The Mind

In this eerie dark and cold void inside my mind lies my sea of consciousness.

All of my mental force and thoughts all swirl in harmonious conjunction in the form of a sea. I'm pretty disappointed it's pretty small but this is only the beginning.

In all honesty, I feel pretty shocked that I can peer into my sea of consciousness already. I read that it takes countless people almost half a decade of training their mental force to just even take a single glance into their own sea of consciousness.

This either means I am a genius and I should've done cultivation way sooner in my life time, -or-, that yellowed eyed man played a role in this. It should've been a daunting task for many cultivators but I accomplished this feat with measly ease.

As I floated and spectated through my sea of consciousness, I noticed my sea of consciousness was swirling in a whirling vortex. At the inner core lied something mysterious I have never seen recorded in records before.

I slowly found myself gravitating towards the center of this phenomenon and saw a clearer picture of this mystery. It was the wisp that contained divine and holy energy the yellow eyed man gave to me, saying it was a "gift".

As I touched the wisp with my hand, I felt as if my eyes became lit on fire. The burning sensation felt like thousands of bugs were crawling all over and covering my entire eyes. This caused me to instantly awake from my sea of consciousness and be brought back into reality.

I tried scratching this unbearable itch but every time I tried to alleviate the nauseous pain it had no effect, making my efforts of no use.

After some time, the pain subsided. I blinked a few times to ensure my sight was fine but when I went to rub my eyes I noticed a distinct change to my surroundings that I couldn't see before.

I could see some shape of energy flowing in my hands. In all actuality, I am seeing energy residing throughout my entire body. Not just myself but my nearby surroundings as well.

Is this the flow of Ki?

I suddenly heard loud snarling growls from the ground. A couple of beasts must be fighting.

There is only one explanation to show this was truly the flow of Ki and I decided to test it by spectating the monsters below. There was a savage black wolf where its fangs look sharper than most common metals, a white one-tailed fox where the tail holds some potency in magic, and a skull bear that had a skull like pattern at its head.

The wolf and fox were both one meter in size while the skull bear was two and a half meters long. Seems like they were about to fight but were now cautious of each other. To my speculations, if both the fox and wolf can work together, they'll overwhelm the bear with their own capability.

Yet if the wolf chooses to go and kill the fox, it will have to worry about the bear. Vice versa for fox.

As I watched over this situation, I stared at each of the beasts individually and noticed a common pattern with the new power from my eyes. Each of these beasts had the same exact energy that was similar residing within me. It was circulating through and out in a specific pattern I could never have thought to imagine.

This was truly the flow of Ki.

The wolf, the fox, and the bear had their own unique flow of Ki. The wolf's circulation of Ki was flowing ferociously and steady. The fox's flow of Ki was agile and nimble while the bear's Ki was flowing very condensed and sturdy.

I then looked back onto my own body and noticed I did not have a flow of Ki but I do have a gathered Ki within. Even though Im just a wandering soul, by the very thought I have Ki dwelling inside rekindled the hope I can truly get out of the Underworld. I became overjoyed but I should still find a way to regain a body.

There is still hope for me to become stronger, to gain power, and to find Ming.

Now the only thing that was left was to figure out how these beasts can circulate Ki while I cannot. I believe I'll see an answer by the conclusion of this fight between these monsters.

When I looked back, the beasts were no longer at a standoff. The fox and wolf decided to work together to take down the skull bear.

The wolf was the first to rush in, dashing from side to side, unlatching its jaws to sink its fangs deep into the bear's right side of its jugular. The bear was too slow to react causing the one-tailed fox to prepare, launching a small but sharp ice spike filled with the fox's Ki at the forehead of the bear.

The bear savagely shook off the wolf from its deathly hold but the ice spike pierced the left eye of the bear instead of the forehead, causing the bear to go into a murderous frenzy.

Once slow and sluggish bear soon became a deathly charging havoc towards the fox. The fox tried to escape was grabbed in a piercing grip by the sharp claws of the bear.

In an attempt to escape, the fox launched a vigorous burst of flames all over the neck and upper chest of the bear. The fox launched a second burst of fire but midway its head was bitten and ripped cleanly off by the bear.

Even though the fox has died, the effects from the bursts of fire caused all the fur from the upper chest to the neck up of the bear to be incinerated, revealing the now charred skin and flesh.

The wolf did not miss the opportunity of the bear trying to recover its senses and launched another vicious bite on the back of the bear's neck. The bear stretched its arms to remove the wolf from its back but as the wolf kept readjusting its ruthless bites, the bear slowly lost the will to stretch its arms any further.

As a finishing blow, the wolf teared off the burnt skin of the bear and torn apart the flesh until the cervical region of the bear's spine was exposed. With the last of its strength, the wolf ripped out the cervical spine causing an instant death to the bear. That victory did come at a cost. By doing that deathly action, the wolf broke its fangs.

I could see it all so clearly. The actions and movements of the circulation of Ki were extremely explicit.

With every breath in, Ki flows in. With every breath out, Ki flows out.

The only difference between the three beasts were the intervals where Ki was breathed in and out. I then mimicked the breathing style of the wolf with its specific breathing intervals at a steady rhythm.

It was not a perfect replication but I can see the Ki flowing in and out of my body, in and out of the tips of my fingers.

I then imagined the ferociousness and violence of the wolf's Ki circulation and I noticed a noticeable impact by that small of a change. I felt the Ki circulating through and out of my body was empowering my very being. I must try this out instantly.

I stopped the breathing style of the wolf, grabbed my sword, and slid down from the tree to go back to the ground. I saw the wolf that slaughtered the bear before me in an exhausted and defenseless state. It was ten feet away and since it does not have its fangs, most of the repertoire of its attacks will do nothing to me.

I readied my blade and set it in a resting stance. I leaned my body forward and my center of gravity low to the ground and started the breathing style of the wolf. As Ki flowed through me, I felt the surge of strength coursing through. I adjusted my footing and quickly charged forward relentlessly.

My hands, feet, and body were all maneuvering with a similar exact prowess of the wild wolf. The rush and the adrenaline was overflowing.

The wolf tried howling for assistance but before it could do so I managed to slice the wolf in half through the area of the stomach and my blade came out through its back.

In one strike, in one single strike, I killed that wolf. Despite it being in a weakened lesser state, and my body was now in recoil of using so much Ki unknowingly, I learned one thing.

Ki. I can now use Ki.