The Legend of Min Hong

It was currently summer.

The summer sun hung there in the sky, showering the Min Family Castle with blazing heat.

A figure sat cross-legged within a formation on a training ground atop a mountain peak very close to the castle. It was currently shirtless, with skin smooth like that of a polished jade and a pale white with a hint of gold complexion.

Looking at the figure from behind. it was slender but fit, its muscles were compact with no hint of fat anywhere. it looked like its body was exquisitely carved by a grandmaster, with a very sturdy back-to-shoulder pattern.

Those shoulders looked like they could never bend even if the heavens fell and the burdens of the entire galaxy rested on his shoulders.

But this figure was currently trembling weakly. This was of course Min Hong. He was trembling intensely as he puked black blood all over the place. The colour of the blood was gradually turning red.

On his back were two tattoos fused into one. He was finally allowed to cultivate properly with a Qi Refining technique. This technique was a Mid-grade Royal Rank technique called the 'Yuan Wonder Gate'.

Every time he had a breakthrough in the Qi path, this was due to the unique properties of the 'Yuan Qi' and the fact that he had opened all 960 of his meridians.

But the lack of a proper cultivation technique ensured that his Qi cultivation was wrong from the start. So, he had to re-cultivate from scratch, now that a proper cultivation technique was available.

The reason why he was puking black blood was because his cultivation base had already solidified in the 5 Start Qi Sea stage, so dispersing his cultivation base was proven more difficult than normal.

According to the manual, he had to first from a 'Yuan Gate' at the spot where his future Dan would be formed, before using his Qi to open the gate to allow for storage of Qi. He had read the perfected version of the technique and had decided to use 'Yuan Qi' instead.

But currently, he was still in the stage of dispersing his cultivation base. He was sitting within a 'Qi Trapping Formation'. This formation cost the Min Family a lot. They had to call a formation expert from the Royal Palace, to come set it up.

They had to pay, a thousand Low-grade Spirit Stones which was equivalent to, a hundred Mid-grade and furtherly one High-grade spirit stones. Spirit stones were used as a form of currency because, there are so many things no amount of gold can buy.

Thus, cultivation resources such as, spirit stones, beast cores, spirit fruit and so on are used to trade instead. For example, one low grade spirit stone is worth a thousand pocket of gold, which in turn translates to ten thousand pounds worth of gold coins.

That means if they were to pay the Formation expert in gold, they would have to find a way to transport a billion pounds worth of gold coins, which is virtually more problematic compared to the one thousand Mid-grade spirit stones they actually paid.

The 'Qi Trapping' formation just as its name suggest, was used to lock down an entire space where the outside Qi wouldn't be able to get in and the Qi inside won't be able to escape. It serves to ensure Min Hong's dispersed cultivation base wasn't wasted.

After about three hours, Min Hong had finally dispersed his 5 Star Qi Sea stage cultivation. He coughed up a mouthful of bright red blood. His face pale, breath ragged with sweat streaming down his body.

He wiped the blood off the corner of his lips, used his cloth to clean his sweat dry, before choosing to rest a little instead of rushing to cultivate.

"Father. Would he be alright?" Min Rou asked Min Tian who was now looking very much better that a fortnight ago. They were both sitting under the shade created by a tree just outside the training platform.

"He would be fine. You have nothing to be worried about." Min Tian reassured her, as they both gazed at the massive cube of green Qi, which was so dense that they couldn't even see Min Hong's shadow within.

Within the massive cube of green 'Yuan Qi'….

After resting for about ten minutes, Min Hong started to absorb the surrounding Yuan Qi into his body. He carefully followed the pattern and method described in the perfected 'Yuan Wonder Gate' Qi refining technique.

"Gulu! Gulu! Gulu!"

Min Hong's 960 meridian channels stretched to their limits and opened wide. Then they began to absorb the surrounding Qi at a very fast but steady pace.

As the green 'Yuan Qi' were being absorbed into his body, Min Hong shut his eye and sent his mental energy through his body. The absorbed Qi were flowing through his meridians and were being deposited in the spot where his Dan was to be located, there it swiveled.

The Qi kept swiveling, until they began to form the outline of a square. The square shape kept materializing gradually with the endless influx of Qi, until the square shape finally took shape. But it was just the general shape of the gate.

As more Qi began to flow in, several minute details began to appear on the square shape. The first thing he notice were two images being formed on the gate posts.

The first was a 'Celestial Phoenix' followed by a 'Divine Dragon'.

These two beasts were stationed on either side of the 'Yuan Wonder Gate' like guardians of its entrance. Then they were followed by a 'Xuanwu Turtle' and an 'Ancient Tiger', who were etched on the two doors that make up the gate itself.

The more Qi kept rushing in, the more life-like the gate and its features became. At this point over ten percent of the green 'Yuan Qi' had been depleted and the gate had not still formed completely. The influx of Qi and minute changes continued for about two hours.

Only after about twenty percent of the Qi had been depleted, was the 'Yuan Wonder Gate' fully formed. When Min Hong saw it, he couldn't help but sigh in praise. Just the majesty of the gate alone was impressive. It was utterly white in colour without any form of blemish.

Then there were the beasts. They were extremely life-like, to the extent which Min Hong could actually hear their roars and cries. The dragon's nose was actually releasing gaseous Yuan Qi, while the quills on the phoenix's feather were actually moving.

This was followed by the turtle's shell that was glowing and the tiger's fur which was shimmering.

It was a truly stunning sight and Min Hong was deeply satisfied with everything so far asides from the rate at which he was depleting the Qi within the formation. He then started the process of opening the gate, which involved feeding Qi to the four lifelike beasts.

Yuan Qi kept pouring into the gate as the four beasts started devouring them, and as they did, they began to glow brighter and their roars and cries were getting louder and louder. This continued on for an hour and at this point about thirty percent of the Qi was depleted.

The glowing beasts became so bright like a light bulb that was about to burst and then all of a sudden.

Bang!

The gate burst open and an explosion actually occurred in the outside world and a shockwave of Qi spread out covering the entire mountain and even reaching the castle, where it seeped into the bodies of the shocked castle members.

Then what followed was a massive vortex of Qi which materialised at the mountain top. Min Tian and Min Rou were so shocked by the quality of Qi that was forming, that Min Tian had to quickly wave his hand and a barrier instantly swallowed the entire mountain top.

The vortex kept spinning, gathering massive momentum while its tip kept trying to bore through the barrier, as if searching for something. Everyone in the castle could actually see the vortex of potent Qi which had now turned green due to unique cultivation method.

Meanwhile, Min Hong was currently concentrated on the changes happening within his body as he sat there inside the 'Qi Trapping' formation. The gate was now wide open but everywhere was dark until the green Yuan Qi started to flood into it creating a whirlpool.

The whirlpool kept spinning with increasing momentum and suction force, and the rate of Qi absorption instantly tripled, as the whirlpool voraciously devoured the Qi within the formation. All the Qi around Min Hong started depleting at a rate visible to the naked eye.

As the whirlpool gradually sucked the Qi, they were being gathered at its base, and as the Qi accumulated, Min Hong's aura started to rise, from 1 Star Qi Creation stage and kept rising. This continued as Min Hong hungrily devoured all the Yuan Qi with rising pace.

This continued for about thirty minutes and by the time ninety percent of the Yuan Qi was depleted, the gaseous Yuan Qi at the base of the whirlpool within the 'Yuan Wonder Gate' begun to condense into liquid and after another five minutes the Yuan Qi was depleted.

At this point Min Hong was only at the 1 Star Qi Sea stage. But the whirlpool didn't stop, instead, it started to suck all the Yuan Qi within Min Hong's muscles and flesh. Thus, Min Hong gradually began to shrivel as his body refining cultivation started to evaporated.

When Min Tian sensed what was happening, he instantly stopped the formation and removed the barrier. The vortex of potent Yuan Qi abruptly slammed into the shriveling Min Hong, restoring him and directly feeding the whirlpool within the 'Yuan Wonder Gate'.

The vortex began to howled loudly, and as if threatened the whirlpool responded with a fiercer rotation speed, and began to howl back in defiance. In the outside world Min Tian and Min Rou could actually hear the roars and cries of the four beasts within the howling.

After about another ten minutes, the vortex of Qi in the sky slowed to a halt and vanished, while the whirlpool within Min Hong also stopped and the gate slammed shut with a bang.

Within the gate was a sea of green Yuan Qi with four solid platforms on it making it look like four islands made up of Yuan Qi, symbolizing Min Hong's current cultivation base; 4 Star Qi Sea stage.

"It seems I wasted a lot of Yuan Qi forming and opening the 'Yuan Wonder Gate' unh..." Min Hong opened his eyes and was shocked when he saw his mother standing there with a Mid-grade spirit stone in hand smiling at him.

"Your cultivation base is not permitted to regress." She the tossed the Mid-grade spirit stone towards Min Hong who caught it whilst still staring at his mother. "You've risked and sacrificed a lot going into that dangerous forest to train, I won't allow it to regress."

He stared at his smiling mother a little longer with reddened eyes, as his nose turned itchy and his throat stuffed. He felt pure warmth in his heart towards this woman. She probably noticed that he was unhappy with the result of his final cultivation base.

Wasting no time, he shut his eyes and began to absorb the pure neutral energy within the stone, as the gate itself converted it to Yuan Qi and deposited it into his Qi Sea. By the time the spirit stone crumbled, he was already back in the 5 Star Qi Sea stage.

He then stood up and gave his mother a deep bow, after which in turned towards the approaching Min Tian and repeated the same bow.

Min Tian waved him up with a beaming smile, Min Rou also smiled whilst dusting her beloved son's body and ruffling his hair.

"Go eat and then rest. Stabilize your cultivation, master your martial arts and techniques and achieve total control over your cultivation. The ceremony begins in two weeks."

"Don't forget to check up on Qing'er, you haven't seen in a week. You both could spar with each other." Min Tian and Min Rou advised as they sent Min Hong home. He had been up here for about five hours.

"Alright mother. Grandpa, how is Min Qing now?" Min Hong asked in concern. Although, he knew the Yin Qi was useful to him, otherwise the Moon Rabbit wouldn't have stored it, he didn't want his beloved sister to go through that kind of pain again.

"She's doing pretty well recently. She has even stabilized her cultivation base on 2 Star Dan Formation stage. She had been waiting for you, but none of us knew your seclusion would take six full days." Min Rou answered with a smile.

"Right. I would be on my way then." He said as he returned to the Min Family Castle.

"Father. Do you think he can do it?" Min Rou asked. Her babies have really worked hard.

"Absolutely!" Min Tian replied confidently, while Min Rou gazed at her father in surprise, wondering where he got his confidence from.