Chapter 02
"Mooo~ Junior Brother, where are you looking?" A grumbling voice with a teasing lilt interrupted Ji Wuye's wandering gaze.
A group of giggling Senior disciples sauntered over, their martial robes swishing as they blocked his view of the elegant lady who had regarded him with a contemptuous curl of her lips.
Ji Wuye smiled, "Ah...Senior Sisters, Big Sister, please give me a moment...Ji is exhausted," he said, shifting his weight from one foot to the other.
The surrounding Senior Sisters giggled knowingly, their eyes sparkling with mischief as they were well-acquainted with this scenario. "Just admit that we're not attractive enough," one quipped, sticking out her tongue playfully as the others grinned.
"Hmph, Brother Ji always judges by appearances, not character!" Another replied in a melodious tone, tapping Ji Wuye's nose mischievously with a slender finger, though their teasing cadences were laced with genuine concern for their Junior.
Ji Wuye understood their kindly intentions beneath the jests, responding with a light chuckle that eased the tension in his shoulders.
However, the unforgiving march of time was against him.
...
Once the ladies disappeared from view amid a rustle of silk and playful laughter, he turned his brooding gaze back to the spot where the woman had looked at him with such icy disgust.
"Mu Lan Rou..." he murmured.
Mu Lan Rou, one of the true protagonists of their story, had come from their humble sect and become Du Chen's closest companion. Despite her icy demeanor, she had grown increasingly affectionate towards the powerful Du Chen over the years.
She was the pride of the Kunlun Sect, their representative disciple and a highly regarded candidate to be the next Sect Leader. Exceptionally talented, she possessed ethereal beauty and formidable martial skill in equal abundance.
"I'm convinced that I've traveled back in time," Ji Wuye muttered in a low, cold tone, fingers clenching as his gaze shifted towards the distant sparkle of a small waterfall cascading down from the renowned Kunlun Mountain's lofty peak.
...
Inside the serene Outer Disciple Courtyard, several simple cots were lined up neatly. Ji Wuye, the sole remaining disciple, sat cross-legged on one of the beds, eyes closed as he centered his breathing.
At this quiet hour, most of the other disciples were likely out on sect missions earning contribution points or deep in training, improving their martial arts.
It was highly unusual to find someone like the unmotivated Ji Wuye lingering lazily in the courtyard after the rigorous morning practice sessions.
'The disdainful expression on her beautiful face, the grueling morning exercises, and most importantly...' Ji Wuye's brow furrowed as he sensed the peculiar flow of energy pulsing through his Twelve Meridians, so different from the stagnant trickle he was accustomed to.
This was a day that would forever be burned into his memory, a day he deeply regretted not taking decisive action. It marked the looming eve of his impending 17th birthday.
'The day before the Tower of God arrives,'
Only those disciples or people who were 17 years of age or older, regardless of occupation or physical limitations, would be compelled to face the deadly challenge of the mythical Tower of God. Even the elderly or cripplingly injured were not exempt from the harrowing ordeal.
Currently, at the tender age of 16, Ji Wuye was merely a struggling 1st realm martial artist, stuck in a seeming stagnant state for over three agonizing years without any meaningful progress.
Since the bright-eyed age of 9, he had been diligently practicing the foundational Inner Arts bestowed upon all Outer Disciples of the prestigious Kunlun Sect - the Pulse Cleansing Gongfa technique.
The Inner Arts consisted of three profound levels. Upon becoming a 3rd realm martial artist, one would have to seek an advanced or upgraded version of the technique to break through to the 4th realm required for applying as an Official Disciple of the sect.
Most of Ji Wuye's peers his age hovered in the slow-paced 2nd realm or teetered on its pinnacle, considered a normal attainment for their age range. "With my mediocre talent, it has taken me two grueling years just to reach the second realm as a paltry martial artist. I'm practically worthless,"
The 2nd realm involved the painstaking formation of a Lower Dantian energy center, while the elusive 3rd realm required manifesting a Middle Dantian.
As for the arcane requirements to breakthrough to the 4th realm, they remained a mystery cloaked in shadow to Ji Wuye. Even in the previous timeline, he had never been granted the opportunity to advance beyond cultivating the 3rd realm's pinnacle.
He was forever stuck teetering on the cusp, relying mostly on the esoteric skills he acquired from the Tower.
"With only fleeting hours until my seventeenth birthday, all I can do is attempt to forcefully break through by any means," Ji Wuye muttered grimly.
He gathered some fragrant green blades of grass he had collected earlier near the musical trickle of a waterfall, beginning to chew them into a rough, bitter-tasting paste. Ji Wuye then carefully applied the cool, viscous paste all over his exposed skin in glistening streaks, leaving himself appearing grimy and unkempt.
The only jarring difference was that this herbal paste emitted a powerfully foul, sulfuric stench, reminiscent of rotten eggs left to fester in the hot sun. Nostrils flaring to endure the unpleasant, eye-watering reek while taking minimal shallow breaths, Ji Wuye closed his eyes once more, features hardening into a mask of intense concentration.
To reach the second realm, one must sit ramrod straight in a lotus meditative pose and circulate their intrinsic Qi energy in a nurturing cycle through the body's Twelve Main Meridian Pathways.
The Qi functioned as a gentle, restorative current, steadily sweeping away any accumulated impurities, waste, or stagnation within the meridians over an extended period of diligent focus and time.
As the Qi flowed and ebbed in its cycle like the inhale and exhale of the breath itself, the cultivator focused their entire consciousness on detecting any lingering obstructions or blockages at each crucial point along the meridians' courses.
If an obstruction was pinpointed, the Qi's current was intensified in that localized area to forcefully break up, dissolve, and flush away the offending impurity.
With truly exceptional, prodigious talent, the full purification and restoration of one's meridians could potentially be accomplished within a rapid window of only 1-3 months' dedicated practice.
For those of average ability, the process often dragged on for a middling 6-12 grueling months of stillness and focus.
However, Ji Wuye had already meticulously cleansed all of his meridians through years of monotonous, consistent Qi circulation - yet still he could not manage to pierce through the shroud and manifest the second realm's Lower Dantian no matter how he strained.
Now, on the brink of his seventeenth birthday's dire deadline, he began to tentatively recall the esoteric, forbidden Inner Art of explosive progression he had covertly gained from the Tower in the previous timeline, an Inner Art that offered meteoric advancement and great rewards, but also carried extreme risks of internal injury or even death if mishandled.
'Pulse Accumulation Revolution Gongfa...' The arcane words ghosted through Ji Wuye's mind like a grim invocation, his jaw clenching.
Unlike the standard Pulse Cleansing Gongfa sect teachings which gently cleansed and circulated one's Qi between the Twelve Meridians over time to gradually nurture and manifest the Lower Dantian's formation, this heretical Inner Art focused on violently gathering all of the purified Qi harvested from one's meridian cleansing into an explosive, volatile revolution forcefully detonated in the area where the Lower Dantian should emerge.
Ji Wuye inhaled deeply through flared nostrils, centering himself as he proceeded to draw in his Qi and intensify the cleansing cycle with arduous focus as he had innumerable times before.
However, instead of dispersing the freshly purified Qi back out in a harmonic flow through the repaired meridians, he gritted his teeth and directed it roiling downward in a churning, condensed torrent of overwhelming force towards his lower abdomen.
The dense, pressurized deluge of Qi in his body rapidly coiled and amassed tightly in defiance of nature around the area where the mystical Lower Dantian gateway should reside, resembling a tightly compressed spring ready to detonate at any moment.
Time seemed to crawl by with each labored, ragged breath that escaped Ji Wuye's clenched jaw, sweat beading on his forehead and dripping down his furrowed brow as he strained under the excruciating exertion.
This barbaric Inner Art brought about a sudden, violent upheaval and forceful revolution rather than the nurturing, gradual rotation the body was accustomed to enduring.
Yet due to this brutally direct approach, the vicious Qi revolution tore through any potentially remaining impurities or trace blockages with utterly merciless, obliterating force - ruthlessly scouring his meridians spotless in its thunderous wake.
"UGH!" A hoarse, agonized scream was torn from Ji Wuye's throat as he violently lurched forward, a thick stream of warm blood gushing from his clenched lips to stain the bedsheets with gruesome crimson splashes.
The sheer brutal, unnatural force of the savage Qi revolution raging within caused his veins to rupture and tendons to snap with sickening pops, intensifying the merciless internal injuries wreaked upon his body in its thunderous wake.
Yet even as he shuddered, cold sweat drenching his brow, a faint, soothing warmth seemed to flow through his meridians - emanating from the pungent, viscous spiritual grass paste covering his skin in streaked patterns.
The herbal medicine's essence gradually calmed his frayed nerves and began knitting minor wounds, acting as a salve against the explosive technique's most dire toll.
This cyclical process of erupting internal damage followed by herbal soothing continued in waves of white-hot agony until the deep night at last fell over the Kunlun Sect.
...
As the obsidian darkness deepened, the frenzied, roiling force of the Qi revolution pulsing through Ji Wuye's battered form gradually smoothed out from chaos into a firm yet furiously turbulent, centered swirling maelstrom anchored low in his abdomen.
Amidst the churning cyclones of golden Qi intermingled with streaks of his own life's essence, a miniscule yet incredibly dense sphere of energy began materializing and rapidly coalescing, taking unstable shape in the area of Ji Wuye's lower abdomen where the elusive Dantian should form.
With each subsequent whiplash rotation and whirling compression, the sphere appeared to grow exponentially more massive and dense - solidifying into the unmistakable gleaming shape of a concentrated golden jade pill.
Once the sluicing flow of blood had finally ebbed to a sluggish trickle and the most dire internal ruptures mended, a smooth, warm glow radiated outward in pulsing waves from Ji Wuye's Lower Dantian region, indicating the overwhelming yet successful forced formation of his foundational Dantian core.
After what felt like an interminable eternity of torment and exertion, the battered Ji Wuye finally cracked open his eyes - dark circles heavily ringing the crimson-flecked whites as he sucked in a ragged breath, chest heaving.
To his surprise, he found that overnight several other lazy Outer Disciples had drifted in to sleep on the spare cots beside his soiled one, drooling and snoring loudly.
The alarming blood-soaked state of his shredded bedsheets and robes did not seem to trouble or even rouse the negligent youths, suggesting just how little regard they held for his well-being.
Yet the Ji Wuye paid their callous dismissal of his unspeakable trial no mind, his eyes instead widening in elated disbelief as a broad, exhausted yet deeply satisfied smile split his chapped, bloodied lips.
"It worked… I actually… did it, ha" Ji Wuye gasped out in a raspy whisper laced with smile.
Tentatively, he attempted to guide and channel his Qi once more - and this time, to his immense relief, it obediently swirled inward and condensed smoothly, storing within the confines of his newly-forged Lower Dantian rather than dispersing chaotically.
The hallmark of finally stepping past the threshold into the true second realm of the martial path was the foundational ability to properly circulate and contain Qi within the Dantian core.
However, Ji Wuye's hard-won moment of giddy joy was abruptly cut short as a ghostly transparent screen shimmered into existence before his face.
[>>[INFORMATION]<<]
The Tower of God has made its arrival in the realm of Jianghu!
[!] As a seventeen-year-old, you meet the eligibility requirements to participate in this game!
[!] You will be forcefully transported into the Tower of God!
...
A/N
* Meridians are the pathways through which qi (life energy) flows within the body. There are believed to be 12 primary meridians corresponding to internal organs.
* Dantian are three focal points related to storing and cultivating qi in the body, and lower Dantian located in the lower abdomen, about 3 inches below the navel. Considered the primary warehouse for qi.