Tomo's lecture ran late into the night, or at least it felt late, it was difficult to tell time in this secret realm with no sun. As his disciples prepared to head to bed Tomo stopped them, “One moment. Liqin, Liqiu, Tsubame, Jia Ying, and Wei, you five will be the core of our team going forward. We will still strive to recruit others to our cause, but I won't be taking anymore disciples. As such I think it's time I explain my plan for facing the Gaian Empire as well as the terms of my agreement with the Emperor.” Seeing his students sit back down, awaiting his next words with baited breath, Tomo continued, “I'm calling it the New Scholars Plan...”
Ku Wei interjected, “I'm sorry Grandpa, but that's a lame name.”
“Well the plan is to get you all to the scholar level as soon as possible so it just made sense,” replied Tomo defensively.
Before he could continue it was Lin Liqin's turn, “Then what about something more domineering, like the Future Immortals?”
Tomo ignored Ku Wei and Lin Liqin's attempts to derail the conversation, “While we will need to contend with the Gaian army, I'm hopeful we can recruit some of the neighboring countries for support. As for the Empire's Pillars, their four scholar level experts, it is unlikely other nations will be willing to risk their experts so they will fall to you.”
“Grandfather stepped down as one of the pillars, so shouldn't there only be three for us to deal with?” Ming Jia Ying asked.
“While that is true right now, it won't stay vacant long. Most likely another will take his spot by the time you're ready to face them. In fact, I believe Gui was close to a break through. His recent clash with your mother and grandfather may have even given him the enlightenment he needed to advance,” Tomo answered.
Hearing General Gui's name, Ming Jia Ying's gaze turned fierce, her voice cold, “I vote for the Pillar Pulverizers.”
“Oh! I like that one,” giggled Tsubame.
“We aren't voting on a new name!” Tomo finally snapped. Taking a deep breath in and out to calm himself as he adjusted his coat jacket before continuing, “I'm going to call it the New Scholars Plan, you all can call it whatever you like. Can we move on to the important bits now?”
The five people before him exchanged looks, then faced him to give serious nods of approval. Tomo began to wonder if he'd made the right decision in recruiting this bunch of rascals for his plans, but it was too late to turn back now. He couldn't help but sigh, “Good. As you know the Emperor and I made a bet on the outcome of this conflict, but since we're at a clear disadvantage we've been given a fifteen year grace period.”
Ku Wei raised his hand and, after a nod from Tomo, asked, “What are the benefits of this grace period?”
“The Empire will cease it's expansion efforts. The upside to this is that the Empire is a meritocracy and without the war as a means of distinguishing themselves the more ambitious members may turn on each other. Hopefully, we can take advantage of that chaos using some contacts we have in the Empire. Unfortunately, it may also mean that our recruitment efforts abroad will be more difficult without the looming threat of imminent war. But I'm sure we would all prefer that over what we just saw in Duihaiguo.” Turning to the three newest disciples Tomo apologized, “Speaking of which, I feel responsible for what happened. Without my intervention the Emperor wouldn't have ordered a cease fire and the truce that led to the ambush never would have been.”
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Lin Liqiu spoke up, lightly touching the scar on her face as she looked directly into Tomo's eyes, “What happened wasn't your fault. The Japanese struck at the shogun's command. Never apologize for seeking peace.”
“Thank you... that means a lot. Where were we? Right, at this point we have a little over fourteen years left. Now that may sound like a long time to ones as young as you, but it took Charlatte and I over twenty years to reach the Scholar Realm, so we need to hustle.”
It was Tsubame's turn to raise her hand. “Sorry to interrupt, but what is the Scholar Realm?” she asked sheepishly.
“I keep forgetting how new you are to this. In chi cultivation your progress is measured in small realms. Every eleven small realms you'll reach a bottleneck, crossing beyond it will deepen your connection and control over your chi. As such, each group of eleven small realms is called a large realm and is given a name. You are currently in the Novice Realm, as the name suggests that is where we all start. Next is the Initiate Realm, which Wei stepped into recently and Jia Ying is at the peak of. Most cultivation sects require you to reach this realm before you join. Liqin and Liqiu are currently in the Disciple Realm. The Graduate Realm is when most sects will allow their members to travel to other sects as their representatives. In order to teach those at the Initiate and Disciple Realm most sects require you to reach the Instructor Realm. If you wish to start your own sect you need to enter the Master Realm. Charlatte and I named the next realm the Scholar Realm, it was at that point that we decided to open the Gaian Academy. When we broke through to the next large realm people started calling us sages, so it became known as the Sage Realm. As you may know, the peak of the Sage Realm, the eighty-eighth realm, is known as the mortal limit. Charlatte and I are both stuck at that point even after all these years, but I can feel it, it is just another bottleneck. There is another realm beyond it.”
“The Immortal Realm!” exclaimed Lin Liqin excitedly. “I wonder if there's anything beyond that?”
“God's Realm!” said Ku Wei, joining in Lin Liqin's glee.
Attempting to bring the conversation back on track, Tomo stepped in, “When we manage to take that step you all can name it. In the meantime let's return to the topic at hand. In order for you all to progress to the Scholar Realm in the time we have I will be using an experimental training method that I have been developing to help me take my next step. I call it the Braided Path. You're aware that ki refinement is derived from chi meditation, but it's not the only such technique. Information is hard to contain, and as knowledge of chi mediation spread from one country to the next they each adapted it to meet their culture's needs. The energy sensing technique that Wei uses to assess his patients and Jia Ying combined with her Breath of the Earth technique is an example.”
Tomo unfurled a map and spread it across the table. Ku Wei recognized a portion of the map from maps of the Gaian Empire he'd studied, but the borders and names were foreign to him. Tomo pointed to an area marked Germany. “This is where the capitol of the Gaian Empire resides.” His finger slid to the left, stopping at a nearby isle as he continued, “This island off the west coast of the Empire has proven difficult to conquer because of a group calling themselves Druids. They wield the elements, similar to Gaians, but refer to it as magic. The energy sensing technique I taught Wei and Jia Ying originated from them and is known as Mana Sense. While Gaian chi techniques produce larger, more powerful effects, the Druids with their Mana Sense can scout and produce magic spells from a range far greater than anything chi can achieve. This advantage, combined with the rugged terrain and the island's naturally defensive position, has allowed the Druids to repel several Gaian invasions.” Tomo paused for a moment, glancing at Ming Jia Ying and Lin Liqin, “I theorized that these different cultivation systems could be combined since they shared a root. A single thread is weak, but weave it together with others and you get a cord. If we then braid that cord with others we get a rope that may carry us to the summit of cultivation. Hence, the Braided Path lays before us. Jia Ying and Liqin are proof that multiple systems can be wielded at the same time with dazzling effect.”
Ming Jia Ying raised her hand, but started speaking before Tomo could acknowledge her, “I don't mind being used to test your theory, but why didn't you test it yourself? You've obviously been researching this for a while.”
Tomo scratched his head embarassedly, “My techniques have been refined over hundreds of years. Attempting to incorporate a new system into an established technique using trial and error would take decades. However, you are still in the beginning phases. By learning these new systems along side more conventional chi techniques you may have insights into how they may be combined that I would overlook or miss. I can then take your successes and extrapolate that data to apply it to my own techniques. It won't allow me to perfectly replicate the results in real time, but should drastically reduce the adjustment period.”