ALL NOVEL 32: Trust (VI)
“The pond before you is made by gathering the Five Mortal Qi (Water, Wood, Earth, Metal, Fire) and the Two Heavenly Qi (Yin and Yang), the very Qi that makes everything between Heaven and Earth. Such a strong concentration can melt normal humans down to their bones, so going in with clothes would be wasteful.” I explained.
“B-But why me?” Wang Yang became smaller, telling him to undress so abruptly had put him on the spot.
I suppose it is because the ones next to him are young women, he never had such a reaction when it was only men around. An understandable case, no matter how outspoken he seemed, Wang Yang was a reserved person in his own sense.
“I can’t ask the two of them to do that, now can I?” I moved forward. “Ladies look away.”
“W-Wait Master!” Wang Yang moved back, but for a different reason as my hand caught him. “Didn’t you say that humans will melt if they go inside it?”
“Normal humans, yes. But you are a cultivator now, in appearance you may look like an ordinary human, however, you have twice the physical attributes of humans who have trained their entire life.” Hearing this he stopped for a moment, thinking it was safe. “But if you make a mistake in Heaven’s pond, even this strengthened body of yours will crumble.”
“Master… I don’t know if you are trying to console me or scare me.” A wry smile appeared on his lips as he had given up on getting out of my grasp.
“Don’t worry, I intend to teach you so that such a situation doesn’t come to pass.” The serious proclamation seemed enough for him.
Wang Yang took off his upper robes and dropped into the pond like a swift horse, he didn’t take his pants off because of Kexin snickers from the side. Leaving that aside, his feet found ground when the golden water reached his chest, for now, this was good.
“It feels tingly, like an army of ants walking all over me.” His brow scrunched up. “What should I do next, Master?”
“You have to meditate like you usually do and take in as much of the Qi in the air and from your skin.” The three disciples looked at me with titled heads, their confused expressions asking ‘Is that it?’
“Well, the only difference is that you cannot absorb this Qi in your Dantian like usual. You have to constantly circle it around your meridians in the fixed cycle till all of the Qi is absorbed by the body, then you can take in the next one.” I explained as Wang Yang closed his eyes.
His back was pressed against the ground for support as sweat gathered on his brow, with increased sensitivity to touch the current situation presented a challenge to him. Usually, cultivators practice behind closed doors, away from all the noise and chatter as they prefer a tranquil atmosphere where not even a fly would come to distract them. However, just as a butterfly had to break open the cocoon to spread its wings and soar, cultivators too had to break out of that secluded atmosphere to reach newer heights.
Cultivation was not something one could do by sitting in one place, even if they have extraordinary talent.
The best way to go about this is not to let them fall into the habit that you can only meditate while in a closed room from the start. Everyone had their ways of doing this, even though I used another method before but this was more suitable for now as it provided more benefits and aligned with other things.
It took Wang Yang five minutes before he entered meditation as opposed to the usual minute, his breathing smoothened as his chest rose and fell like gentle waves that went through the pond. The first wisp of the hovering white Qi entered through his nostrils as his pores took in the Qi greedily, his body shuddered for an instant as all of the muscles in his body twitched, but went back to calm the next moment.
“Master, is it like that solution from Iron Palm Fortress?” Sun Lingling asked, her voice low yet her eyes were colored in shock.
“In a way, but that solution is inferior to this by multitudes, not to mention its side effects.” I wouldn’t let my disciples near something like that stuff.
In this conversation, one person was completely lost.
“I don’t understand what is going on.”
“We are talking about the bone condensing solution of the Iron Palm Fortress from the north, they use it to make the skins, muscles, and bones around the palms thicker and resilient so they can withstand their techniques. Because of how costly it is only their elites use it.” Sun Lingling explained. “But I heard that it turns their hands numb to all stimulation, and they can never feel anything from it for the rest of their lives.”
“Wait… so you are saying this is similar to that?” Kexin’s pupils shrunk when she saw Wang Yang neck-deep in the pond.
“In its effects, this is much superior to that. Not only does it strengthen one’s skin, muscles, organs, and bones, but the main point is that this strengthens one’s meridians and Qi pathways as well, aspects that are usually impossible to improve on. And of course, there are no side effects, aside from the limitation that you have to be a Golden Core cultivator or lower to get the benefit.” As Kexin’s doubts cleared, Lingling’s eyes turned serious, that was how lucrative this pond was.
“Normally one would be stuck with the meridians and Qi pathways they had since birth, in very rare cases the meridian’s strength and endurance perfectly match the spiritual root’s grade allowing the cultivator to bring out 100% of the root and techniques. If this method is known to the world, then even if the increment is small it will certainly…” Lingling cut off her own words, even then Kexin could understand the weight of this.
If one gathered all the cultivators across the five continents, 80% of them would be Golden Core and below. Every faction, sect, kingdom, organization, association, or army had these people in bulk. What would happen if a method to strengthen 80% of the cultivators saw the light?
“In simple words, this place could cause a war larger than the Saint War from two thousand years ago.” It was no mere exaggeration on my part, I have seen the dirty side of the cultivators when this place was captured. The greed of humans was much more evil and viler than anything I had had the misfortune to lay my eyes on.
That greed led to a loss that I could never recover from.
“…Master?” Sun Linling's confused words reached me.
“Ah… yes, as I was saying. This place is super important, so not a word to anyone and don’t worry about anything else. Just praise your venerable Master for taking such good care of you.” I said, my nose pointing towards the ceiling with a smug smile.
“…Master, if you hadn’t said it like that, I probably would’ve considered it.” Kexin sighed.
“What a bummer. I would’ve liked it if you started the day with three kowtows in my general direction.”
“Knock it off, Master.” Kexin laughed, understanding that it was simple teasing, but the second one didn’t.
“Understood Master, I shall do it every morning without fail.” Sun Lingling’s flat voice sailed between us.
“…Please refrain from doing that.” That was all I could muster in front of her confused expression.
Thankfully, Kexin stepped in with another question.
“So, how will we enter the pond?” Her face had a slight blush as the situation didn’t help her, and this was enough to divert Sun Lingling’s attention too. Who else would be more concerned about their skin showing in public?
Women of this world took even greater caution when it came to this, but there were always some oddballs.
“Don’t fret, I have prepared well.”
They followed me to the other side of the pond, near the edge I placed a yellow talisman and took twenty steps back. With a puff of smoke a single-story wooden cabin appeared, it had one fully furnished bedroom with two beds, one sitting room, a reading room, bathroom and toilet, and a kitchen with supplies that could last a month. Elevated above ground by pillars the set of stairs led down to the edge of the pond, and near it was a changing room for privacy.
But this wasn’t enough, I formed a few hand seals as my Qi gathered the nearby dirt. Like fluid water the soil flowed under my command and divided the pond in two by a ten-meter-high earthen wall, walling off the sides so no one could peak in not even from above because of the formation that worked like a one-way mirror, and the only way inside was from the cabin.
Wang Yang wouldn’t peek, but it was one way to give them peace of mind, slipping up because of divided attention would cause damage.
“I have also placed a timer on your tokens, they will ring once every two hours so keep them close to the edge. After every two hours in, you have to take a one-hour break before going in, take more if your body demands it. I will call you through the token around dinner time to check up on you, if you ignore my words, I will not let you enter the pond again.” My words were directed at the two, they were the type to overdo their tasks after all.
And before their high talent or the aid they can provide me in the future, they were my disciples. Yes, I did want something from them in return, but not to the extent that it would put their potential in jeopardy.
However, the two of them weren’t really listening, more accurately something else weighed on their minds. They faced me yet their eyes remained fixed on the cabin.
“Master… what… how?”
Kexin looked like she had seen a ghost, in the form of a house, Sun Lingling’s attention also became fixed on the sudden change in the scenery.
“Do I have to start there?” The two nodded and even took a tour of the inside before getting to the pond.
It seemed they had readied themselves for days when they wouldn’t be able to get a proper bath and use a sanitary toilet, most of the cultivators were like that when they left on their journeys and some more affluent ones carried cleaning talismans or learned water spells to cover up, overall camping out was still a rough experience unless one could drop tens of thousands spirit stones to get a larger storage ring for their conveniences.
However, this one talisman changed everything. It contained the entire house along with the different needs and comforts, and the space it took in the ring was also negligible.
Who other than Chen Zhipeng could make it? The reason was the swampland investigation of the Northern Continent a century ago, he accompanied me for his own reasons and after hearing about the conditions there locked himself in his workshop after hearing the idea of movable houses that slipped out of me, he stepped out with dark eyebags with this product after two months.
It still costs a fortune to make though, but it is relatively cheaper than buying a ring large enough to fit a house of this size inside. This got a lot of attention among the sects that participated in that mission, but Chen Zhipeng never accepted any other orders to personally make them as it took a lot of time for him.
So other arrangements were made, Zhipeng and I still get good royalties thanks to Gu Fei who made the process public. As to how she managed to get such an incredible hold on this difficult process in this world?
“A woman of steel, that one.” I have never seen a person more adept in business than her, in my current or past life.
Someone like that could be a competent ally or a terrifying opponent, and I’d rather not have her as an opponent.
However, the truth is that I’d have to face worse opponents than her going forward, each more despicable and lacking in morals than the last. In a cutthroat world like this such behavior is common practice.
But this time I’ll be better prepared and strengthen myself with every means possible. Setting up the cabin on Wang Yang’s side with the walls I removed my clothes and entered Heaven’s Pond.
I’ll use everything I can, even myself if I have to. This chance won’t be wasted.
I closed my eyes as the day of confrontation came closer.
