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

Ryu’s hand literally disappeared into an interior fold of the garment.

Both she and Kentaro gasped at the same time, the shock jolting her out of the uncomfortable stance. Ryu cast a critical eye at her, his glare coaxing her back into the position before she could shake the burning out of her poor muscles.

“What is that?” Kentaro asked, staring at the cloth.

Ryu opened the robes and showed how his arm disappeared impossibly up to the elbow in an inner pocket. “Spirit pocket.”

“A what?” Before today, Aya would’ve scoffed at the idea of a spirit. Now, though, she’d seen a man defeat shocktroopers with his bare hands, and command water at the molecular level.

“In the World of Rivers and Lakes, the Qi-Smiths of the Miraculous Thread Sect weave portals to interdimensional space into pockets and bags. Once you’ve achieved Third Rank in any of the Paths, your Spirit will be strong enough to open that portal.”

Aya and Kentaro exchanged glances. While disbelief tugged at her mind, his decisive nod showed he accepted the answer without reservation.

Arm moving about in what must’ve been an impossibly large space, Ryu peered into the pocket. He frowned. “This is awful. My pills are missing.”

“What does that mean?” Kentaro asked.

“It means that I can’t speed your training along. More importantly, it means I can’t complete my mission.”

“What’s your mission?” Aya asked.

He searched her eyes, but kept silent.

She’d need to earn his trust. “I saw them take some of your effects up to a level twelve lab.”

Kentaro chuffed. “Why didn’t you get those, too?”

The dirty little Purebred. Aya snorted back. “Ryusuke just said he needed his robes.”

“That’s Master Ryusuke to you,” Kentaro said.

“Hush, both of you.” Brow creasing, Ryusuke waved his hand down. “I’m thinking.”

And he was just as handsome when doing so. Aya chided herself. She could create virtual men exactly to her liking in the EtherCloud, programming into them the strength and confidence she found so appealing; but they weren’t real.

Ryusuke was.

“How could they possibly open the interdimensional space?” he asked. “Are you sure those Elestrae aren’t fairies?”

Kentaro nodded. “Absolutely sure.”

“Maybe with the Elestrae’s ability to channel istrium,” Aya said, “they were able to open it.”

“Well, it doesn’t matter how they opened it. Can you go back and get my pills?” His eyes locked on her.

It made her insides squirm in the most pleasant way, but she shook her head. “Twelfth-floor security is beyond my skill to penetrate. Not only that, the Peacekeeper server AI realized it was being hacked when I stole your clothes back. Their entire system is locked down while new protocols are put in place.”

“Which means?”

“I can’t penetrate their EtherSpace at all.” Well, except with Keiko’s helmet, but it would be limited to partitions her sister had access to, which certainly didn’t include headquarter ops. “Not unless I was physically inside Peacekeeper Central, connected to the EtherSpace from an internal connection.”

“Master Ryu can get us there.” Kentaro gave a definitive nod. “You saw what he did to escape.”

“You were on the sublevels and the entrance,” Aya said. “The higher up you go, the more sophisticated the defenses are.”

“Be quiet, both of you.” Ryusuke bent his knees and curled his bare toes into the soft soil. He set his hands out in front of him and closed his eyes.

Coming out of her stance, Aya walked over and leaned in as close as she dared to Kentaro. “What’s he doing?”

“Zhan Zhuang.” Kentaro came out of his low stance and mimicked the motion.

“John who?” Aya shook her head.

“Shhh. I’m thinking about a solution,” Ryusuke said. A long moment passed before he opened his eyes and looked them over. “I am going to tell you about my mission, but you must be sworn to secrecy.”

As someone who thrilled in uncovering government secrets, Aya felt shivers running through her.

“Of course,” Kentaro said, bobbing his head. “I swear.”

“I warn you, as you take your first steps into Cultivation, this type of oath goes beyond words.”

“What does that mean?” Aya asked.

“Your oath will be sealed. Until I release you, attempting to reveal the secret will damage your meridians.”

Since she’d never believed in meridians, that didn’t seem like a big deal. “Sure,” Aya said.

He eyed her. “Breaking this oath will cause intense pain.”

Well, she could keep a secret. “I understand.”

“Very well.” Ryusuke came out of his stance and extended both arms. “Take my hand, and each other’s.”

Exchanging glances again, Aya and Kentaro each took one of his hands, and then each other’s.

“Now, do you enter into this oath of secrecy willingly?”

“Yes,” they said in unison.

He nodded. “Curl your toes into the ground, and concentrate on where our palms touch.”

Aya did as told. A cool sensation flooded into her palm and spread up her arm and into her Core. At her side, Kentaro’s eyes widened.

“Now I can tell you my mission,” Ryusuke said. “Thousands of years ago, there were many open portals between here and the World of Rivers and Lakes. It wasn’t as hard to pass between the dimensions, if you knew where to find the portals and how to activate them.”

Yet more nonsense. Aya tried not to yawn. She certainly wouldn’t tell anyone, not because of this mysterious oath binding, but rather because they’d think her insane.

Ryusuke eyed her and snorted. “During China’s Qin Dynasty, the First Emperor, in his search for immortality, uncovered the portals. Are you familiar with his terracotta warriors?”

Aya nodded. The first Qin emperor’s tomb outside of Xi’An had survived the Onslaught, and still drew visitors. “They were to protect him in the afterlife.”

“Not originally. He’d hoped to animate them with demons from the World of River and Lakes and take over both planes. To prevent him from exploiting the resources there,