The Third Cut - Chapter 3 preview

The next morning, Wu Ying really began to stretch his legs. Whereas they had been moving at just over twice as fast as any unascended human could have moved the previous day, now secure in the knowledge that Yang Mu’s aura control was sufficient, he sped up gradually.

Wind Steps – the modified movement technique endemic to his Sect – allowed him to traverse the land in steps that covered multiple feet with each motion. On the ground as they moved, he had to shorten the distance each step could take so as to avoid running into vegetation, but it was a simple matter to walk faster. When alone, he could enact further alterations, shifting his body towards the wind chi that was part of his form now, allowing him to bypass smaller impediments like a breeze blowing through the leaves.

Yang Mu on the other hand had a different movement technique. Or, in truth, it seemed she had three that were combined. The first and most common was a simple one that empowered her steps, allowing her to cross more ground with each step. It was similar to the initial parts of the Wind Step technique, a more physical expression of her chi that Wu Ying could sense had hidden depths to it that she had not activated as yet.

The second movement technique blended seamlessly into the first, an expression of her own wood chi nature. It was an all encompassing sensory and movement technique which altered the vegetation around herself or in her path. Where Wu Ying might have to stop before a tree or drift around or over or through dense vegetation, she just parted it. At times, it seemed like she even used branches and trees to propel her forwards, increasing her speed.

As such, while Wu Ying traveled in a cicrcutious route to get to his destination, she instead traveled in a mostly straight line, borrowing the aid of the trees and plants in her journey.

Finally, there was a third technique that she kept well hidden, one that Wu Ying only glimpsed at twice throughout the whole day. Where she bypassed the very space that she traversed, compressing or hopping through the intervening distance. It was a high level spatial movement technique, one that borrowed and utilized a dao of space and time.

In other words, completely incomprehensible to Wu Ying in anything but its final results. He had – briefly – attempted to understand the twinned dao of space or time, and neither had made much sense to him. How some individuals could not only grasp time as a circuitous woven circle, or space as existing in multiple dimensions, he did not understand.

Not in the deep seated, soul-bound level that was required to utilize it at least.

After all, that was the difference between knowledge and understanding. He could understand that space could be made of myriad things. A man could be seen, he could be touched, he could be smelled and heard. An existence in more than one dimension. And so, space itself could be said to exist in more than one dimension, being felt, being seen, even being heard if it consisted of a person.

But he could not understand how that translate to movement, to compressing or expanding it, of piercing or making that space all one. It did not, of course, help that many of those who did understand such dao peculiarities were obtuse and hermits, protected from outside interference by the fiercest of sect guardians.

So. Three movement techniques all of them one technique in itself, all of them blending together with such ease that it seemed that she was using a single one, if one had not significant time to study the other. In fact, Wu Ying was certain, in another decade or so, they would form a single technique and she a veritable ghost, impossible to hold down in the forest or other verdant vegetation.

On the other hand…

Wu Ying came to a stop at his latest acquisition. The fourth of the day, a simple flower bush. He set his chi to cutting and digging, tiny whirlwinds forming that burrowed into the ground. Not as much care was required for the rose bush, for the hardy, carnivorous wood-aligned plant would spring back without issue once it was replanted.

Better than leaving it here to continually suck the nutrients from the other plants around. The markings of its hunger was all around, in the sickly parlor of the trees and the formations of mosses and other fungi on their bark, the rotting corpses of smaller bushes and vegetation on the ground.

“You move well. But your aura control could use more work when you switch between your techniques,” Wu Ying remarked.

Yang Mu’s eyes narrowed a little. “My aura control is impeccable.”

“When you are not moving, it is. Better than mine, even,” Wu Ying acknowledged. His own nature did not allow for his aura or his presence to disappear entirely. Instead, he could control its presence and blend the portions of chi that escaped, such that he seemed entirely natural to outward senses. Perfect for hiding from spirit beasts or demonic creatures. To those with the knowledge or the right kind of techniques, he was more easily spotted however. “But you have to focus to change your movement technique and the flows, and you are leaking a little when you do so.”

She glared at him for a few moments more before eventually turning away, leaving Wu Ying to finish his work. He wrapped his chi around the object, pulling it into his World Spirit Ring where he had carved a similar hole. Then, using the soil he had just dug up in the real world, he refilled the earth around the carnivorous wood plant, locating it near the strand of fast growing spirit weeds to help control their spread in one direction at least.

Some direction of water within the ring itself and the entire process was over, leaving a gaping hole in the earth as the only mark of their presence. Wu Ying did not concern himself about that however, instead moving on to the next target.

Their entire journey that day and over the next few days was a wending one that took them south slowly through the deep woods, skirting along their edges before working deeper. There was – of course – no actual boundary between what might be considered more civilized forests and the deep wilds, no visible markings beyond signs of travel and the presence – or lack – of other spirit and demonic beasts.

Still, years of practice had gifted Wu Ying an understanding of the invisible boundaries that were formed by the movements of powerful spirit and demonic beasts, the subtle signs in the shift of environmental chi and the markings they created to delineate their boundaries.

Gliding along such edges, Wu Ying picked at the bountiful spirit herbs available. He took the rarest items, the ones meant for Energy Storage and Core Formation cultivators but always sought to leave the area he travelled within better off. Sometimes, that meant removing encroaching or destructive vegetation, other times it was trimming away dead or overhanging shrubbery to allow the flourishing of the herbs below. In some cases, he would even subtly alter the natural geography, altering the natural flow of chi in the surroundings.

By the third day, Yang Mu had taken an overt interest in his gathering. Her curiosity was of a more mercantile nature, eyeing the herbs he acquired with an assessing eye that tallied up the income he generated. Of course, after the second herb on the third day, she could not help but ask.

“Why are you taking that? There’s little value in green schisandra berries. Don’t you have to wait for them to ripen further?” Yang Mu said.

“Normally, yes. If we were trying to sell it for consumption or addition in pills.” Wu Ying tapped the tree they were under. “However, this tree is water-based.” He gestured at the pool of water that it sat besides, the small trickle of water flowing from it and back. “Not many uses for it among apothecarists, since most schisandra berries are best for fire and metal applicants.”

Yang Mu nodded along with all that. Like him, she had a wider understanding of what goods were needed for which client. After all, spending years working the shop with her parents had given her extensive practical knowledge similar to Wu Ying’s, though perhaps not as broad.

“These are more for myself, for my baths as a Body Cultivator.” Wu Ying finished pouring the last of the berries into the jar he had taken out before pushing the cork cover into it and sealing it all. “I’ll soak it in some rice wine and then use it in the bath later on when it’s ready.”

“Oh…” Yang Mu fell silent, though there was an enquiring look in her eyes.

“You have questions?” Wu Ying said.

“Curiosities.” Yang Mu gestured at the bottle he was holding. “My parents were adamant I should not attempt body cultivation. That it could affect my own advancement in soul cultivation. And yet, it has not stopped your progress.”

He nodded. “No, not really. I’ve been fortunate to be able to progress both my dao and locate a wind body cultivation manual that works for me.”

“Exactly. I don’t understand why my parents were so worried.”

Wu Ying smiled a little, making the jar disappear into his storage ring. Then, he gestured in the direction he intended to go, before taking a step away. They moved together, whilst Wu Ying continued the conversation.

“You’ve met a lot of cultivators. Those in the Core Formation realm mostly, I think. Some Energy Formation cultivators, of course, but your family catered towards those at the higher stage of course. Is that not right?”

“Yes.”

“And you and your sisters, they’ve all progressed relatively smoothly. A few hiccups, a few moments where you’ve had troubles, but generally you progressed upwards without issue.” Another grunted agreement came from her. “So you’ve never seen the struggles of those who struggle to progress.”

“We’ve struggled. It has never been easy.”

“Cultivation has never been easy,” Wu Ying said. “But you had access to your parents, Nascent Soul cultivators. Direct teaching and experience to bypass the hardest parts in the earliest areas of cultivation. Access to resources, cultivation techniques that were suited for each of you beyond the basic Yellow Emperor technique that most have to use. Even in sects like mine, finding a technique that works best, that can help an individual breakthrough is hard.

“But that’s because a sect must consider what is best for the sect as a whole. Only those with personal attention of an Elder can hope to skip that requirement.”

“So you’re saying I’m lucky?” Yang Mu said, angrily.

“Yes. And that you’ve never seen how hard a struggle it has been for others.” Wu Ying dodged under a tree branch, coming to rest on top of a stone. “Body Cultivation tears your body apart. The pain that you experience is unlike anything you’ve ever felt. It digs deep into your body, into your blood vessels and bones. It has broken many, made them stop cultivating entirely in fear of the process.

“Because that’s the other thing. Many Body Cultivation techniques… you can’t stop.”

“What?” Yang Mu said, cocking her head to the side. “Why have I not heard that before?”

“Because it’s not something most consider.” He shrugged, stepping away to continue their trek, feeling the wind blowing across his skin. “The process of altering your body is painful. If you stop before the process if complete, your body wants to revert. That process is painful too, and the reversion process can be…” Wu Ying trailed off.

“Can be what?” Yang Mu said eventually when he did not speak for a long time.

“Fatal in some cases. Impossible in others. A Body Cultivator who stops could be caught in a never-ending, painful process of change back and forth as one side or another of his body battles within themselves.”

Another long silence stretched out between the two of them, the pair dodging through the forest. As the silence stretched, Wu Ying chose to speed up again. He had noticed, over time that she had begun to improve her control of her aura, reducing the flare of energy as she switched between techniques. It had caused her to stumble a few times, her movements no longer as smooth.

A decent trade-off in his estimation. In time she’d get better, and if she was not as swift as before, it was more than acceptable for their next step.

Deep into the wilds.