Finlay decided to go live outside the city for 2 main reasons. One, he needs to eat as much meat as he can for the next phase of his body transformation to finish. Two, he needs to practise his meditation, World Qi control and basic exercises to prepare for his journey as a cultivator. The meager amount of money would only be enough for about 2 days worth of meat otherwise.

He first went back to the Blacksmith and bought a woodcutting axe with 4 of the 5 remaining coppers. He would need it to fetch firewood and make a more permanent shelter, for him to stay in for the next year. After some deliberation, he decided he would get his cheap knife, sharpened a bit. Most normal beasts should be easily handled by even the not so sharp knife and the beasts with qi enhanced bodies should have been cleaned up by the guard force upto 20 km surrounding the city. But after the previous day, he decided he would have a capable weapon at the ready if some hooligans or bandits show up.

Once the knife was sharpened, he offered the last copper as payment but surprisingly, the blacksmith declined.

“You will need that more than me. No need to look so surprised. I heard you helped catch those bastards with evidence yesterday. They harassed my grandson until he was selected for the imperial academy and left. I’ve always been trying to teach them a lesson, so thank you.”

Finlay didn’t stand on ceremony. He graciously accepted the help and headed out beyond the north of the town. His destination is a small hill about 2 km away called Yellow rock. It isn’t particularly special compared to the similar looking mountains in the region. It was named so because it was the closest to the town. The Hill was not very tall. It was only about 300 mts at the peak. The one important factor is that the world Qi density is slightly higher than the surroundings. This meant that the surrounding woods are denser and can host much more wildlife.

It didn’t take long for Finlay to reach the foot of the hill. He found a suitable clearing a third of the way up the hill to set up camp. There was a good view of the town from there. It was still morning and he first decided to build a small shelter to protect him from the elements. He decided on a simple shelter made from leaves, a couple logs and twigs. It didn’t look particularly sturdy on its own, so he built it on the side of a tree, above ground. After that, he cleaned up the surroundings of dead branches and leaves and built a fire pit.

Although Finlay wasn’t particularly tired due to his superior body, all of this took a while and there was only about 3 hours until sunset. He would need to find something to eat by then. He set off with a crude spear made from a straight, tough wood. It didn’t take long before he found a plump rabbit. With his enhanced body, he was faster than a normal rabbit but he never truly used a spear before this and it took a couple of rabbits before he landed a shot on one. His commotion no doubt caused the other creatures to scatter in the area. He would need to hunt elsewhere the next day.

With his dinner in tow, he arrived back at the came and started a fire. He discarded the remains in a pit he dug before and set up the meat to roast. As the Meat roasted, he sat before the fire and took up a meditative pose. It was time to begin his training.

He began by trying to enter the thoughtless state of mind according to the teachings of the Nine. It took a while but he finally managed. He then started trying to sense the World Qi around him. Unlike the time with the Nine when he did the same, he was able to sense it almost immediately.

The Qi is like clouds of mist drifting about in the surroundings only, it didn’t seem to be directly affected by the physical world. Solid objects like a rock aren’t actual obstructions to them but mere suggestions. They are merely affected by passing through rocks and not completely blocked. He also sensed that it is slightly denser in and around living things. Some more than the others. A Qi rich plant or tree would just be called a Spiritual herb or food after a certain density is reached. His body currently is only marginally higher in density than a typical tree. He knows that this is mostly due to him having not yet started cultivating but also his recently transformed body that ejected all the naturally accumulated Qi along with other foreign substances and impurities.

After sensing the Qi, Finlay came out of the meditation only to find that the meat was getting a bit crispier on one side. He quickly adjusts it. Once the meat is done, he sprinkles some salt and spices he prepared before coming here. By this point, the sun is almost down. Finlay decided to set up a rudimentary alarm system around the clearing. Once done, he went back to meditating and sensing the Qi.

Like this, he spent that night and the next day hunting for some meat and practising meditating. On the end of the second day, as he was exiting his meditation, he was given a scare by the sudden appearance of a man standing right before him, staring. It was Uncle Chen. Finlay figured it was about the letter he left for Mother Bai.

“What are you doing here kid? I thought you got your brain back from their beating. Turns out I was wrong.”

“What’s it to you? I already left a letter explaining myself to Mother bai.”, Finlay defended himself.

“You call that explaining? You just said you’ll be living in the hills that’s all. That girl Bai was worried to the point of death when she found me in the morning. I had to convince her to not come out here alone to look for you.”

Finlay got worried listening to his words. He did not expect her to be that worried. His idea was to distance himself from his old acquaintances before his departure. But Mother Bai had been one of the few to care for him so much even considering only his short time here.

“Well, it seems you do not need her worries anymore but that poor girl doesn’t seem to realise it. Why don’t you go back tomorrow and explain yourself better this time? Don’t make me come back here.”, he finished with a sharp gaze.

“Okay I understand and thank you old man Chen. I will go back soon and talk to her.”

“Old man?! What happened to respectfully calling me Uncle Chen?”

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

“Hmp! You’re the one who called yourself an old man the day before yesterday, so why are you bothered now, all of a sudden? You should hurry up and inform Mother Bai that I’m fine as you can see.”

The man in question just clicked his tongue in response.

* tch*

“Cheeky brat! You need to quickly deal with your teenage rebellious phase or whatever this is. Oh and what fine? You almost definitely would have suffered tonight if not for me.”

The man retorted as he gestured towards the side.

“What are you talking abou-”

Finlay’s words died in his throat and his eyes bulged out as he saw a dead body of a snake about a metre in length. Even though he knew that very few normal creatures without qi can actually harm him with his current body, he still couldn’t help the cold sweat running down his back.

“Heh! You foolish brat. Plenty of older and stronger martial artists perish everyday they live away, travelling. How could you think it is so easy to live in the hills without even preparing sufficiently. Here.”

He threw a bundle of herbs as he finished in a lecturing tone.

“Those are Ashtreads. They can be found by the stream near the foot of the hill by the stream. Place them around the place to repel away normal snakes. If you’re going to do this, do this right. Take care and don’t keep her waiting too long.”

Finlay didn’t retort to him with clever words this time. He just cupped his hands and bowed to show his gratitude for saving him.

After that, Finlay spread the herbs around the campsite to keep the snakes away at night. There was a reason he didn’t just go right away. Tonight is when the next phase of his transformation and impurities ejection is going to happen. He had already stuffed himself with meat throughout the day in preparation. Now he made some preparations before taking a meditative stance near the fire pit for the moment to arrive.

It came a little after midnight. His gut twisted as he started sweating buckets. He immediately got up and quickly walked over to a pit he had prepared earlier and threw up till his stomach hurt from dry heaving. Some of the impurities were also being extracted from his sweat and urine. After a couple intense hours of this, his body slowly settled down and he went back to the stone seat before the firepit and closed his eyes and rested in meditation.

By the time Finlay opened his eyes, the sun was coming up over the horizon and he felt like it was the most beautiful sunrise he had seen in a while. The warm sun radiating with the World Qi right and the beautifully colourful sky right after the difficult night gave him a memorable, pleasant feeling.

Once he had rested enough, Finlay started back to the town with his rucksack and a few things. He first headed to the stream at the foot of the hill mentioned by old man chen. He took notice of the reptile repellent herb but did not pick them for now. He washed himself off the filth that was now coating his body and washed the clothes he was wearing the previous night. Once done, he resumed his journey back.

He directly went back to the orphanage and met with Mother Bai and reassured her that he was okay and there was no need to be too concerned about him. He also took all the pelts he had collected from his hunting to a merchant in the town. Unfortunately, it seems he had either damaged them too much during his amateurish kills or they hadn’t been preserved well enough. He was paid only 1 copper for all of them combined and that was after he negotiated hard with his newly obtained skills.

After some deliberation, Finlay tried to speak to a few Alchemists to see if someone could give him basic instructions for tanning pelts. Afterall, he was going to be collecting a lot of them and pelts should be in demand in preparation for the coming winter. He paid out all of his remaining money and a promise of 3 more copper for a small alchemist to teach him the process and give him a little of the necessary potions that he can use in the process of tanning. Originally, it involved a lot of salt in his previous world, which would be very expensive here due to high salt prices, but it seems that isn’t required with the potions he was given.

Once he returned to his hill camp site, he continued his lifestyle of hunting for meat and occasionally throwing up filth. He meditated in between or went to town to sell the pelts and meet with Mother Bai. He would sometimes bring some meat to the orphanage too. Like this another 6 months passed.

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  It was already winter now. After these 6 months, he had stopped secreting filth from his body. It had been almost a month since his last time, signalling that his body transformation process is concluded. During this time, he had to change the campsites 3 times due to the filth becoming too much to bear at each place after multiple times of throwing up.

This was also confirmed by another thing.

Physical :

Body Type :

Five Element body (Grade : B+(Aggregate)) - (Appears as C-)

*Body integration completed*

After nearly 6 months of his suffering, his deliverance finally came. The new body is up to specifications now. Finlay now had to wait till the fateful day when the cultivator would arrive so Finlay could show himself before him to be chosen as his sect’s disciple. The quality of his body was being hidden by the powers of Mann and hopefully, C- Grade is just right appearing as good qualifications to cultivate and get some special treatment but not attract too much trouble.

Fortunately, during the past 6 months, he had other gains as well. His Qi sensing had progressed into him being able to will the Qi of the world to bend and move without actually taking it into his body first. This allowed him to practise Qi control without starting his cultivation and still appear mortal. His hunting had netted him a relatively handsome monetary reward. He even bought various things like a thick fur coat, sleeping bags for the winter and a tent. Even after all of that, he had more than 2 dozen coppers in his pocket.

During the next 6 months, he paid the Blacksmith to let him watch and learn basic skills in smithing, leather working etc. He also tried to learn Alchemy but the knowledge was simply too low level and required long terms of practice. He was able to learn 1 recipe that can cure poisons of most of the mortal animals. It can be considered above mortal grade but not something particularly valued by most cultivators. Old man Chen also helped teach him some basics of the sword. During his free times, he would practice Qi control or making furniture and statues out of chopped wood. He had even built a small cabin on the hill. He stored all of these in the orphanage instead of selling them in preparation for his final month.

He set up a small stall in the main market area with all the goods he had for sale. He did nothing but sit there at his stall everyday without fail, waiting for the moment to come. Finally, on a fine morning, he saw what he was looking for, a box of floating text above a middle aged man strolling through the market with a regal appearance.

Identity :

Unknown

75 yrs old

Male

-

Mortality :

Sura (Mortal)

Job :

NA

Titles :

Outer sect Elder - True Immortal Sky Sect

Cultivation :

Qi Condensation realm; 9th level.

Finlay Immediately called out to him to try and sell his wares with a cheerful expression.

To be continued.