The next month was the most intense of all the time they’d spent with Old Guo. They awoke at dawn and spent the morning training their spiritual presence using the Stonewrought Pines. During He Yu’s time away, both Li Heng and Yan Shirong had refined their spirits. Li Heng’s had changed the least, but the sense of night, moonlit snow, and sharp cold had become all the more clear when he flexed his spirit. Yan Shirong’s spirit had gone from the suggestion of an umbral cloak that hung about him to a far more solid, nearly physical presence.
Judging by the reactions of his companions, He Yu’s own spirit had gotten quite the boost during his time at the Thunder God’s temple as well. During their training against the pines, He Yu cycled the sparking heaven qi of the Empyrean Ninefold Body Tempering. On that first day, he reveled as he chopped—both at the looks he received from Yan Shirong and Li Heng, and from the approving nod he caught from Old Guo.
The Empyrean Ninefold Body Tempering didn’t give him the solid and seemingly endless well of strength that the Eternal Mountain Root had, but it still made him far stronger than he would have been without a body art. The most obvious benefit of the technique was that it made him considerably faster. His skin also took on a slight shimmer, almost like it had become slightly reflective when he used the art. He guessed that it would also function to increase his body’s durability. If this were only the first technique, he couldn’t wait to see what the art would bring when he advanced.
At midday Old Guo ordered the disciples to break and eat a meal of rice and fish. The old cultivator spent most mornings fishing on the lake, the catch that he fed them with contained the energy of low Third Realm awakened beasts. Vital energies from the spiritually rich meal restored them after their morning’s training and bolstered their physical cultivation as well. It was a good thing too, since afternoons were pure torture.
After they’d eaten and refreshed themselves, all three of the disciples faced off against Old Guo for sparring. Although the old man suppressed his cultivation down to the late Third Realm, he was still far beyond their ability to contend with. He had centuries of experience over them, and combined with a full realm’s advantage, every match was horrifically one-sided despite their three-to-one advantage. Which was apparently the whole point.
As the days—then weeks—wore on, Old Guo became ever more a whetstone against which the three disciples sharpened themselves. Li Heng had become noticeably more aggressive in his fighting style after returning from his individual training with Old Guo, and the group sparring saw that aggression increase again.
While the noble had always given off an air of easy confidence before, that was now joined by a sense of resolve. He Yu stole a glimpse of Li Heng through the insight granted by the Cloud Emperor’s Peerless Judgment and saw that he’d become more himself than he was before. It was odd in a way He Yu couldn’t quite put his finger on, but He Yu was happy for him.
Yan Shirong’s combat prowess grew the most, and He Yu had to wonder if his protests regarding his arts had ever truly been genuine. The comital scion’s ability to attack from unexpected directions by using his shadowy tendrils to launch throwing daggers at an opponent’s back was almost enough to make He Yu a bit envious. Yan Shirong had also gotten far more adept at hauling himself around with those same tendrils, as well as using the billowing shadows of his presence to obscure himself. Truly, given time, Yan Shirong could easily become a frightening and formidable foe.
Of course, He Yu benefited tremendously from this training as well. The Empyrean Ninefold Body Tempering complimented his other arts perfectly. The Five Crescent Winds was an art designed to show its true nature in support of other arts, and it did just that. Activating any of his guandao arts while using the Empyrean Ninefold Body Tempering caused tiny flickers of heaven qi to spark within the swirling winds that curled around his weapon.
The Five Crescent Winds techniques seemed almost to pull from the Empyrean Ninefold Body Tempering, and the speed from the body art combined with the unexpected boost to the weapon art was almost too much for him to control at first. However, with the aid of the Cloud Emperor’s Peerless Judgment, he soon adapted and felt as though he’d become closer to what Fang Yingjie had been trying to impress upon him than ever before.
Then, there was the Sky Dragon’s Flight. It had always been a problem that he couldn’t use his body art and his movement technique at the same time. Switching between the two constantly placed a strain on his meridians and drained his qi reserves faster than he’d liked. By contrast, the Empyrean Ninefold Body Tempering fit the Sky Dragon’s Flight like a hand in a glove. It actually became easier to manage the potent movement technique while under the effects of his new body art.
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Even with all the improvements the three of them had experienced over their months with Old Guo, none of it seemed to matter when they faced him. He was an absolute monster. His defense was an impenetrable shell of wood qi that made his skin harder than the Stonewrought Pines they’d spend months training on. Not even their strongest attacks could even leave a mark on him. Every blow was like being hit by someone swinging an entire tree. He blasted through the defenses of each of their body enforcement techniques with a single hit.
Even though he kept his cultivation suppressed to the equivalent of the late Body Refining stage, his presence was still a massive weight that pressed down on the three of them. Fighting the old man was like trying to punch an ancient spiritual forest full of awakened trees into kindling. Worse of all, he was faster than any of them, too.
Despite the unfairness, they made progress. Each bout took just that tiny bit longer than the one before it. Each hit Old Guo landed took fractionally less time to recover from. As the month progressed, the old cultivator’s approach to the fight went from casual boredom to something that almost resembled him paying attention.
It was, He Yu had to admit, a little insulting that Old Guo clearly wasn’t even trying. But they clawed back some small measure of their pride by the end of the month, when for the first time, Old Guo called a halt to the match before any of them were lying scattered about the clearing, bruised and spent of qi.
“Good,” Old Guo said with a nod. “Cultivate and restore yourselves while I prepare supper. Tomorrow, you’ll be on your way.”
All three disciples saluted Old Guo. As the old cultivator turned to go, Li Heng said, “Once we break through, we’ll show King Hao what real cultivators are capable of.”
“I would advise against that,” Old Guo called over his shoulder.
He Yu stopped in his tracks. All this time he’d assumed they would break into the Body Refining stage before they faced the bandit king. They’d been at the peak of Foundation, and half a step into the next realm for almost a month now. What had all of this been for, if not preparation for a breakthrough?
“The qi here will conflict with your aspects,” Old Guo continued. “You also don’t have access to any elixirs to aid you. I may have been generous all this time, but I am not that generous. You three already owe me more than you can possibly repay, and that’s without a bunch of extra elixirs.
“Of course, if you’re willing to settle, breakthrough. Otherwise, kill your bandit king, loot what you want from his corpse, and then use that and whatever payment you’re getting from the sect to buy all the elixirs and pills you want. Once you return to the sect you’ll be able to achieve far better breakthroughs than you would here. There’s no sense in limiting your future potential for the sake of some bandit trash.”
All three disciples looked at one another. Old Guo made a good point. The only question was whether or not they could beat King Hao while remaining at the peak Foundation stage. Although he’d not said as much, Old Guo seemed to think so.
Yan Shirong was the first to speak up. “I don’t know,” he said. He spoke softly, as though that would somehow prevent a Sixth Realm cultivator from hearing.
“He’s got a point,” He Yu began. “If we can wait, like Tan Xiaoling has been, it’ll just make us that much stronger later.”
“Assuming we survive,” Li Heng said. He’d folded his arms across his chest and stroked his chin with one hand as he thought. He Yu had gotten to know him well enough to tell that he hadn’t rejected the idea.
“I think we should make the decision together,” He Yu said before anyone else could come to a conclusion. “Either we all advance or none of us do.” By the looks on the other’s faces, they understood his logic. If they were all at the same level, they succeeded or failed by equal contribution. Or blame.
It was surprising, however, that Li Heng was the one to offer an objection. “Wouldn’t it make more sense to have one of us advance? That way we’d have a clear leader.”
He Yu locked eyes with his housemate. There was something almost like a challenge in the noble’s gaze, but He Yu couldn’t deny that there was at least some merit to the suggestion. He didn’t like the idea, though, simply on an instinctual level. He’d not stopped having his visions during cultivation, where he was sometimes on a peak by himself, and sometimes surrounded by people he knew. He’d been alone for most of his childhood, and he’d be dead before he spent an immortal lifespan alone as well.
Yan Shirong was the one to break the stalemate. “I agree with He Yu,” he announced. It was so matter-of-fact, that it took He Yu by surprise. As much as he’d not expected Li Heng to be the one to disagree, neither had he expected Yan Shirong to be the one to throw in his support. “I, for one, have learned somewhat of my own lack of ambition these past few months. If I have an opportunity to achieve a better advancement to Body Refining, I’m willing to take the risk.”
With the other two against him, Li Heng relented. “Guess it’s all together then,” he said, breaking into his characteristic grin.
As the three of them began their nightly cultivation, He Yu couldn’t shake the notion that Li Heng’s good humor about the decision wasn’t wholly genuine.