Time to Get Serious

"Very good, Disciple Cui. You may go."

Liang Teng dismissed Cui Feng after her report, watching her leave his quarters before heaving a relieved sigh. When she had returned to the sect shouting about a Soul Wandering beast, he had feared the worst. The friend of his sect's distinguished guest dying after going out on a mission for them...

However, it would seem that these two were hiding terrifying strength. Especially this Hu Long fellow; from Disciple Cui's report, Ryker's spiritual sense was rather poor, with Hu Long helping to supplement this gap on their mission.

However, if he was the one to see through the concealment technique of the Steel-Back Wraith, then this Qi Gathering disciple certainly wasn't simple.

And Ryker's strength... to be able to even harm a demonic beast that was two major realms above oneself was an almost impossible feat. Although the Steel-Back Wraith was considered to have relatively poor defenses, that was only relative to other demonic beasts.

Demonic beasts in general were considered to have higher physical capabilities on average when compared to humans. No one would have even considered the possibility of a Soul Wandering beast being slain by anyone below the Soul Wandering realm, and that would be in a group of at least four experts.

"Things are certainly taking an interesting turn..."

Liang Teng sighed. There would certainly be more eyes on Ryker after this showy display of power. Not all of them would belong to those of his sect. But most all of them would be thinking of doing something troublesome...

Between Ryker's arrival, some inner sect conflict, and the recent tensions between the other Great Sects, he'd been feeling very stressed lately.

Not to mention the Great Void Sect, who he was sure was planning something big after their recent scandal. Everyone else was looking to rush up to their door, hoping to get a piece of the pie in the name of 'reparations'.

But he's known that old crone, Xia Qiao, for almost a century, now. She would doubtless have something up her sleeves to even the playing field, if not outright turn it in her favor.

The only question then: in what state will the Dabang Sect be in the aftermath?

Liang Teng sighed again, rubbing at his stomach that was aching from worry. To think that he could still get a stomach ache, even at the peak of the Nascent Soul realm...

--

{Ryker! Thank goodness you're okay!! Oh, I knew something would happen if you went out on your own...!}

[If I'd known you'd be getting into trouble immediately after going out, I'd have insisted on going with you.]

Back in Caelus's quarters, Ryker sat shirtless on the couch, wrapping bandages around the few wounds he had with a grimace as Bestie and Mini C fretted over him.

"Why are you guys making it sound like it's my fault...?" he asked, rolling his eyes.

"Because it usually is."

Caelus walked into the room from one of the adjoining annexes, his quiet remark carrying a hint of amusement. The demonic core of the Steel-Back Wraith was clutched in his hand, the palm sized orb glowing faintly with a reddish light, and he placed it on the table in front of the sofa before taking a seat, himself.

"The cultivators and demonic beasts have something of an unspoken truce, between them. A demonic beast of this level would have enough intelligence to know of this, so it's puzzling as to why this one would encroach so far into cultivator territory."

"Haha, maybe it's those Great Void Sect guys trying to get at me?" Ryker said with a grin. Caelus nodded, pouring himself a cup of tea from a nearby teapot.

"Yes, that would be the most reasonable assumption."

"... Oh. Guess it really was my fault, then!"

Ryker laughed like there hadn't just been a potential attempt on his life.

Caelus just smiled slightly, sipping slowly on his tea before putting on a more serious look. He was used to Ryker's carefree attitude, but their current situation called for some careful thought and decision making.

"All jokes aside, what will you do, now?" he asked, "This most likely won't be their last attempt, and it seemed more like they were trying to gauge your strength, this time. Future attacks will bring more of their force to bear, I would wager."

Ryker leaned back and blew a bit of hair from out of his face. Honestly speaking... this last fight was a bit too close for comfort. If Hu Long hadn't stayed back to help, he wasn't sure if there was a way he could have made it out, alive.

He'd been cruising along, so far, but he couldn't forget that those experts he'd seen could hardly be called the strongest. There were far stronger threats in this world, and getting caught unprepared like he'd just been could easily lead to death.

"I guess I need to start taking cultivation more seriously," he finally said, standing up and cracking his neck.

Fortunately, this latest incident had opened his eyes to this obvious truth...

"Alright! Let's do this! Should we start with that 'spiritual sense', or whatever?"

Although he always glossed over the details when it came to most things cultivation, he was well aware that the reason he'd been unable to do anything that last fight was because of his poor 'spiritual sense', as it was called.

As he always relied on Mini C when it came to target acquisition, his own ability to find the enemy was severely lacking. Surely, the first step would be to work on that.

However, Caelus shook his head, contrary to Ryker's expectations, taking out a wooden box from his own dimensional pocket.

"No. R.A.I.S.U can cover any weaknesses, such as that; it's what he was made for."

He opened the box in his hands, revealing a hodgepodge of small, spherical pills inside.

"Although you *should* try to get a passing understanding of your spiritual sense, at some point, training it to a level that would have helped against the Steel-Back Wraith would take an unreasonable amount of time. Especially considering your lack of focus."

"Ouch... but true."

Caelus nodded to himself, carefully going through the pills in the box before picking out a red, fiery pill that shot out puffs of smoke every now and then, placing it in Ryker's hands.

"It would be far more efficient, at the moment, to play to your strengths. Namely, your toughness, and my newfound talent in alchemy," he said with a playful smirk.

"To that end, I've crafted several batches of experimental Foundation Establishment pills. Although there may be side effects, they should help in quickly raising your cultivation base; we'll go through each type one by one to see which best suits you."

Ryker looked at the pill in his hand with a dubious eye, feeling the intense heat radiating through his palms.

"... Uh, is it supposed to be smoking like this?"

"Yes."

"Hm."

With a shrug, he popped the smouldering pill into his mouth and swallowed.

And so began his day of indescribable pain and suffering... as was per usual when it came to Caelus's 'experiments'.

--

On top of a stone pillar, not far from where Ryker and Hu Long faced off against the Steel-Back Wraith...

The Great Void Sect's hidden spy, Xia Qingge, sat casually on a rock, writing her latest observations into her small notebook.

After days of only being able to gather second-hand information from their spies within the Dabang Sect, today she had finally gotten a chance to test Ryker's strength, for herself.

Well, not directly, of course.

The Steel-Back Wraith was actually a demonic beast under the control of the Great Void Sect, having been directly placed under an enslavement seal a few decades ago.

Its lifespan was nearing its end, the forcibly placed enslavement seal having eaten away most of its vitality, so it had been the perfect tool for testing her target's capabilities.

In fact, she had been expecting it to easily eliminate Ryker, but his tenacity and strength were even greater than she had expected.

However, it wasn't as if she had gained nothing. She had learned that an attack at the level of the Steel-Back Wraith's piercing needles was enough to threaten him, and that he was weak against concealment techniques.

In fact, if she had killed the Qi Gathering young man that was helping him, she was sure that Ryker would have died or at least been seriously injured.

In the end, though, she stayed her hand. Her only target for this mission was Ryker. There were plenty of chances in the future to strike at him, so there was no need for any senseless killing.

She snapped her notebook shut, intending to go back to the sect, for now. Unexpectedly, the Steel-Back Wraith had been cultivating its Soul Manifestation in secret, likely to try and escape the slave seal's hold. She needed to warn the handlers to look for any other such threats.

In an instant, her form vanished, leaving nothing but the sound of whistling wind.