Kao looked on perplexed as the number of mist strands kept rising on three
remaining children.
46, 47, 48 the strands kept rising little by little bringing the spectators
a pleasant surprise.
Having cleansed his body multiple times Kao knew that to have clean
meridians in this world required special circumstances beyond the norm.
'It's not that they can't achieve such a thing, the Gisoo empire has access to
talents across the empire who could easily achieve such a thing. It's just that
this world isn't the same'
Earth in general was dying, Spiritually dying.
This was not because people weren't as religious anymore, religion had no sway
in the world of cultivation.
Spirituality in cultivation was a tangible energy source, at least to them,
cultivators.
While spiritual energy had no real source, it tended to gather in one area
like gravity brought matter together.
It was both solid and ethereal all at once, it could move faster then light
while at the same time being capable of limiting the speed of everything, it
could allow one to fly in the sky with no wings and sit in the sun without
burning but this energy wasn't without it's problems.
Qi was not pure of form on its own, it could burn, freeze, mix with the
earth or simply vanish from existence on a whim.
Normally this would not be a problem as one could simply pick and choose
whichever elemental Qi fit them most.
This was not the case on planet earth and the rest of the current universe
as the Qi had taken a drastic turn for the worst, no longer did the energy gather,
no longer did the energy take on a single elemental attribute, it had become unstable
and dangerous.
The form it took now was destructive towards those with spiritual roots having
the potential to leave practitioner's crippled.
'When I was out there for the past five years, the surrounding Qi had
already eaten away at my body to the extent that I could no longer advance, if
I had not been found this year then within the year I would already be dead'
Kao remembered his struggles living outside the sects heaven and earth domain,
without the constant stream of Qi being provided here it was likely he would
have died .
'This world is truly archaic, my own family was ready to sell me off as a
mere servant to some merchants. Now I at least have a chance to regain
everything I once lost' Yes, with spiritual energy he believed he could achieve
anything.
As to what exactly spiritual energy is? No one really knew. It could be the
souls of the dead given new form, it could be the foundation of existence or it
could simply be an error of creation.
It did not matter to Kao.
He needed it.
Now this special energy was vanishing from the world.
No, not just the world.
The entire Universe's spiritual Qi had dissipated leaving only small areas
like this planet named Gaia or earth left.
Kao did not know all of this, he only knew that this place... this planet
was very far away from what he formally knew and not of the same make.
Just like those invaders that came from the void to his empire, this place
was also a complete unknown to him.
He didn't know planets like this could exist in the void. Had his empire not
tried to discover such wonders on their own before? Of course they had! They
even tried to traverse the void.
Sadly just because someone successfully traversed the void it did not mean
others could as well.
For now Kao did not question his circumstances much, he could not do
anything about them after all.
He acted on what he could do, anything beyond that point would have to wait
until he could achieve results with what he had.
'How did they cleanse their meridians to such an extent... I have been
collecting spiritual plants since I could at the age of three and even then I
could only just keep myself in shape, I did not improve my meridians until just
recently' Kao felt he knew the answer but couldn't quite put his finger on it.
'The place the sect is located is a natural heaven on earth filled with
spiritual energy yet this wouldn't improve ones meridians only sustain them,
are they from a special bloodline then? Or maybe they have a special treasure
with them'
54, 55, 56 one of the children finally stopped gaining strands of energy.
"Wonderful, we may just gain a new nascent soul elite in the
future"
"Well this makes up for all the rests lack in quality, I guess the
numbers made up for it a little"
"Is that the child of Nico and Obin? They must have invested a lot into
him"
Kao managed to hear this being said 'That makes sense, if they've had
someone providing them with spiritual goods since birth they could have gotten
to this point today, what about the other two"
61, 62, 63 the numbers kept rising not stopping for either of them.
One was a young girl with brown hair and hazel eyes the other a boy with
white hair and red eyes.
Both had reached ninety grains of sand with ease and stood firm even now.
"Will they have enough sand to reach their maximum potential?"
"No, they have already consumed most the sand they had accumulated, at
best they can gain three more strands before all the sand is consumed"
"The teacher stopped the first test too soon"
Aakriti heard this and felt wronged.
How could she have known some pair of prodigies would appear today? This was
her first time teaching, this was her first time seeing anyone even pass sixty
in her lifetime.
Prodigies are not something you find around every corner in life, they are
those one in a million people that just appear sometimes.
Just because we are human does that mean we are all 'Albert Einstein?
Humans survive through the collective might of the group, while they only
need a single person with the right idea to advance forward.
Many people also confuse children in musical fields to be geniuses because
of how hard they get pushed, while in fact they got fat because of how much
hard work they put into it.
Does this mean they aren't geniuses? No.
But to say that anyone can be a prodigy is simply wrong.
A prodigy is inherently different then those who gain talent through effort.
Parents can push their children all they want it won't amount to a prodigy.
The only ways to overcome a prodigy is if that prodigy never was a prodigy
or if one had more experience then them in a given field, otherwise they simply
don't care to use their own talent.
A waste one might think but just because they have a gift from another's
perspective does not make it so for the person themselves.
Aakriti thought up of a solution real quick "Seniors, as you can see
here for yourselves, the children will not have enough energy of their own to
fully test their limits. I would like to ask of you to assist me out of your
own good will, please provide the children with energy of your own to make up
for what they lack as I am not good enough!"
The spectators quieted down, assisting another to cultivate?
Not so simple.
One can guide the energy in ones own body with relative ease but to do it
for another was difficult.
Like mentioned before many cultivation techniques can conflict with one
another.
Just because the energy flows one way does not mean it will flow the other
way.
Even if the technique the children cultivated was the most simple type this
did not mean that they can simply take whatever energy they wanted.
What would happen if the energy given to the child had a rather fiery
nature? They could go up in flames.
Aakriti herself suffered from energy instability on many occasions, her
master could only alleviate the symptoms not fix the problem for her.
"Oh? Is no one confidant enough to lend their aid? Since when has our
sect fallen so!" A voice came from the sky, it was elder Qez who watched
as everything unfolded from above.
"Elder Qez!"
"Elder!"
"Greeting Elder Qez"
The spectating group greeted in bows or simple acknowledgements.
"E-elder Qez, I am grateful. If only I had been better" Aakriti
greeted the elder with a bit of shock, she had not seen or felt his energy
whatsoever he had come from the shadows from her perspective.
"If only. I will take the blame should anything go wrong this time,
lets see just how much these two can take" Elder Qez lifted his arm
forming a gray ball of mist around his hand that shot out twenty strands of Qi
toward each child.
The spectators watching flinched.
'He's not holding back at all, one would expect around five strands to be
added at best in one go... but a full twenty'
'If that had been me receiving that amount of energy at that age I would
have exploded there and then'
'Maybe I should have stepped up instead'
No one tried to stop him or even tried to mention their inner monologue out
loud, if an elder said they will take the blame then so be it.