Chapter 12 First Step On The Road To Cultivation

An unknown time had passed and Eznho woke up, he was still inside the golden cave.

“Ughh!”

He groaned while holding his head, it felt like it was splitting. He remained lying down until he felt better and stood up going towards the hole he made, afraid something might happen again. He went out and reported the cave to the guards, he had no choice.

The guards were skeptical but were astonished when they found the cave, they immediately reported the situation and Eznho was given the credit. He was allowed to take a three-day break and to report to Randolph after.

He went back in his tent feeling exhausted and directly fell asleep. He woke up afternoon of the next day feeling much better. He was about to get up when the ring on his neck felt hot, he looked at it and saw that the engravings lit up then a white smoke came out and suddenly entered his nose,

“Are you kidding me!” He blurted out while suddenly feeling dizzy again.

Really? How many times does this have to happen?

He was frustrated about losing consciousness, this was his third time already.

.....

A head splitting headache woke him up along with his bellowing stomach, he was feeling weak, it has been days since he ate. He ignored his pain and crawled outside, it was early in the morning and the sun had just risen. He went back in and forcefully chewed dried rations, his stomach felt painful while the food was going down his stomach.

His strength slowly came back, he started to hate the feeling of losing consciousness. He took a deep breath and went for a bath, he boiled soup after and slowly fed himself. Now that he felt better, he tried to feel if there were changes in his body. He was disappointed to find nothing, his mind also became clearer and found out that a new information was stored in his memory.

Heaven-Seizing Breathing Technique.

Breathing techniques are used by cultivators to absorb heavenly energy to be used for cultivation, they are graded from one to ten. One to three is low grade, four to six is middle, seven to nine is high grade and ten is the legendary top grade. The higher the grade, the faster a cultivator absorbs heavenly energy to improve his cultivation. The grade also affects how far you can achieve on the road of cultivation. It also one of the most basic requirement to start cultivation, it is used to break the spiritual seed and start the cultivation path.

Dragon-Tiger Dance.

A technique used to aid the cultivator shorten the time in passing the cleansing stage, the first two stages of cultivation are awakening stage and cleansing stage. The awakening stage solely depends on the spiritual seed and breathing technique.

The spiritual seed is located in the dantian, it is a multicolored bubble-like sphere that contains the sea of knowledge which is a transparent liquid. The more liquid the seed contains, the higher the talent of the cultivator will be. If the liquid fills one-fifth of the seed it will count as grade one talent, two-fifth would be grade two and so forth until grade five talent which would make the seed be full with the sea of knowledge.

The breathing technique and the Dragon-Tiger Dance were the two main subject contained with in his memories and the others are general information pertaining to cultivation.

.....

Blankness filled Eznho’s eyes until a while later it became clear again and he came back to his self. He was breathing rapidly as he scanned this new information, he was not sure where this came from, the ring or the flame but he did not particularly care as long as he will have the means to push through with his plans.

He calmed himself down and studied the information thoroughly, he did not immediately start to experiment if this was true as he had to meet with Randolph the next day and did not want to garner his attention. He spent the day thinking and planning what would his next move be.

.....

The sun had just risen and Eznho went on his way to Randolph’s tent. Randolph was sitting in his chair sorting things out. A subordinate came in to inform him that Eznho was waiting outside.

“He’s early, let him in,” he commanded.

Eznho went inside and saw Randolph looking back at him. It was not his first time seeing him but it was his first time standing right in front of him. He could not help but feel a bit nervous but he did not show it and stood there like he feels nothing.

“You’re Eznho, correct?” Randolph broke the silence and inquired.

“Yes sir,” Eznho promptly replied.

“Hmmm, I see, I have read your record and it seems the city lord has a bit of a grudge with you. But seeing you, it is highly unlikely that he has met you so I am betting it has to do with that fat son of his, am I right?”

“Yes sir,” Eznho answered honestly, he had nothing to hide.

“Too bad for you, you’re quite lucky to survive until now. You even have an impressive record here in the mines, you were poisoned but did not die and after that, you even found a good deposit of gold.” Randolph praised him with a delight.

Eznho just stood there without answering.

“As much as I would like to talk with an interesting fellow like you, I have no time as you can see the mine is becoming a big mess. I’ll cut to the chase, basing on the circumstances inside the mines and your impressive record I can cancel the city lord’s decree.”

“What?” Eznho was caught off guard and widened his eyes.

“Huh? You don’t like it?” Randolph asked with raised eye brow.

“No no no, of course, I would gladly accept it, I was just surprised.”

Eznho immediately answered back afraid he will take the offer back.

“Good, all your payments have been deposited in a bank card.”

Then he took out a brown bank card that looked simple and nothing special. Eznho took it while staring at it with curiosity. It was his first time hearing things like this. Looking at the boy’s reaction, Randolph explained its usage.

“Bank cards are used when an individual reached a certain amount of gold coins, you wouldn't want to carry sacks of gold walking around, would you? The lowest card is the brown card which can be used by commoners like you. It is filled with simple formations and can be used to purchase things in certain establishments that accept bank cards. The card you are holding has no value right now, you have to go to the bank in the city to register it under your name. I already placed your payments there with the captain's seal for authentication. Further instructions would be given to you inside the bank.”

“Okay thank you,” Eznho nodded while listening to Randolph’s explanation.

“About the city lord’s decree, I already made another decree informing that you have served well and contributed much in the mines and that you are hereby free form the previous order. Anyone rebuking the new decree is going against the city guard captain himself. If anyone comes making trouble for you saying that you broke the city lord’s decree, show them this scroll and I am sure nobody will make things difficult for you. The city lord would have to find other reasons to cause trouble for you but I doubt it, he wouldn’t want to waste his time scheming against a commoner like. So I advise you, keep out of trouble young man. Spend your earnings well and if you want, you can go to other cities, you have the money to spare. That’s all, you can go now, good luck.”

Randolph handed a scroll with the city guard captain’s seal. Eznho received it with delight, this scroll meant his freedom.

“Thank you,” He respectfully bowed, he engraved this gratitude in his heart.

Randolph nodded and thought about something important.

“One last thing, you don’t have to go anymore inside the mines you can leave anytime. Be careful going back, I’m sorry but I can’t have someone escort you back. With that sum of money, I am sure there are people who are willing to hurt you to get a hold of it. There’s also a possibility that it won’t happen but be extra careful, you’ll never know.”

Randolph earnestly warned, thievery and murder are not uncommon in this world. He just hoped that the boy survived and have a good life. He also came from nothing and slowly made it to where he is now. His eyes contained a reminiscing look, he remembered his dark days and the man who helped him get back on his feet.

Eznho nodded in response and also became wary.

.....

“Boss, I have heard the boy has been pardoned by Randolph and was allowed to go back. He even gave him a bank card.”

A thin small man with a bow on his back reported to his leader.

“I see, money is still money, it’s a free picking so why let the chance go? Hahaha, when is he leaving?” the leader laughed maliciously while eating a roasted meat.

“I have no idea though,”

“Hmmm, Eagle Eye since you discovered it, you can take the mission if you want, just do it cleanly I don’t want any trouble especially that the boss will be participating in the upcoming events.” The leader warned.

“Don’t worry boss, easy prey hehehe,” Eagle Eye laughed eerily.

He was a low-level cultivator that specializes in archery, killing people with no cultivation is easy for him. He has done it so many times before.

.....

Fall already started month’s ago, and the winter chill started to blow. It has been almost a year since he came into the mines. He prepared his winter outfits and other things, it is finally time to go back. He was happy but at the same time sad, he could go home but his big brother can’t. There was still three weeks until the supposedly allotted vacation for them, he was excited to see his brother again.

He decided to stay here for twenty days before departing, he had to at least make preparations to guard himself just in case. He found a small clearing in the nearby forest beside a creek, no dangerous animals or beasts could be found. A large tree stump was there and he decided to sit on it. Assuming a meditative position, he started to practice as instructed by the information on his brain.

He emptied his mind of all distractions, it was hard at first but he got used to it. After that, he started to breathe in and out but after a while, he felt nothing. He was starting to get impatient but still persisted. Hours passed and he finally felt something, aside from breathing air, an indescribable feeling entered him. He did not know how to explain it, a warm and relaxing feeling entered him but suddenly disappeared when he got distracted. He was not disappointed, instead delighted that he made progress.

He adjusted his breathing and the warm feeling started to go down from his head to his body. Every time it flowed to a new area of his body, a popping sound could be heard. It was described in the information as the opening of the qi passageways. These passageways are normally closed but when a person starts cultivation and absorbs heavenly energy, they open up. The higher grade the breathing technique the easier it is to open the passageways, low-grade techniques take at least a week to open it fully.

He continued to breathe until he reached the dantian, and a stinging pain met him, the pain came from the inside.

“Ughh!” The pain surprised him but he endured.

He continued to absorb heavenly energy until every passageway was opened. It automatically circulated but it was sluggish and slow, the passageway was not still fully opened. He had to continue absorbing and circulating until it became smooth and at the same time fully opening the passageways.

While he was absorbing, energy was accumulating on his dantian and attacking the bubble, this was the cause of the pain. As he continued circulating, it became better and finally the passageways opened fully but the pain was still increasing. His lower abdomen become hotter until...

Pop!

The sound of a bubble bursting came from within, at the same time he vomited black blood. He did not have time to care about it, immediately after that, the transparent liquid evaporated and turned into motes of black light and some small transparent particles then gathered together.

They formed a vague shape of a black dragon sorrounded by a thin layer of transparent film then suddenly went out of the dantian and followed the meridians going up to the brain.

Crack! Peng!

The sound of mirror cracking and shattering was heard and a sudden sharp pain entered Eznho’s head.

“Ahhhhhh!” He could not help but scream at the top of his lungs while holding his head frightening the nearby animals.

The pain was unbearable, he felt dizzy and signs of losing consciousness appeared but he held on and bit his lip to stay awake. The pain lasted for a minute until it subsided down and replaced with a warm refreshing feeling. He adjusted his breathing again and he was surprised when he closed his eyes and concentrated he was in a different place.

He was in a boundless sea, the sky was clear blue with clouds rolling by. The water was calm with no waves or ripples and reflected the sky. He had no form but he could “see”.

“Is this the sea of consciousness?” he wondered.

Sea of consciousness was described as the place where the soul resides, without opening it, you cannot control your consciousness.

Once the sea of knowledge got out from the spiritual seed, it will automatically attack the barrier isolating the sea of consciousness and allowing the person to control his consciousness.

The place was peaceful and tranquil, he moved around until he saw a light in the distance.

“Is that my soul?”

He started to get closer but when he reached a distance he could not move any further, it seemed like an invisible barrier was put into place. He did not force it and just focused and observed.

A wisp of white light was floating, the light was pure and untainted, it seemed like it did not belong to this cruel world. Inside the light was a human figure floating in a meditative position with eyes closed, he was also made of light and looking at it closely it resembled Eznho. The tiny black dragon earlier coiled around it and slowly disintegrated again to motes of black light and tiny trasparent particles while being absorbed by the soul.

While they were being absorbed, Eznho felt like his thinking became much clearer, his senses enhanced and he had a clearer mind.

“This feels good,” He was delighted and enjoyed the feeling.

The absorption was slow so he decided to go and look at his dantian, it was filled with thin white mist, obviously made from heavenly energy. He continued to absorb more energy but his dantian reserve was only increasing slowly to the point that it was negligible. Aside from blood, heavenly energy was also circulating around his body.

The sun had already set when he opened his eyes, they looked clearer than before and looked intelligent. He was exhausted but at the same time he felt good, he clenched his fist and felt excited. Now, he had his chance to change Martin’s situation.

He took a bath in the river, had his dinner meditated for a couple of hours and then called it a day.