It had been 2 weeks since Jin had started practicing the bow.
Over the past week, Jin has persistently asked Luca how to strengthen one's bones. After a week of nagging, Luca finally taught Jin the secrets behind it and Jin realized why Luca didn't really pay attention to informing him as of yet.
Strengthening the bone only had 2 true methods.
The slow method, to forcefully pierce the bones with qi. This was the method that most people used but the downside was that it was excruciatingly painful and that it was very harmful to bones that were still growing as it can hurt one's future.
Jin had heard something along these lines from Luca before but the reason why Jin had nagged Luca was for the second method.
And that method was the fast method. Heavenly medicine.
Heavenly medicine was a broad term for any edible source that was rich in qi. The majority of these were used to strengthen the bones whilst a small minority were used for the blood and muscles.
But most of the ones used for blood and muscles were not to cultivate them but rather to cleanse the blood and quickly recover muscles that had been ripped apart or damaged severely. This was because using such material to strengthen muscles and blood was a waste due to how simple it was to cultivate them.
Bones, on the other hand, was inconvenient and slow. Though the majority of people reached small success in bone density once their body reached adulthood, that was one of the major barricades for many cultivators who didn't actively cultivate their bones.
As for medicine between healing and cultivating, there really wasn't a difference as to what kind of material used to create it but rather the method of creation that changed the type of medicine it was.
If the material was stabilized into a solid pill-like form, it was a gentle healing medicine. But if the medicine's qi wasn't stabilized and was in the form of liquid, the medicine would contain a very violent qi that would gush around fire once a cultivator drank it. The cultivator would then have to force the corresponding Qi outwards from their stomach and onto the bones,muscles or their blood streams and depending on the medicine the qi will attack one of the three instead.
The main issue behind heavenly medication was that it was a very extravagant method for training. Yes, it would allow a young cultivator to reinforce their bones early. However, this was only possible for sons and daughters of extremely rich families.
"As much as I want to help you Jin, it's just inefficient and simply a waste to pour the resources I can obtain in such a method." Luca explained. "With persistence, it wouldn't take long to completely reinforce your bones to the limit."
"Understood, father." Jin replied with a slight disappointment. It was true that he was being a bit impatient. But this mainly stemmed from the fact that his adult mind was stuck inside the body of a young child.
'One step at a time it seems...'
At that moment, Luca raised his head and gazed into a direction. "It seems like we have a guest."
Jin's head snapped onto the direction Luca was looking towards as he focused onto the currents of the wind essence.
Ssss
A small storm was brewing down a mountain path, similar to the one he saw when Luca rushed back home a few weeks back.
"...Is that someone from the main branch?" Jin asked.
"Well, we won't know but it's probably Ahn." Luca smiled.
Sssst!
A figure quickly arrived by their front yard. True to Luca's words, it was indeed Ahn.
"Ahn greets senior. Hey Jin, we meet again." Ahn spoke as he smiled at Jin and bowed at Luca.
"You're going back and forth the main branch and this place awfully often recently, Ahn. Might as well just settle nearby at this point." Luca smiled back as he joked around. "What did you come for this time? Did Baek run away again?"
"Haha, her holiness is safely back in the capital. As for my visit today, I've come to formally invite Jin to the main branch." Ahn replied as he pulled out a small letter.
Luca frowned as he took the letter and started to read it.
"Is this the plan of those oldies or Baek's?" Luca asked as he read the letter.
Jin took a peek at the letter before realizing he had never been taught how to read the language of this world and giving up.
"The elders do not have the permission to grant you an audience with her holiness. She simply wishes to see Jin's true talents to decide whether to invest in him." Ahn responded.
"So she wishes to bind me to the family through my son?" Luca snorted.
"Yes." Ahn responded in a straightforward manner as silence befell between them.
Jin continued to listen but realized there was a strange tension between Ahn and Luca. He knew that Luca had interacted with Ahn a bit in the past, though he didn't know the details, and was wondering why the atmosphere was so tense.
It took a bit of silence before Luca broke it with a sigh. "Look Ahn, you do realize the relationship between me and the family cannot easily be reconciled."
"We know." Ahn responded with a smile. "However, this is a chance for Jin's horizons to broaden. You aren't planning to hold onto him forever right? If he proves to have enough talent, which I can easily guarantee that he indeed does, then he may even be able to enter the sect."
"Sect?" Jin blurted out in curiosity.
"...A sect is an organization found under the goal of gathering and nurturing cultivators." Luca responded
"It would indeed you bind you to the family to a degree but that's just a secondary effect of Jin's entrance into our glorious sect. After all, your issue is just between you and elder Hiro." Ahn replied before preparing to leave. "My goal of this visit was to simply hand out the formal invitation. Everything else will only be decided once you have your audience with her holiness."
"..." Luca silently watched Ahn leave as Jin looked at him in curiousity.
"Jin." Luca sighed before speaking softly. "Let's talk inside."
Jin quietly followed Luca into the house
-----
Jin laid in his bed as he was lost in thought.
Luca had explained to him the pros and cons of what would happen if he were to truly enter a sect.
Firstly, there were many sects within the continent but most of them were side branches of the four great sects operated under the family.
This is where the families nurtured and obtained talents for their armies for the most part. As for the sect that was run under the Ho family, it was called the Unwavering Sect.
As for the other three sects, they were named the Soaring Sect of the Ryong family, the Immortal Sect of the Zak family and the Everlasting Sect of the Mue family.
There were too many pros of entering a sect for a cultivator. Being able to train with others of similar power levels, cultivation resources as well as an environment that greatly helped with one's cultivation.
Each sect had the resources and materials to nuture cultivators up to the spirit reinforcement level but the majority of students were at the bodily enhancement and qi condensation stage.
There were 2 districts in each sect. The outer sect will nurture body enhancement cultivators whilst the inner sect nurtured qi condensation cultivators. As for spirit reinforcement stage cultivators, they either held 'instructor' level positions or picked a different position outside the sect.
Of course there were also cons to joining a sect.
One of them was limited freedom. For cultivators who liked to roam the continent and adventure throughout the lands, this was the main reason for why they avoided joining a sect.
The second was being tied to a family. Every cultivator had to swear a blood oath to never betray the benefits of the family under no circumstances upon joining a specific sect.
Luca, his father, had never joined a sect. After Jin's grandparents died, Luca simply roamed the world and cultivated by himself.
So in theory, Jin would also like to value his freedom to follow the path of his father.
"You can decide for yourself Jin, it is your future after all." His father told him.
And this was the reason why Luca was contemplating the decision.
'Hmm...'