The Jade Shadows Must Die [Cultivation LitRPG]

And so began the most challenging period of Rix's life. He'd thought he was training hard before, but the urgency of his impending fight, coupled with the fact that the initial exercises Breaker prescribed could be performed almost anywhere, meant that he felt like he always had to be doing something.

After their lesson, the first thing Rix wanted to do was test the technique out when battling fades.

Breaker merely snorted. "The hubris of youth."

Naturally, he was right. Emphatically so.

Rix didn't even make it into combat. The moment he took a single step while trying to cycle, the whole technique fell apart. It turned out that the process became substantially more difficult as soon as it was not the only object of his focus.

"What exactly qualifies as 'extreme duress'?" he asked a little sheepishly.

Breaker shot him an indulgent smile. "It's hard to quantify exactly, and depends somewhat on how much qi you're using, how many gates you've opened before, and a variety of other factors. I've never heard of anyone performing a successful opening without being locked in intense combat at the very least." He raised an eyebrow at Rix. "Given your compressed timeline and the amount of qi you're likely to have, you might need more than that, though."

Rix rocked back on his heels slightly, absorbing that. There wasn't a whole lot that was above 'intense combat'.

"Calm yourself, Zao Rixian. Do you believe I would immediately demand you dance with death itself? We will begin by ensuring you can maintain the cycle under manageable strain."

The first exercise Breaker taught him seemed basic, but Rix had learned his lesson about overestimating his abilities. It involved cycling while maintaining a simple horse stance. Horse stance was a common enough martial stance that even Rix had heard of it. You stood with your feet shoulder-width apart, knees bent deeply so your thighs were parallel to the ground, while keeping your back straight and your weight evenly distributed. It wasn't that different from some of the postures in Master Zhen's katas.

As such, form wasn't the hard part. The challenge was maintaining it.

For the first five minutes, he looped the cycling technique seamlessly, his body held low and balanced, his mind utterly focused, qi infusing him like a river of iron. Then, gradually, he began to feel it; a deep ache that started in his thighs and slowly radiated throughout his body. He tried to ignore it, but the stance was insidious, setting slow fire to his muscles and encroaching on his awareness.

It only took another thirty seconds for the technique to shatter. Rix let out a gasp. He'd been deep enough in the flow state that having it ripped away was like being doused in cold water.

"A reasonable effort," said Breaker. "Take a minute's break, then try again."

Rix assessed his condition. His technique had broken much earlier than his body would have. While his muscles hurt, he could have maintained the stance for quite a bit longer. But that was obviously the point. This wasn't a test of physical capability. It was a test of mental fortitude in the face of physical strain. The goal was to reach aptitude with the cycling technique such that he could maintain it as long as his body held out.

He drew a deep breath and dropped back into the stance. This time, he lasted less than half as long. The accrued effort weighed heavily on his legs, to the point where he began to feel the pain almost immediately, a creeping ache plucking at the edges of his focus. Still, he clung to his cycling like a lantern in the dark, forcing his attention inward. That he would break was inevitable, but the question was when?

While it was difficult to quantify improvement for something so ephemeral, when the technique broke this time, he felt like maybe he'd done better.

"Again," Breaker said dispassionately.

And so he went. Each attempt lasted less time than the previous one. By the end, his efforts were measured in seconds, not minutes. Such was the brutal rhythm of it that he no longer even tried to assess his progress. Everything narrowed. There was only his qi, the cycle, and the smouldering coals of his exhaustion. As his muscles tired, his form declined, and that in turn set off more cascades of failure along his kinetic chain as his body struggled to compensate for his ever-worsening stance.

It wasn't only physically taxing. The mental challenge of maintaining the cycling technique under such exertion provoked a different kind of fatigue. It was similar to the challenge of maintaining his style in those first weeks once it had set. A sort of mental slackness that made concentration an ever more difficult prospect.

Some indeterminate time later, Breaker barked, "That will be adequate."

Without a word, Rix collapsed to the ground, releasing the iron grip he'd been holding over his focus. He instantly regretted it. As his awareness returned fully to his body, he let out a groan. He hurt in places he hadn't even realised he was using, and his legs felt like leaden weights suspended from his body.

"I thought you said 'manageable strain'?" he wheezed.

Breaker shot him a wolfish smile. "Let me rephrase. We will begin with a level of strain consistent with opening your Mountain Gate in less than two months. Whether it is 'manageable' will be up to you." There was a hint of challenge in his voice when he said that.

Luna, who had been quietly working on her Breath Bridge in the corner the whole time, cracked open one eye.

"The elders used horse stance as a punishment back home," Luna said.

"I can believe it," Rix said. He dragged himself up to meet her eyes. "But the real question is, is standing and thinking better than sitting and thinking?"

Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

Luna made a face. "Ack. Can I take neither? I choose option C: 'consumed by glorious, unexpected battle'."

Breaker raised an eyebrow at her, and she quickly backtracked. "I'm joking, of course. Loving my journey of the mind over here."

Rix grimaced at the thought that this was just the start, then immediately scalded himself for it. He'd thought himself long past the point of expecting any of this to come easily, but every so often, he'd find himself slipping. There were no shortcuts here. If this was the path, then he needed to be prepared to walk it, however much it sucked.

***

For the next week, there was not a waking minute when Rix's legs didn't feel like over-kneaded dough. He'd spend hours in his cell after dinner forcing his body through as many cycling reps as possible before it gave out. When that was no longer possible, he sat on the bed and continued to work on growing his qi. Only when every part of him — physical, mental and spiritual — was exhausted, did he finally allow himself to drift into a fitful sleep, only to rise before doors unlocked to do it all again. And that was on top of more practice with Breaker in the Fractured Realm where the man observed his efforts with infuriating equanimity.

Although his body now restored itself far faster than any mortal's, the sheer volume of training he was putting himself through meant he couldn't possibly mask that he was suffering. As such, more than a few people commented as he hobbled around the mess hall and training yard.

"I knew you had limited space up there," said Master Zhen, gesturing towards Rix's head, "but I didn't think that all my lessons would actually push out something as fundamental as how to walk."

Rix managed a grin. "The density of your wisdom is clearly second to none, elder."

The man looked momentarily pleased, though there was still a hint of curiosity on his face. Unfortunately, it wasn't like Rix could admit the truth.

He hadn't realised that it was possible to be tired on so many vectors at the same time. What kept him going was that he was actually seeing results. His qi pool was where it was most obvious. Every day he woke up feeling that supply just a little larger. That small exhilaration alone kept his motivation high. It was measurable proof that he was stronger, more dangerous.

He was becoming a cultivator.

Breaker was confident Rix would have the necessary qi pool to open his Mountain Gate before the fight with Han. That just left his mastery of the cycling technique. The horse stance exercise proved extremely effective. The longer Rix put his body through its rigours, the more adapted his mind became at ignoring them. Within a week, he could hold the cycle almost to the point of physical collapse. The benefits weren't only mental. His body, too, felt stronger for all the work. It was hard to gauge exactly how much because his muscles were never not in recovery, but even in that state of constant exhaustion, the time he could hold the stance continued to grow.

It was interesting that these gains weren't reflected in his System attributes at all. Apparently, the display only tracked benefits directly derived from essence. That meant actual physical efforts that improved the body could still have some small impact upon performance, though they would likely be dwarfed by the exponential benefits of essence as a Martial Soul climbed the tiers.

He wasn't the only one making progress. Just two days after Breaker taught them the cycling technique, Luna made her breakthrough with the Breath Bridge, holding the technique long enough to crack open the seal to her dantian and let it begin filling with qi. Her next task was twofold: grow her pool, much like Rix was doing, and then push it out gradually through her body to carve her new meridians into being.

It was almost a decade ago when Rix did that for himself, but he still remembered vividly how much it hurt, and Luna's expression upon starting confirmed that truth.

"I hurt inside," she said one morning when they met up. "Like, in spots I didn't even know I had."

"It's only going to get worse," Rix replied.

It wasn't just pain. Burning in new meridians took a significant physical toll. Luna was noticeably diminished during both their training and diving. It wasn't enough to put them on an evening footing when sparring, but it was the closest Rix had ever felt. In the Fractured Realm, they were forced to drop the intensity a little too, but that was fine by him. There was no more power to be gained through earning essence unless he was ready to step up to the Cauldron, and that wasn't his immediate priority. Even with a slightly more relaxed approach to diving, with Breaker's assistance, they made steady progress.

Soon enough, Breaker decided Rix had benefited as much as he could from the horse stance. "I believe we can progress to stage two of the training."

That, as it turned out, was an entirely fresh level of hell. Cycling while maintaining a one-legged stance.

While the posture of the horse stance pushed the body by taxing all its large muscle groups at once, at least it was stable. This new iteration challenged his balance as well, and that introduced a whole new layer of difficulty. The moment his muscles began to tire, his weight would shift, sending a little spike of panic through him as his body realised it was on the verge of falling. It was a small sensation, but driven by primal survival instincts buried deep in the brain that made it difficult to ignore. The first day of switching to the new stance was an exercise in frustration. Every time he lost his balance even fractionally, it pulled at his awareness to the point that the cycling technique shattered instantly. By the second day, he began to see some small improvement, but it really put into context how difficult a task he'd set himself. If he couldn't even maintain the technique through a minor stumble, how would he do so with a fade lunging for his throat?

All his physical endeavours meant that Luna wasn't the only one suffering in combat. He wasn't nearly as bad as she was, but the constant heaviness in his legs left him sluggish and lacking stamina. Still, he was determined to make a good showing in his next arena bout. His second victory had fired something in him, and in many ways, it was the best preparation he had for the challenges to come.

***

The next day, Rix and Luna were sitting together in the stands of the arena watching as two Mid Whispers hacked desperately at one another with identical jians and styles. Despite their relatively low rank, it was an artful enough battle. Over his time here, Rix had come to really appreciate how dangerous even a nascent Martial Soul could be. Either of those men would have gutted him in an instant back when he was a mortal.

The battle reached its crescendo, with one fighter impaling the other through the chest with a vicious thrust. His opponent collapsed dramatically to the sand.

"And the winner," cried the Ringmaster. "By penetrating knockout…Zhan Wushuang!"

There was a smattering of applause. As the celebration died down and the loser dragged himself to his feet and exited the ring, Rix looked down to find Luna tapping her leg furiously.

"You okay there?" he asked, nodding downward.

She blinked several times before realising what he was referring to. "Oh. Yeah. Just eager to get in there." She hefted her katana and studied it for a few moments. "I wasn't happy with last week's fight. These…exercises we're doing are a pain, but that's no excuse. I need to do better. Today's opponent is getting the full treatment."

As if on cue, the Ringmaster stepped back up to announce the next bout.

"Ladies and gentlemen, our next battle is sure to titillate and delight. In the Steel Corner, coming to you all the way from the Falling Leaf Sect. Her mysterious swordplay having left her undefeated in her first six bouts under this roof. Welcome to the ring, Kaiiiiii Luna."

Luna perked up next to him.

"And in the Spirit Corner, a challenger who dares to defy convention! He brings not a blade, not a spear, but a staff to our arena! Will this... unusual choice prove to be a stroke of genius, or a fatal flaw? Let's welcome... Zaoooooo Rixian!"