Qi Like Tar

Everyone settled in for a long session of cultivation. Who knew if they could find this place again? More mystical generations of qi, like this little clearing and the sapling in the center, were impossible to predict. Or maybe the sect would move it. Best to take advantage while they could.

Paike was planning on staying the night out here if possible. He would have to make sure they would be safe, but it should be possible.

Before he began his own cultivation, he took a moment to study his three friends.

He started with Yixin, who was the easiest to understand. He still didn't know much about her background, but that she was using the cultivation method taught in Elder Chu's class was telling. She had advanced to middle Ruby, putting her solidly above average but not on par with those like Liming in Late Ruby.

Paike considered trying to give her a better cultivation method. But he wouldn't actually be able to show her any of those that his family had taught him. And he wasn't about to suggest his own barbaric practices for her. He also didn't have the manuals with him. There was a chance he could explain it sufficiently, but that would be stupid, when his own sister knew them about as well as he did and was sitting right there.

It went back to the earlier idea that Liming had some sort of plan for Yixin. His sister always had some antics, usually connected with a plan. Sometimes that went hand in hand with some manipulations. He imagined there was something about motivating her and then being there to help her along when she really wanted to start pushing herself.

To him, it seemed needlessly complex. However, he wasn't about to get mixed up in his sister's business unless she asked for help. Which he was pretty sure she would eventually. So he just noted a few things Yixin should consider incorporating to mesh well with the windy nature of her qi and her desire to use a bow. It was rare to see such a complex element in such an early stage outside of families that specialized in it.

Moving on to Liming, she was making steady progress filling up her recently expanded dantian. The rate at which she was gathering qi was astonishing. Among the disciples, only Li Feng surpassed her, though not as much as Paike had assumed when he first felt the boy cultivating. Liming had made great progress in her understanding of qi recently.

He wasn't sure what elements she was focusing on. There were certainly aspects of water, earth, and wood, but it felt more tinged toward life and growth than any other aspect. He supposed she still hadn't given up on the idea of healing.

From her perspective, she didn't have any problems. But he had a literally outside perspective, and he could see that in the third dimension, a few things were off.

Once he located the problem areas, he built scaffolding around the proper paths. Then he nudged the qi through those passages. When it ran up against his trying to follow the well-trodden paths of her habit, his qi refused to budge.

It took her some time to adjust, and he could feel her getting frustrated, but he stuck with it. Eventually, she got used to the corrections, and he slowly removed the guides. He could see that her qi gathering was even faster, and that it was being assimilated into her control more quickly as well.

There might have been a few more corrections, but he left her to it, and maybe once she really got used to the changes, he would introduce some more.

He turned his attention to the last member of their little circle. Guan Li was by far the hardest to understand. It was clear that the technique he had displayed earlier wasn't the only thing he had created.

The way he coaxed the qi around him into a complicated pattern that hurt Paike's brain to even look at was unlike anything he had ever heard of, let alone learned in a cultivation manual.

It wasn't until he focused on it and studied it for some time that he recognized anything. The final step of inserting qi into the dantian before assimilation was clearly somewhat related to the method taught by Elder Chu. But it was no longer the most basic version of cultivation that the elder taught so that all could follow along.

That would have been like saying a bowl of rice was fit for a king.

Paike could barely follow what was going on, let alone offer any advice. It was easy to forget what Guan Li was. His lack of education, easy-going nature, and remnants of a street accent all made it easy to dismiss him as some yokel. But he was as far from that as possible. He was a natural cultivator, a genius among geniuses.

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It was people like him who first unlocked the secrets of cultivation. They paved their own paths and were almost guaranteed to break new ground. Paike just hadn't really understood until now.

Their tales were always something, many burned up in a blaze of glory, never accidentally leaving anything behind. It would take Guan Li considerable effort and time to translate his innate insights into something others could understand or use. Most didn't bother until they reached a certain height and wanted to leave something for their families. Cultivation was dangerous, and even the most talented didn't live that long without a good deal of luck as well.

Eventually, his curiosity got the better of him, and Paike interrupted Guan Li's cultivation. It was rather rude, but he had to ask.

"When did you start developing that accumulation inverted vortex in the third rotation? I think that's somewhat related to The Fifth Emperor's unproven theories, but it's the only thing I think I can even begin to recognize the lineage of besides Elder Chu's assimilation section, and even then, I don't know how you got where you are now. I didn't think you would have had time to be reading old cultivation theories."

"I did what with the what?" Guan Li opened his eyes and stared at Paike as if he had said something crazy. Not like he was the one doing something crazy with his cultivation.

That was when Paike realized he was, in fact, being stupid. There was no way that Guan Li knew what he was talking about. Paike tried to demonstrate it. However, he couldn't quite get it right. His qi just didn't move that way. He could be rather precise with static formations of qi given time, but this was anything but that. There was a reason he cultivated the way he did.

Even if he had, Guan Li would have been able to feel it, but not 'see' it as Paike could, so it would be hard to tell if he could identify it. So Paike dove into a lengthy description of what he was talking about.

Sadly, while Guan Li was able to move his qi in the described pattern, so they were talking about the same thing, the only explanation Paike got was a shrug and "It just felt right?"

That was unbelievably frustrating. That it was just an academic discussion for Paike made it a bit better, but he would still like to understand so he could help the others better. So he didn't give up.

"How did you know it would gather faster than..." Instead of referencing the competing ideas that were popularly debated, he launched into another lengthy description. Guan Li got it faster this time as he was learning the basic terminology.

"I suppose this also isn't bad." Guan Li said after he circulated his qi through that section of the pattern a few times. "It's actually a bit faster, but the momentum it gives the spin would make it hard for the qi to become part of my control in this section."

He then proceeded to show Paike a different part of the gathering technique he had been practicing, and Paike had no idea what was happening. It made him rub his temples even as he studied it. Guan Li started to let it disperse, "See?"

"No! Can you leave it up for a minute more?"

"Uh, sure?" Guan Li complied, and Paike thought he was starting to understand. Not at all what Guan Li was talking about, but rather the basic purpose of that pattern.

"Okay," Paike said after fixing it in his mind. "I'm not sure I'm going to be able to help you at all, I'm sorry."

He was going to give up on understanding what Guan Li was doing; it might take him a lifetime to understand the genius of what this boy had made in a few weeks when he didn't know what he was doing. In a few years, who knew what would be happening? It would be better if Guan Li learned the theory and could do that himself.

Paike couldn't use any of it either. His own methods were so far different from any known practices that it had no bearing on his own cultivation. He would just have to do it his own way, by force. Trying to learn this all wouldn't even help Guan Li anyway. Maybe he could use it to help his sister, but he wasn't about to teach her unproven techniques.

Who knew what parts of this would only work for Guan Li and harm anyone else? Not until it was properly studied.

"Thank you?" Guan Li said, clearly confused. "I don't think I need help with this, though. It's just fun to try new things. With everything else you have been doing, I don't think I could accept more help."

Paike didn't bother to correct how wrong he was and just shrugged. "Well, when you make Topaz, I might have to ask you to check a few things for Liming"

"You seem certain I will make that step. I hear many never manage it. Weren't you just talking about it earlier?"

Heaving a sigh, Paike closed his eyes. "I have a feeling you will be fine."

Feeling he had done the best he could for everyone, he finally focused on his own cultivation.

The first thing he looked at was the state of his dantian. It took a second for him to take everything it.

It had been better. But it was nowhere near as bad as it had been in the past. The qi he had plastered on the side to hold in the bulging bits or to plaster over the cuts was starting to crack. With some careful investigation, he saw that it was healing well, and, given how empty it was, there wasn't any excess pressure threatening to rip it open.

So, one small piece at a time, he started to peel parts of the qi cast off. Each time one came free, he winced as it pulled on his soul. At first it was just discomfort, but as he continued the pain grew, until he was fighting to maintain his posture.

When it was all removed, he sighed in relief. The pain started to recede, and his soul began to settle. Paike inspected his dantian; it was scarred and felt more than a little raw. However, he couldn't actually find anything wrong with it.

The scars didn't feel stiff or brittle like they would in flesh; they weren't even a raised bit or a change in texture; they were just discolorations on his spiritual organs. Which was a relief, for now.

Now he just needed to cut it open again. He needed more qi after all.

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