Night had befallen the Mystic River Sect. The bright sun had fully descended, replaced by the twinkling stars in the sky. Most of the disciples within the sect’s lower reaches had retired to their residences for the night, closing themselves in for nightly cultivation after a long day of work or study. Very few were out and about, performing nightly activities for whatever reason.
Among these few was Lin Siyuan. He was in the Mystic River sect’s basic relic smithing classroom, sitting cross-legged on the floor in front of a single cultivation cushion at the very front of the classroom. Sitting on that cultivation cushion was his former sensei.
“I see. Hm, I wonder how I did not anticipate this problem arising when I enrolled you into the advanced?”
The man sitting on the cushion, Siyuan’s former sensei of the basic relic smithing class, hummed to himself in thought. His eyes were closed, his hands on his knees. The air around was slightly illusory, a sign of the ambient qi being sucked into his body. Although he was in the middle of his cultivation, he still maintained conversation with Siyuan.
“Perhaps my old age is already getting to me, not being able to see such an obvious outcome,” he says. “I should have told you to breakthrough to Foundation Establishment first. Although, I still believe that would have ended up with you being left behind by the rest of the advanced class…”
“Sensei, please, I implore you to help this junior out,” Siyuan said. He sounded to be on the verge of begging. “I don’t want to burden my new teacher so soon after meeting her. It will leave me with an uncomfortable feeling that I don’t want to have to dwell with. Plus, it would only do harm to my reputation if word gets out that the so-called best relic smith in the lower reaches fell so behind so quickly! Plus, You’re in the Aura Manifestation Realm, almost in the Soul Spirit Manifestation Realm. Surely you must know some kind of method?”
“Um, I don’t think that is the main reason why you should be so concerned, but at least your heart is somewhat in the right place,” Siyuan’s sensei says, amused. “Besides, you’ve been to the upper reaches already. All of the young people up there are already in the Aura Manifestation realm. Eventually, you’ll be up here as well when you’re their age. Meanwhile, I am this old already and I haven’t even broken through into the Soul Spirit Manifestation realm yet. Even some of my disciples are more powerful than me. If I had a method to give you, I would have already used it for myself.”
Siyuan just sighed.
“So if you want to hasten your cultivation, you’ll have to do it the conventional way,” the teacher says with a light shrug. “Either find and purchase a cultivation pill…”
“Ha, as if,” Siyuan said with a scoff. “With how expensive those things are I wouldn’t be able to afford more than one or two even if I slaved away for the rest of my life…”
“...or you could begin taking on beast hunting bounties,” the teacher said. “And hope you can find something that will help you hasten your cultivation.”
Beast hunting was acknowledged to be the most commonly performed activity for cultivators. This was because everyone could do it. Both cultivators who had no other special skills such as alchemy or medicine and cultivators who did specialize in some other unique skill. Beasts were basically animals that, just as humans would, laid foundation and became “cultivators.” As a result, however, their own animal instincts would also rise to a supernatural level and the animal would ultimately lose control of them, leading to them usually being very aggressive towards everything that isn’t family. Once those two conditions were fulfilled, then the animal would be classified as a beast.
Beasts were an extremely troublesome existence. They were extremely destructive, no matter what animal the beast had been produced from. No matter how hard the cultivation sects of the land tried, their combined efforts were barely enough to keep the rate at which they appeared under control, especially since it was very difficult, almost impossible, to predict just when and where one would appear. Thus, cultivators put all their efforts into developing methods to find them rather than trying to sniff out animals that are about to lay foundation. And when one did appear, specialists would try their best to find them as soon as possible.
As a result, beast bounty offices were in very high demand. The bounty hunters themselves were in even higher demand despite how many there were, making beast bounty hunters the most popular cultivator occupation by far.
The solution seemed fairly simple and very matter-of-fact. Although Siyuan wasn’t a beast bounty hunter, he could, at any time, just waltz over to the sect’s lower reaches’s beast bounty hunting office and pick one off of a mountain of available bounties to choose from. And it wasn’t like he couldn’t find some easy ones to do. He may not be actively training in combat, but lower level beasts, especially ones that had very recently laid foundation, may possess power levels similar to his Qi Manifestation realm, but they weren’t his match.
There was a bit of a problem with this plan, however.
“Well if I’m going to be taking on beast hunting bounties just to find cultivation resources, I’d have to find a beast with a core,” Siyuan says. “Only tier 3 beasts and above have beast cores. I am incapable of taking on a tier 3 beast at my current stage. And even if I somehow find a way to take one down, since my innate elemental affinity is metal, it’d have to specifically be an Earth-elemental beast core! This whole plan sounds very unviable.”
Every living thing is born with an elemental affinity, whether it be animal or human. That elemental affinity just doesn’t surface until one lays foundation and becomes a cultivator. When it does, it pretty much determines what the cultivator will be specialized in and what technique he will be capable of practicing.
Lin Siyuan himself was born with an affinity to the metal element, an affinity which the occupation of relic smithing heavily favored. Not only that, his affinity was strong, noticeably stronger than the average cultivator’s. Aside from playing a small part in his success as a relic smith, he was capable of using certain techniques that average metal-element cultivators weren’t capable of using. Although he did barely more than the required basic combat training, he was confident he could hold his own against cultivators of the same realm as him.
Beasts “cultivated” just like humans did, absorbing the ambient qi of their environment in order to advance. However, their advancement was different, as they cultivated step by step rather than jumping from one realm to the other like humans. Thus, cultivators used a tier system to classify their strength. Tier 1 and 2 beasts both fell within the Qi Manifestation realm, but once a beast becomes a Tier 3, it would become powerful enough to contend with cultivators in the Foundation Establishment realm, a level of power that Siyuan had almost no confidence he could contend with. That was the sole reason why Siyuan didn’t find beast bounty hunting to be viable for his predicament.
“You don’t necessarily need a beast core,” his sensei says. “A beast’s body, just like a cultivator’s, is ripe with qi. Meat from a tier 1 or tier 2 beast is still potent with qi, if not so much in comparison to a beast core. Their organs especially. You’ll need to learn how to cook them, but it’s not at all difficult. This comes with the plus that you can eat the meat of any beast and still reap the same benefit regardless of the beast’s original elemental affinity. You might even find a body part of good quality to use as a core for a relic in the future.”
One of Siyuan’s eyebrows rose. That was the first time that he had ever heard of this.
“Wait, really?” he asked.
“Erm, yes?” Siyuan’s sensei said. The hint of an amused smile tugged at the corner of his lips. “That is a very basic fact that everybody knows. You probably didn’t pay attention during beginner battle theory, but your only friend is a battle cultivator, isn’t he? He definitely brought it up at least once.”
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“Luo Han? He probably did, but almost everything he says goes in through one ear then out the other,” Siyuan says.
Siyuan’s sensei raised an eyebrow at that, his eyes still closed. He seemed slightly amused.
“Um, you know that Luo Han is…the strongest battle cultivator in the lower reaches?” he asked. “By far? The second highest ranked battle cultivator in the lower reaches isn’t even worthy of dusting his shoes. It’s like how you are the best relic smith in the lower reaches by far, even before you essentially made yourself the best relic smith in history. The only reason he’s even in the lower reaches is because he’s still in the Qi Manifestation realm.”
It was true. Just like how Siyuan who, in his half a year since he laid foundation, became a shining star amongst the beginner relic smiths in the lower reaches, who couldn’t even glow in comparison to him even before he forged himself into a relic, Luo Han had become easily the strongest lower reaches fighter in the Mystic River Sect in the half a year since he laid foundation. He never won an in-sect tournament in the lower reaches, but that was because he was completely restricted from fighting in the Qi Manifestation tournaments and only granted access into the Foundation Establishment ones. Even then, he was a match for even Foundation Establishment cultivators, only being beaten by the strongest Foundation Establishment cultivators in the sect.
The fact that Siyuan, the best relic smith in the lower reaches, and Luo Han, the strongest battle cultivator in the lower reaches, had a tight smith-warrior connection was purely coincidental, though many other cultivators found that quote comical. It was one that formed before they had acquired their reputations, when Siyuan first offered Luo Han his first, and current, sword relic.
“I know,” Siyuan says. “But he always acts like such a fool that it’s easy to forget. He’s quite lazy, too. Oh, he told me a while ago that he was going to be participating in the Tempered Blades tournament.”
Siyuan’s sensei hummed. He raised a hand, stroking it absentmindedly.
“He should be able to place quite high,” he said. “But that tournament is a gathering of geniuses, and I don’t doubt that there will be some at least on the same level as him there. Did you at least tell him that he would have to place quite high in order to get noticed?”
“That’s exactly what I told him,” Siyuan says, also snorting. “But that’s besides the point.”
Siyuan stands up from his spot on the floor.
“Guess that’s my plan,” Siyuan says. “Go beast bounty hunting tomorrow. Maybe bug Luo Han into letting me join his hunting group. If he plays hard to get, then I’ll just blackmail him into doing it. The only reason he still has that relic of his in the first place is because I’m the one maintaining it for him.”
His sensei snorted slightly.
“Is he still using that relic you gave him?” he asked.
“Ah, yes,” Siyuan says with a shrug. “And he’d not switch it out for something else so readily. If I ever find out that he switches out the relic I risked my life enhancing four times, I will take his sorry life with my own two hands.”
“Well, if you believe you have the capability…”
The older cultivator just laughed as Siyuan prepared to leave the classroom. He clasped his hands and bowed his head towards him.
“Thank you for your advice, sensei.”
“Please, there is no need to be so courteous,” his sensei says with a smile. “I am your sensei after all, it is simply my duty, nothing more to it. Now go, you have quite a big day coming tomorrow.”
“Of course, thank you again, sensei.”
Siyuan stood up from his spot on the floor. He bowed with his hands clasped in front of him before turning and leaving the classroom.
The teacher silently meditated, his eyes still closed as Siyuan left the classroom. Silence descended onto the empty classroom.
As he cultivated in the silence of the night, just as his consciousness could slip into his nascent pool, a smile tugged at the sensei’s lips.
Lin Siyuan and Luo Han.
They simply need just a few more years.
Then they will become reliable cornerstones for the sect elder’s grand operation.
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The night passed by quickly. Lin Siyuan spent the entirety of it, on his cultivation cushion in a meditative stance with his eyes closed, cultivating. He remained in that position, his body as unmoving as a stone as he slowly filled the nascent soul. It was only when the early rays of the morning sun began to shine upon him that he rose from his unconsciousness.
I’ve made good progress, he thought to himself as he slowly stood up from his cushion, his lumbs a bit numb from the long term of inactivity. But yeah, at the rate that I am currently going, I would have to permanently cultivate if I want to just force my way to the Foundation Establishment realm in just a few weeks.
It was early in the morning. Very early, earlier than Siyuan usually awakened from his cultivation. However, he needed to get up earlier than usual, especially today.
Because this was when Luo Han usually got up. Siyuan needed to get to him before he went on a morning hunting trip.
The cultivator quickly tidied himself up before taking out his pendant. He poured some qi into it, sending a quick message to the other cultivator. With that done, he shoved it back into his robe and quickly left his residence, making his way towards the sect’s central dining hall.
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With his speed, it took him several minutes to reach the dining hall. Thankfully, Siyuan wasn’t at all late.
Although it was early in the morning, the dining hall was slightly packed with disciples, conversing and what not as they quickly ate. All of these disciples were beast bounty hunters, eating a quick breakfast before going off to their morning quests.
And sitting at a table near the left side of the hall was Luo Han, furiously scarfing down a bowl of rice with chicken and some spiritual herbs. A couple of the cultivators around his table threw him some curious glances and muttered some near inaudible things, but Luo Han was mostly left alone and unnoticed.
Siyuan sidled up to his table, seating himself in front of Luo Han.
“Erff, Shiyuahn!” Luo Han greeted, his mouth full of food.
The battle cultivator quickly chewed, swallowing the food in a hurry. He gulped down the rest of his meal as quickly as he could. Siyuan couldn’t quite hide the look of slight disgust that imprinted itself onto his features. If Luo Han noticed it, he didn’t heed it. He simply finished his meal before looking back up at him.
“Haha, apologies for that display!” he says with a sheepish laugh. “I overestimated how much time I had before you’d get here. Anyways, you almost never call me over here this early! What’s on your mind?”
“Right, I know you may find this request a bit strange, but,” Siyuan asks. “May I accompany you on your next hunting trip?”
Luo Han’s eyes widened slightly. He blinked a couple times.
“This morning’s?”
“Yes. If possible.”
“Well, sure,” Luo Han says. “I won’t even need to arrange anything since I’m the leader of my current party. I’ll just tell the other members that you’ll be coming along with us.”
“Oh, alright,” Siyuan said.
He couldn’t help but stop and blink a couple times at Luo Han’s nonchalant behavior.
“Um, is it really as easy as that?” he asked. “You don’t need to tell the office that I’m joining your party or anything? Is there nothing to be concerned about a non-battle cultivator going on a hunting trip?”
“No, not really,” Luo Han says. “Unless something very serious happens, those potato sacks won’t really care what happens. Plus, non-battle cultivators going on hunting trips happen more than you’d think. As long as your combat skill is at least more than half decent at, you should be fine. Besides, this morning’s hunt will be easy.”
“Is that so?”
Siyuan was a bit skeptical about that, but if it was as Luo Han said, then all he could really do was accept it. Plus, he felt safe with Luo Han for a very obvious reason.
“With that out of the way, who else is going to come?” Siyuan asks.
“Oh, ahaha, about that…”
Luo Han suddenly chuckled sheepishly. He rubbed the back of his head in a nervous manner. Siyuan tilted his head to the side, quizzical of Luo Han’s behavior. Luo Han opened his mouth to say something, but then closed it after shaking his head a few times. Then, he simply pointed a thumb behind him.
Siyuan tilted his body to the side slightly to see what Luo Han’s thumb was pointed towards.
Or rather, the people he was pointing at. Three people sitting at the table behind Luo Han, eating and talking amongst themselves, completely ignorant of Siyuan’s presence.
He immediately recognized one of the cultivators sitting around that table.
His expression soured.