Leo didn’t bother to go back to the sect. Everyone would celebrate for two more days and only Jack would notice his absence. He was certain that the friend wouldn’t rat him out and in case anything happened, would cover for him.
Leo sneaked in a barn not far away and sat cross legged in a corner hidden behind a pile of hay. He did his best to calm down, but because of the hay dust it was impossible to perform breathing exercises. In the end he focused on cleaning up his consciousness from the lightning bolts and continued through the night.
Already for some time Leo noticed that the lightning in his dantian was getting more and more dense and he wondered if at some point he would discharge an explosive lightning fart in order to get rid of it all. While this thought sounded amusing, it would’ve been bad if it happened while he was in a barn full of hay, so he decided to go to the grandpa Noel’s place earlier.
The old ‘expert’ was not in a particularly good mood when Leo woke him up before the sunrise. He was slightly hungover and his legs hurt from running all over the city looking for old friends who currently were out celebrating. But when he remembered the reason the boy showed up for, all of that was forgotten, especially after a couple quick ‘Firewater’ sips.
What followed was completely out of Leo’s expectations. Grandpa Noel gave him a large wooden shovel and ordered to remove the snow from a couple of spots behind his house. Afterwards Leo had to carry melon sized stones from a nearby riverbank and while it wasn’t that hard, after doing it for the whole day he had an urge to kick the old man’s ass. Luckily he had the rule number five – never piss off anyone stronger than you and patiently continued to follow orders.
At some point Leo began to look at the whole situation as if it was a physical training and suddenly everything made sense. He obviously had to prepare his body in a particular way and the old man only helped him out! After this revelation Leo almost ran to the river and back completely stupefying the old man and by the time the sun set, there was a large pile of stones in the back yard.
Grandpa Noel silently stared at the stones while Leo tried to catch his breath. The old man never imagined that the real cultivators were actually this terrifying. Obviously at some point he had seen the sect master floating in the air while holding speeches during festivals, but this kid said he was a total beginner and judging by the age not much older than ten!
At this thought the old man gulped in fear, but Leo noticing that immediately asked, “Do you want me to bring you something to drink?”
“No, no! I’m fine!” Noel quickly replied and drank some of his booze.
“Uhmm, Sir Noel! May I ask you a question?” Leo politely asked.
“You already did!” The old man quickly recovered his serious bearing, “Alright! Ask another one!”
“Sir, do you concoct your own Firewater or you buy it somewhere? You see … I also used to cultivate by drinking it, but now I have no clue where to get any …” Leo shyly said.
Noel didn’t understand what Leo was talking about at first, but when he did, he immediately began to loudly laugh, “Hahaha! Firewater! Hahaha! … Well … Hahaha! … It does make sense.”
But then the last part registered and even a drunkard like him had to become serious.
“Wait, boy! You have been drinking stuff like this?” He said and pointed at his flagon.
“Yes!” Leo proudly said, but then instantly deflated, “But only for a short time. Several months only … maybe a year when I was on the ship and there was nothing else to drink …”
Noel stared at the boy in disbelief. What kind of sadist a parent had to be to let their child drink alcohol? Even if it was the diluted beer the sailors drank on ships! There were reasons why only grownups drank!
Only now he realized why the kid sometimes seemed to be slow and had problems with his cultivation. Indeed, his body was full of filth! Fortunately Noel’s ancestors had methods to cleanse stuff like that.
“Then it’s worse than I thought!” He seriously said, “From now on, until you’re twenty … alright, eighteen, you’re not allowed to even take a small sip of anything resembling Firewater! Is that clear?”
Leo was shocked by the stern countenance and instinctively nodded.
“Yes, Sir!” He said and the old man patted him on the shoulder.
“Don’t worry, kiddo. We’ll fix you!”
Strangely enough what they did next didn’t seem to have anything to do with fixing Leo’s condition. The next day they began to build something that very much resembled a foundation of a very small house and at the same time proportionally unfitting stove. It did take them the whole day to finish, but according to Noel the hard part was yet to come.
Last night he visited one of his neighbors – Torben, a carpenter who lived not too far away and made a deal to purchase some wood. It did take a lot of his savings, but the old man was certain it was worth it. Of course, it would’ve been too easy to command Leo to just bring everything over, thus he got a slight discount promising the carpenter a fun show.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
When the last stone was secured on its spot, Noel took few gulps of Firewater and said, “Alright. Now we need wood. I’ll show you where to get some, but let’s wait until dark.”
Leo was shocked when he realized the old man expected him to steal and not an apple or a loaf of bread, but a large pile of wooden planks. Apparently this was some kind of a test thus he had no choice, because to the question ‘do you know any other way to get cedarwood around here?’ Leo could only shake his head dejectedly.
Stealing was incredibly dangerous in the holy city Avila since it crawled with cultivators of different ranks. Because Leo was disciple of Sacred Order, if he got caught, it was highly likely he might even get executed, but the boy decided to not let this unique opportunity to slip by. He was certain this was his only chance to pass the Body refinement stage thus he followed the old trickster’s order.
The first half of the night turned out to be a spectacle for the whole neighborhood. Everyone gathered in Torben’s house and watched Leo sneak around and carry planks from one back yard to the next. The old guys tried to bet how many runs it would take for the boy to move the whole pile and they even tried to come up with new creative ways on how to torture him.
At some point a guard squad showed up to check on the strange activity, but while Leo tried to ‘hide’ behind Noel’s house with his heart beating so wildly he thought he might die, guards noticed the crowd gathered in Torben’s living room that tried to shoo them away while drinking alcohol and holding back laughter. Obviously with the New Year celebrations still ongoing there was lot for the city guard to do, thus they didn’t bother if no crime was committed and quickly left.
After this incident Leo didn’t allow himself to let his guard down. Right after midnight he already finished moving all the planks and surprised the elders by erasing his tracks in the snow using a couple of pine tree branches like large brooms.
Afterwards he vanished and grandpa Noel met him only the next evening.
The old man already thought there might’ve been something wrong or the boy decided to give up on their little project, but as it turned out he was supposed to practice during the day in the sect and couldn’t sneak out till late.
Unfortunately while one could steal wood during the night, it was a completely different story if one intended to do any construction works in the dark. Realizing there was no use to even try, the old man send the boy back and they agreed to meet again the next evening. The only condition was for Leo to bring two juniper brooms.
Leo had no clue what grandpa Noel had in mind, but when he ran back the next evening, behind the old man’s shack he saw a newly built shack. If previously on some occasions he got skeptical about grandpa Noel’s expertise, then a capability to casually build a shack or a cabin, even this small proved that the old man was a true expert.
The old man, of course, was not going to admit that last night he gathered the previous bunch of neighbors and told them a sad story of a boy getting abused by his parents, tortured and being forced to consume large amounts of alcohol every day. The vivid tale made the blood boil in the veins of the elderly and they, with the carpenter Torben in the lead with joint forces managed to finish the job before Leo arrived.
“You’re just on time.” The old man secretly let out a sigh of relief. Just a few moments ago Torben left after gathering his tools and Noel was able to light up the stove.
“Grab a couple of buckets and get us some water from the river.” He ordered.
Leo obediently complied and a short while later returned, running with two full buckets of water.
The old man dipped the two juniper brooms Leo brought in the buckets and said, “Alright! Take off your clothes and get inside!”
Seeing the weird look on Leo’s face he added, “You didn’t take the cleansing baths with your clothes on, did you?”
The argument seemed logical and Leo quickly undressed, neatly stacked his outer disciple’s clothing at the side and opened the door to the newly built shack.
Immediately a wave of heat washed over him, but then the old man Noel kicked his butt and said, “Get in! Don’t let the good stuff out!”
The boy obediently complied again and stepped inside the small house. It had only one tiny window, but in the poor light Leo could see a strange construction that looked like two huge stair steps. He sat on the lowest and suddenly felt a pleasant warmth washing over his whole body.
The air was much hotter than during the warmest summer day, but at the same time it had this sweet, woody aroma. Apparently this was the reason why the old man was set on him stealing the cedarwood – it’s resin had this peculiar scent.
The whole place was not larger than thirty square feet, but somehow it felt really cosy. Probably because Leo had the fire affinity, the heat inside made him particularly comfortable.
Unfortunately the pleasant atmosphere was disturbed by a naked old man who huffing and puffing carried in the two buckets of water Leo brought earlier.
“Lie down over there!” He commanded pointing at the upper step and seeing Leo’s weird expression added, “Face down!”
Afterwards he threw few handfuls of water on the stones that formed the backside of the stove and it immediately transformed into a hot steam creating the illusion of the air becoming much hotter.
Just as Leo intended to let out a comfortable sigh, the old man smacked his backside with the two juniper brooms and continue to energetically trash the boy while periodically throwing more water on the hot stones.
“You know, Leo …” Noel hurriedly said between quick breaths, “I don’t come from these parts … My homeland is far in the north …”
Leo already guessed as much. He had never heard of a cleansing ritual like this, but if at first it felt itchy, with every hit he felt more and more relaxed. The only weird thing about this procedure was that the old man was also naked, but as long as Leo kept his eyes tightly shut he saw nothing that could give him nightmares later.
“This is the technique of my ancestors … everyone in our village underwent it every week … it helped us to stay fit and healthy …” The old man continued his explanation while relentlessly trashing Leo’s back, “The heat, humidity and juniper will help to purify your body … along with a bit of harmless witchcraft, of course.”
While the old man joked, Leo didn’t find the last part funny at all. He clearly felt how his skin pores opened widely embracing the hot and humid procedure. If one could step into bone forging stage like this, he could undergo this procedure every day.
“Alright! Turn around!” The old man’s command made Leo pale in fright. Seeing the change in boy’s expression he added, “I won’t hit you there! Here, put a towel on your thing! I’m not a sadist, you know …”