Chapter 42: Another Stage
“I feel strange,” said Sen.
He stood opposite of Master Feng in the courtyard. Yet, Sen was looking down at his own hand as he opened it and closed it, over and over. He’d felt strange ever since he’d come out of the cultivation room. While Sen assumed he spent a few hours locked in the struggle to contain and compress his qi, he’d been stunned to discover that he’d spent three days in that room. His mind still reeled at the idea. It had been one thing when stood watch over Falling Leaf for days. Most of his time was spent waiting while the ghost panther healed, with only occasional bursts of brutal activity in her defense. The time in the cultivation room, though, had been a relentless, all-consuming struggle. He didn’t know how he’d done it, or how anyone could do it. The problem was that he knew Uncle Kho and Aunty Caihong wouldn’t lie to him about something that important. He tried to talk with Uncle Kho about how different he felt. The old cultivator had gently but resolutely told him that he needed to talk to Master Feng first.
“Don’t misunderstand, Sen. I do want to talk to you about the changes you're going through. It’s just inappropriate right now. This is a very important moment in your cultivation journey. It’s Ming’s place to guide you through it, not mine. Once you talk to him, once we both talk to him, I’ll be happy to discuss the entire matter with you.”
“Where is he? I haven’t seen him in weeks?”
“He was troubled by your experience with the spirit beasts. Troubled enough that he went to speak with someone who knows more about them.”
Sen gave Uncle Kho a startled look, which made the man laugh.
“What?” Asked Sen, not sure if he should feel a little offended or not.
“At some point, every disciple gets that disbelieving look on their face. All of us think that our masters are all-knowing. The first time we discover that idea simply isn’t true, it shocks us. Even cultivators as old as Ming and I can’t know everything about everything.
“Some of it is simple aptitude. Ming is adequate enough with formations. He’s been using them for long enough that simple repetition has beaten the basic principles into his head. Yet, he has no natural inclination for them. I excel at them. In a pinch, I could probably put together a healing salve or a basic potion. That’s only true because I’ve watched Caihong do it a few thousand times and had a lot of long conversations with her. If you want something truly powerful, though, you talk to her. She’s a true master of alchemy and healing.”
Sen thought about that for a moment. “What does Master Feng excel at?”
“I’d have thought you would have put that together by now. Combat. Ming’s calling, his specialty, is combat. He knows more about it than literally anyone I’ve ever met. It’s why I’m so grateful that his restraint is as well-developed as his jian skills, most days. There are a few of us old monsters around who can match his raw power, but none who can match the sheer depth of his experience and skill. Although, he’s a very accomplished blacksmith as well.”
“He is?”
“Indeed. He made that spear I gave you. He probably made the jian he gave you. You’ll have to ask him to find out for sure.”
“He never mentioned it,” said Sen.
“I’m not surprised since we don’t have a forge here. Forges are loud, hot, dirty things.”
Sen nodded in understanding. Uncle Kho’s home had always been a clean, tranquil place. A forge would have disrupted that.
“How do I figure out my aptitudes?”
“Experience in the world will eventually push you in a direction. It happens for every wandering cultivator at some point. For now, we’re just laying some groundwork. Giving you a bit of training in a lot of things that you’ll find useful. Once you figure it out, we can give you some more guidance. Speaking of guidance, I’ve sent word to Ming about your breakthrough. He’ll return soon. That man can move very, very fast when he chooses to do so.”
Uncle Kho’s prophecy turned out to be accurate. Master Feng arrived the next day looking travel-stained but also excited. While Sen had been more than eager to get some answers, he let good manners guide his steps. Master Feng cleaned up and they all had a meal together. Master Feng and Ma Caihong had either patched up their differences or resumed a polite fiction that they had done so. Whatever way they had gone, it at least allowed the four of them to share a meal in relative peace, a fact for which Sen was very grateful. He had made his own decision about Ma Caihong. The rift between the two gave him pause whenever he thought about it. Neither would intentionally put him in the middle of a personal conflict. At least, Sen didn’t think they would, but the possibility still haunted the dark, quiet corners of his mind. After the meal, though, Sen and Master Feng retreated to the courtyard where Sen made his proclamation that he felt strange.
Master Feng nodded, clearly undisturbed by the news. “Yes, it’s to be expected with these kinds of dual breakthroughs.”
“Dual breakthroughs?”
“It happens, occasionally. Most of the time, you either break through with your spiritual cultivation or with your body cultivation. You feel a little odd afterward, especially when you break through between major stages of cultivation. That feeling of oddness doesn’t usually linger for too long when you only break through in one kind of cultivation. Your mind doesn’t want to feel strange. Neither does your body. They want to feel balanced. So, after a day or two, they start to adapt. From what I understand about dual breakthroughs, though, that sense that something is off does linger for a while. There are simply too many changes inside you. The good news is that it will pass. It might take a week or two, but you will find your balance again.”
Sen nodded, relieved to know that he would eventually be free from the feeling that he was a stranger in his own skin. Finally able to set that concern aside, he moved on to what was probably the more important question.
“Uncle Kho said that this is an important moment in my cultivation journey. Why is that?”
“Ahhh, yes. You didn’t just break through. You broke through from the first major stage into the second major stage in both your cultivation paths. Honestly, I’m both shocked and relieved that you didn’t face a tribulation. Maybe the heavens were distracted by something else that day, but you should feel blessed that they overlooked you. You might have survived the tribulation, but it would have been a close thing if you did.”
Sen shivered at that thought. The idea of divine lightning crashing down on him from the heavens was the kind of thing that made him lose sleep sometimes.
“I will consider myself blessed.”
“Of course, now that you’re out of the first stages, I’ll answer an old question of yours. The first stage of spirit cultivation is generally called the qi condensation stage. Granted, I have heard other names for it, the divine initiation stage, the mortal cultivation realm, but qi condensation is the most accurate name. Do you need an explanation as to why?”
Sen shook his head. Looking back on it, he was pretty clear on why it was called that. It was also pretty clear that, had he been given the name, it would have changed nothing. “I’m not sure why you withheld the name, though.”
Master Feng smiled. “Because I didn’t want you focused on condensing qi to the exclusion of learning to use it. The kinds of techniques you figured out aren’t taught to sect members in the qi condensation stage. They don’t even start learning to use them until they break into the second stage like you have. You are literally years ahead in that respect.”
“I see,” said Sen, his mind whirling. “And the first stage of body cultivation?”
Feng shrugged. “It’s called the earthly transformation stage.”
The name rang a bell. Sen searched his memory.
“Uncle Kho said something about that the first day we were here.”
“I’m surprised you remember that. A lot has happened since then.”
“So, what now?”
“Honestly, you’ll continue on much as you did before with some minor variations. You broke through, so I assume you formed a liquid qi drop in your dantian. Yes?”
“I did, master.”
“Now, in addition to gathering and cycling qi, you make more liquid qi.”
Sen remembered the terrible strain of trying to form that first drop. He went to open his mouth but saw that Master Feng was already shaking his head.
“Master?”
“Forming that first drop is almost impossibly difficult. Making more will prove profoundly easier. You’ll still have to compress your qi, but that droplet gives you a foundation to work from. As you make more, you’ll break through the smaller levels of the second stage. That liquid qi is much more powerful than the qi you have been using. You’ll see its effects in the power of your techniques. A word of caution, test that new power slowly and preferably outside these walls. Between your new stage and your killing intent, you shouldn’t have to stick so close to the house. You can probably scare off anything that’s too big or dangerous.”
The ember an old wish roared back to burning life. “Can I go visit Grandmother Lu?”
Master Feng considered that with a deep frown for what felt like an eternity to Sen.
“I won’t forbid it, but I’d caution you against going now.”
“Can I ask why, master?”
“It’s nothing sinister. There are just things I’d like you to learn before you leave this place. I fear that, if you go and visit your grandmother, you won’t return. Unless I miss my guess, the lure of the wider world will prove too much for you to resist.”
Sen opened his mouth to object, but the words wouldn’t come. Master Feng was right. Sen would go with every intention of coming back, but he knew he wouldn’t. At least, he wouldn’t right away.
Now that you’re out of qi condensation and avoided the worst of the traps, I’ll tell you some things we’ve been keeping from you. You’ve entered into what is generally called the foundation building stage. Right now, you’re what they call an early-stage foundation builder…”
Sen listened with rapt attention as he suddenly had words and phrases to go with things he’d had to feel his way through before. He learned that as people progressed through a stage, they were called early, mid, late, and peak. He heard tantalizing phrases like core formation and nascent soul. The discussion took hours as Sen asked question after question, reveling in the feeling that he finally, finally, knew what was going on. He had truly entered another stage of his cultivation journey.
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