Cultivating Once Again

While we were drying our selves my robe started moving on it's own. More specifically the area around my waist. It was twisting and turning, for a moment I thought something strange had happened to me and that I would die.

Then I immediately remembered the the purple slime I had picked up.

"W-what's happening to you! Are you okay!?!" Rao Nuan had a concerned tone in her question.

"Is it Zheng Da?" Yao Ya asked calmly.

"Yeah, I think she might want something." Saying so I undid part of my robe to let the slime out. Once the slime felt an opening it leap out right in front of the campfire we created.

"Z-Zheng Da? How is that thing alive? It looks like it's just made of some slimy substance. How is it even moving?! Wait, you've had that within your robes the whole time?!" Rao Nuan made a shocking expression as she looked at the purple mass that was slinking away.

Curious as to what made it wish to move I got up and followed it.

Zheng Da moved slowly and steadily in a single direction, looking up I realized it was the very cave we had just left. Once Zheng Da made it to the cave entrance I heard two more sets of footsteps trail behind me. Together we all followed Zheng Da deeper and deeper into the cave.

Eventually we reached the same place as before where the flower was and then the slime stopped. It was directly above the place that the flower was plucked. Then nothing happened for a full minute.

'What was it's point in coming here?'

As I thought that the slime's mass suddenly started to ripple and waves began to radiate out from it. Every half a second a wave would radiate out from the top and spread to the bottom of the mass. It took around 6 seconds for the wave which first came out to reach the bottom so there was always at least 12 waves present at anytime going down it's blob like mass.

"What's it doing?" Rao Nuan asked curiously

"I don't know, to be honest I don't even know anything about this slime. Let's leave it for now, we can always come back later." I replied confused as to why Zheng Da has been doing any of this at all.

Leaving the cave the others came out as well.

"We haven't eaten in a while have we? I'll go and catch us some food, Rao Nuan why don't you come with me? Brother Cheng can you keep the fire going?" Yao Ya cheerfully said before running off with Rao Nuan

Walking around I gathered dry wood and brought it over to the campfire we had. Dry wood wasn't a rare commodity around here so I quickly had an excess of it which I set into a pile nearby.

A little later they came back with a some fish and we each had 2. After preparing the fish by gutting and descaling it we roasted it and ate it. It was pretty good with the skin being nice and crisp and the inside tender, but after eating I felt bored at the thought of having to stay here. We really didn't have much to do now, and we couldn't move or else we would have to leave Zheng Da behind.

There was only one option left, it was finally time to cultivate again. It had already been a long time since I had last done so too.

I pulled out the cultivation manual the sect had given us. I was only in the first level of the second stage after all and that was barely cutting it now.

"While we're waiting for Zheng Da to finish I'm going to cultivate. After all who knows when it'll be done doing whatever it was doing."

"Yeah I'll come with you."

"Well since you're both doing it I'll come too!"

Thinking it would probably be safer in the cave that's exactly where I went. I went to the section of the cave where Zheng Da was and sat down against one of the walls. Not long after those two came and sat on either side of me and together we all started to cultivate.

Flipping through the sect's manual, it states that to advance to the second stage I needed to slowly open my Meridians by circulating Qi through them one by one.

Now that I've activated my Dantian I've begun to generate Qi strands within myself. Of course I couldn't generate it infinitely there was a limit I could hold within my Dantian, though I don't quite know what my limit is right now.

The generation speed isn't too quick either being a humble single strand every minute or so. With that I could circulate it through my Meridians so that I could mobilize it throughout my body. As my Meridians widen so does the speed of circulation with the quantity of Qi.

Closing my eyes I lead a strand of Qi within my Dantian around my body to the first of twelve Meridians. When I began to circulate my Qi strand through the Meridian it was surprisingly easy and seemed to just go right through it.

'Is it so easy to cultivate the second level? Perhaps it was the flower that I ate taking effect. It was supposed to be a talent boosting flower or something like that right? How great would it be if my talent was raised to the max?

So am I in the second stage now? From what the manual said it was that as long as the Meridian was able to circulate Qi it could be considered passing.'

Opening my eyes I read the manual once again to find more information about it. After reading a bit I realized that I had indeed passed the second level, but it was only considered the lowest of levels when passing.

It was highly suggested that we shouldn't continue to the next level yet and instead strengthen the one that was just passed. It was suggested that at least 25 strands of Qi be able to pass through at the same time before we advance.

Leading 5 strands of Qi I did the same thing with the Meridian, it was the same as before. It was easy and smooth going through.

I increased it to 10 and it was the same. Then 20 with a similar result, before 25 and it slid right through like the rest.

I doubled it to 50 strands and the result was a little different as I started to feel a little bit of resistance. At this point the Meridian was already quite wide, but I wanted to know how large I could make it. A 100 strands of Qi being able to circulate was my goal.

But as I thought of that goal I thought of a motto I've held throughout my life: Have high hopes, but low expectations.

I increased the amount a little more slowly this time.

55 Strands

60 Strands

At this point the resistance felt quite apparent as the rate I could circulate the Qi at slowed down by around 20%.

65 Strands

70 Strands

The resistance has increased even more and now the rate of circulation has dropped by around 40%.

75 Strands

The resistance has increased exponentially and now the speed has gone down by 67%

77 Strands - resistance is up to 77%

79 Strands - resistance is up to 88% I felt like a snail as I treaded through this path.

80 Strands - resistance is up to 99% The speed felt worse than even a person who stood still and each point of progress felt like it took an eternity. I lost my sense of time as I progressed, yet I was always compelled to finish it as it felt good knowing what I would gain after completing this task. It was a rewarding sense of bliss which awaited me when it would be finally done.

'Well, It's not 100 Strands or to be honest too close, but I wasn't expecting so anyway. 80 is already really good for me especially since it's already more than triple what was recommended.'

Now that I had opened a Meridian I felt like I had unlocked a portion of my body and freed it from an invisible set of chains I had never even known about.

Opening my eyes everything was almost exactly as I left it. Zheng Da was still in the middle, but the waves which radiated from it seemed to of slowed down quite drastically. It was rhythmically around a single wave every 6 or so seconds which radiated from it's body now instead of the 1 every half second from before.

Now there was only a single wave which appeared on it's mass at a time as the old wave disappeared into the bottom and a new one emerged.

Looking on either side of myself the two women who sat there had already disappeared.

Just as I picked myself up two sets of footsteps came in.

"Ah! Brother Cheng you're awake! That's good we only have two days left before the window of the portal opens. We have to make sure that we make it or else we might be stuck here." Yao Ya was the first to speak

"T-two days?! Have I been cultivating the entire time since we sat in this cave?!" I exclaimed

'How come I didn't notice how long it's been?!'

"Yeah, it's a good thing you ate those fish before you started who knows what would have happened if you woke up suddenly while cultivating. We better get going now though else we'll definitely miss that portal. I'm sorry, but I think you'll have to leave Zheng Da behind." Rao Nuan said

"Yeah probably, but I now that I've given it a name I have to at least say my goodbyes to it."

I turned my head to look at the purple slime that barely know. I had already given a name to the slime so now I had an emotional attachment to it. I hadn't even known Zheng da for two weeks, yet I already had to leave it behind. To be honest it wasn't too bad for me especially since after I had given it a name it had done nothing but hide within my robes.

I walked up to it and kneeled down in front of it. After getting a final look at the creature I mentally said goodbye and patted the top of it's "head." But before I could get up the ripples stopped and it directed part of it's body toward my head.

"Mmmn" It was a low pitched sound which came from the slime.

'?!?'