When he settled into his nightly cultivation towards the end of the week, He Yu brought his second spirit stone with him. Just holding it sent crackling pulses of energy from his fingers up to his shoulder. After sealing the door to the cultivation chamber and taking the lotus position, he drew in the qi from the spirit stone.
The difference was immediate. Between the constant practice over the past few days and Elder Wen’s pointers, his qi moved more smoothly and easily than it ever had before. He Yu drew out the power of the spirit stone in only a few breaths, the energy surging into his dantian and swirling like a barely contained storm of power. A storm of power that threatened to burst out of its vessel and overflow into his channels. For an instant, alarm threatened to overwhelm him—but one of Elder Wen’s lessons came drifting from the depths of his memory.
He Yu focused on the power churning in his dantian. He took hold of it and pushed, compacting it into an ever smaller seed of qi. As Elder Wen had instructed, he kept his focus on his breathing and his heartbeat, maintaining the even calm so critical to successful cultivation. Slowly he matched his breathing to his heartbeat. Then he matched both to the pulsing of his qi. When all three moved in unison, he pushed in the spaces between each pulse, compacting his dantian incrementally with each beat.
His qi wanted desperately to rage out into his meridians, but he kept a firm hold of it, just as he’d been instructed. Each time he packed it down, his dantian brightened just a tiny bit in his inner sight. How long he wrestled with his spirit, he couldn’t have said, but after some time he couldn’t compress his dantian any further. Despite that, his qi kept building. He tried to hold it in, to keep it from raging through him, but it soon became too much to hold onto.
Qi surged out of his dantian. It pushed through his meridians, encountering a strange resistance that hadn’t been there a moment ago. He Yu’s shock at the sensation was short-lived. A stench unlike anything he’d ever known made him gag. He drew in another breath and retched. The stench was like someone had left a carcass out in the sun to rot, and then shoved it in the cultivation room with him. He opened his eyes, took a breath, and retched again.
He was covered in a thick, black sludge. It seeped out of his skin and had soaked into his sect uniform, thoroughly ruining it. Now that he’d brought his attention away from his cultivation, the smell had somehow become even worse. He tried to stand, but the qi raging through his meridians somehow wasn’t done with him. It still pushed through his body, expelling more of that black sludge.
He Yu coughed and gagged, struggling to take a breath. Finally surging qi abated, and he could at least make himself stand. He stumbled to the door and flung it open before collapsing outside and drawing in a blessedly sweet lungful of untainted air. The whole experience of expelling impurity from his body was so much worse than Elder Wen’s lectures had made it sound.
Li Heng waited for him in front of the cultivation chamber with a bucket of water at his feet. “Congratulations,” he said. He motioned to the bucket with his foot. “I brought this for you.”
Now that he could properly breathe, He Yu took a moment to marvel at the energy coursing through his meridians. When he stood it happened just slightly faster and more easily than he was used to. He took a deep breath, and his lungs felt fuller than he’d ever remembered them. Qi crackled in his dantian. His spiritual center was smaller, but far more dense. He felt like he’d been reborn.
“Is this Foundation?” he asked in wonder.
Li Heng laughed. “You think you could go from barely a foot in the First Realm to breaking fully into the Second in only a few days? No, you’ve only reached middle Qi Gathering. There’s a long way yet to go.”
Love what you're reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.
As he sloughed off the sludge from his breakthrough, he allowed himself a bit of a grimace. “I suppose I should have expected as much,” he said, letting his disappointment seep into his words. True, middle Qi Gathering was a step forward, but he’d allowed himself to hope that he’d taken a much larger one.
The noble reached out to clasp him on the shoulder, then seemed to remember the sludge and stopped himself. “Don’t mistake me, little brother. Given where you started, reaching the middle stage so quickly is quite the feat. You should be proud of yourself.”
“I have a long way to go,” he said, thinking of Sha Xiang. She was already fully in the Foundation stage. He was proud of himself though. A few months ago, the middle First Realm was a distant dream that he only could have attained with Dong Wei’s help. Now? Now it was a reality. He’d have been giddy if it weren’t for the overwhelming disgust he felt at being covered in foul-smelling sludge.
“You do. Now get cleaned up. I’ve some wine we can share to celebrate.”
He Yu was more than happy to do just that. After he stripped off his ruined sect uniform—which he resolved to burn—he washed off the sludge of his breakthrough in the courtyard. He’d have to thank Li Heng for his foresight later.
Once cleaned and properly dressed, he joined Li Heng in their home’s main hall. Their celebration was restrained but cheerful, with Li Heng once again congratulating him on his breakthrough. The wine was sweet, and quickly went to his head. With his tongue loosened, He Yu asked Li Heng about something that had been on his mind ever since their first day of training.
“What’s the deal with Tan Xiaoling?” he asked.
Li Heng’s brows furrowed. “I’m not sure what you mean.”
“You called her ‘princess,’ didn’t you? Is she a daughter of the Dragon Emperor?”
“If she was, she certainly wouldn’t be here, as prestigious as the Shrouded Peaks sect may be. No, she is the daughter of one of the empire’s tributary kingdoms.”
“Oh,” He Yu said, unsure of how else to respond. “So you know each other, then?”
“Not exactly. Her father and mine have a complicated relationship, to say the least. It seems that she knew I was to be sent to the Shrouded Peaks Sect, however. That means there was likely at least communication between our families on the matter. Beyond that, I can only speculate. As a commoner, you don’t need to concern yourself with any of it, though.”
He Yu frowned. “If you didn’t want to tell me—”
“It’s not that,” Li Heng cut in. “The affairs of nobles are tangled, at best. You should count yourself fortunate that you have the luxury of remaining uninvolved for the time being.”
That caught his attention. “For the time being?”
Li Heng nodded. “You think you can show this level of potential and remain a commoner? If tonight is any indication, you’ll have a title by the time you’re twenty,” he said with a laugh.
“Don’t joke like that,” He Yu muttered.
“What makes you think I’m joking?” Li Heng asked. Then he added, “Well, only by half. Twenty would be a stretch, even for a once-in-a-generation talent.”
“You said it,” he answered, if somewhat begrudgingly. “I’m just a commoner.”
“A commoner who has caught the attention of the sect’s rising star, already displayed obvious dedication, and broken into the middle Qi Gathering stage after a mere three days in the sect. Or do you intend to go rogue?”
“What?” All this made no sense. He’d always thought someone had to be born a noble.
“You really are from a backwater,” Li Heng mused. “Sorry,” he said holding up a hand to forestall He Yu’s protests. “I’ll stop with that.” He paused for a moment, thinking. “How do the nobles gain and keep their power? Cultivation. The great noble families all consist of accomplished cultivators. Their cultivation is why the Dragon Emperor elevated them in the first place. My grandfather was granted his position as marquis of the Western Passage when he entered the Sixth Realm.
“Advance quickly enough and you’re bound to attract attention. If you stay in the sect you can likely avoid it a bit. Eventually, it becomes impossible, though. The other nobles notice you then seek to either turn you into an ally or, at least, ensure you won’t turn on them. If not, they’ll try and eliminate you as a threat. Savor your time to cultivate now, free from the maneuvering of the great families and clans. It won’t last if what I’ve seen is any indication of your future.”
That shed a bit of light on his interaction with Tan Xiaoling, at least. He Yu decided he would put it to rest for the time being. If staying out of noble affairs was a luxury, he’d savor it for as long as he could manage.