Testing Strength

Over the next few days, Hong Zhao tried various methods to test the cultivator's rank. He had begun by herding a giant snake from the forest near where he knew they would be travelling. As he had suspected, they were able to easily deal with the beast, meaning they were at least at the eighth star student rank. He had set a qi bomb to the side of the road and detonated it when they came into view. It had done nothing but scrape one's leg, but it was more of an annoyance than damage.

Hong Zhao was not one to give up so easily, so he herded six stone lions, which took the better part of the second day to get, to the two men. The battle was over quite soon, with only a few bruises and quick looks into the forest. "The beasts seem to be more active than usual." The shorter man said to his partner.

"It is nothing Gao Yuhan, let's just keep going. We'll have to get more clothing at the next village." The taller man put a hand to the back of the shorter.

"You are right Brother Gao Lei." The shorter one said as he matched the pace of his brother.

Hong Zhao's eyes widened slightly at the ease that the two men used to take care of the stone lions. It would have taken him and the Li siblings at least three times as long and twice as many injuries in order to get it done. "It looks like we may have to rely on Li Wen and Huang Ji a little more than I thought." He said to himself as he followed the men. "Though, I still don't know if they are stronger than Shadow." He thought of his magical beast companion. They had been going back periodically to give Shadow more beast cores. With those, as well as the time to cultivate, he was nearing his fourth star disciple rank bottleneck by the day.

He didn't want to get Shadow involved if he could avoid it. He didn't know what kind of attention his friend would get from the villagers if they knew that a magical beast had been living under their noses. The anger and frustration he had felt from Huang Ji was enough to tell him that magical beasts were not meant to be friends with humans within this world. To have one showing up and calling him master was like inviting trouble.

He knew Shadow wouldn't mind helping. The magical beast was a speed demon which he couldn't keep up with even while using vortex thrust. The third star disciple ranked magical beast was also great in the art of stealth, since his pelt was literally made of the same fabric as the qi blocking uniforms he and the Li siblings wore. Setting him upon the two cultivators would almost be overkill, yet it would harm his relations with the rest of Rantori Village.

"If I can't use Shadow within the village, maybe we can wheedle them down on the way?" He thought about it for a moment. If they had a few months before they arrived, they could most likely cripple the two along the way. It wouldn't be the most glorious fight, yet they weren't fighting for glory, they were fighting for their home and the right to be free. Battles like these were not meant to be fought cleanly.

Within his life as Jason Slate, he had to poison leaders of nations while under the guise of a guest. He had to stalk certain targets for weeks before finding an opening to strike. Sometimes it would take whole months before he had ample time to strike. He had to memorize schedules, routines and habits of everyone around a target. Will this guys friend go out for a smoke soon? What about the other friend with the small bladder? He had to know when the target would be most vulnerable before striking.

Fighting a clean battle within this world was like asking to die. To pit ones self against an unknown opponent with nothing but your own confidence was just like shopping for the right place to put your gravestone. If he were to attack like the others of this world would, he wouldn't make it through the year.

Hong Zhao thought a little more as he followed the cultivators. There were many plants that were poisonous to humans within the area. He could see if the Li siblings knew anything about them. If he could poison their water supply, and possibly their food halfway between villages, maybe he could cripple them enough to take them down. They were now far enough from Yuan City that it would take at least another half year before the two were expected to report their findings.

Hong Zhao left the road and made his way back to the Li siblings. He would most likely need to leave one of them as a tail for them, and possibly see if Lan could be useful at all. He had broken through to the ninth star student rank some time ago now, yet he hadn't gone to see what his master had left him as a reward. If she had put something in there that would help communication, he wouldn't know.

He decided it was important enough that he would check just to make sure. Sitting on a tree branch in the lotus position, Hong Zhao inserted a strand of qi along with his consciousness within the ring. He stood once more inside the vast room, in front of the ninth star student rank door. When he opened it, his eyes went wide.

"Good to see you, my little disciple." The smooth voice of Lan spoke from inside. The woman wore a satiny red dress, and her hair placed in the usual two buns atop her head. "I was wondering how long it would take you to finally open this door."