The sun was leisurely rising to the middle of the sky, and there were two people standing near the lake. Kai had already practiced and sat in the waters of the lake before. Right now, he looked at the old man in anticipation.
- Master Mo, what's up? Can we begin? - Kai asked impatiently.
He must start learning cultivation techniques today!
- ''Yes, my boy, but I have to go over everything one more time. It's an incredibly difficult technique! If you can't cultivate it, I can teach you mine.'' - Seriously warned the old man.
- ''All year long we have been training and developing your body, now the Body Training stage is complete! Even a year ago, you could feel energy, so you are now rightfully considered an Initial Stage Warrior! But you have a difficult path ahead of you to the next stage, the Cultivator stage! - Mo said seriously, "At this stage, you will be able to control more energy and even manipulate it. But how much and how qualitatively depends on how you get through the Warrior stage! - He explained with solemnity.
- The Warrior stage is characterized by a hardening of the body, but no longer physical. You will have to absorb energy and conduct it according to the cultivation technique, carefully observing all the nuances described in it. Gradually, you will feel how the energy gradually gathers in the area of your abdomen. This point is called the Energy Center! - Master Mo continued.
- Next, you will need to forcefully push this energy into every part of your body, hardening your whole self. The Invisible Kings' Torture Technique is very strange in this respect.... - the old man paused, "It uses a unique hardening technique. This is also one of the reasons why I was unable to cultivate it. For my body and energy are already trained differently. I'm ashamed to say this... But I don't fit the standards of this technique..." Mo smiled self-deprecatingly, "But you, little demon, can do it! - With a smile, Moe took out a black scroll with red writing and suddenly appeared in his hand.
- It's up to you now. I won't be able to give you advice since I don't know anything about her myself. - Handing the scroll to Kai, Master Mo said.
- We'll start the movement technique only when you can control the energy. For now, I'll leave you alone! Good luck boy! - Mo shouted out, keeping his gaze on Kai for a while, and then turned around and started walking away.
- I'll do my best, Master! - Kai shouted after him.
He quickly sat in lotus pose, calmed his mind and slowly opened the scroll. But to Kai's surprise, he could understand almost nothing! The technique consisted of five stages, but only the first one had been opened so far. When he tried to look at the stages above, it was as if all the writing had turned into meaningless scribbles floating aimlessly on the scroll....
Cultivating a technique was like building a building. If there is no foundation, there is nothing to put the walls on, and if there are no walls, there is nothing to put the roof on! It was as if the cultivation technique itself stipulated the need to understand the levels gradually. It seemed to Kai that even the scroll itself was some kind of miraculous object!
Kai decided not to be distracted and read the first level carefully. He carefully memorized the mantra and the methods of moving the energies through the meridians. He began to realize exactly what was going to happen next....
The energy channel system was a closed system. Initially, the absorbed energy would penetrate and be processed in the Energy Center. Afterward, it would begin to circulate through the channels, constantly making revolutions throughout the body. It was something like a circulatory system.
Kai must circulate his energy along a strict route, conducting it through all eight hundred meridians in strict order and rhythm. Also described were certain manipulations that were mandatory in certain meridians.
When he had fully mastered the process, he would begin to gradually temper his entire body with energy. But the Invisible King Torture Technique was quite unusual in this regard. According to Master Mo's story, masters at the Warrior stage would absorb the energy from the cultivation technique and forcefully spread it throughout their entire body. In this way, they were trying to temper every cell in the body. The problem was that it was almost impossible to do this perfectly with the entire body and every corner of it! The stronger and more brilliant a master was in his youth, the better he could temper his body at the Warrior stage! Naturally, such a thing affected the entire future cultivation of a person!
The scroll described that when cultivating this strange technique, the Five Invisible Kings began to form. Each formed under the symbiosis of the energy stored in the master's body and the energy of nature.
Each king would be responsible for its own torture, during which it would temper a specific part of the flesh, gradually hardening the entire body!
Kai realized that it would be almost impossible to repeat such a thing on his own!
- Yes this technique is simply divine! - Kai shouted and continued reading.
"The hardening process here is a bit different than what the master told me... First I have to harden my heart, and after that I have to spread the energy throughout my body." - thought Kai, reading the text of the scroll, "Gradual hardening of the skin, muscles with tendons, as well as organs.... The next step will be hardening of the bones and marrow... Next I will strengthen the eyes and all the senses, and after that the brain." - Ranted Kai in his thoughts.
"It says that the brain also has its own system. It's similar to the circulatory system, as well as energy channels throughout the body.... It says that it is through this system that the entire body and even our thoughts are controlled. I've never heard of such a thing... We'll have to temper everything thoroughly..." - Kai wondered mentally. Everything he was reading about now was completely new to him!
Reading further, Kai said to himself:
- Okay, so that's it... Their names are:
- King of Lust, which hardens the heart.
- The King of Pain, which hardens the flesh. He starts with the skin, muscles and tendons, and ends with the internal organs....
- King of Envy, which hardens the skeleton, as well as the inside of the bones.
- The King of Rage is responsible for hardening all the senses.
- And final comes the King of Terror, which will harden my brain and this weird brain system.
- Wait for me, we should meet soon. - With a smile Kai gave out and slowly closed his eyes.
He began to focus on absorbing the energy. As long as his physical training lasted, he forgot about this process for a whole year! All this time he had been limiting his perception, but now it was open again! As soon as he decided to feel the energy, he realized how much energy there was!
In the same instant he thought of something and his eyes darkened strangely... It was as if Kai saw incredibly tiny writing in the energy, but so tiny that he couldn't even make it out.
"It's strange, when Old Man Mo talked about energy, he didn't mention anything like that. He spoke of it as streams of different densities and different attributes... But the writings... Moreover, they don't look like hieroglyphics that I know. They don't look like anything I've seen in books at all..." - Kai mentally said, but at the same second he realized something, - "Sphere! That's right! It definitely wasn't a dream, it must be connected to her!" - He exclaimed in his head.
"I wasn't wrong! The sphere is still inside me, even though I can't feel it... I'll deal with it someday, but I feel I need to get much stronger first. Perhaps the stronger I am, the clearer what is happening to me will become." - Kai reasoned intrigued.
"But for now, I can't tell anyone about it, not even old Mo. If I can't find out more, I'll take this secret with me into oblivion. Otherwise, at some point, I'll just be torn apart like a guinea pig." - After thinking for a bit longer, Kai continued cultivating the Invisible Kings Torture Technique.
After a quarter of an hour, Kai could feel more and more energy penetrating and circulating through his body. Suddenly, he saw a silhouette form out of the black light near him.
It was an all-black silhouette of a woman with a very beautiful figure! She had no face, just a smooth surface and two curved horns. Kai was a little startled, but then realized that it was just the effects of his technique.... He had never seen or heard of such creatures before.
"Just amazing!" - Quickly calming down mentally Kai said and continued to spin the energy in him.
Suddenly the silhouette turned towards him and flew into Kai's body. He felt something penetrate straight into his heart! From such a sudden turn of events, he didn't even have time to react. In the same second, his heart squeezed with incredible force! Kai almost lost control of himself, but at the last moment, he barely regained his balance.
- King of Lust! - He said through gritted teeth.
An incredible amount of energy attacked Kai's heart. It seemed to instantly collapse and immediately rebuild itself, as if it was slowly devouring and rebirthing his entire heart!
Kai was breathing heavily, trying to get air into his lungs. It seemed to him that just a little more and he would simply die! Under such conditions, his mind began to search for some options of salvation and his gaze inadvertently fell on the waters of the lake...
"It can stabilize my body... Need... Need." - Frantically Kai thought, starting to crawl towards the lake.
After a few minutes of suffering and exertion, he did fall into the icy water! The pain was still incredible, but it seemed that he recovered faster under the cold!
Kai didn't know it, but he was very lucky that he was only a child.... For the King of Lust's torture tormented with lewd visions, distracting him from cultivation and driving him insane. At the critical moment, the illusions might interfere and the master's heart would simply collapse! Thankfully, Kai's mind was clear enough for such a thing....
A few days later, Kai sat motionlessly in the lake.... He could feel how his heart had almost reborn itself. Even the blood that was pumping through that heart had begun to be infused with energy.
He was incredibly glad now, as the pain was slowly subsiding. He had spent the last few days in hellish agony.....
Finally after another day he exhaled and stood up. Kai was very hungry and tired, but joy shone in his eyes!
He had primary hardened his heart! In the future he would still have to complete the process completely, but he had already taken the most important first step!