Yu Chen awoke the next morning, filled with a fresh determination to pursue his cultivation. He’d enjoyed his life in the sect so far, but he hadn’t realized how much a lack of purpose had been holding him back. Now… He put a hand on his stomach and smiled at the feeling of warmth that lay under his palm.
He was a cultivator in truth now, and thanks to the little dragon whose blood he shared, he had a dream and a desire. It was foursday, and there was martial training to look forward to at the training grounds. He hurriedly clothed himself and rushed out of the door.
“Hey, Yu Chen!”
Yu Chen’s head swiveled at the sound of his name as he looked over the crowd in the training ground. He caught Jin Hua’s eye who was excitedly waving at him as he made his way towards him.
“Jin Hua, how’s your day progressing?” Yu Chen asked, as he greeted his friend politely.
“Never mind that!” Jin Hua exclaimed before wrapping an arm around Yu Chen’s shoulders. “When did you break through?” He asked.
“Yesterday, during my evening meditation.” Yu Chen replied breezily, but a hint of pride filled his voice.
“Since you’re able to leave the sect now we’ll have to visit a restaurant and celebrate, my treat!” Jin Hua was naturally a loud fellow, and quite a few of the nearby cultivators looked over as he spoke. Some just glanced in confusion, while others who recognized Yu Chen, shot him nods of approval.
Yu Chen waved at them in thanks, before falling into conversation with the talkative Jin Hua while they awaited Li Ming. He was just in the middle of telling Yu Chen about a pair of foolish disciples who’d tried to cheat a bounty by returning to the mission hall with some fake “artifacts”, when their animated conversation was brought to a halt by the arrival of Li Ming.
They cut off their conversation and joined the other disciples as they began running laps without complaint. Most of the morning exercise flew by, and Yu Chen couldn’t help but be appreciative of how much better it was with a friend by his side. After the fourth lap they all fell back in line to begin practicing their martial forms.
Yu Chen, as usual, had made his way to the front row, where he had the best view of Li Ming as he moved through the forms, when he realized something strange that he hadn’t noticed before. Perhaps it was a result of him becoming a qi condensator, but he could now see that, with every movement, Li Ming was channeling his qi as he flowed through the motions.
Yu Chen’s own movements slowed, coming to a halt as he watched his instructor, but if Li Ming noticed he didn’t say anything, continuing through the movements with his usual grace. Yu Chen didn’t move, didn’t even really notice, when Li Ming had returned to the first form, instead watching intently as he flowed into the second, and then into the third.
Not an ounce of his attention was spared, until, at first hesitantly, then with a bit more assurance, he began to try to copy the older man. It was difficult, more so than Yu Chen would have assumed from watching, to will his qi to move into the patterns, but he bullishly persisted.
He’d reached the peak of small success in the forms a while ago, and he’d been stuck unable to advance. Now he knew why. He’d had an insight, or perhaps an epiphany, upon seeing Li Ming propel his qi through the forms, and he now realized why the martial art had been called the condensing fist.
Or, more appropriately, Mist Condensing to Iron. Qi flowed like a liquid, or that was the feeling one had when channeling it. Like mist in his body, it was vaporous. His foot slammed into the ground, as he thrust out a fist, and he used the impetus to propel the qi down his arm where it splashed helplessly.
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Yu Chen frowned, but he didn’t stop the forms, a sharp rotation of his hips sending a leg lashing out. Yu Chen breathed, propelling his qi in unison with this attack, repeating it again and again as he went through the various movements of the forms.
Li Ming’s qi did not splash helplessly. Yu Chen’s frown deepened as he considered the problem. Instead, at the very moment of impact, all of that vaporous qi that he had sent rushing down his arm condensed, and his hand struck out with an audible noise that split the air.
It continued in this way for some time, until Li Ming winded things down, and the class came to a halt. Yu Chen stood there for a time as the cultivators around him broke up, some of them leaving the field and others mingling to chat. He was torn between joy and frustration.
No matter how he tried, Yu Chen just couldn’t manage to condense his qi at the point of impact. On the other hand, though, the difficulties he had in propelling his qi through his body had almost vanished. By the end of the daily exercises the movement of qi throughout his body had almost felt natural.
“Very respectable, Yu Chen.” Li Ming said to him, as he finally made his way to the young cultivator.
“You’ve only been a qi condensator for how long? You’ve already managed to break through the small success realm, and you’ve even made a great deal of progression past that. Maybe Elder Gu wasn’t wrong in thinking there was something to you.”
Yu Chen felt his ears warm at the praise and he hurriedly bowed as he thanked the older cultivator.
“Thank you senior. However, I just can’t seem to manage to condense my qi at the moment of impact, in the same way you do.” Yu Chen relied, making his frustrations clear.
Li Ming let out a short laugh. “You shouldn’t expect to, if you can manage that you’ll reach the peak of large success with these martial forms. Practice while sitting and see if you can’t condense your qi into a smaller space. You’ve seen what it should look like, and if you need more examples, spectate the sparring rings.”
Yu Chen nodded slowly, as he turned the thought over in his head. It was true that he didn’t really have an idea of how to condense his qi. In fact, he realized he didn’t really know how to do anything with qi. After all, he’d only had it for two days now and hadn’t even begun to scratch the surface.
“After that, you can focus on integrating it into your movements. It’s one thing to cause your qi to solidify while you are sitting, it’s entirely different when you are moving or fighting.” Li Ming explained, and Yu Chen had to admit the man made a surprisingly good teacher.
“You’re talented to realize it so quickly Yu Chen.” Li Ming said with a smile as he slapped a hand on his shoulder. “I’m afraid there are some sods in this group with a higher cultivation than you who still haven’t understood what the Condensing Fist means.”
Yu Chen thanked him again, and they parted ways. Yu Chen was still thinking about what Li Ming had said as Jin Hua fell into place, walking alongside him. The principle was simple in theory. There were only two ways to improve the impact of a fist. Either you had to speed it up, or you had to put more weight behind it.
The Condensing Fist did just that, increasing the speed of the qi as it moved throughout his body before sharply increasing it in density, culminating into a devastating blow at impact. This was the power of a technique. He’d already realized that the qi diffused throughout his body had given it a general boost, but it was nothing when compared with directed intention.
This also made him think. If diffusing qi throughout his body had increased his general abilities, could flooding it into specific body parts improve them further? It was something to test for later. Or he could simply ask his friend.
“Of course.” Jin Hua said as Yu Chen posed the question to him. “It’s perhaps the most common use of qi. You can flood it into your legs to leap over a chasm for example or fill your arms with it to pull yourself up a mountain or something.”
Jin Hua put his hands behind his head as they walked, frowning in thought.
“In fact, it’s often how rogue cultivators fight. Without a specific technique, many of them simply flood their fists with qi to hit things harder. Well, most cultivators do possess some techniques. They may not be as powerful as our Condensing Fist, but they can utilize qi in all sorts of strange and profound ways.”
Yu Chen nodded his head thoughtfully. It was an eye-opening discussion. He hadn’t realized just what qi meant to cultivators, but he was starting to see a hint of it now. He really needed to go to the manual pavilion and pick out a new technique to practice. Perhaps finding new ways to manipulate his qi would improve his cultivation.
“I wasn’t lying about going to a restaurant,” Jin Hao said suddenly. “And you can leave the sect now. How do you feel about going on a mission and earning some real contribution?”
Yu Chen was startled at the unexpected invitation and shot Jin Hua a look of surprise.
“What sort of mission?” Yu Chen asked, unsure, but the idea of getting out of the sec excited him.
“A couple of us will be going on an expedition into the wilderness surrounding the sect. Looking for signs of spirit beasts, rare herbs, anything of value really.” Jin Hua said in reply.
Yu Chen thought about it, but he already knew he’d agree to go on Jin Hua’s expedition. They shook on it, and Yu Chen promised to meet up with the boy in a couple of days.
Eventually they departed, and Yu Chen watched him leave, before turning and making the long walk to the Manual Pavilion.