"Finally, we have reached the swamp, let's move quickly and meet them," Donghai said. The others agreed and rushed towards the new camp. They were very exhausted, had they not stayed at the Lu clan's territory for a day most of them couldn't be able to make a journey.
On that day of confronting the others, the clan members were truly spent, their eyes were bloodshot and were not able to stand properly because they have been travelling to and fro while escorting the clan members. They didn't show fear because they had none, their loved ones were already safe, and they had nothing to worry about anymore. Almost all of the valuables were taken away by them and most of the buildings were razed down to the ground. That was the reason why they were smiling at others, thinking about how disappointed their enemies will be when they come to occupy Lu Clan's territory.
Lu Donghai had another purpose for staying at their old place, which is to wait for Lu Fang if he truly regrets and wants to come back. But to Donghai's disappointment, Fang didn't.
The newly appointed sentries who were at the top of the lookout tree on seeing their clan members coming signalled the base and soon they went to receive the last batch of migrating members.
The two clans welcomed the new life with a huge celebration. They were deep inside the marsh with no one to bother them or live in fear. Thus, they felt a real meaning of freedom and a sense of belonging to nature.
When the Jia Head praised and thanked Donghai for coming up with such an ingenuine plan of duping the whole village and escaping the danger, Donghai felt embarrassed and immediately denied it by saying the idea didn't belong to him and hinting it indirectly to the shoulders of Yehan.
The next day when Lu Donghai was inside his chambers chatting with Arthur a loud angry voice was heard.
"Donghai, how dare you put Sansan's credit on me?"
"Hahaha, Yehan, I Donghai thank you for bearing the burden and saving my grandson," Shouted Lu Donghai.
Just as Lu Yehan was about to bellow back he saw Arthur drinking tea with his grandfather and suddenly held back what he was about to say and instead said, "Old Hai, we'll settle it later." He never called Lu Donghai by name except when he is angry at him. Then he asked, "Sansan, what is the next plan?"
"Grandpa Ye, sit and drink tea, we were also going to discuss it," said Arthur. It was the first time Arthur addressed him Ye, and he felt delighted. He smiled back and said, "Yes, yes grandpa will sit next to my good grandson."
Just as Arthur was about to tell his next plan. Yehan asked, "Sansan before we continue you have to first tell me what medicine you used to imitate the black-ivy plague and how it spread like a plague."
Arthur replied, "Grandpa Ye, it was easy. Creeping-shroud poison is a mild poison that appears like a black-ivy plague. I told my mother to pour it into our clan's well, that's how it started to spread out. Grandpa Lu Fang's people had also fallen sick but as soon as they left us they got better. They might have thought that it was because of staying away from us but actually, the poison doesn't take life and it disappears from the body after three days. Our people continued to use the well water so the poison stayed in our bodies continually. Mother also sent people to pour it into the Jia clan's water supply. As soon as we left the village we had tea served to all the people where I had my mother put the antidote, hence it was dispelled quickly."
"Won't they know if they drink the water from our well now?" Lu Yehan asked.
Before we left we poured the antidote into both the well so it is covered.
"Genius! Genius!" Both the old men cried.
"Grandpa," He called them both.
"Listen, we cannot stay here for long. Grandpa Ye, you built the platform smaller than I asked and thus you were able to complete it on time and half our clansman left, three of our subordinate clans also abandoned us so we have more space available but this is not an ideal place to live. It is not very far from the village moreover after the rain stops pouring when it starts to dry up everything around us will start to decay. We should leave this place as soon as we kill the Bull-blooded bear, but I think that should be next winter only. The bear might have left already, it hibernates for only 3 months and the best time to kill would be when it is hibernating."
Both the old men nodded after listening intently.
"This shall be our temporary stop but we will not abandon it entirely, it will also serve as our base and training ground...we may find interesting things in the swamp. I want our clan to settle peacefully and trade with others, to do so we need to occupy the three snow-capped mountains. The river there leads to Fire Dredge City. Solitary Peak Academy is situated in that place and we need to aim to send our prodigies to the Academy. We cannot stay inside the Jinzhi forest permanently. We will move out once we grow powerful." Told Arthur.
"About this place, there are many things that needed to be done. First, we need to kill some crocodiles and use their hides for making a boat, that way we can stay safe from water creatures attacking. When the water rises many water creatures will come. Second, we need to make plank floors inside our room. Lastly, we need to fasten the platform with strong ropes at around 12 feet from the ground to the trunks of those trees surrounding us, especially on the west side, fasten around 20, no, 40 ropes on that side" told Arthur.
"If it was a strongly built ship it would need much but the platform might need more," he thought.
Both the men looked at each other and asked, "Don't we need to fasten it at the bottom why at such height?"
"Just do as I say, you'll know it when the time comes," Arthur answered back.
"Grandpa Ye, did the Jia clan cut wood and hunt food enough for the rainy season?"
"We have plenty of food stocks from before but yes, they did as you instructed."
"Good, both of you have done lots during these days, you should rest. I'll go to mother now," Arthur said and left after bidding them.
"My grandson is so wise," said Donghai.
"Our grandson is wise," Yehan corrected.
Soon, the rain started to pour...it was refreshing at the start but when it refused to stop it started taking its toll on everyone. They were sick tired of it. They had nothing to do and within two days the water level slowly rise to three feet. The next day it reached four feet. At first, they thought that the high raised platform is for both water and animals. But, when the water rose higher they learned about its true purpose. Then on the 14th day, it raised to 10 feet. And one morning when they woke up they found that the whole platform was afloat fastened by the ropes held to rows of trees anchoring them. It was only then that they realised they were wrong again and the true intention behind the building of the platform was to float. The upper layer was to stay dry while the lower two layers were to afloat the whole structure.
Eventually, on the 15th day, the rain stopped and the sun rose to shine brightly. Arthur, on seeing the sun felt like Noah and his Ark. His fantasy was soon interrupted and he cowered in fear at the sight of a long black creature under the water. He cried, "Mother."
Plop! Lu Xiang plunged inside the water and fished out the huge black eel.
It was Arthur's first time seeing such a black eel, he recalled reading about it in 'Radiant Tomes on Beasts' and he laughed merrily.
Simultaneously, Zhao Mei came running too and caught hold of Arthur in her arms.
"Father, these are body-strengthening-eel if I'm nourished by its blood then my body will become stronger and I'll be able to cultivate within a month. Its blood is beneficial for all the cultivators ranked below Competent Learners. I heard that its meat is also very delicious. We should catch this fish and pour its blood into a basin and prepare a bath for all the members below Competent Learners," Told Arthur.
Hearing this, the delighted parents soon called out all the senior elders and instructors alike telling them about the benefits of the eel and shortly, they began to fish together.
After a bountiful harvest, seven huge tubs made from crocodile skins were filled with blood. There were 39 children below Competent Learners Rank from the Lu clan and 19 from the Jia clan.
Four huge wooden pools of different heights and sizes were then constructed, it was filled with water and the blood of body-strengthening eels was poured into them in different proportions. The smallest and the shallowest pool with the least blood concentration was for the non-cultivators like Arthur. Subsequently, the next category was for the Rank of Beginners followed by the taller pool for Progressive Learners and lastly the pool containing the highest concentration of eel's blood was reserved for the Competent Learners Rank.
The children of both the clans dipped into it one after another for a day, after that when the energy was absorbed into their bodies the water was changed and the entire process resumed for a month while the adults monitored them regularly. Except for the time for one to eat, sleep and relieve themselves, the children of the clan continued to strengthen their bodies inside the pool of bloodied water. The concentration of the blood in the pool was raised as the children progressed.
A month later, Arthur's body finally loosened, reaching the Rank of Early Stage Beginner level in cultivation. Children usually begin their cultivation at 3 years of age but Arthur who was only one year and nine months old, and also the youngest member of the clan could do so because of the strengthening of the body. Arthur's muscle, bone and blood vessels became strong, tensile and durable. His height rose identical to the stature of a 4-year-old child and so the capacity to store the battle Qi increased in his body. After entering the early stage of Beginners Rank his body stopped absorbing the remaining energy in the pool thus, he stepped out of the pool with confusion. He then asked his parents who were standing beside the pool looking after him, "Mom, dad, I don't know my body cannot absorb any more energy."
The smiling Lu Xiang replied, "My boy, you have reached the Early-stage Beginners Rank so let me teach you about cultivation."
Since others were still absorbing and cultivating inside the pool Zhao Mei took Arthur to their room and Xiang who followed behind began to continue, "When a child grows his body starts to develop and by the time he/she reaches the age of 3 he/she attains Beginners Rank. The Rank signifies the change of the whole-body structures; ie, the development of Battle Qi absorbing capacity and formation of soul space within our brain. Once you are at the early stage, you have to absorb Battle Qi(Spiritual Battle Qi) from your surroundings and climb through 5 cultivation stages namely Early, Advanced, Intermediate, Expert and Pinnacle. Only when you reach the Pinnacle stage and stabilize it, you would be able to convert your Battle Qi to Spiritual energy(Spiritual Power is the spiritual energy that is utilized) that nurtures the soul. And once you fill your soul space with your spiritual energy fully. Then only you will be able to rise in Rank."
"For instance, I have reached and stabilized my cultivation at Pinnacle Stage Initiation Realm, therefore currently, I have been converting my Battle Qi into Spiritual Energy to fill my soul space. But, since the soul space also increases in size with the increase in Ranks, I also have to replenish my Battle Qi which I have spent while converting to Spiritual energy. Filling the soul space thoroughly with spiritual energy is an arduous and lifelong process. With the increase in Rank, the size of the soul space expands which in turn accommodates more spiritual energy inside the soul space, hence it means more spiritual power. The more spiritual power the better the comprehensive and cultivation breakthrough ability."
He further continued, "Sansan, you have already attained your soul space capacity equal to the Skilled Practioner Rank or more so you should cultivate your Battle Qi and rise through the cultivation stages. There won't be any bottleneck for you and you can shoot up the Ranks easily. But, Sansan you are unlike others so I advise you to suppress your minor breakthrough in those five stages instead of trying to raise your rank. It will make your cultivation more stable and sturdy than others hence carrying you to reach further heights in cultivation."
"Thank you, Father. I'll listen and do as you say," said Arthur. After listening to his father he understood many things about cultivation. He realized why Body Strengthening eels are only suitable for cultivators below the Rank of Competent Learners. It was because cultivators at this Rank and below have a weak body consequently, there was greater room for increasing body strength, increased body strength will allow one to harness more Spiritual Battle Qi at a time. Thus, making them improve rapidly. The capacity of the eel's blood to strengthen his body was already fulfilled.
Arthur always believed, "If you want respect, give respect first." Thereof he showed respect to his parents. He was moved by their familial love and devotion. He thought, "My personality is changing slowly, I'm becoming a good person. It's okay, It is for good."