010: Wind And Ice

Divyat could feel the icy Qi of the Winter stag surge into his body, quickly encompassing his prior activated two meridians as his spine and the core of his body seemed to twist in and out of itself. Divyat could feel new veins and channels being forged through out his entire body, all of it carrying the signature of the Winter Stag's Qi. He absently thought about the spirit root he had just absorbed, it was obvious that the spirit root was becoming a part of his own body, becoming a power and ability that solely belonged to him and him alone.

There was an explosion within his body as both meridians became saturated with Qi, then both began to spread in different directions from his spine. The Qi channels they created was a pure icy blue crystalline version than the normal colorless Qi type he originally had. Two more meridians were met, and faster than he had been able to open them, they were filled, activated and promptly started creating channels of their own that began to stretch to other meridians. There was a total of 108 meridians in the body, and as of this moment, within a few hours of finally gaining the chance to cultivate, Divyat has had four meridians activated, and it did not seem like his body was stopping there.

With four meridians activated, Divyat felt more in sync and control of his body, and that was when he began to feel the pain. The surge of the Meridian channels through his spine had unceremoniously and with absolutely no finesse at all, snapped his spine back into place, and reforged his entire bones. The Qi of the Winter stag tore down the foundations that his body has been building for all fifteen years of his life and reforged it a hundred times better. The muscles were a whole lot more durable, tendons strong with such tensile strength that he could probably match cultivators in the qi condensation realm in terms of body power, but his transformation was not over yet.

From 4 meridians they grew to six and then eight and then ten. Each and every single one of them seemed like a miniature world of their own, a world of ice, wind and water, a typhoon and a monsoon all in one. The Qi in his meridians rotated with such speed, Divyat who was half conscious kind of feared they would rip his meridians to shreds. But they did nothing of the sort, instead they began to drag in Qi from his surroundings, quickly reconstituting into the icy Qi of the winter stag, and with that joining the Qi within his body, his meridians continued their progression in his body, new channels formed as the 15 meridian was opened in the blink of an eye, causing a surge of pain within his body.

But whether or not the onslaught of Qi knew it was killing him or at the very least torturing him beyond what he could possibly handle, it didn't stop, it couldn't. The eighteenth meridian was opened, the channels coming dangerously close to the top and bottom of his spine, others having been spread through his ribs. Meridian number 24 was opened, and as it was Divyat realized he was dangerously close to the Mid foundation establishment stage. In just a day he was clearing and rushing through all the stops in the early foundation establishment stage, but he was too out of it to muster any sort of excitement and in a lot of pain that was increasing by the second. But beyond the pain he was feeling physically was the one he was feeling emotionally and mentally, Divyat at this moment was a broken person, there was nothing in sight that could bring him the joy he needed anymore.

The 27th meridian came alive like a blazing torch in the night, right at the base of his skull as there was a small explosion of Qi around him, and he was right in the middle of it. Divyat felt more power suffuse his body as he stepped into another stage, he felt stronger, faster, and his mind was a little bit more sharper. It was as if his senses had all experienced a qualitative leap as the meridians kept on opening new channels after the other, lighting up and filling up like beacons. The mid foundation establishment stage was a rush, a complete breeze even more faster than advancing from the early foundation establishment stage. It took most people with average talent a year or a year and a half to advance from early foundation establishment to mid foundation establishment, yet he had done it in 12 hours. Of course his current situation was taken into consideration, and with his advancement into the mid foundation establishment stage his mind became a lot more aware for him to see and understand what was going on.

He wasn't just advancing in cultivation stages, his body was undergoing a qualitative change. Not just getting stronger, but changing to be better able to handle the spirit roots of the winter stag, he was becoming a beast in a man's body. He felt his heart grow bigger, develop new chambers to effectively pump blood and oxygen through his body, his bones were tougher, his lungs were stronger and he was taking in more oxygen in seconds than three full grown men. And with every breath he took, he inhaled in Qi, and exhaled out impurities. Divyat startled as even he could understand what was going on, growing up, some of his favorite subject after his first encounter with the winter stag had been the anatomy of beasts. Because they were not intelligent, and even if they were, they just could not read like normal humans could, the beast could passively cultivate from just breathing and consuming the cores of other beasts, and now it seems his body had reconstituted itself to become more like a beast to handle the implant of the winter Stag's spirit root.

By this point every Injury that he had accrued had been completely healed, the carnage was now just happening inside his body. His meridians continued to light up, glowing as Qi suffused his body. The oath meridians took during the mid foundation establishment stage was completely mental, the meridians being lit and activated around his neck, skull, eyes, ears, nose, tongue etc. They were improving all of his senses at a rapid pace, giving him an awareness of the world and his body that he has only ever been able to dream of. And it didn't stop until his 54th meridian was activated.

Another explosion of Qi was released with his body at the epicenter, a sharp onslaught of Qi traveled into his body, strengthening it again, as the first meridian in his chest lit up, directly over his heart as his 55th meridian came to life and Divyat found himself at the late foundation establishment stage. All of a sudden the Qi in his body calmed down, each and every single one of them rushing to fill up the meridians that had been activated. Whatever power that was holding him aloft let him fall back to the ground, his back smacking into the snow as a body sized depression was made. Divyat looked up at the sky, exhausted but fully conscious as the blizzard still raged on without any sign of stopping, he turned his head to the side and noticed Nivgyat's body, and with that sight there was nothing holding him back as he promptly started crying, and as he cried, his screams of rage and heart ache echoed across the Ghadovara mountains, but the blizzard swallowed it all, letting him deal with his anguish in cold and wind.