Breakthrough

Chapter 3

Mark sat down back home, sweaty from the intense sprint, looking at the Foundation Breathing book, and managed to read it more in depth, taking the advice from the Village Elder to heart. He found, after much difficulty, that he had yet to fully read the book and started working on reading it all. After his mother confronted him about his injuries and addressed them he continued reading. He read so much his head hurt constantly but yet didn't stop. Finally, after 1 month he barely grasped what the 1st part of the book said, he couldn't continue any further without the first part, doing the most difficult thing he had done in his life. The first part of the book gave a basic description of the meridians, showing how to flow them through effectively, being hard to interpret, and needing a lot of memory and precision. Luckily, the 1st part of the book took up 2/3rd of it total, meaning the remaining part was not as complicated, at least he hoped. 

He worked up the courage to test out the knowledge he had just spent a long time learning and started breathing sitting in the specific way highlighted by the manual as well with some new knowledge of how the technique worked, pulling in Qi from the world. He sat there in silence for a whole hour, only the sound of the occasional creak from his old house and the steady pacing of his breathing.

After a while, when all of his thoughts faded away, he finally managed to grasp something from the breathing technique. He felt and translucently imagined inside himself a golden tiny wisp of Qi, a gas like substance.

"Yes!" He shouted, although hastily resettled himself quietly when he realized the feeling he had was going away. 

"According to the manual, this should be Qi" Mark thought, "I now have to imagine the qi flowing through my body from an organ called the dantian through the rest of my body and returning to the dantian."

Mark then proceeded to guide the small wisp of Qi, but to his dismay, it faded before it even started moving. While Mark was very saddened he remembered the lesson that The Village Elder had tried to teach him, that cultivation was not that simple, and this should take a while. While he was out of time as the sky was dark, he made up his mind to try tomorrow.

And that was what he did, he continued to practice Foundation Breathing according to the manual for days, slowly getting better each time, the wisp of Qi finally began to move and it moved further and further along his meridians, points in the body that circulated Qi, at least according to the manual, and was just inches away from fully circulating his Qi once. But he simply could not grasp the next step. He tried for 2 weeks, spending as much as he could aside from his normal chores, but could not take the next step. 

"This doesn't make sense, it should make a full loop without difficulty according to the manual."

Not wishing to discard the cultivation path yet with seeing how much power the Village Elder had, he decided to make his way back to the forest, putting away his fear, in hopes that the Village Elder could guide him.

He made his way back to the forest back to the spot that the Village Elder was at and was amazed to find a gold glowing dome covering the part of the forest that the Village Elder was training. Mark didn't seem to find himself in any danger so he tried to inspect the golden dome but to his dismay it was simply solid with no openings, and sturdier than solid rock. Assuming this couldn't be here forever he simply sat down and waited for something to happen. Very surprised, he suddenly felt a wisp of Qi, even though he wasn't using the technique. He then sat down in increased focus and tried to circulate the sudden abundance of Qi that he found himself in and managed to circulate any further and wouldn't return itself to his dantian, no matter how much he tried to force it. The Qi continued to build up at his dantian wall until he heard a voice.

"What are you doing out here, child, I thought I told you to go away!" The Village Elder walked over. 

Mark went to reply but immediately realized that as soon as he began to move that the Qi he built up was starting to try to run rampant and escape his control. 

Mark stayed quiet for a second before he felt a chill run through his body.

"That's a little weird" The Village Elder muttered as his face shifted from annoyance to an expression of thinking. 

Putting his hand on Mark's head he continued, "There shouldn't be a blocker there".

Mark then felt an excruciating pain in his head, his Qi dissipated, and immediately fell unconscious. 

"What a mess" The Village Elder said, shaking his head.