4 Foolish Cultivation

The competition continued with the large families dominating but none showing the talent that Yahui had. It had been two hours since the start of the exhibition. There had only been minor injuries so far but as the strength of the competitors increased so did the danger. With foundation energy becoming more significant. Weapons would be allowed at the ten year old level as the skill at this age should be enough to avoid injuries.

Raul was preparing for his match he knew he would be targeted as he was not well liked in general even in the family. He had chosen a cultivation art that was considered bad at best and a waste of time at worst. It caused great strife in the family but he stuck to his decision. It felt like the right path and he didn't mind the tedious nature of it. Richard his father was extremely angry he yelled at Raul for a whole week to no avail. Anabele his mother had finally stepped in but even she didn't understand why her child was being so stubborn and could only sigh.

The truth was that this cultivation art had never been practiced and was just created by some old cultivator at the end of his life. He was neither strong or well known so there wasn't any one willing to give it a shot until Raul found it covered in dust in the family library. Every one thought that Raul was a foolish kid who thought he'd found a great treasure. However there is no great power that this cultivation technique gives.

In fact it was simply named Thoughts on Cultivating Every Meridian. It was slow and meticulous forcing the user to unlock every meridian path. A completely pointless and thankless task that would only allow the user a bit of extra control. It actually ended up limiting the strength of the user as it didn't have any specific paths to unlock the innate powers of the heavens. Many would eventually take a bath with a mix of medicines to destroy blockages giving the same results making this cultivation even more pointless.

What drew Raul too this was the great feeling of unlocking new paths sometimes finding small meridian path ways he didn't even knew existed. Some couldn't even be found in books to his amazement making him feel like an explorer discovering his own body. Also it gave him an excuse to be locked away for long periods of time much to the frustration of those around him. It was also very painful as he had to endure breaking through the blockages in minor seldom used path ways. This tactic was also dangerous with a chance of permanently damaging the meridian. Where the normal medicinal route was both safe and relaxing Raul's path was excruciating and exhausting.

Raul could only laugh he didn't know why he was so driven to go down this path. It just felt perfect when he tried it. When he was forced to use other cultivation techniques it just never gave the same feeling of control over his body.

Raul knew he would not meet any expectations put on him due to his choice of cultivation. He was just slightly above average at the mid sixth stage of foundation development. The average at this age was in the fifth stage. The geniuses from the other families would already be at the high end of the seventh stage. Eighth stage was the first major bottle neck with the fifteen years old children only reaching about the tenth stage on average with the best in the mid eleventh stage. Fifteen was the cut off for the exhibition so there was no fear of power houses entering. Still he had to go on the stage and fight. It was his duty and while he didn't enjoy the trappings of politics he didn't hate his family. Now it was the time to put worries aside and fight he thought as he took his first steps towards the arena with a stern look in his eyes.