"Truly you must be vehatra!" Senior su yan ji mused.
"Accumulating world energy in ones own body is no easy feat. Not to mention most who try it usually have an explosive end with very few ever succeeding, but you a human with no prior experience in cultivating have managed such an accomplishment, truly eye opening!"
Senior su yan ji seemed happy about this however my questions only grew.
"Great elder yan, while I'd love to help you I'm kind of in a situation myself firstly, I don't know how I got here or where here is, not to mention how to leave."
"Child don't be in such a hurry to go, after all this is an opportunity of a lifetime!"
The oppressive force returned and this time Senior was smiling gleefully a sinister look in her eyes that told me I had something she wanted and she would get it no matter what.
"Senior... what are you doing!?"
"Hmph!" She laughed a little "Your prowess, your aptitude, your youth, your body, this senior wants it all!"
The ground shook viciously the ceiling of the small room leaking small trails of sand in different areas.
"Guhhhnnnn!" The pressure was becoming unbearable once again and I was just about ready to give up and be crushed by it.
"Don't worry child your body is a precious gift to me, you should feel honored," the wave around her grew once more the hou strands taking on a dark purple hue.
No.
My situation had turned from bad to worse, just as I'd feared, am I really so naïve that I just can't really can't tell the difference between someone who just wants to use me and those who genuinely want to help?
No. I can't take it anymore...
I'll always end up betrayed and used.
A new feeling grew inside me, something dark and omnious, a feeling which threatened to erase everything I was, replacing it with an unstable blackness.
It taunted me, prodding at my weaknesses till I was just about to break.
But at that moment when it a seemed hopeless, I remembered Jiya's shy smile, her bossy attitude and how one would just highlight the other emphasizing on just how adorable she would be after the fact.
I remembered just how much I loved her.
Something about it just pulled at me tugging at my heartstrings. I still really loved her.
No, it can't end like this, Jiya. I need to know her reason after all. To know why she abandoned me, if she really did at all. I concentrated hard feeling the hou strands in the air and pulling them in towards me. Intending to make a shield with hou If I needed to. But...
"This..."
I tried again, but the same thing happened, a strange warmth flowed into me. It was oppressive but ultimately it felt the same as the feeling I got from sitting by the large rock.
The pressure felt nourishing to the thing inside me which absorbed the purplish hou strands at an alarming rate.
The thing inside me grew, it expanded until turned into a small golden orb, the more i concentrated the clearer it became that this thing, was alive?
I understood well enough to know that this was no physical thing but instead a manifestation of my inner-self. The strangely therapeutic feeling of channeling hou strands to it was strangely intoxicating.
"That feeling you have right now don't forget it, because that is the key to your foundation, the world energy absorption method suited to you and you alone!" Senior su yan ji chuckled.
Without realizing I had adjusted to the pressure and it was no longer uncomfortable.
I could feel the pressure increasing but as I sat I only felt comfort, one so strong and profound that it was like a river flowing into my midsection. The only way to describe the feeling would be... power.
Serene, flowing, crushing, destructive and yet calming power.
The wind stirred about me, the shaking in the room subsiding the warmth from before radiating from my midsection. This was easy, and i felt calmed by it slowly I drifted off into the comfort, gentle warmth and the cradle of the slowly increasing pressure.
****
Hey, you... Yeah you, you don't remember me do you? Mmhm I'm still here I've spent this entire time under senior su yan ji, my master, cultivating the extreme body tempering art, I'm stronger now, faster and so far my body tempering art has reach the 88th level.
Although it's only a minor art master says that my mastery of it far surpassed hers when she used it.
And not only that it took her more than 50 years to cultivate it to such a mastery. Even though it only took me 6 months.
I can see why she wanted to take me as her student.
Such genius only comes about once in several thousand years blessed by the heavens. At least that's what master says and I've really learned a lot under her guidance, The only downside to all this is the bond of fealty since master used her own 'ki' (what she calls the world energy strands) to supplement my own cultivation. The bond between us is a risk since world energy that has been refined into ki is unique to each person and her supplementing my cultivation with it means that I'm somewhat connected to her, something happens to damage my own foundation will undoubtedly affect hers as well.
Her situation is also very complicated , and here's what i know...
She'd been imprisoned for protecting the divide between the many sentient races, this was before humanity was stripped of the ability to cultivate. Humans had grown too powerful and strayed from the correct path, even master agrees on this but she had opted to protect their right's to cultivate even if it only meant a few would be eligible to. but the monarch saw her actions as traitorous and decided to imprison her sealing her spirit in this monolith.
As for her body she never told me more than that so I really don't know. She did tell me that she would be able to leave this prison the moment I had broken through to the ki-gathering realm.
This is very exciting and even though I've been here for so long I'm very eager to leave. Master also says that the problem with my memories is linked to my low cultivation level meaning the more i cultivate the clearer they would become.
I'm really excited to finally be able to remember what my mother's face looked like... at this point its really hard to tell if I've ever had a mother...
Well the bond of fealty will dissolve gradually once I'm able to cultivate on my own.
Master says that I'm ready, and that breaking through to the ki gathering realm is just a step away.
***
Jiya...
Jiya...
Have you missed me like I have missed you?
I shake my head, those types of thoughts are discouraged when cultivating.
Master see's this and smiles.
"Now, for you to break through I wont be able to hold back and as the gains you receive will depend directly on how much world energy you're be able to absorb while enduring the divine retributions, since the divine retributions aren't able to enter here, ill be the one to substitute that."
Master seemed a bit worried for a second but she hides the emotion as soon as it surfaces.
"Lalie you've been my student for all this time but I've never mentioned that you are my first student, failure means death so no matter what don't fail."
By now I was used to the fact that my master was terrible at motivating people, but i knew that her words weren't meant to be taken lightly, also this was the first time she'd called me by my name instead of simply saying child like she always did, probably a testament to how dire the situation was.
The small room trembled and the walls rumbled.
Master had been concentrating visibly and now I know why, without warning the invisible force bore down on me. This was much more than I'm used to even with the body tempering art the intense pain was instantaneous.
It took me a while to realize that I was screaming.
It just hurt so much! It felt like I was being crushed and my skin was being torn off.
Forget absorbing anything, this pain... was too much i could feel my consciousness fading, was I going to fail?