Chapter 6
I wake with a start, jolting up in the infirmary bed. Pain shoots through me as I move, causing me to grunt. Yijun sleeps soundly at my bedside with Zemin sleeping in a chair at the end. Doctor Chao rounds the corner holding a tray with water and towels. He startles a bit before loudly placing the tray down and taking my wrist. Yijun and Zemin wake up from the noise. Noticing I’m awake, Yijun lets out a relieved sigh while Zemin simply grunts.
“You gave us quite the scare Peter. If Yijun hadn’t told me you were just learning about Qi, I would have thought you were trying to kill yourself! Or at the very least cripple your mandarins.” He lets my arm down before picking up a towel from the tray. He dips it a couple of times in the water before urging me to lie down.
“Sorry, are you saying what’s been happening is because of Qi?”
“Well yes, even if you didn’t know it, the art you have been using is a cultivation art. Specifically a [Fire Qi] art, a very poorly made one too.”
“So, what, my body can’t handle [Fire Qi]?” He lays the damp towel on my forehead as Yijun and Zemin bid goodbye for the night.
“Yes, your body will reject all forms of Qi but the Qi you are born with. There are basic cultivation arts that are universal and don’t need a particular Qi, but they are not as effective and have a definite limit to them. The art you have been practicing takes the [Fire Qi] of Heaven and Earth and you do not possess [Fire Qi], so your body rejected it.”
“But I’ve been using this art all my life! Why haven’t I felt this before?” I shift in the bed, if I’ve been taking in the wrong Qi there could be damage to my body that I don’t even know about yet. Sensing my anxiety, Doctor Chao smiles softly.
“No need to worry, you didn’t feel this way before because the place you lived had very thin Qi. I was curious as to why you had so little, but seeing as this is new to you, it can only mean you lived in a place with little to no Qi at all. Meaning there was not enough for you to absorb for you to notice any negative side-effects.” It almost sounds like a kind of science when explained like that. Relax a bit with this new bit of information, but something else tugs at my mind.
“So if I don’t have [Fire Qi], what Qi do I have?” Doctor Chao looks pensive for a bit before answering.
“You have a very rare and unique Qi that is only seen in a few thousand cultivators. You possess [Thunder Qi], one of the most destructive Qi’s to exist.” Looks like I won’t have to worry about learning a whole new element. But could there be a connection between my [Electrokinesis] and [Thunder Qi]? What would happen if I could combine them?
“What do I do now?” Doctor Chao chuckles a bit as he looks up in thought. He sits there for a couple of minutes pondering before turning to me again.
“Seeing as you are back in the infirmary, you must first rest. After that, I will think of something special.” With that, he gets up with a smile and blows out the lights leaving me in darkness. The constant smiling is getting kind of creepy but I guess he’s just really friendly. I feel restless lying in bed after I found out something so important about myself. I eventually can’t take it anymore and swing out of bed, creeping upstairs to grab my combat gear. Stepping as quietly as I can, I reach my room. I quickly grab my combat suit, it isn’t a good idea to bring my guns with me right now. They make too much noise and I haven’t required them since this place is so peaceful. I slip into my suit, it still fits snuggly. The combat suits are a sleek black design for night operations with combat boots geared to leave no tracks, something we picked up from the Sun Lords. The greatest feature of this gear is that it can withstand psychic powers, meaning we can get as rough as we want in combat without the fear of having it damaged by our abilities. Since I don’t have to worry about becoming naked, I can have a little fun tonight. I prop open the window, crawling out onto the roof below it. I strengthen my body with [Telekinesis], winding it up like a spring. With one strong push, I launch off the roof through the sky. I had almost forgotten about this part, the freedom you feel when you use powers without worrying. The wind whips through my hair as I arch down towards one of the buildings lower in the sect. The sect was built in a mountain range, making it easy to divide the sect into layers. The more important buildings are at the top while the more public buildings are at the bottom.
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I land on the top floor’s roof of the lower building, springing back off in an instant. The sounds of lower levels of the sect begin to reach me. Truth be told, I don’t know much about what’s down there. I think buildings called the [Merit Hall] and [Earthly Meal Hall] are down there. I’m not sure what a [Merit Hall] is yet, but I can guess the [Earthly Meal Hall] is just where they eat. I make my way down in the shadows, scanning with my [Pyschic Detection] along the way. No one seems to have noticed me, the fewer people who know I exist right now, the better. I reach the bottom level of the sect, it bustles with activity. It’s almost like a small town down here disciples walk from place to place chatting and laughing. The ages of the disciples widely vary, some can’t be older than six while others look to be in their mid-twenties. A young disciple crashes out of a nearby building, his face flushed with a battle in his hand. He staggers toward my hiding place behind a tree next to the building he just left. Just as I was hoping he wouldn’t, he drops his pants after concealing himself in the shadow of the tree.
I move swiftly, wrapping my arms around his neck like twin cobras, locking him in place with a kick to the back of his knee. It doesn’t take long for him to pass out. I strip him of his clothes and slide them on over mine. They reek of alcohol, good thing I won’t be keeping these. I step into the crowd, weaving between groups. I catch snippets of their conversations, some talk about secret arts they heard of while others talk about treasures they got on their journies. A couple of young teenagers boast about killing a group of [Demonic] cultivators. Despite the gruesome talk, the atmosphere is light. It’s pretty strange to see kids talking about killing people, especially when they look so proud about it. I shake out of my thoughts as I stop in front of the [Earthly Meal Hall], the smell of various dishes wafts outside. My mouth waters at the tantalizing smells, curious, I step inside. The inside is surprisingly nice, almost like a true restaurant. Disciples fill up almost every table with spreads of food laid out in front of them. It almost seems excessive if I didn’t catch one of them cleaning the meat off of the bone. A waiter rushes up to me with a tray in hand, bowing deeply.
“I am Bai Peng, a server here, would you like a table?” Looks like my disguise is working. I give him a nod before following behind. The table is near three others with varying groups sitting at each one.
“I’ll be honest, I haven’t eaten here before so I was wondering what you have.”
“We have our signature dish, [Twin Beaked Fire Bird Soup], with a special tonight of [Dry-Roasted Shadow Deer]. We are also serving the [Ten Scents Wine] tonight, it isn’t in stock often so it’s very popular!”
“Just bring the cheapest dish and a bottle of cheap wine too.” I have no idea how much this will cost me, but I’m too interested in this place and its food to leave. With a deep bow, he rushes off to place my order. Taking in the atmosphere, one of the other tables' conversations piques my interest.
“Did you hear about the [Secret Realm] appearing?!”
“A [Secret Realm?! Where did it appear?!”
“That’s just it, it became big news everywhere because it appeared on the border between the [Orange Cloud Sect] and the [Victory Lake Sect]! Those two have been on bad terms since the new sect leader of the [Victory Lake Sect] took over.”
“Then I guess we won’t get a chance at then.” Whatever a [Secret Realm] is, it’s important enough that two sects would fight over it.
“From what I’ve heard, the [Victory Lake Sect] is proposing that all sects in the [Xieshangong Kingdom] be allowed to enter! If it’s true, that means those [Orange Cloud] bastards won’t be able to monopolize the [Secret Realm]. We might even get the chance to find an [Artifact]!” An artifact? What use could there be for something old enough to be called an artifact? Thinking more about it, there might be a chance the artifacts here are usable after all this time, seeing as there are people who can fly around. Just as I try to listen more closely my food arrives. The dish is fish with noodles and vegetables, and the wine smells like the wine we made in a tub. I take a sip of the wine, finding it to taste just like it smells. The food is pretty good for their cheapest item. I polish off my meal as I go over the information I’ve gotten.
A conflict between two major forces could break out at any moment because of something called a [Secret Realm] appearing on their borders. However, one of them already wants a peaceful solution that will also stop the other from getting anything useful. Not only that it has items so valuable that all the sects in the kingdom are frothing at the mouth at a chance to get in. This could be an opportunity, while most of the sects and their disciples are at this [Secret Realm], the easier it’ll be for me to sneak around. Who knows, I might find something from Earth or a way to communicate with it. Hoping for a way back home isn’t possible right now, no matter how much I want it.
“Hello, Mar-tial - Br-o-th-er, enjoying your night tonight?!” A chilling voice like ice pricks my neck. I can feel a piercing gaze on me as I turn to the voice, finding Yijun staring at me with fire in her eyes followed by smug-looking Zemin behind her.