Village Elder's House

Chapter 4

Mark woke up with his head pounding, but luckily that feeling faded away quickly. He sat up and looked around what seemed to be a nice house, completely unlike his own. He was on a bed, the softness of which he had never felt before, surrounded by sturdy clean walls and nice wooden furniture in a single room, which his house only had 3. Standing up he began to wonder where he was when he remembered what happened before he passed out. 

"Am I in the Village Elders house!" He nearly shouted.

Fearing trouble, he started to immediately make his way out of the room as quickly as he could, grabbing the small bag that lay next to him with all of his stuff and made his way to the front door of the luxurious house when he heard something that made his heart drop. 

"Come sit down." A firm voice said from behind him. 

Without even looking, Mark quickly turned around and bowed, "I am sorry for interrupting the village elder, I was only confused with my cultivation…"

The Village Elder, dismissing his words, simply said, "I do not wish to repeat myself"

Hearing this Mark rushed up to a mat and sat down in front of a slightly raised platform, filled with soft carpentry, coins of a color that Mark had never seen, and what seemed to be medicine in which the Elder sat. 

"Since you've had your meridians blocked through a plant poison you must have accidentally stumbled upon in the forest, I've taken the chance to extract that from you. I must say it's a very good poison against cultivators." The Village Elder stated. 

"I was poisoned," Mark questioned.

"You wouldn't be able to tell, it does nothing harmful to a mortal and the plant is very plain, unnoticeable in a field of grass." The Village Elder replied. 

"Dismissing from that matter, you seem especially dedicated to cultivation, for you to come back to my training area." The Village Elder questioned, with a rising tone of anger in his voice. 

Mark quickly tried to dismiss it with a distracting statement, " I've been working at it for weeks, I couldn't stop there, I have to get out of this village one day and become at least stronger than anyone else in this village."

"Bold words little one, bold words" The Village Elder cackled, "I see you've got some will for cultivation. Go back to the room you woke up in and break through to the Qi Foundation Realm. Afterwards I will see your talent in cultivation. Now go!" The Village Elder said with a swish of his Sleeve.

"Yes, Village Elder." Mark replied and then got to get up but got interrupted by a quick reply from the Village Elder. 

"You don't need to say my full title every time you speak to me, you can just call me Elder Hao" The Village Elder replied. 

"Yes Elder Hao". Mark Nodded

Mark made his way back to his room, fully prepared to make the first step in the cultivation world. 

In utmost caution he took out the Foundation Breathing Manual that he now carried in a small wooden box in his bag looking it over. It carefully outlined the flow of the Qi and to absorb it towards the end of the dantian to begin the natural flow of Qi. He sat there quietly, drawing upon the Qi of the natural world. He began to build it for a couple hours, until there was simply no more room for it. Then, with all of the power he had built up and learnt so far, he forced the Qi forward.

*Snap*

In a massive snapping sound that only he could hear, he finally broke through to the Qi Foundation. He opened his eyes to see a small wind dissipating around him, his surroundings clearly disturbed. 

"Finally!" Mark exclaimed, "I've finally stepped into the world of cultivation."

In a hurry to talk to Elder Hao, Mark stood up.

"Ow!" Mark shouted, falling over from the complete numbness in his legs through sitting for that long period of time. 

Recovering, he made his way to Elder Hao. 

Lost in his thoughts, he began to think about how he should explain this to his mother. Before he could finish thinking he arrived and sat down in front of the still meditating Elder Hao.

After waiting for 15 minutes, Elder Hao finally opened his eyes and began to speak. 

"Take this spirit stone, the simplest way to determine your talent is to see your natural efficiency in absorbing Qi" Elder Hao said while handing over a deep blue stone, shining like a gem.

Receiving the spirit stone, Mark questioned what it was, "What is a spirit stone and how do I use it?"

Realizing his momentary mistake Elder Hao quickly replied, "I guess it's normal for you not to know. Well now that you've started cultivating only I can really tell you about what you need to know."

Grabbing another spirit stone from behind his back, he held it in his hand, "The World is filled with Qi, it exists everywhere, although it is invisible, cultivators can sense, and use it visibly through techniques."

Pointing to the spirit stone, Elder Hao continued, "Spirit Stones are made when the natural Qi underground builds up to a certain point and starts to affect its surroundings, nurturing and transforming normal stone to be filled with Qi and changing it completely. This takes a long time to happen though, in most areas, it takes years, decades, and sometimes centuries for stone to Spirit Stones."

Moving back to the situation at hand, Elder Hao spoke, "To absorb spirit stones you simply have to use your breathing technique that draws Qi from the world and hold the spirit stone. There should be a technique in your manual that shows how to manipulate Qi in your dantian right?"

Mark quickly took out his manual and looked. There indeed was the technique and while Mark did read the whole book, he mostly comprehended the Foundation Breathing, as he was unable to continue farther in the manual due to him not reaching Qi Condensation Foundation yet. 

Seeing the expression on Mark's face, he continued, "Move your Qi from your dantian through your meridians to your hand."

Re Remembering the technique, he took some Qi, a small amount built up in his dantian, and pushed it to his hand. 

"Now use the Qi in your hand to surround the spirit stone completely" Elder Hao guided. 

Mark nodded and began to do so, and as soon as his Qi touched the spirit stone, the spirit stone began to dissolve. Mark, not expecting this, almost lost concentration over his Qi but was firmly reminded by a sudden voice.

"Continue, this is natural." Elder Hao supported.

Continuing to refine the spirit stone he suddenly felt a influx of Qi coming back through the meridians in his hand, filling his dantian to the brink, before he couldn't hold anymore and heard a snapping sound, a little bit louder than the one he had heard when he first broke through. His dantian suddenly expanded, holding a bit more Qi than before

Opening his eyes, he only felt a bit of dust in his hand. 

"Your talent is good," Elder Hao mentioned, "You broke through to Qi Condensation 1st Realm."

Elder Hao continued, "Unluckily that will be your easiest breakthrough for your life, breaking through to higher realms will not be that easy anymore."

"What are realms?" Mark said, confused.

"While Foundation Breathing is intentionally vague, you must at least remember the later parts of the manual to contain the phrases Qi Condensation 1st and 2nd Realm? No matter, I shall explain. In cultivation a person's Qi is separated into realms. Each Major Realm has 9 minor realms, a Peak, and a Foundation. For example, Qi Condensation goes through Foundation, 1-9, and Peak Qi Condensation. Foundation means you just reached that realm and as such, are very weak for that realm and Peak meaning you are at the peak of that realm and are close to breaking through another Major realm." Elder Hao Explained.

Continuing, Elder Hao Spoke, "Each Minor Realm has more Qi Storage and Qi Usage than the last. If a Qi Condensation 1st and 2nd used the same technique, the Qi Condensation 2nd Realm would win because he used more Qi with more storage and expended less unnecessary Qi using the technique, making it more powerful. This will be the technique in most normal circumstances."

"Do I need to repeat that," Elder Hao questioned.

Taking it all in for a second, Mark shook his head. 

"Good," Elder Hao spoke, "Your talent is not bad, I've seen better but any Sect would be glad to have you to fill their ranks. At least it's better than anyone else in this village."

"I've grown bored in this tiny village and need someone to take my place in the future." Elder Hao offered, "Would you like to take my place as Village Elder in the future, whence I leave, becoming my temporary apprentice?"

Thinking about it, Mark almost immediately agreed, thinking of all the riches that Elder Hao had but before he could speak he got interrupted,

"Don't answer now, go home and think about it, with your age you would only be making an immature decision answering now. After all, while on the path of cultivation, you may attract many dangers. Although I only intend for you to stay here so you should be relatively safe." Elder Hao stated. 

With that Elder Hao motioned with his hand for him to leave.

Taking that sign, Mark got up, and walked out of the house to a dark night sky, glittering with stars, thinking about the thing he forgot momentarily, how was he going to explain this to his mom.