Page 14: Before the Ceremony

A couple weeks after staying in the forest, progress could be seen in everyone either in physical or in skills. Since the group's focus has been set for training, there was no day where training was out of the to-do list. Yue and Ah Mu was now able to keep up with Ling Tian while the three could barely land a hit on Long Bai. During the stay, Long Bai had been the hunter for food and such work gave him benefits. Aside from being able to practice his skills on real battles, his skills has already reached their maximum growth on the Earth tier list. In addition, since the three already have one shard each, Bai used two out of the three shards he have left to further his strength.

[STATUS:

Cultivation: Flesh Tempering stage (initial -2nd)

Skills:

Movement skills:

~Flash Steps (mastered)

-(Earth tier-high)

~Ghostly steps (untrained)

-(Sky tier-high)

-(can be evolved upon mastery)

Martial art skills:

~Sword of Twelve Critical Strikes (mastered)

-(Earth tier-high)

~Sky Sword of Critical Strikes (untrained)

-(Sky tier-high)

-(can be evolved upon mastery)

Cultivation Base: (none). ]

Since Long Bai's strength increased, some options have also changed.

Options:

Cultivation status: (Hidden)

*Hidden status option prevents any form of inspection or any form of prying to the owner's cultivation level. This will make the owner look ordinary to someone below the essence gathering layer (2nd) of the Soul Tempering Stage.

Appraisal: Passive

*The owner can automatically recognize someone's cultivation level (only below the Soul Tempering Stage)

Permission option: (On)

*When On, any activities that would require the system will be ask with consent.

*When Off, system automatically follow the owner's thoughts.]

If Long Bai wants to increase his cultivation, he must absorb a lot of essence shards since the system utilizes a huge percentage of it to be integrated. Long Bai has been speculating that in order to remove the reduction of essence used during cultivation, he must successfully develop his essence core. For a cultivator, essence absorbed from the surroundings first enter the core to be purified in order for it to be used by the body. Without the core, the system would require a power supply to process the essence.

In addition, it would be inefficient to use the system without the essence core since there are a lot of sublevels for each layer in a stage of cultivation. Bai's cultivation for example has reached the 2nd level of the Flesh refining layer of the Body Tempering Stage. If Bai would like to continue cultivating, he would require a lot of shards since there are nine sublevels in every three Layers of a single stage in cultivation.

Another thing, Bai noticed that the system updates itself according to what he learns and encounters. If there's a library he could enter in the future, he would love to visit it with great enthusiasm.

This situation has encouraged Bai to enter a sect. If he would be able to enter, resources would be provided every month and in addition, he can work and hunt to increase his savings. A sect provides opportunities for cultivators and depending on a person's talent, they can even provide more. The stories Bai had learned from Ling Tian had completely inspired him to pass the ceremony that would be held a few weeks from the now.

Everyday was a routine and the frail looking bodies of the group exudes a level of firmness from all the training they have done. Accompanied by the lots of food they eat everyday, the results were just to be expected.

Now that Yue, Ah Mu, and Ling Tian reached the advanced success of the sword skill Long Bai has taught, everyone decided to put the skill into practice. Before, they hunt with everyone's cooperation but now that they grew stronger, real combat experience is needed.

Ling Tian, as the leader, decided to divide the trial into three sections; early morning, before noon and dawn. Since food is available in the forest, the test was to hunt their breakfast, lunch, and dinner in which will be started by Ah Mu, followed by Yue and Ling Tian respectively. Long Bai on the other hand will work for reconnaissance for everyone's safety.

That early morning, everyone prepared their gears, each holding a wooden sword which Long Bai took from the Blood Gang. For hunting fierce animals, the hard and inflexible wooden sword is enough to knock or even kill one. Everyone departed with Ah Mu being the lead of the hunt.

After walking not more than 300 meters from the base, Long Bai scouted a prey. This was Ah Mu's target.

"Brother Ah Mu, I saw a good prey for you. If you approach that tree to the south 20 meters from here, you'll see a Forest Grovile"

"Brother Bai, what kind of animal is it? Sister Yue is curious."

"Its an animal with covered with dry scales and has a long tail. They practically live on large trees and eat smaller animals. It is slow but tough. You must be wary of its tail since that's its weapon. Its a good match for you who emphasizes your sturdy body."

"I thank you, brother Bai. Let me handle it from here on. Watch me catch our breakfast for today."

The rest flowed behind as Ah Mu approached his prey. Just as Ah Mu was about to give a slash at his prey, its tail come sweeping from below giving Ah Mu a low swipe. The animal was not a fast runner but its tail was unbelievably quick. Ah Mu jumped back from being startled. After learning about its attack pattern for a period of time, Ah Mu learned how to take it down since all of its attacks were low. Using his wooden sword, he made a low parry and gave a quick follow up of a heavy swing in the head. Because of Ah Mu's heavy body, the damage he dealt was enough to knock the forest grovile unconscious. All that's left is the killing nlow which Ah Mu gave by giving another hit to the head.

Everyone was satisfied by Ah Mu's performance as he showed great improvement since the first day of practice. If their skills are to be compared, Ah Mu will be ranked the least among the group. He doesn't have the tenacity Ling Tian possesses, or the swiftness of Yue's strikes but in terms of patience, he might outmatch everyone.

The day was fruitful and their practice has bear great outcomes. Compared to their old selves, the current ones won't get hungry anymore. That said, if a person was taught how to hunt, he would be able to feed himself a lifetime. This is what Bai has learned and practiced.

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Yue's and Ling Tian's hunt

"Run! That's a pair of Rockhounds. Climb if you can!"

"How about we split? If we can separate them, I'll take one and brother Ling Tian will take the other."

"That's a good idea. Once we reach that rock, we split. I'll take the left and you go right. If its successful, we go with the plan. If not, you need to climb. Understood?"

"Yes! Let's go!"

"Aarr! Come at me you rockhound!

Brother Ling Tian! The other has followed you!"

"Alright. Let's do this!

Yue successfully reached out on a low lying branch of a tree and made a 360 degree swing. This positioned herself behind the rockhound and made her attack easy to land. The rockhound died tragically from a strike coming from behind.

Ling Tian on the other hand stopped from running and faced the incoming rockhound. With his stance at the ready, he held his long knife on his right hand. He has only a small window to act. Once the rockhound made a pouncing motion, Ling Tian croutched his body near the ground and made a slicing motion on the rockhound's chest cavity. The time the rockhound fell to the ground, its organs spilled out of its body cavity while blood splattered all around.

While Ling Tian can hear the cheerful voice of Yue, he gave off a hearty laugh.

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Long Bai's conclusion

Hmm. Sister Yue is suited for skills attributed with agility and dexterity while brother Ling Tian would.. (started gagging) oh man... that's gross.. I didn't know he had this kind of fetish..