The night passed in a flash, and Xuan Jin was still stumped in regards to his current predicament. 'Whatever, worst comes to worst I'll focus on Vitality and minimise my Qi usage. It won't be too late recultivate a layer or two in 5 years.'
With that Xuan Jin headed out of his room. He was hungry, and made his way to the dining room to have breakfast. Upon entering, he found Big Boar, Little Boar and Iris sitting around a long wooden table.
"Have a seat." Big Boar motioned towards the empty chair. Xuan Jin then sat down and gazed hungrily at the various beast legs in front of him. Just as he was about to start eating, he noticed the family of 3 closing their eyes and muttering some words.
Seeing this Xuan Jin paused his actions and waited for them to finish. "All right! Time to eat!" Big Boar declared before immediately tearing into the food before him. Likewise Little Boar and Iris began ravenously devouring their food. Iris especially surprised Xuan Jin, it even seemed as though she was eating faster than both Boars.
'And I thought I ate a lot!' Xuan Jin sighed as he too began swiftly eating, he couldn't be left behind after all.
In less than 5 minutes, the 4 of them finished off the beast legs leaving only the bones. Not a crumb of meat was left. Immediately Little Boar and Iris closed their eyes as if sensing the Vitality they just consumed.
"Their situations are different from yours, if you just eat, the Vitality in the meat will naturally settle and enhance your body." Big Boar explained, anticipating Xuan Jin's confusion.
Hearing this the boy simply nodded. 'Maybe I should try sense it anyway. I've never really inspected Vitality as a whole, I've just been passively building it up via the altar and food consumption.'
He then closed his eyes and sensed the Vitality within him. Unlike Qi, Vitality first gathered in his stomach. Perceiving the Vitality, it seemed to have a light green tinge, extremely similar to Iris' energy yet slightly different.
'Why does it seem almost similar to Qi?' Xuan Jin thought in surprise. While he knew Vitality had it similarities to Qi, this was almost uncanny in nature.
After a moment of deliberation Xuan Jin sent his Xuan Qi into his stomach and had it interact with the Vitality. At first his Xuan Qi simply prodded it like usual, and then the Vitality began to reduce in size. This was expected by Xuan Jin, in fact he guessed that his Xuan Qi would completely destroy it.
Xuan Qi had the innate property of destroying Life Force, and since Vitality was a condensation of it, it was only natural that his Xuan Qi would completely destroy it.
A few second later, the Vitality had become 30% of its original size and then his Xuan Qi stopped reacting to it. To Xuan Jin's surprise, all that was left was pure white energy, or in other word, Qi.
'T-This, its impossible....' Xuan Jin thought to himself in shock, but the more he thought about it the more it seemed to make sense. Vitality and Qi were definitely related, and now from the looks of it seemed as though Vitality was made up of Qi and Life Force.
The boy then isolated the Qi, and circulated it through his meridians and eventually into his dantian. And it worked perfectly, as if he was cultivating regular Qi from the atmosphere.
Breaking out of his meditative state, a smile graced his face. "What happened?" Big Boar asked surprised. After all from his perspective there was no need for Xuan Jin to process the Vitality himself.
"Nothing...I just solved a problem of mine." He replied before looking at Little Boar and Iris. The two still seemed stuck in a trance of sorts, possibly a meditative state from Xuan Jin's guess.
"If its all right with you, I'd like to use the Forging Altar again." He requested locking eyes with Big Boar. Hearing this the Chieftain simply nodded. 'At least he rested yesterday, and from the looks of it he's already mostly recovered.' Big Boar sighed before leading Xuan Jin to the Forging Altar.
He knew his children were going to be meditating for a while, so he just decided to send Xuan Jin immediately. 'Hopefully he'll complete Body Forging today, so he won't need to come to the altar again.'
With that thought Big Boar activated the altar, leaving Xuan Jin to his own devices.
'Now that I can reliably renew my Qi, I don't have to worry about my Xuan Qi consumption. So I can boost my recovery further, once the altar is useless to me I'll just focus on cultivating like usual.'
Xuan Jin then began walking around the altar, albeit very robotically. Each step he took felt monumental but this was already great progress. 'At this rate come sun set I'll have conquered the altar!'
Back at the breakfast table, Iris and Little Boar woke up from their meditative state. "Where's father?" Little Boar asked, as he looked around the table. "Jin as well, he's gone." Iris muttered.
Then it clicked. "He must've gone back to the Forging Altar." Iris said worriedly. On the other hand Little Boar raised a brow in shock. 'That kid is progressing too rapidly I can't be left behind!'
Little Boar then stormed out of the room without another word, leaving Iris flabbergasted. "I should go check on him to make sure he's okay." Iris mumbled to herself before likewise racing out of the room.
Upon reaching the Forging Altar, Iris found her father standing before it conversing with Elder Silver Bull.
"I don't believe it! You're telling me that kid not only survived the Forging Altar but decided to enter it again, not once but twice? Bullshit!" Elder Silver Bull declared his expression foul.
"What are you trying to imply?" Big Boar replied his eyes cold. 'This old man, always causing trouble.'
"Hmph! That you're using that outsider as an excuse to horde resources for yourself! Everyone knows how much food you've been redistributing with the excuse of "investing" or whatever the fuck that means." Silver Bull said visibly disgruntled.
"Silver Bull, as someone from my father's generation I have tolerated and respected you despite your positions as Elder being below mine as Chieftain! But now you're testing my patience. If you doubt my words and that child's capabilities, you can test that child and we'll see who's been hording resources!"
"If that's how you want it to be then, fine! Tomorrow at noon, he can fight my grandson Golden Bull at the Iron Cage. I am sure you won't say I am bullying him considering my grandson is only 14 this year." Silver Bull said, a smirk on his face.
Hearing this Big Boar's expression soured slightly. "All right I can agree to that." He gave in. "Wait I am not done. If that child loses, not only do you have to admit to hording resources in front of the tribe, but you must provide my grandson a Peak Grade Demon Core."
Naturally Big Boar wasn't all that pleased with this development, but it was clear as day this was the old man's plan the entire time. "And what do you suppose I get if the child wins?" Big Boar replied gritting his teeth.
"Why should you get anything? I am merely upholding justice. If my grandson displays that you've failed in your duties as Chieftain by investing into a waste isn't it only natural that he gets rewarded? Where as if your investment pans out aren't you merely fulfilling your job? Why should you be rewarded for doing that bare minimum?" Silver Bull explained, twisting around reality.
While his statement had some logic to it, it didn't take into account the fact that Xuan Jin had already fulfilled the requirement to stay within the tribe, so this further testing could be considered excessive. Not to mention logically a 14 year old should beat a 10 year old who had only been training Vitality for 10 days.
Of course Big Boar understood this, but what Silver Bull didn't seem to take into account, was that Xuan Jin was a monster beyond his wildest dreams. "Fine I understand! Tomorrow at noon. I won't be sending you off." Big Boar declared shooing the Elder away, the old man already gleefully walking away.
Iris who had witnessed all this couldn't muster up a word. "What was that father?" She asked shocked. Golden Bull was no slouch, but he couldn't compare to Little Boar. Wouldn't this have all been resolved if her father just announced that Jin had defeated her brother?
"An opportunity. Like this Xuan Jin can showcase his abilities to our tribesmen and gain their recognition without any interference. Seeing is believing, and this is the best way to make them believe." Big Boar explained as Iris understood.
If they simply stated that Xuan Jin defeated Little Boar, it would be too absurd. So much so that the tribesmen would believe it was made up to cover Big Boar's ass. But if he defeated Golden Bull, Elder Silver Bull's grandson who currently had a bit of friction with the Chieftain, wouldn't that be the best and most believable display?
'Sometimes I forget how intelligent my father can be...'