Chapter 3. Can’t even go crazy! (3)
Muwui opened his eyes slightly from his sitting position, and muttered.
"Kuhm. How many years passed? I can't even tell… Playing alone's getting pretty boring now."
He thought about the time that had passed in the cave, but he could only think of one answer.
He didn't know.
He only knew that a few years passed.
It wasn't like he counted each and every day from his first day here.
It would actually be strange for him to know.
Despite having eaten only moss, his body felt better than ever. He suspected that the moss might actually be quite special.
The water, too, felt like it was improving his body in one way or the other.
The pills that were left out the cave, in truth, were actually made out of the moss inside. Not that Muwui knew this anyway.
"Yeah, I actually have it pretty good for finding a mysterious encounter."
Unlike the past when he would rage at the thought of an encounter like this, he was able to think through the situation more calmly now.
His beard got a little longer as well, but he actually seemed younger than before.
At any rate, he wasn't going to be dying of any lack of nutrition any time soon.
At this point, Muwui felt like he needed to do something.
"Some of the things that big brother taught me actually ended up being useful…"
'Behold, brother! Who even needs legendary martial arts to be powerful? Just look at me! I may be a second rate, but I came this far with just a breathing technique and a sword! If I improve myself from here, my sword and my breathing technique will be a legendary martial art in and of itself! Am I wrong?'
Dapeng told Muwui this in the past as he boasted about how his descendents would view him as the great ancestor.
It was obviously just a stupid gag, but Dapeng really did seem to have some talent in martial arts. Especially when the man's techniques saved Muwui in more than one occasion.
Of course, after Dapeng died, Muwui realized that one could never compete with real geniuses, so he only focused on surviving. But now, Dapeng's words struck him in a different way.
'I'm not lying. They even say that a worm is able to become a god through this breathing technique. It's slow, but there is no better, no more stable technique than the standard breathing technique.'
Muwui's breathing became even deeper.
"Hooooooh."
Silence.
After four years and a few months,
Muwui began practicing the breathing technique.
Because he got bored.
He could feel a warm sensation rise from below.
A warm, comfortable feeling.
The feeling wasn't coming from his ass that was on the heat stone. It was coming from his Dantian, located right below his belly button.
Back when Dapeng was teaching him, Muwui was unable to feel this warmth.
Just a tickling feeling, maybe? When Dapeng told him that the tickling feeling was qi, Muwui joked that the itch on his toe might as well be qi as well.
Of course, that day ended up being the day he got beat up by his elder brother.
"Damn it, and what was the thing he said afterwards? 'Go shower'?"
A slight smile floated up in Muwui's face.
Dapeng had told him that he would be able to feel this warmth with much practice. Only then would Muwui be prepared to become a second-rate martial artist.
That time was now.
"So this is qi."
Muwui looked down in wonderment.
He had reached a height he could never reach on the battlefield, simply because of he wanted to dispel his boredom.
To be fair, he never did get the time to practice the breathing technique on the battlefield.
And since he had all the time in the world to practice here, it was only obvious that he would reach new heights in the cave.
"Now, let's practice, shall we?"
Humans were curious creatures that wanted to test out any new thing that they managed to get their hands on, and Muwui was no different.
He jumped up, and began to run slowly.
As he ran, the distance between each of his steps gradually began to widen. His body went lower and lower, as if his body were a blade slicing the air. His arms swung front and back in a rhythmic motion.
He could run like this even without qi. In order to learn this movement technique, though, he was forced to eat strange medicine and run with sandbags on his body for some time.
It was a movement technique known as the Flying Horse Movement.
"Hah!"
The real thing came now.
He focused the heat on his stomach towards his lower body.
The energy traveled through his knees, to the center point of his feet. And the moment his feet touched the ground, he exploded the energy outwards.
Ping!
With a small sound, Muwui's body launched forward explosively!
"Huh!"
Muwui, surprised by the sudden increase in speed, stopped. He soon started to run again, though, and used qi once again.
Pipiping!
"Wahaha!"
This time, he didn't stop.
With each step, he was able to move three meters. Muwui's smile got bigger.
"Wahahahaha!"
Muwui spent the tiny speck of energy he had as he laughed like a lunatic.
And that day, he was able to learn for the first time what would happen when one misuses qi like he did.
His face stiffened, and his mouth contorted in ways one would not think was possible.
Chapter 4 p1