Cai Yun ended up slipping in and out of consciousness for three days. His experience inside his own Dantian had left him drained of his strength. But slowly, his body recovered the soul force that was lost and was finally able to move again.

Compared to before, Cai Yun’s body felt lighter. It was as if his strength had increased over the last few days. When Cai Yun finally got out of bed, his father asked him, “Are you sure you are okay?”

“Yes,” Cai Yun answered. “The three days really helped.”

Cai Yun could feel the increased soul force in his body. It was several times thicker than when he awoke the first time.

“Are you ready to learn real martial arts?” Cai Yan asked.

“But I’m forbidden from being taught the Cai Clan’s Martial Arts,” said Cai Yun.

“Then we won’t teach you that,” said Cai Yan.

“But how can I learn martial arts then?” Cai Yun asked.

“I will teach you the Lin Martial Arts,” Cai Yan answered.

Lin was his mother’s maiden name. It made sense that if she was from a great family, she would have her own martial arts as well. Since Cai Yun was forbidden from learning the Cai Clan’s martial arts by the patriarch, then he could simply be taught another clan’s techniques. There was no law against that.

“Do you know them?” Cai Yun asked.

“A little,” Cai Yan answered. He took out a stack of three different manuals and handed them to Cai Yun. “You need to memorize every single word from these three manuals.”

Manuals were the names given to all recorded martial arts. There were of course martial arts that were not recorded. These were given the name of lost techniques because they were missing parts that were crucial to revealing its true strength. Attempts to forcibly comprehend them often resulted in a weakened technique even if it was successful. Thus, completed martial arts were considered much more valuable. A clan could also refine the completed martial arts over many more years and make them much stronger as well.

Cai Yun looked at the manuals. The three of them combined formed a recovery technique called the Flame Heart, a powerful recovery based technique that increased ones raw strength and defense. It kind of made sense that what his mother would be most concerned with was her own son’s safety.

It was also the first time Cai Yun got a chance to learn from an actual manual. Whenever he tried in the past, he would be kicked out and the manual would be seized before he could get more than a few words in. He did not stop trying though, even if it meant memorizing a few words of it at a time. He also tried to learn by watching overs, but copying a technique only allowed you to comprehend a fraction of what the manuals taught.

The core of the Flame Heart technique was manipulating your breathing and flow of your soul force in order to speed up recovery. The manual itself was strange, with handwritten words in to replace certain parts of it. “It has been changed?” said Cai Yun confusedly.

“Your mother personally refined the technique,” said Cai Yan. “It is an improved version of the same technique.”

Cai Yun took to heart every single word. It was the words that his mother left for him. It was the words that his mother believed that he would one day need. It seemed more and more like his mother knew from the very beginning that he would choose this path.

The technique itself seemed to refine the physical body in addition to the soul force. It relied on knowledge of the human body and how to properly guide one’s own power around it. If successful one could not only speed up their own healing, but even the healing of others. Yet, that was also what made it difficult to learn. There was a ton of foundational knowledge and that was only in the first of three manuals. It felt like it was more than what was needed to study to become an alchemist. Even though Cai Yun had seen bits and pieces of the information in the manuals he had caught glimpses of before, the knowledge present in this one manual greatly overshadowed what was available in those other manuals. It was like comparing the knowledge possessed by a master to the knowledge possessed by a newborn.

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The rest of the entire first volume of the manual focused on describing how to manipulate the soul force around the body and how to make it beneficial. As Cai Yun focused on the technique, he could feel the soul force within his body distribute itself evenly. It was no longer loose. It felt like a thin strand that flowed throughout his body, increasing his overall constitution. It felt like the soul force within his body had been magnified. He could not believe that this was something that someone at the First Level of the Elementary Realm could do. Yet, all the little tips scattered around the book helped him do it with ease. He guided his soul force through his body, only allowing it to penetrate certain parts of his body in order to maximize its effectiveness. Not a single drop of his soul force went to waste!

“Incredible…” said Cai Yan. “You’ve already learned the first level of the Flame Heart technique!”

Cai Yun did not respond. He was completely focused on practicing his technique, circulating the small amount of soul force within his body. As that soul force gathered within his body, he could also feel it pulsating, as if it was growing. This was what allowed cultivators to grow in strength. By constantly channeling and using their soul force, they could allow it to grow. Elixirs helped speed up this process by infusing the body with soul force directly. Once enough soul force was gathered, that power would burst forth, permanently surging an increased amount of soul force throughout the body. This was also known as a breakthrough. A breakthrough into a new Realm would change the properties of the soul force, greatly strengthening it.

Some techniques had levels of their own, increasing in effectiveness as you developed the technique further. The strongest martial art of the Cai Clan was the Earth Shattering Fist, which had five levels. Cai Jun was the only person who was alive that had mastered all five levels. The proof of that was his ability to crush stone into dust, something that no one else could do not even his father, Cai Yan, could do.

“It’s incredible…” said Cai Yun. “I can feel the power coursing through my body.”

“Your soul force can easily compete with those at the Third Level!” said Cai Yan in amazement.

“Why don’t you practice the technique?” Cai Yun asked.

“I am an earth element like most of the Cai Clan,” Cai Yan answered. “This technique only works on those who inherit the fire such as yourself.”

It seemed like there was affinities associated with each element. In order to get the most out of a technique, it had to match your element. A mismatch resulted in greater consumption of your power per use and a lower overall output. Because of this, most people focused on developing a single element. On rare occasions, some people could utilize two or would have some kind of special property that enhances their element even further.

Cai Yun began to study the second book while maintaining the flow of his soul force. The second book detailed the advancement of the Flame Heart technique. It would grow each time its user achieved a breakthrough and merged the technique with the power produced by their Dantian, greatly enhancing their physical strength and recovery. It even detailed new things the user could do with their soul force, resulting in powerful techniques. At his current level, Cai Yun only had one technique, Exploding Force. What it did was compress the soul force at a single point, allowing it to violently explode and deal massive damage. It was the same basis as Earth Shattering Fist, but choosing to let the energy become violent and unstable rather than trying to concentrate it into the smallest point possible. Yet, the technique was probably too dangerous to perform.

The rest of the techniques was filled with warnings about not to do it until a certain level of cultivation was achieved. Cai Yun studied the manuals day and night, memorizing every word while continuing to cultivate his soul force. He could feel the power pulsating as it circulated his body. His soul force flowed into every organ in his body, fortifying his body and making it stronger. Unlike the technique that the Cai Clan practiced to concentrate their power, the Flame Heart technique distributed the power throughout the body, making it much easier to defend yourself.

It took nine days for Cai Yun to finish the second manual and begin the third. The third manual consisted of a way to ingest elixirs and use the technique to not let a single drop of power be wasted. It required combining the precise control of soul force and distributing its power evenly throughout the body. It was not something that could actually be practiced unless he properly ingested an elixir first. Then, it hit him, there was a dirt cheap elixir he could use at his level, one made of River Spirit Grass.