Eztli couldn't believe what Kael had told him.

After being woken up, he had asked how they had returned to the room and that's when everything went wrong. Thirty days, he thought as his vision drifted. Thirty days confined to this small room with the kid.

He had planned to just teach him the first layer of his Blood Arts as repayment then leave him. He would linger in the vicinity—he had to wait for the Bloodverne to incubate—but he never planned to spend it confined. Now, those plans were ruined.

It's only a month, Eztli told himself, sighing. He really didn’t want to spend the time with the kid, but the more he thought about it the more he liked the idea. He could use those days to refine his own blood—making himself stronger before leaving. That sounds like the best possible outcome. Besides, the kid will be busy refining his own blood, increasing the qi flow in this area, which will only benefit me. He thought, nodding to himself while pushing down the sudden fear.

Atmospheric qi usually flowed very slowly unless someone actively focused and willed it into their bodies. Even then, most people couldn’t change the flow greatly; only those so called geniuses—with their superior control and absorption rate—managed to sustain and increase the amount of atmospheric qi.  That was the reason many cultivators used specially crafted rooms—with formations that enhanced qi flow—to cultivate.

Eztli had been one of those. Now he was a rabbit. The fear rose within him again. Will I be able to gather qi at a fast pace and change its flow?  He asked himself. He wanted to regain his strength as fast as possible, but now that he thought about it, he might not be able to. No. You can do it. You already have the experience and if that doesn’t help, you can will the qi with your soul.

That was the last option. Even if he could use his soul to guide the qi, it wouldn’t be efficient. It would tire him too quickly; there was also the lingering question of whether his soul would suffer from the repeated use. Currently, his soul had shifted to the form of a rabbit and was stable, but as it was not its true form it might be affected if he started to go crazy with its use. And he had been using it too often. I mustn’t use it that often. Eztli thought. I might be worrying for nothing, but it’s safer to restrain myself. At least until I can find a way to regain a suitable level of strength or escape this body. Sighing, he turned to Kael who looked at him with eager eyes—waiting for Eztli to start explaining.

"Kid, what do you know about cultivation?" Eztli asked. It was necessary for him to know before he started to teach him.

The sudden question stunned Kael for a bit, but he responded promptly. "Cultivation is divided into three stages.  The first stage, Fracture, requires one to gather qi from the atmosphere and store it in their cores. This will cause the core to fracture and expand. Once a cultivator reaches ten fractures, he will enter the second stage, Mending.

"This stage requires the cultivator to mend their fractures—in reverse—to reform their cores. Each mend will enhance the amount of qi one can store in their cores as there will be one less fracture to allow a leakage. “As for the third stage..." Kael said, taking a deep breath before continuing. "I don't know much about it—since there wasn't many books about it in the library—but it has to do something with nourishing the body with qi."

Eztli nodded as he heard the explanation. He was surprised that Kael knew so much. He had been wrong about there only being three stages—there was actually five—and his description of the third stage was vague, but the other two were spot on.

"All rig-"

"Then there's Fighter cultivation." Kael said.

"Wait. Fighter Cultivation?" Eztli asked as he took in the new term.

"Yeah, they cultivate differently. I guess it's a bit similar to the third stage as they gather qi to enhance their muscles and bones, but they do it while they shatter their core."

Eztli was stunned. What the hell? He thought. Refining their body while still shattering their cores. What stupid art was that? Eztli knew that shattering one's core while nourishing the body was a ticket to failure. He had seen several of his fellow disciples fall to the greed of using qi that they shattered their cores prematurely. They did get stronger, but they forever remained stuck at ten fractures.

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"Boy, do you know where this method came from?" Eztli asked.

"Uh, I don't know if this is true, but from what I read I think it came from the Heavenly Sword Sect."

That name paralyzed and enraged Eztli. Heavenly Sword...he thought. It was the same sect that hunted and ended the Blood Legacy Sect. The sect he destroyed once he rose to power.

"You are wrong. That sect was eradicated thousands of years ago." Eztli said. "So there's no way they could they create a cultivation method."

"They were, but some members survived and reformed their sect using the Fighter cultivation as a basis for it. Although they now live in seclusion."

Those greedy bastards, Eztli thought, his eyes narrowing and leaking killing intent. After he had destroyed the Heavenly Sword Sect, he had found several labs deep underground that held dissected members of his sect. He had thought that they were trying to learn more about the Bloodverne, but now the purpose of those labs hit him. They experimented on the members of my sect they captured in order to steal our cultivation art. Fortunately, they failed to fully grasp it—or maybe I attacked before they could—and only managed to come up with a half-assed joke of cultivation manual. Still, I will need to look for them and eradicate them. This time for good.

##

Kael gasped for air as he stared at Eztli. He could see—and feel—an intense pressure shrouding him; filling him with fear and death.

"E-Eztli..." Kael said, his voice trembling and teeth clattering.

The pressure stopped and Kael could breathe normally again. He was still sweating and shaking—the fear still lingered.

"Sorry about that boy," Eztli said. "I sunk into my memories..."

"What memories?" Kael asked.

"None of your business." Eztli snapped.

"Bu-"

"Boy, if you want to learn my Blood Art just stop. I'm not here to get all friendly with. Once I teach you I will leave. If you keep asking about my past you won't even get that."

"Okay." Kael said, looking at Eztli. But deep inside Kael was still curious about Eztli. He wanted to know what he had remembered. What had caused him to be so mad. Heavenly Sword...Kael thought. Could it be related to that sect? After I mentioned it he acted different-

"So back to my Blood Art." Eztli said, breaking Kael's train of thought. "I will only teach you the first layer of the Nourish stage, Blood Refinement. This will be enough to heal you and help you get strong in the future."

Kael grew eager and excited as he listened to Eztli, forgetting what he was thinking about. "Blood Refinement? I’m going to refine my body like fighters?"

"Boy, don't compare my Blood Art to that lowly cultivation method." Eztli said, anger rising in his voice. "Unlike it, you won't be storing qi or shattering your core."

"Then how will I train in it?" Kael asked.

 Eztli smiled then hoped towards him. "You will use the qi from the atmosphere—as if you were to store it—and use it to burn and refine your blood."

"Refine Blood? Wouldn't it be stupid as you will lose it once wounded?" Kael asked. The concept of refining blood confused Kael. It was unheard of—at least he had never read of it in the cultivation records. It made more sense to refine parts of your body you wouldn’t lose easily, like muscles and bones.

Eztli laughed hard. "Boy, once your blood has been refined you will have full control over it. So unless you wish to expel it, it won't ever escape your body. Plus, the refinement process alters it so that it enhances your body with each full circulation."

"But how is that possible?"

"How do you control qi, boy?"

"I concentrate and will it though my body…" Kael said as a sudden realization flashed through his mind. "So once it gets altered it becomes like qi."

"You are not as stupid as I thought." Eztli said, nodding. "During the process, qi and blood become one turning into Blood Qi."

"But then how will you shatter your core if your blood becomes your qi? You can only have a certain amount of blood in your body."

"That's the beauty of my cultivation art boy." Eztli said happily. "It doesn't affect your intake of normal qi, it just provides you with a second—more powerful—source of qi. You can still gather qi into your core to shatter it. In fact, that's were my art shines. Once you master all five layers of the Nourish stage, you will only ever need to fracture your core. Never mend."

"What?" Kael asked, yelling. “Never mend? That shouldn't be possible.”

"Shit, I got carried away." Eztli said. "You don't need to know. I will only teach you Blood refinement. After that, you can just train normally."

"Come on." Kael said, grabbing towards Eztli. "You already mentioned it, why can't you explain?"

Eztli back away and narrowed his eyes, shooting a killing intent at him. "Don't test your luck kid. I would have killed you just for knowing this much already, but as a token of gratitude for saving me I let it slide. Now are you going to keep asking me about that or start practicing?"

He's not kidding. He thought, swallowing hard as Eztli stared him down. He really would have killed me.

"I'll start practicing."

“Great. Oh, and just to be clear, the pain you will feel in the process will be beyond your imagination.” Eztli said, smiling.