19 Phantom arms

The path I will be choosing is still not entirely clear to me. You see, I am a dual element cultivator and I seem to have found a good combination of paths, but I still have an issue with choosing these paths.

"Oh? Dual elements? I thought your master picking you was because of your monstrous cultivation speed, turns out that's not the only reason!" Steward Chen exclaimed with unmasked jealousy.

Then he remembered how he dreamed of having a genius like this in his clan even if he was born without arms. Doesn't this mean he's even more of a monster than I initially estimated?

"If only our Chen clan could birth a genius like this! Even if he was born as just a torso I'd be willing to take him as my disciple and groom him to be the successor of the Chen clan patriarch!" He said internally

...

Steward Chen, do you also seem to faintly hear lightning strike up above? Seems like someone made an oath to the heavens! How exciting, I wish I knew what the oath was about."

"You don't want to know, trust me!" Steward Chen said whilst some cold sweat trickled down his forehead.

"Anyways, back to topic. You said you had some paths in mind but weren't sure? Tell me about them and why you are uncertain about your decision."

"Well, master wants me to become an archer."

Just hearing this first sentence made Steward Chen nearly puke out blood, but Fang Qiu continued without noticing steward Chen's change in expressions.

"My dual elements are space and light. I would pick the illusion path for the light element since it can be combined well with archery and is one of the only offensive light paths.

For the second path I would take the warp path since it is the most commonly used space path for archers and goes well in combination with the illusion path.

The main two issues with picking these is the lacking attack power compared to taking the void path for the space element.

And the second issue being that master wanted me to use a space element skill called [phantom arms] to create a second arm using qi during battles.

Master said there are multiple such skills within the space element, but this skill doesn't seem to be part of the warp path.

Or at the very least your Chen clan doesn't seem to have it. These are my two main issues currently. What is your opinion on this, steward Chen?"

"Well, you could in theory buy a bone growth pill in the pill pavillion, that would restore your left arm at the very least, though if this is what I think it is even bone growth pills won't help you out.

But meridians cannot be restored once they are cut off by certain means, so your arm would not be able to channel qi. At my cultivation level I can see that your arm lost its meridians, and I am certain your master noticed it too which might be why he suggested you use the phantom arms skill instead of regrowing your arm using pills."

"My meridians are gone? Well of course they are I lost my entire arm, how would I still have meridians but not the arm itself?"

"I think you might be lacking some information here. Let's say a cultivator loses an arm in battle, he can regrow it using a bone growth pill or by having a light element user heal the arm until it is fully regrown or reattached

Though this method requires actual healing path users, someone like you wouldn't be able to regrow an arm which is probably why you still haven't regrown it yourself. When a cultivator regains his arm his meridians will automatically grow back too.

But I can tell yours have been severed from your soul, meaning they will never regrow even if you regrow your arm….your left arm will never channel elemental qi again, even if it is regrown. My condolences."

"Then can you tell me why I am different from others?" A somewhat saddened Fang Qiu asked.

"Did a metal element cultivator sever it? And if so did they have a dagger shaped core spirit?"

"Yes…and yes."

"As I guessed…the person who severed your arm has a core spirit ranked on the calamity list. It is called soul severing and anything it cuts can never be grown back. Not only your meridians like my earlier guess but even your arm is lost to time, it will never be regrown even if you were to gain a brand new body since the arm is severed from your soul.

Basically your soul thinks your body is complete, as if you were never supposed to have a second arm. This is why soul severing is considered a calamity list ability. It is one of the only spirit abilities that causes wounds that cannot be regrown. Not even experts in the higher worlds will be able to help you I am afraid.

If it is of any help to you, no spirit ability is omnipotent, there is a way to heal back your arm somewhere out there, I just do not know if you will ever find it."

"Thank you for helping me understand things better, master chen" Fang Qiu gratefully said whilst making a small bow out of gratitude. He had already tried regrowing his arm and he might not be a healing path cultivator but his "dig in" should definitely carry enough healing power to heal back his arm.

His arm still not being regrown after all this eating and "digging in" made Fang Qiu already have his own guesses recently so having it be confirmed now didn't come as the greatest surprise to Fang Qiu. Though, nonetheless it still took a couple minutes to calm down his emotions, he soon enough composed himself again and returned to the topic at hand after signalling steward Chen to continue his earlier explanation about the [phantom arms] skill

The loss of your arm is not the end of the world, [phantom arms] skills are famous because they can form meridians within the phantom arms. That way skills can be cast through these arms. If this wasn't possible the skill wouldn't be nearly as famous as it is now.

So no, the horizontal scar in the bridge of your nose and your lost arm will likely remain like this forever, but this might be exactly why your master wanted you to get a [phantom arms] skill since it can channel qi just like your real arm.

But I feel like I must also tell you about the two drawbacks of the arms. The first being the constant need for qi to keep the arm active. Meaning you will only be able to use it during important moments."

Fang Qiu was still listening attentively but internally he was already getting happier, "this drawback is no issue at all for me since I can just have little black eat meat to compensate for the lost qi."

Secondly, most of the elements have their own way of casting [phantom arms] but the drawback to you is that you will only be able to cast skills of said element. Let's say you have a light element [phantom arm] you will only be able to channel light element skills through that arm. Most cultivators only have a single element so this is no issue to them, but to you this might be something to consider carefully." Steward Chen calmly explained to the disciple of this old friend of his.

"Steward Chen, which other paths have skills that can generate me a new arm?" Fang Qiu wanted to know every option before he made a decision since this decision would decide his future for the most part.

Well, for you there really isn't a lot of options. Space path has the best skills for what you need.

Have you considered cultivating a second space path elemental seed purely for the [phantom arms] skill? You can stop focusing on the path once it reaches elemental seed realm, just to use it for mortal rank [phantom arms]." Steward Chen suggested.

"This actually isn't such a bad idea, and I could easily buy more nature stones with the old man's money. It might slow me down in the beginning but having the [phantom arms] instead of a real arm without meridians might help me out in the long run.

Yet right when Fang Qiu was about to finalise his decision...

"Wait! I just remembered something we overlooked!" Steward Chen suddenly shouted out, slightly startling Fang Qiu.

Good thing they were still in the courtyard instead of the main hall or everyone would have been given a scare by the man's sudden yell.

"We forgot to consider the dual element paths!"

"The dual element paths?" Fang Qiu was confused since he had not heard of this before.

"Yes, to give you a simple example. Wood element is a mix of the earth and light element.

This is one of the three thousand rare elements and is considered a mix of two elements.

Hence why only rare wood element cultivators and dual element cultivators of the earth and light element can practice it.

A normal earth element cultivator can't practice the wood path since he lacks the light element within his core. I forgot to consider these elemental paths because we only ever sell those skills once every few months or years.

And it's normal you didn't consider them since they are on a separate jade slip for all the rare element paths. So you can't have read about these skills before which is why you never knew this option existed.

In fact, my father used to tell me stories when I was small about a certain skill that can be useful to you! It is only partially considered a [phantom arms] skill but to you this might be exactly what you need. It will even solve all your earlier issues and make you a force to be reckoned with." Steward Chen was really excited at this point and the excitement even rubbed off on Fang Qiu.

"Master Chen, this is a joyous occasion then"

I normally don't do this but...have a drumstick"

"A drumstick?" Steward Chen said with audible confusion in his voice.

"is this kid retarded? Why is he suddenly eating now? What does eating have to do with this all, and why is he looking at me like he just gave me the biggest treasure in the world?"

_______

A couple hours later...

Fang Qiu and the old man left the main hall and made their way back to their courtyard.

By now the sun had gone down yet the city appeared full of life just like during daytime, every building was still open and most of the cultivators could still be seen out in the streets full of energy and excitement.

Many cultivators were constantly leaving and arriving in the city in the dark of the night, some never to return.

This sight of a city full of life once again made Fang Qiu feel a sense of happiness he didn't experience in a long time.

"This is a world where every day people are fighting for resources and interests. Many of these people I see here today might be corpses within a year.

Yet within this city, everything is bustling with life, light balls fill the streets and lit up the sky. Everything feels so…alive."

Fang Qiu had read about this light element skill, it could trap vitality in a ball made of qi and could replenish itself using the surrounding qi.

The skill was called [vitality orb] and to Fang Qiu his newfound knowledge seemed to open new doors everywhere he looked. Houses made of earth element skills he could recognise.

Stalls selling snacks whilst roasting meat over a fire element skill called [eternal flame], it sounded amazing but it was generally only used for cooking. Yet, seeing all these skills being used for such small things truly made Fang Qiu realise there was so much more to the elements than fighting and killing.

He even noticed people washing clothes using water element skills late at night, one of them was even using what Fang Qiu assumed was steam path skills to make food whilst his clothes were drying outside.

For over an hour whilst walking and taking in the sights all around, Fang Qiu became certain of one thing. At least for the time being, this place truly felt like a place he could call...home.

now that I made it back to my courtyard after stopping by the treasure tower for some more nature stones of this third path I need to cultivate...I guess it is finally time to start learning skills.

Taking out the first skill book he bought using the old man's money, having spent another couple spirit stones he started reading the introduction on this special skill again in order to start practicing it...

[Star grasping hand], star path yellow rank skill...let's start!