“Look,” Yu Nanhao pointed towards an opening inside the forest. They were near a small hill, and a pack of wolves rested near one of its caves. Some of them brought dead prey in their mouth, gave a small portion of it to their young, and threw the rest inside the cave.
The pack of Firetear Wolves seemed to have made this cave their territory. The wolves had red fur with some orange on the tips, making their entire body look like chemical fire. Their tails were bushy and flowing, and with the color of their furs, it looked like there were flames coming out from their backs.
“Man, they really live up to their namesakes,” the youth muttered quietly. “Man, why’d the wolves have to pop up before we got the Magenta Jackal Flowers?”
Yu Nanhao let out a sigh of relief, “Looking at their colors, most of the pack is at the 5th or 6th Stage of Qi Refinement. However, the alpha-” he pointed inside the cave. A wolf with orange fur sat on an elevated mound as he oversaw the red wolves bringing it food. He continued to say, “-is at 8th Stage.”
“The 8th Stage?” The youth and Fang Mingkong echoed with a quiet gasp.
“It’s going to take two or all three of us to take it down,” the youth remarked. Despite the youth being at the 8th Stage himself, he wasn’t wrong to ask for help. Cultivators can’t defeat Deviant Beasts at the same Stage, relying only on strength. At the same Stage, the Deviant Beast will always be stronger. However, humans were given superior intelligence to offset this disadvantage. This is the intricate balance created by Spiritual Haven. Of course, there’s an exception to every rule.
“I agree,” Yu Nanhao nodded. “We need to go over a plan. Brute-forcing this won’t work.”
“How long do we have to complete this quest?” Fang Mingkong asked.
“Not much,” Yu Nanhao raised two fingers. “Two days.”
“That’s not enough,” the youth frowned.
“There’s nothing we can do to help. We’re not in a position to negotiate with the Myriad Miscellanies Merchant Troupe. The guild could’ve if the commission was proven to be unable to be completed within the given time limit but unfortunately….”
The youth sighed and held his head. Fang Mingkong wrinkled her nose and fell into deep thought.
“Alright, let’s get to the planning. We need ideas, guys.”
“What about picking them off one by one?” the youth proposed. “We just need to kill three to finish up.”
Yu Nanhao agreed, “That could work. The wolves go out to catch prey; we should split up and ambush them one by one. No need to bother the alpha.”
“Let’s go with that,” Fang Mingkong gripped her chains.
“Alright, pick your prey and separate. I’ll take the wolf going north.”
Fang Mingkong chose second, “I’ll take the female going west.”
“I’ll take the one going east,” the youth chose last. “And before you go, give me another monkey corpse from my share.”
“Alright,” Yu Nanhao looked at the two and said, “We’ll meet up here again.”
“Got it,” the other two nodded.
“Then go.” The three disappeared from the place.
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Sniff, sniff!
A lone Firetear Wolf sniffed at the tree. There were some smudges of blood on it, which curiously smelt like that of Herb-shifting Monkeys and something more subtle, something unfamiliar. Wondering where the monkey was now, the wolf followed its nose. A bit further away was another smidgen of blood and some more after that, another.
The wolf’s eyes lit up. Maybe the monkey was more wounded than he thought; it must be near death with all the blood it’s lost. Why would a Herb-shifting Monkey, which usually lived in packs, be here, or what wounded it - the wolf did not even ponder such questions.
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Relying on its nose and the occasional blood trail, it finally found its prey. It was long dead, leaning against a tree. The wolf carefully trotted forward; there was nothing around. Looking at the meaty monkey, its eyes flashed with greed. The alpha wouldn’t mind if he had a little snack now, would he? Besides, what the alpha doesn’t know, wouldn’t hurt him.
With such thoughts in mind, the wolf advanced. Its maw opened, drool, and saliva dripped down. It sniffed at the monkey before biting down. There it was again, that unfamiliar aroma. But with the monkey in its mouth, it didn’t care. As it was tearing the monkey’s flesh with its teeth, a sharp whistling came from the east, and everything went dark.
The youth climbed down the tree and slung his bow around his shoulders. He pulled the arrow out of the wolf’s head and flicked it; the blood on the tip cleared. He then put the arrow back in his quiver.
“Man, do I love using the bow!” the youth exclaimed happily. He took out one of his daggers and began to saw off the wolf’s claws.
“That’s going to come back and bite you in the ass,” Jian Gong suddenly said.
“Yeah, yeah, I know. I should get more hand-to-hand combat experience,” he sighed. Thinking for a bit, he continued, “…I should really enter a sect.”
“I wouldn’t recommend that.”
“Hmm, why not?” the youth frowned.
“You have the Myriad Elements Spirit Root and Perfect Harmony Body, right? What do you think the sects will do if they see you can use all the elements?”
“Ah, right….” The youth had never forgotten the malice of humanity. Envy, anger, jealousy, and malice were always going to be the number one threat he’d have to face.
“Exactly. This entire situation is like Pascal’s Wager, especially for someone who has things others will covet. Sure there might be someone who values your talents and wishes to nourish you. But some people envy your talents and wish to harm you. If you come across the former, your situation becomes marginally better than before. But if it’s the latter, you lose everything.”
“Then, as long as I have this Spirit Root and Constitution, I can’t join any sect?”
Jian Gong shook his head and smiled bitterly, “Oh no, only the Spirit Root. As it stands, no one can test the Perfect Harmony Body, and even if they could, it would only be a problem if the same guy had the….”
“…the Myriad Elements Spirit Root.” The youth stopped moving his hands and looked at the sky above. After a moment, he asked, “In the cave, when you said that both my Spirit Roots and Constitution were one of the best there is, you were being subjective, weren’t you?”
“…yes, they’re only the best in tandem with one another. I reckon that previously my explanation of the Perfect Harmony Body was a bit lacking. So I’ll explain it better now.” Jian Gong took a deep breath and continued, “Basically, the greatest benefit of your constitution is to neglect – is that the right word – no, disregard nullification or rejection.”
“So, uh, any girl will just accept if I confessed to them?”
“No, dumbass. Ugh, right, there are ten elements. But within these ten elements, some elements nullify others. Kind of like rock paper scissors. The core five elements are fire, water, earth, wood, and metal, while the other five are variant/transcendent elements depending on where you live. So, water kills fire; fire kills metal; metal kills wood, wood kills earth, and earth kills water. And the variant elements are another can of worms where some of them have no weaknesses except themselves and each other, namely time and space. While lightning is nullified by earth, and ice is just water but cold.” After saying all that, Jian Gong took a deep breath. He took out the wooden zanzi[1] from his hair. His long black hair cascaded down his waist. He took out a red guan[2] and bound his long hair in a ponytail.
He continued to say, “Wind… it’s special. It’s very versatile. Except for time and space, it can either be nullified by every other element or complement and boost their powers if used correctly.”
“Get to the point.”
“I am, I am. Basically, your constitution allows you to freely use these elements regardless of the nullification rules. And Qi flows exceptionally well through your body. T-That’s about it.”
“W-Wait, you’re telling me if I did not have this constitution, I’d be next to useless right now? I can access every element with my spirit root, but I needed this exact constitution to use them properly. So, I am almost a good ‘jack of trades,’ but without it, I would’ve been a shittier ‘master of one.’” The youth remembered that Jian Gong said that even though he could access all the elements, the degree he could access each of them was similar to what a cultivator with a high-grade spirit root could harness.
“Yeah, you’re right.”
“So, the only reason I’m not a useless piece of trash is that I happened to possess this kid’s body…?”
“Well, I wouldn’t be that harsh, but yeah.”
“So, I should thank my stars, right?” The youth got up and brandished his dagger. “Fuck it then-” he swung the dagger and severed the paws of the wolf, “-no use crying over unspilt milk.” He packed the paws and the claws he had cut earlier and went back to where he and his teammates agreed to meet.