Extreme Physique

Raul punched forward fiercely, yet his fist stopped right before the post. A small blue wave pulsed out of his fist and bore a ring into the post.

"Yes!" He yelled out joyfully, even though the post didn't explode like he wanted it to.

In the end, it'd taken four more days for Raul to learn how to project his qi. There were endless variations in the way meridians could change qi. Never mind the number or order of meridians he ran the qi through, just the way the qi enters the same meridian can alter the resulting changes.

To make matters worse, not all changes were positive. Some were extremely harmful, one even turned Raul's qi into an acidic variation. It was only thanks to the inherent weakness of unrefined essence qi that it didn't chew through his forearm bones.

With the sheer number of variations and hazards possible, progress was mostly made through intuition. It was little wonder that those with weak qi talent took months to learn how to project their qi if self-taught.

Raul's record of six days was extremely good, even if you factored in his greater qi supply giving him more practice time.

The cheering Raul turned to Marina and said, "Did you see that!? I did it!" in elation.

"Yes, on the last day before I would've had to advise you." Her cold voice doused his enthusiasm.

"Guh, technically the first day didn't count." Raul muttered, referring to the day she passed out and their training was cut short.

"Whether you believe that is up to you." Marina's gaze was harsher than usual and caused Raul to flinch. "Keep practicing and use up the rest of your qi then come eat. Hopefully by then you'll be able to at least make a hole instead of a ring." She continued.

Marina was actually pretty satisfied with Raul's progression speed. It didn't blow her mind compared to him releasing his attribute qi on the first day, but it was still more than enough to show Raul's strong qi aptitude.

The damage to the post was also much higher than a cultivator without a qi cultivation technique or materialized meridians could normally do, showing his meridians high prowess from the foundation they'd built.

However, she'd learned by now that Raul was the type of person to get carried away by even the smallest of praise. Every time she praised him in the past he'd get sloppy and arrogant.

Conversely, if she disparaged him, his focus and vindictiveness rose. Some people were just like that, they needed to see the wall before them to give it their all.

Sure enough, Raul's eyes zeroed in on a new poor post as he went to take out his anger on it with a renewed frenzy. Within fifteen minutes he'd collapsed from qi exhaustion, but five of the posts had clear fist sized holes blown through them.

"Hmm, I suppose this is acceptable." Marina poured some qi into him. It'd take a couple hours for her to fill him up, so she put in just enough to stave off the effects of qi deprivation.

"Tch, you sure are hard to please." Raul grumbled, still angry over her previous comments. His anger fell away when she set the plate, though, only because it was consumed by the ever-present hunger he'd gotten used to throughout his training. He wolfed down the dishes while Marina watched with a hint of worry in her eyes.

She hadn't been deliberately starving Raul, she just couldn't get a grasp on how much was safe for him to eat now. She'd ruled out quantity as a factor. No matter how much she fed him he'd still be hungry if it didn't have much Nourishing Qi in it.

It became clear that the quality of the Nourishing Qi was the deciding factor, but that was a dangerous game to play.

Nourishing qi could not only affect the body, but also the dantian and meridians. Overdosing now was much more dangerous than it was when he was in his smelting period. Still, she couldn't allow his hunger to keep building like this or else it'll inevitably affect his training efficiency, she was already seeing some effects of it.

She'd already made meals that would ordinarily only be eaten by cultivators with ten or eleven meridians materialized and still had him grumbling about his hunger. That's why today she finally bit the bullet and prepared him a Grade Two meal meant for Spirit Ascension realm cultivators.

She had a soup ready that would help clear out the Nourishing Qi if need be, but even then who knows how much damage he might take before its effects would work. This meal was the one of the tensest moments of their training for her.

Raul obliviously finished the meal with a satisfied burp. So comfortable! He rubbed his belly in joy, finally feeling full for the first time in a week.

"Great meal Marina! Though I suppose that's the norm coming from you." He happily laid the praise on, his previous resentment completely forgotten.

"Hold still, I'm going to use the Pairing Hearts." Marina said seriously before walking behind him.

Raul was a little taken aback by the suddenness of it but nodded anyway. He didn't think anything of it and just assumed she was filling up his qi early.

Since his training now required actual thought, they'd usually take a moment to relax after he exhausted all his qi and chat for a bit before filling it back up. Ordinarily he might be curious about the change, but right now he was so neck deep in contentment from that meal he didn't question it.

'There doesn't seem to be any issues so far.' Marina observed the nourishing qi rushing through Raul's body. She used the Pairing Hearts instead of her abilities as a physician to avoid complications.

Physicians checked their wards conditions through injecting qi into them to get a clear view of their status. This could have disastrous consequences in a body that was already in battle from oversaturation of Nourishing Qi. With the Pairing Hearts, it was just a switch of focus with her mental energy, as if she was looking at her own body.

Although everything appeared normal, Marina didn't let her guard down because it was already abnormal for a Qi Refinement Realm cultivator to be ok after intaking that much Nourishing Qi.

Raul also observed tensely while sweat dripped from his forehead. He'd have to be a fool to not realize something was off after five minutes passed and Marina still hadn't sent in any qi. He followed her focus and also watched as the Nourishing Qi spread across his body.

It took over an hour before Marina finally realized the issue. Raul's body wasn't changing proportionally to the amount of Nourishing Qi in it, instead it was improving as if he'd eaten the lowest Grade One meal.

She closed the connection with a complicated expression. He wasn't like this before. The change only happened after he reached the qi refining realm, and she knew why.

"What is it, is something wrong with me?" Raul asked nervously.

Marina shook her head, but then she sighed and rubbed her forehead as if she was experiencing a migraine, which only made Raul's anxiety worsen.

"You have an Extreme Physique." Marina finally said tiredly.

"What?" Raul asked in complete confusion.

"That tenth physique that took root inside you, the one I didn't plan, it's an Extreme Physique." Marina explained. It was only upon seeing the question marks still above his head that her burdened mind remembered who she was talking to.

"An Extreme Physique is an unusually powerful physiques, whether created or innate. Most of the stories you've heard about physiques are probably about people who had Extreme Physiques."

Raul's worries were immediately washed away by his excitement. That meant he had a physique on the level of the Abyssal Ocean, Heavenly Eight Mountains, and True King Physiques!

"Don't get excited." Marina cut him off before he could express his joy. "Unlike regular physiques, an extreme physique isn't always good news. Regular physiques have no effect during the germination period and might disappear if they don't manifest, but Extreme Physiques always have negative effects on a cultivator while dormant. Worse yet, they won't vanish. A cultivator either has to manifest the physique fully or deal with the negative effect for life." She couldn't help but rub her head again as she felt a headache coming on.

"Frankly the number of cultivators who've lived their whole life burdened by an unmanifested Extreme Physique is more than those who've successfully manifested it, and that's even if you include those big families who depend on their signature Extreme Physiques and know exactly how to manifest it."

Raul's face changed to shock when he heard this. He was already behind and now he got an extra handicap. What kind of fate is this? Still, even though he wasn't happy to hear about this inconvenience, he was still kinda happy to know he had an Extreme Physique.

From what Marina said, it'd only be a problem so long as it didn't manifest. Raul's unwarranted confidence made him feel like it manifesting was just a matter of time, and once it did he'd become much stronger. This was a chance!

Besides, even if it didn't manifest, the penalty wasn't so bad. He just needed to eat a bit more and he'd be fine. When he thought about it like that, he was actually worried that his physique might not be so strong since the drawback was so minor.

If Marina heard what he was thinking she might seriously start beating him to death. She and he shared the same cultivation realm, that meant she'd have to keep making food a realm higher than her cultivation to keep him satisfied. It was exhausting!

On top of that he only received benefits equivalent to a grade one meal despite her having to use grade two ingredients or rarer grade one ingredients. Their finances just took a huge hit!

If it was just that she could accept it, but the bigger issue is that they didn't know how bad it could get. She'd been feeding him meals three times a day with more and more nurturing qi the past few days, yet his hunger was still at a level where it would distract him, who knew where it would reach if he didn't eat at all?

Cultivators felt hunger, but they could subsist on their qi if need be. But Raul might not have that option anymore. Depending on how severe it got he might still need to eat to live. His survivability in the wild just took a huge toll!

And the icing on the cake was that it needed to be immortal cooking. For most cultivators, immortal cooking was a luxury. Even someone of Tai's status didn't eat immortal cooking every day, yet now Raul might need it as a necessity. His Extreme Physique might have turned him into someone who couldn't survive without an immortal chef nearby. His autonomy was totaled!

She had to think about how she'd space out her cash for the next three months, make a new list of ingredients for Tai to get, and come up with a way to explain to him how she's not trying to kill his best friend by feeding him Grade Two ingredients. If her head wasn't too filled with problems to see his relaxed face, she would've called an improv combat training as an excuse to throttle him.

She sighed again helplessly. "We'll just have to deal with it and hope we can make it manifest. Hold still, I'll restore your qi so you can continue practicing." Marina put her hand on Raul's back in resignation. Now that it was here, there was nothing she could do about it.

She'd have to search around and see if she can find any clues to the identity of this physique. It'd be much easier to deal with if she could figure out its properties. Either way, it was far too late to back out now. If she wanted her justice, then her only choice was to forge Raul into a sharp blade.