Time and Learning

Upon Yaan's return to Hun Village, he unexpectedly ran into his teacher. Great Elder Wan had been extremely busy with the beast tide, and at this point, it had been a month since Yaan last saw him.

"Oh, Yaan! I heard that you used the Water-drop Slash Spell in combat and defeated an Early Rank 2 beast? Impressive Yaan, good job!" Seeing his teacher's kind gaze which was filled with earnest praise, Yaan couldn't help but feel a little bit of happiness.

Since his arrival in the Heavenly Path Sect, Great Elder Wan had become someone whom he trusted more than any other person on the mountain. Rui tried to remind him that nobody could truly be trusted, and at first, Yaan listened. However, Great Elder Wan had been consistently good to him, and at this point, Yaan thought that she was just being overly paranoid.

In reality, Great Elder Wan had truly come to care for his disciple, despite his resolution to see through his malicious plans. Because of this, Yaan was totally fooled.

As she watched their interaction, Rui frowned. She could see that Yaan was falling deeper and deeper into the trap known as 'familial love'…

Great Elder Wan departed after awarding Yaan with some Rank 2 Vital Recovery Pills and Rank 2 Qi Recovery Pills, as well as a special Rank 2 Bone Strengthening Pill. Yaan felt quite content with these things, whilst his heart was warmed by the generous gesture.

"Yaan-"

"Rui, do you really think that teacher is an evil, scheming person? He is always upright, everyone trusts him, he's shown me no reason to distrust him. I have taken your lessons to heart, I'm not naive anymore….I know that people cannot be trusted, but surely there are some exceptions, no? Or are cultivators destined to always be lonely, never daring to place their trust in anyone throughout their long lives?"

This was the first time that Yaan had properly refuted Rui like this. She was taken aback. Yaan refuting her was nothing major, he was growing up, this was to be expected. However, the blatantly extreme level of trust that he placed in his teacher was definitely a problem.

Rui hadn't told Yaan about his teacher's true intentions, because she knew that a Spirit Core Realm cultivator would easily see through him if he tried to lie or act in front of them. This was especially true now that Yaan and his teacher had grown closer. They had developed a level of understanding of one another, so Great Elder Wan would immediately realise if Yaan was acting strange.

However, the current situation was something that Rui didn't want to see. If Yaan wasn't on guard against his teacher, then he would be totally unprepared when they inevitably clashed in the future. Also, it could definitely deal a serious mental blow to him. If Yaan truly grew to love and depend upon his teacher, the blow might be too severe for him to recover from in a short period of time.

She couldn't tell him directly, but she also couldn't leave things as they were.

"Yaan, there is a reason that I have been reminding you to remain cautious of people…it is because of your teacher. I noticed long ago that he is using you to further his own power. I kept it a secret because if you know the full truth, then you will be seen through too easily."

Yaan's eyes widened, but his expression quickly returned too normal. He had already somewhat expected this, but, until now, he had avoided thinking about it.

"I, I know that he might be using me for some gain, but it's just to increase his reputation and position in the sect, right? I can tell that teacher truly cares for me! Maybe he didn't in the past, but we've grown closer, so-"

"You're right. This contradiction has caused conflict to arise within his heart, making him feel confused and uncertain. Yaan, I cannot explain the details because doing so would endanger you, but you should be more cautious around him. Don't get sucked into a real relationship, because I guarantee you…it will not last."

Yaan became silent, his expression was extremely dark.

Rui had basically just confirmed all of his worst suspicions. Even now, she was still withholding information from him, meaning that the reality behind this situation was probably even worse than he was imagining. Honestly, he didn't want to think about it…

Actually, he probably shouldn't think about it anyway. After all, Rui said that he would be in trouble if he discovered the full truth.

Yaan sighed deeply. When he thought about it, he felt certain that Rui was manipulating him. Telling him some things, lying about others…but, he believed that she didn't do this out of malice. The fact that she admitted to doing it herself further solidified this feeling in Yaan's heart.

Her only goal right now was to help Yaan become stronger. She needed Yaan to become strong enough that he could assist her with her recovery.

Yaan had no doubt that the safest course of action was to follow Rui's advice. He was sure that in time, she would eventually explain everything.

Yaan pushed all of these worries from his mind, instead focussing on his cultivation and training.

Realising that she had given him some stressful news, Rui comforted Yaan by guaranteeing that everything would be fine, so long as he trained diligently and acted as usual. The current situation where he didn't meet his teacher very often, was also quite useful for disguising Yaan's doubts towards his seemingly gentle mentor.

Rui was pleasantly surprised by Yaan's acting abilities. He acted no differently around his teacher, only becoming slightly more reserved. Owing to the chaotic nature of the beast tide, his teacher wouldn't notice or even care about something like this. Besides, any minor changes in Yaan's demeanour could be attributed to his young age and his ever-developing personality.

Yaan's fame steadily rose as he slaughtered beast after beast in the Northern wilderness. Whenever he found a beast that he could face alone, he did so, almost always managing to take its life. On a few occasions, he was forced to escape until he found someone to help out, but that was fine, this was quite a common tactic for those fighting on the front lines.

His Innate Qi built up rapidly, as did his demonic body. Fight after fight, Yaan was like an obsessed hunter, spending most of his time around the Hun Village Station Point, defending the place against the never ending tide of beasts.

Not only did his actions result in his reputation growing further, but hunting so many beasts allowed him to accumulate a large quantity of merit points. To Yaan, this tangible benefit was far more important than mere reputation.

Another ten months flew by.

It was winter, and Yaan was now 11 years old, though he looked identical to himself from ten months earlier.

His appearance remained the same, but his bearing had undergone a slight change, becoming more refined, yet also colder and more brutal. Despite having the physical appearance of a child, his gaze and demeanour no longer resembled a naive youngster.

During this time, many developments continued to unfold surrounding the ongoing beast tide situation. The beast tide had now fully enveloped each and every one of the nine organisations across the Greenwood Mountain Range. Even the Yuso Clan, which was the strongest of the nine groups and situated on the largest, central mountain, was suffering great losses.

It could even be said that the beasts were devoting one third of their total power against that lone mountain! The other two thirds restrained the remaining groups, preventing them from providing any assistance to the struggling Yuso Clan.

That said, many of the other organisations hated the Yuso Clan to the bone and would never assist them anyway. The Yuso Clan claimed the best mountain as their own, lording over the rest and suppressing them with their strength. It should be known that the Yuso Clan actually possessed three Origin Soul Realm cultivators!

The difference between the Origin Soul Realm and the Spirit Core Realm was like the difference between heaven and earth. Origin Soul Realm cultivators possessed an origin soul; they were a fundamentally higher form of life than those lower cultivators with mere mortal souls.

Each of the four clans had their own Origin Soul Realm cultivators. This difference in power was also what elevated them above the other five groups in the mountain range.

There was a reason for the clans' success compared to everyone else. Generally speaking, thanks to their bloodline ties, clans were even more unified and nurturing towards their members than schools and sects, allowing them to prosper beyond non-bloodline organisation. This was a common occurrence throughout the world.

The nine organisations all had their differences, but right now, they were all too focussed on defending themselves to care about anything else.

The increasing intensity of the beast tide also led to another startling change; the tournament between the nine groups would be pushed forwards by over a year, now taking place in one month time!

The reason for this was quite simple; this January was predicted to be the coldest month in over a decade. During this icy month, the beast tide would temporarily pull back. Beasts were generally quite stupid, but a Rank 5 spirit beast was more intelligent than most, sometimes even rivalling ordinary humans. Based on what they had seen so far, it was safe to assume that the mysterious beast leader was not willing to throw away its subordinates' lives needlessly when it could just patiently wait out the harsh winter months.

There were supposedly many political schemes behind the scenes of this tournament, but Yaan didn't care about this. The important point was that the tournament provided him with the opportunity to earn some serious rewards.

A few years ago, he had planned on staying more low-key, but that was now impossible. Due to the constant messengers travelling between mountains during the beast tide, his name had spread throughout the Greenwood Mountain Range. Yaan was already a high-key character, a coveted and feared prodigy due to his extreme potential, so why bother holding back now? Rui also agreed with him; this would be an excellent opportunity to earn some resources.

In this tournaments, the elders would be making high stake bets. As such, the disciples would be rewarded generously for each match they won.

Over the previous ten months, Yaan had been crazily building up his Innate Qi by killing beasts, whilst strengthening his body by consuming their meat. He also continued to train his Agile Sword Arts.

In fact, Yaan's training was so intense, that for a while, he had completely forgone all rest aside from sleeping and eating. When Great Elder Wan noticed this, he was actually quite alarmed, worrying that Yaan would tire himself to death. Yaan was reluctant at first, but he ended up following his teacher's advice, relaxing for one or two hours each day by painting whatever came to mind.

Every cultivator agreed that you needed to rest your body and mind…except for Rui. Rui seemed to believe that cultivators should cultivate ceaselessly, and that rest was completely pointless. Regardless, Yaan needed to do as instructed by his teacher.

With all the goings-on in the outer sect, Yaan had taken to painting the various scenes in and around Hun Village. He found it particularly interesting to paint those devastated disciples who returned from the outside following a crushing defeat. He still wasn't satisfied with his ability to capture the full extent of their emotions, but he was certainly making progress as an artist.

Two months ago, Yaan reached the early stage of the Innate Qi Realm. He now possessed a small pond of liquid Innate Qi, consisting of 12,500 drops. This might seem like a large amount of Innate Qi to be stored within a single point, but the space within the dantian was far larger than the dantian itself.

His body had also improved, just about reaching the qualification for an Early 2-Star demonic body! It was because of this that Yaan now sat alone in his humble home, holding a bone white oval pill. The pill shone with a dull white light and weighed three pounds, an extreme weight for an inch long pill.

This was the Rank 2 Bone Strengthening Pill. Yaan's teacher gave this to him as a gift several months earlier.

Rui claimed that using this pill before reaching the early stage of the 2-Star realm would be wasteful, since he had other means to improve his body prior to this point. As such, it was only after reaching this stage that he decided to consume the pill, just in time for the competition in one month.

Gulp!

Yaan swallowed the pill whole, then braced himself for the coming pain. The Bone Strengthening Pill was quite safe, but its usage was extremely painful. This Rank 2 pill could only be used once. It gave the body temperer a strong boost in power, but using the pill a second time would achieve nothing.

"Kuh…!" Yaan's eyes widened as he felt a powerful and dense energy shoot directly into his bones. The marrow within his bones was forcefully refined by a powerful burning energy, removing any impurities, resulting in the production of a purer and more dense marrow.

The outer shell of the bone experienced a similar treatment. The hard but brittle layer underwent countless cycles of destruction and re-creation, over and over again. The white layer was gradually ground away, replaced by a dull grey metallic sheen.

This process didn't take long to describe, but Yaan was forced to endure this searing agony for almost two hours straight. When the process finally finished, he collapsed to the ground whilst panting for breath, eventually falling asleep on the wooden floor due to his exhaustion.

When he awoke hours later, his first thought was to check the state of his body. He was shocked to discover that a grey metallic sheen now coated the surface of his bones! This way very faint, Yaan could only see it when he probed the insides of his body using his own Innate Qi.

"What is this, did my bones become metal?!" He exclaimed in shock. His eyes bulged out since he couldn't comprehend just what sort of shocking change had taken place in his body!

"Of course not, you just obtained Iron Rank bones."

"…?" Yaan didn't even say anything, he just stared at Rui questioningly as he waited for her to expand.

"The Iron Rank bones are the first rank of the Progressive Bones Constitution. This can be attained by anyone, even Qi refining cultivators, but Qi refiners can only go so far. For you, this is an excellent method to improve your body's constitution - specifically, gaining powerful bones. The ranks start at Iron Rank, followed by Bronze Rank, Silver Rank and Gold Rank." Rui explained.

Yaan exhaled in wonder. Once again, he realised that cultivation was truly a broad pursuit, there were so many things that he still didn't know.

"So, is this the effect of the pill?" He asked curiously. "How can the higher ranks be obtained if this pill can only be used once?"

"No, it isn't a direct effect of the Bone Strengthening Pill." Rui corrected him. "The Progressive Bones Constitution can be developed by anyone cultivating their body using a variety of means, but it is random and fairly rare. Using specialist bone enhancement pills increased the chances of stepping onto this path. To obtain Iron Rank bones as a 2-Star demon, you're quite lucky. Also, check your cultivation level."

"My cultivation…huh, my body improved so much?!" Yan exclaimed dumbfoundedly. He had spent so long just to reach the early stage, yet this single pill boosted his body from 5% Vital Energy progression, all the way to 14%!

The quantity of Innate Qi defined the stages within certain Qi refining cultivation realms. Likewise, the quantity of Vital Energy defined the stages within the body tempering cultivation realms.

Vital Energy was the energy which pervaded a body temperer's fleshly body, strengthening the flesh as it flowed through their bloodstream. However, unlike Innate Qi, Vital Energy could not be manipulated or controlled, at least not at lower realms.

"As I said before, rare resources are the best for body tempering. Unfortunately, they're extremely expensive and difficult to procure compared to Qi refining medicines."

Rui had become more informative over the past months. Previously, she often withheld information regarding the future of his cultivation, but she now freely explained certain things.

Yaan was uncertain about the cause of this change of heart. He thought that perhaps, it might be because he had been spending some of his merit points on resources which contained an element of blood essence. Blood essence was the best medicine to assist with Rui's recovery, whilst resources containing the aura of life and death were also of use.

It would be a long time before she was able to fully recover. Even so, Yaan wanted to at least assist her with the healing of her soul, which was something he could help with right now.

As Rui's soul recovered, she became able to access more of her past strength. For example, her Spirit Sense ability had grown further, she was now capable of detecting anything within a radius of 300 feet around her, even when she was hidden within the stone ring. This was excellent for Yaan, as she could act as his method of surveillance for now.

One shocking revelation that Rui had explained to him, was that he would not be able to cultivate his body beyond the 3-Star Realm!

In order to achieve Rank 4 cultivation in both the Qi refining and body tempering paths, it was necessary to form a 'core'. Human Qi refiners formed the Spirit Core within the dantian, whilst demonic race Qi refiners formed the Demon Core. As for body temperers, they formed a Vital Core within their physical body in order to reach the 4-Star Realm.

It was impossible for the Vital Core and the Demon Core to coexist within the same body. For this reason, Yaan would eventually need to abandon one of his cultivation paths. Rui advised that he should focus on Qi refining, as it would be far easier to achieve success with this path compared to body tempering. Body tempering required utterly insane quantities of resources at higher levels, even Rui admitted that it would be too difficult to reach the 4-Star Realm, no matter going beyond this stage.

That wasn't to say that his pursuit of body tempering was for naught, though. So long as Yaan broke through with his Innate Qi and his body simultaneously, all the way through to Rank 3, then he could maintain a Peak 3-Star body forever after. This would provide him with an advantage for a long time.

A stronger body would make him more resilient against attacks that he failed to block. A strong body would also allow him to strike with greater strength in his own attacks. Body temperers also possessed a superior physical recovery rate, and the ability to survive from would-be fatal injuries!

Knowing this didn't change anything for Yaan right now. In the end, he was only an Innate Qi Realm cultivator with a 2-Star demonic body. Right now, he could only focus on taking one step forwards at a time.