When his friend was finally ready, Wu Ying asked the question he had been dying to know. “What was that?”
“Thank you.” Tou Hei wiped his face clean and mopped at the water with a conjured cloth, cleaning the deck and himself before returning the flask. Once Tou Hei was done, he began a series of stretches, still avoiding looking fully at his friend.
Frowning, Wu Ying sat on a nearby bench and waited.
“It was a cultivation exercise.” Tou Hei sighed and sat beside Wu Ying, a corner of his lips twisting wryly before he finally met Wu Ying’s gaze, the first flush of embarrassment fading. “It seems I still have not killed my ego.”
“Idiot!” Wu Ying jabbed his friend in the knee with a finger. “You know you can always ask for help.”
“I know. I thought I had a grasp of it already.” Tou Hei sighed. “Should have listened to my Master. The exercise is to help increase the size of my dantian.”
“Too small?”
“Yes.”
“What does it do?” Wu Ying leaned forward, curious to hear what method the ex-monk had dug up.
“It’s a simple exercise. In fact, it’s not the most suitable for me, but it is the closest we can find. You overfill your dantian and push against its boundaries with your chi. At the same time, you set up a spiral to compress the dantian’s edges. In doing so, you are meant to give it strength and flexibility. Every few days, I increase the amount of chi I use to achieve the next level. That was what you saw.”
Wu Ying knew that the amount of energy one could contain within their dantian was set at birth, but it would also grow as one progressed in their cultivation. Just like a muscle. But not a big muscle. A small one, a muscle tucked away and supported by other larger, stronger muscles. Targeting it was like trying to water a single plant in a field of vegetables while using a washing bucket thrown from a distance. It was difficult and likely to overwater everything else unless one took great care.
Tou Hei fished in his pockets and drew out a small bottle, which he handed to Wu Ying. “My Master gave me these pills. They are Black Ice Chi absorption pills of the North Wen. If I go too far, I am to take this. Except I might not be able to do it myself.”
“Just practice when I’m around then.” Wu Ying took the pills and held the bottle before him, turning it around in his hand. Like any good cultivator, he asked a few more questions about the pills and what they were meant to do.
In short, the pills would absorb the rampant energy in an individual’s body. It was part poison and part medicine, since it did not differentiate between good and bad chi. Instead it drew it all in, storing it in the pill before forcing its ingestee to expel the pill—and its contents—in a violent and explosive manner.
“Thank you for trusting me,” Wu Ying said. “Is it at least helping?”
Tou Hei shrugged. “Not much. The entire winter I might have grown my dantian’s size by an inch?”
Wu Ying winced. A good dantian and the compressed energy it contained should be half the size of a fist when one ascended to Core Formation. Initially, most body cultivators had a head-sized dantian made up of uncompressed, unrefined energy. A body cultivator’s goal, along with the development of their meridians, was the compression and refinement of that energy, increasing its density. A cultivator would go through multiple stages of compression and refinement, the largest change occurring during the first half of Body Refinement.
However, just because the chi was compressed did not mean the amount of energy had changed. It was only by expanding the muscle—the base amount—that Tou Hei could draw more. If he did not, it would limit Tou Hei’s ability to break through to the Core Cultivation stage. In fact, depending on the size of Tou Hei’s dantian, he might even struggle to clear the final Energy Storage meridians.
“So are you going to try again?” said Wu Ying, noting that Tou Hei had regained his color.
“If you will watch over me.”
Wu Ying nodded, and his friend flashed him a grin. They both made sure that they were comfortable before Tou Hei began his cultivation exercise. Wu Ying watched over him, splitting some of his attention so that he could work on his own cultivation exercise. Tou Hei had done this for him more than enough. Time for him to return the favor.
***
The next morning, Wu Ying found Li Yao practicing on the upper deck. He tentatively approached her, worried that she would rebuff his advances once again. However, this time she did not stalk away but kept her focus on her forms. For a time, he watched her wield her spear, enjoying the graceful loops and swirls of motion. Perhaps it was her previous training as a dancer, perhaps it was her natural grace, but she moved as if she were dancing. A very martial dance, for each pivot, each graceful sway of her body was punctuated by the crisp strike of a weapon. When she was done, Wu Ying was amused to note that he was not the only one watching the beautiful cultivator. All around, various lazing workers were eyeing the young lady.
When Li Yao put away her weapon, Wu Ying girded his loins and approached her with a pair of breakfast bowls. He offered her the simple bowl of congee that was their breakfast, the boiled rice porridge being seasoned with fresh chives, garlic, and just a touch of sesame oil. Layered on top of the bowl of porridge was a filet of freshwater fish. While Wu Ying could not tell which particular fish it was, the white flesh looked succulent and glossy. It was likely the same one they had eaten last night, a simple freshwater delicacy that had been caught as they left the city. One advantage of traveling by boat was the constant ability to add to the stores.
Li Yao looked at the bowls before she propped her spear over one shoulder and took the bowl with her now free hand. She offered Wu Ying a simple thanks and took a seat against the boat’s edge, away from any of the sailors. After setting her weapon on her knees, Li Yao dug into her meal with gusto.
Wu Ying hesitated before he followed her and took a seat beside his girlfriend. Together, the pair consumed their breakfast, the second of the day. After all, they were both used to waking early and training. When they were done, Wu Ying took the bowl from Li Yao and stacked them together.
“I’m sorry. I should’ve chosen my words better. I’m just worried about my parents.” Wu Ying tried apologizing again, hoping that this time she would accept it.
“You idiot.” Li Yao didn’t look at Wu Ying, tracing her fingers along the smooth wood of her spear. “You should work on where you put your mouth. That sweet tongue of yours won’t always get you out of trouble.”
“I understand,” Wu Ying said. “I just had this image of what our conversation would be like. When my imagination was betrayed by the reality of our conversation, I could not handle it.”
Li Yao nodded. “I know. I was just trying to help. If you go to Lord Wen without a plan and without any backing, he will take advantage of you. If he will listen to you at all. You’re just a Body Cleansing cultivator after all.”
Wu Ying reluctantly acknowledged her point. Body cultivators, even those at the peak, were common enough to be disregarded—by nobles at the least. In the world outside the Sect, someone at his level would be apprised as good, strong enough to be the personal bodyguard of an important noble. But he wouldn’t be special. He wouldn’t be considered a force that had to be respected. There were still others, many others, who had broken into the Energy Storage stage. It was only because Wu Ying was so young that his achievements would be considered special. In the outer world at least. Obviously, in the Sect, he was at best middling.