“How is a drawing supposed to help you achieve Harmonization? Plus, what the heck is yin and yang?”

Although the drawing had a certain charm emitting from it, at the end of the day, it was merely a drawing. This whole darkness and light thing did not really change anything either. V needed answers.

“It’s not necessarily the drawing itself but what it represents. Listen carefully.

Yin and Yang: Two halves that together complete wholeness. Yin and yang are also the starting point for change. When something is whole, by definition it is unchanging and complete. So when you split something into two halves it becomes yin and yang, it upsets the equilibrium of wholeness. This forces both halves to chase after each other as they seek a new balance with each other.

The word Yin basically means 'shady side' and Yang 'sunny side'.

Yin Yang is the concept of duality forming a whole. We encounter examples of Yin and Yang every day. Here are some more examples: night (Yin) and day (Yang), female (Yin) and male (Yang). Over thousands of years, quite a bit has been sorted and grouped under various Yin Yang classification systems.

The symbol for Yin Yang is called the taijitu. Some people just call it the yin yang symbol. The taijitu symbol has been found in more than one culture and over the years has come to represent a religion called Taoism.”

V was quiet. This was too profound for her to understand. She was very intelligent, but she was still young. She understood most of what Bastian said but still didn't get how it was relevant here. Bastian realized this and sighed.

“Look, I'll make this simple for you. Imagine water as yin and fire as yang. According to the taijitu opposites always contain a bit of the other force. Yang has a bit of yin and yin has a bit of yang.

An example is day and night, night goes on and flows into becoming day and day goes into becoming night right? Neither can stand by itself. One needs the other to come into existence. Only then can order come true.

Fire and water are opposing forces. But that is only because we see them as singular! What if we think of them as two halves of a whole? With each half containing a bit of the other?”

V heard Bastian's monologue, and frankly, she thought it was nonsense. It sounded pretty and all but it didn't sound logical.

“OK mister genius. Why don't you tell me, what happens when you mix fire and water?

There is no such thing!” said V with confidence.

“Why don't you wait and find out?” said Bastian, with grin on his face.

He sat down cross legged and started pulling in world energy. V stood on and watched, ready to mock his futile attempts.

As soon as Bastian took in two flakes of fire and water World Energy, he took some of his Soul Force and split it into four parts. Then he used two of those parts to isolate a small part of both the fire and water flakes. These little isolated bits were perfectly circular, then he forcefully transplanted them into their counterparts.

This won't hold for long, I have to hurry.

He took the third part of his soul force and created fence around both flakes. At the same time he, used the fourth part of his soul force to create an inverted ‘S’ like boundary between both flakes. The fence sealed the two flakes together. Creating a three dimensional cylinder-like taijitu!

Bastian then spent the next few hours trying to get the shape as perfect as possible. At the beginning nothing happened, leading to Bastian feeling discontent.

This has to work. It has to!

Gradually, a feeling within him started resonating in his body, it was almost as if his own blood wanted him to do this. Bastian allowed himself to be swayed by this instinct. He was curious to see what exactly would happen if this continued.

Something amazing occurred. The taijitu started vibrating, it wasn’t an intense kind of vibrating. This was a rhythmic vibration. At some point, it created a perfect balance within itself. Bastian saw that the fire and water world energy were no longer resisting, so he removed his soul force.

The world energy stopped vibrating and stood still. The two opposing elements stopped fighting. They achieved a perfect equilibrium! This was Harmonization between two elements!

Bastian was overjoyed. This meant he could finally then cultivate. He was no longer trash, nor was he a cripple, he was now officially a cultivator.

The only issue at that moment was that Bastian did not have a cultivation method.

The first time one takes in World Energy, would be crucial to one’s cultivation. It would essentially determine one's path and possibly and one's talent in the future. Even if in the future one learnt a new method, one's original path would already be one's body's foundation!

Bastian could not stop what he was doing to look for a decent cultivation method. For all he knew, the Harmonization he had just achieved was an accident.

What if I cannot do it again in the future?

The World Energy could not sit still forever. If he took too long to guide it, it would destabilize and leave his body. Bastian eyed the energy carefully, he decided to move it the moment it showed signs of destabilizing. He waited for a few seconds, then a few seconds became a few minutes. Then after ten minutes there was still no change.

Could it be that it was so perfectly stable that it would not fall apart?

Bastian decided to test his theory. After about half an hour there was still no change. That is when Bastian concluded that the World Energy was perfectly stable!

Normally, destabilization occurs after at most 30 seconds, yet as time went on, there were no signs of it destabilizing. In fact, after sweeping it with his Soul Force, Bastian saw that the energy was actually moving bit by bit by itself!

"This! This is incredible!"

World Energy moving by itself. This phenomenon only started occurring in the later stages of cultivation, once one's body had adjusted to the path. Yet here, the energy was taking a path itself.

"Should I stop it? Or should I give it a little push?"

All Bastian had to do to make it go faster, was to increase his intake of World Energy. Since the two elements had Harmonized, all of the World Energy he took in would assume the shape of its predecessors.

Let me take the chance.

Bastian wanted to be a mage. The reason was simple, he was a scientist, so the mage profession suited him more. Not to mention that he did not like the idea of hand to hand combat. Bastian decided to push the energy and see where it would go. If it wanted to stop below the neckline, then he would forcefully make it go above, so he could be a mage.

To Bastian's delight, the energy did go above the neckline of its own accord.

Yes! I'm going to be a mage!

After getting his desired results, Bastian started absorbing even more world energy to quicken the movement. The energy kept going higher and higher in his body, to the point where it was about to enter his brain. Bastian realized this and tried to divert it back downwards but he lost control. It was as if the world energy itself was sentient and had broken out of his control.

No I don't want to die!

Bastian tried to stop but to no avail.

*Bang!*

The World Energy charged into his brain like a speeding train. Bastian immediately lost consciousness.

…

When Bastian opened his eyes, he couldn’t believe his sight.

He looked around himself but he had no body, it was if he was only a consciousness floating in the sky. It was like he was in a dream. The rain falling all around him was passing through him as if he didn't exist. It felt so surreal.

Bastian looked up and saw a large majestic two headed dragon.

This dragon was unlike the large golden oriental one that was long and thin. No, this dragon was huge and very muscular. Its body looked like it was the size of an entire continent, its eyes were as big as the moon in the night sky.

Incredible!

One head was azure and the other was vermilion. Its thick muscular body was purple, but this was not a normal purple, it was a dark shade of purple with a reddish hue.

I know that shade of purple, it’s called tyrian!

Both heads had long sharp horns. The beast stood upright like a person in midair, flapping its large purple, or rather tyrian wings. Purple lightning was visible all around the dragon, and clouds covered most of the sky around it. Incredible winds, in the form of very large tornadoes were rapidly moving around the dragon.

There was only water below Bastian and the dragon. The water was incredibly turbulent. Large waves that were kilometers high and wide smashed into each other at high speed. Bastian's body was not really there but he could feel the power, the aura and the radiance of the dragon bearing down on him. He had the urge to prostrate himself in front of the beast and pledge his allegiance, and he would have, if he had a body to prostrate with.

With one mighty earth shaking roar, all the chaos stopped, the rain stopped falling, the waters calmed. The lightning stopped falling and the clouds cleared away.

Only the moon itself remained. That's when Bastian realized something.

"The moon, it looks like the taijitu!"

Indeed. The surface of the moon looked like the taijitu. Azure represented yin and vermilion represented yang.

Bastian marveled at the sight. This moon and the dragon were the most incredible sights he had ever seen.

Then Bastian saw something strange. He could have sworn that he saw the two heads of the dragon smile. This expression however was brief.

Suddenly the dragon started flying toward Bastian. Bastian thought he did not exist. He thought he wasn't real, but the piercing gaze from the two sets of eyes belonging to the dragon told him otherwise. It was almost as if it was saying ‘I see you, boy.’

Bastian was scared out of his wits. He wanted to runaway but he did not have a body to move with. He wanted to scream but he did not have a mouth to do so. All he could do was stare at the near infinite gaze of the dragon heads as it flew toward him. Both heads opened their stupendously large mouths and bit towards Bastian. Something so large should be slow, yet this happened faster than a human could blink.

…

Bastian snapped out of his dream, he jumped up in fright and looked around him. When he saw that he was back in the desert safe and sound, he breathed a sigh of relief. He plopped his powerless body onto the ground and sighed with all his strength.

That is when Bastian felt it. His body was different. It was stronger than before, its senses were heightened. Especially his sense of smell.

Bastian sniffed the air. Suddenly a smell he was all too familiar with attacked his nose. Bastian quickly pinched his nose, in an attempt to stop this smell, but his actions were futile.

"This is urine!"

Indeed. The smell of urine assaulted Bastian like a tidal wave. He looked around, only to see another ridiculous sight. V was scrunched up into ball with her hands covering her head. She was almost 30 meters away.

She was busy whispering “Please don't kill me.” over and over again. She looked scared to death. Her skin was pale and her body covered in sandy patches. But that was not the most surprising thing.

Below V, was a tiny patch of wet sand, it only took one guess to know what it was.