Mage's Cultivation Journey 33

When I summoned Yu Xing, Su Mi arrived with him. I thought about sending her away, but after some consideration, I decided otherwise. It would be helpful to watch.

“Good morning, steward,” Yu Xing greeted me, his attitude tense and confrontational. Also, very fake.

“You can speak normally,” I replied. “There’s no one close enough to listen to us,” I replied. It seemed my repeated displays of competence had made them weary about spying directly.”

“Finally,” he responded, the tension draining off him. “I hate acting.”

“You have to deal with it if you want to explore why the traitors to your school are here,” I said. “Are you still determined to do that despite the risks?”

“I have to,” he replied, his voice brokering no argument. “I owe it to the old leader.”

I could see that he had no intention of changing his mind. I could probably convince him otherwise if I worked hard enough, but I decided against it. I was even younger than he was when I first decided to follow the path of magic despite everything being stacked against me.

I respected his determination. Not to mention, I was honest enough to admit that I supported his plans because they didn’t ruin my own plans. On the contrary, a little chaos he stirred would give me a chance to act despite my distant expert persona.

“Fine. But not before you make a breakthrough,” I said.

“I can’t,” he replied. “Who knows how long it would take. The traitors might even succeed in their plans, targeting the poor refugees.”

“Well, I know how long it would take. Probably something around an hour,” I responded.

He looked at me. “What?” he asked, more confused than shocked, not even realizing I had answered his rhetorical question.

“I know how long it will take for you to break through,” I said as I pulled a scroll and a booklet. The booklet was the manual on Furious Wind Style, which had a detailed explanation of Skin Refinement. The scroll had the modified method of breaking through, which I wrote. “An hour.”

He checked the content of the booklet first, his eyes widening. “T-this is a manual for my style. How?”

“It’s one of the books they passed me. As for how they get it, it’s easy. They must have acquired a few from Duan Gang. They weren’t exactly a competent group.”

He immediately opened the section explaining how to transition from Muscle Reinforcement to Skin Refinement, his eyebrows creating. Su Mi did her best to teach him how to read, and he was not a bad student. But, there was a big gap between where he was, and understanding the complicated explanations of a martial arts manual. “I … I don’t think I can understand it, master,” he admitted.

“Read the scroll,” I said.

He did so, with Su Mi helping with the more difficult characters, his shock growing even more. While he did that, I focused on reading a book on common medicinal plants in the region, preparing to try my hand at making pills.

“This is…” Yu Xing muttered. “Fascinating. A breakthrough should take weeks of trial and error, supported by pills. Not an hour.”

“The method doesn’t seem complete,” Su Mi said, showing that her comprehension was better despite her lack of martial arts training.

“It’s because I will be helping with needles to pick the correct acupuncture and meridian path combination, as well as blocking the excess energy,” I said. “So, I omitted those parts.” That made the process simpler, but it was only possible due to my extreme sensitivity. I was sure that no other martial artist I observed had the necessary control.

Though, I couldn’t speak for medical professionals, apothecaries, and other experts. There was a good chance their methods were completely different.

“Let’s do it,” Yu Xing said and sat in front of me, cross-legged.

“Are you sure?” I asked. “I’m confident in my analysis, but I can’t promise there will be no side effects in the future. It might be safer to wait a month.”

To his credit, he paused enough to consider it before shaking his head and rejecting the offer. He seemed determined by the idea of paying back his dead teacher. I didn’t fully approve, and if Su Mi’s tense expression was any indicator, I wasn’t the only one.

I kept my mouth shut. I had already warned him about the risks. It was his decision.

“Stand up, and start channeling your internal energy,” I ordered once I placed the needles in his main meridians, covering from head to toe. He nodded before he started moving in the predetermined set of martial moves, careful not to dislodge any of the needles.

He had to move, as breaking through required him to use transformed internal energy, which was what made the process tricky and dangerous. It was also the reason why, according to the texts, such breakthroughs were often handled in piecemeal, in isolation, to avoid any distraction.

But, with my needles blocking the meridians that he needed to avoid, and limiting others to enable a more careful flow, the process started smoothly … well, relatively. He was still gasping in pain as the transformed internal energy started to infuse his skin, his blood vessels cracking.

Su Mi trembled as she watched his pained state.

“You don’t have to stay here,” I suggested to her.

“No, I’ll stay,” she declared, refusing the relief. Her call.

I turned my attention back to Yu Xing as he cycled his internal energy again and again, interrupting only when I was afraid his meridians wouldn’t be able to handle the strain. His skin started to rip, his blood spilling, mixing with his sweat.

A gruesome sight, but neither that nor the pain stopped him.

Watching him cycle the energy repeatedly, I couldn’t help but focus on the transformation, imbuing his internal energy with the essence of the wind with every breath … no, not the wind, I corrected myself, analyzing the energy transformation from the perspective of this dimension, more in line from the perspective I had gotten from the diary about the elements.

The energy that he embodied wasn’t just the wind. The clue was in the name, but I didn’t pay attention. Not the Wind Style, but the Furious Wind style. Similarly, the essence of his movements carried the weight of a similar variant.

It wasn’t a storm, strong yet steady. No, the essence was more of gust. A momentary gale that exploded from nowhere, throwing the land into chaos in one blast, exploding in one moment, disappearing the next...

Though, as I delved deeper into the concept, I found it fascinating how much the transformation resembled their system of writing, far more reliant on the context and the feeling than the actual information. It looked like there was a more valid reason for their language to develop in such a context-dependent manner.

But, it was also inconvenient. It meant that I couldn’t just rely on raiding libraries to understand the way the world worked here; while back in our corner of existence, it was all that mattered. Access to the right library had been the most important cornerstone of a mage’s development, bar none.

As Yu Xing reached the end of his breakthrough, I stopped thinking about the indirect implications of the fundamental differences between the two power systems, and focused on repairing his meridians by pilfering the excess internal energy from his attempts.

Even with that, it was a risky situation. The meridians under his skin were slow to adapt to the consistent flow, cracking repeatedly. I moved the needles around, blocking some paths while opening the others, making sure he would complete the process at once.

It put some strain on the rest of his body, forcing me to heal him constantly. A tense balance was born, where his body started to break down and repair… but it was not harmful. The essence of his transformed energy started to transform his skin.

No wonder they called it Skin Refining. The name described the process far better than I expected.

Soon, the next problem arrived. His internal energy reserves struggled to keep up, which was probably another reason why the breakthrough lasted for weeks for others.

I was prepared for the possibility. I fed him a pill to replenish his reserves. Ordinarily, an additional burst would have killed him, but I kept the pill wrapped tightly with my internal energy, purifying it as much as possible before I started to release it slowly.

The breakthrough continued, his skin breaking and repairing constantly to be transformed under the constant erosion of his internal energy. The process was brutal to the end. His skin needed to be replaced repeatedly, just to allow him to handle a greater flow of his internal energy.

Yet, he continued, neither complaining nor crying in pain, going through the moves of his martial style again and again to convert his internal energy.

There was no direct point where the process had been completed. It was more of a long, indistinct process. The bleeding started to lessen, until, at one point, his body’s natural healing caught up. Yet, he continued moving, tempering his body again and again, his internal energy resonating more.

“That's enough,” I finally called, but only when the benefits of the process had dwindled.

“I can continue,” he responded.

“Probably, but at this point, learning the stronger moves will benefit you better. But first, go take a bath,” I ordered, pointing at his bloodied state. He looked like he had just jumped out of a meat grinder. Yet, despite the lingering pain, he smiled.

After all, he had just succeeded in breaking through, which improved his power significantly.

It was a cause for celebration.