Transcending Dreams

B2 - Chapter 64

William was tempted to open his eyes to keep track of the man who still held a grudge against him. Or did, until now.

It was beyond petty of Lan Yang, in Williams opinion, at least at first thought. A bit of introspection made him realize that, no, it really wasnt.

What he had done to Lan Yang was the equivalent of taking the largest loan someone had got in their life, like a mortgage on Earth, and you decided to bring it to the casino and plop it on a single spin of roulette.

Just because there was no harm in the end didnt mean they still wouldnt be furious beyond belief.

Yes, after that sort of perspective, William considered the pain he had gotten as punishment a slap on the wrist. Especially since all of this would still help him understand how to access Lightning Qi.

He just hoped that Lan Yang meant it when he said the score was settled. Only time would tell.

William forced himself to put that aside. He had already wasted a few seconds fretting about Lan Yangs mood. Thankfully, the Lightning Qi wasnt as quick to deteriorate as the Healing Qi, so no harm was done yet.

He did as Lan Yang suggested and tried to smother the Lightning Qi. That meant he tried to surround the rampaging foreign Qi with his own, like putting out a fire with a blanket.

Unlike the Healing Qi, he couldnt understand what the Lightning Qi felt like. It was too energetic, too blinding to his senses to hope to figure out anything about it.

That immediately changed the moment his Qi came into contact. The usual ethereal Qi mutated briefly into a liquid-like matter filled with electricity before it was snuffed out due to the overwhelming mass of Qi he possessed compared to Lan Yangs Lightning Qi.

That was good for his overall health to erase the rampaging Qis presence easily, but it made it difficult to get a good idea when the reaction was over so quickly.

Fortunately, this happened only at the point of contact. There was plenty more Lightning Qi he still had to snuff out.

William spent the next few hours doing two things. He ensured that his Qi didnt overwhelm the Lightning Qi too quickly while also trying to keep it from rampaging around his spiritual pathways. It was a balancing act that greatly helped with his control over Qi.

An unintended benefit he would gladly accept.

He observed the last bit of Lightning Qi get smothered, finally leaving his spiritual pathway free of any foreign Qi.

The closest thing he could compare what he had seen was to plasma. The thing that lightning is made of. Yes, William knew that plasma was gas, but Lightning Qi seemed like an ultra-compressed, liquid-like form of it with an immense amount of electrical energy contained within.

Whatever it was, he felt like he understood the changes needed to his Qi.

William quickly realized it wasnt as simple as he assumed. He was able to get the state of his Qi compressed enough that he could mimic the liquid-like form, but nothing worked when he tried to infuse it with electrical energy.

He even tried to form them at the same time after many, many failures to do them separately. That failed even more. He couldnt mimic the liquid-like state in addition to being unable to infuse the electrical energy.

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William opened his eyes with a frown. Trying the same thing over and over without any progress was going to drive him insane. It was best to ask Lan Yang what he was missing.

He felt that he was right at the edge of success but also infinitely far away at the same time.

Senior Yang William cut himself off when he looked around. He was the only one in the training room.

In addition to asking for advice, he wanted another dose of Lightning Qi to see if he missed something. He recognized that it would mean willingly taking more punishment. He didnt care. He was too invested.

William made to push himself off the floor. That was a mistake.

It instantly made him aware of his body. All the bruises and broken ribs Lan Yang had gifted him. It wasnt that bad, all things considered, especially since he had much worse, but concentrating all of his attention within himself had made him forget that he was injured at all.

He reversed course and sat back down. Lightning Qi wasnt the only thing he needed to learn. Healing Qi was an option, too.

William followed Su Rous suggestion and tried it with the most minor of injuries. A bruise on his palm from blocking Lan Yangs fist. It wasnt even a cut, so it should be simple to heal.

He was sorely mistaken. Like some sort of bad joke, he was successful with the first step but failed repeatedly at the second.

Concentrating his Qi into his palm was as easy as breathing. Converting his Qi seemed near impossible again.

Unlike with Lighting Qi, even hours of repeated failure wasnt enough for William to think about giving up. In his mind, getting access to Healing Qi was far more critical when compared to Lightning Qi.

This would be the key to unlocking self-healing without relying on external things like pills or salves. If he was proficient enough, there would never need to worry about accumulating impurity like he did in the Shard.

Of course, this assumed that he had Spiritual Energy to spare to use Healing Qi on his injuries.

William didnt know how much time had passed without any hint of success, but he would be surprised if he had somehow spent over a day just sitting in the same spot, failing repeatedly. It was already a miracle for him to keep this up without giving up in rage, and it boiled over after the umpteenth time of his Qi being utterly inert.

When dealing with Qi, he had the habit of stamping out his emotions. For good reason. It was much harder to control when he felt anything significant, whether it be rage, happiness, or anything else intense.

It had become such a habit that it never crossed his mind to do it any other way, even with all the failures.

With rage fueling Williams actions and him doing nothing to stamp it down, he went through the motions again.

Concentrating his Qi into his palm. Attempting the conversion into Healing Qi. Then, the obvious failure would occur.

Except the last part didnt happen. It was small. Tiny. Barely noticeable, even for William, but a minuscule amount of Qi, barely above one percent of the total, gained the blade-like properties he was working so hard to get.

The bruise on his palm instantly disappeared. William lost the range he was feeling at the surprise.

He opened his eyes in shock and studied his palm to confirm it really was a success. It was.

[+10 HP]

[-20 Spiritual Energy]

William noted the ratio again. He would still need a few more instances of it happening before he took it as fact, but it was certainly trending in that direction.

He lightly touched his stomach, feeling the burn spread across his skin where Lan Yang shot him with a small lightning bolt. He closed his eyes and directed his Qi there. It would be the next healing target.

This time, it didnt take nearly as long. Willam knew he couldnt have done it sooner, but he tried to see if using any emotion other than rage would have worked. It didnt.

Ironically, the most benevolent Qi required the complete opposite to access. Not only that but the larger the injury, the more rage he had to feel.

He was barely able to get to the level needed. It was only when he remembered what he felt when he thought Elder Yu was going to kill Wang Xiaoling did he succeed.

Around ten percent of his Qi was converted into Healing Qi. William opened his eyes with a smile.

[+50 HP]

[-100 Spiritual Energy]

That ratio showed up again. He had two more injuries. A cracked rib and internal damage in the stomach area. If that ratio stayed true when those healed, it would be safe to consider it a fact.

Plus, healing a broken bone would also get him a completed quest. William closed his eyes again, this time focusing on his broken rib.

Hours passed without any success. No matter what memory he brought to the forefront of his mind or even when he fabricated situations, it wasnt enough to convert enough of his Qi to heal the broken rib.

William frowned when a thought came up in his mind. How did Su Rou deal with this?