Groaning with fatigue, Xing Shu slowly opened his eyes as gleams of light shone through the windows of his room
The pain had already faded away and replacing it was bursts of strength ready to show their power
Xing Shu realized that the medicinal pills efficacy has yet to run out and without wasting time, he sat in meditation to fully absorb the pill
Circulating a small cycle of 36 meridians, he flushed out the remaining efficacy to ensure the purity of his body strength
Cultivators that rely on medicinal pills will contain remnants of poison in which will cause one's Qi to be impure and qi circulation to be clogged
Being's that fight against the heavens way must rely on themselves to elevate their strength and lifespan, comprehending the laws and dao is equivalent to progressing as a lifeform, separating oneself from the world
Realm Creation Tactics contains mysteries of stars and information on each cultivator's stage, his perception of stages surpasses Soul Scouring stage experts, otherwise, he would have already broken through Mortal Shedding realm.
Heaving a sigh, he noticed a note left by Miss Xing, seeing that she had gone out. Xing Shu decided to step out and gather his body tempering resources while gaining battle experience.
....
Standing at the entrance of a mountain range, Xing Shu looked at the expanse of clouds and deep forests that growled with ferociousness, intimidating those without willpower.
This was the first time Xing Shu had set foot on Beastial Platform. The place was separated into three sections, the outer area contained Mortal Shedding Stage spiritual beasts, the inner area have True Spirit realm Demonic beasts, and finally, the core region which was unknown to the public contained Soul beasts equal to Soul Scouring stage cultivators
The many years of seclusion within the city allowed him to focus on cultivating and tempering his mind. It was only due to Miss Xing that he gained this knowledge but without experiencing it, he'll be all bark no bite
Suddenly, a group of mercenaries approached him, the leading figure was a middle-aged man with a beard and a physique that bulked like a bear, towering over 3m. He had a slight smile as he walked toward Xing Shu. However, the people behind him followed the middle-aged man reluctantly as they could barely hide the hints of disdain in their eyes.
"Greetings, young master, would you like to accompany us, we noticed that you have not found a team yet" The middle-aged man spoke politely despite his peak mortal shedding stage cultivation.
"Captain, we don't need baggage to follow us, if he is a young master then you might as well call me a young lord" Jokingly, a skinny figure similar to that of a rat with long whiskers on his cheeks whispered to the burly captain in a sound that was audible to Xing Shu
The others started laughing as they could not 'hide' their disdain for Xing Shu and at the same time, wonder why their captain even bothered to recruit a non-cultivator
Xing Shu looked upon this expressionless and immediately walked away. The captain tried to call him back but he lacked the enthusiasm and stopped calling him after Xing Shu's figure faded away
"Captain, is there something special about him" The grey clothes on this man made him look like a beggar, but it could not hide the disposition that of a strategist, omniscient and crafty.
Sighing as he turned to face the others, the captain looked the rest emotionless and without a word, just lead them into the mountain range. The others shivered as they wondered about the true identity of Xing Shu, but put this at the back of their heads before trying to soothe their captain's anger
"What did Xing Xuan do for me to earn strangers attention" Being a well-known cripple despite his lack of status, he hardly went to the outside world let alone offend anyone as the only thugs bothering him were his fellow sect members
Singling out every option, he realized that Xing Xuan did something for people to garner his attention, so he faked his departure and immediately followed that group of mercenaries.
"Captain can you now explain that 'young masters' identity for you to be polite to him" The grey clothed strategist couldn't hide his curiosity anymore and finally asked the burly man. Everyone stopped soothing the man's anger and quieted down
The burly captain glanced at the strategist and sighed again, feeling helpless. "That young master was Xing Shu" Saying only this, he continued walking, but everyone who heard this was shocked stiff and paused at their position.
Everyone knew who Xing Xuan was, she's a pinnacle genius of Aster city and is a disciple of the grand elder of the local tyrant, Starfall sect. To top it all, she was a celestial beauty with monstrous strength, she can easily slaughter anyone below 3rd stage True spirit realm for breakfast
She announced at the core of Aster city, Grand Stage Arena. Many people were there and heard of the announcement and for those who didn't they knew from the others.
"Anyone who dares to offend me and Xing Shu will die" One sword and one beauty slashed the offender's head unhesitatingly as blood splattered all over her and the ground
The sight was truly a spectacle as the blood slithered down her dress regaining her purity but all the audience could feel was frighted instead of captivation
While there are many geniuses and lone cultivators sneakily talking about Xing Shu, they will never openly kill him in front of everyone.
They all looked down, reflecting their actions and also with jealousy as to how a cripple can gain the affection of a top-class beauty
Xing Shu hiding standing on top of a branch heard this all and smiled faintly before disappearing into the inner depths of Beastial Platform. His strength was already pinnacle Mortal Shedding, the outer area will serve no purpose for further tempering
Willows of leaves and swamped ponds had frogs leaping and splashing creating large waterfalls and bugs that flew by were splashed without warning but comes out unscathed
The swamp section of Beastial Platforms contained Demonic beasts ranging 1st to 3rd stage. Xing Shu naturally was not their opponent but he can easily flee with his explosive physique
This area has a lot of medicinal herbs that can temper the body, only body temperers would enter this section as Heaven and Earth qi was lacking and without the force from the body, a cultivator would not be able to fully release their complete strengths
That is why this was known to by a holy land for body temperers but out of 100 cultivators would there be a cultivator for the amount of resources be too enourmas for a lone cultivator to train in, let alone the immense pain to gain power. Cultivator sects and families would only train Qi practitioners as talent can determine the amount of resources to nurture
Xing Shu did not have a great background and only Xing Xuan was there to support him. As a man, he naturally did not want a woman to help her as this would not only waste her cultivation time but affect his Dao heart.
Prickling his ears towards the ground, he sensed vibrations to determine the locations of medicines. Spiritual herbs take over 100 years to grow and those over 1000 years are known as millennial treasures and in Aster City would they be priceless treasures even to Soul Scouring practitioners
Spiritual beasts generally take more time to cultivate then human cultivators but in return would generally have overpowering physical strength and invincible within the same level
Demonic beasts will take even more time to cultivate, so they search for natural medicines to nurture their strengths. The natural aura emitted by the medicines will increase their cultivation speed and can further elevate their strengths when fully grown
Xing Shu used this method not only to tackle down lone guardians but also Demonic beasts in fights. This was a natural event in Beastial Platform as either cultivators or Demonic beasts fight for such natural treasures.
Noticing a hint of echoes on the ground, he stood up and leapt towards that direction
Murmurs of unconfidence and sweat greatly affected his movements, his strength may be comparable to pinnacle Mortal Shedding but even a 8th stage Mortal Shedding cultivator with great battle experience can deal with him if he fought senselessly.
Growls of defiance and hissing of deadliness filled the place with malevolence. A bear with black fur swung his paws at the slithering snake that upon contact, easily dodged and deflected the impact
The snake had drops of poison leaking its mouth as it attempted to bite on the bear. Surprisingly, the bear without dodging counterattacked again with it's paw, but this time the paw glowed with spirituality that of a mountain and crashed into the snake
Despite the dilemma, the snake glinted with determination as the poison leaked not only on his mouth but also his entire body, creating a poison-clad armour
Arriving at the conflict, Xing Shu witnessed a spectacle that shook his core, there were otherworldly shockwaves nor were there bloodlust that shook the soul
Sheer bruteness and schemes changed his entire perspective, though the bear looked like a mindless brute but it was capable of creating a situation where he they can exchange blows at a cost
Turning his vision to look for any nearby medicinal herbs, he noticed that a gleam of light shone directly on that herb as it seemed to be in the process of evolution. It was jade-clear with spirituality that shone with sentience, the flowers had 7 petals as the initial white petals were interchanging with rainbow colors
"This is... Seven Soul Petals!" Exclaiming in a high-pitch, he noticed that the two Demonic beasts stopped fighting and looked at his direction.
He could not help but freeze as his instincts were telling him flee but then he saw them continuing their fight as if they saw a bug on the side road making noise.
Xing Shu let out smile of depreciation and gratification. Sad because his strength was not high enough but happy that they ignored his existence.
The two beasts fought with more vigor as scratches filled their entire body. The bear's face was disfigured with poison while the snake's body was deformed as it seemed like his body was twisted like a clay
Slowly building up his physical strength, he reached a state of extreme calmness, the buzzing sounds and drips of water did not affect his concentration.
The surging power exceeded his bodies limits as his legs were ripping with blood while excruciating pain nearly broke his spirit
But he could not stop, rather he chose not to. Seven Soul petals can create a completely identical soul of any practitioner that consumes it. It would be like having a clone in fight with 100% fighting power to that of the original
If it wasn't for the Realm Creation Tactics' wide range of knowledge then he would not have recognized the true value of the natural treasure. In fact, it should be called "Worldly Treasure"
Normally, this worldly treasure should not appear in such a place but he could'nt be bothered about the small details. Xing Shu wanted this flower to gift to Xing Xuan for all she's done and this sole thought relented his body to exceeding their limits