Chapter 15: The Evolution of Cultivation and Gossips

In the end, the choice fell on a forest where the Qi was a little denser. Memory even splurged and produced a secluded clearing in the middle of a dense and very prickly shrubbery. How Yee Rhys had gotten there the last time was not imprinted in his memory. But he remembered how the Lady had sent him back to his home town by air, sincerely wondering aloud how he had managed to find such thickets in the middle of a well kept forest.

The bushes were in place. The way inside was found at the fifth attempt. Having calmed down, he closed his eyes and meditated.

The morning came with warm sunlight and birds' singing. After stretching until his bones crunched, Yee Rhys noted that his body was numb from the night and his overall condition was suspiciously lethargic. The effect of psychological lack of sleep combined with vigor from the absorbed Qi. The body is not ready for such an abrupt lack of sleep.

And the tournament was two weeks away. Something told him that the Lady would not be interested in excuses, even if they were three times correct and logical.

But it was better to find time for sleep. The energy of the body can be replenished with Qi, but the mental energy is better the old-fashioned way, with sound sleep. Even though due to his renewed body he will be able to manage without a sleep for a couple of days, but it is better not to go to extremes.

After adjusting his plans and doing some light warming up, Yee Rhys went to the canteen. At breakfast an unpleasant surprise was discovered; the gossip about yesterday's incident had evolved, and by breakfast there were already two girls; the Untouchable had raped first girl right in the house, and the second one he had caught up in the street. The appetite was quickly gone.

As moral compensation, he managed to arrange in the kitchen to take his lunch with him. This was casual for those who worked far away or for other reasons could not attend lunch. For example, when workers went to build a house or repair a distant facility. Previously, the young man had not taken advantage of this opportunity, for in a blur he could lose things in the middle of the road. And he didn't need to.

Nowadays, Yee Rhys reasoned that there was less competition and denser Qi at his workplace, so it would be better to cultivate there. He would not have returned to the village at all, but he was hungry. No one will carry him food there, and there are no nutritious pills in stock. Alas, he would have to run.

Therefore, having taken a broom from the courtyard, the young man got to the place in the morning chill and in a couple of hours brought everything in a proper form. When he was finished, he meditated and waited for the inspection.

The checker turned out to be a man in his forties and with five wisps of Qi. After a quick run through the area and making a note in the jade slip, he went about his business. Not a single word was said during the entire inspection. Apparently, the employee also understood that it was all for a tick and would not last long.

Yee Rhys calmly analyzed the level of cultivation achieved. The Qi was still lumpy and unevenly distributed along the meridians. The amount of it suggested that at the current rate he would manage this in seven days. Although the first day could be counted as two normal days; after all, the Grand Elder's residence's Qi was much denser than in the outskirts of the sect.

When he returned to the village in the evening, the young man found that there were already three disgraced maidens; the third had crawled out of the crowd and attacked the troublemaker with her fists, for which she was laid out on the ground there, next to the previous victim.

After chewing a piece of food stuck in his throat, Yee Rhys climbed back into the impenetrable bushes and slept for about six hours, devoting the rest of the time to cultivation.

Breakfast brought shocking news: the third girl had turned into a handsome gay-boy during the night.

By evening, someone finally noticed the disappearance of the Untouchable. Most did not pay any attention to this, logically assuming that he was once again punished, just now for rape. A minority showed great imagination and added an ending to the love epic of Untouchable, according to which, having drunk the blood of the last victim, he turned into a red-eyed ghost and with angry laughter flew away to the women's bath.

At this passage, the piece of food stood in the young man's throat steadily and for a long time.

***

Five more days flew by unnoticed and on the sixth day, Yee Rhys succeeded in gathering the Qi and condensing it into a wisp.

He was satisfied that he had done well and so he slowly went to dinner. The tournament was still ten days away, which should be enough time to master a few combat skills and demonstrate decent fighting efficiency.

It was not even worth dreaming of winning. In the Outer Sect, disciples of the Wisp Creation Sphere were gathered. There were a total of seven levels in the sphere, corresponding to the number of wisps created. Individual geniuses could create an eighth wisp. Rare super-geniuses could create a ninth. Theoretically there was even a tenth wisp, but it was last reached by legendary figures thousands of years ago. Each additional wisp gave enormous advantages in the future, allowing for a stronger foundation and increased combat effectiveness.

Now Yee Rhys could defeat most of the students of one wisp and the middle ones of two wisps. With the support of his body, he could even take a swing at the weak cultivators of three wisps. The geniuses of four wisps and above were beyond him, even with the difference in experience.

After dinner, contrary to usual, the young man returned to his old courtyard, retrieved a hidden scroll from the house, and sat down to wait. Those who reached the first wisp were usually transferred to the Outer Sect within twenty-four hours. But in his case, one could expect surprises.

Yee Rhys wasn't worried about the very fact of the transfer. If he was still alive, it meant that the patrons still had hopes for him. And they would not interfere with the cultivation process. After all, the Lady had tolerated it when he blatanly sat down to cultivate right in the middle of her house. Frankly, the young man himself didn't expect to get away with it.

The Lady appeared toward nightfall. She floated out of the shadows of the night and descended smoothly into the courtyard, elegantly touching the ground with her shoes.

Yee Rhys stopped cultivating. Got up.

- Do you hate me? - Suddenly Dra Jae asked.

He had a feeling of déjà vu.

- No. - He answered calmly.

- Why? - The Beauty looked up at him with dark eyes.

They are surely related.

- You said yourself that if one could not even escape, then you are to blame for your own weakness. I couldn't. And I am weak. - Yee Rhys' voice was steady and dry. The truth was closer to him than the veil of illusion.

- You are interesting. - She tilted her head to the side playfully. - You have already condensed the first wisp, I see. Eight days, eh? That's not a bad result. - He didn't say anything.

- Give me your hand. - Abruptly the Elder commanded.

Yee Rhys unhesitatingly held out his hand.

- Seven beads. - The beauty touched with her slender fingers to his wrist, sending a drop of Qi inside. - Very good. Hmm, Air element.

- That's where Air is supposed to be. - The young man said calmly.

- Not necessarily. - The Lady smiled cheerfully. - The Seven Gems technique has variations. Sometimes another element is condensed on the first wisp. It means the cultivator has a strong predisposition to that element. But since you have Air, either your element is also Air, or you don't have a pronounced element.

Yee Rhys frowned a little. It looked like he'd just been unobtrusively checked for any secrets. And who knows how many more "random" tests the Elder had.

- Okay. You met the prerequisite for joining the Outer Sect. And you even have eleven days left until the Beginner Ranking Tournament. Here you go.

A bag fell into the boy's hands. The simplest and cheapest spatial bag with one cubic meter of space. Inputing his Qi into it, he found an Outer Sect disciple uniform and five different jade slips inside.

- This? - Yee Rhys frowned as he took out the slips. He recognized the name slip at once and put it back. The others he could not identify at once.