Chapter 5

After looking through the Locket, Ye Xiu exited it to inform of his father that he would be training in both styles of Cultivation. Going towards his father’s office he knocked before entering.

“Father, I’ve decided to cultivate in both styles of Cultivation.” Ye Xiu told his father straightforwardly.

“Are you sure Ye Xiu? It’s barely been thirty minutes since we finished talking and you have already decided. Don’t rush your decision Ye Xiu unless you are certain of it. I don’t want you giving up on your path of Cultivation once you’ve set upon it because it would just waste your efforts otherwise.” Ye Qiu asked feeling concerned about his son being too hasty in his decision.

“Yes Father I’m sure.”

“Fine but make sure you don’t run astray of your path in the future. Also I’d like you to know that we’ll be visiting the City Lord’s family next week. His son is of similar age to you and I’d like you to be friends with him. The City Lord trusts me explicitly and many others know that. The City Lord knows that I’m the only person who won’t be taking advantage of his and his son’s position. His son is lonely and I think you are too so it’d be good for you both to get along.”

“Hmm, that’s okay with me Father. Good bye then.” Ye Xiu nodded his head and walked back towards his room.

Going back into his Dimension, Ye xiu walked towards a tree and sat underneath it to start his cultivation. Looking at the scroll it read, ‘The first step of the Cultivation Technique will require you to unlock a portion of dormant Dragon’s Blood. This process will be excruciatingly painful and if you are unable to cope with the pain you will die. Your willpower must be strong to stay awake so don’t falter and keep pushing on with the technique. To begin first breathe in three short breaths and breathe out twice. Repeat this as you look into your Dantian. There you will see red liquid residing inside, revitalise that blood and make it course through your body. Once that is done, sit back and let your body do the rest of the process.’

Ye Xiu sat down in a meditative pose and repeated the steps, as he did so he could feel his body start to heat up and he grunted in pain. Knowing that this was the process working he surged on with his efforts to stay awake. He could feel every single part of his body burning, his muscles were being stretched then destroyed and rebuilt into stronger ones. He could feel his eyes start to tingle and thought, ‘This cultivation technique is truly scary, to even reforge my eyes into better ones where other techniques would simply leave them to be developed at higher stages of cultivation.’ As he was thinking that, his meridians were being widened and strengthened to allow for stronger Qi flow and higher Qi flow velocity. Keeping his mind on the task to stay awake, Ye Xiu thought, ‘Well at least this life is much more interesting than my previous life. Day in and day out constantly working after my education was finished. An endless cycle of slavery. Now that I look back my life was truly pitiful. No sense of achievements or progress in life.’ As the Body conversion finished, Ye Xiu started to lose consciousness because of the lack of energy. Ye Xiu fainted inside the Dimension where he was later kicked out due to the time limit.

Ye Qiu thought it was strange that his son had not come for breakfast so he walked towards his bedroom and found him unconscious on the ground. He quickly picked him up and brought him towards the infirmary to allow him to recover.

3 days later -

Ye Xiu groaned as his mind started to clear up. He pushed himself up from the bed and looked around and wondered, ‘Where the hell am I? This doesn’t look like my room. Did I faint after successfully changing my body to fit the cultivation technique? I’m not dead so it went well without a hitch. I know my vision has gotten better because I can see even the smallest ant climbing around the room from over 20 metres away. I can feel the strength hidden in my body, I feel like I could possibly lift up to 50kg with this childish body of mine right now.” Rubbing the remaining gunk around his eyes, Ye Xiu got up to stretch and realised that his flexibility wasn’t affected at all! ‘That’s strange, usually when your muscles get so strong your flexibility would decrease but for me it hasn’t at all! This truly is a wondrous technique that Master had.’

Walking out of the room to look for somebody to tell him where he was, he bumped into an elderly man who looked at him with sharp eyes and a frown upon his face. “Watch where you are going young one, you never when the next person you collide with will take offense and who knows if that person is stronger than you?”

Ye Xiu apologised to the man quickly and asked him for directions, “I’m sorry for bumping into you but where is this and how do I get to Tian Ye Qiu’s residence?”

The old man looked at him with a thoughtful face, “Hm you are the Young Master Ye Xiu? Well I accept your apology and to get back to your residence just walk straight out the building and continue on until you see the trees then turn right and you should get there. I’ll let you know that I am the Elder of the Medical Hall for the Tian Family. Next time you see me just call me Lao Lan.”

Ye Xiu looked at the Elder strangely, “Isn’t that going to be strange for others to see me greet you so familiarly?”

Lao Lan just looked him, “Bah don’t care about their opinions and either way I have more authority than everyone besides the Clan Head, Pill Master and Cultivation Hall Keeper. In any case, you’ll be seeing me more often because the Clan Head will send you to me for some learning of the medical arts. I’ve heard you have the dual attribute of fire and wood affinity, having the wood affinity is enough for you to learn medical arts but it will be hard. However just because learning the medical arts is hard doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t learn it. Learning it for the future just may one day save your life after all.”

Ye Xiu bowed towards Lao Lan and thanked him for his advice and time. “Thanks you Lao Lan, till next time we meet.” Ye Xiu walked away from the Elder and towards the exit to go back home.

‘Bah, what a strange mature child. To act so maturely without anybody teaching him and to be so polite. Sigh, so many impolite children these days and finally I meet a polite one. At least I’ll have a possible apprentice for the Medical arts. Hopefully the other old geezers in the clan don’t snatch him up.’ Lao Lan was deep in thought as he watched Ye Xiu walked away.

Ye Xiu was walking towards his home and was thinking of how to proceed on his cultivation. ‘Now that I’ve changed my body I’ll finally be able to embark on the journey of cultivation. I’ll stretch everyday so I can keep my flexibility, this will help me with my movements in fights. Since I have both Master’s and Misstress’s cultivation techniques I think I will learn both the sword and whip. The sword can be my close ranged weapon whilst the whip can be my mid to long ranged weapon. I should learn how to be ambidextrous because you never know when you might hurt your hand. I’ll also be able to wield both weapons at the same time to keep my enemy guessing.” After making his plan, Ye Xiu hurried back towards his home to explain what had happened to his father.