The Laws of Cultivation: Qi = MC^2

Qiao Ying sat in his chamber, a brush in his hand as he meticulously began to copy the contents of the book in front of him. The book on the laws of nature part - 1. It was an interesting read, partly because of dense it was. He was slowly starting to speed up in his process as he slowly began to adjust to the nature of the books. Just holding them had nearly made him fall over and drop to the ground, and even lifting the books felt like a monumental task.

He’d been forced to alter and simplify a lot of the things, and even then, just transcribing the book in a more dilute way had made him write nearly five separate books, even with his arts and techniques allows him to write four times as fast as other cultivators could.

The books were a strange thing. Reading through part 1, it had described the most simplest of rules of nature, the most mundane interactions, and yet everything within it touched upon truths grand and vast of the nature of their very world.

Despite all his learnings, teachings of history, poets, arts, there was nothing he’d ever read which had stripped the world bare in front of his eyes. He almost felt wrong somehow when reading through the books. Like it was something not meant to be seen by human eyes.

Even with the simplistic and easy to understand language, Qiao Ying found himself struggling to understand parts of the book. Lot of it didn’t make sense to him, and yet, a lot of it did as well. It made him question his reality and the world around him in ways that he wasn’t quite ready to do so.

It was to the extent that Qiao Ying had gotten multiple headaches from trying to just read and hold everything the books taught and had been forced to rely on his techniques to accelerate his sleep and recovery to be able to return to the task at hand. He looked at the pile of the books, Chi flowing through them as power emanated from their bodies, and sighed. It had been six days since this began. The books were up to part 4 in total, and Lu Jie was still somehow writing more.

Looking at the books, Qiao Ying knew they would develop into spirits, and not just any, but great spirits of untold power. It was partly why he needed to make such precautions, altering the text enough to dilute their strength and making copies which could be shared with people without the fear of them going mad from the information rushing into their heads all at once.

Qiao Ying had setup perimeters all around the area, and made doubly sure the books could not be taken by anyone. But even then he felt nervous, given the strength they possessed and the contents inside them.

These were the kinds of texts empires fought wars over.

A flicker moved from one of the books, Chi swirling as Qiao Ying turned to regard it. He could feel the power in the books, the weight of their strength and the way they shivered at each touch.

The draw they presented almost made him want to abandon all his duties and tasks and simply get lost in reading them until there was no more left. It was only by the reinforced power of his will forged over the years could he stop himself.

Finishing the last of his lines with a swift movement of his brush, Qiao Ying closed the text he was copying in, before looking out at the skies. It seemed it was about time for his visit.

Standing up, Qiao Ying walked around to grab the spirit elixir crafted by the old alchemist with enough kick to wake up a dying man. Grabbing just a little amount in a small cup, Qiao Ying headed out to Lu Jie’s chamber.

After asking for permission to enter and waiting for a few minutes, Qiao Ying slid the doors open, and looked inside. He knew there would be no response and he needn’t bother, Lu Jie continued to sit at his table, writing, as the words continued to crackle and pulse Chi all around him. But his ettiquites held him to the habit.

Qiao Yin closed the door shut behind him, and for a moment, simply watched Lu Jie write.

People had began to grown worried by Lu Jie’s state, he did not respond to anybody, did not speak, did not eat, did not sleep. It had been a hurdle in itself to stop Zhang who’d thought something had hurt Lu Jie. But they all knew the truth. They’d all known what this was and many had experienced it. The moment of inspiration, the clarity when the truth became clear upon one’s Path.

Yet he’d never seen anything quite like this.

But Qiao Ying couldn’t tell him to stop. To ask him to stop would’ve been to rob the very world of the miracle that was happening in this very moment.

Qiao Ying had read texts of ancient legends, and kings, and he’d heard of these people describing these moments of miracles. These moments where they had seen history itself begin to write in front of their eyes, and had known that what they saw would leave its mark forever.

He’d always thought their words had been exaggerated. Oh how naive he had been.

Each text he had read had revolutionized so many things. Each single book alone would’ve been enough to qualify the boy to be called a sage through history, and he had written four.

Qiao Ying had known that Lu Jie had knowledge from a past life, from a different world than his own. He had learned of these things from the Lord in confidence and sword to keep the truth. But in reality, he’d never truly grasped the words. A world without magic, and one where mortals made development? Inadvertently he’d began thinking less of it.

A veritable hoard of knowledge being poured out, so much so that he wanted to put LJ under a seal to make sure no one can grab him away.

Now he felt like a fool for thinking as such.

Qiao Ying felt another pulse of Chi travel across the entire world, the book glowing brightly for a brief moment as some grand insight was brought into this world. Flashes like these had become a common sight in the sect, almost becoming an everyday occurrence. But despite seeing it with his own two eyes, he still found it a little difficult to believe.

It was… well and truly insane. Had it been any other cultivator, they would’ve passed out by now from the sheer quantity of information being processed and manipulated.

But Lu Jie kept going.

Remembering the task which had brought him here, Qiao Ying walked closer, touching Lu Jie’s shoulder. He knew the boy couldn’t hear him, but he had enough ability to respond to his words and react to his environments.

Qiao Ying remembered when Zhang had broken into the chamber and tried to force Lu Jie to stop being getting punched hard enough to be flung across the sect.

The boy was a danger to himself and others right now.

Sending a slight pulse of Qi, Qiao Ying saw Lu Jie pause, turning to look at him, trying to determine if he was a threat or not. Golden and Silver rings flashed in his eyes, the Two Laws carved in his soul humming, and had it been anyone else, they may have sunk to their knees in fear, but Qiao Ying was used to the exchange now.

“I’ve brought your drink,” he said, handing the boy the elixir.

Lu Jie took the cup, putting to his lips before tilting his head up as he drank the contents immediately, not even flinching at the rather bitter taste. A second later, he handed Qiao Ying the cup back before returning to the words he had been writing.

Qiao Ying looked at Lu Jie, supressing a sigh as he walked out of the chamber. It was rather difficult to take care of a master like this.

But he couldn’t complain too much. Not when what he got was immeasurably valuable.

Never before had he been so certain that he walked the path with someone whose name would forever go down in history.

He was just glad, he got to play his part within it.

***

I opened my eyes, blinking to myself. It felt simultaneously like I’d taken the longest nap of my life, and like I had just finished running a marathon. I looked around myself, noting the sun out bright, shining down during mid day and I found myself unaware of just how long time had passed.

I brought my eyes to the book I had written. ‘The Laws of Nature Part - 5’ it read.

Part-5? I tried to recall if I had written any other parts. I did faintly remember something like it, but my mind moved at a crawl, and I clutched my head, feeling hungover.

Stepping up, with aches all across my body I walked out of my chamber, glancing around. There did not seem to be anybody around here, which was strange, usually there were at least some people.

No, I realised a moment later. One person was nearby.

Following the hint of presence I felt, I walked to a chamber, stepping in and saw Qiao Ying seated on a table with a brush in his hand. He was reading from one book, one with glowing words and swirling power that I felt an immediate connection to, and copying them into another book.

It took the man a moment to notice me, and I knew it wasn’t because I’d gotten better at hiding, so clearly he was quite tired as well.

With a rush Qiao Ying stood up in surprise, looking at me in shock. “Is something wrong? Do you need something? Did someone enter your chamber?” He asked, one question followed by another.

I looked at him silently, trying to think of how to reply to any of his words, but my mouth had a mind of its own as I asked. “How long was I out?”

Qiao Ying looked at me strange, before his eyes widened. “You’re awake…” he said, sounding extremely relived, but quickly composed himself. “Apologies. It has been nine days since you first began, sir,” Qiao Ying said.

I stared at him for a moment, before grimacing. I wasn’t surprised. I certainly felt like someone who’d been writing for nine days straight, but it still definitely was weird to hear that from someone else.

Before I could ask him anything else, the man bowed his head deeply.

“I must also apologise for recommending the mind palace. It is known that they often lead to breakthroughs, but I had not expected yours to be… so intense.”

I looked at Qiao Ying strangely, before shaking my head. No need,” I said, finding my voice crack once, and come out hoarse, but I continued. “It was good. It felt good.”

If anyone ever wrote a biography and wanted to ask me what was the understatement of my life, then you can put this one at the top.

Good… lacked sufficient dimensions to even begin to describe how I felt. I felt more. More than I had ever before. Like my soul itself had changed and grown somehow from the process.

My eyes went to the books on Qiao Ying’s table. But there was only one, and I frowned to myself.

“Where are the rest of the books?” I asked.

“Ah,” Qiao Ying said, glancing back. “They were posing a threat to people so I have stored them safely in here,” Qiao Ying said, showing me a device I did not recognise. It had glowing characters carved onto a cubic wooden body, and a lid that was tightly shut.

“This is a rare artifact made by a master formation artists. It can store enumerable and powerful contents and can only be unlocked and used by the people it recognizes,” Qiao Ying said, before sending a pulse into the device. A moment later, the characters lit up, as the books appeared out in a flow of mist. Qiao Ying buckled, almost falling from their weight, and I helped catch the books, holding them in my hands instead.

“Apologies.” The man said, bowing. “And thank you. I forgot how heavy these were.”

I did not feel the weight he spoke of, but I knew that given I wrote these, there might be some shenanigans going on.

Qiao Ying straightened up, composing himself a moment later.

“I’ve already made copies of the first three myself, which will then be used to create further books for distribution,” he said, sounding more and more excited.

“Why make copies?” I asked, not really understanding what was going on.

“Because the original texts have a spirit and life to them. They are powerful things. Too powerful. And a danger to use. They will need to be translated, copied and the text will also need to be simplified. But you don’t need to worry about any of it. I’ve already got the work started. This is just the start,”

“The first batch of books are already being sent out to the experimental printing machines described in the books. If successful, we will give some to scholars, asking them to join here for more,” Qiao Ying said, growing more and more excited. “Everything we’d been waiting for is here and ready. All we must do now is act. The Alchemy Halls will certainly try to get a hold of these, and it why I have put powerful seals on them to hide their presence,” he said, before glancing behind me. “All except the one you just wrote, he added.”

I added, not really understand much of what he said. My mind was still moving at a snail’s pace, and everything felt slow.

But as I looked down at the books in my hand, one thing I understood for certain. The path I had been waiting so long for had finally opened up.

Qiao Ying looked at me, and then gave me a deep bow. “We stand here, at the cusp of a new era. One forged and led by you, my sire. It is an honor, to be able to help you on your path.”

I did not refute his words, as I saw the first vestiges of my dream become to come to life.

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