CH-20: First Lessons

DISCLAIMER: I MISTAKINGLY POSTED THE WRONG CHAPTER, THOSE WHO HAVE SEEN IT CAN FORGET ABOUT IT AS IT IS A CHAPTER FOR MY OTHER NOVEL, ABOMINATION EVOLUTION. FOR THOSE THAT DIDN'T SEE IT, IGNORE THIS.

The next week went eventless. I was focused on revolutions and went back to Stormy Peak for another round of electrocuting myself. With the thought of being Refinement Stage 2, I had a silly grin on my face. Unbeknownst to me, there were rumours of me being into zapping. Not the one who zaps but the one being zapped...

The rest of the four and a half days were gone in the blink of an eye, with me reaching Stage 2 at the last day's dawn.

"This should be enough to protect my ranking for the month. I doubt Ye Tian achieved Qi Refining Stage 2, it has been just a week after all."

'Now I should familiarise myself with my realm. Even if I was the most powerful, it wouldn't mean anything if I couldn't use it.'

Not wanting to just hit dummies, I went to the cave entrance above. There was a mechanism for knocking on a door that didn't exist. It would let the person inside know that they have a visitor without interrupting their cultivation. Soon enough the entrance opened and Iyana came out.

"What do you want?" She asked.

"I wanted to know if you are up to a spar, I was going to assimilate my realm before anyone challenged me."

"Your realm? What stage are you?"

It was hard to sense cultivation exactly without Divine Sense. Although she could do it with her immense experience, a top-tier body like mine is likely to cause misconceptions about its stage.

"Just finished the 18th revolution. I won't be doing Qi Cultivation until I'm Peak Refinement Revolutions."

"You sure you want to do body cultivation as well?"

"I will go as far as I can, no need to worry about that."

"If you say so. Alright then, let's have a spar."

We began to make our way to one of the arenas. It wasn't that full since everyone had other things to do than fighting but it would be full of people challenging each other when the semester actually started.

"This time it will be me who kicks your ass!" I said to Iyana while dashing at her.

Going for a quick palm technique, I made the first move. It wasn't hard for her to deflect it with the side of her arm. After that she replied in kind, sending her palm. I did not shy away from matching her palm strike. There was a shockwave caused by our strikes meeting each other, sweeping the area clear of dust. We exchanged blows for a while longer, shockwaves getting stronger each time. We went on like that the whole day. I was the one who eventually couldn't move due to my injuries.

"Damn, this is going to leave a mark. Why hit my face, you cruel woman."

"I can always hit you more."

"Ah, I was just saying that how nice you are, even sparring with me the whole day instead of cultivating. Speaking of cultivation, which stage are you now? A Stage 1 Practitioner should not be able to last this long."

"I had just cultivated to the second stage, if you hadn't come to my door I would be the one dragging you out instead." A shiver went down my spine. I had dodged a bullet by acting first.

"So, will you join the lessons tomorrow? I doubt you would need them though."

"It would be too suspicious if I didn't join in. And nothing wrong with seeing other perspectives."

"That's true." We stayed like that for a few moments, lying silently on the ground. It was me who broke the silence, as I remembered I had something to ask.

"Hey, did you ever think about refining your Qi more than nine times? Also, how would that work?" Her face darkened when I asked about this.

"Don't tell me you plan to do that, don't ever attempt it." Her voice was grim.

"Why?" I asked, even more curious now.

"It is a taboo, you would be brandished as a heretic by the World itself if you do it. There would be countless Reverends going after you to score a point with the World. Don't ever do it. If you want to do it anyways wait till you are Divine Ascension and ascend. You can abolish your cultivation and start over after that. It shouldn't be a Taboo in the Upper Realm."

"Fuck, I did not expect it to be such a big deal. Is there something else I can do with the refining to make it better?"

She seemed hesitant when I asked this time, trying to decide if she should tell me or not. Eventually, she made up her mind to answer.

"You know how you refine your Qi in the Qi Refining realm right?"

"Yeah, I know. Refining here is collecting Qi and compressing it till it is liquified, which is 9 times."

"Then, what do you define that refining by? A compression of Qi?"

"Of course."

"Then why stay with just 'a' compression? Although the number of rules you can refine your Qi is limited, the refining itself has no such rules. If you compress your Qi double times, it should be more potent."

"That's it? If it is that easy why not everyone doing it?"

"Do you think cultivation is a walk in the park? What you are doing here is bending the rules! After 9 compressions your Qi will try to liquify by itself, when you are actually a 5th Stage. If that happened it would cut your chances of Foundation Establishment, death is not unlikely either! Not to mention that without someone as experienced as me helping, it would be nigh impossible to do it without any injuries."

"So, how many times have you compressed it?" I asked. It was obvious why she was so strong when she was in the same stage as my body cultivation.

"Double. It is impossible to do it triple without adequate preparation and resources. It is harder too, as you would be spending great effort to not let your Qi liquify most of your time in the Qi Refining realm. I will help you with yours when you start Qi Cultivation. That's it for today, don't forget to show up to lessons tomorrow just because I explained a little." She got up and started walking back to her cave.

'Ugh not even helping me up...' I too got up and made my way to my cave slowly.

I was aching everywhere the next day. It did not help I had no bed to lie on.

'I should really get this place some furniture.'

Dressing as that befits my status, I got out of the cave and started walking to the auditorium that is for cultivation lessons. It was quite big, as it would accommodate over 100.000 people. When I got there everyone was waiting for the True Person to arrive, there were only three people missing. One was myself, the second one was Iyana and the third was Ye Tian. Just then, he also appeared.

"Brother Axel, long time no see. What are you doing here waiting at the entrance, waiting for someone?" I was annoyed for no reason when he said that.

"Not quite, I was just taking the view in. These people here will be both our brothers and sisters in arms and also our rivals. I wanted to make sure I didn't miss anyone."

"Ah, brother Axel is so benign. Then I will take my seat, you should also not stay here for long. Who knows if the True Person will pick on you because of it."

'He is likely to pick on you because you said that, you idiot. Him not being here doesn't mean his Divine Sense scanning here.' I did not voice out my thoughts and just nodded.

'Where is she, telling me to show up but not showing up herself? She should at least attend the first lessons.' Just as I was going to curse, she finally appeared. Without even saying anything to me she walked towards the back seats, where Cerys and Ye Tian was sitting. I could feel the veins popping in my head. Grabbing her by the arm I pulled her to the front seats.

"What do you think you are doing, going all the way back? What wouldn't people say about you when the first place is so uninterested in the lessons? Act like your position requires a bit!"

"You!"

Although she could get out of my grip it would also unveil her real strength, so she could only follow me while looking menacing.

'Hey, I'm saving you from turning into a collectable by sitting near him. You should thank me instead of killing me with your stare!'

Thankfully a Golden Core True Person descended from above, saving my poor soul. As he climbed onto the stage we cupped our fists and slightly bowed, greeting him. There were even those who bowed ninety degrees, they were mostly country bumpkins.

"At ease." He said.

'Showing off your cultivation in front of a bunch of kids aren't you.'

"I will be in charge of your cultivation lectures, you may call me Instructor Fiery Blade. I will share my experience of cultivation with you and guide you towards Foundation Establishment, your final exam. Before we get started, do you know what it means to cultivate?"