Molting the Mortal Coil

Before, Sage was a man in a drought, thirsting for a drink. Now, he was drowning. He used to have to plan carefully and save for months in order to purchase a single technique. Now he had so many it was a struggle simply to read all their names let alone training in them. With so many moves right at his fingertips, Sage had to choose very carefully. In the past he studied every technique he could get his hands on, trying to find something that would work for him. This is definitely what they call choice overload!

Eventually, Sage gave up on trying to read them all and instead started to search for the things that he wanted to focus on. Besides the set of techniques grouped with Connecting Heaven and Earth, he looked for things that complimented the core techniques he already had. Namely, the Insect Immortal Index, Divine Breath, the Twin Soul, Formations, Seals, and finally the Timeless Eyes. Since he already had so much on his plate to study, he was careful only to pick out things that he was sure he could use for now and save the rest for later.

Years ago when he first joined the Holy Flame Sect he had seen so many young and talented geniuses struggling so hard to advance and improve as quickly as they could and only now he realized the reason. The faster they could advance the more benefits they would gain, which would in turn lead to even faster advancement. Sage had never cared because he knew that Cultivator’s lives were long so he was happy to enjoy the scenery. It took him a decade to understand that as he grew stronger it became even harder to advance. He had heard such a thing when he was young, but never took it to heart. It was probably because of his low talent that he put such thoughts of reaching the peak aside and just struggled to survive. After these strings of lucky encounters he finally had a shred of hope and once again felt rejuvenated.

Checking through the library of techniques, Sage unfortunately found nothing related to the soul. On the plus side, five of the sets were related to sealing techniques and Sage noted where they were so he could study them in the future. In the end, there was just too many choices and Sage gave up for now. He would focus on his new set of Wood techniques and once he found out more weaknesses he would check again for techniques to shore them up.

That said, Sage did find one thing he was dreadfully in need of. It was called the ‘Human Seal’. Contrary to what it might sound like, the Seal was actually something used on Beasts or Monsters, sealing their power into the shape of a human body. A mighty beast as big as a mountain that could sweep away rivers with a wave of its tail would be easy to beat if it suddenly found itself trapped inside a weak and puny human body. The Human Seal didn’t affect the energy they contained nor did it reduce the strength or toughness of their flesh, but it stuffed them into a small humanoid shape. A body covered in sensitive skin, no natural weapons to rely upon, and such weak senses were things that most beasts weren’t used to and it made them much easier to defeat. It could also be used as a reward for very intelligent Spirit Animals or to help tame and subdue young beasts before they grew up and became too dangerous.

For Sage, it was a godsend! Finally, he had a way to move around in public without drawing attention. If he could use a Human Seal on himself he would look like his old self and not have to walk around everywhere with a hood over his head and a large cloak to cover his tail. He’d spent more than a year acting like a hermit, hiding himself and worried to go outside. It hadn’t been too bad, since the Sect knew of his condition and didn’t discriminate too badly. He had merely changed from one sideshow to another. The guy with a bunch of weak profession badges had become the ‘snake man’. The true limiting factor was his fear of travelling to other cities outside the Sect. If he could look normal again he would be able to travel wherever he wished without needed to return to the Sect to clear his pockets or purchase supplies.

Sage had to plan his next steps. He wanted to immediately go into seclusion and start training, but he knew that without using up his contribution points his progress would be slow. On the other hand, he could start researching for his business plans and put technique training aside for now. If even a few of his business ideas were successful he could create a huge source of new income. At that point, his training would be many times faster, surely more than enough to make up for the research time! On the other hand, there was the chance that none of his ideas would take off and his research time would completely go to waste.

Let’s go with a little of column A and a little of Column B.

Sage decided to train the initial level of every technique before starting his research. The initial level of a technique wouldn’t be exceptionally powerful, but it was usually quite easy to learn. That way, while he was researching he could continue to train the techniques in his free time or to clear his mind. He was also quite eager to learn the new techniques and if he started researching first he knew he would be distracted by his curiosity.

Sage immediately began training nine techniques. The Human Seal. A movement art called ‘Falling Leaf Steps’. A body hardening art with the simple name ‘Greenbody Training’. A martial art called ‘Tree Spring Stance’, and finally four Qi Techniques: ‘Summon the Sacred Banyan’, ‘Crown Cover’, ‘Root Wall’, and ‘Root Lance’. Many of them had very simple names, but from the descriptions he read they could be very powerful. In the future he could also learn some of the techniques from the other four wood element sets, but he would focus on these first. Oh, and the final technique, the most important one, the Qi Cultivation Art ‘Connecting Heaven and Earth’.

The Qi Cultivation Art was the foundation for everything else. It was the method by which Qi was brought into the body, how the energy was refined or transformed, how the excess energy was dealt with, how and where the energy was stored, and finally the method to access the energy and distribute it through the body. Qi Techniques were merely how the energy was put into use. From what Sage understood a Qi Technique was like a an electric device. The outlet, wiring, circuit breakers, and the connection to outside power would be the Qi Cultivation Technique. Those secret Qi Techniques that required opening special Qi Pores using special methods were sort of like requiring special hookups or plugs like an oven or plug adapters for foreign electronic devices.

As Sage started to study more about Connecting Heaven and Earth he became more and more pleased with his choice. It was a technique that excelled at bringing in energy. He had heard of powerful Qi Cultivation Techniques that would create whirlpools or powerful voids in the dantian, so the Cultivator could breathe in huge amounts of energy like a vacuum. There were dark techniques that were spoken of that could drain energy from others by touch, stealing power from them and obviously suffering from huge drawbacks. Blossom of the Underworld was similar, it was able to transform even the darkest or strangest forms of energy into its own special yin natured wood elemental qi. Greensea Soul was special for how it stored and drew upon energy, compressing qi into a ‘seed’ in the Dantian. When the time was right they used a special method to ‘sprout’ the seed and they would overflow with power for a period of time.

Just as he’d learned from the old man, releasing aura was not so simple or wasteful as he thought. Connecting Heaven and Earth was not just a Qi Cultivation Technique, it also was a profound aura manipulation technique. What he had thought to be a complete waste, releasing aura, was actually the most powerful part of Connecting Heaven and Earth. Sage finished reading the technique and moved into the training yard behind his home. It was much smaller than it used to be when his three room friends had lived here with him, but even with the Insect Shed taking up half the yard, the square area was still nearly a hundred feet wide.

Let’s begin.