Waking up the next day, Jiang feels himself and he is happy to know that he is now starting to feel his Qi in his body. The Qi didn't really go far because he hadn't adapted the mana veins and Meridians for that yet.
The teacher explained that this was the whole Qi gathering stage. The person that adapted the body with Qi the fastest would be allowed to go to the next stage quicker. It was called; "Bone transformation realm" he looked forward to it.
As they get ready to go to training, Jiang sees that only Zou came back. Slightly confused, he heads towards Zou.
''Hey Zou where did you guys go yesterday?''
''I went near a corner of the base, I figured there was too many people in the arenas. I don't know about your friend though. Do you think he's okay?'' He asked worringly.
''Let's believe he is, yes. He wouldn't do something stupid, it's not like him.''
At the training spot, the instructor looks around and sees that 80% of the recruits broke through.
'' I see most of you have broken through! You should find out that you can gather more strength now. I would like to congratulate you on your first step to becoming strong.''
''It is not because you have gotten stronger that you deserve a break. Let me be clear. from today onwards, the bar will go up for all of you.''
''Yes, all of you, even the ones that didn't break through. You should not slack off otherwise you will find it hard to follow.''
After a long speech about how breaking through changes things for them, they finally start their training. The ones that hadn't broken through found it hard to follow but it was still manageable.
They then went on to classes, the classes went on as usual. They learned that in the Qi gathering stage, they had to adapt their mana veins and Meridians. They already knew that but they didn't know how.
''When you try to adapt your mana veins, you will find it hard to move your Qi in them. This is normal, you will have to take your time and figure out the speed your body can take.
Going too fast may put too much stress in it.''
''It is important that you put stress on it, only, don't break them. When you put enough stress on it, it allows the veins to expand slowly.''
''As you get better about controlling your Qi, you will then need to move your Qi to one of your Meridians. There is not a meridian better than the other. Choose which one you want on your own.''
Having new understanding, he was eager to try.
The next class talked more about the evil sects. It talked about who lead them. Everyone knew that the sects had a protector since they didn't disappear.
The thing is, no one knew when or where that protector would appear. Every time he would appear, carnage would follow.
They then went non to eat. He sat with his roommates as usual.
''Hey Sun, have you seen Cho Meng yet?''
''No I haven't, I did hear a student was sent in isolation though.'
''Huh, okay, thank you.''
He finished eating and took some time to guide the Qi, this time, it was very smooth, there minimal losses. A neat upgrade since last time.
That was that effect of breaking through.
Since he had a bit of time, he went outside towards the "Isolation center." As he heads inside the building, he sees around 5 doors and a man sleeping on his desk.
''Hello? Sir, wake up.'' He tries to ask silently without startling the man.
The man sleeps soundly so Jiang taps loudly in his hand. He startles awake, confused he looks around only to see a young man in front of him.
''What? Didn't you see I was sleeping? Go back to your classes.'' He says irritably.
''I'm sorry sir. I heard a student was sent there, yesterday my friend went missing. I was hoping to know if it was him.''
''Why would I even tell you that? *Sigh* You know what? I don't care, I'm not paid enough for this.''
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''The only person that came in here was sent yesterday. He's surnamed Li.''
''What? Are you sure there's no one else?''
''Look kid, I know my job better then you.'' Looking down again to make sure he didn't forget anything.
''Alright then, thank you sir.''
Heading outside, he sees two guards walking and talking together. Without wanting to, he hears a bit of their conversation.
''Man I hate doing that. He never stops asking, he always says it's the last one. It disgusts me.''
''I know but we aren't paid to question, now stop it before someone hears us.''
Slightly confused, Jiang decides to follow them. He sees them going towards a building that is apart of the others, standing alone. When they enter, he heads closer, making sure no one sees him.
At the door, he realizes that there is a pad. He goes around to see if there are any windows, luckily there was an open one.
Looking inside, he sees someone getting herbs ready.
Looking around some more, he finally sees some men in the distance in a cell. Confused he tries to focus on them and he realizes that one of them is still conscious.
He thinks of an idea that could potentially work to save that man.
He heads back to the cafeteria to ask for help from his roommates, Han Gou overhears him and says he can also help.
He then goes back next to the entrance of the building, waiting for then to start the plan. Soon after, Zou starts running around, screaming.
''HELP, I NEED HELP PLEASE''
It goes on for round 30 seconds before the door opens, the guards go out and they ask him to calm down.
''What's wrong kid? What happened?''
''My friend got beaten up and his pulse is extremely faint, please help me!'' He goes on his knees bowing.
''Okay quickly lead us to him.''
They all start running towards the destination, meanwhile, Jiang manages to slip inside unnoticed. He sees some hospital looking bed, and some corpses on it.
He goes unnoticed table to table, hoping to not make noise, he manages to get to the cell. Unluckily for him, the door was locked.
Looking around, he sees the keys right next to the cell. He guessed the door was locked only for the inside people, not caring about the keys being lost or not.
He goes to take them and manages to make them fall. Surprisingly, he catches it just in time to avoid most of the noises.
The man, slightly startled, starts walking towards where the noise is, until he hears.
''HELP''
His friends saving him just in time. The man goes outside to sees what's going on. Jiang then takes the time he has got to find the correct key to open the door.
Inside, he tries to wake the guy and after having to slap him he wakes up groggily.
''Who are you? Where am I?'' He asked startled.
''I don't know, looks like laboratory. Let's get outside before we start questioning this.'' trying to hurry him along.
''Okay you're right'' He stands up, ready to run.
They both proceed to go towards the door carefully, waiting for the man to go back inside. Sure enough, after what felt like an eternity the man comes back inside. Not daring to even breath, they wait for him to walk towards the back.
As soon as he is far enough, they both dash towards the door. To their dismay, both guards are standing there.
''RUN'' Jiang screams throwing a punch at one of the guard. The guard reacts extremely fast, throwing one of his own. both palms meet and his fist gets ground to a pulp.
Not wasting any time, Jiang throws a kick on the guards leg, having him caught off guard. The guard barely manages to kick with his leg.
It hurt Jiang a lot but allowed him to get propulsed backwards, towards the street. Taking the innitiative to make a run for it, he barely manages to ignore the pain in his leg and arms.
Luckily for him, it achieved it's purpose. Buying him just enough time and with the bounce he got from that hit they barely manage to go back to a more crowded place.
After about 10 minutes of hiding themselves and playing it smooth, they manage to head to the designated point.
''Man what happened to you? Is that the guy?'' Sun Hei asks startled.
''I was trying to find a quiet place to breakthrough. That's when I found those two guards holding someone in their arms and bringing him to that place.''
''I didn't want to investigate further, I tried to leave quietly but one of them saw me. They chased me and knocked me out.''
''You're lucky we found you! Who knew what would've happened!''
They all sigh in unison, happy to know they saved someone.
They then end up going to their classes early, since they trusted their professor more.
''You're all early, why is that?''
''Yes sir we are, we need to talk in private please.''
The professor proceeds to close the door and place a small noise reduction device. He then tells them to proceed.
They tell them what happened to Zhang tao and what they saw. He tells them not to worry and that he is going to take care of it.
As the bell rings and everyone enters class, he proceeds to go on as if nothing happened. They went on the advanced theory, talking about more rare things such as "Qi Blasts" and "Qi Infusion." Qi Blast was easy to understand in name, hard to practice.
It was to condense Qi in your arm and then release it in one shot. Qi infusion was about bringing Qi into your weapon to make it more sharp and durable.
After that was practice, they couldn't to Qi blasts because they didn't develop their meridians yet. They could only try Qi infusion slightly, knowing it wouldn't stay for long.
Once both were done there was a fifteen minute break before the sparring. As instructors got on the side, they went on to tell everybody that it was suspended for today.
There was a lockdown and they had to go back to their dorms right away.
''Jiang Tubei, Zhang Tao. Please stay here.''
As they waited they could see the guards that were on lineup earlier being lined up.
''Could you both please tell me which guards went into that building please?'' The director asked directly.
They both do as told, the moment they do, they see the guards start running. Before they can even move a single step, they are stopped by an invisible force.
''Did you really think you could escape? You both have done terrible things. How could you? You had chances to go up in grade this year.'' He asked, slightly mad.
''You didn't give us enough, we needed more resources to cultivate. This was barely enough for us to raise our realm once every half a year. He provided us with a quick and efficient way to get it.''
''Oh..? By killing random students? Or is it by experimenting on them? It doesn't matter anymore, we will do a soul search and we will find out the truth.''
''Don't you think so.''Before the director can stop them they both collapse on the ground.
''Ugh, if only I could've stopped them on time.''
''Luckily you both found out about it. I will give you a hundred military reward each. An hour in an array formation and 5 spirit stones.''
''Thank you sir! We are happy to be of help.'' they both say.
''Sir, may I ask who they were?''
''Well, you deserve that much. That man in the building was a spy experimenting on a poison. They tried to make a poison lethal enough to kill someone in a matter of seconds.''
''They didn't want to kill us but to end this year's recruitment. Luckily for us you found it. Evil cultivators can be anywhere, hidden in plain sight.''
''As you saw, even people that aren't evil can be corrupted. You will find out more on the battlefield.''
''Also, let me fix you up. this must hurt a lot. You have an extremely high pain tolerance. That's a good thing.''
As Jiang expects him to give him a pill or a medicinal herb, the director brings his palm on his back and sends energy through his Qi veins.
Expanding them while repairing the damaged tissues and bones. ''This is another gift of mine'' Jiang hears in his head.
He realizes that this wasn't a common thing to do. Then he went on to heal Zhang Tao. They both look at each other with big eyes and a smile.
''Alright you both head on to your dorms, the lockdown will be removed tomorrow morning. Everything will then begin as usual.''
They both nod and bow to the director before walking back to the dorms. Inside, their roommates ask them what happened and they tell them. Omitting the part about the rewards.
He didn't want his friends to be jealous. They told them about the merit points and that's it.
After about an hour of discussion, Sun suddenly says.
''I guess we're gonna play cards another time. You need to recuperate.''
They all agree and head to bed, Jiang as usual prefers not to waste time. He goes back to cultivate and finds out that his Qi veins had expanded by about 50%. This was a huge upgrade.
He thanked the director in his mind and went on to cultivate, it didn't take long for him to accumulate enough Qi to try to activate a meridian.
He decided to wait tomorrow, to be in full shape