Secret Beginnings

As soon as Jack woke up he moved the spirit energy stored in his dantian to his injuries and cycled it around them to continue their healing process. He slowly sat up on his cot and looked at the door. 'I can probably go and walk around without anyone noticing, but better not risk it.' he thought as he sighed and stood up to do some stretches.

While doing some simple exercises he thought 'The new cultivation method could have infinite potential, but I'm still doing it with only a half of my body. I need to get back to the courtyard to finish my studies and incorporate the other meridians in the cycle. Right now it absorbs spirit energy at about one third the speed of the cultivation technique that Du Angliang gave me. I should check it out again to see if I missed something.'

Jack stretched to his full height as he finished his exercises and went back to the cot. There he sat with his legs crossed and closed his eyes. He started to chant the now familiar scripture while regulating his breathing. After half an hour he didn't have any success in absorbing spirit energy.

'Damn, is it because I have doubts on how the technique operates? Or is because I see spirit energy in a new light now?' Jack thought as he furrowed his brows and focused his entire strength of will onto imagining the previously simple task.

Sweat started to drip down Jack's face after another quarter of an hour of failure. Just as he prepared to give up, a thread of spirit energy entered the meridians in his lungs and started its short journey towards his dantian.

At the moment it entered his dantian and mixed in with the gathered spirit energy there Jack felt like someone stabbed a red-hot poker into his stomach. A spasm made him roll off of the cot and slam his injured back onto the dirt ground which sent another spike of pain coursing through Jack's body.

He gritted his teeth as he gathered the bits of his shattered focus back together and extricated the foreign strand of spirit energy from his dantian. It didn't save him from the pain. This time everywhere the strand of foreign energy went felt like someone poured boiling lava into his meridians.

From the corner of his eye, Jack saw the cup he used for drinking underneath his bed. He extended his left hand and grabbed it with a grip that made light cracks appear on it. The look in his eyes turned determined as he forced the cursed spirit energy strand to move from his abdomen to his hand, and from there into the cup.

As soon as he forced the last of the strand into the cup he threw it towards a corner of the small house opposite of the table. He quickly grabbed both of the blankets from his bed and squeezed himself behind the wooden side of the table while covering everything with the blankets.

After a minute of hard breathing, he swallowed and peeked from behind the table to look at the thrown cup. It lay on the ground in the opposite corner of the house with a few additional cracks running through it.

Jack leaned his aching back on the wall with a huge sigh of relief. After a few seconds, he started ruefully shaking his head as he made fun of his actions. 'Only a strand of spirit energy, you moron, only a strand. Had to empty my entire dantian last time for that explosion. I must have looked like a fresh recruit with his first fake grenade.'

He chuckled a few more times at his stupidity, but then his face turned serious as he thought 'Why aren't the spirit energies compatible? Is it something that happens normally when you try to mix different cultivation techniques, or does my method have an adverse effect on other methods? I still know so little.' Jack sighed and picked himself up from the ground with a groan.

He lay back on the cot and started drawing spirit energy in through his skin and using it to heal his damaged meridians while thinking 'I have to get Kuang Bindun to bring me some food, the spirit energy takes the edge off of the hunger, but it's not enough, all this regeneration is draining my reserves.'

As night fell Jack managed to sort his internal wounds out and refocused on his external ones.

He heard someone near his house so he stopped cultivating and turned his gaze towards the door.

When it slid open a tall and elegant silhouette stood in the doorway.

Du Angliang said, "Get up and follow me."

Jack furrowed his brows as he extricated himself from his cot and exited his house. From the corner of his eye, he saw a worried looking Kuang Bindun standing in front of his home. Jack gave him a quick reassuring smile and hurried after Du Angliang's shadow.

Du Angliang led Jack back to Elder Yu's estate. Once again they had to stand in the courtyard for hours before the door to Elder Yu's study opened and they entered it.

This time Jack took it all in stride. He worried more about what to do if the Elder asked him to demonstrate his cultivation process than he cared about the side glances of contempt Du Angliang kept shooting at him.

When they entered the study they greeted the Elder who still sat behind his mountain of scrolls. He glanced up at them and waved a hand at Du Angliang in dismissal as he returned his gaze to the scroll in front of him.

Jack saw a small hint of concern flash in Du Angliang's eyes as he bowed and walked out of the room. The door closed behind him.

After a few minutes, Elder Yu finally looked up at Jack with a slight smirk as he said "Catch." and threw something at Jack.

Jack almost fumbled the item from the surprise, but he managed to grab it from the air in his second attempt. His hand closed around a smooth hard surface. When he opened it he saw a clear orb the size of a baby's fist resting in his palm.

He looked up at the Elder and saw an encouraging smile on his face as he said "I heard you can imbue your spirit energy into things already. Show me.' Elder Yu's eyes took on a slightly manic gleam as he focused on Jack's hand.

Jack gulped and closed his eyes. The pressure he felt from Elder Yu made it so that it took him over a minute to get his energy to move out of his dantian and into the orb. As soon as it started glowing Jack heard an "HA!" shout come from the Elder and the sound of a chair scraping and slamming on the floor. He lost his focus as he snapped his eyes open and stopped filling the slightly glowing orb with energy.

Elder Yu stood on his feet with a triumphant look on his face while he pointed at the glowing orb and said "I have borne witness to the impossible!"

Jack stopped his brows from furrowing as he looked down at the ground and thought 'He won't dissect me now, will he?' with some concern.

The Elder walked his tall skinny frame around the large table and stopped directly in front of Jack. He planted a long bony finger under Jack's chin and tilted it up until he met Jack's eyes. His other hands made a quick series of signs and pointed at Jack's head. The same shimmering energy that Young Master Mai Younu used flowed out of his hand and snaked around Jack's head.

Elder Yu's face stretched into a smile as he saw the glint of recognition on Jack's face and he cooed "Yes, you are familiar with this art. If you lie to me I will know, and you will die." He pointed a finger at Jack's forehead and a dark grey mass of spirit energy gathered there.

After a second of silence in which Elder Yu studied Jack's eyes for anything that might give him away passed, he opened his mouth and asked "Are you a spirit or a demon?"

Jack kept calm as he already figured the secrets of this truth detecting skill previously so he didn't hesitate at all as he answered "Neither, Lord."

Elder Yu's brows furrowed a little as he said "What are you then?"

Jack shrugged his shoulders a bit as he said "A peasant servant, Lord."

Elder Yu's face didn't twitch as he kept studying Jack's eyes while he asked "How did you manage to imbue the Light Orb with your spirit energy?"

Jack hesitated for a split second, but decided to go with the truth "After a couple of days the orb Du Angliang left me started to lose its light and I didn't want to get killed so I imagined it as a part of my cultivation cycle and tried pushing my spirit energy into it, and it kind of worked, Lord."

A glimpse of anger fluttered deep in Elder Yu's eyes when Jack mentioned Du Angliang's dereliction of his duties but he ignored it and focused on the other part "Why would that method work for you when it failed for everyone else in history?"

Jack shrugged his shoulders in faux helplessness as he answered with a "Why not, Lord?"

Elder Yu blinked, and after a second he started chuckling and repeating "Why not?" to himself. Half a minute later he got a hold of himself and dismissed the glowing grey energy from his finger. He waved a hand at Jack and the shimmering energy that wrapped his head disappeared too.

He stepped up and took hold of Jack's right arm. This time when Jack felt the slightly uncomfortable freezing energy pour into his arm he knew that Elder Yu started monitoring the energy flow that went through his meridians.

Elder Yu pointed at the Light Orb with his other hand and ordered "Continue."

Jack felt slight trepidation on the inside but he still followed the Elder's instructions and poured his spirit energy into the orb.

Ten minutes later he stopped with a tired sigh.

The elder furrowed his brows in annoyance as he said "What are you doing? I did not order you to stop."

"My dantian is almost empty, Lord. I can't go on." Jack complained as he tried to make himself look as much of a beaten down kid as he could. He didn't have to try hard.

The elder's eyebrows raised in realization as he said "Right, right. I almost forgot that you're still only at the 1st grade." He let go of Jack's arm and returned to his table.

Jack lowered his eyes as he felt his stressed nerves relax a little.

Elder Yu studied Jack for a few seconds before he proclaimed "You will come to me every morning at dawn until we discover why you can do what others cannot. Keep focusing on your cultivation and I will have another task for you when you reach the 2nd grade."

He stopped for a second to wait until Jack acknowledged his orders with a "Yes, Lord." then he continued "Now leave that Light Orb on my desk and go out. Tell Du Angliang to enter."

Jack hesitated for a second, but still raised his hand in the end. Elder Yu saw it and said "What now?"

Jack made himself look as small as he could as he said "Lord, can I keep the Light Orb for practice? I think we could get better results if I understand imbuement better, and if I practice it on rocks they'll explode."

Elder Yu's eyes widened as he said "That's not a bad idea, boy. Very well, you are allowed to keep it. Now go." He dismissed Jack with a wave of his hand and returned to his scroll.

Jack stored the Light Orb into his uniform, bowed deeply, and left the room.

In the courtyard, he informed Du Angliang that the Elder wanted to see him and waited patiently with his gaze firmly focused on the ground. He didn't dare to try and absorb some spirit energy back to his dantian anywhere near the Elder, even though a desolate feeling kept emanating from it.

After 10 minutes Du Angliang exited Elder Yu's study with a swollen face, a bloody broken nose, an unnaturally hanging arm, and a slight limp.

He ignored Jack and went straight towards the path down the mountain.

Jack didn't dare show any expression of joy and just followed in his wake.

When he returned to the Gravedigger courtyard some people gave him a second glance, but most of them ignored him. Du Angliang locked himself in his office and didn't exit until mealtime.

Jack went to the back door to wait for new arrivals as usual. There he met Kuang Bindun who looked him over with concerned eyes as he asked "Everything alright?"

Nodding his head Jack answered with a "Couldn't be better." as a smirk spread across his face.

Kuang Bindun looked at him for a second and shook his head. He came closer to Jack and whispered "Can you teach me your new method tonight then?"

Jack looked at their surroundings, and then dragged Kuang Bindun to a spot away from everyone else, where he came close to him and whispered "I'll start teaching you tonight. But this will take time. You first have to learn a secret code that everyone else here doesn't understand before we can do anything else."

Kuang Bindun furrowed his brows in confusion as he asked "What kind of code?"

Jack looked left and right as he came even closer to Kuang Bindun, stood on the tips of his toes, and whispered in his ear "It's called English."