I took a deep breath and smiled as I caught the scent of my prey.

Everything went according to plan. Shadow gave me a massage the previous day, and then I got to beat him up a little bit. I later had fun with Vilya for a while, and we even confirmed her using the Passionate Spirit Siphon Technique on me did nothing. The most I felt was as if someone tried to pinch my Soul. The power of the Soul-stealing art was woefully underpowered to be able to hurt me, and she suffered no backlash from failure. Exactly as I predicted, which was excellent.

And so, after having a large meal and sleeping off most of the night darkness, I woke up in the early morning hours and went on a hunt.

I couldn’t leave the Sect, but roaming around the outer villages was still allowed. It was a beautiful summer morning, with the sun just barely poking its blazing crown over the horizon, when I already caught a trail.

To be fair, as my Realm increased, and so did my physical abilities, it was becoming increasingly easy to detect small changes in smell, or movement. Not that tracking Giant Rats required any kind of expertise.

Something the kids beneath me clearly missed. They thought they were tracking a Giant Rat that left a trail near their little village, but that was an old one. In fact, a Belligerent Gnawler, a large, dangerous rodent, was stalking right behind them.

I watched all of that from the air, cloaked to the max, and standing on footholds made of Golden Qi.

[The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind. Yep, that idiom seems to fit here…] As I was philosophizing about linguistic nonsense, I heard a frightened scream. One of the boys turned around by chance just in time to notice the rat as it was ready to pounce.

The lion-sized beast jumped at him, claws and teeth bared and ready to strike.

I flashed my eyes and the rat was instantly cut into three large pieces, yet the momentum was still there, and carried it forward until it landed on one of the boys, splashing him with blood.

The kid screamed and flailed around, just as did the rat. In its death throes, it clawed at him, tearing his clothes and skin, and then went for his neck with its long front teeth. One bite and he would be as good as dead.

Good thing I was quick. I dropped onto the ground beside him, lifting a cloud of soil from the ground, and grabbed the Belligerent Gnawler by its thick skull and pulled it off him. I just had to squeeze a little, and it cracked beneath my fingers like an empty eggshell. The beast ceased its movements in an instant.

[Hey, kids.] I beamed, tore the carcass of the rat open, and extracted the core. I needed some pocket change, and since the beast was a Class I, somewhere in the middle of Spirit Accumulation Realm, its core was worth a little bit. Barely enough to be worth my time.

Bowing, the boy who got attacked spoke with gritted teeth as blood soaked his shirt. “T- thank you for saving my life, Senior.”

[You are welcome. Now, listen… There is a nest further to the west.] I pointed in a direction. [It appears to be a new one, so you might want to get a few more people and clean it out. I’ll take a look and see if there any any more of the big guys and dispose of them.]

I then pointed at the butchered carcass. [Feel free to take anything you need. Oh, and get this guy some bandages. And clean his wounds. These rats are filthy, and their scratches tend to get infected quickly.]

“Yes, Senior! We’ll do that.” The other guys, from the group of three, helped lift the wounded one and quickly made their way back to base. One of them glanced a few times in the direction I pointed them at. They were probably going to clean out the Giant Rat nest. It was worth quite a bit of money, and they officially joined the Sect just recently, a week or two ago. They probably spent all their money on food in the beginning, just as many of our people did.

It brought a smile to my face as I thought about how every generation got scammed first thing as they joined. It was a hilarious tradition, but one that served well as a teaching opportunity. Most of them were probably broke as they certainly looked hungry.

Mentally wishing them all the best I then cloaked myself once more.

I visited the nest I spotted previously and examined it for any stronger beasts, but was left disappointed. The Belligerent Gnawler I killed was probably the one that created it in the first place, and the rest were only juvenile Giant Rats. I didn’t even bother killing them. They were too many and worth jack shit. And as soon as I killed one, they would escape in every direction. Not worth the effort.

This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.

I’d rather leave them for the new guys so they could get some experience and money. The rats would be easy pickings even for Mortals, so I wasn’t worried.

Walking on Qi steps a dozen meters off the ground, I slowly made my way around the perimeter of the Sect. I was threading a fine line by doing that, but I had no choice. If I couldn’t go find and hunt monsters, I just had to find some that came to us, and Giant Rats were about the best I could find.

Depressing.

I stepped higher, above the tree line, took off my robe, and basked in the summer sun for a while. My skin was pale from staying indoors all the time, so I took the opportunity to get some color.

I had to release my cloaking skills for that, otherwise, the sun’s rays would miss me. And would you know it, not ten minutes later, something cold chomped down on my exposed buttcheek.

[Oy!] I opened my eyes, awakened from my relaxing state, and slapped the thing trying to bite me.

At first, I was confused and thought it was imagining things as if there was nothing there, but then I noticed it was one of those damn transparent Wraiths. The sky snakes with the teeth of a shark. The damn thing actually dared to attack me.

Obviously, it didn’t do any damage, but the sudden bite still hurt. Slightly. I wasn’t ready for it!

[Fuck sake, man! Can’t I get any peace?]

I wrapped the beast in Telekinetic tethers and pulled it close. It was an ugly thing, with a body like ice and transparent organs. It had a crunchy shell around its body, like some crustacean, with a vague hint of blue and gray.

Having examined it, I returned the greeting. I chomped down on its body, and unlike mine, its shell did nothing to protect it and cracked like a salted cracker. Didn’t taste like it though. Actually, apart from the crunchy texture that reminded me of eating chips, the meat was all mushy and tasted like ass. And not the good kind of ass.

[Yuck.] I spat it out and tossed the remains.

The Spirit Beast meat spoiled me. Though I tried to eat other things, the only one that was even remotely palatable, was the flesh of Golden Core creatures. Everything else was a no-go.

Textures especially. That’s what bothered me the most. Everything that wasn’t hard as stone was the same. A pile of mushy, tasteless, slop.

When you can play with a piece of iron and kneed it like a child would a piece of play-dough… Well, it’s self-explanatory.

Luckily Elder Li was still footing the bill for my meals, so I was set there. However, if I had to feed myself, I would probably starve soon. Because I was not selling my trophies! No means no!

I dressed again sometime later and dropped back to the forest floor. I momentarily forgot about the changes my body went through the last year or so, and sank into the soil up to my knees.

[Damn dude… Did I gain weight?] The fall must have been less than 50 meters, yet that happened. I took a step and pulled myself out without a problem. I forgot how heavy I was becoming. All that mass I ate had to go somewhere, and as I refused to grow, my body became extremely dense.

I even doubted a statue made of iron would sink so deep. Well, that was good for my defense, but for those weak people around me, a single bump could spell disaster.

I realized I should probably get Vilya to train in some Body Cultivation. Maybe I could ask my buddy Ren’s girl, Lilly, for advice. She also trained her body’s resistance, just in the opposite way. While I focused on toughness and hardness, she trained in softness and elasticity, if I remember correctly.

Maybe, maybe. I thought. I had so many things to do.

The first thing I did, was returning home to meet Vilya. I had already refined the Soul Essence of the creatures I killed, and just keeping it in my Sea of Consciousness any longer was too tempting. Even though it wasn’t much, my mind craved every morsel. It had been so long since I last ate a good meal. My Soul was getting restless.

[Ah, here you are…] I found Vilya admiring the statues in the arena. [It’s time for your first treatment session.]

She turned. “Already? Senior Gerald truly has a way?”

[Maybe. It should theoretically be possible. But that’s what we’re here to find out. Come.]

We made ourselves comfortable on her bed and I placed my hands on her back. There was no funny business going on. It was strictly work.

I already considered how to transfer Soul Essence between us. It wasn’t exactly easy for it to change hands. Usually, it would not be possible for one Cultivator to transfer it to another as the Soul would consume it automatically as soon as it was made.

The only way to transfer Soul Essence was when it was stored in a beast core and purified. And most people would use that to boost themselves. They would sell it only if they really needed money. Because Cultivation was above all. It gave you power, lifespan, and respect, and was intimately tied to the wealth you could generate.

Since those in the Spirit Realm could make Spirit Stones, reaching it as soon as possible was the number one priority.

Trading Soul Essence between Cultivators was unheard of. Imagine if ten people Cultivated and gave everything to just one guy. His power would skyrocket while they would stagnate. It went against all norms of Cultivation. Nobody would sacrifice themselves for another in that way. It was stupid. Even if you were paid for it, that just meant giving away your lifespan. It was a bad trade.

Not to mention that techniques that would allow you to accumulate Soul Essence inside your Sea of Consciousness and then extract it didn’t exist. At least I never heard of one. Not in the library nor among the myriad of memories. You could steal Soul Essence, as I had clearly seen, but willingly giving it away was completely different.

So, I was about to attempt something unprecedented.