Chapter 9: Demon Mirror, Imbalance

I looked at him for a moment As I let what he said sink in.

/is it really fine to refine chakra now?/ I wondered, a little hesitant. When I turned four, Hak-Or had offered to teach me when I reached my fourth birthday, but I had put it off.

It's not like I didn't want to learn, it's just that I wanted to learn what limits my body can take me before learning, and through these three years of training, that's pretty far.

But it's not enough, I have plans, big plans! Even though we perform the same training, Akane and Akiko are way ahead in terms of prowess with the use of Chakra.

And no matter how much effort I put into martial arts, I have to admit. I have little to no actual knowledge of how to perform anything superhuman besides fantasy understandings from novels, comics, and games from my past life.

Otherwise, I can only build up my martial arts proficiency and my physical prowess. Something that I can only build a firm and strong foundation over years of hard work and experience, even though my biological potential is leagues ahead of my past life. Others have even more potential, stronger resources, and a different level of status.

If I want to play with the big dogs, then it's time to join their weight class. Even if there are some problems with Chakra according to some content creators in my last life, I'll just learn sage mode, I already had Nature energy down, how hard can It be?

"Yes! It's the time! Can you teach me, Grandpa?" I accepted and half bowed to my grandfather.

"Yes, in fact, we can do both at the same time. This particular Yokai can help us settle our curiosity about this Tulpa of yours and create a suitable environment for your first refinement." Grandpa Ryū smiled with a nod.

/Let's see what happens when this brat who has enough combat prowess to fight two geniuses who have refined chakra from a young age and create his own Taijustu technique can do when he refines chakra. What kind of evil-doer will that create?/ Grandpa Ryū murmured silently in his mind

As they retraced back into the mountain, they passed the Cleansing Pool and wandered deeper into the mountain.

When they came to a large carven, like most of the underground passage, was covered in a large array of fluorescent crystals but this time even more so in variety. Red, violet, blue, a whole spectrum of lights sprouted from every direction I'm glad I wasn't prone to seizures!

This place is almost five times the size of the Cleansing pool, covered in a large arrangement of stone doors that led to an unknown area.

"How long did it take to build this place? It's just too big! Does it cover the entire mountain?!" Akiko asked, this was something I was curious about as well so I looked at Grandma for confirmation.

"Hehe, the Ida mountains are one of the largest mountain ranges in the world! This place doesn't come close to hollowing out the mountain. As for how long it took to build it, according to the records, it took close to 35 years to build!" Grandma Chiho chuckled as she explained

"35 years?! Why would it take so long? Doesn't anybody use earth escape to change the landscape? It shouldn't have taken so long!" I exclaim in disbelief

"Indeed earth escape was used, but you have to remember that this place isn't just for show. It's made so it can act as a habitat and a place of healing for many Yokai and our own. If it's made out of just plain rubble, we would have riots every day and night. With much less rest, we would be completely exhausted and drained by the end of the week! Taking care of a Yokai needs the best conditions that we can afford!" Grandma Chiho explained

"How much did it cost?" Akane asked

"The difference in currency from then to now makes it. Hmm, 175,000,000 teals, Fire country denomination." Grandma Chiho said after thinking for a moment

"Pfffffttt," If I had been drinking a glass of water I would have sprayed it by now. Even just my saliva was enough for me to do a spit take.

/What the hell?! How in the world is this clan so motherfucking rich! I thought we were a poor bunch of sops like the witchers who go hunting and cleansing monsters every day! But now that I know we are filthy rich, why the hell do we still live in semi-wooden Lodges packed together like sardines?/ I looked at the adults with horror and astonishment.

"What? How do you think we can afford to have everyone travel across the world fully supplied and prepped to deal with disasters that many different types of Yokai without money?! I don't think those stinky nobles paid enough for the trouble we go through to repair the damages that the Yokai wrecks on their tormentors. If we just go there, retrieve the Yokai, and leave. Many civilians and nobles alike will become very dissatisfied!" Aunt Madoka Explained, rolling her eyes at my shocked expression

"Well can we at least afford larger living spaces, right? We are so cramped in those lodges that it feels that you can't even shift your elbow without hitting anybody!" I complain a little under my breath

"When you turn of age and want to build your workshop, then you can move out of the lodge, your mother and father think that it's better to live with the rest of the children when they're out on missions." Grandpa Ryū said

"You don't want to leave mommy and daddy alone? Do you Kekkai?" Yoshiko asked, her eyes widened pitifully and moistened as if they would cry.

"No ma, it's just. A little crowded." I muttered and dropped my shoulders in defeat at her puppy eyes.

"Good! Mommy doesn't like living alone, cleaning a whole house is a chore! Sharing the lodge is much better, and you can always play with your cousins as well so it's not like you don't get out a lot." Yoshiko grinned and the tears disappeared from her face as if they were never there in the first place.

/So you're a lazy housewife, and you don't want to take care of chores? That does make sense now that I think about it. No wonder Akiko and Akane practically live in a mansion by themselves while I'm stuck in the lodge even though she and dad go out all the time for missions! She's too lazy to own a house herself!/ I thought, glaring at my mothers back as we went further into the Cavern.

Grandpa Ryū stopped and felt on the surface of each door for a little while, before shaking his head and moving to the next, passing the unmarked doors one after another before coming to a stop at one.

"Here, come on in this is the one." Grandpa Ryū said as his hand pressed deeper into the stone, activating some kind of mechanism that made the door sink in and slide away.

"The little one we are seeing today is called an 'Ungyaikyo' Spirit. It will allow us to see what we need as well as prepare for your first Chakra Refinement." Ryū says while stepping inside

Inside was a small room covered in shining lightly reflective rock and in the middle of such lay a small stone rounded tablet mounted on a jade postal, surrounded by a light mist that twisted and parted to the sides as we stepped inside.

*Swirringg*

As the mist parted a light rustle of wind came from the stone tablet as a purple ink covered it and swirled until it changed into a cartoonish-looking face.

Grandpa Ryū placed a hand up to the stone and lightly swiped around its surface, making it turn murky and then clear, changing into a mirror.

Taking it off the pedestal lightly, he placed it onto the ground and sealed his hands.

Sha-Kai-Rin-Toh-Retsu-Sha-Zen-Jin-Zen

Placing his hand back onto the surface he called out "[Inton: Demon Revealing Mirror]!"

With that, the mirror started shining a glaring light like a flare just went off before sinking into the reflective ground. Turning the already slight reflection even clearer and the mist covering the cavern began to shift until it covered the cave walls. Leaving an open reflective clearing in the middle.

"Alright, let's begin! Step into the middle of us and take a restful stance, we are going to first refine your chakra before moving on." Grandpa Ryū instructed kindly

"Sure, but how do I refine chakra here?" I asked before taking a cross-legged position in the middle of them.

"Usually we slowly introduce you to perception techniques and let you experience meditation. But you have already done that on your own it seems, but the next part is your physical energy refinement. Do you know how to do that?" Hak-Or asked

"Nope," I shook my head, I know how to exercise and do meditation from my past life but accessing physical energy is something new and unnatural for me despite my progress in physical training and martial arts.

"Then let's start with that, [Demon Revealing Mirror] allows one to bypass certain barriers of the mind and enhances your perception through meditation," Ryū recommended

"Okay, I'll try it," I nod before taking a deep breath and releasing it.

Everyone else sat down in a circle around me and waited.

Letting my breath settle and slowly shifting my awareness flow, my thoughts flow, and everything around me flow together as if it was a constantly moving river. Slow and steady, completely aware of my surroundings but not letting it concentrate on them.

"Now, visualize that your body is a tree, your limbs, flesh, bone, and organs are all connected through a series of roots spreading throughout your entire body." Ryū guided me softly as he saw me sinking into meditation.

And I did so as he asked, slowly drawing my attention inwards, letting my mind slowly feel the branching veins, muscles, and organs throughout my body.

I didn't know that as I did so, a slow branching pattern of muscles and veins spread from below me and appear in the reflection on the floor.

/This boy is a natural monster, able to do something so complicated on a whim,/ Thought the adults as they watched.

"Now picture your breath, your breathing as you inhale and exhale, feel how each breath brings you strength and clarity throughout the body as it flows."

And I did let the cool damp air fill my lungs and then exit, sinking deeper and deeper into meditation.

"Now, as you breathe, there are tiny little lines that run throughout your entire body, storing the energy brought by your breath into your cells as it runs through your blood, these lines are called tenketsu. When you feel them, try to draw them in and command them to organize themselves into a swirling vortex centered on your head, spine, and organs."

This was a very important part, sensing the tenketsu lines that lie between the spiritual and physical. If one can find and let their physical energy flow from the cells and through the organs. They can fully harness their physical energy and begin to allow it to blend into their mental energy on instinct. Creating the first amalgamation of chakra, which is then ignited using willpower and turned into a force for the practitioner to use at will.

Civilians and sometimes even ninja-born people don't have the mind or mentality to master their physical and mental well-being, and sometimes their bodies have unknown blockages that prevent them from refining chakra into being.

/But he shouldn't have any problem, he could already use chakra, although unaware and not well controlled. So it should be easier than most people. The mirror should also help his perception, so I give it two hours at the most, and half an hour at the least./ Grandpa Ryū muttered in his mind as he watched the flowing energy reflected below him.

And he was right, I did get it soon enough, although it wasn't in a half an hour, more like 2 minutes!

As I watched long thin gossamer silk-like threads weaving, changing, constantly disconnecting and reconnecting themselves to every individual cell. I couldn't help but marvel at the beauty that weaved itself constantly throughout my body.

Transferring, transforming, and reorganizing energy as a high-speed highway that ran in sync with the background of my other major bodily systems.

The thin threads constantly weaved but rarely interacted with the rest of my body, just constantly connecting from the inside of my body gathering into hundreds of nodes and to the outside like small goosebumps hairs, radiating in and out of my body.

/Cool, / I grinned as I watched.

Slowly attaching my mind to the hairs like threads, they immediately shrank away and hid, not allowing me to grasp onto and command them in any way.

/What? You're my tenketsu, why are you running away like scared little mice?/ I was confused for a second before I redoubled my efforts and tried to snatch up the tenketsu that ran wildly away from me in my body.

Soon I found the reason why they were running away.

/Gotchu!/ I proudly thought while grabbing a mind handful of tenketsu lines.

Only to be frightened as the lines touched by my mind expand like a balloon at a rapid pace and explode into pieces! Strips of fabric-like pieces slowly fade out of existence in front of my stunned (Mind) eye.

A slight sting of a needle poked itself into my neck, causing me to flinch slightly from the sudden pain. The Throbbing and tingling sensation spoke volumes about how something was immensely wrong.

/What the hell?! My Tenketsu is Exploding? I've never heard of such a thing!/ I was horrified

"Grandpa somethings wrong! My Tenketsu lines are avoiding me and are Exploding from contact with my mental energy!" I immediately asked for assistance

"I've seen it, not very sure Im believing it! How is that possible, your physical energy should blend with your mental energy inside your Tenketsu to create chakra, only chakra overload can damage Tenketsu, and even then it has to be in extremely abundant amounts." Grandpa Ryū's eyes opened wide in disbelief.

"But Tenketsu's capacity is practically in sync with the body's physical fitness! My and Yoshiko's bloodline should guarantee that!" Hak-Or exclaimed in worry trying to stand up and attend to his son.

"Does that mean I can't refine chakra?!" I completely dispelled my meditation and inquired with panic in my voice.

"No! It's just that you don't have a strong enough body to support the chakra you generate, when physical energy and mental energy merge into the Tenketsu it usually turns into a volatile mixture that can change into activated chakra with a whim," Grandpa Ryū whipped his hand through his grey hair confused and stressfully tugged at it as he says this," but your mental and physical energies are automatic! Which doesn't make sense! If you're able to generate chakra using your Tulpa, you should be able to handle it in your regular state!"

"But it overloaded as you can see. I just don't understand, Kekkai has always trained his body and he has a lot of physical energy his body should be able to use chakra!" Yoshiko had gotten up and begun touching me here and there on my body, sending slight waves of chakra through my body as she tried to examine me.

"Wait!? There's something else," Grandma Chiho turned to me and inquired" Kekkai, sweet child, does your [Tulpa] run using mental energy?"

"Umm, I guess? Hold on wait, do you mean-" I shrugged before a tinge of enlightenment occurred

"Yep, it seems that your mental energy is many times greater than your physical, causing an imbalance." she explained, "What you need to do is to slowly find the ratio between your physical and mental energies and refine chakra using that!"

/Or at least, I hope that's the problem, /She murmured in her mind, not sure of herself at this time.

"I'll try," I nodded before sinking back into meditation, repeating the steps I did before.

But, how do you ratio your mental power? Does it feel like splitting it or repurposing it? How do I know when it's in sync?

Try as I might, from trying to lightly touch or branch my mind to do other things, it wouldn't work! Every time it comes in contact with my Tenketsu I end up with another stinging pain in my body as my mental power surges to fill it.

/Why don't you let us have a try?/ A smooth deep voice asked from my mind.

/Of course! If I can't do it alone I'll split it over to you guys! Can you help?/ I asked, splitting my mental power over to my tulpa could help in this situation.

Several voices rang out in my mind and a wave of approval and trust spread over to me.

/Thanks, guys! Here we go!/ I smiled and tried again but this time, instead of branching my mental power I began to enforce the image of my tulpa while guiding the chakra.

And it worked!

"What is this?" Aunt Madoka asked while looking around her.

"I believe this is what he calls his tulpa," Hak-Or whispers as he sees several shadows materialize from the fog and appear in the circle surrounding me.

A lean muscular teenager with blood-red skin wearing nothing but trouser pants[Damain], a small boy with blue skin covered head to toe in runes and symbols[Ryze], a tall dark man in a trench coat and shades on his face [Morpheus], Two Black and white wolves that sat on top of each other [Ra] and [Thoth], a small almond tree [Yggy], and a tall Muscular Minotaur in armor [Ornn].

As each of them appeared, strand by strand, currents of energy branched out and connected to them, and finally, the Tenketsu began to bond with my mental energy.

Slowly, the Tenketsu began to sync itself with various systems of my body at the same time. Clinging to my blood vessels and cardiovascular system, then my nervous system, then my skeletal, sinking into my blood and no longer moving. Taking root and changing from silk-like threads to long solid branches along my body.

As soon as everything fell into place a cool minty feeling spread across me and I felt it.

Powerful, untamed, spiritual, grounded, a new thing, a new form of me was flowing through my body and waiting.

As for what?

/To be IGNITED!/ this is the feeling it told me.

And so I did.

*Fwoosh*

I lit it with my will.

*KABBBOOOOOOOMMMMM*

An explosion of heat and indigo light flooded from my body and pushed away everyone that sat near me with a blast of energy!

Disorientated, everyone glared at me, then the surroundings, and was stupified.

"Where are we?" Yoshiko asked

"Welcome to Wonderland! Or rather My wonderland" I replied cheerfully, tendrils of indigo fire pouring off my entire body.

Gone was the cave, instead in its place was a large floating island with white clouds and soaring blue skies!