《Soul Cultivator》


 prologue

    ¡°Kneel and promise me that you will stop talking to Joselyn, then all will be forgiven¡±


    ¡°No!¡±


    Kai couldn¡¯t believe that his simple request had been denied again, he was a reasonable boy and he wasn¡¯t asking much; he just didn¡¯t want his betrothed to be seen associating with some dirty orphan.


    Kai shook his head. He didn¡¯t understand why Bren the little dirty orphan was being stubborn for. It had been a week since kai¡¯s verbal requests had turned physical and still, the dirty orphan didn¡¯t want to defer to his betters.


    Some people just don¡¯t know what¡¯s good for them.  Kai thought. He looked at his two followers and said ¡°beat him and this time take longer than yesterday, but remember don¡¯t hit his head¡±


    Ken and Joe, his two followers smiled and advanced toward Bren. Kai was twelve years old, the same age as ken and Joe while Bren was a year younger, shorter and thinner. Kai saw Bren ball his hands into fists as he prepared to fight two boys older and healthier than him. Kai knew that Bren wouldn¡¯t run as he had not done so each time they met for the past week.


    The fight always happened the same way with Bren resisting and fighting back for a while before being over powered by the older boys and this time was no different.


    ¡°Stop! Is this how a spiritual artist behaves by beating those weaker than him?¡± Kai head a familiar female voice shout from behind him and his stomach twisted into knots.


    He turned and saw Joselyn looking at him with barely concealed anger and disgust.


    Bren and Joselyn had been close friends since they were children and it had never bothered kai before, this all changed about a month ago when Kai and Joselyn had been betrothed. Kai¡¯s father was the town mayor while Joselyn¡¯s family was the richest in their town so their arranged marriage made sense.


    As the only child of the mayor, Kai had grown up with everyone giving him respect and calling him young master. When Kai was nine years old, his father invited a spiritual artist to test his soul and it was found out that his soul was suitable for spiritual practice and once he reached thirteen he could join a sect and become a spiritual artist.


    After that event, the respect he had received increased but Bren¡¯s altitude never changed and always spoke to him as if they were equals. Bren¡¯s lack of respect had always irritated kai, but as a future spiritual artist and protector of humanity; he had to have a forgiving heart so he had always tried not to let it get to him. This changed after being engaged to Joselyn as he couldn¡¯t stand his future wife to be friends with someone who didn¡¯t respect him.


    At first, he had asked Joselyn to stop playing with Bren but she had refused and said that he wasn¡¯t her husband yet so he couldn¡¯t tell her what to do. He later asked Bren to stop playing with Joselyn but Bren refused. Kai tried bribing and later intimidating Bren but the dirty orphan had laughed at him and told him that he was a free person and would be friends with anyone he wanted.


    Kai had been frustrated, how was he going to defeat evil beastkin when he couldn¡¯t even control a simple dirty orphan? After weeks of trying and failing, Kai changed his tactic a week ago and had his two followers beat Bren up but the dirty orphan still refused to change his mind.


    How did she get here? Kai thought. If what was happening got back to the town then his reputation would be ruined. Kai had been careful, he always ambushed Bren on the outskirts of town when Bren was coming back from working in the farms where he helped out in order to support himself and his five-year-old sister. The reason Kai didn¡¯t want his followers to hit Bren¡¯s head was that he didn¡¯t want anyone finding out as face wounds are very conspicuous.


    Kai opened his mouth to explain but before he could say anything he heard a loud booming sound coming from the town and saw smoke rising from the town center.


    Kai immediately started running towards the town center, he didn¡¯t even bother to justify his previous actions as he was worried because his home was located in the town center.


    As Kai was running, he heard footsteps behind him but he didn¡¯t bother to turn and check if the others had followed him.


    The town of Belmar where kai lived was small but it was prosperous with a majority of houses made from bricks with glass windows, unlike the surrounding towns which had a majority of houses made from wood. When Kai reached the town center, he couldn¡¯t recognize the desolate and burnt appearance of the town with what he remembered when he had left just a few hours ago. The brick houses had crumbled walls, the windows were broken and the roofs were on fire.


    Kai saw that his house hadn¡¯t escaped the destruction and in fact appeared to be in a worse condition. He felt his chest tightening as he neared his house. Kai couldn¡¯t help thinking that the worst had happened as he had noticed that no one was trying to put out the fires and the only noise he heard was his heavy breathing and that of things burning.


    When Kai reached near the entrance of his house, he saw both of his parent¡¯s heads were mounted on spears next to two heavily burnt headless bodies.


    ¡°NO!¡± Kai shouted. Strength left his body and he dropped to his knees and could feel tears flowing down his face and he started sobbing.


    He started rocking back and forth, he refused to believe what he was seeing, and he couldn¡¯t believe his parents had been murdered when he had been talking to them just a few hours ago.


    Kai didn¡¯t know how long he had been crying when he heard a girl shout.


    ¡°Let me go you animal¡± the voice shouted.


    Kai turned and saw that Joselyn and Bren were held by what appeared to be a man except that the man had a tail and animal ears covered in orange stripes.You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.


    ¡®BEASTKIN¡¯


    Kai had heard stories about the savageness of beastkin but this was the first time he saw one in person. Strangely he didn¡¯t feel fear, all he felt was consuming red hot rage inside his body.


    This was the creature that had taken his parents from him. Kai¡¯s rage increased and he barreled towards the creature, uttering a scream.


    When beastkin heard kai¡¯s scream, it looked towards Kai and its eyes started glowing. When Kai saw the glowing animal eyes he felt a heavy pressure weigh on him as if a mountain was pressing down on him and he couldn¡¯t move or shout anymore.


    The beastkin smiled and then shouted. ¡°I have found another mouse, hurry up and get him. We have to leave before spiritual artists arrive¡±


    Kai saw that the beastkin was not alone, behind him were two beastkin with similar stripes. One of the beast kin was carrying ken and Joe while the other wasn¡¯t carrying anything.


    ¡°I will get him.¡± Said the beastkin who wasn¡¯t carrying anything.


    Kai tried to move before he was captured but he couldn¡¯t do anything to break away from the invincible bonds and pressure that surrounded him. The beastkin arrived and the pressure disappeared after he was held tightly in the beastkin¡¯s arms.


    Kai tried to break free from the beastkin¡¯s arms after the pressure disappeared but the arms were as solid as iron and they only tightened around him.


    Up close, Kai could see that the arms of beastkin was covered in fur and also had the same orange stripes.


    The beast kin moved away from the town center and started going towards the southern part of town. The more they moved away from the town center the more intact the houses were. It appeared like the destruction was centered around on the town center.


    They left the town and reached the wheat farms which had made the town prosperous. When they entered the farms, Kai saw something shimmering in the air and the surrounding wheat was flattened.


    When they reached the shimmering air, the beastkin carrying ken and Joe passed through the shimmering air and disappeared.


    The beastkin carrying kai moved towards the shimmering air.


    Kai intensified his struggles but he still couldn¡¯t break loose. Kai knew that passing through the shimmering air was a point of no return so he continued struggling. When they were about to pass through the shimmering air, he heard a popping sound and something liquid splashed him and suddenly he was falling.


    Kai thought that it was the effect of passing through the shimmering air. He felt pain only to discover that he had fallen to the ground. Kai turned only to see the headless corpse of the beastkin who had carried him.


    I must have died. Kai thought as he looked up and saw an angel descending. The Angel was glowing very bright and he had wings made of light.


    When the Angel reached the ground, he stopped glowing and his wings disappeared. Kai saw that the angel had purple hair and was wearing a white spiritual artist¡¯s robe which had a small logo of a bird with outstretched wings on his chest.


    ¡°Are you alright?¡±  The angel asked.


    Kai thought it was weird for an angel to ask a dead person if he was alright. The angel left him before he could answer. Kai turned his head towards where the angel was going and saw the angel stop next to another headless corpse of a beastkin. The angel moved the corpse and beneath the corpse were the bodies of Bren and Joselyn. The angel then helped Bren and Joselyn to their feet.


    Kai heard footsteps and turned his head towards the source, he saw a large man in a spiritual artist¡¯s robes with the same logo as the Angel, except that his robe was grey and he carried a sword.


    The man stopped next to where Kai was lying down and offered his free hand towards Kai. Kai accepted the offered hand and stood.


    ¡°Are you an Angel too?¡± kai asked the man.


    A confused expression quickly passed over the man¡¯s face but he quickly smiled and said: ¡°No, we are not angels, we are sky watchers.¡±


    Kai had heard of The Sky Watchers Sect before, It was one of the largest sects in the human empire, He had heard rumors that sky watchers could fly in the sky like birds. ¡®I guess it¡¯s true¡¯, he thought, when he remembered the spiritual artist who had rescued him.


    The man walked towards the man in the white robe and Kai followed behind him.


    ¡°We didn¡¯t find any other survivors¡± the large man reported to the purple haired man.


    The purple haired man shook his head slowly and said. ¡°We were too late and the beastkin quickly closed the space rift when they sensed the death of their kin.¡±


    The purple haired man turned his head to the sky in a thoughtful expression, he sighed then looked at the large man and said. ¡°Take these children to the next town and make sure that there are placed in a good home.¡±


    Kai was scared, he didn¡¯t want to be staying in another town which might be attacked any time by beastkin.


    ¡°Please take me with you, my, my soul, my soul was tested and it was found suitable for spiritual practice?¡± Kai said with a stutter. If he could join the Sky Watchers Sect then he could become strong enough like the purple haired man and get revenge someday.


    ¡°What do you think?¡± the large man asked the purple haired man.


    The purple haired man took his time to reply and after some time had passed he said: ¡°test them all, it is fate that they have met me, if any amongst them has the talent, then I will recommend that one to join our Sect.¡±


    The purple haired man took out a crystalline ball from his robe and gave it to Kai and said. ¡°Imagine that light is coming from your heart and traveling through your hand and finally into the ball.¡±


    Kai remembered that he had taken a similar test when he was nine so knew what he had to do. He held the ball in his right hand and he imagined that his heart was producing light which traveled through his arm and into the crystal ball.


    Kai felt something drain from his body and the ball started glowing weakly. Kai proudly looked towards the purple haired man.


    ¡°I see that you were telling the truth, with your talent you can join the sky watchers as an outer disciple. Now Pass the sphere to your friend¡± the purple haired man replied.


    Kai passed it to Bren who was looking just as miserable as Kai felt.


    Bren glared at Kai and closed his eyes. The ball started glowing after a while. The intensity of the glow kept on increasing even after it had surpassed kai¡¯s level and only stopped when it was more than twice kai¡¯s level had reached.


    ¡°High-grade talent, not bad.¡± The purple haired man said


    Bren passed the ball to Joselyn. The ball started glowing immediately she shut her eyes, the intensity kept on increasing until it looked like she was holding a miniature sun in her hands and Kai''s eyes started hurting just looking at it.


    Kai closed his eyes and when he opened them; the purple haired man was laughing and he got the crystal from Joselyn and said. ¡°This is good news, I didn¡¯t expect to find a supreme level talent here, girl this is your lucky day quickly accept me as master and very soon you will be soaring through the sky.¡±


    Joselyn opened her mouth to say something but then hesitated.


    ¡°What is it?¡± the man asked. ¡°Feel free to ask?¡±


    ¡°I was wondering if you can accept Bren as your disciple too, he is my only friend remaining¡± she sobbed


    The purple haired man sighed ¡°I can take him in as my disciple as long you agree to be my disciple.¡±


    Joselyn quickly kotowed and Bren followed suit and both shouted ¡°master.¡±


    ¡°Rise, we will finish the ceremony once we reach our Sect, say goodbye to your friend we will be leaving immediately,¡± said the purple haired man. He turned towards the large man and said ¡°make sure you all the dead bodies here are given a proper burial, I have to hurry back to the sect so I can report what happened here. The beastkin attacks are becoming frequent and don¡¯t forget to come with the boy.¡±


    Joselyn didn¡¯t bother to say anything to Kai but Bren came to Kai''s side; he glared angrily at Kai and then whispered: ¡°It is your fault that I wasn¡¯t there to defend my sister before she was taken.¡±


    Kai was left speechless and Bren went back to his new master.


    The purple haired man started glowing and wings of light manifested on his back. He then took off towards the sky while holding his new disciples in his hands.

 chapter 1

    In the Human Empire, there was a mountain range called the crystal mountain range in which its mountain peaks were made of crystal. These mountain peaks could be seen spackling from many kilometers away like giant rubies as they reflected the light from the sun during the day or the moon at night.


    The Sky Watchers Sect was located in this mountain range. Magnificent buildings and pavilions where built on the mountains and at the base of the mountains was the Crystal Valley which housed the outer court disciples.


    The Sky Watchers Sect being one of the strongest spiritual practitioner¡¯s sects in the human empire had tens of thousands of disciples.


    In any sect, the majority of disciples were always outer court disciples. Even though the crystal valley housed a lot of disciples, the place was always clean. This was because at any time during the day, disciples in brown robes of the outer court could be seen sweeping and making sure that the place was always in a pristine condition.


    A clean environment was conducive for spiritual practice so cleaning was one of the easiest ways for disciples to earn merits and if a disciple was seen doing anything that might make their environment dirty, that disciple was heavily punished and in some cases expelled from the sect. because of these reasons the place was always clean.


    In one of the courtyards in the crystal valley, a disciple in brown robes with a sheathed sword attached to his waist was sweeping. This courtyard was called the leisure court and was a place that disciples came to when they wanted to relax. The leisure courtyard was large but the disciple was sweeping the whole place alone. This type of situation was rare as other disciples would not give up an opportunity to earn merit and was only possible because it was very early in the morning and the sun had not yet risen so other disciples were still sleeping.


    ¡®Finally done,¡¯ kai thought, he was happy that he had managed to finish sweeping before the other disciples had woken up.


    The crystal valley was divided into areas and each area had a fixed number of merits that could be earned for sweeping it. This number didn¡¯t change so the more disciples sweeping a particular area, the fewer merits each disciple would earn as the merits would be divided among the disciples responsible for cleaning it.


    Kai was tired from cleaning such a large area, he placed his hand on his sword hilt and drew some of the Anima stored within the sword vessel into his body. Anima was the raw power of spirit and material that souls are made of. He then circulated the anima according to the foundation cycling technique provided by the sect and he felt rejuvenated.


    Kai¡¯s dream had come true and he had joined the Sky Watchers sect six years ago but even after all this time, he was still one of its weakest disciples.


    The Sky Watchers sect being a powerful sect usually recruited people with medium grade talent and above. Those with low-grade talent like Kai could only enter the sect if they had been recommended by an Elder or when workers were in short supply. Kai¡¯s situation was not that rare as the sect still needed people to clean, sweep and do some other basic chores and since the sect didn¡¯t hire normal humans, those with low-grade talent were accepted because they were not expected to make to make much progress in their spiritual practice. Still, Kai was a special case as those with low-grade talent who were recruited usually had political connections or had relatives in the sect.


    Having finished sweeping and feeling refreshed, Kai started his long journey to Merit Hall to report and get his merits. He had to leave the Crystal Valley because Merit Hall was located on one of the Lesser Peaks of the sect and not in Crystal Valley.


    Kai was once again tired and the sun had risen when he reached the top of the peak where Merit Hall was located. Even though the Peak was called a Lesser Peak it was still many kilometers tall. It was only called a Lesser Peak because its top did not reach the heavens and was not covered in clouds like the Main Peaks. Kai had only managed to reach the top because cycling anima had an effect of restoring the body and after years of anima cycling; his body had improved and was very fit while a normal human would find it difficult to reach the top without the help of anima.


    The Merit Hall was a big luxurious building. A towering sign boasted its name in bold silver letters that seemed to be shining. If Kai didn''t know any better, he would have thought the place dealt with more important duties than assigning merits to outer court disciples. This was just another sign that Sky Watchers Sect was a big sect and it had a reputation to uphold.


    Before going inside, Kai drew on the last reserves of anima in his sword vessel in order to recover. One of the rules of the sect was that a disciple should not show weakness even inside the sect without a good reason and getting tired for getting to the top of a Lesser Peak did not count as a good reason.


    Inside the Hall, he found Deacon Masau silently meditating. The deacon was a heavily muscled and bald man who was addicted to meditating. Kai kept a respectable distance and started waiting to be acknowledged. It was considered rude to interrupt someone stronger than you when they were meditating as consequences varied and could be dire depending on how far above your station that person was. He had heard stories of disciples being killed in some Sects for interrupting their betters; thankfully the Sky Watchers Sect was a Righteous Sect so killing disciples was forbidden but a disciple could have every inch of his body beaten.


    The deacon opened his eyes and held out his right hand towards Kai. Deacon Masau didn¡¯t like talking so Kai knew what the deacon wanted with his gesture. Kai took out his token and gave it to the Deacon. The token was a circular coin which had a bird with spread wings on one side and the other side had the number 580 written there which represented the number of merits kai had.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.


    When the Deacon had received his token, Kai reported the area he had swept. Kai didn¡¯t try to lie about the size of the area he had worked on, he didn¡¯t know how, but Deacons always knew when someone lied to them.


    ¡°I have added the forty merits that cleaning the leisure court is to your token.¡± The Deacon said and held the token towards Kai.


    Kai didn¡¯t take the token but instead said: ¡°I would like to redeem some of my merits for two blood cleansing pills and a pass to get to the trial grounds.¡±


    ¡°Wait here¡±


    The Deacon left the room and when he returned he passed a pill bottle and the token to kai and added ¡°the passage is only valid for one month.¡±


    ¡°Thank you Deacon.¡± Kai said and left the hall. He didn¡¯t bother to open the pill bottle to confirm if it contained the pills while he was still inside the hall as it would be disrespectful.


    Once he had reached outside, kai checked his token and saw that under the bird, the words "Trial" was now written there in silver glowing letters. He flipped the token and saw that he was only remaining with eighty merits. Getting a pass to the trial grounds cost five hundred merits while each blood cleansing pill cost twenty merits.


    Kai then opened the pill bottle and saw two blood red pills while a sweet-smelling aroma entered his nose at the same time. The pills could aid during anima cycling, sadly they wouldn¡¯t be aiding him this time as the two pills he had obtained were a tribute to someone more powerful than him.


    Kai closed the pill bottle and started his journey back to Crystal Valley. He was thankful that the downward journey was not as taxing as the upward one had been.


    ***


    Crystal Valley was home to thousands of disciples but the one resource which was not lacking was land. This meant that each disciple had his own allocated piece of land and this piece of land came with a small house which can be expanded if the disciple wanted to, though if the disciple wanted to expand their allocated house, he or she must use their own resources.


    Land was readily available because of the rule in the sect which stated that if a disciple reached twenty-five years and had not advanced to the second phase of spiritual practice then they must leave the sect. This meant that land was freed once a disciple reached the second phase of spiritual practice which was Soul Awakening and joined one of the Main Peaks or they were expelled from the sect when they reached twenty-five but were still in the first phase which was Blood Purification.


    When Kai reached the Crystal Valley, all the disciples he met were all busy doing one thing or another trying to earn merit: some were gardening, others were sweeping and others were on their way to do menial jobs in the Main Peaks. Chores were limited and ones which earned a lot of merits were all occupied by the powerful outer disciples. This was why Kai woke up early to sweep because sweeping was the only chore which didn¡¯t have designated workers, any disciple could sweep as long as they arrived first and were willing to share merits with other sweepers as no one was allowed to stop others when it came to cleaning the environment.


    The sect did not force its disciples to work, they even provided free food but resources that could aid in anima cycling could only be obtained with merits. Because of this reason and the age limit of twenty-five years, no disciple was ever idol, if a disciple was not earning merits then he or she was cycling their anima.


    Every place has exceptions and in Crystal Valley, there was a group of disciples called "The Chosen," who didn''t have to work to earn merits but instead would be rewarded merits every month by the sect.


    The chosen were the top hundred strongest outer disciples in Crystal Valley. Any disciple could become one of the chosen if they defeated any of the chosen and took their place.


    When Kai reached the Crystal Valley, he did not go directly to his house but went to the house of one of the chosen named Bruno.


    Bruno¡¯s house had the same design as all the outer disciples. It looked like squire box from the outside and only had three rooms; a bedroom, a kitchen and a meditation room for cycling anima. Even though the disciples had permission to alter their houses none of them did so. This was because no disciple was foolish enough to waste resources on building something that he or she knew would be left behind in a few years.


    When Kai reached Bruno''s house, he found Bruno outside training in some martial technique. Bruno was performing different poses and forms with a massive steel hammer in one hand as if the massive thing had the weight of a feather. Kai knew that the hammer was very heavy and the only reason Bruno managed to carry it like that was that the hammer was Bruno¡¯s vessel.


    Bruno was the same age as Kai, he had a brown complexion with dark hair and black eyes just like the majority of people in the empire including kai. Bruno was about two meters tall and bulky with muscles which made him look like a bear. This was a common trait among spiritual artists in the blood purification phase as cycling anima had an effect of increasing a person''s height and bulk and Kai was not an exception though he was slightly shorter and less bulky than Bruno.


    Kai didn¡¯t bother to interrupt Bruno while he was training but thankfully, Kai didn¡¯t have to wait long before Bruno stopped practicing and looked at him. Kai felt pressure from Bruno¡¯s gaze like a hungry beast was looking at him. Kai felt fear and involuntary took a few steps backward. Kai couldn¡¯t believe that Bruno was now capable of emitting spiritual pressure, he remembered that Bruno couldn''t do it two months ago when Kai last visited him. This was an indication that Bruno was now at the peak of blood purification phase and was ready to advance to soul awakening.


    Bruno blinked and the pressure kai was feeling disappeared. Kai felt envious but he quickly buried the emotion, Bruno¡¯s strength was the reason Kai was there in the first place.


    Unsupervised Fighting among disciples was discouraged but the sect was raising warriors so they encouraged supervised competition in an arena between the disciples. A disciple could challenge anyone to fight them in the arena and no one was allowed to refuse once challenged. The challenger could even put up reasonable stakes for the fight. This meant that those who were weak could be challenged constantly for their merits. The only solution for weak disciples was to pay one of the hundred Chosen to shelter them. If the Chosen accepted, then that Chosen could pass the word around to other disciples that those weak disciples who had paid were under their protection. If a disciple challenged a person under a Chosen¡¯s protection and since no one could refuse a challenge, the weak disciple was not stressed even if they lost because they knew that their Chosen protector will challenge their challenger and later the weak disciple would be given back what they lost after their Chosen has won.


    Kai was under Bruno¡¯s protection and he was only required to pay a blood purifying pill every month. The two blood purifying pills he had brought meant that for the next two months he would be protected.


    The age limit placed by the sect meant that outer disciples spent most of their time cycling anima, this led them to have fewer friends and made them not very good at socializing. Kai and Bruno already had an understanding so Kai didn''t say anything and just passed the pill bottle to Bruno. Bruno opened the bottle and later nodded after checking.


    This meant that Kai was safe for the next two months so he left Bruno alone and went back to his house to prepare for trial grounds.