Chapter 6: Trained as a cripple
"Gone" he voiced out.
"It is gone!"
"HaHaHa"
"Cripple for life..."
"Yang Ding will now be known as a cripple"
He brought his hands over his face and covered it to old back his tears while laughing like a madman.
"HaHaHa"
He was laughing at himself.
"What's wrong, young man?"
"HaHaHa, you say what's wrong? Can't you see I have a missing leg?"
"I certainly can" the old man nodded.
"So what are you going to do about it?" the old man asked.
"What can I do? What is there left to do..." his voice trailed at the end as he finally couldn't hold back his tears. It tickled from within the cover as it stopped at his chin where it remained as a bulge of salty water.
"Do you think a martial artist is defined by his limbs?"
"Huh?"
"Do you think he is defined by the footwork he uses or the sword he wields? Or the resources he possesses"
"Isn't that all of it?"
"Oh, foolish young man! You judge your community with the wrong eyes, you have failed to understand what we are!" he continued, "A martial artist is defined by the grit he possesses. We were just mere mortals and yet we rose and took everything in our arsenal and challenged the Gods and rose to divinity in the process."
"That's just downright foolish!"
"Is it? Then how come you are alive, now?" he continued, "That Ice beast, he had it all. Greater strength, greater speed, and also a better body, and yet here we are, you are alive and he is dead. Why did that happen even though you were weaker?"
"It's cause I put everything on the line"
The old man smiled.
"And that's your answer, my friend. A martial artist puts everything on the line"
He continued.
"When faced with a strong entity and your sword breaks. Will that make you pull back your punches? Won't you fight with fists instead or would you have given up on the battle?"
"Now if fighting with it even your leg is no more intact. Would you forsake your own life just because of that?"
"I guess not..."
Yang Ding contemplated. This old man had a certain divine feel about him causing himself to be sucked in his words. His words are simple yet so profound for those who could understand.
"So what do you propose I should do? How should I fight with a missing leg?"
"There will come a time when you will be able to teach yourself such trifles. But, since you still have yet to mature, how about I teach you?"
"Teach what?"
"How to fight with a single leg," The old man smiled.
"If you could do that I will forever be indebted to you and respect you as my master" Yang Ding bowed lightly to him while still in a sitting posture.
The old man caressed his beard as he nodded.
"Good"
--x--
"Preserve for as long as you can. The more you do the better you will be able to balance your body during a fight. Understand that your new body has a different center of balance than your old one. Your muscles need to learn from scratch what they have to do to balance your body"
"Yes!"
Yang Ding was standing on top of a pole with one leg balancing himself. On both of his hands' heavy bowls filled to the brim with a silvery liquid which made it much heavier than a bowl containing plain water. On top of his head, a similar bowl of mercury was placed.
His job was to balance himself at this posture as long as he could while trying to cultivate at that state. Dense energy was going into jeopardy in his body as he tries to focus more and more on channeling them through his gates.
This form of cultivation without any cultivation pills is highly inefficient but he chose to do this anyway as he had no pills to his name.
"Straighten you back young man. Do you wish to fight your opponents with a bump on your back?"
"Yes"
Yang Ding tried his best to straighten himself as much as he could.
He had something that he had on his mind that was weighing on him ever since he wakes up.
"How did I get to the 2nd stage of the Ice Profound Realm?" he whispered to himself not sure if the old man heard.
"I clearly remember being at the 1st stage of Ice Profound Realm when I fought the monster. Did the old man do something to raise my cultivation?"
He wanted to ask him this question but thought to check something else first.
He channeled his energy to the back of his palm. The Tai Chi Tattoo shines with a viridescent light.
Messages popped inside his head.
[User: Yang Ding]
[Cultivation level: 2nd stage of Ice Profound Realm]
[exp:
[HP: 100]
[Strength: 73]
[Agility: 62]
[Stamina: 108]
[Listed tally: ]
[Sloth: 0]
[Gluttony: 0]
[Pride: 20]
[Lust: 25]
[Wrath: 40]
[Greed: 500]
[Envy: 1000]
He raised his brows.
It was as he suspected. On raising his cultivation to 2nd Stage of Ice Profound Realm. His physique has gotten stronger and it was portrayed in the stats.
He was even more confused about the Exp he had. He remembered receiving a lot of it while slaying the monsters and it had gone down instead of rising.
If his conjecture is right then his cultivation must have risen because of this.
The Exp when it reached the maximum got reset and increased his cultivation by one level instead. It doesn't take a genius to find out that this thing somehow had control over his cultivation level. It was the one that had reduced him to this stage in the first place.
"Focus on the training at hand young man! I can see that you are not cultivating properly"
"Yes! Forgive me!"
Yang Ding decided to get back to cultivating for now and began channeling his energy.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone