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— Two months prior, Underground Bazaar, The Magic Fish Lounge
Jodye Trill was seated in the Ascended Heaven Formation, on the center of a vortex of milky white origin energy. Directly at his back, like a mirror image, was the silent Sek Si, whose eyes were also closed in meditation. Initially, Sek Si was extremely startled by this occurrence. However, after waking Jodye in a panic, she was heavily berated.
Thus, she was now staying calm, though she didn’t understand how a boy who had never cultivated his origin energy before now could cause such a scene. She thought there had to be a problem. Jodye simply told her to sober up, and try and take advantage of this array as he was. Sek Si was still unconvinced, but she took his advice nonetheless.
Jodye Trill was currently in a state of complete focus, as Sylvester Tricko and himself collaborated to clear out the path to his first spirit meridian. Through his mind’s eye, this looked like he was pouring milky white energy through his palm, up his arm, and into a dark grey wall of impurities separating the power from the light sphere in his left lung.
Jodye was revolving the force circulation method given to him by the Bright Star: Battle Book. One rotation, two rotations, six rotations, and finally after twenty-six rotations and seven-plus hours, Jodye exhaled some torpid air and opened his eyes. He had already connected the spirit meridians in his lungs, large intestine, small intestine, and his stomach to his origin veins! This was already four of his twelve spiritual meridians!
The outer layer of Jodye’s skin was covered in a black sticky substance that smelled disgusting. The boy himself wasn’t disturbed. Instead, he was totally excited. The cleansing of impurities meant that he had taken another step forward in his realm!
“Ah, dude, foul,” came Xavier Tricko’s voice from within Jodye’s mind, causing the former to frown.
“Young master, you stink.” Said Sek Si from behind Jodye Trill, making him grimace.
“Everyone can’t be as handsome as you, my friend,” quipped Jodye in response. He received in return an eye roll from Sek Si, who stopped speaking as if Jodye was merely air. Sek Si then swung her jet black hair, before vanishing into a shadow. Jodye Trill hesitated briefly before he shrugged as he got up and walked to the bathroom to wash away this filth.
Jodye wasn’t sure whether or not Sek Si could still see him from the shadow realm, but he chose to not concern himself with it. Ultimately, he was still delighted. He had cleared four meridian bridges, linking his origin veins to his spirit meridians and vascular arteries! Unexpectedly, this also caused his astral might to flow smoother through his spirit meridians, which had long been tempered and had flowing astral strength.
Jodye Trill felt he could very easily exert his full strength through his left arm at a moments notice. It was extremely comfortable. He marveled briefly at the beautiful way his origin veins and spiritual meridians weaved and interconnected with his vascular system.
‘Was the human body always capable of such magic? Maybe the ancient Chinese had it right all along,’ thought Jodye. The more he learned about his spiritual meridians, the more he was reminded of the little he knew about his old world’s ancient culture.
Jodye Trill immediately returned to his cultivation practice after a quick bath. Controlling his breathing and guiding his energy using the Bright Star: Force Circulation method, the first meridian bridge he cleared was in his lungs, followed by the large intestine. Jodye Trill immediately repeated this process for his stomach.
“This should be considered Intermediate level Freshman Rank,” thought Jodye as he sat on the platform holding the origin gem in his hand. Jodye wore elegant white clothes, and the irises of his sapphire eyes were vertical. [Pharaoh’s Law4Lawthe rules and principles that create, govern, and maintain the energies of the universe. When laws come into harmony they form different systems naturally, with as many functions as the laws in harmony. For laws to enter a state of harmony, they must be compatible and have a proper conduit such as a star, or anything with its own unique Origin source law. With a good enough conduit it is possible to make incompatible laws reach a state of harmony, but in such a scenario there is a high chance of the force turning cancerous. The condensation of law energy produces what is known as Force or Qi..] sat magnificently on his head. He looked like the prince of a nation. Standing up, Jodye decided to evaluate his progress.
A silver aura burst out his body as the phenomenon of the primary heaven and earth forces manifested in the void above. Five white spheres of light, the size of marbles, floated in the air like stars in the night sky. Jodye could feel a connection to these little marbles.
“Indeed, the Intermediate Freshman Rank!” exclaimed Jodye Trill. How many hours had he practiced for? He had already advanced by a sub-rank! Sylvester’s ability combined with all these fabulous extremities had given him a great windfall!
“Just this, and you are excited? I was born with strength equivalent to that of your father. What are you?” Sylvester said indifferently via telepathy. Jodye was stunned speechless.
Next, he decided to connect the bridges in his spleen, bladder, and kidneys, allowing his origin energy to circulate even better. Five hours and 40 rotations of the Bright Star: Force Circulation method later, he had accomplished what he had set out to do! However, this time Jodye Trill didn’t stop at all.
He had plenty of spiritual force to spare, as after cultivating all day just over half of his mental strength remained. Sylvester could absorb energy like this for only a particular amount time before he would have to rest for a long while, and their compatibility rating would even drop a bit! Sylvester had said this was likely because he was using powers beyond Jodye’s realm; thus the soul strain has adverse effects on their compatibility rating.
As such, Jodye Trill didn’t want to waste another second. His cultivation practice continued, this time focusing on the meridian bridge in his heart. By clearing this bridge, one could be considered to have reached the advanced point of his current Sage cultivation rank. The chest was a significant bridge because it would connect the energy passages in his arms, to each other and the rest of his upper body.
It was the central hub for his blood and energy.
One rotation, two rotations, six rotations, and finally after 42 rotations of his force circulation method, Jodye’s body shook, as he coughed out a mouthful of black blood. This time just under 12 hours had passed! He was discovering that as long as he had origin energy circulating within him, he didn’t feel any fatigue or hunger. With the milky white origin gem in his hand, which seemed to release an endless stream of origin force, Jodye Trill felt totally great.
This was the unique trait of cultivators. They could sustain themselves without food for a longer time because they could absorb the energies of the heavens and the earth. The higher their cultivation rank, the less they needed things like food, water, or rest. While he had not reached the point of being able to entirely abandon regular health convention, he apparently was ready to go the whole day without fatigue or hunger.
However, despite his gains, Jodye felt sticky and disgusting all over again. He almost threw up again, once he caught a whiff of himself. Mentally exhausted, the boy wonder decided to meditate for an hour, before finally opening his eyes. Yawning, he got up to stretch his body. Looking around the room, Jodye Trill noticed that Sek Si was nowhere in sight. Perhaps she was still playing in the shadows. Jodye was too lazy to investigate.
“Hm?” Suddenly Jodye Trill’s instincts started going haywire, as he inexplicably sensed danger. It felt like a vicious viper had locked on to him, ready to strike at any moment. Jodye recognized this feeling was killing intent! Unfortunately, before Jodye Trill could react, a soft hand covered his mouth from behind, and his surroundings went entirely black.
“You stink again, young master Joseph.” Sek Si’s gentle whisper secretly gave Jodye goosebumps. He almost didn’t even twitch when she called him Joseph. Almost.
“Do not move. Your mother has discovered some people entering secretly to spy on you…” Sek Si paused as if she had to consider carefully what to say next. In the end, she spoke, “Mn, it should be because of the origin energy vortex you attracted when you broke through.”
My mom? Spies? Vortex? Broken through? Jodye Trill was so confused. To his shock, when he moved his lips, no sound came out. Was this part of Sek’s ability? Scary! Jodye made a mental note to deepen his understanding of Sek Si and the Si clan.
“Petty tricks!” shouted a husky and violent voice, as a huge palm imprint rocketed directly towards their location. Sek Si paled in fright, but Jodye was totally unmoved. He indeed had ample experience and was unafraid of death, but this was not the source of his composure. In Jodye’s mind, if this warning indeed originated from his mother, then the chances of him getting hurt were near null. He knew his mother well, and she would never let him come into harm’s way.
If there were a situation she couldn’t handle, then he would already be at her side.
Sure enough, as soon as Jodye had these thoughts, the palm imprint from the mysterious assassin was frozen mid-air and slowly corroded away into pink ice dust. The temperature in the room instantly plummeted.
“How bold!” Came a heavenly and melodious, yet piercingly cold voice that echoed all around the room. Jodye and Sek could not tell where either of the instigators of this event was, so they merely stood silently in the shadows, listening to energies clashing all around them. Jodye Trill didn’t dare to cast his spiritual sense outwards out of fear of detection. He didn’t have enough intel, he had no idea how many enemies there were. He noticed Sek Si was shivering behind him, so he turned around to face her. She was pale as a sheet and looked terrified.
‘A child is a child after all…’ thought the also five-years-old Jodye Trill, as he grabbed Sek Si’s hand and held it tightly. Since his voice was suppressed, words were now useless. He would have to comfort her through action.
Sek was startled as she looked into Jodye’s deep ocean like eyes. The slight glow they emitted threatened to swallow her whole, as she blushed and looked away. Right at that moment, that shadow world around them shattered like glass as they appeared back in the room.
“Aaah!” Sek Si shrieked while clutching her head before she fainted in Jodye’s arms. He caught her and noticed blood trickling from the corner of her mouth. For the first time in his current life, he felt unbridled anger bubbling up in his stomach. As his rage grew his five astral points went active on their own. Jodye was so startled by this discovery that his anger temporarily subsided, and his astral points became dormant once more.
“Hehe, found you, twerp,” there was an ugly but muscular goon in black garb, towering over Jodye Trill and the unconscious Sek Si. Behind him were two masked figures in the same clothing. On the left shoulder of each of them, there was a jade python insignia. The ugly muscle-head looked menacing and had a sinister black aura that made Jodye feel like he was suffocating, “Even if that blue-eyed witch kills Frankie, I’ll avenge him by ending your dog life! You, take ’em out. Be quick about it.”
One of the two followers stepped forward and released his strength, his golden aura sweeping out, the force of which knocked over several items in the room. Above the follower, the primary force phenomenon appeared and coalesced into 12 marble-sized white spheres of light that circulated within his aura in the shape of a small python!
It was becoming impossible to breathe, and Jodye was terrified to find that he felt his breath of life fading away. Was he actually dying?! How f****** strong did one have to be to kill others with nothing but the pressure from their aura? Or maybe he was just too weak!
“Am I really going to die here?”
