Against the Fate

Chapter 16: The Mentor

At Zenith Mountain’s peak, Ding Ze sat on a protruding stone and lit a cigarette as he watched the dark clouds quietly in a daze. Not far from him was Cui Ming. Ding Ze sat in a higher position than Cui Ming, as his role was the lightning rod. Today was the third day, on the previous day and the day before that, he drove to the foot of the mountain to sleep, then went back to report that everything was normal. But today there were thunderstorms, he had to come here to be the lightning rod.

Ding Ze condensed his aura into a ten meter pillar, full of electric. A lightning strike was attracted to hit the lightning rod, through Ding Ze’s body. His body shivered, but he still smoked like nothing happened. Soon the rain poured down, the dark clouds quickly dispersed and the weather became sunny. The area covered by Ding Ze’s aura was still dry.. Using the mountaineering bag as a pillow, he slept  as he needed to stay up late. After two days of investigating and ambush, the commission has made no progress, which further proved the fact that trouble in Lincoln Manor caused by a cultivator.

When he was sleeping, Ding Ze felt someone touch his feet. He opened his eyes and  saw Cui Ming lying on the ground, grabbed his ankle and said, “I… want… to…. eat.”

It took all his effort to speak.

“65 hours.” Ding Ze looked at his watch, then took out a box of cold rice and a bottle of mineral water from the mountaineering bag and handed them to Cui Ming.

Cui Ming had no strength left to get up, so he leant on a mound. The box of cold rice and a bottle of mineral water instantly vanished. He tried to stand up, but could not, “It’s so painful, like all my bones were broken.”

Ding Ze took a cigarette and lit it, he leant against the stone and casually said, “The aura is a very powerful force, although you only learned to Envelop, your body wasn’t able to bear it, so we are now ready to start practicing Refine.”

Cui Ming looked up, “So rushing? Can’t we wait after the meal? Do you think a box of cold rice can fill an empty stomach?”

“If you think you can go back down the mountain now by yourself, you can practice Refine after you go back to the city.” Ding Ze said, “I suggest you stay for a few hours, at least till your bones stop hurting, so I will teach you how to practice Refine first. You already know that aura has property like gas, going in and out through numerous pores throughout the body. Refine is very simple. You inhale and exhale the aura until it becomes instinctual. After that you can enter the next stage, Meditate. Because in the Meditate, if you can not instinctively control Aura as if you were breathing, then your Aura will go wild and damage your body.”

Cui Ming thought for a while, “Pores are the nostrils for Aura?”

“It seems that you understand. Continue.”

Cui Ming said, “I suggest that while I practice Refine, you can go down the mountain to buy some food.”

“I refuse.” Ding Ze replied.

“Why?”

“I’m lazy.”

Wow, I never ever expected such a shameful reason can become a righteous excuse in your mouth. I always thought that my childhood in a world of criminals gave me the thickest skin. Never have I thought “there was always someone better”. A handsome man with superhuman memory can admit that he is lazy without hesitation and may not even need any courage to admit it. That enough to show that he is really lazy.

Cui Ming said: “There are a lot of climbers, many of them have brought food. Could  you consider pick-pocketing …”

“I reject.”

“Because you’re lazy?”

“No, because I am very honest.” Ding Ze closed eyes and smoked, “If I was you, I wouldn’t grumble, hurry and learn. If you can learn just after a few hours, and then you can go down the mountain to eat.”

Cui Ming made a slight move and his whole body was on fire. He could not help but cry, “Help me.”

Ding Ze opened his eyes and looked at Cui Ming: “You can also Refine while lying on the ground.”

“Are you too lazy to stand up, come over and help me up?” asked Cui Ming.

“No, it is training for your perseverance.”

“Wow, you’re the first person I have ever seen that can raise laziness to the level of righteousness.” Cui Ming bitterly used his hands to support his body to sit upright and slowly enter Envelop.

After completely mastering Envelop, the risk of being disturbed didn’t exist anymore. Cultivators could feel the outside world’s sound and smell, sense any changes, could feel the passage of time, but could also feel pain on their bodies. From the second they learned how to Refine, controlling Aura would become an instinct, like breathing. The Aura would slowly change their bodies.

Three hours later, Cui Ming stood up and twisted his neck. Ding Ze nodded, “Do you see the rock in front of you?”

“Yep?”

“Punch it.”

“I am really that powerful?” Oh man, I am superman now.

Cui Ming, pleasantly surprised, aimed at the stone and punched it… then Cui Ming fell on his knee, his left hand hurting like crazy, pain going down into the bone marrow! He immediately turned around to see Ding Ze, “What wrong did I do to you?”

Ding Ze did not speak, squat down and took Cui Ming’s right hand. He opened it to see the back of the hand, slowly kneading each bone, and was very satisfied, “Congratulations, you have learned Refine.”

“…” Maybe he had good intentions. Cui Ming asked, “If I didn’t?”

“Your bone would have fractured.”

“…” Well, North Luna, I admit that I was wrong. You are not the worst teacher, this son of a bitch is.

Cui Ming didn’t know, both North Luna and Ding Ze only had the experience of being taught. They did not have any experience in teaching, so they taught according to their own practice of the six Principles. How to measure the process of learning Refine? Using the whole body’s strength to punch the stone, if there was no fractured bone, then it meant you learned Refine. Plain and simple.

Ding Ze went to the edge of the cliff. He looked for a while and said, “We go down now. I need to warn you, going down will not be too comfortable. Be mentally prepared.”

At this point Ding Ze was better than North Luna. Whatever North did, she did first, if anyone had questions, then she might explain. Ding Ze would at least explain first, that it would not be too comfortable. However soon, Cui Ming’s view of Ding Ze became worse yet again. He finally knew why this guy told him to test his fist on the rock: calculating the height that he wouldn’t be killed while falling.

Ding Ze took Cui Minh and jumped off together. At a certain height he let go Cui Minh’s hand and condensed his Aura into a big parachute, slowly landing while Cui Minh hit the ground like a rock .

What let Cui Ming admire him is that Ding Ze would even have his own explain for his behavior, “This is called trauma, when you are in the Refine state, trauma will slowly recover. For cultivators, the most troublesome thing is the internal injuries caused by the Aura. One case is that another cultivator injects his Aura into your Aura, if you aren’t treated by Refine in time, it will lead to internal injuries. Another situation is the Aura becomes exhausted, this time trauma will lead to internal injuries which can only be resolved by Refine, the time required to heal will be longer.”

Should I thank him for teaching me these things, or should I hate him for throwing me down? Cui Minh was very hesitant, in his heart he did not hate North Luna and Ding Ze. After all, no one in this world has a character you are completely satisfied with. If you cannot understand this, you wouldn’t be able to accept the shortcomings of friends and lovers, then you were destined to be a lonely person.