Chapter 1 - Beginnings
Li Kang was having an extraordinarily bad day. Scratch that, more like an extraordinarily bad life. He was a low ranking member of the Li Clan, an un-prestigious clan residing in the Gulong Region, an un-notable region. The Gulong region was one of several regions encompassing the Wang Mountain Range, a low and weak mountain range. The Wang Mountain Range ran along the eastern coastline of the continent of Jangchi, the least powerful and least wealthy continent on the planet.
If this wasn't bad enough, Li Kang was a personal failure as well. Today he had failed to meet the preliminary requirements for his spirit summoning, with the Li Clan Elders declaring that his ki was so unsuitable for a martial spirit that it would be suicide to allow him to attempt the trial. At 17 years old, his life was as good as over. In a world where power ruled over all else, any who failed to bond a martial spirit were resigned forever to be the dregs of society.
Martial spirits were the basis of all power, formed from fragments of the past. Most commonly they were shards of a powerful individual's spirit, although sometimes they were residual traces of power leftover from a groundbreaking event or battle. After a particularly powerful martial artist, warrior, ruler, poet, philosopher, or anyone with the ability to make an impact on the lives of others died, some part of their spirit lingered on: their memories, their powers, their personalities. Left adrift in the mortal plane, these fragments eventually developed into separate entities called martial spirits.
This was the way to power. After a cultivator had cycled ki through their meridians and gained enough power to rise through all 5 levels of the initial Bone Tempering stage and reach the Meridian Crystallization stage, a powerful martial spirit could be bonded. By bonding a martial spirit and integrating it into your ki channels and meridians, you could increase the authority that you wielded. Depending on the spirit, sometimes you would gain powers, abilities, and expertise beyond what you yourself had accomplished, although most martial spirits just offered an increase in ki power and one or two special abilities. Without bonding a martial spirit, Li Kang would be afforded none of these advantages, and would never be able to advance in the clan.
Of course, this was not a path that everyone could travel. Martial spirits came in many varieties, strong and weak. Though many cultivators in his clan would never reach higher than the third level of the bone tempering phase, everyone important in the clan was at the meridian crystallization level.
Li Kang was not even at the first stage of the bone tempering phase. With his low ki levels, he had always been a step behind his peers. He worked twice as hard at mastering martial arts, and at strength and conditioning, only to always find himself on the back foot. Time and time again he was beat down, even by his juniors. After all, with a low ki level and weak meridians he didn't stand a chance in a fight against a more powerful cultivator, no matter how strong, fast, or skilled he became. Even a level two bone tempering cultivator was millions of miles ahead of him. It was truly the difference between heaven and earth.
With these depressing thoughts running through his head, Li Kang walked away from the Clan Hall where the testing had taken place. The image of his grandfather's disappointed face staring down at him from the Elders' council was too much for him to take. His grandfather had not even been able to meet his eyes, and simply made a hand gesture to indicate that he was to leave. Li Kang had walked out in shame.
In spite of his personal tragedy, it was a beautiful day in the Li Village. The artfully constructed wooden pagodas were freshly painted for the Summer Festival, and cherry blossoms floated in the breeze. He made his way over the wide wooden bridge that forded the Wang River and walked towards the village gate.
As soon as he passed the gate, he took off at a brisk run up the mountain, leaving the village behind. "It's like I'm the worst guy in the worst clan in the worst village in the worst country on the worst continent," he muttered to himself as he ran.
Li Kang liked to run in the mountains and nothing cleared his mind better than exercise. The cool mountain air chilled him as sweat ran down his sides and back, his light tunic sticking to his skin. After he'd run a few miles, he stopped to take a drink from a cool mountain stream. He knew there wouldn't be anyone out here at this time of day so he would be able to get some peace and quiet. Most of the village would be attending to domestic chores or training in the dojo.
I've got to bind a martial spirit, he thought. There was no other path to become stronger in this world, and he wasn't ready to give up just yet. The elder had claimed that his ki was too unstable to support a martial spirit, but there had to be a way around that. He contemplated his options. One thing was clear. No matter what he did, he would be on his own during the binding ritual.
Typically, when the clan sponsored a promising member of the clan's martial spirit binding, the entire clan would rally to assist with the ritual. The martial spirit to be bound would be captured in advance by seasoned spirit hunters and all preparations would be made on the day to ensure that the merging went smoothly.
To begin the ritual, the candidate stands in a shallow stream, as running water weakens the spirit, and the clan warriors form a circle. Then the spirit hunters release the martial spirit into the ring. The candidate takes a stasis concoction brewed by clan alchemists to open their ki channels to the martial spirit, while the clan warriors erect a repelling barrier so that the spirit cannot escape. Then, the candidate draws the martial spirit into their ki channels and smooths the spirit into their ki. Once it is finished, the candidate becomes a martial spirit wielder and is welcomed into the clan's elite.
Li Kang would not have any of those advantages. He would have to find a suitable marital spirit and bond it the old fashioned way, the way that the original martial spirit wielders did thousands of years ago. The warnings of the clan elders made him all the more nervous about the prospect, but he had no other choice. He made his resolve firm and began his run back to the village. He had spent many hours in the world renowned Li Clan Library (the only notable institution in the region) and done some research on the best ancient spirit integration techniques but many of the non-restricted scrolls that mentioned these did so only in passing. It would be too much to expect to find a step by step manual for an ancient ritual that hadn't been practiced in over a thousand years. I'll sleep on it and begin my journey tomorrow morning, he thought.
He made it back to village at dusk, under an hour till they would close the village gates. Weaving his way through the darkened village, he found his family's house and slipped in through the back door. As he crept towards the communal bedroom where his sister and two brothers were sleeping he suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder. It was his grandfather. Li Kang bowed. "Honored one, apologies for returning so late. I did not notice the time while I was out exercising."
"I don't want to hear your excuses Kang!" His grandfather thundered with rage. Li Kang flinched as if he'd been slapped.
"You are no longer a member of this family, no longer a member of the Li Clan! You are weak! I cannot believe that my wastrel of a son could have somehow had a son worse than he himself. Why couldn't you be more like your brother Kong? His Light affinity and stable ki will make him a martial spirit wielder before he is 20!" Li Kang was in shock as the old man continued. "Weak! Useless! Pathetic! You will dwell no more under this roof and you will live no more in this village. Unsuitable for a spirit, unsuited to life on Jangchi. I'm ashamed to have it come to this but you must leave." He shoved Kang backwards and slapped a pouch of coins into his hand. "Take these and go drink yourself to death like your father."
Li Kang turned around and staggered out of his house. Tears stung his eyes. Compare me to my father! At least my father was able to bond a martial spirit. Maybe the old man is right about me, he thought. Gripping the pouch of coins in one hand he walked in a daze, not paying attention to where he was going. Bright lights filled his vision. He'd made it to the outskirts of the village, to the town tavern. Figures, he thought, his grandfather's words echoing in his head. A tall and well muscled man staggered out of the door and hurled the entire contents of his stomach on the tavern steps, his face flushed bright red with drink. The man rose unsteadily and wiped his mouth on the corner of his shirt as he looked over at Li Kang, the light of recognition coming over his face.
"Son, it's been too long! Come have a drink with me!"