The Laws of Cultivation: Qi = MC^2

I sat in my chamber back at the sect, an empty page with scratched out and scribbled notes in front of me. It had been a week since I had gone to Taizhou to run the weapon tests and then reforge the spirits of Labby and Ash.

Ash now lived at the sect as well, after he had gained a human form through his transformation. The wolf had become a rather tall and muscular man, with the wolf pelt forming hunter like robes that he wore, carrying scars of all battles on to his body and sharp eyes that could peer through your soul. He cut a rather intimidating figure and most of the sect members tried to stay away from him.

Though I knew that the man was a softy through and through inside. It had taken a lot of wording and fretting on his forehead before he had even left the wolf pups in Yin’s care. Though I did not feel too concerned, the place was protected with powerful spirit wards that Qiao Ying had set up and taken directly from the lord himself. And I trusted Yin to be responsible for managing the pups as well.

I will try to change their forms as well, but Ash had told me that they were not yet ready. And more importantly, I was not yet ready.

Now the wolf remained at the sect, and Zhang had decided to make use of him as a sparring partner and as a training mentor who would guide the new recruits of the militia for the sect. Ash was not proficient with any kind of weapon. He could barely wield a sword and was worse than even me at it. But he knew better than anyone, better than even Zhang, how to fight. And how to hunt.

His insights into demonic creatures and how to handle them had proven crucial in training the new recruits and more importantly his intimidating figure and threatening aura weeded out those without the resolve early on while sharpening and honing those that had what it took.

Ash was not the only one that had changed. Labby had grown older and become more mature. She looked somewhere between thirteen to fifteen years old. In that awkward middle stage of not quite grown-up but not quite a child anymore. She, for the most part, had been excited by the changes. When her Qi had changed into Chi her powers had also grown rapidly and now her lightning carried enough force to win against all the other new and young children who had awakened to Chi, by far.

I had intentionally not put her up against Mo Lin, because I did not want to give Labby too much of an ego. I did not want her to get into the habit of comparing herself to others. She did not seem to even notice that though.

Her time had been spent practicing her new cultivation and playing around with her new lightning. She had not quite formed her second spirit ring yet, but if I had to use the power rankings of a typical cultivator, she was at the peak of the third realm, exactly where I had been when I had first regained my memories of my past life. It was more than likely that she will complete her second spirit circle upon her trial on the winter solstice, if she managed to succeed.

Besides my spirits the sect had also been changing rather rapidly. A printing press had been established and standardized versions of my books had been created by Qiao Ying and a few other scholars, dividing the topics that I had approached in them and further diluting and expanding upon them in simpler language that would be easier for the people of this world to understand.

It would also prevent those books from linking themselves to the original texts that I had created which were now firmly under lock and seal away, as they had started to slowly form spirits within them and cultivate. If allowed to grow, the spirits would wake up and become aware of themselves, and it would be much harder to utilize those books after that point with ease.

This was in part why the Alchemy Halls existed as well. Or had. That had been their purpose, to keep dangerous artifacts and powerful knowledge under control so that it could not harm anyone. Eventually it had become a way for them to control information and the market as no one else had the power of resources that they did, given their backing by the Royal Jade court and the emperor himself.

But my printing presses were changing that. Many of my books were being created and spread to more and more people all around the Seventh Peak. Of course, not all of them were freely given out. I had sat with Qiao Ying and had translated what we could safely distribute and what was too sensitive to be shared so easily. I did not like restricting information, but I could understand the need given the circumstances.

If the sects were to get their hands on these texts and utilize them without the proper oversight and foresight that I could provide then a lot of things could go bad really really quickly. And I would lose the few advantages that I had gained with so much effort.

But even with that restriction, many books were still sold dirt cheap compared to the current cost of the work that was required. Scholars had already begun taking note and traveled to the Seventh Peak within the week to get their hands on these books.

Merchants and people had begun selling them for more profit than we did due to the current lack of supply and access outside of the Seventh Peak. Though that annoyed me there was little I could do, and in parts that had been the intended effect as I wanted people to take these books and spread them outward so that the information within them would act as a magnet to bring the brightest and the smartest of the empire to me.

Beyond the books, the production of weaponry had also needed to be managed. The first batches of guns with standardized parts that could be created much faster than traditional weaponry were crafted and already being incorporated. One of the blacksmiths was fascinated by the idea of a steam engine and was trying to create one and should he succeed, we will soon have automation and factories working within the Seventh Peak as well.

Even with just manual labor, a dozen or so guns had already been created and tested by Zhang and Qiao Ying, then by me just to be sure, before we had started taking those with the sharpest aim and resolve to start training with them.

A lot of my time has been spent noting down and remembering firearm safety and protocols and how warfare had changed. I did not need to look too deeply into the warfare aspects, as many archers were effectively just long-range artillery in this world. All I had to do was to look into measures that cultivators needed to take to counteract these powerful warriors.

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The more I learned about things the more I realized that the weapons that I feared would not truly bring the kind of world shattering changes that I had anticipated, as they had done within my own world.

And I had to admit that it helped my fear of bringing these things into existence and steeled my resolve that it was indeed the right choice to make.

With so many things happening all at once, I had barely gotten any time at all to look further into the revelations that I had had back within the caverns of Taizhou. Time had passed in the blink of an eye as I had simply moved from one task to the next without even a single moment to take a breath.

But at last, and with some preplanning, I had managed to carve out a section of time for myself to simply sit down and think on what insights I had gained.

In part, it was good that I have had some time to simply focus on different things while the revelation of the Third Law had slowly broken itself down in the back of my mind as I began to understand what it truly meant. And the first thing I understood was this: the Third Law was incomplete.

I looked at my notes, most of which were empty, as I found myself struggling to give words to the thoughts that warred against each other within my mind. Forms, concepts, and ways were like images that had fleeting shapes like waking dreams that melted within the night upon the first rays of dawn, and I was left grasping at their shadows.

I closed my eyes and focused on my spirit. I could see the two complete spirit circles within my soul. And then outside it, a third half-formed circle that was shown humming with a resonance that my other two laws responded to.

I let that half circle form within my mind, as I opened my mouth to free it into existence for the first time.

“The Third Law of Cultivation: The Resonance of Chi,” I said. I felt the words and the power that they carried. I could hear the hum within my spirit, and I could feel the Chi around me shiver. This law, the Third Law, was no less powerful than the first two that I had obtained. I had used this exact law to forge, or rather reforge Ash and Labby’s spirits. And yet, it was incomplete. There was another half that was missing.

I tried to write down the possible options. It did not seem that it would be very complicated to figure out the second half when the first was already there. If I could see half the picture, the other half should be apparent.

If the first half is Resonance, it would make sense for the second half to be Dissonance.

That felt right. It felt correct. And yet it did not form the Third Law, it did not make it whole. So what was the thing to make it right?

I could not merely know what the other half was. I had to understand it. I had to know how it formed the other half of the picture.

What did it mean to have resonance and what did it mean to have dissonance, within Chi?

I had sought resonance in waves, and waveforms, in harmony and in vibrations and everything that I could think of to relate back to this concept. Many of those things had felt right, as they were connected and tied to the Third Law. But none of them were the answer on their own, or even when combined. Something was missing, and I did not know what. And so far my attempts to find it had proven futile.

I sat in my chair, holding my head as I read through the texts before letting out a sigh in frustration.

Before I could sink any further into this problem, I heard a knock at the door.

“Come in,” I said, knowing it was Qiao Ying. The door slid open, and the man stepped inside before bowing his head to me.

“It is time,” Qiao Ying said.

I nodded, stepping back from the table as I stood up. I took one last look at the texts before I put the problem out of my mind for the moment. The Lord had called me, and I needed to go.

Qiao Ying smoothly moved aside as I made my way out. I dismissed the man so that he could return back to his work. I made a small note to thank the Lord and tell him to perhaps reward Qiao Ying. If there was any one person within the sect that was working harder than I was, it was Qiao Ying and had he not been here to help me none of this would have been possible whatsoever.

Stepping out I took to the skies, my Chi flowing around me as my robes fluttered in the wind, and I made my way to the Lord’s manner.

***

Flying into the Lord’s manor from the skies had become a rather common occurrence for me by now. Had it been anyone else it would have been taken as an attack, and they would have been detained rather quickly. But the guards were used to my presence now and could sense and detect my Chi. I made sure to not suppress my Chi to make their task easy and announce my presence.

Slowly landing I nodded to the guards who bowed their heads to me before a servant guided me through the chambers before quickly taking me in front of the Lord.

“Ah, you’re here,” the Lord said.

I bowed my head to the man. “You had called me?”

“We had. There is something we must inform you of. Though before we do, we would like to say that we got one of the copies of your books, Lu Jie, and even read some of it. The insights that you have shown within them would be enough to mark you as a sage. We wanted to ask if you would like to present them to the emperor and be immortalized within the empire?”

I smiled before shaking my head. “You know my answer my lord.”

Lord smiled as well. “We do. We had to ask on the small chance that you would accept.”

“If I did that, I admit it would protect me from the Alchemy Halls, it would give me status and power and recognition and would likely allow me to progress upon my Path as well to an extent. But ultimately, that information, and those texts, would find their way within the Alchemy Halls, sealed away. And their copies would be collected and burned to protect the empire. And that more than anything, I do not wish to see,” I said.

The Lord nodded his head. “We do not understand completely why you decided to give these books out for so cheap and with such ease. We know what you’re thinking but there are easier ways that would have made you more money.”

“I know my lord. Had my goal been to optimize both the amount of people and money I could gain, then I would have done something else. But the money that those books would have gained me would be pointless, if even one less person could get their hands on them. I did not give away everything I possess either. To truly begin what I intend to, I must first be willing to take a loss, to obtain as many people as I can and to bring them to the Seventh Peak,” I replied, with a hand on my chest as I smiled.

The Lord looked amused at my words. “Very well. But we hope that your work is mostly completed. Because the reason why we called you here is to inform you that it is time to make preparations for our leave. We will be departing for the capital within the week and you will need to be ready for the journey,” the lord said.

I nodded. I had expected as much to be the case.

“I will be ready on time, my lord,” I replied.

“Very well. In that case we will see you on the day of departure,” the Lord said dismissing me.

I bid farewell to the Lord, bowing before I left the chamber. I started to calculate in short everything that I needed to manage in my head. Anxiety and fear began to bud in my chest, but I let it dissolve.

I had done everything I could. The rest would be up to fate now.

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