‘Auguste’ didn’t sink and because of the heavy rain even a fire didn’t break out. Everyone got away with a bit of scare while the main mast took the most damage. The situation was nothing unique and only hinted at a couple of extra weeks they would have to spend in the next port due to repairs, therefore the father – son pair got back to their cabin and went to sleep.
Problems arose the next morning when clouds parted and wind subsided. Waves were still high, but the weather was clear enough and just before the sunrise captain Bobier managed to pinpoint their approximate location. What he found out was not only scary, it didn’t fit his own plans the slightest. In addition, while he was contemplating on what to do, the first mate came to report the damages and after hearing him out and checking for himself, unfortunately there was only one thing the captain could do.
“… While the damage to the keel is substantial, the main problem is that there is no way for us to properly fix the rudder. Basically we are drifting almost freely …” Captain Bobier reported to Lyam, “ … well … and by my calculations the storm has carried us dangerously close to the Black cliff archipelago …”
“How close?” Lyam asked. Even though the news were bad, they were alive and well – at least for now.
“No more than two, two hundred fifty miles … and the thing is … I don’t like the direction we are taken to.” Captain answered with a sigh, “It has been said that the stream that currently carries us will turn back south after reaching the Black cliffs, but I don’t know for sure.”
Captain Bobier tried to think at least of something positive to say because for now there was no way for him to go against Lyam and if the man started raging, he would simply die.
Strangely enough Lyam didn’t get upset. One of his own rules was to not worry about the things he couldn’t change, therefore he only thought for a bit and then calmly asked, “So basically there is nothing you can do?”
“Almost.” Captain nodded, “Of course, we’ll do our best to …”
“Fine, do your best.” Lyam interrupted, “Keep me updated.”
When the captain left, Leo expectantly asked, “Dad? Are we going to the Black cliff islands?”
“Sigh …” Lyam said, “It might happen so. Go to sleep, I have to cultivate.”
If there was nothing he or captain could do about the ship’s condition, at least his own had to be at the peak if they really stumbled upon some higher ranked beasts. Gaston and Maurice obviously overheard the conversation and the slight Qi ripples coming from their respective cabins indicated they were already preparing.
“Can I … can you teach me how to cultivate?” Leo suddenly asked, “I also want to fight!”
“Leonel!” Even though Lyam was delighted hearing his son’s initiative, Leo’s Qi meridians were still to be fully formed. There was no way he was going to ruin his son’s future prospects only because of impatience, “You have to take everything step by step. The road of cultivation is long and it is easy to make mistakes just by being hasty. Your main job for now is to grow and only after a couple of years you can start to think of focusing on the body refinement stage. Everything you are doing now is in preparation for that.”
“So … there is really nothing I can do? Nothing at all?” Despite growing up with tens of women, Leo was no drama queen.
He knew how his father disliked any kind of tantrums, but he hated being a helpless child while his idol was about to fight exciting battles. Obviously the boy had no clue ‘exciting’ was not the term to describe a struggle to death, but he wasn’t even five yet and naivety was a normal part of any childhood.
“No.” Lyam plainly said, but even he felt upset hearing the answer. But then he suddenly got an idea and said, “Leonel, actually there are a couple of things I could teach you.”
Seeing Leo’s eyes lit up, Lyam continued, “Of course, until your Qi meridians are fully formed I won’t show you any Qi techniques, but you can train to sit in the correct posture. Like this.”
Leo excitedly jumped out from his hammock and sat next to his father, copying the position Lyam was currently in with each foot placed on the opposite thigh.
“Okay! What’s next?” He asked.
While at the first glance the difficult part was the leg positioning, in fact it was keeping the position steady with the back straight for prolonged periods of time. Not only cultivators meditated for days like this, at more advanced stages people could spend decades this way trying to break through bottlenecks and there were legends describing that the immortals often went into closed door cultivation and remained unmoving in lotus position for centuries.
Lyam’s idea was simple – he wanted to teach Leo how to properly cultivate from the technical standpoint and add the techniques at a later date, but the problem was – his dumpling shaped son sat in the lotus position as steady as a ball of clay dropped on the ground. It was as if he had practiced the posture for years! Of course, Leo was sitting in his own special posture compared to an experienced cultivator, but even though it looked more like a ‘dumpling lotus’, technically it was still correct.
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Obviously the ease at which Leo could follow father’s instructions was not because he was some kind of a prodigy. The flexibility and body’s strength was the result of a fortune spent on the alchemy products and spirit grass he had consumed up until now. Lyam, of course, knew that, but it was still a bit hard to believe what he saw. The problem was – what the hell was he going to teach the kid now?
“Hmmm … next …” Lyam awkwardly scratched the back of his head, but then had a thought, “Next you will learn how to meditate.”
If anyone would’ve heard him saying that to a four year old, they would’ve laughed, but Leo was not ‘anyone’. He carefully listened to his father like he always did and … like always he immediately forgot most of what was told.
“You see, Leonel, there are no shortcuts in cultivation.” Lyam patiently explained, already knowing his son wouldn’t understand much, “You’ll still have to go through all the stages of cultivation – cleanse your body to reach the Body refinement stage, strengthen the bones at the Bone reforging stage and only then learn how to absorb and manipulate Qi at the Qi gathering stage. Afterwards you’ll condense the Qi at the Foundation establishment stage in order to form a core and enter the Core formation stage – the stage I am currently at.”
He looked closely at his son and then continued with a smile, “But there is one thing you can practice already now that all cultivators will have to learn eventually.”
There was no way to teach how to empty the mind or focus consciousness to a four year old, but there was something similar that could nurture these skills. In addition, what he was about to suggest would allow Lyam to cultivate in peace while keeping Leo busy and silent at the same time.
“Leonel, my son.” He said making stuff up on the spot, “What I’m about to share with you is my own secret technique. If you diligently practice it, you’ll reach much higher heights than anyone else. But remember – you can’t tell anyone about it! … the name of this technique is … uhmm … ‘Focusing technique’!”
Leo, full of excitement, listened to the ‘secret technique’ how he had to focus on the spot below his navel and look in the darkness for a spark of fire. Even though his father said it was incredibly difficult and it might take years for him to find it, he was all fired up in expectations for the day he could use the flashy sword technique, just like his father. Since this spark was the key for him to wield the most destructive power of all – the fire, he was not going to spare any efforts in finding it.
A while later both father and son sat side by side with their eyes closed, each focusing on their own thing. While Lyam, of course, focused on the futile attempt to turn his fake core into a golden one, Leo’s mind was a mess and all he could do was to fantasize about him fighting alongside his father. It took quite some time for the boy to calm down and most likely it was attributed to Lyam cultivating nearby, but he did start to focus on the Dantian region while constantly questioning himself if what he was doing was correct, then his mind slipping away into some fantasies and then gradually returning back.
The main issue for Leo was he had no clue how the ‘spark’ he needed to find looked like. What color was it? Was it big? Was it hot? Was there only one spark or where there many? And how did they get inside of him … and what will he have for lunch? He was getting kind of hungry … well – there was a mess in his consciousness, but it was unrealistic to expect something else from a young child.
Of course, Leo knew that all the questions would be answered during the next ‘lecture’, but unfortunately during the upcoming days his father was uncharacteristically distant and even rarely opened his eyes, spending most of the time cultivating.
What Leo didn’t know was that the more experienced the cultivator was, the more developed their intuition was as well. And currently Lyam’s was screaming ‘danger!’, but since being in the top form was the only thing he could do, Lyam fully focused on that.
The trouble didn’t make the crew and passengers wait for too long. In the evening four days later a loud whistle raised the alarm and everyone but the Renaud family females gathered on the deck. Since there was no immediate danger, Lyam allowed Leo to join the crowd, but no matter how hard the boy stared in the direction everyone else was, he could only see the same boring ocean waves.
“At least there will be a feast.” Leo heard Gaston saying with a sigh.
To his questioning gaze Lyam only patted his head and said, “Keep looking, you’ll eventually see.”
Apparently one had to be at least at the Foundation establishment stage for their sight to be developed enough to see that far. Leo stared in the direction his father pointed at and it took almost half an hour until he could discern the outlines of distant rocks and waves splashing at them. They looked like any other cliff-like reefs he had seen during the trip and usually the ship just took a roundabout route to avoid any damage.
Leo couldn’t understand what was so dangerous about these particular rocks since the ship was seemingly on its way to pass them or what feast Gaston was talking about, but when they were around couple hundred yards away, he noticed that the blackish stones were constantly moving.
“What is that?” Leo asked in confusion.
“Sigh, like Gaston said – it’s our dinner.” Father joked with a sad smile. The upcoming endeavor was most likely going to be quite messy and he was not looking forward to it.
“I hate crabs.” Maurice snorted and Leo finally realized that the moving ‘stones’ on the rocks were actually some kind of marine beasts.
They were crawling all over one another, creating the illusion of the reef constantly moving, but it was still too far for Leo to discern what they actually looked like.
“They noticed us! Get ready!” Captain shouted and the already tense crew spread around the deck holding long pikes in their hands, faces all tense and backs covered in cold sweat.
“You’ll have to sit this one out.” Lyam patted Leo’s head indicating he had to go inside.
“Can’t I just watch?” Leo pleaded, “I’ll stand where it’s safe and not get in your way.”
Lyam thought for a moment. Even though the crabs were large, most of them were only rank three and posed threat only to the weakest crew members. In addition, he himself didn’t intend to take part in the upcoming fight and only let Gaston and Maurice to backup the sailors.
“Alright.” He said, “Stay beside me no matter what happens.”