Butterfly Leaf Footwork
"First," Ankit said, "is the Leaf Poise. It's your basic stance.
You stand with your feet close together, one slightly ahead. Your knees stay relaxed, heels light, arms hanging loosely by your sides. All your weight rests on the balls of your feet so you can move at any time. This stance isn't for blocking like a rock; it's for starting and stopping like a leaf landing wherever the wind decides."
Sanya immediately stood up and copied him, wobbling a little.
"Second is the Four‑Petal Drift," he continued. "Imagine a small square on the ground. You're standing in the centre. Every step you take is to one corner of that square—forward‑left, forward‑right, back‑left, back‑right."
He guided her, step by step:
- From the centre, she slid her lead foot diagonally forward‑left.
- Her rear foot followed in a small half‑circle, landing softly behind it.
- Then she reversed, drifting back diagonally.
"Your feet never stomp," Ankit reminded her. "They kiss the ground and leave. Every time you move, your upper body turns a little, like a butterfly turning in the air. You don't fight the wind; you dance with it."
After a few slow cycles, Sanya started to feel the rhythm. Her steps became lighter, her body turning naturally with each shift.
"Third," Ankit said, "is the Butterfly Slip. This is how you dodge an attack.
If someone rushes straight at you, you don't step straight back. You shift your weight to one leg, then slide diagonally to the side with a Petal Step, letting their attack pass right through where you were. At the same time, your upper body leans just enough that they miss by a hand's width, not a metre. Do you see it?"
He demonstrated slowly, acting as both attacker and defender, then let her mimic the motion.
"When you get good," he added, "you can tap them once as you pass. A palm to the ribs, or a flick to the back of the knee. Hit, drift away, never let them grab you."
Sanya's eyes shone. "So I'll be like a butterfly that no one can catch?"
"Exactly," Ankit said. "This technique will make you hard to hit even without Essence. And when you start cultivating, we'll add power to it and turn it into a true movement art. But for now—"
He poked her forehead lightly.
"—you'll practice the stance and steps every day. No complaints."
Sanya grinned and clasped her hands behind her back, already repeating the light, diagonal steps in the narrow space between the tables. Her movements were clumsy, but the joy in them was unmistakable.
Watching her, Ankit felt a small, quiet warmth.
He still wouldn't let her touch cultivation yet. His system needed to be perfected, and their foundations needed to be flawless. But giving her a path to walk—a technique tailored for her body and temperament—that much he could do.
And on this birthday, that was the best gift Ankit could think of.
The day slipped away in laughter and light steps, Sanya tracing clumsy butterfly patterns on the greenhouse floor.
***
The next morning, he changed roles again.
Ankit gathered his parents and Sanya in the living room and told them calmly, "I'm going back into seclusion. It'll take a while, so don't wait up for me every day."
Neelam frowned, Kamal sighed, Sanya pouted, but they all understood. After a round of hugs and a promise to come out within 4 months at least, Ankit turned and left.
He did not head for his usual cultivation room.
This time, his path led downward—through fortress base then dive more—until he reached the underground lake: a vast cavern where still, dark water reflected the fortress lights like scattered stars. The air here tasted thicker, infused with damp chill and faint, steady pulses of water‑nature Essence.
For Substage 4, he had awakened and compressed the Root Core on solid earth. For Substage 5, his target was different.
The Sacral Core.
At this substage, Ankit's goal was twofold:
- First, compress the Sacral Core, just as he had compressed the Root Core—refining its water/dark nature into a denser, purer state, strengthening support, regeneration, and control.
- Second, use the transformed Sacral Core to trigger a chain reaction in the Solar Core, gradually compressing it as well. Fire and water normally opposed each other, but within his system, Sacral's control and cooling force would act like a pressure array around the Solar Core, pinching it inward without letting it explode.
Water to temper fire. Fire to harden water. Root to anchor both.
Even though his three cores were linked, the Sacral Core did not need direct help from the others to compress.
On its own, it could draw on the dense water Essence of the underground lake, spin, and condense, granting Ankit sharper control, regeneration, and internal stability. Root and Solar only acted as quiet support in the background—Root anchoring his body so the pressure didn't warp his meridians, Solar remaining dormant unless extra brute force was needed. The real work of compression belonged entirely to Sacral.
The process would demand two extreme environments:
- One rich in water‑type Essence Flow for the Sacral Core's compression.
- One drowning in fire‑type Essence Flow for the Solar Core's slow compression afterward.
The underground lake and the deep mantle lava he had visited before were perfect.