“Come on! How long do I have to be stuck here?”
The yell came from the central courtyard where Sage was still chained up. He hadn’t seen a single person now for three days and he was wondering how spiteful Guan Zhenyan could be. Maybe talking back had garnered him a harsher punishment, but on the third day he was wondering if Guan Zhenyan had just forgotten him, so he just made some noise as a reminder. With his mouth muzzled he couldn’t really eat or drink anything, but as a powerful cultivator it wasn’t that big of a deal. He’d gone weeks without any rest at all when he was on the run earlier. He just considered this a little extension to that. At least now he got to rest. He craned his head back and stuffed his face under his tail to block the light, going to sleep in the middle of the sunny courtyard.
It wasn’t until he’d been laying there for a week that Guan Zhenyan finally came back. He was puffing on his pipe as usual and pacing back and forth as he examined Sage’s body. Sage wasn’t sure what the man was looking for, or what he could even see, but was surprised by his results.
“You really are quite a mess. It’s no surprise they just wanted to use you as a servant with a World Core.”
Sage felt a little insulted, which he would normally hide, but something about Guan Zhenyan compelled him to answer, “So you say. It’s taken a lot of work to collect so many beast and bugs for their abilities. You just don’t understand what I can do.”
“Hah, don’t flatter yourself. Do you think it’s my first time seeing someone from the Lang Clan? By the look in your eyes, you’re probably thinking I mean the Chong Clan, but I don’t. The Lang Clan is not the branch clan, the Chong Clan is. That’s just a trick they played on their enemies. I still feel sorry for Poor Old Huang.”
Guan Zhenyan took a long drag from his pipe and then stared off into the distance for a moment. Sage was wondering whether the man was crazy or just trying to confuse him. He didn’t want to interrupt when the man was spewing so many secrets, but he spaced off for too long so Sage coughed loudly. Guan Zhenyan finished his latest drag from the pipe and blew a little ring towards Sage’s face.
“You’re out of balance. You can’t just randomly smash together every body feature you think sounds nice and end up with a good result. The endless variety of Demonic Beasts and creatures in the world fight in an endless struggle. They do everything they can to make use of their natural characteristics, pushing themselves to the limit to come out on top. With just a look at you, I can tell you barely use any of the abilities you have, let alone push them to their limits. It’s such a huge waste of energy.”
“Energy? What do you mean by that? I’m already a Core Cultivator, how would I be short on energy?”
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He didn’t mention the Seed of Life, since they already both knew about that and the unending supply of energy he had. Guan Zhenyan chuckled, “Yes, energy. I’m not referring to Qi, I’m referring to the energy of your body. All those abilities are using up energy that could be spent on strengthening your flesh, bones, and organs. Or, it could be distributed to other natural features; like making your claws sharper and your scales harder.”
“Do you mean like body cultivation? I only have one suitable technique for that and it requires beasts with extremely pure bloodlines for me to improve.”
“You’re not the first one using the Insect Immortal Index I’ve seen. It seems you didn’t get any tutoring in this area. Even if you don’t have a Beast Core, your body can still advance in a method like a Demonic Beast. Just like their cores are compressed energy of the heavens and earth, constantly refined, purified, and compacted into their own version of Qi; their bodies do the same thing with another form of energy that some call ‘Body Power’.”
Then Guan Zhenyan puffed another cloud of smoke onto Sage’s scaly body, “Think of it this way. You grow far slower than most other Demonic Beasts, right? That’s because the energy is spread thin to cover so many adaptations and abilities. The most powerful Demonic Beasts have the same problem as well, but it’s because they usually have one or two extraordinarily powerful abilities.”
Sage wasn’t sure if he was being told lies, but for now what he said made some sense. He’d seen a few clues that pointed in that direction in the past, but he’d seen nothing conclusive. Mainly with the technique Blood Refining. It was a method to try and siphon some of the strength of those much more powerful creatures.
“So, you’re a mess. Worse yet, from the information I’ve gathered you have the same problem not just with your body, but the techniques you train. Ten Professions. You use Wood techniques, insect taming, some sort of eye technique, formation plates, seals, and unusual magic devices that you invented. Can you even make a decision? Even if cultivators live a long time, there isn’t enough time to master everything, not if you want to reach the peak. Do you want to be mediocre at everything or an expert at one?”
Guan Zhenyan shook his head, “You think that over for a while. I’ll be ba…”
Before he could finish his sentence, Sage interrupted him, “Don’t leave! I already know that! My lack of focus has stunted my improvement. I was planning on fixing that problem as soon as I re-established the Lang Clan. As you know, that didn’t go so well.”
He lowered his head, “I just wanted to repay the kindness shown to me by the Holy Flame Sect and my Ancestor. I was too eager for results and my house of cards collapsed upon me. These chains are stopping me from training, please tell me what I have to do to get them off. My revenge can wait, but I have to go retrieve the Universe Ring. Please help me.”
A cloud of smoke covered the man’s face for a few moments, making his expression unreadable. Then the smoke flew towards Sage’s face. It flowed like a snake, swirling and threading around the spikes on his head and face, “At least you aren’t a complete idiot. You’re quite lucky though, to survive even after doing so many stupid things. As for this…”
He opened his hand and a golden ring was sitting upon his palm, “A little princeling from the Dou Kingdom passed it over to try and get on my good side.”
“The Universe Ring! That’s my…”
“Not anymore. It’s mine for now. Consider this a little incentive for your future tasks.”
Sage’s head lifted up, the mention of tasks meant that he wasn’t just going to be kept here like a pet. Guan Zhenyan’s words made it clear that if he performed well enough he could get the Universe Ring back. It was a far cry from making up for his losses, but he knew that it was of vital importance, not just to him, but his Ancestor.
“So, what do I have to do?”
Suddenly, he felt as if he’d said the wrong thing. Guan Zhenyan’s face had grown a large, quite overly happy smile. The swirling snake of smoke even flew back to him and curled around his neck like a scarf, “You really don’t seem ready for it.”