Hamar sat in his rented room with his legs crossed and hands together. His attention was firmly placed internally as he was controlling his aura.
He moved it all, pulling it from around the body and into one central location below the stomach. The aura was a type of glowing energy that swordsmen used, but it was a power that nobody in this world but Hamar used (that weren't taught by Hamar).
He pulled the aura into that core and started to spin it with stronger force. Using his mental energy, his willpower, much like how cultivators used it to manipulate laws, he used it to manipulate aura.
He pushed the aura further together with his pure willpower. But as he was doing so the Dao started to reject him, much like he was warned by Hou.
It first tried attacking his body, which was ultimately a product of the Dao of this world. His skin started to simultaneously burn and freeze. The air around him caused lacerations.
However, Hamar could simply manipulate a small amount of aura to heal that area and continue compressing the rest.
As the aura core started compressing to a qualitative point, the Dao became more aggressive. The walls and floors began to creak.
The very laws which made up the material world were being manipulated by the Dao. The QI flowing through the air seeped into the laws and started to create a chaos. QI was like mental energy and could manipulate laws, the basis of the world.
The floorboards flew into the air and flew into Hamar, stabbing him. He had to stabilise his situation by using aura to destroy the wood flying at him, while at the same time compressing the most of it.
Sweat started to drip from his forehead as he focused on staying alive while compressing most of his aura.
The laws became more chaotic as time passed, the material started to change. The wood laws were destroyed and morphed, turning into fire or life, death.
By changing the essence of those laws so much the death laws were weak but because they worked directly against Hamar's life they did affect him.
The people outside started to notice quickly. The ground was shaking and the air became hot. Those inside the inn had evacuated, seeing the building itself destroy itself.
Panic was growing when in the sky someone appeared. Xuan Yu floated in the sky while looking down at the building.
Squinting his eyes, he muttered, "Hamar...the QI is going wild and the world itself is cultivating. The phenomenon isn't unknown but...it seems different"
He had some thoughts but he kept them aside as he swept a fan over the area. Instantly he began refining the QI and stabilising it.
By refining the QI, the Dao could not use it to manipulate laws and attack Hamar. However. This act of defiance didn't go unnoticed.
The wild will inside QI roared back up and fought against Xuan Yu's refinement. At the same time, the QI further around the city began to shake.
Making up his mind Xuan Yu shouted down, "Fellow Cultivator? How long is this... tribulation to occur?"
Hamar felt the attacks on him become lighter, freeing up mental faculties he responded, "Give me half an hour!"
Xuan Yu nodded and snapped his fingers. To his side, the thief leader appeared in front of him, entangled with illusory tentacles.
"You have pretty good qi control, prove your worth. Go around the city and stabilise any qi fluctuations! Take this too," Xuan Yu flicked his wrist and a flying sword flew under the thief leader's feet.
It carried him away in order for him to go around stabilising the city from the QI fluctuations. QI master were similar to cultivators but they were specialised in refining QI to manipulate laws, while cultivators like Xuan Yu were better at pure absorbing and manipulating of laws.
Hamar saw the flying sword despite his frantic compression of aura and smiled. "A flying sword, I thought I was unique when I made mine..." He looked at Xuan Yu while thinking to himself, "He seems to have a focus on movement, with his teleportation and flying sword..."
Hamar put away his thoughts and now with the attacks surrounding him lightening he focused harder on his aura.
The aura core compressed and twenty minutes later a qualitative change occurred. The aura in the middle started to catalysed and transformed.
It became denser and thicker. If aura was water before, this was like a soup. The aura in the centre then started a chain reaction which flowed outward.
The entirety of the aura core exploded in a bright purple light!
A blast of light aura shot out, causing the rampaging QI to instantly become still, as if dead. Hamar stood up with his eyes closed then looked up.
His whole body felt refreshed. The pains of being an old man disappeared and he felt like when he was young.
He went to stroke his beard but instead of the long white beard he felt a rough short beard. He opened his eyes and borrowed his brows, looking down to his hands.
The old sun kissed wrinkled skin was now a smooth unfettered complexion. He squeezed it and felt even without using aura his strength had doubled.
He paused and looked up, his mind...his thoughts.
"Everything is so vivid..." He looked deeply into the world and realised the Dao was not rejecting him anymore, the QI was in control.
He pulled the sword from his waist and held it in front of him, looking at the reflection staring back. He stoked his face, as if conforming reality.
"I've...become young again! And not just physically, but mentally. I'm not just like how I was when I was young though, no...I'm stronger!"
A smile grew and then he drew his aura. It was much stronger than before but lesser. Before he had a lot of weak aura which now transformed to little strong aura.
He trembled then kicked his foot of the floor. Aura condensed under his foot and he stepped into the sky, bowing towards Xuan Yu, "Thank you for your help"
Xuan Yu looked at the aura which Hamar stood upon and froze. "It's not any laws or technique I recognise...I can't even see the basics of his technique?!"
He quickly composed himself and smiled lightly, bowing himself, "It is nothing senior, I congratulate you on your breakthrough!" Seeing Hamar's aura technique he thought it to be a strong cultivation technique, one so strong he could not detect it.
Hamar felt satisfied with his new aura and body, swinging his sword lightly. He sent out a small wisps of aura and saw as his swing caused the clouds to lightly part.
He smiled and sheathed his sword, "Tea you said?"
Xuan Yu laughed and nodded, "follow me"