Druidic Cultivation | Fifty

Sect life starts next chapter.

* * 

Eventually, Feng Jiao managed to escape the ire of the ever grudge-holding Elder Nufang, regaining his ability to sleep at night. Funnily enough, however, he found that his body had begun to function on much  less sleep than it used to. He’d find himself awake in the middle of the night, unable to sleep, and would just slip out of the tent she shared with Duan Cao and Wang Jing to meditate. 

The radius of his spiritual sense increased from twenty feet to nearly fifty, as well as allowing him to feel disturbances in the air as well as the grass, although the grass was much clearer. His Wood dantian was filled up once more but he continued to drain plants and fill it, unable to climb past the last barrier that would allow the gaseous Qi to form a liquid within his spiritual body. The same thing applied to his Yang dantian, although there he felt that he’d just need to compress it much more for it to work.

Both Duan Cao and Wang Jing had managed to, with Feng Jiao’s guidance, step into the third step of mortal awakening as well as into the fourth step. He was careful not to impart on them his understandings of Aideen’s specific cultivation technique that would aspect their Qi, but instead he just gave them general advice about breathing, circulation efficiency techniques, as well as mental imagery to use while cultivating. Although they may not sound like much, just these things allowed the girls to speed up their cultivating speeds. 

Jiao also slowly learned what it meant to ‘make friends through fists’, getting to know his new friends Xin Lee, Jixiang Yun, and his cousin Feng Lou. Apparently, if one wanted to make close male friends, they just had to fight it out. Ignoring the fact that Xin Lee never actually battled Feng Jiao, having conceded instantly, Jiao was proud to have figured out how to make friends without Aideen’s handholding. The four of them, as well as Bai Fu, would frequently exchange pointers and spar during travel. Jixiang Yun even ended up sitting in on a couple of Jiao’s meditation sessions with the girls. 

It was like this that Feng Jiao and company finally arrived at the base of the mountain range that contained the God Tree Grove, a soon to be top-tier sect within their kingdom, five months later. In a month, Feng Jiao would be turning eleven but he’d already reached the peak of Awakening. Anybody who heard this would think that he was pampered, had taken countless precious pills, or was a monster taken human flesh. Even the Cao and Jing’s progress as mid-grade five talents, at least according to just their martial spirit rankings, was monstrous. 

With the exception of Jixiang Yun, Cao, and Jing, everybody in their little group had managed to reach the ninth-step of Mortal Awakening. From that point on, it was up to them to create opportunities for themselves as well as cultivate diligently if they wanted to advance any further. Even getting as far as opening every meridian was farther than the average human in their country reached. 

“Group up every one, we will be staying in town tonight. We’re still a couple days away from the sect going by the group’s speed, but I will explain the way the faction functions now to save you all grief when we arrive. Know that I don’t have to do this and that most elders don’t take the time out of their day to educate new arrivals. I’m doing this out of the kindness of my heart.” Elder Nufang Mudan gathered all the children as they approached the mountain. 

True to her word, they could see the walls of a town at the base of a mountain several miles away. So long as they kept the pace they’d had the entire journey, they should be inside the walls before the sun set. Several of the children got excited. Although they’d all managed to craft a tent of some sort at this point and bathed when ever camped by a river, everyone looked forward to a bath and a bed.

“The first thing I’ll say is that this town ahead of us is as far as servants will go. Both myself and the God Tree are grateful for the escorts, both for the protection and deterrence provided in numbers, but now that the kids have arrived they no longer belong to their families. Each of them must start their journey on their own, no family servants allowed. You can petition to become a servant of the Grove, but it is not likely to happen. Likewise, you can pursue jobs in town here and, when the disciples earn visitation privileges, you can speak to them then.

“The rest I need to explain is sensitive information. We’ll go over it after departing from the town tomorrow morning.” Nobody seemed surprised by her dismissal of the guards who’d escorted the group so far. She’d mentioned several times throughout the half year, as well as before they departed Willow Mountain City, that they would not be a permanent addition to the entourage. 

Elder Nufang gave the children all the name of the sect-owned Inn that they’d be residing in that night before giving the children free reign of the town. Over the last few months of travel, the children had naturally split themselves up into several little cliques based on just about anything, be it the attribute of their marital spriits, which part of the coutnry side they came from, or even just what jobs they did (hunters, cookers, ect.). Of all the groups, Feng Jiao’s probably had the most diversity amongst them.

Those many cliques all shuffled off on their own to explore the town, excited to be in civilisation for longer than a passing glance for the first time in months. The town itself was called Forsyningsby and had been established by past sect members who had no place to return to after not making the cut to join the sect as an elder. Its biggest trade was actually supplying the sect with the various products that they were unable to produce inhouse as well as selling treasures and artifacts to current diciples.

Looking around, Jiao and company discovered that whereas the town would accept coins, the largest and most efficient currency for purchasing anything was spirit stones and merit points. There were artifact pavilions, alchemists,  auction houses, and just about anything else one could think of located in town. Several of the stores were even run by current disciples of the sect. Jiao, Cao, and Jing spent the last couple hours of sunlight browsing but not buying anything before returning to the Inn, the others in the group had set off on their own long ago. 

‘I’m almost there,’ Jiao found himself excited and nervous about the prospect of joining the sect after so much time. Although he wouldn’t say he was homesick, Jiao was naturally apprehensive about diving into such a large institution as a child. Would he be able to grow and shine or would he be one of the faceless masses, marginalized like a side character in a novel, unable to develop and forced to retire to a town of rejects like most of the shopkeepers there. 

Before he realized it, he was back in his room which he was sharing with his cousin Feng Lou, Xin Lee, and Jixiang Yun. Duan Cao and Wang Jing ended up sharing a room with Bai Fu and one random girl. Jiao vaguely remembered her as one of the many cooks and had been told her name on more than one occasion but found himself drawing a blank when he tried to remember what it was. Everyone had their problem areas and Jiao’s was probably putting a name to a face.

“Jiao, we’re heading down to the bathes. Apparently this mountain range is famous for their relaxing natural springs, some sort of warm underground river that traces the range. Anyways, there is a naturally heated bath around back, meet us down there!” Xin Lee shouted on his way out of the door with Yun. Jiao decided that it sounded like a nice distraction to help him relax and quickly prepared his things before chasing after them.

“Where did they go?” Although Jiao only took a few moments to grab a towel and strip, the two other boys had managed to vanish entirely. Their room was even at the end of the hall! “Did they really just run to the bathes?” Jiao walked toward the staircase shaking his head at their childish antics before remembering that they were, in fact, children. From time to time, Jiao forgot that he was technically ancient. During his time as a tree, months felt like hours and years passed like days.

This was something he realized after reincarnating as trees did not track time the same way that humans did, they didn’t feel the passage of seconds when they naturally lived for hundreds of years. Even Jiao did not know how old his soul was. Living as a human felt much different though and, considering it wasn’t really possible for him to emotionally mature as a tree, he felt it was easier to track his age by his current life, even if he acted differently than other eleven year old boys. 

After descending the stairs, Jiao walked to the back of the hallway, away from the entrance, and ended up finding a room filled with lockers and benches. Wishing he’d known that there was a locker room so that he could have brought clothes along, Jiao passed by and left through the door. 

Immediately, Jiao’s vision was restricted by a warm and damp mist that seemed to loiter in the summer night. Breathing it in, he felt like it cleansed his airways and loosened his muscles. If just the air was this relaxing, Jiao couldn’t wait to get in the water. With feet slapping on the wet stone slabs, he walked forward and managed to fumble his way to one of the steamy pools, dropped his towel, and climbed in. 

The hot bath felt like it possessed hands, constantly kneading and massaging away at his muscles that were sore from months of walking and sleeping on the ground. He hadn’t realized just how tense he was from his first time living in the wild until he was forced to let out one of the loudest, and most content, sighs in his life as he stretched his toes out in the warm water and laid his arms on the comparatively cool stone slabs behind him.

A couple of minutes passed before Jiao’s relaxing bath began to work in reverse. The hair on the back of his neck stood up and the water seemed to chill several degrees, forcing him to open his eyes slowly. ‘Didn’t Lee and Yun say they were coming to the bathes?’ he thought to himself, wondering why he couldn’t hear them. Focusing his ears, he heard baritone conversations somewhere to his right, past the barely visible in the mist stone divider. 

His eyes widened and he looked behind himself.

Standing over him, wearing nothing but a towel, a smile, and a cocked eyebrow, was Bai Fu. The damp air had her hair sticking to his neck and shoulders as well as her towel hugging her form tightly. Following her eyesight, Jiao’s face colored red and he realized that he was on the woman’s side of the baths. He scrambled to cover himself and exit the pool, reaching around for a towel he couldn’t find as Bai Fu started giggling.  

“It’s over here, lover boy.” Fu handed him his towel while still appraising his red, not from the hot water, body and giggling. “I guess we’re even now.”

Jiao scrambled out of there and fumbled through the thick mist, cursing whoever installed a formation to keep the hot mist in the courtyard, before joining the boys in their bath.

“There you are, took you long enough, Jiao!” Xin Lee and Jixiang Yun continued to laugh and joke around with a couple more boys who’d come along on the journey with them. Jiao envied them their innocence, and tried to calm back down. 

As he relaxed once more, he found himself wondering how Cao and Jing would look in damp, form-fitting towels, and joked around with the boys about various things. It was probably going to be the last relaxing  night they had for a while. Once they got the sect, each and everyone of them would have to apply themselves and work hard on their cultivation. One might even say it was the last night they would be allowed to act like children. 

That night, Jiao had a very hard time falling asleep without Cao and Jing on his sides. He choose to spend the night cultivating instead.