Friendship and Conspiracy
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HIDDEN QUEST: True Companion. (Complete)
OBJECTIVE: Your friend is in a precarious position, save her.
REWARD: 50,000 gold. 5000 Cr. Territory Standing increased: Well-known -> Respected.
NEW FAUNA DEFEATED: Silvermoon Wolf. From the ashes and flames, the silver moon rises
DESCRIPTION: A subspecies of the Ash wolves. Unlike the rest of its brethren which mainly use fire and poisonous ash, this wolf uses the power of moonlight in its attacks. Its body is considered a treasure trove by cultivators and is often raised by influential families to harvest its bones, heart, and demonic core.
REWARD: Gold rank Martial Arts: Moonlit Phases. Silvermoon Wolf skinning knowledge pack. Silvermoon Heart Soup recipe.
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Closing the rewards menu, I sighed and looked up at the sky, which was already starting to brighten.
I really need to give a stern lecture to the twins to make sure they don't do something like this again. But more importantly, I need to talk to Yanmei. When she leaves the side of her siblings, that is.
Ever since we got back home a few hours ago, she has locked herself up in the guest room, treating the wound on Qian's shoulder and comforting the crying Yulan who kept apologizing after waking up at home.
While she is doing a good job at making sure the twins are okay, Yanmei is starting to forget that she is also quite traumatized by this experience.
She might have thought that I wouldn't notice despite the past year we spent in each other's company, but there is no way my Focus attribute is going to allow me to miss the obvious signs of trauma that she has. Especially when she is anywhere near a sword.
Ever since I first met her, it was quite obvious that she had some form of aichmophobia, at least when it came to swords. I knew how to spot this phobia specifically because I had many comrades in my unit who held it. Especially after the Russians developed hand-held railguns that fired long needles of tungsten that left the human body in shreds. The phobia is so crippling that some of the soldiers even gave up the fight before even entering the battlefield, so I know exactly how hard it is to overcome such a crippling fear.
So imagine my surprise when she took one of my swords directly from the display in my shop and ran off into the forest right after me in search of her siblings.
I guess the fear of losing her only living family must have shoved her phobia to the side. If only my unit and I were as strong as her mentally, maybe I would never have been brought into this world.
But now that we are safe, I am sure she must be feeling all sorts of emotions. However, I will not push her, because I know that will be counterproductive to what I want and deteriorate her mental state even further. So I will wait for her, just as I have done for the past year.
In the meantime, I have something else to do.
I took out the martial arts reward I got from killing the Silvermoon Wolf and started to scan it with the system. The result I got was not encouraging.
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MARTIAL ARTS: Moonlit Phases
ALIGNMENT: Yin
COMPATIBILITY: Low
COMBINING MARTIAL ARTS IMPOSSIBLE
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As I thought, this damned martial art that the system created will need elemental martial arts to improve, making this martial art useless for me.
Oh well, at least I can sell it somewhere to make some gold and use that gold to buy something good from the system.
However, therein lies the problem.
As I opened the shop function of the shop and searched for elemental cultivation manuals, I sighed as I stared at the exorbitant prices again.
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Manual of the Soaring Wind: An ancient manual that imparts the secrets of manipulating the very wind.
Effects: +10 DEX. +20 AGI. Per cultivation realm advancement.
PRICE: 70,000 Gold/ 10,000 Cr.
Stoneheart Wisdom: An art that was lost to time. It has the power to manipulate the earth.
Effects: +30 STR. Per Cultivation realm advancement.
PRICE: 85,000 Gold/12,000 Cr.
Iron Heart, Unbreakable Will: An art that focuses on using the Metal element to strengthen both the body and the soul.
Effect: +20 INT. +15 FOC. Per Cultivation realm advancement.
Price: 80,000 Gold/11,000 Cr.
Serene Waters Art: A martial art that uses the power of water to both heal and harm.
Effect: +40 CON. Per Cultivation realm advancement.
Price: 90,000 Gold/ 16,000 Cr.
Etherial Foilage Mirage: An ancient art that allows the user to manipulate natural energies.
Effect: +20 CON. +20 STR. Per Cultivation realm advancement.
Price: 85,000/ 12,000 Cr.
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Out of all the techniques that I could find in the shop, these are the only techniques that are barely in my price range. Everything else is already way past anything that I can hope to get even if I stole the entire treasury of the Hengxing family. Even then, I can only get one technique since I don't have enough credits or 'Cr' to buy another technique.
There is another problem. If I hastily buy something from the system and I end up finding out that my sense of money is very skewed and it is easy to get my hands on a bunch of decent enough cultivation manuals in the big city, I will have no sleep for the coming days. That is why I will have to first check in with Yanmei and ask her about the prices in general for such things before I commit all of my gold savings to a single cultivation technique.
Speaking of which, I think I have a good idea of how to cheer up the Xu siblings.
I opened the inventory and used the scroll that represented the Silvermoon Heart soup recipe, immediately causing the system to once again pour all the relevant knowledge into my mind.
With the knowledge at hand, I brought out the massive body of the Silvermoon Wolf and started skinning the damn thing. Salvaging everything that was valuable about the thing and throwing the rest of it back in the inventory to dispose of at a later time.
I could use the bones for a few projects that I am working on. I could also use the fat for cooking. The demonic core is a must since it would sell for a lot, or I could use it myself to make a powerful weapon. The organs can also be eaten and are very nourishing. Its pelt could also be used to make a resilient form of leather that I could use to make a coat for myself.
I have to say, despite the thing only giving me a meager amount of EXP that only leveled me up once, its body is truly filled with useful stuff. No wonder they are so coveted by the many sects and families across the Empire.
Soon, I got to work in the kitchen and followed the recipe, resulting in a fragrance that was simply mouth-watering.
This should be good enough to cheer up the twins. As for Yanmei, I have something else for her.
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Breakfast was a subdued affair in the house, despite the presence of children in the building. The twins looked very skittish and snuck glances at the two older teenagers sitting at the table.
They knew that they had made a rash decision and had paid the price for it, but what they could not bear was the silent treatment that their elders were giving them, causing them to feel like they were sitting on pins and needles.
But the truth was that Yanmei and Haizi were suffering from a different problem altogether.
Haizi had no idea how to break the ice and express his concern for the Xu siblings without sounding like he was reprimanding them while Yanmei was feeling guilty for hiding her cultivation level from arguably her best friend and did not know how to open up to him with her secret.
Amidst such an atmosphere, the four ate the amazing food made by Haizi from the Silvermoon Wolf Heart, causing all of them to feel rejuvenated and even accelerating the healing process for Xu Qiang.
For the entire day, Yanmei and Haizi spent their time separately, drowning themselves in their routine to forget about the sudden awkwardness that sprung up between them.
It was only when night fell that things started to move.
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(POV Haizi)
I sat on the porch again, gazing at the stars, when I felt Yanmei sit beside me like she always does.
We spent a few minutes in such a way until she finally decided to speak.
"…Are you not going to ask me anything?"
"Yanmei, I am your friend, not your leader or chief. I know that you have secrets, just like I do. But I will not force you to reveal them unless you feel like you are ready to tell me."
Once again, she fell silent, causing me to look at her. Only to see the gentle gaze she directed at me.
As time continued to pass, she told me her story. About how she had lied about them being orphaned. About how her family was killed because some sects coveted their martial arts. About how she spent over two years traveling from the western side of the empire to the east with her siblings to get away from her past. About her fear of swords ever since she saw her parent's and family's gruesome deaths.
In turn, I told her a little about myself. I told her about the fact that I was a young master of a prominent clan and that I ran away to escape the fate of death due to my previous actions.
We spent the night talking about our pasts and making fun of each other to lighten the moon. Yanmei especially went hard on the teasing, calling me Young Master Haizi. But by the end of the night, I was fairly certain that we grew closer than we ever were. We no longer had secrets keeping us apart, allowing us to deepen the trust between us.
Perhaps this incident was a blessing in disguise.
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(Somewhere deep within the Eternal Forests)
"…So, the stupid wolf failed after all."
"Of course it did. It was just a dumb beast, after all. This is why I said it was better to coordinate with the others instead of them."
"Watch your tongue, you damned tree-hugging bastard! If you had given us the proper information about the strength of the locals, we would have postponed the attack until the cultivator left."
"Our intelligence was not wrong. There really are only four cultivators in that measly town. Two Iron rank initiate children, a Bronze rank peak stage man, and a Silver rank middle stage girl. It should have been really easy for a Gold rank initial stage Silvermoon Wolf to decimate the town in its entirety, yet he failed before he even reached the location of the town."
"Enough, both of you."
As the two voices fell silent, the light of the moon finally pierced through the canopy of the trees and illuminated the figures in the forest.
Two of them were humanoid, while the last one in the group was a massive tiger demonic beast with rainbow-colored wings.
"This failure was unexpected, yet all is not lost. The weaker sects in the fiefdom will be holding their selection in a few days. We will wait until they are gone. Then, we will attack. But make no mistake, Ling Hu, if we face another failure because of your kin again, I will personally end your reign in these forests."
"…..Very well, Grand Elder."
The demonic beast called Ling Hu nodded at the words of the taller humanoid, while the shorter one simply nodded.
"Aelarion, once we destroy that town, you need to begin the ritual immediately and not waste any of the souls. If I find that your people were slacking off due to any reason, I will make sure that everything about you and your allies is exposed to your king. And when you and your allies are exiled, I will personally take you to the sect master. He has been itching to perform experiments on elves again, and you would be the perfect test subject."
The last person in the group, the silver-haired Elven man, shuddered in fear at the threat and mutely nodded.
"Good. Since you two understand what needs to happen, we can conclude our meeting here. May the great Simuran guide us."
""May the great Simuran guide us.""