Laune’s Determination

Shadow proceeded to instruct Lilith on her cultivation method while she set up a wooden bath of water and plucked the petals of the violet jasmine herbs.

The storage bags she had collected contained many useful items which could be used for little tasks like storing water, wooden baths and other tools.

When petals were added to the water it began to give off an pleasant and enchanting smell while the water also turned a little purple.

Lilith entered into the pool to begin her cultivation, a moment after she began her eyes snapped back open after remembering something. "I almost forgot, the young lady of the tiger clan is asking to speak to you."

"Thank you, I will go see her now." Shadow nodded and proceeded to go see what she was needed for.

Seeing the figure leaving Lilith shut her eyes once more and focussed on cultivation.

She slowly began to absorb the effects of the violet jasmine petals in the water which began to infiltrate her body.

Her body turned a little flushed at first under the effects of the herbs effects but grit her teeth and focussed on her cultivation.

As she had been warned by shadow, if she lost focus during cultivation she would suffer from after effects that would cause damage to her body.

Not only damage would be caused but she would fail the first part of the cultivation manual, as she absorbs the effects and integrates the effects into her body and spirit energy she will become immune to the effects herself after mastery.

Although she was not taught a cultivation manual she had been diligent in refining and tempering her spirit energy to be very pure and stable with Shadows instructions.

She circulated her spirit energy through her body and entered her beast core as it travelled back out it left tiny traces of the violet jasmine within the beast core.

If cultivated diligently the spirit energy in her beast core will gradually integrate with those traces and become purple spirit energy with their own unique characteristics.

Arriving back at the camp Shadow stood before the large group of tigers and was greeted by the new leader of the tigers and his wife.

The leader politely greeted Shadow as she appeared before him. "Thanks for coming, the children have been begging to speak to you."

"No problem, bring her to me and I will see what she needs." Shadow nodded her head and waited patiently.

A short amount of time passed before a small but graceful looking female tiger appeared and blinked its eyes before setting them onto the figure before her.

Her nose twitched as she began to show hesitation but shortly afterwards her gaze turned firm and focussed on Shadow after coming to a decision.

Observing the actions of the little tiger Shadow could not help but approve of this brave little child.

Clearly the young tiger had strengthened her mind after facing the threat of her clan being exterminated, she was weak but fled along with several of her clan members but did not possess the strength to do anything to change the situation.

She did not care for fighting and the pursuit of strength but now she craved it more than anyone and her only hope to push herself further would be with Shadows help.

Shadow walked to a secluded space where they could talk and the tiger silently followed behind. "Speak."

"I have heard that you have taught many beasts to become stronger in a short amount of time, but after experiencing my clan almost being destroyed I have realised how weak and powerless I am. I want strength to protect my clan members from danger so I must surpass them if I wish to do so." The tiger bowed her head before Shadow and grit her teeth.

She was the pride of her clan, beautiful, graceful and did not see much of the brutal side of how the world really is.

Not only that but tigers are naturally proud and arrogant creatures because of their noble bloodline being similar to that of a divine beast the white tiger so naturally it showed how much it meant for the little tiger to bow her head before another.

However what good was keeping ones dignity before survival?

No matter what existence it is, in the face of death they would choose whatever choice they were given in hopes of survival.

Now that Shadow saved the clan in their moment of despair she would resolutely follow Shadows wishes and put in every effort to be of help to her.

After a few moments of silence Shadow spoke up. "Since you have shown your sincerity I will ask you some questions so answer me honestly."

"I will do my best!" The tiger nodded.

"In the pursuit of strength will you slaughter innocents and the weak to gain power? Will you use your new strength you gained to harm others on a whim?" Shadow had a feeling she already knew of how the cub would answer after collecting information about the tiger cub twins.

She was very interested in the female cub because of her calm and gentle nature, although she could of been as talented as her brother she did not take the path of bloodshed but now she grew determined after experiencing her powerlessness.

She would definitely make an excellent and loyal follower if trained properly, she already had several ideas on how to improve her strength quickly.

Normally she would take the normal route of cultivation methods but she felt that it would be a waste with the tiger cubs nature.

The cub was smart but not impulsive, she was gentle but had a desire to protect her family, if she practiced a taboo cultivation technique she would follow strict orders and not act recklessly leading to the harm of herself and those around her.

"No, I only wish to protect my clan! Once I know they will be safe I will serve you forever, no matter what you ask of me I will do it but I will not do that… I know now from experience how horrible it is to be slaughtered on a whim by others so I will not be the same as them." The tiger cub trembled as she suppressed her tears thinking back to that time of despair.

"Then if one day if protecting the clan meant betraying me would you or would you follow my words until your final breathe?" Shadow glared down at the little tiger with an intimidating glance for a moment but quickly withdrew her pressure from the young cub.

"I would follow." The cub was shaken at first but she was not dumb, she clearly understood the meaning behind the words, if Shadow lead the clan and she betrayed her in the future that would mean betraying her own family too.

"Why?" Shadow questioned.

"I do not think that you would betray our trust towards you and I am sure you will have some way to overcome the situation if we run into any trouble." The little tiger looked into Shadows eyes and declared truthfully.

"And why would you think so?" Shadow asked while watching the tigers every subtle change of expression and body language.

"I just feel that I should place my trust in you… Uh..Um… Can I ask something?" The little tiger cub answered with a determined look on her face before looking a little nervous.

Shadow inspected the nervous looking tiger cub with interest. "Speak…"

C..can you please give me and my brother a name?" Her face blushed a little, she had heard few beasts had been given a name if they made a great contribution towards the clan or caught Shadows interest.

After thinking for some time Shadow spoke. "I think Laune suits you and for your brother Elija"

"Thank you" Laune grinned happily as she was very happy to be given a name.

Most beasts are given simple names depending on their looks, traits or their birth order within the clans if they even do recieve one so receiving a name after joining the newly formed clan had given her a sense of belonging towards her new environment.

"Laune I am giving you a chance to improve yourself but remember that your goal is to protect, so unless I say so do not attack others without me telling you to do so… If you listen well your clan members will one day be in a position of safety and you will stay by my side. If you don't I cannot keep my promise to you, I only need your obedience and have no need for wild beasts who can't follow orders." Shadow warned her in a strict tone.

"I will listen to your words." Laune nodded her head with a determined expression on her face.

"Then follow me, the next step is crucial towards your future development." Shadow headed towards the location where Lilith was focussing on cultivating.

Laune remained silent and obediently followed behind.

Gaining followers had become easy for Shadow when dealing with beasts, what mattered was ones strength and what she could offer them.

However her end goal was not just in this small mortal realm, one day she would ascend back to the immortal realm she previously lived in.

Building a strong influence behind her was only a temporary plan to help build her families strength and to give them a stable and safe environment to live.

When she felt her family could live safely, she would be free from worry and ascend to the immortal realm when she became strong enough.

So far those close enough to Shadow was only Korah the rabbit and her family, although Shadow had developed a dislike for men because of her death she did not show any rejection towards the rabbit because of their close relationship from a young age.

Another factor was that the person who killed her was a male human cultivator while those she was currently surrounded her were spirit beasts which have simple personalities compared to humans.

The smartest spirit beasts would be monkey and fox races which have a higher intelligence than most beasts and can be rather crafty and deceitful which was why her guard up against the monkey king and his son.

Soon after establishing a relationship with them and their goals aligned she had lessened her guard towards them