"Your current aptitude should be B grade!"
Hearing this, Li Gang frowned. 'How can one's aptitude be increased? What truly is the aptitude of a person?'
He directly asked, "Do you know what an aptitude is?"
Wang Xueyao looked at him and said, "There is no such thing as an aptitude. There is only compatibility between soul and body. If your soul is properly synchronized with your body, then your aptitude will be higher. The only reason a Spiritual Imprint helps increase cultivation speed is because it helps in syncing the body and soul!"
Li Gang thought inwardly. 'Now that I think about it, she is right. If a body and soul are 100% synced, then the person would be a perfect human! But, there is no such thing as 100% in this probabilistic world. The more synced the body is with the soul, the lower the probability becomes for further synchronization! My low talent is probably because my soul is from another world while my body is from this world, which might have caused incompatibility between them.'
Five years passed like a breeze.
23rd April, Year 42019 of the Elemental Era
Li Gang and Wang Xueyao had been wandering together and gathering benefits here and there. These days, Li Gang's view of the world had changed. He had evolved from a bookworm into a person with real-world knowledge, thanks to Wang Xueyao.
He saw many spiritual plants, beasts, and different kinds of spiritual stones over the last year. He also realized this place contained various materials for making poisons, and he even made a few of them. They met very few people during this time! But ignoring them, Li Gang and Wang Xueyao continued their journey. Not only that, he specifically learned many languages from Wang Xueyao. She was walking wisdom to an ignorant being like him.
'Soon, I will reach the peak stage of rank 2!'
Li Gang had already reached late stage rank 2 a few months ago. As soon as he realized that training in this place gave him more benefits, he doubled his cultivation efforts and halved the time spent learning skills and sharpening his mind.
Even that wasn't sufficient for him to reach such a stage so early—the Celestial Serenity Technique also played a crucial role!
Suddenly, a loud bang sounded, catching Wang Xueyao and Li Gang off guard. Wang Xueyao immediately came over and asked, "What happened?"
Li Gang's face was serious. He was looking in a certain direction and said, "I don't know. It seems someone is fighting over there. Looking at the explosion, it has to be a rank 5 Warrior fighting."
Wang Xueyao suddenly activated a Secret Technique, and her face turned serious.
"It's a rank 5 Spiritual Beast, Spiritfire Wolf. A few Thunderous Peak Sect members are fighting against it."
Li Gang's face also turned serious. A Spiritfire Wolf was not something they could face at this stage! Even though Wang Xueyao was a peak rank 5 Warrior, she couldn't defeat a rank 5 Beast without suffering losses.
On average, beasts were stronger compared to Warriors of the same rank, though they lacked intelligence.
Li Gang thought of something and said, "Let's save them!"
Wang Xueyao looked at him deeply. 'He is too soft. It seems he has never killed anyone before.'
She wasn't wrong. Even though Li Gang had adapted to this world, he had never seen the real cruelty of it. He had yet to experience many things. There is a huge difference between theoretical knowledge and practical knowledge. Even in his previous life, he was only good at theory, but when it came to real-life implementation, he couldn't perform as well.
Wang Xueyao said coldly, "If you want to save them, go on your own. I am not interested."
Li Gang looked at her and said, "I am not doing charity, saving people for no reason. Our efficiency is too low, and we are running out of time. Using them as tools, we can increase our profits multiple times."
Wang Xueyao teased him, "Oh, I thought you were too soft!"
Li Gang looked at her and said, "I am indeed soft. I really can't bear to see them killed, but I won't take such risks for nothing. If they put themselves in such danger, then they should be prepared to make choices."
Wang Xueyao looked at him and said, "Let's go."
While living with Li Gang for a year, she had also changed a bit. Usually, she would have talked more. But the way Li Gang utilized his time, she admired him. Subconsciously, she also started avoiding wasting time! This is true for any person. If you start living with someone, you start copying them subconsciously, even if only on a very minute level.
Soon, they reached the region where the fight was going on. Three rank 4s were fighting against the rank 5 beast. It seemed the Thunderous Peak disciples were at an advantage!
Li Gang looked at the situation and frowned. 'They don't need our help at all. I wasted my time coming here.'
Wang Xueyao looked at the scene and her smile deepened. She took out a pouch from her space ring.
A space ring is a spiritual tool developed by a Forger who has mastered the Space element to a certain degree. It contains internal space, which can vary depending on the level of the ring. It is used for storing various non-living objects. It's not that living beings can't be stored, but the ring lacks the necessary environment to sustain survival, such as air, temperature, and nourishment.
There are various types of space rings for different storage purposes—like storing food requiring a cold environment, storing grains requiring a dry environment, storing spiritual plants requiring specialized rings, and even space rings to store other space rings!
Wang Xueyao took out a blood-red pill, pinched it, and threw it in the direction of the fight. Li Gang's face changed at this.
He shouted immediately, "What did you do?"
Wang Xueyao narrowed her eyes. "Lower your voice."
Li Gang immediately shut his mouth. He knew he couldn't lose his temper. His behavior was slipping out of control. He had to keep it in check. A strategic mind can conquer any mad beast. Not to mention, what was done couldn't be reversed.
"You are increasing the rage of the beast so that it fights more harshly? Is that your way of forcing them to ask for help?"
Wang Xueyao ignored him and kept watching coldly.
Li Gang suddenly thought, 'No, they would never ask anyone below rank 4 Warrior for help. They might use us as decoys, but given the situation, they first have to figure out how to escape before they could use us as bait. That beast is not giving them any chance. She likely wants to be a bystander who farms benefits after both sides wear each other down.'
Li Gang sighed. "You are really cruel. Is there a need to kill innocents?"
Wang Xueyao looked at him with disdain but didn't say anything. Li Gang started thinking of many ways to save them, but couldn't find one. He felt bitter and helpless, yet still didn't give up and kept thinking of various solutions.
Suddenly, one of the rank 4 Warriors pushed his teammate into the Wolf's mouth and, using the chance, ran toward Li Gang and Wang Xueyao.
Li Gang was surprised. Even though he expected this, experiencing it in real life and merely knowing about it was like the difference between heaven and earth!
Liu Jingsheng ran toward Li Gang and Wang Xueyao. He suddenly looked at them and became cautious.
'This brat is no danger, he is only a rank 2 Warrior. But that girl seems dangerous. She looks mortal on the outside, but how can a mortal enter an inheritance? She is obviously hiding her cultivation!'
He avoided Wang Xueyao, grabbed Li Gang, and threw him toward the Wolf chasing him! Wang Xueyao looked on coldly, with no intention of intervening.
Li Gang knew he was just a useless person in Wang Xueyao's view. But somehow she was keeping him alive—mainly due to the possibility of special bloodlines or rare humans who don't possess a Spiritual Imprint but instead a Special Ability. She was only curious why he didn't possess either.
'I don't believe the companionship of the last few years is enough to move her! I'm not narcissistic enough to believe I have such charm. She might not care about anything. I have to do something!'
But as soon as he fell in front of the Wolf, his body was overcome with fear! His mind went blank.
'What to do? What should I do?!'
This fear wasn't as overwhelming as when he faced Wang Xueyao. He could move and speak, but his mind was blank! He didn't know what to do.
Looking at the razor-sharp claws coming toward him, he dodged subconsciously and fell beside one of the rank 4 Warriors who had fainted from the earlier battle. Without thinking, he immediately used the Warrior as a shield to block the incoming attack!
Even though he survived, the momentum not only killed the rank 4 Warrior but also sent Li Gang crashing into a tree. He broke through its trunk and flew a few more meters before stopping miserably. The tree was a lower-grade one and helped reduce the momentum. If it had been a higher-grade tree, it would have remained intact, and Li Gang might have died on impact—or at the very least, he wouldn't have been able to recover within a year.
At that moment, the head of the Spiritfire Wolf was suddenly separated from its body. Li Gang only heard familiar footsteps before he lost consciousness.
Wang Xueyao walked slowly toward the beast's body and took away its Core.
Whether human or beast, after achieving rank 4, they formed a Core within their body. For humans, it was called a Heavenly Core, but for beasts, it was a Beastly Core. It was a powerful supplement for rank 4 to rank 6 Warriors in their cultivation. They could absorb the essence of a Beastly Core to nourish their Heavenly Core.
Only after taking it did she glance toward Li Gang with contempt, remembering his earlier words:
'You are really cruel. Is there a need to kill innocents?'
She murmured at him with contempt, "A person's true self is only revealed in life-and-death situations. You looked down on me for involving innocents, but what did you do? Kill innocents to save your meager life?"
Without looking at him again, and without caring, she walked forward gracefully, leaving only a deep and meaningful words.
"Life does not test what you know, it tests who you are when knowing no longer matters. Remember this, all morality, all kindness, all hypocrisy and all philosophy crumbles apart when survival is at stake!"