Chapter 4: The first night of tranquility
Sadness, excitement, nothing like that remains, chills run down his spine as his imagination runs wild. Beasts aside, a night in the forest, in and of itself wasn't a pleasant experience. He wasn't a scaredy-cat, he lived alone for many years, strolled the streets in the middle of nights. He wasn't a fan of ghost houses nor cemeteries sightseeing though. With all the scare tactics the forest has to offer, ghosts became at the top 10 list of his priorities.
'But seriously the least of my worries would be ghosts' he fell silent for a moment, 'i am more inclined to believing in their existence in this world'. a scowl appeared on his face, 'F***, let's not think about that, I don't need to know! I don't need to know!'
His hands closed his ears, his head shook, you can only cry over spilled milk though. The chain of memories couldn't be stopped anymore, it confirmed his intuition. Though the boy never saw anything like that, ghosts' existence indeed was a common sense in this world.
'forget that, I have to find a place'
You can't stop an emotional thought, it gets stronger the more you struggled, all you can do is replace it. Majid considered his options, looking for a cave is out of the question for many reasons. For one he wasn't fun of trespassing others properties, neither a human nor a beast is good news for him. He wasn't about to believe in the goodness of strangers in this wilderness. Maybe a cascade would do, he would be even able to do the classical waterfall meditation and training, but where would he find one, and with a cave to boot. This leaves him with two ideas, either he digs or build hidden burrow like shelter, or spent the night atop a big tree. The shelter risks being subject to animals' high sense of smell, the tree risk being exposed to the night animals' senses, shining red like a sun in the sea of blue.
Leaves danced in the air, scattering around, some found its way to him, gently brushing against his skin. Majid sank in the calm, weighing the pros and cons for a while, he opened his eyes firm. He goes about the nearby area looking around. He didn't want to distance too much from the clearing, or what it became his training space. He stood before a long tree, with no branches at the bottom.
Clinging on its tick bulges, and stepping on the wide cracks, he climbed his way up. Looking around he smiled contently, 'Yeah that's it'. the tree didn't have fruits to boot, no being would be bored enough to bother climbing this tree other than him.
He was sure, he wouldn't be exposed in this high tree, especially behind all these branches and foliage. He could even add some brach around him to perfect his cover, and shield himself from the cold. People in this world could spend many days without sleep, especially if he spends the night meditating. looking around he found an appropriate branch, wide enough at the fork.
'Should I set a security system....'
He brushed that idea as fast as it appeared, he would just alert whoever of his existence, with a tacky makeshift, or traces left behind messing around the area. He descended the tree and goes about the area scouting in the remaining time he has before the sunset. The tree as the origin, he used the sun to define the directions, he started to draw a map in his mind. The clearing was about 200 meters to the west, he even finds his way back to the spring it was about 2 km away to the northwest, he marked some good spots for food before he goes back.
The sun finally set leaving behind a few rays illuminating the sky, giving people some time to prepare for the night. He hurried back to the tree, his heart building momentum. He climbed the tree and settled on his branch, he cut other branches and put them firmly around him. He looked around for the last time as the last rays were fading.
The rustle of leaves, the whistles of cricket and the wind, the cries of birds, the trees rustles, all the beauty of the day somehow started to turn into eerie shadows and ominous cries as the night crept in.
Now that he thought about it, he did indeed have mortal enemies in his previous life, he took countless souls, and shed rivers of humans blood in his endless war with them. basically his and his family's blood, as he swatted the mother f***s. Buzzes flashed by his ears, the infamous mosquitoes started their airstrikes. But at that moment he let go of what he thought was irreconcilable enmity. They looked cute at the moment, like an old buddy you meet before an interview, it was the only thing in common with his safe haven, back at home. Insects with all obnoxious figures found its ways around him, barely visible creeping him out.
'Holy shits! would spiders come!'
'No those guys have some manners right! right!'
Fortunately, he found out there's a way to fade off these small threats. A layer of Qi could do the job, he set in a lotus position and started to meditate right away.
'I want to be a cultivator, yet I am scared of ghosts, and insects, what a joke!' he shook his head. 'This is my first time, I have right to a little bit of cowardly here!' he noded. 'Let's think about something else, I can't let myself get paranoid'
Is there anything he could do, to make this night safer. He needed to keep an eye on his surroundings, other than his soul, the boy didn't train in any sensing technique. But the resources the clan has about the soul is limited. The soul could be controlled and improved through meditation, but the meditation techniques the clan has nothing to do with it. Either related to recovery as he did before or seeking insights sometimes enlightenment.
His clan was third-rated, the members didn't achieve much in the Dao of the soul. all scriptures related to it, are theories of their ancestors or some riddled scriptures, that confuse more than they help. Few bothered reading them, as they didn't prove useful. At least in this world, there's an indirect perception of the soul through Qi, so that makes things easier. They can at least improve it over time slowly by using it to sense and control Qi.
The only problem was he brought his soul with him, unlike the boy's soul trained over a long time, his soul was a baby. He tried to control it, but it was like a penis, he knew it was there, but no matter how you tried to get an erection, it won't, but it's so easy to get it indirectly. Using Qi he tried to feel the presence of his soul, lucky for him, at least he had the boy's experience, it didn't take him much time to get the hang of it. He spread his soul to his limit about a 3-meter radius. He focused on the lower side of the tree's crown, like this he would be alerted if an enemy gets dangerously close. Even if he can go further he wouldn't, it would only backfire, alerting a potential enemy of his presence.
'If meditation is the way to train the soul, maybe...'
Meditation wasn't limited to this world, even back on earth, there was something like that. Maybe he could find something that can help from it. Being the fantasies fanatic he was, it was a no brainer for Majid to dive in the meditation techniques and explore its mysteries. Back then he was surprised, meditation exists in all kinds of cultures and religions in some way or another. Like African tribal dance, Hinduism yoga, Buddhism awakening, Christianity holy spirit, Hypnotism, stoners cloud 9, even in Islam there's a moment where you feel in the presence of God. there is an ancient legend, that someone needed his rotting legs cut, he told them to cut it while he was praying.
The techniques of meditations are so varied, still or moving, open or closed eye, silent or talking, there are all kinds of poses, movements, and mantras, that it boggled his mind. No doubt though, the most successful forms of meditations are Hinduism and Buddhism. So he focused more on these two. The first focuses on achieving a calm state where one can realize union with himself, in other words, his soul. The later lie in finding serenity with nature, one can pursue insights.
And from all the muddles of information, he boiled it down all to two things in common. First is serenity where one rid himself of all negative emotions, the other is the focus, on something, or even on nothing ignoring all distractions. Chants, poses, and other rituals are all but habits that can help one enter the zone faster, the perfect state of mind. The prayers that brought him to this world did something like that, it helped him escape his boredom and depression. There's some helpful ritual though, things like breathing techniques that supply the mind with more oxygen and create a rhythm in the mind, Qi does something similar, or things like drugs.
'how all this relates to the meditation of this world though'
Thinking back on the purposes of meditation in this world, while breathing, and channelling Qi to relax. Recovery focus on entering an unconscious state, a sleep-like state, where the body recovers the best. Seeking insights, on the other hand, focus on slowing down your thoughts, a conscious state where you can see things your fast usual mind can't stop to notice.
Majid thought that maybe somewhere between the two lies a state where your conscious and subconscious mind makes a balance where you can perceive your soul. He couldn't count on his intuition to improve his soul though, where every second matter. He can't hope that he would be lucky enough to find a secret that others couldn't in just a few days. If at all just because he's the protagonist, it's not like that overseer chooses him because he's special anyway.
'Normal Meditation can help me in the long run, is there any other efficient way...'
He comes up with other ideas from his otaku archive, a thing like increasing his knowledge or using the system. But he can't verify them for now, so he put them aside for another time. His interest turned to another thing.
'Anyway, I don't think the way I meditate right now is right'
'Since, I would be doing this all night, I better do it right'
He was doing more than one thing at the same time, spreading his soul, breathing, circulating qi, and Thinking. It didn't seem to be the optimum way to meditate or at least for a beginner like him, he didn't feel completely relaxed.
'How can someone be almost unconscious while meditating,' he wasn't in that state before when he recovered with meditation.
He sank in his thoughts for a while, a faint smiled appeared. He took deep breaths one after another slowly regulating the rhythm breath by breath into his subconsciousness. Time flew by he no longer needed to control it himself, so he turned his focus to Qi. It gathered around his body, seeping into the pores of his skin, channeling through his meridians. The foliage danced to the wind again and again, and the Qi kept flowing, his conscientiousness was free. It sailed slowly through the waves of his subconsciousness.
Thoughts surfaced, one led to another, led to a conclusion. Only by improving his cultivation could he increase the power of his soul faster, and so his senses. Increasing the amount of Qi his body could contain, the soul is stressed, and forced to strengthen to be able to control the Qi. The soul in and of itself is a great sensing ability, and it could even power other senses. The more powerful it is, the better it could concentrate Qi in sensory organs like the eyes, overtime they can get permanent improvement. He will get stronger overall increasing his chances, it was simple, but the best way available. He wondered why he wasted all this time thinking of another way.
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Far away in a wide courtyard, a man was sitting. his eyes didn't open as a white-robed man walked toward him, disturbing the tranquility of the place. The man bowed deeply before he hurriedly said.
"Elder Xugi, excuse my intrusion, I have something to report"
Elder Xugi didn't looking at the man, "Go on".
"Lee Xiaode corpse was messing when we came," Lee Xugi eyes open sharply, he looked at the man, "Are you sure it was the same place".
"Yes Elder, we found traces of some animals around the hole" the man looked at the ground, his eyes avoiding him.
"Did you found the remains of his body".
"No, it was almost sunset, that's why the young master remained there with the others, to try the next day".
"Tell him to come back, it's too late now that the corpse is missing".
"Understood Elder!"
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