004: Tai-Chi Theorem
"You have got to be kidding me! Zhao Min screamed out in annoyance as she looked at the scene in front of her, she just couldn't wrap her head around the fact that hers and Divyat's secret place was not as secret as they had previously thought it was. The small meadow enclosed by tall and very powerful trees was filled to the brim with new disciples and old ones with not a single open space available for them to relax and study. Divyat wouldn't say it out loud, but this was Zhao Min's fault. If she hadn't been adamant that they had to stop in order to get some food, then perhaps this would not have been a problem. Divyat scoffed and turned, heading in the direction of the Ghadovara mountains, having a secret spot of his own that he could use.
"Oh come on! You know I can't follow you there!" Zhao Min said to him once she noticed the direction in which he was heading to, but Divyat didn't stop. They had already wasted enough time as it is, and he was not so willing to let her slow him down anymore. He was anxious enough as it is, and letting Zhao Min lead him in every way was not on the top of his list today.
"I know, if you can't come with me then you have no choice but to head home. I'll come check you once I'm back, let's see who's reached the farthest, and yes I know! I'll be careful and not go any deeper into the mountains. See you soon!" he yelled at her as he disappeared around a bend, before going off the path and into a copse of trees as Zhao Min watched on with a worried look on her face.
Divyat on the other hand knew the woods attached to the mountains and the sect like the back of his hand. They weren't too far apart, and his hunting trips have always started from the woods before moving on to the Ghadovara mountains. He picked up speed, the wind whipping his hair into the air, as he moved past trees he had previously marked, before northwest before coming up to the base of the mountain that was well hidden, a small depression into the mountain itself that would probably form into a valley in about a 100 thousand years or a million if nature was taking her time. However right there was a massive oak tree, well hidden behind a wall of Red blood mahogany trees. There was a tree house meticulously and well built around the branches of the oak tree. Divyat quickly made his way up, using a simple pulley system to draw himself up in a wicker basket that served as his own version of the Library's floating platform.
He made his way, ignoring the snoring form of his elder brother with a scoff, before going straight to his throne of soft woolen blankets and pillows. He arranged the techniques in front of himself quickly picked up the [Tai-Chi Theorem]. He saw his brother twitch a bit, turning around, pretending he was deep into his sleep and trying to get into a comfortable position. Divyat scoffed, knowing the older boy was only trying to pay attention to his younger brother. But Divyat could not be bothered, not in this moment.
He opened up the technique, holding his breath and checking his awareness of Qi, just to make sure that truly he had awakened and could now start actively cultivating, rather than the passive way he has been doing since he was born. Power awaits.
[Tai-Chi Theorem: The law of life is balance, it is what is most supreme and it is man's destiny to understand it. Life is existence, existence is nature, nature is balance of the world, and you are the world. Balance in body, balance in soul, balance in mind, master of the universe.]
The introduction to the technique was the mantra needed to activate it's Absorption effect, and beyond that this was not a cultivation technique that required one to remain stationary. The cultivation technique itself was an exercise, and all Divyat needed was a single look to be able to master the first ten stances. He got up to his feet and began to move, his feet taking steps one at a time as his hands and body seemed to move through a current of qi, that was sometimes vapor like wind, or sometimes water like sea. [Tai-Chi Theorem] had 77 stances, and until all 77 stances are mastered, mastery of the technique would not have been achieved.
Yet just to take a look at the first ten stances and begin to move with them was beyond shocking in and out of itself. The stances were elaborate and each stance after the order seemed harder than the last. And even though Divyat had researched the technique as much as he could, he has never been able to come face to face with it for him to understand it's intricacies, yet one look had seared the first ten stances into his mind, this was where his talent for comprehension comes into play, his ability to understand, retain and master techniques was probably the best of his generation, not to mention Divyat was a hard worker and right now he was dominating.
Nivgyat still pretended he was asleep, but he was shocked. Just mastering the first three stances should be what's expected of someone utilizing this technique for the first time, but Divyat was smashing all of his elder brothers expectations. He had expected that with his comprehensive talent, at least Divyat would get to the fifth stance and not be able to progress, but he moved through the fifth stance at ease and then on to the sixth, forcing Nivgyat to abandon his pretend sleep and sit up watching in awe.
As for Divyat, it was after the second stance that he felt, a string of Qi moving into his body, and with each stance the string got thicker, more robust as it sought out the first meridian in his body, one that was at the small of his back. The rest of the process was pretty much automatic as the string of qi rested within the meridian, turning slowly and surely as it cleared it of any blockage, smoothed it out and reinforced with Qi, setting down the building blocks of his foundation. Then the Qi filled the Meridian, by this point Divyat had already reached the 7th stance, and so far he has only been cultivating for a little over fifteen minutes. Both his body and his meridian were beginning to feel the strain of the stances and the Qi within his body. Unlike other cultivation method, except for those focused on body cultivation, the [Tai-Chi Theorem] can be considered a dual style non attributed cultivation method of both body and Qi, and right now, Divyat was beginning to feel the burn of his muscles and his breathing became labored and hitched at intervals, even his meridian was beginning to burn, and he knew he needed to stop and rest, but he refused, he would not stop yet, not when he was this close to doing something only true geniuses could.
He pushed forward stepping into the ninth stance and overloading his meridian with Qi, as soon as he did that it was as if an explosion rang out in his body as the Qi gushed out from the meridian in his back, rushing forwards like the surge of a tidal wave against a desert that hasn't seen water in ten thousand years. It surged upwards up his spine to the next meridian, meeting and smashing through the barrier of impurities and filth, cleansing it and filling it to the brim, just as Divyat stepped into the tenth stance. The second meridian rapidly filled itself up, reinforced it's structure and opened itself up to the world, establishing a full connection to the first meridian as they both began to take in Qi from outside of Divyat's body, and then he stopped.
He would have crashed to the ground if it wasn't for his brother catching, his breathing labored as with his new found perception of Qi. He realized that it was not just two meridians that had been connected, but his muscles were saturated to the brim with Qi, currently contracting and pulsing along with his heart, as the Qi seemed to be absorbed and refined, giving new life and texture to his muscles as he felt them ache with progress. With his labored breathing he looked up at his brother who had a wild grin on his face, perhaps with a little bit of tears at the side of his eyes, but Nivgyat wouldn't admit to that.
"Perhaps we've been going about it all wrong, maybe there is a chance for you after all. Because element or no element little brother, your talent is not something to sneeze about. It took me a week of constant practice to be able to connect my first two meridians, yet you did it in twenty minutes, using ten stances of an auxiliary cultivation technique, that people only use to augment their main cultivation method in order to also temper their bodies in the process. You're not just talented Divyat, you're a monster of a generation, and perhaps things would be different for you than we all expected."
"You really mean that?" Divyat asked with tears in his eyes and a heart that was a lot lighter than he expected.
"Of course! With what I've seen you've definitely made a believer out of me, especially with how hard you've worked. Perhaps… no I'm sure! Qi Condensation cannot stop you, perhaps it would be your starting point little brother. Congratulations on stepping into the path of immortality." Fifteen year old Divyat didn't say anything more, he just moved his aching body and hugged his elder brother as hard as he could, having hope for the first time in a long time, because there was one thing about their family that has been constant from when he was a child to this point… they never tell lies!