"So, are you ready to learn how to cultivate, kiddo? Most kids start actively cultivating when they're four or five years old. Some start younger than that and it usually only takes a week to reach the first star of the first rank. So, you're way behind children your age and we need you to reach impossible heights that dwarf anything they'll ever accomplish.
"And remember what I said about it growing exponentially more difficult to break through as you climb the ranks. The first star takes just a week, but the second star can take months or even a year. The next star takes even more effort and time and so on and so forth... many cultivators live their whole lives without even breaking through to the middle part of their dantian and unlocking their spiritual energy," Ming said.
"So it'll take me decades to get to the middle part of my dantian?" Jie asked. That seemed so far away... she wanted those powers now!
"Decades are the least of your worries," Ming said, "for as your cultivation base grows, so you will age slower. And, once you reach the level of a god, you will never have to worry about old age. Not in a million years. While many cultivators cannot break through to their middle dantian, we need you to break through the middle, upper, and beyond. You must transcend every other cultivator and step into the ranks above gods!"
Jie smiled at that idea. She was going to become a goddess... more than that in fact. But, she grew troubled by some of what Ming had said...
"How am I going to grow so strong if so many don't even make it to the middle dantian?" Jie asked.
Ming puffed out his chest. "Humph! Isn't it obvious? They didn't have me as a teacher!" Ming said.
Jie giggled.
"You've gotten used to your body faster than I expected, so I'll teach you to absorb and refine Essence into qi now. No need to wait. We have too much to do after all!" Ming said, "Close your eyes and reach out with your spirit sense like I taught you earlier. Can you sense the Essence around you?"
Jie did as Ming said, and reached out with her spirit sense. It came easily to her this time and she felt that same strange energy that permeated everything around her.
"Yes," she said.
"Excellent," Ming said, "now most will bring that Essence into their body and refine it to varying degrees according to different techniques. Some will hardly refine it all and end up with a dull and weak qi.
"Those who refine this way will rapidly gain quantity and surge through the early ranks extraordinarily quickly, but their power will be greatly lacking. And it will be almost impossible for them to break through into the middle dantian.
"Those who take more care to refine a higher quality of qi will have more powerful qi which will lead to far more powerful martial skills and a greater chance of breaking through into the middle dantian.
"The purer the qi, the better. So, you will spend much longer refining Essence to get your qi than many others. As such, the first few ranks will be painfully slow for you, but who cares about that? We need you to go far beyond them... and you won't be refining any old ordinary qi anyway..."
"What do you mean I won't be refining ordinary qi?" Jie asked as she opened her eyes again.
Ming smiled widely and puffed out his chest even more.
Jie covered her mouth with her hand to hide her smile. Ming was such a silly dragon.
"I am a descendant of the great lightning dragon," Ming said, "the qi I cultivate is the purest form possible, and it has the extra attribute of being dragon lightning qi.
"I hadn't expected to be able to teach you to cultivate it, however, when that mysterious being helped me remake your body, it took some of my blood and put it inside you. I'm not sure what exactly it did with my blood, but I think you may have some kind of affinity for dragon lightning qi because of it.
"It's exceedingly rare for anyone other than a lightning dragon to be able to cultivate this kind of qi, but I think you'll be able to. If not, we'll soon find out. Hopefully, it won't kill you."
"Kill me?" Jie asked with wide eyes.
"Yes, it would be unfortunate for you to die after coming all this way, but I did warn you that the path of a cultivator is dangerous," Ming said.
Jie nodded.
Sure, he'd warned her, but since meeting him she'd almost died once already and now just cultivating this qi might kill her? How many times would she have to face death on this journey?
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She squeezed her hand into a fist and released.
Did it matter? She had her life back because of him. And, he wouldn't want her to die after everything he'd done to get her here, would he?
This dragon lightning qi must be worth the risk...
"I'll do it," Jie said.
"That's the way, kiddo!" the dragon said with a wide grin, "steel your resolve and charge headfirst!"
"Then let's get you cultivating, shall we? I will sense inside you and guide you through it," Ming said, "close your eyes again. Sense the Essence of the Heavens and the Earth all around you.
"Now, take a deep breath in. And, as you do so, reach out with your spirit sense and take in the Essence of the Heavens and the Earth just as your lungs take in air."
Jie took in a slow, deep breath and tried to breathe in with her spirit at the same time. The Essence of the Heavens and the Earth streamed into her body just as air flowed into her lungs. It was thick and heady, and her whole body tingled. It was like the cool caress of water and the rough abrasion of rock rubbing her skin raw at the same time.
Painful, and exhilarating. It felt like breathing with a pair of lungs she'd never used before. It was painful and strange, yet it felt right. Like something that had always been missing from her life was now finally here.
"That's good," Ming said, "now follow that energy with your awareness into your dantian. Focus on it and hold it there."
Jie followed the Essence of the Heavens and the Earth into her body and found herself inside a massive, dark cave with wide tunnels leading in every direction. In the center of this dark cave was a ball of swirling gray light that rippled and pulsed.
All of this was inside her? The space seemed so vast!
"That's excellent," Ming said, "now focus on the Essence and refine it within yourself. Rotate it inside your dantian and make it purer. Make it yours. Command it and condense it. Use your greed. Steel your resolve. Once you start to refine it, do not stop."
Jie willed the swirling ball to spin. It slowly turned, and she smiled.
She pushed it to go faster... and faster... and faster until it swirled like a hurricane. Impurities shot off and out of her dantian while the Essence whirled and grew brighter and whiter.
"That's... very impressive," Ming said, "Ahem... uh... Well done. Keep going until it's as pure as you can make it."
The strain of refining the Essence felt like an elephant was sitting on her chest. Each breath took longer and made her lungs ache as she fought against the strange resistance, but she pushed forward as she bent the Essence to her will. It swirled in a howling vortex within her dantian and shrank down until it was just a fraction of its original size. Yet, it gleamed with a bright white light.
"That's good, kiddo," Ming said, "keep it spinning like that. Don't let it slow down or stop. As you do, I want you to think of lightning. Born of the friction of clouds, it becomes something greater and more powerful than anyone would ever expect.
"Chaotic, uncontrollable, swift, and deadly. It commands respect for its overwhelming power! Such is the way of dragon lightning qi!"
Sweat beaded Jie's forehead and trickled down her skin as her chest screamed with every breath, but she forced the rotation to continue.
"Spin it faster and faster. Condense it as much as you can," Ming said.
Jie clenched her tiny fists and willed the ball of brilliant qi to rotate even faster as she squeezed it into a tight, little ball. Her chest felt like it was being crushed, and her breaths came out in strangled wheezes as she wrestled with the dazzling ball of qi.
She pushed as hard as she could and then harder still.
Ming had given her so much. She would be the best student he could ever ask for! She would show him that he was right to choose her and free her from the hell that her everyday life had become!
The ball spun so fast that its surface was a blur as it began to vibrate violently. The inside crackled and snapped with power and energy, begging for release.
It was a painful effort to take in wheezing gasps of air. It felt like she was being crushed from outside and within at the same time. Sweat dripped from her nose and soaked her hospital gown.
"Yes! Let it build and condense! Force it! Bend it to your will even when it strains against the edges of your control!" Ming roared.
The ball of energy hummed inside her dantian as her shallow gasps were pushed out of her body by the sheer force inside her. Her muscles begged for oxygen, but still, she pressed on.
"That's perfect," Ming said, "now in ten seconds, I want you to make it spin faster than you can control and then force it to stop moving all at once."
Jie counted down even as she wheezed for air. After ten seconds she forced it to spin faster, far more rapidly than she could control. The ball distorted and whirled around so fast that it sucked in more Essence from the air around her.
The Essence flowed in from the tunnels around the cave of her dantian and collected around the ball.
Jie gritted her teeth. Was this supposed to happen?
She hoped it wasn't an issue. She couldn't spare the energy to deal with it. The new Essence swirled around the ball like a chaotic storm around a planet. The energy rotated so fast that impurities shot off and away instantly, unable to keep up and causing the Essence to refine to the highest degree as fast as it flowed in.
Jie could scarcely breathe. She felt lightheaded, and her chest threatened to be crushed by the unseen pressure around and inside her.
"Now stop!" Ming commanded.
Jie forced the swirling to stop all at once. It was like trying to stop a truck with her bare hands. It slammed against her willpower, and her breath caught in her throat as grinding pain coursed through her body.
The ball ground to a halt. It quivered and then exploded. Shockwaves tore through her body as her dantian turned into a series of chaotic flashes and rippling explosions.
Sharp, hot agony rocketed through every nerve of Jie's body all at once, and she screamed.
The strands of energy split apart, fractured, twisted, and detonated one after another at a rate too fast for her to follow. Her dantian looked like fireworks going off in the most violent storm she'd ever witnessed.
Then, it flashed so brightly it blinded her. She felt like she was soaring through the air even as pain ripped through her.
She collapsed on something hard, and her vision went black.
But there, in her core was a small, flickering strand of blue lightning that crackled, snapped, and raced around her dantian in random directions at frightening speeds.