Chương 17: Broke

Tim woke up and his brain was immediately assailed by everything that had happened last night. He walked into the shower, put it on as hot as he could handle, and banged his head against the wall as everything replayed in his mind. He now had messages from his 20 -year-old student in his phone. She had fed him noodles. He banged his head against the wall again.

"How did I get to this point? I had principles," he muttered. But her relentless pursuit as Varek had caused him to play the reverse uno card.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck," he whispered to himself. His distress as Tim caused Lia to wake up abruptly. She walked to her small washroom and copied his actions—hot water, head against the stone wall, the same mental anguish flowing between both bodies. The turmoil felt different in Lia's body though. She was regretting flirting with Varek and sending him that goodnight text with a smiley face. The hormones and emotional responses were distinctly feminine, making the guilt feel sharper somehow.

Tim and Lia sighed at the exact same moment, the sound echoing in both a Japanese apartment bathroom and a cultivation sect dormitory.

"Okay, different bodies," Tim said aloud to himself. He got both bodies to dry off and sit on their respective beds.

"Let me try to relax and let each body have its own thoughts at the same time." He was experimenting to see if he could start separating his thought processes for each body while still retaining his core self. It was like trying to have two different conversations simultaneously—exhausting but potentially necessary for his sanity. Tim closed his eyes and tried to compartmentalize. Tim thoughts: You're a teacher. She's your student. This crosses every professional boundary you've ever believed in.

What would your colleagues think? What would the school administration think? Lia thoughts: Varek is attractive and confident. The flirting feels natural in this body. Why hasn't he texted me yet. The separation felt strange—like watching two different movies on split screens in his mind. But it was working somewhat. The panic was lessening as he allowed each body to process the situation through their own lens rather than trying to force his Earth sensibilities onto his cultivation world existence.

Once he allowed the separation to fall back down, he was hit with how Lia was thinking about Varek. Oh fuck no, I don't. That wall is not going up again any time soon. Lia is my power body at the moment. She could train and become a literal god. No way I am going to let her instincts run away. I can try to put a small wall up, but no way will I let Lia start to go 19-year-old hormonal teenager on me. Then he sighed. Damn, that's all Riku is. Still a young hormonal teenager. Hmm, I have to be responsible with her.

If I can get my body as Tim to start cultivating well, I won't have to worry about social norms anymore. Tim had a strong moral ethic as a teacher, but since the meteor it kind of had been all thrown out the window. The power and future he had access to now was incredible. Riku would be a key ally in both worlds, so maybe it was worth breaking his moral code for. Today was a no-bullshit day, he thought to himself. There was no collage classes for him on fridays.

He would get Tim to sit and cultivate all day, and Lia had a training session with her master. Lia got dressed but rather slowly as Tim once again had to stop to appreciate the goods. Fuck it, now's as good a time to look as any. He threw a leg up in front of the mirror. Tim instantly got hard. Damn, that's a nice view. To Tim it seemed like the most beautiful thing in the world. A heavenly wonderland of wetness. His mind controlling Lia felt nothing from her brain but it looks like it needs a shave.

Okay, time for my meeting—I can perv later. Tim felt a surge of determination cut through his earlier panic. The moral confusion was a luxury he couldn't afford right now. He had an incredibly powerful body with access to cultivation techniques that could literally reshape reality, and he was wasting time worrying about Earth's rules?

"Alright," he muttered, standing up from his bed.

"No more bullshit. Time to get serious about this." This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. The plan crystallized in his mind: spend the day pushing both bodies to their limits. Tim would dedicate himself to cultivation practice using the breathing techniques from the dojo, while Lia would focus on her training with Elder Cho.

If he could advance quickly enough in both worlds, the petty concerns about teacher-student boundaries would become irrelevant compared to the cosmic scope of what he was becoming. He just had to make sure that it was Riku who was conquered, not Lia. Lia finished getting dressed in her sect robes and headed out toward Elder Cho's pavilion. The morning air was crisp with qi, and she could feel the energy responding to her presence.

"I am a powerhouse here," she said, getting high on how much of a genius she was. Meanwhile, Tim sat cross-legged on his apartment floor, trying to replicate the breathing patterns Yui had taught them. The wisp of qi he could access on Earth was pathetic compared to Lia's reserves. He would have to find a way to help Tim, or he will never get to even level 1 qi refining. His phone buzzed with a text from Riku: "Good morning, Master Tim. Ready for another day of sect training tonight?"

Tim stared at the message for a moment, then typed back: "Always ready. How's Varek settling back in with his sect brothers?"

"They think he's lovesick," came the immediate reply, followed by a laughing emoji.

"Okay, I've got classes today and Varek is going to report in for his mission rewards. Have fun!" Riku typed. Lia strode in to see Elder Cho.

"Lia, perfect timing as always," Elder Cho greeted as Lia sat on a lotus mat in Elder Cho's personal courtyard.

"Lia, as much downside as your little social media debacle caused, it made me more aware that I need to personally tutor you much more. When you were qi refining, the huge amount of qi vapor you had could still be managed using normal cultivation techniques. Since you reached foundation establishment last month, the sheer amount of liquid qi you have is miraculous." Lia sat up straighter, enjoying the praise as a prodigy. Elder Cho saw the smugness and corrected her.

"It can be more of a curse than a benefit. The purpose of foundation establishment is to clear the remaining blockages in your meridians. These aren't the large blockages of qi refining but several small blockages over the entire body—54 to be exact. Now, as you know, smashing these with huge amounts of qi can be detrimental. You have an enormous amount of qi. If you use it to slowly erode the blockages, it should take the impurities back to your dantian where you filter them out through breathing exercises.

The problem is since you have so much qi, impurities will remain which will prevent you from progressing later in your cultivation path. What you must do is run qi over the blockages and release it straight into the atmosphere after. This ensures a perfectly clean qi ocean in your dantian."

"Why doesn't everyone do this?" Lia asked.

"Because it empties you of qi incredibly quickly. Most people have to circulate the qi; otherwise, cultivating will take centuries. The dantian can only absorb so much per second. Your dantian is special and absorbs several times more qi per second from spiritual stones and the atmosphere than a normal cultivator's."

"Won't this take longer if I am constantly shooting all my qi off after it is eroding my meridian blockages?"

"Yes, it will," Elder Cho replied.

"But the benefit of a pure qi sea is not to be dismissed. This path is not quick, but you are talented."

"The path of absolute purity is for those who seek true immortality, not just power," Elder Cho continued, her voice taking on a more serious tone.

"Most cultivators are content to reach Golden Core or even Nascent Soul with impurities still lingering in their foundation. They can live for thousands of years and wield incredible power. But you, Lia..." She paused, studying the young woman intently.

"You have the potential to transcend mortal limitations entirely." Lia felt a thrill run through her at the elder's words. Tim couldn't help but mutter, "Fuck yeah."

"What does that mean exactly, Elder?" Lia asked, trying to keep the excitement out of her voice.

"It means that if you follow this path of perfect purification, your cultivation will be slower initially, but each breakthrough will be qualitatively superior to normal cultivators. Where others hit bottlenecks that take decades to overcome, your bottlenecks will be easier. You want to develop the best golden core possible. Don't follow my mistakes and develop a core that makes it almost impossible to progress." Elder Cho gestured to the small waterfall that fed the koi pond beside them.

"Normal cultivation is like that stream—it flows steadily but is constrained by the rocks and terrain. Perfect cultivation is like the ocean—vast, deep, and limitless." Lia nodded eagerly.

"I understand, Elder. I want to follow this path."

"Good. Then we begin today. I will teach you the Expelling qi Circulation technique. It's an ancient method that allows you to expel qi-carried impurities directly into the atmosphere while simultaneously drawing in pure qi from spiritual stones." Elder Cho reached into her storage ring and produced a handful of glowing crystals.

"These are low-grade spiritual stones. While the sect values your talent, you must be able to fuel this cultivation method with hard work too. Your monthly allowance of 5 spiritual stones a month will not be enough. This technique will require 100 a month." Lia's ring felt incredibly empty. She only had 34 spirit stones. As Lia settled into a deeper meditation position, Tim felt a surge of determination in both bodies. This was it—the path to true power.

While his Earth body was limited to wisps of qi, his Lia body was about to begin training that could literally lead to godhood.

"Focus on the first meridian cluster near your heart," Elder Cho instructed.

"Feel the qi flowing over the blockages like sandpaper, wearing them down grain by grain. Then, instead of cycling that tainted qi back through your system, push it out through your skin and into the air..." Lia walked back to her room contemplating her lack of money. The cruel twist of fate was she was broke in both worlds.