The Fire cultivation courtyard was near the northern wall of the outer sect compound, it’s tall plume of smoke visible long before you arrived.
The courtyard itself was a wide circle of blackened tiles, the original color long stained by layers of soot and ash. A smoking mound lay at its center: the origin of the pillar he’d seen on the way.
Rather than a bonfire or coal burner, as he’d expected, the mound looked more like it was making charcoal. A layer of dirt covered what could only be a pile of spiritual wood the size of a car.
Then again, should he really be surprised that a public cultivation area would have multiple uses? If the sect could produce useful materials while providing a free benefit to its disciples, then all the better.
The charcoal made here might even be the fuel for the private Fire aspected cultivation rooms, providing higher energy density from the refined material. If that was the case, he imagined that the rooms were incredible.
This public courtyard was already leagues beyond the environment in his dorm room. Both in energy density and in the aspect alignment he needed. Alone, the energy density was at least five times what he’d been able to access during his recent breakthrough.
Normally, he couldn’t even pick out individual aspects from an area’s Qi; it was all too mixed together. Here, he could easily note two distinct types.
A vital, raging energy was the most prominent, comprising almost a hundred percent of the total Qi at the edge of the charcoal mound. Further out a second energy joined the first, a stable, enduring energy which felt like it could withstand untold ages.
Whether these were accurate representations of Fire and Earth energy, or if they just reflected how the Qi related to him, Kevin couldn’t tell. All he knew was that this area was even better than he’d been hoping for.
An area two or three times as good as his room would have already been incredible. For it to be five times stronger and comprised solely of the two energies he needed was far better. Just the thought of the progress he’d make here sent a shudder through him.
Nor was he alone in recognizing the potential of this area. Almost twenty disciples were already sitting in the courtyard, forming a rough spiral out from the center.
From the little he could sense past the dense natural energy, it seemed to be a strength-based pecking order. The strongest cultivators were near the center, and the weakest were on the outer edge of the spiral.
At merely the third grade of the first stage in the Body Cleansing realm, Kevin was easily the weakest one there. If he wasn’t mistaken, there were a couple of cultivators near the middle who’d broken into the Energy Gathering realm.
He had to make do with the next place in the spiral, putting him about two-thirds of the way from the central mound to the edge. The energy at his spot was a little less dense, perhaps four times his home instead of five, and was about seventy percent Fire to thirty percent Earth.
That was more than good enough for this initial experiment; if anything, having a little Earth Qi was a good thing. This would be the first time he pulled in nearly so much Fire Qi, so he’d have to be careful as it is.
Settling into his cultivation pose, an uncomfortably awkward thing compared to the perfection the other disciples showed, Kevin stilled his mind and focused inward.
It was time to cultivate.
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As with the first time he’d tried his new cultivation practice, Kevin began by taking stock of the free-floating energy within his body. This was a critical safety step to ensure he didn’t deplete or overstock his body’s reserves, and he planned to always perform it first.
His current state was a decent level above the minimum he was comfortable with. He’d maxed his Qi levels before his breakthrough the previous night and had reached the threshold before depleting them.
The situation wasn’t to the level that he needed to start with the spiritual void, but it might still be worth it. He could only guess how fast he’d be pulling energy in here, so having as much available room as possible would give him a larger buffer before the level got dangerous.
So, despite how eager he was to try his energy gathering tattoo in such a rich area, he devoted the first fifteen minutes to using the spiritual void. As usual, the mix of Qi within him, fire, earth, and pure energy from the pill he’d swallowed, flowed into the sealed land with gradual ease.
It was the first time he’d focused in detail on the sealed land itself since the breakthrough, and he was once again thrown by how the process worked. With all the energy required to advance, it felt like the land should be running empty.
Except that wasn’t how it worked at all. Instead of his Qi being drained by the process, it remained, still taking up about two-thirds of his full capacity. From what he could tell, filling the space forced it open further, but the change didn’t take much energy to accomplish.
The effect on his terrain was interesting, as well. Part of the extra capacity lacked any obvious cause, but some of it came from an expansion of what already existed.
Twisted trees that were once so small you could barely spot them were twice the size they’d used to be, while miniature hills and mountains saw similar improvements. His canyons were deeper as well, while the edges of his land crept outward to accommodate the extra contents.
Would it one day reach the point where all the little details he’d imagined were equivalent to their actual size? The idea was intoxicating, even if he had no real clue whether it would occur.
For now, however, he needed to put such dreams aside and focus on the almost as exciting present. Now that his free-floating Qi levels were at the minimum safe level, it was time to try out the courtyard for real.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
Pulling his mind back from the sealed land, Kevin turned his focus toward his back. The formation lattice formed, linking the eight tattoo ‘flags’ as he focused on them, and a deluge of Qi flooded in.
Its sheer quantity was almost overwhelming. The night before had been a slow process, with the formation filtering, splitting, and discarding the Qi that flowed into it. Today, there was almost nothing but dense-free flowing energy.
With nearly one hundred percent of the environment being the two energy types he could pull in, there was almost nothing to break the flow. Rather than directing the process, Kevin felt like he was surfing on the edge of a wave that threatened to upend him at any moment.
Yet he held on, at first with determination, then with growing skill as he grew used to the new process. If he’d had to keep it up for an hour, like the previous night, it might have been impossible, but five minutes was within his ability.
For that was how swiftly his entire safe capacity for free-floating QI filled up. From sixty minutes to less than six, more than ten times the speed.
Kevin gasped as he hit the limit far faster than expected, snapping his eyes open to forcibly change his focus and end the technique. Sweat dripped from his forward, and his breath came in pants.
Heat filled his body despite the cool mountain air. It wasn’t that the courtyard was that much hotter than its surroundings, though it was a little; it was the heavy concentration of Fire aspected Qi floating about in his body.
Already, the feeling was growing uncomfortable; he needed to get the bulk of it into his sealed land as fast as he could. Not wasting any more time, he closed his eyes and focused inward.
Vizulization was harder than usual, the excess Fire Qi sending his thoughts into a jittery spiral, dragging his focus this way and that. Gritting his teeth, Kevin used all the discipline he’d built up over months of daily practice to drag his attention where he wanted it.
After long minutes, he managed to engage the spiritual void technique and begin drawing energy inside. Except that something was still wrong.
His sealed land gave off the same enduring energy as the Earth Qi and attracted that energy with ease. The massed Fire Qi, however, resisted his attempts. Worse, it became an ever higher percentage of the remaining energy as its counterpart was sucked in.
Where he'd had no problems with a natural mixture, something about having such distinctly pure aspected energy seemed to almost give it a mind of its own.
Without the grounding effect of Earth Qi, the physical effects grew worse as well, sending a spike of worry stabbing through Kevin’s heart. He might pass out from heatstroke, or worse, if he didn’t solve this quickly.
His mind was whirling with random thoughts but also bursts of sudden inspiration from the rampaging Fire Qi. Attention darting around, he finally honed in on the Qi he’d pulled into the land’s canyons.
The core principle of the spiritual void was to hide the existing Qi, forcing a fake vacuum effect that sucked energy from outside his dome. With so much more energy than he’d ever had inside before, he’d grown lax in compressing it.
He’d noticed before that Qi tended to float around in little clumps whenever he wasn’t directing it, and now he saw that much of the collected energy was hovering around the tops of his canyons.
Rather than dragging it all the way done as had once been so easy, he’d pulled with a loose grip and produced lackluster results. That might be enough for the easy Earth Qi or even small amounts of Fire Qi, but it would never work with the near-bonfire raging within his body.
Narrowing in on the problem, he pushed the visualization harder, focusing on dragging all Qi within his land down into the depths. It was arduous work. Even with all his practice, he’d never had to force things like this. But step by step, it began to show results.
The more he compacted the existing Qi into the hidden depths, the more attractive force was created in the upper areas of his dome. Soon, even the reluctant Fire Qi was flowing in at a steady rate, lessening the pressure on his body with every second.
When he’d first practiced the two methods together, his time had been roughly split between them. Today, it was the spiritual void that lagged far behind. He might have filled his body’s reserves in five minutes, but it took another hour to draw the energy into his sealed land.
Gasping, Kevin slumped as he finally drained the bulk of the fresh Qi. His slowly cooling body felt amazing after the stifling heat but still paled before the incredible results he’d seen.
Just going by speed alone, he’d almost halved the time it took to do a round of his cultivation process, going from two hours to an hour and five minutes. Yet the benefits didn’t end there.
His sealed land was Earth-aspected at its base, so he’d been wondering how it would handle Fire Qi. Dr. Vaughan had directed Runa to allow the energy, so he’d been confident it was safe, but the actual process was a mystery.
Now, he could observe the effects in real-time. As soon as he’d let go of his constricting focus, Qi had flowed back out of his canyons. The Earth Qi stayed near the ground, forming those clumps he was already used to.
Above those were a few clear orbs, most likely from the pill he’d ingested mixing with a little drawn in the night before. Last, clumps of fire dotted the higher skies, almost simulating dancing stars.
They burned as they moved about, shedding a fine black ash that fell to the cracked earth. It was rich Earth Qi, and it was coming out faster than the fire stars were shrinking.
Measuring Qi was far from an exact science; at his best guess, it seemed that the Fire Qi created half again as much Earth Qi. A hundred and fifty percent increase was an impressive improvement, pushing his gains from the area even higher.
If it wasn't for the side effects, it would have been the perfect area to practice in. Even after he’d dragged it out of his body, the burning Fire Qi was producing an uncomfortable pain, almost like a spiritual form of heartburn.
Even the thought of shoving more in there before the first lot had finished made him grimace. Perhaps after lunch, he could push himself back; it was nearing one O’clock after his meeting, errands, and cultivation.
Kevin shuddered, slowly pushing himself up. Yeah, after lunch sounded good; he might have forgotten how unpleasant the process was by then.
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Kevin’s excitement had calmed a little by the time he made it to lunch, and thankfully, the burning pain in his soul had as well. While he might have improved his speed significantly, the increase wasn’t as large as it might appear.
He’d knocked fifty-five minutes off the cultivation time, but the courtyard was a twenty-minute trip each way from his building. Since he’d only managed one cycle, he’d only saved fifteen minutes.
The Fire Qi bonus was more impactful, however. If he remained stuck at the edges with seventy percent fire Qi to thirty percent Earth, then he was essentially getting one hundred and thirty-five percent efficiency.
The key point that made this so effective was that the growth happened after he’d used the spiritual void technique and so boosted the slowest part of the process. Thus, the courtyard gave about a rough forty percent improvement over cultivating in his room for a single cycle.
It would be a lot more impressive if he could manage multiple cycles, but as it was, using the courtyard might actually slow him down. He still had most of the afternoon, so he’d see a lot more progress spending it all cultivating in his room compared to a single trip back to the Fire courtyard.
While the burning had subsided somewhat, a quick check in his sealed land showed that less than half the Fire Qi had burned out. If he waited for it all to finish, then he’d never fit another two cycles in today.
It was sad to think so, but he had to face facts. Once he had to split cultivation with a half-dozen other things, the courtyard would become a lot more attractive.
Perhaps over time, he’d become used to the strain and be able to use Fire Qi more. If he could complete multiple cultivation cycles, then the travel time would have much less of an impact.
Beyond that, there was also the Earth Courtyard to consider. He wouldn’t get the boost from using Fire energy, and his tattoo would have to filter Metal Qi, but it might be the best option if he could use it for hours on end.
That would be his goal for the afternoon then before meeting up with Gerard for the gathering.