Chapter 19: The Majesty of Cultivation
The number of lower strength groups participating in the beast tide was significantly lower compared to the last time Yaan ventured down the mountain, towards the Northern wilderness. Now, those Qi masters at the Qi Gathering realm and True Yuan Qi realm who still wanted to participate were held back at the outer sect station points, acting as rear guards whilst the Elders dealt with the beasts in the wilderness. Each station point was manned by a Qi Temple realm Elder, whilst the disciples and weaker Elders worked as scouts and messengers, only fighting if the threat was within their range of capabilities.
Yaan hadn't expected much, but the number of lower strength beasts slipping through the forest was actually quite staggering. He learned from another disciple that this was owing to the lack of sect members fighting in the wilderness, the number of those with the ability to venture out was simply too low. Not to mention, those fighting on the front lines were busy dealing with the stronger Rank 3 beasts.
Because of this, droves of Rank 1 beasts were continually sending themselves into his clutches. Rank 2 beasts were mixed into the lot too, finally giving Yaan the chance to test himself properly.
Bang!
Yaan quickly stepped to the side, narrowly avoiding the descending bull's hooves. He recognised this type of bull, it was actually the same kind that nearly crushed him to death when he fell into the river to the North.
The bull's eyes turned blood shot as it angrily tilted its head towards him. The beast felt infuriated that it couldn't crush this weak looking creature to death with a single strike!
Yaan kept his eyes firmly locked on the bull's own, waiting patiently for an opportunity. Yaan ignored the stares of the nearby anxious Elder, who's advice he ignored by engaging this bull anyway.
"Grrr!" The bull let out a snort and charged forwards once more, raising its head up high in provocation.
Now!
Yaan jumped forwards, then thrust his sword ahead with shocking speed, precisely piercing into the bull's throat. The blade made a grinding noise as it ripped through the stone like flesh, then came to a halt before it was able to cut all the way through.
The bull pulled back and roared in anger and pain, then began stamping about chaotically as blood spurted out from its throat.
The strike hadn't penetrated far enough to kill the beast immediately, but Yaan was sure that it would fall in time. However, he was forced to run backwards as the bull charged at him madly in its death throes. With each shake of its head, more blood was thrown outwards in a crimson wave. Yaan managed to stay far enough back to avoid becoming soaked, but the ground all ahead of him was now stained scarlet red.
Thud!
Finally, after half a minute of narrowly avoiding the desperate beast, Yaan was able to relax somewhat. Its huge body hit the floor with a thump, never to move again.
Yaan's breathing became heavy as the slaughter aura of a Rank 2 beast stormed into his body. The slaughter aura was more extreme than any he had encountered before, so it naturally resulted in some shock to his system. Luckily, he was able to quickly adjust and suppress the bloodthirsty desires, whilst everyone nearby merely assumed that he was catching his breath after the intense battle.
"H-holy…?! You actually took down a Rank 2 beast after just ascending to the True Yuan Qi realm and not knowing any spells! Incredible…"
The Elder who warned Yaan about this beast was a Late True Yuan Qi realm Elder of the inner sect. He was aware of Yaan's identity and felt terrified that this prodigal child would die under his watch, hence he was waiting on stand-by the entire time. He expectation was that he would need to jump in to provide assistance, but even then he wasn't certain he could make it in time.
But unexpectedly, Yaan actually won!
Yaan stepped back and looked at the corpse, slightly out of breath and feeling mentally drained from that fight. It may have looked like he cut down the bull with ease since he wasn't at all injured, but it required his utmost focus to avoid being crushed by any of the bull's attacks. This wasn't the first time he had been in a dangerous life and death battle, but it was the first time he managed to emerge victorious from a situation so precarious like this. Yaan even felt a strange surge of euphoria when he realised how far he had come…just now, without any assistance, he took down a Rank 2 spirit beast!
After politely brushing off the compliments from the surrounding inner sect disciples and Elders, Yaan once again began to patrol the borders in search of beasts.
"Such dedication!"
"Mm. Most child geniuses take years to achieve this sort of bravery and work ethic!"
"Indeed, truly fitting to be Great Elder Wan's disciple!"
…
Any doubts towards Yaan's capabilities had long since been dispersed. His achievement in terms of cultivation level alone was enough to garner him respect. Yaan payed no attention to their praises, he was more focussed on searching for his next prey. Whilst others saw his actions as diligence and loyalty to the sect, the truth was that this was merely necessary cultivation for him.
He had already established with the stationmaster at Hun Village that he wanted to keep the brains, hearts and best cuts of meat from his kills. For a modest price, he could have this prepared for him as a fully cooked meal when he returned to the station point.
This arrangement allowed him to continue training his physical body.
Actually, it was only recently that Yaan had come to understand the essence of the fiend. To kill and to eat. Killing allowed him to refine slaughter aura into Yuan Qi, whilst consuming the meat of his kills gave way to the development of his demonic body. It was like killing two birds with one stone. The fiend race was a race that thrived on something primitive yet extremely natural; hunting.
Also, he noticed that his cultivation speed was somewhat incredible compared to his expectations. Killing so many Rank 1 beasts and even now a Rank 2 beast allowed Yaan to refine far more slaughter aura than he could obtain from mortals, so this situation was actually very beneficial to him. That said, it obviously came with many risks.
For the remainder of the day, he patrolled the border alone, briskly walking back and forth between Hun Village and the adjacent station point, Suntow Village. The distance was around 4 miles from village to village, so he naturally passed some other sect members during this time.
He killed another two Rank 1 beasts on the way to Suntow Village, then stopped at the station point for the prepared meal of an entire Rank 1 boar. The catering staff assumed that he was simply being wastefully extravagant, wanting to eat part of the boar, then throw the rest away.
Watching him eat his way through all 500kg of meat over a 3 hour period left the chefs and maids totally speechless. Just where did all that food go?! They didn't dare say anything despite their shock though, and could only watch as Yaan resumed his patrol back towards Hun Village.
This time he was able to kill three Rank 1 beasts. Since dragging these corpses along with him was more effort than it was worth, he had some weaker Qi masters drag the bodies back to the nearest village for a small fee.
A few hours later, Yaan returned to Hun Village. On arrival, he immediately dug into his meal, which consisted of the Rank 2 bull meat from the beast he felled earlier. It was an exquisite flavour, far superior to any meat he had tasted previously! Yaan also felt that the effect to his body was around 3-5 times greater compared to that of Rank 1 beast meat!
He recently discovered that spirit beasts usually tasted far superior to demonic beasts. The demonic energy contained within the flesh of demonic beasts left a bitter taste in the mouth, whilst spirit beast meat was often succulent and delicious. Since he usually ate the flesh of the demonic beasts that Great Elder Wan hunted in the dark forest, this was a very recent revelation for Yaan.
He finished his meal with a smile. He had finally reached the point at which he could learn the Water-drop Slash spell!
After informing the head Elder of Hun Village that he would be leaving for a while, Yaan returned to the core sect and visited the treasure hall once again.
"Back already? Your cultivation speed sure is something…" Elder Juseph mumbled.
Merely a couple of weeks had passed since Yaan first visited the treasure hall, yet he had already returned. Clearly, he must have refined 100 drops of True Yuan Qi!
Actually, he reached the bare minimum requirement some time ago, but held off on returning to the treasure hall until now for two reasons. Firstly, his progress with the spell would be more rapid now that he possessed 200 drops of liquid Yuan Qi in his dantian. Secondly, he didn't want to draw too much attention to his cultivation speed. It was inevitable that he would stand out, but he didn't want to appear like some sort of god level genius, since this could result in the other Great Elders and Sect Lord getting involved with his business.
This decision was not Rui's guidance, but Yaan's own judgement. She silently approved, glad to see that he was becoming more wise under her teachings, shedding his childish naivety slowly but surely.
Yaan was led into a comfortable side room and handed the scroll carefully.
"Please take care not to damage the scroll. We do have spare copies, but they are quite difficult to produce." Elder Juseph left after saying this.
Yaan looked around at the training room. There were three torso shaped dummies at the back end of the stone room, one made from oak, the next from steel and the final from black steel. The stone floor stretched back for 20 feet until reaching Yaan's current position, where he was stood on an embroidered prayer mat intended for cultivating. Clearly these training rooms were designed with extended training sessions in mind.
First of all, he sat down and read through the spell scroll. This scroll was covered in words and diagrams, explaining how the liquid Yuan Qi should be manipulated through the body, out from the body and then finally coating the weapon of choice.
He began to attempt this immediately.
A few minutes later…
"Ugh…" Yaan's face turned pale and he fell to the side slightly, stabilising himself by stretching out one hand and propping his body up against the floor. He had completely exhausted his Yuan Qi and now felt somewhat dizzy. He failed at the first step, unable to even properly circulate the Yuan Qi through his body, no matter covering his weapon and coordinating a spell.
He pulled out a pale blue pill, swallowing it as he closed his eyes and focussed. The Yuan Qi in his dantian began to quickly replenish itself under the pill's medicinal effect.
These were the Rank 1 Qi recovery pills that he purchased in the core sect market place using his monthly quota of Rank 1 Qi gathering acceleration pills. Yaan also bought some Rank 1 and Rank 2 vital recovery pills using his merit points. This injury recovery medicine was something that he realised was an essential after nearly dying in the wilderness.
These Rank 1 Qi recovery pills weren't nearly as effective and fast acting as the Rank 2 version, but the cost was 100 times less. It didn't matter right now, since Yaan was at the Initial True Yuan Qi realm and these pills were still useful to him. Once he reached the early stage and possessed a full pond of liquid Yuan Qi, these Rank 1 pills would no longer be effective as a means of Yuan Qi recovery. For now though, it was the most affordable option.
Yaan recovered his Yuan Qi to its maximum capacity, then once again attempted to cast this spell.
Learning a spell was a slow process, so he didn't feel impatient even after failing time and time again. There was no such thing as a genius who would master their first spell with a single glance. In fact, it would be more ordinary to spend the better part of a month just to bring the spell up to a basic level.
Qi masters wouldn't learn many spells for this reason, the other reason being that spells were rare, expensive and difficult to replicate. Allowing Yaan to spend as long as needed with this spell scroll was already a privilege granted based on his battle achievements and future potential.
Rui watched on silently, her eyes secretly lighting up.
'I noticed this before, but his perception is extremely keen. His so called talent is on the lesser end of moderate, but perception is far more valuable, especially to a demon. To learn spells and comprehend dao…he has potential.'
Within a single day, Yaan succeeded in directing his Yuan Qi through his body and towards his weapon, as instructed by the spell scroll. This in itself required much practise, it wasn't so simple as just reinforcing himself with the Yuan Qi like he usually did. This method required that the liquid Yuan Qi stay in its liquid form without dispersing at all whilst it flowed through the meridians.
A cool sensation filled his flesh each time he practiced this spell, as if water was running through his body.
Unknowingly, another day passed by. Yaan became totally engrossed in his practice, taking breaks only to replenish his Yuan Qi.
Four days into his session in the training room…
Swoosh…BANG!
"I…I did it!" Yaan stared forwards in disbelief with bloodshot eyes. He finally managed to eject the watery layer from the blade of his sword, all the way towards the target, without it falling apart!
The slash took on the form of an impossibly clear line of water, cutting into the steel target dummy like the sharpest of blades. The feeling Yaan experienced after he succeeded in casting this spell was like nothing else. Despite reaching his current level of strength long ago, this was the first time that Yaan felt as if he had tasted the true majesty of cultivation.
"Haha…"
Thump!
The exhaustion finally caught up with him. After four days without rest, Yaan collapsed to the floor. A content smile surfaced on his sleeping face, something Yaan had not displayed in a long, long while.
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