Chương 2: “She Suddenly Understood The ‘Limb Exploding’ Part”

Ch 2 "She Suddenly Understood The 'Limb Exploding' Part" Thunder boomed in the distance as the cave was filled with the echoes of pelting water. The little fire she had made flickered dancing light and morphing shadows across the wall. Amber Fang clenched a white jade bottle in her small hand. It was filled with Saint Tiger Blood. It was one of the only inheritances left to her, a small piece of the legacy of her family that her mother had actually permitted her to know. It had the power to strengthen your body.

To give you access to a mystical type of Qi that had tremendous power. Her mother had never dared to display her powers, telling Amber that they must hide their legacy. But on the day the demon wave flooded Green Wood Village with dark monstrosities that tore people apart viciously, the woman unleashed it in it's full glory. Amber could never forget the divine dance of flowing orange Qi that seemed like it was filled with stars and mysteries. As for the rest of the memories… Amber shook her head.

She didn't want to think about it now. The girl squeezed the white jade bottle tightly. Her mother had told her that she wouldn't be ready for the blood inside of it for a long time, that her family members traditionally took a drop when they achieved Nexus Realm. But Amber needed strength now, before the Great Clan trials. Weakness would kill her before anything else! Her blood was pumping and she was stuck in this cold cave on a stormy night. Amber decided she would master that power.

The same brilliant Qi that her mother had slain demons with. She would pass the the blood baptism no matter what. She stared at the bottle for a moment, the brilliant white jade glimmering in the firelight. Amber briefly recalled her mother saying one could be turned into an insane violent shell of your former self, become crippled, or even suffer exploding limbs. She shivered even by the warmth of the fire.

"I need some water first…" She whispered to herself as she put the bottle down and reached for the bamboo canteen hanging from her travel bag. Cool water rinsed her dry throat and she felt a bit better. She stood up and decided to warm up her body and her Qi. The cave floor felt cool against her bare feet as she readied herself. Her knees dropped a bit and she leaned forward, one hand up and one hand down with her palms forward. This was the first position of her family's martial art, Blazing Tiger.

It was the foundational art of her family that her mother made her practice every single day, teaching her Qi how to channel in the correct manner. She felt the movement of Qi begin to flow through her body. She took her time slowly moving into the next position. One leg stepped forward outstretched as the other squatted low to the ground, her arms poised as if a fierce attack could come at any moment. This martial art prepared her body for the blood baptism.

The Saint Tiger Blood would ravage her body if she wasn't careful. Blazing Tiger was carefully built and altered over the years by her Fang family to optimally control the flow of rampaging Qi during the baptism. She moved through position after position slowly as the rain pounded the area surrounding the small cave. The glow of the moon traversing the sky could be seen through the clouds from the mouth of the cavern. The girl ran through all 121 stances and then did it again as the night grew longer.

Her muscles felt good. Her body was warm. A quick shake of her limbs left her feeling loose and limber. Her Qi was flowing in a good rhythm. She took a few breaths through her family's breathing technique, Burning Sun. The cool air relaxed her as she felt ambient Qi enter her body and join the burning swirls within her. Her golden eyes opened and gleamed a brilliant amber tone in the firelight. Everything she wanted in life, whether revenge or peace, started here. It was time.

She again grasped the jade bottle and uncorked it without hesitation. A sudden gasp escaped her lips as she felt a wave of pressure slam against her lungs. She heard nothing, but she felt as if a gigantic roar had shaken her soul. This Saint Tiger Blood was so domineering! The powerful and potent aura released from the bottle filled the surrounding air. It gave a suppressive feeling as the girl struggled to collect herself.

One knee threatened to touch the ground and her limbs felt heavy as she struggled to not drop the precious bottle. The atmosphere itself felt full of shimmering power. Amber Fang grunted and struggled under the oppressive aura, cycling her Burning Sun technique to keep herself steady as she carefully tilted the bottle. All she needed was a single drop. Her heart pounded against the strain of the blood aura. The bottle seemed ten times as heavy as the girl stayed alert against any potential spills.

Slowly she continued to tip the bottle. Breathing was burdensome. The Fang girl did not want to rush it and slowly poured out a pin head sized drop onto her delicate finger. As the saintly liquid touched her finger she felt a blazing warmth emanating from it that threatened to burn through her finger! Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. A wince from the pain crossed her face and the girl struggled not to react. She quickly corked the bottle tightly.

In an instant the oppressive atmosphere was gone. She fell to her knees and heaved air in and out heavily. Her heartbeat pounded in her ears, seemingly much louder without the immense aura of the Saint Tiger blood pressing down upon her. Her eyes gazed down at her finger with the small jewel of red blood on it as if it were a hundred meters away. The round glimmering bead shimmered in the fire light and hummed with an undeniable aggressiveness. She felt cold sweat running down her back already.

She furrowed her brow and told herself that this was not the time for hesitation!

"I can do this! I'm strong! I'm ready!" she barked at herself. Decisiveness and strength of resolve were of utmost importance in assimilating this drop. A quick lick of her tongue against her finger took all the liquid down into her throat. Her eyes went wide. A scream escaped her mouth and fired into the small cave, echoing from every surface as the pain in her center exploded and burning Qi began to surge around in her body.

The scorching heat burned her throat like lava all the way down and melted into her stomach where the pain seared horrendously. She hit the unforgiving cavern floor hard as she writhed in pain. Her ears rang and her vision blurred as she thrashed on the ground. Her lungs burnt as she made a sort of noise between moaning and choking for air.

"Listen… to… me!" she strained, desperately trying to command her body to flip over. As she managed to roll to her stomach and push herself slightly off the ground, all four of the girl's limbs trembled and threatened to collapse as she struggled to command them to stay up. She could feel her blood burning and pushing against the wall of her veins. Sweat began pouring from the girl's body as thick waves of steam were sent curling up into the air.

The heat inside her was so vicious it threatened to cook her from the inside! Her eyes filled with a strong amber glow as her pupils became slits. The edges of her eyes began to darken, forming a thick black line around them. The girl's breath work was scrambled and she couldn't execute her Burning Sun technique with any semblance of proficiency. The drop of Saint Tiger blood inside her stomach gave off not only heat, but enormous amounts of Qi that raged inside of her. It was too much!

It was now clear why she was supposed to have an energy nexus first, to help contain all of this violent energy. The Qi inside her felt like it was bulging to escape her flesh prison, and she suddenly understood the "limb exploding" part of her mother's warning. With a pained gasp she forced one leg up, and tried to raise the other.

"No!" She struggled to yell, forcing her sinking body up.

"Calm… down!" Her mother had always told her that if she learned how to calm herself then she could achieve anything. She needed to guide her Qi now, or she might die. The fire crackled and rain pounded as the air of the small cave twisted at the whims of the violent Qi bursting forth from the black haired girl. She screamed as she forced her body to slowly stand, every movement an agonizing torture. One arm slowly came up, followed by another.

Every centimeter they moved was a hard earned victory as her chest heaved with pained effort. Her knees struggled to not drop too low as she leaned forward. Her palms snapped outwards. Morning Tiger! She had once again achieved the primary position of Blazing Tiger, this time with much more difficulty. The girl suddenly felt a slight relief of pressure as the chaotic energy inside her stirred in a slightly more cohesive direction. The entire direction of air in the cave shifted.

Her chest was heaving and her lungs gasped for air as pain and sweat covered her struggling body. The young girl's vision wobbled as the cave walls seemed to liquefy. Tongues of orange Qi escaped and lapped around her body like a flickering flame. Careful and methodical positioning was crucial to the stance executions, and every movement felt like a labor under the domineering pressure of her Saint Tiger Qi.

She mentally thanked her mother for teaching her the stances so thoroughly that they were engraved onto her bones. Suddenly, those years of monotonous stance practices didn't feel like punishments. Amber slowly continued into Sun Basking Tiger as her limbs creaked with effort. Moving into Tiger Beholding the Sky her shakiness eased up just a bit. Each move was kept slow and deliberate. The young Fang heiress knew she might die if she made a single mistake.

The pressure still felt like her blood flow might reverse at any time. Amber continued her stances. Every tendon, every muscle, every cell of her body was straining as she articulated her body with trembling precision. Tiger Breaks the Dam! Her elbow rose slowly as her bodyweight came forward. Her body was still burning and scattering sweat with each increasingly fluid step, but the sensations became substantially less painful.

The effects of her stance practice in channeling the Saint Tiger Blood droplet were apparent as the energy in her body was still wildly surging, but it had direction and flow rather than the chaotic, tumultuous mess that she had started with. Her body had almost been torn apart by the raging force. She then passed Tiger's Imposing Roar into Tiger Leaps Above All, her graceful form leaping and landing with the lightness of a feline as she silently landed with softness on the hard ground.

A savage intensity arose higher and higher as the Saint Tiger Qi moved better and better through her body. As she finished her stances, she started over again. This time, she flew through the stances faster than she ever had, the invigorating Qi propelling her actions and synchronizing with her practice. Magnificent orange Qi that looked as if it contained starry lakes wrapped around her form, the same Qi she had witnessed her mother using like a war goddess to tear apart demons.

Her body steamed and her reddened flesh began to cool a bit. Amber Fang repeated this cycle a few more times, with each iteration growing in speed and precision. The pumping Saint Tiger Qi coursed its way like a raging river against the rocks of her making, her stances directing the torrent in ways carefully developed by the Fang family over the centuries. Her poise and grace arose from the ferocity as she sped up. Her movements evoked the image of a prowling tiger springing into the hunt!

By the time the moon hung high in the sky behind the clouds she looked like she was twirling in a fierce and deadly primal dance, her heart the beating ceremonial drum. As she completed her well practiced movements, the surging Saint Tiger Qi began to give her new insights. Several forms of Blazing Tiger stances pushed the Qi in such a way she felt it squeezing at her fingertips, aching to come out.

She transitioned from Stalking Tiger to Shrouded Tiger's Fury with a twist and a backstep, her spine twisting as her arm flung around with a blurring speed. Streams of aggressive yet majestic orange Qi leaked from each of her fingertips in a fierce and jagged fashion as she swiped towards the cave wall. The ferocious streams of Qi entered stone and cut through like a thousand years of water in one moment. She left 4 long and embedded claw marks along the hard surface, around 1 meter in length.

The feat left her in quiet wonder, looking at her own hand as it was foreign. Which other child could use such a technique? Her guess was not too many. Amber threw her head back in unrestrained laughter as her sweaty black hair stuck to her forehead. Who knew what other insights the Blazing Tiger stances might be hiding? As her elation calmed her shaky legs reached their limit and she fell to one knee, realizing just how hard she had pushed her body.

The girl's slit pupils and thick black eye lines faded back to her normal appearance. She felt sore and exhausted as a plethora of thoughts flashed through her mind, trying not to let go of any precious insight this experience had made available to her. As she tried to gain her bearings she noticed a sharp glint of light from just outside of the light her fire provided. A cold shiver ran down her sweaty exhausted spine as she realized there was a pair of gleaming bright eyes staring at her from the darkness.

She was being watched.