The wind blows and the leaves shake. The sound of birds chirping echoes. Sticks break and leaves crunch as animals scurry across the ground. The sounds of life fill the forest.

A black hair black robed youth sits in the crown of a tree. His eyes closed as his chest rises and falls.

Marco continues to breath, following the technique from the Revolver Qi manual. As he breathes he tries to sense any strange energy around him, as described in the book.

Hours pass and the sun begins to fall. Darkness encroaches the area, but Marco doesn't move. As he continues the breathing technique his stomach begins to growl.

Suddenly his eyes open “Why is it not working? Is it because I'm to old? It did say it was harder to start cultivating the older you are.” frowning, he reaches into the bag and pulls out a piece of bread. Biting down he begins to angrily chew on the hard bread.

“I have the strongest eyes, and I can't even use them!” talking while chewing causes crumbs to fly everywhere. “There has to be a easier way for older people to cultivate! Or maybe this technique is just trash??” thinking up to here the smile returns to his face “Yea, there's nothing wrong with me, the technique is just trash.”

Looking around he decides this place is safe enough for tonight as he hasn't been attacked yet. Placing his back against the tree, he closes his eyes.

Sunlight peaks through the canopy causing his eyes to flutter. As he moves to stretch, he almost falls off the tree “Fuck, I almost died...but I can fly, so I guess it's not that big a deal”

Looking around, he takes in the view. “This is already my 3rd day in this world, or is it my 3rd day of existence because my will is different from Patrick's?” shaking his head he reaches into the bag and pulls out Revolver Qi.

Reading for a while he confirms he did nothing wrong yesterday, and the technique is just too low a level. Putting it back in the bag he pulls out Flowing Flower Palm and flips it open.

“Unranked technique Flowing Flower Palm consists of two moves" pausing for a moment one of his eyebrows jump up. “Unranked Technique?” closing his eyes for a moment he begins to think. “Right, techniques really do have different levels in the novels as well, but I don't know if unranked is good or bad"

Shaking his head he continues to read. “The first technique is meant for attacking, Palm like River.”

The book has a series of pictures and explanations on how to perform the move “The tiniest flow will eventually split stone, but the mighty river will wash away all.” dominating, overbearing, powerful. A sense of awe strikes him as he reads the quote.

Excited, he puts the book back into his bag and jumps from the tree. As he falls his arms turn into flaming blue wings. With a single flap he breaks his fall, and glides to the ground.

Reverting his wings he takes a stance. Taking a breath to relax, he trust out his palm according to the book. Quickly pulling his palm back he thrust out the other. “Hmmm, according to the book your arms are supposed to be on a pulley system. As soon as one palm even begins to move back, the next palm should already be about to make contact, simulating a never ending flow. Once you accomplish this one will reach small completion.”

“Ok, lets go!” Marco begins throwing out one palm after another. While they aren't fast, he tries to follow the example from the book. After a few seconds the warm feeling, Aura begins traveling through his body.

With every palm strike he becomes a little bit stronger, and a little bit faster. Not much of an increase, but the Aura is constantly strengthening his body and preventing exhaustion, so as long as it doesn't run out like yesterday he can throw out an unlimited number of palm strikes.

A little over an hour later his Aura finally runs out. “I can probably assume my core is bronze, which is the same as a Qi gathering cultivator. But Qi gathering cultivators have to actively gather Qi to be stronger than a normal person. But I can feel myself getting stronger so I think Aura is better for the body" walking toward the tree, he sits down using it as a back rest.

“Practicing this technique will be easier if my body was stronger.” reaching into his bag he pulls out a piece of meat and bread and begins to eat. As he eats he closes his eyes and concentrates on the right side of his chest. “If I focus on it, I can feel the Aura regenerating” suddenly his eyes shoot open “If legendary demonic beast can transform into humans, it shouldn't be hard for them to get cultivation techniques. Maybe Aura blocks people from sensing Qi??” finishing his food he jumps to his feet.

“Lets try it out! Yesterday my Aura was pretty low, but it wasn't gone.” taking a breath he begins throwing out palm strikes.

After a few minutes he takes off his robe and shirt, stuffing them in his bag he continues. Twenty minutes later his body is completely covered in sweat.

Gasping for air his form becomes sloppy so he stops. Transforming his arms into wings he flies back up the tree and sits down. Sitting down he crosses his legs and reverts his arms before he begins the breathing technique.

Sweat rolls down his chest as it rises and falls in a rhythmic fashion. Tranquility overtakes his very being as he sits on the tree. Suddenly he feels energy swirl around his body, like a gust of wind. Focusing he tries to guide the energy, invisible to the naked eye. The whole premise of revolver Qi is that you are supposed to revolve the Qi around your body. Once it channels into a steady stream, you slam it into your gate.

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Concentrating for a while the Qi suddenly rushes towards his head. As the energy crashes into his head it's like being smashed repeatedly by hammers.

He starts to hear a loud ringing sound and blood seeps out of his ears, from the corner of his closed eyes blood begins to flow, and his nose begins to bleed. Gritting his teeth he continues to bombard his head. He feels something begin to crack, but at the same time he begins to feel dizzy. His head begins to spin as the crack gets bigger.

Struggling he feels the Qi begin to slip, and suddenly it disappears. His bloodshot eyes shoot open and he throws up a mouthful of blood. His vision begins to go black, but before he passes out he slams his back on the tree.

“Assholes, making me check the forest. Those slaves scattered everywhere, and the mission said nothing about catching them"

Marco's eyes abruptly open looking around he can tell a few hours have passed, due to the position of the sun.

“Just because my cultivation is the lowest they bully me, well they are three years older than me!! So what if they opened a few more Qi gates!.”

Looking down he sees a boy. The boy appears to be anywhere from 12-14 years old, dressed in the same black robe with golden embroidery as this bodies former master. His hair is brown and his face looks like its still developing due to the baby fat on his cheeks.

Getting on all fours he stares at the boy. Hearing his words Marco is alerted, how are they already searching for him? Do they know he's the killer? Suddenly a drop of blood falls from the tree, causing Marco's eyes to go wide.

Blue flames erupt around his body as he jumps out of the tree. Trusting out his hand, he falls palm first.

“Hm?” Startled the boy looks up “What!?!” panicking he quickly throws out a fist to meet the palm.

As they make contact, the boys fist is stronger. But the falling force of Marco offset the disparity of power. Due to the power of the fist Marco is momentarily airborne, giving him enough time to throw out another.

Quickly responding the boy throws out another fist. This time Marco is pushed back.

Landing on the ground Marco rushes towards the boy sending out another palm.

Seeing the flaming blue Marco approaching the boy snears, “Sloppy!” the boy takes a few steps, then suddenly disappears from Marco's view.

Suddenly a fist connects with his ribs blasting him to the side. Tumbling a few times the fire burns more intensely as it heals his injuries.

Not giving him a chance to recover, the boy rushes over “Eat my stone fist!” throwing out a punch, a sinister smile blooms on his face.

When his fire heals his injuries, he can feel his Aura drain faster than ever. Landing on his back, the boy's fist sinks into his chest. Marco throws up a mouthful of blood as his sternum cracks, but as long as the flame burns it refuses to let him die.

The boy backs up to gain momentum to launch another punch.

Seeing this Marco kicks out both legs while on his back.

The boy gets ready to jump to the side to dodge, but suddenly the entire area erupts in a blue flames.

Seeing that he completely overestimated himself he pulls out his last resort. His entire body erupts in flames, his legs transform into talons covered in blue fire, his arms transform into large wings as his body turns into a sea of flames, his neck stretches and and his face transforms sprouting a golden beak.

When he transforms his hands into wings they are barely longer than his normal reach. Currently Marco's wingspan is over a dozen feet.

Marco's wings circle the boy cutting off his path of retreat as his claws reach out and latches onto his chest. Quickly rotating his body he flaps his wings. Shooting up like a missile of flame, one flap and he easily clears the treetops, another flap and he soars into the clouds.

Abruptly spreading his wings causes a ring of blue flames to appear around his body. With his wings spread his momentum disperses and stop his ascension.

Blue and golden fire burns along his body, three golden chains of flame dangle from his tail, his golden beak shimmers in the sunlight, majestic blue feathers flutter in the wind, the holy bird of fire, the phoenix.

In his claw is a boy with a terrified look on his face, too petrified by the sudden change of events to act.

Releasing the boy he flies a little higher before reverting to his human form.

“If anyone saw that, I'm doomed!" Marco and the boy begin their fall, plummeting towards the ground.

“AhhhhHhh! Ahhhhhhh!" the boy screams as he fall, his face pale.

Seeing this, a smile emerges on Marco's face. “I've come this far so I might as well finish it" his arms turn back into wings. Flapping his wings he dives underneath the boy, kicking a leg up, it turns into a talon and grabs the boy.

“Seismic Toss!!” flapping his wings as hard as he can he dives towards the ground as fast as possible.

Like a shooting star Marco breaks through the canopy. “HuRahh" using all his energy he throws the boy to the ground while flapping his wings to break his fall.

The boy crashes into the ground like a meteor. The impact sends shockwaves through the forest from the sheer force. A small crater is formed by the impact of the boy's body.

Flapping his wings he lands next to the hole. Reverting his body he looks at the boy. Broken bones burst from his bloody and mangled skin sits in a pool of blood.

Reaching down he pulls the blood stained bag from the boy's waist before tying it next to his other one.

Sending out a few palm strikes he hits the boys chest, seeing no movement he runs away.

“Dam, my full Phoenix form is way too damn flashy, I need a lot more power before using that again.” running at full speed he tries to put as much distance between the battlefield and himself as possible.

Reaching into his bag he pulls out his shirt and robe, putting them on he continues to run while adjusting his bags to sit on top the robes.

After running full speed for a half an hour his Aura finally runs out, but he continues to run.

Thirty minutes later he finally comes to a stop with sweat pouring from his head. “I beat one guy and got overconfident, I even had to rely on various Phoenix transformations both times to get by.” walking forward he notices the noise from smaller animals are gone and only the chirping of the birds remain.

Stopping, his arms turn into wings and he flies to the top of a tree. Reverting his arms he looks around.

In the distance he sees a small clearing with a rock formation. The front of the rock formation has a cave. In front of the cave is a creature the size of a bear with the body of a boar. Its tusk look like stakes covered in blades and hooks sticking out of its mouth. Its body is completely black except for the red stripes running along its back.

Exhausted he decides to ignore it for now as he sits down on the tree and begins to cultivate. After a few minutes of breathing the Qi begins to Revolve around him. Making it spin faster, he sends the Qi towards his head.

Marco instantly becomes disoriented and his body begins to shake. Blood trickles out his mouth as the Qi pounds his head. The cracking from before becomes wider and wider, until it suddenly shatters.

A wave of energy rushes into his head giving him a euphoric feeling. As he opens his eyes they are no longer green, but scarlet red.