Emotional Growth

That night, Jack snuck out of the window as per his usual routine and went to a clearing he had made his own for the last few months. First, he checked that the concealment formation he'd placed was still working as it was supposed to. When he'd first placed the formation, Jack had been overly disappointed at the poor quality of materials at his disposal but he could only make do with what he had.

In the end, his array formation was still superior in quality than what the Church had shown. Only an array master with extremely discerning eyes would be able to find traces of it if they weren't actively looking for it. Either that, or martial artist at least at the Established realm.

After he was satisfied that the array was functioning properly, Jack examined the clearing for any signs that anyone had stumbled on the place. The clearing was small, merely a few feet wide in diameter. Jack had placed a large boulder in the very middle of it to act as his seat for when he meditated; and he also used it as a makeshift punching bag, evidenced by the large amount of fist and feet marks all over its surface.

Jack made his way onto the boulder and sat cross-legged upon it. The events of this day had left his mind in a slight turmoil and, as such, he still hadn't cultivated his body. It was never wise to cultivate with a poor mental state. His mind wasn't in turmoil because of the results of his test; after all, he didn't care about it in the slightest nor did he think the results were accurate in the least.

No, he was affected by the degree of concern that Ichabod and the rest had shown him. Usually, when a family discovered that they had a cripple for a son or daughter, they would be ostracised from that moment onwards. The world was full of such stories. And, in fact, the local orphanage was full of similarly discarded children because of their lack of martial talent.

In a world where martial prowess reigned supreme, a lack of martial talent was tantamount to a death sentence. Most families didn't want the burden of having to take care of a martial cripple that could easily be killed by even a low-level martial artist.

Ichabod, however, had thrown that idea far away and tossed normality aside. He had taken upon himself to take care of Jack as his own son even if he was a cripple. Just the fact of him gifting the blood ginseng to Jack without a second thought highlighted the depth of his feelings for Jack.

This was what had left Jack shaken and, frankly, somewhat confused. He was confused because he didn't know how to respond to such a selfless degree of care and affection; he simply couldn't make heads or tails of it! And so, he had come to this clearing to meditate and hopefully grasp a solution to his predicament.

Under the full moon, Jack closed his eyes, closed off his spiritual sense, and only concentrated on breathing in and out. He let his sense of sight disappear and gave control to his other senses. He felt the cool night breeze gently caress his skin, the smell of damp grass enter his nose, the gentle melody of the wind rustling the leaves take him, the taste of the nightly humidity into his mouth.

There he sat, until he lost track of time and something mystical happened.

The moon was full and ripe, silver light glittered on star-shaped leaves with hair-fine fronds like threads of silk, and night-blooming ladies of the night rendered the clearing a magical natural wonderland.

A random passer-by might catch the scent of far distant lands on the wind. Only hints, to be sure, but such hints! A bouquet of desert spices, sun-baked stone, and salt from the crests of racing waves, mingled with the evergreen sap-scent of highland firs. Such a turn of phrase overly whimsical, words that might tumble from the lips of a hopeless romantic, or a lovelorn poet, but true word nevertheless.

At some point, a faint stirring of the foliage brought him back from his meditative state. A small garden snake was crossing the clearing, without a care in the world. It was crawling in front of Jack, probably in search of something to eat. Whatever the case, it was nonchalantly going about its own business.

However, Jack was surprised with himself.

He hadn't struck out with the intent to annihilate the snake the moment he heard it. He hadn't pounced up in a defensive position, nor had he rushed forward to find a more advantageous position.

This wasn't like his usual self.

In the planes and perpetual infighting of the Abyss, this would have been the equivalent to dying. Such hesitation before acting was completely unacceptable down there. And Jack had thrived in that environment for eight thousand years; always fighting, always killing, forever on the move, constantly alert.

And now, in that clearing, he reverted back into a state that was… familiar… yet distant… like a once forgotten memory trying to come up to the surface of his mind; but if he tried to concentrate too hard on it, it left him.

A mirage on the water.

Tranquillity.

Calmness.

Quiet.

The feelings that a normal child should experience; not the brutality of death.

This left Jack somewhat baffled. He'd spent so long fully immersed in slaughter that this was an alien sensation. He didn't know how to adapt to these changes. In a sense, he was completely out of his comfort zone, far outside it.

These changes, understandably, had left him dazed and confused; his heart and mind were in turmoil. But what was he to do? If it was an enemy in front of him, he would know what to do and how to act. But it wasn't an enemy before him, it was his own family and his inability to adapt to their care and affection troubling him.

Ultimately, he had taken the Hare's family heirloom without needing it, effectively decimating Ichabod's wealth. And he didn't even need the blood ginseng!

For the first time, in a very long time, Jack felt guilty.

He felt guilty because of his actions which, albeit unintentionally, had been incredibly selfish. Faced with the selfless abnegation and the total love of Ichabod, Jack felt like he'd betrayed the man's kindness and good faith.

He needed to change. He needed to adapt.

Jack needed to fully integrate with this world and his family.

The snake paused for a moment and turned to look at Jack, almost as if it were aware of the great storm raging his heart. In the instant their eyes crossed, Jack saw his own reflection; both as he was and how he had been; the past blue eyed devil of slaughter and destruction, and the present child of the Hare family. The two images imposed themselves over each other, each fighting for supremacy over the other; like two wolves thriving for the position of the alpha.

Like the long-forgotten story of the two wolves, often told over a campfire, Jack understood that he had to choose which one of the wolves to feed and give strength. He had finally become the master of his own fate; not Belial, not the Abyss, not the world leaders who'd sentenced him to death because he carried out their dirty deeds.

He, Jack, was the sole master of his life.

As the realisation dawned on him, he felt an invisible barrier in his mind break apart and all the energy within the ring came rushing into his body, breaking his meridians completely in a single wave of almost unbearable agony, but also beginning their reconstruction. The vast qi he managed to absorb from the Church's array was fully used up in this process and there was nothing more left in the ring.

Next came the medicinal energy of the blood ginseng, which Jack had carefully stored up in his dantian. With his recent breakthrough, the energy exploded and was sent coursing to every single cell of his meridians, imbuing them with healing power driven in accordance with the principles of the Harmony of Everything.

Jack's meridians began reconstructing bit by bit, filling his body with a strange tingling feeling wherever the energy passed; a pleasurable itching sensation that signalled growth. Wherever the meridians were rebuilt, they became both thrice as wide and incredibly flexible, like unbreakable pipes that could have an ocean flow through them.

However, even the fantastic healing properties of the rich blood ginseng weren't full enough to completely finish the reconstruction process of his meridians. There were still a few scattered portions resisting the process. This was a terrible fact, because Jack knew that if he didn't complete the process at this time, there was a high risk that there would be some hidden injuries left in those segments which would ultimately halt his cultivation down the line.

Jack concentrated to the utmost and focused on absorbing as much qi from the environment as he could.

Instantly, a vortex of energy appeared on top of him as the qi in a half-mile radius funnelled itself into the dragon ring, was filtered, and blasted into his body with the fury of a hundred roaring dragons. This was the final push he needed to finish taking this step in his cultivation!

The pure qi merged into the last few segments of his meridians and completed the process of remoulding his body into the peak state to practice the Harmony of Everything!

Due to his excitement, Jack leapt up six feet into the air and released a deafening roar within which were all the pent-up grievances of his past life.

In that moment, Jack decided that would come to pass, would come. And when it did, he'd face it with a fury that would make gods weep and demons cower. In this lifetime of his, he'd live to the fullest!