Chapter 2
1182 Words
The man who entered was not Leng. He was older and more calmer than him. He wore the inner sect robe with a band fixed at his collar.
He wasn't in haste. He entered and surveyed the room then looked at Ryan.
Leng Chao waited at the doorway behind him. He was quiet now.
“You dealt with my nephew and dragged him to the road.” The man said
“He started first and I decided to teach him a little lesson after shooting at me.”
I'm Elder Gou and I'm in charge of outer disciple affairs.” He paused. This room has been taken and I can work on your transfer by morning.”
“That's not fair, I was here before anybody.”
“You're been removed, order from above.”
“But the orders would only come if I broke a rule and last I remembered I didn't.” Ryan had gone through the debt notice from beginning to end, and he has understood every term and condition in it.
The Elder stared at him. The chart on the floor and the manual closer to it.
He wasn't angry, he looked like he was having another rethink.
“You have forty days,” he said. “Have a nice stay.”
He left just as he had come. Leng Chao followed him. But before he moved, he looked back at Ryan and paused for a while before heading on.
Ryan sat down back.
He now had Forty days instead of thirty days, that's ten days more. And the Elder had studied him and knew how he talked.
None of these sounds alright.
*****
He was up before sunrise
His cracked ribs made his breathing more difficult when he ran. His legs became stiff at ten kilometers and he began to drag along. When he got back he stretched his body for a few minutes, ate his leftover rations and went to the library.
Outer disciples were only allowed to read three manuals. Ryan was able to finish reading everything that morning. Most disciples just brushed through the rank section when reading.
Ryan read everything and absolved it without leaving any point behind.
As he was going to the body refinement manual he noticed it had only six pages of warning.
The main problem was simple. Forcing qi through the body without a spiritual background and that meant doing it manually every time without guidance.
It's just continuous until the body gets used to it. And the manual mentioned that the pain was different in every human and the only way to find it was to hit it.
He ran three missions from the board during mid-day. Collection of herbs, water haul and fence perimeter monitoring. He was able to finish before dinner and he got extra nine copper coins.
He started that night.
He sat on the mat and pulled the qi through him as the manual explained. Then he forced it along the meridian lines with might and resisted it as long as he could before the pain broke him.
During the first try he lasted twelve minutes before his vision went white then he stopped.
He rested for thirty minutes then continued.
The second try lasted for nine minutes and the third try was able to last for six minutes.
By the fourth try his hands were shaking and his back had become completely stiff. He stopped and lay flat on the floor.
He opened his training log book he had started that morning and he recorded.
Day 1. Four trials. Thirty five minutes in total. Pain threshold hit at the twelfth minute. Recovery times need to be worked on. Food is the main problem, this body has no special reserve. Fix diet first.
He wrote another line at the bottom.
If it gets bad before it gets better. That's usual.
****
The next day he ran for twelve kilometers before he stopped.
By the fifth day he had a food schedule worked on around the pay he got from his mission. That was enough to help in his training. The body started responding. Slowly but every day was a bit better than before.
By the seventh day, Leng Chao found him at the mission area
He didn't touch Ryan. He just stood near him, close enough for him to make his statement low and hearable.
“You're no longer allowed to test at the Eastern slope, starting tomorrow. Order from above.”
Ryan didn't look at him, he just scanned the board and picked another set of locations in different zones.
“Those places need first stage body refinement and you are not yet qualified.” Leng said.
“I'll practice tomorrow morning”. Ryan said. He took the posting and filed them with the hall disciple.
Leng Chao was silent. He walked away
Ryan headed back to his room and opened his log book.
*Seventh Day. Leng is using Elder Gou's admin authority to block my mission location. This will keep occuring I need stage one worked out before he blocks my test slot too.*
He wrote another line.
*Current expectations based on results and recovery: 80%. The rest has to be worked on tonight.*
He closed his log book and started his first trial.
Five hours later he was still on it.
The pain threshold came twice. But both times he paused and he fully recovered and continued. His hands were firm. His breathing was controlled. And the qi was moving more smoothly this time than it had on the first day.
Then at the sixth hour it changed.
It didn't make any sound or sign. But across the basic channel running up his spine, something that has been resisting for seven days simply stopped.
Ryan forced himself to hold the qi in place and counted to hundred under his breath.
He held his breath throughout the count.
He opened his log book again and jotted.
*Seventh day, stage one complete.*
He placed the log book on the floor and sat still for a brief moment.
The rest of the certification was public. Other outer disciples could watch. And the Elder in charge of testing would send all the results directly to the hall by the end of the day. The same hall elder Gou checked every morning.
By midday the next day. Elder Gou would know a diehard disciple had hit the first stage in seven days.
Ryan picked up the logbook again and added another line.
*Tomorrow changes how they view the situation, and be ready for a new kind of problem.*
He covered the logbook.
Suddenly he heard footsteps moving and it stopped outside his door. Then a folded paper slipped under the gap of his door and the footsteps left hurriedly.
Ryan picked it up and read.
His stage one test certification had been cancelled. Reason for the cancellation states that he didn't possess any conduct to be qualified for the test.
Leng Chao was behind all these and he didn't even wait for the next day.
- Writer
