CHAPTER - 7

THE FIRST STEP

As soon as Tang Jian walked down the stairs, all the water rushed in to fill the void that had opened up.

Tang Jian held his breath as he saw all the water filling up the void, but not a drop entered the hole that he was in at the moment. It looked like there was a ceiling of water over the hole. He sighed in relief after seeing the water stop before entering the hole.

He turned around and looked down the stairs, only to see nothing but darkness.

The darkness felt too stifling to him, and he found it too difficult to breathe.

He tried to walk down the stairs in the dark by staying close to the wall. After a moment, he vaguely saw Zhang Huan wave his hand, and the darkness was gone, replaced by light.

Tang Jian saw that that on the left wall leading down there was a row of torches which were now lit up thanks to Zhang Huan.

If you could that from the start why did you make me go through that you sadistic geezer, Tang Jian thought to himself but did not dare to voice his thoughts.

Tang Jian found it much easier to walk down the stairs with the torches, and they both continued to do so for hours.

After about four hours, Tang Jian could not be patient anymore and asked, “Senior, how far down do these stairs go?”

Zhang Huan did not answer for a minute, and just when Tang Jian was about to call him again he suddenly said, “We’re here.”

Zhang Huan had come to a stop a few meters ahead of Tang Jian. When Tang Jian came close to him, he noticed there were no more stairs.

Zhang Huan like before waved his hand, and a row of torches lit up again. Tang Jian got to see what this special location was.

It was a huge cavern that was circular in shape and about half a kilometer in radius.

At the center of the cavern, Tang Jian could vaguely make out something on the ground that was emitting a bright red light.

The stairway leading to this cavern had actually been cool in temperature, but as soon as Tang Jian stepped into the cavern, he could instantly feel the rise in temperature. And he could feel that the bright red thing in the center was the source of the heat.

“What is that?”, he asked curiously.

“That…”, Zhang Huan said as he started walking to the center, “is something any disciple at the Sun Temple would sell his soul to have.”

Zhang Huan’s words only made Tang Jian more curious to go and see the thing himself.

The instant he stepped into the cavern, he had started feeling a peculiar heat in his chest that was entirely different from the heat of that bright red thing at the center.

This heat in his chest made him excited!

Zhang Huan glanced at him from the corner of his eye as he saw the excited look in Tang Jian’s eye: he gave a hint of a smile and kept walking.

The heat kept on increasing as they got closer to their destination. About halfway through, Zhang Huan looked like he was just taking a stroll, but a couple of meters behind him Tang Jian was covered in sweat from top to bottom.

Even still, his eyes were still filled with excitement.

But once they were about a hundred meters from their destination and Tang Jian got a closer look at their destination, the excitement in his eyes died down and the expression on his face changed as well.

“What… is that?”, he asked again, this time with a little fear in his voice, slowing down his pace.

What he saw was a small pond roughly five meters in diameter. The liquid substance inside the pond was the source of the bright red light and the heat in the cavern.

Anyone who looked at the substance would describe it as…

“Magma.”, Zhang Huan said.

“Well…”, he said after a moment, “it looks like magma, but in truth it’s Qi.”

“It’s pure Flame Qi. It is a Natural Treasure. A treasure bloomed by nature itself. It has been here for who knows how many millennia. A few years ago, I flew across this region and sensed this treasure by chance. It could only be sensed by someone with a high cultivation and someone who cultivated the Flame Qi.”

“Although, ironically, only people with low cultivation base can make use of it. And that’s why, it’s useless to me.”

“But..”, he turned to look at Tang Jian, “for you, this could be one of the major factors in saving your life.”

“What exactly am I supposed to do?”, Tang Jian asked, looking at the pond.

They were almost at the edge of the pond at this point, and to Tang Jian the heat was so intense it was almost unbearable. But at the same time, the heat inside his chest seemed like it wanted to swallow the entire pond.

“Take a bath in it.”, Zhang Huan replied. “To be precise, you have to sit in it and slowly absorb all the Flame Qi. You can’t begin right away though, your mortal body can’t handle such dense Qi.”

“How will it help with the Fire Pearl.”,Tang Jian asked what he felt to be the most important question.

“The Fire Pearl gives you tremendous power, but it does not give you the ability to control that power. If you don’t have that ability, the flames of the Fire Pearl will burn you first before you can use it to burn anything else.”

“This Flame Qi…”, Zhang Huan said, looking at the pond, “will give you that ability.”

Upon hearing Zhang Huan’s words, Tang Jian’s face lit up with joy.

“Of course, that doesn’t mean that your life is out of danger. This will be the first of many treasures you will have to acquire to save your neck. And after this, don’t expect me to provide you with priceless treasures like this one. You will have to gain strength on your own.”

The expression on Tang Jian’s face soured a little after hearing that.

He looked at the pond with a frown. “It won’t burn me, will it?”

“You can’t feel it at the moment,”, Zhang Huan said, “but the temperature in this cavern is way higher than what a mortal can bear. And yet you are only sweating a little. Why do you think that is?”

“Is it the Fire Pearl?”, Tang Jian said.

“That’s right. Even though it’s not active at the moment, it will constantly keep absorbing any heat you come across. So even if you feel a little hot, you won’t be burned. Though you should keep in mind that you’re not entirely immune to fire.”. Zhang Huan warned him.

“Now coming back to your cultivation,”, he said, sitting down cross-legged on the ground, “I am planning on making you break through all the levels of Qi Consolidation in this single session of cultivation.”

“What!?”, Tang Jian said, a little shocked.

Even though he did not know much about cultivation, he was sure that to do what Zhang Huan had just said was not normal.

“It can be life threatening to rush like this, I won’t lie to you. But you are well aware of your situation. If it were anyone else, I would call them foolish if they were to try this method.. You, however, have no other choice but to make haste.”

“Now sit down here.”, he pointed at the edge of the pond near him.

Tang Jian did as he was told and as soon as he sat down, he was hit by a wave of residual Flame Qi wafting out of the pond.

The heat inside his chest was almost like a second heartbeat at this point.

“Close your eyes and feel the Flame Qi.”, Zhang Huan instructed from the side as he sat cross-legged.

Tang Jian had noticed that the moment he came in contact with the Flame Qi he was no longer sweating. He felt the Flame Qi all around him; it felt like warm clouds to him. It was a very pleasant feeling.

“Breathe in the Flame Qi, not only through your nose but also through your flesh.”

Tang Jian did as he Zhang Huan instructed him, and he could feel the Qi seeping inside his body through his nose and through his skin. All the Qi that he was absorbing was heading in one spot.

“You’ll notice the Qi in your body heading in one direction. To your stomach. Focus on the Qi flow and visualize it.”

Tang Jian created an image in his mind of a strand of Qi seeping in his body. He followed that strand of Qi as it travelled in his body, heading towards a spot in his stomach. Everything around him was a blank, dark place and there was only the strand of Qi moving in the dark. After a moment, its destination became visible.

Tang Jian focused on this spot and saw that it looked like a sphere of blackness, much darker than the darkness in the surrounding. It was like a black hole sucking in all the Flame Qi flowing towards it.

“The Dantian.”, Tang Jian said out loud.

“Indeed. That is your Dantian. Although the Fire Pearl created your Dantian, you still need to fill it with Qi yourself. Once it is full of Qi, only then can you start cultivating.”, Zhang Huan explained.

Tang Jian just sat there absorbing the Flame Qi for hours and hours, with Zhang Huan meditating beside him.

Only an entire day had passed did Tang Jian opened his eyes and stopped absorbing the Qi. He knew that his Dantian was full.

“To anyone else, it would’ve only taken a couple of hours fill their Dantian, but since your Dantian was created by the Fire Pearl, it is no surprise that it can absorb more Qi.”

Tang Jian had actually not realized that he had been in that state for an entire day until Zhang Huan mentioned it. To him, it just felt like a few minutes.

“Now you are ready to start cultivating.”, Zhang Huan said.

“Focus on the Dantian and slowly take a few strands of Qi. The Dantian exists on a spiritual level, and so does all the Qi. Now take those strands of Qi and divide them up in small particles.”

Tang Jian was completely entranced in cultivating as he listened to Zhang Huan’s voice.

“Spread those particles in your entire physical body. Spread them in every body part, every organ. Each and every cell. Once you’re done, repeat the same process again and again until there is no more Qi left in the Dantian.”

Tang Jian just sat still and followed Zhang Huan’s instructions as he guided him.

It took Tang Jian an entire day for Tang Jian to empty his Dantian.

As soon as he finished spreading all the Flame Qi in his Dantian Tang Jian felt something change inside him. It felt like a shackle had been unlocked that he never knew existed within him.

“The initial stage of Qi Consolidation.”, Zhang Huan said with a hint of smile.

Tang Jian opened his eyes. There was joy in them, they were mostly tranquil. If this were the old Tang Jian, he would be jumping around wildly in jubilation and getting slapped by Zhang Huan for being overly joyous over a minor success.

But now he was aware that this was just the first step of a long, long journey.