Chapter 110: Thoughts - Plans
*Tap Tap Tap Tap*
A clicking sound echoed in the small stone room, Shu He was sat at his desk with a quill in hand tapping the parchment in front of him again and again as he was stuck in thought, the ink blotch on the paper had grown to be a large ball of black he had been doing it for so long and the quill had long since run dry.
He was currently trying to organise his thoughts by writing them down, he had been given a 6-month time limit before he had to set out of a mission given to him, he had no idea how long the mission would be, but he had to account for travel time and rest periods between the sect and the destination as well, so he'll likely be away for a month or longer.
That's why he wants to lay out what he wants to do, and what he can achieve in the 6 months until then.
The first thing he wanted to do with take the test to join the Alchemy division, ideally he could learn to make some basic alchemy pills that would assist him on his mission, otherwise he would have to buy them at a much higher price; Though he may be a bit optimistic with this idea, it had drained basically all his points to learn the extraction method since the materials were spiritual materials.
There were two categories of materials, normal and spiritual, the difference was that the spiritual materials had grown and evolved because Qi, the Crystal Root Flower Shu He had found way back when he was younger was a low mortal grade spiritual plant, the rankings for materials was split up as –
Mortal, Earth, Heaven, Divine and each of these is separated further in to Low, Medium, High, and Peak level, so the lowest quality is Low Mortal while the highest quality would be Peak Divine.
So he had actually used the exact same material he was familiar with, the Crystal Root Flower for extraction practice, each piece material had cost him 2 points and he had used nearly 100 before he was satisfied with his skills.
Thus, he thought he was ready to take the test.
He then took out a scroll and placed it next to the list he was writing, the label on the scroll read <<Inner Heart Linking Technique>>, he had retrieved it yesterday on the way back from his meeting at the Elder's hall, it was the key technique of the Beast Taming Division, he hadn't retrieved it before since his plate was full and he wasn't rushed but now he wanted to at least learn it before he left.
He took a quick look earlier, the technique was separated in to two levels, the first level was the <<Outer Heart>> level and it was the one that he had seen his Senior Brother Jian He use on Yingzi the large Spectral Plains 'Wolf', it was a weaker and temporary version of the second technique; It allowed a mental connection between animal and human while also allowing them to locate each other, it still required acceptance from the animal but it can be broken from either side at any time.
This one won't take too long to learn, it's an extraneous external technique so it is formed with hand seals as an guide.
On the other hand, the second technique is the <<Inner Heart>> level and has many more advantages, but also much more stringent requirements.
Coincidentally, it has similarities to the blood oath he would be taking soon.
The requirements to make a <<Heart Contract>> with an animal are –
Trust between human and animal, this cannot be one sided.
The animal must have a Spirit Heart; thus they must be a Spirit Animal.
Compatible Qi affinities, leeway is available but will affect the result.
Enough Qi to finish the contract.
The animal must not be under a contract already.
The conditions were both simple and complex, there weren't that many, but the requirements can be considered strict, especially the first one; Getting an animal to trust you wasn't easy and trusting one from the bottom of your heart was also harder than it seems.
Shu He himself had been working with different animals for a few months now on and off so he had been warming up to them, he hadn't had a pet or really every got close to animals in his past life so he didn't understand before but now he was becoming fascinated by them and enjoying their company, as much work as they can be.
But trusting them from the bottom of his heart was still hard.
The benefits were undeniable though.
Firstly, you will be able to understand each-other as clear as day, it's far more than just reading thoughts, it's like exposing yourselves to each-other completely, because of this it becomes incredibly easy to work together.
Secondly you can sense each-other's location and their status, there's a limited range based on the levels of cultivation between the two but there will always be a vague feeling and direction.
Third is the most important one, your Qi centres will be linked through the technique so you can share your Qi between each-other, this is why Qi compatibility is important, because of this there is also an additional technique to allow partner cultivation and you can make use of the link to use techniques above your normal level by borrowing Qi from your animal companion or by using your Qi to strengthen their traits.
And lastly, was a feature of the technique that has endless possibilities yet may also go entirely unseen by the users.
The stronger the bond between user and companion, the greater the chance for a mutation to occur in the companion taking on the traits of the user, the limits and possibilities of these effects are still to be seen.
The only caveat to the technique would be – It cannot be reversed, it's a contract that exists until death, it's an oath you take for life; That and it takes a humungous amount of Qi to perform the ceremony.
Shu He was definitely going to put some time in to learning this technique, he wouldn't get to use it in the sect for one simple reason – the amount of spirit animals here was low, the amount in the sanctuary could be counted on two hands and all of them were pretty satisfied as they were, he wouldn't be able to earn their trust nor trust them deeply in such a short period of time.
But maybe he'd come across something as he ventured out of the sect? The chance was small, but it was there.
Though he did wonder one thing, why didn't Jian He make a contract with Yingzi? He always uses the temporary contract, yet they seem plenty close enough for it.
Shu He thought for a minute then shook his head, that was a mystery for another time.
Other than those two things, he had to work on his general cultivation, he would definitely need to hit Balance Attainment before he goes out on the mission, it would help him as well as not making him stand out as an inner disciple, his promotion is certainly unusual so he would need to put effort in, or other disciples will question it.
To reach this level was actually simple and it had similarities to the previous level, it requires the absorption of Yin and Yang energies to create sources in your core area, these sources will balance and strengthen the core flame, focusing its energies and producing purer Qi.
Shu He actually had everything he needed to work on this, he was cultivating the Two Celestials Method that had created a wellspring of Yin and Yang respectively inside of him, he can use these to create the source, the Crystallised Yin Amulet will also assist so it was a worthwhile purchase, and as a man he has innate Yang energies, plus he was a virgin.
It was something that he had heard of even in his old world, the idea of 'Primal Yin/Yang', the purity of a virgin and all that nonsense, he knew biologically there was no actual difference between a virgin and non-virgin yet in the world of cultivators it seems there was actually a difference.
He had looked it up out of curiosity when he was looking through some reading material in his weeklong stay in bed, reading was great when you couldn't move well after all.
When a foetus is developing their tiny body contains a balance of unbelievably pure Yin and Yang, as it grows and begins to develop its gender features the opposite energy is consumed as the other strengthens, for a male the Yin energy weakens, and the Yang energy gets stronger.
When the child is born, all that remains is an incomparably pure wellspring of Yang or Yin energy, and as the child grows and gets older it steadily grows as their natural energy reinforces it, when a cultivator reaches a stage that requires such energies they can essentially plunder their primal energies leftover from birth to speed up their cultivation.
This is one of the reasons a lot of cultivators remain chaste in their early levels of cultivations, when engaging in intercourse the primal energies are released automatically, if they aren't absorbed by the partner then they will just disperse into the surroundings and be wasted.
Shu He sighed slightly.
It wasn't anything he needed to be worried about, it was probably because he was so distracted with everything else, or maybe because he knew he wasn't a normal 'child' mentally, or maybe it was just because his body had only just started maturing, he didn't have much of an interest in those things right now, the girls his 'age' didn't interest him in that way.
He looked down at the paper which he had been writing on.
There was one last major thing he needed to sort out, other than learning what he would need to take with him on a mission.
He was currently weapon-less, it pained him to think about this.
In the fight against Jin Bao, his knife had shattered under the power of his Qi, only a few scraps of the material remained, and they were dull and useless, that knife was something expensive for his status and he only obtained it because he 'cheated' at Striking Luck and had Yun Jiang forge it for no cost, getting something of the same level would be costly.
He did consider going back to Striking Luck, but he'd probably be found out if he got the best prizes twice in a row, that and he didn't have many points to throw around right now.
He would need to visit Yun Jiang again, hopefully he won't be mad that the knife was already broken.
The one that was more painful to him was his bow, it was made of a hard black wood and durable string that he wasn't sure the name of, so it had burnt up in the flames, he was now without a bow but most importantly he had lost a memento from his father.
He would need to find a place to get a good bow, he didn't know if the Forging Division was a good place to look since they dealt with metals and minerals mainly, maybe the Crafting Division next door would be a place to look.
He could also see if they sell bows at the Covetous Dragon Pagoda.
*Knock Knock*
His stone door slightly shook as he jumped slightly, knocked out of his thoughts.
He quickly lifted the paper, and a small flame licked the corner, setting it alight as the material burned in a matter of seconds while he tucked the chair in and walked to the door.
He didn't want to leave his thoughts laying around, so the simple fire technique that was on the scroll he received from the Techniques Depository was quite useful, it didn't have a name because of its simplicity.
'Time to get this oath over and done with' He thought as he touched the panel by the door, causing it to slide open.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone