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

her head. “They wouldn’t share their footage with the news.”

Master Ryu pointed straight up. “How could they tell from high up?”

Aya pointed at the image. “The Peacekeepers must’ve programed an algorithm to study your body language, and extrapolated.”

“Where are the rest of us in this footage?” Master Ryu asked.

“Edited out. The Peacekeepers are probably trying to get identity information from our nanochips.”

Ken glanced among them. “Master Ryu and Siena don’t have chips, and mine was shorted out.  What about you?” He looked to Aya.

She grinned. “I’ve hacked my chip’s file in the Peacekeeper’s servers. It clones whoever I come into close contact with, so it’s constantly changing, and they can’t tell where I am.  In the meantime, there’s an emitter in my home which makes the Peacekeepers’ Analyzers believe I’m there.”

“Why didn’t you do that to my chip?” Ken asked, “Instead of having me subjected to a bioelectric jolt?”

Aya shrugged. “It took me months to program my own and bury it deep in their servers.”

“So you could be paying for meals instead of me.” Siena giggled.

“It wouldn’t be ethical to steal from others.” With her tone defensive, eyes wide, and head shaking, Aya placed a hand on her chest.

“Right.” The master chuckled.

“Will they be able to identify us?” Ken asked.

Aya twirled her finger in a circle. “I’m sure they’ve figured out that one of us is you, just because you were seen with Ryu during his escape. But me, I don’t think so.  It might take time for them to find Siena, because the MoD and the Peacekeepers don’t cooperate with each other, and between them they don’t have much information on the Elestrae mission on Earth, anyway.”

“Nothing we can do about it now,” Master Ryu said. “Let’s practice some Earth Path today, so that we can fight the Kappa down by the river tonight.”

“Will they come back into this world?” Ken asked.

“Knowing their kind, they likely stayed on this plane and are hiding beneath the waters waiting to ambush lone people. Now, what kind of Path do you think they follow?”

“Water Path!” Ken said, bouncing up and down. It was obvious.

The master nodded. “Yes. And what phase controls Water?”

“Earth!”

“Yes. Water is formless, shapeless. Its nature is to adapt and flow.” The master swam through a form that looked somewhat like the Yang Taiji style he was teaching to Aya. “To quote a great master: Water is fluid, soft, and yielding. But water will wear away rock, which is rigid and cannot yield. As a rule, whatever is fluid, soft, and yielding will overcome whatever is rigid and hard. This is another paradox: what is soft is strong.”

Ken shivered. Every time he heard those words, his heart pounded in excitement.

“Who said that?” Siena asked.

Ken and the master spoke at the same time:

“Bruce Lee!” Ken said.

“Lao Zi, the founder of Daoism.” Master Ryu continued with his form.

“What?” Ken cocked his head. “Bruce Lee said training in martial arts was learning to be like water.”

Low to the ground, the master’s circular spreading of his hands looked beautiful. “Bruce Lee borrowed heavily from Daoist principles—the same ones which we use to Cultivate.”

“You know of him?” Ken asked.

“Of course. I was weak and bullied as a child, so I looked up to him.  His actual quote was, Put water in a cup, it becomes a cup. If you put it in the bottle, it becomes the bottle. You put it in the teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now water can flow or it can crash. Be like water.”

Siena yawned. “Are we going to learn this form you’re doing?”

“No.” Master Ryu paused in his motions. “Since Water takes the shape of its container, our goal is to become the container and control it. That’s why Earth controls it. The ancients dug ditches to harness the flow of water. In the same way, Earth Paths can contain Water Paths.”

That made some sense. Ken scratched his head. “How?”

“Water takes the path of least resistance. You allow it to come into places while taking control of it elsewhere.  The Kappa’s Path of Swirling Limbs involves wrestling. They like to immobilize their opponent so that they can steal their Core. We counter by tricking them into going where we want them.  Now come.”

Master Ryu brought them to a stand of large trees. “Each of you put your back to a trunk, then take one small step away.”

They all did as they were told.

“Now, fall backward and let your shoulder blades hit the tree. As you make contact, arch your back like a turtle and throw your arms out to the side.”

Ken exchanged glances with Aya, but both nodded and obeyed. The thud against Ken’s back felt therapeutic, as if he were breaking apart knotted muscles.

Siena scrunched her forehead. “That doesn’t seem nice to the tree.”

“Imagine that you’re just getting to know the tree better.” The master smirked.

Blowing hair out of her face, Siena complied.

Soon they were all thumping away at the trees while Master Ryu walked among them, adjusting their positions. Every now and then, Aya would hack up copious amounts of phlegm.

“Take another step away from the tree,” Ryu said after a while, “and fall back into it.”

The impact was greater, though not painful. Aya, however, winced each time.

“This is the very basics of Ditang Fist. It’s the style of falling, fighting on the ground, and getting back to your feet. Close to the ground, it’s Earth in nature, though since Earth is the Mother of Metal, it has the Metal aspects, too:  basic Iron Shirt training.  Before you can fall all the way to the ground, you must start small so as not to injure yourself.  Especially Aya, with her lungs.”

As if to emphasize his point, she coughed again.

“With practice,