Chapter 33 - First Cultivation

The sun had just begun to set when Hei woke up. He looked around and saw Lian lying beside him, but only the two of them were inside the spiderweb house. However, he could hear some unmistakable sounds outside: it was his two little sisters. They were sparring with Shui.

With difficulty, Hei sat up and examined his body. The process of opening his acupoints had been intense, much more than what he had imagined from his mother's words. Fortunately, she stayed with them all the time; otherwise, they wouldn’t have a chance.

He took a glance at Lian to see how she was - the girl had a slightly pale complexion due to the effort made, but she had no other problems. With a little more rest, she would recover.

Hei then returned to examine himself. He noticed that there were burn marks on the points where his mother's legs had pierced him. Even if they weren't nice to look at, he didn't care so much. The important thing was that the wounds had already closed and they weren’t a problem for his body.

But, leaving aside the wounds on his body, the most important aspect he noticed was that his breathing had become lighter. If he had to make a comparison, it was as if he had been wearing weights all this time, and now he had finally taken them off, returning to breathe easily. His body also seemed lighter than before, and he felt more energy coming from his muscles.

Excited by these new changes, Hei stood up and walked out of the spiderweb house. He wanted to talk to his mother and ask her about these changes and what he should do next.

When he came out, he was greeted by the warmth of the orange sun that was slowly disappearing. Not far from here, Ye and Xing were sending flying by Shui. Although at first glance it might seem dangerous, Hei knew that Shui would limit its strength against them and, even though they fell from above, his two sisters had very tough skin. After all, it was inherent in spirit beasts to strengthen their bodies by damaging them in combat.

When he took a few steps, he suddenly heard his mother's voice that was still hidden in her small form.

‘How are you, Hei? Are you feeling okay?'

"I'm fine. I feel like I have more energy than before."

‘I’m happy to hear that, and Lian? Is she still sleeping?'

"Yes, mother. She is still resting. Ehm, mother, I was wondering if I could now finally cultivate."

His mother, who knew her son too well, laughed to herself and gave him her permission. She, therefore, made Hei sit on the ground with his legs crossed. It was the lotus position that martial artists usually assumed in their cultivation.

‘First, try to regulate your breathing by creating a rhythm. When you did, activate your spirit power and collect a small amount of external spirit power. At that point, make it rotate in the four individual circuits at the same time while synchronizing them with your breath. They must be in unison; otherwise, you risk disturbing your internal flow.’

Listening to his mother's words, Hei tried to do as she had said. He closed his eyes and concentrated only on his breathing, slowly excluding the sounds near him. It was one of the hunting techniques taught by his mother at the time of the Multicolored Leaf Forest. Focusing his attention on a single point and forgetting about what was around. It was a hazardous technique to perform due to the risk of being caught off guard, but in particular conditions, it was advantageous to use.

Soon, he found a rhythm that seemed appropriate to him and activated his spirit power. Unlike the other times, his spirit power seemed less rigid, and he could feel a tingling through numerous points in his body, where the needles created by his mother had penetrated.

Obviously, Bao Bei, after they had finished the opening process, had removed the needles from Hei and Lian's bodies. Even if they were small, leaving them in the skin for too long could cause serious injuries.

Then Hei tried to move his spirit power. It was more difficult than what he thought, and he couldn’t move any of the circuits. On the other hand, it had to be said that all martial artists would have difficulty moving their flow for the first time, even though they had only one path in which they had to let their spirit power flow. Hei, on the other hand, had four circuits to move, and it was incredibly difficult.

Trying to concentrate more, Hei frowned as he absorbed more spirit power from the outside to stimulate an internal reaction. He remembered when he had filled the vortexes, and the flow had gone berserk.

After a while, after several attempts, Hei succeeded in his intent: the spirit power within his body began to move slowly inside his body. The speed of the flow couldn’t be defined as fast; on the contrary, it was extremely slow. But it was still a start.

Meanwhile, Bao Bei looked in astonishment at Hei, who was engaged in his cultivation. Even though she knew he could do it, she didn't expect it would take such a short time for him to get his internal flow moving. Her son really deserved to be called a genius.

When the sun had finished setting, Hei finished his first cultivation cycle. His whole body was full of sweat, and a blackish substance was covering his skin. It looked similar to mud but more sticky. Curious, he asked his mother what it was.

‘They are the impurities present in your body. Every time you cultivate your body, the process will eliminate the various impurities present inside. The first time is always a disaster because plenty of impurities come out. However, over time this quantity decreases. But you must remember that the impurities that you expel are the impurities present in the most superficial layers of your skin. There are also impurities in your body's inner parts, and you will have to use medicines or pills to get rid of them.’

By the time Hei was listening to his mother's explanation, Lian had left the tent. She had the same usual expression, but within her eyes, there was a brighter light. She approached Hei and pointed her finger at him and then at her.

This gesture was a message for Bao Bei that she couldn’t see because the latter had such a small size. The content of this message was straightforward to understand - she also wanted to start cultivating as Hei had done.

Slowly, Bao Bei re-explained what she had told earlier while Hei brought buckets of water they had filled in the past few days. With all that sticky stuff, it was essential to take a bath to clean himself up. Fortunately, the water had a warm temperature. Even though he had no trouble washing himself in cold water, Hei would naturally prefer a warmer temperature.

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But as he was about to start washing himself, he remembered the rectangle of land cleaned from the weeds. It was huge since Bao Bei would have increased its area from day to day. Looking at it carefully, Hei judged it to be the right size for their first harvest. Given that it was the first time he was using such a broad field, he thought that it was better to start with a not too excessive size.

So, taking advantage of the fact that he was dirty, he went to get the pieces of rotten wood from the old house. Fortunately, Ye and Xing were tired of training, and seeing Hei awake, they ran to him. After stroking their stomachs and playing with them a little, Hei got help from the two spirit beast to collect the pieces of rotten wood. Shui and the other buffaloes also helped. In the past days, the buffaloes had been busy cleaning the nearby weeds by eating them, and they had a more powerful body than before.

In a short time, they moved all the rotten wooden planks to the field on which they would plant the plants. But they hadn't finished yet. Now it was time to move the feces that the buffalo had produced during these days. To avoid having a bad smell nearby and annoying Bao Bei, Hei, and the others, Shui had instructed the buffaloes to use a precise point in which to deposit feces and pee.

Since it was difficult to carry them to the field with just his hands, Hei had Xing create various spiderwebs on which to lay the feces. Thanks to this method, they were able to transport the feces to the designated location. And then, it was the time for the weeds that Hei and the others had removed during their training and placed on one side of the stable where the buffaloes usually sleep. Since they knew that Hei had purposely kept them for future uses, the buffaloes hadn’t touched them.

At that point, it was finally the turn to prepare the fertilizer for the soil. Without hesitation, Hei put the weeds on the pile of feces and then poured some buckets of water over it. Then he started to mix it all up.

The smell was sickening, but Hei had already experienced this and didn't mind too much. He continued his work, but without letting Ye and Xing help him because he didn't want them to get too dirty.

Eventually, he managed to get a mixture of manure and slurry, partly liquid and partly solid. His arms were entirely dirty, but since they were already so from the impurities that were taken out during cultivation, it didn't matter much.

When he finished getting the compound, Bao Bei had come near them with Lian, who was in the same condition as Hei, before he got dirty with buffaloes’ feces.

Since she couldn't stand her son getting even dirtier, she took charge of spreading the mixture on the ground while sending Hei, Ye, Xing, and Lian to clean themselves at the river, under the supervision of Shui and the other buffaloes. The water they had collected wasn't enough to clean all the dirt from Hei and Lian’s bodies.

To avoid problems, Bao Bei first ascertained that there were no strangers nearby, before letting them leave, and when they left, she used her spiderweb and her spirit power to cover the soil with the organic compound.

The distance between the house and the river wasn’t so far away, and running on the back of the buffaloes, the four of them arrived at the river not long after. To make things more exciting, Ye asked Shui to charge with the other buffaloes in the water, so that they could use their running momentum as a springboard to jump into the water.

Shui accepted and did as requested. Hei, Lian, Ye, and Xing were, therefore, sent flying, and they dived with different poses in the water.

Fortunately, the water was warm because the sun's rays had heated it, and the four floated on the surface while the buffaloes were on the bank drinking and looking after them from afar.

Hei, Ye, and Xing had learned to swim when they were young because there was a lake near where they lived, and their mother thought it was vital that they learn how to do it. But in the situation’s euphoria, Hei had forgotten to ask Lian if she could swim. When he emerged from the dive, he immediately glanced towards her, but it seemed that Lian knew how to swim since she remained afloat without sinking.

Ye and Xing, even though they were small, had learned how to balance their bodies. And now, they were swimming at high speeds in the water, without sinking. Hei instead decided to relax, remaining afloat while throwing glances from time to time at them to check that they were alright. Lian also stayed afloat near Hei, before being dragged by the two little spirit beasts to swim with them.

When more than an hour passed, Hei gestured for them to return. By now, it had become evening, and he didn't want to make their mother more than they should. Reluctantly, Ye and Xing took a last swim before going out with Lian.

Because they had dived with their clothes still on, their clothes were soaked, although they were finally clean. Since they didn't have a spare nearby, they kept them and climbed back up to the buffaloes’ backs to go home.

Once getting home, Hei stopped a moment to take a look at the field. The organic compound made from the feces and the weeds joined to the water, had been spread evenly over the entire area designated for growing plants. As expected from his mother, it was an impeccable job.

Glad that things were progressing in the right direction, Hei entered the spiderweb house with the others while Shui escorted the other buffaloes back to the stable to rest. In the spiderweb house, the dinner had already been prepared and consisted mainly of fire-cooked insects plus some fruits.

Without being prayed, Hei and his two sisters quickly devoured their meals. Lian instead ate more slowly but made no complaints about it.

After they finished eating, they all lay down to watch the stars from the hole in the top of the spiderweb house. However, at one point, Bao Bei suddenly moved and hissed. She had noticed the presence of someone approaching the house.

Quickly, she went out to examine who it was. In the distance, a hooded figure was approaching at high speed in their direction. Intrigued by their mother's behavior, Hei came out but kept Ye, Xing, and Lian inside. Shui also came out of the stable. Then, it stood in front of Hei, waiting for the hooded figure to come.

Bao Bei remained close to her son while she was hidden in her petite form. Even if the person who was arriving had concealed its face, it had no evil intentions since it wasn’t deliberately trying to conceal its presence, but was running linearly.

In a short time, the mysterious figure arrived at the house and was surprised that Hei was out with the albino buffalo at his side on alert. At this scene, the hidden figure couldn’t help being stunned. Even though it was running linearly towards that direction, it was incredible that Hei had noticed that it was coming.

At that point, the hidden figure lowered the hood that hid its face and turned out to be none other than the sect leader. Her purple hair was waving in the evening wind after being released.

Hei then made a short bow to her. Even if he didn’t feel fear or veneration like the other sect’s members, she was still the cult leader, and therefore, he had to maintain a semblance of respect.

“Good evening sect leader, can I do something for you?"

The sect leader once again gave a slight look at the albino buffalo that was still on the alert. From inside the strange spiderweb house, she could sense the presence of another person. Probably the girl named Lian.

"Yes, actually, there is something you can do for me. I don't want to go around it, but I want you to enter into my faction." The sect leader said in a determined tone.

Initially, she had decided with the other elders to wait after Hei and Lian had entered the inner sect to recruit them into their factions. But since Hei had decided to plant plants instead of raising animals, this had aroused the sect’s leader interest.

She had no doubts about her judgment. She knew that the young boy was brilliant; surely, he wouldn’t have made such a trivial mistake as trying to cultivate spirit plants in a place devoid of spirit veins. Intrigued, she decided to go personally and examine the situation.

Initially, she just wanted to take a look, but when she came to that place, she noticed that the surrounding weeds looked more vigorous and shiny than usual. At that point, the sect leader examined the soil, and she found out the cause. To her surprise, she noticed that there was spirit power flowing underground - the spirit vein was active.

That notion shattered her original plan, and she immediately took a decision - that evening, she would recruit both the youths in her faction, regardless of what cost she would have to pay.