Chapter VIII – Impurities

The next day, Sophie skipped on the morning run. She was still asleep by the time Arthur was ready. He let her sleep in, knowing she felt unwell the day before. The uneasiness he felt the night before didn’t settle. He was slowly but surely losing patience and was eager to learn the truth.

When he returned home, he saw a note on the table.

“I went to school. Love you. – Sophie”

Arthur slammed the table with his fist.

“Dammit. . .”

He sighed.

“What’s wrong?” Grandpa Ryung asked.

He woke up a few minutes earlier and was getting ready for work.

“Ah. . . Nothing. There was an annoying fly that I tried to catch, but failed.”

“Oh,” Grandpa chuckled. “The table didn’t do anything to you, so don’t go breaking it.”

“I won’t, sorry,” Arthur apologized with a soft smile, hiding his frustration.

“Well, I’m off to work. I presume you’ll be going to school tomorrow?”

“Yeah, that’s the plan. I’ll finish up on the last-minute preparation that I need. You won’t be returning until late again, right?”

“Indeed, do you need something?”

“No, not really. I might however be in bed by the time you return. Probably a good idea to get a long night's sleep.”

“I agree, sleep is important! But before you leave tomorrow, I’ll have something to give you. So please wake me up before you two leave for school.”

“I will. Have a good day at work.”

Grandpa nodded, making his way out. However, before he left, he stopped for a second and took out a bit of money from his pocket.

“Arthur, take this. There is a good barbershop just down the block. You could use a cut before returning to school. Your hair is a bit messier than usual.”

“Oh, ok. . .”

Finally left alone, Arthur took a moment to look at himself in the mirror. This was the first time he paid attention to his appearance. It was weird getting used to a new body every time he reincarnated. However, strangely enough, this time around he looked fairly similar to his past life. He was around 180cm in height. He had a handsome face, but it was covered by a patchy beard that hardly grew. The messy shoulder long black hair didn’t help. Like his sister, he had grey eyes which they picked up from their mother’s side. He wasn’t scrawny per se, but he was getting there if he kept at it for a few more months.

“I do indeed need some modest glow up,” he chuckled to himself.

He put on his shoes and did just that.

“Is it to your liking?” the barber asked.

“Very much so, your skill is astounding,” Arthur complimented.

By now, he was used to the idea that there would be things he simply did not understand, one of those being the hair clipper.

Looking himself in the mirror, he looked unrecognizable. His hair was now cut short and neat, leaving a bit at the top to push to the side. Not only that, but the barber made sure to remove his ‘beard’ and give him a smooth face.

“Thank you,” Arthur said.

“Come back any time.”

Arthur left the barbershop and proceeded home. Now that he felt refreshed, it was time to perform what he was putting off for a while, unsure if he could endure it.

Entering the house, he glanced into the mirror once more.

Humming to himself, he smirked. “I quite like this look. Probably should try to maintain it.”

Taking a deep breath, he looked around.

“Since nobody is home, I should be fine doing this,” he said, stripping himself of all his clothing.

It was the first time he was nude in the middle of the house, not that the idea interested him.

I should be fine now, my body is a lot stronger than when I woke up in the hospital. Now. . . Where should I do this?

He took a moment to consider all options.

The room might not be a bad idea, but it’ll get messy. Probably the bathroom then. I’ll be able to clean up right after.

Proceeding into the bathroom, he took a deep breath and sat in a relaxing position, with his legs crossed underneath him.

This body is so heavy in impurities. Once that’s out of my system, I’ll be able to reopen my Qi pathways and make my body much lighter and durable. I estimate that with proper training I’ll be able to reach an acceptable physique within a month.

Arthur pressed his palms together and closed his eyes. He dreaded this feeling, but it was something he had to do. The first step looked the worst but was the least painful one. Forming a first in his dominant hand, he extended his arm, and in a quick motion punched his stomach. The force of it made him nearly puke, this was the reason he skipped breakfast this morning.

The second step was forcing the first Qi point known as a meridian to open up. Doing so unleashed the held back and impure Qi, allowing it to pass through his body. With a deep breath, he focused as a surge of unimaginable pain coursed through him. This resulted in him puking blood out of his mouth that sprayed onto the floor. It wasn’t in large amounts by any means, but that was only the beginning. This was going to be a bloody process.

The blood itself was tainted with black coloring, signifying the impurities that he was spitting out. With each point forced open, he’d spit more and more blood. There were four main pathways he wished to open that would ease the pain at least a little. If he had done this while his body was too weak, there was a high chance of him fainting in the process, or worse dying on the spot.

The first half an hour passed, and he managed to remain relatively quiet. He didn’t open his eyes once, instead, he strictly focused on cultivating his energy. After a certain point, however, he was unable to hold himself from grunting in pain, as his body begged him to stop. Anyone looking would imagine this being the harshest self-torture one could endure. They wouldn’t necessarily be wrong either. It wasn’t just draining on the body, but the soul as well.

Between each meridian being forced open, he needed at least five minutes to cultivate.

Hours later, the room smelled of rust, an all too familiar scent. Finally opening his eyes, he saw the floor painted red. He must have vomited at the very least a liter of blood across the floor, mixed with other fluids. His skin became paler, and his body was in desperate need of recovery.

“There was so much. . .” Arthur said out loud, looking at just how big of a mess he made.

Impurities within his body were caused by numerous things, including the grievous lack of harmony between his positive and negative emotions. In addition, things like drugs, such as anti-depressants and other illegal substances that Arthur consumed in the past without anyone knowing, greatly affected the impurities.

Rising to his feet, even with all the blood loss, he felt a lot lighter. Qi once again flowed through him. Though it wasn’t even near as much as in his former life, it was a great start. His speed, strength, and endurance all significantly improved. Not only that, but his senses greatly heightened as well. Maybe it was due to the lifestyle Arthur enjoyed, but his vision was at one point becoming a bit blurry. Now it became crystal clear once again.

The need for food spiked tremendously. Meat in particular was a great choice due to the blood loss. Typically it would take a bit longer than a day to recover from such an event, but a good night's sleep was more than enough for Arthur. The Qi flowing through him would do most of the job.

The first thing he had to do though, before even considering eating, was of course cleaning the bathroom. He couldn’t let anyone witness what occurred. It took a bit of effort, but due to the amazing invention of the air freshener, the smell was neutralized rather quickly. The blood splattered on the ceramic tiles was relatively easy to scoop up and clean.

Taking a bath, and enjoying a solid meal or two was the next thing he did. His movement became much sharper and fluent, and after he was done there was one last thing he needed to do.

Standing in the middle of the room, he stood straight. Focusing on the Qi that passed through him, he slowly moved his right shoulder from back to front in a circular motion, then did the opposite with his left one. He bent his neck left and right, until both his cheeks touched the adjacent shoulder. Following through with that, he extended his left arm in a wave-like motion, listening as his bones crack in place. The next joint was the right knee, then the right wrist and left ankle. He proceeded to do this with every one of his body parts. To an outsider, this would look like a really weird medieval ritual, or if sped up, like a wild modern club dance. Finally, he stretched both his arms up as far as he could, taking a deep breath in before exhaling. His arms circled as wide as possible, returning eventually into a palm against palm position. With one final breath, it was finally over.

Instantly he felt sleepy. His body was exhausted from the trauma it endured. The color of his skin did however normalize.

Looking at the clock, he realized that Sophie was coming home soon, so he got dressed up quickly as to not await her butt naked in the hallway, deciding to write her a note. It only specified that she should eat without him as he would be asleep. He wasn’t too happy about it, knowing that his sister might be unwell, but if she saw him in this state, there could be much bigger consequences.

Tomorrow was a big day. The day that Arthur finally returned to school. Without a clue of what truly awaited him, he prepared his uniform and collapsed onto the bed.

Chapter End.

Thank you for reading.