17 Moon-Death forest
After having chosen Buddy as his first spirit beast, Li Zhu practiced how to fuse with him, and also how to use Shadow Lurk, which he was beginning to like more and more as he experimented.
Shadow Lurk allowed him to travel in the shadows, and especially at nighttime he could basically go everywhere unseen.
When he was in the shadows, he was halfway between the demonic realm and reality, and this allowed him to see and hear everything which happened around him. Only people of one full realm of cultivation higher than him could sense his presence.
Although they could sense him, that did not mean they could identify him or kill him, though it was possible for people of even higher cultivation.
These restrictions were very limited, though, as one realm was considered a massive difference in strength, and Li Zhu should probably not mess with those people anyway.
After cultivating through the night, Li Zhu decided to explore the sect, and find a way to make money or find treasures, which were essential for cultivation.
During his time as crown prince, although he had worked very hard to gain the strength he had, treasures and pills that aided his practice were always available, and he did not need to risk his life or work for them. Now, instead, it was the opposite, and Li Zhu knew that if he did not gather his own treasures, his cultivation would definitely stagnate, and he was bound to never regain his former glory, and never get revenge on his betrayer.
Li Zhu started to walk around the outer sect, which consisted of most of the mountain range, while the central peaks were limited to Inner sect members and elders.
He saw many outer sect disciples, walking to and from peaks in the sect. There was a peak for everything, including training grounds, trading, stores, specific weapons and many more. Because of this, there was a lot of activity, and everyone had somewhere to go.
After asking around, Li Zhu learned about the main sources of income in the sect. Firstly, one could set up a store or auction items they found or made, which some blacksmiths and alchemists did quite successfully since the demand was high. Secondly, there were missions that were posted by local people, the sect itself, or anyone that needed assistance.
These missions ranged from killing spirit beasts to investigating crimes, and the rewards also differed. Generally, the rewards were in spirit stones, which were the currency used by cultivators.
Spirit stones could be mined in many places, and they were stones which were left in a location with dense heavenly energy for a very long time. The older the stone and the denser the heavenly energy in the location, the higher grade the spirit stones were. Spirit stones could be used to cultivate, since they contained heavenly energy which could be easily absorbed.
Most missions rewarded spirit stones, though there were a few which gave treasures or techniques, which were often more valuable.
Li Zhu headed to Missions peak, which, as with most peaks, had a very obvious name. There, a massive crowd of cultivators was gathered around large bulletin boards, which were full of mission requests, for all kinds of levels.
Li Zhu was a bit overwhelmed, since he had no idea what missions to choose.
At that moment, a familiar voice rang out, "Hey, Li Zhu, over here!"
Turning around, Li Zhu spotted Hua Shu, making her way towards him, through the crowd of people.
"You actually passed the trial! When you didn't return after the healing I thought you had failed!" she said, with a relieved expression.
"Oh... yeah. Now I'm just trying to find a mission, since I am in need of cultivation materials" replied Li Zhu, happy to see the lively young woman again.
"Well, if that's the case, we can go on a mission together!" happily said Hua Shu, and without even waiting for a response, already begun looking for a suitable mission.
Li Zhu stood there speechless, but then he also began looking for a mission, from the hundreds of available ones.
Each mission had the date they were posted on the request paper, and what surprised Li Zhu was that there were a few particularly tricky ones which had been here for years, some even decades.
"Help guard a merchant caravan to the imperial city… not enough fighting"
"Raid a bandit stronghold, required cultivation: Core consolidating realm… I guess I can't do this one"
"Clean my house… wait how is this a request for a cultivator?"
Li Zhu read through the requests, finding a few peculiar ones, though never ones he was willing to take. He wanted to practice fighting with Buddy, so the mission had to include fighting, and he did not want to go far from the Flaming Saber Sect, since he still had plans here.
"Li Zhu, here's one that could be fun!" Hua Shu walked over to Li Zhu, waving a request paper in his face.
The paper read: "Kill 100 spirit beasts in Moon-Death forest and bring back their nucleus cores. The reward is 200 low grade spirit stones. Required Cultivation: fifth stage Qi gathering."
Each spirit beast had a nucleus core, which was where they had collected their heavenly energy throughout the years, making it a very concentrated source of Qi. That said, these cores had very violent beastly energies, which could not be absorbed by humans. The only use for them was alchemy, which was why someone was requesting them.
The request was put out from the sect, meaning some alchemist on Phoenix Peak needed nucleus cores, and they used the mission process to gain them without fighting.
"Well, I am only in the fourth stage Qi gathering, so I do not meet the requirements" stated Li Zhu, surprised that Hua Shu did not know that.
"Yeah, but as long as I am here they will let us accept the mission, and we can split the profits. Also, don't worry about the dangers… I'll protect you!" confidently replied Hua Shu, with a heroic look.
Li Zhu did not really mind, since he did have Buddy which was as powerful as a sixth stage cultivator, and with shadow lurk he could escape from danger.
Convinced, he said, "okay, let's get going… 100 beasts aren't going to gather themselves" before they both headed towards Moon-Death forest, which was about ten miles from Flaming Saber city.
They planned to finish this mission in one day, so they would be quite rushed, making it important for them to reach the forest early, to not risk staying here until nighttime, which would force them to travel in the dark.
As they traveled to the forest, Hua Shu and Li Zhu talked about their plans. Hua Shu wanted to become an inner disciple within one year, which was doable considering she was very close to reaching the Core Consolidating realm, which was the requirement to move on from the outer sect. She wished to become the disciple of an elder, so that she could practice her bow and flame arts to the peak, bringing glory to her clan.
Li Zhu kept his plans a secret, simply stating that they were not limited to the Crouching Tiger Kingdom, which earned a roll of Hua Shu's eyes, who clearly thought he was overestimating himself.
It did not take long for them to reach Moon-Death forest, since they had been running at full speed, using their cultivation.
Although they could have just used the horses they left in the stables of the city, the extra animals would be troublesome when they fought, so they had opted against it.
Entering the forest, a strong nutty smell engulfed them, as the tall, vibrant trees moved in the wind. In Moon-Death forest there were many spirit beasts, and even Hua Shu and Li Zhu needed to stay on the outskirts, to avoid risking their lives.
Spirit beasts had the same grading system as human cultivators, even though they did not increase their strength in the same way.
In the inner part of the forest, there were many Core consolidating realm spirit beasts, which would without a doubt be the death of them, since even if Li Zhu managed to stall with the Heavenly Dragon Shield, no one would come to help them, and they would eventually be killed.
Because of this, the duo used a map they had bought back at the sect, careful to stay in the area limited to Qi gathering realm spirit beasts.
As the two were happily chatting, a sudden noise of leaves rustling brought them back to reality, as their faces turned serious. Most life forms in the forest were spirit beasts, meaning there was a high possibility they had encountered their first challenge for the day.
They both stared at the dark green bushes around them, while staying silent to catch any possible sound. Every few seconds, the sound of leaves came back from a completely different direction, and it gave them the feeling that they were somehow surrounded.
"Well, let's get ready to have some fun!" said Li Zhu, excited to finally use his newly gained skills in battle.
