139 Surprise (1/2)

Ed sat down on an obsidian platform just outside of the lava lake. He closed his eyes and entered meditation. 'Let's see...' He focused his mana to explore near his middle heart, searching for the fire storage meridian.

”No, that won't work.” Sect Master Long's voice interrupted. ”You can only use fire mana to find it. You're using your seven-colored mana. You need to divide your mana into seven.”

”Divide it?” He questioned as he opened his eyes. ”I've never done that before.”

”Tsk.” Huo clicked his tongue while shaking his head. ”This is the problem with stress awakened espers. The shortcuts to power always cause problems. Most of you never even progress much beyond your initial awakened powers.”

Ed ignored the jab at him and focused again. He attempted to take control of his mana and split the fire element from it. However, it was completely inseparable. Whenever he attempted to pull just the fire mana, the other six elemental mana naturally followed along. ”It's not working. What am I doing wrong?” He questioned.

”Keep trying.” Huo encouraged. ”You need to have patience for these things. A thousand failures and one success is still a success.”

Ed nodded and meditated again.

Likewise, Huo entered meditation, except his doing so was much more dramatic. A sphere of fire exited his body and swirled around him. He was careful to keep the raging inferno away from Ed, but the intensity of the heat within the cavern shot up dramatically.

'So hot.' Ed complained to himself as he felt his mouth go dry. However, there was a benefit to being surrounded by the heat, lava, and flames. The abundance of the fire element in his surroundings seemed to suppress the other six elements greatly, and because of it he now felt greater control over his fire mana. He pulled and tugged at it, and it slowly moved away from his other mana. His other mana automatically tried catching up to the fire mana to reunite, but it lagged behind due to being suppressed.

'There.' He smiled as he moved the fire mana towards his middle heart. However, his smile quickly turned to a frown when he realized the fire storage meridian wasn't there. 'Sect Master Long said that the storage meridians move around randomly. I guess I'll have to search for it...' He moved his fire mana throughout his body while making sure to keep it away from his other mana types. Even after searching his whole body, he failed to find the meridian. And so, he tried again and again. After seven tries, he finally found it hiding near his liver. It was smaller than the point of a pencil, and it was still moving about randomly.

He concentrated his fire mana and shot it towards the meridian at full speed. However, the meridian dodged out of the way, almost seeming sentient in the way it did so. It even started to run away in the completely opposite direction! 'Damn it. Stay still!' He sent his mana after it repeatedly, missing by a narrow margin each time. Understanding that it wasn't working, he made his mana thinner and spread it out like a net to enclose the meridian.

'I've got it now!' He grinned as he closed the mana net. Suddenly, the meridian charged towards the net at full speed! It broke straight through and kept moving away. Only a tiny trace of his fire mana had managed to enter because of the thinness of the mana net. 'What the hell is with this thing?!' Ed complained to himself.

It was like a game of tag or hide-and-seek as he continued chasing the meridian. Each time he surrounded it, it broke through while absorbing a very small amount of mana. Fortunately, the meridian seemed to calm down and grow slightly slower each time he managed to hit it. He started to treat the capture like a game of war as he divided his mana into individual units and platoons. Occasionally the meridian escaped his enclosure unharmed because of it, but when he did land a successful hit, he managed to insert far more mana than when he previously used the net.

The game continued for over two days before the last of Ed's fire mana entered the storage meridian. There wasn't a single part of his fire mana remaining outside it, which made him feel oddly incomplete. However, the storage meridian now radiated a certain heat, and he felt his connection with fire growing even greater. The meridian still moved randomly, but at a much slower pace. Wherever it passed within his body, he felt his flesh growing stronger and more resistant to flame.

”Well done.” Sect Master Long commented. ”It took you about ten times longer than it should have, but that's to be expected with stress awakened espers.”

”What do you mean?” Ed questioned as he opened his eyes.

”It's because stress awakening is a shortcut.” Huo answered. ”Cultivators learn to control their mana first and foremost. It's the first thing they ever do, and it remains their primary focus in the early stages. Have you ever seen Tai use flame dragons or flame threads?”

”Yes.” He nodded.

”Those are not part of his powers. They are purely a form of mana control. Not just him, but almost every cultivator in the sect controls their mana into unique forms ideal for their combat styles.” Huo grinned. ”Regardless, you can always work on improving your mana control later. From the looks of it, you'll either need to improve your control or go to extreme environments to control your other mana types well enough to capture the other meridians.”

”Will my fire mana always be locked in the storage meridian from now on?” He questioned. He could feel his fire mana trapped within the meridian and knew he could take it out, but it felt odd not having any fire mana circulating his body with the others mana types.

”That's only because you just filled the meridian.” Huo answered. ”Your mana will recover soon, and everything will feel normal again. At that time, your total amount of fire mana will have doubled. It'll also keep your normal mana in balance since the extra fire mana will remain in the meridian unless you call it out.”

”I see.” He nodded. ”Thanks... What are the meridians anyways? They don't seem to line up well with western concepts of anatomy and medicine.”

”Mm.” Huo nodded. ”Let me ask you, Ed. Do you think the human body is the same today as it was hundreds of thousands of years ago? Or even just a few thousand years ago?”

”Probably not.” He shook his head. ”Though we shouldn't have changed much overall in that period of time.”

”Exactly.” Huo agreed. ”The cultivation techniques we use today were made by our ancestors from a very long time ago. Their bodies may not have matched up with ours exactly. And though the physical form may have changed since then, that doesn't mean the spiritual form has done so as well. Of course, this is just one of the more popular theories.” He chuckled. ”The real and more common answer is far more dissatisfying. The truth is that we simply don't know.”

”I see.” Ed sighed. 'So, even the great sect leaders don't know all the answers? Then who does?' He couldn't help but think back to the strange visions he had in the manullium mine underneath the remnants of Reef city. He had a feeling that many answers could be found there, but it was far too beyond him to bother thinking about for now.

”Well then.” Sect Master Long stood up. ”It's about time we head out. Need to get cleaned up and ready for the wedding procession. Tai should've prepared it all by now.”

The two walked through the obsidian doors and began walking down a tunnel.

”Will the sect leader of the Purple Origin Sect really just hand his granddaughter over?” Ed questioned. ”I don't see it being quite that easy.”

”It'll be fine.” Huo laughed. ”Chonglin and I go way back. He'd be thrilled for his grandchild to marry my son. Not to mention the Fire Dragon Sect is the Purple Origin Sect's biggest supporter both within and outside the sect. We're completely inseparable!”

”I see...” He nodded. ”I just figured it'd be hard to get OP Baldy's approval even if you got the sect leader's.”

Suddenly, Huo froze in place. ”Why would I need OP Baldy's approval?” He questioned in confusion.