Chapter 344: Without Qi - 344
With his meridians cleared and the correct cultivation technique, Tong's cultivation quickly soared as fast as possible, reaching the limit of speed set in place.
It took him a month to reach the core formation realm, but Tong felt as if he could cultivate faster. He asked Master Iroh, and received an answer.
"You are greatly talented, Tong, but the universe must have order. When you reach a certain speed of cultivation, the universe will naturally slow you down. It is what leads to balance. Luckily, it is not without its merits, but that will be for later." Master Iroh explained.
"Starting now, we will leave this cave and explore the world. You will begin to follow your own journey, and I will be there to guide you along the way." Master Iroh said.
"I understand, Master Iroh." Tong said with a bit of excitement. Despite being a cultivator, he had never spent such a large amount of time in one place.
The next day, after a few hours of cultivation, Master Iroh and Tong left the cave.
"This area does not seem familiar. Where are we?" Tong asked.
"We are on the other side of the world right now. Although your bear race is not bad on the planetary scale, there are many places equal to it." Master Iroh said as he began to walk into the nearby forest.
Tong hurriedly ran and caught up to him. The forest was long and filled with tall grass, but Master Iroh seemed to have a built in map with him.
Along the way, it became clear that they were traveling the perfect path the entire time.
Tong looked at Master Iroh in admiration from behind. After nearly an hour of walking, Master Iroh stopped walking and looked ahead.
Tong soon caught up and looked in the same direction. They were on the peak of a cliff, and in front of them was a long drop off.
"Did you make a wrong turn, Master Iroh?" Tong asked.
"Of course not. Look ahead." Master Iroh said while pointing.
Tong looked ahead, but all he could see was a large mountain.
"I see! You came to look at the view. It is beautiful." Tong exclaimed.
Master Iroh shook his head and chuckled.
"That would be a good reason, but it is not why we have come today. I have seen your talent, and have connected it to two aspects. One, your inner self. It is as if you have two souls in your body, but one is suppressed. Along our journey, I will teach you to not only resist that soul, but will even help you learn to control it for your own benefit." Master Iroh explained.
"The second aspect is heavily connected to Earth. It appears you have some sort of innate connection with it. I can guide you in some matters, but this will mostly be done by you. Look at that mountain, reach out to it, and connect with it." Master Iroh said.
Tong took in his words, and then did as he said. He crossed his legs and sat on the edge of the cliff while staring at the mountain.
It only took him a few seconds to feel a connection with the mountain. Curious as to how far he could push the connection, he tried to expand it to the surrounding land.
After a moment, he felt a scene play in his head and jumped up, stumbling backwards in surprise.
Luckily, Master Iroh caught him before he fell down.
"What was that Master Iroh?" Tong asked.
"Do not rely on a teacher for everything. I can tell you that it is beneficial and not harmful, so try it again, but don't be startled this time." Master Iroh said as he pulled out a teapot and began to boil water.
Tong nodded and tried it again.
Soon, he saw the same scene, though seeing was not the correct way to explain it. He was seeing, but not with his eyes, with his mind.
Through his connection with the earth, he could essentially see what it saw, similar to a bats echolocation.
All around him for multiple miles, he felt as if everything was within his grasp.
"It holds a similar principle to divine sense." Master Iroh said from the side. "Due to many circumstances in the future, that will become less useful, but I can imagine that it will also have its own uses."
"It is incredible, Master Iroh!" Tong said.
"Indeed. Now try to control the earth." Master Iroh said.
Tong listened seriously and attempted to make the earth around him move, but was unsuccessful in doing so.
"Master Iroh, I can feel my connection, and I know that it CAN be moved, but it is not doing so no matter what I do." Tong said sadly.
Master Iroh had been observing him very carefully, and managed to sense a few things.
"Do not be impatient Tong. I can sense that the possibility is within you, but you cannot command the earth. The earth is but your companion. It will only move if willing. Try to do movements as you attempt to move your surroundings. Also, do not use Qi." Master Iroh said.
Tong doubted that anything would happen without using Qi, but he followed Master Iroh's suggestion.
He felt the earth and sensed it. He felt his connection, and then he instinctively lowered his stance and stomped on the ground. He was immediately balanced.
He then moved his right arm outwards, curving it upwards as he did so, and stomped his right foot.
As he completed the motion, a rough piece of the ground below him shot up, creating a long and thin pillar of earth.
Tong was surprised, and so was Master Iroh behind him. What Tong had done was something he had never seen before. Without Qi, he had just moved the earth without touching it. It wasn't as if the planet was sentient, but the ground had just moved.
Even Zhou Fan, who was watching from afar, was stunned. Although he could do such a thing, and so could Ying Xiong, they were perhaps the only two in the universe who could do so.
Doing something like that without any sort of QI required an entirely new comprehension of the universe, but they had both seen a boy in the core formation realm do it.
Chapter 345: Peak True God - 345
Master Iroh looked at Tong.
"Very very good. You have exceeded my expectations." He said while stroking his beard.
"Really?!" Tong said in excitement.
"Indeed. To control earth without Qi should normally be impossible. You have great potential. Now, try doing the same thing, but add Qi during the process." Master Iroh said.
Tong nodded and got into position. He repeated the same movements as before, but this time, attempted to put Qi into the earth during the process. Unfortunately, he miserably failed.
Tong turned around, scared that Master Iroh would be disappointed.
"Do not worry, Tong. It is not unexpected to fail on your first try. It is the effort that you put in afterwards that shows your true character." Master Iroh said.
Tong nodded with glee.
Over the next 24 hours, Tong practiced under Master Iroh's instruction until he successfully added Qi to his earth manipulation.
The size of the pillar of earth that came out did not change, but it was many times stronger than before.
While Tong was still excited, Master Iroh led him away from the cliff and back to the cave. When they arrived, Master Iroh sat across from Tong and began to speak.
"I have seen the earth side of your talent. It is incredible, and in the future, we will continue to hone it." Master Iroh said. "Now, we will begin the spiritual part of your talent. Drink this."
Master Iroh held out a cup of tea for Tong to drink.
"I've made this with special methods. Consuming it will allow you to essentially enter your mind. Inside there, you will find the answers we seek." Master Iroh explained.
Tong nodded and quickly gulped down the tea. Then, under Master Iroh's guidance, he began to meditate against the cave wall.
Soon, he fell into a trance, and moments later, he woke up in an endless dark void. Although he was in an unfamiliar place, he felt calm, as if he was at a loving home.
As he looked around the endless void, he spotted what appeared to be a boy his age sitting down and covering his head with his hands. His knees were also covering his face and his body was turned away from Tong.
Out of curiosity, Tong began to walk towards the boy while speaking.
"Hello. Can you hear me?" Tongs voice echoed. There was no response.
As he got closer, he could make out some mumbling from the boy.
Soon, Tong was within touching distance, and put his hand on the boy's shoulder.
"Hello. Who are y—-." He began to say, until the boy quickly turned around and screamed at Tong.
The boy's face was full of blood and rage.
Tong jumped in shock, and suddenly appeared back in the cave with Master Iroh.
"Welcome back, Tong." Master Iroh said.
Tong had cold sweat on his body as he spoke. "What was that, Master Iroh? The boy's face was exactly the same as mine, but he did not feel like me."
"That was a part of your talent. Simply put, you have two personalities, or souls. One, you. The other, that boy you saw. He has the same memories as you, but he is filled with hatred and rage." Master Iroh said.
"Master Iroh, if he is another me, then can we bring him out. Even if he is filled with rage, we can just calm him down, right?" Tong asked.
"Perhaps I misspoke. He is not exactly filled with hatred and rage, he is hatred and rage. There is no saving him, for taking away his hatred and rage would cause him to cease to exist. If you do not control him, then he will take over your body. Like everything else, he hates you as well." Master Iroh explained.
"I understand, Master Iroh, but I would still like to try. Both you and my mother have told me that kindness is the way. I feel I should not simply abandon a part of me because he was born bad." Tong said.
"Haha. It seems you truly are a good soul. Fear not, as long as I am around, nothing can harm you." Master Iroh said, assuring Tong.
For the next few days, Tong and Master Iroh practiced his earth talent at day, and his spiritual talent at night.
And so began the journey of Ying Xiong and his most talented disciple.
Meanwhile, Zhou Fan was still doing his own thing.
"It's about time I begin to cultivate again." Zhou Fan said to himself.
He was interested in the growth of another cultivator with talent almost at the same level as Ying Xiong, but he could not watch forever. He still had his own duties to attend to.
Zhou Fan crossed his legs and began to cultivate. As expected, the length of each session was extremely long.
Zhou Fan only stopped cultivating 8.1 billion years later, his longest seclusion yet by far, after reaching the peak of the true god realm.
Perhaps only Ying Xiong could somewhat disregard such a long amount of time.
His one seclusion lasted nearly a fifth of a lesser dao creation realm cultivator's lifespan.
Ying Xiong had successfully nurtured Tong to success and cultivated for a long time. He had reached the 3rd level of the inner world realm, as cultivating took even him a large amount of time now.
If not for the river of cultivation, he may have gone faster, but that was the price he had to pay.
Ying Xiong had also created the Cosmic sect. It was a sect exclusively for those with talent that Ying Xiong would consider worth nurturing. So far, the only other member was Tong, who had reached the peak of the lesser dao creation realm.
Tong had become an old man himself, but he still treated Ying Xiong as his revered Master Iroh, although he had discovered the truth long ago.
Ying Xiong was satisfied with the "youth", as he was perhaps the most loyal person in the universe.
On this day, the cosmic sect welcomed a visitor.
Weekly Power Status
200+ Power
Ranking 
121 Power
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