“That doesn’t really make sense, but sure.” I said. Li Tian just shrugged, “It’s not really explainable, you will know when you experience it yourself. So have a go.”.
I shrugged, no need to tell me twice. I sat down, getting into my focused state.
A few after, I could sense the surrounding Qi once again, a subtle red spark was floating directly in front of my nose, so I opened my eyes which instantly snapped me back to normality.
I placed my finger where I best believed the spark to be, then closed my eyes again, going back into my focused state.
Eventually I saw the red spark again, I concentrated on it deeply.
Somehow, I resonated with it.
Enough to understand its feeling.
It felt exited and passionate, the sort of traits fire would be expected to have, having the urge to burn bright and fiercely.
The difficult part was to maintain my ability to see the Qi, and at the same time try integrate it into my finger. First of all, I didn’t even know how to do that yet, all I could do was try.
Surprisingly though, I managed to do it on my first try.
It turns out that I didn’t need to do anything, the act of understanding the Qi allowed me to resonate with it just enough that it just, happened.
Opening my eyes, I looked towards my index finger. It felt different, hot, and I felt it brimming with energy.
Li Tian had quite a surprised expression, “Wow, you got it first try also?”. Also? Can’t I beat you at something damnit.
I rolled my eyes at his comment, “If you could, why couldn’t I?”, I said in mock arrogance.
He gave a sly smile before speaking again. “So, what are you waiting for? Use it.”.
For some reason I could see him trying to hold back a laugh. That was odd. I shrugged inwardly though; I would need to try it anyways.
I saw a nearby pebble and decided to flick it. I placed my index finger, the one with the Qi, and put it behind my thumb. I aimed it towards the pebble and fired.
The pebble went flying. And I shouted in sudden pain. The skin on my thumb was was ripped open and my fingernail hurt like hell.
Li Tian burst out laughing, holding his stomach. Ha ha.
“It never gets old,” he said wiping some tears, as if he was a child, for some reason he found it extremely amusing.
“You must remember, Qi only gives you more power, so more strength and speed. It doesn’t aid your defence or toughness at this level. Always use it strategically”. He tells me only now.
To be fair, I should’ve realised that, but at the end of the day I'm only human. Its impossible to think of every single possibility in life, although this is a good reminder to be more aware.
Another thing, my index finger was now very sore, as if it was a muscle I had worked extra hard. I would need to gain more tolerance to Qi.
Despite it all though, I felt exhilarated. I had just used power beyond my understanding. Casually.
This was incredible. It was literally a dream of mine back on Earth, to wield superpowers. Having this actually happen felt extremely surreal.
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I couldn’t calm myself down, so I didn’t even try. A grin was stuck on my face for a long time.
There was no hesitation to continue, and I spent the entire day going through all my fingers.
Interestingly, the different elemental Qi’s felt different.
Fire Qi was the most explosive in power, it felt difficult to control and hot. Water was easier to control, much smoother in its execution and felt cool, but had less power. Earth Qi felt the most stable, solid like a mountain, its power was high too. Metal felt strong and rigid, but with a sharpness to it, hard to control with decent power. Wood had a gentle warm feeling, not much power and hard to control, however it gave me a weird feeling, as if it had traces life.
Each were amazing to use. All had pros and cons and quite frankly, I wish I could use them all in cultivation.
I imagined it, wielding all the elements and flying in the sky. But I knew my spiritual roots probably wouldn’t allow that. If I had any…
I was confident I did, but not completely sure on the matter.
The next day I continued with the Qi training, forgetting all about my plans of other types of training. My fingers were shot from the day before, so I moved onto other places.
Eventually most of my body was sore as can be, but the results were incredible.
I had even recklessly infused Qi into both of quadriceps and jumped as high as I could. I managed to leap at least three meters above the ground, it was pretty stupid though, because I had to fall right back down, which hurt. Although not as much as my muscles after it.
Throughout this, I was also getting much closer to Li Tian, he watched over my progress and was a great help, giving many tips that were helpful. He was really a great guy.
Even though I admittedly neglected my physical training, I did not slack with my reading. Easily reading through my new set of books and finding great interest in them all.
Although my gardening hobby had to be put on pause because of my now ultra sore body.
I sighed deeply four days after I first integrated Qi into my body, I knew I would have to stop ignoring everything but Qi training and reading.
The problem was that it was just so addictive, the power I felt was exhilarating.
I had to set a limit for myself though, it was way too much. One day of physical, the next would be Qi. Then repeat. I would take two days a week to rest. Yes, that is reasonable.
I also made sure to give time to my hobby.
The days flew by as another week went by. I got stuck into my schedule, I was getting much better physically speaking, although not a crazy amount of progress could be done in the short term, and my ability to integrate Qi into my muscles was way better now.
I could use much more power, but crucially I learnt to use little bursts of the Qi available. This way I could keep it going much longer. And my muscles were now more comfortable with it.
The sparring with Li Tian was much more intense now also. We started to use Qi once I learnt how to control it a bit more.
He still completely dominated though, but at least they were more interesting now.
After one particularly intense sparing match, I was supporting myself up with my wooden sword and chatting to Li Tian, I decided to ask something that was bothering me for a while.
“Why haven’t you started to cultivate yet? What’s stopping you?”. He mulled over how to answer me, “Well, cultivation techniques are closely guarded. My father and the elders of the family use techniques from the Cloud Sword Sect, for a price of course, however they cannot spread the technique to anyone, not even to me.”.
I had somewhat figured this would be the case, although a little more extreme than I had expected.
“So will we only be able to cultivate if we get into the sect?”, I asked.
“Quite eager huh? I understand it though,” he shrugged, “I am the same after all. We can only cultivate if we get accepted into the sect or pay a heavy price. But even if we pay, it wont be a high quality technique.”.
I was quite worried about not being accepted now. “Is there a way to better our chances of getting in?” I asked him.
“Nope.” He answered frankly. “Although I don’t think you need to worry much, from what I’ve seen I’m sure you will pass.”.
“What makes you think that?” I questioned.
“Instinct.”.
How helpful. Somehow it reassured me though.
“What are the requirements to pass?” I asked him. To which he just shrugged. “No idea, never bothered to ask. We either pass or don’t.” he simply stated.
His previous statement did not reassure me anymore, he didn’t even know what the test was…
I mean, he wasn’t wrong, but I’d still rather know. Unfortunately, I could only leave it to fate for now.
That was when the big man, Jiao, who spared with Li Tian on my first day at the training ground came over.
I had talked to Jiao a few times, he was very straightforward, but kind man. He greeted Li Tian and I, then turned towards me.
“Duyi, the Master wants to see you.”, he said. The Master? Must be Li Hong.
I had heard people talk about Li Hong, he was the Patriarch of the Li family, and the one who took me in. I could not delay in his summons.
I asked, “Where do I need to go?”. Jiao kindly offered to lead me the way to the main hall, where the Patriarch’s study was.
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