Spirit Forming Stage

Wu Yi finally came down from his delusions of power. He looked around at the devastation he had wrought. The ground was cracked and the ten trees lay at his feet. He had struggled cutting down even a single tree just a few hours before but he now felt that he could cut down the same tree with a single swing of his axe.

He felt the power in his body and could not stop himself from smiling widely. He was a handsome devil but his smile could send maiden running away at their fastest speeds. His smile had a sinister quality that could not be faked, it had to be earned.

Wu Yi collected himself and began walking back to the house as he usually did. He did this to get some sleep before waking up early in the morning to do his work.

This time, he did not feel tired at all. He felt that he still had energy to burn but he still chose to return to the house. This was his routine and disrupting it could have unforeseen consequences.

If he were to be discovered missing from his bed, it would lead to suspicion from the madam and the supervisor.

He entered his room through the small window and lay on the small bed in the corner. He did not sleep. He instead looked at the roof and planned out his next steps. When morning came, he did his work as usual and got the pill from Wu Lin. He thanked her before he went out of her room and did all his other work in less than an hour. He then carried the usual bag of rubbish and descended the small mountain. He walked to the garbage disposal area and there, he found Senior Du seated right outside his small office. Senior Du was an outer disciple of the dojo but his talent was not up to the standards of the dojo.

Wu Yi had deduced that he had managed to become a disciple using corrupt means. He most likely had a powerful backer. Still, this fat man was very critical to Wu Yi's plans.

Senior Du was busy reading a red scroll. Wu Yi had seen this scroll many times in the supervisor's house. These were the scrolls given to official disciples by the dojo. The scroll contained the dojo's greatest asset, the dojo's Lion Heart skill. This scroll was not given just to anyone and even disciples had to do missions to get access to the thing. Wu Yi had managed to break through and become a martial artist but he understood that without a skill to use for his cultivation, he would not amount to anything much. He had so much to achieve in this world and he would not be settling for anything less.

Wu Yi bowed towards the fat man. He had already sensed Wu Yi's presence but he had simply chosen to ignore the stupid slave. After a few minutes, the fat man put the scroll in his robes and stood up. It took great effort for him to lift his body but he could not stand the feeling of being looked down upon. Not by a mere slave.

The fat man looked Wu Yi over before nodding his head.

Senior Du had been given the lowest assignment in the dojo. Managing the collection of rubbish.

"Follow me," he said as he walked ahead of Wu Yi. He took a few steps before coming to a stop. He had sensed something abnormal. There was spirit energy inside the slave's body. This meant trouble if not managed properly. Before he could fully turn around, he felt a blunt pain in his fatback. He turned around slowly to find Wu Yi holding an axe. The sharp end was in his back. He looked into Wu Yi's eyes in an attempt to find mercy. He found none. The eyes he saw were not those of a human. They were the eyes of a seasoned killer who saw life as nothing but a waste of heavenly resources. Wu Yi did not say anything. He was not killing this fat man because he had been beating Wu Yi around for over two years but because he was the easiest target in the dojo. Wu Yi needed to get the Lion Heart skill from some and he knew that he could not ask nicely. The price for sharing dojo secrets was severe. Some disciples were even killed. Those who got off easy were disabled with all their cultivation forcefully dispersed.

He had thought about bribing someone but the amount of spirit stones needed to convince someone to risk their life was too high. Since this was the case, he decided that after breaking through and getting some strength, he would find the weakest disciple and kill them for the Red Scroll. Senior Du just happened to be the weakest disciple and to, make things even better, he worked in a completely isolated place.

Wu Yi did not give the fat man any chance to retaliate. He pulled out the axe and swung again. He swung get ease using all his newly gained power. He cut through fat and bone. Blood spilled into the air as though coming from a fountain. In the end, he cleaved off the man's head. Wu Yi was still calm. There were no ripples in his heart. He had grown up in a mine where people died in even more brutal ways than this daily.

Wu Yi began doing what he understood best, separating things. He separated the body into small pieces that could even be carried away by a small child. He then entered the small office and brought about a few bags. In each abg, he put a few pieces of senior Du and a lot of rotting rubbish. When all evidence of the murder had been covered up, Wu Yi moved to the garbage field at the back and threw away the bags. He made sure that each bag was thrown a fair distance away from the next. When he was done with this dirty work, he put the red scroll in his black robes. He flicked his robes before leaving for the small mountain.

He went about his work as usual.

When night came, he went to the clearing in the forest and data on the cold ground. He began memorizing the Lion Heart skill as fast as he could. This scroll could link him to the murder that would inevitably be discovered. He did not want to have any evidence on him when the time came.

The scroll had an image of the human body showing how to circulate the storage energy he had sensed. He learned that this was spirit qi. He also learned that the first stage of cultivation for a martial artist was called, 'Spirit Forming'.

In this stage, one had to gather spirit qi into their body to form what the scroll referred to as the Spirit.

He did not understand most of what the scroll was talking about but he nonetheless memorized everything including the chant that was written on the scroll. When he was done, he set a small fire and turned the scroll into ash leaving nothing behind.

 With all this new information at his fingertips, Wu Yi could not wait any longer. He sat cross-legged on the ground and closed his eyes.

He meditated on the image on the scroll for a long time before understanding what it was trying to say. He understood that the body had pathways called meridians that were responsible for the circulation of Spirit qi. These meridians exist in all living beings and the quality of these pathways determines to some extent, one's talent for cultivation.

Wu Yi then focused on the chant that was supposed to drive the circulation of qi in the meridians. He was sceptical at first but he decided to try it out first.

"The lion roars, beasts bow, men flee, the heavens tremble, the earth sunders and the world shakes ..."These were the words in the chant.

Wu Yi spoke them out loud and the moment he did, he felt his spirit qi begin circulating in his body.

At first, the qi moved sluggishly around his body. After a single circulation, the qi moved like a furious river. Its might was unspeakable and unstoppable. After two circulations, Wu Yi was used to the feeling of using this skill. He increased his effort and he continued just like this for two hours. He lost himself in this feeling and even stopped counting how many circulations he had made.

Suddenly, the qi stopped flowing. Wu Yi opened his eyes with surprise.

"Could it be that I have reached the peak of cultivation?"Wu Yi thought before he stopped such stupid thoughts from invading his mind. He felt much more powerful. He circulated his qi and that was when he found what had changed. He had already formed his Spirit. It was a sphere that was located just below his belly button. He understood that this was the storage for one's qi. He circulated his qi according to the chant and he saw that his qi was all being stored in the Spirit.

He also understood that he was now a true martial cultivator. He had also broken through to the second stage of a martial cultivator. He did not know the name of this stage since the scroll only had information about the first stage.