11 IF A MOTH IS AFRAID OF TOUCHING FIRE, HOW CAN ITS LIFE BE MAGNIFICENT? (1/2)
Charles is siting cross legged on the ground taking a calm deep breath, the activity of inhaling and exhaling, with each breath taken and expelled, internal energy fill Charles body.
Charles must admit the feeling is like consuming drugs. It is intoxicating without all those pesky effects of drug.
It has been two months. In Midgard it would be the Puremoon, the month of Purification festival.
It is also Doveday, third day of the week.
A day of Love where the devotees of Arianna the Goddess of Love would leave some flowers in Her temples.
Charles remembers that during Doveday, many of the young girls who is about to be married will come to the Temple of Arianna and pray to Her, asking that their future husband heart will not stray.
The Puremoon was also when the Purification festival will be held in many large cities who still worship the Twelve Gods of Aesiron.
The festival is to avert evil spirits and purify the city, releasing health and fertility.
Each capital city of the Seven Kingdoms will held the festival with each one of the Seven Kingdoms claiming their sites of festival is related and had connection with the emperor of the past as a sign of prestige and legitimacy.
In Westhold, usually it will be held on the Capital City Westhold with each Kings of Westhold from the past to present, claiming that Westhold is the place where the Silver Legion of Silas, the Great Emperor of the Bourbon Dynasty fend of the Western Barbarian army from marching forward to the rest of Midgard, sacrificing their lives for the prosperity of the world.
Usually like last year Puremoon, Charles would also enjoy the festivities with his servants accompanying him, experts bodyguards shadowing from a distance, while he watch the fireworks at night and feasting in the morning.
'It feels so long ago' Charles sighed.
Possessing the memory of almost three decades in his head of another world, Charles could rarely think like a child and do not possess the naivety of a wide eyed, inquisitive child.
But he does possess the body of a child.
Lacking people to trust his word, lacking means to make a name for himself, lacking strength to free himself from his predicament right now.
'Based on my calculation I should be in Taiyuan.' Charles said to himself.
Fortunately, when he was travelling with his uncle he manages to snatch himself a map of Aeropa and studies it very intently.
Right now, Charles is inside a very strange and bizarre valley, like a fairyland of immortals.
He is inside a jade-green valley with clusters of bright flower bushes with variety of colors, each one is colorful and full of life, with white mist covered the whole valley in the morning making visibility low.
The flowers inside the valley were red like blood, the trees green and full of life, complementing each other to deliver this dazzling scenery.
As he trained in this breathing exercise he learned, he could feel his body and senses getting more sensitive.
Sometimes he could not help but question that woman intention, at least he was questioning it in the beginning.
But Charles must admit as he trains this technique he does not encounter any problems.
He did think of the possibility that this is a trap by the woman but at that time he was forced to practice the technique with a sword on his neck.
Then to Charles surprise the technique not only work, it began strengthening his body.
And Charles ambition was flaming again. Charles already consigned himself not being able to incite internal energy and learn internal martial arts.
Charles has always felt that if he would be able to learn martial arts, he could become the God of War of this generation.
As long as he is able to learn martial arts he could at least enter the military and render merits.
Charles is confident that a new warring era will start the moment the two Tigers of the East swallowed Avillon.
Now that an opportunity to learn has fallen into his lap, how could Charles resist such baits even though he might know it is a plot to harm him?
So he took a risk and it paid off.
And from Charles analysis, he doesn't think that this woman hold any bad intention towards him.
First reason is because Charles does not possess any threats to her. He is a kid. Second, if the woman really wanted to harm him, she could already long harm him.
Of course he could be wrong.
But Charles has no other choice other than to take a risk. Taking a risk that this woman is not evil.
While she did kidnap him, she did not force him to do anything except one.
And that is to learn this technique and accept her as his teacher. The skills he learned but the obeisance was feigned.
The woman knows it and he knows it. But she did not say anything or does she changes her treatment towards Charles.
Only telling him to quickly learn the technique.
When asked about why he was kidnapped the woman would always reply the same answer
That Lancel and her had a promise to keep. And Charles is the insurance that Lancel will not run away this time and fulfill his promise.
Two months living with her, Charles is confident of his judgment.
The woman does not wish him harm. He was once caught trying to escape so much so, that it has become a kind of training.
He would try to escape while she would undoubtedly manage to catch him.
Each time he is caught he would be beaten, but not bad enough that he would get terrible injury, but not soft enough that he could run in a few hours.
Two months trying to escape, Charles realizes that his foot and reflexes improving at an extraordinary rate.
At least for an eleven years old kid (he is now eleven years old. At the start of the story, it was already the last month of the year), Charles knows that none of the eleven years old kid he knows would be able to climb a valley to try to escape.
With each beating he took, Charles began to realize, that woman is strengthening his body.
Charles could not help to feel grateful as she is kind enough to teach him martial arts. But not so grateful that he would totally put down his guard.
After all he will not be a case of a Stockholm syndrome patient if he can help it.
Sometimes Charles would peek towards the hut on top of the Hill filled with white fog and sighed.
'This place is like the dwellings of immortals' Charles thought to himself. The grass is soft; the valley is full of clear and quiet fragrance of flower
He could hear the chirping from the mountain pass, and variety of rare and exotic fruits hanging from tree branches.
To enter this place one has to enter a dark cave which is covered with hidden mechanism that only that woman knows how to access.
The kind of engineering to build the hidden mechanism is high but not as unbelievable like a modern contraption.
'It was like Paradise' Charles repeated again his thoughts.
Then suddenly a whooshing sound could be heard that pierce the wind and Charles look at one of the tall peaks.
His Master flying out from his dwellings and landed on top of one of the peaks, brandishing her sword.
This jade green valley is surrounded by tall peaks.
The tip of the peaks on the four sides all were hidden behind the mist cloud, the cliff was very steep, it seemed like nobody would be able to climb it.
But Ziyan was jumping from peak to peak, like she was dancing.
It was like a sword dance but also not. It was like a dance but also not. It seems like a killing technique but also not.
The profundity of her swordplay was like a sharp intent that cut away the wind and slices the air.
Her steps were enchanting and dizzying, like she was stepping on water, floating like a Fairy, making her look ethereal and at the same time not.
Her strikes at times are forceful, at time are smooth, hardness and softness combined, two concepts that is opposite of each other fused into one.
Each strike produces a sound splitting noise that startles the goats that were grazing on the meadow.
The more Charles looks at the Ziyan movement and martial arts practice, the more he becomes confused and the more his mind becomes disoriented.
Charles quickly averts his gaze and tries to find a calming place inside his mind. He tries to remember other stuff like the name of this valley.
Once Charles asked Ziyan of the name of this place and Ziyan answer him which is rare since she doesn't like answering question.
She answers that the name of the Valley is the Sword Tomb of Heartless.
She never explained why it is called the Sword Tomb of Heartless. At first, Charles thought it was because this valley is a tomb for swords.
But Charles has been here for a month but he never found any swords or any weapons. It was more like a Garden or a Fairyland instead of a tomb.
Charles shook his head as the dizzying sensation does not dissipate and think about other things almost immediately as the dizzying began to lessens.
One time Charles tries to escape from Ziyan, and climb the valley only to be caught almost immediately when he arrived at the top of the valley.
He still remembers how fast she could move and how profound her movement technique was.
As Charles began thinking of other things suddenly a sharp object flew towards his cheeks, rushing through the wind, creating a hair rising sound.
Charles immediately breaks out from his contemplation and senses the trajectory of the attack with his keen sense.
Charles immediately dodges by moving his head to the right, not to moment to late as the attack scratches his cheek, and droplets of blood started dripping from the wound.
'What the-' And then looking at the hole bored into the boulder behind him Charles realized it was the Divine Flicking Finger from Ziyan.
The hole was smoking as smokes rises up resultant of the friction between the boulder and the small pebbles.
Using a pebble and covering the pebble with her internal energy, she flicks her finger and the pebble was shot out with the momentum of a gunshot in Charles previous world.
Her voice travelled from the top of the peak, like she was beside him ordering him:
'Concentrate. Breathe in and breathe out. Search for immortality.'
Then she continues saying, the voice faints and ethereal:
'Living in solitude is that the life of an Immortal?'
There are other parts to that phrase but Ziyan never finished her words, letting the other parts of that phrase to always remain a mystery.
Charles understands the first part of the words but not the last part of the word. That always baffles him.
But Charles thinks it is something important.
'Fine' Charles said glaring at Ziyan and then obediently he closes his eyes and concentrates and feels the energy all around him, originating inside this mystical valley.
'All things come from emptiness' Charles said and he could feel the cold energy in his dantian covering his veins as he access his internal energy.
All around him white mist swirls around his waist, though it is faint and hard to see.
'Emptiness is just form, and form is just emptiness' he recites the Heartless Sutra, the teachings of the Ziyan School, Jade Palace Gate.
Charles realizes that the more he practices this breathing technique his senses become even more acute and powerful.
He could also feel internal energy inside his body after he started practicing the breathing technique.
Which is weird considering that he could not incite the internal energy inside his body before.
This lead to Charles formulating the supposition that his master is an even greater martial artist than his uncle.
Before he learn this technique, every time he tries to incite his internal energy, even under the guidance of his Uncle he would be attacked by a bout of dizziness and coldness.
Nowadays his routine is different.