Chương 54: Searching

Jianyi looked at the card he had just harvested from the demonic cultivator. Blade of Water Technique Common 1x Water Creates a blade from water that shoots at a single target His first water technique and another offensive tool. It seemed powerful if combined with a distracting attack of his spear. He would probably not add it to his dantian right now, given the risk of being exposed, but it was great to have, nonetheless.

Elder Sun threw the storage ring over to him and proceeded to the other bodies to search them and, with the cultivators, go through the same procedure that Jianyi had just completed.

"Teacher, did I do something wrong for just getting one card? I saw him have more!" The elder sighed.

"I sometimes forget how little you know." Jianyi blushed at the criticism, but the elder waved it away as he continued his grisly work, seemingly unaffected.

"Don't worry, there is no way for you to know these things, I guess. Cultivators don't just wave their hands at a card and let it do all the work. At least decent ones don't. As you gain more insight into a technique, how it works, how to employ it best, with what it synergizes, you slowly advance in proficiency, and the cards become more 'real' in your spirit, are infused with more qi. We differentiate between three stages: novice, advanced, and mastery.

Only cards where the cultivator has achieved the advanced or mastery stages can be harvested." Yet another revelation about the intricacies of the cultivation world.

"Are there benefits to advancing through the stages?" he asked curiously.

"Yes, qi density. The more advanced, the denser or more focused the qi will be as it is forced through the technique. That means it will have a larger impact."

"Just like with a dual affinity cultivator?"

"Yes, just like advancing through the realms or being a dual affinity cultivator. That reminds me… when we are back home, we need to experiment with your density." Jianyi just nodded at the comment, still more preoccupied with the situation they found themselves in. To distract himself from it all, he extended a bit of qi towards the new storage ring the elder had handed him.

Inside, he found some clothes, food, another sword, the quality of which he could not tell, quite a few gold and silver pieces, and an essence. He pulled it out, and it glimmered slightly in the dim light of the great hall. Based on the blue color, it was a water essence, and, from his limited experience, Jianyi thought it was uncommon. That essences served as a form of currency amongst cultivators he had known, but he had not really expected to own one so soon.

If he understood the conversions correctly, and he had spent a bit of time on the question after helping Elder Sun in so many alchemy sessions, this should enable him to buy an uncommon card and have space for a common or two on top. That would move the quality of his nascent deck forward by leaps and bounds. When he looked up, Elder Sun stood over the demon's remains, having just harvested a few cards from him as well. He swiped the whole body into one of his storage rings.

"Very well. I will sweep the compound once more, then we should leave. It will take me some time to sort through what we found, and I will need to talk with a few people about what transpired here," the elder said with a heavy voice. Half an hour later, they stood where they had observed the manor first. Elder Sun called up a set of cards, discarded them, and finally found what he had been searching for.

Without moving a finger, one of the cards moved forward and turned into a fireball that grew and grew until it was as large as a caravan wagon. It struck the compound's main building and exploded, spreading flames throughout the area. Within minutes, the house was consumed by a conflagration of flame. The elder swept him up, and they returned home at speed.

Jianyi woke with a start. Purple eyes had been observing him while he was fighting for his life with a demon made from gleaming metal. But it had just been a bad dream. He checked his soul space and indeed, his defenses were up. No demon had been invading his privacy. His subconscious, however, had apparently been processing the experience from the previous day in his dreams. This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. He shook himself.

He was clear about who his enemies were—even more so now that he had seen a real-life demon—he counted demonic cultists and cultivators amongst those enemies. But it remained true that he would prefer to fight beasts and demons over other humans. He could still see the face of the young man, not even a cultivator, whom he had killed during the previous day's mission. It was early, but no point in trying to fall asleep again.

Instead, he would meditate for a while and then, finally, explore his cultivation technique. Half an hour later, having steadied his mind, Jianyi pulled out the jade slip with the technique. As the librarian had advised, he just needed to hold the slip to his head and infuse a tiny bit of qi, and the complete Eternal Spear Meditation was available to him—with two major caveats. First, this was just the first part, applicable to the Qi Gathering Realm.

Both Elder Mo and Elder Sun had advised him not to dig into the later stages at this point. It would just add complexity without added value. Second, reading—even if with the help of a jade slip—was not the same as understanding. The basic principle of the meditation was that you followed a sequence of movements—in later stages, likely forms—and with each movement you cycled qi through your pathways in a specific way. That would create suction that would draw qi out of the environment into his spirit.

At the same time, a part of the qi that gathered in his lower dantian would be pressed toward the bottom of the dantian, and some would remain floating within it. The latter part was what he would use for his techniques; the former part would accumulate and take him through the stages of the Qi Gathering Realm. The more consolidated part could still be made available, but that would weaken his foundations and was apparently quite painful.

The movements seemed very similar to the ones he had been learning for the Fivefold Spear Art. He would have to explore how different the nuances were, but he was looking forward to that. The naming was a lot more mythical than the rather plain Rise, Fall, Advance, etcetera. The equivalents were called Eternal Sun, Eternal Moon, and Eternal Dawn. It didn't matter. What mattered was that he needed to learn the movements and the qi cycling technique that accompanied it. He got up and headed towards the courtyard.

It was still dark, but that shouldn't keep him from cultivating, he thought with a smile.

He stood in the training circle and began with the first movement. Open was the recommended starting point, or rather, Eternal Expanse, as it was called. From what he had gathered, one of the key philosophical differences between the Fivefold Spear Art and the Eternal Spear Art, which formed the basis for the meditation, was it being more geared towards an individual fighting, versus the group approach of the Fivefold Spear Sect.

Balance was therefore even more important, and every movement was slightly more restrained than the forms he had learned over the last months. There was nobody else who would be able to cover any openings. The differences were limited, though, so after fifteen minutes, he paused the physical training and instead attempted the qi cycling that belonged to the movement. It was, fortunately, less complex than some of the Martial Meridian Art movements he had to practice, so that went relatively quickly, too.

It was time to combine movement with cycling. It was a lot harder than he had expected. Both parts were relatively simple, but doing both together was a completely different thing. After the first failed attempt, he paused and centered himself again. He had rushed, in his eagerness to succeed. At a much reduced pace, it came together.

He could feel how the meridians in his arms opened slightly, and the amount of qi he gathered increased manifold versus the few motes that found their way into his spirit without help. He had to smile, almost lost focus, but quickly resumed and went through the motion again, and again. He cultivated.

"Well done!" Jianyi stumbled as he heard Elder Sun praising his efforts from the small table he often used to drink tea. Dawn hadn't fully taken hold, but he could see it preparing for its final attack on the night in the east.

"Thank you, teacher. I hope I didn't disturb you?" The elder chuckled.

"I am not that easily disturbed. No, I came to see your progress and discuss some of the things that must be weighing on your mind."

"I appreciate it."

"Good, first the Eternal Spear Meditation: once you have an initial grasp on all the movements, have Minghao observe you. Neither he nor I are experts on the art, but even small corrections on the movements can improve qi flow and compound once you move to more complex forms later." That made a lot of sense to Jianyi, and he would be grateful if Minghao could provide him with some targeted improvements.

"Yesterday wasn't the time, but I think it is important that you understand the difference between demons and demonic beasts. Both are twisted by a loss of balance in Wuxing, but demons have self-awareness; what is twisted is their intent, often consumed by a single-mindedness in purpose. But they still make their own choices. Humans from a plane that has shifted to the Outer Realms, cultivators who have left the path of orthodoxy, evolved beasts that hunger for more.

The one we fought clearly had taken a metal affinity way too far.

"Demonic Beasts, however, are animals, spirit beasts, spirits, or even failed cultivators that have been forced by a demon or an unbalanced environment into a state where they know no more reason; they are a living embodiment of a corrupted nature." Jianyi understood. Demons were his enemy; demonic beasts were a hurdle to overcome. But that still left his question unanswered.

"But how could the demon be here, so far from the battlefield?" The elder grimaced.

"It seems that things are worse, much worse than I ever thought, even in my worst nightmares. I spent the last twenty years largely on the frontlines, and it seems that the rot in the region, maybe the Empire, has progressed farther than I imagined. But what is probably more relevant for you is this." He pulled a scroll out of one of his storage rings.

"I have spent the night going through the material we collected, and I found this note from a Fang Ling. Do you remember her?" Jianyi searched his memory but could not come up with any recollection and shook his head.

"Understandable, it was quite a monumental day. Fang Ling was the female demonic cultivator who came to collect your core card from Administrator Deng…" Now it all came back to Jianyi. He had helped Elder Sun by opening the door for the woman after Administrator Deng had been killed. The elder then had made short work of her and her guards. The elder continued, his expression grave.

"Unfortunately, she made a note before leaving to come and see us about the dual affinity card. It seems that the demons are on the hunt for them; coordinating that endeavor was the reason why this Foundation Establishment demon was here. It seems they have not given up and are still searching for you."