Chapter 242 - Endurance is a Skill, Patience a Virtue (4) (1/2)
Hua Tuo woke up to the smell of breakfast in the form of roasted fish. Zero was already sitting cross-legged under the Aggression Fall meditating with a frown on his face. The physician smiled at his student's enthusiasm. Last night must have been something if Zero was so ready to dive into facing his fears head-on so early in the morning.
The Sage God ate his roasted fish and steamed rice before doing his morning ritual to warm his old bag of bones. The qi gathered at Trigression Falls was a lot denser than at Endow Hill and Hua Tuo could feel the immediate difference as the qi circulated in his body, opening up the twelve meridians in his body.
Feeling that it might be good to bring his qi gong to the next level, Hua Tuo focussed on his breath and meditated while going through the familiar moves to stimulate the eight spiritual axes. Zero felt a strange pressure gathering in the air around the cave and decided that it might be a good time to take a break of his own since he hasn't made much progress.
When he opened his eyes and hopped off the platform, the teenager couldn't believe his eyes and rubbed them a bit to see if he was dreaming.
Hua Tuo moved with the grace of water and Zero recognised the moves. It was a sick combination between Tai Ji and Qi Gong with simultaneous meditation if the dense gathering of qi around his teacher was any indication. Zero could see the traces of where the energy was being gathered in the focal point called dantian somewhere below his teacher's navel. It was the core of every cultivator's power according to Hua Tuo and Zero observed closely how the gathered qi spun like a ball of yarn in the small space before redistributing it to the rest of the body through the meridian network.
This was something Hua Tuo had yet to teach Zero but the brunet wasn't too worried. His teacher would probably teach it to him once he reached the Progression Falls stage. Now that he knew what lay ahead of him, the young doctor was even more determined to conquer the Aggression Falls.
Zero decided that maybe changing his meditation position might help. Hua Tuo was meditating perfectly well while engaging movement and Zero tried to imitate it with the basic qi gong movements he was taught.
An hour later, Hua Tuo ended his morning exercise and decided to check on his disciple. He didn't hear or sense anything funny while he was warming up so the brat must be doing well enough to cope.
The moment he stepped out of the sanctuary, the physician was greeted by a water dragon of some sort controlled by qi. The Sage God ducked just in time to avoid getting hit by it. Zero's roar could be heard above the sound of water and Hua Tuo snapped his neck towards his student with wide eyes.
The brunet was there with eyes ablaze and pulling the elements together combining it with his morning qi gong routine. Beside the water dragon was an earth dragon made from the soil, an air dragon, a fire dragon from the campfire last night, a light dragon and a shadow dragon made from Zero's magic. The physician heard the childish roar again and side-stepped the earth dragon passing by.
Why did his student decide to take inspiration and practice qi gong under the Aggression Falls of all the waterfalls he could choose? It was the worst possible waterfall Zero could choose to cultivate in. Given the nature of the Aggression Falls, it was not surprising that the kid would go out of control. The water there was feeding the negative feelings into Zero's heart and fuelling his inner fears to channel them into destructive powers. At this rate, Zero might really fall into cultivating the unorthodox methods.
Hua Tuo didn't fling a pebble this time. He took out a mini golden pagoda loaned by Buddha and used it to seal Zero in it. The teenager tried to attack the pagoda with his elemental dragons in his berserk state but Hua Tuo was quicker and chanted the heart mantra, shackling the frenzy in Zero's eyes. It was a good thing Zero was incapable of being corrupted with his naturally chaotic existence as the void. Once the boy was out of the water, the effects would gradually wear off on its own and Zero would revert back to normal.
Still, that didn't mean Zero was off the hook. Hua Tuo was definitely going to give the boy a piece of his mind.
Once Zero was sealed inside of the mini golden pagoda, Hua Tuo summoned it back into his sleeve and waited for the powered-up dragons to die off on their own. Without a steady supply of mana or qi, these dragons didn't last long and returned to their origin. Hua Tuo glared at Zero who was trapped in the pagoda.
”What do you think you were doing?” the Sage God growled and Zero laughed sheepishly.
”I thought I would focus better if I imitated what you did... it is still very difficult for me to grasp the technique behind conquering the Aggression Falls and I don't have much time.”
Hua Tuo sighed and let Zero out. Once the boy was out, the physician flicked him on the forehead mercilessly, leaving a bruise that rapidly healed. That didn't mean Zero didn't feel the pain and he collapsed onto the floor clutching his forehead with tears at the corners of his eyes. The apprentice groaned and accepted the punishment without question. He probably deserved that.
”Do you know why it is called the Aggression Falls and not the Peaceful Falls? I think the clue is in the name and as the smart child you are, you should be able to put two and two together without needing my input.”
The sarcasm was thick and Zero knew Hua Tuo was mad. It wasn't often that he saw Hua Tuo genuinely angry but normally, the physician got angry when safety was compromised. He must have really messed up this time.
”Sorry,” Zero apologised meekly and dared not meet his teacher's eyes.
Seeing Zero transform into a scared kitten, the physician sighed. It was partially his fault for not keeping an eye on his student better. He should have known better than to train in the comforts of that cave. It blocked out sounds after all.