Information in the book described that the average practitioner took the same amount of time, while for wealthy cultivators or those from the noble family, it usually took them one to two years to reach the intermediate Mortal stage. He knew for sure now that the cultivation art he practiced was of the average quality.
However, there was nothing he could do. He had also read that advancement could be made with the help of special medicine or pill, but this was usually only available to those noble families or large clans.
After he had cultivated for one week, he realized that the Energy Core that got nourished from his cultivation art was only the silvery color one. When he went inside the Energy Space, he could see the aether funneled into his body only go to the space occupied by the silvery core.
He tried to guide the absorbed aether to the space where the black core resided, but the membrane that separated the two spaces prevented the aether from entering.
That was weird, he thought. When he used the standard breathing method to absorb the aether, no such thing happened. He tried several times again to direct the aether into the black core's space but only resulted in failures. He contemplated this issue.
He could not discuss this with Hei Gong or Hei Pho, the fact that he had formed his core before his natural time was already abnormal, having an extra Energy Core must be even unnatural. None of the books he had read had ever mentioned such a thing. Until he could determine the intention of the family in this mansion, he could not divulge to them his every secret. Since there was nothing he could do, he just left the issue for the time being.
*
On the second week since he started cultivating, Hei Gong had not yet returned. Instead, the mansion was visited by a prominent person. This person was a lady named Lin Xi, but most called her Madam Lin. She had visited the mansion several times in the past. She was a regular customer of Hei Pho's medicine. She came from a large clan, one of the largest in the city.
Hei Pho had often brought Amon out to meet her during her past visits. Amon had no idea why, probably a cute kid served as a good advertisement to her customers. But it's weird that Hei Pho only did it when it was Madam Lin. She had also especially tried to get Amon to interact with the madam. From the way she did it, it was more like she was advertising Amon instead of her medicine. Amon just played along and acted as any kid would. As the visits continued, Madam Lin indeed seemed to be getting fond of Amon.
On today's visit, instead of spending their time inside the mansion, Madam Lin had invited Hei Pho and Amon to go out with her. She said she was originally on a hunting trip with her retinue. The place where the hunting was done was nearby so she had thought of stopping by and inviting the two.
Amon could see that Hei Pho was slightly hesitant to let him go outside, so he immediately acted like a curious child and said to Madam Lin how eager he was to join. Pleased by Amon's words, Madam Lin did not allow Hei Pho to reject her invitation and simply took Amon out. Hei Pho quickly followed after them.
It was the first time Amon came out of the mansion. When they were out, seven people were standing beside a carriage outside. They must be Madam Lin's retinue. All of them looked like cultivators.
The outside was slightly barren and remote. Amon had expected to see rows of houses and such outside, but it turned out, that the mansion was not exactly in the city. He found out later after asking around that this place was the outskirt of the city. It was close to the wild where spirit beasts roamed.
He had read from books that this world was filled with spirit beasts which were like animals with magical properties. In fact, only a small part of this world was occupied by humans, most were the wilds where only cultivators could afford to travel safely. Some parts even had spirit beast so powerful that it was classified as restricted zones.
Madam Lin left behind her carriage in front of the Hei clan's mansion. There was no road to the hunting ground and the terrain was irregular, thus they had to walk.
On their way, Madam Lin explained to them that she had received a rumor about the appearance of a rare spirit beast, a five-tailed fox. This hunt was to capture this creature, apart from the ten of them here, she had sent another three to scout the area and looked for the location of this elusive beast.
Madam Lin explained that the beast was very rare and had been thought to be extinct because many would try to hunt them. They were known to have many beneficial properties. Their spirit essence was an especially good ingredient for producing cultivation pills. Even their other body parts could be used for various purposes, but they were known more for their blood which was rumored to be able to magically bestow fertility. Amon caught a slight expression change on Hei Pho's face upon the mention.
After a long walk, they came to a groove with lush shrubberies.
"This is our rendezvous point, we will wait here. If the three manage to find the whereabouts of this five-tailed fox, we will move in with the others to capture it," Madam Lin said.
"Does it need so many people to capture it?" Amon asked.
The seven who came with the madam sneered at him hearing his question, Madam Lin smiled as she gave him an answer, "a five-tailed fox was classified as a superior beast, hence it was not a creature that a cultivator of the Human realm can deal with. Although the fox is only considered as a lower superior spirit beast, we still need at least one Martial realm expert supported by several Human realm experts to successfully capture it. One of the three that I had sent ahead is a Martial realm expert."
A Superior Beast. Amon had read from books that like cultivators, spirit beasts were also divided into several rankings. The books he read did not provide complete information on the subject, but he knew that the most common and weakest spirit beasts were classified as Inferior Beast. A superior beast should be one rank higher.
As they were chatting while waiting, they suddenly heard a growl. Actually, it was several growls. Out of the thickets, came three large cats. Their fur was red, their eyes were fully yellow and without pupils. They had very long whiskers that swayed around. Amon thought that they were like strange-looking tigers.
"Crimson Grimalkin," Madam Lin said when she saw those three cats.
Hei Pho put herself in front of Amon in a protective stance. Madam Lin chuckled seeing her action. "There is no need for worry, these are just mid inferior spirit beast." Then to her seven followers, she said, "you three, deal with them."
The three that were called out went to face the cats one on one.
"The three of them are at Strength Stage Human Realm, so they should be just right to deal with those three Grimalkins," Madam Lin explained. "Let's treat this as a show to get rid of our boredom while waiting."
Strength Stage Human Realm? The same as Hei Pho, Amon thought. Now he could gauge exactly how powerful Hei Pho was.
The Grimalkins were showing a hostile stance but they didn't attack, they probably realized that their preys were not weak and were now adopting a wary approach.
Madam Lin's underlings didn't adopt the same approach though. They had heard that the madam wanted a show, so if they just stood there with the Grimalkins staring at each other, it would not be a show. The three of them took action at the same time.
Amon's eyes lit up when they saw their actions. One had his fist completely engulfed in fire as he punched out. Another pulled up a large boulder from the ground and tossed it at the Grimalkin. The last one created three golden needles out of thin air and then launched them at the Grimalkin.
Magic. All of them could use magic!
Amon's heart stirred as he watched the magical display in front of him. He had read from the books that cultivators could perform many wonderful feats by manipulating aether, but nothing could paint him a better picture than looking at the actual deeds himself.
Despite the amazing spectacles the three cultivators displayed, the Grimalkins were not helpless. Before the attacks of the three cultivators arrived, they had disappeared from their original spots. Their speed was so fast that Amon had a problem following their movements.
The three cultivators, though, were not. When the Grimalkins came to strike them, the one that was using the fire fist dodged with an almost equal speed. While the other two took defensive actions. One had his body covered with rocks, while the other had a round metal shield materialized on his hand.