“I give! I give!” Echoed under the white light of the underground facility.
“You still need more training, fledging, before you can dare challenge Me..” Atlas chortled as he let Ru Feng’s arm free, stepping away.
“Ow… I really thought I had you, for a moment.” Ru Feng moved his tender shoulder slowly to see if anything was broken.
“Do you understand now, the type of change Integrating has brought to your body?”
“Yeah… It’s honestly huge for any fighter. It changes the game. You got this under control on your own? In three days?” Ru Feng stood up and dusted himself off. He cracked his aching bones and stretched his muscles, his whole body hot to the touch after the exercise.
“And Nights. I didn’t sleep much down here.” Atlas did much the same, letting his rhythms fall back down, his joints popping with a satisfying crisp to them as he relaxed.
“Now I think it’s time we tried some meditation, Do you think you can do it?”
“I’ve been taught. Never had much of an enlightening experience if I am honest. Though I did hear that amongst the Ru Clan ancestors there had been documented cases of some type of enlightenment, during the times were Qi was not a thing. Is it possible?” Ru Feng followed Atlas as they moved to another court, from the clay pit.
“Maybe the Qi was always here, just locked up, hidden. I don’t believe both your records and our records lie about such a thing coincidentally. ” Atlas entered the meditative position as described by the Laertis Cultivation Method, the simple, Dark Code as it was called as a whole. Ru Feng did the much the same, according to the teachings he had received and the world went silent.
For Atlas it did so for only a second. Then it morphed to a gray canvas awash with Dark Qi rivers and particles whimsically floating in space, surrounding his ethereal body, which shone like the moon, bright and silver, in the darkness.
He grabbed a hold of some Qi and pulled on it, his will quite literally scooping it up like two hands on a stream, and as usual the Qi was bounced away by the Silver Qi already inside his body. This was the biggest problem Atlas had discovered. As suspected by his father he had gone and made the Family’s Methods useless because the Silver Qi was different, it did not accept other forms of Qi. It would not live with them, it wouldn’t be replaced by them. At least with Atlas’ will and capabilities.
Thus Atlas simply opened his eyes and gave up once again. “Uhm… What are you doing awake? Shouldn’t you be Cultivating?” Atlas was at a loss of words for a moment as he saw Ru Feng’s large black eyes staring at him, unblinking.
“I Can’t.” Ru Feng eyes refused to budge. His body shocked still.
“Oh come on. You just didn’t enter a meditative state yet.”
“I did. The world faded, I felt nothing. Only me and my form.” I know how to distinguish between the meditative state and normalcy. I’ve done it before.
“Then you probably remember something wrong about what you should do next. Or about your breathing.”
“Atlas, the Qi. It just won’t come near me. All the types of Qi that a Ru Clan Cultivator uses, do not approach me. I tried fire, as little there is, It run away, I tried water, it slithered out of my grasp, I pulled on Earth and Wood with all my might, and it didn’t budge. I… I can’t believe this.”
Atlas understood when the young man started shaking that the situation was real. Ru Feng, had been adopted into the Clan, which would not have been a problem if the changes had not come. With Qi now in play he had learnt a Cultivation method that did not fit his body. He was Strong, strong didn’t even reach the full extent of his pure athleticism. He was quick tempered, feisty, juvenile. His nature did not fit. It never had, but that distance between himself and the Clan, had now taken a turn for the worst.
An unsurmountable gap with the abyss stretching at the bottom, an abyss of loneliness, weak and alone, without foundations he would have to build them from scratch. He was already falling. Yet he was still with his clan, he still had a duty to uphold, he still had his friends, family. His everything was here.
Atlas felt butterflies in his stomach. A wonderful tingle spreading throughout his body. A snicker came out of his throat as a smirk sat comfortably on his lips. “It’s fine.”
“What is fine! Do you even understand what this means!? What can I do? I will forever remain weak, inert! What use is this muscle if I can’t cultivate, and you say it’s fine? I DON’T EVEN KNOW WHAT I AM!” Ru Feng screamed.
“I know what you are! You’re just another person, living his life with his family. Just like I am, exactly!” Atlas lunged at Ru Feng, he stood right before him, eyes barely an inch away. “And I also know now that it’s all gonna be fine. It’s just gonna take more ingenuity and effort. Are you so weak that you will cry about something requiring effort? I doubt you built this divine body through sheer genetics alone. You’ve bled for it. You’ve hurt for it. I can see it. I know. I understand. So let’s stop thinking about the 'whats' and the 'whys' and all the misery and get to solving the most pressing problem.” Atlas bumped his fist on Ru Feng’s chest. Ru Feng stood, eyes burning with thought and hope.
“At this moment you can’t cultivate. That’s true.” Atlas did not sit back down, instead he moved and bid Ru Feng to follow him.
“Absolutely.” Ru Feng stepped in rhythm only half a step behind Atlas, arms held behind his back. Even when he spoke, his fists clenched, his heart thumped in his ears.
“I can think of two solutions. Both with problems of their own. Do you wanna hear them?”
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“Of course I do.”
“First, I can teach you the Method of the Laertis. The Dark Code. As we have united in one clan I am sure I can do so without repercussions. But! I do not think it fits you. It should work, because the Dark Qi which we cultivate is much less picky and sensitive to your nature, yet it would not match very well.”
“I am still willing to try it. I will try anything. It may not seem like it, what with the rain stopping all assaults for some time, but we can’t dilly dally. We need every Cultivator we can get.”
“I would argue, but instead I will present the Solution I think will work. Though it does have one problem.” Atlas stopped right before stepping onto the polished wooden floor of the Athletic court he had found his mother’s gift. The imprints of his own efforts left in a circle around the center, laid out for all to see, like scorch marks.
“It’s temporary. It does not actually mean you’ll enter the Qi Gathering realm. You won’t be a Cultivator. It’s the Body Refining Art. It’s preparation I am currently doing before I move onto the Immortal Foundations Stage. Think of it like a warm up. It’s never gonna be an actual workout. But if it is done daily with focused intent it can have very permanent positive effects on all parameters of your body. Hence why it is almost a necessary step in the Cultivation training of any young person according to Clan Records…. So?” Atlas turned around to look at Ru Feng, a spark in his eyes, his shoulders straight.
“I’ll take it. The Second option. And before you say anything, because I see you want to. I understand what this means. I will be relinquishing the right to learn the Dark Code. And I will also be throwing away the Alchemical Arts of the Ru Clan. I will have to carve my own way, either by finding a teacher or by feeling out to the darkness of infinite possibilities to see what works…. I can’t promise I’ll reach the highest highs. But right now this doesn’t matter. All that matters is that we thwart this invasion from our home. We only just got it, the Ru Clan can’t afford to lose it again.” Ru Feng was adamant, he had understood what he had to do if he wanted to leave this life as a person with strength. He’d grab it himself. His passion burned one more, hot enough to melt steel.
“Yeah. We’ll stop them.” He patted Ru Feng on the shoulder. He stepped forward and cleared his mind. With a deep exhale he was ready to perform the movements.
{BOOM!} His fist thundered forward. He raised his leg and it clapped crisply. This scene echoed and repeated until the next day, and the next, and a few days after that as rain kept pouring incessantly from the skies. Almost as if the gods themselves were fighting over this very piece of land, arguing, squabbling. Who should win? Place your bets.
Atlas’ job had not ended. As the hill flooded with water and dirt turned to meter thick mud, as the terrain morphed into a swamp he went out every day, roamed past the walls and jumping from one branch to another he pushed and prodded the enemies.
Finding new ways every time to chip at their morale had been the task with which Atlas had replaced his job of refilling the water tanks. The torrential downpour, the spread of illness and disease, the inability to create fire easily, the inability to find any large game. It all worked for Atlas and the Clans. Xerxes and The Spring Sage had to deal with those problems, much to their chagrin.
At the same time this gave Atlas the opportunity to drill the Body Refining Art into Ru Feng. Which went much quicker than he anticipated. His instinct were incredible, Atlas had to attest. In only a day he had remembered the Basics, in two he had not only gotten used to the Integration but also mastered it. By the time the third day of consecutive storm had come to an end he had mastered the Body Refining Art as well. While Atlas still had trouble using his power perfectly after three days Ru Feng could even point out any mistakes Atlas made and correct them, even while going through his hundredth iteration of the Body Refining Art for the day. From the moment he learnt it he had barely stopped using it. His mastery was growing at an astounding rate, soon enough he would improve on it.
This was wonderful progress. It showed not only talent, but also how much Ru Feng had cherished and used his body throughout his life. He knew it so well that even the most minor of changes were massive errors, glaring, bright red, in his movement.
“I wonder when will Teacher Atlas be ready to accept a challenge for his disciple once more.” Ru Feng pondered to himself, randomly, on that night as the two of them wiped their sweat, leaving the underground to go take baths up at the surface.
“If it continues raining for a fourth day. The Teacher may actually consider this. Sleep well Disciple.” Atlas sagely responded, scratching at the little stubble he had been growing for some time. Out of neglect, not a stylistic choice. His thoughts were elsewhere though, despite the banter. He held hopes for the rain to continue forever.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It was in the deep of the night, with rain cascading upon the earth and lightning thundering through the skies, the smell of the dirt and rotting wood sticking to the nose and condensing into mud from the air, so wet it was. Where the landscape changed and trees, tents, and all manner of things could only give to the flowing mud that rotted wood and took down young trees, yet to grow their full hundred meters. It was in such a night that in a certain log cabin in the dark, black, forest a meeting had come to an end.
Both parties exited the Cabin from opposite sides and along with their entourage they returned to their own bases. Each with their own thoughts, their own hopes at the agreement. Risks were being taken, but this siege needed to end, and in their victory as well, compromise could be made with the Clanspeople.
Xerxes, despite the march waist deep in mud, with his armor flooded with the sloshing liquid earth, with worms and insects digging into his body, felt thankful.
The one thing that had helped this deal come to fruition, and his plan become feasible. Was the rain. As much as it had been a boon for the Clans it had been a great benefit for the Alliance as well. Xerxes whistled brightly as he trekked, his men having difficulties following the fast pace he set.
The Presence of the Dragon had been confirmed early on, its meaning had been deciphered by the higher ups in the Crystal Palace and suddenly Xerxes mission had been morphed from a high tier importance to the highest priority of the faction. And he was the only one they had on seen. The best man to handle these strange people. They brought him the things and men he asked for, they had just arrived the previous day. Which means it took more than 2 days for them to reach his base. Without the rain it wouldn’t have been possible. Without the rain they would have fallen to Attack from the Clans long ago. With the rain, none of the two sides could lead an attack. They were stuck, and the poor clanspeople thought they had it good.
With the reinforcements, only with a days of back breaking work in the mud and rain they had created a monster. A little monster that was being pulled by 8 men to the very front of the tree line. A machine of times long gone that would help put a literal dent in the defense of the Clans and their little wall.
Xerxes giggled, a massive grin plastered on his scarred face. His imagination took him away, to the milky white bath with creamy soap, and a creamy soft mate to play with. His ultimate reward. The ultimate luxury this world had to offer was just around the corner. All he had to do was get a little dirty.
The group reached the base, he bid a goodnight to his men, gave them their last orders, and left on his own, going through a small gate cut into the wooden wall and entering no man’s land in the absolute black of the moonless night. Invisible, and lethal.