Nine Spiritual Source

Seeing the two still having that confused look on their face, captain Marcus decided to explain things to them in a much simpler way.

"You just breakthrough into the first stage which is why you don't feel the difference in your body but as time goes on with the breakthroughs you will be having, you will come to notice the changes you have made".

Listen to his words, they found it reasonable after putting all they have been doing since joining the combat department from fetching water into the reservoirs to chopping off trees, they have come to realize that they have grown in strength due to the task they have been doing.

"All this while, we have already begun our training, but we thought we were just being used to work" said Alden after reasoning this.

"Thanks to the patience and endurance you both have, you manage to achieve this breakthrough. How wish you gave up halfway, you won't have achieved this. In the path of cultivation, one must learn to be patient" commented captain Marcus.

They both nodded their head to his word of wisdom and the word elder Thorne kept ringing in their head.

"The first step to take is by training the body".

"Now that we know what must be done to grow stronger, I'm ready to train my body as much as I can" said Ethan as he became motivated.

"There won't be any need for that now, Ethan. Since you have made your breakthrough into the Qi condensation realm, you need to start another training routine" replied captain Marcus.

Hearing that they won't be chopping trees or fetching water like they usually do, Ethan could not help but ask.

"Since we won't be doing all that, do you mind telling us what our new training is?".

"Now that you are barely considered a practitioner, you should be able to feel the spiritual energy around you if you focus hard enough" said Captain Marcus.

Hearing this, they both tried to feel the spiritual energy but regardless of what they did, they could not feel it and after making many attempts, they finally gave up on the idea.

"It's no use captain, we can't feel the spiritual energy, no matter how I try" said Alden as he let out a sigh.

Ethan also let out a complaint as well which brought captain Marcus to laugh at them after seeing the discouraged look on their face.

"The reason you are finding it difficult to feel the spiritual energy is because you are not relaxed. No matter how hard you try, as long as you are not fully concentrated, you won't be able to communicate with the world" captain Marcus said after laughing for a while.

"Why don't you both sit down and take a deep breath, then try to free yourself from any thought and try again" captain Marcus instructed as he sat on the ground with his two touching each other as he gave them an example?

Following his instructions, Ethan and Alden sat in the same position as captain Marcus and let out a deep breath to calm themselves before trying to clear their head of any thought. There was complete silence in the forest, with only the traveling sound of the wind and tree branches shaking could be heard.

They don't know how long they have spent in that position as they continue to meditate. After some time, captain Marcus opened his eyes as he stared at the two with a smile on his face as he continued to watch the energy flowing around them before entering their body.

After successfully sensing the spiritual energy around them, they both open their eyes almost at the same time only for them to meet captain Marcus gaze.

"You finally manage to sense the spiritual energy around us and also successfully absorb it into your bodies" said captain Marcus with a smile.

"Now that you have made a breakthrough into the Qi condensation realm, your journey doesn't end there. After the Qi condensation realm come the foundation realm and to get to this realm, you need to breakthrough the nine stages of the Qi condensation realm and to achieve this, you need to fill the nine spiritual source in your before combining them into creating a single spiritual source" captain Marcus pause to give them a look before continue with his lectures.

"Once you can create this single spiritual source, you would have made a breakthrough into the foundation realm, but I must warn you, it's not that easy to accomplishing this task since one can end their lives if an accident occurs during the merging process, so you have to be cautious when the time comes for you to take this state. Is that clear" asked Captain Marcus in a stern voice?

"Yes sir" they both replied with a nod as they took his warning to heart after hearing him say they might lose their lives in the process of merging their spiritual source.

"Good, since you understood what I just said, do you have any questions?" He asked.

"How are we supposed to fill the nine spiritual sources you spoke of, and we don't even know what that is?" Ethan took the time to ask since it's possible they won't be able to ask this question once he takes his leave.

"A good question, Now pay attention to what I'm about to say. There are nine places in your body that you can store spiritual energy just like how you fetched water in the reservoirs for future uses".

"There is a spiritual source in the upper dantian which happens to be the head, then the middle dantian which is around the heart and lower dantian located in the lower abdomen. We have two on both arms and legs then there is the base of the spine then we have the lungs" reply captain Marcus as he gave them the location of the nine spiritual sources.

"Once you have accomplished this, you can come to me or elder Thorne for further instructions on what to do alright" he added before turning around and left.