Hartley gathered all the pelts and beast cores he had stashed in the dilapidated cabin.
With the sun peeping over the crest of the mountain and shining its warmth on his back, Hartley stared at the cabin with mixed feelings, when he was banished to this mountain this rickety cabin had been his only refuge. He had made countless repairs to the rickety structure that looked like it could collapse at any moment but this was still his home, the only one he had ever known, he was damp in the rainy months and cold in the winter, but it was still his home.
He turned and composed himself..
He had to make a trip back to the central regions to sell the items, he also wanted to see Zhi Ruo, he had left the night of the attack when half her uncle's inn was destroyed by the assassin, even though it wasn't his fault he still felt a slight tinge of guilt because Zhi Ruo had helped him out when others had ignored him.
Ever since he had broken through the xiantian barrier he had not had a chance to cultivate and consolidate, he had spent the intermediate time chasing the assassin and dealing with the Lin clan before making a trip back to his shack and meeting Lou Chingham.
What happened in the last 3 or 4 days was like a blur and he could finally assess what had happened.
Hartley thought back to the robed assassin and how weak he seemed to be even though he was also a xanthian realm expert, his physical body seemed to be lacking, in fact it could be described as fragile.
One punch finished him. Hartley came to the conclusion that the robed assassin was really weak. Maybe he himself was a bit overpowered but he couldn't gauge his strength unless he had more experience in combat with people at his own level.
What Hartley didn't realize was that his body had been tempered under immense gravity restriction for so long it was now second nature to him, one has to realize that Hartley was not immune to his own gravity field, him being able to move around naturally under the restrictions of 30x normal gravity was a testament to how strong his body unknowingly has become.
He was also intrigued by the stealth technique of the robed assassin, he was only able to sense these small fluctuations because the robed assassin was out in the open and not around other people giving off their own fluctuations.. it would have been impossible to pick him out of a crowd of experts.
Hartley sat crossed legged in the sun and began his cultivation session, now that he was going to enter the Lou clan he had to know more about the blue start fragment in his chest.
When the fire ball exploded in the inn he had instinctively protected his body with blue star essence like a suit of armor.. He used his inner sight to explore his dantian and was amazed to see a blue star shining bright in a separate space that looked like a whole new world inside his his daintan.
His consciousness had turned into a miniature version of him self and he was sitting cross legged on a flat piece of grassland about 120 kilometers circular in shape, it was the same dimensions as his gravity field in the outside world except this was kilometers and not meters..
Hartley sat outside his cabin and was surrounded by blue aura, and in his dantian the mini version of himself was also surrounded by the blue aura.
As he breathed in and out, the light circulated around him and started to glow even brighter. Hartley willed his consciousness to open the Blue Star Gravity Sutra book, there were no new pages so he reread the previous 40 pages available.. he now had more understanding at the application of his gravity field.
Opening his eyes with a bright blue glow, Hartley realized it was mid-day, he got up and went to wash up and donned his second robe made by Zhi Ruo, it was basically the same as the one before but this one was new and unblemished.
Standing at a stream Hartley could sense every movement within the circumference of 120 meters, his new understanding of his gravity field enabled him to apply gravitational forces to any single item within his range, he looked at a fallen tree branch and applied zero gravity to only this branch about a 1m long, it instantly floated up 10 meters and hovered there until Hartley deactivated his gravity and it fell back down to the floor with a small thump..
Hartley flashed 1000m away in the blink of an eye using his long distance movement technique he had developed called gravity steps.. this technique used the aid of zero gravity to decrease wind resistance to multiply top speed in a straight line...
Hours later he stepped into the armoury store ran by Zhi Ruo.... Zhi Ruo saw the strikingly handsome young man enter the store, he had left a massive impression on her, when she had delivered the robes she made for him and he had donned the said robes, he was so handsome that she lost her cool and had to make her way out of her uncle's inn as quick as possible..
Later she found out there had been an intense battle at the room he was located in and he was missing since then, she was worried for the young man but there was nothing she could do to affect the situation, when she saw him enter the store, it was like a burden had been lifted off her shoulders...
She pouted and feigned anger..
"What are you doing here after destroying my uncle's inn?"
Hartley responded "Sister Ruo it wasn't my fault, I was attacked by an assassin and didn't have time to make amends", he bowed respectfully then walked up to the counter and handed her 500 gold coins then said "this is compensation for uncles inn, I'll be heading the Lou clan now."
Zhi Ruo watched as Hartley left, there was so much emotions entwined in her heart, she was glad to see he was alright and sad he was leaving so soon...
Two days later Hartley showed up at the gate of the Lou Clan with a belly full of nervous energy...