After marvelling at the book for a few moments, Michael was suddenly filled with hope and expectation of the future strength this Cultivation Technique would grant him.
'I still wish it had a cooler name though' he thought internally.
"Okay master, start by sensing the Qi around us and bring it into your body"
Nodding, Michael withdrew his minds eye and began to feel the flow of Qi in the room. He noticed that the Qi was denser and easier to identify compared to the last time he tried at home. 'Maybe Grandpa Yin is helping me out' he thought.
Shaking his head and smiling fondly, he quickly removed the idle thoughts from his brain and continued. Within 20 minutes he began to feel the same breeze brushing against his skin, like his previous experience.
The Qi began to enter his body from his pores and funnelled into his meridians en masse.
"Master, stop absorbing the Qi and begin to control it through all of your meridians" Archie was shocked by how quickly Michael was absorbing the Qi in his surroundings and quickly barked at his master.
Michael quickly closed off his pores and once again entered his body with his minds eye. He could see the mist-like Qi dancing around in his meridians, unlike last time his meridians weren't showing any signs of stress.
A look of realisation appeared on his face as he watched on "So you're only meant to absorb this much".
'What kind of idiot have I contracted with' Archie complained in his heart. He looked over to Michael who was now staring at him with narrowed eyes, he panicked slightly before letting out a cough.
"Now move the Qi along the channels described in your Cultivation Technique" he added.
Frowning slightly at the odd actions of Archie, Michael did as he was told and began to move the Qi he absorbed along the pathways outlined in the Qi Technique book.
Having some experience from his first attempt, he adeptly moved the Qi first along his wrist, up to his elbow and past his shoulder towards the heart. Unlike last time, he then channelled it to the other arm and created a cycle.
After reaching the opposite wrist and making its way back to the heart, he sent it back to his right arm. Upon passing the heart however, the once slow-moving Qi began to increase in speed. It became a little harder to control, yet not too hard.
Archie stared in bewilderment as the Qi which was originally moving at the pace of an elderly gentleman with a replacement hip, was now getting substantially faster.
Michael moved the Qi back to his left arm through the same path and completed another full cycle, feeling no changes he began to complete a third cycle. Once again after passing the heart, the Qi sped up once more.
"Umm Master, I think you should aim for your Dantian soon" he said nervously. The once painfully slow Qi was condensing and becoming something of an out-of-control horse within the meridians.
The speeding Qi was starting to affect the newly healed meridians in his right arm. They bent and flexed with the passing of the Qi which made Michael feel a little uncomfortable.
Michael had a look of concentration on his face as he willed the Qi toward his opposite arm to complete the cycle. Once it reached his left shoulder, he felt a fiery pain as the Qi made its way through the yet to be reinforced meridians.
"F***" he exclaimed and gritted his teeth.
Archie was gripping his fists in nervousness as he watched the meridians barely manage to contain the errant Qi.
Michael finally managed to control the Qi to make its way back to his heart with the intention of sending this charging bull directly toward his Dantian.
The Qi made a sharp turn as he accurately sent it towards his Dantian. Michael looked ahead to his Dantian that was still dry, he anticipated the Qi to fill up the empty grounds like a violent storm raining down on a desert.
Unfortunately, his expectations did not match up to reality as the speeding Qi was reflected by what seemed to be a force field and began travelling at the same speed toward his heart.
"…!" Both Michael and Archie were flabbergasted at the sudden turn of events.
Panicking at his sudden predicament, Michael saw the Qi speeding toward his heart and lamented at the possibility of getting killed by his own Qi.
"Complete another cycle!" Archie bellowed
"Shit!" Michael gritted his teeth and willed the almost out of control Qi to pass by his heart and back into his right arm.
Like the previous cycles, once the Qi passed the heart, it sped up with great ferocity. Like a wild beast running at full speed, the Qi made its way into the reinforced meridians of his right arm and began rampaging.
Luckily the meridians were malleable and had managed to off-set some of the impact by contracting and retracting at the appropriate times. However, it still put tremendous strain on the newly refined meridians.
Once the Qi made its return trip towards the heart, Michael tried to will the Qi directly to the Dantian like before. Unfortunately, the Qi with a mind of its own began to move toward his left shoulder to complete a full cycle.
His eyes widened in fright as he looked at the small and pitiful meridians in his left arm and anticipated the pain that would be coming his way.
Archie winced and yelled out "Grit your teeth and bear it!".
"F***!!!" Michael screamed internally as the Qi barrelled through his meridians like a scorned wife who found her man cheating. The sound of flesh being torn could be heard with every second.
He almost fainted from the sudden sharp and burning sensation coming from his left arm. Gritting his teeth with tremendous pressure he managed to direct the Qi to his wrist and back towards his shoulder.
Michael began to think about his parents who were left charred and unrecognisable. The anger and anguish seemed to fuel his determination as he bore the horrifying pain.
'I can't die here'
'I'm going to kill those sons of bitches and avenge you!'
'Mother'
'Father'
'ROSA!!'
The Qi that had almost decimated his left arms meridians made its way to his heart once again. This was the pivotal point, if he could not direct this Qi toward his Dantian he would be destroyed from the inside, becoming either crippled or dead.
This was not an option for Michael who had a goal for revenge.
He put all his being into focusing on the intersection of the meridians that joined the heart and his Dantian. Seeing the oncoming Qi barrelling towards him, he contracted the pathway toward his right arm and shouted internally 'You shall not pass!!'.
The outlandish chant seemed to have worked as the Qi was directed at full speed to the Dantian.
Both Archie and Michael stared with rapt attention as the lethal Qi made its way to where the force field was situated beforehand.
CRACK!
A giant, bone shuddering crack was heard as the Qi collided with the invisible force field. Upon impact with the field, the Qi was slowed down and began to fall upon his Dantian like a light morning shower. The dry desert sucked up the Qi like it had been dying of thirst for its whole life.
Upon seeing the successful delivery of goods, Michael was instantly relieved, and his tense muscles began to loosen. Luckily, he was already seated on his bed as he fainted moments after succeeding.
Archie also felt relief as he finally saw the Qi nestle within Michael's Dantian. He removed himself from Michael's body and reappeared in the bedroom. Looking down at his master sleeping soundly in exhaustion he had a slight smile on his face. Or at least he did, until a sudden pungent smell assaulted his nostrils.
'What the F***, did this guy shit himself' he almost gagged.
Upon further inspection he saw that an oily black substance had made its way to the outside of Michael's skin. 'Not again' he complained.
Due to him being housed in the necklace that Michael always wore around his neck, he was privy to the previous 'cleansing' that Michael experienced in his first cultivation experience.
Archie looked at the pendant, his home, that was now encased in the black oil-like substance and had a disgusted look on his face.
'Next time he needs to take off the pendant or I'm not gonna help him!' he vowed.