Chapter 7: Chapter VII: Conspirator
The morning after, I woke to find Nimue and Little Wu out cold. After taking Little Wu's foot out of Nimue's mouth, I corrected their sleeping position, pulled the blankets over them then left.
"Did they stay up again all night?" My mother asked. She and my father were standing in my courtyard, both wearing training pants.
"Again? Has little Wu not been doing her chores while I was away?" My shock made me forget my tone. My mother frowned, and I chuckled.
"Orym, let the girl be. She actually works very hard for you. Her studies and training are going well. Besides, do you know who she is?" My mother asked.
"A stupid girl, you freed a beast worth a year's wage. That's all that matters." I replied.
My mother sighed, "She's from the Wu Family, and her Fiancee is the young master of the Zenith Family. Prominent in a town to the west. They found two white tiger cubs, and it led to their destruction at the hands of the Dove and Ironwood Family. But, unfortunately, the cubs escaped making the destruction of her clan pointless."
"She's had it tough, son. Ease up on her. Besides, your sister needs someone to play with." My father added.
"Ahh, then I'll need another maid. But Little Wu has to continue her studies and training. And if that idiot boy doesn't come back for her when she's thirteen, then she'll resume her duties. One year for every gold coin spent to buy her." I compromised.
My mother quickly hugged me and said something about moving little Wu.
"No." I protested, "If you move Little Wu, then I can't see Nim. I already don't see her enough."
My confession my mother's eyes water, but it was my father who cried. My mother and I shook our heads before leaving him alone.
The morning session started with a full-body stretch to loosen my body up. I swear my mother was worse than a ballet master. After her instruction, I was drenched in sweat. Next was a weighted run around the village, then a full-body workout designed to work every muscle in the body.
Reading a fair amount of novels in the past, I expected to be a little stronger after my meridians condensed. I wanted to learn my new limits, but my parents gave me one look and put me through spartan training.
"Limits are made to be broken," My father said.
"So why bother learning them. Just train until you drop, wake up and do it again." My mother added.
If I didn't know they were merely twenty years old, I would have sworn they were old monsters.
After finishing our workout, I told my father about a few schematics in the treasury. The schematics were of a few structures recorded to help improve my martial arts and help with the Six Natured Limit Breaker Technique. Though, I hadn't told my father which techniques I planned to cultivate yet.
The next part of my day, my father led combat training for eight hours, then meditating for two to contemplate the skills furthering my comprehension. Finally, as the evening came, I took a stroll through the forest and found a nice place with the purest Qi that could be found to cultivate the Nature Sutra.
"I guess this will have to do." I sighed. I found the best spot after walking around for two hours. The current spot wasn't much better than the previous locations, but I decided to make do.
On the way home, I went over his knowledge of cultivation. " Body Refinement Realm: Strengthening, Flesh, Organs, Muscle, Bone, Meridian Opening, Tempering Marrow. Each of these stages makes up body refinement for the essence and body cultivation. The main difference is that essence refines - removes impurities from the body. While body cultivation breaks down and rebuilds. The problem is Nature Sutra. To get the Reflection of Nature Physique, my body needs to be refined with Nature Qi. Then maybe I can use Yin and Yang Qi to break down and rebuild afterward...
Anyways, I should train my body at least until I'm twelve for a strong foundation. That should also handle the impurities in the body. The stronger the foundation, the fewer bottlenecks I'll encounter in the future. The only problem is growth. I'll be forced to stay at the first division of body refinement while Nimue and other youths will be nearing the end. Tsk… how troublesome… I guess I'll have to trouble mother and father a lot more if I want to wring this plan of every drop of potential."
Returning to the Vamoria clan, the moment I stepped through the large double wooden gates, Nimue collided with him, squeezing his body to the point of suffocation.
"N-Nimue! L-let me go!" I struggled to speak, and the little devil quickly realized she was crushing her little brother.
"Sorry, kid!" she sang, and I groaned.
"What has you all excited anyway, little girl?"
Nimue frowned at the way I addressed her. "I haven't seen you since last night. Mom told me that you released Little Wu so we could play together. I wanted to thank you, but dad said that you had already left."
I tittered a bit. Having Little Wu as a maidservant wasn't of equal worth to Nimue's smile. I never had a sister or siblings in general. But I was starting to see the appeal. "You need to work on how you congratulate people. You almost killed me just now."
Nimue flashed an apologetic smirk. "I already said that I'm sorry. So don't bring it up anymore."
Nimue then took my hand and dragged me to the main house to have dinner with our parents and, surprisingly, Little Wu. Little Wu quickly got up to attend, but I stopped her. Instead, I moved her to sit next to Nimue. I then found my own seat across from my mother. On the table were dishes made from rank 1 daemon beast.
The family ate their fill until Gellis asked Orym how the day went and inquired about his cultivation choices.
"What cultivation technique? The history of 'that' ancestor has inspired me. I will practice the art of painting to compose my perception of the world. Calligraphy to give form to my heart's poetry, I already weiqi to strengthen my mind and insight, and the guqin will soothe the soul and suppress the woes of life to give our family peace." I teased my father as my mother snickered at the fuming man.
My mother had also seen the history of the Cursed Ancestor. She could resonant with the beauty of the projections that told his story and understood how I could draw such 'inspirations' from it.
"You little shit. If you want to be a mundane scholar, fine. But you will cultivate, or I'll beat you to the peak of existence."
I couldn't stifle my laughter. "Old ma, you need a spa day. You're too wound up. I can't even tease you anymore."
My father almost jumped off his seat, and I almost fled, but my mother grabbed him.
"Hey!" she shouted in the room went cold, "Enough of your foolery! Orym, answer your father's question."
Of course, I answered swiftly and seriously this time. The woman was terrifying.
"Haiz, I was serious about the four arts. But I also picked two Mortal level Combat skills and two Mortal level Movement techniques with a stack of basic weapon manuals," I replied without the slightest bit of embarrassment. My mother then looked at my father with a worried expression.
"How about your cultivation techniques?" Nimue asked.
I glanced at Little Wu, then at my father. He gave me a nonchalant shrug of his shoulders, so I continued. "Two high-grade heaven techniques and one low-grade heaven technique. Nature Sutra for essence cultivation, Ecliptic Battle Body for body cultivation, and the Six Natured Limit Breaker for soul cultivation."
Cough! Cough! Cough! Gellis nearly choked when he heard my selection. Of course, little Wu wasn't in a much better state as a White Tiger cub was the cause of her clan's destruction. But a Heaven Technique of any grade would be enough to send the Deep South into an all-out war. My mother was now beyond worried as she patted her husband on the back.
"Son," She said, concerned, "The Ecliptic battle body is extremely harsh and requires enormous amounts of Yin and Yang Qi, war, and excruciating pain. The Nature Qi is deplorable here, and I don't see how the two can be cultivated together. And your soul technique. Oh my. No, you have to choose something else. Half of the technique is missing."
"No," I replied, shocking his parents as this was the first time I had ever seriously gone against them.
I then added. "I will need a lot of help from you two and require a lot of resources, meaning my future needs will be astronomical. However, the gains will make up for my expenditures. With that being said, I ask that you respect my choice and support me."
My parents sighed, and Nimue stared at her little brother as if I was mad. But for each of the three people staring at him, I could do no wrong, nor was I known to be a reckless person.
"What do you need?" Mina asked.
I smiled before replying, "I want to use the fermentation theory written by Scholar Konrad Vexim."
"I'm not familiar with that theory." My mother squinted at me.
"But I am. We neglected the fact that Orym has been reading the family text since he was a year old. With the exception of studying actual cultivation manuals, we have raised a learned boy… The Fermentation theory is treating the body and internal energy like barrels and wine. By pushing each stage of cultivation to the absolute limit, he will construct a foundation of immeasurable strength if his body doesn't explode first." My father explained to his wife and all of the color drained from her face.
"Exactly. But I also wish to learn Arrays and Alchemy. I may not be able to store Qi, but I can still wield it, and I also have a soul. As for the resources, Rank 1 herbs should be enough for now."
"How long do you plan to do this?" My father asked.
"Seven years. For seven years, I will train until my body gives out, the impurities are gone, and master the martial way without Qi. Hopefully, I won't explode. I'm counting on the boost of vitality from the NAture Sutra to help with that."
My father nodded his head and applauded himself for cultivating such a young scholar. "Asmodeus Rex's theory of True Attainment. Disregarded as rubbish because he concluded that Mortals can be as strong as cultivators without cultivating a day in their lives."
"That's absurd…." Fei Rong spoke as she entered the Dining Hall. "Non-cultivators can't hope to match us without stepping on the path of cultivation themselves."
"Auntie Rong!" Nimue sang with joy.
"RongRong, how was the Capital?" My mother asked her childhood friend.
"Full of pests. I'm happy to be back with good news. But please, continue your conversation." Said Fei Rong as she took her seat.
"Orym.." said my father.
"Right… According to Rex's theory, Martial attainment isn't stimulated by one's cultivation. It's actually the contrary. Attainment, Enlightenment is enough to help a person breakthrough cultivation realms. That's why intent and concepts have stages completely autonomous of the three cultivation paths, with Dao being a beyond-perfected state of concepts and intents. Thinking about it, attainments can be considered a cultivation path in its own right. But for body and essence cultivation, obtaining a Dao is needed to progress, not the other way round."
"You're too smart, Kid," Fei spoke with her mouth full, and Nimue giggled.
"Thank you. I also want to request something from all three of you." I became anxious, "I want you all to have a breakthrough within the month. And I wish for my father to become a General of the Dark Water Kingdom."
Everyone looked at me with confusion. I had been thinking a lot over the years. Then Situ Qing's birthday and my father's words to me the day I was taken to treasury created a spark within me.
"I know you're each above the Mortal Realm. Right now, you all match the patriarchs of the Ironwood and Dawn Clans - Third Stage Houtian of the Qi Gathering Realm. But I want you to outpace them so that I can advance by stepping on a legion of this kingdom's elite." My words were cold and decisive.
"A Legion?" My mother asked curiously.
Fei Rong giggled. "If Master Gellis becomes a Sixth Stage Houtian expert, he'll be matching the power of the Generals. If Mistress and I do the same, we will be matching the clans of the Legion Generals."
"It seems you have a strategy for the next seven years, and we won't stand in your way." Said Gellis. "Fei Rong, We'll leave for the capital tomorrow. Mina, I'll leave 'it' with you."
The moment my father said 'it', I knew he was referring to the clan treasury that he wore on his left middle thumb to be protected by the remaining four fingers. It was also his least dominant hand, so it could be protected by his sword hand. When he wasn't joking around, my father was pretty sharp.
My mother nodded in understanding as she mentally prepared herself for the storm of change.
This family dinner was the first of many conspiracy dinners full of conspirators, with I being the lead conspirator. Why would my parents agree? The same reason that parents give children pets. If the pet happens to lash out, the parents have enough strength to put it down whenever they see fit.
The mortal world had become my pet, and my parents had enough power to drop a boot on it whenever they wanted it to.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Houtian, Seven Stages.
Xiantian, Seven Stages.
Foundation Establishment, Ten Stages.
Core Formation, Three Stages.
Nascent Soul Realm, Seven Stages.
These divisions and stages comprise the Qi Gathering Realm. Within the Mortal World of the Deep South, there are none above the third stage of Xiantian.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The days that followed that revolutionary dinner in the Vamoria Clan were nothing short of eventful. Gellis Vamoria and his Clan Elder Fei Rong shook the kingdom as Seventh Stage Houtian Cultivators. A stage above the General Situ of the Mountain Legion, matching the king himself, only below the Old King, a first stage Xiantian expert.
After swearing loyalty to the King, Gellis made one request along the promise of pills to aid the royal family's cultivation, a last-minute addition to my plane before he left the clan. My father requested to serve as a legion general. After the oath of fealty and offer of pills, the King graciously fulfilled Gellis' request as the more legions a kingdom had, the more power they could display. Gellis' appointment started the great change of White Tiger Village.
The next week, Mina revealed her 'breakthrough' and began to sell 'one-of-a-kind' pills bringing new renown to the Vamoria Clan. She sent her friend and guest elder, Daliah Silver, along with Fei Rong, to the three empires of the Deep South to sell pills and recruit potential loyalists to fill the ranks of my father's new legion.
As the kingdom was chaotic and my parents worked to solidify their power and status, I stayed true to my plan as my mother gave him low-ranking pills and Daemon beast meat to consume. Without the burden of cultivation growth, I trained my body like a mad man. Strengthen my body according to under the pressure Martial combat and training cloths inscribed with weight inscriptions. I took three detoxification pills every evening, and my father placed a Qi filter formation around the clan.
Though the qi was now pure and the detoxification pills were working, the process was slow and grueling. Thankfully my mother's peak grade pills didn't add to my burden, but the beast meat did.
After half a year, I traded out my wooden dummies for clan guards. The progress then continued as I battled clan guards day in and day out as my father was always busy managing his Legion. The power I displayed at stage one of the Body Refinement Realm was frightening. My aura was as dense as a daemon beast's, and my muscles rippled with power. With Nature Sutra proving it might cleansing the impurities in my body, the Qi also stepped into flesh, cells, bones, and so on, warding of impurities and increasing my Vitality, allowing me to increase the intensity of my training beyond my cultivation level.
But what truly terrified the guards and caused their tongues to wag around the newly titled town was my terrifying comprehension abilities. The way I learned martial techniques and continued to perfect basic forms was awe-inspiring.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone