Rolled 38 (1d100)

>>6062878
Your name is Chong. You recently turned four years old, old enough to help in the rice fields. Your dad expects you to work hard with him so that the family can have food for winter. Your mom spends most of her time sewing. You have two younger brothers, Meng and Guo. You are the oldest sibling, which means your dad has high expectations for you to work hard.

You're expected to spend most of your time helping your dad in the rice fields. If you're lucky, you might be able to get away with less. It is currently Spring (春天).

What do you want to do? (You have 3 Actions)

>Help your dad in the rice fields.
>Help your mom with chores.
>Help take care of your siblings.
>Ask questions about cultivating.
>Teach yourself how to cultivate.
>Explore your village.

>>6062879
>Help your dad in the rice fields.
+
>Teach yourself how to cultivate.
+
>explore your village

Let us cultivate the Dao of rice and visit our friend fatty Li. Since every cultivation MC has a fat friend called Li. I don't make the rules, it's just a law of the universe

>>6062882
You need to help your dad in the rice fields so your family has food for winter, but you also need to cultivate if you ever want to become an immortal.

You spend most days helping your dad in the rice fields. At night, you sneak out and try to meditate. On the resting days that come once a week, you use the time off to wander around your home village.

You overheard your dad complaining that it's hot and dry this year. That's not good for rice. Is it? You don't know, you're only four. You have other things to worry about.

Like your journey to become the greatest cultivator this village has ever seen!

>ROLL, and please say what you're rolling for in your post. This Quest is Bo1, as you have No-Talent.
>1d100 to cultivate (rice)!
>1d100 to teach yourself how to cultivate!
>1d100 to explore your village!

Rolled 84 (1d100)

>>6063031
Rolling for rice
Surely we won't starve ourselves into immortality on the 1st roll right?

Rolled 57 (1d100)

>>6063031
Cultivation lesson

Rolled 58 (1d100)

>>6063031
Rolling for rice cultivation

Rolled 45 (1d100)

>>6063033
>Rice Farming DC: 60 < 84
>Average Success!
>>6063040
>Teaching Cultivation DC: 90 > 57
>Severe Failure!
>>6063068
>Village Exploration DC: 40 < 58
>Average Success!

You don’t work as long as you’re supposed to. This makes planting as much rice as your dad wants hard, but you work extra-hard to make up for it and get a lot of rice into the ground. You think you did okay. At least your dad doesn’t get mad.

Every night you close your eyes and think really strongly about how you want to be a cultivator but that doesn’t work! Nothing happens! You aren’t sure what you’re missing. You think you’ll find it if you keep trying.

During the rest days you explore your village. You learn that it has no name and it has more people than you have fingers and toes, by a lot but not by that much. You meet a boy around your age named Bai. He likes to carve wood, or says he does. With how much he complains about splinters you think he actually might not. He says his dad is a carpenter and carves wood for a living, like how your dad farms rice for a living.

...

You think most people here farm rice for a living.

Time passes. Your dad expects you to help plant rice even harder than before. It is currently Summer (夏天).

What do you want to do? (You have 3 Actions)

>Help your dad in the rice fields.
>Help your mom with chores.
>Help take care of your siblings.
>Ask questions about cultivating.
>Teach yourself how to cultivate.
>Hang out with Bai.
>Explore your village.

>>6063114
>Help your dad in the rice fields.
>Ask questions about cultivating.
>Teach yourself how to cultivate.

>>6063114
>Help your dad in the rice fields.
A man must eat. I think I would do better to herd yaks on the outskirts of town and drink of their milk while I contemplate cultivation, but, alas, a child with no money cannot buy any yaks.
>Teach yourself how to cultivate.
This is mandatory for someone on the path of cultivation. I will meditate with different poses to try to feel the Qi within me.
>Explore my village
I need to find someone qualified to answer my questions about Cultivation before I can ask about it. My family will only give me rice farmer answers to my questions. I need something more.

>>6063114
>Help in rice field
>Help in rice field
>Try to cultivate

Rolled 2 (1d3)

Tiebreaker.

>>6063149
>1
>>6063195
>2
>>6063389
>3

>>6063149
>>6063195
>>6063389
You need to keep helping your dad in the rice fields. If you don't, your family won't have rice for winter.

You also need to keep teaching yourself how to cultivate. You're curious and want to ask questions but your mom and dad are rice farmers, not cultivators, and they think it is a waste of time.

You'll keep exploring your village. You won't stop until you find every one of its secrets! Unless you get a breakthrough in cultivating or your family tells you to. You would probably stop then.

>ROLL
>1d100 to cultivate (rice)!
>1d100 to teach yourself how to cultivate!
>1d100 to explore your village!

Rolled 15 (1d100)

>>6063405
>Cultivate Rice so that I don't Cultivate an Appetite this winter

Rolled 53 (1d100)

>>6063405
Teaching myself how to cultivate...

Rolled 55 (1d100)

>>6063405
>Explore your village, what site to see.

Rolled 93 (1d100)

>>6063407
>Rice Farming DC: 60 > 15
>Terrible Failure!
>>6063418
>Teaching Cultivation DC: 80 > 53
>Average Failure!
>>6063451
>Village Exploration DC: 50 < 55
>Slight Success!

You don't work as much as you're supposed to. This makes planting as much rice as your dad wants hard, and you fail to meet his expectations! Your dad is angry with you! "Chong, stop slacking off! If you keep it up, we'll all go hungry! Our family will starve, and it will be my fault because I did not make you work harder!"

It feels terrible to be scolded like this. Your dad is mad. You think you'll be in serious trouble if you let him down again.

You try harder to cultivate late at night. You try meditating in different poses and try to sense the Qi inside of you, but it doesn't work! You've failed again! Not only have you failed your family, you've failed yourself!

During the rest days you keep exploring your village. You find the well in the center of town. They say that it's full of water and the inside is dark and cold. Maybe if you meditated down there, you would have better results? You would need someone to lower the bucket while you sat in it. You would also need to trust them to wait and pull you back out.

It would be dangerous, but maybe, just maybe, it would work. Maybe you could find something better if you keep exploring.

Time passes. The rice is ready for harvest! The whole village is pitching in! It is currently Autumn (秋天).

What do you want to do? (You have 3 Actions)

>Help your dad in the rice fields.
>Help your mom with chores.
>Help take care of your siblings.
>Ask questions about cultivating.
>Teach yourself how to cultivate.
>Try to meditate down in the well.
>Hang out with Bai.
>Explore your village.

>>6063477
>Help my dad in the rice fields.
I will help with the harvest.
>Hang out with Bai.
Bai is surely also helping with the harvest festival, I will try to befriend him and tell him about the things I've found in the village, especially about the well.
>Try to meditate down in the well like a true thickheaded fool (傻子).
I will rope Bai into helping me. What could go wrong?

>>6063477
>Help your dad in the rice fields.
>Try to meditate down in the well.
>Hang out with Bai.

>>6063477
>Help your dad in the rice fields.
Put in twice the effort. Ask your dad questions about rice when you can so you don't starve and actually learn something.
>>Help your mom with chores.
Dry sundries. Food storage. Cleaning. Homeroom stuff.
>Hang out with Bai
You need time to learn and cultivate so you need work to feed your self. Being a carpenter is better than Rice farming.
Learn and play with Bai.

What is that? A Worse-than-Normal cultivator quest? I'll watch this with great interest.

>>6063777
>>6063803
>>6063854
You need to help your dad in the rice fields even more than before. Luckily, everyone is pitching in! This should be easy. Then again, this is your first real rice harvest. Maybe you don't know what you're getting into.

Bai is the only boy outside of your family that you know and he doesn't farm rice. Maybe his different point of view could be useful. Even if it doesn't, maybe he could become your friend.

The well is something completely different from the rice field you're used to meditating in. If you could somehow get down there, you might find something new! A change of scenery could just be exactly what you need! The only problem is getting down there and getting back out...

>ROLL
>1d100+10 to harvest! +10 (Harvest Time)
>1d100 to befriend Bai!
>1d100 to meditate in the well!

Rolled 46 + 10 (1d100 + 10)

>>6063875
I will harvest harder, better, faster, stronger.

Rolled 67 (1d100)

>>6063875

Rolled 79 (1d100)

>>6063875
Maybe the reason we are failing so much at cultivating is because we are shortsighted and complacent, like a frog in the well. It takes ten years to cultivate wood but a hundred years to cultivate a man.

File: 1709056306705844.png (2.15 MB, 1112x818)

2.15 MB PNG

>>6063891
It's a disaster.

>>6063895
Might not be. With the well bonus + the decreasing DC each turn + friendship GETS everything's fine.

Rolled 49 (1d100)

>>6063875

>>6063877
>Rice Harvesting DC: 60 > 56
>Slight Failure!
>>6063890
>Befriending Bai DC: 40 < 67
>Average Success!
>>6063891
>Well Meditating DC: 80 > 79
>Slight Failure!

You work in the rice fields like everyone else but when you get the chance, you slip away to focus on cultivating. You think you’re sneaky but your dad notices. Your dad is disappointed in you. “I barely saw you out in the rice fields. If you keep slacking off, your little brothers Meng and Guo will go hungry! Do you want that? You need to take your responsibilities more seriously, boy!”

Luckily, there was a big harvest this year. Your family won’t be going hungry this winter. Your dad isn’t as hard on you as he might’ve been otherwise.

You spend a lot of time hanging out with Bai. You talk about how you want to be a cultivator and he confesses that he dreams of moving to one of the cities so that he can sell carvings there and make his family rich. You played tag a couple of times and he showed you his stacking blocks. You think that makes you friends!

You manage to convince Bai to help you sneak down the well. He isn’t sure at first but you tell him you’ll use your cultivator powers to help him fulfill his dream. That convinces him. You and Bai carefully dump the water out of the well bucket, then you climb into it. You test the rope and it stays solid. Next, Bai lowers you down the well and you keep your balance in the bucket. It isn’t long before you get near the bottom, where it’s like a whole underground lake!

You tug on the rope and get Bai to stop lowering it. Now, he’s waiting. You think of the cool air surrounding you and the darkness that makes it so that you can’t see. You close your eyes and try to become one with the well. Nothing happens. You tug the rope and Bai pulls the bucket out.

You repeat this several times. Finally, sitting in the bucket, a thought crosses your mind. You need to stop thinking! This is a deep realization! It changes everything! You clear your head and think about how you aren’t thinking. You slowly enter a trance and start to lose yourself to the well, the darkness and the waters. You can almost feel it. You’re on the cusp of a great understanding. Soon…

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81 KB JPG

>>6064210
“RIBBIT!”

Huh? You lose your line of thought! No! You were so close! That stupid noise distracted you at the most important moment! Where did it even come from? You look in the waters and to your astonishment, spot a fat frog floating there. It looks at you and treads the surface.

“RIBBIT!”

A frog in a well? You sense there is deep symbolism to this but it is lost on you, because you’re only four and haven’t heard more than just one or two cultivator stories. The frog seems like it is lost down in the well, just like you. You reach down to touch it and are able to pick it up. The frog doesn’t try to escape your hands. It just croaks again.

“RIBBIT!”

Somehow, that time felt almost like it was mourning something. Strange. Very strange. You remember that Bai is expecting you to pull the rope soon. You have this frog though…

What should you do?

>Rescue the frog. You’ll carry the frog back to the surface and release it in the tall grass so it can be free.
>Leave the frog. You’ll leave the frog lost at the bottom of the well, where it was when you found it.
>Kill the frog. You’ll strangle the frog for distracting you at the most important moment of your cultivation career!
>Eat the frog. You’ll attempt to eat the frog raw, because it’s rare you get to eat something besides rice.

>>6064212
>>Rescue the frog. You’ll carry the frog back to the surface and release it in the tall grass so it can be free.
I think for a while on the implications of the frog. To act out of rash anger would not bring me closer to cultivation, so I will not kill the frog in anger. Whereas leaving it where it is would be as if I hadn't noticed it at all, and so I discard that option as well. I contemplate the morality of taking a life to feed one's self, and almost commit to eating the frog as a symbolic act of the cycle of samsara, but the mournful cry of the frog gives me pause even as I bring it to my teeth. I decided to rescue the frog. Not out of pity, but out of gratitude for having given me so much to contemplate in the future. Thank you, frog.

>>6064212
>>6064223
+1

>>6064212
>Rescue the frog. You’ll carry the frog back to the surface and release it in the tall grass so it can be free.

>>6064212
>Rescue the frog. You’ll carry the frog back to the surface and release it in the tall grass so it can be free.

Rolled 66 (1d100)

>>6064223
>>6064437
>>6064447
>>6064580
You look down at the frog in your hands and feel many things. You’re frustrated, confused, and even a little hungry, but all of these emotions pale next to one. Kindness.

This frog was trapped down in the well but now, you've found it! If you didn’t choose to cultivate here, it would have been forgotten. It would’ve been lost in the dark, scared and alone. Now, that doesn’t have to happen. Now, you can make things right.

You hold the frog close to your chest and tug on the rope. Bai is quick to help pull you up. The frog is unusually still, but croaks and jitters once the bucket starts to move.

“RIBBIT!”

You hold on tight and do your best to make sure the frog doesn’t slip out of your hands. Soon, you’ve reached the top of the well and can climb back out. Your friend is surprised. “Huh? Is that a frog?”

You aren’t sure how to explain it. “Yes. I, um, found it in the well. It was stuck down there, so I decided to rescue it.” The frog croaks in your hands, almost like it’s verifying your story.

“RIBBIT!”

Bai looks impressed. “Wow. Maybe you really are a cultivator.” You look down at the frog’s big, wide eyes. It might just be your imagination, but you think it looks grateful. “No... Not yet. But I will be! And I’ll help lots of people, just like I helped this frog!”

You walk over to the edge of the rice field and gently put the frog on the ground. “Goodbye, mister frog.” The frog hops out of your hands and looks back at you and Bai, once.

“RIBBIT!”

Then it hops through the rice and it is gone.

You have a warm feeling inside. This was a heartwarming story. Still, you and Bai agree not to tell anyone that you’ve been sneaking down inside of the well.

You don’t think your dad would be happy about that.

Time passes. It starts to snow and gets cold everywhere! There’s no work to do in the rice fields and you have enough food to eat, so you have extra time to cultivate! Your whole family is indoors and doesn’t want you spending too much time outside. Your mom warns you that you could get sick. It is currently Winter (冬天).

What do you want to do? (You have 3 Actions)

>Help your dad with firewood.
>Help your mom with chores.
>Help take care of your siblings.
>Ask questions about cultivating.
>Teach yourself how to cultivate.
>Spend time with your family.
>Hang out with your friend Bai.
>Explore your village.

>>6064602
>>Help take care of your siblings.
>>Ask questions about cultivating.
>>Teach yourself how to cultivate.

>>6064602
>Explore the village
Still hoping to find someone who can teach me more about cultivating.
>Teach myself how to cultivate
>Teach myself how to cultivate
Winter is a time perfectly suited for extra cultivation and contemplation of what has passed and what is to come.

>>6064616
I should offer my father a bargain. I will work twice as hard at planting and harvest, but I will take summers and winters off for my cultivation hobby, when he needs the help less. He gets more work out of me at more important times, and I get more leeway from him and he will be forced to take my cultivation more seriously.

>>6064602
>Help your mom with chores.
>Help take care of your siblings.
>Ask questions about cultivating.
Surely this works like Karate Kid where we power up by doing daily tasks?

>>6063861
It's an honour to have you participating in my quest, Normal Cultivator Quest was one of the biggest inspirations for this. That and Heretic Cultivator Quest, although this is somewhat the opposite of it, as where Huanliuxue was an intelligent cat and a supreme genius at cultivating, Chong is an average human that has no talent at cultivating. Progressing as a cultivator will take luck, persistence, and cunning, doubly so without any talent.

>>6064629
This is risky but possible to attempt. I'll wait a couple of hours for you guys to break the tie before doing another tiebreaker roll.

>>6065229
>break the tie
The option of not attempting to cultivate but instead do chores in a cultivator quest is not a valid choice. These people got lost from Chore Quest and I refuse to acknowledge their voots. The /qst/ equivalent of Single Moms and CNN viewers in a democracy.

File: 1712640019306033.jpg (81 KB, 669x680)

81 KB JPG

>>6064616
>>6064609
I'll change my voot to this if you'll meet me half way you sibling lover.
>Propose bargain to father
>Ask questions about cultivating
>Teach myself about cultivation

>>6065235
That's a fair perspective to have. Balancing your pursuit of cultivation with maintaining relations with your family and village so they don't prevent you from cultivating is important, especially this early. You don't know much about cultivation, but you do know it's only going to get harder the older you get.

>>6065243
Bargaining with your father is a free action, as it takes less than an hour to do. You could choose another, in that case.

>>6064602
>Help your mom with chores.
>Explore your village.
>Teach yourself how to cultivate.

Rolled 2 (1d4)

Tiebreaker.

>>6064609
>1
>>6064616+>>6064629
>2
>>6065110
>3
>>6065345
>4

Woke up too late, would have allied with >>6065243

Rolled 51 (1d100)

>>6064609
>>6064616
>>6064629
>>6065110
>>6065345
The rice fields don’t need any work. That leaves you free.

Free to cultivate!

You try harder than ever before. Every day and every night you spend doing your best to meditate. It’s hard with your family making noise, but it gets easier after dark. The cold winter air reminds you of the time you spent down in the well, almost.

All that’s missing is the frog.

You wander around the village when you can get out of the house. There are very few people out in the snow. You don’t see your friend Bai. He must be busy carving wood. His family’s work doesn’t stop when it gets cold. It would be hard to cultivate in his shoes.

Then again, maybe you can meditate while you’re carving wood? It might be easier than farming rice. You have to take the lot you’re given.

You think about your dad. He’s been angry and disappointed with you lately, because you haven’t farmed rice as much as he wants. Or as much as the family needs. You care about your family and the rice, but cultivating is very important to you!

Your dad doesn’t need to be mad about this. If you can become a cultivator, you can farm more rice than you ever could before! You just have to explain that to your dad. Maybe you can work out a deal? You’ll spend all spring and all autumn in the rice fields if he lets you spend summer and winter cultivating.

That sounds fair. It should work, right?

You do your best.

>ROLL
>1d100 to teach yourself how to cultivate!
>1d100 to explore your village!
>1d100 to bargain with your dad!

Rolled 45 (1d100)

Rolled 88 (1d100)

>>6065391
Exploring village

Rolled 35 (1d100)

>>6065391
To bargain with dad.

>>6065393
>Teaching Cultivation DC: 40 < 45
>Slight Success!
>>6065398
>Village Exploration DC: 60 < 88
>Average Success!
>>6065399
>Fatherly Bargain DC: 80 > 35
>Severe Failure!

You decide that it is probably best to save bargaining with your father until the end of the winter. Just in case it goes badly.

In the meantime, you meditate as much as you possibly can. You spend hours in the cold of the snow and by the warmth of the hearth with your legs crossed and eyes closed. Wherever you are, you are meditating. You do your best to stop thinking and start contemplating.

There are so many distractions…

Your dad is always worrying about the rice fields…

Your mom is always busy with chores in the house…

Meng and Guo are both noisy and don’t know better…

You don’t even know the first thing about cultivating properly! You suddenly realize that you’re doing this all wrong. You don’t need to think about cultivating, you need to DO cultivating!

From there, it’s like lightning from a cloudy sky. The inspiration has been gathering over the last several seasons, but now, you can finally understand it! Don’t think, do! You mediate…

You don’t stop meditating. Your mind slips out of your body but stays inside of it. You can sense a strange, faint presence deep inside of you. This must be qi! You focus as hard as you can, reaching in, and touch it. The qi wavers under your will. You have entered into your first deep trance.

You aren’t sure when your next one will be, but it will be easier now that you’ve done it once. There is only a tiny amount of qi, sitting in your guts. You think it's like a liquid and solid at the same time, but not either of those things. It is pure potential.

Qi (齊).

You don’t even know how to use it, or what to use it for…

What should you do?

>Fuse the qi with your intestines.
>Make the qi flow faster in your veins.
>Try to pull more qi in from outside.
>Don’t disturb the qi, study it instead.

>>6065418
>>Try to pull more qi in from outside.

I might be biased about my own setting. But before using our Qi we must gather it, as is well known in cultivation.

The first option is either a recipe for disaster or a way to anchor a dantian. I'd be wary of doing that unprompted by a master.
The second option looks like body tempering.
The fourth is the safest.

>>6065418
>>Try to pull more qi in from outside.

>>6065418
>Make the qi flow faster in your veins.
I don't know much about Qi, but I don't want to lose this feeling, this control. I focus on the Qi I have already, and move it this way and that through my veins. From my stomach, up into my arm, back into my lungs, then into my head. Is this *doing* cultivation? I want to move it down into my legs, and see if I can move faster or jump higher. Really *do* something with this energy.

>>6065427
>>6065450
>>6065454
This isn't enough qi. You sense that you need more, and where else could you get it than outside? You widen your focus and reach beyond your body.

It is amazing.

You are surrounded by qi- in the wood of your house, snow by your legs, dirt beneath, and the sky above. It's like you're seeing everything for the first time. This whole world is made of qi. No, it is full of qi. Your body naturally pulls it in to fuel... something. Your growth? Your life? You focus on that natural impulse.

You need more qi. More qi... More qi... The meditation trance is deep, but it is not deep enough. You are still a boy and have no finesse, no skill. You are like a drunken monkey in a market stall, grabbing at everything you can see. Some qi trickles in, duller than your inner part, and mixes with it. You shift your focus back inside and look at your belly. The qi there is melting together, becoming shinier, on a scale much too long for you to hold your focus. The trance ends.

Your eyes snap open and you gasp. This was like nothing you'd ever felt. That was cultivating. You aren't sure what you did. You just know that you need to do more.

>>6065847
No matter how hard you try, you can't get into the trance again that day or that night. You wander around the village, meditating in different places, trying to get the same feeling back. A couple of times, you succeed and repeat yourself. Pulling in more qi. Your inner store of qi gets a little bigger every time. You would've done this for the rest of winter if you didn't have a fortuitous encounter...

You were trying to meditate by the well, but kept failing because the snow's chill distracted you! You can't meditate inside, because your family distracts you! It made you angry! You stood and shouted, kicking the cobblestones! A gruff, dry voice interrupted you. "What do you think you're doing, boy?"

You don't think! You turn and shout! "I'm trying to cultivate!" There's a tall man standing there, leaning on a stick! He's old, even older than your father, and his skin is leathery, like it's been sunburnt for years. He considers your words, then laughs. "HA! Don't you know that's a waste of time?" You shake your head. "It's not! It isn't!" The old man stares you down. "LIAR! Rice, rice is a good use of time! Listen to your father, junior, he's wiser than you."

That makes you even angrier! "I don't care about rice! I want to be strong!" That gets a smile from the stranger. Most of his teeth are missing and the few that are left are yellow. "GOOD! No cultivator ever got their start listening to a wise man's advice!" You're confused. "Huh?"

The elder crouches down, digging his stick down into the snow. His watery eyes stare deep, deep into yours. They move down to look at your stomach. "GOOD!" He pokes your belly and squints. "You've already got a start!" You aren't sure what to think as he stands back up and stretches, cracking his shoulders.

"What- what do you mean, old man?" You try not to stare too much at his gums as he snaps back. "That's Grandfather Shun to you, junior!" His stare is intense, almost terrifying, as he answers your question. "It MEANS we can get started right now!" You are dazed.

"Started on what?" The elder guffaws. "HAH! Are you dumb boy, or just deaf? Cultivating!" This is all happening so quickly. "H-How?" Shun slaps his knee. "HAHAHA! I have to SHOW you! Follow me." You stammer. "W-Where?" The old man glares at the sun. "Somewhere better than this! The Feng Shui out here is dogshit!" You collect your thoughts. "Why?"

Shun smacks the side of your leg with his stick! Ouch! "Because you remind me of ME, boy, now move!" You don't ask any questions and follow him as he hobbles to a shack at the far end of the village, farther than you've ever gone before. He ushers you in through the rickety door and latches it shut. There's an anvil here, and a whole pile of tools next to a few lumps of iron. The only other furniture is a straw mat. The air is thick and heavy.

>>6065850
"START meditating! Don't waste any time!" You close your eyes, cross your legs, and try to focus. Something about this shack is different. You find yourself shifting into the trance almost as easily as before! A few minutes of silence go by, and you start to open one of your eyes. Shun shouts, almost sounding like your dad when he gets angry. "DON'T stop!" You scrunch your eyes and try to meditate harder.

You've begun to sweat from the heat. You don't know how much time goes by. Shun snaps you out of it. "That's ENOUGH! Your qi is balanced. There's a mostly even proportion of the five elements. That's good, very good. It means you can go any direction." You think that's good? "Oh?" The old man nods. "Yes, OH! Now you start your first lesson, because you aren't going anywhere like THAT!"

"There are two techniques a boy your age is suitable for. Simple Breath Regulation (簡單的呼吸調節) and Redhot Liver Furnace (紅熱肝爐). You need to pick one and stick with it! Your qi flow is too weak to go splitting it!" You wipe the sweat from your forehead and ask another question. "Um, what's the difference?"

Shun makes an ugly grin. "FINALLY, a good question!" He begins to explain. "Simple Breath Regulation (簡單的呼吸調節) is the most basic of the basics- everyone who's anyone knows it. It conditions your mind and lungs to pull in qi and absorb it faster. It's basic for a reason. It is a solid foundation that leaves you well-rounded and flexible for anywhere you want to go. It's also boring and no surprise to anyone!"

He holds up a finger to shush you before you can ask another question. "Redhot Liver Furnace (紅熱肝爐) is a rarity, a wildman once taught it to me at swordpoint. It teaches you to heat up your liver and melt your qi inside to make dense, strong metal qi! If you get a supply of metal qi early, you can get a headstart on the heavier refining techniques. That is a long, hard road. Best to start walking it as soon as you can."

"The choice is yours." Shun gets a wistful expression on his face. "Or, if you think you can do better, walk right through that door and forget all about your poor old Grandfather. That's what I did, long ago, and it was a whole HEAP of trouble! HAHAHA!"

What do want to learn?

>Simple Breath Regulation (簡單的呼吸調節): He did say everyone knows it, and sounds a lot like it would make it easier to do what you've already been doing.
>Redhot Liver Furnace (紅熱肝爐): Heating up your liver to make metal qi? Heavy refining techniques? The possibilities are too intriguing to ignore!
>Neither (兩者都不): This "Grandfather" Shun man is crazy and you need to get out of here! Who knows what he has planned!?

>>6065853
>>Redhot Liver Furnace (紅熱肝爐): Heating up your liver to make metal qi? Heavy refining techniques? The possibilities are too intriguing to ignore!

I'm curious of the metal road.

>>6065853
Also, solid update. This deserve another (You)

>>6065853
>Redhot Liver Furnace (紅熱肝爐): Heating up your liver to make metal qi? Heavy refining techniques? The possibilities are too intriguing to ignore!
We're not in a sect with anyone else's advice to follow, so we don't need to do the normal thing!
Besides, we can always learn eventually...
Will be following your quest, OP!

>>Redhot Liver Furnace (紅熱肝爐): Heating up your liver to make metal qi? Heavy refining techniques? The possibilities are too intriguing to ignore!

If you want power you always take the hard way

>>6065853
Redhot

>>6065890
>>6065895
>>6066052
>>6066055
>>6066060
You don't hesitate for a second. "I want to learn the Redhot Liver Furnace (紅熱肝爐)!" The old man Shun thumps his stick in the ground with a wild shout. "HAAA! Then your Grandfather will teach his junior, right here, right now, boy!"

He pokes you in the stomach, a little to the side from before. "Start meditating! Focus on your innards!" You obey and get into a trance, even quicker than you just did! His voice echoes, almost distant, as he pokes and prods your belly, pointing out the specific location. "See that big fat organ there, boy? The one with all of that blood flowing through it?"

You're too busy meditating to respond but you do. Either Shun picks up on that or assumes you did, because he continues. "That is your LIVER! Focus on it! Move your qi to its inner lining and think of a metal pot holding boiling water. Think HARD, and don't listen to my voice! Listen to your GUT!" You do your best to cooperate, as he explains. "If you want to master the Redhot Liver Furnace, you'll do it with FIRE!"

It takes all of your focus to shift the qi you've gathered to your liver over the course of an hour. You can hear Shun muttering to himself, then he speaks up. "Make a thin sheet of your qi, focused near the back. Now, melt it INTO your liver! One drop at a time!" Melt it into your liver? That sounds a little extreme...

Your teacher grumbles. "Yes, INTO your liver! No more than a drop! You aren't ready for more. The pain will test your resolve. It will also hurt much less than trying to burn your liver without the extra inside layer!" You think back to the frog in the well. The frog needed saving from someone else. You don't want to be weak.

You want to be strong, for everyone that depends on you.

You grit your teeth and start to liquidate the qi.

>Roll 1d100+15 to train the Redhot Liver Furnace (紅熱肝爐)! +10 (Instructor), +5 (Basic (Metal) Feng Shui)

Rolled 42 + 15 (1d100 + 15)

>>6066076
Nat 1

>>6066084
>Redhot Liver Furnace DC: 70 > 57
>Average Failure!

You do your best, but it BURNS! You get a single drop to melt, then snap out of the trance and go to scream! Shun moves quickly and muffles your mouth! "The road isn't easy, junior. We don't want these rice farmers interfering with your progress, do we?" No... No, you don't. You shake your head, and he releases his grip.

You sag and hold your gut, already out of breath. That is the most painful thing you've ever felt, and it still burns! The old man looks at you with sympathy and pulls out a rag out of his tool pile. He hands it to you. "Bite down on this. It will make it easier, boy." You think. You still have hundreds of drops to go. Is it really worth it?

Of course it is. You bite down hard, and try again. The pain is just as extreme! You snap out of meditation and begin to weep. Shun watches from the other side of the shack with a stern look. You think of your days spent in the rice fields. Are a few minutes that much more extreme? You don't know. You just know that you want to cultivate.

You try again, and the old man stops you. "That's enough for today. Go back home. Rest. THINK. If you still want to walk the road, come back tomorrow." It hurts that you haven't made any progress, but you agree. He asks as you reach the door. "What's your name, boy?" You rub the tears from your eyes. "It's Chong." Shun answers you with no words at all. "Hmmph."

You leave the old man in his shack. It's been over two full hours. You manage to compose yourself and convince your mom that you weren't doing anything bad. It's vague but it works.

The very next day, you're back. Shun greets you with a smile and continues his instructions. He tells you that you should meditate to gather qi in the morning and evening so that your body's natural processes can purify it for building the Redhot Liver Furnace. You agree and do your best. You aren't able to cover your whole liver over the winter season but you get almost half, and feel like your tolerance for pain is increasing.

You try to make your bargain with your dad on the day that you turn five, just before the new year celebration. You try to word your argument as reasonably as possible. It doesn't work. Your dad gets mad, really mad!

>>6066111
"Enough is enough! We are a rice farming family, Chong, not a martial sect! I won't tolerate you rebelling against my authority as your father!" He forces you to go out and find a switchcane. When you bring it back, he uses it to spank you. It doesn't hurt nearly as bad as the Redhot Liver Furnace, but it makes you cry. When your dad is done, he embraces you and holds you close. "I do this because I love you, Chong. Stop this cultivation nonsense! It will only lead to you misery and bring grief to our family. I want you to take our rice farming more seriously from now on. Okay?"

You sniffle and nod. "Okay."

Secretly, you plan to continue cultivating, but you don't want to disappoint your dad or cause your family to starve. You are torn inside. Is this what being a cultivator is like?

Time passes. The world gets green again, and you know what that means. It's planting season. Your dad wants you to work harder than ever, but you want to continue cultivating. You also know that Shun is a lonely old man. Maybe he could use some help around his shack? There's your friend, Bai, too, and the rest of your family. Life is complicated.

You think you've found everything there is to find in your village. You still haven't checked the wilderness outside, but everyone says that is dangerous.

It is currently Spring (春天).

What do you want to do? (You have 3 Actions)

>Help your dad in the rice fields.
>Help your mom with chores.
>Help take care of your siblings.
>Help Shun with his shack.
>Focus on gathering more qi.
>Ask questions about cultivating.
>Learn the Redhot Liver Furnace (紅熱肝爐).
>Hang out with your friend Bai.
>Explore the wilderness.

Rolled 35 (1d100)

>>6066112

>>6066112
>Help your dad in the rice fields.
>Focus on gathering more qi.
>Learn the Redhot Liver Furnace (紅熱肝爐).

>>6066112
>Help your dad in the rice fields.
>Focus on gathering more Qi.
>Learn the Redhot Liver Furnace (紅熱肝爐).
If dad doesn't want more help at planting then he will not get more help at planting and harvest. I will do the bare minimum, as this is what he agreed to when he rejected my proposal.

>>6066112
>Help your dad in the rice fields.
>Help Shun with his shack.
>Learn the Redhot Liver Furnace (紅熱肝爐).

>>6066112
>Help your dad in the rice fields.
>Focus on gathering more qi.
>Learn the Redhot Liver Furnace (紅熱肝爐).

>>6066112
>>Help your dad in the rice fields.
>Help Shun with his shack.
>Learn the Redhot Liver Furnace (紅熱肝爐).

>>6066112
>Help your dad in the rice fields.
No way around it.
>Hang out with your friend Bai.
Life experience makes the cultivator, doesn't it? He may have extra insight on how to resist pain, considering that woodcutting is rife with splinters and cuts.
>Help Shun with his shack.
Let's improve the Feng Shui before trying again.

>>6066112
>>Help your dad in the rice fields.
>Help your dad in the rice fields.
>Learn the Redhot Liver Furnace (紅熱肝爐).
We can keep to cultivating in the winter and summer, where there's less work to do.

>>6066112
>Help your dad in the rice fields.
>Help Shun with his shack.
>Learn the Redhot Liver Furnace (紅熱肝爐).

>>6066115
>>6066144
>>6066153
>>6066269
>>6066296
>>6066548
>>6066606
>>6066660
You need to help your dad in the rice fields so your family has food for winter, but he spanked you and rejected your bargain, so you're upset with him. You don't want to do any more than you have to. Still, your father says it is drier than it should be. This may be a bad year.

Grandfather Shun is a lonely old man and has a lot of tools lying around. You think he could use some help and he is teaching you to cultivate for free. It's only fair to help him out, right?

In the meantime, you focus on learning the Redhot Liver Furnace. The technique is extremely painful but you take it one drop at a time. The old man watches you closely and gives you pointers when you need them. If it wasn't for his help and the Feng Shui of his shack, you don't think you would be doing nearly as well.

You are grateful.

>ROLL
>1d100 to cultivate (rice)!
>1d100 to help Shun!
>1d100 to train the Redhot Liver Furnace (紅熱肝爐)! +10 (Instructor), +5 (Basic (Metal) Feng Shui)

Rolled 60 (1d100)

>>6066710
I will cultivate (rice!)

Rolled 4 (1d100)

>>6066710
Rolling for Shun

Rolled 97 + 15 (1d100 + 15)

>>6066710
Cultivation...

>>6066710
Man I forgot how brutal solo 1d100s are.
Least we did well on cultivation

Nice rolls guys.
We might have broke the forge though.

>>6066721
>Rice Farming DC: 60 = 60
>Exact Success!
>>6066734
>Helping Shun DC: 40 > 4
>Deathly Failure!
>>6066748
>Redhot Liver Furnace DC: 60 < 112
>Heavenly Success!

You are frustrated with your dad. Very, very frustrated. So frustrated, in-fact, that you decide to do the bare minimum amount of rice farming.

You aren't happy with slacking off. You want to do the exact bare minimum. That takes study. You go out in the rice fields and work like your dad wants you to, but you are studying everything around you. The rice, the rice farmers, and every step of the rice planting and watering process.

You take it all in and then, you begin to understand. You instinctively sense the exact minimum amount of work you can do. Not close to it, but the exact. You waste time thinking about how strange this is when you can be thinking about rice and the exact least amount of it you can plant and water.

You do the exact least amount possible without angering your father. Only when it's over do you realize how strange this is. You now have a more serious comprehension of rice, and what it means to farm rice or be a rice farmer. Your skills are no better than any five year old boy's but your comprehension of the meaning behind them is far greater. You have no idea what this means.

You simply know deep in your heart that it is true. In a way, your dad is to thank for this. You aren't frustrated with him anymore.

You spend your nights and your rest days training the Redhot Liver Furnace. Every time you're free to meditate, you're gathering qi and melting a drop of it into your liver. For the first few dozen times, the pain was extreme, but at some point you realized you don't care. The pain is all in your mind.

You control your mind and you want to practice the Redhot Liver Furnace. The pain doesn't matter. It is the cost of becoming stronger. Once you realize this, you don't need the rag any more. You simply do it and stomach the pain like water sliding off of a roof. It still HURTS like crazy, though!

>>6066790
By the time planting season has come to an end, you've finished learning the Redhot Liver Furnace! The inside of your liver is now like flexible iron! Grandfather Shun is delighted. "HAH! Well done, boy! You've mastered the Redhot Liver Furnace (紅熱肝爐)! Even faster than I did, and at a much younger age!"

He thumps his stick into the floor and smacks you in the gut. You don't even flinch. You just grin. Both of you are smiling now. "You're ready for the next step! Let this old Grandfather show his junior how it's done..." Under his teaching, you learn how to circulate qi into your liver and then, how to heat it up until it's on fire! The flames should burn a hole in your body but thanks to your liver furnace, you are able to keep the flame trapped until it burns out. What's left is qi even purer than before.

Even sensing it, you know exactly what makes this qi different.

Pure Metal (純金屬).

This is an enormous step forward for your cultivation. Now, every drop of qi you take in is burned and refined into metal. You can't wait to see what you'll learn next.

When you aren't in the rice fields or meditating, you do everything you can to help Grandfather Shun. You quickly learn what he does for a living. He's a blacksmith that turns lumps of iron into tools! The elder shows you his real furnace, which was around the backside of the shack. Here, he melts the iron, again and again, until it's pure and makes for the best tools possible. Just like you're doing with your liver!

You're too young and weak to help with the forging process yourself, but Grandfather Shun is happy to have your help! The old man sends you on errands to fetch broken tools so that he can repair them, and then has you watch as he works. It's mesmerizing. It's much more interesting than rice farming. Maybe one day, you can learn to swing a hammer like Grandfather Shun!

Late one afternoon, you'd finished running an errand for Grandfather Shun and were walking back home from his shack when a man you didn't know but had sometimes seen in the rice fields stopped you. "What are you doing around that snake's den, boy?"

You were caught by surprise. "What do you mean? Old man Shun's house?" The look on his face was alarmed, and he stared at the shack like it was a horrible place. "Yes! You don't know the story?" The story? You've never heard of any story! You can't hide the curiosity in your voice. "What story?"

The man's face sinks. "Oh, of course you wouldn't have heard. It's too dreadful for a boy your age..." Now you have to know! You insist on it and grab his shirt. "Tell me! Tell me!" He swallows and shakes his head. "Not here, I-" You tug his shirt harder, and beg. "Please mister!" The stranger can't resist and sighs in resignation. "Fine, but you can't tell anyone I told you, okay?"

>>6066791
You shake your head feverishly. "I won't, I won't!" He starts to tell you the story. "Alright. They used to call him monster Shun, the Butcher of Clear Lilly Valley (清莉莉谷屠夫). Many years ago, he was one of those wandering cultivators, a strong one. He followed the Dao of Metal and practiced insane, torturous techniques to become even slightly stronger. His greed was infamous and he had no shame under Heaven."

"He refused to join any sect and roamed the land, demanding metals to fuel his methods. Iron, gold, everything! If a man wouldn't submit, he would crush them with his hammer! This went on for years and the people lived in terror. It finally came to a head when a small town in the Clear Lilly Valley (清除莉莉谷) chose to bar their gates to him, so he broke them open and killed everyone inside! Man, woman, and child, he crushed them all!" You are stunned, but he doesn't stop there.

"All of the metals there only made him stronger. He became a serious threat to the realm and gathered a whole gang of devilhearted men under him! They called themselves the Five-Blow Bandits (五擊盜賊) because they liked to kill a man in five blows, one to break each hand and foot, and then one to the head! They terrorized the roads and villages, until finally the sects couldn't ignore it anymore. The rulers of this land, the Green Hornet Temple (青蜂俠廟) marked him for death. A rising master of theirs, Lian Zhihao, who they say could balance on a string of silk in a thunderstorm, confronted Shun in the ruins of the town he destroyed. They say they fought for hours and the earth shook, but Zhihao defeated the monster through a clever trick."

"In an act of mercy, he chose to spare Shun and shattered his dantian to cripple his cultivation instead of killing him. He banished Shun to live among the same people he stole from and swore under Heaven that if he ever killed again, his sect would find and torture him with poisons for one hundred days and one hundred nights." You are at a loss for words. "You mean... that old man Shun is that monster Shun? That he did all of those things to all of those people?"

The man grabs your shoulder to emphasize his point. "Yes, Shun was a monster! And he's still dangerous! He's beneath the notice of the sects but he's still a terrible beast, and his house is nowhere for a young boy to be!" He shakes you out of your daze. "Do you understand, boy?" You nod your head up and down. "Y-Yes..." He lets you go. "Then get out of here, and go back to your father!"

>>6066792
You run away from the stranger and Shun's shack but you don't go back home. Instead, you run into the rice fields and weep. You don't know what to think. You try to tell yourself that this isn't true but you have a feeling deep inside that you can't ignore. You can't deny it. Not one word of it was a lie. Grandfather Shun... really was a terror to the land. He robbed and murdered countless innocent rice farmers, just like your father, and only stopped because a strong sect cultivator defeated him and crippled his cultivation.

This is horrible.

A cold and icy feeling, like the fingers of Death himself, wraps around your heart. Was Shun just training you to become like he was? Did he just want to make you into a monster like him? No, it can't be! Tears flow like rivers down your cheeks. The pain inside hurts more than the Redhot Liver Furnace ever could.

You have to do something. You can't just stay here like this!

>Confront old man Shun. Demand that he tell you the truth, in his own words!
>Confess everything to your father. You went too far and shouldn't have gone behind his back!
>Break things off with Shun. You'll learn to cultivate on your own, without his influence!
>Run away from the village. This is all too much to endure! You have to get away!

>>6066794
>Confront old man Shun. Demand that he tell you the truth, in his own words

>>6066794
>Confront old man Shun. Demand that he tell you the truth, in his own words!
That happened a long time ago, right? Perhaps Shun isn't as bad as he used to be...

>>6066794
>Run away from the village. Opportunity lies elsewhere.

>>6066794
>Run away from the village.
I promised not to tell where I heard the story, but I can't just forget all the things I heard. If I confront Shun or tell my father, eventually the truth will come out and I will have made a liar of myself. I will leave the village.

>>6066794
>Run away from the village. This is all too much to endure! You have to get away!

>>6066794
>Confront old man Shun. Demand that he tell you the truth, in his own words!

>>6066794
>Confront old man Shun. Demand that he tell you the truth, in his own words!

>>6066790
>Exact success
kek. Nice mechanic.

>>6066794
>Confront old man Shun. Demand that he tell you the truth, in his own words!
He might had a redemption.
He might teach a youngling for protection from guys like him attacking village in the future.

>>6066806
>>6066817
>>6066830
>>6066866
>>6066867
>>6066938
>>6067008
>>6067016
This is too much to endure. You turn and run as fast as you can, to the farthest rice paddy in the village. Beyond that is the wilderness, rolling hills and grassy fields as far as you can see. You stop just before setting foot beyond the boundary. You can’t leave everything behind.

You need to know the truth. You turn and look to the direction of your family’s house. If you told your dad, he might understand. He would try to help you through this, but you can’t go to your family. Your family would view this as proof that cultivating is dangerous and can’t be allowed. If you want answers, there is only one person you can ask questions to.

OLD MAN SHUN!

You run toward his shack. Your legs and lungs are burning from how much running you’ve been doing but you’ll worry about that later. This is much more important. You reach the door and don’t hesitate, not even for one second. You step inside and find Shun sitting cross-legged, examining a coal in his tongs.

“Is it true? Tell me! Are you really the Butcher of Clear Lilly Valley? Did you really kill all of those people?”

The elder clenches his tong, shattering the coal into a hundred pieces. There’s a long moment of silence as the air gets heavier. The tension breaks when he sighs.

“Junior is curious… This Grandfather hoped it would be longer before you heard those old stories. It seems it wasn’t meant to be. You deserve to know the truth, Chong.” The old man sets the tongs to the side and looks you in the eye. His stare is that of a broken man.

“Yes. I was and I did. I didn’t feel any guilt, then. I still don’t today. That is the way of the world. The weak try to become strong enough to reach new heights; the strong punish them for daring to climb the old mountain. Let me explain. I was born the son of a lazy drunkard in a city far away. Less than nothing. I saw the cultivators above and knew I wanted to become like them. I wanted to be strong so I would never be looked down on again.”

>>6067390
“I was too poor to receive any instructions or education. I had no bloodline, talents, or connections that could get me into a sect. All I had was myself, so I abandoned my father and taught myself. I found certainty in iron, so I stole iron wherever I could find it and made it part of myself. I fused metal qi with my body. I became stronger. The city was too large for me, so I left.”

“I wandered the land and taught myself all that I knew. The pain was incredible but so was the strength! I fought others like me and won. I learned deeper secrets of metal and sideways tricks. My need for metal grew higher. I was too poor to buy any and nobody under the sects would dare pay a loose cultivator for work, but I was strong enough to take it from them. So I did!”

“I was angry at the world for rejecting my desire to cultivate. I was strong enough to punish it, so I did! The things I did in the Clear Lilly Valley were not fair, but this world is not fair, boy! I robbed and killed and cultivated without shame. That was my greatest crime. Cultivating!”

The old man’s fury rises until he has closed his eyes and is spitting venom.

“I had become so strong the sects could not ignore me! I had reached the end of the Foundation Establishment stage. A half-step from achieving a Golden Core. I gathered a band of others like me, who wanted to be strong. We were strong together! The Green Hornet Temple heard of my rise and sent a messenger to give me their ultimatum. Join their sect and teach them all that I knew, or be executed for cultivating without the permission of their elders! I had killed so many that my hammer was red! They did not care! They only cared that I had become strong without them!”

“Arrogance was their crime! I only sought to match them, blow-for-blow! I rejected their messenger. I let him live, because the law of hospitality is sacred. I knew they would come for me, so I scattered my men and told them to find me if I won or flee if I lost. I went to the ruins I made. Then they hunted me. Lian Zhihao and the clever brothers, Xie Bo and Xie Da. The stories don’t mention them, because it was a dirty trick.”

>>6067391
“Zhihao challenged me to a duel and I accepted. We fought then. He poisoned me but my blood burned too hot! It burned to ash, and then the ash burned to tar and I spit it out. His needles couldn’t pierce my skin. His jian was too dull to kill me. I knew I needed only one blow to end it, so I threw everything I had into striking him. I won! Zhihao laid at my feet. I raised my hammer to end him, then Xie Bo and Xie Da rushed in and stabbed me in the back!”

“Their poisons were fireproof. I realized that I had been tricked. Zhihao laughed and released a cloud of jade hornets from his robes. Their sect’s signature technique! I was outnumbered and outfought. They defeated me. Zhihao was cruel. He said that I was too low to be offended by and had no business interfering with future immortals, so he shattered my dantian to “correct my mistake”… My only mistake was that I crushed his ribs instead of his skull!”

“They called it an act of mercy and let me live. So I have lived, with no hope of strength and no hope of pride. I wandered until I found a village that would not banish me. I made a forge and lived smithing surrounded by the metal that I loved. I waited to die and enter the cycle of reincarnation, to be punished for my crimes in the next life.”

The failed cultivator calms down and looks at you, more serious than the grave.

“Then I saw you, boy, and I realized that you were like myself. You wanted to be strong.” You want to protest but he raises his hand. “The reasons don’t matter to the sects. Only the results. They don’t matter to me, either. I want to teach you the lessons I had to learn the hard way. I want you to learn the hardest lesson, that strength comes from hard work! Not any technique, not any bloodline, not any pills!”

“I want you to make yourself strong! To go out on your own and do great things for your own reasons, and prove to the Green Hornet Temple that it was a mistake to let me live! That is the greatest revenge of all: Leaving behind a strong legacy!”

Shun frowns and puts his hands on his knees. “You are a good boy, Chong. I can see it in your eyes. I am not a good man or a good teacher, I’ve never taught another soul, but I will teach you what I can. I’ll teach you to become strong enough that you can start learning your own lessons. If you can’t tolerate my past, I swear under Heaven that I will hold no grudge and you and your family will never hear from me again. Everyone has the right to choose their own road. I believed that from the moment I first drew breath and I will believe it in whatever comes after death.”

This is a horrible revelation. You feel sick to your stomach. Now, nothing else is hidden.

You have to make a choice.

>Take a seat on the floor. You will learn from Shun and build the beginnings of your foundation under him.
>Walk through the door. You will find your own path to cultivation, one that hasn’t been stained with blood.

>>6067392
>>Take a seat on the floor. You will learn from Shun and build the beginnings of your foundation under him.

>>6067392
>Take a seat on the floor. You will learn from Shun and build the beginnings of your foundation under him.

Fuck the sects

>>6067392
>Take a seat on the floor. You will learn from Shun and build the beginnings of your foundation under him.
That was a good speech

>>6067392
>Take a seat on the floor. You will learn from Shun and build the beginnings of your foundation under him.
Shun still has more to teach me. What is a Golden Core? The name alone tantalizes me. In the end, I am a Thickheaded Fool, and must walk the path of the Thickheaded Fool. I will eschew wisdom and pursue Cultivation instead.

>>6067392
>>Take a seat on the floor. You will learn from Shun and build the beginnings of your foundation under him.
I won't be like you. I'll be better.
(meaning in both cultivation and also morally)

>>6067392
>Take a seat on the floor. You will learn from Shun and build the beginnings of your foundation under him.
>"Master I shall learn. And hold my head up high! You have done evil things but I shall right your wrongs! This is a mans promise!"

>>6067397
>>6067412
>>6067431
>>6067448
>>6067457
>>6067474
You are moved by his story. It fills you with anger and sadness, anger at these dishonourable actions and sadness for those who suffered them, but most of all, determination, the determination to defy the sects that oppress those who cultivate beyond their reach and the old man in front of you, who openly feels no remorse!

Shun sees the fire in your eyes and his stare lightens, like a leper lost in the desert that sees a stormcloud gathering.

You take a seat on the floor and speak with iron conviction. "Master I shall learn. And hold my head up high! You have done evil things but I shall right your wrongs! This is a man’s promise!"

The elder listens intently, then replies viciously. “You have a thousand leagues to go before you can match me at my height, boy!”

You speak quietly, but the words are more intense than if you’d shouted them at the top of your lungs. “I won’t be like you. I’ll be better.”

Shun thumps his stick into the ground so hard that it shatters!

“HAAA! That is the FIRE to warm this old man’s heart! Never forget! You must be strong or you must be nothing! Walk the road of struggle you’ve chosen and never look back!”

“NEVER!” The word echoes from both of your mouths at the same time, and neither of you can be sure which spoke first.

Shun… Grandfather Shun calms down. “Then your lessons continue, boy. I’m pleased to see the Redhot Liver Furnace is in flawless condition. Excellent work. This will give you a rich supply of metal qi for the trials that are to come. You must expand your foundation.”

>>6067646
“There are four techniques that this Grandfather can teach. These are Simple Breath Regulation (簡單的呼吸調節), which you have already heard, the Silent Dusk Shroud (寂寞夕寿衣), Gentle Sunrise Over Burnt Timbers (和暹上面死灰木料), and the Inner Hammer Beating Inner Hammer (衷榔头殴伤衷狼头).”

You listen carefully as he explains.

“The Silent Dusk Shroud (寂寞夕寿衣) is not a foundation technique, but it is easily learned and will make enduring refining easier. I taught myself a technique similar to it but learned of this superior method on a scroll. It is simple. It deadens your body so that you can ignore your senses. Most cultivators would use it to endure temperatures. You will need it to cultivate your body. Otherwise, the pain would be likely to cripple or kill you at your young age. It is not foolproof, some suffering will still get through, but it will be enough to tolerate.”

“The Gentle Sunrise Over Burnt Timbers (和暹上面死灰木料) is a foundation technique, a fine one, suited to a wide variety of disciplines. I learned it from a sect adept I defeated, though I was too old to make use of it and it doesn’t suit my style. It’s a relaxing cycling method that slowly turns wood qi into fire qi and absorbs it into your dantian, amplifying your affinity for flame and enhancing overall yang energy.”

“Pursuing metal techniques through a fire foundation may seem unintuitive, but fire is needed to shape metal, and that is no less true when you embody metal.” The old man stops to think. “If you go down this route, you’ll need to burn a lot of wood. It’s only a foundation technique, so it shouldn’t take anything to maintain once you’ve mastered it.”

“Inner Hammer Beating Inner Hammer (衷榔头殴伤衷狼头) is my foundation technique, the first one that I taught myself. It is a brutal method that embeds metal qi into the soft tissue surrounding your dantian to rapidly boost its affinity for metal qi. This will make you stronger, and fast. There are only two downsides. The quick growth causes sharp pain and either more or purer metal qi is needed for future improvements. This pain gets heavier the more metal qi is poured in, and the user will eventually require whole mountains of metal.”

“This takes little finesse. Just enough strength to hurt yourself. No matter how much it would honour me to have you walk in my footsteps, I can’t encourage you to learn this. Unlike the Gentle Sunrise Over Burnt Timbers (和暹上面死灰木料), the rigours of the Inner Hammer Beating Inner Hammer (衷榔头殴伤衷狼头) are permanent. That is the cost of strength. You would be embracing torment on every step of your journey. If the Redhot Liver Furnace was too much to endure, this would destroy you.”

>>6067648
“There are two other routes which I cannot recommend. The first is that you could try to merge the Gentle Sunrise Over Burnt Timbers (和暹上面死灰木料) and Inner Hammer Beating Inner Hammer (衷榔头殴伤衷狼头) into a new technique that combines the benefits of both. The difficulty of this would be intense, but the condition of that Redhot Liver Furnace shows you might be able to manage it. The second is that you could try to create your own technique from nothing and develop your own methods. This is even more difficult than the last, but I did it, and nothing says you couldn’t.”

Grandfather Shun waits patiently for your decision.

Which technique should you learn?

>Simple Breath Regulation (簡單的呼吸調節). This is a natural second step to getting more qi to filter into metal qi, and the sooner you start, the purer it will be, with compounding benefits.
>Silent Dusk Shroud (寂寞夕寿衣). You want to become stronger and he did tell you that the quicker you learned the heavier refining techniques, the easier they would be.
>Gentle Sunrise Over Burnt Timbers (和暹上面死灰木料). If the sects think this technique is worth teaching to their adepts, it could be a fine stepping stone for future growth.
>Inner Hammer Beating Inner Hammer (衷榔头殴伤衷狼头). This is an extreme commitment but you want to become stronger and walk the road of metal, no matter what it takes.
>Merge Gentle Sunrise Over Burnt Timbers (和暹上面死灰木料) and Inner Hammer Beating Inner Hammer (衷榔头殴伤衷狼头) into a combined, hopefully superior hybrid of both.
>None, instead you’ll create your own foundation technique. You sense this would be difficult but with enough hard work, anything is possible. This is risky, because if you took too long, your foundation could be weak and fragile.

>>6067649
>Simple Breath Regulation (簡單的呼吸調節). This is a natural second step to getting more qi to filter into metal qi, and the sooner you start, the purer it will be, with compounding benefits.
Now that I have my Liver Furnace, the next step is to take in more Qi to begin refining. After that, I should learn The Silent Dusk Shroud to make my life easier as I continue to cultivate more and more Qi. Then, finally, innovating upon our master's Inner Hammer by alloying it with Gentle Sunrise over Burnt Timbers has great appeal to me, and The Silent Dusk Shroud will probably be invaluable in combining the harshness of metal dao with the smoothness of wood dao and fire dao. In short, I want it all. Everything about Cultivating captivates me!

"Master Shun. Is there a quenching technique that includes water qi?"

>>6067649
>>6067664 +1

>>6067649
>I'd combine them all.
The simple breath will be the air that flows into the bellows.
Silent dusk shroud to be the bellows of the technique. That can regulate heat
Using gentle sunrise to feed the flames and mold the body to become the caldrons.
That will be forged and hammered using the inner hammer beating inner hammer.
This is a tri tech wood> fire > metal
Having a tough time naming it.
>Body of ten thousand mountains or blades.
Or something else

>>6067729
Let's combine them all.

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>>6067729
>>6067746
My young mind races with so much information about cultivating. For a year, this is what I have hungered for. My young mind rapidly dreams up wild, nonexistent techniques to make sense of a unified theory of the five dao.

>Brick Body Kiln
Earth qi. Silent Dusk Shroud contains the intense flames, so perhaps an Earth Dao interpretation of this technique would be possible? I don't know. I want to try!
>Gentle Sunrise Over Burnt Timbers Charcoal
An already refined wood and fire qi technique. It already sounds amazing as it is. I want to try!
>Inner Hammer beating Inner Hammer
metal qi being folded and shaped. I can't wait to try!
>Quenched Steel Soul
water qi to transform the cultivated qi into a final form made into a solid unbreakable alloy of the five dao. It could be something like this! I want to try!
>Simple Breath Regulation is Billows
Qi means air, so if there was an air dao it would include all the other five dao united as one. Then, it makes sense that taking in air fuels you with qi. What if there is a Sixth Heavenly Dao?! I want to find out!
>Name
Forge of the Sixth Heavenly Dao

I speculate on pairs of dao for each of the heavenly agents, and come up with fanciful cultivator-sounding names for them.
>Gushing Lake of Swift Growing Reeds
A generative technique of taking in water qi and generating wood qi
>Gentle Sunrise Over Burnt Timbers
A generative techniqu of taking in wood qi and generating fire qi
>Blazing Sun Hardening Brick Body
A generative technique of taking in fire qi and generating earth qi
>Crucible of the Molten Soul
A generative technique for taking in earth qi and generating metal qi
>Shining Dew on Iron's Edge
A generative technique for taking in metal qi and generating water qi. But if the cycle was to end on Metal, Water would instead have to Counteract upon the Metal Qi.
>Hissing Pool of the Sixth Heavenly Dao
When all five qi are united, it then ends in a cloud of steam returning to the air. Qi.
There is so much I don't know, so much to try, so much to find out. My mind is ablaze with thoughts, but I don't have to do this alone, or all at once. I should steady myself, and learn the techniques one by one before attempting to combine them all, shouldn't I?

>>6067767
Let's learn all of them. No place for cowardice when defying the heavens.

>>6067649
>Simple Breath Regulation (簡單的呼吸調節). This is a natural second step to getting more qi to filter into metal qi, and the sooner you start, the purer it will be, with compounding benefits.
Learn this, but use every lesson to build our new technique. I don't think we know enough about the nature of qi to understand the potential benefit of having a full host of qi-cycling techniques like others are suggesting, but we will learn much from Grandfather Shun that will help us understand what technique we want to create. I would be very interested what he thinks a fusion of Gentle Sunrise Over Burnt Timbers and Inner Hammer Beating Inner Hammer would result in.