Mage's Cultivation Journey 45

While Elder Kai was away, I went back to the training room, and explained to the kids what had just happened. They listened, nodded, and made no comment. I had no concerns about Su Mi. She clearly understood my reasoning. Yu Xing, not so much.

I sighed. “Ask questions when you don’t understand something.”

Yu Xing looked at Su Mi, who decided to take pity on him. “I don’t see why you did it, master? If we’re looking for an ally, couldn’t we get someone stronger yet easily manipulated, like Elder Yan?”

It was good to see the Cold War not escalating any further. “Good question. It has a simple answer. Elder Yan is strong, but he believes he’s smarter than he is. That’s a dangerous quality, particularly combined with his obvious entitlement. That’s not the kind of person that you want to ally with, even when you have the power to stand against him.”

“What about Elder Kai?” Yu Xing asked.

“Kai is an interesting figure. He’s an Elder officially, despite being only in Skin Refinement, and most of the lower ranks respect him. However, his relationship is not good with other Elders, or they would have found a way to cure him. His internal problems are serious, but not impossible to cure.”

“Do we trust him?”

“Trust is too big of a word,” I said. “It’s a transaction. He will spar with you and keep an eye on you while you walk around, and in exchange, I’ll heal him at the end of the month. Then, we will disappear.”

“I have only a month —” Yu Xing started, but I stopped him with a flick.

“Don’t be an idiot, kid. You have a month to use the connections created by our ruse to dig around and learn why your Furious Wind school is acting as bandits. But, don’t forget that our current identity is a help, but also a restriction. We just need to bring you to Organ Refinement before we leave, and things will be much easier.”

His eyes widened. “But, we don’t even have the method —”

I threw the manuscript Elder Kai had passed to me. “A payment for a favor they need from me,” I said with a smug smile. “Read it, and get familiar with the method.”

“Do you think we can bring you there in a month?”

“Depending on your proficiency with the meaning behind,” I said, not willing to make any promise. “Reaching Bone Forging is a given, but I can’t say the same to Organ Refinement. It requires much greater control.” Then, I shrugged. “But, don’t worry about it. As long as you reach Bone Forging, you’ll be able to hunt in the mountains easily, and we won’t lack resources to replenish your internal energy. From there, it’s just comprehension.”

He nodded.

“Elder Kai will visit you every day to spar. Try to learn from him, but don’t talk about anything personal. He’s an unusually competent man, and the less we reveal to him, the better,” I said. Then, I turned to Su Mi. “It’s different for you.”

“I’ll be careful not to speak,” she said.

“No,” I replied. “Your task is to avoid practicing in front of him. Your physique is rare, and rare means valuable.”

Yu Xing frowned. “I thought we could trust him.”

“To a degree, and even if you can trust someone, it’s never safe to tempt them with a treasure.” I turned to Su Mi once more. “It’s why we will start practicing in the attic from now on, while Yu Xing and Kai will take over the training room. Understood?”

I received a set of nods, and they left for their tasks. Su Mi gathered her books and started carrying them to the attic, while Yu Xing started reading the newest manual. I followed Su Mi to the attic.

The attic was large and out of sight, but it was fragile, not fitting for ordinary martial arts training, which included a lot of destruction. Su Mi’s training was much calmer, mostly meditating and comprehending the meaning behind the martial arts.

Something she was able to do with accelerating speed.

But, as I looked at her, I found something was different. Her internal energies were more difficult to feel from a distance, even for me, thanks to her surprising competency when it came to basic meditative techniques, but not enough to hide the irregularity I noticed.

“Don’t move,” I said as I touched her shoulder, getting a better view of what was going on. “When did you start breaking through to Muscle Refinement? And, why didn’t you wait for me?”

“Breaking through?” she stammered, looking at me with surprise. “I … I didn’t.”

I looked at her, wondering if she had suddenly become a better liar, but decided it was unlikely. “It must be a side effect of your special body type. Unlike others, your body is not harmed by the transformed internal energy.” I paused. “Did you have a spar or something with Yu Xing when I was upstairs?

“No,” she said, but she blushed.

“You fought,” I guessed. “Enough to make you furious?” She nodded, ashamed.

I waved away her blush. “Don’t worry about it. I’m more interested in the conditions of your meridians.” I paused to examine it once more. “Normally, a martial artists reinforce only some of their meridians, but for you, all of them seemingly opened.”

Her fear was obvious. “Is that a bad thing?”

“Not particularly,” I responded. “For any other martial artist, it would have slowed their breakthrough, but that won’t be the case for you, because your transformed internal energy doesn’t damage your meridians. And, since I can help you metabolize and purify your internal energy as well.”

The realization hit her, followed by a gasp. “I can make breakthroughs quickly.”

”Even faster than you think, because you don’t have to actually learn the necessary moves and identify the target meridians. All you need is to handle the transformation before channeling your internal energy.”

“Is that why you want me to avoid Elder Kai?”

“Exactly. I hadn’t realized it would be that easy for you to break through, but even without that, your physique practically guarantees that you will be able to reach Organ Refinement, and even the Connate realm shouldn’t be a big challenge,” I explained. “Do you still want to push forward as fast as you can?”

She nodded.

“Good. But, I want you to focus on meditating after the breakthrough. Unlike Yu Xing, you can actually hide your Skin Refinement breakthrough.”

“How?” she asked.

“Just change your clothes, and start wearing a veil. Some of the nobles here are doing it. And, it’ll help you to hide your identity better.”

“That will require me being a noble.”

I waved my hand. “Don’t worry. If someone questions, I’ll say that I decided to engage with my son or deflect in some other way. If someone asks you, just tell them that I ordered it.” I was about to explain further, when I felt Elder Kai’s arrival. “Practice your meditation. I want you to be capable of your internal energy when I return.”

I left her in the attic, and greeted Elder Kai, who returned carrying a lot of construction material. Looking outside the compound, I could see many people looking at him, some with pity, others gloating.

He piled the construction materials outside, but carried a small crate inside. When he opened it, I found it filled with books, even more than I expected. “That’s quite a haul,” I said, noting that those books weren’t exclusively on water-based styles.

“I called in a few personal favors,” he explained simply.

“Good. Are you ready for treatment?”

“Right now?” he asked.

“The sooner we start, the sooner we can progress,” I said, and led him to the training room. I passed him a leather strap. “Bite it, you’ll need it. It’ll hurt.”

That earned a determined nod. “I can resist it, Lord Steward.”

“We will see,” I said, and once he took his position, we started the treatment. It was the same process I used to cure Yu Xing, only more painful. Not only had his injuries occurred in multiple spots, but also years had passed, and the scar tissue had settled much deeper.

The worst part was that I couldn’t use any anesthetic, as I needed him to constantly use his internal energy and channel it to the right spot. Something that required perfect awareness from the patient.

But, I had to admit, Kai impressed me with his resilience, resisting the pain for almost an hour. “That’s enough for today,” I called.

“T-today,” he stammered.

“We still need two or three sessions before we cure it,” I said. “For now, take a breath, and once you feel better, start practicing with the young master.”

With that, I turned and left, once again pulling the manuscript on Dark Blade.

I still needed to delve deeper into the secrets of Connate Realm.