“Let’s take care of the routine first before doing anything else.”
Aksai thought to himself. He then got up and stretched his limbs.
Sitting in one place for hours on end was exhausting in its own way. It especially took a toll on one’s mental faculties.
Although Aksai was a steadfast Spirit cultivator, he couldn’t deny the feelings of boredom and mental exhaustion.
He allowed them to affect him on a mental level as if feeling the frustration and boredom ticking away on the clock.
However, after a certain period had passed, he would not let these feelings manifest within him, instead channeling them away like releasing steam to keep the pressure steady inside him.
Regardless of the feelings he cultivated within his heart, Aksai did not let them affect his path to progress. This was the mindset he had developed for himself.
Aksai then started pacing around the farmland as he read through some of the scrolls and manuals he had obtained from his recent kills. He briefly perused them and asked the neural link fabric to record them in its database.
Afterward, Aksai enjoyed a hearty meal packed with meat and essential nutrients.
He had grilled meat and nutrient-rich vegetables. The tender meat, seasoned to perfection, offered a burst of flavor with every bite.
Accompanied by a side of fresh greens he had cultivated on his own Spirit farm, the meal provided a balance of qi and Spirit essence for his physical well-being. With every mouthful, he felt invigorated, knowing that he was fueling his body for the challenges that lay ahead.
After finishing his meal, Aksai walked around the farm, observing the growth of his Spirit plants. He performed some essential Spirit spells on them to ensure their quality at the time of the harvest before leaving them to their devices.
Then, he did some light warm-up exercises before beginning his practice of Qi Fusion Arts, the body cultivation technique he had been honing for the last two years.
As Aksai executed the stances and moves outlined in the Qi Fusion Arts, a bronze-colored aura began to manifest around his body.
With each movement, he felt the surge of qi coursing through his blood, redirecting it to various organs and parts of flesh within his body, nurturing and strengthening them gradually.
Aksai executed the Qi Fusion Arts flawlessly, aided by the neural link fabric providing real-time three-dimensional renditions of his body. It highlighted areas with varying concentrations of qi in red, orange, green, and white zones.
The red zone indicated an excessive amount of qi, the orange zone suggested adequate but irregular qi flow, the green zone signaled balanced qi levels, and the white zone indicated qi deficiency.
In an ideal scenario, Aksai’s entire body would be in the green zone to achieve mastery in Qi Fusion Arts. However, real-life applications were more complex than outlined in the manual.
Despite the rapid progress facilitated by the neural link fabric, Aksai felt something was lacking.
Despite over two years of practice, his foundation in body cultivation still felt shallow. While his Spirit cultivation base had propelled his progress, he now encountered limitations as his body cultivation caught up with his Spirit cultivation.
“This… this is precisely why I must go out,” Aksai muttered, breathless. By this point, he had commenced the Harmony Palm, the sole martial art that complemented the Qi Fusion Arts.
Alone, save for his Spirit plants as spectators, Aksai executed various maneuvers. Time elapsed ceaselessly as he synchronized body cultivation with martial arts, minutes stretching into hours.
“This… this should be enough.”
Exhausted and drenched in sweat, Aksai paused to recuperate. Sensing his qi sufficiently stirred, he resolved to unleash the forbidden Spirit spell.
[Spirit spell: Blood Strengthening]
Immediately upon casting the Spirit spell, Aksai sensed a surge in his body’s strength and agility. His overall physical prowess soared, accompanied by a significant increase in his default Spirit essence reserves.
Curiously, Aksai observed through his Spirit Sense that the spell drew a substantial amount of qi from his blood with each passing second to enhance his physical attributes.
“No wonder it’s considered a forbidden Spirit spell among Spirit cultivators,” Aksai mused, feeling the spell’s effects taking hold.
“It taps into the qi within the blood to provide a short-lived enhancement, yet at the cost of depleting the body’s dormant qi reserves, ultimately shortening one’s lifespan.
I guess my aunt obtained this spell from Lakir City’s black market. If my guess is correct, this technique belongs to the Blood Bakshis.”
While the spell offered a formidable boost, it came with a considerable drawback—it consumed the user’s life force to provide a temporary augmentation in physical abilities and Spirit essence reserves.
Initially hesitant to share the forbidden Spirit spell she had employed against her assailants, Aunt Reta feared the dire repercussions it could inflict upon Aksai. Yet, Aksai pledged to use it wisely, reserving it solely for life-threatening situations.
Ultimately, Aunt Reta relented, acknowledging the imminent chaos in the world of Spirit cultivation. She deemed it prudent for Aksai to possess means of self-defense, even if they came at a cost.
“Hehe. This is perfect. While forbidden for Spirit cultivators, this Spirit spell is a blessing for body cultivators like me, especially in critical moments. I don’t have to fear the qi depletion after all.
I can always recover what I lost with the Qi Fusion Arts. In fact, I can make use of the body cultivation to regulate the effects of this forbidden ability so that it can be used as one of my go-to trump cards.”
Aksai chuckled to himself, manually terminating the Spirit spell.
“With this in hand, I have ample means for self-protection. I guess I can start my exploration without worrying too much about my safety. I don’t have to worry about any mishaps taking place in my Spirit bloodline experiments either.
With that sorted out, it’s about time I started looking into the 2nd-order talisman inheritance,” he thought, abruptly seating himself in the middle of his farm.
Aksai directed the neural link fabric to imprint the memories of the 2nd-order talisman inheritance directly onto his hippocampus.
Despite the ensuing headache as the fabric etched various texts, images, processes, and demonstrations into his memory, he persevered.
Fatigued both physically and mentally, Aksai eventually succumbed to sleep, lying down where he sat. Upon awakening after roughly ten hours, he resolved to repeat the routine.
***
Within the blink of an eye, two weeks passed.
During this time, Aksai completely immersed himself in his task, forgetting about the outside world.
He conducted various experiments related to talisman creation, persisting even when most of his initial attempts failed. Despite the setbacks, he allowed his neural link fabric to record the data, no matter how unfavorable the outcomes were.
As more real-time data accumulated, the neural link fabric began suggesting countermeasures to increase Aksai’s chances of success, comparing the data with the information recorded in the 2nd-order talisman inheritance.
With practice and learning, Aksai streamlined some processes to the point where they could be automated using the neural link fabric. However, he chose to perform certain tasks manually to deepen his understanding of the process.
During this period, Aksai gathered enough data to run sandboxing events in the neural link fabric’s virtual environment.
This allowed him to test the success rate of certain processes and ingredients before implementing them in real-time, ultimately saving him time, effort, and valuable cultivation resources.
After ensuring that everything was in order, Aksai spent another week preparing before beginning the actual process of repairing the damaged barrier-bypass talisman.
First, he examined the talisman closely, noting the extent of the damage and any weak points that needed attention.
Using his knowledge from the 2nd-order talisman inheritance and the insights gained from his experiments, Aksai devised a plan to restore the talisman to its full functionality.
He gathered the necessary materials and prepared his workspace, ensuring everything was in order before proceeding.
Taking his time, Aksai delicately infused the talisman with Spirit essence, channeling it into the damaged areas to mend the fractures and reinforce the structure.
He focused intently, employing precise hand movements and intricate Mudra patterns as he worked, imbuing the talisman with his intent and will.
As he progressed, Aksai periodically consulted the neural link fabric for guidance, adjusting his approach based on its recommendations and insights.
He remained patient and methodical, allowing the process to unfold naturally. Finally, after hours of concentrated effort, Aksai completed the repairs.
With a sense of satisfaction, he carefully inspected the talisman, ensuring that every aspect was restored to its optimal state.
Aksai then activated the talisman to gauge its functionality, relieved to see it respond as intended. He didn’t activate it completely, merely checking to see if it could work or not. After all, he didn’t want to waste the limited-time uses it granted to him.
With the damaged barrier-bypass talisman now restored, Aksai felt a sense of accomplishment wash over him. He knew that he had successfully overcome yet another challenge on his journey of cultivation.
Aksai used another week to adjust himself. He prepared various measures and countermeasures in advance during this time.
When he was sure that he had done everything he could to ensure his safety, Aksai decided to finally use the barrier-bypass talisman on the isolation barrier that surrounded the Everwood farm.
***
At this moment, Aksai was seen standing only a few feet away from the fog-like wall that surrounded the Everwood farm.
“It’s about time.”
After standing silently for about a minute or two, Aksai took out the barrier-bypass talisman he had recently repaired. With his hand gestures, the talisman flew towards the fog-like barrier and stuck to it.
“Here goes nothing,” Aksai said to himself before activating the talisman.
Upon Aksai’s command, the Essence Equations etched over the talisman were activated one after the other, releasing a blinding light.
In the next moment, a peculiar kind of spatial ripple was released in the surroundings as the fog-like barrier started twisting and turning around the talisman, ultimately creating a passageway for a group of five people to pass through side by side.
“This feeling…”
As soon as the passageway was opened, Aksai felt that there was something really different waiting for him on the other side.
“I guess there’s only one way to find out.”
He took a deep breath and clenched his fists before stepping into the passageway. The talisman kept moving ahead of himself as Aksai stepped forward, walking deeper into the passageway. The passageway behind Aksai ultimately closed on its own as he walked ahead. Yet, Aksai didn’t stop and kept moving forward with a determined face.
After an uncertain amount of time, Aksai stepped outside the barrier. As he did, his expression changed, recognizing something about the new place he had entered.
There was a different concentration of Spirit essence in the surroundings, a subtle but noticeable difference in gravitational pull, and an overall different feeling.
Aksai couldn’t help but wear a shocked expression as he mumbled to himself.
“This… this is a different place from the Dadangar subcontinent. No… this… this is a new world.”
What Aksai didn’t know was that the world he had stepped into was the world of body cultivation and martial arts.
===
AN: Volume 01: From Fields to Fists concludes with this chapter. Take a moment to reflect on what you enjoyed about the first volume of AFAR. You can also share what are you looking forward to the most in the forthcoming volume by leaving a comment below the chapter.
See you in the next volume. 🙂