A Cultivator’s Heart and Desire

Yaan stood in place and stared at the cricket's corpse for some time. He was lost in thought, but he didn't forget to refine the Slaughter Aura which had been released from the corpse and continually flowed into his body. The Slaughter Aura from this beast was powerful and birthed the desire for bloodshed and violence, but he was able to endure whilst keeping a relatively clear mind.

The Water-drop Slash Spell was quite useful, but it certainly needed more practice. Yaan knew that he needed to refine more Innate Qi before using the spell recklessly, since as of right now, a single attack drained half of his Innate Qi.

That said, overall, he felt pleased with the result. He never expected this spell to be perfect, it was already very good that he was able to injure an enemy from a distance before closing in.

After he finished refining the Slaughter Aura, Yaan politely accepted the excited words of gratitude and praise from the inner sect disciples. He couldn't help but notice their gazes of admiration and respect towards him, despite all three of them being older than himself.

"So this is strength, huh." Yaan muttered to himself later on whilst patrolling around the village walls.

Those inner sect disciples were all older than him by at least ten years. Adults treating a child with respect could be seen amongst mortal royalty, but this was different. Their respect wasn't towards his position, his identity, or his background…but towards his strength.

Age became irrelevant in the face of power. Those with power were respected, whilst those who lacked power were discarded without a second thought.

The members of the Heavenly Path Sect were unified, or at least, those in the inner and core sect all looked out for one another. That said, only the strong were able to obtain respect. Perhaps this was the greatest similarity between the demonic path and the righteous path…

Strength surpassed all else.

"You're far from strong." Rui reminded him, bringing Yaan down from his feeling of power. "You're only at the Innate Qi Realm, a Rank 2 being. There are countless beings with this level of strength in this world, and countless beings that could squash you like a bug. You are not special."

"I know, but still…I think that I'm starting to understand the appeal of strength." Yaan replied with an awkward laugh. He had only started to think this way recently, and he wasn't sure if Rui would take him seriously.

Unexpectedly, she seemed intrigued.

"Oh? You enjoy impressing others? The admiration? The pride that comes with surpassing those around you? Or perhaps, you have discovered that you enjoy lording over others?"

This talkative barrage of questions took Yaan by surprise. It was extremely rare for Rui to talk this much…for whatever reason, she seemed to be truly interested in understanding him.

"It's not like that." Yaan shook his head. He fell silent for a moment, but Rui didn't say anything, because he was clearly organising his thoughts, trying to think of a way to explain himself.

After a long pause, Yaan finally spoke, slowly but clearly.

"Being treated with respect by those adults just reminded me of how far I've come. I think…I want to travel even further down this path. At first, this was all to seek revenge, and whilst that is still my goal, I think that I will continue to cultivate, even after avenging my family. I don't quite understand it myself, but…that's also why I want to continue improving. I want to understand why I feel this desire to become stronger...I want to understand why I feel the desire to live."

Rui didn't immediately reply. In fact, she became silent for quite some time. His response was beyond her expectations, but it was certainly something that she was pleased to hear. Only…hearing such a well thought out answer from a ten year old child was unexpected.

In the past, Rui had been the leader of her own sect. Yaan knew this, but he was unaware of the specific details.

Rui had trained children and observed their growth before, so she knew that Yaan's mindset was extremely unusual for a child, even amongst those who became fiends.

Even some people twice his age didn't have this much insight into their own heart and desire.

When asked why they cultivated, those young people of the righteous path would reply along the lines of: 'I will become strong for glory, for my loved one, and to obtain the respect of my elders!'

Young followers of the demonic path were far less common, but they would also give very straight forward answers, saying things like: 'Strength is absolute, I will kill everyone in my way, I will never bow down to others, no matter the situation!'

Either way, these ways of thinking were immature and typically changed with age. Yaan's development was quite strange, which both impressed and worried her.

It impressed her, because she had never met a child like this, and it worried her for the same reason. This unexpected development was becoming increasingly difficult to control.

Rui sighed, realising that she could no longer forcefully impose her own philosophies upon him.

She could continue to teach him about self-preservation, survival and improvement. She could easily steer him towards the demonic way. However…

The exact path that he chose, would now be up to Yaan himself.

This was inevitable, she knew that it would happen eventually, but it had only been a few years. Originally, she had expected that she would have longer to influence his development.

Rui was a wise and pragmatic woman though, she didn't worry about this. She simply altered her plans accordingly, deciding on the best course of action from here on.

Even though Rui was reduced to a weakened state, with only her soul remaining within the stone ring, she was still able to think quickly. She even had multiple streams of thought running through her mind simultaneously…this was an impressive feat, given her grave injuries.

When she finally spoke, she decided to simply provide Yaan with some advice.

"If you want to improve rapidly, you should focus on killing more Rank 2 beasts. This will allow you to refine more Slaughter Aura, whilst Rank 2 beast meat is far superior compared to Rank 1 beast meat. Even though this body refinement method is a bit slow without medicinal pills, it will be sufficient until you reach the middle of the early stage. Now that you have the ability to slay Rank 2 beasts on your own, you will be able to accumulate more merit points. Work hard, and you could obtain some body tempering medicines, as well as more spells."

"You seem to be more talkative than usual today, Rui." Yaan blinked and replied with a bit of surprise.

She didn't respond, but he decided that since she was being quite helpful today, he might as well take advantage.

"Do I need more spells? It's difficult enough casting one and integrating it into a fight as it is…"

"More spells means a greater range of abilities, which is crucial for travelling alone in the outside world. You have an attacking spell, but you need different spells to cover other areas. Attack, defence, surveillance, healing, buffing and movement are the six fundamentals. Buffing can be ignored, as this is only needed in a group. Your body makes up for the defence side, whilst your sword arts are equivalent to a low level movement spell already. Healing spells can be withheld for now if you stock up on recovery pills. However, for travelling alone in the wilderness, surveillance is essential."

Yaan listened attentively and nodded, showing that he understood.

He knew that it was rare for weaker cultivators to travel alone in the outside world, because that would require one person to become adept in multiple specialisations in order to survive. Travelling in groups was more simple, as roles could be split between combat, surveillance and support.

Still, Rui had continually drilled into him one vital point…

Eventually, he would need to leave this sect, and at that point, he would be completely alone.