After they finished eating, the Li siblings took the qi grasping pills and began to cultivate. Hong Zhao knew that it would be a few hours before they were finished, so he decided to do something about the two men who were resting permanently in their camp. Dragging one at a time, he brought them into a clearing he knew would have fierce beasts. He had become accustomed to their habits over the few months of living off of them. Before he let loose the bodies, he went through their pockets. They were not cultivators, but they did have a little qi. Not enough to use to bring themselves up the ranks, but enough to use item storage. Of course Hong Zhao didn't reach that conclusion until after he noticed their empty pockets and a ring on each mans finger.
Taking the rings off, he inserted some qi into the each and examined the contents. Knowing that he wouldn't understand what exactly he'd find in them, he decided that he would show everything to the siblings and split it three ways.
He noticed ninety copper coins, sixty silver and three gold coins when added together. Other than the money, he found water skins and an extra set of clothes per ring. He threw the clothes at the bodies, but kept the water skins.
Walking back to the siblings, he heard rustling in the bushes behind him, but he could also sense their apprehension. After hunting them for so long, he knew the fierce beasts had some intelligence, and they probably knew who he was by scent. "They're all yours. just leave us alone." He said with a smile under his shadow panther hood. On his way back, he could hear their teeth tearing flesh from bone.
As he re entered the camp, he took a large piece of wood from a nearby tree that was obviously cut for the two men and put it on the fire to keep it going. He knew that it would most likely be another day before the siblings finished cultivating, so he decided to go hunting. He gave a wide berth for the beasts he had promised the two men to. He didn't want to seem like he went back on his word. Instead, he went the other direction.
Hong Zhao didn't need to travel far. Within twenty paces, he felt that he was being watched from a distance. He was used to the familiar feel of a shadow panther's eyes on him, but this was somewhat different. The intensity in the glare was enough to give him pause. He didn't feel like he was being looked at from the bushes, instead it felt like it was further up, yet not in the trees. He looked around, but pretended not to notice the beast.
This one didn't try to sneak behind them like he was used to, instead it went straight towards him. Though he didn't see the beast, he could feel it. He looked into the shadows in the trees. He could see it was huge. He could see the large green eyes bore into him. "You must be the mother." Hong Zhao smiled sheepishly. "Nice to meet you."
The shadow panther stood at close to fifteen feet tall. Hong Zhao was up to its legs. Its massive head looked down upon him in disdain. The smile vanished as soon as it appeared, a menacing sneer replaced his childlike appearance. "Well then, shall we start?"
The panther thrust her head forward, trying to grab Hong Zhao with her giant teeth. With her size, she could easily kill and eat him in a single bite. Hong Zhao activated vortex thrust a second before the mouth was on him. Small gusts of wind formed on the tips of his toes, blasting him back avoiding the panther's maw. He activated devouring qi claws and launched himself off a nearby tree to get to the beast's head. He slashed his claws at the face, but the panther turned her head just in time to avoid the eyes. He instead slashed the side of her face. Cutting through felt like cutting a tree with a dull ax. He noticed three small cuts left on her cheek. "Right then, you're a bit smarter than your children." He used his vortex thrust to gain some distance. His body seemed to be engulfed in darkness as he put his hood on. Without so much as a glint of an eye, the shadow panther seemed to lose track of him.
Hong Zhao took a large berth around the mother panther and jumped up a tree. He extended his devouring qi claws as far as his training would allow. They were now six inches long, about as long as a regulation knife in his old world. They were long enough now to go through a normal panther's chest to its heart, he didn't know if it would work for this one though. But it was his only shot. "When the second star rank door opens, there had better be a ranged attack!"
Hong Zhao shot up the tree in a burst of wind and dove off. He was now in a headlong rush towards the shadow panther with his claws extended. He was like a silent bullet aimed at his opponent. He would have his share of blood this night.
Unlike the first shadow panther he had faced, the mother didn't know where to look to retaliate. Hong Zhao's claws sunk deep into her back and the carried momentum of the dive forced him straight through to the ground below. A shower of blood and intestines rained down on him as he rolled out from under her before the next instant when she fell.
The blood and gore which stained his qi claws absorbed into his dantian, waiting for the next time he cultivated. Before he left, he felt something change within him. It felt as though his dantian was ready to burst with qi. "I must have broken through!" He said excitedly as he took a look at the shadow panther's corpse. He gave it the same once over he gave the smaller ones. Digging in the forehead he found the same pearl as he saw in the others. It wasn't just the same type of pearl, but also the same size. He knew there must be a reason for their existence, he just needed to figure out what. He knew he had to get back to camp soon. The battle took some time and he was sure the siblings were going to come out of meditation soon. He put the remainder of the panther in his storage ring for later and set out once more.
Making his way back to the clearing, Hong Zhao couldn't help but smiling at his luck. He had wondered what would have broken him through the bottleneck into the second star student rank. "I guess it just took a situation where I had to go all out."
Hong Zhao sat near the fire smiling from ear to ear. More and more he felt the age that he was. No longer did he feel like an old man who couldn't keep up. He felt more like the two children in front of him, though he knew they took their youth for granted. "I'll make sure they reach their full potential with me then." he smiled to himself.
Hong Zhao didn't want to start cultivating until after Li Wei and Li Wuhan finished with theirs. He wouldn't set off again until after his own cultivation was in balance, which might only take a few hours.
As he sat, he noted Li Wei and Li Wuhan's appearances. Li Wei seemed to be the same age as him, while Li Wuhan must have been seven years old. With such an age gap, Hong Zhao was surprised it wasn't Li Wuhan who smacked his sister upside the head.
He could tell Li Wei was going to grow into a beauty. She had a delicate face, long black hair and fair skin. It seemed ghostly against the firelight. As he examined her, Li Wei's eyes opened and a white light seemed to emanate from them. "Is something the matter?" Her gaze went to the bloody face of Hong Zhao and winced. "What happened to you?!"
"Nothing!" Hong Zhao held his hands up to hold her off. "This isn't my blood, I swear!"
"I don't know if that's comforting or scary."
"Maybe a little bit of both?" He smiled at the thought.
Li Wei returned his smile as she went for a stick of panther meat that he had put on the fire not long before. "Li Wuhan is a little slow with his cultivation, but he should be done soon."
"I'm not in a rush, in fact I wish for you to do me a favor."
"Me?" She seemed a little off put. "What could I do?"
"I just want you two to watch over me while I cultivate. If a fierce beast approaches, just shake me out of it and I'll face it."
"Are you sure you can trust me?" She eyed his storage ring. "I don't have a storage ring, and that one isn't bound to you yet."
"I don't know much about these things." He looked at the ring on his finger. "But if you want one, here." He took out a ring from his storage ring and threw it to her. She caught it carefully and put it on her finger.
"Thank you." She said gratefully. "It's hard to come by storage rings around here." she pricked her finger until a drop of blood formed and placed it on the ring.
As Li Wei bound the ring to her, she didn't realize that by binding it in front of Hong Zhao, she had taught him how to do it himself. He quickly pricked his finger and put a drop of blood on his own ring.
Li Wei raised her eyebrows slightly. "Your ring was unbound because you didn't know how to bind it?"
"Not until now." He shook his head and took the other ring and tossed it to Li Wei. "This one can be for your brother. I think everyone needs one." He thought for a moment before continuing. "I suppose to pay me back, you can always watch my back while I cultivate. If something comes to attack us, just snap me out of meditation and I'll take care of it."
"You've done so much for us already, I'm not sure we could ever repay you." Li Wei shrugged as she got comfortable.
Hong Zhao took that as an invitation to begin, so he sat in the lotus position and began cultivating. He could instantly feel the pull of the energy around him forming a cloud above and funneling into his dantian to be refined. He could feel how much extra room he had within his dantian after he had broken through. The qi spiral was still tinted red from the battle with the mother shadow panther, so he focused more on refining what he had than trying to gain more through cultivating.
As the spiral spun faster, he could see the impurities fade away, leaving everything a lustrous white once again. As the spiral slowed to a crawl, he once more gazed upon a pure qi rope which spiraled slowly in his dantian.
As he came out of his cultivating, he noticed Li Wei and Li Wuhan were sitting facing away from him conversing about the day's strange twist of fate. It was all the same for Hong Zhao, since he still had one more thing he had to do.
Feeding another qi thread into his ring, he let his consciousness merge with it. Having entered the large room within the ring, he made his way to the second star student door and opened it. Within he found nine jade pill vials and two jade slips along with a bundle of other jade slips. He took the slips excitedly and looked at the description. "Qi shot and eagle vision huh?" He thought about the two abilities as he looked at the the other jade slips. They were bound together instead of lain individually on the table like the other jade slips and the vials. Before he could question it, another note fell on the table.
"Glad you are making friends, give three pills to each of your followers, this should ensure they are close to your strength later on. By the way, use the jade slips to transfer your knowledge of abilities you wish for them to know." He finished the note and was slightly surprised she knew what events had transpired throughout the few months, to the day actually. "I thought I was supposed to be the spy."