Deep within the plains of the North Snow Province, where it always snowed without fail. Here lies the Boreal Manor, a family of martial artists famous for their Ice Cold cultivating techniques, and marvelous sword skills.
Far off from the manor, hundreds of meters from the Main Building, lay a humble courtyard with a small house. The snowfall was especially forceful today
"Swing with more force! Harder!" An old man berated a young woman practicing her sword swings. She had shoulder-length hair, that was the color of snow. That, combined with her pale skin made her almost blend in with the harsh snowflakes falling on her, her black outfit helping her stand out. It didn't help her face was cold and expressionless, giving her an 'aura' of frost.
"Quicker! I said quicker! Why are you slowing down?!" He yelled. The young woman swung and swung, using every ounce of energy within her body. After 5 minutes of swinging and yelling from the old man, she collapsed onto her knees of exhaustion.
"That's good enough for today, Aneira," The old man said. "I am always impressed by your fortitude. Most people at the 3rd stage of Mortal refining cannot handle such intense workout. Normal 3rd stagers have about a hundred pounds of force, but I can tell that you have about two hundred and fifty! That's astonishing," He said as he punched the air a few times. Although he was an old man, he was tall and built well, his muscles threatening to burst out of his shirt. He had a thick white beard and short snow-white hair. He'd look friendly and approachable were it not for the brutal scar running down from his forehead to right under his left eye. Surprisingly, even though the two of them wore such light clothing, they were seemingly unaffected by the cold harsh weather. Neither of them so much as shivered.
"Well, I've been stuck at this stage for two years now! If i wasn't at least more resilient than others at this stage it'd be a real embarrassment," Aneria sighed dejectedly as she sat down. For the normal cultivators of the Boreal family, they would reach eigth stage Body Refining by the age of 15. But Aneira was an outlier. She was 16 years old this year but was still stuck at 3rd stage. Even for those random cultivators outside the large families, they would still reach 6th stage by 16.
"Well, that just means when you do break through you'll be unstoppable to those from the same stage! At least, until Qi refining, haha," the old Man chuckled. "Well, your grandmother should be done with dinner. I heard she's making Frost Rabbit soup today! I can't wait to try it." the old man said excitedly.
"Go back to where you came, old man! Who wants to serve you my precious soup?!" The door to the house opened suddenly, and a lady, who looked no younger than 40 with snow white hair down to her waist walked out. "Quick, come inside Aneira, I don't want that freak's personality to rub off on you." She said as she entered back inside.
Aneira stood up, "Thank you again, Senior Mark, for training me today."
"Aye, next week I'll be even harsher. I promise you, you will break through to fourth stage!" Mark left the courtyard as Aneira waved him off.
Aneira entered the house and went straight to the kitchen. Although the cold had little effect on her, the warmth from the fire was still pleasant. The old lady was in front of the stove with a big pot. She grabbed a big bowl and scooped a big helping of soup into it. She set the bowl down in front of Aneira.
"Ah, I will never get over how much you eat!" The lady watched, as Aneira devoured the soup, soon asking for seconds.
"Well, i have to get big and strong, Grandma! Once I breakthrough, ill be an absolute menace to those of the same level." Aneira responded, half joking. She knew there was little hope for to breakthrough.
"Have you felt any improvements recently, anything different?" Grandma asked.
"No, it's still the same issue. Every time I try to break through to fourth stage, the Qi within me mysteriously vanishes, and I have to restart the 3rd stage all over again. The first time I hit the peak of 3rd stage, and the fortieth time feel the exact same. Only difference is I feel my muscles get slightly stronger each time, but only by a little bit." Aneira was depressed. Being part of a large and famous family, but being untalented was a crushing feeling. Her friends and siblings from when she was a child have slowly distanced themselves from her, soon looking at her with scorn and mockery.
Grandma patted Aneira on her back. "All things happen for a reason dear. It really will happen, i promise."
Hearing this, Aneira felt a little comforted. 'Maybe this really is just a small obstacle. Who cares about a small bottleneck? I won't stop until im dead.' She thought this as she finished her bowl of soup. "Alright Grandma Heta, I need to cultivate. This bottleneck won't break itself." Aneira left to her room on the second floor, sneakily leaving the dishes for Heta to clean. Heta waved her off and ate her own bowl of soup.
Aneira entered her room, which was modest with just a bed and a wardrobe. In the wardrobe were all training outfits from the Boreal family. A pitch black tunic with white stitching on the edges, and black pants. "Time to start cultivating i guess." Aneira opened the window, even though the weather wasnt exactly ideal. It had no effect on her training speed, but it did bring her comfort, so she made it a habit to always cultivate when it snowed. Luckily, the wind blew the snow away from the window, so there wouldnt be much cleanup later.
Aneira sat with her legs crossed directly under the window. This was where it was the chilliest, and it also made her the most comfortable. She started cycling the Qi within her, while also absorbing the Qi from the outside. There were no special techniques for Body Refining, at least none that Aneira knew of. The only thing that determined how fast you got through body refining was speed and hard work.
As time passed, the sun slowly fell and the moon rose. Aneira was still cultivating, with the cold chill getting harsher. An Hour had passed, And there were changes. Not internally, but externally. A black serpent seemed to have coiled around Aneira's arm. It slowly crawled down from her shoulder to her wrist. Once it hit her wrist, it stopped moving completely. If one were to look closely, they would notice that it was a tattoo. Once the tattoo settled, Internal changes happened. The bottleneck for the 3rd stage was about to be broken. Aneira wasn't aware of the miraculous tattoo because of her extreme concentration. She was determined to break through this time. This time, however, was different from the rest. The Qi within her was cycling faster than ever before, getting faster and faster each cycle. Soon, it happened. the Qi Cycle got to an incredible speed, and then stayed at that constant speed. Aneira heard a booming sound from within and felt her muscles brimming with power. Even her slightest movement carried a bit more force. She opened her eyes and a big bright smile spread across her face.
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'Finally, 4th stage!' Aneria thought. Imperceptibly, the new serpent tattoo on her arm had glowed, slightly squirming about. The breakthrough seemed to have taken all her energy, as she collapsed almost right after.
The next day, Aneira groggily woke up. She slowly sat up, rubbing her head confused about what had happened. Then she remembered.
"I broke through!" She jumped up, excitement layered on her face. She charged out her door, right into Hetas's room. Confused by the yelling, Heta awoke quickly, thinking something bad had happened. Before she could react though, Aneira burst through the door and leapt into Heta's embrace, knocking Heta back down into the bed and crying tears of joy.
"I did it, grandma, I did it!" Aneira cried and cried. Those years of anguish, resentment, and pain had finally passed. She didn't think of anything else but breaking through.
Heta patted her head, a wide smile on her face. "I told you, darling, It was only a matter of time," Heta said this but was surprised by Aneiras strength. One should know, that Heta was at the peak of Qi refining. Although she was caught off guard, it'd be difficult for a mere 4th stage Body Refining to knock her down.
Quickly, Aneira calmed down. to others, 4th stage was nothing, but this was a huge achievement for her. Excitement filled her, as she took Hetas hand and pulled her out of the house and into the courtyard. The snow had stopped and the bright sun was out, although the snow was stubborn, and refused to melt.
"I feel so much stronger now that I've hit 4th stage. Watch this!" Aneiras' strength was known to nobody but her. Before in the third stage, she had about two hundred fifty pounds of force when she punched. Now, however...
"Crash!" A small tree had a fist imprint, with Aneira in front of it in a punching stance. "600 pounds of force!" She exclaimed.
"Oh my! That's beyond even sixth stage!" Heta was surprised by this development. "Congratulations! We must celebrate!" Right as Heta said that though, there was knocking on the door to the courtyard. "You may enter," Heta said confused by this development.
Two men wearing white outfits with black stitching entered. As they did, both Heta and Aneira bowed as they recognized the outfit. It was reserved for high-ranking warriors of the Boreal family. Their status was just under that of an Elder, and their strength reached the 3rd major realm of cultivation, Qi Palace.
"Heta Boreal, you have been selected for a mission. In 3 weeks you will depart for the East Wind province. During the auction held by the Grand Commerce Bank, you will secure the Frozen flower Fruit. Your budget is 1 million gold" One of the men said, as he read off a scroll.
"I accept this mission!" Heta said.
"Good, there will be appropriate transportation set up, and you may bring up to 3 retainers." The man said. The two of them turned and left.
"Time for your annual mission already?" Aneira asked. Every year, each member of the Boreal family besides the elders had to go on a mission every year. Most of the time it would be something simple like acquiring a specific fruit helpful for cultivation or collecting taxes on the towns under the family's jurisdiction. Other times it would be a dangerous Beast subjugation.
"I guess it's because of the upcoming Family Competition," Heta said. Hearing that, Aneira's eyes sparkled.
"Can I go as one of your retainers?" Aneira asked.
"Hmm..." Heta was hesitant. If this was before, She would have denied it instantly, but seeing Aneira's strength changed that. Aneira also felt...different. The Qi fluctuation around her was different. "You have three weeks. If you can break into 6th stage within these three months, I will take you." Heta said this to dampen her spirits. She didn't want to outright refuse her, but didn't want to halt her training either
"You better keep your word!" Aneira was confident. '6th stage is definitely within my grasp!' She thought to herself.
"Don't go too crazy now! I need to stop by the main palace and make some preparations. I'll be back before nightfall." Heta said as she left the courtyard.
Aneira was excited to train today. Aneira picked up her wooden sword and started with practicing the movements of the common grade sword art, Mountain Splitting Ice Art. It was derived of seven movements, built around the increase of momentum. Each move would increase in force, with the first move increasing force by about one and a half times, and the seventh move increasing by a whopping 3 times! Although, Aneira could only perform the first three moves.
Sword Arts are Technique arts, to increase the strength of a practitioner. There are also Movement arts and Cultivation Arts. Each kind of art is split into Common, Earth, Sky, Heaven, and Supreme grade. The higher the grade, the more benefit, but it also means the higher requirement for comprehension and talent. Usually, even if a random village person found a Heaven or even Sky-grade technique, they would not meet the requirements to practice them. But Common Grade techniques can be practiced by all, regardless of talent.
The first move, Split the Air. this move was the beginning, if you can't split even the air around you, how would you split a mountain?
The second move, Split the stream. This move started the connection with Ice Qi, something integral to the later moves in the Mountain Splitting Ice Art.
The third move, Gathering Ice. This move was integral for this sword art. If the other two moves were meant to strike, this one is meant to gather energy. Its force was the same as the second, but in return, the 4th move would see a burst in power.
Each move was packed with force and momentum. The first time she did the moves, she did it within fifteen breaths, the second time, fourteen breaths. Each repetition reduced the time spent, down to a minimum of 9 breaths. After repeating the move set 15 times, she stopped and caught her breath. 'This time, i will go for the 4th move.' She thought, as she calmed her mind and stabilized herself. Then, she burst out with incredible speed, putting her all into the movements.
'Split the air, Split the stream, Gather the Ice, and strike!' A mantra she had created to line the movements up with the names. As she was gathering the ice, she felt an incredible surge in power. She struck out with incredible speed! But as she did, she felt something was off. She finished the movement, only to find the sword was no longer in her hands, but a couple of feet in front of her.
"I failed, but this time felt different. Tomorrow for sure i will perform the first 4 moves properly." She thought aloud, as she went to pick up her sword. She started to practice her swings now. This was a routine she did every day. Practice the sword art, to hone her technique. Swing the sword to hone her strength and external abilities. And cultivate Qi for overall strength. Although she was stuck on the same stage for 2 years, this routine rarely broke, if ever. Others would go mad with this repetition, but Aneira found a slight comfort in the stability in her life.
As she did her sword swings, she was nowhere near exhausted. Yesterday, should could do one thousand swings, and collapse of exhaustion. But now, she finished fifteen hundred swings and still had energy to spare. It took her another five hundred before she felt her usual exhaustion. Stopping there, she saw it was about mid-day. Usually, she would eat with Heta at this time and cultivate for the rest of the day, but Heta wasn't here so she went to cultivate.
Stepping into her room, she sat down in her usual spot. Cultivating deep into the night. Heta didn't return tonight, but Aneira didn't notice. She was too focused. Something felt different, aside from the obvious power increase. She felt she was already on the verge of a breakthrough. The first thing she noticed was that her Qi cycle was fast. Really fast. Usually, when you are in the Body refining stage, you cycle Qi through the muscles and tendons, making them stronger. The first five stages were for the muscles, while the last four stages were for the bones and marrow, for a total of nine stages. There are rumors of a tenth stage, but nothing has ever been confirmed about it.
For the average Body stager, a Qi cycle would take 30 breaths to complete. For the talented ones, 20. But Aneira only takes 15 for a single cycle, increasing her refinement speed. After about 500 cycles, Aneira felt something.
'Another bottleneck?' Right as she thought about it, she cycled her Qi to break through. Unlike her previous record of failure in the 3rd stage, it happened almost immediately, boosting her into the 5th stage.