Gong! Gong!
The sound of a great gong being struck woke Niu from his slumber. He sat up from a simple wooden bed and swung his legs over the side. Reaching upwards, he stretched his back until a soft cracking sound was heard.
The little nuances and discomforts of the human body were slowly becoming more understandable to Niu. He had learned how to stretch certain areas and what positions were most comfortable.
Just three short steps from his bed stood a black iron cauldron. Reaching down, he lit a few pieces of wood from the night before. The cauldron, along with the closed windows, helped warm the house.
He tossed a wooden grate over the top of the cauldron and inserted a few of his favorite herbs. When he had chosen this home, it came with a writ of ownership and some basic cooking instructions. Currently he was brewing a thick herbal tea from a hundred year old vine, meant to strengthen the mind.
Besides the cauldron and bed, the room also had a small table, two wooden chairs, and a painting of the Old Master.
In the painting, the Old Master is riding an ox up a mountain. Slow but powerful are the traits that best exemplify the Ox. These are also the traits which best exemplify the Earth element. This is why the painting is hung within every disciple’s home.
He stepped outside and closed the door softly behind him. The cold, crisp mountain air was the first thing to greet Niu, causing him to pull his robe more tightly against his thin frame.
The walk to the Divine Arts Hall was not a short one. He had picked a home far away from the central courtyard in the hopes of some privacy. Furthermore, on his way up the mountain he had seen many disciples practicing ‘walking meditation’. He was interested in this sort of mobile meditation, as it appeared to offer a greater communion with the earth than sitting alone in one’s room.
The theory behind any form of meditation is to empty the mind of all unnecessary thoughts, often though absorbing oneself in the feeling of their own body. Only once the mind is completely clear of clutter will it be able to absorb true knowledge. In essence, only a cup that is empty can be filled.
He walked quietly but purposefully towards the Divine Arts Hall like a cat stalking through the woods. He felt his lungs slowly fill up with air before emptying once more. Wind rushed in through his nose, circled inside his chest, and then was let out through his mouth. Like his mind, his lungs had emptied so that they could be refilled once more.
With every step he took, he could feel the earth push back gently against his soles like a giant hand helping him stand. The power of the Earth was pulsating beneath him. In this state of internal and external awareness, Niu walked for thirty minutes before arriving in front of the Divine Arts Hall.
Upon his arrival he turned around and cupped his hands, bowing low towards the path from which he came. Being imbued with the spirit of the earth in such a manner had left him grateful.
His reincarnation as a mortal had separated him from the earth and caused a feeling of incompleteness. Thus his successful meditation had filled an unknown hole in his heart.
The senior disciple standing guard outside the Divine Arts Hall raised an eyebrow in confusion at Niu’s gesture towards the woods but quickly buried his expression when Niu turned back around. After all, there were a great multitude of eccentrics among cultivators, almost to the point where eccentricity had replaced normality.
Niu walked over towards the senior disciple and gave a slight bow upon noticing that he had a sword strapped to his hip. Any disciple who was carrying a weapon was at least of the 4th stage of Body Refinement and more than a match for the untrained Niu.
Each stage of Body Refinement represented a twofold increase in strength. Thus a 4th stage practitioner had the strength of eight men as opposed to Niu’s four. In the mortal world, a 4th stage practitioner was strong enough to be feared greatly.
The senior disciple smiled in satisfaction at Niu’s act of courtesy. Fresh Inner disciples often thought themselves as above all but Core disciples and elders. Of course this was not true as every stratum of disciples had its own hierarchy.
“Are you the new Inner disciple that Master Avem introduced?” asked the senior disciple.
“Yes, senior.” responded Niu, keeping his words courteous.
“You are allowed a low-level cultivation method, a low-level combat technique, and a low-level martial form,” he stated. “Master Boros will be inside to help you find a suitable technique and make sure you do not grab anything above your station.”
“Master Boros…” Niu said quietly, trying to memorize the name.
He stepped inside to a dimly lit room with a middle-aged man behind the counter. The man was extremely large, at least seven feet, and heavily tanned. It was common for earthen cultivators to be large since the earth element promoted muscle growth but this man was simply massive.
Niu looked up hesitantly at him. “Are you Master Boros?” he asked.
The giant slowly peered away from the book in his hand and looked down at Niu.
“I am,” he said.
Before Niu could get out another word the man went back to reading his book.
“Uhh…” Niu stared at Master Boros for a short moment, unsure of how to proceed. After an awkward smile and a brief bow he turned around to start browsing the texts.
“All low-level texts are on this floor. Pick a cultivation method first then pick a form and skill that compliment it.” Master Boros voice echoed out behind him.
“Thank you, Elder.” Niu replied happily. The presence Master Boros exuded was second only to the one emanated by Master Avem. That meant he was at least in the upper ends of the Manifestation Stage. Any word this elder dined to say would be worth listening to.
He walked through the shelves of old tomes until he came across a section labeled Lower Tier Cultivation Manuals. The books in this section were quite a bit thicker than the ones in other rows. Cultivation manuals were quite complicated.
He walked over towards a random shelf in the row and picked up the first book he saw. “Divine Mole Manifesto” he read aloud.
Instantly a snort was heard from the counter.
Niu flipped open the book and read the first page. “To cultivate this method is to become the mole; small and unassuming, but dignified in its own unique way.”
Niu put the book down. Nope. He was not going to be a mole.
The next one he read was similarly useless. It was called the Three Turns Mud Method and involved lying in mud while meditating every day to cultivate qi and acquire slippery skin.
“These are all so… stupid.” Niu said incredulously.
Book after book, and shelf after shelf; Niu searched endlessly for a decent method until finally he came across one that met his standards.
It was a plain, unadorned, leather-bound book with a tassel wrapped around it. The cover read Divine Behemoth Body Method. Niu flipped open to the first page and began reading.
The Divine Behemoth Body Method is based off the Dao of Velocity and the Dao of Weight. To cultivate it, one must understand the mindset of a Divine Behemoth. The Divine Behemoth is one of the largest, slowest creatures known to man. Nonetheless, it is incredibly powerful and can destroy a city with a single hoof. To cultivate this method is to obtain the weight of that creature in a human body. To do so is, put simply, excruciatingly painful.
Niu read on and learned about this method. Most of it involved continuously growing the physical body and then compressing it. This method of gathering a surplus before compressing it for refinement was also how it cultivated qi.
Master Boros wandered over when he noticed what book Niu had picked up. “The Divine Behemoth Method deserves to be a top-tier cultivation method. However due to the extreme difficulty of cultivating, we keep it in the bottom section.” he said. “While the power such a method may give you is immense, each bottleneck you face will be tremendous. I do not recommend it.”
“Thank you, Master Boros. But I plan to choose it anyway.” said Niu matter-of-factly.
Whatever the difficulties of this method may be, the power it gave was worth it. Besides, he believed it would be easier for him to understand the theories of moving slowly but heavily. He had once, after all, been a mountain.
“So be it,” said Master Boros. “However, do not forget my earlier advice or you will have trouble progressing in the future."
“I will not forget Master Boros,” said Niu in a placating manner. It must be said that despite Niu’s oddities in actions, he was very good at showing respect to elders. Well, except Elder Ignii of course, but that involved a bird. Birds don’t count.
Master Boros nodded gruffly in response; he assumed this disciple would come back in a week asking to exchange this cultivation manual for another one. That is what most disciples did who arrogantly choose the Behemoth Method.
After picking this method, Niu choose to go look through forms. “Heavy but slow, heavy but slow…” he wondered aloud. He needed to find a martial form that either accentuated the advantages of the Behemoth Method, or covered up the weaknesses.
Arriving in the martial form section he picked up the first book on the left. It was called the Stone Ape Open Palm form. It involved regularly striking harder and harder objects with one’s palm to increase their toughness and strengthen the appropriate muscles. The eventual goal was to have an open palm strike so fast and ruthless that one could crush trees with a single blow.
“Hmm not bad, but it does not seem to match with the heavy-slow style I am looking for. Maybe the defensive nature of it is more fitting?”
He skimmed through the book until he found the defensive portion of the form. This was called the Stone Ape’s Sway and involved fancy footwork and body contortion to avoid blows.
“Definitely not,” said Niu. “I’ll just keep looking then.”
The next book seemed somewhat more promising, “Mountain Goat’s Center,” he read. It described a method where one would learn to keep their weight centered in their body, thus giving them inhuman balance and stability. It was extremely defensive in nature and had only a single striking method.
“The ability to use my weight to the fullest would be advantageous, but only a single striking method is somewhat… risky. I’ll keep looking for now.”
Niu continued searching through this section; it was significantly larger than the first one, making up perhaps a quarter of the entire floor. The names brushed against his mind briefly like waves on a beach. Twelve Stone Boxing, Mud Titan’s Grappling, Cave Bat’s Fingers, Lesser Golem’s Insight, the list went on.
All of them were quite decent in their own way. Especially Lesser Golem’s Insight and Mud Titan’s Grappling. Apparently the Three Turns Mud Method was supposed to be practiced with the Mud Titan’s Insight to create a formidable grappler. Despite the strange cultivation method, Niu realized how frightening a wrestler whose body was slippery could be.
Lesser Golem’s Insight was intimidating because it had two sequels in the floors above - one a middle-tier martial form and the other an upper-tier. When he was reading through it Master Boros called out and said that it was the most used form in the sect and for a good reason.
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Nonetheless, none of these were quite what Niu was looking for, so he kept searching. Several hours later, after the Sun had begun its descent, he found three books that fit his standards. They were the Momentum of the Bison, Stone Mammoth’s Tusks, and the Hornless Dragon’s Dignity.
The last one had three more books in the upper levels. It was considered one of the most powerful forms available to the sect and was what Master Boros practiced. The focus of this was to acquire skin as tough as a dragon’s scales, hands as vicious as a dragon’s talons, legs as powerful as a dragon’s thighs, and strikes as deadly as a dragon’s bite. If trained to the highest level, the martial artist would gain the overwhelming power of a dragon in human form.
Stone Mammoth’s Tusks focused on one single aspect; striking as hard and dominantly as possible. It did not even contemplate defense, only how to use one’s weight to its maximum offensive potential. In this regard, the Stone Mammoth’s Tusk was unrivaled within the first floor.
The first book, Momentum of the Bison was a simple but powerful form. Its purpose was to integrate the strength of a herd within one’s own body. This form had nine steps. The first step involved utilizing the strength of one bison; the second involved the strength of two, the third three, and so on.
Strikes within this form were mostly fist based techniques and a few grappling methods. They were learned from studying the way a bison utilizes its horns. These were heavy strikes that began slow but finished fast and hard.
In terms of defense, the form focused on entanglement, deflection, and endurance. What could not be entangled should be deflected. What could not be deflected should be endured.
The combination of all this made for an extremely well rounded martial form with room for growth. More importantly, Niu wanted to understand the concept of multiplying strength and apply it to his weight. If at some point in the future he could multiply the weight he acquired from the Behemoth Method, then a simple slap would carry the force of a mountain. With all these considerations in mind, Niu choose this form.
The skill section was far bigger than the other two sections. It made up most of the bottom floor. Despite this, Niu found a skill he liked by the second book, “The Rhino’s Intolerance,” he read. It was a shockingly simple but effective skill. One would grab the opponent; gather all the qi into their forehead, and head-butt the center of the opponents face. Quick, unexpected, deadly – those were the words that best described the technique.
Niu walked up towards the counter where Master Boros had gone back to reading and placed the three tomes on the counter.
Master Boros put down his book once more and examined the three tomes. “We have already discussed the Divine Behemoth Method and Momentum of the Bison is a fine form but,” he paused, “are you sure you want the Rhino’s Intolerance?” he gave Niu a skeptical look.
“I do, Master Boros.” Niu replied.
Master Boros let out a sigh, “Very well then. It is your choice.” He wrote Niu’s name in the three texts and handed them back to him. “If you wish to try another form, technique, or method, you must bring back one of these texts first.” After saying such he went back to his book.
Niu nodded his head eagerly and rushed outside, excited to begin learning these methods.
As he walked back towards his home with his books beneath his arms, he heard an interesting conversation taking place.
“Come on trash, you have no future anyways why are you being so stingy?” A nasally voice asked.
A whimper was the only reply.
“This idiot can’t even form simple words, he doesn’t deserve that Triple Lotus pill,” said another boy.
Walking around a bend, Niu came across three Inner Disciples surrounding another fatter disciple. The fat one was lying on the ground in fetal position with his right hand grasping a cultivation pill.
It was one of the Triple Lotus pills that Inner Disciples are supposed to receive once a week. This was an advantage over the Outer disciples, who only received one pill a month.
The three bullying boys had vicious expressions on their faces. They were intimidating with their tall and muscular appearances. The common trait of earthen cultivators was well demonstrated by them.
Niu was not sure what to do here. He knew from observing humans that it was proper to be compassionate. But he also knew that he, as a man who had never fought before, would not be able to do anything. More importantly he did not know the fat boy and had no interest in making enemies at this moment.
He resolved to try and sneak by unnoticed, quietly minding his own business. He even began whistling as to appear more nonchalant. Shameless perhaps, but Niu thought himself to be quite clever for avoiding conflict in this manner.
The three boys looked up to see a thin, pale disciple walking by whistling with three books under his arms. He gave the very appearance of a gutless bookworm, definitely not the type to intervene with their affairs.
Unfortunately for Niu, the fat boy on the ground heard his whistling and grabbed hold of that chance.
“Hey!” he cried. “Help me!”
Niu paused for a moment. The three boys stopped their heckling and stared at Niu menacingly.
At this point it was too difficult for Niu to pretend he had not noticed the bullying. It would be best to feign an interest before giving up.
“Ahem.” Niu coughed lightly, “Any chance you boys could---”
“No.” the nasal-voiced one cut him off. “You think this is your business bookworm?”
“Nope, just fulfilling my role” said Niu with a lighthearted laugh.
“Something you find funny?” the nasal-voiced disciple asked, slightly annoyed.
“To me at least,” responded Niu absently nodding his head.
“Oh? Enlighten us,” the man asked sardonically.
“It’s nothing really, don’t worry about it.” With a wave of his hand Niu turned around and started walking away.
Suddenly he heard the crunching of rocks and dirt beneath a foot and a hard smack hit him on the back of the head.
Niu’s vision blurred for a second and he fell to the ground, clutching the back of his head in pain.
“Ergh,” he moaned.
“You think you can turn your back on us?” the nasal-voiced one said angrily.
Niu was still distracted by the pain. He had never felt anything like this before. A piercing pain that rocked his body and blurred his vision. Never before had someone been able to hurt him in this way. Never before had anyone held any amount of control over his life. Niu felt something new at this moment – fear.
The group of bullying boys surrounded Niu with sadistic grins. Out of the corner of his eye, Niu noticed the fatty sneaking away and cursed him mentally.
A boot came flashing forwards and struck Niu in the stomach.
“Ah!” he crumpled in pain, now taking the same fetal position that the fatty had. The irony was painful in multiple ways.
Another foot caught him on the chin, knocking his head upwards. A third boy grabbed the books Niu had been holding and tossed them towards the side.
“Haha!” he laughed. “This idiot grabbed the Divine Behemoth Method, as if he could ever learn that!”
The other two boys laughed alongside the man. Niu was annoyed at the boys’ mistreatment of the books.
The nasally boy, who appeared to be the leader, flipped Niu over so that he was face up and sat on his chest.
“Hey, where is your pill, let’s go to your place and get it,” he said. “If you’re good maybe we will only do this to you once a week,” he said, giving his friends a wink.
Niu grew enraged. They had hit him, kicked him, thrown his books, and now they wanted his pills? More than that, this little shit was sitting on him, on Niu! On Mount Nine Peak, the insurmountable mountain since the beginning of its world! Even the Patriarch of the Falling Stone Sect could not get on top of Niu, how dare this brainless buffoon sit on him?
Remembering the texts he had just read, Niu tried the only move he knew. He grabbed the collar of the disciple on top of him, stared deeply into his eyes, and with a wordless fury swung his head forward with all the momentum of a surging river.
The only thing the nasal voiced boy would remember the next day would be a pair of yellow eyes and a cracking sound before a world of blackness.
After knocking the first boy out, Niu shoved him off and stood up. He glared at the other two boys with an unbridled fierceness; the bloodstains on his forehead gave him the appearance of a raging barbarian.
Despite their comfort with violence, they had never seen someone break another person’s nose in a single head butt. This was especially frightening since Niu had done this from lying on his back. The force needed for such a blow was hard to imagine.
But whatever their fears might have been, Niu’s action could not go without retaliation.
The first boy ran up and threw a roundhouse kick at Niu’s neck. Niu brought up both arms to block it and was met will a dull pain that foretold heavy bruising. In this moment of distraction the other boy ducked low and went in for a tackle.
His shoulder made contact with Niu’s gut, knocking the wind out of him. Then he quickly slid his hands down to the back of Niu’s knees and pulled hard, causing Niu to fall on his back once more.
When the back of his head hit the ground a second time he saw a flash of stars. Ignoring the pain, he refocused on the man in front of him and grabbed his collar.
The boy seemed to know what was coming and a look of fear mixed with regret showed on his face. Terrified, he tried to get off Niu but a pair of pale hands on his collar prevented the action.
Once again Niu whipped his head forward in the same violent motion and crushed the boy’s nose. This time the boy didn’t pass out from the impact, but was still reeling in pain.
Noticing that his opponent was still conscious, Niu decided to take the only rational route. He tightened his grip and whipped his head forward a third time.
To the horror of the boy still standing, he saw his friend’s already crushed and bleeding nose further demolished by this pale boy’s domineering forehead.
This time the poor boy did pass out, albeit more from sheer pain than the actual impact.
Niu pushed the boy aside and stood to face his last opponent. To his surprise the last one was already halfway down the road sprinting like a man with his hair on fire. Where he had stood was a small pool of liquid.
He glanced at the puddle and the fleeing man before shrugging his shoulders. In actuality, Niu had no confidence in beating the last opponent. He was barely able to stand at the moment from the injuries his body had endured. But he had learned a powerful lesson. The only way to establish oneself in this world was brute force, and Niu’s weapon of choice was his skull.
“Damned fatty!” Niu growled. “I’ll get you back for this!”
Picking up his books he continued walking home being careful not to let any of the blood from his forehead drip on to the books. Behind him two boys lay motionless on the ground, their faces masked in blood like poorly applied war paint.
Niu returned to whistling.