“The foundation, Elder.”
“Exactly. The foundation. The foundation of cultivation is Body Cleansing. Yet all of you have rushed through the process, desperate to achieve the Energy Storage stage. How many of you took the time to learn new cultivation exercises? How many of you built upon your foundation by opening your meridians wider via a meridian-opening technique or strengthened your chi flow?” Fairy Yang said.
When the silence ran through the hall, Fairy Yang smiled victoriously.
“Fools.” She allowed the silence and her pronouncement to settle before she spoke again. “But luckily, it is not too late. While working on these techniques in the Energy Storage stage is not as effective, there is no reason you cannot do so. We shall discuss the various cultivation exercises that one may find in the inner sect libraries, their advantages and disadvantages, and how to best ascertain which type is most appropriate. I expect all of you to pick at least one such technique before the next lecture.”
When the cultivators picked up their brushes, ready to copy down her words, Fairy Yang nodded in contentment at last.
Four hours later, Wu Ying winced as he leaned back. Thankfully, nothing Fairy Yang had spoken had invalidated his previous choices. After all, all cultivation exercises were—in theory—good for one to do. Like any exercise which helped to build muscle, any cultivation exercise developed a cultivator’s strength.
However, like any exercise, there were areas a cultivator might be weaker in and areas where they were naturally stronger. In fact, a large number of cultivation exercises were developed due to a significant area of weakness an unfortunate cultivator had been born with. For example, the original meridian-widening cultivation exercise had been developed for the Third Yellow Emperor’s son as the unfortunate child had been born with extremely narrow meridians. Without expanding them, the Emperor’s son would never have been able to cultivate properly—and thus an exhaustive testing regime of poison, herbs, and chi flooding exercises had been conducted to develop the original meridian-widening exercise. Since then, other, more sophisticated exercises had built upon that initial research.
Listing all the various types of cultivation exercises available was impossible and not something Fairy Yang had attempted. Instead, she had led them through a series of assessment exercises to ascertain their level of competence in each area. Chi cultivation at their stage involved aspects of chi density, flow, storage, and containment. Within each of those areas were multiple, more exacting breakdowns. For example, chi storage consisted of storage in the lower, upper, and middle dantians, as well as storage in blood, bone, muscle, and flesh. While chi storage in the upper and middle dantian was not recommended, there were still cultivation exercises that developed these dantians. In fact, individuals who managed to open and store chi in all three dantians were universally feared. Those individuals had a significantly higher amount of chi than most practitioners, but were also often highly mentally and emotionally unstable.
Once Fairy Yang had discussed and briefly taught the cultivators how to assess their own levels in each area, she proceeded to explain the variety of cultivation exercises available. Wu Ying had found those truly fascinating, since as he had realized, no single individual could develop and practice all these cultivation exercises. Or, in some cases, should. This was, as Wu Ying recalled, also affected by the limitations of cultivation exercises available in the sect.
“At the Verdant Green Waters Sect, we have a significant number of cultivation exercises in chi flow and containment, but lack exercises in developing a cultivator’s chi density or storage,” Fairy Yang said. “While we are not completely lacking, other sects have wider libraries in those subjects. If, as has happened before, you are unable to find a suitable cultivation exercise in our libraries, you should speak with your Elders. They will aid you in seeking a suitable exercise from affiliated sects.”
After that, she had listed and explained in broad strokes the various cultivation exercises available. That, in turn, allowed Wu Ying to get a better grasp of his own two cultivation exercises and how best to implement them.
Afterward, Tou He looked between the empty stage and his friend. “Did you want to practice Elder Yang’s assessment exercises?”
“I should. But I might skip it for now,” Wu Ying said. “I already have two cultivation exercises. It’s best that I finish studying them before finding a third.”
“Is that not inefficient?”
“Possibly,” Wu Ying said. “But I had good reasons for progressing on both exercises. And those reasons haven’t disappeared just because it might not be the most optimal choice. I am surprised you haven’t taken an exercise before.”
“Never saw the need,” Tou He said with a shrug. “My Master’s never mentioned it either.”
“Har,” Wu Ying said with a slight smile. At least, for once, he had something up on his friend. A bit petty perhaps, but he could accept petty. “Need me to watch you during your assessments?”
“Yes.”
“Let’s go.”
Wu Ying sat beside Tou He in the courtyard of his friend’s residence, watching the small bamboo grove sway. It amused Wu Ying to realize that this was the first time he had visited his friend’s residence. Somehow, they had always met on the streets or in Wu Ying’s place. There was, in the basics, little difference between Wu Ying’s residence and Tou He’s, but in the details, the differences were significant. The walls were all covered and painted. Numerous beautiful works of art that helped promote a serene mindfulness littered the residence. Tou He too had a servant, but unlike Ah Yee, his was younger and prettier. The garden around the residence was well cared for and larger, and the courtyard better stocked with training equipment. None of which were being put to use at the moment.
Wu Ying watched as his friend meditated, chi gathering around Tou He’s body as he breathed, slowly running through test after test. There was, unfortunately, no single test to ascertain one’s strength in every area, so Tou He had to conduct the numerous exercises one after the other. Many of those exercises required the cultivator to exhaust a significant portion of their stored chi, an always dangerous process. Afterward, Tou He would have to cultivate and restore the chi levels before repeating the process.
During the testing periods, like now, Wu Ying paid full attention to his friend, playing over and over the cautionary words that Fairy Yang had left them with. If things went bad, Wu Ying was ready to strike the necessary acupressure points or feed Tou He their gathered spirit pills.
During the times when Tou He was resting and recuperating, Wu Ying could take his attention off his friend and pay attention to his own cultivation exercises. By this time, Wu Ying had grown so competent with his Aura Strengthening exercise that he rarely consciously paid attention to it. But with Elder Khoo’s and Fairy Yang’s recent talks, he took the time to review the original text of the document and his own understanding, assessing his application with the theoretical ideal.
Aura Strengthening techniques were based upon the idea of enforcing the exterior boundaries of an individual’s aura more firmly. Eventually, one was expected to shrink that aura down, making it part of their skin and effectively invisible to others. The process of strengthening one’s aura required first the sensing of it, then the slow reinforcement of the membrane, the edge between a cultivator’s aura and the external world.
Something that Wu Ying had noticed while browsing the Dragon Scale technique was the way both approached the idea of adjusting the membrane. Taking inspiration from it, Wu Ying traced the “ridges” of his own aura, feeling the way it shifted and twisted in its natural form. At first, all Wu Ying did was sense it. Eventually, Wu Ying pushed more of his chi into those locations, “smoothing” out the bumps and the occasional breaks.