Mage's Cultivation Journey 43

I had been reading the book about shadow-based martial techniques for half a day to understand the nature of the Connate Realm, when I was interrupted by Su Mi. “I’m ready, master,” she said, though her tone was resentful. The one responsible for that frustration was Yu Xing, who had decided to be a stickler for details while teaching her.

I didn’t interfere then, as the last thing I wanted was to be a part of their little spat. When she declared that, I turned to Yu Xing, waiting for his confirmation. He did, though his nod was rather reluctant. He wanted to annoy her, but not to the point of trying to lie to me.

Good.

“Alright, let’s start,” I said. “Show me the movements of the first style, but this time with internal energy.”

She nodded before she went through the full kata, and I observed her internal energy carefully. If I didn't know what to look for, I would have missed the way her energy started to transform before it reached her lungs, as the scale differed.

The bulk of the transformation happened in her lungs before the energy had been transferred to her first, and released. A textbook Initiate punch, with little impact, is designed to prepare the body for the next step.

My attention was on her meridians. Not yet reinforced by transformed energy, the first punch should have shown signs of damage, yet it did not. The leftover transformed energy settled calmly into her meridians, slowly bonding.

The process was identical to any other Initiate, except she didn’t need to stop after practicing for a few minutes. She could have continued all day, with little to no side effects.

“Again,” I asked, and watched her repeat the moves several times, until the transformed energy, one that reminded me of a river, started to have a sizable buildup in her meridians. “Switch to the rain-based technique,” I asked. It was a good time to do so. A bigger buildup might cause an effect that might hurt her worse.

Yu Xing looked worried, but when he caught her gaze, he only received a scowl. Su Mi switched the movement without saying anything. Her earlier palm gestures switched into sharp, tight punches, relentless like rain.

I paid little attention to the mechanics, my focus was on her meridians. The transformed internal energy filled her meridians … and settled next to the river energy.

“Interesting,” I said, watching the two energies intertwine and balance each other without an outside force. “Switch back to the first one,” I asked. Several more switches, and her meridians accepted the addition easily, showing no strain.

As she repeated it, I turned my attention to the other detail. The purity of her transformation. Despite using it for the first time, the purity of energy wasn’t any lower than it had been before his latest breakthrough. And, that applied to other variants as she continued to switch under my directives, adding more discrete concepts. Tide, flood, deluge, spring, sea… All mixed smoothly, with no damage to her meridians.

If that continued, the only thing that would slow her down was the initial accumulation of internal energy, which was a problem I could assist with. Combined, I could imagine it would take only a few weeks for her to surpass the kid.

Well, at least in terms of pure martial cultivation. When it came to combat skills, she would be leagues behind. Not that it was a drawback. Sometimes, raw power was all that was needed.

While she focused on switching, I examined her breathing. I had already identified that she wasn’t reliant on her breathing to transform her energy, but it still helped to hasten the process significantly. “That’s enough,” I called.

“I can still go on, master,” she argued.

“Yes, but it’s better for your energies to settle. I want you to go to the next room, and rest.”

“Should I meditate?” she asked.

“No. Don’t do anything that would use your internal energy. You might read, write, or just nap. But absolutely no techniques for a while. We need to observe to confirm that there’s no drawback.” She nodded and complied with my directive.

I turned to Yu Xing once she left. “I want to reach Bone Forging, master —” he declared, but I flicked his ear to silence him.

“Do you know why I stopped you from finishing the sentence?”

He looked hesitant. “Because what I want is dangerous,” he guessed.

“A good guess, but no,” I said. “I’m always open to talking about something. I cut you off, because you didn’t think before you offered it. You just want to prove a point to her.”

He shuffled self-consciously. “Not exactly—” he tried to say, but another flick silenced him.

“Be honest,” I admonished. “I won’t interfere with your fights, but I also won’t stand either of you doing something stupid just because you want to make a pointless gesture. Understood?” His nod was reluctant, but I was happy to get that nonetheless. “Excellent. Now, for the breakthrough, it might not be such a bad idea. We have to see how fast your Skin Refinement will progress after your breakthrough. If there’s a notable increase, and you can resist the pain from the constant treatments, but we might be in a place to push for one next month.”

“A month, that’s ...”

“Already fast enough that we have to keep it a secret from the rest, lest we turn ourselves into a target,” I replied. “Which is why I won’t help you break through until you make enough progress with your meditation to hide your improved cultivation.”

His eyes widened. “Is that possible?”

“For Skin Refinement, likely not. Not with the physical signs. But Bone Forging and Organ Refinement happen internally. As long as you control your internal energy, you might keep that part hidden.”

“A month,” he said, looking conflicted.

“ Unless something changes, that’s the best we can do.”

“Something changes, like what?” he asked.

“Another breakthrough in your energy purity,” I responded. “With that, your Skin Refinement will progress faster. A breakthrough in a week might be viable. We have to see.”

He frowned. “I wish there was a method for it,” he said.

I paused. “Well, there’s that painting that you mentioned some time ago. What was it? Something to do with Storms.”

“The Soul of the Storm,” he responded. “The rumored famous painting of the founder. But, I only heard that it was used to break through to the Connate realm.”

“That checks out,” I said. “The technique of the kidnapper, Dark Blade, gives a solid explanation of how to reach the Connate realm. Apparently, the purity of transformed internal energy was critical, often requiring some kind of external object that carries the core essence of the technique. The name of the painting is certainly evocative enough. Combined with the rumors about it being vital to reach Connate Realm…”

“Maybe. But I don’t know where it is. It would take a month to return to Wengxi City, and there’s no guarantee that it’s still there,” he admitted.

I waved my hand, “It’s just idle speculation,” I said. “We can’t go on a blind search that would take months. I’m sure I can find an alternative quicker than that. For now, let’s focus on something simpler. Focusing on strengthening you further. We don’t know when the next attack will come.”

He nodded, and we started practicing. Though, as I healed him whenever the damage to his skin got too much, I couldn’t help but think about whether replicating such a painting was possible.

Something to be seen in the future, I surmised, focusing on practicing.

It was how the rest of my day had gone. I alternated between reading the Dark Blade manual, and helping Su Mi and Yu Xing with their martial training while ignoring their pointed glares and meaningful silences.

Though, that came with some unexpected benefits, the biggest being giving me a renewed understanding of the element of water. I watched as Su Mi’s meridians absorbed various related concepts, the nature of her meridians slowly changing.

That finally let me understand what was different between the Water element in this dimension and my old one. While the transformation of her meridians was far from complete, I would be a pretty poor mage to rely on its completed state.

It was even more important when it came to elements. Water elements between two dimensions had fundamental differences, yet they were hard to pin down. In a way, it was like trying to use my left hand to throw something. A similarity that looked trivial, only ending up with catastrophic failure.

Her meridians gave me the clue that filled the gap in my understanding. As for testing, it was easy. I picked a brush to write the character for water. Any other time, that attempt was accompanied by a foreboding feeling of doom.

This time, my brush flowed on the paper smoothly, leaving a glistening path of ink that represented the character. “It’s empty,” I muttered as I examined it. It was different than some of the signboards I had seen around, with the characters radiating a weak aura of the concept they represented.

“Baby steps,” I muttered, my fingers tight around the brush. I was prepared to spend the whole night practicing the same character, to see if I could somehow imbue a similar aura.

Unfortunately, before I could start, I felt several martial artists approaching the building; and I recognized two of them. Elder Kai and Hun Chu, accompanied by three Bone Forging experts, and one Organ Refinement master.

Interesting, I decided as I started climbing the stairs. But, I didn’t neglect taking two essence pills.

After all, the last group of visitors had been rather memorable.