Daiyu stood beside a wrathful Futian as he marched the members of his camp to attack the unorthodox faction.
Her tone was callous as she spoke.
“Consider the consequences of your actions carefully, do you even have proof it was the unorthodox faction? Or is this merely your prejudice leading you to a hastily made decision?”
Futian ignored her as he continued to walk.
“Have some restraint, getting into a fight will cripple your numbers even if you win, do you think five people are going to survive for very long around here?”
Her words were only met by more silence, she was running out of time.
"ARE YOU LISTENING?! YOU ARE BEING LED BY THE NOSE TO YOUR DEATH!"
She turned her head to a few disciples of her own sect.
“I, as your senior sister, am ordering you to stop this!”
They hesitated for a moment before one of them responded.
“Sorry senior sister, you weren’t here, you haven’t seen the types of things those demons have done. If we don’t stop them now we will slowly be whittled down till we all die.”
Daiyu was at a loss for words, she couldn’t stop them. Despite the fact that there was a clear force manipulating them in the shadows and she knew it, yet she couldn’t stop them.
She stopped walking and was slowly left behind by the group, only Krimin remained at her side.
He noticed her internal conflict before speaking. “You said it yourself, how can you save those who don’t want to be saved?”
“I… If I can’t even save these few disciples, I know they’ll die. I have seen it in my head. How can I save the world? Maybe I should have told the elders.” She mumbled quietly, her hands clenched into fists and her face distraught.
Krimin frowned and slapped her across the face, the slap did not carry any actual strength, it was merely a way to snap her out of her downward spiral.
“Is this the measure of your resolve? A few people refuse to listen and you break down in such a manner. Listen well girl, do not shift the blame onto the victims. It is not their responsibility to listen to you.”
She looked at him with a wronged expression as she held a hand against her red cheek.
“What are you angry at, me? Channel that towards your goal, fuel your passion with fury if you must. Since you took this responsibility unto yourself then fulfill it. That is what it means to be human, we all suffer do we not? Do not sit here and wallow in despair, stand and do what you must.”
“How can I? All I have is my voice, if I cannot convince them, what can I do!?”
She looked to the ground.
“All my strength has been taken without a fair fight.”
Cultivation was a fickle thing, she had lost most of her power the moment she dropped to Qi Condensation.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
Body refining was meant as a way to temper one's body to the point where it could contain Qi, the most simple stage on the path of cultivation.
Once you had done that you could start with Qi Condensation, a process in which one would collect Qi that permeated the world and use it to invigorate themselves, much like a circulatory system of blood, one of Qi would form. At the center of it all would be your Dantian, right between your two lungs.
From the dantian Qi would spread throughout the body, a human would essentially become a vessel which could output weaponized Qi.
At this stage you would be able to output Q, the embryonic form of spiritual sense, and affect the environment around you, it would strengthen your attributes in ways mere muscle growth could not.
As a Qi Condensation cultivator any fatal wound for a mortal would be fatal for you, given that the attack you were stuck with possessed enough power to wound you to that extent.
Foundation establishment was a transitional stage, it brought forth three qualitative changes, other than the fact that you could now fly and you had no need to eat nor sleep. You would possess a false form of spiritual sense, a tool that would allow you to manipulate Qi far easier than before. If Qi before was like grasping at the air around you, the false spiritual sense made that Qi similar to a thick miasma, much easier to cup into your hands than mere air.
This was because you had to establish a base for which to build your Ethereal core, the evolved form of the Dantian.
Within the foundation establishment stage you would be able to survive most mortal wounds, however if your heart or brain was destroyed you would die, they did not possess the regenerative capabilities of the Ethereal Core.
At the Ethereal Core one could claim themselves as a true Cultivator, a being that had formed an Ethereal Core, the place in which one's consciousness resides, this meant that even if you were decapitated or torn to pieces as long as your core lived you would as well.
You gained access to true spiritual sense, Qi to you now could be cupped into your hands like water, manipulating it decreasing in difficulty.
In this stage you would work to Actualize your Ethereal Core, once it was actualized a soul would bloom from the core and raise you to Spiritual Awakening.
Spiritual Awakening was the peak of Qi usage, at this stage you possessed Divine Sense, a tool that solidified Qi like building blocks, you would be able to manipulate it almost like forming words in your mouth.
This was the issue for Daiyu, upon reaching Spiritual Awakening she had relied too much on Divine Sense, her control of Qi as a Qi condensation cultivator made it very difficult for her to manipulate Qi in a manner that would correlate with her techniques.
To her, this place had essentially crippled her.
“So what?” Krimin spoke while unsheathing his saber and point it in the direction Futian had went.
“You have arms so grab them, you have teeth so bite them, you are alive, so you use the entirety of your being to stop them.”
Daiyu looked at him, her mouth hanging wide open.
“Cut their legs so they may not walk, tie them to trees, do anything it takes.”
Krimin could not understand her logic, why would she say she’s powerless when she still exists?
“I see…” Daiyu finally understood, she understood she had been making excuses and not trying hard enough.
"Yes, as long as you live, you are not powerless."
While Daiyu had a moment of realization, Orion had chosen to walk beside Futian.
“Futian, think this through, is this really what you want?” he asked in a stern voice.
Futian would have ignored anyone else trying to talk to him right now but his expression distorted into disbelief as he heard Orion.
“You who despise demonic cultivators most among us, you are actually asking me to stop, have you gone insane?”
He responded while continuing to walk.
“No It’s just, can you really justify the deaths this battle will bring to your camp?”
“If we do nothing we will all die regardless.”
Orion really couldn’t think of a reason to stop him.
“Just…. When we get there, just give them a chance to explain. Maybe what Daiyu said is true, maybe we are being hasty. Maybe we are... being manipulated.”
Futian sighed.
“For the sake of our friendship, when I see that demoness I will allow her to speak before I kill her.”