Ball of Nothing

Not many villagers turned up for the next scheduled match. It wasn't because Qin Yun and Titor weren't popular. It was because not many of them were physically capable of withstanding such pressure from the exchange of blows between cultivators.

Instead of using the village square, Qin Yun and Titor decided to take it up at the river away from the village where Zero previously trained his water-walking skills. Only the faes, Zoe and Rima came along with Zero to watch the exchange. The magicians were the ones who would suffer the most from all the qi exposure so they kept away from it.

Zero asked Lovina why that was so and the witch explained the alchemy theory of qi and magic. "We are unable to get it to coexist and something threatens to break whenever someone forces them to come together. It's like oil and water."

Zero blinked and showed Lovina that it wasn't true. The witch was alarmed by the discovery as Zero explained the trick to getting qi and magic to work together.

"It's chaos magic actually," he told her sheepishly.

Lovina's eyes lit up as she added this to her list of research projects. Who knew that such a method existed? Half Moon Village was connected to the Spring of Vitality as well as the Garden of Roth. If one could train in both qi and magic, Half Moon Village would be a small unstoppable force on its own. Nobody can threaten their existence with strong security and advanced inventions. If every warrior knew basic qi and magic, Lovina knew that they could guard the village until Zero returns from his travels without fear or getting overpowered like what happened with Count Carrabas.

Zero had never seen the small witch run so fast before but left her to busy away. The match was starting soon and Zero knew the best spot to watch the match between cultivators. There was no doubt that Qin Yun and Titor were going to use the surroundings to their advantage. Watching from some distance is a good idea and everyone who came followed Zero to climb and sit on a tall tree that had an overview of the small river.

Grandma Moppo offered to host and stood by the river bank while the two cultivators readied their stance on the river water. It was quite a strange sight to see anyone walk on water. In fact, most of the villagers had never seen it before. Cleo made a clone of herself using the plants to get a close-up view. Zero envied that ability a little but had no troubles watching the match even from this distance. His skill Observation allows him to zoom in close to every movement detail. It was something like the skill Far-Sight that Zero still hasn't gotten. Maybe he would hunt a bird with that skill next time to gain it.

So lost in his thoughts, Zero only heard the last part of the announcement when Grandma Moppo yelled for them to begin the battle.

The girls behind Zero screamed as a huge geyser exploded when the match started. Zero thought that the person to make the first big move would be Qin Yun but he was wrong. The brown bear spirit had assimilated with his ancestral brown bear spirit and was now a force to be reckoned with. The geyser was a side effect of that huge qi explosion after Titor's assimilation.

Qin Yun didn't bother concealing her form either and allowed all nine tails to run wild. It might not be Zero's first time seeing Qin Yun in her nine-tailed fox form but for the others, it was a huge revelation.

In a normal battle between a fox and a bear, the fox would be running away because it would lose and be killed in a battle of strength. However, Zero couldn't say the same about the current match. Qin Yun looked like she was easily overpowering Titor with just qi enhanced tail strikes. She wasn't using much fancy cultivation techniques and Titor was finding it difficult to hold his ground with the incessant assault. Eventually, the brown bear started the first qi enhanced attack and shot water bullets at the fox spirit who guarded it.

The crowd behind Zero gasped when Qin Yun's tail that guarded against them started to bleed. Zero was a little worried but Qin Yun didn't even flinch at that. The wound slowly healed before their eyes and Titor frowned. Taking the experienced fox spirit wasn't going to be easy. For him, he used qi in a more direct way. The brown bear spirit guardian only used qi to wield the power of the bear spirit that enhanced his physical attributes. His spiritual attacks were weak in comparison.

Qin Yun smirked. If that was the best Titor could manage, she had this match in a bag. The brown bear spirit holder only knew how to use qi to enhance his body and spirit. He didn't know how to use inner qi to launch an attack. His method of qi manipulation was to infuse qi into existing objects as a medium and that was the result of the water bullets. Something of this level was like party tricks to Qin Yun who had mastered all eight paths and specialised in a frost body.

Zero felt the temperature dip tremendously when Qin Yun activated her qi. The river froze to ice entirely and stopped flowing. Titor shivered not from the cold but from the ominous pressure. Everyone stared at the fox spirit with wide eyes. The trees had already turned into ice sculptures near the river. There was even snow falling from the clouds above. The entire zone had been transformed into a cruel winter land without warning. Grandma Moppo and the rest of the villagers retreated, unable to keep up with the growing cold. Zero promised to take over as the master of ceremonies now that he was the only one watching the match.

Titor grit his teeth when the ice tried to put the bear in him into hibernation. Zero started to enter his mediation state when the cold got too much to bear. He circulated gentle yang qi throughout his body while keeping his eyes fixated on the match. He saw Titor doing the same to prevent a forced hibernation.

Qin Yun didn't lower the temperature any further in fear of causing permanent damage to the environment. Both Tutor and Zero were thankful for that. Qin Yun chose to make her move and gathered the air into a small sphere collected in her palm. Zero watched how the compressed ball of air became infused with yang qi and decided that it wasn't safe to be in the vicinity any longer. He didn't know how to guard against such a fierce qi attack.

Titor paled when he saw Qin Yun charging that air sphere. If she ran that through him, not only would his body turn into ribbons, the entire forest would turn into a huge crater hole.

"I forfeit!" he yelled just before Qin Yun launched it.

Zero heard that loud and clear and heaved a relieved sigh. He still had a long way to go if he wanted to be anywhere near Qin Yun's level of proficiency with qi manipulation. Although he was disappointed that he couldn't see more, it was enough to inspire Zero to work harder in cultivation. Qin Yun was a living legend in cultivation and not even Titor was her match. Zero wondered what kind of outcome they would see if Buddha or Hua Tuo was Qin Yun's opponents. neither Sage God looked strong but Zero knew the truth. They were also cultivation experts. Buddha was the cultivation monster despite his gentle nature and Zero wouldn't be surprised if they managed to come up with scarier techniques than what Qin Yun had.

"And the winner of this match is Qin Yun!" Zero announced, putting an end to it officially. Titor apologised for putting up a poor fight but Zero shook his head.

"It couldn't be helped, I don't think many people can be Qin Yun's match."

The fox spirit cooed at Zero's honesty and hugged him tightly, almost to the point of suffocation. Titor excused himself to return and rest while Zero struggled to break free from the hold. Once he was free, Qin Yun told him that it was his duty to unfreeze everything before lunch.

"Think of this as part of your training. I want you to push the yang qi out of your body just enough to heat the ice and not burn the forest. Don't do it too quickly or it will explode."

Zero was reminded of how he tried to use fire on the clay back at Trigression Falls and nodded. It wouldn't be good to be impatient, haste made waste.

Qin Yun watched as Zero concentrated. The qi Zero exuded was very gentle like spring after a long winter. She sighed and relaxed, basking in the warmth. Zero was very gifted in cultivation just like how he was a good magician. What she did earlier was merely show Zero a peek into the pugilist world. She knew that the teen had chosen to walk the path of a doctor. However, she didn't know if he wanted to pursue the path as a cultivator or magician seriously. Maybe it was because Zero's potential hasn't been maximised which allowed him to use both magic and qi. However, eventually, she knew that he was going to have to choose. Those who wielded magic couldn't cultivate and the same happened for those who chose the cultivation path.

Hua Tuo was a cultivator which explained why his grasp on healing magic wasn't as good. However, Zero still had the option to abandon either one. She didn't want to teach the boy too much seeing as he was a fast learner. If Qin Yun explained the concept of developing the inner world, it was like the final nail to the coffin. Zero would never walk the path of a magician again once his inner world was developed.

Unknown to her, Zero already had a flourishing inner world that tended to itself without him needing to conscientiously monitor its development. Ba Guai was an intelligent creature that drew on its master's learning and experiences to grow new things. The octopus had learnt that rivers can be created from lakes and volcanoes can give birth to hot springs. Large rocks when filled with life can become mountains and so on and so forth. It also created a cycle of day and night all by itself. There were different weathers as well that reflected Zero's feelings. Most of the time it was sunny in Zero's inner world but whenever Zero thought about Solo, it became cloudy.

Zero drew on Ba Guai's volcano to bring out a steady supply of yang qi. He allowed the energy to circulate in his body and only released it gradually once the temperature exceeded his normal capacity to feel comfortable in it. It was tough exercising patience but worth it by the end of two hours when Zero heard the gentle trickling of water in the unfrozen river.

He opened his eyes and saw that while there were still some leftover frost and snow on the ground and trees, he did a good job to turn that dreary winterscape into a beautiful early spring even though it was actually autumn on Endow Hill.

He looked at Qin Yun who nodded in satisfaction at the work. Zero's control had improved even though the boy sometimes struggled with the concept of patience. There were a few occasions when Zero allowed the heat to spiked up too much but he soon pulled it back under control when it happened and the fox spirit couldn't have found a better student.

"Well done, let's head back for lunch. I think your basic qi training with me is done. You have very good control of qi and I will leave the rest to Hua Tuo to teach you. He should be back in the village by tomorrow. I hope today's short match was an eye-opener for you."

Zero thought about it. He still had some questions. "What was the water bullet thing just now? Did Titor charge water with qi? Are you alright?"

Qin Yun cooed at the doctor's concern. "Yes, I'm fine. That was basic qi channelling through a medium. The water was temporarily charged with yin qi to make it act like ice for a while. Once the yin qi escapes, it is back to becoming water."

Zero nodded and took notes while they walked back to the village. "I see... what about the compressed ball of air? Isn't that too dangerous to be used in a match?"

Qin Yun laughed. "Oh yes, it is. It can create a small crater if I actually went ahead to use it. You can call it a bluff. I was trying to get Titor to surrender with it. It's basically air trapped within a barrier of yin surrounding it while I charge the insides with yang. Once I let go of the qi barriers surrounding that air, it will explode like a bomb."

Zero shuddered. That sounded way too dangerous.

"However, an expert like Hua Tuo would be able to easily counter that because it's a very basic qi manipulation technique. Good cultivators are able to counter each other's moves if they have a good grasp of the Ba Gua. For each move, there will be a counter move. In a fight between pugilists, you will often see masters competing in a battle of attrition if they are equally tied. Some pugilist masters only lose because of the nature of the body they cultivate. For example, a bad match for someone with a frost body like mine would be Amon who has a fire type element. While I can use yang qi to fight fire with fire, it is not my strongest element. It could delay time but if the battle dragged out, I would lose."

Zero nodded. Elements also played a huge role in cultivation on the upper echelons just like magic. "Are people born into certain attributes when they cultivate?"

Qin Yun shook her head. "Everyone starts off in tune with everything in nature. Specialisation is a choice for masters. You can choose to cultivate equally in all fields but it takes too long for even experts. Unless you are Buddha, I don't think anyone can pull it off successfully."

Zero grinned. "That makes things a lot easier to understand. Thanks, Qin Yun! I learnt a lot today."

The fox spirit smiled and Zero felt happier knowing that it would be possible for him to cultivate all elements equally. Ba Guai was a product of training that Hua Tuo designed with Buddha's help. Surely asking for an all-rounded cultivations style wasn't impossible.