As I shouted over the winds somebody did send help as a lightning strike fell in a distance burning down a large patch of the grassland.
The clouds seemed to have come down to a low altitude.
The lightning strikes have gotten far worse now,
as every five seconds a mega flash would light up the forest like a day and hundreds of lightning strikes would fall to the ground.
Every strike seemed to make these clouds grow more and more,
as they kept getting denser by moving above and into each other.
"What is happening?" I asked the old man in awe and fear.
"These clouds are called as Sahāb al-Nāzilah. It literally means the clouds of calamities.
"They are called that because they bring new life every month through destruction." He said looking up to the clouds.
"The lightning gathers the CHI' from the surroundings and then makes it hail down in the form of rain.
And that is what will help us." He said looking at me.
"How?"
"As the rain falls it will release a ton of CHI',
enough to make a whole city run for a whole century or turn a nation into ash"
I looked at those clouds as they started to form an eye just above our heads.
"This will give you access to a lot of CHI' enough to help you form an antrum and bandha stronger and faster than anyone at your stage,
Though if you slip even a bit you will get turned into a monster"
"To help you maintain the CHI' this lake will help you"
"Huh?"
"There are two CHI' positive and negative.
I hope it is common knowledge about the relation between them"
I nodded.
"This lake has both, existing in harmony with each other. You have to cultivate the negative CHI' in it while making the positive one surround your body.
This way you have something to protect your body as well as something to regulate the amount of CHI' from the rain you cultivate."
His voice sounded strained as he tried to explain things in simpler terms.
"That is a lot of things to accomplish"
He nodded.
"Yes it is. But that is how you survive little one. And now you have only 2 hours before the rain starts."
I took deep breaths thinking of the reason I came here.
This is nothing, I can... no,
I will do this.
I turned around in a jolt as I heard something whisper,
Gather up to the limit...
'Up to the limit' I thought to myself.
I looked at the old man but he was just giving me a look to get on with it.
"So I have to go in the lake or something" I asked the old man
"Usually you have to drown but your meridians would freeze if you stay more than half an hour in it"
"So I will have you float and drown in it every five minutes...
You have to gather and strengthen yourself before the rain starts, that is the first objective."
"What would happen if I failed?" I asked him.
"Well your body would perish but your soul would survive.
But I am not considerate and passionate enough to wait till your soul gets back its conscience,
so I will take over the control."
"Now jump in the lake.
And again remember take in the negative CHI' to make your heart and body strong and as soon as you are satisfied make the positive energy revolve around you"
I was taking deep breaths to calm myself when a hand pushed me into the lake.
What was the urgency? I thought to myself.
"Drown yourself."
"Can't. I am a soul, boarhead"
For a moment water felt calm... then it started to drag me down.
The temperature also dropped suddenly and I could feel my muscles slowly lose their movement.
I had to focus all my thoughts on just staying afloat.
"Don't focus on staying afloat, drown yourself in it. I will take you out as soon as I feel your death."
Easier said than done, I thought to myself.
But I had an intuition that I can trust him, so I took a deep breath and went down.
"Good."
His voice was muffled under the water.
"Now try to find your own CHI' and expel it, then you will find the CHI' you are looking for."
Own CHI'?
How do I find it? The CHI' I am looking for?
My feet felt a stable ground in the lake. I decided this would be the place to cultivate.
So I crossed my legs and sat there trying to find my own CHI'.
I think it would be somewhere inside my body waiting to be felt.
So I tried to imagine seeing my own body and exploring it.
But the freezing temperature and no air to breathe were eating my head, making it difficult to do anything.
I was soon pulled out of the water and I was levitating just above it.
I spurted out a lot of water, and I could feel my whole body cracking from the movement.
"You are progressing slower than a slowpoke,
crank up a bit" He said, his voice a bit disappointed.
I could not think of anything to get back.
So I just continued to focus on myself.
I just went complete silent and made myself obsessed with my body.
I lost count of how many times I was taken out and dumped in. I could feel ice forming on my body and my heartbeat was going very slow.
But I must not end now, as I was now able to see myself clearly from a third person.
I could even travel within my own body as a cell trying to find my own CHI'.
At first I thought it will be my heart but it was not filled with CHI', there was something else there... but I ignored it.
Then I thought of going to the throat, then navel, then spine. It was nowhere to be found.
I found the poisons in my legs. They were fighting with my body.... I was losing.
I am running out of time.
The only place remained was the mind but I was afraid to go there.
I couldn't understand why though?
I went into my brain And I was hit by a force that almost knocked me out. Blood flowed out of my nose that felt like it had just cracked.
I was in a different space it seems. There was a sky in front of me and I was standing vertically on a sword.
I went to the ground as soon as I realized that. But I wasn't falling down.
So I carefully stood up though my knees were still expecting to fall down.
The sky itself was filled with a storm and looking down I could see water rising up slowly.
Was this my mind?
It was in chaos.
Now, where do I find the CHI'?
My thoughts were soon answered.
As I walked from one sword to another upon another weapon which acted as a bridge, I soon found myself in a strange place.
The place was murky and shallow. It was unnaturally still.
Even when I stepped in it, there was no movement.
The place was surrounded by a circle of large swords. They were upside down and jagged.
It felt like high seats of some organization.
In the center of the swamp were two swords of different aspects.
One was just a slim long sword with razor teeth on its end. It looked like a sword of a warrior. The pommel was of a lion getting suffocated by a snake-figure.
Whereas,
The other was... menacing. It had two prolonged dagger merged into one. They both were of different size and shape. One was straight up a rectangle dagger whereas the other one was more serpentine.
In the center of both was a man who was chained to these weapons with thick heavy shackles. Even the weapons were shackled to the ground and earth.
The man looked at me and bowed his head down. I was surprised.
"Welcome... welcome... young master. I thought you would fail to find me."
His voice was eerie and eyes were that of a drunken man.
"Are you the CHI'?" I asked him or 'it'.
"I am more of its physical embodiment.
"CHI' is something that… flows. From the mind… to the soul." he replied.
"But... then,
why didn't I see it?"
"It is something that is felt and understood, not seen.
You have yet to feel the CHI' to use it" He answered
"How do I do that, fast?"
As I said that his eyes started into mine with utmost curiosity.
"Hmm... either I am lucky or you are foolish.
Firstly you have to break the chains tying that are tying me down. Then you have to die by my hands to feel the CHI'."
*An awkward silence.
"But the chances of you feeling it are very low as you have to survive the strike to feel it."
As he said it I could feel bloodlust coming from him.
A clump formed in my throat.
"And how do I free you?" I asked him in a demanding voice.
"Well, you may have already noticed that the gravity here shifts based on where you stand. But that won't happen as soon as you start to climb the swords surrounding this areas"
I again looked at those gigantic swords and looked at him.
"Upon each is a piece of a sword. You must at least gather three...
soak it with your blood and then you will be able to cut the chains off."
"I am close to dying and I have to go through another trial?" I asked him with a scowl.
"Oh. Don't worry about that. Ten years here is a second there." he said laughing.
His laugh was that of a murderer and as it echoed through the area... it made it worse.
"How many are there in total?
The pieces"
"There are seven in total spread across the twenty swords."
"What would happen if I get all seven?"
"It will become a weapon that you can use in the outside world freely, though with some consequences.
The strength of it will be enough to level a hill, though before you start running your horses that is just a common thing in the wide world."
I just stared at him.
"Leveling a hill... is ordinary here?"