Chapter 168

Integration

It had been a week since the talk with the princ.i.p.al. During that time, Aslo, Chrissa, and Lucas had been very busy. The lectures that Chu Shen had endured during his school years were thrown at them in highly condensed forms. Aslo and Chrissa could barely keep up with it, but Lucas was easily acing everything. Quite frankly, his cybernetic brain was the real reason.

Aslo was learning, though he constantly complained about it. Chrissa was studying earnestly and didn’t speak much, just as she always had. Lucas was absorbing all of the knowledge like a sponge.

What he really loved though, was artificing. Master Lang continued to teach Chu Shen artificing and Lucas also joined in. At first, Master Lang was apprehensive once Chu Shen told him that Lucas was an artificing genius.

Master Lang was dumbfounded though when Lucas instantly copied an inscription just by watching him make it once or twice. Master Lang started becoming interested in his disciples friend and started teaching him.

Soon, Master Lang became nervous. ‘This kid is instantly learning what should take years in seconds! My own disciple is exceptional and learns fast, but compared to his friend, he is only average. No wonder he said this kid was a genius.’

Lucas started making some of his own inventions, like a gun that used an explosion inscription to fire. When Master Lang saw it, he instantly recognized the potential uses of it, and the downsides. There was only one way to load it for now and that was to put what was essentially BBs down the barrel and activate the inscription. Together they started to make a more refined version of it.

Chu Shen felt left out. ‘Isn’t Master Lang my master? So how come Lucas is the one he’s actually teaching!’

Chu Shen would spend six hours everyday being taught by teachers in one-on-one sessions. He would then see Master Lang and forge for the next five hours. Finally, he would spend an hour improving his domain.

He remembered the first time he had formed his domain.

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“Alright brat, it’s time to take the next step in your cultivation.” Master Ti Wu floated in front of him. “This step is called the domain. One creates an area around them where their element reigns supreme. For you, that means creating an area of Null Qi.”

Chu Shen nodded. “I’m ready master, please teach me.” Currently they were in the courtyard of his house, one that the princ.i.p.al had given to him as part of his enrollment.

Master Ti Wu grinned. “Alright. The first step is to establish a territory. Create a sphere of Qi around you. Nothing else for now, just do that.”

Chu Shen closed his eyes and held out his hands. Gray colored Qi floated out of his hands, creating what looked like fog. Soon, the fog was in the shape of a 10 foot sphere around him.

Master Lang floated around it and nodded. “Good, good. A basic start but one nonetheless. Now, a domain is very important because it can weaken your opponent and protect you from their attacks. It is also important because you can deal with many people at once, you can’t be overwhelmed by numbers anymore.”

“To train your domain you need to do one thing. Continuously make it bigger. Let it grow and train yourself. For others, they also have to make the domain stronger and fiercer. Such as making a flame domain hotter or an earth domain firmer or a sword domain sharper. For you, you don’t have to worry. Null Qi cannot be improved until you can turn it into Void Qi. You won’t be able to do that until you reach the Celestial Realm so don’t concern yourself with it now.”

Chu Shen absorbed all this and began training. He started expanding the fog, attempting to grow it. It grew to a diameter of 200 feet but there was a pressure pouring down upon him. It was like gravity was increasing, his body was becoming heavier. He didn’t understand, he had enough Qi so why was he feeling this force?

Master Ti Wu grinned. “You feel that? That is the world rejecting you! Normally when you use Qi, it is a.s.similated with the atmosphere, becoming one with the world. Now though, you are replacing the world’s Qi. It’s similar to a bubble forming underwater. If you can’t withstand that pressure, your domain pops. That is the reason you have to train. Train until you can withstand the force of the world.”

Chu Shen gritted his teeth and continued pus.h.i.+ng. Suddenly, his Qi swirled. It started dissipating, disappearing into the atmosphere. His domain was broken. Shocked, Chu Shen attempted to bring it back and it flowed back into his body. He couldn’t recover his domain though. This was Null Qi, absorber of all things! How could the world force it apart?

When he asked Master Ti Wu, he gave Chu Shen a surprising answer. “Well yes, Null Qi can absorb a lot of things. However, it can’t absorb them all. Remember that Null Qi can’t absorb physical things and the pressure of the world is one of these things. Even Void Qi can’t absorb it, I don’t know why.”

Chu Shen nodded. If his Qi really could ignore the pressure of the world, that would have really been overpowered. Imagine a domain that could expand to cover the whole world, that could absorb Qi and become stronger. If one could do that, they would be unstoppable.

The Void Sect would have never fallen if they truly could do that. No one would have been able to stop them.

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Chu Shen went to his room after doing his daily training. Already he had been able to increase his domain to 280 feet. To martial artists, this distance was nothing and could be covered in less than a second. It was still progress though and progress was acc.u.mulative.

He heard a knock at the door and went to answer it. Master Lang stood in front of the door, a letter in his hand. He held it out to Chu Shen. “This is a letter from your parents. I a.s.sumed you would want it as soon as possible. I had any mail that was sent for you directed to me five years ago so the sect sent it to me instead.”

Chu Shen hesitantly took the scroll from his master’s hand. “Thank you Master Lang. I suppose it has been long enough for my dad to send me another message. He did promise to meet in five years after all.”

Chu Shen opened the scroll.

‘Son, it has been five years. I can no longer talk to you as an immature boy but as a young man. I hope you have made me proud. I have not been able to hear about your exploits since I have been in hiding but I am sure they are marvelous. I promised you that your mother and I would meet you and we shall in our old home in four days time. I hope you have grown strong enough son. We shall see you soon.’

Chu Shen looked up at the ceiling. “It’s been five years. I wonder how you’ve been, dad.”