It hurts

After making his decision, Aiden immediately pushed the burning flame to where his heart would be in his chest. At the same time he mentally followed the instructions in the cultivation technique, trying to will the flames to purify his body.

As the flame came into contact with his skin it seemed to be attracted by something and jumped directly from the candlewick to the surface of his body.

Soon Aiden's small form was engulfed in flame, with the hottest and most ferocious blaze where his heart lay. Aiden himself was immersed in suffering at the moment. His teeth were clenched as he endured the burning pain that wracked his body.

He struggled to focus on The Heavenly Flame Ascension and feel the energy in the flames as it tempered his body. The longer he was able to hold on, the deeper the flames would cleanse and the higher quality his body would have. This would determine how easily his body could absorb and store aura.

Although this was a particularly violent way to get started, every initiation was painful. Usually however, the young cultivator would have had an elder to guide and accompany them through the cleanse. Aiden could only rely on the willpower and determination he had built throughout his few years to claw his way through.

He felt his consciousness begin to fade, but he stubbornly ran through the technique over and over again in his mind until it seemed as though his whole being was filled with only that.

The crackling flames seemed to undulate in a strange and mysterious rhythm. If someone were in the room, observing Aiden they would notice that as the impurities were burned away markings flickered across his skin. They appeared like small flames and only occasionally popped into existence, almost as if they were an illusion.

After a long time the flames died out leaving Aiden lying unconscious in a pile of ashes.

As he came to, Aiden felt as if his mind had never been clearer. His body was filled with energy and his senses appeared much sharper. Aiden glanced down at himself to discover that his skin was smooth and clear without any scars or blemishes, as well as the fact that he was very naked and covered in ash.

His face darkened and he hurriedly jumped into the bathing pool next to him to clean himself off. When he went to grab his clothes, he realized that they had been incinerated by the flames.

His heart broke a little, he had only a few sets of clothes. Now he had one less. Pushing the tragedy to the back of his mind, he dried himself off and went to fetch a new set of clothing.

Aiden then carefully examined himself. Although not much seemed to have changed on the surface, other than looking a lot healthier, the changes to his five senses were quite shocking.

All his senses seemed to have magnified. For example, even though he had yet to light any candles in the room, he could still see everything in perfect detail.

Excitement poured through his body, it was a feeling beyond any that he had ever known. He had to take several deep breaths to try and calm himself down. He felt as if he had lived in a small dark space for his whole life and finally saw light for the first time. It was exhilarating and beautiful all at the same time.

Aiden sat down and tried to focus on a plan for his future. He knew that staying here was dangerous and also detrimental to his development. He couldn't acquire any resources here without attracting unwanted attention, and that would mean that his cultivation would progress at barely a snail's pace.

Aiden found that to be unacceptable, he was already years behind those of his same age and he didn't want to fall even further behind.

But where else could he go? He had barely been beyond the confines of the manor and his knowledge of the city came only from snippets of overheard conversations and the maps in the library.

The whole situation gave him a large headache. He had too little knowledge and too little strength. Aiden decided to leave that for tomorrow when he headed back to the library. Perhaps something there would help him.

He then turned his thoughts inward to his inheritance. The Heavenly Flame Ascension had unlocked the next chapter!

The first chapter detailed the cleansing process and the second one was the real start of cultivation.

It was labeled Body Tempering. The book explained how to sense aura in the world around him, to bring it into his body and use its energy to forge his body.

Aiden felt his barely calmed down heart begin to speed up again. He couldn't wait to try it! He straightened himself up and took a deep breath before closing his eyes and attempting to reach out with his mind.

As he did so, he seemed to see the room he was in though his eyes were closed. It was a strange feeling, as though he was separated from everything else by a thin veil. He couldn't clearly make out details but he could firmly feel the existence of the objects surrounding him.

As Aiden sought clarity he began to see something even more amazing. It appeared like glowing strands of silk floating in the air; some of them were colorless and simply emanated a soft glow, while others seemed a specific color and brought with them a unique energy. It was a magical scene, so many glowing strands suspended in the air like clouds.

Aiden carefully willed one of the colorless strands to him, and it gently floated over to him. As it made contact with him, it melted away into his body with a refreshing sensation.

He hurriedly followed the instructions of the technique to take the energy and carefully temper his body.

The first step in body tempering was the skin. This was the first entry point for aura and thus the easiest point to begin the process.

Aiden felt the sparse bit of energy wash over his skin bringing with it a faint tingling. It was not long before the energy was used up however and Aiden needed to grab a new strand.

He seemed to lose track of time in this cycle of tempering, and he was deeply focused on trying to perfectly complete the entirety of his skin. Aiden was a bit of a completionist and he couldn't bring himself to avert his attention before making sure that every last inch of his skin was perfect.

Tempering the skin not only assisted in appearance, but also in defense. Someone who had completed this step would find their skin far more resistant to injury than an ordinary mortal.

Hours passed before Aiden sensed that the tempering of his skin had reached a limit. Although it wasn't quite complete, he could sense that there was only a small distance before he finished.

At this time he turned his attention to the colored strands of aura. They were far fewer than the colorless ones and gave off a different feeling.

He first reached out to a shimmering blue strand which hadn't been too far away from him. As soon as his will reached out, he felt a strong sense of repulsion from that strand. Both his body and the strand seemed to want nothing to do with each other.

Aiden frowned for a moment before switching his target to a green strand further in the room. This time he felt that the strand was the main source of repulsion and his body was only faintly rejecting.

He had a thought as to the reason and immediately began to experiment with the other strands. Colorless strands would obediently follow his will while the colored ones had different levels of resistance towards him.

It wasn't until Aiden found a red strand that he felt the eagerness of his body towards the aura strands.

However, it was much harder to will this strand over to him. It wildly tried to escape and even burn his will away from it. It was like trying to reel in a large fish, it bucked and jerked trying desperately to break free.

Sweat began to bead on Aiden's forehead as he fought with the red strand. He had a gut feeling that this strand was very important to his cultivation and he was determined to get it.

After much struggle he finally brought the red strand over to him. The moment it made contact with his skin a fiery energy filled his body.

Caught by surprise, Aiden rushed to tame this unruly energy and focus it on tempering his skin. As the energy swept over him like the flames from the cleansing, he felt that limit from earlier melting away. It was a sublime feeling as the aura meshed with his skin, every inch was thrumming with energy and almost seemed to glow in the dim room.

The moment he finished and the energy dissipated he knew that he had achieved the first level of Body Tempering, Skin Like Jade. His skin would be smooth and strong, perfectly crafted and reinforced by aura.

Before he could bask in the glow of his accomplishment, a wave of exhaustion hit him and he stumbled over to his bed before passing out.