The body of the Muddy bashe laid lifeless on the rocks below the fenghuang couple's nest. Feng'er was cutting apart its body to dig out its cores as his mate was approaching Cao Yun. The boy still had the egg in his embrace and Huang'er wanted to know whether it was safe or not. Cao Yun had hit his back against the wall at full speed to protect the egg, but he was not too hurt. He opened his arms to show it to the worried female. She was relieved and cuddled the egg with her head before issuing a small cry as if she was thanking Cao Yun.
The young boy went back to the nest that was in a sorry state and put the egg back in it. Huang'er tried to sort out the branches around the egg and laid beside it. Feng'er was almost done digging out the cores. There were four of them, three were crimson medium-sized pearls and the last one was blueish and its diameter was a cun* bigger. Such a core was very rare, it was a 4-core in the process of forming itself. A 4-core had a higher density of Qi and was larger still. Despite its incompleteness, this 4-core was more precious than the three 3-cores combined.
Feng'er took them all in its beak. It got near Feng Yingyue and let go of a 3-core at her feet. Afterwards, it got near Cao Yun and hesitated a bit before giving him the pseudo-4-core. The boy was shocked. He was expecting a reward after seeing his friend got one however such a gift was beyond his expectations. Both fenghuang had seen him risking his life to save their egg, and he was after all the boy who planned how to delay the bashe in the woods and how to entrap it earlier. Feng'er left Cao Yun utterly shocked as he went back to his nest. He cuddled a little with Huang'er, picked up some branches to repair the nest a little bit. Finally, he rested along with Huang'er and the egg. He put the two 3-cores between their two bodies. They were both tired and absorbing the Qi from these cores would be very useful. Usually, demonic beasts would just gulp them the cores and absorb their energy from within. The reason why Feng'er did no such thing was to nourish his egg as well.
Cao Yun regained his composure and took the pseudo-4-core in hand. As soon as he touched it, he felt its Qi transferring in his body on its own. The quality of Qi was different from what Cao Yun ever knew. Qi was the life energy present in all things, allowing life itself. But there were always impurities in the Qi as it circulated. Clearing the impurities in the Qi was time-consuming but such a pure Qi would be that much powerful. Of course, the Qi within the pseudo-4-core was not all pure but its quality was higher than the Qi a Mortal was used to, it was similar to the Qi of a Mortal Warrior.
Cao Yun tried to estimate how long it would take him to temper his Lower Dantian with such a quality and quantity of Qi. He thought a few months would be necessary but with this core, maybe only a few days would suffice. However, if he went too fast, he could damage his Lower Dantian. As Cao Yun was thinking about all the ways he could use this core to its fullest, his eyes locked on the blood flowing under the Muddy bashe corpse. The blood of a demonic beast could be used to strengthen the body, and it could also be used to protect, strengthen and temper the Dantian and meridians. Cao Yun also knew there were pills made from demonic beast parts that could also be useful. This corpse was a treasure trove.
"Yingying, do you think we could take some blood and other parts of the Muddy bashe for alchemy?"
"I..." Feng Yingyue was still in a daze gazing at the 3-core she was now holding in her hand. "... as long as we are not too greedy, I believe they would not stop us. After all, they killed it, so they should get the spoils. However, considering the rewards they gave us, they seem to recognize our help."
Both of them went to take some parts of the Muddy bashe, Cao Yun was mostly interested in its blood as he did not know how to forge pills or even which parts were best used for this purpose. Feng Yingyue was very thoughtful, trying to only take what was useful for her. She did not take the best ingredients because she knew she was not proficient enough to use them well. On the contrary, she focused on taking the ingredients she knew she could work with.
The fenghuang couple watched them but did not prevent their actions. Very soon, the humans stopped as they had gathered a lot of ingredients. The corpse was so big that their share was only a little fraction of it and the fenghuang did not mind at all.
The night was falling. The humans walked some distance away from the nest, staying on the peak and taking refuge in a small cave. They examined the huge rewards they got and rejoiced. They slept very close to each other as the fatigue washed over them.
-
In the morning, all of them, humans and beasts, were well rested. As Feng Yingyue opened her watery eyes, she saw Cao Yun practicing his routine in the distance. He was half naked with the blood of the bashe painted on his body. It followed some paths on his skin, similar to the path of his meridians. The blood was slowly seeping through his skin. Sweat was shining all over his body as he was performing the 'Dance of Slaughter', the eyes closed. Feng Yingyue was fascinated by his body moving in the first lights of the sun. Quickly she got back to her senses and turned away.
She decided to practice as well and forged a pill using some marrow from the Muddy bashe. She performed her routine. It was a generic set of moves known as the 'Dragon Stretching its Body'. Despite its name, containing the name of a legendary beast, this routine was pretty bland, but highly effective nonetheless. The 'Universal Law of Immortality' was not that great to develop your strength or any uncanny ability, instead it had been designed by the first Emperor so that every single human could cultivate. If you were to judge it by this standard, then it was perfect ; it had no special merit but if practiced diligently, it could allow anyone to advance in cultivation.
Of course, every man did not have the same resources or talent ; some had to work just to survive and could not devote enough time to cultivation. But if you were hard working and obstinate, the 'Universal Law of Immortality' would never betray your efforts. On the other hand, most cultivators in the big families and sects practiced more mystical laws, that were better suited to their personal body and affinity.
Both humans decided to stay here for the day after the events of yesterday. Their journey was more than half done. In fact, they probably could have crossed these mountains in five or six weeks. However, they had taken their time, to cultivate on the way, and to be more careful of the demonic beasts. Recently they were even slower than before, because they came to enjoy their time together.
Feng Yingyue treated the two fenghuang one last time before bidding them farewell. Feng'er was ready to carry them on his back outside of the mountains. Given his flying speed, it would have been a matter of days. Both Feng Yingyue and Cao Yun refused, telling the beast to take care of his family. Truthfully, they wanted to stay together a little bit longer.
-
The rest of the way was uneventful. Cao Yun and Feng Yingyue resumed their routine. They were training together, gathering medicinal herbs and hunting 1-core and 2-core demonic beasts.
After two weeks, Cao Yun finally broke through to 4th-grade Mortal. The next step of his cultivation was to fully open his 8 extraordinary vessels to then temper and strengthen them like the rest his body before. Concerning Feng Yingyue, she had also a breakthrough. She was now a 3rd-grade Mortal and was beginning to use her 3-core to accumulate Qi in her Lower Dantian in order to temper it. They both exchanged tips about their cultivation and gained various insights.
The 8 extraordinary vessels were the most important meridians of the body. Their roles were many, amongst which, regulating the Qi in the other meridians by acting as reservoirs, protecting the body with a layer of Qi, and circulating the Jing Qi, the Qi produced from the Jing, the very essence of the person. Two of these vessels, Du Mai (Governing) and Ren Mai (Conception), were circling the body face and front, enveloping it in a layer of Qi, also called Wei Qi, the Guardian Qi. If you were able to circulate more energy in them, this layer would become thicker and stronger, and could even protect you from physical harm instead.
The Chong Mai (Thrusting) was essential to transport the Jing Qi in the others. The Dai Mai (Belt) was circling the waist as the only horizontal meridian, to balance the upper and lower body. Finally, the other four, Yang Qiao Mai, Yin Qiao Mai, Yang Wei Mai and Yin Wei Mai were balancing the Yin and Yang meridians of the body, linked to the Du Mai in the back for the Yang and to the Ren Mai in front for the Yin.
It was essential to open any obstruction in theses vessels to enhance your own vitality. Then you had to temper them so that they would be ready, like the Lower Dantian, to receive a huge quantity of Qi. It was the very first step in which, you could really increase your lifespan. A 4th-grade Mortal lived to be 100 at the best, but once you stepped into the 5th grade, you would not die before turning 150. Your lifespan would not change much until the later stages of the Mortal realm and would skyrocket after that.
Crossing a grade in the Mortal realm needed between one and three years for most people. Cao Yun's breakthrough was real fast, but not exceptional. He had been lucky to find the right resources. Feng Yingyue also felt lucky for having found Cao Yun. Without him, she would have died, and after that, he even allowed her to cross a grade fairly quick. During this journey, she had seen things she only read in books and was very grateful to him.
Usually, an average cultivator would reach 3rd-grade at 19 and 4th-grade at 20. They were both around 16 now. Yes, the Mortal realm was the easiest because it mostly dealt with tempering, forging and strengthening so there was no need to understand profound truths about yourself or the universe. But still, if you were mistaken, you could harm yourself, so speeding through this realm was not a good idea in general.
They kept their daily life until one day, they finally caught a glimpse of Yinmen City.
It was a small city near the woods at the foot of the mountain, almost four times smaller than Baziyun, the city bordering the Cao estate. Cao Yun had asked information about it to Feng Yingyue. The city was administered by the City Lord Dun Mofan. He was a 1st-grade Spirit Warrior but his talent was pretty low considering he was already 329. He had broken through to this realm after he was 150 whereas Cao Yun's father had done so at 45 and most average cultivator would do it at around 70.
According to Feng Yingyue, this city lord was very kind to her. He was a friend of her father, a mere mortal, and doted on her after his death. As city lord, he recognized the importance of having a competent alchemist in town and really helped the girl perfect her craft.
On the other hand, the most powerful family was the Huang side branch. They were ruled by Huang Mingze, a 49-year-old 4th-grade Mortal Warrior. He had married into the Huang family and after his wife died, he settled in this town in which he was very influent. His family here was not that big, but he formed an alliance with many small families, owning most of the business in town. The only one stubborn enough to never sell to him was Feng Yingyue's father, Feng Ziya and then herself of course.
Cao Yun wondered if Feng Ziya had been killed but according to Yingyue's testimony, his death was from natural causes. He was only a mere mortal after all, and never started to cultivate. As for her mother, Feng Yingyue knew nothing apart from her early death when she was still a baby.
Both were excited to see this city and then a little sad. It meant that their journey was over.
"Guo, you could stay in my shop for the time being..." Feng Yingyue had taken all her courage to dare utter such an invitation. A boy and a girl their age under the same roof was a little unorthodox.
"Yingying, that's..." Cao Yun was hesitant. "That's a good idea. But first, we must come up with an excuse for your absence and sudden rise in cultivation. If you talk about the attempt on your life, the Huang family's main branch could even involve themselves to seek 'justice'. In my opinion, it's best to leave this part out. The best lie is the one hidden in the truth. We could use the events surrounding the bashe and these fenghuang. If we just change it a little, the Huang family could imagine themselves that their assassins were killed by demonic beasts."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, you were chased by demonic beasts in the woods and you fled for a long time. Then I happened to save you. Many beasts were wreaking havoc because of the fight between the fenghuang couple and the Muddy bashe. Their rampage stopped as soon as the conflict was settled. As for the rest, we just tell the truth. I was hunting in the woods when I met you but we had to hide and flee to avoid many other beasts that were restless deep in the woods due to this territorial dispute. It would be easy to imagine that Huang Lixin was killed by a group of them after trying to follow you too deep."
"But other people must have gone into the woods since then without encountering this problem."
"Because they did not go deep enough, or came in after the fight. Only if they were as desperate as you, would they dare tread that far. After all, many people must die in these woods under the claws and teeth of demonic beasts. And it would be easy for the city lord, or even the patriarch of the Huang family, to check whether there was a big conflict between 3-core demonic beasts."
"Well, it certainly makes sense."
"And technically, it's true, you did flee before beasts. The only difference is they were humans and not demonic beasts."
*Approximately, 1 cun = 1.3 in = 3.3cm