The sun, at its peak, blinded Ye Tian's eyes and forced him to block the sun until the eyes could adjust. After all, he had been mining in the tunnel for almost an entire day. The trio tried to make sense of what just happened as they slowly made their way down the mountain. The information, that Starseeker revealed, had flipped their common knowledge of the world around them. It almost felt like a dream. Although they had just met Starseeker, the trio felt thankful for Starseeker's inheritance, and, in a way, the trio were essentially disciples of Starseeker.
"What do we do next?" Nan Feng absentmindedly asked. Perhaps he had been expecting a predetermined path of cultivation or at least a direction from the inheritance. All he got was confusion and a path that the trio would have to figure out themselves.
Although Yu Ling was fairly smart, she was at a loss at what to do next as well, so she turned to Ye Tian to see what he thought.
Ye Tian pondered for a moment before speaking, "We should just cultivate according to the scriptures for now and improvise. Senior Starseeker's enemies will have to wait." To be honest, Ye Tian did not have much of a plan either, but he was confident that he could do something since he was a transmigrator.
I don't know how it's going to help, but it's another 20 years on top of my current life along with my past knowledge. I see that this world is fairly behind in technology. Maybe I could do something with science. I don't know. Maybe make bread or wine or something appear out of nowhere.
Nan Feng grit his teeth, "We must avenge master Starseeker for the kindness that he has shown us." It was apparent from Nan Feng's tone that he had taken Starseeker as his master.
Yu Ling and Ye Tian nodded in agreement with Nan Feng's words.
Ye Tian stretched and yawned, "For now though, let's get home and claim the rewards for the mission. This entire chain of events has really stressed me out enough, and I could really go for a bath right now."
***
Thunk!
Ye Tian rubbed his head in pain and snapped back to attention at what was in front of him.
"Stop dozing off for the last time," scolded Lu Yin.
The trio had rushed back to the city without any rest nor breaks. Although Ye Tian itched to use the scripture, he decided that it may be better to first find some background knowledge in the library for the barracks. However, while Ye Tian had spent 8 years from age 5 in this world, All Ye Tian knew was to speak the language and can maybe read a hundred or two words, but there was never really a time that he properly educated himself. Even the reading of the map's text at the bottom was done with the combined knowledge of the trio. As a result, Ye Tian got help from Lu Yin which was not the best idea to find a drill instructor who excelled in physical violence.
Then again, Ye Tian hadn't expected learning a new language would be this difficult, especially when he had already spent a while speaking the language.
_It reminds me of my younger days when I studied at my desk with the lamp on and hot chocolate by the side._
"Are you getting distracted again?" Lu Yin glared at Ye Tian's eyes which were beginning to wander off again.
***
_Although Lu Yin is a little bit violent, he's definitely a great teacher. I learned at least around 200 words today, but I'll have to review them later to memorize them._
Ye Tian strolled down the stone, paved road in the military sector. The entire sector was enclosed by walls with residential courtyards lined up in rows. Each courtyard had the same design. Looking down the road, the feeling was akin to looking down a hallway with neat, symmetric doors. It deserved an OCD stamp of approval.
At one end of the road, there was a wall which meant the unlucky soldier housed there was going to have to walk the entire length of the road to get out of the residential area. At the other end of the road, there was an open square with stone flooring.
Gigantic, golden trees were neatly arranged throughout the square with a few yards in between each tree as if the architect imitated the edges of each square in a checkerboard. Stone benches, bathed in the shade of the tree, surrounded each tree.
White-robed soldiers could be seen lazing around on the benches, talking to each other, or sparring beside the trees.
Ye Tian walked through the square to one of the buildings that were around the edge of this giant square. While every building had people streaming in and out, this one was the biggest and had the most people. It was a special store for soldiers to get resources such as medicine, inscriptions, weapons, and more. Ye Tian felt his pouch hanging by his side.
Within the pouch contained the trio's wealth, each member had received three spirit stones for their mission which amounted to 9 in total and 45 from the bandits' treasury. The previous month's allocation had already been spent, but the trio had spent around a month out in the wild thus each of them got three spirit stones for this month. In total, the pouch had 72 spirit stones. Ye Tian gulped at how much wealth he currently held.
Why did Ye Tian have all this money?
Well, the Starseeking scripture was 'special' in the way that it required a ritual similar to drawing a gigantic inscription in order to cultivate. As a result, Ye Tian was here to purchase ingredients for that ritual.
Ye Tian walked into the store with tens of employees working at the counters made of glass. The counters were at the sides of the room and the center which gave off a strong resemblance to the jewelry stores back in Ye Tian's old world. The only difference was that there were ingredients instead of valuable jewelry.
The ceiling had a gigantic inscription that shone light throughout the store while the floor had limestone which glowed from the reflection of light. As if that wasn't luxurious enough, the walls of the store was essentially a wooden cabinet filled with rare, expensive-looking ingredients encased with a glass cover. Ye Tian made his way over to one of the female employees that were available.
The employee beamed at Ye Tian, "Sir cultivator, what would you like today?"
"I'd like ummm," Ye Tian scanned through the information that senior Starseeker had shared. "6 pounds of Stargazing flower, 6 liters of rank one demon beast blood, and 6 rank one demon beast cores."
"The 6 pounds of stargazing flower will be 6 spirit stones, 6 liters of rank one demon beast blood will be 6 spirit stones, and the 6 rank one demon beast cores will be 30 spirit stones. Your total comes to 42 spirit stones"
Ye Tian winced at the cost before taking out the stones.
Suddenly, a medallion with the word Lu was placed onto the counter.
"He's a friend of our Lu clan,"
Ye Tian turned to see a smiling, green-robed youth with delicate and refined features that were contrasted with the awkwardness of a shy teen.
_Is this dude a ghost or something? Why is he suddenly here?_
The female employee looked at the medallion before respectfully bowing and addressing the youth, "Young master of the Lu clan. By the rules of the city lord, the price will be halved from 42 spirit stones to 21. May I know where and when the materials should be delivered?"
For these cultivators, spatial rings were too expensive, and they couldn't be expected to lug around gigantic bags thus there was a delivery system in place for the courtyard number. The only people buying were the soldiers anyways. Ye Tian gave Nan Feng's courtyard number and wanted the items today around evening.
Ye Tian then walked out of the store with Lu Ning.
"You've come looking for me?" asked Ye Tian.
Lu Ning had an embarrassed, red face, "Yes, it's about senior Lu Yin."
_Lu Yin?_
"What happened?"
"Senior Lu Yin doesn't attend family feasts anymore so I don't think he knows of this, but our clan head, the city lord, cut senior's engagement to the pearl of the clan," Lu Ning grumbled.
_So the Lu clan was the city lord's clan. And Lu Yin that lucky dude actually had a fiancee?_
Lu Ning's face then went red with anger, "What injustice! When senior was a shining star, the city lord had approached senior's father with this engagement, but now he's taking it back since senior is crippled!"
"That bastard Lu Sha had always hated Lu Yin and drooled after senior's fiancee. Yesterday, Lu Sha rallied enough support from the clan to have this engagement cut by popular vote."
_I don't like this political infighting. Although the rewards are plentiful, it is too dangerous and a single misstep would result in my head being cut off._
Lu Ning didn't notice how uncomfortable Ye Tian was and naively went on with his rant.
"The audacity to take senior's fiancee! Ever since senior got crippled and Lu Fan joined the radical conservatives, their faction in the family has been waning and Lu Sha's faction is taking the chance to rise to the power."
Ye Tian decided to cut Lu Ning off, "So what did you come to me for? You know I'm too weak to do anything."
Lu Ning looked at Ye Tian in the eye. Ye Tian could no longer see the same innocent, awkward kid but rather a serious one instead.
"I feel that senior will soon be in danger. I want you to grow fast into someone who can protect senior. You should know that senior is cold and prideful, but I've never seen senior talk a lot to anyone. Back when I first saw your interactions, I can tell that senior treats you like a genuine friend or at least a genuine student."
"That's just because Lu Yin has to talk when teaching me."
"Still, I've never seen senior so patient with someone in my life. I feel that senior feels too betrayed by the clan after he was crippled. Senior doesn't talk to anyone in the clan, including his mother, father, and brother. He must be so lonely… After all, everyone wants someone to talk to and trust in."
A leather pouch appeared in Lu Ning's hands out of nowhere.
_A spatial ring! As expected of a noble scion._
"I saved the last two months of my allowance for you. There are 30 spirit stones in there. Please use these to grow stronger!"
Ye Tian took this free opportunity, "I'll see what I can do but no promises."
Lu Ning beamed, "Father has always taught me that those who don't make promises lightly are trustworthy."
_This kid… He's so naive. Oh well, Lu Yin is a nice guy, so I'll see what I can do for him._
***
A courtyard had rundown and crumbling walls along with a house in similar condition. The roof of the house was in such a terrible condition that the material was almost unrecognizable. If Ye Tian was here then he would recognize the courtyard since he sometimes came here for lessons. It was the servants' quarters.
Lu Yin, whose lean and toned upper body was naked, punched out at the wooden dummy in front of him with his hands wrapped in gauze. Every movement was so swift that it became blurry. The sweat-covered body was a sign of hours and hours of rigorous physical activity as it must be known that cultivators had heightened endurance.
Lu Yin knew that it was impossible for him to progress through the stages, but he was unwilling to give up and, instead, worked on his physical body. Every little increase in strength mattered to Lu Yin because it was hope. Hope that his situation could improve.
The physical training was also a way for Lu Yin to cope. The pain and exertion of forcing his body to the limits had always helped with putting his mind to somewhere else. After punching the dummy for a few more hours, Lu Yin collapsed on the floor whilst soaked in his own sweat and gasped for breath.
A servant walked in with a derisive sneer, "Young Master, your father wishes to see you."
Lu Yin ignored the servant and got clothed to leave. The servant followed Lu Yin as they walked down the road. Then Lu Yin turned left.
"Hey! You're going in the wrong direction!"
Lu Yin ignored the servant and kept walking.
He walked through the barracks.
He walked through the city.
He walked through the forest.
Then he stopped.
There was a hut with some training dummies outside. Beside the hut, there was a waterfall that fell from at least a hundred feet. Lu Yin knew this place well since he had come here often. Not even Ye Tian knew of this place. There were times when Lu Yin would just disappear for a few days and return back to his courtyard.
Lu Yin walked over to one of the dummies and punched out with such force and speed that one couldn't even see the punch. He then grit his teeth and broke every dummy before screaming out in frustration.
***
"Is everything ready?" Ye Tian asked as he threw the two pouches towards Nan Feng.
"Yeah. Be careful with the spirit stones! And why is there two pouches?" asked Nan Feng in confusion. He poured out the spirit stones and counted to find 81 spirit stones.
"Woah! Where'd you get this spirit stone duplication trick?" asked Nan Feng.
"It's not exactly free."
"What do you mean?"
"Just extra business. Are the materials here?"
"Yeah, they arrived a while ago. Yu Ling and I have been waiting for you."
The trio then got to work with making the ritual which was similar to the inscription. Perhaps Starseeker had some enlightenment from the fatty Xuan who created inscriptions.
First, a pound of stargazing flowers was ground and mixed with a liter of rank one demon beast blood. The stargazing flowers were fairly expensive since they were beautiful flowers that gave off sparkles of light at night. However, the true worth, which no one but the trio knew, was that the flowers absorbed astral qi which was vital to the Starseeking scriptures.
As previously explained by Hao Nan, demon beasts naturally absorb qi which is then infused with the demon beast body as this qi is pumped throughout the beast's body. The demon blood would provide the energy for the stargazing flowers to absorb light better while also serving as a conduit for the energies from the beast cores.
Next, the trio drew a gigantic hexagon in Hao Nan's courtyard. Each vertice was then connected to every other vertice by the mixture of blood and flower.
Then, symmetric patterns of lines were drawn on the inscription until finally the inscription was completed and there were no more mixed liquids of flower and blood. These symmetric lines were supposed to balance out the energies that would flow from the 6 rank one demon beast cores which are positioned in the vertices.
Inscriptions were all about balancing the energy in order for the inscription to work and symmetric lines did the work. High-rank inscriptions used symmetric lines, but the lines were interconnected and positioned in more complex ways in order for the energy efficiency and strength to soar.
Finally, a circle was drawn in the center so that the users could sit in the center and absorb the energy from this astral qi gathering inscription.
Once everything was set up, the trio sat in the circle within the hexagon and waited for the sun to fully go down. The sun's light was simply too overwhelming for the stargazing flowers to absorb.
Eventually, the inscription began to glow with faint wisps of light. The trio began to absorb these wisps of astral qi and circulate this qi according to the scriptures in order to open a door within them. This door connects to the astral space where the stars lay and also where the true cultivation of the scriptures begins. Ye Tian had his eyes closed and focused on circulating the astral qi before eventually noticing that something was wrong.
_It's too quiet!_
Ye Tian's eyes snapped open to see dazzling lights of myriad colors everywhere in the blue-black space. His own body felt weightless as he floated in this space.
_Am I actually here? Or is this just a feeling?_
Ye Tian tried moving his hands and put them in front of him.
_My body is here._
Ye Tian tried walking and swimming, but both actions didn't seem like it took Ye Tian a very far distance.
_How do I get around?_
Ye Tian wanted to explore the stars around him like that one blue light in the distance. With that thought, all of a sudden, Ye Tian was in front of the blue star. Ye Tian had initially expected this blue star to be either extremely hot with blue colored flames or extremely cold with ice, but the star was actually a huge ball of blue lightning.
_So I just will myself to move forward._
Ye Tian tried to absorb the energy of the blue star, but it rejected Ye Tian.
_Looks like I'll have to find a compatible one. Damn, this blue lightning looks so cool too._
As he traveled through space, Ye Tian was constantly rejected by a red star, yellow star, and green star.
_What the hell? How do I know if I'm compatible? What are the conditions to get these stars? Do I have to look through each and every one of these?_
Ye Tian stopped and turned around.
_What the hell? Why do I feel like I should go there? Feels like something is reaching out for me. Is this the so-called compatibility?_
In an instant, Ye Tian arrived at the site where this strong feeling of attraction came from.
A blood star.