Выбрать главу

“We do not have many.” Elder Ko glared at Wu Ying disapprovingly. “Especially compared to some other sects. But it does not mean we do not have any. We would not be the largest, most prestigious sect in the kingdom if we had none.”

The scorn in Elder Ko’s voice made the student quail and bow low while offering a profuse apology.

Seeing that Wu Ying had learned his lesson, Elder Ko moved on with his explanation. “In truth, there are many varieties of cultivation exercises that focus on the development of the dantian’s size. As one of the most important areas in the first two stages of cultivation, it is an area of intense interest. As with most types of cultivation exercises, the various exercises are variations on a theme. Like cultivation styles, certain types of exercises work better for others. The majority will suit most of our Sect members who might need to expand their dantian a little. After all, you do not need to achieve full compatibility with the cultivation exercise when you are only going to be using it for a short term and for marginal improvements. It’s only when a dantian is compromised or otherwise an issue that more variety or specific exercises are required.

“In this case, what we are looking at”—Elder Ko passed Wu Ying a bound scroll—“is a simple exercise that suits you.” Wu Ying felt a chill as Elder Ko stared at him, a small smile on his face, almost hidden by his beard. “As you are studying the Reinforced Iron Bones technique, this will complement that exercise. Especially during your second stage. You only need to adjust your current concoction a little. The pain should not be significantly worse.”

While Wu Ying was considering what Elder Ko meant, the head librarian had already moved on to the next row. When he came out this time, he was holding a much, much larger book. Instead of handing the book to Wu Ying, Elder Ko flipped through the pages until he’d located the section he desired.

Elder Ko pulled out a small strip of silk and slid it between those pages before he shut the book. “If you decide to go with this technique, you will need to copy out the instructions yourself.”

“Yes, Elder.”

“So, this exercise…”

“Elder?” Wu Ying held out his hand, ready to take the book.

Still, the Elder refused to hand the book over, looking reluctant and unsure for the first time that Wu Ying had ever seen. “I am uncertain if this is a good choice.”

“May I ask why?” Wu Ying said. “It is dangerous?”

Not that that would necessarily stop Wu Ying, but he was not looking forward to practicing something that could cripple or kill him. There were, unfortunately, quite a few cultivation methods that walked that line much closer than they should. Cultivators were well known for taking risks for power.

“No. Well, no more than normal.” Elder Ko shook his head. “It is the work itself. It came from a cultivator who walked one of the heretical paths. The exercise itself is not, in itself, heretical, in my judgment. But it is close.”

“Oh.” Wu Ying fell silent.

Heretical paths were, by nature, uncommon. Unlike Demonic daos, heretical paths were not in and of themselves wrong. They were just strange. Deviant. Possibly dangerous to follow for many. That it suited a few special groups, a few heretical sects did not make them clean or widely accepted. For example, the famous heretical sect Seventh Plate, Third Serving, whose initiates all followed a single dao—the dao of gluttony.

“And the author’s dao?”

Elder Ko said, “A shamanic path.”

“Oh.” Shamanic paths were strange to Wu Ying. Some of the smaller clans were rumored to still have them, groups of individuals who held to old religions. Old beliefs. More in the north and west, not so much in the civilized east. But… “What does the cultivation exercise actually do?”

“Regeneration. Again, it suits you. You tend to push yourself to the maximum,” Elder Ko said. “And this will allow you to refill your dantian faster. But it requires you to consider the flow of the world in a way that is not normal to our current teachings of the five elements.”

Wu Ying’s eyes widened. Refilling his dantian, refilling the amount of chi he had was of utmost importance to him right now. He had to gain at least twice as much chi as he normally wielded if he wanted to again attempt a breakthrough. And that required the slow process of drawing in chi from the external world, purifying it, and storing it. It was not as if he was trying to restore himself to his normal levels—he was trying to achieve an overabundance. Which was always harder.

“Don’t be too excited. It will do nothing for your current needs,” Elder Ko said. “The process only works for your normal refinement. Everything above that, it will be of significantly less use. In fact, you’ll have to discard the additional chi you now hold to practice this method.”

That made Wu Ying frown. What he wanted was a way to speed up his cultivation, not another way to slow it down.

“Don’t look like that. Read them over first,” Elder Ko said. “There are notes about the efficiency within.” When Wu Ying made to thank him, Elder Ko waved. “Go.”

Wu Ying nodded and exited the stacks with the cultivation exercises. He quickly found an empty table and placed down the exercises, casting a glance around and spotting no others. In short order, Wu Ying delved into the works, reading them in detail. This level of scrutiny, the ability to read the actual documentation in depth was not something allowed with a cultivation manual or even a martial style.

Those kinds of details were often either locked away via a spiritual seal for rarer manuals. For the ones that Wu Ying had access to right now, the librarians just kept a close eye on the Sect members, ensuring they read no more than the first few stances and the principles. The details of cultivation manuals or martial styles were often so dense that a quick browse would be unlikely to garner the important, subtle details that made a martial style exemplary. A minute difference of an inch might not seem like much – until that inch was the distance to your heart.

In the end though, the advice of someone like Elder Ko was what would sway someone at Wu Ying’s level to purchase a martial style or cultivation manual. Though Wu Ying had heard of more than one unhappy inner sect member who had purchased multiple manuals due to a lack of suitability.

Cultivation exercises were simpler by significant degrees. As such, reading through the documents was not particularly difficult or time consuming. Within a few bells, Wu Ying had finished analyzing the works and sat back, tapping on his lips in thought.

Speeding up the flow of his chi could be useful at the Energy Storage stage and the Core Cultivation stage. However, Wu Ying had noted several comments by those who had studied this work indicating that the progress they saw was insignificant when one advanced their cultivation. That, Wu Ying knew, was a matter of proper suitability and tiers. It was the problem with the various tiers of cultivation, especially once one had advanced past the Core Cultivation stage. Body Cleansing and Energy Storage cultivators were still within the mortal realm of strength. A particularly skilled Body Cleansing cultivator could beat an Energy Storage cultivator under the right circumstances. Unless the heavens themselves were looking down upon an Energy Storage cultivator, they stood no chance against a Core cultivator. This level of disparity continued through all the stages onward. As such, while increasing the flow of his chi now would help in the next stage, it was possible that the improvement and time spent would matter little at the Core Cultivation stage.

Expanding his dantian faced much the same issues. During the Core Development stage, the dantian was assimilated within the core—the gathered energy hardening and becoming the core itself. The various stages of Core cultivation included the hardening and layering of that newly developed Core. All the chi a cultivator had created became part of the core that a cultivator would use from then on. Of course, a larger dantian meant a larger core. That, theoretically, meant a more powerful cultivator. The difference in sizes of a Core, for most individuals, would not be a huge factor though—other issues like density, speed, and quality of the dao and chi mattered just as much in the Core Cultivation stage.