Stepping into Pre-Cultivation

  After making Fatty swear not to reveal the hidden passage behind the curtain of vines, they hid the wolf behind some rocks and climbed out on the path. Reuniting his herd and watching them graze on the hillside, Kyle sprawled on the grass. His chubby friend set off to do business.

  Fatty dropped a portion of food and water for him when he returned with two older boys. The three of them entered into the valley to retrieve the wolf. In the evening, Kyle joined the sheep near a small brook and cleaned himself. He lay beside his clothes as they dried in the sun.

  “It’s been so long that I forgot how much impurities a body has. Even though my age is only seven, it’s astounding.”

  Kyle lamented while raising his hand above his face. A grown man might remain bedridden for weeks after such an ordeal, but Kyle had regained enough strength to move his body and walk. Aching pain was no stranger to him. If he encountered another wolf, however, he could only hope to wish it indigestion.

  ‘My sea of consciousness is saturated while the Thousand Immortal Dragon scroll rotation has dropped to a standstill. A night of meditation using this spiritual power would build my body stronger than before. It would take me some time to empty this spiritual power.’

  He sighed remembering the tar-like excretions on his skin. It was a wonder Fatty had the guts to help him back then.

  “If Master was here, he could explain this spatial anomaly. As I am now, I need to make the best of this fortune. I wonder if it's only a one-time thing…”

  Kyle muttered on recalling the disappearance of the cave.

  At sunset, Kyle led his herd further into the grasslands until he arrived at a gently sloping hill. A series of weathered paddocks made with gnarled wood separated his herd from others. With only six sheep, his herd was definitely the smallest.

  Petting his wards for the night, Kyle struggled with his small sack of provisions up the hill. A small open camp lay under the stars with a fire already crackling within the stone pit. For shepherds who grazed their sheep out in the wild, this served as one of many temporary camps. It was much easier to lead the herds out to feed on fresh grass than to have them demolish the pastures closer to home.

  “Kyle, I heard you caught a wolf? You owe us a copper for keeping an eye on your sheep.”

  “Yea, how did you kill it? That’s amazing.”

  “Old man Flint once caught a wolf, he said he was lucky to be alive.”

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  The camp consisted of a dozen young boys with the oldest being around twelve. For small families living on the edge of the wild, this was considered a rite of passage. The older boys would move on later to join the old shepherds with the larger herds further out or learn the skills of a woodsman in the mountains.

  Kyle’s father was a woodsman who made his living selling lumber and firewood. His small herd was tended by his mother and provided milk and an additional income from selling wool. Only the main houses of the Clans reared over a hundred sheep.

  “Fatty should be back tomorrow, you can skim some coppers from him then. Who went down to the village with him?”

  “He insisted on carrying Sleazy Joe to strike a good bargain. Don’t worry, I sent Sal with them. His old man and Butcher Dan are related, so you should fetch a good price. Only you would kill a wolf instead of frightening it away.”

  Another boy answered. Kyle had been with this group for around half a year. Everyone knew the benefits of helping each other. They also knew how unrelenting this quiet but scary figure could be.

  Kyle warmed himself by the fire and sighed. The most a shepherd boy would do was try to scare a wolf away or cry for help. The slings they had were used for hunting birds and hares in the wild.

  “So? Come on tell us.”

  “Tomorrow I’ll share everything. I need to rest tonight…”

  Fatty arrived the next morning, huffing and puffing as usual. The camp had already separated and Kyle had found a quiet slope for the sheep. Last night and this morning he spent his time meditating to channel his spiritual power. Like a dried spring suddenly finding water, his muscles, bones, and blood found themselves rejuvenated.

  He even felt a few of his cells gaining that silvery halo. Although the process had to be done slowly, his emaciated body had already recovered its vitality. A thin film of brown salt and liquid oozed once again from his body.

  “Hell Kyle, how nasty are you? Don’t tell me you went to bed like this? You smell man…”

  “Curses, Fatty, learn to call out before you sneak up on someone. And why are you always huffing, can you even survive as a shepherd?”

  Fatty might not have received an education, but he certainly craved money. When he led the group down to the village, they hid the cart with one boy on guard and first inquired about the price of sheep, which soon drifted to wolves. By the time they pulled the cart to the butcher, Fatty already secured an optimal price.

  “Seven silvers in total. Six for you and one for me. I’ll share some of my coppers with the others.”

  Kyle glanced at the darkened silvers in his palms. When his old man sold the sheep to fetch the healer for him, it barely amounted to one silver.

  “Fatty, can you watch my herd for today…”

  Kyle sat on a stone within the hidden grotto. Ever so often he threw a pebble onto the rocky wall. On the ground, he had his staff, a filled water skin, and a small bag of dried rations.

  “It looks like this is a one time opportunity. No matter, I can still quench my body and lay a foundation for the future.”

  The drawback of using spiritual power for pre-cultivation was that it affected eight of the nine stages together. Instead of filling one container first and moving on to the next, the perfect vessel filled all eight at the same time.

  Only the last, the ninth stage, Meridian Identification remained. If he ended up switching to normal means, he would still possess a better foundation than the one he had before. He paused on realizing the clacking noise of the pebbles had ceased.

  A small cave opening, shrouded in perpetual darkness, greeted him.

  “So, it's not a one-time thing. Looks like I have to convince my mom that I’m a good shepherd.”

  With a small smile, Kyle grabbed his meager belongings and disappeared.