"Your training with me will be cultivation. As all of you know, cultivation is the foundation of any cultivator. Yes, your cultivation level is not everything, but it is the basis for everything else. Even if you are the best Mortal cultivator of all time, you can't manifest Qi."
Chief Instructor Peng got into a specific stance and all of a sudden a giant bear with bat wings appeared behind him.
"No matter how powerful you are, if you're in the Mortal realm, and your opponent is in the Mortal Warrior stage, you will lose. The grades within a realm can sometimes be disregarded, especially in the lower realms, but as soon as you change realm, you change the rules of the game. If you can't manifest Qi, how can you fight against a Mortal Warrior? Similarly if you don't have any spiritual sense, how can you fight against a Spirit Warrior who can enter your mind?
Of course, there are always exceptions. For example, alchemists tend to cultivate through pills and their fighting power are sometimes way weaker than their cultivation level. But even in these conditions, jumping a realm to fight is as hard as a mortal climbing Mount Tai."
The gigantic bear disappeared as it had appeared. This kind of Qi manifestation that was so tangible that it looked real meant that Chief Instructor Peng was at least a 5th-grade Mortal Warrior.
"Now, let's review the first grades of the Mortal realm. You begin by training your exterior body, your muscles and your tendons. Then, you train the inner parts, the bones. Finally in the third grade you begin to train with your Qi by strengthening and tempering your Lower Dantian.
All of you have already crossed these grades. So your bodies are strong and you can collect Qi.
Your grades vary from the 4th to the 5th. These grades are pretty similar. In the 4th grade, you circulate the Qi through your 8 Vessels and you try to open them so that Qi can flow naturally within. And in the 5th grade, you repeat the process for your Meridians.
That's what we'll be training today."
Chief Instructor Peng went to fetch some kind of thin cane. When he whipped the air with it, a sonic boom echoed throughout the training grounds.
"This is called a 'turtle tail'. It is an instrument you'll get to know as your best friend and your worst nightmare. A turtle tail can transmit a lot of Qi. It's not a great weapon, but it's very difficult to break."
He whipped the turtle tail again in the air.
"I remember this one time when I was in this brothel and..." Seeing the young faces of boys and girls, he paused and cleared his throat. "I probably shouldn't talk about that."
"Anyway! Every instructor by your side has been chosen to wield such a turtle tail. They will pour their Qi within and send it straight through your skin and flesh toward your vessels."
As he spoke, every disciple looked at their side and saw their instructor holding such a turtle tail in hand.
"For those who are still in the 4th-grade, it will allow you to fill your vessels and help them open. For the others, as your vessels are naturally full of Qi, they will play their role of reservoirs and this Qi will overflow into your meridians and help open them.
This technique is called 'Turtle Whips the Channels'. It's part of the cultivation method of the Wubei Sect, the 'Coiling Turtle'. You must not try to focus on the circulation of Qi at all. You only have two goals, fending off the pain and keeping your position.
The positions! I will demonstrate all eight positions of the 'Turtle Whips the Channels'. You must stay in every one of those for one hour each. They all target specific vessels. Let's begin!"
In front of the incredulous disciples, Chief Instructor Peng performed the first stance. He really looked like a turtle as his back was bent forward.
"'Turtle Whips the Channels', first position. Get in it!"
The disciples knew they had no choice so they got into position. The instructor by their side corrected the ones who needed it.
"Fine. Not bad. Remember, you must fend off the pain to keep your position but you must not focus on the flow of Qi, let it be natural. Only try to focus on the sensation itself, do not attempt to help it or control it or the process will be slower. I'm sure you wouldn't want to suffer through this longer than necessary."
The disciples were all ready for pain. When the first hit came at the base of their spine, many let out a groan of pain. Some even broke their stance and were rapidly put back in it.
At the first whip, almost no one felt any difference, except Cao Yun. Preparing for a tough pain, he had already circulated his Zhi to steel his will. When the hit came, he almost felt no pain at all but sensed a wisp a Qi penetrating his body.
The vibration of the turtle tail acted like his 'Slaughtering the Enemy' as it allowed for this wisp of Qi to penetrate deep into the flesh and into the Du Mai Vessel.
Almost every twenty seconds a new hit came down on every disciple at the same time.
After around ten hits, Chief Instructor Peng spoke again.
"You should feel the Qi gathering in your spine by now."
"Chief Instructor Peng, I only feel pain." Ren Chao was the only one who dared to speak. And everyone rolled their eyes.
"Oh?!" Chief Instructor Peng got closer. "Well then your instructor must not hit hard enough. Do you think I should whip you instead?"
"No, Chief Instructor Peng. Now that I think about it, I did sense some Qi flow into my spine."
"Good! All of you, you should have realized the use of the turtle tail by now. With its vibrations your instructors are not only sending Qi through you, they control the hit so that this Qi goes straight into your vessels."
To do such a feat, all the instructors were of course Mortal Warriors. Only a Mortal Warrior could control their Qi outside of their body. They were probably 1st-grade or 2nd-grade Mortal Warriors to send Qi through an object. A Spirit Warrior could have probably sent the Qi in their Vessels with just a physical contact, but these cultivators would not train mere outer disciples.
The training kept on going. Every hour, without any pause, Chief Instructor Peng would show the next move. Gradually, all the disciples felt the Qi flowing strong in their vessels. The pain was great but the benefits were worth it. If they had not trained their bodies, their flesh would have been ripped apart by these hits.
Cao Yun was still circulating Zhi at its fullest and he barely felt any pain. One time, he tried to focus his intent where the wisp of Qi was going but he discovered that Chief Instructor Peng was right. When he tried to direct it, it stopped moving altogether and melted with the rest of his Qi. It would still fill his vessels but the efficiency was way lower.
As a 5th-grade Mortal, his vessels were already full of Qi that circulated naturally. So each time a wisp of Qi entered his vessels, they would overflow a little and send Qi through his meridians. This Qi flowed easily in the meridians he had already cleaned and then began to open the others.
Apart from the pain, this feeling was exhilarating for the disciples. At first, they fought through the ordeal in order not to be punished, but now they realized how much they were gaining from it.
-
After eight long hours of whipping, if the students were to take off their clothes, they would appear red all over their body. Not even their legs and arms were spared. The only part of their body that wasn't aimed at was their face.
"Good! By now, your vessels for some and meridians for others should be full of Qi. It's the perfect opportunity to train your bodies. You see, most cultivators tend to neglect their physical training when they work with their Qi. Once you cross over the first two stages, you think that it's not necessary to train your flesh anymore. After all, just the increase in Qi will train it for you. You're wrong! The stronger your body the faster and the higher you can cultivate.
Just look at this exercise, if your bodies weren't strong enough, you never could have endured that, and yet it was so beneficial for your cultivation. So remember, do not neglect your flesh.
It reminds me of the time I was completely drunk and..." Once again, Chief Instructor Peng stopped for a while. "I probably shouldn't talk about that either."
Chief Instructor Peng went to fetch some instruments. They were very standard strength training equipments like dumbbells.
"Your instructor will guide you and push you through. Until the sun set, you will train your muscles, bones, ligaments and tendons.
Then tonight, you will cultivate before sleeping, do not let all the Qi within your body run havoc. If you fail to meditate properly, you could suffer a backlash tomorrow. These physical exercises will help you absorb a huge part of the Qi you were given in your tissues but you must still control what will remain in your vessels and meridians.
Every week as long as you're first-years, you will come here and train like this. The positions of 'Turtle Whips the Channels' should be engraved in your minds and your bodies right now, so it will be even smoother.
And if one of you neglects their cultivation, I will personally help them practice 'Turtle Whips the Channels', and I can promise you, you don't want that. Now get to training!"
The disciples followed their instructor and each one gave them specific exercises to perform. These were all standard strength exercises. For a 5th-grade Mortal lifting several hundreds of jin* was not very difficult. Cao Yun got to lift twenty dan*, around two thousand jin. It wasn't impossible but it still got heavy for him.
While he was training, he focused his Yi on the tissues who were working out. As he did, he felt the Qi within his meridians seeping through his tissues and nourishing them.
By the end of the training, his overall strength had increased by almost 2%. If he kept this progress rate, he would almost triple his strength by the end of the year.
What he was feeling was very strange. His body and mind were exhausted because of all this training, but yet he felt full of energy inside. There was a fire flowing through him that wanted to express itself but his mind and body could not follow.
Remembering the words of Chief Instructor Peng, Cao Yun realized he was absolutely right, if he did not cultivate tonight to put this energy under control, a backlash would undoubtedly occur.
When the training was over, Chief Instructor Peng said nothing. Considering all the disciples were in even worse states than Cao Yun, no one would have been able to even listen to him anyway.
Although they were exhausted, they still had to climb back up toward their rooms.
-
When Cao Yun got back, he only wanted to sleep but forced himself to sit cross-legged on the floor and cultivated. Huang Cixi got startled by his sudden arrival but left him alone.
Cao Yun activated his Yi and circulated his Qi through his meridians. After an hour or so, his third meridian opened, the Pericardium Meridian. He probably was faster by two or three days. With this training method, by completely nulling the pain with his Zhi, the Water Will, he could speed up his cultivation even more. He was thinking of breaking through in four months but he could probably do it in three. But now, he really had no more strength to do anything else, not even his mind cultivation, his mental training of martial art, or even merely eating.
He went to bed at once and slept longer than usual.
-
While Cao Yun was sleeping, Luduo Bu was outside of the sect, deep in the woods. He was cultivating in a pool of blood, surrounded by the corpses of several low-level demonic beasts. With reddened eyes, his skin seemed to absorb the blood. Some of this blood also flowed in a strange pattern on his halberd and sank into its blade.
During the night, with blood all over him, Luduo Bu looked like a pure monster. In his mind was only one thing, 'Chen Guo'. For him, he was the source of all his problems. Had he not been there in the martial art pavilion, he would not have lost. If he had not lost, he would not have threatened him and broken the rules. He also would have not been expelled from the Red Cliff Faction.
Of course, everything was his own fault, but it was easier to blame someone else. And very close to him was the man in black and purple who had knocked on his door. He had been feeding his hatred and delusions, but he was also the one who gave him a new way of training.
His martial art 'Bloody cavalry' already put a lot of emphasis on blood so it was perfect to test this blood cultivation. In blood there was a lot of Qi that circulated as well, so absorbing it could prove useful. That was one of the techniques in 'Cultivation of Wrath' after all. But the technique Luduo Bu was using seemed different, more savage, more primal.
* 1 jin = 500 g = 1.1 lb
* 1 dan = 100 jin = 50 kg = 110 lb