Nascent Soul Realm, first step. What was this, in the grand scheme of things?
Close to nothing, that’s what. I realized I was too weak still. Having found a secluded place out in nature I sat down to Cultivate Awakening Breath. Every sense was cut off as I focused 110% on the technique, and slowly but surely, began feeding crumbs to my Soul.
Patiently, like a farmer observing a fruit tree grow. Like a sloth preparing to take a shit. Like a baby, waiting to die of old age. It was…
[This is so damn slow! Faaaaaaaaaaaaaak!]
I couldn’t do it! There was no way I could spend months just sitting around! All those guys that can do it are just…
“Could you please stop shouting and just continue your Cultivation in peace, please?” Long Dong suddenly said in apparent annoyance.
[Old ghost? You are still alive?!]
Guess what he said after that.
That’s right, nothing! The damn shit went mute again! The problem was that I couldn’t forcefully drag him out of the mask, or I would be already tasting his ear as a snack. He leaves me alone for days, only to come out, say one sentence, and disappear again. Fuck that guy!
Honestly, if I didn’t know any better I would think he was scheming something. Well, he can try. At least I would have something interesting to do. But as that didn’t happen, I decided to just take the day off and relax. And by that I mean Cultivate, Cultivate, and… Oh, that’s right! Cultivate!
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“Take this badge and wear it proudly! From now on, you are an official member of the Predator’s Bane!” Tan Gong loudly announced and pinned a badge on my chest. Loud cheers and clapping came from the other members of the team.
The Predator’s Bane had 12 core members, all of them Core Disciples, and another 5 newly appointed cart pullers, me included. Only they were all Inner Disciples and much older than me, so I stood out a bit. Nobody said anything though.
We had a short celebration with a few drinks, after which Tan Gong made an announcement.
“Now I will say a few words to our new temporary members. You all already know me, and we will get to know each other in the upcoming days, however, if you have any questions, be it about our hunting group of other members, refer to my right-hand man, Weh Chu.”
He pointed at the man, and Weh Chu lifted a cup high and drank from it. He was the one that spoke most to the candidates, so we already knew each other. The leader, Tan Gong, acted much more like a normal person than the last time when he tried to kill me in his drunken state, which was nice.
The atmosphere was cheerful and relaxed as we ate and made conversation.
“As the final thing…” Tan Gong began, speaking to us, cart-pullers. “You are free to do whatever for a few days until we call for you. The badges you received will start to react, and from that moment you have three hours to gather here. That’s going to be the signal for our departure.”
He looked at us and his gaze turned serious. “Basic food and gear will be provided, but it’s still best if you bring some extra stuff with you, especially if you want some luxury. If you do not show up in the time provided, we will consider you having abandoned us, and will be kicked from the team. Is that understood?”
“Yes, Senior!”
We all answered in the affirmative. The pay they offered was good. 25 SSS every day in the wild, and if the expedition went well, there was even a small bonus to be had. We didn’t need to fight or do much, really, just transport stuff and stay out of the way.
The meeting was soon adjourned until the next time and we went our separate ways. I considered chatting up the other four cart pullers, but they quickly dispersed, going their separate ways, and we would have plenty of time to talk during the downtime on the hunt anyway.
Once again I was left with more time on my hands than I knew what to do with. Of course, I could use it to Cultivate or train, but that was such a grind. I knew I had to do it, but… maybe some other time.
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The Myriad Beast Sect was such a large place. Even after months of exploration, I barely scratched the surface. There were so many places I had yet to visit. For example, the tunnels that ran beneath the mountain.
The higher places of the mountain range belonged to Core Disciples and Elders, so if you wanted to go to the other side you only had two options. You either went around, which took way too much time, or you went through since going over was out of the question.
Every once in a while, a tunnel would be carved into the bedrock that would take you to the other side. They were about 10 meters tall and about half as wide and snaked through the stone for kilometers. Some of them even branched out, coming to special areas of interest.
I have never before gone through one of the tunnels, so I decided to take a walk.
The gray stone wall was smooth, decorated by glowing crystals that grew out of it and oil lanterns where those weren’t enough. Heck, I even saw some disciples with balls of light floating above them to illuminate the darkness around them.
Obviously, the tunnels were populated. Many hundreds, even thousands of people were walking through them in every direction all the time. At the entrances, small stalls were created, serving food, and refreshments, as well as various trinkets and other goods that a typical Cultivator might need. It was a busy, bustling place.
The inside was much quieter, the emptiness of the place sucking away all sound and making it muffled so that only the constant echoes of footsteps on stone remained.
Some people walked slowly while others ran. Then there were some pulling carts behind them, loaded with sacks of herbs, metal rods, or food.
I walked slowly, looking around the place. There wasn’t much to see, but what little there was, was interesting. Especially the crystals. I secretly flashed my Magic Eyes, but apart from seeing them drain a bit of Qi, I couldn’t really make out their structure or how exactly they worked.
And then I looked up, and my eyes went wide.
A massive spiderweb of blue threads opened before me, the lines coming from everywhere and traveling up, spiraling and crisscrossing each other as they did so. Some of them were barely visible while others were thick like a tree trunk and as bright as the moon.
[Ley lines…] I gasped. The lines of magical energy. They were… beautiful. I never before had the privilege of observing so many up close. The mesmerizing sight in my eyes completely charmed me and I stood rooted in place. The Ley lines… No, they were called Spirit Veins here, transported Qi from across the land, natural channels that cycled the energy, like blood vessels of the planet, the sacred meridians of a celestial object.
I couldn’t get enough of it. The pulsing blue light, the power that ran through those veins… Even just the tiny one, the smallest among them all, had more Qi than my body could hold. And they were so many of them, all of them, like roots of a world tree, spiraling upward. All of them going toward-
“Hey, watch it!”
The shout woke me up, and I subconsciously deactivated my Magic eyes as I was roused from my stupor.
“Move! You are blocking the road!”
I noticed an angry man pulling a cart with people walking on either side of him while I stood right in the middle.
[Sorry…] I moved to the side and let him pass. He grumbled something unintelligibly and went on his way. Meanwhile, I rubbed my eyes and blinked a few times to get the stinging sensation from the dryness away. I must have stared at the ceiling like a dumbass for quite a while to completely dry out my eyeballs.
I secretly glanced up at the boring gray stone ceiling. It was as ordinary as you could imagine. I guessed there had to be a concealing Formation in place, but it only worked from the outside. As we were under the mountain, the Spirit Veins ran through the stone all around us, somewhere coming as close as five meters. The tunnel veered away from those places, making sure it never came too close. Any disturbance could damage the veins and could block the natural channels from transferring Qi.
I could better guess why different areas had varying grades of Qi. If these Spirit Veins were constantly transferring energy higher up, a simple containment Formation could make the concentration gradually increase over time.
If my guesses were correct and the Sect was a place where the energy of their territory gathered, then that was about 500.000 km^2 that they were draining, if my math was correct. We knew the general area of the Sect so we wouldn’t wander off accidentally. I didn’t notice a drop in the density of Qi in the environment so it was probably a slow process, but even then, that was still enough for a massive amount of it to be collected over time.
I could hardly imagine how some people could Cultivate with astronomical amounts like these. Most likely only the Elders could make use of the dense energy. The Spirit Veins were like moving millions of me every minute.
Or maybe it wasn’t all for Cultivation, but for powering up various Formations on the mountain range. There were at least a few that covered the entire area, and they had to use a large amount of energy.
So many conjectures and theories came from that one sight, yet I had no way to confirm any of them.
[Old ghost, are you there?] I whispered but got no answer. Honestly… that guy better had a damn good reason for ignoring me so much. If I wasn’t worried about exposing myself and suffering the consequences, I would have already found an Elder to sell the Thousand Faces Mask to. Thousands of Spirit Stones. Yeah, if I could get my hands on those, my powers would skyrocket with all the goods I could buy.
It was a shame, really. But that was okay. Soon we would depart on a hunt, and I would have more than enough Souls to consume. I could hardly wait!