11 Two Years Later

Largely due to Boss Xiao arranging for his servants to perform the working students' jobs in accordance to the match stakes, the first year at Nuoding Academy passed quickly for Durand. Like in the canon, Tang San had found a job in a local blacksmith shop. Additionally, the school break after the first year had let Tang San discover that his father had left the village. At this point the story diverged. Durand, having also returned to the village to visit Grandpa Jack, had also been witness to Tang San's vulnerable moment. Together with Xiao Wu, the three of them had sworn to be brothers and sisters.

Grandpa Jack had been excited to see Durand. After all, he had regarded Durand as a son after having raised him for so many years. Under his insistent outpour of questions about the spirit master world, Durand spent many hours explaining the many different facts and ways of the spirit master community that he had learned in the last year.

The last year has seen an explosive increase in Durand's spirit power. Most of it was simply spent attending Grandmaster's lectures and cultivating. Compared to Tang San who was also working a blacksmithing job to earn more spirit coins, Durand focused nearly all his time cultivating. As a result, Durand had reached the seventeenth rank by the end of the year, surpassing even Tang San by one rank.

This result had shocked Xiao Wu greatly who had initially been at the same rank as Durand. Now, Durand had surpassed her by two ranks demonstrating how much his dedication and obsessive focus contributed to cultivation results. Tang San too had been greatly surprised by Durand's near manic cultivation. Even Grandmaster, who had initially stressed to his two disciples the importance of cultivating, told Durand he should spend a little time on other things instead of only spending all his time cultivating.

After a year of such crazily cultivating his spirit power, Durand was also a little burnt out. After seeing for his own eyes Tang San's blacksmithing skills, Durand thought to also attempt the craft. Initially, the blacksmiths had been rather welcoming. Durand was tall, athletic, and strong for his age. Moreover, he was a friend of someone as talented as Tang San.

Contrary to Durand's initial eagerness though, he had little interest in the craft. Though he had a chemical engineering background with a basic understanding of metallurgy, Durand felt little interest in the art of forging and could not seem to focus himself into shaping the metal in front of him. Even though he was deemed a potentially decent apprentice blacksmith, he simply could not spend the time focusing on a craft that he had no interest in.

Durand wandered the city seeking a new profession. At first, he had considered pharmacy or alchemy. As these professions were largely associated with medicine Durand had thought his expertise in the medical field to be of great use. However, his initial forays into the fields had shown to him that the medical field in this world and the medical field in his old world was incredibly different. The focus on decocting various herbs and plants for healing practices strayed incredibly far from the biotechnological practices of his previous life. Studying this world's plants and herbs in order to heal others seemed redundant. He already had a healing spirit that could do the same and better with spirit rings. Moreover, the years of required studying would only get him an understanding subpar to Tang San's previous world knowledge.

It seemed impractical to invest his time into a field that would ultimately earn him little in the future. By this time, Durand was nearly ready to give up on finding a profession. He would certainly be more well-rounded if he were to spend a little time learning something other than spirits and cultivation but if he couldn't find something that could be useful in the future, it seemed quite a waste of time.

As he began returning to the academy with a frustrated mood, Durand happened upon a tailor shop where he had a sudden thought. His slightly medical experience had included a brief residency where he had been allowed to practice as a first assistant surgical specialist under supervision. These experiences had showed him that he had three qualities: steady hands, attention to detail, and patience. As it turned out, these qualities were extremely important to become a good tailor.

As a result, the five years following at Nuoding Academy were spent primarily attending Grandmaster's lectures, working a couple hours a day at the tailor shop, and cultivating. Though the time spend cultivating was interrupted by his work at the tailor's, Durand found that his cultivation often increased in speed in the few hours after he had worked at the tailor shop. It appeared that the quiet and serene activity was able to shift his focus long enough to reinvigorate his meditation state.

Like all other spirit cultivators, the higher Durand's rank increased, the slower his cultivation became. Though it has taken him merely a year to rise from the twelfth rank to the seventeenth, Durand took yet another year to reach rank 20. Of course, this speed was incredibly fast. With the exception of Tang San and Xiao Wu who were at the nineteenth rank, Durand had left the other students in the dust in cultivation. For example, Boss Xiao who had the highest cultivation after the three of them was merely at the fifteenth rank after two years.

As Tang San was just a rank away from being ready to absorb his second spirit ring, Durand decided to wait to get their spirit rings together. Durand knew that it would be more beneficial to continue cultivating and wait for Tang San than to hunt for a spirit beast by himself. With Tang San's help, Durand would surely be able to hunt an older spirit beast, in turn improving his spirit ring ability.

Only a month later, Tang San also advanced to the twentieth rank. Together, they rented a carriage and headed to Spirit Hunting Forest by themselves. Though Grandmaster had considered going with them, he ultimately had realized from the previous trip that he was simply unable to contribute significantly to a spirit beast hunt. Luo San Pao had been able to provide key opportunities in their fights against the spirit beasts but ultimately had been unable to land significant attacks even when Durand and Tang San did not have a spirit ring. Instead he requested the dean of Nuoding Academy to accompany them. The dean was a rank 42 spirit ancestor.

Grandmaster had spent the last two years teaching Durand and Tang San in several subjects including spirit beast analysis, spirit rings, and combat tactics. Armed with their teacher's knowledge and their powerful hundred year spirit rings, Tang San and Durand were incredibly powerful. Even before they acquired their second spirit ring, the two of them had been able to spar evenly individually against many of the teachers in the academy, most of which had two spirit rings. With the help of the Academy Dean, Durand and Tang San would surely be able to hunt down the spirit beast they needed.

With the confidence of their teacher, Durand and Tang San quickly set off for their second spirit beast hunt. This time, Tang San's goal for his second spirit ring had already been selected by Grandmaster. Grandmaster had chosen the spirit plant Ghost Vine. This spirit plant was exceedingly horrifying with thorns tipped in an extremely powerful nerve poison. The moment someone was pricked by a Ghost Vine thorn, the poison would act immediately, dissolving the person into a liquid nutrient for the plant. Most fearsome about the Ghost Vine is that its attack included an outpour of parasitic seeds into the foe. Hypothetically, the spirit ring from a Ghost Vine would enable Tang San to deploy his poison with his Bind ability. Moreover, it may allow him to gain the fearsome parasitic seeds, a powerful control type ability.

Grandmaster had also chosen the spirit beast Armored Elephant for Durand to find for his second spirit ring. The Armored Elephant is a soul beast also known as the 'Trampler'. They are among the most powerful soul beasts. Specializing in defense, the Armored Elephant boasted an incredibly thick and hard skin that could repel the attacks of spirit beasts within the same tier of cultivation. This meant that a hundred year Armored Elephant could endure the attacks of a 999 year spirit beast. Grandmaster had selected this formidable spirit beast not only for its defensive ability, but because he hoped Durand would gain its namesake ability: Trample.

Durand's first spirit ability was incredibly advanced for any spirit master's first ring. It had directly bypassed the basic but essential abilities that defensive spirit masters needed. Basic defensive enhancing abilities like block, shield, charge, stun, tremor and other simple abilities were usually the cornerstone of any defensive spirit master. Since the first spirit ring helped to define a spirit cultivator's fighting style, many of their subsequent spirit rings would often be chosen to suit their previous rings and spirit.

As a result, Grandmaster hoped Durand would find ring that could enhance his defense but at the same time help to shore up any weaknesses from his first spirit ring. One example of this is the fact that Teleport Shield was primarily a domain-like defensive ability. In a large team fight, Durand's first ability was incredibly useful as he could effectively block unavoidable attacks for many of his team members.

However, in an individual match, Durand's ability was strictly defensive and had little offensive ability. It wasn't that Durand was completely useless in a one v one match, but he would be relegated to competing in stamina against higher rank opponents. Though the shield could transfer the force hitting the shield to Durand's arm, that force could only be used offensively in combination with Hornet's Sting and when shield wasn't between Durand and the opponent. Therefore, Grandmaster had deemed Durand's first spirit ability to be far too reactive in nature; it depended far too much on the opponent's attack before Durand could potentially retaliate. Earning a spirit ability from the Armored Elephant would not only improve Durand's defensive capabilities, but it should also provide an ability that give Durand the chance to be more proactive in battle.

The moment they entered the forest, Durand and Tang San immediately put their guards up. Though their goal was to enter the deepest section of the forest where the older spirit beasts resided, they had learned their lesson from their last visit. Though rare, older spirit beasts may wander to the peripheries of the forest. Indeed, both the Spike Plated Tortoise and the Datura Snake had wandered from the depths of the forest.

As they ran quickly toward the center of Spirit Hunting Forest, Durand and Tang San arranged themselves into a simple 'I' formation. Durand ran in front with Tang San directly behind, always within 15 meters of Durand. This positioning took advantage of Durand's massively large shield to defend against opponents. His 'Shield Teleport' ability significantly improved the defensive range around the duo. As Durand charged forward, Tang San acted as the controller, intercepting foes from the other directions. Of course, Durand was already using his increased detection range talent to discover enemies early on and could assist Tang San immediately in emergencies.

The dean of Nuoding Academy seemed to trail behind them carelessly. With his cultivation at the 42nd rank, he had little to fear in a forest primarily consisting of beasts at the ten and hundred year level. Though there were a rare few just barely reaching the thousand year level, he was confident in being able to retreat with the two students in front of him.

Unsurprisingly Tang San and Durand frequently ran into spirit beasts. However, these were often weaker spirit beasts that they were able to make quick work of before returning to their course toward the center of the forest. Before they were half way there though, night was about to fall and the duo quickly set up camp. Even with their Purple Demon Eyes that provided night vision, the two of them still preferred to fight during the day instead of the night.

After a short dinner, Durand volunteered, "I'll take first watch."

"Okay. Wake me up five hours then," replied Tang San as he sprinkled realgar powder to form a small perimeter around their camp.

Durand quickly climbed into a tree not too near and not too far from the camp. Using his first spirit ability, he would be able to defend Tang San in case of an attack with the shield. By staying a little further from the camp, it reduced the probability that he would be discovered by the attacking party. This helped counter the attacker's stealth advantage by staying outside of normal detection range.

Fortunately, the night passed without incident. Though there were a few spirit beasts that strayed into the vicinity, Durand and Tang San were able to simple scare them off by releasing their peak 20th rank auras. Shortly after the sun rose, Tang San and Durand had already packed up their camp and resumed their travel toward the forest center.

Before their departure, Grandmaster exhorted the dean not to interfere the duo's travels so that they could gain the experience of hunting spirit beasts by themselves. Agreeing that such training was extremely valuable, the academy dean did not interact with either Tang San or Durand. He would only enter when the two of them encountered a spirit beast that was too strong for them.

By midmorning, Durand and Tang San had finally arrived to the forest center. Here, the older and stronger spirit beasts had divided the region into their respective territories. Carefully they slowly began searching for their carefully selected spirit beasts.

Compared to their last spirit beast hunt thought, this one took Tang San and Durand much longer to find a suitable spirit beast. Though they had come across many powerful spirit beasts and spirit plants, they were all either too young or unsuitable for their spirits. Even after two weeks of searching, the Armored Elephant and the Ghost Vine had yet to be found. However, Durand and Tang San remained patient. Under Grandmaster tutelage, they understood how important it was to get the right spirit ring in order to improve their combat ability.

Finally in their third week of hunting, Tang San and Durand finally discovered a Ghost Vine. To the surprise of Durand though, the Ghost Vine had the cultivation of nearly 800 years. This meant that the spirit plant before them was different from the 600 year Ghost Vine that Tang San had killed and absorbed in the original novel. Of course, Durand wasn't one to complain about getting his sworn brother a better spirit ring. Both Tang San and Durand quickly released their spirit.

Upon sensing their battle intent, the Ghost Vine immediately moved into action. It quickly moved to incapacitate its closest opponent Durand. Here, Durand's slower attribute prevented him from dodging the agile Ghost Vine. One of its stems quickly wrapped around his leg. Even with his armor and shield, Durand immediately groaned as he could feel the vine thorns attempting to rip through his skin.

Tang San quickly used his first spirit ability Bind in order to hamper the Ghost Vine's movements. Behind them, the Nuoding Academy dean was rapidly approaching the fight. Ghost Vines were incredibly difficult to subdue. Its agile and flexible body allowed it to escape most situations and its poison was terrifying. Fortunately, Durand's defense had combined the Spike Plated Tortoise's shell and the Fifteen Ton Ant Emperor's exoskeleton. Just barely, his body and spirit were able to resist the Ghost Vine's thorns and prevent poison from immediately entering his blood stream.

Armed with his sword and various hidden weapons, Tang San quickly made his way toward the Ghost Vine, pinning its vestiges with throwing weapons and cutting his way around the Ghost Vine body. Tang San provided just enough distraction that Durand was able to resist the entrapment and escape. Quickly retreating, he knew that this was a fight that tested another of his weaknesses. Against agile and flexible attacks such as constricting or binding, Durand's teleporting shield was rendered nearly useless.

Fortunately, the Ghost Vine began to use whip attacks. These harder forms of assault were much easier for Durand to defend for the team. Using his shield to teleport from place to place, he was able to defend the dean who was closing in on the Ghost Vine to attack. The Nuoding Academy dean had a panther spirit. Summoning the spirit, his body increased in size, muscles rippling on the chest, arms, and legs. Claws extended from his fingers and his movements became difficult to track as they became increasingly quicker. As the dean roared a battle cry, four rings rose from his feet, one white, two yellow, one purple. Clearly, the dean had not been able to absorb the best possible configuration of spirit rings when he had been younger.

With Tang San's Bind preventing the Ghost Vine from running away and Durand's Teleport Shield keeping the Ghost Vine from attacking, the Academy dean quickly made his way toward the spirit plant unhindered. Suddenly, the dean's second ring flashed and he jumped into the air. Mid-air, his third ring flashed and as he landed his claws seemed to have doubled in size and gleamed with a razor sharp edge. Slashing downwards, the dean was able to severely damage the Ghost Vine, cutting off several of its branches. However, its main trunk remained unharmed. Tang San who had been trailing behind the dean, quickly followed up, slashing with his sword. The sword was able to dig quite deep into the Ghost Vine before it became lodged. Little San quickly let go of the sword and began throwing his hidden weapons.

Most of the hidden weapons became embedded into the Ghost Vine. This further injured the spirit plant and blue, sticky sap could be seen pouring from the Ghost Vine's wounds.

"Tang San! Catch!" yelled Durand. He through Hornet's Sting toward Tang San. Even with the large amount of damage Tang San had been able to dish out, it certainly was not enough to kill. With a weapon as razor sharp as Hornet's Sting though, Tang San would definitely be able to sever the Ghost Vine's main trunk. His yellow spirit ring flashing many times again, more blue silver grass burst from the ground near the Ghost Vine and began snaring the main trunk of the vine in place.

Without even looking, Tang San caught the spirit weapon without even looking. It would seem that the two of them were used to working in tandem. Durand's first spirit ring began flashing repeatedly. Teleporting diagonally upward, Tang San began jumping off of Durand's shield only to be caught by the same shield. This allowed Tang San to "jump" several times up through the air before arriving directly above the Ghost Vine. The shield suddenly returned to Durand's arm and Tang San dove down Hornet's Sting first. Rapidly approaching the Ghost Vine's main body, Tang San swung the dagger in his hand with all his might. Like butter, The Ghost Vine was cut in two.

Durand's shield disappeared again to catch Tang San before he plummeted to the floor. The Ghost Vine did not have the same luxury. Now dead, its body, split in two, crashed to the forest floor.

"Whoo!" Durand let out a celebratory laugh.

Of course, he quickly began setting up a perimeter with some realgar powder. Tang San would need some peace in order to absorb his second spirit ring. Suddenly Durand and the Academy dean collapsed. It seemed that the Ghost Vine had released some of its parasite seeds into the air before it had died. Fortunately the Ghost Vine was already dead and the parasites only caused a brief paralysis to Durand. Furthermore, Durand's vitality and endurance had become incredibly high as he cultivated and increased in rank. Therefore, Durand was able to quickly recover.

Unfortunately, the Nuoding Academy dean did not have the same defenses. He also collapsed and despite having a higher cultivation than Durand, was not able to fight off the fearsome parasites as quickly. Soon he passed out from the affliction as the parasites began attacking vital parts of his body. However, this was actually the best case scenario for him. Had he remained awake, Durand would not have been willing expose his second spirit and use the power of his Tree of Life spirit to heal him. But since the dean had already passed out, Durand quickly pressed a hand upon the dean's chest and activated the healing properties of his spirit. Even without a spirit ring, his Tree of Life held incredible healing properties.

As the dean's breathing became stable, Durand quickly withdrew his hand from the dean. Most fortunately, the nearest powerful spirit beast had yet to appear. It seemed that the Ghost Vine's territory was rather large and many spirits stayed away in fear of the Ghost Vine's parasitic seed ability. Tang San took many hours to absorb his second spirit ring. By the time he was done, Durand had already set up a small camp with a fire and food prepared from lunch and for dinner. Nearby, an inconspicuous tent was set up. It was shabby and dirty and Tang San paid it no heed.

Seeing Durand exit from the tent, Tang San asked, "How long have I been absorbing the ring?"

"About 6 hours. You can continue cultivating; we'll need to rest for a couple days so that the dean can recover from the parasitic seeds released by the Ghost Vine," replied Durand

Tang San hummed and then returned to a meditative state. For the next two days, Durand and Tang San alternated between keeping watch over the camp and cultivating. On the third day after Tang San absorbed his second spirit ring, the dean had finally recovered. They quickly packed up their camp and continued their search for the Armored Elephant that Durand needed.