Several weeks passed by, the mountain received several small attacks which were dealt with swiftly however the death toll only seemed to keep rising.
Seeing everything happening around them, Shadow and Korah focussed on their training with even more effort.
Her family all broke through their meridian points and began cultivating further to push towards the next rank, especially her brother and sister who decided to join her training after they had succeeded.
Her father was focussed on making his next break through, after acquiring the wolf pack leaders beast core he decided he would use it to promote his strength.
Her mother who was the least talented of the group showed the slowest progress, she also decided to use one of the third spirit gathering beast cores to achieve a break through.
The rest were set aside for the kids to help with their training seeing as they were making so much effort and improving their combat skills too.
After receiving the beast cores little white absorbed the 3 rank 2 spirit gathering beast cores while she gifted the remaining rank 3 SG beast core to Korah to assist him breaking through his third meridian point and 3rd spirit gathering.
Back at the pool sat four figures soaking in a green sizzling liquid as they happily chatted.
"Hey sis how come the rabbit keeps calling you Shadow? He does know your name right?" A teasing voice came from a female deer who was covered in soft grey hair which covered her slender figure.
"Yeah I have been meaning to ask too." A light harrumph was let out by the male deer who had skinny brown hair which covered his even more muscular figure.
"It's her cultivator name!" An excited voice voice came from a small white rabbit, although he didn't look too much different it was clear he had grown much stronger during his training.
"Cultivator name?" The two asked looking puzzled.
Shadow let out a light sigh as she explained. "The names Korah and Shadow are our first names I thought up, as we gain more strength we may need to leave home to journey else where to gain more strength. So often having a more human name that is recognisable will be helpful to blend into those new places and as we make a name for ourselves we need a name for them to remember us by. However within certain clans, sects or other organisations in the world, every member a part of them would carry the same family name with them. So I decided if I was to leave here I would take the name Ever-Reach with me, whether it will be known as my own name, perhaps my own clan or organisation would be born and carry this name in the future."
"Maybe these things may not happen in the future but I think it is better to set a goal for myself to reach in the future. Not just for myself but those who choose to join me of their own will." Shadow smiled as she spoke.
"Eh no fair sis I want one too!" Little Grey protested unhappily.
"You can give me one if you want, if not it doesn't matter" little brown's eyes shone but he tried his best to remain cool.
Shadow smirked upon she saw her brothers reaction. "Fine fine, I guess I have no choice! Sis how about you take the name Zephyr and brother take the name Jared. It's up to you whether you wish to use the name Ever-Reach."
"Humph I guess it will do, Jared Ever-Reach not bad at all." He still tried his best to hide his happiness but it did not go unnoticed by his sisters.
"Hehe look at bro trying to act all cool he clearly loves his new name, hmm… I will use it too! Zephyr Ever-Reach, I like it." Giggled the grey female deer.
"Humph" The brown deer turned his head and had a light blush on his face from embarrassment.
"Mm, I decided to pick your names as having a close relation to your attributes and temperaments, bro has a tough attitude like the earth while sis is quite free spirited like the wind so I thought they would suit you. Though it is up to you how you use your new names, it would be nice if the four of us can pursue our goals together. It would be nice for Ever Reaching Mountain to be able to brag about their Shadow, Wind, Earth and Ice spirit beasts who have such big names in the world yeah hehe?" The little white deer explained casually while trying her best to try plant a seed of ambition in her siblings, she had grown to the same height and her skinny body had become similar slender figure like her sisters, although she seemed to have grown in strength she seemed to have improved her bodies flexibility too.
It was clear they had some talent, if trained properly and taken to a better environment for training they would definitely achieve lots in the future but if they lacked ambition their talent would be wasted and their current progress would eventually slow down and come to a stop.
As they were having this discussion Shadow turned her head towards a large tree which was far away from them and shouted. "You can come out now I think you have heard enough right?"
"Who!?" The three shouted and began to take a defensive stance as they stood from the pond.
"Hehe I guess I was found out huh?" A figure appeared as it dropped and landed below the tree revealing an old monkey who had a mischievous look on his face. "But if you would would be so kind, could you tell me when you noticed my presence?"
"From the very beginning" Shadow smirked as she tilted her head. "You sure do have a bad hobby of spying on others..."
The monkey scratched his head bashfully. "I see, so I guess I am not as skilful as I was in my youth… These old bones ain't what they used to be hehe. Well I only passed by chance today and happened to see you kids training so I took an interest."
"No, like I said… From the very beginning I noticed you observing us, not just today but since you noticed our movements when my brother and sister joined our training. So please do stop lying, it was expected someone would begin to notice our movements as our group got bigger." Shadow frowned as her eyes set their sights on the monkeys every movement. "So what is it you want?"
"What a scary little girl you are, Shadow was it? Hehe! You have been speaking of some interesting things but first we have to deal with our current crisis. Tell me, would you be interested if I entrusted my sons future to you kids?" The monkey leaned against the tree lazily as he stroked his chin. "That kid is quite talented, more than his old man. Perhaps he would be a good addition to your little group?"