Bo Ning, although considered trash, is quite known. At the age of 3 he completed the basic body training which would have allowed him to advance into common cultivation. His family is split between mana and qi cultivation but due to how young the clan is there are few techniques for qi so they have stronger mana control since it does not rely on martial arts.
It is also easier to train because mana is stronger in this region but this is still very outskirts compared to huge city where powerful sects remain. The 4 major sects each have some form to gather the two energy within their boundary allowing a grand boost in terms of cultivating their soldiers and genius.
The noble district on the other hand does not possess this because each clan has their own grounds to take care of.
The Bo clan is on the western edge of the area and is one of the closest clan to the Nine Falls Canyon where many vicious beasts exist meaning they were pushed to this area to be cannon fodder against any possible monster wave attack. As a small clan they obviously could not go against the stronger ones and could only bide their time growing their numbers and strength while expanding their techniques.
As for Bo Ning, when everyone had believed he was a genius, it was when he began to cultivate mana, he was able to quickly attract and ‘breakthrough’ the first stage which was to fill the meridians. The problem happened when he wanted to continue. When he tried to break through he was instructed to pull every drop of mana into his dantian which was under the navel but after a bit nothing happened and he told them that confused.
He was able to release and use magic techniques easily but when he wanted to gather mana into the dantian it was like a wall was formed and so the clan went to a specialist which was where they learned of his unique constitution. Normally someone in his condition would usually be dead because he possessed no dantian. Instead his meridians were more than five times thicker and strangely they flowed and weren’t in a constant position except for the areas near the acupuncture areas.
When this was discovered all thoughts towards the boy was disposed of. All but his grandfather and mother stopped caring about the boy while the two remaining helped him continue training his body to keep up with the others. What he still could train were body refining techniques but the clan only had one such technique from the Qi system and would take a great amount of time.
What was strange about Ning was that he was able to easily eject the mana in his meridians and absorb Qi without side effects. In one week he could completely change between the energies he had in his body so with that small bit of Qi he would absorb it and would perform several stances which would make the qi enter his body as he slowly absorbed more and later his grandfather would spar with him while beating him senseless which allowed the qi to be further refined into his muscles.
Because of this he had a very strong body compared to others.
Not only that but although he had extremely horrible luck to be hated by the heavens with such a curse, he always survives any danger, in the same way, when he was thrown down the cliff and passed the clouds, he didn’t hit solid ground and instead he hit near the top of a tree. The small weak branches broke under his weight and took most of the energy from his fall as he slammed through the tree and finally hit the ground. He was alive but he had already lost consciousness.
Small squeaking could be heard after the fall and a looming shadow appeared near him while the ground shook.
***
Slowly Ning opened his eyes and found that his eyes saw cavernous walls. What was strange was that there were torches that lit the area all around. The cave was immensely huge, as he looked around he found he was completely naked and his clothing was near him having turned into rags. Acute pain was coming from his back, sides, head, ribs, and legs. In other words his entire body was in pain.
He found that he was laying on a bed of leaves.
Still although he was in pain, he could still sit up if a bit slowly and look around. He saw nothing and there was no stink that showed that some monster lived here. In truth it looked like a cavern that would lead to a huge city underground.
Since he was still in pain he sat properly and cycled his qi around his body. It slowly started to alleviate the pain in his body.
As he was almost done the ground suddenly shook. Suddenly a large number of flying creatures burst into the cave landing all around. It was only then that Ning saw that these creatures were dragons. Not just any dragon but several kind from Wyvern to true dragons to flood dragons. Not only that but there was also several half bloods and lower grade bloods which were dragon mixed with other races. Dragons are known as the most compatible race to make a half breed with. They can impregnate anything as long as the creature fertilized the eggs inside themselves instead of exterior.
Strangely though, not one of them came over to kill him or attack. It was only when the rumbling and earthquakes reached its peak did a gigantic head appear.
Bo Ning turned pale as he saw the massive creature. It was an extremely powerful dragon but the head and body weren’t completely like the lizard kind. It was only than that Ning could somewhat calm down because this was a Wind Dragon. This unique type of dragon has white feathers with a green hue which are as hard as dragon scales, and they are a docile race. When compared to prideful dragons, these are like caretakers, very powerful caretakers. If a large place like this they would take care and raise many dragons and even some high grade monsters with high intelligence.
“Oh? You are awake child.” She said. Wind Dragons are almost always female. They mate with other kinds of dragons and usually retain the dominant attribute due to this defect.
“Uh… um…” Ning was visibly shaken. This was, after all, a dragon he was talking to.
“Don’t worry child, the children here all obey my orders, they won’t attack. I found you when you fell off the cliff.” She said.
“I didn’t fall! I was thrown!” He suddenly shouted in rage but suddenly caught himself and bowed down, “I-I’m sorry!” He roared.
“Oh my. Child you don’t need to apologize. I have long since known the cruelty and kindness of humans. Even if you hate many people you still have those you care for correct?” She asked.
“Yes…” He said shyly.
“Then you should get stronger to protect them and be with them.” She said.
“But I can’t get stronger…” He pouted dejected.
“Oh and why not?” She asked.
“The doctors said I was born without a Dantian so I can’t cultivate.” He said.
Swish! Swish! Crash!
At once all the dragons and monsters that were play fighting and flying stared at him and hit the walls and fell to the ground as they lost focus at his words.
“You… don’t have a Dantian… and are alive?” The Wind Dragon asked.
“Yes. Even the doctor asked me that.” He said.
There was a very long moment of silence which confused Ning who looks around and sees the concentrated stares of awe on him.
Suddenly a rumble came before the sound of laughter came from the dragon followed by squeaky laughs from the young ones.
“W-what is so funny?!” Ning asked embarrassed.
“Oh n-nothing.” The wind dragon said and smiled warmly. “Child, you have an extremely high talent which is rare in these parts.” She said.
“Talent? Me!?” He frowned, “How can I be talented when I can’t cultivate!”
“Talent isn’t involved with cultivation. A human who is a builder can be talented without being a cultivator can’t he?” She asked. The questions somewhat made him realize and he nodded. “Still your talent is indeed towards cultivating. You have what is known as the Rider’s constitution.” She said.
“Huh? But… the doctor said it was probably a Yin Constitution I had.” He said.
The dragon snorted, “Yin Constitution signify terminated meridians. They are dried up and dead. You do not have a Dantian but you have meridians that are 5 times or more thicker and seem to move at will, they are several times more robust and even when you are injured internally they never break.” She said.
“How do you know!?” He shouted.
These are facts he found out in the past several years. He can somewhat control the movement of his meridians somehow, even when hit by some kind of technique that could almost shatter a meridian his only gets an impact but never even show sign of breaking.
“This is the Rider’s Constitution. You are born without a Dantian but at the same time, the world of beasts has what is known as the Dao Beast Constitution where a Beast is born without Meridians.” She explained. “And unlike humans, beasts are born in dozens. Come, I shall teach and show you what I mean.” She said and turned deeper into the cave.
Still confused he looked around and noticed the little dragons and such looking at him but none of them obstructing. “Child, follow me!” She said as her voice rumbled through the cave.
He quickly ran without putting anything on since he had nothing to put on. After running he caught up but he had to keep jogging to stay caught up.
Soon enough they reached the deep area which seemed filled with mana, Qi and even Infernal energy.
“Wow!” He exclaimed.
“This is my hatchery. As a Wind Dragon, I help many egg layers in this area birth healthy newborns. By allowing the eggs to remain here they will be supplemented by a very good amount of energy.” She said walking through heading further in.
“Can’t humans find this place?” Ning asked.
“They can but they wouldn’t attack. First because Dragons and humans have no feuds. If they do then it's towards only one specific dragon who was an idiot to attack human settlements. Also I personally allow them to keep a large quantity of beasts in this region because I protect the infants. Still humans don’t know I live here so it makes no difference to me.” She replied.
As they walked further they soon reached a dome room which was filled with rows upon rows of different colored eggs each with a strange pattern in front of it.
“What are these?” Ning asked.
“These are eggs that contain all the creatures that possess the Dao Beast Constitution.” She replied.
“What!?” He exclaimed.
She laughed, “Do not think all these can go with you, the eggs have a level of compatibility towards you so not all beasts will contract with you.” She said.
“Oh right, how would I even cultivate just by having them with me?” He asked.
“I shall explain do not worry, just find one egg that reacts strongly, make sure to look through them all first before choosing.” She said and laid down at the entrance.
Still not understanding how everything lead to this he didn’t care much anymore as he slowly walked around to try and figure out what kind of ‘reaction’ he should look for but he found out quite quickly as the eggs he passed would glow subtly.
“Um… how do I know if something is a strong reaction?” Ning asked.
“If it glows very faint white then you have a chance as long as you use spiritual power, which is hard to train here, to make a connection, if it grows yellow then you have a chance to hatch it by extending your meridians and let nature take its course, if it glows orange and red than the chance is even higher, if it glows gold then it is a perfect partner.” The wind dragon said.
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Hearing her words he looked around and only saw a very faint white glow on some and so he moved on.
As he walked he saw some yellow, more white and orange. These were from large eggs that were almost his size but as he moved he slowly moved towards a space with small eggs that were on par with chicken eggs if not a little bigger.
As he got to the first nest he saw the countless glows and to his shock there was a golden glow and he picked it up and looked at the Wind Dragon who smiled and nodded. Still he looked around more but didn’t find another golden and slowly walked out meeting the dragon’s stare. She slowly got up, “Come, now I will teach you how Riders cultivate.” She said.
“Why have I never heard of Riders before?” He asked.
“The Rider Constitution is incredibly rare in this area, it’s an hereditary thing so your children will all have this the rare part is for it to be born in an area but once born and properly preserved and raised it will spread forming quite a powerful force.” She explained.
“He~!” Ning said unenthusiastic.
“Hmph, when you reach those really powerful places, you will learn how powerful Riders are.” She said not putting his disinterest to heart and lead him to a place that had countless black stones with human writing on them. The place was strangely tower style with several floors and so huge that her 6 meter tall, 15 meter long, 5 meter wide body could climb the ramps leading up. There was a wide space on each floor where even 50 dragons could fit and still have space for more.
“These are?” Ning said looking around.
“These are ancient scriptures. All things tied to Riders and Dao beast cultivation. You have to learn everything because a Rider doesn’t have one beast but a beast has one rider. Your cultivation and your beasts will only improve as you gain more companions. The basics are on the massive square stone in the back. Once you have hatched your first beast you find the stone which matches it.” She said.
“Won’t it take a long time to read all these?”
“Not really, even if I said before that spiritual power is hard to train, as a byproduct of needing to cultivate you need the power to move your energy and the Rider’s Constitution boosts by a huge margin how much spiritual power you have so as long as you insert that power into the stones you will the profound information and it will be transferred into your mind and will remain there. It shouldn’t take more than a few days. After you read everything about your first partner, read everything else.” She said. “I shall bring food for you as you study, when you are done I will return you to your family.” She said.
“Wait! About my clothing?” He asked.
“Those rags? Oh right humans use those to cover themselves…” She sighed, “I will try and obtain something just start to study.” She replied.
Like that, she left leaving him completely alone blinking into space and looking around. “This place is amazing…” he muttered, “there are probably more stones with knowledge here than a sect.”
He walked to the biggest stone which had many writings and read it but lots of it was gibberish he couldn’t understand since it was able the human body and the beast body and so on. He put his hand on the stone and wondered what to do and tried to insert qi inside but nothing happened and thought about what the dragon said.
“‘A byproduct of needing to cultivate you need the power to move your energy and the Rider’s Constitution boosts by a huge margin how much spiritual power you have so as long as you insert that power into the stones you will the profound information and it will be transferred into your mind and will remain there.’ That means… I need to meditate right?” He asked himself and nodding he sat down and put the egg beside him and sat with his back behind him and began to meditate.
He began to move his Qi and move the meridians as he pleased to pass the time but when he remembered that the energy used to do all this is spiritual power he thought that maybe he could understand how to consciously control this energy if he focused.
Sharpening his attention he moved a meridian a bit trying to feel the energy and he did notice something from his head. A small pulse of energy. When he tried to cause that little feeling again he needed to move the meridian again and he felt it this time more keenly.
He followed it back and was able to feel that little wave of energy that was stuck in his head. When he thought to control it he found that conscious of this energy he was actually able to move it like the other energies he encountered.
Finally he opened his eyes and stood in front of the stone and felt that wave of spiritual power leave his body and enter the stone.
BANG!
His body seemed to be sucked in and he suddenly found himself before a strange diagram of a man. What shocked the boy was his visible meridians that glowed and moved around his body. Then slowly a monster egg appeared and the man touched it and from his fingers and hand the meridians extended into the egg first along the shell then penetrating. Finally he sat down and suddenly a surge of knowledge entered his mind.
It contained knowledge to allow Riders to connect to the beast and spread the meridians. Unlike common people, the Rider Constitution actually connects to their best by putting their meridians through the entire body of the beast passing it through their hands and passing them through the acupuncture points before connecting to the Dantian.
It is actually more dangerous for the beasts instead of the rider because the Dantian is the storage of energy while the meridian are the passageway. Without the passageway the energy in their body can’t flow which is why no Dao Beast can hatch. Their body can’t develop as fast and will require the rider to cultivate with them while they are in the egg allowing them to grow as the energy in the Dantian is refined. That said it's not completely used by the beast, there is too much energy gathered for just the beast but this has a significant role because the rider is required to use this to form what is known as a Beast Seed. These seeds are formed inside his body in the place where the Dantian should be and it will plant itself there.
Although the space did not have a Dantian, it wasn’t empty, the meridians were attached to something which is why even when Ning had tried to move them once they did not. The knowledge named this the Seed Bed. This space would gather and nurture the seeds and as they grow the pair will grow stronger but it isn’t limited to 1 seed and instead the more the better. That is because the cultivation of the rider is connected to his beasts and some beasts have limits so by supplementing with several beasts each going higher quality it will go one by one pushing each other.
As soon as the history knowledge finished entering his head, profound knowledge and what was called the ‘Incubation and Seed Formation Art’. It entered his head and he began to review it slowly learning what had to be done and how he was going to work the energy.
Only after he was completely relaxed and had all the knowledge did he open his eyes and remove his hand from the stone.
He sat down once more and took the egg and sat down in a lotus position. He supported his hands on his leg and cupped his hands while the egg sat right on top.
He closed his eyes and felt his meridians all over his body. The edges didn’t move but they rapidly stretched and pushed the expansion space it could spread towards the hands. Were the once loose meridians moved around, now they sat in place as it should if it was in a common body. Slowly the meridian moved about and the egg shell was the first thing it came into contact, the shining gold was a radiating energy which drew the meridians onto the shell and slowly they spread around and finally connected to the strange symbol on the front before they bore into the shell and entered the creature.
The long meridians slowly flowed through the body and as they moved they moved around connecting to the acupuncture's and following to the next.
Any smart person in his position would already be memorizing the position much less someone who thirst for power to punish everyone who ever insulted him.
No matter where it was he memorized the entire structure of the creature and as it slowly finished and finally moved to the dantian. Bo Ning got ready since he knew that it wasn’t going to be simple and it proved so.
As soon as the twelve primary meridians connected there was a huge surge of energy which was a mix of Qi and mana. That said Qi was the primary energy with only 10-15% as mana. There were very tiny trace of Infernal Energy.
The objective was to refine this energy in both their bodies and removed the extra energies leaving only the strongest energy then cultivating the beast while forming the Beast Seed at the same time.
Following the only art he knew, he began to cultivate the energy in the little beasts rapidly removing the mana which flowed out of the meridians into the different parts of the muscle. The small body slowly began to grow and develop as this happened. Following it was the tiny trace of Infernal energy and after this it was pure Qi and so it entered the next stage and allowing the energy to flow into his body the Dantian of the little beast burst forth releasing unending amounts and flowing the energy how it was described it flowed to the area the Dantian was and it was all blowed and he began to chant the scripture to form the seed. The Qi in the meridians flowed out and gathered at the center. All the while the energy in the little beast kept cultivating and the body grew more and more as the energy built up.
Long tail, large head, big whisker, scaly body, large strange wings, wings on the back leg. Small thorn spikes long the tail.
All these were noticed by Ning as his meridians stretched through them as the body developed. All the while, the incredible amount of energy gathered in that tiny body. It flooded his body with the excessive and oppressive energy which flooded the empty void of his Dantian and all of it concentrated into one point. Rapidly the energy started to solidify into a very small ball and as the energy flooded the ball it kept growing more and more until it was the size of walnut and finally stopped but the energy kept flowing but no longer overbearing and started to form a stable flow between Ning and the Egg.
The calm came and stopped and he continued to cultivate which caused his body to undergo a startling transformation. First an incredible amount of impurities burst from his muscles. His pores opened, his blood and muscles that had been washed by the overbearing energy and now the impurities were being pushed out.
Strangely enough, the egg which had turned back to its greenish color now turned dark green and slowly became black as liquid impurities found pours through the shell and were completely expelled.
The eyes of the Wind Dragon opened wide as she sniffed the air and smiled. She growled and several blue dragons hatchlings took to the air and flew into the large room and they squeaked and small rain clouds formed and began to rain. The black smelly impurities were hit by the water and slowly they began to dissolve and with the water that began to fall harder on both the egg and the boy the black impurities slowly washed off through some impurities were still stuck to the body but a small furry dragon landed and with a squeaky roar the water rose up and began to form a vortex that gently passed over Ning’s body and the little egg sucking up all the impurities left on their body and then on the ground before compressing it into a little ball and removing the liquid leaving only solids.
The tiny pellet of impurities were taken and the little dragons flew off without once alerting the boy who was in meditation that they were there and what they did.
In Ning’s view he could see a small solid sphere that was a mix of sky blue and blue green and inscribed on its side was a kind of fish but it spread wings instead of fins which confused him. Still now that the pattern of cultivation was complete he simply continued this cycling to finish the last of the egg’s growth so that it can hatch.
He sat there for a several hours before he felt a twitch from the egg. He could feel the little creature was now pounding the egg shell so he withdrew the meridians and watched the egg.
Small hits came from inside, sometimes the left, sometimes the right and slowly cracks began to appear. Ning watched as slowly a cat like face but covered in fish scales having a short whiskers appeared and as the head appeared it withdrew it and then bit into the shell and began to eat it.
He looked strange what what happened next was amazing. With incredible vigor from eating the first bit the little tiger faced creature began to rapidly eat the shell until nothing was left on Ning’s hand except the little creature.
What was strange about this was that it had a fish like body full of small slimy scales, the fins were very long, almost as long as its body to each side and it had two shorter fins where the legs would be. They were all thin but pointed like swords. It had very tiny spikes on the tail which seemed like weapons and the face seemed like a small cat with large whiskers.
“What is this?” Ning asked no one in particular but still held the strange little fish who curled up in his hand like a cat and began to sleep.
He blinked several times and examined this little thing as best he could before carefully standing up and running out and after looking several minutes he found the Wind Dragon laid down while she overlooked the newborns and noticed him after a moment.
“So it has hatched?” She asked.
Ning nodded and held his hand out, “I don’t know what it is.” He said.
“Come here.” She said and Ning walked over. She bent over and looked carefully before taking a sniff. “This is a Flying Tiger Fish, they are quite rare and fierce. Unlike common tigers these fly in packs, they are considered low ranked Profound beasts but under a rider they can grow well.” She said.
He looked a bit skeptical at the little thing but he didn’t say much else, “Were you able to get any clothing?” He asked.
“Not yet, just go study for now.” She said.
Ning sighed and nodded before turning around and running back. After that he walked around and used his Spiritual sense to just sense the name and found several involving fish and flying fish type creatures. These were the first he read and only after he read all these did he try to implement them. The little fish didn’t stop sleeping but when the meridians finished connecting to the dantian Ning found that it had gained a lot of energy so he slowly went over the information.
After thinking of the information of all the flying fish type cultivation he through that it would be better to use one of the three made for carnivore types. “Lets see how this affects it.” He muttered and closed his eyes while the little beast opened its eyes and looked at him.
He began to cycle the qi in a specific manner in the body of the little beast while a large amount of energy moved into his own body and followed a similar path passing through the seed and returning refined back to the fish. The feeling was like a warm heat was coursing through his body making him feel stronger and full of energy.
When the energy was almost empty he stopped and let the remaining energy return to the little Tiger fish and removed his meridians. Suddenly he felt a small gust of wind and the little fish jumped up with a whip of its tail and spread its fins only to catch that little wind and start gliding around rather shaky.
“So that is why it’s called a flying fish.” Ning said.
At this moment two small fish walked in, each had a large leave sack in their mouth and they dropped in near Ning. One had raw bleeding meat and the other had fruits.
As soon as the meat appeared the little fish dove at it and began to eat. Ning thanked the little dragons and put his hand under the chin and scratched them there. They closed their eyes and seemed to hum or purr in pleasure very content for the caress and when he stopped and picked up a fruit to go eat he felt a nudge on his back and he saw the pleading eyes of the little dragons which almost made him fall over laughing.
With one hand holding the fruit, he pet the two in turns meaning one was pouting and the other was enjoying and after the other cried out he would change leaving the other one pouting.
Only after several minutes did he stop because at that time the little flying fish jumped onto his hand and hissed highly jealous.
The small dragons snorted at the baby flying fish before nudging against Ning happily before they turned and took off.
“So dragons like to be pet… guess everything powerful had a moment of innocence.” Ning said before he turned to the pouting little fish and with one finger he scratched the underside of the little fish which made it go limp as he caressed all the while Ning laughed at the little fish that liked to be pet on its belly.