4 Volatile Energy
John is in a predicament. He doesn't have the mental strength to stay focus 24/7. After staying on high alert for a few days, he is well past his limit. Both the energy from the earth and the sun are necessary for continued growth. 'How did other plants deal with this?' John wonders.
Now with his mind failing him, John finds himself wishing for his instincts to come back and give him guidance. He feels stranded in a storm. Time continues to march on without relief. A week passes as his second bud slowly opens to the world. John is on the brink of a breakdown as his consciousness wanes. With his two leaves now open, the sun energy begins to surge into him, like a flood from a burst dam.
To deal with the increasing solar energy, he quickly grows more roots. The roots slowly expand in width and length, bringing in more earth energy. Which he then transfers to produce his stem. He is growing taller and thicker, becoming the width of a finger and is now two inches tall. This all takes about a month. It is slow going and exhausting pushing John past his limit.
However, as John experiments with his growth. He finds that his roots crave sun energy-absorbing it quicker than his earth energy. While the opposite is true for his stem and leaves. So he begins circulating both energies. This leads him to discover that both energy types have their own paths. It was much like the meridians pathways used in human cultivation.
Babump. He shudders from an internal shock. 'What was that?' John asks himself. He is terrified that his energy may be going out of control again. He quickly searches his internals to find the issue. He can feel a light thrumming from his center, where his roots and stem connect. John's senses do a quick sweep of the area. He doesn't find anything out of the ordinary at first. However, on closer inspection, he discerns a small yellow ball. 'This is?' he wonders, while mentally swallowing deeply. He can't believe it. 'It's a core!' He celebrates. Shock is the only way to describe John's current state. If he had a jaw, it'd be on the floor.
He had given up, yet somehow, he managed to form a core. It is so small that even he hadn't noticed it. 'Is this what it means to be able to cultivate, but having zero talent?' He wonders to himself. The core is so insignificant that John can't even imagine how many eons, he will need to cultivate to reach transcendence. Transcendence is when a plant can gain a human form. This is the goal of all nonhuman cultivators.
'I haven't even reached the Seed Coalescing stage, which would normally be achieved just by having a core.' John thinks, not knowing whether he should laugh or cry. 'I didn't expect plant life to be so shocking!' he exclaims internally. John feels like he is on a raft, in the rapids of a river, with no idea what lies ahead.
'In any case, my energy circulation technique seems to be stimulating my core. So I should be on the correct path.' John reasons. With this new miracle, he can now cultivate and increase his strength. New plants are also slowly growing around John. However, he no longer frets over these small competitors.
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In a different location, Elanor is inspecting her unblemished skin. She runs her hand across her bare skin making sure that there isn't the slightest blemish. She'd been playing around in the Unbroken Region battling for a treasure when an explosion ended her fun.
Elanor is a well proportioned young lady with curves where it counts. "It is unbecoming for this beauty to have scars," She complains to herself. Even though the explosion only singed her she had spent the months since the explosion treating her skin with ointments. Who would have thought that as she was fighting her enemy, there would be a massive explosion! Elanor is from the small Sunny Spring sect. As a core disciple, she is reasonably strong. So everyone was surprised when she with singed clothing.
When she told the sect master what happened. Many thought that a treasure had appeared, on the small hill in the Unbroken Region. They scrounged the whole area but found nothing of significance, much to their chagrin. After a week, they had given up returning empty-handed. "There must be something there! Whoever heard of an explosion caused by nothing," Elanor shouts at her ceiling. Determined, she clenches her fist swearing in her heart that she will discover what had happened that day.
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John, of course, has no idea he had offended this young lady. He continues his growth over the next few months accumulating five leaves and roots as thick as fingers. His core, however, has barely grown at all to his great frustration. A plant with a core has an extremely long life in comparison to a human cultivator. Now, as long as nothing happens, he can just live through the centuries without worry.
As for what type of plant he is? 'I'm probably a bush,' John decides after a lot of contemplation. Based on the way he grew, that should be the case. Having seen many plants grow during his life as a gardener, John knew the basics pretty well. He won't know any more specifics until he becomes a bit larger.
John stood about a foot tall now and is preparing to start growing branches. He probably should have done this earlier. But he wasn't sure until recently that he is a bush. In the future, these branches will be like his arms. So the foundation has to be perfect. This involves making the area denser and accumulating energy for the initial creation.
Increasing density is no easy task. John needs to grow that area without expanding a feat he never experienced as a human. It feels like doing crunches, where his stomach would feel like it was being crushed. With the passing of another month, he can clearly feel that it is summer. Sunbeams are falling down on John without restraint. 'On this day, I grow my first branch,' he thinks congratulating himself. With glee, he feels the energy he'd gathered, flow out and a small nub soon appears. 'I'm a true bush now,' John celebrates. If he had a mouth, he'd be smiling from ear to ear. Though few would agree with John if they saw this sad-looking plant. He feels very fulfilled for the first time in this life.
