Chapter 20 - A Single Step
As Benton had expected, both his disciples had woken the previous evening in plenty of time to consolidate their cultivation, so as the two ate breakfast, he packed their tents and bedrolls and most of the rest of the supplies from around the camp into his spatial ring.
“It has been said that a journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step,” he told them, “and today, we will all take that step. It is time to begin our search for a suitable location to found our sect. From now until we reach that destination, we will be traveling, much of that time through dangerous territories filled with spirit beasts.
“Our goals during the journey are threefold. One, to avoid serious injury. Keep your eyes open. Pay attention to your surroundings. Follow my instructions. Two, to continue to build your cultivation and prowess with weapons. To accomplish these objectives, I will limit our traveling to four hours per day. You will spend five hours daily cultivating. The rest of our time will be spent practicing weapons and working on the last goal. Which brings us to three, to harvest spirit beast cores. Our new sect will need resources such as cultivation aids and weapons. We will also need to feed, clothe, and house all the sect members we recruit. All these things require money, and spirit beast cores are quite valuable. Additionally, they are directly useful to our sect in a number of ways, from allowing our members to use jade slips to powering body cultivation baths and formations. And finally, hunting and defeating spirit beasts will advance your martial skills.
“Take a few minutes to attend to any personal matters and make sure we haven’t missed anything. We will not be returning to this site.”
Benton used his waterskins to douse the fire before refilling them all at a nearby stream and washing all the dishes. By the time he’d finished, the kids were ready to depart.
“Both of you now have some experience using a technique to direct qi into your muscles to perform a specific function. You’ve seen me move. Today, you’ll start learning how to do that yourself without a technique to guide you.”
Yang Ru, true to his stoic nature, simply acknowledged that he’d been listening. In contrast, Yang Xiu was visibly excited. That made sense. Being exuberant was in her nature, and smooth movement and speed suited her qi aspect.
Benton explained to them how he manipulated his qi in microbursts to add power to his legs and feet, propelling him forward at great speeds, and how he also sent it to his brain. Without that last effort, his mental faculties wouldn’t be able to process his physical senses fast enough for him to adjust to obstacles as he rushed past them.
Then, they were off.
His disciples’ first efforts at using qi to move were predictably bad. Yang Ru ran into a tree as he used too much power pushing off one leg. Yang Xiu face planted as she lost her balance. Neither lasted more than a dozen tries before Benton told them to stop so as not to completely drain their qi and stamina.
“It’s okay,” Benton said. “You’ll have plenty of time to practice.”
After letting their qi recover for a couple of hours while they walked, they tried again to not much better results and then again before they found a flat clearing with a stream nearby to serve as their resting spot for the day.