As winter arrived and the days grew colder and snowier, Li Kai changed our training. Instead of teaching me new martial arts or footwork, he had me start meditating, which left me bored out of my mind.
Yes, I had entered a meditative state once before and gained enlightenment, but there's a vast difference between entering a meditative state during repetitive martial arts training while exhausted and trying to meditate while sitting still and full of energy. My mind tends to fill up with random nonsense when given nothing to do, not empty out in quiet introspection like it is supposed to do when you meditate.
So while I was supposed to be meditating, instead I was daydreaming of kitty unicorn ninjas taking on wolf pirates. The kittycorn ninjas won, of course. Li Kai could see the changes in my facial expressions and knew I wasn't meditating. I could hear him sigh in disappointment from time to time or make a comment about "kids these days."
Li Kai told me I had to learn to meditate because cultivation was very similar. When a person cultivated they would guide the qi through their body. Sounds complex, and to some degree it is, but once you got started it was mind-numbingly simple and boring. If you got distracted by daydreaming like I currently was, best case scenario, you'd stop cultivating. Worst case scenario, you'd suffer qi deviation and die. If you tried to just focus on the task of cultivating, you would grow bored and likely fall asleep with the same results of death or failure. Mediation was the key. It kept the mind just active enough to succeed at the task of cultivating, but not so active as to get distracted.
After Li Kai explained that to me, I knew, without a doubt, that I needed to master meditation. If I didn't, then I'd likely turn into a qi bomb during my very first cultivation session. So how did I quiet my mind without silencing it altogether? To me, it felt like a paradox. I was either asleep with nothing on my mind or awake with everything on my mind. There was no in-between for me. Not in this life or the last one.
If you shut me in a room without people, toys, gadgets, or gizmos, nothing but myself and a blank wall, it wouldn't matter to me. One of the most cruel and inhumane punishments known to man was quite literally child's play to me. If you take away my external entertainment, I will make entertainment inside my head instead. An empty or near-empty head was antithetical to my being.
So how would I meditate? I couldn't bring myself to the brink of exhaustion every time like when I succeeded at meditating the first time. So how would I simulate the result without the physical exhaustion that made it possible? I thought hard about my mental state during the exercise leading up to the impromptu meditation. This took me many days, weeks even. What was it that made that first meditation happen? What was I thinking? Wasn't it inhale, exhale?
I began focusing intensely on my breathing, after many hours I still wasn't successful, but I felt I was close. What was I missing? Inhale, exhale, strike. It wasn't just my breathing! It was my entire body that I focused on. Every minute detail of my body. I focused hard on everything my body was doing. Minutes passed, and still no result. Inhale, exhale. I was still missing something, but it was like a word stuck on the tip of my tongue. Inhale, exhale. No that wasn't it, it was inhale, exhale, strike! But I wasn't striking, I couldn't strike. So how did I simulate it? Wait, simulate? Wasn't that just imagining it? Could it be so simple? Could the greatest burden in this trial be the answer?
I began imagining myself practicing my martial arts. Inhale, exhale, punch, inhale, exhale, kick, inhale, exhale, strike. My mind became dominated by the task of imagining this routine. Hours passed unknowingly. I had succeeded!
Aside from meditation, Li Kai also began teaching me in the the study like the tutors did. He taught me anatomy of all things. When we first touched upon the subject, I obtained Anatomy Level 1 from my previous life, but that was quickly replaced with Anatomy Level 2.
At first, I couldn't figure out why he was teaching me anatomy, but then I realized it was very useful in combat. If I knew where it hurt or what body parts were important for normal functioning, I could target those points and win against stronger opponents.
After mastering meditation and learning enough anatomy, Li Kai said it was time for the next purification pill. Like last time I would have to kill another mortal beast, however this time, he didn't want me returning with any injuries. I thought immediately of the flask of restoration fluid I possessed, but Li Kai was ahead of me. It would count as a failure if I used any healing item to return to peak shape.
So I headed out again into the forest-covered mountains. This time with a fluffy, red, two-tailed fox in tow. Snow still covered the ground. I left deep imprints behind, while Rosie glided across the top of the snow.
This time I had a bit more knowledge of mortal beasts. I already had an idea of where to find one, as it left signs all over the forest. I followed the scuffed trees deep into the woods. My target was some sort of primate based on the markings left behind, maybe a bear.
Rosie and I traveled for 3 days. I was glad for the storage ring my mother gifted me, I could pack plenty of supplies within, and so I had. There were enough supplies to last for 60 days within the ring. It probably wasn't needed now, but items placed within the ring were in suspended animation, thus food could not rot, so there was no harm in packing my ring with delicacies. Rosie and I ate like the queens we were, while "roughing it" in the woods.
As we approached a cliff face, I could hear my prey. Rocks were being banged together and when it roared it sounded like a human imitating an animal roar. It was a primate. Utilizing my footwork, I quietly approached my target.
I could see the back of a large silver and black ape, it was rummaging in something out of my sight. On top of its head, just behind its ears were many horns like a bearded dragon. I could sense its aura, it was just as strong as the demonic fox. Maybe a little stronger. This time I wasn't afraid though. In comparison to the current me, he felt too weak. My stats hadn't improved much, but my skills had improved by leaps and bounds. I motioned to Rosie to stay back. I wanted to see how far I had come.
I walked to just behind the ape and cleared my throat, "Ahem." I didn't want to sneak around anymore. The ape turned, looked at me dumbly for a moment as if trying to remember if there had always been a human just a pace behind him, then took a swing at me.
Too slow. At least it seemed too slow, it was really quite fast. But between the telegraphed punch, its sloppy form, and my own skills, it seemed like he was delivering me the punch by the slowest method available: standard mail. I calmly stepped a foot forward and an inch to the left. The punch went flying by, fluttering my hair.
Now I was inside the ape's guard. He was going to pay for letting me be here. I still hadn't drawn my sword, I didn't need to. I quickly targeted the pressure points, gave them a swift jab, and watched as each limb went limp. Within seconds a helpless ape lay at my feet.
It wasn't even really a fight, now I had the strength to choose who I kept alive amongst mortal beasts. I thought about bringing this ape back to bond with and then selling it at the market.
My thoughts could only get this far before I saw what was on the ground behind the ape, where it had been rummaging before.
A pile of fresh human bodies lay on the snow. Red blood dyed the surrounding powder. There were men, women, and children. All of the bodies were mutilated. Judging by the pained expressions on the faces of the corpses, the mutilations occurred while they were still alive. The ape had toyed with them before he snuffed out their lives.
Looking more carefully I could see the bodies were near a carriage. Even the mules drawing the carriage had been brutally slain. The carriage carried banners from Market Town. The men who looked like guards also wore tabards from Market Town. These were my fellow countrymen. This ape had killed them grotesquely.
Rage began boiling within my chest. The dam containing my rage burst open and I rushed forward towards the incapacitated ape.