After class, Kaelen and the others returned to their house. For the next week, he chose to focus on the foundational True Spear technique. As for breaking through Xiantian, he waited for old Dai to appear when the time was right; it could be any day now since the energy in his heart was enough to break through by refining the heart first. On the other hand, Thorin and Raizel both decided to take the whole week to refine their hearts through the Forbidden Body Refining secrets. Like this, the most peaceful days of their cultivation journey and practice began.
A day after the class, Kaelen was reading the foundational spear techniques. The book mostly contained illustrations of movement and a few hundred characters for explanations. It was not a very long book, only about a hundred pages or so. With his genius comprehension speed and photographic memory, he could read the book once and wouldn't need the manual anymore. However, he decided to take his time and understand the foundational stances of the spear. With each stance, his brain would come up with dozens of scenarios in which the stance would be most useful and dozens of ways where it would be useless.
"Hmm, the sweep attack can be a powerful group attack. If I swing with great strength, I can kill a dozen, with the advantage of the spear's length. However, it's a bit less useful in close quarters. Yes, that's the biggest problem of the spear. Once someone is past a certain range, it won't be easy to strike as the spear is too long. Though generally that's not something to worry about as it's not that easy to get close to a spear grandmaster. A smart opponent would tread very carefully against one wielding a spear. However, not addressing such a weakness may not matter now, but it will if I meet a peerless sword cultivators or blade cultivators that get up close and personal at lightning-fast speed. How could I make my spear flexible enough to reach anyone?"
As he read through the manual, Kaelen thought about his most fatal weakness and ways to address it. Racking his brain for an answer, he contemplated for the rest of the day. In the other rooms, Raizel and Thorin were both going through the painful process of refining their hearts. While Raizel used the heart-shaped fruit given to him by Elder Miao, Thorin used a red bead that constantly released blood energy, which he used to replenish his own as he exhausted his stored energy to refine his heart. Both seemed to be in great pain but persevered through it, nonetheless. So passed their second day as disciples of the Free Immortal Sect.
The next day, a sleeping Kaelen woke up as the sound of birds reached his consciousness.
"Augh. I fell asleep while thinking of a way to overcome close-quarter combat as a spear wielder. I didn't find the answer yet; it's a bit frustrating. Today I'll practice all day since I have all the theories in mind. It's best to test them while practicing my spear techniques and fundamentals. Alright, let's go."
The boy quickly made his plans for the day as a surge of enthusiasm lifted his spirit.
"Let me go check on Rai and Thorin." Getting out of his room, he first goes to check on his comrades, making sure they're okay.
"Damn, all that sweat. It seems to be a hard process to reverse cultivate the heart. I'm really not looking forward to it."
"Knock, knock, knock." Someone knocks on the door while he's checking on the boys.
"Hm? Who could that be so early?" he asks himself.
Opening the door, a beautiful figure stood in front of him. She had long purple hair, impeccable fair skin, and the most beautiful purple eyes. Seeing her, Kaelen's eyes widen in surprise, but quickly the surprise turns into happiness, a dazzling smile slowly rises from his face.
"Oh!? If it isn't the young saintess of the sect, to what do I owe this visit?" Faced with the unforgettable youth in front of her, the young saintess can't help but think of what happened on entrance day. A slight blush painted her gorgeous face.
"I-I had free time so I came to see you guys. I didn't come alone either." A bit embarrassed, she speaks with an even softer tone than last time, her melodious voice could barely be understood if not for the unreproachable attention the boy gave her.
As she declared the reason for her visit, she moved to the side to show another gorgeous girl behind her. She had long dark hair and the most profound icy blue eyes. It was Xue Qing, the cousin of the third prince Tang Hao and Raizel's sparring partner.
"Hi." she coolly said.
Seeing the additional visitor, Kaelen's left eyebrow raises slightly.
"Hi." He answers back.
"So, you guys know each other?"
"No. She just happened to come at the same time as me. Can we come in?" Looking inside the house, the curious Su Yao asks for entrance.
"Sure, come in. Do you have any food, by the way? I didn't ask senior bro Yu hao for ways to get food, so we didn't eat the last two days." Moving to the side, Kaelen lets the girls enter as he asks for food.
"Yes, I have food. You can go get food in the culinary mountain where spirit chef-cooked dishes can be served, provided you have sect contribution points. You can also buy food with source stones." With a flash of her ring, the purple-haired maiden brings out a whole table worth of food.
"Source Stones, what are those?" The mountain-raised boy asks again. 'I should learn more about this world now that we don't live in the back mountain anymore.' He thinks to himself.
"Source Stones are the currency of exchange for cultivators in the True Martial Great World. They are separated into low-grade source stones, medium grade, high grade, top grade, and source crystals. Here in the Free Immortal sect, we generally use medium-grade source stones for exchanges. The higher grade usually have a ten-time multiplier on value; for instance, 10 mid-grade source stones are worth a hundred low-grade source stones. Except for source crystals, since they're much rarer than top-grade source stones, the multiplier is a hundred. So, ten source crystals are worth a thousand top-grade source stones, a hundred thousand high-grade source stones, a million medium-grade source stones, etc."
"The reason for source stones being precious to cultivators rather than gold and precious metals is their usefulness in cultivation; using source stones can reduce the required time to break through significantly. There also exist elemental source crystals, a variety of source stone that only appear on crystallized source; they are even more expensive and rare, the exchange rate being a thousand top-grade source stones for one elemental source crystal-grade source."
Sitting comfortably, Kaelen listened as he began munching on the food. It seemed the food wasn't made that long ago and was purposefully brought by the girl. It was a mix of well-cooked and seasoned variant beasts, some pastries, and tea.
"Xue Qing, right? What have you come here for explicitly? Did you come to see Rai? I'm afraid you'll have to come again in a few days; he and Thorin are in deep cultivation trying to practice some extreme method." Biting on a huge chicken leg, Kaelen tells the icy-eyed maiden.
"Oh..." Disappointment covers her face as the maiden pouts her lips in slight annoyance.
"I… I came to spar again with him. I liked sparring with him during the class." The young maiden admits. "Since he's not available, I'll leave and come back another day. Is he going to be done soon?"
She walks towards the door and asks expectantly.
"Yeah, probably in a day or two." Kaelen responds as his eyes follow the young maiden who's leaving.
"Okay, I'll come again in two days then. Goodbye." With a wave, she exits the premises.
With her gone, only Kaelen and Su Yao are left in the living room. The latter suddenly feels tension build up as she doesn't know what to say or how to act.
"So, your father is the sect master, huh? What's that like, and is he powerful?" Still munching on the huge chicken piece, grease all over his lips, the boy proposes a topic.
Looking at the grease-filled boy, Su Yao can't help but laugh as she covers her mouth.
"Heh? Do I have something on my face?" Puzzled, he touches his forehead with his free hand before looking at his finger. Seeing there was nothing, he looks back confused at the laughing beauty.
'Damn, she looks this good when she laughs?' He can't help but stare for a moment.
Seeing him stare, Su Yao abruptly stops laughing as the awkward feeling overtakes her.
She takes out a handkerchief from her ring and approaches the boy lightly until about a head's worth of distance separates them. She bends forward slightly as she extends her hand and gently wipes his handsome face.
As she does that, Kaeln froze for a second at the unexpected gesture of the girl. However, he does not stop her as he enjoys her youthful scent at close presence. He appreciates her dramatically beautiful face from up close; her long purple eyelashes, her large and bright violet eyes, perfect nose and lips, a few strands of her purple river-like long hair fell on her face.
When the last piece of grease was wiped off his face, the girl realized how close she was as she looked into his blazing amber eyes a few inches away from her own. From this close, they looked like two huge suns as they blazed endlessly, one could stare at those eyes forever.
The moment lasted for a few minutes as both were quite taken by the other. The boy could not hold himself anymore as he slowly approached the girl's pink lips.
Unfortunately, before he could plant one, the atmosphere was broken as a grumpy noise shook both of them.
"Ahem."
A powerful presence made their bodies go cold as they both turned to look towards the noise, only to see a purple-haired, tall, and incredibly handsome middle-aged man. He wore a purple Daoist robe that matched perfectly with his appearance. He was standing at the entrance door, which was left open by the girl that left a few minutes ago, allowing him to witness the scene in front of him.
Seeing this man, Su Yao suddenly takes a few steps back in panic. "D—da—dad, why are you..." Shocked, the girl can't finish her sentence.
Watching his daughter show such a part of herself, a large vein suddenly erupted on the middle-aged man's forehead.
"Dad?" Surprised, Kaelen, who was just deprived of his first kiss, looks deeply into the man that just appeared.
"Boy, what are you doing to my precious daughter!?" Though not spoken very loudly, and maybe because of his status, the man's presence gave his voice a tone of gravity as he questions the boy who charmed his daughter.
Feeling the pressure, a cold sweat drips down Kaeln's back as he thinks of an escape. "You're the sect master? What a handsome man you are." In a flash, Kaeln's face widens into a bright smile, as he comments on the man's appearance.
Hearing the compliments, the vein on the man's forehead seemed to twitch slightly and subside a little. His brows raised minutely from their frowned position, his anger dropping by a fair bit.
"Ahem. Do not try to change the subject, boy. What are you doing to my daughter?"
"I thought the young Saintes got her looks from her mother, yet it seems like her father's charms are of some consequence. Our Sect is truly blessed with the most valiant sect leader." Seeing his charm work a bit, Kaeln strikes the iron while it's hot, complimenting the man even more.
As his last sentence ended, the vein on the man's forehead had completely disappeared, only a pleased smile hung on his lips. As he placed his hand behind his back.
"Hmm. You know what you're talking about, boy. No wonder my daughter is falling for you. I can also see you will be a very handsome man, a perfect match for her." Nodding approvingly, the sect master compliments the boy.
Hearing her father expose her, the young Su Yao suddenly blushes even harder. "Father!!!"
"Hm?" Looking at his embarrassed daughter, the man smiles cunningly as he approaches her and starts caressing the top of her head. "Yao'er, there's no need to be embarrassed. I approve of…." Then, he abruptly turns to face Kaeln, "Boy. What's your name?"
"Kaeln, Kaeln Yang." Smiling, he introduces himself.
"Yes, I approve of Kaeln. Hmmm, what a peculiar name." Mumbling that last sentence, he turns back to rub his daughter's head.
"Hoh? This aura is." Turning toward Raizel and Thorin's rooms, he senses an unusual aura from that direction.
"They are refining their… heart? I wasn't told they had chosen such a forbidden path. Their auras seem to be stable, though. They must have a good technique. Truly an interesting bunch." While still caressing his now annoyed daughter's head, the handsome sect master can't help but be pleased with his sect's new disciples.