Body Cultivation Hurts - Chapter 15

As he ran as fast as his body could carry him, Nathan took far more pulls at his pipe than he had earlier. The running should keep his core temperature up and the smoke push it even higher. His body was processing the qi too quickly to be in the same dangerous state as before, but he still felt that same pull.

He was concerned the icy cavern would be full of more people than before, and perhaps even had a line of people waiting to get in. If that was the case, he’d head to the top of the cavern and jump in from above. Thankfully, when he arrived it wasn’t that packed, but there were people both inside and out.

His pace only slowed as much as necessary so that he didn’t plow into the people standing there as he shot into the cavern’s entrance. The space was filled with three times the number of people as before, but one thing still hadn’t changed. No one was by the pool. There were now five people beneath the falls.

The last thing he wanted to do was offend the people present, knowing just how influential many of them would become, but it was better to ask forgiveness after than miss this opportunity.

Many startled voices rose up as he shot into the room, surprising many. Some came to their feet, thinking they were being attacked, but he was gone as soon as he’d come.

He tossed his stuff to the side as he ran, taking one last pull on the pipe. It landed amongst his things before he dived straight into the icy pool.

The chill assaulted him as soon as he broke the surface of the water. The heat inside of him lashed out at the cold, confident in its strength. However, it was highly outnumbered, and he chose that moment to release the smoke in his lungs. With it, the heat couldn’t hold back the cold’s sudden onslaught. As heat left him, cold energy rushed in to replace it. This wasn’t just his body’s reaction to the cold. Fire qi had filled him like never before only to be expelled, leaving him an empty vessel that the ice qi happily replaced.

When it came, it wasn’t gentle, but crashed in. The violent current of qi threatened to wreck his internals. His body responded by lowering its resistance. It was at that moment that instead of opposition, the qi found it was being siphoned, unable to escape.

***

Yuma Takao had risen as soon as the madman had flashed through the room to jump straight into the dangerous ice qi pool. The reason for her reaction was that she thought she recognized him, but that couldn’t be right. The man she had in mind had been very polite.

When the person who dived in didn’t resurface, a few people neared the edge of the pool. Even the elders beneath the falls leaned forward to see what happened to the man.

When the pool’s surface smoothed over, Yuma feared the worse, but then a large pocket of air surged to the surface and—was that smoke?

It was too peculiar to know what the man had been thinking. After the surface had calmed again, one man asked, “Should someone dive in to save him?”

“What if that smoke was the breath of some monster?” Another responded.

Everyone around the edge moved back, except Yuma didn’t bother. They’d been here for a few days now with no sign of a predator, or even small fish.

It was then that she saw the surface of the pool. Ripples weren’t coming from one point, but many seemed to move it evenly across the pool’s surface. That was until there was a sudden rush toward the middle. The rush cast small waves that splashed over the edge. The overflow wasn’t much, but there was a fresh chill that blew against her face.

A moment later, she saw a man’s face surface, and he just floated there for a moment, breathing slowly. With a final exhale, his eyes opened. They shone with exuberance until he noticed the crowd. A mixture of embarrassment and amusement came next.

He swam to the edge where he had jumped in, and everyone stepped back to give him room to get out. Yuma just blinked at the man as he did. She hadn’t been wrong. The madman was Nathaniel Kane, who she’d witnessed breakthrough under the falls next to her grandfather. It left her scrambling for answers. What exactly had they just witnessed?

***

“I beg your forgiveness,” Nathan said, bowing to the people surrounding him. He quickly spun and bowed to the men beneath the falls. “Forgive me for the interruption, seniors. After heat tempering, I found my cultivation demanding a sudden surge of cold.”

“Ho, ho,” a laugh came. Ma Mencius seemingly hadn’t left. “This is the little brother that broke through with us yesterday?”

He didn’t hide his grin. “Yes, Senior Ma.”

“Congratulations on another breakthrough, Little Brother Kang” Jun Takao said from the Kung Fu Master’s side.

He bowed again, but before he could speak, Jun added. “If I’m not mistaken, didn’t you just breakthrough to small success?”

“I did.”

The man grunted. “It looks like you have some competition in cultivation speed, Brother Ma.”

“The younger generation is meant to surpass the former. We best not make it easy on them.”

“Heaven’s no.”

They both chuckled.

“I must also thank you,” Jun announced. “For the information you’ve shared with my Takao Clan. I’ve taken the liberty to share it with Brother Ma since you alluded that you wouldn’t mind.”

“It’s my pleasure. I’m convinced the speed of our advancement is paramount, and the threat we face is as likely to appear before the estimated arrival date as after it. We must be ready.”

“I like this guy,” a new voice sounded from beneath the falls to Ma’s other side with a Russian accent.

“Greeting’s, Senior,” Nathan said quickly, recognizing the voice that belonged to the silhouette beneath the falls. “I am Nathanial Kane.”

“Let me introduce, General Sokolov,” Ma proclaimed.

The man grunted.

If the general was here, that meant… He greeted the general again using his proper station. After that, he excused himself. “For the next stage of tempering, I have a date with some poison. I wish you good cultivating.”

“Farewell, little brother,” Ma and Jun replied. The general gave another grunt, which was high praise from him.

As Nathan gathered his stuff, he scanned the room and found the General’s entourage. At the end of the line of a dozen men sat the man he was looking for, Karik Volkov. He wore a buzzcut and had the stout nose and long face of his Russian lineage. The general was destined to become a ranker, and leader of rankers, but Karik would compete for a top ten spot in the future.

He considered introducing himself to the general’s men when a familiar voice called out to him.

Spinning, he found Yuma Takao, bowing to him.

“Sister Yuma,” he said, returning her greeting.

“Big Brother Nathan, I’d like to personally thank you for the information you sent in regard to lotus herbs. I’m a soul cultivator, and it’s already been a big help to me.”

Already? He sent it just this morning. “It pleases me to hear that.”

“We are putting together a data sheet of many of the secrets we’ve uncovered and will send you a copy once it’s compiled.”

“I appreciate that. As I learn more, I won’t hesitate to share either.” Just not too much at once.

After some small talk, she excused herself, and Nathan left the cavern. It would be a while before he returned there, if ever. For some, this could take them all the way through the first major realm and then some. His body tempering would be much more involved than that. With one last glance behind him, he headed down the tunnel and left.

---

That's it for today. These are shorter chapters, and I wanted to get out this little stint of Nathan's cultivation.

Have a great weekend!