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

“And you healed fast,” Aya added.

“Yes, that’s all the various aspects of Cultivation working together for defense and healing.  The salient point is that what you are learning now is incomplete.”

Hopefully, it would be enough to confront the nightmarish creature Ryu thought was stalking the streets of Kyoto.

Chapter 27:

The Hacker

A mix of admiration and jealousy swirled in Aya’s gut at Kentaro’s advancement. The change, manifested by his new ebullience, was palpable.

And she was happy for him.

Watching how easily these exercises came to him, Aya realized that the more intricate her immersive interface with the EtherCloud, the harder it was to feel the Qi. It was obvious from how much easier it had become after the MoD Sentinels had decompiled parts of her Avatar code. This wasn’t a problem that more algorithms could solve, because the very act of programming a solution would likely make Cultivation that much harder.

Now, though, she could feel each breath getting stronger the more she practiced what Ryusuke called the Yin Iron Shirt. The phlegm congealed less in her bronchial tubes. More than wanting to be healthier to stay jacked in to the EtherCloud, the idea of actually living in the real world became more appealing.

To have real human relationships beyond the circle of anonymous hackers. Her eyes strayed to Kentaro.

Kentaro? Since when did she care about having any kind of interaction with him? Well, he had shown more concern for her than her family ever did. Over the last few days, he’d been kind, and part of her might be growing fond of him.

Such a silly thought. She had to concentrate on Cultivation.

Earth. Its weakness in her was the reason she produced so much phlegm.

Metal. Its weakness was the reason the phlegm stagnated in her lungs.

Water, her Path, if she should choose it. Its weakness kept fluids from being evenly distributed in her, allowing them to congeal.

Wood. Its stagnation, like the entanglement of roots and branches, drew too much from her Earth, weakening it.

Fire.  Her weakest aspect, unable to fuel the process of digestion, weakened her Earth.

It was also Kentaro’s strongest point, but excessive to the point that it made him fidgety. With his absorption of the Kappa Core, perhaps that was more in balance. He, a Purebred, was paired with her, a flawed XHuman.

Around them, Ryusuke had created yet another Eight Trigrams pattern; unlike the first time, the flow of Kentaro’s energy felt stronger. Now Ryusuke was adding more lines to them.

“What are you doing?” she asked.

“You and Ken-kun are sharing energy, and I am trying to influence how that transfer works—especially since he has advanced to First Rank.  Right now, the Trigram for Mountain is above him.  For you, the Trigram for Earth.  I am now adding a Heaven beneath his Mountain, creating a hexagram to represent control of great power.”

“Why?” Ken asked.

“Fire is your great power, but you must learn to contain and focus it. Even though you advanced to First Rank in Water, Fire will always predominate.”

“What about me?” Aya ventured.

“I’ve added the Wood Trigram. The image is of a tree, pushing up from the ground.  The Hexagram for rising up.  All this, within the Metal Path training, so that your lungs function better in clearing out phlegm.”

Had she not been concentrating so much on breathing, she might not have noticed the truth in his words.

“I fail to see how drawing lines in the dirt can affect energy,” Siena called from near the river bank.

Kentaro frowned at the Elestrae. Aya might have, too, but with her scientific mind, none of this really made much sense.

“These lines are invisibly etched into our meridians and the flow of the energy of the Earth,” Ryusuke said. “Are you familiar with Feng Shui?”

As she had whenever Ryusuke mentioned these archaic terms, Aya disappeared into the EtherCloud to search for information.  “Ai, what is Fengshui?”

The nine-tailed fox appeared with an image of the old writing system.

Literally meaning Wind and Water, Feng Shui was a means of inviting good luck into a working or living space. It could also be applied to buildings’ positions in a city, or the layout of a city, or the position of a city within a nation’s boundaries. Sometimes translated as Geomancy, it followed the superstition that the Earth had energy patterns.

A new image appeared, shaped like the Yin-Yang symbol, surrounded by the Eight Trigrams; each cardinal direction related to different areas.

Just like Ryusuke had drawn around Kentaro and her.

Superstition or not, something was clearly working with Aya’s health.  She jacked out, after only a fraction of a second had passed in real time. Through the fog in her head from leaving the EtherSpace, she was still able to answer Ryusuke’s question. “Feng Shui assumes there’s energy in the Earth, and that we can harness it for luck.”

Ryusuke smiled, making her heart flutter. “You always have the right answer.”

If he knew she had to search for the information, he might not be so impressed. She just smiled back.

He waved his hands at the surroundings. “By Feng Shui principles, Kyoto itself is in an auspicious position.  The location of the mountains surrounding it, the flow of the rivers through it, as well as the streets—they’re laid out based on Chang’An, the ancient capital of China.  Here we are, along the Kamo River, where Qi flows smoothly. “

Kentaro’s eyes strayed to the river. “How does that help us?”

“Humans occupy a space between Heaven and Earth, and we are metaphor for both.  If we are in a place where Qi flows well, our body’s Qi will be strong as well.  Now, keep Cultivating.”

Ryusuke went