Zhao Fan looked at his teacher with eager eyes. An opportunity to learn more about the cultivation world was rare for him, so he wanted to utilize it to the fullest.
"How did that sect disciple use wind with his qi? And is it related to how you also used some form of metallic qi right?" Zhao Fan was eager to learn more about those amazing powers. If he could shoot wind blades or make metallic walls to defend himself he could greatly boost his strength before the competition.
"Elemental qi can be created by having an extraordinary amount of understanding about a particular element. This understanding of laws helps you engrave it into your qi giving it the attributes of the element. For example, my steel qi can form into a strong wall" Hearing this, Zhao Fan grew worried and only had one question.
"How can I achieve a large understanding of an element?" Naturally, sect disciples and young masters had access to better resources and teachers which meant that it was probably really difficult for him to grasp an element before the competition.
"Well, there are multiple ways such as studying properties of elements and using precious stones or expensive teachers to help one's comprehension but these can only help to a certain extent. To comprehend does not mean to learn, one has to achieve a mindset perfectly fitting the element."
"That's still really confusing, how exactly am I supposed to do that?"
"Think back to how you started cultivating, what was the first step you did?"
"Uh, I developed my inner sight which allowed me to sense my dantian and then I started absorbing qi with it."
"Yes, but how did you develop your inner sight?"
"I had to spend a few hours per day trying to enter a meditative state"
"It took you so long to be able to look inside of your body for the first time but with your current cultivation, how long does it take you now?"
"It doesn't take any time, I could do it instinctually after I reached the first level of Qi Gathering"
"Your soul is used to see inside your body and after each breakthrough it progressively gets stronger which is why it is so easy now compared to before. The process is the opposite for sensing elements. You have to adjust your mind and sense outside of your body, keep in mind that having a compatible mindset with the element will allow you to sense it much easier. Once you have done that and can sense the element you want, you can try interacting with it in order to comprehend it further. You will know you are getting close to comprehension when your soul starts mimicking the element and releasing it, one easy way of telling is that your eye color will change. The last step after that is to grasp control of the element and imbue it into your qi at which point your soul will experience a breakthrough" Remembering every single word, Zhao Fan was about to bow in thanks but his teacher extended his palm signaling him to stop.
"Wait here" Master Li walked off into the classroom connected to the courtyard and returned a few moments later. In his hand was a book with a dark red cover. He patted off the dust before extending it to Zhao Fan.
"Don't disappoint me at the competition" Zhao Fan's eyes glossed over the book's title and he deeply bowed. This time his teacher didn't stop him. Seeing his teacher silent, Zhao Fan decided to take his leave.
He came back to his house and spent some time with his father before finally setting his eyes on the book. It's cover was a dark solid red with two bold white words at the top, 'Elemental Laws'. It was a fairly short book, but nevertheless, its contents were like gold to Zhao Fan. The book outlined all the common types of elements and their characteristics as well as the process of comprehension his teacher described but it was mentioned with more detail.
"This book mentions that each element picked is an extremely important decision because of how much time it takes. It looks like at Qi Gathering I should only try to cultivate one element, hmm darkness, fire, and thunder sound pretty cool and powerful" Zhao Fan read descriptions of various elements and focused on some which sounded interesting or cool.
"I excel in close combat so elements which amplify my offense seem like a good choice, but that still leaves a lot of elements like fire, thunder, metal, earth and others. There are some opponents which I can't get close to and defense is something which I definitely need. This further narrows it down to a few elements namely, water and earth. Both are a good option but I really like the amount of versatility water offers." Having decided, Zhao Fan tried to replicate what his teacher told him. He read about the brief description of the characteristics of water and tried to adjust his mind accordingly.
"Smooth and everflowing, chaotic and turbulent, these two are clearly two opposites, how am I supposed to make myself feel like this? I think it's better to not waste time on such a gamble and go hunting instead" If he spent all the time he had left trying to comprehend water then he wouldn't be able to improve his cultivation at all. His plan was to continue battling and hunting beasts in order to improve himself.
The competition would start in roughly a month and a half as two weeks had already gone by. Not wasting any more time, Zhao Fan put on his gear and was about to head out when he heard a knock on the door.
"Liu Zhong? What's up, wait, how did you know where I live?" Zhao Fan stood in the doorway looking at a familiar youth clothed in black. His eyes squinted as he realized that the latter had faint fluctuations emitting out of his body which signified that he broke through recently.
"Brother Fan, my family was overjoyed that I had returned alive and they wanted me to deliver something to you" Zhao Fan took the bag from Liu Zhong's outstretched hands. From the aura emanating from the bag, he could tell that it was a bag of spirit stones and its weight left him shocked. This guy's family is really rich!
"By the way, some of the powerful classmates in our school are planning on going hunting together, do you want to join?" Hearing this, Zhao Fan felt confused.
"Hunting together? If they are going to compete against each other, why would the top students hunt together?"
"Ha, you haven't heard? For some reason, a lot of other beast packs are flying into rage and attacking cities all over our Immortal Flame Empire! The Empire has sent out missions for sects to help out and so a lot of sect members are stationed in cities."
"Go on" Zhao Fan was eager to know more.
"Well, a few other neighboring cities also have sects stationed there so the Sun clan in our city has spared no effort into negotiating a joint Academy competition."
"Wait, why didn't they just do that before?" To Zhao Fan it seemed like if the joint competition was such a good idea, the cities would have thought of it before.
"Because of the sects! Seeing opportunities to get recognition, every high level sect whose juniors usually don't study in the Academy are going to join! Since the opportunity is that big, the cities don't mind sharing the loss in making the new venue and the operation costs"
"Do you know how strong the young masters are?"
"My family is only considered somewhat high in this city and I am the strongest among all the juniors in my family, the truly top-tier families probably all have young masters at the 9th level of Qi Gathering!"
Liu Zhong paused for a second, his lips curling up into a smile upon seeing Zhao Fan slack-jawed.
"Sooo, do you want to join?"
"Of course I do! When and where are we meeting?"
"At the west gate in two hours."
"Thanks, I'll be there" Zhao Fan bid farewell and closed the door. It took him a little bit to process the new information.
Knowing that Rank 9 cultivators would undoubtedly appear in the competition, his growth would have to be exponential in order to catch up in the short time he had left.
He chatted with his father and told him the news before sitting down in his small room and placing the bag of spirit stones before himself thinking of the best ways to rapidly increase his power.