5 - Sly

Xuan Clan was a prestigious clan of cultivators located right beside the Rising Wind Mountains, its land spanned more than two-fifty square kilometres (about 300 million square yards).

The current patriarch of the clan Xuan Huang, a [Crystal Formation Cultivator] was also the strongest Cultivator in the whole clan, being the one responsible for their current status as a [Middle-rank] clan.

Since his rise to the [Crystal Formation] realm a century ago, the clan was still undergoing renovations and reformations. New sectors were being added, their territory increasing by the day and with that their collective strength as a clan.

Alchemy Hall was one such domain built by Xuan Huang after he invited a Rank 1 Apprentice Alchemist to his clan. Since that day the clan had experienced the convenience of low prices and ease of procurement.

Currently, Xuan Wen stood in front of the gates and eyed the towering conical building that pierced the high heavens above. His gaze lowered and settled on the two giant men with iron spears and leather armor. Their expression was impassive and their gaze hard; their eyes following every single guest with a scrutinizing gaze.

Xuan Wen gulped and patted at the string pouch at his waist that held the Cauldron and calmly walked through the gates into the inner lobby.

It was a spacious area with a unique smell of herbs and pills. The floor was tiled with polished green jade while the walls were painted a soft white. Three cabins lay side by side at one end while the other showcased a set of stairs leading upwards.

Xuan Wen walked up to the receptionist and softly knocked on the desk to alert the old lady who was engrossed in her book reading.

The lady calmly lifted her head and asked, "Yes, how can I help you?"

Unconsciously his hand wandered to his right thigh where another pouch was tied to his waist and he felt the weight of eighty low-grade Spirit stones.

Feeling confident, he cleaned his throat and asked, "I would like to know the price of monster blood, Nascent spirit beast will do."

The lady squinted her eyes, her crow's feet compressed in dense folds. Xuan trembled fearing that he might have made a mistake.

"State your requirements; Species and Fresh or old, what is it you want?"

Taken aback as he hadn't thought of that, Xuan Wen hesitated for a moment before answering, "Species doesn't matter, and preferably I would like to buy fresh blood." The lady nodded and looked through a catalog of dense scribble.

"Hmmm... Found it. If you want fresh Nascent spirit beast blood, it would cost you 50 Low-grade Spirit stones for a container of one Sheng."

Xuan Wen deflated. He had somewhat expected the cost to be high but he didn't think it would be so high. A mortal family of three could easily live for months if they had 100 Low-grade Spirit stones and he had spent half of that just to buy a flask of blood.

"I will take it." Determined to pursue the path of cultivation, Xuan Wen deemed it necessary to spend as much as he needed, so even if he felt heartache seeing his pockets deflate like that, Xuan didn't hesitate.

The lady disappeared behind the door that stood behind her and came back holding a container of sorts. It was cuboid in shape and looked to be made of wood. She opened the container and inside it was a rack carved from wood holding ten glass vials.

"A little warning boy, if you are going to hunt beasts and lure them using monster blood, you should use traps and any means to deal a quick death; delay in doing so may result in the change of role between hunter and prey."

Xuan Wen startled looked at the lady but the latter had already immersed herself back in her book without bothering to pay him any attention. 'oh, so that's why she looked surprised when she heard my request, and here I thought that I might have made a mistake by asking for blood. Thankfully she misunderstood, still, I should be careful in the future.'

"Thank you for your concern, I will keep it in mind." Xuan Wen left the Alchemy hall, away from the busy streets of the clan, and towards the library. There he took out a book and began reading.

It was a story about a Cultivator who started as poor and had to struggle and fight for every single resource, but ultimately the protagonist won over every challenge and ascended to heaven. He particularly liked these stories as he imagined himself also succeeding one day and achieving the fabled immortality.

After completing his daily training regimen he found himself back in his shack with the Cauldron in front of him.

"Senior, I have prepared the blood you asked for, can we start now?"

The Cauldron stirred and a pale glow shone across the carvings in subtle emerald green. He heard the voice in his head.

–"We can start anytime, just make sure that nobody comes to disturb you for about four hours."

Xuan Wen nodded and closed the door shut and drew the drop into the socket. Feeling safe he opened the wooden container and pulled out five vials and poured their contents into the cauldron.

The cauldron's size increased from miniature one to about the size of a cask, one wherein he could easily sit in Lotus's position.

Xuan Wen shed his clothes and stepped into the cauldron, the dark red blood making contact with his skin and sending chills down his spine from the cold texture.

At the Foundation realm, a martial artist was only capable of harnessing small bits of Qi within their body and using it in concert with martial arts to spread it throughout their body. This resulted in their muscles experiencing rapid growth, enhanced healing of muscle tears, and an increase in mass density. And as their realm increases, they would become capable of circulating the Qi within the blood and speeding their cultivation speed.

Xuan Wen wasn't yet able to circulate his Qi but he could perform a subtle shift. He concentrated on his hands that were dipping in beast blood, the liquid not rising above his hand, and pushed.

A small wave of Qi left his hands and dispersed within the blood and an unknown force tugged at the energy and held it in the blood. Without any rest, Xuan Wen pushed and pushed just like he was instructed.

°°°

Wu Xing sat cross-legged and with the help of the Spirit spread his senses beyond the cauldron. As he felt the boy's Qi dispersing in the blood, he used his soul force to hold it and pull inside.

The Cauldron hummed as if waking from its slumber and he felt a trickle of energy seeping from the formations and into the blood.

Wu Xing held firm control over the energy and stirred the blood with it. A small cloud of reddish black wafted from the liquid and dispersed in the atmosphere, while at the same time, small bits of monster essence covered the boy in the middle.

The monster's essence seeped through his skin and into his muscles and started to strengthen them. Another stream of monster essence was absorbed by the cauldron, channeled into the spirit, and then a small part converted into pure soul force was absorbed by Wu Xing.

This way all three of them benefited, and Wu Xing felt content.

The process continued for hours and by midnight the blood in the cauldron was gone leaving behind sweat-soaked Xuan Wen who opened his eyes in confusion. "I didn't break through...?"

–"Ahem, boy it seems that I miscalculated a bit, you need more monster blood, almost as much as earlier to break through, fortunately, you already have the required amount."

Wu Xing felt embarrassed that he allowed himself the indulge a bit and took more than 1/8th of the whole blood, of course about half of that was absorbed by the spirit but he couldn't deny that he let selfishness take the better of him.

While he had intended to milk the boy of resources but that was only in return for giving him a hand in Cultivation. However, it would do him no good if the boy remained weak as he knew that the quality of the resources would depend on the boy himself.

"What? But that is the last batch and I don't have any money on me anymore, how am I going to buy more?!" He seemed to be on the verge of tears that Wu Xing couldn't help but feel even worse.

–"Stop whining kid, so what if you don't have any money, why do you need such a thing in the first place when you can hunt for your resources."

"How? I don't have any weapons and deep wilderness is dangerous even to a full-fledged Cultivator, and if I forge near mortal villages, it will take me from weeks to months or sometimes even years just to hunt a single beast and that too while making sure they don't bleed much."

Wu Xing sighed as felt a headache coming, even though he lacked a physical body. He almost regretted his choice of coming with this boy.

–"Then tell me, what was your plan once you had used up all your resources because as I see it, you wouldn't have any been better if even if we had used all of the resources?"

"That...I—

–"Listen boy, using your wit is good. You have learned well, I take from those books you keep reading, but there are times and there are people when you have to think carefully, I will forgive your mistake this time, however, if I found your behavior sly, then..."

Even though the words were left unsaid Xuan Wen trembled as he felt a dark and grim intent force on him, trying to squeeze his life.

"I am sorry senior, I didn't me—

–"I don't care what you meant boy, now pour the remaining blood in the cauldron and start again." Xuan Wen complied and start the process again.

It was during the wee hours of the day that Xuan Wen felt his muscles saturate to the limit and Qi spilled forth in his Meridians. He had finally broken through.

While at the same time, Wu Xing felt his soul became more substantial. He had yet to take his first step in the [Soul Spark Creation] realm but as long as he continued as he did, he estimated the time it would take for him would be no more than five months.

This was the start of the journey back to the top.