A week passed.

“Damn it, of course it’s gone,” thought Yin Na.

He was standing in the den of the bear Yao Guai’s cave. There were bits of strewn and destroyed furniture along the walls of the cavern, which were the only clues that an intelligent, humanoid Yao Guai once lived here. It was empty and devoid of any valuables or evidence of the bear Yao Guai.

“I suspect foul play,” thought Yin Na. “From a cat Yao Guai in particular!”

Yin Na’s Yao Guai slave Mao Shiqi must have long located the hideout of the bear Yao Guai’s cave— with her abnormally strong feline senses and Late Foundation stage of Establishment locating a weaker Bear Yao Guai would have been much easier than it took for them to deduce the location based off of rumors and prowl the countryside.

“Whatever valuables the bear had hoarded in the past— be they some pearl sword or natural relic, they were all taken by her,” thought Yin Na. “And of course, there’s no trace of the bear Yao Guai either, so she likely fed his bones to the Spicy Oil Boar. We’ll never even have learned his name. Clever cat, you’ve left this cave with its evil atmosphere intact as if the bear could return anytime but you fled with all the benefits, clearly with no intention to wait for me, your master!”

Yin Na was calm on the outside, but behind his face veil his temperature was rising in anger to the point that steam was rising from his pores.

“Well, what are we waiting for?” Doctor Guo shouted rudely. “Why aren’t we placing traps?”

Yin Na did not reveal his knowledge of Mao Shiqi and what he inferred from her traces in the cave.

“Hmph,” Yin Na harumphed. “What’s the use of traps when there’s no benefits to be gained?”

“What?” Doctor Guo looked shocked. “Capturing and killing a real Yao Guai isn’t a ‘benefit?’”

“There is no Yao Guai,” said Yin Na. “And no bear, for that matter either.”

He turned to walk out of the cave, without giving any explanation whatsoever. Song Ying Jie followed obediently behind him without questioning at all, while Doctor Guo was left in the cave with the slow feeling rising in his heart that he’d been tricked.

Doctor Guo made it clear that he intended to attach himself firmly to Yin Na after the night they saved Yong Fei together. At first, it appeared like a vain attempt to avoid death or violent reprisal at the hand of a demonic martial artist, but it was more like an insincere combination of wanting to learn the techniques or secrets that Yin Na possessed to grow such a massive qi base as well as a primordial desire to ally oneself with someone of enormous power.

Yin Na understood the latter desire really well- he had over a million years of meditation and experience in leading those billions of cultivators’ souls in that Soul Orb realm. Both Doctor Guo and the projected persona of Wayseeker Crow were independent, loner martial artists without sects. Both shared a similar ruthless, bullying attitude.

Had Wayseeker Crow hid his true nature or professed to be of the Righteous order; had Yin Na not insist on paying Doctor Guo the full cart of silver taels he “promised” after saving Yong Fei, Doctor Guo would not have been as impressed!

Song Ying Jie did not question Yin Na’s decision on letting Doctor Guo accompany them the morning they emerged from their room. Such was his trust in Wayseeker Crow’s judgment.

Doctor Guo naturally did not hear or see anything resembling the Spicy Oil Boar and Mao Shiqi during the past few weeks, otherwise he’d have shown up in the inn earlier with Yong Fei and the other villagers the night before. After a day’s worth of talking while milling about the village, Yin Na learned that Doctor Guo was actually a martial artist of proper instruction, and not only understood various principles and mechanics behind acupressure and martial healing but also hinted that he understood the constructions of several meridian pathways.

“This is enormously beneficial,” thought Yin Na. “I didn’t expect to find a martial shifu this early in my Jiang Hu journey. What’s funny is that I’ll be the student who knows nothing yet I’ll be squeezing an actually informed master into teaching me his secrets. The trick is to do it slowly instead of coercing a Golden goose to death, so that Doctor Guo won’t suspect that I’m really learning martial arts from scratch! Of course, I’ll only be able to keep up the facade for a few days, maybe a week if I’m lucky. During this time I’ll take the opportunity to learn as much as I can.”

Yin Na asked as many questions as he could regarding the training progression of martial artists. He started off by making the questions appear like the sort of didactic, circular questioning a Daoist Shifu would ask of his student. Despite swearing to give Doctor Guo all of his silver taels in his possession after saving Yong Fei’s life, after Doctor Guo submitted himself to Yin Na neither of the two mentioned monetary transactions again.

Song Ying Jie was not even slightly jealous that Doctor Guo was able to converse with Wayseeker Crow on a deeper level. In his hick mind, he knew that he was satisfied simply being Yin Na’s right arm and muscle.

Yin Na’s original intention was to gather a strong band of martial artists loyal and powerful enough to gang up on the Bear Yao Guai together, but he had other plans for Song Ying Jie, and Doctor Guo had value as a temporary teacher in the world of Jiang Hu. Yin Na had also never dismissed the possibility that Mao Shiqi would simply plunder the Bear Yao Guai’s cave or kill him herself and just leave of her own volition, and therefore decided to learn as much as he could for a week’s duration.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

In between helping various families around the village, they made a show of visiting Yong Fei, was still recuperating in a coma while slowly healing his liver.

After two days of dragging Doctor Guo around on their errands, Yin Na began to ask questions that appeared to contain a simple mistake for the listener to correct.

“What? Are you testing me, sir Daoist?” Doctor Guo would say. “Everyone knows that food should be medicine itself, that’s why we must adhere to the food pyramid which the immortal Confucius advocated himself! Rice, above vegetables, and above meat, this is the correct hierarchy!”

Yin Na’s cooking aptitude increased just from little tidbits of wisdom such as these.

In fact, Yin Na placed an exclusive emphasis on life skill training, as opposed to pure physical Gong Fu forms. The next day, he was training with Song Ying Jie to help a local family plant some cabbages and potatoes.

“What sort of training is this?” Doctor Guo inquired, having lost the polite speech of a subordinate. His own questioning was getting more frequent and brazen in its bluntness.

“Song Ying Jie farms by hand, sculpting his body for hardship and attuning himself to the elements of the Earth and Wood,” said Yin Na as he squeezed to death a beetle grub in the dirt, which was a pest.

“I don’t understand this training methodology,” said Doctor Guo. “There are more efficient ways of training; farming in such an efficient manner and eating bittership like this does not necessarily translate to gong fu.”

“What would you know?” Yin Na said. “You have never ascended to the world of Cultivation or Immortals, where people manage resources, the majority of which relate to the theme of agriculture such as raising spirit plants and herding beasts within their aperture!”

This was one of the few truths Yin Na imparted to Song Ying Jie and Doctor Guo just now. The former was motivated to plant and weed harder than ever, while the latter was slowly marinating on this rare bit of insight into the future. After observing Yin Na and Song Ying Jie toil in the soil until the noon, Doctor Guo couldn’t stand it anymore.

“Ha! You want to practice farming,” said Doctor Guo. “Let me show you a method to practice this life skill on the go.”

Doctor Guo took them to his house, in his garden where he grew herbs. There, disguised among the shrubs were several miniature forms of well-known trees, such as midget peach or birch trees, all nurtured and contained within pots meant for smaller plants.

Doctor Guo taught Yin Na the little known art of Pen Jing (“Bonsai”), which was not really widespread nor as popular in the Eastern Domain of the current dynasty anymore.

Yin Na was quite pleased with this exchange of wisdom, not only because it was helpful in making it more effective in managing a blessed land in the future, but because he was the one who ultimately walked away with inspiration that was of immediate use.

“I don’t intend to prioritize Doctor Guo’s survival once we confront the Bear Yao Guai,” thought Yin Na. “That is, if the bear is even still there. It would be a shame for the physician to never have taken a glimpse of the mythical, fantastical world that I’ve hinted to him about so far, but that’s why I must inherit all his knowledge so that it can be put to good use!”

By the fourth day Doctor Guo was beginning to feel resentment.

“What are we dilly dallying for?” said Doctor Guo, in the middle of watching Yin Na and Song Ying Jie feeding another family’s pig.

“Old geezer,” Yin Na said threateningly. “You dare?”

“Apologies, sir Daoist,” said Doctor Guo quickly. “But I’ve watched you and young master do nothing but menial chores and tasks helping the villagers of Spring Wind village out of the goodness of your hearts. Didn’t you earlier ask around for the location of Yao Guai? What was it specifically- a bear? As virtuous as your help towards the common people is, this could not have been the original intention of your coming to our village. Certainly, it could not be the reason why your gong fu is so strong, nor how you’ve acquired so much silver-”

“INSOLENCE!” Yin Na roared.

Doctor Guo flinched from Yin Na’s shout, and the family that was receiving their help poked their heads over the fence to see if another martial showdown was about to occur. However, they slunk their heads back in disappointment as Doctor Guo was successfully subdued by Yin Na’s rare outburst of emotion.

“Okay, now’s the time,” thought Yin Na. “Time for us to go confront the Bear Yao Guai.”

With Doctor Guo’s impatience running thing being the final catalyst, Yin Na had approximated the location of the Bear Yao Guai’s cave through contemplating the various rumors and interactions he’d exchanged with the families of Spring Wind Village whom he had helped.

The notion of confronting a Yao Guai initially sent chills down Song Ying Jie and Doctor Guo’s spines, but Yin Na’s confidence and projected nigh-omniscience simply compelled them to follow and support him. With a combination of anxious uncertainty and excitement, they discovered the bear Yao Guai’s cave hanging off the precipice of a cliff a li Northeast of Spring Wind Village.

Back to the present, Yin Na left the cave in disappointment, while an even angrier Doctor Guo was throwing a fit inside the cave, feeling like he was cheated.

“All this time, I’ve followed you for a week, but I inexplicably feel like I’ve been a horse lead by the carrot. You dragged me around, having me teach you my secrets without giving back anything substantial in return! What sort of fair exchange is this?!

“Thief!” Doctor Guo let the accusation reverberate inside the cave. “It was one thing that you wouldn’t give me the silver taels that you’ve sworn to give me upon saving Yong Fei, but you’ve robbed me of something even greater: my time! I’m an old martial artist, time is the most precious thing to me and you’ve just stolen a week of my time!”

Doctor Guo felt blood and bile rising in his throat, and tried desperately to calm himself down. Try as he might, his own emotions were overpowering himself, as he let his killing intent fill the cave with murderous qi!

“Hmm, is it time already?” thought Yin Na. “Well then. Ying Jie!”

“Yes, Crow Bro?” Song Ying Jie snapped to attention.

“Kill him,” said Yin Na casually.