Chapter 25
Cultivation Should Not Be Easy
Yue opened her eyes at the crack of dawn, admiring the bathing sunrays piercing through the thick canopy of the trees. Most of the animals appeared to be fast asleep, though a few were shuffling about, leaving and entering the mud huts. Her Divine Sense had already picked the one where the man was staying; he was currently lying sprawled on his back, his torso, legs, and even the top of his head all cushions for a litany of animals.
Now that she'd recovered and that her senses had sharpened thanks to that strange, sweet liquid, she picked up on a few extra details--she couldn't discern any of the animals' cultivation realms save for precisely four, and those four appeared to be the youngest.
Even so, they were all at Soul Ascendance Realm, and were sporting stronger auras than even the Sect Masters of the Tier IV Sects. Despite that, it seemed as though the man, for reasons beyond her, was the central figure here.
It wasn't as though Yue hadn't considered that the man was a hermit, but she quickly perished the thought. Hermits were mostly just made up stories, and those that 'existed' only did so not because of their own desires, but because they were one way or another banished from the world. Furthermore, none of them would have the ability to compel even a few Demonic Beasts, let alone the massive legion of even stronger animals in the Nameless Forest.
And lastly, there was precisely that--the location. Shorn of Immortals from the legends, Yue was certain there wasn't a soul alive on the entire Ashlands who could survive here. And, unless the man was a cultivator who was thousands of years old, the likelier story was different. But Yue couldn't grasp what kind of story would lead to this particular outcome.
She heard the man shuffle and yawn and soon after exit the hut, lazily stretching. He was already besieged by the animals--namely a strange, ashen-colored bat hanging from his robes, and a long, multicolored python wrapped around his arm.
"Mornin' everyone," he cheerily greeted the entire forest before turning toward her. "If you want to take a bath, there's a pond west of here. Uh, that way," he pointed a finger. "I'll prepare us a meal in the meantime."
"Thank you, Senior."
"You can just call me Leo," he smiled faintly as Yue stood up and headed west. She, indeed, was in a desperate need of a bath--no matter how much she cleansed herself with Qi, the stench of blood lingered. "Eh? What's up, Blackie?" Yue noticed the man converse with a creature yanking at his robes. It was a small, black panther who began to gesture between Yue and westward. "You want to go with her? Uh... you're, you're not like a pervert or something, right?"
"Pff--" Yue swallowed a laugh as the man bent forward and began chastising the poor creature.
"That's not good, Blackie," the man said. "As a man, you must be respectful--"
"Uhm, Senior?" Yue called out.
"Yes?"
"The panther's, uh, it's a girl. She's a girl, I mean."
"..."
"Hm."
"Right. I knew that. Of course," the man coughed awkwardly as Yue, once again, held back her laughter. The black panther suddenly ran over to Yue and leapt into her arms, licking her face right after. She could have sworn to have seen a look of gratitude in those beautiful eyes. "You two, uh, can go, then. I'll stay and revel in my embarrassment."
Yue bowed once again before passing by and moving westward, the black panther jumping out of her arms and walking by her side. She couldn't see through the little creature, but was certain should the panther desire so, she would be torn to bits and pieces within the blink of an eye. And yet, simply skipping by her side like an ordinary cat, it seemed so cute and loving.
They reached the pond rather quickly, and Yue was once again shocked into silence and stiffness. The pond, after all, was not filled up with any ordinary water--it was water suffused with the purest Qi she'd ever come across.
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The so-called 'Qi Basins' or 'Heavenly Ponds' weren't exactly rare. In fact, any major Clan or Sect had at least one, though, naturally, they varied in quality. There wasn't any one way to measure that quality, but the general rule of the thumb was that the worst of them could help Qi Condensation Disciples with cultivation ever so slightly, while the best of them--those housed in Tier IV and V Sects--were even beneficial for the Soul Ascendance Sect Masters.
The pond in front of her, however, was different.
Even merely standing by its side and breathing in, Yue could feel her cultivation base churn, almost like a young child finally being given its favorite candy. This place... was not hell, she surmised, but only so because she was a guest and not an intruder.
In fact, she faltered slightly on her theory about the man--even spending just a year in a place like this would likely shoot one's cultivation up to at least Avatar Realm. So, either he'd been here for just a few days quite literally, or there was an entirely different story being woven.
She carefully disrobed and jumped into the pond, followed by the panther who began to splatter about. Meanwhile, she couldn't even truly move--she felt every pore of her body being washed out of its filth, and the purest of Qi seep into her through the skin. The invisible vapors began to course through her veins and meridians, tempering her wholly inside and out.
Within a minute, her Spiritual Roots began to crack and expand, and she felt herself become afire as it sucked in a whole whirlpool of Qi almost immediately. In a blink of an eye, her roots shattered, its shell turned to ash as, from the energy caused by the explosion, a new, beautiful ones sprung deep therein.
Suddenly, without any forewarning, she became a proud owner of Mid-Grade Heaven Spiritual Roots, which would make her one of the most talented people in the entire Lower Ashlands. If she so desired, she could run to the Heavenly Pavilion immediately and become their Core Disciple, carefully groomed for the future Sect Master.
She sunk into the water and leaned against the warm edge, lost in thought. Part of her believed that she had died, and this was her mind making up a story to make the passing easier. Otherwise, none of it made any sense.
Was cultivating truly this easy? No. 'Cultivation' and 'easy' were never words put together in a sentence, unless that sentence was 'Cultivation is not easy'. Even the most heavenly-gifted struggled and fought, as the cultivation itself was defiance of fate--mortal men and women gathered their wills and hopes, trying to break the chains that they were bound with at birth, and ascend past their fleshly limitations.
It was 'meant' to be a struggle, to be arduous, to be bone-breaking. She herself had experienced the struggle all her life--in fact, even breaking minor realms in Qi Condensation was more difficult. Leagues more difficult.
Standing up from the pond, she glanced at her body only to see it shorn of wounds and scars. Only the birthmark beneath her left breast remained, shaped like a crescent moon.
Sighing lowly, she stepped out and used Qi to dry herself off before taking out fresh robes from her spatial ring. She hadn't put that many things inside as she didn't plan on staying too long, but she always carried at least six or seven changes of clothes just in case.
The panther, too, left the pond and shook off the water from its fur. Yue thought it would accompany her back but, instead, it scurried off into the bushes and disappeared, leaving her alone.
She'd realized one thing--she would be unable to retrieve her grandfather's body, most likely. But where did that leave her? If she returned to the Clan, she would be hounded until her dying breath to tell them how she changed so much. She would be lucky if they didn't hand her over to one of the Sects as a favor where she'd experience torture never meant for a person to experience.
Could she flee to some other part of the Ashlands? Certainly--but she was still not strong enough. She had potential, inexhaustible kind, but, ultimately, she was still 'just' at the Mid Core Formation Realm.
Wherever she went, questions would be asked--even the Heavenly Pavilion. Question she could not answer without disclosing Leo's existence. And even if the world of immortal men and women was one of cruelty, selfishness, and self-interest, she was deeply unwilling to repay such grace with vileness.
By the time she returned, all animals seemed to have woken up and gathered once again. The scent of rather tantalizing food wafted past the trees and caused her stomach to rumble. Even if she could forgo eating for weeks as a cultivator, it was still difficult to ignore one of the life's most basic joys.
"You're back? Just in time. Sit. Here," she sat on the boulder and took the plate while the man quickly returned to the pair of pots. She noticed quite a few wooden plates scattered around, licked clean already.
She ate slowly and carefully, cherishing every bite. Unlike before, there weren't any monumental changes, but she could still feel herself slowly inching closer and closer to the Late Core Formation Realm. Something that ought to have taken a few years at least, at this rate would take just a few weeks, at most.
Most of the animals scattered when they finished the meal, disappearing. However, dozens still stayed, occupying the surrounding trees as well as the mud huts.
"Are you ready?" the man suddenly asked her and prompted her to stand up.
"Yes."
"Follow me. Ah, guys, you want to come too? Ha ha, alright, alright. Let's go."
Yue watched with a strange look in her eyes as eight or so animals climbed on top of him while the pair of black and white panthers swung around his feet before disappearing deep into the forest. There was also a strange-looking gopher that would burrow in and out of the ground here and there. It truly was... strange. Yes, strange, and not insane, mind-bending, or reality-altering. Merely... strange.