Quantum Cultivation, Jace Kang [heaven official's blessing novel english .TXT] 📗

Aya turned and threw up again.

“Keep Cultivating, Ken. Aya, go get the testicles.”

She shuddered. “Do I have to?”

“Do you know what those are called in the old language?”

“Golden Ball,” Aya said with a hoarse voice.

“They are very strong in Yang and Essence.” Master Ryu gestured to the body again. “The word Gold also means Metal in the old language. In a Nue, a yokai belonging to the Metal Path, the testicles contain the metals used for the Yang aspects of Iron Shirt. Now hurry.”

Swallowing hard, Aya trotted over to the Nue remains. Gingerly, she spread her thumbs and forefingers wide and plucked each of the veined white globes. Turning her head, she came back.

“Good work,” Ryu said. “Now eat one.”

Aya’s eyes went wide as teacups as she shook her head.

“If you want to cure your cystic fibrosis, this will go a long way to improving your lung function.” Ryu extended his hand. “Now give me the other.”

Aya was more than happy to oblige, dropping the one into his palm.

“Can you eat this?” Ryu asked Kentaro.

Without any protest, the boy opened his mouth.

Ryu placed it in. At their side, Aya pinched her nose and popped the testicle into her own mouth. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she started to chew.

“Don’t chew,” Ryu said. “There’s another way.”

With her cheeks puffed out like a chipmunk, she gave him a quizzical look.

Ryu set Kentaro’s head on the ground and stood up. Sinking into a low, square stance, he used the hard lines of Metalshaping to draw the Nue testicles down into both Aya’s and Kentaro’s stomachs.

Her eyes widened, and Kentaro winced.

“Aya,” Ryu said, “Perform the Separating Heaven and Earth form of the Eight Brocades. Ken-kun, just visualize yourself doing the form.”

Ryu reached out through the water vapor to sense Kentaro’s Qi.  It was quite feeble because of his devastating injury. Still, it flowed, and the metals of the Nue testicle began integrating into his system.  If he was able to maintain focus through the pain, it might very well save his life. Indeed, the boy’s Cultivation of the Fire aspects of the Nue Core was already repairing his blood vessels.

Near them, Aya’s Qi was circulating as well. As always, it fought to make it through all of the circuitry in her brain, but she was getting better at it.

“Now as you break down the energy of the testicle, draw it into your lungs with an inhalation. As you exhale, push it through to your skin. If you can, Ken-kun, do the same.”

Ryu ripped the Nue’s arm off, then used its blood to draw the Yin-Yang circle around the two. He placed the Trigram for Earth behind Kentaro to root him there, and the Trigram for Heaven behind Aya. Whereas before, he’d used Ken’s stronger energy to supplement Aya’s, he reversed it now.

He added the symbol for Fire beneath Heaven near Kentaro to represent companionship; under Earth, he drew Thunder to represent approach—the expectation of greater fortune. Within the circle Qi flowed smoothly, and with it, Kentaro’s breath steadied as well.

Was it enough to save him? For now, there wasn’t much more Ryu could do. He went to check on Siena, who lay unconscious.

He reached out to sense her Qi. Her Core remained vast, but the energy within was nearly depleted. Maybe he’d drawn too much from her during their last intimate encounter.

Up to now, though, she’d replenished her energy quickly.  He inserted acupuncture needles into Zusanli on one leg, Fuliu on another; then Hegu on one hand, and Neiguan in the opposite wrist.  The combination should speed her revival.

A buzz hummed from up above. Ryu sidestepped just as a bolt of energy rippled into the spot he’d just been kneeling in, dispersing into the pavement.

Ryu tracked it to its source.

Fast as a cat, a dark shadow ducked behind the eaves of the temple. Ryu twirled in a circle, avoiding another blast of crackling blue energy from the right. He leaped over a third, originating to the left.

He landed in a crouch, hand on the ground to evaluate the vibrations with Earth Path senses. Through the water vapor, he detected four attackers. He dove into a forward roll to avoid two more blasts, then vaulted to his feet.

There they were, six human shapes. Even with superior sight from Wood Path training, they moved so fast they were hard to make out.

A stray shot might hit his friends, or damage the Yin-Yang Circle he’d drawn. He had to draw them away.

Chapter 30:

The Hacker

I f someone had told Aya that her evening would include having a dread monster’s testicle pulled into her stomach, she would’ve laughed. Despite how disgusting it was, the energy felt even more intense than the Tofu-Kozo Core she’d absorbed. Coolness percolated through her, and her inhalations and exhalations came smoothly and steadily.

Was this how normal humans breathed?

Across from her, Kentaro’s blood loss had slowed to a stop. Before this week, she would’ve assumed that meant his heart had stopped beating, but his chest rose and fell in resolute breaths. Would he survive?

Her stomach twisted. Whether it was from the thought of losing him, or the monster’s sex organ floating around down there, she wasn’t sure.  The more her body processed the testicle, the more her head felt like it was being squeezed in the grip of a shocktrooper in power armor.

The blasts from particle guns broke her concentration on breathing and visualizing. They were zipping in so fast, from so many directions, it was impossible to tell what was going on.

The camera she was wearing would’ve picked it up.

Jacking into the EtherCloud, she entered her EtherSpace.