The First War (A Thousand Li #3)

Chapter 1

Cold winter air, humid and barely lit by the rising sun, was expelled from Wu Ying’s mouth as he exhaled. Seated cross-legged in the central courtyard of his house in the Sect, he breathed in a slow, rhythmic manner. Chi—the energy of the world—entered his body and circulated through his still, muscular, lean form with each breath. As he drew in more chi to spiral through the twelve cleared meridians of his body, the chi pushed and strained against them, bringing with it pain and pressure. Again and again, it circulated, passing from meridians to just below his navel as it entered his lower dantian.
There, the energy was packed tightly with the accumulation of the last five months’ chi, energy gathered after his return from his expedition and throughout the winter months. Each breath brought more chi, his dantian a tight ball of energy that ached with the accumulation, one that sought a release.
Holding the energy tightly, Wu Ying opened his eyes. Dark brown eyes stared outward, fixing upon his friend who sat before him. Liu Tou He, the ex-Buddhist monk who still wore the orange robes of his order and kept his head shaved, sat before Wu Ying, watching over him. Beside the monk, Fairy Yang was seated on a nearby table, reading a scroll and casting occasional glances at Wu Ying. Tou He stared at his friend placidly, offering only a single nod of reassurance.

Wu Ying shut his eyes once more, drew another deep breath, and set to it. Chi gushed from his dantian, following his meridians, rushing forward at an ever faster rate. Each breath brought another circulation among the greater and smaller meridian paths, scouring them clean of minor refuse. With all twelve regular chi meridians cleared, Wu Ying was ready. He had been ready for months to take the next step.

Another exhalation as Wu Ying focused and pushed the distractions aside. Energy thrummed through his body, beckoning him to move, to make use of it. But all this energy, this accumulation of chi, was for another reason. For the next stage. Wu Ying directed the chi at the first of the Energy Storage meridians—the Conception Meridian, ren mai. Breaking through the blocked Conception Meridian and freeing it for use was the first step in the Energy Storage stage. At least for the Yellow Emperor cultivation style that he practiced. From there, the cultivator would have to open and cleanse the other seven meridians as dictated by his style.

Each breath cycled the chi, bringing the accumulated energy to bear. Each circulation wore away at the blockage, an internal blow against the vessels that made up his body. Each circulation was a punch in his chest that started from within then reversed as the energy rebounded. With each rebound, Wu Ying had to take control of the rebounding chi and redirect it to join the normal flow of chi in his meridians, even as he pushed against the blocked barrier. The amount of chi he was channeling was greater than the amount his meridians could handle, increasing the pain ever further.

His dantian was the dam that had held back the flow of chi, forced to build up to dangerous levels and threaten the flood plains of his body. Now, Wu Ying had released the flow of water—of chi—into the drainage ditches that criss-crossed the fields of his body. But the flow of water was so great that some of it gushed out, spilling into the fields where they were not meant to be, while the rest broke against the dirty jam at the drainage ditch that led to the next field. Each time the chi flowed back, it spilled and was lost, wasting Wu Ying’s months of careful husbanding. At the same time, the water damaged the fields.

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