"Hmph!"
An explosive exhale escaped Silva's nose as he slammed his fist into the totem with all his might. The resulting sound was deafening, with howling winds accompanying the deep baritone chime as the entire totem shook and vibrated from the impact.
Pulling his fist away, a slight frown marred Silva's face when he saw his unmarred skin. Silva should have been proud of his progress, but all he felt was dissatisfaction.
During the first two months, Silva pushed his body to the limit, shattering bones and spilling blood with every punch and kick. But without fail, every cut, every broken bone was healed so thoroughly that not even a blemish remained.
The potency of Silva's innate healing was a miracle to behold. But he didn't want it to be just a miracle; Silva needed to understand and control his newfound power, to use it to its fullest.
At first, Silva found some success upon realizing his healing was not infinite but operated on a limited pool. It had been a painful discovery that left Silva nursing a broken arm for roughly an hour before the healing energy returned. But such growing pains proved necessary as soon as Silva figured out that his vital energy only recharged when he cultivated. Which wasn't an issue since Silva was always passively absorbing Qi from his surroundings. But after some further testing Silva found that the more Qi he absorbed the faster his vital energy recovered, which he tested several times with Fal's supply of essence crystals. It was from these experiments that Silva hypothesized that his spiritual roots converted some of the Qi that flowed through them into vital energy.
However, after making the connection, Silva's advancement and streak of discovery came to a sudden and abrupt halt. Silva tried to control and direct his healing energy but every single effort was met with failure. It was like trying to reverse the flow of a mountain stream just by commanding it to.
Still it wasn't Silva's lack of willpower or determination that put an end to his experimentation, but his body. Once Silva progressed to the third month of his training, he could unleash all of his titanic strength upon the striking totem without suffering a single wound.
It was a praiseworthy accomplishment, but without any injury to heal from, Silva had no way even to observe his vital energy in action, and attempting to summon it on command was a pointless endeavor.
"You seem upset, nephew," Fal commented as he opened an eye and glanced at Silva, who looked over to find his uncle hovering nearly two feet above the ground in a meditative pose, "Speak your mind before your regrets fester into inner demons."
Silva paused for a moment, collecting his thoughts before speaking, "I have failed for the first time since my rebirth. My path is one of growth, yet there is a potential inside of me that I can not utilize and now seems lost."
Fal hummed with a faint smile, "Don't tell me I need to remind you that failure is all but certain."
Silva couldn't help but smile as well, "No, but modest as I am, it is nonetheless a humbling experience."
"It is good to recognize the lesson in failure," Fal replied as he stroked his beard, "To be truthful, I was praying that you wouldn't succeed."
Silva raised his eyebrow, "Do I need to worry about fell karma forming between us, Uncle?"
"No, my prayers were truly for your benefit," Fal assured Silva, "I believe I understand the nature of what you call vital energy, and had you been able to control it, then it would have been against the will of the heavens."
Silva stared at Fal for a long moment, who remained tight-lipped, "Is there a reason you won't say more, or is my burning curiosity amusing?"
Fal grinned, "If I tell you what lies ahead, will you be walking your own path or simply following my directions?"
"Hmm, true words of wisdom, I'm impressed," Silva muttered before he turned to face the striking totem once more while Fal glared at his snarky nephew, "Hmm, no respect for your elders!"
Silva couldn't help but smile at Fal's antics as he resumed striking the totem, his mind clearer than ever. Silva had nearly lost sight of the forest among the trees by constructing an imaginary roadblock on his path of growth. Now that his vision was clear, Silva could see that he had set himself up for failure by fixating on his one shortcoming and ignoring his countless other accomplishments.
'What if I had dedicated all of my attention to tempering my body?'
That thought gripped Silva's mind like an iron vice as his fist slammed into the totem.
"Hmph!"
'How much further would I be right now?'
"Hmph!"
'Could I have already broken through?'
Watching his nephew's face and hardened gaze, Fal suppressed a satisfied grin. Fal knew from the very beginning that Silva would fail in his attempt to control the attuned Qi healing his body; he might as well have been trying to fly.
Fal could have intervened earlier with his advice, but how could a doting uncle deprive his nephew of such a necessary learning moment? It was also a bit of catharsis for Fal as he finally got to watch Silva struggle and suffer after months of painless improvement.
'Nothing wrong with a bit of growing pain.'
---
"Hmph!"
There was no sound accompanying Silva's punch as his fist cleaved through the air and impacted the striking totem, and for the first time Siva emerged as the victor of their clash.
Instead of a reverberating gong, the totem let out a resounding crack, the sound of a thousand swords shattering in half as a jagged line split the stalk of iron bamboo up the middle.
Taking a step back Silva silently admired his work.
"It seems the last month has truly done wonders for your technique." Fal praised as he walked over and inspected the remains of the totem pole, "Though perhaps I should have stopped you before you managed to destroy several thousand essence stones worth of spiritual wood."
Silva glanced at his uncle with doubt clear in his eyes, "Why would ever spend that much for a glorified practice target?"
"Oh I didn't pay for it," Fal corrected with a sly grin, "The bamboo was just one of my many spoils from the war. As for turning it into a striking totem, I was only in the second realm when it came into my possession. I didn't know how or even have the time to find an alchemist who could refine it for me, so I used it for a bit, then completely forgot about it until you asked me to train you."
"That does sound like something you would do, Uncle," Silva agreed with a straight face making Fal glance at his nephew sideways, "I'm almost insulted, though I'm certain that wasn't your intent."
"Of course not," Silva confirmed without the slightest shift in his expression which only roused Fal's suspicions, but being the elder, he let his nephew have the final word.
"Back to the matter at hand its needless to say that the time and materials needed to hone your bones further is not worth the investment. We should focus on saturating your dantian with Qi using my essence crystals to trigger your breakthrough as soon as possible."
"Is my body that strong?" Silva asked as he looked from the striking totem to his own fist, "Surely there are others who could break it."
Fal stared at his nephew for a long moment before reminding himself that Fal had no frame of reference for what was normal, "No, I'm not confident there are, at least those who utilize pure physical might to do so."
A conflicted look passed across Silva's face, "Are you saying that you couldn't shatter this totem with a single punch?"
"The question you're asking is broaching an entirely different subject," Fal sighed before launching into an explanation. "The purpose of the body tempering realm is to create a vessel out of the physical body for the spirit. Once they merge, the body of a cultivator ceases to be a purely physical entity, and they become attuned to Qi, the essence of the heavens, capable of controlling it and shaping it to their whim"
To demonstrate, Fal held up a fist, and Silva watched as a colorless aura surrounded Fal's hand, "Infusing any attack with Qi imbues it with heaven's will; the only way to defend against it is by possessing Qi yourself. Remember when I infused my cane with Qi your spirit was left without a way to protect itself even though your physical body was left unharmed."
Fal lowered his fist and glanced at the striking totem, "As a spiritual herb, the bamboo naturally absorbed Qi from its surroundings when it was alive, leading to its unique constitution that makes harvesting it a daunting challenge for most. But after so much time has passed, any lingering Qi within the wood has vanished, meaning that it is nothing more than a piece of particularly hard wood that most in the second realm would have no issue breaking with a single punch."
Taking in Fal's words, Silva couldn't help but frown.
"That isn't to say immense physical strength isn't a boon," Fal amended, seeing his nephew's concern, "I'm simply saying it would be more worthwhile to improve your Qi reserves and/or your ability to control Qi than focus on improving your body."
Silva nodded, and his frown disappeared, but he didn't tell his Uncle that his facial expression hadn't been one of disappointment but of consideration. Because when Fal mentioned the constitution of the Ironbanded Bamboo, Silva made a connection. A spiritual herb had revived him, and no doubt his spiritual roots and impressive physique were a result of that, but what if there was more to it?
'What if I've been granted a unique constitution as well?'