Stormy Mountain Sect Chapter 5 (Patreon)

*** AUTHOR'S NOTE ***

So, I hurt my wrist, and typing is sucking right now. Still got ~1.7k words written this week.

Enjoy

*** AUTHOR'S NOTE ***

The next morning I woke up tired, cultivating not really being a substitute for sleep. Hopefully sometime, but not yet at least. We packed up the tent, rolling the poles into the material for storage. All of the tents were packed into a single wagon pulled by absolutely massive Spirit Oxen. Senior Lei was cooking a massive pot of congee, stirring in eggs and chunks of meat from a plate next to him. Just after we finished packing, he called us over and a quick breakfast was served before the caravan got moving.

True to my word, even if only implied, I asked Elder Li Mei, “Elder, uh, I ended up in a slight altercation with Anthony. Is it possible to give him and Xiulan a second chance to cultivate in the carriage?”

“No,” she said. “One thing you will learn about the sect is we reward hard work, but punish laziness. They were given two warnings, and failed to heed them. Now, they will walk to the base of the Stormy Mountains.”

“Yes elder,” I said and climbed in. Nuan patted my leg when I sat next to her, and we both fell into meditation.

Anthony is going to try to beat me up. I don’t know if he’ll come at my face or try to jump out at me from hiding, I thought, distracting myself yet again. I need to be ready for it, whenever it comes. There is no guarantee Senior Lei or Elder Li Mei will step in next time. I took a deep breath, then got back into the rhythm needed to cultivate my Qi.

A few more minutes of cultivation were then interrupted by a question, I wonder when we get to learn fighting techniques. Being able to beat up Anthony rather than being beaten would be good. A few breaths, wait, if we are taught they will be too. Rats! Won’t work. No, focus. If I can advance, I’ll be stronger than him, even if he is massive. I hope, anyway.

With that thought, I was finally able to focus, pushing through my distractibility to cultivate seriously. I managed to stave off extra distractions by counting the Qi balls as they drifted into me. Four hours of cultivation was interrupted by Senior Lei, who leapt into the open door of the carriage as we rolled along. He carried four burlap bags with lunch food, which was just a piece of bread, an edible tuber, and some smoked meat.

I dug in, surprisingly hungry considering I’d only been cultivating instead of walking. “Is it normal to be starving after cultivating?” Nuan asked Elder Li Mei.

“At your level, yes,” she answered. “The first tier of cultivation, Body Refinement, is focused on moving impurities and increasing the potential of your body, letting it withstand the greater forces and impacts common at higher levels of cultivation. Your Qi is using the food to fill in for those impurities, and thus you will need more of it than expected.”

“You will know when you are close to advancing,” Inspector Crane interjected, “and you will immediately inform us. It is a gross and smelly process, and I will not have you damage the carriage.”

“Yes, sir,” I said. “Uh, how will we know?”

“When the pain drops significantly,” he said, “At least on the skin. If you start to feel like a force is brewing inside you, about to erupt, that is also a sign.”

“Thank you, sir,” Nuan said with a grin. “How long do you think it’ll take us to finish refining our skin?”

I felt a wave of Qi flow over me, rendering me unable to move for a few seconds. “You have both been diligent,” Elder Li Mei said. “You should finish the first stage of Body Refinement somewhere between two and three weeks from now.”

“If you can keep your current pace for a week, I will personally give you both a Least-quality Purification Elixir,” Inspector Crane said.

The surprise on Elder Li Mei’s face was only a flicker, but I caught it. Even with a qualifier of least, that seems to be something expensive. “Thank you, sir,” I said, bowing in my seat. “We will endeavor to meet your expectations.”

“Kids,” he said, shaking his head. “If you can, it will be worth the silver. This way, when you become important, you will remember me.”

“Of course we would, sir,” Nuan said, then she elbowed me. “Thank you for answering our questions. We will return to cultivating now.”

I nodded, then focused on my breathing. Four hours passed in a flash. I know Nuan is doing better than me, I thought partway through. She was always better at learning and focusing than I was.

That night, I managed to avoid Anthony the entire time, though I did approach Xiulan when she was alone. “Hey, uh, I asked Elder Li Meain about letting you back on the carriage,” I told her, “but she said no. Sorry.”

“That’s okay!” She said brightly, giving me a grin. “I got to meet a bunch of neat people. Thank you for trying anyway.”

I nodded at her, then left. Nuan was sitting with the girl she’d shared a tent with last night, so I turned and walked to the edge of the clearing. We were three days to the next village, so the soldiers kept a close watch on the surrounding forest. One tree, though, grew right at the edge of the clearing, and it had a patch of ground just perfect for sitting and leaning against it. So I did, breathing in the clear air away from the cook fires and people.

Almost unconsciously I dropped into a meditative trance, my breath meeting the five count necessary for cultivation. The Qi motes in the air were denser than the carriage ride, most especially behind me. This time, though, the flow was weird. A Qi ball landed on my left arm, and sizzled the skin a bit, but then it dropped to the ground rather than be fully absorbed. Dozens, then hundreds of motes flowed out of the tree, almost like it was donating its Qi to me.

Each impact hurt, but only a fraction of what they did while in the carriage. I knew I wasn’t anywhere close to advancing, so I had no idea what was going on. I stayed there for an hour, then shook myself out of the trance. I felt rejuvenated and awake. I stood and bowed to the tree, “Thank you, senior spirit,” I said, then nearly tripped.

The grass surrounding me had tripled in height, with a few pieces getting tangled into my pants and boots. “What, that’s weird,” I said. I reached down and gently pried the grass stalks out of my clothing, instinctively feeling that tearing them would be bad. I left the area and sought out Elder Li Mei. She was sitting near the edge of the clearing, cultivating quietly. I could vaguely feel the Qi flow around her and it was massive.

I stood silently, trying not to stare at the pretty woman who could break me in half. “What do you need, Marc?” She asked tiredly.

“Uh, I was cultivating next to the tree over there,” I pointed. I described what happened, and the feeling I got about not tearing the grass.

“Interesting,” she said, no longer looking annoyed at me. “Thank you for your patience while waiting, but dancing about like you are a child who has to pee is distracting. Next time, just interrupt me, it is fine.” I blushed at her words. She continued, “I believe it is a combination of your Wood and Growth affinities that caused the phenomenon. The Elder Oak there is a Spirit Tree, and could easily interact with a junior practitioner of your level. At the next clearing, I will direct you to a place to cultivate.”

“Thank you,” I said, bowing to her. I left and found Haoyu, and we talked for an hour before going to sleep.

The next week flowed quickly by. Cultivation, talking with Nuan, Haoyu, and Johnny in the evenings, and more cultivation. I found that cultivating with a growing plant was better, and traded some assistance with setting up tents to a merchant for a single ceramic pot. I found a small flower, and gently dug it out of the ground, and carted it around with me.

Getting water for my flower required me to assist the soldier hopefuls with collecting it from nearby streams. We jogged out with a ten gallon jug each. I only had to get one jug worth, even though I only needed a half a cup of water for my plant. Two-thirds of the group held two jugs, while the last third ran with spears.

The sight of the spears reminded me of my yanyuedao, and I resolved to practice with it that night. After eating and watering my flower, I went to the storage area of the carriage and pulled out my father’s weapon. It was too heavy to really maneuver around like I’d heard cultivators could. I practiced just holding it, extending it in a stab a dozen times before my arms started to protect the motion. I made it twenty before I absolutely could not continue, and barely managed to put my weapon away.

“I’m getting weak from riding in the carriage,” I told myself. I went back to the merchant who’d sold me the pot yesterday. “Uh, Merchant Bartholomew, sir. I was wondering if I could borrow a bag of rice. I would like to carry it in a circle around the camp and then return it.”

The older man looked at me, a grin forming on his face. “Sure, sonny,” he said. “If you can make five laps, I’ll give you five copper.”

“Uh, okay,” I said, then I reached up and hefted the bag of rice. It must’ve weighed forty pounds. Not too heavy, but awkward enough that carrying it for long would be difficult.

I started my exercise, and the first lap was relatively easy. I was still strong from a lifetime of working on a farm, only trying to pull the weeds on my laziness from the long carriage rides over the last few days.

The third lap was where I realized that five would be quite difficult. My legs were already starting to get tired, and I realized that several people had moved tents after my second to make my lap longer. Anthony grinned at me, another young man looking nervously up at him, and then moved his tent another ten feet farther out once I’d passed. “Jerk,” I muttered under my breath.

I was stumbling at the halfway point of the last lap, only moving forward due to extreme stubbornness and pride. I won’t quit, I thought, repeating it over and over again, until I finally collapsed, the rice bag dropping into the wagon with my last tiny bit of effort.

“Good job, kid,” merchant Bartholomew said, “I didn’t think you had it in you. I forgot you were a farmer for a bit. Here’s your copper, and thank you for the nights entertainment.”

“Thank you,” I panted, forcing myself to sit and then gingerly take the coins from him. I pocketed them, having left every coin I’d possessed back at home for mom and my sisters. After resting for a few minutes, during which the merchant’s thirteen year old daughter tried to chat with me, I managed to force myself to stand. “Have a good night, sir, madam, miss Lisa,” I said, bowing to each of them in turn, then I hurried off before the girl could protest.

“So, it seems like you have an admirer,” Nuan said, falling into place next to me.

“Kids,” I said with a shrug. “I need dinner.”

“Should have eaten before you got it in your head to carry a heavy object around the camp,” Nuan said. “But I was able to save you some. Here.” She handed me a bowl of stew.

“Have I told you lately that you’re amazing?” I asked facetiously.

“Not enough,” she laughed, then leaned in and pecked my cheek.

“Well, then I shall have to do so more,” I grinned at her. We walked a bit farther and found a spot to sit and eat.

“Where’s your flower?” Nuan asked.

“Still in the carriage, why?”

“Cynthia told me that Xiulan told her Anthony was going to try and kill it,” Nuan said. “I came to find you right away, and thought you kept it on you.”

“Uh, let’s go check on it,” I said, standing up quickly.

“I’ll go ahead,” Nuan said. “Since you can barely stand.”

“Thanks,” I said. She ran off, sprinting away. I hobbled after her, fuming the entire time.

“Put it down, gently,” Nuan’s voice sounded out.

“He should have kept it on him,” Anthony said. A crash echoed.

Locusts eat it, I thought, pissed off. I rounded the corner of a wagon to see the pot I’d bartered for broken on the ground, and Anthony was grinding my flower into the ground. “You are a moron,” I shouted, limping at him.

“I don’t know what happened. You should have taken better care of your things,” Anthony said with a smirk.

“That flower was worth five silver,” I said. “It was a Dewstained Lily, a rare ingredient for creating a Core Expansion pill. It was growing stronger at a much faster rate while I cultivated with it, and in a few months it would have been worth gold. Elder Li Mei tasked me with caring for it, as she was going to create the pill for her master, and now you damaged it. Do you really think this will not have consequences? Are you truly that stupid, to think that she will not punish you too? Get off it, and I might be able to save the plant.”

Anthony’s gloating expression quickly turned ashen, his skin going even paler than normal, and he backed off. I jerked myself to the plant, and carefully picked it up. I scooped dirt around the exposed roots, and asked Nuan for a stick. She handed me a long hair pin, and I used it to stand the Lily up. I sat next to it, and started to cultivate.

Okay, I’ve thought this might work before, but I’ve never tried it. Nothing like the heat of the moment to bring about inspiration right?  I thought. Focusing on my breath, I started to feel the Qi around me. I pulled it towards me, but then directed it to the plant I was sitting cross-legged around. It was hard, and the first couple still gravitated to my legs rather than the plant, but I finally got one after fifteen minutes of careful work.

It perked up, very slightly, but an obvious increase in its aura occurred to my focused mind. It’s working, I thought, the Lily doesn’t feel like it’s dying anymore! Gotta fix it though, so more cultivating.

Another hour passed, and Nuan was shaking my shoulder. “Are you okay?” She asked.

“Yeah, I think I’ve gotten it past the biggest problems,” I said. “But it’s potency dropped, so I’ll have to cultivate it even harder. I did figure out how to direct most of the Qi I cultivate to it instead of me, but that isn’t a fast process. Hopefully I can get some better techniques at the sect.”

“That’s good,” she said. “I’m sorry I didn’t find you sooner.”

“Hey, you’re the only reason it’s alive now,” I said. “If you hadn’t found me, Anthony would have killed the plant. What happened to him anyway?”

“He ran off when you started to cultivate. He’s probably hoping you succeed in saving it, to spare him any repercussions,” she frowned.

“He’s not going to get away with this,” I said. “Even if I have to cultivate faster than him, and then beat him up in sanctioned sparring matches or something. But I won’t stoop to his level. I’ll beat him fairly, or not at all. I will not be like the merchants trying to steal my home. I won’t!”

“I know you will never be a bad person,” Nuan said. “I’ll go talk to that merchant…”

“Merchant Bartholomew,” I added.

“Yeah, him. See if he has another pot that you can put the Lily in,” she said.

“Thanks,” I grinned at her.

She smiled and ran off. A few minutes later, she jogged back with another pot, this one much fancier. “Is it okay?”

“That should work great,” I said. I gently scooped the Lily out of the ground, keeping a large heaping of dirt around its roots, and set it in the pot. I collected a few strips of shredded grass, then dug in the dirt until I found an earthworm. I dropped it along with another generous helping of dirt into the bowl, then buried the shredded grass around it.

“I’m going to cultivate for a while,” I told Nuan. “I think I can get it restored, but it’ll take time.”

“I’ll leave you to fix it, then,” Nuan said with a sad smile.

“I’ll spend more time with you tomorrow, okay?” I said apologetically.

She nodded, “I’ll just go cultivate next to the cook fires. It works a little better there.”

I smiled at her, and she rolled her eyes at me then left. I started to cultivate, directing every other Qi mote to the plant rather than myself. It’ll be worth it. It will. I thought.