Clench the right fist.
Slowly punch forward fully to stretch the arm.
Hold it like that for a bit, then bring it back.
Take one step forward to repeat the same action only this time with the other fist.
That has become a morning routine for me.
Step forward, punch, pull the arm back, step forward only to punch forward again.
As I do the motion, I consider myself heavy, like a boulder, heavy like a mountain.
With slow and steady movements I repeat the action with the intent that my fist would break boulders.
Continue doing it until the body objects to my intention. Then continue even when it hurts.
Those were the basic stances of the Heavy Fist, a beginners combat art developed for young children to attain stillness and power in motion.
The Heavy Fist belonged to Earth-based combat arts and it was the last of the 3 basic combat arts that I have learned.
To learn from this art you had to ingrain the motions into your body with slow, steady, and precise movements to achieve the best possible results.
It was a very simple Fighting Art, just like the other two.
Which was The Fluid Fist made in the image of water and The Power Fist made in the image of fire.
One dealt with the movement of the whole body as if it were a flowing river and the other, well the name said it all. It was about expanding as much power as possible in very short bursts.
All three of them I had learned a few days after I arrived here at Gao Junjie's residence.
In what was considered a backyard, but frankly was a training yard, I completed my first basic routine of the morning.
Well, maybe not that much of a routine, as I had recovered the health of this body and spent too much time enjoying it lately.
With Tao Fang's intervention yesterday, I recognized I had been overdoing it.
Yet, my defense stands that I had every right to explore my newfound hobby until I got sick of it, or gave up on it.
Still, her intervention did bring forth other things I should consider.
For one, even if my body is on the levels a normal thirteen-year-old girl should have, there is no reason to stop there. After all, a child's body is very flexible and prone to accepting and adapting to the stress it's being exposed to.
With Life Essence I could fix most problems that normally appear and even accelerate the process.
Stopping all my motions I felt the strain in my back, arms, and legs as they had to be bent at the right angle to do the stance.
It was similar to the horse stance I saw in a lot of martial arts movies.
Relaxing for a few moments I prepare for The Fluid Fist. The name sounds stupid but at its core, that's what it was, and that's how it is named.
With this fist, there was no rigid anything, and fluid as the water was everything.
Slowly flexing my already aching muscles I start stretching and bending as I throw out fists, one after another.
Sometimes, I move forward, sometimes to the side, and sometimes to the back as I articulate my intent like a calm river that curves and bends on its way towards the lakes and seas.
One would think that practicing slowly like this is counterproductive to my body's development but after exhausting my body with The Heavy Fist, it's almost refreshing doing this one.
Not to mention my weak body early on in the start, I had no choice but to do it slowly.
As I learned these three arts, I realized their true purpose, for myself especially.
With my current capability to learn, thanks to Life Essence, it was easy to remember the motions and replicate them. After all, there is a reason they were called the basic stances.
As I started practicing I noticed how they shaped my Intent and how that Intent shaped my actions.
As I imagined my fists being heavy before I struck out, I ingrained that intent into my subconscious. After the Intent was completed the physical action was what followed.
That Intent and action shape my unconscious thoughts of the fist and their purpose. As my body develops that intent, it would stay in the subconscious, and later on, it would influence all the other advanced stuff that would be added to it.
With a normal human body that has no access to Powers of any kind, all that intent would do is solidify those actions into muscle memory.
But for those that have Powers and for those like me that have a Power that is based around Intent and only Intent, aside from the muscle memory, the Intent would amplify any of my actions to a very high degree.
That Intent will be most reflected in my phantom.
It has no mass by itself and neither does it have any power, but when I punch with its huge arm, the stronger and the more detailed my Intent is, the more said action will be imprinted onto Reality.
All this practice makes me remember one of my favorite characters, Netero, and his days spent in the wild tempering himself and his Intent, until that Intent was imprinted into his very being.
Only I don't have the innate character that he had, for me to do something as crazy as him.
On the other hand, I do have a Power that stems from the same field but is much stronger as Auril is an upgrade to Life Essence, in some sense.
Yet, the true reason is that, unlike Netero, I won't specialize so heavily in physical enhancement, and why should I? If Auril and Life Essence are Intent, why should I limit myself to pure physical prowess and forgo the magical side of things, like throwing fireballs, for example?
No, even if my original hinted at our unique innate character and its fascination with smacking people, I want to do magical stuff, like throwing fireballs and stuff.
' There is a reason why I chose fucking magicians in games most of the time, but I am going off track with my thoughts, back to practice. '
With wavy and bendy motions I finish The Fluid Fist and immediately transition into The Power Fist.
This one is much simpler. Imagine throwing all my energy at the next action and envisioning how it should travel to execute it.
With this art, I forgo the slow motion of the body and explosively throw out a punch. Then stop, center my thoughts, shape my Intent again, and throw out another fast punch.
Throw in the regular kick, side kick, low sweep, and high sweep with the legs for power, as the strongest muscles are in the legs of a human.
Anything that has to do with combat has to involve kicks otherwise one is losing a major attribute point.
It is for that reason I never watched boxing in my past life.
Aside from being far more boring and less flashy than the others, I simply hated the fact that something so vital to a human body was being underutilized.
Once again, my body is objecting to the torment I am putting it through, but compared to the start where I had regularly knocked myself out, it had learned its lesson.
' I am the controller. It does what I want it to and not the other way around. '
Done with the whole routine, I open my eyes.
Before this routine was engraved into my body and before I could envision all the motions of the body and not lose my balance, I had constantly been under constraints of my much-needed control.
Now I could take one glance at my environment and traverse it without a problem with my eyes closed if it's nothing too complicated. Otherwise, it would take a few more glances to imprint the memory in enough detail for me to parse and use as an internal compass.
With my eyes open and my chest constantly expanding, I looked to the side and saw my instructor, Gao Junjie.
He was currently enjoying tea on a small balcony attached to the backside of his house.
It had a lovely view out onto the two surrounding mountains, surrounding this small unofficially called Sect of Jade.
It was nearing the end of the year so it was getting colder but he still wore simple clothing, like it was summer.
' I wonder what his true resistances are as a body cultivator. '
With a thought, my phantom made its invisible appearance.
With a thought, my body took a stance from the Heavy Fist.
My phantom grew just about enough that its right hand would reach Gao Junjie.
I shaped my Intent as best as I could right now, raising my right hand and my phantom reflected that motion.
With my Intent shaped to be as heavy as a boulder, overlaid with an Intent of explosive fall, I chopped my right hand down and the phantom reflected that.
The chopping motion was executed and within seconds it arrived over his head. I hoped it would hit him, but I knew otherwise. It would do nothing to him, and he delivered that statement as he halted my chop with his forefinger above his head.
It lingered like that for a few seconds before I withdrew my phantom and made my way to him.
" Is it any better? " I ask him. He was the best measurement I currently had in testing the amount of strength that attack exhibited.
" In between the middle and upper tier of Qi Gatherers in pure impact strength. So, no change from the last test. " He replied.
" I see. " I said as I sat down beside him.
Taking up a cup of warm tea for myself I extrapolated his response. ' As a pure support Ability, without any definitive improvements upon it and without any offensive ability to amplify my intent, I should be able to smack around peak Qi Gatherers like flies once I grow up in a few years. Maybe even sooner? '
' I could probably fight Foundations at that moment, without a problem. That means that my plan still stays the same, continue improving myself first then the phantom, and then make other Abilities? '
Seeing me nod to myself, Gao Junjie initiated the conversation. " Have you decided to stop wasting time with your "vacation" as you call it? "
" Hey, it wasn't a waste of time. " I chided at the accusation.
I did more than just pleasure myself. During those enjoyable moments, I mapped out the events in the body as they happened and improved where improvement was needed and it even gave me a few ideas about the future. " It was something that was very much needed. "
" I spoke with Elder He, maybe it was so in the beginning, but I don't think it should have needed so much time? " He showed me a slightly displeased face.
" Elder He is Elder He, no matter his knowledge of healing, this takes time. " I said in my defense but made no mention that I did overdo it somewhat. " Anyway, from now on I will continue the practice, don't worry. "
Shaking his head for a second, he said nothing about my response but he did make a statement. " Now that your body is relatively healthy, I think it's time that we advanced your training. "
" Advance? How? " I ask him.
So far he has been quite amenable to me. While he did push me, it wasn't anything over the top.
It had continued like that for some time and as it continued, deep inside my mind I started to feel this strange feeling.
It had taken me some time to decipher what that feeling was.
The conclusion was, that the closer my body was to reaching healthiness, the tighter the noose around my neck got.
It was as if I was preparing the hanging rope for myself as I did all this only to hang myself with it. So, on a good day, I sent Tao Fang out into the unofficial sect to ask around for me.
The results that came back with her were not as I expected. Gao Junjie was quite respected by the senior generations, the junior generations on the other hand feared him as if he was a nightmare.
Hearing the dichotomy of the news, again I sent out Tao Fang for more details.
The results that came told me that he was not as involved as I had imagined at first. Yes, he does mainly focus on the Externals but usually, it's more of an advisory role.
Currently, he is more like somebody in retirement searching for some entertainment, and when he does, it's mostly for a few youngsters that are either problematic or require somebody with more insight.
The Internals, on the other hand, are far more fearful of him. From what I was told and from the impression I heard, he is more like a scarecrow that stands in the fields to be visible to the people.
A scarecrow that gives off an impression of a certain flavor. Like, if you don't train properly you will have to endure pain as he fixes your faults.
' Still, all rumors and stories have to have that grain of truth inside themselves, and it looks like I will soon find out how big this grain is. '
" You will know soon enough. " He replied to me.
" How soon? " I ask in curiosity.
" If it interests you that much, it will be after the end of the year and the tournament that usually happens. " He stated. " I think it will be a good opportunity for you to observe how the fights happen. "
' Hmm, I have a suspicion of where this is going, but let's leave it at that. '
" Fine, let me ask you something else. " Seeing his agreement, I ask. " I have two questions, no wait, three questions. "
" Here is the first. How common is it for somebody to invent a new Mantra? " I ask.
" From scratch? It's not that common at all. It's far more likely for one to modify a Mantra and it's still far more likely to find one or steal one from somebody. " He explained. " Why do you ask? Are you trying to make one? "
" Maybe? " I replied. " I just found out that I am responsible for giving Tao Fang a cultivation method and the needed resources. When I probed her roots, she had 5 colors. Anyway, let me ask the next question. There should be a library here that contains some Mantras or stuff related to them. Would I be able to go and read them? "
" Yes, there is, and yes, you can go visit it. " Replied Gao Junjie. " I still suggest that you ask your uncle first, though. "
" Understood, I will pay him a visit today. " I agreed with his opinion. " Here is the last one. Has my father mentioned anything about the Heavenly Jade Mantra regarding me? "
" If you're asking about the complete Mantra, then yes, he did. " Replied Gao Junjie. " He said you should talk to your uncle about it. "
Raising an eyebrow at how everything lined up today for me to pay him a visit, I nod. " Alright. "
Downing the rest of the bitter tea, the warm flavor water that is getting on my nerves as I had been drinking it way too much as I came to this World.
' I frankly miss the carbonated drinks, the fruity juices, and the various snacks that could be eaten with them. '
Sighing in my mind I stand up and go back to practicing.
…
At noon, after a quick heated bath by Tao Fang, with some thicker clothes on I made my way outside this residence.
Tao Fang was with me, as in truth I had not yet left this residence, and this would be my first time.
People probably expect reincarnated people to explore the new environment they found themselves in at the first opportune moment, but I had been far too busy for that.
With Tao Fang having more experience here, I let her lead even though it's not that hard to find the correct route. Observing a bit here and there we soon come across a group of children.
There were about 20 of them with their instructor in front of them. They were steaming as they came across us.
From their clothing and the circle emblem on their chest, it was easy to see they belonged to the Externals.
I inspected them for a bit as they passed. The Externals that get sent here are mostly from the Heavenly Jade Association and those that can afford it if selected.
On the other hand, there are children from the second-grade Clans in the Empire, as the Five Great Clans would never send anybody here.
It would be far too shameful if such a thing happened. If they did it, it would be as if they admitted that the Yu's here are better than them, and therefore it would count as losing face or reputation, as often those are the same.
There are 8 official second-ranked Clans and all of them are under one of the four clans controlling the cardinal directions of the Empire.
The Song and Ming Clans are in the south and are affiliated with the Xie Clan.
The Bai and Han Clans are in the north and are affiliated with the Dong Clan.
The Song and Tong Clans are in the east and are affiliated with the Chun Clan
The Gu and Leng Clans are in the west and are affiliated with the Qiu Clan.
Of course, there are other Cultivator clans and they are usually affiliated with sects, but the most curious thing is there is no sect that can even compare to the Five Great Clans, and if one does indeed pose such a possibility, they usually encounter some kind of conflict which brings their power levels down.
I know this peculiarity because I had asked why this place had not been declared a sect already.
The answer was quite simple when the Yu Mercenary Affiliation was created, a loophole was exploited but even if it was mended soon after, its existence was already there and if they tried to erase it, they would be attacked economically by the Yu Clan.
Right now, if they declared themselves a sect, they would lose the protection they are enforcing on this place by bribes and such things, as there is no such thing for sects.
There was probably more political stuff involved, lots and lots more. But there was a reason I never entered politics in my last life.
If I had I would have probably caused a bloodbath in some way. ' Too many fucking nuances exist in a democratic government. '
My inner musings aside, we soon reached the administration building.
Once inside I made my way to my new uncle's office. Those that saw me never stopped me and just made the way for me if we did happen to coincide.
Once I was at the office I knocked. " Fang, stay here. " I said and entered. " Uncle, can I have a moment of your time? "
Seeing me, he nodded and I entered. " What is it? " He asked, totally ignoring the fact that we hadn't even seen each other for the few months I had been here.
' Then again, he probably has at least a century on his belt. What are a few months to people like him? '
" Well, I will get to the point then. " Taking a second to find the correct words without sounding like an asshole for a second, I find none. " I want to examine the Heavenly Jade Mantra, and I want access to the Library that contains Mantras and similar stuff. "
Immediately I could see that he didn't expect such bluntness from me. Still, he did reply after a few seconds. " Library access is easy, but the family Mantra is a different case. Why ask me? "
" Simple, I had asked father for it, and he only said he would consider it. So today when I asked Gao Junjie if my father had mentioned anything, he only delegated me to you. " I explained.
" Hmm. " I imagined his mind made as he thought about my request. " Why do you want it? From what I heard, you can't cultivate it? "
" It's not that I can't, it's more like I won't. " I said. " The complete version of the Mantra will probably be the best Mantra I will be able to examine, as everything else is probably much weaker. Aside from that, I want to see how it works, and what makes it tick, and I want to implement some of it, if possible, into my own Power. So that when I have to fight I will be able to represent the clan. "
" I see. " Was all he said as his fingers tapped on the desk in thought. " Can you make an Oath with your Power? "
" Oath? " Ugh, the worst-case scenario, appeared. " I could, but I won't. " I stated.
" Why not? I did when I was taught the Mantra, as did my brother and everybody else who is practicing it, no matter if it's the complete or partial version. " Stated my uncle, with quite a big revelation delivered.
" Ugh, I did not expect that. All of you? " He nodded. " What kind and how? "
" It's simple, you state your name, your intention, and make an Oath on the Heavens that if you breach said Oath that the Heavens will send down their punishment in the form of Thunder. " Explained, uncle.
" And people are struck down with lightning if they break said, Oath? " I ask in curiosity.
" Yes. It's usually done only when it's important or one's life is in jeopardy. Otherwise, there are contracts between people that could be used. "
" Hmm, yea I don't think it will be worth it for me to do that, right now. " I declared resolutely. His eyes did open slightly more as he heard me. " On the other hand, there must be something you can tell me about it? Right? "
" Depends, while you stated your reason, I have this feeling that you weren't quite forthright with me. Why exactly do you want to know more about it? " He asked me.
I guess I can say this part. " I said no lie before. I truly am interested in it, but if I had to define one of the reasons. Well, I am interested in the root adaptability of the Mantra. "
Leaving it to ring out in his head for a second, I continue. " The only reason I am asking about it right now is that it has come to my attention that I am responsible for my servant's cultivation and she has five colors in her roots. The reason I want access to the Library is to study Mantras and see if there is something that I could find that fits her there, and on the off chance that there is nothing I want to study as many Mantras as possible and see how they tick so that I can create one for my servant. "
" Oh. " Perplexed at my intent, he asked a question. " What makes you think that you will be able to do such a thing? "
" Right now? Nothing. " I said as I stared directly into his eyes. " Though, I don't know if I can or can't until I try it. That being the case, what can you tell me that will not interfere with your Oath in regards to the root adaptability? "
Again he tapped his fingers on the desk. I left him to his thoughts as he considered my request. Moments later he waved for me to get closer.
" There are many reasons as to why our Mantra has such an ability. " He explained. " The first reason is that the Mantra can not manifest if one does not have roots that belong to its type, in this case being the Jade variant. So the creator of the Mantra implemented such a function to lessen the load on those that practice it. Otherwise, those that want to achieve it would need to spend the same time and gain the same enlightenment that the creator of the Mantra had. "
That was par the course, if it's already invented why bother reinventing it all the time.
" Here comes the second reason. Just because the creator wants to implement such a function, without a suitable method it won't happen. To fix that one problem usually requires some kind of treasure that initiates the change. " Seeing me tilt my head at the word treasure, with a wave of his hand something appeared in it.
" There are many treasures that could be used for such root changes, but the most common is one the one that is condensed by the Mantra that those of higher cultivation practice. Here take this and tell me what you think. " He said and pushed the treasure to me.
Hearing that, I take the hand-sized bright green jade block into my hands. It was quite heavy for something so small.
Observing its physical quality I saw nothing special, so when I switched to probing it with my Will, a very different picture appeared.
It was still a block, but that block was filled with Intent. It was an obvious answer as to what kind of intent it was, I was holding a block of Jade in my hand, after all.
Yet, as I delved into that Intent and tried to discern what it contained that I reached an answer.
Again it was somewhat obvious.
In my past life as I had read a lot of cultivation stories, aside from the Jade Beauties with which women were compared, lots of other jade stuff had appeared.
So once upon a time, I had looked up how jade was made.
Jade is formed between two tectonic plates, during the subduction of one of the plates. As the tectonic plate goes down, it brings with it the needed material.
That material plus water, heat, and pressure generated Jade in a delicate process.
With earthquakes, Jade cracks, and more layers are then added until it then becomes a mine, and sometime in the future, somebody mines the stuff.
' If I remember correctly the more iron it has the greener the Jade becomes alongside its toughness and beauty. Hmm, I wonder? '
" Say uncle, can I try something with this? There is a probability you may lose it, though? " With a slightly pleading look in my eyes, I saw him hesitate.
It wasn't hard to find the reason. This block on Jade was materialized by Qi and it probably took quite a lot of effort to make it.
Even if one considers the fact that Qi is much easier to materialize in a solid form than Mana and much harder than Life Essence.
Eventually, he did agree, probably curious as to what I would do with it.
Nodding to him, I called forth my phantom in visible form. Maybe he heard about it from Gao Junjie or maybe not, but he was quite surprised to see it.
Seconds after it appeared I had one of its fingers touch this block of Jade and with my Will, I tried to suck out the Intent integral to this block of Jade without drawing on the Qi that sustained it.
It resisted my pull at first, and even when I increased the pressure of my Will, it rarely bulged.
Narrowing my eyes as I felt the resistance, I unintentionally spoke my mind in a villainous voice. " Hmph, not even the Heavens will save you from me. Get over here. "
With a thought, the Black Hole Energy Generator Ability which was in the center of the chest of the phantom appeared.
Sometimes I curse at myself for giving it such a lame name as I could not switch it without destroying it.
It started to rotate faster and its inner layers turned on one after another. In seconds the last 4th layer reached peak capacity and spewed out a ton of Mana and Life Essence into the phantom.
It did not have a direct impact on the phantom and its abilities but what it did was raise its existential prowess, which is the best explanation I could arrive at.
If I had to simplify it, the best guess is that it made the imprint of the phantom more solid or something. Anyway, with it in that state, I had a lot more weight behind the pull backing me up.
With my Will and I could immediately see a difference.
The Jade Intent in the block of Jade started to separate from the physical state it had been contained in and it got sucked into my Ability.
Little by little it lost ground as the Qi couldn't keep it and a funny thing became apparent, at least to me.
It started to disintegrate from one end.
Seeing that I deployed another hand of the phantom, I used it to suck up the Qi that was losing the Intent that was binding it to that block of Jade.
Again a funny thing happened, it wasn't Qi that my phantom sucked in, it was Mana.
Noticing that fact, I just shrugged my shoulders and focused on the Intent again.
Bit by bit, the Jade block vanished and the Jade Intent started to agglomerate into a tiny ball inside my phantom's hand until the process was finally complete, and the ball of Jade Intent formed.
Once it was inside the phantom, I decided to try and test another one of my plans.
This time I supplied the Life Essence inside the phantom to the Intent with the intention for it to grow, and grow it did.
No longer bound by the Reality aspect that was Mana, I could grow the Jade Intent however much I wanted, providing I had the Life Essence needed, of which I had plenty of.
Within seconds, the Jade Intent followed my Will and fused with the phantom hand it had been in and voila, my phantom gained a Jade Fist.
With the weight of that Jade Intent, I probably multiplied the power of the phantom by many degrees.
Yet that was not where I wanted this to go, after all this was only a test.
With my Will, I had the Jade Intent retreat from the hand and it returned to its ball form, only much bigger.
With another thought, I shifted the gears of the generators back to the standard of one and had the phantom vanish.
" Although I can't study the Mantra, this should do it for me. Thank you, Uncle. " I said with gratitude in my voice but when I saw his face, all I saw was a twitch of his right eyebrow.
Seeing that I had done something he never expected I would do, even when I had asked for his permission, I considered my options for a second. " Sooo, do I need to bring some kind of letter of approval from you to enter the Library or can I just waltz in? "
As if my question brought him to Reality, he rubbed his temple with his left hand. " Months of work, gone just like that. I guess this is my hubris for agreeing on it. " He sighed.
Then went on to inform me of what I needed to know. " No, there is no need for that. There is only one little girl with green eyes here, they will recognize you easily. Just say that you have my approval and it will be fine." For a second he stopped only to say his thoughts. " I am not sure what you expect to find but it probably won't be as you expect it. So be warned. Now be gone and don't visit me for the next while. "
Having gotten the most that I could I made my way outside.
Finding Tao Fang was easy as she hadn't moved a single step and we made our way to our second destination.