Master Brightflame frowned.
"The next time you feel anything, even a vague feeling, you will tell me."
In a moment, the tension had dissipated. Lem's simulated self felt that his senses had returned and he could move again.
He realized that Master Brightflame had never approached him. The martial elder had not even stirred from his position on the rock.
[The martial elder asks about your intuition. When you try to answer him with a compelling lie, he is displeased with your response.]
"You should take some time to practice cultivation before you sleep," Master Brightflame said, before looking back up at the sky.
Lem's simulated self immediately acquiesced, closing his eyes nervously. He had already set aside his thoughts of eating in front of the martial elder.
Lem, meanwhile, began to pay attention. This was the first time he was witnessing the [Mountain Sitting Technique] in action.
Lem's simulated self began by taking breaths and calming his mind.
Following the steps of the technique, he tried to mentally fixate on the visualization diagram.
The mountain appeared in his mind, in all of its complexity.
He kept his thoughts fixed on it, and then he began trying to visualize the spiritual energy in his body.
Lem followed along, imagining the visualization diagram for himself as he paid attention to his bodily sensations.
There was a general sense of power within his body, but it was difficult to separate the feeling of strength from the spiritual energy itself, if it was even there.
Where was the spiritual energy?
Lem's simulated self began trying to perform the complicated breathing movements.
Breathing in. Contracting muscles. Trying to nudge the spiritual energy.
Breathing out. Contracting muscles. Trying to nudge the spiritual energy.
Breathing in…
He ignored the multitude of mistakes he was making in the breathing technique, as he tried to focus on the spiritual energy.
Where were the slight comfortable feelings coming from?
What gave a mountain its power?
Lem's simulated self spent a couple minutes focusing intently, before he changed his target from his body to the air around him.
Where was the spiritual energy?
He knew that it should be constantly moving around as an invisible, omnipresent force. According to the teachings of the Heavenly Treasure Sect, it was affecting everything, giving rise to all spirituality.
But where was it?
Why couldn't he sense it?
Why couldn't he move it?
Again, he tried to trace any slight feelings of comfort, but his sensation of the air on his skin was too complicated to disentangle.
He went back to visualizing the inside of his body.
He could feel his muscles contracting, but the spiritual energy was not distinguishable.
Eventually, when he felt he wasn't making any progress Lem's simulated self opened his eyes.
He had failed. At the outset, he had not expected to perform the breathing movements correctly, but it was slightly distressing that he had never even sensed the spiritual energy.
"If you have any confusion, ask me now."
Master Brightflame did not even glance at him, but Lem could feel his curiosity and was sure that he had expectations for the performance of his simulated self.
"I-cannot sense the spiritual energy," he admitted. He did not dare lie to the martial elder. His results would quickly become apparent later.
"Did you imagine the mountain?"
Lem's simulated self thought deeply. He had fixated on the visualization diagram, but could he say that he had truly imagined the mountain.
"You must gain an intuition of the characteristics of the mountain, the feeling of the mountain. And then you must gain an intuition of the power that gives rise to those characteristics.
"Without using the mountain intent as a guide, you will never know what to look for and it will always elude you.
"I'll ask again. Did you imagine the mountain?"