Leaving A Legacy

Life had never been better for Zhao Ren. All his various ventures were starting to bear fruit and it was nothing but sunny days ahead. It had taken Ren a few days to get accustomed to his new blazing fast flying sword but once he did, his reach had vastly expanded. The fastest speed drained his qi too much but in exchange the speed was worthy of an escape treasure. There was no need to wield an ox-slaying blade on a chicken so he just used the base speed for his travels.

The newfound feeling of freedom had been blissful! No longer restricted to the region around his mountain, he could explore and seek spirit plants and herbs in a variety of new places. Strange natural formations and scenic views, unknown exotic beasts, and witnessing other disciples on similar adventures, it was all new and exciting!

Although the explorations hadn’t all been fun and rewarding. So far, he had mainly explored the eastern regions of the inner sect as the strength of beasts grew beyond him the further west he went. Occasionally he would have to flee a superior foe. And on two separate occasions, he found the corpse of a disciple. He had buried them and sent their identification jades to the sect. It was a solemn reminder that the inner sect was a dangerous place, mostly inhabited by strong foundation realm beasts.

With how he could traverse large distances, he could afford to visit his seniors and customers in person instead of trading messages at the Hall of Contribution. After a month, when he successfully grew the spirit herbs for the four orders he had accepted, he delivered them in person. He also took the opportunity to create karmic links to each customer.

Thus far he hadn’t had a bad experience with any of the links he had made, so it made him bolder in establishing new connections. These seniors were all renowned figures even in the outer sect and good people to make connections with. There were now four more faint strands that joined his Fire of Life in his dantian.

His growth in cultivation aside, he had also earned a significant amount of spirit stones from the trades. It made him a little giddy. Being rewarded for one’s effort was always pleasant. These trades had earned him 5 medium grade spirit stones. But the true reward was his now established reputation as a talented herb grower. Word was starting to spread, and Ren already had a number of inquiries and orders.

With two he had already accepted, he had received payment in advance of a mid-grade spirit stone each. For 3 others, they had given him multiple seeds to attempt growing. If he managed to grow more than one of the seeds, then they were his to keep or sell, with only one of them being reserved for the original customer.

Although he hadn’t begun growing any of the five plants just yet, as he was waiting for the previous batch to mature, he had already begun researching the proper requirements and conditions to grow them well. Ah, what a blessing it was to be able to travel to the Hall of Scripture and back in the same day. It still took a bell of time each way, but that was nothing compared to the 5 days it would take him before! He also wanted to wait until after the upcoming lecture on formations was done so he wouldn’t be distracted when he began because some of the newer herbs would take quite long to grow.

But with those advance payments, his wealth already reached 7 mid-grade spirit stones, or 700 spirit stones! It would open a lot of doors for Ren in terms of techniques and manuals he could start buying. Most importantly, Ren was ready to begin walking the path of body cultivation. He had thought up a plan months ago, and it was finally time to start implementing it. The lecture on formations would also be held tomorrow, so it was the perfect time to head to the inner sect. Before he left, he glanced around his mountain peak.

There had also been three significant changes on his mountain. Five more of his tortoises had settled on a qi alignment. Tortoises of the earth, metal, wood, fire, and wind attributes had joined the others. Other than completing a wuxing cycle of elements, which were the most common types of qi present on his mountain, the wind attribute tortoise was another rare alignment.

Rare but not unexpected as that particular little tortoise had joined him on a number of his exploratory journeys on his flying sword. It would nudge him until he placed it in its customary place on his head, where it would enjoy the roaring wind. Ren would worry it might be blown away, but somehow, it maintained its hold. After it had settled on its alignment, it had actually started to help Ren subtly in dealing with sudden gusts or eddies of wind.

The other tortoise would mostly spend their days near the treasures of their alignment. He still had no demands from them, but they would still help maintain his gardens by eating pests and weeds and fertilizing the fields.

Next was that the eggs of the Corpse Silk moths had all hatched a while back, and the little caterpillars were growing fat munching on the leaves of the ghost face tree. The adults had regained their vigor, and with Ren resuming the periodic hunts of the beasts, they had plenty to eat. Even the ghost face tree was growing well despite the small infestation of caterpillars and had added another of those strange faces on its trunk.

Finally, Ren had begun to harvest the Mutating Bamboo Sword plants. With his care and the rich atmosphere of qi, they had grown remarkably well. The only one that had actually mutated so far was the one that grew beside the wood node, but Ren hoped the others weren’t far behind.

Ren already had 5 blades to refine and add to his Turning Seasons Sword Array. The very first Mutating Bamboo Sword had been somewhat damaged in the battle with the python, so he was ready to retire it. The five new blades still weren’t ready yet, but once they were, his combat ability would take a huge leap forward.

*Nudge, Nudge*

Ren had found his footing in the inner sect and had finally started to attain success. All the gains from the inheritance trial had been digested. Now that strength needed to be honed and refined.

*Nudge, Nudge*

“That’s enough, little one! Stop. I know I’m using the flying sword, but I can’t take you to the inner sect. I would become a laughing stock!”

At his words, the little tortoise withdrew its head into its shell as though sulking. He sometimes wondered just how intelligent the little tortoises were, as its actions caused a small pang to shoot through his heart. But he steeled himself and remained firm, as spoiling a child was never a good idea. As to how that sweet berry ended up in front of the pouting tortoise before he left, he had no idea. No idea at all!

The Hall of Scripture held an extraordinary temptation when one was an eager-to-learn, newly rich disciple. Many of the vast repositories of precious knowledge were locked behind a requirement of contribution points. Like in the outer sect, Ren had to placate himself with reading the short introductory summaries.

Before he could get distracted, he pulled himself to his goal. Many months ago, he had foolishly ignored a technique because it was designed for women. The Balanced Yin Body Refining Art, which called for a yin flame to combust the yin qi within one’s body and burn away the impurities. It had taken him a while to come to terms with it, but he finally realized that ignoring a technique perfect for him out of embarrassment was the height of folly. Hadn’t he already learned that lesson from the Nurturing Rain Sutra?

And the consequence of overindulging in the method was to gradually develop a burly physique. Ren would gladly embrace it. Although burly physiques weren’t exactly common among cultivators, he wouldn’t lose face over it. Ever since, he had reduced his precautionary measures to allow more yin qi to be absorbed into his body. And now that he could afford to buy this body refining art, he wouldn’t have to suffer sudden chills at night or his pale skin for much longer.

But Ren had no intention of stopping there. This was just the first step of his plan. He intended to use this method for rapid progress until the excess yin qi was burned away. It would hopefully allow him to catch up to other disciples who had begun training before him. Once his body reached a balance, the method would lose much of its efficiency. At that point he would switch to a second method, the Heavenly Fire Body Refining Manual.

The second method, which involved absorbing astral qi to fuel a yin flame to burn impurities, was a much slower one. According to the introduction, it might be slow, but it provided superior improvements. It also had a possibility of influencing the yin flame and possibly mutating it. With how well his yin flame had grown, Ren had toyed with the idea of splitting a small portion and deliberately increasing the chances of mutation. It would harm the original flame, but the possibility of a second spiritual flame was a strong temptation.

If all those benefits weren’t enough, Ren still considered the astral qi to be of special interest to his cultivation. In a few snippets here and there, he had seen the Dao of Karma being linked to the heavenly bodies. As usual, it was far beyond his scope, but it couldn’t harm his chances if he became a little familiar with astral concepts a little early. Even if it went nowhere, he still had the very real benefits of a high-quality body cultivation manual.

Still, that second step was a ways away, and he couldn’t even afford it just yet. So he settled for buying the Balanced Yin Body Refining Art. The strange look from the aged elder who approved the purchase made his ears burn with embarrassment, but he looked straight ahead. His steps were also forcibly sedate on the way out. So what if the art was made for women? All that mattered was what it could do!

He planned to meet with a few others, including senior Chun Wei, to attend the lecture on the next day. He had been invited to a gathering, as a great many disciples had returned for a lecture from the famed Elder Jiao Yue, a Core Formation realm expert on arrays and formations.

The gathering was informal and a place to relax and meet others. After half a year of mostly working alone under stressful conditions, Ren had started to miss his thriving social life from the outer sect. After all that he had been through, he deserved a break, and a small party was just perfect.

Life had never been better, and it looked like nothing but sunny days ahead!

The Next Day:

“Why does the sun have to be so damn bright?!” Ren cursed through a pounding headache.