Chapter 5
Chapter 371 Book 7
Shin Jiao absorbed all the low-level beast cores the next day, setting aside the higher-level ones for later. With four spheres now floating in his dantian, he felt his strength increase, albeit slightly. He now estimated a 60% chance of fighting the alpha wolf head-on without being badly injured, assuming the wolf was in the same wounded condition.
"Hmm, this isn't too bad," Shin Jiao thought. "I have about 10 pieces of second-level beast cores left. The 10 first-level cores only gave me enough energy for one sphere. I wonder how many spheres a second-level core can provide."
He checked on the woman. "She's still not awake. I guess her wounds are a little deep. Judging from her condition, she should be alright in a couple of days. I can't believe how fast her wounds are healing on their own. If she were on Earth, she'd be considered a superhuman and a perfect specimen for labs."
He was amazed by her rapid recovery.
"I need to find some good materials for more crafting practice," he said. "But first, I need an energy source to power my laptop. Let's see... I'll need some metals, conductors, a beast core, and some jade slabs for the runes. With these, I can make a battery that could provide enough DC current to last for a week."
After planning, he looked at his crude stone machete, sat down, and began to tweak it and inscribe runes. This was a basic upgrade technique from the ancient text Gubu. Crafting was easier than upgrading, as upgrading an artifact required combining natural energy with the item itself, either from nature or a core. The difficulty lay in understanding the runic language, the language of the natural world, which not every artificer could decipher. For Shin Jiao, who had understood the language on Earth, the basic techniques weren't difficult.
Using the runes, he upgraded the machete, adding flexibility. Since it was stone, it was hard but brittle. Flexibility would make it stronger, like steel.
"Okay, now let's test it and see if the upgrade worked."
He went outside, found a large boulder, and struck it with the machete. A loud 'ting' echoed, and a small crack appeared on the boulder. Shin Jiao smiled, satisfied.
"I guess the upgrade was successful. I was right to assume that even upgrading follows the rules of nature. I could also upgrade this to have other properties, but that would be a waste of energy. Being flexible and strong is enough for this crude thing, heh."
With a big smile, he returned to the cave. He decided to go out and look for metal ores to make more equipment. He also made some water containers from beast skins for convenience, since he could also store water in his spatial ring.
Before leaving, he glanced at the woman lying on the bed. He had been feeding her soft food since he found her, and her complexion had improved. He wasn't worried about leaving, as he only planned to be gone for a day.
"Well, I'm off... See you later!" he said before stepping out and pushing the cave door into place.
…
When the cave door shut, the girl's brow twitched as if she was having a bad dream. A hazy memory flashed in her mind.
Once, in a village near the town of Yi, a little girl was excited about her coming-of-age test, which would determine if she would become a cultivator or remain a mortal. A platform was set up in the village center for the joyous occasion, as immortal masters from the three local sects—the Lotus sect, Divine Cloud sect, and Blood Moon sect—would visit. Every two years, they chose children with spiritual roots to train as cultivators. If a child was exceptional, the sect would protect and help the village prosper.
"Hey, little sister, why are you late? It's about to start," a young boy scolded her.
"Sorry, brother, Mother asked me to wear something nice today, so it took a while," she said, showing off her beautiful light blue robe.
"Wow, you look really cute, little sister," her brother replied.
As they giggled, a middle-aged man walked in front of the children. "Little ones, this is a very important day of your life. You must give your best to open your spiritual roots and be chosen as a cultivator. This will bring honor to you and your loved ones... Now, each of you needs to stand in front of this stone, place your palm on it, and concentrate to feel the spiritual energy within the stone and open your spiritual root. As I call your name, come forward..."
After some time, her name was called. She felt both nervous and excited. She hopped toward the large jade-like stone and, with a little hesitation, placed her palm on it. She felt a surge of power course through her body, causing a slight shudder of fear. Overcoming it, she welcomed the spiritual energy.
That day, the entire village erupted in celebration. The sect visitors were amazed by her prowess, and there was a commotion among the elders over who would get to take her in. After a discussion, the Lotus sect won her approval.
She met her master, who seemed reluctant to accept her. Because of this, she worked harder than anyone else to win her approval. The First Elder, who had chosen and brought her to the sect, supported her and always visited. At first, she didn't notice anything was amiss, but soon she felt the strange glare her master gave her. However, she was so focused on improving herself that she didn't bother with it.
Twelve years later, the little girl had grown into a peerless beauty, one of the most beautiful and strongest cultivators in the sect. She had worked her way up to become one of the top ten core disciples. Though many looked up to her, a lot of them were also jealous of her talent and luck.
One day, the First Elder and the sect master left for a conference in the great city of Yi. On that very day, a marriage proposal, sanctioned by her master, was sent to her. She was to be wed to an invalid son of the Song family. This made her grow suspicious of her master's motives, especially given her master's cold attitude towards her.
Before anything could happen, she decided to escape the sect. She knew she would be relentlessly chased by the disciplinary officers, but it was better than marrying someone she didn't know. Despite her master's coldness, she couldn't bring herself to resent her, as she still owed her for teaching her many skills and helping her become a strong cultivator.
That night, she was able to escape and found herself running for a long time until she reached the outskirts of the Daemon forest. There, she saw a group of cultivators wearing black robes with the Lotus sect disciplinary officer emblem waiting for her.
"What do we have here?" a sinister-looking youth, who appeared to be their leader, shouted as he stepped forward. "Senior sister expected you to come this way. We know you're stronger than us, but with our numbers, do you think you can escape unscathed? I suggest you just give up. We'll take good care of you, hehe... Although it seems your own master has abandoned you, we won't let you feel alone. You see, she commanded us to bring you back alive... or dead... Haha!"
Without a word, she gritted her teeth and drew her sword. A bloody scene ensued. She didn't kill them but instead immobilized most of them by decapitating their limbs. She felt immense sorrow, knowing that words couldn't stop this bloodshed.
The group leader, realizing they couldn't defeat her, took a small paper sachet from his pocket and scattered the powder inside into the air. She tried to block it, but it was too late. She inhaled a portion of the powder, which immediately took effect, causing her cultivation to drop by half.
"Hehe... Senior sister, you can't blame us for this underhanded method," the leader said. "We had to use this because you're too strong for us."
"Leader, we should finish this quickly. Some of our brothers need immediate treatment," one of the cultivators reminded him.
She knew that if she didn't run now, she would be defiled and killed by these heartless people. With no other choice, she burned her life essence to cast an escape spell, which propelled her deep into the forest like a burst of teleportation magic.
The disciplinary committee members were shocked and felt helpless. "We can't catch her now... Damn it! I can't believe she's willing to burn her life essence for a sudden boost of speed. Let's go and report this back to her master, the Third Elder," the dejected leader said.
…
Inside the Daemon forest, the girl suddenly found herself near a boulder, which seemed to be a cave entrance. She couldn't control her speed burst and noticed about thirty wolves gathered there. Even though she was weakened, she fought with all her might, killing almost all of them. But because of her wounds and lack of spiritual energy, her vision darkened, and she fainted.
…
She slowly opened her eyes in the dimly lit cave, her expression confused. She remembered almost everything, and the dream felt sad and painful. She tried to get up, but her body was still heavy and tinged with pain. In the corner of her eye, she noticed a young man lying on the ground with blood all over his ragged clothes.
"Where am I, what happened?" she thought, observing the young man.
She saw him lift his head and stand up. He went to a water source and stripped naked to wash the blood off his body. The scene made her blush in embarrassment, as this was the first time she had ever seen a naked man.
After staring for a moment, she regained her composure. Just as the young man was about to turn around, she knew what she would see next and suddenly shouted, "You... stop! Don't turn around!"