Chapter 5: Cultivating and Consolidating Mineral Qi
Zar closed the book in wonderment at all the mysterious things, symbols and images he had seen. “Qi? Cultivation? I thought those were myths! Meridians? Channels? Dantain? Is it real?!” Zar wondered in his lonely location. He had been reading for hours not realising how much time had passed. It would be Monday in 2 days, so he had little time to prepare. “I must go talk to brother!”
Zar rushed over to Tar who was resting asleep, “Brother Tar, Brother Tar! I must let you know some news!”
“Giath Brother, what news do you bring, I am tired and weak, be quick with it...”
“Tar, I will be busy, very busy for 3 weeks, you may need to manage without me, I have received instruction from father beyond the grave.”
“How so? Did he speak to you as a ghost?!” Asked Tar.
“No, silly man. He left a book after his death that I had kept secret temporarily, I am intended to hold it and its contained information for now, after 7 weeks I will share with the village its good news!”
“Hm. Well, we can manage 3 weeks without you I suppose, it will be very difficult since there is always something to fix, someone who needs help and medical attention. I will let the Grand Sisters and the Greaters know of your news, but you must promise only 3 weeks. If it was not for it being from late father I would have said no, but i trust your judgement and somewhat hope you actually have something useful, at this point I will take anything.”
“Tar Brother, I appreciate your benevolence.”
“No compliments, let me rest.”
Time passed...
Zar woke at 4 am again, to capture the early rays. He sat on his normal rock in the cultivator's position as given by the picture he saw in the book. It was the attitude of meditation, legs crossed, palms facing the sun resting on the knees. He stared into the Sun and focused on his Low Dantain which rested between the genitals and navel.
“Nothing is happening really, just how I usually feel...” Zar stated after 5 minutes had elapsed. Zar sat with great determination until the sun was too bright for his eyes to handle. At this point after much shuffling due to being uncomfortable he stopped. As he was cultivating Grands (his close relatives) and Greaters were passing him by, musing on what he could be doing. “Hmph, was what was written in that book of any accuracy, I feel nothing at all. Well, I will get up.”
Zar rose from his feet and fell over. “Huh...” He said as he got up again and fell over... “My legs must be cramped, let me shake them out.” As Zar shook his legs, a waning and waxing heat began entering into the legs themselves, it felt like this heat was flowing out of his chest. Zar instantly remembered that too much Mineral Qi can be destructive for the cells as much as it can be beneficial. “In the additive texts,” Zar began “Oldman stated that to stop or reverse the flow of Mineral Qi, one must refocus the flowing energy, with the Mind, back to the lower Dantain as the shepherd guides a lost sheep back to the herd. I must apply much focus; I do not want to hurt myself.”
Zar done so and the mis-flowing Mineral Qi began to reverse direction. “Done, now I can stop focusing.” As Zar stopped focusing however the Mineral Qi rebounded, entering back not only into his legs but his entire body. “Damnit, I have to maintain a constant focus to the lower Dantain to keep the Qi locked otherwise it runs rampant, I must make it SIT.” Zar refocused and the Mineral Qi-Flow reversed. “Oldman spoke of heat, I do not feel a heat in my lower Dantain, I only feel the heat of Mineral Qi when it flows outward of it, i must read the book.”
The book was structured into the main text, and additive text, the main text was the most important, additive texts were tips that Oldman thought Zar would need on his journey. “Little Zar,” began one of the tips, “you will notice that even though you can feel Qi flowing you may not feel it in the lower Dantain, there is a reason, the lower Dantain has an incredible storage capacity, when the storage capacity reaches a certain level, the Qi will resonate a heat – at such high storage the Qi will attain a simple yet vicious motion, churning and vortexing in the masculine direction. You feel the heat increasing significantly at this point and only at this point, otherwise the only time you are going to feel the life-force of Qi in the form of temperature is when it enters the meridians which can only handle a miniscule amount less.”
“Makes sense to me I suppose,” Zar thought to himself, “I won’t be able to experience the life-force of this Qi until next week perhaps. I will still be my old weak self for it is Oldman's instruction to disallow the flow. Perhaps he wishes for me to temper my ability to control or stop the outflow of Mineral Qi from the Dantain, already I am struggling to maintain this small amount of Mineral Qi within it, how am I to hold even more? What about when I am asleep or doing an activity. I will need to meditate a lot such that the intense focus it requires to keep Qi from leaking becomes second-nature as is walking. Perhaps the Oldman anticipated this. It will more than likely take an entire week for me to find it second nature to hold this small amount of Mineral Qi in my dantain, the Oldman is crafty.”
Time passed, Zar spent the entire week consolidating but one day's worth of cultivation. By day 5 it was second nature to hold a small amount of Mineral Qi in the dantain, he began to notice that during the colder of nights it kept him warm whilst they were sleeping due to the weak body heat. Maintaining Mineral Qi in the dantain without conscious effort during the night was the most difficult aspect for Zar. Everything else was normal however and Zar enjoyed the weakly nourishing meals with his enervating family.
It was week 2, Zar sat on his rock in the normal position and begun cultivating. The Mineral Qi in his lower Dantain began to build and many times quicker. “This is much easier today!” Zar thought proudly. No sooner did the rapid gathering of Mineral Qi begin to viciously spin like a tornado, increasing the temperature of Zar's body significantly. “I MUST CONTROL IT!” Zar shouted uncontrolled due to the uncomfortable temperature, nearly awakening his Brothers and Sisters. “THIS HEAT IS FAR TO INTENSE, AM I BURNING ALIVE? ARGH! REMAIN CALM, BREATH, REDUCE THE VISCIOUSNESS OF ROTATION BUT PRESERVE THE AMOUNT.” This required an intense amount of focus from Zar and at this point it was definitely awakening his weakening family who desperately needed sleep. As the sun grew too bright to Zar’s relief he stopped cultivation and instantly fell on the floor asleep and knocked out, an incredible heat was emanating from his body to the surprise of his Brothers and Sisters who grew concerned at his limp body as they ventured out to see the cause of the commotion.
“Is he okay? Why is he so hot? Must be due to sitting directly in front of the sun like this, silly man.” The sister begun to reach out.
“NO, DON’T TOUCH ME!”
“You’re awake?!”
“B- barely, but yes.” Zar panted and panted, catching his breath and trying to keep the Mineral Qi in the lower Dantain, some was leaking out, but he was doing his absolute best. “I need to rapidly reverse the flow, even this small amount which luckily is still locked in my meridians is enough to cause serious issues if it seeped into my cells.”
“What did you say Grand Elder Zar?”
“Nothing, nothing, go about your business, I need to focus.”
“Apologies.” The sister left and so did the observers.
“Yikes Oldman, what are you doing to me, this is ridiculous. I’ve managed to reverse the flow, but it feels like my lower Dantain is on fire. What could I do with this I wonder? How long will it last?”
Time passed, during which Zar put his entire attention not to eating, not to ambient activities but entirely toward keeping the violent Mineral Qi from leaving the lower Dantain. He spent day and night on the rock undisturbed by the villagers.
“I’ve nearly got it in check, it is a little easier than last week, I think I am getting the hang of storing and holding Qi back from releasing, I feel like I am creating a seal or a faucet. Yes, this is becoming second nature, I should be able to cultivate on the coming Monday one last time, by the end of the week I will assuredly be capable of controlling 3 days worth of Mineral Cultivation. 3 Days... 3 Days? JUST 3 DAYS! WHAT?!” Zar losing his focus caused Mineral Qi to leak out, he quickly reversed it and got back to thinking. “If this is just 3 days worth of Mineral Qi, what would 100 days be like. Oldman said the lower Dantain can handle a surprising degree of storage, but can it handle 100 days worth? What kind of God could handle 100 days worth of Mineral Qi anyway?”
Monday arrived again. Zar had been sitting on the rock the entire time, so he needed not move, he had to constantly shuffle his legs about, the villagers occasionally brought him grains to pick on which he had little time for eating, what was left of Zar was degenerating.
“He’s doing it again Brother Tar.”
“Yes, I have no idea what is about to happen but if it is anything like previous Monday, I am very concerned.” Brother Tar thought to himself. They were up early to bear witness.
The first rays arrived and Zar begun his cultivation, transforming the entering Light into Mineral Qi, and focusing the Mineral Qi from Meridians in the head, back down into the lower Dantain storage nexus. “I CAN HANDLE THIS HEAT; I CAN HANDLE THIS HEAT!” Zar repeated the mantra to keep himself sane. “THIS IS THE LAST DAY; THIS IS THE LAST DAY!” Another mantra Zar repeated to preserve his waning sanity. People awoke and watched, they could feel a gentle warmth even some distance away from Zar's body, they wondered how the morning rays were heating him up so much.
“I do wonder what was in that book.” Tar pondered observing the event.
“Oh my, Brother Tar, look upon our Brother Zar's hair, it is bright orange.”
“Goodness, well-pointed out Sister Pam.”
“Well, I've never seen that before.” Pointed out Sister Lam.
Many villagers abandoned their duties in replacement for watching Zar do something mysterious or strange which was obviously moving them in some way. Minutes and hours passed, and some villagers left to get on with the day, others stayed around wondering what the result may be.
“NEARLY. DONE. SO. CLOSE. AHHGHR.” The now blinding sun indicated that it was time to finish cultivation. Zar closed his eyes and focused entirely on holding in the immense Mineral Qi that was viciously and violently, like waves on a full moon, like a tornado at its peak rotation, vortexing in his lower Dantain. “CONTROL THE FLOW. MAKE IT SIT!!!” Zar focused in such a way, as to tame the flowing Qi, lessening its intensity but preserving the amount.
“I think he’s done.” Sister Pam observantly noted.
“Yes, and I have work to do before I rest so I must leave him to his devices.” Replied Tar.
People left for their objectives whilst Zar begun consolidating his cultivation.
Time passed...
Nights were no longer cold for Zar, days were now too hot for Zar. Everything was an extreme for Zar, this was the nature of cultivation. It was the very early portion of Sunday and Zar was still upon his rock, still as a rock – looking as a thin tangled stick who seemingly hadn’t eaten in days. “I’ve done it! I can take my conscious mind off my lower Dantain! My subconscious, like muscle-memory is locking the Mineral Qi in. I must continue reading the book – this Mineral Qi, I have not even allowed it into my cells, I have grown very weak for this reason for I have not been eating properly, all this focusing has made me skinnier than I have even been, I can hardly move.”
Zar took the book from his flimsy pocket and begun reading in the meditative position on the rock. His tall straight but bony back was now a stained picture in the minds of the villagers but was a testament to his discipline.
End of Chapter 5
