Quantum Cultivation by Jace Kang (simple e reader TXT) 📕

shook his head. “Never mind. If only you were a woman.”

A woman? “Why?”

“Because a man and a woman can join their Central meridians and transfer energy.” The master drew two loops in the air, one clockwise, the other counterclockwise, which overlapped each other.

“Just a man and woman?”

“Well, two women can. And two men can, too, but that’s not my preference, and it would be the same as adding more Yang energy to your already-blazing Yang.” Master Ryu made an exploding sound.

Ken had a feeling he didn’t want to know what this transfer entailed.

Master Ryu’s expression brightened. “I have an idea.  Stand up.”

Did Ken really want to know? His body protested as he pushed himself to his feet.

“Back in the Zhan Zhuang.”

“Master, I—”

“Do it.  If you are even the slightest bit misaligned, it could possibly damage your meridians forever.”

Ken swallowed hard. Was this a good idea?  He settled into Zhan Zhuang, his knees nearly buckling, his arms refusing to lift.

Master Ryu settled into an identical stance in front of him and closed his eyes. With several deep breaths, he created a Qi ball, one so intense that tangible warmth and static pulsed off of it. If Ken didn’t know any better, he’d swear he could see a ghostly sphere.

Opening his eyes, the master studied Ken for a moment. “Relax your shoulders. Good. Tilt your hips forward.  Are you ready?”

Ready for what? Despite his misgivings, Ken gave a definitive nod.

Master Ryu compressed his hands together. “Breath in.”

Ken started to suck his breath in.

The master pressed the Qi ball into Ken’s abdomen. Heat and electricity coursed through him.

“Visualize that energy as vines growing through your tendons and muscles, to your palms and soles.”

When Ken did, the energy felt as if it were skittering through him. When it reached his hands and feet, he collapsed.

Master Ryu knelt beside him, took his wrists and turned his hands over. A foul-smelling sludge oozed from Ken’s palms.

Disgusting! Ken tried to pull back from his own hands.

The master laughed. “Yes, it is foul. It’s coming out of your soles too, at the Bubbling Well point.”

“What did you do?”

“Luckily for you, I am a Water Path Cultivator. Water nourishes Wood.  I used Water Energy to scour your meridians.”

“Can you do it again?” Ken started to bounce on his toes, but thought the better of it when the master stared him down.

“I need to conserve my energy for my mission, but that’s a good jump-start.”

Jump-start?’

“Now, we need to get you good food. Beef tendon, chicken gristle.”

Ken shook his head. “We don’t raise animals like that anymore.”

“Then we’ll have to do things the hard way.”

Chapter 11:

The Cultivator

R yu looked at the poor boy, who sat in a lotus position beneath a giant cedar. If only Ryu had his robes; its pockets held several extra pills which might help Kentaro progress.  As was, it would be a tough climb for the boy with the resources at hand on this plane.  They didn’t have real meat, let alone meat from the spirit creatures of the World of Rivers and Lakes which fortified Qi and Essence.

No, all the food here was artificially processed to some scientifically agreed standard of nutritional value. At least the grilled beef-flavored cubes had tasted real…

Ryu shook the memory of dinner out of his mind and pondered. Maybe he could show Kentaro the portal into the World of Rivers and Lakes—

No.  What was Ryu thinking? With the elixir he’d taken to preserve his Core in this world, he couldn’t go back to the World of Rivers and Lakes, anyway; and his mission was to seal the crossing points across planes, not let more people in. Certainly not a boy he hardly knew.

Sure, Kentaro’s Core gave him incredible potential to Cultivate, and he had helped Ryu escape Kyoto Central. He had a thirst for knowledge, too.

Beyond that, though, Ryu didn’t know anything about the young man, save for the fact he and his people were oppressed by the so-called XHumans. The Purebreds might live in a sparkling, comfortable neighborhood, but they were still second-class citizens.

As someone who’d suffered from a chronic disease in a country which shunned anything different, Ryu knew how that felt.

If people back then weren’t being overly cautious over his disability, they were busy mocking him. He’d expected his Spirit to waver upon his return to Kyoto; but the city had changed so much, it hadn’t triggered that response.

It did now, though, when thinking about the Takashi brothers, who’d pushed and shoved his six-year-old self on the way to school, while he coughed on phlegm.

He banished those old scars and insecurities. Those boys were long dead, and he was stronger and healthier than they could’ve ever dreamed. The Code of Rivers and Lakes meant defending the weak, and he’d do what he could for Kentaro.

With what time he had left.

Somewhere in there, he’d like to have an hour with a pretty woman. The Elestrae’s perfect face appeared in his memory, but he banished it. Fairies never slept with humans. He thought instead of Captain Keiko.  Of all the XHumans, she’d been the most reasonable. Maybe their paths would cross again, and he’d win her over with his charm.  However, it looked as if Kentaro liked her, and it would crush him to know his teacher had slept with the object of his affection.

Sighing, Ryu looked back.

Kentaro was holding the Zhan Zhuang stance again. And despite the fatigue he must be feeling, first from the training, and then from Ryu’s Pure Water Scouring Meridians technique, his form looked better.

Smiling to himself, Ryu went over. “I am going to