One month ago:
“Sir,” said Adams, standing in front of Lindstrom’s desk. Lindstrom had moved his command to the Gate base three months ago, so that he could command the base here, and, as Adams was the city’s protector, they had been working together, meeting at least once a week to coordinate. “I have a cultivation question, if you don’t mind answering it.”
“Sure,” said Lindstrom. “I’m always willing to help out the younger generation.”
Adams nodded. “Thank you, sir. It’s about these visions I’ve been having while meditating. As you know, I repaired my base starting a few months ago to try to improve my performance. I made a lot of mistakes in the early levels, after all, and needed to fix them.” Lindstrom nodded and motioned for him to continue. “Well, since I finished doing that, every time I get very deep into my meditation I start imagining that I’m not a human any more. I forget that I’m meditating, and suddenly I’m a worm, or an insect, or a plant. Then I live as that other creature until it dies. It’s happened seven times already, and every time I don’t even realize I’m meditating or a human until I die, at which point I end my meditation. Do you have any idea what that might mean?”
Lindstrom looked quite interested. “I think I have a good idea. I went through the same thing three years ago when I advanced to Nascent.”
“You think I’m advancing, sir?” asked Adams, a bit surprised.
“I think you have reached the point where you can advance. You might need a bit more work before you actually do. Do you know why we call it ‘Nascent Soul’?”
Adams shook his head. “No sir, I don’t.”
“It’s because, in order to advance, your body needs to form a soul cloud. This cloud will essentially be a backup copy of you. It will contain all of your memories, your thoughts, your knowledge, your dreams. It will be as much you as the man I’m talking to right now. But in order to form it, you will need to understand Life.”
“I do, sir.” said Adams.
Lindstrom shook his head. “You understand what it’s like to be human to some degree, but you haven’t experienced everything that being a human means. As a soldier you understand death to some degree. But do you know what it means to be alive? What about what it means to be a plant, or a worm, or an insect? There are thousands of types of lifeforms on this planet, and you only partially understand what it means to live as one of them.”
Adams nodded. “So, that’s why I’m having the visions? So that I can understand what it means to be these other lifeforms? What it means to be Alive?”
Lindstrom nodded. “I’m taking you off of active duty for the time being. For the next few weeks, until you advance, I want you to spend as much time as possible learning what it means to be alive, and incorporating that knowledge into your core, where the soul cloud first forms. You should use meditation techniques which boost your mental abilities as well. After living so many lives your mind will start to lose details, which will mean that you need to repeat those lives again. Most people who reach this point start looping through two or three dozen lives because of that, and are never able to move past it. But you’ll need several times that number of lives to actually advance. I experienced eighty seven. I once heard the monk say he experienced fifty three. He advanced the fastest of the five of us, so take that as the minimum.”
Adams nodded. “In that case, I’ll go into closed door cultivation at once.” Lindstrom gave him a confused look. “I’ve been reading about the other world and how they meditate. Once they pass the second or third level, they tend to build a place called a ‘cultivation cave’, where they have ways to store and/or gather qi, and have all of the food, water, and other things they might need to advance. They will then lock themselves inside and do nothing but cultivate for months or years, in some cases decades. Many of them don’t leave until some critical supply runs out. This is called ‘closed door cultivation’. I built such a place outside of town. Bought one of those emergency bunkers and had it buried along with a second chamber, then filled all of the storage space in the second chamber with charged quartz for qi storage. Of course, qi doesn’t move too well through most dirt and rock, so I buried a cylinder of quartz from the surface to the bunker as well, to let it enter. I have about two years of supplies in there. Hopefully it won’t take me that long.”
Lindstrom nodded. “In that case, contact me if you need any more advice.” He saluted Adams, and Adams returned the gesture, then left.
---
China, Himalayan mountain range:
The Monk bowed to the other monks of the temple. He had built this monastery fifteen years ago after finding a massive deposit of quartz, the crystal acting as a massive qi battery and helping to fuel the cultivation of the few hundred monks and nuns that lived here, in separate areas, of course.
He walked down the steps into a series of underground tunnels that had been carved by the monks since that time, most of them spending at least some time doing so every day in order to make more rooms for more monks to stay in. The nuns on the other side of the monastery grounds had done the same, though due to having a smaller number of nuns their tunnels were much smaller.
The Monk made his way through several branches and turns, the tunnels being cut in a way as to not disturb the qi rich quartz deposit any more than necessary, and reached a door. “You may enter” said a man inside, and the Monk did so.
“How is your training coming?” he asked the thirty something year old who looked to be no more than 21 or 22.
“Quite well. I have experienced 67 past lives so far, and feel that by 70 I will have finished awakening my soul.”
“Good.” said the monk, nodding. “Please notify me as soon as you are finished and have fully stabilized your cultivation. I must send you to Seoul.”
The Apprentice looked confused. “Is there something important there?” he asked.
“Yes, very important. A gate has opened within their subway system. They have closed off the area for now, claiming it is for maintenance, but such a story will only keep the public satisfied for so long.”
“A gate?” he said in surprise. “But if someone is attacking, would it not make more sense if you were to go?”
The Monk shook his head. “If they were attacking I would, of course, do my best to aid our neighbors, but those that came through this time are not hostile. They are, in fact, from a Buddhist sect. They knew enough of the language from our gate’s region, the location being around seven thousand li from them, that one of them spoke a dialect of the language, allowing communication. The Korean government has arranged for them to wait in a secure location so that someone can pick them up and bring them to this monastery, but only told them that a Buddhist Monk was coming to get them. I, however, am too high profile of a personage, and if it was discovered that I traveled to the capital of another nation, many people would wonder why. If, however, I send my apprentice, no one will bother asking.”
The Apprentice nodded. “In that case, I shall see to my bodily needs and view another of my past lives.” They bowed to each other, and the Monk left.
Twenty seven hours and two lives later the Apprentice stabilized his soul, finally reaching the point where he could completely leave his body, and doing so for a few minutes to practice the technique before returning to his body. While his soul was too weak to leave his body for long, and would automatically return if he he exhausted the qi stored within it, he could manage a few minutes outside of his body just for the experience. He took a quick bath, changed into a new set of robes, and grabbed his things. His master had acquired a special relic for him from the other world, a storage ring, and now that he was at Nascent Soul he used it to shrink all of his worldly possessions and draw them into the ring. This took at least ten percent of the maximum energy his soul could store, but he knew that was only because his soul had only just entered this realm. As he viewed more past lives, which he was certain he had over a hundred of remaining, he would increase the amount of qi his soul could store, stabilizing it further.
Once he was ready, he went to his master’s office to notify him of his success, and received the key to one of the monastery's airplanes, the monastery having received the vehicles as a gift from a rich donor just after the Beijing gate opened, in thanks for saving his life. All of the monks had been trained to pilot them, of course, as piloting a modern aircraft was no more difficult than driving a car, which all of them could also do. When he arrived at the air field, a large platform carved into the mountain, he boarded the plane and did all of the preliminary tests, then activated the plane’s anti-gravity field before gliding far enough away that he wasn’t in any danger of hitting the mountain. While the field could only carry him to about twenty kilometers above sea level, it was more than enough for a business jet.
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One hour later he landed at an air strip and debarked, having used the plane’s Slipstream ability to reach here as quickly as possible. Hopefully the local government and monks would understand his master’s reason for not personally picking them up and accept him as their guide.
---
Three weeks later the monks were ready to return to their world. They had a technique for transferring knowledge without the need for a jade slip, a fourth level technique, and taught both the Monk and the Apprentice their language, learning mandarin in exchange, then the two groups exchanged techniques. They were most fascinated with the internet and electronic devices, and the Monk gave them each a tablet with a library of Buddhist techniques, both native to their world and native to Earth. He even taught them his signature move, the Penance Cage, and gave them a set of items to use with the technique. While it required one to be at Nascent to use it, it could theoretically allow them to defeat anyone at that level or below without killing them, and while showing them the evil of their ways.
The Apprentice returned them to the portal and said goodbye, and they left. Now, should Korea come under attack from another person in the Nascent Soul realm, they would have someone they could ask for help.
He returned to the mountain and went to his master. He had found the week stressing, especially after it had come after two months of closed door cultivation, and wanted to speak to the Monk about the possibility of a different form of training. The other monks had recently started using what was called “suppression training”. He had been tested and found to have four of the five roots, not including metal, so he wanted to do a similar, but different form of training to develop those roots.
The Monk heard him knock and let him enter. “Master.” he said, closing the door behind him. “I have come to ask permission to participate in a special type of training.”
“The suppression training?” he asked. “I don’t know why you would need to ask permission for that.”
“It is similar, but the reason I asked is because I received an invitation to train with one of the senior nuns.”
The Monk sighed. “Dual Cultivation training? I take it you remember that you took a vow of celibacy.”
“Yes, master, but what she requested will not violate such a vow. We would be wearing swimsuits, and merely holding each other. I merely need permission because it involves a nun.”
The monk sighed. “The slope you walk on is very slippery. You obey the oath in writing, but not in spirit. Tell me, why do you think that I blocked pornography on the monastery's wireless internet, despite the fact that it would make following the vow easier for some monks and nuns?”
“I assume it is because you don’t want us to be distracted from our meditation.”
The Monk shook his head. “But if that is the case, why have I not blocked gambling sites, or video sites, or social media, or MMORPG servers? Why do I have the internet here anyway, and not just a library computer with curated texts and videos?”
“You don’t block it because you want us to learn about the world outside, but I agree that it would make sense to block those other sites if you merely wanted to eliminate distractions. So, I suppose I don’t know why.”
“It is because sexual desire clouds the mind, especially when it is focused on another person, even more so when you know them. Those thoughts will slowly build up and distract you from higher thoughts, preventing enlightenment. For you, however, there is another reason. Such thoughts will distract you from developing your soul. Your focus will be on the physical world and physical pleasures, and tie you to your physical body more strongly, limiting the growth of your soul.”
“But won’t I need to learn such things to advance? Reproduction and sexual pleasure are a part of life for many species. Won’t I need such experiences to understand such things, to become one with all life?”
“But you will get such experiences in your past life memories, will you not? I doubt all of your past lives as a human were celibate. You told me of two, one of which was married man and the other a woman which died at the age of 19. Were both of them celibate?”
The Apprentice shook his head. “No, master. Neither were. The man had four children, and the woman died giving birth, though she wasn’t married. I suppose I did learn about it from them, experiencing it as they did. But what I want to do with the nun isn’t sexual.”
“Isn’t it? Then why haven’t you asked one of the monks to do this training with you, if you want to do it so badly?”
“Because I’m not homosexual.” The Apprentice said, then stopped and realized something. “You are right master. I was thinking of it as a form of sex even before I came in here. If I participate in the invited training, it is unlikely I will be able to completely control myself, if only in thought and not action. I will contact her and turn down her offer.” With that the Apprentice bowed and left.
He was in meditation a few days later, meditating on all of the things that his seventy third life experienced, when the Monk knocked on his door. After being allowed in, the Monk got right to the point. “The United States base in the other world is under attack. Tell me, have you properly learned the Portal technique yet?”
The Apprentice nodded. “I believe so, but I have never gone further than Hong Kong with it.”
The Monk nodded in approval. “In that case, you should prepare yourself for combat. If we receive word that the enemy has come through the gate, we will need to go to America’s aid.”
“Then I shall gather my things and practice sending my senses to such a far away place, so that I don’t need to use your portal.”
An hour later Colonel Adams sent the message that the two surviving Nascent Souls from the other side had come through the gate and that he was asking for the Monk’s aid. In response, the Apprentice stretched out his senses to the other side of the world. He found what he thought was the correct location and, seeing his master step through a portal, created one of his own and stepped through as well.
---
A portal opened behind Adams and the Monk stepped out. “So, they brought a second fighter.” said the woman, who then looked at the man beside her. “At least the Buddhist will provide some entertainment. The other won’t last a single round.”
“That’s what Blood said when he fought me, but you know which of us survived that battle.” responded Adams, and the other two looked surprised.
“You fought Blood?” asked the man. “But you couldn’t have been in the Fifth level then. Did your cultivation get damaged during that battle? Did it stagnate?” If his cultivation had been lowered and he was forced to reawaken his soul or he had been unable to advance more than slightly, it was possible. Advancing to Early fifth level from Initial was generally fairly easy, as one would have many past lives to use for experience, and in almost a year he likely could have gotten close.
“No, you were right, I wasn’t in the fifth level then. I was at the peak of the fourth. But I still lasted several minutes, and was able to wound him, if only slightly. Now that I’m in the same level as you, do you think I can’t do more to you?” Because he was speaking the language of the other world he was referring to them as levels, like those in the other world, instead of realms.
The woman smiled. “If you were able to do anything to him, then you might actually prove entertaining now.” With that the woman held out her hand. “Poison cloud.” she said, and a blue cloud of qi filled the area.
Adams activated his new Nascent level barrier belt for the first time, in order to stop the poison, and flew at the cloud, only to clash midair with the man. The man landed a blow first, though, and sent Adams backwards, but only by a few meters. Adams deactivated his barrier, knowing that he might need its full strength later, and used a strength boosting technique as well as a reaction boosting one, more complex but more effective forms of sending qi to his muscles and nervous system, then flew at the man. The man blocked a few blows, then grabbed Adam’s arm and pulled it behind his back, like one might pin someone in a fight. He sent out his qi to suppress Adams, hoping to weaken him, but felt as if his qi hit a cloud of neutral qi, like in an ancient spirit stone mine, neutralizing or weakening his own root’s effects.
With no root to automatically resist, Adams had developed a means of consciously resisting. The technique used far more qi for the desired effect than one would spend with even a lesser root, only barely beating a petty root.
“What is this?” the man asked in surprise. “You are a no root cultivator? But how? Without roots you shouldn’t be able to advance to first level, much less the fifth.” While it wasn’t strictly true that those without roots couldn’t form meridians, as demonstrated by the training that caused the conflict, it was rare, and the only known way to do so reliably was to feed the subject pills made with the blood of a spirit beast of a higher level, forcing their body to refine itself, eventually leading to meridians forming. This was quite painful for the one taking the pills, and if they were unable to handle the qi or had a flaw which could prevent the advancement they would either die or become crippled. “How many pills and elixirs did they force you to take to artificially raise your level to so high?”
Adams activated Slipstream and spun forward, throwing the man off of him with a second of unexpected centrifugal force. “I might not have roots, like you, but I have something you don’t have, which let me get to this point in forty years instead of the hundreds it probably took you.”
“And what’s that?” the man asked. This could be a rare cultivation resource, after all.
“An understanding of science.” Adams said, then raised his hand. “Singularity.” A tiny black orb formed in front of his palm and started pulling in all of the air and qi in the area, growing while moving far enough away from his hand that his palm was always just outside the even horizon.
“Space Path? Or do you follow the Gravity Path? Neither should be possible. The only ones with any success in either have all five roots, working together, as it requires so much output of force.”
Adams simply smiled and fired it at the man. While it appeared that he had the upper hand, Adams knew that he was burning qi far too quickly. He may have discovered this technique, but wouldn’t be able to use it properly until he was at least in the middle of the Nascent Soul realm due to its extreme energy requirements. He only hoped that he could finish the invader quickly enough that he wouldn’t run out of qi first.
While this battle was happening, the Monk had activated a technique to prevent inhaled toxins from being absorbed and flew into the cloud. It stung his eyes and skin. As he couldn’t see in the haze anyway, he closed his eyes. He had trained to fight blind, or deaf, relying only on touch, so this wasn’t too much of a downside. He felt something fly at him and flew slightly sideways, at which point he heard something fly by his ear. Several more things flew at him, and he boosted his reactions with a talisman before dodging each with only a few centimeters of space to spare.
“How?” the woman asked. “Even though you possess a low grade water root, how can you sense my Ice Shards and dodge? They should be moving too fast and you can’t have seen them.”
“It is quite difficult to see when one relies too heavily on their eyes.” he said, then flew at her.
