There were four people in the room – Leo, master Zaraki and the two Shaws. Of course, everyone’s attention was turned towards the genius wearing sandals.
“Are you aware of the mutation your elemental affinity has?” Master Show began with a question.
“Uhmmm … I know it is likely I have one.” Leo said remembering the embarrassing test in the Sacred Order – the faces he perceived as full of scorn were still fresh in his memory.
“No. You have definitely one.” Master Shaw corrected, “Let me show you.”
He made few strange gestures with his hands and suddenly two transparent human silhouettes appeared in the air front of him. While seeing such demonstration was nothing new for Kevin and master Zaraki, Leo’s mouth opened wide in shock.
“Look.” Master Shaw said, “This is how the Qi pathways of a regular cultivator look like.”
With a wave of his finger in one of the silhouettes appeared several thick straight lines that stretched from the dantian region to the extremities, genitalia and the head.
“But these are yours.”
After another gesture in the second silhouette the same straight lines appeared, but after stretching half way they suddenly split in countless smaller ones like roots of a plant or thin branches of a tree.
“I’ve seen this pattern few times.” Master Shaw explained, “And while any elemental mutation usually is considered a great thing, this particular one is not. In addition, having the fire elemental affinity is a great start for any cultivator regardless of their future goals or path they intend to take, the lighting mutation is basically a curse. One of my sons, Connor, had it.”
Hearing this Leo’s expression didn’t change much. He was already upset the moment the elemental mutation was brought up and from then on everything went downhill.
“How old are you now? Eleven, twelve? If you were from the immortal realm, for you to be at the Qi gathering stage would be more than normal.” Master continued, “But it’s a whole different story for someone from a mortal realm. It’s highly likely you’re even considered some kind of a genius where you come from, but my guess is it was caused by some kind of event during which you got struck by lightning in your early childhood.”
If earlier Leo was simply stunned by master Shaw’s ‘magical’ performance, then now he stared at him shock.
‘He could tell all of this from touching my forehead for a split moment?’ Leo tried to process the information in disbelief. Of course, even though the master could sense the destructive lightning Qi within Leo’s body, he couldn’t ‘see’ its purple coloring.
“Don’t look at me like that. Back then I did a lot of research for Connor and I’m quite familiar with your condition.” Master Shaw continued, “And in hundred cases out of hundred the lightning mutation happens when the child is struck by lightning before his Qi pathways are formed naturally. In rare cases when the unlucky kid survives the event and if the lightning blast is particularly heavy, there is a slim chance of this particular mutation to appear along side of forcefully created Qi pathways. It’ll be easier for you to see it this way – the thin root-like things that branch off the main Qi pathways are brutally burned channels by lightning discharge and afterwards your body accepts them as the new Qi pathways.”
“But why would I die because of that?” When master Shaw took a pause to have a sip of wine, Leo asked.
“Exactly because the pathways were formed prematurely, unnaturally and forcefully, and they are too f*cking thin!” The immortal slapped the armrest of his chair and said accentuating the last part. Seeing Leo furrow brows, he allowed some time for the child to process what he said and then continued, “And not only that. The lightning within you continues to slowly destruct your Qi pathways and while your body can barely keep up with the repairs, it’s only temporarily. In addition, in one go you stepped in to the Qi gathering stage not going through the Body refinement and Bone reforging properly. Not only your body was not prepared properly to start the cultivation, it was basically crippled! Your life is like an arrow at the end of its path.”
None of the present, including Leo, actually knew that while he was indeed struck by lightning and his Qi pathways were forcefully formed, getting hit by tribulation lightning over and over cleansed Leo’s body basically putting him through the body refinement. In addition, no one could guess that after falling in the waters of the Divine tribulation tree he involuntarily continued the process by further cleansing himself, including the bones and bone marrow.
But even though the baptism by tribulation lightning was considerably weakened by Leo being a helpless child at the time and granted him relatively strong lightning resistance, master Shaw was right – his body was actually crippled.
After a brief moment of silence Leo asked, “What if I cleansed my body afterwards?”
Obviously he was referring to the ‘ritual’ grandpa Noel performed, but he couldn’t bring up the fact he has been in contact with ‘a master from the corrupt path’ and master Shaw interpreted his question differently.
“Trust me, I tried, but unfortunately it’s never the same.” He said with a sigh, “But don’t get too discouraged – since I invited you here you’re not doomed yet.”
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“So there are special cultivation techniques for people like me?” Leo asked not hiding a tinge of hope in his voice.
“No.” Master Shaw’s answer was like pouring a bucked of cold water on the boy’s head, “But I’ll share my theories so you can have a chance. First, tell me – how have you cultivated until now?”
“Well … I had this Nameless technique …” Leo began to explain, but then realized that showing the technique itself would be much more efficient and pulled out the thin and worn out book from his backpack.
Master Shaw expected a brief oral summary, but seeing the boy was not that good with words, took the booklet only to stand up in surprise the next moment.
“What the hell are these?!” He exclaimed.
“Oh, sorry! I forgot I put them there!” Leo said, “I’ll take …”
“Don’t you touch them!” Master Shaw said and suddenly vanished from the spot.
Leo stared at the empty space the immortal was just at in confusion, but master Zaraki got curious.
He used the time while master Shaw was absent, quickly opened another bottle of wine and asked, “Boy, what was in there?”
“Just a few petals. They looked pretty and I took them as remembrance …” Leo explained.
“From the same tree the fruits were from?” The sword master guessed and emptied the glass in one go, but got an answer from the host who returned right at that moment.
“Exactly! Now that is a rarity, boy!” He said, “I don’t know how you managed to think of preserving those things, but I would like to use them for some experiments.”
“Oh? Can you concoct pills to achieve similar result to the fruits?” Master Zaraki asked.
“No idea. That is why I’ll have to test it. Can I have them?” Master Shaw asked.
Once again Leo blanked out. An immortal was politely asking him for something … that went against anything he knew about this world.
“S … sure, Sir!” He managed to stutter out an answer, “I don’t have any use for them.”
“Alright! Let’s return to our previous subject! Where were we?” Master Shaw touched his chin while thinking, “Oh, right, your death. You don’t need to die right away.”
“Uhmmm … thank you?” Leo didn’t really follow.
“I mean – there are few things you need to keep in mind. First of all – this technique is actually not half bad, but you need to stop practicing it right away. In fact, you need to stop practicing any technique that has something to do with absorbing or accumulating Qi.” What master Shaw was saying went against the basic cultivation concepts, but sword master Zaraki already guessed why was that and fully focused on emptying the bottle again, calling upon himself a look of disdain from the host who then continued, “Because of your peculiar Qi pathways the rate you accumulate Qi at is much faster than that of other cultivators and despite your young age you are extremely close to stepping into the Foundation establishment stage. Unfortunately with how you are now, not only you will never reach it, you’ll die in the process because your thin Qi pathways won’t be able to bear the pressure of the liquefied Qi, but that is what Foundation establishment is all about.”
“So I should never cultivate again?” Leo almost whispered as his mood hit the rock bottom.
“Finally you are thinking in the right direction!” Master Shaw smiled for some reason, “Do you know why there has never been a lightning cultivator who successfully reached the Nascent soul stage? Even cases when people managed to form their golden cores are only registered in the oldest archives. Both Formation establishment and Core foundation are qualitative changes of Qi within the cultivator increasing the internal Qi pressure multiple times at every stage, liquefying and afterwards solidifying Qi. Your thin Qi pathways simply can’t bear that – therefore you have two options – either stop cultivating or adequately strengthen your Qi pathways before achieving the next stage.”
“Alright!” Seeing the light at the end of the tunnel Leo’s mood improved, “So what do I do?”
“No idea.” Master Shaw’s answer hit him back down again, “If I knew, Connor wouldn’t have died. Back then I used all my alchemy knowledge, all the resources I had available, but didn’t succeed.”
“Ok, do you realize that at this point you’re torturing the kid?” Master Zaraki intervened.
After drinking several bottles of the premium wine alone he was getting slightly tipsy and, even though he could expel the intoxicating effect with a thought, he chose to enjoy it this time.
“What I’m telling you is – nothing I’ve tried so far had worked.” Master Shaw wanted to ignore the other immortal, but seeing the Leo’s countenance darken even more, rushed to explain, “But that leaves you with an option – to try something that I didn’t think of back then or rather – didn’t have time for. The lives of the regular people are too short …”
The last part he said with a sad sigh, but then quickly recovered and continued, “It is not guaranteed, but the solution might be to fully focus on your physical body. The idea would be for you to develop inner resistance against the destructive effect of lightning and protect your Qi pathways from outside with your physical body, and only when its strong enough raise in cultivation ranks. Don’t feel too disappointed – it doesn’t mean you are doomed to be weak. There have been many people who could rival a Nascent soul cultivator solely with their physical abilities.”
“But I won’t be able to cultivate?” Leo asked in a weak voice.
“Not right away, no.” Master Shaw said, “And even when you get more resistant with time and practice, I can’t tell what the chances are. Of course, if by some miracle you’ll get to the Nascent soul stage the things might change, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves.”
“Can I at least practice the sword?” Leo threw a quick glance at master Zaraki who was sneakily trying to open another bottle.
“Didn’t you hear me? No Qi cultivation, no Qi techniques!” Master Shaw answered in his stead, “Nothing that could hasten the absorption of Qi from the environment.”
This was another blow that the boy had to suffer this evening and if it wasn’t enough, master Zaraki piled in, “Listen, kid! I noticed you swing that sword of yours today while I watched the other disciples. You have no talent for it, none whatsoever. Maybe another weapon like spear or a bow, but definitely not a sword – you simply lack the natural feel for it.”
He had taught thousands of disciples in his life and knew it was better to not waste time with something one had no talent for, especially in Leo’s case. While others could allow themselves to fool around, the risks of him internally damaging himself were too high.
“Sigh … but swords are … so cool …” Leo sighed again.
If the beginning of the day was incredible, then the end was unbelievably sad. Yes, he was lucky to get to know important people and currently he was in the presence of two legends, but these legends were continuously stomping on his dreams.