gourds of wine for his evening training session. Master Hei taught him the small parts of the first stance of the movement technique and fist technique.
Fifteen days passed like a breeze. One evening, Master Hei showed him the complete first stance of movement and fist art, slowly.
"Li Jei. I'm done teaching you the first stance of the Drunken Master Tiger divine art, now it’s up to you to comprehend it. Until you reach Xiantian realm, you can't practice the second stance. If you can learn the first stance in the next ten days, I'll give you the complete art. If you can't, then I can't help you anymore. Remember, comprehend. Don't mimic." Master Hei wandered off in a serpentine motion.
"And if you learn it in three days, I'll give you an extra jade slip!" Master Hei shouted before disappearing into his house.
Jei stood dumbfounded. The art of the Drunken Master Tiger was profound, and even the first stance was too difficult to understand, but the geezer wanted him to master it in five days?
Is he crazy or what?
Chapter 26
The first shadow of darkness settled on Jei's shoulder as the blue-robed Master Hei disappeared from his view. Dusk was already upon his physical body and on his mind. In a few days, Brother Green might come back, and Jei had no way to subdue him. Without a divine art, he was like a tiger without fangs and claws.
No, I can't let that happen. I must learn this technique in three days.
He walked back to his house with determination in his heart.
Inside, Xue was sleeping without a sheet, shivering slightly. A half empty food bowl resided next to her head.
A ball of guilt formed inside Jei's stomach. He’d failed as a brother. After giving her the food, he had left her alone without coming back to help her lie down.
I'm sorry Xue. He regretted his actions as he covered Xue. He was doing this for her, but if it hurt her what was point?
He must make her his first priority!
After throwing the remaining food away and washing the food bowl, Jei sat cross-legged and entered his soul palace to contemplate the mystery behind the Drunken Master Tiger divine art.
For the next one and half days, he practiced non-stop. He didn't even go to Master Yu's workshop, as he feared he would waste his time. Learning the technique was most important right now.
"Jei, we’ve got a problem." The senior suddenly roused Jei from his meditation state. For the last few hours, Jei had gone into a slumber state, replaying Master Hei's movements again and again in his mind. Though he had learned how to circulate the natural essence for the Drunken Master Tiger divine art, no matter what he did, he couldn't actually execute it. He failed again and again at the initial stage. By now, he doubted he would be able to succeed in a day’s time.
Jei opened his eyes. The senior stood at the door of the wooden house. He wore a blue-colored robe which looked nice on him. His golden hair seemed to have grown a tad bit. "What’s the issue?"
"I detected a fluctuation around my spatial bag. The guy who found it seems to be tampering with it. He might succeed this time. And if he fucking does, we'll lose all the valuables inside it."
"Ki Ning." Jei's eyes turned red. A flame of hatred grew inside him. "But he is at Qi Condensation level 3. How can we get it from him?"
"We have to, Jei. We have to be crafty about this. What are you afraid of? You’re a dual cultivator. Your body can heal a minor injury in a breath's time. You possess the explosive strength of Poison Body. You should be able to beat him in a straight fight." Senior stroked his ego shamelessly.
Jei nodded. "Do you know his whereabouts?"
"Yes. Due to my soul signature on the spatial bag, I can detect its location. It's actually not far from the place where you were attacked."
"Good, then let’s go." Jei left his soul palace. If the senior put such great importa
nce on this bag, then Jei would comply with his wish. From the moment the senior came into his life, good fortune had been bestowed upon him. Surely, this time something good would come out of this fight.
Jei didn't know how wrong he was.
Chapter 27
Ki Ning
When the duo entered the small patch of forest, Wei Shu closed his nose in disgust. The air smelled like dead bodies, but it didn't bother Ki Ning. He was used to dead bodies.
This patch of forest was called corpse forest, because it the smell of dead bodies wafted on the air every night. A peculiar plant, green dome lilies, grew here. They produced the nasty smell.
Generally, no one came to this part of the forest because of the green dome lilies and their itching poison, but a cultivator at the peak of the 3rd level of Qi Condensation didn't need to worry. He could easily dispel mild poison with a strand of qi from his dantian. And even if he had to suffer a bit of itching to open the spatial belt in his pocket, it would be worth it.
Ning moved away from the dirt road that lead to the Purple Cloud sect branch and sat below a one fire oak tree. He didn't want anyone to find out he’d gotten his hands on a spatial bag. That would attract calamity.
A spatial bag was a special kind of item that allowed cultivators to store a large number of items in it. Though Ning didn't understand the mysteries behind them, he knew they were very expensive. Even his big brother, Ki Pang—who was an outer disciple of the Purple Cloud sect local branch—didn't have one. Unfortunately, the bag he’d found was marked with some unknown qi signature and Ning hadn’t been able to open it.
He could, of course, give it to his big brother, and his brother would have some means to open it. But he would also take the treasures stored inside, leaving none for Ning. That would be unacceptable. He needed the treasures to break into the 4th level of Qi Condensation so he could enter the sect as an outer disciple.