Chapter 105: I'll Be Back Soon
I sat cross-legged on the floor of my room with a small wooden stand in front of me supporting the jade slip that contained the Heart's Bridge Method. I'd cleared away everything else, creating a clean space for practice – no distractions, just me and an ancient technique.
"Are you ready?" Azure asked.
I nodded and then reached forward to activate the jade slip.
Information poured into my head like water, carrying with it the accumulated wisdom of whoever had developed this technique. It felt different to any other technique I had learned.
Most cultivation methods were precise, rigid things – do this exactly this way, channel qi through these exact meridians, maintain this specific mental state. The Heart's Bridge was... softer somehow. More like guidelines than absolute rules.
"This is fascinating," Azure commented as we absorbed the information together. "The technique doesn't try to force a connection – it creates a framework and lets the souls find their own way to each other."
I studied the basic principles. The method started with meditation, but not the usual kind where you tried to empty your mind or focus on a single point. Instead, you had to reach a state of... openness? That wasn't quite the right word, but it was close. You needed to be aware of your own soul while simultaneously being receptive to the presence of another.
"It's like..." I searched for the right comparison. "Like trying to hear a very faint sound. If you strain too hard, you'll miss it. But if you relax and just... listen..."
"A good analogy," Azure agreed. "The technique seems to emphasize finding natural points of resonance between souls rather than forcing them to align."