After the lecture of elder Cao Wang Xiu, the small group of the newly acquainted friends gathered together at the refectory again. They all talked about the effect of the Heavenly Root spirit pill and other new developments since they last met. The times after lectures were the only times they had to gather together. Only Ju Feng was living in the second section of the boys' dormitory. Lin Cheung was staying in the third section, while Da Xia was staying in the girls' dormitory.
"The pill was amazing! My whole body was vibrating in colours. You know what, Feng, I could sense the formation of the light pillar in my dantian the whole time. And when I opened my eyes, guess what, one pillar Zhuji. Amazing right?"
Lin Da Xia asked in an impressive tone, with an even more expressive blue eyes.
"Yes, it was."
Ju Feng replied with a nod. Ah, he thought as much. The Zhuji level. The root of immortality. The stage where true cultivation began. He knew beforehand others would advance to the Zhuji stage while he was still at the Ningchi stage, but it was still disheartening. If not for the pill, he would still be at the Chi refining stage despite the effort he was putting into cultivation. He was beginning to see why his mother and grandparents were specific and concerned when putting him on Timeless Soul technique.
Even with all the energy crystalline from their cave his grandparents took used, they were still at the copper stage of the core formation. Only his mother had been truly fortunate to be at the golden core formation stage as a demigod. His slow advancement could be a problem in the nearest future, Ju Feng thought.
"Feng, it truly was incredible. Like I told you before, the Last Sages sect is the place to be. What a wonderful feeling it was."
Lin Cheung agreed with his sister before turning to Ju Feng who also nodded in agreement.
"Truly wonderful."
"So, I've made my decision regarding the competition. I will be participating."
Lin Da Xia uttered as she rested her hands on the table, and leaned closer.
"Me too. We are becoming inner core disciples, one way or the other."
Lin Cheung added with a broad smile.
"You two are really serious about it."
"Yep. What about you, Feng?"
Lin Cheung asked expectantly.
"Don't know yet. We'll see."
"Take your time, friend. We got a lot of that."
"And Feng, elder Cao Wan Xiu looked at you and said 'interesting' this morning, what happened?"
Lin Da Xia asked concernedly.
"Don't know."
Ju Feng answered absent-mindedly. His thoughts drifted to his soul still being at the Ningchi stage. What if the elder had seen him lacking behind in his advancement and found him wanting. The sect could decide he wasn't worth teaching. A situation he never wanted to be.
"Probably 'cause of his advancement. Ler's leave that alone. All the elders always have things to say anyway."
They continued talking about the general events while eating. After finishing with their meal, they bade their farewell as they went their seperate ways.
Ju Feng made his way to the library where he spent his time reading about the Dao of the universe. His grandfather had told him to source for all the knowledge he could get about the ways of the universe. In its secrets hid the true Dao, and only through it could a soul be enlightened.
As he read about the patterns of creation, he realized he knew nothing about the Dao of the universe. The more he read about it, the more confused he became. It was a true profound mystery. How could he truly understand something so grand? He read for a bit longer, then left for the path of lightning's study hall.
Elder Ju Long adjusted the sleeves of his robes as he cleared his throat.
"Like the grand elder already told you, this is your introductory sessions. I will be welcoming you to the path of lightning, as I'm doing now. But after today, it will be the savant of lightning teaching you. After a month of familiarizing with the whole thing, you'll join the rest of the lightning disciples. In the meantime, pay attention with open hearts. Are you with me?"
"Yes, sir."
Satisfied with the response, elder Ju Long continued.
"Arts of weapons. Like every beautiful aspect of the universe, the arts of weapons are also beautiful. Through the arts of weapons, many weapons masters have glimpsed the secrets of the universe, giving them enlightenment and insight. They had eventually become mighty weapons masters."
He clasped his arms behind his body, and slowly paced up and down.
"Simple weapons arts can contain profound mysteries. They can look simple, but are actually complex. And they can look complex, but really simple. Like the beauty of weapons' arts, lightning is the true beauty of nature. Mortal eyes are mesmerized by their dazzling beauty, while immortals are energized by them. And when you combined weapons arts with lightning displays, you have weapons lightnings. Weapons lightnings are like a poetry. It lifts the veil from the hidden beauty of the universe."
He continued teaching them for the next one hour before calling it a day.
After the lectures, Ju Feng was still sitting on his bamboo mat, lost in thoughts, when he heard an arguement coming from his right hand side. Turning towards the sources of the squabble, he saw it was the other two new lightning disciples. Yuan Chun Hua and Fu Yingjie.
Yuan Chun Hua was stomping out of the hall when she noticed the on-looking Ju Feng.
"What' you looking at?"
Ju Feng took a glance behind himself, but couldn't find anyone else. The girl was talking to him? He looked at the irate girl again in slight confusion and asked.
"Me?"
"Argh!"
Ju Feng slowly moved back as the furious Yuan Chun Hua stormed out of the hall with traces of lightning dancing around her robe. Ah, the power of the pillars of Zhuji. He didn't want to get caught in whatever was going on between the two, especially with an irate Zhuji girl involved. It was only a few weeks since he arrived, so, he didn't want any incident to affect him. If he could help it.
"Sorry about that, Feng. See you tomorrow at the training centre."
"Yea, tomorrow."
Ju Feng departed from Fu Yingjie, and headed towards his room. He entered, and locked the door before taking out some crunchy turtle meat, and started reading the Dao of the universe. He was ocassionaly writing down on his parchment as he was reading. An hour later, he put down the manuscript and put the parchment back into the spatial sac.
He removed his robe, and started practicing the Shifting Heavens hand technique. He didn't need to worry about disturbing or causing any damage to the room since he hadn't been practicing withChi for a long time now. He only used his body strength to train. He continued to train for few hours before sitting down in a lotus position.
With the issue of the Ningchi stage on his mind, he brought out the remaining two tiny glass crystalline he was given as his by his grandfather. He had to get to the Zhuji stage and hoped the crystals would help in a way. He had seen their effects when he was sensing and gathering chi. Although all the three stages of Chi sensing, gathering and condensing were the easist in cultivation little difficulties, the Chi condensing level was harder than the other two.
Putting one blue crystalline in his mouth, Ju Feng closed his eyes and began to cultivate using the Timeless-Soul technique. He freed his mind, and quickly immersed himself in cultivation. Lost in astral trance, Ju Feng felt himself out of his body. He was watching his body from a different pair of eyes to his.
At the distance from where he was sitting, was a massive white gate which appeared closer, yet was far away. After a moment had passed and he felt himself back inside his body, Ju Feng slowly opened his eyes. He quietly moved over to where his bamboo bed was and lay down, closing his eyes in sleep.