19 Qi Thread

It's been three months since Ye Xiu had visited the City Lord's residence where he had spoken of his trauma to his friend, Xiao Tu. Xiao Tu's comforting brought Ye Xiu's uneasy mind to a rest. The weapon training had gone well with Ye Xiu gaining some advice from Xiao San about sword-wielding. He had noticed that Xiao San was proficient in the use of a variety of different swords so he had abused Xiao San's knowledge for an advantage. From Xiao San, he had learnt the foundations and basics of sword-wielding.

Even though he had learnt the basics, he would've needed to spend more time refining his foundation and basics. This was because practising a technique once doesn't make one a master at it. The training was passed over to Yu Er because she was also skilled in the use of swords.

Xiao Tu had chosen to learn to use the quarterstaff. Nobody else was able to use the quarterstaff so he had more trouble learning the basics. Mei Ling stepped in to help with training because the quarterstaff had some similarities in it's fighting style with the spear. With that, his training went smoother but he was still very rough with his movements.

After the few days spent at Xiao Tu's residence, Ye Xiu returned back to his own home and began his study of the book that Lao Lan had given to him. Besides looking at the book Lao Lan had given him, he had also looked at several other references from the other books that he had from the library.

He had noticed that the books on herbs and plants in the library were much more extensive compared to the one he had received. He had probably guessed that it was either that the herb book that Lao Lan had given to him had only listed things for the Outer Region.

The memorisation felt slow to him because he was trying to remember information from multiple books at the same time. Ye Xiu could've had the information transmitted into his mind with the ones found in the library but he felt that it was best not to. One, he didn't know if the amount of information being transmitted at one moment would hurt or not.

Secondly, he didn't want to just know the information. He needed to be able to comprehend each of the things being said in the book and be able to use them to accurately form conjectures for combinations of effects from questions that Lao Lan would likely ask.

He also knew that he wouldn't be able to simply get through with just reading books on the effects of herbs and plants. Because of this, Ye Xiu had looked through the locket's library for books describing the reactions and effects of certain herbs when placed together and how you can use a plant's known effects together with another to cancel or balance each other out.

Even with an eidetic memory, it would still take time for a person to comprehend that information after absorbing it and the same could be said for Ye Xiu. Even with his memory, his brain's capacity for understanding and comprehension had a limit to its speed. However, his speed for comprehension certainly increased as he practised the Phoenix's Technique which led to him observing the effects of utilising the Phoenix's Technique long-term.

Ye Xiu found the subject that he was learning about was certainly interesting. He knew that in his previous life, there definitely wasn't such extensive research placed into every single herb and plant to observe the effects. Mainly due to the fact that most of the plants in his previous world simply had no effects to be used in medicine.

After his three months of perusal of the subject, he decided that he had learnt enough to satisfy Lao Lan and to begin his next phase of training in the Medical Arts. He was interested in the way to form Qi Threads because it had sounded similar to a technique that he had seen in an anime that he had watched.

He made his way to the Medical Hall during the afternoon after he had finished his training. He was walking towards the building when he saw Lao Lan walking out of it. He approached him before he could get any further, "Are you going anywhere, Lao Lan? I've finished memorising the book that you've given me."

Lao Lan's eyebrows shot up to his forehead, "You have? Well, I'll be the judge of that. Let us get back inside. I'll do whatever I have to do later anyway. I'm sure they won't mind me being late, after all, I'm late all the time." He started to laugh with his statement.

"I'll test your basics and memorisation of the herbs first. What is the most effective and careful manner of harvesting the Midnight Eclipse petals?"

"The best way to collect the petals is to harvest them during the lunar eclipse when it is midnight. To extract them from the plant, it is best for a person to form a Hand, made out of neutral qi so that the petals aren't affected by it." Ye Xiu answered him quickly.

The question grilling on basics continued on for 10 minutes before Lao Lan was satisfied. "Since you are able to at least memorise the book, I'd like to ask you a question based on something that wasn't in the book. If you were truly interested in the Medical Arts, then you would've gone to go look for extra information instead of just following my instructions. Here's the question, if you add Lamenting Root whilst it is burning together with Frosty vine leaf, what are the effects?"

Ye Xiu thought for a moment, recalling the effects of the individual parts before answering. "The Lamenting Root's melancholy inducing effect would be neutralised when it is being burnt, the Frosty Vine Leaf is to stabilise the temperature and to enhance the effect of the nightmare inducement from the Root. This would mainly be used in things for giving nightmares to enemies or for helping others and to reduce any emotions of feeling sadness or regret from the nightmare."

"That's correct but there's something you didn't mention. The reason why people use that combination to help others using nightmares is to bring forth their Inner Demons and to reduce any type of sadness when encountering it. Inner Demons feed upon your negative emotions." Lao Lan added. "You've passed my test so I can begin to teach you the method for creating Qi Threads."

Lao Lan beckoned for Ye Xiu to sit down on the floor before he took out several pieces of paper and laid them in between the two of them. "I'm going to show you the basics of training your Qi Control." He formed a single visible thread coming out from his finger, "I'm going to use this thread to poke a hole into this paper right here." A small hole was present after the Qi Thread had disappeared.

"It may look simple but it isn't, what I've done here is control the thread's accuracy and the force used in the puncturing. Use too much force and you'd unintentionally create a bigger hole because of the Qi ripping through the fragile paper. The accuracy of the Qi Thread is also important because you are calculating the movement of the thread when it is affected or not affected by an environment. If you can't even control the threads, how would you be able to control your Qi to not rampage through a person's body when healing them?"

"Now to begin forming a Qi thread is simple. All you have to do is push the Qi out of your finger and imagine a single thread of string being formed with that Qi. I don't expect you to get the formation of the threads on the first try because when you first start out, the guidance of your Qi to a single point in your body is difficult."

"I want you to come back every day so we can check your progress. If you're able to puncture a hole into the paper like I have, then it'll be time for you to move onto two threads doing the exercise at the same time. This'll continue until you're able to control 10 threads for the exercise."

"There are many other ways to improve Qi Control; such as making your Qi Threads invisible and to shift differently coloured sand into quadrants. These methods are still a long way before you can achieve mastery so you don't have to worry about them for now."

Lao Lan concluded his explanation before shoo-ing Ye Xiu away from the Medical Hall so he could get to his meeting.

Ye Xiu went back home to try the exercise Lao Lan had set for him. He managed to guide the Qi towards his finger but was unable to force it out of his body. He tried several times but failing before he decided that instead of having the Qi extend from the outside of his finger, he would keep it connected to Qi channels inside his body.

The new method worked out and Ye Xiu was able to form a single thread on his finger. He took out the pieces of paper that his mentor had given him and tried to poke a hole through it. The thread kept flopping uselessly against the paper unable to penetrate it. He decided to put more qi into the thread and used his Qi Thread to stab a hole. The hole was much bigger than he wanted.

He continued to do the exercise until it was time for him to begin his evening training. He had noticed that the exercise that he did had slightly increased the cultivation speed of his Phoenix Technique. What was interesting to him was that his Mental strength had affected the speed his exercise had progressed. He was able to move the thread with ease the more his Mental strength had increased.

The busy day ended for Ye Xiu.