Beggar Cultivation System

"Ah!" Apollo shouted as he tripped on a rock, his body rolling to the ground along with Bel. Every time his back hit the ground, an intense pain washed over him. "Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!"

He rolled for a while before he managed to stop. His eyes blinked at the night sky as the moon's brilliance peeked out from behind the clouds. Suddenly, from the corner of his eyes, he noticed two huge 'mountains' falling on his face!

Yes! I mean no! Apollo was conflicted, and with a bang, Bel fell on top of him.

"Argh…" Bel grunted in pain. She felt dizzy and disoriented.

Apollo, on the other hand, couldn't even say a word from the pain coming from his back. But the moment the sensation of being squashed returned, the pain immediately vanished, and a foolish smile appeared on his face. Although he couldn't properly breathe, it was a sacrifice he was willing to pay for this glorious moment.

Ah, I could die like this… Apollo moved to go deeper inside the 'mountains,' but this caused Bel to realize that someone was under her.

"Oh, sorry," Bel said, still oblivious to the situation, before she pushed herself aside and sat down beside the beggar. Feeling the pain coming from all over her body, she took a deep breath to calm down. Then she sat herself in a lotus position and began a breathing technique.

"Wait, no—" Apollo shouted but shut his mouth in the next second. Fortunately, Bel seemed to be in deep concentration. He sat down when he noticed she was quiet and saw that she was 'cultivating.'@@novelbin@@

No… Apollo squinted his eyes and 'saw' the Qi in the surroundings gathering around her. But instead of circulating her body following a certain pattern, the Qi went to her wounds and started slowly mending them.

Seeing this, the beggar's eyes lit up. So Qi can also be used like that?! I wish I had known sooner!

After a while, Bel opened her eyes and sighed in relief when she noticed that her wound had stopped bleeding. Although she couldn't fully heal it and could only stop the bleeding, it was still better than dying from blood loss.

"You can use Qi to help wounds stop bleeding?!" Apollo asked with excitement.

The shout startled Bel, and she couldn't help but glance at Apollo strangely. "You didn't know?"

"Yes," Apollo nodded, his eyes sparkling with curiosity. "Can you tell me how?"

Bel looked at him from head to toe and remembered that this was just a kid. "Well, first you need to be able to move the Qi around us, but only 4th-Step Foundation Building Cultivators and above can do this."

"And then?"

"Then, once you can see and move the Qi, you have to guide it to your wounds and let it take care of them," Bel explained. "But considering your age, you're still not at that stage, right? One must train from a young age to have a chance to get past the 3rd-Step in Foundation Building.

Most of us only achieve that stage after cultivating for at least three years, and even the talented ones have to cultivate for two years. Wait, how old are you again?"

"I'm se— old enough," Apollo was about to say his real age but changed it at the last second.

"Old enough?" Bel smiled. "Anyway, once you guide the Qi to your wounds, it will know what to do."

"I see," Apollo nodded before asking another question. "By the way, how old were you when you reached the 3rd-Step Foundation Building?"

"Hehe, I'm actually a genius… I was fifteen back then, and it took me one and a half years to achieve the 3rd-Step," Bel scratched her cheek but couldn't hide the pride in her eyes. "And it took me three years to achieve the 4th-Step when average cultivators take four to five years."

Hearing this caused Apollo's eyes to widen, not because he was amazed but because he felt that it was too slow! "Then when did you actually achieve the first step?"

Although she was confused why he was asking this question, she still answered. "I was nine or ten, I think, when I started cultivating. Then, in just a year, I reached the 2nd-Step. You must already know that one must train their body and mind from a very young age to be able to cultivate, right?"

Seeing the kid in front of her looking at her with wide eyes, she couldn't help but feel happy. Then her question to him from earlier came back. "You… are ten or eleven, right?"

"Y-yes… my height is just smaller compared to kids my age," Apollo answered with a lie, not wanting to expose his real age. If people knew he was already at the 2nd-Step Foundation Building, he could smell endless trouble coming for him. What if they found out that he would be at the 4th-Step after this week? They would go crazy over him!

"I see… strange, how come you don't know all this?" Bel asked, her eyes staring directly at him.

"I… I cultivate solo?" Apollo said hesitantly.

"Solo? That's da–" Bel couldn't finish her words as a stinging pain came from her wounds. "We have to go back now… It will be bad if I just leave my wounds like this."

"Alright," Apollo nodded, but the moment he stood up, pain came from his back. He gritted his teeth and endured the pain while he helped Bel to her feet. Then, just like before, he supported her until they made it to the city gate.

Bel glanced one more time at the forest before looking at the gate. It was already midnight, and they were the only ones entering the city.

"Stop!" One of the guards stationed in front of the gate halted them. "Identify yourselves and your purpose for entering Klown City."

"We–" Apollo hesitated. He would never tell or admit for the rest of his life that he was a Leone. He was about to say a fake name he had already come up with when Bel took out something and showed it to the guard.

"This… I'm sorry I didn't recognize you, Miss Bel from the Helflick Family!" The guard bowed his head, and the others followed suit.