A New Path

The white-haired old man spoke slowly, "Hello, Meng Tian. I am Martial Wargod Feng Hu. When Ren Xiyang sent me your details, I was a bit intrigued. So I sent Han Yufei to come and see if you were worthy of being taught... But I didn't expect you to have already become a Martial Apprentice."

"This is a great gift that the Heavens have bestowed upon us. Although there are people out there with much better talents, a flawless body progresses much faster in cultivation and maybe even surpass the world limits."

Meng Tian was instantly captured by the words 'cultivation' and 'world limits'. He had thought about the power system of this world for the past few days. From the information available, he knew that it was related to the absorption of the unique radiation in this changing world.

But now that he heard the term cultivation, his heartbeat increased a little. His 'System' that was connected to his soul did not show any information on cultivation or these Martial levels. So, he was a bit worried if he could even practice this world's cultivation..

His water talent helped him interact with the elemental energy around but could not use it to train his body. And this talk of world limits looked like too far a dream, even for the old man. Too many thoughts flooded his mind and he chose to just ignore them for the time being.

Wargod Feng Hu was observing Meng Tian very closely and from his reactions, he could infer the underlying excitement tinged with worry.

"Hahaha... Don't worry too much about things, Meng Tian. Becoming a Martial Apprentice means that you have met the minimum requirements to start cultivating. Your talent and body will help you progress many times faster than the ones at your level. You can join any college in the capital and continue your training there. Or you can become my personal disciple where I will provide you with the resources and techniques required for you to continue on this path. Now, make your decision."

Principal Ren and General Han were stunned by their Master's words. They expected him to nurture Meng Tian by providing him some resources in the beginning to become a Martial Warrior. Upon which, he would maybe take him in as a disciple. They did not expect him to straight away give Meng Tian the choice of becoming his personal disciple. Many would die of jealousy if they knew about this situation.

Meng Tian did not know how great an opportunity came knocking on his door. But he was sure that following this old man would help him with his lack of resources. And somehow he felt like the old man was favoring him much better than it probably should be. So, he did not even hesitate to bow, "Disciple Meng Tian greets you, Master."

Wargod Feng Hu was delighted by the response, "Xiao Tian, from today, you shall be my fourth and final disciple. I, Feng Hu, will pour all my efforts to nurture you. I only have two conditions for my disciple. You are not to use your power for evil, I will crush your soul with my own hands if that happens. You are to protect humanity from the calamities they face, even in the face of death. Remember, the tree that forgot its roots will soon wither and die."

He threw a small black ring towards Meng Tian and said, "Alright, you don't need to follow me as of now. This spatial ring contains the initial breathing technique for a Martial Apprentice and the Intermediate Sword Technique manual. It also has some recovery serums to assist your training."

"Finally, there is also a jade token inside which you can use to contact me in case of any mortal danger. Ren Xiyang will guide you during the initial stages of cultivation. Xiao Tian, remember... You should never be afraid to push your limits."

When Meng Tian heard the last words, he could feel a strong emotion rise in his heart. He did not understand what it meant, but he etched it deep in his mind. When he wanted to ask about cultivation and the power levels, he found that his Master had already long since disappeared along with General Han. He felt his surroundings change again and he also disappeared along with Principal Ren.

The only one left in the gym was Teacher Tiao. She did not remember anything that had happened in the gym after Meng Tian had completed his three fitness tests. She just knew that all the others vanished suddenly from the testing area. She just sighed and walked back to her office.

Principal Ren was smiling widely and called out, "Junior Brother Meng Tian, I didn't expect Master to accept you as his disciple right on the first meeting. Hahaha... You can call me Big Brother Ren. Before anything else, let's bind your ring."

Meng Tian just experienced a change of location and immediately a second later, a dagger pricked his right index finger. He could not even feel the danger coming until he was already hit.

"Common, go ahead and drip a drop of blood onto the ring and you will be able to feel a sort of a mental connection to it. You'll then be able to use it to store and retrieve items as you wish. This ring is made up of a special metal found in the deepest parts of a volcano and requires special procedures to manufacture, so it is very rare and you better not lose it. Although the size of the ring is small, the space inside should measure about a cube of 10 meters in length."

Only now did Meng Tian get his bearings straight and followed as instructed. He immediately felt like the ring to be a part of himself. He saw an image that looked like a small metallic room with some things inside. With but a thought, he took out a recovery serum from the pile inside and was surprised by the ease of operation of the ring.

Meng Tian was about to put it back inside the ring, but he felt two connections in his mind to where the serum could be stored in. He was surprised and checked what the other destination connected to his mind was. It was none other than the consciousness space inside his mind.

He was ecstatic, now he could keep things extremely safe inside his own space in his body and didn't need any expensive rings. It has a much larger space as well, the extent of which even he didn't yet know.

Once Principal Ren saw that Meng Tian understood how to bind and operate the ring, he waved his hand and an image of a man sitting in meditation appeared in thin air. This looked like some kind of holographic projection technology but it was done with just the wave of a hand. The elemental energy around them was manipulated to create this phenomenon.

"Junior brother Meng, let me first explain the process of cultivation. It is a technique designed to absorb the elemental energy around you and using your mind to guide it through a series of mystical pathways inside your body to reach the dantian below your navel region."

"These pathways, called Meridians, are invisible to the naked eye and can only be felt by your mind. Once you are able to guide a strand of elemental energy into your dantian, you have completed the first step."

As he was explaining everything, the process was enacted by the human shape in the air. Once the strand of energy reached the dantian, it was guided through the meridians again. But this time it went through a specific path, travelling through the chest, arms, hands, back, legs, feet and finally reached the dantian again. This was one single circulation.

Meng Tian was fascinated by the process, but he saw another image pop up in the air which was not created by Principal Ren.

[Qi Cultivation Experience +10]