Morning arrived with pale sunlight filtering through my window, I rose, dressed in my inner disciple robes, and left for the medicinal hall.
Today was a training day with Elder Han, for our sessions followed a regular schedule, three times a week for cultivation guidance and four for healing technique practice.
Inside the hall Elder Han was already in his private garden when I arrived, and the medicinal plants looked duller now as many had withered with the cold, leaving only the hardiest spiritual herbs still green
"Fu Yang."
He waved for me to follow him and we walked to a more open area behind the garden, a training space he sometimes used for teaching combat techniques.
"The technique we would be learning today will not be a healing technique," Elder Han said "Any healer must be able to defend himself, especially someone who will find himself frequently in dangerous places like the battlefield or disaster site."
I nodded. "I understand."
"What I am going to teach you is a fighting technique which I had acquired nine decades ago when I was still a young man." His expression grew distant. "Haha, I was lucky enough to find it during a sect mission."
He lifted his right hand with the palm facing outwards, and I watched the spiritual essence gathering, and then his hand began to glow faintly.
"This is the First Form. Essence Palm. The foundation of the technique."
The glow intensified as his palm became a thing of condensed light.
"Now all forms of this technique require Foundation Establishment cultivation at minimum, as the spiritual essence density needed cannot be achieved by Body Refinement stage cultivators, concentrate here."
He demonstrated a strike, his palm shooting forward towards a training dummy ten meters away. It shook from the pressure wave alone.
"The First Form channels spiritual essence into the palm and is capable of shattering bones even breaking through weak spiritual defenses."Elder Han's stance shifted as his expression became more serious.
"But this technique have multiple different forms, and each one is more powerful than the other."
His spiritual essence surged as the glow around his palm intensified.
"Second Form. Mountain Crushing Fist."
He struck forward.
The impact was enormous as the training dummy didn't just shake but exploded, even the ground where it had stood cracked.
Elder Han lowered his hand as the glow faded and his breathing came slightly harder. "The Second form multiplies the force tenfold, capable of breaking through Qi Condensation level barriers, and I mastered it forty years ago."
I stared at the destroyed dummy, for that was real power, the kind that could kill instantly if used against flesh.
"There are higher forms," Elder Han continued, "third, fourth, and beyond, though I've only reached the Second because the requirements for advancement are too difficult, but still the First Form is valuable for self-defense."
He looked at me. "Would you like to try?"
I stepped forward, eagerness showed on my face as the keen student ready to learn.
"Yes, Master. Please teach me."
Elder Han smiled slightly. "Good enthusiasm. But—"
He raised his hand, stopping me.
"Do not haste."
I paused and looked at him questioningly.
"Remember patience is essential for cultivation, and more essential than talent or resources…"
Here we go again. This was a problem of this old geezer, lecturing every time.
"...Rushing leads to unstable foundations and to errors that take years to correct."
"I understand, Master."
He paused for a second and studied my face. "Tell me….. Fu Yang. Have you read the 'Legends of Yuan's Dao'?"
I shook my head. "Not yet, Master, but I was..."
"Then sit, for before I teach you this technique you should hear that story since it contains lessons every cultivator must understand."
I sat down on the ground while Elder Han remained standing.
"The legend speaks of ancient times, when humans, beasts and demons all were equals. But fate turned against the humans and the beast, demons gained power…"
He paused briefly before continuing.
"And after, humans and beasts were nothing but cattle. Then, one night…"
*****
When the sky was dark and starless, with heavy clouds blocking any light from above.
A figure lay among the dead leaves and roots.
A middle aged man, his body was covered in wounds and arms bent at wrong angles.
This was Yuan.
Three days ago he had been serving his master, a demon woman who was kind by demon standards, feeding him properly and never beating him without reasons.
But that kindness later made her a target because other demons disapproved of what she was doing and called her weak for being too soft on livestock.
She ignored it, which angered them and so they forcefully captured and imprisoned Yuan, torturing him for days, breaking his fingers and tearing his flesh with heated iron until he begged for death, and all the while they mocked him.
"Do you know what you are, human?"
"Your master was foolish to show you kindness. We're correcting that mistake."
Weeks passed together as pain became his entire world. And when they finally grew bored, they threw him into the forest and left him for the beasts to finish.
"Die slowly you filthy human."
"Feed the wolves, hahahah"
Now he lay there dying as the demon' s laughter faded long into the distance.
Yuan's eyes were open and staring at nothing.
He tried to move but couldn't since his body wouldn't respond anymore.
(Is this it?) He thought. (Years of suffering, and this is how I will die.)
Deep inside him something cracked and his chest heaved not from breathing but from the rage and despair.
"Why?"The word came out as a whisper.
"Why... must we suffer?... Is it sin... to be human?... Is existence our crime?"
The forest was silent as his screams echoed.
"We're tortured! Enslaved! Treated worse than insects! WHY?! WHAT DID WE DO?!"
Tears mixed with blood on his face yet he couldn't even wipe them away.
"Why must we endure this?! Is there no justice?! No mercy?!"
His voice broke completely and dissolved into sobs."Please... help… someone… anyone.."
The words faded to silence as Yuan's strength gave out, all used up in that final desperate plea, and he closed his eyes, waiting for death.
But then!
The sky glowed and grew brighter and warmer. Yuan forced his eyes open to find the dark sky had changed, with fourteen stars above him shining so intensely they hurt to look at, and they were descending toward him.
Yuan's broken mind struggled to comprehend what he was seeing as the stars took the shapes of various creatures, things and even humans, all made of pure light.
"I pity you, human." A voice came from one star that looked like a deer, and the words washed over Yuan like warm water."Your suffering... it had moved even the heavens."
"We have heard your cries." Another star spoke that had the shape of a mountain, its voice heavy."Your desperation. Your will to survive despite everything."
More voices joined, overlapping and creating harmony."Human. We can help you."
"We will bless your bloodline."
"Give your race the means to flourish."
"To rise above this darkness."
"To never endure such suffering again."
Yuan wanted to speak, ask what they were but his voice wouldn't come, only blood.
The figures moved closer and surrounded him completely as their light intensified.
"Human, we will root our essence into you," they all said together, "into your blood, and it will spread through your descendants, through all humans who come after, for they will carry our gifts."
Right then, seven of the stars glowed brighter, their light golden, warm and pure.
"We are the Seven Virtues."
"Humility"
"Generosity"
"Purity"
"Pity"
"Discipline"
"Forbearance"
"Perseverance"
"We gift you these qualities. They will define humanity's strength. Guide your race toward greatness."
Then the other seven glowed brighter, their light was different, darker, shifting between crimson and purple.
"We are the Seven Sins."
"Pride."
"Greed."
"Lust."
"Envy."
"Gluttony."
"Wrath."
"Sloth."
"We too gift you our essence. For strength without darkness is incomplete. For survival requires more than virtue alone."
All fourteen spoke as one, their voices creating a sound that shook the forest itself.
"Together we shall transform your race and give you potential beyond demons, beyond beasts, beyond anything this world has seen."
The stars descended fully and poured their spiritual essence into Yuan's body as everything inside him began to burn and remake itself.
He screamed at the unbearable pain, but just seconds later his wounds began closing, flesh knitted back together impossibly fast, bones straightened and reformed and more than small healing. His entire body was changing! His blood glowed faintly as the lines of age and hardship smoothed from his face, leaving him looking entirely reborn.
When the transformation ended Yuan gasped, he sat up looking at his hands, which were whole and perfect.
The thirteen of the stars rose back toward the heavens but only one remained, the one with the deer look, and it spoke alone with words meant only for Yuan.
"I Pity humanity, listen carefully,"
Yuan looked up, unable to speak and still overwhelmed.
"Your blood now carries all fourteen essences, and your descendants will inherit them, with some embodying virtues and some embodying sins while most carry both in balance."
"The Seven Virtues will guide your race toward civilization and toward strength through unity and wisdom."
"But beware of the Seven Sins."
The Star's light dimmed slightly in warning.
"The gifts we gave are like a double-edged sword. Use them wisely….."
Then it too began rising, disappearing back into the sky, and Yuan was left alone in the empty forest, transformed and carrying the future of the human race.
Elder Han's voice returned, breaking the vision.
"That is where the Yuan's Dao started."
I opened my eyes, not having realized I'd closed them, for the story had pulled me in completely.
"The legend teaches us about foundation, the Seven Virtues aren't just philosophy, for patience prevents reckless advancement and benevolence keeps us human despite growing power, and remember that as you grow stronger since it is what separates us from Evil monsters."
"Yes, Master."