Chapter 7: Cultivation Exploration

After the arousing night of love making that went on in the red lights district, Harris and Kamai went to see Mount Fuji, and climb to the top of it. They saw an old man sitting at the top and meditating, but he was actually just sleeping, so Harris woke him up from his slumber. "Sorry sir, but you were sleeping and well, this isn't a good place to be resting. Mainly because of all the strange beasts here." he said, but the old man was still waking himself up. "Forgive me, it seems my age is finally catching up with me. Such strong young men, do tell me your names." he asked kindly. Harris and Kamai introduced themselves, but then the old man jabbed them both swiftly in the center of the forehead, causing them both to almost fall over. "Hey, what the hell you old geezer! I outta knock the grey hairs right off your face!" Kamai yelled, and aimed for his chest, but a young boy came out of nowhere and blocked his punch. "How dare you hit my grandfather you bully! You're a loser!" the boy yelled, but Kamai hit him anyways. "I don't give a damn if he's your grandma, I'm knocking this old bastard out on his ass, so shove off ya brat!" he yelled as he grabbed the old man by his robe, with Harris trying to stop him from going too far. The old man was already asleep again and didn't notice anything, which the boy jumped back up and bonked his grandfather on the head. The man woke up again and stretched a bit. "Ah, apologies again. Grandson, why the angry face? He has every right to hit me honestly, I didn't explain what I did and it was very rude." he said, and Kamai jabbed the man in his temple, which he took like a brick wall. He didn't flinch or show any pain, and just fixed his beard. Kamai was surprised and jumped back a little bit. The young boy laughed a bit with an overconfident attitude, but the old man hit him over the head. "Enough Void Mouse, that's not how we treat people. Remember, arrogance and ego are the purest ways to pure defeat. Define yourself by those emotions and you'll always be a fool. Understood?" he said sternly, and Void Mouse bowed his head in embarrassment. "So, what's your name old man? I don't think you told us." Harris asked. He introduced himself as Severing Sun, and that he was a cultivator from China, and was traveling the world in order to teach young ones the way of cultivation and enlightenment. He also explained that he's expecting a son who is actually an undead zombie called a Jiangshi, with the spirit of a panda in him, but he isn't due for about another few years at least. "Well how about you teach us. I been meaning to try out different magics anyways and this is on my list. We're currently facing a crisis right about now. So can you help us?" Harris asked. Severing Sun agreed and led them to a cave.

After going into the cave, they noticed that the feeling in the air felt thicker like syrup or molasses. Void Mouse seemed to be having an easy time dealing with the pressure, but he seemed nervous about what was inside the cave. A moment later, they found themselves in a massive cavern where the pressure was even greater, and almost felt suffocating to Kamai and Harris, but they pushed through and managed to regulate their breathing in a way that made it easier after about five minutes. Severing Sun was impressed by their fast adaptability, and pointed at a massive lantern floating in mid-air. "This is something I've fine tuned for almost 1,000 years, I call it the Spirit Lamp. It's got probably 100 spirit beasts in this, each one feeding off of the spirit energy and growing in rank. I want to train you to handle one of them for your own and hope it doesn't tear you all to shreds." he said, looking at the others that had followed them inside the cave. Severing Sun smiled and sat in a meditation pose. "Come, meditate with me. And please, try not to die just yet." he said smiling and closing his eyes. Everyone followed his instructions, and after a while they all seemed to astral project into a strange dimension. It was like a floating island with massive trees and mountains, flowing waterfalls, and many animals that passed right through their astral bodies. "It's beautiful here. An entire dimensional island built out of heavenly energy." Kamai explained. Void Mouse hid in a tree, scared of what seemed like a baby leopard spirit trying to bond with him. "G-go away from me! I don't want to get eaten!" he yelled as he started to show signs of having divine Deva abilities. A pale blue spiritual arm appeared from behind his left shoulder and it swiped at the baby leopard spirit, causing it to dodge around. Kamai stopped his arm and held the baby spirit. "So much for that arrogant attitude of yours. You're seriously scared of this baby? Grow a pair will you?" he said as he put the baby on Void Mouse's head. He was silently crying and trembling in fear, but the baby gently licked his cheek and rested on his head. Then a large Rakshasa demon rushed at them all, swinging his blades around, and sliced the tree that Void Mouse was hugging. The Rakshasa then gave chase to Void Mouse, swinging his swords and covering them in anger energy, making them longer and sharper. Tasha made spiked vines and wrapped them around the Rakshasa, pulling it away from Void Mouse and keeping it in the air. Gabriel then flew up to it and manifested a rapier of light, then impaled the demon through it's chest, but just barely missed it's heart. Quason threw a large shuriken and decapitated the demon while Tasha destroyed it's body so it couldn't regenerate. "Damn, a whole Rashasa shows up, and the one half Deva kid runs off. I outta kick his ass myself. Let's get the little fool." Kamai said as he ran after Void Mouse.

They all started running in the direction Void Mouse went, and they saw him hiding in a bush. Kamai dragged him out of it and held him by his hanfu. "You little brat. Why'd you run, he wasn't able to hurt you after Tasha grabbed him so what the hell?" he yelled, but Void Mouse couldn't answer. Harris held Kamai's arm, letting him know to calm down before he does something rash, but then Void Mouse forced Kamai off of him with tears in his eyes. "What the hell do you know?! You think it's easy dealing with powers that you can't control, with seeing ghosts every single day that want to kill you the minute you look at them? Of course not, you act like it's so easy! Go to Hell you uppity bastards, I hope you die!!" he yelled as he ran off, but he got caught by some vines. "I dunno what you heard kid, but I'd advise learning respect before you speak. Because none of what we do is easy. We tackle all sorts of these ghosts that want to kill you, corrupt magicians, insane pyromancers, all sorts of people. So no, this isn't easy. You need to understand that your problems are the only ones that matter. That doesn't make you an adult or a badass, it makes you a fool and a loner. Now pull your big boy pants up, grit your teeth, and act like you have sense kid." Tasha demanded as she walked past him to go to Severing Sun's house. Void Mouse was completely stunned that anyone would talk to him that way and with such authority. He wiped his face, but didn't know what to say at all, trying to process everything she had said to him.

As they got to the small cabin, they started doing their own martial arts training, not knowing that time was speeding up for them in that realm, and before they knew it 100 whole years had passed by. They thanked Severing Sun, accepting the Spirit Beasts from the lamp, and their astral forms returned to their bodies, which have only been there about an hour in the same meditating position. The only one who didn't wake up immediately was Void Mouse, who was getting over his fears, so Severing Sun was making sure he was protected. The group left the cave and went back to the office, remembering everything they had learned, and also amazed 100 years went by in an hour.