บท 88: Chapter 88 - Moving out.
Soon, the reinforcements arrived, taking over the garrison duty. As a result, Xin didn't get to train much. Judging by their mostly white robes and confused looks, this group of a hundred people mostly consisted of external disciples. It seems that they were also being drafted now, albeit in limited numbers.
Still, it seemed like they were only brought to allow people like Xin to move on and push forward. Lei caught up with him in the inn's building, where he was dining with a bunch of other disciples.
"Disciple Xin, if we could have a moment." Lei said in a playful tone. Other disciples looked somewhat annoyed by Xin's elevated status, three rank one masters treated him as an equal and constantly spent time with him.
"Yes, my master. How can I be of service?" Xin bowed and performed a martial gesture, it all looked too serious to be anything but a tongue-in-cheek mockery of the sect's etiquette.
They stepped outside and gossiped in a remote corner behind one of the longhouses.
"Man, you see those fucks? Poor serfs, at least they gave them each a crossbow and a cloth armour." Lei knocked on his chitin chestplate.
"That's to enable us to move forward. We'll probably connect with other squads and push into Tealstone." My hometown…
"Think we're going to hold a siege?"
"That would be my prediction." Xin nodded.
"I'm not sure about it, think we should take their sect's base instead. Once we do it, it's over for them. Or at least sack their villages and blockade them."
"Let's discuss the strategy later, got any news from the front?"
"Nah, it's quite stale there, we're slowly retreating, but that's it. Learned some new details about that big fight, though. I'm not supposed to tell you... So, this Muni guy, he has golden chariots for boots, and his eyes glow with a golden light. He spoke in a loud voice for everyone to hear, and said some crazy things to instill fear into our ranks."
"Like what?"
"Well, something about the Golden Order coming, and the Perfect Truth. Or the perfect order and the golden truth, whatever. Says the day is coming for the battle of order and chaos, and we have to side with the order, or the universe as we know it will end. And that we need to shave our heads to accept heaven's blessing."
"So, he is spouting cliches and is also retarded." Xin scoffed. "What happened in combat, though?"
"He fought the Xuanwu spirit to a stalemate, then our sect triggered a Five Elements Transition formation and advanced. Our rank threes pushed the rank threes of the Sword Sect into retreating, and then the battle commenced between our sect leader and the Sword Twins."
"And the Sword sect patriarch?"
"Couldn't get past the Xuanwu patriarch's defenses. Master Chimera destroyed his fire path body to revive a bunch of rank three masters, then lost his earth path body in the fight with the twins. Was a Phoenix and a Rock Elder Guardian respectively. Rui Ming's intel was correct."
"So, he takes out a body and manipulates it like a puppet, but where is his own body at that moment? In his core? If yes, does his aperture stay open? Or can he influence the bodies from the inside somehow? Maybe these transformations have his will inside and don't require any intervention, and are just like mannequins? What do you think?" Xin barraged Lei with his guesses. He was sad when this discussion was interrupted last time, and was glad it was revived.
"It feels like I'm dodging those ethereal swords again, man. Who the fuck knows what happened? Well, the thing is, the orders are to push into Tealstone, a huge chunk of the enemy forces are there, along with their elite troops. This place right here was mostly intended to win time and hold on, according to the captured officers. They didn't expect such a rapid advance through this direction."
"Retards. But Tealstone is going to be harder." Xin rubbed his chin.
"Yes, for the sect. I'm not willing to risk my life before I get my contribution points and buy some cool shit. Until then, they get half-Lei amount of effort. "
"Can you halve a zero?"
"Can you shut your mouth, huh? I'm kind of pissed about the whole thing, it's like they are hoping I'll die before I redeem the goods. By the way, heard you talked to Nang. What was that about?"
"Whatever, it's not like you're dating or anything, right?" Xin tapped Lei's shoulder.
"Oh, you fucking snake! Don't annoy me, what happened?"
"Asked her for cultivation advice, gave her some of my own. I've got some physical cultivation materials, she seemed like a good advisor. That's it."
"Oh! Right! Look, I forgot to thank you! I have something for you!" Lei pulled out a pouch out of his bag of holding. What a weird person, he looked irritated and moody just moments ago, but is now friendly and smiles warmly again!
"What's that? We've already split the loot pretty fairly."
"Look, that tiger guy that you helped capture, he cultivated tiger style martial arts. And he had some materials to help manifest the tiger spirit. Spirit leaves, different tiger-based extracts, a bunch of hides. I made him write a manual, told him that it would reduce his sentence. Lied, of course. Hehe." Lei chuckled slyly.
"Lei, what the fuck? How much does this all cost?" Xin was overwhelmed. All of his friends were so generous! He expected everyone to envy or rival him, or even repress him, but people were so nice! Even Yao Nang agreed to help, what was going on?
"Forget it, not a lot. But these are spiritual items, and our sect doesn't deal with these much. They are yours. For the hand, and for everything else."
"I... Thank you. You don't owe me anything, alright? I'll take this gift as to not insult you, of course, and to be a better and a stronger friend in the future. Given our rank difference and all..."
"Look at this actor! Shameless! Think I can't decipher your double-speak? Haha, it's fine, you are a greedy guy, it's just who you are."
"Huh? Me? Greedy guy, double-speak?" Xin actually felt hurt. "Take it back, then." Xin pushed the pouch back into Lei's hands.
"Oh, easy! This banter went out of control! Fire alarm! Keep this bag, I'll go bring the water bucket for your sorry ass." Lei pushed the pouch back into Xin's hand and left.
Xin chuckled. What a guy.
Left alone, he compared the materials that he had here with the inheritance notes he obtained in Zadana. Refining the tiger into a White Tiger will certainly require a lot of effort. First, the tiger must be fed to full strength. Then, it might be tamed. And then and only then it might be refined. The refinement process was quite dangerous, but once it successfully concluded, the new totem would already be tamed. Xin would still need to learn the new totem's abilities, though.
That physical cultivator probably used all of these materials to produce manifestations of the tiger's qualities in himself, which was a mix of shamanism and physical cultivation. Having no totem, the effect would be reduced, but it was still an interesting approach.
Spirit leaves artificially inflate the user's soul foundation for a time, but also have a narcotic effect. They are known to cause a strong hangover, and are too disruptive to use in combat. One should also be cautious to not get addicted to them. Tiger extracts are various refined and enhanced tiger organs, an inferior version of the materials Xin sold to uncle Luli. Those were still useful, though, and combined with tiger hides, Xin felt like he had enough materials to fully manifest the totem. White Tiger refinement was much more complex, and he'd probably have to search for these materials after he was done with this assignment. Could be weeks, could be months. Hopefully not years.
Being able to manifest the tiger wasn't enough. Given Xin's mediocre soul foundation (That still improved in the past few months, but it was a drop in the bucket relative to the endeavour he was about to undertake), a fully manifested totem would probably possess and overtake him, maybe even make him into a yaoguai after wiping all of his personality from his body. This type of yaoguai were usually crazy and had nothing human about them, except the body.
To tame the totem and to improve soul foundation, Xin had to enter a closed cultivation. He planned to go and live in the steppe, while also undergoing a strict ascesis. He would also negotiate a pact with his totem, imposing limitations on himself in exchange for more concessions. It would be a dangerous and exhausting process, but Xin longed for it. The idea of surviving in the wild, exploring the world and having little adventures was intoxicating to the young hunter. The sect, with its Yao Nangs, young masters, double-speak and restrictions was quite exhausting, and so was being a soldier.
Xin knew that they'll soon venture into his hometown. Maybe even pass by his house? It felt strange, he knew that his nostalgia would be invoked, but he also felt like his memories of the past would be tainted by what he was about to see.
A day later, Xin was already marching into the mountains, as a part of a seven hundred soldiers contingent. He felt like he had his moment of glory already, and that further heroism would be just pushing his luck. His goal now was surviving, but also trying not to tarnish the reputation he already built up. Mostly surviving, of course.
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