Fatherly Asura

But why then, did the Twelve Divine Beasts bring themselves so low?

To guess at the mind of such unfathomable creatures inspires only madness.

The True Demonic Horde posed no more threat to their territories than we base Humans. The Primordial Qi was pristine, and unmolested by our touch, bowing only to the command of Heaven and all that is natural within its scope.

Why then, did they deny those above, and grant an ancient few the right to syphon their power?

I will tell you, disciples, that you might waste your lives no more than this lonely Immortal has.

It was pity.

- Introductory quotation from a lecture by the Daoist Scholar Empty Peak, True Saint Realm instructor of the Clear Sky Empire’s Archive House.

Fu was certain that his form matched the diagrams within Luo’s tome. Yet still his Qi did not reach the stage of agitation that Mei had highlighted. Empty handed, or bare fisted, he swept his hands slowly.

The terms within are more complicated, I must focus. Master Luo would not have left this to me if it was not suited.

He ran through the motions of his arms, releasing a small curse. He then ran through the minute graduations of movement as he had done for the last hour or two since waking.

It felt counter-intuitive to move at the pace of a snail, yet despite the speed his limbs ached at a frequency that he had scarcely come across in his life.

From the first step forward that swept loose granules of stone further towards the cliff’s edge, to the separation of his two arms, snaking tightly in opposing directions as if drawing back a bow. Each extension there, and that followed into subsequent movements, was an agony unto itself.

“You forget your footwork once more,” called Mei, quite content in her nearby seat, motionless and quite relieved of pain.

Again Fu cursed, resetting his position. The second set of movements in the [Stifling Stream Revolutions] included a sharp draw of momentum, in which he would duck low while… “This shift of footwork,” he asked.

“Attracting into emptiness,” confirmed Mei.

Again.

“It is unnatural to expect a man of my age to bend this way.” Fu demonstrated the motion, flawlessly performing the first set of glacially slow blows with his hands and arms.

Only to fail as he twisted, ducked, and promptly landed on his rear end as his leg drew up for a kick that saw the sole of his foot try to match the height of his head.

“My [Dantian], there is only a small jolt of movement in the first set, can we not focus instead on this?”

Mei shook her head. “An [Art] is an attributed technique that forces your [Inner Qi] to behave in such a way that a specific effect is reached. Were you training to learn one of these, either bestowed or learned through a manual, you might stop as you please. This treasure of a tome you most fatefully stumbled upon is something different. A cultivation guide with dual purpose, as though it was placed before you to teach you both how to defend yourself, and how to continuously draw and cycle Qi while doing so. If it were simply an [Art] you could take incremental steps towards understanding. To do so with a cultivation guide is potentially harmful.”

“How then-” Fu began, halfway through the treacherous ducking as he spoke. “-hrngh. How then do the Azure Shoal Sect’s disciples progress at all? The brilliance of youth is not wasted on me, but are all steps not incremental? If that word means what I believe it to.”

“Few disciples would ever lay their eyes on a cultivation guide, let alone one of this quality. Remember that I was less than an outer disciple, privy only to what I could hear and the tomes my mother allowed me to study. My understanding is far less than you believe, although far above your own. Sect cultivators are taught in classes, in lectures or in training, and those who are significant enough may even be personal disciples of an Elder, receiving an education that far surpasses those below them. Yet this is affinity led, and done through techniques appropriate for the stage of cultivation. Loose cultivators are few in Thousand Shore City, yet I believe that they all begin with the same format. Intrinsically.”

Fu walked over to her rock, drenched in sweat. A salty tang present in every gasped breath. He stood to the side of Mei, glancing over her shoulder at the open cultivation manual as she flicked through an assortment of texts back to the diagrams he should be performing. “I do not know that word.”

“Knowledge of how to cultivate comes from your Bond. Hushi’s natural method of Qi accumulation and circulation will be appropriate for you to progress through your first set of [Meridians], though it is unrefined, and untested by those who have come before. Hence, the benefit of Sect education,” she explained.

At her side, Fu mimed the actions he was to take again, only stopping before he slapped Mei with the sole of his foot.

She has read me precious little of the pages within here, and fewer yet I can recall. What was the term? [Spirituality]? Before Hushi and I bonded he was already cultivating his Qi, else he would not be a Spirit Beast. I shall ask him for help.

Fu impressed his need for the octopus to surface through their link, and he did so, dropping to hang around his neck.

“Hushi, I would appreciate your help.” Taking up his position near the cliff’s edge, the movements began again. Fu passed the first set of blows with ease, and further slowed during his rotational duck. A dangle of teal arms spread around his body, with Hushi coiling each around his waist, his legs and his arms.

Light, as though the [Spirit Beast] was made of Air himself.

At the peak of the kick, Hushi constricted, marionetting Fu’s movements in order to steady him. A sequence of ebbing and flowing limbs entangled him, and a pressure between them constantly corrected to deliver the skyward kick perfectly.

“Continue!” urged Mei, and he did.

The second set of motions were almost ingrained into the back of Fu’s eyes, and his foot snapped down into a stomp, granting him the momentum to follow on with another set of movements.

With snaking hands did he carve through the air, an inverse of the preceding actions driven on with an alternative leading foot. The kick came again, and Hushi’s arms held true in their corrections, granting him leave to flow towards the final set.

[Air Qi] suddenly whirled around his [Dantian], excited and swift. The gaseous energy wound itself into a shape inside him, evoking an image of corded rope. It spiralled upwards, aligning the Qi and compressing it with each step of the movements he had taken.

Upon taking the first step forward of his third and final set, his [Ink] thrummed with a fresh influx, adding to the shape’s density and punching it up through his [Channels].

Assaulted with weariness, Fu thanked the Heavens for Hushi. His limbs felt leaden and his joints felt torn, yet with the octopus’ help, he battled forwards. This set differed from the last, leading with a series of snapping kicks, and overlapping punches that the Qi showed to react to, no matter how slow he performed them.

Culminating in the final blow, a final repetition of the kick that troubled him so. Fu wheezed out in pain, overcome by both the inordinate toll it took on his physical body, and the vortex of [Inner Qi] that scraped his [Channels] raw.

At the final plant of his foot, he crashed to his knees. The [Stifling Stream Revolutions] were complete, yet only externally. Within, the Qi rampaged, driving this spiral construct towards the nearest blockage of sand at the edge of his next [Meridian] and drilling deep through all but the final defences before it.

“What…” he gasped. “What is the danger… of… improper use… if this is the feeling of success?”

Beyond his periphery, Mei started walking over. Soon helping him to his feet. “With respect Fu, we should save our breath for now. The Heavens may smile on your success, yet we have stood here exposed for too long. I would not further test our… fortune.”

Knowing her thoughts to be wise, Fu suppressed the urge for further questions. Choosing instead to save both his curiosity, and the fresh heat surrounding his [Ink], for a time when he could not feel the hungry eyes of many a [Spirit Beast] upon them.

🀧

A set of two revelations distracted Fu some time later. A time some few hours after they had returned to, and left, their cave once more. Prideful eyes trailed across the ethereal parchment of his [Ink], though only his own, Mei it seemed, could not glance upon it.