True Cultivation!

'Hmm...Using magic to help my cultivation...' Hou cracked his neck and then he closed his eyes tightly.

He sensed his split consciousness and using the shared mental energy they use to connect them together.

He felt the two 'split' consciousness', two separate thought patterns. One thought of one thing, the other another.

He brought them together and as the two pieces moved closer, the thoughts converged. The thoughts slowly becoming more similar to each other.

Then as they touched they jumped and merged completely, the thoughts becoming singular but more dense. This was because he wasn't splitting and so the thoughts that the one could do were stronger than the two.

As he noticed this he had a realisation, 'Will this hinder the use of complex law techniques...they depend on intention and intention is generated by thoughts. If my thoughts weaken, so will intention and so will the technique...'

This thought troubled Hou greatly and he wanted to test it but instead he shook his head, 'No no, I can't. That's an experiment for later. For now, it's usable and that's enough.'

He sat down cross-legged and put away all of his other thoughts, 'I need to cultivate, I can't be left behind. I shouldn't not do cultivation just for some cheap experimentation...'

He took a deep breath, 'Today, I'll focus entirely on mana...if I get enough mana and form my first mana circle I should be able to use stronger magic and then help my law cultivation in turn.'

He slapped his cheeks and shook his head again, "Stop thinking!" He took a deep breath and began.

Ambient mana in the air was starting to get absorbed, first slowly but then it hastened until it stopped suddenly as Hou's mind was jolted awake by a thought.

He pulled his hair and rocked back, "AGH! Why am I getting so distracted today?!"

Then Hou stopped and his smile loosened as he had yet another thought, "Is this...the result of using the split consciousness technique. Well is it an effect or side effect?"

Hou shook his leg in a jittery manner as he lampooned, 'The technique involves creating many thoughts and even splitting the consciousness which would create double the thoughts in theory...is this good or bad though...'

Hou took out a piece of paper and began writing his thoughts down, "While I can't use cultivation too easily or even absorb mana...I can think. I have so many thoughts....maybe I can use this to help create some techniques instead!"

Hou gave up cultivating and absorbing mana, the thoughts that barraged his mind were too distracting and could not be dealt with.

However he made light of the bad situation and used those thoughts for productive creation of techniques. He theorised and wrote down many different ways to use the laws he had.

Different impressions, expressions, combinations, uses, counters etc. his mind was creating so many ideas, most were of little use but with sheer quantity it helped build up his repertoire.

Then after a few hours he suddenly fell asleep exhausted. On the brink of losing consciousness just before he inevitably fell asleep he shouted out to Yue, "Bring me to bed!"

Hou fell asleep and his body jolted as he lost control. But then his warning worked and Yue awoke and took control, sitting up.

"What's this?" He looked at the pile of scattered thoughts jotted on paper. Some were legible but others were completely incoherent.

He squeezed his glabella, "He'll have a doozie trying to decipher the good parts of themselves tomorrow..."

He sighed and pushed them away. He went to sleep and the next day Hou awoke. His mind was not fresh but just about normal, still groggy and exhausted.

He touched his head, "I guess the power of the technique and even the side effects is strong enough...it has ahh" a pain jolted him fully awake, "the technique has some serious downsides..."

He sat up and inspected his consciousness, 'My willpower reserves are almost drained, this is definitely a killer move. I should reserve this only when needed, if I used it haphazardly in a fight I might not be able to use my techniques during or after...for hours. I might even fall asleep or go crazy...'

He conjured some water laws and poured them directly into the air, causing a bubble of water to float in front.

He took of this robes and sighed, "I'm too exhausted and my willpower is running low...I shouldn't use too many techniques just raw law usage for me"

He first took a sip of the floating orb of water and then stepped into it. He touched his head and winced, "The exhaustion is quite deep..." He took a deep breath and started to use his limited willpower to move the floating orb and wash himself.

Once done he decided today he would do as little as he could, regain his willpower/mental energy reserves and at night cultivate his mana enough to create the first circle when free.

In class Master Sheng noticed Hou's exhaustion and pulled him aside, snapping his fingers. "There's a privacy bubble now, are you sure you're fine?"

Hou held out his shaking hand, "Barely...I swapped a technique with Tianmo and it...it effected me more than he would think..."

Hou smiled gently and thought to himself, 'Could that be because of the quasi-Nascent Soul among other factors?'

Master Sheng but his hand on Hou's shoulder, "that would explain Tianmo's glances towards you today...just go and rest, okay? Also..."

"Yes?"

"Was Hamar also a part of this exchange?"

"No? Why"

"Nothing I just feel he was slightly distracted too...Doesn't matter, go rest now."

Hou hung his head, "Okay, thank you Master"

Master Sheng ruffled Hou's hair, "It's nothing, I'll send you away now."

Hou was sent back to his room. He was transported as a wisp of blood as usual but when he landed in his room he fell to the ground.

He used all his strength to push himself onto his back, "not only mentally but even physically..."

Yue awoke at the falling of the body he was in and spoke, "Perhaps the reason for physical weakness is on my end..."

"What do you mean?"

"Well last night when you first saw the intention, it...it affected me too. And for a moment I lost control over the Celestial Law Amplifying Physique and it..."

"What happened?!"

"It exploded? It lost its form and something happened but I reformed it so that might have caused some of your weakness..."