Gu Yen started at the thick bubbling frothy liquid and dropped the lizard's tail he was holding. With a plop it fell and in a sizzling mess dissolved into the purple liquid.
[Soul Searing Poison]
Back when Gu Yen was but a wee young lad, he held a particular fascination towards the nature of this world. How beautiful it was; the flowers, the mountains, the animals, they all held a certain trait of this beauty. Gu Yen admired it. Even more than that, however, he admired that how these beautiful fragments devolve into mindless greedy and dirty animals. He loved it.
Watching the plant feed it's poision to a young critter and then grow further using this very corpse, Gu Yen found it thrilling. He relished the look of despair, pain and hollowness that overcame the struggle for life. He wanted to have world experience this for itself.
As a cultivator Gu Yen could be called one of Evil alignment. He laughed at the notion that people thought that cultivators were good in the first place. He knew the truth. Immortality and benefits. These were only two things capable of driving a cultivator. There was no 'just' cultivator, only a profit-seeker.
He wasn't a particularly genius cultivator like many of his peers, his future declared that his path was forver bared from entering the prestigious ranks of Energy Cloud Formation. But he, with his own will and power, had ascend beyond the fate. If the Heavens deemed him forver a mortal, then he would take what belonged to him from others. And he did.
Now he stood at the cusp of breaking through to the Energy Condensation Realm. His life long dream of entering the ranks of [Allied Alchemist Association] was now at his finger tips. All he need now was time and a method, he would find those, in time.
For now, he was relishing in the feel of his strength increasing. Every time a rat walked into his den, he would trap them and inject them with this poison.
It was called Soul Searing Poison for a reason. The pain one would experience should they come in contact with, was inhumane to say the least. Enough to drive one mad and enough for them let him devour them willingly. Ah, the look on their faces, he couldn't wait to capture some more. All in due time.
...
"Senior, I see a fox, just beside the river."
–"...Ok. Why are you mentioning this to me?"
Xuan Wen chuckled, a nervous glance darting to his wait where the pounch held the cauldron. "I was hoping you might have some advice for me."
–"I don't think you need my advice in hunting the beasts. But if you are asking for this particular one, then no, I don't have anything for you. Learn to be independent kid, I am not here to babysit you."
Xuan Wen felt his lips twitch but he made no follow up comment, instead directing his focus to the beast in front. If he didn't want to end up in a precarious situation, he needed to be swift and he needed to be deadly.
This time Xuan Wen didn't throw a rock, knowing such a paltry trick wasn't enough for a beast with instinct. He left the bushes and the rustle altered the fox. Its ears darted left and right and its eyes settled on his thin and stout frame. Xuan Wen gulped.
The beast ran, its claw touched the grass for a brief moment before it was lifted, its sleek body gave it a feline grace and before the human could react, it was already in front of it.
The human tensed, its weapon slashing. The beast drew back, and the human having completed his successful feint lept to his right. The beast followed. It was a mistake, it realised rather late. The twigs broke, the thicket dented inward and beast fell.
Its hind legs still on the ground, it tried to leapt past the edge but it had forgotten the human for a brief moment in exchange for escaping the trap. It was a mistake, one that would result in its death.
And as the blade drew into the beasts eye, lodging deep in its cerebellum, the beast died. Xuan Wen sighed in relief.
If he wanted to grow, he had be swift in dealing with these beasts. Just like now, he had killed the fox in little time and spared himself from the wounds. It was thanks to his slyness that he had thought to dig a trap; the lady at the Alchemist Hall had really given sound advice. Xuan Wen thanked inwardly.
This time, he didn't collect the blood in a flash but instead poured it right into the cauldron. All of it. The dark red blood pooled in the cauldron and frothy bubbles formed at top. Xuan Wen felt nauseated at the iron thick smell and flung the carcass to the side. Suddenly the cauldron thrummed.
–"Boy, it's better if you gouge the heart too and drop it in the blood. It would increase the potency by a lot."
Hearing the voice in his head for the umpteenth time, he didn't feel surprised and instead carried out the task as was asked.
Once the heart fell in the blood, it half submerged and a soft glow encased the blood pot.
°°°
Wu Xing smiled contently. This time his goal was not to increase his soul force but instead create a blood core. As a God Beast himself, he didn't need human blood to form his body but instead of a beast of lineage similar to him. And although this beast was mud compared to his Heavenly Bloodline, it was still a descendant. Every bit mattered.
He drew on the spirit, getting a feel for the blood and the heart and yanked. His soul force mingled into the force from the spirit, forming a harmonious string that guided the essence of the blood under its ministration.
Gradually a red bead started to coalesce right before his spirit form, getting bigger the more time passed. By the time he was feeling exhaustion creep on his form, the bead had grown to the size of a fingernail and it radiated a thick Qi aura. Wu Xing smiled.
This bead and many more to come would be an assurance and a staple resource, should he fall into some unexpected happenstance.
Once he had achieved the [Soul Spark Realm], he would have a bit more leeway and could help the boy directly gather the resources. However, there was a risk in his involvement. Cultivators were inherently greedy people, so even though he wanted to advance as fast as possible, he had to do so discretely. Any Ill intent that converged on Xuan Wen, would also put him in a precarious situation. Finding a gullible fool wasn't easy after all.
Wu Xing put the Essence bead aside and sent a message to the boy, telling him to put more traps around the periphery and conceal them well.
...
Xuan Wen felt the fatigue weigh on his mind like a giant metal ball. His eyes were droopy and his arms limp. From head to toe he was covered in sweat, his martial clothing drenched and giving a sour stink. He crinkled his nose and strode toward the village.
He would've called today a lucky hual, only that it left him dead tired like a dog dying of thirst. Still, he couldn't conceal the vigor and passion beneath his limpid eyes at the sight of four full waterskins. 'With this, I can almost make it to the next stage,' Xuan Wen grinned at the thought.
The foundation stage was divided into six stages. It started from Skin refinement and went inward. When he had met the 'Spirit' he was on the cusp on breaking through to Meridian refinement, a stage higher than Muscle refinement but still at the lowest rung.
And now with this much blood, even if he couldn't reach Viscera (organ) refinement completely, he could still make it close. After that were Bone and, at last, Marrow refinement.
If he kept going at the pace he was, he could easily reach the peak of the foundation before the end of a year. From there even if it took more than one or two years, it wouldn't matter, as long as he stepped foot in [Energy Could Formation] realm. His lifespan would jump to 250 years and he would've plenty of time to advance further. With the help of cauldron, it was entirely possible.
By the time Xuan Wen set foot in the Inn he was renting a room at, it was already late into the night. No customers were in the restaurant section and even the owner was already asleep. Only the hired servent was dozing of behind the desk. He lightly knocked.
"Ah! Who's there? I... I am not sleeping..." The man broke into a fit of flurry actions like he were warding a ghost off. Once he saw Xuan Wen, he breathed out and frowning he took a look outside and then at the boy, "What's up? What do you want?"
Xuan Wen smiled and that seemed to put the man at ease, and said, "I was hoping you might have some food left, I came back a bit late."
The man reclined back on his chair and shook his head, "The dinner ends at 10, it's written there on the poster. Can't do nothing about your situation."
Xuan Wen deflated visibly as if all the energy was drained from his body. The man took a look and sighed, "Listen kid, we don't entertain late night visits, but just for this once, you are allowed in the kitchen. Tell Ol' Wan that I sent you. See if he can find you some leftovers."
The boy straightened up as if the vigor returned stronger than before and happily trotted through the hallway to the kitchen. Luckily for him, Ol' Wan was feeling generous and the boy had a wonderful meal.
That night Wu Xing didn't allow Xuan Wen to train and instead had him sleep. He dreamt a wonderful dream that day. It was of a world where he had reached the peak, had immense wealth to his name and was the called The Immortal Sword. Xuan Wen drooled while fantasizing about the woman with big bosom, huh, he really was going to die of suffocation.