The air on the training platform crackled with anticipation. On one side stood Jay, his amber eyes glowing with a newfound confidence, a simple wooden practice sword held loosely in his hand. On the other stood Alex, empty-handed, his body relaxed but poised, a coiled spring of contained energy.
Elara and Lily watched from the edge of the platform, their expressions a mixture of excitement and nervous tension.
Jay looked at Alex, a slight frown creasing his brow. "Alex, where's your…"
He never finished the question.
"START." Lily's voice cut through the air like a whip crack, sharp and impatient.
The word was a trigger. Alex exploded forward. He didn't run; he flowed, his form a blur that covered the distance between them in an instant. Jay, caught mid-thought, barely had time to react. He looked back just in time to see Alex already upon him, and he instinctively swung his sword in a wide, defensive arc, his Earth Qi flaring to coat the wood in a shimmering bronze light.
What followed was not a fight, but a dance. Alex's body moved with an unnatural grace, his shoulders swaying and his torso weaving to avoid the heavy, powerful swings of Jay's sword. He was like a ghost made of smoke, effortlessly slipping past blows that should have crushed him. Jay, accustomed to opponents meeting his strength head-on, found himself swinging at empty air, his momentum used against him as Alex flowed around his guard.
With a final, fluid twist, Alex slipped inside one of Jay's swings. His fist shot out, impacting Jay's side with a dull, resonant thud.
Even with his body coated in protective Earth Qi, the force of the blow was staggering. Jay grunted, stumbling back two steps as the Qi around the point of impact shimmered violently. He planted his feet, regaining his footing, and stared at Alex with a new, profound respect. The sour look on Lily's face now made perfect sense.
He had completely underestimated his friend.
A slow grin spread across Jay's face, a fire of genuine challenge igniting in his amber eyes. "Alright," he said, his voice a low growl of excitement. "No more holding back."
He stomped his foot, and the bronze aura around him thickened, becoming richer and more radiant. The very stone beneath his feet seemed to groan under the weight of his presence. He was no longer just a durable disciple; he was a bastion of unyielding earth.
Alex saw the shift in Jay, the playful curiosity replaced by the focus of a true fighter. He felt a thrill run down his spine. This was what he had been waiting for. Over the past month, Lily's whip-fast attacks had honed his reflexes and agility to a razor's edge, but they lacked the raw, concussive force needed to push his body over the final precipice.
This is it, Alex thought, a fierce grin mirroring Jay's. This is the strength I need.
He activated the Immortal's Body Refinement Technique. He didn't need the book to see his status anymore; he could feel it. He was at the absolute peak of the Mortal Body realm, a single step away from a fundamental transformation. A faint, almost invisible warmth began to hum beneath his skin, every cell vibrating with anticipation.
It was time to forge the Ironbones.
The spar resumed, but the dynamic had shifted entirely. Jay was no longer testing the waters; he was a fortress. He planted his feet, his bronze-coated body an immovable bastion, letting Alex come to him.
Alex accepted the challenge. He became a whirlwind of motion, his fists and feet a relentless barrage against Jay's earthen defense. The training platform filled with the sound of dull, heavy thuds as flesh met qi-infused earth. Each blow that would have crippled a normal disciple was absorbed by Jay's shimmering bronze skin. For Alex, it was like punching a mountain. Shocks juddered up his arms with every impact, but instead of pain, he felt a familiar, invigorating warmth spread through his limbs.
The Immortal's Body Refinement Technique was in full effect, taking the concussive force of Jay's defense and using it as a hammer to temper his own body. With every punch, he could feel the final vestiges of his mortal limits being hammered away, his bones humming with a deep, resonant energy. The furnace inside him was burning hotter and hotter. He was close.
Jay, gritting his teeth, was astonished. He could feel the power behind Alex's strikes growing with every exchange. This wasn't a normal fight; his friend was actively getting stronger by hitting him. Realizing a pure defense wouldn't be enough, Jay decided to end it with one overwhelming attack.
He let out a warrior's roar, all the Earth Qi he could muster surging from his body into his wooden sword. The simple practice weapon glowed with the intensity of a treasured artifact, its weight seeming to multiply tenfold.
Alex saw the move coming. The air grew thick, the pressure immense. He felt the breakthrough he was seeking cresting like a wave within him, ready to crash. This was the moment. He stopped his frantic assault, planted his feet, and channeled all his physical power into a single, rising uppercut.
Time seemed to slow. Jay brought the glowing sword down in a devastating overhead chop, a miniature meteor aimed to crush everything in its path. Alex drove his fist upward to meet it, his knuckles glowing with a faint, silvery light of their own.
Fist met sword.
For a heartbeat, there was silence. Then, with a sound like a thunderclap, a shockwave of force erupted from the point of impact.
CRACK!
The qi-infused wooden sword, unable to withstand the collision of two monstrous forces, didn't just break; it exploded. Splinters shot across the platform like shrapnel. Both Alex and Jay were blasted backward, a few steps before coming to a stop, chests heaving, their faces a mixture of exhaustion and exhilaration.
The training platform fell silent, the only sound their ragged breaths.
From the sidelines, Elara slowly lowered the hand she'd brought to her mouth, her eyes wide with awe. She turned to Lily, a disbelieving smile spreading across her face.
"Wow," Elara said, her voice soft but full of emotion. "Alex and Jay... they've come a long way in such a short time."
Lily, for once, had no witty retort. She watched the two friends push themselves to their feet and nodded in agreement.
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A few days after Jay's return, he and Alex sat at a quiet stone table in one of the sect's inner gardens. The air was cool, and the scent of plum blossoms hung heavy around them. Jay, looking more focused than Alex had ever seen him, was trying to explain the abstract nature of his newfound power.
"It's not something you can just... grab," Jay said, a hint of frustration in his voice as he struggled to find the right words. "Try to imagine everything around you, the air, the stones, the trees, they all have spiritual energy flowing through them. That's the foundation. Elemental Qi is just a specific 'flavor' of that energy that exists in the world. Your attunement doesn't create the element; it just means that flavor naturally exists inside you and gives you the key to connect with and control it."
Alex nodded slowly, trying to wrap his head around the concept. Before he could ask another question, a shadow fell over their table.
SLAP.
Lily slapped a rolled-up sheet of paper down on the stone between them, the sound sharp in the quiet garden. "Where's Elara?" she demanded, not bothering with a greeting.
"She... said she was going to practice her water-forms by the Spirit Pond today," Alex answered, his eyes drawn to the official-looking scroll. "What's that?"
"This," Lily announced, tapping the paper with a decisive finger, "is a D-Rank Magic Beast Subjugation request. And the four of us are going to do it together."
Alex's eyes widened. "Is that okay? I thought only inner disciples could accept those quests. Jay and I are still outer disciples."
Lily waved his concern away with an impatient flick of her wrist. "Normally, you'd be right. But there's a loophole. As long as an inner disciple is the one to accept the quest, and the average cultivation level of the group meets the minimum standard, it's allowed." She gave Jay a pointed look. "With you finally breaking through to Foundation Establishment, we just barely qualify. Besides," she added, her tone turning serious, "you two need this. You need the practical experience of real combat. Sparring is one thing, but fighting a beast that wants to tear you apart is another."
She straightened up, her decision made. "I'm off to find Elara. We leave tomorrow morning. Meet at the main gate by 6 a.m. sharp." She rushed off before either of them could raise a single objection.
Jay let out a long sigh, running a hand through his unkempt hair. "Well, you heard her. I guess that's enough theory for today." He stood up. "You should get ready for tomorrow. You'll need the necessities."
Alex, looking completely lost, asked, "What are the necessities?"
A faint smile touched Jay's lips. It was a strange feeling, being the experienced one for a change. "Come on," he said, gesturing for Alex to follow. "I'll show you."
He led Alex to the bustling sect shop, a large pavilion where disciples traded resources. Jay pointed out various items with a practiced eye. "You'll want a few of these Qi-Replenishing Pills. And at least two mid-grade Healing Pills. This salve is good for cuts and bruises that aren't serious enough for a pill." He picked up a small, folded piece of parchment. "And a basic Warding Talisman. You never know what kind of weird Qi a beast might use."
Alex, trusting Jay's judgment completely, purchased every single one of his recommendations. He watched as the sect clerk deducted the cost from the contribution points he had painstakingly earned over the past month from his cleaning and gathering chores. It was a steep price, but as he clutched the bag of life-saving supplies, he knew it was worth every point.
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Back in the quiet solitude of his dilapidated cabin, Alex carefully placed the newly acquired pills, salves, and talismans on his rickety table. The contribution points he had painstakingly earned over the month were gone in an instant, but holding the tangible tools of survival felt more than worth it. Tomorrow would be his first real mission.
He sat on his cot, took a deep breath to calm the nervous excitement buzzing in his veins, and delved into his Sea of Consciousness. The familiar black book with its golden lettering floated before him, waiting.
He willed it open, and the status page materialized, a clear summary of a month's worth of grueling effort and one explosive breakthrough.
*************************
[ STATUS ]
Name: Alex Steele
Age: 22
Affiliation: Outer Disciple, Azure Plum Blossom Sect
[ CULTIVATION ]
Qi Cultivation: Qi Condensation Realm - Stage 8 (21.5%)
Body Cultivation: Ironbone Realm - Stage 1 (5.3%)
Elemental Affinity: [Undetermined]
[ RESOURCES ]
Qi: 150/150
[ TECHNIQUES ]
Immortal's Qi Cultivation Technique: 32% Mastery
Immortal's Body Refinement Technique: 51% Mastery
Art of the Headless Body: 48% Mastery
Immortal's Simple Movement Skill: 53% Mastery
*************************
A slow, satisfied grin spread across Alex's face. The spar with Jay… it had done it. The final, explosive collision had been the hammer blow needed to shatter his mortal limits. Seeing the words Ironbone Realm on the page sent a thrill through him. It wasn't a fluke. His body had truly been reforged.
He looked at the mastery percentages. Just as he'd suspected, the moment he broke through the physical bottleneck, his mastery over his body-focused techniques had surged. The mortal ceiling was gone.
His eyes then fell on his Qi pool, and his grin widened. The nightly trips to the Millstone of Transmigration had paid off immensely. 'And I'm glad I stopped blacking out after the fifth time,' he thought with a private wince. 'That part was brutal.' Now, his Qi capacity was more than double that of a typical cultivator at his stage.
The quest tomorrow was no longer a daunting. It was a proving ground, a chance to see what his newly forged Ironbones and his vast reserves of Qi could truly do.