Carefully Jack observed his opponent. His posture, the angle of his hand, even the twitching of a finger was noticed. They had already fought often enough for him to know exactly what to look out for.
Right now the two had their arms raised and were standing in a fighting stance. It was just a game of patience and whoever made the first mistake would lose.
His enemy moved first. With a step forward he hit towards Jack’s side. But Jack was prepared, with a swift movement he blocked the attack and countered. A swift fist hit his opponent, but because his opponent was quite fast it barely glanced by his chin.
Unperturbed his enemy used his momentum, jumped back a bit and kicked against Jack’s chest, forcing him a step backwards. Jack coughed as the kick forced the air out of his lungs. Inwardly he cursed. His body was much too frail without cultivation. And even though he had started training his body years ago, his Dantian still hadn’t recovered and without the strength cultivation brought he just couldn’t fight like he used to. And his opponent was a true monster.
Seeing Jack stepping backwards his opponent took a step forward. With all his force he hit towards Jack. Still slightly out of balance Jack couldn’t evade and had no other choice but to rise his arm in a desperate attempt to block the hit. The two arms connected. The next second a disgusting sound came from them.
*Crack*
With a snapping sound Jack’s arm broke.
“F*ck”, Jack cursed out in his mind as he ground his teeth in pain. Why did this happen all the time?
“Ah, Jack are you alright?”, concerned his opponent came closer. He hadn’t wanted to break Jack’s arm… again.
“Don’t worry, Sam. It’s not as if this is the first time this happened. A week or two without moving the arm and I’ll be fine”, seeing the concerned look of his friend Jack had to grin even though he kept grimacing in pain. Guided by his Spiritual Veins the muscles inside his arms were pushing the bone back towards its old place and worked as a plaster to stabilize it there. But the process hurt like hell.
It had been 7 years since Jack and Sam had first met. Since then the two had been always together. Training, fighting and sometimes just playing like normal children, the two were nearly inseparable. Jack was one of Sam’s few friends and the only one his age that wasn’t alienated by the fact that he was a martial artist. In return Sam was Jack’s only friend because his mentality was close to the one a cultivator had. So after they had finished elementary school they decided to plan ahead and went together to a new one.
Contrary to his expectations Jack’s school life wasn’t just sitting around bored and easily succeeding. To be honest he had thought that he could pose as some sort of genius. But instead he had come to realize that he had serious deficits in his education, especially when it came to modern sciences like math. Or worse, physics.
Sure, as a cultivator Jack had lived for a long time and had learned quite a lot. But his focus had been formations and alchemy. Other topics simply weren’t needed and what little he knew had turned rusty over the centuries. And something like physic was completely meaningless when it came to cultivators. Who cared after all why a rock would fall down if they could simply lift an entire mountain with nothing more than their will and some Qi? So Jack didn’t have a head start like he had expected and was more in the upper middle of the grades for his class.
Jack’s school life had been normal till now. That is until a few months ago. Due to a slight misunderstanding Sam and Jack had ended up being thrown out of school and had to find a new one. Honestly Jack thought it was unfair. Sure, the 5 other boys that had been involved had multiple broken arms and legs, but they had been the ones that had started it, too. But at least Jack wouldn’t have to repeat the last year and could simply continue in the 11th grade.
Anyway, a lot had happened and today it was the last day of their holidays before the new school term in a new school would start for them. And obviously they would use this time to train.
With a sigh Jack looked at his arm. While it wasn’t a complicated break it would still need a bit of time to heal. Not ideal for a first school day. What if his new classmates thought he was a delinquent who got into fights daily? He kind of was, but that didn’t mean he wanted to be thought of as such.
Sam slowly walked closer. Shaking his head he grinned wryly while looking at Jack’s arm.
“Sometimes I really doubt that you are a human. No human should be able to heal from broken bones in a week. Are you sure that you aren’t a monster that has taken human form?”
Jack rolled with his eyes.
“You are one to talk Mr. ‘I’m 16 years old and have already a black belt in 5 martial arts’. If there’s a monster here it’s you.”
A look of irritation passed over Sam’s face when he heard the title, but he kept quiet. Mostly because it was true, when it came to martial arts Sam was a monster. Even though he had long since recovered from his broken Spiritual Veins and had millennia of experience Jack wasn’t able to win any of their fights.
Inwardly Jack frowned at the thought. He and Sam were by now stronger and quicker than most people their age because of their Spiritual Veins helping them grow as well as due to the constant body refining. But they still teenagers, so even if they were quite strong, should they compete against a professional athlete the outcome was uncertain. It still annoyed the old cultivator that he was weaker than a mortal, no matter if they trained or not.
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He sighed. Some day he would have to explain everything to Sam. He just didn’t know how his friend would react at the fact that his friend was several thousand years older than himself. He just hoped it would work out well.
---
After changing back into their normal clothes Jack and Sam left the old gym building. A few of the other students nodded to them, but didn’t bother them further. In their time here they had gained a certain reputation, Sam for his talent in martial arts and Jack for his ability to take even the worst injuries and still being able to continue fighting. That reputation got even more increased when the two of them got attacked by some drunken teenagers five years ago. That time the other students had been close, but they had chosen to stand back and watch the show. It wasn’t a battle but more akin to a massacre.
Unfortunately it was during that time that Sam’s grandfather noticed Jack’s abnormal healing ability. As a result his training got even more intense and the sparring became brutal. Since then he had broken bones every few weeks.
When he first came home like battered like this Jack’s parents nearly went crazy. Well, mostly his mother, his father was more laid back. His mother on the other hand tried to forbid him to go to train again, an order he obviously ignored. Nowadays they simply tried to feign ignorance to his injuries even though they were still concerned.
Leaving the building the two friends quickly said their goodbyes. Sam apologized again for breaking Jack’s arm, but he just made a dismissive gesture and said:
“No problem. You know that it doesn’t bother me. See you tomorrow at school”
Jack turned around to go home, but when he made a step a strange feeling of weakness came over him and he stumbled.
“Jack! Are you alright?”
Concerned Sam came closer. But Jack shook his head with a slight grin.
“Don’t worry about it. Just a bit dizzy, nothing more”
“Should I accompany you home?”, still worried Sam looked at his friend. But jack shook his head.
“I’m not some rich princess that needs a guard. Don’t worry about me. I’m fine” ‘Better than fine to be honest’
With these words Jack ended the topic and started walking home again. But as soon as he was out of Sam’s sight a big smile appeared on his face and he started running. In his mind he was already celebrating. The feeling just now was his Dantian finishing the healing process. He could finally cultivate again!
---
When Jack reached his home he didn’t even bother greeting his parents and run directly to his room, closing himself in. Worried his mother came to his door and asked if he was alright, but he just told her that he was fine.
“Did you have an argument with Sam?”, worriedly his mother asked. While she didn’t like that Sam would often hurt her son, he was his only friend. So she had to make sure that the two of them stayed together.
“Huh? Ah, no. he broke my arm again, nothing more. I just want to sleep early for tomorrow, that’s all”
“Ah, ok, that’s go- wait, your arm again? Sigh, I have to call Mr. Long . This really has to stop”, mumbling Jack’s mother went downwards to find a phone.
In his room Jack listened to the distancing steps and sent a small prayer to the old man. His mother could be terrifying if she was enraged...
He shook his head to clear his thoughts. That wasn’t important now.
Jack sat down in a meditative pose and took a deep breath. The Qi filled air rushed into his lungs. With a small thought Jack filtered the Qi from the air in his lungs. It wasn’t much, just a small cloud of Qi that shimmered in a dim white colour. Inwardly Jack shook his head at the low purity of the Qi. Back in the world the Heavenly Arts School had their tower every breath of Qi would fill his lungs with a cloud that shined bright like the sun. He would have to purify it a lot more often than before to create a good foundation.
With his next breath the air was expelled from his lungs, but the Qi remained behind. Another thought and the Qi began to move slowly away from his lungs through his Spiritual Veins.
Carefully Jack guided the Qi towards his Dantian. The traveling Qi left behind a slight glimmering thread as part of it was absorbed by his body, strengthening it slightly in the process. The Qi began to vanish bit by bit, but simultaneously a few of the impurities became filtered out of it by the Spiritual Veins, causing its glow to become a bit brighter. In the end the small cloud he had started with turned into a few strands of white glowing mist when he finally reached his Dantian.
Right now Jack’s Dantian was just an empty space. There was no Qi whatsoever as even the last remnants of what he had in the past had long since vanished. The only things inside of it were the remains of his Soul Storage, floating around aimlessly. But with the arrival of the new Qi this changed. The few strands of mist began to float around aimlessly inside of it. Gently Jack started to guide the mist to condense further and the volume of the mist began shrinking. Further and further he pressed, until finally the Qi changed into a single liquid drop. It was miniscule, almost unnoticeable compared to the size of the Dantian, but for Jack it was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. This small drop was the sign that he had started again on the path of cultivation.
But it still wasn’t enough. Greedily Jack began to cultivate further. Breath after breath he sucked in Qi and stored it inside himself. Simultaneously the Qi filled air inside his room began to become less and less dense as all the Qi was sucked into him.
After several hours the small drop of Qi had increased to become a small fist sized puddle floating in the middle of the empty Dantian. But now its expansion had reached a stopping point. A transparent membrane covered the Qi and it was unable to expand beyond it. Seeing this Jack finally stopped his Qi absorption and opened his eyes.
Jack’s body felt strangely bloated but filled with energy. This was a clear sign that he had finally reached the border that separated non cultivators from cultivators. All it would take was the last step. He closed his eyes again.
He concentrated back at the Qi inside his Dantian and slowly it began moving. It began to push against the barrier surrounding it. Instantly cracks began to form until finally…
*Crack*
With the sound of shattering glass the barrier broke and the Qi inside of Jack gushed outside. Most of it still remained in the Dantian, but a small part split of and left it. It began to move through the Spiritual Veins and became dispersed within his body which became stronger in the process. Jack had finally reclaimed a bit of his cultivation and had reached the Qi gathering stage!
But when he opened his eyes again, a large frown was on his face. This had been way too easy. The boundary between a normal mortal and a cultivator was normally quite difficult to break through, way more difficult than the other boundaries within the Qi gathering stage. Some people even needed weeks to break through it, not a few seconds like himself. And there was another difference to normal cultivators within him. His Dantian was much too big. He hadn’t noticed it beforehand, because he had stopped looking at it after the first year, but now it became obvious. Even though it had shrunken down after he had lost his cultivation it hadn’t returned to the size he should have as a new cultivator should have. In fact it was roughly ten times as big.
In the end Jack concluded that it was probably because of the cultivation he had retained during his reincarnation. He had already been a cultivator beforehand, though it had been only a short time before he had lost it. So the bottleneck towards becoming a cultivator was weaker than it should be normally. And the Qi that had been inside the Dantian before must have bloated it artificially.
That was both good and bad. Good, because breaking through bottlenecks easily was always helpful. And with a big Dantian a cultivator could store quite a lot of Qi. So he would be able to fight a lot longer and use more Qi in the fight than a normal person at the same stage. On the other hand it was a burden. Before he could reach the next stage of cultivation, the foundation stage he would have to fill his Dantian completely with Qi. This Qi had to be as pure as possible, to create a good foundation for his further cultivation, so he would need to refine it many times. And with every time he would need more Qi. Normally that wouldn’t be a problem, but the size of his Dantian would magnify the Qi he needed to a terrifying amount. Especially since he had only a very small supply coming through the hole. Would he even be able to reach the foundation stage?
With a sigh Jack shook his head. For now this wasn’t important. Right now he should simply be happy that he had taken the first step back on the path of cultivation. A slight grin on his face he returned into his relaxed seating pose, to cultivate even more.
But unbeknownst to him there was something else that was strange inside his Dantian. While most of his Qi was glowing in a dim white a very small part that was different, sparkling sometimes with a slightly greenish tone.
And so Jack kept on cultivating until the next morning, not knowing of the changes that would come soon.