Chapter 247 - Progression Falls (3) (1/2)
It was about three in the afternoon before Zero finally had lunch. He finally understood why haste made waste and felt ashamed for not listening to the words of the wise.
Hua Tuo was preparing the herbs needed for the first level of breakthrough. According to the physician, Zero will be cultivating with Hua Tuo. The Sage God ran through the basics of cultivating the eight extraordinary meridian points. While the explanation sounded fairly similar to what Zero experienced with Tanya and the elemental spirits, it had one difference. Zero was unable to feel it with his body. He had to force his soul out of his body in order to receive the qi in those meridian points.
”The eight meridian points that you will be cultivating will not be in your vessel. It's an extension of your aura and part of your spirit. Then again, I have no idea if this is possible because you are a unique entity. Still, we will attempt it together. Remember to always circulate the qi in a yin and yang cycle with the timing of the tide in mind. We change it every six hours, following the pull of the moon.”
Zero didn't quite understand it but Hua Tuo ruffled his hair and told him to focus on eating lunch first. Not one to refuse food, Zero dug in.
The Sage God shook his head. Zero was still too naive and easily distracted. He vaguely wondered if the boy would ever grow out of this although he thought that it was part of Zero's personality to worship food by now.
Normally, traditional cultivators would train the individual meridian point trying to force it to open with the help of herbs as a catalyst. However, Hua Tuo doubted that it would work for Zero's case. His body simply absorbed everything and stored it away as energy for future use and conversion. Hence, the Sage God designed a method of dual cultivation with on acting as the catalyst and the other feeding on the processed energy to force a breakthrough.
The Sage God looked at the herbs in the bath and added more chopped rhubarb for detoxification purpose. After purifying the qi, Hua Tuo needed to clean his system of the pollution even though he doubted that Zero needed to do the same.
”I'm done!” Zero called out from the cave entrance. He did the dishes in record time and hopped into the spring for a short swim to freshen up. Post lunch sleepiness was a thing he developed lately and he didn't have his hawthorn tea that Hua Tuo normally brewed after a meal.
Hua Tuo didn't say much as he tested the water. Progression Falls was considered the gentlest of all three waterfalls. The medicinal bags that the Sage God threw into the bathtub were beginning to infuse themselves gently with the running water. Hua Tuo was glad that he didn't build the bathtub directly under the waterfall even if that was the best method to receive qi infused water. Beginners wouldn't be able to cope with the pace and he didn't think that having too much of it will help them progress faster. The physician was rather pleased with himself for actually managing to build a tub with a drainage system.
Zero climbed up the smooth stone stairs and held onto the vine railing, not wanting to slip and fall. The water cascaded down the cold stone and Zero thought that the water felt slightly colder than the air. It was nowhere near as cold as the spring so the teen took comfort in that. Hua Tuo warned him that as they trained, the temperature will rise accordingly. A failure to control the energy internally could lead to injuries for both of them.
”Ready?” the Sage God asked.
Zero nodded and became serious. He didn't exactly understand the concepts that Hua Tuo explained earlier on but Hua Tuo reassured him that he will understand it once they began. As Zero was more of a hands-on learner, he readily agreed to the first trial.
”We will be exchanging roles with six minute-cycles instead of six-hour cycles for the first hour. Please watch how I purify the gathered qi from the water and do the same. The herbs are here to aid in supporting your standard meridian channels during the purification stage. Once the qi has been purified in the first stage, I will circulate the qi to you. Your job is to gather as much yin qi as you can and hold it there while I guide the yang qi to the eight extraordinary meridians for you. Do not fight it or both of us will suffer heavy injuries. At any point in time that it gets too overwhelming to accept, circulate it back to me. It's fine if the cycle is cut short for the first few meditation sessions.”
Zero nodded. normally, this method of training wasn't used due to the high risk of broken focus from either party. For ordinary solo cultivation, if the concentration is broken, the cycle breaks automatically and the session stops itself. However, in the dual cultivation method, any break in flow or imbalance can cause internal injuries to one or both parties. Meridian channels will rupture and sometimes if major points were damaged beyond repair, the cultivator becomes paralysed for life.
Hua Tuo also explained the dangers of dual cultivation between people of the same gender. Female bodies naturally harness yin energy while male bodies typically harness yang energy. There were special cases but Hua Tuo didn't go into the details. While it was more effective for female and male partners to train together due to the natural traits and the increased efficiency of progressing through the cultivation stages, not many people did it because of the invasive feeling both parties would feel during the training. More often than not, only couples did it because it was way too intimate for ordinary friends or students and teachers to practice it.
Zero didn't really know what it meant nor minded it. Hua Tuo told him that they would share feelings, memories and for a short time, become the same person with the intertwining of souls despite Zero's lack of one.
Zero sat down in the tub and gasped as the water came right up to his shoulder while Hua Tuo sat with the water comfortably at his chest level.
”Is it too high for you? You can get a rock or something to sit on so that you don't drown while we train.”
Zero nodded and left to search for a suitable seat. Hua Tuo wondered why Zero wasn't more concerned about sharing memories and feelings with Hua Tuo. The Sage God wasn't extremely comfortable with his student sharing his past with him but if Zero was going to surpass him as a doctor one day, he ought to know the kind of world Hua Tuo was once a part of in order to do better on the new Earth and beyond. apart from selected few, not many people knew about the old Earth. Hua Tuo was one of the people who roamed it in the golden ages when humans were first showing signs of developing intelligence capable of taking down Gods. Merlin lived through a time that paved the way for humans to understand the existence of Gods and Steve lived through a time when humans started rejecting the existence of Gods and created their own.