Boots
patreon
2.2 - Preparation
🕑 Added 2024-01-13 22:29:28 +0000 UTCAs it turned out, Yan Shirong agreed to join them easily enough. He’d tried to haggle a bit at first, demanding they pay him in spirit stones for his company upfront. Li Heng said he’d be happy to do so if Yan Shirong would forgo his share of the job rewards. That put a swift end to the negotiations, and the three of them quickly hammered out the details of when they would leave.
Yan Shirong had some business to attend to on the mountain that he wouldn’t specify and said he needed a few days before he’d be ready. While He Yu was eager to leave—since that meant he’d be back all the sooner—he was more than happy to get a few extra days’ worth of cultivation in before leaving the mountain’s bountiful natural qi behind.
With the arrangements made, He Yu made the difficult choice to part with some of his spirit stones at the sect market. As much as he was loathe to spend even more of his funds, his fight with Sha Xiang had taught him some valuable lessons.
While the spirit stones themselves were valuable cultivation aids, allowing him to absorb more qi than he’d otherwise be able to, they were worthless in a fight. What he really needed were medicinal pills. The stock that Chen Fei often kept around had proved their worth several times over, and if he were headed into certain battle he’d be a fool not to carry some of his own.
The price hurt, but He Yu kept telling himself that spirit stones would be worth nothing if he were dead. Besides, he’d have months’ worth of his stipend waiting for him upon his return. There was also the promise of loot from the bandits themselves, and finally, there was the most exciting prospect of all. And the one he’d not wanted to voice in the presence of Yan Shirong or Li Heng.
In practically every legend he was familiar with, cultivators found treasures of immeasurable power while they wandered the world.
A part of him knew that he should have abandoned these sorts of fancies by now—he’d been immersed in the reality of the immortal world for months. The heavens hadn’t showered him with treasure in that time, not even once. He’d spent most of his time running laps around a mountain, getting beaten in sparring matches, and listening to lectures on cultivation theory. As onerous as all that may have been, it had given him a greater measure of real power than he’d had in all his years in Shulin striving to be good enough for that impostor, Dong Wei.
Now he was going on a quest, just like in the stories. There was a certain excited giddiness that he couldn’t quite manage to tamp down at that prospect. What sorts of possibilities awaited him on his journey? Li Heng would probably laugh at him for this, but at least he’d be good-natured about it. He Yu could only imagine Yan Shirong’s dismissive sniff if he found out.
Shaking his head as he took inventory of his purchases, He Yu headed back home. He’d bought a substantial stock of medicine, along with some elixirs he could take to boost his cultivation in the three days he’d left until they set out. In the back of his mind, he thought back to the time Zhang Lifen had chastised him for using an elixir to break through, but this was different.
He wasn’t going to advance to Body Refining in the intervening three days. He wasn’t even likely to advance to middle Foundation in that time either. All he was doing was trying to get the most out of the time he had left before he set out, and he didn’t think his mentor would have a problem with that.
His thoughts regarding Zhang Lifen were a bit more bitter than appropriate, were he honest. Despite her approval at how he’d managed to handle his fight with Sha Xiang—a fight Zhang Lifen had forced him into well before he was ready—she hadn’t been much of a mentor to him before or since. She had called him her disciple, so he supposed there was at least that. It still hadn’t amounted to much that he could see as any real benefit, though. And now she was sending him away from the sect for a length of time known only to heaven.
It wasn’t fair. While he couldn’t be sure of the exact relationship between Sha Xiang and Xiao Jun, it was at least clear that she’d gotten some sort of help from the older cultivator in the form of her Four Demon Fists. The instant he thought of the technique, he also recalled the sense of wrongness that had clung about her when she’d used it. He Yu sighed to himself at that.
The reminder had come from the Cloud Emperor’s Peerless Judgment. As he’d continued to use the main cultivation technique of the Cloud Emperor’s Heavenly Palace, such flashes of insight had been happening more frequently. The cultivation manual that Elder Cai had given him detailing the complete art had described the Cloud Emperor’s Peerless Judgment as a technique that would allow him to see the truth of things. Most often that truth pointed out that he was sulking about something he’d no right to.
It didn’t exactly take the peerless self-awareness of a centuries-old immortal to recognize that whatever technique Sha Xiang had used during their fight had likely come at a great price. A price that He Yu was almost certainly better off for not having paid. That certainty still didn’t lessen the sting of the fact that Sha Xiang had at least gotten something from her benefactor.
With those thoughts and grumbles circling his head, He Yu took the first of his elixirs and cloistered himself in the cultivation chamber on his side of the house. As his breathing settled into the now familiar rhythm of his new cultivation technique, his disquiet floated away as though carried by a spring breeze. Cultivation had always been a subject of fascination for him, but in his months at the Shrouded Peaks Sect, it had become so much more.
The self-certainty, the sense of belonging and rightness, the tranquility of simply being—it was all something he wasn’t certain he’d be able to live without anymore. Cultivation brought with it a sense of peace that had only grown with time. The insights of the Cloud Emperor’s Peerless Judgment told him this was simply a consequence of following his Way, even if he couldn’t yet grasp exactly what that meant. It was a consequence he’d gladly take.
As he cultivated, he allowed himself to become lost within the insights of the past months. The things he’d learned during his duel with Sha Xiang—both about how she had gotten so strong, and about his relation to her. The sense of fear, and sometimes sympathy had gradually shifted to pity in the past weeks.
She was, in truth, a pitiable figure. Driven by fear of her own weakness. That was the only reason she had become such a bully and a tyrant in the first place, hadn’t she?
Most importantly, he’d stood against her. That had taught him the most important lesson with respect to Sha Xiang. He no longer needed to fear her. Sure, she could probably still beat him in an even fight, but he would make her pay dearly for it. According to Zhang Lifen, he already had.
Time away from the sect would bring opportunity. He would continue to progress. Then he would advance. When it finally came time for the inner sect tournament, he would be ready. When he faced Sha Xiang again as Zhang Lifen wanted him to, he wouldn’t just fight her to a standstill.
He would beat her, and he would show her that he wasn’t her equal—he was her better.
The Cloud Emperor’s Peerless Judgment pulsed at the thought, signaling disapproval at the notion. Even an emperor ought know that hubris could be one’s undoing. To lord oneself above another, only left one blind to the larger threats lurking out of sight. He Yu resolved to take that lesson to heart. Magnanimity was an admirable quality, after all, and one befitting of a hero.
When He Yu emerged from his cultivation chamber, it was early morning. He’d long since gotten used to the fact that he could easily spend all night in cultivation and emerge feeling just as refreshed and energetic as he usually did after a good night’s sleep. Sleep which he needed noticeably less of, now that he’d reached Foundation. Five or six hours a night was usually enough unless he spent the whole night in cultivation like he just had. Then, he could usually go all day and be fully recovered after what would be considered a “full” night’s sleep for a mortal.
The only real drawback was that he easily ate twice as much as he had before joining the sect. As he made himself a morning meal that would have been considered enough for a small family back home, he was glad that the sect provided for all his basic needs. Even at the generous exchange rate of spirit stones into imperial currency, he couldn’t imagine he’d be able to afford the amount of food he needed on just his weekly stipend.
As he ate, he entertained a little wish about how nice it would have been if Chen Fei had been able to come with them instead of Yan Shirong. At least it would have been nice if he’d been able to tell her where he was going. But she’d disappeared from the sect shortly after their last encounter with Sha Xiang and hadn’t told anyone where she was going. He Yu allowed himself a resigned sigh. She probably wasn’t all that interested in him anyway. He could at least wish though.
Having eaten, he returned to his cultivation chamber. He had three days until they left to hunt down King Hao, and he was going to make the most of them.
