John had expected the book to be like the previous one, with the first page detailing a cultivation technique.
Instead, as soon as John opened the book, what was revealed was not pages, but a hollow interior. In the hollow interior was a small round piece of jade, four inches across. It was a vibrant green, and had fantastical markings carved all over the surface. John could see the carvings extend into the interior of the jade piece as well, making it look even more remarkable. At the very center of the jace piece, a small yet bright pulsating glow could be seen.
"What is this? And what's that glowing thing at the center?" thought John.
It was quite unexpected that the book was not a book, but a container for this jade stone. John had never seen anything like this before in his life. After tracing the exquisite markings on the outside of the jade with his fingertips, John sent his divine sense into it in order to figure out more about it.
"Ah!"
John quickly retracted his divine sense. As soon as he had sent his divine sense into the jade piece, he felt his conscious being pulled inside.
"What just happened?"
Although unexpected, John felt no danger from what just happened, and so he sent his divine sense back into the jade piece. His divine sense started to follow the etchings on the jade piece, as if it was being guided through them. John fell into a trance like state as his divine sense traveled further and further into the jade piece.
Coming out of his trance, John was shocked.
When he guided his divine sense into the jade, John could see many images start to flash into his mind. Images of lightning. The further he sent his divine sense into the jade piece, the more images appeared in his mind. It almost felt as if the lightning in the images were right in front of John. He could almost feel the very essence of the lightning bolts itself.
"This is amazing."
John sent his divine sense back in, but was unable to make it go further than a few millimeters into the jade piece. No matter how much he tried, he was unable to proceed any further. Despite it only being such a small portion of the jade piece, John was already overwhelmed by what he saw.
John awoke from his trance several hours later.
"This jade piece acts like a book. The farther I send my divine sense into the piece, the more information is presented to me. I only got such a small sliver of information compared to the whole thing, but it's already overwhelming."
The jade piece revealed many images in John's mind. Whenever he focused on one, he felt as if he was being drawn into the image, as if he was there himself. The images showed all sorts of fantastic scenes. A person cloaked in lightning floated high in the sky, unleashing apocalyptic lightning blasts wherever he pointed. Another scene showed a man standing below dark clouds as far as the eye could see. Lightning bolts so powerful they seemed as if they could destroy all of creation rained down, bathing the person in its power.
Many similar images flashed through John's mind, and each image seemed to have many profundities contained within.
"This jade piece contains information on how to cultivate it. By studying these images, I can grasp more and more of its profundities."
"Based on what I can tell so far, the script uses real lightning to train the body, eventually turning the body into a lightning attribute body. Amazing!"
Most people in the world were born with normal bodies. Very rarely, a genius blessed by the heavens would be born with an attribute body. Lightning bodies, water bodies, earth bodies, fire bodies, etc. People with attribute bodies would find it ten times easier to cultivate those specific attributes, and would almost always become heavenly geniuses.
Attribute bodies were something that was innate, and could not be forced or cultivated. John had never heard of a cultivation technique that allowed someone to transform their normal body into an attribute body.
John recalled one image in the lightning script. It showed a person being struck by lightning, at which point they guided the lightning through certain meridians towards their dantian, refining the lightning, and then sent the refined lightning back outwards towards the rest of their body. The body would be bathed in refined lightning essence, slowly turning it into a lightning attribute body.
Not only was the meridian pathway that the lightning traveled extremely complex, but John was also unsure of how the dantian refined the lightning into something that could be controlled and used for nourishment.
"I suppose I will have to mediate with this script for quite some time before I start to comprehend how to cultivate it."
John was eager to start cultivating this technique, but he knew it would be some time before he was able to do so. First he would have to understand the fundamentals of refinement, as well as practice controlling the lightning through the complex meridian pathways depicted. Only then would John be ready to start training with real lightning.
The thought of being struck by actual lightning sent shivers down his spine.
"This technique is going to hurt...a lot" said John with a wry smile on his face. Despite the expected pain associated with a technique that forces one to get struck by lightning, John had no intention of not using it.
"Anything to get stronger."
John sent his divine sense back into the jade piece. Several hours passed by before he stopped trying to comprehend the technique.
"I feel as though I'm getting a better idea of what to do, but it's gonna be quite some time before I'm ready to start cultivating it."
The cultivation technique was exquisite. John had never imagined something so profound could exist. He was only at the surface level, and yet it was more that he could understand.
John put the Jade piece in the palace. He stood up and stretched his aching legs, as he had been sitting for hours.
Taking out a cooked piece of meat, John bit into it as he thought of what to do next.
"I just advanced to the Mist Creation realm. I still need to comprehend both the Mountain Crushing Sword, as well as the Five Step Movement Technique. Becoming proficient in both of these will increase my combat power substantially."
John sat back down and took out the book detailing the Mountain Crushing Sword technique.
Opening the book to the first page, John started reading the details about how to use the technique.
"Lets see here, it says to send Qi from my dantian through these specific arm meridians, eventually leaving various acupoints located on my arm and hands. Once the Qi reaches the acupoints, it builds up for a split second before being unleashed as an attack through my sword. It seems like the attack can be used both in close combat and as a ranged attack, although it's more powerful being used up close."
Linking his consciousness to the sphere, John fell into a meditative trance as he erased all distracting thoughts from his mind. After studying the technique for several hours, he took the attacking stance depicted in the book.
"The meridian pathways I need to utilize are extremely simple compared to the Celestial Lightning Script. It shouldn't be too hard to get a hang of this technique."
John held his greatsword out in front of him as he focused on sending Qi from his dantian through the meridian pathways depicted in the technique. Only after half a day of failed attempts was John finally able to guide his Qi properly. His face whitened slightly.
"Now!"
John shouted out as he struck forward with his sword. His sword started to glow slightly as he sent Qi into it.
"Boom!"
John struck a small boulder in front of him with the sword. The boulder exploded into countless pieces.
"Success!" John shouted joyfully. Although he had failed for several hours, John was finally able to guide his Qi property and unleash the Mountain Crushing Sword.
"It's even more powerful than I thought. I'm only at the early Mist Creation realm, and yet it destroyed this boulder. My fight with the Night Wolf would have been much easier if I could unleash this attack back then."
John studied the ranged portion of the Mountain Crushing Sword, and surmised that it functioned exactly like the attack he had just unleashed. However, instead of keeping the amplified Qi contained in his sword, John would just have to guide his sword forward, at which point the powerful Qi attack would fly towards his target.
John spent the next several minutes catching his breath. Although the sword was powerful, it required a lot of Qi in order to execute properly. At his current level of cultivation, John surmised that he could only unleash this attack a few times before he ran out of Qi. What John didn't know however is that this technique was quite complicated and powerful for a Mist Creation level attack. Most cultivators took a week to learn the basics, not just a few hours.
Not only that, but the attack was quite harsh on the body as well. Most early Mist Creation realm cultivators would feel as though their body was breaking whenever they used the attack. It was an attack almost more suitable for Qi Condensation experts than Mist Creation cultivators.
"Not only am I still in the early Mist Creation realm, I also just started learning this technique. As I become better at using it and increase my cultivation, I should be able to unleash this attack many more times, with it growing stronger as well."
Although John had succeeded, his control over his Qi was still very unstable. Not only that, he was still in the early stages of learning the Mountain Crushing Sword. As a result, the attack drained a large portion of his Qi, and was also quite weak when compared to what the technique could actually do.
John unleashed another attack before collapsing to the ground in exhaustion. He sat down and started cultivating the surrounding Qi to replenish his empty dantian. Several hours later, John opened his eyes.
"My dantian is back to being full. I should now try the Five Step Movement Technique."