章 9: Students Greet Teacher
Jackie swaggers through the tall grass while stroking his white beard. The wind occasionally rolls through and ruffles his long white hair.
'The target shovels for my 100 Shovel Stomps never appear inside the ground, but just above it.'
Jackie Pauses and waves his hand, carefully channeling his shovel energy through his 100 Shovel Stomps cultivation Occult Pathways.
'How interesting, the 100 Shovel Stomps cultivation technique doesn't use meridians, but Occult Paths, and has an occult core that converts various energies into shovel energy.'
He turns his gaze inwards and blinks to shift his shovel senses from his Shovel Vessel Core and into one of his seven other cultivation cores.
He focuses on his 100 Shovel Stomps Core and sees a void with a bright glowing occult array with mysterious characters surrounding it. The array has three runes, and each is of a shovel blasting into the ground.
Jackie focuses, causing a swirl of spiritual energy to form a vortex around his massive body, channeling backward through his Occult Pathways and into the core. The power washes over the symbols before turning into little silver shovels that float like stars in the void of the occult core.
"That must be Shovel Energy."
He watches and realizes that waves of shovel energy would occasionally appear and vanish from the space. The shovel energy is possibly sniffing around from one of his other cultivation techniques. He sees the vague outline of the fourth Shovel Stomp occult rune being excavated out of the void by the shovel energy.
'I still have a long way to go before I've reached the fourth step, I need to practice my Shovel Alchemy, all of my cultivation techniques are at a bottleneck until I can improve my Shovel Alchemy to peak foundation establisment level 1. My Shovel Alchemy is just starting foundation establishment level 1. I need to advance it to the peak of foundation establishment level 1 to roll over all of my techniques to foundation establishment level 2 and advance my cultivation.'
Jackie opens his old eyes and rubs his glabella while looking at the phantom shovel under his palm. 'I bet I could make one in the air.'
He stomps on the shovel and bolts into the air. He channels his shovel energy through his occult pathways, the second rune in his occult core turning dark.
Jacky slows down and starts to tumble before a shovel materializes below him. He stomps down on the shovel.
The atmosphere and space distort with a crack, launching Jacky far into the distance with several sonic booms. Mist rings form around his body when he breaks the sound barrier.
He channels the third shovel, blasting off of it and zooming kilometers away towards the lake, his scream echoing through the air as the blood drains from his face and his heart lurches in terror.
"AHHHH!"
Jackie blasts down into the shallows around the lake, flipping and smacking a new crater into existence.
The old man lays in the crater, covered in mud and some flapping fish. He spits out a mouthful of the grime, 'ptuy...ptuy! It got in my nose!'
Jackie plugs one nostril and blows a line of mud out of the other, then repeats it until he can breathe easy.
He turns around and disrobes and dives into the lake to clean up, scrubbing himself clean from all the smelly mud.
"The sun sure is warm here. I feel at peace." He floats on the water with his eyes closed, his panicking heart slowing down, feeling the quiet currents and the gentle wind carrying him across the surface of the lake.
His body warms up, feelings of comfort and ease help him drift off into a half-awake nap.
He comes to and swims back across the lake, washing his robe and setting it out to dry while eyeballing the muddy crater.
Jackie tugs his beard and says, "Hard Working Tyrant Excavator Body Forging is incredible. That impact should have turned me into grandpa paste. I didn't even feel it or get hurt. I wonder what it would take to get through my Tyrant Body, besides a cultivator at the foundation establishment realm attacking me."
"100 Shovel Stomps had initially been a movement cultivation technique, perhaps I need to spend more time with each of my cultivation arts to ferret out their secrets."
"First thing, I should get ready to accept the potential students tomorrow."
Jackie rolls up the sleeves of his robes and starts digging all over. "Entrenching Arrays, a small Foundation Establishment level privacy array, and an alarming array. I also know about reinforcement arrays and physical barrier arrays, but I'll need to study formations and arrays to learn others."
He digs late into the night and finally completes the work. A sophisticated, entrenched pattern covers the ground. The area fills with fog that spreads out to form a foggy block of land. Jackie walks into the obscuring mist, silvery moonlight greeting him inside. He can see back out as though the array wasn't even there.
Jacky calls it a night and drifts into a peaceful sleep.
Jackie enjoys some roasted fish in the morning after washing in the lake. He swims across the lake to the village side and turns to look out over the calm, crystal clear emerald green waters.
Jackie contemplates the shovel dao as the hours tick by.
The sun ascends closer to noon. "Taking their time, whoever is coming should be here soon."
The sun is at its zenith when the waiting half-asleep old man feels a ping from his Shovel Senses.
He snorts awake, 'Oh, looks like they are here. I'd better pretend to be unfathomable.'
Jackie stands tall, crossing his arms and peering out into the lake as though he's pondering some great mysteries of life, the universe, and wisdom.
The wind gusts through as the approaching people get a closer view at the tall, ultra-masculine and hugely built old man.
His old white hair flutters in the wind while his robes majestically sway, their gold buttons glimmering in the noon sunlight. The exquisite fabric has a sheen of masterwork wealth. His glowing gaze seems to be busy unraveling the mysteries of the world.
The approaching pair pause and whisper to each other, then approach more respectfully.
Jackie turns at this time for a better look. He sees Silent Wolf and a curvy young woman with long silky black hair tied up into a bun. Two cute bangs frame her adorable face, she's wearing a simple leather chest band and skirt, while carrying her swaddled baby boy in her arms. She has a thick wicker basket on her shoulders filled with her belongings. This young woman is Quiet Bear, carrying her baby son, Solemn Wolf.
Silent Wolf is carrying a massive leather sack, exploiting his qi-condensation realm strength to bring his household with him.
Silent Wolf and Quiet Bear ease their belongings down to the grass and bow to Jackie.
Jackie pauses and tilts his head, counting two people here, then his eyes dart to the baby boy. He rolls his eyes and clicks his tongue.
'They sent me three students, alright.'
"Students Greet Teacher!" The pair shout in unison, complicated emotions coloring their voices.
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