Chapter 66 - The Mountain Gate
"When you open a gate, you are opening a portal to a part of your soul," said Breaker, his voice heavy with gravitas.
It was another week later, and the three of them were again seated cross-legged in one of the strange not-quite-farmhouses in the Fractured Realm.
Rix had continued to grow his qi pool, though the longer he did it, the more of a bastard the exercise became. It was a test of will as much as anything else. How much could he endure before the pain grew overwhelming?
While his qi pool wasn't close to double his initial amount yet, Breaker said he had enough to get started with the Mountain Gate exercises. He was expected to continue growing his pool in tandem with these new exercises. The goal was that his qi pool would hit the required threshold by the time he was actually ready to open the gate fully.
From what Breaker said, the process of growing your qi involved diminishing returns. The pool he'd built from himself was small, so doubling it would be relatively straightforward now that he had the correct technique, but the further he progressed, the less effective it would be. The exact rate of return was apparently dictated by potential and willpower and the level of ambient qi in the air. Rix had experimented with gathering qi in both the prison and the fractured realm, and had felt little difference, implying both were similar in terms of qi density. He'd also tried using it in an entropy field. Much like with his old technique, the process was much faster, but it didn't actually help with his current project, since speed wasn't the challenge. It was simply about tolerating the stretching pressure in his dantian.
Luna was listening in on today's lecture too. Though she'd made some progress on the Breath Bridge, the process was actually more difficult for her than it had been for Rix. With the guidance from the book all those years ago, he had already managed to force open the first channel into his dantian so that qi could flow in. As such, once he could properly visualise the Breath Bridge, he faced no resistance. For Luna, that wasn't the case. She needed to hold the technique long enough to build up qi with adequate pressure to break its way into her dantian, and that still eluded her.
"While the soul doesn't have physical structure the way you think of it," Breaker continued, "there are parallels to be made. The body provides a useful analogy. You may think of each gate as opening access to a specific organ within the soul. Some facet of your being designed to perform a particular job."
"So the Mountain Gate is a kind of…strength organ?" Rix asked.
Breaker nodded. "In a manner of speaking. When you open it, you infuse some of that benefit into your body. And when you invoke it, you enhance that effect."
Rix and Luna both nodded.
"As I've said before," Breaker continued, "opening a gate is an involved process, and while they bear similarities, each gate's process is distinct."
He rose to his feet and gestured to his stomach, below the belly button. "Fortunately for you, Zao Rixian, the Mountain Gate is one of the better places to start as it is closest to the dantian. It is also the gate with requirements most aligned with your current…lifestyle."
He sank slightly at the knees, dropping into a fighting stance. "Each gate requires the circulation of qi in a specific way while putting your body through certain trials. For the Mountain Gate, that trial is combat."
"Finally," Luna said.
A hint of a smile appeared on Breaker's face. "Combat…accompanied by visualisation."
Luna's grin shattered like glass. "You did that on purpose."
"I'm not sure I know what you mean," Breaker replied, a glimmer of mirth in his eyes. "One such as I is beyond such frivolous amusements."
She shot him a flat stare. "I think there's a pretty good chance that 'one such as you' is making this whole thing up to taunt me. Does this whole damned power system take place in your head?"
Breaker's smile widened. "You say that with such distaste, Kai Luna. Do you truly believe the mind is a lesser tool than the fist?"
She looked like he'd just asked her the most obvious question in the world. "Yes. Clearly yes. Can't exactly hit a fade with my mind, now can I?"
"There are many out there that can," Breaker countered.
She blinked several times at that.
Breaker exhaled sharply. "In truth, I don't blame you. It's becoming clearer and clearer to me that this System of yours is little more than a crutch. It grants power, but with no requirement that you understand where it comes from or what it means. Take your techniques, for example. You've described them as a shape you're fed in your mind's eye that you imbue with mana. But in cultivation, to use a technique you need to make the shape yourself by circulating qi in your meridians. That takes deep understanding and fastidious practice. There is no hand-holding, no clearly marked road. You need to cut the path yourself and that is a journey of the mind as much as it is of the body."
"A journey of the mind," she repeated, seemingly unconvinced.
"Is there something wrong with it being easier?" Rix asked tentatively. "I mean, if cultivation requires so much work, and the System gives the same result for free, isn't that an improvement?"
"But it doesn't give the same result," Breaker replied. He gestured to Rix. "Summon your [Wind Blade]."
Rix stood up and did as he was told.
The man nodded. "Wonderful. Now, what can you do with it?"
Rix furrowed his brow. "I don't understand."
"Can you shoot the blades at your foes? Can you make them grow longer or cut deeper? Can you imbue them with fire or ice or rot?"
Rix shook his head. "It doesn't work like that. It does what it says in the description."
"Exactly!" Breaker replied. "These shapes of yours are rigid. There is no room for expression or improvement. When you use them, you are children colouring in between the same lines as everyone else at your table. Were you to learn the same technique using qi, you could change the shape in all manner of ways depending on your needs. A cultivation technique may be harder to wield, but it will also be vastly stronger for those willing to work at it."
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
Rix gazed at his [Wind Blade] with renewed wonder.
"That seems…powerful."
"It's the same with your physical capabilities," Breaker added. "As we've established, your System forges your essence into attributes, which is a form of body tempering, but you have no ability to manipulate them in real time. A seven-gate cultivator can be strong in attack, quick in defence, and mentally sharp when the situation is fraught. This is why I speak of your System as an inferior clone. It takes all the infinite possibilities of the universe and files away the edges until nothing unique remains. Yes, any idiot can use System techniques, but they'll only be good for fighting other idiots."
He turned his attention towards Luna. "To bring the conversation back full circle, this is why we visualise; because we work with powers mysterious and unseen. Qi, meridians, your dantian – these are not tangible things for mortal senses. Not at your level, at any rate. They cannot be moved the way you move a muscle. They required something new. Visualisation is your teacher. By grounding the ethereal in the earthly, you give yourself the framework to begin engaging with these powers."
Taking a step closer, he pinned Luna with his gaze. "If you want the benefits of my wisdom, Kai Luna, you must believe in the efficacy of my techniques. I won't waste time on someone who thinks of my lessons as archaic frippery. You will never progress if you aren't truly invested in what you are doing." A hint of playfulness returned to his expression. "But I promise you that if you do work on sharpening your mind, a stronger fist will follow."
Luna glanced away, uncomfortable. Her eyes found Rix's, and he gave a gentle shrug. There wasn't a lot he could do for her in that moment. This was something she needed to wrestle with herself.
She gazed down at her sword, examining the edge as if checking for sharpness. Eventually, she gave a slow nod. "That's a fair argument." She looked up at Breaker. "If thinking gets me hitting like an Edict, I'll think. For real. But just so you know, if the elders found out I was prioritising this, I'd be banned from using anything sharper than a training sword until I could demonstrate 'proper destructive intent' again."
Breaker's smile grew sharp. "Become a strong enough cultivator, and it won't matter if they take away your blade."
He clapped his hands. "Now, the Mountain Gate. Its requirements are deceptively simple. Cycle your qi in the appropriate way, while putting your body under extreme physical duress — that's where the combat comes in. The goal is to achieve perfect harmony between your physical and mental states, but this can only be achieved with mastery over the cycling technique. Kai Luna, as before, you can practise using your mana."
At Breaker's gesture, Luna joined Rix in standing up.
He cleared his throat. "For this exercise, we will visualise ourselves as trees."
Luna shifted on her feet.
"Is something wrong?" Breaker asked, raising an eyebrow.
She gave a firm shake of her head. Possibly a little too firm. "No. Obviously, I'm fully invested in this exercise."
Rix was fairly sure he understood the issue, and he couldn't resist the urge to prod. "You sure?" he asked. "You don't have any concerns about being asked to visualise a tree to open a mountain or anything like that?"
Luna stiffened and her eyes flicked to him, narrowing slightly. "The thought hadn't even crossed my mind," she replied unconvincingly.
To his credit, Breaker chuckled. "I said the exercises were effective, not that they were entirely consistent." He tapped that point in his stomach again. "First, I want you to find the correct location. This will be the central focus of the cycling technique. Though you won't notice anything substantial there yet, Zao Rixian, you may feel a catching sensation as you circulate your qi there, vaguely akin to what you feel with that Energy Surge of yours. That's the edge of the nascent gate and it will tell you that you are in the right spot."
Rix did as he was told. He explored, pushing qi around the area Breaker indicated. It was a strange sensation. He rarely did anything with his qi anymore besides slamming it into one spot to trigger Energy Surge. He'd almost forgotten he had a whole network of meridians tracing all the contours of his body.
It took a little time, but he did feel something, the barest hint of resistance as his qi slid past a certain area. Was that what Energy Surge had felt like the first time he'd activated it? It was too long ago to remember. He felt an urge to swing out with his weapon, to see if flooding this spot made him stronger the way flooding the Wind Gate made him faster, but he could experiment later.
"I think I've got it," he said.
"Good. Now, let your awareness sink away," Breaker said, his voice taking on a slightly hypnotic tone. "Visualise yourself as an ancient tree, imposing and unshakeable. As with many cultivation exercises, we will time this with the breath to give physical embodiment to the process."
Rix closed his eyes and let his mind empty. He felt his body, feet planted firmly, chest strong and sturdy.
"First, the inhalation," Breaker continued. "As you breathe in, push your qi down through the Mountain Gate, driving spiritual roots deep into the earth beneath you. Feel that anchoring force. Find your centre, draw stability back upwards toward the Gate."
Rix commanded his qi down, rolling through the spot he'd identified as his Mountain Gate, along his legs and out into the hard brown soil, wending its way deeper and deeper like so many spiders' legs. He found that even as the qi left the confines of his spiritual network, he still had some claim to it. If he lost focus, his control waned and the world took it back, but with concentration he could maintain that illusory root structure. He let his qi sit there in the cool underground for a beat before drawing it back into himself.
Breaker drew a second breath, holding it for a beat, his posture solidifying before speaking. "Now hold that breath. Feel the qi drawn from the earth fill you, spreading outwards from the gate, solidifying your core, turning muscle and bone to the density of ironwood. Become stable, impenetrable. Balance personified."
As the qi flowed back up to the gate, Rix imagined it expanding outwards, flooding his torso. He envisioned his chest as the trunk of a great tree, standing firm against the buffeting of a ferocious storm. Perhaps it was his imagination, but he felt more anchored, as though just the mental image was lending him density and fortitude.
Breaker's posture shifted subtly as he began to exhale slowly. "Now, the exhalation. This is not a release, but controlled direction. Seize that chained power. Set it spiralling around the spot where your gate should be, gathering like a coiled spring. And then at the moment of impact—" he struck out a punch in the air, "—let the qi explode out into your limb."
Rix completed the technique with a simple side strike, his qi rushing down both arms as he swung his staff in the air. Though the strike was nothing noteworthy, the sheer visceral energy of the qi surge lent it an air of power.
Breaker spoke again. "Finally, as the breath empties, do not simply relax. Consciously loop that qi back to your dantian, grounding the cycle, ensuring the power is contained, not expended."
He relaxed his stance. "Then, you begin again. Inhale to root. Hold to solidify. Exhale to channel. Then return. This is the rhythm you must master."
Coming back into himself, Rix glanced over at Luna. None of her usual playfulness was evident on her face. Instead, she wore a mask of concentration.
"Did it work with mana?" he asked.
She shrugged. "Kind of. Hard when you can't find the spot, but I think I get the idea." Her eyes flicked momentarily to Breaker. "Might even have got lost there for a moment between regular Luna and tree Luna."
"Your elders will hear nothing from me," Rix replied.
She shot him a small smile.
"It's pleasing that you felt good about this, Kai Luna. I think this bodes well for your mastery of the Breath Bridge in the near future."
"Sure hope so," she replied.
"What did you make of the exercise, Zao Rixian?"
Rix took a moment to compose his thoughts. "It made me feel strong. Different to the Breath Bridge. That has a function, but it's external, I guess? It's a tool. Whereas this is all internal. It's about becoming something else. It actually changed how I felt in my body."
Breaker nodded. "The movement of qi through the meridians typically helps you to feel connected to the technique."
He looked between the two of them for a moment. "Now that you know how it should feel, your goal is to be able to replicate that under extreme duress. You will find that in the chaos of battle, it will not come nearly so easily. When you truly manage to maintain a flow state where your physical strain perfectly harmonises with this controlled flow of qi, the gate will begin to yield."
"So how do I get to that point?" asked Rix.
The wicked curve of Breaker's smile was all the reply Rix needed.