When the old monk finally returned he was surprised to see 2 things. 1st it looked like a hurricane had gone through the bottom of the ravine, the whole place has become a mess. The 2nd one was Han Bei. The moment the old monk made his presence known the corpse-like youth silently stared daggers at him.
The old monk was the first one to break the silence. " You're one-fifth of the way done until reaching the 1st realm, in four days, not bad." Han Bei answered with a voice full of dissatisfaction, " I was actually halfway done 12 hours ago. It's just that a guest came to visit. " He lifted up his arm from underneath his cloak. " One that decided to take a few things with him once he left."
Han Bei's right arm was short of 2 fingers, and enough flesh was gone from his forearm that white bone was visible to the naked eye. He noticed the short flash of fascination on the old monk's face and his eyes narrowed. A moment too late the old monk gravely commented as he feigned concern, " Oh my."
" And do you perhaps know from where did that guest come from? " Han Bei continued indignantly. " Well I did a bit of exploring, and it turns out further down north once the ravine comes to an end it turns into a cave. One just underneath the go-there-get-eaten forest." The old monk tried to justify himself. " Well, most things on Myris know better than to approach anything to do with the Death sea, even if it's just a small stream. "
" Usually, eh? " Han Bei asked in an almost mocking tone. At that point, the old monk's cheeks did turn a bit rosy and he tried to change the subject. "What about the body, did you feed on it? Did you feel the urge to consume it? " But Han Bei just got angrier. " Consume it my ass! I threw in the stream." The old monk just sighed perhaps a tad bit apologetic," Okay, okay then how about I tell you what's wrong with your body, will that work as an apology." Han Bei hesitated only for a moment, he suppressed his ire surprisingly quickly and nodded, "Fine."
The old monk suspected that Han Bei's anger was not as great as he imagined and with half a smile he started his explanation, " The problem that you face actually has little to do with your physique. It's a problem that a fair number of cultivators face, specifically ones that practice less orthodox arts. It's known as spirit Imbalance. The very foundation of cultivation is gathering and refining qi in your aperture and manifesting phenomena outside of your body, but with the passing of years, great masters have found other ways to use qi. Such as refining one's body, or mind. That is how additional schools of cultivation were born such as the school of body refining arts and school of mind refining arts. Still, qi refining remains as the very foundation of cultivation, but unfortunately, that's a truth some cultivators tend to forget. Example! " The old monk lifted a single finger for emphasis. " A rich young master with ample funds wishes to quickly further his body refining cultivation. He uses said ample funds to purchase a staggering amount of pills and pastes and at first his growth is staggering, but as he continues to rely on pills and leaves spirit cultivation to the wayside problems start to occur. His body starts getting heavier, his mind becomes slower and his reaction delayed. By the end, he essentially becomes as useless as a rock. The same way as a shiny new car needs a proper engine to propel it forward, a body cultivator needs a powerful foundation. "
Han Bei scratched his head in confusion, " The hell's a car, and the hell's an engine?" The old monk held his palm against his forehead. " You heaven damned bumpkin. The important thing is, once you increase your cultivation any signs of imbalance should disappear." Corpse raised an eyebrow, " Should, they should disappear? " The old monk shrugged his shoulders, " I'm not omniscient, who knows how your physique affects your body. Maybe you'll turn into a drooling vegetable once you actually reach the 1st realm, or explode even before that point." "Great, just what I needed to hear," Han Bei felt glad to know that the future for him held nothing but hope and endless possibilities.
Despite the risk of explosions the old monk didn't leave this time and acted as a guardian for Han Bei, while the latter cultivated. in the beginning, Han Bei cracked open a single eye, from time to time, and made sure the old monk hadn't left but after a while, his attention was wholly absorbed with cultivation and he zoned out from the outside world.
Han Bei had to admit it was frustrating. He enjoyed traveling the great path, but not if he was forced to take 2 steps backward for a single step forward. He wanted to run through. He could absorb the ghosts directly inside his aperture and refining them would become less of a time-consuming process. And it took all of his willpower, not to do it.
Han Bei knew for any single benefit there were 3 different risks that followed. He risked backlash that varied from a minor mutation like his hair changing color to turning into some six-armed monstrosity, or the simplest one of all. Death. He wasn't desperate enough to walk on such a path. At the very least, not yet.
As he absorbed the stagnant heavenly energy a certain kind of ebb and flow was created and more ghosts were unnaturally attracted to him only to be broken down and refined. If he cared enough to open his eyes he might have seen the old monk nod in approval, but Han Bei was determined to finally reach the 1st realm and he wouldn't move a muscle until it was done. The fact he could survive a greater amount of time without sustenance or sleep also helped.
Days passed and Han Bei's cultivation grew. His steps were now more assured than before, and he managed to reach his earlier level of cultivation in a shorter time than before even without taking any shortcuts. Still, his heart stirred with a sense of righteous greed and he had no intention of stopping.
The old monk watched in silent awe as more ghosts gathered around Han Bei in increased numbers only to be absorbed moments later. The closer Han Bei was to the 1st realm the stronger the flow around him became and soon more ghosts left their silent dead dwellings to join the sea of gloomy power inside the pale youth. Han Bei couldn't contain them inside his body anymore and unrefined ghostly qi spilled outside. For a moment the old monk thought to interfere but a single look at the little corpse told him that any such action was unnecessary.
He smiled. Han Bei smiled as the ghostly qi whirled around him and turned into a mighty vortex with him at the center. Ghost shouted in a voiceless manner as Han Bei refined them and to him, they sounded like shouts of cheers and celebration. " Finally! It truly felt like it took ages." In a single mighty pull, like a black hole, Han Bei's aperture devoured the vortex of death and with a cry of a newborn star his aperture condensed and Han Bei broke through into the first realm.
Then surroundings suddenly turned utterly silent and the only thing Han Bei heard was his own heartbeat. Out of sheer elation and excitement, it quickened from its slow and steady march until it resembled the rhythm of a living, breathing man. There was a smile on his corpse-like face mirrored by the old monk. The elderly cultivator congratulated him, " You didn't explode. Well done, little corpse. " Han Bei bowed his head and clasped his hands in a rare show of respect, yet he didn't get to hear what else the old monk had to say as only a moment later exhaustion finally caught up with him and before he managed to raise his head he fell to the ground, knocked out cold.
