Chapter 26 – A Unique Trait

With a sharp whistle, the sword coiled and strengthened, adding to its swing, and penetrated the bird's flesh. The sword's wriggles inside the flesh added another layer of damage to the bird, making it suffer from Qi deviations in multiple places.

"ARGH!"

The bird still crashed into Ken with high speed and high power, sending him a few dozen meters away. He rolled on the ground a few meters until he hit a tree and came to a stop.

'You should've seen the other guy.'

Ken thought to himself as he heard the noise of the large bird hitting the ground and crashing into the trees. He knew the bird wouldn't be able to survive his sword strike, so he carefully sat up while ignoring the pain and took out a healing pill to help his bones heal faster.

He sat and meditated for 3 hours straight to replenish his Qi when he felt some third-rank beasts getting closer, enticed by the meat of a higher-ranked beast. He got up and quickly pulled his sword from the bird's carcass and left the area.

Although disciples would fight for this carcass to sell it for Qi stones and Contribution Points, he didn't have any need for it; his parents could provide him with any materials and resources he needed in his current stage.

'Time to go home.' Thanks to his perfect memory he still knew where he was despite running hectically in the forest, and he was not lost at any point, allowing him to head home directly and find his mother waiting for him, worried.

"Ken, why did you return home from the forest so late today?"

Mei asked her son impatiently when he came into the house at a late hour. She didn't get used to the fact he was strong enough to take care of himself despite being only 5 years old, and worse, he was dirty and seemed tired and ragged.

"I tried hunting some beasts in the forest and met a fourth-rank bird that tried to hunt me."

Mei instantly paled when she heard that.

"What?! But we gave you a map so you can avoid the dangerous beasts! Did you lose the map? Did you get lost? How did you survive the beast's attack?"

Mei showered him with questions anxiously while Haoran just looked at him with concern and waited for his answers.

"I didn't lose the map, I just wandered too deep into the forest after seeing that I could kill the third-rank beasts too easily."

"That's too dangerous! There is a huge gap between the third stage and the fourth, it's not as simple as the difference between the second and third stages. It's impossible to cross the stages even for the best geniuses," Mei lectured with clear distress.

'Yet I did.' While he thought that, he preferred to appease his mother with a promise. "I will be more careful in the future."

"So, how did you survive the beast's chase?" Mei finally asked. She was intrigued from the beginning but scolding him for being reckless and making sure he was safe were higher on her priority list.

"I ran into a herd of animals. Seeing they were easier prey than me, the beast left me in favor of grabbing a free meal," Ken made something up and ate his food peacefully.

-----------

The next day, Ken stood in front of a large tree in his training area and concentrated.

*Woosh!*

His sword pierced through the wood and left a 5-cm radius hole in the tree. He watched the results with satisfaction as he assessed the damage his sword strike dealt compared to the day before.

'That's the power of leveling up the mastery of my sword art. Its penetration power has at least doubled, and the damage inflicted is much more severe. The 'Advanced' mastery realm of a technique is much more powerful than the 'Basic' one'.

Ken was satisfied with the results. Yesterday when he fought with the giant bird, he turned angry and full of killing intent, which enlightened him about how to apply the Snake Thrust better and evolve his technique.

Normally, he'd improve faster and better when fighting against humans since the techniques were designed to fight humans, but it seemed that the threat of death could offer inspiration and enlightenment regardless of the enemy's identity.

'But killing someone weaker than me has the same results as risking my life in a battle-to-death against a beast that's stronger than me. I'd rather just let others pay the price for my improvements than risk my own life, it's not like I have to kill thousands with my perfect memory.'

Ken was no saint. Even if he could avoid killing others, he wouldn't do it when it came with a risk for himself. Having 100 other people die while he remained safe was better than letting 100 others live while he risked himself. The only thing stopping him from doing it was his attachment to his family.

'According to everything I've read, the next cultivation stage will define my future. The Core Formation Stage in which one uses their soul, body, and mind to create their core, will have a huge influence on everything they can achieve.'

According to the books, the core took its attributes from everything that defined the human forming it. It meant that cultivators had to master their arts as best as they could before forming the core, or it would have no specialty, making them mediocre in everything they would try to master later.

'I saw many techniques mix sword techniques with elemental ones, but it seemed meaningless. The sword's only goal is to pierce and cut, adding any other effect is a waste of Qi and misses the point of the sword. However, mastering only the sword isn't enough. I need to add something.'

Ken wasn't satisfied with the normal paths he had seen at the sect's library. Of course, he didn't forget that his core would also add his proficiency with formations and pill concoctions, but he wanted something for his prowess. He had the ability to practice many things, and it'd be a waste not to use it.

'I could use lightning or wind to boost my speed, but it's more like a quantitative improvement, I need a qualitative one. My movement techniques are all sword techniques at their core.'

He thought about what he had done those past days but couldn't come up with anything that fitted him. He wanted something unique, something that would differentiate him from the rest of the cultivation world. He had a vague idea of what he expected from his future; he wanted something that could affect the minds of his enemies, weakening them when facing his sword.

'I must cultivate it from youth, or else it will not change my very constitution. This is my greatest advantage over others, making my very being tuned to Qi and cultivation.'

He had many plans to make sure he wouldn't waste his childhood and little time to execute them. He decided to go home and think about his future for a while before making a rash decision that would shape his prospects as a cultivator.

'Oh well, let's do what I can for now. Since I already tasted the benefits of practicing on humans, I should just do it more often.'

The next day instead of going to his normal spot, Ken stayed near the main entrance to the forest from the sect and hid between the branches of one of the trees.

"Hey Monica, how about going out for a drink with me when we are back from this mission? I have some spare change after our last kill."

"Keep dreaming, I only aim for someone in the top 500 like Big Brother Droy. Besides, I have gotten half of the loot after killing that idiot, what's the point of bragging in front of your partner?"

"Big Brother already has a girl, what's the point of rejecting someone who cares about you for someone whom you can't date?"

"A girl can dream."

He heard a conversation coming his way and he soon found 5 young disciples wearing blue passing by. The sect would set commissions to bring certain carcasses and herbs from the forest all the time, and the disciples would go fetch them in exchange for Contribution Points. This way, the disciples trained in real combat, and the sect replenished its resources.

Ken also understood that their strongest member was that Droy guy, who apparently was a weakling, so he also didn't believe they had strong backers. Overall, the group seemed to fit the role of training dummies.

'You guys have killed others for benefits before, you can't complain if I do the same,' he thought.

All five of them were in the Soul Strengthening Stage, but none reached its peak yet. He nimbly jumped down the tree and followed them into the forest, keeping a safe distance out of their detection range. By using Cloud Running constantly, he also negated most of the noise his steps made as his steps turned much lighter.

The group started jogging inside the forest toward the habitat of their target and Ken followed behind. He took out a large menacing silver mask and wore it on his face as he waited for them to gain enough distance from the sect. After all, elders might be loitering around and it was better to conceal his identity.

'The mask loses a lot of its menacing effect on a kid like me. The oversize is also awkward.'

He occupied his mind with these types of thoughts until he felt they were deep enough in the forest. Listening to the group flirting with each other was too cringy for him, encouraging him to train with them as soon as possible so he could go home.

"Okay guys, we're getting close. let's try to be quiet from now on or the beasts will be alerted, and we will face a much stronger resistance."

The leader of the group, Droy, gave his instruction and everyone obeyed.

"Ok, James, you use the bow so make sure to go to a high spot as soon as the beasts are in your range. Monica, you strike with me while Derek and Laila will support us with their spears."

"Understood."