Chapter 3: Getting Sensed While Sensing the Qi
Sun brightly shined in the sky as all living beings under the sun felt it's scorching rays on them.
Today was the first day of summer. The first day of summer held a special meaning for Mayton. It marked his first day in this world.
''It has been 12 years huh..'' Mayton sighed, as he thought out loud. His life in this world has been smooth sailing for the most part. But there was something which distressed him greatly. He still couldn't sense the qi inside him.
After that rather lengthy lesson on types of cultivation, Old Mert told him how to start his start his cultivation just as he promised. The first step was sensing the qi. Since everyone absorbed qi unconsciously everyone had a little bit of qi in them. If you wanted to cultivate, you had to first sense that qi inside you. This step was called Qi Sensing phase of cultivation. After that came Qi Gathering which consisted of absorbing the type of qi you wanted to use in cultivation and accumulate it inside your body.
'' Brat, don't be impatient. How old are you this year? Didn't I tell you the older you are, the easier it is for you to sense the qi inside you?''
said old Mert every time he saw Mayton troubled. Mayton also know that with age the qi inside him will continue to increase thus it will be easier to sense. But in his previous life, he was helpless to change anything when disaster struck without any indications which made him live with a sense of crises whenever he thought about it... He didn't want to be helpless in this life too, so he needed strength.
Mayton's parents, unlike Old Mert who encouraged Mayton to cultivate, thought that it was just too hard to cultivate. Mayton shouldn't be fixated on cultivation too much. After all, Mayton was already 12. Every kid around 10 years old needed to learn how to hunt and Mayton was already late to start learning seriously. Thus for the past few months, Mayton started learning how to hunt from his father, Babrak.
Babrak, Mayton's father, was one of the better hunters in the village. But unfortunately, Babrak injured one of his legs and got permanently disabled while defending the village from a ferocious beast.
Ferocious beasts had beast qi in them unlike normal beasts, which made them a lot stronger. This was also the reason demonic cultivators who used beast qi in their cultivations sought out ferocious beasts. That day when Babrak's leg got injured, a dire wolf appeared at the outskirts of the village and attacked a villager.
Dire wolves were ferocious beasts that looked like huge wolves. They were about 2-3 times bigger than normal wolves and at least 10 times stronger depending on their ages. Generally, the older a ferocious beast got, the stronger it became. Ferocious beasts absorbed qi from heaven and earth unconsciously just like normal, mortal human beings but ferocious beasts' rate of absorption was many times higher.
Of course absorption rate depended on various things like the concentration of qi in the place they lived or the ferocious beasts bloodline. This caused older ferocious beasts to have more qi than the younger ones.
Anyway, at the time, all the able-bodied man present in the village rushed over and a bloody fight against the dire wolf ensued. Villagers had a lot of casualties because Old Mert was out in the forest nearby with the hunting squad hunting for food, therefore, most of the people present in the village were either too young to join the hunting squad or too old to continue hunting.
After six villagers died and many more got injured, they managed to wound the dire wolf somewhat seriously. Even though the dire wolf tried to escape after getting wounded, the villagers tried to stop it. Everyone who lives in the wilderness knew that ferocious beasts were extremely vindictive. Thus villagers did their utmost to prevent the ferocious beast from escaping for putting an end to future troubles. It was precisely at that moment Babrak's leg got injured.
Babrak knew that dire wolf was strong but he still underestimated it. He never thought that even its tail was strong enough to shatter a normal humans bones. Babrak got injured precisely because he didn't think its tail could be so strong. When Babrak tried to stab it from behind to prevent its escape, the dire wolf noticed Babrak's thrust and swiped its tail at Babrak with all its might.
Even though Babrak successfully stabbed it and wounded it even further, Babrak got hit before he could plunge the spear all the way. Because of that the dire wolf, despite being wounded seriously, still managed to escape after throwing a hateful glare at Babrak. Meanwhile, Babrak got his leg bones crushed to smithereens. Thus Babrak's leg became permanently disabled.
This incident caused Babrak to retire early as a hunter. Since he had lots of free time in the village after retiring, he started teaching kids the basics of hunting like what kinds of beasts exist in the nearby forests or which parts of the bodies of the beasts you should strike. Babrak also taught kids basic usage of various weapons. How to swing a dagger, how to use a spear, how to shoot an arrow. These were all included in his lessons.
'' Mayton, don't think that I will go easy on you just because today is your birthday. ''
Babrak laughingly said as he continued to spar with Mayton. Babrak was really satisfied with his son. Mayton was always obedient and diligent. He was also extremely gifted in basic combat moves. What he didn't know was all of that was because of Mayton's past life.
After all, even though Mayton wasn't a sword master or something great like that, he still completed the basic training for guards. Babrak's teachings weren't anything too complicated anyway. So Mayton was the best pupil of Babrak among his age group.
Babrak really did as he said and worked Mayton extra hard today. '' Best gift for you is increasing your strength'' he said, as he thrust his wooden staff towards Mayton. Normally, these training sessions felt like child's play to Mayton but today he was feeling weird. His face was red and he perspired way too much even for a hot summer day. It felt like there was a fire burning inside him. Seeing Mayton's unusual condition, Babrak cut the training short as they returned home for some rest.
After resting a little and a really tasty birthday feast at home which included Old Mert's latest prey, a ferocious beast that looked like a rabbit, Mayton went to his room for trying to sense the qi inside him once again. Mayton sat down cross legged on his bed and shut his eyes to focus inside his body as soon as he entered his room.
According to Old Mert, there were two ways to sense qi;
First one was getting help from a powerful divine cultivator. The powerful divine cultivator infused his or her pure qi into the newbie who was trying to sense the qi. This caused there to be an overabundance of qi inside the recipient for a little while which made it easier to sense the qi.
The caveat was only divine cultivators could do that since only pure qi was harmless enough for the newbie with no cultivation whatsoever. This method let children start to cultivate at a younger age. Since this method wasn't available for Mayton for obvious reasons, he could only use the second one.
The second method was using the qi you absorbed unconsciously and trying to sense what little qi you absorbed. This method had higher requirements for the new cultivator's talent because it demanded better perception from the cultivator. But this method also had an advantage. It trained the cultivators' perception. The perception was important not only for cultivation speed but also for the usage of battle techniques.
Beads of sweat could be seen on Mayton's forehead as hours went by quietly. Mayton continued to try to sense the qi inside him and unknowingly slipped into some kind of trance as an ancient aura emanated from him.
In Mayton's vision, there were lots of bright red particles. They swam around and enlightened the otherwise empty and dark space in his body, just like fireflies in a moonless night. When he saw the red particles, he felt a searing pain starting from his glabella and spreading to the rest of his body. This searing pain woke up Mayton from his trance with a gasp of pain. As soon as he woke up, the ancient aura he emanated also dispersed.
After a few seconds of thinking about what he just experienced, he felt a horrifying pressure decent on his body. This pressure made him feel like a little boat in a storm rocked by waves, which will capsize any moment. Fortunately, this pressure remained for just a split second. Otherwise, the consequences would be unbearable for Mayton. His eyes, ears, and nose were already bleeding, and he had a metallic taste in his mouth.
Mayton ought to be happy with the progress he made even though it was somewhat different from what Old Mert told him. But the descent of the horrifying pressure dampened his joyful mood. He, again, felt he was helpless just like the last moments of his past life. Though, the thought of how it was possible in this world to become strong via cultivation reignited his fighting spirit immediately.
''I finally made some progress in my cultivation after six years of painstaking effort. I won't let some intangible thing like a bit of pressure to affect my determination. This world is my second chance anyway, so what if I die again? At least I'll tear down an arm from anyone who dares to kill me. If I can't take an arm with me can't I still rip off a nail? ''
With such determination, Mayton swallowed the blood in his mouth and went to the washroom to clean the blood on his face. On his way, he ran into his little sister.
''AAAAAAAHHH''
A terrified scream was heard even by the neighbors reverberated in the quiet evening. His little sister saw the blood on Mayton's face in the dimly lit hallway and started screaming. This, of course, brought Mayton's panic stricken parents to the hallway almost immediately. Mayton looked at his parents worried and panicked faces and knew that he must give them an explanation. The problem was he didn't really understand what happened in the room just know either.
After he told what happened to his parents without omitting any details and reassuring the neighbors who heard the scream, Mayton changed his bloodstained clothes for a new set of clean hemp clothes.
Just as he thought he should consult Old Mert about his experience this evening, his father, Babrak said;
''You should go and discuss this with Old Mert immediately'' with a worried tone of voice.
Mayton, hearing his fathers suggestion, assented with a nod and darted out of the house which caused some curious looks from his neighbors who were still around. Earlier, Mayton forgot to change his bloodstained clothes before trying to disperse them and this only increased the number of people gathered.
When the neighbors saw him rush through the village towards the forest and stop near a shack at the outskirts of the village, they understood he was going to Old Mert's shack. This increased their curiosity because Old Mert was the only cultivator in the village as well as the strongest person. They assumed that something serious has happened. Ordinary things didn't need Old Mert's attention after all.
Mayton arrived at Old Mert's shack in a minute and knocked on the door hurriedly while shouting Old Mert's name. This made Old Mert panic as he opened the door as fast as possible.
'' Brat, what happened for you to knock on my door like this? Are we under attack?''
Old Mert already had his trusty spear in his hands when he impatiently questioned Mayton. It was common for the village to get attacked by beasts or bandits so Old Mert always stayed alert.
'' Calm down Grandpa Mert nothing of that sort happened. But something urgent did indeed happen. Can we talk inside please? '' said Mayton as he made his way inside the shack without waiting for an answer. Villagers started to gather around Old Mert's shack after the commotion and Mayton didn't want to make things public. Especially the strong pressure he felt. Villagers were a superstitious bunch, and he didn't want to make them panic unnecessarily.
'' You brat, you respect your elders less and less. Who said you can come in? '' grumbled Old Mert as he let Mayton enter.
Old Mert was known for his overbearingness and ferociousness in the village. Even some of the nearby villages heard about his attitude and warned their youngsters not to slight him. If Old Mert was dealing with any other child of the village, it would be impossible for him to be so mild. His different attitude towards Mayton wasn't without reason though. He felt both pity and guilt for Babrak which prompted him to feel responsible for Mayton too.
When the incident caused Babrak to be disabled happened, Old Mert was out with the hunting party which consisted of every hunter except Babrak. In case of an attack, the village had traditionally left a hunter in the village with the old and the young for defending them or if things become impossible to be dealt by a single hunter, to organize them for a desperate attempt to fight back.
Thus Babrak was the only hunter in the village at the time of the attack which also meant he was the only man in the village who was in the prime of his life with a little child to take care of. Rest of the villagers were either unmarried or already too old to take care of their children.
Old Mert heard the accounts of the incident when he returned and immediately thought about the dire wolf he hunted several years earlier. With the vengeful nature of ferocious beasts and their intelligence being rather high, it was quite possible the dire wolf that attacked the village had something to do with his prey from many years ago. It was not unheard of for a ferocious beast to tail someone who hurt it or one of its kin and then take revenge several years, sometimes decades, later. This made him feel responsible for the incident even though there was no proof.
Thus when he saw Mayton alone while other children played, he approached him. At the time, he thought that Mayton was being bullied because of Babrak's disability and felt even more guilty. So he chided both the children who excluded Mayton from their game and their parents. But after chatting with Mayton for an extended period of time, he realized Mayton was different than the other children and stopped blaming others for Mayton's solitude. From then on, they spend lots of time together. Old Mert, who lacked children of his own, felt that with their continued relationship over the years, Mayton was like his real grandson.
'' Grandpa Mert what can pressure me so much to cause my eyes and nose to bleed without showing itself? '' asked Mayton seriously.
'' Huh? Did something like that really happen? Are sure you didn't eat something poisonous and felt the pressure from your insides? Or maybe… '' before Old Mert finished his sentence Mayton interfered in his thought process and said anxiously
'' Grandpa Mert, I am absolutely sure the pressure came from outside my body. It was so strong it made me feel like an ant.''
Hearing this Grandpa Mert's expression turned grim as he unconsciously lowered his voice and said
'' If you are really sure, then it must be a strong cultivator. A cultivator much, much stronger than the likes of me. Against people like them, there isn't anything we can do when they decide to do something to us. If we can avoid them then we must avoid them, If we can't avoid them then we must try our utmost not the offend them. As for your case, I need more details about the situation to make a guess about this cultivators intentions. Tell me everything as it is and do not leave behind even the tiniest of things. Something you didn't think of as important might be the key to your survival.''
After hearing Old Mert, Mayton felt even more anxious as he started to tell what happened without skipping any details.
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Meanwhile thousands of kilometers away, a group of young cultivators led by a plump old man was traveling leisurely with a gloomy aura surrounding them. They all wore gray robes with a blood red ouroboros symbol on their hearts.
Suddenly the plump old man stopped moving and closed his eyes as he stood still for a few tens of seconds. While the young cultivators were looking at the old man curiously, a wave of pressure got emitted from the old mans body.
After that, the old man licked his lips as he thought, ' Hmm how strange... If I sensed correctly this can be a huge opportunity but if I made a mistake this can also spell my doom. Heh, as long as I don't go myself the risks involved will be minimal...'
''I have new orders for you. Before you return to the sect you must go to …..''
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone