《Reincarnated Into A Cultivation World With A Gun》


 1. The Forge of Destiny

    In the year 2040, Earth faced an unprecedented threat. An alien spacecraft, a metallic behemoth of unknown design, had landed on our planet, bringing with it a disease that transformed humans into monstrous entities. The only way to counter this horrific plague was a special bullet, forged from a living metal that came from the alien craft itself. The scientists called the metal Extraterrestrial Element 120, but the soldiers called it Martian Metal. The metal was parasitic, when introduced into a monster''s body, it turned the beast into a lifeless metal statue, thus neutralizing the threat.


    For years, humanity struggled to survive, clinging to the hope that they could keep the metal supply steady by recycling the metal from fallen monsters into more bullets. Soldiers fought valiantly, but the toll was immense. One such soldier, Lieutenant Jin Shu, had been fighting on the front lines, defending a decimated city against the relentless onslaught of the creatures. The battle had been fierce, and as he and his platoon fought desperately, disaster struck.


    Lieutenant Jin Shu and his platoon were tasked with evacuating the last remaining survivors from a city overrun with monsters.


    As the last of the survivors was loaded into the Armored Transport Carrier. Squad Leader Sargent Daniel Park called out to Jin Shu. "That was the last survivor Lieutenant. Should we begin transporting?"


    Lieutenant Jin Shu nodded and called out over the radio. "All squads mount up and begin transportation."


    A reply came over the radio "Looks like we finally got an easy assignment, aye Lieutenant?"


    Sargent Park replied back "Corporal McTavish I thought I told you to keep your jinx mouth shut! Everytime you open you mouth something goes wrong."


    Lieutenant Jin Shu sighed than responded over the radio. "Clear comms, double time everyone, let''s get out of here before McTavish jinxs us... again."


    Responses came from over the radio.


    "Yessir!"


    "Aye, aye Lieutenant!"


    Lieutenant Jin Shu ordered the transports to move out. "ATCs get a move on, we''ll take up the rear."


    As the ATCs began driving away a gunshot sounded.


    *BANG!*


    Corporal McTavish yelled over the radio. "Shit! Contact left!"


    Lieutenant Jin Shu ordered his men as he moved to support the left side. "Alpha and Bravo squad cover the left flank! Charlie and Delta keep an eye on the right flank. Echo squad protect the ATCs. Don''t let a single monster through until the ATCs are clear!"


    "Movement on the right flank!"


    "We''re engaging!"


    The sound of gunshots continued to ring out for the next tens of minutes.


    "Fuck! There''s an Armored on the left flank, we need an RPG here now!"


    The constant radio comms were interspersed with the sound of gunshots and explosions.


    "I''m out of ammo!"


    The monsters broke through the hail of gunfire pouncing onto Jin Shu and his squad. One monster lunged at Jin Shu it''s claws knocking his assault rifle back in a violent clash. In a cruel twist of fate, the recoil caused the weapon to fire, the bullet tearing into his left shoulder. The pain was immediate and searing, but Jin Shu''s resolve was unshaken. He struggled against the growing numbness as his arm began to turn into metal, a grotesque transformation caused by the alien metal. With grit and determination, he dropped his rifle and drew his sidearm.


    Through blurred vision and with the weight of his metal arm dragging him down, Jin Shu faced the final monster of the horde; an Armored monstrosity it''s hide to thick for bullets to peirce. He fired at the monster, but the bullets just bounced off of it''s armored shell. It lurched toward him, jaws agape. Jin Shu''s fingers trembled as he aimed the gun. With a surge of remaining strength, he fired. The bullet found its mark, piercing through the roof of the monsters open jaws into its brain issuing it a quick death.


    Exhausted and on the brink of transformation, Jin Shu looked around to find all of his squad mates dead. As the last echoes of battle faded, he collapsed, his body nearly entirely converted into metal. The transformation was almost complete when, with his final ounce of strength, he looked at the once-familiar battlefield, now silent and forsaken, and thought. ''I hope the survivors made it out.''


    Then, darkness took him.


    ---


    Jin Shu awoke in a place unlike any he had ever known. The air was thick with the scent of forge fires and earthy minerals. He was in a small room, adorned with an array of blacksmithing tools and weapons. As he struggled to sit up, he noticed his body was no longer encased in metal, but rather, he was fully human again��at least in appearance.


    A man, robust and stern, entered the room. "You''re awake," the man said. "Get out here and help your old man with the forge."


    Confused and disoriented, Jin Shu tried to piece together his fragmented memories. The battle, his transformation, and his fall, but also other memories that didn''t seem to be his yet at the same time to familiar not to be. Like the man in front of him in his memories seems to be his father Jin Chen the master blacksmith of the Jin family��it was all surreal. Yet, the presence of his sidearm, now lying beside him, offered a thread of continuity.


    His father noticed the gun and huffed angrily. "I thought I told you to stop making those little ornaments if you want to forge something let it be a weapon to sell to a cultivator. Our family has been forging weapons and selling them to the immortal cultivators for hundreds of years, that was how we made our fortune, not by selling knick knacks like some type of street vendor."


    Jin Shu nodded weakly and reflexively replied. "I just made a couple of ornaments for mother and she seemed to like them alot and even praised my craftsmanship."


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    Jin Chen raised his hand. "You brat! Don''t try to use your mother to threaten me! Get out here already or do you need me to smack some sense into that thick skull of yours?"


    As his father walked out Jin Shu stood up and took a moment to get his memories in order. It seems that he was reborn into another world in the body of the Jin Shu of this world, the eldest son of the Jin family. The Jin family is a renowned blacksmithing family in the Qi dynasty, as one of the only families with the knowledge of runesmithing, they made a fortune by selling weapons to cultivators. The Jin Shu of this world had just turned 16 and reached the first stage of the Qi Gathering Realm which means he could start learning runesmithing from his father.


    After Jin Shu gathered his thoughts he walked outside and followed behind his father. His father was a large muscular man standing at six and a half feet tall, Jin Shu wasn''t as muscular as his father nor as tall, however he was still quite tall for his age, standing at six feet tall.


    Jin Chen looked back at Jin Shu and said. "Now that you''ve reached the first stage of the Qi Gathering Realm it''s time for you to learn runesmithing."


    Jin Chen led Jin Shu toward a forge in the distance. Jin Shu marveled at the ancient Chinese style buildings that they pasted by thinking to himself. ''I feel like I''ve walked this path hundreds of times, yet it also feels as if I''m seeing this all for the first time. It''s like I''m two different people yet also just one person. I guess the easiest way to think about it would be; that I''ve unlocked memories of my past life and I''m not two different Jin Shu''s I''m just Jin Shu eldest son of the Jin family who happened to be Lieutenant Jin Shu in a past life.''


    As Jin Shu was coming to terms with his reincarnation his father led him into the forge. And Jin Shu was awaken from his thoughts from the roaring flames and blistering heat.


    Jin Chen patted Jin Shu on the shoulder nearly knocking Jin Shu over. "Alright son it''s time to learn our family''s runesmithing method. First I''ll teach you the ten basic runes that can be learned at the lower three and middle three stages of the Qi Gathering Realm. To learn the next set of runes you''ll need to advance to the upper three stages of the Qi Gathering Realm. Anyways let me give you a test first. You remember what the ten basic runes are right?"


    "Yes, I remember."


    "Alright than recite them to me along with their effects."


    "Ugh... do I have to?"


    Jin Chen cocked his hand back "Do you want a slap?"


    Jin Shu quickly shook his head and began reciting the runes. "The two most common runes are the Sharpness rune and the Durability rune."


    "The Sharpness rune increases the shapness of bladed weapons."


    "The Durability rune increases the strength of a weapon making less likely to break."


    "Weight Increase and Weight Reduction runes as the names suggests increase and decrease the weight of weapons."


    "Flame and Frost runes make weapons hot or cold. They have a more advanced version of both that allow weapons to emit flames or ice."


    "The Silence rune is rarely used as most people don''t need silent weapons. Except maybe an assassin."


    "The Explosion rune is another rarely used rune. It essentially causes an explosion when Qi is used on the weapon. It isn''t used very often because there is no way to delay the activation, so the weapon would end up blowing it''s wielder up."


    Jin Chen interrupted him there "Actually your father here has recently found a way to delay the activation of runes I''ll teach it to you later. Anyways continue."


    Jin Shu resumed his reciting. "The Wind rune is exclusive to our family''s runesmithing method. It''s effect is to increase the speed of a weapon, allowing the wielder to swing the weapon faster than their opponent and is one of the reasons our family has gained a standing in the cultivation world."


    "The final rune is the Qi Circulation rune, it is a special rune that doesn''t do much on it''s own, but when used in conjunction with other runes it allows the weapons wielder to inject Qi into the other runes on the weapon thus strengthening said runes."


    Jin Chen applauded his son "Good you''ve memorized all of them. When I was first learning from your grandfather I forgot about the Silence rune, so your grandfather gave me a slap to the back of the head. To be honest I was hoping you''d forget a rune as well gahaha!"


    Jin Shu sighed and shook his head in exasperation.


    Jin Chen stopped laughing and began explaining how he had learned how to delay the activation of runes. "Your old man here has made a groundbreaking discovery! The other night I fell asleep while I was inscribing an Explosion rune a weapon that someone ordered to prank their friend with. Since I fell asleep before I could finish injecting my Qi into the rune it became a dormant rune; you know that a dormant rune is one that never had Qi injected into it during inscribing right?"


    Jin Shu nodded and his father continued his explanation. "Where was I? Oh right, so that Explosion rune became a dormant rune, and I thought I''d have to scrap it and start over so I pushed it off to the side and began working on a weapon that needed a Qi Circulation rune inscribed onto it. And you''ll never guess what happened. The Qi Circulation rune activated the Explosion rune and nearly blew my hand off Gahahaha!"


    After Jin Shu''s father finished his explanation he took Jin Shu into the workshop in the back of the forge room and taught Jin Shu how to inscribe runes.


    Over the coming weeks, Jin Shu immersed himself in the art of runesmithing. He learned to inscribe runes onto weapons, imbuing them with various magical properties.


    While learning runesmithing he continued to sort through his memories, in this world there are people known as immortals or cultivators as his family makes rune weapons to sell to these people and has recently become a cultivation family itself he has access to certain knowledge that most mortals don''t. Like the realms of cultivation, the second of which he has just entered. The realms of cultivation that he knows of are the first realm Body Building, the second Qi Gathering, the third Core Forging, and the fourth Spirit Strengthening. Each of which is further separated into 9 stages.


    The Jin family was originally a family of mortal blacksmiths, however 100 years ago Jin Shu''s Grandfather Jin Zhu, found a scroll containing a record of runesmithing along with a cultivation method. Since then their family has been on the rise. With his Father reaching the Core Forging Realm they were one of the strongest cultivation families in the Qi dynasty. Second only to the royal family of which the emperor has reached the Spirit Strengthening Realm.


    After three weeks of learning runesmithing he had learned all his father had to teach him for his current cultivation level.


    His father mentioned that he had learned much faster than himself when he was Jin Shu''s age.


    All he needed to do now is focus on applying his newfound knowledge to practice and to work on increasing his cultivation level so he could learn the next set of runes.


    Now that he had some free time Jin Shu decided to check out his gun that reincarnated with him. After disassembling and checking the gun for any damage, everything seemed to be the same as it was before he was reborn.


    "Hmm... it''s definitely the same pistol I was using right before I died, even the fact that I only have one bullet left is the same. I wonder if this is like one of those cultivation novels I used to read? Maybe I have a system?"


    "System Open"


    ...


    "...OK so no system"


    "Maybe this gun is like some supreme artifact, maybe I need to drop my blood on it to bind it?"


    Jin Shu bit his finger and let a drop of blood land on his gun, and... nothing happened.


    "Maybe its just a normal gun? I guess I can use my new knowledge of runesmithing to inscribe some runes onto it and turn it into a rune weapon. I''ll also need to hunt down an animal to get more Martian Metal to make bullets."


    Jin Shu pulled out an etching tool from the desk in his room to start inscribing runes onto the gun.


    "I only have enough Qi to inscribe two runes. I also only know about ten different runes, Sharpness, Durability, Weight Reduction, Weight Increase, Explosion, Silence, Flame, Frost, Wind, and Qi Circulation. Let''s start with a Durability rune to make sure that it doesn''t break easily, and a Silence rune to mute the sound of the gunshot."


    The gun, now engraved with intricate runes, glowed faintly with arcane energy. It was no longer just a weapon; it had become a tool of immense power. Jin Shu would forge a new path in the world of cultivation.


    His past as a soldier, with its pain and loss, had not been in vain. It had brought him to this new world, where he would forge not just metal but a new destiny.

 2. Hunting a Wild Beast

    Jin Shu steps outside the gateway of the Jin residence looking back to see a large wooden plaque mounted above the gate which read Jin Mansion in bold golden lettering.


    The rising sun just cresting the city walls in the distance, bringing a new day to Black Mountain City. The city just starting to awaken.


    Jin Shu''s mission for today was to set out into the nearby mountains to hunt an animal with the Martian Metal so he could forge some more bullets for his gun.


    Walking out onto the city streets gave him a surreal feeling of recognition, even though this should be his first time walking these streets, however due to the memories he inherited from the original Jin Shu he could clearly recall all of the different twist and turns he needed to take to get to the city gates.


    As he walked out of the city gates passing by merchants and travelers entering, the city guardsmen bowed and payed their respects to him.


    "Good morning Young Master Jin."


    "Are you headed outside Young Master Jin? Should we send some guardsmen to escort you on your way?"


    Even Shen Gong the captain of the city guard stepped out of the guard house beside the gates.


    "Young Master Jin what brings you to the gates so early in the morning?" Asked Captian Shen Gong


    "I''m just headed to the nearby mountains to find some resources for forging. And please Captain Shen you and your men should keep your respects for my Grandfather or Father. I am just a underquilified Apprentice Blacksmith. Definitely not worthy of all of your respects."


    When the travelers and merchants passing by saw the city guardsmen and even the guards captian bowing to a young man they turned to the local passersby and asked who the young man was, the passersby replied.


    "That''s Young Master Jin, the eldest son of the famous Jin family."


    "His Grandfather is the City Lord of our Black Mountain City."


    "Not to mention his Father is the patriarch of the Jin family and a Master Blacksmith."


    "Don''t forget his Mother is the younger sister of Emperor Sun, Princess Feng Huang"


    "If the city guard don''t bow to Young Master Jin then who should they bow to?"


    Captian Shen chuckled "If you don''t like it I''ll tell my men not to bow but we must still pay our respects to you regardless. If not just for the fact that you are Black Mountain Cities resident genius. Only sixteen years old and already at the first stage of the Qi Gathering Realm, most kids your age are still struggling in the lower stages of the Body Refining Realm."


    Jin Shu sighed he really couldn''t get used to all of this bowing and paying of respects. As someone from the 21st century "Hah... alright well I''ll be on my way now."


    "Have a safe trip Young Master Jin."


    Jin Shu stepped out of the city gates and made his way toward the distant mountains. Which as the city name suggests, were black. There is a legend in Black Mountain City that a Dragon scorched the mountains with its dragon breath thousands of years ago. Some even say that the Dragon still lives under the Black Mountains.


    On his way Jin Shu started to think aloud the ways he could forge extra bullets. "I don''t seem to have any memories of there being gunpowder in this world, and I sure as hell have no idea how to make it. But I think I can replace the gunpowder with an Explosion rune, I''ll have to be very careful with how strong I make it though, I don''t want to blow my gun up or my hand off."


    "Seeing as this is a cultivation world I wonder if I''ll end up falling off a cliff later and stumble upon a mysterious cultivators legacy that''s been lost for thousands of years, hahah I''m foreshadowing myself aren''t I?"


    While Jin Shu was daydreaming he had made it to the forest at the foot of the black mountains.


    "Alright time to start the hunt."


    As Jin Shu walked through the forest he seen all types of little creatures scurrying around, like a squirrel with little horns on it''s head, and a carnivorous rabbit.


    "Wow I thought the animals would still be the same as the ones from my original world, I thought the only differences with this world were the cultivators and the ancient Chinese culture. I guess this really is a different world after all."


    "Looks like I''ll have to head deeper into the forest to find bigger animals the ones at the edge are all to small to give me enough metal."


    As Jin Shu made his way deeper into the forest he heard what sounded to be the roar of a tiger. Soon after he saw a clearing ahead in the woods.


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    "This seems to be the spot that I heard that roaring from. If it''s a tiger it should give me enough metal to forge more than enough bullets for a while."


    Jin Shu stepped into the clearing and he saw what looked like the remains of a deer carcass and laying in the middle of the clearing was a giant winged tiger.


    The tiger was easily 15 feet long and 10 feet tall. It had massive sabertoothed fangs and a pair of wings bigger than its body.


    Jin Shu had a vague sense of recognition when he seen the tiger "Ah this is a Winged Tiger, the apex predator of the black mountains. However, they usually don''t come this close to the city; they normally stay closer to the base of the mountains. And this one seems to be the biggest tiger I''ve ever heard of. The biggest Winged Tiger was the one my Father hunted down a few years back, that tiger was on the verge of transforming into a Demonic Beast."


    "Lets see what was a Demonic Beast again?"


    "...Ah right a Demonic Beast is an animal that has gained the ability to cultivate and has broken through to the Qi Gathering Realm."


    "I wonder if my pistol will even hurt that thing? As long as my bullet enters it''s body it should transform into Martian Metal. But I guess there is only one way to find out."


    Jin Shu pulled his pistol out from the waist band of his robes. "These ancient style clothes really make it hard to carry my gun around, I should probably make a holster when I get back so I don''t end up dropping my gun later"


    He pulled his gun up holding it with both hands and aimed for the tigers head. "I''m glad I put a Silence rune on my gun so I don''t need ear protection any more" and with that thought Jin Shu pulled the trigger.


    *BANG!*


    "..."


    "Welp so much for that Silence rune. Apparently putting a Silence rune on the frame of the gun doesn''t silence the bullet, in retrospect that makes sense."


    While Jin Shu was thinking the bullet peirced the tigers head. Unfortunately for Jin Shu the bullet did not brake past the tigers skull. So a very angry tiger was awoken by a loud bang and a searing pain in its forehead.


    Jin Shu immediately turned and ran while cursing "Shit!"


    The Winged Tiger stood up and spread its wings strangely silver metallic looking blood rolled down its forehead slowly solidifying into metal.


    Jin Shu ran through the woods as fast as he could and as someone in the first stage of the Qi Gathering Realm he was by no means slow, he could run faster than any human in his previous life could ever hope to run, unfortunately though he was running from a tiger with wings that was also in the Qi Gathering Realm, although Jin Shu did not know what stage the tiger had reached in the Qi Gathering Realm, he knew that regardless the tiger was definitely faster than him. His only chance to survive would be to use the trees to hinder the tiger and to wait for the Martian Metal to transform it into a lifeless statue.


    "Goddammit I thought this would be easy, although now that I think about it a 9mm wouldn''t really do much to a tiger in my previous life either. Hell this pistol could barely even scratch those monsters in my last life, the only reason I even killed that last one was because I shot it in the mouth."


    Jin Shu continued to run for his life glancing over his shoulder he could see the Winged Tiger flying overhead not but 20 feet behind him and getting closer quickly.


    All of the sudden the tiger dived down towards Jin Shu.


    Seeing the tiger dive towards him Jin Shu quickly dove to the side and rolled out of the way.


    The Winged Tiger landed where Jin Shu was a moment ago only 5 feet away from him now.


    The fur on the tigers forehead was covered in solidified metallic blood, and it fur upto its neck was taking on a silver hue instead of its normal orange and black color. It hopefully wouldn''t be long now until its brain was effected by the Martian Metal and it would die.


    Jin Shu chuckled nervously. "Haha who''s a nice kitty? You don''t want to eat me, look at me I''m far to skinny there''s barely any meat on my bones." This actually wasn''t true at all, due to Jin Shu completing the Body Refining Realm and working in the forge he was actually fairly well built for a sixteen year old. He didn''t have the build of a body builder but rather a toned and lean muscular physique with a slight tan form the heat of the forge.


    *Growl*


    The tiger snarled and made to lunge at Jin Shu, but suddenly it lurched to the side and shook its head as if it was dizzy.


    Jin Shu sighed in relief "Phew it seems like the metal is effecting its brain finally."


    The tiger struggled to lift its head as the Martian Metal increasingly made it heavier, slowly it steadied itself and again it lunged at Jin Shu, he jumped and rolled to the right, the tigers left claw ripped the left sleave of his robe.


    Jin Shu scrambled to his feet and quickly dove into the trees ducking and and dodging between the trees to obstruct the tigers path. He just needed to survive for a few more minutes and the metal would take the tigers life.


    The tiger following close behind bashing into trees three to four feet wide and braking through them as if they were paper-thin. Nothing could stop the mad tigers charge.


    As Jin Shu dodged past a tree a black wall came into view. Exhausted and forced to stop by the sheer cliff face in front of him Jin Shu came to a sudden halt looking left and right for a way out "Huff... Huff... Shit now what do I do?"


    The tiger finally caught up looking equally as exhausted as Jin Shu. It exhaled and growled crouching down slightly getting ready to pounce on him no doubt. However before it could jump at Jin Shu it''s front legs collapsed, the tiger struggled to lift it''s head and glare at Jin Shu for a few seconds before the light faded from it''s eyes and it''s head slammed into the ground.


    Jin Shu finally relieved by the tigers death exhaustedly collapsed onto the ground and sighed in relief. "Phew... That was too close."


    Jin Shu slowly closed his eyes to rest for a moment just missing seeing the tigers head twitch slightly. Hearing a rustling noise Jin Shu opened his eyes to see the tiger''s jaws inches from his face. As quickly as he could manage with his exhausted body Jin Shu attempted to roll away. But it was to late, the tiger''s jaws clamped down on his right shoulder. Locking on with enough force to crush his bones.


    Jin Shu groped around on the ground to find something to hit the tiger with. His hands touched his gun that had at some point fallen next to him, grabbing the gun by the barrel Jin Shu bashed the tiger over the head with the butt of the pistol, only to hear a metallic ringing noise like two pieces of met colliding.


    Jin Shu cursed and attempted to pry the tigers jaws open "Shit! Fuck! Get off me!"


    That was when he noticed that the tiger was already dead, but it was to late it jaws now locked onto his shoulder. The tigers head along with the rest of it''s body was almost finished transforming into metal. It was nothing more than a lifeless statue at this point.


    Jin Shu''s body was racked with pain. He cursed again "Damn it! I died in my last life because a monster forced me to shoot my own shoulder with my gun and I transformed into a metal statue and I''m about to die in this life because a beast infected with Martian Metal bit me in the shoulder. That''s just fucking great!"

 3. Living Metal

    Jin Shu closed his eyes and thought to himself. "I wonder if I''ll be able to reincarnate again? Probably not, perhaps I''m done for good this time."


    A few minutes past as he waited for the inevitable transformation that he believed was about to occur. When he realized that his body wasn''t getting any heavier. He opened his eyes and looked over at his shoulder and noticed that neither his skin nor his blood was turning into metal. Instead the tigers body was slowly melting, forming a pool of silver metal on the ground that was slowly wiggling towards him as if it were alive.


    "Well that''s new. I''ve never seen the Martian Metal do anything like this before."


    The now seemingly living metal slowly crawled up Jin Shu''s leg. That was when the Winged Tigers now lifeless statuesque corpse completely melted away.


    Jin Shu wanted to brush the moving metal off but his right shoulder was broken and immobile. He had no strength left in the rest of his body either due to the heavy blood loss.


    "What is this thing doing? It''s not going to heal me is it?"


    Jin Shu laughed weakly. "Haha nah that thinking is to wishful. It''s probably going to incase me in a metal coffin before I die"


    The now massive pool of squirming metal continued to climb up his leg, soon it reached his stomach and continued it''s climb upwards, when it reached the height of his shoulders a small stream broke off and entered into the wound on his right shoulder, bringing with it searing pain. The rest of the metal was moving towards his head when it reached his head it tried to enter his open mouth, but Jin Shu quickly closed his mouth, not before a little of the liquid metal made it inside though.


    Jin Shu tried coughing the metal back out to no avail. The metal was drowning him. When the rest of the liquid metal couldn''t get into his mouth it covered his entire head and seeped into his nose, eyes and ears. It was causing Jin Shu unimaginable mind-numbing pain.


    Jin Shu screamed in agony shortly before passing out from the pain and lack of oxygen.


    "GAH!!"


    "..."


    An unknown amount of time passed when Jin Shu awoken. He sat up groggily, rubbing his throbbing head. "Gah... Ow my head hurts..."


    Remembering what happened before he passed out Jin Shu looked down at his shoulder seeing most of the wound left by the tiger miraculously healed except for a piece of what looked like metal sticking out. "I thought I remember all of the tiger turning into liquid? I guess not. I better pull this piece out before it decides to transform me."


    He reached over with his left hand and attempted to pull the peice of metal out. When he pulled on it, it moved slightly but caused him to much pain to continue pulling, so he let go.


    After he let go of the metal peice the now slightly opened wound bled some silver liquid and started to visibly heal. Then he could feel the bones in his shoulder start twisting, before the metal peice retracted into his body and the wound completely healed over. That was when he realized that wasn''t a peice of the tiger, that was one of his broken bones.


    "Was that a peice of my shoulder bone? Why was it metallic? Did that liquid turn the inside of my body into Martian Metal?"


    "If it did turn my skeleton into metal, I don''t think I want to call it Martian Metal anymore. I''d rather not go around have something called Martian Metal inside me, plus I never did like the name Martian Metal, it always reminded me of that little green cartoon alien, Marcus or whatever his name was. I think I''ll call it Living Metal instead, that sounds much cooler."


    "Now that the tiger is gone where am I supposed to get the metal I need for my bullets? Also what am I supposed to do with this pickaxe I inscribed with Sharpness runes and Flame runes for mining the metal? Wait! Pickaxe!? I totally forgot I had this stupid pickaxe. I could have used this when I was fighting that tiger. Well I guess there''s no point in worrying about that now."


    As he struggled to comprehend what had happened to him, he tried to stand up, however he was still quite weak from everything that had happened. He reached back to grab the mountain wall behind him, when he heard a cracking noise and felt his hand enter into what felt like stone. He looked back to see his hand stuck inside the rock wall.


    "Is the rock that weak here? I shouldn''t be able to crush rock with my bare hands like that. I believe that the last time I tested my grip strength was when I was in the 9th stage of the Body Refining Realm at that time my grip strength was around 800 pounds which is only slightly above average for a 9th stage Body Refiner. Even if I''m at the Qi Gathering Realm now my grip strength shouldn''t have gone up by much seeing as how Qi Gathering doesn''t strengthen the body as much as Body Refining does."


    With his left hand stuck in the wall Jin Shu reached over with his right hand and knocked on the rock, it seemed like normal stone and not some brittle and weak stone either. He pulled his right hand back and formed a fist then threw a punch at the wall, the wall crumpled and shot dust and stone fragments outward. A few seconds later another cracking noise sounded close by.


    *Crash*


    After the dust cleared Jin Shu looked over to his right to see a crumbled piled of stone in a section of the cliff face with a cave behind it.


    "No way I found a secret cave with a cultivators hidden legacy or some hidden treasure right?"


    "I really shouldn''t go into that cave, definitely not without a weapon. Well I guess I have my pickaxe but it''s not really much of a weapon."


    Oh... I really shouldn''t, but I''m going to."


    Jin Shu walked over to the cave entrance and peered inside. It was to dark to see very far into the cave, all he could make out was a tunnel that seemed to stretch into an endless void of darkness.


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    "Well nothing ventured nothing gained as they say."


    Jin Shu entered the cave and walked through the twisting and winding tunnel that seemed to slope uphill, for about an hour, before he saw some light further ahead. Walking for a few more minutes he came upon a large open cavern with a hole in the ceiling that let in the sunlight. Laying directly below the hole was a nest of sticks and branches, with a orange and black striped egg.


    "That must be a Winged Tigers egg. I wonder if it''s the egg of the tiger I killed? If so that would make this a Demonic Beasts egg. From what I''ve heard a Demonic Beasts egg is born as a Demonic Beast and they can form spiritual contracts with cultivators before they hatch."


    The nest was about 6 feet tall so Jin Shu had to climb up the nest. He examined the egg up close and noticed a King symbol (��) on top of the egg.


    "Oh wow that''s a King symbol! I''ve read about this in a book about rare Demonic Beasts. From what I remember the King symbol denotes the incredibly rare bloodline of a Monarch Winged Tiger, it was said that they can only be birthed by a Demonic Beast. Which means that tiger I killed was most likely this eggs mother."


    "I think I remember the book saying that there was a special way to bind the egg in a spiritual contract. Normally to form a spiritual contract with a Demonic Beast you would have to have a cultivator of the Spirit Strengthening Realm craft a master/servant contract using your blood and the beasts blood. Thus making you the master of the Demonic Beast. However certain rare species have a spiritual consciousness formed at birth and they can form a special type of spiritual contract called a equality contract, this allows both parties in the contract to share Qi, this would allow you to essentially double your cultivation speed."


    "To form this contract I need to place my forehead against the egg and concentrate my Qi into the egg, after which I need to bite the tip of my tongue and drop my blood onto the egg."


    Jin Shu closed his eyes rested his head against the egg, the egg was warm to the touch, probably because it was resting in the sunlight. Next he concentrated the Qi from his forehead into the egg, then he bit his tongue and let the blood drop onto the egg. What he didn''t notice was that his blood wasn''t the normal red color but instead a metallic silver.


    Jin Shu opened his eyes and was shocked to see the egg had turned a metallic silver color with black stripes and was now glowing with a dim silver hue.


    "I don''t remember the book I read saying anything about the egg changing colors when you form a contract."


    As Jin Shu was wondering about the change in the eggs color a cracking noise followed by what sounded like a kitten meowing echoed in the cavern.


    *Cra-Crack*


    "Me-Mew!"


    In the next second a little fluffy silver and black bundle of fur jumped out of the egg and slammed into his chest. The impact from the tiger cub knocked Jin Shu over, before he could get back up a rough little tongue started to lick his face. He started to feel a thought in his mind that seemed to say that it was hungry.


    "This must be the feeling of the tiger cubs spiritual consciousness. Seeing as it was just hatched it can''t yet form words."


    The little cub stopped licking Jin Shu''s face and let out a mighty roar. "Meeew!"


    Jin Shu picked up the little cub and looked it over. It''s fur was a metallic silver with black stripes and in the middle of its forehead there was a golden King symbol (��). It also had little wings, the feathers on its wings were a slightly darker silver color than it''s fur.


    With their connection he could also feel that the little cub was born at the first stage of the Qi Gathering Realm. From what he remembered reading a fully grown adult Monarch Winged Tiger would reach at least the Spirit Strengthening Realm.


    The little cub protested in his arms "Mew-Mew"


    "Alright I know, your hungry. Let''s go get you something to eat. Your a little tiger so you should eat meat right?"


    The little cub cocked it''s head sideways and mewed confusedly "Mew?"


    Jin Shu made a quick trip around the cavern to make sure he didn''t miss anything. He found nothing but some moss and a crystal clear pond. He was quite thirsty so he drank a couple of mouthfuls of water, the little cub also took a few licks of the water as well. But quickly lost interest and started mewing again.


    And with nothing else keeping him here Jin Shu walked back down the tunnel with the little cub in his arms mewing occasionally.


    After a little over an hour of walking the cub had fallen asleep in Jin Shu''s arms and they reached the end of the tunnel.


    Stepping back out of the cave Jin Shu had to take a moment for his eyes to adjust to the light.


    He spotted a little horned squirrel in a tree a few yards away. He bent down and picked up a stone from the rubble. "The little guy could probably eat a horned squirrel right?"


    Jin Shu cocked his arm back and took aim at the little squirrel, he threw his arm forward and launched the stone at the squirrel.


    *Swoosh*


    *BANG!*


    His aim was slightly off so he missed the squirrel and hit the tree branch that it was standing on. The branch exploded into fragments and the little squirrel dropped to the ground. It lay on the ground for a few seconds twitching before it grew still, it seemed to have died due to shock.


    "OK something is definitely wrong, my strength has at least doubled after my skeleton was turned into Living Metal, I''ll have to test my strength when I get back home."


    Jin Shu walked over to the now deceased little squirrel, picked it up and handed it to the little cub, who had just been rudely awaken by a big bang.


    The cub looked down at the squirrel than back up to Jin Shu, it shook it head and mewed in protest. "Mew!"


    Jin Shu could feel a vague sense of rejection coming from his spiritual link with the cub.


    "What do you mean? You don''t want it?"


    The cub nodded and sent a thought of acknowledgement "Mew"


    "Well what do you want than?"


    The cub stretched it neck forward toward Jin Shu''s hand and bit down on it.


    Jin Shu dropped the squirrel and yelped in surprise and a little pain "Ow!"


    The little cub started to lick the silver blood off of his hand. "What are you some type of vampire tiger? Why are you drinking my bloo... wait why is my blood silver?"


    He pulled the tiger cub back away from his hand, before he began to examine the blood dripping from the bite mark. The silver blood dripped off of his hand and slowly solidified into little droplets of metal on the ground.


    "So it wasn''t just my skeleton that was transformed, looks like my blood has also become Living Metal."


    The cub mewed and struggled to get back to his bloody hand. "Mew!!"


    All of the sudden Jin Shu realized that the Living Metal might harm the cub. So he quickly turned to the cub and asked if it felt alright. "Are you OK little buddy!? You don''t feel your body getting heavy do you?"


    He held the cub up to his eye level and checked to make sure it wasn''t transforming into a metal statue. It didn''t look like the cub was being affected by the Living Metal, at least not yet.


    "Actually now that I think about it, I thought it was strange that your egg turned silver after I dropped my blood on it, plus from what I''ve read a normal Monarch Winged Tiger is orange and black just like a normal Winged Tiger, the only difference is the gold King symbol."


    "Mew!"


    The cub was still struggling trying to get to his hand, which had already healed at this point.


    "Hold on, let me check something else."


    Using the sharp point of his pickaxe Jin Shu pricked the cubs paw.


    "Meeew!!"


    The cub didn''t like that at all.


    Jin Shu looked at the blood that dripped out of the wound on the cubs paw in surprise. The cubs blood was a mix of red and silver.


    Jin Shu turned to the cub and asked. "Is this why you want to drink my blood? To turn your blood into Living Metal like mine?"


    The cub nodded it''s head, but in the next second it shook it''s head as well.


    "Mew... Mew"


    "So you do want to turn your blood into Living Metal but you''re also just hungry?"


    The cub nodded again.


    Jin Shu took his pickaxe and cut his hand and offered it to the cub. "Alright, well hopefully this doesn''t kill you."


    The cub drank it''s fill of his blood, yawned and then fell back to sleep.


    "Alright time to head back home."


    Jin Shu turned and headed back towards Black Mountain City.

 4. Choosing a Name

    As Jin Shu got ready to head back to Black Mountain City, the tiger cub yelped in pain. Jin Shu looked down to see what was wrong with it; when he did, he noticed something wiggling beneath its skin.


    "That''s probably the Living Metal transforming its skeleton like it did mine," Jin Shu thought.


    He patted the little cub''s head and whispered, "You''ll be fine, little buddy. After the pain''s gone, you''ll become much stronger."


    The cub''s pained expression seemed to ease slightly as he pet its head.


    Jin Shu continued walking out of the forest towards home. After a little over an hour of walking later, he could see the 30 feet tall walls of Black Mountain City in the distance. The cub had stopped yelping not long ago and was peacefully asleep now.


    As Jin Shu walked through the city gates, the guards at the entrance noticed him.


    "Welcome back, Young Master Jin."


    As they welcomed him back, they noticed his ripped and bloodstained robes.


    "Young Master Jin, are you injured? Are you okay?"


    Jin Shu reassured them that he was fine. "I''m fine. I just had a small fight with a Demonic Beast."


    "A Demonic Beast!? Isn''t that a beast that has broken through to the Qi Gathering Realm!?"


    The guards were astounded by the fact that Jin Shu had fought with a Demonic Beast and survived. As far as they knew, Jin Shu had only just broken through to the Qi Gathering Realm himself, and to fight a Demonic Beast of the same realm, most cultivators would have to be at least one stage higher, if not more, otherwise they would risk losing their lives.


    The guardsmen all gathered around Jin Shu and started badgering him with questions. Hearing the commotion, Captain Shen Gong stepped out of the guard house and admonished his men. "You lot, get back to work and leave Young Master Jin alone!"


    Captain Shen Gong turned to Jin Shu with a worried look on his face and asked, "Are you badly injured, Young Master Jin? Should I send for a doctor?"


    Jin Shu shook his head and denied needing any help. "I''m not hurt too badly, so there will be no need to call a doctor. But thank you for your concern, Captain."


    Captain Shen Gong sighed in relief, then continued to ask, "If you don''t mind me asking, what is that creature in your hands?"


    Jin Shu looked down and pet the little cub''s head and responded, "Ah, this is my new pet. I picked her up in the forest. If there''s nothing else, I''ll be on my way now. I am quite tired from my trip and would like to wash this blood and dirt off."


    "Ah, yes. Please don''t let me hold you up. I need to get back to work as well."


    Jin Shu continued on his way home, soon reaching the entrance to the Jin Mansion. A beautiful woman wearing a long red flowing hanfu with golden phoenix embroidery came around the corner, followed by a group of maids. When she saw Jin Shu in his dirty, bloody robes, she screamed and came running up to him. "Aah! My poor baby! What happened to you!?"


    The woman was Princess Feng Huang, Sun Mei''er; Jin Shu''s mother.


    The little cub was startled awake by the scream and was nearly squished when Jin Shu''s mother ran up and hugged Jin Shu.


    "Oh, Xiao Shu''er, my poor baby! Why is there blood on your robes? Are you hurt? Maids, call a doctor!" Sun Mei''er was crying hysterically as if someone was dying. The maids were running around frantically, attracting the attention of other servants and passersby out on the street.


    Jin Shu attempted to reassure his mother. "Mother, I''m fine. Look, there''s not even a single wound on me." He pulled the collar of his robes down to show his mother that he wasn''t injured.


    His mother, seeing that he wasn''t wounded, calmed down slightly but was still sobbing intermittently. "What happened to you? Why are you so dirty and bloody? Did someone bully you? Tell momma who bullied you; I''ll have their entire family destroyed."


    "No one bullied me, so there will be no need to destroy any families. As for my bloody robes, I fought with a Demonic Beast, a Winged Tiger in the forest, and it ripped my robes a bit. So there is nothing to worry about; I''m fine." Jin Shu replied while patting his mother''s back to help calm her down.


    "Oh, so you fought a Demonic Beast... WHAT!? A Demonic Beast!?" Sun Mei''er screamed in surprise.


    Jin Shu tried brushing it off by showing the tiger cub to his mother. "Yeah, I fought with a Demonic Beast, and I got this little Winged Tiger cub as a new pet. Isn''t she cute?"


    Sun Mei''er looked up at Jin Shu accusingly and grabbed the little cub from him. "I know you''re trying to distract me, but I''ll let you off this time on account of this adorable little baby."


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


    She snuggled the little cub in her arms and asked, "What is this little cutie''s name?"


    Jin Shu scratched the back of his head. "Uh... I haven''t named her yet. I''m no good at naming things, so could you help me name her?"


    Sun Mei''er continued snuggling the cub as it mewed in protest and attempted to struggle free. Unfortunately for the little cub, even though it was a Demonic Beast in the 1st stage of the Qi Gathering Realm and was much stronger than even a fully grown wild beast, Jin Shu''s mother was at the 9th stage of the Core Forging Realm, so the little cub had no hope of struggling free anytime soon.


    Sun Mei''er thought for a moment. "Hmm... how about Xiao Yin Hu Zai?"


    "Um... mother? Was it you or father that named me?"


    His mother sighed and said, "Haa... You''re father and grandfather wouldn''t let me give you the name that I wanted and made me shorten it. I wanted to name you; Laizi Tiantang De Jinshu Ying''er Liwu. Isn''t that a much better name than just Jin Shu?"


    Jin Shu laughed nervously and took the little cub back from his mother''s arms. "Haha... yeah... I think I''m just going to call her Yin''er. I''m going to go get washed up now; I''ll talk to you later, mother."


    Sun Mei''er sighed ruefully and called out to Jin Shu as he walked away. "Haa... why does no one appreciate my names? Come see me after you wash up; I have something to give you!"


    Jin Shu waved back to show he had heard her. He looked down at the little cub and asked if what name it liked. "Do you want to be called Xiao Yin Hu Zai?"


    The little cub shook its head in denial. "Mew!"


    "How about Yin''er?" He continued to ask.


    The little cub nodded vigorously. "Mew! Mew!"


    "Alright, you''ll be named Yin''er from now on."


    Yin''er rubbed her head against his chest and purred in satisfaction.


    ---


    All washed up and changed into a new hanfu, Jin Shu, along with Yin''er, made their way to his mother''s courtyard.


    When Jin Shu stepped into the courtyard, he noticed his mother and a young girl wearing a yellow robe with blue bird embroidery sitting at a stone table in the middle of the courtyard. He wondered who the young girl was, as he didn''t recognize her. His mother stood up to greet him and to steal Yin''er from his arms. "Ah, you''re here. Come sit down and have some tea with us."


    Yin''er mewed in protest but was powerless to stop Jin Shu''s mother from snuggling her.


    As Jin Shu sat down, Sun Mei''er introduced to him the girl who was sitting opposite him. "This is Fan Biyu. She''s your mother''s first disciple, eighteen, and has just broken through to the 2nd stage of the Qi Gathering Realm. She''s very beautiful, isn''t she?"


    "Yes... er, I mean, she has very beautiful blue birds embroidered on her robes," Jin Shu replied, flustered.


    Fan Biyu blushed slightly and chuckled. "Hehe, thank you for your compliment."


    Jin Shu turned to his mother and asked, "Mom, didn''t you say you wanted to give me something?"


    Sun Mei''er looked up from petting Yin''er and said, "Oh, that? I lied hehe."


    Jin Shu looked at his mother incredulously. "What... you lied?"


    Sun Mei''er giggled. "Yep."


    Jin Shu stared blankly at his mother.


    Sun Mei''er burst into laughter. "Hahaha... you should see the look on your face! Hahaha! It was just a joke; here, take this."


    The ring on Sun Mei''er''s right hand glowed, and a scroll appeared in her hand. Jin Shu thought to himself, ''That''s a space ring. I heard from father that only runesmiths in the Spirit Strengthening Realm can craft those.''


    Sun Mei''er handed the scroll to Jin Shu and explained to him what it was. "That scroll records an Earth-tier combat technique."


    Jin Shu looked at the scroll in confusion. "What is an Earth-tier combat technique?"


    Now his mother looked at him in confusion, then came to a sudden realization. "Ah, that''s right! I''d forgotten since I''ve been away at my sect for so long. That stubborn grandfather of yours insists on not teaching his descendants any combat techniques, always saying that they''re a family of blacksmiths who belong in a forge and shouldn''t go around fighting all day. Ugh, now I''m pissed off. Biyu, you tell him about combat techniques. I need to snuggle my little baby Yin''er some more to calm down."


    "Meew!" Yin''er had just fallen asleep when she was awakened by some aggressive snuggling from Sun Mei''er.


    "Yes, Master." Fan Biyu took a sip of tea, then began explaining what combat techniques were to Jin Shu.


    "A combat technique is what cultivators use to harness the power of their realm to do battle against other cultivators and Demonic Beasts. There are different tiers to combat techniques; starting at the Mortal-tier, Earth-tier, and Heaven-tier. I have heard that there are tiers above Heaven, however, our region of the world doesn''t have any of those to my knowledge." Fan Biyu paused for a moment to wet her throat with another sip of tea.


    "The technique that my Master has given you is the Earth-tier Phoenix Claw technique. She stole... I mean, she borrowed it from the Matriarch of our Sect."


    Jin Shu looked at Fan Biyu in bewilderment. "Did you just say she stole this scroll from the leader of your sect?"


    Fan Biyu shook her head hurriedly. "No, you must have misheard."


    Sun Mei''er stopped snuggling Yin''er, although it looked more like she was strangling the poor thing. "Ah, it''s fine. Yes, I stole it. My junior sister stole the Matriarch position from me just because she''s a little more talented than me. Then she has the gall to make me the Grand Elder of the Sect. Look at me, I''m still young and beautiful. What about me looks like a Grand Elder?"


    Sun Mei''er continued to rant endlessly. From her ranting, it was evident she was quite vain, but that''s to be expected as she grew up as the most spoiled Princess in the Qi dynasty''s Imperial family.


    Jin Shu was curious about the different cultivation sects in this world. As he didn''t have much knowledge about them, he turned to Fan Biyu and asked her, "Miss Fan, do you mind telling me about the various sects? I''m quite curious as I''ve never seen them for myself."


    Fan Biyu glanced at her Master as she was ranting to herself, seemingly in a world of her own. "Sure, there are three sects in our Western Region. I''ll start with our sect. Our sect is the Immortal Phoenix Sect; we exclusively accept only female cultivators. Our Matriarch has reached the Spirit Strengthening Realm. Unfortunately, our previous Matriarch, your mother''s master, passed away when she was attempting to break through to a realm above the Spirit Strengthening Realm. Next is the Great Mountain Sect; they focus on training and strengthening their bodies to the extreme through physical cultivation techniques. And lastly, there is the Wild Beast Sect; they focus on raising Demonic Beasts."


    Jin Shu smiled and thanked her. "Thank you for explaining that to me. I''ve always been curious. However, my father doesn''t know much about the sects, and my mother has been gone for too long."


    Fan Biyu smiled and nodded. She leaned back to rest, tired from all the talking.


    Noticing the sun dipping over the walls in the distance, Jin Shu stood up and said, "Alright, it''s getting late. I''d better be on my way now."


    Jin Shu grabbed Yin''er from his mother''s arms and said his goodbyes. "Goodbye, mother. Goodbye, Miss Fan. I''m going back to rest now, as I''m tired from my trip this morning."


    "Goodbye, Shu''er." His mother waved him goodbye.


    "Goodbye, Jin Shu." Said Fan Biyu.

 5. Testing Strength & Cultivation

    Bang!


    A muscular, bare-chested young man was punching a tall stone monument. As he punched, there seemed to be a silvery glow around his fist, and deep fist marks could be seen left on the monument after he punched it. The young man was Jin Shu, who was testing his strength.


    Jin Shu stopped punching the monument and picked up a towel to wipe his sweat. "Phew, this iron-stone monument can normally withstand the strength of a cultivator in the 6th stage of the Qi Gathering Realm without denting. That is equivalent to about 1000 pounds of force. Judging by the depth of my fist marks, I''d say that my current strength is beyond the peak class of 9th stage Qi Gathering Realm cultivators and nearing 1st stage Core Forging. So, around 1600 pounds of force. Normally, Qi Gathering doesn''t increase the strength of a cultivator by more than 50-100 pounds of force. So, my punching strength would have been around 800 pounds before my transformation. That means the Living Metal inside of me has at least doubled my strength."


    "Mew," Yin''er walked up to Jin Shu and sent a vague thought of eagerness.


    "You want to test your strength as well? Alright, go ahead."


    Yin''er crouched down, getting ready to pounce towards the monument. With a mighty push of her back legs, Yin''er jumped into the air, raising her right paw ready to swipe at the monument. As she landed in front of the monument swinging her paw, she tripped and her feet became tangled. She rolled towards the monument, slamming her head against it.


    "MEW!" Yin''er yelped in pain, while rubbing her forehead with her paws.


    Jin Shu pet her on the back to comfort her. "That was a good try, and look, you dented the monument, that means you are very strong."


    Yin''er looked up and saw a shallow dent where her head slammed into the monument. She stood up and puffed her chest out as she sent Jin Shu a thought of accomplishment mixed with a little pride and a hint of wanting for acknowledgement.


    Jin Shu chuckled and pet Yin''er while congratulating her. "Good job, Yin''er, you''re the strongest little tiger."


    "Mew!" Yin''er jumped up and fluttered her little wings, just barely reaching Jin Shu''s shoulder as he was crouched down. She climbed onto his shoulders and rubbed her face on his while purring, evidently very pleased with his praise.


    "Alright, let''s head back and practice cultivation now."


    ---


    Jin Shu was sitting cross-legged with his hands resting on his knees, and Yin''er curled up, laying in his lap. As he breathed deeply, natural Qi entered his mouth and moved downwards through his lungs, eventually reaching his lower dantian. He was currently cultivating. As he was breathing in the Qi from the air, he could feel an extra strand of Qi flow towards his forehead and into his upper dantian. That flow of Qi worked its way down to his middle dantian and eventually settled in his lower dantian, mixing with the natural Qi. This extra Qi was from his connection with Yin''er, and just as her Qi entered his body, his Qi also entered hers. These strands of Qi were the purified Qi and as they mixed with the natural Qi in their dantians, they increased their purification speed by double. This essentially allowed them both to cultivate at twice the normal speed.


    ---


    A week had come and gone. Jin Shu sat down once again to begin cultivation. Just as the first strand of natural Qi was purified in his dantian, he felt a surge of strength and his dantian seemed to have increased in size slightly. This was the sign of a breakthrough. Jin Shu was stupefied. "It''s only been a little over a week since I broke through to the Qi Gathering Realm. Even with my superior talent coupled with the increased cultivation speed with Yin''er''s help, I shouldn''t have broken through this fast. Let''s focus on this next strand of Qi and see what''s happening."


    Jin Shu steadied himself and breathed in another strand of natural Qi. As he focused on the Qi as it traveled through his body, he noticed that the Qi seemed to get purer the further it traveled. It seemed to happen when the Qi traveled through his blood vessels. "Hmm... ah, it must be the Living Metal. It is purifying the Qi automatically as it travels through my blood. If that is the case, then with my connection with Yin''er plus the automatic purification from the Living Metal, my cultivation speed may have quadrupled. If I calculate based on my mother''s superior cultivation talent, she took ten years to breakthrough to the Core Forging Realm and ten more to reach the 9th stage. My mother didn''t have a rare Demonic Beast companion to boost her speed either. So if I cultivate at double that speed, it would take me ten years to reach the 9th stage Core Forging Realm. But if I double that speed again, it will only take me five years to reach the 9th stage Core Forging Realm. This is insane!"


    ---


    Swoosh! Bang!


    A snowdrift exploded into a flurry of sparkling snowflakes. Yin''er''s silver head with its golden King symbol could be seen sticking out of the snowdrift. "Hahaha... Dada, look, the snow is sparkly!"


    Jin Shu heaved an exasperated sigh. "Haa... Yin''er, I''ve told you I''m not your dad, why don''t you call me brother instead?"


    Yin''er thought for a moment, then shook her head, sending more snow flying. "Bwada... nope, I like Dada betta."


    Jin Shu shook his head in defeat. "Ugh... fine, fine, do what you want."


    A year had passed since Jin Shu''s reincarnation, and in unprecedented speed, he had just broken through to the 7th stage of the Qi Gathering Realm. He was now on his way to see his father to learn the next set of runes from him.


    The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.


    Jin Shu called out for Yin''er to follow him. "Come along, Yin''er!"


    Yin''er was flying and crashing into the snowdrifts to watch the snow float up into the air and sparkle in the sunlight. "Yin''er gonna stay here and play."


    Jin Shu chuckled and said, "OK... but watch out for my mother, she might come find you for snuggles."


    Yin''er gave a startled yelp and quickly flew to Jin Shu''s shoulder. "Ah! Yin''er don''t want snuggles from Dada''s Muda! Dada''s Muda is scary."


    "Hohoho... who did Yin''er say is scary? Certainly not me, right?" Sun Mei''er walked into Jin Shu''s courtyard while laughing.


    Yin''er, seeing Sun Mei''er walk into the courtyard, screamed and scrambled to hide in Jin Shu''s robes, cautiously poking her head out.


    "Yin''er wants to play in the snow more, doesn''t she? You don''t want to go to that stinky forge, do you? Why don''t you stay with your Big Sister Mei''er and play in the snow some more?" Sun Mei''er asked.


    Yin''er shook her head. "You''re not Big Sista, you''re Gwandma."


    Hearing Yin''er call her Grandma, Sun Mei''er''s Qi burst out of her body; Qi leaving the body was something only someone in the Core Forging Realm could do. As a result of the outburst of Qi, all of the snow that had piled up in the courtyard was blown up into the air. Then she asked through gritted teeth. "What did Yin''er call me!? I must have misheard, right!? RIGHT!?"


    Yin''er screamed and her body shook violently, scared by Sun Mei''er''s outburst. "Eek! Yin''er said Big Sista! Yin''er didn''t say Gwandma!"


    Sun Mei''er''s expression switched in a fraction of a second. One moment, she seemed so angry it seemed she may blow up the entire courtyard at any moment, and in the next moment, a sunny smile bright enough to melt the snow appeared on her face.


    "Hehe... Yin''er is such a good girl, isn''t she? Come here and play with Big Sister." Sun Mei''er grabbed Yin''er out from Jin Shu''s robes and held her in her arms, nearly suffocating Yin''er in her bosom.


    Jin Shu chuckled and thanked his mother for taking care of Yin''er for him. "Thanks for watching Yin''er for me, Mom. I''ll be back soon."


    Yin''er struggled free from Sun Mei''er''s embrace and yelled out for Jin Shu. "Dada! Wait! Don''t leave meee! Nooo!"


    ---


    Jin Shu found his father in the forge and asked him to teach him the next set of runes. "Father, I''ve just broken through to the 7th stage Qi Gathering Realm. Can you teach me how to inscribe intermediate runes?"


    Jin Chen looked at Jin Shu in shock and lamented, "The 7th stage already!? If I had known that a Demonic Beast pet could make your cultivation speed skyrocket like that, I would have stopped at nothing to get one for myself back in the day. That way, I could have kept up with your mother''s cultivation speed. You know, it took your mother only twenty years to make it to the 9th stage Core Forging Realm, whereas it took your old man here twenty years just to breakthrough into the Core Forging Realm."


    Jin Shu replied, "Not just any Demonic Beast would work; it''s only because Yin''er is a mutated Monarch Winged Tiger that my cultivation speed has increased by so much."


    This wasn''t the real reason, however. Jin Shu couldn''t really go around telling people how he reincarnated from another world with an alien metal that transformed his body into Living Metal. Even if they believed him, it would expose him to the danger of people with ulterior motives who would use his body as cultivation material.


    "Hum... that so? Well, anyways, let''s teach you those runes, shall we?" His father hummed in acknowledgement.


    "Let''s start with the Qi Blade Rune. I''ll show you how to inscribe it while I explain its function." Jin Chen turned and grabbed an inscribing tool off of the worktable behind him.


    "The Qi Blade Rune allows cultivators in the Qi Gathering Realm to form a blade of Qi around their weapon. It can also be used by those in the Core Forging Realm and beyond to use less Qi to achieve the same effect." As Jin Chen inscribed the rune on a blank sheet of metal, he explained the uses of each rune.


    "Next are the Intermediate versions of the Flame, Frost, and Wind Runes. They allow cultivators to emit Fire, Frost, and Wind energy. Additionally, the Intermediate Wind Rune further increases the speed at which a weapon can be swung." Jin Chen inscribed three more runes on the metal sheet and turned back to glance at Jin Shu.


    "Did you get all of that?" he asked.


    Jin Shu nodded silently while concentrating on remembering the forms of the runes and their effects.


    Jin Chen continued, "Alright, this is the last one. This is the Qi Storage Rune. This rune allows cultivators to store extra Qi in their weapon to be used in emergencies or during a battle to gain an advantage over their opponents."


    Jin Chen handed the inscribing tool to Jin Shu. "Alright, let''s see you try it now."


    Jin Shu grabbed the tool and started inscribing the runes on a blank space of the metal sheet. He started out making a few mistakes; however, he soon got the hang of it and could nearly perfectly replicate them.


    When he was done, he turned to his father to ask how he had done. As he turned, he noticed an incredulous expression on his father''s face. "How''d I do?"


    "How''d you do? It took me months to learn those runes when I was around your age, and even then I still made mistakes occasionally. And at that time, your grandfather had praised me, saying how I would become a Master Runesmith in no time. So you tell me, how did you do?"


    Jin Shu shrugged and said, "I did alright, I guess."


    Jin Chen smacked him on the back of the head and guffawed. "You did incredible! You''re a natural-born genius runesmith! That''s how you did!"


    Jin Chen grabbed Jin Shu by the shoulders and dragged him up. "Come on, let''s go see your grandfather and tell him what a genius my son is."


    ---


    Jin Chen dragged his son behind him all the way to the Jin family''s great hall. Sitting on the main seat at the end of the Great Hall, his father, Jin Zhu, was resting.


    Jin Chen barged through the doors of the Great Hall while boisterously laughing. "Gahaha! Father! Look at my son, he''s the greatest genius in the history of the Qi Dynasty!"


    Jin Zhu was startled awake from his son''s yelling. "Zzz... ah! Who the hell is yelling so early in the morning!?"


    Jin Chen laughed sheepishly. "Haha... Father, it''s already afternoon."


    Jin Zhu stood up with the help of a dragon-headed cane and walked up to Jin Chen while raising the cane overhead, bringing it down on his son''s head. "You brat! You think I don''t know what time it is!? Why the hell are you barging in here and waking me from my afternoon nap!?"


    Jin Chen couldn''t fight back against his father, so he crouched down and covered his head with his hands while trying to explain why he was here. "Ah, wait, wait! Father, listen to me for a second."


    Jin Zhu brought the cane down even harder. "Huh, are you trying to order your father around now!?"


    Jin Chen continued trying to explain while enduring the beating. "I''m here to share some amazing news with you, Father."


    Jin Zhu stopped beating his son and rested on his cane, trying to catch his breath. "Haa... haa... What... haa... news...? haa..."


    Jin Chen stood back up and pulled his son out from behind him. "Look here, Father, my son is a genius. He has reached the 7th stage of the Qi Gathering Realm after only one year from breaking through to the Qi Gathering Realm. And he has mastered the Intermediate Runes after only seeing me inscribe them one time."


    Jin Zhu finally caught his breath and glanced at his grandson. "Hmm...? How old are you this year?"


    Jin Shu cupped his hands in greeting to his grandfather and replied, "I am 17 years old."


    Jin Zhu patted Jin Shu on the shoulder while laughing. "Hahaha! Good, good! I''d expect nothing less from my grandson!"

 6. Grandfathers Story

    Jin Zhu led Jin Shu over to a seat so that they could talk, conveniently forgetting about his son. "Come, sit and talk with me. Your grandfather here has a story he''d like to share with you. Ah, but before we get to that, I''ll give you permission to practice combat techniques now. I know that your mother gave you an Earth-tier combat technique last year, and that you haven''t begun practicing it yet."


    Jin Shu looked at his grandfather in surprise. "Ah, I''d actually forgotten about that. If you don''t mind me asking, Grandfather, why is it that you banned practicing combat techniques, and why let me practice them now?"


    Jin Zhu chuckled. "Ah, there''s no real profound reason. The only reason is that none of my sons or their children had any real talent for cultivation, so I had them focus on learning blacksmithing and runesmithing instead. As for you, since you''ve shown such talent in cultivation, you needn''t focus on blacksmithing and runesmithing alone and could make a name for yourself in the cultivation world instead."


    "Now, on to the main issue. As a reward for your incredible talents, allow me to share a story with you." Jin Zhu called a maid over and had her prepare tea for Jin Shu and himself.


    Jin Chen, seeing that there was no seat or tea for him, couldn''t help asking, "Uh... Father, where am I supposed to sit?"


    Jin Zhu huffed and shooed Jin Chen away. "What the hell are you still doing here, you brat!? Get out before I beat you again!"


    Jin Chen quickly scrambled out of the great hall. "OK, OK, I''m leaving!"


    Jin Zhu turned back to Jin Shu. "Now that that brat is gone, I can get on with my story. Let us see, where should I start? Hmm... let''s start at the beginning."


    Jin Zhu paused to wet his throat with some tea. "One hundred years ago, I fancied myself an adventurer, so I set out to explore the world, or as much of it as I could manage to see in one lifetime. During my exploration, I crossed over to the Eastern Region. To get there, I had to cross two other dynasties and met with great peril along the way, nearly losing my life quite a few times. But I digress. Once I made it to the Eastern Region, I stumbled upon an ancient tomb. Inside the tomb, I found the runesmithing method that our family uses. I also found the living spirit of the tomb''s owner. He gave me a task: to lead someone of immense talent to him within two hundred years, before his spirit dissipates. He told me that he would give the one I lead to him a unique cultivation technique and a more advanced runesmithing method. I had originally given up hope after your father was born. As he is the youngest of my sons, and he had the best cultivation talent amongst my other sons, your uncles, and their children. And yet, his talent was still only slightly above average. But now I''ve finally found the one that the spirit was looking for. It''s you."


    Jin Shu took a moment to take it all in. "So you want me to go find a spirit that will teach me a unique cultivation technique and a runesmithing method? From what I''ve read in a book in the past, certain spirits have the ability to possess others, thus reviving themselves. And they are also impervious to physical harm."


    Jin Zhu nodded. "That is all true. However, there are two reasons that I dare send you. Firstly, without the help from that spirit, our family would not have the wealth and power that we do now. We would still be a powerless family of blacksmiths, if our family could even survive this long. Secondly, the combat technique that your mother gave you just so happens to counter spirits. Your mother stole the perfect technique for you, huhuhu."


    Jin Shu was surprised that his grandfather knew what technique his mother gave him. "How do you know the technique my mother gave me? I haven''t even practiced it yet."


    Jin Zhu laughed and looked behind Jin Shu. "Huhuhu, I have my ways."


    Turning around, Jin Shu noticed a young maid standing behind him. He had no idea when she had appeared there. This was quite surprising to Jin Shu, as a soldier in his past life who had survived in various battlefields for most of his life, he prided himself on his environmental awareness. Yet this unassuming maid had managed to sneak up behind him. After looking her over for a few seconds, he managed to recognize her; she had been the one to serve him and his mother tea a year ago. ''Ah, no wonder Grandfather knows about the technique that my mother gave me. He had this maid spying for him.''


    Jin Zhu noticed that Jin Shu recognized the maid but didn''t choose to comment on it. "This is Su Bing. She will be your personal maid from now on, and she will accompany you when you head to the Eastern Region. As she was originally born in the Eastern Region, she will make for a great guide for you on your travel."


    Jin Shu turned back to his grandfather. "Uh... I don''t need a maid, but I will take her along as a guide when I leave. Ah, when do I need to leave?"


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    Jin Zhu raised his cane up and reprimanded Jin Shu. "Just because you are our family''s greatest genius doesn''t mean I won''t give you a beating like I did your father. Su Bing will be your maid from now on, and that is final. As for when you leave, that''s up to you. I would recommend that you wait until you have gained a good understanding of the Phoenix Claw technique before you set out."


    "Ah, haha... OK, thank you for the advice, Grandfather. Well then, I''ll be on my way now." Jin Shu laughed nervously and bid his farewell.


    Jin Zhu waved him off. "Right, be off with you then."


    Jin Shu stood and walked out of the great hall while Su Bing silently followed close behind.


    ---


    Jin Shu stepped into his courtyard and was shocked by what he saw.


    "Ahaha! Big Sista Mei''er, Biwu, again! Again!" Yin''er, Jin Shu''s mother, and Fan Biyu were playing in the snow. The three of them were having a snowball fight. Sun Mei''er was using her Qi to form the snowballs and then throwing them at a snow fort that Yin''er and Fan Biyu were hiding behind.


    "Ah!"


    Jin Shu heard a sound behind him and turned to see Su Bing watching the three playing in the snow with a look of longing. So he asked her if she would like to play with them. "Do you want to join them?"


    Su Bing glanced over at him and quickly put on a look of nonchalance, then she coughed into her fist and shook her head.


    Jin Shu gave her a skeptical look and turned back to watch the three girls playing. Well, two girls and one woman; however, if Sun Mei''er heard that, she would probably blow a gasket.


    Soon after, Yin''er collapsed in exhaustion, so they stopped playing. Fan Biyu, sweating from the snowball fighting with her hair in disarray and her robes clinging tightly to her body, turned around and saw Jin Shu watching them. She gave a startled yelp, blushed furiously, and quickly hid behind his mother to hide her embarrassing look. His mother, while not as sweaty as Fan Biyu due to her higher cultivation, looked quite exhausted herself. She walked over to a stone table on the side and ordered Su Bing to prepare some tea for her.


    Jin Shu walked over to the snow fort while chuckling to himself. He made sure not to look too closely at Fan Biyu, who now had nowhere to hide as his mother had walked away. When he reached the snow fort, he bent down and picked up the exhausted Yin''er from the pile of snow she was using as a bed. As Yin''er felt someone pick her up, she struggled to open her eyes. However, due to her exhaustion, her eyes refused to open wide enough for her to make anything out. So she resorted to sniffing instead. "Sniff... Sniff... Hehe... smells like Dada." And with that, she fell asleep.


    Turning around, he saw that Fan Biyu was still standing in the middle of the courtyard, like a doe caught in headlights. So he smiled and said to her, "If you''d like, you can go inside and find a set of my robes to change into, Miss Fan."


    She hiccuped in surprise and quickly bowed, then dove inside his room. "Hic! Ah, uh, thanks!"


    His mother, who had been silently watching all of this from the side, giggled and beckoned him over to the table. "Hehehe! Come here, Shu''er."


    Jin Shu was going to sit across from his mother, but she told him to sit next to her. After he sat down, his mother rested her head on his shoulder. "Oh, my little baby Shu''er is all grown up now."


    Jin Shu glanced at Su Bing, who was standing off to the side, and coughed in embarrassment. His mother then asked him how his meeting with his grandfather had gone. "Your father stopped by a while ago and told us that you were meeting your grandfather. What did he want to talk to you about?"


    Jin Shu told his mother about his grandfather wanting him to make a trip to the Eastern Region. "Grandfather told me about the tomb where he found our family''s runesmithing method and how there is an opportunity waiting there for me. I''m going to travel east after I''ve finished learning the technique you gifted to me last year. I''ll be bringing Su Bing with me as a guide since she was born in the Eastern Region."


    His mother looked at him worriedly. "That is going to be a dangerous journey, but don''t worry because Momma will go with you and keep you safe, OK?"


    Jin Shu flusteredly tried to deny her. "Uh... ah... well... you don''t need to come along. I''m sure we''ll be fine on our own."


    As Sun Mei''er was about to insist on coming with him, Fan Biyu stepped out of his room, dressed in a white robe that looked to be about two sizes too big. "Master, you can''t go with him. Don''t you remember? The Sect Matriarch has called us back to the Sect."


    Sun Mei''er looked at Fan Biyu and protested, "Ugh... I don''t want to. I''m going with my baby."


    Fan Biyu tried to reason with her. "Master, the Matriarch said it was urgent. We should have already left this morning, but you said you needed to say goodbye to Jin Shu and Yin''er first."


    Sun Mei''er heaved a stubborn sigh. "Ugh! Do we really have to?"


    Fan Biyu nodded. "From what the disciple who brought the summons said, it seems to have to do with the Demon Worshipers in the Southern Region."


    Sun Mei''er sighed in defeat. "Haa... ugh... I guess we have to go back then. I really hate those damn Demon Worshipers! Why did our Sect have to be in the south of the Western Region?"


    Jin Shu looked at his mother in confusion. "What is a Demon Worshiper?"


    "They''re crazy bastards who sacrifice humans to creatures from hell. Or at least that''s what they say they''re doing. I''ve never seen one of these supposed hell creatures," Sun Mei''er explained.


    Su Bing was listening to Sun Mei''er speak while pouring tea and accidentally spilled it on her. "Ah! I''m sorry! Let me get a towel to clean you up!"


    As she turned around in a fluster to get a towel, she tripped and fell face-first into a snowdrift. Jin Shu quickly stood up and helped Su Bing out of the snow. When he picked her up, he couldn''t help laughing slightly at the bump on her forehead. "Aha! Ah, no, I''m sorry, I didn''t mean to laugh."


    Su Bing blushed and hurried off in search of a towel. By the time she made it back, Sun Mei''er had already dried the spilled tea with her Qi, which had a slight fire effect due to her cultivation technique.

 7. Experimenting

    Early in the morning, before the sun had risen over the top of the city wall in the far distance, a young man with glowing red hands and a small winged tiger could be seen practicing claw techniques in a courtyard. Wherever the young man''s hands swept, the falling snow would melt. This young man was Jin Shu, who had been practicing the Phoenix Claw technique. It was also the reason that his hands were glowing red. At the Qi Gathering Realm, the Phoenix Claw technique made the practitioner''s hands generate high heat. At the Core Forging Realm, it could emit a Phoenix-shaped claw formed from Qi.


    Jin Shu stopped his practicing and sat down at a table off to the side. Su Bing stepped forward from behind him and offered a towel to wipe his sweat. "Phew, thank you."


    "I think that I''ve mastered the Phoenix Claw technique at the Qi Gathering Realm. It said in the scroll that my hands would glow a deep crimson. Did it look right to you, Su Bing?" Jin Shu wiped his sweat and asked Su Bing her thoughts.


    Su Bing nodded. "It seems you''ve indeed mastered the technique, Young Master Jin."


    Jin Shu huffed. "I thought I asked you to stop calling me Young Master all the time. I don''t like it, so please just call me Jin Shu."


    Su Bing shook her head in denial. "It is my duty as your maid to serve you as my Master. And you''ve already denied me from calling you Master, so me calling you Young Master is the only concession I''m willing to make."


    Jin Shu turned to look Su Bing in the eyes, which were quite striking compared to her plain face, and with a smug smile on his face, said, "Since you''re my maid, I order you to stop calling me Young Master."


    Su Bing''s eyes widened in surprise, and she gave a flustered response. "What? B-but, I''m a maid. I have to. Can I at least add ''Sir''?"


    Jin Shu shook his head. "Nope, just Jin Shu."


    Su Bing crouched down in the corner, mumbling to herself. "First he won''t let me call him Master, now he won''t let me call him Young Master. Doesn''t he know that saying ''Master'' is the essence of a maid? All the other maids are going to make fun of me again."


    As Jin Shu was watching Su Bing draw circles in the corner, Yin''er jumped up onto the table. "Dada, when we go adbentuwe?"


    He petted Yin''er''s head and replied, "We''ll go on an adventure when we reach the Core Forging Realm. So be a good girl and wait just a little longer, okay?"


    Yin''er purred in satisfaction. "Okie!"


    Su Bing stood up from the corner and asked Jin Shu how long it would take him to reach Core Forging. He thought for a moment before replying, "Hmm... it should only take one more year until I break through. Normally, it would take me a year and a half; however, since I have my connection with Yin''er, and she''s in a constant state of cultivation on account of the fact that she is a Demonic Beast and they can cultivate without needing to meditate like us humans, then that time can be shortened by about five or six months. So, yeah, about a year."


    Su Bing gave Jin Shu a flabbergasted look. "You''re going to break through to the Core Forging Realm at the age of eighteen!?"


    Jin Shu nodded nonchalantly. "It seems that way."


    "What kind of monster is he?" Su Bing said silently under her breath.


    Jin Shu sighed and stood up. "Haa! Okay, now that I''ve mastered the first stage of the Phoenix Claw technique, it''s time for me to work on a couple of projects that I''ve put off for the last year."


    He patted Yin''er on the head and told her to stay here and play with Su Bing.


    ---


    Jin Shu entered one of his family''s private forges. He took his gun out from the inside of his robes, unloaded the magazine, and set them down on the worktable. Jin Shu arranged a few tools on the worktable along with his gun. "It''s time for my mad scientist arc. Let''s start with trying to make Living Metal bullets."


    Jin Shu grabbed a knife from the worktable and cut his palm, allowing his silver blood to drip into a bowl he had prepared. He had to make a few extra cuts in his hand before the bowl was full, as his wound kept healing after a few seconds. The Living Metal in his blood and bones not only increased his cultivation speed, but it also increased his healing. "My wounds heal so fast, I wonder if the Living Metal can even regenerate missing limbs. Hopefully, I never have to find that out."


    He took the bowl of silver blood and poured it into a mold he had prepared a few weeks prior. The mold was for the bullet casing he was preparing to make. After a few minutes, the silver blood had solidified without needing any extra forging, which was quite convenient as it cut out some tedious extra steps. Next, he filled the bowl again, but only halfway this time, and poured it into a separate mold for the bullet itself.


    He took the casings out of the mold as he waited for the bullets to finish solidifying. He then grabbed a small inscribing tool and began inscribing runes inside the casing. As he had no way of making a primer and gunpowder, he decided to try and replace them with runes: a Qi Circulation Rune for the primer, which he inscribed on the outside of the casing, and finally an Explosion Rune on the inside of the casing to replace the gunpowder. As he didn''t want to blow his gun up and potentially his hand with it, he used the smallest amount of Qi possible when inscribing the Qi Circulation Rune; the strength of runes was determined by how much Qi was injected into them during the inscribing process. He left the Explosion Rune dormant, meaning he used no Qi when inscribing it. After he was finished making about seven casings, which was enough for one magazine, he wiped the sweat from his brow and set his tools down. "Phew, this is more exhausting than I thought it would be."


    Jin Shu took a moment to circulate the Qi in his body before continuing onto the bullets. He took the bullets out of their mold and began inscribing runes on them. "The last time I used a bullet, it barely broke the skin on a Qi Gathering Realm Demonic Beast. So this time, I''m going to give them some runes and hopefully increase their power."


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    He started with a Sharpness Rune to increase their penetration power. They would hopefully become a more powerful version of his past life''s FMJ bullet.


    Next, he inscribed an Intermediate Wind Rune to increase the speed of the bullet, and finally, a Qi Circulation Rune to increase the power of the other two runes. "That''s all the runes I can fit on the bullet. I can only make the runes so small without affecting them. Not to mention I''m out of Qi now."


    Jin Shu placed his tools down and picked up the bullet to examine it. As he looked it over, the runes on the metal all of a sudden morphed and disappeared. "What the hell? Where''d my runes go?"


    He set down that bullet and picked up another. The runes on that bullet were missing as well. He picked up a casing and looked it over, only to discover that the runes had disappeared from them as well. "What the hell!?"


    He attempted to inject Qi into the bullet to see what would happen. When his Qi entered the bullet, the runes reappeared. "Well, that''s bizarre. I wonder if I can inscribe another rune over the top of them when they disappear?"


    Jin Shu rested for a few minutes to let his Qi recover enough so that he could inscribe a new rune.


    He chose to inscribe an Intermediate Flame Rune over the place where the Sharpness Rune was previously. After he finished inscribing the rune, he waited a few seconds for it to disappear, then he injected his Qi into the bullet. The runes resurfaced. However, in the place where the Flame and Sharpness runes should have been, there was instead a strange rune that looked like a mix of the two. The Flame Rune still seemed to be working as flames were being emitted by the bullet. To test the Sharpness Rune, he pressed the tip of his finger against the tip of the bullet. It poked a hole in his finger, so it seemed that both runes were still in effect. "Ahaha! This Living Metal just keeps getting better and better! At first, I thought that the Living Metal transforming me was going to be a bad thing, but this thing just keeps surprising me."


    "Alright, now I need a way to activate the bullet when I fire the gun. I believe if I inscribe a Qi Circulation Rune on the gun''s hammer, it should be able to transfer my Qi to the bullet casing, thus activating the Qi Circulation Rune on the casing, which in turn should activate the Explosion Rune, thus firing the bullet."


    Jin Shu quickly fieldstripped his pistol. In his past life, Jin Shu held the record for fastest time to disassemble almost every modern handheld weapon. The gun he reincarnated with was a military issue M1911, so it was quite easy to disassemble quickly. With the hammer now exposed, he inscribed a Qi Circulation Rune on it and proceeded to reassemble his pistol.


    Jin Shu set up a six-inch-thick block of steel to test the power of his newly improved bullets. He took aim at the block, being careful of the angle of his shot so that the bullet was less likely to ricochet. "Ah! I should have put a Silence Rune on the casing to mute the explosion. I guess I''ll do that next time. Well, let''s get ready for a bang."


    Jin Shu slowly pressed the trigger down.


    BOOM!!


    Jin Shu, not expecting such a loud explosion, looked down at his hands dazedly. The pistol was gone, along with his right hand and the pointer and middle fingers of his left hand. "Aha! Aha! Where is my hand!? Aaaah! Fuuck! My! Hand!!"


    Silver blood was pouring out of the place where his hand should have been, pooling on the floor of the forge. It took him a few moments to register the pain, and when he finally did, it was mind-numbing.


    He quickly looked around for something to staunch the bleeding. He found a leather strip on the worktable behind him. As he scrambled over and attempted to pick it up with the three fingers on his left hand, the blood abruptly stopped flowing. He looked down to see what was going on and was shocked to see the blood that had spilled on the floor was climbing up his legs, quickly reaching his hands and flowing back into the wounds, forming the shape of his hand and fingers, except made from silver blood instead of skin. "I take back what I said earlier. I don''t know whether this Living Metal is a blessing or a curse. On the one hand��aha, no pun intended��the Living Metal has made me immensely stronger. However, this shit right here is just a bit too creepy."


    The skin on his right arm and left hand began to wriggle and reform over the silver hand and fingers. After the skin fully reformed, he cautiously flexed his hands; everything felt normal.


    Jin Shu plopped down on the floor and began contemplating what had just happened.


    ---


    An hour had passed since his hand was blown off. A maid had come to check on him since she had heard the explosion; he reassured her that everything was fine, then went back to sitting in silence for a while. Soon, he came to terms with what happened and his transformation into something alien, or at least less than human. He accepted it quite easily, actually. He was mainly just thinking about his next course of action.


    First of all, he needed to rebuild his pistol. Although he was now in a cultivation world��a world of swords and fists��he had never trained in other weapons in either of his lives, and the gun felt the safest and most comfortable for him. He looked around to see if he could find anything left of his pistol to salvage. As he walked by the steel block he shot at earlier, he noticed a hole in it. "Well, at least I know that the bullet worked, and it looks like it went completely through the steel. That''s even better than I imagined. A normal 9mm bullet fired from a 1911 wouldn''t be able to penetrate more than an inch of steel."


    As he was examining the steel block, he noticed something behind it. It was a partially destroyed M1911. All that was left of it was the magazine inside the magazine housing, along with the trigger and trigger guard. The entire top half of the gun was missing. At this point, he might as well just rebuild an entirely new gun. "Hmm... Should I make a new M1911 or something else?"

 8. Breakthrough

    "I could make a thicker-style gun, like a Desert Eagle or a .357 Magnum, or I could even attempt to invent a unique gun that''s never been seen before. There''s no way I''m going to build assault rifles or shotguns, though��they just don''t fit the aesthetics I''m going for." Jin Shu sat at his worktable with the destroyed remnants of his M1911 in front of him, contemplating what kind of weapon he was going to create.


    He scratched the back of his head and then exclaimed, "Ah, fuck it! I''ll just rebuild my 1911. It was the longest-serving pistol in my past world''s military��over 129 years. Plus, I just like the clean design of it the best."


    ---


    After a few hours of work, Jin Shu had created the molds necessary for rebuilding his M1911. "Now I just need a stronger metal to withstand the power of the Explosion Rune. And what better metal do I have than the Living Metal inside me?"


    Jin Shu once again cut his hand open and let his silver blood pour into the molds he had prepared. He was making a brand new gun completely out of his Living Metal blood, including the screws and springs that held the pieces together.


    A few minutes passed, and the pieces were finished. Before he put them together, he decided to inscribe some runes onto them.


    Because the gun was made from a collection of parts rather than one whole piece, like the blade of a sword, he could inscribe runes on each separate piece without affecting the others. Normally, when Runesmiths inscribe runes onto weapons, the weapon can only have one of any particular rune. Otherwise, the second rune will have zero effect and will just be a waste of both Qi and space.


    Previously, on his original gun, he had only inscribed a Durability Rune on the grip, which is probably why the grip survived the explosion, and a Silence Rune on the slide. Now, he was going to inscribe Durability Runes and Qi Circulation Runes on each piece. The Durability Runes would increase the strength of each piece, so it hopefully wouldn''t explode next time. The Qi Circulation Runes would increase the effectiveness of the Durability Runes, further enhancing the strength of each piece.


    After each piece was inscribed with runes, he set them aside and made some extra bullets. He also used some leather to craft a holster to wear inside his robes. Additionally, he painted the grips of the pistol black so it wasn''t so ostentatiously silver.


    "Time for round two, hopefully I keep my hands this time." Jin Shu pulled his shiny new 1911 from the holster inside his robes and aimed at the steel block.


    Bang!


    A gunshot echoed inside the forge, a new hole appeared in the steel block, and Jin Shu''s hands miraculously stayed intact.


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    Jin Shu glanced down at his hands to ensure all of his digits were in place. "Phew! Kept all my fingers this time."


    Jin Shu collected everything and stepped out of the forge. He had completed everything he came for, with a few fortunate and unexpected twists.


    ---


    Back at Jin Shu''s courtyard, Yin''er was playing tag with Su Bing. When Jin Shu walked in, Yin''er gave an excited yelp and flew into his arms. Su Bing, who was happily chasing Yin''er, hurriedly put on a cold, emotionless expression and bowed. "Welcome back, Young��er... Jin Shu."


    Jin Shu nodded and walked past her into his room. He turned around midway. "I''ll be cultivating; don''t disturb me unless it''s urgent."


    ---


    Drip... Drip...


    Rainwater was falling off the eaves, forming small puddles on the ground.


    Splash!


    A small silver tiger jumped into the puddle, sending water droplets flying everywhere.


    "Yin''er, don''t jump into the puddles; you''re going to get muddy!" Su Bing grabbed Yin''er out of the puddle, getting mud all over her yellow robes. "Now look at what happened��we''re going to have to go take a bath now."


    Yin''er struggled free from Su Bing''s grasp and flew up to the rooftop. "Nuh-uh, Yin''er doesn''t like baths!"


    A door opened, and Jin Shu stepped out, calling for Yin''er. "Yin''er, come here."


    Yin''er jumped off the roof and attempted to dive into his arms. However, Jin Shu quickly caught her by the scruff of her neck. "Time for a bath, young lady."


    Yin''er drooped her ears and looked at him with a sad twinkle in her eyes. "B-b-but I don''t wanna! Pwease? I''ll eat my veggies if I don''t havta take a bath."


    Jin Shu gave her a dubious look. "You are a tiger; you don''t eat veggies to begin with."


    He proceeded to drag her inside for a bath while she shouted in horror, "Noooo! Not the baaath!"


    Su Bing blinked disbelievingly, then looked down at the paw prints on her robes. "What about me?"


    ---


    Jin Shu sat down in meditation with a slightly damp Yin''er in his lap. "It''s time to cultivate, Yin''er. We are on the verge of a breakthrough to the Core Forging Realm. After we break through, we can go out on an adventure."


    Yin''er huffed while pouting and refused to respond. She was still angry from the forced bath.


    Jin Shu and Yin''er had both reached the 9th stage of the Qi Gathering Realm. With their dantians fully saturated with Qi, it was now time to break through to the Core Forging Realm.


    In the Core Forging Realm, cultivators harness the Qi they''ve accumulated and forge it into a core within their dantian. This transformative process not only expands their capacity to store Qi but also enables them to efficiently channel and utilize Qi outside of their bodies. As cultivators progress through each stage, they must forge a new core at each stage.


    The process would be different for both of them. For a human to break through, they need to take all of the Qi in their dantian and rotate it, compressing it into the shape of a ball. With each rotation, the Qi is slowly solidified until the core is forged. However, for a Demonic Beast, this process is more crude��they take their Qi and crush it until a vaguely spherical ball is formed.


    Since Yin''er has a higher intelligence compared to normal Demonic Beasts, due to her rare bloodline, and Jin Shu also suspected that the Living Metal may have heightened her intelligence even further, he decided to try to have Yin''er form her core in the same way he did his.


    ---


    Boom!


    Qi burst out of the bodies of both Yin''er and Jin Shu. This was a sign that they had both successfully forged their cores simultaneously.


    They were now ready to set out for the Eastern Region.


    ________________


    Sorry this Chapter is on the shorter side. But this is to give me more time to write the next Chapter, which should be longer :)

 Glossary

    Here you will find a list of the cultivation realms as they are seen in the story. And a list of runes and their descriptions.


    Cultivation Realms:


    1st Realm: Body Refining Realm - As mortals can''t absorb Qi on their own they need to use special herbs to strengthen their body''s thus stepping into the first stage of the Body Refining Realm. The Body Refining Realm focuses on strengthening the physique.


    2nd Realm: Qi Gathering Realm - After completing the Body Refining Realm, cultivators breakthrough into the Qi Gathering Realm by drawing in the natural Qi that is present in the air. Which is than stored in the dantian.


    3rd Realm: Core Forging Realm - In the Core Forging Realm the cultivator must take all of the Qi they gathered and forge it into a core inside of there dantian. This allows them to store even more Qi and to extract the Qi to be used in battle. Each stage cultivators most forge a new core.


    4th Realm: Spirit Strengthening Realm - After the nine cores have been forged cultivators can breakthrough into the Spirit Strengthening Realm by using all of the Qi gathered in their cores and transferring it into their mind were their soul is housed. Using the Qi they gathered in their minds they Strengthen their souls.


    -------------------------------------


    Runes: Runes can be learned starting at the Qi Gathering Realm. This is due to the fact that Body Refining Realm cultivators have no Qi in their body''s.


    Sharpness Rune - The Sharpness Rune is one of the most widely used runes. It increases the sharpness of bladed and pointed weapons. Mainly used on swords and axes.


    Silence Rune - The silence rune is a basic rune. It is rarely used as having a silent weapon serves no purpose for cultivators, unless their assassins.


    Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.


    Durability Rune - This is another one of the most widely used runes. As it is imperative that a cultivators weapons be sturdy enough to withstand their strength.


    Weight Increase Rune - As the name suggests this rune increases the weight of the weapon. The increase depends on how much Qi is used when inscribing the rune. Thus the higher the runesmiths cultivation the heavier they can make the weapon.


    Weight Reduction Rune - This rune works in the opposite way as the Weight Increase Rune.


    Flame Rune - The Flame Rune makes the weapon heat up. The degree of the temperature increase depends on the amount of Qi inscribed into the rune. To make the weapon emit flames you would need to use the advanced version of this rune.


    Frost Rune - This rune is the opposite of the Flame Rune.


    Wind Rune - This rune increases the speed of the weapon. Exclusive to the Jin Family.


    Qi Circulation Rune - This rune is quite special compared to the other basic runes. It allows a cultivator to channel Qi into the weapon and therefore increases the power of other runes inscribed onto said weapon. However it also has a lesser known effect. It can be used to activate dormant runes (runes that didn''t have Qi injected into them during the inscribing process)


    Explosion Rune - The Explosion Rune doesn''t get used very often, because who would want a weapon that blows itself up?


    Intermediate Runes:


    Qi Blade Rune - This rune allows cultivators in the Qi Gathering Realm to form a Qi Blade around their weapon. Which can normally only be done when one reaches the Core Forging Realm.


    Intermediate Flame Rune - The advanced version of the basic Flame Rune. Allows cultivators to emit flame from their weapon.


    Intermediate Frost Rune - The advanced version of the Frost Rune. Allows cultivators to emit frost energy from their weapon.


    Intermediate Wind Rune - The advanced version of the Wind Rune. Allows cultivators to emit wind blades from their weapon while further increasing the speed of the weapon.


    Qi Storage Rune - Allows cultivators to store extra Qi in their weapons to be used during emergencies.


    --------------------------------


    Photos of the Monarch Winged Tiger Cub (Yin''er) (Hand drawn by my sister) https://imgur.com/a/6HnM4gg</a>

 9. Adventure Ho!

    Jin Shu stepped into the great hall, where at the end, an old man was sleeping on a large throne. The old man was his grandfather, Jin Zhu.


    He walked up to Jin Zhu and was about to speak to wake him up.


    Swoosh!


    A cane came flying down from above. Jin Shu attempted to catch it before it could strike his forehead, but it was to no avail. The cane smashed into his forehead with enough force to make him see stars, which was no easy feat now that he had advanced to the 1st stage of the Core Forging Realm.


    "You dare sneak up on your grandfather, you brat!?" Jin Zhu yawned then yelled angrily.


    "I didn''t mean to sneak up on you, Grandfather. It''s just that you were sleeping, and I didn''t want to startle you," Jin Shu tried explaining.


    Swoosh!


    The cane came down again.


    Bang!


    Jin Shu suffered another blow to the forehead. "Ah! I''m sorry, Grandfather!"


    "ZzZz... zZzZ..." Jin Zhu started to snore.


    "Grandfather? Are you asleep?" Jin Shu asked in surprise.


    Jin Zhu opened his eyes suddenly, startling Jin Shu. "Hmm...? Jin Shu, my boy! When did you get here?"


    Jin Shu looked at his grandfather in confusion. "Uh...? What? We were just talking, Grandfather, don''t you remember?"


    Jin Zhu thought for a moment. "Hm? Ah, right. What did you come to see me for today?"


    Jin Shu replied, "You told me about the tomb in the east and how there is an opportunity waiting for me there. However, you never told me where the tomb is located exactly. Now that I''ve reached the Core Forging Realm, I''ve decided to go looking for that tomb."


    Jin Zhu started to explain where the tomb was located. "Right, the tomb. It is located�C Wait, did you say Core Forging Realm!? How long have I been asleep? Didn��t I tell you that story only a little over a year ago?"


    Jin Shu nodded nonchalantly. "It has been about one year and three months since we talked previously, Grandfather."


    Jin Zhu stared at Jin Shu blankly for a few moments before breaking out into hearty laughter. "Ahaha! Ah ha! You might just be the greatest genius in history!"


    Jin Shu shook his head. "I''m sure I''m not that great. I''ve read that the founding emperor of our Qi dynasty was born with a heavenly physique that allowed him to reach the Core Forging Realm at the age of 13. Most children can''t even cultivate at that age."


    Jin Zhu''s cane came down on Jin Shu''s head again. "Learn to take a compliment, brat!"


    Jin Shu rubbed his aching head. "Yes, Grandfather."


    Jin Zhu thought for a moment. "Where was I? Ah, right! The tomb I told you about. It is located just past the border of the Eastern Region, outside of a village called Misty Grove Village. Although I''ve heard that the village has recently developed into a city, so I''m not sure if it goes by the same name."


    "Alright, I''m ready to leave now. I''ll be on my way, Grandfather." Jin Shu bowed to his grandfather and turned to leave the great hall.


    "Zzz...zZz..." His grandfather fell asleep as soon as Jin Shu turned around. It seems he suffered from narcolepsy.


    ---


    Jin Shu, with Yin''er on his shoulders, a leather travel pack on his back, and Su Bing��who had an identical pack on her back��at his side, departed through the eastern city gate. It was time for them to set off on their adventure.


    Yin''er cheered happily as they stepped through the gate. "Yay! Adventure time!"


    ---


    BOOM!


    Thunder roared, lightning flashed, illuminating the surroundings, and raindrops fell from overhead. Three figures, two human and one little tiger, illuminated by the flashing lightning, were trudging through the muddy puddles forming on the wet earth. "Jin Shu, we need to find shelter quickly, preferably before we drown in all of this rain!" yelled Su Bing over the sound of the roaring thunder.


    Yin''er, hiding inside of Jin Shu''s robes from the rain and sound of the thunder, poked her little head out to say, "Daddy, I don''t think I like adventures anymore."


    After trudging through the rain for a few more minutes, they saw a building illuminated by a flash of lightning up ahead.


    As they got closer, they could see a signboard that read, Linglong Inn. As they stepped through the doorway, a bell chimed, and a friendly, feminine voice welcomed them. "Hello travelers, welcome to Linglong Inn!"


    It took the three a moment for their eyes to adjust to the light inside the inn. When their eyes adjusted, they could see a dainty young woman wearing an apron over her pink robe sitting behind a counter at the other end of the open lobby of the inn.


    The young woman smiled at the three soaking wet travelers and asked, "Would you all like to take a bath? You''re just in time as I''ve just heated the water, and after your bath, I''ll have some piping hot soup ready."


    Jin Shu walked up to the counter and placed two gold coins down while asking, "Can we get two rooms, please?"


    The young woman tilted her head and smiled slightly. "Hm... but we only have one room, hehe."


    Jin Shu frowned and was about to say something when he heard a sneeze from behind him. He turned to see Su Bing covering her face with her arm. "Alright, we''ll take the room."


    The young woman giggled and handed him a key that she had taken out from underneath the counter. There was only a single key, yet when she reached under the counter, a clinking sound, like keys striking, resounded inside the empty lobby.


    Jin Shu turned to Su Bing and handed the key to her. "Here, go take a bath."


    Su Bing hurriedly shook her head. "No, no, you should take a bath first, Young Ma-ma-machoo!"


    Jin Shu handed Yin''er over to Su Bing. "Go take a bath and give one to Yin''er as well. That''s an order."


    Surprisingly, Yin''er didn''t refuse to take a bath this time. Su Bing frowned and hesitated to say something before giving up and taking Yin''er up the stairs off to the side.


    The young woman turned around and walked into the kitchen doorway behind the counter while calling out, "The soup will be ready soon!"


    Jin Shu walked over to a table at the side of the lobby and sat down to wait. After waiting about fifteen minutes, Su Bing came down the stairs, with slight steam rising from her damp skin and her hair still dripping. Yin''er was sleeping in her arms.


    This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.


    As Su Bing reached the bottom of the stairs, the young woman in the apron came out of the kitchen with a platter holding three steaming bowls of soup and a plate of dumplings.


    She and Su Bing reached the table at the same time. She set a bowl in front of each of them and placed the plate of dumplings in the center of the table. Yin''er sniffed the steam wafting off the bowls and slowly woke up. Jin Shu handed the young woman a gold coin and thanked her. "Thank you for your hospitality, Miss...?"


    The young woman smiled and placed the coin in the pocket of her apron. "You can call me Linglong, handsome, hehehe!"


    Jin Shu nearly choked on the dumpling he had just taken a bite from when he heard the way Linglong addressed him.


    Cough! cough!


    Yin''er was standing on a chair, blowing on her bowl of soup to cool it off. She looked up at Linglong and asked, "What is a handsome?"


    Linglong rubbed Yin''er''s head and asked her a question back, "Do you know what beautiful is?"


    Yin''er nodded her head. "Yin''er knows. Big Sister Mei''er said, ''If you see any beautiful woman while out on your adventure, you need to help your Daddy marry them. If my stinky brother can have a harem of 100 women, then my son should have a harem of 100,000 beautiful women.'' So now I''m looking for beautiful women for my Daddy to marry. Do you want to marry Daddy?"


    Cough!! Cough!!


    This time both Jin Shu and Su Bing choked on the soup they were drinking.


    Linglong hunched over, holding her belly while laughing. "Ahahahahaha!! Ahaha! Aha!"


    Yin''er tilted her head in confusion and asked, "What''s so funny? Do you not want to marry Daddy?"


    Linglong slowly stopped laughing and pointed at Jin Shu. "Is Handsome your Daddy?"


    Yin''er nodded vigorously. "Yeah! Daddy is my Daddy. Oh, yeah! You never told Yin''er what a handsome is?"


    Linglong answered while giggling. "Hehe, your Daddy is what handsome is."


    Yin''er looked down and thought for a moment, then looked up at Linglong and asked, "So, Daddy is Handsome Daddy?"


    Linglong petted Yin''er''s head and commended her. "Yeah, that''s right! He''s Handsome Daddy. Yin''er is such a smart girl!"


    Yin''er fluttered her wings happily. "Yay! Yin''er is smart! But Yin''er already knows she''s smart because Daddy told her that Yin''er learned to talk much sooner than all the other Demonic Beasts. But Yin''er doesn''t like the word ''Demonic,'' so Daddy said he''ll call Yin''er a Mythic Beast. Yin''er likes that a lot."


    Linglong glanced at Jin Shu and said to Yin''er, "Oh, do you know what a Mystic Beast is?"


    Yin''er tilted her head in confusion. "Yin''er is Mystic Beast?"


    Jin Shu finished his soup and joined the conversation. "A Mystic Beast is an evolution of a Demonic Beast. They have unlocked their wisdom and developed Mystic Beast Arts, which are the beast tribes'' version of human Combat Techniques."


    Linglong looked at Jin Shu in surprise. "Oh, Handsome Daddy, you know quite a bit about Mystic Beasts."


    Jin Shu looked at her with an uncomfortable expression. "I enjoy reading ancient books, so I know quite a lot about the world of the ancients. However, I don''t have much knowledge of current events. Also, can you please not call me that, Miss Linglong?"


    Linglong tilted her head and tapped her finger on her temple in contemplation. "Hm...? Nope!"


    She leaned over, grabbed a dumpling off the table, took a large bite, and then proceeded to ask Jin Shu a question. "Do you know what the Mystic Tiger Beast is called?"


    Jin Shu shook his head. "No, I''ve yet to read a book with the names of each Mystic Beast. Please, enlighten me, Miss Linglong."


    Linglong smiled and began to reply. "The Mystic Tiger Beast is known as the Silv��"


    Clank!


    Linglong was interrupted by a sudden noise. She and Jin Shu both looked over to the other side of the table to see what had happened.


    Su Bing had dropped her bowl on the floor. She was crouching down to pick it up when she saw Linglong and Jin Shu looking at her. She blushed and stammered out an apology. "Ah... uh... s-sorry, I didn''t mean to interrupt. Please continue."


    Linglong continued, "So, the Mystic Tiger Beast is called the Silver Sab��"


    Burp!


    Yin''er, who had finished licking her bowl clean, burped, interrupting Linglong again.


    Linglong crossed her arms and huffed in annoyance. "Hmph!"


    Jin Shu couldn''t help but laugh, slightly happy to see Linglong annoyed after the distress her pranks had been causing him. "Ahaha!"


    Linglong glared at him angrily but continued once more. "As I was saying, the Mystic Tiger Beast is called..."


    She paused and looked around to make sure she wouldn''t be interrupted again. "...The Silver Sabertoothed Tiger."


    She sighed in relief and continued, "Phew. Anyways, I brought that up because Yin''er here resembles the Silver Sabertoothed Tiger. However, she''s clearly a Monarch Winged Tiger��a rare bloodline of Demonic Beasts��but their species hasn''t yet crossed the line separating them from the Mystic Beasts. So, I wonder if Yin''er might be a new species of Monarch Winged Tigers or if she is mixed with a Silver Sabertoothed Tiger?"


    Jin Shu knew that the reason Yin''er resembled the Silver Sabertoothed Tiger was because of the Living Metal inside her that had mutated her, but he wasn''t about to share that information with anyone. "I don''t believe she is a hybrid, so I''d like to believe that she is a new species instead."


    Linglong nodded. "A new species, hm, that''s interesting. You should be careful who you tell about that, especially the lunatics from the Wild Beast Sect. Those bastards call themselves Beast Tamers, but in my opinion, they''re nothing but a bunch of slave drivers. They place beasts into Master/Servant Contracts and force them to battle other beasts in the hopes of creating a Mystic Beast through combat. Hmph, disgusting!"


    She suddenly glared at Jin Shu and questioned him, "You haven''t made Yin''er fight, have you?"


    Yin''er spoke up then, "Hmph, Daddy won''t let Yin''er fight! Even when Yin''er promised to take a bath once a year, he said Yin''er might get hurt. But Yin''er won''t get hurt! Yin''er is super strong! Even Big Grandpa Chen can''t win a wrestling match against Yin''er."


    Jin Shu responded to Linglong''s question, "I''ve never had Yin''er fight, and I will only allow her to fight when she grows up and will never, ever force her to fight. Also, thank you for your advice; I will keep it in mind."


    Linglong stared at Jin Shu''s face for a moment, trying to tell if he was lying or telling the truth. "Hmm... that better be the case because if I find out that you''ve hurt my cute little Yin''er, I''ll crush your balls!" She squished a dumpling in her hand as a demonstration.


    Jin Shu flinched, seeing the dumpling being crushed. "I''ll keep that in mind as well. Also, since when was she your cute little Yin''er?"


    Linglong smiled and said, "Since right now. Isn''t that right, Yin''er?"


    Yin''er wasn''t sure what they were talking about but agreed regardless, since she liked Linglong, who reminded her of her Big Sister Mei''er.


    Jin Shu shook his head in disbelief and stood up. "Alright, it''s probably about time to head to sleep. I still need to take a bath as well, although the water''s probably cold by now."


    Linglong handed him a stone and said, "Here, use this to heat the water."


    Jin Shu looked at her in confusion and asked, "What am I supposed to do with a rock?"


    Now it was Linglong''s turn to look at Jin Shu in confusion. "What do you mean? You don''t know what a heating stone is? How does someone from a family of runesmiths not know what a heating stone is?"


    This caused Jin Shu even more confusion. "I''ve never heard of a heating stone before. But more importantly, how do you know I''m from a family of runesmiths? I don''t believe I ever told you my name."


    Linglong didn''t say anything; she just pointed at the left side of his chest.


    Jin Shu looked down and saw that his robes were embroidered with the Jin family crest, which was an anvil with the Wind Rune in the center.


    "Oh, I didn''t realize that was there. So what does that have to do with me being from a family of runesmiths?" he asked with an embarrassed look on his face.


    Linglong gave him a weird look and said, "It has everything to do with you being from a family of runesmiths. A heating stone is a special type of stone that conducts heat well, inscribed with a Flame Rune. Doesn''t your family craft them too?"


    Jin Shu shook his head. "No, my family only crafts weapons. In fact, a few years ago, I crafted a pair of earrings for my mother, and when my father found out, he nearly broke my legs from the beating he gave me."


    Linglong gave him an incredulous look and handed him the heating stone again. "Well, that''s interesting. Here, take it and go have your bath."


    Jin Shu grabbed the heating stone and thanked her. He turned and walked upstairs, thinking, ''Hmm, that''s interesting. I never knew about runesmith practices other than my family''s. I wonder what other useful things runesmiths have come up with. If the heating stone exists, then there must be a cooling stone as well.''


    ---


    Jin Shu woke up in a sleeping bag on the floor. He looked to his left and saw Su Bing and Yin''er cuddled together on the bed. He had one hell of a time convincing Su Bing to sleep on the bed. At one point, he nearly had to knock her unconscious.


    He got up and walked over to a basin filled with water, which he used to wash his face. Hearing the splashing water, Su Bing and Yin''er started to wake up.


    "Good morning," said Jin Shu.


    "Good morning," replied Su Bing.


    "Good morning, Daddy!" Yin''er shouted as she flew over to Jin Shu.


    Jin Shu and Su Bing gathered their belongings, and the three headed downstairs.


    As they descended the stairs, they could smell something cooking. Linglong stepped out of the kitchen. "Go sit down; breakfast will be ready soon!"


    ---


    After eating breakfast, the three bid Linglong farewell and set out for the next part of their journey.


    "Goodbye, Miss Linglong," said Jin Shu.


    "Farewell, Miss Linglong," said Su Bing.


    "Bye-bye, Big Sister Linglong!" shouted Yin''er.


    If the next part of their journey would be as eventful as their encounter with Linglong, then it seemed the journey was shaping up to be quite exciting.

 10. Shot Heard Round The World

    The three travelers stepped out of the inn to continue their journey, Linglong Inn slowly fading away into the background. So far, their journey had been brief yet lively.


    Yin''er fluttered her wings and flew up to Jin Shu.


    "Daddy, will you marry Big Sister Linglong? Yin''er thinks she''s beautiful," Yin''er asked suddenly.


    Jin Shu, startled by the sudden question, nearly tripped and face-planted into the ground.


    Catching himself on a tree before his face could smash into the ground, Jin Shu cleared his throat before answering Yin''er''s question. "Hum, hm. Uh... um... how do I answer this? No, I don''t think I''ll be marrying Miss Linglong. In fact, I don''t plan on marrying anyone anytime soon."


    Yin''er pouted slightly. "But Big Sister Mei''er said that Yin''er has to help Daddy bring back at least one wife and three con... con-cub-ines. Yin''er doesn''t know what a con-cub-ine is, though."


    Bang!


    This time, Jin Shu really did trip and face-plant into the ground.


    Yin''er and Su Bing, who had been silently following behind, looked at Jin Shu sprawled out face-first on the ground in surprise. Then they looked at each other and burst into laughter. "Ehehehe! Daddy fell! Ehehehe!"


    "...Pfft! Ahahaha! Are you ahaha! Ok, Young Master ahaha! Jin?"


    Jin Shu was currently contemplating whether or not to just dig a hole and stay there forever or to get up off the ground with his dirt-covered face.


    He eventually decided to get up off the ground. He slowly stood up while brushing the dirt from his robes and face. He continued walking as if nothing had happened.


    ---


    Sometime later, they came upon a creek flowing slowly through a forest. Jin Shu crouched down next to the creek and washed the dirt off his face and hair.


    It was getting dark, so Jin Shu decided to set up camp here for the night. Su Bing and he unloaded their camping supplies from their backpacks as Yin''er splashed around in the creek.


    "For someone who doesn''t like baths, Yin''er sure does love splashing around in the water," Su Bing commented.


    Jin Shu shook his head in silent wonderment.


    ---


    A pot hanging above a crackling campfire was releasing a tantalizing scent. Jin Shu was standing above the pot, stirring its contents slowly. This was the second pot of stew that was being cooked tonight. The contents of the first one were lying in a bush about half a mile away from the camp so that they wouldn''t smell whatever that abomination in the form of stew was.


    Su Bing was silently sulking under a nearby tree. It was she who had ''cooked'' the first pot tonight.


    "Yin''er, Su Bing, come and eat," Jin Shu called out as he scooped the stew into bowls.


    Yin''er came flying out of the woods with a couple of sticks stuck in her fur. "Finally, food! Yin''er was about to starve."


    Su Bing was slowly standing up, but when she heard Yin''er''s comment, she plopped back down to continue sulking.


    Jin Shu took a bowl of stew over to her. "Here, don''t sulk. Your ''cooking'' wasn''t that bad. I''ll teach you a couple of simple recipes later."


    Su Bing took the bowl and glanced up at him. "How simple?"


    "Very simple. All you need is one or two ingredients and a few minutes of cooking. It''s literally impossible to wreck," Jin Shu replied confidently.


    ---


    A young man with a little tiger on his shoulder was walking down a path leading outside of a forest, with a young woman trudging behind sulkily. The young woman��Su Bing��had just been banned from cooking, as she nearly started a forest fire this morning while attempting to cook a couple of eggs for breakfast.


    Two weeks had passed since their journey started. Aside from their stop at Linglong Inn and Su Bing''s various attempts (failures) at cooking, it had been relatively uneventful.


    Jin Shu turned around and tried to cheer Su Bing up by complimenting the things she was good at. "Su Bing, you might not have a talent for cooking, but I''m sure there''s something you''re good at. For instance, you''re good at... uh... cultivation! I think? Actually, I don''t know your cultivation level. Um... oh! You''re really stealthy; you could probably become a great assassin."


    "Huh, what did you say!?" Su Bing exclaimed suddenly.


    Jin Shu looked at her in surprise for a second before realization dawned on him. "Ah, I''m sorry. That''s not a very nice compliment, is it?"


    Su Bing shook her head hurriedly. "No, that''s the greatest compliment I''ve ever received!"


    Jin Shu stopped walking and stared at her in amazement. "It is? Are you sure you heard me correctly?"


    She nodded her head. "Yes, you said I would be a great assassin."


    "I know I''m the one who gave you the compliment, but how is that a great compliment?" Jin Shu asked.


    "When I was a little girl, my father told me how he was a righteous assassin who assassinated very bad people. He left me with my grandfather when I was four and went out on a mission and never came back. My grandfather hated that my father was an assassin and forbade me from ever mentioning it. When I was eight, my grandfather said that every time he looks at me, he is reminded of his bastard son, so he left me with a friend of his who worked as a servant at your family''s home. So that''s why that was the greatest compliment I''ve ever received." Su Bing explained, her tone happy at first but becoming more depressed over time until she said the last sentence with a bright smile on her face.


    "Well, let me just say that I meant it when I said that. So far, you are the first person who has managed to sneak up on me, catching me unaware, and that is no easy feat."


    Jin Shu genuinely meant what he said. Even though, since his reincarnation, he has led a comfortable life, he still hasn''t quite let go of some of his past life''s habits as a trained soldier for most of his life, one of which was Jin Shu''s hyper-awareness of his surroundings. During their first meeting, Su Bing had managed to get behind Jin Shu without him noticing her.


    ---


    A few more weeks had passed. The three had been traveling for about a month now. However, they still had a long way to go.


    They had just made camp for the night. Yin''er and Su Bing were running around playing tag as Jin Shu cooked over the campfire. After a few minutes, Jin Shu called the two girls over to eat. "Girls, come eat!"


    The two came running over happily. It should be said that Su Bing has opened up more compared to a few weeks ago. Due to the compliment she received from Jin Shu, she was now a lot more open with her feelings and even stopped trying to call Jin Shu ''Young Master'' all the time.


    Clink! Clink!


    As they sat down to eat their meal, a clinking noise resounded. It was the sound of a simple warning device that Jin Shu had placed around the camp by stringing together a few pieces of metal on a wire.


    Jin Shu stood up and looked toward the direction that the noise had come from cautiously. It was too dark to see anything; however, he could make out the sound of footsteps against the dry leaves that he had purposefully scattered around the camp. The footsteps sounded human in nature. He figured it was about six or more men, and from the slight metal scraping noise, it seemed they were drawing weapons. They were definitely not here with friendly intentions.


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    The men in the darkness could clearly see Jin Shu looking in their direction cautiously due to the light of the campfire, so they decided to stop sneaking. "Jejeje! What cute little kids."


    A creepy laugh sounded from the darkness. Just after, an arrow came flying towards Jin Shu, which he quickly sidestepped out of the way of. A slight slicing sound came from behind him, but he didn''t pay it any attention, too busy focusing on the danger in front of him. He could now make out eight figures approaching from the darkness. He pulled his pistol out from the holster inside of his robes and cocked the slide back to load a bullet into the chamber. He then took aim at the slowly approaching figures.


    As the men stepped close enough for the light of the campfire to slightly illuminate their faces with creepy shadows, the leading figure, a gaunt man with an ugly face made even uglier by a jagged scar that stretched from the top of his balding head to his chin, serving to split his face into two ugly halves, whistled loudly. "Woo! That''s gotta be the prettiest little lady I''ve ever seen!"


    Jin Shu found that comment to be quite strange. They definitely weren��t talking about him, and although Yin��er had quite the beautiful coat of silver fur, he doubted that they were interested in a little tiger cub. That left only Su Bing. However, while Su Bing wasn��t ugly by any means, she definitely wasn��t a beauty. In fact, she was probably the plainest-looking girl Jin Shu had seen to date. So, Jin Shu assumed they were trying to distract him by making him turn around so they could get a chance to strike him from behind. But Jin Shu was no rookie who would fall for that low-level taunt.


    The other men also started oohing and aahing.


    ��Jejee! Let��s kill the man, sell the little tiger, and����


    BANG!


    The ugly man��s words were interrupted by a loud bang and a hole in his forehead. His body fell over backward and crashed to the ground. The other men standing around him looked at his collapsed body in surprise, not understanding what had happened to him or why he had fallen over.


    ��Hey, boss, why��re ya trippin��? Ya still drunk or somethin��?�� asked Bandit #1.


    ��What the hell was that noise?�� asked Bandit #2.


    ��Why��s there blood leakin�� from the boss�� head?�� asked Bandit #3.


    ��What do ya mean blood?�� asked Bandit #1 to #3.


    They all looked at the ugly man��s forehead, where there was blood leaking out, forming a small pool below his head.


    Jin Shu aimed his pistol at Bandit #1, who was a large, rotund, meatballesque-looking bald man. He seemed like he might be the second-in-charge, as he was the next ugliest after their leader. ��If you don��t want to end up like your boss, I suggest you put your weapons down.��


    This, unfortunately, wasn��t the first time Jin Shu had killed a human. When he joined the military in his past life, a war had broken out in the year 2030, in which he had to kill his fair share of humans.


    Bandit #1 turned and glared menacingly at Jin Shu. ��Whad��ya do ta our boss?��


    ��I killed him,�� Jin Shu replied nonchalantly.


    ��I fink e�� migh�� be a culivator,�� said Bandit #4.


    ��We should probably run, right?�� asked Bandit #5.


    ��Even if he��s a cultivator, he��s so young he can��t be that strong,�� said Bandit #6.


    ��If we attack him all together, we should be able to kill him,�� said the final Bandit #7.


    The six other bandits all turned to Bandit #1 and simultaneously asked, ��What do we do, boss?��


    Bandit #1 flusteredly responded, ��Uh... kill ��em? I guess?��


    Jin Shu, overhearing them talking, pulled a new magazine out from the holster inside his robes and calmly reloaded his pistol. He had already shot one time, and each of his magazines only held seven bullets. ''Maybe I should make some extended mags in case I go up against a lot of enemies in the future. Although I��d rather avoid a fight if possible,'' he thought calmly, not at all bothered by the seven bandits raising their weapons, ready to attack him at any second.


    ��If you surrender, I won��t kill you,�� Jin Shu warned them one more time.


    Bandit #1 ignored him and ordered the others to attack. ��Let��s kill ��em!�� The bandits each took a step forward, ready to attack, when a gunshot rang out.


    BANG!


    Bandit #1��s fat body collapsed face-first into the ground.


    The others, seeing this, stopped in their tracks.


    ��RUN!�� someone shouted. However, it was too late.


    BANG! BANG!


    BANG!


    Surprisingly, two bandits��one in front, the other behind��collapsed with that one shot. The bullet had pierced through the first chest into the other��s back as he turned to flee.


    BANG! BANG! BANG!


    All of the bandits collapsed on the ground. Not a single one survived, all killed instantly with a single kill shot to a vital organ. The entire exchange didn��t last more than two or three minutes from when they appeared to when they collapsed dead on the ground.


    Jin Shu calmly reloaded a fresh magazine, just in case there were more bandits lurking in the darkness. As he reloaded his pistol, he was staring at the first bandit he shot, the ugly gaunt man. ''Weird, he should have started to turn into a metal statue already.''


    ��WOW! What happened to all the bad guys? There were loud noises, and then they all died!�� came Yin��er��s excited voice from behind.


    Jin Shu finally turned around to check on the girls behind him. As he turned, he was shocked by what he saw.


    At some point, a beautiful young woman had appeared behind him. She had a snow-white complexion, as if she had never stepped foot outside in her life. Instead of looking unhealthy, it made her look like a fragile doll that needed to be protected at all costs.


    As he stared at her in shock, her beauty seemed to become more enchanting the longer he stared at her. She seemed to possess a beauty like that of a goddess descended from the heavens. However, when he glanced away, she seemed to fade into the background, as if she was just a part of the scenery.


    He looked away from the beautiful young woman and looked around for Yin��er and Su Bing. Yin��er was flying above the campfire; however, he couldn��t find Su Bing anywhere.


    He turned back to the beautiful young woman and asked her, ��Who are you, and where did the girl who was here a moment ago disappear to?��


    The young woman was initially staring at the collapsed bandits in shock. However, when she heard Jin Shu��s questions, she stared at him in confusion, seemingly not understanding him, perhaps due to the shock of what she had just witnessed. ��What?��


    ��I asked where Su��wait, are you Su Bing?�� He was going to ask again when he realized he recognized her voice as Su Bing��s.


    The young woman tilted her head in confusion. ��Of course, I��m Su Bing. Who else would I be?��


    ��You sound like Su Bing, but you look completely different,�� Jin Shu answered.


    ��Ah!?�� The young woman exclaimed in surprise and felt around on her face.


    When she took her hands away from her face, she was holding what looked like a paper-thin or even thinner face mask, and a trickle of blood flowed down her beautiful face from her forehead.


    ��Oh no! My mask! It��s broken!�� the young woman cried out.


    At this point, Jin Shu realized that this beautiful young woman was indeed Su Bing. It seems that Su Bing had been wearing some type of mask to hide her beauty.


    ��What kind of mask is that? How could it make you look like a completely different person?�� he asked Su Bing.


    Su Bing looked up at Jin Shu with a devastated look on her face, when suddenly, tears burst out of her eyes. The tears were streaming out of her eyes as if a floodgate had burst. ��Aaah! Waaa! Sniff! Waahaa! Aah!�� Su Bing began to cry loudly.


    Jin Shu was absolutely stunned. He had never heard anyone cry so devastatingly, even in his past life, where he had witnessed people crying over the dead bodies of their loved ones. He had no idea what he should do to comfort her, so he just stood there.


    Yin��er, hearing Su Bing crying, flew up to her side, climbed onto her shoulder, and rubbed her head against Su Bing��s cheek. ��Don��t cry, Big Sister Bing, everything is going to be okay. Daddy already got rid of the bad guys. They can��t hurt you anymore, okay?��


    Su Bing calmed down slightly upon hearing Yin��er speak to her; however, she was still shedding tears. ��Fank you, win��er. I��m��sniff��okay now.��


    Now that she wasn��t crying so hard anymore, Jin Shu took this chance to ask how her injury was. ��Are you okay? Are you badly hurt?��


    She looked at him questioningly. ��Hurt?��


    Jin Shu frowned slightly and answered, ��Yes, your head is bleeding. Isn��t that why you were crying?��


    Su Bing brought her hand to her forehead and looked at her fingers covered in blood. ��Oh, I��sniff��didn��t realize I was bleeding. But no, I wasn��t crying��sniff��because I was hurt. It was because my mask was damaged.��


    ��Your mask? Can��t you just get a new one or fix that one?�� he asked her, confused by why the mask would make her cry as if she had just lost her loved one.


    ��WHAT!? GET A NEW ONE!? THIS IS THE ONLY ONE!!! IT��S THE ONLY THING I HAVE LEFT FROM HIM!!!�� she screamed so loudly that her voice echoed in the empty night sky.


    Yin��er flew off her shoulder and hid behind Jin Shu in surprise, and Jin Shu could only stare at her in stunned silence, not sure how to respond.


    ��Haa... haa... I��m sorry... I didn��t mean to scream at you,�� Su Bing said while trying to catch her breath after screaming her lungs out.


    "Ah, no, it''s fine. I understand. That mask seems to be very important to you," he remarked.


    Su Bing nodded slowly. "It was given to me by my father before he left. It is the only thing I have left to remind me of him."


    "Ah, I see," he replied, still not quite sure how to comfort her. Having grown up in an orphanage, he never knew his parents in his past life, and his parents were still alive now.


    Su Bing slowly walked up to Jin Shu while cradling the damaged mask in her arms. "This is a Cicada Wing Skin-Mask. From what my father told me, it was crafted by a runesmith with a Concealment Rune. Can you fix it?" she asked with a hopeful expression on her face.


    Jin Shu had a difficult expression on his face as he responded to her. "Uh... I''m sorry, I''ve never heard of a Concealment Rune, and even though I''m a runesmith, I can''t fix something unless I know the specific inscription method."


    The hopeful expression quickly fell from her face, replaced by a depressed one. "Oh, so it can''t be fixed then?"


    Jin Shu shook his head. "No, it can still be fixed. We just need to either find a runesmith who knows the Concealment Rune, or we have to find a runesmithing method that teaches the Concealment Rune so that I can fix it."


    "Ah! So it can be fixed!" she cheered happily.


    Jin Shu nodded again. "Yes, as long as we fulfill one of the two conditions."


    "Ahaha! Thank you, Jin Shu!" Su Bing laughed happily and suddenly hugged Jin Shu.


    Jin Shu stood frozen in shock. This was his first time in either life being hugged by such a beautiful young woman.

 11. Strange Village

    Two months had passed since Jin Shu and company left Black Mountain City. They had completed a quarter of their journey and reached the edge of the Qi Dynasty. Their traveling speed had slowed down slightly as they were currently visiting all the villages and settlements not too far off their intended path in the hopes of finding a Runesmith who knew of the Concealment Rune to fix Su Bing''s mask.


    So far, they hadn''t been able to find a single Runesmith, let alone someone who knew of the Concealment Rune. This wasn''t unexpected, as they were only at the edge of the Qi Dynasty, and the Jin family was the most prominent Runesmithing family in the Qi Dynasty. Even they had no record of the Concealment Rune. Not to mention that Runesmiths were incredibly rare. Although there weren''t any limits on who could become a Runesmith, other than the need to be at the Qi Gathering Realm, Runesmithing Methods had been monopolized by the three major sects, making it difficult for those unrelated to the major sects to acquire the knowledge needed to become a Runesmith.


    They were currently stopped beside a small creek below a mountain path, filling their water bottles before they climbed over the mountain.


    Su Bing approached Jin Shu with a troubled look. "Jin Shu, I''m sorry for slowing our journey down, and thank you for trying to help me fix my father''s mask."


    Jin Shu stood up and turned to look at Su Bing. He opened his mouth to say something, but as he stared at Su Bing, he gradually forgot what he was about to say, slowly losing himself in her enchanting beauty.


    When Su Bing noticed the lost look that was slowly appearing in Jin Shu''s eyes, she hurriedly placed a veil over her face. As soon as the veil covered her face, her enchanting presence disappeared. With the veil on, her presence seemed to become so minuscule that if you were to look away from her, it seemed as if she would vanish like dust into the wind. "Ah! I''m sorry, I forgot I removed my veil."


    After the incident with the bandits about a month ago, Su Bing had to keep her face covered with a veil so that only her eyes were visible; otherwise, she would draw too much attention. Her beautiful face seemed to have some kind of enchanting power, where if one stared at her for too long, they would lose their minds and be unable to think of anything but her. However, when she put a veil on, it was as if the opposite happened, and if you didn''t focus on her, you seemed to forget she existed in front of you.


    As the veil covered Su Bing''s face, Jin Shu snapped back to reality. "Uh...? What did you say, Su Bing?"


    Tears started to form at the edge of Su Bing''s eyes as she choked out another apology. "Sniff! I''m sorry I''ve been causing nothing but trouble!"


    Jin Shu patted her on the head. "It''s okay, you''re not causing me any trouble. Uh... sorry... I didn''t mean to..." He pulled his hand back awkwardly.


    Su Bing looked up at him, tears still at the corners of her eyes. However, she said happily, "Um, I don''t mind. You can pat��ah! No! I..."


    They stared at each other awkwardly for a moment before a splashing noise sounded next to them and water splashed on their feet.


    Splash!


    "Yay! Yin''er caught a fish! Daddy, look! Yin''er got a big fish!"


    Yin''er was standing in the middle of the creek with a fish under her front paws.


    Jin Shu coughed awkwardly and looked away from Su Bing. "Let the fish go, Yin''er; we have to climb this mountain before it gets dark."


    Yin''er pouted. "But Yin''er wants to eat fish!"


    "You can have fish tomorrow. If we climb this mountain today, look, there''s a lake a day''s travel over this mountain." Jin Shu pulled a map out of his backpack and pointed to a lake just over the mountain.


    Yin''er let the fish go and cheered happily. "Yay! Yin''er wants to eat lots of fish tomorrow!"


    Jin Shu picked Yin''er up and placed her on his shoulders, then began to step towards the path that led up the mountain.


    ---


    After a few hours of climbing up the mountain path, they had reached the summit. As they looked down from the summit of the mountain, expecting to see a forest below and a lake in the distance, they were slightly surprised to instead see a village below the mountain where the map showed a forest.


    "That''s strange; there shouldn''t be a village here, at least not according to the map." Jin Shu pulled the map out from his pack and double-checked it to make sure they were on the correct path.


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    "Maybe it''s a new village," Su Bing commented.


    Jin Shu looked at the bottom of the map where the date the map was created was located. It was only two years old. "Hmm... the map''s only two years old, and this village looks far older than that."


    The village, while not looking abandoned, seemed to be in a state of disrepair. Some of the roofs had patched holes, and the wooden fence surrounding the village looked to be rotting. If this village was only two years old, then the homes and fence should still look relatively new, even if they were damaged.


    "Hmm... well, we have to restock on some supplies, and I''d like to sleep with a roof over my head for once. So I think it''s a good thing that we found this village here," Su Bing replied gladly.


    They continued walking down the mountain path towards the village. As they reached the gate set in the fence of the village, they noticed that there was no one guarding the gates.


    "Why is no one watching the gates? Usually, even if there is no one to watch the gates, they would at least shut the gates so that animals can''t wander in, right?" Su Bing asked Jin Shu with a slight hint of uneasiness in her voice.


    "I''m not sure; it could be that something happened that caused the guard to leave in a hurry?" Jin Shu said without much conviction.


    "Yin''er doesn''t like this place; it smells bad." Yin''er sniffed the air and recoiled in disgust.


    "Let''s just grab some supplies and leave," Su Bing suggested.


    They walked up to the open gates and stepped into the strange village.


    SLAM!


    "Aah!"


    "Eek!"


    Yin''er and Su Bing yelped as a loud sound came from behind them as they entered the village. Jin Shu glanced behind at where the village gates should have been; however, in their place was a solid white wall of fog instead.


    Yin''er dove into Jin Shu''s robe to hide after hearing the loud sound, and Su Bing looked back to see what had caused the noise. When she saw the wall of fog, she shivered and stammeringly asked, "W-w-what''s going o-on, w-w-w-where did t-t-this fog come f-from?" Su Bing grabbed ahold of Jin Shu''s sleeve tightly.


    Swoosh! Woo! Aah!


    A cold wind whipped up suddenly that seemed to carry with it the sounds of crying and screaming.


    Su Bing quickly hid behind Jin Shu when she heard the sound of the wind. "T-there''s not a-any g-g-g-g-ghost here, i-is there?"


    Jin Shu reached into his robes, and after shifting Yin''er��who was hiding inside his robes with her eyes tightly shut and shivering slightly��out of the way, he pulled his pistol out. "I don''t know, but something is definitely very wrong here."


    Creak!


    A door to a house a few feet away slowly creaked open. However, nothing and no one stepped out.


    "Let''s try t-to go b-back the way w-we came from," Su Bing, still hiding behind Jin Shu, said.


    "I don''t think that''s a good idea; the fog is so thick that we might get lost and separated. Not to mention, we don''t know if there''s anything in the fog that might attack us." Jin Shu felt it was safer to stay out of the fog, as it gave him goosebumps when he looked at it. As a soldier in his past life, he had a strong sense for danger, and that sense usually came in the form of goosebumps.


    Swoosh! Aaaah!


    The wind came again, this time without the sound of crying; instead, the screaming sound became louder.


    "Let''s get to the other side of the village; there should be a gate that we can use to leave from there." Jin Shu slowly stepped forward towards the opposite side of the village.


    As they walked across the village, they couldn''t find any signs of other people or even animals. The only thing to accompany them was the sounds of the wind and creaking doors.


    Creak! Bang!


    "Eek!" A door creaked and collapsed suddenly, causing Su Bing to scream and hug Jin Shu tightly from behind.


    Jin Shu pried her hands off himself and pulled her in front of him to look her in the eyes, which had tears flowing out of them. "Su Bing, everything is okay, it was just an old door collapsing."


    "Waa! But what if there are g-g-g-ghosts!?" she cried with tears flowing from her eyes.


    Jin Shu raised his left hand, which glowed red, and said, "Look, even if there are ghosts here, I can deal with them. Don''t forget, I have the Phoenix Claw Technique, which is suited for dealing with ghosts and ghouls."


    Seeing his glowing hand, Su Bing calmed down enough for her tears to stop. However, she was still shivering slightly.


    ---


    A few minutes passed as they reached the center of the village. There was a dry well in the middle of an open area at the center of the village, with a wind blowing from inside the well that sounded like hundreds of people screaming and crying.


    Woooo! Aaaah!


    Slightly transparent, grey-colored figures with blood flowing from their empty eye sockets floated out from inside the well��ghosts.


    Yin''er poked her head out of Jin Shu''s robes and asked, "Daddy, why are those people see-through?"


    "Eek! Ghosts!" Su Bing screamed in fear.


    Jin Shu formed a claw with his left hand and thrust it forward toward the ghosts. A red, phoenix-shaped claw made of Qi burst out of his hand and quickly collided with the ghosts floating out from the well, incinerating them.


    "Woooo!"


    Suddenly, hundreds of ghosts burst out of the well, filling up the surroundings.


    "Eeeek!"


    Thud!


    Su Bing screamed, then passed out after seeing the hundreds of creepy ghosts burst from the well.


    "Shit!" Jin Shu cursed as he turned to see Su Bing collapsed on the ground. He placed his pistol back in his robes and used both hands to form phoenix claws, incinerating tens of ghosts at a time. However, more kept floating out of the well. Jin Shu didn''t know if there was a limit to how many ghosts were going to come from the well, but he did know that there was a limit to his Qi, and the Phoenix Claw Technique used a lot of it.


    "Fuck! We''re going to have to run! Su Bing! Wake up!" Jin Shu shouted, trying to wake Su Bing; however, she was passed out cold.


    Jin Shu formed two more phoenix claws, sending them into the horde of ghosts, then leaned down and picked Su Bing up, hauling her over his left shoulder. He formed one more claw with his right hand and cleared a small path through the ghosts. He quickly ran while carrying Su Bing on his shoulder.


    ---


    "Haa... shit!" Jin Shu was running through the village with a passed-out girl on his shoulder and hundreds of ghosts chasing closely behind.


    "How the hell do you get out of this damned place!?" Jin Shu yelled.


    Suddenly, the hundreds of ghosts behind him started laughing creepily.


    "Jejeje! You can''t leave! Jejejee!"

 12. Ghost Village

    Jin Shu reached the opposite side of the village from where they entered. There was no gate as he had hoped for; instead, it was another wall of fog.


    He threw a phoenix claw at it, hoping to disperse it... nothing happened.


    "Daddy, Yin''er��s scared," Yin''er said, shivering from within the collar of his robes.


    "Don��t worry, Yin''er, daddy will protect you." Jin Shu was so flustered trying to escape this ghost village that he didn��t realize he had called himself Yin''er��s dad, even though he constantly tried to teach Yin''er to call him something other than her dad. It seems subconsciously he sees himself as her father.


    ''How am I going to escape!?'' he thought to himself frantically.


    "Jejeje!" The ghosts�� mocking laughter came from behind him. Jin Shu kept running around the perimeter of the village, looking for a way out. Unfortunately, the wall of fog covered the whole village. ''It must have something to do with the well in the center of the village. That was where these ghosts came from; maybe if I destroy it, I can get rid of all the ghosts.''


    Jin Shu turned around and headed back towards the village center. He had to incinerate a few dozen ghosts along the way. His Qi was starting to diminish at an alarming rate. "Damn it! I should have inscribed a Qi Storage Rune on my gun!"


    ---


    He made it back to the village center and could see the dry well sitting in the same place, still spewing out ghosts. He hurriedly formed a phoenix claw with his right hand and threw it at the well.


    Bang! The well collapsed into a pile of stone and wood rubble. "That should at least stop them from spawning, right?"


    Wooo! Aaah!


    Ghostly figures phased through the rubble. "Shit!"


    "Jejeje!" came their mocking, creepy laughter.


    "Damn it! Now what do I do!?" Jin Shu yelled.


    Yin''er poked her head out of his robes. "Daddy, Yin''er smells something yucky that way." She pointed back towards where they initially entered the village.


    "Okay, let��s see what��s there. Maybe it��s a way out, or at least something to get rid of these ghosts. You point the way, okay?"


    Yin''er nodded silently and continued sniffing the air.


    ---


    They made it back to where they entered the village; however, Jin Shu was almost out of Qi. He could maybe throw two or three more claws, and it didn��t help that Su Bing was still passed out.


    Yin''er sniffed the air and pointed towards the fog. "Daddy, the yucky smell is in there."


    "I was hoping you weren��t going to say that," he said in defeat.


    Yin''er drooped her head and apologized. "Sorry..."


    He petted her head and consoled her. "It��s okay, that��s not your fault. Let��s get out of here."


    Jin Shu stepped into the fog while following Yin''er''s directions.


    ---


    After walking through the fog for about fifteen minutes, he found an empty spot where there was no fog. Sitting in the middle of the empty space was a creepy hooded figure.


    "Jejeje! Well, well, well. Look what we have here, three tasty little treats have found their way to me. Jejeje!" The creepy robed figure laughed; his voice was the same as the ghost that had been chasing them.


    "You must be the one who has been controlling those ghosts," Jin Shu stated.


    "Jejejeje! Looks like one of the tasty treats is a little smarty. Jeeje!" The robed figure laughed mockingly.


    "Are you human or ghost?" Jin Shu asked.


    "Jeje! What does it matter whether I��m human or ghost?" the robed figure asked back.


    Jin Shu carefully placed Su Bing down, pulled his pistol out, and raised his red glowing left hand. "Well, if you are a ghost, I��ll burn you to death, and if you are human, I��ll shoot you to death."


    The hooded figure stood up and threw their hood back. "Jejeje! Does this answer your question?"


    What was revealed from underneath the hood was a white skeletal skull.


    "Uh? Honestly, no, but it doesn��t really matter. I��ll just shoot you and burn you." Jin Shu wasn��t sure what a skeleton classified as, so he decided just to use both methods at his disposal.


    "Jejeje! I��ll admit your phoenix claws are a little unique. However, I doubt you have much Qi left, and you��ll have to make it through my ghosts if you want to get to me. Ah, one more thing, how are you going to shoot me without a bow? Jejejejeje!" The skeleton began to laugh hysterically, as hundreds of ghosts appeared from the fog surrounding Jin Shu.


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    Jin Shu ignored the ghosts for now and threw a phoenix claw with his left hand at the skeleton. Then he fired his M1911 in his right hand.


    BANG!


    The skeleton had just started to take a step to its left to avoid the phoenix claw flying at it from its right side when a loud bang resounded, echoing in the empty fog. A hole suddenly appeared in its forehead, and the back of its skull exploded into shards, opening a large hole. Its skull burst into flames on account of the Flame Rune inscribed onto the bullet, and the skeleton froze and screamed in agony as its skull burned.


    This all happened in a fraction of a second, before the phoenix claw had even made it halfway to the skeleton.


    The skeleton reached towards its skull to try and put out the fire burning it. In the next second, the phoenix claw reached it and engulfed its entire body in flames.


    "Aaaaah!" The skeleton screamed in agony.


    The loud gunshot and the skeleton��s screaming caused Su Bing to wake up. She slowly looked around groggily. When she saw the hundreds of ghosts surrounding them and the burning, screaming skeleton, she passed right back out.


    "What...? Oh..."


    Thud!


    Although the skeleton appeared to be in excruciating pain, it also didn��t appear to be dying. So, using the last of his Qi, Jin Shu threw another phoenix claw and shot the skeleton again.


    BANG!


    Due to the skeleton writhing around in pain, the bullet hit its neck, nearly blowing its skull off its shoulders.


    The second phoenix claw hit it, and its skull completely fell off its body, crashing to the ground and shattering into three pieces.


    "Aaaaah! YOU DAMN CHILD! HOW DARE YOU DESTROY MY BODY!!!" A black mass of fog that vaguely resembled a human shape flew out of the shattered skull.


    Jin Shu was out of Qi, and it seemed that he wasn��t able to kill the skeleton or the ghost in the skeletal body��whatever it was that had caused them to be trapped in this ghost village.


    The only thing Jin Shu had left was his pistol, so he shot the ghostly black mass of fog, hoping that the Flame Rune could at least deal some damage to it.


    BANG!


    "Aaaah!" The black fog caught fire and screamed.


    It seemed the Flame Rune was indeed effective against it. So Jin Shu emptied the rest of his magazine into the black fog.


    BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!


    "Aaaaaaaah!!!! STOP!! YOU BASTARD!! I��M GOING TO RIP YOU TO PIECES AND FEAST ON YOUR HEART!!" The black fog screamed at the top of its lungs... if it had lungs?


    As Jin Shu released the magazine from his pistol and began to reload a new one, the black fog rushed towards him. It reached him just as he finished reloading; however, it was too late to shoot it now.


    The black fog formed two clawed hands and reached towards Jin Shu to rip him apart. However, before it could reach him, a little silver winged tiger burst from Jin Shu��s robes with a golden glow emitting from the King symbol on its forehead. "Get away from Daddy!" yelled Yin''er.


    A golden glow with a slightly silver tint burst out from Yin''er��s body. When the golden glow touched a ghost, they vanished, and when it touched the black fog, the fog started to slowly disappear.


    "Aaah! Aah! What is this!? What��s happening to��" The black fog screamed and disappeared. All of the hundreds of ghosts and the thick wall of fog disappeared along with it.


    Thud!


    Yin''er fell down from where she was floating in the air.


    "Yin''er!!" Jin Shu shouted worriedly while running to where she fell. He quickly checked her for wounds, worried that she could be hurt. Luckily, she didn��t seem injured anywhere. "Phew! She must have just passed out from Qi exhaustion."


    He opened his backpack, pulled out a sleeping bag, and placed it on the ground. Then he carefully picked Yin''er up and placed her on the sleeping bag. Then he picked up Su Bing and placed her down next to Yin''er.


    After he was done laying the two passed-out girls down, he walked up to the skeleton that had just finished burning. There wasn��t much left of the skeleton except for its right hand that had a ring on its middle finger; the rest of the skeleton was burned to ashes.


    Jin Shu bent down, picked up the skeletal hand, pried the ring off its finger, and inspected it.


    It was surprisingly a space ring. A Space Ring was an incredibly rare runic tool that could be used to store any inanimate objects.


    Although he had never used a Space Ring before, his mother had one and taught him how to use it. He just needed to infuse a small amount of Qi into the ring, and he would be able to sense what was inside. Jin Shu sat down and rested for a moment to wait for some Qi to recover. When it did, he infused a small amount into the ring to see what it had inside.


    The ring had about one hundred feet of space. That was quite a large amount of space; his mother''s ring was handed down from her Master as one of her Master��s greatest treasures, and it had only two hundred feet of space.


    The hundred feet of space was less than half-filled with various things, some he recognized and some he did not. Of the things he recognized, the most prominent was a small pile of Qi stones. A Qi stone was a resource highly sought after by cultivators, as they were special stones filled with naturally purified Qi that could be extracted for cultivation.


    The next thing he recognized was a collection of scrolls. He used his Qi and pulled them out. The scrolls appeared in the air right above his hand. As this was his first time pulling something out of a Space Ring, he slightly missed where he wanted the scrolls to appear, and they fell to the ground.


    Clatter!


    He reached down and picked the scrolls up. There were four scrolls in total. He set three of them down next to where he was sitting and opened one up. The first words on the scroll were written in big bold letters. It read: THE DIARY OF THE GREAT LICH SHA ZI.


    Jin Shu read the first sentence: I, THE GREAT LICH SHA ZI, AM THE MOST POWERFUL BEING IN THE UNIVERSE.


    Jin Shu threw it away and picked up the next scroll. He opened it... and quickly threw it away. When it landed a few feet away, it rolled open slightly. From the words that peeked out, it read: THE DIARY OF THE GREAT LICH SHA ZI PART 2.


    Jin Shu picked up the third scroll. He opened it slightly, getting ready to throw it; however, he paused, then opened it all the way. This scroll read: Ghost Control Method.


    As he read the scroll, a frown appeared on his face, and his left hand glowed red, quickly setting the scroll on fire, burning it to ashes. This scroll had recorded the ways in which to control ghosts; however, they involved hurting and killing humans, so Jin Shu burned it so that no one else could see it again.


    Jin Shu reached down and grabbed the final scroll. He unrolled it, and this one had no words; it was a map. By the looks of it, it was a treasure map. Jin Shu didn��t recognize the place depicted on the map. He rolled it back up and decided to reference it with his map and Su Bing, when she awoke, later.


    Those were the only things he recognized in the ring, but he took one more look just in case he missed anything, and indeed, he had missed something��a small glass bottle. He pulled it out and read the label: Aphro��


    Bang! Crack! Bang! Bang!


    Jin Shu threw the bottle on the ground and stomped on it.

 13. Peaceful Travels

    The two girls didn��t seem as if they were going to wake up any time soon, so Jin Shu found a relatively clean-looking home with two bedrooms and moved them into a bedroom. He gave Su Bing her own bedroom, and he slept with Yin��er in the other.


    Before sleeping, he thought of the events that had happened over the course of their journey. One thing that concerned him was that the Living Metal seemed to have lost the ability to parasitize things like the Martian Metal had. Jin Shu never did know how the Martian Metal worked, and he had barely figured out a few features of the new Living Metal.


    ---


    The next morning, he got up early and scavenged the village homes for supplies. When he got back, the two girls were still sound asleep, so he started making breakfast. He used some bread he found in the home they were currently staying in and some butter he found in another home to make buttered toast. Then he fried some eggs he found in a chicken coop with some vegetables he found in various gardens to make omelets. After he finished cooking the omelets, he heard some movement in the room he had stayed in the previous night. Yin��er seemed to be waking up.


    And sure enough, Yin��er soon came slowly flying out of the room. While rubbing her eyes with her paws, she asked, ��What��s that smell? It smells super yummy!��


    ��I made breakfast. Go wake Su Bing up. She��s in that room over there,�� Jin Shu said as he turned and went back to cooking.


    He used some fruits and sugar to make a sort of fruit jam for the toast as Yin��er slowly flew over to the other room.


    A few seconds after she entered, there was a loud shout. ��Big Sister Bing-Bing! Wake up!��


    ��Aah! Ghosts!�� came another shout.


    Jin Shu, hearing this, sighed and shook his head in exasperation.


    Soon after those shouts, there was some rustling, a few crashes, and some muffled exclamations that Jin Shu couldn��t quite make out.


    A few more moments passed, and Su Bing came out with Yin��er in her arms, both of their hair messy. Su Bing��s chest was rising and falling as if she had just done some kind of exercise.


    Jin Shu stared at the two for a moment, chuckled slightly, and shook his head. ��Sit down and eat.��


    Su Bing placed Yin��er down on the table and then took a seat. ��What happened?�� she asked curiously.


    ��There was an evil lich controlling the ghost. I fought him, just barely losing, and Yin��er saved me by killing him. Oh! Also, I found a Space Ring on his corpse,�� he explained succinctly.


    Su Bing stared at Jin Shu in shock, the toast she had been about to take a bite out of falling from her hands, which Yin��er quickly dove and caught in her mouth. ��Hehehe!�� Yin��er giggled in triumph, having just scored an extra piece of toast.


    Jin Shu handed Su Bing an extra piece of toast.


    ---


    After breakfast, they collected their things and the supplies Jin Shu had scavenged and put everything in Jin Shu��s new Space Ring.


    ��Alright, let��s get the hell out of here,�� said Jin Shu.


    ---


    They traveled for a few hours, and by noon they made it to a large lake. There was a boat docked at its western shore with a fishing pole inside. They decided to borrow the boat and rod to do some fishing, as Jin Shu had promised Yin��er that she could eat some fish before they entered the ghost village.


    Jin Shu rowed the boat out to the middle of the lake, placed some bait on the hook of the fishing rod, and cast it out into the lake. As they waited for a fish to take the bait, Jin Shu took out the treasure map he had found in the skeleton��s ring and asked Su Bing if she recognized the place depicted on it.


    ��Hmm...? I also don��t recognize this place. It could be somewhere in the south or north?�� she replied.


    ��Hm, well, that��s fine. I��m not too interested in going treasure hunting now anyways,�� he replied indifferently.


    Splash!


    ��Ah!�� Su Bing yelped in surprise as some water splashed on her, thrown up by Yin��er.


    ��Hehe!�� Yin��er giggled in delight.


    ��Hmph!�� Su Bing pouted.


    Splash!


    ��Aah!�� This time it was Yin��er yelping in surprise as Jin Shu tossed some water on her.


    ��Ahaha!�� Su Bing laughed happily, seeing Yin��er being hit with water this time.


    Swoosh!


    A sudden gust of wind blew by the boat. As it did, it lifted Su Bing��s veil. Jin Shu happened to be looking at her as the veil blew up, and he was instantly mesmerized by the beautiful visage underneath.


    Splash! Splash!


    Jin Shu was awoken from his stupor by two splashes of water hitting him.


    ��Ahaha!��


    ��Ehehe!��


    Su Bing and Yin��er laughed simultaneously. They were the culprits behind the sudden water attacks.


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    Splish!


    The fishing rod suddenly tugged; a fish had taken the bait.


    Jin Shu quickly reeled the line in. The tension on the line was heavy��it must be a giant fish.


    ---


    After a fierce fight with the fish, Jin Shu managed to reel it in. He pulled the line out of the water to see his catch... it was about three inches long.


    Splash!


    A giant five-foot-long fish leapt from the water and attempted to grab the little fish in Jin Shu��s hands. He pulled his hand back, and the fish landed inside the boat. Yin��er jumped on it and bit its head.


    ��Ehehehe! Daddy caught a little fish; Yin��er is the better fisher!��


    ---


    Crackle!


    A campfire was crackling by the shore of the lake. A five-foot-long fish was roasting over the fire, along with a pot of rice.


    Jin Shu waved his hand, and a table appeared on the ground in front of himself. He waved his hand a few more times, and bowls and utensils appeared on the table. ��It sure is convenient having a Space Ring,�� he remarked.


    ��Can I see it for a moment?�� asked Su Bing.


    ��Sure, here you go.�� Jin Shu removed the ring from his little finger��it was too small to fit any other finger��and handed it over to Su Bing.


    ��How do I see what��s inside?�� Su Bing asked as she turned the ring around, looking at it from every angle.


    ��You just need to inject a small amount of Qi into the ring, and an image will appear in your mind,�� Jin Shu explained.


    Su Bing injected her Qi into the Space Ring and exclaimed, ��Ah! It��s so magical!��


    ��Let Yin��er see! Big Sister Bing-Bing, let Yin��er see!�� Yin��er begged from the side.


    ��Okay, okay, give me a second.�� Su Bing placed the ring on the table so that Yin��er could see it.


    ��Ooh! So cool! Yin��er wants a Space Ring too! Daddy, get Yin��er a Space Ring, pleeease?�� Yin��er tilted her head cutely and begged.


    ��As soon as I learn to craft Space Rings, I��ll give you both one,�� Jin Shu promised.


    ��Yay! Daddy is the bestest!�� Yin��er cheered happily and flew up to Jin Shu��s cheek to affectionately rub her head against him.


    Su Bing blushed slightly. Although it was hidden under her veil, you could still see her ears turn red. ��Hm, thank you...�� she whispered in embarrassment.


    ---


    ��Stop! One bronze coin to enter per person, and one gold coin for a Demonic Beast.��


    A gate guard stopped Jin Shu and his company from crossing the border between dynasties.


    They had just arrived at the border between the Qi Dynasty and the Zhou Dynasty. The two dynasties would rotate out guards at the border checkpoint every few years and enforce a fee on those crossing.


    Jin Shu handed over the fee, and they crossed the border without any trouble.


    Jin Shu spoke to one of the guards for a moment, then caught up with Su Bing, who was walking ahead. ��The guard said there is a city a few days'' travel from here that has a runic weapons shop. Let��s stop there and see if they know anything about the Concealment Rune.��


    ��Um, thank you!�� Su Bing said with a smile that reached her eyes.


    ---


    ��The runic weaponry store is down that street there.��


    ��OK, thank you, sir.�� Jin Shu thanked the old man he had stopped to ask directions from.


    Then he and Su Bing turned down the street the man had pointed out.


    ---


    ��Welcome to Wild Weaponry! What can I help you find today?�� a shop attendant asked as Jin Shu stepped into the store.


    Jin Shu walked up to the counter and asked, ��Is there a Runesmith here? I have a question about a specific rune.��


    ��Hmm... we do. Hold on a moment while I go and check to see if he wants to speak with you,�� said the attendant.


    The attendant came back a few minutes later, following behind a skinny middle-aged man.


    ��Hm, what question do you have? If it��s about becoming my apprentice, then the answer is no, and you can leave now,�� the skinny man declared with an arrogant tone.


    ��Uh, no, I don��t want to be your apprentice. I have a question about a specific rune. It is called the Concealment Rune. Have you heard of it?��


    The skinny man frowned slightly when he heard the question. ��Why are you asking about that rune?�� he asked cautiously.


    ��We need to find a way to fix a tool with a damaged Concealment Rune,�� Jin Shu explained.


    ��What!? You have something with the Concealment Rune!? Get out! Get out of this shop now!! Wait, no, where did you get the tool from, and what is it exactly!? Answer honestly, or you may not like the outcome!�� The skinny man��s Qi suddenly burst out of his body, causing the weapons on the shelves against the walls to shake. It seems this man was at the Core Forging Realm at least.


    Jin Shu contemplated whether to answer the man or to leave. He decided to answer for now, not because he was afraid of the man, but quite the opposite��the skinny man seemed weaker than the skeleton he fought previously. So he decided that he could get more useful information if he answered the man��s question.


    ��The tool is a mask. It was left to us by our relative,�� Jin Shu answered.


    ��Your relative? And what was this relative��s occupation?�� the skinny man continued asking.


    ��What does their occupation matter?�� Jin Shu asked curiously.


    ��There is only one job that requires a mask with a Concealment Rune. If your relative doesn��t have that job, then they probably stole it or killed for it. In which case, I will take that mask from you. So, what is their occupation?�� the skinny man explained.


    ��They were a righteous assassin. Is that the correct answer?�� Jin Shu responded warily.


    The skinny man thought for a moment before demanding, ��Hmm... alright, show me the mask.��


    Jin Shu waved his hand and pulled the mask out from the Space Ring. Su Bing had asked Jin Shu to put it inside the ring for safekeeping.


    The skinny man��s eyes widened in surprise slightly when he saw the mask appear in Jin Shu��s hand. He didn��t expect the young man before him to be in possession of a Space Ring. Even someone as important as himself, an elder runesmith of the Wild Weaponry chain store, didn��t possess a Space Ring.


    The skinny man reached for the mask; however, Jin Shu pulled his hand back, not allowing the man to grab it. ��You don��t need to touch it. Just tell me if you can fix the rune,�� Jin Shu said calmly.


    ��You!?�� The skinny man shouted in a fluster from missing his grab and embarrassing himself.


    ��So, can you fix it or not?�� Jin Shu asked again.


    The skinny man��s face turned red in anger. He was about to get violent with the insolent young man; however, when he thought of how Jin Shu possessed a rare Space Ring and that mask, he calmed himself down. ��I cannot, and even if I could, I would not.��


    Jin Shu frowned slightly. ��You can��t fix it? But you recognize it, so you must know something about it. Could you tell us what you know?��


    ��I can��t tell you anything. Now please leave,�� the skinny man pointed to the door behind them.


    ��What if I pay you? Will you tell us then?�� Jin Shu asked curiously.


    ��Ahahaha! Pay me? No amount of gold in the world could buy you that information!�� The skinny man burst into uproarious laughter.


    ��What about this?�� Jin Shu produced a Qi Stone from his Space Ring.


    The skinny man stopped laughing, shocked after seeing the Qi Stone. ��I didn��t expect you to have a Qi Stone. But still, no, one Qi Stone is not enough. And I doubt your family sent such a young man out with more than one Qi St��Cough!��


    As the skinny man was talking, Jin Shu pulled another Qi Stone out of the ring, causing the man to choke on his saliva. ��Will this be enough?��


    The ring Jin Shu looted from the skeleton had twenty-eight Qi Stones inside, which is a small fortune for one person to possess. Even the Great Sects, which monopolized most of the Qi Stones, only mined about fifty per year, and that was barely enough for themselves.


    The skinny man visibly struggled, trying to decide whether to take the Qi Stone or steer clear of this dangerous topic. In the end, his greed won out. ��You, get out!�� The skinny man turned to the attendant, who had been silently watching from behind him, to leave.


    ��Yes, sir!�� The attendant quickly left the shop, afraid to lose his job over information that he had no need to hear.


    ��Give me the Qi Stones, and I��ll answer your questions,�� the skinny man said.


    ��Here, let��s start with one, and I��ll pay the other after we get the information.�� Jin Shu handed the man only one stone.


    ��You...! Argh...! Fine!�� The skinny man was going to argue; however, he didn��t want to anger this rich young man. Who knows what kind of power was backing him up.

 14. Righteous Assassins

    "Come, let''s go have a seat in the back." The skinny man walked into the back room, where he had originally come out of earlier.


    Jin Shu and Su Bing followed him. The back room was a workstation for inscribing, with a small lounge area in the corner.


    "What are your names?" the skinny man asked after they all took a seat.


    "It is polite to first introduce yourself, is it not?" Jin Shu countered.


    "You litt��hm, hm. I mean, young people should introduce themselves first to their elders." The skinny man was about to curse but caught himself.


    "Fine, I''m Jin Shu, and she''s Su Bing." Jin Shu conceded, not wanting to argue with the man.


    "Yin''er is Yin''er!" All of a sudden, Yin''er poked her head out of Jin Shu''s robes, where she had been sleeping.


    The skinny man recoiled in shock. "A Silver Sabertoothed Tiger!?"


    Seeing Yin''er''s silver fur, he mistook her for a Mystic Beast, the Silver Sabertoothed Tiger.


    "No, she isn''t a Silver Sabertoothed Tiger. She''s a mutated Winged Tiger." Jin Shu took Linglong''s advice and didn''t let the man know that Yin''er was a special species, instead calling her a mutant.


    "Is that so? Well, she certainly looks like a baby Silver Sabertoothed Tiger. On account of you paying me two Qi Stones, I''ll give you some advice. Don''t let anyone from the Wild Beast Sect see your little pet. Also, avoid any other stores like this one, as they are owned by the Wild Beast Sect." The skinny man wasn''t completely convinced, but he didn''t really care either way. Although he worked for the Wild Beast Sect as a freelance Runesmith and manager of their store in this city, he wasn''t interested in Demonic Beasts like the disciples of the Wild Beast Sect.


    "Anyways, back to the topic at hand, my name is Shou Nanren. You may call me Sir Shou," said the skinny man in a smug tone that made one want to smack him.


    Jin Shu nodded silently.


    Shou Nanren waited for a response for a few seconds. When he didn''t get one, he cleared his throat and continued. "Hm, hm. The Concealment Rune that you would like to know about is an exclusive rune of the Long Family. They are the strongest cultivation family on this continent, and the masters of the Righteous Assassins. The assassins use a special type of mask, like the one you all have."


    Jin Shu asked for clarification. "Where can we find this Long Family? What are the Righteous Assassins? Also, why did you seem afraid when we mentioned the Concealment Rune?"


    "What!? I wasn''t afr��! Well... maybe a little. You wouldn''t understand; you aren''t from the north. In the Northern Region where the Long Family lives, they are seen as a force of righteousness, but also terror. If you cross the Long Family and they deem you ''evil,'' they send the Righteous Assassins after you. And no one survives those assassins." Shou Nanren paused for a moment.


    "As for what the Righteous Assassins are, that is hard to answer. Some people say that they are orphans raised by the Long Family to kill their enemies, and others say that they are a group of brave men and women who battle against the corrupt and evil Demon Worshipers in the south. The only thing that is certain about the Righteous Assassins is that they answer only to the Long Family," Shou Nanren clarified.


    "Do you know if there are any Runesmiths that don''t belong to the Long Family who can fix our mask?" Jin Shu asked without much hope. They would most likely have to go to the Long Family to get the mask fixed, if they would even fix it for them.


    Shou Nanren shook his head in silent denial.


    Jin Shu handed two Qi Stones over to Shou Nanren. "Thank you for the information. Do you mind letting me borrow your workshop for a little while?"


    Shou Nanren looked at the two Qi Stones in bewilderment, then back at Jin Shu. "For a Qi Stone, you could burn the whole place down for all I care."


    Shou Nanren took the Qi Stones and walked away while staring at them with stars in his eyes, as if he was staring at the love of his life.


    Jin Shu looked at Su Bing and asked her, "What are your thoughts on what we just learned?"


    Su Bing didn''t answer; she was looking down at her feet, lost in thought.


    "Su Bing, are you alright?" he asked in concern.


    "Huh? What did you say?" Su Bing looked up from the ground with a confused expression.


    "I was wondering what your thoughts were," Jin Shu reiterated.


    "Um... honestly, I don''t really know what to think. I''m glad I got to know a little more about my father, how he was an actual Righteous Assassin. I always thought that my father was lying to me when he said he was a Righteous Assassin. And due to my grandfather saying how his son was his greatest sorrow, I believed that my father may have been a bad person. However, now that I''m thinking back, my grandfather never said he hated my father; maybe he was just sad that my father lived such a dangerous life. And now we know where to go to fix my father''s mask; however, I have my doubts about whether or not the Long Family will help us." Once she started talking, all of her worries seemed to flood out.


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    "Well, I''m sure if the Long Family really is as righteous as Shou Nanren claimed, then they probably won''t turn us down," Jin Shu tried to reassure Su Bing.


    "Hm." Su Bing nodded weakly.


    "Alright, I''m going to inscribe some runes on my weapon. I want to test something out." Jin Shu walked over to the worktable on the other side of the room. He pulled his pistol out and started to disassemble it.


    "Uh... should I leave?" Su Bing asked cautiously.


    "No, I don''t mind you watching. I doubt you''ll try and steal my inscribing method," Jin Shu replied nonchalantly.


    Jin Shu grabbed the inscribing tool on the worktable and began inscribing Qi Storage Runes on all of the various parts of his gun. There were about fifty-one different parts, so this was going to take him a while.


    ---


    After a few hours of inscribing, Jin Shu''s Qi was running out. With a wave of his hand, a Qi Stone appeared on the table next to him. He placed his left hand on the Qi Stone and began absorbing Qi from it while continuing to inscribe runes.


    He finished the Qi Storage Runes and then began working on inscribing new runes on his bullets. Before he left on this journey, he had created seventy bullets, each inscribed with a Sharpness, Flame, and Wind Rune. He now only had fifty-six left. Previously, he didn''t inscribe a Frost Rune on the bullets for two reasons: firstly, because he didn''t think he needed it��a Frost Rune would freeze and slow those affected by it, and Jin Shu believed that his bullets would transform those he shot with them into metal statues, making the Frost Rune useless. And secondly, because he wanted to save his Qi and time. Now he would have bullets that could both freeze and burn those he shot with them.


    ---


    Jin Shu had to use two Qi Stones before he was done inscribing the runes. After he absorbed all of the Qi from the second stone, he was surprised to notice that the Qi in his core was nearly completely full. This meant he could break through to the next stage very soon.


    He started to reassemble his gun when Su Bing spoke up from the side. "I''ve been meaning to ask, what is this strange weapon you use? I''ve never seen anything else like it before."


    "This is my own unique weapon. As far as I know, there is no second one in existence. I call it an M1911. It uses these cartridges, called bullets, and fires them when I pull this trigger. It''s kind of like a crossbow, except much more powerful." Jin Shu explained how the pistol functioned in a very brief way.


    "Hmm...? You want to be an assassin, don''t you?" he asked Su Bing, as she had previously said she liked his comments about her possibly being a great assassin.


    "Well... I wouldn''t say I want to be an assassin exactly, but I would like to be like my father, an assassin who fights against evil," Su Bing answered hesitantly.


    Jin Shu pointed to the gun on the table and said, "I can''t do it right now, but I could make you a weapon like this one, except silent. That would be useful for an assassin. At least, I think I can. I''ve yet to try inscribing a Silence Rune onto a bullet. I can also teach you a few stealth techniques." Although Jin Shu wasn''t a trained assassin, he was a special forces soldier in his past life, and he had participated in a couple of covert operations in his military career.


    "You will make me a weapon and train me!? Why would you make such a great effort for me?" Su Bing exclaimed in confusion, with a little excitement in her voice.


    Jin Shu gave her a brutal explanation. "Yeah, if I''m being brutally honest, you''ve been relatively useless so far, although I''m glad for your company. However, if I give you a little training and make you a powerful weapon, you could become a great assistant for me."


    "Ah... I''m sorry for being useless..." she said with a very sad, almost crying tone.


    "It''s not your fault. You just haven''t been able to show the things you are good at yet," he reassured her.


    "Anyways, now that we are done here, we can go to a blacksmithing shop, and I can borrow their forge to create a few new weapons." Jin Shu got up to leave, now that he was finished with his runesmithing.


    Jin Shu and Su Bing walked out of the back room to see Shou Nanren sitting at the counter, gently wiping the surface of the Qi Stones with a bit of polish.


    "Shou Nanren, I''m taking an inscribing tool. The extra Qi Stone I gave you should cover the cost," Jin Shu declared as he and Su Bing walked out of the shop.


    ---


    Jin Shu and company walked into a blacksmith''s forge. The blacksmith''s assistant behind the counter welcomed them.


    "Welcome to Zu City Forge. What can I do for you today?"


    "I would like to rent your forge," Jin Shu told the assistant.


    "Um...? Hold on while I check with the owner." The assistant turned and walked into the back where the forge was located.


    The assistant came back about five minutes later with a tall, tan-skinned man, who was wearing a blacksmith''s apron. "I''ve heard you want to rent our forge? How long do you want to rent it for?" the tan-skinned man asked.


    "I would like to rent it for half a day. I will pay you fifty gold coins." Jin Shu said while placing a bag of gold coins on the counter.


    "Haha! I like the way you do business, young man. Okay, the forge is yours for half a day." The tan-skinned man laughed and grabbed the bag of coins off the counter.


    ---


    Jin Shu had decided that he needed more weapons after nearly dying to the skeleton. Before encountering that skeleton, he had underestimated this world, thinking that he could roam unabated. He didn''t think that anything could survive when faced with his gun and the special bullets he had crafted for it. He also realized that he had no weapon that wasn''t lethal, and he didn''t want to have to kill everyone who slighted him, like some murderous lunatic.


    He started with creating a non-lethal weapon��a baseball bat. He inscribed on it a Weight Increase Rune, Frost Rune, and Wind Rune.


    Next, he was going to create something special that he had gotten the idea for recently while thinking about how his Living Metal bullets worked. Normally, when a gun fires a bullet, the bullet casing is ejected. Jin Shu had overlooked this fact when he created the bullets for his gun. With the way his bullets were made, with an Explosion Rune, the bullet casing should have exploded, in which case it would stop the gun from functioning. However, the casing didn''t explode; it ejected properly.

 15. New Weapons

    The weapon that Jin Shu was about to create would be a special type of riot gun. A riot gun is typically a less-than-lethal weapon designed to deter rioters; however, his would be a combination of lethal and less-than-lethal rounds. The design for Jin Shu''s riot gun would be based on an FN 303. In his past life, the FN 303 was designed to recognize faces so that the weapon could not be fired at a human head. However, Jin Shu had no way to add that feature, nor did he want to.


    Jin Shu was thinking about how he would go about creating a riot gun. ''A riot gun needs compressed air to fire a round of ammunition. I wonder if I use the Living Metal to layer a Wind Rune and an Explosion Rune, if I could create a compressed air explosion? If not, I could create a spring-loaded mechanism.''


    He started by making a simple tube with a Wind Rune and an Explosion Rune layered on top of one another. Then he fit a round ball snugly inside the tube and activated the runes.


    Bang!


    Thud!


    "That worked better than I thought it would," Jin Shu commented.


    "What is the point of these weapons?" Su Bing couldn''t help asking as she witnessed Jin Shu creating these strange weapons. Although she understood the one that looked like a strange club, she didn''t know why Jin Shu crafted it.


    "The one I created earlier is a baseball bat. I made it as I figured I might need a non-lethal weapon. The current weapon I have can really only be used to severely wound or kill people, and I don''t want to go around killing everyone. As for the weapon I''m creating now, there isn''t really much point in making it; I kinda just wanted to experiment with some ideas I''ve had recently," Jin Shu explained while tinkering with the pieces for his new riot gun.


    "Okay, I''m going to craft a few more things. I''ll be back soon." Jin Shu waved to Su Bing and went back into the forge room. He didn''t let Su Bing into the forge room as she could get hurt by the heat inside��or at least that was the excuse he gave her. Really, he didn''t want her to see him using his blood as a crafting material.


    He finished making the frame and firing mechanism for his riot gun. Then he began working on the ammunition. The ammo he was crafting was going to be of two types. The first type was a less-than-lethal round. These would be made by using a semi-sphere shaped round. He would then inscribe it with a Weight Reduction Rune and a Frost Rune. The second type would be a lethal round. These rounds would be in the shape of a ball and would consist of two different rounds: one would have a dormant Explosion Rune layered with a Flame Rune, and the other would have a Qi Circulation Rune and a Wind Rune.


    The reason for this strange combination of runes was an experiment that Jin Shu wanted to conduct. He wanted to see if a couple of ideas would work in practice. To start with, he wanted to see if he could layer an active rune with a dormant one. If that worked, he wanted to see if he could create a sort of pseudo-grenade.


    Jin Shu started by making the less-than-lethal rounds, then he moved on to the lethal rounds. "I really hope this works; I don''t want to blow my hands off... again."


    He inscribed a dormant Explosion Rune, then he waited for the Living Metal to absorb the rune and inscribed a Flame Rune where the Explosion Rune was previously. "It didn''t explode in my hands after inscribing both runes, so it should have worked. Now I just need to test it with the other round."


    The next runes were easier: just a Qi Circulation Rune and a Wind Rune. This round was made to be fired immediately after the first round, striking the first round fired in the air, creating an explosion.


    Jin Shu, done with the riot gun, began working on a weapon for Su Bing. So far in their journey, Su Bing hadn''t been able to be much help; however, if he created her an easy-to-use weapon, she could contribute more. He decided to make her two weapons. One would be an expandable baton, like a police baton. This would serve as an easily hidable melee weapon to be used in self-defense. He used the same rune combination as his bat. The other weapon would be her main weapon. It was a Scorpion Evo 3 S1 pistol with an IA-SC9 integral silencer. Although the silencer wasn''t needed, it looked cool, and that''s all that really matters.


    The runes on the bullets for her gun were Silence, Wind, and Sharpness Runes.


    Before he was done inscribing the bullets for Su Bing''s gun, he had to absorb Qi from a Qi Stone, which caused him to break through to the 2nd stage of the Core Forging Realm. He could have been at the 3rd or 4th stage if he was dedicated to cultivating, but for now, he was focusing on their journey.


    He placed the new weapons in his Space Ring and stepped out of the forge.


    This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.Outside in a courtyard beside the forge room, Yin''er was laying curled up like a ball on a table, sleeping in the sunlight. Su Bing was sitting in a chair at the table with her head resting in her arms on the table, also sleeping.


    Seeing them asleep, Jin Shu decided to test out the new silenced weapon, so he could tell how loud it was with the Silence Rune.


    Jin Shu pulled the Scorpion pistol out of his Space Ring. He chambered one round, aimed at the ground on the other side of the courtyard��about twenty yards away��and pulled the trigger.


    Psh!


    Tink!


    There was no loud bang, just the sound of air escaping the barrel of the pistol and the sound of the bullet hitting the ground. It was so quiet that the two sleepers didn''t even stir in their sleep. The Silence Rune worked like the silencers you see in movies, where the gunshots make virtually no sound at all, unlike silencers in real life which serve to suppress the sound of the gunshots. They still make a bang, just not as loud as an unsilenced gunshot.


    He still had another hour or so on their rented time. He sat down at the table the other two were sleeping on and began to daydream. ''I haven''t really stopped to think about this life yet. I wonder why I awoke memories of my previous life...? Maybe there is no reason... What should I do after this journey is over? I think I''d like to travel this world. I never got a chance to travel the world in my last life. Although I visited a lot of places, I was always fighting and never got a chance to take in the sights. I''ll spend some time with my family first before I travel. I never had a family in my last life. I quite like the feeling having a family gives. Maybe I''ll even sta��''


    Knock! Knock! Knock!


    Jin Shu''s daydreaming was interrupted by a loud knocking at the door to the blacksmith''s shop.


    "Open up!" came a shout from outside.


    "Yin''er wants twenty more steaks!" Yin''er, still half asleep, woke up with a shout because of the noise.


    Su Bing woke up as well, but less violently than Yin''er. "What''s happening?" she asked while rubbing the sleep from her eyes.


    Jin Shu stood up and started walking to the storefront. "I''m not sure. Wait here while I check."


    Bang! Bang! Bang!


    As Jin Shu was walking to the front of the blacksmith''s shop from the forge in the backyard, the knocking had transitioned into banging.


    "Open this damn door now, or I''ll break it down!" The shouting had grown louder as well.


    Jin Shu made it to the door as the shout ended. He opened the door to see two young men in black robes that had a snarling lion design embroidered on the front chest area.


    "Finally, you decided to open up! My throat was about to break from shouting! That''s going to cost you extra. Alright, now pay up!" the young man on the right said aggressively.


    Jin Shu looked at the young man in confusion. "Pay what up? This isn''t my shop; I''ve only rented it for a few hours."


    "You must be new here. I don''t care if you rented or bought the shop; if you''re in the building, then you owe us a protection fee!" the young man shouted angrily.


    "I''m about to leave the shop now. If you want to charge someone, go find the shop''s owner." Jin Shu declined to pay the young men.


    "You bastard! How dare you refuse to pay!? Do you know who we are!?" The young man shouted, so angry that his face began to turn red.


    "I have no idea who you are, nor do I care," Jin Shu ignored the young man''s outburst and started to close the door.


    The young man on the left lunged toward Jin Shu while throwing a punch. "How dare you ignore us, disciples of the Wild Beast Sect!" the young man shouted.


    Jin Shu let the punch land on his chest. He wasn''t worried that he would get hurt based on the lack of Qi he felt in the punch.


    Clank!


    A sound like metal being struck resounded in the blacksmith''s lobby.


    "Aargh! My hand! This damn bastard is wearing some kind of armor!" The young man who punched Jin Shu held his hand and screamed in pain.


    The young man on the right, seeing his friend injured, pulled out a sword and pointed it at Jin Shu. "You bastard, you''ve injured a disciple of the Wild Beast Sect!"


    "I suggest you put that sword down if you don''t want to get hurt," Jin Shu warned him and pulled his new bat out of his ring.


    The young man with the sword didn''t see the bat come out of the ring; if he had, he would have been terrified. Only incredibly rich cultivators could own a Space Ring, and rich cultivators had lots of resources, so they were generally very powerful.


    "Now you are threatening us! You''re done for!" The young man swung his sword at Jin Shu''s arm, intending to cut it off in retaliation for injuring his friend.


    Clank!


    Jin Shu blocked the sword with his bat, then swung it at the young man''s right shoulder while activating the Weight Increase Rune.


    Thunk!


    Clink!


    "Argh!! My arm!" The young man dropped his sword and clutched his now-dislocated right shoulder.


    "You bastard! I''ll kill you!" The other young man yelled and charged, throwing another punch at Jin Shu.


    Jin Shu stepped to the side, avoiding the charging young man, and swung the bat upward at the young man''s chin. He deactivated the Weight Increase Rune so as not to knock the young man''s head off.


    Clunk!


    Thud!


    The charging young man was knocked unconscious by the hit to the chin, falling backward to the ground.


    "Fuck!" The other young man, who had drawn his sword earlier, cursed, seeing his friend get knocked out.


    Jin Shu took a step toward him. "D-don''t come any closer!" the young man yelled nervously.


    Jin Shu stopped a foot away from him. "Take your friend and leave," he said to the young man.


    "Y-yes sir!" The young man agreed and then struggled to pick his unconscious friend up with only one usable arm.


    Jin Shu stepped back into the blacksmith''s shop and continued into the backyard.


    Su Bing, seeing him come back, asked, "I heard a lot of shouting. Is everything okay?"


    "Everything is fine. I just taught some ne''er-do-wells a lesson. Our time here is up; let''s go find an inn to stay the night at," Jin Shu replied, unperturbed by the incident.


    "Okay," Su Bing replied.


    "Yin''er is hungry," said Yin''er as she landed on Jin Shu''s shoulder.


    "Okay, let''s g��" Jin Shu was just getting ready to leave when a loud shout came from outside again.


    "BASTARD! GET OUT HERE!!"

 16. Blunt Trauma

    "BASTARD! GET OUT HERE!!"


    "Haa... looks like they brought back up." Jin Shu was hoping they would just leave well enough alone.


    Crash!


    A loud sound came from the front of the shop, soon followed by the sounds of hurried footsteps. A moment later, eleven young men came rushing into the backyard. Two of the young men Jin Shu recognized as the two Wild Beast Sect disciples he beat up earlier.


    "Are you the one who be��" One of the young men, who looked like their leader as he was wearing a different robe than the others��his robe had embroidery of two battling tigers��began asking something. Jin Shu interrupted him.


    "Hold on, didn''t you ask me to come out just a second ago?" Jin Shu asked curiously.


    "Uh... I... uh... I did." The leader, with an embarrassed look on his face, stammered out a reply.


    "So then why did you all rush in here?" Jin Shu asked further.


    "Because w�� wait!? We are here to give you a beating for hurting our friends, not to have a conversation!" The leader shouted, with fury spreading on his face.


    "Just one more question. Aren''t you from the Wild Beast Sect? Why don''t any of you have a beast? Are you not beast tamers?" Jin Shu had been wondering since he beat the first two, why they didn''t have beasts.


    "That was two questions," the leader said in annoyance.


    "It was a compound question," Jin Shu countered.


    "No, it w��aah! Stop distracting me!" The leader screamed. Jin Shu wondered if this young man had ADHD, as he was distracted quite easily.


    "What the hell have all of you been standing around for!? Go get him!" The leader ordered the other eight young men to charge.


    All the young men looked around, waiting for someone to start the charge. None of them wanted to be the first, as they heard from the first two how strong the young man they were ordered to attack was.


    ��Didn��t you hear Senior Brother Yu!? Go get him! But watch out for his club, it��s very heavy,�� said the young man whose shoulder Jin Shu had dislocated.


    The eight Wild Beast Sect disciples stopped hesitating and began to dash across the blacksmith��s backyard.


    Jin Shu pulled out his new FN 303 riot gun from his Space Ring. He aimed at the leg of one of the disciples who was running a little ahead of the rest.


    Bang!


    Crack!


    Thud!


    ��Aaaaah!!!�� The young man fell as the less-than-lethal round hit his knee, likely breaking it by the sound of the cracking that was heard when the round struck him.


    ��Oooh yikes! Sorry about that. This is my first time using this gun; I forgot to activate the Weight Reduction Rune.�� Jin Shu apologized as he infused the weapon with his Qi to activate the runes.


    ��Daddy, why is his leg backward?�� Yin��er asked from Jin Shu��s shoulder.


    ��Uh...? I think I accidentally broke his leg?�� Jin Shu answered uncertainly.


    The rest of the charging disciples stopped in their tracks when they saw their friend suddenly collapse with a broken leg.


    ��Uh... Senior Brother Yu, what do we do?�� One of the disciples turned back and asked their leader, Senior Brother Yu.


    ��Uh... I don��t know? Just charge all together; he can��t get you all,�� Senior Brother Yu said uncertainly.


    They all looked at each other awkwardly.


    ��...��


    ��You go,�� one said to another.


    ��No, you go,�� the other said to the first.


    ��Let��s just all go,�� said a third.


    ��Ah, screw it!�� One of the disciples yelled and started running towards Jin Shu.


    Jin Shu aimed at his chest, this time making sure to activate the runes on the rounds.


    Bang!


    Thunk!


    This shot hit the charging disciple and bounced harmlessly off his chest, while slowly starting to spread ice across his chest due to the frost rune.


    ��Hahaha! This is nothing!�� he shouted joyously.


    ��That one was too light. Here, try this one.�� Jin Shu had reduced the weight too much, so he added more Qi and fired another shot.


    Bang!


    Pow!


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    ��Uuuuh!!�� Another shot hit the disciple in the stomach, causing him to keel over while clutching his stomach.


    ��That seems better,�� Jin Shu commented calmly.


    ��Why is there smelly stuff coming from that guy��s mouth?�� Yin��er asked, as the disciple threw up his lunch.


    ��What the hell is that strange weapon!?�� one of the disciples asked in fear.


    ��It looks like he can only use it once at a time. Let��s all go together; that way only one of us can get hit, and the rest of us can beat him,�� another disciple explained to the others logically.


    ��Yeah, that makes sense. Let��s do it!�� One of them shouted, while secretly taking a step back so that he wouldn��t be at the front of the group.


    The remaining six rushed forward with a shout. ��Aaaaah!��


    What they didn��t realize was that Jin Shu��s riot gun was semiautomatic and had a fifteen-round drum mag.


    Bang! Bang! Bang!


    Jin Shu fired off three shots in quick succession, knocking down the three disciples in the front of the group. They fell over, clutching at the various body parts where they had been struck by a round. One of the three in the back fell over one of the ones who had been shot and hit his head on the ground, thus knocking himself out. Or at least that��s what he wanted people to think��really, he faked his fall so he wouldn��t get shot.


    ��Are you two going to come over?�� Jin Shu asked the last two. They were only about nine feet away; they could probably make it to him if they kept going.


    The last two looked at each other. Seeing the fear in each other��s expressions, they both quickly turned and ran as fast as they could muster.


    ��Where are you going!?�� Their Senior Brother Yu shouted as they ran out of the backyard.


    Jin Shu put his riot gun back into his ring and pulled out his bat. He slowly walked towards the one they called Senior Brother Yu, stepping over the disciples on the ground.


    Seeing him walking towards them, the two original disciples that Jin Shu beat both passed out from fear. The one called Senior Brother Yu backed away as Jin Shu stepped closer. Each step Jin Shu took forward, Senior Brother Yu took one backward, until his back touched the wall of the courtyard.


    ��D-d-d-don��t c-come a-any cl-closer!�� Senior Brother Yu stuttered due to fear.


    ��P-please don��t hit me. I only wanted to teach you a lesson on account of my friends�� injuries. If I knew you were so strong, I never would have come here,�� he tried explaining.


    Jin Shu stopped a few steps away and asked, ��Would you like to answer my questions now? Or do you prefer I smack some sense into you first?��


    ��I-I��ll answer anything you want to know,�� Senior Brother Yu answered frantically.


    ��You can start out by answering my earlier question. Why don��t you all have beast companions?�� Jin Shu was curious, since everyone kept saying that Wild Beast Sect disciples were beast tamers.


    ��The others are only in the Body Refining Realm, so they are all outer sect disciples and must first learn to take care of wild beasts and advance to the Qi Gathering Realm before they can get a beast. As for myself, I��ve just broken through to the 1st stage of the Qi Gathering Realm and have yet to receive my beast companion,�� Senior Brother Yu explained how the Wild Beast Sect worked to Jin Shu.


    ��Next question: Is it true that Wild Beast Sect disciples pit their beast companions against one another?�� Jin Shu asked the next thing he was curious about.


    ��Um...? Some do and some do not. There are some disciples that enjoy raising different beasts, and there are some who like to use beasts as weapons. Ah, I��m part of the first group. I��ve liked raising animals since I was a little kid. That��s why I joined the Wild Beast Sect, so that I could raise various Demonic Beasts,�� Senior Brother Yu answered as honestly as he could.


    ��Um... sir? Can I get my friends to a doctor? I��m worried about the one whose leg y�� I mean, the one with a broken leg,�� Senior Brother Yu asked, while glancing behind Jin Shu at his friends collapsed, groaning on the ground.


    ��Sure, but before you go, let me ask one last thing. Are you going to bring back more disciples or even your elders to besiege me later?�� Jin Shu figured that after he let these disciples go, an elder from their sect would come, and after defeating that elder, another more powerful elder would come until he defeated the entire Wild Beast Sect.


    ��Uh...? No...? Why would our elders come out for a dispute between the younger generation? They would become a laughingstock for the entire world. As for bringing more disciples, there��s no point. I feel like no matter who I brought, you would still destroy them regardless of how powerful they are,�� Senior Brother Yu answered honestly, a little confused about why this scary young man would ask about their elders coming after him.


    ��Um... can I ask what your cultivation level is?�� Senior Brother Yu asked, curious about how strong the young man who took out so many of his friends was.


    ��I��m at the 2nd stage of the Core Forging Realm,�� Jin Shu answered honestly, since this Senior Brother Yu didn��t seem like a bad person��just that his friends got him into trouble. That reminded Jin Shu about the first two disciples asking for protection fees, so he thought to ask this young man about it.


    "I just remembered, your friends over there were asking for protection fees. What''s that about?"


    Senior Brother Yu was first stunned by Jin Shu''s cultivation level. By the looks of it, the scary young man wasn''t any older than him, possibly even younger. Then, when he heard Jin Shu''s question, he became furious.


    "They did what!? Those bastards! If I had known about that, I would have beaten them myself! Cultivators aren''t allowed to oppress mortals. Once we get back to our sect, I''ll have them sent to the discipline hall to be punished," Senior Brother Yu promised.


    "Alright, go take care of your friends. Also, make sure never to abuse your beast companions in the future." Jin Shu allowed the young man to go, giving him a friendly reminder.


    "If you hurt your beast companions, Big Sister Linglong will crush your balls!" Yin''er shouted from Jin Shu''s shoulder.


    "Daddy, what are balls?" she asked Jin Shu curiously.


    "They are a man''s most precious thing," Jin Shu answered.


    "Oh, Daddy is Yin''er''s most precious thing!" Yin''er responded.


    Jin Shu gave her head a pat. "Thank you, Yin''er. You are very precious to me too."


    Hearing the strange shout, the young man turned around and noticed Yin''er for the first time. When he first arrived, he was too angry to notice her, and he was too scared earlier. Now that he noticed the cute little silver tiger on the scary young man''s shoulder, he was starstruck. That was the cutest little tiger he had ever seen.


    "Sir, what is that cute little tiger on your shoulder?" Senior Brother Yu asked.


    Hearing someone call her cute, Yin''er puffed her chest out and stood up proudly.


    "This is Yin''er. She is a Winged Tiger. Alright, take your friends and leave now. You can have your friend pretending to be knocked out help you," Jin Shu answered while turning around and walking to the table he was sitting at earlier. He left a bag of gold coins on the table for the blacksmith to pay for the damage to the front door.


    "Is it okay to just let them go like that?" Su Bing whispered to Jin Shu.


    "It''s fine. I''m not too worried that they''ll come back after the beating they just received, and even if they do, I''ll just beat them again," Jin Shu answered, unconcerned about the disciples coming back for revenge.


    "Anyway, let''s leave and find a place to stay the night," Jin Shu said as he walked away.


    ---


    Senior Brother Yu and the disciple who was pretending to be knocked out helped their friends into the doctor''s office. Senior Brother Yu had to carry the disciple with the broken leg on his back.


    "Doctor, please help my friends," Senior Brother Yu asked the doctor politely.


    The doctor looked the seven injured young men over. "Hmm... it seems they were all struck with some kind of heavy spherical object and have suffered varying degrees of blunt force trauma. This one here has a broken kneecap; he may walk with a limp from now on."

 17. Teaching Su Bing - Gun Safety

    A day after the incident with the Wild Beast Sect disciples, Jin Shu and company were back to traveling. Jin Shu was going to teach Su Bing how to use the weapons he had created for her yesterday, but first, they had to go somewhere where there weren''t any people around, as he didn''t want to accidentally hurt or kill an innocent person.


    As they walked through a mountainous path, they came upon a clearing between the mountains. Jin Shu looked around the area to ensure there were no people around. "I''m going to teach you how to use your new weapons here. Let''s start with this." Jin Shu took the expandable baton out from inside his ring.


    "This is a baton. It can expand and retract to be hidden. It has a Weight Increase Rune, Frost Rune, and Wind Rune inscribed onto it. It is used like so: when the baton is retracted, if you swing it downwards��or really any direction you''d like��the baton will expand. This weapon is designed to be non-lethal; however, if you use the Weight Increase Rune and deliver a well-placed strike to the head, it could be used to kill or seriously injure someone." Jin Shu explained to Su Bing how to use the baton, then handed it over to her.


    "Thank you, Jin Shu. I will use it well," Su Bing said gratefully.


    "Okay, don''t get too excited with just that. The main attraction is coming up next." Jin Shu said as he took out the pistol he had crafted for her.


    "This here is the CZ Scorpion Evo 3+ pistol with an IA-SC9 integral silencer, but we''ll just call it the Scorpion. This weapon is silent yet extremely deadly, much like a scorpion''s stinger. However, before I allow you to use this weapon, you must go through some basic weapons training. This weapon is extremely dangerous, especially in the hands of someone untrained." Jin Shu described the weapon he had created for her proudly. This was honestly one of Jin Shu''s favorite weapons, so he was quite excited to teach her about it.


    Jin Shu summoned a table from his Space Ring and set the Scorpion down on it. He also summoned a magazine and a spare bullet. He then began teaching Su Bing gun safety.


    "The first and most important rule of gun safety is: Always Treat A Gun Like It''s Loaded!" Jin Shu placed emphasis on each word to make sure the point got across.


    "That may not make sense to you yet, though it will later in the lesson. Next, I will teach you about the various features of a gun." Jin Shu motioned for Su Bing to come closer to the table.


    Jin Shu picked the spare bullet off the table. "This is a bullet. The bullet is a projectile that is fired from the gun, like how a bow fires an arrow."


    He placed the bullet down and picked up the magazine. "This is called a magazine, or mag for short. It is used to hold bullets, so that you do not have to reload your weapon one bullet at a time. This mag holds twenty bullets."


    Next, he picked up the Scorpion. "This is the gun itself. It has various important features. We''ll start with the magazine well. This is where the mag is to be inserted into the weapon. To unload a mag, press this paddle forward and pull the mag out. Next is the trigger. When a bullet has been loaded��we''ll go over how to do that later��if you squeeze this trigger, a bullet will be fired out of the gun. Here, try squeezing the trigger." Jin Shu handed the gun to Su Bing.


    Su Bing took hold of the Scorpion and tried pulling the trigger; however, it felt like the trigger was stuck. Jin Shu shook his head in disappointment.


    "Wrong! You''ve already forgotten the first rule! Always! Treat! A! Gun! Like! It''s! Loaded! Look where you are pointing the gun!" Jin Shu yelled at Su Bing in a stern tone. She had forgotten the most important rule and was pointing the gun down towards her feet.


    "But you told me to!" Su Bing complained.


    "If I told you to jump off a cliff, would you? No, you wouldn''t because you would be afraid. Well, you should be afraid of that weapon in your hands as well. That weapon is much more deadly than falling off a cliff. With a single pull of that trigger, someone can be killed." Jin Shu expressed the danger of a gun to Su Bing.


    "Alright, give me the gun back. There are a few more lessons you still need to learn before you can actually handle a gun." Jin Shu took the Scorpion back and began the next lesson.


    "You may have noticed that when you tried to pull the trigger a moment ago, it felt like it was stuck. That is because of the trigger safety. The safety is located on either side of the trigger and is color-coded. White indicates that the safety is engaged. To disengage the safety, flip this switch here to red. Red indicates that the weapon can be fired." Jin Shu demonstrated how to use the gun''s safety.


    "The second important rule of gun safety is: Always Keep The Muzzle Pointed In A Safe Direction! That leads me to the next feature of a gun. This here below the handguard is the barrel of the gun. The opening at the end is called a muzzle. This is where the bullet is ejected from when you pull the trigger." He again placed emphasis on the second rule of gun safety and further clarified another important feature of the gun.


    "Next, I''ll teach you how to load the weapon. First, take a magazine and insert it into the magazine well here. For this demonstration, I''ll be using an empty magazine. After the magazine has been properly loaded, you''ll hear a clicking noise. This indicates that the magazine is in its proper place. Then, pull this charging handle backward and lock it in an upward position. If you turn the weapon over, you can see that this slide has opened. This allows you to see inside the chamber so that you can check to see if a bullet is already loaded. Slap the charging handle down to load a bullet into the chamber." He gave her a demonstration on how to properly load the weapon.


    Stolen novel; please report.


    Jin Shu took the magazine back out of the gun and placed both onto the table. "Here, you can practice what I taught you."


    Su Bing cautiously stepped up to the table and asked, "This isn''t another trick, is it?"


    "Ahaha! No, it''s not a trick. Just remember what I''ve taught you so far and practice handling the gun." Jin Shu chuckled while reassuring her that he wasn''t trying to trick her again.


    Su Bing fiddled with the Scorpion for a short while until she was comfortable with it.


    "Let''s practice properly aiming the weapon next. This is a proper shooting stance to be in while aiming a gun. Feet shoulder-width apart, dominant foot placed slightly backward, dominant hand on the grip near the trigger, and this depends on the weapon, however, in this case, the other hand is placed on the handguard at the front of the gun. Now that you know the proper stance, it''s time to aim the gun at a target." Jin Shu gave Su Bing a demonstration on how to properly hold the weapon in a shooting stance.


    He walked over to a mountain wall about fifty yards from where he had placed the table and set down some improvised targets he had made before they left the city yesterday. They were made from a wooden stand with a piece of cloth painted with a target.


    "This here is the sight of the gun. You look through this circle at the back and line up the place you want to shoot with the tip of the front sight." Jin Shu showed Su Bing how to properly use the iron sights on the gun. Unfortunately, right now, Jin Shu had no way to make a modern scope for his weapons and had to use the default iron sights. This was no problem for Jin Shu; however, it could prove difficult for a beginner.


    "Come here and try holding the weapon in a proper stance and aim at the center of the target I set up," he called Su Bing over.


    Su Bing took the Scorpion from him and attempted to get into a proper stance.


    "Alright, that''s a good start. Push your body into the stock, place your cheek here to get a better look through the sight. Pull the gun back into your shoulder. When you fire the gun, there will be recoil, and you need to pull the gun backward to compensate for it." Jin Shu gave her a few more detailed instructions.


    "Okay, I''ll now show you how to actually fire the Scorpion." He took the gun back from her and loaded a magazine into the gun.


    Chic! Chik!


    Jin Shu inserted the magazine, pulled the charging handle back, and slapped it down, loading a bullet into the chamber. "Do you see how I held the gun when I loaded it? You should hold the weapon with your dominant hand and use your other hand to reload and unload the weapon." Jin Shu explained further how to properly handle reloading the weapon.


    "There are a few more rules I haven''t taught you yet, the first of which is: You Should Keep Your Finger Off The Trigger Until You Are Ready To Fire. The second is: To Check What Is In Front And Behind The Target You Are Shooting At." Jin Shu told Su Bing the last rules on gun safety, then got ready to show her how to fire the gun.


    "Now, can you tell me what I have to do before I can fire this weapon?" Jin Shu quizzed Su Bing.


    "Um...? You have to...? Uh...? Pull the trigger?" Su Bing answered uncertainly.


    Jin Shu shook his head. "I said ''before'' I fire the weapon, not ''how'' do I fire the weapon. Try again."


    Su Bing hesitated for a moment. "...Oh! Turn the safety off!" She shouted excitedly, having remembered.


    "Right, now what do I do?" Jin Shu continued his quizzing.


    "Umm... now is when you pul��ah! No, you check the target...?" She said with much confidence.


    "Actually, that wasn''t the answer I was looking for, but it is a good answer and effectively serves the same purpose. The answer I was looking for was: aim the gun at the target." Jin Shu commended her for her answer.


    "Now, what comes next?" he asked.


    "N-now you pull the trigger?" she hesitated slightly and asked.


    "Yes, now I can pull the trigger, except there''s one more thing you have to know. You do not pull the trigger of a gun; you squeeze the trigger until the gun fires. The reason being that by squeezing the trigger of the gun, you apply steady pressure to both sides of the trigger. If you pull the trigger, you will decrease your accuracy." Jin Shu gave her one last tidbit of information.


    "Alright, now let''s put all of that information together and see what it looks like, shall we? First, load the weapon. Next, load a round. Third, get into a shooting stance. Fourth, aim the weapon at the target. Lastly, turn the safety off, place your finger on the trigger, and squeeze." Jin Shu gave a play-by-play of each action he was taking.


    Psh!


    Tink!


    The bullet struck the target dead center. The gun was so quiet that if you didn''t pay attention, you would just think it was the sound of the wind.


    "It''s your turn now, however, you will be using an empty magazine to start out with." Jin Shu unloaded the gun, making sure to clear the chamber before handing it to Su Bing.


    Su Bing took the weapon and practiced loading, unloading, and dry-firing the weapon at the targets.


    After a few moments, when Jin Shu deemed Su Bing competent enough, he allowed her to use live ammunition. "That��s enough practice, let''s move on to live firing the weapon."


    Su Bing loaded a magazine with live ammunition into the gun. First, she loaded a round into the chamber, next she aimed at the target, and lastly, she fired.


    Psh!


    Tink!


    She succeeded in hitting the target; unfortunately, she didn''t hit the bullseye, which she was aiming for.


    "...I missed," she said sadly.


    "That was really good for your first time." Jin Shu encouraged her.


    "Did you miss on your first time?" she asked curiously.


    "...uh, no, I hit the bullseye," he replied truthfully.


    "Oh," she whispered in a dejected tone.


    "It''s okay, just continue practicing. You will get better over time." Jin Shu re-encouraged her.


    "Okay, I''m going to keep trying." Su Bing regained her mood and continued practicing.


    Psh!


    Tink!


    "Dang it!" She missed the bullseye again.


    ---


    Su Bing practiced until it was dark, so they decided to make camp in the mountain clearing.


    "You did really well today. Tomorrow I will teach you some basic stealth techniques," Jin Shu told Su Bing as they sat down to eat their dinner.


    "Um!" Su Bing nodded happily as she ate her dinner.


    Tomorrow was going to be another busy day of training.

 18. Teaching Su Bing - Stealth Techniques

    "It''s time to learn stealth techniques." Jin Shu had woken Su Bing up in the middle of the night.


    "...uh, what?" Su Bing asked groggily.


    "Get up; it''s time to learn." Jin Shu urged her.


    "What time is it? Why are you waking me up so early?" Su Bing continued asking.


    "It''s a little past midnight; now is the best time to train your stealth abilities. If you can achieve stealth while still half asleep, you can do it perfectly while fully awake." Jin Shu explained his reasoning. This was in no way scientific; it was just his own opinion.


    "Follow me." Jin Shu commanded her.


    Su Bing stood up, unsteady on her feet due to still being half asleep.


    Jin Shu stopped in the woods a short distance from where they made camp. He handed Su Bing a bowl of some suspicious-looking black substance with bits of what looked like crushed leaves. "Put this on your face." He said as he placed his hands in the bowl and rubbed the substance on his own face, it caused his face to become black with some hints of brown and green.


    "Ugh... what is this?" Su Bing asked with a hint of disgust as she looked at the suspicious substance.


    "It is part of your first stealth lesson, camouflage." Jin Shu answered.


    Su Bing hesitated before placing her hand into the bowl. "...ew!" She recoiled when she felt the wet and sticky substance touch her fingers.


    "Do I really have to put this on my face?" She asked suspiciously.


    "Do you want to learn, or not?" Jin Shu countered.


    "Uh, I want to learn, but do I need to put this icky stuff on my face to become stealthy? Can''t I just wear my veil to cover my face?" Su Bing asked doubtfully.


    "You could wear a mask or veil. However, this is part of the lesson." Jin Shu told her truthfully.


    "Uuh...... fine." Su Bing agreed after a long bout of hesitation.


    "Ew! Ugh! What is this stuff? Why is it so sticky?" She asked as she reluctantly put the strange sticky substance on her face.


    "It''s a mixture of tree sap, dry leaves, fresh leaves, and mud. It serves as a surprisingly effective camouflage." Jin Shu specified each ingredient in the suspicious substance.


    "Eww! Give me some water! I need to wash this off now! Ewewew!" Su Bing tried rubbing the muddy concoction off her face, but that only served to spread it more.


    "Stop screwing around. I need to show you the next lesson in your training." Jin Shu ignored her panicking.


    "Jin Shu, please give me some water to wash this muddy shit off my face!" Su Bing was so flustered trying to get the muddy substance off her face that she swore.


    Jin Shu stood stock-still, frozen in shock after hearing Su Bing curse for the first time since he met her. "Uh... j- Just put up with it for tonight; just water won''t wash it all off; you''ll need a hot bath with some soap to wash it off." He stammered, still slightly shocked.


    "Ugh! Are you serious!?" Su Bing asked frantically.


    "Enough worrying about the face paint; we need to move on to the next part of the lesson before the sun rises." Jin Shu said offhandedly.


    "Uuu! Okay, fine!" Su Bing said reluctantly.


    "The next part of the lesson is: effectively using camouflage. To use camo to its fullest effect, you must match your camo to your surroundings. For example, the face paint I gave you was made up of ingredients found in this forest, so it mimics the surroundings perfectly. Another way to use camo effectively is to cover your entire body in a camo. Either by rubbing dirt on your clothes to dull their colors if they are too bright or dressing in clothes that match the color scheme of the environment." Jin Shu explained the concept of using camouflage to blend into the environment.


    "Close your eyes for thirty seconds, then look around and try to find me." Jin Shu instructed Su Bing.


    "...Okay." Su Bing said in a depressed tone, likely still upset about the mud currently stuck to her face.


    ---


    Su Bing waited thirty seconds with her eyes closed before looking around. She couldn''t find Jin Shu after a full minute, so she called out to him while thinking that he must have lied and gone further away than she could see. "Jin Shu! Where are you?"


    "I''m right here." Came a reply from eight feet away. Jin Shu was hiding with his eyes closed, standing half way behind a tree and a bush.


    "Eek!" Su Bing shrieked in surprise from hearing a voice suddenly sound from so close.


    "This is how you use camo effectively, by using the environment and blending in with it." Jin Shu said as he walked back to Su Bing.


    "Now you try to hide from me," Jin Shu said while closing his eyes and blocking his ears. He didn''t tell Su Bing to block her ears earlier because he can move quietly, while she cannot.


    ---


    Jin Shu opened his eyes after waiting sixty seconds; he waited longer to give Su Bing extra time to hide. He looked around for about ten seconds, which was actually a little longer than he thought it would take, than he pointed at a tree twenty feet away. "I can see your eyes and robes moving in the wind; also, I can hear your erratic breathing from all the way over here. Come back, and I''ll explain more."


    "You didn''t tell me how to hide." She complained when she arrived in front of Jin Shu.


    "I demonstrated for you." He said matter-of-factly.


    "Uh... I was busy screaming," she whispered.


    "Let''s go over the mistakes you made when you tried to hide. The first mistake was that you tried to hide too far away, so you rushed, thinking you only had thirty seconds. The second was keeping your eyes open when facing in the direction of the moon; this caused your eyes to become highly visible due to the moonlight shining on them. You should close your eyes when hiding, even if you aren''t facing the moon, as the eyes are hard to camouflage. The last mistake was hiding in the open with the wind blowing; although you were hiding behind a tree, you didn''t account for your robe blowing in the wind. You should always be mindful of the environment you find yourself in and to yourself and how you interact with that environment. With that said, you did alright for your first time hiding." Jin Shu made it clear how she made her mistakes and how to avoid doing the same in the future.


    Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.


    "You can practice your camouflage skills later; for now, let''s move on to the next lesson. Moving silently. The first thing to know about moving silently is that it is impossible to move completely silently. At least as far as I know, I''ve heard there are movement techniques in this world that may be able to allow you to become silent when moving; however, I do not know any type of movement technique, so I''ll be teaching you how to move quietly through your environment." Jin Shu started the next lesson.


    "To move quietly through the environment depends heavily on what that environment consists of; for example, here in the woods there are sticks and dry leaves, among other random bits of nature, like tree roots, bushes, and low hanging branches. To move quietly through the woods, or really any location, you must be constantly aware of your surroundings. You also have to know how to step lightly; to do so, you need to start by lowering your center of gravity, pick your feet up with the toes pointed downwards, and lightly place your foot back down toes first. Lastly, you need to be patient; to move quietly, you need to move slowly while being aware of your surroundings. Every movement you take should be followed by a chance to assess the environment; you can also use sounds present in the environment to mask the sounds of your movements." Jin Shu explained and demonstrated how to move properly.


    "This is how you should move through the woods efficiently." Jin Shu moved through the forest as if he were floating, appearing for a moment briefly and disappearing in the next.


    "Did you understand all of that?" Jin Shu''s voice came from behind Su Bing, causing her to spin around sharply, looking behind herself in surprise.


    "How are you here? I swear I can still see you over there." Su Bing pointed to a tree in the distance that looked like it had a figure standing next to it.


    "That is the next lesson. Using decoys and distractions. What you see over there is a decoy I created using a spare robe that I hung on a stick. Using decoys and distractions isn''t difficult to do; however, it can be hard to master. Let''s break this into multiple parts so it''s easier to understand. We''ll start off with decoys; they are used to draw the enemy''s attention away from you or your allies. There are a few different methods when it comes to deploying decoys effectively. The first is physical decoys, like that robe I hung up; they can be simple or complex; it all depends on the enemy and your environment. The second method is behavioral decoys; these decoys are based on causing the enemy to doubt themselves or misleading them to another place. Okay, let''s pose here for a moment. Did you understand that?" Jin Shu launched into a long explanation of the use of decoys.


    "I think I understood most of that, but what is an example of behavioral decoys?" Su Bing asked curiously.


    "A behavioral decoy could be something like using an enemy''s communications network to cause them to believe that they were called to another area. Or it could be something as simple as leaving evidence behind that suggests that you are someone else, thus causing the enemy to focus on that other person. For example, you could infiltrate an enemy''s base and leave an item behind that makes it look like someone that wasn''t you was there." Jin Shu clarified.


    "Now let''s move on to distractions. There are also two methods for this; they are sound-based distractions and environmental distractions. The first one is pretty self-explanatory; it is the use of sounds to mislead the enemy. The second method can be more complex; to use the environment to your advantage, you must understand what environment you find yourself in. Take these woods, for example. In the woods, you can usually find animals, which you could potentially use as a distraction. Like scaring a flock of birds to draw attention away from yourself. Did you get all of that?" Jin Shu finished his lesson on distractions.


    "Yeah, I think I understand." Su Bing nodded with a slight hint of uncertainty.


    "Well, that''s about all I can teach you; in the end, stealth all boils down to patience, adaptability, timing, and tons of practice. Now what you need to do is practice. Practice blending into the surroundings, practice setting up various decoys, practice causing distractions, practice moving quietly through the environment, and above all else, practice patience. Patience and adaptability are the two most important factors in staying stealthy." Jin Shu ended his lesson on stealth techniques there.


    ---


    Over the next week, Jin Shu and company stayed inside the mountain forest. Over the course of the last week, Jin Shu trained Su Bing in each aspect of stealth that he had taught her previously. Now they were doing an exercise. Su Bing was hiding in the forest from both Yin''er and Jin Shu; her objective was to infiltrate their camp and take a flag that was placed in the center unnoticed, and their objective was to find her in the woods before she could reach the camp.


    "Yin''er, you go check the south of the camp; I''ll stay in the north. She can''t come from the west as there is a mountain wall blocking that side, so that leaves only the east. After you''ve checked the south side, make your way east, and we will meet up there, okay?" Jin Shu instructed Yin''er on their plan.


    "Okay Daddy! Yin''er is the best at finding things; Yin''er has a very strong nose." Yin''er said while brimming with confidence as she flew to the south side of the camp.


    Jin Shu began making his way into the dark forest; to give Su Bing an advantage, they set the exercise at the beginning of dusk. Su Bing has shown incredible progress in her training so far; she seems to have a natural talent for stealth. Even the best of the military took months to reach the level that she has achieved in a week.


    Jin Shu was remaining vigilant while thinking; soon he noticed some footprints in the mud in front of him; he carefully checked them out. Hmm... looks like Su Bing left these footprints as a distraction; they are headed towards a dead end in the west, which means she''s most likely in the east or hiding nearby, waiting for me to leave the area. Hm? What would be her best course of action? If I were her, I''d head south and wait there until Yin''er heads east, as Yin''er is easier to avoid than myself.


    Jin Shu decided to head east to meet up with Yin''er and then head south from there.


    ---


    As Jin Shu reached the eastern area of the forest, he smelled something strange; it smelled like roasted meat. He headed in the direction of the smell, and when he arrived at the location of the smell, he was flabbergasted to find Yin''er eating a roasted rabbit. "Yin''er, where did you get that rabbit?"


    "Hm? Oh ifs, Daddy! Yin''ew... find it hewe." She said while still chewing on the roast rabbit.


    "You found the roasted rabbit here? When did you get here?" Jin Shu asked, as by the looks of it, Yin''er had eaten most of the rabbit by now; she must have been here for a while.


    "Yin''er came here when she smelled something yummy." Yin''er stopped chewing for a moment to answer.


    "Did you check the south side of the camp at least?" Jin Shu was worried that Yin''er never checked the other side of the camp.


    Yin''er went back to chewing the rabbit after silently shaking her head.


    "Shoot! Su Bing must have tricked you here with that rabbit as she went south." Jin Shu guessed that Su Bing must be in the south infiltrating the camp, so he rushed south.


    ---


    Jin Shu checked the camp on the way south and didn''t find Su Bing, so she must still be on the south side of the forest. That was a brilliant idea to distract Yin''er''s nose with a roast rabbit; that''s one of Yin''er''s favorite meals. I wonder when she roasted that rabbit. I didn''t see her do it earlier today, and there wasn''t enough time to catch and roast a rabbit since we started, so she must have caught the rabbit earlier in the day than roasted it shortly before we started the exercise.


    Jin Shu soon made it to the south side and started to look around for signs of Su Bing. They had set a limit on how big the play area was for this exercise, at a one hundred-foot radius around the camp. Jin Shu quickly checked most of that area and found no sign of Su Bing at all. Damn! She must have doubled back and gone north when I went south. She may have gotten too good at this; even I''m having trouble now, but I should still have time to make it back to the camp, hopefully.


    Jin Shu quickly turned back and headed north. Unfortunately, he was too late; when he reached the camp, he saw Su Bing sitting at a table in the middle of the camp with a pot of tea. "Damn, I was too late. You must have come from the north when I went south, right?"


    "No, I came from the west." Su Bing said as she poured a cup of tea for Jin Shu.


    "The west? That''s impossible; the west of the camp is a mountain wall." Jin Shu said in disbelief.


    Su Bing pointed at the mountain wall behind her; there was a rope made of vines hanging down from the top of the cliff face, about one hundred feet up the mountain.


    "How did you do that? The mountain wall is a sheer cliff face without any hand holds." Jin Shu couldn''t figure out why she did it.


    "I started off in the east and roasted a rabbit there, to distract Yin''er''s nose, then I went northwest, and when I reached the mountain wall, I used the Scorpion to shoot the wall, causing the stone to break and become brittle, then I used the expandable baton to smash those broken rocks to make hand holds and climbed up the wall, then I attached the rope I made to a boulder and scaled down the mountain into the camp." Su Bing explained how she had done these things as if it were a simple thing; however, that was something nearly impossible; the fact that she used the bullets to make improvised hand holds was by itself something only an insane person could ever even dream up, at least that''s what Jin Shu thought.


    I may have created a monster. Jin Shu thought while staring at Su Bing incredulously.

 19. Yiners New Ability

    As Jin Shu was staring at Su Bing, wondering what kind of monster he had created, he heard a shout come from behind him. Turning around, he saw Yin''er flying out of the forest, followed by a bunch of little animals. There were little horned squirrels, carnivorous rabbits, various birds, and even a large boar.


    "Daddy! Look, Yin''er found friends!" Yin''er shouted as she flew out of the forest with the little creatures close behind.


    Yin''er soon made it to Jin Shu and landed on his shoulder. The little creatures following her stopped and stared at her as if they were loyal soldiers awaiting their queen''s command.


    "Uh...? Yin''er? Why are these animals following you around?" Jin Shu asked in equal parts shock and curiosity.


    "Yin''er was chasing those little squirrels. When Yin''er tried to use Daddy''s fire hand to knock them over, Yin''er''s head glowed gold, and then the little squirrels stopped running. Yin''er knocked them over, but they still didn''t move, so Yin''er asked them to move, and then they did. Yin''er tried it again on the other animals, and they all became Yin''er''s friends!" Yin''er gave a strange recount of how she got the animals to follow her.


    "So, you tried to use the Phoenix Claw Technique, and your head released a golden glow that caused the animals to follow your commands? Is that what you''re saying?" Jin Shu tried clarifying what Yin''er had said.


    "Yup, yup!" Yin''er nodded her head vigorously in agreement.


    "Yin''er, can you try to control your Qi and make it flow into your forehead?" Jin Shu asked, as he believed that it was the King symbol on Yin''er''s forehead that gave her the ability to seemingly control small creatures.


    "Sure!" Yin''er agreed. She closed her eyes and started to control the Qi in her core, making it flow from her dantian upwards toward her head. When the Qi reached her forehead, the King symbol lit up. A golden glow spread in a circular radius around her. When it touched the small animals, they looked as if they woke up in a daze, looked around, and then hurriedly scurried off in all directions.


    Yin''er opened her eyes and didn''t see her new friends anymore. "Where did Yin''er''s friends go?"


    "Yin''er, you seem to have the ability to control small animals. Maybe you can even control Demonic Beasts." Jin Shu told Yin''er.


    "So, Yin''er can have lots of friends?" she asked hopefully.


    "Yeah, you can have lots of friends." said Jin Shu as he petted Yin''er''s head.


    "Can we use those little creatures for my training?" Su Bing asked while sipping her tea.


    "Sure, that''s a good idea. If you can evade the forest animals, you should be able to avoid most humans in the forests." Jin Shu agreed readily.


    ---


    Su Bing trained in the forest and mountains, evading the small animals and Jin Shu for a few more days, achieving a state of near-perfect stealth in the forest and mountains. Her training here was complete; now it was time to get back on their journey to the Eastern Region.


    Jin Shu and Su Bing were walking side by side, and a sad little tiger was following slowly behind. Yin''er was sad because she had to leave the small animals in the mountain forest.


    "Yin''er, cheer up. You can find more animals to play with when we make camp later." Su Bing tried to cheer Yin''er up.


    "Wuu! What if Yin''er can''t find any more friends? What if they don''t want to play with Yin''er?" She made a sad, crying noise as she lamented.


    "Yin''er, if you stop pouting, I''ll make you a special meal for lunch." Jin Shu said.


    "What kind of special meal?" Yin''er asked in anticipation.


    "It''s a surprise." Jin Shu responded.


    Yin''er stopped pouting and flew up to Jin Shu''s shoulder. "Yin''er doesn''t want a surprise; Yin''er wants to know what it is now." she said with a slight hint of displeasure in her voice.


    "I''ll let you know when it gets to be lunchtime." Jin Shu said, keeping it a surprise. In reality, he actually just didn''t know what he was going to make for lunch later. Normally, they just eat some bread and jerky for lunch, but now that he promised Yin''er, he had to figure out something special.


    Yin''er scrunched her brows and was going to continue arguing when a loud noise came from in front of them. It sounded like the stomping of hooves.


    All three looked ahead at where the noise was coming from. In the distance, they saw a herd of what looked like horses, except instead of normal manes of hair like horses usually have, these horses had what looked like manes made of flames.


    "Hmm... these rapidly dashing horses remind me of something, but I can''t quite put my finger on it." Jin Shu commented when he saw the rapidly approaching horses.


    "That''s not a herd of Demonic Beasts, is it?" Su Bing asked doubtfully.


    "Oh! That''s right! I remember now; those are the demonic evolution of Red-Maned Plains Runners��the Flame-Maned Plains Runners!" Jin Shu exclaimed as he remembered what those horses were.


    "So those are Demonic Beasts!?" Su Bing shouted fearfully.


    This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    "This is a perfect opportunity to test out Yin''er''s new ability. If her ability can control these Demonic Beasts, then we could get some useful mounts and speed our journey up." Jin Shu said in excitement, ready to experiment with Yin''er''s new ability.


    "Yin''er, when I tell you to, use your ability on those horses, okay?" Jin Shu asked.


    "Okie!" Yin''er shouted happily. She wanted these horses as friends.


    The three stepped off to the side of the road so that they wouldn''t be in the direct path of the dashing horses. The horses were running so fast that they made it from about a mile away to less than two hundred feet away in about a minute.


    When they were a hundred feet away, Jin Shu shouted, "Now!"


    The King symbol on Yin''er''s forehead glowed, releasing a sphere of golden light. The horses all came to a halt when the light hit them. Only the biggest horse at the head of the herd slowed slightly but still kept running for a few seconds before coming to a halt as well.


    "Yay! New friends!" Yin''er shouted happily and flew around the horses.


    There were ten horses in the herd. Based on the aura they were exuding, it seemed that four of them were in the lower stages of the Qi Gathering Realm, four were in the middle stages, and two were at the upper stages. The leader might have reached the peak of the Qi Gathering Realm and was on the verge of a breakthrough to the Core Forging Realm.


    "Let''s take the two strongest horses as our mounts." Jin Shu said to Su Bing.


    "Yin''er wants this one!" Yin''er was standing on the back of the smallest horse in the herd. It was only four feet tall and seemed to be a foal. When the two biggest horses saw Yin''er on the foal''s back, they struggled slightly as if they were trying to break free from their dazed state.


    Jin Shu placed his hand on the largest horse''s muzzle. "Shh... calm down, she won''t hurt your baby." Jin Shu whispered to the horse in an attempt to calm it down.


    The large horse stopped resisting when it heard Jin Shu''s whisper; however, it still stared uneasily at Yin''er on the foal''s back.


    "Yin''er, come over here!" Jin Shu shouted for Yin''er.


    "I wanna play with the horsies more!" Yin''er shouted reluctantly, but still flew over to Jin Shu.


    "Let''s just take these three with us and let the other ones go." Jin Shu pointed at the two largest horses and the little foal.


    "Yin''er can''t take them all?" Yin''er asked indignantly.


    "No, we can''t take care of all of them." Jin Shu stated matter-of-factly.


    "Ugh!" Yin''er sighed grumpily.


    "Me and Su Bing will have these two to ride, and you can play with the baby horse, okay?" Jin Shu appeased her.


    Snort!


    The biggest horse snorted anxiously when it heard that its child was going to become the little tiger''s plaything.


    "I feel bad forcing them to be our mounts against their will." Su Bing spoke up.


    "Hmm... you''re right, we shouldn''t force them. I wasn''t thinking about that." Jin Shu admitted, realizing he hadn''t considered how Yin''er''s ability was forcing those affected by it against their wills. He wouldn''t mind taming these horses; however, it didn''t feel right to use a type of mind control on them, as Flame-Maned Plains Runners were a more docile breed of Demonic Beasts. If they were hostile Demonic Beasts, he wouldn''t mind as much.


    "Haa, let them go, Yin''er." Jin Shu sighed because he knew that Yin''er wasn''t going to be happy about having to let all of the horses go, especially after he had just promised her that she could have a new playmate.


    "What!? Yin''er doesn''t want to let them go! They are Yin''er''s friends now!" Yin''er shouted angrily.


    Snort! Stomp! Stomp!


    The horses, seemingly affected by Yin''er''s mood, started to snort and stomp the ground anxiously.


    "Yin''er! Let them go!" Jin Shu shouted, getting a little angry.


    "NO!!" Yin''er shouted and turned to fly away.


    "Yin''er!! Get back here!" Jin Shu shouted as Yin''er flew away, and he quickly chased after her.


    Snort!


    The horses followed behind Yin''er as she flew away, except for the largest horse. He shook his head, snorting angrily as if waking from a daze. When he came out of his dazed state, he noticed the other horses following Yin''er and started to chase after them. As he passed Jin Shu, Jin Shu jumped on his back to use him to get closer to Yin''er. The horse bucked as Jin Shu climbed on its back. "Whoa! Calm down, just let me use your speed for a moment." Jin Shu told the horse.


    The horse didn''t calm down; instead, it sped up while continuing to try to buck Jin Shu off. Jin Shu had to grab the horse around its neck to stay on; however, its flaming mane burned his hands. Normal fire wouldn''t be able to burn Jin Shu due to his cultivation, but the flame of this horse''s mane was made from the horse''s Qi. Jin Shu channeled his Phoenix Claw Technique to stop the flame from burning his hand.


    As Jin Shu and the large horse chased after Yin''er and the other horses, Su Bing was standing back where they were originally, too stunned to know what to do. "What is happening?" she asked no one in particular, as she began running to catch up to Jin Shu and Yin''er.


    ---


    A few minutes had passed, and Yin''er and the horse herd had gotten further away. The large horse hadn''t been able to catch up as it was busy trying to buck Jin Shu off. "If you don''t stop bucking, we are going to lose them," Jin Shu tried explaining to the bucking horse. It seemed to work as the horse snorted angrily but stopped bucking and began speeding up.


    The large horse and Jin Shu quickly caught up with Yin''er. "Yin''er!! Stop!!" Jin Shu shouted at Yin''er.


    "No! Daddy''s going to take Yin''er''s friends away!" Yin''er shouted back.


    "Get closer to her." Jin Shu told the horse he was riding. It snorted in annoyance but still complied by speeding up and getting closer to Yin''er.


    "Yin''er, please stop. Daddy promises that he won''t take your friends away." Jin Shu tried to appease her.


    "Daddy''s lying! Yin''er knows that you are going to take them away!" Yin''er wouldn''t fall for his appeasement.


    "Damn it!" Jin Shu shouted and jumped off the horse to catch Yin''er. He grabbed her out of the air; however, after catching her, he noticed a large boulder on the side of the road. They were going to crash into it, so he covered Yin''er in his chest and twisted in the air so that his back was facing the boulder.


    Crash!


    "Ack!" Jin Shu coughed as his back slammed into the boulder, shortly followed by the back of his head violently smashing into it, causing him to lose consciousness.


    Jin Shu''s hands fell to his sides as he passed out, and Yin''er fell from his embrace. She quickly started to fly away again; however, when she didn''t hear Jin Shu say anything as she flew away, she curiously turned back around to see why he wasn''t calling out for her.


    "Daddy? Why aren''t you following Yin''er anymore? Do you not want Yin''er anymore? Yin''er is sorry. Yin''er doesn''t want to leave now. Why isn''t Daddy saying anything? Daddy? Daddy!? Waaa! Daddy doesn''t love Yin''er anymore!! Waaa!! Yin''er won''t be bad anymore, so please don''t hate Yin''er!! Waa!" Yin''er didn''t realize that Jin Shu was unconscious, and she thought he was ignoring her because she was being bad, so she began crying.


    As she cried, the horses who had been following her regained their ability to control themselves, and they turned and approached the largest horse who Jin Shu was riding on, all except the small foal who approached Yin''er and leaned over to lick her head in an attempt to stop her crying.


    "Waa! Leave Yin''er alone! Yin''er doesn''t want friends anymore! Waa! Yin''er just wants Daddy to love her again!" she shouted at the foal as it tried to cheer her up.


    Whinny!


    The foal neighed to draw Yin''er''s attention.


    "What?" Yin''er asked the foal in confusion.


    Whinny!


    The foal neighed again.


    "What!? Daddy is hurt!?" It seemed that Yin''er could understand what the foal was saying with its neighs, and it was trying to tell her that Jin Shu was injured.

 20. Jin Shu Coughs Blood

    "Daddy! Wake up!" Yin''er shouted as she shook Jin Shu in an attempt to wake him.


    Whinny!


    The little foal ran over to his father and tried to nudge his leg in an attempt to get him to go toward Jin Shu. The large horse ignored the little foal and started to lead the herd away. Seeing its father ignore it, the little foal ran to its mother instead and started to neigh to get her attention. The mother stopped and neighed back to the foal, likely trying to get it to follow the herd. When it was unsuccessful in getting the foal to follow, it gave up and turned to the foal''s father.


    Neigh!


    The mother neighed to the father. Hearing her neighing, he stopped and snorted in irritation before going back and pushing the foal forward from behind with his muzzle.


    Whinny!


    The foal neighed and ran back to where Yin''er and Jin Shu were. It stood next to Jin Shu and neighed again, calling its father over.


    Snort!


    The father snorted and turned to leave the foal behind. When the mother saw the father leaving the foal behind, she snorted and nudged the father with her head back in the direction of the foal. The father huffed in exasperation and trudged over to the foal.


    The entire time all of this was happening, Yin''er was still trying to shake Jin Shu awake. "Daddy! Please wake up!" Yin''er shouted sorrowfully.


    Stomp!


    The father of the little foal stepped next to Jin Shu and looked down at him. He lifted his front leg and brought it over the top of Jin Shu''s body.


    Yin''er, seeing a large shadow fall over the top of herself and her dad''s body, looked up to see what had cast the shadow. Upon seeing the large hoof descending from above, she growled, thinking that the large horse was trying to stomp on them. She then jumped up and tackled the horse from underneath. The horse was knocked completely over and slid back a few feet. Yin''er tumbled to the ground a few feet away.


    The large horse lay on the ground, stunned at the fact that the little tiger, who was smaller than its hoof, had knocked it over.


    Although Yin''er was extremely small, standing at only a little over one foot tall and two feet long when compared to the large horse, who was over ten feet tall and fourteen feet long, she was at the 2nd stage Core Forging Realm, whereas the horse was at the peak of the Qi Gathering Realm. So, she was actually much stronger than the horse.


    Yin''er slowly stood up and was getting ready to pounce on the large horse when the foal blocked her and neighed.


    Whinny!


    "Your Daddy is going to help my Daddy?" Yin''er asked, bewildered by what the foal was saying.


    Whinny!


    "Oh, Yin''er didn''t know. Yin''er is sorry. Please help my Daddy." Yin''er apologized to the large horse she had just knocked over and asked it for help waking her dad.


    Snort!


    The foal''s father stood up with an annoyed and slightly embarrassed snort. He walked over to Jin Shu, raising his hoof again, and was about to bring it down when he heard a shout come from the left side.


    "Stoooop!" Su Bing shouted as she rushed over from the distance, having finally caught up with them.


    As she reached them, she saw a horse with its hoof raised above Jin Shu, as if getting ready to stomp him to death. She pulled out her baton��she would have taken her gun out, but it was in Jin Shu''s Space Ring currently.


    "Big Sister Bing-Bing! Daddy got hurt!" Yin''er cried from Su Bing''s side as she flew over to her.


    Hearing this, Su Bing assumed that the Flame-Maned Plains Runners had attacked Jin Shu and was getting ready to fight them off.


    "That horsie''s daddy horsie is going to help Daddy!" Yin''er explained incoherently.


    "What? Who is doing what?" Su Bing asked in confusion.


    "Daddy got hurt when he caught Yin''er, so that little horsie''s daddy is going to help wake Daddy up." Yin''er explained in a slightly more coherent but still confusing manner.


    Su Bing took a moment to assess the situation, and from what she could see and the pieces of information from Yin''er, she surmised that Jin Shu had somehow hit his head on a boulder and become unconscious, and the horse was going to wake him up using its hoof somehow?


    Su Bing still didn''t really understand what was going on, but regardless, she had to check on Jin Shu''s injuries. As she began walking over to check on him, the large horse standing over him snorted while lifting its hoof again.


    "Wait, don''t do anything until I''ve checked his injuries." Su Bing tried to stop the horse from doing anything to Jin Shu.


    Snort!


    However, the horse didn''t listen. It snorted in irritation and brought its hoof down on Jin Shu''s chest; its hoof was so large that it covered Jin Shu''s entire chest. As its hoof landed, Jin Shu coughed out some kind of silver liquid.


    "Ack!" Jin Shu coughed up silver blood and opened his eyes suddenly.


    Snort!


    The large horse standing over Jin Shu snorted proudly as it saw Jin Shu wake after it stomped on him. However, when it looked down, it saw a strange silver liquid marring its jet-black coat, so it snorted in annoyance and licked the liquid off.


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    Snort!


    The large black horse snorted in surprise as it licked the strange silver liquid; it seemed to enjoy the taste of the liquid and looked around for more of it. He spotted more on Jin Shu''s chest and under his head, so he started licking it off his chest first.


    Jin Shu woke up with a pounding headache and what felt like an elephant had stomped on his chest. The first thing he saw was a large black horse with a flaming mane standing over him, licking what looked like his silver blood off of its fur.


    "Uh... ow... what... what''s happening?" Jin Shu mumbled in puzzlement.


    "Daddy!" Yin''er''s shout came from off to his right side.


    "Oof!" Jin Shu groaned as a small bundle of silver fur slammed into his chest, where there was also a horse licking him for some reason.


    Jin Shu was still a little muddle-headed; he couldn''t quite remember what had happened. Ugh... where am I? What am I? Who am I? I have no clue where I am. I think I''m some type of human-alien metal hybrid, and last I checked I''m Jin Shu, unless I''ve reincarnated again.


    Yin''er crying on his chest woke him from his random nonsensical thoughts. "Waa! Yin''er is sorry! Waa!" Hearing Yin''er crying finally made his memories of what had transpired slowly return.


    "Are you alright, Jin Shu?" Su Bing asked as she walked over.


    "Ugh... yeah, not really, but I think I''ll live." Jin Shu responded as he tried to sit up, which was proving difficult as his ribs felt like they were smashed by a two-ton truck.


    Lick!


    Jin Shu heard a licking sound from behind him. He turned his head slightly and saw a large horse head licking his blood off of the boulder he had just sat up from.


    Lick!


    Another licking sound came from his other side. He turned that way and saw the little foal imitating its father, licking his blood off the boulder.


    Although he had remembered what had happened before he passed out, he had no clue what had happened after he passed out, so he was very confused when he saw these horses licking his blood off a boulder.


    "Uh...? Are you making them do that, Yin''er?" he asked Yin''er, but she shook her head in denial while still sniffling and crying slightly on his chest.


    "You shouldn''t li��" As he was about to tell them not to lick his metal blood, the large jet-black horse started to release a silver glow.


    "Welp, too late now. Ow!" Jin Shu said while shaking his head in exasperation, which caused his head to ache.


    The silver glow around the large horse slowly dissipated, revealing a large jet-black horse with a silver star-like speckled pattern. The large horse''s coat of fur, which was once purely black, now looked as if it contained a small galaxy of stars.


    Snort!


    The now galaxy-patterned horse snorted in confusion as it looked back at its sides to see the strange star pattern. As it looked itself over, another silver glow came from beside it.


    The little foal, who had been imitating its father in licking Jin Shu''s blood off the boulder, was also emitting a silver glow now. A few moments passed, and the silver glow dissipated again. When the little foal was revealed, it didn''t gain a star pattern like its father; instead, it kept the same buckskin coat of fur but gained a silver diamond shape on its forehead.


    Whinny!


    The foal neighed in surprise after the glow vanished. Unlike its father, it couldn''t see what had changed about itself, so it ran up to Jin Shu and neighed at Yin''er to ask how it had changed.


    Whinny!


    "You have a silver diamond on your head. See this? Daddy calls this a King symbol. Now you have something like this too." Yin''er pointed to the symbol on her forehead and explained to the little foal how it had changed.


    Whinny!


    The little foal neighed in excitement and strutted around as if showing off.


    "Um...? What just happened to these horses?" Su Bing asked in shock.


    Jin Shu looked up at her and began thinking. Should I tell her about the Living Metal? I can''t tell her everythi��


    "Daddy''s blood is metal, and it makes things silver, like Yin''er!" Yin''er exclaimed in jubilation. She was feeling very happy that her new friend, the little foal, was like her now.


    Well, the cat''s out of the bag now. Jin Shu finished his thoughts. "Uh, so, yeah, it''s like what Yin''er said. When I was in the mountain forest at Black Mountain City, I found a strange metal that caused my blood and bones to take on the properties of metal. It seems to have the same effect when my blood is consumed by other living things, I guess. It''s also what I used to make my and your weapons." He gave her a half-truth.


    "Huh...? Uh... okay, I guess I kind of understand." Su Bing uttered in confusion.


    "I can expla�� owowow!" Jin Shu was about to say something to Su Bing when the large black horse suddenly bit his head.


    "What the hell are you doing?!" Jin Shu demanded as he pried the horse''s jaws off his head.


    Neigh!


    "Daddy horsie says that he wants you to fix his beautiful coat." Yin''er translated for Jin Shu.


    "I can''t fix it. I tried telling him not to lick that blood." Jin Shu said with a shrug.


    Snort!


    "Daddy horsie says, Fu��" Yin''er tried translating again, but Jin Shu quickly covered her mouth.


    "You don''t have to translate that. I understood it." Jin Shu said, as he had understood that the horse was very angry.


    "Look, there''s nothing I can do. It was your own fault for eating something you shouldn''t have." Jin Shu stated as he stood up.


    Snort!


    "He says, ''Fix it!''" Yin''er translated the horse''s snort.


    Jin Shu shook his head and walked away. "Come on, Yin''er and Su Bing. Let''s get back on the road; we should make up for the time we''ve lost."


    Snort! Stomp!


    The horse was pissed off that Jin Shu had ignored it.


    Whinny!


    The little foal neighed at its father and began following behind Jin Shu. "Yin''er''s friend says it wants to come with us." Yin''er translated for the little foal this time.


    "You aren''t using your power on it, are you?" Jin Shu asked Yin''er skeptically.


    "No, Yin''er stopped using it when Daddy got hurt." Yin''er stated truthfully.


    "Okay, but we can''t take the little foal with us; it needs to stay with its mom and dad." Jin Shu denied taking the foal along, as he didn''t want to separate it from its mother and father.


    Whinny! Whinny!


    The little foal neighed at its mother and father.


    Neigh!


    Snort!


    The mother and father responded. The father was angry, and the mother was confused.


    "Daddy horsie said that you can''t go unless you fix his coat, and Mommy horsie said she wants to know what happened to her husband and child." Yin''er translated their conversation.


    "I! Can''t! Fix! Your! Fur!" Jin Shu turned and shouted angrily at the black horse. He had a pounding headache, and this dumb horse wasn''t making it any better.


    Snort!


    Bang!


    "Ow! You bastard!" Jin Shu was knocked over by a headbutt from the black horse. He stood back up and pulled out his bat from his ring.


    "Alright, I''m going to beat some sense into you!" he told the horse.


    The large horse charged at Jin Shu with its head lowered, and Jin Shu raised his bat, ready to strike the horse in its head.


    Whinny!!!


    Bang!


    The little foal neighed loudly as it saw its father and its new friend''s father about to fight. As it neighed, a beam of silver light shot out of the diamond shape on its forehead. The beam cut a swath of ground between Jin Shu and the charging horse.


    Snort!


    "What the fu��" Jin Shu was about to swear.


    "Wow! That was so cool!" Yin''er exclaimed after she saw the beam shoot out of the foal''s forehead. She and the foal then began bouncing around joyfully.


    Snort!


    The black horse snorted in amazement as it stared at its child. Then it turned to Jin Shu and snorted again, as if asking a question.


    "You want to know how to do that?" Jin Shu asked as he thought he understood what it was asking.


    Snort!


    The horse snorted again while nodding.


    "Uh... I think, if you concentrate your Qi onto those silver spots, something will happen?" Jin Shu answered uncertainly.


    Snort!


    The horse snorted, then closed its eyes to concentrate... it opened its eyes a few seconds later, and nothing seemed to happen.


    Snort!


    The horse snorted angrily when it saw nothing happened. However, after its snort, a large pair of silver wings sprouted from its back.


    Snort!


    The horse felt the wings on its back and snorted proudly after turning and seeing them.

 21. New Companions

    A week had passed since the incident with the Flame-Maned Plains Runners. The foal that Yin''er named Star was following slightly behind Galaxy, its father, who Jin Shu named, and Sky, its mother, whom Su Bing named. There was a little tiger resting on Star''s back, and Jin Shu and Su Bing were on the other horses'' backs��Jin Shu on Galaxy, and Su Bing on Sky.


    The rest of the herd was left behind for now. Jin Shu had promised to bring them with him when he returned from this journey to the Eastern Region.


    Galaxy had decided to follow Jin Shu after it learned that Jin Shu''s blood had made it stronger and given it wings. Although he was still a little mad that his once-beautiful, pure black coat of fur was now marred by specks of silver.


    Jin Shu found it puzzling that the Living Metal gave Demonic Beasts special abilities, yet as far as he knew, it didn''t give him any special abilities other than increasing his healing and allowing him to regrow limbs. He didn''t know if the horses or Yin''er had those abilities, and he wasn''t about to cut their limbs off to see.


    Neigh!


    Jin Shu was woken from his thoughts by Galaxy''s neighing.


    "Huh?" Jin Shu looked up and saw that they were about to cross a long bridge over a canyon. Except, Galaxy wasn''t walking towards the bridge; he was walking to the edge of the canyon instead.


    "Hey, you''re not going to jump, are you?" Jin Shu asked Galaxy, as it was very fond of using its newfound powers at every given opportunity.


    Snort!


    Galaxy snorted and began running towards the edge of the canyon. Jin Shu had gotten used to Galaxy''s various snorts and neighs and could kind of figure out their meaning now. This one translated to something along the lines of, Of course I am, dumbass!


    Galaxy reached the edge of the canyon and jumped straight off.


    "Ah! What are they doing!?" Su Bing shouted as she watched Jin Shu and Galaxy plummet over the edge of the canyon.


    Neigh!


    Sky neighed and shook her head in vexation. Unlike Galaxy and Star, she didn''t want to consume Jin Shu''s blood to gain a strange ability, although Galaxy and Star kept bugging her to try it.


    "Woo!"


    Neigh!


    A loud shout and neigh echoed out from inside the canyon. Jin Shu and Galaxy came flying up from beneath the canyon, Galaxy with his silver wings extended from his back, and Jin Shu with his arms extended out to his sides, as his long hair blew out behind him in the wind.


    As they flew around the canyon, the others crossed the bridge and waited for them on the other side.


    As Galaxy flew further down the canyon, Jin Shu told him to go back. "Alright, we are getting pretty far away from the others. Let''s turn back now."


    Snort!


    (Translation: No, fuck that! I''m having fun.)


    Galaxy snorted in denial.


    "Let''s go ba��" Jin Shu was going to argue with him when he was interrupted by a scream that sounded like it echoed back from where they came from.


    "Aaah!"


    "Go back! That sounds like Su Bing!" he yelled hurriedly.


    Galaxy spun around and flew as fast as he could back the way they came. It had originally taken them a few minutes to travel about five miles down the canyon, but it only took them about thirty seconds to make it back.


    When they reached the bridge, they saw a pack of black wolves with bone spurs sprouting from their backs, surrounding their companions.


    Su Bing was standing over Sky, who was lying on the ground with blood flowing from her flank and back legs, staining her white fur a gruesome red.


    Yin''er was flying around a massive black wolf, occasionally diving down to swipe at it with her small claws, which tore into the wolf. However, she was too small to deal any real damage to it.


    Star fired a beam from his forehead at a group of wolves, cutting two of them in half. However, Star ran out of Qi with that beam, evident from how his mane of dark red flames flickered and went out. This was a sign that a Flame-Maned Plains Runner''s Qi had been completely used.


    Galaxy dove down from above and landed on a wolf that had circled around Su Bing and was leaping towards Sky. The wolf was completely crushed flat under Galaxy''s body, which weighed over two tons.


    Jin Shu leapt off of Galaxy while pulling his M1911 from its holster and shouted to Su Bing, "What happened? Where did these wolves come from?"


    Su Bing shouted back while fighting off two wolves, "They snuck up on us from the woods when we were waiting for you and Galaxy!"


    Bang! Bang!


    Jin Shu shot the two wolves attacking Su Bing and threw the Scorpion to her. "Here, use this!"


    Su Bing caught the Scorpion and hurriedly loaded a round before firing it into a group of wolves pouring out of the forest a few yards away.


    Psh! Psh! Psh!


    There were at least twenty to thirty wolves surrounding them, and a constant stream of wolves continued to step out of the forest. Most of the wolves weren''t Demonic Beasts, but Jin Shu counted about fifteen that he believed were Demonic Beasts.


    Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!


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    He fired five more shots, emptying his mag into five of the bigger wolves that he thought were Demonic Beasts. Then he holstered his pistol and took out the FN 303 from his Space Ring.


    He loaded a magazine of lethal rounds, then fired the first round. This one had Explosion Runes merged with Flame Runes covering every side. When the first round made it halfway to the largest group of wolves coming out of the forest, he fired the second round, which had a Qi Circulation Rune merged with Wind Runes to activate the first round when they struck in midair. In theory, this would create something like an air-burst grenade, which could be collected and reused later.


    BOOM!


    The rounds struck each other above the large group of wolves, causing a massive flaming explosion to consume them.


    "Woah! That worked better than I thought it would!"


    The explosion stunned the rest of the wolves, causing them to pause and stare at it for a moment.


    Jin Shu put the FN 303 away and pulled his M1911 back out. He used this brief pause to look around the battlefield. Galaxy was rampaging through the wolves; his wings were cutting through them like a hot knife through butter, and he trampled those in front of him with his hooves. Star was lying next to his mother, Sky, in exhaustion, and Yin''er...


    "Where''s Yin''er!?" he shouted in a panic. He couldn''t find her when he looked around. He remembered that she seemed to be flying around a massive wolf when he first arrived, but he didn''t see that massive wolf anywhere either.


    "I think I saw her chase that huge wolf into the forest!" Su Bing shouted as she shot at the wolves, who were no longer stunned.


    "Fuck!" he yelled and started running towards where he saw Yin''er last.


    Bang! Bang! Bang!


    He shot three of the largest wolves as he ran.


    When he made it to the edge of the forest, he heard a shout deeper in.


    "Ah! Come back here, mean wolf!"


    "Yin''er!" he shouted, but no reply came back. So, he rushed into the forest to find her.


    He could hear Yin''er shouting occasionally as he ran.


    "Bad wolf, you hurt Star''s mommy! Yin''er is going to beat you up!"


    By the volume of her shouts, it sounded as if he was catching up. Soon, he could see a massive black wolf with bone spurs jutting from its back, running away from a little flying silver tiger.


    "Yin''er, come back here!" he shouted. Now that he was closer, Yin''er could hear him. She turned her head back and shouted in reply, "Daddy! Yin''er is going to beat up this bad wolf because he hurt Star''s mommy!"


    As Yin''er turned her head back, she couldn''t find the massive wolf anymore. "Where did you go, bad wolf?" she asked, but no response came.


    Jin Shu had seen the wolf duck behind a hill to circle around Yin''er, so he shouted, "Yin''er, look out! The wolf is behind you!"


    He couldn''t shoot it because he was afraid of hitting Yin''er, so he ran as fast as he could to get to her.


    Awoo!


    The wolf howled as it pounced on Yin''er from behind, knocking her out of the air with its paw, which was bigger than her entire body.


    "Aaah!" she screamed in surprise and pain.


    "Ah! Fuck! You fucking shitty wolf! Get off her!" Jin Shu yelled as he jumped on the wolf''s back, throwing point-blank phoenix claws at its back.


    Awoo!!!


    The wolf howled in pain and rolled over to throw Jin Shu off its back.


    Jin Shu fell and rolled off the wolf''s back as it rolled over. He pulled his pistol out to shoot it, but it dove behind a tree, zigzagging through the trees so he couldn''t get a clear shot at it. He looked back to check on Yin''er. She was lying on the ground with silver blood trickling out of her wings��they had been broken when the wolf pounced on her.


    "Aaaa! Daddy! It hurts!" she cried.


    "YIN''ER!!!" he shouted in distress as he ran to her side. He carefully picked her up and cradled her in his arms.


    "Yin''er, you''re going to be okay. I''ve got you now," he said, holding back tears in his eyes.


    Awoo!


    A howl came from behind him. He quickly ducked to the side as a huge claw passed where his head had just been.


    Jin Shu looked back. A massive black wolf with broken bone spurs and singed fur stood above him. He stood up and started running to gain distance from the wolf.


    "Aaa!" Yin''er yelped in pain as her broken wings were jolted when Jin Shu began running.


    "I''m sorry, Yin''er. Just hold on for a moment." he said, trying to minimize how much her wings could move without hurting them more.


    Awoo!


    Awoo!


    Two more wolves dove out from behind some trees. These ones weren''t as big as the other one, but they were still much larger than any others that Jin Shu had seen so far.


    He ducked one of their claws and took a claw to the back from the other one. "Ow! Shit!"


    He braced himself so that he wouldn''t fall and continued running.


    He somehow managed to dodge the three wolves'' attacks for a minute and could see the edge of the forest ahead.


    Bang!


    "Argh!" He was suddenly struck with another claw in the back. This one sunk deep into his flesh and caused him to lose his balance. He forcefully turned his back so he wouldn''t land on Yin''er when he fell. That caused the claw in his back to rip a chunk of his flesh out.


    Thud!


    He fell on his back. Looking up, he could see the three wolves forming a semi-circle around him. The massive wolf with the broken bone spurs had a chunk of his flesh stuck on its claw.


    The two smaller wolves crouched down and pounced toward him.


    Thud!


    Thud!


    Suddenly, their bodies collapsed, landing next to him. He could see a bloody hole in each of their heads.


    Awoo!


    The massive wolf howled in pain as a bloody hole appeared in its chest. However, it was still alive. It hurriedly turned and fled back deeper into the forest.


    Awoo!


    It howled again in pain as another bloody hole appeared in its leg, and it continued to limp away, soon disappearing into the dark forest.


    Jin Shu turned back to look at the edge of the forest to see Su Bing standing there holding the Scorpion. She was pulling the trigger, but only clicks came from the gun. She was out of ammo.


    Click! Click!


    "Stop pulling the trigger, you''re out of ammo," he said while standing back up and limping toward her.


    "Oh, right..." she said, her cheeks turning slightly red in embarrassment.


    "What happened to Yin''er?" she asked worriedly as she saw Yin''er in Jin Shu''s arms.


    Jin Shu looked down to check on Yin''er. She had passed out, likely from the pain. However, her bleeding had stopped, and her wings were magically back in their correct positions.


    "Phew!" Jin Shu sighed in relief.


    "She was injured by that wolf that got away. Her wings were broken. However, it looks like the Living Metal healed her," he told Su Bing.


    "The Living Metal?" she asked in confusion.


    "Oh, it''s what I call the metal in my veins." he answered, realizing he never told her what he called the metal in his blood.


    "How''s everyone else?" he asked as he didn''t see the horses.


    "Galaxy rampaged through the wolves until they retreated. Star exhausted his Qi, but I''m worried about Sky. She was attacked by that same massive wolf that hurt Yin''er, and her legs may be broken," she said worriedly.


    They walked back out of the forest, and Jin Shu could see Star and Sky lying on the ground��one panting in exhaustion, the other panting in pain. Galaxy was standing protectively over them, keeping a lookout for more wolves.


    Jin Shu hurried over to Sky. He pulled a blanket out from his ring and laid Yin''er on it. Then he checked Sky''s wounds. The bleeding had almost stopped, but she had already lost a lot of blood. He could see her broken bones slightly poking from her back legs.


    "She needs immediate treatment. However, I have no way to treat her," he said dejectedly.


    Snort!


    (Translation: Help her!)


    Galaxy snorted anxiously.


    "I think if I give her my blood, it should heal her," he said uncertainly.


    Snort!


    (Translation: Do it!)


    Galaxy snorted hurriedly.


    Jin Shu cut his hand and brought it in front of Sky''s mouth. However, she had at some point passed out, likely from a combination of blood loss and pain.


    Snort!


    (Translation: Do something! Quickly!)


    Galaxy snorted in a panic.


    "Ah, I don''t know how to feed it to her if she''s unconscious," he said, slightly panicking as well.


    "What if you pour it into her wound?" Su Bing asked hopefully.


    "Oh, that could work!" Jin Shu exclaimed.


    He moved to her hindquarters and poured his blood into her wounds directly.


    After an uncertain amount of time had passed, Jin Shu had cut his hand multiple times and poured an unknown amount of blood into Sky''s wound. It slowly began to close, and a silver glow emitted from her body.

 22. Stalking in the Night

    (Translation: What happened? Why didn��t she gain any markings?)


    (Translation: She got to keep her beautiful snow-white coat of fur! But look at me! My once supremely beautiful pure black coat of fur is now destroyed by these silver speckles!)


    (Translation: Wife! You��re awake! How are you feeling?)


    (Translation: Who are you?)


    (Translation: What!? What do you mean, ��who are you��? I��m your incredibly handsome husband!)


    (Translation: Hehehehe!)


    (Translation: Why are you laughing? It��s these damn speckles, isn��t it? That��s why you can��t remember your divinely beautiful husband!)


    (Translation: Ahahahaha!)


    (Translation: I��m just joking, hehe!)


    (Translation: What!?)


    Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!

 23. Entering the Eastern Region

(Translation: Why''d you kill him?)


    This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.


    (Translation: It''s mine now.)


    (Translation: You two, please stop bullying Su Bing.)


    (Translation: Nope!)


    (Translation: Okay!)

 24. Blessings

    If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    I think I''ll call this my mind space


    This ability is amazing! It allows me to activate runes remotely now. Although that makes my weapons with the need for their Qi Circulation Runes to activate the Explosion Runes pretty much obsolete. But the Qi Circulation Rune does make the Explosion Rune stronger, so maybe if I combine Qi Circulation Runes with Explosion Runes on the ammunition, I could then activate a powered-up explosion from afar. That would be incredibly powerful.

 *~☆Announcement☆~*

    Sorry, there will be no chapter for today��or the next week or two��I will be taking a break, to hopefully come back with even better chapters!


    I originally started writing this story thinking that no one would ever really even read it, I thought it would be great if just the three people (my family) I shared it with would read my story. However I''ve now got 80 some readers/followers and nearly ten thousand views, acrossed the three different sites that I post this story to.


    At one point I had the unrealistic idea that I could post a chapter every day for the rest of the year. However that was when I first started writing this story and I had no set chapter length, I also wasn''t really editing the chapters at all. Now however, I''ve set a minimum of 2000 words per chapter, some of the chapters have even nearly reached 3000 words. In fact my first chapter was originally only about 600 words long, I believe, although I''ve edited it about 3-4 times since, and it is now 2600 words long.


    Visit my Ko-Fi to request your very own idea to be implemented into my story!


    Shameless Plug: https://ko-fi.com/c/10a9e53fa8</a>


    And now to make up for the lack of a chapter, you all get a sneak peek at a possible new novel!


    There will be a poll at the bottom of this post, in which you can vote on whether or not you like this new novel! If I receive enough votes, I will try to post chapters of this new novel along with my first novel! (It will probably only be like 1-2 chapters a week, as I will still be focusing on my first story)


    Anyways without further ado, here is the prologe to my possible next story!


    ___________________________________________


    Prologe: The Supreme God Emperor''s Game


    The Supreme God Emperor stood atop his immortal palace and gazed up into the star-strewn expanse of the heavens. "I''ve now transcended the peak of cultivation, and yet the heavens still bar me from their secrets. But no longer! I shall breakthrough your barriers and see just what it is that you hide from me!"


    The Supreme God Emperor gathered every last drop of his Qi into his hands and tore at the space in front of himself. He had reached the absolute peak of cultivation and no longer need to use any form of techniques to focus his energies, now every gesture he makes is filled with infinite power.


    He tore through the very fabric of space and time, even reality itself had to bend to his will, and yet the heavens still hung above his head, as if mocking his efforts to unmask them.


    "Aaaah!!! Break!!! Heed my commands!!! For I am the Supreme God Emperor!!!" With a shout so loud that it caused his immortal palace to disintegrate beneath him, he tore a hole through the vast expanse of space, and stepped through it into the heavens beyond.


    In the void between his world and the heavens, the Supreme God Emperor stood at the edge of his realm, gazing into the vast, star-strewn expanse of space. He had now found himself beyond the boundaries of the world that once confined him. Yet, even here, beyond the heavens, the emptiness gnawed at him.


    "Is this all there is?" His voice, deep and resonant, echoed in the void, a sound that no one could hear. The power that had once surged within him, the power that had made him a god, the supreme god, now felt... hollow.


    He had conquered everything in his world. Every realm of cultivation, every powerful sect, every ancient secret��all lay beneath his feet. There were no more challenges, no more enemies worthy of his attention. Even time itself had bowed before him, rendering him ageless, truly immortal.


    He wandered through the stars, a solitary figure clad in robes that shimmered like the night sky, until something caught his eye��a small, blue planet, teeming with life. Earth.


    Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.


    The Supreme God Emperor descended from the heavens, his presence unnoticed by the humans below. In his mind, he could crush this world with a mere thought, but curiosity held him back. He wanted to know what made this world so different from his own. Why were the humans here so... weak?


    He roamed the streets of cities cloaked in invisibility, peering into the lives of these mundane people. It was then that he discovered their strange forms of entertainment��video games. He watched as humans engaged in battles, solved puzzles, and explored vast virtual worlds with a passion he hadn��t seen in centuries, much like that of his own when he made his first step into the world of cultivation.


    "Hmph," the Supreme God Emperor mused. "So this is what occupies their minds?"


    But it didn��t stop there. He found that these humans had a peculiar taste for stories��webnovels, they called them. Tales of heroes and villains, of magic and power, of love and betrayal. They were crude, compared to the epics of his world, but there was something... refreshing about them. Something that rekindled a long-forgotten flame within him.


    Without a second thought, he collected every game and every story ever created on Earth, he brought them back to his world to study them. After a few hundred years, he had played every game, read every novel, hundreds if not thousands of times over. The thrill of competition, the joy of solving intricate puzzles, the satisfaction of defeating powerful foes��all of it flowed through him like a raging river.


    But it didn��t last. The more he played, the more he read, the more he realized that even these games and stories had limits. He began to anticipate every plot twist, every boss fight, every challenge. And soon, the excitement gave way to monotony.


    "Boring," he muttered as he crushed the final boss of a game for the thousandth time. The vibrant colors of the screen faded to black, and the Supreme God Emperor found himself staring into nothingness once more.


    His gaze shifted to the world below him, far away, where mortals continued to struggle and strive, unaware of his presence. They were still trapped in the endless cycle of cultivation, fighting for power, seeking enlightenment, never knowing that the pinnacle of it all was emptiness.


    A thought struck him, one so audacious it made him chuckle��a sound that hadn��t escaped his lips in millennia.


    "What if... I made my world into a video game?"


    The idea grew in his mind, like a seed taking root in fertile soil. He could see it clearly: a world where cultivation was no longer bound by the rigid laws of nature, but governed by the rules of a game. Levels, skills, experience points��he could mold his world into something new, something unpredictable.


    And to guide the mortals through this new reality, he would need helpers. But who could fulfill such a role?


    He stretched out his hand, and from the abyss, he summoned the souls of the departed��those who had refused the cycle of reincarnation, choosing instead to drift in the void. Their cries filled the air, but the Supreme God Emperor��s will was absolute.


    "You shall serve as my System Helpers," he declared. "Guide the living, aid them in their quests, and ensure that the game is always challenging. In return, you shall find purpose once more."


    The souls shuddered but obeyed, reshaping themselves into ethereal beings, their forms translucent and shimmering like the interface of a game.


    With a wave of his hand, the Supreme God Emperor cast his will across his world. Every living being, from the lowliest farmer to the mightiest cultivator, felt a strange energy course through them. Their vision filled with unfamiliar screens, numbers, and words.


    [Welcome to the Game.]


    The world had changed, and with it, the fate of all who dwelled within it. No longer were they bound by the old ways of cultivation. Now, they had levels to gain, skills to unlock, quests to complete.


    And as the Supreme God Emperor watched his creation unfold, a smile crept across his face. Finally, something interesting.


    "Let the game begin," he whispered, and the world obeyed.

 ☆Update☆

    Hey everyone! Just wanted to post a little update on my break.


    I had hoped that my break would let me relax a little, and maybe get a little backlog of chapters going, however I experienced some writers block, and so far was only able to write 2 chapters! Before I was writing a chapter a day?


    Not to mention the fact that work has been kick my ass. I work as a mason, and I''m currently building a grotto for a church, the project is going fine, however I''m working out in the middle of an open area with no shade, and the temperature has been in the 90''s+ for about a week. ????


    This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    Anyways, I''ll be back to posting chapters, either Sunday or Monday. The release schedule, will probably be 3 chapters a week.


    Also as a side note, I''ve published my next novel�CGame On: A World Reborn��right now its just the prologe. With the first chapter coming, Monday probably.

 25. Blessings 2

    Jin Shu!


    It was. This is part of my blessing. I was blessed by the Goddess of Knowledge and Communion. I have awoken a wealth of knowledge and the ability to commune with others via telepathy. Due to the knowledge I received as part of my blessing, I have full control of my ability and do not need to get accustomed to it.


    Not quite, but I do know what our blessings are, among various other bits of knowledge.


    Yours is the blessing of the God of Technology. With your blessing, you have perfect control of all of your own creations and can peer into the inner workings of the creations of others to deduce their methods of creation and their functions.


    Su Bing has the blessing of the Goddess of Death and Secrets. Hers is a very grim blessing��it allows her to grow stronger by killing. It has another ability, but I have no knowledge of the second part of her blessing, likely due to it coming from the Goddess of Secrets. There is something else I learned about Su Bing as well, but I''ll wait until she awakens before I tell you.


    Hehe! Yin''er gained the blessings of the Goddess of Fortune. With it, her luck is increased to the highest degree possible in the mortal realm. However, along with this blessing comes a potential negative impact on her control over her powers. Due to her luck, she will randomly activate abilities that she shouldn''t yet be able to use. Like what happened just now��her speed was due to a special technique inherent to her species; however, it can normally only be used when they reach a level of cultivation much higher than her current realm.


    That is her aura of luck. It causes herself and those enveloped inside of it to become luckier. When she has a better handle on her blessing, she will be able to retract or expand her aura at will.


    I do know what her ability should be; however, hers seems different from the one in my knowledge. The Monarch Winged Tiger is a special species of Demonic Beast born from a rather average species of Winged Tigers. Their main ability is to passively influence weaker creatures into worshipping them as rulers. Yin''er''s ability seems to be a mutated version of that, which allows her to actively control those weaker than herself.


    My son, Star, has awakened.


    Mommy!


    No, this is still my ability. I can link multiple beings together so that they all may be able to speak to each other telepathically.


    I can hear Mommy''s and Big Brother Jin Shu''s voices in my head? That''s so cool!


    Yin''er too! Yin''er can hear everyone''s voices!


    Star, would you like to know what your blessing is?


    You were blessed by our great ancestor, the God of the Plains! Your blessing is quite unique in that you did not get any fancy abilities like the rest. Instead, your bloodline will be constantly purified until you reach the level of Divine Beasts!


    This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    I didn''t get any special abilities?


    You did not; however, do you know what a Divine Beast is, Star?


    I don''t. What is it?


    A Divine Beast is the highest form a beast can achieve. They are extremely powerful and terrifying. I''m sure Jin Shu has heard of a few of the famous Divine Beasts.


    Are you talking about the four Divine Beasts that are said to each represent one of the four regions?


    Yes, those ones. Do you mind telling the kids some of their legends?


    Sure, but I only know one legend. It goes like this: In each region, there is said to exist a terrifying, sleeping beast of unimaginable power! Those beasts are called the Four Divine Beasts. The Western Region is said to be inhabited by the White Tiger, the Eastern Region by the Azure Dragon, the Southern Region by the Vermillion Bird, and the Northern Region is home to the Black Tortoise. The legend states that these four Divine Beasts will one day awaken when the world is in peril, to fend off a great threat. In fact, the legend says that the reason the Four Divine Beasts are sleeping is that they were injured in a great battle. Together with four brave heroes, they fought off terrible creatures that descended from the heavens to destroy our world!


    Yin''er wants to see the White Tiger!


    I want to see the Azure Dragon!


    I don''t think they can understand you, Jin Shu. But this should help; I''ve linked us together with telepathy.


    Let me try asking this again then. Are you two the Black and White Guards of the Underworld?


    Uh? Telepathy? That is an uncommon ability. We are indeed the Black and White Guards of the Underworld, two of many, anyways.


    So, why are the Black and White Guards here? I don''t think any of us need to be escorted to the Underworld, do we?


    We are here for that little lady stuck to your back, aha!


    To take her to the Underworld?


    Oh no, unfortunately, she cannot travel to the Underworld, at least not at her current realm of cultivation. We are here to deliver her master''s inheritance to her.


    My master? Since when did I have a master?


    Yes, your master is the Goddess of Death. Since you are the first to bear her blessing, you are now nominally her first disciple. Once you master her inheritance and can travel to the Underworld, you can then officially become her first and only direct disciple.


    Can... can I refuse?


    Refuse!? Why would you refuse to become the direct disciple to a God!?


    You bastard! How dare you shout at the young miss!

 26. Goddess of Deaths Disciple

    Su Bing had passed out due to her fear of seeing the White Guard''s severed head roll beneath her. She was exerting a death grip around Jin Shu''s chest, and despite his best attempts to pry her hands off, he was unsuccessful.


    The White Guard''s body stumbled over to pick its head back up off the ground. When it grabbed its head, it dusted it off, even though it was a spirit and shouldn''t be able to pick up any dust. It then put its head back between its shoulders.


    The Black and White Guards then seemed to start quarreling silently, making threatening gestures at each other.


    Neigh!


    They were soon enough interrupted by a loud neighing. Galaxy had been the last to awaken from his absent-minded state.


    Ugh! My annoying husband has awakened. Although Sky sounded annoyed when she mentioned her husband, you could still hear a hint of love hidden in her voice.


    Everyone looked over to see Galaxy with what looked like a floating field of stars shimmering around him. The stars quickly shifted between various shapes that resembled constellations in the night sky. The stars'' shifting became faster and faster over time until they were nothing but a silver blur. Then, suddenly, they vanished, and Galaxy was revealed from within what looked like a cocoon of silver lights.


    Neigh!


    Galaxy''s coat of fur was no longer covered in silver speckles; he had regained his pure jet-black fur. He stepped towards the others, and as he moved, his fur seemed to shimmer with an endless array of silvery starlights. Every step he took left a wake of silvery lights behind, as if he were wearing an endlessly flowing cape of stars.


    Neigh!


    (Translation: How cool do I look, wife?)


    Galaxy neighed as he stepped up to his wife.


    You''re wasting your energy by doing that; you will need many nights to recover from this expenditure.


    Snort?


    (Translation: Is this your voice in my head, wife?)


    Galaxy was so surprised by the voice in his head that he stopped neighing and went back to snorting.


    Hmph! If you aren''t less obnoxious in the future, I''ll use my new powers to read your mind and see what mares you''ve been thinking about! Sky lied about her powers to scare Galaxy.


    S-snort!?


    (Translation: W-what mares? I only ever think of you, wife!)


    How about I read your mind, and we can see if that''s true or not, hm?


    Snort!


    (Translation: Nooo! There''s no need for that, wife. I''m telling the truth, I promise!)


    Humph! Fine, I''ll believe you for now. However, you''d better get your act together, or I''ll really do it!


    Snort!


    (Translation: You can trust me, wife!)


    Snort?


    (Translation: By the way, how are you speaking in my mind?)


    It''s part of my blessing. Your mind is already linked with mine, so you can speak back using your thoughts as well.


    Um? Like this?


    Yes, just like that.


    Wow! This is very awesome, wife! To celebrate your amazing new ability, how about you and I sneak off from the rest later and��


    "Hm, hm! Galaxy! We can all hear your thoughts." Jin Shu cleared his throat to get Galaxy''s attention.


    Where are Mommy and Daddy going?


    Yin''er bets they are going to sneak away to eat food. Sometimes, when Yin''er gets tasty food, Yin''er likes to hide away and eat it so no one else can have any.


    Is that what happened to the missing pancakes I made a few days ago?


    Yin''er doesn''t know what Daddy''s talking about... Yin''er said while looking away guiltily.


    Jin Shu shook his head while chuckling. Anyways, Sky, why don''t you tell us what blessing Galaxy acquired?


    Okay. My husband was blessed by the God of Stars. With the blessing comes the power to absorb a special energy from the stars called starlight. With the starlight energy, Galaxy can use it as he did just now��wastefully��or he can infuse it into his Qi to strengthen himself. If he can successfully combine it with his Qi, he could possibly unlock a special attribute known as Starfire! Unfortunately, my stupid husband wasted most of the pure starlight that the God of Stars had added to the blessing to help in the combination process with his Qi.


    I''m not stupi��!


    Galaxy was going to begin arguing, but with a glare from Sky, he quickly shut up.


    This is all well and good; however, we still need to pass on the Goddess of Death''s inheritance to the young miss. The Black Guard chose this time to intervene in the conversation, as they had a job to do, and it needed to be done sooner rather than later.


    Ah right, I forgot Su Bing was still passed out on my back. Jin Shu tried to pry Su Bing''s hands off once more, but she just wouldn''t let go, so he was forced to take his outer robe off. He laid her on the ground, leaned over, and attempted to wake her. "Su Bing! Wake up! Wake u��ow!"


    Su Bing jolted awake suddenly. As Jin Shu leaned over her, her head slammed into his nose. "Ow! My head!" She held her hands up to her aching head as a small bump formed.


    Jin Shu had his hands covering his nose as a silver liquid slowly dripped from between his fingers.


    Su Bing glanced up and saw Jin Shu bleeding. At first, she was confused as to why his nose was bleeding, but then realization dawned on her. Oh no! I broke Jin Shu''s nose! I hope to the gods I didn''t ruin his handsome face! she thought to herself. However, what she had forgotten was that her thoughts were still linked with everyone.


    "So, you think my face is handsome?" Jin Shu asked with a smirk, though he winced in pain as talking caused his injured nose to move.


    Pfft! Hahaha! Hehehe! Ahahaha!


    The Black and White Guards, along with Sky and Galaxy, all began laughing.


    A horrified expression took over Su Bing''s face, and tears began forming in her eyes from the embarrassment.


    A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation."I''m sorry, it was just a joke, Su Bing!" Jin Shu apologized when he saw the tears in her eyes, thinking that she was about to cry.


    "Sniff! I''m fine." she said as she wiped the tears from her eyes.


    Young miss, I''m sorry to interrupt, but my colleague and I don''t have much time left. We can only stay in the human world for a few more hours, and we must complete our objective. Otherwise, we risk annihilation!


    Su Bing surprisingly didn''t scream in fear when the Black Guard floated over towards her. She was probably still in a state of shock from having her embarrassing thoughts heard by everyone.


    I would like to refuse.


    Young miss, please reconsider! If you don''t accept this inheritance, we will have our souls destroyed! The Goddess of Death allows for little leeway in the accomplishment of missions that she personally handles.


    Do I have to deal with ghosts if I accept her inheritance?


    Ghosts...? Oh! You mean vengeful spirits? You would not deal with such lowly creatures. With the inheritance of the Goddess of Death, once mastered, you would be akin to a minor deity of death! You could mold the souls of the dead with a mere thought! If you take the techniques in the inheritance a step beyond mastery, you could even rise again from death! And raise from the dead someone who had recently died! Let me tell you something, although this may sound harsh, so I apologize in advance. If you don''t accept this inheritance, you will lag far behind this young man here. I possess a meager ability of divination, and I have sensed that this young man''s destiny will be far beyond your own. You will eventually be left behind as he goes on to heights beyond a mere mortal''s reach unless you accept the Goddess''s inheritance!


    After hearing the Black Guard''s long speech, Su Bing was too stunned to speak. She stared blankly at him for a few moments before gradually awakening from her stupor. So, no ghosts?


    The Black Guard didn''t know whether to laugh or cry after hearing her question. He answered her after shaking his head in disbelief. No, there will be no ghosts.


    Um... okay, I''ll try accepting the inheritance.


    What a wonderful choice! And I''m not just saying that because my life is on the line, haha! Here, take this. The Black Guard held out a jade slip. This jade slip contains the Goddess''s inheritance. Place this against your forehead and infuse it with your Qi. The inheritance will be directly imprinted in your mind.


    Su Bing hesitantly reached for the jade slip. When her fingers accidentally brushed against the Black Guard''s fingers and passed through them, she shuddered. However, against all odds, she didn''t scream. Her tolerance for ghosts seemed to be improving.


    How does a piece of jade contain an inheritance?


    This piece of jade is what is called a Jade Scroll. It is used by cultivators to store knowledge and can be a very useful tool for passing on techniques.


    She held the Jade Scroll against her forehead and infused it with her Qi. The knowledge inside of this jade slip was immense, so it took more than a couple of minutes for her to absorb it all.


    ---


    It had been an hour since Su Bing started to inherit all of the knowledge inside the Jade Scroll, and she had still yet to inherit all of the knowledge contained inside. Everyone else used this extra time to get used to their new abilities, except Yin''er and Star, who ran off to play nearby. Galaxy, with some help from Sky, had begun the process of combining his Qi with the starlight energy in the hopes of acquiring the Starfire attribute. As for Jin Shu, he was currently inside his mind space. Sky had explained a bit more about how to effectively use his new ability, so he was trying out a new feature he had just learned of.


    Analyze model 1. Jin Shu spoke inside his mind. A mechanical voice responded.


    Analyzing model 1... error, unknown metal... updating database with host''s memories... update successfully completed... re-analyzing model 1... changing designation of model 1 based on host''s memories... model 1 designation changed to M1911... analysis complete... would the host like the analysis now? Or should it be saved?


    Now.


    Reading analysis... M1911: - class: runic weapon... sub-class: firearm... grade: peak low-grade... runes: lowest-grade durability, Qi circulation, explosion, sharpness... low-grade flame, wind... power: peak spirit-strengthening realm... material: Living Metal... material grade: unknown... material properties: can merge runes onto each other... recommendation: based on data of similar materials with similar functions, it is recommended that the host merge all runes into one rune. If the analysis is correct, the result will be a sum greater than their parts.


    This was the new feature that Jin Shu had just discovered. It allowed him to utilize what was essentially a computer program to analyze the 3D models in his mind space. Jin Shu found it to be quite futuristic compared to the world he was currently living in. However, he had admittedly only seen a minuscule fraction of the world and had no idea what lay beyond the boundaries of the lands he lived in.


    Before he could experiment more with this new feature, Jin Shu heard a cracking noise from behind him. He turned to see Su Bing shaking off broken pieces of jade from her hands.


    Was this supposed to break? she asked the Black Guard, who had been floating near her the entire time.


    Yes, that Jade Scroll was designed to be only one use to safeguard the Goddess''s inheritance. Now that you have inherited the Goddess''s techniques, our job is done. Now it is up to you to master those techniques, and when you are strong enough, you must travel to the Underworld and pay your respects to your master. As the Black Guard was speaking, both he and the White Guard slowly faded away. They had gone back to the Underworld, no doubt to report their mission successful.

 ●○—Update 2.0—○●

    I''m going to be upfront��I��m considering putting this novel on a short hiatus.


    Lately, I''ve been unhappy with the last few chapters, and writing has been a real struggle. I find myself staring at a blank page, unsure of what to put down. While I have plenty of ideas for the next arc, I��m having trouble bridging the gap in a way that feels satisfying.


    This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.


    So, I''m thinking about taking a month or so off from this novel. During that time, I��ll slowly work on the chapters until I��m more confident in them.


    However, this could just be in my head, so I��d love to hear from you, my readers. Have you been enjoying the novel, or do you think a break would help me improve it? Your comments would mean a lot to me.


    If you''re up for it, feel free to leave a review��whether it''s good or bad. I just want to know how the novel has been for you so far.


    On a side note, I��ll still be working on my other novel since I��ve been feeling much better about the chapters I��m writing for that one.

 27. Arriving in Misty Grove City

    Jin Shu was riding on the back of a pure black horse with a mane of dark blue flames. This wasn''t a new horse; this was the same horse��Galaxy��that he had been traveling with for the past few weeks. However, Galaxy''s previous mane of pink flames had become dark blue. This change was due to Galaxy breaking through into the Core Forging Realm. When a Flame-Maned Plains Runner is born, they have dark red flames, and as they advance in cultivation, their flames change color. As far as Jin Shu knows, their colors go: dark red, pink, dark blue, light blue, white, and black. These colors correspond to cultivation levels: Qi Gathering, Peak Qi Gathering, Core Forging, Peak Core Forging, Spirit Strengthening, and Peak Spirit Strengthening. As for colors beyond that, Jin Shu didn''t know, and when he asked Sky the previous day, she said she wanted to keep it a secret.


    Sky, I just remembered, didn''t you say that you knew something special about Su Bing? It wasn''t that she was about to become a Goddess''s disciple, was it? Jin Shu asked through Sky''s telepathic connection.


    Su Bing perked up from on top of Sky''s back. What? Sky knows something special about me?


    Yes, that''s right. I had forgotten in all the excitement yesterday. I will cut my connection with everyone and tell Su Bing first, and she can decide if she wants everyone else to know.


    Sky cut the telepathic connection with everyone except Su Bing, and they began conversing. Judging by her facial expressions, the news was at first surprising, and then near the end of their conversation, she had a beet-red blush covering her face from embarrassment.


    Sky reestablished the telepathic connection a short while later. Alright, Su Bing has agreed to let everyone know about her special secret.


    Just not the last part! Su Bing said hurriedly, still blushing in embarrassment.


    Don''t worry, I know. Sky continued. Su Bing is in possession of a special physique. Most people refer to special physiques as heaven-gifted physiques or heavenly physiques. The one that Su Bing was born with is known as the Nature''s Hidden Beauty Heavenly Physique. Her physique has yet to fully awaken, though it has shown signs of awakening. When it has fully awakened, she will be able to blend into nature and draw energy from all natural environments in a wide area around herself. Her natural beauty will have a strong mesmerizing ability on any intelligent beings who witness it. I suspect that the reason the Goddess of Death took Su Bing in as her disciple is that the Nature''s Hidden Beauty Heavenly Physique is a perfect fit for the Goddess''s techniques, as her techniques deal with souls and spirits, which are both a natural part of the world and intelligent beings.


    Oh, so that''s why I can''t sense Su Bing''s presence sometimes and why I lose track of my thoughts when I see her face?


    Yes, those are the signs of her awakening. A heavenly physique is split into four stages: the Pre-Awaken Stage, in which the physique starts showing signs of awakening; the Awoken Stage, where the physique is fully awakened and the holder of the physique will be able to exhibit wondrous powers; the Mastered Stage, where the powers that came with the Awoken Stage will be under the holder''s full control; and finally the Heavenly Stage, where the holder of the physique will gain access to a special technique tailor-made by the heavens themselves.


    ---


    Two travelers and their four animal companions were leisurely making their way down a stone-paved road that led to a city in the distance. The travelers could see the city lit up in the night.


    It had taken over six months since their journey began, and now the final destination of their long journey was just ahead of them.


    That should be Misty Grove City ahead of us!


    Let''s speed up so we can make it before sunset!


    With the speed of the horses, they arrived before the city gates in no time. As they arrived, they were stopped by a guard. "You all made it just in time. We were just about to close the gates. Fifty bronze for entry per person and one gold per Demonic Beast."


    Jin Shu handed the guard six gold coins.


    The guard stared at the coins with a troubled look. "I can''t give you any change for this extra gold, sir."


    "That''s fine, you can keep the extra. Do you have any recommendations for an inn to stay the night?"


    "Most of the popular inns have been booked up recently, as there''s going to be an auction soon. However, there was a new inn that just opened up not long ago. If you head straight east on the main road, you will eventually come to the auction house. Take the street to the right and walk to the end. There you will find the new inn."


    "It sounds like that inn is very close to the auction house. Is it not booked full?"


    "No, the new inn''s owner set the price very high. It is one gold a night, but seeing as you seem to have the gold to spare..."


    "Hmm, well that''s true. I don''t mind spending a gold a night, especially if I get the inn to myself. Thank you for the information. We''ll be on our way now."


    ---


    As they walked through the main street, they drew many strange looks from some of the people who were still moving around at night. The looks were mostly directed at the two large flaming horses and the one smaller flaming foal. Most people, especially common mortals who haven''t had much interaction with cultivators, aren''t used to seeing Demonic Beasts.


    They soon made it to the end of the main street, where they were met with a large auction house. There was a large sign hung over the gateway leading into the building that read, in large golden flowing letters, Misty Grove Auction House. Even though it was getting to be the middle of the night, there were still a lot of people hustling and bustling around the outside of the building. They were in the process of setting up decorations, likely for the grand auction soon.


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    Su Bing glanced at Jin Shu. "Would you like to attend the auction when it starts later?"


    "Sure, if we''re still in the city when it starts. However, we still need to find the tomb my grandfather spoke of."


    As they were speaking, they turned the corner and continued on their way to the inn. They didn''t make it very far before a drunk man stumbled out of a restaurant on the side of the street, tripping and falling directly in their path.


    "Which one of you tripped me?" the drunk man asked while his face was still planted on the ground.


    They tried going around the man; however, he suddenly reached out and grabbed Sky''s leg as she tried to step past him.


    "Sir, please let go," Su Bing asked the man politely as he tried to use Sky''s leg to pick himself back up from the ground.


    The drunk man looked up at Su Bing on Sky''s back. Due to Sky''s light red mane of flames, Su Bing looked as if she were cloaked in a set of red robes, and with her veiled face, she looked like a bride awaiting her groom. At least, that is what the drunk man thought as he said, "Oh, my darling bride has come to pick me up!"


    Galaxy snorted in anger when he saw the drunk man grabbing his wife''s leg. He stepped over the man and hoisted him up with his teeth by the man''s collar, swinging and throwing him to the side of the street. The drunk man rolled and ended up twisted like a pretzel. Luckily for the drunk man, he had already passed out before he was tossed.


    "Is it okay to leave him like that?" Su Bing asked as they walked away.


    "He''ll be fine."


    As they got further down the street, they heard some commotion from behind. They glanced back and could see some men untwisting the pretzel-shaped drunk man while hauling him up from the ground before rushing him off somewhere.


    Shortly after the incident with the drunk man, they arrived at their destination. It was a grand structure with sweeping, upturned eaves and intricately carved wooden beams. The roof was tiled with deep red clay, contrasted by golden accents. Red lanterns hung from the edges of the roof, softly illuminating the entrance with a warm, welcoming glow. Above the entrance hung a sign that looked very familiar to Jin Shu and Su Bing. The sign had beautiful calligraphy that read Lingling Inn.


    "This inn looks almost identical to Linglong''s inn. Even the name is similar," Su Bing mentioned as they climbed down from Galaxy and Sky''s backs.


    "Hmm, it does indeed look like Linglong''s." Jin Shu nodded in agreement.


    They couldn''t take the horses in with them as they were far too large to fit inside. Luckily enough, there was a stable off to the side of the inn. Galaxy and Sky slowly made their way towards the stable as Star pranced behind them. When they made it halfway, Galaxy''s silver wings extended from his back, and his flaming mane started to emit silver sparks that looked like little bits of starlight.


    Sky had been looking off to the side at the koi pond and garden next to the stables when she was startled by Galaxy''s sudden grandiose display. She looked at him and noticed he was staring at a fenced-off horse pen next to the stables, where there was a horse prancing. The horse looked like the cross between a dragon and a horse, with jade green scales instead of fur. It looked very similar to an ancient Qilin.


    She nipped him on the ear and said through their telepathic connection, Quit showing off!


    Galaxy neighed in pain, which caused the Qilin-like horse to glance over. When it saw the large black horse having its ear bitten by a smaller white horse, the Qilin-like horse couldn''t help but laugh. "Ehehe!" she laughed in the voice of a young woman, which meant she was either a Demonic Beast with a high level of cultivation or she was like Yin''er and had a special bloodline that had unlocked its spiritual consciousness early. Perhaps both were true.


    Meanwhile, Jin Shu, Su Bing, and Yin''er stepped into the front lobby of the inn. A bell chimed, and a voice that sounded quite familiar but with a slight lazy quality said, "Welcome to Lingling Inn. The price is one gold per night. If you can''t afford that, please find another inn."


    Jin Shu and Su Bing were stunned by who they saw behind the counter on the far side of the lobby. It was Linglong! She was even wearing the same outfit: a pink robe with a white apron wrapped around the front.


    "Big Sister Linglong!" Yin''er exclaimed happily and flew up to the young woman behind the counter.


    The young woman had been resting with her head in her arms against the wooden counter. However, she had slightly picked her head up to welcome her guests. When she saw the little silver fur ball that was Yin''er flying straight at her, she yelped and hid her head under her arms. "Ah! I''m sorry! Please don''t attack me! We can negotiate the price; I''ll consider taking ninety-nine silver instead of one gold!"


    Yin��er landed on the counter beside the young woman. She tilted her head in confusion and asked, "Big Sister Linglong? Don''t you remember Yin''er?"


    "Did you say Linglong?" the young woman asked as she peeked out from behind her arms.


    Yin''er took a step forward and sniffed the young woman. "You don''t smell like Big Sister Linglong, but you look like her."


    "That''s because I''m her sister, Lingling!"

 28. Tomb Raiders Of The Lost Ark

    The inn''s lobby was cozy, with warm wooden tones and soft lantern light casting gentle shadows. Lingling, still looking slightly startled from her encounter with Yin''er, quickly regained her composure. She smiled apologetically at Jin Shu and Su Bing as Yin''er floated curiously beside her.


    "I''m Linglong''s twin sister, Lingling," she explained with a soft chuckle. "We may look the same, but we''re quite different. Linglong is easily excitable and rambunctious, always running around, while I prefer... Well, let''s just say I enjoy the slower pace of innkeeping. It was originally my idea to start an inn, and then Linglong and my other sisters decided they wanted to try their hands at innkeeping as well."


    Jin Shu nodded, still slightly taken aback by the uncanny resemblance between the two sisters. "It''s a pleasure to meet you, Lingling. Your sister helped us quite a bit on our journey."


    "Yin''er likes Big Sister Linglong. She taught me what a handsome is! Look, this is my handsome daddy!" Yin''er exclaimed as she came down to rest on Jin Shu''s shoulder.


    "Haa... This one and your sister get along very well," Jin Shu sighed in exasperation.


    "I''m not surprised. They both seem to share a similar... attitude, among other things," Lingling replied with a soft chuckle, her eyes lingering on Yin''er as she alighted. "She loves pulling pranks, and I''m sure you were on the receiving end of those pranks. Anyway, make yourselves comfortable. You''re the only guests tonight, so you��ll have the place to yourselves."


    As they settled into their rooms, the night passed uneventfully. The inn was quiet, save for the distant sound of the city still bustling outside. Jin Shu lay in bed, his mind racing with thoughts of the tomb his grandfather had spoken of. Tomorrow, they would search for it.


    ---


    The next morning, Jin Shu found Lingling in the inn''s kitchen, brewing tea with a relaxed air. After exchanging pleasantries, he decided to ask her the question that had been on his mind.


    "Do you know of any tombs in this area?" Jin Shu asked as he poured himself a cup of tea.


    Lingling paused, her expression thoughtful. "Tombs, you say? Well, there is an old tomb located in the forest just outside the city. It''s not well-known��most people avoid it because of the eerie aura around it. But if you''re looking for a tomb, that''s the one I''d recommend."


    Jin Shu thanked her and quickly relayed the information to Su Bing. They decided to set out for the tomb immediately after breakfast.


    ---


    As they left the inn, the three horses meandered over from the stables. Jin Shu couldn''t help but notice the tension between Galaxy and Sky. The two horses were bickering through their telepathic connection, and it didn''t take long for Jin Shu to understand why.


    "Are you seriously still thinking about that Qilin horse?" Sky scolded, her mental voice sharp.


    "It was just a glance!" Galaxy defended himself, his tone exasperated. "She��s... interesting, that��s all."


    "Interesting? You were practically drooling over her!" Sky shot back, her mane flickering with irritation. "Get any dumb ideas out of your head right now! She''s young enough to be your daughter, plus I asked her last night, and she said she''s not interested in you!"


    "What!? I never had any of those kinds of thoughts! I promise." Although Galaxy acted a little frivolous, he was always loyal to his wife.


    Just as they were saddling up and about to set off, the Jadeite Qilin horse came trotting over from the stables. She came up beside Galaxy and Jin Shu.


    Sky gave Galaxy a nasty look, but he genuinely didn''t know why she had come over to him.


    The young Qilin horse looked up at Yin''er and asked in curiosity with the voice of a young girl, "You smell like Big Sister Linglong! Are you her daughter?"


    "No, Yin''er is Daddy''s daughter!" Yin''er said as she jumped down from Galaxy''s back and circled around the jade horse. "You are very pretty, Big Sister Horsie. Do you want to be Yin''er''s friend?"


    "Oh! I can be your friend!?" The jade horse jumped up, clearly excited about making a new friend. "I don''t have any friends other than my four sisters. I''ve always wanted more friends because my sisters can''t play with me."


    Inside the inn, Lingling glanced up from a book she was reading��with a cover that was partially obscured by her hand, however, the readable parts read: *Rise of the Four.* "Haa..." She sighed as if she could see through the solid walls.


    Back outside, Star whinnied nervously and asked to be friends with the jade horse as well. "C-can I be friends with y-you too?"


    The jadeite horse glanced down at the foal that was a head shorter than herself. She nodded vigorously. "Of course! You two can be this big sister''s little brother and sister!"


    "Um, how old are you?" Star asked, curious to know why she was calling herself their big sister.


    "I''m ten years old!" she said proudly, as if it was some kind of great achievement.


    Star reeled in shock. "I''m older than you! I''m twelve years old, I should be the big brother!" he said. His earlier nervousness had flown away.


    "But I''m taller, so I''m the big sister!" the jade horse retorted, sounding irritated.


    "Yin''er is two! But Yin''er is stronger than Star, so Yin''er is Star''s big sister!" Yin''er chimed in on the other two''s argument.


    "Wha! But...! Urgh!" Star wanted to argue against that; however, it was true that Yin''er was much stronger than him. He had only reached the 3rd stage of the Qi Gathering Realm, but Yin''er was already at the 3rd stage of the Core Forging Realm, an entire realm above him.


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    As the three little creatures argued playfully, they continued on their way, searching for the tomb outside of the city.


    ---


    After a few hours of searching, they found the tomb. It was hidden deep within the forest, nestled between ancient trees that towered over them like silent sentinels. The entrance was marked by a large stone archway, covered in moss and vines. The air around the tomb was thick with an eerie, almost oppressive energy.


    "This should be the place we''re looking for," Jin Shu murmured, his gaze fixed on the dark entrance.


    As they stepped inside, the air grew colder, and the light from the outside world seemed to fade away. Su Bing shivered but grit her teeth and bravely moved forward, even though she desperately wanted to avoid this creepy place.


    "Hopefully a large boulder doesn''t chase us down this flight of stairs!" Jin Shu joked, which provoked a strange look from Su Bing, as she didn''t understand the joke.


    They lit a few lanterns to guide their way through the winding passages. Eventually, they reached a large chamber, where a faint glow emanated from the center.


    Floating in the center of the room was a translucent figure, its form shifting between solid and ethereal. The spirit was tall and regal, with long flowing robes and a wise yet sharp gaze. Jin Shu wondered if this was the spirit his grandfather had spoken of.


    "Who dares enter my tomb?" The spirit''s voice echoed through the chamber, filled with ancient power.


    Jin Shu stepped forward, his voice steady. "My name is Jin Shu. My grandfather spoke of you. He told me you had sent him to find a genius capable of inheriting your great legacy. I am the genius that he had sent to honor his promise."


    The spirit''s eyes narrowed as he observed Jin Shu closely. Suddenly, his expression shifted from suspicion to curiosity. "You... your blood... your bones... They are not normal."


    Without warning, Long Qing began to circle Jin Shu, his divine sense probing every inch of Jin Shu''s body. Jin Shu tensed as he felt the spirit''s presence deep within him, poking and prodding at his very essence. There was an extremely painful sensation inside his body, as if something was scratching at his bones.


    "Argh! What are you doing to me!?" Jin Shu choked out as the pain continued to build, before abruptly disappearing as if it was never there.


    "Amazing... truly amazing!" the spirit exclaimed, his voice filled with wonder. "Your physique is unlike anything I''ve ever seen. Metal blood, metal bones... yet you are still human. Your pain tolerance is extraordinary. You are the perfect match for my Runic Arts!"


    Jin Shu winced as the spirit continued his inspection, but he gritted his teeth and endured the discomfort. The spirit seemed lost in his own excitement as he muttered to himself.


    "Normally, one can only inscribe a limited number of runes based on their pain tolerance and natural healing abilities... but you, Jin Shu, are different. Your body can handle far more than anyone else. And your bones... they can merge with the runes themselves!"


    "How did you know that?" Jin Shu asked incredulously.


    "Because I inscribed runes onto your bones. Don''t worry, though, I erased them, so they won''t affect you," the spirit explained. However, his explanation didn''t make much sense to Jin Shu. How could he inscribe runes onto his bones? And what was the significance behind such an act?


    Finally, the spirit stopped his probing and floated back, his expression one of deep satisfaction. "Very well, Jin Shu. I shall pass on my inheritance to you��the Runic Arts. This technique allows one to inscribe runes directly onto their body, using Qi to etch them into the skin and bones. And for someone like you, the possibilities are limitless."


    Jin Shu felt a surge of energy as the spirit reached his hand forward and placed it against his head. A rush of knowledge flooded into him. The Runic Arts were complex, yet they felt strangely familiar, as if they were meant for him. He could see the intricate patterns of the runes in his mind, each one a key to unlocking greater power.


    But there was more. The spirit revealed that the Runic Arts also allowed for the creation of new runes��runes that didn''t exist before. This was the true potential of the technique, and it was what had led to the spirit''s downfall.


    The spirit turned around, facing the ceiling with his arms akimbo at his sides, in what he believed to be an awe-inspiring pose. "I bet you''ve heard of me before. I am Long Qing! Once the greatest genius to grace these lands!" The spirit waited for their shocked voices to resound. However, when he didn''t hear anything, he turned back around.


    The two humans and one little tiger were just standing there, staring at him in confusion.


    "Don''t tell me you''ve never heard of me!? I was the Long Family''s greatest genius! I created most of the runes that have gotten popular over the years! You''ve really never heard of such a wonderful figure?"


    All three silently shook their heads. They had truly never heard the name Long Qing before.


    "Haa�� well, let me tell you about myself. I was born into the Long Family, but I couldn''t cultivate...


    That was when I attempted to create an Immortality Rune." Long Qing had given his entire life story, and now an hour later, he was finally at the end, his voice heavy with regret. "I wanted to grant immortality to all. But the heavens punished me for my hubris. My body was destroyed, and my soul was shattered. Yet, even in death, I persisted, waiting for someone worthy to continue my legacy."


    Jin Shu listened in silence, feeling the weight of Long Qing''s words. The power to create runes was incredible, but it also came with great risk. He knew that he would have to be careful, or he might suffer the same fate as Long Qing.


    "I''m curious. Is it possible to create a rune that would extend someone''s life without provoking the heavens?" Jin Shu asked a question that had come to mind after he learned about the Immortality Rune.


    "I''m unsure. I never attempted a rune like that myself, other than the Immortality Rune, that is." Long Qing responded with an intrigued look on his translucent face. "You can try to create one yourself if you''d like. However, I must warn you, if you feel a strong sense of foreboding, you must stop your attempt. Otherwise, you''ll end up like me. Having ignored the signs, I pushed that sense of foreboding away, and now look at me. You can tell that didn''t work out great, haha!"


    Finally, Long Qing''s form began to fade, his energy spent. "Jin Shu, you have the potential to achieve great things. But remember, power comes with responsibility. Use the Runic Arts wisely... and perhaps, one day, you will succeed where I failed."


    With those final words, Long Qing disappeared, leaving the three standing in the chamber, shocked. They didn''t expect Long Qing to disappear so suddenly and were unsure if he was truly gone.


    As they left the tomb, Jin Shu realized he had forgotten to ask Long Qing something. "Ah! I forgot to ask about the rune on your mask, Su Bing!"


    "Oh, I''d forgotten about that as well. However, you needn''t worry about it for my sake. I''m sure we can find a way to fix it in the future."


    "Didn''t the ghosty guy say that Daddy can make runes? Why doesn''t Daddy just make a new one?"


    Jin Shu and Su Bing stared wide-eyed at Yin''er. They were both stunned that she had thought of something so simple, yet it was the exact answer they needed.


    ---


    Back outside, the two adult horses were still bickering, but Jin Shu couldn''t help but smile. They had found the tomb, received the inheritance, and now, the next chapter of their journey awaited them.


    The Jade horse��Qi Lin, she was called. She had told them her name as they searched for the tomb��and Star came running up to them as they exited the tomb.


    "Big Brother Shu!" Qi Lin rubbed her snout up against Jin Shu''s chest. She was about two heads shorter than him, so that was where her head could reach. Otherwise, she may have rubbed up against his face.


    Qi Lin had taken an inexplicable liking to Jin Shu shortly after they met. He had asked her why, but she just replied that she didn''t know and just liked him a lot.


    "Let''s head back to the city," Jin Shu said, mounting Galaxy once more. "Maybe we can attend that auction when we get back."


    Su Bing nodded, a faint smile on her lips. "And perhaps you could create some new runes."


    As they rode off into the distance, Jin Shu couldn''t help but feel a sense of anticipation. The future was uncertain, but with the power of the Runic Arts, he was ready to face whatever challenges lay ahead.

 29. A Bid For The Future

    As they made their way back to Misty Grove City, the morning lights were cascading down a golden hue over the trees as they rode in silence, even the ever hyper Yin''er was being relatively quiet resting on Jin Shu''s shoulder, quietly humming a tune. Having received Long Qing''s inheritance, Jin Shu��s thoughts were drifting to the future. Now that this journey was coming to an end, he wasn''t sure what he''d do next, this was his second chance at life and he didn''t want to waste it. He was done fighting, and now he just wanted to enjoy a peaceful lifestyle.


    As they approached the gates, Jin Shu could see the city coming to life. Merchants were setting up their stalls, and people were already crowding the streets. The auction would begin soon, but for now, there was no need to rush.


    "Looks like we''re a bit early," Jin Shu noted as he saw a sign hung next to the auction house that listed the time the auction started. "Let��s drop off the horses at Lingling��s inn and freshen up before heading to the auction."


    Su Bing nodded, her mind seemingly elsewhere. She had been unusually quiet since they left the tomb, and Jin Shu suspected it had something to do with the spirit, Long Qing.


    If he could read her thoughts, he''d know that she was thinking about the inheritance she had gotten, and how it didn''t align with what she wanted, not entirely anyways, as it did have the blessing that allowed her strength to grow by killing. Although she didn''t want to go around killing people, she did want to experience the life her father lived, as a righteous assassin.


    Arriving at Lingling''s inn, they were greeted warmly. The cozy inn had an inviting atmosphere that made it feel like a second home. Lingling stood behind the counter, with a serene smile, and two steaming cups of freshly brewed tea.


    "I''ve just brewed some tea, would you like some?" she asked. "Given by your smile, I''d assume your trip went well?"


    "It went well," Jin Shu replied, smiling. "We found the tomb, and things... Well, they turned out interesting, to say the least."


    Lingling nodded knowingly, but she didn''t pry further. "Are you heading to the auction today?"


    "Yes, actually," Su Bing had sat down at the counter while sipping tea, she replied, having seemingly come out of her absent-mindedness. "We came back to leave the horses and freshen up."


    After settling their horses in the stables and taking a short break, Jin Shu approached Lingling before leaving. "Would you like to come with us to the auction? You��ve been so hospitable, it would be a nice treat."


    Lingling chuckled softly, shaking her head. "I appreciate the offer, but I''ll stay here. The inn needs tending, and besides, I��m not too fond of large crowds. I��m sure you��ll enjoy yourselves though."


    Jin Shu nodded in understanding. "We��ll see you later then."


    ---


    Arriving at the auction house, Jin Shu and Su Bing were met with a flurry of activity. The large building, ornately decorated with gold accents and crimson banners, was filled with cultivators and wealthy merchants. A servant greeted them at the entrance, bowing deeply.


    "Welcome to Misty Grove Auction House. Have you already purchased your tickets? Or would you like to purchase now?"


    "We do not have tickets. We��d like a private booth."


    The servant looked over them skeptically, they weren''t dressed in very noble clothing,  so he wasn''t sure they could afford the price of a private booth. ��A private booth costs one hundred gold, can you afford that?�� The servant said with a sneer forming on his lips.


    Jin Shu frowned, he didn''t like this man''s attitude, he silently pulled a bag of coins out of his space ring and tossed it toward the servant.


    The bag struck the servant''s chest, and fell to the ground. ��Led the way.�� Jin Shu said forcefully.


    The servant scrambled to pick the coins up from the ground where they had spilled before leading them to a secluded room with a perfect view of the auction floor. It was a quiet space, lined with velvet cushions and furnished with a low table. Yin''er flew around the room checking everything out, before becoming bored quickly when she couldn''t find anything fun. She came to float beside Jin Shu, her eyes wide with excitement as she peered over the balcony.


    The auction began soon after they had settled into their seats, the room filled with the murmurs of conversation quieted as the people seated in the crowd below, fixed their eyes on the stage as the auctioneer took his place.


    The first few items passed by without catching Jin Shu''s interest. But when a beautiful jade hairpin was brought out, his attention sharpened. The hairpin was not only exquisitely crafted but also imbued with a rare rune that increased the wearer''s cultivation speed.


    Jin Shu had come to realize after acquiring Long Qing''s inheritance that there was no set of runes that came with it, he would have to study the runes of others to learn and create new ones, so he wanted this rare rune to learn its properties. He also thought of his mother, Sun Mei''er. She was always looking for ways to increase her cultivation speed, and this would be perfect.


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    "And now, we have this one-of-a-kind jade hairpin," the auctioneer announced. "Starting at five Qi stones, or 250,000 gold!"


    Jin Shu��s eyes glinted as he leaned forward. This was the first item to cost Qi stones, the others had been bid on using silver and gold. Luckily he had a few Qi stones left from that strange skeleton he''d fought previously.


    ��Five Qi stones!�� He called out.


    "Five stones from the private booth number 3!" the auctioneer called out. Another bidder raised the price to six stones. The bids flew back and forth, and eventually, Jin Shu made his final bid of twelve Qi stones and 100,000 gold.


    This was essentially fourteen Qi stones, as the auction house allowed 50,000 gold to substitute one Qi stone. This was actually a fairly high price for this hairpin, however Jin Shu didn''t mind, he didn''t have as strong a need for the Qi stones as many others did.


    "Sold!" the auctioneer shouted, slamming down his gavel.


    Yin''er squealed excitedly. "Daddy, you won! But isn''t that hairpin for girls?"


    Jin Shu smiled, ��I bought it for my mother.�� He felt elated with the purchase, he knew his mother would love the jade hairpin, however he was thinking of making her one himself, and using this one to study the rune inscribed onto it.


    Su Bing giggled when she saw how happy he looked, she had noticed over the years she''d spent with his family, Jin Shu loved gifting his mother with ornaments and jewelry. She was positive that he gifted them for the sole purpose of receiving his mothers praise, and his mother always praised him endlessly, in those cases.


    After a few more items went by without peaking their interest, a set of cultivation techniques specifically designed for blacksmiths came up near the end. Jin Shu thought of his father, who had always been passionate about forging, and decided this would be an excellent gift.


    "This set of techniques, perfect for any cultivator with an interest in blacksmithing, starts at four Qi stones or 200,000 gold!" the auctioneer called.


    Jin Shu bid again, this time securing the technique for ten Qi stones and 50,000 gold. With both purchases complete, now having spent all of his Qi stones and most of the gold he brought he felt satisfied, ready to leave.


    ---


    As they exited the auction house, they noticed that the morning had transitioned into evening, they had spent an entire day attending the auction. Now the streets were alive with the sounds of the city''s nightlife. Jin Shu, Su Bing, and Yin''er were just about to head back to Lingling''s inn when a strange slurred voice called out.


    "Hey! Ib''s you!"


    Jin Shu turned to see a drunk man staggering toward them. His face was flushed, and there was a wild look in his eyes. It took Jin Shu a moment to recognize him as the man Galaxy had tossed like a ragdoll the night before.


    ��Oh! It''s the pretzel guy!�� Yin''er shouted, she had recognized the man as he looked like a pretzel after Galaxy tossed him.


    "You... You��re dat woman!" the man slurred, pointing a wobbly finger at Su Bing. "I saw you wast night... beautiful woman like you, you shoud talk ta me!"


    Yin''er giggled as she listened to the man''s slurred speech. ��Hehe! You sound funny!��


    Su Bing��s eyes narrowed in irritation, and she turned her back on him, clearly uninterested.


    "Leave her alone," Jin Shu warned, stepping forward.


    The drunk man��s face twisted with anger at being ignored. "You fink you��re too good for me, huh!?"


    Without another word, the man swung his fist toward Su Bing. But before the punch could land, Su Bing dodged effortlessly, her movements graceful as she sidestepped his clumsy attack.


    "You should leave before you regret it," she said coldly.


    But the man was too far gone in his drunken rage to listen. He lunged again, Jin Shu made to intercept him, but Su Bing was faster.


    She pulled out the baton that she kept in her sleeve, extending it with a flick of her wrist. She struck towards the man''s fist, blocking it with the tip of her baton, and by the sounds of the crunching that came from the man''s fingers, it seemed they had broken.


    "Next time, think before you act," Jin Shu said quietly, his tone laced with warning.


    The man groaned in pain as he lay sprawled on the ground. Yin''er, ever curious, floated down to look at him. "Silly man," she giggled. "You shouldn��t mess with Big Sister Bing-Bing!"


    Some men that looked like guards for the drunk man ran up, picking him up from the ground.


    Jin Shu expected them to start berating them, leading into a brawl, however contrary to his beliefs, one of the guards stepped forward and bowed to Su Bing.


    ��Thank you for showing leniency!�� The guard spoke with gratitude.


    ��You''re thanking me for beating that man up?�� Curious Su Bing asked.


    ��Ah, you probably don''t know as you aren''t from here, this man is the city lords second son. The city lord has specified that if he causes trouble we are only to step in if he''s about to die. He hopes that his son can snap out of his current state after suffering a few beatings.�� The guards turned out to be the city lords personal guards, and judging by the way the locals weren''t interested when they noticed who was laying on the ground, it seems what he said was true.


    ��Why would the city lord order his own son to be beaten?�� Jin Shu asked.


    ��Uh, he didn''t exactly order his son''s beatings, it''s just that his second son was once this city''s greatest genius, he had been a proud cultivator and the favored son, however when his mother died, he fell into despair, and wiles away his time drinking.�� The guard answered.


    ��Hmm�� Well, is there anything more you need from us?�� Jin Shu was initially excited after the auction and wanted to get back to the inn to study the rune on the jade hairpin he''d bought, before they''d been interrupted by this supposed city lord''s second son.


    ��Um, no you''re free to go, sir.�� The guard bowed again before turning and heading off after the other guards who''d taken the city lord''s son away for treatment.


    With the situation handled, Jin Shu and Su Bing walked away. As they made their way back to the inn, Jin Shu couldn''t help but feel a sense of accomplishment. The auction had gone well, the night was still young, and the future was bright with possibilities.

 30. A Lingering Thought

    Jin Shu sat in his room on the second floor of Lingling''s inn. He was in his mind space having what he called his rune system, analyzing the hairpin he had just won at the auction. He quite enjoyed this blessing, it wasn''t like those obnoxious systems he had read about in novels back on Earth. Instead it was more like a simple AI that processed information and delivered it straight to his mind.


    Reading analysis... Jade Hairpin: - class: runic accessory�� grade: mid low-grade... runes: mid low-grade cultivation rune - (increase cultivation speed by 25%)�� material: jade stone... material grade: low-grade... material properties: normal jade... recommendation: based on accessibility to higher quality materials and newfound knowledge of rune crafting, it is advised to recraft this accessory. By using material designation: Living Metal, and combining runes, it is predicted that a high grade artifact could be crafted.


    Hmm�� What runes should I use?


    It is advised that the host experiment on their own. Would you still like suggestions?


    No, you''re right. I shouldn''t rely on external assistance, I should experiment and learn on my own.


    Jin Shu left his mind space and focused on the jade hairpin set on the table in front of him. Normally I would craft a mold and remake this hairpin, however, I wonder what would happen if I coat it in Living Metal? Would it still function? Or would it ruin it? Only one way to find out.


    He cut the palm of his hand and let the silver blood flow into the hairpin. His blood moved on its own, perfectly encasing the hairpin. He was surprised when that happened. That''s the first time I''ve seen it do that, granted I haven''t really experienced using it much.


    After a couple of seconds passed the Living Metal hardened on its own. He picked it up and had the rune system analyze it again.


    Reading analysis... Living Metal Coated Hairpin: - class: runic accessory�� grade: mid-grade... runes: mid low-grade cultivation rune�� material: Living Metal covered jade stone... material grade: unknown + low-grade... material properties: unknown, possible strengthening of base material... recommendation: Insufficient data.


    ��Huh���� Jin Shu spoke aloud, stumped by the rune systems analysis.


    Jin Shu turned the Living Metal coated hairpin over in his hand, inspecting it from every angle. The jade shimmered faintly beneath the silver, giving the artifact a unique aesthetic. Despite the uncertainty in the rune system��s analysis, he could feel a subtle shift in the energy it radiated.


    "Well, that didn��t go as planned, but it��s still progress." Jin Shu muttered.


    He set the hairpin back down and leaned back in his chair, staring at it in contemplation. "Strengthening the base material... What could that mean? Is it reactive to different energies? Or maybe the metal itself has properties I haven��t unlocked yet."


    Jin Shu��s thoughts turned back to his blood��the Living Metal. It had always been a strange gift, one that seemed to have a mind of its own. He wasn��t entirely sure of its origins, only that it appeared after he reincarnated into this world. And though it had saved his life on more than one occasion, there was still much he didn''t understand about it.


    "Guess there''s no choice but to experiment." First he tested its strength, he applied pressure to the tip, so that if it broke it wouldn''t affect the rune.


    Even after using most of his strength on the tip of the hairpin, where it should have been weakest, it didn''t snap. ��Its resilience definitely increased.��


    Next he tested if the cultivation rune still functioned. Sitting cross-legged he breathed in the natural Qi in the air. According to the analysis the rune should increase cultivation speed by 25%. While he circulated his Qi and drew in more Qi from outside he experienced a noticeable change in his Qi gathering speed, however he couldn''t tell if it was more or less than 25% faster. At least the rune still functions.


    It was clear to him that while the Living Metal had enhanced the physical qualities of the hairpin, it was far from unlocking its true potential. If anything, it felt like the accessory was half-awake, waiting for something more.


    "Looks like I��ll need to dive deeper into rune crafting after all," he thought aloud, already planning his next steps. With the right combination of runes, there was a chance he could create something groundbreaking.


    Stolen story; please report.


    The rune system��s earlier recommendation played back in his mind: Based on newfound knowledge of rune crafting...


    ��I guess that��s my cue to learn more.��


    He spent the entire night experimenting with rune combinations, now that he had the ability to modify the runes he inscribed.


    The combination that he finally settled on was the original Cultivation Rune, a Qi Circulation Rune, and a Wind Rune. According to the rune system, this combination increased the speed of cultivation by 40%! And that was just using what it called Low-grade runes. If he could make higher grade runes, that percentage could increase exponentially.


    ��


    Night turned to morning, and Jin Shu had moved on to practicing his new cultivation technique.


    ��Argh!�� Jin Shu shouted in pain as he used his Qi to inscribe runes directly onto his bones; this process was excruciatingly painful.


    He was inscribing Flame Runes on his finger bones. He was doing this to see if he could increase the power of his Phoenix Claw Technique by using the flames of the rune.


    He had the brief and insane thought of using Explosion Runes in conjunction with the Flame Runes, but he''d rather not blow his hands off�� again.


    When he finished inscribing his last finger, he moved on to a new rune he had learned from Long Qing''s Runic Arts. The Body Forging Rune��the effect of the rune was to double the strength of the body��it was meant to be inscribed directly onto the muscles in his abdomen, just beneath the skin.


    ��Ah! Shit, so painful!�� Having to inscribe directly on his muscles was even more painful then on his bones, not to mention it was dangerous, it was possible that his muscles could be severed if he wasn''t careful.


    Jin Shu''s forehead was drenched with sweat as he pushed through the excruciating pain of inscribing the Body Forging Rune. His breathing became labored, each breath a struggle to keep his focus sharp and prevent any mistakes. The rune burned into his flesh, its intricate patterns glowing faintly as his Qi wove into the muscles beneath his skin.


    He clenched his teeth and pressed on. There was no turning back now.


    As the final lines of the rune settled, a sudden surge of power coursed through his body, radiating from his core. His muscles felt like they were being torn apart and reforged simultaneously, each fiber vibrating with newfound strength.


    "By the heavens��" Jin Shu gasped, collapsing onto the floor. His body convulsed as the rune took hold, integrating with his muscles. It was agonizing, but beneath the pain, he could feel the difference. His body was becoming more resilient, stronger than before.


    For several minutes, he lay there, panting heavily, waiting for the pain to subside. His fingers twitched slightly as he tested the new strength in his body, the muscles beneath his skin tightening and loosening at his command.


    "That... was something else." He slowly sat up, his body still trembling from the ordeal. The rune had indeed worked, doubling his physical strength, but the cost had been immense. He felt utterly drained, his Qi nearly depleted from the process.


    Why am I putting myself through this pain? If I just cultivate normally, after a few years I should be decently strong. He was in so much pain, his determination began to waver. No! I pushed myself through rigorous military training, this little bit of pain is nothing!


    Gritting his teeth, he pushed himself back onto his feet, determined to keep moving forward. His cultivation path was anything but easy, but that was the way of this world��strength came through suffering and perseverance.


    As the pain faded to a dull ache, Jin Shu flexed his fingers and admired the faint glow of the Flame Runes on his bones. He could already feel the fiery power waiting to be unleashed in his next fight.


    Testing it would have to wait, though. His body was too fragile at the moment, and any reckless use of the new runes could lead to disastrous consequences. Jin Shu had learned that the hard way in the past, and he wasn��t eager to repeat those mistakes.


    "Step by step," he reminded himself. "There��s still a long way to go."


    He glanced at the Living Metal hairpin resting on the table, still shimmering faintly under the morning light. The possibilities it held were endless. With more research into rune crafting, combined with the unique properties of his blood, Jin Shu knew he could push the limits of what was possible in this world.


    But for now, he had to let his body recover. The pain from inscribing the runes had taken its toll, and he needed rest before continuing his experiments.


    Jin Shu sighed, heading to his bed. ��Later, I��ll begin testing the limits of these new runes. But for now�� I need sleep."


    As he lay down, his thoughts drifted to his long-term goals��mastering rune crafting, and unlocking the full potential of the Living Metal.


    Just before sleep claimed him, a lingering thought surfaced: Who��or what��granted me this mysterious second chance?


    Unbeknownst to Jin Shu, his blood stirred with a hidden power at the very notion.

 Announcement: Story Rewrite

    I��ve hit a significant creative block, and after much thought, I��ve decided I can��t continue this story as it currently stands.


    This was my first attempt at writing a story. At first, I thought no one would ever see it, and I didn��t have any real plans for it. Honestly, I was probably going to stop after a few weeks��but somehow, it gained viewers, and I managed to write a chapter every day. Over time, I wanted to improve my writing and, looking back, I realized that I��d created something I wasn��t happy with. Without structure, I threw out ideas at random, which left me struggling to follow through on those ideas, and it became increasingly stressful.


    I really wanted to push through and get to the next arc, which I��ve actually planned out better. But in the end, I just can��t do it in the current version.


    So, since I truly love this story, I��ll be doing a full rewrite��from the ground up.


    If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    In the meantime, if you enjoyed the original, I��d love to hear what you think should be kept in the rewrite and what you��d like to see changed.


    Please leave a comment with your thoughts!


    If you��d like, you can follow my Patreon</a> (click here!) where I��ll post work-in-progress updates of the rewrite every few days. (You can join for FREE��no money needed!)


    Thank you for reading and supporting my dumb little story! I hope you��ll enjoy the rewrite even more.

 Yay an update!

    Sorry, I''ve been LOA for so long on this story.


    I will hopefully start posting the story again sometime next month. But, in the meantime, I figured if anyone is still here after so long I''d let you guys get involved with the creation of this story''s rewrite. So, below will be a poll in which you can vote on some things I will either add or remove from the story.


    This is my first time trying to make a multiple choice poll so I''m unsure whether or not it will work... ??


    The option are these:


    - Harem. If [Yes]. You would like Jin Shu to aquire many female companions. So far I have two candidates planned, but this can be easily changed to be more or less.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.


    - Harem. If [No]. You would like there to be only one female lover. He would still have female traveling companions but only one true love interest later in the story.


    - In-depth crafting. If [Yes]. You would like to see very In-depth crafting processes. This includes both blacksmithing and runesmithing.


    - In-depth crafting. If [No]. The crafting process would be glazed over so the action can start sooner.


    - In-depth cultivation. If [Yes]. Similar to In-depth crafting. Jin Shu��s learning and practicing of cultivation techniques will be thoroughly explained.


    - In-depth cultivation. If [No]. Cultivation will be glazed over so action can start sooner.


    Feel free to comment any and all other suggestions on things you''d like to see and others you wouldn''t like to see.


    BTW! Thank you for reading and waiting patiently for my story! ??

 Im Back And I Brought A Gift! &#x1F381;

    Hello everyone!


    I am sorry for my long absence ???��?


    But I come barring great news! My new (this story''s rewrite, but essentially new) story is officially set to release on the Tenth of February!


    <em style="box-sizing: border-box">The Blurb:


    He Brought a Gun to a Sword Fight.


    A life was tempered in the forge of struggle��an orphan fighting to survive, a soldier battling an alien plague, a protector who gave his life for those too weak to defend themselves.


    But death wasn��t the end of his war.


    Reborn in a world of immortal cultivators and ancient secrets, Jin Shu finds himself as the eldest son of the Jin family, masters of runesmithing. Armed with his modern military knowledge and an arsenal of runic-enhanced weapons, he��s ready to take on anyone who dares threaten his new life.


    This second life offers more than just battles. It��s an opportunity to experience parts of existence he never thought possible: the warmth of family, the joy of raising an adorable tiger cub who sees him as her father, even love.


    Now that he has felt the warmth of love, nothing in heaven or earth will stand in his way. Be it God, Buddha, or Demon, all will come to know the wrath behind the smoking barrel of his gun.


    <hr style="box-sizing: border-box; overflow: visible; border-right-width: 1px; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-left-width: 1px; border-color: rgba(242, 242, 242, 1); color: rgba(51, 51, 51, 1)">


    This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    <h3 style="box-sizing: border-box; clear: both; margin: 14pt 0 4pt; padding: 1.5em 0 0; color: rgba(51, 51, 51, 1); font-size: 1.125rem; font-weight: 300">What to Expect:


    <ul style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0; padding: 0 0 0 25px; list-style-position: initial; list-style-image: initial; color: rgba(51, 51, 51, 1)">


    <li style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style-type: disc; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: bold; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline">


    Xianxia Meets Modern Weaponry (Powered by runic magic!)


    </li>


    </ul>


    <ul style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0; padding: 0 0 0 25px; list-style-position: initial; list-style-image: initial; color: rgba(51, 51, 51, 1)">


    <li style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style-type: disc; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: bold; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline">


    High-Octane Action and Hilarious Moments


    </li>


    </ul>


    <ul style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0; padding: 0 0 0 25px; list-style-position: initial; list-style-image: initial; color: rgba(51, 51, 51, 1)">


    <li style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style-type: disc; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: bold; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline">


    A Tiger Cub So Cute, She��ll Steal Your Heart


    </li>


    </ul>


    <ul style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0; padding: 0 0 0 25px; list-style-position: initial; list-style-image: initial; color: rgba(51, 51, 51, 1)">


    <li style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style-type: disc; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: bold; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline">


    Guns, Guns, and More Guns! (Did I mention sound effects? Bang! Boom!)


    </li>


    </ul>


    <ul style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0; padding: 0 0 0 25px; list-style-position: initial; list-style-image: initial; color: rgba(51, 51, 51, 1)">


    <li style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style-type: disc; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: bold; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline">


    An OP MC with a Purpose (Because pulling the trigger isn��t always enough)


    </li>


    </ul>


    <ul style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0; padding: 0 0 0 25px; list-style-position: initial; list-style-image: initial; color: rgba(51, 51, 51, 1)">


    <li style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style-type: disc; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: bold; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline">


    The First 100k+ is Written & Posted to Patreon.


    </li>


    </ul>


    If you love explosive battles, heartfelt moments, and a touch of the absurd, this story is for you.


    Thank you for reading��or even just clicking!


    Additionally the first fifteen chapters are free on my Patreon along with the first 60+ chapters with new chapters coming on the Tenth! Click Here > Patreon</a>

 New story!

    This story''s rewrite is officially launched!


    Find it here: Runes ? Rifles ? Reincarnation</a>


    Thank you to all the ones that read this atrocious first attempt at a story. (Please bleach your eyes if you had...)The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.


    I promise that this rewrite is 1000% better! (Though it doesn''t follow the same exact story. It is much closer to the story that I truly wanted to write when I began to write this story 6-7 months ago)


    I''d like to shamelessly ask that you go over to the new story and give it a read as a birthday present to me! (It��s my birthday today: February 10th)