Calculating Cultivation

The black spot disappeared, and I turned myself around as the colors rushed past me. I saw astral beasts glance at me, but they were too slow. Whatever that being was, it could alter speed inside the astral plane. Even elder cultivators could not do that.

At least it considered me too weak and amusing to kill. I saw a rippling orb in front of me after traveling for about a minute at super speed. There appeared to be greenery and the physical world on the other side. I hit the orb and came tumbling out into a forest.

I rolled along the ground and slammed into a tree. Taking a moment to catch my breath, I slowly got to my feet and looked around. It was a forest, but I had no idea where I was exactly. It didn’t look like one of the local forests, but I couldn’t be sure. I would need to find civilization.

I removed my mask and breathed in the fresh air. I put the mask away inside my spatial ring and considered what direction I should head. Downhill and following any streams or rivers was my best bet. Once I reached the coast or a city, I could hire a carriage to transport me back to the sect. I set off with a smile on my face.

Despite the impossible odds, I had done it. I had retrieved an astral shard, which was a shard of the seed of the Great Devourer. Well, that thing didn’t seem that worried about using it, so I wouldn’t worry either. I then paused and realized it had said ‘a’ Great Devourer instead of ‘the’ Great Devourer. That meant there might be more than one super monster with that name out there.

Well, it wasn’t my problem. Once I was an immortal and standing at the top of the continent, then I could worry about Great Devourers. Until then, that was someone else’s problem. It was like worrying about the sun exploding billions of years from now. A pointless worry that would just waste my time. I trudged through the forest in the direction that appeared to be downhill. The trees were quite old and large.

I only had a day’s worth of supplies remaining in my pack and a single Digestive Cleansing Pill. Minor issues. I could go for a while, and I just needed to find a stream. Eventually after a half the day when it was getting it dark, I heard some water running.

There was a small stream, one I could easily leap across, but at least it was running water. I stopped to eat the rest of my food and water. I used my Digestive Cleansing Pill after that. I couldn’t afford to be caught with my pants down right now. Once I was back in civilization I could relax.

Also, I would take a break from cultivating for at least the next month. Based on my conversations with Elder Healer Meihui I should take a month off unless I took any medicine or went into a Soul Stabilization chamber after my stint in the astral plane.

While the damage from astral winds and aligning multiple motes was different, she had called me foolish and told me I had better wait until I cultivated again. Then she had lightly slapped me on top of the head and told me to focus on other things.

A month would allow the damage I had accumulated to fade away. The constant itching across my skin was still there, but it had decreased by a lot and slowly going away. The biggest problem was that very few cultivators below the fifth stage entered the astral plane, and even fewer returned alive.

After finishing my meal of salted meat and water, I slowly made my way along the stream. It was getting dark, so I had to be careful of my footing. That was when I saw something glowing in the distance. I pulled out my sword that was on my back as a beast burst out of the woods.

It was the size of a car and it raced towards me roaring, “RAAWR!”

“AHHH!” I screamed and leapt forward with a lunge forward, sword held outwards. It struck the shoulder of the beast and just kept going. The beast turned its head to bite me, but it was too slow since I was diving forward through the air, sword outstretched and had tried to avoid it with the limited intelligence it had. Blood, muscle, organs, bones, the sword just passed through them all and kept going. Our momentum carried us past each other.

I barely kept a grip on the blade and managed not to cut myself in half as I landed on the ground and rolled. The idea for a lunge like that came from my time on the astral plane. But it was not a real sword technique when there was gravity and three dimensional movement. I slowly got to my feet and turned towards the beast, bringing around my sword with both my hands.

The beast had stumbled a bit more, but the blow I had delivered was excessive. A long gash had cut through the side of it and pieces poured out of the beast, leaving a mess. It had collapsed and was dying rapidly.

I walked over quickly and got my right arm out of my sect robe. I then plunged my hand into the beast and ripped out a level 1 spirit stone before it could break apart. I then made my way to the stream and cleaned my arm, sword, and spirit stone off. I put the spirit stone in my spatial ring and the sword back in its sheathe.

I set off again, I needed to make tracks before more beasts showed up to devour their kin. I hadn’t brought any of the equipment for hunting. There was only so much room in my pack and my focus had been on the astral plane and astral beasts, not the regular kind of beasts.

Night arrived, but I kept following the stream. It was hard and I was tired, but I needed to keep moving if I was going to get back to civilization safely. How stupid would that be, surviving the astral plane and getting an astral shard, to die by a to a regular beast just wandering about.

The stream was getting bigger at least as I continued to follow it and it merged with other streams. Dawn came and around the middle of the day, I stumbled across a stone bridge and a dirt road. Roads between major cities were paved, but a dirt road was useful, but it ran perpendicular to the stream. The stone bridge was fused, which indicated a cultivator had most likely made it sometime, which was a good sign.

I didn’t know what direction to go. I was going to follow the road, but I had no idea which direction. I just picked right and went that way. Later in the afternoon, I came across a paved road it was connected to and let out a sigh of relief. It was probably a mining road, only without gravel and I had picked the right direction.

Since I had found a road, I put away my sword. It barely fit in the spatial ring with the carrying case, but it was too valuable to just carry on me and visible to everyone. A rank 5 blade probably cost at least 50,000 sect contribution points.

That represented decades of labor to purchase. I was not qualified to have such a blade or my low rank spatial ring. It would be too easy for someone to kill me and stael them. I got out my pouch of 100 tael and put 50 back into my spatial ring and put a single spirit stone inside the pouch. Nowhere near my total wealth, but a reasonable amount for a second stage disciple to have on them.

Now which way on the main road. There were no signs, but I could see dirt being dragged to my left off the dirt road onto the main road. I picked that direction and stayed near the right edge of the road, keeping my eyes and ears open.

It was getting dark, when I finally saw a wall ahead of me. Civilization at last, thank goodness. Time to find out where I was exactly. I moved to the middle of the road and approached the wall with confidence. I was a cultivator of a sect. Even if I was in a domain controlled by another sect, I would be politely sent on my way. I was just a disciple, and I didn’t have anything that valuable on me at first glance.

There were four guards standing outside the closed gate and I saw more on top of the wall. They watched me approach in the fading light. I didn’t recognize the city flag or the symbol on their armor. Instead of a half moon it was a clawed paw.

“Greetings, I am Inner Disciple Yuan Zhou of the Cloudy Moon Sect,” I greeted the guards. They quickly bowed their heads and then one stepped forward.

“Greetings, Cultivator Yuan Zhou. I am afraid that Five Claw City has been closed by orders of the Thousand Sword Sect,” the guard said.

“Closed? Why would an entire city be closed?” I asked tiredly.

“I would not dare guess about the affairs of cultivators,” the guard said. That was annoying but made sense. He didn’t want to get into trouble. I let out a small sigh.

“Is there anyone higher up you can contact? I would be willing to pay them and you for the inconvenience. Five taels for you and five for your men. And a spirit stone to the person who can show up and deal with this,” I replied. The guard looked pained at this. It was a hefty bribe just to get into the walls and we all knew it.

“I am sorry, but my orders were quite strict. No entry, not even from caravans while the Thousand Sword Sect has issued its orders.”

“It would be showing my Cloudy Moon Sect great face if you could figure something out, I have been lost in the wilderness for some time and merely seek to find out where I am before moving on and returning return to my sect,” I replied.

“I am sorry Cultivator Yuan Zhou. I do not have the authority to let you inside and was left with strict instructions.” I frowned at this.

“So, you would have me camp at the side of the road like a beggar?” I asked harshly.

“No, please forgive me, but if I let you in, then my head will be removed,” he said and bowed his head.

“Then bring out a table, food, and a bed. If I cannot enter the city, then I shall camp outside. A single tael for such a service,” I said and pulled one out and tossed it on the ground. I was a cultivator, even if I was from another sect, this disrespect was tremendous.

“I can’t-“

“I am tired of your excuses. I have the confidence of Elder Li Fu and Elder Healer Meihui of my sect. When I return, I will spend any amount of money and time to have your head and that of your family delivered to me if I hear you speak one more word that isn’t ‘Yes Cultivator Yuan Zhou’. I will respect the Thousand Sword Sect by not entering, but you will bring me your table, your food, and your bed and you will do it now,” I commanded.

The guard picked up the tael and then ran off. Soon a table, chair, food, and a bed were brought out from the wall and set up on the side of the road. I sat down to eat with the guards looking on. This would cause enough of a fuss that someone would hear about it and let me in. I couldn’t risk killing people and creating drama with my low cultivation rank.

He should have just accepted the bribe, let me sleep inside in an isolated room and then contacted his superior. I collapsed on the bed in my clothing and fell asleep after my meal.

I awoke to a light drizzle in the early morning. At least I hadn’t been attacked during the night. Breakfast was brought out to me and I sat there on the side of the road. After finishing my meal it was morning, but no one had come to address the situation, the guards were looking at me nervously. I approached the gate again and the same guard from last night was there.

“What city is at the other end of this road and how far from here?” I asked.

“Cultivator Yuan Zhou this road leads to Side Wall City. It is twenty days away by carriage and past the great canyon,” the guard said.

“What province is this?” I asked.

“Great Canyon Province,” he said, and I thought about that and wanted to groan. I had looked at caravan routes when my brother planned out a caravan trip. Great Canyon Province was in the West part of the continent, under the authority of the Blazing Sun Sect, not the Imperial Sect.

A caravan this far was a ten-year trip, one way. But that included stops at various cities to trade. I was not about to waste ten years of my life. Getting back would be a nightmare and my authority was even more limited than before.

If I was in the East, I could appeal to a sect that was under the Imperial Sect as cousin sects under the same high ranking sect. Out here anyone who knew where the Cloudy Moon Sect really was would realize that my words and threats had the strength of a fart.

The guard didn’t know this, since people rarely knew anything beyond their own city and the cities next to them. “I will purchase supplies then for thirty days. Five taels should be more than enough. Once I have them, I will depart this city,” I replied.

“Yes Cultivator Yuan Zhou,” the guard said, but then there was a commotion inside the wall and the gate was opened. A stern looking woman in sect robes and a huge sword on her back exited the gate. Her eyes immediately snapped towards me.

“Junior greets senior,” I replied with a slight head bow. I was unsure of her rank, but no reason to be impolite.

“I am Member Fan Ruolan of the Thousand Sword Sect, name yourself,” she declared with a haughty tone.

“I am Inner Disciple Yuan Zhou of the Cloudy Moon Sect, and am looking to get supplies and hire a carriage to return me to my sect senior,” I replied.

“Cloudy Moon, what faction are you aligned with?” she asked while staring intently at me.

“I am afraid that it is not aligned with any faction since it quite far from here and I got quite lost. Please forgive me senior,” I said with a bow. I saw her glance at the bed and table outside the wall on the side of the road.

“You, why did you have him sleep out here like a dog?” the woman yelled at the guard.

“The orders were explicit-“

“Idiot!” She then brought up her sword and beheaded the guard in a single swing. His head went flying away and his body stood there, neck fountaining blood for a moment before collapsing to the ground. I blinked a couple of times, that had been sudden. Too sudden.

“Forgive my sect. It has been a trying time. Come, I will help you sort out a carriage,” Fan Roulan told me and turned and began walking back through the gate. She swung her sword, the blood on it splattered on the ground before she put it away.

“Thank you senior,” I said and hurried after her not daring to comment about what happened. She had killed that guard for disrespecting a cultivator, myself. That was why I thought the guard was an idiot. We got past the wall and got on an open-air carriage. It was drizzling but I didn’t say anything.

The carriage took off. “So Cloudy Moon Sect, what province are you from?”

“The Soaring Peaks Province senior, it is far to the East,” I replied.

“I have not heard of it, so you truly are lost. Lost doing what. A sect would not let its disciples wander,” she questioned me.

“I was sent out to fix my cultivation. Unfortunately, I failed to recover the item I needed. Now I will seek to return home and to my mortal life,” I said with a sigh. Fan Roulan looked at me intently.

“What item?” she asked.

“An astral shard senior. I was sent into the astral plane and come out in the forest near here,” I replied. She relaxed at that and smiled. I figured sticking close to the truth was important, since I was so far away and there wasn’t a good explanation for my presence otherwise that I could think of.

“Daring then. To venture into that hell and return. An accomplishment to be proud of. I apologize for the questioning, but things are on a blade’s edge right now, since the members of the Clawed Hand Sect killed two of our members. They have retreated to their sect, but we will not take this insult lightly. We will starve them out.”

Oh no, it was a sect war. I did not want any part of this. I reached into my robes and pulled out a spirit stone. “I do not have much, but hopefully this meager token of my appreciation for your help and assistance in getting a carriage and leaving as quickly as possible will be accepted senior,” I said and held out the spirit stone.

She plucked it out my hand and tucked it away. “I will arrange carriage. I also suggest you don’t linger so you aren’t caught up in the fighting.”

“I won’t even be spending the night and will leave immediately,” I replied. Fan Roulan nodded at this. The drizzle stopped as the sun rose, and we entered Five Claw City. She brought me to the caravan plaza and hired a carriage for me to take me out from the city on the East Road.

I got into the carriage and said my goodbyes as it quickly set off. I let out a sigh of relief. Even staying a single night or hour could see me caught up in the fighting or some kind of plot. If you wanted to leave, then leave, don’t linger.

The carriage would take me until the next city then I would have to catch another one and hop from carriage-to-carriage service all the way back home. It would be insanely expensive, but it was the fastest method of travel that I knew of. I also had more than enough money with all my spirit stones in my spatial ring.

There was an older gentleman in the carriage with a young girl as well and they didn’t appear to be cultivators and kept silent, since I would need to open up conversation first as their senior. I wasn’t interested. I just wanted to find a decent place to sort myself out for a few days and just sleep and eat.

I was exhausted from my adventure. “Halt!” A voice called out. “Exit the carriage.” The old man and young girl looked worried, but I would deal with this. I left the carriage and there were three cultivators with a Clawed Hand Sect symbol on their robes. In addition, they had large metal claws on their right hands.

“Junior greets seniors,” I said with a slight bow.

“Who are you?” one of them asked.

“I am Inner Disciple Yuan Zhou of the Cloudy Moon Sect. I was lost and ended up at Five Claw City. I immediately got a carriage to return to my sect since I have no part in your dispute or conflict senior,” I said and bowed slightly at that.

One of the cultivators came up to the carriage and dragged out the girl and old man. “We have them.” I stood off to the side quietly. The leader took the girl in his hands and then killed the old man with a swipe of his metal claw. He didn’t have time to react as he was ripped apart and died.

“Dispose of them. We will return with her,” the leader said and left. What?! That was bullshit. Two of the cultivators left with the girl, leaving me behind along with the carriage driver and the enemy cultivator. He moved and killed the carriage driver before the man could even protest.

This was bullshit! I wasn’t involved! I didn’t see anything! I focused and reached out as the enemy cultivator raced for me. I grabbed onto the hilt of the sword and planted my feet to brace myself. The sword materialized in front of me, and his gut was impaled on the sheath. I stumbled backwards and he collapsed to the ground, wheezing heavily. I swung my hands to the side and the sheath went flying off the sword. I then stabbed forward as the cultivator tried to get off the ground.

My sword pierced his head. He jerked slightly and then slid off the end of my blade. I looked around, but the horses had only slightly stirred. They were trained not to panic no matter what as carriage horses going between cities. I wiped my blade on the dead cultivator’s sect robes and put my sword and sheath away.

Time to make tracks. Sorry young girl, but you weren’t my problem. Hopefully they didn’t refine you or rape you, but that was life. Some people were born destined to die. I was going to live. I checked the man I had killed. A pouch of nine spirit stones, a sect badge which I didn’t dare touch, his clawed weapon which I put in my spatial ring since it was clearly made of spirit metal. Sorry spatial ring, you were packed to the breaking point, but you just had to deal.

I came across a leather pouch inside his robes. I carefully checked inside, and my eyes went wide. It was a book. I pulled it out and checked it. It was a basic book on body cultivation. I shoved it into my spatial ring, which was at maximum capacity now. I then tucked the leather pouch back in his robes and put two spirit stones inside the pouch. Hopefully that would make people question if he was really robbed and create confusion.

I paused since I could see the core of the man inside of him. Before people’s cores were blocked out, but now I could see it like a beast. I pulled out my arm from my sleeve and plunged it inside of him. I felt something hard and pulled it out. It was a core of some kind, but instead of being smooth like a beast core it was bumpy. Once it was removed it stopped breaking down. I carefully slid it into my spatial ring, which I could feel resisting putting in the tiny core with how full it was.

Wiping off my bloody hand, I then dragged the cultivator’s corpse off the road and then did the same for the corpse of the old man and the driver, tossing them on top of the cultivator. I had no idea what someone would make of this crime scene, but it was time to get the hell out of here.

I climbed up on the driver’s seat and picked up the reigns. I snapped them. “Hah!” The horses took off down the road. I was slightly richer than before with stuff I didn’t know the value of. What was the value of a human core? I had no idea. But if I could use it to enhance my own cultivation I would. It was a resource after all and wasting resources was a bad thing.

There were buildings constructed along the road travelers could use. They weren’t maintained, but it was a cultural thing to leave them just a bit better than one found them. I didn’t bother stopping. The horses bred for inter-city travel were tough and the four pulling the carriage were no exception.

After two days of traveling, even they were getting exhausted, and it was hard not to dose off. I pulled off in a rest area and uncoupled them to let them rest. There were supplies on the back of the carriage which I removed to feed them and got water from a nearby well. I slept that night hidden in the rest area, there was no one else there.

In the morning I hooked up the horses to the carriage and set off again at a high speed. The next city in this direction was only six days away by carriage. I would arrive and then pay for another carriage immediately after getting a change of clothing. I had also added some more tael and two spirit stones to my money pouch from my spatial ring.

No one caught up with me, but I wasn’t going to relax until I was five cities away at the very least. Having an entire sect come after me was a scary thought. It wasn’t so much about that disciple I had killed, he was too weak to be a member, but the fact that I had killed him to begin with and it would damage the reputation of the sect to let a killer go.

After a certain point it just wasn’t worthwhile and they could make up some story about killing me, but that meant I had to get past that point. I judged five cities to be a safe distance. In the third or fourth city, I would hire a body double just in case, and pay for them to go to another city. I might do that in both cities to make it even more confusing.

Trying to trace my trail would become a nightmare. I arrived at the next city and was let through the walls without incident. I got some looks since I was a cultivator driving a carriage, but people just assumed someone more important was inside and didn’t ask questions.

I left the carriage at the depot and paid a fee for it to be maintained for five days for five taels. I then made my way into the main part of the city and found a tailor. After throwing ten taels at them, I got a new set of high end mortal clothing and packed away from sect robes into my pack.

With that done, I made my way back to the carriage stand and hired an express carriage to the next city for twenty taels and immediately set off. I rested in the carriage as it made good time away from the mess. I had spent a lot of money, but sticking around was just too risky.

Since I didn’t have to drive, I took a look at the cultivation manual I had gotten. It just covered the basics which were very similar to the soul cultivation method I used. Except that the motes were aligned with a person’s physical body, not their astral soul.

In the later stages, body cultivators would be very hard to kill, but they couldn’t use elemental techniques. It also appeared that the fifth stage was a result from imploding their core, instead of exploding it. I considered the core I had extracted from the cultivator I had killed.

If I was reading this manual correctly, then he had been near the start of the second stage. The core had been physically made, but wasn’t filled with energy. And there were no channels. No, his channels weren’t there. He had made his core first but no channels yet, so the start of the second stage. No wonder he was so weak.

Using disciples to fight? The Clawed Hand Sect sure was desperate or didn’t take me seriously. Didn’t they know that the younger the cultivator the more dangerous they are? Maybe they thought I was just a brat from a sect, but why would I be traveling without a guardian>

Clearly their intelligence was lacking. That was the joke I had heard a couple of times at the yearly celebration in the Cloudy Moon Sect, that body cultivators had muscles for brains. Still, this was a complete guide that I had picked up, just without specific technique details.

To let such information outside of their sect written down was foolish. No wonder why the Clawed Hand Sect was kicked out of their own city. I felt a bit better but would still take my precautions and use decoys just in case.

No sense in using half measures to conceal my departure from Five Claw City. But this manual gave me an idea about my secondary false core. When my four main cores detonated, I could use that explosion to create an implosion.

It would let me advance to the fifth stage on the path of both body and soul cultivation. I would need to decide sooner than later since I was aligning motes. Hmm, instead of a sphere, I could use the design they had, which was this bubbly structure.

There wasn’t a clear reason in the manual, but the idea was to probably induce fracture points to the core. An implosion was triggered by surging the compression in one’s core. So having fracture points would make this easier.

Imploding a physical core would draw in energy as a vortex to enhance one’s body instead of forming a true soul. But I knew that soul cultivators would look to draw in energy at the later stages and to perfect their understanding of a Dao concept.

It appeared body cultivators did it the other way. They set up their future cultivation by drawing in energy from their core implosion. Then in the later stages sought to build up their true soul and perfect their understanding of a Dao concept.

That implied there was a third cultivation method where one would use their core in some way to gain an understanding of the Dao. But it was all based on motes. One couldn’t use both body and soul cultivation since their astral soul would destabilize.

Then I realized what this entire trip had been about and smiled. It was to get the material for an Astral Soul Stabilizer. I could align my false secondary core with physical motes and the channels for that core with the physical side.

Then when my core four main cores exploded, I would implode the secondary core at the same time! I had an image in my mind of Elder Li Fu screaming foolish and Elder Healer Meihui slapping me on the head and yelling at me. Still, it sounded like a great idea.