Spirit Beast - Lifeblood Cultivator.

"W-what do you-?" Shu He stepped back once more as he saw himself reflected in the pale gold sclera of the man before him.

He felt like he was being examined inside out, that he couldn't hide a single thing; The slit pupils darted around as they picked his mask apart.

But all a sudden a pair of arms came between them, separating them by some distance.

"Elder Bai! Please stop scaring potential new members" Jian He berated the elder like he was telling a child off.

"That wasn't my intention…" Elder Bai shook his head before fiddling with a strand of his hair while looking over at Shu He.

"That scent… it's familiar to me, it's not bad, I was just feeling slightly nostalgic". The then walked up to Shu He once more but held his hand out.

"Sorry if I scared you, you can call me Elder Bai, or just Bai if you want" He spoke with a gentle tone with a slight smile.

"…It's fine, I'm Shu He it's nice to meet you Elder Bai" Shu He shook his hand but inside his head he was anything but calm.

'Who is this man?! Something's wrong, I can't tell but he isn't normal, something is off!'

Without hesitation, Shu He activated his 'sight' to get a good look at this elder and the very moment he did-

'?!?!' He felt his heart seize and his pupils constrict.

Normal cultivators have a source of qi that emanates from their lower abdominal area, at least that's what Shu He has realised over the years, he can't see what produces it, but he assumed just like him they have core flames located in that area, they just aren't visible to him for some reason.

But Elder Bai is different, Shu He can see it, an abnormally large glowing organ that pumped copious amounts of qi throughout this man's body, the amount was so large that he almost felt sick just observing it, it was the greatest concentration he had seen so far, even surpassing the sect master!

'This guy is a monster! He's not human!'

The urge to back away creeped back into Shu He's mind.

He had only seen a similar thing in one other person, a person Shu He despises with all his heart, the man who took the lives of his parents!

He has long since died, but the scar he left on Shu He would never go away, and anything related to him dredged everything to the surface.

Without knowing it, he began to glare at the elder, a glare ringed with hatred.

The elder met his gaze at they stared at each-other.

"You have such beautiful pure golden eyes, so why are they filled with such pain?"

"…" Shu He couldn't speak a word, he felt like he had sunk into a deep pit of tar in his own mind, that all he could see were images of that man reflected in his surroundings.

"Shu He? What's wrong?" Jian He looked at the young junior his had just invited with confusion, he didn't understand at all what was happening.

Elder Bai took a step forward.

Shu He took two steps back.

The white haired elder frowned slightly and spoke as calm as he could.

"Are you afraid of me? Why?"

Shu He's gaze darted between Elder Bai's face and his chest where the glowing core resided, his mouth opened a few times before closing, he was unable to put words together to speak.

Elder Bai noticed his gaze and his eyes narrowed.

"Can you see?" he spoke ever so quietly, but the words send shivers up Shu He's spine.

At the same time, they broke a chain that caused him hesitation.

"What are you? What is with your body?!" He spoke the words he was holding back; he didn't want to say because it would give his ability away, but if they knew already then it didn't make a difference!

"…Oh, is that all? Then I'll tell you!" Suddenly the heavy atmosphere disappeared between the two as the elder relaxed.

"…?" Shu He was still cautious even though the elder had switched attitudes.

"Tell him? Wait Elder Bai you shouldn't-" Jian He tried to object but-

"Quiet Jian He, I feel like he deserves to know this" Elder Bai interrupted him, a slight glint of annoyance hanging in his pupils.

He then looked over to Shu He once more.

"Let me tell you, I am not your enemy, nor am I related to anything I might have reminded you of; I live a solitary life here and do not even wander out of this sect, it's been that way for more than 1000 years" A sense of melancholy was weaved into his words as he walked over and sat on a collapsed tree trunk.

"Let me ask you, what is it you see? Don't worry, I won't ask you to tell me how you're seeing it".

Shu He stood still, slightly placated by his words as he began to talk while using his 'sight'.

"A grand wave of Qi that could easily crush anyone, a heart of pure light that birthed such powerful Qi living inside of inhuman flesh" His golden eyes glimmered as the words left his mouth.

"That's…" Jian He looked at Shu He with some disbelief before he looked at Elder Bai.

Elder Bai merely glanced at him "See, he could tell".

"As you guess, I'm not human; however, you shouldn't be confused, I never was in the first place."

"…Huh? Then what are you?" Now Shu He was lost, because at the very least he was sure Tai Min was a human at first.

Elder Bai held his index finger above his lips as if he was telling Shu He to keep silent about what he was going to say.

"I'm a spiritual beast". He spoke with a smile on his face as he watched Shu He's face contort with surprise and disbelief.

"Wait if you're a spirit beast then why do you look human?!"

"Because my cultivation allows me to change my form to that of a human, though if I'm being honest I prefer my true form, clothes just aren't that comfortable". He said while tugging at his robe.

"That's why you were naked…" Shu He felt his tension decreasing quickly, clearly he had panicked too much and jumped the gun.

"Yes you get it! Nothing beats the freedom of feeling the touch of nature on your skin!" Elder Bai spoke enthusiastically.

"And that's why you scare all the newer disciples away, especially the girls! Who wants to join a division when their elder is a nudist!?"

"Na Xue joined didn't she?" The elder cocked his head in confusion.

"That girl is a pervert!" Jian He slapped back.

"Na Xue?" Shu He said, he hadn't seen any other members yet.

"Ah she's not here right now, I think she's out on a mission; same with the other members they're busy elsewhere" Jian He explained.

"It does get a bit lonely down here, why can't we get some more members?" Elder Bai spoke before receiving a literal slap on the head from Jian He.

"Like I said it's because of you!"

"Pfftahahaha" Shu He couldn't help but laugh, this wasn't quite the situation he thought he'd experience when visiting the Beast Taming Division, he wondered why he got himself riled up like that in the first place.

He began feeling comfortable as he spoke to these two.

Elder Bai and Jian He both smiled as they saw their junior laughing, it was then that Jian He asked-

"By the way I don't want to be rude or anything, but what exactly is it that you saw in Elder Bai… it seemed to affect you quite a bit".

"…Jian He that might be a bit too personal to ask right now" The Elder warned him.

But Shu He collapsed to the floor in a sitting position letting all the tension out of his body.

"It's fine, I was rude earlier so it's the least I can do" He said.

He began to explain that he used to live in a normal village, and that said village came under an attack by the hands of black sect cultivators, how he saw so much pain and loss for the first time; Then he explained his encounter with the monster known as Tai Min, how he lost both his parents to his hands before he was killed.

"That man, his body was similar to yours it had a black core, a black heart that pumped it with a horrid black qi, all I know is that he wasn't a normal cultivator".

He finished explaining it two the two.

"Black sects… I've heard that they've been more active recently, but I never heard any details, how horrid, mortals shouldn't be touched!" Jian He spoke with spite, his expression dark.

"That man, he definitely wasn't a spirit beast like me" Elder Bai said with confidence.

Shu He nodded "I thought that; I'm sorry for my actions earlier, if I had spent time looking closer I would have realised the key difference".

"It's fine, you're young and bound to make mistakes, the most important thing is to learn from them".

Shu He grew a self-mocking smirk on his face after hearing that.

'Where have I heard that before.'

"I'm curious on what the key difference is to you though." Elder Bai asked.

"When I look at your body it's like a perfect puzzle, every piece is harmonious and the structure is incredibly strong, I can't even tell the limits of it" He stared at Elder Bai's form with his sight, it felt like he was looking into a bright light that he couldn't see the depths of.

"But for that man… his body was like a weave that was kept together by nails and scrap metal, that black core was a hungry beast slowly devouring him from the inside out, there was a clear distinction between him and it but the more he changed the more than line became blurred.".

Elder Bai nodded "Yes that sounds about right, that man was a cultivator that used baleful qi, you know what that is right?"

Shu He nodded, he had that explained to him not long after the events of that day.

"But he was also what we call a 'Lifeblood' cultivator, do you know that cultivation is split in to three categories?"

Shu He shook his head.

"Right, you're only at the blood enhancement stage… well you'll learn more about this once you reach meridian awakening, but I'll summarise it for you now".

He grabbed a large stick from the log he was sitting on and snapped it before he began drawing.

He drew three circles in the dirt then pointed at the first one and wrote 'Mind' in it, then the second he wrote 'Body' and the last he wrote 'Soul'.

"These are the three core aspects that make up a living being, if we were missing one we would become unstable beings, eventually collapsing, only death would await".

'I've seen the same idea represented in different books in this world, even in the other worlds, I guess It's a universal constant' Shu He thought to himself as he listened patiently.

But then, he drew another circle in the middle of the three that clipped all of the circles, similar to a weird Venn diagram.

Inside this circle he simply wrote "Core".

Elder Bai pointed to this and asked, "Do you know what this is?"

Shu He stared at the diagram and thought for a moment before giving an answer.

"It's our cultivation, or specifically our core flames".

Elder Bai smiled and nodded.

"Good at least you're smart, yes this represents the core flame of a cultivator, as one increases their cultivation their core flame undergoes transformations, but it isn't that alone that changes the power of the core flame will also affect the three core aspects bringing about great changes".

'Makes sense, I wonder if different stages are aimed towards different cores of power' Shu He's thoughts wandered.

"Now, the thing is it's not only the core flame that can enhance these core aspects, but external things can also influence it".

"Like cultivation techniques?" Shu He realised quickly.

"Correct, not just that however, rare resources or even high-level alchemy pills can do so".

"Alchemy can do that too?" Shu He caught on to the word.

"Yes but it's limited, and you'll require and incredibly skilled alchemist, it's recommended to not rely on pills though or you'll end up with an 'empty' cultivation."

"What does that mean?" How could cultivation be 'empty'? He thought.

"It means just for show, there's no point in having a high level of cultivation when your actual abilities are far below your rank because you skimped on training techniques or comprehension" Jian He explained since he had been itching to speak after listening to the lesson.

"Oh, I get it, it's like the saying about a paper tiger".

"Yes that's quite accurate" Elder Bai laughed lightly.

Elder Bai then drew another circle, this time it was connected to 'Body' only.

"The technique that man used would sit between the 'Technique' and 'Rare Resource' category, it's one that we spirit beasts look down upon since it's essentially relying on an external power rather than your own, the users of the 'Lifeblood' technique take in the lifeblood of a being much more powerful than them and use it to transform their bodies, it's a technique that's incredibly risky and suffers from compatibility issues between blood and bearer… we dislike it because it has led to mass hunting of specific beats in the past"

"So then that core I saw and those abilities…"

"Yes, it was most likely the heart of a spirit beast known as a 'Shadow Demon', it's a pesky beast as it hides in the shadows all the time and stalks its prey till it can kill it then drag it back in, the abilities you described match perfectly".

"So that's it…" It was a question Shu He held in his mind since back then, the abilities he had seemed inhuman, so it confused him.

"Ahhh, we've spoken about enough heavy topics now, how about I show you around the place Shu He?"

"Huh?" Shu He stared at Jian He who had his hands clapped together.

"Oh, right you were here to introduce him to the Beast Taming Division, right! I completely forgot!"

"Ah" Shu He stood up all of a sudden.

"I also forgot…" He muttered shamefully.