Qi Novice

After the successful implementation of the Filter artifact, Adrian followed the next steps of the Aqua Wave Breathing Technique. The visualization of himself in his mind had its blood stream filled with qi particles that he had accumulated through the Filter artifact. It was already passing through his blood in and out of the heart.

There was only one last step he had to follow. He took a deep breadth and tried to grasp the feeling. The feeling of the qi particles in his blood, he imagined them to be hot and filled with energy, he felt the movement of his blood, they were energized and active. His blood was like the boiling ocean wave that was flowing towards the center of his heart. And his heart was like the immovable rock that would never budge. As the waves constantly hit the rock, it would be strengthened more.

The spot that was constantly hit was getting more and more prominent. At this point his heart-rate was slightly elevated in real. His breathing quicken and his body temperature increased. He had a feeling that he could really feel something different in the surrounding, something mixed in with the air he was breathing. It was not just his imagination, but the feeling was very real and it was in line with what he was visualizing. What he was imagining happening inside his body and what he was feeling in real seemed to be merging.

As the real and imaginary kept merging, at a certain point, he felt a burning sensation within his heart. It was painful to the extreme but it came and went so fast that he didn't even have time to complain about it. But that was the moment his world changed.

He could clearly feel something corporal at the center of his heart. It was not just a feeling, but he was very aware of its existence. It had already taken its root and was now part of his body. It was his heart core. Every time the heart pumped blood, he could feel the qi particles moving along, this was not just his imagination but the real qi particles. He could even feel them in the air he was breathing, surprisingly, it was very natural. With every breath he took, he was getting energized. His earlier tiredness already reducing.

He was a Qi Novice now. He had entered the first stage of cultivation. He had become a genuine cultivator. He tightened his enclosed fist, he could feel the qi within himself even if he wasn't in the meditative state of stillness. Yes, his meditative state of stillness was already broken when he formed his heart core. Slowly he could hear the voices in the surrounding. He had closed his eyes as a normal eight year old boy but now it was time for him to open his eyes as a cultivator.

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As he opened his eyes and looked around he felt the world anew. Everything looked so vibrant and lively. It was like his vision was enhanced. He felt everything in the world now had a common element to it. So everything in the world consisted of qi, some emitted less while some more. He couldn't see qi but he could feel its presence. Would he actually be able to see qi when he progressed further in cultivation? It must be, he guessed!

While looking around with his new found vision, he saw his grandfather looking at him. The old man was grinning to his ears. Suddenly, he felt the old man wasn't the same, he could feel a very different kind of pressure emitting from the old man that he couldn't feel before. His merry old grandfather's looked kind but his body was giving a wave of immense pressure that was making him feel suppressed and suffocated.

"Hahaha! You can feel it, don't you boy?" Sounding as if he was waiting for Adrian to realize this by himself, he continued - "This is the normal suppression you feel when you are around someone with much higher cultivation level than you. You couldn't feel it strongly before because you were impervious to qi but now that you are a cultivator yourself, you should feel the difference."

Then with a wave of his hand it was all gone. It was like the old man was his kind grandfather again without any sort of massive pressure emitting from his body.

"Here, you should feel better now. As one moves higher in their cultivation, they get more control over their qi and are able to hide it so that others of lower level than them couldn't get effected by the pressure. Hmm, it is also a good practice to hide your cultivation level from someone you don't trust."

Right, cultivation was amazing .. was what Adrian was thinking. He could feel his heart burning with desire and each of his cells jumping in excitement. He really wanted to cultivate, the only thing in his mind was cultivation.

"Huh?" He noticed his father missing and thought he must have gone for some important work.

Before he could reply to the old man, he noticed Livia out of the corner of his eyes because she seemed to be stretching her legs clearly tired enough to not be able to do anything more.

He checked the others and found Tulio smiling at him to which he simply nodded back. Tulio looked pretty tired as if it had already taken a lot of him today. He was surprised at Tulio for not trying to use qi to recover himself.

As he glanced at Kaia, she wasn't much better as she spoke to him through greeted teeth. - "Hmph! You just got lucky because you are the clan leaders son. Your luck will soon run out and you'll beg me for help like others!" Saying her piece she gave him the "looking at bug" face again.

Ignoring her, he realized he wasn't like others who unlike him were clearly more exhausted than him both mentally and physically. He wondered if it was because of the qi quality.

Getting up, he tidied up his clothes and readied himself for a training stance. Placing his right and left hands at waist level, his legs parted apart wide and with his knees slightly bent, he took a deep breath and threw out a punch.

"SWOOSHH!!"

His clothes fluttered due to the force but nothing dramatic happened. It was at a level of one of his better punches that he could throw out when he was in good form..

"Not bad!" - Nodding at himself, the thought about the details. There wasn't a sheer difference in strength as he had expected but there surely was much improvement. He felt he could throw in more punches compared to his earlier state before he got completely tired. This was just the first day, how much improvement could he make as his cultivation progresses further in the Qi Novice stage. He was looking forward to it.

Only a short time had passed since he opened his eyes. The people in the clan hall were already amazed at the quality of the qi Adrian had taken in from the surrounding while forming his heart core. They believed his heart core was of exceptional quality. Already forgetting about the earlier worry over him taking such a long time to form his heart core, they proceeded to congratulate the Grand elder. The old man was stroking his beard and returning the greeting with a big grin plastered on his face.

After finishing with the greetings, it was time for the conclusion of the ritual.

"Alright, we're done here. Although there were some complications in the process, what matters most is that our clan gained four young cultivators today. They must be tired and hungry so lets not waste any time and let them go and get some rest."

Turning towards the four he said - "Starting tomorrow, you guys will first learn about stabilizing your base. Only after you have stabilized your base at the low tier of Qi Novice will you be taught any arts for cultivation. Now go and get yourself ready."