Back In Modern Times, Cultivation and Meeting a Fellow Patient

Looking down at my hand, I sighed as I thought about how truly pitiful this body was.

Maybe by this modern ages standard this body could be considered athletic and with the drop of Asura blood going through my blood vessels, my strength could be considered inhuman for my height and build.

...But it's not enough. Bones are fragile and brittle compared to my old ones. Muscles can barely handle their own strength--they can barely exert 30% of their full strength. Skin so soft you'd think it belonged to a newborn.

It was pathetic that I ever thought this was an okay level of strength to have. But I guess my perspective has been twisted into something inhuman through my time spent in the Murim.

Shrugging, I swung my legs off of the hospital bed I was on. I'd been in this new life for about twenty minutes and I'd just explained to a doctor that my memories weren't the best right now. My family had been here for a short while - my mom and dad hugging me as soon as I woke up. Honestly, I can't remember what happened to me to put me in a hospital when I was around 18...but they explained that I'd been hit by a car when I was riding a bicycle.

...Figures, I guess.

Standing up, I jumped up and down a little before running from one side of my hospital room to the other side. Once my blood had started flowing, I did a few stretches to prepare my body before practicing a low-effort martial art.

Even that ended up hurting my muscles and bones but I pushed through it knowing that I could heal it with Qi after a little while.

I was gonna start cultivating soon and I needed my body to be in a somewhat ready state before I did that. Why? Because the Qi Art I was gonna be practicing was quite tyrannical and it'd wreck my body if I went into practicing it without any preparation. Anyway, my impromptu practicing coming to an end, my feeble body was utterly exhausted so I sat down on the bed again and crossed my legs.

Closing my eyes, I settled into a state of meditation though even that was a bit forced. A new body comes with zero history which is both a good thing and a bad thing.

Good because it means I can cultivate perfectly with decades of experience. Bad because I have to imbue certain habits into my body again and that takes a little time. However, for now, I could just force through it.

I calmed my breath, ignored my body and settled into a calm state. Utter calm. Slowly, I spread my awareness throughout my entire body and once it was everywhere, I began dragging my consciousness back to a set point:

Just below my navel. My Dantian, if you will.

Following these streams of consciousness, was little bits of energy. This energy was Qi and it was the extra bits of life force and vital energy that my cells and body parts could spare. By gathering it all together, I was stepping onto the first step of cultivation - the step of stopping the flow and waste of excess energy from the body. Even if someone stopped at this step, they'd find they would live for longer than a normal person and they'd keep their youth for much, much longer.

Obviously, however, I wasn't going to stop at this step. I was gonna use a few tricks to step straight onto the path of gathering Qi. Also known as Qi Gathering, the first realm of cultivation.

Dragging the specks and bits of neutral Qi to my Dantian, I began coalescing all of them into a solid core of Qi. A Qi Core, is what you'd obviously call this. This is where all your Qi is stored and where you drag more Qi to further your advancement on the path of Cultivation.

Once I'd pulled it all together, I began to slowly increase the pressure on the Qi Core until it slowly began to be compressed. Every second it got smaller and smaller, denser and denser - until I couldn't compress it any further. This was usually overlooked by most people starting on the path of Cultivation because it's just a needless step and it takes more mental energy than it's worth--or at least that's what those brats who've just started think.

In truth, this little trick will allow you to produce purer and denser Qi without any extra effort. It's not as effective in the earlier levels but in the later ones? Well, gather enough grains of sand and you can make a mountain. Every little advantage helps and eventually stacks up, is what I'm trying to get across.

Once I'd gotten to the point where I couldn't compress it any further, I opened my eyes and looked out the nearby window.

The sun was getting close to setting.

Keeping my senses open to the movement of the sun, which was easily visible from my hospital room's window, I continued to gather Qi from the surroundings and the excess Qi my body produced and just added it to the Qi Core, trying my best to improve it's quality and density.

When I felt the sun was about to set, I began to feel a unique Qi floating in the air around me. Then another. One was boiling hot and violent while the other was freezing cold and somewhat meek.

Ignoring this, I began to drag these unique strands of Qi into my body in equal amounts. Dragging them in carefully as to not mess up my meridians, I stored the Qi and kept it next to my Dantian. What was this Qi? Pure Yin Qi and Pure Yang Qi. Gaining only one of them is bad for the body and your cultivation, in the long run, but obtaining both of them at the same time and in equal amounts is incredibly good for your body.

But there are only two times when you can gain both of these strands at the same time: When the sun sets and the moon rises, and when the moon disappears and the sun rises.

With my decades of Qi control backing up my absorption, I quickly collected as much of the Yang and Yin Qi as I could before I shut off my senses and began stepping forward to the next step.

Circulating the Yang Qi and the Yin Qi around my body in a specific path, I began to slowly merge the strands of Qi together into one. The path I was moving the Qi was slightly painful but I subdued the pain and ignored it as I pushed onward. The strands of Qi twirled around one another until they successfully began to merge as I pushed them through all sorts of odd and weird circulating paths.

With my current mental energy, it was quite the hard thing to do but who was I? Some talentless bum who'd reincarnated? No, I was the Master of all the Demonic Sects. I'd been practicing this type of cultivation for decades and even with a new body that has none of my prior training...this is still easy enough.

Finally, the Qi merged and seemed to be effected by the pathway I was taking it. The previously black and white Qi was quickly turning blood red and I felt something in my blood rejoice as I knew I'd produced the Qi I wanted.

Asura Qi produced by an ancient Demonic Art called 'The Qi Of The Asura'.

A Qi that allows you to use 100% of your physical ability and every level you advance with it, the higher your baseline strength rises, meaning after a few levels, your physical strength would be utterly monstrous in level. Everything about your physical body will be monstrous after practicing this Demonic Art. Put together with the boost of the Asura Blood I'd gained from Blut? It would make me a monster among monsters.

As soon as the Asura Qi had been made, I re-doubled my efforts and controlled the Qi with an iron fist. Strength always comes with a price. And the price of this Asura Qi is that it's incredibly hard to control.

For people new to it, anyway.

I cowed the Qi, breaking it's little sentience into nothing but useless whimpers and I dragged it along the pre-designed pathway until it reached my Dantian where I forced it in there.

As the Asura Qi entered, the previously colorless Qi Core turned a beautiful red and looked like a perfect sphere made of the highest quality rubies. As I funneled the rest of the Asura Qi into it, the density of the Qi Core refined the Qi and made it purer and of higher quality. As this happened...I opened my eyes and took a deep breath.

I was finally back on the road of cultivation.

Even this weak body doesn't feel as brittle anymore.

True to how I knew it, the Asura Qi in my Qi Core was being spread throughout my body as it passed through my meridians. Every revolution increased my body's adaptability to Qi and would allow for me to use it easier in the future. With this, it meant my body was now at 100% capability and I felt like a new man.

Getting up off the bed, I landed silently on my feet before jumping lightly a few feet into the air. Continuing to do this caused no strain on any part of my body and despite jumping higher than some semi-professional basketball players, I wasn't pushing myself at all.

"...This should put me on the same level as a Second-Class Warrior," I gave a smirk, "As if I'm back at this level of strength again. How long has it been?" I asked myself with a chuckle before stopping my jumping, "It isn't much but finally stepping on the path of cultivation again and with such good results deserves some sort of celebration, right?" I wondered aloud before smiling widely remembering something I haven't had in a while.

That...that should be somewhere around here, right?

With a wide smile, I picked up some of the money my parents had left me with and I walked out of my hospital room. My destination? A vending machine.

. . .

Looking at the vending machine, I felt a little perturbed by it. Why? Well, uh, because I can't remember how it works. I know you put money in it...but even when I do that, the money just gets rejected for some reason.

"I mean, I didn't want to have to do it like this but..." I gave a sigh before I put away my money and drew back my fist.

I was gonna punch my way in. I'll figure out how to pay them back in the future.

Just as I was about to throw a punch empowered by my Qi, I heard an energetic voice come from the side of me, "What you doing? You'll hurt your fist if you punch that, you know? Want me to buy something for you?" the person next to me asked and I looked to them with a raised eyebrow, wondering why they'd stopped me. It shouldn't matter to them, should it? Unless they're an employee of the hospital...then I might get dragged into something annoying.

...What a drag.

But opposed to what I thought, I saw a slender and fragile-looking teenage girl with blonde hair looking at me. She had pale indigo eyes and a pretty face but beyond that, I could feel that her Qi was all off.

She was terminally ill.

Why's she worrying about me hurting myself when she's gonna die sometime soon? I'd be a lot more self-centered if I were her, that's for sure.

The girl who barely made it up to my shoulder paced over to me with more energy than someone like her should have, and smiled as she looked at the vending machine I was about to beat into submission, "What is it that you want? Coffee or tea?"

"...Coffee," I answered her question and before I knew it, the girl was feeding coins into the machine.

Seeing my somewhat confused look, the blonde girl turned to me and smiled, "This machine only takes coins and 1,000 Yen notes. It'll reject notes of 5,000 Yen and upwards," she answered calmly before pressing two buttons and two cans fell into the place where you can pick them up. She bent down and reached into the vending machine and pulled them out before offering me one of them, "One chilled coffee for the big guy with red hair!" she beamed a pure smile. A type of smile I hadn't seen at all during my second life.

All I got during that life were fake smiles, forced smiles, scowls and disdainful smirks. So...a pure smile was a breath of fresh air, honestly.

Taking the coffee from her, I wondered how I should repay her but finally decided I should leave that up to her, "Thanks," I started with some gratitude before I continued, "Say, is there anything I can do to repay you for the coffee?"

"Anything I want?" she asked with a look of amusement, "It's only 300 Yen coffee - no need to be so serious!" she said with a laugh but she soon stopped and looked seriously at the ceiling above us with a hand on her chin, "...But if you're offering, I wouldn't mind never having to return to this hospital ever again - only if you could do that, I'd be pretty happy--" she smiled as she spoke, presumably about her disease/illness and how she wanted it gone. So I interrupted her with a nod and some words.

"Consider it done," I said before cracking open the coffee can and taking a sip.

...Ah, what a joyful taste. Haven't had this in decades and yet I remember it like it was yesterday. Meanwhile, the blonde girl was just staring at me with a weird look in her eyes.

Can't blame her. It's not everyday someone says they can cure your terminal illness.