The days spent in Crimson Snow Sect began to pass in a blur as Han Xuhan fully immersed himself into reaching the first layer of his Mystic Art—The Skeleton Monarch Technique.
Although Elder Cai had claimed that his potential on the Mystic Path was on the verge of ruination, Han Xuhan didn't take it to heart. Because he didn't have any hopes for the other two paths either.
Elder Long's Martial Cultivation lessons were not accessible to him. The mysterious Elder who taught Monasticism never taught them a single word.
In the few classes Xuhan attended later on, he trapped the disciples in an illusion twice, made the guest hall disappear completely one time, scared off everyone by summoning a thunderstorm on the mountain peak three times, and even asked them to submit essays over their understanding of his lessons.
After gaining some idea of what monasticism was about, Han Xuhan knew that each of these lessons had some merit somehow, but relying on them to make headway in the path of Monastic cultivation would be too difficult.
No wonder nobody in the sect had any interest in this orthodox path! Han Xuhan came to learn later that the situation was no different in other big sects. Only a small number of hyper-religious organizations were pursuing monastic progress seriously.
Hence, he took his cultivation of the Skeleton Monarch Technique very seriously. The deadline set by Elder Kong Ye was just a week away. And today, he felt some barely discernible changes inside himself.
It was hard to describe. From what he had learned so far, crossing the first layer of a Mystic Art was a big step. The juvenile spiritual world inside him, having been nurtured and stimulated until now, would open up the moment he tapped into the full potential of the first layer and stepped on the door of the next layer.
The manner of cultivating the Skeleton Monarch manual was actually quite fun.
At each layer, the cultivator had to use his qi cycles to conjure and construct pieces of human bones.
Each bone would have to be accurately merged in a skeleton structure, alongside the joints and ligaments.
The interesting thing was, the manual never explicitly mentioned any limits regarding what kind of a skeleton the practitioner could construct.
Although he made this discovery too late, having already started a human skeleton project, it had given Han Xuhan some semblance of hope.
What if he managed to construct a humongous dragon skeleton ?
But harsh reality told him that this task would be difficult to accomplish.
First of all, the skeleton would have to mimic the proper anatomical structure of a species. Han Xuhan was familiar with human skeletons, and he could buy a model from the sect anytime.
But a dragon? No one in the sect had even seen a real one in their lives.
Only one of the old Elders with unfathomable cultivation was known to have battled a flood dragon at the peak of the Soul Reformation realm, which was the weakest and most distant cousin of the legendary dragon race. It was actually considered to be a variant of snakes by many.
Without medically accurate structures available to him and no time to lose, the only thing he could do was to focus on a human skeleton that was readily available.
He had a faint suspicion that the bones he was using as a template were real bones, and the skeleton was of a real person... But no one seemed bothered by that, so he couldn't complain.
"One day, hopefully, I'll be able to create a dragon skeleton. Even if it's a powerless pile of bones, just its appearance should be enough to settle any small scuffles. Hell, I could probably fly around like a dragon-riding epic boss..."
This had become his new dream.
After a month's hard work, he had managed to construct a human skeleton through almost two thousand successful qi cycles.
Two hundred and six bones, roughly three hundred and sixty joints, nine hundred ligaments...most of which seemed unnecessary considering the skeletons wouldn't be moving in ways science could explain.
This also made Han Xuhan understand why this technique had such a bad reputation. Even the slowest mainstream techniques didn't require this much time and accuracy. Unless one cultivated like Xuhan, using up spirit stones like a bottomless abyss per session to speed up the process and take shortcuts, their fate would be dire.
"Once this skeleton gains sentience, I'll be instantly promoted to the next layer," Xuhan muttered as he ran his hands over the adult-sized male skeleton. It looked no different from the real thing.
As a finishing touch, Xuhan had also made a few very minor changes to its body that wouldn't affect its overall appearance and wouldn't stray far from what was considered medically accurate, like lengthening and sharpening the teeth considerably, making the finger-bones harder and thicker, making the toes stronger and heels more flexible with the help of extra ligaments....
"Let's hope this works out."
Closing his eyes, Han Xuhan started running the cycle again. This time, he would have to be extra careful. The practitioner had no way of influencing how the personality of the skeleton turns out. One could only hope that it wouldn't be the personality of a teenager in their rebellious phase...
The qi inside his meridians moved like molten lava. Slowly, steadily, the cycle was forming. He could feel a deep pressure on his body and spirit, like something was being engraved on his very being.
Is this the "imprint" of a cultivation technique?
In Elder Kong's words, a room and a foundation are being constructed?
The air around him distorted. Light and shadows in his vision began to grow erratic.
As time passed, Han Xuhan could feel his consciousness slowly slipping out like a piece of iron in front of a powerful magnet.
Moments later, his perception of his surroundings was twisted like a crumpled paper. Try as he might, he could no longer open his eyes or even feel his body. The only thing he felt was a chilly rush through his very existence itself.
Without even trying, the vision of a plot of land formed in his mind. It was moving, changing, evolving, like a gigantic, automatic machine developing on its own. Sand and cracked soil churned unsteadily under a blinding white sky.
Was this his spiritual world? The descriptions matched!
Slowly, a building drilled its way out of the sands, sending vibrations through the land that he could actually somehow feel reverberating in his mind.
It only had a massive single room, illuminated by the radiant light from above. There were no windows, only a tall door. Han Xuhan distinctly felt a connection with the building, giving him a strange awareness of what to expect inside.
As his consciousness was pulled toward the building, the door opened up by itself, leading him inside the room.
However, as soon as he floated in, the door was shut with a boom.
Xuhan felt a sense of deja vu. This was how he had ended up tangled with sect master Xuan Zi and his sect.
Inside the room, a serpentine structure was spinning in the air. Upon observation, Xuhan realized that it was the core qi diagram of the Skeleton Monarch technique. The structure was made up of purple strands of liquefied qi. Twisting beautifully in the air, it looked very pleasing to the eye.
As it moved, Xuhan noticed a small white structure inside the structure, surrounded by the liquefied qi all around.
It was a miniature version of the human skeleton he constructed in the real world,
"Once you reach the peak of the first layer while practicing a technique, your cultivation base will reveal itself to your consciousness. It'll take the shape of whatever you imagine it to be instinctively. In your case, it should be something like a building since that's how Elder Kong taught you to visualize it."
Han Xuhan recalled Xuanyuan Zhou's advice clearly.
"Inside the building, you'll find a symbol of the technique you've cultivated. Once you see it, follow the instructions of the scripture to promote yourself to the second layer."
Remembering their words, he understood that now, his job was to make the skeleton gain sentience. He had to rely on his spiritual form to do so.
Forming a pair of imaginary hands, Han Xuhan slowly touched the skeleton inside the imprint of the qi cycle.
A sucking sensation appeared all around him, making his consciousness distort and lose his sense of being once more. When his vision returned, he got a huge shock.
He was stranded in the middle of a huge barren field, a place completely unfamiliar to him.
Everywhere he looked, the field stretched beyond his vision. A crimson crystalline sun hung over his head in the sky, yet it radiated a strange chill rather than heat.
Looking up, Han Xuhan felt overwhelmed.
It was raining. But rather than droplets of water, what fell from the sky were countless crystal shards.
The manual had been quite vague about this stage. What it mentioned could be summarized in one line:
Choose one soul, whichever you feel attracted to.
In this disembodied state, he couldn't feel his body, but he still sensed a primal, physical fear as he witnessed the shards fall towards the ground at an increasing speed.
However, this fear was surpassed by his curiosity soon, because he could see lively masses of lights within every falling shard. These lights carried the aura of life; somehow he sensed that.
As the shards began to fall into the soil all around him, Han Xuhan cautiously examined the light inside them and came to a conclusion.
Each of those shards represented a personality...or perhaps a soul. The shards all contained the same crimson light of the sun they originated from. The bigger the shard, the more intense the light inside.
The fallen shards began to sink into the ground slowly instead of shattering, disappearing after some time. Han Xuhan spent a while avoiding being hit by the falling shards, a task that wasn't particularly difficult since each and every shard maintained a good distance from the others.
The manual spoke of some form of attraction... he couldn't really feel that till now.
But there was indeed a strange sensation whenever he approached each shard. Most shards made him feel a sense of apprehension, while a few didn't really stimulate any feelings except disgust.
Eventually, he found one that he could approach without feeling an instinctive aversion or disinterest.
Inching closer, he touched the shard. The moment his consciousness came in contact with the shard, it melted into the soil, leaving the crimson glow exposed to the air.
The lively mass of light wrapped around his consciousness. His vision was distorted for a moment again.
When it was restored, he was inside the building constructed in his spiritual world, his imaginary hands still touching the small skeleton avatar, which now radiated the familiar crimson glow.
As Han Xuhan looked at the crimson skeleton quietly, it suddenly moved its skull, locking its blank gaze with him.