Battle-qi Art: Transforming Wind
"Oh, right, brother, I'm a Warrior of the First Rank now, and I'm only seven and a half. I think my aptitude should be good enough for me to go to a warrior academy with you. I know you've already wasted a lot of time waiting for me. Otherwise, you'd be getting a good education at an academy by now. You might even have started cultivating Battle-qi. I don't want to be a burden to you. I want to keep up with you." Luo Fu's resolute little face was full of longing.
Luo Feng smiled as he looked into his younger brother's eyes. Luo Fu, who rarely saw his brother smile, couldn't help thinking, Brother actually smiled today, and twice at that. Unbelievable. Seeing that long-absent smile, little Luo Fu felt that his greatest happiness now was seeing his brother smile. Ever since he was five, his brother had held himself to strict standards, wearing the same unchanging expression every day, yet now he had smiled.
"I understand, Luo Fu. In three months, I'll take you with me to Basil, the capital of our entire Northwest Province. It has the best academies, and they start recruiting in three months. I'll take you there then, but you have to cultivate hard during these three months. I don't want you to fail the selection." Luo Feng had a great deal on his mind after hearing his brother's words.
Three and a half years ago, Luo Feng had become a Warrior of the First Rank at the age of just six and a half. He should have gone to study at a warrior academy, but he had resolutely turned down an invitation from Jill Academy in Chi'er Commandery, refusing to cultivate at Jill Warrior Academy. Everyone knew he had done so because he couldn't leave his three-year-old brother Luo Fu behind, so he had stayed in Yellow Sand Town to cultivate. The resources in Yellow Sand Town could hardly compare to those at a warrior academy in the commandery capital. And so he had waited for three years.
"Yeah, brother, don't worry. I definitely won't fail the selection. I'm going to keep up with you!" Luo Fu clenched his fists and gave Luo Feng his word.
A bright moon hung high in the sky, the clouds that had filled it now scattered. Soft moonlight streamed down like great swathes of white feathers drifting into Yellow Sand Town. Beneath its clear light, the whole town seemed to be draped in a thin veil. The hazy moonlight lent a touch of sanctity to a place that would otherwise have seemed rather eerie at night.
Sitting cross-legged on his bed, Luo Feng took a yellowed booklet from an iron box he had long since put away. "Transforming Wind." Just two simple words. Luo Feng found it hard to imagine that it was a secret Battle-qi manual, but remembering how his father had risen from a Warrior of the Third Rank to a Warrior of the Sixth Rank in the years after cultivating it, he cast aside his remaining doubts.
Luo Feng immediately began reading the opening of "Transforming Wind" with curiosity. There was nothing special about the first chapter; it simply introduced the cultivation of Battle-qi. Battle-qi cultivation involved using the body to communicate with the elemental essences of the world, guiding them through the meridians and gathering them in the dantian. People with different constitutions absorbed different elemental essences. "Transforming Wind" was a secret Battle-qi manual for cultivating wind-attribute Battle-qi. Of course, warriors had stronger bodies than mages, and the elemental essences they absorbed were relatively uniform and balanced. It was this balance that kept many people from meeting the threshold to become mages.
Luo Feng was now in the O'Brien Empire, where magic academies were relatively scarce, so he didn't know what his own attributes were or whether he could become a mage. Besides, mages were simply weaklings in the later stages. Even someone like Desri had switched to cultivating the Edicts of Destruction, taking the warrior's path exclusively.
Although Linley cultivated both magic and the martial arts, his accomplishments were more evident on the warrior's side. His identity as a mage had done more to help him gain insights into the laws. His supreme elemental affinity had given him a far greater understanding of the Wind Element and Earth Element than of the Fire Element. This was something Luo Feng had never been able to put aside, because judging from the original book, cultivating both magic and the martial arts was the best choice. What worried him most now was whether he could become a mage, but once he reached Basil, he would definitely get tested. His future depended on it.
By this point, Luo Feng had gained a basic understanding of Battle-qi. As he carefully pondered its subtle and profound meanings, his mind became completely immersed in stillness. He couldn't help feeling that his eyes had been opened. The wondrous Battle-qi methods and their terrifying power left him dumbstruck, both shocked and delighted!
Then he sat cross-legged and motionless, as though in a meditative trance, immersed in the vastness and profundity of Battle-qi.
Time passed, and the stars wheeled across the sky. He sat there for another whole day.
It wasn't until the following evening, when a lonely, cold crescent moon hung high in the black night and its chilly yet gentle light once again streamed down from the sky, that Luo Feng slowly emerged from his contemplation.
He pushed open the door and saw his brother still training hard. Smiling faintly, Luo Feng walked over. "Luo Fu, looks like you've been working hard these past two days."
"Ah, brother, you're awake?" Seeing his brother come out, Luo Fu stopped training and ran over to Luo Feng.
"Keep working hard, and remember our agreement. In three months, I'll take you to Basil to participate in the warrior academy's recruitment. Don't get thrown out for not being strong enough when the time comes. In a few days, I'm going out to cultivate for a while. A man who's a Warrior of the First Rank wouldn't slack off, would he?" Luo Feng said.
"Oh, when are you coming back, big brother? Of course I won't slack off. I work very hard."
Little Luo Fu had no idea what his brother's purpose was in going out to cultivate this time. The money their father had left was only enough for the two brothers' living expenses, and by now they had used up nearly the last of their savings. Luo Feng was naturally going out to hunt some low-level magical beasts to earn money for the journey and the warrior academy's registration fee.
Back in his room, Luo Feng began cultivating Battle-qi for the first time.
In the cool breeze, Luo Feng sat cross-legged on his bed, his eyes closed and his expression solemn. His hands were intertwined in a strange seal before his chest as he breathed in and out, steadily and powerfully.
Luo Feng's chest rose and fell slightly in a steady rhythm. He felt as though countless tiny streams were darting joyfully through his body like nimble snakes, flowing from every part of him into his limbs and bones. They turned into strands of cool air that circulated ceaselessly throughout his body.
Completely immersed in cultivation, Luo Feng would have seen countless pale cyan specks of light floating densely around him if he had opened his eyes, their numbers startling. Not far from him were countless sky-blue specks and a comparatively smaller number of purple ones, but these two colors were repelled from the space around his body.
Clearly, Luo Feng had good elemental affinity, and for three elements at that: Wind Element, Water, and Lightning.
But Luo Feng, absorbed in cultivation, had no mind to look at any of this. The Battle-qi inside him circulated ceaselessly through his body, and he felt as though he were soaking in a pool of cool water. Under the gentle caress of the cool air, the fatigue throughout his body slowly faded, leaving him feeling wonderfully refreshed and comfortable.
Having tasted the benefits, Luo Feng did not stop. His face solemn and his eyes half-closed, he focused his mind and steadied his breath, keeping his body in its best condition for cultivation as he continued greedily circulating the mysterious strand of energy within him. Gradually, as time passed, a strange fluctuation slowly spiraled around Jiang Feng's body, forming rings of sound waves that drifted outward in every direction.
As he breathed in and out, streams of free energy from the world poured in like a sea receiving a hundred rivers, burrowing frantically through the pores of his fine skin and into Luo Feng's body, strand by strand. In the blink of an eye, they burst forth inside him, turning into streams of pure, lively warmth that nourished his bones, washed through his meridians and tempered his muscles...
After an unknown length of time, Luo Feng slowly opened his eyes and smiled in satisfaction. "Battle-qi really is extraordinary. There's already been a change in such a short time. I'm still a peak rank-three warrior, but now I feel like I could take on five of myself from before I cultivated Battle-qi. Battle-qi really is wondrous."