97 Building Foundations

At dawn, Jack got up and got himself ready for morning practice. He decided to take over Bai Maolong's duties until the latter recovered.

When the company gathered up, he led them in warming up exercises for half an hour before he arranged them in pairs and instructed them in the moves they should practice for the day.

He left Kuang Bindun in charge of supervising and walked over to where Xu Weifa prepared their breakfast.

Jack spotted the absence of Zhu Lielei right at the beginning of the practice, but he didn't want to go look for her so he waited for her to exit her house together with Xu Weifa.

"Morning Weifa, how are things?" He asked when he stopped next to her and took a glance at the cooking food.

Xu Weifa smiled at him while she slapped his hand away from the sliced up dry meat she prepared on the side for the pot.

She returned back to stirring the pot and said "Things are as fine as they could be. Boli and the boys are driving me crazy, but I can't complain." With a glance to the side at Jack, she added "Any chance of finding them some work soon?"

Jack nodded his head and fought the guilt that wanted to show up on his face as he said "Don't worry, I'll visit him in the afternoon and get them off your back."

He glanced at the quiet Zhu Lielei, who stood on the other side of the pot, and asked "Is this one giving your troubles?"

Xu Weifa glanced at Zhu Lielei while an unconscious smile formed on her lips and said "Not any that I can't handle." She looked back at Jack with an annoyed face and asked "Do you intend for just the two of us to take care of these new people you're planning to recruit?"

'Right, I forgot all about it. No wonder that the officers spent most of their time in camp on administration.' Jack thought with chagrin, but he let none of it show on his face.

He gave Xu Weifa a decisive shake of the head and said "Of course not, I'm going to talk with the Haechi Tribe Chief after practice. One of the things we'll talk about is finding people to help you out." When he saw her narrowing her eyes he added "Naturally, you will have the final word with who we take on."

Once Xu Weifa gave a satisfied nod, Jack turned towards Zhu Lielei while his voice turned from his usual speaking tone to his Sergeant's voice and asked "Speaking about practice, why aren't you out there right now?"

Zhu Lielei shook a little and looked up at him through a curtain of ink-black hair. She took a glance at his dark cold eyes before she turned a pleading gaze over to Xu Weifa.

"Why are you looking at her? I asked you a question! Tell me now if you're not serious about becoming a mercenary and I won't bring it up again." Jack snapped and continued to glare at the diminutive girl.

Xu Weifa hesitated for a second before she started "Jack, her days…"

"I know what's going on; I'm more familiar with the smell of blood than most." Jack interrupted Xu Weifa and continued staring at the flushing Zhu Lielei.

A second later, he continued "Do you think that your enemies will care? Would you expect them to stop attacking until you felt better? You either go out there and join the practice or devote yourself to helping Xu Weifa. I am fine with either."

Tears filled Zhu Lielei's eyes as she glanced at the dueling company members before she looked back up at Jack and complained "But, Bai Maolong allowed the other girls to…"

"I don't care! It was my fault that he allowed that. I will talk to him about it after practice. Now, choose." Jack growled.

Zhu Lielei stared up at Jack with embarrassed fury roiling in her eyes for a few seconds before she wiped her unshed tears on her sleeve and ran to report to Kuang Bindun.

While Xu Weifa and Jack watched her go, Xu Weifa whispered "You could have said that in a nicer way."

Jack kept looking at the combatants on the field and responded with "I don't tell you how to make the food; don't tell me how to make soldiers."

Xu Weifa frowned and said "She's just a little girl."

Jack nodded his head and declared "Yes, but she won't be for much longer."

With that, he walked away from the bubbling pot and took control of the company's training once more.

After breakfast, Jack transferred the Haechi Beasts into the plain Star Bag that old Long held and took it from him. He transferred all the scrolls back to the light blue Star Bag and gave it to Yin Ping to finish his sorting.

He left Shi Furui in control of the camp and followed Tong Huakun's instructions towards the house where the Haechi beasts would get worked on.

It stood on the other side of the town's outskirts and had a large field in front of it where a number of various leathers lay stretched out on large flat rocks.

Jack looked around and saw no one so he called out "Is there anybody here?" When no one answered, he walked up to the house and shouted again, with the same results.

Just as he thought about entering the house, a familiar voice yelled from behind him "Don't go in there, boy. No one's there."

Jack jumped and turned around to see the burly Elder with the white ponytail walking towards him. He cocked an eyebrow and shouted back "I am supposed to hand over the Haechi beasts to someone here, Elder. Do you know where they went?"

The old giant walked over to Jack and loomed over him. He chuckled at Jack's confused expression for a couple of seconds and said "This is my, old Ran's, workshop. I didn't expect you to come so early so I slept in."

Jack looked at all the processed hides in the field and gave the large man a second look. His huge tattooed hands looked rough, but Jack felt sure that they held a surprising nimbleness.

He clasped hands in polite greeting at the Elder and asked "Elder Ran, can you rush the removal and preparation for transport of the best quality hide? I need it as soon as possible."

Elder Ran studied Jack for a few seconds before he said "I can do it by tomorrow morning if I work through the night. Should I assume this is important for this scheme of yours?"

Jack nodded his head and answered "Indeed, we need a sample of our product so we can establish a sales route."

Elder Ran's brows furrowed and he said "That's too much information for me. I just need to know that it will help the Tribe. Now, get them out of that Bag of yours and let me take a look at them."

Jack complied and started taking the Haechi beasts out one by one.

Half an hour later, he left the best beast with Elder Ran and took the others back so they wouldn't rot. Elder Ran promised that he would send someone to get Jack when he prepared the hide.

His next stop took him to the Chief's house.

Pan Xinfa wanted to know every step of Jack's plan to its smallest detail. Jack had to omit some things and make up others on the fly, and after two hours he finished telling a plan to the Haechi Chief. Whether it was the plan Jack intended to follow was another question.

After he answered all of Pan Xinfa's questions, Jack asked him about the recruitment drive, getting people to help Xu Weifa, and for the permission of building their own houses.

Once they got that sorted out, they had to iron out the schedule for the upcoming hunts and when the Immortals' Lament would start accompanying the Haechi caravans on their trips.

Jack didn't want to move anywhere until they knew what the White River family would do and until old Long returned, and Pan Xinfa wanted them to start immediately. They butted heads for a while, but Jack didn't want to back away and in the end, Pan Xinfa agreed when Jack convinced him that he would teach the new recruits personally while he stayed in the Tribe.

He left the Chief's house in the afternoon and returned to the Immortals' Lament.

Once he greeted the sentries, he walked over to the house in which Tan Boli's family and Zhu Lielei lived. After announcing himself, Xu Weifa walked out and asked "How can I help you?"

Jack ignored the cold tone and said "Please call Tan Boli out."

He saw a flash of excitement in Xu Weifa's eyes as she nodded and walked back into the house.

A couple seconds later, Tan Boli almost ran out and greeted Jack with clasped hands while he asked "How can I help you, Si… Jack?"

Jack couldn't hide the smile from his face when he said "I have arranged for builders to come here tomorrow and help us build our own houses and buildings. The first thing I want built is a forge for you and your sons. Can the three of you help me with instructing the builders on how it should all look?"

A grin almost split Tan Boli's face in two before he started nodding his head and saying "Of course, of course, we will be honored to help in any way we can!" After he calmed down a little, he added "We will need some wood for making molds for metalwork, Jack. Can you get that for us?"

Jack thought for a second and answered "Make a list of everything you need by tomorrow morning and I will give it to old Long. He's going on a trip soon and will arrange for our future trading."

Tan Boli gave a solemn nod and assured Jack that they would have everything ready.

Jack could hear soft whispers exchanged between Xu Weifa and Zhu Lielei in the house ever since he arrived, but he intentionally ignored it and allowed them their privacy.

After telling Tan Boli to find him tomorrow when the builders come, Jack left their house and walked over to his own. He called all the grade four cultivators from the company to join him, even the injured Bai Maolong.

When everyone gathered in front of the house, he asked them to demonstrate their Air Blast spell.

From the demonstrations, he sent everyone away except for Shi Furui, Yin Ping, Bai Maolong, and Ma Ruiman.

Jack looked at the expectant eyes of his four friends, switched over to English, and said "I think that you have enough control over your spirit energy to learn the Beast Recovery Method."

Smiles spread across the four's faces, but they knew that they shouldn't interrupt Jack so they remained quiet and listened.

Jack raised his right hand in front of him so everyone could see and extended one thread of spirit energy out of his index finger. The thread made a loop from the finger and connected to a visible blood vessel on his hand.

"You need to connect a thread of spirit energy to one of your blood vessels inside of your body and slowly imbue your blood. The amount of spirit energy you're allowed to imbue depends on the blood vessel and your own body constitution." He explained as he continuously imbued the blood running through his hand more and more.

Jack looked up at his students and continued "We will start with imbuing a bit of spirit energy into a blood vessel near the skin just in case something goes wrong. For general healing, it's best to imbue the blood going through your aorta, but for localized healing, the blood vessels around the wound work best."

When he finished his explanation he stopped imbuing his blood and walked up to Shi Furui to say "You try it first."

Shi Furui nodded his head and followed Jack's example. After a minute of continuous imbuement and no problems, Jack nodded his head in approval and moved over to Yin Ping.

A minute later, he moved over to Bai Maolong and then to Ma Ruiman.

Just when he started feeling smug about his teaching capabilities, Bai Maolong let out a hiss of pain and a soft *pop* sounded out.

Jack's head snapped over to Bai Maolong and he saw blood flowing from a ruptured blood vessel on his hand.

Everyone stopped their practice and Shi Furui quickly treated Bai Maolong's wound.

When he finished, Jack switched back to the local language and asked "What happened?"

Bai Maolong frowned down at his bandaged right hand and answered "I think I imbued too much spirit energy at once." He looked up at Jack and added "I think that I almost got it, let me try again."

Jack's brow furrowed, but he nodded his head and watched a strand of spirit energy exit Bai Maolong's injured left hand and enter a blood vessel.

They all watched this scene for a couple of minutes, and just when they thought that everything would turn out all right, Bai Maolong let out a groan as the blood vessel he imbued burst out in a small fountain of blood.

Shi Furui clicked his tongue and went to bandage the new wound while Jack studied Bai Maolong's frustrated face for a few seconds and declared "Maolong, you are forbidden to try the Beast Recovery Method for five days. You will practice your spirit energy control while you wait for your wounds to heal and try it again later."

Bai Maolong looked up at Jack with wide eyes and asked "What? Wait, Jack, I can get this. Just let me try again."

Jack's shook his head and said "You are too eager to get better and aren't concentrating. The Beast Recovery Method is too dangerous to do without having your full attention on it."

When he saw a hint of defiance in Bai Maolong's eyes, Jack's face darkened and he added "I know how fast it heals the body, so if I see that you healed before schedule I will never teach you the Chaotic Hawk Assault. Do you understand?"

Bai Maolong's face blanched, and he could only nod his head in acceptance. When Shi Furui finished his bandaging, Jack sent Bai Maolong back to his house and continued teaching the rest.

'We might not have enough time for everything I want to do, but we'll make it work, somehow.' He thought as he watched the sunset and the Immortals' Lament getting ready for their evening's language lessons.