He decided to comply with her request and slowly wrapped himself in his Qi. Once he was completely wrapped he lifted himself with his Qi and started to go up.
He had assumed he would stop at around 20 cm, or maybe a little more since he broke through a bit. However, he started floating continuously without stopping. The speed at which he was rising was very slow, but he was rising nonetheless.
When he got to about a meter high, Ma Rong told him to stop. He landed on the ground.
"So you can do it." Ma Rong was in disbelief once more. 'How is a Bone Tempering realm cultivator able to carry so much weight with his Qi?' she questioned.
She looked at Alex, who was looking at her expectantly for an answer. She sighed and asked," Do you know how cultivators normally fly without artifacts?"
Alex thought for a second, and said, "Isn't it by wrapping themselves with their Qi?"
"Yes, but what I'm asking is, do you know why that works for the cultivators? But doesn't work much for you?" she asked.
Alex simply shook his head. Ma Rong answered, "You see, our Qi increases in quantity when we break through. It keeps getting thicker and thicker as we keep on breaking through the realms. At some point, it gets so thick that we can physically pick objects off using it like a rope or a stick."
"The thicker they get, the heavier the object they can carry. Imagine Qi as balloons. Once the balloons have more air in them, they become able to carry objects. The more air there is, the heavier the objects they carry."
"What do you think would happen if I tie a balloon light enough to carry 50 kilograms of weight, on a 50 kg rock?" she asked.
" It will carry the rock?" he said.
"No. The balloon will stay stationary. Since the balloon is tied to a 50kg rock, it is now effectively able to carry 0 weight, so it doesn't fly away. Now, what if I were to break off a small piece of the rock, what would happen?"
"The rock will now start to fly." He answered confidently.
"Yes, but between the balloon carrying the rock, and another balloon of the same capability carrying a 25 kg weight, which do you think would rise faster?" she asked.
"The one with the less weighing rock." He answered.
"Yes, Exactly. Qi is similar. When you were not in the Bone Tempering realm, your Qi was thick enough to only carry your weight. But once you broke through, it is now able to slowly lift you higher. Since you couldn't change the weight of the rock, you made the balloon even lighter."
"So, you are able to float up every so slightly. Once you are at a higher realm, your Qi will get thicker, and you will be able to fly faster." She explained.
Alex felt like he learned something important today. 'So, I can fly once my Qi is able to carry more weight, huh?' he thought.
But then he thought of something, " But master, I was able to carry monsters up easily when I was at the 1st realm of Bone Tempering. My Qi shouldn't have been so thick at the time."
Ma Rong chuckled a little, " That is simple. Take the balloon and the rock for example again. Since they have 0 weight effectively, any outside influence from you is able to lift them up easily."
"But when you are tied to the balloon, that doesn't work. You can't push the balloon to carry you higher, since the balloon and you are one entity. You were probably hovering above the ground at all because you lifted your feet in anticipation of flying."
Alex seemed to have understood a bit. 'There is a lot more science involved in this than I previously knew' he thought.
Ma Rong then said, "I know you may be excited to fly soon, so you might try to break through a lot but don't. You need to stay a bit in each cultivation base to understand the intricacies of it. If you keep on breaking through without stabilizing your cultivation, your foundation will be bad for the future, and you will be sure to end up in Qi deviation and might lose your entire cultivation as well as your life. "
Alex was a little surprised. 'Stabilizing my cultivation? I haven't heard that before. Is leveling up too fast really that bad,' he wondered. Still, the threat of death was enough for him to accept it.
'Alright, come with me," Ma Rong said as she walked down the peak. In less than a few minutes, they reached a large, but simple-looking house.
A step below the house were other several houses with their own courtyard. "Choose any of the houses. Since you are my disciple you will be staying here for now. Starting tomorrow, every morning I will teach you about alchemy. You will take what you learn and use it to try out alchemy. While you are my student, you are still an outer sect disciple. Quickly make pills to become an inner sect disciple."
"Also, there is an alchemy room in each of these houses, so you won't have to go to the alchemy hall to practice alchemy. However, I suggest you don't do any alchemy today and finish other business. It's better if you wait until I teach you some basics tomorrow morning."
"Now go and take a rest. You nearly died today, and are still full of blood and dirt. Go clean yourself."
Alex nodded and said his farewell as he left for the left-most house below the sect leader's house. Once he entered, he looked at the massive interior of the house, with its own backyard and a pond.
This had been a long night and day now. He looked at the time and realized it was nearly 10 am. He had unintentionally missed his breakfast today. He sighed and walked into a random room, and then logged out.