Zhang Yimu was a man on the move. He was sent out by his master to find the person who set the Great Spirit Ape on their tribe. Zhang Yimu had been sent on this mission due to his unique talent at divining. The people of his tribe called him a prophet, and the divinations about the spirit beast he killed told him that the perpetrator was at Iron Dragon City, a free city some 4 months from his home. He couldn't tell anything about where the beast came from, which was odd, but his divinations were sure, the man who had set the beast free was at Iron Dragon City.

"Hope you're ready, fucko, cause Zang Yimu is going to know what caused that beast's attack, or one of us is going to die."

Zhang Yimu, a young cultivator of the New Flame Nomad Tribe, part of the Northern Tribal Union, was closing in on Iron Dragon City fast, having crossed the 4-month distance in less than 4 days.

"I'm coming for that ass."

///

Jiang Shui was in a rage. His son had been skittish for the past two months. When he finally got tired of his act and questioned him, Little Kang told him he couldn't talk about it! His son never talked back! No matter how angry he became, and how scared his son became, Jiang Kang didn't back down. The man would have been pleased that his son had grown a spine, if it weren't for all the young lad's sniveling.

After Jiang Shui had allowed his son to leave, he paid top stone to have a diviner to tell him what had happened. When it came out that his son had been beaten and humiliated in some small town, Jiang Shui had almost killed the diviner in anger. After getting the bastards name, location, and description, Jiang Shui burst out of his sect with the speed that only a man in the foundation establishment can achieve.

"YOUR DAYS ARE NUMBERED, SCHOLAR FANG HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!"

///

Xiang was confident. He had done things like this before, and he'll do it again. If that scholar was that weak, then there was no way that his backing could be that serious. He was just a man with a talent that didn't know his place. Xiang was one of the pavilion's foundation establishment elders. He could be described in two words, loose cannon. The only reason that the auction house still tolerated him, besides his strength, was the fact that Xiang's gut feelings were often correct. Xiang felt like he could take all the scholar's techniques without any consequences.

If Xiang felt like he should do something, then he will. The best outcome for the house would be to capture Fang Hu. He doesn't give a fuck about the house's orders. Xiang drew his artifact and faded into the shadows.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

"He won't even see what's coming."

///

Fang Hu was excited, with a proper solar cultivation technique in hand, finishing his grand project had been a breeze. After 3 days of intense concentration, which is pretty easy for a 6th stage qi gathering to do, he managed to combine 'Solar Sculpting Body Cultivation' and 'Gale Body Reinforcement' into 'Solar Body Reinforcement'. Fang Hu was both annoyed and overjoyed at the name given by the system. He was overjoyed because the system only gives out names when he's doing something right, and annoyed because, well...

'Really, Solar Body Reinforcement!? That's just a mashup of the two names. Be a little more creative, system! The first two were rather bland to begin with.'

Maybe Fang Hu just needs to learn to settle. Lord knows what would happen if Fang Hu controlled his own technique and called it something cringy like 'Body of the Sun God' or 'Solar Body Perfection' and other isekai people heard it. He'd get laughed off the battlefield. After taking a moment to get over himself, Fang Hu went back to making a solar dao cultivation technique for his disciple. It had been but a day since he finished the amulet ritual, but the technique had already brought him into the 2nd stage of qi gathering!

This was the difference between external and internal cultivation. Fang Hu had read novels where they had both, but never completely understood it. He had the chance to learn more about it while researching his techniques. Internal cultivation is akin to taking a spark into yourself and using it to build a bonfire. With every cycle the spark grows bigger, until you have built up enough power to break through to the next stage. External cultivation is simpler, all you have to do is absorb external qi until you have enough to break though to the next stage.

Some techniques can use both methods simultaneously, while others can only use one or the other. 'Serpent Breath' is the first kind and 'Solar Body' is the second kind. External cultivation relies on having outside resources and internal cultivation can be much slower than external cultivation. Emphasis on can. Some internal cultivation can make external cultivation a joke and some internal cultivation can be so complicated that external cultivation would be much more viable. As always, the grade of the technique is generally all that matters in a cultivation world.

Sighing, Fang Hu dropped out of lotus position. As much as he loves discovering knowledge about cultivation and things going off without a hitch, he was starting to get bored. Fang Hu almost wanted something bad to happen, just so something would break up the monotony that was starting to build up in his life.

'Hell, the last exciting thing I've done is gone to the auction house, and that's basically just a trip to the mall. Heh, I'm sure it'll be easy street until I get strong enough to start changing things around here.'