Chapter 2
The next day the children were awakened with the sunrise. Those that tried to sleep in were hit with tiny bolts of of energy. This energy sent waves of pain through their bodies and they screamed while spasms kept them on the floor. "When you are told to get up, you get up." one of the snake masked men said.
Once the pain went away, those that had been hit with the attack stood up. "Good, now all of you are to be tested. Not for potential, as the Dragons already tested for that, but for determination. We want to know which of you have the will to live. Will you fight to survive, like a predator, or will you roll over and die like prey? Only those with the will to live can survive here."
They were lead out into a courtyard, to where a sparring field was. "First lesson. Two shall enter the field, picked at random. The first to draw their opponent's blood gets to eat. The other goes without." The man pointed to two children. "You two, enter the field." The two hesitated and two masked men that were standing to the side grabbed them and carried them into the field. "Now, fight."
The two children stared at each other. They had been taught by their parents not to fight. How could they…? They hesitated for a few seconds, looking at the other one to see if they really wanted to fight.
Two bolts of energy left the instructor's hand and hit the two children, who collapsed to the ground in pain. "Maybe you failed to understand my command. If you do not fight, not only do neither of you get to eat, but you both will feel pain. The tiny jolt that was used to wake you was only a fraction of the pain this technique can inflict. Every time we are disobeyed, the pain will increase." The two had stopped jerking on the floor and now panted for breath. "Now, are you going to fight, or are you going to experience even greater pain?"
The older boy struggled to his feet a few seconds before the younger boy, and walked over. Just as the boy started to stand, he punched the boy in the face. It was a week swing, but it made the already weakened boy lose his footing and fall down. When he stood up a second time, his lip was bleeding slightly.
"See, that wasn't so hard, was it?" the man said, and tossed the older boy a hard lump of flour that was used as field rations by the militia. "Next, you two." The other two boys left the stage and two more entered it. While they seemed afraid at first, when the master told them to begin one boy ran at the other and slapped him as hard as he could. That didn't quite draw blood, and the other one punched him in the face, making his nose bleed.
The rest of the morning combat went smoothly. Ponma tackled his opponent and slapped him until his lip was split and Shen fought dirty, kicking the boy in the stomach and clawing at his fase with her uncut finger nails. This meant that they were both allowed to eat breakfast.
After practice, at eleven in the morning, they were lead to a side room. Inside were twenty bunks on either side of the room. For a total of forty beds. "This is the housing for the outer disciples. This is where you will sleep until you earn a place in the inner sect. There are toilets over there and a sink over there." he pointed to the locations. The man placed a basket of hard biscuits on the table, one for each child, and locked them inside.
After eating the girls took turns blocking the toilet and bathing area off for each other, then the boys did the same. Even in prison, one must behave properly.
At noon they were lead into a different training field. This one had dummies set up around the outside of it. The snake master motioned to a bowl of pills on a table near the doors. "These are Blood burn pills. The power we used to make you feel pain was developed by mimicking the power of these pills. There is much power trapped within the blood, and you must learn to harness that power." The children were each ordered to step forward and take one of the pills, but not swallow it. "When you swallow this pill, you will start to feel a burning sensation inside your stomach. This is the power that you blood releases when it is destroyed by the pill. You are to take that power and channel it into your palm, then throw it at the target in front of you. If you refuse to use the energy, know that the pain will only increase until you release it."
Every child was ordered to swallow their pill. Some of them refused, only to have one of the other snake people force it into their throat where it started to burn there. The children then swallow instinctively, putting the pill in their stomach where it was supposed to be.
Shen swallowed hers without being forced, and felt her stomach start to burn, like holding her hand over a candle. She forced herself to ignore the pain and focus on the energy that was causing it. The strange red energy swirled around her middle dantian, trying to force itself inside. Thankfully, the shell she had built around it when she advanced to the Gathering stage was holding back the energy, but she could feel it eroding. "This is just like the Torch Palm technique." she whispered to herself as she touched the energy with her mind, drawing it out into her palm. The energy lessened for a few seconds before starting to recover to its previous level. The chi was strange, like it hated life, but she ignored that for the moment and forced it into a ball. After twenty seconds of concentration it formed a rough ball in her hand, and she threw the ball at the target. Her aim was terrible, and it flew wildly to the side, but at least she could remove it from her body.
Many of the children either stood doubled over or laid on the ground in pain, clutching their stomach. Thanks to her assistance with other chi techniques, however, Ponma had managed to take some of the energy and place it outside his body, into his palm, but not throw it. She could tell he was in pain, but she couldn't help him at this moment. She fired four more chi bolts with the strange chi before it started to dissipate.
Now that her own levels of the energy were low enough that it wouldn't grow out of control, she ran over to Ponma and started instructing him. "I can't reach into your body and take the chi from you, but you can already remove it from your body. All you need to do is direct it away from you. Imagine it becoming a stone in your palm. Believe it is a ball or stone, and it will obey."
He looked at her as if he barely understood the words she spoke, his teeth clenched in agony, but soon decided to try. He focused on the energy and tried to will it into a ball. The energy slowly started to take shape, but the distraction of the pain made it too difficult.
"Throw it away from you." she said, seeing him start to lose control. He willed it to fly towards the target, and it flew two meters in that direction before dissipating. "Good, now again. Cast it enough and the pain will go away." She gathered the last of the blood chi in her body and formed a small ball with it, and threw it at his target. It missed the center, but still hit. "Like that."
He tried again, and this time it was easier. It took him seven attempts before the pain started to subside.
Shen breathed a sigh of relief. If she could teach the other students to do this, it wouldn't hurt them anymore. She started to move towards one of the others that had managed to release the chi but was blocked by an adult. She looked up and noticed that it was the main Master that had brought them out here. "Interesting." he said. "Tell me, little girl, have you used chi before? You seemed to learn the lesson quickly."
"My name is Shen." she responded.
"Those of the outer sect do not get names, little girl. If you want me to call you that, prove that you are useful and you can be moved to the inner sect. Now, tell me if you have used chi magic before."
Knowing that she couldn't lie to him and not be hurt, she nodded. "Only the Torch Palm technique. But rather than spreading out the chi, I compressed it into a ball, the way your people use it."
The Master nodded. "Good. You have potential, then." he pulled a piece of dried fruit from his ring. "Here, little girl, this is your reward for doing so well in the lesson." He then addressed the others. "You may leave when you manage to release all of the energy from your body. Just know that if you fail to do so by evening meal, you will be locked into the training field and have to sleep outside tonight." With that he left.
Shen returned to trying to instruct the others and soon seven of them had learned well enough to go to the other children and try to help them. All but one of them had managed by the time the bell calling them to evening meal had rung, and the children were forced to leave the boy behind. Shen tried to carry him out but was stopped by a guard. "You may leave, he must stay." the guard said. Shen knew she couldn't defeat the guard in combat, so she laid the boy on a bench to make him as comfortable as possible and left for the meal hall.
After supper the children were locked into the bunkhouse. There were board games and cards, but most of them were too tired to do anything for entertainment and went directly to bed. The boys took the half of the room to the left of the door and the girls took the right half. There was only one more boy than girl this time, as one of them was left on the field, so there was no need to place someone on the opposite side.
The next day, they were taken to the combat field once again. "Today a simple wound will not be enough." the masked man said. He placed a box of knives on the table. "You must draw blood with a blade. The first to do so will be declared the winner, and will get to eat morning meal. The other will go hungry. Do not worry about injuring the person too much. We can repair any damage you do with these knives."
He stepped back and let the children take one of the blades. They were long and thin, and quite sharp. On their blades strange symbols were carved which Shen could not read. Some sort of talisman? She took one and, seeing that it had a string tied to it, tied the knife's sheath to her waist.
Once everyone had gathered at the field, the adults started calling people to fight. She was paired up with an eight year old boy, the same one that had failed at the magic practice yesterday and had to sleep outside. He held his dagger shakily and his legs shook as well. Clearly he was terrified. "Begin." said the instructor, and Shen drew her dagger and walked towards him. He made no effort to come at her and, in fact had moved away from her.
"Fine, then, I'll end this quickly." she said. She lifted her dagger and he moved his up slightly, closing his eyes. Maybe a morning without a meal will teach him determination, a lesson she had learned as an orphan through similar means. She sliced downward and cut the back of his hand. He screamed and dropped the blade, clutching his wounded hand with the other hand.
Ponma at least had a proper fight and, though he lost to an older boy, he at least managed to dodge a few times.
After combat the master addressed them. "Congratulation, winners. As a reward for winning your first battle, you may keep your blade. The others will need to turn them in, but can borrow them again for the next combat session." He pulled out a basket, proper bread this time. "This is also your reward, as you did not hesitate to do what you must, even knowing your opponent and possibly even being friends. You have until noon off. Come to the dining hall at eleven if you want to eat, but make sure you are at the magic field at noon or you will be sorry."
Many of the children were saddened by the reminder of what happened yesterday at the magic field, but knew that if they failed to arrive they would receive even more pain.
After eating her loaf, Shen returned to the bunkhouse. Many of the children there were playing cards or board games, but she sat at the foot of her bunk and started to meditate. Soon, several other children came over to her. "Big sister." one of the girls said. She opened her eyes. "I noticed that yesterday you managed to perform the best in the magic practice. Do you think you could teach us?"
Shen smiled. "I can teach you what I know, but it will be up to you to practice it."
The girl smiled in return. "That will be enough."
For the next two hours she lead them in meditation, teaching them to manipulate the chi inside their bodies. Few of them had any skill, despite the instruction of the Jade Masters on the journey here, but soon she had them doing a proper Cleansing meditation, cycling chi throughout their body to drive out any toxins that might block the flow of chi within them. Some of the girls got sick and had to run to the bathroom, but most only got covered in a black or gray oily substance and had to wash themselves and their clothes. The boys and girls in the group each took turns blocking the other sex from entering or looking at the area and, by middle meal everyone had finished bathing.
The meal at the Dining Hall was simple hard biscuits, as they were still trainees, and after grabbing one and a glass of water they made their way to the magic training field. Many of them soaked the bread in their water to soften it up. Soggy bread was better than chipped teeth, after all.
Today's magic lesson was the same as yesterday's but they had to take two pills each. The children were reluctant to take them, but the second that master of the field formed a ball of blood chi in his hand they stopped resisting.
Shen lined up and took her pills. The energy flooded into her even faster, but because she was used to it she was able to form chi bolts almost as fast as it built up. She threw them at the training dummies and after thirteen shots the energy started to go away. She threw another three to get rid of the rest of it. Her accuracy had greatly improved and she managed to hit the dummy's chest about half the time.
Once she was finished she noticed that several of the other children were managing to throw the bolts as well. Most of them were the ones who managed to handle the pain yesterday, but some were from her chi lessons a few hours ago. She walked around instructing those that were in too much pain and soon everyone had managed to release at least a little of it into their palms.
The master gave the same condition as yesterday. If they complete the lesson, they may leave. If they don't finish by evening meal, they had to sleep outside again. Shen stayed behind to instruct the others and, about an hour before the evening meal, the boy who slept outside yesterday managed to form his first ball of chi and throw it at the target. While he never managed to hit the target, and barely managed to reach it, he was at least making progress. All of them got to sleep inside tonight.
Shen lead most of them in a meditation session that night, and the next morning they were lead to the combat field again. After the half of the group that didn't get to keep their dagger grabbed one from the basket, the instructor spoke. "Now that all of you know how to use chi, thanks to yesterday's lesson, you can learn how to use magical items. These daggers contain an array that converts any chi given to it into blood chi, to hurt the opponent even more. Your test today is simple. Put chi into the blade and draw blood. The blood chi will enter the opponent and cause them pain. Do this correctly, and you will get to eat morning meal, whether you win or not. Fail to do this, and I will demonstrate the technique by using it on you." The master then chose two children and they stepped into the ring.
Several children failed to activate the effect before attacking, and their injury didn't count. Once both children had managed to successfully use the technique, or one had been completely defeated, the match was over. Shen was paired up with Ponma, and, though he was faster than her, she managed to land a blow first. He screamed in pain from the slight cut and lunged at her, glancing her arm with the blade. A sharp pain filled her arm and she felt like it was on fire. Her hand started shaking in response to the pain, so she switched the dagger to her left hand.
"That is enough." said the master. "Both of you landed a successful blow. Tomorrow you shall fight until one surrenders or loses consciousness, but not today."
She was lead off the stage to a table where one of the snake people sat. The person formed some blood chi in her hands, but it had a blue haze to it. The person touched Shen's injured arm and, though it hurt, the skin began to knit together. "Better?" the person asked. Judging by the pitch of the voice it was a woman.
"Yes, ma'am." Shen said, and the woman nodded.
"In that case, you had better return so that you can get your reward. From what I saw, you will likely be declared the winner."
Shen returned and the Master declared Ponma the victor, if only because he continued to fight after she injured him, whereas she was shaking so badly that she left herself open to attack. Still, both had passed.
After morning meal everyone returned to the bunkhouse where all of them joined in with the meditation. After both the boys and girls had washed the goo from their bodies they went to the dining hall, Shen in the lead, where they all got their biscuit and water and went to the magic field.
After they had eaten, the master addressed them. "Today's lesson will be a contest. Now that all of you can properly fire a Blood Bolt and can handle at least two pills, we will see who is the best. Your reward today will be in Contribution points. Consider them the money that most sects use. They can be used to purchase many things within the sect, from clothing to technique scrolls, to better food in the dining hall. Today's prize, five contribution points, is enough to buy a good meal in the dining hall, and will go to the person who can score the highest on their test dummy." The children had seen other disciples eating proper stew and bread, and drinking things other than water. Three days of eating travel biscuits had them all craving something better.
The master lifted a piece of cloth with a target on it in the shape of a chestplate. "This is a target from one of the dummies. The outer circle is worth one point, the next two points, the next three, and this small inner circle, where the heart is, is worth five." He motioned towards the basket of pills. "Everyone must take at least two pills today, though you don't need to take them at the same time like yesterday. You may take as many as you wish, though." The children looked surprised that anyone would do that. "Every pill gives you more blood chi to work with, and more chances to earn points. The one at the end of the training with the most total points will be the winner and receive the contribution points."
With that he stepped back and let the children come and take the pills. Most only took two, but Shen took six and Ponma five. Once she was at her dummy she put one pill in her mouth with her left hand and started firing blood chi bolts with her right. Every time the energy started to die down, she put another in her mouth.
After one hour the master called an end to the practice and totaled up everyone's score. Shen was in first place, with a score of one hundred and thirty three, but Ponma wasn't far behind with a score of one hundred and twenty one. Few others beside those two had taken more than the two required pills, so most of the scores were in the single digits, with the third place having a score of only seventy two.
Shen was given a small copper bracelet with a Jade coin on the top. The master tapped his own bracelt to it and transferred five contribution points. "You will learn to transfer points soon." he told her when she looked at the bracelet in surprise. He then addressed the other children. "A few of you barely even tried. Fail to put in an effort tomorrow, and you will be fined five points. You will then have to take on punishments to earn enough to return to a balance of zero. Dismissed."
The children started to walk out of the training yard and Shen walked over to the instructor. "Instructor, sir?" she asked, and he looked at her.
"Yes, little girl?"
"May I take some of the Bloodburn pills with me? I wish to cultivate with Blood chi in my body so that I can learn to deal with the pain."
The man shook his head. "Outer disciples are not allowed to possess pills outside of designated areas, like the clinic, supply room, or training fields. I can, however, let you and anyone else who wishes to practice with them remain here where I can supervise you, and you can meditate here."
Shen looked around at the other children. Many of them wished to return to the bunkhouse and rest, but around half agreed to stay here with her. She nodded at the master. "In that case, may we use the field to meditate?"
The man nodded. "By all means."
Chapter 3
Most of the children only lasted thirty minutes before the pain got the better of them and they were forced to discharge the blood chi into the targets. Still, they didn't wish to leave, as this was a good opportunity to practice, so they continued to take pills and launch attacks at their targets.
Shen and seven others, including Ponma, worked to adapt to the blood chi. Like all chi other than Neutral, your body couldn't naturally handle it. You had to work with it until your body adapted to it. The Jade Master had said as much to them during one of his lectures two weeks ago, but few of the children paid attention. "Elemental chi must be taken in balance. While your body can handle a slight imbalance, the larger it becomes, the worse the symptoms you will experience. It is only through practice with the elemental chi that one can learn to withstand the effects of the imbalance." Shen thought that Blood Chi must be like that, but that either it had no balancing chi type, like the elements balanced each other, or they simply didn't know the balancing type.
Over the next few hours she managed to reach a point where she could handle having four pills worth of blood chi inside her without being distracted by the pain, and three with only minor pain. When the evening meal bell rang, however, she got up. Many of the others had left, but Ponma and the boy who had gotten third place remained behind. She couldn't remember his name.
"Thank you for the opportunity to train, master." she said, bowing to the man.
"No, thank you for staying. It gets lonely here, watching the field alone. Seeing the young using it brings joy to my old heart."
Shen nodded, thanked him again, then went to the dining hall, her group following behind her. She went to main line instead of the free line like the others, and when she got to the front she explained that she had just earned Contribution points that day and didn't know how to use them. The cashier woman instructed her to think of how many she wanted to transfer, then tap her bracelet to the other Point device. To demonstrate the woman sent her one tenth of a point and had Shen return it. Once she had succeeded Shen bought a bowl of stew for three points, a small loaf of bread for one, and a glass of fruit juice for another. She returned to her table and let all of the other children that had meditated with her taste the stew before finishing it herself.
She returned to the bunk house after eating, seeing the sun start to set. The pain from the Blood Chi was still inside her, as she hadn't released it at the field, but she had done so on purpose. She wanted to circulate it even more tonight, in hopes of getting over three hundred points tomorrow.
She opened the door to the bunk house and stepped inside, followed by the others that had meditated with her. "Where is everyone?" she asked out loud. She now realized that she hadn't seen them in the dining hall either.
A few children stirred in their beds and one got up to answer the question, her face streaked with tears. "The snake people came and took them." the girl said. Shen recognized it as the one that had asked her to instruct them in meditation yesterday. "They said that they were the ten worst performers, and didn't fit in. Since they weren't even fit to be outer disciples, they would use them for a different purpose."
Shen looked at the girl in shock. She didn't know what they would do to the children, but judging by how freely they used pain on the children, they were at best being tortured or beaten. Shen ran towards the door but an adult stepped inside and closed it behind them. "I can't allow you to leave." the man said. "I know this is hard for you, but this is the way of the world, and you must learn to accept it. The weak must suffer, or even die, so that the strong can succeed. You will learn this lesson eventually. I only regret that you must learn it so soon." Shen tried to move around the man but he grabbed her by the arm and drug her back to in front of himself. "I told you, I can't let you leave. Remain calm and you will soon be able to leave. We simply can't allow you to interfere with the ritual."
It was a ritual that they were to be used for, then. Shen knew what that meant. The man mentioned the weak dying, and a ritual, and she knew that this sect loved to use blood magic. From the stories she had read that could only mean that the children's blood was going to be used for a ritual, and it was unlikely that they would survive.
Shen had no choice. She had to free her friends and escape from this place. Maybe if they got out of the castle they could hide out in the woods until the Jade Dragon Sect could rescue them? They would need to be able to defend themselves, but more than half of them had daggers and all of them could use blood bolts. At least, they could if they had Bloodburn pills to give them Blood Chi. That was when she remembered that she still had four pills worth of Blood chi within herself. She didn't know how much pain that would put the other man in, but she had to try. If they could get past that man, they could take the pills from the training field and run, and would have enough pills to protect themselves until help arrived.
She turned like she was going to walk away, then started to create a ball of Blood Chi with both hands. The man was unable to see it, however, because it was behind her from where he stood. Once she had formed a ball the size of her fist she turned around and threw it at him. The man's eyes opened in surprise as the ball hit him in the chest, throwing him backwards into the door.
He collapsed on the floor and started jerking like he was in intense pain, and his chest started to smoke. As Shen watched the cloth of his robes fell away where she had hit him and the skin started to bubble. Several children vomited at the sight of this, but Shen managed to stop herself. "Come on." she said, and ran outside, hoping the children would join her.
As she ran for the training field she heard the alarm bell start to sound. How had they figured it out so quickly? Had the man been under watch? As she looked around for answers, however, she noticed over a hundred black streaks in the sky, flying at them from the direction of the setting sun. The Jade Dragon sect must have finally arrived.
She lead the children into the training field, but the instructor stepped in front of her. "You are not allowed to be here at this time. In fact, it is my understanding that all outer disciples are currently restricted to their quarters. Please return there, or I will have no choice but to stop you."
"I'm sorry, sir, but I can't do that. They are about to kill my friends, and I need the Blood Burn pills to stop them."
The man shook his head. "That is something I cannot do. The ritual you wish to stop is being carried out by the Sect Master himself. If anyone were to aid you, they would be executed, just like you will be if you continue this madness. Please, return to your room."
"The Sect Master will be stopped soon enough." she said to him. "I believe the Jade Dragon sect are attacking in order to get us back, and they won't stop until we are freed." She was pretty much parroting a line she read in a Cultivator novel, but it sounded good in her head.
The man nodded his head with sadness. "I believe that as well, however, my orders are clear. I cannot allow you in this place and you must return to your quarters. I'm sorry."
Shen nodded. "So am I." She formed a Blood Bolt in her palm and fired it at him. He collapsed on the ground, his body curling up from the pain.
Ponma went over and took the keys from his waist. "I'll check the warehouse." he said. "My father was a merchant. I can at least do that." Soon he came out with several medium sized jars of Blood Burn pills and one of a second type. The label read "Blood Recovery pills." He wasn't sure what they did, but it sounded like medicine, so he knew they would be important.
All of the children there took two Blood Burn pills, having adjusted to that many through meditation, and they left for the main building, seven other fighters behind their leader. Many of the inner sect members ignored them, noticing that the Jade Dragon invasion was a bigger threat, but some tried to stop them. To that, Shen could only respond with a blood bolt. Only a few of them realized that this was more than just a group of Outer Disciples breaking the rules and fired back. Two of the other children had been hit by attacks from the Inner Disciples, but the adults had held back the strength of their attack enough that the children recovered within a few minutes. The children, however, didn't hold back and the adults were left on the ground unconscious or writhing in pain.
Soon they managed to reach the central building of the castle. "Magical Research" the door was labeled. They tried the door, but it was locked. Next, Shen gathered up as much blood chi as she used on the first guard and threw it at the lock. It made a sizzling sound but did nothing to the lock.
With no choice, she decided to use her strength. She picked up a stone statue nearby and started striking the door with it. The door shook and bits of wood chipped off, but it didn't break.
"Excuse me." said a man behind her. She started to form a blood bolt in shock, but then noticed that he wasn't wearing a snake mask. He dressed like a martial artist, wearing the same style pants that the men of her village wore when doing combat training. The man knelt down. "Hello. My name is Yu Bang. I'm a Foundation level body cultivator from the Jade Dragon sect." He pointed to the blood bolt in her hand. "Those things are kind of dangerous. Are you sure you want to play with them?"
"I know what I'm doing." Shen said, then threw it at the lock, hitting its center.
"Not bad." said Yu Bang, "But since blood chi doesn't do much against iron locks, and would only scar the wood, do you mind letting a strong man give the door a try?"
She nodded and stood back. Yu Bang stood up and ran his shoulder into the door. The wood flexed and a large crack formed down it. Yu slammed into it a second time and one of the doors split in half, causing the other one to fly open. Two snake masked men inside fired at them, but the children returned fire, being careful not to hit Brother Bang, and the snake men fell over in pain.
"Not bad at all." said Yu Bang, rubbing Shen's head. She was about to tell him to stop when another man landed his sword near by. They actually flew on swords like the stories said!
"You want to deal with the children or fight?" asked the man.
"I'm going to fight." he said, then took a few steps towards the destroyed door.
"Fine, then. I'll wait with the kids until someone else arrives." The man touched his sword and it glowed before shrinking and disappearing into his rings. Storage rings were real too? Now that she thought about it, the Snake Master had given them bread from his own rings. "Hello, kids." the man said, looking nervous. "I'm Lo Chang. Foundation level magic cultivator. We should probably stay outside, so no one gets hurt."
"But we want to fight." said Ponma.
"Yeah, they have our friends and are going to kill them in some sort of ritual." added the third place guy. Din something? Dan? Shen really needed to learn his name.
"Oh." the man said. "That sounds important."
"Don't patronize us!" shouted Shen, also copying a book she read, as another woman landed beside her. The woman was probably in her fifties and also flew on a sword.
"In that case, how about I leave you here with Elder Sister Gin Sha and I go look into it." Chang looked up at Gin Sha and, without waiting for a response, ran off to join the battle.
"Come on, children." the woman said, "Let's let them handle the fight and go back to the bunk house."
The other children started to leave with her, but Shen stood where she was. After a few seconds the woman turned around. "What's your name?" she asked.
"Shen." Shen answered.
"Let's head back to the room, Shen." she said, holding out her hand.
"No." Shen said defiantly, confused by the sudden change. "I have to rescue the others."
"The other Jade Dragons are fighting them. Let the adults fight."
"But I want to help them."
The woman looked and her and a scolding tone entered her voice. "Don't argue. The front line is no place for a little girl. Now come on."
"No." said Shen, stepping back and raising her hand as a red ball formed in her palm.
"Then you leave me no choice." the woman sighed and flicked her wrist. A green cloud flew from her hand and struck Shen in the face. Suddenly Shen was very, very tired, and fell to the ground, the blood chi harmlessly dissipating from her hand.
When she woke up she was lying in a bed. The first thing she realized was that it wasn't in the bunk house. It was too comfortable and the sheets were too nice. The second thing she noticed was that she couldn't feel the blood chi inside of her.
"Hello." said a woman as she walked over. The woman had green hair and looked to be in her late teens. "I'm Emma. What's your name?"
"Shen. Mo Shen." she responded. "Where am I?"
"You are in a clinic in Jade Dragon Town. You were brought here after your rescue so that we could help you. You and seven other children had some sort of demonic chi inside of them, and we had to remove it. I think it was affecting your brain. Making you violent."
"No, I…" Shen thought about it. Was her willingness to hurt people that got in her way because she was being corrupted? Did the blood chi make her throw a tantrum? "It's called Blood chi." she said. "Those pills we had produced it."
"Oh, yes, those." Emma said. "We had to take them away and put them into storage. They were really dangerous. The Blood Recovery pills are over there, though."
"Oh, those. We weren't sure what they did, but they sounded like medicine. What do they do?" she asked out of curiosity.
"Oh, they make you recover from blood loss faster. They will come in handy if the Body Cultivators go too far in their sparring sessions again. It's almost as if they like getting cut. So, are you feeling okay? If so I can take you to the other children." Shen nodded and Emma gave her a set of clothes. She noticed that her dagger wasn't with them. They probably considered it a demonic relic. If only she hadn't left her hatchet with her backpack back in the village. She didn't like being helpless now that she had been able to defend herself.
Once she had put on the simple robe and sandals Emma lead her to a nearby building where all of the children were waiting. Unlike her village, where the buildings were mostly made of wood and used wooden shingles to keep the rain out, this building was made of plastered stone and had clay tiles on its roof. The building had many rooms in its hallways and the walls were also covered in plaster. "This is the Recruit building. You will be given a room here until you turn thirteen or one of the families in the sect want to adopt you."
"Wait, I'm going to be adopted?" she asked. It was a strange feeling for an orphan to know that someone might want to adopt her.
Emma shrugged. "Maybe. But even if you aren't, the sect will do everything it can to give you what you need to grow up strong and healthy, and to cultivate." Emma left her in the room with the other children and went back to work.
An hour later she was given a room with one of the other girls, Wong Mae, the eight year old that asked her to teach them cultivation a few days ago. After evening meal she went to the common room and lead Wong Mae and anyone else that wanted to join them in cultivation. Most of the others just wanted to rest, but a few, including Ponma, joined her.
Chapter 4
Master Xing entered the well lit room. Several Nascent Masters were standing around talking, but stopped speaking when he entered the room. "Report." he said.
"Master." one of the men said. "All people accounted for. Twenty nine children were recovered out of the initial thirty seven recruits."
"Meaning the Black Serpents killed eight of them."
"Yes, sir." he said with a hint of sadness in his voice. "Only two inner sect members lost, both Foundation stage. The cultists seemed to stick to that blood bolt spell they favor so, while our people were in intense pain, only two of them died. One from falling off of his sword onto the stone pavement head first after being hit, and another because he got close to a cultist and they stabbed him in the heart with a relic dagger."
The Immortal Master Xing nodded. "Continue."
"There is also one Foundation level member missing, a Lo Chang. However, since many people saw him jump through the portal, including yourself, we know what happened to him. We just don't know how to get him back."
Master Xing looked at an elderly man in silver clothes. "Master Wu. You are the master of Arrays and Formations. Do you think you can figure out where their ritual sent him?"
"I do not know, Master." said Wu. "Their methods aren't exactly the same as ours. I will, however, take a team and investigate. If it is possible, I will bring him back."
---
The next morning, after morning meal, the children were lead to a building in the inner ring of the town. The outer part of building was a hallway with chairs, and there was only one door to the inner room on the opposite side of the building, so that you had to walk halfway around the building to enter the room. Inside the inner room there was another stone on a pedestal, which had a jade tablet behind it. The walls were lined by dozens of identical devices, identical except for the monster part inside of it. "Hello, children." said the white-haired woman that stood just inside the room. Despite that hair color she was at most thirty five years old. "I am Tia Wuxan. You can call me Sister Wuxan. This is the hall of traits. It is here that you will be accessed to see if you have any special bloodlines or physiques. If you do, I will help instruct you in anything unique about yourself that you might need to understand."
One of the boys raised his hand, and Sister Wuxan pointed at him. "Does that mean you want to make sure we aren't monsters trying to sneak in?" he asked.
"Not really." she answered. "In fact, if you were monsters, we would congratulate you on remaining in human form for so long and be excited to accept you. Some people, though, are at least half human, but have ancestors who were monsters or magical creatures. My grandmother, for example, was a forest cat, so I have really good reflexes and can see in the dark. Other than that…" she brushed the hair away from her ears to reveal that they were slightly pointed and had tufts of hair on the end of them. "It isn't really that important, but sometimes there are certain things we need to keep in mind like personality traits, or food requirements, or even special abilities that you might have, like my reflexes. Now, if all of you will wait out in the hallway, I will test you one at a time. This needs to be private, but I wanted all of you to see the room before you waited so you aren't worried about the testing." Some of the children complained a bit, but they were all lead into the hallway outside. Soon Sister Wuxan began calling people in.
Most kids didn't seem affected by what happened in the room, but some of them looked disappointed or excited upon leaving. Wong Mae was even crying when she left. Shen made a mental note to talk to her about it later, if she wanted.
Shen was the thirteenth to be called. She entered the room and Sister Wuxan asked her to touch the device with the Jade tablet. Shen did so, and it started to glow slightly. "Interesting." Sister Wuxan said.
"What is it?" Shen asked.
"Well, the tablet only glows in response to something that isn't entirely human. That isn't a bad thing, though." Sister Wuxan lead her to the wall of strange devices. "These devices compare you to the creatures whose parts they contain." She walked over to one with some hair in it and touched the stone. It glowed for a few seconds before dimming. "This is the Forest cat device. Now that I've touched it, the tablet will tell me how much of that monster I have in me. But we are testing you, not me." She walked over to the first tablet and touched a few places on it. "There, now it's reset. I want you to walk down the line and touch each of the devices, then wait until the light goes out."
"Oh, ok." Shen said nervously.
"There's no reason to be nervous. It's perfectly safe and no one but me, you, and the elders will be able to see what the tablet says."
Shen nodded and walked down the line, touching each device. Several minutes later she touched the last device and, when its light went out, she walked back over to the tablet. "So, what did it say?" asked Shen shakily.
"According to this, you are 7% Dragon. Earthly Dragon, not Heavenly Dragon, so your powers and talents, if you have any, will be towards magic or the physical, not spiritual powers. Now we just need to test to see what powers you have." Sister Wuxan walked over to a set of drawers and opened one of them, then returned with a box that was inside of it. "This box will test for all of the known skills that earthly dragons might have."
"How does it work?" asked Shen.
The woman thought for a few seconds. "Have you ever heard of a reversion stone?" Shen shook her head. "A reversion stone forces any monster or spirit that touches it out of human form. It is used in areas where you want to keep safe, or sometimes against monsters that are hiding among humans for evil reasons."
"But that's not what this does." Shen said.
"No, but this box contains a 'Dragon Stone' that is based on reversion stones, but in a way doing the opposite. It makes any powers that come from a dragon bloodline activate, assuming you are at or below its rank. You aren't, by any chance, middle Foundation stage or above, are you?"
Shen shook her head. "Early Gathering."
Wuxan looked impressed. "Interesting. Most people are only cleansing when they get here. How did you manage to break through? Did the masters instruct you in the sect's techniques while you were traveling here?" They were restricted in what they could tell people based on their status within the sect, but sometimes people would say things they shouldn't.
"They explained a few things to us, but most of it was things I knew already. My dad taught me the Cleansing meditation before he died, and one of the villagers let me read a copy of 'The Dao of the Militia' that she had. I learned Restrict and Release from it, as well as how to break through. The master just gave me some advise on how to do it easier or better."
Wuxan nodded. As long as they stuck to simple advice and comments on the fundamentals all methods used, they weren't breaking any rules. The rules were meant to keep the Five Elements Technique from getting out, after all, not to stop people from having an easier time cultivating. At the Cleansing phase there was little difference between the two different methods, so there shouldn't be any problem with her continuing from where she currently was, using the Five Elements Technique in the Gathering phase. At most she would have to spend a bit more time purifying the chi that was already inside of her into one of the elemental types of chi.
"Well, then this should work, then. Now, I just need you to touch the stone and be careful not to damage anything if you have any damaging abilities like elemental breath attacks."
Shen nodded and reached out, touching the stone. Suddenly she felt her chi force itself onto the surface of her skin. After a few seconds, Wuxan smiled and nodded. "Good. Looks like you have the Dragon Scales Barrier. This is a kind of defensive power that will protect you from magical and physical attacks." Shen nodded thoughtfully. "Is that worrying?"
"No," said Shen, then paused for a few seconds before continuing. "There was a story that some of the hunters and guards in the village used to tell about my dad. They said that, if he got serious in a fight, no weapon could hurt him. Do you think he might have had this power?"
Wuxan nodded. "That is probably true. Most of the time if a person has a bloodline power at least one of the parents will have that power."
Tears started to come out of Shen's eyes. "Then why did he die. Shouldn't it keep him safe?"
Wuxan knelt and hugged her. "Do you know how he died? Was he poisoned? Did he get sick?"
Shen shook her head. "A monster near the village. He went out with some of the guards to fight it, but the monster killed all of them. The Master that came to fight it said it was a middle Foundation level monster wolf."
Wuxan nodded. "The power can only block attacks that are weaker than it. A middle foundation monster's attacks would have been much stronger than anyone below foundation."
"He was middle Collection." Shen said, and started crying again. Wuxan knelt there for a few minutes before Shen's tears dried up and she stood up. "Thank you, miss Wuxan." she said.
"Here we call each other Sister or Brother. Those you want to learn from are Senior brother or sister, and Junior if they are learning from you. Everyone here should always be trying to learn. The only exception is the sect Master, as everyone learns from him, so he is called Master."
"He doesn't have a name?"
Wuxan nodded. "Master Xing." Shen nodded upon hearing this. "So, how about I teach you to activate your power, then we let one of the other children test?" Shen nodded and, five minutes later, after she had activated the power without the help of the Dragon Stone, Shen returned to the hallway.
Several hours later all of the children had been tested and they were lead to the cafeteria. There they had grilled vegetables and spirit rice. The meat was only given out with the evening meal unless you paid for it, and none of them had earned any contribution points yet.
After that they were lead to a lecture hall. There were mats on the floor for the children to sit on, and everyone was told to take a seat. The woman that led them there sat down at the back of the room and started meditating. Soon after that an old man came in, walking with a cane. He tapped his cane on the ground and the children stopped talking. He looked at them. "How old do you think I am?" the man asked and the kids started calling out numbers. He tapped his cane on the ground again, the sound reverberating off the polished stone walls. "One at a time." he said, then pointed at a girl with his staff. "How about you?"
"70?" she asked and he chuckled.
"And you?" He pointed to a boy this time.
"90?" the boy guessed.
The old man shook his head. "I had my two hundredth birthday last year, and probably have another twenty years in me. One of the techniques that we old people learn eliminates most of the symptoms of aging, so I have aged very slowly over the last hundred years. And that is just one of the techniques we can teach you." The man swung his cane and bursts of different colored energies came out of it and hit a wall. The children only recognized two of them, as one of them lit a nearby table on fire and the second put it out. Those must be Fire and Ice chi. "My aim isn't as good as it used to be." he said, chuckling, "But I can still do this." He placed the end of his cane on the ground and pushed on it, lifting himself into the air with one arm.
"I am named Po, though most of the people here just call me Teacher, as I have taught chi techniques for the last one hundred and fifty years to almost everyone in the sect. Now I am going to start teaching all of you. Most of you were probably expecting to be given a book or scroll and told to teach yourself, but that method hasn't been used for basic techniques since I was around your age. Most people learn better if they have someone to teach them. Though, since many techniques are rare enough that there might not be a teacher available, there are scrolls and books available in the library. You can even pay to have a copy made for you if you have the Contributions to pay for it. But what I will be teaching you for now is so common that everyone in the sect knows it."
He walked to the middle of the students, and they turned to face him. "Can someone tell me what Chi is?"
One of the girls raised her hand. "A warm feeling in your stomach?" she asked.
"A good description of what it feels like, but not a description of what it is."
Ponma raised his hands and Teacher pointed his cane at him. "The energy of heaven and earth which permeates all things." he said.
"A good textbook definition," said teacher, "But do you know what that means?" Ponma shook his head, and several others joined him. "Energy is the ability to do something. It may be in the sunlight which makes the plants grow or in the flow of a river which pushes a rock. It might be in the food you eat, to keep your body working. Or it may be in the fire that warms you. All of those are different kinds of energy. Chi is another type of energy, an energy which is everywhere. While it might be contained, no one really knows where it comes from. Some say Life, some say the Heavens. Some say the gods. I don't know, however.
The important part is that it is everywhere, inside all things. It is in the air, the sky, the river, the ground, and even the fire. It is inside you, and it is inside all living beings. And through cultivation you can learn to use it to do things. This might be the same things that other things do in nature, or it might be something different. The limit is what you can will to happen and what limits you have because of your cultivation level.
In case you haven't heard before, the six known stages of cultivation are Cleansing, Gathering, Foundation, Nascent, Immortal, and Ascended. There may even be levels beyond Ascended, but we don't know. Each of those levels expands your abilities, and what you can do with the chi.
The most common form of chi is Neutral Chi. It is the form which most others come from. But as chi becomes part of an item it starts to take on the properties of that item. Chi that is part of the Earth becomes Earth chi. Chi that is in water becomes Water chi. Chi that is part of fire is Fire chi. Chi that is part of a plant is Wood Chi, and chi that is part of metal is Metal Chi. But it isn't pure. In fact, only a small part of the chi actually changes. Does anyone know what 'percent' means?"
Ponma raised his hand again and was called on. "Out of one hundred".
"Exactly. 'One percent' means that if we had one hundred objects, one of them would be the thing we are talking about. Natural chi is usually between one half of one percent and one percent the type we want. So, in order to use it, we must purify it by removing the extra neutral chi or turning that neutral chi into the kind we want, or what we call 'refining'. I will teach you to do both of those, but which method you choose depends on which works best for you.
But not today. I understand that all of you have experience working with a type of demonic chi, but today we are going to learn how to work with neutral chi using two techniques, Restrict and Release." A boy raised his hand and Teacher called on him. What was his name again? Dan something? Shen couldn't remember.
"Teacher, what do you mean by 'demonic'? I thought it was called Blood Chi."
"Yes, indeed. The specific type was called blood chi, but 'demonic' is a group of energies. We use 'demonic' to refer to anything that is against life, or at least social order. Demonic types of chi, for example, usually hurt you when you use them on top of what you are trying to hit, because it doesn't work well with life." The children frowned and nodded as they remembered the pain cause by the blood chi. "They are also usually addictive. By that I mean that they make you want more of them, and if you don't get them you start hurting and wanting them even more. Most types of demonic chi also alter your behavior. They make you angry, or sad, or violent. For that reason we believe that it is wrong to use demonic chi, and blood chi is a type of demonic chi."
"But didn't I hear someone call the people that captured us 'demons'? Aren't they a type of monster?"
"Maybe you heard that, but they aren't a type of monster, though there are demon type monsters. In this case a 'demon' is a person that chooses to live their life in a way that hurts others and goes against societies in general. They go beyond a criminal, because at least a criminal will know that they did wrong, even if they try to hide it. No, a demon doesn't care if they do right or wrong. They don't think about right and wrong. They think about what helps them and what hurts them. While a criminal will have some moral guidance to their actions, such as not hurting women or children, a demon cares only if hurting women and children helps or hurts them." Teacher sighed. "But this isn't the kind of thing I normally discuss with new recruits. Your situation was just special because you were taken by demons. So let's end this topic and return to talking about Chi."
For the next several hours he taught the children to slow and speed up the release of chi. Most of them didn't know where they were getting the chi from, but they practiced anyway. Eventually the kids were released to go back to their rooms.
The next day everyone was lead back to the training room. This time he taught about Dantians. "They are three different pools of chi, but are all connected, and in that way the same." he said. "Imagine that in a small village a man has three jobs. In the morning he hunts, around noon he butchers the animals and hangs the meat to dry, and in the evenings he mixes the animal fat with ashes to make soap. The hunter, the butcher, and the soapmaker can all be talked about as if they are separate people, or at least separate jobs, but in reality they are all the same person. If the butcher cuts himself, then the hunter and the soapmaker are also cut. And if the soapmaker builds a bigger work area, all of them are effected. It is the same when working with the dantian.
The Upper dantian deals with spiritual matters and powers, the Middle with magic and the mind, and the Lower dantian with the body. Working on any of them will improve all three, just as it will improve the finances of all three men in the example, but the one you work on will receive the biggest benefit, like the way he can make more and better soap by expanding that part of his shop."
After that the children were taught to target one of the dantian with their Restrict or Release ability. The one they Restricted started to hurt, or at least felt tight, which allowed it to build up pressure and therefore hold more once it recovered from the slight stretching. This technique would let them make the most of their cultivation at the lower levels.
Chapter 5
For the next few days, as they practiced these techniques, he taught them of the history and geology of the world. The first day he told them about the world they were on. The region they were in was the Mountain region. It was at the northernmost part of the continent. To the southeast was the Jungle region, and to the east of it, across a few hundred li of ocean was the Island region. To the southwest of the Mountain region was the Grasslands region. To the south of the Mountain region was the Desert region. Most of the rivers that flowed out of the mountains came together to form the Great Dragon River, which flowed down the middle of the Desert region and ended to the south of it in the Swamp region. To the east of the Swamp region was the Forest region, and to the west of the Swamp region lied the Lakes region. South of the Lakes, Swamp, and Forest regions was the Tundra region, and it reached all the way to the planet's southern pole. The Mountain, Jungle, Island, Grassland, Swamp, Forest, Lake, and Tundra regions were known as the Eight Regions, and the cultures of the world were divided into those eight regional types, as they were once ruled by the Eight Great Empires.
The next day he continued his lesson. "Who can tell me where our knowledge of Cultivation comes from?" Various children made guesses, but most simply named various ancestors, all the way back to the Mountain Empire, remembering the lesson from the day before. They were getting closer to the answer but none had guessed correctly yet. "Yes, but where did the first humans learn it?"
"Spirit Beasts?" asked one boy questioningly.
Teacher acted like this was closer, but was about to give up when Mo Shen spoke up. "The Dragons." From what she had read about them, they were said to be the first true cultivators.
Teacher nodded. "Yes, the Dragons, or more specifically, one Dragon, the Immortal Dragon Philosopher Pai Wo."
The students quieted down and readjusted the pressure on their dantians so that the pain wouldn't distract them from the story.
"Dragons and Spirit Beasts have the natural ability to feel the chi within themselves and instinctively know of dantians. That instinctive knowledge is what separates a Spirit Beast from a normal Beast. While a wolf might learn to hunt and fight, a spirit wolf will understand the flow of chi within their bodies and, as mere pups, will have learned to alter that flow to make themselves stronger.
Unlike Spirit Beasts, however, full dragons are born intelligent, like humans are. They were able to understand the flow of chi better than the others, experiment with it, and teach it to others. They learned to move chi within their bodies, at first doing so just to relieve boredom as they waited to conserve energy, and found that doing so made them feel healthier, and removed nasty substances from their bodies. As these substances left, the chi could flow more easily. Soon all dragons were taught to do this. Once they had done so enough they noticed that they felt like they had unlimited energy, using that energy to move instead of the energy in their food. Some even learned to do tricks with it, like shooting bolts of chi at their prey. It was at that time that each race of dragons developed the ability to breath the element that they are naturally gifted with, using chi as the fuel.
Things continued like this for over one hundred thousand years until some dragons started wrapping chi around their dantians so that they could store more chi. Eventually one of them wrapped such a thick layer around their dantian that it started to compress and solidify, until it became a shell. They discovered that this hardening had awakened a new sense within them, the Chi Sense, the ability to detect chi outside themselves. They taught this to others and soon most dragons had taken this step as well, stepping into what we call the Chi Gathering Stage.
With this knowledge many dragons started learning how to effect the world outside of themselves in new ways, like moving objects or communicating with their mind, developing what we call Chi Magic. Many others started learning to manipulate the chi inside of themselves, drawing chi from around them and around the outer shell of their dantian. This let them store far more chi. Eventually some in them started noticing the familiar feeling of unlimited energy, and, based on the previous discovery, they started wrapping it around their dantians, forming a second layer. Only a few of them managed to get that shell to solidify, however, becoming the first Foundation Stage Cultivators.
They studied this fact and learned that most of them primarily had the element that they had the most talent with, but that the ones who managed to get it to solidify were almost balanced in the type of chi. They concluded that too much of one or more elements would prevent the solidification process, and some of them worked to balance the elements. Eventually all of these managed to get a shell to form.
Once the shell was formed they found that they could feel all of their bodies much more accurately. By manipulating the chi within themselves they could grow new chi pathways where none existed before, making the chi flow freely through their entire bodies. Those that liked to fight found that they could instantly tell where they were damaged and how bad it was in much greater detail, and had a limited ability to focus chi on certain areas of the body to maximize the effects of the chi, repairing damaged areas at a much greater rate and more completely than their bodies naturally did so.
As their knowledge of their bodies grew they were even able to feel their own souls within them, but barely touch it. Eventually, some of them tried to wrap another shell around their dantian and when one of them managed to get the shell to solidify they began to fully feel their soul. They could send chi into the soul, relieving psychological issues or stress, or draw it out, causing those problems. They could force a huge amount of energy into it and eventually it would grow, much like a restricted dantian. Some of them even learned to take small pieces of it and place those pieces in objects, at which point the object just became a second body for them. These were the first Nascent Soul cultivators.
Some of them tried to continued the layering of shells around the dantian, but for thousands of years no one was able to get it to solidify no matter how perfect the elemental balance. Then one day one of them, having shoved all of the chi they could into their soul, felt their soul reach the point where it would normally grow, but it didn't. Instead it started leaking the chi back out faster than they could put it into the soul. Realizing that the chi wrapped around the dantian caused it to draw in chi faster than it leaked out, thus recharging automatically, he wrapped chi around his soul and, after several years, managed to get a shell to solidify.
When it finally did so, he realized that he was connected to his body and soul to such a degree that every cell in his body could be his body in the same way any object could if he put some of his soul into it. He had gained full control of his body, and was able to reshape it and repair it at will. With this knowledge, he stopped his own aging process and returned himself to a youthful state, though he kept his size. His name was Pai Wo.
He taught the other dragons of this method so that they could use it, then the Spirit beasts, who had followed in the dragon's footsteps, learning their cultivation techniques. He developed a means to make oneself look like another race when they were in the Foundation stage, as well as a superior version for the Nascent Soul and Immortal stage. For the next several thousand years he meditated, having reached a point where he no longer needed food or water or air, surviving entirely off of chi. Then he left his cultivation and announced that he would be setting off to teach the ways of cultivation to the humans, the only intelligent beings on this world which he hadn't taught yet. The Dragons saw us as savages, and therefore, rather than eliminate us as many dragons wished, he would teach us to be better.
He traveled to each of the eight regions, selecting a student from among the tribes of humanity, one in each region, and transferring his knowledge of philosophy and cultivation to each of them. Each of them set about teaching the people near them and building great cities based on the concepts of justice and fairness, though each interpreted those concepts in their own way. Eventually these eight students, each having achieved immortality, became the eight Great Emperors and lead their nations for over eighty thousand years.
Then, around forty thousand years ago their was a war between the Desert Emperor and the Grassland Emperor. After both sides had lost millions of soldiers, the Desert Emperor entered the Grassland. The Grassland Emperor came out to stop him and a great battle was fought between the two of them. After fifteen days they were both almost out of chi when the Desert Emperor released a Relic he hadn't wanted to use. It sent a massive blast of Death chi, gathered over thousands of years, at the Grassland Emperor, and killed him, though it left an area of death over a thousand li wide in the middle of the Grassland. Today we call that the Great Wasteland, and within it nothing can live, and the undead are the only things moving.
The other six Emperors couldn't allow such a weapon to be used or to exist, so they captured the Desert Emperor and hurled him into the sun, where he was burnt so completely that he couldn't put himself back together and his soul was forced to accept reincarnation. The six then had a meeting. If one of them could become so corrupt and kill so many, over fifty million in that one attack, then they themselves might be capable of doing the same. They made their children the new Emperors of their countries, as the Wasteland and Desert regions had been forced to do, and the six of them went into closed door cultivation together. Ten thousand years later they discovered how to Ascend to godhood and, after giving a copy of the method to each of their descendants, they left the cycle of rebirth and left to walk among the stars.
Around ten thousand years later, the empires collapsed, and after twenty thousand years society has become a group of sect based city-states and small countries, none of them having control over massive areas of the planet, and constantly bickering with each other.
Three thousand years ago, however, they were forced to work together as the demons appeared. Though that is a story for another day."
While the students wanted to hear the story of the demons, the sun was getting low and they had been practicing the Restrict technique all day, so they agreed to wait.
It wasn't until a week later that they were taught to feel and manipulate a specific element's chi. Once they had a handle on all of the five elements, they were taught to draw it into themselves, then release it. To do so, one must focus on the type of energy they want, including all of the details of their knowledge of the element, and will it to separate from the other chi. This would filter out all of the chi that fits their view, causing it to move more easily than the chi which doesn't fit.
To turn chi into the type they want was similar to how they formed balls with the chi. You merely needed to focus on a bit of chi and will it to be as you see that element. This was more difficult than refining it from another source, however, as any mistakes in your view would decrease the purity and quantity created. For that reason, most people focused on refining chi from common sources.
Shen was the only one that was outside of the cleansing phase, and therefore the only one that could store elemental chi in their dantian, so they weren't instructed on that yet. After all, teaching them that now would be worthless, as all chi within the lowest level of the dantian, the cleansing level, is automatically purified into neutral chi.
A few days later, however, he gave them their final lesson. This time he taught them three Cleansing stage techniques, telling them that they could learn the higher stage forms of them at the library. Normally, the Sect wouldn't require him to teach these, but recently he had seen that many of the new recruits went for weeks or months before they had an actual technique to practice, so three recruitment cycles ago he had started teaching these techniques to the students.
The first was called Self-substantiation. He explained that all food that you ate came from plants, which use the energy from the sun to grow and make nutrients which you would use after eating them, or the animals that ate those plants. This method would allow you to do some of that yourself. At the Cleansing stage, by cycling chi through the stomach, intestines, and other internal organs in a specific manner, one could cause them to extract useful nutrients from anything you ate that was from a plant or animal, or anything that was alive once one practiced enough, including dirt. At the Gathering stage it would lessen the amount of food one needed to eat by reconstructing the nutrients your body destroyed through use, until you no longer needed to eat. At Foundation stage it would lower the amount of water you needed to consume, and at Nascent it would limit how much air you needed to breath, eventually making it so that even someone that was buried alive could survive.
Teacher suggested that they practice this so that they could spend more time in meditation and therefore cultivate more quickly. After all, the longer one's cultivation session lasted, the deeper one tended to go into the technique, and the more benefit one got from it. Most of the students rejected this idea, however, finding meditation to be boring. To Mo Shen, however, it was just what she needed to do to get stronger. She had sat for hours at the age of five while hunting with her father. Surely she could last for a day now that she was ten.
The next technique interested the children much more. It was called Movement. While it was limited to objects one was touching or, with enough practice, almost touching, it allowed one to move things outside their body. This allowed you to directly increase the force of a swing in a fight, move objects along the skin, or even, in desperate situations, remove arrows from your body.
The third technique also interested them, but for a much different reason. It was called "Spirit dust." It turns out that there were rare crystals in nature which would form in areas of intense chi density. While inside the body chi would act like a liquid and flow, in the air it would become a solid and form crystals. By drawing the chi from the crystals into ones body, a technique which was part of the 'Spirit Dust' technique, these crystals could be used to replenish the chi within yourself or even power chi magic directly, though they were made of neutral chi and therefore weren't great for elemental spells. The Spirit Dust technique allowed one to push liquid chi out of the body so that it solidified into a crystal powder, which could power Cleansing stage magic, letting you carry chi on you or give it to another.
At Chi Gathering the technique became Spirit Crystalization, which turned the dust into a poor grade spirit crystal which could fuel Gathering stage techniques. At every Stage above it the Spirit Crystalization technique could create one spirit crystal of low, medium, or high grade and cost anywhere from five to ten of the lower stage ones to make, acting as fuel for that stage's chi magic or providing five times the chi energy as the level before if absorbed. This series of techniques would allow the disciples to earn a steady, but not lavish, amount of money, thus allowing them to meet their own needs and cultivate at the same time.