Fate & Generation Qi Art First Stage

Seven years ago a strange man visited the village for some time, he lived in the village and helped treat illnesses.

He became known as an old wandering doctor and was also talented in divination/astrology to some extent as rumours spread that he had given some helpful advice or predictions to many people in the nearby cities.

He eventually gained some trust with the Bombyx family during his stay and helped with checking the health of the mother and child during Ki's birth.

Upon her birth he congratulated the family but also warned them that their child was destined to grow up full of vitality becoming a lively and an important part of the family.

He also said that her future may be tied to the path of martial arts since her body possesses the aptitude for it.

A martial artists life is often described as short and tough, she was destined to not have a normal life and possibly she or the family may encounter a calamity or many accidents in the future.

Whether they can overcome the calamity depends on their choices and a bit of luck.

He left the name Ki to the family saying Ki or Qi represented energy, vitality and blood, so long as she remains then the family shall remain before finally leaving the village.

The mans words were either a gift or a curse to the Bombyx family but they have had to live with them wondering if their daughter or granddaughter was a harbinger of ill fate or was she their salvation.

Perhaps the family did take the final words of the old man to heart in their final moments after they lost their son in the last life because only Ki remained within the younger generation during their time of crisis.

If one day the family truly fell then at least the bloodline would continue but how could they possibly imagine the struggles and pain she had to endure to do so, in the end the bloodline ended along with her but at the same time she came back in time with the means to help the family through their troubled future.

Ki went back to her room, carefully hiding the key before heading out of the villa towards her usual personal spot under the tree.

Taking a deep breathe she began her practice once more after she had regained her energy from eating lots of food earlier.

She began with a horse stance and held on until she could no longer keep her balance and then moved onto practicing her 8 movement basic fist and palm arts until she had thoroughly expended all of her energy to the limit of her body could handle.

Sitting under the tree once more with her legs crossed and her back facing against the tree while facing towards the pond, she closed her eyes taking in light and then deep breathes.

Some breathes were even while some fast or slow, other soft and louder until gradually her breathe followed a mysterious pattern as if her presence was beginning to blend and integrate into her surroundings and with nature.

What Ki was doing was practicing her chosen Qi method the Generation Qi art, after exhausting her body and opening herself up to nature she opens her dantain (elixir field/qi storage) and begins tempering her Qi to a specific nature.

The first stage is to choose the nature of the Qi and martial path the martial artist will be using and be in a place where they can draw breathe or Qi from that specific element or nature.

The second stage is creating a secondary or pseudo dantain with the help from a secondary element or nature using the same method and then create a pathway or bridge to the main dantain.

Since this art is so rare it has its own rules, weaknesses and strengths despite being a rule breaking martial art in the eyes of most people.

Rule 1 - Main Qi art can perform 100% of its power when used but the secondary art can only use 50% of its intended power.

Rule 2 - Main element must follow the rule of generation within the five elemental chart. Main elements and secondary following example of water supports wood, wood supports fire. (This shows that the secondary arts goal is to nurture and support the main Qi arts growth with the secondary art and work to provide some variations and freedom to practice martial arts in more than one nature without resulting in a Qi deviation.)

Rule 3 - As stated above mutually conflicting elements should not be chosen as a primary and secondary art. Mainly due to destruction of one or both dantains because of the conflicting natures wishing to destroy the other and once the balance tips to one side they will destroy the other. E.g. fire evaporates water or water drowns fire.

Rule 4 - The art can only follow the laws of the five elements diagram, no other additional elements can be practiced and can only go in the direction stated. Fire nurtures Earth nurtures Metal nurtures Water nurtures Wood nurtures Fire. (Main art chosen would be supported by secondary art. E.g. metal main supported by earth as secondary.)

As if trying to integrate something into the process of her practice Ki changes her breathing cycle again and again between two breathing techniques as if merging them together.

'Indeed I was right in my choice.' With every breathe Ki could begin to feel the subtle changes in her dantain and could feel the breathe and Qi being inhaled by both herself and the old tree in sync until the Qi inside her began to take on an embryonic form with a subtle nature of wood.

After a continuous cycle of the Generation Qi art she had added a cycle of the Extreme Noxious Art which is of the wood and poison/venomous nature which she had acquired during her time helping the poison clans revival along with the other eastern clans.

Out of all the martial arts she possessed the only ones that suited and could work with the generation art were from the poison clan and the blood sect so her future practice direction had already been set in stone.

Completely absorbed in practice quietly for a couple of hours she began to feel a subtle pain in her stomach.

Opening her eyes to look at the the darkening sky she let out a brief sigh. 'Although the difficulty of practicing an unfamiliar martial art would take much time to master and comprehend I believe I have gained a lot from this practice session and gained much comprehension and familiarity with it. It will not take long to complete it but I do not want to rush things so as to avoid any future problems or result in an unstable foundation. Luckily I have time on my side so I do not have to rush.'

Heading back to the villa feeling refreshed she was stopped by her mother again. "You know I'm only going to be repeating what I said but when are you going to heed my words and not sit by the tree all day little Ki? Look at your dress you are full of grass and dirt!"

Ki rolled her eyes before thinking for a moment. "It's my calm place where I can rest and have fun so can't we just think of a solution together? Oh I know how about you make me several martial arts training clothing sets or something less restrictive and easily washed so I can change into them when I go play by the pond? I prefer white, black, grey or blue."

"Hmm I will give it a try but please try to keep me from worrying about you sigh." Elizabeth thought for a moment before agreeing with her daughters proposal. "I will have a try so leave it to me."

Ki nodded obediently towards her mother. 'It's about time for mother to make a contribution to the family. Let's hope she can produce something useful."

Elizabeth had her own talents and skills but did not know how to put them into practice within the family business so she usually just assisted Adam in his work but with a few subtle from Ki she would begin working on something with her own speciality.

If the clothes come out bad then Ki can just wear them during her practice time but if they turn out to have good appearance, comfort and practicality then she could recommend them to her grandmother for a business idea.

Ki successfully killed two birds with one stone.

"Let's go I'm hungry." Ki took her mother's hand and walked towards the dining room.

Entering the room she noticed that there were some people missing.

"They left, they must of noticed that they would only anger us further if they stayed any longer." Her mother's words angry voice was heard from behind. "Worst of all they came all this way to drop off a few words of wishing you happy birthday but did not bring any gift for you. Hmph all the money they gain from working in our family business and they have the nerve to show up empty handed."

The family happily ate their food together while the atmosphere was a lot happier than it had been during the previous meal.

Ki headed towards her bedroom to begin another set of practice exercises but this time stopped before she began to feel fatigue.

She waited until the villa had become dark and then made her way out of the villa arriving next to a small rocky mountain by the pond with a lit candle in hand.

Subtly touching the rocks and tapping certain parts she finally landed on a suspiciously loose rock, removing the rock from the wall she shone the candle light onside revealing a hole the shape of a key.

"Found it." Ki quickly inserted the key into the hole and turned it.

Some metal or pulley mechanisms began to make sounds as the wall began to slowly open up revealing steps leading to a hidden underground space.