Later that night Michael and Jason were made to bath once again, the sour smell of sweat and teenage body odour was too much for the cleanly Grandpa Yin.
"Once you become a cultivator you can use Qi to purge your stench" he continued to lecture the two and push for them to become cultivators as soon as possible.
Jason laid down on the bed and groaned exaggeratedly.
"I'm gonna die before this 1 month is over"
"Oh come on, it can't be that bad" Michael said with a chuckle.
Jason quickly sat up and threw a fierce look in his direction "Can't be that bad??"
"Isn't it just cultivating?" he said flatly.
"Yeah, maybe for you and your self-study. If I can't absorb Qi into my meridians after an hour the old man makes me run 2 miles! I've only got little legs!
If I don't run it in under 20 minutes, he makes me do 50 push-ups when I get back"
Michael began to feel tired just thinking about the extra work. On second thought, Jason admitted to not being able to absorb Qi into his body within an hour of meditation.
"How long does it usually take for you to absorb Qi?"
"I've only managed to do it once before an hour is up. That's why I'm always running" he exclaimed.
"And how many push-ups have you done today?" Michael probed further.
"I lost count at 300"
"Dude, no wonder the old man is making you do all this stuff. Your stamina sucks"
"Well excuse me, we can't all be physically gifted. Even if you're a little pudgy" Jason looked Michael up and down as he emphasised the word gifted. Michael's build was wiry with obvious muscles particularly on his arms and calves, if it wasn't for a layer of baby fat covering his mid-section, he would be very proportionate.
Seeing Jason judge him with his eyes he immediately felt vulnerable.
"I…I'm still developing! Just you wait, I'll have a full beard and a six-pack by the end of the month!" he exclaimed in embarrassment.
'Hehehe' Michael heard a young voice laugh in his head.
'You shut the F*** up Arse fly' he yelled internally at Archie. He swore in his heart that along with cultivating he would do 100 sit-ups every night.
Jason sighed and looked at Michael resolutely "We need to become cultivators and join the Soaring Dragon Palace".
Startled at the sudden seriousness, Michael paused before nodding "Yeah, we can do it".
Exhausted from the physical torture, Jason quickly said goodnight to his brother and fell asleep almost instantly leaving Michael alone to his thoughts. He looked down to his mid-section and steeled his mind before doing 100 sit-ups in quick succession. Whether it was because of his genes or his escapades in the mountain, his physical abilities were always above average.
'Maybe that's why Grandpa Yin hasn't been forcing me to run like Jason' he mused before drifting off to sleep.
--------
It was currently the third week of Grandpa Yin's training camp. Just over a week remained until the old man's deadline for the two to become cultivators.
Jason who had experienced the most physical torture of the two was starting to bulk up, his originally short and skinny stature was beginning to look less like a garden gnome and more like an athletic midget.
Michael on the other hand had begun to slim down after performing his nightly sit-up routine, his bare chin however was still as barren as his Dantian.
The previous day Michael had finished properly refining all his meridians without destroying them much to his amazement. He was currently staring at the glistening meridians through his minds-eye, every now and then they would expand and contract, giving off a yellow shining lustre.
'That was scary last night' he thought to himself while staring at the results of his hard work.
After he had finished his refining, the impurities were once again brought to the surface of his skin, giving off a revolting smell and being slimy to the touch. He ran to Grandpa Yin who was timing Jason on his 2-mile run. Instantly, he scrunched his nose and looked at Michael who was covered in grime and began to wave his sleeve.
"Shit!" seeing the infamous sleeve-wave, Michael remembered his previous "cleansing" by the crazy old man and quickly turned tale to run. Unfortunately, he was not fast enough.
Unlike last time, Michael did not burst into flames. A torrent of steamy water covered his whole body and began to extract the filth covering him, aside from being warm he did not feel any pain or discomfort during the quick process. Once the water had done its job, Grandpa Yin waved his sleeve again, sending the filthy water outside and into the trees.
Now whenever the old man would move his sleeve, he would instantly flinch and tense up. He shook his head quickly, trying to remove the scary thoughts.
"Archie, can I activate my Dantian now?" he called out to the relic spirit.
"Yes Master, let's do it. If things go pear-shaped, I now have enough practice to remove the runaway Qi in your body" he said confidently.
After being reassured by Archie he felt a little better. Just thinking about the not-so-veiled threat the old man threw his way the last time he damaged his meridians made him shiver.
He began to absorb the surrounding Qi and let it flow through his meridians. The cultivation book had changed since he refined all his meridians, now showing a complete cycle starting from the heart and branching to all his extremities.
Michael moved his Qi around his body just as the Qi Technique specified, his completely refined meridians easily maneuvered the energy through the specified pathways and completed a cycle.
1
2
3
4
5 cycles.
By the start of the 6th cycle the Qi was at the same speed of the attempt that had previously destroyed his meridians. Michael steeled himself as he steered the energy toward his Dantian, attempting to break the force field and become a cultivator (for real this time).
The speeding Qi passed the heart and used its entire momentum to bash against the force field.
Bang!
Instead of a crack, a huge collision sounded throughout his body, the force almost making him throw up a mouthful of blood.
With the same velocity, the Qi was sent barrelling back toward Michael's heart.
"F*** not again"
Michael yelled in frustration and was forced to send the Qi to complete another cycle, it was sped up once again after passing his heart. The reinforced meridians were starting to prove their worth as they accepted the speeding Qi without being damaged.
'Phew'
Seeing the meridians hold up against the speeding Qi Michael let out a sigh of relief. By the time the Qi returned he was prepared for another shot at activating his Dantian.
BANG!
Once again, the Qi was reflected by the invisible barrier outside his Dantian.
"Shit shit shit!" Michael was finally starting to feel a bit of panic, the current speed was still manageable, but he wasn't sure he could hold on after the energy got another 'speed boost'.
The Qi passed his heart once again and he could instantly feel a pain from his meridians, the energy sped past with no regard for its surroundings, bashing into anything and everything it could see. The meridians were beginning to swell and throb, much like right after a refining session. However, unlike previous times, this was not a closed-circuit refining session.
"Master, do I need to take the Qi" Archie asked shakily
"No!" Michael spat threw his gritted teeth.
"I'm gonna put this stupid Qi, in my stupid Dantian"
By the time the Qi made it back to his heart he was covered in sweat from the pain in his body. He willed the Qi to descend with as much force as he could muster, squeezing out every bit of energy and focus he had.
"Get in your f***ing house!"
CRACK!
Upon hearing that sound a giant smile made its way to onto Michael's bare face. His tense body began to relax and he almost passed out before his face quickly scrunched up in pain.
Suddenly getting the urge to vomit, he ran outside with all his might and fell to his knees. Black blood was expelled form his mouth as he continued to heave. After a few minutes he stood up.
"Well, that freaking sucked" he stated, wiping his mouth with his sleeve.
Michael looked at his sleeve afterwards and saw black filth plastered all over his body again, however the amount was much smaller than previous times.
"F*** I better not let that clean freak see me like this, I'll be steamed alive or become fried chicken again" he looked over his shoulder in panic, making sure the old man wasn't near and quickly ran to the open-air bath to get cleaned up.
"Well done Master" Archie popped up and said to the exhausted Michael.
"Yeah we'll see, just don't steal my Qi dude" in the middle of washing himself Michael quipped back half-jokingly, half-serious.
Archie began his usual antics of trying to prove his innocence to which Michael would just nonchalantly wave off.
He sat in the bath and looked up at the moon, the steam was distorting his view and creating beautiful wavy patterns.
'Only a little over a week to go until Grandpa Yin's deadline. If my Qi disappears again in the morning, I don't know what I'll do. Maybe it's the heavens telling me not to bother cultivating'
Michael shook his head at the negative thoughts invading his brain 'Is this the mental demons I've heard about?'
-------
Michael rubbed his eyes and stretched his tight muscles; he still felt a little ginger from the night before. He looked over and saw Jason face-first in his pillow, looking like he fell asleep as soon as he touched the bed.
Remembering last night, he suddenly felt a bad premonition.
'What the F***? Not again!'