Hunched over his desk, Yang Bin concentrated on the yellow piece of paper in front of him. Beads of sweat slowly emerged on his forehead, as he carefully drew the rune. After a few strokes, he picked up his brush and leaned back, expecting a reaction, but none came.
"Still didn't work." Yang Bin groaned. He crumpled the paper and threw it away. After yesterday's success, Yang Bin attempted the runes several times, but none succeeded.
"Don't rush it. You were able to succeed last time, because you entered an enlightened state. Try to remember how that felt, and try entering that state again." Li Jing advised. She was reclining on the chair next to him and reading a novel.
Heeding her instructions, Yang Bin picked up a new sheet of paper and took a deep breath. He slowly picked up the brush and paused. In his mind, he filtered out all distractions until all his concentration was on the paper in front of him. As if guided by instincts, he began to draw. Slowly at first, but picking up pace. When he finally lifted his pen, there was a small spark of red light.
Seeing this, Yang Bin bounced up with joy. "Look! It worked!"
Li Jing looked up from her novel. Seeing the tiny spark fade away, she gave a helpless smile. "Son, take a look at mine." Sitting up straight, she picked up the brush and a sheet of paper and then started drawing. A few seconds later, a bright red light flared from the paper making it slightly levitated.
Watching the paper descend, Yang Bin became so shocked that his jaw fell open. "Thi- This. Why is it like this?" Yang Bin spluttered. He picked up the newly created talisman and rapidly scanned it. Even though it looked almost the same as his own talisman, this talisman felt more alive.
"When creating talismans, the marks must be exactly the same in order for there to be any success. In order to get the best effects, the concentration of spirit power in every mark must be exact as well." Li Jing explained. "The reason why your rune only lasted about 3 minutes was because even though you got the brush mark correct, the spirit energy concentration in each one wasn't. This one that I made is almost an exact replica, and it should last at least 10 minutes and probably be able to increase your strength by two ranks."
Yang Bin was speechless as he held the talisman in his hand. All his joy of making his talisman was gone, and he only felt despair, as he finally understood how lacking he was.
Seeing his expression, Li Jing softly laughed. "Don't be discouraged. You're doing very well for someone at your level. Perhaps in the near future, you'll be able to do what I did."
Yang Bin sighed and picked up another sheet of paper. After a few more minutes of practicing, he was only able to make two more talismans, and neither of them was on par with Li Jing's talisman.
Seeing his successes, Li Jing smiled to herself. "It looks like you're getting the hang of it, so I'll stop guiding you now. Remember, don't push yourself too hard and take breaks when you feel tired." She patted his head and left the room.
Flexing his sore wrist, Yang Bin took her advice and took a break.
"The hunting event is only five days away. With my current strength, I probably won't even be able to reach top 10, much less be first." Yang Bin muttered while laying on his bed. Suddenly a large face with purple eyes appeared in his vision.
"Hunting event? What are you mumbling about?" Yang Mengyao asked while leaning over him.
Startled at first, Yang Bin quickly recovered. "Our clan has an upcoming event called Hunt. In this event, we hunt demon beasts and collect herbs and trade it in for pills and elixirs." He explained.
"Oh! Sounds interesting. Can I join? How do I join?" Yang Mengyao's eyes sparkled.
"You need to be.." Yang Bin was about to explain the qualifications to join, but remembering her strength, he stopped.
After Yang Bin received his rank 2 vitality pill, their parents also gave Yang Mengyao a rare herb, causing her to have a double breakthrough as well and reach the sixth rank of body tempering. Unlike Yang Bin though, she progressed very rapidly during this month and was now very close to the seventh rank.
Yang Bin studied her routine to figure out where her progress came from, and he found absolutely nothing: only sleeping, eating, or playing. And Yang Bin wasn't bold enough to try such a unique training regime.
Her improvements even made Yang Gang and Li Jing speechless, but since it wasn't harming her, they didn't look much into it.
Yang Bin sighed at this unfairness. "Just ask mom." He eventually said.
"Alright!" Yang Mengyao said cheerfully. Then she sprinted off.
Watching her leave, Yang Bin had many conflicting thoughts. A part of him hoped that their parents wouldn't allow her to participate in the Hunt.
Even though Yang Mengyao was probably stronger than 90% of the Yang clan's younger generation, she didn't know any techniques; offensive or defensive. In between a fight of cultivators, a good technique can turn the tides of a battle. Because of her lack of techniques, she could end up losing to those weaker than her.
No one had ever died before during the Hunt, but injuries are very common. Most of the injuries aren't from the demon beast, but from others. If Yang Mengyao was to participate, she would most likely leave the event with nothing except wounds.
Our parents definitely wouldn't allow Yang Mengyao to participate. Yang Bin told himself.
After Yang Mengyao left, silence returned to Yang Bin's room. From downstairs, he could hear Yang Mengyao's whining and complaints. He got up from his bed and returned to his desk.
About an hour later, Yang Bin was silently drawing runes. His room was so quiet, that the sound of the brush seemed to echo. Suddenly, the silence was broken with his door bursting open.
"Brother! I got mom's approval!" Yang Mengyao excitedly rushed into his room.
Startled, the brush in Yang Bin's hand jumped, ruining the talisman that he was creating. Annoyance began to creep up, but after understanding what she said, he became shocked.
"What?" Yang Bin spun around and cried.
Yang Mengyao rapidly nodded with a grin on her face.
Yang Bin's jaws dropped. In his head, he was screaming. Mom! What are you thinking!
For the next couple days, Yang Bin didn't see Yang Mengyao and Li Jing very often. They would leave the house for hours at a time; leaving during the afternoon, and coming back in the evening. With no one to guide him, Yang Bin could only progress slowly. But even with his slow progress, he still achieved a new milestone.
****
"After sparring with me for over a hundred times, your performance is finally satisfactory. You have done well, but that was just the beginning. " Yang Gang said.
Yang Bin, panting slightly, listened on with rapt attention. For the first time in all their spars, Yang Bin had finally been able to land a hit on Yang Gang during their spars, but it was more like a light graze than a direct hit. Still, it was enough to warrant a compliment from Yang Gang.
"Even though most of your battle in the Hunt will be with other cultivators, eventually you will end up fighting a demon beast. With only two days left until the Hunt begins, I want you to get familiar with fighting demon beasts." Yang Gang continued. Waving his hand, qi from their surroundings started to funnel towards Yang Gang's side. The qi continued to gather and it began to take shape. Slowly, it took the form of a bear and grew bigger and bigger, until it was about the same size as Yang Bin.
"This is an intermediate rank 1 earth shaking demon bear. The demon beasts of the Hunt would have around the same strength as this. Your task is to defeat it." After Yang Gang finished speaking, the bear gained life and charged at Yang Bin.
Yang Bin watched in horror as he saw the bear bulldoze towards him. He hurriedly scampered aside. "Wait! I haven't recovered yet!" Yang Bin bitterly cried.
"Good! Demon beasts won't wait until you've fully recovered either." Yang Gang replied.
Thus phase two of Yang Bin's training began with him being mauled by a bear. Slowly he got the hang of it, but Yang Gang would never let him leave training unscathed.
By the end of the day, he was able to barely hunt demon beasts at the intermediate stage.
On the next day, Yang Bin was fighting two intermediate stage demon beasts.
And one day before the Hunt, he struggled against an advance staged demon beasts.