《Cultivating Civilization》


 1.1 Catching the Big One

    A pickup truck rumbled down a dirt road next to a large lake in the murky predawn light. It stopped at a packed dirt parking lot, in front of a wooden cabin. A tall white-haired man with a wrinkled face, dressed in old army pants and a fisherman''s vest over a thick green army sweater, got out of the truck. He grabbed a large bag and a tackle box from the cargo bed of the truck and walked towards the cabin.


    Before he reached the cabin, its door opened and a man in his middle age came out with a steaming cup of coffee in his hand.


    "Morning Jack! You came earlier than usual today. What caused that spring in your step?" the middle-aged man shouted to the old man before he took a sip of his coffee.


    The old man, Jack, gave him a bright smile and answered "I couldn''t sleep much so I decided to come in early and set things up, Earl. My son and grandson are coming today too."


    Earl responded with a slight smile of his own and said "That''s great. Come in then and let''s get you guys signed up." He turned on his heel and went back into the cabin on which a sign reading "Lake Serenity Bait & Tackle" stood.


    Jack followed him in and went to the shop counter, while Earl went through a door into the back of the shop.


    After a few seconds, he came back with a large book which he opened up on the counter and asked Jack "So, with what did you arm yourself today?"


    "I got two for myself, two for my son, and one for my grandson." Jack answered as he opened his large bag and showed off the five old fishing rods to Earl.


    "OK, I''ll just write up five rods to Jack Nash so you''ll get a discount. That''ll be $49.95 for the lot. Sounds good?" Earl said while he wrote it down in his ledger.


    "Fine with me. Keep the change." agreed Jack and gave him $50.


    "Gee, thanks. Your generosity knows no bounds." deadpanned Earl as he gave Jack the bird.


    "Times are tough for all of us." Jack threw back over his shoulder with a crooked smirk on his lips and walked out of the shop.


    Jack walked down the shore of the lake to his favorite spot. Once he got there he took out the fishing rods, three folding chairs, and a mesh net bag for holding fish from his large bag and went about setting his camp up.


    In the middle of the preparations he looked at the time on his cellphone, it showed 04:36 AM.


    ''Kevin and Jacob should get here around 8 AM. Leaves me with some time to fish on my own.'' he thought with a smile and went about setting his two rods up. He left the other rods in front of the other two chairs, ready for use. He also sprayed insect repellent around the fishing spot to get rid of mosquitoes for when his family came.


    When he finished setting up the camp, Jack sat down on his chair with a sigh, fished out a cold beer can from the bag, and finally gave his undivided attention to his two floats in the water.


    The Sun slowly rose over the horizon and painted the world in greens, yellows, and browns.


    Jack finished off his third beer and decided to reel both of his rods in. He didn''t have any luck all morning, so he changed the bait he used, recast the rods, and settled back into his chair.


    He checked the time on his cellphone, it showed 08:24. Jack furrowed his wrinkled brow and decided to give his son a call.


    After five long rings, his son finally picked up with "Hey dad¡­ what''s up?"


    Jack ignored the tone and asked "Hey Kevin when are you guys coming to the lake? It''s already past 8. I''ve set up everything, so you don''t need to bring anything extra. Just make sure to dress up in warm clothes"


    His son was silent for a couple of seconds and then spoke "Yeah, about that. You see, Jacob isn''t feeling well. I think he has a fever. I tried to get him out of bed, but he looks really sick. I don''t think we''ll make it to the lake today."


    Jack''s forehead furrowed as concern tinged his voice when he asked "Is he OK? It''s fine if you can''t come; his health is always the top priority. Make sure to take him to a doctor if it stays that bad."


    Kevin''s voice came over the cellphone "Yeah, I''ll do that for sure. Sorry about this. We''ll come next time. Bye, dad."


    Jack gave a slight shake of his head as he said "No problem, I''ll catch enough fish for the three of us and we''ll have a barbeque when Jacob gets better. Take care, son."


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    Just when he meant to end the call, he heard a faint voice saying from the other side "Are you done talking with grandpa? Come on dad, Tommy''s dad is waiting for us, we''ll be late."


    The call ended.


    Jack looked at the ''call ended'' screen on his phone and blinked a few times. Then he sighed, got up from his chair, and returned the rods and chairs he set aside for his son and grandson back into the bag.


    When he finished packing up their things, he stood in front of his rods and looked over the lake for a few minutes, shook his head, and started walking back towards the "Lake Serenity Bait & Tackle" shop.


    By this point a number of cars already parked in front of it. Jack walked into the shop and saw Earl finishing the signing up of another man. Jack gave him a friendly nod as he went out of the shop.


    "What''s up, Jack? Ran out of bait?" asked Earl with a smirk on his face.


    Jack gave him a little shake of the head "Nah, looks like my family won''t make it. They had¡­ other obligations." he said with a sad little smile, and continued "I wondered if you could charge me for only two rods since I won''t need the rest?"


    Earl frowned a little as he refused with "Sorry Jack, all sales are final. Why don''t you just use the rods? You paid for them already anyway." he went around the counter and continued "Tell you what; I''ll even throw in a box of bait free of charge."


    Jack shook his head as he said "Nah, no need. Never mind then. See ya later, Earl." He turned around, with his broad shoulders slumped a little, and walked out of the shop.


    A few seconds later Earl followed to the porch of the shop, hesitated for a moment, and then yelled "Keep your shoulders straight, soldier!"


    Jack stopped walking, straightened his shoulders, gave a crisp salute to Earl, and yelled "Hooah!"


    He walked slowly back to his fishing spot, a thousand thoughts churning in his mind.


    When he neared it, he saw one of his floats bobbing up and down in the water.


    ''So what if they don''t want to come, I''ll still keep my end of the deal.'' he thought and ran towards his rods.


    Winded, he grabbed the correct rod and hooked the fish with a skilled jerk.


    ''A big one, nice. Just what I need to blow off some steam.'' he thought as he felt the strength of the struggling fish.


    After almost ten minutes of fighting, the fish got tired and Jack began to reel it in.


    A light sheen of sweat accumulated on his brow as he breathed rapidly, but he could only think about getting that fish. He grabbed a landing net in his left hand, while he held the struggling fish close to the shore with his right. Jack could feel soreness in his hands and his back, but he greeted the pain like an old friend and gave it no mind.


    He staggered down the bank to the shore, got his boots into the water, and snatched the feebly struggling fish with the landing net.


    With labored breath and step, Jack climbed back up the bank. He looked at the large carp in the net and smiled. He opened his mouth and tried to say something¡­ then his eyes rolled back into his head and he tumbled back down the bank into the shallows of the lake.


    The last thing he saw before the darkness took him was that damned flailing fish.


    Earl stood on his porch as the sun started to set.


    ''Old Jack usually takes off after 4-5 PM, what''s keeping him this long?'' he thought as he looked at Jack''s pickup truck. He worried a bit about the look in Jack''s eyes that morning so he sighed and started walking towards Jack''s usual fishing spot.


    When he got close he saw a chair, a bag, a rod, and a landing net with a flopping fish in the spot, but no Jack. Earl looked around the fishing spot and called out for Jack, but no one answered.


    As he debated on whether he should call the cops or go looking in the woods near the lake, he saw something in the corner of his eye. A small metallic button from a breast pocket reflected the last of the Sun''s dying light from the reeds in the shallows.


    There, a curled up old man in army fatigues lay, floating and barely visible. He still had a slightly triumphant smile on his half-submerged face.

 1.2 From a Lake Into a River

    ''At least it''s better than dying in a bed.'' Jack thought as a final smirk formed on his face while he tipped backwards into the lake.


    He felt himself roll a couple of times and ended up with his body in the shallows, and head stuck in the cold mud. After that, he felt no more.


    The being formerly known as Jack Nash found out that nothingness and darkness represented two completely different concepts. Darkness was just the absence of light, you knew deep down that things existed somewhere out there in the dark, but you just couldn''t see them. Nothingness, on the other hand, was just that. No things, no light, no darkness, no it, no anything.


    It couldn''t figure out how long it remained in that state of nothingness. It only knew that it somehow existed, although it couldn''t figure out just who, or what, it was.


    After millions of years or just a second, as far as the being understood, a spark of remembrance flashed in its memory.


    It could see a small¡­ thing? A baby, it somehow remembered that the thing was called a baby, being held by a larger thing, while another larger one stood next to it and produced strange noises.


    ''Mom and dad.'' Something in the back of its mind told it and a flood of memories slammed into the being. No, into Jack.


    Jack started remembering his life.


    He grew up in a typical Midwestern family in southern Indiana. Fell in love with a girl in high school who he intended to marry after college. In college, he studied Information Technology with a focus on Cyber Security.


    Everything in his life seemed right on track, but then from a few small incidents a war most people didn''t believe possible broke out. One that would change the fate of the world forever, the third big one. Even though Jack tried to get into the Cyber Security department of the Armed Forces, they deemed him too inexperienced and he ended up getting drafted into the regular army.


    The war lasted for over eight long, bloody years and left Sergeant Major Jack Nash, and the world, with too many scars to ever heal right.


    In the beginning, he tried to keep his high school relationship going long distance, but a year into the war he received a Dear John letter from her and never heard from her again.


    After the war ended he stayed in the Army for a couple more years doing cleanup operations, after which the government decided to start retiring the old broken down veterans. And he certainly qualified.


    At almost thirty years old he became a retired veteran with nothing to do.


    For the next few years, he drifted in a drunken haze all across the States. In one of his wild nights out he met a barmaid with who, after some sloppy lovemaking, he made a child.


    That sobered him up real quick and he decided to make an honest woman out of her.


    They got married as fast as possible, and soon after a boy named Kevin came into the world.


    In the meantime, Jack decided to restart his interest in Cyber Security so he could earn more money to support his family. With the help of the VA, he managed to find a job and even got promoted a few times in the next five years.


    Things finally seemed to get back on track for him when his wife decided that she didn''t feel happy and served him with divorce papers.


    A snowflake in Hell stood a better chance at survival, than Jack did on winning the court case for custody of his son with his past, so he decided not to fight it. For his effort in becoming the primary breadwinner in the family, the court awarded him with alimony and child support payments he had to make to his wife.


    After all that he could only afford to buy himself a mobile home from which he could work and live out of.


    Jack decided that even though his marriage ended in disaster, he would stay in his son''s life as much as he could. So after another long legal battle that almost ended him, he got allowed visitation rights only twice a month, under supervision.


    During the next few years, his ex-wife moved a couple of times, and Jack followed along in his mobile home.


    As his son hit his teens, his ex-wife remarried and he got freed from the alimony payments. This left him with some extra cash, so he sold his breaking down mobile home and rented an apartment. Around this time a friend of his also sparked an interest in fishing with Jack.


    When he went fishing he could leave all of his troubles behind and just relax. It was his own personal secluded meditation location.


    As his son turned eighteen and went to college, Jack got released from paying child support to his wife. The only thing he changed in the next few years was the person to who the checks were now addressed to, from his wife to his son.


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    When his son finished College and got a job, Jack decided to retire from his Cyber Security work. He decided to focus more on fishing and learning about things that interested him from the internet that he never had the time to learn in the past.


    Years seemed to fly and his son got married and had a son of his own, named Jacob.


    It was one of the happiest moments of Jack''s life. He tried to spend as much time as his son allowed with Jacob.


    But, as time flies and children grow up, his grandson had less and less time for him.


    That was why when Kevin and Jacob agreed to go fishing with him this time; he felt as happy as he hadn''t felt in years. When Jacob was younger they went fishing often, but less and less with the ruthless march of years, and not for over a couple of them since the last time.


    When Jack finished processing his memories he could only feel a sense of helplessness, tinged with a bit of bitterness.


    ''I can''t believe I died fighting a fish.'' he thought with chagrin. ''Well, at least I went down fighting.'' he laughed at himself. Then it dawned on him ''Wait, I died¡­ How am I still thinking then? What happened? Where am I?''


    For the first time in what seemed like eons Jack''s focus turned from introspection towards the world outside, and quickly fled back to the inside.


    ''What the Hell?'' he thought in bewilderment, and peeked back out. Jack couldn''t tell how he did this, but he did do it.


    ''Yep, Hell.'' he concluded from what he could see.


    All around him flew some kinds of balls of grey gas, a giant river of them. They all had different shades; some even close to the brightness of the sun, or the darkness of space. He couldn''t see anything else from the mass of gas balls flowing past him.


    From time to time Jack saw a gas ball with a translucent face on it, but those rarely appeared in his ''line of sight''.


    ''Wait, am I like that?'' he thought and tried to ''look'' at himself. After a few tries, he somehow got the hang of it and set his ''sight'' at his new body.


    A dark gray ball of gas greeted him, the shade of asphalt during rain.


    ''Figures.'' he muttered. From what he could deduce these balls represented something akin to souls, and the color should denote the purity of one.


    Just as he tried to figure out what to do next, or even how to move, a commotion broke out on what he perceived as his left side.


    From the river of small gas balls, one akin to a four-story building broke out, dark as sin.


    The only thing Jack could do is stare at it as it moved around his field of vision.


    From time to time it would move to a darker gas ball and somehow swallow it. It just looked like it bulldozed over the thing, and the smaller one disappeared.


    Right as he wondered what the hell the large ball represented, Jack heard a cheerful gravelly voice in his consciousness.


    "Oh, another corrupted one that''s aware. What great luck!" right then the large ball started moving towards Jack with something seeming like a hop in its glide.


    ''F*ck, f*ck, f*ck!'' Jack thought as he tried to move his ''body'' with all the strength that he could muster.


    ''I never thought that I''d find out what a small fish thinks when it sees a shark coming towards it.'' Jack thought as he engaged his entire willpower into thinking about moving.


    Just as the building-sized ball of gas neared him, Jack somehow managed to move his ball for what seemed like a millimeter. He didn''t know how he did it; he only knew that he felt extremely drained after doing it. But that didn''t mean that he stopped trying.


    "Oh, you can even move a little. I sure am lucky this time." came the voice again.


    Just as Jack started to feel the ''breath'' of the large ball on his figurative neck he sensed another, even larger, thing come out of the river of gas balls somewhere in front of him.


    It shone as bright as burning magnesium, it even made Jack feel slightly uncomfortable.


    He felt the attention the large evil thing had on him slip away, and could faintly hear "Damnation, looks like I ran out of time." from it.


    Jack almost let out a ''sigh'' in relief, but then he heard "Still, I just have time for this one."


    The pressure from the attention came back stronger than ever as the building-sized ball of gas ran over Jack''s little grey smudge like a truck over a rat, making him lose consciousness once more.

 1.3 Old Battles and New

    Jack huddled in a corner of a burnt down house, covered with an anti-surveillance mesh net. He tried to get some sleep, but every time his eyes closed he feared that he wouldn''t open them ever again.


    His platoon shifted all around him, stuck in their own private nightmares. The Lieutenant scattered them in a few nearby houses overnight. Jack felt sympathy for the poor bastards that had to stand guard duty on this cold night.


    Just as he felt that sleep might take him he heard through his ear comms device "Rise and shine, men! We''ve got hostiles incoming!" from the Lieutenant''s voice.


    Jack sprang up to his feet and ran to the position the officers directed him to. He leaned on a short perimeter wall and peaked through a small bullet hole in it. He could only see shapes of burnt down buildings, cars, and trees in the starlit darkness.


    The platoon took up their positions and waited for over 15 minutes. As soldiers began to squirm in their boots, the Lieutenant''s voice came once more "Missiles incoming, take cover!"


    The men scattered like frightened rats towards the few houses that still had roofs.


    Jack just squeezed himself into a hole in the ground when the bombs started falling.


    When he expected to feel the first missile fall on his head he heard a *SNAP* that overshadowed any noise that the outside world made.


    Jack''s entire being shook as the world fell apart around him. The sound felt like a hook that lodged firmly into his gut and dragged him into reality.


    ''What the¡­'' the return of his consciousness left him in a blur for a few seconds. Once he managed to pull himself together enough to take a look around he started cursing mentally.


    He still floated in his dark-grey ball form, but the rest of his floating companions were gone. The only other living being was a young-looking man in weird clothes, who kept walking around Jack and mumbling to himself in a weird clipped language Jack had never heard.


    The place looked somewhat normal to Jack, a stone floor, four stone walls, and a ceiling. He couldn''t see any windows or doors, and the only light in the room came from beneath Jack.


    He looked down and saw a weird circle, filled with strange script and shapes. That would be weird on its own, but wherever the strange shapes passed the floor shone like someone implanted LED lamps in it.


    Jack tried to figure out how the circle worked, but couldn''t come up with anything.


    ''There''s nothing, only pictures and scribbles on rock.'' he thought as he unconsciously floated down towards the circle.


    *SNAP*


    Another world-shaking noise ran through Jack and he stopped doing everything. He even forgot to think for a moment.


    "Do not move, spirit. Do not think that just because you have regained some awareness that I cannot snuff you out like a candle. If you try to touch the formation once more I will erase your being." the raspy voice from The River rang out in Jack''s consciousness once more.


    Jack focused all of his attention on the young man that stood in front of him. He didn''t look older than thirty, but the voice and the feeling he gave off made Jack sure that he was much, much older.


    The young man''s face stretched into a ghastly smile as his voice rang out "Yes, good spirit. It would be a shame to lose a strong one. Now, do not fight, or this will be painful."


    Jack watched as the man started to mumble something in his clipped language. He considered trying to run but, even if he could make himself move faster than a millimeter per second, he didn''t dare. Instinctually he felt certain that the young man didn''t bluff him.


    After around 15 minutes, by Jack''s estimate, the mumbling started to rise in volume. The man shifted his hand towards a small pouch tied to his waist and, to Jack''s surprise, dragged out an almost 2 meters tall and over 3 meters long statue of a beast that looked like a cross between a bull and a tiger. Its head hung directly above the circle which trapped Jack''s gaseous body.


    Jack couldn''t stop staring at the statue as the young man''s voice kept getting louder and louder in his consciousness. Slowly, as if drawn by the force of the man''s voice, Jack floated towards the statue''s head.


    The rational part of himself screamed and tore at the walls of his consciousness in an attempt to stop, but he couldn''t make himself do it. His body floated to the beast''s head and, after an initial resistance, somehow seeped into it.


    The next time Jack had control of his mind he found himself looking at the smiling young man.


    He could feel strength like he never felt before and, even stranger, he felt a body once more. He tried to move, but couldn''t do more than shiver a little.


    "Good, only took you the time to eat a meal. You will become a great spirit puppet." the man said, in a tone one uses for little children and pets, as he extended his hand and patted the head of the statue, Jack, a few times.


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    "Go and learn how to use your new body." he added, and with a strange movement of his arm directed the statue to enter the pouch on his waist.


    Jack felt nauseous as a kaleidoscope of colors slammed into his eyes. He thought he saw a giant whirlpool for a moment, and then everything turned black.


    He could still feel his new body, but couldn''t see or feel anything else. Jack thought he could somehow sense other things with him in the darkness, but he had no way to check for sure. He only had his thoughts and time for company while he tried to figure out how to move this new body.


    ''OK, time for a sitrep, soldier.'' Jack told himself as he looked back at the bleakness of his situation.


    ''I went fishing, got a heart attack or something ¨C I wonder how my family''s dealing with that ¨C NO, no time for sentiment, got a heart attack, ended in that River of Souls? Spirits? Whatever. Got caught by that huge darkness thing, prime suspect of being the darkness is the young old man. He brought me here, where here is I don''t know yet, and stuffed me into this Buger? Tigull? Thing. Now I''m in the thing and my first priority is figuring how to move around, then figuring out where I am, and how to get away from that guy.''


    Jack sorted out his thoughts and focused all of his willpower on trying to move the statue.


    In the outside world.


    Bai Xiatuo touched the sigils on the wall and imbued them with a bit of his spirit energy. The next moment the wall in front of him slid down into the earth, allowing the bright rays of the morning sun to shine down on him and the room.


    He basked in the sunlight for a moment and then stepped out into the fresh mountain air. In front of him clouds drifted around mountain peaks, and from time to time a rainbow flickered in and out of existence between a couple of them.


    He walked to the exit of his estate where two guards stood.


    Both of them bowed down low when they saw him, and shouted at the same time "Greetings, Elder Bai!"


    Bai Xiatuo waited for a second and then waved his hand in dismissal. The two guards straightened up and looked at him expectantly. They knew that he wouldn''t stand there if he didn''t have a task for them.


    Bai Xiatuo pointed at the guard on the left "You, go and inform the Sect Leader that I have gone out for some personal business and that I am not sure on my return date, but it should not take longer than ten years or so."


    The guard bowed deeply once again and walked out in a quick pace towards the tallest peak in the mountain range.


    Bai Xiatuo turned to the other guard "You, go inform my Senior Sister that I am going out to get rid of the demon in her heart once for all. Tell her that it should not take long and that she is to wait for my triumphant return."


    The other guard bowed deeply too and took off towards another mountain peak.


    Bai Xiatuo gave that peak a fond look for a couple of seconds, and then took out a black flag from his pouch on which he shot up into the sky.


    Fortune seemed to smile on him and in one of the first stops of his journey he found a lead on his quarry. A few months later he found him sitting in meditation in a cave in a deserted canyon, in one of the less advanced countries of the world.


    "Bai Shetai!" he yelled, and the earth rumbled with the strength of his voice, tearing the cave and its mountain apart.


    The rubble of the mountain blasted outwards as a person enveloped in brown flames slowly floated up into the sky.


    "Hello, brother." Bai Shetai said with a smirk. "Took you long enough." he added as the flames on his body grew out to cover half the sky.


    "If you had not ran and hid like the rat that you are, Senior Sister and I would have gotten rid of you decades ago!" Bai Xiatuo yelled as he released his spirit energy and the other half of the sky got covered by midnight darkness.


    "Hmph. You and your Senior Sister obsession. Tell me, brother. Have you asked her once if she resisted my advances? Have you asked her if she said no? Have you asked her why she came to me every night? Have you asked her if she liked it?" Bai Shetai sneered at his brother.


    "Enough of your foul slander! This time you will not get away." Bai Xiatuo growled and waved a hand.


    In front of him hundreds of the same model of the statue that Jack was sealed in appeared. They all focused their attention on the person in front of them and started letting out deep rumbling growls.


    Bai Shetai''s face turned serious "Not a bad number of high-quality spirit puppets. Too bad I found a rich vein of earth fire in this desolate land. If you came before that you might have given me a decent fight." he said and started focusing his energy to his body.


    "You are not the only one that has grown stronger, Bai Shetai." Bai Xiatuo said and waved his hand towards his brother "Attack!" he yelled as he started to build up his own power.


    The spirit puppets roared in unison and charged at Bai Shetai with abandon, with Jack charging right alongside everyone else.

 1.4 Destroying Innocence

    In the darkness, Jack bent and straightened a leg. By his count, it took him at least a few hours to do so. He repeated this exercise for at least a dozen days now with various body parts.


    The man that captured him would take Jack, and others like him, out of the pouch every now and then to monitor their progress. He tried to teach them some kind of formation they were supposed to use when commanded to attack, but to Jack''s eyes, it looked just like human wave tactics.


    In one of these short checkups, the man referred to himself as Bai Xiatuo and would talk about how Jack and the others were going to help him out in some grand revenge scheme oh his.


    The existence of others like him first surprised Jack, but then he figured that the reason that Bai Xiatuo abducted the other spirits, as he called them, was the same as for why he took Jack.


    Some older spirit puppets in the group could move without any problems, but most couldn''t even move faster than Jack and kept slowly staggering around.


    The most frightening aspect of their little excursions out of the pouch happened when Bai Xiatuo decided to give them an order. It didn''t matter how much Jack resisted, or tried to disobey, something compelled him to obey.


    A small voice in his consciousness kept whispering to give in, to listen to his Master, that everything would look much clearer if he just stopped resisting. He could see it in the behavior of the other puppets too. Where once a slight twitch of a muscle represented a tiny bit of defiance to the orders, over time only obedience remained.


    Jack didn''t care. He didn''t care about Bai Xiatuo, his schemes, the other spirits, the whispering voice of the puppet, anything other than moving his new body. He kept doing it during the whole day, every day.


    He discovered that he could enter a state similar to sleep in the puppet, but when he did that his old buddies from the war would visit him in his nightmares.


    Even if he wanted to sleep, he wouldn''t do it. He could feel the whispering becoming louder every time he allowed himself to lose his focus. So he didn''t. It wasn''t anything new to him, not after the war at least.


    A long time passed. Days blurred into one another for Jack, but most of the puppets could move with fluidity by now. As if they were born in the puppet body, so could Jack. All of them would jump at the voice of Bai Xiatuo like prized trained hounds, so did Jack. He decided to bide his time and wait for an opportunity.


    On a day as any other, Bai Xiatuo released Jack and the other spirit puppets from their pouch.


    Jack expected another round of gossip and training when a wall of brown light smacked him in the face. He could see a man standing in the middle of the brown light, radiating it.


    What''s more, when he took a look around he found out that they all stood in the middle of the sky, at least a klick in the air. But it felt like they stood on solid ground, Jack looked closer at his feet and could feel the dark energy there holding him up. He instinctively felt that the puppet could stand, even jump around, on such energy without any problems.


    "Not a bad number of high-quality spirit puppets. Too bad I found a rich vein of earth fire in this desolate land. If you came before that you might have given me a decent fight." the man covered in flickering brown light said, somehow Jack could hear him as if he stood right next to him, even when he floated at least 300 meters away.


    "You are not the only one that has grown stronger, Bai Shetai." Jack heard Bai Xiatuo''s voice from behind him, just as he started to turn his head to look at this captor of his he heard the order to "Attack!" and all he could do was to follow the order given and charge with a roar at the other man, Bai Shetai presumably, with his companions.


    Earlier in the training, Jack found out that if he wholeheartedly committed himself to obey an order, he could do minor changes to how he executed that order. He just had to convince himself that his way was the best way his Master wanted the order to get done.


    As he charged at Bai Shetai, Jack concluded that this would probably be his only opportunity to break away. The puppet''s voice started to sound more and more reasonable by the day, and if he didn''t want to become a pet he had to take this chance.


    Jack ran in the middle of the pack of the charging spirit puppets, so when the first few of them made contact with Bai Shetai and were subsequently torn to shreds by his bare hands, he decided that it was probably time for plan B.


    While he tried to come up with said plan B a dark shadow covered Bai Shetai from the sky. Jack threw a quick glance back and saw a huge black flag projecting some kind of energy of its own everywhere that had a trace of the brown energy.


    When the next wave of puppets attacked Bai Shetai he seemed slower by a hair and even allowed a puppet to score a slash against his chest, tearing off the cloth that covered it and revealing the slabs of muscle underneath.


    A slight slash over his right pectoral muscle looked like it might bleed sometime soon, but in a blink of an eye, it closed on its own.


    Bai Shetai tore the offending puppet to extra small pieces.


    One more wave stood in front of Jack, then he would have to charge. And he had no plan B.


    Just as Bai Shetai finished the destruction of the third wave, a buzzing that Jack heard ever since the order to Attack was given, stopped. When he thought about it for a second it sounded a bit like the mumbling that Bai Xiatuo did earlier when he bound his spirit to the puppet.


    Right after the sudden silence, a large portion of the midnight dark energy formed into something that looked like a claw from a demon and moved as quickly as lightning to grab Bai Shetai.


    Jack, who was in the middle of his suicidal charge, rejoiced. He even had hope that he might survive. A split second after that, Bai Shetai tore his way out of the grip of the demonic hand.


    Left with no more time to think Jack allowed his instincts to take over and let out a "Hooah!" roar from his bestial mouth.


    Bai Shetai flicked an eye at him and threw a backhanded blow at Jack''s head as a response.


    Jack strained with his entire force of will and managed to convince himself that a better way to attack wouldn''t be to go for the neck, but for the leg.


    In that way, the front end of his huge body ducked under Bai Shetai''s slam, but it still caught his lower back.


    Bai Shetai''s eyes flickered for a moment, but then he moved his focus back on the other beasts attacking him, and his brother who looked like he was preparing another little surprise for him.


    Jack only heard a *CRACK* and then a wave of pain washed over him, along with a twister of colors as his perspective kept shifting at a speed of twenty meters per second.


    After at least a minute of this, his body slammed hard into something harder.


    It took everything Jack had to not pass out from the pain; the still ringing command to Attack helped out a bit.


    After a few seconds, he found out that he lay in a deep hole in the ground. His crash broke a couple of meters of hard rock ceiling and buried him in an underground cavern.


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    He tried to move his body, but only his front legs worked somewhat, he couldn''t even feel his hind legs. Even so, he could still feel his Master and remember the command to Attack. So he slowly dragged his massive bulk with his barely functioning front legs towards his Master''s presence.


    While doing this he took a look around the cavern, and couldn''t find any exits no matter how hard he looked. When he crawled to the wall where he could sense his Master in the distance he couldn''t go any further. Even his once endless strength failed him in an attempt to break through the rock wall.


    While his body scratched at the wall on autopilot, Jack celebrated silently in the deepest corner of his being ''Yes! Plan A was a success! Who mentioned a plan B? Plan Bs are for losers.'' he even danced a little imaginary jig in his mind.


    After a short minute of celebration, Jack sobered up and proceeded to the second stage of his plan.


    He tried to convince the voice inside of the spirit puppet that the best way he could continue serving his Master''s orders was to leave the puppet and fly to him where he could be given another puppet body and could continue the Attack.


    No matter which way he phrased it the voice wouldn''t allow him to do it. Jack had a hunch that no matter what he said the voice wouldn''t believe him as long as he didn''t give himself over to it fully.


    He considered his options, and couldn''t find another way out. So after a round of psyching himself up with the mantra ''I want to go to my Master. I have to fly to my Master.'' he gave the last part of himself that he held back all this time over to the voice.


    As soon as he did, the voice simply released him from his spirit puppet prison.


    Jack shot out of the puppet like a cannonball and was halfway to Bai Xiatuo when he came to an abrupt halt. The sane part of his mind managed to wrestle control away from the servant part just in time. Without the influence of the puppet''s voice, it became much easier to think straight.


    He stared at the mixture of burning brown and midnight black energies in the horizon, a tiny feeling of longing appeared, but Jack quickly snuffed it out and turned to run in the other direction.


    ''It turned out that all that time learning to control the spirit puppet wasn''t for nothing.'' he thought as he flew away with the speed of the wind¡­


    Back in the soul puppet strewn battlefield, after days of battle, there was no more midnight dark energy left in the sky, only the brown energy reigned, now lighter by a few shades.


    Bai Shetai stood over his immobilized brother''s body and said "Enough, brother. I do not wish to kill you, and you cannot kill me. Let us bring this to an end."


    He extended an arm to his brother in a hope that he would take it and end their feud.


    Bai Xiatuo stared at Bai Shetai with hate in his eyes for a few seconds, blinked, and sighed. His head dropped down to the rocky ground as he laughed out loud for a few seconds.


    He looked back up at Bai Shetai and said "I will make you pay for what you did." as he grabbed the extended hand to pull himself up.


    Bai Shetai started "I told you countless times already that you should just ask her about it and everything would¡­"


    A blade made out of pure darkness slid out of Bai Xiatuo''s left sleeve and in one fluid motion he stabbed Bai Shetai in the gut. The blade disintegrated and flew into the wound, the flesh around it started to turn grey at an alarming speed.


    Bai Shetai stared at his brother''s hate-filled eyes with sorrow and confusion, then he raised his hands to Bai Xiatuo''s head, looked into his eyes for a second, and tore his brother''s head from his body.


    He focused all of his remaining energy on the stab wound, gave his brother''s corpse one last look, and limped out into the sunset.


    After a few days of flying, Jack felt the death of his captor, and that small part of him that still considered him his Master gave up on his mindless jabbering to go back and serve him.


    But as time passed on he felt himself getting slower and slower, a strange kind of fatigue caught up to him. ''Crap, how do I stay here in this form?'' he suddenly thought when he snapped out of the feeling of freedom that carried him on his flight for the last few days.


    All the time in captivity he clung to the hope of running away. Now that he had his freedom, he didn''t know what to do, nor how to survive in this world. He could even see tiny parts of his gaseous ball flake away into nothingness when he concentrated his sight on his body.


    Just as he sensed the first hints of despair start to creep into his mind, he felt a slight tugging at his being somewhere to his left side, or on what he perceived as his left side.


    He mustered all of his remaining energy and sped towards that tugging.


    In a quarter of an hour, he found himself flying over a small village made out of a few dozen huts.


    He flew straight down towards one of the huts.


    In it, he heard the pained cries of a woman and a couple of other female voices that sounded supportive.


    ''She''s giving birth.'' Jack thought with wonder as he entered the hut. He felt the tugging coming from the crying woman''s bulging belly.


    ''Wait, can I¡­'' he stopped thinking and flew straight at the belly. But something repelled him straight through the wall, and almost a klick away from the village.


    He shook his being a few times and flew back to the hut. In it, the woman''s cries were getting louder.


    Jack took his time to observe the situation. When he focused his perception on the people in the room he saw a microscopic film of something on their bodies. He somehow knew he had no way to get past it. So he decided to wait it out.


    Just as the woman''s cries neared the crescendo, Jack felt something in the air above him.


    He quickly flew out of the hut and stared at the sky. There, a rift spanning dozens of meters appeared.


    Jack could feel the familiar pull from it. He felt an instinctive kind of certainty that if he flew into that rift he would return to the River of Souls from which Bai Xiatuo took him.


    Just as he debated with himself whether he should do that, a tiny pure white ball flew out of the rift and headed straight for the hut he hovered over.


    At that moment Jack let out a primal "NO!" scream from his entire being and flew straight at the pure white ball.


    He didn''t care what he had to do; he wouldn''t let his second chance at life slip through his fingers.


    His dark grey ball slammed into the tiny white ball like a truck and flew with it into the sky.


    Jack felt immense pain from the contact but was sure that the smaller ball had it worse. He focused all of the might of his will on destroying the pure white ball.


    Just before it puffed out of existence the white ball let out an indignant scream that shook Jack to his core. It almost made him dissipate as well. But he hung on and dragged his tired and wounded ball back to the hut.


    In it, the women started to raise their voices in what sounded like panic. The baby wasn''t moving.


    Jack looked at its tiny body and saw no protection from him. He gave it his all and flew straight into the baby''s body, losing his consciousness in the process.


    The baby started to cry.

 1.5 Song Tanda

    Jack''s head bobbed down for a second before he snapped it back up. The Humvee shook from side to side due to the bumpy dirt road. The other soldiers in the vehicle didn''t seem to mind as they left for the land of dreams ages ago. Even if he wanted to, he wouldn''t do it.


    *Boom!*


    A loud explosion awoke Jack from his fitful dream. Everyone inside the Humvee grabbed their rifles and took cover as a row of bullets rained on the roof. The driver slammed on the breaks and slid under the wheel.


    The Lieutenant''s voice came over the comms "The front and the back of the column are getting slammed. Vehicles 1-6 set up a delaying action around vehicle 4, everyone else gather on vehicle 11. We''re breaking through the back."


    Jack cursed under his breath; his transport was fifth in the column.


    He took a deep breath, exhaled it, and rolled out of the back of the Humvee where he crouched and peeked around the rear-end. The other soldiers arranged themselves behind him.


    The first two Humvees burned brightly in the moonless night. In their illumination, Jack saw hundreds of shadows moving in the far-off darkness.


    Jack cursed and pulled his head back just as a few bullets dinged off the Humvee near where his head used to be.


    He informed his team about the situation and counted down from five with his fingers. Just as he prepared himself to run out into the rain of bullets between them and vehicle 4, the world shook and soon disintegrated.


    Jack opened his eyes and closed them a moment later.


    ''Am I blind?'' he thought for a second, then everything that happened before he passed out came back to him, but covered in a dense fog. Jack snapped his eyes open and tried to sit up.


    He managed to wriggle his body, a little. He tried to look around, but his entire world consisted out of shades of grey with tinges of red, orange, yellow, and green, and seemed quite small.


    Jack closed his eyes and tried to think. It wasn''t easy, his thoughts moved like they took a bath in molasses. He felt like he got hit in the back of the head with a few bats.


    ''Need to think¡­ What did the doctor say when Kevin was born?'' he racked his malfunctioning brain for what felt like hours. ''Ah yes, developing eyesight up to half a year, slow development of motor and language skills. This is gonna suck.''


    He tried to produce something resembling a word, but his tongue failed him and what came out was a mess of garbled noises.


    After a few more fruitless tries he gave up and just lay there.


    Another eternity passed and Jack began to wonder ''Where are the parents?'' He hoped that they didn''t abandon him, or this would turn into a short and miserable life.


    He waited some more, took an involuntary nap, and was finally woken up when someone grabbed his small body roughly and hoisted him up into the air.


    ")%(#/"=$?%&/#)="?"($/%="/#=$/%?" said the person holding him in their arms.


    Jack opened his eyes with some difficulty. All he could see was a silhouette of a person with long hair holding him and talking to him in what sounded like the same language that Bai Xiatuo spoke.


    Another person came into his field of vision, and he was soon handed to them. In this way, they passed him around to six people, plus the original one that lifted him up first.


    None of them smelled like roses, it was all Jack could do not to give into the instinct of crying. He might have let out a couple of manly growls though, that''s all.


    Soon enough he was handed to the first person that picked him up and she, Jack now felt certain that he had enough evidence to call it a she, stuffed something into his mouth.


    ''The first thing I have to figure out is what these people are saying. Then everything else will come from that. I have to make sure not to do anything that might make them suspicious of my origin. Who knows what these primitives would do." he thought as he suckled furiously.


    In the next few days, all he only ate, slept, and filled his blanket. He didn''t have any clothes, just a rough blanket in which they bundled him up. At first, everything itched and smelled, but soon he got used to it.


    He couldn''t think about complex things, every time he tried he''d get tired and doze off, so he focused his mind of simple things, like eat as much as he could, observe, and listen to everything that the people around him said.


    Around 30-40 naps later, his new mother took him out of the hut for the first time. His trusty blanky tied him up like a bag on her back.


    For the first time, he saw the outside world with his new pair of eyes. Mostly he saw his mother''s back, but he caught a glimpse of things like the sky, the sun, grass, dirt, his relatives, and other wonderful and exciting new things like those.


    From what Jack could figure out his mother mostly sat on a stump and fiddled with either food for them or food for animals. What made Jack interested in her work was that he couldn''t recognize any of the species of the dead animals his mother took care of.


    Some looked pretty normal, similar to chicken, only with scaly skin and teeth, while others looked like giant centipedes with snake heads, or rabbit-like creatures with ears longer than its body and a cat-like tail.


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    After a few more weeks of this, Jack finally figured out what the other people in his new household looked like. An older man that looked like he just stepped into his fifties, presumably his dad, a younger man and woman in their twenties, a boy in his teens, a girl of around ten or eleven, and an old bent hag that looked worse than he used to.


    He wasn''t sure how the other people were related to him yet, but at least he knew how they looked like now.


    A few months passed like this. By this point, Jack''s mother didn''t carry him around like a backpack anymore but sat him down between her legs. Most of the time he would just lean on her stump and watch her work.


    She sang nursery rhymes while she worked and Jack listened and observed. By now he could understand most of the words, but still had problems with pronouncing anything. He wasn''t rushing to do so either, otherwise who knew what these people would do.


    A couple of weeks ago he saw his grandmother beat a chicken-like creature to death with her cane because she suspected it of knowing the future. She explained that it would always wait for her when she went to feed the animals.


    Another reason why he didn''t want to learn how to speak the local langue too quickly was that he didn''t want to forget how to speak English. Even now some words would escape him, and he would have to think long and hard to remember them. Most nights while everyone slept he held conversations with himself in his head just to have a practice partner.


    More months passed and one day Jack''s family dragged him out of bed while the moons still hung high up in the night sky. They marched him into a small shed that his father had previously forbidden Jack from entering.


    Jack went with the flow and knelt when his mother prompted him in front of a row of wooden stakes arranged around the shed.


    His father set a few sticks on fire and started mumbling something while he prostrated himself in front of the stakes for around 10 minutes.


    When he finished his prostrations he turned towards Jack with a huge grin on his face and said "Congratulations on your birthday, my son. In the presence of our ancestors, I hereby name you Song Tanda."


    "Bithday?" asked Jack in his stunted speech as he cocked his little head.


    "Yes." said his mother with a beaming smile "On this day last year, with the help of your sisters, I brought you to this world."


    His father gave him a serious look "Names are sacred, and only children that live through their first year of life deserve to have one." he continued in a more relaxed tone "And you, my son, earned your name."


    ''Song Tanda, huh? '' Jack thought. ''And I wondered why no one ever called me by my name.'' he chuckled to himself ''Still, Song, a bit weird but it''ll do I guess.''


    His father picked him up and brought him back into the house where he sat him down at the head of the rickety table.


    His mother took out a small clay bowl with cooked noodles in it and brought a strand over to his mouth with chopsticks. "Do not chew, swallow." she said sternly as she fed him more and more of the noodles.


    Jack furrowed his brows, but complied and kept swallowing the thick noodle. After a couple of minutes of him trying not to gag and his family watching him expectantly, he finished the whole bowl.


    When he did everyone broke out in cheers and started congratulating him while he looked at them with confusion in his eyes.


    "If the noodle doesn''t break you will have a long life, Tanda." Jack''s mother said with a smile. She turned to his grandmother and said with a slight bow "Thank you, mother, for making such strong noodles."


    She turned to Jack and said while pushing his back a little "Come on, Tanda, thank your grandmother."


    Jack sighed inwardly, but still bent his waist and said "Tank ju gramoter." with as much sincerity as he could muster.


    "Hmph. At least someone in this family knows how to respect their elders." said the grandmother in a huff, but with a glimmer of pleasure in the corner of her eye.


    Jack saw his father roll his eyes as he turned towards him "Now that you have a proper name, it''s time to know ours."


    Jack''s father got up from his seat and formally clasped right fist in his left palm as he faced Jack "My name is Song Fengtian."


    His mother did the same and said "My name is Su Meimu."


    His eldest brother followed "I am Song Aolie."


    His second sister quickly did her salute "Song Fenlan."


    His third brother yawned through it but still did the greeting "I''m Song Yasin."


    And his fourth sister looked as serious as their father as she greeted him with "My name is Song Yuening."


    When everyone finished they all turned their burning stares at their grandmother. She sighed, grasped her cane, propped herself up. and gave a halfhearted gesture while saying "Kong Ganrong."


    Jack''s parents seemed to relax visibly.


    His mother picked him up from his chair and placed him down on the floor. She straightened back up as she looked at him "You''re a true part of the family now, Tanda." She smiled and continued "Now, let''s get to work." as everyone set out to do their daily tasks.


    Jack toddled after them while thinking ''Wait, Tanda? Wasn''t it Song? Strange people.''

 1.6 Demons of the Heart

    During the second year of Jack''s life, his eldest brother married a girl from a neighboring village. Almost everyone from Raging Ox village, Jack''s village, gathered and built the newlywed couple a simple house in a couple of days. Jack, his father, and his brothers spent all the free time they had for the next couple of months to add a few rooms and a barn to it. Jack mostly carried light pieces of wood and studied the construction techniques of his seniors.


    He was surprised to find out that his eldest brother was, in fact, seventeen years old at the time. His surprise mainly stemmed from the fact that Aolie looked at least twenty-something years old. When he asked around a bit more he found out that most people he considered older, were on average 3-8 years younger than his estimations. The older the person, the harder to tell.


    Aolie met his wife, Shi Nugao, while helping out the Village Chief with an errand in the neighboring village. A dirt road went through the middle of the village and supposedly connected it to other villages up and down it. The Village Chief, Kong Nuanken, soon found out about Aolie''s interest in Shi Nugao and helped them and their parents arrange the whole thing.


    The Village Chief was a younger cousin of Jack''s grandmother so he came by to their house from time to time to chat or ask for help with certain tasks. He had two daughters that he married off who had families of their own so he got lonely from time to time. He was also one of the few people in the village that knew how to read, somewhat.


    Every time Kong Nuanken came over to their home Jack tried to get him to teach Jack how to read. He had only seen a few written words in the village, but all of them looked like strange rectangular glyphs. Apparently, each had its own meaning, and you had to know the glyph and some commonly used tricks to figure out what it meant. Jack thought that the good old alphabet reigned superior in every aspect; too bad no one in this world used it.


    At first, Jack tried to subtly hint to Kong Nuanken his wonder of what the "pictures" meant and pretended that with the right teacher he might have some interest in reading. But after all of his coy efforts ended in failure, he decided to for once use his unfortunate state and acted like a child. He cried, threatened, and begged until the older man got too exasperated and agreed to teach him once every five days when he had time.


    As Jack grew older the number of his chores grew with him. His main two consisted of feeding the animals in the early morning and taking the Kui cattle out for grazing.


    The Kui looked like a bipedal light brown cow with short stubby front legs, the bulls had a single horn growing from the middle of their forehead which they used to compete for dominance. Their powerful back legs allowed for a decent speed when they got riled up, but they mostly remained placid in their grass chewing activates. Jack only needed a light switch to get the wandering Kui back into the herd and a few voice commands to get them moving.


    With time on his hands during his kuiherding activities, Jack started to think about his future.


    For the majority of his almost 7 years, he''d been trying to figure out the workings of this new world he found himself in. His family and the villagers, in general, made things difficult. Most of them had only gone as far as a couple of villages down or up the road for their whole lives. And even the most traveled of the lot, the Village Chief, had only visited a couple of days distant small town a few times in his life.


    Every time Jack tried to act like a child and ask a few questions about the state of the world he''d either get laughed off, told to mind his business, or told that he didn''t need to know that. Jack didn''t suspect that the villagers tried to hide something from him; he believed that they just didn''t know and didn''t want to look ignorant in front of a child.


    Jack still remembered the time his cover was nearly blown and he decided to stop asking suspicious questions.


    One day in his fifth year of life he pretended that a friend of his, Shen Xianshu, a grandson of the Village Chief, had told him that he heard that there existed people in the world that could step on clouds and destroy mountains with a single slap.


    Jack''s mother nearly ripped his ear off for spreading such tales while fretfully glancing up at the skies. His grandmother even smacked him with her cane a few times when she heard about it.


    Shen Xianshu got it worse when Jack''s mom told his mom. He couldn''t walk right for a whole week and didn''t know why.


    Later that night while trying to fall asleep Jack heard the hushed voices of his parents and his grandmother coming from the kitchen. He usually wouldn''t care, but due to the incident during the day, he decided to sneak up to the bedroom door, which he shared with his third brother who was in the middle of a deep snore, and leaned an ear to it.


    "¡­ don''t know what to do with him." his mother was saying in a distressed voice.


    "We''ll have to teach him to stop asking his endless questions. I''ll give him more chores from tomorrow so he doesn''t have time to bother the people in the village." came his father''s rumbling voice.


    "The boy isn''t right." his grandmother''s voice croaked "He never was."


    "What do you mean, mother?" asked Su Meimu with concern.


    After a short pause Kong Ganrong''s voice started "I didn''t want to worry you previously, but I''ve seen something like this before, during my youth. Someone started causing problems in the village. Even a couple of houses got burnt down and a few people''s animals went missing. At the time no one knew who was doing it. Luckily for us, an immortal passed through our village at the time, as lucky as one can get with one of those. The immortal appreciated our hospitality and decided to help us out. Soon enough he caught a little boy and executed him in the village square in front of everyone. The immortal said that he had a demon hiding in his heart. We had no major problems after that." she finished with a slight rattling cough.


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    Jack had never heard his grandmother talk so much in his life, and what she said sent shivers running down his spine. ''Are these immortals the same type of people as Bai Xiatuo and his brother?'' he wondered. He felt a physical need to jump out of his room and ask his parents, but he reined it in as he felt certain that if he did he would be the next kid on the chopping block.


    A long silence followed Kong Ganrong''s story. A slightly hoarse-voiced Song Fengtian broke it "You think Tanda''s possessed by a demon?"


    Another few tense seconds passed by as Kong Ganrong finally answered "I don''t know, maybe. Tanda was always strange. The boy the immortal executed seemed normal at the time too."


    ''What do you mean strange?'' Jack thought in puzzlement as his small forehead wrinkled up. He thought that he adapted quite well to his new life.


    "What do you mean strange, mother?" asked Su Meimu in a confused voice.


    Kong Ganrong replied with a snort "You gave birth to the boy, you know; just don''t want to admit it to yourself."


    Another silence followed, broken by Su Meimu''s tentative words "He doesn''t talk a lot. But all children have their quirks, he''s no different."


    Kong Ganrong answered with another snort "Doesn''t talk a lot? He barely speaks, and when he does he sounds like an adult. But even then his eyes never stop moving, looking around, observing, thinking. You can see it in his little beady eyes that he''s scheming something."


    "You go too far." Song Fengtian interrupted in a slightly raised voice.


    "Too far?" Kong Ganrong asked in annoyance. "Normal children cry, when did Tanda cry?"


    "What are you talking about? I hear him whine almost every night. And even if he didn''t, why should my son have to cry to make you convinced that he isn''t some kind of¡­" a light scraping of wooden chairs on wooden floors sounded out as Song Fengtian started.


    "No, husband." interrupted Su Meimu''s thin voice. "You''re proving mother''s point. He never cries during the day, only at night when he goes to sleep do the sobs start."


    Jack''s heart almost stopped. ''Damn, damn, damn! God damn the dreams!'' he cursed his nightmares for the millionth time in his life. They had stayed a constant companion through his two lives, ever since the war. He totally forgot what impact they usually had on people. He barely breathed as he leaned harder on the door.


    After a prolonged silence Song Fengtian''s voice rang out "Even so, I will not suspect my son of any evil doings without proof. All you have is old wives'' tales and guesses. If he doesn''t do anything harmful to others you will do nothing." A light bang resounded after his steely declaration as if someone slapped the table.


    Su Meimu''s voice said in a calming tone "Of course, husband. I would not allow it either."


    After a few seconds of tense silence Kong Ganrong said "Very well, I will listen to you this time. But if anything suspicious happens again I will take this to the Village Council."


    A long silence followed her proclamation, so long that Jack started suspecting that they left when he heard a slightly defeated voice come from his father "Agreed."


    A cold lump of fear settled in Jack''s stomach at that moment. He tried to go to sleep that night, but couldn''t make the dreams take him out of fear that the noises he made would prompt his parents to drag him out of bed.


    In the morning his parents and grandmother acted as if nothing happened. They went about their business and acted normally towards him. At that moment Jack decided to follow all the village rules to a T and tried to gather as much camouflage as he could around himself so they wouldn''t suspect him again.


    While he went about behaving as a proper village boy should, in secret he started planning for what would happen if they found him out. He hid dried rations around secret hiding spots only he knew around the village and beyond. He had a few escape routes planned out, he only missed a solid weapon he could use in case of emergency.


    Most of the villagers used wooden spears for protection from wild animals and hunting. No one used any metal weapons because no one had any, only old tools and cutlery. Jack had no chance to steal a knife from his home; they were carefully guarded by his grandmother at all time. He heard once that the cutlery served as her dowry.


    While Jack racked his brain about his current problems a stone whizzed past his head.


    It snapped him out of his ruminations immediately and he dropped down to the ground and rolled away from his previous location in a practiced manner.


    "Told you-you can''t hit him!" a child''s glee-filled voice rang out from where the stone came "You owe me a chore."


    "Damn it!" came another child''s upset voice.


    Jack recognized them immediately; those voices belonged to two big parts of his cover. His eldest brother''s four-year-old son, and his nephew, Song Farong, and the Village Chief''s grandson Shen Xianshu, a burly eight-year-old.


    Jack sprang up from the ground, found a rock of his own, and threw it back at Shen Xianshu. The aim was true, but it lacked power and landed a few meters in front of his target.


    "Hah, you''re too weak, Tanda!" laughed Shen Xianshu as the two boys walked towards Jack.


    "Only because you''re a couple of years older, Xianshu!" Jack yelled back with a smile as he neared his friends.


    "Nah, you''ll never be able to throw a stone further than me." Shen Xianshu said as he flexed his arm with a self-satisfied expression on his face.


    "And you''ll never gonna be able to beat me in anything else." said Jack as he lightly punched Shen Xianshu''s shoulder while he thought ''Throw stones further, eh?'' and a wide smile spread across his face.

 1.7 Ancient Weaponry

    "You two wanna play a new game?" Jack asked in an excited voice.


    Shen Xianshu and Song Farong exchanged a doubtful look and Shen Xianshu asked in a half-interested and half-dreading tone "What kind of game?"


    Jack gave them a friendly smile "One where we compete on who can throw a rock the farthest and most accurate."


    The two boys relaxed visibly. To them every time Song Tanda suggested playing a new game usually meant getting hurt, getting cut and bruised happened more often than not.


    Shen Xianshu picked up a few stones from the ground and asked "What are we aiming for? How do you win?" while looking around for a decent target.


    Song Farong complained in his nasal voice "I don''t like this game. You guys always play something that I can''t win in."


    Jack gave him a reassuring pat on the shoulder "Don''t worry, Farong. This time you might just win." He looked to Shen Xianshu and told him "We can''t start the game yet. First, we need the correct too¡­ the correct toys." he corrected his slip of the tongue quickly and looked expectantly at his little friends.


    Both of the boys immediately looked a lot more cautious. Things always got a lot more complicated when Tanda said he needed something extra.


    It didn''t take long for curiosity to win over trepidation and for Shen Xianshu to ask "What kind of toys do we need?"


    Jack laughed as he said "I thought you''d never ask. We don''t need much. All of us have some Xiezhi goat wool lying around the house. Just grab as much as you can without getting noticed and bring it back here tomorrow. I''ll take care of the rest."


    Xiezhi were short goats with long black wool that dragged on the ground if people didn''t sheer it frequently. Most of the villagers wore clothes made from it. When he was younger Jack managed to spy on his mother when she taught his fourth sister, Yuening, how to make string and rope from it. After a few secret trials, he had confidence that he could make rope out of it.


    The boys paled and Song Farong squeaked "I can''t do that! My mom will kill me. She needs that wool to make clothes."


    "Relax, you don''t have to rob your homes, just take as much as you can without making your parents suspicious." Jack said in a calming voice. After a few more similar exchanges where he had to soothe their worries, he finally managed to persuade them.


    They played around a bit more until the time came for Jack to bring the Kui back home. The two boys went to their homes as Jack herded the cattle into their pen. He sent them off with a reminder of their duty and laughed at how they looked like they were about to go and fight the last battle of their lives.


    When he finished taking care of the animals he went back to the family home and was surprised to find his whole family gathered in the kitchen, along with the Village Chief and an unfamiliar handsome young man.


    "Ah Tanda, come here." Su Meimu beckoned at Jack when she saw him.


    Jack acted a bit suspicious of the young man as he went to his mother and stood slightly behind her.


    "Don''t be scared." Su Meimu laughed and gestured towards the young man "This is mister Hao Tiankai from Green Wood village; he came to ask for your second sister''s hand. Go ahead and greet him properly."


    Su Meimu nudged Jack forward and he politely bowed with cupped hands while he looked at his second sister Song Fenlan from the corner of his eye. From the look of her, she wasn''t displeased with the situation as she couldn''t stop blushing and glancing at Hao Tiankai.


    ''Good for her.'' Jack thought with a small smile tugging at a corner of his lips.


    "Yuening, take Tanda outside and let the grownups talk." said Song Fengtian as he looked at Jack''s fourth sister. She nodded silently, took Jack''s hand in hers, and led him into the yard outside.


    Jack looked at this serious sister of his and said "I can''t believe that Fenlan''s getting married. That just leaves the three of us in the house. At least you''ll have more room to yourself now."


    Song Yuening stood with her back towards Jack for a while before she spoke "I''m never getting married, I''d rather die¡­ And grandma snores so it won''t be that much of a change."


    This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    Jack stared at her silhouette for a while, shook his head a little, and thought ''Me too kid, me too.''


    After almost an hour of loitering in the yard, Su Meimu called Jack and his sister back inside the house.


    When they came in she said in an excited voice "Come you two, greet your new brother-in-law." as she gestured towards Hao Tiankai.


    Jack looked at the handsome man, bowed once more and said "Brother-in-law."


    Song Yuening took a few seconds extra, but under her mother''s glare, she did the greeting, albeit begrudgingly.


    Due to the celebratory mood the house was in that day, Jack managed to stash away a large amount of Xiezhi wool in the Kui pen, he also packed a few pieces of tanned Kui leather.


    Jack''s parents arranged for the wedding to take place in a couple of weeks in their village, due to the Green Wood village being too far away for the whole family to leave the animals on their own. After the ceremony in Raging Ox village ended, another would be held in the Green Wood village for Hao Tiankai''s family and friends to enjoy where they would build the married couple a house of their own.


    From the whole ordeal, the only thing that concerned Jack was that half of his Kui herd would go with Hao Tiankai to Green Wood village as dowry for Song Fenlan.


    The next morning Jack did his chores as usual. When he took the Kui cattle out for grazing he secretly carried a bulging pouch under his shirt.


    When he got to the pasture he proceeded to start making thin strands of rope from the Xiezhi wool. By the time he was almost done with his batch, his two friends showed up with their own little pouches.


    Song Farong gave him a wide smile "I managed to grab a bunch, mom and dad weren''t home for most of the day." he said as he offered his bulging pouch to Jack.


    Shen Xianshu gave a jealous look at Song Farong''s pouch as he handed over his visibly smaller haul "I couldn''t manage to grab much. My mom guards that stuff like a Red-Tailed Hawk."


    Jack gave them both a reassuring smile and said "Great job guys. We have more than enough now. Give me some time to get this ready and we''ll start playing with the new toys tomorrow."


    "Tomorrow?" they both yelped at the same time. "I thought we''d be done today. What if mom figures out what I did?" whined Song Farong.


    Jack furrowed his brows a little in displeasure "Don''t worry, just act like nothing''s out of the ordinary and she won''t figure it out. It''s not like you haven''t done something like this before." He lowered his gaze back to the wool and continued his rope making.


    The two boys knew that when Tanda decided on something they couldn''t change his mind so they sighed, shrugged at one another, and went off to play somewhere else.


    On the next day, Jack finished off the last of the Xiezhi wool ropes. He made each rope length out of a number of thinner rope strands. Jack didn''t have a measuring tool so he had to eye the length of the ropes, but generally, they looked about even so he shifted his focus on to the leather.


    He used a sharp rock to cut the leather into vaguely rectangular shapes and drilled a hole on two parallel sides of the rectangle. He tied a length of rope to each side of the leather rectangle. On one end he made a small loop that could fit over a finger, on another he made a couple of knots that a person could hold onto.


    Jack slid the loop end over his middle finger and grabbed the knotted end with his thumb and forefinger. He bent down and dug out a decent sized stone from the earth and placed it in the pouch in the middle of the two ropes.


    ''Now to go and find myself a Goliath.'' Jack thought to himself and laughed out loud.


    He had made an ancient weapon used by generations of sheepherders all across the Earth, the sling. It was light, portable, and anyone could learn to use it with a bit of practice. He only needed to bend down and pick up a rock to turn it into a dangerous weapon.


    With his heart beating faster he spun the sling a few times and released the knotted end. The rock flew high into the air, and about ten meters to the left of where he wanted it to go.


    ''Well, a bit more than a bit practice, I guess.'' Jack thought with chagrin as he bent down to search for a new rock.

 1.8 Childhood鈥檚 End

    Jack tested out his new sling a few more times with about the same results, sighed, and started working on the slings for his two little friends.


    They arrived just as he finished up the last sling.


    When he showed how the sling worked the two boys couldn''t keep their mouths from hanging open. Jack laughed at their expressions and gave them their slings.


    "What are the rules?" asked Shen Xianshu as he tried to grasp the sling in the way Tanda showed him.


    "We each get ten shots. Anyone that hits the target is out. If by the end of the ten shots someone hasn''t hit the target he does a chore chosen by the ones that managed to hit the target." As he instructed them about the rules Jack pointed towards a tree with a wide trunk growing approximately 15 meters away from them and dragged a line in the grass with his foot.


    "That''s too close. That tree needs at least four men holding hands to encircle it." complained Shen Xianshu with a small frown "No one''s gonna win if we aim for that."


    Jack gave him a small smirk "Say that when you''re able to hit it."


    "How much is ten?" piped up Song Farong as he looked at his fingers with a frown.


    Jack facepalmed and asked, "How much fingers do you have?"


    Song Farong looked at him and shoved Jack his two palms with excitement "This many."


    "That''s ten." Jack confirmed with a sigh. Song Farong responded with an ''Oh!'' expression and started picking his stones.


    After two full games, Song Farong managed to hit the tree in their third round and relegated his watering and cleaning chores to Jack and Shen Xianshu.


    In the next couple of weeks, the boys played their game almost every day. They improved quickly so they started shooting from further distances and at smaller targets. Jack managed to produce a couple of extra slings just in case and hid them on his escape routes.


    The wedding of Jack''s sister Song Fenlan and Hao Tiankai came and went. They celebrated for a whole day, and on the next morning, Hao Tiankai took Song Fenlan and half of Jack''s Kui herd with him up the road to Green Wood village.


    Time continued to flow like an unstoppable river. Jack turned eight years old and his face and body started to show the world a glimpse of the man that was to come. He regularly did basic exercises to keep himself in shape, but he couldn''t overdo it so he wouldn''t hamper his growth. He even got his friends to do it with him out of boredom.


    They had long ago stopped having contests in slinging. Song Farong and Shen Xianshu refused to compete with Jack because they would end up doing all of his chores for a week. Jack only got so good because he trained the skill seriously; the others just considered it as a game and didn''t practice.


    But one day when Jack brought down a bird with his sling and roasted it in the meadow the two boys changed their attitude. They all started carrying a pouch on their belt where they kept their most perfect stones and their slings. When their parents asked what the pouches were for they said that they were for a game.


    On one such day where Shen Xianshu brought down a plump brown bird. The boys ate their fill and went back to their homes. Jack penned the Kui and went to his house as usual.


    As soon as passed the door he felt a gloomy atmosphere smack him in the face. He looked at the kitchen table and saw his father, mother, grandmother, and second sister sitting at it.


    Song Fenlan had her right eye completely swollen shut, and the left one fared little better, but she could still see through it. Her swollen lips had numerous bloody cuts on them and Jack glimpsed a gap in her front teeth.


    A cold rage enveloped Jack as he walked calmly to his sister and grabbed her hand "What happened to you?" he asked in a calm cold voice that should have never come out from the mouth of an eight-year-old child.


    Song Fenlan trembled and drew her hand back with a reflexive "Nothing." as she averted her gaze.


    "Tanda, out!" Song Fengtian yelled in his rumbling voice as he slapped the table.


    Jack gave his father a glance, took a long look at his sister''s face, turned on his heel, and walked out into the yard.


    He took a couple of deep calming breaths, then ran to the back of the house. From there he silently clambered onto the roof and found his fourth sister, Song Yuening, doing the same thing he planned on doing. Listening in on the conversation in the kitchen through the front door.


    She looked at him and brought a finger to her lips, notifying him to stay silent. Jack nodded and crept to where she lay. They looked at each other for a second and saw the same fury in the other''s eyes. Jack broke the look and focused his hearing on what was happening underneath him.


    "¡­told you something isn''t right with that boy." came the croaking voice of Kong Ganrong.


    "Enough!" Song Fengtian snapped "This isn''t the time."


    Kong Ganrong snorted but didn''t say anything more.


    "Continue your story, Fenlan." the soothing voice of Su Meimu said.


    After a few second Jack heard the slightly muffled voice of his second sister "At first I didn''t mind¡­" she took a deep breath "¡­ the roughness." she let out a sob.


    Almost a minute passed in silence.


    "I thought¡­ I thought I''d get used to it. I told myself that it wasn''t that bad¡­ in the beginning." Song Fenlan sobbed more and Jack could hear their mother comforting her.


    A few minutes passed this time.


    "In the last couple of months, he started hitting me every night¡­ Even when I refused, even when I screamed no at him¡­ He wouldn''t stop." The last sentence came out in a voice so soft that Jack almost missed it.


    "How did you get back to Raging Ox village?" asked Song Fengtian in a stony voice.


    "A caravan passed through Green Wood village and took pity on me." Song Fenlan explained.


    "Why didn''t you come before?!" asked Song Fengtian with a slight rise in his voice.


    A few seconds passed until Song Fenlan said "I didn''t want you to worry... But now, I didn''t have a choice. I couldn''t let him kill¡­" her sentence ended in another sob.


    "That''s why I asked why you didn''t return sooner! What if we just received news that you died one day? It would break your mother''s heart!" Song Fengtian roared.


    Right after the roar, a slap echoed and Jack heard his mother''s steely voice "Enough, Fengtian! Can''t you see it?"


    "See what?" came Song Fengtian''s confused voice.


    "Oh, this changes things." said Kong Ganrong with a slight cackle in her voice.


    "What?" Song Fengtian asked once more.


    "You''re going to have another grandchild, Song Fengtian." said the malicious voice of Kong Ganrong.


    Jack froze, as did his sister next to him. They looked at each other and she mouthed ''NO'' at him.


    After a long silence from the home beneath them came Song Fengtian''s deflated voice "That does change things."


    "We can''t let him take it." said Su Meimu in a slightly raised voice.


    "He is the father, and the child is his by law. We can''t do anything to keep it." said Song Fengtian, his voice conveying his age for the first time Jack had ever heard.


    "You better let him take it, you don''t want all of the villages to shun our family for not respecting ancient laws." croaked Kong Ganrong.


    "No!" sobbed Song Fenlan, the heartbreak in her voice shaking Jack''s whole being.


    Su Meimu once more comforted her daughter until she calmed down enough to speak.


    You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.


    "We will wait for him to show up. Yasin is keeping watch on the road and will inform us as soon as he sees him. For now, Meimu take her to our room and let her rest. I will deal with this." Song Fengtian said in an authoritative voice and the people in the kitchen started moving around the house.


    Jack lay on the roof in a daze. He kept repeating ''These savages, how can they allow this?!'' over and over in his head.


    Only when his sister shook his shoulder did he snap out of it and looked at her.


    She whispered "What do we do now?" in a frightened little voice.


    Jack looked at her for a long second, trying to burn her disheveled image into his retinas. "You go down and help Fenlan, I''ll be right behind you." he whispered back.


    Song Yuening hesitated for a moment as if she could see something in Jack''s eyes, but in the end, she nodded her head a fraction and climbed down the roof.


    Jack crawled to the back portion of the roof and looked at the path that leads to the village center. He took out his sling and a round stone out of his waist pouch, and waited.


    As the Sun started to set Jack saw his third brother, Song Yasin, running down the path to their house. Jack squished his little body down on the roof in anticipation.


    He could hear his brother yelling "He''s coming!" to the people in the house as Jack saw a silhouette of a man walking down the road, in no hurry at all.


    The house exploded into a clamor and Jack heard his father''s voice yell "Keep her in the room! Let me talk to him."


    Jack tuned out the noises from the house and stood up. He placed the smooth round stone in the sling''s pouch and let it hang. He waited until he could see the handsome face of Hao Tiankai in full. Then he started to spin his sling.


    One swing, two, and he let the knotted end loose at the third swing. The stone flew like it had eyes and in a split second reached Hao Tiankai.


    Hao Tiankai grabbed his genitals with both of his hands as he fell to his knees in the middle of the dirt path. A second stone slammed right into his nose and with a crunching sound Hao Tiankai fell on his side in a twisted mess. The third stone took out his teeth. The fourth one his consciousness.


    Jack was in the middle of loading his seventh stone when a heartbreaking shriek broke his concentration. He blinked and looked down at the ground beneath him.


    There he saw his second sister, Song Fenlan, jump out of their parents'' shabby bedroom window and run at full speed towards the broken Hao Tiankai.


    For a moment Jack thought she was going to finish the job he started, but then she collapsed right next to Hao Tiankai''s body and cradled him in her arms while sobbing.


    By this time the rest of the family ran around the house and stared in shock at the fallen Hao Tiankai. After a few seconds of stunned silence, they started running towards him.


    Jack watched all of this play out as if in a dream. He looked at his second sister, at the same time she noticed him standing on the roof of the house, and the stone in his left hand. At that moment all of the fear and sorrow in her eyes turned into pure hatred as she pointed at Jack and screamed "He did it!"


    Everyone turned to follow Song Fenlan''s pointing finger and stared in shock at the standing boy.


    Jack sighed, placed the rock and the sling back into his pouch, looked at his family one last time, turned around, and sprinted to the other side of the roof. There he jumped down to the ground with a roll, picked himself up, and ran with all that he had towards the forest in the distance.


    The last thing he heard was the screeching voice of his grandmother yelling "I told you!"


    As Jack ran over the fields towards the woods he suddenly heard a shouting child''s voice from behind him calling his name. He turned around, cursed, waited for Song Farong to catch up, and said "Farong, go home. I don''t have time to play right now."


    Song Farong ignored his tone as he caught up with Jack while panting with a smile on his face. "Hey, uncle Yasin came to my house and told something to mom and dad. They left the house after that in a fuss. I sneaked outside to play just now and saw you running. Did you find something interesting? Show me!" he said with glee.


    Jack threw a glance over Song Farong''s shoulder, looked up at the darkening sky, and sighed "Fine, you can come, but stay quiet. If you can''t keep up I''ll leave you behind,"


    Jack knew that when Song Farong had an idea in his mind it would take the whole village to convince him otherwise, so he had to take a risk.


    Song Farong agreed with a happy "No problem!" and started running after Jack.


    They ran into the forest as Jack looked for a tree he marked with a check mark. Soon enough he found it, fell on his knees in front of it, and started digging with his hands.


    Song Farong laughed "I knew you hid something. You''re always hiding things." he said as he sat on the ground next to Jack and helped him out with the digging.


    After a few minutes they dug out a sack Jack hid there for emergencies. In it, he had food, water, an extra sling and some rocks, some clothes, a few rags, and a flint to make a fire. He usually resupplied his hidden stashes every week or two so everything inside was good to use.


    He grabbed the sack and tied it to his back with a few strings of rope that he attached to it. Jack looked at Song Farong and thought ''I''ll lead him to the river; he can find his way back home from there.'' The river ran near their village so he was sure that Song Farong wouldn''t get lost.


    Jack looked at Song Farong, said "Let''s go.", and started running deeper into the woods.


    Song Farong hesitated a little, but he had great trust in his friend and uncle Tanda so he followed after a second.


    After over 10 minutes of running Song Farong gasped "Tanda, stop. Stop! I can''t go on."


    Jack looked at the gasping Song Farong and said with a labored breath "Just a little further, you won''t believe what I''ve found." He leaned on a tree, looked up at the sky to get his bearings, and froze.


    Song Farong gasped a few more times, then said as he started walking in the direction they ran towards previously "Fine, I''ll go, just slow down a litt¡­"


    Before Song Farong could finish his sentence an arm snaked around his neck and placed him in a chokehold. His eyes bulged out as he instinctively tried to break the hold. But after a short time, he passed out.


    Jack moved with practiced precision and tied Song Farong''s hands and feet before he could wake up. Jack stuffed his mouth with a cloth rag from his sack so he wouldn''t get interrupted.


    When Song Farong regained consciousness, he looked at the black-clad feet of Song Tanda.


    The look Song Farong gave Jack was half confusion and half betrayal. Jack let it wash over him, leaned Song Farong''s back on a tree, threw his sack next to Song Farong''s feet, and started talking "Listen up. You won''t get out of those ropes for at least a few hours. I''m going to go back to the village to check something out; if I don''t come back before you free yourself take the sack and keep going down the path we were following. Once you reach the river go right, remember, go right, don''t go left. Once you see the road go down it until you meet people. When you do it''s up to your luck what happens next."


    Song Farong looked at Jack with wide open eyes, confusion swirling in their depths.


    Jack looked at him one last time, told him "Do as I say.", and ran back in the direction of the Raging Ox village.

 1.9 Flames in the Night

    Raging Ox village, a few minutes after Jack ran away from home.


    A few people milled about the village square in the faint light of sunset.


    All of a sudden a great wind rose up and blew the years of packed in dirt into the faces of the gathered people.


    When their sight returned, they saw a group of six men dressed in rich dark blue robes standing in the middle of the square.


    The men would have looked magnificent were it not for the small disturbances that appeared on their person. Like splashes of blood on a few sleeves, or small singed tears in their clothing.


    A man standing at the head of the group pointed at the gathered villagers and said in an authoritative voice "Go and gather everyone from this village and bring them here."


    The people looked terrified for a second, but they managed to fall to their knees and bow while stammering out "Y-yes, Immortal!"


    As the villagers scattered to go do their bidding, a man standing next to the leader asked "Do we have time for this, Senior Brother Feng?"


    The man shot him a glance over his shoulder and said with confidence "It is faster this way than going around and rounding them up. We do not want them to set off the traps we place in the buildings. We need to do this quickly. The escape talisman will not hide us for long from them."


    The man that asked the question looked mollified as he nodded his head.


    The six men spread out around the square; some sat down and closed their eyes to rest, while others looked down the dirt road with concern.


    The square gradually filled up in the time it takes to brew a cup of tea. The villagers murmured quietly amongst themselves, but no one had enough bravery to go and ask the Immortals what they wanted of them.


    When Senior Brother Feng saw that people stopped rushing into the square he stood up from his meditation, jumped to a roof of a house, and asked "Who is the leader here?"


    Somehow, even through all of the noise from people shuffling around and whispering, everyone heard him.


    As the surroundings quieted down, a grey-haired man walked out of the crowd, fell to his knees and bowed down low while saying "I am Kong Nuanken, the Village Chief. Please tell us how we can serve you, Immortals."


    The Immortal jumped down to where Kong Nuanken knelt and said "Stand up."


    Kong Nuanken stood up while keeping his gaze down on the ground. Before he could say anything a hand with a vice-like grip grabbed him by the throat and lifted him up.


    Senior Brother Feng picked up the Village Chief and jumped back to the roof of the house he stood on previously.


    He turned the squirming man to look at the terrified frozen crowd and asked in a cold voice "Is everyone from this village gathered here?"


    Kong Nuanken tried to grab the hand holding his throat, but for some reason, everything under his neck couldn''t move. He tried to turn his pleading eyes towards the immortal, but he couldn''t move his head.


    Senior Brother Feng pulled the feeble man close to him and whispered in his ear "Nod if all the villagers are gathered in the square. If you do not, I will snap your neck."


    Kong Nuanken focused his darkening vision on the crowd in the square and started looking at the faces of the people. After a few breaths of time, he slightly twitched his head in a desperate attempt to nod.


    Senior Brother Feng glanced at the crowd of villagers and then looked back to the twitching Village Chief, and asked "Are you sure?"


    Kong Nuanken twitched his head a few more times as his eyes started rolling up into his head.


    A wide smile spread on Senior Brother Feng''s face as his eyes turned as cold as ice and he purred "Good." at the Village Chief.


    Just as he wanted to crush the Village Chief''s neck he felt something flying at his outstretched arm. He moved it slightly and a rock, the size of a baby''s fist, whizzed past it.


    Senior Brother Feng furrowed his brow slightly as he looked at the direction from which the rock came from. There, at the front of the cringing crowd, stood a young boy of maybe thirteen years old holding a string in one hand and a rock in another.


    The boy yelled out "Let go of my grandfather!" at the terrifying Immortal.


    Senior Brother Feng clucked his tongue as he slashed his free hand at the boy. At the same time, he squeezed with his other hand until he heard a satisfying *crunch*.


    Down in the square, the boy''s fierce face froze, after a second his head slid down from his neck in a shower of blood.


    Grandson and grandfather died at the same moment.


    The villagers started to scream and recoil from the dead boy.


    Senior Brother Feng looked at his men and said with indifference "Kill them all."


    Only then did the screams truly start.


    Back in the forest with Jack and Song Farong.


    Jack leaned back on a tree trunk to catch his breath. While Song Farong complained, he looked up at the larger of the two moons, Koray. Every night it went from North to South, at least what Jack guessed were north and south, judging from the movement of the Sun which he assumed went from East to West here too.


    As he attempted to figure out the direction in which they should keep moving the best that he could while using the stars, a couple of shadows flitted across the silhouette of the lightly tan moon in the sky.


    Jack''s entire body froze, but his eyes kept flickering about the sky.


    ''They''re moving towards Raging Ox village, I''m sure of it.'' he thought as he looked at the direction the two shadows came from. There in the distant horizon, a light orange glow splashed its undulating colors onto the night canvas of the sky.


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    ''F*ck¡­'' Jack thought with despair. He had seen that glow many times during the war; he had even caused a couple of them himself. That was the glow of a village burning. From the location of the glow, the village closest to Raging Ox village burned, the Fallen Crow village.


    Song Farong started moving and Jack made a decision he knew he had to make. He chocked Song Farong out, tied him up, gave him his provisions, and left him with instructions on what to do in the case that Jack did not return.


    Even with all the fatigue he accumulated from running by that point, he had no problem with sprinting on the way back to his home.


    In his head he kept repeating ''Please let them be all right. Please let them be all right. Please¡­'' over and over again as he ran through the dark forest.


    As he neared the village he started seeing the familiar glow through the trees. His heart screamed at him to run faster, but his head and instincts warned him that he had to approach this situation carefully.


    When he ran out of the forest he stopped and watched in numb disbelief as Raging Ox village burned when just a little while ago everything seemed fine.


    The place where he was reborn, where he found a new family, where he grew up, gone in raging flames.


    Jack took in a few sobbing gasps, but then grabbed a steely grasp over his emotions and buried them deep with his other nightmares. ''There will be time for grief later, right now I have to check if anyone survived.'' he thought as he crouched in the tall grass and started creeping towards the burning village.


    As he got so near to his home that he started to feel the heat from the burning buildings on his face, he saw a number of firelit silhouettes flitting above the burning rooftops in the distance.


    From what Jack could gather, two sides fought against each other. One side used some kind of flying objects that moved too fast for him to see to attack, while the other used whips made out of flames to strike at their enemies. In the short time that he observed the fighting, a flame whip managed to coil around a blue-robbed person and sliced him in half.


    A despairing scream echoed out into the darkness as the bisected body fell down into the flames.


    Suddenly the two sides stopped their fighting and landed on two sides of the burning village, seemingly not bothered by the flames licking at their feet.


    An arrogant voice rang out into the night "Give me the treasure and surrender, Feng Furui. If you do and ask me nicely, I might consider letting you and your followers live."


    After a few seconds of nothing but the sounds of crackling fire, an icy cold voice rang out "I would rather die than become your Sect''s slave, Mai Younu."


    "So be it." said the arrogant voice and the next instant the two sides clashed once more.


    Jack watched them for a while and only moved forward from his hiding spot when the fighting took them away to the other side of the village.


    He ran into the yard in front of his house. All of the buildings around him burned with an unnatural intensity, but only the surface layer seemed to have any burn damage at all. Even the animals in their pens burned like someone doused them in oil, but the grass growing just a dozen meters away from the flames kept waving away cheerily from the slight wind.


    Jack moved his hand over a tongue of fire out of curiosity. It felt as if he had grabbed hold of a bright hot branding iron. He had to use all of his willpower to suppress the instinct to scream as he leaped away from the flame and hissed under his breath. The pain went away almost a full ten seconds later.


    ''There''s no way I can go in.'' Jack thought as he looked at his burning home. He felt sure that if that small tongue of flame caused him such a large amount of pain, then rushing into his house would kill him in a few seconds.


    Jack walked around the house and looked through all the windows and holes, but couldn''t see anyone inside.


    ''Where are they? Even if they all stayed in the house I would at least catch a glimpse of one of their bodies.'' he thought as he made another round. Just as he went past his parent''s bedroom window, his eyes widened and he snapped his head back to look at the spot where Hao Tiankai used to lay.


    ''That''s right! They would take him to the Chief. He knows the most about medicine in the entire village.'' Jack realized and started stalking towards Kong Nuanken''s house near the village square.


    Along the way, the bad feeling in his gut kept getting worse as he couldn''t see any people in or near the houses he passed by. Some of them lay in burning ruins as if a tornado formed right in the middle of the houses and then disappeared as quickly.


    When he turned a corner near the village square he took a couple of steps towards it, then suddenly stopped and stared.


    In the middle of the square lay hundreds of burning corpses, most of them headless.


    Jack saw his father and eldest brother slumped over the rest of his family. They earned a dozen of stab wounds as they tried to protect their loved ones.


    Everyone Jack knew and cared about lay burning in front of his eyes. Even little Shen Xianshu''s body still clung on to a stone in his hand while his severed head stared into nothing a few meters away from it.


    Jack stood in the flickering light of the now cold flames and stared at the faces of people he once knew.


    He didn''t know how long he stood there.


    A relaxed voice saying "What do we have here?" snapped him out of his stupor.

 1.10 Gravedigger

    Jack snapped his head back as his body fell into a defensive stance, with his hands going for the pouch on his waist out of reflex.


    A few meters in front of him stood two people dressed in voluminous flaming red robes. The one in the front looked like a very young handsome man, barely more than a teenager, while slightly to the right and back of him stood a balding middle-aged man.


    "You dare!" snapped the older man as he raised his right hand in the air as if he intended to chop the air in front of him.


    Just as he started to slash down with his hand the young man slightly twitched a finger and said languidly "Wait, Mannu. I am in quite the generous mood this evening, so I will forgive the child his mistake." he looked straight into Jack''s eyes and continued "This time."


    The older man, Mannu, lowered his arm immediately and said with a slight bow of the head "Yes, Young Master." Then he turned his burning gaze at Jack and yelled "On your knees, dog! Have you no eyes to see?!"


    When the older man first raised his hand up into the air Jack felt a feeling he hadn''t felt since the day Bai Shetai sent him flying. All of the hair on his body stood on end as cold sweat started pouring down his back.


    Just as he started relaxing when the younger man, the Young Master, stopped Mannu, something shimmered in the air around him, his knees buckled, and his body slammed straight into the ground. It felt like the gravity around him suddenly increased by at least four times. It took all his strength to move his arms in front of his face so it wouldn''t smack straight into the ground.


    Jack lay on the floor groaning as he felt his bones and organs grinding and creaking. Just when he thought that his small body couldn''t take the abuse any longer he heard the voice of the Young Master saying "Enough."


    The pressure disappeared and Jack managed to inhale a gasping breath into his deflated lungs and spat it back out immediately along with a mouthful of blood. He gasped a few more times before he managed to get his breathing under control, shifted his body into a kneeling position whit his forehead touching the ground, and whispered in a hoarse voice "Thank you, Sir."


    A boot lifted him off the ground and flung him just a couple of meters away from the burning bodies. Jack heard a few ribs crack and felt an agonizing stabbing pain in his chest as he slammed into the ground.


    From what seemed like a thousand meters away he heard a harsh voice yell at him "You will address the Young Master as Lord!"


    Jack coughed out a few more mouthfuls of blood as he dragged himself away from the roasting blaze and towards the two fiery figures.


    It took him a minute to crawl to his previous position and croak out "Thank you, Lord."


    A few seconds of silence followed before Jack heard the Young Master''s voice say "Stand up."


    Jack gritted his teeth from the pain as he slowly rose to his feet while keeping his gaze pointed straight down at the ground.


    A slim, clean finger touched Jack''s chin and tilted his head up to meet the gaze of the young man. After a few seconds, the young man smiled gently and said "Not bad."


    The young man slowly removed his finger, but as he did Jack saw a few of his fingers twist in a strange way and a stream of ''something'' poured out of his hand. The something shimmered and wrapped itself around Jack''s head.


    Jack didn''t dare to move a finger, but his eyes twitched a bit as he tried to get a better look at the thing wrapping his head.


    The Young Master''s eyes flashed as he saw Jack''s reaction and in a split second he stepped away from Jack and appeared over 20 meters away. At the same time, Mannu stepped in front of his Young Master and took out a long, metallic looking whip from the pouch at his belt. He said a word that Jack couldn''t quite understand and the whip burst out in flames.


    Jack looked at the two men with confusion and trepidation in his eyes. He couldn''t figure out what he did that made them so jumpy.


    The Young Master had his own whip out at the ready by now and he shouted a question "What are you?"


    Jack started to stammer out "Wh-what¡­"


    "If you try to say anything that is not an answer to my question I will kill you. If you try to lie to me, I will know and I will kill you. Now answer my question; what are you?" interrupted the Young Master with a murderous voice.


    Jack stood frozen for a second as he thought about what he should say, and then spoke "I am a man, Lord." He told the full truth, he never considered himself a boy.


    The Young Master didn''t seem to catch his little ruse as he asked "Are you a demon?"


    Jack almost burst out laughing at the absurdity of that question and his situation, but he managed to keep his face and voice steady as he answered "No, Lord."


    The Young Master still kept his guard up as he yelled "Are you a spirit?"


    Jack was sure in his answer this time as he said "No, lord." with confidence. He might have been a spirit-like thing before, but he never considered himself a spirit.


    The Young Master''s brows furrowed a little as he asked "How can you see spirit energy?"


    At that moment things clicked for Jack as he thought ''So that''s what it''s called!'' but he still furrowed his brows in confusion and answered with "I don''t know, Lord." He had some good guesses, but he didn''t know for sure.


    Everyone stayed silent for a good dozen seconds.


    "Ahahaha¡­" the Young Master doubled down in laughter, even Mannu had a slight smirk on his face. Jack just stood frozen in confusion.


    After a few seconds of laughter, the Young Master calmed down and stored his whip back into his pouch, as did Mannu. They both walked back closer to Jack.


    Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.


    "You had me going there, boy." chuckled the Young Master as he wiped at the corners of his eyes. "I just might decide to keep you alive." he added with a wink.


    Jack''s relaxing nerves tensed up again at the last sentence. ''I can''t allow for anything about the real me to slip out here or I''m a dead man.'' he thought as he refocused his mind.


    The Young Master smiled at Jack and said "Only a few rare people are lucky enough to have the ability to see spiritual energy from birth. You can count yourself one of them, boy."


    Jack wasn''t sure what to say so he just bowed his head a little in acknowledgment.


    The Young Master turned to the older man and said "Mannu, check him."


    Mannu bowed his head and said "Yes, Young Master."


    He took Jack''s arm in his calloused hand roughly. Jack felt like someone poured icy cold water into his blood vessels as he started shivering almost immediately. After a few seconds Mannu released Jack''s arm, snorted in derision, and said "Mediocre at best, Young Master."


    The Young Master let out a small sigh as he said "Oh well, I might have considered taking him into the Sect if he had at least decent meridians." he turned towards Jack, gave him a look from top to bottom, and said "But what can we do with the hand that fate has dealt us."


    Jack felt like he missed out on something, but he wasn''t sure what the two men talked about so he didn''t feel any pain from the loss.


    The air of mirth disappeared from the Young Master as he returned to his interrogation "So, tell me, boy. Why are you the only living person in this dead little village?"


    Jack felt certain that he would die if he didn''t word this answer just right, so he collected his thoughts and said "I saw the flames from the Fallen Crow village on the horizon so I ran to the Raging Ox village to warn the people, Lord."


    The Young Master''s eyes narrowed as he asked "And why would you do that?"


    Cold sweat bathed Jack''s back as he answered "The people here were nice to me when I passed through so I decided to warn them, Lord."


    The Young Master''s brow furrowed a little as he said "Where are you from then?"


    If all the other questions left Jack nervous, this one didn''t even make him pause for a second as he declared "From a place far away from here, Lord. I''m not sure where myself."


    At this, the Young Master''s furrowed brows rose as he asked "Then how did you get here?"


    Jack almost laughed as he said "A bad man took me away, Lord. But he died and I managed to get away."


    The Young Master looked almost mollified as he asked "So why were you out there in the night at a time like this?"


    Jack tried to look embarrassed, but he had already mostly figured out how to circumvent the thing the Young Master did to tell if he told the truth. He just had to say a thing that he believed true, and that sounded true to the listening party, so he had no problems saying "I was moving towards the river that flows in these parts. I love to fish, Lord." with confidence.


    The Young Master blinked and then started laughing once more. He looked towards Mannu, repeated "He loves to fish!" and burst out in laughter.


    Mannu gave his Young Master a few polite laughs and waited patiently for him to calm down before saying "Young Master, we should leave. Feng Furui might have sent for help from his School before we caught up with them."


    The Young Master''s face turned serious as he said "You are right, Mannu. We can not let those bastards have the treasure after all the pain we went through."


    Mannu''s gaze shifted towards Jack as he said "Should I get rid of the boy, Young Master?"


    All the muscles in Jack''s body tensed as he prepared to fight for his life with all he had. Even though he doubted that he could touch the hem of their robes before they killed him, he would try.


    The Young Master hesitated a little as he looked at Jack, sighed, and said "No, we better take him with us. Ever since I saw him I felt that fate has a plan for us somehow." He rubbed his forehead in annoyance before he said "We cannot let him enter the Sect, but the servants always need additional people." he turned towards Mannu and said "Do you know anyone amongst the servants that could use a boy that can see spirit energy?"


    Mannu hesitated a little, but still said "The old undertaker, Yu Ouli, can always make use of an extra pair of hands to rein in the unreconciled spirits, Young Master."


    The Young Master''s eyes brightened as he chortled "Ah yes! Good work, Mannu." He turned towards Jack and said "Congratulations¡­ What is your name?"


    Jack''s heart froze as his brain went into overdrive. Even after all this time in this world, he had never considered himself as Song Tanda. After a long second of trying to think up ways to get around the question, and failing, he decided to risk the truth "I call myself Jack, but the people here call me Song Tanda."


    After he said it, he stopped breathing and watched for the Young Master''s reaction intently.


    The Young Master furrowed his brows a little as he tasted the new word on his tongue "Jek? Strange name, Song Tanda it is." he said as he waved a hand and the shimmering energy around Jack''s head disappeared "Welcome to the Gravediggers, Song Tanda." he added as he touched Jack''s forehead.


    Jack felt a cool stream of something enter his head and spread through his brain. Before he knew what was happening, his consciousness started to fade out. ''Wait, I didn''t get to say goodbye.'' he thought before darkness overtook his vision and he slammed headfirst into the ground.

 1.11 Casualties of War

    Jack marched into the command tent. He stopped in front of the Lieutenant''s desk, straightened his back, and saluted "Private Second Class Nash, reporting as ordered!"


    The Lieutenant looked up from his map, gave a half-hearted salute, and said "At ease, Private."


    Jack placed his hands behind his back and focused his gaze on the Lieutenant. 10 minutes ago his Corporal woke him up and said that the Lieutenant had something he wanted to talk to him. He never spoke to the Lieutenant one on one before so he felt a little nervous.


    "Your superior says you''re good with tech, Private. That true?" the Lieutenant asked as he took out a surveillance drone and its controller out of a drawer from his desk and placed it on the map while nodding slightly at Jack to take it.


    Jack hesitated for a second, then extended his hands and took it. He gave it a quick preliminary inspection and said "Standard mini-drone. Not much smaller than the ones I used home." He looked back at the Lieutenant and asked "Does it need repairs? I might be able to figure something out in time, but it''d be easier to just requisition a new one from home, Sir."


    A chuckle escaped the Lieutenant''s lips as he said "I have no doubt that if I requisitioned a hundred of them we''d have them here by tomorrow, what I''m missing is people who know how to work the damned things. That last ambush took out our surveillance team and the boys back home still haven''t sent us a new one after numerous requests."


    The Lieutenant stood up from his chair and went to the other side of the desk to stand next to Jack; he leaned slightly on the desk with hands crossed in front of his chest as he said "Show me how well you operate that thing. If you perform well enough I might have an assignment for you."


    Jack felt a shock of excitement course through his body as he nodded and turned on the surveillance drone through the controller. A dragonfly-like drone rose from its protective casing and hovered around the command tent, without making any sound. Jack could see everything the drone recorded on the screen of the controller in his hands.


    The Lieutenant bent his head over the controller and said with a wave towards the outside "Go ahead, give it a spin."


    Jack nodded and made the drone zip out of the command tent and into the encampment. It flew through the tents and soldiers without alerting anyone and then flew out to the outskirts where soldiers on guard duty stood. No one noticed the little dragonfly drone as it zipped around them and then returned to the command tent.


    The Lieutenant slapped Jack on the back as he said "Nice work, Private." He straightened up from the desk and went back to his chair while Jack landed and turned the drone off.


    Jack placed the drone back on the desk and returned to his ''at ease'' position because he saw that the Lieutenant wanted to tell him something official.


    "Do you remember Jabal, Private?" asked the Lieutenant as he pointed at a small settlement of a few thousands of people on his map of the local area.


    Jack nodded his head and said "Yes, Sir. Nice people." With fond remembrance of the friendly people that helped them out when they dragged their tired platoon into their home.


    The Lieutenant nodded his head in response and said "They''re about to get raided by the enemy." He moved his finger down the main road leading into Jabal "From what our intel tells me, they''re going straight down the main road and should get there by tonight." He looked up at Jack with cold eyes and continued "You will take that surveillance drone and record everything they do once they get there."


    Jack stood stunned for a second, then asked "We''re not going to help them, Sir?"


    The Lieutenant slowly shook his head as he said "Of course we''re going to help them, but first we''ll show the folks back home what happens when we don''t help."


    Jack felt his fingernails dig into his palms behind his back as he asked "Sir, may I ask why?"


    The Lieutenant looked Jack up and down before he asked "You''re what? 19, 20? Do you want to spend the next 10 years of your life playing hide and seek in these mountains?" He stood up without giving Jack a chance to respond as he started pacing behind his desk while he spoke "The public back home is getting cold feet about this whole war business just as we need their support the most. They''re too distant from this, too detached from the suffering. We will show them what happens if we take a step back and allow the enemy to exist."


    He stooped as he turned his burning gaze to Jack "Do you understand me now, Private?"


    Jack stood frozen for a second, then slowly rose his hand in a salute and said "Yes, Sir!"


    The Lieutenant nodded and pointed at the drone "Good. Take that and get prepped for your mission. We''re moving out in 10."


    Jack saluted once more, grabbed the drone, and walked out of the tent.


    The world crumbled around him.


    Jack woke up in pain. His whole body hurt, from his toes to his scalp, but he pushed through it and moved slowly to sit up and stretch.


    From what he could see and feel, he lay on a hard cot in a small dark room. He touched his ribs gingerly and felt something wrapping them, but he couldn''t find the pouch with his sling. He slowly felt his way around the room as he followed a wall towards something that looked like a door.


    When he touched the door lightly it started to tilt forwards and, before Jack could do anything, it slammed down onto the stony ground with a loud *BANG* in the quiet night air.


    Jack stood frozen in the doorway for a second before he heard movement from all around him. He stepped out of his little room and saw at least a dozen of almost identical ones to the right and left of him.


    A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.


    Doors started sliding open as numerous teenagers in various states of undress and drowsiness popped their heads out to see what happened.


    When they figured out that Jack made the noise they started grumbling and went back to their sleep. Jack heard things like "It''s always the new guy." and "I give him a week." thrown in with the general complaints.


    Only the oldest-looking of the teenagers came up to Jack and said in a calm voice "Follow me." He turned around and started walking away.


    Jack stared at his back for a couple of seconds, then hurried as much as he could after the young man. During their trip, he tried to ask the young man some questions, but all he only got "All of your questions will be answered soon." in response, so he closed his mouth and followed down the dark winding path.


    After 10 minutes, Jack saw a large wooden arc behind which stood a large courtyard and a vast wooden building that stretched out into the night.


    The young man took Jack through the arc and into the courtyard, where he stopped, clasped his hands in front of himself, and bowed down.


    Jack almost ran into his back when he stopped abruptly. He started to ask "Wha¡­" when the young man hissed out of the corner of his mouth "Be quiet and wait for the Elder to invite us in."


    Jack closed his mouth, copied the young man''s pose, and waited.


    Almost a couple of hours later, as the first light of dawn started to appear on the horizon, and Jack almost sweated through his clothes from the pain of his injuries, a door on a side-building of the estate slid open.


    The young man headed for the open door and Jack followed in his footsteps.


    The room they entered had things that looked like bookshelves filling up all of the wall space, except for the door they entered through and another one standing at the back of the room. Only, what filled the shelves weren''t books, but rolls of paper neatly arranged in square holes.


    In the middle of the room stood a large wooden desk filled to the brim with stacked up scrolls, and behind it, a man that looked almost 40 years old sat and read a scroll spread in front of him by candlelight.


    Jack walked in and stopped in front of the desk; he copied the young man''s salute and bowed down deeply with his hand clasping his fist while he kept his eyes on the ground.


    They stayed bowed like that for a couple of minutes before the man rolled up his scroll and looked up at them. Jack let out a small sigh of relief when the young man started to straighten up.


    The young man started talking as soon as he straightened his back "Disciple greets Elder Yu. I have brought the new servant as soon as he woke up, as you have instructed."


    The older man, Elder Yu, nodded his head as he said "Good job, Angliang. Please wait outside."


    The young man, Angliang, bowed once more and left the room without saying another word. The door closed by itself behind him.


    Elder Yu looked at Jack and said "Song Tanda, is it? They tell me you can see spirit energy." Out of nowhere, the entire room turned into a world of grayness.


    Jack couldn''t see anything except for dense clouds of gray floating around him. He didn''t dare to move around and only turned his head a bit.


    As abruptly as it appeared, the grey world disappeared and Jack returned to the dim, musty room.


    Elder Yu had a slight smile on his face as he said "Not bad. I can use this." almost as if talking to himself. He picked out a scroll from the heap on his desk and spread it in front of himself.


    With a writing brush in hand, he asked Jack "Now, tell me where exactly you are from, and what unfortunate series of events caused you to end up in my care?"


    Even though Elder Yu kept his eyes on the scroll in front of him, Jack could sense his full attention hanging on Jack''s shoulders like a mountain. He had no choice but to take a deep breath and repeat the story he told the Young Master.


    When Jack finished his retelling, Elder Yu kept mumbling to himself "Raging Ox and Fallen Crow village? Should be able to find them. Hopefully, not all the resentful spirits dissipated." as he wrote things down on the scroll.


    After over 15 minutes since he finished his story, Jack felt that he had to do something, or else his legs would buckle and make him crash onto the floor. He slowly, and with some pain, raised a hand into the air.


    It took a few more seconds of mumbling for Elder Yu to figure out that Jack had moved.


    He looked up from his scroll and said in bewilderment "You are still here? Why do you have an arm raised? Go away; Du Angliang will explain your duties to you." as he said that the door through which Jack entered slid open and let in the morning sunlight.


    Jack quickly lowered his hand down, bowed as Du Angliang had shown him before, and started walking towards the door.


    After a few steps, he stopped, turned around, and, with an embarrassed and slightly frightened look in his eyes, raised his hand once more.


    Elder Yu caught his movement immediately this time as his brows furrowed a little while he snapped "What?"


    Jack took a deep breath, exhaled it, and asked "Lord, why did they kill everyone in the villages?"


    Ever since he saw the pile of burning bodies that question kept spinning around in his head.


    Elder Yu''s brows relaxed as a slightly malicious smirk spread across his face while he said "Everyone knows that you have to step on a few ants while you walk down the road of cultivation."


    Jack burned that image of Elder Yu into his brain as he once again bowed deeply and left the room through the opened door.

 1.12 Incentives for Improving Morale

    In the early morning light, Du Angliang led Jack through the forest that surrounded Elder Yu''s manor. Jack had to quicken his step to keep up with Du Angliang''s long gliding ones.


    After a few minutes, they exited onto a wide clearing near the foot of the mountain, allowing Jack to see his new home for the first time.


    In front of him stood four additional mountains spread in a circle around a valley that had a shimmering lake right in the middle of it. Jack could see a lot of grand building made out of some kind of reflective stone all around the mountains, and even a small town on the coast of the lake.


    "That is Tranquil Lake Town, most of the servants of the sect live and work there." Du Angliang opened his mouth for the first time on his trip and proclaimed as he pointed at the town. He looked at Jack out of the corner of his eye and said "Our Master''s servants only start their work there; most of our time is spent here, on the Eternal Rest Mountain."


    Du Angliang turned towards the path leading down the mountain and started walking on it. At that moment Jack saw a person from a neighboring mountain standing on something vaguely round take to the air and leave the circle of mountains. He opened his mouth, looked at Du Angliang, thought about it, closed it, and followed after him.


    On the way down they went past a few people going up the mountain. The majority of them bowed their heads when they saw Du Angliang and hurried on their way, only some of them nodded at him in greeting, or ignored him. Jack didn''t want any troubles so he kept his eyes locked on Du Angliang''s feet and his mouth shut.


    But even so, he noticed that the people that kept their eyes down like he did all had the similar thin, worn out look; while the people with confidence had nicer clothes and a fuller build.


    Even with Du Angliang''s pace, it took them almost 15 minutes to get to the bottom of the mountain and the entrance of Tranquil Lake Town. The crowds grew bigger, but they could still walk without bumping into people.


    ''There are no old people here.'' Jack thought as he took glimpses of the people that passed him. The oldest shabby looking person he saw looked like he just turned 35, while the oldest nicely dressed person looked at most 25.


    Du Angliang took Jack into a light-gray stone building that stood on the main road. The thing that caught Jack''s eye was that while other people went in and out of all the other buildings from the main road, only the one they entered didn''t have people swarming around it.


    Inside, Jack saw more than a dozen teenagers sprawled around the floor in dirty white robes. Most of them just stared at the ceiling with dead eyes, while only a few engaged other people in conversation.


    When the teenagers saw Du Angliang enter they quickly jumped to their feet and lined themselves up along the wall. Jack didn''t even see a small frown on Du Angliang''s face as he looked at the lined up teens and said "Get to work."


    The teens bowed and said "Yes, Senior Brother Du." unanimously, and scurried out of the back door in a shaky line.


    Du Angliang took Jack to another door that connected the lobby area to a smaller office-like room. Inside he had a couple of bookshelves half-filled with scrolls and a desk with a chair behind it.


    ''Like a child trying to imitate a parent.'' thought Jack as he looked around the room.


    Du Angliang sat on his chair and, for the first time that morning, looked Jack up and down fully.


    He tried to play it off like he didn''t care, but Jack could see a tiny hint of derision shine in Du Angliang''s eyes.


    "From this point on you belong to Elder Yu and the Endless Cycle Sect." Du Angliang said while looking at Jack''s eyes. After a few seconds of silence, he broke eye contact and pointed to a cabinet standing next to the door "Take a work and ceremonial uniform from the top and bottom drawers."


    Jack went to the cabinet. The top drawer had coarse white robes of various sizes; some even had faint blood stains and stitched up tears on them. He dug out the one that looked the most like it would fit him and closed the drawer without comment.


    In the bottom drawer he did the same thing, these robes were made out of a better material and had a small black crest of a circle with a smaller circle inside emblazoned over the heart.


    After picking up his uniforms Jack returned to stand in front of the desk.


    "Your workday will start at dawn each day. Every morning you will come here together with the other servants." Du Angliang said as he folded his arms and leaned back in his chair "Each peak will send their dead to us. The bodies come to the back door where we take and prepare them for burial. After the midday meal, we take the bodies with a cart up the Eternal Rest Mountain to our Master''s estate, where we leave them. Then, unless the Elder tells us not to, we go to the back of the estate to the graveyard and dig the graves for the new dead people."


    "When do I wear the ceremonial uniform then?" Jack asked as he looked at the clothes in his arms.


    Du Angliang blinked at the interruption and said "You will address me as Senior Brother and will not ask questions of your betters unless you are first addressed by them. If you do not comply you will be whipped. Do you understand?"


    He stared at Jack until Jack bowed his head and said "Yes, Senior Brother."


    Du Angliang nodded his head and continued "After the graves are dug we go back to our homes and are free for the rest of the day." He paused for a second before continuing "At least that is how your first week will look like. If you manage to survive we can talk about other things in the future."


    Jack''s blood froze when he heard that casual remark. ''Why wouldn''t I survive?'' he thought and almost said before catching himself.


    *clap*


    Du Angliang snapped Jack out of his thoughts with a clap as he said "Now, put on the uniform and follow me outside." He stood up from his chair and walked out of the office.


    Jack watched Du Angliang leave, looked at the doors that led to the outside, did a quick calculation of his chances for survival if he ran for it, and put on the white uniform.


    Since he came to this new world he quickly forgot to care about the smells of other people, but he could never ignore the familiar stench of death that smacked him in the face as soon as he stepped foot into the walled-off courtyard in the back of the building.


    In it, some of the white-robed teens carried dead bodies to large wooden tables, while others even cut some of the bodies open. Du Angliang walked from one table to the next and gave either criticisms or advice to the person working there.


    Jack inhaled deeply of the familiar stench, looked the courtyard over once again, and walked towards Du Angliang. He stood next to him and bowed slightly while still holding his old and new clothes in his hands.


    Du Angliang gave him a disappointed look as he said "Not even some heaving?"


    Jack gave him a slight bow as he said "I have seen dead bodies before, Senior Brother."


    Du Angliang sighed and waved for Jack to follow him.


    They walked to the middle of the busy courtyard where Du Angliang clapped his hands a few times. In a couple of seconds, everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at him.


    Du Angliang pointed at Jack and said "This is Song Tanda. From today he will join us in the service of our glorious Master, Elder Yu." As he said the name of the Elder everyone in the courtyard bowed their heads.


    This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    Du Angliang allowed the silence to spread for a few seconds before he continued "Song Tanda is on the usual one week trial so you don''t have to explain too much. Just show him where to put the bodies and how to dig the graves." He looked around for a second, clapped his hands a couple of times, and shouted "Go back to work!"


    ''He''s not doing this for me.'' Jack realized as he looked at the dead eyes of the teens around him. ''They all know what they should do already, but this sick bastard likes to lord it over them and put on a show.''


    Jack stood there without saying anything as Du Angliang looked at him and said "Put the clothes on a free table, you can take them with you later, then go to the back door and help with the bodies." After he finished talking he went back into the main building without even glancing at the others.


    As soon as Du Angliang left, the atmosphere of the courtyard changed. If before everyone had an air of concentration about them, then now they allowed the mask to slip and carried an attitude of apathy.


    Where before two people carried a body carefully towards a table, now one person dragged the dead body by its legs. Even the people that previously carefully used their instruments on the bodies now cut them without a care for the damage they did.


    Jack opened his eyes wide as he looked around at the uncaring teens. A second later a large callused hand dropped on his left shoulder and almost made him drop to his knees. Jack looked up and saw a broad grinning face looking down at him. But Jack couldn''t find the will to live even in that grin, only slight mirth at the tiny bit of freedom gained.


    "Don''t worry, boy. That snake Senior Brother of ours won''t return until midday meal. He''s off to lick the asses of the Young Masters." he said as he patted Jack''s shoulder. He turned towards the back of the courtyard and said with a wave "Come, I''ll show you what to do."


    Jack quickly found a clean table to drop his clothes off and followed after the large teen.


    The large teen introduced himself as Kuang Bindun and taught Jack how to greet the people that dropped the bodies off, and then how to prepare them for the tables, and how to place them in the carriage when the teens at the tables finished their part.


    The first time he did everything he did it the way they were supposed to do it, then he showed Jack how they usually did it.


    All the care and respect disappeared in the second example. They only cared about doing as little work as possible while achieving the same results.


    Only the full body search part of the proper way remained in the easy way. In it, they looked for any valuables still left on the bodies. But Kuang Bindun said that they seldom had any luck with that since either the families or the Sect itself took those things before the bodies got to them.


    Even the ones that worked at the tables just looked for things that the dead people might have hidden inside of their bodies.


    Jack did as much as he could with his injuries and the others didn''t seem to care. The only thing that made him feel some trepidation was when he asked Kuang Bindun about the one-week term limit and he said that Jack would find out later that night.


    The team managed to take care of all of the bodies well before midday meal, so they all found a spot in the shade and tried to get some sleep.


    Jack tried to talk to Kuang Bindun a little to get some additional information but was told to shut up and rest. So Jack tried to rest as much as possible without falling asleep.


    At midday, Du Angliang returned with a couple of servants carrying a large bowl filled with rice.


    Everyone quickly rose from their rest, ran to a corner of the courtyard for some small bowls stored there, and lined up for their meal. Du Angliang stood next to the rice and served everyone that came.


    They had to say "Thank you, Senior Brother." when he gave them the food.


    Jack stood last in line and got the smallest amount of food, but his grumbling stomach didn''t care as he quickly scooped the food into his mouth with his hands.


    After the meal, Du Angliang drove the Kui pulled cart up the Eternal Rest Mountain, while everyone else had to return by foot. Everyone, even the people that belonged to the Sect in full, moved out of the way when they saw the cart moving towards them; leaving a cleared path for Jack and the rest.


    It took them almost half an hour to return to Elder Yu''s estate. There, they left the cart with the bodies in the Elder''s courtyard and walked to the back of the enormous manor.


    In the back, Jack saw a huge strip of flat dead land, only a third filled with graves. As he studied the graves Jack noticed that most of them had only a wooden board as a marker, only a few had some kind of headstone.


    Du Angliang sent a few of them to get their shovels from a small shack that stood near the graveyard. After everyone had a shovel they went to a spot that looked like it had the freshest graves.


    Du Angliang commanded them to dig the necessary graves and left back towards the Elder''s manor. In response, everyone started to dig the holes as fast as possible.


    Jack furrowed his brows as he dragged his oversized shovel to Kuang Bindun and asked "What''s the hurry?"


    Kuang Bindun took a quick look over his shoulder at Jack, then continued digging while saying "The faster we''re done, the faster we can rest." He kept digging for a few seconds before he took a longer look at the manor and said with dread in his voice "Also, if the Elder notices that you aren''t working as hard as you can, you will die."


    Jack felt the hairs on the back of his neck raise up as he found a spot and started helping out with the digging. He couldn''t dig a grave on his own, but he helped the people that needed it as much as he could.


    As the Sun started setting in the West, they finished with the last grave and everyone went to return the shovels.


    Jack looked back at the fresh graves and asked Kuang Bindun who walked next to him "Do we have to go back later to bury the bodies?"


    Kuang Bindun shook his head as he said "No, we dig them up and the next day they''re full."


    Jack looked at Kuang Bindun and tried to figure out if he just made a joke, after a few seconds he looked back at the graves, then at Kuang Bindun once more, shrugged, and kept walking.


    When they came back to the courtyard of the estate, Du Angliang stood there waiting for them. The cart was gone.


    The team lined up once more with Jack standing at the far end.


    Du Angliang looked at every one of them, recited a few names, and walked towards a distant room of the manor.


    Jack watched as the few teens whose names were called stepped out and followed after Du Angliang with their faces drained of blood.


    Everyone else seemed to let out a slight sigh of relief as they started their journey back to their tiny houses.


    Jack hurried after Kuang Bindun and asked "What''s gonna happen to those guys?"


    Kuang Bindun glanced at him and said "Survive your week and you''ll find out."


    Jack stopped hurrying and fell to the back of the group.


    He looked up at the darkening sky and thought ''So, a beatings will continue until morale improves kind of place. I can work with that.'' while a smile spread across his bruised face.

 1.13 Digging for the Truth

    Jack followed the pack and found his way back to the house he woke up in that morning. He picked up the still laying door and, with some difficulty, slid it into the right spot in the doorway. He used the last few rays of sunlight to check out his new home.


    Opposite of the doorway on a few stone blocks stood a short cot. It had a Xiezhi goat woolen blanket thrown over some wooden planks, a tied up sack filled with dried grass for a pillow, and another dirty blanket for covering up.


    On the right of the doorway stood a rickety old table for one person with an accompanying stool. Nothing else remained in the small house, only the dirt floor, and the barely two-meter high ceiling.


    Jack turned away from his new home and walked to the house he saw Kuang Bindun enter.


    He stopped outside its closed doors and knocked. After half a minute he knocked louder.


    "What!" from the inside yelled the muffled voice of Kuang Bindun.


    "Can I ask you some questions?" shouted Jack.


    He heard a few grumbling noises from inside the house before the door slid open and Kuang Bindun stood glowering over Jack.


    Kuang Bindun looked at Jack''s calm eyes for a second, sighed, turned around, and walked back to sit on his cot. "You just keep talking and talking. This is the last time I''ll answer any of your questions before your week''s over." Kuang Bindun looked up at Jack from his cot and said "And don''t ask me about it." before Jack had the chance to open his mouth.


    Jack looked around the house, then at the broad slumped shoulders of Kuang Bindun, and considered his questions for a second.


    He pointed at a small pile of food on the table and asked "How do we get food?"


    Kuang Bindun gave a hollow laugh and said "You don''t." After a few seconds, he added "At least not yet. We get our rations every ten days. We got the last ration delivery two days ago."


    Jack furrowed his brows as he thought for a second and then asked "Can I get some rope around here?"


    Kuang Bindun raised his brows in surprise as he said "Not gonna complain about it?" Jack just shrugged and kept staring at him so he sighed and said "You can trade for some in the town."


    ''But you don''t have anything to trade with.'' Jack finished in his head what Kuang Bindun left unsaid.


    Jack thought about it and decided to ask his last question "How can someone leave this place?"


    This time Kuang Bindun laughed straight in his face "Hah! Go right ahead, you only have to cross miles upon miles of wild beast filled mountains and forests. And even if you manage to survive that, the Sect will send someone to take your head back as an example."


    Jack gave it some serious thought but decided against it. ''At least for now.'' he thought.


    He nodded his head, thanked Kuang Bindun for his help, and left the house.


    Jack walked around the place and didn''t find too much. Only a well for water and a garbage pit.


    He returned back home after his excursion and lay on his cot.


    In the middle of the night, he heard a noise so he crept to his door and slid it open just enough to see outside.


    A few human silhouettes stumbled their way through the darkness. ''The guys that Du Angliang called out earlier.'' realized Jack as he saw the tired faces in the moonlight.


    At their back, he saw Du Angliang walking as peacefully as before. His direction carried him straight towards Jack''s house.


    Jack quickly jumped away from the door and scurried back to his cot.


    After half a minute, the door slid open and Jack heard Du Angliang''s voice say "Get up."


    Jack pretended that he just woke up and took a few seconds to drag his body out of the cot.


    He stood in front of Du Angliang and with a slight bow and clasped hands greeted "Senior Brother Du."


    Du Angliang nodded his head and said "Take this." as he took out an old tattered scroll from his left sleeve.


    Jack took it and carefully unfurled it after a nod from Du Angliang. He could barely see anything on it, but just a few seconds later a bright glow filled up the entire tiny house. Jack looked up from the scroll and saw Du Angliang holding a glowing orb the size of a baby''s fist.


    ''So this bastard can do it too. Figures.'' Jack thought grimly as he looked at the glowing orb in slight wonder.


    Du Angliang placed the orb on the table and said in his cold voice "You have until this light goes out to learn the cultivation method that the scroll explains. If you do not, you will die."


    Jack swallowed and looked at the scroll again as he thought ''Cultivation?''


    The scroll showed a low-quality depiction of the human body with some lines drawn through it and their annotations. On the side of the sketch stood a weird description of the so-called cultivation, and under it stood some weird words that he was supposed to repeat to himself while cultivating.


    Jack only looked up when he heard movement coming from in front of him. Du Angliang already had one foot out of the door.


    Jack extended a hand towards him and yelled out "Wait! What am I supposed to do with this? I can''t read some of the wo¡­"


    He saw a shimmer in the air, and then his back slammed into the wall above his cot on which he crashed down.


    Before he could figure out what just happened he heard Du Angliang''s voice say "I warned you not to talk to your betters without being addressed first." After which, Du Angliang walked out of the house without looking back.


    "Son of a b*tch!" Jack groaned softly as he dragged himself off of the cot. He wobbled to the stool and sat down while he spread the scroll on the table.


    ''Repeat the something while drawing in spirit something through the Tai Yin meridian?'' Jack read as he checked the sketch next to the text for the Tai Yin meridian. ''How am I supposed to draw something that I can''t even see in?'' thought Jack as he continued reading down the list of instructions.


    It mainly described how to pull the spirit thing through some things called meridians to a place that he couldn''t understand to store it, and then how to expel it back out through some other meridians. Jack figured that he had to repeat the weird words written under the description while doing all of this, but he had no idea how to do it.


    He sat on his cot with his back against the wall and tried to read the weird words while he breathed in deeply. He couldn''t figure out how to see or feel the spirit thing, but he guessed that the air around him should have some of it since everyone else behaved like it did.


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    After a few hours of this, he gave up and went to bed. Even though he didn''t like sleeping, he decided that he would need all the energy he could muster in the next few days. So he stuffed the glowing orb into his pillowcase and fell asleep.


    In the morning, Jack followed everyone else down the mountain to the Tranquil Lake Town. This time Du Angliang led them down the path with his empty cart while everyone else followed on foot.


    When he left them in the courtyard, Jack went to Kuang Bindun and pulled out the old scroll that Du Angliang gave him last night from his uniform as he asked "Hey, can you help me with this?"


    Kuang Bindun glanced at Jack and then back to the corpse he was dragging as he said "I told you not to ask me¡­" before he could finish he snapped his head back and dropped the corpse''s legs.


    He grabbed Jack by the collar and dragged him to a corner of the courtyard as he hissed "Why did you bring that here? If the snake sees it he''ll strip the meat from your bones with his whip! Not everyone here hates him."


    Jack hurriedly hid the scroll in his uniform as he said "Sorry, I didn''t know. I just thought you could shine some light on this thing for me."


    Kuang Bindun furrowed his brows at Jack in confusion "Didn''t Du Angliang explain it to you?"


    Jack shook his head as he complained "No, he just said that I had to learn it until that glowing stone in my house went out or I''m dead."


    Kuang Bindun furrowed his brows even more as he asked "What did you do to him that he would want you dead?"


    Jack spread his arms wide in exasperation as he said in a whiny child''s voice "I don''t know."


    Kuang Bindun looked at him for a few seconds before sighing and saying "Fine, I''ll come to your house later today. For now, do your job and don''t let anyone else see that scroll."


    Jack nodded and thanked Kuang Bindun as they both returned to their work.


    The rest of the day went by without any accidents. After digging the graves for the new dead people, Du Angliang called out a few other names and took them with him while the rest of them returned home.


    Kuang Bindun followed Jack to his house and took in a sharp breath when Jack fished the glowing orb out of his pillowcase.


    "You must have done something to him." Kuang Bindun said as he pointed at the orb.


    Jack looked at the orb, then back at Kuang Bindun in confusion as he asked "Why?"


    "That thing will last for 3-4 days at most. He must have imbued it with less spirit energy." Kuang Bindun said as he shook his head and sat on the cot. He pointed at the small stool and instructed "You sit on that, I''m too big for it."


    Jack felt like someone walked over his grave as he sat down on the stool. He shook his head a little, pulled the scroll out of his uniform, and said with a slight smile "Then I guess I''ll have to figure this thing out before that."


    Kuang Bindun shook his head with a serious expression as he said "Most people that manage to learn it take 5-6 days, a few rare ones do it in 7. Only true geniuses can do it in less than 4 days."


    Jack laughed out loud as he said "I''m no genius, but I am stubborn. That should count for something."


    Kuang Bindun sighed and said "Fine. Let''s do this." as he took the scroll and spread it on his knees.


    For the next couple of hours, he explained everything that Jack had a problem with and left immediately after because he didn''t want to get caught by Du Angliang when he returned.


    ''So I need to draw the spirit energy from the air and guide it through these meridian things to a place called the dantian which should be around here somewhere.'' Jack thought as he touched his stomach, right under his navel.


    After a minute of touching himself, he thought ''Nope. Can''t feel a thing.'' and sighed.


    He sat in the awkward position Kuang Bindun taught him, with his legs crossed in front of him, closed his eyes, breathed in deep, and tried to relax while reciting the strange words from the cultivation chant in his head.


    Long after Du Angliang and the rest returned, Jack still sat there without any success. His brows furrowed in frustration as he opened his eyes and extricated himself from the cramped position he placed himself in.


    ''I can''t see it.'' he thought as he paced in his small house. He couldn''t imagine these meridians which the scroll said ran all through his body. Nothing like that existed in his previous world, and he saw the insides of more than a few people so he knew for sure.


    He suddenly stopped in his track and looked down at his left arm ''Can I¡­'' he thought for a second and then said "F*ck it!", hid the glowing orb under the cot, and sneaked out of the house.


    With the help of the moonlight, he went to the garbage pile and ruffled through it until he found a broken piece of clay pottery. He smiled and returned back to his house.


    Jack took the orb and placed it on the scroll that he spread across the table. He laid his left arm next to the scroll, while he held the broken pottery in his right, and looked at the scroll.


    He placed the sharp edge of the broken pottery over his forearm and slid it from his palm to just under his elbow, slowly. He had to be careful not to hit any major blood vessels.


    He kept his breathing even as he did a few passes over the wound to make it deeper.


    When he finished he carefully grabbed one side of the skin and lifted it. The pain almost made him faint.


    He blinked the sweat out of his eyes as he looked under the skin.


    There, all around the pumping blood vessels, meat, and bones, a few thin white lines snaked through everything.


    Jack released his skin with a sigh of relief as he thought ''Well, at least they''re not making things up.''


    He felt fatigue try to close his eyes shut but he fought it and quickly pinched his wound as closed as he could.


    Once again he sneaked out of his house to the well to get some water to wash out his wound and his old dirty pants.


    After doing what he could, he wrapped the pants around his left forearm and went back to his cot to sleep.


    Before sleep took him he thought ''I hope this spirit energy is as magical as Kuang Bindun said, or else even if I manage to cultivate the stuff the infection will kill me.''

 1.14 Shining Bright

    The pain from his arm woke Jack up a few times through the night. He finally gave up near dawn and tried to cultivate once more. After trying and failing for a long time he heard the others getting up and going out of their houses.


    He got up too and got himself ready for the day before following the group to the town.


    On the way down the mountain, Kuang Bindun slowed down to walk next to Jack and quietly asked "What happened?" as he nodded towards his bandaged arm.


    Jack gave him a pale-faced smile as he answered "Nothing serious, just fell and cut my arm."


    Kuang Bindun rose one eyebrow up in doubt, snorted, and walked ahead.


    When Du Angliang left them to their work Jack went to the back door to grab a body that had the clothes of a servant and looked even more malnourished than the rest of them. He wrapped its legs under his armpits, gritted his teeth, and dragged it to a free table.


    With some effort, he managed to pull it up to the table and strip it of its clothes. He wiped the dripping sweat from his brows as he went to the table where the Gravediggers held all of their equipment. From there he grabbed a sharp looking knife and went back to his table where he stripped down to his underwear.


    By now a few people looked at him, but most of them had disinterested eyes. Some of them even looked like they anticipated the show that would come from his escapades.


    When he got ready to make his first cut a large hand grabbed his right arm as he heard the voice of Kuang Bindun hiss in his ear "What the f*ck are you doing?!"


    Jack looked over his shoulder at the glowering eyes of Kuang Bindun and calmly said "I have to figure out how everything looks in there. Those sketches in the scroll look like a four-year-old child with poor artistic talent drew them. I don''t have time to imagine this s*hit."


    Kuang Bindun looked at him for a few seconds, then released his hand and turned to walk back to his work.


    Jack refocused his gaze on the corpse and started cutting near the fingertips.


    When he got to the shoulder he could visualize the meridians in his arms.


    When he stripped the chest he saw how the lungs were intertwined with the main meridian for taking in spirit energy.


    When he got to the fingertips of the other arm he figured out how the two arms made a cycle between themselves and the rest of the body.


    When he opened the stomach he had to dig through it for a bit before he found a golf ball sized lump of flesh fully enclosed in the white threads that made up meridians.


    With that, he gave a sigh of relief and almost slumped to the ground from exhaustion. Sweat poured down his back as he looked up at the sun and judged that he still had a bit of time until Du Angliang returned.


    Jack looked around the other tables and saw astonishment in the eyes of the few people that met his eyes. He ignored them and watched what they did when they ended their ministrations.


    For the most part, they cleaned the bodies from all the blood and dressed them back into their old clothes, and then called someone over to drag them over to the cart.


    Jack went to grab a water bucket and a dirty rag from where the carriers placed them every morning. In the water''s reflection, he saw a dirty little child with streaks of blood running down his face like tears and sighed.


    He first used the water to clean himself, and then cleaned as much of the dead body as he could before he put its and his clothes back on.


    When he finished with the cleanup he looked around for a second in an attempt to find someone to carry the body to the cart, but everyone avoided his eyes so he shrugged his shoulders and dragged the remains on his own.


    After that, he went back to the back door to wait for new corpses with the rest. No one spoke to him for the rest of the day.


    Later, when they finished with their daily grave digging, Du Angliang called Kuang Bindun''s name out when they lined up. Jack had to watch as the slightly shaking Kuang Bindun followed after their Elder Brother to the back of the estate.


    For the hundredth time, Jack wondered what they did every night that so scared all of these half-dead men. But he couldn''t do anything to help so he focused on his goal for the night and walked faster.


    As soon as he returned to his home he closed the door and took out the glowing orb out of the pillowcase. He sat in the position Kuang Bindun taught him, closed his eyes, regulated his breathing, and started reciting the cultivation chant in his head.


    With each breath, Jack imagined the spirit energy he collected through his breathing flowing through a web of meridians similar to the one he saw that morning.


    For the first hour, he felt the same as he did the previous times he tried cultivating.


    He didn''t let that distract him, and as he sank deeper and deeper into the imagined picture of the connected meridians forming an uninterrupted flow in his body he suddenly felt¡­ something.


    With a deep breath, he felt like he swallowed a gulp of a cold beverage during a blazing hot day. The sensation of the ''liquid'' felt so abrupt that it broke his entire concentration making him lose the feeling immediately.


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    Even so, a huge smile spread across Jack''s face as he thought ''Ha, got you now!'' with joy, and refocused his efforts.


    Half an hour later he managed to feel the same refreshing feeling once more. This time he didn''t allow himself to lose it and imagined the energy going through the pathways that the scroll said it should take.


    For the first few tries he lost the feeling almost as soon as he tried to guide it, but with each try, it felt easier to send the energy through the pathways it went through earlier. Until finally it went all the way through his body and found the cluster of meridians located in his stomach that coiled around the dantian.


    There he found a barrier. No matter how hard he tried to push the energy against the dantian wall he couldn''t make it go through. The scroll described that all he had to do is to push the energy into the dantian and he would finish his first full cycle of cultivation.


    He kept forcing the ever increasing energy to bang against the dantian wall but had no success.


    When it started to hurt like someone kicked him in the stomach every time he tried to push the energy in he stopped all of his efforts and wiped the sweat off of his brow.


    ''This isn''t right. Why isn''t the energy going in? Neither the scroll nor Kuang Bindun mentioned anything about an obstruction in the dantian.'' Jack thought as he sat in contemplation.


    He went over all of the steps he needed to take ''Breathe, recite the chant, imagine the process, draw in the energy, cycle it to the¡­ Wait. It can''t be that simple.'' he thought with a furrowed brow as he went back into his position for cultivation.


    He did everything as before, only this time he imagined the whole dantian and the spirit energy going into it. Last time he only imagined up to the point of the cluster of meridians around the dantian.


    This time he didn''t feel anything. Like no obstruction existed in the first place. The guided energy just went through the walls of the dantian and gathered there.


    Jack felt like a butterfly moved into his stomach, a nice cooling butterfly, but still a fluttering little bastard nonetheless.


    For a second he just sat there in wonder at the feeling, but then he awkwardly rose up from his cramped position and started jumping around the house from joy.


    He didn''t dare yell from the fear of alerting the rest of what happened, but in his mind, he shouted ''Yes! Finally! Now I can start paying these sociopaths back!'' as he picked the glowing orb up from the table and stared at it.


    It still shone brightly, but even with his limited experience, he could see that it shone brighter last night. He went back to his cot and returned to his cultivating position, this time with the orb in his hand.


    What he tried next wasn''t to pull in more spirit energy, this time he tried to pull the energy that he stored into his dantian through his meridians and into the orb.


    When he saw Du Angliang pull it out and light it, Jack didn''t see him do anything special. Only pour his spirit energy into it. So decided to give it a shot.


    Drawing the energy out of the dantian felt weirder than filling it up. The first time he emptied it Jack felt like he lost something vital and quickly lost the control over the energy that he guided towards his right hand.


    Quickly he focused on drawing more energy back into the dantian and could only let out a small sigh of relief when he felt it filling up.


    On his next attempt, he only took a portion of the energy out and sent it towards his right hand. It felt the same as when he first opened the path towards his dantian. He had to take in and then release the energy constantly to make the path more stable.


    When he finally guided the energy to the tips of the fingers of his right hand he hit another barrier. For some time he tried to force the energy through and even tried to pour it through the pores on his palms, but nothing seemed to work.


    He stopped for a second and almost smacked himself on the head as he guided another strand of spirit energy, this time imagining the glowing orb as a part of the natural circulation of the energy.


    This time Jack felt the strand leave him and pour into the orb. He snapped his eyes open and looked at the orb. It still glowed with the same intensity as before.


    Jack halted for a second in surprise, but then he closed his eyes and kept sending strands of energy into the orb. After 15 minutes of this, he opened his eyes once more and saw a slight increase in brightness from the orb.


    A smile spread across his face as he closed his eyes and kept pouring his spirit energy into the orb. He only stopped when the noise from the others waking up interrupted his cultivation.


    By now the orb shined almost as brightly as when Jack got it. With a sly smile, he stood up and stored it in his pillowcase.


    He stretched his body and did a few exercises to limber himself up before leaving the house to join the others. As he did he thought ''I''ll have to continue my studies today.'' with a grim little smirk on his face.

 1.15 Miscalculation

    On the way down the mountain, Jack saw that Kuang Bindun had a fresh cut on his left cheek, going from his ear to his jawline.


    He sped his steps up and caught up with Kuang Bindun who glanced at him and then did a double take with eyes as wide as saucers.


    "What happened to you?" Jack asked as he looked at the cut.


    Kuang Bindun gave Jack a stiff smile as he said "Looks like you''ll find out soon enough."


    Jack furrowed his brows as he asked "What do you mean?"


    Kuang Bindun pointed at Jack''s stomach and said "That."


    Jack''s eyes widened as he quickly glanced at the front of the column where Du Angliang drove his cart, and then back at Kuang Bindun as he whispered "How do you know?" he nodded at the cart and said "Does he know?"


    Kuang Bindun shrugged his shoulders as he answered with a "Probably not."


    He walked a few steps in silence while looking at Du Angliang and frowning before saying "It''s a feeling you get. Works better if the person''s on a lower stage of cultivation than you. I only noticed because I hang around you a lot, other people don''t care so they won''t figure it out in the beginning without looking for it. If you don''t want for our dear Elder Brother to find out you better stay as far away from him as you can."


    Jack took it all in and walked in silence for a while.


    Just before they went into town Jack asked "Can other people tell that I succeeded in my cultivation if there''s no spiritual energy in my dantian?"


    Kuang Bindun looked at Jack in surprise "Why would you do that? It feels so wrong."


    Jack shook his head slightly as he said "Never get so attached to something if you can''t bear to let it go, my friend. I learned that the hard way."


    Kuang Bindun looked at Jack with a slight smile as he murmured "Friend huh? You''re a strange twelve-year-old, Song Tanda."


    Jack chuckled as he thought ''Actually, I''m eight. This life really does put a toll on a body.'' but he said, "Can you cover for me in the courtyard while I try to exhaust my spirit energy?"


    Kuang Bindun hesitated for a moment but nodded his head in the end.


    Jack thanked him and drifted back to the rear of the train to get as far away from Du Angliang as possible. With that, he managed to avoid notice all the way until Du Angliang left to enjoy himself in the town.


    When everyone started doing their jobs Jack went to a shaded part of the courtyard wall and sat in his cultivation position. He had no problems with getting the energy out of the dantian, but when he started releasing control of it on purpose while it ran through his meridians this time it didn''t dissipate, but started to run through the already cleared paths and hurting him.


    Every time the uncontrolled energy passed through his meridians it felt like a razor blade went along for the ride. He quickly refocused through the pain and seized control of the energy.


    ''Why is this happening? Last night when I lost control it just dissipated.'' he wondered as he guided the energy back into the dantian. He sat there for a few minutes as he thought about what happened. ''Last night I didn''t know what to do or how to do it, this morning I sort of do. Is that the reason? Ah, this is so annoying. I don''t have enough information about any of this.''


    After a few more minutes he gave up and decided to use the method he used last night. He didn''t have the glowing orb so he first tried to form a cycle from his body''s meridians and the air outside.


    This made him vomit the meager amount of food left in his stomach into his mouth. The sensory input he received when he tried to connect to the outside world overwhelmed his brain and he had to fight with everything he had to cut it and not faint right then and there.


    Jack swallowed with a grimace as he wiped the sweat from his brow ''OK, bad plan. What else can I use?'' he thought as he looked around at his surroundings.


    A few people nearest to him gave him a few glances, but the rest seemed like they didn''t even notice him. Everyone seemed to understand what he was doing and left him alone to his task.


    ''At least they''re not totally gone.'' Jack thought as he grabbed a fist-sized stone from the courtyard and closed his eyes again.


    Once more he guided the spirit energy from his dantian to the palm of his right hand. There he imagined the rock as a part of his cultivation cycle and started pouring the energy into it in the same way as he did with the glowing orb.


    At first, he had a few issues with pushing his energy into the stone, but as he got used to it he started to drain the last of it out of his dantian and into the stone.


    When the last bit of energy left Jack''s body he started to feel like he had just run a marathon. All of the little and large wounds on his body screamed for his attention. He didn''t notice it before, but ever since he succeeded in his cultivation he felt less pain from all of the wounds he accumulated on his body.


    With a smothered gasp of pain, he opened his eyes and looked at the rock in his right hand.


    For a second everything looked normal, but then he started seeing faint shimmers of spirit energy appear on the surface of the stone. Jack didn''t know what that meant, but his gut felt certain that it wasn''t anything good.


    He looked around and found out that he sat in the most deserted part of the courtyard already, only one more teen stood at a table around five meters away from him. He tossed the rock in the most distant place that he could, clambered to his feet, and ran towards the lanky teen with all the energy he could muster.


    The teen saw him coming from the corner of his eye and turned towards him in confusion, a knife still held in one bloody hand.


    Jack used his bandaged left arm as a shield as he swatted the knife away, placed a leg behind the teen''s own legs and tackled the taller boy to the ground.


    He felt a sharp pain on his arm as the knife sliced through the bandage and went right across the upper part of his forearm. Jack didn''t care as he hunkered down over the teen.


    From under him, Jack heard curses and the teen growling "Let go of¡­" *BANG*


    Before he could finish a loud cracking noise sounded out from where Jack tossed the rock.


    Jack felt some shrapnel streak across his back and leave a couple of hot burning lines of pain.


    All the noise in the courtyard stopped as everyone turned their gaze towards the exploding sound. When the dust cloud settled they saw one ruined table, a number of holes on the courtyard wall, and two twitching bodies dressed in dirty whites lying on the ground.


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    "What happened?!" one of the teens furthest from the explosion yelled.


    "I just saw the new kid attack Shi Furui and then something exploded behind them." said a carrier that stood closer by.


    "I saw the whole thing; Song Tanda sat in meditation for a while, then threw a rock from his hands at the wall and tackled Shi Furui to the ground. Immediately after that the rock exploded and did all that damage to the table and wall." said a teen that stood a few tables away from where Jack tackled the closest teen.


    "Imbuement?! Impossible, only sect disciples that passed the barrier to the 4th grade can do that." said an older boy as he looked at the one that reported on what happened with derision.


    They continued to bicker amongst themselves as Kuang Bindun rushed to Jack''s side and gently dragged him off of the stunned lanky teen that lay on the floor.


    "Are you all right?" he asked with concern in his eyes as he checked Jacks bleeding left arm and back. He looked around and grabbed a shirt from the corpse that Shi Furui worked on before and ripped it into something resembling bandages.


    Jack coughed a bit of blood in response and gave a mirthless laugh as he said "Think anyone noticed that?"


    Kuang Bindun snorted in response and started to dab at Jack''s wounds with the new bandages.


    The teen that Jack saved, Shi Furui, lay in a daze for a few seconds before he turned his head, looked at Jack, and stammered out "Th-thank you."


    Jack coughed once more and said "No problem. Was my mess to clean up in the first place." as he struggled to keep eye contact with Shi Furui and winked at him.


    While everyone else continued their argument Kuang Bindun picked Jack up like a baby and carried him to a free table. There he stripped Jack of the shirt of his work uniform and hissed as he saw all the wounds on his frail looking body.


    He shook his head a few times and started to bandage Jack''s old and new wounds up as best as he could.


    Jack broke the silence with a stifled laugh as he said "Didn''t think I''d get to see this side of the table this soon."


    Kuang Bindun clucked his tongue as he warned "Be serious. Du Angliang will find out about this soon, you might really find out sooner than you''d like."


    His statement showed true soon enough as Du Angliang returned in a huff way earlier than he usually did. Either someone notified him about the explosion in the courtyard, or he had more hidden eyes and ears than Jack suspected.


    "What happened?!" Du Angliang yelled as soon as he passed through the main door of the courtyard. A few people went straight to report to him, Jack watched them from the corner of his eye and took notes in his head.


    After the briefing, Du Angliang walked straight to the table on which Jack lay. Kuang Bindun didn''t dare to stand in his way so he stepped away as soon as Du Angliang arrived in the courtyard under Jack''s urging.


    "So, you succeeded in your cultivation?" asked Du Angliang in his cold voice as he looked at Jack like one would look at an insect standing in one''s way.


    Jack looked up into his reptilian eyes for a second, lowered his gaze, and said weakly "Yes, Elder Brother."


    Du Angliang snorted softly and said "Get up. You will be confined to your house until Elder Yu returns."


    Jack''s gaze sharpened for an instance, but he didn''t say anything except for "Yes, Elder Brother." as he dragged his aching body off of the table.


    At one moment Kuang Bindun looked like he would jump in to give him a hand, but Jack warned him off with his eyes, so he gave up after a second of internal struggle.


    Du Angliang looked at the trembling boy in front of him and sneered. A second later he turned around on his heel and walked off towards the main entrance in the same fast pace that he always used as he left the words "Follow me." drifting in his wake.


    Jack used all of his willpower to move his legs fast enough to follow Du Angliang, leaving the silent courtyard behind him.


    When they reached Jack''s house his sweat soaked into his new bandages and they stung him immensely. Du Angliang even made him open the door himself.


    He could only give a small sigh of relief as he walked into the cool shade of the damp house.


    Du Angliang followed him in and said "Give me the Light Orb."


    Jack untied his sack pillow and fished out the glowing orb. With a shaking hand, he gave it over to Du Angliang.


    Du Angliang looked at the shining orb with some surprise evident in his eyes as he blurted out "You managed to fill it up? When did you succeed in your cultivation?"


    Jack nodded his head and said "Yes, Elder Brother. I only managed to cultivate a bit of spirit energy last night."


    Du Angliang sneered as he almost shouted "Do you take me for a fool?!" he looked at the orb once more and calmed down "It does not matter, you will answer to the Elder when he returns from his trip." He turned his cold eyes to Jack and said "Take your uniform off; I would hate to ruin it even more while administering your punishment."


    Jack looked at Du Angliang''s eyes for a second before saying "Yes, Elder Brother." and started to take his clothes off.


    When he stood in only a loincloth Du Angliang looked him up and down and said "Turn around and place your hands against the wall."


    Jack steadied his breathing and assumed the ordered position. The thing that stood out the most in his memory before the pain begun was the feeling of his hot hands against the cool wall.


    "For disobedience, you are punished with two strikes of the whip." Du Angliang declared as Jack saw from the corner of his eye Du Angliang swing his hand and a shimmering whip made of spirit energy appear and lash against Jack''s wounded back.


    Jack let out a muffled scream as his entire body shook with the unfamiliar pain of spirit energy lashing. His skin broke where the whip passed by, but it didn''t bleed. It almost looked cauterized, even though nothing really burned.


    "For destroying sect property you are punished with five strikes of the whip." Du Angliang said as he once more started his punishment.


    Jack stopped counting when he got to thirteen. He could only lie on the floor and sob. The last thing he remembered before he passed out was his body screaming for some spirit energy to heal itself, and a cool sensation seeping through his skin.

 1.16 Surprises in the Night

    In the light of the setting sun, Jack hunkered down behind a tree as he looked at the controller in his hand.


    Through the screen he directed his surveillance drone to fly out of the mountain forest he hid into the other side of the mountain. There he saw a village filled with army transports in smoldering ruins. Next to the village, an army camp was still in the building process.


    ''Looks like a full company, we''ll have to call in some support for this one.'' thought Jack as he made the drone move in closer.


    The drone moved silently around the camp while it recorded places and persons of interest, along the way Jack saw the couple dozen surviving prisoners, tied and beaten, stuffed into cages made for dogs.


    Just as he flew the drone closer to what looked like the command center his screen went black.


    Jack looked at the screen for a second, cursed the EMP field, threw the controller to the ground, and stamped on it a few times with his military boot.


    He tapped the communications device in his ear once, waited for a second, signaled twice, waited for a second, and signaled once. He proceeded to do the same thing with it as he did with the controller and started running down the mountain.


    Before he reached the bottom he spotted three drones flying near him, not even trying to remain hidden. He stopped running and fired off a few shots from his sidearm, but couldn''t hit the fast-moving targets.


    As he reached the bottom of the mountain he proceeded to run for another five minutes before he found his camouflaged motorcycle in the bushes where he left it. Jack extricated it out of the bushes and rode off down the dirt path with the three drones following in his wake.


    He kept repeating ''Have to get out of their range. Have to get out of their range.'' to himself as he gunned the throttle.


    After a couple of minutes, he saw a dust plume rising in his rear-view mirror. He started cursing while he took riskier and riskier paths in an attempt to throw them off.


    Half an hour later night crept upon the land, but the drones still faithfully stayed on his tail. ''If I keep this up I''ll run out of gas.'' Jack thought as he started to look for places where he could take shelter.


    After another quarter of an hour, he saw a dilapidated house standing in an abandoned field next to the dirt road. He hesitated, looked at his fuel gauge, and turned into the field.


    Jack jumped off of the bike as it slowed down and ran for the small house. It had no door in the doorway so Jack just ran in, grabbed his gun, and hid with his back to the wall. A second later the drones followed him in and he started firing. When he emptied his magazine, one drone lay destroyed, one kept flying but had a couple of feet missing, and the last one looked brand new.


    Jack quickly grabbed a new magazine to reload, but the remaining two drones flew out of the house before he could take them out. He looked outside of the house and saw one drone flying high in the air ''The other one''s covering the back.'' he thought as he drew his head back in and sat down on the floor.


    ''They want me alive. Otherwise, they would have taken me out from long range already.'' Jack concluded while he took deep breaths to calm himself down. He looked around the small house and saw a couple of windows and a broken down wall that used to separate the house into two parts.


    ''I''m too vulnerable here.'' he thought as he checked his ammo. He only had two magazines left, after that he would have to resort to his knife.


    Jack took a long look at his gun, and slowly raised it to his temple.


    Just as he started to exert pressure on the trigger he heard three rumbling noises coming from outside of the house. He peeked through the doorway and saw three motorcycles for two stop around 20 meters away from the house.


    Each pair crouched behind their large bike and looked at the house. Three of the soldiers held drone controllers.


    Jack lowered his gun and thought ''A driver and a controller, the rest of the posse shouldn''t catch up that fast.'' He looked around the room once more, checked his equipment, and ran for the window in the back.


    As soon as he jumped out of the window he heard shouts from the front of the house, and soon after the roar of engines.


    Jack kept running away from the house until he heard the bikes, he then turned and sprinted for the corner from which he heard the most engine noise.


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    As he neared the corner the first bike came into his sight. He emptied his magazine at less than 10 meters and took down both the driver and the controller. While he reloaded the second bike passed the crashed first bike and kept going forward.


    Jack emptied his second magazine and took out the passenger, but the driver still remained.


    The third bike came from the other side of the house, saw what happened to the first bike, and went straight for Jack.


    Jack threw away his gun, drew his Bowie knife, and charged at the oncoming bike.


    Before he could take more than five steps shots came from the third bike.


    As Jack slammed into the ground while twitching from the electricity coming from the stun bullets the world crumbled around him.


    Pain ran through Jack as he pried his eyes open. ''Less than I expected.'' he thought in slight wonderment as he stared at the wall of his small house.


    He tried to turn to his side but a large hand firmly pressed his shoulder back down and forced him to lie on his front.


    Jack turned his head and saw the imposing silhouette of Kuang Bindun standing in the darkness.


    "You starting a career in nursing?" asked Jack in a hoarse whisper.


    He heard a snort and then Kuang Bindun answered "Du Angliang made me take care of you." he stopped for a second and continued "His exact words were ''If he dies before the Elder returns so will you."


    "Doesn''t sound like something he''d do." said Jack wryly which made him go into a sudden coughing fit. The pain caused by the sudden movement made him tear up.


    Kuang Bindun gave a grunt of agreement and brought a clay cup to Jack''s lips when he finished coughing.


    A few seconds later Jack thanked him and asked "He took the light with him too?"


    Kuang Bindun sat down on the floor next to the cot with a tired sigh and said "Yeah. These last couple of days he kept calling me out for the graveyard shift too." he turned his head towards Jack and in a flat voice said "Thanks."


    Jack almost laughed, but he stopped himself in time and said "Anytime."


    A minute passed in silence before Jack started shifting his body on the cot.


    Kuang Bindun sat up from his reclined position and extended a hand towards the cot as he said "Stop doing that. You''ll only make the pain worse. Spirit energy wounds take a long time to heal on their own."


    Jack didn''t seem to mind as he slowly shifted his body around to lay on his right side so he could face the doorway.


    When he finished he gave a sigh of relief and said "It''s not that bad. I moved some spirit energy to my back to keep the worst of it at bay."


    Kuang Bindun froze for a couple of seconds, then jumped to his feet and yelled "You what!?"


    Jack threw Kuang Bindun a reproachful look as he whispered "Keep it down, you''ll wake everyone up."


    Kuang Bindun looked left and right in surprise, then stepped up the cot and crouched down to look at Jack''s body closely.


    After a few seconds, he murmured "You''re right, some spirit energy is running through you." He looked up at Jack''s face and whispered in wonder "How?"


    Jack furrowed his brows as he said "What do you mean how? You told me how to take care of wounds with spirit energy."


    Kuang Bindun almost smacked Song Tanda''s head as he said "Not that, you moron. How do you have any spirit energy? Didn''t you empty it all out in the corpse courtyard two days ago? I couldn''t feel any while I took care of you. I doubt our dear Elder Brother gave you some time to meditate before he whipped you."


    Jack''s brows furrowed even more as he tried to think about the last few minutes before he passed out. After a few seconds, he said "You''re right, I didn''t have any spirit energy before Du Angliang whipped me. But when I woke up I felt some swirling around my dantian."


    Kuang Bindun slowly shook his head as he said "That''s impossible. You have to actively meditate to accumulate spirit energy. I''ve heard that only on higher levels of cultivation can you just breathe it from the air."


    Jack sighed and said "Well, I don''t know what to tell you. The last thing I remember is getting my ass whipped and then passing o¡­" He suddenly stopped and stared into space as the feeling of coolness seeping into his skin came back to him.


    Kuang Bindun felt his heart jump into his throat as he asked "What?"


    A smile slowly spread over Jack''s pale face as he said "I don''t think I breathed it in."

 1.17 Shattering Dogma

    "What do you mean?" Kuang Bindun asked as he stared at Song Tanda in confusion.


    "Wait." Jack said as he closed his eyes and focused.


    ''I''m sure that I gathered the energy by simply absorbing it through the meridians in my skin. No breathing techniques or weird chanting required. Just¡­ do I have to get my ass kicked for it to kick in?'' Jack thought as he tried to replicate the phenomenon from a couple of nights ago.


    After as much time as it takes to brew a cup of tea passed Kuang Bindun broke the silence with a nervous "Well?"


    Jack snapped his eyes open and sighed "Can''t get it to work so fast. This is gonna take some time. You better go back home and get some rest."


    After a second of hesitation Kuang Bindun nodded reluctantly and said "Sure, but you have to tell me everything. I''ll see you tomorrow night, probably after the graveyard shift again." he finished with a sigh and went out of the house.


    Jack made himself as comfortable as possible in his hard cot and closed his eyes in an attempt to capture that peculiar feeling. After a couple of hours, his fatigue got the better of him and he fell asleep.


    The next morning started off with a curse for Jack as his back spasmed in pain. He quickly moved some spirit energy to his back meridians on instinct and felt the pain subside.


    ''This whole spirit energy thing is super weird.'' he thought with a chuckle as he marveled at the uses of this strange energy.


    He flicked his eyes around the room and, except for a slight ray of sun coming through a crack in the doorway, everything seemed normal. He reached down in front of his bed where Kuang Bindun left some water for him in a bowl, took a few mouthfuls, and closed his eyes in concentration.


    After a few minutes in thought, Jack remembered ''I felt the spirit energy entering through my skin, but not through all of it. I''m certain that only my torso and arms felt the cooling sensation. But, the diagram said that the meridians go through the entire body.'' he frowned for a few seconds before he realized ''But I know how the meridians of the torso and the arms are arranged. I only have a vague idea on how they look in the rest of the body. The cultivation technique didn''t specify the need for them so I didn''t study them and left them for later.''


    Jack stopped thinking and focused fully on all of the meridians he knew of that had contact with the skin. He tried everything he could think of to suck the energy out of the air and into the meridians connected to his skin.


    After a few hours, he sighed and opened his eyes to grab a drink. As he did he thought ''Should I try and imagine the air as a part of my cultivation cycle again? Nah, don''t want to make my injuries even worse. Last time I didn''t know what could happen and still almost passed out, this time something a lot more painful might happen like when I tried to dissipate the energy in the courtyard.''


    He placed the cup down on the ground and glanced at the ray of sun that moved from its previous position ''Noon already, those bastards are probably having lunch right about now. What I wouldn''t give for a cheeseb¡­'' Jack suddenly stopped moving and stared at the motes of dust floating in the ray of sun.


    ''It can''t be that simple¡­'' he thought as he squeezed his eyes shut and focused on the meridians that he could feel had contact with the skin.


    After a few minutes, he felt the now familiar cooling feeling seep into the meridians connected to his skin on his torso and arms.


    Jack opened his eyes and started laughing.


    Kuang Bindun dragged his exhausted body towards Song Tanda''s house and slid the door open. In the light of the moons, he saw the young boy lying on his cot with his eyes closed.


    Jack watched through his eyelashes as he heard someone open his door. When he saw Kuang Bindun he opened them fully and said "Come in, and close the door."


    Kuang Bindun blinked away the fatigue in his eyes as he followed Song Tanda''s instructions. When he turned around from closing the door he saw Song Tanda sitting up on his cot. He reached up to his face to rub his eyes. After a firm rubbing, he still saw the same scene, only this time Song Tanda had a slight smirk on his shadowed face.


    "How?" Kuang Bindun breathed out in wonder. His brows furrowed in anger as he asked "Did you force yourself to sit up in meditation?"


    Jack laughed at Kuang Bindun''s expression and said "Watch this." With that, he closed his eyes and focused on the meridians in his skin."


    A minute later Kuang Bindun hissed and stepped away from Jack until his broad shoulders hit a wall.


    Jack opened his eyes and frowned at Kuang Bindun in confusion "What''s wrong?"


    "You¡­ How¡­ Why¡­" Kuang Bindun spluttered while pointing a calloused finger at Jack.


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    Jack gingerly pushed himself off of the cot, showed his palms to Kuang Bindun, and said in a soothing voice "Relax, I''ll explain everything." He sat back down on the cot with a sigh and patted the spot next to him as he said "Come, sit."


    Kuang Bindun looked around the room like a frightened animal, hesitated for a couple of seconds, and asked "You''re not a demon, are you?"


    Jack almost broke his calming demeanor with a fit of laughter, but he held it in as he said "No, I am not. Would a demon let himself get whipped close to death by some uppity moron?"


    Kuang Bindun gave a hollow laugh as he said "I guess not." He looked at the cot like it killed a close friend of his, took a deep steadying breath, slowly came close to it and sat down.


    They sat next to each other for a dozen seconds before Jack broke the silence as he started talking slowly "So, I think that while Du Angliang was whipping me my subconscious screamed for spirit energy to relieve the pain. As I just got used to the feeling of spirit energy taking the edge off of pain it considered it the thing I needed most at the time."


    Jack started to talk faster as he got into his story "The way I see it, no one ever told me that it couldn''t be done, so I never had a block in my head that prevented me from doing it when I needed it the most. Especially when all of my mental barriers broke down from the pain. It enabled my subconscious mind to absorb spirit energy through the meridians in my skin."


    He stood up from the cot and started to slowly walk from one end of the house to the other as he continued "After I woke up I could remember what happened, but couldn''t figure out how to do it again. I knew that the air had spirit energy in it, but I couldn''t get the meridians in my skin to take it in."


    He stopped walking and looked at the closed door with a smile "But then it came to me, Bindun. Particles, molecules, atoms, and smaller things. Everything''s made out of them. How do people breathe? We inhale air and then our lungs filter out what they need and expel the rest. I presumed that that''s how the first cultivation techniques came into being. That''s maybe the reason why so many meridians gather around the lungs."


    Jack looked at Kuang Bindun with a grin "If our lungs can filter out oxygen from the air, why couldn''t our meridians filter spirit energy from it too? From that, I just had to learn the trick of instructing my meridians on how to gather spirit energy from the air."


    Kuang Bindun looked at Jack with wide open eyes as he said "Tanda, what are you talking about?"


    Jack furrowed his brows as he thought ''What? Oh crap, they''re primitives. I keep forgetting.'' He sighed and suddenly felt the pain from all the unconscious movement that he did hit him at once.


    His knees buckled and he almost fell to the ground, but strong arms grabbed his body and held him up. Jack looked up at Kuang Bindun''s face and said "Thanks." as Kuang Bindun guided Jack back to his cot.


    Jack lay on his side and looked up at the burly teen with an exhausted wry smirk as he said "Sorry about that. I got a bit too excited while I waited for you to come." He could still feel a slight shake in Kuang Bindun''s hands when he helped him.


    Kuang Bindun stepped away from the cot as he looked down at Jack and said "What you just said didn''t make any sense. Are you sure that you''re not a demon?"


    Jack chuckled as he responded "Pretty sure." He calmed himself down and said "Look, it''s complicated. I learned some of these things from a traveling scholar I met a few years ago. I can teach you if you want. Then we can make some tests and see if my theory about spirit energy holds any merit."


    Kuang Bindun looked over his shoulder at the door for a second, turned back to look at the small boy lying in the cot, took a calming breath and asked "Are you sure I can learn to do what you did?"


    Jack gave him a reassuring smile as he answered "Of course. It''s just going to take a bit of time to change the way you think. Right now I''m too tired to teach you anything, we can start tomorrow."


    Kuang Bindun nodded his head in acceptance and said "Alright, Tanda. I''ll trust you, for now." He turned and went to the door. As he touched the door he stopped and asked "By the way, what theory about spirit energy did you come up with?"


    Jack stayed quiet for a few seconds before he opened his mouth to say "I don''t think I''m ready to share it with anyone just yet. When I am you''ll be the first person I tell it to."


    Kuang Bindun grunted in acquiescence, slid the door open, exited the house, and slid the door closed.


    Jack stared at the dark door while a flicker of guilt shimmered in the depths of his eyes as he thought ''Sorry pal, I don''t think you''re ready to admit that everything you believe in is a lie, just yet.'' He closed his tired eyes and fell into a deep sleep.

 1.18 Secret Beginnings

    As soon as Jack woke up he moved the spirit energy stored in his dantian to his injuries and cycled it around them to continue their healing process. He slowly sat up on his cot and looked at the door. ''I can probably go and walk around without anyone noticing, but better not risk it.'' he thought as he sighed and stood up to do some stretches.


    While doing some simple exercises he thought ''The new cultivation method could have infinite potential, but I''m still doing it with only a half of my body. I need to get back to the courtyard to finish my studies and incorporate the other meridians in the cycle. Right now it absorbs spirit energy at about one third the speed of the cultivation technique that Du Angliang gave me. I should check it out again to see if I missed something.''


    Jack stretched to his full height as he finished his exercises and went back to the cot. There he sat with his legs crossed and closed his eyes. He started to chant the now familiar scripture while regulating his breathing. After half an hour he didn''t have any success in absorbing spirit energy.


    ''Damn, is it because I have doubts on how the technique operates? Or is because I see spirit energy in a new light now?'' Jack thought as he furrowed his brows and focused his entire strength of will onto imagining the previously simple task.


    Sweat started to drip down Jack''s face after another quarter of an hour of failure. Just as he prepared to give up, a thread of spirit energy entered the meridians in his lungs and started its short journey towards his dantian.


    At the moment it entered his dantian and mixed in with the gathered spirit energy there Jack felt like someone stabbed a red-hot poker into his stomach. A spasm made him roll off of the cot and slam his injured back onto the dirt ground which sent another spike of pain coursing through Jack''s body.


    He gritted his teeth as he gathered the bits of his shattered focus back together and extricated the foreign strand of spirit energy from his dantian. It didn''t save him from the pain. This time everywhere the strand of foreign energy went felt like someone poured boiling lava into his meridians.


    From the corner of his eye, Jack saw the cup he used for drinking underneath his bed. He extended his left hand and grabbed it with a grip that made light cracks appear on it. The look in his eyes turned determined as he forced the cursed spirit energy strand to move from his abdomen to his hand, and from there into the cup.


    As soon as he forced the last of the strand into the cup he threw it towards a corner of the small house opposite of the table. He quickly grabbed both of the blankets from his bed and squeezed himself behind the wooden side of the table while covering everything with the blankets.


    After a minute of hard breathing, he swallowed and peeked from behind the table to look at the thrown cup. It lay on the ground in the opposite corner of the house with a few additional cracks running through it.


    Jack leaned his aching back on the wall with a huge sigh of relief. After a few seconds, he started ruefully shaking his head as he made fun of his actions. ''Only a strand of spirit energy, you moron, only a strand. Had to empty my entire dantian last time for that explosion. I must have looked like a fresh recruit with his first fake grenade.''


    He chuckled a few more times at his stupidity, but then his face turned serious as he thought ''Why aren''t the spirit energies compatible? Is it something that happens normally when you try to mix different cultivation techniques, or does my method have an adverse effect on other methods? I still know so little.'' Jack sighed and picked himself up from the ground with a groan.


    He lay back on the cot and started drawing spirit energy in through his skin and using it to heal his damaged meridians while thinking ''I have to get Kuang Bindun to bring me some food, the spirit energy takes the edge off of the hunger, but it''s not enough, all this regeneration is draining my reserves.''


    As night fell Jack managed to sort his internal wounds out and refocused on his external ones.


    He heard someone near his house so he stopped cultivating and turned his gaze towards the door.


    When it slid open a tall and elegant silhouette stood in the doorway.


    Du Angliang said, "Get up and follow me."


    Jack furrowed his brows as he extricated himself from his cot and exited his house. From the corner of his eye, he saw a worried looking Kuang Bindun standing in front of his home. Jack gave him a quick reassuring smile and hurried after Du Angliang''s shadow.


    Du Angliang led Jack back to Elder Yu''s estate. Once again they had to stand in the courtyard for hours before the door to Elder Yu''s study opened and they entered it.


    This time Jack took it all in stride. He worried more about what to do if the Elder asked him to demonstrate his cultivation process than he cared about the side glances of contempt Du Angliang kept shooting at him.


    When they entered the study they greeted the Elder who still sat behind his mountain of scrolls. He glanced up at them and waved a hand at Du Angliang in dismissal as he returned his gaze to the scroll in front of him.


    Jack saw a small hint of concern flash in Du Angliang''s eyes as he bowed and walked out of the room. The door closed behind him.


    After a few minutes, Elder Yu finally looked up at Jack with a slight smirk as he said "Catch." and threw something at Jack.


    Jack almost fumbled the item from the surprise, but he managed to grab it from the air in his second attempt. His hand closed around a smooth hard surface. When he opened it he saw a clear orb the size of a baby''s fist resting in his palm.


    He looked up at the Elder and saw an encouraging smile on his face as he said "I heard you can imbue your spirit energy into things already. Show me.'' Elder Yu''s eyes took on a slightly manic gleam as he focused on Jack''s hand.


    Jack gulped and closed his eyes. The pressure he felt from Elder Yu made it so that it took him over a minute to get his energy to move out of his dantian and into the orb. As soon as it started glowing Jack heard an "HA!" shout come from the Elder and the sound of a chair scraping and slamming on the floor. He lost his focus as he snapped his eyes open and stopped filling the slightly glowing orb with energy.


    Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    Elder Yu stood on his feet with a triumphant look on his face while he pointed at the glowing orb and said "I have borne witness to the impossible!"


    Jack stopped his brows from furrowing as he looked down at the ground and thought ''He won''t dissect me now, will he?'' with some concern.


    The Elder walked his tall skinny frame around the large table and stopped directly in front of Jack. He planted a long bony finger under Jack''s chin and tilted it up until he met Jack''s eyes. His other hands made a quick series of signs and pointed at Jack''s head. The same shimmering energy that Young Master Mai Younu used flowed out of his hand and snaked around Jack''s head.


    Elder Yu''s face stretched into a smile as he saw the glint of recognition on Jack''s face and he cooed "Yes, you are familiar with this art. If you lie to me I will know, and you will die." He pointed a finger at Jack''s forehead and a dark grey mass of spirit energy gathered there.


    After a second of silence in which Elder Yu studied Jack''s eyes for anything that might give him away passed, he opened his mouth and asked "Are you a spirit or a demon?"


    Jack kept calm as he already figured the secrets of this truth detecting skill previously so he didn''t hesitate at all as he answered "Neither, Lord."


    Elder Yu''s brows furrowed a little as he said "What are you then?"


    Jack shrugged his shoulders a bit as he said "A peasant servant, Lord."


    Elder Yu''s face didn''t twitch as he kept studying Jack''s eyes while he asked "How did you manage to imbue the Light Orb with your spirit energy?"


    Jack hesitated for a split second, but decided to go with the truth "After a couple of days the orb Du Angliang left me started to lose its light and I didn''t want to get killed so I imagined it as a part of my cultivation cycle and tried pushing my spirit energy into it, and it kind of worked, Lord."


    A glimpse of anger fluttered deep in Elder Yu''s eyes when Jack mentioned Du Angliang''s dereliction of his duties but he ignored it and focused on the other part "Why would that method work for you when it failed for everyone else in history?"


    Jack shrugged his shoulders in faux helplessness as he answered with a "Why not, Lord?"


    Elder Yu blinked, and after a second he started chuckling and repeating "Why not?" to himself. Half a minute later he got a hold of himself and dismissed the glowing grey energy from his finger. He waved a hand at Jack and the shimmering energy that wrapped his head disappeared too.


    He stepped up and took hold of Jack''s right arm. This time when Jack felt the slightly uncomfortable freezing energy pour into his arm he knew that Elder Yu started monitoring the energy flow that went through his meridians.


    Elder Yu pointed at the Light Orb with his other hand and ordered "Continue."


    Jack felt slight trepidation on the inside but he still followed the Elder''s instructions and poured his spirit energy into the orb.


    Ten minutes later he stopped with a tired sigh.


    The elder furrowed his brows in annoyance as he said "What are you doing? I did not order you to stop."


    "My dantian is almost empty, Lord. I can''t go on." Jack complained as he tried to make himself look as much of a beaten down kid as he could. He didn''t have to try hard.


    The elder''s eyebrows raised in realization as he said "Right, right. I almost forgot that you''re still only at the 1st grade." He let go of Jack''s arm and returned to his table.


    Jack lowered his eyes as he felt his stressed nerves relax a little.


    Elder Yu studied Jack for a few seconds before he proclaimed "You will come to me every morning at dawn until we discover why you can do what others cannot. Keep focusing on your cultivation and I will have another task for you when you reach the 2nd grade."


    He stopped for a second to wait until Jack acknowledged his orders with a "Yes, Lord." then he continued "Now leave that Light Orb on my desk and go out. Tell Du Angliang to enter."


    Jack hesitated for a second, but still raised his hand in the end. Elder Yu saw it and said "What now?"


    Jack made himself look as small as he could as he said "Lord, can I keep the Light Orb for practice? I think we could get better results if I understand imbuement better, and if I practice it on rocks they''ll explode."


    Elder Yu''s eyes widened as he said "That''s not a bad idea, boy. Very well, you are allowed to keep it. Now go." He dismissed Jack with a wave of his hand and returned to his scroll.


    Jack stored the Light Orb into his uniform, bowed deeply, and left the room.


    In the courtyard, he informed Du Angliang that the Elder wanted to see him and waited patiently with his gaze firmly focused on the ground. He didn''t dare to try and absorb some spirit energy back to his dantian anywhere near the Elder, even though a desolate feeling kept emanating from it.


    After 10 minutes Du Angliang exited Elder Yu''s study with a swollen face, a bloody broken nose, an unnaturally hanging arm, and a slight limp.


    He ignored Jack and went straight towards the path down the mountain.


    Jack didn''t dare show any expression of joy and just followed in his wake.


    When he returned to the Gravedigger courtyard some people gave him a second glance, but most of them ignored him. Du Angliang locked himself in his office and didn''t exit until mealtime.


    Jack went to the back door to wait for new arrivals as usual. There he met Kuang Bindun who looked him over with concerned eyes as he asked "Everything alright?"


    Nodding his head Jack answered with a "Couldn''t be better." as a smirk spread across his face.


    Kuang Bindun looked at him for a second and shook his head. He came closer to Jack and whispered "Can you teach me your new method tonight then?"


    Jack looked at their surroundings, and then dragged Kuang Bindun to a spot away from everyone else, where he came close to him and whispered "I''ll start teaching you tonight. But this will take time. You first have to learn a secret code that everyone else here doesn''t understand before we can do anything else."


    Kuang Bindun furrowed his brows in confusion as he asked "What kind of code?"


    Jack looked left and right as he came even closer to Kuang Bindun, stood on the tips of his toes, and whispered in his ear "It''s called English."

 1.19 For a Better Future

    "En Ghlish?" repeated Kuang Bindun with a confused expression. He looked down at Jack and asked "What does this En Ghlish have to do with cultivation?"


    "No, it''s not En Ghl¡­" Jack started saying, but he gave up and sighed instead. He rubbed his forehead and said "Never mind, I''ll explain it later tonight. Let''s get back to work." They went back to the door and waited for new dead people.


    After a while, a poor looking bald man carted in a malnourished dead teen in servant''s clothes. Jack ran in front of everyone to receive him. After the older man left the body with him, Jack dragged it to a free table and got ready to work.


    He grabbed a clean knife and stripped down to his underwear. For a second he looked at the poorly washed bloodstains on the back of his uniform that accompanied a couple of holes made in the explosion and sighed. He tried to wash them with just water but had no luck. And he predicted that he had a better chance of knitting a new uniform than the chances of Du Angliang giving him one if he asked nicely.


    Jack stripped his subject down and went to the bottom of his right foot where he made the first incision. When he reached the knee a shadow fell on his work.


    He looked over his shoulder and saw the teen that he almost killed with the explosion, Shi Furui, standing behind him while looking at the corpse and frowning.


    Jack gave him a quick nod as a greeting and turned back to his knife work. While he continued peeling he asked "How can I help you¡­ Shi Furui was it?"


    After a few seconds of silence he heard Shi Furui''s perturbed voice say "Song Tanda, why are you doing this¡­ butchery? We just need to check the usual hiding spots for treasures, not this desecration."


    Jack didn''t mind Shi Furui''s words, in fact, he felt surprised that no one asked him about it before. He waved his bloody knife for Shi Furui to come stand next to him as he continued working.


    He felt a mental struggle happening behind his back, but after a few seconds Shi Furui swallowed hard and stepped up next to Jack to look at the corpse.


    Jack gave him a glance and asked "Why are you the only one that cares about what I''m doing?"


    Shi Furui''s frown kept getting deeper and deeper as he watched Jack''s knife peel a stretch of thigh while he answered "I wanted to thank you for what you did the other day, but that doesn''t mean that what you''re doing now isn''t wrong. The others won''t care as long as you don''t touch their food or disturb their sleep." He hesitated for a while before he continued "Neither would I, it''s just¡­ when I came closer and saw you doing that" he motioned towards the corpse" I couldn''t stop myself."


    Jack nodded his head in understanding and after a few seconds said "I''m learning."


    Shi Furui looked at him in confusion and asked "What can you learn from this?" as he pointed at the bloody leg.


    Instead of answering Jack pointed at a thicker string of meridians on the thigh and asked "Do you know what these are?"


    Shi Furui looked at the meridians for a second, then back at Jack as if he saw an idiot "Those are meridians, everyone knows that."


    Jack smiled slightly as he said "Of course, but which meridians? What do they connect to? What concentration of spirit energy could you possibly push through them? How would you use them in regards to moving your leg and your body?" He looked at Shi Furui with a serious expression as he said "Would you know where and how hard to stab a blade to disable them?"


    Shi Furui felt a cold shiver as all of the hairs on his back stood up and he took a step back from Song Tanda. He couldn''t believe that a boy who looked at least 3-4 years younger than him said these things. After a few seconds, he steadied his nerves and came back closer. He looked at the grouping of meridians, this time in a way in which he never thought of before.


    A few seconds later, he asked "Can you teach me?"


    Jack looked at Shi Furui from the corner of his eye, then focused back on his work as he hummed softly.


    Shi Furui hesitated as he watched Jack work for some time and finally said "I don''t mind giving you some of my stuff, or doing some favors for you in exchange."


    Jack hummed for a few more seconds before he stopped and said "You got yourself a deal. We''ll start in a couple of days; I need some more hands-on experience myself before that."


    Shi Furui nodded his head and thanked Jack before quickly leaving as Jack''s blade reached the groin.


    At midday, the servers brought the rice, but Du Angliang didn''t come out with them. He just sent word that they could go up to the Elder''s manor after they''ve eaten, and to take the corpse cart with them.


    Everyone lined up and Jack took his usual spot in the back of the line while the servers served them the food. After they all ate, three of the teens started arguing about who would ride on the cart. They exchanged some muffled words and in the end, two of them united to take claim to the cart seat together, while the third one had to walk in the back with the rest.


    ''So they have the highest cultivation here.'' Jack thought with a hidden smirk while he watched the dejected third teen from the corner of his eye and took a mental note to find a way to get closer to him.


    During the first couple of days, he noticed that the way the boys lined up for food and in the courtyard of Elder Yu didn''t follow any traditional custom that he knew of. If they went by strength or height then Kuang Bindun wouldn''t stand in the upper middle part always. So Jack hypothesized that they lined up by cultivation base. And the three arguing teens right now confirmed his hypothesis since they always lined up at the top.


    They followed the cart, on which the two victorious teens squeezed in the seat for one, to the Elder''s manor and proceeded to do their grave digging job.


    When they finished they lined up in the manor''s courtyard and waited. For almost two hours. Only then did Du Angliang show up. He managed to get rid of his limp, and his arm looked normal again, but he still had some swelling under his eyes and his nose looked slightly crooked, ruining his previously handsome face.


    Jack only glanced at him once, and then returned his eyes back to the floor in his position at the back of the line.


    This time when Du Angliang called out the names for the graveyard shift an undertone of fury accompanied his usually cold voice. He didn''t even glance at Jack as he called out Kuang Bindun and Shi Furui, but Jack could feel Du Angliang''s focus on his every move.


    Jack kept his face calm and collected through all of it and could only give his new friends a small smile of support as they followed after Du Angliang into the manor.


    Stolen novel; please report.


    After the selection, everyone went towards the path for their houses. Jack picked up a sturdy stick and a length of wood from the forest, and some pottery pieces from the trash heap, and brought them home, where he started to carve symbols in the length of wood with the pottery.


    When he finished he looked at the result and thought ''Good enough.'' with a satisfied smile. He placed the carving on the table and lay on his bed to rest and finally replenish his dried up spirit energy.


    Jack stopped his cultivation as Kuang Bindun slid the door open.


    Kuang Bindun dragged his tired body into the house and slumped down on the ground with his back to the wall.


    Jack saw a line going across Kuang Bindun''s upper arm that looked a lot like he imagined the wounds on his back did. He furrowed his brows in anger as he asked "What happened?" and pointed at the wound.


    Kuang Bindun took a glance at the wound on his arm, furrowed his brows for a second, sighed, and said "It''s nothing, just a little encouragement from our dear Senior Brother. I can take it."


    Jack''s frown deepened as he walked to stand in front of Kuang Bindun. He looked him in the eyes and said "Give me some time; I''ll take care of it."


    Kuang Bindun looked at this boy that almost stood as tall as he did when he sat on the ground, and believed him. He slowly nodded his head "Sure, Tanda." Then he broke their eye contact and looked around the room while he said "So, shall we start with this En Ghlish thing? What should I do?"


    Jack smiled and said "You need to sit there" he turned to grab the carving from the table and gave it to Kuang Bindun "and study this."


    Kuang Bindun squinted at the carving as he said "Study what? I can''t see anything."


    Jack laughed and said "Give me the time for half an incense stick to burn and we can get started." He sat down on the stool in front of Kuang Bindun and took out the now dim Light Orb.


    15 minutes later Jack opened his eyes and looked at the wide eyes of Kuang Bindun. He raised an eyebrow and asked "What?"


    Kuang Bindun shook his head slowly as he said "I can barely believe you can do imbuement at the first grade even after seeing it with my own eyes, but I guess that nothing about you should surprise me anymore."


    Jack chuckled "Forget about that, you have greater secrets to unravel tonight." he said as he pointed at the carved piece of wood. He tossed the glowing orb to his cot, took the stick from the table, and went to stand next to Kuang Bindun.


    He pointed with the stick at the first carving and said "This is the letter A. It''s the first letter of the Alphabet of the English language."


    Kuang Bindun frowned at the new foreign words and complained "What does any of this have to do with cultivating through the skin?"


    Jack furrowed his brows slightly and said "It has everything to do with it." He looked at the unconvinced face of Kuang Bindun and continued "But I guess I could tell you two of the major reasons that you have to learn it before I can teach you how to practice my cultivation technique."


    Jack moved to pace in front of Kuang Bindun as he started talking "The first reason is that this will help us communicate secretly without anyone knowing how to crack the code. It will make it easier to discuss sensitive topics in public and have no fear of anyone listening in to our conversations and doing who knows what to us both. And we can make a plan of action in front of an enemy without him knowing what we''re planning to do."


    He stopped pacing and looked at Kuang Bindun as he continued "And the second reason is that the English language simply has the words and concepts that will enable me to teach you my techniques. I have no idea how to convey them to you in this one, or even if it''s possible."


    When Jack finished his speech Kuang Bindun thought about it some more and finally nodded his head "Fine, but this better be worth it, Tanda or I''ll tell on you to Du Angliang myself."


    Jack snorted and said "No, you won''t." as he moved to stand next to Kuang Bindun again.


    After a couple of seconds Kuang Bindun agreed "No, I won''t" and focused his attention on the carving.


    In the next hour, Jack taught the pronunciation of all the letters of the alphabet to Kuang Bindun and instructed him to practice writing them in the dirt with the stick, while he sat on the bed and started to recover his spent spirit energy.


    A few seconds after he started he heard an astonished "Wow¡­" from Kuang Bindun. Jack opened his eyes and looked at him with a question in his eyes.


    Kuang Bindun couldn''t keep the wonder out of his voice as he said "You''re absorbing spirit energy from your entire body now."


    Jack smirked and said, "Not quite yet, I still have to work on the head and the brain tomorrow."


    A shiver went through Kuang Bindun''s body as he remembered the state of the corpses on which Song Tanda worked on. He lowered his head back to the carvings and didn''t dare look back up.


    Jack studied the large, thin, battered body of this new friend of his for a while, and finally asked "Bindun, what does Du Angliang make you do in the graveyard shift?"


    Kuang Bindun froze, and only after a dozen seconds opened his mouth while still staring at the carvings in his hand "He makes us walk through the graveyard and the forest around it with special collars made by the Elder clamped around our neck. The collars somehow sap our spirit energy slowly and release it into the air. This lures the hungry spirits of departed cultivators to us so he could use a special device given to him by the Elder to catch them."


    He stopped talking there for a while, and just as Jack thought he wouldn''t say a word anymore, he continued "They hurt us, Tanda. Their talons are ten times worse than Du Angliang''s whip. If he''s not fast with the capture device, or if there are too many of them, you can die from the pain. I''ve seen people die from it, a lot of them. Some of the dead even turn on us and attack us."


    Finally, Kuang Bindun looked up from the carving at Jack with bloodshot eyes as he said "They don''t care about it, though. Not Du Angliang, not Elder Yu, and certainly not the Sect. We''re just stepping stones to them, a means to an end of greater glory." He took in shuddering breaths as he continued speaking "I hate them, Tanda. I HATE them!"


    Jack got up from the cot and went to comfort his sobbing friend. As he patted his back he whispered in his ear "Don''t worry, we''ll figure something out. I''ll figure something out."


    When Kuang Bindun calmed down and went back to his studies, Jack went back to his cot and to his cultivation.


    ''I''ll certainly figure something out.'' he thought as he pushed his meridians to absorb spirit energy to the brink of where it caused him pain, and then beyond.

 1.20 Full Bellies

    In the next three weeks, Jack had a routine that he stuck to.


    At dawn, while everyone else went down to the Tranquil Lake Town with Du Angliang, he would go to Elder Yu''s study and imbue Light Orbs until he nearly exhausted his spirit energy.


    During those sessions, the Elder tried various testing methods and special devices, often times painful enough to make Jack lie on the floor and drool, but he always ended up with a disappointed look. Elder Yu usually kept quiet about the results of his tests, Jack suspected that he didn''t want to look incompetent in front of his servant, but the Elder always looked a little more deflated after each session.


    The only things Elder Yu let slip out from his findings were when he mumbled in dissatisfaction when he found out that Jack had an average concentration of meridians in his body, and when he praised him on his excellent use of the cultivation technique due to his unusually pure spirit energy.


    Jack stored every little tidbit of information that the Elder provided and hoarded them like gold in his mind.


    After his morning tortures, he would go down the Eternal Rest Mountain on his own while taking the scenic route. He tried to explore their part of the mountain as much as he could. Kuang Bindun warned him that other parts belonged to other Eternal Rest Elders and that they didn''t appreciate trespassers.


    When he arrived in the Tranquil Lake Town courtyard he proceeded to help out with the corpses, until he found an appropriate one that looked like no one would look for and started his teaching session with Shi Furui.


    Three weeks ago, when he started to teach Shi Furui, Jack asked him if he knew of any material that could stretch really hard when pulled but would go back to its original shape when released. He couldn''t figure out how to explain the concept of rubber any other way.


    Fortunately, Shi Furui knew of a frog species called the Poison Arrow Bullfrog that lived around the Tranquil Lake. Most people ignored them since they had poisonous meat, but their legs were made out of a special substance that when worked over a fire would become exactly what Jack looked for.


    Every other day that Du Angliang didn''t select him to go into the graveyard shift, Shi Furui would go to the lake and catch one or two of the head-sized frogs and bring them to Jack.


    At first, Jack asked Kuang Bindun the same question about the special material, but he didn''t know. He said that if Jack wanted to find out about something like that that he should ask Shi Furui because he was one of the people that lasted the longest in their line of work that he knew of. When Kuang Bindun first got sent there Shi Furui had already worked at the cutting tables.


    This surprised Jack somewhat, but when he studied Shi Furui''s movements and actions in the next few days he realized that everything he did had a prior calculation of pros and cons behind it. It didn''t surprise him at all that a person like that would survive for that long.


    So every night that Shi Furui brought him the frogs he would cut off their legs and save them for processing on the next day. At first, Jack tried to dissect a couple of the frogs, but they didn''t have any poison sacks on their bodies, and he didn''t have the tools necessary to check which organs produced the poison, so he gave up on it.


    Every day after digging the graves Jack would gather some wood in the forest, and then light a tiny fire in his home where he would work on the legs as Shi Furui showed him. After that, he cultivated and waited for Kuang Bindun to return if Du Angliang selected him that day.


    Since the day that the Elder scolded him, Du Angliang only picked Jack''s friends every other day, one each day. This lowered the stress on Kuang Bindun, but it made Jack wonder if his friends would return alive each night.


    After two weeks he gathered enough Poison Arrow Bullfrog leg materials to make what he wanted; a slingshot. The frog legs didn''t have enough materials to make a proper slingshot band from just a few, so Jack had to meld them all together and then stretch the clump out into the shape he wanted it to stay with the help of the fire. After it cooled down it took the shape of a wide elastic band.


    Jack cut a piece of the elastic band off and then sliced it by length into four identical parts. He used two of the lengths to tie a part of his old clothes onto the middle of the main elastic band and used the other two lengths to tie the ends of the band to a thick forked piece of wood that he smoothened and flattened the ends of previously.


    When he finished he held a brand new slingshot in his hand and chuckled as he looked at the amateur workmanship. When Jack tried to pull the elastic band he could only pull it to his elbow. Even when he moved his spirit energy into his arms to strengthen them, he could only pull it to his shoulder.


    He released the elastic band and it slammed back into position with a satisfying *snap*. ''This is even better than I expected. I wonder how well the ammunition will fly.'' Jack thought as a wide smile appeared on his face.


    In the next week, he practiced with his new slingshot whenever he could find some alone time.


    One evening when everyone already went back to their houses, and only a bit of sunlight remained on the horizon, Jack went into the forest to practice.


    Just as he picked up a few rocks and stood 15 meters opposite of a thin tree he heard the honks of a flock of some geese looking birds. They had a small horn on their beaks and looked smaller than the geese that he knew, but that didn''t bother Jack because they flew in the direction of his shooting range.


    He pushed spirit energy into the meridians in and around his eyes to enhance his vision and looked around the forest for a second to see if anyone lurked in the shadows. When he saw nothing he moved his aim to where he predicted the geese would fly through. He pulled the elastic band with all that he had and loosed.


    The stone shot off into the sky in front of the flock of birds, and around 10 meters above them. Just as the leading bird passed under it, it started to fall back down. The next second the stone fell right into the middle of the flock of birds and exploded with a soft *crack*.


    Bits of stone fell all around the place, some even hitting the tree behind which Jack hid. When the rain of projectiles ended Jack quickly looked and saw three birds falling from the sky. The rest of the flock scattered all over the place in a panic.


    Jack followed the falling birds with his eyes and quickly ran in the direction of where they landed. He had to climb a tree to get one, but he managed to find all three in a few minutes.


    He decided to end his practice then and there and ran back to his house to hide the birds. When he convinced himself that no one saw him, he returned back to the forest to gather wood.


    With a decent pile of wood stacked into a corner of his house, he relaxed, took out the Light Orb, and started cultivating while he waited.


    After an hour the doors of his house slid open and Shi Furui came in while carrying two large frog corpses. He stopped in his tracks when he saw the pile of wood in a corner, and the three dead birds lying in a small pool of blood on the table.


    If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    He dropped the frogs to the ground and stared at Jack with incredulous eyes.


    Jack smirked at the expression on his friend''s face as he asked "Hey Furui, wanna have some roasted meat?"


    Shi Furui swallowed audibly as he turned his eyes back to the dead birds and said "They''ll never let us keep them, and there''s no way we could hide the fire." He looked back at Jack and continued with narrowed eyes "What are you scheming now?"


    Jack spread his hands and put on an offended mask on his face as he complained "What? Do I have to always scheme something? I just wanted to treat my friends to some fresh meat, and this is how you repay me?"


    Shi Furui kept his eyes narrowed as he said in a deadpan voice "Yes."


    Jack lowered his hands in dejection and sighed "Fine." He looked up at Shi Furui and said "Follow me to Bi Tuohui''s house." He got up from his bed, grabbed the birds by their legs, and walked out of the house into the night.


    They went to the second to last house where Jack knocked on the door. After a minute he knocked harder.


    "Do you want to die?!" an annoyed voice shouted from inside the house.


    "Do you want some fresh meat?" retorted Jack.


    After a few seconds of silence they heard cursing from inside the house, and then the door slid open revealing Bi Tuohui standing in his underwear and shooting daggers from his eyes at Jack.


    When Bi Tuohui turned his gaze to Shi Furui he immediately cooled down and looked back at Jack with a frown while asking "What do you want?"


    Jack gave him a knowing smile and said "To have some dinner." while he waved the dead birds in front of Bi Tuohui''s face.


    Bi Tuohui''s eyes followed the swinging birds like they hypnotized him for a few seconds before he shook his head and looked back up at Jack. He asked once more "What do you want?"


    Jack lowered the swinging birds and said "Your protection while we roast the meat." He stopped talking and looked like something pained him as he continued "We can give you a quarter of a bird as payment."


    Bi Tuohui snorted and started to close his door.


    Jack extended a hand to stop the door and said "Fine, we can give you half of a bird, but that''s as high as I''ll go."


    Bi Tuohui looked at him with dead eyes as he said "You have three birds, and there''s only the two of you, and you want to make me protect you for only half of one?"


    Jack gave him a confident nod "That''s right." After a few seconds of silence, he continued "It''s not really just the two of us, Kuang Bindun will join us when he comes back from the graveyard shift. And we need the third bird to do a little trading. So you see, you''ll get as much as we do, and all you need to do is stand there and look threatening."


    Bi Tuohui looked thoughtful for a while before he said "I want half of what you get in trade."


    Jack resolutely shook his head as he said "No way. I can give you first pick."


    Bi Tuohui considered it for a moment longer before finally nodding and saying "Alright, you got yourself a deal, boy."


    Jack gave him a sweet smile as he responded with "Don''t worry, our dear Senior Brother took one of those two tough guys with him today so you shouldn''t have problems." When he finished he turned and started walking back to his house.


    Bi Tuohui''s face turned from smug to sour as he cursed silently, put on some clothes, and followed after Jack and Shi Furui.


    Ever since Jack saw him lose the argument over who would get to ride on the corpse cart Jack tried to get closer to Bi Tuohui, but he only respected the stronger members of their little group and ignored him. Jack considered this a perfect opportunity for bonding.


    Jack went to the well to clean the birds, while Bi Tuohui and Shi Furui went to get the wood from Jack''s house.


    Jack set the birds up on spits over the fire right in front of his house and waited.


    As the smell of roasting meat spread people started to exit their houses and look at the three teens sitting around the fire. When the number crossed five Jack stood up and said loudly "Don''t get any clever ideas. We have one bird which we''ll set aside for trading, the rest is for us."


    A few people started grumbling, but they shut their mouths when Bi Tuohui and Shi Furui stood up behind Jack and glared at them.


    Even the other teen that argued with Bi Tuohui previously only gave them a long look before going back into his house.


    One by one people came to Jack and asked what he wanted for the meat. Jack mostly asked for tools like knives and pottery, or for favors they could cash in in the future.


    When the birds looked crispy golden Jack took them down and distributed the meat. The three of them each got a half of a bird, the third bird got torn up into multiple pieces for the people that decided to trade, and Jack saved one half. A few people asked if he wanted to trade for that too, but he said that it already had an owner.


    Bi Tuohui decided to take a decent looking knife from the traded goods, and Jack kept the rest. Shi Furui tried to insinuate that he should get something too, but Jack ignored him and went back to his home.


    As Du Angliang came back with his group he frowned slightly as he smelt roasted meat and smoke. He looked at where it came from and contempt covered his face. He turned away and walked towards his home without looking at Jack''s house again.


    Kuang Bindun frowned at the pile of still warm coals in front of Song Tanda''s house as he went in, but stopped all of his thoughts when he saw the golden sheen from the remaining half of the roasted bird that lay on the table.


    Jack smiled at him and said, "Dig in, it''s all yours."


    Kuang Bindun looked at Jack with wide eyes as he asked "Really?"


    Jack''s smile widened as he nodded and said "Really."


    Kuang Bindun jumped at the piece of meat like a bear ambushing a deer.


    Jack watched him with a satisfied smile as he prepared for tonight''s lesson.


    After Kuang Bindun went back to his home Jack focused fully on his cultivation.


    In the last few days, he had problems with storing more spirit energy into his dantian. Kuang Bindun told him that it signaled that he neared the threshold for the second grade and advised him to keep cultivating and using his spirit energy as much as he could.


    Still feeling satisfied from the filling meal he enjoyed, Jack focused fully on his dantian and the way it absorbed spirit energy. Just as he started a new cycle around his body he felt a spasm from his dantian and right after it something like a shockwave passed through all of his meridians.


    Jack gloried at the feeling of comfort coming from his meridians as he absorbed more spirit energy than he could previously, and started filling his dantian without any obstructions.


    He opened his eyes as a huge smile spread across his face and he whispered "Finally, the second grade; time to see what Elder Yu has in store for me."

 1.21 Callousness

    The next morning Jack woke up before the Sun rose, did his exercises, got dressed, and went out of the house and towards Elder Yu''s estate.


    When the door of Elder Yu''s study finally opened with the dawn he entered it and greeted the Elder.


    Elder Yu''s eyes shined brightly from behind the stacks of scrolls as he said "Not bad, I estimated that you would need at least a week more to break through." He got up from his chair and walked towards the opening back door while saying "Follow me."


    Jack kept his eyes down while he trailed behind Elder Yu in silence. From the study, they entered a long hallway which branched out into three paths. They took the middle path, and after passing through a few more crossroads stopped in front of large bronze double doors. Along the way Jack saw wonderful paintings decorating the walls, mostly depicting scenes of people engaged in battle among clouds, and various vases standing on pedestals.


    Elder Yu placed a hand in front of the spot where the two doors connected and Jack saw light gray spirit energy flood out of it and into the doors. Strange symbols lit up all along the doors, and after a few seconds, Jack heard a soft *click* as the doors swung inward and revealed a huge room, filled with what looked to Jack like primitive lab equipment.


    The right side of the room had shelves filled with all kinds of shining bottles, scrolls, potted plants, strange pickled animal parts, various tools, and other things Jack couldn''t even begin to guess the function of.


    On the far side of the room stood a few heaps of what looked like clay body parts to Jack. Some of them had half-finished bodies that had the clay-like body parts connected with some kind of metal with strange symbols etched into all of the parts.


    The left side of the room held a few large complicated diagrams that depicted what Jack now understood as flows of spirit energy while it passed through the body. They looked nothing like the simple sketch that Du Angliang gave to Jack to learn how to cultivate; these had detailed markings of various meridians and ways to push spirit energy through them. Jack tried to remember as much as he could for later testing.


    In the middle of the room stood a three meter long, and two meters wide metal table filled with various straps for tying limbs. Right in front of it, etched into the floor, Jack saw a very familiar circle, only this one looked just like someone did a carving on the stone floor, not emanating light or that strange attraction like the last time Jack saw it.


    Even though Jack inhabited a body now he still circled warily around it as he followed the Elder towards the shelves.


    Elder Yu stopped in front of a shelf containing various strange looking devices and picked out a wooden box. From it, he took out five throwing knives made of some bright metal that had strange symbols etched on both sides of the blades. He returned the box back to its place on the shelf and looked at Jack with a mischievous smile.


    "Catch." Elder Yu said as he threw one knife at Jack.


    Jack got used to the Elder''s tricks during the past few weeks so he made a half-hearted attempt at catching the knife, and missed. After it clattered down on the ground and slid a couple of meters away Jack scurried after it and picked it up while saying "My apologies, Lord." in a slightly frightened tone.


    The Elder had a small frown on his face, but it soon disappeared as he pointed at the knife and said "Imbue it until all of the sigils are activated."


    Jack focused and pushed a strand of spirit energy into the knife. It took him a dozen seconds until all of the etchings on the knife shone a light blue color. ''No wonder the circle on the ground looks dead, it needs spirit energy.'' he thought as he marveled at the glowing knife.


    "Good, try the next one." said Elder Yu as he handed the second knife to Jack.


    Jack gasped and stopped pushing spirit energy through his hand after failing to activate the fourth knife. He looked up at the Elder and said "I don''t have enough energy for this one, Lord. I am sorry."


    Elder Yu clicked his tongue as he shook his head slightly and said "I figured as much. I should not expect a lot from only the second grade." He took back the fourth knife and stored it while he said "Keep the other three, you will need them tonight."


    He moved down the line of shelves and took out a glowing bottle. He turned to Jack and said "Do you know what spirits are, boy?"


    Jack shook his head as he said "No, Lord. I only heard stories." while staring at the glowing bottle and trying to sound as sincere as possible.


    Elder Yu walked to stand in front of the circle carved into the ground. He waved a hand and Jack saw gray spirit energy rush out of it and enter the circle, making it glow brightly.


    The Elder upended the bottle and a viscous liquid slowly ran out of it and floated in the air inside the circle, the liquid took the shape of a slightly grey ball.


    "This is a spirit." Elder Yu said as he pointed at the floating grey ball. "The ones that you will meet at night will not be as docile as this one, but at least now you know how they look." He turned back towards Jack and said "The spirits of cultivators do have a bit more power than this ordinary one, but not so much more that you should have a lot of trouble with them."


    Jack stepped up to the edge of the glowing circle and studied the spirit. It looked just as Jack remembered the other spirits, and himself, looking. He felt a sense of relief as he concluded that this one didn''t show any signs that it had some consciousness as it floated peacefully in the circle.


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    "Stab it." said Elder Yu as he studied the glowing ball.


    Jack glanced at the Elder for a second, but then took out a still glowing knife from his belt, hesitated when his hand reached the circle, gulped, and thrust the knife into the grey ball.


    For a second Jack imagined that he heard a soft howl of pain, but then the knife sucked up the gray ball into itself as the lights of the sigils turned from light blue to grey.


    Jack removed his hand from the circle without issue and looked down at the knife in his hand with a slight frown.


    "Good job!" exclaimed Elder Yu encouragingly as he smiled at Jack. He plucked the used knife from Jack''s hand and held its tip above the entrance to the empty bottle.


    Jack now saw that the bottle too had sigils etched into it.


    The Elder did something with his hand and the sigils on the knife twisted a little before he imbued his spirit energy into the knife. Almost immediately the grey spirit seeped out of the knife and back into the bottle that once again lit up in bright light.


    "There, all done." Elder Yu said as he handed the knife back to Jack and went to return the bottle back to its place.


    Jack looked at the hundreds of glowing bottles on the shelves and felt cold sweat run down his back.


    The Elder turned around towards Jack and clapped his hands twice. He walked to loom over Jack and said "That covers pretty much everything that you need to know about spirits. For every one you bring me I will give you one spirit stone." He looked at the incomprehension in Jack''s eyes and asked "Do you know what a spirit stone is, boy?"


    Jack shook his head and said "No, Lord."


    Elder Yu sighed and said "A spirit stone is the currency we cultivators use in our transactions. They are a type of stone that absorb natural spirit energy through the years and have a lot of uses. If you want to know more ask someone else, I do not have the time." He looked up behind Jack and smiled.


    Jack also heard something stomp its way to the doorway at his back, but he didn''t dare to turn his head while the Elder instructed him. Now that he shifted his focus, Jack could also look over his shoulder and see a two-meter monstrosity. It looked like something that only some crazy bastard that decided to gather those parts from the back of the room into a person looking thing would make.


    The aforementioned crazy bastard exclaimed with a smile "Ah, perfect timing!" He looked down at Jack and said "Follow the puppet and it will show you the way out. Do not take any other path or it will kill you." He looked back at the monstrosity and said "Servant, escort the child to the exit."


    The puppet bowed down in jerky motions, straightened up, and turned on its heel to walk away.


    Jack looked up at the Elder who made a shooing motion with his hand as he said "Go, follow it. Du Angliang will explain the rest to you tonight." Jack bowed and sped up his steps after the departing puppet. As he left the room he heard Elder Yu mumbling to himself "It spent its energy already. I should make a new one."


    Once the jerky puppet led him to the exit Jack let out a sigh of relief and started walking towards the path for the town. Once he entered the forest his forehead furrowed more and more while he kept clenching and relaxing his fists. After a while, he stopped, looked around, climbed into a tree''s branches, and started absorbing spirit energy.


    ''I won''t have time to get it later, not in a place where no one will see me.'' he thought as he felt his dried up dantian receive the new energy. ''That old bastard uses the lives of these kids to make servants and do experiments. He uses that graveyard like a garden to raise useful crops.''


    The more Jack thought about what he found out in Elder Yu''s lab, the angrier he got. When he filled up his dantian he saw that the branch to which he held on to had cracks running through its length. He looked at it for a second, sighed, took a tighter grip on his emotions, and jumped back to the ground.


    This time when he went down the path to the Tranquil Lake Town, every now and then when he passed near a person he felt a certain something from them. At a distance, it felt like the feeling that he felt when someone stood behind him. Even when he closed his eyes he could feel some of the people around him. The more they neared him, the more real they became. ''So this is the sense that Bindun talked about. These people must have the same grade of cultivation as I do.'' he thought with wonder.


    Jack shook himself after a few minutes and stopped focusing on the people around him. When he did he could only feel the people that passed him on the road. If he chose to ignore them, then even they disappeared from his senses.


    When he entered the Gravedigger courtyard everything seemed like usual. Jack nodded to a few people he knew as he walked to the back door and pulled Kuang Bindun away.


    "What did Elder Yu say?" Kuang Bindun asked as he looked at the knife handles sticking out of Jack''s waist.


    "I''m going with the graveyard shift tonight." said Jack with a serious expression.


    Kuang Bindun took in a deep breath, slowly let it out, and said "Well, we expected this might happen. He''s having you catch the spirits?"


    Jack nodded his head as he answered "Yeah, can''t do more than three knives so I''ll have to protect just you two until I grow stronger."


    A smile stretched over Kuang Bindun''s wide face as he said "Tank ju." in broken English.


    Jack chuckled as he responded in the same language "You''re welcome."

 1.22 Alone in the Dark

    The rest of the day proceeded normally. Jack informed Shi Furui about going to the graveyard shift with him while they worked on a new corpse.


    By now they knew how all of the major meridians looked and how they operated in general. At this point, they would test out a meridian''s usefulness during the night, and then check to which meridians it connected to and how they could use them together to get better results while circulating spiritual energy through them.


    After the digging of the graves, they lined up in the manor''s courtyard as usual. When Du Angliang looked at them this time he had a hint of excitement fluttering around the edges of his eyes.


    "Song Tanda" Du Angliang called out the first name. Almost everyone else seemed to feel relief that he didn''t call their name out. Some of the smarter ones had a look of understanding while they glanced at the knives on Jack''s belt. A few of the more cold-hearted teens even had a slight look of glee on their faces.


    Kuang Bindun''s warnings about the dangers of the first night rang in Jack''s head as he walked to stand behind Du Angliang. The chances that someone would get killed doubled during that time, and they weren''t that good, to begin with. One teen already died during Jack''s stay with the Gravediggers, and a couple others had injuries that left them bedridden for days.


    Jack gave the concerned Kuang Bindun a reassuring smile and proceeded to watch the faces of the other people whose name Du Angliang called out. He named five other people, Shi Furui had a determined expression as he nodded to Jack and stood next to him, the others had the usual mixture of dread and anticipation that Jack got used to seeing when someone got called out of the line. They clumped behind Du Angliang, close together, but still on their own.


    Du Angliang dismissed the rest of the group while he led Jack and the others towards a distant room of the manor. When they arrived in front of it he bowed down and said "Disciple Du Angliang asks for permission to enter."


    Everyone else followed his example in bowing, as did Jack, without missing a beat. In the corner of his eye, Jack caught a small hint of stiffness from Du Angliang''s posture and smirked at the ground.


    After a few seconds, the door opened on its own. Du Angliang went inside while the rest of them waited for him. A minute later Du Angliang returned while carrying six metal rings that had sigils etched into them, and a familiar-looking pouch which he tied to his waist.


    He handed the rings out one by one, when he got to Jack and tried to give him one Jack looked up at him and said "I''m sorry, Senior Brother, but Elder Yu said that I should help you out with the capturing of spirits, not their luring." Jack slid out one of the knives from his belt and said "See, he even gave me these knives."


    Du Angliang stared at Jack for a second and lowered his extended hand with the metal ring. "Ah yes, now that you mention it I do remember something about that." he said without any change in his expression. With a final cold glare, he turned and walked back into the room to return the last metal ring.


    Du Angliang exited the room a few seconds later, closed the door, and said "Let''s go."


    He led Jack and the rest back to the graveyard where he commanded "Put them on." as he looked at the five teens that had the metal rings.


    The boys either gulped or took a deep breath, but they still complied and pulled the metal rings over their heads. As soon as the rings touched their necks a shiver went through them as the sigils on the rigs started to light up. Somehow, the rings started shrinking. Only when they firmly encircled the necks of the teens did they stop glowing.


    Jack watched the entire thing with wonder. Even with the warning from Kuang Bindun he still thought that it looked frightening and miraculous at the same time. Everyone else seemed to consider it as just another part of their lives as he couldn''t see any of the emotions that he felt while watching the rings in their eyes.


    Du Angliang looked at the darkening sky for a second and then said "About an incense stick worth of time until we can start."


    He looked back down at their group with narrowed eyes and pointed at some of them while saying "You, you, you, and you." Du Angliang pointed out the four other teens, leaving Jack and Shi Furui standing frozen. He continued while pointing at the West side of the graveyard. "We will start at that side and work our way up to the middle." He turned towards Jack and said with an encouraging smile "You can take the rest and start from the other side; we will meet up in the middle and cut the time for the patrol by half."


    Jack wanted to stab the poorly hidden smugness out of Du Angliang''s eyes, but he calmed himself down and said "I have no problems with Senior Brother''s suggestion, but wouldn''t it go faster if we both had the same number of people on our teams?"


    Du Angliang shook his head as he chuckled "No, no, you misunderstand. The more people you have around you the more spirits you will attract. Just having one other person go with you is perfect for learning." He turned towards Shi Furui and said while gesturing at him "And you will have Shi Furui with you, he has even more experience with patrols than me so there is no need to feel frightened."


    Jack prevented the frown from forming on his forehead as he cursed inwardly and asked "Then can you please lend me a few more knives for protection, Senior Brother?" as he glanced at the pouch on Du Angliang''s waist.


    Du Angliang''s brows furrowed as he said "Why would you need more when you can barely activate three? Elder Yu would have given you more otherwise."


    Jack acknowledged his statement with a nod, but he pasted an earnest expression on his face as he said "Of course, Senior Brother, but if I use up my spirit energy I''ll stop to cultivate so I can get some more spirits for Elder Yu."


    He could almost see the gears turning in Du Angliang''s head as he processed that statement and weighed the pros and cons. After a few seconds, he took out three extra knives from his pouch with a sincere smile.


    "Fine, just be careful." Du Angliang said as he offered the knives.


    Jack took them and thanked Du Angliang with a smile of his own. After that Du Angliang warned Jack to be careful once again and led his party towards the West side of the graveyard.


    Shi Furui and Jack headed in the opposite direction.


    When he felt certain that Du Angliang couldn''t hear him, Shi Furui turned a skeptical eye at Jack and asked "You do know that if you take time to cultivate during the patrol that we''ll both die, right?"


    Jack smiled as he looked at the last light of day over his shoulder and said "Of course."


    After a few seconds in silence, Shi Furui sighed and said "You have a plan."


    Jack nodded his head and confirmed, "I have a plan." He looked up at Shi Furui and said "Here take these, they''ll get in my way." as he offered him four knives.


    Shi Furui took them without complaint and expertly stored them over his body.


    They soon arrived to their starting point and Shi Furui took the time to explain the route to Jack "There''s a path to follow that the Elder set up." He said as he pointed at a slight clearing in the nearby forest "It leads through the forest and around the cemetery. It''s not that wide so I''ll go first and you watch my back."


    He hesitated for a few seconds before saying "We usually meet around three to six spirits on each side of the graveyard. Any chance that plan of yours has that covered?"


    Jack glanced at Shi Furui and said with a slight smirk "No problem, Bindun told me all about spirit encounter rates. You probably won''t like it though."


    Shi Furui sighed and turned to gaze at the sky together with Jack as darkness covered everything.


    After a while, he turned to look at Jack with a crooked smile and asked "Shall we?"


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    Jack looked back at him with a serious face and said "Once we enter that forest your life is in my hands. Anything I do or say will remain between the two of us. We either live together or die together. You fine with that?"


    Shi Furui''s face sobered up as he stared into Jack''s eyes for a few seconds before nodding his head and saying "Sure." He lifted his hand up and touched something on the metal ring on his neck to turn it on.


    Jack saw the choker let out slight shimmers of spirit energy into the air around Shi Furui and asked "How does it feel?"


    Shi Furui shrugged his shoulders and said "It somehow tugs on the spirit energy from my dantian and releases it outside. I can feel it leaving my body, but I can''t see it. It would take over half a day for it to exhaust my reserves so it''s not that straining."


    Jack grunted and they started walking towards the forest. Just before they entered Shi Furui stepped out to the front and led the way.


    A few seconds after they entered the dark forest Jack exclaimed "F*ck!"


    Shi Furui quickly as his eyes roamed the bushes around them while he hissed "What?"


    "That bastard sent us to the East side! Kuang Bindun said that you always start the patrol on the East. Spirits must start to gather earlier here since the Sun goes down in the West." Jack complained as he looked at the dark forest. With the help of his circulating spirit energy, he could only see a few meters into the darkness. Even when he focused on imagining the spirit energy strengthening the rods in his retinas he could only gain an extra few meters of improved sight.


    Shi Furui looked at him in confusion as he said "Ist? Vest?"


    Jack caught himself in his anger and took a couple of deep breaths while saying "Never mind, I''ll explain it to you later."


    Shi Furui gave him a sidelong glance, as if questioning his decision to stick with Jack, but gave a slight shrug after a couple of seconds and continued down the path.


    After over 10 minutes of following the path, Jack saw something shimmering at the edge of his vision. He tugged at Shi Furui''s shirt and pointed at the shimmer while saying "Can you see that?"


    Shi Furui looked at where Jack pointed and strained his eyes to see something. After a couple of seconds, he said "I can see some trees and bushes. What about you?"


    Jack furrowed his brows as he said "Something''s there, floating in the darkness."


    Shi Furui looked harder but still couldn''t see anything. He hesitated for a second but decided to say "Look, I don''t see it, but I trust you. We should get away from it."


    Jack waited for a few seconds before shaking his head and replying "Let''s wait for a bit."


    Shi Furui furrowed his brows as he asked "You sure about this?"


    Jack nodded his head without hesitation as he answered "To beat our enemy we first have to understand it." He grabbed a knife in each hand and started to imbue spirit energy into the one in his right.


    When he finished with the knife in his right hand he started on the one in his left.


    As Shi Furui saw the other knife''s sigils start to brighten up he asked "Why activate both of them? They don''t last that long."


    Jack looked down at the brightening sigils and said "About the time it takes to eat a meal actually. I haven''t fought with knives for a long time. I''m not sure if I can hit it before it gets to you if I only go with one."


    Shi Furui furrowed his brows but kept quiet.


    As Jack activated the sigils of the knife in his left hand the shimmering thing drifted nearer to them. Jack followed its every movement closely so he saw that at the exact moment when it entered the range of spiritual energy that Shi Furui''s choker emanated, it stopped moving and a shiver passed through it.


    Almost immediately an unnatural wind started blowing from the direction of the shimmer as its shape started to warp. Jack watched as the shimmer somehow absorbed the spirit energy let out by the choker and morphed into a spirit that looked like no spirit Jack saw before.


    It had a vaguely humanoid shape, with arms and a head, but the legs ended in shimmering spirit energy past the knees. Instead of fingers, it had three thick talons, and its pale face had only three holes for its mouth and eyes.


    Jack stared at the transformation with wide eyes as he said "Do you see it now?"


    Shi Furui turned towards the coalescing spirit with a frown and said "No, we never can. Only Du Angliang can. We just feel it, like when you feel another cultivator near you." He stopped talking while he glanced at Jack and said in a lower tone "I''ve never even seen Du Angliang notice the spirit even before I could sense it."


    Jack stored that piece of information for later as he stepped out in front of Shi Furui with a shining knife in each hand.


    The spirit finally ended its transformation and turned its empty gaze at Shi Furui''s neck. Jack noticed the change and started walking towards it. Before he could take his second step the spirit started moving with its mouth hanging open and talons extended in front of it.


    In a heartbeat it appeared right in front of Jack, and before he even had the chance to swing his knives its lower body passed through him.


    Jack felt as if someone threw him into a bathtub filled with ice. His movement slowed down to a crawl, even his thoughts slowed down. Only when he heard a muffled cry from his back did he snap out of the spell.


    He turned on his heel and saw the spirit tearing at a crumpled Shi Furui with its talons. It somehow dug out shimmering gobs of spirit energy which it then proceeded to stuff into its wide open mouth.


    Jack stood frozen for a second before his instincts kicked in and he charged at the spirit. He reached its back in a flash and slammed both of his knives into it.


    The right knife sunk into the spirit as if Jack stabbed it into a chunk of rotten wood; the left knife swung through the spirit like it wasn''t there and continued to almost cut the shivering Shi Furui on the ground.


    Jack stared as the spirit let out a silent scream and started to fade into the glowing knife. He felt some of that wail and thought that he saw a memory of a young man in servant''s clothes, but it disappeared too fast and he couldn''t see anything else.


    When all the sigils changed from light blue to light grey Jack threw the knives to the ground and knelt down to help his friend.


    "Are you OK?" he asked as he propped up Shi Furui''s head and looked at his pale face with concern.


    After a few seconds of shaking Shi Furui croaked out "Am I what?"


    "Alright, are you alright?" Jack said while checking Shi Furui''s pulse and breathing.


    Shi Furui let out a groan as he turned and got out of Jack''s arms "I''m fine, stop touching me." he said as he coughed a bit of blood into the earth. He looked up at Jack and said with a bloody grin "Not the first, nor the last time. Just give me some time to catch my breath."


    Jack sat down on the ground with a long exhalation as he said "Of course."


    After five minutes Shi Furui got back up on his feet and said "I''m fine now, we can continue." He gave Jack a wry grin as he continued "Du Angliang wouldn''t have given me even half of the time you gave me to recover. You''ve got to toughen up or we won''t see the light of day again."


    Jack laughed as he said, "He has his ways, and I have mine." He got up and looked at Shi Furui while asking "You sure you''re fine?"


    Shi Furui scoffed and said "Good as new. I could kick your ass if you want proof."


    Jack put up his hands in surrender as he said "Fine, fine. I believe you." He looked at the two knives on the ground and picked them up. He gave the spent one to Shi Furui while receiving a new one. Looking down the dark forest path he said "It''s time for the plan."


    Shi Furui''s face turned serious as he said "So, what do we do?"


    Jack looked up at Shi Furui''s serious face and said in a deadpan tone "We have to teach you how to give a piggyback ride."

 1.23 Shared Suffering

    "How are you doing this?" Shi Furui asked with a slightly trembling voice as he took another careful step on the patrol path.


    Jack sighed and for the third time stopped his cultivation to say "I''ll explain it to you when we''re not in the middle of a forest that wants to eat us. Now, shut up. Keeping my eyes open and gathering spirit energy is hard enough, I can''t also answer all of your questions at the same time."


    For the fourth time, Jack started absorbing spirit energy through his skin while hanging off of Shi Furui''s back. He kept the absorption to every part of his body except for the area around his eyes and the meridians necessary for pushing spirit energy into them so he could retain his night vision.


    The first time Jack started to cultivate, Shi Furui threw him to the ground and scurried away while mumbling something about demons even though Jack told him what he was about to do. After Jack managed to convince him to continue, he dropped him again when Jack warned him about an incoming spirit which they managed to circumvent in time.


    Previously he instructed Shi Furui on how to carry him while he cultivated, he even told him that he''ll observe the surroundings while he did it, but it still didn''t help. Jack sighed inwardly as he stopped complaining and focused as much of his divided attention as he could on cultivation.


    They slowly moved forward as Shi Furui walked as carefully as he could so as not to jostle Jack too much for him to lose focus.


    Half an hour later Jack felt his dantian filling up to the brim and signaled to Shi Furui to let him down from his back.


    Jack drew the two sigil-filled knives from his belt and started imbuing them with spirit energy.


    "Why don''t we just avoid the spirits like the one before?" Shi Furui asked as he watched a knife slowly light up.


    "How much does a nice chunk of some decent meat cost in Tranquil Lake Town?" Jack asked in return as he started to activate the second knife.


    Shi Furui furrowed his brows and answered "A few silvers at most." He looked up at Jack and asked "What does that have to do with my question?"


    Jack ended his imbuements and stored the knives as he once more replied with "And for how much does a spirit stone go?"


    Shi Furui looked at Jack in confusion as he said "Depends on the quality. But the most common ones can go for up to a gold coin each."


    Jack looked up at Shi Furui and said "Elder Yu promised me that he''d give me a spirit stone for each spirit I get for him." A smile spread on his face as he saw the realization dawn in Shi Furui''s eyes.


    "No wonder that bastard''s so serious about these patrols when he doesn''t care about any of the other things that we''re tasked to do." Shi Furui said with narrowed eyes. He looked towards the West and spat on the ground before he turned to Jack and said "You can''t sell a spirit stone for mortal currency. I heard that you can use it for cultivation, formations, alchemy, and all kinds of other things. Even if you just use them for cultivation you can become an official sect disciple sooner. Exchanging it for coins would waste it."


    "Hmpf!" Jack snorted coldly as he turned towards the depths of the forest and said with contempt in his voice "I''m in no hurry to join this s*ithole." He looked at Shi Furui from the corner of his eye and said "I''d rather form a solid troop of companions on which I can rely on to survive and get out of here."


    Shi Furui looked at him in stunned silence for a few seconds before he asked "You think you can do it?"


    Jack gave him a slight shrug as he replied "Won''t know until we try." He turned to stare straight into Shi Furui''s eyes and asked "Want to try with me?"


    Shi Furui looked down at the little boy standing in front of him and believed that he could do what he claimed. He straightened up the same as when they stood in line in the courtyard and said "Count me in."


    Jack nodded solemnly, looked back down the path, and said "Let''s go get some nice food."


    Fifteen minutes later Shi Furui stopped moving as Jack tugged at his uniform and whispered "Two of them, one on each side of the path. The one on the left side is moving towards us, we should take care of it first."


    Shi Furui furrowed his brows as he stared out into the darkness and said "Why not evade these two and find one that''s on its own?"


    Jack stopped and considered the positions of the spirits for a while, after a few seconds he shook his head slightly and said "We''ll take them one at a time, shouldn''t be a problem with how distant they are from each other."


    Shi Furui hesitated for a second before gathering his courage and saying "Fine, let''s do it."


    Jack walked to stand in front of Shi Furui and asked "You ready?"


    After a deep inhale Shi Furui answered with "Ready."


    They moved towards the left spirit, Jack started cycling as much spirit energy as his meridians could handle to keep his reflexes sharp. He didn''t want what happened last time to repeat itself.


    As the field of dispersed spirit energy that the collar on Shi Furui''s neck spread around neared the spirit, it started to float towards them faster. When they finally touched, the spirit started its transformation immediately.


    Jack inhaled deeply and prepared himself to pounce on the incoming spirit. Just as it neared the end of its transformation Jack saw the spirit from the right side of the path moving towards them.


    ''Is it the transformation, or some other spirit thing?'' Jack thought as he saw the second spirit move towards the transforming one. He flicked his eyes between the two spirits and did some quick calculations before saying "The second spirit is coming too; I''ll try to finish them off before they reach you, but you have to prepare yourself for some pain."


    He heard a sharp intake of breath from behind him before Shi Furui said "No problem, for each one that gets to me you owe me some extra meat."


    The second spirit just touched the spirit energy field and started its transformation before the first one charged at Shi Furui.


    Jack used all of the power of the pulsing energy raging through his body to swing his knives through the paths that he predicted the spirit would charge through.


    The knife in his right hand hit nothing, but his left knife nicked the edge of the spirit''s immaterial body and made it stop in its tracks.


    For a split second, Jack stared at the two horrifying pools of darkness that turned to glare in his direction before he used a backhanded stab and plunged his left knife into its body to turn that glare of hatred into an anguished silent scream.


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    Once again he saw a quick image of a young man in servant''s clothing before the knife absorbed the entire being of the spirit. He stared at the knife for a second, before he dropped it to the ground and turned towards Shi Furui to say "Give me a new one." while extending his left hand.


    Shi Furui had a new knife ready and placed it into Jack''s waiting empty hand. Jack thanked him and turned to observe the second spirit''s transformation while he urged his spirit energy into the new knife.


    As soon as he started to imbue the knife he felt like someone threw a bucket of icy water over his body. With a shiver, he looked down at the knife, and then back up at the hostile spirit.


    "What happened?" Shi Furui asked. He looked around and continued "It feels like the spirit disappeared."


    Jack checked the charging knife once more before saying "It''s still here, just changed its target." He looked over his shoulder at Shi Furui and said "If I go down grab the knives and swing them over me until you hit something,"


    Shi Furui furrowed his brows in concern, but he nodded firmly and said "Don''t get mad if I get you too."


    Jack chuckled as he turned back towards the transforming spirit and said "You won''t get any food if you ruin my pretty face."


    Shi Furui gave a soft snort and focused his gaze on where he saw Jack looking.


    Jack finished imbuing the new knife and got in position to welcome the spirit.


    A few seconds later the spirit fully transformed and locked its hateful gaze on Jack.


    As soon as it started moving Jack swung his two knives in a crossing motion. The knives met with resistance just as they crossed paths and Jack saw the spirit floating just half a meter in front of him.


    Before Jack managed to even think about moving his arms in a stabbing attack, a taloned hand swiped at him and passed through his body. It felt like someone took a rusty spoon and decided to go digging through his meridians wherever the spirit''s flashing hand passed.


    Jack''s body went through spasms of excruciating agony as his knees buckled. He crashed onto the forest floor as the spirit''s hands continued to roam through his body and snatch away handfuls of his spirit energy to its mouth.


    With every second that passed, he felt a chunk of his already low spirit energy get ripped away. As the spirit emptied Jack''s meridians it started to target his dantian. Every time it touched Jack''s dantian it felt like a chunk of his life got taken together with the energy.


    Just as he started blacking out the spirit''s hands stopped assaulting him. Phantom pains kept shooting through every bit of his body where the spirit touched and it felt like hours passed before Jack could think about anything else except for making the pain go away.


    When he finally opened his eyes he saw Shi Furui standing over him and looking down with concern painted across his face. A distant voice said, "Try to regulate your breathing; it helps to focus on something else other than the pain."


    Jack groaned, turned to his side, and coughed out a few mouthfuls of blood. Somewhere in the back of his mind a part of him that always tried to figure things out thought ''Why do people here spit blood when they get hurt? Is it an automatic self-repair function of their body to get rid of internal bleeding? I''ll have to look into it when I find the time.''


    After a few minutes of rest, he managed to croak out "Wh-what took you so long?" as he turned his head to stare up at the looming figure that stood above him.


    Shi Furui shrugged his shoulders and said "You had a death grip on the knives. I almost had to break your fingers to get them out of your hands." He squatted and looked closer at Jack as he asked "You alright?"


    Jack groaned and said "I''ve had worse." as he tried to prop himself up. Shi Furui gave him a hand and Jack managed to stand on his own without his knees buckling after a minute.


    He stretched his body as he said "That thing almost ate all of my spirit energy. I thought I was a goner for a breath there." He turned towards Shi Furui and said "Thanks."


    Shi Furui waved his hand and said "Don''t mention it." He looked Jack up and down and asked "You feel good enough to travel?"


    Jack cracked his neck a couple of times and said "Nothing that a short time on your back won''t fix."


    Shi Furui sighed as he turned around and crouched to let Jack climb up on his back.


    In the next four hours, they stopped to hunt three more isolated spirits and avoided any that had company.


    Jack managed to get two of the spirits before they got to Shi Furui, only the last one gave him some trouble because he only had one knife. Shi Furui had to suffer for a couple of seconds before Jack got to it, but no other incidents happened on their lonely march.


    It took them a long time but they managed to survive their journey to the midpoint of the patrol route, no one waited for them there.


    Jack chuckled as he turned to Shi Furui and said "What do you think that Du Angliang''s face''s gonna look like when he sees us tomorrow morning? We should hide behind his house and scare him when he goes out."


    Shi Furui joined him in the laughter for a few seconds, before he exhaled a long sigh of relief and said "I''d rather go home and get some rest. I''d bet that you''ll have to do this with Kuang Bindun tomorrow too."


    Jack considered it and said "Yeah, I''ll have to ask the Elder to keep the extra knives. I doubt that our dear Elder Brother will lend them to me again."


    Shi Furui frowned as he asked, "You sure he''ll give them to you?"


    Jack shrugged as he answered, "He doesn''t care as long as he gets his spirits." He turned and took a last look at the forest as he said "Those spirits wouldn''t bother anyone if we didn''t go and bother them." Jack turned around and looked into Shi Furui''s eyes as he continued "He deliberately turns us into bait just to have some extra servants and test subjects."


    Shi Furui didn''t seem surprised when he heard Jack''s conclusion, he only shook his head a little and said "Wouldn''t expect any less."


    They took a last look at the forest before crossing the graveyard and going home.


    When Jack returned to his house he found Kuang Bindun asleep on the floor with his trusty alphabet carving hugged tight. He learned the alphabet by heart weeks ago, but he still kept it by his side when studying for good luck.


    Jack shook his head ruefully as he took a blanket from his bed and threw it over Kuang Bindun''s snoring bulk. He crawled tiredly onto the bare planks of wood of his cot and disappeared into a deep sleep.

 1.24 Hidden Fees

    "You''re alive!" someone shouted and dragged Jack out of his bed.


    When Jack opened his eyes he saw the glowing face of Kuang Bindun grinning widely as he covered most of Jack''s field of view. He blinked his eyes a few times and mumbled "Let go of me, you oversized bastard." while his feet beat ineffectually at Kuang Bindun''s bulk.


    Kuang Bindun froze for a second, and then lowered Jack gently down to the ground while saying "Sorry, I just got a little too excited." He scratched the back of his head sheepishly as he took a step back and looked down at Jack with a smile while anxiety danced in his eyes and asked "So, how did it go?"


    Jack sat down on the wood of his cot and waved a tired hand at the glowing table and said "See for yourself."


    Kuang Bindun turned to look at the table and grunted like someone punched him in the gut. Jack let out a soft chuckle as he thought ''He didn''t even notice the lights coming from the table. I''ll have to get him something nice from the town.''


    After a few seconds, Kuang Bindun turned towards Jack and asked "Didn''t the Elder only give you three knives?"


    Jack nodded his head as he leaned his back on the wall of the house and explained "Well, things didn''t go exactly as planned¡­"


    It took Jack over fifteen minutes to explain everything that happened last night, with Kuang Bindun interjecting a question every few sentences. When he finished he saw the first rays of dawn sneak their way into his house through the crack in the door.


    He stood up and said "We''ll talk later. I have to get to the Elder and bring him his prizes." He grabbed the knives from the desk and walked outside with Kuang Bindun following in his wake.


    They parted ways as Kuang Bindun went back to his house to get ready for the day and Jack headed for Elder Yu''s estate.


    A few minutes after he arrived in the manor''s courtyard, the door of Elder Yu''s study opened up and Jack walked in.


    When he presented the six knives to the Elder Jack saw a hint of surprise in his eyes.


    "Did I not give you only three Spirit Capturing knives?" Elder Yu asked as he waved a hand and looked at the six knives that now floated around him with suspicion. He furrowed his brows and looked back at Jack as he warned in a dangerous voice "Do not try to fool me, boy."


    Jack bowed down as much as he could and said "I wouldn''t dare, Lord. I asked Senior Brother Du for extra knives to gather more spirits for you when we split the patrol route up."


    Elder Yu had a hint of confusion in his eyes as he asked "What are you talking about?"


    Jack took in a deep breath and told the Elder a slightly modified story about what happened last night. He told the whole truth about how Du Angliang split them up and the method Shi Furui and himself used to avoid and capture spirits. He only changed the way in which he cultivated, in secure spots in the forest instead of on Shi Furui''s back, and the reason why he decided to use all six of the knives.


    "I thought you might see spirits outside the range of the Energy Dispersal device." Elder Yu mumbled as he studied the floating knives once again. After a few seconds, he gave himself a shake and said "Never mind, you''re too weak for that right now." He looked down at Jack and said with a slight smile "Good job, boy, you can collaborate with your Senior Brother in this way again in the future."


    Jack bowed once again and said "Thank you, Lord. I will do my best to gather as many spirits as I can for you."


    Elder Yu waved away his pledge as he rubbed his hands together and said excitedly "I have a few new tests that I want to try out." and dragged out a few spiky instruments from the pouch on his hip.


    Jack withheld a pain filled sigh and raised his hand slightly.


    When Elder Yu saw it he frowned and said "What now?"


    Jack cleared his throat awkwardly as he said "Lord, my deepest apologies, I was wondering if I could keep the same number of knives in the future so I could get you more spirits?" He cleared his throat once more as he looked down at the floor and whispered "Also, Lord, you mentioned spirit stones yesterday."


    The Elder''s frown disappeared as a hint of killing intent flashed in his eyes and he waved a finger.


    Jack only saw a flash of grey and then he found himself slamming into the wall next to the door for the courtyard. He felt his bones creak as he swallowed a mouthful of blood that threatened to fly out, out of fear of angering the Elder even more.


    He heard a cold voice in his ear say "Do not think yourself too special to snuff out, servant. I might allow your impoliteness from time to time, but that does not mean that I will suffer your clumsy prompts about my imagined debts. You still breathe out of the kindness of my heart, never forget that. Do I make myself clear?"


    Jack managed to gasp out "Crystal¡­ clear¡­ Lord." After a second the force squeezing him against the wall disappeared and he fell to the ground in a heap.


    He tried to regulate his rapid breathing as he quickly rose to his knees and slammed his forehead against the floor. He kept doing it until he heard Elder Yu say "That''s enough, my floor is getting dirty."


    Jack rose to his feet as a drop of blood glided down his nose and dripped towards the ground. He caught it before it had the chance to fall to the floor and quickly wiped his forehead with his sleeve.


    Standing back in his usual place in front of the Elder''s desk Jack kept his eyes on the ground while he waited for the Elder who fiddled with his instruments.


    As Elder Yu neared Jack''s eye with a shining needle he said "Ask Du Angliang about anything that might concern you regarding knives and remuneration, and never mention it in front of me again."


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    Jack answered him with a scream.


    When Jack left the manor he followed his usual route through the forest where he stopped to cultivate. An hour after he left Elder Yu he arrived back at the headquarters of the Gravediggers.


    Instead of going to the courtyard in the back he headed straight towards Du Angliang''s office and knocked on the door. A dozen seconds later he knocked louder. After a few tries, he sighed and left for the courtyard.


    There Jack soon confirmed his doubts that Du Angliang left for one of his walks around the town and wouldn''t return until midday meal.


    He informed Kuang Bindun and Shi Furui about their bad luck and got to work. They gave up asking about the minor injuries his body accrued after his visits to Elder Yu''s study long ago.


    When he and Shi Furui started dissecting a corpse he spared some time to cut up some of the corpse''s clothes.


    "What are you doing?" Shi Furui asked as he looked up from his bloody work at Jack.


    "I need to make a pouch for the spirit stones, and a sling for carrying the unused knives so they don''t hinder movement." Jack said as he cut strips of cloth from the rough clothes.


    Shi Furui grunted as he leaned in closer to Jack and whispered "When are we going to talk about last night?"


    Jack shrugged his shoulders as he lowered his voice and said "You can wait for us to get back from the graveyard shift in my house. I can''t explain too much at first, and you''ll have to learn a secret code to understand most of it, but we''ll start tonight."


    Shi Furui furrowed his brows but he didn''t dig any deeper as he gave a sharp nod and returned to cutting into the corpse.


    When midday meal came Jack tried to get Du Angliang to talk to him in private, but he only got a "Wait until after the selection." as a response from his Senior Brother as he moved to serve the food.


    Jack sighed and lined up with the rest of them while thinking ''He doesn''t seem angry to see me alive. Damn.''


    After they dug the graves up they went to Elder Yu''s manor for the selection.


    As expected Du Angliang called out Kuang Bindun for the patrol. When Du Angliang decided on all the people for that night, they followed him to the distant room for their equipment.


    After everyone else got their own choker Du Angliang led them back to the graveyard.


    When they arrived there and everyone else had fastened the chokers around their necks Du Angliang turned to Jack with a warm smile on his face and said "Elder Yu informed me to equip you with six Spirit Capturing knives from now on." He took out six knives from the pouch on his waist and handed them over to Jack.


    Jack thanked him as he put on a slightly concerned face, looked at the faces of the others, and asked "And the other thing?"


    Du Angliang still kept the smile on his face as he took a small ragged pouch from his robe and threw it at Jack while saying "Of course, the Elder is very generous."


    Jack almost dropped the knives as he caught the pouch, opened it, and looked inside. Three almost perfectly round stones the size of half a thumb greeted him. In the darkness of the pouch, they gave out a minuscule blue shine that brought no change to their jet-black color.


    As his brows furrowed Jack looked up from the pouch and said "I''m sorry, Senior Brother, but I turned in six spirits."


    Du Angliang smirked as he said "Of course, Song Tanda, but I lent you three extra knives. You did not expect to get a reward while using other people''s property?"


    Jack''s eyes narrowed as he said "They''re all Elder Yu''s property, you wouldn''t want to bother him with this minor issue would you, Senior Brother Du?"


    Du Angliang kept a relaxed look on his face as he answered "Of course not. But I don''t think anyone will bother him with this."


    Jack cursed on the inside as he thought ''If I got to Elder Yu he''ll get punished, but there''s no chance that I won''t get punished worse for annoying the Elder with our bickering so soon after this morning''s incident.''


    After a few seconds, Jack swallowed all of his complaints and asked "And in the future?"


    Du Angliang''s smile reappeared as he said "Just a two stone charge for storage and safekeeping of the knives."


    Jack tightened a grip on a knife and stared at Du Angliang''s throat for a moment, but he breathed in deeply a few times and said through his teeth "Thank you, Senior Brother. I''ll make sure to repay your kindness in the future."


    Du Angliang''s smile disappeared as he stared into Jack''s eyes with a cold gaze and said "I will look forward to that day."


    After a few seconds of silence, and the exchanging of confused gazes from the rest of the group, Du Angliang looked up at Kuang Bindun and said "You, accompany Song Tanda to that end of the patrol route." He pointed towards the East side of the graveyard and continued "I''m sure that he''ll explain everything to you on the way."


    With that Du Angliang motioned to the rest of the group and led them to the West side of the graveyard.


    Jack stared daggers at Du Angliang''s back for a while before turning towards their starting point and heading towards it.


    On the way there he handed the knives to Kuang Bindun and took out an extra thick sling for carrying knives from his uniform. He made Kuang Bindun bend down and threw it over his shoulder. Jack instructed him to place the knives in it while Jack kept two of them for use.


    On the way to the forest entrance, Kuang Bindun looked down at Jack and asked "Did that mess up our plans?"


    After a few seconds, Jack shook his head and said "Nah, just had to put on a show for the bastard or he''d get suspicious."

 1.25 Humble Merchant

    The night''s patrol passed relatively peacefully. Jack only failed the first strike on one spirit out of the six he captured, and Kuang Bindun didn''t seem to mind the short suffering the spirit caused him before Jack could get it. They even managed to improve last night''s speed by over half an hour.


    No one met them on the halfway mark, but they didn''t mind and went back home.


    Kuang Bindun planned to go back to his house immediately, but Jack told him that they''d have to let Shi Furui in on the plan and that he needed him to help out with explaining, so he sent Kuang Bindun to get his learning tools.


    When Jack entered his house he found Shi Furui sitting on the cot while throwing the Light Orb up into the air and catching it in his hand.


    Shi Furui looked up a little sheepishly and set the Light Orb down on the table when he got up to greet Jack.


    With a tired sigh, Jack sat down on the small stool in front of the table and said "Wait a few breaths for Kuang Bindun to come and we can begin."


    Shi Furui nodded his head as he sat back down on the cot while Jack leaned his back on the table and closed his eyes for a short rest.


    A few moments later the lumbering hulk of Kuang Bindun entered the house with his alphabet carving and stick in one hand, and a few other carvings that he made for himself in the other. They mostly contained various words and phrases that Jack taught him.


    With the door closed, Jack started to give roughly the same explanation he gave Kuang Bindun to Shi Furui. He even demonstrated a few language exercises he and Kuang Bindun did.


    When he finished the explanation Shi Furui looked at him and asked in a deadpan voice "A wandering scholar?"


    Not a single muscle on Jack''s face twitched as he nodded solemnly and answered "Yes, a great man."


    Shi Furui stared at him for a few seconds, sighed, and with a serious face asked "Fine; and you''re sure that doing all of this will make it possible to use this new cultivation technique that you invented?"


    Jack hesitated a little before saying "I''m not sure. That''s how it worked for me. I can only speculate that it will work for you guys too."


    Shi Furui thought about it for a few seconds before standing up and bowing towards Jack while saying "Then, please, teach me." He straightened back up and with a wry smirk said "Even if we can''t learn the new cultivation technique it will still be worth it to talk behind the backs of those dogs without them knowing what we''re saying."


    Jack looked a little awkward as he stood up and said "There''s no need to bow. I''m not just doing this for your benefit."


    Shi Furui shook his head as he said "No, it''s only proper to bow to someone that''s imparting knowledge to you."


    Kuang Bindun looked shocked for a moment before he quickly stood up from the cot as well and started bowing. Jack managed to stop him before he got too far down and said "Enough, you don''t need to do that. I don''t care about it."


    Kuang Bindun had a lost look in his eyes as his eyes flicked from Jack to Shi Furui a few times before he sighed and reluctantly straightened back up.


    Everyone sat back down as a serious look appeared on Jack''s face while he said "Now, for the plan¡­"


    The next morning everything went on as usual. Jack visited Elder Yu in the morning and then went to the courtyard of the Gravediggers on his own after. Once again Du Angliang left before giving him his payment and he had to make peace with the fact that he''ll only get it every day after the selection.


    In the courtyard, Jack did his carrying duties until a young servant girl''s corpse arrived to the courtyard and he hurried out in front of the other teens to get it.


    Female corpses came by a lot more rarely than male ones because most of the servant girls had jobs inside of the manors of powerful cultivators. Jack had studied a few of them before and discovered that they had mostly the same meridian structure as men did, only some meridian clusters around their stomach looked different than what males usually had.


    This time he didn''t run out to get a female corpse to study for himself, he gave that part over to Shi Furui and put on the servant girl''s clothes. ''A bit tight around the chest, but they''ll do.'' Jack thought as he moved his limbs around in the new clothes.


    He looked up at Shi Furui and asked "How do I look?"


    Shi Furui gave him a glance and said "Like a proper young lady."


    Jack snorted as he looked down at his new light blue uniform and said "Shut up, the uniforms that the males come in are too big for me, and my old white rags look too conspicuous."


    Shi Furui shrugged and continued his work. Just as Jack turned to leave for the back door he heard Shi Furui''s voice say "Don''t let your guard down, not everyone in this town cares about the Sect''s law."


    Jack looked at Shi Furui over his shoulder as he said "Don''t worry; I can take care of myself."


    He walked to the back door of the courtyard, and when the backstreet that it connected to cleared out he snuck out of it. As usual, only a few people glanced at him with any kind of interest, and the ones that did had a glint of schadenfreude in their eyes.


    Once he went through the few side alleys and entered the main street Jack heard a noise he almost forgot, the noise of a bustling crowd. Usually, when he came in the early morning the streets only had a few people walking around or setting up their shops, and when they left at midday a lot of people already finished their work, and most people tended to avoid their corpse cart even if they had some business in town.


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    Jack looked around the bustling street for a few seconds as he thought ''So many servants. How many disciples and Elders does this Sect have if they need a population of a town just to do their menial tasks?''


    He only saw a small number of disciples in the crowd when compared to the servants, they looked like islands of solitude in the river of people as everyone either subconsciously or deliberately avoided going anywhere near them.


    Jack entered the bustling crowd and walked down the street. Most of the buildings here served as leisure locations where members of the Sect could go and relax. Those buildings had the Sect''s mark, a large white circle with a smaller circle inside of it, painted somewhere prominent on their front. If servants wanted to enter those for any reason they either had to go to the back or come in the company of their master.


    Jack only gave those buildings a glance as he moved towards one that Shi Furui had pointed out for him earlier. It looked a bit shabby, built with old wood that had a couple of spots where it looked slightly rotten. On the top of the building a sign that read "Golden Dragon Store" stood. It had a yellow dragon coiling in between the characters of the name; the paint on the sign had a decent number of flakes missing.


    Entering into the store Jack more smelt than saw a number of different dead animals hanging from the ceiling, on the opposite side of the door stood a large counter and a wall filled with sealed clay jars on shelves. Tables and shelves with various items like weapons, tools, and dried food stacked on them stood scattered around the store. ''Even the courtyard filled with corpses doesn''t have as unique a smell as this store does'' Jack thought as he frowned in disgust.


    He had to take a few breaths through his mouth to get used to the new environment before he navigated his way through all of the obstacles to reach the counter. Once there he looked around and saw no one.


    "Hello, anyone here?" he called out towards a partially closed door in the back of the room. A few seconds later the first old man Jack saw since he came to the Sect appeared. He had a bald head, a long goatee and mustache, and a slightly hunched back.


    The old man gave Jack a slightly annoyed look as he slowly walked to the counter and said "Hello, young one. What can old Long do for you?"


    Jack gave him a slight polite bow and said "Sir, my Young Master sent me here to exchange some spirit stones for gold so he has some spending money in town." He reached into his uniform and took out the pouch that he made previously in the courtyard; the one that Du Angliang gave him looked too rough for a direct servant of a Young Master.


    He turned the pouch upside down and the three spirit stones clonked onto the counter. They didn''t roll even a bit; they just stayed right where they fell. Jack tested this phenomenon a little last night and still had no idea on why they did that.


    Old Long gave the three spirit stones a glance and said with a pained face "I can give you a gold coin and 50 silver for the lot."


    Jack furrowed his brows a little as he said "Sir, these spirit stones can fetch up to 2 gold and 50 silver in the outside world. Please give my Young Master some face."


    The old man picked up one of the stones and gave it a closer look, after a few seconds he sighed sadly and placed it down. He checked the other two stones in the same way as well before looking up at Jack and saying "These are some of the lowest quality spirit stones that I''ve ever seen." He looked even more pained as he continued "Even as a favor to your Young Master I can only raise the price to 1 gold and 60 silver,"


    Jack''s brows furrowed even more as he thought ''That bastard would probably give me the lowest quality stones that he had. S*it.'' He looked into the eyes of the old man for a few seconds before relaxing his face and saying "Very well, I thank you in the name of my Young Master."


    The old man''s pained look disappeared as he snatched the three spirit stones and reached under the counter. After a few seconds of fiddling with something he placed a gold coin and a small heap of silver coins on the counter while saying "Thank you for your business, here is your payment." He looked at the door and continued "Please come again in the future."


    Jack looked at the small fortune for a second and started counting. After a minute he looked up at the old man''s beaming face and said with a slightly harsh voice "Sir, I think you made a mistake, there are only 52 silver coins here."


    Old Long put on a horrified face and looked down at the silver coins. He himself counted them out loud and exclaimed "Spirits, you''re right! A clever little boy that can count so high is hard to find. Your Young Master sure is lucky."


    He quickly took out additional silver coins from under the counter and said "There, everything''s fine now."


    Jack gave him a sidelong glance as he begun to count the coins again. A minute later he counted them up to 60 and stored them in the pouch. He looked up at the old man with a polite smile and with a slight bow said "Thank you for your service, my Young Master will remember this generosity. Goodbye." He navigated the obstacle course to the main door and exited the store.


    As soon as Jack left, the old man''s face turned emotionless as he turned towards the back door and yelled "Go and find out who that brat works for." After a few seconds of consideration, he added "And if it turns out that he''s trying to scam me you know what to do."


    Three voices shouted from the back room in a chorus "At once, Elder Long."

 1.26 Martial Arts

    Jack left the Golden Dragon Store and entered the flowing crowd in the street. In the next half an hour he explored the whole main trading area of Tranquil Lake Town and took note of a few places that he needed to visit in the following days.


    After he ended his tour he entered the side alley that led towards the Gravedigger courtyard. Jack turned the first corner that appeared in the maze of alleys, bent down to pick up a few rocks that lay on the ground, and walked towards the end of the blocked off alley.


    He calmly reached to the small of his back, lifted his uniform, and took out his slingshot. Putting a stone into the pouch of the slingshot he drew as far as he could and waited.


    Around a dozen seconds later a frowning head popped out from behind the corner.


    Jack let go of the taught strap and the stone slammed straight into the confused teen''s forehead.


    His head snapped back with an audible *crack*, and after a second he collapsed down to the ground. He had inconspicuous brown clothes, at least the upper half that Jack could see did, and his greasy hair covered the face from which a line of blood trickled down to the ground.


    Two voices shouted in surprise at the same time as the teen collapsed.


    Jack''s brow furrowed a little as he thought ''Three? Damn, one''s stronger than me.'' while he loaded a new stone into the slingshot''s pouch and pulled it taught.


    "I don''t want any trouble. Leave and I''ll act like nothing happened." Jack shouted towards the end of the alley.


    "You''ve got trouble now, you little rat!" a male voice yelled back. The unconscious teen got dragged out of Jack''s line of sight, and after a few seconds the same voice shouted in a concerned tone "What did you do to him?!"


    "Nothing that a few nights in bed won''t fix." Jack shouted back with confidence in his tone as he thought ''If he doesn''t get brain damage.'' He continued "We can end it now, just take your friend and go."


    Jack heard hushed voices arguing for a few seconds, then all of a sudden a teen almost as large as Kuang Bindun ran out of cover and headed straight for Jack.


    As soon as Jack let the stone loose he saw the teen move his arms up to cover his face. He clicked his tongue in annoyance as he loaded another stone and took aim.


    The second stone struck the charging teen in the arm covering his nose, but he fought through the pain with a roar as he continued heading straight at Jack. A second after the first teen charged out, a young man with a slim build and a relaxed expression on his face stepped out from the corner. He followed in the burly teen''s wake and used his bulk to hide from Jack''s stones.


    Jack sighed inwardly as he aimed his last shot high at the charging teen''s body. Just as the teen moved his hands in an attempt to protect the targeted area, Jack lowered the aim down and released the grip on the slingshot''s pouch.


    The third stone slammed into the knee on which the charging teen just placed all of his weight. With a soft *pop* his leg bent at a weird angle and he crashed to the ground in a scream of agony.


    Jack didn''t have enough time for a fourth stone so he tossed his slingshot to the side of the alley and assumed a fighting guard.


    The young man charged up to Jack and threw a wide cross. Jack ducked it easily and placed a couple of powerful uppercuts under the young man''s ribs.


    With an *ugh* the young man backed away a couple of steps and attempted to do a sloppy front kick. Jack dodged to the side and delivered a couple of low kicks to the leg on which the young man stood. This made him wobble and almost fall, but he caught himself and backed a few steps away. He proceeded to circle warily around Jack while he looked for an opening.


    "Who are you?" The young man asked with a grim face after a few seconds of finding no weakness. All of the confidence he had when he ran out behind the burly teen had gone up in smoke. He couldn''t believe that someone that barely reached his chin and was a grade lower in cultivation could put up a fight against him and his two partners.


    Jack furrowed his brows as he retorted with a "Who are you? I don''t know, nor did I do anything to you before you started following me." He kept his guard up while his brain worked furiously ''I gave him two full powered punches to the solar plexus and the kicks to his leg should have brought him down to the ground. F*cking cultivation. I might have to do something desperate.''


    Just as Jack considered his next step, the young man narrowed his eyes into slits and said "I didn''t want to kill you, but you leave me no choice." He charged at Jack with his right arm pulled back for a punch.


    Jack''s brows rose in surprise as he thought ''That''s his trump card? A telegraphed att¡­'' Before he could even finish his thought he saw a slight flicker of spirit energy on the young man''s pulled back arm. Jack could only cross his arms in front of his chest and urge all of the available spirit energy into them as the young man''s fist moved three times faster than before and struck right in the middle of his crossed arms.


    All the air left Jack''s lungs as his body flew into the back of the alley and slammed into the wall of an old building. He heard creaks coming from his arms and ribs, but nothing felt broken, only in a lot of pain. As he slumped to the floor he turned to his side and coughed a mouthful of blood onto the ground.


    The young man let out a few gasps as he exclaimed in wonder "Still¡­ alive?! You''re tougher than¡­ you look." He started walking towards Jack''s slumped body as he said "I might let you live if you hand the money that you have on you over."


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    Jack let out a coughing laugh as he pushed himself back up to his feet and gave the young man a bloody grin. "I might let you live if you hand the money that you have on you over." Jack parroted as he looked into the furious eyes that stared at him.


    The young man opened his mouth to say something, but before he could Jack charged at him while copying the same pose that the young man performed previously.


    His eyes widened in disbelief as he took a step back and rose his arms up in a guard.


    Just as Jack came into range of his fist he lowered his arm and did a double foot slide into the opposite party''s legs. The young man gave out a surprised yelp as they both slammed down to the ground in a heap.


    Jack quickly caught him in a leg lock and pulled as hard as he could. He had to push as much spirit energy as he could through his body before he heard the satisfying *snap* of ligaments breaking, and the accompanying scream from the young man.


    Without giving him a chance to recover Jack moved to sit on top of the young man''s chest and used his fists to pound the young man''s head into the ground until he stopped resisting.


    With greedy gulps of air, Jack looked down at his handiwork.


    The young man''s head lulled to the side as a mixture of saliva, blood, and teeth oozed out of his mouth.


    Jack stared down at his opponent''s neck for a few long seconds before shaking his head and turning him to the side so he wouldn''t drown in his own fluids. After that, he carefully went over the young man''s body with his hands.


    He found a pouch with a few silvers in it and a nice looking knife. Jack took both, picked up his slingshot, and moved over to the large teen that was in the middle of an attempted getaway via crawling.


    Jack walked up to his back and stepped on his damaged knee.


    After a few seconds of shrieking, Jack said "Shut up or I''ll do worse to the other one." as he stomped the other knee. When the teen continued to whimper he added in a cold voice "Do you want to walk in the future?" which finally quieted the teen down.


    Jack''s small frame loomed over the large teen as he said "Now, why did you try to rob me." Before the teen could open his mouth he added "If you lie to me I''ll do worse things to you than what I did to your friend."


    The teen looked over at the drooling young man and spilled his guts out to Jack.


    A few minutes later Jack left the knocked out and looted body of the first robber as he thought ''Elder Long, eh? Interesting.''


    When he passed through the back doors of the Gravedigger courtyard, both Kuang Bindun and Shi Furui scurried to him from the bunch of resting youths as soon as they saw his bloody clothes.


    Kuang Bindun acted like a young mother as he bombarded Jack with questions like "Are you alright? What happened? Who did this?"


    Jack walked over to the fresh water and washed out the pieces of teeth from his battered knuckles as he started to explain what happened to him on his trip.


    "All in all, we might have found a nice surprise, and we even earned a few extra silver coins." Jack concluded as he looked up at the disbelieving faces of his two friends.


    After a couple seconds of silence, Jack furrowed his brows in thought and said "After this incident, I''ve concluded that most people here suck in fights. That guy seemed like the most experienced of that group, but even he telegraphed all of his attacks. We might have to start working on that even before I planned it."


    Kuang Bindun and Shi Furui exchanged glances; they learned to ignore the few strange words that Jack threw out every now and then. A quiet conversation happened between their eyes and in the end, Shi Furui asked "When? Our schedule doesn''t allow for much free time as is. And now you want to add even more?"


    Jack looked at the lazing figures of everyone else around the courtyard for a few seconds and said "We''re free now. Might as well use the time."


    Disbelief filled Shi Furui''s face as he spluttered "Now? In front of everyone? You''re hurt."


    Jack looked back at him with a frown and said "We don''t have time to pussyfoot around this. The sooner we start, the sooner we can do something about this situation."


    He walked out of their small circle to a sufficiently open area and waved for Kuang Bindun to join him.


    Kuang Bindun walked over with a confused look in his eyes as he asked "What now, Tanda?"


    Jack looked up at him with an evil smirk and said "Try to hit me." After a few seconds of just staring at each other, Jack shot a glare at Kuang Bindun and growled "If you don''t try to hit me in the next breath I''ll stop teaching you."


    Kuang Bindun stood stunned for a second before he roared and threw a fierce punch at the small boy that stood in front of him with his hands on his hips.


    Jack looked at the incoming punch with disappointment as he sidestepped it and punched Kuang Bindun in the balls.


    He shook and blew at his injured hand a little before he turned to look down at the squirming bulk of Kuang Bindun. He tried, and failed, to hold in his sobs as he covered his jewels with both hands in a vain attempt at protection from the stabbing pain.


    Jack glanced at the pale-faced Shi Furui and sighed as he said "A lot of work¡­"

 1.27 Making Friends

    A few of the teens that huddled in the shade of the courtyard''s wall laughed and pointed as Jack, Shi Furui, and Kuang Bindun ran in front of them. Others looked at them with bewilderment, while most just closed their eyes and tried to relax.


    Jack glanced back at his two lagging friends and decided to slow his pace down so they could catch up.


    "You guys done?" he asked in a relaxed tone while he jogged.


    "How can you¡­ run for so long? Some form of using¡­ spirit energy?" Shi Furui gasped as he tried to stay in front of Kuang Bindun by at least a step.


    Jack chuckled a little and said "I built my stamina up for years. You guys either do hard physical labor or lay around all day. Even your higher cultivation grade won''t help you out for long if your base stamina level gets so low that it practically doesn''t exist."


    Shi Furui grunted in response as a thoughtful look covered his face. His breathing remained awful, but his feet grew more stable.


    Jack fell a step back and lowered his voice as he said "I''ll give you all the silver that I have later. Take Bi Tuohui and buy some decent food in town. I don''t care about the quality; just make sure that we have enough food for the four of us and the two additional people I told you about. If any silver remains buy some Poison Arrow Bullfrog legs for the weapons."


    With slumped shoulders, Kuang Bindun stared down at his feet and seemed to push his legs forward with pure willpower as sweat ran from his forehead to make a large wet spot on both sides of his uniform. After a few seconds, he gasped "Will¡­ Bi Tuohui¡­ cooperate?"


    Jack smirked a little as he looked at Bi Tuohui from the corner of his eye and said "Don''t worry; he doesn''t care as long as he gets fed and can strut around." Jack looked back towards Kuang Bindun and continued "Pick two guys that you think we could turn to our side and just tell them that they''ll get the food for the favors we need done."


    A couple seconds later Kuang Bindun asked as a hint of surprise colored his tired voice "You¡­ don''t want¡­ to pick them?"


    Jack jogged for a few seconds in silence before answering "Nah, you know the guys here better than I do, I trust you." Jack glanced at the now squared shoulders of Kuang Bindun and continued with a laugh "Don''t forget to leave some food for us for when we get back from the graveyard shift."


    When Kuang Bindun and Shi Furui finally collapsed, Jack went to the lounging Bi Tuohui and arranged the protection deal for food. He felt certain that Du Angliang wouldn''t call out Bi Tuohui''s name today because he did so a couple of nights ago, and for some reason, he only called the stronger three teens in a rotation.


    The rest of the day proceeded normally as Du Angliang gave Jack four spirit stones as payment for last night''s work. He and Shi Furui proceeded to their patrol of the Eastern part of the graveyard forest. This time Jack missed the spirit only when he got down to the last knife, but it didn''t take him too long to get that one and Shi Furui looked more excited for the upcoming food than he minded the pain that the spirit caused him.


    When they returned back to Jack''s house they found Kuang Bindun waiting for them there, while two chunks of roasted meat and pieces of bread lay in clay plates on the table.


    Kuang Bindun gave the salivating duo a wide grin as he said "Go on, it''s getting cold."


    Jack and Shi Furui attacked the meal like hungry wolves as Kuang Bindun stood and looked at them like a proud mother.


    Jack wiped the grease from his mouth with the last piece of bread, popped it in his mouth, burped, and said "I could get used to this." as he leaned his back in his bed.


    Shi Furui nodded his head vigorously as he stuffed the last pieces of his dinner into his mouth while Kuang Bindun chuckled.


    After a few moments of satisfied sighing, Jack sat up, turned towards Kuang Bindun, and asked "So, Bindun, how did it go?"


    Kuang Bindun straightened his shoulders from their relaxed slump and said "Pretty much as expected. Some tried to haggle with us for the extra food, but I wouldn''t allow it. A few looked like they might start some trouble, but with the four of us standing together no one had the courage to oppose us."


    Jack nodded his head as he said "As expected." He looked at Kuang Bindun''s confident eyes and asked "Who did you pick?"


    Kuang Bindun gave a self-satisfied smirk as he answered "Yin Ping, his cultivation''s at the top of the second grade, but he''s a smart guy who knows how to take care of himself, and more importantly, how to keep his mouth shut. He agreed to work on the Poison Arrow Bullfrog legs, or any other thing that we need instead, if we keep giving him food each night."


    Jack nodded his head as he said "Nice choice. I''ll tell him what to do with the Poison Arrow Bullfrog legs tomorrow." He turned to Shi Furui and said "And you can explain how to do it at night while we''re on the graveyard shift."


    With an acknowledging nod from Shi Furui, Jack turned to Kuang Bindun and asked "And the other one?"


    Kuang Bindun hesitated a bit before he squared his shoulders and said "Bai Maolong¡­"


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    As Kuang Bindun opened his mouth to continue the introduction Jack had already furrowed his brows in displeasure and Shi Furui even let out a surprised "What?!"


    Jack frowned at the solemn Kuang Bindun for a few seconds before he said "Continue."


    Shi Furui gave Jack a shocked look as he said "Tanda, you can''t agree to this. That guy''s¡­"


    "I want to hear what Bindun has to say." Jack interrupted Shi Furui with a disapproving glance and refocused his gaze back to his large friend.


    Kuang Bindun gave Jack a grateful glance as he continued his introduction "Bai Maolong, he''s at the third grade and only Bi Tuohui and the other two can beat him down." He glanced at Shi Furui for a split second before looking back at Jack and continuing "You told me to get someone powerful that isn''t in Du Angliang''s pocket, and he agreed to train with us in the courtyard as long as we gave him food."


    The frown stayed on Jack''s forehead as he said "You still haven''t told me why we should waste our time on him. From what I''ve seen he''s the laziest person in this whole unit. He drags one corpse to a table and then goes to relax in the shade. Even Du Angliang avoids taking him to the graveyard shift; in my time here he only selected Bai Maolong three times."


    Kuang Bindun looked Jack straight into his eyes and said "He helped me out when I came here and I never saw him harming anyone. I agree that he''s lazy, but we can work on that. You told me that you trusted me this morning, so trust me on this."


    Jack examined his friend''s resolute face for a few seconds before he sighed and said "Fine, but you''ll have to take responsibility if he refuses to listen. From my experience, people like him don''t care about anything except for themselves. Make sure you keep an eye on him."


    Kuang Bindun smiled with joy as he said "Sure thing, Tanda." He added "Tanks." in English.


    Jack shook his head as he said "No problem." in the same language. He turned to Shi Furui and gave him a circling signal with his left hand, which he kept hidden from Kuang Bindun with his body, before giving out a tired yawn and saying "Now that that''s done, let''s get some rest. We have to visit a friend tomorrow, and it wouldn''t do if we looked too worn out when we met him."


    Kuang Bindun and Shi Furui both agreed and left Jack''s house with wishes of sweet dreams.


    Jack hid the Light Orb in his pillowcase and sat on his cot while he stared at the door.


    Ten minutes later the door opened by a bit and Shi Furui slid through the crack.


    He frowned as he stood in front of Jack and asked "Why did you ask me to circle around? I don''t like hiding things from Bindun."


    Jack shrugged as he said "Can''t help it, I don''t like this Bai Maolong guy. Do you know why Bindun stood up for him so much?"


    Shi Furui hesitated for a few seconds before he opened his mouth to say "I''m not sure I should tell you this."


    Jack''s face turned serious as he said "We can''t have secrets from each other, with all the dangers around us here we can''t have some coming from the inside as well."


    Shi Furui gave Jack a level gaze as he said in a deadpan voice "Can''t have secrets from each other, eh?"


    Without a hint of hesitation, Jack nodded his head and said "Yes."


    Shi Furui looked at him for a few more seconds, before he sighed, looked at the ground, and said "Look, I''ll tell you, but don''t mention it to Bindun."


    Jack furrowed his brows as he said "I can''t promise that. If something''s wrong I might have to confront him about it."


    Shi Furui looked up at Jack with a sad smile as he said "Sure." He turned to look at a wall of the house for a few seconds as his eyes turned distant and he said "When Bindun got sent here he didn''t arrive on his own. His younger brother came with him."


    Jack''s face showed a hint of realization as he struggled from slapping his forehead.


    Shi Furui didn''t seem to realize the changes as he continued his story "I don''t remember the boy''s name, he didn''t live past his week so I didn''t get to chance to ask for it, and Bindun never talks about him."


    Jack raised his hands and rubbed his face, hard.


    Shi Furui''s eyes glazed over as he said "Back then nothing could make Bindun do the work, our dear Senior Brother even whipped him a couple of times. After a few days of this Bai Maolong got up from his usual relaxing spot and started to talk to him. It took him a couple of months, but he managed to cheer Bindun up enough so that Du Angliang stopped abusing him. When that ended Bai Maolong returned to his usual lazy self and ignored Bindun''s clumsy attempts at friendship."


    He sighed and turned towards Jack with the same sad smile still lingering on his lips as he said "I think that the reason Bindun approached you on your first day has something to do with Bai Maolong; and the fact you resemble his little brother somewhat."


    Jack raised his head from his hands and said in a hoarse voice "That''s enough." After a few seconds, he added "Thank you."


    Shi Furui nodded his head as he silently left Jack''s house.


    Jack lay back in his bed as he thought ''Well, f*ck. Now I''ll have to turn that deadbeat into something worthwhile.''

 1.28 Negotiations

    When Jack returned to the Gravedigger courtyard on the next morning he greeted his friends and went to one of the cutting tables to talk to Yin Ping.


    The teen stood only a few centimeters taller than Jack, even though his age almost doubled that of Jack''s. Yin Ping''s hair framed his narrow face as his thin frame loomed over the table. He currently had his hands deep in some unlucky servant''s entrails, supposedly looking for hidden treasures.


    Jack had suspicions on the real reasons that Elder Yu had them do this; the baubles they found from time to time meant nothing to someone as powerful as the Elder, but he kept them to himself for now.


    "Any luck?" Jack asked the short teen as he stopped next to him and looked down at the corpse.


    Yin Ping shot him a glance and returned his focus to his work as he said "You''re Song Tanda, right? Why did your people hire me to work on the Poison Arrow Bullfrogs?" He let go of the intestines and cut open the dantian as he continued "I don''t mind the food, nor the work, but I''d prefer not to get executed for doing something I''m not supposed to."


    Jack''s brows rose in surprise as he gave Yin Ping a more scrutinizing look while he thought ''Sharp, I can use him. Bindun might have an eye for talent after all.'' He gave a polite chuckle as he lightly patted Yin Ping on the shoulder and said "Don''t worry, you just have to work on the Poison Arrow Bullfrog legs to make a tough and stretchy material that we''ll use for our work. It''s nothing illegal. Shi Furui will show you what you need to do, and how to do it, tonight after the evening meal."


    Yin Ping shied away from Jack''s hand when he patted his shoulder, but Jack acted like nothing happened and kept up a polite smile. After a few seconds, Yin Ping muttered "Then I''m satisfied with our deal." and burrowed his hands deeper into the corpse.


    After a few moments of admiring Yin Ping''s work ethic, Jack said goodbye and walked over to the lounging Bai Maolong in a permanently shaded corner of the courtyard.


    Bai Maolong didn''t even twitch when Jack stopped in a position to loom over him. A few seconds later Jack even heard a soft snore.


    With an annoyed expression on his face, Jack pulled back his leg and kicked at the sprawled Bai Maolong. Before his leg made contact with the sleeping body Jack stopped his kick and took a step back.


    A few seconds later Bai Maolong cracked one eye open just enough to catch Jack''s silhouette and said lazily "Nice reflexes, kid. I can almost see why that idiot follows you around like a dog."


    Jack''s face had turned serious as soon as he stopped his kick and it took him a couple of seconds to respond to Bai Maolong. Finally, he said, "Join us for training later."


    Bai Maolong cracked his second eye open and narrowed both of them as he growled "You ordering me around, brat?"


    Jack stared right into Bai Maolong''s eyes as he said "I am. You accepted our terms; you will keep your word."


    "Or what?" Bai Maolong spat out as Jack felt an increasing threat coming from his body.


    Jack withstood the glare shot his way as he calmly said "Or I''ll imbue a stone and throw it at you every time you think about getting some rest."


    All the threat that Bai Maolong''s body exuded disappeared like smoke as he blinked his eyes a couple of times before saying "Oh, well, see you later then." and closing his eyes.


    Jack studied Bai Maolong''s softly snoring visage for a few additional seconds, before turning on his heel and leaving for the back door while shaking his head inwardly.


    When he reached it he took Kuang Bindun to the side and asked "Did you get them?"


    Kuang Bindun had a slight frown as he said "We got one for you and Furui, but we''re still missing mine."


    Jack hid a smile as he said "Don''t worry, we still have time."


    An hour later they got lucky as a cart delivered a large man in his late twenties and Jack and Kuang Bindun ran out to take him.


    They dragged the body to a free table and signaled Shi Furui to come and join them. A minute later he finished up his current corpse and went to them while carrying two bundles of clothes.


    He gave one to Jack and kept the other for himself while Kuang Bindun stripped the large man.


    A few minutes later they convinced Yin Ping to take care of the dead man''s body for an extra piece of meat and left the courtyard through the back door.


    "I don''t like this; it keeps riding up on me." Kuang Bindun complained as he grabbed at his backside and pulled.


    "Who forced you to grow so big?" Shi Furui asked as he waved his hand in dismissal while Jack snickered on the side.


    Each of them wore a different colored servant uniform, but they stuck together and entered the crowded main street.


    A few minutes later they stood in front of an old dilapidated shop on which a flaking sign that read "Golden Dragon Store" hung.


    Jack gave his two friends a reassuring look and led the way into the store.


    The smell hit them like a wall, but they adjusted after a few seconds and navigated the maze of shelves and tables to the large shop counter.


    When they got there Jack looked towards the slightly open back door and shouted "Elder Long, can we talk?"


    Half a minute passed before they heard an old voice shake the store slightly "You''ve got some guts, brat!" Following the rumbling old Long opened the door and glared at Jack and his companions.


    Jack heard a soft gulp from his back, but he ignored it and kept his relaxed mask on as he said "There''s no need for anger, Elder Long." He reached into his robe and took out a pouch which he laid on the counter as he said "Four of my best spirit stones, one each for your¡­ followers'' injuries, and one for the personal pain I brought to you in my ignorance."


    Old Long looked suspiciously at the pouch, but a hint of greed shone in his eyes as he came to the counter and snatched it up. After he took a quick peek at the spirit stones a hint of glee flashed across his eyes which he quickly quashed as he looked up at Jack with a scowl and said "You think this is enough for what you did?"


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    He pointed a wrinkled finger at Jack''s nose as he said "One is unconscious, one might not walk right ever again, and one will probably kill himself once he sees what you did to his face. How are only four spirit stones enough to cover that pain?!"


    "Didn''t you say that you only roughed them up a little?" Shi Furui asked in a whisper soft enough so that only Jack could hear, but he still heard the slight irritation in his voice.


    Jack waved a hand behind his back at Shi Furui which he hoped got understood as ''We''ll talk later.'' as he plastered an anguished look on his face and said "My apologies, Elder Long. But I am only a poor servant and can only take out so much. I hope that you can understand my sincerity."


    "Hmpf!" Old Long snorted coldly as he looked down at Jack, and then at the two people that stood behind him before he said "You come here feigning sincerity, while you bring your bruisers with you to intimidate me."


    A dangerous aura oozed out of old Long as Jack saw the glow of spirit energy start to emit from his body. "Do you think that you brought enough backup?" old Long asked in a dangerous voice.


    Jack felt the shifting of wooden planks from his back as his friends prepared to jump the old man. He kept his expression calm in the face of all the threats as he said "You are mistaken, Elder. These are not my enforcers, they''re my business partners. I''ve brought them here to negotiate a deal with you." He paused for a breath before he added "It will bring you a lot of spirit stones in profit."


    The glow of spirit energy from old Long''s body stopped increasing as he blinked and refocused his gaze on Jack''s young face. "What do you mean?" he asked after a few seconds of deliberating with himself.


    Jack spread his hands out in a gesture of sincerity as he said "It''s quite simple actually, you have things to sell, and we have the capital to buy them. We work out a deal that works for both of us and both end up getting what we want."


    Old Long furrowed his brows in thought for a second before he asked "How much do you want to trade for?"


    "Up to four spirit stones a day, with more to come in a few months." Jack answered as he laid his hands down on the counter and stared at the old man''s glittering eyes.


    Old Long hid his greed as he pretended to think about Jack''s proposal. After a long pause, he asked "What do you want for them?"


    Jack gave him a relaxed shrug as he said "Nothing special, some food and materials. Sometimes tools, or just plain old coins. It depends on what we need, but it won''t go over the price of the stones."


    Old Long thought about it for a bit more before his eyes flashed a dangerous glint as he said "And weapons?"


    Jack shook his head in dismissal as he said "We don''t need them, we just want a comfortable life here. Who would want to go out into that jungle out there?" he finished with a chuckle and a thumb thrown over his shoulder at the outside world.


    Old Long joined in the chuckle as he added "Indeed." A few seconds later he sighed and said "Come in then, let''s talk." as he signaled towards the door behind the counter and headed for it.


    Jack and his friends followed behind him and entered an equally smelly room which held four chairs and a table in the center, and had shelves filled with the same various materials that the front of the store held.


    In one of the chairs sat the large teen whose knee Jack ruined. As soon as he saw him he stood up on his good leg and bellowed while pointing a finger at Jack "You¡­"


    "Shut up!" Old Long interrupted his outburst with a shout and continued "You heard our deal, go to the back and check up on the others."


    The large teen threw Jack hateful glares, but he listened to the old man and hopped out of a side door.


    The four of them each took a seat and started their negotiations. They had to iron out the price of the spirit stones in regards to the other items that Jack planned to acquire from the Golden Dragon Store.


    After a tough half hour of arguing from which both parties exited unsatisfied they ended their negotiations and old Long decided to bring out some wine to celebrate and seal the deal.


    He filled four dirty-looking cups with a clear liquid and instructed them on how to toast.


    Jack followed everything that the old man did and emptied the entire cup as he did in a relaxed manner. As the drink passed his throat he suddenly thought ''Wine my ass, this is moonshine. A bit on the weak side, and with spices added, but moonshine nonetheless.'' He glanced at the contorting faces of his friends and chuckled on the inside.


    Old Long gave Jack a weighing look as he asked "Another?"


    Jack shrugged and said "Why not? For good luck!" He downed the second cup with old Long and felt the old familiar heat spread through his body. Suddenly he shook his head slightly to clear it and cursed ''Damn, I''m in a kid''s body. Can''t go and start drinking with the old men or else I''m spirit food once the graveyard shift comes.''


    When old Long suggested a third round Jack refused politely and said that they had to go back to their master.


    Old Long gave a subtle look at the different colors of their uniforms, but kept his mouth shut and escorted them out of his store.


    Jack felt a little wobbly in his knees, but the fresh air of the outside managed to stabilize him.


    When they got far enough from the store Shi Furui asked in a slightly slurred loud whisper "What about that sskill that you ssaid one of the guyss that attackd you ussed?"


    Jack looked left and right at the rosy faces of his friends and said "That will take more spirit stones than we have access to right now." He chuckled a little and continued "Let''s go back, a little sweat is exactly what we need right now."

 1.29 Removing Obstacles

    When Jack, Kuang Bindun, and Shi Furui returned to the Gravedigger courtyard the rest of the group gave them a cursory glance and went back to their daily nap.


    Jack went up to Bai Maolong''s spot and said "Let''s go." to the sleeping teen.


    After a dozen seconds of no response, other than an increase of the snoring volume, Jack looked around and went to pick up a decent sized rock.


    He went back to stand over Bai Maolong and said "If you don''t get up by the count of three¡­" He threw the stone and caught it as he continued "this will wake you up."


    "One¡­" before Jack could get to two, Bai Maolong sighed as he opened his eyes and murmured "Fine, fine, you little bastard. I''m getting up." He stood up with an exaggerated number of groans and said with a charming smile "You wouldn''t really throw that thing at me, right?"


    Jack shrugged his shoulders, threw the stone on the ground, and walked away while repeating "Let''s go."


    Bai Maolong glanced down at his resting spot and just as he debated whether he should follow in Jack''s footsteps or not he heard a soft *crack* from just under his feet.


    Jack looked over his shoulder and saw Bai Maolong holding to the top of the wall with a panicked expression on his face, all of his aloofness gone. Jack chuckled and raised his voice towards Bai Maolong as he said "Stop shuffling your feet and follow me."


    Bai Maolong looked down and saw the rock that Jack previously held cracked in a dozen pieces. It just fell apart in the spot where Jack dropped it. He looked up at the laughing boy that called out to him and murmured with a rueful smirk "This might get interesting." as he jumped down to the ground and followed in Jack''s wake.


    They spent the rest of the morning doing basic workouts and stamina building exercises. To Jack''s surprise, Bai Maolong had the worst stamina out of the lot. He could do the exercises pretty well, but his endurance seemed pitiful even when compared with Kuang Bindun''s. A few times when it looked like he planned to give up Jack picked up a rock and played with casually while looking at Bai Maolong which stopped his wandering eyes.


    When everyone collapsed from exhaustion Jack ended the session and walked over to the slumped Bai Maolong. He stood above his sprawled and gasping body as he asked "You want to continue this?"


    After a few seconds of doing his best imitation of a landed fish, Bai Maolong finally managed to say "You still¡­ giving out food?"


    Jack nodded his head as he said "Of course."


    Bai Maolong gasped for a few more seconds before he confirmed "Then I''m in."


    Jack heard the soft sigh of relaxation from Kuang Bindun that lay behind him and smirked as he walked away to get some water for his new recruits.


    The rest of the day went by as usual.


    When the time came for the selection for the graveyard shift Jack almost smacked himself across the face as Du Angliang called out Bi Tuohui for the patrol. He quickly stared at Shi Furui and when their eyes met he signaled at the two people standing at the top of the lined up teens.


    Shi Furui glanced at them and gave Jack a slight nod of understanding. Jack''s stiff shoulders relaxed a little, but his brains still came up with terrible outcomes. He didn''t care about the money he gave to Shi Furui, but what the others would do with only three people guarding the food for six. A part of their deal with Bi Tuohui stated that they would give him his share even when he had to go to the graveyard shift.


    The rest of the night went by in a blur for Jack as he hurried as much as he could to finish their patrol fast and get back to the others. They charged up six knives as soon as possible and ran for the rest of the way with almost no spirit energy left in Jack''s dantian. Even though they hurried, Jack still had to capture six spirits or else he''d risk ruining his fragile relationship with Elder Yu.


    He made a mistake on the second and last spirits that caused unnecessary pain to Kuang Bindun, but he didn''t mind too much because he also wanted to return as quickly as possible.


    When they ran back to their little housing area everything seemed normal. A gasping Kuang Bindun slid open Jack''s house''s door and stepped into the light.


    In there they saw Shi Furui sitting on the cot while studying the English language boards that Kuang Bindun made while two plates filled with food waited for them on the table.


    Jack let out a long held in sigh of relief when Shi Furui greeted them with a satisfied smirk. He walked up to Shi Furui and slapped his shoulder while he said "Good man!" Jack grabbed the food from the table, sat down on the stool opposite Shi Furui, and asked "How did it go?"


    Shi Furui shrugged as he answered, "It got a little tense as Shen Saishuo and Tong Touhao riled up two other people and tried to make us give them half of the food, but we stood strong and managed to repel them."


    Jack nodded his head as he heard the names of the other two strongest people from their unit and asked in a dangerous tone "Any violence?"


    Shi Furui shook his head as he chuckled lightly and said "It looked like it would come to it, but then little Yin Ping took out two sharp looking knives and pressed them to the necks of the two helpers. Things cooled down after that."


    Jack gave out a surprised bark of laughter as he said "He keeps surprising me. Did you show him how to work with the Poison Arrow Bullfrog legs?"


    Shi Furui nodded his head and answered "Yeah, it didn''t take him long to get it. I told him to ask me if anything confuses him, but he seemed fine." His face turned serious as he glanced at the eating Kuang Bindun and said "What do we do in three days when I''m out with you?" He left the ''and only Bindun''s left to protect the food.'' out, but they both understood what he meant.


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    Jack didn''t think about it for even a second as he said "I''ll take care of it tomorrow."


    Shi Furui''s brows furrowed as he asked "Peacefully?"


    Jack spread his arms out in mock outrage as he complained "When have I not taken care of things peacefully?"


    Shi Furui snorted but decided to stay quiet about what they learned about Jack''s victims that morning.


    After the meal, Jack taught both of his friends some new words and terms and gave them additional exercises to do on their own.


    The next day in the Gravedigger courtyard Jack walked over to where Tong Touhao worked on a fresh corpse. He stopped opposite the table from where Tong Touhao stood and said in a relaxed manner "I heard things got a little tense last night."


    Tong Touhao snorted coldly and pointed a bloody knife at Jack''s nose as he said "F*ck off. I''m not one of your lackeys." and turned back to his work.


    Jack kept his face calm as he shrugged and said "Sure, but if you do try to touch one of my ''lackeys'' again things won''t go that well for you."


    Tong Touhao looked back up at Jack''s face as he growled "Are you threatening me, boy?!"


    Jack shrugged once again as he said "Of course not." He paused for a second before continuing "But, let''s say that someone snuck into your house while you slept, tied you down, cut your wrists, and made your death look like a suicide." Jack dropped all pretenses of civility as he allowed some of his fury to leak out while he stared at Tong Touhao''s eyes and asked "Do you think that would make you stop causing problems?"


    Tong Touhao''s eyes bulged out from rage as he shouted "You dare!" and made a stabbing motion towards Jack''s face.


    With a simple step back Jack left Tong Touhao''s reach and gave him a cold look as he said "I''ll give you that one. Try it again and you won''t get to have that last nap before the end." He looked around and signaled Shi Furui, Kuang Bindun, and Bi Tuohui to stay back as they already made a few steps in their direction. Even Bai Maolong cracked an eyelid open to watch the spectacle.


    Tong Touhao''s face burned as he looked around the courtyard at the people staring at him and spat at Jack''s feet. He turned his gaze back to his work and tried to ignore his surroundings as much as he could.


    Jack shook his head slightly in disgust and walked away from Tong Touhao''s table.


    He looked around the courtyard, found his real target, and walked over to him.


    Shen Saishuo kept a wary gaze on Jack''s approaching figure from the gathering of the corpse carriers. Even before Jack reached him he stepped out to a more isolated part of the courtyard and waited.


    He glanced around at the observing gazes of Jack''s companions for a second and steeled himself for the incoming threats.


    When Jack reached him he gave him a casual wave as a greeting and said "Shen Saishuo, would you like to earn some extra food?"


    Shen Saishuo''s steely visage crumbled as he blinked in surprise and asked "What?"


    Jack didn''t miss a beat as he repeated "Would you like to earn some extra food? It happens that I have a free slot for a guard once every three nights, I''d like for you to take it up."


    Shen Saishuo furrowed his brows a little and asked "Why would I lower myself to work for you?"


    Jack gave a dismissive wave in the direction of Tong Touhao and said "You saw how that idiot reacted to my reasonable proposal. Do you want to stick with that, or come over to the winning team?" Jack gave his companions a quick glance and continued "You''re smart enough to know how the wind''s blowing, aren''t you?"


    Shen Saishuo looked up at the still furious Tong Touhao for a second, before looking around the courtyard and realizing that Jack had almost a third of their small group on his side. That seemed even more surprising in a place like this where no one cared about anything but themselves.


    He struggled with his choice for a few more seconds before finally giving out a defeated sigh and saying "Alright, what do you want me to do?"


    Jack gave him a wide welcoming smile as he started to instruct him on the duties he had to execute while in his guard role.


    After a few minutes, they ironed everything out and split up in a slightly friendlier atmosphere.


    Just as Shen Saishuo started walking towards the back door he heard Jack''s voice call out to him and turned to see what he wanted. He saw an icy faced Jack staring straight into his eyes and felt a shiver run down his spine as he heard Jack ask "You do understand that any contact with Tong Touhao cancels our agreement, right?"


    After a few seconds, Shen Saishuo gave a stiff nod and turned to go on his way.


    Jack walked over to Shi Furui to work together with him on a new corpse. None of them had to go out anymore since they had a deal with old Long. Jack just had to give his spirit stones out to one of the two who didn''t go to the graveyard shift that night and they''d take care of everything.


    The next three days passed by in their new established routine. The only thing that changed in the courtyard were the dark circles that appeared under the increasingly moody Tong Touhao''s eyes.


    That night when Jack and Shi Furui came back from their patrol they found out that Tong Touhao tried to rob Kuang Bindun of his food on the way from town, but Shen Saishuo did his job and stopped him.


    Jack just took everything in calmly and proceeded to teach his friends.


    The next morning Du Angliang found Tong Touhao dead in his house, with his wrists cut in an apparent suicide.


    Jack and his friends had no problems with their evening meals after that.

 1.30 Joining the Endless Cycle

    Jack waved goodbye to his graveyard shift team as he entered his house and picked up the plate of food from the table. He sat down on the comfortable chair and ate his dinner as he studied a scroll that Shi Furui left for him on the table.


    When he finished the meal he picked up the scroll and lay down on his soft bed. While he continued to study it, he activated his cultivation technique and started to absorb spirit energy through his skin.


    Fifteen minutes later his eyes widened and he exclaimed "Finally!" as he threw the scroll to the side and closed his eyes.


    He focused his entire consciousness on his dantian. There, surges of spirit energy kept rushing into it without stop as Jack thought ''Four months, four months on this damned bottleneck and it melts away while I''m not even trying to break through.'' His face had a slight wry smile as the spirit energy of the room created a small whirlpool centered on him.


    After a few minutes of madly absorbing more spirit energy than it ever had before, Jack''s dantian spasmed and sent out a now somewhat familiar pulsing wave of energy through Jack''s body that nurtured it and made his meridians expand.


    As the pulses reached his head Jack felt a slight discomfort in the middle of his brows which soon turned into a stabbing pain. A few seconds later Jack collapsed to the floor as something broke in his head with a *crash*. The whirlpool of spirit energy that previously spun around Jack''s body collapsed, and with a soft *pop* it alerted anyone that could sense spirit energy in the vicinity that something happened.


    Jack cracked his eyes open to look at the thing that he kept hitting his head on when he tried to turn in his sleep. After a few seconds of blinking in the darkness, he saw the bars of a cage and quickly sat up as he reached for his missing knife.


    As he sat up he slammed his head into the bars of the tiny cage and ducked down as he rubbed the sore spot. He blinked away the pain and surveyed the room he found himself in.


    He could only hear loud snores and wet coughs; by the time his eyes adjusted to the darkness enough to see a few of the other cages he heard a gruff voice say "Get some rest kid; you have a busy day tomorrow."


    "Hello?" Jack snapped his head towards the voice and asked "Who''s there? Where are we?"


    After a few seconds, the same voice said tiredly "It doesn''t matter. You''re a prisoner of war now, just keep your head down and try to stay alive."


    Jack called out a few more questions towards the voice, but no one answered him. After a minute of unanswered questions, Jack sighed and leaned back on the bars of his small cage. He looked at his wrists and considered biting them open, but gave up on the idea and tried to make himself as comfortable in the cage as he could while he waited for dawn.


    As morning approached and people started waking up Jack managed to find out that their enemies held them in a battalion camp somewhere in the mountains. Everyone seemed to look at their fellow prisoners with distrust as they kept to themselves and refused to give out too much information.


    A few hours after dawn light slipped under the door of their windowless prison, two guards that carried a few loaves of stale bread in their arms entered the room. They tore chunks from the bread and pushed them through the bars of the cages. The prisoners that got their food ate quickly as they looked around the room furtively.


    To his surprise, the guards didn''t give Jack any bread, and once he looked around the room he noticed that a decent percentage of the prisoners got nothing too.


    When the guards finished with the feeding they turned towards Jack''s cage and unlocked it.


    Jack tried to resist them, but he felt too weak from the day spent in the cramped cage and they beat him down easily.


    With a split lip and bruised ribs, the guards dragged Jack into the sunlight. He blinked his eyes a few times as he looked around the large army camp that stood located in the shadow of a huge rocky outcropping.


    The guards half dragged Jack to a small building near the prison as his legs still struggled to take his weight.


    The building stood almost empty, it only had two chairs in the middle of the single room.


    Jack''s hands and feet got tied to one of the chairs in a practiced manner, and the guards left soon after. Jack did everything he could to remember the regulations from the Military''s Code of Conduct for POWs while he waited.


    A few minutes later a tall man in a thick green sweater and army pants entered the room alone, the door locked behind him. He came armed with a knife attached to his belt, and a friendly smile on his face.


    He walked over to stand in front of Jack, looked him over, and sat down in the free chair. In an elegant English accent, that had a hint of something foreign in it, he said "Tell me the location of your company and this won''t have to turn ugly."


    Jack gave him a look of defiance and said "Specialist Jack Nash, 582931229, September 19th¡­"


    Before Jack could continue, the older man sighed and said "Hard way it is, then." He stood up, slid out his knife from its sheet, grabbed Jack''s left hand in an iron grip with his other hand, and spread his fingers. He wedged the knife under Jack''s middle finger''s fingernail and looked up at Jack as he repeated his question "Give me the location of your company." After a second of silence he added "Damn, I just got this sweater cleaned." and wedged the knife into the meat of Jack''s middle finger.


    While Jack screamed the interrogator raised the handle of the knife and dislodged Jack''s fingernail from his finger.


    A few seconds later the interrogator wedged the knife under Jack''s ring finger''s fingernail and repeated his question. When Jack shouted his credentials into his face he didn''t even blink as he stabbed the knife under the fingernail and dislodged it.


    By the time the interrogator finished with Jack''s left hand, Jack started having doubts about the Military''s Code of Conduct. When the interrogator got to the third finger on his right hand he burned his mental copy of the Military''s Code of Conduct and shouted "I''ll talk, I''ll talk." as the interrogator prepared to stab his knife under the thumb of Jack''s right hand.


    The interrogator beamed at Jack as he straightened up and said "See, isn''t that better. You should have done this from the start." He reached to his back, took out a folded digital map, and spread it on a wall of the room where it hung by itself.


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    Jack looked at the map for a few seconds before he said the coordinates that the man wanted to know, ones for the camp of his platoon, the ones they used four stops ago.


    As the map zoomed in on the location of the coordinates that Jack gave, the interrogator''s smile grew wider and he patted Jack on the shoulder in a friendly manner.


    The interrogator took the map down from the wall and folded it back into his back pocket. He went to the door and shouted a word that Jack didn''t understand. A few seconds later the door unlocked and a guard peeked a head in. The interrogator looked at Jack over his shoulder and gave him a sly smile as he turned to look at the guard and deliberately said in English "Take him to the Pit." After that, he walked out into the sunlight and left Jack to the mercy of the guards.


    The guards led Jack to an area slightly outside of the camp where a couple of dozen men gathered in a circle around a two-meter deep pit.


    When they reached it, the guards unceremoniously pushed Jack down the steep slope into the pit.


    He rolled once and slammed onto the hard packed dirt of the pit. It took him some time to get up while his fingers gave out screams of pain each time he tried to use them to lever himself up from the ground.


    When he stood up he saw the jeering faces of the enemy soldiers that stood on the edges of the pit and shouted insults at him. He looked around and saw that the pit had around 10 meters in diameter, and the only way out of it came from a knotted rope on one side. He didn''t dare to try for the rope under the gazes of so many hostiles, and he doubted that he''d managed to climb out of it on his own with his hands in their mangled state.


    After a few minutes of waiting, the guards returned with a prisoner in tow and pushed him towards the pit as well. He seemed ready for it and jumped down on his own. As soon as he did he distanced himself from Jack and took on a careful guard with his hands.


    Jack looked at him and asked in a bewildered voice "What''s going on?"


    The man took a second look at Jack and his eyes widened slightly as he asked "You''re new?"


    Jack nodded his head in response as he looked at the excited faces of the men that stood around the pit who started exchanging goods with each other.


    The other man furrowed his brows slightly and hesitated as a quiet battle happened in his eyes before he finally sighed and said "They make us fight for entertainment. Sometimes up to three times a day. If you don''t win, you don''t get fed. That''s all you need to know." He turned his gaze up to a man with officer''s bars on his shirt.


    The officer took all of the bets, and after a few seconds yelled something.


    As soon as the man opposite Jack heard the yell he roared and charged at Jack. Before Jack even know what hit him he slammed down to the ground and the man started pounding Jack''s head with his fists.


    The world collapsed as Jack cried from the pain and humiliation.


    "He''s waking up!" a voice yelled as Jack felt his consciousness returning.


    When he opened his eyes a flash of light seared them and he closed them immediately. Even with that, he somehow knew the people that stood around him.


    Usually, he could just sense a cultivator''s location and their cultivation grade, if they weren''t stronger than him. But now, he could tell that Kuang Bindun loomed over his head, while Shi Furui tried to insert a strand of his spirit energy into Jack''s meridians, and failed. Bi Tuohui stood at the entrance to the small room and kept the others that crowded outside from getting in.


    Jack could sense, and recognize all of them.


    "This feels so strange." he murmured as he squinted his eyes in the glare of the unfamiliar light.


    "What''s wrong?" Kuang Bindun asked immediately as his smile disappeared and a frown replaced it.


    Before Jack could answer, a voice from the outside said "His vision improved and he has not gotten used to it, yet." The small crowd outside made way as Du Angliang passed through and entered Jack''s house.


    He looked around at the small hoard of furniture and items that Jack gathered with disinterest and finally looked down at Jack. He studied him with a face that had something that resembled the mixture between a sneer and a satisfied smile for a few seconds before he said "Get up; Elder Yu wants to see you."


    Jack forced his eyes to remain open in the glare as he looked up at Du Angliang and said "At once, Senior Brother." He motioned at Kuang Bindun and Shi Furui to step back as he stood up on his own and felt the new power coursing through his body.


    Du Angliang turned on his heel and exited the house while Jack followed in his wake. He gave the concerned faces gathered outside of his house a reassuring smile as he stepped onto the road for the Elder''s manor.


    Once they arrived there, the Elder''s study door opened immediately and they entered it.


    After politely greeting Elder Yu, Jack and Du Angliang stood there with lowered gazes, both in their own worlds of possible future prospects.


    The Elder stood up from his packed desk and looked Jack over with a slightly satisfied gaze. He walked from behind his desk and grabbed Jack''s arm to check the flow of his spirit energy.


    After a few seconds, he chuckled and said "It took you a little longer than I predicted, but you managed to break through the bottleneck to the fourth grade just in time."


    Elder Yu looked over to Du Angliang and said "Angliang, you have given your patrol duties over to Tanda to focus on breaking through to the seventh grade already. The time has come to give your other duties over to him as well. You will go to the back of the Eternal Rest Mountain and attack the barrier to the seventh grade so that you can take part in the upcoming inner disciple test."


    Du Angliang bowed down deeply and said "I will, as with all things, do as teacher commands."


    The Elder turned back to Jack with a slight smile and said "And you, Tanda. You will join the Endless Cycle Sect officially and accept me as your teacher."


    Jack bowed down even deeper than Du Angliang as he said "I obey with a glad heart, Lord."


    On the inside, he thought ''Finally, after a year and a half of preparations in this s*ithole, I can start implementing my escape plan.''

 1.31 The Past Catches Up

    Elder Yu led Jack on a somewhat familiar path up the Eternal Rest Mountain. Jack had to pass it several times in the past when a more important member of the Sect died and the Elders requested their presence for the last rights. Then, as with now, he had to change into his ceremonial uniform.


    As they neared the top of the mountain, trees became sparser and large estates became more common.


    Suddenly the path began to straighten out and Jack stepped onto a large plateau just under the very top of the mountain.


    A small town bustled on the plateau. Here Jack saw much more disciples than servants, and even the servants had better clothing and looked much more fed than the ones at the bottom of the mountain.


    The Elder walked calmly towards one of the larger buildings at the end of town. Wherever he passed the crowd melted away. Some disciples glanced at Jack and nodded lightly to him, while others ignored him.


    He felt that the ones that greeted him had the same cultivation as him, while he couldn''t read the ones that only had eyes for the Elder.


    "Looks like an Elder''s taking an official disciple." as Jack concentrated on his hearing he heard a few murmurs from the crowd.


    "Lucky bastard, we have to become an inner disciple to get an official teacher, while that scum down the mountain just has to cultivate to the fourth grade." Jack hid a self-mocking smirk as he thought ''Looks like things look greener on the other side everywhere.''


    "I would rather work my way up to inner disciple than have that maniac become my teacher." Another voice whispered and Jack had to stop himself from nodding in agreement.


    Jack stopped focusing on his improved hearing as they reached the large grey building. A sign that read "Eternal Rest Branch" loomed over the main doors. It exerted an unnatural pressure that made Jack avert his eyes as soon as he read the words.


    ''Some kind of special writing technique or just a lot of attributed spirit energy pumped into them?'' Jack thought as he followed Elder Yu into the building.


    Inside, a reception desk with two disciples, one male, and one female, sitting behind it welcomed them, while hallways and rooms filled with bustling servants and supervising disciples surrounded them with noise.


    "Welcome, Elder Yu! What can we help you with today?" the pretty female disciple asked as they both stood up and bowed slightly in greeting.


    The Elder gave them a slight smile in response and said "I''m here to register a new personal disciple that just rose from the ranks of my servants, and I want to reserve a spot for my other personal disciple, Du Angliang, in the back mountain."


    The female disciple gave them a professional smile as she said "Of course. Give me a few breaths worth of time and I''ll have everything ready for you. Excuse me." She turned from the table and started yelling at the servants to bring her the items that she needed.


    Jack blinked a few times as he watched the bustling workers around him and had an epiphany ''Looks like even if you''re a mystical sect in another world you can''t avoid red tape.''


    A few minutes later the female disciple returned with two pouches and two scrolls in her hands.


    She set them in front of Jack and Elder Yu as she said "Here are your things." She opened one of the scrolls, took out a brush that had sigils carved into its handle, turned to Jack and said "Please drop some blood on the brush and sign here." she finished with pointing at a free spot on a list of names. The name before where Jack had to sign his read Du Angliang.


    Jack nodded his head, took out a knife he used for daily necessities, opened a cut on his forearm, dipped the brush into the blood, and signed his name with the now slightly shining brush in the blocky symbols that his parents had the village chief design. The female disciple glanced at the signature as a hint of disgust flashed in her eyes and said "Very good, Song Tanda." She took the brush, turned towards the Elder, and said "Elder, please imbue it with your spiritual mark.


    Elder Yu touched the still wet blood and released a pulse of spiritual energy. Jack''s name shined in a grey light for a second before it merged into the scroll.


    The female disciple said "Excellent." As she rolled the scroll back up, gave Jack a pouch with a few round things in it, and said "This pouch contains your identification medallion and the entrance tokens for the martial hall and library in Tranquil Lake Town.


    When Jack opened the pouch and looked at the three round metallic stones he couldn''t hide the slight smile that crept onto his face. The materials in that pouch contained 70% of the reason that he wanted to become Elder Yu''s disciple. He closed the pouch, thanked the disciple, and stored the pouch into his robes.


    The female disciple turned towards the Elder and opened the second scroll while saying "Please enter the name of your disciple here, Elder." as she gave him a different special brush.


    Elder Yu imbued some of his spirit energy into the brush and wrote the name "Du Angliang" in bright gray letters on the scroll.


    The female disciple thanked the Elder and gave him the second pouch while saying "I''m sure you know what to do with this."


    Elder Yu nodded his head and said "Indeed, I do. Thank you for your assistance." After that, he turned around and walked towards the exit.


    Jack almost couldn''t stop staring at the back of the Elder as they exited the building. Before he could ask he heard Elder Yu''s voice echo in his ears "Never offend the paper pushers, Tanda. Let that be my first lesson to you as your official teacher." Jack solemnly nodded his head and followed in the Elders footsteps.


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    To his surprise, Elder Yu didn''t take Jack back to his estate after the registration. Instead, he led him towards a three-story red pagoda that stood a few buildings away from the Eternal Rest Branch office.


    It held no signs, but the building itself had a more oppressing feeling than the Eternal Rest Branch''s sign. Jack had to keep his gaze down on the ground as he approached it.


    "This is the Spell Pagoda. You can only enter it once a year with your identification medallion and select only one spell each time you enter." the Elder''s voice resounded in Jack''s ear.


    As his eyes widened Jack thought ''So that''s how he got it.'' as he recalled the spiritual energy whip that Du Angliang used frequently.


    When they entered, a dozing middle-aged man opened his eyes from his seat behind the counter that stood to the side of the doors and said "Old Yu, what brings you here?" He looked behind the Elder and noticed Jack as he asked "A new disciple?"


    Elder Yu nodded his head as he chuckled and said "Of course, old Mu. Why would I bother with your ugly face otherwise?"


    Elder Mu chuckled as well and turned towards Jack "Well, boy. Give me your identification medallion."


    Jack quickly took out the metallic stone from the pouch that the female disciple gave him and handed it over to the Elder.


    Elder Mu looked at the stone in his hand for a second before he turned towards Elder Yu and asked in a serious tone "Is he stupid?"


    Elder Yu chuckled, turned to Jack, and said "You have to imbue the identification medallion, Tanda."


    Jack''s face flushed with shame as he took the stone back and pushed his spirit energy into it immediately. When it started to faintly glow he placed it back into Elder Mu''s waiting hand.


    With a surprised arc of his brows, Elder Mu looked towards Elder Yu and asked "Did he not just breakthrough? How did he imbue it so quickly?"


    Elder Yu looked down at Jack with slight fondness in his eyes, which both Jack and Elder Mu knew he faked and said "Go and select your spell, Tanda. Let me catch up with Elder Mu. Make sure to stay on the ground floor."


    Jack bowed with clasped hands towards both Elders and entered a large room that held shelves on each side of it, and even a few in the middle of the room. Only one corner of the room stood empty of shelves, and it held steps that presumably lead to the first floor.


    For a second he didn''t know where to begin. Every shelf held dozens of scrolls, and each of them could potentially change his, and more importantly, his friends'' lives.


    Jack exhaled a long breath and started from the first shelf on the right.


    An hour later Elder Yu entered the room with the scrolls and found Jack sitting on the floor with a few scrolls next to him.


    Jack immediately rose to his feet and greeted the Elder.


    Elder Yu waved it off and said "I am going back down the mountain, come see me when you make your choice."


    Jack promised that he would and escorted the Elder out of the building, before going back to the room and continuing his study of the scrolls. None of them held the real techniques and proper spirit energy flows that one had to use them when training in them, only simple drawings and short explanations.


    Seven hours later he finished reading the last scroll and placed it back on its shelf.


    Jack looked around the room and saw four scrolls placed on the ground in front of their shelves. Jack thought that those had the most potential out of all others.


    He walked over to the first one, opened it, and after a long deliberation decided to place it back on its shelf.


    Deciding between the second and third one proved too difficult so he delayed it and went for the fourth. As he studied all of them once more, he stopped hesitating and decided on the second one.


    He returned the others to their shelves and walked out of the room with the second scroll held firmly in his hand.


    Jack walked up to the counter, greeted the Elder, and placed the scroll in his hand.


    Elder Mu opened the scroll, raised his brows in surprise, closed the scroll, and opened a drawer at the top of the counter. Jack saw the glint of numerous metal tiles that had sigil engravings from the drawer as the Elder ruffled through them while he searched for the right one.


    A dozen seconds later he exclaimed "Ha!" and took out a tile that looked identical to the others in the drawer to Jack''s eyes. The Elder took Jack''s identification medallion and inserted it into a small indentation in the tile for a second. With a flash, the glow from the medallion disappeared and the Elder returned the tile back into the drawer.


    Elder Mu nodded with satisfaction as he said "Here you go." and handed the identification medallion back to Jack.


    With a confused face, Jack asked "Elder, how does this work?"


    Elder Mu waved a disinterested hand at Jack as he said "I''m not your teacher. Go ask old Yu."


    Jack could only laugh bitterly in his heart as he thanked the Elder, bowed, and left the Spell Pagoda.


    He followed the route back that Elder Yu took him in previously so he wouldn''t get lost.


    Just as he passed the Eternal Rest Branch building, Jack saw something from the corner of his eye that made him freeze on the spot.


    His head snapped towards the entrance of the building and saw a large silhouette entering it.


    Cold sweat showered Jack''s body as his brain started spouting out every curse that he could think of while a painful flashback played in his mind''s eye.


    A few seconds later he calmed himself down enough to continue on his path in a faster pace while he thought ''Have to speed things up; I''ll give it a month, two at most before we have to disappear from this doomed place.''

 1.32 Modern Weaponry

    Jack steadied his step and his mind on the way down to Elder Yu''s estate. He planned to execute their escape during the annual Sect competition for inner disciples in four months, but now he gave up on that plan and had to accelerate, or just cancel, some things.


    As soon as he arrived at the manor''s courtyard the door for the Elder''s study opened up and he entered.


    He stopped in front of Elder Yu''s table, bowed, and said "I beg you to pardon me for the long wait, Lord."


    The Elder waved a hand in dismissal as he said "It matters not; you should always spend as much time as necessary for such an important decision." He stood up from the table, walked over to stand in front of Jack with a serious face, and said "In the future, you will address me as Elder. Now, kneel and accept me as your teacher."


    Jack heard about this from old Long so he didn''t hesitate as he called out "Yes, Elder!" and kowtowed three times in front of Elder Yu.


    The Elder had a satisfied smile on his face as he said "Good." He relaxed his formal pose as he poured out questions like an excited child "So, what did you pick from the Spell Pagoda? The Soul Branding Whip like your Senior Brother did? Or maybe the Thousand Wind Blades? You always did have an affinity for ranged combat."


    Jack didn''t even blink at the mention of his ranged combat skills. He never fooled himself into believing that Elder Yu didn''t know about his activities in the forest.


    Jack took out the identification medallion as he said "In the end, I chose the Air Blast spell." He looked down at the identification medallion and continued "I think it''s the most useful technique for me, but Elder Mu did something with my identification medallion and told me to ask you about it, Elder, without giving me any information about the spell."


    When he looked up he saw an already very familiar scene, so he braced himself, and half a second later he felt himself get lifted by an unstoppable force and slammed hard into the back wall. The force didn''t stop as Elder Yu bellowed "Air Blast?! You get one chance every year and you pick one of the most useless spells in the whole Sect?!" Jack slid up along the wall, and just before he slammed into the ceiling he angled his head to the side, just to hear a sickening *pop* sound from his shoulder, and an instant later feel a stabbing pain come from it.


    After holding him on the ceiling for a few seconds, the Elder calmed down and recalled his spirit energy. Jack fell to the floor and slammed his head hard on the hard wood. He knew that if he tried to brace himself he would get even more punishment.


    He calmly moved himself to the kneeling position and kowtowed as he said "My deepest apologies for offending you, Elder. I did not realize that I have made the wrong decision. Thank you for informing me."


    Elder Yu snorted coldly and barked "Get up!"


    Jack did as told and returned to his usual standing spot, while his right hand hung unnaturally to the side.


    Slight embers of anger still flickered in the Elder''s eyes as he commanded "Give me the identification medallion."


    Jack turned to a corner of the room and went there to pick up the identification medallion that he dropped when Elder Yu slammed him into the ceiling. He collected it and gave it to the Elder.


    Elder Yu looked like he debated whether to crush the small stone for a second before he let out a long breath and extended two short strands of gray spirit energy and said "You have to touch these two sigils with strands of your spirit energy. Once you do that, the identification medallion will transfer the knowledge required for studying the Air Blast spell to your mind."


    He recalled his spirit energy strands and tossed the identification medallion back to Jack.


    Jack caught the metallic stone in his left hand and put it away. He bowed down as he said "Thank you for your instructions, Elder. If I may ask, how does one project spirit energy outside the body?"


    The Elder scoffed as he turned around and walked back to his seat as he said "If you could figure imbuement out, you can figure this one out too." He sat down and the study door opened up.


    Jack knew the right time to ask questions and the right time to retreat so he said his farewells to Elder Yu and left his manor.


    When he entered the forest he leaned on a tree and, with a jerk of blinding pain, set his shoulder back in place. After a few regulating breaths he walked over to a nearby creek and washed the blood from his face.


    Once he made himself presentable in the reflection on the water he strolled down towards the Tranquil Lake Town.


    Around this time his friends would have their midday meal, or would even be on their way towards the graveyard, but Jack didn''t plan to go to them just yet. In the morning the Elder instructed Du Angliang to perform all of his duties one last time today by himself and to give Jack a full introduction to them tomorrow, so Jack had some seldom received free time to kill on his own.


    He first strolled down the now familiar busy main street of Tranquil Lake Town and mentally checked off, or crossed out, the places that he needed to visit in the next month or two, and the ones that he didn''t have time for.


    Once he ended his selection Jack walked into an alley that led away from the bustle of the main street. After a few turns, he found himself standing in front of a three-meter high wall with a large iron door that had clanging noises of metal hitting metal coming from the other side.


    This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.


    He tried to push the door open, but it stood firmly shut, so he banged on the door with his fist.


    After a few rounds of loud banging, the clanging stopped and a rough voice called out "Stop the banging, we''re closed." The noises of metal hitting metal continued after that.


    Jack furrowed his brows as he circulated a bit of spirit energy through his fist and did one extra loud *BANG* on the door that made it shake in its hinges.


    The sounds stopped on the other side of the door immediately. Jack heard running steps, and in a few seconds, the large iron door swung open with a loud *creak*. A short and burly middle-aged man stood in front of Jack for a moment, looking at his clean uniform with wide eyes.


    As Jack clasped his hands in greeting the burly man clasped his in response and bowed deeply while he said "Apologies, Lord. I meant no offense. Please punish only this lowly one for his crimes."


    Jack froze in place as he stared at the scared man that stood in front of him. Only then did what he did previously register in his mind, and how it must have looked to this normal person. ''Have to watch it, or I''ll become just like them.'' he chided himself as an apologetic look appeared on his face.


    He bowed in response as he said "No, no. Please forgive me, I meant no offense. I just need a capable smith to do some work for me." He stopped for a moment, before adding "And don''t call me Lord."


    When he straightened up Jack saw even more fear in the man''s eyes than before and sighed internally. After a few seconds of stunned silence, he continued "So, can you do some extra work on the side?"


    The man struggled to open his mouth for a second, before finally stuttering "W-we ca-can¡­ Sir?" he added tentatively at the end of the sentence with a slight cringing motion.


    Jack sighed for real this time and said "That will do." He looked over the man''s shoulder at the quiet courtyard and asked "Shall we go in?"


    The blacksmith almost tripped over his feet as he jumped and said "Of course, please come into our humble workshop, Sir." He led the way in and Jack followed in his footsteps.


    While checking out the workshop Jack noticed two young men with similar features to the short man standing around awkwardly and giving him furtive glances. He gave them a slight friendly smile, after which they paled and looked down at their feet.


    Jack shook his head as he followed the smith inside his modest house where his wife offered Jack food and drink. He politely refused as he felt certain that he would get offered what amounted to a week''s worth of food for the household if he accepted.


    With a half shaken and half confused look, the smith sat down opposite Jack, at Jack''s insistence, and asked "Sir, what can we humble blacksmiths do for one such as yourself? We only work with normal metals for the use of the townspeople. Just recently we got a large order for tools to help with the planting season, that''s why we closed early today." He looked a little desperate as he said "We don''t know how to make weapons for Immortals. It would serve Sir best if you went to one of the towns up the mountains and looked for them there."


    Jack felt a slight tinge of sorrow at the man''s obvious panic as he said "First, tell me your name."


    The man looked like he wanted to bury himself under his house as he exclaimed "I am such a fool! Please forgive me, Sir. My name is Tan Boli."


    Jack waved away Tan Boli''s apologies as he gave him a slight smile and said "Tan Boli, I''m very pleased to meet you." When he saw that Tan Boli calmed down a little he continued "I don''t need a weapon, I came to find out what the strongest metal you can work with is. I will need you to make some specific tools with it."


    Tan Boli thought for a while before he said "It depends on the work, Sir. Some metals are better than others for specific things. What would you have us do?"


    Jack studied him for a second before saying "I need straight metal cylinders, around 15 cun long. With a hole drilled straight through the whole thing, top to bottom. The diameter of the hole can''t be larger than half a cun. I will order as many as you can make in two months."


    Tan Boli frowned deeply as he considered Jack''s words. After a dozen seconds, he said "Sir, we can make the cylinders, but the boring of the holes will take trial and error until we make it work. I''m not certain how many satisfactory products we could deliver."


    Jack dismissed his worries with a shrug as he said "As long as you make at least ten decent products you''ll have a happy customer. Now, what kind of metal do you need?"


    Tan Boli thought for a few seconds and asked "What kind of price range do we have, Sir?"


    Jack gave a confident smile as he said "Price is not a concern. Just give me the metal and the amount you need."


    Tan Boli raised his brows in surprise and said a little excitedly "Then, Sir, we can start with 200 jin of Deep Water Iron and see how things go."


    Jack nodded and said "Consider it done. I will have it delivered to you tomorrow. Now, let''s talk about your salary."


    They negotiated for a few minutes where Jack had to constantly raise the amount he wanted to pay, while Tan Boli kept lowering his rate. Jack felt like he got stuck in opposite land for a few moments.


    In the end, they came to a reasonable agreement and Jack left the workshop with a satisfied expression as he thought ''The weapons are taken care of, now it''s time for the propellant.''

 1.33 Strength of the Higher Realms of Cultivation

    Jack walked down the main street of Tranquil Lake Town and visited a few shops that sold metals before he finally reached an old shop that looked like it would fall apart if a stiff wind blew on it. He took a deep breath and entered the Golden Dragon Store.


    Inside he walked past the counter and opened the door that connected the store to the living quarters in the back. In the first room, he saw a familiar figure sitting at the table and drinking something. The young man whose teeth Jack shattered frowned slightly, before standing up and mumbling "I''ll gek de Elda." He turned towards a door to his side and went through it.


    Half a minute later old Long entered the back room and found Jack sitting in one of the chairs. He glanced at Jack''s new clothes and chuckled. Walking over he sat opposite Jack, poured himself a drink, and said "Haven''t seen you in a few months, boy. Or should I call you disciple brother now?" When Jack didn''t rise to the bait he sniffed and asked "You need something important?"


    Jack shook his head as he refused the offered drink that old Long tried to pour him and said "I think so. How much will 200 jin of Deep Water Iron cost me?"


    Old Long froze for a second as a hint of greed flashed in his eyes. He emptied his cup in a single gulp to cover for his mistake and said "That''s a lot of Deep Water Iron. I''d have to scour the entire town, and even then I might have to go to one of the towns up the mountain to get the full amount. We''re not talking gold coins here."


    Jack furrowed his brows a little as he repeated his question "How much will it cost me?"


    Old Long poured himself another cup as he said "500 spirit stones. Upfront." and emptied his cup.


    Jack snorted as his face turned serious "The other shops are selling it at a price of 1 jin for 2 spirit stones. Because we''ve known each other for so long I''m willing to give you 400, but don''t try to cheat me."


    Old Long looked like he didn''t care about Jack''s attempt at intimidation as he sneered and poured himself a third cup while he said "Yes, and if you asked me for a few jin I might even sell them to you for less. But I have to scrape together the stuff from all of the other shops. I''m willing to go down to 490, just because we''ve known each other for so long." he finished with a crooked smile and downed the drink.


    They continued their negotiations for a few more rounds, and cups of what the locals called wine, and settled on the price of 460 spirit stones.


    Jack left the Golden Dragon Store feeling swindled, but he couldn''t do anything about it as he thought glumly ''There goes a fifth of my saved up funds. That blacksmith better be worth it. I''ll have to increase the rate of caught spirits during the graveyard shift in the next couple months to have everything ready.''


    He stood on the emptying main street and considered the merits of going to the martial hall or the library right away, but he gave up and turned to go back to his home.


    When he got back he lay down on his bed and took out the identification medallion. With a thought, he filled it with spirit energy in less than a second. The few seconds it took him in the Spell Pagoda were just to fool the Elders.


    He rolled the stone around in his hand as he thought ''How to make my spirit energy project of my body.'' He tried a few attempts at just forcing it out of various meridians, but that failed and damaged his meridians a little.


    Jack stopped his half thought out ideas and focused on what Elder Yu said ''If you could figure imbuement out, you can figure this one out too¡­ What does imbuement have to do with projecting the spirit energy to the outside?''


    He furrowed his brows for a few minutes before his eyes widened as he thought ''I thought that the reason that the Sect takes in disciples only at the fourth grade is because they can imbue things, but what if that''s only a part of it. What if they can do other things with the help of imbuement?''


    With his eyes closed, Jack tried something that he didn''t dare try ever since his first attempt almost knocked him out. He imagined the air around him as a part of his cycle of cultivation.


    At first, nothing happened, this bothered him a little, but on the bright side, he didn''t get sick from the attempt so he considered it a small victory. He frowned slightly in thought, and a few seconds later brought his hands close to each other, leaving only a centimeter of space between the tips of his index fingers.


    Once again he focused and tried to incorporate the air in-between his fingertips in his cultivation cycle.


    As the spirit energy moved through the meridians of his right hand to the tip of his index finger, he felt a slight resistance for the first few times he attempted to join the cycle. With each attempt he pushed more and more spirit energy into his index finger, and just as it started to turn numb he more felt than heard a soft *pop*, immediately after it he felt the spirit energy that left his right index finger''s meridian enter his left index finger''s meridian and continued the cycle through his body automatically.


    Jack let out a loud "Yes!" in English as he jumped on top of his bed and raised his fist into the air in celebration.


    Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.A few seconds later he calmed himself down and, with a slightly blushing face, brought his index fingers close once again as he stared at the air in-between them and started his cultivation cycle.


    When a thin string of shimmering spirit energy established itself between his fingers Jack couldn''t suppress the wide smile that appeared on his face.


    After a few minutes of studying the feel and look of the spirit energy, Jack slowly spread his hands as far as they would go. The string of spirit energy remained intact and looked like gravity had no influence on it as it remained as straight as an arrow.


    Jack slowly stopped the cycling of the spirit energy as he sat back down and took out the identification medallion. He held it in his left hand as he focused on trying to make it a part of the cultivation cycle with his right hand.


    After a few minutes of failure, he took it between his thumb and index finger and tried to connect the meridians of his fingers again while the stone stood in the way. This time the spirit energy left his right hand, but as it neared the stone it dissipated out into the air without reaching it.


    ''So it doesn''t work if the thing I want to imbue isn''t a part of the cycle. Or is it just that the identification medallion behaves like that?'' Jack placed the metallic stone down on his table and went out to get a similar sized rock.


    He attempted the same thing with the rock as he did with the identification medallion. This time the spirit energy thread went straight through the rock and entered his other hand. The rock didn''t look any different even after a minute of cycling spirit energy through it.


    Jack''s eyes suddenly widened as he thought ''Does the Elder do this to open the door to his study?'' He imagined Elder Yu sending a strand of his spirit energy through the ground to activate some sigils that he had etched into the door''s mechanism like a low budget magician and gave a slight laugh.


    With a sigh, he placed the rock down on the table and picked up the identification medallion.


    Jack kept spinning it around in his hand as he studied the sigils engraved into it. After a few minutes, he blinked and brought the stone closer to his eyes while he cycled spirit energy through his optic nerve to make the details clearer.


    ''There, a microscopic break, and there, and there¡­ Five of them, there are only five sigils on the identification medallion.'' Jack thought as he studied the metallic stone in his hand.


    He stopped focusing on the sigils and thought back to this morning when he imbued the stone for the first time. ''I just thought of it as a whole and pushed spirit energy into it, but now I have to connect my spirit energy with just two of the five sigils while I''m still thinking of them like a whole. Damned mental states.''


    With a renewed focus Jack picked up the identification medallion in his left hand and cycled spirit energy to his right. This time he imagined the two separate sigils as their own existences and almost immediately two spirit threads shot out of the meridians in his fingers and connected to the two sigils.


    At the moment of contact, the two sigils consumed the entire spirit energy of the identification medallion and started shining brightly. Jack felt a peculiar kind of spirit energy riding on the wave of his cycling spirit energy back into his body, and then take its own chilling path through the meridians of his arm, chest, and neck, to the spot in his head that Jack felt crack open when he broke through to the fourth grade.


    As soon as the strange energy reached that spot, Jack suddenly felt a stream of information get stuffed into his brain. He had a feeling of his head ballooning out and, just as he thought it would explode from the pressure, the information stopped coming while everything returned to normal.


    With a drowning man''s gasp for air Jack broke away from the trance of receiving the new information. He took quick shallow breaths as he stared down at the now dull identification medallion, while sweat poured down from his forehead.


    He lay back on his pillow with a tired sigh as he thought ''No wonder they only take fourth grade people as disciples. The grades before it look like a joke when compared to this. Du Angliang must consider all of our efforts in training ridiculous.''


    Jack broke away from his short melancholy as he sat back up and looked down at his hands. With an amused chuckle, he thought ''It doesn''t matter anymore. Now that I know what we''re up against our chances of succeeding increased by over 10%.''


    In his intoxicated daze, he pointed a finger gun at the rock on the table and mimed firing it as he mouthed "Bang!" As soon as he did the gesture, a strand of spirit energy shot out of his finger and entered the rock.


    One second later he had an incredulous look on his face as he stared at his finger, and then at the rock sitting peacefully on his table.


    As quickly as he could he jumped down from his bed, picked up the rock, opened the door of his house, threw the rock far away into the forest, and closed the door. A few seconds later he heard a rain of tiny rock fragments shower the trees in the nearby forest and sighed in relief.


    Jack looked down at the guilty hand in question and chuckled as he thought ''Need to practice more, a lot more.''

 1.34 Different Mindsets

    Jack returned to his bed, closed his eyes, and started to sort out the new information in his brain.


    ''Pseudo-philosophical mumbo-jumbo, nonsense, horrible advice¡­'' After twenty minutes he discarded more than 70% of the new memories as useless drivel and focused on the real core of the Air Blast spell.


    ''Send out strands of spirit energy and make a complex structure, which seems like it has parts of several different sigils in it, out of them in the air. They all have to assemble in the correct order and with the correct amount of spirit energy, or it will fail.'' Jack opened his eyes and sighed as he looked down at his hand.


    ''No wonder the others waved their fingers around when they used their techniques, it''s gonna suck making this thing work without their help.'' He thought as he slightly focused and connected all of his fingers with a strand of spirit energy, and brought them closer and further apart rhythmically while he thought about how to proceed.


    Ten minutes later he stood up and went to Kuang Bindun''s house. There he took a few sheets of cheap paper and charcoal and went back home. Kuang Bindun liked to keep extra materials for writing and drawing in his free time.


    He sat down at his table and started drawing the picture from his brain on the page. It felt real in his brain like it just happened to him every time he recalled it, but he needed something more tangible.


    A few minutes later he clucked his tongue in dissatisfaction, turned the paper over, and started drawing again. Like this, he went through four sheets of coarse paper before he felt satisfied that the thing he drew looked like what his new memories told him his spirit energy had to look like.


    With a satisfied smile, Jack got up from his chair and sat down on the middle of the bed, with his back leaning on the wall. He held the paper propped on his left knee with his left hand and started making connections between the fingers of his right hand.


    He had to connect all of his fingers with each other, a total of ten connections that had to keep cycling his spirit energy as a part of the same cultivation cycle.


    The three connections that he managed to establish collapsed when he failed to keep them stable while he started to connect his pinky and his thumb. He ignored the failure and started from scratch.


    An hour later Jack managed to connect all of his fingers and keep the connections in one whole and stable cultivation cycle. He rewarded himself with a slight smile and wiped the sweat from his brow.


    While holding the just drawn picture next to his right hand, Jack started focusing on the next step of the spell. He had to make the spirit energy strands rise into the air to form the complex structure while still maintaining the energy flow and intensity.


    At first, he tried to will one of the strands to move up a few centimeters, but that only made the flow of energy become unstable and caused the collapse of all of the strands.


    Jack frowned and tried it a few dozen more times, this time with just one strand connecting two fingers, but he couldn''t make the strand move up without collapsing the flow.


    ''How do those primitives do this? It can''t all just be self-hypnosis and natural talent.'' Jack complained as he looked around the room for inspiration.


    His gaze stopped on the table, after a second he looked towards the door, and then down at his right index finger. ''How did that strand of energy know to enter the rock? In my delirium, I even aimed to the side a little.'' Jack thought as he kept looking from his finger to the table.


    After a minute of contemplation, his eyes widened as he murmured "It can''t be that simple."


    Jack made a connection between his thumb and forefinger, looked up to a spot ten centimeters above the strand of spirit energy, and imagined that the strand''s route had to flow through that spot for the cycle to work properly.


    A few seconds of twitchy movement later, the strand made a perfect curve between his thumb and forefinger.


    Jack cursed, stood up from the bed, and threw the pillow at the wall while thinking ''Those morons! How come they don''t kill themselves ten times before lunch?!'' He suddenly stopped and looked at his door, gave a self-deprecating smirk, and picked up the pillow from the floor.


    As he sat back down on the bed he thought ''Maybe some of those inane ramblings make them more careful? They do bind them to stricter rules, but that might keep them alive for longer also.''


    Jack considered the merits of attempting to cultivate in the way the people from this world did for a split second and rejected the idea resolutely.


    Once more he slowly connected all of his fingers with spirit energy strands and took a deep breath. He glanced at the picture that he drew for confirmation and made the first strand rise to its proper position.


    When he felt satisfied that it looked right, he focused on the second strand and made it connect to the first strand half way up the arc. Next, he had to move two strands at the same time, and then merge them into one strand. He failed this step and everything collapsed.


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    For the next hour he merged and molded the strands as the picture in his mind, and on the paper, suggested. Sometimes he would rely on the information in his mind to make a connection that he couldn''t do from just observing the drawing, and sometimes the drawing would make him realize the right position in which he had to place the strands so that they retained their form.


    Little by little he managed to connect nine of the ten strands in the required form that the Air Blast spell required.


    As he moved the last spiritual energy strand into position a voice from outside yelled "Tanda, are you here?"


    With a snap of his head, Jack looked up towards the door and saw Kuang Bindun slide it open. He had a pleasantly surprised expression on his face as he started saying "Oh, you''re back. I''m going to get some food from old Long, do you want someth¡­"


    Jack stopped paying him any attention as he felt something happening above the palm of his hand. He looked down and saw the last strand of spirit energy successfully merging into the complex structure that floated above his hand.


    In the split second that it started to shine brightly as it fell apart, Jack turned his palm over and pointed it at the doorway, and the confused Kuang Bindun.


    The next moment Jack had to close his eyes shut as all of the air got sucked out of the room towards his palm and then got shot out towards the doorway.


    As it did Jack opened his eyes and saw Kuang Bindun''s hair fly around his head as he grunted and took a step back, more in surprise than from any air force that Jack generated.


    Kuang Bindun rubbed his dried eyes a few with his hands as he said "What happened?" He squinted through one eye at the insides of the house and asked "You alright, Tanda?"


    Jack''s voice came from the inside as he said "Yeah, I''m fine. Just testing out a new trick."


    Kuang Bindun froze for a second before realization showed on his face as he asked "Did Elder Yu give you a technique to use?"


    Jack walked out of his house as he answered "Yeah, something like that." He glanced back into his home and saw all of his furniture scattered all over the floor.


    With a sigh and a shake of his head, he said "Let''s go, I''ll keep you company." and followed the pleasantly surprised Kuang Bindun down to the Tranquil Lake Town.


    After their group evening meal, where everyone from the unit joined in with their stories and laughter, Jack walked to a moonlit clearing and started to practice the Air Blast spell again.


    He got used to staying up late long ago due to the graveyard shifts so he had no problems with spending hours in practice of the spell.


    Just as he released his last Air Blast and started to feel his new and improved dantian run dry, he heard a soft noise of cloth brushing against a leaf from behind him and turned around.


    To his surprise Du Angliang''s handsome face greeted him. With time he managed to make his broken nose work to make him look more rugged.


    Du Angliang had a slightly startled expression on his face, which he quickly hid as he saw Jack looking at him.


    Jack furrowed his brows lightly and asked "What?"


    Du Angliang put on a cold smile and said "We can hear the blasts from the houses. The other worms feel too much fear towards you to come and complain, but I want to sleep. I had a long night."


    Jack''s face turned serious as he said "They''re not worms, they''re my friends and colleagues. They know that this is important for me so they gifted me some free time to practice, something you won''t ever know anything about."


    "Hmpf!" Du Angliang snorted coldly and jeered "I do not need weights around my ankles. Just stop the racket and go to bed, I have to bring you around with me tomorrow and I do not want Elder Yu to think that I have not taught you well enough just because you did not get enough sleep to pay attention."


    Jack scoffed as he said, "Don''t worry, unlike you I''ve kept my sleep hours down to a minimum during my whole stay here, and I''m not planning to¡­"


    Suddenly this whole thing seemed ridiculous to Jack as he thought ''What am I doing? Arguing with a child about irrelevant things? For what? Pride? I left that behind me long ago.''


    After a confusing moment of silence to Du Angliang, Jack took a deep breath, looked into Du Angliang''s eyes, and said "Look, I don''t want to argue with you anymore. Tomorrow''s your last day, and I''ll do everything necessary to learn what you have to teach so that the Elder gives you praise."


    He started walking towards the houses as he added "I just finished my practice before you arrived. Let''s go to bed."


    Du Angliang stood frozen for a few seconds, but then he hurried after Jack and started to walk in step with him. After a dozen seconds, he tentatively said "You have to concentrate the structure of your spell more, and not let so much of your spirit energy leak out if you plan to use it for anything more than for a nice breeze on a warm day."


    After that, he sped his steps up and walked into the night in front of Jack.


    With brows raised in surprise, Jack watched Du Angliang''s disappearing back and thought ''Maybe there''s hope for some of the people here.''

 1.35 The Other Side

    The next morning Jack got up before dawn and did his usual exercises. After working up a sweat he went and washed with the cold water from the well. A few other people from the unit joined him as they took to copying his daily habits. They talked and joked around for a bit, and then went back to their houses to get ready for the day.


    Jack got dressed in the slightly ill-fitting ceremonial uniform and went outside to gather up with everyone else, before following Du Angliang down the mountain to Tranquil Lake Town.


    When they arrived to their building everyone entered the courtyard, only Jack and Du Angliang stayed behind and entered Du Angliang''s office.


    Inside, Du Angliang went to his table, opened a drawer, and took out a new clean robe. He presented it to Jack and said "Elder Yu had me pick this up for you. You have to wear it anywhere you go in your position as a disciple of the Endless Cycle Sect and, more importantly, as a disciple of Elder Yu."


    Jack received the robe and felt the rich texture of its fabric on his fingers. It only had the Sect''s crest of a large black circle with a smaller circle in it as a mark on its pure whiteness.


    "Put it on, we have a lot of places to visit today." Du Angliang said and walked out of the office.


    Jack quickly changed his clothes and returned his old uniform to the bottom drawer of the old cabinet he took it from a year and a half ago with a slight sense of melancholy.


    With a start, he shook his head and thought ''What am I doing? It''s just a piece of cloth.'' He slightly chuckled as he closed the drawer and left the office.


    When Jack entered the lobby, Du Angliang looked him up and down and said "I guess that will have to do." He turned around on his heel and walked out of the building.


    Jack caught up with him in the street and said "Thanks for the advice last night. I''ll try it out later and see how it goes."


    Du Angliang grunted in response and kept walking in silence.


    Soon they reached a large wooden building that had its outer walls painted in red. Once they entered Du Angliang nodded to a few disciples in red robes that stood in the lobby, and headed for a door to the side.


    Once he opened it Jack heard a surprised feminine voice on the inside say "Disciple Brother Du? You came early, we still have three days."


    Du Angliang moved to the side of the door and allowed Jack to enter. Inside he saw a girl in her teens standing behind a desk while covertly ironing her hair and giving Du Angliang the googly eyes.


    Jack glanced at Du Angliang and saw him swishing a sleeve in dismissal as he said "I am not here for the payment." He motioned to Jack and said, "Elder Yu accepted a new disciple, his name is Song Tanda, and he will take my duties over from now on."


    Du Angliang turned to Jack and said "This is Disciple Sister Gao Fumu; she represents the Undying Flame Mountain here in Tranquil Lake Town. Every tenth day you will come here and take their payment for our services."


    Jack clasped his hands and slightly bowed towards Gao Fumu. She quickly clasped her hands in response while looking at Du Angliang and asked "Have you broken through to the seventh grade already, Disciple Brother Du?"


    Du Angliang shook his head as a somber mood formed over him and he said "I still need that last push. Elder Yu arranged for me to go to the back mountain so I can focus on breaking through."


    Gao Fumu covered her mouth and said "My apologies, Brother Du. I feel certain that you will break through in time for the inner disciple test." She stepped closer to Du Angliang and placed a hand on his arm in comfort while he nodded his head.


    Jack stood to the side with wide open eyes as he thought ''What the hell just happened? Since when does Du Angliang care what other people think? Or talk like a normal person, for that matter?''


    Gao Fumu and Du Angliang chatted for a few minutes, after which Jack followed his new Disciple Brother back to the main street.


    In the next couple of hours, Du Angliang took Jack around to all of the major organizations of the Sect that sent their dead to the Gravedigger courtyard. He had to introduce him and inform him on how much each organization had to pay for what. Luckily Du Angliang had scrolls filled with the current debt back in his office so Jack didn''t have to write anything down.


    After they visited all of the organizations that sent them their dead, Du Angliang took Jack to meet the few older servants that lived in the Tranquil Lake Town and worked as corpse collectors.


    As a carrier, Jack knew all of these people and had no problems with getting along with them. Du Angliang instructed him that he had to pay them one gold coin every ten days. From their expressions, they considered it decent pay, but Jack couldn''t help but feel shocked at the disparity between even the servants that had a wage and formal disciples of the Sect.


    Their last official stop in town happened at a mid-sized restaurant for disciples. Jack still hadn''t entered one of them so he felt quite curious as they passed through the doors.


    The interior disappointed him. The ground floor had around a dozen half-filled tables with regular wooden chairs, a couple of simple paintings, and a few decorative plants. A waiter walked between the tables and made sure that all of the disciples had what they needed.


    Du Angliang ignored the ground floor and led Jack to the stairs on the side that took them to the first floor. Here the tables had thin wooden screens between them to provide an illusion of privacy, but everything else looked the same.


    A young waiter greeted them at the landing and said "Welcome back Young Master Du, how can I serve you today?"


    Du Angliang nodded to him in response and said "Bring us today''s special, and something nice to drink. I am celebrating today."


    Jack followed Du Angliang to a table in the corner of the room and sat down opposite him.


    After a few seconds he couldn''t hold himself back anymore and said "Today, during our whole tour, you never called anyone we talked to names or treated them like human garbage. Why don''t you extend that courtesy to the people in our unit?"


    Stolen novel; please report.


    Du Angliang looked at Jack with slightly confused eyes as he said "Why would I? They are garbage, worms that cannot break through the barrier to the fourth grade even after years of trying. I could kill them all with a wave of my hand. The people that we met today are diligent cultivators that deserve my respect, unlike those wastrels."


    Jack stared at him in disbelief for a few seconds, before asking "Then what about me? I''m the same as them."


    Du Angliang gave a dismissive wave of his hand as he answered "You, Song Tanda, have proven that you have the spirit of a cultivator, unlike the rest of them."


    He hesitated for a few seconds, before saying "I must admit that I wanted to sabotage you in the beginning. I disliked that you had the ability to see spirit energy without ever cultivating, while everyone else had to put in a lot of blood and sweat to get where you were just by the luck of your birth. Only after I saw how you struggled to break through every barrier that I put in front of you did I start to respect you."


    Jack''s mouth hung open as a sudden flash of insight passed through his brain ''Do all of them see normal people like this? I thought that I just met a few bad apples, but what if it''s the system itself. How would people on Earth behave if they could murder dozens with the wave of a hand, and not get punished for it?''


    He closed his mouth, cleared his throat, and said "I''m not carrying that grudge anymore. Let''s change the topic. I always wondered what you would do if you came across a village that bandits just started attacking?"


    Du Angliang furrowed his brows slightly as he asked "Are the bandits my enemies?"


    Jack shook his head and answered "No, just regular village robbing bandits."


    Du Angliang''s brow furrowed even more as he asked "Does the village have anything useful to give me?"


    Jack shook his head again as he said "No, the village only has peasants and the things that peasants have."


    Du Angliang''s brow straightened as he gave a slight shrug and said "Then the problem becomes simple, I would do nothing. What does it matter to me if some peasants get robbed or killed? It just means that their destiny demanded that they die then and there."


    Jack slowly nodded his head as he said "I figured as much." After a slight pause, he continued "What if the¡­"


    He got interrupted as the waiter came to their table and brought a small brown bottle and two cups.


    "Here we have some excellent Brilliant Immortal wine. Elder Huang just sold it to us this morning so you''re quite lucky." The waiter said as he placed the alcohol in front of them and poured them both a cup. "The food will come shortly." he added with a bow and left the table.


    Du Angliang raised his cup, said "To breaking through!" and downed it. Jack mimicked him and drank his own. ''This one''s a little stronger than what old Long puts out.'' Jack thought as he breathed the heat through his nose.


    They made a few more toasts which made Du Angliang loosen up a little and, with Jack''s prompting, he started to talk about the Sect and his life in general.


    Jack found out that his father''s family had roots in the sect for six generations, but his last relatives died in some alleged conspiracy and he ended up as a servant to Elder Yu as a seven-year-old child. He did everything that the Elder asked of him, but he never lost his cultivator''s pride and vowed to bring his family back to their rightful place.


    It fascinated Jack how Du Angliang made his family look like the good guys in a story that sounded like an old-fashioned struggle for power, while he made his supposed enemies seem like the worst scum that ever lived. Jack just nodded and listened on, it looked like Du Angliang held this in for a long time and needed to vent.


    After they finished their meal, which Jack considered half passable, they went to the back of the restaurant and a Du Angliang introduced him to its manager and the people that carried the Gravediggers their midday meal every day. Du Angliang had his aloof mask back on and no one noticed the slight redness of his eyes and cheeks.


    Jack made a mental note to come to the restaurant later and see what he could do to make the Gravediggers'' meals better than just plain rice.


    They followed the food servers back to their courtyard, where Du Angliang served the rice for the last time. After which he allowed Jack to ride the corpse cart with him and showed him how to control the animals.


    When they got to Elder Yu''s estate they left the others to their digging and went back to the courtyard.


    Du Angliang showed Jack the side door where they gave the corpses over to the Elder''s spirit puppets, and the place where he needed to store the cart.


    After that, they waited for everyone else to return from their work and took a group of five to the graveyard shift.


    For the first time, Jack saw how Du Angliang used the Spirit Capturing knives. Every time a spirit attacked a person he just controlled a knife with his spirit energy and stabbed it through. He spread the people in a line so they attracted as many spirits as they could and didn''t care if any of them got hurt.


    During all of this, he chatted normally with Jack, as if the screams of the others didn''t bother him at all. After a few times where he let a spirit attack a teen for too long, Jack asked him for a few knives and did what he usually did while on patrol.


    When Du Angliang saw his method he only shook his head and said that he just made the others weaker by protecting them like that. Jack ignored him and they continued the patrol.


    After a few hours they returned back to their houses and Du Angliang said "Tomorrow morning we will go to visit Elder Yu and I will formally pass my responsibilities on to you."


    Jack nodded his head and said goodnight as he entered his house. When he closed his door his face darkened as he thought ''There''s no fixing that. The indoctrination goes too deep.'' and went to bed filled with rage.

 1.36 Leadership

    The next morning Jack joined Du Angliang as they prepared to go to Elder Yu''s manor. As Jack started walking towards the forest, he noticed that Du Angliang still hadn''t moved. He looked back and asked, "What''s wrong?"


    Du Angliang shook his head a little as he said "I brought the cart over as my last official act as the Senior Brother, from now on you will have to command this rabble." He pointed a finger at the gathered Gravediggers and the empty cart.


    Jack almost slapped his forehead as he realized his mistake and walked back to his gathered unit. They greeted him with encouraging smiles and light ribbing. ''Can''t believe they used to look like dead men walking only a year and a half ago.'' Jack thought as he looked at all of them.


    After a second of reminiscing, he straightened his back and looked them all in the eyes, just to notice the faith in them. He nodded firmly and turned to Shi Furui "Take the cart and lead them down to the town. I''ll come join you as soon as I can."


    Shi Furui gave a slight nod and shouted "Let''s go, Senior Brother Song gave an order!"


    As Jack turned to the forest he thought he saw a slight frown on Du Angliang''s face that disappeared as soon as Jack noticed it. Neither of them said anything as they walked on the path towards the Elder''s manor.


    When they arrived at the courtyard they had to wait for a quarter of an hour for the study doors to open. Once they did, Jack and Du Angliang walked in and bowed to Elder Yu together.


    The Elder looked at Du Angliang and asked "Angliang, have you explained all of the duties that your Junior Disciple Brother needs to perform in your stead?"


    Du Angliang nodded his head firmly as he answered "I have, Elder."


    Elder Yu gave a slight smile as he said "Well done, depending on his success you might receive additional rewards." He got a mischievous look in his eyes as he said "Catch!" and threw a bulging pouch at Du Angliang.


    Due to serving the Elder for years, Du Angliang wised up to his tricks long ago. He simply grabbed the pouch from the air when it neared him and opened it to look inside. As soon as he did, a wide smile that broke through even his cold demeanor spread over Du Angliang''s face.


    He looked up at Elder Yu and gave him a deep bow while saying "I will be forever grateful, Elder."


    The Elder waved a hand in dismissal and said "You have executed your tasks admirably while in my service. It is only natural that you receive a reward." The door to the courtyard opened and Elder Yu added "Go now to the back mountain, you are free until the inner disciple selection."


    Du Angliang had a fire burning in his eyes as he said goodbye and left the study.


    The Elder turned his gaze to Jack and asked "What do you think about your new duties?"


    Jack took on a relaxed pose as he said "They seem simple enough. I''ll have to go over Senior Brother Du''s accounts later today, but I don''t foresee any issues rising up."


    Elder Yu nodded his head and said "Good. Notify me if you encounter any problems." He paused for a few seconds as he studied the mess on his desk, suddenly he exclaimed "Aha!" as an old scroll got covered in light grey spirit energy and floated out of one of the piles to land in his hand.


    He stood up and walked over to Jack''s side as he opened the scroll. While holding the unfurled scroll in front of Jack, Elder Yu pointed a finger at a decent painting of the body''s meridians and said "To make the spirit energy leave one''s body you have to first¡­"


    Before he could continue Jack cleared his throat and said "Elder."


    The Elder frowned and a hint of his insanity leaked out of his eyes as he snapped "What!?"


    Jack raised his left hand and connected his thumb and forefinger with a strand of spirit energy.


    Elder Yu''s eyes widened as he stammered "H-how did you do that?"


    Jack looked at his hand and started connecting each finger with each other while he said "Well, you told me to figure it out on my own. So I did. I thought you knew, Elder. While I practiced the Air Blast spell last night I felt sure that you noticed." The structure in his hand had nine strands of spirit energy in it, only needing the last one to finish forming the spell.


    He looked up at the Elder''s confused blinking eyes and asked "Want me to show you, Elder?"


    Elder Yu looked down at Jack''s hand for a few seconds, before looking back up and saying excitedly "Yes." He turned towards the door and started walking while adding "Come to the courtyard, I do not want my texts to get damaged."


    Jack followed the Elder slowly as he had to concentrate on holding the flow of spirit energy stable while moving.


    Once they exited the study Jack walked a dozen meters in front of Elder Yu and extended his hand towards the empty courtyard.


    He thought about following Du Angliang''s advice but decided against it since he didn''t want his first showing in front of the Elder to misfire. He connected the last strand of spirit energy and shot out an Air Blast from his hand.


    With a satisfied smile, Jack turned around to look at Elder Yu. A scowling face greeted him as the Elder yelled "What kind of control is that?! You just arrange your flimsy spell and shoot it off without directing any of its force! I saw spring breezes that had more strength than that!"


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    Jack''s shoulders slumped as he looked down at the ground and said "Apologies, Elder."


    Elder Yu stopped his tirade as he gave a frustrated sigh and walked towards Jack while saying "Not your fault, not your fault. I expected too much after seeing¡­ Even what you did here is astounding."


    He walked to stand next to Jack, raised his hand towards the gateway of the courtyard, and said "Watch."


    In an instant, a grey speck of light formed in front of the Elder''s hand and flew out of the gate. A second later Jack heard the noise of falling trees from the forest.


    Jack stared at the distant gateway in half-feigned awe. He long ago knew that Elder Yu could crush him like a bug, and he suspected that when you got to a certain stage of cultivation that anything you do would cause devastation, but he still felt a healthy respect for the power presented in front of him.


    The Elder had a self-satisfied smirk on his face as he said "That is a way that someone can use the Air Blast spell. It can vary depending on which part of the spell''s structure you give more attention and spirit energy to. But you always have to remember to keep the circulation steady at all times." He paused and pointed his hand towards the sky as he continued "I will make the spell structure larger. Pay close attention because I will not repeat myself."


    Jack nodded his head and focused his entire attention on Elder Yu''s right palm.


    There, strands of light grey spirit energy, as thick as an arm, started to form the familiar spell structure. Jack stared at the slight tweaks that the Elder did to the way he shaped the spirit energy and tried to burn them all into his brain. Ten seconds later the spell took shape, and a ball larger than Jack''s head shot out of Elder Yu''s palm into the sky. When Jack focused his spirit energy into his eyes he thought he saw a tiny hole in the clouds that floated above them which closed up a second later.


    This time he didn''t have to feign even a bit of the awe he felt towards the strength of the cultivators of this world. He had seen massive displays of might before from them, but now when he knew more about the whole process he could admire them in a more personal way.


    The Elder still had the smug look on his face as he said "Keep practicing, and maybe one day you too will be able to do that." He stopped for a second as a sour thought changed his smirk to a frown and added "Just imagine what you could have done if you chose something more powerful."


    Jack bowed deeply as he said, "Thank you for the lesson, Elder."


    With a wave of his hand Elder Yu dismissed Jack as he said "That will be all for today, go carry out your duties. I will check on your progress when you bring me the payment from the other organizations in two days." When he finished he walked back to his study.


    Jack watched the closing door and thought ''I have to learn more about sigils. He knew which part of the spell''s structure to shape to get the effect he needed. Time to visit the library.''


    He walked down the mountain and visited the restaurant that made the food for his people''s midday meal. It took him a few minutes to get the confused manager to agree to add a pot with broth, and a large plate of roasted meat to the menu, but after Jack offered a bit more money he agreed.


    With a satisfied smile, Jack walked to the Gravedigger courtyard to check up on his men. When he stepped foot inside they all stopped their work, frozen between continuing in their usual style and making a show of it for their supervisor.


    Jack gave them a relaxed smile as he shouted "We''re doing things our way now! No need for the ceremonies!"


    A few of them cheered, but most just nodded while a grin hung on their faces.


    Jack continued as he looked at where his closest friends gathered "Shi Furui will start teaching the locations of meridians out in the open once the corpses stop coming for the day, instead of doing it with you one by one."


    Shi Furui gave him a confident nod as he knew Jack planned to do this.


    "After Shi Furui''s class, Bai Maolong will supervise your training. Give it your all; these next couple of months are extremely important so all of you have to get into top shape." Jack continued as he received a nod from Bai Maolong.


    After Jack scared the laziness out of him it turned out that his family used to run a martial arts temple, but it got attacked and destroyed by their ruler because he coveted their wealth. Bai Maolong wandered around the countryside on his own for a few years and somehow ended up in the Gravediggers. Jack taught him some moves at first, but now he had even better melee fighting skills than Jack.


    Switching his gaze to the grinning Kuang Bindun, Jack said "Kuang Bindun will take over language studies after the evening meal. When necessary I will give my input, but I believe that he will do his job well."


    Jack looked at everyone''s excited face once more and said "Now if you''ll excuse me, I have some reading to do." He turned on his heel and went back into the building.


    Jeers and whistles followed him in.

 1.37 Art

    Jack chuckled at the calls of "Slacker!" and "Deserter!" as he entered his new office. In the next couple of hours, he went over all of the scrolls that Du Angliang saved in the office. When he finished he felt a deeper appreciation of Du Angliang''s administrative skills.


    Every debt and payment of an organization had their own neat record. ''How did the others get so indebted to Elder Yu?'' Jack first wondered as he checked the new records. Once he got to the older ones he realized that the others didn''t pay their bills at all in the past, only after Du Angliang took over and urged the Elder into action did they form a plan for the owed payments, with interest.


    Jack smirked as he thought ''I believe that Elder Yu mentioned something about needing some extra funds for an experiment. These payments should double for the next couple of months, just so he''s sure that he has enough for his projects.''


    When he finished with everything Jack stood up and stretched his stiff back as he thought ''Haven''t done this many calculations in a long time. It feels strangely comfortable. With this and the library, I feel like I''m back in school.'' A second later he shook his head to disperse the whimsical thoughts as his face turned serious and he left the office.


    After walking up the main street of Tranquil Lake Town for a few minutes, Jack reached a large arched doorway with double doors made out of some kind of black as ink wood. The door on the left had the double circle crest of the Endless Cycle Sect painted in shining silver, while the door on the right had a stylized scroll painted in bright gold.


    Jack looked at, and around, the doors for a minute and couldn''t find a handle. Just as he planned to bang on the doors, a voice from behind him asked "First time?"


    With a start, Jack looked over his shoulder and saw an average looking young man in light blue robes smiling at him. ''Have to stop relying on cultivation to sense my surroundings.'' Jack thought with chagrin as he scanned the friendly face.


    He turned around to face the young man as he scratched the back of his head and said "Yeah." He glanced back at the doors and asked "How do you get in?"


    The young man reached into his robe and took out a round and shining metallic stone to show to Jack, it looked the same as the library token that Jack had in his robes. Stepping up to the left door, the young man placed the token in the center of the two circles. Jack''s eyes didn''t blink as he watched the spirit energy illuminate thus far invisible sigils in a line straight to the other door''s scroll. Once the energy reached it, the scroll unfurled and allowed Jack to see the handle for the door.


    With a push on the handle, the young man easily swung the door open. He turned back to look at Jack and said "Come in."


    The words snapped Jack out of his reverie and he hurried through the door after the young man.


    Inside, Jack saw a beautiful little park with stone-paved paths that lead through patches of flowers and decorative bushes, even a small pond for relaxation lay in a corner. All the paths in the park led to either the entrance or to a large three-story cream-colored building that stood opposite from the entrance.


    As he looked around the park with wide eyes Jack asked the young man "Do we use the complicated doors to protect this?"


    The young man shook his head in amusement as he said "No, the Elders had to do it because the scum in this town cannot be trusted. If you gave them even a single chance they would slit your throat." He looked out to the park as he added "We maintain this little piece of nature out of fun."


    Jack quickly lost his brief rose-tinted glasses as he blinked his eyes a few times. He looked suspiciously at the plain-looking walls that surrounded everything as he asked "Can''t they come over the walls?"


    A cruel little smile appeared on the young man''s amiable face as he said "They can try."


    Jack felt a small shiver pass through his spine as he glanced at the walls once more, this time with slight fear.


    The young man broke the silence with a bark of laughter and started walking towards the large building while saying "I am Li Manning, a sixth grade outer disciple in the service of the Vast Sky Mountain, and the librarian here." He looked back at Jack with a sly smirk as he said "If you came half an incense stick of time earlier you would not have been able to enter, even with the token. We only start working after the morning meal."


    Jack almost smacked his forehead as he thought ''Right, not everyone gets up at dawn here, no wonder the park''s empty.'', but he just pasted a slightly surprised expression on his face and said "Oh, right. I usually get up much earlier due to my job. I''m Song Tanda, fourth grade direct disciple under Elder Yu and the Eternal Rest Mountain." He hesitated a little before saying "I''m in charge of the Gravediggers."


    Li Manning''s brows rose as he said "A direct disciple already." A second later he added awkwardly "Under Elder Yu¡­ Well, I am certain that you will fare much better than some of his former disciples."


    Jack gave out a hollow laugh as they reached the doors of the library. This time they worked like normal doors and Li Manning unlocked their padlock with a key and led the way in.


    With a few strands of spirit energy, Li Manning strengthened the Light Orbs that illuminated the huge space as he walked to a large reception desk that stood to the right of the entrance.


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    Shelves filled with scrolls lined all of the walls of the main hall. On top of that, three additional rows mimicked their placement with a couple of meters left in-between for browsing. The center of the hall had room for four tables with chairs where the disciples could go to read. There existed only four breaks in the walls of shelves, right in the middle of each wall, where a door led to a different room.


    Jack studied the library for a dozen seconds with greedy eyes, before turning towards Li Manning and walking to the reception desk.


    "Disciple Brother Li, can you help me with searching for certain topics?" Jack asked as he placed his hands on the reception desk and looked at Li Manning with his best lost-child face.


    Li Manning looked at Jack with a level gaze and pointed to the side of the reception desk.


    Jack turned his head and looked, only to see a wooden pricelist that stood next to the reception desk. It had four different prices listed: Help in a topic search ¨C 1 silver coin per scroll, Private room rental ¨C 10 silver coins per stick of incense, Access to the top floor ¨C 1 spirit stone, Time on the top floor ¨C 1 gold coin per stick of incense.


    With disbelief on his face, Jack turned to look at Li Manning and asked "Really?"


    Li Manning shrugged his shoulders as he answered with "Cultivation is an expensive way of life, we all need to make money somehow."


    Jack gave a hollow laugh as he said "I need beginner information on sigils, and a couple of scrolls that describe the local geography." and counted out ten silver coins.


    Li Manning gave him a professional smile as he scooped up the coins and said "Please take a seat, the requested scrolls will be with you in a few breaths."


    ''These things cost more than my old College books. Damned scam!'' Jack complained to himself as he sat at one of the tables and waited for his scrolls.


    A few minutes later Li Manning came over with ten scrolls floating in his wake. He had them all land in two piles in front of Jack and said in a practiced manner "Here are the materials that you requested, Sir. If you need anything else please do not hesitate to ask at the reception desk."


    Jack stared at his departing back and cursed his professionalism for a few seconds.


    The cursing continued as he studied the two scrolls that supposedly had information about the local area. One of them dated to 400 years ago, and the other to 250 years ago. They both had totally different maps and information in them. Only the area in and around the Endless Cycle Sect looked similar, the rest of it looked like the artists drew things from their imaginations. Where one had a river, the other one had a tall mountain, where one had a forest, the other had a desert. Even the information contradicted itself, one said that a mountain stood in the direction of the rising Sun, the other that the same mountain stood in the direction of the setting Sun.


    After half an hour Jack rubbed his forehead in frustration and rolled the two scrolls up. He picked them up and stomped back to the reception desk.


    Li Manning noticed him coming and raised his head up from a scroll with a welcoming smile.


    Jack ignored the false courtesy as he stopped in front of the reception desk and said "These things don''t make sense. How can two pieces of information about the same thing contradict themselves so much?" while he waved the two scrolls in front of Li Manning''s nose.


    Li Manning frowned as he took the scrolls from Jack''s hand and unfurled them. After studying them for a minute he looked up at Jack and said "I see no errors here. Things change with time."


    "No errors?! They''re supposed to describe the local area, are there two different local areas that I should know about?" Jack fumed as he pointed at the scrolls.


    Li Manning''s face became frosty as he said "Do you doubt the work of our Seniors?"


    Jack felt like someone threw a bucket of cold water over his head as he looked at the furious eyes of the librarian. ''Calm down, need to calm down. Can''t let the importance of the issue cloud my judgment.'' he thought as he took in a deep calming breath.


    "No, of course not, I apologize for my rudeness. I''m just confused as to why the area changed so much in such a short time." Jack said as he lowered the tone of his voice into a more calming one.


    After a second Li Manning looked mollified as he glanced down at the scrolls and said "Some of the Elders like to practice their spells on the outskirts of the Sect. From what I heard from my Seniors, things can get¡­ intense."


    Jack''s eyes widened at the realization of what that meant for their plans as he tried one last time and asked "Do any more recent records exist?"


    Li Manning thought for a few seconds, shook his head, and said "Not ones that I know of. There might exist a few diaries from Elders that traveled around the local area on the top floor that could have some descriptions in them." He looked at the crestfallen Jack in sympathy and added "Geography is not that popular among cultivators."


    Jack sighed, thanked Li Manning, picked up his scrolls, and went back to his table.


    He set the local area scrolls to the side and started studying the ones that explained sigils.


    A couple of hours later he finished reading his last scroll. Only the few disciples that gathered in the library by that point prevented him from screaming out ''ART! It''s all f*cking art! Those God damned old bastards!''

 1.38 Intent

    Jack regulated his breathing as he saw a couple of disciples giving him the side-eye. He hunkered down and focused back on the scroll in front of him.


    ''A cultivator has to focus the intent he wishes to imbue into the correct sigil, only then will he have the ability to adjust its workings.'' Jack read. He took a different scroll and continued from a specific paragraph ''Using the proper sigil in your spell requires sound judgment. Imbuing a sigil for flame with the intent to burn will create a drastically different effect from imbuing the one for fire.''


    Jack''s brows furrowed as he pulled over the next scroll and kept reading ''One has to remain vigilant when designing your sigils. A single mistake can lead to disastrous consequences.'' The next one he took had a more dire warning ''Any inexperienced person that tinkers with the design of standardized sigils will die.''


    All of the scrolls had warnings about adjusting existing sigils without experience and described them more as an art form that only allows the cultivator to imbue his intentions in them. They made sure that the person reading knew that the cultivator''s intent mattered more for the needed effect than the strict shape of the sigil.


    ''According to the scrolls, a person can''t make a sigil for air break a tree on its own. It has to have additional helping sigils that will allow the accumulation and compression of the air. No wonder that parts of so many sigils showed up in the Air Blast spell.'' Jack thought as he placed the last scroll down on the table and rubbed his forehead.


    ''But still, those bastards make it look so mysterious when they''re just drawing pictures that will contain their intent.'' He started getting angry again, but a second later his eyes widened as he contemplated ''Did my Air Blast turn into a weak gust of wind because I expected it to look like that from the memories that I received? I must have unconsciously imbued my expectations in the gathered sigils. I need to get my hand on all the possible permutations that one can make from the sigils in Air Blast before I can start doing adjustments to the spell, or those warnings might turn into the truth.''


    Jack stood up and took a couple of steps towards the reception desk before he caught a glimpse of the shadows from the plants in the park through the open doors. He stopped in his tracks, turned around, picked up the scrolls from his table, and carried them over to the reception desk.


    Li Manning gave him a professional smile as he asked "Leaving already?"


    With a nod of his head, Jack said "Yeah, have to go back to work. I''ll see you early tomorrow."


    Jack thanked Li Manning for the help and left the library. He just had to push the outer doors and he could exit them without using his token, the doors closed automatically once he went through.


    He hurried to the restaurant that made the food for his people after exiting the library. When he saw that they had everything ready he walked with the servers back to the Gravedigger courtyard.


    As soon as his people saw the new food they cheered and lined up, with his closest friends at the top of the line. Jack hesitated a bit if he should serve them the food himself, or just let the servers do it, but when he saw the expectant looks that everyone gave him, he shrugged his shoulders helplessly and went to serve the food.


    After their meal, Jack drove the corpse cart up the Eternal Rest Mountain. He gave the unit their usual task of digging the graves, while he went back to the courtyard and drove the cart to where Elder Yu''s spirit puppets took them.


    He studied the movements of the puppets while they emptied the cart, looking for any trace of humanity they might show. He couldn''t see any. With a sad sigh, he climbed up to the driver seat of the cart and went to store it for the night.


    Instead of waiting around for his unit to return from the graveyard, Jack went there and helped them dig so they could finish faster.


    When they did, he sent everyone except for Shi Furui and Kuang Bindun back to their homes.


    "Bindun, I need all of the saved up paper that you have and don''t need for tonight''s lecture; and some charcoal. Please get them for me." Jack said as he turned to Kuang Bindun.


    With a nod, Kuang Bindun took off running towards the houses.


    Jack looked at Shi Furui and said "Let''s go."


    They arrived in front of a distant door of the manor and bowed down while Jack said "Disciple Song Tanda asks for permission to enter."


    A few seconds later the door opened, and a spirit puppet stood in the doorway while staring at Jack. Once it did some internal check it stepped out of the way and gave Jack permission to enter the room.


    Jack entered the dusty dim room and looked around. The small room held one shelf filled with collars, and one filled with knives for the graveyard shift. In the back there stood a small wooden pedestal that held an unremarkable pouch on it.


    Du Angliang informed Jack of its name and the way on how to make it work, but he didn''t allow him to test it out, so Jack had a lot of expectations for the Star Bag. Apparently one could store a whole planet into one in certain legends, and the people here called planets stars, so its name turned to the Star Bag. Ever since he came to this world he had great curiosity towards these strange things that made what he previously thought impossible, possible.


    He gently picked it up and started imbuing it with his spirit energy. As soon as he did he somehow saw, in his mind''s eye, an oblong space with walls made purely out of sigils that held a small hill of Spirit Capturing knives and a small hill of Energy Dispersal devices. From Jack''s estimation, the oblong space had around a thousand meters cubed volume, judging by the size of the knives.


    Jack reached into the pouch, thought ''I want a knife.'', and pulled his hand out. It held a Spirit Capturing knife in it. A small smile spread across his face as he returned the knife back to the pouch and took out a collar.


    After a final look around the room, Jack left through the door.


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    Outside, he gave Shi Furui the collar and started walking towards the graveyard.


    On the way there Kuang Bindun caught up to them and handed over the papers and charcoal to Jack. Once he delivered the materials he ran back to make the evening meal and do his lectures.


    Shi Furui and Jack walked over to the small shack that stood next to the graveyard and sat down with their backs against its wood. Jack gave Shi Furui a piece of charcoal and a few papers and said "Make sure to draw them exactly like they look on the collar. I need to know what he''s using."


    With a "Sure." Shi Furui took the papers and charcoal and started copying the sigils from the Energy Dispersal device. Jack fished out one Spirit Capturing knife from the pouch and started copying the sigils from it.


    The Sun almost finished setting when they ended their work. With a satisfied smile, Jack opened the shack and stored the drawings in it.


    They went over to the Eastern side of the graveyard and started their patrol.


    By now Jack didn''t need Shi Furui to carry him around while he absorbed spirit energy. He had enough focus to walk around while still performing his cultivation method in the areas of his body that didn''t move around while walking.


    With the increase in his cultivation his reflexes and speed increased too, so he had no problems with getting to the hostile spirits before they reached Shi Furui. He still couldn''t use his spirit energy to make the knives fly, but he felt certain that with some research he could do it in the future.


    They quickly captured fifteen spirits and avoided the rest while jogging through the patrol route.


    On the way back Jack took the papers with the copies of sigils out of the shack and handed it over to Shi Furui to return to Jack''s room, while he went to the room from where they took the graveyard shift tools. He handed the captured spirits over to the spirit puppet and returned the Star Bag to its pedestal with slight regret.


    When he got back to his home Kuang Bindun had just started his lecture outside of Jack''s house, with the help of Jack''s Light Orb. With a slight surprise, Jack nodded to Kuang Bindun and entered his house. The still warm food waited for him on the table, and next to it lay the sigil drawings.


    Jack took the food outside and watched Kuang Bindun''s lecture. After it ended he gave a few pointers to his friend and left for the clearing from last night to practice. He took the remaining paper and charcoal with him.


    While sitting on a stump Jack slowly created one connection of the Air Blast spell after another and carefully drew every permutation on paper. A few times he felt tempted to try changing something to see what would happen, but he beat that temptation down and stayed the course.


    Once he finished everything he tried using the Air Blast while focusing his will on increasing its power, but he only saw slight improvements in its strength from what he did last night.


    When he almost emptied his dantian he gave out an exhausted sigh as he thought ''At least I know it works somewhat, now I just need to figure out on which sigils to focus my attention.''


    The next morning Jack waited for twenty minutes at the gate of the library before Li Manning showed up.


    "Ah, the thirst for knowledge!" Li Manning exclaimed when he saw Jack. He unlocked the doors and his face took on a more serious expression as he said "I know it well, just be careful about biting off more than you can chew. A lot of enthusiastic disciples found their deaths that way."


    Jack nodded his head and gave him a non-committal grunt.


    Li Manning sighed and led the way to the library.


    On the way Jack caught the park''s pond in the corner of his eye and spoke up "Disciple Brother Li, can I read the scrolls out here?" Yesterday some of the people in the library talked amongst themselves while he read and annoyed him.


    Li Manning looked over his shoulder at Jack with a glint in his eyes and said "Why not just rent a private room?"


    Jack''s eyes narrowed as he countered with "Why don''t I give you two silver for each incense stick worth of time that I''m out here and we don''t tell anyone?"


    Li Manning furrowed his brows for a few seconds before saying "Make it four, I''m the one risking things here."


    In the end, they agreed on three silver coins per an incense stick worth of time.


    When they reached the reception desk, Li Manning lost his jolly attitude and took on the role of a professional shopkeeper.


    "What interests you today, Sir? Some additional sigil research; or maybe a different topic caught your fancy?" Li Manning asked as he looked at Jack from the other side of the reception desk.


    Jack shook his head in amusement as he said "Get me scrolls that contain examples of sigils and their uses. The more examples and descriptions, the better." and took out ten silver coins.


    Li Manning frowned slightly as he said "We have the basic few thousands down here, but for anything more advanced you will have to visit the top floor."


    Jack''s brows rose in surprise at the number as he said "I better start with the basics then, and work my way up. Please bring me some that center on air control."


    Li Manning nodded and went to get the requested scrolls.


    A few minutes later Jack exited the library and walked over to the pond. It had a small tree next to it with just enough shade for a person to sit under and relax.


    Jack sat down under the tree and took out a few sheets of paper and a pouch with charcoal from his robe.


    He opened the first scroll and smiled once he saw a familiar shape of the air sigil at the top.


    An hour later, Jack''s deep dive into a scroll got interrupted when a shadow fell over him and a soft voice said "You are sitting in my spot."


    Jack looked up and saw a young lady in a light green robe that held a couple of scrolls looming over him. She had a slightly upturned nose, full sneering lips, and scornful almond-shaped eyes. She shifted her ponytail from her left shoulder to her right as she said "Move, this is my spot."

 1.39 Young Masters of the Cosmos

    Jack blinked up at the girl, looked around for a few seconds, looked back at the tree, and even under where he sat, before saying "I don''t see your name on it." with an innocent face.


    The girl furrowed her brows a little as she said "Everyone knows that I read under this tree."


    Jack gave a slight shrug and retorted "I guess not." With that, he tuned the girl''s protests out and looked back down to his scroll.


    A dozen seconds later he felt the tree he leaned on give out a slight quiver. He looked over his shoulder and saw the girl''s back leaning on the other side of the tree. With a slight shrug, he went back to his studies and tried to ignore the world.


    ''I never imagined that sigils would respect some of the rules of math.'' Jack thought as he looked at some sample sigil combinations ''These connecting and severing ones turn up all over the place. I wonder if the more advanced ones work like¡­''


    "Would you stop that!?" a voice from Jack''s back broke his line of thought and made him sit up in surprise. He looked down to his left leg and saw a jagged black line going across his whole sheet of paper.


    He snapped his head back and asked in a frustrated voice "What''s your problem, lady?"


    Angry eyes met Jack''s own as the lady in question answered with "Your atonal humming is my problem. Ever since I sat down you kept humming that dreadful tune. I demand that you stop it at once."


    Jack froze for a second as he thought back, and realized that he did hum a song from his past life without noticing while taking his notes.


    After an awkward moment of realization, he calmed his emotions down and said "Sorry about that, I didn''t realize. I''ll stop doing it." The girl looked mollified by the apology so he turned back to his scrolls.


    When he unfurled a new scroll his eyes focused on a familiar symbol near the top ''This compression sigil looks a lot like the one from the Air Blast spell. Can I focus on that to make the area of effect more concentrated, or does it just mean that it compresses the air better so the spell has more power? Does the intention of the user make the difference? I need to find more of the sigils from the spell so I can compare and contrast the effects. Maybe if I¡­''


    "Laaaa la la, laa la la laaa¡­" a sweet singing voice interrupted Jack''s ruminations on sigils. He turned around and looked at the girl''s back. After a second he cleared his throat and asked "What do you think you''re doing?"


    The singing abruptly stopped as the girl turned to look at Jack with a slight blush on her pale cheeks and said "I just attempted to improve your sloppy composition. It sounds much better now."


    Jack furrowed his brows and countered "That''s not how the song sounds. The correct melody goes like this: Hmm hm hm, hmm hm hm hmm¡­"


    The young lady''s mouth turned down in displeasure as she said "It cannot have that tempo. The rhythm feels wrong. Who composed it?"


    In his zeal to defend one of his favorite songs Jack almost blurted out the truth, but in the end he held himself back and told a half-lie "My mother told me that a Queen from a far land made it popular, she used to sing it to me when she put me down to sleep."


    The girl''s eyes lit up and transformed her scowling face into a gorgeous one as she asked "Really? Do you know the name of this Queen or her song? What about the words? My mother is a well-known zither artist, maybe she heard of her."


    Jack shook his head slowly and answered "I doubt that she would know her, this song comes from a faraway land in the direction of the setting Sun. To understand its name or words you would have to know their language."


    The girl''s face lost a lot of her fervor as she looked with just a glimmer of hope at Jack and asked "Do you know this language?"


    With an awkward feeling in his chest, Jack answered "I know a little."


    The glimmer of hope spread across the girl''s eyes as she said "Can you tell me the name of the song? I will ask my mother if she knows it. Only then can we decide whose melody stayed true to the original."


    ''Only if she comes from Earth.'' Jack thought with an inner chuckle, but he said "In this language, it would translate to something like ''Young Masters of the Cosmos''."


    The young lady closed her eyes and repeated the title out loud a couple of times to remember it, then opened them and said "Come here tomorrow at the same time and we will settle this argument once and for all." She put on a smile that she must have thought looked charming, but to Jack, it looked sly, and added "If you think your version is correct we could do a little wager."


    Jack stared at the ridiculous facial expression this strange girl gave him and almost laughed in her face, but he held it in and acted curious as he asked "Oh, what kind of wager?"


    The girl''s smile widened as she proposed her idea "Whoever gets the melody right, gets to use this spot in the future."


    Jack almost choked on his tongue when he heard the wager. After a couple of restrained coughs he steadied his breathing and said "Fine with me, but if your mother doesn''t know the song I win."


    The girl looked to the side; a second later she looked back into Jack''s eyes, and agreed with a nod while saying "Very well, I accept your addendum."


    Jack said "Great." and turned back to his scrolls. A few seconds later he turned back and asked "By the way, how much did Disciple Brother Li charge you for staying outside while reading?"


    The young lady turned around with a confused look on her face as she said "What do you mean? I only paid for his help with locating the scrolls I wanted. Anyone can come and read outside if they want."


    She turned to the other side, pointed to a different shaded alcove, and said "Look there, a few people are in the middle of a discussion on the proper use of spells."


    Jack turned and saw four people engaged in a furious whispered debate over a few scrolls.


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    "That cheating bastard¡­" Jack swore under his breath as he looked down at his scrolls and thanked his lousy luck that he decided to pay Li Manning only at the end of the day. He turned to the girl and said "Thanks for the information, I owe you one."


    The girl gave Jack a strange look and turned back to her studies.


    The next few hours passed without any further interruptions. Jack managed to find over half of the sigils that appeared in the Air Blast spell during his search through the scrolls and learned some additional secrets of how to make various sigils work together.


    When he packed up and stood up to go, a voice from behind him asked "Leaving already?"


    Jack turned in slight surprise and said "Yeah, have to go back to my job."


    The girl looked down at his robes, and her eyes widened like she just saw them for the first time. She let out a silent "Oh¡­" as she stared at them.


    Jack scratched the back of his head as he said "Yeah, I''ll see you tomorrow. Bye." He turned and left the stunned girl there in the shade of the tree, next to the little pond.


    When he got to the library''s reception desk he plopped the scrolls down on it and gave Li Manning a withering glare.


    "Found out?" Li Manning asked with a slightly rueful smile hanging on the corner of his lips.


    Jack just looked at him for a few extra seconds, then turned and left.


    He left the library half an hour earlier than last time so he could make a stop on the way.


    After a few turns in the side alleys of Tranquil Lake Town, he arrived at a doorway that had large metal doors blocking it. He knocked a few times and yelled "It''s me."


    The banging on the other side of the door stopped, and Jack heard hurried steps before the door swung open.


    Tan Boli stood in the doorway and bowed while saying "Welcome, Sir." He moved out of the way and said "Please come in."


    Jack went in and followed Tan Boli to his house. As he passed through the courtyard he nodded towards Tan Boli''s two sons in greeting, and they did awkward bows in return.


    Once more he had to refuse Tan Boli''s wife''s hospitality as he jumped straight to his reason for being there "Did you receive the shipment of Deep Water Iron?"


    Tan Boli nodded his head as he said "We have, right the next day like you promised, Sir."


    Jack''s face spread into a slight smile as he said "Excellent. Any progress on my request?"


    Tan Boli rubbed his hands a little as he said "Sir, we just started to make the molds and smelt the metal. It will take at least fiv¡­ no, three days until we have a finished prototype."


    Jack did some calculations in his head and gave a slight nod as he comforted the nervous man "That should do just fine. I will visit in four days to see the first results."


    Tan Boli gave out a sigh of relief and thanked Jack a few more times. Jack just smiled and made for the exit. He couldn''t stand the awkward atmosphere.


    The rest of the day went by fast as Jack helped his men with their digging, and they finished before the sun set once more. The reason wasn''t just his help; the entire unit had more strength and stamina than in the past.


    Before Jack took over they kept their pace down to a crawl, because they knew that if Du Angliang found out about their capabilities they would get even more work. Now they got extra free time and food so they worked as fast as they could for it.


    After he dismissed the unit and took the Star Bag from the mansion, Jack led Shi Furui to the shack next to the graveyard to wait for dusk.


    While there, he took out the notes he did in the library and shared his new knowledge with his friend. A short discussion later, they both took a few papers and checked them on their own.


    Fifteen minutes later Jack got interrupted by Shi Furui asking "What''s that song?"


    Jack looked up at Shi Furui with surprise and realized that he started humming again. He sighed and said, "It''s an old song from my past, got it stuck in my head for the whole day."


    "Oh, sounds nice. You should sing it to us sometimes." Shi Furui said and looked back down at the notes in his hand.


    Jack looked at him for a few seconds, and then returned his focus back to his studies.


    After the graveyard shift and the evening meal, Jack went out to his clearing to practice the Air Blast spell.


    He first tried a couple of blasts while just focusing his intent on increasing its power. It didn''t show much of a change so he sat down on a stump and studied the sigils composing the spell.


    ''What would happen if I focused on the sigil parts that link compression, strengthening, air, and forward?'' Jack thought and extended his hand.


    The spell took shape and he focused his intent on empowering the sigils that connected the sigil for air, strengthening, compression, and forward. In the last second, a part of his attention slipped and he glanced at a sigil right next to the sigil for forward.


    ''S*it, that''s the severing sigil¡­'' flashed through Jack''s head as the spell formed and, instead of blasting out to the front, as usual, it reversed its force and shot straight into Jack''s chest.


    The force lifted him up and blasted him spinning away for over five meters, straight into a thorny bush.


    A minute later, he staggered up to his feet with a few shallow cuts while the world still spun in front of his eyes. He looked down at his right hand and saw that all the connecting skin in-between his fingers got split open and bled. His hand slowly turned crimson.


    Jack stared at it for a few seconds before he clenched his fist hard and raised it into the air. He looked up at the star-filled sky and sang out in English "No man could understand, my power is in my own hand!"


    A second later he lowered his hand and chuckled at himself "Silly bastard." He looked down at his left hand and went back to his practice.

 1.40 Silent Room

    The next morning Jack gave the corpse cart over to Shi Furui and went to Elder Yu''s manor as ordered. After waiting for a while the door to the Elder''s study opened and Elder Yu stepped out into the courtyard.


    Jack stood in shock for a moment; before he bowed down to greet the Elder.


    Elder Yu walked over to Jack and said "Show me your progress."


    Jack nodded his head, said "At once, Elder.", and turned around. He pointed his left hand towards the far end of the courtyard and started to make the spell''s structure. His right hand''s meridians still ached when he tried to push spirit energy through them so he let it rest.


    As he wove the spirit energy threads together Jack focused on the air, compression, forward, and strengthening sigils one by one, and then on all of the connecting sigils that tied them together. He still didn''t know a bit under half of the other ones so he ignored them.


    When he felt certain that his mind stayed focused on only the sigils he wanted to strengthen, he allowed the spell''s structure to come together.


    A compressed stream of air, the width, and height of two hands blasted out of Jack''s left hand through the courtyard. He felt a little pushback from the stream, but it couldn''t budge his firm stance.


    The Air Blast''s concentrated force ended in around seven to eight meters, after which it turned into ordinary wind, but Jack felt that it had the power to blast a man that hasn''t braced himself at least as far as he got blasted last night.


    With a satisfied feeling deep in his chest, he turned around to face Elder Yu.


    The Elder had one eyebrow raised in slight surprise. After a few seconds, he resumed his stoic expression and advised "Decent improvement. Correct me if I err, but you focused on the air, compression, forward, and strengthening sigils. That can lead to some increase in the Air Blast''s power, but if you intend to do anything more with it than scare the servants, I suggest that you learn some of the other sigils."


    He took a slight pause to think, before continuing "Try shape, focus, and range for a start. And do not forget in which order you activate them, nor which you connect to which."


    Jack stared at Elder Yu for a second as dozens of possible ideas ran through his mind at the Elder''s suggestions. A second later he remembered where he stood and bowed deeply while saying "I am grateful beyond words for your assistance, Elder."


    Elder Yu dismissed his words with a wave of his hand and turned to walk back towards his study as he said "Remember to pick up our earnings today. You can leave them with the spirit puppets when you deliver the corpses." The door of the study closed behind him.


    Jack almost slapped himself across the face in that instant. All of the recent happenings made him forget that he had to collect the Gravediggers'' earnings from the other organizations today.


    If the Elder hadn''t reminded him in passing, Jack might have died at his hands later today. When he thought about that a cold shiver ran down his spine.


    A second later he shook his close brush with death off and set out towards Tranquil Lake Town.


    In the Gravedigger courtyard, he greeted his friends and chatted with them for a while, before he went to his office and made a list of the debts that the other organizations had to pay, plus Elder Yu''s recent urgent price hike. When he had everything done he started his debt collecting journey.


    Jack''s first step led him to the Undying Flame Mountain''s main building, and his new friend, Gao Fumu.


    "How much?!" she shouted as she rose back up from her chair, just after she sat down once she greeted her visitor.


    Jack remained seated in his chair as he shrugged his shoulders helplessly and said "I know, Disciple Sister Gao, I know. I feel that he''s asking for too much also, but you know how Elder Yu is, once he sets his mind on something not even the dead can get in his way."


    He stopped for a second as he put on a hesitant face and suggested "I can try and talk to him, but I think that would make him even madder. Elder Yu had a lot of expenses recently, with Senior Brother Du going to the back mountain, and a few of his experiments failing, he has to gather some extra funds in the next couple of months if he wants to continue with his work." Jack finished with slumped shoulders as he looked down at his hands.


    The room remained silent for a good half minute before a defeated Gao Fumu sighed and said "Fine, but make sure to tell him that he has to warn us in the future if he wants to increase your rates." She pulled out a drawer from her table and added a decent number of spirit stones to the pouch she prepared earlier.


    When Jack took it he had a grateful look on his face as he said "Thank you, Disciple Sister Gao. If you want I can tell Elder Yu that Undying Flame Mountain won''t cooperate with him if he does anything like this in the future."


    Gao Fumu paled a little as she grabbed Jack by the sleeve of his left hand and said "Wait, on second thought, I see no reason why we should take this to the respected Elder. Just send him our warm regards and say that Undying Flame Mountain will always honor our deals with him."


    Jack gave her a knowing nod and left the building while struggling to contain his giddiness.


    In the next five hours, he visited all of the major organizations in town and gave them the bad news. He got threatened, pressured, and pleaded with, but in the end, all of them agreed to pay up without notifying Elder Yu.


    In a much better mood than when he began his collection endeavor, Jack returned to his office. He stored two-thirds of his earnings underneath the ceremonial uniforms and took the rest with him.


    He exited his office, talked a little with his friends, and left for the library.


    This time he came well after it opened, so he took out his library token for the first time and imbued it with spirit energy. When he touched the center of the Endless Cycle Sect''s crest he studied the sigils that ran across the doors to the golden scroll on the other side.


    ''I don''t know most of the sigils around the two symbols, but the vast majority of the rest are just connecting sigils. Do they just serve as conductors, or do they have an addition property? Maybe a bit of both, depending on the intentions of the person?'' Jack thought as he opened the right door and entered the library''s park.


    He headed straight for the library''s entrance and stopped in front of the reception desk.


    Li Manning nodded to him in greeting and said "Hello, Sir. Arriving stylishly late, I see. With what can I help you out today?"


    Jack frowned a little at the strange comment, but he ignored it and placed his order "I need some scrolls that explain the shape, focus, and range sigils. Get me two of each for those, and make the rest center around the sigils that are often connected to the one for air."


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    He took out ten silver coins and placed them on the reception desk. Li Manning scooped them up in a single practiced swipe of his hand and left to get the requested reading materials.


    As Jack watched him leave he heard a voice, which had a hint of anger in it, announce from behind him "You are late."


    Jack almost executed a back kick, but he managed to catch himself just as his leg lifted off the ground. ''Stop relying on sensing other people''s cultivation, you moron.'' he chided himself and turned around to meet his accuser.


    The lady from yesterday stood there, glaring at him.


    Jack gave her a friendly smile and said "I had some work to do. Let me pick up my scrolls, and I''ll go and claim my prize."


    The girl''s eyes narrowed as she asked "How do you know that you won?"


    Jack gave a casual shrug as he said "Your mom might know a few local songs, but there''s no way she''d know that one. So of course, I won."


    The girl switched her ponytail to her other shoulder in a subconscious angry gesture as she countered with "Or, you made the whole thing up just to make me interested enough to make a wager with you!"


    Jack''s eyes widened as he pointed out "You''re the one that suggested the bet. Don''t blame me for your lack of knowledge."


    The girl crossed her arms and raised her nose slightly as she said "Everyone knows that I have interest in sounds and melodies. You must have schemed against me to take my spot. I would expect no less from the lowborn scum of Eternal Rest Mountain."


    Jack furrowed his brows a little at the insult and growled "Look, lady, I just wanted some peace and quiet. I don''t give a damn about your precious spot, you can have it for all I care, but I won''t allow you to insult me and mine. Just admit that you''ve lost, I won''t take your spot, there''s enough room in the park for everyone."


    The lady snorted elegantly and said "I will do no such thing. You will have to prove to me that your song exists if you want me to admit any fault."


    Jack raised his hands in the air in exasperation as he hissed "Are you insane? I''m not singing here."


    The lady didn''t miss a beat as she said "Fine, we will rent a private room. They have silence spells woven through the walls, no one else will hear."


    Jack stopped his gesticulations for a second and asked "Who pays?"


    The lady''s eyes turned scornful as she said "The winner of the wager, of course."


    "Ahem." Both Jack and the girl started in surprise as Li Manning cleared his throat from the other side of the reception desk. Ten scrolls lay stacked in a neat pile in front of him.


    "Would the two of you please take this little spat somewhere else, the other customers are starting to complain." he scolded in a harsh whisper.


    Jack scratched the back of his head as he looked around the main hall and saw a few angry glances directed their way. "Apologies, Disciple Brother Li. We didn''t mean¡­"


    "We want to rent a private room." The lady interrupted Jack.


    Li Manning''s eyes shone with greed at the magic words. He quickly fished out a metallic stone from his robes and placed it on the reception desk while saying "The room on the left is free. Take all the time you need."


    The girl scooped the stone up and turned to walk towards the room.


    Jack threw an apologetic smile at Li Manning, grabbed his scrolls, and followed in her wake.


    The room they entered had an empty shelf, a table, and four chairs in it. When the girl closed the door and placed the metallic stone in the hole in it, a web made out of sigils flashed on all of the walls of the room for an instant, before disappearing.


    Jack looked around for a second in wonder, before his gaze brought him to the scowling face of the young lady.


    She glared at him and commanded, "Sing."


    Jack sighed and went to place his scrolls on the table. Once he did he turned around to look at the girl and said "You know, you''d be much prettier if you scowled less."


    The girl crossed her arms, and changed her stance before she repeated "Sing, or admit that you lied and all of this could end right now."


    Jack looked at her for a few seconds, cleared his throat, and started singing in English "Here we are, Born to be kings; We''re the princes of the universe¡­"


    When he finished, the room turned silent for a dozen seconds. He looked at the dazed expression of the young lady and waved a hand in front of her face.


    She flinched back from his hand and exclaimed "What?!" Her eyes refocused on Jack and she said "Oh, right." She straightened her posture, clasped her hands, and bowed down to Jack while saying "I admit my defeat." When she straightened up her face turned excited as she asked "Can you teach me that song?"


    Jack''s brows rose as he said "I don''t have time to teach you a different language."


    The girl waved a hand in dismissal as she said "I do not need that much. Just repeat the sounds and I will remember them. I do not dare to say that I am an expert at sound reproduction, but I am very good."


    Jack furrowed his brow as he asked "What do I get out of this?"


    The girl looked lost for a second before she rallied and said "I can help you with your research. I saw you looking at air sigils yesterday, sound and air are linked, I even know a few tricks that you will not find in those scrolls."


    Jack''s eyes widened as he thought about the implications, and he agreed after a few seconds of consideration.


    For the next hour, he had to perform the song a dozen times so that the girl could catch all of the nuances of the sounds.


    When she felt confident in her understanding of the song they left the private room and walked back towards the reception desk.


    As they neared it, the girl offered the room key to Jack and said "Here, hand it over to Disciple Brother Li. I left my money bag with my scrolls outside, give me a few breaths to go and get them."


    Jack nodded his head and watched her leave the library. He walked up to the reception desk, handed over the room key, and asked "How much for the room?"


    Li Manning watched Jack with a strange look as he said "30 silver."


    Jack nodded his head as he expected the price. He gave Li Manning a slight smile and said "She''ll get the bill, just went out to get the money, she left it with her scrolls."


    Li Manning just kept giving Jack a strange look.


    Two minutes later Jack turned to Li Manning and said "There was never any money, right?"


    Li Manning shook his head as he gave Jack a pitying look and confirmed "Nor scrolls, she waited for you outside since I opened the library."


    Jack sighed and started counting out silver coins.

 1.41 Body Methods

    For the next couple of hours, Jack sat under the tree in the park and read his scrolls.


    ''If I use my intent on the shape sigil I could mold the Air Blast into what I want, but I''ll have to use the range sigil together with the compression and focus sigils too. I might even have to sever the strengthening sigil all together, but it should work in close fights. I''ll have to test these things out carefully over the next few days.'' Jack thought as he finished his last notes and stood up.


    He wrote everything in English so the people around him couldn''t figure out what he planned to do. If the young lady had the ability to read his notes yesterday when she saw them he might have had to kill her.


    Jack left the library and went to get the food for his people. The rest of the day went by in a blur as he performed his duties as the Senior Brother and leader of the Gravediggers. When he gave that day''s earnings to Elder Yu''s spirit puppet, it just gave the pouch a glance before taking it away.


    After the evening meal, he went to his clearing to practice the Air Blast spell.


    He first tried to construct it with his right hand, but his meridians still ached him a little when he cycled spirit energy through them, so he decided to let it rest and started practicing with his left.


    ''Connect air with compression first, use shape to visualize what I want, use focus on compression and range together to make it smaller, sever any strengthening, and finally add the forward sigil for direction.'' Jack had to stare at the spell''s structure for over five minutes to visualize exactly what he wanted while still holding the entire thing together.


    When he felt sure in his arrangement he connected the last strand of spirit energy and activated it.


    With a soft *hiss* sound, a compressed stream of air, the size of a fist, left Jack''s hand for a couple of meters before dissipating.


    Jack frowned at his hand and sat down on a stump to think. ''What am I missing? This should have worked, it had a bit of the effect that I wanted, but it''s still too big. How did the Elder make his spell as small as he did?''


    He closed his eyes and thought back to the demonstration that Elder Yu performed for him a couple of days ago. Now that he had more knowledge about the process he saw a few things that he just couldn''t understand on that day.


    A few minutes later Jack''s eyes snapped open as he exclaimed "He added more than one link!"


    He remembered that when the Elder did his demonstration, his spell had more than one connection to different sigils. His strengthening and range sigils had a lot more connections to each other and other sigils than his shape or compression had.


    Jack felt a sense of glee as he looked back down at his left hand and started experimenting.


    The next day, his people had strange looks on their faces when Jack drove the corpse cart to their gathering location with crude bandages covering his hands.


    Kuang Bindun walked to the cart and looked at Jack''s hands as he asked "Tanda, what happened?"


    Jack smiled down at him and answered "I had a breakthrough, Bindun." He looked up at the brightening sky and added "Things are looking up, my friend."


    An hour later he left his men in the Gravedigger courtyard and started walking down the main street. This time he made sure to ask if the place that he planned to visit worked from dawn during his debt collecting. The answer he got from the burly representative of Unbreakable Rock Mountain assured him that "True practitioners of the Martial Dao always stand ready to face their enemies."


    Jack took it also to mean that they stood ready to face them at dawn too.


    He stopped in front of an identical pair of doors to the library''s, only the materials of these ones looked like some kind of white wood. They had the Endless Cycle Sect''s crest emblazoned on the left door, done in a peculiar black metallic paint, and a clenched bloody fist on the right.


    Jack walked up to the left door, fished out his martial hall entrance token, imbued it with his spirit energy, and touched it to the center of the Sect''s crest.


    The sigils that lit up looked like the ones from the library''s doors, only on these ones the bloody fist opened up to reveal a handle.


    With a push, Jack entered into a large packed dirt training yard filled with training dummies, weights, wooden weapons, and a ring for sparing.


    A few people dressed in dark brown robes were already sweating in the yard. When they saw Jack a couple of them had a slightly surprised look flash across their face, but then they continued with their practice.


    Jack gave them all a glance, before focusing on the one-story squat wooden building that stood in the back of the yard.


    In comparison to the glamorous library, the martial hall looked quite lacking. Jack headed straight for it.


    When he entered he saw six people in brown robes sitting on the wooden floor in different parts of the hall while staring at the walls. Jack glanced at the walls and saw a lot of different real life-sized drawings of spirit energy circulation, along with their descriptions on the side.


    One of the people sitting down on the floor stood up and walked towards Jack.


    "Welcome, new Disciple Brother from the Eternal Rest Mountain. It gives me great pleasure to see one of you take an interest in body cultivation." The large and burly man said with a friendly smile as he clasped his hands in greeting. He even gave Kuang Bindun a run for his money. "I am Bi Xiongtuo; I take care of this martial hall."


    Jack returned the greeting and said, "I''m Song Tanda, nice to meet you." He hesitated for a second before asking "What''s the price for learning the cultivation methods here?"


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    Bi Xiongtuo gave a rumbling chuckle as he answered "We demand no cost for knowledge except for your sweat and diligence. Any disciple has the freedom to come here and learn our ways."


    Jack''s brows rose in surprise as he looked around the long walls for a second before asking "Do you have any recommendations for someone that wants to improve their body''s recovery abilities?"


    Bi Xiongtuo nodded his head as he said "Of course." He turned to his right and led Jack up to a cultivation diagram. He gestured towards it with his hand and said "This Beast Recovery Method teaches us how to use our own spirit energy like the spirit beasts do. It can increase your recovery speed by six times of what it is now if used properly."


    Jack stared at the cultivation method with greed as he said "Thank you for your help, Disciple Brother Bi." He moved in closer to the depiction on the wall and started studying the process it described.


    Bi Xiongtuo studied Jack for a few seconds, glanced at his bandaged hands, shook his head, and walked back to continue his own cultivation.


    An hour later Jack let out a long breath through his nose, stepped back from the Beast Recovery Method, and shook his head in exasperation.


    ''Do they really have to put so many flowery descriptions into something that could fit in a single sentence? Just say move your spirit energy to the injured areas through the blood, instead of through the meridians. I wonder how many people even got that when they studied this drivel.'' Jack thought as he closed his eyes and focused on the meridians near his heart.


    A few seconds later a strand of spirit energy separated from one of his main meridian clusters and attached itself to his aorta. ''Just a bit, don''t want to blow myself up.'' Jack thought as he imbued a tiny amount of his spirit energy into his blood.


    The next second he felt a burst of comfort as the imbued blood circulated through his body.


    ''This feels great!'' Jack exclaimed in his mind as even some internal injuries that he didn''t even know he had started to heal. He kept the trickle of spirit energy going as he turned and walked over to Bi Xiongtuo.


    When he saw Jack coming his way, Bi Xiongtuo stood up with a knowing look on his face and said "Do not lose hope, Song Tanda. Body cultivation methods are difficult and mysterious to comprehend for everyone."


    Jack felt taken aback for a second, but then decided to go with it and put on a dejected mask as he said "Yeah, I guess I should start with something simpler." He looked up into Bi Xiongtuo''s eyes and asked "What would you recommend for someone that doesn''t have much spirit energy, nor training in its use inside the body?"


    Bi Xiongtuo beamed at Jack in happiness, because he believed that Jack would give up after his first setback like he had seen many do in the past. He slapped Jack on the shoulder and said "Worry not; I have the perfect beginner cultivation skill to show you." He turned around and walked to the other side of the hall.


    Jack almost collapsed to the floor when Bi Xiongtuo slapped his shoulder, and his blood imbuement stopped immediately. He cursed under his breath, reattached a strand of spirit energy to his aorta, and followed in Bi Xiongtuo''s steps.


    Bi Xiongtuo stopped in front of a much simpler depiction and said "This is the Oxen Rush Punch. Any novice in the martial path has to learn it, a lot of more advanced techniques stem from this skill." He turned back to face Jack and saw a strange look on his face. "What?" Bi Xiongtuo asked as his brows furrowed a little.


    Jack gave an awkward cough as he said "I think I better learn something more suited for evasion first." while on the inside he fumed ''That cheap old bastard, he sold us the simplest punch possible for so much spirit stones. I''m gonna wring his neck the next time I see him.''


    Bi Xiongtuo said "Oh." and took another look at Jack''s slim frame. After a second of thought, he said "I guess you do have a point, follow me." He turned and walked down the row of depictions to one located a dozen meters away.


    He stopped in front of it and said in a practiced way "This movement method is called Moon Step. Legends say that when practiced to its peak, it will allow the user to walk on moonlight. The best thing about it is that even cultivators such as us can learn it."


    Jack gave it a quick glance and said "Perfect. Thank you Disciple Brother Bi." as he clasped his hands towards Bi Xiongtuo.


    With a wave of a hand, Bi Xiongtuo dismissed Jack''s courtesy and said "Thank me by giving it your all in your training." With that, he turned and left back to his own cultivation.


    Jack looked at the cultivation diagram for the Moon Step and smiled while he thought ''This looks much more promising.''


    A few hours later he turned away from the diagram and walked over to Bi Xiongtuo.


    "Still no luck?" Bi Xiongtuo asked as he rose to his feet.


    Jack shook his head as he said "I had a little progress, but I have to go back to my job. I''ll come back tomorrow to continue my study. Thank you for all of your help Disciple Brother Bi."


    Bi Xiongtuo nodded his head in understanding and escorted Jack out of the building.


    When Jack returned to the Gravedigger building he went straight to the courtyard.


    He entered just as they started their training warm-up exercises with Bai Maolong.


    When they saw him everyone stopped and turned towards Jack.


    He smiled at them from the entrance and shouted "Men, who wants to learn how to step on moonlight?!"

 1.42 Duel

    The courtyard fell silent for a couple of seconds before Kuang Bindun spoke up with an eloquent "What?"


    Jack sighed and gave them a long-suffering smile while he said "I got my hands on a new martial skill. Who wants to learn it?"


    The courtyard erupted into noise as the teens crowded towards Jack.


    Bai Maolong stepped out in front of everyone and bellowed "Get back you dogs!" When the rush stopped, he turned towards Jack with a hopeful smile said "As the instructor, you will have to teach me first, right Tanda?"


    Jack chuckled as he nodded and walked towards his friend. He placed a hand on his shoulder and said "Of course, I don''t have the time to drill with you guys much these days, I''ll teach it to you and you can show it to everyone else."


    He turned towards Bi Tuohui and said "Tuohui take over, Maolong and I will stay on the side."


    Bi Tuohui nodded his head in acceptance and turned to yell at the rest of the group "You heard Senior Brother Song, start running worms!"


    ''Should I have taught them in the same way that my drill instructor taught me?'' Jack wondered as he walked to the side of the courtyard with Bai Maolong.


    When they arrived he shook the distracting thoughts from his head and turned to face Bai Maolong.


    "Switching to English, watch and listen to what I tell you, and don''t move." Jack told Bai Maolong as he squatted next to his right side.


    Jack touched Bai Maolong''s side with his right hand and said "You need to send a pulse of spirit energy from the dantian to your side oblique muscles while involving the meridians in your abdomen." He moved his hand down from the side to Bai Maolong''s thigh and continued "From there you need to channel that energy through your major Quadriceps meridian cluster and your knee ligament meridians." Jack moved his hand down to Bai Maolong''s calf while saying "Finally move it to your major calf muscle meridian and let it cycle from there to your dantian in rapid pulses of between thirteen and fifteen cycles per second."


    When he finished Jack stood up and looked into Bai Maolong''s concentrated eyes for a few seconds. After he felt sure that Bai Maolong memorized everything, Jack switched back to the local language and said "Let''s go find Shi Furui''s latest victim and I''ll show you the specific meridians on it."


    A few minutes later they had the dissection volunteer of the day on a table. Jack stopped for a moment to admire Shi Furui''s skill in butchery, which eclipsed even his own, and started to point out the exact meridians once more, just so Bai Maolong had the mental image seared in his brain.


    Half an hour later Bai Maolong''s furrowed brow turned smooth as he said "I think I got it."


    Jack nodded his head and walked to one end of the courtyard while saying "Stay here and watch my movements. I''ll demonstrate how the Moon Step looks in action."


    He reached the wall, and looked at the opposite one while thinking ''Don''t embarrass yourself, old man.'' He had tested his hypothesis in the deserted alleys of the town on his way back for a couple of steps, but he still didn''t want to look like a fool in front of his whole unit. From the corner of his eye, he saw that everyone stopped their drills to watch him.


    Jack got ready in a standing start, counted down from three in his head, and started executing the Moon Step technique.


    His first step took him two meters away from his starting position. With each new pulse of the technique, he felt greater power building in his legs. In three seconds he crossed the halfway mark of the huge courtyard. In the fourth second, he started to panic as he saw the opposing wall get larger in his field of vision. In the fifth second, he gave up on breaking and jumped as hard as he could right as a pulse of spiritual energy reached his legs.


    For a blissful second, Jack felt like he learned how to fly. In the next one gravity reminded him why she was called a cruel mistress as she slammed him into the wall of the neighboring house.


    Jack only had the time to push spirit energy through his body and cover his face with his hands before he met the hard stone. A few seconds later he saw a group of upside down feet standing around him. He looked up and saw the worried faces of his friends looking down.


    He gave them a crooked smile and said "See, if I had any moonlight I''d have long left this place."


    No one laughed as they picked him up from the ground and checked his cuts and scrapes.


    Kuang Bindun kept scolding Jack for his recklessness, and ordered him to strip down to his underwear so he could wash away the dirt from his clean white clothes. He didn''t care that Jack told him that he had a few spare robes in the office, and made Jack sit in the courtyard almost in the nude.


    When he finally got annoyed with everyone fussing over him Jack made them go and do some sparing to leave him alone.


    Only Bai Maolong stayed by his side as he asked "Should I try the Moon Step now?"


    Jack studied his eager face for a few seconds before he said "If you think you understand what you need to do you can try it. But remember; don''t keep the technique running all the time, just use it in quick bursts when your leg''s about to hit the ground. You saw what happened to me, if I kept running it for a few extra seconds my meridians would have burst apart from the buildup of spirit energy."


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    Bai Maolong''s face turned serious as he gave Jack a solemn nod and went to the spot from where Jack started running.


    Jack turned around and saw that Yin Ping didn''t have anyone to spar against so he called him over.


    "Do you need something, Tanda?" Yin Ping asked while he couldn''t restrain his smirk as he looked at Jack''s state of undress.


    Jack ignored the provocation and said "Keep time on Maolong. I want to know how fast someone like him can go with this technique."


    Yin Ping nodded his head, switched to English, and asked "In seconds?"


    Jack said "Yeah." and walked over to Bi Tuohui who supervised the sparing.


    "Tuohui, come spar with me. I haven''t had a good workout in days." Jack said as he beckoned towards Bi Tuohui.


    Bi Tuohui looked down at Jack''s underwear, gave a shrug, and with an eager smirk on his lips met the challenge; and found himself tapping out a couple of minutes later.


    "It''s not fair to use your higher cultivation to overwhelm my strength." Bi Tuohui complained as he massaged his swelling shoulder.


    Jack snorted and retorted "I taught you the locks and bars for a reason. You should use them to take on a stronger opponent, not rely on pure strength to solve your problems. Again."


    Bi Tuohui groaned, but got into his fighting stance.


    A few rounds later Bi Tuohui lay on the ground while moaning, while Jack stood over him with a pitying look. He extended a hand and helped Bi Tuohui back up to his feet.


    Just as Jack planned to suggest a break, Bai Maolong''s voice called from his back "Why not try a real challenge?"


    Jack turned around and looked over Bai Maolong''s shoulder to ask "How''s he doing?"


    Yin Ping shouted back "Improved by three seconds. Gonna need more practice to match his steps to this new cultivation technique."


    Jack looked back to Bai Maolong and said "I guess we can do a little practice duel for the men."


    The rest of the group cheered as they made a ring in the empty space of the courtyard and started making bets.


    As he stepped inside the ring, Jack observed this so familiar scene with a bittersweet nostalgia for a few seconds, before he focused his attention on his opponent.


    Bai Maolong stood in his ready stance, with his hands brought up in a boxer''s guard. In the past he kept to this world''s standards of guard positioning, Jack made him change his views on that real quick.


    Jack took the same stance and the two of them started circling each other while throwing testing jabs, crosses, and low kicks.


    A minute later Jack thought that Bai Maolong overextended himself with a poorly placed cross and went in for an elbow to the stomach.


    Just as he stepped in, he saw Bai Maolong''s other hand winding up for an uppercut. Jack stopped his strike short, and pumped spirit energy into his legs to use Moon Step to fall back.


    The larger teen followed Jack''s move with his own Moon Step, and even though it had less power, the larger boy had Jack beat in both height and reach.


    He managed to grab Jack''s shoulders and plant a leg behind his back to bring them both to the ground.


    Just as Bai Maolong started to pull on Jack''s right arm to do a bar on him, Jack moved his left hand in front of Bai Maolong''s chest and used Air Blast.


    A column of wind as big as Jack''s head slammed into Bai Maolong''s chest and made him go sliding on his back into the legs of a couple of the members of the audience.


    Jack felt like his right arm almost got ripped out of his shoulder from the feedback from Bai Maolong''s grip, but he ignored it and hurriedly stood up to stagger towards the wriggling pile of bodies.


    A few teens dragged the two unlucky bystanders off of the sprawled Bai Maolong. His eyes had a vacant look for a couple of seconds, just as Jack started to worry about his friend, Bai Maolong inhaled a huge breath, turned to his side, and coughed out a couple of mouthfuls of blood.


    When his coughing subsided Bai Maolong looked up at Jack with wronged eyes and complained "That''s cheating."


    Jack snorted as he shrugged his shoulders and said "Our enemies won''t play fair either. Better to learn it now, than when it could cost you your life."


    He turned around in a circle and looked into every teen''s eyes as he added "That counts for the rest of you, too. Don''t think that just because you''ve grown a bit stronger than the rest of the servants that you''re hot s*it." Jack pointed out towards the Eternal Rest Mountain and continued "Those monsters will squish you like a bug under their foot if they thought you could scratch them one day. Stay vigilant and train hard, you know what will happen if you don''t."


    He made another sweep with his gaze over the gathered men, before he yanked his arm into place and walked towards his office.

 1.43 Aim to Misbehave

    The next couple of days Jack had to sit in front of the Moon Step depiction in the martial hall so that Bi Xiongtuo wouldn''t get suspicious. The other depictions of martial methods near him only showed some simple ways on how to improve the body''s circulation of spirit energy, which Jack already guessed on his own through his dissection research.


    He spent most of the time he stared at the Moon Step depiction on theorizing how to modify the Air Blast spell into what he wanted. When he couldn''t take it anymore he decided to stand up and go to Bi Xiongtuo.


    Just as Bi Xiongtuo opened his mouth to once more lament on the hardship of learning the martial Dao, Jack said "I think I''ve got it, Disciple Brother Bi. Can you show me something else that''s suitable for me?"


    Bi Xiongtuo''s brows furrowed as he stood up and asked "You think you learned the Moon Step already?" When Jack nodded his head, Bi Xiongtuo exclaimed "Impossible!" His face darkened as he growled "Just because something is difficult, does not mean that you should treat it like a joke and jump to something else. Either admit that you cannot do it like a man, or get out of my martial hall."


    Jack''s brows rose in surprise as he said "But I can do it, look." He turned to the side, started the pulsing cycle of the Moon Step, and dashed to the entrance of the martial hall.


    Bi Xiongtuo''s jaw slackened as he stared at the casual way that Jack sprinted towards the entrance. He''d seen inner disciples of his own Mountain that needed more effort to execute it.


    When Jack returned back to the middle of the martial hall, Bi Xiongtuo greeted him with a wide grin. He gave Jack another hard slap on the back as he said "Brother Song, I never knew that the Eternal Rest Mountain hid such a leg technique genius from us. Say the word and I will petition the Elders of the Unbreakable Rock to have you transferred and given proper tutelage under an Elder that focuses on leg techniques."


    Jack blinked a few times at the burly young man as he thought ''I underestimated how much that babble hampered the regular cultivators in this world. I''ll have to start acting more conservative in the coming month.''


    On the outside, he gave a sardonic smile to Bi Xiongtuo as he said "I''m sorry, Disciple Brother Bi, I already have a teacher. He''s almost like a father to me. I can''t do that to him."


    Bi Xiongtuo''s face sank for a couple of seconds before he gave Jack an understanding look as he said "Very well, the bonds we make can sometimes be the things that hold us back, but I will not meddle in your affairs. Just know that you have a home with us if you ever wish it."


    When Jack gave a solemn nod, Bi Xiongtuo sighed and turned to a corner. He walked towards it while he spoke "Follow me, we do not have a lot of advanced techniques here, but we do have a decent leg striking skill for people of the fourth grade and above."


    Jack hesitated as he followed in Bi Xiongtuo''s footsteps, but in the end, he said "I thought more about studying some basic body strengthening method first. You know, to strengthen my foundations."


    Bi Xiongtuo didn''t even look back at Jack as he said "That would waste your talent. You need to exercise your leg meridians as much as you can while still in the lower stages of cultivation. It will help with your future growth. This skill will build up your legs much more than any body strengthening method we have here."


    Jack sighed, but still followed behind Bi Xiongtuo as he thought ''Looks like I''ll have to figure something else out for the men.''


    Bi Xiongtuo stopped in front of a complicated diagram of meridians and said "This is the Chaotic Hawk Assault technique. The cultivator has to use his legs to stamp out his enemy as fast as possible in a continuous wave of kicks. It burns through spirit energy, but it will crush anything that tries to block it."


    Jack gave it a glance and saw tiny marks for sigils all throughout the paths that the spirit energy had to go through.  His eyes widened and glued to the description of the cultivation method as he realized the implications of this kind of use.


    Bi Xiongtuo opened his mouth to continue the explanation but, when he saw that Jack ignored the world around him, he gave a soft chuckle and walked away.


    ''This requires the user to make tiny sigils and apply them directly to the muscles of the legs. How much of this can the muscles take before breaking down? Can I make such small sigils in my Air Blast spell to get it to the size I need it?'' Jack''s brain buzzed with ideas as he studied each tiny speck on the meridian diagram. He regretted his choice of not taking papers and charcoal to the martial hall and swore that he would next time.


    As midday neared, Jack reluctantly peeled himself away from the Chaotic Hawk Assault technique. He said his goodbyes to Bi Xiongtuo and left to pick up the food for his men.


    When he arrived at the Gravedigger building, a strange silence greeted him from the courtyard instead of the usual noise of training or joking around.


    Jack frowned and led the food servers to the courtyard.


    There he found his men standing in a line like proper soldiers.


    Once they saw him everyone''s eyes brightened, but not one of them shouted anything out or ran towards the food.


    Shi Furui beckoned Jack over with a twitch of his head, and when he felt it safe he whispered "You have a visitor in your office. She caught us in the middle of a dissection demonstration and almost killed some of the men with a screech; I fear that a few of them might go deaf. She ordered us to line up here and wait for our punishment while she closed herself in your office because the courtyard smelled too much."


    Jack''s frown turned murderous as he looked down the line of men and saw dried blood crusting over the ears of some of his men. He looked all of them in the eyes and said "Wait here, I''ll go see what this is about."


    He turned and left his men and the food servers in the courtyard, while he went back into the main building.


    When Jack opened the door to his office he met the eyes of the young lady from the library. She stood in the middle of the office with arms crossed over her chest as she glared at him.


    She opened her mouth and started saying "Do you know what your servants¡­"


    "You!" Jack exclaimed as he slammed the door shut and walked over to her. "What in damnation''s name do you think you''re doing?!" He shouted as he pointed a finger at her face.


    The lady looked taken aback by the reaction as she stepped back in fear and stammered "W-what¡­"


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    Jack kept up with her and growled "Those are my men. If anyone has the right to punish them, then it''s either me or Elder Yu. You do not have the right to meddle in Eternal Rest Mountain business."


    The lady bumped into the office table as she stopped her retreat, looked down with blurry eyes, and said "I¡­ I just could not restrain myself when I saw them doing such horrific acts." She looked up with some fire in her eyes as she continued "They mutilated a corpse in some kind of ritual. I know that it is not my place to punish them, but I could not hold myself back. If they were my servants they would have already been whipped to their bones, and that one that led the mutilation would lose his head."


    Jack stared into her defiant eyes for a few seconds, before saying in a calming voice "I know, and they will get the punishment they deserve, I will execute it personally."


    A second later the girl looked mollified with his promise, so Jack stepped back and asked "What do you want?"


    She let out a long breath of air before she said "I came to see why you avoided the library in the last couple of days. Disciple Brother Li told me your name, and after I asked around a little I found out where you worked."


    Jack kept staring at her as he repeated "What do you want?"


    A hint of annoyance flickered over the girl''s eyes as she said "I came to honor our deal. My mother said that a proper Lady has to keep her word."


    Jack rose one eyebrow up in surprise as he asked "You told your mother about me?"


    The girl looked down at her fiddling hands as she answered "I sang the foreign song you taught me to her, and then she made me tell her how I learned it."


    Jack studied her rosy cheeks for a few seconds, before sighing and saying "Fine." He cupped a hand and shoved it into the girl''s field of view while adding "Give me the money, then."


    The girl''s head snapped back up to stare into Jack''s eyes as she said "What money?"


    Jack just kept staring at her and shaking his cupped hand.


    A few seconds later her right hand crept into her left sleeve and took out a bulging pouch. She opened it and started counting one silver coin by one on the table while shooting subtle glances at Jack. He ignored her and kept count aloud with her. Once she counted out thirty silver coins Jack scooped them all up and stored them in his money pouch.


    With a satisfied smile, he stored his pouch and said "I don''t have time to go to the library right now, nor will I have it in the next few days." He turned to the door of the office and opened it "Why don''t we meet up at the library in three days? I should have some free time then."


    The young lady thought about it for a second, before nodding and agreeing. She stepped through the open door into the empty hall and glanced at the entrance to the courtyard with disgust.


    Jack caught her look and said, "Give me a few breaths and I''ll escort you back to your Mountain." He turned and left for the courtyard.


    The young lady reached out a hand towards him and opened her mouth, but then something stopped her and she dropped the hand and allowed the call to die on her lips.


    Jack stomped into the courtyard, pointed at the food, and shouted at the food servers "Take that and give it to the rats outside, these beasts don''t deserve it." They gave him confused looks, but they still said "Yes, Lord." with a bow.


    He turned his gaze to Shi Furui and bellowed "And you!" He stalked towards him while growling "You better wash that dirty neck of yours nice and clean for me tonight." Jack got up into Shi Furui''s face and whispered "Take some of the dry food from our storage and eat it in the graveyard, I''ll come with the corpses later. Now, brace your stomach."


    As soon as he finished his instructions, Jack slammed a fist into Shi Furui''s gut. Shi Furui doubled down and fell to his side, allowing Jack to send a few more kicks to the same place. To finish it all off, Jack spat onto Shi Furui''s face in disgust.


    He looked up at the startled faces of the rest of his unit with pain and yelled "Take this demon away; I''ll deal with the rest of you when I get back."


    Jack turned on his heel and walked towards the main building. In the doorway, he saw the young lady standing and watching him, while a tiny satisfied smirk hovered on the edges of her lips.


    Jack walked past the girl and said "Let''s go."


    Once they exited to the street he looked in the direction of the distant Blooming Life Mountain and started walking towards it.


    The lady had to hurry her steps to catch up with Jack''s long strides. When she did, she complained "Slow down. I am not in a rush to go home."


    "Apologies, that scum made me furious." Jack said and stuffed his anger down to the bottom of his thoughts as he slowed his pace down to accompany the young lady on a tour around the town.


    An hour later they reached the path on the bottom of the Blooming Life Mountain and stopped walking.


    The girl locked her curious eyes onto Jack''s own and said "You have to tell me why you chose the weak Air Blast spell so that I can prepare better to help you in your research. Almost no one picks that one at all, and you took it as your first."


    Jack stared into her beautiful eyes and said "I aim to misbehave." A second later he gave her a crooked grin.


    She giggled at his expression and didn''t realize that he just told her the full truth for the first time since they met.


    When she collected her poise back, she looked up the mountain with a slight frown as she said "I have to go." and made to take a step.


    Jack caught her left arm in his right while he said "Wait."


    She stopped in her spot and looked at his hand in confusion.


    Jack released her and asked, "You still haven''t told me your name."


    The young lady covered her mouth with a hand as she realized her mistake. She quickly moved it to her chest and introduced herself with a slight bow "I am Mai Yining, fifth grade direct disciple under Elder Mei Fenhua, my mother, and the Blooming Life Mountain."


    Jack gave her a slight smile as he said "Nice to meet you, Disciple Sister Mai."


    Mai Yining''s smile beamed at him as she turned around and started to walk up the mountain with a slight skip in her step.


    Jack turned around towards the town, and a thunderous grimace of rage flashed over his face for a split second. A moment later it disappeared and his normal calm mask took over for the walk back into town.

 1.44 Ammo

    That night Jack held a meeting with his closest confidants in his house. After a short discussion, they decided that Yin Ping would stand guard at the main door of the Gravedigger courtyard while they did their dissection class and training.


    Out of all of them, only Yin Ping didn''t care much for either activity. He knew as much as Shi Furui about the human body, and he never felt comfortable with hand to hand fighting. On the other hand, he kept pestering Jack for any notes about sigils and the Air Blast spell that he didn''t need.


    After the meeting, Jack went to the clearing he used for practice and tried to implement the things he saw in the Chaotic Hawk Assault technique to the sigils of his only spell.


    He first had to make the strands of spirit energy as thin as he could without making them collapse. More than an hour later he had the basic structure for the spell constructed and ready for use. It looked tiny compared to his previous attempts, making his young callused hand look huge in comparison.


    Jack turned his hand outwards and activated the spell. A soft *swoosh* sounded as a light breeze passed over the meadow. With a satisfied smile, Jack started to construct more complicated connections in his spell.


    Fifteen minutes later, he had it ready to go and once more turned his hand outwards. This time a loud and short whistle spread across the calm forest as the air stream compressed itself to a thickness of two fingers.


    With an unconscious satisfied smile, Jack looked up at the still strange stars and thought ''Almost there, just a day or two with the Chaotic Hawk Assault spirit energy depictions, and a couple of days in the library.''


    He allowed himself this peaceful respite for a couple of minutes before he looked back down and continued his practice.


    In the next couple of days, he took notes about the Chaotic Hawk Assault technique in the martial hall and tried to memorize every step of the imbuement process for muscles. Bi Xiongtuo tried to persuade Jack that notes would not help in learning the martial method any faster, but Jack only nodded his head in acceptance and continued with his work.


    He still didn''t dare to test out the Chaotic Hawk Assault technique due to not knowing a lot of the sigils, but he thought that he had a firm enough grasp on the theory that he could test it out as soon as he did more research.


    On the third day, he left his men to their work and went to visit his smith.


    Even in the bright light of dawn sounds of metal striking metal rang out of Tan Boli''s courtyard.


    Once Jack knocked and announced himself, Tan Boli rushed to open the door with a proud smile on his face. "Sir, I just wondered when you''d visit us today. Come in, come in." He opened the door wide and waved for Jack to come through.


    Jack gave him a nod in greeting and entered into the courtyard.


    This time Tan Boli didn''t take Jack to his house, instead, he had Jack wait outside for a minute as he ran deeper into the forge.


    When Tan Boli came back, one of his sons followed behind him while he quickly polished a blue shining rod of metal in his hands.


    When they reached Jack, Tan Boli took the metallic blue rod from his son''s hands and presented it to Jack with a slight bow as he said "The boy just put on the last touches on the first prototype."


    Jack took the offered gleaming rod in his hands with slight reverence. When he felt the whole weight his brows furrowed and he said "Feels a little light. Can it take prolonged stress?"


    Tan Boli and his son nodded their heads a few time as Tan Boli confirmed "Deep Water Iron might not be the best metal for weapons, but for tools, there are few that can match it in toughness. You could slam that rod against a rock wall for a whole day and maybe find a couple of scratches on it as dusk came."


    Jack''s frown disappeared as he smiled and exclaimed "Excellent!" He brought one end of the metal cylinder up to his right eye and looked around the courtyard through it. Wherever he looked he saw a smooth image that had no protrusions blocking his sight.


    He removed it from his eye and grabbed the end through which he looked through with his right hand. Jack plugged the hole on that end with his thumb and brought it close to his eye, while he used his left hand to move the cylinder around the courtyard.


    As Jack aimed down the barrel he saw no deformations in the metal that could slant his shots. A few seconds later he stopped his inspection, and with a wide grin on his face said "Wonderful workmanship, Tan Boli. Get me ten more like these and you might get a bonus. "


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    Tan Boli lowered his head as he said "I don''t dare, Sir. I''m happy with what you gave me already."


    Jack dismissed his words with a wave of his hand as he said "Nonsense. Good work should get rewarded." He returned the metallic blue rod back to Tan Boli as he added "I have a side project that I need doing, do you think you have the time to fit it into your schedule?"


    Tan Boli looked a little hesitant as he said "It depends on what you need, Sir. I apologize, but we already have a lot of work with our current orders."


    Jack ignored the scared look in Tan Boli''s eyes as he explained "Nothing too complicated, I need metal balls that can fit in that cylinder that you made. They can''t get so large to block the cylinder, but they can''t get too small either. You can use any scrap metal that you have around the forge to make them."


    Tan Boli thought for a few seconds before he said "Sir, if you gave my boys a stick of incense worth of time they could make a few test products of differing sizes and you could choose one. Making things like these isn''t difficult, we just need to know what type you''d prefer."


    Jack nodded his head without any hesitation as he said "I don''t mind waiting."


    Tan Boli turned to his son, gave him the cylinder, and said "Bolong, get your brother and do what the Sir requested." He turned back to Jack and continued with a slight chuckle "Sir, I''m afraid that my wife will not let you refuse her hospitality this time."


    Jack joined Tan Boli in his chuckle as he followed him to his house for a cup of tea.


    Half an hour later, Tan Bolong entered the house with a dripping wet pouch in his hands, and the metal cylinder under his arm. He gave them over to his father while saying "Careful, some of them are still hot."


    Tan Boli nodded his head as he untied the strings of the pouch and spread it out on the table. On the cloth lay a dozen metal balls of various sizes.


    Jack took the cylinder over from Tan Boli and started comparing the metal balls to the hole in the cylinder. After a few minutes of comparison, he chose one that fit snugly into the tube, but could still slide without obstructions.


    He picked it up in his palm and said "I want this one. The more you can make the better. I''ll pay one silver coin for each."


    Tan Boli''s eyes widened as he argued "Sir, that''s too much. We can make hundreds of these things in a few days. I don''t want to scam you out of your money."


    Jack shook his head in frustration as he said "You will take my money, and you will stop complaining about it. I need at least a few thousands of these metal balls, so don''t think that you''ll get off without doing your job."


    Tan Boli looked like he had an internal struggle about jumping to the ground and kissing Jack''s feet, or arguing about the propriety of offering so much money to a lowly peasant, but in the end, he only squeezed out an "As you say, Sir." and left it at that.


    Jack finished his business with the smith and started walking towards the library.


    When he neared it he saw a female figure with a ponytail standing in front of the closed doors. His face flashed a mix of annoyance and anger for a moment before he pasted a pleasant smile on his face and called out "Disciple Sister Mai, what are you doing here so early?"


    Mai Yining turned around with lady-like grace as she gave Jack a polite smile and said "I have to help a poor novice with his research." She blinked innocent eyes at Jack and added "Would you mind keeping me company while I do it?"


    Jack furrowed his brows a little as he said "I''m not sure I''m the right man for the job, Disciple Sister. I, myself, am still quite new and might drag you two down."


    Mai Yining''s smile widened as she giggled while saying "I am sure that we can work something out."


    Just as they got into their banter, a raised voice said "Alright, I have seen enough. Step aside."


    Both Jack and Mai Yining jumped from surprise and turned to see Li Manning walking towards them.


    Mai Yining looked down at the floor while a blush colored her face in a pretty pink hue, while Jack''s short flush stemmed from his annoyance at himself for once again depending on sensing spirit energy too much.


    Li Manning gave them both the side-eye as he walked past them and unlocked the doors of the library. He didn''t even turn around to look at them as he walked straight towards the main building while mumbling under his breath.


    Jack caught the closing door just in time, looked back at Mai Yining with a smile, and asked "Shall we?"


    She glanced at him and nodded as she entered through the held doors while still looking at the ground.

 1.45 The Calm

    Jack and Mai Yining walked up to the reception desk of the library together.


    "Can you please get me scrolls that describe sigils used in body cultivation?" Jack asked when he saw that Mai Yining didn''t want anything.


    Li Manning furrowed his brows as he said "We hold those kinds of scrolls on the top floor. I don''t recommend trying them out while in a low cultivating grade; you might damage your body irreversibly."


    Mai Yining tugged at Jack''s sleeve as she asked "Did you not say that you are working on the Air Blast spell? Why ask for body cultivation sigils?"


    Jack turned to look at her and answered "I already know all of the sigils used in the Air Blast spell, but I have just recently learned a body cultivation method that requires a lot of new sigils that I don''t know."


    Mai Yining furrowed her brows as she asked "But what about our research?"


    Jack gave her a smile of reassurance as he said "Don''t worry, we can do both." He turned back to Li Manning and said "Please allow us access to the top floor." as he took out two spirit stones and ten silver coins.


    Li Manning studied Jack with furrowed brows for a few seconds, before sighing and taking the money. He took out a metallic stone from his robes, turned, and inserted it in an indentation in the wall. A passage that led to a flight of stairs opened up as Li Manning said "Follow me." and walked into it.


    From Jack''s estimation, they walked two stories up before they came to a wall on the end of the stairs. Li Manning once more inserted his key into the wall and led Jack and Mai Yining into a room as large as the main hall on the ground floor.


    Once they entered, Li Manning turned towards his customers and warned them "If you damage a scroll, you will have to pay a fine of ten spirit stones."


    Jack and Mai Yining both nodded with serious expressions on their face and then smiled at each other when Li Manning turned his back.


    This room only had scrolls that lined the walls, without the extra few rows in front of them.


    While Li Manning went to pick out the scrolls that Jack wanted, Mai Yining and Jack walked over to a table in the middle of the room and sat down.


    Mai Yining sat to Jack''s right and asked "So, what do you want to know?"


    Jack laid his right hand down on the table and started to create the closest version of the Air Blast spell that he wanted. He stopped just before he connected the last strand of spirit energy and said "I want to make this shoot out a stream of air that''s at most a finger thick, but can only get it down to two fingers." He looked up at Mai Yining''s eyes and asked "Do you know a way to make that happen?"


    Mai Yining stared at his eyes for a second, before she looked down and studied the spell''s structure with a frown. Half a minute later, she looked back up and said with a hint of awe in her voice "You have already done most of the things that I could suggest. The only thing I can think of is to make the distances between your spirit threads uniform, along with the spirit threads themselves. That way you can increase and decrease the size of your spell at will."


    Jack''s brow furrowed as he asked "What would making the threads uniform do? I''ve already decreased the spell''s size as much as it would go without collapsing."


    Mai Yining smiled as she said "This." and opened her mouth wide. Spirit threads extended out of her chest, neck, and jaw and assembled into a spell structure twenty times more complex than the Air Blast in front of her mouth.


    One second it would become as small as a marble, the next it would expand to the size of a beach ball.


    "Hey! No spells in the library!" Li Manning''s voice echoed from a corner of the large room.


    Mai Yining''s spell fell apart as she yelped in surprise and turned a sheepish smile towards Li Manning while saying "Apologies, Brother Li. I meant no offense."


    She turned back towards Jack and saw the light of enlightenment in his eyes. With a happy smile, she said "Do you understand now? Once all of your spirit threads become uniform, you can make them as big, or as small, as you like. It might lose a bit on pure power when you cannot enlarge some of the connections, but you can just add more of them to make up for it."


    Jack slowly nodded his head as he said "I think I get it." He took hold of Mai Yining''s hand and said "Thank you for your help, Disciple Sister Mai. You don''t know how much this means to me."


    Mai Yining looked down at their hands and started to blush. Jack held her hand for a second longer and released it when he saw Li Manning coming back with the scrolls.


    Li Manning''s narrowed eyes studied Jack as he plopped the scrolls on the table in front of him and asked "Will that be all, Sir?"


    Jack nodded his head innocently as he said "It will, thanks a lot for your help Disciple Brother Li."


    Li Manning studied him for a second longer before he said "I will leave the door up here open, once you finish your studies just knock on the door near the reception desk and I will let you out." With that, he turned and left for the stairs.


    Jack glanced at his leaving figure and then turned his gaze to Mai Yining. With a mischievous smirk, he asked "Want to try some spells?"


    Mai Yining covered her mouth as she giggled and shook her head. A few seconds later she answered, "We better not; I do not want to make trouble for Brother Li."


    Jack shrugged his shoulders as he said "Fine, let''s do some studying then." He took out a few sheets of paper and some charcoal and started to explore the new scrolls.


    Mai Yining felt bored by the topic of Jack''s study, so she wandered the top floor and checked out a few scrolls on her own.


    ''Sigils like strengthening have a different shape for body cultivation sigils? Do they have a different function then, too?'' Jack thought as he saw a new sigil that meant strengthening as well, but this one worked on bodies, and not on other sigils.


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    ''So all of the sigils that repeat themselves so much in the Chaotic Hawk Assault technique serve as a way to make the muscles, joints, and bones able to stand the strain when it''s used. Sigils like tough, flexible, and recovery take up 70% of the whole technique. What heights can the exerted power reach when so much is focused on just enduring it?'' Jack wondered as he took down notes on all of the new sigils that he found.


    He took out a clean page for notes and speculated ''Can I use some of these on other parts of the body to make a¡­''


    "Disciple Brother Song, where do you come from?" a question tore Jack away from his ruminations and back to the real world.


    He looked up at Mai Yining that stood on the other side of the large room and asked "What?"


    Mai Yining started walking towards their table as she talked "I was wondering, since you know so much about this faraway place you must come from there, but you speak our language and do not look any different than the people from around here." She stopped in front of the table and repeated her question "Where do you come from?"


    Jack hid the shine in his eyes by looking back down at his notes and saying "That''s a long and tragic story. I don''t think I should say it here."


    Mai Yining let out a little of her whininess out as she begged "Come on, Disciple Brother Song. That just makes me more curious."


    Jack let out a long sigh, looked up in Mai Yining''s hopeful eyes, and said "Fine, but you have to do something for me."


    Mai Yining took a step back as she gave Jack an uncertain look and asked "W-what?"


    Jack gave her a reassuring smile as he said "You told me that your mother knows these parts well." He leaned forward a little and continued "Does she perhaps have a map of the local area?"


    Mai Yining looked a little disappointed as she thought about it a while before she said "I think she does, most of the Elders have their own."


    Jacks smile widened as he said "Then let''s make a deal. I tell you my story, and you bring me your mother''s map to study tomorrow."


    Mai Yining deliberated on it for a few seconds, before finally agreeing with "Alright, but only for one day."


    Jack''s smile widened for a moment before it disappeared as his face turned solemn. He told Mai Yining the same sad story he told everyone else in the Sect that asked him about it.


    Once he finished he saw that Mai Yining''s eyes turned watery as she tried to turn to the side and wipe them.


    On the outside, Jack looked like he needed a moment to collect his thoughts, but on the inside, he wondered ''What if I told her my real story? Reality is sometimes sadder than fiction. Would she care? Would any of them care, really?''


    A second later he shook such distracting thoughts away and focused back on the scrolls. The rest of the stay on the top floor of the library went by in an awkward mood, and when Jack announced that he finished his research Mai Yining had a look of relief on her face.


    Li Manning let them out of the hidden path once they knocked, and Jack paid for their stay with a heavy heart. On the other hand, Li Manning had an excited look on his face because he didn''t earn so much often.


    When Jack escorted Mai Yining back to the foot of the Blooming Life Mountain she looked like she wanted to tell him something, but in the end, couldn''t find the courage to. Jack reminded her once more to bring the map with her tomorrow and left to pick up the food for his men.


    Later, when he brought the corpse cart to Elder Yu''s estate, a voice appeared in his ear out of nothing and said "Tanda, come see me at once."


    Jack''s heart clenched as he sensed a slight agitation in the voice of his teacher. He left the cart in a corner of the manor''s courtyard and jogged to the Elder''s study. Once he reached it the door opened and Elder Yu stepped out of it.


    Instead of the anger he expected to see on the Elder''s face, he only saw slight anxiety.


    Elder Yu started walking forward, so Jack got out of his way and followed in his wake.


    "I have to leave on a short trip. You will be in charge of everything while I am gone. Most of the estate is sealed off, but I have left the areas that you need to access open. Continue with your work as usual and expect my return in fifteen days." The Elder said as he marched to the middle of the courtyard.


    Jack had a confused look in his eyes, but he still bowed and acknowledged the orders. ''Elder Yu never mentioned when he went and when he returned before. Did he just let Du Angliang know about it?'' Jack wondered as he looked at the Elder.


    With a pull on his waist pouch Elder Yu took out a puppet that looked like a scaled horse with a lizard''s head. He tapped his feet on the ground and jumped up on the three-meter tall puppet. He looked down at Jack, debated something with himself for a few seconds, and in the end said "Do not go up the mountain tomorrow, Tanda. Stay in Tranquil Lake Town the whole day."


    Before Jack could even pretend that he understood his order, the Elder made a sound and the spirit puppet shot out into the sky without looking back.


    Jack watched it disappear into the horizon with a frown on his face. A dozen seconds later he sighed and went back to his work.


    Later that night he warned his friends to be careful in the next few days and went to his clearing to practice.


    The next morning, just as he drove the corps cart up to the meeting point and everybody got ready to go down to the town, a booming voice rang out in the ears of every person that lived in the Endless Cycle Sect.


    "Bai Shetai, come out and face justice!" it roared.

 1.46 The Storm

    Every person in the Sect directed their eyes towards the patch of sky above the Eternal Rest Mountain. There in the distance, four people stood among the floating clouds. Two middle-aged men wore a dark blue and black robe, one grey-haired old man wore a pure white robe, and a woman in her prime wore a white robe with silver trimmings.


    No one could take their eyes off of them for a dozen seconds. After that, the same voice as earlier boomed out "Are you a man or a dog, Bai Shetai? Come out!" from the old man''s mouth.


    The entire Eternal Rest Mountain shook under the feet of Jack and his men and snapped him out of his daze. He stood up on the cart and stared down at the entire Endless Cycle Sect over the tops of trees while calculating their odds. A few seconds later he jumped down from the corpse cart and shouted "Men, gather up!"


    His unit looked like they just woke up from a dream as they focused on him and followed his order on instinct, while still glancing up at the figures in the sky.


    When everyone gathered around him, Jack looked at each of their frightened eyes and ended on Shi Furui''s. He steeled his resolve by borrowing from the faith he saw in his men and ordered "Furui, take the cart and fill it with our supplies. Don''t forget to take my notes and our weapons."


    He stopped and looked over his shoulder towards the people in the sky as the voice boomed out once more "People of the Endless Cycle Sect, do not throw your lives away for this traitor. If we have to come and get him you will not be spared from the flames of our wrath."


    Jack''s brows furrowed as he turned back to his men and said "Take everything that can fit on the cart and go to the courtyard. Don''t work on the corpses, but take them in so things look normal if someone comes to check. Put a few guards around the place too."


    Kuang Bindun interrupted Jack''s orders as he asked "What about you, Tanda?"


    Jack lay a fond hand upon Kuang Bindun''s shoulder as he said "I have to take care of some final preparations, I''ll come to you when everything''s ready."


    He looked at the now nervous and excited faces of his friends and concluded "This is it, people. We either make it out of here, or we die trying." He looked at his closest friends and added "Breakthrough."


    With that, he turned around and sprinted back towards Elder Yu''s mansion.


    On the way there Jack heard a voice that he hadn''t heard for over ten years. "You come down here, Fan Aolan, if you dare." Bai Shetai''s voice taunted from the peak of the Eternal Rest Mountain.


    Jack cursed and started using Moon Step to run faster. He almost crashed into a dozen trees on his way there, but he managed to reach the Elder''s mansion with only a few red welts on his arms from several close brushes with tree branches.


    Just as he passed the gateway arch of Elder Yu''s mansion, the old man in the sky said "Very well." and the peaceful blue sky that covered the Sect turned into a sea of raging red and orange flames.


    Jack slid to a stumbling stop as he saw a mountain-sized claw made out of flames strike out at the Eternal Rest Mountain. He didn''t even think about putting up a resistance against something like that as he felt the heat on his face. His only regret was that his men would die in this place without tasting the sweet air of freedom once more.


    Just as the flaming claw reached the peak of the Eternal Rest Mountain, a light blue jet of spirit energy pierced right through it and dissipated it. Jack thought he saw a gleaming silver trident flash with a glow of thousands of sigils from the center of the blue light. The next instant dark blue spirit energy in the shape of waves covered half of the sky and pushed out the raging flames to the borders of the Endless Cycle Sect.


    Jack breathed out a sigh of relief and turned his head in the direction of the Tranquil Lake Town as a calm voice sounded out in the ears of everyone "Friends from afar, why not come to my estate for a discussion. I am sure that we can solve this issue without resolving to bloodshed."


    With a mental push, Jack forced himself from a desire to listen to any idea that voice suggested and, with cold sweat running down his back, continued his sprint.


    When he reached the door that held the materials for the graveyard shift, the old man in the sky, Fan Aolan, answered "There is nothing to discuss about this. Either hand over the traitor or face our wrath."


    Jack quickly bowed and shouted at the door "Disciple Song Tanda asks for permission to enter."


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    While he waited for the answer from the spirit puppet, a new voice sounded out from the sky "Do not play your tricks on us, old Cycle. Everyone here knows what you would do if we stepped foot onto that lake."


    Jack glanced up and saw a sneer of derision on both of the middle-aged men''s faces. In a detached part of his mind, he thought ''No wonder that no one fishes in this damned place.''


    Seconds seemed to tick by like hours as the slow spirit puppet opened the door and scanned Jack with its eyes.


    "Enough with this rubbish!" Fan Aolan snarled and spread his hands wide. Behind him, a mass of white-hot sabers coalesced from the flaming sea. He joined his hands together and the sabers shot out towards the Eternal Rest Mountain.


    Jack saw the entire thing from the corner of his eye, and could do nothing but hope that the Endless Cycle Sect had something that could fight against the sabers.


    A massive whirlpool coalesced out of the light blue waves and positioned itself above the Eternal Rest Mountain. It changed the trajectories of the sabers to itself and started sucking them in. The whirlpool shrunk by a few meters with every saber that stabbed into its spinning body.


    The spirit puppet ignored the massive collision happening above them and finally moved out of the entrance to the small room.


    Jack darted in and grabbed the Star Bag from its pedestal, then looked around the room with slight hesitation. After a second of thought, he gritted his teeth and started to stuff all of the Spirit Capturing knives and Energy Dispersal devices into the bag.


    From the outside, he heard the voice of the Sect Master of the Endless Cycle Sect command "Peak Masters, activate the Sect-protecting formation. I cannot hold them for much longer."


    A second later a new male''s voice sounded out in the air "Sect Master, why do we have to involve ourselves in other people''s problems?"


    "I agree, why not give Bai Shetai over to them and be done with it?" added a female voice.


    "We do not betray those that come to our Sect for help! Even if we did, that option disappeared from us as soon as they brought the dogs of the Slaughtering Sword School with them. Now, do as I command!" The Sect Master''s voice sounded strained as he made his final declaration.


    Almost instantly, Jack felt the spirit energy in the air rush towards the peak of the mountain, a second later a soft glow illuminated the room from the outside.


    He finished looting the entire small room and ran outside, only to see a thick beam of pure white spirit energy shooting out into the sky from the top of the Eternal Rest Mountain. When the beam reached a height of around a klick it bent towards the center of the Sect and merged with five other different colored beams above the Tranquil Lake.


    Jack looked at the ground under his feet and saw a minuscule glow coming from underneath him. ''This whole Sect''s a spell formation!'' Jack exclaimed in his head as he stared at the huge amounts of spirit energy that gathered in the sky. The entire thing made a protective dome over the five mountains and lake.


    With a worried expression on his face, Jack looked up at the four people that stood in the air on the other side of the barrier. The two middle-aged men had frowns on their faces, but the old man and the woman looked at the barrier with scorn.


    Fan Aolan condensed more white-hot sabers from the flames at his back and smashed them into the protective cover of the Endless Cycle Sect. After a minute of this, the best he could do is create slight ripples on the solid wall of spirit energy.


    "Hmpf!" his snort rumbled across the land as he looked down at the peak of the Eternal Rest Mountain and declared "Hide in your turtle shell for a while longer, traitor." He looked towards the Tranquil Lake and added "You have only bought yourself a few more days of life, worms."


    The woman next to him opened her mouth and added "It will be too late for regrets when I get a hold of you, Bai Shetai!" as she kept staring down at the mountain peak with murder in her eyes.


    With that, the four people turned in the air and flew out of Jack''s field of view.


    A second later Bai Shetai''s voice boomed out in the direction in which the four people left "I did nothing for which I need regrets, you delusional b*tch!"


    Jack regulated his fast breathing as he thought ''Few days, I can work with that.'' He gave the old mansion a last complicated look and started sprinting towards the town.

 1.47 Last Hurrah

    On the way down the mountain Jack saw a lot less people on the road, and the ones he did see avoided his gaze. Everyone walked like they had a heavy burden stuck to their shoulders as the protective formation''s glow loomed over the Sect.


    When he reached the half-empty main street of Tranquil Lake Town, Jack ran straight towards the rickety old Golden Dragon Store. He tried to go through the front door, but it didn''t want to open, so he ran into a side street and banged on the back door of the store.


    After a minute of banging, an annoyed voice yelled from the other side "Go away, we''re closed!"


    Jack furrowed his brows a little as he responded with "Open the door, old Long. It''s me."


    A few seconds of silence later the voice of old Long shouted back "We''re still closed!"


    Jack''s face became cold as he stepped back from the door and cocked his fist back. For a second he pumped all the spirit energy he could into the meridians of his right arm and cycled it between his shoulder and his hand. As more and more spirit energy gathered, his skin started to let out a slight shimmer of spirit energy.


    With an explosive exhale Jack slammed his fist straight into the wood near the top hinge. The upper part of the door caved inward with a loud *CRACK*, while it remained hanging on half of the lower hinge.


    Jack pulled back his leg and stomped out the last bits that held the door hanging in the air, making it crash down to the floor with a *bang*.


    Old Long and his oldest assistant stood frozen in the middle of the room. Jack looked down at his undamaged hand with a grim smirk, gave the two men a glance, stepped over the fallen door, and said "We don''t have time for playing around."


    His words unfroze old Long as his face became red with fury while he yelled "What do you think you''re doing!? I will report you to the Sect!" he pointed at the destroyed door and added, "You better pay for that, or else!"


    Jack glanced at the downed door and turned back towards old Long with a crooked smile as he said "Take it out of the sum you got for that overpriced skill you sold me." His face became serious as he continued "The Sect has a lot bigger problems to deal with than one broken door."


    He walked past the two men as he said "We need to talk, you can''t hole yourself away on this one." With that, he opened an adjacent door and entered the room behind the store proper. With a long sigh, he sat down and poured two drinks from the wine bottle that sat on the table.


    After a few seconds of murmured whispers from the other room, old Long walked in to join Jack and sat opposite him. He took a cup and downed it immediately, Jack joined him. They poured another cup and downed that one as well. Jack poured the third round but didn''t drink.


    "This won''t end well." he said as he watched old Long empty his third cup.


    Old Long snorted and poured himself a fourth cup as he said "I lived through a couple of times when the Sect-protecting formation got activated. Things always work out in the end."


    Jack shook his head slowly as he said "They won''t this time."


    Old Long''s eyes narrowed as his voice dropped down to a whisper "What do you know?"


    Jack leaned in and matched his voice to old Long''s "I know the people that came to attack with the Slaughtering Sword School. The Endless Cycle Sect has no chance of fighting back against them."


    Old Long''s brows rose in surprise as he asked "How do you know this? Even I have not heard anything about those people. I only know that the man they came for, gave a large amount of treasure to the Sect and the Eternal Rest Mountain Peak Master to cure his festering wound."


    Jack''s brows rose too at this information, but he could only say "I can''t reveal my sources. Just know that the Endless Cycle Sect doesn''t have a future in this world." He leaned back and tried to exude confidence as he thought ''Who would believe me that the man who abducted me to this world used to brag a lot about his Sect''s power to his spirit puppets?''


    With a single gulp, old Long emptied his cup for the fourth time and studied Jack for a few seconds. Finally, he decided to change the topic and ask "What do you want?"


    Jack didn''t miss a beat as he started naming the items he needed "I want two pairs of robes for 25 people, no, make that 30, 1000 jin of dried meat, 3000 jin of rice, 20 tents for sleeping out in the open, 50 thick blankets, and 50 waterskins."


    Old Long stared at Jack with wide eyes for a few seconds before he shouted "How am I supposed to get all that?! We are in a siege, boy!"


    Jack gave him a sly smile as he said "Don''t treat me like an idiot. I know that you already sent your other two thugs to buy out supplies from the other merchants while they''re still in stock."


    Old Long tried to sustain his fake outrage for a few seconds before he sighed and asked "How much will you pay me for this?"


    Jack grinned and started the negotiation.


    Half an hour later he downed his third cup of the local wine and said "Have it all ready by tomorrow night." He stood up from his seat and added "You and your people are welcome to join us if you change your mind."


    With a snort as a response from old Long, Jack left the Golden Dragon Store through the broken back door.


    His next stop took him through the deserted alleys to his smith. This time no noises of metal banging against metal rang out from the closed-off workshop.


    Jack had to jump the wall to get in after no one opened the door when he banged on it for a full minute.


    He glanced at the cold furnace with a frown and walked over to the door of the main house.


    After a few knocks and shouts, Tan Boli opened the door. Over his shoulder, Jack saw his wife and two sons sitting at their table and looking at him with fear in their eyes, while they held packed linen bags in front of them.


    "I''m sorry Sir; we can''t finish your order. We might have to run for our lives at any moment now and I''d rather that my family survives than to earn a few more coins." Tan Boli said with uncharacteristic steel in his spine.


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    Jack studied his resolute eyes for a few seconds before saying "I will give you your entire payment for just another one of those cylinders and however many of the metal balls you can make until tomorrow night." Just as Tan Boli started to frown, Jack added "The Sect''s barrier will hold until then, you have my word. After that, you can take your family and join me and my people in our attempt at flight."


    Tan Boli''s eyes widened as he exclaimed "You''re leaving too, Sir?"


    Jack gave him a sharp nod as he said "Yes, the Sect will fall soon and I don''t intend to fall with it."


    Tan Boli thought about the proposal as he glanced back at his family. His wife and he exchanged secret messages with their eyes for a few seconds, before he turned back and said "Alright, Sir. Count us in."


    With a wide smile, Jack walked into their house and discussed the details of their flight for half an hour.


    When he finally returned to the Gravedigger courtyard, Jack felt seven new grade four spirit fluctuations with his senses. He looked at his gathered friends and called out "How did it go?"


    Everyone turned around, and a short and thin teen started blabbing "Shi Furui and Bai Maolong fainted like girls. We had to throw water at them to wake them up from their beauty sleep."


    Kuang Bindun walked over and smacked the teen over the head as he growled "That happens when you build up too much spirit energy for your breakthrough, Ruiman. Tanda passed out too, moron."


    Jack laughed at the embarrassed look that Ma Ruiman gave him. Out of all of the other members of the Gravediggers that weren''t in Jack''s inner circle, only he managed to breakthrough to the fourth grade.


    He looked at all of the new fourth grade people with gratitude in his eyes. He had asked Kuang Bindun, Shi Furui, Bi Tuohui, Shen Saishuo, Yin Ping, Bai Maolong, and Ma Ruiman to hold their cultivation back so that Elder Yu wouldn''t transfer them out of the unit. With Jack''s cultivation method they had no problems cracking the bottleneck, but they trusted him enough to stifle their development for a better future for all of them.


    Jack jumped on a dissection table, cleared his throat, and announced "The Endless Cycle Sect will fall in a few days." He waited until the astounded murmurs to pass before continuing "Tomorrow night we will initiate the first stage of our plan. Until then we will try to relax as much as possible so that we''re in top shape for the escape."


    His men looked ready and eager to burst out right now, but they understood the necessity for patience. Most of them held their feelings back for years; one or two days wouldn''t make a difference when the goal was in sight.


    Jack gave them a quick nod of understanding, a second later his face developed into a smirk as he said "Before that, however, we will perform an ancient military ritual that every man has to go through."


    They all looked at him with confused gazes as he spread his hands and said "Those of you that are older than 16 years move to my right side. Those of you that are younger than 16 years move to my left side."


    After a bit of jostling, six people stood on his left side, and fifteen stood on his right.


    Jack looked at the six teens on his left and said "You will guard the courtyard and take in any corpse when they come." He looked to the teens on his right side and continued "You will follow me."


    He jumped off of the dissection table and led the fifteen people out of the courtyard, some complaints followed him out from the six people that had to stay behind, but he tuned them out and left them to their work.


    Jack and his men looked conspicuous on the almost empty street, but he didn''t care. Most of the officials of the Sect had bigger problems than some outer disciple and his little gang roaming the streets of Tranquil Lake Town.


    A few minutes later Jack stopped in front of a large red-colored wooden building that had a stylized sign of a flower over its doors that read "Madam Su''s".


    Most of the teens understood what Jack meant to do by now, and they gave themselves elbow pokes and excited looks.


    Jack walked up to the double doors and knocked on them a few times. A dozen seconds later a part of the right door moved out of the way, just enough for a pair of cruel eyes to look down at Jack and say "We''re closed, Lord."


    Without missing a beat, Jack took out a bag filled with spirit stones and opened it up to show its content to the man as he said "I will give your mistress five spirit stones for each of my men."


    The man behind the door hesitated for a second, before saying "Wait here, Lord."


    A few minutes later the doors opened up wide as a middle-aged woman in a beautiful red dress, and with a ton of makeup on her face, greeted Jack with "Welcome to Madam Su''s, Young Master!" She took hold of his arm in hers and led him in while saying "What can our humble establishment offer to Young Master?"


    Jack looked back at his men and signaled them to follow him. He turned back to the Madam and said "Give my men whatever they ask for. I''ll take care of the bill."


    The Madam chuckled as she said, "Naturally, they will feel like royalty today." She took him to a greeting room where a few girls in revealing clothes lounged on pillows and added "And what will Young Master have?"


    Jack glanced at the girls once, before he sighed and said "A drink. Get me your best wine and a cup."


    "Two cups." Bai Maolong added from the back of the group. Jack and the Madam looked back at him in surprise, but when Jack nodded to the Madam to do as Bai Maolong said she only bowed gracefully and went to do Jack''s bidding.


    While everyone else went to pick their girls, Jack and Bai Maolong sat at a table and drank expensive wine in silence.

 1.48 Sleeping Among the Dead

    As the Sun neared its zenith, Jack and his men walked down the almost deserted main street of Tranquil Lake Town. Even the dour atmosphere of the street couldn''t remove the smiles from the young men''s faces as the jostled and joked with each other.


    Half-way back to the Gravedigger courtyard, Jack saw a conspicuous teen in a shabby white uniform running towards them.


    He immediately started to perform the Beast Recovery Method and felt the drunken haze slowly lift from his eyes. With his current body it took a lot to get him drunk, and with the help of the recovery method, he only needed a few minutes to get back to normal.


    The teen reached their group in a jog and let out a sigh of relief as he said "Senior Brother Song, that screaming lady from a couple of days ago came back and sent me to get you. We told her that you had to do something for Elder Yu, but she didn''t care. I looked for you for the time it takes to eat a meal already."


    Jack cursed under his breath as he said "Good thing that you found us." He turned towards Shi Furui and continued "Take everyone and go visit old Long, he''ll appreciate the company. I''ll send someone to get you once she''s gone."


    Shi Furui nodded and led the men into a side alley to avoid bringing attention to a large group, without an official disciple of the Sect supervising them, roaming around the town.


    Jack patted the teen that came to get him on the shoulder and said "Let''s go, we don''t want a few more of our people to go deaf on one ear."


    When they got back, Jack saw the five other teens that stayed behind doing their duty with the corpses. They all looked as serious as if the Elder himself came to do an inspection. He shook his head in amusement and sent the messenger to join them, while he went towards his office.


    Before he even covered half of the way to the door, it opened and Mai Yining stepped out to rush towards him with a relieved expression.


    "Disciple Brother Song, I am so glad that you are alright." she said in relief as a tinge of fear disappeared from her eyes. She stopped in front of Jack and continued with watering eyes "When those beasts attacked the Eternal Rest Mountain¡­ For a breath, I thought that you would leave this world."


    Jack didn''t hesitate as he spread his hands wide and closed them around Mai Yining in a tight embrace. She froze for a second, but then allowed Jack to hold her for a few additional ones before she lightly pushed him away.


    He stepped back without protest and said "I thought I''d die too, but the Sect Master blocked the attack in the last second and saved us." Jack put on a lopsided grin as he added "I had a pretty great view, though."


    Mai Yining swatted a hand at him with a giggle as she said "Stop that, I was really worried."


    Jack''s face turned serious as he asked "Any news from the Elders about this whole affair?"


    Mai Yining scanned the two open doors with her eyes before she dragged Jack to his office by the sleeve of his robe.


    When they entered the office, Mai Yining closed the door behind her and whispered "Some of the Elders are pleading with the Sect Master to give that Bai Shetai person over to the Slaughtering Sword School and their helpers, but most of them think that it would not help."


    Jack''s brows furrowed as he asked "Will they?"


    Mai Yining hesitated a bit, but she shook her head in the end as she answered "I do not believe so." She glanced around the room for a second before continuing "Mother says that almost the entire Slaughtering Sword School moved and surrounded us. That is the reason why the Sect Master decided to leave the Sect-protecting formation on all the time. If he lowers it, they could attack us from all directions."


    Jack''s face became dark as he asked "How long will it last if we continue to use it?" He knew that in any world there never existed a power that didn''t require a price.


    Mai Yining took a deep breath to gather her courage, before saying "Not more than ten days. Less if they keep attacking it."


    She looked down at her clasped hands and added "Mother almost prevented me from coming to town today. She worries that spies from the Slaughtering Sword School might have infiltrated the Sect before this even began."


    Jack squeezed her left arm softly as he chided "You should have listened to her. Bad things could erupt here at any moment. It isn''t safe for someone like you."


    Mai Yining looked up at Jack with angry eyes as she said "I can take care of myself." Her anger dissipated as she stared into Jack''s calm eyes and she added "I made a promise to you yesterday, and I keep my promises." With that, she pulled out a scroll from her robe and handed it over to Jack.


    His brows rose in faux surprise as he unfurled the scroll and saw a detailed depiction of the local area on it. Jack rolled the scroll up and looked back at Mai Yining with a reproachful gaze as he asked "You risked your life for this?"


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    She looked back down at her hands and answered "You really wanted to see it yesterday so I¡­ It seemed important."


    Jack planted a finger under her chin and tilted it up without resistance. They stared into each other''s eyes for a second, before he said "Thank you, but don''t risk yourself for something so foolish in the future."


    He held her there for an extra second, after which he let her go and turned around to walk to his desk.


    Jack took his seat at the desk and took out a few blank scrolls out of the desk''s drawer before Mai Yining even blinked her eyes in confusion and looked down at him.


    She furrowed her brows a little as she asked "What are you doing?" with a tinge of disappointment in her voice.


    Jack looked up with an innocent face as he said "You risked your life to get this to me. I''m not going to waste it." With that, he hunkered down and started copying the map.


    Mai Yining had a slightly lost look on her face as she stared at Jack while a vague feeling that she missed something important kept bothering her. After a few seconds, she shook her head, sat in the chair in front of Jack''s table, and watched him copy the map.


    A minute later Mai Yining sniffed the air and asked "What is that strange smell?"


    Jack felt cold sweat gather on his back as he cursed Madam Su''s inwardly while he looked up at Mai Yining and said "I''m trying out a new perfume for the building, you know, to combat that death aroma we have going for us. You don''t like it?"


    She frowned for a few seconds in thought, and declared "No, it does not suit you."


    Jack gave an accepting nod and agreed "I think so too. Consider it removed." With that, he looked back down at the map and continued his work.


    When he had three decent copies, Jack stopped his work, rolled up the map, and stood up from his chair. He went over to the other side of the table and offered Mai Yining his hand to get her up from her chair too.


    "What are we doing now?" Mai Yining asked in anticipation as Jack opened the door of his office for her to pass through.


    He handed her mother''s map to Mai Yining in passing and said "We''re going to escort you back to the Blooming Life Mountain. It''s already midday; your mother will worry about you."


    Mai Yining frowned a little and opened her mouth to object, but she closed it after she saw the unwavering look that Jack gave her.


    Before they left the Gravedigger building, Jack went to the courtyard and gave whispered instructions to go get Shi Furui and the rest from old Long''s.


    Trouble didn''t find them on the deserted road to the Blooming Life Mountain, and Jack sent Mai Yining back to her mother while she still looked like she wanted to stay with him. He ignored her unsaid protests and made her walk up the mountain while he watched for troubles.


    On the way back Jack went to get the food for his people and had to promise double payment to the restaurant manager before he agreed to send the food servers with Jack.


    The rest of the day Jack spent with his men. He had to show the new grade four people how to move their spirit energy outside of their bodies.


    When they all got the trick, he explained the Moon Step to the entire unit. Most of them had some success in its practice already, and Jack just went over the main points with them.


    After that, he left the grade three people to practice the Moon Step, while he led the grade four people in practicing the Air Blast spell. By the end of the day, only Yin Ping had any success in forming a stable spell structure. Jack realized that teaching people from scratch took a lot longer than when he received the packet of memories and experiences with the spell. He could only make them study his notes on sigils more and hope for quick improvements in the next few days.


    Jack didn''t dare teach any of the fourth grade men the Beast Recovery Method before they had full control over their spirit energy. He couldn''t risk any of his friends having a burst artery.


    When night fell he took out food for dinner from the Star Bag on his waist. Jack stored all of the supplies from their houses and secret stashes in it to lower the burden on the men. Their small hoard left more than enough room for the supplies that he ordered from old Long.


    After the meal, they set up sentries that would change every two hours and went to sleep on the tables in the courtyard. They had to use the blankets they brought from their houses as coverings to protect them from the cold night.


    Before he fell into his turbulent dreams, Jack looked around at the snoring bodies of all of the friends he had in this world and thought ''This has to work.''

 1.49 Neutral Enemy

    *BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM*¡­


    The Gravediggers rolled off of their tables and took cover near the closest wall.


    Jack ran with the rest of them on instinct, while he quickly scanned the situation with his eyes. His men had panicked looks on their faces, but none of them ignored their training as they all took cover. ''A few imbued stones do wonders for situational awareness.'' Jack thought as he stopped running towards the wall closest to him.


    The entire unit focused their gazes on him, while he looked up at the sky. There, numerous different kinds of sigil-etched weapons and spells struck the Sect-protecting formation from all sides.


    "Endless Cycle Sect, hear me! I am Sect Master Endless Cycle." the charming voice from yesterday boomed. Its hypnotic power resonated in every word as the Sect Master continued "Our enemies think themselves strong, but they will break like waves break on a mountain! On this day, next year, no one will remember the name of the Slaughtering Sword School!"


    He paused for dramatic effect, and Jack even heard some distant cheers. After waiting for a few seconds he added in a more normal tone "All disciples are ordered to the peak of their respective Mountains for further orders. Any cultivator found in the streets and paths outside of the Mountains that is not under the direct order of an Elder will be considered a traitor and executed." He took another pause, and after a few seconds yelled "To war!"


    Jack heard more shouts this time, and a few seconds later everyone in the courtyard could hear the sounds of panicked running on the outside streets and alleys.


    The tension in the air made Jack''s men nervous, but they only shifted their weight from one foot to another when they saw his calm demeanor.


    He turned in a circle to study them all for a few seconds before shouting "Nothing changes, we stick to the plan." He pointed a finger at the sky and added with a smirk "Consider that motivational music." The men rewarded him few nervous chuckles and went to get ready for the new day


    Jack signaled Kuang Bindun and Shi Furui to follow him to his office.


    In there he took out two of the copied maps and handed them over to them to study. While they did, he took out all the supplies for tonight''s mission from his Star Bag and stacked them on one side of the room.


    Kuang Bindun looked up from his map and asked "Tanda, why not save them for later?"


    Jack turned around and looked at his two closest friends.


    Kuang Bindun still had a confused look in his eyes, but Shi Furui seemed to grasp his intentions.


    After a moment of hesitation, Shi Furui opened his mouth and said "He''s doing it in the case that he doesn''t come back from whatever he''s about to do."


    Jack gave his observant friend a slight nod and a smile as he said "Right, I''m going to do something stupid. If I don''t make it, it falls to you two to keep the men alive." He went over to the ceremonial uniforms, took out the large bag of spirit stones that he hid there, and placed it on the office table.


    They didn''t ask where he got them, nor did Jack think to explain. He just took out a few more bags filled with coins and spirit stones from his Star Bag.


    When he finished, Shi Furui glanced at the Star Bag but didn''t ask why Jack didn''t leave it as well.


    Kuang Bindun stared at the pile of money for a second, before he stood up and asked "Why do you have to do this? We have everything that we need already." He pointed in the direction of the courtyard and continued "What about those people out there? What about the plan? What about¡­"


    Shi Furui stood up and put a hand on Kuang Bindun''s shoulder to stop him, but he didn''t reprimand him. He had the same questions flying around in his eyes.


    Jack felt touched by their care, but could only put on a serious face and say "Plans change. I''m doing this for our future." He turned and went to the door. Before opening it he looked over his shoulder and added "If I''m not back by dusk, go on without me." With that, he left the silent office and headed for the main street.


    Amongst the few scurrying people on the street, he walked like he had no worries in the world. A few minutes later he reached Tan Boli''s workshop and took the one finished cylinder and a bag of a hundred metal balls. He had to reassure the frightened family that they would take them away for a dozen minutes, so he had to jog to his destination.


    When he ran out onto the deserted street near his destination, he saw Li Manning walking at a fast pace towards him. They noticed each other at the same time and met up at the library''s doors.


    "Disciple Brother Song, what are you doing here?" Li Manning asked as he glanced at the metal rod in Jack''s right hand with narrowed eyes.


    Jack gasped for air a few times, before crying out with a tinge of panic in his voice "Disciple Brother Li, have you seen Disciple Sister Mai?"


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    Li Manning''s face turned serious as he said "I have not. What happened?"


    Jack let out a sigh of relief as he said "Nothing it seems." He chuckled as he continued "She snuck out to visit me yesterday, so I worried that she might do something stupid again." Jack pointed at the Star Bag on his waist and said "Elder Yu sent me to get the documents from the office, so I thought that I''d check on her just in case.


    He nodded towards Li Manning''s waist and added "I see that you''re on a similar mission for the Vast Sky Elders."


    Li Manning relaxed his tensed stance as he breathed out "Yes, they sent me to get the records from the top floor while they prepare our defenses."


    Jack''s brows rose as he said "That serious, huh?" He looked over his shoulder for a second, before looking at Li Manning and asking "Need some help?"


    With a shake of his head, Li Manning refused and turned towards the door with the Endless Cycle Sect crest to open the library.


    "You better go back to the Eternal Rest Mountain, Disciple Brother Song. The entire Tranquil Lake Town might erupt into chaos any moment now." Li Manning said as he took out the library key, imbued it, and touched the center of the Sect''s crest.


    The hand with the key froze half-way to his robe. A second later Li Manning declared "A traitor then, Song Ta¡­" before he finished his sentence three blades of air started forming above his head.


    With a soft *thump* Li Manning''s brain splattered over the Endless Cycle Sect''s crest.


    Jack lowered the Deep Water Iron cylinder and whispered "No, not a traitor, just a neutral enemy."


    He looked up and down the street to make sure that no one saw him, stored the metal cylinder, and dragged Li Manning''s body into the library''s garden.


    Jack snatched the Star Bag from Li Manning''s waist and searched his body for the keys to the other doors of the library. When he ended his search, he stashed Li Manning''s body in one of the private rooms, while he opened the path to the top floor and went up it.


    On the top floor, Jack looked around the large room for a second, before he started to stuff all of the scrolls from the shelves into the Star Bag that Li Manning brought.


    It had the same amount of space as his own, so he concluded that someone had to produce them in mass. While he stole the library''s scrolls he wondered who had the ability to make such wonderful things.


    A couple of hours later, Jack left the library without anyone noticing him. In his robes, he hid the light blue Star Bag that had the entire contents of the top floor of the library in it, along with a few random shelves worth of scrolls from the ground floor.


    Jack took the empty alleys to return to the Gravedigger courtyard through the door in the back.


    When his people saw him they just treated it as normal, only Kuang Bindun and Shi Furui looked like a weight dropped from their shoulders as they greeted him with enthusiasm.


    Jack walked into his office and stored all of their supplies and money back to his Star Bag. When he finished, he took out a Spirit Capturing knife from the bag and looked at his reflection.


    After thinking for a few seconds, he took out his personal knife from his robes and started to cut his shoulder-long hair.


    Half an hour later, he looked into the reflection and felt satisfied with the short military-style haircut that he gave himself.


    When he returned to the courtyard everyone stared at him. Some in amusement, some in confusion, and some in horror.


    Kuang Bindun spoke up first as he asked "Tanda, why did you cut your hair?"


    Jack shrugged his shoulders as he answered "Helps with aerodynamics and fighting." He hesitated for a second before adding "It also feels and looks better."


    While most people still puzzled over the strange English word that Jack threw out in his answer, Bai Maolong ran out in front of Jack and said "Cut my hair too if it helps with fighting."


    Before Jack could even respond, others started calling out that they wanted their hair cut too. In the end, only Yin Ping refused to cut off his long locks.


    It took Jack almost until dusk to cut everyone''s hair. When he finished he turned serious and announced "Time to prepare, men." With that, he started to pull out uniforms made out of numerous green and brown patches of cloth.


    During the last year, they would take a piece of clothing from every servant that came in with a green or a brown uniform and sew them together to imitate camouflaging clothing.


    After everyone had their new uniform on, Jack took out some brown, green, and black paint and painted their faces to match with their clothing.


    When Tan Boli and his family knocked on the back door of the Gravedigger courtyard, they almost ran away when they saw Jack''s men.


    He could only laugh and order them to do it too.

 1.50 Going Dark

    By the time Jack finished doing Tan Boli''s family''s camouflage and stored their things in his Star Bag, night fully fell over the Endless Cycle Sect. The glow from the continuous attacks hitting the Sect-protecting formation''s barrier gave them enough light to see without a problem.


    Jack looked up at the barrier, did some guesstimating, and instructed his men to eat something and get some rest. He stuffed a piece of dried meat into his mouth and left the Gravedigger courtyard through the back door.


    He ran through the deserted alleys of Tranquil Lake Town for a few minutes, before he reached the patched up back door of the Golden Dragon Store.


    After a few knocks, old Long''s oldest assistant cracked the door open. When he saw Jack''s painted face and short hair he slammed the door shut and started screaming "Enemy Akak!" over and over again.


    Jack heard doors slamming from the inside as the other people scurried about. He sighed, cycled a bit of spirit energy through his right leg, and slammed it against the rickety door.


    Inside, the three assistants stood ready while holding wooden clubs. They stood frozen for a second after the door banged down on the floor, and just as Jack started saying "Relax, it''s¡­", the large one charged at him while swinging his club.


    Jack''s brows furrowed as he ducked the swing and punched the large man in the balls. He considered tripping his already weak leg, but he decided against damaging anything important.


    As the big man''s roar of defiance turned into a squeal of agony, the other two took a step back while they knees shook in horror.


    Jack''s angry face studied them for a second before he asked "We done?"


    The younger assistant kept glancing over his shoulder at the door behind him, but the older one got a confused look in his eye as he stared at Jack''s face.


    Just as the younger one took a step towards the escape door, the older one shouted "Wejt, itf not an enemy akak, itf the brat."


    The younger assistant stopped and stared at Jack''s face for a few seconds before realization dawned in his dim eyes. Jack gave him a smile and said "Take care of that idiot." while pointing at the squirming large man. He looked at the older helper and asked "Where is he?"


    A minute later, the older assistant led Jack to a secret room that had its passage hidden behind a shelf in the room behind the store proper.


    The hidden room''s shelves and tables bent a little from the various survival supplies stacked on them. In the corner of that room, under a rug, the toothless assistant opened a secret trap door that led to a small hole in the ground in which old Long crouched.


    When the trap door opened, old Long looked up at the two of them while blinking, a second later his eyes focused on Jack in shock, then the shock turned into confusion, and then in surprise.


    With an "Oh¡­" old Long stood up and climbed out of his hole.


    He turned towards his oldest assistant and slapped him across the face while snarling "I thought I taught you how to use your eyes, moron!" He turned back towards Jack and asked in a calm voice "When do we leave?"


    Jack''s brows rose in pleasant surprise as he asked in return "You changed your mind? How come?"


    Old Long sighed, and for the first time showed a bit of his age as his shoulders slumped, while he said "Things do not feel right. I fear that the Sect might truly fall in this battle, and I do not want to fall with it."


    Jack nodded his head solemnly and asked "I assume that you''re ready to go?"


    Old Long looked around the secret room and said "We are. Just need to transport all of this to where you need it." He looked over Jack''s shoulder and asked "Did you bring your men with you?"


    Jack shook his head as he started to stuff the supplies from a nearby table into his Star Bag while he answered "Nah, I''m enough on my own."


    Old Long looked down at the Star Bag with a hint of greed in his eyes, but then he sighed and turned towards his oldest assistant and ordered "Go and tell those two idiots to get their things and wait in the back room."


    When the toothless assistant left, old Long turned to Jack and asked "Can you do this?"


    Jack didn''t stop stuffing things in his bag as he said "No idea, there''s a decent risk that we might all die."


    Old Long''s brows furrowed as he studied Jack''s painted profile for a few seconds before he nodded his head and said "Good, if you tried to assure me of your success I would have taken my chances with the Sect."


    An hour later, Jack led old Long and his assistants through the spirit energy illuminated alleys back to the Gravedigger courtyard. Once there, Jack made them all put on the camouflaging uniforms and painted their faces. Old Long protested a bit out of habit, but then allowed Jack to paint his face in the end.


    Jack looked around the courtyard as the eager and frightened faces engaged in hushed conversations.


    With a smile on his lips, he jumped up on a table and stared up at the fluctuating Sect-protecting barrier. A few seconds later a hush fell on the courtyard, and Jack started to speak while still staring at the barrier "Some of us might die tonight and in the days ahead. We might all die, but that doesn''t mean that we shouldn''t do this. Freedom is one of the few things in life worth dying for." He looked down at the solemn eyes of his men and added "It''s also worth killing for."


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    When a few of his friends gave him a confident grin he continued as he pointed up at the sky "The Slaughtering Sword School will break through that thing in the next few hours." Jack didn''t care that the strangers to this group frowned at the unfamiliar word, his men nodded their heads and only that mattered.


    He clenched his hand into a fist and brought it down to his side while pumping spirit energy into his arm. In the next second, he gave an explosive exhale and punched the shimmering fist at the air.


    As a weak gust of wind rustled the mostly short hair of his audience, he said "Time to go dark, men."


    Almost as one, they all started performing the Oxen Rush Punch at the air. Jack nodded his head and jumped down to the ground. He looked at a corner where four confused figures stared at his unit and walked over to them.


    A minute later, an angry looking old Long glared at Jack as he said "We will not, without our spirit energy any low-grade disciple from our or the other side could kill us all."


    He didn''t mention any of the Elder class of combatants because both of them knew that they had bigger problems than to deal with than, what would look to them, a group of ants trying to escape a disaster zone.


    Jack looked into the old man''s defiant eyes for a second, before he looked over his shoulder at the courtyard and called out "Men, what do we do if enemies discover us?"


    Almost as one, his entire unit started absorbing spirit energy through their skin.


    Jack nodded his head and turned back to the wide-eyed old Long and his assistants.


    "H-h-how are they doing that?" he asked as he stepped back. His fear-filled eyes locked on to Jack as he hissed "What are you?"


    Jack shrugged his shoulders as he said "Just a man that discovered a new cultivation technique. If we survive this I might teach it to you too." His face and voice turned serious as he looked at old Long and his assistants "Now, use the Oxen Rush Punch to empty your dantians, or we will leave you behind."


    While old Long considered his order, Jack thought about the best way to plant a metal ball between his eyes before he could hurt any of his men.


    In the end, he didn''t have to resort to drastic measures, as old Long must have seen something that frightened him in Jack''s eyes as he said "Alright, we will do it." He hesitated for a second, before adding "If you let me die, I will turn into a spirit and haunt your nightmares."


    Jack almost burst out laughing as he thought ''I''m sure that the rest of them will welcome you with open arms.'' On the outside, his face remained serious as he nodded his head and said "You have my word."


    Ten minutes later, almost everyone in the group had pale faces from the exhaustion of their spirit energy. Jack''s men still had some of their previous fighting spirit because they trained for this, but old Long and his assistants looked like a stiff wind could tip them over.


    Tan Boli and his family looked at all of this with a hint of fear, awe, and concern, but they didn''t dare complain and just listened to any order that Jack gave.


    From the entire group, Jack looked the least affected. He lay down on a dissection table with hands behind his head and watched the fireworks display in the night sky.


    After a couple of tense hours, Jack sat up on the table in one quick motion as he stared at a spot above the Vast Sky Mountain. There, among other ripples of damage, a small tear appeared in the Sect-protecting formation''s barrier.


    Jack stood up on the table and shouted "Get up, everyone up! It''s go time!"


    The entire courtyard fell into a clamor of noise as people staggered up to their feet in half-panic and half-anticipation. Even old Long dragged his tired bones up from the ground in a couple of seconds.


    Jack gave them all a smile and said "Let''s go!"


    They left the Gravedigger courtyard through the back door for the last time and used the deserted alleys to reach the edge of town that led to the forested valley between the Undying Flame and Blooming Life mountains.


    There, they clumped behind the last few houses of the Tranquil Lake Town and waited.


    Ten minutes later, an all-encompassing *CRACK* sounded out from the barrier as a wound longer than a hundred meters ripped apart the barrier above the Vast Sky Mountain.


    Almost immediately, the Sect-protecting formation''s barrier started falling apart from the other attacks that focused on the wound.


    Jack stared with everyone else at the Vast Sky Mountain''s sky, up on the Northern end of the Sect, in a mix of wonder and trepidation.


    A minute later he tore his eyes away from the spectacle and yelled over the booming noise "Move out!"

 1.51 Traitors

    Jack held a dull-looking knife in his arms as he led the way towards the dark forest. He had applied camouflage paint to as many of their weapons as he could; otherwise, they would illuminate half of the forest from reflecting the battle in the sky.


    "Go forth and end this decrepit old Sect, my Slaughtering Sword School! Kill!" roared a booming voice from the direction of the Vast Sky Mountain''s sky as a sea of silver energy spread around him.


    Light blue clouds of spirit energy rose up from the peak of the Vast Sky Mountain to clash with the silver energy as an aloof voice ordered "To battle Vast Sky Mountain! Do not let the scum of the Slaughtering Sword School take one step on our dear Sect''s land."


    Similar exchanges happened at the peaks of each of the five mountains that made up the Endless Cycle Sect.


    As Jack''s group reached the forest, the booming voice of Fan Aolan growled "Come and face your death like a man, traitor." from the sky above the Eternal Rest Mountain. His spirit energy formed a burning sea of flames from which white-hot sabers started forming.


    Just before he launched his attack, a flash of deep blue erupted from the center of the Tranquil Lake and slammed into Fan Aolan. Both Fan Aolan and his flaming sea disappeared into the horizon, together with the blue flash that collided with him.


    Jack gave a hand signal to his men, and Shi Furui, Yin Ping, Ma Ruiman, and himself ran out in front of the rest of the group and spread themselves into a fan formation. They kept their distance far enough from the group that they could spot trouble and warn them in time, but close enough to run back if something disastrous happened.


    As the four people ran to the front, a woman''s hate-filled voice rang out from the direction of the Eternal Rest Mountain "You will die by my hand this night, Bai Shetai!"


    Unrestrained laughter answered the woman as Bai Shetai mocked "Come then if you have the guts, sweetheart."


    A furious screech came as a response to Bai Shetai''s mocking as sounds of battle intensified from that direction.


    Every now and then a different whistling bird call sounded out over the ever-present noise of the battle, which Kuang Bindun used to direct the group towards the correct way.


    The pale-faced old Long came up to Kuang Bindun and whispered "What are they doing?"


    Kuang Bindun gave the old man a glance and signaled to Bi Tuohui to move him away.


    Bi Tuohui dragged old Long back to the middle of the group and whispered "Don''t bother him; he has to lead us through the forest. We first planned to go through the valley between the Eternal Rest and Unbreakable Rock Mountains, but this attack made all of our scouting go to waste. The new map that Tanda got marked this as the best route for survival in these circumstances."


    Old Long looked skeptical at the ability to scout through the dark forest through sound, but he held his mouth shut and just nodded his head in acceptance.


    Twenty minutes later, Jack reached a break in the tree canopy and could finally see the fight in the sky above him. He placed the tips of his thumb and index finger under his tongue and whistled out the signal to stop and wait.  Four different whistles responded in acknowledgment a few seconds later, giving him the peace of mind to focus on the battle.


    He felt tiny as he stood between the two tall mountains from which all kinds of different spirit energy attacks flashed out towards the night sky. A few seconds later his brows furrowed as he studied the two major battles in the sky.


    Above the Blooming Life Mountain, a light green and a teal field of spirit energy clashed against each other, but the light green field seemed to retreat a few meters towards the Undying Flame Mountain with every clash. A bright red and a golden field of spirit energy stood evenly matched above the Undying Flame Mountain and looked like they could continue for a while.


    From the rest of the fights on the mountains, it looked like the Endless Cycle Sect managed to hold their own against the invading Slaughtering Sword School, and even push them back a little.


    Jack''s brows furrowed more and more the longer he observed the fighting, a minute later he cursed under his breath and gave the signal to continue their escape.


    Fifteen minutes after they continued, a female voice from high above Jack''s position shouted "Undying Flame, lend me some help! I cannot hold him for much longer."


    Jack started cursing towards the sky as he raised his fingers to his mouth and gave the signal to double their speed. As soon as he did he started jogging through the forest.


    A few minutes later an enraged male voice roared "Argh! Blooming Life, you traitorous w*ore! If I am to die this day, I will make sure to take you with me!"


    "Blooming Life Mountain Elders and disciples, show your loyalty to me by ripping the Endless Cycle Sect''s crest from your robes and attacking the Undying Flame Mountain dogs!" Screamed the Blooming Life Peak Mistress.


    Almost at the same time, a similar declaration came from the direction of the Vast Sky Mountain, only they targeted the Eternal Rest Mountain.


    A second later Bai Shetai roared "Damn your Endless Cycle Sect, old Eternal. You have more traitors than loyal members!"


    An old voice croaked through the night "Apologies, Brother Bai. As penance, I will hold back Vast Sky, his accomplice, and my foe as long as I can. You get rid of that woman and help me out."


    Jack''s face turned cold as his worst fears came to light. For a few seconds he wondered if he had the time to turn his people back and try a different path, but after Vast Sky Mountain Peak Master''s declaration he discarded that thought and kept leading his group forward.  He couldn''t waste any time backtracking.


    Fifteen minutes later, the internal fighting on the Blooming Life Mountain stopped, and they started launching attacks towards the Undying Flame Mountain. Jack only felt a few spirit energy attacks land near him, but his entire uniform became drenched in sweat.


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    He stopped moving and signaled his scouts to go back and regroup with the rest.


    With the help of Kuang Bindun''s whistles, they soon found the group huddled around a few trees and looking up through the cracks in the canopy with fear.


    Ma Ruiman returned as the last of the scouts and exclaimed "I almost died out there!" When he got closer to the leading group they saw that his face had more dirt than paint for camouflage. He rubbed his face and added "A cursed huge thorny vine broke through the ground right next to me. A bit more to the left and it would have killed me for sure."


    Jack furrowed his brows as he said "We can''t go on like this. If we stay in the center of the valley we''ll get hit by both sides of the battle."


    Kuang Bindun frowned as he asked "Should we go over to the Undying Flame Mountain side then?"


    Jack shook his head as he said "No, we''re going to the Blooming Life Mountain side. They have the Undying Flame Mountain surrounded and fewer attacks should fly towards them. We just have to be careful that they don''t discover us."


    Shi Furui crossed his arms in front of his chest as he said "Once their Elders focus the fighting to the top of the mountain, they will send their disciples to fight the Undying Flame Mountain disciples at the bottom for sure. We''ll walk right into them."


    Jack nodded his head in acknowledgment, but said "Even with that, we have to do it."


    They all gave grim nods to Jack''s declaration and roused the resting people to their feet.


    The group started moving straight towards the Blooming Life Mountain. A few attacks fell around them, but nothing came too close to endanger their lives.


    When Jack saw that the attacks stopped falling on the valley between both mountains altogether, he signaled for everyone to regroup and made a new plan.


    A squad of five teens in light green robes with their crests torn off walked through the forest in a relaxed manner.


    The one in the front sneered "We are fortunate that Elder Chen decided to side with the Peak Master, or else we might have turned into fertilizer like those other fools."


    A bird call sounded out in the night.


    The guy walking on his right added "We are also fortunate that he chose you, Senior Brother, as a personal disciple, otherwise who knows what would have happened to us, outer disciples."


    The teen in the lead started to chuckle at the praise, but he suddenly stopped moving and yelled "Show yourself!" towards the dark forest in front of him.


    A few seconds later, the sword from his hip jumped into the air as he shouted "Show yourself, or else!" The rest of his squad grasped their weapons in their hands and stared in the same direction as their Senior Brother did.


    Bird calls started sounding out all around the five teens all of a sudden. The four disciples in the back started looking over their shoulders at the darkness and withdrawing.


    Only the Senior Brother didn''t care about the trap as he stated "The dogs are only at the third and fourth grade, stand your ground and fight." He pointed a finger at the forest in front of him and growled "Kill!" as his sword flashed into the darkness.


    A short two-toned whistle sounded from the tops of the trees almost at the same time as a cry of pain sounded out from the darkness.


    A second later a dozen rocks flew towards the five-man squad. They either dodged them or batted them away with their weapons. The Senior Brother even caught one in his hand and looked down at it in surprise as he laughed "They are throwing rocks at us. Who taught these imbeciles how to fig¡­"


    Before he could finish his sentence a tiny crack appeared on the rock in his hand and his eyes widened in surprise. He dropped it from his hand and covered his face with his arms as fast as he could.


    In the middle of falling the rock blew up, along with all of the rest of the rocks.


    The five-man squad could only protect their faces as numerous rock fragments scored shallow gashes over their bodies. Just as the rain of rocks stopped, the Senior Brother got a chill on his neck and looked up at the tree canopy.


    A blade of a knife that had sigils etched on it covered half of his field of view. Before he could do anything else he no longer had the ability to do anything else.


    Jack dragged his knife from the eye socket of the leading disciple. He looked around and saw that the rest of his unit managed to take down the rest of the enemies with little trouble. Every other enemy had two of Jack''s men standing above them; he had to double up just to make sure that they succeeded.


    He left the looting of the corpses to the others as he ran towards where the leading disciple sent his sword.


    There, one of his bravest men lay in the arms of his companion. He had a stab wound in his gut, the offending sword piercing him straight through.


    Jack frowned as he took out some bandages from his Star Bag and used them to stop the bleeding. He instructed the other member of his unit to hold the bandages there while he went back to the rest of the group and told them to build a stretcher.


    Shi Furui walked up to him with relief and worry battling on his face as he asked "How is he?"


    Jack frowned as he looked down at the naked dead enemy disciples and said "Probably dead, but we''ll try to save him." Shi Furui nodded his head as Jack looked up at him and asked "Your side?"


    Shi Furui glanced at the dead bodies as he said "Their robes have holes, blood, and dirt on them, but they''re wearable."


    Jack''s face split into a cruel smile as he growled "This is a battlefield, it''s natural for people to get blood on their clothes. I expect we will be soaked in it by the time we''re done with them."

 1.52 Young Master

    Jack had Shi Furui, Bi Tuohui, Shen Saishuo, and Bai Maolong change into the light green robes together with him. They all started to absorb as much spirit energy as they could while moving around the place and washing the camouflage paint from their skin. The corpses of the five-man squad got a few quick shallow graves in the bushes.


    Only the teen with the sword in his gut received a heavy wound in the ambush. The other injuries mostly consisted out of scratches received from rock shrapnel while waiting in the tree canopy that the men didn''t even use any bandages to treat.


    A basic stretcher got constructed with a couple of long branches and blankets, and they placed the wounded teen on it on his side. Jack didn''t dare take the sword out because of fear of massive internal bleeding, nor could he allow the teen to absorb spirit energy to help with the healing while they had to remain hidden. He could only give him a bit of rough leather to bite on and make the bandage around his stomach as tight as they could manage so the sword didn''t move around too much.


    Jack had old Long''s assistants and Tan Boli and his sons take turns in carrying the stretcher so neither of them got too tired. He just had to mention to them that if they dropped his man they would lose the hand that failed them to keep their spirits up.


    Once everyone got ready to move, Jack and his squad of new Blooming Life Mountain disciples took the lead. Behind them, Yin Ping and Ma Ruiman acted as intermediaries and guides between the rest of the group and their instructions.


    Jack led his group a few minutes more towards the Blooming Life Mountain, until it loomed in front of him, and then turned to continue on their escape out of the forested valley.


    A couple of times they sensed other grade four disciples, but once they got close to each other and saw that they belonged to the same side, they would say a few words of either warning or encouragement and go their separate ways. They got a few strange looks for their haircuts, but no one bothered them about it.


    ''All of the teams that we encountered consist out of almost exclusively fourth grade disciples, with only one higher grade disciple leading them. Where did the rest of the stronger disciples go?'' Jack thought as he said goodbye to the third team that they encountered. A minute later Shi Furui gave the bird signal for all clear to the rest of their group, and they continued on their path.


    As they continued walking, the fifth team they encountered only had half of their seven-man team in the fourth grade of cultivation; Jack couldn''t read the rest of them.


    "Disciple Brother, it would benefit you not to go further in that direction." The leader of the seven-man team advised Jack when they thought of going their own way.


    Jack turned around towards him and asked "Why not, Disciple Brother?"


    The young man gave him an embarrassed look as he said "The Undying Flame Mountain Young Master is leading his people in a desperate attempt to break away from the fighting at the end of the valley. Our core and inner disciples went there to stop him, together with the Slaughtering Sword School''s disciples."


    Jack''s eyes widened as he exclaimed "Thank you, Disciple Brother! If you had not told us we would have walked straight into that."


    The young man looked pleased with the gratitude as he waved his hand in dismissal and said goodbye to Jack and his men in a friendly mood.


    As they walked away, Jack looked up through the cracks in the tree canopy and saw that a brown and a scarlet field of spirit energy joined the Peak Master fight above the other side of the Undying Flame Mountain.


    ''The Unbreakable Rock Mountain Peak Master must have come to the aid of the Undying Flame Mountain Peak Master, no wonder that the Undying Flame Mountain Young Master is trying to push through on this side of the mountain. The other side must look like Hell right about now.'' Jack thought as he caught glimpses of the destructive two on four fight.


    When Jack felt sure they exited the sensing range of the seven-man team, he stopped and signaled his men in the back to stop and wait. He turned to his friends and asked "What are your suggestions for our next move?"


    Bi Tuohui had a look of disbelief in his eyes as he asked "Don''t you know what to do?"


    Jack shook his head as he answered "I know what we need to do, but I want to hear your suggestions first."


    Bi Tuohui and Shen Saishuo looked at each other and shrugged as Shen Saishuo said "We just follow orders."


    Bai Maolong had his brows furrowed ever since Jack asked his question, after a few seconds of thought he declared "I''m for fighting through them."


    The other three men gave him a withering glare as Shi Furui asked "And let them kill us?"


    Bai Maolong shrugged his shoulders as he responded with "A few of us might get through."


    Shi Furui shook his head in disgust as he turned back to Jack and asked "Can''t we sneak past their lines like we did so far?"


    Jack nodded his head as he said "We can, past the Blooming Life Mountain people at least. I''m not so certain about the Slaughtering Sword School, though."


    Shi Furui''s brows furrowed as he asked "Can''t we just go dark and sneak past them?"


    Jack nodded his head slowly as he answered "We could¡­ but I''m not too sure that we''d go far if they keep some of the people in the higher grades of the Spirit Accumulation realm on guard in the surroundings. The fighting could stop before we leave the area, and without the cover of the battle clamor they will pick up the noise our people make at a hundred meters even without sensing our spirit energy. I hoped that the Undying Flame Mountain disciples would draw their attention to the other side of the mountain, but that went up in smoke."


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    Shi Furui''s face darkened as he asked "Then what do we do when all of our options lead to death?"


    Jack looked down at his calloused hands and started talking "These people, no matter how vicious they look to us, still think of themselves as fair and noble in their circles, especially the younger ones. At least while no one''s watching." He looked up at the confused eyes of his men with a sardonic smirk playing on his lips and continued "Right now, everyone has their eyes on them."


    He placed a hand on Bai Maolong''s shoulder and said "Maolong''s right, we fight through."


    Everyone looked at him like he lost his mind, even Bai Maolong, but they still leaned in closer to hear his plan.


    Twenty minutes later, Jack returned from informing the rest of the group on their part.


    He walked up to his four friends and said "Let''s go." as he started jogging towards the end of the valley, in the direction of the Undying Flame Mountain.


    The more they neared the Undying Flame Mountain, the fewer patrol squads of the Blooming Life Mountain they encountered, until they finally found themselves nearing the center of the valley once again.


    As the trees started growing sparse, and flashes of spells started appearing in the distance, the five-man squad ran out into a clearing that led to a huge field of upturned dirt that once must have been a meadow. Shi Furui gave a bird signal to wait to their group in the rear as they studied the fight going on in front of them.


    Both sides stood in the ruins of guard buildings for entering and leaving the Endless Cycle Sect on their respective sides. The walls of the guard buildings still stood strong as Jack saw defensive sigils carved into their walls light up with every attack that slammed into them. The Undying Flame Mountain looked to only stand and defend from behind their walls, while the Blooming Life Mountain and Slaughtering Sword School side kept on pushing the attack.


    Jack studied the situation with a frown for a minute, before giving one sharp nod and turning back towards their group.


    Once they reunited with the unit, everyone from the Gravediggers switched their uniforms back to their worn out white ones, while Jack changed in his disciple robes, and the rest of the grade four people changed into ceremonial uniforms. Everyone had to go through a thorough scrubbing to wash away the camouflage paint from their skin.


    They all absorbed as much spirit energy as they could while they took a ten-minute break for food and water.


    Jack swallowed his last gulp of water, pushed himself away from the tree on which he leaned on, and shouted "Get up! Put your panicked faces on, and let''s move out."


    A few minutes later they stopped moving at the edge of the clearing on the Undying Flame Mountain side of the valley. After giving a confident smile to his nervous friends, Jack utilized the Moon Step technique and started sprinting towards the ruins.


    He could feel a few gazes from the other side of the valley scanning over his body and then dismissing his existence with contempt as they continued to bombard the Undying Flame Mountain encampment. ''Like I''m not worth the spirit energy it would take to kill me.'' Jack thought as he felt a bit offended at the presumption.


    As he neared the rear end of the encampment, a shrill voice yelled from behind the tall walls "Stop right there! Another step forward and we will execute you."


    "Disciple Brothers, I am a fellow disciple from the Eternal Rest Mountain. Please give me some face and let me in." Jack shouted back towards the walls as he halted his advancement.


    A few seconds later the same voice as before yelled "We are under orders not to let anyone inside the guard building. I am sorry but we cannot let you enter."


    Jack didn''t feel surprised as he spread his hands to show that he held nothing in them and shouted "Disciple Brothers, please send this message over to Senior Brother Mai Younu and he will know what to do." He cleared his throat and continued "Ask him if he still has that treasure that he got from Feng Furui."


    After a dozen seconds of deliberating, the voice from behind the wall yelled "Very well, we will give him the message. Until we get a reply, if you move from that spot you will be killed."


    Jack just lowered his hands and waited.


    Five minutes later the voice from the wall shouted out in surprise "The Young Master allows you entrance, come in over the wall."


    Jack used Moon Step once more as he charged a few steps and jumped up to the top of the wall. The momentum almost threw him over it, but he managed to stop himself before he fell off the other side.


    He scratched the back of his head in embarrassment as he turned towards the dozen staring disciples that stood on the wall and smiled at them. He located the one that looked in charge and said "Lead the way, Disciple Brother."

 1.53 Raising a Flag

    The young man in red robes looked down at the rope in his hands for a second, then threw it to the side. He looked at Jack in confusion as he asked "Lead you where?"


    Jack''s face turned serious as he answered "To Senior Brother Mai, of course."


    The young man''s brows furrowed as he said "The Young Master only said to let you in, he did not mention anything about leading you to him."


    Jack nodded his head as he agreed "Of course not, he doesn''t know that I have vital information that will help him break this siege. Thus, you have to take me to him so I could hand it over."


    The young man''s eyes narrowed slightly in suspicion as he asked "Why not just give it to me and I will pass it on to him?"


    Jack shrugged as he said "Can''t do that, it''s for his ears only. Traitors seem to run around everywhere these days."


    The young man studied Jack for a few seconds, before he sighed, waved for Jack to follow, and started walking along the wall. Jack followed in his wake while he eyed the ruins of the guard houses.


    The back part of the encampment had a few almost intact buildings, but the end that faced the Blooming Life Mountain only had a few scattered low walls remaining behind the main wall.


    Jack ignored the flying spells that came at their walls as he focused on the back of the encampment. There, shivering servants stood guard on the doors of the few remaining buildings, while the crying of frightened children came from behind the closed doors.


    His expression turned solemn as he saw the tired and hopeless faces of the Undying Flame Mountain disciples on the walls.


    Jack sped his step up to walk alongside the young man from the Undying Flame Mountain and asked "How many people do you have here?"


    The young man looked at Jack from the corner of his eye, considered lying, sighed, and answered "Around six hundred people. Half of that are civilians, mostly families and servants of the Elders, and their children. Our fighting force consists of around forty wounded disciples, sixty inner and core disciples, and two hundred outer disciples." He looked over his shoulder at his former home and whispered "Everyone else either stayed back to buy us time, or died."


    Jack nodded his head slowly as he did some mental calculations. A few seconds later his face turned grim and he didn''t ask any additional questions.


    The young man led Jack down a flight of stairs into the encampment proper, past the crumbled buildings, and to the end of the guard complex where dozens of disciples of the Undying Flame Mountain sat in meditation under the outer walls.


    Above them, on the wall, other disciples of the Undying Flame Mountain stood and blocked the spells that the enemies sent at them. At their head stood a young man in blazing red robes with a flaming whip in each hand. He used the whips to cut down any spell that came flying his way. The rest of the disciples seemed to look to his every move for strength to push their tired bodies past their limits.


    The young man that led Jack told him to wait there, while he ran up to the top of the wall and yelled something to the bald middle-aged man standing in the shadow of the young man with the whips. A few seconds later, the middle-aged man shouted something to the young man with the whips that made him fall back to the back of the wall. The middle-aged man took out a flaming whip of his own and stood in his place where he started to repel the incoming attacks.


    Jack''s guide led the young man with the whips down to where Jack stood and stepped away to the side to give them a semblance of privacy.


    The young man, Mai Younu, looked down at Jack with slight surprise in his eyes, but his voice remained calm as he stated "I knew that my instincts did not lie to me when they told me to let you live. Due to that, you have bought yourself an additional thirty breaths of life to tell me why an outer disciple of the Eternal Rest Mountain found his way to this side of the battlefield with battle information for me."


    Jack nodded his head slowly as he said "I''m not here as a disciple of the Eternal Rest Mountain, I started planning for my escape ever since yesterday''s attack, and  thought that this route would offer me the easiest way out of the Sect."


    Mai Younu''s eyes narrowed as he looked at Jack like a bird of prey that just saw its next meal, but he remained quiet and allowed Jack to use up the time allotted to him.


    Jack noticed the change in Mai Younu, but he remained calm as he continued "I took my subordinates and a few people from Tranquil Lake Town, and lead them through this valley once the Sect-protecting formation went down. But we can''t continue on our own anymore."


    Mai Younu didn''t hold back the feeling of wanting to snap Jack''s neck the more of his story he heard, but he kept it in check and he watched him with cold, calculating, eyes.


    Jack ignored the threatening air that Mai Younu exuded and said "I have seen this battlefield from multiple sides. If your people don''t break away from here before dawn, they will all either die or become the slaves of the enemies."


    Mai Younu finally couldn''t hold himself back as he grabbed Jack by the neck and lifted him up into the air as he growled "Do you think that I do not know my own situation, boy?" With a visible push of his willpower, Mai Younu managed to rein himself back in as his calm voice returned when he added "The messenger said that you have some information that might help us. Speak or die."


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    Jack felt the grip on his neck loosen enough for him to breathe, but Mai Younu still held him dangling in his grasp. He took in a few shallow breaths, looked Mai Younu straight into his eyes, and rasped out "I''m your best way to save the people stuck in this deathtrap. Kill me, and you kill yourself."


    Mai Younu stared into Jack''s eyes for a few seconds as the hand holding Jack''s neck trembled in the desire to squeeze. Just as Jack started doubting if his gamble would pay out, Mai Younu loosened his grip and allowed Jack to fall back to his feet.


    After letting out a long, tired sigh, which gave a small chance for the fatigue that assaulted him to leak out for a moment, Mai Younu regained his straight-backed calm stance and ordered "Tell me what you have in mind."


    Jack rubbed his neck a little as he looked up at Mai Younu and said "You need to take every inner and core disciple, even the wounded ones, and make a break towards the outside world."


    Mai Younu''s brows furrowed as he glared at Jack and growled "And leave the outer disciples and the families of my father''s men here to die, or to a worse faith?"


    Jack remained calm as he said "That won''t happen. I will do everything that I can so that they all get out,  but we''ll have a better chance of surviving than waiting for the Elders to finish their fight and then come for us down here. The reason why I need to you to take all of the inner and core disciples away¡­"


    Mai Younu''s eyes widened as he listened to Jack''s plan, but he didn''t say anything and let Jack continue his explanations. He knew that the enemies were just holding them here until they got the reinforcements from the Elders. If they really wanted to, they could have stormed Mai Younu''s position and taken his men down in exchange for a decent number of lives already.


    Half an hour later, Jack and his men stood on the wall that surrounded the guard buildings of the Undying Flame Mountain and watched as Mai Younu assembled all of the inner and core disciples from the encampment to the far end of the wall and shouted out loud enough for the other side to hear.


    "Brothers, we have no chance of holding this position and keeping our lives! Follow me outside on a path of blood and freedom!" Mai Younu spun his whips through the incoming attacks and dashed towards the enemy encampment while deflecting their attacks to provide cover for his men.


    A few of the strongest core disciples of the Undying Flame Mountain followed from behind and helped him. The rest of the disciples dashed towards the exit out of the valley while firing a few spells at the enemies to divert their attention.


    When Mai Younu saw that his men managed to get away he roared "Hear me, you traitors and dogs of the Slaughtering Sword School! One day I, Mai Younu, will return and take all of your heads!" With that, he executed a strategic retreat towards the exit of the valley as the attacks from the enemies rained down on him and his helpers.


    A second later a loud voice shouted from the Blooming Life Mountain side "After them! We cannot allow the elites of the Undying Flame Mountain to flee!"


    A mass of over a hundred people ran out of the Blooming Life Mountain encampment and chased after the fleeing Undying Flame Mountain disciples. The battlefield fell silent.


    Shi Furui looked over at Jack with wide eyes as he asked "How did you know they would do that?"


    Jack looked over at Shi Furui and asked "What would you do if you had the numerical advantage over the enemy on all fronts?"


    Shi Furui thought for a few seconds before he answered "I would divert a part of my forces from the fronts that I thought I could hold, and focus everything on the one where I could make a decisive victory as fast as possible."


    Jack shrugged his shoulders and looked up at the two major battles still happening above them as he said "I told you, these people consider themselves honorable deep down in their bones. Otherwise, why wouldn''t some of the combatants from the other battles come down and clean up this little skirmish in a few minutes?"


    He lowered his gaze and looked into Shi Furui''s uncertain eyes as he concluded "It would lose them a lot of face if they did something like that in front of their peers. Only when they finish their own fights will they deem it proper to interfere in the fights of the younger generations."


    Shi Furui''s eyes shined with understanding as he followed Jack on a walk down to the rubble of the guard houses, where Jack started rummaging through a collapsed wooden building.


    With a frown, he asked "What are you doing now? Don''t we need to go and seek negotiations with the enemy?"


    Jack remained silent for a few seconds before he exclaimed "Aha!" and pulled out a three-meter-long wooden pole from the ruble, and then the top part of the ceremonial uniform for the Gravediggers from his Star Bag.


    He tied the uniform around one end of the pole and propped it up in the air so it fluttered as he stated to a confused Shi Furui "We can''t start peace negotiations without a white flag." He smiled at the confused look in Shi Furui''s eyes as he started walking towards the main gates of the Undying Flame Mountain encampment.

 1.54 Peace and Death

    Jack walked up to the main gates of the encampment and nodded to the new person in charge of the Undying Flame Mountain disciples, the young man that guarded the rear or the encampment previously.


    "You ready, Kong Weilie?" Jack asked as he stopped in front of him.


    The young man, Kong Weilie, looked up at Jack''s white flag and answered "I am, but why are you carrying an Eternal Rest Mountain servant uniform tied to a stick on your shoulder?"


    Jack glanced up at his flag for a second, before looking down at Kong Weilie and saying "It''s a custom from where I come from to bring a white flag to a negotiation between hostile forces as a symbol of peace."


    Kong Weilie gave it a skeptical glance as he mumbled under his breath "Or they can take it as a symbol of death."


    Jack gave him a lopsided smile as he added "Hopefully both."


    Kong Weilie shrugged and turned to his two men that stood next to the gates. He gave a signal and the men imbued the gates with their spirit energy. A few seconds later, they started to open on their own.


    Once they walked out of the walled-off complex of guard houses, Jack gave the flag to Shi Furui to hold, while he took out a camouflaged cylinder out of his Star Bag and slid it into his left sleeve. He took a few metal balls in his hand and stored them in a pocket that he has sown in on the inside of his robes.


    Kong Weilie looked down at Jack''s waist for a second, before he looked at the strange item hidden in his sleeve and asked "What are you going to do with that?"


    Jack tapped the cylinder with his right hand affectionately as he answered "Protect myself from my enemies, of course."


    Kong Weilie gave a snort as he said "You must have something better in that Star Bag of yours." He gave Shi Furui a glance and added "Give him something too. I am not certain in my ability to protect you both with just my saber if things go wrong."


    Jack shrugged as he rejected the suggestion "Nah, I''m fine." He looked back at Shi Furui as he continued "You have¡­ what? Eight knives hidden in your uniform?" After Shi Furui nodded his head in confirmation Jack looked back at Kong Weilie with a smile and concluded "See, we might just have to protect you with your single saber."


    Kong Weilie gave Jack a bark of laughter in response as he said "Right, two grade four cultivators are going to protect a grade six one."


    They continued chatting until they reached the center of the vast no man''s land.


    Jack stepped up to the front of the group, pushed spirit energy into his lungs and vocal chords, and shouted "Disciple Sister Mai, can we have a talk?!" His voice spread out over the valley and reached the Blooming Life Mountain encampment.


    A minute later Shi Furui asked, "You sure that she''s there?"


    Jack glanced back at him, before turning to look at the silent enemy camp and giving a confident nod.


    Another minute passed and Kong Weilie asked "Should you try again?"


    Jack shook his head without even looking at Kong Weilie as he said "We must not look desperate."


    A few more minutes passed, just as Shi Furui and Kong Weilie started exchanging nervous glances, the gates of the Blooming Life Mountain encampment opened up and two people walked out of them together.


    Jack saw the familiar light green-clad figure of Mai Yining walking on the right, while next to her walked a teen in a deep blue robe, with a sword on his hip. He had a strong jaw and a fierce gaze, while he walked like the world belonged to him.


    "I don''t like the Slaughtering Sword School guy. Keep an eye on him." Jack muttered to his companions as he switched his gaze back to Mai Yining and studied her movements.


    On the outside, she looked confident and ready for anything; but as she neared their position Jack saw the uncertainty in her eyes and gave a slight sigh of relief on the inside. She focused her eyes on him and didn''t look away.


    Mai Yining and her companion stopped at a distance a little less than twenty meters away from Jack''s group. The teen started to talk as soon as they stopped advancing "We have come to hear out your terms of surrender, anything less will¡­"


    "Shut up! I didn''t ask for you to come, Slaughtering Sword School dog." Jack growled at the teen and turned his eyes back to the surprised Mai Yining.


    The teen didn''t react to the insult with anything more than a sneer as he said "I will not allow a young lady come out alone to negotiate with three enemies." He paused for a second and added "No matter how pathetic they look."


    Jack saw a flash of annoyance in Mai Yining''s eyes and struck as he addressed her "Sister Mai, would you please step to the side and talk about this with me?"


    "I will not allow you to¡­" the Slaughtering Sword School teen started, but Mai Yining''s eyes flashed with fury and she overrode his voice with her own as she said "Very well, Song Tanda. I will give you a few breaths of time to explain yourself to me."


    With that, she turned and covered a few hundred meters in a dozen seconds. She stopped at a distant spot and turned towards them. Jack gave her a lopsided grin and used Moon Step to chase after her, leaving the teen and his two companions to glare at each other.


    When he reached her, before he could say anything, she slapped him hard enough to make him dizzy for a second. He could have dodged the telegraphed slap, but he decided that he should let her have this one. He tasted blood in his mouth and spat it out to the side.


    Mai Yining had a flash of concern in her eyes, but it soon turned into anger as she tried to both yell and whisper at the same time "You lied to me!"


    Jack looked her straight into her angry eyes and said "I did not. When I met you I didn''t know that you were the daughter of the Blooming Life Mountain Peak Mistress. In fact, if I remember correctly, you lied to me and told me that she was just an Elder."


    Of course, Jack investigated all of the persons of interest that he came into contact with through old Long''s contacts. He decided to deepen his relationship with Mai Yining exactly because he found out that her mother ruled over one of the Sect''s five mountains. After Li Manning told him that only a few maps existed of the surrounding area, he felt certain that a Peak Mistress had to have one that''s up to date.


    A major reason that he decided to lead his people through the valley between the Undying Flame Mountain and the Blooming Life Mountain was that he had a couple of trump cards in the Young Master and the Young Mistress of the two mountains to use in case of trouble.


    He debated if he should take his people to the valley between the Undying Flame Mountain and the Unbreakable Rock Mountain, but he didn''t know how much pull Bi Xiongtuo would have outside of the outer disciple circles of his mountain.


    Mai Yining looked taken aback for a moment before she hissed "Why did you not tell me when you found out?"


    Jack shrugged as he said "I didn''t think it important. I guessed that you had your reasons to keep it a secret."


    Uncertainty swam in Mai Yining''s eyes once more as she looked around for something to grab onto while she talked "Then why are you here? I don''t believe that you just ended up here by accident." She finally spotted Shi Furui in the distance and continued as she pointed at him "And why is that animal still alive?"


    Jack''s eyes turned cold as he declared "I will not kill a friend just because someone wants me to do it." When he saw a hint of shame in her eyes he continued "I apologize for lying to you about that, I ordered him to do it and didn''t want you to figure out what I had them do."


    Mai Yining''s voice had disgust in it as she whispered "You made them to that barbaric thing?"


    Jack didn''t look away from her horrified gaze as he admitted "Yes. We lowly servants don''t have nice meridian diagrams to study so we can improve our cultivation practice faster. We can only do it the old-fashioned way."


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    Mai Yining covered her mouth with her hand as she argued "There must be a better way than mutilating corpses."


    Jack''s eyes narrowed as he said "Trust me; they''ve gone through far worse horrors way before they came to us. They wouldn''t have cared about that broken empty husk that they left behind." Jack had to ignore all the images of spirits that flashed through his head when he said that statement, but nothing showed on his face.


    Mai Yining''s brows furrowed as she asked "What do you mean?"


    Jack studied her for a few seconds before he spoke "Before I came to this Sect I had my ribs cracked, got almost suffocated, and missed a bonfire by only a tiny sliver just because I didn''t address a cultivator properly. What do you think happens to servants that have to interact with cultivators on a daily basis?"


    Mai Yining shook her head as she denied the accusations "That''s not true. We do punish servants when they misbehave, but we do not treat them cruelly."


    Jack''s face turned thunderous as he growled "Other people are not children for you to punish on a whim!" He took a deep breath to calm down when he saw a hint of fright in Mai Yining''s eyes and continued "Even you, you damaged the hearing of a few of my men and wanted one executed without even asking about their deeds. And you''re one of the better ones; some would have just executed the lot and told me later in passing."


    Mai Yining had a horrified look on her face for a second before she found a straw to grab a hold of and stated "You are a cultivator too. You cannot condemn us for what we do when you use the power and status that the position awards you too."


    Jack didn''t hesitate as he nodded his head and admitted "I am a hypocrite. I have long known this truth about myself. But even after all that I''ve gone through, I am a man first and a cultivator a distant second." He looked over his shoulder at the Undying Flame Mountain encampment and continued "That''s why when the attack started I took all the people that I could and led them through this valley in a desperate bid for safety."


    He looked back at Mai Yining with sadness in his eyes as he added "Who would have guessed that you would have betrayed us and left us trapped here."


    Mai Yining''s eyes beamed out hurt at Jack as she took a step closer to him and raised a hand in an instinctual attempt to touch him. Her hand halted just as it neared his chest, and she retracted it to her own as she whispered "I could not do anything about that. My mother decided that for the safety of all of the people of the Blooming Life Mountain we should work together with the Slaughtering Sword School."


    Jack looked down at her hand and gave a soft sigh as he asked "What about the safety of everyone else?" He pointed a finger at the distant Undying Flame Mountain encampment and continued "There are over five hundred people trapped behind those walls and their protectors left them. Most of them innocent families of cultivators that have no strength to do harm to anyone. Should they die for your safety?"


    Mai Yining''s pained eyes looked up into Jack''s steely ones as she whispered "I cannot do anything to help them. It took everything I had to prevent the Slaughtering Sword School from just coming out here and killing you."


    Jack placed a calming hand on her trembling shoulder and said "You could do exactly that, nothing."


    Mai Yining''s brows furrowed as she asked "What do you mean?"


    Jack took a step closer to her and answered "Just have your forces stay behind the walls of the guard houses when I lead the people out towards freedom. You don''t have to do anything else."


    Mai Yining''s eyes widened as she glanced at the teen from the Slaughtering Sword School before turning back to Jack and asked "What about them? I cannot direct them on what to do. He will chase you down and kill you."


    Jack glanced at the teen too and a small smirk formed on his lips as he said "I will take care of him."


    Mai Yining had a worried look in her eyes as she asked "Why do you not just surrender to me? I will make sure that as many innocent people as possible get sent to the Blooming Life Mountain''s care."


    Jack''s face turned serious as he looked down into her eyes and said "I would rather die a free man than live the rest of my life as a slave."


    As Mai Yining stood stunned by his proclamation, Jack bent down and kissed her forehead. While she still had a dazed look in her eyes he stepped back and glanced at the three waiting people in the center of the valley and said "We should go back or the Sword boy might worry."


    Mai Yining''s eyes cleared up as she focused on Jack''s lips for a second, and then looked up at his eyes with a reluctant gaze. She hesitated for a second, before nodding her head and saying "Yes, we should." She kept looking at Jack for a few more seconds and finally said "Do not die." before she turned and ran back to the center of the valley.


    Jack followed a second later, after he grasped a camouflaged cylinder in his right hand.


    As he came close to the gathering, he looked at the teen from the Slaughtering Sword School and started shouting at him "Hey you, Sword boy, I heard that every cultivator from the Slaughtering Sword School has to spend a passionate night with an animal every time he breaks through to a higher grade. How many animals have you bedded?"


    The teen in question looked at Jack in confusion as he started to say "What¡­"


    "Don''t be shy, Sword boy. I''ll understand if you weren''t able to do it with all of the animals. I hear that it happens more often than people think." Jack interrupted as he moved a few steps closer towards the teen.


    The Slaughtering Sword School teen''s face turned furious as he growled "Say another word and I will¡­"


    "You''ll what? Go find a Kui Ox to prove that you can do it with an animal any time you want?" Jack asked as he took another step towards the teen.


    A soft giggle sounded from the side, as Mai Yining held her hands over her mouth while she watched the exchange. Almost at the same moment, her eyes widened in horror as she realized what she had done, the Slaughtering Sword School teen''s face switched into a murderous calm as he charged towards Jack while drawing his sword out of its sheath, and Jack started rising his cylinder to his right shoulder.


    In a split second, the teen appeared in front of Jack and slashed his sword at his neck.


    Jack ignored the incoming sword as he held one end of the cylinder in a reverse grip, his thumb on the open end, and strands of spirit energy exited his clenched fingers and penetrated through the Deep Water Iron to form the Air Blast spell structure right behind the metal ball.


    As the sword flashed down towards him, Jack used his left hand to aim the cylinder towards the head of the attacking teen.


    Just before the glittering blade reached him, a fiery saber flashed in front of Jack and blocked the strike. Two spirit energies battled for supremacy for a moment, before they exploded into turbulent winds that rustled Jack''s hair, but couldn''t move his aim.


    With a mocking smirk on his lips, Jack unleashed the Air Blast spell and sent the metal ball flying out of the cylinder at almost the speed of sound.


    The Slaughtering Sword School teen''s forehead caved in and a splash of blood and brain matter exited through the back of his head.


    Everything froze as the corpse of the teen collapsed on his back, his eyes staring at the battles in the sky sightlessly.


    Jack calmly returned his cylinder back to his Star Bag, turned towards a stunned Mai Yining, gave her a wink, and said "Thanks for the assist, Yining. I''ll see you later."


    With that, he turned and sprinted with the Moon Step back towards the Undying Flame Mountain encampment. Shi Furui and Kong Weilie followed in his wake after they spent a second to stare at the dead teen.


    Their flag of both peace and death lay forgotten in the upturned earth.

 1.55 Hammer and Anvil

    Jack and his two companions reached the wall of the Undying Flame Mountain guard houses and jumped to its top. A few men had to catch Shi Furui before he flew over, but they all landed safely.


    Jack looked to the side where the preparations for the upcoming battle neared their conclusion and gave a slight nod to the painted face of Kuang Bindun who oversaw them.


    He moved his gaze to the back of the encampment, where the civilians gathered near the side-gates that lead towards the outside world, and smiled at the calm demeanor of the people.


    They lived with life and death as a constant in their lives. In his world, he would have to post a dozen soldiers to keep the people in check.


    Jack took a look over his shoulder and saw that Mai Yining had already returned to the Blooming Life Mountain walls. He smiled and jumped down to the encampment proper, where most of the cultivators sat in meditation to recover their spirit energy.


    He took a minute to check on his men, and when he felt satisfied with their camouflaged faces, started to change his clothes.


    Kong Weilie came over to the stripping Jack and whispered "Were we not just meant to provoke him into attacking?"


    Jack shrugged as he took out his camouflage uniform from his Star Bag and said "I didn''t like him. He seemed too competent an enemy to let live any longer. This way their rage will blind them."


    Kong Weilie nodded his head after a few seconds of contemplation. Just as he meant to ask a question about Jack''s weapon, Jack gave him his white Eternal Rest Mountain disciple robes, and a ceremonial uniform out of his Star Bag as he said "Go get ready, we need to start as soon as possible or they might cool down enough to start thinking again."


    With an affirmative grunt, Kong Weilie took the clothes in his hands and walked over to the disciples of the Undying Flame Mountain. He gave the clothes to two fourth grade disciples that had similar builds to Jack and Shi Furui, and who had their hair cut short in the last hour.


    Jack visited his men and gave them their camouflaged uniforms and their weapons back to change into. He also allowed Kuang Bindun to paint his and Shi Furui''s faces.


    Once he ended his preparations, he walked over to old Long who stood near the civilians and asked "You sure that you don''t want to join us?"


    Old Long snorted as he refused "I would rather go back to my store than do what you plan to." A second later his face turned serious as he added "Try to stay alive, boy."


    Jack gave him a smile as he said "I plan to, old man." He turned to the side to look at old Long''s assistants and his wounded man as he warned "I''m trusting you to take care of him, don''t let me down."


    He had allowed his man to use as much spirit energy as he needed to help with the healing, but things didn''t look too bright for his future while that sword still remained in his gut.


    When the assistants gave their promises, Jack walked away towards Tan Boli and his family and gave them the payment he promised. Tan Boli knew that he shouldn''t argue with Jack at a time like this, so he just took the coins and wished Jack the best of luck.


    Ten minutes later, when everything looked ready, Jack and Kong Weilie gave each other their best wishes and went their separate ways.


    Kong Weilie projected his voice out as much as he could as he roared "We disciples of the glorious Undying Flame Mountain will not die trapped like rats in this place! Move out towards freedom!" With that, the side gates of the encampment opened, allowing the disciples of the Undying Flame Mountain and the civilians in their care to start filing out of them.


    Jack nodded his head in satisfaction as he leaned back onto the solid rock of the main wall and looked up at the battle above them.


    Shi Furui asked from his side "Will it work?"


    Jack shrugged his shoulders as he said "Probably. They can''t just let them get away. And with the murderers of their leader in the fleeing group, they might just charge straight at them."


    Shi Furui kept staring at Jack for a second before he asked "What would you do?"


    Jack looked down at the children and wounded in the leaving group and said "Harry them from afar, make their dependents weigh them down so I could pick them off with ease."


    Shi Furui gave a slow nod of agreement as he came to his final point "What if they do that?"


    Jack looked into his friend''s dark eyes as he said "Then we use the chaos to make a break for it and leave them all behind. I will not risk you all on a suicide mission."


    Shi Furui gave a slight sigh of relief and leaned back on the wall.


    They watched the battle in the sky for a couple of minutes, before they heard a bellow come from the direction of the Blooming Life Mountain guard houses "Slaughtering Sword School disciples, follow me to avenge our Young Master!" A roar of approval greeted the command.


    Jack and his men stopped their short rest, and sneaked up to the walls to watch the happenings.


    A dozen seconds after the declaration from the Slaughtering Sword School side, Kong Weilie''s voice shouted out "Undying Flame Mountain! We will make our stand here and burn the Slaughtering Sword School dogs to ashes!" His declaration got some roars of approval too, but a lot more restrained ones.


    Jack peeked his head over the wall and watched the Undying Flame Mountain disciples arrange themselves into two lines of around a hundred people in each, about a hundred and fifty meters diagonally to his left. ''I hope this simple formation works.'' He thought as he watched the loose lines in which he instructed Kong Weilie to arrange his people in.


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    To his right, a disorganized mob of around three hundred people in dark blue robes charged across the upturned field of battle. Some of them ran a lot farther ahead than the bulk of the group, and some lagged behind a great distance.


    Jack shook his head at the poor discipline, and almost forgot to breathe as the distance between the two forces melted away.


    The first few people that charged forward from the Slaughtering Sword School halted their advance at around a hundred meters away from the Undying Flame Mountain''s disciples and fired off their slashing spells.


    Kong Weilie ordered his people to just defend from the few unthreatening incoming spells and, when more than twenty people reached the hundred meter mark, roared "Kill!"


    Within the span of two seconds, almost a hundred spells got shot out from the first line in their battle formation. Different shades of strangely shaped red-tinged spirit energy bombarded the around twenty scattered Slaughtering Sword School disciples.


    When the dust cleared, only seven of them survived, and most of them had burns on their bodies.


    That didn''t prevent the main mass of the Slaughtering Sword School disciples to charge past their wounded compatriots with added fury.


    Right after firing their spells, the first row of the Undying Flame Mountain disciples rushed to the back under Kong Weilie''s urging, and the second row stepped up to take their place.


    As soon as they did, they finished their previously prepared spells and let them fly on the incoming enemy.


    After finishing casting their spells, the front row tried to move back, while the back row tried to move forward, but a rain of spells came out of the cloud of dust and smoke in front of them, and cut down some of the Undying Flame Mountain disciples.


    A few people fired off spells in response before the rest of them could, and things turned chaotic for a second.


    Bai Maolong looked at Jack with excitement in his eyes and asked "Now?"


    Jack shook his head as he studied the fighting and said "Not yet."


    Kong Weilie managed to rally his people after a few seconds and had them fire off another volley of spells.


    The return spells from the Slaughtering Sword School disciples reaped a few more lives from the Undying Flame Mountain lines and collapsed them altogether.


    Kong Weilie couldn''t hold it any longer as he roared "Attack!" and charged at the incoming Slaughtering Sword School disciples with his saber in-hand.


    Some of the Undying Flame Mountain disciples joined him, while some fell back and fired off more spells at the enemies.


    Bai Maolong looked like he wanted to run out there on his own as he asked "Now?!"


    Jack gave him a sidelong glance, stood up, and said "Now!"


    As soon as he stood up, everyone in his unit started to fill their empty dantians with spirit energy through their skin. They picked up a rock from one of the many piles arranged previously on the wall and placed them in their slingshots.


    Only Jack had a camouflaged cylinder on his shoulder as he took aim at the back lines of the Slaughtering Sword School disciples.


    When two whistles rang out from his left and his right, he shouted "Fire!" and twenty imbued rocks, and one deadly metal ball, rushed towards the unsuspecting Slaughtering Sword School disciples.


    The metal ball grazed the shoulder of the disciple that Jack aimed for, so he saw the incoming twenty rocks land around him when he turned around on instinct. He looked at the unassuming rocks with confusion, and only when he saw a tiny crack on one of them did he opened his mouth to shout "Look o¡­"


    Before he could finish his warning, the rocks exploded and slammed into the unprotected backs of the Slaughtering Sword School disciples. A few unlucky ones even had shrapnel lodge itself in their necks or heads and died or lay dying.


    As the confused Slaughtering Sword School disciples turned around to look who attacked them, they saw new rocks flying towards them.


    A few warnings sounded out, but most of it got drowned out by the clamor of the battle, one of the shouting disciples even had his jaw shot off by something.


    By the fourth volley of rocks, the disciples in the back lines gave up on warning the frenzied fighters in the front and, almost through looks alone, decided to charge at the Undying Flame Mountain guard houses'' protective wall.


    Jack took down the first person that started to look like he planned to charge at them, his third hit of the battle, and shouted "Retreat and go dark!"


    The eight of them in the fourth grade stayed on the wall for a second longer, just enough to push all of their spirit energy into the gathered piles of rocks, and then jumped down and ran to hide in the rubble of the guard houses.


    Even before some of them managed to hide behind cover, almost a dozen Slaughtering Sword School disciples jumped up to the top of the wall and looked at them like wolves look at sheep.


    The young man in the lead started saying "Just a few fourth grade nobodies." He turned towards the others on the wall and said "Brothers, let''s go and¡­"


    Before he could finish his sentence, the masses of rock on the walls exploded and flayed the backs of the Slaughtering Sword School disciples.


    Jack had a cold smirk on his face as he watched the twitching bodies his victims, and only drew back into the darkness when more people jumped to the top of the wall.

 1.56 Chaotic Assault

    Jack counted ten new people on the top of the wall. ''Should be the last of those from the back line that decided to charge at us.'' Jack thought after no more Slaughtering Sword School disciples arrived to back them up.


    The ten dark-blue robed young men looked at the bloody bodies of their fellow disciples in shock. They saw the large explosion of stone fragments from beneath the wall, but they didn''t expect it to do so much damage.


    One young man squatted next to one of the bodies and called out "A few of them still breathe, but they could bleed out any moment now." He looked up at the oldest looking young man of the group and asked "Should we take them away to get some help, Disciple Brother Wang?"


    Disciple Brother Wang looked down at the defeated disciples of the Slaughtering Sword School with disgust in his eyes as he said "No need, they got tricked by some low grade cultivators, they deserve no less."


    The rest of the group remained silent as they kept giving the dark ruins cautious glances.


    Disciple Brother Wang stepped out to the edge of the wall and looked out over the crumbled guard houses with a sneer as he shouted "You cannot hide from me, little rats." With a single step forward, he dropped down to the ground level and walked to stand in front of the rubble. The rest of the group followed behind him.


    He unsheathed his sword and held it up in a ready position. A second later, numerous sigils lit up from the handle up to the tip of the sword. Disciple Brother Wang waited for a second for the spirit energy to build up, and then executed a horizontal slash at the height of around a meter and a half.


    The silvery spirit energy flashed out in an arc from where his sword passed, and forward for about hundred meters. All of the obstacles in the way of the slash couldn''t stop it from continuing on; it just cut straight through the rocks and wood like a hot knife through butter.


    Disciple Brother Wang waited for a few seconds, before preparing his sword once more and slashing it out in a horizontal arc at a meter and twenty centimeters in height. The slashing spirit energy passed through all obstructions once more but still found nothing.


    With a frown on his face, Disciple Brother Wang got into position for the last time and executed his slash at a height of just under a meter. Once more he struck nothing.


    Disciple Brother Wang took a few deep breaths to steady his spirit energy and looked to the intact buildings in the back of the encampment with suspicion.


    Just as he started considering whether he should rush forward and attack them, a Slaughtering Sword School disciple asked "Disciple Brother Wang, maybe they ran away?"


    After giving it a second of thought, Disciple Brother Wang shook his head and said "They had no time. I doubt that they could have even made it over to those few houses in the back. I am sure that they are hiding somewhere in this rubble."


    No one from the other Slaughtering Sword School disciples argued his conclusion so Disciple Brother Wang looked over his shoulder and ordered "Split up and search for them." He turned back to look at the rubble-strewn encampment and added "We will meet up near those houses."


    The Slaughtering Sword School disciples gave each other concerned looks, but they listened and each took a different path through the rubble.


    It just so happened that only eight paths lead through the rubble, so Disciple Brother Wang had the young man that checked on the bodies join him and had another duo of friends take a different route together.


    Jack lay in the fresh earth, which hundreds of people and some spiritual attacks created during the night, without moving. Even when those terrifying waves of spirit energy passed over his head a couple of minutes ago, he didn''t move a muscle.


    When he tuned out all of the other noises of the world, he could just hear the light sounds of steps nearing his position. With a look from the corner of his eye, he saw his accomplice imitating him on the other side of the two-meter wide path.


    He stuffed all of his worries for his friends to the back of his mind and concentrated his entire being on the incoming steps.


    Just as the steps came up to two meters away from Jack''s position, a scream rang out through the night from a position a few houses to their left side, and then another one almost at the same time from the right side.


    The young man stopped and looked in the directions of the screams in fright. He opened his mouth to shout something but, just at that moment; a horrible pain that insisted on his immediate attention came from his left heel.


    Jack used the distractions of the two screams to quickly crawl forward and stab his left-hand knife through the Slaughtering Sword School disciple''s left Achilles tendon. His accomplice followed just half a second behind him and stabbed his right-hand knife through the right Achilles tendon.


    The young man from the Slaughtering Sword School collapsed in a scream of agony. He tried to raise a hand up to cast a spell, but both Jack and his helper crawled up his body and stabbed him repeatedly on their way up. Jack put an end to his misery with a stab through the eye.


    When the rush of a life and death struggle left him; Jack heard multiple screams from all around him and even a couple of crashes from spells.


    ''S*it, we tried to make the kill zones as close to each other in timing as possible, but you can never know for sure with something like this.'' Jack cursed in his head as he jumped to his feet and started to absorb the spirit energy through his skin.


    He and his helper started running towards a hidden shortcut they left for quick reinforcements. He didn''t dare use the Moon Step in these confined conditions while he had so little experience in it so he just kept accumulating spirit energy and took out his Deep Water Iron cylinder as he ran.


    Once he ran out to the next street over, he froze for a split second as he started at the four bodies that lay on the floor and one young man that sat with his back to the wall of a ruined building while he tried to patch up the wound on his heel.


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    They noticed each other at the same time, the young man started to raise a hand up into the air, but Jack reacted quicker and raised his cylinder to his shoulder. A soft *thump* sounded out as the young man''s chest exploded in a bloody mess.


    The Slaughtering Sword School disciple looked down at the hole in his chest in shock as his arm lost the power to resume its movements and fell down to his side. After a second he looked back up and saw the dark hole of a metal cylinder pointing at his head.


    After another soft *thump*, the young man''s blood painted the wall behind his head dark red.


    Jack''s helper arrived just in time to witness the execution of the Slaughtering Sword School''s disciple. A second later, he cried out as he saw the three friends he went through life and death with and ran to fall to his knees next to them.


    Jack looked down at the dead bodies of Shen Saishuo and his two assistants and allowed himself a second of grief. When the second passed, he grabbed his helper by the uniform and dragged him up as he growled "To your feet soldier! There are living people we have to take care of now; you will have time to mourn later."


    With that, he turned around and ran into a shortcut for the next alley over.


    Just as he reached the next alley and only found a dead Slaughtering Sword School disciple, a voice yelled from the other side of the encampment "Slaughtering Sword School, withdraw back to the wall, now!"


    Jack recognized the voice as the arrogant one that threatened them before the fight began. He immediately decided to give up on checking out the other paths and started sprinting towards the outer wall while using Moon Step for short bursts of speed.


    A few seconds later, when he reached the area where he could see over the rubble, he saw a single Slaughtering Sword School disciple with a sigil etched sword waiting in front of the wall.


    When the Slaughtering Sword School disciple saw Jack, he frowned for a moment, and then took a ready position with his sword.


    As the sigils on the sword started lighting up, Jack''s eyes widened in shock and he pushed spirit energy into his lungs and vocal chords to scream out "Everybody down!"


    Jack didn''t listen to his own warning, as he sped up the pulses of the Moon Step and jumped up through the air at the moment that the Slaughtering Sword School disciple swung his sword.


    The cold ray of slashing spirit energy passed just under Jack''s feet and continued through the destroyed houses. In the back of his mind, Jack registered two screams of pain at almost the same instant, but he ignored them as his leap carried him straight towards the sword-wielding young man.


    During his short flight, he aimed the Deep Water Iron cylinder down at the young man and fired off a metal ball.


    It whizzed past the left ear of the young man and made his arrogant face turn serious.


    Jack landed around five meters away from the young man and readied another shot as the young man charged at him.


    At a three meter distance, the young man managed to divert the fired metal ball with his sword just as it neared his chest. His face took on a sinister smirk as he closed in on Jack and rose his sword up to slash at his neck.


    Jack didn''t have time to go for another shot so he judged where the sword was going to strike and barred its path with the Deep Water Iron cylinder.


    Even this super tough metal could only halt the swing of the sword for a moment, before a couple of sigils lit up on the sword and cut straight through.


    Although the Slaughtering Sword School young man managed to cut through Jack''s weapon, he couldn''t change the direction that his swing took his body in after the collision.


    The sword slashed a diagonal red line across Jack''s torso, from his right shoulder to his left hip, a couple of centimeters deep. It stung like hell, but Jack didn''t care as a glint of madness shone in his eyes because he decided to throw all caution to the wind and started operating the Chaotic Hawk Assault technique.


    Immediately, he started to feel the familiar and unfamiliar sigils brand themselves on his muscles, tendons, ligaments, and bones.


    The young man from the Slaughtering Sword School was still in his broken slashing down movement, so he couldn''t do anything as Jack''s left knee rose up and slammed right under his ribs.


    Sounds of bones breaking rang out as the young man''s body rose up to the tips of his toes from the blow.


    Jack could feel his thigh bone and his knee ligaments snap from the impact, but he ignored the pain as he gritted his teeth and launched himself up while breaking the toes of his right leg.


    His powerful right knee connected with the chin of the young man from the Slaughtering Sword School.


    Jack felt more bones snap in his right leg as he saw the body of the enemy disciple lift up from the ground and fly away two meters.


    As soon as he landed his second strike, Jack stopped operating the Chaotic Hawk Assault technique and crashed down to the ground in horrible pain.


    It took him a second to fight through the dizziness caused by the pain and the enormous spirit energy exhaustion that the Chaotic Hawk Assault caused.


    He looked up towards the fallen young man and saw fluttering eyelids that threatened to open any second now.


    Jack almost broke his teeth as he fought through the pain and dragged himself towards the unconscious enemy with his arms.


    Just as the Slaughtering Sword School disciple''s eyes snapped open with a hint of confusion in them, Jack pressed the sword-sharpened end of his Deep Water Iron cylinder half under the young man''s jaw and pushed with all the strength that he had left in him.


    The young man''s skin resisted for a moment, but in the end, gave way. Jack pushed the sharp half of the cylinder all the way up until it scraped the top of young man''s skull.


    After a few jerky twitches, the last of the Slaughtering Sword School''s disciples that attacked them died.


    Jack looked into his empty eyes with a sigh of relief and allowed the exhaustion and pain to take him to the land of dreams as he heard multiple people call out his name in panic.

 1.57 Jack Song

    A fist slammed into Jack''s left kidney. He almost doubled over, but the hunger and thirst kept him focused enough to move in close to his opponent and lock his hands on his skinny neck.


    The middle-aged man kept punching his body, as Jack placed a leg behind the man''s feet and used his bodyweight to bring them both to the ground.


    Jack slammed onto the smaller man and started squeezing. A dozen seconds of frantic struggling later, Jack loosened his grip and stumbled back up to his feet.


    The crowd around the ring gave out cheers and boos, depending on who they bet their money on.


    Jack ignored them and used the corded rope to drag his weary body out of the bloody pit.


    The officer in charge gave him a wide grin and nodded for the guards to take him back to his cage.


    On the way back, they took him to a foul-smelling pit where he could do his business for the day.


    Jack''s red stream joined in with the rest of the filth in the pit. He felt no surprise at seeing it anymore; he hadn''t felt surprised at much for a few weeks now.


    When he finished, he listened to the guards'' orders and walked towards the squat building where they kept the prisoners.


    Once he got there, the guards opened his cage and Jack went in without protest. After locking him up, the guards took a different prisoner with them and left.


    He sat down with his head bent and had a few bites of the stale bread that they gave him in the morning. He didn''t want to overdo it, or the thirst would drive him mad until dusk when they came to water them for the night.


    While chewing, he looked around the dark room. A lot of the once full cages now had no one in them.


    Jack''s eyes stopped on the man that taught him his first lesson in the pit and nodded his head.


    When he swallowed his dry meal, Jack coughed a few times and asked "How much fight you got left in you, Mike?"


    The man, Mike, studied Jack''s battered face for a couple of seconds, before saying "More than you, Jack."


    Jack gave him a bloody smile as he said "Wanna put some money on it?"


    Mike''s brows rose in slight surprise as he asked "What do you have in mind?"


    Jack thought about it for a second, before saying "The first one that dies owes the survivor a thousand bucks."


    Mike gave out a bark of laughter as he countered with "Why not make it a million?"


    Jack nodded his head without hesitation as he confirmed with "Deal!"


    A few people in the room chuckled at their antics, but most of them just tried to get as much rest as possible.


    Even Jack and Mike hunkered down to rest after their short exchange.


    As the Sun started setting, the two guards came back with a beaten-down man and unlocked Jack''s cage to lead him to his last fight of the day.


    Just as Jack straightened out to his full height, a loud siren started blasting out a warning cry.


    Everyone froze for a second, and then one of the guards ran out to see what happened.


    ''That''s an air raid siren.'' Jack thought as he looked up at the low ceiling of the room. A second later, his eyes turned cold and he slammed his elbow into the face of the second guard.


    The guard''s nose broke with a satisfying *crunch* from the surprise attack. As he took a couple of steps back his finger squeezed on the trigger of his rifle by instinct and fired off a dozen rounds.


    Jack followed the stumbling guard and tackled him to the ground. He ignored the burning pain in his side as he kept slamming his bloody fists in his face.


    When the guard stopped moving, Jack took the rifle from his hands and turned towards the door.


    A few seconds later, the other guard returned with an alarmed look on his face. He just opened his mouth to shout something, when a burst of rifle-fire shredded his torso.


    Jack glanced down at his bleeding side but decided to ignore it as he started to rifle through the pockets of the dead guards.


    When he found the keys to the cages, he turned to Mike''s cage first and opened it after a few tries.


    Jack''s eyesight turned blurry as he handed the keys over to Mike and said "I guess you win."


    With that, he crumpled to the floor and the world around him collapsed.


    Jack felt horrible pain from both of his legs as he blinked his crusted-over eyes open with a soft groan.


    "He''s awake! Tanda''s awake!" some bastard shouted as the stretcher on which Jack lay jolted and sent waves of pain running through his legs.


    "Stop!" Jack growled through his gritted teeth.


    A second later, the two carriers stopped moving and lowered the stretcher down on a patch of soft grass with great care.


    Jack wiped away the grime from his eyes as he squinted at the bright-green canopy of a forest.


    Soon, his view got blocked by the gathered grinning faces of his friends.


    Jack scanned the happy faces with a practiced glance and croaked out "How many did we lose?"


    The faces lost their mirth, and a solemn Kuang Bindun said "Eight, Bi Tuohui and Shen Saishuo among them."


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    Everyone fell silent for a few seconds, and then Ma Ruiman piped up with "But you avenged them all, Tanda." A few quick nods confirmed his statement.


    ''So the young man with the sword killed Bi Tuohui''s squad.'' Jack thought in a cold part of his mind as the rest of him spaced out for a while.


    Almost a minute later his eyes refocused back on Ma Ruiman as he said "Call me Jack. That''s my real name. Tanda was just something that my adoptive family named me. I''ll respect them and take their last name, but in my original culture a person''s name goes before his family name." He looked up at all of his friends as he concluded "From now on call me Jack Song."


    Most of them looked down at him with confusion for a second, and Shi Furui finally asked what all of them wanted to know "Why tell us this now, Ta¡­ Jack?"


    With a tired sigh Jack looked up towards the tree canopy, but his eyes looked into the past as he said "I used the name Song Tanda as a cover so that I wouldn''t attract too much attention in the Sect. Because of that eight of my friends died without even knowing the name of the person that brought them to their deaths." He focused his gaze back on Shi Furui and continued "I can''t tell you some things about myself, yet. But I can at least tell you my real name."


    Kuang Bindun''s face turned dark as he admonished "What are you talking about? Without you, we would have all died in that wretched place anyway. At least we can die as free men now."


    His statement gained a lot of nodding and statements of support from the rest.


    Jack sighed after a few seconds of that and gave in to his friends "Fine, you''ve made your point." But he knew that his dreams wouldn''t let him forget it, and he didn''t mind.


    His brow furrowed a second later as he asked "Why have all of you stopped everything to stare down at me? Go secure the perimeter! Haven''t I taught you anything?"


    Most of the men chuckled at his faux outrage and walked away to give him some privacy. Only Kuang Bindun and Shi Furui stayed. They sat down next to Jack''s two sides and waited for his questions.


    Jack released a long breath in response to a stab of pain from his legs. A few seconds later he looked to his two closest friends and said "Report."


    Shi Furui and Kuang Bindun exchanged glances, and then Shi Furui started talking "After you passed out we rounded up all of the men and took care of the wounded. A few of us went up to the wall to finish off the still alive enemies and to watch the battle between the Undying Flame Mountain and the Slaughtering Sword School."


    Kuang Bindun jumped in and continued "It looked close for a while, but in the end, the Slaughtering Sword School disciples didn''t want to risk their lives to seize the victory. Kong Weilie and his men just had more to fight for so they managed to make the Slaughtering Sword School disciples run away in defeat."


    Shi Furui added "After that, we joined up with Kong Weilie and ran away from the Sect as fast as possible."


    Jack''s face relaxed as he asked "How long was I out?"


    His friends exchanged glances and Kuang Bindun said "This is the fourth day. We borrowed some special herbs from old Long and kept you asleep until we found a safe place to straighten your legs."


    Shi Furui added with a frown "You have numerous breaks and fractures in both of your legs. I hope that the recovery method you got from the Martial Hall works as well as you said it does or you won''t be able to walk for at least half a year."


    Jack took in the news without a change in his expression; he knew what he risked when he used the Chaotic Hawk Assault. A few months of pain meant nothing when measured against the lives of his friends.


    He nodded his head in acceptance and asked "Where are the Undying Flame Mountain disciples and the civilians now?" He couldn''t hear any of the noises that hundreds of people would make if they just stayed at a spot.


    Shi Furui hesitated, but a second later he straightened his back and said "I decided that we had better chances of survival if we split away from them. If the Slaughtering Sword School decides to pursue after they''re done with the Sect, then they will go for the larger target."


    Jack studied his friend''s tense face for a few seconds before a smile spread across his face as he said "Good job, Furui. I would have done the same thing."


    Kuang Bindun cleared his throat from the side as he added "Well, we did take old Long and his assistants, and Tan Boli and his family with us."


    Jack''s smile didn''t disappear as they thought it would, he only gave out a light sigh and said "That''s fine. They have their uses and we have enough supplies to support them."


    They continued to talk about the small details of supplies and paths taken for the next fifteen minutes.


    "Food''s ready!" A woman''s voice shouted out from the distance and interrupted their discussion.


    Both Kuang Bindun and Shi Furui got to their feet in an instant and went to get some food for Jack.


    He, on the other hand, closed his eyes in exhaustion and drifted off to sleep.

 Volume 1 Glossary

    *WARNING* Spoilers for Volume 1 of Cultivating Civilization ahead, read at your own peril!


    If you think that I missed something, or that I should correct something, please let me know. I will answer any questions that you have in the comments.


    Characters (in order of appearance):


    Jack Nash/Song Tanda ¨C Jack was a grandfather, an army veteran, and a cyber-security expert. He spent the later years of his life taking care of his grandson, doing research on anything that interested him via the internet, and fishing.


    After a heart attack, he got abducted from the River of Souls by a cultivator and sealed into a spirit puppet. He managed to escape the spirit puppet and found a baby''s body to inhabit.


    For the next eight years, he spent learning the local language and customs of his new world. After cultivators destroyed his village and killed his family, he got abducted to a Sect to act as a servant to one of the Elders because he could see spirit energy even without doing any cultivation.


    In the Sect, he discovered how to cultivate and invented his own cultivation method and ways of looking at the whole process of cultivation. Over the next year and a half, he managed to get to the position of a personal disciple to the Elder that he served, and to the leadership position of his own unit of men.


    When enemies attacked the Sect, he took the chance and led his people in an attempt for freedom.


    Bai Xiatuo ¨C the cultivator that abducted Jack and an Elder of a powerful Sect. He had a deadly grudge against his brother over a Senior Sister and decided to go hunt him down. His brother killed him after he launched a sneak attack.


    Bai Shetai ¨C the brother of Bai Xiatuo, a rouge cultivator. He killed his brother when he realized that he had no other option. Later in the story, people from their previous Sect come to hunt him down in the Sect where Jack lives. He went there to try to heal the injury that his brother''s last vicious attack did.


    Lieutenant ¨C Jack''s commanding officer from his time in the army. He''s willing to do anything to get the job done as fast as possible. He appears in Jack''s flashbacks.


    Song Fengtian ¨C Jack''s father in the new world. He''s a strict, but fair, person that likes to follow the rules and loves his family. Cultivators from the Slaughtering Sword School killed him when they came to their village.


    Su Meimu ¨C Jack''s mother in the new world. She loves her children and takes care of them, but also respects the traditions of her elders. Cultivators from the Slaughtering Sword School killed her when they came to their village.


    Kong Ganrong ¨C Jack''s grandmother and Su Meimu''s mother in the new world. She''s an old shrew that thinks that she doesn''t get enough respect from her family. Due to her belief in many folktales, she can be unpredictable. Cultivators from the Slaughtering Sword School killed her when they came to their village.


    Song Aolie ¨C Jack''s oldest brother in the new world. He''s a dutiful son that respects his parents and acts as a role model for his siblings. He moved out, got married, and had a son while Jack was still little. Cultivators from the Slaughtering Sword School killed him when they came to their village.


    Song Fenlan ¨C Jack''s oldest sister in the new world. She''s a pretty and proper young lady that got married to an abuser in a different village. Once she got pregnant, she ran back home in fear that her husband would kill the baby. In the end, she protected her abuser when Jack wanted to kill him. Cultivators from the Slaughtering Sword School killed her when they came to their village.


    Song Yasin ¨C Jack''s second oldest brother in the new world. He''s a playful teen that likes to laze around and do as little as possible. Cultivators from the Slaughtering Sword School killed him when they came to their village.


    Song Yuening ¨C Jack''s second oldest sister in the new world. She''s a rebellious teen that doesn''t want to follow in her older sister''s footsteps but loves her family fiercely. Cultivators from the Slaughtering Sword School killed her when they came to their village.


    Kong Nuanken ¨C the Village Chief of Jack''s village. He''s the cousin of Jack''s grandmother and the most knowledgeable person in the village. After Jack bugged him, he taught Jack how to read some of the basic words. Cultivators from the Slaughtering Sword School killed him when they came to their village.


    Shi Nugao - Song Aolie''s wife. She moved from a neighboring village to come and live in Jack''s. She and Jack''s oldest brother and had a son. Cultivators from the Slaughtering Sword School killed her when they came to their village.


    Song Farong - Song Aolie''s and Shi Nugao''s son, and Jack''s nephew. He''s only a couple of years younger than Jack so they became good friends. Jack taught him some survival and exercise methods. He followed Jack out of the village when the cultivators from the Slaughtering Sword School massacred their village. His location is unknown.


    Shen Xianshu ¨C the Village Chief''s grandson, and Jack''s friend. He''s a couple of years older than Jack, but he learned to follow Jack''s lead. Jack taught him some survival and exercise methods. Cultivators from the Slaughtering Sword School killed him when they came to their village.


    Hao Tiankai ¨C Song Fenlan''s abusive husband. Jack crippled him in an attempt to kill him after Jack found out what he did to Song Fenlan. Cultivators from the Slaughtering Sword School killed him when they came to their village.


    Feng Furui ¨C leader of the cultivators from the Slaughtering Sword School that exterminated the people from Jack''s village. He got killed in a fight over a treasure with Mai Younu later in the day.


    Mai Younu ¨C the Young Master of the Undying Flame Mountain branch of the Endless Cycle Sect. He took Jack to the Sect to be a servant to Elder Yu. Later on, he helped to lead off the more powerful enemy disciples away so that Jack could attempt to fight through the blockade of the Sect.


    Xie Mannu ¨C the personal servant of Mai Younu. He tormented Jack when he first met him. Later on, he assists in leading the enemy disciples away so that Jack could attempt to fight through the blockade of the Sect.


    Yu Ouli ¨C an Elder of the Eternal Rest Mountain branch of the Endless Cycle Sect. He runs the Gravediggers and became Jack''s master, and then later his teacher. He experiments on spirits and can turn violent as soon as something that displeases him occurs. Right before the enemies attacked the Sect he escaped.


    Du Angliang ¨C a personal disciple of Elder Yu and a Senior Brother to all Gravediggers. He respects the law of the fist so he tormented Jack because of his ability to see spirit energy without any effort. Later on, he started to admire Jack''s work ethic. He went to train to the back mountain of the Eternal Rest Mountain before the enemies attacked.


    Kuang Bindun ¨C one of the Gravediggers. He helped Jack when Jack arrived in the unit and became good friends. Jack trusted him enough to start teaching him English and his cultivation technique first. He became the English teacher for the entire unit and one of two of Jack''s right-hand men.


    Shi Furui ¨C one of the Gravediggers. Jack saved his life when Jack accidentally imbued a rock and made it explode. He is quite smart and is Jack''s most well-rounded friend. He takes over command when Jack isn''t is around and is one of two of Jack''s right-hand men.


    Bi Tuohui ¨C one of the Gravediggers. He had the strongest cultivation base in the Gravediggers when Jack hired him as a bodyguard. He died during their attempt at flight from the Endless Cycle Sect.


    Old Long ¨C a humble merchant and owner of the Golden Dragon Store. His greed knows no bounds and he even tried to rob Jack when they first met. Jack uses his connections to buy food and supplies for the Gravediggers. Later on, he joins Jack in an attempt of running away from the Sect.


    Old Long''s Assistants ¨C old Long has three assistants who Jack beats up when they try to rob him. He damages one''s knee, gives one mild brain damage, and breaks the teeth of their leader. Later on, they follow after old Long in an attempt of running away from the Sect.


    Yin Ping ¨C one of the Gravediggers. Kuang Bindun selects him as the right person for the job of producing slingshots for Jack''s group. He''s a very curious and intelligent person who likes to experiment with things.


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    Bai Maolong ¨C one of the Gravediggers. Kuang Bindun selects him to join in with Jack''s training when they first start it. His family used to run a martial arts temple, but it got destroyed. He used to be lazy, but Jack beat it out of him and reignited his love for martial arts. Now he leads the martial arts practice of Jack''s group.


    Shen Saishuo ¨C one of the Gravediggers. He used to make trouble for Jack, but after he received an offer that he couldn''t refuse, he agreed to become Jack''s second bodyguard. He died during their attempt at flight from the Endless Cycle Sect.


    Tan Boli ¨C a blacksmith that Jack hires to make Deep Water Iron cylinders and metal balls. He and his sons are quite good at working with metals. Later on, he takes his wife and two sons and joins Jack in an attempt of running away from the Sect.


    Li Manning ¨C an outer disciple of the Vast Sky Mountain and the librarian of the Endless Cycle Sect''s General Library. He helps Jack with his search for information about sigils. Later on, Jack kills him to get the contents of the library before he runs away from the Sect.


    Bi Xiongtuo ¨C an outer disciple of the Unbreakable Rock Mountain and the master of the Endless Cycle Sect''s Martial Hall. He helps Jack in looking for martial arts that would suit him and offers Jack the opportunity to join the Unbreakable Rock Mountain if he wanted.


    Mai Yining ¨C the direct disciple of her mother, Mei Fenhua, and the Young Mistress of the Blooming Life Mountain. Jack takes her favorite reading spot, so they have a wager on a song from Earth. After she loses she begs Jack to teach her the song in exchange for helping him with his research. Jack tricks her into giving him the map to the local area that her mother had. When the Sect gets attacked, she betrays it together with her mother but doesn''t pursue Jack in his escape attempt.


    Fan Aolan ¨C an Elder from the same Sect as Bai Xiatuo. He comes to take revenge for the murder of Bai Xiatuo and attacks the Endless Cycle Sect where his murderer, Bai Shetai, is hiding. The Sect Leader of the Endless Cycle Sect engages him in combat and they both disappear into the horizon.


    Ma Ruiman ¨C one of the Gravediggers. He''s a friendly guy that likes to talk a lot. Out of all the people that weren''t in Jack''s inner circle, only he managed to break through to the fourth grade of Spirit Accumulation.


    Kong Weilie ¨C the leader of the outer disciples of the Undying Flame Mountain. He and Jack worked together to break through the blockade of their Sect.


    Places (in order of appearance):


    Raging Ox village ¨C the village in which Jack reincarnated. It got burned down on the day that cultivators had a fight over a treasure in it.


    Koray ¨C the larger of the two moons. It always goes from the North to the South.


    Endless Cycle Sect ¨C the Sect to which Jack got abducted. It consists of five mountains that form a circle around a beautiful lake. Each mountain has its own Peak Master and specialties. It got invaded and gave Jack an opportunity to flee.


    Eternal Rest Mountain ¨C the mountain to which Jack got assigned. Its disciples and Elders specialize in spiritual attacks and anything that has a connection to death. Its Peak Master tried to help Bai Shetai with his festering wound and fought the invaders and traitors together with Bai Shetai.


    Tranquil Lake Town ¨C a town on the shore of the Tranquil Lake in the middle of the Endless Cycle Sect. It houses most of the Sect''s servants and civilians. It also offers various leisure establishments for the Sect''s disciples to enjoy. Each branch of the Sect has an office in it through which they do business with each other.


    Golden Dragon Store ¨C the store that belongs to old Long. It looks ready to crumble, but somehow still stays standing and allows for a lot of shady deals.


    Undying Flame Mountain ¨C the mountain that specializes in explosive attacks and anything connected to fire. Its Peak Master got ambushed and hurt during the attack on the Endless Cycle Sect.


    Library ¨C the general library that the Endless Cycle Sect''s disciples can use to learn about cultivation. It has a bottom floor on which general knowledge is stored, and a top floor on which more advanced knowledge is kept.


    Vast Sky Mountain ¨C the mountain that specializes in invisible and air-based attacks and anything connected to air. Its Peak Master betrayed the Sect during the attack on it.


    Martial Hall ¨C the place in the Endless Cycle Sect where disciples can come to learn basic and intermediate body based cultivation techniques.


    Unbreakable Rock Mountain ¨C the mountain that specialized in body-based cultivation techniques and attacks. Its Peak Master helped the Undying Flame Peak Master when he got ambushed.


    Blooming Life Mountain ¨C the mountain that specializes in sound and nature attacks and anything connected to nature. Its Peak Master betrayed the Sect and ambushed the Undying Flame Peak Master.


    Slaughtering Sword School ¨C the cultivation School that attacked the Endless Cycle Sect. Its disciples focus on blades and weapon based attacks.


    Anything Related to Cultivation:


    Jack''s cultivation technique ¨C a technique developed by Jack when he realized that he could use the meridians in his skin to absorb the spirit energy from the air without having to focus on the traditional way of sitting down to cultivate. He used a lot of the knowledge he brought from Earth to figure out how spirit energy worked.


    Air Blast Spell ¨C the spell that Jack picked from the Spell Pagoda. It concentrates air and shoots it out in a way and direction that the user wants. Jack uses it to fire off metal balls through a cylinder to emulate an air gun.


    Sigils ¨C the things cultivators use to help them form their spells. Various combinations of sigils can produce various effects. Even the same combination of sigils can produce different results depending on the cultivators intent and their understanding of the sigil.


    Beast Recovery Method ¨C a body recovery method that Jack learned in the Martial Hall. The user has to inject his spirit energy into his bloodstream to increase the recovery speed of his body by a large amount.


    Oxen Rush Punch ¨C a basic punch that uses spirit energy to improve the user''s punching strength. It wastes a lot of spirit energy but can produce a strong result. Jack bought it from old Long for a high price and later found out that he could have easily learned it for free in the Martial Hall.


    Moon Step ¨C a simple, but also complicated, movement method that Jack learned in the Martial Hall. Depending on the amount of spirit energy, and the user''s constitution, it can reach extreme speeds.


    Chaotic Hawk Assault ¨C a more advanced body cultivation and attacking leg technique that Jack learned in the Martial Hall. Jack didn''t study it to its full before he used it in desperation and broke both his legs.


    Spirit Accumulation Realm ¨C the beginner realm of cultivation. It has twelve grades and four minor thresholds. Cultivators in the same minor threshold can put up a fight against someone of a higher grade, but fighting against someone in a higher threshold is extremely hard.


    Miscellaneous:


    Kui Ox ¨C main labor animals in Jack''s new world.


    Xiezhi goat ¨C the main source of fabric for poor people.


    Poison Arrow Bullfrog ¨C its legs form a substance that has similar properties to rubber, but stronger, when heated. Jack used them to make bands for slingshots.


    Spirit Capturing knife ¨C a knife that Elder Yu made for capturing spirits with any kind of sentience.


    Energy Dispersal device ¨C a device that takes a person''s spirit energy and slowly disperses it in the air. It''s used to lure wandering spirits and to make them transform into catchable ones.


    Light Orb ¨C a special orb that holds spirit energy and turns it into light.


    Spirit Stones ¨C a currency for cultivators. They can also be used as an aid in cultivation, making formations, or anything that needs spirit energy to run.


    Deep Water Iron ¨C a metal that Jack had his cylinders made out of. It''s quite sturdy for its price.


    Star Bag ¨C a bag that can store a lot more things inside of it than it first appears. Legends say that such a bag existed that could even store a Star, hence the name.

 2.1 Redwood

    Jack rolled up a scroll that explained body sigils up and stored it in the light-blue Star Bag that he took from Li Manning. He ignored the slight twitch of the stretcher that shot a stab of pain through his broken legs and took out a new scroll.


    They traveled through the forest outside the Endless Cycle Sect for over a week since Jack woke up.


    He spent the days absorbing spirit energy, using the Beast Recovery Method, and sorting out the scrolls that he took from the library.


    The Beast Recovery Method didn''t disappoint Jack; he only had to focus on imbuing the blood vessels around his legs and making sure that his bones and ligaments healed the way he wanted them to.


    His bones already started to feel a lot better than when he first woke up. He could even move the broken toes on his right leg a little, but he didn''t dare move around too much due to his ligament injuries.


    Since Jack had time to spare, he spent a couple of days to sort out the scrolls from the library in various groupings from a quick scan. He would have to do a more thorough job with the sorting when they reached a place where they could rest for a while.


    The rest of the time he spent by reading up on all the scrolls that mentioned body sigils. At first, he ignored the ones that didn''t have any of the sigils that appeared in the Chaotic Hawk Assault technique, but as time went by he started reading them all out of interest.


    He still didn''t find all of the sigils from the Chaotic Hawk Assault in the scrolls, but he had a lot better understanding of it now. If he had to use it again he felt sure that his legs wouldn''t break like dry twigs in the first few kicks.


    Their path through the forest passed relatively peaceful. A pack of around twenty wolf and wild boar hybrid creatures came to annoy them for a couple of nights, but the men had no problems in dealing with them.


    Bai Maolong even lamented that they didn''t return any more; he liked the way they tasted very much.


    After talking it over with the men, Jack decided to keep them going on the path towards a remote village that Shi Furui pointed them in. The map that Mai Yining gave him marked out a number of small villages in the relative vicinity of the Endless Cycle Sect.


    If Jack didn''t pass out when he did, he would have taken them in a totally different direction, one that took them to an even more distant village. He realized that Shi Furui weighed Jack''s comfort with the security of the entire group and it annoyed him a little, but he let it pass because they couldn''t waste time on backtracking.


    A shadow fell over the scroll that Jack took out to read. He didn''t even look up as he sighed and said "I''m not going to raise the offer, old man."


    Old Long stopped the words that threatened to come out of his mouth and closed them. He looked down at Jack for a few seconds, and finally complained "I earned more than double of what you are offering for fifteen days in less than five days with my store."


    Jack glanced up at old Long''s greedy eyes and suggested "You can always take your chances and go back to it." When he saw the flash of anger in the old man''s eyes, he smirked and looked back down at his scroll.


    They continued walking for a good minute before old Long growled through gritted teeth "I will not agree to a lower salary than the servants, boy!"


    Jack''s brows furrowed as he looked up at the old man and said "Tan Boli''s family are free people, equal to any other, and you will either leave this group or respect that." He kept staring at old Long until he received a nod in response, after which he continued "The entire family will get a bit more than only you would, and only when they find a forge where they can practice their craft. Until then, only the wife will get paid for her job."


    Old Long snorted in dissatisfaction and retorted "I have people to take care of too."


    Jack rolled his eyes and said "I have already made an offer to them; it''s up to them if they want to accept it or not. If in the future you need assistants I might get you some, but for now, we only need you."


    A few more minutes passed in silence as they moved through the forest, old man next to crippled boy.


    Finally, old Long''s face twisted in pain as he opened his mouth and said "Very well, I accept your offer."


    Jack smirked and looked up at the old man as he said "It''s a pleasure to have you on the team, Quartermaster Long." His face turned serious as he added "Try to steal from me and I will hunt you down and skin you."


    Old Long''s eyes widened a little, but after a second he gave a sharp nod of understanding.


    Jack''s smile returned as he said "Great, we will make it official once we reach the village. Until then, just enjoy the scenery."


    Old Long grunted and walked ahead.


    Jack chuckled for a second, before raising his head up a little and looking down the line of walking people. A few meters behind him, old Long''s former assistants carried the teen that used to have a sword stabbed through his stomach.


    Jack raised his voice as he asked "You doing alright, Kuotian?"


    The teen, Xian Kuotian, waved a hand a little as acknowledgment and answered "It hurts a lot, but not as much as before."


    Jack gave a quiet sigh of relief and said "That''s great, just keep your spirit energy circulating through the meridians near the wounded flesh."


    "Will do, Tan¡­ uh I mean, Jack." Xian Kuotian said and resumed his recovery.


    After Jack woke up he found out that Xian Kuotian fell into a fever from infection. All he could think about doing was to keep Xian Kuotian awake and instruct him through which meridians to circle his spirit energy. It looked bad for a few days, but his body slowly fought off the infection and he started getting better in the last couple of days.


    Jack lay back on his stretcher and continued to study the sigils for the cultivation of body techniques.


    A couple days later, a bird cry sounded out a few hundred meters in front of the group.


    The entire column stopped in its tracks. Jack and his men had excited expressions on their faces, while the rest of the group just stood around and waited as they got used to the way of communication that Jack''s unit used.


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    Kuang Bindun and Shi Furui ran out towards where the bird cry sounded out, and then ran back in a few minutes.


    They walked up to Jack and Shi Furui said "We''ve reached the village from the map."


    Jack had to restrain his enthusiasm as he asked "How does it look like?"


    Kuang Bindun spoke up as he rubbed his hands in excitement "Not more than a hundred houses, looks like a simple farming village at the end of a winding path that leads towards the horizon. The people are working in the fields right now."


    Jack thought about it for a few seconds before saying "Furui, Bindun, Maolong, and two more volunteers will equip some of the swords that we took from the dead Slaughtering Sword School disciples." He stopped to look at their dirty camouflage uniforms and continued "You will go down into the village to scout it out after everyone changes into something more presentable."


    When the entire group changed their clothes and cleaned up a little, Jack added "Remember to secure a roof over our heads for the next few nights. If you''re convinced that the Slaughtering Sword School or the Endless Cycle Sect don''t have any spies there, ask the Village Chief to meet with me."


    They all had serious looks in their eyes as they nodded and started walking towards the village.


    An hour later the scouting party returned without Kuang Bindun. When Jack asked what happened, they said that he stayed behind to get things ready.


    Jack''s entire group got excited when they found out that the village looked secure. When Jack gave the order to move out they immediately started walking at a quick pace towards the village.


    As they exited the forest, murmurs started spreading throughout the group. Jack had an idea to ask the men that carried his stretcher to turn him around to see, but he kept it to himself and endured the burning curiosity.


    When they entered the village proper, Jack started seeing short wooden houses that reminded him of the Raging Ox village. The wood they used here had a reddish tint, but the style of the buildings looked almost identical to the ones that he learned to build from his father and brothers.


    A lump in his throat prevented him from breathing for a few seconds before he managed to get a hold of his emotions. He blinked his eyes a few times and started to observe the village with a critical eye.


    He didn''t see any people along the path that they passed, which meant that they stayed away from fright, or from experience.


    Jack didn''t like either option.


    They stopped in front of the nicest house in the village, where they met Kuang Bindun and an old man who looked like he just reached his sixties.


    The old man bowed deeply towards Jack and said "Greetings, Immortal. I am the Village Chief of Redwood village. How can I be of service to you?"


    Jack''s brows furrowed as he waved a hand towards the Village Chief to straighten up. While he did he gave Kuang Bindun a disapproving look, which made Kuang Bindun look down at his feet in shame.


    "No need to do that, Chief. We''re just mercenaries that got lost in the woods. We will pay a fair price to rent a few houses for several days. Just think of us as a nice way to earn a few extra coins." Jack stated as he tried to make the Village Chief relax his stiff posture.


    The Chief gave Shi Furui a quick confused glance and said "There is no need, Immortal. We will offer you our homes as a gift. You can use them as long as you wish to."


    Jack snorted and waved his hand in dismissal as he repeated "Nonsense, we will pay our fair share and you will take it."


    The Village Chief looked lost as he bowed once again and complied with "Yes, Immortal."


    Jack sighed and lay back down on his stretcher. A second later he raised his head and glared at Shi Furui, who had the decency to lower his gaze down too.


    "Furui, Bindun, take me into the house for a quick chat." Jack said in a cold voice towards the two called out young men. A second later he directed his voice towards the rest of his group and added "The rest of you go ask the good people of the Redwood village to come and meet me here."


    Everyone except for Xian Kuotian and old Long scattered to do as Jack commanded.


    Kuang Bindun and Shi Furui picked up Jack''s stretcher and carried him inside the Village Chief''s house, leaving the Chief outside to make old Long company.


    Once they walked to the back of the house and placed Jack''s stretcher down on an old squeaky bed, Shi Furui and Kuang Bindun stepped away from him like he would burn them if they stood closer.


    Jack studied them for a few seconds, before his calm voice asked "Furui, what did you say to these people?"


    Shi Furui looked up with panic in his eyes as he answered "Nothing, I swear, Jack." He hesitated for a second before continuing "We just told him that we were from a lost group of mercenary cultivators like you told us to, but then he started to call us Immortals and offered everything up for free."


    Jack turned to Kuang Bindun and asked "And you did nothing to correct this impression?"


    Kuang Bindun shrank into his huge frame as he answered "I thought that we could save up a few coins, and the Village Chief didn''t seem to mind."


    Jack glared at his two best friends with disbelief in his eyes for a few seconds, and finally lay back down on his stretcher with a sigh. He stared at the ceiling of the old wooden house as he said "Tell me, you two. How are we any better than the scum that kept us in servitude if the first thing that we do once we escape it is to continue the cycle?"


    No one spoke for a full minute before Kuang Bindun finally said "I''m sorry, Ta¡­ Jack." Shi Furui echoed his sentence a second later.


    Jack sighed once more and looked back up at his friends as he explained "I''m not mad at you two for doing this, I''m mad at myself for not teaching you better." He lay back down and continued "We will pay for everything that we use in this, and every village or town we pass through in the future. Is that clear?"


    When they both answered in the positive, Jack added "Go out and see if the people have gathered. Come to get me when everyone''s there."


    They almost ran out of the door.

 2.2 Immortals Lament

    Fifteen minutes later, Shi Furui and Kuang Bindun came back to the room to inform Jack that the villagers had gathered in front of the house. They picked his stretcher up from the old bed and carried him outside.


    Around four hundred people stood in a nervous clump of humanity in front of the Village Chief''s house when Jack got carried out to the front porch.


    As his people focused their gazes on him, the villagers followed their example and did the same. In a few seconds, everyone quieted down and stared at Jack.


    After a deep inhalation, Jack pushed spirit energy into the meridians in his lungs and vocal chords as he declared "Hello, people of Redwood village. We are the¡­" He almost said Gravediggers, but he caught himself when he looked into the frightened eyes of the villagers and corrected to "Immortals'' Lament mercenary company."


    He took a second to study the impact of his words on his men. The villagers didn''t have a clue what he meant, but he could see a glimmer of excitement and a bit of fear from the facial expressions of his unit.


    Jack focused back on the crowd as he continued "We are willing to buy any extra food, clothes, medicines, clean cloth, or a spare cart or a wagon that you might have. If you want to earn some more coin, we want to rent five houses for around three to four days."


    He raised a hand to point at old Long and said "Anyone that''s willing to do business with us can approach Quartermaster Long in the next few days and negotiate a deal with him. We have things to barter for too if you don''t want coins."


    Jack returned his gaze to the crowd and finished his speech "Tomorrow morning, we will hold a selection for the admission of new members to our ranks. If you''re interested in seeing the world and want to learn how to cultivate while earning a decent pay, make sure to show up here bright and early or you''ll miss it."


    With that, he beckoned the Village Chief with his hand and had Shi Furui and Kuang Bindun carry him back into the Chief''s house.


    They carried Jack back to the bed and stood next to him like two mother hens protecting their eggs.


    Jack ignored it and had Shi Furui take out their map to show to the Village Chief as he asked "What can you tell me about the villages depicted on this map?"


    The Village Chief looked at the drawing in wonder and, after Shi Furui showed him where his village lay, spent a few minutes staring at it.


    When Jack saw beads of sweat appear on the Village Chief''s brow, he sighed and said "You don''t know how to read it, do you?"


    The Village Chief looked up at Jack with fright in his eyes, and a second later fell to his knees as he cried "Forgive this lowly one for his failures, great Immortal!"


    Jack''s brows furrowed in annoyance and, when he saw that neither of his friends moved, barked "Get him up!"


    Kuang Bindun reached the old man first and helped him to his feet. The Village Chief looked at Jack with terror in his eyes, and Jack had to hold himself back from screaming at the old man that he wouldn''t hurt him.


    ''Those Endless Cycle Sect bastards must have visited this place a few times if the Chief reacts like this to the slightest twitch.'' Jack thought as frustration started to build up in his chest.


    A few tense seconds passed before Jack calmed himself down enough to sound sincere when he said "Chief, please relax, we will not hurt you or your people. I give you my word."


    The Village Chief stopped shaking after a few seconds, but he still had some doubt in his eyes as he looked at the wounded Immortal that lay on his bed.


    When Jack saw the slight change in the Village Chief''s demeanor, he continued with his questions "Who is the person in your village that has visited the most other villages near you?"


    The Village Chief didn''t even have to think before he answered with slight pride "I have visited three other villages and a town."


    Jack''s brows rose in surprise as he asked Shi Furui "There''s a town here?"


    Shi Furui looked down at the map for a few seconds, and said "Not according to the map."


    Jack sighed in exasperation at the inaccuracy''s of the local maps and asked the Village Chief to explain the ways to get to the other villages, how long it took to get there on foot, any information that he had on them, and anything he knew about the local wildlife.


    Half an hour later, the Village Chief left his house to go assure the villagers that Jack and his men meant what they said during the gathering.


    Jack looked up at his two friends with a frown and said "We have to all get back to our feet before that town. Go and tell old Long to extend the rental on the houses to ten days."


    As they neared the doorway of the room, Jack added "And make sure that he understands that this is a test of his abilities. I don''t want him to intimidate the villagers, but I don''t want to get ripped off too."


    Both of his friends gave Jack a knowing smile in response and left the room.


    Jack passed the rest of the day with reading through the scrolls from the library. He had Xian Kuotian brought into the room with him and had a comfortable bed made where Jack could keep an eye on his injury. Shi Furui and Kuang Bindun took up residence in the room next door in the Village Chief''s house.


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    As the Sun started setting, old Long managed to rent out the last house needed from a poor village family so that their men could get a roof over their head. He managed to get even better deals than what Jack expected, and Kuang Bindun reported that he didn''t notice the use of any intimidation. Jack felt skeptical, but he let it pass.


    The villagers that rented out their houses had families with who they could stay for the ten days and shared some of the profits with them so no one complained.


    As dawn came on the next day, Jack woke up and had some breakfast. He had his men bring out the table from the kitchen out to the front of the Village Chief''s house and lay his stretcher on it.


    Old Long stood to the side on Jack''s order. From time to time he had to stifle a yawn and looked malicious enough to scare a few of the hopefuls.


    A dozen people that milled about in front of the house already hesitated on approaching him.


    Jack propped himself on his elbows to look at them and said "You will come to me one by one. While I''m examining one of you, the rest will stay¡­" He pointed at a house that stood fifty meters away from the Village Chief''s and continued "there at all times until your turn comes. When you finish your examination you will either go to Quartermaster Long to give him your personal information or go back to your home." He stopped to look into their eyes as he finished with "Is that clear?"


    Some of them had confused looks on their faces, but they all nodded their heads.


    Jack sighed inwardly at their lack of discipline and said "Very well, whoever came first this morning step up to my table, the rest of you go stand next to that house and line up in the order in which you arrived."


    As they obeyed his order, a short girl with messy shoulder-length hair walked up to stand in front of Jack. She moved the hair from her eyes and gave a serious deep bow while saying "Greetings, Immortal."


    Jack''s brows rose slightly as he asked "How old are you?"


    The girl kept her gaze down as she said "Sixteen, Immortal."


    Jack''s brows furrowed a little as he said "If you try to lie to me again I will end this and send you back home." He paused for a second and then added "And stop calling me Immortal."


    The girl glanced up at Jack in surprise, before looking down again as she admitted "I will turn thirteen soon."


    Jack nodded his head in acceptance of her answer and asked "Why do you want to kill people, girl?"


    The girl didn''t even think about his question as she looked up at Jack and yelped in protest "I don''t!"


    Jack frowned down at her as he asked "And what use do I have from a soldier that doesn''t want to kill people?"


    The girl froze once she heard Jack''s question and looked lost.


    A dozen seconds of silence later, Jack sighed and said "Go home, girl. War is not the right place for people like you."


    The girl looked up at Jack in panic and stammered "N-no, please, Immortal. I can k-kill people, I can."


    Jack shook his head and sighed as he said "We do not take children into the Immortals'' Lament, go home."


    The girl looked like she wanted to protest some more, but when Kuang Bindun stepped up to the table, she shrunk back and scurried away.


    Jack followed her with his eyes for a second, before looking at the group of hopefuls and shouting "We will not take anyone younger than fifteen years old. Do not try to sneak past me, I will know and will not take it kindly."


    A few seconds later, two boys that Jack would have never guessed were any younger than sixteen, stepped out of the line with crestfallen looks on their faces and walked back towards their homes.


    Jack chuckled a little at himself, before calling out "Next!" and quizzing the next hopeful.


    He asked them general questions like why they wanted to join his company, and why they wanted to leave their families. When he got satisfactory answers for those, he asked them some more general logic questions to filter out the dumb ones. And in the end, he judged their personal character to see if they would fit in with his men.


    A few more people showed up during the selection process and, when all was all said and done, the new mercenary company Immortals'' Lament had four new recruits.


    Jack instructed them to report to Bai Maolong for training once they finished signing up with old Long, and to show up to Kuang Bindun''s language lectures in the afternoon.


    He made it clear that anyone that wanted to join their company had to learn English. Jack could let it slide for old Long and Tan Boli''s family since they weren''t combatants, but he expected everyone else to know it in a couple of years.


    Jack felt satisfied with his selection and went back to the Village Chief''s house to do some additional reading.


    He didn''t notice the tiny dark eyes that hid behind curtains of dark hair monitoring him from the shadows of a distant house.

 2.3 Tail

    During the next nine days, Jack closed himself off in the Village Chief''s house and kept reading the scrolls from the library. After a week of research he finally found all of the sigils that he saw in the Chaotic Hawk Assault technique, now he just had to wait for his legs to heal up to test it out.


    He held a meeting with all of his grade four men and old Long every night to get reports on their daily activities.


    Kuang Bindun had the duty to hold classes every night to teach the men English. He had to hold one class for more advanced students, and one for beginners. Old Long''s men accepted Jacks offer and joined his new mercenary company, so they and the four new recruits had to learn from the beginning. Kuang Bindun even said that Tan Boli''s two sons started to join them too.


    He had little complaints about his students. The four new ones didn''t quite understand why they had to learn a foreign language, but old Long''s former assistants heard that Jack''s cultivation method had something to do with it and they immersed themselves in their studies. Tan Boli''s sons didn''t know how to read too many words in their own language so they felt happy with the opportunity to learn anything.


    Shi Furui had to keep an eye on the behavior of the company and serve as Jack''s link to the villagers. If any of the villagers complained, or he noticed the men doing something that would make their company lose face, he would have to go and punish the men.


    So far he had no problems since they just escaped and everyone kept to their best behavior, but Jack doubted that they would stay like that as time went by.


    Yin Ping kept Jack and Xian Kuotian company and helped Jack sort through the library''s scrolls. He still had a lot of scrolls to go through, but he made steady progress and helped Jack a lot with finding the sigils he needed.


    A few times he asked Jack to test out a theory he read about in a scroll, but Jack didn''t want to do any experiments on half-baked theories before he knew a lot more about sigils. Yin Ping knew that he didn''t have the point of view that Jack had on these things, so he complied and waited patiently.


    Bai Maolong spent his days in training. Next to the required training that he had to lead with everyone else in the morning, he spent the rest of his day in practicing martial arts and cultivation.


    During his more crazed states, he would come to the Village Chief''s house to beg Jack to teach him the Chaotic Hawk Assault technique, but Jack didn''t want to risk it before he tested it out for himself.


    Ma Ruiman liked to talk to the villagers, so he collected any additional information that he could. Most of the people didn''t know much, but they knew some people from the neighboring villages so they recommended who to look for if they needed more supplies or information down the road.


    He had a couple of run-ins with angry fathers, but nothing that amounted to an incident, yet.


    Old Long would have bought out half of the Redwood village if Jack hadn''t told him to stop when their Star Bag for supplies couldn''t fit a single thing more in it. After that, he somehow managed to convince a family that didn''t have an extra cart to sell the one they used every day to the Immortals'' Lament, along with a couple of Kui Oxen to pull it.


    Jack didn''t allow him to load the cart up with anything though. He wanted to keep it empty for himself and Xian Kuotian, and any other emergencies that popped up.


    When their last day in the Redwood village came up, almost the entire village came to send them off.


    Jack sat up in the back of the cart and circulated spirit energy through the meridians in his lungs and vocal chords as he declared "Thank you, everyone, for your excellent hospitality. The Immortals'' Lament will not forget it."


    Some people cheered, but more just stood there and admired the spectacle. The most affected families were the ones whose sons decided to join the Immortals'' Lament. The mothers and sisters cried, a couple of the fathers didn''t look too happy, and the brothers looked excited, but they all came out to say their last goodbyes.


    Jack studied them all and for the first time had a feeling of belonging to this world. In the past something always held him back, at first the newness of the world made him feel isolated, then the cruelty of the cultivators made him feel as an alien that studied a different species, only now when he saw the crying families of his new recruits did he find the thing he missed to feel a part of it all.


    ''I won''t let them down.'' he made a silent vow to himself as he looked into the eyes of the parents that begged him to keep their children safe.


    "Move out!" Jack called out a few minutes later. Shi Furui lightly whipped the two Kui and they started to pull the cart with Jack, Xian Kuotian, and Tan Boli''s wife in it.


    They laid down a bunch of blankets around the two wounded teens to keep the bumpy cart from shaking them around too much, and Tan Boli''s wife, Xu Weifa, helped them out in any way they needed.


    The rest of the Immortals'' Lament spread out around the cart in a guarding formation, with weaker members on the inside and stronger on the outside.


    Like that, they started their journey down the winding dirt path from the Redwood village.


    It would take them several days of travel to reach the next village, so Jack relaxed and continued his studies.


    On the fourth day of travel, Jack just rolled a scroll up, when he saw something move into the forest next to a hill opposite the one they just climbed, and that they passed a few minutes ago. The quick way in which the thing hid would have convinced other people that it was some kind of animal, but Jack felt sure that the silhouette looked human.


    "Stop!" Jack shouted as he sat up straight. The tinge of pain from his legs didn''t bother him as he kept staring at the spot where he saw the person hide.


    Everyone in the group froze and studied their surroundings. Even the Kui stopped moving with one pull from Shi Furui, who turned around and asked "What''s wrong?"


    Jack kept his eyes locked on the same spot as he pointed his finger at it and ordered "Maolong, Ruiman, Ping, someone''s tailing us. Go and find out who."


    The three young men''s faces turned serious in an instant, and they sprinted in the direction that Jack pointed out. The rest of the group tightened the protective formation around the cart.


    Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.It only took Bai Maolong a few seconds to reach the opposite hill as he had the most practice in Moon Step. He looked to the side of the road for a couple seconds before he exclaimed "Tracks!"


    The other two just arrived when Bai Maolong darted out into the forest.


    Half a minute later, Jack heard laughter from Yin Ping and Ma Ruiman, and the voice of Bai Maolong warning "Try to bite me again and I will knock out a few of your teeth."


    Jack''s entire body got ready for combat from the instant that he saw the shadow on their tail; he even considered the best way to fight without using his legs.


    When Bai Maolong returned from the forest with a little girl on his shoulder Jack felt his entire body groan from the enormous dose of adrenaline that coursed through it.


    The three young men and the girl could hear Jack cursing even before they reached the hill on which the company waited.


    When he regained a bit of his composure, Jack looked down at the dirty little girl with hair over her eyes. She had embarrassment, fear, and anger fighting on her face for dominance. Once she saw the look in Jack''s eyes fear won out and she started shaking.


    Jack remained silent for a few more seconds, just enough for the urge to twist the girl''s neck to disappear, before he asked "Do you have a death wish, girl?"


    "What the¡­" Bai Maolong exclaimed before the little girl even opened her mouth, and dropped her down to the ground while he took a couple of steps away from her.


    Jack blinked in surprise and looked at his best fighter in confusion. A second later he saw a wet spot on the right shoulder of his robe, just where he held the girl.


    Shock ran through Jack''s entire body as he looked down at the shivering girl on the ground, and the widening wet spot under her.


    ''I can''t forget how these people see me.'' Jack reminded himself with chagrin as all of his rage abandoned him. He looked to his side at Xu Weifa and said "Please go help her."


    As the older woman nodded her head in understanding and went to help the young girl, Jack declared "We''re having our midday meal a little earlier today."


    No one had any objections and they camped out on the side of the road. Kuang Bindun took over Xu Weifa''s cooking duties, while Jack waited for word from her in the cart.


    Just as the meal started to smell nice, Xu Weifa returned with the girl from the bushes. She held a couple of empty water skins in her hands, while the girl carried her old dirty clothes.


    Xu Weifa had dressed the girl in the smallest uniform they had, but she still had to roll up the sleeves while her pants sagged every dozen steps.


    Jack took one look at the dirty clothes in the girl''s hands and said "Burn them." as he pointed at the cooking fire.


    The girl looked a little hesitant, but she complied and followed Jack''s order.


    Xu Weifa climbed up into the cart and whispered into Jack''s ear "Her name''s Zhu Lielei, she didn''t want to tell me anything else. I told her you weren''t as scary as you seemed so please don''t frighten her like that again."


    Jack gave her a nod and a thankful look before he moved his gaze over to Zhu Lielei. He studied the little girl as she returned from burning her old clothes, and saw the exhaustion that the nights in the wilderness left on her young body.


    Zhu Lielei returned to stand in front of the cart and looked at the ground while her hair covered her face.


    A few seconds passed before Jack asked "Why did you follow us?"


    Zhu Lielei glanced up at him, then back at her feet, and said "I want to join your mercenary company."


    Jack''s brows furrowed as he said "You will either tell me the truth, or I will leave you in the next village and pay someone to take you back home."


    Zhu Lielei looked up at Jack in shock, she didn''t consider this possibility in her plan, and tears started to gather in her eyes.


    Jack kept staring down at her with a cold gaze as he added "Tears will not help you here."


    Zhu Lielei wiped her eyes furiously, but she kept looking up at Jack as she told the truth "My parents promised me over to a man twice my age for a few Xiezhi goats when I turn fourteen." She took a deep breath to steady herself and continued "I would rather die than get married to that man."


    Before Jack could say anything, Xu Weifa interjected with "Marriage isn''t that bad, once you get to know your husband. My parents arranged my marriage and I''m happy with their choice. Maybe you should trust your parents more."


    Both Jack and Zhu Lielei looked at Xu Weifa like they saw a strange creature for the first time. Jack because he saw what arranged marriages could turn into in this world, and Zhu Lielei because her mother used to say a similar thing to what this strange woman from far away now said.


    Xu Weifa looked at the both of them in confusion as she asked "What?"


    Jack just shook his head and turned back to Zhu Lielei. He looked at her frail frame and determined eyes for a few seconds, before he sighed, and said "If you plan to stay with us you will have to pull your own weight."


    A smile bloomed on Zhu Lielei''s face in an instant, and just as she wanted to fall to her knees to thank Jack, she froze at his following words.


    "You will shadow Xu Weifa to learn from her and help her in her daily duties. If I see you slacking off in your assignment I will leave you to fend for yourself." Jack declared and looked at the anger in the little girl''s eyes.


    It took her longer than he expected to ask "Why can''t I join the mercenary company like the rest of the boys from Redwood did?"


    Jack''s eyes narrowed as he said "You are too young, too weak, and too disobedient. I will use the period you spend with Xu Weifa to judge if you''re worthy to join the fighting force once you turn fifteen. Until then, you can join in with the training and the language lessons, but if your duties to Xu Weifa start to suffer for it I will forbid you from attending."


    Zhu Lielei looked angry for a few extra seconds before she blew out a long breath and acknowledged Jack''s ruling with a "Fine, but you better keep your word."


    A lopsided smirk appeared on Jack''s face as he said "I always do. Now, go bring Kuotian and me our meals."


    Zhu Lielei stood shocked for a second, and just as she wanted to open her mouth to complain, a short hiss and a glare from Xu Weifa stopped her in her tracks. She remembered the deal that she just made with Jack, and a second later stomped off to bring them some food.

 2.4 Cloverleaf

    In the next month and a half, the Immortals'' Lament mercenary company visited three villages along their path to the main town in the area, Cloverleaf. On their way there they recruited eleven additional members, nine male, and two female, into the company.


    Jack decided to stop his recruiting efforts for now, until they integrated the new members into the company and could support more people in the long term.


    When they arrived at the second village after Redwood, Xian Kuotian recovered enough to start with physical therapy. Jack had to instruct Bai Maolong how to progress with the exercises that Xian Kuotian had to do so that he didn''t hurt himself.


    After reaching the third village, Jack started his own therapy. It almost took him the entire stay to feel secure enough on his legs to walk without help. Only in the last day did he do some Moon Step sprints up and down the village as practice.


    The new recruits watched the old members with burning jealousy while they trained their martial arts and cultivation techniques. It made them even more eager to learn the new language as soon as possible.


    When they passed through the villages they started to meet more and more people on the road the closer they neared Cloverleaf.


    The information that Ma Ruiman gathered in the last month told them that cultivators sometimes passed through the town, so the relaxed atmosphere they had on the road until now turned serious.


    Jack didn''t tell the new members why they didn''t want to meet their fellow cultivators, but they figured out that something bad would happen if they did. He didn''t want a newbie saying something stupid to the wrong person and endangering them all. The old members knew how to keep their mouths shut at least.


    When a trader with a small cart passed them on a road, they found out they only had a couple of days before they reached Cloverleaf. Jack decided to stop their advance that night and had the entire company hide deep in the forest. They had to carry the cart by hand and lead the Kui with a rope.


    That night, Jack, Kuang Bindun, Bai Maolong, Ma Ruiman, and old Long left the camp to the care of Shi Furui and sprinted along the road towards the town.


    A few hours later, they stopped their advance in front of the modest five-meter wooden wall of Cloverleaf. They would have arrived earlier, but they had to stop a few kilometers away and change their clothes to regular Xiezhi goat wool robes.


    Since they came in the middle of the night all of the entrances to the town remained closed. That didn''t matter much to them as they charged up and jumped to the top of the wall.


    As soon as they landed on the wall, a few voices called out "Who goes there?" and several guards with lit torches ran towards them.


    Old Long pasted a sneer on his face as he scolded "Mind your own business, otherwise, your wives will have to look for new husbands in the morning." As he said that, a few daggers with sigils on them floated around his head.


    The guards froze in their steps as a middle-aged man that looked in charge stepped out and bowed while saying "Apologies, Immortal. We had eyes but couldn''t see. Please enjoy your stay in Cloverleaf."


    Old Long snorted, stored his knives, and jumped down from the wall. The rest of the group followed, acting as his attendants and guards.


    They took a few random alleys and hid in a dark one-way street.


    Four pairs of eyes focused on Jack who said "Let''s find the tavern that the villagers mentioned. Meet up back here in twenty minutes."


    Only old Long had a bit of doubt in his eyes at the new strange time unit that Jack taught him, but he nodded his head with everyone else and scattered.


    Jack jumped on top of a roof of a nearby house and decided to scout out the town''s layout. He left the discovery of the tavern that sold information to his men.


    Cloverleaf had six main entrances and more than a dozen side ones. The main entrances led to dirt roads that went off into the distance, while the side ones led to small clumps of houses that lay outside of the walls.


    Most of the town slept bathed in the light of the two moons, only a few larger stone houses had lights burning in them. Jack studied them for a couple of minutes and saw that in one house the light didn''t have the natural flicker of fire, but the artificial glow of a Light Orb.


    He took note of the house and took a large detour around it.


    When the twenty minutes passed by everyone returned to the one-way street.


    Jack looked around at his men and ordered "Report."


    Ma Ruiman started speaking first "I found the tavern. They have a couple of big guys guarding the door, but they don''t look like cultivators."


    Old Long nodded his head as he said "I found it too, but I felt a couple of grade five cultivation base fluctuations inside." He glanced over at Mu Ruiman and added "They might have discovered you."


    Mu Ruiman paled a little, but a second later he grinned and said "They''re lucky that they didn''t leave the tavern to seek me out, I was in the mood to kill some scum."


    Old Long snorted in derision while everyone else shook their head.


    A second later Jack said "We have to go and check if they have any ties to the Slaughtering Sword School. After that, we can go check out the house that I found." He looked over to Kuang Bindun and Bai Maolong and asked them what they found.


    Kuang Bindun found a square that looked like the town''s marketplace which had a dozen empty stalls in it. While Bai Maolong ended up in the slums and had to beat up a couple ruffians that looked like they planned something nasty.


    If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.


    Jack blinked at Bai Maolong''s proclamation, decided to ignore it, and turned towards old Long to say "You''ll have to approach them in the tavern with an offer of doing business if they''re not from the Slaughtering Sword School. If they are, we''ll do it in a different way."


    Old Long did a few calculations in his head and demanded "I want another extra payment."


    Jack''s eyes narrowed as he retorted "You already got it."


    Old Long nodded his head as he said "That was for coming to this town as a scout and cover for you. This one is for the risk I take when engaging those cultivators."


    Jack''s face turned cold as he stated "You already got paid for this mission. You will not get anything extra."


    Old Long looked angry for a few seconds before he sighed and admitted with a sly smile "I had to try."


    The rest of the group gave him cold snorts and listened to Jack explain the plan he had in mind.


    Five minutes later they left the dark street with confidence in their steps.


    When they neared the tavern, old Long took over the leading spot of the group, while Jack moved to his right side.


    The two guards at the entrance tried to stop them, but when a knife started floating next to old Long''s head, they stepped aside and opened the door.


    Inside, a dozen tables stood strewn on the floor, while only three had people sitting in them. Opposite from the door stood the bar and, behind it, its barkeep who gave the new customers an oily grin.


    "Welcome, welcome, please take a seat." The barkeep said as he walked around his bar and towards Jack''s group.


    Old Long ignored him and scanned the room with his gaze slowly.


    Jack had already checked the room and saw that three tables had customers. One had a drunk sleeping on it, one had a few shifty characters sitting in a corner, and one had a couple of young men in dark blue robes that stared at them with curiosity in their eyes.


    He opened his mouth a little and whispered so that only old Long could hear "Sit next to the cultivators and stick to the plan."


    Old Long continued his survey of the room for an extra second before he grunted and went to sit at the table right next to the two cultivators. The rest of the group joined him.


    He gave the cultivators a friendly nod and turned to the skinny barkeep to say "Give us whatever these two brothers are having."


    The barkeep''s eyes turned round for a second as he glanced at the two cultivators that didn''t seem to mind the way old Long addressed them before he quickly bowed and said "Of course, Immortals, right away."


    Everyone remained quiet as they waited for the drink to arrive. A dozen seconds later, the barkeep brought a little white bottle and five cups and gave them a smile as he said "This round is on the house, Immortals."


    Old Long gave him an annoyed glance and grumbled "I can pay for my own wine.", but he didn''t take out any money to pay.


    The barkeep only gave them an understanding smile and scurried back to his bar.


    Jack took it upon himself to pour everyone a drink and old Long led the drinking.


    After a couple of rounds, old Long looked over to the two cultivators in blue and said "Excellent choice, brothers." He cupped his hands towards them and said "It is a pleasure to meet brothers from the Slaughtering Sword School; I am old Cheng, a humble merchant."


    Both cultivators had surprised looks on their face as they returned the gesture, and the older one responded "Greetings brother Cheng, I am Zahng Dong." He gestured towards the young man sitting opposite him and continued "This is my good brother, Pan Yingnu. How did you know that we''re from the Slaughtering Sword School?"


    Old Long had a reminiscent look in his eyes as he said "I had multiple dealings with the young ladies from your School in my glory days." He focused his gaze back on the two Slaughtering Sword School disciples and added "And you wear the traditional robes of your School."


    They all had a good laugh and chatted about little things from old Long''s made up past.


    A few minutes later old Long got a strange look in his eyes as he asked "Brothers, I hope that you do not mind my curiosity, but is this not the territory of the Endless Cycle Sect? Are you not afraid?"


    Zahng Dong laughed and waved a dismissing hand as he said "The Endless Cycle Sect is history; we wiped them out around fifty days ago."


    Old Long''s brows rose in surprise as he exclaimed "Well, that is good news! Cheers!" and he toasted to the two Slaughtering Sword School disciples.


    After everyone downed their drinks, old Long pasted a confused look on his face as he said "That sure is strange. I could swear that I saw over a dozen Endless Cycle Sect disciples and servants on the road two days ago."


    The two Slaughtering Sword School disciples froze for a second before they jumped to their feet. As their chairs slammed down on the wooden floor, Zahng Dong asked "Where? Where did you see them?"


    Old Long had a faraway look in his eyes as he said "You know, this old head of mine doesn''t work as well as it did in the past. If only I had some spirit stones to help clear it up. Alas, I am but a humble merchant and have very little."


    Jack could only stare in amazement at old Long''s craftiness as he thought ''This greedy old bastard! If this ruins my plan I will pull his teeth out.''

 2.5 Heart to Heart

    Pan Yingnu''s face darkened and just as he opened his mouth to berate old Long, Zahng Dong raised a hand up to interrupt him.


    He didn''t even look at his younger disciple brother as he asked "How do we know that you are not trying to scam us?"


    Old Long didn''t even take a second to think about it as he took out a robe from his Star Bag, Jack''s old disciple robe in fact, and said "I traded some food for a few robes like this one." He looked a bit embarrassed as he said "You never know when they might come useful."


    The two Slaughtering Sword School disciples looked at the robe for a second before their eyes widened and they both exclaimed "The Eternal Rest Mountain branch!"


    Pan Yingnu leaned over to his disciple brother and whispered "¡­ Elders ¡­ rewards ¡­ Eternal Rest ¡­ Senior Brother¡­" Jack had to focus everything he had into his ear meridians to pick that much up.


    Zahng Dong had a hint of greed flash through his eyes as he almost ordered old Long while grasping the sword at his hip "You will follow us to meet our Senior Brother, you can negotiate your fee with him."


    Old Long ignored the threat posed by the younger man as he emptied his cup, said "Lead the way.", and stood up.


    When the rest of Jack''s group stood up too, the two Slaughtering Sword School disciples had wary looks in their eyes. Zahng Dong motioned towards Jack and the rest and told old Long "Leave your men here."


    Old Long''s brow furrowed as he said "I never go anywhere without my assistants. I assure you that they will not get in the way." He turned around to give Jack and the rest a glance and then turned back to tell Zahng Dong in a stage whisper "Brother Zhang, please give me some face. They would just get drunk and cause trouble if I left them here."


    Zahng Dong''s resolute expression didn''t change as he said "I do not care. You either come with us to get your money alone, or we hunt you all down without the money."


    A hint of fear flashed through old Long''s eyes as he gave a glance to Jack and the rest, as if to say ''This will cost extra.'', and sighed. In the next instant, he looked back at Zahng Dong and agreed with "Very well."


    He didn''t even look at the rest of the group as he waved a hand at them and instructed "You lot stay here, I will return soon."


    Jack and the rest gave him various murmurs of acquiescence and resumed their drinking, while the two Slaughtering Sword School disciples escorted old Long outside.


    The tavern fell silent and, just as the barkeep indulged himself in fantasies of asking the four remaining Immortals to pay the tab of the two that just left, Kuang Bindun asked "Now?"


    Jack nodded his head and confirmed "Now." He stood up, looked at the barkeep, and threw him a pouch with a few spirit stones as he said "You never saw us."


    The barkeep gave him a bow and a knowing smile as he stored the pouch under the bar and watched Jack and his group leave the tavern.


    When they entered into a side alley, Ma Ruiman asked "Is he gonna stay quiet?"


    Jack shook his head immediately as he answered "Only for tonight, maybe."


    Ma Ruiman''s brows furrowed as he asked "What about the shady guys in the corner and the drunk guy?"


    A small smirk appeared on Jack''s face as he said "Those guys want to meet cultivators even less than we do, and the drunk guy works for the bartender as extra security."


    Ma Ruiman''s eyes widened as he asked "How do you know?"


    Jack gave him a glance and answered "Would you want to involve cultivators in your criminal activities?" He turned around and added "The guy lying on the table kept looking at us and the barkeep through his eyelashes. He''s really not good at his job."


    Just as Ma Ruiman wanted to ask another question, Jack interrupted him as he said "We''re far enough, follow me. I think I know where they''re going."


    With that, Jack and his men used Moon Step to jump up onto a roof and sprinted towards the only large stone house that had a Light Orb.


    Old Long walked a few steps in front of the two Slaughtering Sword School disciples. Just as he wondered whether he should make a break for it, he heard a bird''s cry in the vicinity.


    With an internal sigh of relief, he opened his mouth and asked "How much longer do we have to walk to get to your Senior Brother?"


    "Just a few breaths more and we shall reach our base here in Cloverleaf." Zahng Dong said while a slight smirk played on his lips.


    "Oh, you have a base here already? The Slaughtering Sword School sure does move decisively." Old Long complimented as his eyes scanned the dark streets around him.


    Pan Yingnu''s chest puffed up as he bragged "Of course, we have to make them know who rules them now. A paltry peasant tried to threaten us with some relatives in the Endless Cycle Sect, so we executed his entire family and took over his shack as a base for the time we spend here."


    "Turn right." Added Zahng Dong as they reached an intersection.


    Old Long hummed in appreciation for a second and then asked "Do you think that¡­ behaving like that will let you keep your heads for a long time?" as he turned right and passed between Kuang Bindun and Bai Maolong.


    This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work."Wha¡­" Pan Yingnu started asking as he and Zahng Dong followed after old Long. Just as they turned the corner, they sensed two grade four spirit energy fluctuations in front of them, and two behind them.


    They immediately reached for their swords and tried to back away into the street that they just exited, but they weren''t fast enough to prevent two strong fists slam into their solar plexus''.


    As they took a couple of gasping steps back, two pairs of hands tightened a cord over their necks and pulled.


    The Slaughtering Sword School disciples'' eyes widened in shock as they let go of their swords and tried to pull the choking cord from their throats by instinct.


    An instant later their hands darted back towards their swords, but they acted too late as Kuang Bindun and Bai Maolong rushed forward and tackled them to the ground.


    The two piles of three bodies struggled on the ground for a few minutes, until Jack and his men managed to tie the two Slaughtering Sword School disciples down.


    Old Long stood a few meters away from them and watched the show with a bemused smile.


    Jack finished tying the last knot on the rope tying Zahng Dong''s hands to his sides, and turned towards old Long to say "You''re not getting any extra money."


    Old Long''s pleased face turned furious as he hissed "I risked my life for you, I should get double!"


    Jack''s face remained unmoved as he stated "You should have given them the information for free, and then helped us tail them so we could have ambushed them on their way back to their team. I didn''t tell you to get greedy and risk your life and our operation."


    Old Long snorted, but he kept his mouth shut as he fumed.


    The two Slaughtering Sword School disciples watched the exchange with wide eyes as they tried to bite through the gags that Jack tied around their heads.


    Every few seconds one of them would get kicked by one of Jack''s men when they either sensed or saw spirit energy building up around their bodies.


    Jack watched the show as he turned to old Long and said "Give me a couple collars."


    Old Long snorted in a show of displeasure, but he obeyed and took out two Energy Dispersal devices from the Immortals'' Lament''s supplies Star Bag and handed them over to Jack.


    A dozen seconds later, Jack placed the two Energy Dispersal devices around the necks of the Slaughtering Sword School''s disciples and turned them on.


    Almost immediately, the eyes of both of the prisoners turned round as they lost control of their spirit energy and it started getting dispersed into the air around them through the device on their necks.


    Jack straightened out and looked down at his work with a certain professional satisfaction. A second later, he shook the feeling off and started giving orders "Bindun and Maolong, take them. We''re too close to their base for comfort. Their Senior Brother shouldn''t have the range to sense us yet if he''s in the sixth grade of Spirit Accumulation, but if he reached the seventh we''re screwed. Fall back to our starting position."


    A few seconds later, they left the intersection without anyone knowing what just happened there.


    When they returned to the dark one-way street, Kuang Bindun and Bai Maolong threw the two prisoners down to the dirty, wet, ground and stepped back to let Jack stand in front of them.


    Jack didn''t look at the two Slaughtering Sword School disciples at all as he took out his light blue Star Bag and pulled out a camouflaged cylinder out of it. He took a second to admire it, and then pulled out a metal ball from the Star Bag too.


    He placed the metal ball into the cylinder, and held it in a reverse grip in his right hand, with the thumb blocking the metal ball from falling out, and the Air Blast spell only needing a single thread of spirit energy to assemble.


    After he got ready he looked at the two confused prisoners and started talking "I will ask you some questions. For every question that you do not answer or lie I will cripple one of your limbs. If you try to call for help you will fail because I will kill you. Once you answer all of my questions I will leave you here for your team members to find. I am a man of my word and I give it to you now."


    Jack waited for his speech to sink in before he added "I have questioned six Slaughtering Sword School disciples already and half of them survived. If you try to lie to me I will know from what they told me." He stopped for a second and asked "Do you understand?"


    The two Slaughtering Sword School disciples glanced at each other before giving Jack a short nod.


    Jack studied their unwilling eyes for a few seconds, and then said to Ma Ruiman "Remove Pan Yingnu''s gag."


    Ma Ruiman glanced at Jack, but did as told and went to squat behind Pan Yingnu to remove his gag.


    Once the gag left Pan Yingnu''s mouth, he let out a couple of coughs, worked his mouth for a second, and took in a deep breath.


    Before he had the chance to yell out a single syllable, his brain matter splattered across the dirty street.


    Jack looked at his dead body for a second, before he took out another metal ball from his Star Bag and inserted it into his cylinder.


    He looked into Zahng Dong''s horrified eyes calmly and said "Let''s try that again, shall we?"

 2.6 Interrogation

    Jack heard a couple of people shift their feet at the sudden execution. ''I''m sorry, my friends, I tried to keep this side of me hidden from you as long as I could.'' a thought flashed in Jack''s brain as a small piece of him broke. He had a silent moment of mourning for it, but he couldn''t turn around and tell them why he did it in front of the prisoner right now, so he had to continue with his act.


    Zahng Dong''s eyes kept flicking between Jack, his weapon, and the body of Pan Yingnu for a few seconds as panic built up in them.


    Jack pasted on a sympathetic look on his face as he sad "I didn''t want to do that. Pan Yingnu made his own decision and had to die with the consequences, I respect that." His face became serious as he pointed the cylinder at Zahng Dong''s face and said "Should I just end it here since you look like you''d rather die than talk too?"


    Zahng Dong started to shake his head, wriggle his body, and let out moans of total denial. He stopped caring about the dignity of a Slaughtering Sword School disciple and did everything in his power to stay alive.


    Jack gave an internal sigh of relief as he moved the cylinder away from Zahng Dong''s face while a small frown formed on his forehead. He studied Zahng Dong for a few seconds, before glancing at the pale Ma Ruiman and saying "Ruiman, take his gag off."


    Ma Ruiman shook a little, as if Jack''s voice broke some kind of spell that held him, and asked "Can you warn me to get out of the splatter area if this one tries something? I still have bits of the other one on my legs."


    Not a muscle twitched on Jack''s face at Ma Ruiman''s attempt at a joke; he could see the uncomfortable way Ma Ruiman held himself.


    ''He thinks that he''s an accessory to murder. None of them had problems with killing the Slaughtering Sword School disciples during our escape, but not a lot of soldiers can stand by while people who can''t defend themselves get executed. Good.'' Jack thought as he watched the first few stiff movements of Ma Ruiman turn nimble once more while he removed the gag from Zahng Dong''s mouth.


    As soon as he removed the gag, Ma Ruiman jumped away and walked to stand back behind Jack.


    Zahng Dong worked his stiff jaw a little, glanced at Jack''s weapon, took a few short breaths, and finally asked "What do you want to know?"


    Jack focused his eyes on Zahng Dong so he could see any unconscious twitch and movement before he said "Tell me how many people you have in Cloverleaf and their cultivation grades."


    Zahng Dong thought about lying, Jack could see it in the slight twitch of his eyes, but then he saw the corpse of his disciple brother from the corner of his eye and told the truth "Three more disciples from the School stayed back in our residence here. Our Senior Brother is in the sixth grade, while the rest of us are in the fifth grade."


    Jack gave a slow nod of his head as he did some quick calculations ''I can''t go for backup. If we take too long here they might get suspicious, not to mention what would happen if their disciple brothers don''t show up at all until morning.''


    Zahng Dong started to show signs of panic as he saw the contemplative look on Jack''s face so he added "I swear, the Elders sent only our group here to claim and pacify the area. The inner and core disciples are chasing after the remnants of the Endless Cycle Sect''s disciples."


    Jack refocused his eyes on Zahng Dong as he asked "How many squads like yours did they send out and how close are they?"


    Zahng Dong didn''t even think before he answered "I don''t know how many, enough to claim the land that the Endless Cycle Sect used to rule over. Nor do I know where they are now; we only received a simple map to show us where to go. Almost all of the higher-ups are busy with dividing the plunder or chasing after the escapees. I only know that they sent a squad to every town, and a number of squads joined up to take over the cities."


    Jack frowned in displeasure at the answer and took aim at one of Zahng Dong''s knees as he said "You expect me to believe that you never had contact with any of the other teams? Tell me everything or lose a knee."


    Zahng Dong tried to cringe away from the cylinder as he claimed "I did not lie, I swear. We traveled with a squad for a few days, but their map took them in the direction of the setting moon."


    Jack paused, and moved the cylinder back to its ready state as he thought ''They went south? That rules out one side of the world, have to get that barkeep to help us out before we go.''


    Jack gave Zahng Dong an encouraging smile as he said "You''re doing great, just a couple more question and I''ll set you free." Once he saw the spark of hope light up in Zahng Dong''s eyes he asked "How often do you have to report back to the Slaughtering Sword School and for how long will the higher-ups keep chasing the Endless Cycle Sect''s remnants?"


    Zahng Dong''s eyes shone with delight as he thought that he knew the answer to both of those questions "The Elders told us to stay at our post for a hundred days. After that, we can go back to the School on our own." He saw the question in Jack''s eyes so he added "That was forty-three days ago. I assume that the rest of the pursuers have similar orders."


    Jack thought about this answer for a couple seconds and nodded his head in agreement with Zahng Dong''s conclusion. He pasted a reassuring smile on his face as he stored his cylinder back into the Star Bag and squatted next to Zahng Dong.


    "You have kept to your part of the deal, and so shall I." Jack said as he took out his personal Spirit Capturing knife.


    Happiness radiated out of Zahng Dong''s eyes for a second, before it turned to confusion, and then into betrayal, as he stared at the bloody knife in Jack''s hand. He tried to speak, but his sliced open throat prevented him from producing much more than gurgling sounds.


    Jack and his men stood in silence for a long minute before Zahng Dong breathed his last breath.


    Kuang Bindun broke the silence as he voiced everyone''s thoughts "I understand that they''re our enemies and that they would kill us all if they had the chance, but what purpose did your charade serve here?"


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    Jack turned to his friend and explained "Pan Yingnu would have never told us what we wanted to know, he was too rash and emotional for that. Zahng Dong, on the other hand, seemed like a more pragmatic kind of guy. Even so, he would have never betrayed the Slaughtering Sword School while his junior disciple sat there and looked at him."


    He stopped talking to look into everyone''s solemn eyes before continuing "Sometimes we have to do things that we think are distasteful because they bring results. I did not like what I did, but I will not lie to you and say that I wouldn''t do it again as many times as necessary if it helps us out. In specific situations the ends can justify the means; you just have to allow your conscience to keep you balanced enough to know when they don''t."


    After a few seconds of silence, Jack could see understanding in the eyes of his men, none of them liked it, but they understood.


    Only old Long didn''t seem to mind Jack''s actions like everyone else did, he had a different question on his mind "Why didn''t you ask him about what happened in the battle after we left?"


    Jack and his friends gave old Long strange looks that made him feel uncomfortable. They stared at him for a couple of seconds before Jack turned towards Bai Maolong and instructed "Maolong, tell him why."


    Bai Maolong gave old Long a lopsided grin as he said "What do we care who did what in a battle between two of our enemies? They''re both the same in our eyes. We can''t do much to challenge their strength for now, so why should we care about the results?"


    Old Long''s eyes widened as he looked at the ridiculing face of Bai Maolong before he shook his head and grumbled "Idealistic idiots.", but he didn''t continue his berating.


    When Jack felt satisfied that no one had anything else to say, he turned to old Long and pointed at the two corpses on the ground as he ordered "Put those two into the Star Bag."


    Old Long looked at Jack like he had just gone crazy as he asked "Why would I do that?"


    Jack gave him a dark smirk as he answered "We never studied a grade five cultivator before. It should clear some things up." He glanced at Zahng Dong''s body as he added "Why else would I wait for him to bleed out instead of just blowing his head away?"


    Old Long felt a shiver run down his spine as he saw Jack in a new, more frightening, light for the first time. He felt even weirder when the rest of the squad didn''t seem surprised by Jack''s declaration. Without another complaint, he enveloped the two corpses with his spirit energy and stored them in the Star Bag.


    After they cleaned up the one-way street of corpses, Jack led his men back to the tavern.


    No guards greeted them at the front door when they got there.


    Jack''s brows furrowed as he glanced at old Long and asked "Anything?"


    Old Long concentrated for a second, before answering "No one that I can sense."


    Jack didn''t relax and sent his friends a hand signal to spread around. They scattered to possible ambush spots and guarded the approaches to the tavern as Jack and old Long neared the door.


    No one answered the door after a couple of rounds of knocking. Jack raised a hand to knock again when old Long placed a hand on his shoulder and informed him "I can hear breathing from inside, four people."


    Jack lowered his hand and declared "Either open this door, or I will kick it in."


    A few seconds later he heard the sound of wood grinding on wood, and then steps moving fast towards the door.


    The skinny barkeep stood on the other side of the door. As soon as he saw Jack and old Long, he bowed down and said "My deepest apologies, Immortals. I decided to close my humble tavern once you so kindly gave me earnings that towered over those of ten days. For you, we are always open."


    Jack chuckled at the shameless bartender''s words as he thought ''He hid away from the possible trouble that might come his way from our conflict with the Slaughtering Sword School''s disciples.''


    He and old Long entered the tavern, while the barkeep closed the door and ran back behind his bar. The two guards and the fake drunk sat at a table in the corner and kept their eyes averted from the newcomers.


    "What can this humble servant do for you, Immortals?" the barkeep asked as he poured them each a cup of the same wine they drank before.


    Jack didn''t follow old Long''s example in downing the drink. Instead, he reached into his Star Bag and took out the map of the area that he got from Mai Yining and asked the barkeep "Do you know how to read a map?"


    The barkeep gave a quick nod as he answered "I do have some skill in this area."


    Jack smiled at him as he pushed the map in front of him and said "Good, I need you to fill as much of this map as you can with the names of the places and their size. I will reward you even more than before if you do it to my satisfaction." He stopped as he saw a glint of greed in the barkeep''s eyes and added "If you falsify any information I will come back and hang you by your tongue. Understood?"


    The barkeep swallowed his greed back as his face turned serious and he bowed while saying "I understand, Immortal. I will not fail you."


    Jack nodded his head, emptied his cup, and said "Good. We still have some business to take care of, shouldn''t take more than the time to eat a meal. Have it finished by then."


    With that, he and old Long stood up and left the tavern while the barkeep yelled after them "As you command, Immortal."


    When old Long and Jack exited the tavern the rest of their squad came up to them and Bai Maolong reported "We had no trouble out here." His eyes got the crazy gleam they always got before battle as he asked "Time to pay the Slaughtering Sword School a visit?"


    Jack could only shake his head in bemusement as he confirmed "Indeed, let''s go knock on their door."

 2.7 Salesmen

    Old Long stood in the lead of their squad as they neared the base of the Slaughtering Sword School''s disciples.


    When they reached a distance of around a hundred and fifty meters, his brows furrowed a little as he murmured "I can sense them. Zahng Dong told us the truth. One fifth grade cultivator is alone on the ground floor, and the other two are together on the first floor. Their leader must have sensed us too."


    Jack nodded his head as he whispered "Good, don''t forget to inform us when they move."


    Old Long gave him a disdainful snort as they closed in on the Slaughtering Sword School''s new house. The stable light still shined bright in the room on the first floor.


    When they came to the door, old Long gave a few moderate knocks and then waited.


    Half a minute later, he knocked again with a bit more force.


    "Come back tomorrow, I''m trying to sleep." A lazy voice called out from the inside.


    Old Long glanced at Jack, who frowned and banged on the door a third time.


    A few seconds later, they heard a loud groan and then some light cursing as the voice neared the door.


    "You twerps better have¡­" The lanky young man that opened the door started growling, but when his eyes landed on old Long he froze and his carefree attitude disappeared.


    He glanced over their group of five with serious eyes and asked "What do you want?"


    Old Long gave him a slimy salesman''s smile as he started his pitch "Hello, Brother from the Slaughtering Sword School. We have heard that you offer rewards for information on the disciples from the Endless Cycle Sect. Is this true?"


    The young man''s eyes narrowed as he said "We are looking for Endless Cycle Sect disciples, but we are not offering rewards, just the gratitude of the Slaughtering Sword School."


    Old Long''s face turned sorrowful as he lamented "Ah, but Brother, I am a humble merchant that cannot eat gratitude. I will have to settle on spirit stones."


    A hint of anger flashed in the young man''s eyes, but he kept it in check as he questioned "Why would we give you anything without proof?"


    Old Long''s smile didn''t slip as he agreed "Of course, I would not believe myself either without proof." He glanced at Jack on his right side and ordered "Show the man our proof, boy."


    Jack ignored that last bit of improvisation as he reached for his Star Bag. Just as he planned to take out their evidence, the young man stepped back and grabbed the hilt of the saber on his hip.


    He looked at them all with suspicion for a second, before turning to Jack and saying "Proceed."


    Jack slowed his movements down as he slowly pulled out his old Eternal Rest Mountain robes and presented them to the Slaughtering Sword School disciple.


    The young man''s cautious eyes scanned the robe for a second, before they widened, and focused back on old Long. "Where did you get this?" he asked, his hand still held the saber''s hilt, but his posture relaxed a little.


    Old Long''s salesman''s smile didn''t slip once since he pasted it on, and it kept getting slimier as he answered "I traded it for some food with a few Endless Cycle Sect disciples on the road. Thought it could come in handy in the future, and then found out that the entire Sect got destroyed."


    The young man had a look of disgust in his eyes as he concluded "So you thought you could get back at them?"


    Jack felt surprised from the side as he watched the show. ''I knew that the formal Sect cultivators held a certain feeling of superiority over rouge cultivators, but I didn''t expect this much hostility.'' He thought in that quiet piece of his mind that kept analyzing everything.


    Old Long didn''t let the insult get to him as he retorted "Just getting my investment back." He paused for a second before adding "With some interest, of course."


    The young man snorted, but he chose not to comment as he let go of his saber''s hilt and asked "How much do you want?"


    Old Long''s face turned cold for the first time as he looked down his nose at the Slaughtering Sword School disciple and said "I do not do business with lackeys, go get your leader and we can talk."


    The young man looked like he wanted to reach for his saber once more, but old Long''s cultivation scared him so he let the insult wash over him and growled through his teeth "I will go and ask him. Wait here."


    With that, he closed the doors shut and stomped over to get his superior.


    Jack''s squad waited for a few minutes before old Long whispered "The grade six cultivator is coming down to the ground floor. The other grade five cultivator still has not moved."


    Jack furrowed his brows a little, but couldn''t do anything about it so he let it pass and waited.


    The young man from before opened the door and informed old Long "You can come inside, your men have to stay outside."


    Old Long sneered at him as he said "Do you take me for a fool? I go nowhere without my guards."


    The young man''s face darkened, but he managed to keep his temper in check as he said "You can take one person in if you are such a huge coward. I will not allow any more of your people inside."


    Old Long looked unwilling for a second, but in the end, he gave a curt nod and gave in with "Alright." He glanced at Jack and continued "Come with me, boy."


    The Slaughtering Sword School''s disciple had a slightly surprised face as he glanced at the burly figure of Kuang Bindun and the obvious intensity of Bai Maolong for a second, but then he grunted and stepped aside for old Long and Jack to enter.


    He instructed them to enter a room on the far end of the house, where they met the Senior Brother of the Slaughtering Sword School''s disciples. The Senior Brother had disheveled hair and a loose robe, only the sword on his waist looked ready for action as an annoyed look flashed across his face.


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    Jack took a deep breath once he entered the room and could smell the obvious flowery perfume lingering around the Senior Brother''s body, and something even more primal. He cleared his throat and looked away to the side as he realized what they just interrupted.


    Old Long either didn''t notice it or didn''t care, as he clasped his hands towards the Senior Brother and said "Old Mu greets the Slaughtering Sword School leader." Jack clasped his hands in greeting too, but the Senior Brother only had eyes for old Long.


    The other Slaughtering Sword School disciple followed them in and went to stand next to his Senior Brother while he kept his hand close to his saber''s hilt.


    The Senior Brother only gave a perfunctory greeting to old Long before he asked "How much do you want for the information on the direction that the Endless Cycle Sect disciples took?"


    Old Long''s brows twitched in slight dissatisfaction as he answered "How can I state the price when I did not even show you what I am offering."


    The Senior Brother''s eyebrows furrowed in annoyance as he asked "What are you talking about?"


    Old Long squared his shoulders with pride evident on his face as he said "I have hidden an amulet with the Endless Cycle Sect''s people that will allow anyone that has it to track them down." He gave a grin to the two confused Slaughtering Sword School disciples as he added "I do it in all of my trades, you never know who might try to scam you."


    The Senior Brother looked at old Long with skepticism as he declared "That is impossible. Any treasure that enables tracking cannot be used so much."


    Old Long gave a sad shake of the head as he offered "I am aware of the disbelief that many have when first hearing my story. If you would allow me, I will demonstrate."


    The two Slaughtering Sword School disciples exchanged a look before the Senior Brother gave a decisive nod as they both placed a hand on their weapons.


    Jack slowly took out a camouflaged cylinder from his Star Bag, and then a metal ball. He inserted the metal ball into one end of the cylinder and raised the other one to chest-height.


    As he did this, old Long narrated "This device in the boy''s hands has a special property. Once a metal passes through it while it is getting imbued, the metal will have a mysterious force act on it. The mysterious force will not do anything on its own: but if you were to put a second piece of metal in the device and imbue it¡­ As soon as the metal piece is pointed towards the first one it will start flying towards it, within a reasonable range of course."


    Old Long had a practiced smile on his face as he added "I have done this for the single piece that I hid with the supplies that I sold to the Endless Cycle Sect''s disciples. With your permission, the boy will now show you how it works on the second piece."


    The two Slaughtering Sword School disciples had curiosity, greed, and skepticism fighting in their eyes. A couple of seconds later, curiosity won out as the Senior Brother said "Show us."


    Old Long nodded towards Jack, who pointed the cylinder to the side of the room and projected threads of his spirit energy through the cylinder, he even added a few more for extra effect.


    Slowly, he started turning in a clockwise circle. He didn''t even look up as he stared at the cylinder with concentration, as did old Long, and the two Slaughtering Sword School disciples.


    Just as his sweep of the room reached right in front of the Senior Brother, his last thread of spirit energy connected the spell structure of the Air Blast spell together and shot out the metal ball out of the cylinder.


    The Senior Brother sensed danger coming at the moment that Jack fired his Air Blast spell off. He had his sword half-way out of its sheath when a bloody hole appeared right through his heart.


    He looked in disbelief at the hole in his chest, and then at the boy that made it. With resolve in his eyes, he squeezed the hilt of his sword and executed an upwards slice.


    To Jack''s surprise, the last attack from the dying Senior Brother didn''t go for either him or for Old Long, who started retreating out of the house as soon as he fired his spell, it went for the ceiling of the ground floor.


    The slash destroyed the ceiling above the Senior Brother, and with his last words, he screamed "Junior Sister, enemies, run!" as the rubble buried him.


    The young man that met them at the door only lagged behind his Senior Brother for a second as he drew his saber and sent a slash in the direction of old Long.


    With a panicked expression, old Long used the full power of his cultivation as he jumped out of the way of the slash. He had to fling himself out of a window to evade the attack.


    Just as Jack reached the outside, he saw a shadow flash out of the first-floor window and into the night.


    He turned towards the shaken old man and shouted "Go after her and slow her down! You will get a reward for this if you do it right!"


    Old Long got a fierce look in his eyes as his head snapped towards the direction that the Slaughtering Sword School''s disciple ran in. Like a bloodhound that smelled his prey, he charged off after her.


    Jack turned to his friends that stood outside with their weapons ready and ordered "Follow him and take her down. She can''t get away!"


    Bai Maolong and Ma Ruiman took off immediately, only Kuang Bindun hesitated for a split second before he too rushed after the prey.


    Jack heard rumblings coming from inside the house as he raised his cylinder to his shoulder and waited for his foe.

 2.8 Discovered

    Half a minute later, Jack realized that the young man from the Slaughtering Sword School planned to stay in the house for as long as he could. After he thought about it for a second he figured that he wouldn''t want to rush out at someone that had a rifle armed with only a saber.


    "Come out, you coward! Your disciple sister is getting chased down like a dog while you''re hiding in a hole like a rat!" Jack shouted towards the house. When no one answered he chuckled at himself as he thought ''Worth a try. Looks like we''re doing this the hard way.''


    He took a deep breath as he steadied his heartbeat and started walking towards the crumbling house. While he walked he cycled his spirit energy through his legs, just enough to activate Moon Step as soon as possible while not damaging his meridians for a short time.


    The welcoming room had no one in it so he passed through it after a quick check and went through the connecting door to the rest of the house.


    Dust flew everywhere in the debris-filled hallway. Jack held his cylinder up to his shoulder as he scanned for any movement. A few seconds later, he walked towards the first couple of doors that split the hallway into three paths.


    The one in the middle led to the deeper part of the house that held the room in which Jack killed the Senior Brother and the collapsed staircase to the upper floor. The two doors on the side led to two large rooms.


    He stopped a meter away from the doorways to the two rooms and crouched down to pick up a couple of rocks from the rubble. After a quick imbuement, he threw the rocks into the rooms, one each.


    As soon as the rocks bounced a few times in the rooms, Jack felt a buildup of spirit energy to his left. He activated Moon Step immediately and dashed forwards to the room in the back.


    A split second after he dashed away, a blast of spirit energy blew out the wall that previously hid Jack.


    The whole house shook as the violent saber slash destroyed the wall and cracked the opposite one. A couple of seconds later, the two rocks that Jack threw into the two rooms added to the chaos of dust and debris.


    When Jack reached the room in the back, he stored his cylinder in his Star Bag, took a deep breath, grabbed his knife, and started running when he heard the two rocks explode.


    Cursing followed on the tail of the explosions as a few rock fragments made some light wounds on the young man''s body. He had pushed spirit energy through it for protection, but a few of the more vulnerable spots got hit too.


    Just as he blinked his eyes to clear his vision of the swirling dust, he felt Jack''s spirit fluctuation rush towards him. His eyes regained his focus as he readied his saber.


    A second later, Jack ran out from the protection of the wall and threw his knife at the young man from the Slaughtering Sword School.


    The young man saw the knife fly towards him, but the throw looked sloppy and his saber already moved towards its flight path to block it.


    During that moment when he focused on the knife, he registered that Jack kept running, but he didn''t notice that instead of going down the hallway towards the outside, Jack entered into the same room as the young man through the saber-widened doorway.


    Jack allowed one more pulse of the Moon Step technique to course through his legs as he jumped at the oncoming wall of the room that he entered. In the air, he stopped performing the Moon Step and activated the Chaotic Hawk Assault technique to strengthen his legs.


    He landed on the upright wall with his legs and kept running. The stomps left spreading cracks on the wall as he ran across it.


    The momentum from his dash carried Jack close to the connecting wall, in front of which the Slaughtering Sword School disciple stood.


    As Jack launched himself from his horizontal position at the young man, he had just deflected the incoming knife and tried to move out of the way.


    Before he could take one step, Jack''s right leg lashed out and slammed into his right arm and side.


    His saber left his hands as his right arm broke, and the power of the kick slammed him into the wall opposite of the one from which Jack launched himself from.


    Jack didn''t fare much better, his leap carried him straight to the other wall. He could only cover his body with what little spirit energy he had left and curl up.


    The young man lay on his side and coughed out blood for a few seconds while Jack circulated his cultivation technique to gather as much spirit energy as he could.


    With a shake of his head, a battered Jack picked himself up from the floor. He had a bloody abrasion on his forehead; his hands had scrapes while his knees and elbows felt bruised.


    ''I hate the damned Chaotic Hawk Assault technique.'' Jack thought as he stumbled to his wobbling feet.


    The young man just started to crawl towards his dropped saber when Jack grabbed him by his left ankle and dragged him away from it.


    With a twist on the ankle, Jack made the young man flip over to his back. Jack saw that the young man had trouble breathing and concluded that a rib must have punctured a lung. He reached to his Star Bag and took out a camouflaged cylinder.


    The young man''s eyes widened in panic as he tried to crawl to his saber again. Jack just watched him go as he took out a metal ball and loaded it into his cylinder.


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    As the young man''s left hand touched the saber''s hilt, a soft *thump* sounded and blood painted the floor. The hand gave a few instinctual twitches before it stopped moving altogether.


    Jack sighed in relief, stored his cylinder in his Star Bag, and started using the Beast Recovery Method.


    A second later he looked down at his stomach and said "Oh¡­" In that same moment, he heard cracking sounds come from all the surrounding walls. His head snapped up as he continued "¡­ s*it!"


    Jack could only push all the available spirit energy through his body, cover his head with his arms, and crouch down as the house crashed down on him.


    Over an hour later, some rubble shifted as a battered and bloody Jack dragged himself out of the collapsed house.


    He took a few minutes to just lie on the rubble and breathe before he propped himself up to stand.


    When he looked around, he saw a few guards with torches loitering around the collapsed building, but no one moved any closer to check out what happened.


    Jack chuckled at the restriction that Immortals held towards the regular people before he looked up and saw that the sky started to lighten up.


    He halted his short rest, mobilized his new grade five cultivation, and rushed away from the frightened gazes with Moon Step.


    A dozen seconds later, Jack stopped in a dark alley and had to lean on a building to prevent himself from collapsing to the ground.


    ''Damn, can''t do that for long.'' he thought as he cursed the Chaotic Hawk Assault.


    After a few minutes of rest, Jack started jogging down the dark streets without using spirit energy for anything else except the Beast Recovery Method.


    Ten minutes later, he reached the tavern that sold information and banged on the door while yelling "Open up, I want my map back."


    As soon as he said that, he heard noises come from inside the tavern, and soon, the barkeep opened the door while saying "Welcome back, Imm¡­"


    His voice choked in his throat when he saw Jack''s state. With a gulp, he held out the rolled up map in front of himself and said "Here you go, Immortal. I have filled it with as many places as that I know of, like we agreed."


    Jack wiped his dirty hands on his robe, took the map, and unfurled it. Most of the villages had names on them, and even a few that weren''t marked on it got added.


    With a grunt of pleasure, Jack took out a pouch that had twenty gold coins in it and handed it to the barkeep as he confirmed "Your payment, like we agreed."


    He started to turn around, but he stopped in mid-step and looked back at the barkeep to ask "What''s the fastest way out of the lands that the Slaughtering Sword School has control over?"


    The barkeep didn''t even have to think about it as he answered "Follow the roads that lead towards the rising moon."


    Jack thanked him, stored the map, and left the tavern in the predawn light.


    Sneaking out of Cloverleaf didn''t take much effort. A lot of the guards had their hands full with loitering around the collapsed house of the Slaughtering Sword School so they left the walls unguarded.


    Jack used Moon Step as much as he could, but after several seconds he would start feeling pain in his legs and had to slow down to a jog for half a minute.


    He kept absorbing spirit energy and using the Beast Recovery Method as he ran along the path out of Cloverleaf, but it only improved his state a little by the time he neared the Immortals'' Lament camp in the afternoon.


    A few bird calls sounded out from the forest, and a dozen seconds later his friends rushed out towards him with relieved expressions.


    They started fussing over his wounds and asking what happened, but Jack ignored them and turned to Kuang Bindun to ask "Did you get her?"


    Kuang Bindun glanced all over Jack''s injuries and then looked down at his feet as he answered "No. She had some spell to remove all of her traces. Her sound, smell, and spirit fluctuation all disappeared in time. Not even old Long could track her after a while."


    He looked back up at Jack and continued "Old Long kept trying to find her, but we went back to help you. When we got there we only found the ruined base of the Slaughtering Sword School, but couldn''t sense you. We looked around the entire town and concluded that you went back here. After not finding you here either, we decided to wait and see."


    Jack sighed and held in the curses that he wanted to spew at that incompetent old man.


    A second later he dismissed his dark thoughts and said "We have to move. That Slaughtering Sword School disciple will go and inform her School and they will send someone after us."


    He took out the map from his Star Bag and unfurled it in front of everyone while saying "We need to go west. I tried to make them think that we''ll go north, but I''m not sure how long that will work. Those of us that can will have to carry the weaker people through the forest as we move out; we can''t get spotted on the road or else¡­"


    Jack froze as his eyes locked onto a familiar name on the map. He looked up at Shi Furui and ordered "Furui, take this map and copy the names of the places onto yours. You will lead everyone to the outskirts of White River Outpost and I will meet you there."


    Everyone''s eyes widened in panic as Shi Furui asked "Why?!"


    Jack gave them a sad smile as he said "I''m going home to check if any of my family survived."

 2.9 Homecoming

    Jack sat on a large rock near the camp of the Immortals'' Lament and studied the map. His eyes kept returning to the two characters that read "Raging Ox". Every time they did, he would see a face of an eight-year-old boy looking at him with confusion and betrayal in his eyes and a pile of burning bodies.


    He shook the memory from his head and looked around the bustling camp.


    Xu Weifa fussed over today''s dinner and Zhu Lielei helped her from the side. Kuang Bindun held a language lesson for the new recruits, while some of the old members rested for the night''s march. Shi Furui kept walking from one end of the camp to the other with old Long while going over their preparations.


    Everyone pretended that they didn''t notice Jack''s mood, or that they didn''t care about him leaving, but he could feel their eyes lock onto his body every time they thought that he wasn''t looking.


    It took Jack almost an hour to convince his men not to follow him back to Raging Ox village. He even suspected that a few of them planned to follow him, but he felt certain that he could lose them in the forest. With a shake of his head, he chuckled and looked back down at his map.


    Fifteen minutes later, Shi Furui came to stand next to Jack''s rock and whispered "I don''t know if I can do this. The few days while we fled from the Sect was one thing, this might take over a month."


    Jack rolled up the map and stored it in his robes. He had already given the light blue Star Bag over to Yin Ping for safekeeping and so he could continue his work. The only things he took with him were his cylinder, a pouch with metal balls, a few Spirit Capturing knives, and a sack with things he would need for the trip like food and new clothes.


    He looked at Shi Furui from the corner of his eyes and told him the truth "I don''t know if you can do this either." When Shi Furui turned towards him with slight shock in his eyes he smiled and continued "I believe that you can, but a lot of things can go wrong and ruin everything."


    Jack sighed as he looked up at the darkening sky and added "I know that I''m doing a selfish thing, but I couldn''t forgive myself if I didn''t go to check if my relative managed to stay alive."


    Shi Furui turned to study the camp for a few seconds before he asked "What if something happens on the road?"


    Jack looked back down at him and shrugged as he said "Then you adapt, like we always have."


    Shi Furui looked at him, and Jack thought that he might ask another question for a second, but Xu Weifa announced that dinner was ready and they both went to line up for their food.


    After dinner, the camp fell into a strange hush as everyone followed Jack with their eyes as he packed the last few things into his sack and looped it over one shoulder and across his chest.


    He held his camouflaged cylinder in his left hand, as he gesticulated to his friends with his right while saying "Keep to the forest and travel by night. Speed isn''t as important as safety but go as fast as possible. This shouldn''t take longer than a month, but if I don''t show up in the White River Outpost for two months, go on without me."


    Kuang Bindun jumped in with "Don''t say that, you''ll be fine."


    Jack gave him a sad smile as he said "We take the world as it is, not how we''d like it to be. Just stay safe and look after each other. I''ll see you in a month, my friends."


    With that, Jack gave them a wave and turned to leave. A few people shouted goodbyes, but most just stood in solemn silence.


    All of the people that fled from the Sect with Jack had a lost look in their eyes, even old Long. They felt like the barrier that protected them from the rest of the world disappeared and left them vulnerable.


    ''This might be good for them; they need to learn how to survive on their own.'' Jack consoled himself as a dull pain throbbed in his chest.


    Jack only allowed it to torture him for a few minutes as he walked down the dirt path back towards Cloverleaf. After that, he straightened his shoulders and turned into the forest through which he had to pass to reach the road that leads towards the Raging Ox village in the South.


    Traveling during the night didn''t pose any problems to him, especially after reaching grade five and having his body improved. His injuries slowed him down for the first couple of days, but after using the Beast Recovery Method without stop whenever he could they healed up.


    Along the way, he would follow the road at a distance where he could still see it, but where the people couldn''t notice him. He didn''t need tales of a rogue cultivator reaching the squad of the Slaughtering Sword School in the nearby Southern town.


    Whenever he reached a village he would introduce himself as a traveler in search of his family. In every village, he would ask if they knew of a survivor from the Raging Ox village named Song Farong while he restocked on supplies and checked if he stayed on the correct path.


    On the eleventh day, as he stopped in a village that lay on the road just before the burned down villages of Fallen Crow and Raging Ox, Jack talked to an old woman that finally gave him a clue when he asked his questions.


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    "I don''t know about the boy, but we did have a girl from the Raging Ox here for some days after the bandits burned the two villages down." The wrinkled old woman said as she shook her head in sadness while she added "What a tragedy, if the Immortals didn''t come to scare them off they might have burned us on the pyre next."


    Jack frowned a little at the story that got sold to these people, but he decided to ignore it as he grabbed on to the more important piece of news "You said that a girl stayed here? Do you know where she went or remember her name?"


    The old woman''s eyes went distant as she thought for a few seconds before the light of remembrance shone on her face "I think that some family of hers came to look for survivors of the Raging Ox. When they found only her, they took her back to the Green Wood village. I can''t remember her name, though."


    Jack smiled and gave the old woman a whole gold coin as thanks for the information. She looked like she didn''t know what to do with it, but she still thanked him as he said goodbye and left the village.


    When Jack neared the previous location of the Fallen Crow village, he didn''t see any buildings still standing in the wide empty stretch of land. The whole area looked more like a patch of desert in the middle of a forest.


    When he entered the village proper he saw numerous shallow and wide pits all around him. Only small paths between the pits that held a few blades of grass hinted that once houses existed in their place.


    ''I never expected that those slow burning flames could do this. No wonder no one resettled the place after the fires.'' Jack thought as he studied the landscape with a dark look on his face.


    A few minutes later, he stopped his ruminations and hurried along the road towards his old home.


    It didn''t take him long to start seeing places that he recognized, but soon his nostalgia turned into dull throbbing pain as the desert-like blank spots replaced houses of his former friends and acquaintances.


    Jack kept on walking in a haze of dull pain until he found himself standing in front of the empty shallow pit where his childhood house used to stand.


    He blinked his eyes a few times, causing a couple of tears to run down his face, and stared at the place he once called home.


    All the pain that Jack suppressed for over a year and a half hit him at once and he started to sob. Ever since he found his dead family he didn''t have any time to process the loss. First Mai Younu took him to the Endless Cycle Sect, then he had to fight for survival there, and then flee from it while taking care of his new friends.


    During that entire time, he never allowed himself to grieve for his lost family. At first, the tide of emotions surprised him since he always treated them like an adoptive family in the logical part of his mind. However, once the pain came he realized that he just kept fooling himself so that he wouldn''t lean on his family members as much as he did in his previous life.


    After letting it all out, the Sun started to set so he decided to make camp in the spot where his home used to stand. He collected branches from the forest to burn and gave thanks to all of his late ancestors and family members in the way that his father, Song Fengtian, taught him. As an afterthought, he also decided to add headstones with his family''s names carved into them to the ceremony,


    The next day, he burned a few more branches for his family and considered his options.


    ''I spent twelve days on the road; it should take at least as much to get to the White River Outpost if I go cross-country. I''ll get to Green Wood village today to see if that girl from Raging Ox knows anything about Song Farong, otherwise, I''ll have to go back.'' Jack thought as he packed up his things.


    On the way to Green Wood village, Jack passed by two other villages, but they didn''t hear about anyone else from Raging Ox village surviving so he kept going.


    Once he reached Green Wood at midday, he walked to the small village square and asked around for the directions to the survivor of Raging Ox. After he explained that he came from there too, the suspicious villagers relaxed and pointed him towards a new little house on the outskirts of the village.


    Just as he rounded the back of the house, a young woman picked up a wooden water pail from a well and started walking towards the barn that stood to the side in the yard.


    Jack froze for a second as his world crashed around him. ''Fenlan?'' He thought instantly, but after studying the young woman''s profile for a while his eyes widened as a grin spread over his face and he shouted "Yuening!" while he used Moon Step to rush towards the young woman.


    He covered the distance in an instant and picked up his fourth sister in a bear hug. While twirling her around in his arms, Jack kept repeating "You''re alive, you''re alive¡­"


    The young woman first allowed him to do what he wanted from shock, but after a second it passed and she dropped the pail of water from her hand as she screamed "Husband, help!" and started to pound Jack''s head with her rough fists.