Druidic Cultivation | Forty-Eight

The night passed relatively quickly, with Feng Jiao sleeping in a two-man tent alongside Duan Cao and Wang Jing. The tent came from Xin Lee and was little more than a large, treated hide that he had stored in a storage treasure of his own. 

“Check it out, girl’s. My father gave me this storage ring when I awoke three years ago. It’s a top of the line copper-rated storage ring, holds two cubic feet and has a 20% weight reduction.” Xin Lee’s ring was flashier than Feng Jiao’s by far. Although both were made of a copper-like metal, Xin Lee’s ring seemed to drink in the light and sparkle like a real treasure while Jiao’s was tarnished and looked like something one would dig out of a grave.

His words once again hinted at the ring on Jiao’s finger being much more valuable than he’d been told. It didn’t only hold much more than Xin Lee’s, but its weight reduction was even more than double! Jiao decided not to bring attention to the ring on his hand and allowed Xin Lee to continue bragging. 

“Here is my spare tent, just for you two. All you need to do is find some branches to fasten it up, those didn’t fit in the ring. Here are some I gathered while I was out hunting earlier, you can either carry them or we can find more tomorrow.” 

After helping the girls set it up, Jiao spent the night with them slept until the morning. Logically, he should have been called for guard duty at some point in the night but nobody thought to look for him on the girls’ side of the camp. Duan Cao wasn’t pegged as she would have to wake up early to cook and Wang Jing likewise got a pass as a hunter.

The morning rose and they ate roasted rabbits, trapped overnight by some of the hunters, and moved out. Feng Jiao did get a couple of odd looks from his new friends but none of the boys said anything. Around noon, the group slowed down to eat and another of Feng Jiao’s new friends walked up to him.

“Little Jiao, Elder Nufang wants to speak to you now.” Bai Fu came and found Feng Jiao while he was seated with his group of children, chatting about nothing important. “Don’t keep her waiting for too long.” Jiao got up to walk toward the elders and Bai Fu immediately sat down where he’d been sitting. Apparently, the only thing that had kept her from intruding on their group thus far was the elder’s attention, which was now redirected toward Feng Jiao.

“So which one of you girls is his bedmaid?” As he left earshot, Feng Jiao could just barely hear Bai Fu,  followed by laughter from the boys in the circle. ‘Not worth turning around,’ he thought to himself as he walked toward the Elder’s tent. Everytime they took a break, the tent was set up instantly, appearing out of nowhere. Jiao stood in front of the entrance and announced himself, only entering aftering being beckoned. 

“Jiao, perfect. Have a seat, we’ve got a bit to talk about.” As Feng Jiao entered, the other two women took that opportunity to exit the tent.

“Why are the other elders leaving? Should I be concerned?”

“Them? Oh no, they are not elders. Those are two of your senior sisters, outer sect disciples. Don’t worry about it. Sit down,” Nufang Mudan gestured to a cushion on the tent floor where Jiao sat down. Looking around, he could see faintly shimmering symbols that were almost imperceptible to the naked eye. An enchanted tent, he thought to himself, would explain how quickly it was set up and taken down.

“Little bird, you never told me that you were at the peak of Mortal Awakening. If you’d said something sooner, I wouldn’t have made to compete in the tourney in the first place. It’s not often you find someone so talented outside of a cultivator clan or sect. Tell me, how long have you been at the ninth step?”
After seeing the confused look on Feng Jiao’s face, she explained that she could tell because of his performance. Although battling across steps wasn’t unheard of in later stages, doing so near the peak of Awakening was near unheard of. Even then, it was apparently impossible to aspect Qi before opening all meridians. The process, usually, required the use of every meridian rotating Qi in a specific pattern.

Feng Jiao knew that he’d only made the breakthrough from step seven to nine mid-fight, but he didn’t disclose the information. The cultivation technique that he practiced for his primary dantian, the one Aideen taught him, appeared to be a very high-level technique that wasn’t known to, at the very least, elders at the God Tree. His ability to collect Wood Qi was even more sensitive, coming from his other-worldly knowledge.  

“The week before the tourney, Elder. I didn’t think to bring it up because I didn’t realize it was so unusual to cultivate so quickly. There weren’t any other children back home with martial spirits at the same level as mine, so I thought it was just normal.”
“Hmm,” Nufang Mudan squinted at Feng Jiao, obviously suspicious of his words. While she studied his face, he studied hers. He once again confirmed with himself that she didn’t appear to be too much older than the two women he’d been told were disciples, and wondered how she became an elder as such a young age. “If you say so. Either way, I wanted to guide you through the next step in your cultivation.

“If I recall correctly, you had two paths to take due to your dual martial spirit, something I still haven’t been able to dig up any more info on by the way. Between aligning with your Wood affinity and your Fire, you choose to cultivate fire. That isn’t a wrong choice in any way, but it does somewhat limit your possibilities for spiritual occupations. 

“Our God Tree Grove is known for its ability to grow spiritual herbs as well as our semi-talented alchemists. Fire cultivators can also become alchemists, but they will have a much harder time controlling any part of the process outside of the actual pill refinement. Growth of your own plants, catalyzation, and refinement of individual ingredients is usually easier for Wood type cultivators. On the other side, Wood cultivators have a harder time becoming enchanters, blacksmiths, jewelers, or other various, non-plant related occupations. 

“Your spiritual occupation is important because it will need to be performed alongside your cultivation in order to build spiritual energy. Any successful cultivator will have spiritual energy, although it varies greatly in strength, in order to supplement their hallowed cultivation. Refining pills is one of the best ways to increase the strength of your spiritual energy as well as one of the more profitable occupations for disciples to perform.” Nufang Mudan took a break to allow Feng Jiao to ask questions. Seeing that he had none, she continued.

“You’re quickly going to find out that our Sect isn’t one that is generally combat-oriented. Within the God Tree, disciples are ranked based upon their abilities as artisans first, and their combat abilities second. At least, they are on my side of the mountain range. We’ll get into the factions and what not later. Actually, we could probably table the entire occupational conversation as well, it’s just important that you remember you will need to cultivate your spirit alongside your body soon if you want to go far as a cultivator.

“Considering the fact that your Qi is already aspected, it means you’ve already selected a cultivation technique, and a pretty powerful one at that from the looks of it. I should have expected that the Fengs had a few strong techniques, your family is one of the newest and fast rising cultivator clans afterall. It isn’t often at all that the Fengs send one of their children to a sect, although I suppose that is because you’re coming from a branch clan. 

“Since you’ve selected your technique it won't be very easy to go back on. You’ve need to purge your dantian and start collecting Qi from scratch again and, even then, there would be minute amounts of Yang Qi left behind that would lead to foundational instability in the future. Although you aren’t limited to only fire techniques because of your cultivation, you are going to have a harder time grasping other elemental techniques in the future. It will get easier as your cultivation base increases, but for now we will work with what I have.

“For now, the most important thing is for you to step into the next stage of your cultivation. When you collect enough Qi of a high enough purity, the gaseous Qi will slowly condense in your dantian. There isn’t a set amount of time or Qi for this to happen, but once it does you will have stepped into the Mortal Condensation stage. The first drop of liquid Qi will likely consume everything you’d saved up in your dantian, but that is mostly because it is forcing open the shackle. 

“Each step will have a barrier, or a shackle, at the end of it. You should be able to see your spiritual body when you meditate now and, after breaking through to the next stage, you’ll see a spiritual sea form. During your first step, it will start with a single drop of Qi in a barren pond. Your only job is to fill that pond and then force through the barrier, expanding the size of your spiritual sea.

“Lucky for you, the Sect gifted you with a medicine specifically made for breaking past any barrier within the Mortal Condensation stage, the Five Seasons Pine Pellet. It is only effective twice in a cultivators life, and the second time is far less effective than the first, as I’m sure you remember from the note. It’s better that you wait until You’re at the seventh step before using it, incase the sect gifts you another. Just remember not to tell anybody that you have it as they are not given out like candy. Even I only get one every six months to pass out to my subordinates, and I choose you.”

Elder Nufang stopped her monologue when she saw the odd look on Feng Jiao’s face. Wondering what the issue was, it slowly dawned on her that perhaps the Feng family’s fortune wasn’t the cause of Feng Jiao’s rapid advancement. As comprehension dawned on her face, Feng Jiao’s expression switched to one of embarrassment. In truth, there had been a note alongside the pill but he’d only skimmed it in the torchlight the night he was given it.