two and a half weeks after the Conspiracy Dinner...
"Situ Qing tells me that you haven't accepted any of her father's invitations," Shane spoke as he placed a smooth black stone on a stone table with many other black and white stones.
"Hmm, have you learned anything during or games?" I asked Shane as his move was arbitrary at best. At least his Fan Arts were improving due to our spars. But or games of Weiqi weren't going anywhere. "And why would I go back there? It's far, and two Legion clans shouldn't meet too often. It'll only breed trouble... And why is that Situ girl talking about my clan? I've never met."
"Huh?" Shane looked confused and completely ignored the play that ended with another territory taken by me.
"What?" I asked.
"Do you eat cookies with strangers all of the time?" Shane asked, and it took a moment to figure out what he was talking about.
"The girl in the veil?" I asked, "That was Situ Qing?"
"Bahaha! Now I know why she talks about you so much! You have no idea who she is!" Shane burst with laughter. "A few days after the incident, she contacted me under the guise of comfort. We've become decent friends. I even call her sister now. But she always insisted on visiting White Tiger Town. After I told her of our first spar, her discreet questions about became bold and straightforward."
I rolled my eyes as I sighed. "It's infatuation. Idolizing what she doesn't know. Do not enable her." I replied as I gestured towards the board for his play.
"Wow!" He said, "Not even a blush... Look, the son of the Royal blacksmith is trying to court her. He's a real dick and likes to chase skirts. Orym, I'm telling you, he's no good. But sister Qing is nice and kind. Not like most young ladies at all. I think you should meet her the next time she visits."
"Yeah. Yeah. I have bigger things to worry about, and you should focus on training. There's no point in having a beautiful lady if you're too weak to keep her." I replied, and the game turned into a conversion far removed from our original task.
"Tsk! That's what you tell that Zenith boy every time he comes for Little Wu."
"Because it's true." I hissed.
"I'm not a common boy, and neither are you. Situ Qing isn't a common girl. Before we know it, we'll be the age of maturity, and people will be looking to us, judging us if we aren't starting a family. I've already lost a fiancee, and I don't want to see my little brother lose his." Shane was serious and emotional.
"Haiz! What fiance? that Qing girl has nothing to do with me!" I barked. Shane was starting to annoy me. Mostly because the only woman I could think about was Suyin. To think of anyone else racked me with guilt. It made me heartache. "How about you marry her since she's so great?"
"Haa!" Shane exclaimed as he smacked the board and ruined the game. "Situ Qing admires you! And the girl I admire is being kept from me, you selfish little devil."
"Ahh, here we go again! Little Wu is not for you, Shane. When she reaches the age of maturity, her marriage contract will be hers. If the Zenith scum comes for her then, she's free to leave if she wants. But, of course, he'll have to prove his strength since Wu Zexi is a young lady of my Vamoria Clan."
Shane was flabergasted.
"From slave to Lady so fast? Hmm, do you consider Little Wu a sister now?" he asked.
"Tsk!"
"I guess so." said Shane, "Look, I like Little Wu, help me get rid of the Zenith boy, and when her age of maturity comes, I'll give her a new marriage contract."
"You're afraid of powerful women because of Na Lan. Marrying cute Little Wu because her status is beneath yours will only end sour. Please, trust me, Shane," I begged. Little did I know, he already had plans in motion.
"Fine," he said. "I'll find another woman."
I should have known then that his submission was far too easy. My age was never considered because I was bigger, stronger, and smarter than the average. So when my brother let it go, I felt it was due to respect.
However, my words had an odd effect on him. Shane reasoned that Ace Zenith's test of strength was me wanting to kill the boy before he could take Little Wu away. My slip of the tongue is what drove him to such a conclusion. 'A Lady of MY Vamoria clan.' I had unintentionally made her status equal to Nimue in Shane's loyal mind.
I had also called Ace, Zenith scum, making him unworthy, and my eyes and Shane took that off my disapproval and lack of care for the boy's life. But how could that be so? Although my body was young, in fact, I'm a well-reasoned soul with decades of experience. Killing children was not what I did lightly.
"Brother Orym, so what about Sister Qing's next visit?"
I frowned, and the smirk on his stupid face vanished. "PIck up my pieces. And congratulations on breaking through to the second stage." I told home before adding fuel to the fire by given him a jade bottle.
Shane opened it, and an earth-shaking fragrance attacked his nose.
"Cleanse your body, and I'm sure you'll be at the peak of stage two, if not three," I told him.
But I never expected what happened next.
"Brother Orym!" Shane fell to his knees, "I, Shane Ironwood, swear on my heart of martial arts to follow you, Orym Vamoria, with undying loyalty!"
The sky churned and cracked with lightning. Inside the main hall, my father and lord Ironwood's eyes widen. They each rushed to my courtyard—both of them hoping that their son hadn't done something stupid.
They found me with a dumbstruck expression and Shane on his knees and his forehead to the stone floor when they arrived.
"S-Shane?! What are you doing?" Lord Ironwood asked.
Shane didn't reply as he rose the proceeded to bow two more times. Who was I to interrupt a Martial Heart Oath? An oath Ironclad and life-crippling to anyone who hadn't cultivated a Dao. So for the mortal world, an oath on one's Martial Heart was serious. Not even the Legion Generals made such an oath when swearing fealty to the King.
"W-what's the meaning of this!? Shane, do you know what you've just done!" Lord Ironwood shouted.
"Father, if you want to disown me, fine. But I will service my brother and hold true to my oath. " He spoke as he tossed his father the jade pill bottle. The moment he opened the bottle, he was prepared to do the same as Shane had done.
Though I ate the detoxification pills every night, it had slipped my mind that peak grade rank 1 pills were heaven-sent to Mortal World cultivators. For Shane, unlike me, two pills would wash his body clean, and his cultivation would no longer be hindered for at least a year.
"This...Lord Vamoria..."
"Say no more." My father interrupted, "My son sees your son as a brother. So he has gifted the pill to him. Your son sees mine as brother and trusts him, so he swore a Martial Heart Oath. Leave this matter between them and consider our families allied."
"Yes! Yes!" Lord Ironwood went dumb for a moment before handing the bottle back to Shane.
Word spread of an alliance after that day, and the Dove family became anxious. They even offered their eldest daughter, five years my elder, to form an alliance through marriage. I declined. But even after my father's assurances, they were paranoid and began recruiting.
An unlikely recruit appeared by the name of Ace Zenith. After a weak of training, Shane found him and sent men after him. He escaped by fleeing into the Blood Wood. The Ironwood guards watched the boy fall into a gorge, and they assumed he died.
Unknown to them, the boy climbed out a day later.
"Ironwood, Wu, Vamoria, Primrose. All of you will die at the hands of this great alchemist, Ace Zenith!" He laughed manically to the heavens, " Little Wu, wait for me. You won't die this time. If you do, I'll follow you into the next life."
After the resurrection of Ace Zenith, a year passed, I began to grasp the essence of empty hand combat and movement techniques. The simple flash step and palm strike, the punch and knee, hip toss, and low kick. All of this and more was second nature as I became a seasoned fighter battling with Guards and fighters in the town turned city ruled by my father as a Legion General and City Lord. The difference between the basic moves and mine was that each of these simple moves displayed shattered trees to sawdust and stone to powder, forcing me to finally switch out the clan guards for legionnaires as sparring partners.
Mina watched as her son tortured himself every day. When he finally approached her and asked to start his alchemy training, she rejoiced as even the tiniest bit of time spent with her was time away from his self-inflicted torture. She was even more excited when Orym asked Gellis to begin his array training.
"Hey, Orym!" Shane called out as I was painting the landscape of Heart Groove, the only grove and most dangerous part of bloodwood.
But what people didn't know is that my parents took Nimue, Little Wu, and myself there multiple times. And unlike them, my consent use of Nature Qi made the Daemon Beast less cautious around me. My father told me that Nature Sutra resonated with Daemon beast at Rank 1. As I progressed, so would my influence on higher-ranked Daemon beasts. Unfortunately, I was still at the first stage of Body refinement due to the mass amount of impurities within me and my choice to use the fermentation method.
"Man, you were supposed to be here an hour ago," I replied, not taking my eyes from the landscape.
"This kid appeared at the Dove clan's tournament and won five body strengthening pills!" Shane sounded excited.
"Okay?" I was confused.
"It's the guy I was telling you about. The one that showed up four months ago at my clan's tournament. I tried to recruit him, but he refused." Shane explained.
"He took the Pills my mother sold to the Wu clan?" I asked, finally facing him.
"Yes," he replied.
"Hmm, don't worry about him. You'll surpass him before you know it. His talent will only decrease from this point on."
"Huh? Your mother's pills are amazing!" Shane exclaimed.
I sighed. "Remember what I told you? Don't eat pills not personally given to you by my clan. All the pills on the market are tainted. The boost in cultivation is too fast, with a weak foundation and only lastest six to seven years. So the downside and purpose of the pills are to corrupt the sea of consciousness and make or enemies easy to kill regardless of cultivation."
"Right! But my father really likes this kid. Even offered him your pills from his stash to pull the boy over from the primrose family." Said Shane.
"Is that so?" I asked as I stared towards my father's study.
My father nodded as he put down his pen and left the man to meet Lord Ironwood. That day, Lord Ironwood got the scar of his life as my father raise his cultivation to Xiantian Realm to force a Martial Heart Oath from him. From that point, Lord Ironwood stopped recruiting, and the pills were used for the Ironwood clan alone. But, even then, we would stop supply for the rest of the clan to know who was really in charge.
This was the first phase of my plan, Deception. Soon, I'll convert the Dove Clan. But for now, the Ironwood Clan and the Woodland Legion, my father's legion, were growing stronger. At the rate they were rising, they surpassed what the Deep south would consider a genius. At the same time, my mother's 'one-of-a-kind pills' have been helping Deep south cultivators. Simultaneously corrupting their see of consciousness and destroying their foundations.
My parents had no idea what I was planing, and the rumors of me being stuck at Stage 1 of Body refinement began to spread across the Deep South. Many powerful women seeking a matrilocal husband began to flock to the clan.
During this time, I told my parents about Suyin. Even if they found a woman that they liked, with a godly physique, I would refuse. Surprisingly my lazy father and sex-addicted mother agreed. They allowed me to attend all negotiation talks, and I was able to personally deny the offers.
Though most people would take times like this and gain a young master complex, I knew there were greater people than myself, and I was simply under my parents' protection for the time being.
Another month passed before I officially started training in alchemy and formations. My father told me that a formation master excelled in both inscriptions and array. By combing the two in gesture seals, which is a combination of hand seals and arm movements, a cultivator could gain a sealing combat style that acted as defense, offense, and trapping.
"Alright, Son. Tell me what you know of alchemy. No! Tell me how a pill is made."My mother was excited that I was taking a break from my never-ending training to learn her less than physical occupation.
I shifted in my seat as I looked at my mother. "Soul force. Your soul force controls the flame, refinement, and mixture of the ingredients."
"That's my boy. I won't bother with herbs and alchemical ingredients. I know you've studied such things, and none of that really matters until you can control your soul force."Mina spoke as she pulled out a basket of leaves and cauldron.
"Ahh, the Eldurani Clan's fire bath training," I said.
Mina then pouted. "You're a bad son."
I chuckled. "Blame Father. He still makes me study text all day and the only text left for me to read all deal with cultivation occupations."
"Good. Since you know, take these things and don't come back until the leaf can bathe in fire and not burn." Mina ordered.
I quickly put everything in his Interspatial Ring before leaving to visit his father. When I arrived, I found Gellis in a meeting with his officers. It was funny to see my twenty-one-year-old father commanding a bunch of middle age and senior officers. I occasionally tend to forget that my parents had me at the tender age of fifteen. Their overwhelming cultivation usually misled people to think they were older since cultivation allowed people to retain their youth for countless years.
My father simply handed me a book of twenty-five base constructs and told him to study them in-depth along with their history and that of the people who created them. He didn't care that most people learn arrays and inscriptions before the twenty-five base constructs that were a mix between the two occupations. He naturally expected me to figure it out.
Later that day, I sat in my room as I put leaves in a flaming cauldron. Stretching out my weak soul force, I attempted to protect the leaf from the flames but only achieved failure one leaf at a time. After a mere five minutes, I was exhausted as a thick layer of sweat covered my body.
"This is extremely harder than I thought," I muttered to myself as sweat coated my body and lightheadedness was taking over.
Taking a deep breath and steeling my will, I continued my training and endured until exhaustion took hold, and I passed out. The next morning, I slept longer than I ever had since I started training at a year old!
The moment I woke up and felt the heat of the day, I knew I had overslept. Furious with myself, I knew I had to train in a different method when suddenly a parcel of information popped into his mind.
In an instant, a scroll appeared in my hand from my blade jade Interspatial ring that I kept on my left big toe. I was weaker than my father, so I figured keeping the ring hidden was a smart move regardless of my parents' strength. Opening the scroll, I smiled when I read over the first part of the Six Natured Limit Breaker.
This technique was the way to excel in the occupations that required soul force. Like the Faye clan that excelled in alchemy and formations, I too, will excel until I reach the limit of this soul cultivation technique.