Chapter 68 Difficulties

"So, that is the effect of qi, huh?"

Duncan sat there immersed in the euphoric feeling that he was experiencing for the first time in his life. It took him some time, but he eventually got out of that euphoric feeling and looked at the booklet that he had abandoned.

Duncan was of two minds currently. He both wanted to start reading more about the technique and also wanted to start cultivating immediately. After yearning to cultivate for months, Duncan wasn't content to just read about it anymore.

However, he didn't know what the next step was. He had only read until the section where it explained how to draw the qi into his body. He didn't know what to do next. That meant, he had to start reading again.

With a heavy sigh, Duncan decided to finish the booklet first before starting cultivation again. Once decided, he dived into the booklet with gusto. He dedicated his entire mind to just absorbing as much as possible from the booklet as he knew that he didn't have the kind of memory that grasped everything just from reading once.

However, Duncan's enthusiasm soon hit a snag. Duncan felt as if he couldn't comprehend the words that were written in the booklet. Especially, the section where it described how to circulate the qi inside his body and which meridians should be used.

Duncan drew a blank on all this medical stuff. He knew a few meridian points that were commonly known, however, the technique started listing out various unknown meridians for him to send qi through and form a cycle. It was at that moment realized how ignorant he was to think that he could just start cultivating with just a manual.

Duncan realized that he needed to have basic knowledge of his body at least before he could start cultivating. However, Duncan wasn't deterred due by this difficulty.

His confidence was at an all-time high after drawing qi into his body and he wasn't willing to concede yet. He decided to check out the other books just in case there were descriptions within them.

Just then, his stomach started rumbling loudly indicating that he hasn't eaten since he woke up from being knocked out. It was almost two days since then and he needed to have some food in him.

Scowling a little, Duncan stood up and went outside. The moment he stepped outside, Duncan blinked his eyes in surprise. The sun was already nearing the horizon in the west by now.

Duncan vividly remembered coming back from the scripture pavilion before it was even afternoon. That meant, he had been cultivating for the entire afternoon. However, he hadn't felt like that. While he was cultivating, the time had flown by in a rush.

"I think I can understand why cultivators spend weeks sitting in meditation now. No wonder. I only drew a bit of qi into my body, but an entire afternoon was spent on it. Not to mention that I didn't even feel the time moving by," Duncan said to himself thoughtfully.

"I think, I should take note of the time when I cultivate from now on. If not, I might miss out on some important stuff due to that. It would be embarrassing if I turned up late to my master's abode," Duncan chuckled and set off in the direction of the mess hall.

The mess hall was open at all times as cultivators rarely kept track of time. Some cultivators may truly not know which day it was after coming out of a cultivation session. Let alone the time.

Duncan quickly ate until his stomach was full and made his way back to his dwelling. He felt a little full after eating a good meal. A lazy feeling took over him as he looked at the booklets that were present in front of him.

With great difficulty, Duncan moved himself to start reading the remaining booklets as well. He did a quick read on the two martial arts techniques he had chosen and found them to be everything he had hoped for. However, they too were littered with the detailed flow of qi through his meridians causing Duncan to give up on them for now as well.

Then his eyes landed on the other booklet the sect had provided. The person at the registration desk had said that it contained information regarding the various places in the sect. However, the booklet looked far bigger than it had any right to be now that he thought of it.

After Little Wan's tour, Duncan hadn't been keen to more about the other spots in the sect. So, he had unknowingly put this booklet into a corner while pursuing others. Now that he had nothing more to do, Duncan decided to give it a read as well.

This way he could also corroborate whatever Little Wan had told him while giving him a tour. Duncan slowly perused the booklet without much interest in it. But, soon he found berating himself for being such a moron.

At the back of the booklet, there was a section that described the basics of cultivation in simpler terms. There was also a set of diagrams marking the different meridians present inside a person's body.

Duncan felt as if he was the biggest fool in the whole world. Of course, the booklet they gave him during registration contained the basic information that a normal person lacked. It was so obvious in hindsight.

The little bit of lethargy that Duncan had accumulated so far fled within moments as he hungrily devoured the various information that was pretty basic for a cultivator to have.

After memorizing the meridian diagram, particularly the routes through which the qi flowed in the Slaughter Demon Sutra, Duncan hurriedly once more got into a meditating position.

He cleared his mind away again and tried to enter the state he was in when he drew the qi into his body. It was a difficult process as he kept losing concentration constantly due to his excitement. However, Duncan reached the state at the end and once more drew in qi into his body.

Now, he knew what to do next.

So, Duncan tried to visualize the qi in his body. The bright characteristics of the qi already present in his body made it easy for him to visualize them. He felt that the bright lights were like two strands of energy present in his body.

While he couldn't see them with his naked eyes, he could feel them within himself. Duncan slowly concentrated on a single strand of qi that he had accumulated so far. Soon, he felt some connection began to form with that qi strand.

Duncan slowly guided that strand of qi from his stomach region through the route that was mentioned in the technique. It was slow going at first. Duncan could finish one cycle in a single go. It always felt as if he was missing some key point there.

No matter how much he tried, he could never complete one complete cycle. His concentration would falter in some moments. In some moments he would have rushed the qi strand not minding the consistency, causing it to disperse halfway through.

After some time, Duncan let out a frustrated huff and looked up at the ceiling in anger. No matter how much he tried, he could never complete one cycle. Duncan spied outside and found that it was nearing dawn at this moment. He knew he should get a hang of this as soon as possible.

His master had only given him two weeks to himself. After that, his master told him that he had a training plan. Considering the kind of sect he was in, Duncan didn't have high hopes for the training to be a simple affair.

Duncan realized that if he didn't get a hang of this and increase his cultivation to even a minimum level, then he would really be having huge troubles during the training session. And his master didn't look like someone who tolerated failure.

Gritting his teeth, Duncan tried to calm his mind once more.

He decided to practice drawing in the qi more as circulating it was turning out to be more difficult than he had anticipated. Duncan cleared his mind and went about drawing in qi from heaven and earth with a focused mind.

Duncan slowly entered the ideal state and started attracting qi from the atmosphere into his body bit by bit. He noticed that he entered this state lot sooner than he first attempted and realized that this would become more and more easily if kept on practicing like this.

Just when Duncan was beginning to draw in the qi from the atmosphere, a strange idea popped up in his mind. Deciding to give it a go, Duncan went ahead and tried to steer the qi that was entering his body through the meridian route specified in the book.

This time, it was a lot more easier to do.

Duncan didn't have to worry much about the consistency as qi was pouring into his body in a steady stream. He guided the qi into the pathway, keeping the place other qi strands have been stored as the final destination.

Despite having a steady supply of qi, Duncan felt that it wasn't easier compared to when he had first tried. Duncan slowly pushed the qi through the pathway and directed it back to his dantain.

A single strand of qi emerged as a result. But, compared to the other strands, this was even more brighter. Duncan felt the quality of the new qi strand was much higher than the old ones.

Deciding to give the other two qi strands a try as well, Duncan guided them out of his dantain and tried to direct them through the pathway one by one. With his body still absorbing qi, Duncan didn't run into the same problems that he faced the first time, apart from his concentration issues.

By the time he was done, three brand new qi strands of similar quality were sitting in his dantain. Duncan let out a satisfied smile as he checked them out. He was feeling giddy at that moment as he hadn't thought he could start cultivating within a single day.

Duncan looked outside through the window and found the sun rising in the east. He felt that the sunlight was extremely beautiful at this time of the day.

*****

A/N: Hey folks!

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