Rough Path

The moment he felt its presence, Fell's view of the world changed completely. All around him, he could sense a sea of energy blooming in the void. He saw them dancing all over his room, similar to dandelion seeds spreading with the wind.

"Finally!" coughing out blood, he left his hyper-perceptive state. He sighed and massaged his fiery hot forehead, cooling down his brain temperature.

Even when he retracted his senses, he could still feel the energy that existed everywhere. From the moment he pierced the veil blocking his perception, his brain could process the information automatically.

"Time to test the effect of this so-called Heaven and Earth energy!" he thought while moving his hand closer to a small seed of energy.

The moment his hand touched it, it rushed into his body, instantly disappearing. He waited for some time, noticing that nothing was happening, he rotated his soul cultivation, ordering the energy to flood in his direction.

A stream of energy swiftly rotated around Fell. He was looking like a Sun, an endless sea of planes orbiting around him.

"Come!" ordering the energy to dart inside him. A long string of Heaven and Earth energy rushed inside of his body, disappearing as soon as it entered it.

"Nothing?" pondered Fell, puzzled that he didn't feel any change in him. "Ah! I need to cycle it inside me! Cleansing it and branding it with my will."

He absorbed another string of Heaven and Earth energy, rotated it in his body, he soon came to notice that his body's energy pathways were completely open.

"How is this possible?" doubt appeared in his eyes, one of the most challenging steps of energy cultivation was the opening of the energy pathway.

This step left a majority of cultivators to howl in pain, the sensation of carving thousands of small pathways in their own body wasn't the best sensation.

The degree of completion for this step determined the starting point of their cultivation, becoming a rising genius or trash was determined in this step.

"Anzar…" the figure of the Blue Emperor appeared in his mind. "Well, this is still a fortune. I should make good use of this opportunity; I'll make my foundation as solid as possible."

He marked this debt in his heart, forever grateful for his brother. He calmed himself and focused back on training, striking determination shined in his eyes.

"As I don't need to focus on carving and unearthing my energy pathways, I'll just straight up focus on building up my energy." He analyzed his future course of action, planning everything was one of Fell's main tool for survival.

The first step of Energy Cultivation was called Energy Condensation. An energy cultivator's main goal was to create a universe inside him, absorbing and accumulating Heaven and Earth energy inside them constituted the first Realm of this path.

Two options were available for them, either to focus on quality or quantity. As a cultivator's time was counted, they couldn't opt for both options.

The conventional path was focused on building up a gigantic energy reserve, Quantity determined a cultivator's progress, each realm breakthrough slightly cleansed the energy. Achieving Quality through Quantity.

The other path went the opposite route, every single string of energy was supposed to be the purest possible. Each realm breakthrough would slightly raise the maximum amount of energy in the cultivator's body.

Both paths crossed each other in the upper realms, but they determined a cultivator's future endurance or burst potential.

"My bodily strength already gives me ample endurance. Going for quality is my path!" thought Fell, satisfied with his decision.

He took out the golden manual; its cover clearly showed its ancient age. He opened the book and recognized that it was written in Chinese characters.

"…" disappointed by his discovery, he closed the old book and put it back in his Spatial Pocket.

"I'll ask Sifiso to help me deal with it." He thought while throwing it back in his Spatial Pocket.

Not having anything else to read, he sat on the floor ready to meditate. His breathing cycles lengthened after a few breaths, making each inhalation and exhalation deep and powerful.

He soon attained a focused state of mind; his only thought revolved around the energy surrounding him. He willed with his mind, a string of energy separated itself from the stream of Heaven and Earth stream of energy. It swiftly rushed inside his body, running through his energy pathway.

Fell lost himself in training; he was cycling the energy around his energy pathway. He soon discovered that he didn't even need to control it willfully, the energy strings rotated automatically along his energy pathway.

Each rotation made the string of energy smaller, raising its purity at the same time. Fell kept repeating the cycle, increasing its purity through each repetition.

He quickly noticed that nine cycles were his limit, the tenth and eleventh rotation would make his body consume it. He willed another string of energy and cycled it nine times around his body, attaining the peak purity possible for him.

"Perfect! Now I need to stock it where I will condense my inner universe! The knowledge from the crystal explained that it was close to the navel."

He ordered the energy with his will, making her dart in the direction of his navel. It swiftly dashed through his pathways, approached his inner universe before disappearing.

"Success!" he screamed while clenching his fists. But, soon noticed a mistake, as soon as it entered his inner universe, the energy that he purified and branded disappeared entirely. He tried to take it out of his energy reserve but failed.

Doubt appeared on his face, he quickly analyzed his past moves, searching for the mistake he might have done. Nothing.

He tried again, absorbing a small stream of energy inside of his body. He cycled it nine times before sending it in his reserve.

"What is going on?" he swallowed his saliva and shrugged, his first energy cultivation session left him baffled with unanswered questions.