Tucking Alustriea in the ruined sheets Xing Lei waited for slumber to take his lover before he sat up to meditate. Despite sharing some intimate moments with the lovely elf his mana had drained to a dangerous degree. From the mass consumption of the Dragon form to a no less strenuous old life form he was completely tapped out of mystical energy. Focusing on the meditation it was time to begin his true cultivation.
Opening his eyes he watched the retreating moon dipping into the distant horizon but in truth he was looking within mapping the spiritual gates in his body. Unlike a human form, his kobold body was obviously different, even more so with the veins of mana coursing through his limbs making the path spiritual energy would take even more troublesome, if the qi energy flowed along the mana veins the best outcome he could hope for was to be crippled in the art of magic, while not an entire loss considering his goal would be all the easier if he was mana blind, yet he could not risk it. Spells were a decent trump card, plus casually discarding his trump cards was not an action he took.
In his minds eye he could see the original text for his [Crimson Mountain Sect's Breathing Technique], it had taken him from his young days as a weak cultivator into the final steps before the apex. It was a wonderful full range technique that could take one all the way... but had yet to succeed. Others had tried before him, but like they, that final tribulation was too much for even he to handle.
Searching his memories he shook his head, each technique he dredged up was either incomplete or like his old sects technique, had never in its conception raised a mortal to the apex. Wait. There was one... Deep into his subconscious he searched recalling an old tablet he had found in his younger days, it had purported to being the greatest technique but at the time he could not practice it. It brought great suffering to its user. The thing was that the pain would be physical rather than mental, though the former often could be resisted with just the latter, his younger self was already on what he had thought was an ideal path.
Remembering that ancient stone stele Xing Lei focused his thoughts then began the slow arduous exploration of his gates, guiding the vibrant world energy even in this barren waste into his body slowly. The gates slowly opened in a procession that felt more akin to an army of ants crawling beneath his skin, following every path through his body as the marched forward to their destination, his dantian. While there were many routes a cultivator could use to reach the same goal, only the one practiced diligently would accomplish success, and while each life gate slowly opened to accommodate the qi that was taken into his body, it felt like those multitude of ants suddenly nursed into flame and surged forward.
Panting he maintained his focus, blood dripping from the corner of his mouth as one path diverged the wrong way forcing him to suffer a minor set back. His back straightened as the tendrils of energy surged into his body, feeling like a great sea was being swept into a whirlpool then unceremoniously stuffed into his veins. Tossing his head, he refused to cry out. Refused the pain that burned through his nerves. Xing Lei's limp hands curled into tight fists, his claws drawing blood from his palms as he felt that familiar taste of qi burst through his body.
His yellow eyes snapped open as qi surged into his muscles, his head tossed back looking into the lightening sky, a silent cry ripped from his muzzle as the burning sensation scoured his insides. His breath came in deep exhales almost like the great gusts of a bellows but it should not be too surprising, the [Yang Immortals Scripture] was not a low teir technique. When he had found it he had already been long on the sect technique and the risk to his health was too much at that time. Later in life he simply never thought of it again, he was on a path and looking back would see his fall assured... though such a fall happened anyways.
From the get go he would now practice the Yang Immortals path, why he dared to practice such a technique under an obvious source of yin like the moon after expending most of his yang essence in his passionate coupling with Alustriea was all requirements of the Scripture, he needed to other sources of yang in his body so the first cycle had to be done during the night and preferably after the user had expelled his essence... though the stele had suggested taking matters in hand instead of indulging with a woman. Still Alustriea had been here and she deserved his attention, it made the first cycle a little harder but he already expected pain, a little more was of no consequence.
Focusing his thoughts on his dantian he saw a small swirl of energy, in his old world this would be the [Qi Formation], stage one, early accomplishment. Looking around he noted a pair of yellow eyes watching him. Xing Lei smiled helplessly at his worried mate beckoning Osilliaice to join him and Alustriea on the bed, drawing his women close he laid back against the headboard watching the dawn of the new day as a true cultivator. In his old world a stage one formation cultivator could hardly claim that distinction but there was none else to refute him. Inwardly he smiled watching that wisp of initial energy, not even enough to empower his fist with any extra might, but he could feel it nourishing his body and at the same time seemed to give a qualitative improvement to his mana reserves.
Days past slowly in the port town, with the fall of the tyrant life here was starting to return to normal, which also meant the presence of a kobold and Lizardfolk was generating more and more discontent. The palace was slowly pushing into the ocean, thus the folks of the harbor needed something else to get and complain about, though Xing Lei paid it little mind. The harbormaster had said a ship to Tol-Vatal was due any day now bringing their desert stay to a rapid end in the near future.
When the ship had come in it had taken a few days to resupply and gather up the mercs who had flocked for the chance to start fresh in a new land. Xing Lei was quick to secure a more private berth, though he had to pay through the tail for it, still it beat sharing the hold with a dozen others. Xing Lei's cultivation had also been improving with the wait. Looking at the thick swirl of qi rotating in his dantian now he was about stage four already. Uncontested energy made his training all the more fruitful, this would probably change in future so he was taking advantage of being a sole cultivator while he could.
Still, as quiet as life had gotten between him training and accompanying Alustriea and Osilliaice he would not be who he was if he didn't repay the petty people who had come to be disgruntled over his extended stay in their little town. The night before they were to ship out he did the same spell he had for Alustriea. The poor elf had spent the night in a separate room listening to her friend and lover consummate their relationship as two Lizardfolk could only do. If she had believed they could be loud before, that night showed the pair had not put any limits into what they were doing.
When she was checking out the next morn she had to cover her face, apparently in the throes of last nights passion the two Lizardfolk had busted down two walls, a floor, shattered the bar when they fell on it through said floor, another floor, a keg of the inns best wine and much of the basement storage area while also keeping everyone in the area awake with their roars. When they met up on the docks both kobold and lizardess looked rather proud that they had trashed the inn. Alustriea just wanted to bury herself having had to have seen the wreckage of the inn in passing. Though she was rather glad she had thought to put down a [Silence Sphere] before they had gotten too into it.
Xing Lei shrugged helplessly and chuckled, "They wanted to drive us out, so we gave them good reason instead of being petty little people."
Alustriea almost threw herself off the boat when the captain stopped the trio at the gang plank and made, in no uncertain terms, that a repeat of the inn would not be happening aboard his ship. Osilliaice had laughed it off as Xing Lei assured the man it wouldn't. He was not in the habit of destroying the area for any old reason... at which point his mate had laughed hard and muttered quite loudly rather than quietly, "Since when?"
This lead to Xing Lei paying even more for the berth, which didn't bother him all that much, but Alustriea was tugging her head wrap so tight around her crimson face she nearly fell off the gang plank into the ocean below, she absolutely refused to associate with the shameless duo until several hours after they had gotten underway... mostly to ask if boat travel was always like this? As she stuck her head out a port hole and lost what surely couldn't have been morning feast as she had lost that half an hour ago already...
Xing Lei had rubbed her back, some people just couldn't handle ship travel. In his old life it had been a friend of his, they had travelled all over his homeland together but whenever that poor bastard stepped on a boat, ferry or skiff the unlucky guy had lost half his weight over the side. Which was all the sadder due to him being the average fatty. Old Chu Han had loved food, always claimed his ball shaped body just made it harder for people to hit his vitals. Course after any sea voyage he'd have lost so much weight he could hardly be called a fatty, though his tendency to have Lei pay all the way gave it away while he rebuilt his stature.
Shaking off the memory he resumed massaging Alustriea infusing his hand with a bit of qi to combat the rising unease in her body. As she heaved through the little window, Osilliaice took over as Xing Lei sat in the middle of the cramped room, pulling a few herbs from his ring. The ports market had proved rather robust, having a little bit of everything from all over their continent as well as a few specials from Tol-Vatal. Staring at the plants a bit, it made the decision to seek out the jungle all the more right as his hand turned over, a small flame erupting on his palm as he started refining a few herbs.
Osilliaice diverted her attention between the two, concerned for her friend but also intrigued by what Xing Lei was doing, she'd seen the flame before but its color was far more vibrant this time and her mate didn't seem to struggle to maintain it as the herbs were added from one hand to the other. What struck her as most unusual was how the herbs weren't burning. Some turned to a powder in that flame but it was more like the plant had come apart rather than burned to ash. Yet other plants seemed to actually melt becoming a fine liquid that swirled in the fire. She had never seen anything like it, but the smell that washed over her reminded her of when the shamans concocted potions, was her mate now a shaman too?