2 The Journey Begins (2/2)
Fei Lei felt a small swipe across the massive welt on his face, then the hot flow of blood dripping down his cheeks. Fei Lei got a good look at the old man he had a brawny bulky type of body, his face was rugged and he had a small beard where the edges have already grayed, his eyes were old even older than his face.
Fei Lei couldn't figure out what it was but there was something about his deep brown eyes that kept the boy thinking ”How old is this man really?”
”A few ofyour ribs are broken and are lying against your lungs, you're also running a high fever, just sleep, I'll do what I can to help.” Even he had told Fei Lei to stay awake it wouldn't have made a difference, the child had already passed out.
The days passed as the unknown man tended to the child's battered body. Several days later when Fei Lei felt well enough to talk he asked the old man ”Who are you? What's your name?”
”Tetra, a slave just like you. What's yours?” The man had long grey hair, and a stern body that was covered in bruises, he had been taking the beatings for the boy and shielded him with his body allowing him to recover.
”Fei Lei.” The boy answered looking down the man who saved his life, ”Why are you helping me?”
”Because I can, and It's the right thing to do! If an innocent child is in front of you and they're hurting, of course, helping them is just common sense.”
Fei Lei began to cry, ”Then this world doesn't have any common sense.” Tetra looked at the boy with pity
”What will you do about it, scorn the world because you haven't had a good life.”
”No!” Fei Lei cried out
”Then what will you do? With your strength, there's not much you can do?” The stranger replied.
”They couldn't even allow me the dignity to die! I need power! I want my revenge, I want my justice!”
”What will you do when you manage to gain that power?” The elder questioned him again.
Fei Lei looked at Tetra ”I want the power to right the injustice I see before my eyes, to avenge the injustice done to me, and help those less fortunate so that they never experience the pain I've lived through. It can't stop there though, there has to be more I can do, like stopping them before they ever get started down the path of evil, creating a set of laws that curve those from the path they're already on. Make them part of the solution, not the problem.”
Tetra was surprised to be such wise and brave words from someone so young, he stood up before saying, ”Then I will teach you.”
”Teach me?” Fei Lei questioned
”The arts of self-defense of course!” The man replied with a huge grin on his face, Fei Lei's face changed as couldn't believe the sight of this old man demonstrate his martial prowess, for many days he observed the countless styles of combat collected throughout the old man's life.
”What I practiced is something from a broken style, all records of these skills have been lost from the world but only a single technique remained, it's a breathing technique that gathers Ather in the air to improve the strength-growth of the body, for instance, if you were to use what I teach you, you could build muscles faster and increase your strength-output and your body's durability. It can even increase the rate in which the body heals.”
Fei Lei had recovered to the point where he could sit in the lotus position, he was then drilled in the technique and taught the breathing technique called the Four Season Breaths, First was the Breath of Summer, it could increase the body's stamina limits and increase the person's bone density over time, but during this phase the body would slowly begin to boil, the longer one could withstand the pain, the greater his future limits would be.
The Breath of Spring healed his body and increased his regeneration abilities several folds, it also nurtured his vital energy overtime which would extend his own lifespan.
The Breath of Fall would help shed the impurities in one's body, improving their physiques foundation greatly, continued use of this breath would result in a greater muscles type that could far surpass what humans had, like increasing the purity of steel to make it stronger.
Lastly was the Breath of Winter allowed one to increase their focus and reach a state of absolute clarity, prolonged use of this ability would increase the brains processing ability and allow for more coherent thoughts.