The bell rang; marking the end of the ceremony. Disciples rose one after the other, no longer as in sync as before. The time required as well as the knowledge gained depends on the person. The better one can concentrate, the more one can gain.
Shakti looked up; the sky no longer bright and shiny. Instead, dim moonlight pierced through the dark clouds. The trees planted around the field, glowed, illuminating the wide space.
Vishwa still sat in the same place; his brows tightened, looking as if he were in deep meditation.
'How can it be so easy to teach so many at once! Vishwa's ability is really great though. Just one night of work and he will reap the benefits for years to come.' Shakti thought inwardly. In his past life Vishwa had breased through the realms.
Agni Arpan in four years, sadhana perfection in five. Alas, the tallest tree gets cut down first, the empire had paid a heavy price to deal with him in his past life. The entire temple was enraged and wars were waged! At that moment the entire world had been plunged into chaos.
*Ding* *Ding*
The bell rang; instantly, the disciples, having not eaten since the early morning hours, smiled. As if a man walking in the desert had found an oasis. The crowd quickly split, the sea instantly breaking into various streams. There were almost a dozen messes only in the disciple area of the temple.
Each providing three meals to almost four thousand disciples each day. It did so by dividing the disciples into yearly batches. The first year dined first, an hour later the second and finally the third years. After three years, only those who had perfected Sharira Shuddhi could continue further studies. The rest were assigned to various families. Developing the next generation for the temple.
Lost in thought Shakti reached the mess near his building. The mess hall was a large rectangular building, almost 80m long and 50m wide. The building was grand in scale but designed very simply. Just bricks assembled in a rectangular shape and painted grey.
The hall inside was large and spacious. Long tables stretched throughout, all kinds of cutlery were already present, and disciples started taking their seats.
'The magic of food. The combination of food factory, displacement and accurate location, this combination of siddhis is the real backbone of the temple's meteoric rise.' At this moment, the plates lit up, the light slowly moulding into shapes of various food. The phantoms became more and more solid finally turning into real food.
In his previous life, he had done extensive research on these abilities. The secret to his quick and steady cultivation was these divine abilities!
He quickly ate his meal as he thought about his future course of action. practising
,
'Right now, everyone has just gotten large amounts of information; thus, they will spend the next couple of days practising these movements. But Sharira Shuddhi is not so easy, everyone will quickly realise the heavy burden these exercises put on the body. By then, the fever would die down and the exercises would just become routine.'
'At this stage in my life I was a loner, somebody with no friends. Considering my advantages, should I stand out in the monthly competition?'
'Fuck it, what should I hesitate for? In the past, the enemy was in the dark, even though I don't know his identity, I at least know that someone lurks in the background, and with such power that he can even turn the temple master against me!'
'I have to gain strength even faster than in my previous life. Break all conventions, save myself and save Arun! In the next monthly competition, I shall aim for the first place and get some sweet pills!'
At this time most students had already finished their meal and were exiting the mess, heading towards their dorms. Excitement was evident in the crowd as they all had the same thing to look forward to: Sharira Shudhi!
Other disciples might not be clear about the details, but Shakti had researched extensively in his past life, and after once again being given experience by Vishwa, he had some plans in mind. Sharira Shuddhi, in simple terms, means to clear the body of any impurities, through breathing exercises and targeted yoga exercises, one may achieve this effect. But it is a time-consuming task, with an intense workout done daily, one can not only clear the body, but also build iron-strong discipline.
'In karmic cultivation, one has to first go through Sharira Shuddhi, followed by Atma Yatra, then comes Agni Arpan, after which Karma Sadhana. In my last life, I had already begun to take the step after Karma Sadhana, but… sigh. It's no use thinking about the past now! I should use my advantage and flip the script! Catch whoever is plotting off guard. Only then can I have the chance to actually break through.'
While thinking Shakti continued to move towards his home. The disciple courtyard was a huge square. The outermost perimeter was where the disciple quarters were built. The entire perimeter had about one hundred and fifty buildings. Each building has eight floors and fifty rooms per floor. All the rooms were similar 4m×3m in dimensions. Reportedly, Sahab had stayed up for three days and three nights to finalise the layout of the entire compound.
With the disciple quarters forming the outer edge, a wide service road runs along it, crossing it, and one reaches the inner compound. The inner compound was where all the magic happened. It contained various faculties like the mess he had just visited, the blacksmith hall, the offerings hall, the missions hall, the grand library, etc. As one went deeper, they would see large rows of glowing trees, illuminating the entire compound, within which lay a vast open field, the one in which Vishwa taught them earlier.
He reached his room and sat at the desk. Taking a paper from his pile, he picked up his feathered pen dipping it in ink.
'I do not remember too many details about the future. After all, who would've thought they would come back? Why bother learning unimportant things?' Only some important details that would change the fate of the empire were clear in his mind.
He stayed up late scribbling all sorts of information he remembered. Some rumours, some facts, some fragmented, others concrete. After he was satisfied he burned the paper and went to sleep.