Chapter 8: Pearl of Enlightenment
I sat on top of my bed, playing with the Pearl of Enlightenment. It had been a week since I'd gotten it, and I still hadn't figured out what to do. Since then, I hadn't done anything in my realm besides mine and practice my qi weapon techniques (I couldn't practice the restoration technique without being injured). I needed new weapons – or at least to reach Expert level with the qi weapon techniques – before I could even think about trying to tackle Stage Four spirit beasts. If the trend of power continued, these would be beasts that I had zero advantage over in terms of strength, speed, or defense. I probably wouldn't be as outmatched as I was against the Stage One beasts before I started Body Tempering, but even being on the same footing would render the fights deadly.
And so I resolved to use the Pearl of Enlightenment before doing anything else… if I could figure out how.
"Smush it on your forehead," Shishi suggested from where she sat on her own bed reading a book. Or looking at a book, anyway.
I raised an eyebrow, then shrugged. It was as good an idea as anything else. I took it between two finger and pushed it into my forehead – literally, because it sank into my head as though my skin was water. Immediately, my eyes snapped shut of their own accord.
And I knew exactly what the Pearl did. I needed to pick something to meditate on: the way of the spear, the way of the sword, the way of the body as a weapon, the way of artifact refining, the way of alchemy, or the way of the forge. If I had knowledge of other disciplines, like formations or talismans, I was sure those would be options as well, but I needed a foundation to build on. Once I picked a subject, I was locked in, so I had to choose wisely. I was tempted to pick forging because I needed weapons, but alchemy would probably be better, since more skill with alchemy would lead to better pills, and I didn't have unlimited resources to waste on practicing.
I chose alchemy and began meditating. The knowledge I had from Basic and Beginning jade slips swirled around, and I found myself experiencing tens, hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of practice sessions, making every single pill and elixir that was included in those jade slips. Countless failures, countless successes. I grew to intimately understand how to handle the pill furnace and the ingredients, how to use qi to control the liquefaction and mixing of the ingredients to draw out and enhance their properties, how to purify and remove toxins, how to solidify and finalize pills, and how to turn mixtures into elixirs.
I opened my eyes.
My stomach rumbled.
"I'm hungry. I haven't been hungry since I started body tempering."
"Oh, hey, you're awake! I thought you'd never wake up!"
I raised an eyebrow at my sister.
"You were meditating for ten days."
"Ten days?! No wonder I'm hungry! I know cultivators can go a really long time without food or water, but still!"
Wild! Still, it was well worth it. I'm pretty sure I can create high-purity pills of any type listed in the jade slips I have with my eyes closed.
Though I wasn't about to start making body tempering pills just yet; I still had nearly two months to go before my gardens had 1000-year spirit plants. Besides, Seran didn't need them yet, and probably wouldn't for at least another year.
After assuring my family and Seran that I was fine, I turned my attention to a combination of mining, qi weapon technique training, and weapon arts practice. With fewer techniques to practice, I got more practice on each of the two techniques, and by the end of the first month of winter, I had reached Expert level in both.
I debated whether to work at forging new weapons, create pills, or try my luck in the beast forest. The temptation to use the other Pearl on forging was strong, but I didn't know how rare those would be, so I wanted to save it for Seran's use. In the end, I ended up breaking down and asking Seran herself if she minded if I used it on myself, with the promise that I'd give one to her in the future if I got more. She had the audacity to call me an idiot, saying, "It's yours. You should use it."
For some reason, that actually strengthened my resolve not to use it. I opted instead to first make pills, then practice making weapons (fortunately, it was possible to reuse scrap spirit steel by putting it back in the forge) until I was competent enough to make weapons for Seran and myself out of spirit steel. This meant not mining, since it used my mental energy.
In xianxia, pill furnaces could be all sorts of sizes; in this world, my apprentice-level pill furnace had an internal diameter of about the length of my forearm plus my hand and stood about three feet tall on three clawed feet. It was relatively plain-looking, but it was made out of (low-grade) spiritual jade. Harvesting the ingredients (and cutting up the meat) actually took as much time as the actual pill-creation process, which was basically just chucking the ingredients in in a specific order while liquefying them and mixing them with qi. Of course, the qi control involved was more in depth than just that, but it was second nature to me now.
Cultivator pills varied in size slightly, but they were typically smaller than Rank One beast cores; those were roughly three quarters of an inch in diameter, while pills were closer to half an inch in diameter. (Rank Two beast cores weren't too much different from Rank Ones in size, but Rank Threes were about an inch in diameter.) So it was quite something to see the amount of mass just… vanish, because each batch of ingredients (on par with the amount of food eaten for a full nine-day cycle of tempering) produced only five pills, and I was under the impression that this was actually hyper-efficient, since my enlightenment had shown me that four pills was the standard. The pills were a mixture of crimson, green, and white, and my Identification showed them as 100% pure, no toxicity remaining.
I created five batches every other visit, using the paired visit to practice forging – though on that first forging visit, I simply converted all my spirit iron to spirit steel – thirty-three half-pound ingots. It took five ingots to make a sword, but it would take thirty ingots to make a spear since I was making the shaft out of spirit iron as well… and I wasn't making it completely hollow. Thus, I barely had enough spirit iron to make a spear. I could only make three weapons per visit before exhausting my mental energy (if I had had more mental energy, I could have theoretically kept going, since I still had qi left over).
I completed making pills with all of my ingredients (well, all of my non-orchard ingredients; I still had the shrubs and trees) in twenty days – a total of a hundred batches for a total of five hundred pills. Considering how potent they were, I didn't think it would take a full fifty cycles for Seran to reach the peak of Body Tempering, so there would definitely be pills left over that I could sell later.
Forging was… interesting. I didn't actually need a hammer or anything. Instead, I chucked ingots in the forge, fed it with qi until the material liquefied, and then drew it out and manipulated it with pure qi control and imagination. That meant that visualization was a vital skill to getting things correctly shaped and proportioned. I alternated between three swords and three spears per visit, and once I'd finished making pills, I spent every visit on forging.
As a result, my mental energy actually started improving, and by the end of winter, I was making five weapons per visit.
At some point – around the time I finished the pills – I had to replenish the stock of spirit stones for the qi gathering array. I put double the number I had last time, enough to last three hundred days of continuous use.
When my fifteenth birthday arrived, two weeks into spring, I felt ready to actually make the swords and spears for real. Unfortunately, I didn't have enough materials to make both a sword and a spear, let alone a sword and two spears (one for Seran), so rather than immediately make them, I switched over to mining, mining solely spirit iron so that I could mine a greater volume. I capped out at twelve nuggets per visit, so I mined for an entire month.
Then I made all three weapons in one visit. They didn't have a lot of flair to them – no special engravings or designs – but they were more than passable: they were, if I dared say so myself, high-quality. Most importantly, since they were made of spirit steel, they were leagues more durable and had much more penetrative power than ordinary steel, let alone iron.
There were really only two things I could do at this point: mine (which I needed to do to replenish my supply of spirit steel and low-grade spirit stones, since I regularly had converted most of my low-grade spirit stones to mid-grade ones) and hunt Stage Four beasts. Since I was concerned that I was going to be dying a lot, I decided to alternate between the two instead of trying to do both on each visit.
Hunting was first.
-x-
I stared at the moose, and it stared back. Mundane moose weren't small: they could get up to seven feet tall at the shoulder. This guy? This guy was huge. He was easily over nine feet tall at the shoulder, with antlers spreading maybe thirteen feet. I felt like an ant. To make matters worse, a cloud of ice crystals hovered around his antlers, meaning that he could probably use ice magic.
An icicle spear appeared above its head.
I summoned a qi spear and spun it, activating Shimmering Veil. The ice spear slammed into the center of my barrier and shattered, but I felt the impact – something that hadn't happened when I'd used it against weaker spirit beasts. Unfortunately, that was just the start, because soon another ice spear hit, and I had to keep up Shimmering Veil as the moose kept attacking. After a dozen spears, it finally stopped. It snorted, then lowered its head.
Time to run.
It charged. Despite the fact that it was obviously not specced for speed, it was still at as fast as the Rank Three hawk that had a speed-aligned beast core. I barely made it out of the way in time, and it plowed through my afterimage. I attacked with a staccato combo, punching holes in its hide but definitely not doing anywhere near enough damage to take it down. It turned on me and I retreated as fast as I could with Lunar Mirage Steps. It predicted my movements and caught me in the left shoulder with an ice spear, sending me spinning to crash on the ground. My shoulder bone was definitely bruised at least, but somehow it was tough enough to survive the impact. My skin and flesh weren't quite so lucky, but at least they weren't frozen by the cold – probably for the same reason I didn't get burned by fire.
It didn't really matter, though, because the moose got to me before I got my footing again and trampled me to death. It was not a pleasant way to go.
-x-
The giant anaconda-like snake had gotten the drop on me last time, falling from the canopy around me, and though I had slashed at it a couple times before the three-foot-diameter snake wrapped around me, it survived to squeeze me to death. The time before that, the eight-foot-tall at the shoulder azure-furred bear had mauled me to death, though I'd managed to injure it. And before that, I'd been killed by the seven-foot-tall red gorilla who could wreath itself in flames and shoot fireballs from its fists. And the less said about the six-foot-tall purple-and-black tiger ripping me to shreds, the better.
As best I could tell, all five types of spirit beasts were at least matching, if not exceeding, my physical specs with their weakest aspects. I didn't think that they were unbeatable at my level, but this would be a situation where I fought them repeatedly, learned their attack behaviors, and used them to train my skills as I repeatedly died. I was going to die a lot.
Also, I needed to be better at detecting them from a distance. My qi-sensing range when I wasn't meditating was pitiful at maybe ten yards. To be fair, I hadn't been training it at all since I had focused on other things, but it meant that I couldn't use it to detect enemies at a distance. So it was that I decided to add training my qi sense to my list of things that I was doing – that would be what I would do while in the waking world.
I failed to kill anything for the second half of spring, but my qi sense improved significantly, a tenfold increase in range. Throughout the summer, my qi sense grew even better, and I got much better at using it casually rather than needing to focus. I also started doing much better against the spirit beasts in the realm forest, and each time I won a fight, I got practice with Phoenix Restoration afterward and was able to take on another fight during the same visit. In the first month, I got fourteen kills. In the second month, I got twenty-five kills. In the third month, I got forty-one kills, bringing me up to eighty.
This was somewhat unfortunate, as I hadn't yet reached the point where I could clear the whole forest without dying but was already to the point where I'd have to start facing pairs. On the other hand, I hadn't yet claimed my rewards, and I had all four of the non-clear bonus rewards to claim.
SIDE ONE
Visits: 2541
Deaths: 269
Kills: Rank One x150, Rank Two x150, Rank Three x150, Rank Four x80
Visit Cooldown: 12 hours
Kill Rewards: Unclaimed
=Rank Four Great Tiger=
Beast Core x14, Pelt x14, Fangs x28, Claw Sets x56, Meat (280lbs)
=Rank Four Ferocious Bear=
Beast Core x15, Hide x15, Fangs x30, Claw Sets x60, Meat (300lbs)
=Rank Four Flame Gorilla=
Beast Core x17, Meat (340lbs)
=Rank Four Frost Moose=
Beast Core x16, Antlers x32, Meat (480lbs)
=Rank Four Colossal Anaconda=
Beast Core x18, Snakeskin x18, Meat (360lbs)
=Bonus (10 Rank Four Kills)=
Spirit Arts: Restraint Under Heaven
=Bonus (20 Rank Four Kills)=
Spirit Arts: Mist of Obfuscation
=Bonus (40 Rank Four Kills)=
Spirit Arts: Divine Wrath Bolt
=Bonus (80 Rank Four Kills)=
Creation Arts (Journeyman)
Well, this is interesting. Three Spirit Arts instead of more martial arts techniques.
"Claim rewards."
The Rank Four beast cores varied from the size of a ping pong ball to the size of a golf ball. My field, though it had gotten larger, was still rather full of all my kill rewards at this point. The creation arts jade slip was what I expected: the next step up in difficulty, rarity, potency, and complexity for forging, alchemy, and artifact refining. However, my pill furnace and forge also upgraded to "Grade 2 – Standard," presumably so that I could actually make use of my new level of crafting.
The spirit arts – what cultivators called magic, apparently – were all useful. Restraint Under Heaven was a wood/earth art that created plants and mud that reached up and ensnared foes, trapping them in vines, grasses, roots, and mud-turned-stone. Greater mastery increased speed, power, and size as well as precision. Mist of Obfuscation was a water/wind art that created a thick fog that the creator could see through but others could not. Greater mastery confused the senses of those trapped within and hid the presence and qi of the creator, as well as increasing the size of the fog. Divine Wrath Bolt was a fire/lightning attack art that shot a bolt of flame and lightning from the user's hand or weapon to strike foes. Greater mastery increased size, speed, and power.
Making good use of these could render my fights against the sprit beasts much easier. I tested them out and discovered that they used far more qi than my martial techniques did. If I measured my total qi in drops, I had around fifty thousand drops of qi as my maximum. My martial techniques started at a hundred drops, reaching three hundred drops at Expert level. The spirit arts started at five hundred drops.
I reached Proficient by the time I ran out of qi, then returned to the waking world.
-x-
Seran had reached her limits with structuring her qi center and was eager to ignite it. I didn't go with her when she headed out to the stream to do it – for obvious reasons – but I waited for her at the edge of town, and when she returned, she excitedly informed me that she felt amazing and that her potential maximum qi had increased sevenfold (rather than tenfold like mine had). She also informed me that, before opening her meridians, she wanted to reach that maximum, so she doubled her cultivation time from eight hours per day to sixteen hours per day, refining qi. According to her, her speed at refining qi had increased to about 2.3 times what it had been before she structured her qi center, so she estimated it would take a little over two months to max out.
While she did that, I focused all my efforts on improving my mastery of my new spirit arts. In the end, it took her sixty-five days to max out, then another fifteen days to open her primary and secondary meridians. The spirit stones on the array were all gone by this point, but she didn't need the array anymore. Now, it was time for her to use the body tempering pills.
They were easy to use: swallow one, then cultivate the 8-Element Body Tempering Method. They turned out to be incredibly potent, too. I had taken fifty cycles, or 450 days, to complete the Body Tempering Stage. She took only ten cycles: ninety days. By then, the winter was winding down. Also by then, I had reached Expert level in my spirit techniques (which now used 1,500 drops of qi to activate).
After some discussion, we decided that we would leave town to begin our journey the day after my sixteenth birthday, as we would both be considered adults at that point. I'd been stalled at the peak of Body Tempering for literal years for three reasons: one, I was waiting for Seran to catch up; two, I didn't have a Cultivation Method for the Awakening Stage granted by my spiritual realm; and three, the Awakening Stage was a journey of self-discovery, which almost necessitated a literal journey. I knew almost nothing about the state of the world, mundane or cultivator, so this journey would involve a lot of wandering about and exploring. We might eventually join a sect, or I might be able to keep progressing without doing so. Considering I didn't know where to start with the Awakening Stage, I suspected we might need to.
That meant three and a half weeks before we left. For Seran, that time would be spent training with the spear to adjust to having the full capabilities of her new cultivation level and learning Staccato Star Strike and Shimmering Veil. Also, spending time with her family, since there was a very real possibility that she'd never see them again. To that end, I gifted her with one of the spirit steel spears and let her use the jade slip with the techniques.
I resolved to finish off all the Rank Four spirit beasts by the time we left. In the waking world, I would spend time with Seran. Truthfully, I'd missed spending time with her these last couple years, because she spent almost all her time cultivating. Though there were hints of awkwardness, I had to admit; she was sixteen now, and in the last two years – especially with body tempering – she had grown to be, if not a classical beauty, still very attractive in an unrefined sort of way.
Using my spirit arts made the pair battles doable: I would start with Mist of Obfuscation, then use Restraint Under Heaven on one, then use it on the other, and then blast them both with Divine Wrath Bolt before closing in and using Severing Slash a couple times each. With this strategy, I could take on everything except for the snakes, which I was able to run away from by using Mist of Obfuscation first. As a result, I was able to get all twenty required kills to graduate from pairs in only three visits.
Trios, on the other hand, were more difficult for two reasons – even without being able to sense me, they still had the opportunity to find me by fumbling about if I wasn't careful, and with three opponents to trap and kill, they had time to break out from the bindings sometimes. Also, escaping from three of the snakes was impossible, so I died a handful of times.
The groups of four were quite challenging, and even when I wasn't dying, I only did one group per visit. I didn't always succeed, either. In the end, I finished with over half of our designated wait time still to go.
My bonus reward – besides the upgrade of the beast forest – was a jade slip with a qi recovery technique that would dramatically improve my meditative qi regeneration speed. Currently, it took me seven hours to fully recover; with the technique, that was halved – and as I grew more practiced with the technique, that would increase further.
For the remainder of our break, I spent my time in the realm mining and nothing else. Soon enough, the day of our departure arrived.
Chapter 9: Departure
Seran and I stood at the edge of town, facing our families, several of the town guards, a gaggle of kids and other spectators, and Old Granny Harra.
"Live well, live strong, live long," Dad said.
"Will we ever see you again?" Mom asked tearfully.
"I cannot make any promises," I told her. "I don't know what the future may hold. But we will come visit someday… whether that's while you're still alive, or in the days of your great grandkids, I don't know."
I held out a pouch. "Dad, Mom, please take this. It's a thankyou for raising me and putting up with me spending all my time cultivating and training."
Dad accepted the pouch, his hand dipping as he wasn't expecting it to weigh so much.
"How much is in here?" he said in shock.
"Two hundred gold tablets. I… made a lot of money from selling things related to cultivation when I was last in the city. And don't you dare refuse; I still have more than that left for travel expenses."
"…Then I will accept your gratitude with humility, my son."
"Seran… don't ever let him let you go," Seran's mother told her daughter seriously.
"Mom!" Seran said, mortified.
"I mean it!"
Seran buried her face in her hands. I chuckled.
"Good luck out there," Granny Harra said. "You'll need it."
"Thank you, Granny Harra. May the rest of your life be peaceful."
"Heh. Rest of my life… I probably won't even make it another year, you brat. The fact that I'm still standing is good enough for me."
We finished up our goodbyes and hit the road.
"…Want to see how long it takes to run to the city? We're way faster than normal people and have boundless stamina," I said. "This will be a nice test of long term endurance."
"Sure!"
My best guess was that the distance was around fifty miles. I had no idea how long this would take, because I had no idea how fast we could go outside of the quick movements of combat. We stretched, then started running – not at a sprint, but the kind of steady pace that a 5k might be run at.
We were moving at faster than highway speeds. It took about half an hour to reach the city, so if my estimation was right, we were running at about a hundred miles per hour. And we weren't exhausted, either – a little tired, but nothing that a short breather couldn't fix.
There was a slight problem, though. We had pretty much completely destroyed our shoes. If we intended to keep doing this, we'd need shoes made out of leather from spirit beasts… so in the meantime, we'd have to run barefoot (and replace our shoes so we had something to wear when we weren't running).
After tossing our shoes, we approached the gate.
"Master Cultivators, please enter," the gate guards said politely.
I gave them a nod as we passed. The first thing we did upon entering was go clothes shopping in the wealthy district, buying several pairs of shoes and a dozen outfits (including two very casual outfits and two very fancy outfits as well as eight general-purpose extra-sturdy outfits) each – overall, we spent nearly a hundred gold on clothing, leaving us with three hundred remaining. Then I went on a shopping spree to replace all the spirit plants I'd used up so that I could create more body tempering pills in the future – either to sell or to give to people. I bought enough to replenish my field five times over, using up a large chunk of my gold.
I still had more than two hundred tablets, though. Still, there was no harm in getting even more gold so that I didn't need to worry about mortal money regardless of what I did. With that in mind, we headed to Stefan's shop.
Using qi sense at range in such a crowded place required more focus than it did in a place like the realm's forest, but I did it anyway – and so I was able to tell that there were three cultivators at Stefan's place rather than just one, even before we got close. Detecting the power level of a spirit beast or cultivator was beyond me; all I could do was sense the presence of a beast core or ignited qi center. Therefore, I didn't know how strong they were… so caution was warranted.
"There are two other cultivators in Stefan's shop," I told Seran. "We should be careful, since I don't know how powerful they are."
"Okay. But don't worry; I've got your back! I'm strong now, after all."
"True. But they could be even stronger than us. So let's not try to start any fights."
They were still there when we reached the shop. I opened the door to the sound of a bell, and we entered. Stefan was sitting in his usual spot, the banana-haired man looking irritated. The other two cultivators were a man and woman who appeared to be in their mid thirties. The man had short forest-green hair, while the woman had long violet hair. Both wore silver sashes with "Mystic Silver Crown Sect" written on them.
"Look, Brother Stefan," the green-haired man said, "your little temper tantrum has gone on long enough. We get it, you're upset about what happened. But your place is back at the sect."
"I've told you a hundred times since your arrival: no," Stefan said. "I'm not going back to the Mystic Silver Crown Sect. Not so long as Elder Quan still holds his position."
"Get over it already!" the violet-haired woman shouted exasperatedly. "Elder Quan isn't going to be punished! I know it's his fault that your lover died, but—"
"But nothing. If it weren't for his misconduct, Sierra would still be alive. If I had the power, I'd kill him myself. But I don't. So I'll continue to live in the outside world, away from that bastard."
"It's been fifteen years. It's time you moved on," the man said.
"I have moved on. From the sect. Why are you so insistent on me going back?"
"Your talents are wasted here. Despite being in the Awakening Stage, your skill at artifact refining is phenomenal, and the sect lost a talented disciple when you left."
"Why should I benefit the sect when they refuse to punish Elder Quan? I have no loyalty to an organization that allows its Elders to cause the death of its disciples without consequence."
"Why must you be so stubborn?!" the woman exclaimed.
Stefan glanced in our direction.
"I have customers. Make your exit."
"Customers?" The man turned toward us. "Hm… Body Tempering Stage loose cultivators?"
"Peak Body Tempering Stage," Seran said proudly, crossing her arms and sticking out her chest.
"Interesting. How old are you?"
"We're sixteen," I said slowly. "May I ask how Senior knew we were Body Tempering Stage?"
"Your hair."
I blinked, nonplussed.
"Our hair?" I said in confusion. How did our hair tell him what stage we were in?
"Well, your hair and your bearing. Your bearing told me you were at least in that stage, and your hair told me that you hadn't entered the Awakening Stage."
"…What?"
The woman laughed. "You don't know much about cultivation, do you?"
"Not… really? I had a fortuitous encounter when I was a kid, but I've never had a master."
"And the girl?"
"I taught her what I learned."
"I see… Well, as for hair telling us whether you've entered the Awakening Stage or not, that has to do with your hair color. Tell me, have you ever met a mortal with banana-yellow, violet, or green hair?"
"No." My eyes widened. "Wait, does entering the Awakening Stage change your hair color?"
The woman smiled. "Correct. It's affected by your elemental spiritual roots, but it's personal to each cultivator. Even colors that are natural are turned into enhanced versions – blonde being banana or red being crimson, for example. It's the quickest way to determine whether someone has stepped into the Awakening Stage."
"I see…" I bit my lip. "The truth is that I've been stuck at the peak of Body Tempering for a couple years now because I don't know how to proceed. Four years ago I met a friendly loose cultivator who told me about the Awakening Stage, but he didn't say how to begin it."
"Wait a moment. Did you say you've been stuck at the peak of your current Stage for a couple years?" the man said. "And you're only sixteen?"
"Yes, that's correct."
"That's…"
"Crazy," the woman said, shaking her head. "You're both fortunate and talented. A heavens-favored prodigy. I wonder how good your spiritual roots are. It would be a real shame if they were subpar."
"Is how good one's roots are connected to the maximum qi they can have in their qi center?" I asked. "I've been wondering about that ever since Seran and I ended up with different maximums at ignition despite having the same maximum before that."
"Yes," Stefan said. "Everyone starts with approximately the same capacity before ignition, but upon ignition how much their capacity improves depends on the development of their spiritual roots – or rather, that plus how well their roots are integrated with their qi center and one another. Average spiritual roots multiply the capacity by between four and five, while those with poor roots can be down to triple and truly trash roots can be as little as a doubling. Good spiritual roots are up to six times, while excellent spiritual roots are up to seven times. Anything beyond that is the realm of true geniuses."
"Oh."
"How many times was your capacity multiplied?" the man asked.
"Eh…"
"Mine was seven, and Alzeic's was ten," Seran said smugly.
The man and woman shared a long look.
"Have you considered joining a sect?" the man said.
"Don't join the Mystic Silver Crown Sect," Stefan said. "They'll just use you."
"Hey! Don't tell lies to these kids!" the woman protested.
"They're not lies. The sect allows its Elders to exploit the disciples, especially if they're talented."
"Do you have any recommendations, Senior Stefan? I don't even know the geography, let alone what sects are nearby."
"I have a map of the region with all the notable sects listed on it. I can give it to you."
"Stop trying to dissuade our potential recruits," the man growled.
I clasped my hands and bowed slightly. "I apologize to Seniors, but we plan to learn more about our options before choosing a sect."
"Our Mystic Silver Crown Sect is a mid-sized sect with plenty of resources. There will be great benefits if you join."
"I cannot make a decision without knowing more about what my choices are."
Both of the sect cultivators frowned deeply.
"You dare imply that there is a better choice for you? Do you think so poorly of our sect just because of the words of a deserter? Your lack of knowledge means you are not affiliated with any Clan; a mere commoner thinking he can judge sects?"
I took a step back. This isn't good…
"Watch yourselves," Stefan said warningly, rising from his seat. "I won't have you threatening my customers."
"Or what?" the man scoffed. "Are you seriously going to fight us? We're all Awakening cultivators, you don't have any special advantage against us."
"You think all Awakening cultivators are the same? Are you truly that stupid?" Stefan said incredulously. "That's even more idiotic than thinking all Body Tempering cultivators are the same."
"We're all Mid Stage, so it's not as though—"
"We are? And how do you know that?"
"Are you saying you're not?" the woman said.
"Do you want to test me and find out?"
The pair stared at him and he stared back. After a long silence, the two stormed out without a word; we stepped aside to let them.
"Sorry about that," Stefan said. "They're former fellow disciples of the sect that I used to belong to. I left the sect fifteen years ago when my lover was killed due to the machinations of an Elder of the sect and I realized he would receive no punishment. Let me get you that map, and I'll tell you what I know about the various sects in the region."
"Thank you, Senior. Also, I'd like to sell some Rank Two beast cores in exchange for gold."
"Of course. Not a problem. I'll grab the map first, then we can do the exchange, and then I'll tell you about the sects."
"Thank you."
He walked a few feet away and opened a small jade treasure chest by cutting his finger and putting a drop of his blood on it. A rolled-up map larger than it was floated up out of it, and he grabbed the paper… or was it parchment? Then he returned to us.
"What do you have for sale today?"
"Sixty basic cores, thirty stealth-aspected cores, thirty illusion-aspected cores, and thirty mental-aspected cores."
"Hm. You want to sell all of them, yes?"
"Right."
"I'll give you two thousand gold for the lot."
"Deal. How do you have that much gold to give?"
"I don't only sell to people who live in this city; this is just the city I chose to settle in."
"Ah."
After exchanging the cores and tablets, we moved on to the discussion of sects.
"How much do you know about cultivator sects?" Stefan asked.
"Almost nothing."
"I figured as much. Well, sects are organizations of cultivators that exist as sort of societies of their own. Ostensibly, the goal is to have any many of their members rise as high as possible on the path of cultivation, but in reality, most of them focus more on elevating those with talent. Considering that both of you have talent, that shouldn't be too much of a concern for you. They are great at gathering resources, both physical and knowledge, and they provide a measure of protection from other sects and loose cultivators. Though, as you discovered last time you were here, that protection isn't absolute. Belonging to a sect is extremely helpful and usually superior to being a loose cultivator.
"Sects are very hierarchy-focused. The basic structure has the Sect Leader at the top, sometimes with Ancestors that don't usually involve themselves directly but who may be even more powerful than the Sect Leader. Then there are the Elders, who hold positions of authority, and the Disciples, who do not. Usually, unless the sect is small enough, the sect is divided into Outer, Inner, and Core, in increasing levels of power and privilege. Additionally, sects train and use craftsmen and caretakers – smiths, alchemists, artifact refiners, talisman makers, gardeners, and so on.
"Sects usually require their disciples to complete missions or at the very least do upkeep tasks in exchange for contribution points, which are used as currency in place of mortal money for things that are less expensive than spirit stones. Of course, if you have enough spirit stones to spend, then the only time you'd have to do missions is when an Elder or the Sect Leader tells you to.
"Beyond that, the specifics vary from sect to sect, as do the rules they expect you to follow. Some sects are freer, some are more rigid, some are more moral, some are more amoral, or even wicked. What you want out of a sect determines what's a better choice."
"We definitely want one that's more moral," I said immediately. "Also, if this is possible at the same time, one where we have more freedom. Finally, we're looking for somewhere with lots of opportunity for advancement, whether that comes from knowledge or material resources. The size of the sect doesn't really matter much if it can meet those three criteria."
"Hm… well, with those restrictions, that cuts out a large percentage of the region's sects. Based on what I know…"
He unrolled the map and placed it on the desk. "Right here," he said, pointing to a spot near the edge, nestled in some mountains. "This is the Virtuous Soaring Clouds Sect. They're only a mid-sized sect, but they meet all three requirements."
"How far away is that from here?"
"That depends on whether you follow the roads as much as possible or whether you cut straight across the terrain. This is where we currently are," he said, pointing to a spot about three-quarters of the way across the map from the sect. "For mortals, traveling that distance in a straight line would take about half a year."
My eyes widened. This map, which was just of a region, not an entire continent, was as big across as North America?! Or, wait, probably even bigger since this wasn't the full distance across the map!
"That's… not a short distance."
"Well, no, it isn't, but you're Peak Body Tempering cultivators."
"Right. I suppose it will take maybe a couple weeks, then."
"…Your Body Tempering Method… may I see it?"
I handed over the jade slip. His eyebrows shot up.
"This is… frankly, this is terrifyingly powerful. I'd guess that most Peak Body Tempering cultivators have their body reach the limit of their Method equivalent to your sixty percent completion mark or so."
"So most are about on par with Rank Three spirit beasts in terms of physical ability?"
"That's right."
He handed back the jade slip. "There is a downside, though – the amount or quality of resources needed. How did you manage to gather so much for not just yourself, but your companion as well?"
"That's… a secret."
"Fair enough. I'd strongly recommend not letting others see your cultivation Methods either, by the way."
"I appreciate the advice. Any other advice?"
"Not really. Just… be careful. You may be strong for your stage, but you're still novices who haven't reached Awakening. Also, I don't know when they do recruitment. You might be able to join without going through the normal recruitment test due to your talents, but if not, you may have to wait until the next recruitment test."
"Understood. Thank you, Senior Stefan, for all your help."
He smiled. "You're welcome, Junior."
We chatted briefly, and then we left. After eating lunch and purchasing a couple weeks' worth of fresh meals and the plates they came on, we left the city to begin heading toward the Virtuous Soaring Clouds Sect at a highway-speed jog – barefoot, of course. We traveled for about four hours before taking a break to eat some of the food that I'd stored in my realm and spar for a bit. Then we jogged for another couple hours until we arrived at a small village.
After putting on our shoes, we headed toward the nearest farmhouse. A kid – maybe twelve years old – who was out in the field spotted us and ran toward us. It wasn't until he got close that he registered how high-quality our clothes were, and his eyes widened.
"Hey, um, so… who are you?"
"Travelers seeking a place to spend the night," I said.
"Yeah, we're cultivators!"
The kid looked at Seran skeptically. "Yeah, right. No cultivators would come here!"
She grinned. "Oh, yeah? Then how did I do this?!"
She stretched out her arm and summoned her spear from her ring into her hand. The boy actually fell over in shock. He quickly scrambled to position himself on his knees and kowtowed.
"M-master Cultivators! F-forgive my impudence!"
Seran laughed. "Relax, kid! We're not that much older than you, and I used to live on a farm like you." She stowed her spear and pointed her thumb at me. "He was the shopkeepers' kid."
"We're actually on a journey to find a sect to join," I said. "We're still nobodies right now. Strong nobodies, but we don't have to worry about saving face or anything yet. Seran's right, don't worry about offending us."
The boy sprang to his feet. "Really? You were just regular villagers?"
"Townies, actually, but yeah. Can you take us to your parents?"
He hesitated. "We, uh, don't exactly have any spare beds…"
Seran laughed again. "I wouldn't expect a farmer to have extra beds! But surely you've got extra blankets and space in the barn?"
"Cultivators sleeping in the barn?" he said incredulously.
"When I was a little kid, I did it for fun!"
"I did, too. I remember one time when I actually snuck out in the middle of the night and went over to her family's barn to join her. I got really scolded for that," I said with a smile. "My mom really chewed me out. Then she gave me permission to sleep over at the barn in the future, but only if I told her first."
The kid laughed.
"Okay! I'll take you to Dad." He pointed to the barn. "He's in there right now, dealing with the cow."
We followed the boy into the barn, where a brawny man around the same age as my parents was seemingly just finishing up whatever he was doing. He looked us up and down, frowning.
"Dad, these are cultivators who wanna spend the night," the boy said seriously.
"Cultivators?" the man said warily.
I summoned my sword to my hand. He flinched and took a step back. I stowed the weapon back in my ring, then clasped my hands and inclined my head.
"I am Alzeic, and my friend is Seran. We are traveling cultivators heading to a distant land to join the Virtuous Soaring Clouds Sect. Rather than sleep without a roof over our heads, we would prefer to spend the night at least in someone's barn. Would you be willing to allow us to stay here tonight?"
"…I don't exactly have a choice in the matter, do I? You're cultivators. You could kill me for saying no. But… you really would be okay with sleeping in a barn?"
"Rest assured, we won't kill you for refusing us," I said.
"I used to be a farm girl myself," Seran said. "A barn is fine."
"You… used to be a farm girl?" he said, confused.
"We may be cultivators now, but we are just as much of humble birth as you," I said. "We just happened to be fated for greater things. I understand if you're nervous having us here, but before you make your decision: we're willing to pay you for the use of your barn. One gold tablet."
He blinked. "A whole gold?"
I summoned a gold tablet to my hand and tossed it to him, underhand style. He examined it, then clasped his hands and bowed.
"It would be my honor to have you rest here tonight. I'll bring some blankets."
"Thank you."
Chapter 10: Glorious Star City
The next morning, we went through weapon forms and then sparred for a bit, letting the kid and his siblings watch. After that, we had a short breakfast and then headed off again. We traveled for four hours, ate lunch, and then traveled for another six hours. This time, we were in the middle of a plain, far away from civilization, so we made do and slept under the stars. While the previous night I planted a full plot, this night I just mined. I had decided to only visit once per day during the trip, so I skipped the daytime visits.
During the next day, it rained for part of the time, but since we were traveling such a long distance, it was only for a small part of the time. It was kind of amazing to me how much variety in scenery there was, even if it was all temperate. Our journey was taking us slightly north of west, but I didn't know if even traveling due north would have changed the climate: this world was obviously much larger than Earth, and there was no guarantee it was even a planet – that it functioned the same at all, astronomically speaking.
By my estimations, by the end of the third day we had traveled more than a third of the distance to the sect, as we had run into relatively few terrain issues. This didn't hold up on the fourth day, when a small mountain range blocked our path. Traveling through the mountains slowed us down considerably and eventually led us to come face-to-face with a troll-like spirit beast that towered twelve feet high and had limbs as thick as tree trunks.
I took out my sword and Seran took out her spear.
"Careful!" I said. "I don't know how strong it is; I haven't learned how to tell yet."
"Got it!"
It charged down the mountainside, and I estimated its power based on its speed: Rank Three.
"All yours!" I shouted, pulling back.
Seran immediately used Shimmering Veil, stopping its swing. Unlike me, she hadn't reached Expert level, so the shield was only the size of the spear, but it was enough. It swung with its other arm and struck her afterimage as she used Lunar Mirage Steps to pull back. Then she executed a triple stab with Staccato Star Strike, destroying its left knee. Its joint gave out and it crashed down. She stabbed it repeatedly in the chest. Its barklike skin reduced the damage somewhat, but she was much stronger than it and had a weapon that could penetrate better than ordinary iron. It let out a pained grunt and fell over.
She stabbed it through the ear.
"Wow! That made me feel alive! Is this what a real fight is like?" She spun to face me, grinning. "How strong was it? Did I do good?"
"You did very well," I assured her. "I think it was Rank Three. Though I'll have to extract the beast core to be sure."
I focused on my qi sense to figure out where in its body the beast core was located, since a spirit beast in the real world didn't disappear on death and deposit its core in a convenient obelisk. It turned out to be between its lungs. Actually extracting the core was easier than I expected, since it reacted to qi manipulation just like spirit plants did, allowing me to use what was essentially telekinesis to rip it out, though I had to make a hole in its skin first. Once I laid eyes on the core, I was able to use Identification to confirm that it was a Rank Three beast core. I gave it to Seran.
"All yours, since you're the one who killed it. The body might be valuable, too, but I don't really want to lug it around, and I've got plenty of valuable spirit beast parts already. We should continue onward."
"All right."
She hummed happily to herself as we continued crossing the mountains.
It ended up taking two days to get to the other side of the mountain range. In that time, we encountered a few other spirit beasts, but they were weak enough that they fled from us, so I assumed they were only Rank One. Once past the mountains, we picked up speed again until we reached the edge of a desert another two days later. We camped out there.
Running across the desert was a lot more difficult than I anticipated, since it was a sandy desert. What I'd initially thought we could handle in just a day or two ended up taking us four days, and we were both very grateful that our Body Tempering Method provided such resistance to both heat and cold. Though our bodies didn't need as much sustenance as those of mortals, we still made sure to keep ourselves well hydrated. While we fortunately didn't run into any Rank Five or higher spirit beasts, we did encounter an assortment off Rank Threes and a couple Rank Fours, the latter of which we tackled as a team.
Once on the far side of the desert, we traveled for one more day, getting within a hundred miles of the mountains the sect was within and reaching a large city early the next morning.
-x-
We had mostly avoided settlements on our journey, but this city was actually labeled on the map as Glorious Star City, so I figured it might be important. The city was big; it must have had at least several hundred thousand people. Considering that the city near home had, at best, fifteen thousand, this was a bit of a shock. It shouldn't have been; this was a cultivation world that likely had many times more people than my former life's world. Still, I had only been to relatively small settlements so far.
Putting on our shoes, we approached the line to the gates. No one gave us a second glance. The line moved quickly despite the number of people, and soon we were at the gates.
"Names and affiliations?" one of the guards, who was apparently a Body Tempering cultivator, said.
"Alzeic, cultivator. No affiliations, but currently looking to join the Virtuous Soaring Clouds Sect."
"Seran, cultivator. Same."
"Your timing is good. The sect's recruitment test is the middle of next month, so a bit over two weeks from now. The examiners will teleport all the hopefuls from the city to the sect for the test when the time comes, so you have some free time until then. Now, your entry toll is one gold each."
I handed over the two gold without complaint, even though that seemed quite high. Maybe cultivators had to pay more? I supposed it didn't really matter. At any rate, we entered the city and Seran was almost immediately overwhelmed. Heck, so was I. I hadn't been a city dweller in my previous life. We stuck close together as we navigated the crowded streets, trying to find a market.
It took us the entire morning to find the market that dealt with cultivator stuff. It wasn't nearly as crowded as the rest of where we'd been, but it was far from empty; it was clear that this market was quite healthy, so I presumed that cultivators were a frequent, if not permanent, presence in the city. Many of the shoppers had sashes; not all sashes were from the Virtuous Soaring Clouds Sect. Of course, many shoppers didn't have sashes even though they were cultivators. Including some who had entered the Awakening Stage, to my surprise. Perhaps there was some sort of cultivator Clan based in the city.
"Wow… so this is a cultivator market! There's all kinds of stuff for sale! Clothes, beast cores, spirit plants, spirit beast parts, pills, artifacts…"
"Yeah. I never expected all this in the city; I thought we'd have to wait until we entered the sect. Stick by my side, and let's get some stuff."
"Hey, Alzeic?"
"Yeah?"
"Why are most of the cultivators so… pretty?"
I paused. Seran was right; the vast majority of the cultivators looked attractive, and a majority of those looked "pretty," even the men.
"I think that cultivating improves your physical appearance, and it improves it along the lines of what you find to be your ideal body," I said after a moment. "I mean, I'm just guessing about the second part, but it definitely made both of us look better."
She grinned at me. "Oh? Did it make me more attractive?"
My cheeks colored a little against my will. "Yes. You don't have that kind of refined beauty that seems to be common among these cultivators, nor are you super sexy like some of the others, but you look… well, like a more attractive version of who you've always been."
"Aw… thanks, Alzeic!"
She grabbed my left arm and hugged it. Then, linking elbows, she led me forward toward a stand that appeared to be selling shoes and belts.
"Greetings! We need shoes that can withstand running over long distances at Awakening speeds," she informed the seller.
"Then you've come to the right place. I assume you're both at the peak of Body Tempering?" the man said.
"That's right!"
"Let's figure out your foot sizes first." He gestured to a short bench and we sat down and took off our shoes. He measured our feet quickly, then presented us both with nice-looking leather shoes. Identification said they were made of Rank Four leather.
"These are made with leather from Rank Four spirit beast hide, so they'll last you well into the Awakening Stage. However, because of that, they're quite expensive. Twenty spirit stones for both combined."
"That seems excessive," I said, frowning. "A spatial ring only costs fifty, and you're telling me two pairs of shoes total to over a third of that?"
"What can I say? Rank Four materials cost a lot, and they're harder to work with."
I sighed. "All right." I summoned a small pouch, then summoned twenty spirit stones to fill it. I handed the filled pouch over. We put on our new shoes and stowed our old ones. "I suppose next is finding some cultivator-grade clothing."
So off we went. It didn't take long to locate an outdoor shop – it was too large to call a stall – selling clothes. There were already several shoppers there, only a few years older than us, being attended to by a beautiful woman apparently in her thirties. While we waited, I eyed the displayed clothing with the Identification technique. All of them were made either from spirit beast products or from spirit plant fibers, and most of them apparently had beast cores used in their construction somehow.
"Out of the way!"
I turned to see another group approaching: a Body Tempering boy who might have been only fourteen, two Body Tempering girls who were maybe eighteen years old, and an Awakening man with frost-white hair despite an apparent age of thirty. The boy's expression was haughty and the man's was contemptuous, while the girls just looked snotty. They were all dressed more extravagantly than most, with both girls having plunging necklines that exposed way more cleavage than necessary.
I grabbed Seran's hand and pulled her aside so that they could get in front of us. They probably belong to a Clan, and that boy is the Arrogant Young Master. I do not want to get on their bad side.
"Move aside!" the boy ordered the trio being served.
"Who are you to order us around?" one of them replied angrily.
"You don't know who I am? Commoners and outsiders! I am Seigal Senter, young master of the Senter Clan! One of the three Clans in this city!"
"Well, young master of the Senter Clan, we were here first. Wait your turn."
"You dare?! You're courting death!"
I couldn't help it. I burst out laughing. Seriously? People actually say that?
Unfortunately, this drew attention to me.
"You dare laugh at me?! Kill these peasants!" the boy ordered the Awakening cultivator.
"As you command, Young Master."
That sobered me up real quick.
"Wait! I apologize for laughing. I'd just never actually heard anyone say 'you're courting death' outside of stories before. I promise I wasn't mocking you. What can I do for you to forgive me?"
"Stay your hand, Abir," the boy said. "Hm." He looked me up and down, then looked Seran up and down. He smiled unpleasantly. "She's no jade beauty, but… I will allow the girl to accompany me to my chambers. Do that, and you are forgiven."
"Excuse me?!" Seran said indignantly. "You disgusting pervert! I'd never sleep with you!"
"Would you rather you and your friend die?" the boy said smugly.
Anger bubbled up within me, stronger than I had ever felt in this life.
"I was willing to humble myself before you, even humiliate myself. But how dare you speak of violating Seran as a 'payment' for me laughing? Do you want to be crippled? Is that it? I challenge you to a duel!"
"Hm… no. Why would I duel you when I have Abir? Kill him and take the girl."
Seran's spear appeared in her hand and my sword in mine. A single-edged saber appeared in the Awakening man's hand.
He struck first, a simple downward diagonal slash.
Eclipse Parry!
With minimal movements, I deflected his swing and stepped up, slashing at his throat. He dodged backward, but he clearly wasn't expecting me to be able to parry and counter, so he was a tad too slow, and my blade nicked his neck, drawing blood. Before he could attack again, Seran lunged forward with a triple stab, forcing him to defend with his blade.
Severing Slash!
My vertical slash cut him from just to the side of his left shoulder all the way down to his hip, spraying blood, but the wound wasn't cripplingly deep. The wind qi from the attack blasted him back a step. Seran followed with another triple stab, and this time one of her attacks made it through, poking a hold in his right side.
"Damn you!" he swore, and a blast of ice shards sprayed out at us, forcing us back as we defended our faces. The attack was strong, but it wasn't as strong as the moose's ice spears. It left us bleeding and covered in relatively minor injuries despite our natural defense. He raised his saber and it was immediately surrounded by a cloud of frost.
"Die!"
He attacked – a wide, sweeping gesture – and an overwhelming cold penetrated deep into my body as ice began growing on my clothes and skin. Seran defended with Shimmering Veil, but I was wielding my sword and I mistimed my Eclipse Parry; my guard was blown wide open. He lunged forward and grabbed at my face with his left hand, but I mirage-stepped back and his fingers closed on my afterimage. He swung his saber to intercept Seran's swing of her spear, and both weapons came to a halt before she bounced sideways a step.
I pointed my sword at him.
Divine Wrath Bolt!
The bolt of fire and lightning struck him in the chest and sent him flying backwards, crashing through his allies and the prior customers alike. I flashed forward, swapping my sword for a Shadowlight Sword – darkness version – and used Severing Slash on him as he stood. This time, I cut deeper, carving through the middle of his chest and through his belly, thanks in part to the "strong against physical defenses" aspect of Expert level proficiency with the technique. He staggered, mouth open.
I swapped to a Starlight Spear and rammed it in his gut, the tip piercing out his back.
"Stop! Stop!" the Arrogant Young Master cried desperately. "You'll kill him!"
"Didn't you order him to kill me? Then he should have been prepared to die in return."
"He's a member of the Senter Clan and my bodyguard! If you kill him, you'll be making enemies of the entire Senter Clan!"
I released and dismissed the spear and the man collapsed. The young master and his hangers-on rose and gathered around him.
"If I let him live, will that somehow not make enemies of the Clan? What's the difference?" I said, but already my anger was bleeding away despite our injuries.
"There is no difference," the woman tending the shop said. "The Senter Clan will take this as an offense even if he survives. You might as well finish him."
The young master glared at her. "How dare you?!"
"Is that true?" I asked him.
He hesitated. The fact that he wasn't able to deny it meant that it was. I sighed. "In that case, consider this a lesson in the way of the world. I'm pretty sure he'll die even if I don't finish him off."
Already, the man's breathing was shallow and nearly stopped.
"But really, if you're the young master, your Clan should have spared someone strong to be your bodyguard, not someone barely into the Awakening Stage. He wasn't much stronger than your typical Rank Four spirit beast."
I reached up and crushed ice that was on my face; at least the ice was no longer spreading.
"Also, we require compensation for our injuries."
"You kill Abir and still have the nerve to claim you deserve compensation?!"
I gave him a cold look and he flinched.
"Well, well, well!" a feminine voice called out, and we all turned to see a group of girls, led by a woman who appeared to be similar in age to the man Seran and I had just defeated, approaching. They were all wearing feminine robes; presumably they were easier than dresses to have combat in. The youngest girl looked about fourteen, while the other two were around my age. The woman had flaming orange hair that fell to her waist.
"A pair of Body Tempering kids killed Abir of the Senter Clan? That's a lovely turn of events! I suppose that's what you get for giving the youngest young master a weakling for a bodyguard."
"Klesta Clan!" Seigal cried. "Are you here to mock the Senter Clan?!"
"That was what I planned on doing, but oh my, I'm just so impressed by these kids! Boy, girl, are you here to join the Virtuous Soaring Clouds Sect?"
"Yes." I clasped my hands and gave a short bow. "I am Alzeic, and this is my friend Seran. Whom do I have the honor of addressing?"
"I am Selene of the Klesta Clan, bodyguard to Young Miss Alaena. You must be travelers; I think I'd have heard of such talented young cultivators if you were from the city."
"Yes, we are from far, far away. It took us nearly two weeks to run here."
She nodded in understanding. "So you have no backers?"
I shook my head, then glanced back at Abir and Seigal. "Should I be worried?"
"Frankly, yes. Unless you wish to ally yourselves with the young mistress. You see, when she joins the sect, it will be without me, and I would feel better knowing that she has such powerful friends. After all, though Abir may have been only at the beginning of the Awakening Stage, for two Body Tempering cultivators to defeat him is very impressive. If you agree to be her allies, then while you are here in the city prior to joining the sect, the Klesta Clan will shield you from the Senter Clan."
"You… you can't do that!" Seigal protested.
"We'll throw in some high-purity healing pills as well, to treat your wounds."
I looked at Seran, who nodded.
"Very well. We will be in your care, then."
Selene tossed a pill at me and another at Seran. They looked exactly the same as the healing pills I had taken from those cultivators two years ago, but Identification told me that they had a purity of 93%, 20% higher than those. That wasn't ideal, but it was acceptable. We'd just have to cultivate a bit more to work out the toxins.
I took the pill, and Seran followed suit.
"Follow us, I'll take you to a spot where you can cycle your qi to accelerate the healing," Selene said.
We followed, ending up in a small alley where we sat down and cycled qi through our meridians until the pain was gone, which only took about ten minutes. When we stood, Selene gestured to the youngest girl, who had strawberry blonde hair in a single large braid down to the small of her back.
"This is Young Miss Alaena. She's finally old enough this year to join a sect, and will be participating in the upcoming entrance test for the Virtuous Soaring Clouds Sect. She is in the late Body Tempering Stage. Young Mistress, please greet your new allies."
Aleana nodded timidly. "Hello. I'm Alaena Klesta. Thank you for agreeing to ally with me," she said quietly.
"No worries!" Seran said cheerfully. "Your Clan looks out for us until we join the sect, then we look out for you in the sect! Sounds good to me!"
"As she says. We appreciate the partnership."
Selene patted her charge on the shoulder. "The young mistress is a bit shy, as you can see, but she's talented enough. So, what's your story, kids?"
"Well, we're from a small town. I stumbled on a hidden treasure that included cultivation methods through Body Tempering, so once both of us reached the peak, we decided to join a sect to advance further."
"Small town, eh? Let me guess – the girl's family were farmers, and yours were some sort of tradesmen?"
"Mine were small merchants who owned the general store, but yeah."
"Well, let's get you properly dressed. That's why you were at the clothier, right?"
"Yes, that's right."
"Have enough treasure left to buy stuff?"
"Yes."
"Then I'll lead the way. Stick with us, get to know the young miss."
Neither of us had any complaints about that. We ended up heading back to the same clothier, but the Senter folks were already gone. A single outfit cost three spirit stones, which I thought was crazy since they weren't made of Rank Four materials, but we ended up buying three outfits each. Once the two of us had changed – I wore a blue outfit and Seran wore a purple one – Selene offered to show us more city sights, and we had no reason to refuse. But first, we went to a restaurant.