Ren slowly opened his eyes. He felt the wisps of qi that had been accumulating in his dantian had grown, with some of it diffusing throughout his body. Hua was watching him silently, their camp already packed up and breakfast cooking.

  “That was more than usual,” he remarked.

  “Yeah, I think I had a breakthrough. I don’t know why; I didn’t expect it to happen so soon.” Said Ren, still panting but rapidly recovering as his body felt energized.

  “Ah, I’m being left behind! I’ll catch up soon. Can’t wait till the next class and getting my own cultivation method!” His mental strength spoke for itself.

  “Don’t worry, Brother Hua, I know you will.”

  They ate, and he could see Hua fighting to hold back some questions, as the identification jade had warned them against asking about someone’s cultivation. It wasn’t a rule but something that was commonly followed by all.

  They began the short hike to the next location, now focused on finding the snowflowers. Soon they reached the pond and were elated to discover 6 flowers. They quickly harvested and stored them away with great care. Now they had a day and a half to hunt before having to head back. The pond showed no signs of larger beasts around, only small game, so they went to a nearby area known for steel-haired goats. Lesser beasts that usually travelled in herds. Hopefully they hadn’t migrated away.

  Hua spotted the tracks first, and they tracked them as best they could in the mountainous terrain. After tracking them for half a day, they found where the lesser beasts likely passed through frequently. They decided to set traps since common bows wouldn’t penetrate their thick coats. Ren found a suitable area that already had enough rocks, rearranging some others to set up an illusion array. He was faster and more accurate now using his sharpened sword instead of a farm tool. Hopefully that would hide their approach enough for them to get within sword's reach of the goats.

  Having laid their traps, they fall back to an overhang that had a decent view of the trail. They continued to wait until it was almost evening before setting up camp. There would be no fire to alert the prey, so they ate cold rations, and the rocky ground poked through the bedding. They could only wait and rely on fate.

  A few hours after dawn, they heard some sounds that alerted them. They both took up positions and drew their weapons, Ren his sword and Hua his knife. Over the night the illusion formation had slowly activated, and there was a light mist covering the area. Sounds would be muffled, and qi would be harder to detect.

  The herd was approaching from the area behind and above them, it sounded like. Soon they were in view, but Ren saw the herd looked spooked. They seemed to sense something was wrong. The large ram leading them started to move away from the formation. Ren knew they had no chance unless the herd entered the traps. They couldn’t face the ram, much less an entire herd. Just as he was clenching his teeth in frustration, he heard another sound over the startled bleating of the goats.

  In the span of a few seconds he saw a huge eagle swoop down and grab two goats in each claw before screeching and taking off again. The panicked herd scattered in all directions, with many heading into the formation. Ren and Hua looked on with open mouths for a few seconds before jumping and running for the trap. Hua had set up a rockfall trap and some rope ones to catch or delay the goats. Hua quickly found and slew one in the rope trap.

  Ren stayed alert to watch Hua’s back and was rewarded for his caution when another goat charged through the mist, screaming at him. The terrifying sound pierced his ears and sent a spike of fear through his body. His training took over, and he swiftly dodged aside, but it still managed to tear away a mouthful of his robes. He turned and slashed at its neck with his blade as it hurtled past. Their tough pelt was said to be weaker there.

  After a few moments all sound died away. The boys looked at each other, hearts thudding in their chests, with joyful smiles at the surprising outcome of the hunt. Then quickly got to work on each of the carcasses. They talked softly as they dressed the pelt.

  “Hurry, Ren, that giant eagle might come back.”

  “It shouldn’t; it caught two large goats to eat, enough for days.”

  “That was certainly lucky that it showed when it did. I was sure the herd was going to escape and waste our efforts.” Hua said, disbelief clear on his face.

  Ren couldn’t help but agree. They really were lucky. The two steel-haired pelts would sell well, as would the horns. The meat would keep them fed for weeks if preserved well. It took them some time, but they eventually packed everything away. They swiftly made an escape to safer ground.

  With loaded packs, they made their way back to the sect. It had been a very successful trip. They reached the gate about a day later than planned but were glad they didn’t have to be so on guard against beasts with the large number of sect members coming and going. They didn't want to risk anything by delaying, so they tiredly made their way to the Hall of Contribution first. They approached one of the many desks and presented their identification.

  The young man at the desk took their jades and scanned them for the task. Then he checked the flowers and noted the extra 5. At the end of it, he awarded them 30 spirit stones to be split between them. Ren felt rich, for that was 7 and a half spirit stones!

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  “Senior, is there any task regarding steel-haired goats from the southern mountain regions? We were fortunate to encounter some and wanted to exchange them for points.”

  “You’re in luck,” he said after scanning his records. A post was recently made for the pelt and horns of one.”

  Ren and Hua grinned at each other, marveling at their continued fortune. They presented the 2 pelts and 4 horns.

  “Only one pelt is required, but the additional horns are acceptable as well.”

  With that, he awarded them 40 points to share. Their eyes widened at the number. 7 days of arduous but mostly safe hiking was worth less than a single risky hunt taking a little over 1 day. Ren realized he needed to be more discerning in which tasks he accepted in the future. He looked over and saw that the better-looking pelt had been taken, the one Hua had skinned, and so favored him in the split.

  “Brother Hua, you take the 20 points for the pelt; I’ll try and sell mine at the market. We can split the remaining 20.”

  Hua accepted, and they walked away a lot richer than before. While his 25 points couldn’t buy him much, if spent properly now, they could grow his wealth over time. But before all that, they headed back to their homes and fell dead asleep. 11 days of sporadic sleep and stressed nerves had taken their toll.

  When he woke the next morning, the sun was already high in the sky. He stretched and enjoyed feeling lazy for a bit before forcing himself to get up and begin cultivating. You couldn’t afford to skip cultivating for even a day. He knew he’d progressed to the second layer, but like the teacher said, cultivation is a long path. He should be responsible and walk it diligently. He felt refreshed and ready to face the day once he was done.

  He could consistently finish one large round of the Grass Blade Manual’s cultivation, each containing 21 stances. Once he could reach 7 large rounds, he should be ready to enter the foundation establishment realm. Then he would need the next step of the manual or a new one. He didn’t yet know the details of selecting one, and it was years before he would have to, so he put it out of his mind.

  There were only 2 more days until the next class. He also wanted to plan how to spend his contribution points. He knew the Hall of Scripture had supplementary techniques for all kinds of situations. Offensive, defensive, rapid movement, body refining, weapon-based, tool-based, and many other types. That wasn’t even counting all the various crafting-type techniques of various disciplines. They all differed in quality, and their costs were proportional.

  He couldn’t afford even the mid-level techniques, but the low ones were still useful enough to greatly improve his earning capabilities. This time he didn’t intend to rely on the elder but to take his time exploring before planning his next expedition. For now, however, he wanted to sow another batch of herbs or grain. The next market day was in a few days, but he didn’t need to wait for that to just sell his pelt or buy seeds.

  Ren headed to the limited market, greeting some of the more familiar faces around him. It looked like his fellow classmates were just as enthused as he was for the next class. At the market he headed to the shop that traded in spirit beast ingredients and found an assistant.

  “This pelt is worth 8 spirit stones.” He was told firmly.

  “Steel-haired goat pelts go for 20 contribution points. Can’t you give me at least 9 spirit stones?” Ren tried to wheedle a little extra but was told in no uncertain terms,

  “This hasn’t skinned properly. I am already being generous with 8 stones, and if you doubt my appraisal, you can take it to the Hall.”

  “Alright, alright, senior, I’ll accept your offer. By the way, do you know where I can buy spirit herb seeds? Nothing too expensive, of course.”

  “You can try your luck over there in that shop,” the assistant said, pointing it out. “But you could also try the exchange at the Hall of Contributions. The better seeds are more regularly found there. The cost can vary, but if you trust your skills, you can nurture some really valuable herbs.”

  Ren thanked him for his guidance and walked over to the shop. He would try his luck here and leave the exchange at the Hall of Contributions for next time. As he entered the store, a medicinal aroma wafted to his nose. It smelled pleasant and sharp and spicy all at the same time. He found one of the many assistants and asked about profitable herbs to grow. He was led to an area with a variety that cost around 1-2 spirit stones for sets of 3 seeds. There was a small notation near each with their name and elemental alignment and their rate of maturity.

  He didn’t exactly have a plan, but the sheer variety gave him plenty of choices. He made a rough reasoning that since he had previously grown water, metal, and wood attribute sword grass before, to avoid qi imbalance, he could attempt fire or water attribute herbs. Before deciding, on a whim he went back to the assistant and asked if he had more spirit plants like the sword grass.

  “This is the Heavenly Sword Sect, boy.” He said, sounding somehow polite and condescending simultaneously.

  “Many cultivators not of the fire and metal alignment tend to rely on these natural spirit plants. They claim they can channel their qi better through those. Wood attribute cultivators certainly prefer these types as much as metal attribute cultivators prefer regular swords. Of course that is not absolute. You can always find weapons that don’t fall in any one category.”

  “One thing many experts agree on is that a tool you had a hand in making is bound closer to you and your qi, making them easier and more effective to wield. So we have refined over countless years these special spirit plant swords.”

  After Ren explained his alignment and inquired about the long-lasting swords, he was directed to another section, but the prices for anything of quality were far beyond his means at the moment. They cost from 50 to 500 spirit stones. That was just this one shop. He was sure there were many better spirit plants that could cost much more.

  He went back to the first area, more suited to his budget, and bought one set of the sunseeker plant seeds and one of ghostvine, which were of the fire and water attributes, respectively. They would mature in around 21-25 days and cost him 4 spirit stones. He spent two more on decent-quality assorted spirit vegetables, for he had grown to appreciate his meals having variety. It was moments like this he missed his family’s lavish meals, each with 16 different dishes at the very least.

  After thanking the helpful but condescending assistant, Ren headed to the sect library in the Hall of Learning to read about how to care for his 2 new spirit plants and spent a few hours there. Now more familiar with the layout, he didn’t have to spend as much time looking for the books and knew a few trusty compendiums he could rely on to point the way. Armed with the knowledge, he tried to think of ways to create the right conditions for those plants on the walk home.