Ball of Nothing

Chapter 244 Conquering Aggression Falls

Hua Tuo wasn’t expecting Zero to return so soon. With how furious Zero had been, he thought that it might take the boy at least one night to cool down and try again.

The brunet came back with a new look of wisdom in his eyes. Hua Tuo kept an eye as Zero approached him under the Progression Falls.

The Sage God wasn’t prepared for Zero to kneel before him and bowed his head till it touched the floor. While he mentioned about the traditional kowtow that disciples did to their masters, Hua Tuo never emphasized it for Zero given how he knew about Zero’s status as the almighty creator. When his student prostrated before his teacher, the physician was alarmed at once.

"Shifu," Zero’s voice rang out clearly despite the loud background sounds. "Your student understands now. Please watch over me, I am going to conquer the Aggression Falls. Should I fall into the void, please catch me."

Hua Tuo froze. He didn’t know if he should accept Zero’s bow but he knew for sure that he wouldn’t allow Zero to fall into the void again. He composed himself and assumed the role of Zero’s master for his brilliant apprentice’s final test. If Zero could overcome his fear and limitations, the world will be in good hands. Zero was going to become a doctor that doesn’t just save mortals but perhaps Gods too.

Hua Tuo doesn’t have to reply because Zero stood up quickly and gave his teacher a meaningful look with a mix of fear and determination. Hua Tuo was reminded about the look he’d seen one too many times when young soldiers were sent out to war with the possibility of never coming back again. They would gladly lay their lives on the bloody battlefields in exchange for promised glory for the next three generations. The doctor felt helpless when Zero turned his back towards him and walked straight to the Aggression Falls, not even bothering to change into his swimming costume.

Every step that Zero took towards the hateful waterfall felt heavier than the last. His body and instincts screamed at him to turn around and walk the opposite direction but Zero remained faithfully stubborn. Even if it was certain doom, he would still do it even if he was afraid. Truen was right, Zero could only overcome this by placing his trust in the people around him. Humans were full of betrayal and this wouldn’t be the only time Zero would get hurt. It was only the first step to becoming Solo’s equal so if he fails here, the young doctor didn’t think he was worthy of confronting his past self with conviction about their perspectives.

Zero didn’t think that he was weak but his muscles seemed to malfunction and shook as he stood tens steps away from that familiar meditation spot. ten steps away from his goal and Zero suddenly recalled the first time he met Sedna. He was all alone back then and didn’t think that anyone would be around to help him when she appeared. Although slightly apprehensive, the remembered following her.

At eight steps away, Zero felt the burn of tears building up. He thought of how afraid Truen must have been all alone in the void when he accidentally tried to help him remove the harmful effect. He felt horrible for doing so and was thankful that there was a way to save the hungry ghost. It turned out to be one of the best decisions in his short existence. Truen was his first friend and the one person Zero wouldn’t hesitate to give him the reality check when he required it. Baal was also a good friend but Zero knew how the Demon Lord was sometimes happier to keep things from the brunet.

Five steps away now and Zero had to suppress the urge to hyperventilate. What if he fails and disappears forever in a place that nobody could find or reach him? He felt the doubts in his mind spiralling out of control and stopped there for a while. No, even if he did disappear, there will be plenty of people who were powerful enough to locate him and save him. Zero tried to count the number of people who he knew would stop at nothing to help him. The Demon Lords, the Great Gods, Enma, his teachers, Truen and even the villagers in Half Moon Village like Mitchnew, Coux and Amaraline even if they weren’t as powerful. Even Wiser would do everything in his abilities to help despite his frail constitution. Yes, they would find him.

Zero was three steps away now and if he reached his arm out, he could touch the water of the Aggression Falls. By now, the boy felt nothing. It was as if all the earlier emotions were fading away one by one. Was this how people felt like before they died? For some reason, it was quiet and peaceful. He didn’t feel the coldness of the water as he walked towards the waterfall. Zero didn’t hear the roaring either and it merged into some kind of white noise in the background of his mindscape. Mii and Bob were nowhere to be found and Zero wondered if they were hiding or simply shut out.

Finally, the young doctor reached his goal. He stood underneath the strong water and allowed his body to get reaccustomed to the strong water pressure. He felt the pull of the Aggression Falls trying to drag him into the invisible undercurrent but Zero resisted. It wasn’t time yet.

The young doctor still had so many things to think about, people to give thanks to and closures to make with his feelings before he took the plunge.

Hua Tuo no longer focussed on his cultivation as he watched his student with his heart in his mouth. The physician was nervous. It was like watching a hero walking towards his execution ground knowing that he had to die for a greater cause. The scene wasn’t an unfamiliar one and Hua Tuo who was usually impartial to such things felt himself getting affected. While he knew that there were some risks involved in this training, death wasn’t one of it. The Aggression Falls didn’t usually drown the cultivator. However, the cultivator was at risk of losing their minds and becoming retarded for life. There are stories of eccentric geniuses born from cultivating accidents but those were rather bittersweet tragic stories that were rare in its own league.

Zero ticked off his long list of names as he cast his silent prayer into the void. His thanks, his apologies and his promises were sent in advance to the void where he would most likely end up should he fail. Zero also left a message there for his future self should he reawaken someday after losing all his memories. It was some kind of insurance like how Solo left the Mind’s Eye system for him and the Great Gods after the Divine Entities scattered off.

It didn’t take long but Hua Tuo was even more nervous than Zero. Can Zero really let go of everything and understand the concept of flowing with the force? The Aggression Falls was merciless and could toss the cultivators mind around like a rag doll, poking into every chip in their armour, digging out weaknesses not even known to them. It was a whole new level of torture and brutality that Hua Tuo took centuries to build resistance to.

The physician had faith. Zero’s wisdom wasn’t a fluke. he’d seen the boy understand extraordinary things that haven’t even been discovered by the Sage Gods who were considered experts in their field of research. His apprentice was more curious and hardworking than anyone else. His hunger for adventure, improvement and knowledge supersedes even Merlin’s. If all else failed, Zero’s instincts will kick in to save him. The Great Gods have given Zero some blessings and that wasn’t the end of the young doctor’s ace in a hole. As long as they knew where Zero’s ’soul’ was located, they would eventually figure out a way to get there.

Zero sat down cross-legged under the waterfall and closed his eyes before exhaling completely. From that point onwards, he didn’t breathe and Hua Tuo wondered if the boy had given up. He knew his apprentice didn’t require oxygen due to the unique vessel but he still made it a habit to do so because it helped him build up qi and mana in his reserves.

The physician slowly got out of the Progression Falls and walked over to the bridge connecting the Progression Falls and the Aggression Falls. He sat down about two meters away from his student and waited.

Zero’s energy changed into one full of yin and Hua Tuo shivered. The water beneath Zero started to boil and Hua Tuo noticed how the balance of yin and yang was beginning to take shape. When Zero first started, the boy couldn’t even pull out five percent of this power from the Aggression Falls despite his fully developed meridian and chakra network. Hua Tuo smiled. If Zero was able to get this far, he had no doubt that his student could succeed now. It was always the starting that was difficult.

Zero didn’t know what he was feeling any longer. His mind and body were being pulled to two separate ends of the spectrum. He felt hot and cold at the same time and the doctor had opted to just accept everything that came his way instead of trying to analyse it. Initially, the feeling was unbearable. The boy felt as if he was choking up and the craving for release made him want to cry. He needed air so badly but his lungs didn’t function. Zero deliberately ceased his breathing functions to suppress the urge and it was tougher than when he was a lungfish.

It was bright and dark at the same time at some point of his meditation and Zero embraced the duality. Then, he was assaulted by an array of colours that he didn’t know the names to. The Aggression Falls also tried to confuse Zero with pressure and gravity. One moment he felt like his head was going to explode from the pressure while his feet felt like it wasn’t touching anything and another time his insides were being sucked outwards with nothing holding them in place except for his bones. Zero endured it all and allowed the sensations to pass.

The Aggression Falls wasn’t done, it was only beginning. Zero had to persevere through the manipulation of time when Zero was put through gruelling heat and dehydration where his body craved water despite being under a waterfall. Then, when it did not work, it pumped Zero full of good energy that made the brunet feel queasy.

Hua Tuo felt pride swell in his chest when his student kept the calm appearance that could put even Buddha to shame even after the two-hour mark. He stayed with his disciple and kept watch over him, rooting for him in his heart. The yin and yang formation was now clearly visible even if it was incomplete. Zero was still trying to comprehend the meaning of flowing with the force. He still didn’t know how to counter the imbalance at this stage and was merely accepting everything without rejection. It was like collecting an assortment of playing cards and not knowing how to use them to form combinations.

Zero didn’t know how much time had passed but that was the last thing on his mind. The Aggression Falls was becoming slightly repetitive and Zero found himself zoning out in the sub-zero illusion. for some reason, the cold wasn’t affecting him as much as it did the first time. Was it because of how he had been subjected to volcano baths previously? The young doctor allowed his mind to wander a little to draw on the strengths of his previous experiences. For now, he didn’t think that the waterfall was trying to erase him just yet. It was full of sensations, unlike the previous time when it tried to remove everything from Zero.

Why wasn’t it trying to devour Zero’s mind yet? The apprentice couldn’t help but worry if he was doing it correctly. However, he wasn’t allowed a lot of time to think when the illusion changed to a cloying sweet flower field that stung Zero’s sense of smell. The brunet didn’t think that it was too bad when he used the memory of that rotting carcass cesspit to counter the smell.

Hua Tuo was impressed. The sun had already gone down and he left for a brief moment to get some fruits to munch on. The energy has stabilised a lot by now although his student hasn’t shown much improvement since the last hour. Zero looked like a statue underneath the waterfall and Hua Tuo wondered how long it would take Zero to figure out the secret to Aggression Falls.

Zero was finally getting the hang of things in his little pocket dimension. The Aggression Falls no longer surprised him. In fact, the doctor was growing bored with it. The extremities that the waterfall threw at him could be neutralised easily with something that Zero had previously experienced. If Zero had to give this a name, he would call it Polarity with how opposites cancel each other out. It still took Zero some time to get used to the different sensations to react accordingly. If done right, the experience would return to a blank slate and Zero was left waiting until the waterfall decided to attack him again. His guard was constantly up but he also realised that the repetition was leading him nowhere. Something was wrong.

Hua Tuo had returned to the Progression Falls by now. It had been twelve hours since Zero stagnated with his progress. He didn’t seem like he was going to lose control any time soon so the Sage God decided to resume his training while keeping an eye out for changes every few hours. Zero understood the meaning of duality now and the concept of yin and yang. However, the physician knew that his student was far from understanding the concept of dao and equilibrium.

Zero practically ignored everything that the Aggression Falls threw him by now. This didn’t seem right. he wasn’t making much progress apart from getting familiar with the counter combinations. It was like improving the pitching time and waiting to snipe the enemy when they appeared but Zero knew he was stuck in his progress. While he no longer feared getting lost in the void, he was beginning to feel apprehension over the success of this trial. Overcoming his initial fear was only the first step. Who knew that the next stage was even more difficult than the first?

Another wave of inverted gravity came and this time, Zero didn’t bother countering it. His mind was too focussed on trying to understand how he could accept everything together for all the mess it made. If hot cancelled cold and slow cancelled fast, what was the centre point of everything that Zero would get after he fused the experiences together?

The waterfall spun Zero around in several directions while alternating between heavy pressure and zero-weight as the teenager put his mind to work. At some point in time, Zero didn’t know what was going on anymore. All he felt from the sensations were a buzzing numbness. the feeling didn’t have a name or direction. It travelled everywhere and anywhere at any time with any intensity. the feeling didn’t intensify even after the Aggression Falls hit him with an overload of sour flavour and spicy mix. the same electrifying feeling came to Zero and the brunet held onto the elusive numbness.

Hua Tuo was filleting a fish he caught for dinner when he sensed a small ripple of change in the air. He glanced over to his still-meditating disciple and smiled. Zero was getting there. However, he was still too afraid to destroy the calm surface of the water on the lake to see past truth of the moon in the water. Now that Zero understands acceptance, he has to learn what control was.

Zero tried to keep his frustration in check. "Give it time," he told himself. Enduring the sensations were far easier than trying to catch hold of that mysterious electrifying feeling. Zero felt like each time he was close to finding out what it was, the Aggression Falls would deliberately ruin his chances and take it back. If Zero had to describe the waterfall in one word, he would call it a poophead. The Aggression Falls was a mean thing and a huge bully if Zero had anything to compare it to, it would be like a lion toying with an ant.

Zero waited again for the next wave and repeated the words Hua Tuo often said to him. "Patience is a virtue, Zero..."

The young doctor didn’t know how long he spent waiting for the next wave and it seemed as if the waterfall was now cautious of Zero when it failed to deter the brunet who kept his emotions well under control. Right now, Zero was able to slowly pull the attacks into himself instead of letting them push him around and the Aggression Falls didn’t like it. Zero wasn’t able to completely amass the polarities he experienced and there were a few holes in his blanket of duality.

Zero sulked when the Aggression Falls quickly retreated before he could capture it. He felt slightly off-balance at the moment with more polarities on one side than the other but Zero made up for that difference with pure will-power. He wasn’t going to let go of this opportunity when he had made so much progress.

Likewise, Hua Tuo was slightly concerned when he saw how much more yang energy Zero was accumulating compared to yin. The Aggression Falls was a yang attribute qi foundation. Progression Falls was more balanced and Regression Falls was yin qi based. Zero needed to find a way to balance out the yin portion before he can complete the second stage of becoming one with the qi.

Zero felt the burning on his inner world. It was getting harder to hold onto the blanket of duality with the accumulated energy not countering each other effectively. The young doctor waited for Aggression Falls to make its move and sighed when another yang type attack came. Zero didn’t really have much yin experiences to counter it and wondered if this was the waterfall’s strategy to corrupt his foundation.

The young doctor wasn’t too far off the mark. In fact, the Aggression Falls did this on purpose to hinder Zero’s understanding of how to control it. Few people were able to grasp the understanding of absolute control but when they did, these masters became sages. It was possible for mortals to attain immortality after training at the Trigression Falls and Gaia arranged Aggression Falls to be the first obstacle to fail as many candidates as possible.

Zero played the long waiting game with the Aggression Falls. Unknown to the teenager, he spent three days underneath the waterfall meditating. If it was a human or another living creature, their bodies would start weakening due to the lack of sustenance with the exception of plants.

The teen persevered and tried to seek out a way of replicating that numbing sensation to understand more about the mystery behind what happens when everything is completely neutralised from each other.

Zero decided to mess around with his accumulated experiences when Aggression Falls didn’t respond to his taunts. Even if it was incomplete, Zero wanted to try gaining some clues to support his hypothesis.

The first thing Zero tried to recreate was the physical sensations with varying levels of pain from heat, touch, pressure and even qi accumulation. The young doctor certainly wasn’t prepared for a virtual explosion that sent him hurling backwards when he added intense pressure to the volcano bath. From outside of his isolated dimension, Zero was vaguely aware of the repairs his body was making. The realisation that a wrong combination in the isolated dimension could kill him literally made Zero a little more cautious about his next move.

Hua Tuo nearly jumped out of his skin when Zero spat out a mist of blood and rushed over to the teenager’s side. thankfully, the internal injury wasn’t as severe and Zero’s healing magic kicked in automatically.

The array was shaky but soon stabilised once more and Hua Tuo swallowed. Zero was finally exploring the combination of qi energy and finding that balance he needed after being in the acceptance stage for three days. The Sage God decided to be on standby in case Zero’s progress takes a turn for the worst. Many cultivators who overcame the first stage often suffered life-threatening internal injuries that crippled their cultivation progress forever after making a wrong move in the second stage.

The physician wasn’t too worried about the combinations Zero would try because he taught his student well about magic basics and the six elements. If Zero calmed down and thought rationally, he would be able to overcome this stage without problems.

Zero refrained from doing anything else and waited for his body to complete recovering the damage done. He didn’t think that the injury was too serious but the boy now knew better. If there was no risk, he would not progress from this point forth. Thankfully, he was well-prepared for the theory test.

"Light counters darkness but fuels earth and is complemented by water. No wonder it exploded... compressed heat is a combination of fire and darkness that complements each other. It’s the opposite of light and water, what was I thinking?" Zero sighed and rubbed his face in the isolated dimension before deadpanning.

"Right, I wasn’t thinking. Let’s see, what do I try next without risking dumb consequences?"

Hua Tuo slept on the bridge for the next two days while Zero made slow and sometimes painful progress with his understanding of becoming one. On some occasions, Hua Tuo wanted to pat his apprentice on the head but there were times when he wanted to smack the boy with his sandal. Zero was a meditating time bomb in the literal sense. One moment Hua Tuo would swell with pride at a huge step forward and the next minute he would be rushing over to check on Zero’s internal injuries with the tell-tale bloody mist spray.

On the other side of the waterfall, Zero thought he was making good progress. As he tried to weave more combinations of elements in his polarity collection and duality blanket together, Zero came to understand the relationship between elements better. At first, he thought that the rule of thumb about complementary elements and neutralising elements applied to everything. While it was difficult to sort them into their respective class and attributes, Zero learnt by guessing and trying. Sometimes it yielded favourable results and other times, it was disastrous.

After a while, Zero saw a more complex pattern when he mixed more than two elements. The rule of elements no longer applied and the results were confusing. Zero gained invaluable knowledge from combining more than three hundred different combinations and was beginning to exhaust his list of four-element combinations. His brain was also hurting and exhausted from the long list of calculations to create combinations. At the same time, Zero no longer heard from the Aggression Falls. He was now completely secluded in his personal dimension and sat in an empty space trying to solve the mystery of his trial. There had to be a reason why he was given an incomplete blanket of duality.

The teenager tried to recall the lessons he learnt. The duality concept was very close to the art of Tai Ji’s philosophy and Zero groaned when the five-element combination fizzled away for the seventeenth time. Four-element combinations were tricky but five-element combinations were simply impossible. It didn’t really matter what he tried, nothing worked out.

Zero skipped straight away to a six-element combination and was not surprised when nothing happened. It was as if none of the input mattered anymore. Light cancelled darkness, fire cancelled water and earth cancelled wind effectively when Zero put them in equal amounts.

The teenager stared at the results of his experiment and sighed. Why did he come so far only to realise that nothing happened at the end of it all? It didn’t really matter now if he collected all the elements missing in his blanket of duality when everything belonged to a category of some attribute. They would simply cancel each other out like the six-element combination and Zero would ultimately be left with nothing.

Hua Tuo was thrilled. Zero was still meditating and it was the dawn on the fifth day when the Sage God felt the atmosphere change. Zero’s powerful cultivation base was beginning to awaken and as the sun broke through the rosy clouds, the brunet started exuding a tangible aura of qi that looked slightly wispy for starters. the wind picked up on Zero but the young doctor remained unperturbed. He continued to meditate and started to levitate about ten centimetres above the surface he was seated on.

Zero was fed up. Aggression Falls no longer mattered to him. All he wanted to do was burn the blanket of duality that proved meaningless. After all that suffering it was telling him that the solution to the mystery was nothing? How could it be? What was the point of having different elements when they cancelled each other’s merits equally and cease to exist after that?

The best part of it all was how Zero didn’t know how to leave the isolated dimension. He knew that Hua Tuo was outside watching over him but he didn’t know how to leave his inner dimension. Was he going to be trapped in it forever until he cracked the code?

"Hold on!" the teenager gasped and returned to the blanket of duality. It might be true that when six elements came together, they turned into nothing. However, there was something a little special about that result as compared to the fizzled out five-element combination. Zero couldn’t believe he missed out on that earlier and held onto his train of thoughts.

Replicating his earlier experiment, Zero paid closer attention to the difference between the result of the reaction. The five-element combination fizzled out into nothing but not before some friction and struggle for a final victor. On the other hand, the six-element combination completely melded together as if accepting one another before fading out peacefully.

The difference between the way they faded out made Zero think. Was harmony the key factor here? If Tai Ji was built on the concept of complete harmony and balance, it would explain why five elements will not cooperate with each other as well as six elements. At the same time, Zero revised his results with four and two elements of complimenting harmony. He saw a similarity in the result but was dissatisfied with the space they left behind. There were still lingering energy and imbalance in the space for anything less than the reaction between all six elements and Zero wondered if he was looking at it the wrong way.

Perhaps the reaction was a duality in itself! With this thought, Zero decided to investigate further into the reaction that he thought was nothing. The same space that the elements collided in may fool the eye and appear similar but if Zero activated his other senses, he could immediately tell the difference between the few reactions.

To prove it, Zero set up a few combinations to react at the same time. The most significant change was the reaction time. Some elements took longer to cancel each other out and had varying side effects when they met each other. For instance, when fire met water, steam was created before it vanished into nothingness. As a result, Zero didn’t think that it was truly nothingness that was created when the neutralising elements met. they simply created a by-product that was easily dissipated.

However, the six-element formation was strange. Unlike the other combinations that took time to react in sequence, the six-element formation fell into the centre and didn’t need to find the cancelling element. It seemed to form something like a circle of mixed elements and distribute itself evenly to melt away without side effects. If Zero was looking for perfection in coexistence, this was it.

Hua Tuo was nodding off when the Aggressive Falls was split into half. Zero finally achieved a new breakthrough and had attained enlightenment about the concept of harmony.

In the isolated dimension, Zero didn’t stop at that. It was like opening a new door to knowledge when he understood the true meaning of harmony and balance. One by one, his mind was inspired by the finding. He was now able to look at Solo’s vast creation with a more profound comprehension. the cycle of life made sense, the flow of time was now within his grasp. Zero also knew how to manipulate energy with his will and suddenly he wondered if this was how Solo felt.

The teenager opened his eyes and looked at the familiar hunched back of his teacher preparing something. They were now back at Hua Tuo’s humble hut. Strangely, Zero didn’t feel happiness at conquering the Aggression Falls. Instead, he felt a sense of unusual tranquillity as he got up to greet his teacher.

Understanding the mysteries of solo’s creation only put Zero in a pensive mood. While many things now made sense to Zero about the world he was exploring, the teenager couldn’t help but wonder if this was right. if anything, the new knowledge only served to confuse him more.

"Congratulations, you’ve conquered Aggression Falls. We can now move on to Progression Falls and Regression Falls. How are you feeling?"

Zero put a hand to his chest and blinked. "Strangely empty."

Hua Tuo wasn’t too surprised by Zero’s answer. He was also disoriented for a few years after his first breakthrough. It wasn’t surprising for Zero to feel out of it after taking a little more than a week to overcome the first waterfall. If they had more time, Hua Tuo would allow Zero to wallow in the swamp of new knowledge, questioning the existence of life before proceeding to the next stage. Unfortunately, he received a text from merlin about Truen’s progress. The wood elf was progressing smoothly and would complete his training in two more months. Zero didn’t have a lot of time to complete his training with Hua Tuo at this rate.

"Don’t worry," he told his disciple and told him to drink up a strange soup.

Zero suspected nothing and drank it in one mouthful as it was a rather small bowl. The moment he did so, he was attacked by an overwhelming flavour that was a cross between hydra spit and heavenly mead. It burned his mouth, nose and lungs. Zero felt the soup awaken every single point in his meridian network forcefully, jolting him awake and his mind was forced back from the trance-like state it entered since the breakthrough.

The new knowledge still bothered Zero but the apprentice was now no longer in that strange state in between reality and his inner dimension.

"Better now?" the Sage God asked and Zero coughed, gasping for air and drinking flask after flask of water to get rid of that taste.

"I guess," he croaked when the burn died a little. If he ever needed a strong wake-up call, he knew what to do now.

Hua Tuo patted his apprentice on the head. "Take it easy today, we can start training in the progression Falls tomorrow. You did well. From now on, it would be an easy ride."

Zero grinned and regained some of his usual cheerfulness. All confusion aside, the end of the tunnel was now in sight and Zero couldn’t wait to challenge the other two waterfalls.