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Chapter 123 – A Brat, a Bounce, and a Butt
🕑 Added 2024-10-27 23:16:43 +0000 UTCYang Ru had cultivated for two straight days as if his life depended on it because, in at least a couple of ways, it did.
For one, he was the sect’s protector. Everyone was depending on him to take out the threats Master didn’t have time to kill during the beast tide. Yang Ru was determined to fulfill that role whether he was ready or not. If he died in the process, so be it.
Second, his sister and his perhaps future fiancé had become fast friends, spending literally every second together, and he was determined to go with them the next time they went hunting. They’d be forced to accept his presence if Master assigned him to their group.
At the beginning of the third day, his hard work paid off. He reached Foundation Establishment, triggering a profound sense of accomplishment. According to people he’d talked to at the Poison Claw Sect, that realm was where one’s cultivation journey truly began. Everything that came before might as well be a child playing at being a cultivator.
He didn’t even mind the stink as his body shed its impurities. Every tiny bit of the putrid mess was another sign of him getting stronger, of his ability to fill his role properly.
Master had shown up soon after and tossed a small metal ball at the stinky bamboo hut. The structure had just disappeared along with a layer of topsoil. Acting like what he had just done was commonplace, Master explained the basics of techniques for external qi manipulation, typical among them being attack, shield, and movement.
“I know what I want, Master.”
He looked surprised. “That’s good. Usually, you want my recommendation.”
True. But Yang Ru felt that he was growing as a cultivator and as a man. He was ready to make his own choices, and he’d thought a lot about this one.
“I want a movement technique that channels qi into each step to build momentum, Master.”
“Momentum, not heat?”
“Yes, Master.”
His eyes made a movement like he was reading something unseen, a motion all the disciples were well used to. “Hmm. Low viscosity lava flowing down Mount Burning Thunder. We’ve always talked about how a great mass of molten rock flowing downhill would become unstoppable, but I never thought of you having a dual aspect. I guess, though, that it is what you think it is. You’re sure that momentum resonates with you?”
“Yes, Master.”
Yang Ru had built his entire combat style around momentum. Truthfully, he never even considered heat or fire as something to worry about.
“Okay. That…” Master’s eyes moved rapidly again. “Works. Good job. I hadn’t even thought about that part of your aspect at all.” He paused. “What next?”
“I want to be able to transfer all the momentum I build up to my opponent through the tip of my spear, Master.”
Never again would Yang Ru end up on his butt because of bouncing off an enemy. If anyone or anything was going to yield, it would be his opponent.
“That’s going to leave you awfully exposed to damage.”
Yang Ru shrugged. “That’s why I have Body Cultivation and Stone Skin, Master.”
Master grimaced. “That’s probably fine against beasts, but you’ll be very vulnerable to qi-based attacks.”
Yang Ru grunted.
“Okay. It’s your call. I would highly suggest you take a shield as your third technique as soon as you get these two to Small Success.”
“Yes, Master.”
“The other big weakness in your build is that you’ll be dependent on one big attack instead of a lot of small ones. I mean, you can build up some momentum swinging your spear, but that’s not going to do much to penetrate a beast’s qi shield.”
Yang Ru grunted. He was not nearly an expert regarding combat abilities, but it seemed to him that developing a cohesive fighting style during Foundation Establishment required many techniques, up to a half dozen or more. No matter what two he started with, there would be weaknesses.
“On the other hand,” Master said, “the combination of those two skills will be powerful. You’ll be able to punch above your weight class once you get enough practice. Heck, if you can get up enough of a running start, you might even be able to one shot a rank six even while you’re still in the first minor realm. With Yang Xiu able to pepper beasts with a lot of smaller attacks, you being able to finish big threats actually fills a hole. That’s pretty smart of you. I like it.”
Master reached for his necklace.
Yang Xiu was never one to keep a secret or to refrain from talking about anything, really. So Yang Ru knew about the gift of a storage ring. He tried to act surprised but was almost positive Master caught on.
Still, it was definitely an impressive gift. Most of the Poison Claw Sect members had to save up a long time to buy theirs.
On top of that extravagance, the ten spirit coins given to him represented a treasure worth almost as much as the entire town where Yang Ru grew up, and he was glad he was forewarned about receiving them so he could keep his composure.
Master’s eyes made that movement again, and he pulled three jade slips and three pills from his ring. “Here you go. Consolidate your gains first, then the pills, and then cycle the cultivation method at least once. After that, what to practice and when and how to balance that against cultivation is up to you.”
“Gratitude, Master.”
“Gratitude to you, Yang Ru. I’m truly proud of you. You’re doing a great job. I couldn’t ask for a better disciple.”
Yang Ru cupped his hands, and Master soon Quickstepped away.
Left in the backyard of the temporary Alchemy Pavilion, Yang Ru returned to his house and quickly sunk into a lotus position and started meditating. Consolidating his gains went well, taking about an hour and a half.
Feeling really good, he went to the Guard House to take the pills Master had given him. Since Yang Xiu had already gone through that process, too—a fact that annoyed him to no end—he knew what to expect. As she’d told him, expanding his qi pool hurt, but it didn’t even come close to how bad improving his spiritual roots had felt.
The three pills worked faster, too, completing their job in a little over an hour whereas that first pill hadn’t even taken effect by that point.
He returned to the house he shared with Yang Xiu. Proving there was no end to the awkwardness his sister could cause him, Kang Lin was sharing a bedroom with her.
Even though there was an entire guest house reserved for all six of their allies, his sister had decided that the girl who might end up as his fiancé and who he could barely manage to say two words to just had to stay with them.
Had to. His sister wouldn’t accept no for an answer.
It was evening by that point, and Yang Ru tried to ignore the two of them whispering in Yang Xiu’s bedroom, just loud enough to be heard but not loud enough for him to be able to make out any of the words. She was an expert on perception, and he was positive she knew exactly how much volume to apply to her voice to achieve that effect.
For all that he held his sister to be dear, she could be a brat.
Luckily, all he needed to do was to complete a single cycle to step fully into the first minor realm of Foundation Establishment, and that task was fairly easily accomplished. He hadn’t fully appreciated just how straightforward Master’s cultivation methods were until he’d heard some of the Poison Claw Sect members talking about their struggles.
Kang Lin had barely managed a handful of cycles, and she’d been in the realm for over a month.
His much more difficult undertaking that night was learning the two techniques. A big problem with his approach was that both were really meant to be used together. One without the other was not quite worthless, but the combined value greatly exceeded the sum of the parts.
Yang Ru spent the rest of the night trying and failing to use either of them. That was okay, though. He would persevere. And he would be amazing. Eventually.
###
Benton met the three kids at the siblings’ house early the next morning. Since they each were strong enough to fight higher ranked beasts, he’d promised to give them an early ride to the Wood, so they wouldn’t have to wait on the excruciatingly slow pace of the rest of the sect members.
Unfortunately, they weren’t quite ready when he arrived.
Well, Yang Ru was, but the girls weren’t. That was okay, though. Benton had built up an entire lifetime’s worth of patience for such things, mainly generously taught to him by Evelyn as she prepared for their nights out on the town.
The fact that only one of the three was ready actually worked out well since he couldn’t easily transport all of them at once without one of them climbing on his back or taking an equally undignified position. He Quickstepped Yang Ru to the Wood and returned to the house.
As Benton waited, he mentally reviewed all the gains he’d made of the last several days.
Besides Yang Ru gaining him three points for advancing to Foundation Establishment and another two for reaching minor realm one, he’d gained another fifty as a new batch of villagers learned to cultivate.
For techniques, Ye Zan’s guards all hit Small Success with their supplementary techniques, earning him back seventeen Sect Points, and Yang Xiu also hit Small Success with Slippery Arrow, a remarkable feat considering how little time it took her. She truly was an amazing talent.
Body Cultivation still provided a good benefit as well, with the twenty village guards hitting Bronze minor realm four and the additional twenty volunteers hitting minor realm three.
All told, he earned one hundred fourteen points, giving him thirty-six to spend when combined with the ones he held over from last time. He first pulled the trigger on buying his Concept of Healing as the diagnosis and repair of living bodies all the way to Mastery. Next, inspired by Yang Ru’s very clear idea of Momentum, Benton bought that Concept to Mastery, leaving him four points to spend later.
His Shop Point total had also increased greatly by the addition of the fifty new villagers. Additionally, Yang Ru advancing had filled the requirements of the repeatable Advance Additional Foundation Establishment Disciple Quest, earning a Shop Point that offset one of the two spent increasing the boy’s qi pool size.
Benton pulled up his status.
By the time he’d finished all that, the girls were ready, and he Quickstepped them to where he’d left Yang Ru.
As the three of them arrived, the boy was full stride running toward one of the Orange Vigor Spirit Wood trees with his spear held ready. They watched him hit the trunk and bounce back, landing on his butt.
He grunted, got up, retreated, and did it again.
Neither Benton nor the two girls said a word.
Deciding that discretion was the better part of valor, Benton grabbed the girls’ hands and Quickstepped to another part of the forest.
“What was that?” Kang Lin said.
Yang Xiu shook her head. “I have no idea. Maybe we should lay off our teasing. I think it might be getting to him.”
Benton schooled his face into his wisest expression as he tried not to laugh.
Comments
BWFoster78 Last
It has. I missed that on the status. Thanks for pointing that out.
ShadeByTheSea
I thought analysts had become a foundation tier technique.
BelligerentGnu
What Ru needs next, I think, is a combat style that lets him fight like Butterbean at his most dominant. Just attack glowing into attack into attack, using momentum to prevent the opponent from having any chance to counter.
