Chapter 3: Qi Integration
*Yawn*
Baek Hong woke up after a restless night. She was now five years old. Starting today she could start practicing martial arts.
As usual she gets up and walks to her chair. As she sits down her personal maid starts to brush her hair. Baek Hong didn't start talking as her maid only gave brief, curt responses. After her hair was brushed her maid dressed her.
It was like this everyday. She'd take a bath before bed, have her hair brushed for her and her clothes put on by her maid. She was relaxed everyday only having to read and sleep all day. But this was not what she wanted. She couldn't be more excited to practice martial arts as it could be the beginning of her cultivation journey.
She had hardly slept last night in anticipation of what's to come later in the day.
"The patriarch requests your audience." The maid said, pulling Baek Hong out of her thoughts.
"Father?"
She smiled and ran out of the room to her father's study where he could almost always be found. She ran through the large manor taking multiple turns before arriving infront of her father's study.
She took a deep breath before heading in. After opening the door her father had a serious expression. But only for a moment as when his daughter came in he revealed all of his teeth as he smiled at her.
"Has our little cub come to learn martial arts?"
Baek Hong nodded her head vigorously trying to keep a straight face.
Baek Myeong couldn't help but grab his chest as his daughter was just too cute. Other people brag about their kids but he doesn't. He wants to keep his daughter all to himself.
He cleared his throat to focus himself
*ahem* "Here, before you read it let me explain. The body forging realm is divided into three. Bones, muscles and organs. You start with this cultivation method and focus on one part of your body at a time. With this martial art you will be able to sense qi and send it through your body to cleanse it. After doing all of the bones in your body you move on to the muscles. After the muscles you move onto the organs which include your skin and your eyes. Each time you complete one of the three sections there will be a noticeable change and each section takes longer than the last. Any questions?"
"What martial art is it?" She asked, barely able to contain her excitement.
"This is the <White Tigers Divine Body> although its called that there are no special effects other than being slightly better than most other clans body forging technique." He smiled is if to say 'I'm so great'
He continued "Study this until you can comprehend it and practice it a little and after a few days show me your progress." He handed his daughter the book and watched as she started running back to her room.
'Finally.'
I can finally practice martial arts.
She read through the book in only a few minutes and instantly comprehended it.
'This.... this is.....'
'Garbage'
She didn't know what to say, the only other technique she learned was the one in her head, with that she was able to see a clear difference. The difference in effect was like the difference between heaven and earth, probably even greater.
With the method her father gave her it would probably take a hundred times longer to finish body forging than with her own. She tossed the book over her shoulder and stood up.
She was still excited so she took a breath to calm down and started trying to sense qi as the body forging art in her head said to.
She closed her eyes and no sooner than she did she sensed qi.
No deep breath.
No concentration.
Immediately.
It took her no effort to sense qi. Actually this wasn't normal qi at all this was void qi. What was void qi? A specialized qi that was numerous times more difficult to sense.
Baek was surprised as well as she thought it would take at least a few days from what she read and used as a reference.
'I'm actually a super genius' Baek mused to herself.
'Heeheeheee'
She wouldn't tell anyone about this until she was sure but she could already imagine her father and mother with shock evident on their faces.
*ahem*
She focused herself again and started doing the exercise as portrayed in the void art in her head. As she was following the instructions and washing her bones with void qi she suddenly finished one...and another...and another.
She was sure now.
She was a genius.
She continued to practice and wash her bones with qi. She was so immersed in the feeling that she entered a trance.
What was a trance you ask? Numerous martial artist train for hundreds of years without even meeting someone who has entered this legendary state before.
While engrossed in her trance she finished washing her bones, muscles and organs. Now she was doing it again, trying to temper her body to the limit. She continued on for several hours until she had finally woken up.
She wasn't pulled out of her trance like state until she felt herself breakthrough.
Breakthrough?
Yes.
In just a few hours Baek has broken through an entire realm. It would usually take one with genius level talent a day to sense qi, five months to finish the bones, a year to finish muscles and about one and a half years to finish the organs. By the time a genius reaches ten they would most likely be close to a breakthrough or freshly out of a breakthrough.
She had originally thought it would take a year but she had underestimated both herself and her <Void Immersion Art>.
Baek could sense a faint connection to the void. She could even momentarily shift to the void. While her body was still visible she would become ethereal.
I wonder...
She promptly walked to a wall and stuck her hand through. Without being able to maintain her ethereal state for long her hand was pulled back to her, like the wall rejected it. She then layed on her bed facing up and become ethereal. She fell through the bed and hit her head on the floor.
'This is awesome'
She pulled herself out or her stupor. It was now around noon. She called out to her maid and told her not to have anyone disturb her.
She looked around the room only to see a black stain on the wall and her sheets covered in the same sticky substance. Her room smelled worse than anything humanly possible. She quickly pulled her covers off the bed and used a clean part to wipe the wall clean. She then burned her blankets along with some incense to cover the smell.
Her body had no impurities on it as it all came off after falling through her bed.
She was excited to continue practicing... until she realized that she couldn't anymore. She needed to acclimate her spirit roots to qi to complete the Qi Integration stage.
Would she be Cursed to wait another five years before continuing? That's not possible. After she felt the rush of practicing, a mundane life was likely to be her downfall.
She HAD to practice.
'Just a little bit... I swear I can stop if I want to.'
She couldn't help herself as she sat cross legged. She started sending the void qi through her meridians to temper them, ready to stop whenever she felt something.
After only a second she did feel something. She was writhing in anger. Who said I couldn't practice until I was five? Who said I couldn't cultivate until I was ten?
'I'll kill them!'
What she felt was warmth as the void qi started tempering her meridians. She even had a vague feeling she could have started practicing much sooner.
No amount of words could describe the anger she felt. If she had started practicing as soon as she could read ywouldn't she be at least a golden core cultivator?
She felt bitter that she wasted five years and didn't even try to practice. It was no one's fault but her own.
She took a deep breath and began to temper her meridians again. She was still being extremely careful as she was tempering them for the first time. She had to make sure to do it perfectly.
With each passing second she could feel her connection to the void getting stronger. This time, she had practiced the entire night into the morning just to temper her meridians once. She smiled as she would have something to do for the next few weeks.
She got up and stretched as she had been sitting down all night.
'Cultivation is so fun' she thought without thinking.
If anybody heard her some would agree and some would scream about how challenging it is, only the geniuses could truly enjoy cultivating while the mediocre struggled to catch up.
Weekly Power Status
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