[Turtle Breathing Technique is doing good work, but it is too slow.] I said.
“Too slow…? You are already going at light speed, yet you consider that slow. Unbelievable.”
I just shrugged and continued searching for other monsters. I was still working for Bao Daon, killing Giant Rats while also training my body at the same time. I could already keep the Turtle Breathing Technique going at all times, and in fact, I felt my body already circulate Qi on its own. Well, almost. It just needed a little push every once in a while to get it back on track.
So basically I was having a low level of passive improvement at all times of the day. Except for when I slept, at that time my Qi stopped moving on its own and I had to restart it every morning. But I was feeling like my body was getting used to it more and more, and my flesh slowly started craving it.
Whenever Qi wasn’t cycling through my body I would have this weird feeling, almost as if I was thirsty or hungry. I barely felt it, but it was definitely there. I began to suspect that my body was slowly going to become dependent on Qi or something. Like an addict. I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing, or even if it was true, but for the moment all seemed well.
“Well…” The old ghost said hesitantly. “I have this Cultivation Technique…”
[Cultivation Technique?] What was that? I didn’t know.
“Yeah. It’s called The Awakening Breath. It should help you shape your Soul and enhance it further.”
I waited for him to continue, bud he just stared at me, or my Soul, from inside my head. So it seemed I had to drag an explanation out of him. [Care to tell me what the heck is a Cultivation Technique?]
“You… Seriously?”
[What?]
“What the heck have you been doing the last few months then?”
I totally wasn’t following, and he probably realized that. “The thing, the technique you use to Cultivate… What’s it called?”
[Oh, that’s what you mean! Er, no… I don’t think it has a name. At least I don’t remember the Elder saying anything.]
“Really? Wait, you didn’t pick it yourself?” I just shook my head. “What the heck did they give you then?”
He asked me to demonstrate how I Cultivated, and so I did. I compressed my Qi and according to the technique, turned it into Soul Essence and fed it to my Soul.
“What the- No, why the heck do you have this? This is the most generic, bottom-of-the-barrel crap! Why the heck would they give you a generalized Cultivation Technique? You clearly have a high affinity for Fire!”
[The what now?]
“No, evermind, I see the problem… They probably didn’t want you picking your Path just yet so they gave all of you the broadest technique to build your foundation. It seems you can change it later on without trouble, so that is good, but I would still suggest you switch to…”
The old ghost then went on rambling about things, but I think I got the gist of it. The Sect put us all on a generalist path, not locking our choices immediately at the beginning as used to be the case in Long Dong’s time.
The Cultivation Technique we received was compatible with pretty much every other technique that would in higher Realms be used to override it after picking a Path. And The Awakening Breath was very similar to it in the fact that it didn’t exactly lock you into a path of Fire, or Wind, or Lightning, or whatever the heck other Paths were.
It basically strengthened the Soul in all aspects equally, making it the ideal foundation-building technique for the lower Realms.
[Okay, so as I understand, the Awakening Breath is better than the one I’m using at the moment?]
“Yes, and it is optimized for the higher Realms too. I’m guessing it's because you grew too fast that you didn’t yet have time to learn these things.”
I took out my notebook and a bottle of ink. [Alright, I’m ready. Feel free to explain the process at any time. Oh, and no fluff, get straight to the point.]
“Yeah, yeah…” The old ghost grumbled for a bit but then proceeded to slowly teach me the Cultivation Technique.
I haven’t yet compartmentalized all these new expressions so I needed a bit of time to get it right. As far as I understood, the term Cultivation Technique referred to all the ways a Soul could be strengthened, while Body Cultivation Technique referred to the empowerment of a person’s body. Martial Arts referred to body movements for combat, both unarmed and with weapons, while Mystic Arts were basically just another name for magic and spells. I wasn’t yet sure if that included the Soul attacks like the Soul Smite, or if it belonged in another category entirely.
Then there were, of course, Breathing Techniques that focused on Qi and Aura manipulation and were supposed to work passively the entire time, being crucial for survival. Displaying your Aura for all to see was just asking for trouble from those stronger than you. And while some of the techniques overlapped in a few areas, it was to be expected since this wasn’t an exact science, but more like a mishmash of trial and error results over thousands of years of history, with each generation building on the foundation of the last.
I listened intently to the old ghost’s lecture, writing important things down in case I forgot them later. No matter how good my memory became, there was no beating written words.
I did the first Cultivation cycle under his guidance, and it felt better and smoother than the previous one, though not all that much. Perhaps the speed of advancement was greater, but I couldn’t really tell. At most, it was a 10% improvement. I also noted a slight shift in my Aura, but it was so small I wouldn’t have even noticed if I wasn’t already expecting it. It somehow reminded me of the way the old ghost felt, so I asked him about it.
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“Oh, yeah. It was the one I used in my youth. It’s the best I can give you for your current situation, but if you need some guidance, just ask. I have pretty much mastered it centuries ago.”
So it was like that. [Alright, cool. I’ll keep it in mind.]
“Would you like to learn a Movement Technique while we are at it? I wasn’t the best at it, but I’m sure I can come up with something that will suit you.” Long Dong said. It gave me pause.
Movement Technique used to maneuver the world at high speeds and with superhuman strength. It would be great to learn one since I couldn’t rely on flight anymore, but… I was getting too reliant on this guy.
Ever since he started teaching me, I felt my brain slow down and my basic instinct became to ask instead of trying to figure things out on my own. It was all well and good now, but it was slowly handicapping myself.
I needed to rely more on myself, learn on my own, and become self-sufficient. No more hand-holding, especially not for simple things. I explained all of that to him, and he seemed to agree.
“Huh, it happened quicker than I expected. It is good that you figured it out now, or it could have been a problem for you later.”
[It was, huh? And you didn’t plan to tell me?]
“The Path you need to choose by yourself, a master can only guide you so far. If you can’t spread your wings and fly on your own, it just means you aren’t suitable to travel on the Path. Sooner or later you would encounter an obstacle, and without prior experience, it would stop you dead in your tracks. You wouldn’t be the first, nor would you be the last.”
[Good to know. Still, I’ll need you to teach me Tyrant Forging Bones.] No more hand-holding, but that didn’t mean I wouldn’t take what we already agreed on.
“… Ah, yes, of course.”
----------------------------------------
After learning the last Body Cultivation Technique concerning my skeletal structure, I decided to exercise a little bit. And by that, I meant exerting maximum effort at figuring out how to maneuver my body with the superhuman powers I possessed.
I tried just running normally at first. It was incredibly easy to do so, however, my speed was not that great. Even when I pushed myself as much as I could, my limbs just couldn’t move much faster and I peaked at about double the normal top speed. Normal for a Mortal, even if it's an athlete.
I didn’t know if that was the problem with the nerve connections since I wasn’t a runner. I mostly moved by flight and short jumps when I needed to close the distance. There wasn’t much body movement in my life even though I had strong legs.
With time I could probably train to move faster, but most of my strength would still remain unused even if I did. In fact, the percentage of power I could put into speed would probably decrease. Humans just weren’t made for running super fast. We were endurance runners, not sprinters. Even if Cultivators had much greater stamina, the top speed with the normal running posture just wasn’t that great. And if I pushed off the ground then I would get too much air time, doing more of a long jump than a run, which I didn’t like as it made me predictable and an easy target while unable to change direction. It also wasn’t all that much faster, so I had to come up with something else.
My mind went to the time before my death. The Brilliant Sword Sect Cultivator at that time was running at tremendous speed, even keeping up with my flight. The memories of that time were a bit blurry since I was under so much stress, but I did remember he was much lower to the ground.
I took a similar running stance and gave it my all, pushing off the ground with rapid steps as I sprinted across a straight stretch of the forest path. I did my best to lean forward and keep myself as low to the ground as I could without falling. Naruto-style run. And it seemed to work!
Instead of going vertical, most of the energy went into propelling me forward as I ran so fast, it appeared to me as if I was basically jumping up on a nearly vertical surface. My body was close to being parallel with the floor, the great air resistance of that small angle was the only thing keeping me steady.
If I tried rising any higher, the wind would push me further up and I would lose my grip on the ground, forcing me to slow down. And if I went any lower… Well, I would quickly be sliding face-first into the dirt.
I about doubled my speed again, going close to highway speeds if I had to guess. Note that I had nothing to measure my exact speed, so an educated guess based on the air resistance I felt was the best I could do.
It was good, but still nowhere enough for me. That other Cultivator was much faster, so he had to have a way to increase his speed further. I already noticed my feet would sometimes slip when impacting the ground, the loose soil or moist earth not being the best when it came to offering a good grip.
I considered going on all fours. My body would then be completely parallel to the ground, minimizing the air resistance, and I would have another pair of limbs to pull myself forward and offer more stability. With a simple enchantment, my fingers would become like claws of iron, digging into the earth.
Having observed many cats in my day, both big and small, I remembered well how they ran. The front and back paws moved back and forth in tandem, making low jumps that propelled them forward very quickly.
I considered learning how to walk on all fours at first, but then I decided against it. When being nearly parallel to the ground at high speeds, it almost felt natural to put your hands forward and use them as another pair of legs to add to the speed and stability.
As the top speed approached, I put my hands forward and lowered myself to the ground. And as soon as my palms touched the earth, I went tumbling on the ground, once again, face first.
The sudden impact surprised me, and I was too slow to pull my arms back up as I moved forward, resulting in me leaning too far forward and doing an involuntary roll.
“Are you sure you don’t want my help?” Long Dong said, and I could hear the subtle gloating in his voice as I wiped the dirt off my face. “You don’t seem to be doing so good.”
[Oh, shut it.] I wasn’t even going to argue. I could use some help, but I was stubborn, and a decision was already made. If nothing else, I already became massively more aware of how I could move, and what my body could do. A careful balance of speed and strength was required for the best results.
I broke into a run once again, at first sanding upright, and increasingly leaning lower as my speed increased. When it was time to get on all fours, I was already at my top speed, but unlike last time, I was ready.
My fingers dug into the soil ahead of me, and I pulled myself forward, immediately gaining a bit of momentum. However, instead of completely going down like the last time, I pushed off the ground slightly just before my hands left the earth, gaining a bit of that needed vertical height.
But that didn’t last long as my legs swung forward, knees nearly reaching my chest, and in unison kicked down and back, propelling me forward at an even faster speed with a slight downward trajectory due to gravity. I landed on my hands half a second later, absorbing the force of impact in my triceps and shoulders, and did the cycle all over again. My speed increased by another 20% or so, and I finally came to a stop, satisfied.
[Good, that seems to work…] I murmured to myself and did a few more practice runs to get more accustomed to the movements. It was unfortunate that my legs were longer than my arms, otherwise, I could run even faster.
I gradually learned a few tricks too. If I landed on my hands at an angle, I could rapidly rotate my whole body around my shoulders and change directions on a dime. The forces required in that move were for sure enough to shatter bones and tear the ligaments of a normal human being, but luckily I was already strong enough to resist that, even if it was still really uncomfortable. To be saved for emergencies, I guess.
“Good stuff. You figured out the Hunting Tiger Movement Technique in less than a day, impressive!”
The old ghost’s words were laced with sarcasm, and he would for sure be doing a slow clap if he had physical hands.
[Seriously?] I glared at nothing in particular in my annoyance.
“Hey, it’s the first thing almost everybody comes up with, and it’s a good Movement Technique for beginners. Don’t be too grumpy. While it’s true I could have thought it to you in less than an hour, spending more than half a day to figure it out on your own is good too.”
I didn’t know if he was secretly gloating or what, watching me struggle for hours. Perhaps he was just butthurt I figured it out on my own. He was feeling useless I bet. Even if he agreed I should learn on my own.