Ki began to explain. "The imperial beasts 8 forms are 8 separate martial arts styles which are used in the military protecting our borders and practiced by nobles. It is the most common martial art but also the unique because it is one which is mostly inspired by animals so has different uses. There are tiger, snake, eagle, preying mantis, leopard, crane, panther and wild boar. An example of the leopard is that it is especially deceptive, you need to be able to trick others with your movements before striking, it's especially good for hitting someone off guard and then running away so you do not get caught. Eagle techniques would also require you to focus on claw techniques, snake techniques require you to use palm strikes and restrain your enemies movements. Of course I am only teaching you a set of 8 forms from one of those beast forms so that you can unleash the power of your body completely while also strengthening it over time. Later I will come up with a better set of martial arts."
The 8 martial forms were mainly incomplete martial arts which were used by nobles and the military because once mastered the martial artists realm would of only reach 2nd rank martial artist, if they persisted with it most of their life then they may be lucky enough to reach a higher rank but that was when a very rare person who had the expertise to master and add changes to it after adapting the forms to suit their body.
Most people would rather find or buy a more completed martial art to study rather than to persist with an incomplete one considering it was only a basic 8 form art.
"So which one will you be teaching me?" Leon looked very excited.
"Judging from your build I think that the tiger 8 forms would suit you best. Although it is more aggressive of a martial art but I think it would be best because it focuses on building up your finger, arm and whole body strength. So long as you can persist with it you will begin to show great progress over time. Do you think you can do it?" Ki thought. 'It is too aggressive of a martial art that does not fit with his personality but that may also be a good thing. It's good to be able to restrain ones strength and then use it when it is needed.'
"Tiger? Those big scary cats?" Leon looked at his sister wide eyed. "I want to!"
"Fine let me show you." Ki began to demonstrate the each stage of the forms one after the other, every time she sent out an aggressive strike her voice would let out a loud. "hoo!"
"I will continue to teach you the first two parts of this for now until you have adapted and then I will teach you another two. Each time you make progress I will get you a sweet so keep it a secret from mom." Ki began to add further temptations towards her little brother.
Half an hour was spent on teaching her brother the two forms of the eight tiger forms, when he did something incorrect she helped him correct his body posture and even demonstrated one form then followed by the next and how they seamlessly flowed together to let the body explode with power.
She even slowed down her movements to let her brother grasp the movements until she could let him practice on his own.
Ki began to familiarise herself with her body once more practicing her own 8 fist forms and began noticing the subtle differences in the way she used her body between using the tiger form and the fist form.
It was a subtle difference between their nature, one was aggressive and focussed on attacking while the other was more balanced between attack and defence.
Her previous life she mainly focussed on martial arts which were deadly and risky in nature so she ended up with more wounds on her body and kept gaining more.
Practicing the basics and teaching her brother let her gain a sense of understanding of herself and martial arts in a way she could not see before.
Maybe one day with enough practice and inspiration she could make a martial art which suits her best.
"However since I have been teaching the beast forms I remembered that the snake form mainly focussed on palm strikes and restraining the enemies movements, not only that but I can slowly increase my bodies flexibility." Ki made a decision. "I need to familiarise myself with using both the 8 palm forms and the snake 8 forms so that I can learn what I need from both of them before deciding what to do next."
After practicing until exhaustion Ki sat beneath the tree in the same position as before and began using both the Generation Qi Art and Extreme Noxious Qi Art.
Energy and vitality from the tree began to slowly replenish the missing energy and began to further solidify her foundation.
Ki however began to encounter a problem that came from the Extreme Noxious Qi Art. 'Although this art does help me change my Qi to the nature of wood I need to gradually let poison enter my body in order to slowly build up immunity and gradually change the nature of my Qi to a poisonous nature. As the name describes, noxious would mean that any sort of thing which could be harmful whether it be poison or animal venoms. Using too much of one medicine could also eventually be considered as harmful to the body just as poisons can be used as a way to fight other poisons. So until I think of a solution to myself not possessing a body with poison immunity I must pick my poisons carefully and slowly work on my poisonous Qi without harming or killing myself. I also do not wish to expose the Qi art to the poison clan as it would be suspicious if I used it in front of them so I will have to rename it and use a different type of poison with a different colour and nature.'
The poison clans Qi appeared purple, green or black mainly while some others had varying colours, effects and potency depending on their chosen poison and their individual mastery of the Qi arts foundation and what was built upon it.
Poison masters come in different categories because there are those who are or aren't born with immunity to poison and can or cannot practice martial arts.
There are those who specialise in making poisons and antidotes so release the poisons into the air while consuming the antidote because while they cannot practice martial arts they can release poisons while providing a way for themselves to survive with the antidote.
There are also those who can practice martial arts who soak their weapons or hidden weapons in poison and wear protective gloves to keep themselves from being poisoned and finally there are those like the poison clan who absorb the poison into their body and slowly change the nature of their Qi with their own Qi art.
If someone practiced this technique with a body immune to poisons their practice speed would be a lot faster than others while those without the immunity would slowly have to adapt to the poison in their body and Qi, some may live a shortened lifespan but Ki was well aware of all of this and even had many plans to help overcome this flaw she possessed.
For now Ki needed something which would not cause too many problems with her body during the initial stage due to consuming or inhaling small amounts to gradually increase her bodies resistance and build a foundation upon.
'Indeed everything seems to start from where I first came back to and the inheritance. It's almost as if it is guiding me forward.' Ki shook her head with a depressed sigh. 'Sometime later in history people may even refer to me as the mulberry tree fanatic. However it isn't a bad idea to gain inspiration from nature, trees match well with wood based martial arts so I may be able to gain inspiration for my own martial arts by spending more time practicing here.'
'According to my detection around the tree when using the Extreme Noxious Art I can subtly sense an attractive source of energy which would be compatible with the art but harmful to my body in some way.' Ki's eyes lit up in delight. 'According to the inheritance they had noticed two things to look out for that could cause harm to someone's health if consumed or breathed in often. If I remember correctly the milky white sap on parts of the leaves and tree can cause skin irritation when touched and an upset stomach when eaten and there is also the pollen which can cause sneezing, difficulty breathing or even irritation and tearing up of the eyes. I believe these effects should be what I need during a fight most and so long as I can disrupt my enemies rhythm or concentration I can land a fatal attack.'
Ki began to search for parts of the tree that contained the white sap and collected a few small pieces.
She calmed herself down before swallowing a small amount of the white sap and began to use both of her Qi Arts to begin tempering her Qi with the poison until there were no longer any lingering traces elsewhere in her body.
During the hour of time spent gradually adjusting to the bodies overall irritation and rejection of the foreign substance in her body she gradually got used to the skin irritation and the stomach pain until it eventually went away after being used to completely temper her Qi.
Although there wasn't much of a change to her Qi right now she could tell that a small tiny part within the wood Qi had started to contain tiny specks of white.
Nodding her head Ki began to continue once more but this time attracting the pollen from the tree into her body with her every breathe, when her body had reached her limitation just like when she had consumed the milky sap she stopped attracting the pollen into her body and continued to temper her Qi until all of the pollen traces were cleared from her body.
Ki began to feel a little less energetic after going through the different experiences of irritation and pain but still let out a small laugh. "After all that exercise and building up my poison resistance and tempering my Qi I barely have enough energy to run around."
Seeing her brother lying down on the grass panting heavily while his eyes were partly closed, Ki smiled and began to praise him. "Well done, if you can keep this up then I will be proud of you little brother. Now would be the best time to eat some food to make up for the lost energy. If you want to practice after dinner try not to do too much so you don't hurt yourself."
"I know sister." Leon opened his eyes and got up to stand but his legs were a little unstable.
Ki quickly caught him and helped him towards the mansion followed by several growling sounds coming from both of their stomachs.