The news came quite quickly. Li Kuo had been accepted in the group of disciples who would go to the Li Zhang Kingdom's Demonic Forest. The plan had successfully started, while Jian was training like a madman and the Inner Disciples were still scheming behind each other's back.
Jian had decided to stop his training a bit to see Li Kuo off, since the noble would take part on his first mission. The group was waiting at the South Gate, and a few inner disciples had come to see them off, given that this mission was quite a big one. Usually it would be given to some elite disciples, however recently the Sect seemed to do everything it could to protect the Elites at all costs, making sure that they wouldn't encounter any problems.
" You can't imagine how anxious I am right now, Jian." Said Li Kuo. Jian smiled, seeing how Li Kuo was literally trembling. Both he and Jian were just some weaklings a few weeks ago, and now he was going on a dangerous mission, while Jian was preparing himself to enter the war between Inner disciples.
He had decided to not just help Huang Lei, but take part in the war himself. Since Huang Lei would take Jiang Men's place, he would take Zhi Li's. Though to do that , he would need to become stronger and create his own little army. First thing first, he really had to step up his game. He was still a mere weakling in the eyes of the strongest Inner Disciples.
" Don't worry about it. You can do it. Don't think about failure, just telĺ yourself that everything will be fine....And it will be fine. " Said Jian. However both he and Li Kuo had a feeling, that something bad was about to happen, and they weren't the only ones.
After Li Kuo departed with his group, Jian went back to the waterfall he always trained at and immediately dropped his robe. Now only wearing his pants, the boy grabbed his sword and went into different stances with it. He attacked from all sides, trying different movements whilst also trying to increase the precision and speed of each strikes.
Water drops fell on his body, making his now slightly muscular body shine under the sunlight. He had trained hard for weeks, and the results were starting to show.
Taking a moment to cool down, Jian examined his sword and saw that it had once again become longer. He understood that it was due to the unholy energy of the waterfall a few days ago, so he was now waiting for it to be completely repaired.
After examining the blade, Jian moved towards the forest, stopping just before the entrance. He then threw a bottle in the air and it landed in the forest.
* ROAR*
This bottle was actually filled with the Poisonous Envy Mist. As soon as it hit the ground, the mist spread in the forest and all the beasts fled the forest.
Seeing an army of weakened beasts coming his way, Jian's eyes hardened and he gripped the sword until his knuckle turned white. The force he was exerting in his leg was enough to make the ground crack a bit under the pressure.
In a second, the boy rushed towards the beasts. He then jumped in the air, getting the attention of the Beasts who roared at him. While in the air, Jian did a front flip and landed with his sword stabbed in the head of the strongest beast. The other beasts around tried to flee seeing this, however Jian didn't let them. He would slice in two every beasts that tried to run away from him.
This slaughter continued for a while before Jian, slightly tired, stopped. His sword was stuck in the body of a fox, blood was covering his body and clothes, getting mixed to the water that previously was on his body.
" This is a great method to kill a lot of beasts and sell them to the shops. I could also sell them to the system, since I have already bought the equipments." Said Jian, he then dropped on the ground, but his ears twitched when he heard someone coming from behind him.
He turned around in an instant, having grabbed his sword and pointing it at....Nothing.
" You have good reflexes, Jian....Very good reflexes." Said Peng Fu, who was holding a snake and pointing it's mouth at Jian's throat. Jian smiled and shook his head, slapping the snake away.
" What are you doing here, Peng Fu ? Is it about what I said the other day ? " Asked Jian.
" Indeed. You intrigued me, so I wanted to see what you were talking about." Said Peng Fu.
" Let me explain then" Said Jian. He then started to tell Peng Fu what happened in the Thousand Flowers Forest, leaving out the part about the roses. At the end Peng Fu looked greatly shocked.
" Diamond Fangs Wolves aren't aggresive creatures, but they aren't really known to show trust towards humans either. Of course if this wolf was this friendly to you, then taming it is truly the best idea. Though you also need to think about what you will do with it. You could use it's energy to enhance your sword, use it as a Martial Spirit or just keep it as a pet....Even if this option could be a bit problematic." Said the Fox-like man.
" I already thought about it. I will make this wolf my first Martial Spirit. " Said Jian. Peng Fu nodded, but he still wondered why Jian needed his help.
" Why do you even need me to tame it ? It's already friendly towards you." He asked.
" Well....I got a book on Beast Taming from Gate Elder Luo Tu. In this book it's explained that to tame a beast you need to form a pact with it. Problem is....I don't know how to do it. The book doesn't explain how it's supposed to work, since it was written for Beast Tamers who already knew about it. " Said Jian , slightly embarrassed.
" Okay then, listen closely. To form a pact with a Beast, you need to direct your Core Energy, which is kind of your emergency reserve in case you ever need some Qi desperately, out of your body. The Beast will do the same if they accept the pact and both your Core Energies will merge. After that both the Beast Tamer and the Beast are linked, and the pact has been formed. There exists other types of pacts, but this one is the simplest. Now we just need to find this beast. I will tag along since I need some flowers from the forest." Said Peng Fu.
And thus, the both of them rushed towards the Thousand Flowers Forest. Once they arrived, Jian immediately started to search for the beast, while Peng Fu just picked flowers on his way, humming a tune while Jian panicked.
' I am sure it was there last time ! Oh I hope it didn't move away !' He thought. Fortunately his fear was swept away when he heard a low growl coming from behind him.
" WOLF !" He yelled, seeing the giant wolf as soon as he turned around. Peng Fu was rather stunned by this yell and thought Jian had been attacked, but when he saw the wolf he relaxed.
" Hey friend ! I came back to make a pact with you ! Are you okay with that ?" Asked Jian. The wolf's tail moved from left to right excitedly and the wolf nodded. Jian got into a meditative position, doing exactly what Peng Fu told him to.
When he felt the small pocket in his Qi Core that contained his Core Energy, he pierced it and lead the Core Energy outside of his body. Compared to the blue color of Nature Qi, this energy was completely white. The wolf seemed shocked by this energy, but still brought out it's own Core energy, both energies merging together in a clash of lights. Moments after, Both Jian and the wolf had the moon in a sun on their foreheads but it quickly disappeared.
After that Jian looked at the wolf and spread both his arms as the wolf closed it's eyes..
" Diamond Fangs Wolf, I now ask of you to become my Martial Spirit, will you heed my plea ?" Said Jian, pronouncing every words exactly like Peng Fu told him to. The wolf howled and it's body became a white gas that soon entered Jian's body. In an instant, Jian felt as if his whole body was becoming stronger, every single bone and muscle being reinforced.
He howled while Peng Fu smiled.
' So little Jian now has a Qi Core 9th Step Beast...Boss will surely be pleased.' Thought the Snake man.
" Jian. Now that you possess this Martial Spirit, you will be able to use some techniques linked to it. Maybe not a Unique Techniques, but at least those techniques should be strong enough to give you a sharp advantage. Now you only need to learn how to hide it. The Elders will still be able to detect it, but the disciples won't. That book of yours should explain the process clearly. " Said Peng Fu.
" Yeah, thank you by the way. It's always better to be with a friend than be alone." Said Jian, smiling at Peng Fu.
" Indeed....I am only sad I couldn't find the Golden Rose Cave." Said Peng Fu. Jian nearly had a heartstroke when he heard this.
" The Golden Rose Cave ?" He asked.
" Yes. This cave is filled with Golden Roses that can help those in the Mortal Realm or Half-Step Mortal realm grow in strengh. My Boss wants them to use them against Jin Wang. The genius would do anything to get them, however the cave is impossible to find. If I had them, Boss could ask Jin Wang for anything he wants in exchange. " Said Peng Fu. Jian nearly spilled the secret about the cave before the system stopped him.
[ Master, this could be beneficial to you. Those roses only grow in certain periods, when they grow again, you can take them and use some against Jin Wang. A genius like him surely has some good battle skills or items to give you. You could get some good stuff in exchange for a few flowers you can't even use. They aren't all that good actually, but apparently, Jin Wang is someone who focus a lot on useful skills rather than battle skills, and as such reaching the mortal realm is more difficult for him. Those roses could help him grow while he still focus on what he consider important. He must be one of the only people in the whole Sect who actually consider those roses as extremely precious. However everyone knows that and all shops would give him ridiculous price. ]
Jian nodded hearing this, and so he decided to keep quiet. He and Peng Fu went back to the Inner Court, and they both separated.
Once Jian got home he immediately decided to sell the beasts he had killed to the system.
" How much for these beasts ?" He asked.
[ 5000 LP. Will you use the Special Lottery or not ?]
" You know what ? I think I will. And I will select a category and not the high-ranking chances augmentation. "
[ Then what category do you want to select ?]
Seeing the choices before his eyes, Jian hesitated for a moment before choosing Soul Heritage. Soul Heritages were extremely useful so he wanted to have more than one. He just hoped it would be something good, at least on par with the Venerable Immortal Body.
He then heard the sound of the system starting the Lottery pull, he closed his eyes and opened them when he heard the sound of the reward having been sent. However as soon as he opened his eyes.....
"....Uh....What i-is this ?!" He yelled, utterly shocked.