Aimless Ascension

Xiaolin was finally ready for the hyperactive cycling session with pure crystal in the evening. She would be lying if she said she wasn't excited about it.

After her injury last time, something changed in her body, rendering her more capable of cycling. Then again, Qi emitted out of her body quickly as well.

However, that wasn't the whole reason for her excitement. Since her injury, Xiaolin felt like she was missing something. Although her speed of cycling rose, she felt there was something missing which rendered her incomplete.

She could intuitively feel that she could only get hold of that feeling when she cycles with pure crystal when she touched over the edge again.

However, that was not to be. Not under her master's presence at the very least.

Since her injury, Gale would always keep her company during her hyperactive session with pure crystal.

"Okay, you can begin now," Gale said, handing her the pure crystal slab.

Xiaolin took it and sat cross-legged in the middle of the cultivation chamber, the slab of pure crystal in her lap. She had absorbed more than a third of its contents already. Still, she didn't know how much it cost.

Xiaolin exhaled and inhaled deeply to calm her mind as she was about to start her cycling session. She was about to start when an idea came to her mind.

"Master, wouldn't it be faster to imagine more than one image of visualisation during cycling?"

She learned Concentration today. Well, learn might be a greater word, more like introduced to. Anyway, imagining more than one visualisation could make one's offensive art greater, didn't that mean it would be the same during cycling?

"It is," Gale answered, "but are you even capable of handling that much energy under the influence of pure crystals?"

Like in Concentration, practitioners weren't taught this before they hit silver, for the exact same reason. For all that mattered, it was more dangerous than concentration, which only affected the mind if the spell collapsed.

However, during the accumulation of Qi, one's body and mind were both at stake, any wrong move could render both of them in terrible consequences.

"Continue as you usually do," her master commanded.

Xiaolin nodded and closed her eyes. She took in pure crystal aura in smoky tendrils as her mind grew excited, and blood started pumping air and energy at a rapid pace.

She could easily feel the rich spirit energy surrounding her, even the crystallized forms stacked on the ground in form of spirit coins.

Xiaolin touched a wisp of the surrounding energy, and an overwhelming amount of it rushed to her body and assaulted her core.

Xiaolin sucked in a deep breath and started cycling.

Within a couple of minutes, she was ridden with sweat, her sleeveless robe drenched in it. Her body grew hotter as she accumulated Qi.

She needed only 5 minutes to be full after her body underwent the change since her injury. But she could feel she would go on for fifteen minutes easily. And another fifteen minutes gritting her teeth, clenching her jaw.

That was her absolute limit.

Of course, her control would be clumsy at that time, and the Qi she would accumulate in that time—most of them would emit out within an hour, leaving only a little more than her previous highest amount. That's her accumulation.

That's how she grew stronger. Each session like this increased her pool by 0.5 to 3% depending on how much she cycled. The last time she got injured, her Qi pool had increased by a whopping 10%, though that resulted in the loss of ten days of cycling sessions as well.

Xiaolin hit the five-minute mark pretty easily. She re-established her grasp over the energy and Qi again, as she would have to be more focused on the accumulation now.

She visualised all her Qi as a blob of a revolving sphere. She made the uncultivated energy revolve around that sphere as well, making it easier to control the whole thing.

Before, her grasp over energy wasn't as centralised as she was easygoing in her visualisation. But after Gale took her under his wing and taught her things like, Sun wasn't revolving around their planet, but it was the centre of the galaxy, she got the idea to change the way of her visualisation as well.

Of course, she discussed it with her master and made sure she wasn't doing anything wrong. In response, Gale encouraged her for the change, handing her a scroll on the theory of such visualisation.

Since then her efficiency at turns forming uncultivated every to Qi had increased by a lot.

Cycling was really a weird thing, it works with imaging anything if you do it wholeheartedly. Before she visualised a small lake with drifting mist, it was easygoing and peaceful. It certainly left her more at peace and kept her Qi more inside of her than outside, with the demerits of lower efficiency and control.

Where her master imagined a black sun during his cycling or even applying Qi to anything. A black sun devouring everything at contact was the perfect balance of chaos and order in her master's word. He said it gave him higher firepower and control at the same time.

Initially, control and power were more at odds with one another, but somehow he managed to balance that out with that visualisation art.

Xiaolin had to do it with her Revolving Sphere Visualisation art as well.

Two minutes passed and Xiaolin finally felt the missing link again. Her mind whirled in awareness as she frowned, eyes still closed.

Unconsciously, she quickened the pace at which she was absorbing the rich energy. Her skin started to swell shortly, but Xiaolin didn't care as she grew closer to the thing she was missing.

"Linlin," Gale asked, finding the change in her aura, "Are you alright?"

"Yes," Xiaolin said, "I was just checking if I could go at a higher pace, or not. Turns out, I can."

"Remember the talk I had with you?" Gale reminded her.

"Yes," Xiaolin said, clenching her teeth, "I won't overestimate myself again."

Clearly, she wasn't overestimating herself. This much she could handle pretty easily. Her will was way more potent than before, and with her improved visualisation art, she could go even higher.

Barp!

Her sphere increased in size as Xiaolin grew closer to the element she was missing. She felt a fire rising in her abdomen as the swelling rose.

It wasn't nearly painful enough.

Just a little bit more.

Xiaolin ingested more pure crystal as the revolving sphere spun faster.

'Just a little more. I'm just missing a little.' Xiaolin thought as she kept on increasing her cycling speed.

"Xiaolin," Gale stood up from his seat, "what are you doing?"

"Master, I can do it," Xiaolin replied, louder than she wanted her voice to be. "Just let me, a little more."

"No," Gale said. "Stop it already, stop before you injure yourself again."

"Master, I can handle it."

Gale had the urge to stop her forcefully, but that had dangers of its own. Well, ten minutes haven't passed yet, perhaps she could return safely before getting injured.

However, reality turned into something he hadn't hoped to see. Xiaolin kept on increasing the pace of her cycling as if chasing after some invisible target, jeopardising her safety. Again.

"Master, I can do it," Xiaolin kept mumbling as her skin grew red. A whirlpool of smoky energy swirled around her, revolving and coursing into her as if they had their own mind.

Gale was in a trance for a moment, but he pulled himself back, knowing he had to stop his disciple before she called another disaster on herself again.

"Xiaolin, stop it. This is my last warning."

But the girl was a long way off listening.

Gale couldn't watch it anymore and got involved, pulling herself out of her trance of cycling, hitting her mind with a sharp tendril of Aura. Not enough to shock her, but enough to awaken her.

Xiaolin opened her eyes, blinking to find Gale before her.

"Stop it," Gale told her.

Xiaolin bit her lips, hesitating. She was so close, if only she could go on for a little longer. . .

Eventually, she relented to her master's command and nodded.

Gale sighed in relief as his disciple agreed. However, a frown formed on his brows the next moment, finding no change in Xiaolin's cycling.

"Xiaolibn, I told you to stop cycling."

"I'm trying," Xiaolin said, her voice growing anxious, "but. . . but. . . the energy. . . they won't listen to me."

"Strengthen your Intent," Gale advised, but his words were lost in a chaotic energy whirlwind.

Their robes flattered against the rushing energy, swaying, as Xiaolin screamed out.

"Master," Xiaolin bellowed. "I can't. . . I can't control them."

Gale didn't have to get it from her as he could already imagine with the energy flowing at a chaotic pace.

"Xiaolin, listen to me," Gale said, stooping next to her, his voice hard. "Hold on, don't give in, or it might be even more disastrous for you. In the next moment, I'll try to help you with my Qi. Don't fight it, we'll slowly decrease the pace of your cycling.

"Also, don't worry about the pain, I'll take care of it."

Gale released his second fate lock, Guardian Emblem and Protected Xiaolin of the pain.

Immediately, a swelling triggered in Gale's spirit almost making him lose control of his Qi.

"What in the world!"

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Finally, some progression. I planned to make this in the second volume, then again the first volume supposed to end by now.