75 Bloody Hands

Jack spent the next couple of days checking the progress of his men's cultivation and helping them out during the day. During the nights he searched for information on the strange material that the White River Outpost was made out of.

Kuang Bindun had a basic understanding of the Air Blast spell. He could form it, but it would still take him a lot of practice to have it ready for combat. During the trip up to the White River Outpost, and his stay in it, he didn't have much time to practice since he had to work on teaching English to everyone else.

Shi Furui progressed more on the Air Blast spell than Kuang Bindun, but he still couldn't use it with a cylinder. The trip and his daily tasks kept him away from his studies. He tried to make up for it at night, but he still had some ways to go.

Out of the entire company, only Yin Ping mastered the Air Blast spell enough for true use in combat. He even had some ideas that surprised Jack and made him rethink his usage of the spell. Unlike the others, he only had to focus on the scrolls from the stolen library and sort them. Once Jack took the light blue Star Bag with him to the White River Outpost, he had time on his hands to practice what he read about in the scrolls.

Bai Maolong learned the Air Blast spell well enough, but he didn't go out of his way to practice its use too much. He only used it to test out the control of his spirit energy when he wanted to try something new.

As soon as they returned to the company's camp he begged Jack to teach him the Chaotic Hawk Assault technique. Jack had Bai Maolong reading up on the sigils used in it during the trip and while they had time to waste in the White River Outpost, but he didn't want to teach it to Bai Maolong yet until he felt sure that Bai Maolong understood everything.

Ma Ruiman surprised Jack the most with his usage of the Air Blast spell which almost rivaled Yin Ping's. He usually behaved like a wastrel when around other people, but they all knew that he used each second of free time to practice and cultivate.

The rest of the older members of the Immortals' Lament found themselves stuck at the bottleneck for grade four. They only needed time for their dantians to adjust to the coming breakthrough. Xian Kuotian even informed Jack that he felt like he could break through at any moment.

What surprised Jack was that the new recruits didn't mind going to the other side of the White River. At first, he thought they wouldn't want to leave their homeland, but they looked at it as an exciting adventure. He could only shake his head at the folly of youth.

The recruits had their stamina and endurance bolstered a lot by the trek towards White River Outpost and their daily training. Bai Maolong even started teaching them some basic fighting techniques other than normal punches and kicks.

Kuang Bindun reported that they learned English well enough; but that they still needed at least half a year to start learning Jack's cultivating technique. Jack didn't feel any rush and just instructed his friend to take all the time he needed.

Old Long's three former assistants at first felt a bit annoyed that they had to pass the basic training with the rest of the rookies, but when each of Jack's original Gravediggers wiped the floor with them in duels they shut they mouth and did everything required of them.

Tan Boli and his two sons helped his wife, Xu Weifa, with her chores around the camp because they didn't want to feel useless. When Jack saw that they wanted something to do, he assured them that they would have more than enough work to make them busy for a long time on the other side of the White River.

Xu Weifa reported that Zhu Lielei still had some attitude problems, but that she did everything that Xu Weifa told her to do and still managed to attend the morning training and evening English lessons.

Jack felt a little surprised that she didn't give up on those by now, but he didn't tell her anything and just left her to figure out what she wanted to do for herself.

After the thorough review of the Immortals' Lament, Jack decided that he had to make the new recruits understand what they got themselves into. He didn't mind their enthusiasm, but he didn't want them breaking once people started dying and body parts started flying around them.

On the third morning, just as Bai Maolong started the morning training exercises, he went out to the outskirts of the hut town.

An hour later, he returned and joined in with the rest of the training.

Once Bai Maolong declared that they finished, Jack stopped them from going to the huts to rest and called every fighting member of the Immortals' Lament over to the front of his hut.

He went in, stripped down to his underwear, tied his Star Bag to his waist, and carried out a shabby table that looked like someone made it out of driftwood. With a loud squeak from the table, Jack placed it down in front of everyone and looked at their confused faces.

Some of the older members had their suspicions on what Jack was up to, but all of the rookies only looked a little confused at his appearance and interested in what he wanted to show them.

"From today, until the day we have to leave, we will resume with training that all of the older members of the Immortals' Lament went through." Jack declared while looking the rookies in the eyes. He spotted Zhu Lielei among them, but he hardened his heart and placed a hand into his Star Bag.

It took him a few seconds of concentration to envelop the fresh corpse in his Star Bag and to drag it out onto the table with a *bang*.

When the thin man slammed onto the table not one of the rookies remained calm. Most of them took a step back and exclaimed some kind of local curse, a few covered their mouths and noses, and one covered her eyes. All of them had seen dead people before, but having an emaciated naked corpse appear out of nothing in front of you would surprise anyone,

Jack gave them a few seconds to come to grips with what just happened before he pointed at the dead man and said "This is a corpse." When the rookies gave him strange looks, he continued "You will see and make many more of them in the future, so take a good look at it while you still have the time to."

That removed the passive aggressive rolls of the eyes that some of them threatened to give him.

Jack kept quiet for a few seconds so his sentence could sink in and then continued "I will show you the best places to hit a cultivator to disable or kill him. After that, I will show you how our bodies look from the inside and the things we use to absorb and move spirit energy around."

He gave them another few seconds to understand what that really meant before he concluded "We will all have to kill in the future. Some or all of us might die. If you don't think you can handle that, tell me now and I will find a caravan to take you back home at my expense."

This time he looked every rookie in the eyes until he saw the resolve to stay shining in them. Once he convinced himself that everyone here wanted to be here, he took out his knife and started his bloody work.

Almost all of the rookies had to run to the side to vomit at one point of his demonstration. When that happened, Jack would stop right away and wait for them to return. He didn't want them to miss anything because they only had a few precious days to learn as much as they could.

Out of all of the rookies, only two of the older teens and Zhu Lielei didn't have to run to the side to vomit. They had pale faces that threatened that they would hurl at any moment, but they managed to hold it in.

Jack gave them an approving nod and instructed everyone to go wash up before the midday meal. He looked down at the mutilated corpse lying on the table in front of him for a few seconds before he stored it back in his Star Bag, one piece at a time.

He thought about calling for Xu Weifa to clean the table for a second, but he discarded that idea when he remembered how she and her family hid in one of the huts once he started his lesson.

Even old Long could only stay for a few minutes before he left for the hut town proper to find some supplies he could exchange for the remaining coin they had.

Jack went up to Shi Furui and told him to get a few rookies to wash the table, while he went to the edge of the White River's canyon and threw the parts of the dead body into the river.

As he did, he recalled that it only took him ten minutes to find a body in the streets of the hut town. It took him an hour to come back to the camp because he took time to look for the family and friends of the dead man. When he couldn't find anyone he decided to take him and make some use out of his death. He saw a few more dead bodies in the streets while he searched and didn't doubt that they would have class materials in their reminding days here.

Jack froze as he threw a skinless foot into the White River and looked down at his bloody hands. 'Are people now materials to me? Am I becoming a true cultivator, or is this just something I must do to stay alive?' He thought; after a few minutes of staring at his hands, he didn't find an answer. With a sigh, he took out another piece of the dead man and threw it into the churning river.

When he returned and washed up, Xu Weifa had the midday meal ready. The entire camp's mood seemed subdued after Jack's lesson. None of the older members seemed to mind, but they tended to remain drawn back into themselves if no one talked to them, so without the enthusiasm of the rookies the meal passed in a sober atmosphere.

Once Jack finished eating he went back into his hut to continue his search for the material that the White River Outpost was built out of.

To his surprise, Xu Weifa followed him to the room he shared with Yin Ping for their research. When she entered, she glanced at Yin Ping, but didn't seem to mind as she looked at Jack, squared her shoulders, and said "Please stop doing what you did this morning."

Jack's face remained calm as he looked into her eyes and responded with "I will not. They have to know these things. Not one of my men will die because they didn't know where and how to stab an enemy; or through which meridians they should push their spirit energy through for best effect."

Xu Weifa looked a little surprised at Jack's calm demeanor and hesitated for a second before her shoulders slumped and slight pain shone in her eyes as she asked "Can you at least forbid Zhu Lielei from attending those... lessons?"

Jack's brows rose in surprise at the emotions he saw in her eyes and he thought 'Did they get this close already?' After a second of additional thought, he realized that Xu Weifa only had two sons and she must have enjoyed teaching all that she knew to the little girl.

He blinked his eyes as he focused back on Xu Weifa and said "I will not force her to do what she doesn't want to, nor will I forbid her from doing something that she does want to. You can talk to her and ask her not to come, but I will not stand in her way."

Xu Weifa looked a little disappointed, but she could only bow her head in acceptance of Jack's decision and let herself out.

Jack gave Yin Ping a look to see if he had anything to say, but the latter only gave him a shrug and continued reading the scroll in his hands.

On the next day, Zhu Lielei had a determined look in her eyes as she watched Jack's bloody lesson. Jack had seen Xu Weifa giving her a disapproving look earlier before she closed herself in her hut and could only continue with his lesson without getting involved in their matters.

The next few days flew by in a blur of training, blood, and study for Jack.

On the tenth day of Jack's return from White River Outpost, the Immortals' Lament had their last breakfast in their temporary camp on the edge of the hut town.

Once everyone finished eating and getting all of their things packed, Jack looked at his gathered people, circulated spirit energy through the meridians in his lungs and vocal chords, and ordered "Move out towards the golden bridge!"