章 15: Cultivation II - The Spark
His body, still as earth, rested atop; His body, laid bare to everything, stood still.
He couldn't move for he had no limbs, he couldn't speak for he had no mouth.
Yet he felt the pain of thousands of years as it rends his very self, bit by bit the grooves formed.
Who was the one holding the chisel? The other that stood before him.
He did not know.
Chip, tear, crush.
The pattern began to form.
---
Suddenly, his eyes darted open, the bright light sneaking through the window gap pierced his eyes causing his pupils to dilate.
His mind was in disarray, he couldn't form any coherent thoughts as his head spun on its axis trying to ground itself back in reality.
'What happened?' Shu He finally put together a single thought, as his eyesight slowly focused he looked around him, the solid wood floor and walls, his bed, his desk and all of his equipment laid around just as he had left it.
'It's the morning?' Realising how bright it was outside, he knew he'd either slept or fainted.
He lifted his hands and stared at them, they were the familiar palms he has grown up to have, yet there were stains of dark red like something had dripped on them, he touched it and it was mostly dry already, he touched his face and found a trail of dry liquid travelling from his nose and corners of his mouth.
"Blood?!" He stood up in panic, as he did he lost his balance slightly, almost tumbling over, he almost felt a dissonance between what he wanted to do and what his body was doing.
He caught himself before he fell fully and dragged himself to sit on his bed and calmed himself as he tried to recall what happened last night, he stared at the large blotches of blood that stained his wooden floor.
'I remember when I started meditation, a feeling of a warm sensation embracing my body… and then…' He trailed his memories to a certain point, but after that he couldn't remember much, he only remembered the tail end of what happened after.
"Pain"
'So much pain, just a millisecond was more than I'd ever felt in this life and my last together; I probably fainted from it'
He couldn't remembered anything else past that, he felt he may have had a weird dream but even that felt incredibly vague.
'Was it a failure?' He still wasn't entirely sure what he was supposed to do, but looking at the result he couldn't say he succeeded in what he was supposed to do.
The line he needed to focus on echoed in his head.
"Accept the heavens, ignite the flame; The path before you shall unfold".
'What did I do wrong? There definitely weren't any flames… the heavens… could It be a metaphor or something?'
He thought back on what he felt before.
'Was that warm sensation… was that it? Maybe so…'
"Was what I felt 'Qi'? It would make sense, because of the paste it gathered around me…" He spoke to himself as he thought out loud.
Before long he once more returned to the centre of the room and sat down cross legged, this time he didn't use the paste since it said to only use it once a day; He cleared his mind once more and concentrated.
Again, minutes passed as he sat as still as a stone steadily breathing.
'That warmth… I can feel it again, ever so slightly…'
He felt it cover his body like a thin veil, but he reach out to that feeling, instead he went deeper, almost pushing himself in to a slumber once more, eventually he felt it, that bright light, the gentle wind that caressed everything.
'This feels… different'.
He could remember what he felt before, insignificant beneath that vastness, yet he didn't feel that sensation this time, it was like-
'I'm part of it? No… that isn't quite right, I can't describe it but something has changed'
He opened his eyes and stood up once more, breathing out heavily.
'I'm not entire sure what, but this seems like progress to me!' He smirked to himself.
He looked at his surroundings, the blood and clutter everywhere.
"I should clean up…" He got to it, clearing his desk properly and sorting everything he used, putting them back in their respective storages, on his desk he left the two portions of Qi Gathering Paste, he intended to keep going every night from now on!
Before long he was done, he used the rest of the water he had fetched during the night to wash his face and body of blood and sweat before dumping it outside in the dirt, he didn't put any on the plants as he was scared the effects of the paste would harm them.
After that was all done he stood naked in his room, he stretched his limbs and performed some exercises just out of precaution, but no matter how he moved he seemed fine, not even a bruise or strain to be found or felt which did surprise him, rather he felt slightly better than he did before.
"It wasn't too much blood, but it's still odd I'm fine after losing it…" He stared at the smear left on the wooden floor from the blood stain he had tried to scrub away without too much success, luckily he could explain it away if he really needed to, not that his parents came in to his room much.
He then got dressed in some fresh clothes as his previous ones were thrown to the corner for washing later on and unbolted the door on his room before exiting.
---
"What were you doing last night?" His father hit him with that question the moment he sat down.
He felt a slight drip of sweat drop down his back, he didn't want to let them know exactly what he was doing.
"I was just up late; I was a bit too excited about all the stuff I got from the market ehehe"
'It's not exactly a lie' Was what he though to himself.
"Really? I thought I heard something odd coming from your room last night but I couldn't check because you bolted the door" Shu Li said with a disapproving face.
"I told you I need to concentrate when concocting stuff… Though I fell asleep mid-way, maybe that's what you heard" Shu He explained it away as best as he could.
"Hmmm, well, do everything in moderation" Shu Li definitely doubted his son but he decided to allow it as long as he took care of himself.
"You're up early little He, you don't usually get up for another hour or two" His mother, Shu An's voice came from the other side of the room, she soon bought over two earthenware cups with tea for his father and herself as she went to sit down.
"Shu He, you're bleeding!" She exclaimed as he rushed over to her son's side.
"Eh, wait what?!" He panicked, placing his hands around his face, nose and mouth and then looking at his hands.
'There's nothing?' He looked at them confused, before he looked at his father who was pinching the bridge of his nose in embarrassment.
He then looked back to his mother that had a look of disapproval on her face and hands on her hips.
'It was a lie?!' He had fallen for the oldest trick in the book.
"I knew it! I said he was doing something dangerous, but you said to leave him! Hmph, next time you will listen to me!" She complained to Shu Li who had morphed his expression, covering his face with his palm.
"Shu He!" Shu An yelled.
"Y-yes!" Replied with nervousness.
"What did I tell you about testing stuff on yourself! It's dangerous! You're still young and you could harm your body! It's reckless!" She berated him with anger which was an unusual scene coming from her.
"But mother i- "He wanted to explain so she could understand but-
"No buts! You need to look after yourself, there's no point in learning new things if you harm yourself in the process"
"..Yes"
"And?"
"I'm sorry" He was forced to apologise.
"And you're not allowed to use that bolt for a while!"
"But-" He was about to complain again but one look at his mother's expression told him it was a bad idea.
"Okay" He had to agree in the end.
After that short event they sat down and ate some coarse bread along with their tea and water for breakfast, it had been a while since he was up early with his parents so he did enjoy it for the first time in a while, afterwards the usual happened, his mother went off to do work around the house and his father went out to deal with other matters, as for Shu He he decided to take it easy for the day and didn't do any concoctions, instead he went out and walked around the village, spoke with some of the other children and adults and just relaxed, he wanted to get a true feel of whether he had changed much or not.
He concluded that not much had changed, at most he felt slightly mor energetic than usual but that was the most of it.
'In the end, there's only one thing to do, I don't want to worry my mother but after doing it once I feel like I can't stop, something is telling me I should drive forward'
After sundown, he returned to his room and after dark he did what he did before, he stripped down and pasted himself with the Qi Gathering Paste, but before that he also fed himself the strongest pain killers he had, he obviously had no idea whether they would help but it wouldn't hurt to try.
He repeated his steps exactly like before, within an hour he entered a trance like state, he ignored the warm veil he initially felt and made contact with the bright wind, he didn't know why but he follow his instincts doing so.
Eventually the searing pain returned, but he didn't faint this time, instead he let it flow through him rather than resisting, the scorching heat felt like it passed through his veins as the wind chipped away at his self, it was like it was continuing from last time.
Eventually morning came and he awoke with a weaker stupor than last time, there was no blood nor did his parents question him, he was happy from the results, he still wasn't clear on what was happing but he was making progress with something, and that was enough for him.
And so days and months came and passed, Shu He trained in concocting which he then sold to his growing customer base and trading when the market came around, it was unfortunate that Bo Lin didn't appear since that time.
Other than that he trained in his archery, improving at a running pace and quickly becoming known in the village, it wasn't too long before he was taken on hunting trips with some other villagers and his father at the lead.
And of course- Cultivation, he continued tirelessly, every night that he could without fail, other than the times he was busy or had to wait for ingredients for the paste to grow back he 'Cultivated' every night, as the time went the pain he felt lessened and that 'something' grew.
Eventually, 2 years had passed, Shu He was now 8 years of age and during his nightly cultivation something happened that never had before.
'?!' He felt like sun itself was cascading thought his body, a wind that felt scorching and pleasant, like it was healing him after breaking his flesh down, it all moved towards a single point, he felt his body go through changes as it all gathered and then-
*Strike*
Like a flint to stone, a spark went off and a flame came to life!
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