Lifting the blade up into the air, Yin Lian closed her eyes and swung the weapon around, imagining herself slicing and dicing the two cultivators who killed her getting cut down by her own hands.
"This one." She announced as she opened her eyes and relaxed looked down at the weapon that was in her hands right now.
"Ah, that would be the Satanre. A hybrid weapon of a Sabre and a Katana. Capable of a balance between speed and power. Able to cut through foes like paper and stab like a spear. A lightweight build for a swift execution of movements."
"You can use it for both offensive and defensive measures, using one or both hands. A versatile weapon. I cannot say if this is the best choice, but it certainly isn't the wrong choice either. Only time will tell if you've made the right decision."
Lowering her head back down from peering up into the darkness, Yin Lian glanced over the blade in her hands with a light smile. Then she looked at the mess of randomly assorted weapons around her.
"Uh… What do I do with all of these then?"
"Hmm? Ah, those. Whatever you want really. They are yours after all."
"Wait, so then what did I spend all that time choosing a weapon for?" Yin Lian screeched out loud above in irritation.
"You cannot wield multiple weapons at once in battle, it was imperative that you chose which one you wanted to learn. What you do with the rest is up to you. You are free to do with them whatever you wish."
"So… I can sell them for money?" Yin Lian asked, her eyes glistening slightly.
"Yes, as I said, you can do whatever you wish with them. Now, back to your cultivation please."
"Ugh, fine." Disgruntled, the girl acquiesced the order and returned to the throne with the cultivation manual.
"Oh, and grab a spirit stone on your way back as well, you'll be needing those now." Rolling her eyes like an angsty teenager, Yin Lian did as she was told, grabbing a couple more stones just in case.
"What's the next step anyways?" She asked as she got back to the throne, the book sat atop it, leaning closed up against the back of the chair.
She had grown tall enough to climb up onto the thing this past year, so she decided that whenever she cultivated, she would do it atop the throne. It just felt right to her.
"That would be opening your Dantian's. If you would open the manual, I will explain."
Yin Lian opened the Manual to the page explaining Dantian's, which was the second section in the book, right after the Meridians one. Once she opened the first pages, the Will began explaining.
"Every human had three Dantian's to represent the three aspect of their Cultivation path. Those being Essence, Body and Soul."
"The Essence, which is your lower Dantian, represents your energy capacity and cultivation level as a whole."
"The Body, which is your middle Dantian, obviously refers to one's physical self, and how durable your body is."
"And last but not least, the Upper Dantian, which houses your very soul."
"Normally, you wouldn't open those last two until much later on, not to mention you've yet to even open your lower one, which is essential to opening the rest when the time comes."
Yin Lian listened intently, taking in every word that the Will said and what she read, coming to understand more about the Foundation that it was talking about.
"We're going to do this a little differently however. We will begin by opening your Lower Dantian as normal, but after that, we will open your Middle one as well."
This didn't make sense to Yin Lian though, as it didn't state such a thing anywhere in the cultivation manual she was reading.
"Why though? If I'm not supposed to open it until much later, why bother opening it now? How do I benefit from doing so."
"I'm very glad you asked. And it's because of one of the special abilities of the Asura, allowing it to increase its physical strength much sooner than normal. You'll learn that technique later though. For now, you need to open both you Lower and Middle Dantian's, otherwise you won't be able to use it."
"Mm." Yin Lian nodded her head and began reading the instructions on how to properly open and form her Lower Dantian.
It required her to intake the energy from the spirit stone she had taken earlier.
Taking a deep breath, she Sat down in a lotus position and closed her eyes, focusing on the energy in the spirit stone that was in her hands right now.
Focusing her mind, Yin Lian slowly drew out the energy, or spirit Qi, from inside of it and brought it towards the area where her Lower Dantian was located, which was somewhere in her abdomen.
Once there, the young girl began to swirl said energy around a bit before compressing it down into a specific spot. That Spot being around her physique's Meridian within her womb.
The act of swirling the Qi around was just to locate one's Dantian, and was in all cultivation manuals. One of the few things that was the same in each manual.
Now that she had found her Dantian, Yin Lian now had to actually open it up so that she could truly begin her cultivation journey.
The Qi slowly entered her Dantian as she began absorbing more and more of the Qi from the spirit stone.
Slowly but surely, the Qi filled in Yin Lian's Dantian until the spirit stone was empty. This filled up her expanding Dantian, as it absorbed the energy into it, forming a much more solid form.
Once it had reached its maximum size, she then had to begin by absorbing Qi from her surroundings to complete.
But she had Spirit Stones on hand, and so she used those instead. Or at least she was going to, until the Will interrupted her.
"Don't. The natural Qi that permeates this place is better for this step. If you want to know, I'll explain after."
Yin Lian didn't argue as this was an important step, listening to the Will and began absorbing the Qi that naturally resided inside this inheritance temple.
Using that Qi, she began to build up the walls and the actual structure and stability of her Dantian, which would prevent it from collapsing.
After a few minutes of cultivating, Yin Lian had finished creating her Lower Dantian. She let out a deep breath that had been slowly building up as she made was making it.
"Hmm?" Then she noticed something odd about it. She quickly read the manual and double checked, but there was something different about it, she could tell.
"Is there something wrong?" The Will asked.
"Yeah… My Dantian feels weird. I can't quite tell how, but it doesn't seem like what is described in the manual."
"Hmm. Let me check, and while I'm at it, I'll also check the foundation level of it also." The Will then began to probe inside of Yin Lian's body once again.
After the weird feeling of having her body invaded by a foreign force, Yin Lian got her explanation.
"You have a unique variant Dantian, which is caused by your unique Physique. If you want to know what kind of Dantian it is, it's a Nine Yins Dantian. Good for the early step, but not so much later down the line."
"And as for my foundation?"
"Ah, Pure. Just like your Meridians, so no need to worry too much about that. You can take a rest for a few days if you want before we open your Middle Dantian."
"Wait, what was that about my Dantian variance being good early but not later?"
"Right, I suppose I should explain. You will have to comprehend Nine Daos to receive the most out of it. For now, you only need to comprehend three, but at some point, it will become six, and then nine. Keeping up with that many Daos is the main problem. Not to mention you'll likely comprehend other Daos also, like the dao of the Asura and a Dao for your weapon."
"O-Ohh…" She regretted asking as the prospect of what was to come in her future, however long it may be, to be extremely daunting.
*Sigh* "Just don't think about it for now. You don't have to worry your little head about it at all, okay?" The Will said reassuringly, trying to comfort the girl a little.
"O-Okay…" With that, Yin Lian then spent the rest of that day going around the halls of the inheritance before falling asleep in her sleeping spot, where she had put her pillow and blanket, which was just behind the throne.
The next morning, when she woke up, she didn't know what to do.
Her life for the past year had been filled with hatred and rigorous cultivation, and before that, she spent her days playing with the other kids in the village.
Thinking about her life before all of this, she began to cry, and began properly mourning for those she loved and had lost.