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Beasts of Cultivation
Chapter 6. Khyree Joins a Sect

Chapter 6. Khyree Joins a Sect

Chapter 6 Khyree joins a Sect

Fall Year 13724

Years passed. It had been three years since Khyree had first walked out of the Northern Wilds and found himself accepted by the Mourntree family. He was now eighteen years of age. Long seen as an adult by the Mourntree family he had been given quite a bit of autonomy. Khyree now had more free time than he knew what to do with.

There was only so much he could do on the small family farm. Originally when he had started helping out to earn his place, he had been taking up the extra slack left by Daquan. But after acclimating to life on the farm, with his high energy levels he quickly outpaced Rashad and both of his other two sons that also worked the farm. The work of the farm that used to take the family the entire day to work now only lasted to mid day.

Khyree loved the physical intensity that came with working on the farm. The way the work would deliciously cause his muscles to burn. He delighted when the winds would sweep across his sweat drenched form. But no matter how hard or how fast he worked, Khyree never seemed to tire like everyone else did. A fact that had been frequently commented on throughout the years. Often with jealousy and a touch of suspicion. While the brothers Malik and Rakim viewed him as being unnatural, Khyree just took it as another sign of how blessed he was.

With so much free time on his hands and boundless energy, Khyree took up running for an exercise. At first he did it just so he could burn off some energy and kill some time. But as he got more into it, he began to really stretch his legs. He would run sometimes once a day, for fifteen to twenty kilometers. But when that became too easy, he started running twice a day. Once before the start of the working day and then again later in the evening.

He would alternate between sprints and jogging on his runs, as he really wanted to stretch the limits of his endurance. Most days he ran along the roads by the fields and made circuits around the farms. But when he really wanted to challenge himself he would run through uncharted areas of the Wilds. Often leaping over fallen trees, and diving through bushes.

While the outer rim of the Northern Wilds was not as dangerous as the depths where he was raised at, it was still filled with its own challenges. Places where dangerous beasts would nest, or the hunting grounds of vicious pack animals. Khyree skirted as close to those areas as he dared. Over the years his speed and endurance had drastically improved. At least now when Daquan got spooked and would flee from a dangerous encounter, Khyree was at least able to keep him in his sights. Not close, but he could see him in the distance.

Immortals really were something else.

Andre Swiftheart decided to take a break from his cultivation. He left his private cabin, stepped into the main deck and walked past rows of kneeling servants dressed in drab gray servant attire. He approached the bow of the vessel and looked forward in the distance. He appreciated the fact that it was a nice clear day. He hated traveling in bad weather. Especially for long distances. Normally, if left to his own devices he preferred to never leave the sect.

Moments later he was joined by the only other inner student on this mission, Cornell Tahmeen. A fairly disagreeable man by any measure. As a favored son of one the Sect elders, he enjoyed quite a bit of liberty and protection in comparison to other students of the Sect. He wasn't particularly talented when it came to cultivating, but thanks to his father he had access to a lot of cultivation resources.

Generally, Andre chose not to interact much with Cornell as he was always a pain to deal with. But this time around he was forced to deal with him as he had needed his help for this mission. All because of a favor he owed to a certain captain of a village guard.

"So tell me why we had to come all the way out here to the frontier of the kingdom instead of doing the usual recruitment tour of the big cities like we usually do again?" asked Cornell in his typical snide fashion. His face was a study in distaste.

Andre reminded himself that he would not have been able to commandeer a recruitment mission without Cornell's help. So with an ingratiating smile on his face he replied "Brother Cornell, you know as well as I do that our recruitment drives have been gathering less and less capable disciples over the years. If we get any at all. Our divine Sect simply does not have the resources and the popularity to compete with the larger Sects in the bigger cities. "

"Preposterous," said Cornell with indignation plain on his face. Cornell had a lot of pride in his sect. He would allow no one to talk down on his Sect. His family had been members of the Sect for hundreds of years. His father had even studied at the feet of the patriarch. "Our heavenly Sect is the greatest sect on the Central Continent. All of the other Sects used to bow down before the weakest of our disciples."

Andre nodded his head in agreement with Cornell. "You are absolutely right, brother. Our Sect is indeed the best. But those other Sects like those Stone Temple Death fanatics and those idiots from the Intrinsic Delusions Sects have been campaigning against us for years.

Thanks to their smear campaign, in the people's mind our Sect is the lowest in quality compared to the Big Six." In truth, even though Andre loved his Sect just as much as Cornell, he had long been aware of the fact that his Sect had been in a state of steady decline.

"That's the reason why our recruitment numbers have been steadily going down these past few years. With our numbers being what they are, we need a fresh infusion of disciples more than ever. The elders have agreed after much discussion that we needed to expand our efforts in recruitment."

Cornell pondered on that for a few moments before responding. He was careful not to say anything that might go against the words of the elders, but he really didn't understand why they had to come out so far. They had been traveling now for the past three weeks.

"Ok but come on now, what are the chances we are going to find any Immortals this far out, brother Andre? The essence levels are so low out here, that they might as well be non-existent. How many essence crystals have we gone through so far? What, like a dozen? It would be a real shame if this trip turns out to be a complete bust."

"Ah but fortunately, the council of elders had gotten some intel that there is a group of promising Immortals to be found in the village we're going to." There was no way that Andre was going to tell Cornell that the information had come from him. Or rather a certain guard captain.

A surprised look on his face, Cornell turned from out across the bow to address Andre directly. "A group you say? A group of Immortals, this far out. Well I hope this information came from a reliable source. I find it hard to believe that there are enough resources to sustain a single Immortal let alone an entire group."

"Well I'm sure the council would not have sent us out this way if they didn't trust the information" said Andre with a thoughtful tone.

Still feeling very unsatisfied with it all, Cornell abruptly turned around and headed back to his private cabin. As he passed the rows of kneeling servants lined up by the sides of the vessel he fervently hoped that it would rain on them. There was no reason why he should be the only one that was miserable.

Andre smiled as he was finally left alone to enjoy the view. He knew that the village of Idlewild would be coming up soon.

“Hey Khyree, I just want to say thank you for coming out with me today. Navigating through the Wilds can be such a tricky thing. I still can’t believe how comfortable you are with regularly going to such dangerous places. I mean you’re just a human, you realize that you can die right?” said Daquan Mourntree.

Khyree just glanced over at Daquan with a smile on his face. “Living in fear of one’s demise is no way for anyone to live their life my friend. I mean sure things can get really dangerous at times, but there is so much more to living life. New friends, new experiences, new sensations. I tell you that if I lived in fear of all the million million things that could possibly go wrong every day, I never would have left my home. But I’m glad that I did, because I am loving this world that you and your family have been introducing me to. So if that means occasionally going back in the Wilds for a bit to hunt down some plants for a very good friend of mine, well that ain't no sweat off my back.”

They were just getting back to the Mourntree farm after a day of hunting down plants for Daquan’s latest experiment. They were surprised to see a couple of village guards waiting by the house, and Rashad, Daquan’s father nervously pacing in front of the building. As soon as he spotted them returning he quickly approached them.

“Daquan and Khyree, where in the abyss have you two been? These village guards have been here waiting for you to return for the last hour,” said Rashad Mourntree with an anxious expression on his face. Rashad by his very nature was a shy and reserved person. He preferred to keep to the hearth and home of his family and his farm. He avoided confrontation whenever he could. But ever since they had taken in Khyree, he had had more encounters with the authorities than he had previously had in his entire life.

It was his sincere hope that Khyree had done nothing this time that would cause any significant delays on the production at the farm. Harvest was coming up again soon, and they had quotas to meet. Thanks to Khyree’s hard efforts on the farm, they were actually ahead of schedule, but Rashad knew that could change quickly if Khyree was to be arrested again. While having Khyree on the farm was the equivalent to having four additional workers, he just wished the boy would stay out of trouble.

Khyree didn’t know what was going on, but this behaviour was slightly unusual for Rashad. Yeah he was fairly timid but normally, Rashad was the calmest adult human male that Khyree had ever known. Khyree decided to save Rashad the effort of breaking the news to them so he immediately spoke up. “I’m sure that if the guards are here, they must think that I have done something. But I assure you, this time I am completely without blame. I haven’t even been to the village in months. So this all must just be a mistake. Let me go talk to them. I’m sure that I can work this out.”

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“Khyree, please. This is not just about you,” Rashad said while holding Khyree back. “The guards are here for the both of you. Guard Captain Reed Ashfall sent them with orders to bring you both back to the village square with the utmost urgency.”

Daquan looked at his father with a curious expression. “They didn’t say at all why he wanted us to come there?”

“No. I get the impression that the guard captain is a very terse person. Now come on let's get going, he’s already been waiting long enough.”

Khyree wasn’t really nervous about the situation. He was sure that a mistake had been made. He hadn’t been back to the village in months now. He had been too busy enjoying his daily workout sessions and helping out around the farm. Yeah he still thought about Varnan Covenmoon and his gang of followers, but he was not willing to spend any more time locked up in a jail cell for delivering his version of justice to a villain that in his mind was without comparison.

Just that one time he had been locked up for six months, had made quite an impression on him. Khyree was not keen on ever losing his freedom like that again. Now while he may have ended up making a few friends while locked up, nothing was better than being on the outside and free to come and go as one pleased.

Upon arriving at the village, Khyree and company were escorted past the lines and directly into the village itself. The guards led them to the main square. At the square was a rather large crowd of people. They were all watching something happening in the middle. The brief snatches of conversation that Khyree heard on his way as they pushed through the crowd only served to heighten his curiosity.

"...Where did they come from?"

"... Did you see their transport, it was huge."

"...Why do you think they are here?"

After they finally made it through the crowd, Khyree saw that a banquet table had been set up in the center. Seated at the table was the guard captain, the village chief, the head priest and two strangers that he had never seen before. They were dressed in robes of burnt orange with thick black boots. Currently they were being entertained by the higher ups of the village.

Arrayed behind them were two dozen men and women dressed in gray linen tunics and pants. Khyree figured that they must be the servants belonging to the two obviously esteemed guests as they would from time to time fetch fresh fruit and beverages for the seated figures at the table.

There was a bald middle aged man dressed in a white linen robe, who stood in front of the table with his head facing the seated guests. He was one of the local priests of the village. Khyree didn't know his name, but he had seen him in the temple a few times.

Kneeling in front of the table, were all of the Immortals of the village, backed by their families. Immediately Khyree spotted Varnan Covenmoon, and his followers: Javari Downgleam, Rion Lowsinger, Darnell Solidthorn, and Ardeth Swangrove.

There was the infamous Jasmine Kimathi, the beauty of the village, and the love interest of both Daquan Mourntree and Varnan Covenmoon. Khyree, didn't know how many times he had heard about her over the years. He guessed she was fairly attractive, but he didn't see why she deserved all of the hype.

In addition to her were several other Immortals, that Khyree had only seen once in a while and didn't know much about. All of the Immortals were ringed by the guards of the village who seemed more concerned with keeping the villages away from the proceedings.

The escorting guards notified the captain that they had returned with Khyree and Daquan. Khyree found himself and his friend directed to stand in front of the kneeling Immortals.

At their arrival, guard captain Reed Ashfall gestured at them and said to the two visiting men in robes "Ah apologies, brothers but these are the last two that we have been waiting for. The young heavy set one in front of you is Daquan Mourntree. He comes from a respected family of farmers. He is the first Immortal in their line in a thousand years.

Next to him, is a distant cousin of the family Khyree Mourntree. He has only been with us for the last few years, and while he is not an Immortal he is a very hard worker."

Khyree knew that the cover story Daquan's family had decided on was that he was a cousin of theirs from a distant village, it was still a shock to him to hear his name spoken to outsiders.

One of the men in the dark robes nodded his head and spoke "Very well. Priest, your man may test them now and we shall wrap this up."

The head priest immediately signaled his orders to his subordinate who turned and first approached them. The priest pulled a crystal ball from one of his pockets, and turned to Daquan first. "Daquan Mourntree, you are familiar with this. As we still have the results of your last testing on file. This is just a matter of formality for the visiting Immortals."

"I understand brother Amberdream. I am ready," Daquan responded.

The priest handed Daquan the crystal ball and stepped back a single pace to see and record the results.

Daquan held the ball in his hands for a few seconds with his eyes closed and breathed several slow measured breaths. In a moment the crystal ball began to flicker with light, a few seconds later the bright light stabilized and shone clearly for all to see in attendance.

"Very good," said brother Amberdream as he took the crystal ball and addressed the seated figures. "My brothers, as you can see Daquan Mourntree has a medium grade talent and has already taken his first steps on his journey to Immortality."

Getting the command to continue the priest then turned back and spoke to Khyree. "Khyree, as you are not from here, you were never tested when you were younger. But this crystal ball is a testing stone that we use to measure one's talent and if they have the ability to become an Immortal.

All you have to do is hold it in your hand and see if you can connect to the energy within the crystal. Depending on the strength of the flickering light we will know if you have any talent and how strong it is. If the light stabilizes then we will know if you have already started cultivating. There's more, but those are the basics. Ready?"

Khyree glanced at Daquan first, and seeing the reassuring look in his eyes he gave his consent. The priest gave him the crystal ball and stepped back.

Khyree had heard about these crystal balls from Daquan before but he never thought that he would actually ever hold one. These testing stones were the standard when it came to discovering Immortals. This was apparently a common experience for the youth of man to go through before coming of age in their respective hometowns.

But he had had long conversations with Daquan over the years in regards to what it means to be an Immortal and what it was like for him. The experiences that his friend had related to him wasn't anything that he had a reference for. He had never before experienced a sense of connectedness with the world. He had never felt a spark of energy stirring within his soul.

So Khyree was pretty sure that he was not meant to be an Immortal, and he was perfectly okay with that. The idea of potentially spending years, sitting still and cultivating had no appeal to him whatsoever. In fact if there was a way that he could get away without having to go through with this testing he would take it.

He just felt mad about the fact that they hadn't really left him a lot of options. There were too many eyes on him, the guard captain had asked for him specifically, and it felt like the entire village guard was blocking all of the avenues of escape from the square.

Steeling his nerve, with obvious reluctance Khyree finally gripped the crystal ball firmly in his hand and closed his eyes. Almost instantly, there was an explosion of lights in his mind. At first there was darkness and then boom.

A kaleidoscope of brilliant and vivid colors appeared in the landscape of his mind. It was so bright and so sudden that he took a step back in surprise. Then there was a jolt of what felt like a bolt of lightning that crackled along the bones of his body. The brief flare of pain was as intense as it was completely unexpected.

On the outside of his mind, what the people in the audience saw was something that was not much different. One second Khyree was holding the crystal ball, and the next there was a pulse of radiant light that burst from the previously dull crystal.

The light was blinding in its initial pulse, but then it slowly dimmed. But while it was dimming it flashed through a verdant rainbow of colors before turning coal black and cracking. There were gasps that could be heard from the audience at the sound of crystal ball cracking. Everyone seated at the table had stood up in shock.

Khyree dropped the crystal ball in his hand and stepped back. He judged from the expressions of surprise on the faces of everyone that this was something new for them as well. There was never a time in his past that he wanted to flee as much as he did in that moment.

Priest Amberdream looked down at the now dull black and cracked crystal ball in shock. He had never seen anything like that happen before. Hell he had never even read about anything similar in the records. He looked to his superior and stepped aside. He wouldn't dare make a judgement in an assessment like this.

The Head Priest stepped around the table and rapidly approached the crystal ball. He picked it up and examined it for a few moments in time. He even held it up to his head for an entire minute. After he braced himself, and regulated his breathing he then turned back to the table and addressed his peers and the visitors.

"Based on the results, I would say that young Khyree Mourntree has great talent and potential, but unfortunately it appears there is something wrong with his soul. It seems that there is some kind of imbalance within his nature. I doubt that this young man will ever be able to cultivate successfully," Amberdream said confidently.

Khyree, though disturbed by the experience, was pleased that the gods had found him unworthy to pursue the life of an Immortal. He turned around and made his way back to the crowd after giving Daquan a wink and a wave.

One of the strangers in the burnt orange robes strode forward and addressed the crowd. “Good people of Idlewild, thank you for this interruption to your daily lives. Please allow me to introduce myself. I am Andre Swiftheart and my associate here is Cornell Tahmeen.

Now as you might have surmised, I and my associate here are Immortals on behalf of our Sect, the Hidden Valley Shadow Sect. We are here on a recruitment mission. We are pleased to see that you have such promising young Immortals in your midst.

What you have just witnessed was a test, a mere formality to this day. For in truth we have already been in discussion with your leaders and have decided to accept all of these new Immortals into our Sect.

That is of course if you all are interested in joining up with us today. I assure you we have traveled a great distance to come here today at a terrible expense. This opportunity will not come again. So what do you say?" Andre finished and gestured for the kneeling Immortals to speak.

Only a second passed before all of the village Immortals shouted out in assent. "Yes senior!" Of course they leaped at the opportunity. To have the resources of a powerful Sect behind them would allow them to grow by leaps and bounds in their cultivation.

Andre smiled in satisfaction upon hearing their enthusiastic response. Cornell looked as if the decision had been a foregone conclusion to begin with. In his mind, they would be fools to let an opportunity like this pass them by.

"Very good. Then we will leave right away. Oh and one more thing, there is one participant here who will not be given a choice in the matter."

Khyree, who had made it about halfway through the crowd at this point, felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. Instantly, he sped up. There was only one word on his mind. Flee!

Andre Swiftheart easily spotted Andre speeding away through the packed crowds. With a humorous gleam in his eyes he commanded his servants. "Seize Khyree Mourntree, he's coming with us."

Before the last word was out of his mouth, the servants were already in motion. Sprinting around the table and swiftly closing in on the escaping Khyree.

Khyree felt the pressure increase on him and turned to see what had changed. His eyes opened wide in fear and surprise. He screamed in his loudest voice "No!!! I don't want to join your Sect. Leave me alone.”