When you are chased by a predator, you don’t have to be able to outrun it. You just have to be able to outrun the others beside you. That truth falls apart when you’re too capable and it attracts the predator’s attention. Unfortunately Finlay learned that last piece of wisdom the hard way. At first it seemed like he would harmlessly get away, but as he almost left the mountain, his alarming speed drew the attention of a bored Qi condensation disciple who stuck to Finlay’s tail. After that, no matter how much Finlay tried, he couldn’t shake them. What’s worse, the other party didn’t seem to be trying too hard as they kept a constant distance behind him. With no choice, Finlay stopped to see if he could talk his way out of the situation.
As Finlay stopped and waited for the other party, the chaser slowed down and walked to stand before him.
Identity :
????
24 yrs old
Male
???
Character type :
lawful neutral
Mortality :
Sura (Mortal)
Job :
NA
Titles :
Outer sect disciple - True Sky Immortal Sect
Cultivation Talent
Qi Cultivation : poor
Body : poor
Constitution : NA
Cultivation :
(Spiritual)
Qi Condensation level - 3
*sigh*
‘There was no way to outrun that.’
“Student Candidate Ming greets Senior brother,” Filay greeted with a bow.
The senior simply stared at Finlay as he scrutinised him head to toe. Finlay wasn’t sure why exactly he had been chased so far when he wasn’t even involved in the salver incident. And now, the senior wasn’t saying anything even when spoken to. He knew the ridiculous stories he had read about similar Cultivation fiction from his previous world and the cruelty of the world he inhabits. Just as his worries of being robbed or worse, killed and then robbed were mounting, the quiet senior spoke up.
“...hmm Candidate Ming is it? Tell me, how are you so fast?”
Not expecting the question, Finlay did not know what to say momentarily. His body was naturally superior and on top of that, there was the 5 element cultivation. The water element based movement art was only a cherry on the top, not a very significant contributor in reality. If he said he knew some other secret and profound movement art, he wouldn’t be able to show it to him if asked to verify closely, if he said he was just that strong, he might get interrogated further or taken away to thoroughly investigate his body, which could end up pretty dangerous. While the 5 element body type was known to Senior Kang and probably some other higher authorities, he had other secrets he didn’t want the world to know yet.
“I mean you’re clearly at or below the Qi condensation since you’re still able to roam the valley and we weren’t notified beforehand, but you’re clearly very fast. Perhaps faster than most who had completed their first level. Strange…truly strange.”
Finlay couldn’t come up with any solid solution and so kept his mouth shut.
“I mean you’re clearly at or below the Qi condensation since you’re still able to roam the valley… you better spit it out. You’re still technically a suspected participant or a witness to an illegal trade fair. I do have the authority to take you to the elders.”
Finlay could only curse at his damnable fate.
“Senior, please observe.”
Finlay slowly made his shoes glow Azure channelling his water attribute Qi and his spear a fiery red using his Fire element Qi. The senior’s eyes went wide at the implication.
“A Dual attribute! Hahaha, I see that’s how! But it’s such an odd combination of Fire and water attributes, truly rare.”
Finlay internally let out a sigh of relief.
“Uff…It seems he bought the bluff. Good thing he doesn’t seem too knowledgeable. Otherwise, he would have realised that I was still too fast for a dual or even a triple attribute.’
“Senior is praising me too much. I’m not that special.”
“Okay then, quickly, show me the contents of your bag. Once I verify it does not contain anything suspicious, I can let you go.”
“Senior, this…” Finlay couldn’t help but freeze at the words. He had a lot of valuable items like Alchemy herbs, valuable arrows, 2 entire spirit stones and the all important mangled piece of metal with both Metal and fire essence contained within.
If the other person was being honest with his assessment, then fine but things will go south if he becomes greedy at the treasure. He could not disobey though, so he could only hope that the person before him wasn’t some greedy asshole and would settle for some bribery in the worst case.
Finlay quickly took out each item and laid them all on the ground for the senior to verify and sure enough, they slowly stretched their hand to pick up the charred and mangled piece of metal and concentrated a bit.
“Oh.. goddesses beard! An actually somewhat useful treasure? Good find junior. Only, it’s a bit of a shame to use it for just fire element cultivation. Hmm…”
After thinking for a bit he said something that had Finlay clenching his teeth.
“How about I pay you for this with all the required resources for your fire attribute cultivation and some money on top of it? I’d say that’s a fair deal.”
Finlay suppressed the mounting anger and cursed internally.
‘Fair deal my ass.’
The item contained Elemental essences of both Fire and Metal. He wasn’t sure if the senior was able to figure that part out quickly but it still wasn’t an offer made in good faith. This was without even considering the fact that Finlay, personally, had a far more important use for Elemental essences.
“Forgive me senior, I cannot part with it. The metal elemental Qi is important to me as well.”
The senior who was completely focused on the item in his hand looked up at Finlay in confusion.
“What do you mean you need the Metal Qi?...wait, unless..!”
“Yes, it seems the senior guessed it. I’m actually a triple attribute and desperately need that to graduate. I hope the kind senior understands my circumstances.”
“What??! Your body is of metal attribute?! How can that be?...Wait, if you are, why are you thrown here with the rest of the garbage?? I sure hope you’re not lying to your betters.”
Hearing that, FInlay got frantic and quickly replied, “Senior I’m telling you the truth! I’m here in the valley with special permission from the elders. If you don’t believe me, you can check with them, but you can’t just take my items.”
*snort*
“Do I look like a common thief? Regardless of whether you are lying or not, you have no intention of selling it, so I naturally won’t force the matter. If I do find that you lied, you can say goodbye to joining the sect.”
After getting back the item, Finlay immediately thanked him and offered a gift of 5 Harmonising pills. While they are primarily designed for the Body transformation practitioners, they were still useful to those in early stages of Qi condensation. With his anger appeased, the senior promptly left to continue his duties.
The tense encounter had given a bad fright to Finlay who set off back towards the way out and didn’t stop before he reached it. Paranoid that some stupid event might cause him to loose the important item, he avoided any and all fights, even going as far as sparing the mosquitoes on the path. That last part truly tore away his very heart.
Once back, he didn’t even want to waste time relaxing and cleaning himself up at the bathhouse. He shut himself in his room and entered meditation to calm his mind to start cultivating.
----------------------------------------
A pleasant garden atop a tall peak amidst the clouds and an elegant pavilion below a picturesque tree. Inside it was an elderly man with a long beard and hair, fluffy and white like the clouds. He was relaxing with some tea as Senior Elder Kang approached the pavilion with a respectful expression. As he appeared before the entrance, he respectfully greeted the old man.
“Master!”
“Hoho! So it is little Kang. Come come and sit. Don’t be on such ceremony.”
Senior Kang could only bitterly reply, “How can that be master. I cannot sit equally with my master and a mighty Zifu cultivator. I’m comfortable just standing beside you.”
“Bah! You have always been such a rules man. So, how is the sect’s recruitment going these days? We truly need some young hands to fill some vacated roles.”
“It is going well master. At least for now. We do have some administration issues, again due to the lack of personnel and the lowered standards, but overall, we’re doing admirably and shouldn’t have any problem building back our strength in another 10 years time.”
“Ah that’s good. That’s good! But 10 years huh? I remember when that sounded like an insignificant amount. Now, I sure hope we just make it through these 10,” the old man replied with a worried tone towards the end.
Senior Elder Kang frowned at that and couldn’t help but ask in concern, “Is it as we suspected? How did the Grand Elder meeting go Master?”
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
“ *sigh* Nothing is certain, but we might have to prepare for war. It seems to be inevitable for one to occur within the next 5 years and perhaps sooner.”
“That soon?...*sigh* will we have to again helplessly witness young ones perishing before our very eyes? I have had enough of that already…” the standing disciple’s mood turned gloomy from the news.
“...who exactly are we facing, master?”
“Indeed that is the big question. We know that the jackals from both the Purple Mountain and the Deep Valley are moving cogs in the background against us, but they never dared to bare their puny fangs at us before. It can only mean 1 thing. There is at least another bigger party pulling strings behind them. I only don’t understand what someone bigger would gain by taking such enormous risks.”
“That is truly puzzling indeed…”
The master and disciple discussed the coming disaster for a while before the topics turned to more mundane things like the sect affairs.
“...actually there was some interesting news about the candidate with potential I spoke about.”
That piqued the interest of the gloomy older man, “Ohh, do tell. What interesting news is this?”
“Haha, one of the enforcers of the valley ran into him recently and it appears he almost couldn’t catch the little bastard. By my estimate, he still has a ways to go before completing his 5 elements…”
The man and his master excitedly discussed the funny incident about the potential new candidate, forgetting the gloomy topics and worries of the sect for a bit.
“Say, you always are so adamant about rules in every little thing, but why do you let that one run free? By the sect rules, you should have long ago reported your discovery to the sect master and put him under strict sect supervision and safety.”
“Well…it’s difficult to say my reason, but I can understand his apprehensions. I’ve checked up on his background and he had a difficult and lonely life growing up. Ostracised even at his orphanage. I think he has earned the right to be treated with some sincerity. The sect will earn his trust the right way instead of the usual coddling done to the ‘gifted’. As for the rules, I think nobody will even spare their breath to talk about it once they know his potential.”
“You speak the truth, but don’t forget that I am your master. I can see right through you. You see your younger self in him. Empathy and compassion, the qualities that I like in you.
“Often we cultivators seem to forget our roots, treating mortals as sub-human, while we still depend on them for so much. Idiots who see it as weakness have never met a heavenly cultivator. Compassion is essential to understanding your place in this universe.”
That along with sowing good Karma were essential requirements to pass that barrier, was left unsaid.
“Alright I trust in you. Take good care of that seed. We need as many and as quickly as possible if we’re to weather this storm.”
----------------------------------------
It took Finlay 2 days of non stop cultivation to reach completion and simultaneously absorb the Elemental Essence of both the Fire and Metal. As expected, the metal essence barely had any effect, but it did help him complete his cultivation much quicker. The real change occurred with the Fire Element Essence. His peak ‘C-’ grade crossed a narrow threshold to reach the ‘C’ grade. He felt noticeably more attuned with the fire and it was a bit easier to call upon and control fire element Qi.
Apart from that, he also completed the 2 elements of Fire and Metal to their completion. Even after, he remained seated as he observed the different elemental Qi brimming to the limit of each of his cells. The Five elements neither in harmony nor in chaos within each of his cells but they felt overfilled and without any further change, they would rupture his cells in days, killing him. Finlay didn’t panic. He knew that he had to take the next step of the Body transformation sutra he practised. It was time to bring the five elements to harmony.
Finlay chanted the mantra as he made various hand gestures, trying to control the Qi leaking out of his body. The Qi was formed into a large circuit surrounding him. Once connected there was a sound of rushing rivers and bright lights of the rainbow. As he supplied more Qi, slowly another circuit automatically formed from the first one. This time, most of the Qi was taken from the surroundings or his dantian where more of the 5 element Qi was being gathered from the surroundings and the remnant pills in his stomach.
Normally, the total amount of Qi Finlay could hold with his will and control outside his body was far inferior, but this was the special mechanism of the mantra that is designed for the specific task of advancing the realm by combining and harmonising the 5 elemental Qi. Yet it was a phenomenon that was strictly contained to his surroundings. Lu Bao in the very next room felt nothing apart from a lack of Qi in the surroundings. Even an expert at the Zifu realm might not be able to feel anything unless standing right beside him.
Once the new circuit completely formed, there was an Earthen glow illuminating Finlay, followed by Water, Wind, Fire and Metal, each progressively growing faster. By the end, there was a massive amount of Qi gathered around Finlay within the various Qi circuits. The Qi circuits representing each of the 5 elements morphed into different runes as they slowly spun around Finlay’s head. Just as this started, Finlay gritted his teeth as he observed the now full to the limit cells started to undergo a change. The Individual Elemental Qi in the cells slowly started to rotate and move around in patterns similar to the Qi circuits of each of the elements moving outside. Only, bizarrely enough, the circuit paths seem to snugly fit into each other and after each cycle, the elements Qi reduced just a tiny bit. As the process progressed, the cycles got faster and faster and the elemental Qi fainter and fainter until all of the elemental Qi seemed to disappear.
If one looked closely though, they would see faint traces of an entirely different type of Qi. An almost milky white, translucent one that let out sparkles of the 5 elements’ colours. Also, through the process, his body was entirely transformed on a cellular level. Every minute part of it, robust and more attuned to Qi of the world. His strength over flowing, his mind refreshed and sharper than ever.
More importantly, he felt that he could practically tough the Qi surrounding him. He could even almost tell apart the composition of the elements in the Qi just by sensing it. Finlayed opened bright, clear and lively eyes and was again astonished at the changes to his senses. His vision was so much sharper and he could seemingly pick up more information from the same gaze, as if he could see more colours than before. Even his skin felt whenever denser pockets of Qi touched it.
‘This is great! Fantastic! Awesome! I bet I could practically breathe and smell Qi at this point.’
With that thought, he took a deep breath…and proceeded to heavily retch all over the place for the next hour till he could clean the terrible stench off himself.
To be continued.
Preview - System Status
Identity :
Finlay
Male
14 yrs old
–
Mortality :
Sura (Mortal)
Job :
None
Titles :
None
Cultivation:
Body Transformation stage completed level 9+ (Five Element cultivation)(🠕)
Stats :
→open←
Skills :
The All seeing eye (Analyse) :
(Grade - E+)(🠕)
Authority granted by the first god of the world, Dinn. You can peer into the secrets of things and beings of this world as long as you know what you’re looking for. (Requires activation conditions)
Inventory space :
(Locked until Foundation Establishment)
Universal Language comprehension (Grade A+);
Mana Blast (Grade F+)
Preview - Stats
Spiritual :
Cultivation Talent :
S+ Grade (Appears as C-)
Divine Sense :
None
Law Comprehension :
S Grade
Physical :
Body Type :
Five Element body (Grade : B+(Aggregate)) (Appears as C-)
Elemental Attunements :
Metal
S- Grade
Five Element Body Type
(Dominant trait)
Earth
A Grade
Wind
C+ Grade
Fire
C Grade
Water
D Grade
Light/Darkness(Yin/Yang)
D- Grade
Lightning
F+ Grade
Other Talents :
Weapon Talents :
Sword/Bladed type
A+ Grade
Ranged
C+ Grade
Hand to Hand
C Grade
Polearms/Spear
D Grade
Soul based/Mental type
D- Grade
Qi Circuits :
(Arrays, Formations, Magical Restrictions)
B- Grade
Crafting Talent :
C+ Grade
Alchemy Talent :
D+ Grade