(Author: Hello everyone. Surprise double release today. I had a trail of thought and decided to post it. I'm sure the last chapter shocked you. Cultivating while playing a zither instead of meditating. I like music and decided to use the zither as it is cool and makes amazing notes. I hope you all enjoy.)

Chapter 4: Soul Binding

"Soul binding," Jian laughed. "I can't believe it. I must definitely get a lion turtle magical beast."

"I will find one and bring it here," the core disciple said. "May I ask why you chose a lion turtle?"

"I can use earth and wind element qi, but I am more suited to wind," Jian answered. "That means speed is my forte. I need a magical beast that has high defensive capabilities and healing abilities. I learned that lion turtle magical beasts are wise and know a lot of ancient knowledge. They mainly have earth and wood element qi while having massive spirit energy at their disposal. Earth is the greatest defensive element qi while wood is even better at healing qi techniques than water and I can't learn any healing qi techniques. I would have to cultivate my qi to heal my injuries but I can't do that on the battlefield."

"I didn't take you for the cautious type," Lily said. "You really know your stuff. Also, if you need to run, your magical beast can shrink into the size of a fist and hide in your pocket."

"It can do that?" Zhuang asked, never having read about it in the imperial library.

"Yeah," Jian grinned. "If you are faster than your magical beast, you can shrink it and carry it with you as you escape. This way you don't abandon your magical beast. I want a lion turtle as my first magical beast as the first magical beast is usually the alpha. You can soul bind and control up to three magical beasts at once as your pet. The alpha must always be the best as it grew alongside you from the beginning."

"And Senior Cecilia is bringing them to us in a weakened state so we don't have to resort to much danger," Lily grinned.  "The Star Calamity Sect rules!"

"We aim to teach the best and very few meet our curriculum choose to join the sect," Senior Cecilia. "While our numbers are small, we are much more powerful on average than other sects. So Jian wants a lion turtle. Anyone else have a request? Choosing a strong magical beast would be wise as I am having you all train here until you reach the third level of qi condensation and experience your first tribulation. It is the weakest, but it will begin the transformation of turning your body into an immortal body."

"I would like a winged unicorn," Lily said and glared at Jian who burst with laughter. Zhuang couldn't suppress a grin as he imagined himself on a winged horse and fighting on the battlefield. It was too absurd and funny.

"It will have wind and light element qi," the core disciple nodded. "Lingqi? Zhuang?"

"I have a magical beast already," Lingqi said and a purple, furry monkey enlarged as it jumped out of one of her pockets. "It is a night breeze monkey. Element qi of darkness and wood. His name is Yingzi."

"Night breeze monkey!" Lily gasped. "It's super rare. It's a magical beast that becomes ten times stronger at night and in dark places and it has an ability to detect magical treasures! It's every tomb raider's dream pet."

"Zhuang?" the core disciple asked as she recorded Yingzi as Lingqi's magical beast.

"I will go with what Senior Cecilia said before. I request to have a wyrm egg. More specifically, I would like a steel cloud wyrm egg," Zhuang asked. "Ordinary weapons can't hurt it and it would have ice element qi with an abundance of spirit energy."

"I will bring them shortly," Senior Cecilia said, satisfied at least one of them chose a wyrm egg. Wyrms, or dragons, were one of the most powerful magical beasts. Drinking wyrm blood, while grotesque, enriched the spirit energy of a martial artist and enlarged the meridian channels at the price of extreme pain. Having a wyrm magical beast and drinking small amounts of blood every day, most of the disciples became powerful very quickly, ensuring that more people would be successful in defending the sect.

After three hours, Senior Cecilia delivered half dead magical beasts and one bright steel colored egg. Senior Cecilia then gathered her qi and created formations on the ground with the magical beasts in the center.

"Focus your qi into your hand and place it on the magical beast," the core disciple said as the three recruits walked toward their chosen magical beasts while Lingqi and Yingzi watched from the side. Zhuang stared up at the egg as it was the size of a six foot tall boulder.

Zhuang breathed in and out deeply as he let his qi flow. His body grew warm as the spirit energy circulated through his meridians and focused on his right hand.

"There will be a mutation of your element qi when you soul bind a magical beast. You may not gain its power but you will have more spirit energy than before. Zhuang, don't be surprised if your fire element qi becomes white and is capable of using chilling fire. You are soul binding a wyrm so you gain some of its power and lose some of your humanity. You already have one mutation with your eyes. Be careful and try to withstand the pain as it will be tremendous," Senior Cecilia warned. "Good luck you three."

Jian was the first to soul bind his magical beast. The half dead lion turtle was healing itself with wood element qi, but it could not escape while in the formation. Jian's body shined as his qi spread into the magical beast, healing it in the process as its soul became bound to Jian's soul. Jian laughed as he felt enormous amounts of qi.

"I require a name master," the lion turtle magical beast said, shocking everyone but the core disciple.

"As expected of a lion turtle," Jian said with awe. "I name you Yaosai, as in fortress. Together we will defeat our enemies and become immortals!"

Lily also approached the winged unicorn and it dipped its head in acknowledgement before Lily. It could tell that Lily had light element qi and had an air of nobility around her. It was fit to be the master of such a prideful magical beast. Lily smiled as she was enveloped in light. She named the winged unicorn Fuhao and joined the others as they waited for Zhuang to initiate the soul binding and see the wyrm egg hatch.

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

Zhuang's right hand emanated a faint heat as he put his hand on the steel cloud wyrm egg. Zhuang howled in pain as the egg shell began to merge with his hand. Zhuang already had an abundance of qi due to having merged his body with his evil jade spirit form and the demonic essences he devoured.

The egg began to hatch and a steel grey dragon two feet in height emerged out of an ice cold mist. Zhuang fell to his knees As the egg shell fragments turned into spirit energy and converged into his right hand.

"Quickly, play the zither and cultivate the qi! Spread it out as thin as possible as you circulate it in your body!" Senior Cecilia cried in alarm.

Zhuang barely held back tears and screams of pain as he sat down and began to play the zither. The wyrm hatchling tilted its head to one side as it watched Zhuang struggle to circulate the qi. Cracking sounds began to sound from his body as his bones began to strengthen themselves and Zhuang's body trembled as his meridians enlarged as he tried to regulate the spirit energy.

Zhuang began to scream as two small, steel grey horns sprouted on the left side of the top of his head. Zhuang coughed blood and collapsed to the ground. The dragon hatchling stared at its master and opened its mouth, draining the excess spirit energy into itself until the spirit energy stabilized in Zhuang's body.

"Success," Senior Cecilia said as the wyrm absorbed the spirit energy. "The wyrm has shown its approval."

The others ran to Zhuang and helped him to a tree stump where he could rest. Zhuang panted heavily from exhaustion and pain. He didn't expect the wyrm egg to absorb so much spirit energy and send back even more into his body.

"Congratulations Zhuang," Senior Cecilia said after letting Zhuang recover after an hour. "Your fire element qi will now be as white as snow and will chill instead of heat. Your fire element qi is above regular fire qi and ice qi. According to an elder of our sect who also had fire element qi, he contracted to a wyrm with ice element qi and he became the most profound expert in fire element qi techniques in the sect. Unlike most people, you have absolute affinity with fire element qi. This means you can use Saint Arts despite not reaching the third level of qi condensation. Your mastery of fire element qi techniques will be greater than your other elemental qi techniques, even if you had other absolute affinities."

"Except I have five element qi and one of them is absolute affinity in death qi, but my fire element qi is now more powerful than death qi. Death qi was supposed to be more powerful, but death and poison element qi techniques can still be used as trump cards" Zhuang thought.

"Once you reach the fifth level of qi condensation, you will all officially be disciples of the sect," Senior Cecilia laughed. "You might not know it but you all reached second level qi condensation. Lingqi may be behind but she is already familiar with her magical beasts. It is a pity that she soul bound her magical beast too early but it is a rare magical beast. I will make a wooden cabin and await your return. The best way to train is to train with nature where spirit energy is abundant. It should take around a year for you all to break the bottleneck of the second level of qi condensation. Why? It is because from now on, each of your elemental affinities must be cultivated to that level. Only one element qi is required to cultivate to another level, but the difference in strength to your other qi will be greater if you neglect to cultivate them too. When you reach the third level, try to experiment any qi techniques your parents or elders taught you. Those techniques will make you unique in the sect. Again, try to cultivate your other element qi. Good luck!"

"Our soul binding made us reach the second level," Jian grinned. "See you guys in a year! Let's go Yaosai!"

Zhuang was the last to leave as he had to spend more time resting and revering his strength. He had much more spirit energy than before and his realm of qi had doubled in size, but the egg did not crack. However, the volcano's lava and magma no longer felt hot but cold, freezing some of the poisonous water around the volcano. The volcano even seemd to grow a bit.

Zhuang let out a long sigh as he finally recovered. His body was stronger than before and his skin seemed as hard as iron, but not steel. He shook his head as he felt the two tiny horns on his head. He didn't have a body to begin with until he tricked Thomas Keller so he didn't mind the transformations much.

He stretched his body and stared at the wyrm hatchling. It seemed excited as it shrunk into the size of a fist without his orders and flew onto his left shoulder. With his strengthened body, Zhuang didn't even feel the weight of the dragon.

"Your name will be Shuang," Zhuang said. "You're lucky little guy. You only need to cultivate one element qi. I need to cultivate five. My potential is greater but the labor required will make my progress much slower than the others. I will be strong enough to protect my freedom. You must become powerful too as a wyrm magical beast."

The wyrm hatchling nestled on his shoulders as he headed deeper into the mountains. He had to train his fire element qi first. Then he would train his poison and death qi. Finally, he would focus on destruction and water qi. He needed to cultivate his greatest element qi first as well as his hidden element qi to utilize more powerful qi techniques he aimed to use as trump cards if his life became endangered. This was his plan. This was the path he decided to tread to immortality.

Chapter 3: Realm of Spirit Energy Main Page Chapter 5: Ancient One