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Cultivating Chai 71
🕑 Added 2024-11-05 17:13:26 +0000 UTC71:
“That is quite the artifact,” Beast Master Zen finally replied, a slow smile stretching across his features as he reached out with his now empty right palm.
Xiao Feng watched with a wry smile on his face as the wooden staff that he had so cleverly disarmed, flipped back into Beast Master Zen’s palm almost instantaneously.
“So is yours, it seems,” Xiao Feng replied, not knowing if he should be amused or annoyed.
“You have discovered your soul space, then,” Beast Master Zen stated more than asked, his expression turning somber as he studied him in a new light.
“I have. Is the entrance supposed to be shaped like a door?” Xiao Feng asked, even though he suspected that he already knew the answer.
“It is your soul,” Beast Master Zen simply replied. “If it helps you any, the entrance to mine is shaped like the mouth of a cavern, the same cavern where I found Liulian. I did not tell you this before, because I did not wish to warp your perception of your soul space.”
“I understand,” Xiao Feng nodded from within the soul space, still not leaving it in case rediscovering it came with a whole host of challenges.
“I know what you are thinking,” Beast Master Zen revealed. “Do not worry, once you open the door to your soul, it will remain open to you unless it suffers irrevocable damage. Fascinating, is it not?”
“It is,” Xiao Feng emphatically nodded.
“Do you know what it is that you have just accomplished?” Beast Master Zen asked, his tone heavy.
Xiao Feng shook his head, even though he had an inkling.
“The records I have studied on the soul space speak of prodigies who managed to discover their soul space in the Qi Gathering stage, geniuses that surpass the stalk of cultivators we find in the modern era by far. Yet, whether it was the Qi Gathering Stage, the Foundation Establishment Stage or the Core Formation stage, the shortest time anyone managed it was a week of meditation,” Beast Master Zen explained, his tone heavy. “You required an hour,” He stated solemnly, his tone tinged by what sounded awfully like a hint of reverence.
“Does that mean what I think it does?” Xiao Feng cautiously asked, as a feeling of unease bloomed in his chest.
“There is nothing upon the continent of Tian that can guarantee ascension to the Nascent Soul stage. No artifact, no tamed beast, no pill, no ancestral treasure can guarantee it. However, your prodigious talent when it comes to the soul means that your odds are higher than most, even higher than those core disciples they pamper. If the Azure Lotus sect were to find out, they would call you back to the main sect and shower you with resources in hopes of gaining an elder in the future.”
“Don’t,” Xiao Feng abruptly replied, as the unease building up in his chest finally reached its Zenith. “Don’t tell them,” He demanded more than asked, even though he was in no position to force Beast Master Zen to do anything.
Surprise spread across Beast Master Zen’s features, before he shook his head in disbelief.
“You’ve truly left it all behind, haven’t you?” Beast Master Zen asked. “The thrill of the battle. The thirst for proving yourself. The glory. The fame. The resources that come with it. The desire to ascend cultivator stages for the sake of ascension. That artifact you wield tells me that you are valued very highly by the Frontier Sect, for they cannot afford to give out resources to the unworthy. Your skills speak even more highly of you, for I had not gone into that spar expecting to be disarmed. Who are you?”
Xiao Feng realized that Beast Master Zen was intently staring at him, so he met his gaze.
“Earlier, I was Xiao Feng the Undying, Hero of the Zheyan Pass. Now, I am Xiao Feng, recruit alchemist and aspiring beast tamer,” He stated with an underlying determination, not a word of untruth to be found in his words.
Beast Master Zen burst out into boisterous laughter, tapping his staff onto the ground repeatedly as if he were applauding a performance.
“Out of all the things you have said and done here today,” Beast Master Zen finally replied, as he reigned in most of his amusement. “That has been the most surprising of all. Do not worry, Xiao Feng. I did not become a beast tamer because I enjoyed dealing with powerful sects and I certainly don’t want anything to do with the political creatures that your Elders are. Do you know what the most dangerous kind of relationship is, Xiao Feng?”
Xiao Feng considered the question, before shaking his head.
“Never enter into a relationship that is not one of give and take. If you are only taking, then when it comes time to give you will not be able to afford their ask, a fact that you are perhaps acquainted with. When it comes to a relationship of giving, do not offer to give something you do not have the strength to protect, even if you wish for nothing in return. Elders are the ones who take. Do not forget that.”
Xiao Feng nodded, even though he wasn’t quite sure if he understood the true meaning of what Beast Master Zen was getting at.
“Can I learn the true way of taming beasts now?” Xiao Feng eagerly asked, his excitement hard to contain.
Beast Master Zen chucked, before nodding, “You can, but I will not teach it to you right now. It is you who wish to be ordinary, is it not? Come back to me in a month and your accomplishment will be above the norm, but far from prodigious.”
Xiao Feng’s eyes widened in understanding as he suppressed the disappointment he felt before replying, “I understand.”
“Good,” Beast Master Zen nodded. “While the soul space can offer you great boons in your cultivation, do remember that it is not a shortcut. You are no further or closer from your understanding of the Dao than you were before, you merely understand yourself better,” He offered a final bit of advice, before retreating to the privacy of his lodge, his umbral fang who Xiao Feng had thought to be asleep, following him in.
Comments
Daoist Enigma
Green tea is something that we might see, but right now Xiao Feng is on the path to elevate his tea dao
Timothy Dana
What about spirit Kombucha?
Timothy Dana
This is great. I want to see more Chai though. Can he make green tea with modern pasteurization and High pressure filtration methods.
