Druidic Cultivation | Twenty-Two

Another update, 'The energy of heaven and earth' is now refereed to as ether, otherwise known as Quintessence. "the material that fills the region of the universe above the terrestrial sphere". Typing out the energy of heaven and earth felt a little too wordy to me and the context is the same. Ether is the heavenly energy present that hallowed artists absorb and then refine into Qi, the energy of earth.

 Apologies for the ramp down in chapters this week, I work a weekly rotating schedule and I'm currently on 3rd shift (930pm-530am). It's a bit mentally draining

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The night passed calmly for Feng Jiao. He meditated until the moon was high in the sky before catching a few hours of sleep while his father was still out and about. Jaio assumed he was likely drinking with his old friends, people he’d met in his childhood while associating with the Feng Clan. His father’s visit had a secondary purpose of cementing ties with other branch families in order to smooth his wife’s segue into the position of village head.

Jiao’s eyes slowly peaked open as the sun sluggishly began its long trek over the horizon, leaking warmth and light into the new day. He rose from where he’d been sitting and took in a deep breath, once again appreciating the slightly higher density of energy in the air. The Crouching Grass’s mountain may have had a high enough a substantial enough energy potency to grow arbor grass, but that was just the limit. Without careful and meticulous cultivation, spiritual medicines and beasts of higher rankings could never appear at his home. 

Here at the Banded Plateau, however, it was a much different story. The beasts that grew within the woods got much stronger on average, with both a higher floor and ceiling for their power levels. The thickness of the ether encouraged the growth of stronger plants which, in turn, nourished the beasts to be stronger. Naturally, when in an environment with such rich natural energies and resources, the humans there flourished too. 

Although the Feng Family had adopted a quick and wide expansion policy by creating several branch families and gifting them new land elsewhere, the Banded Plateau was still the best land within the family. It was open to trade from anyone but if one wished to reside there permanently, they needed to be a part of the stem family. Every now and then an offshoot of a branch family would prove themselves valuable and be invited back to the stem family, along with their immediate family. 

Feng Jiao couldn’t help but be a bit jealous of those who’d been born within the stem family with such potent energy and abundant resources for their advancement, but only for a second. A tiger that had been raised within a zoo would never defeat one that had grown older in the wild, afterall. In addition, if Jiao wanted to be raised within a greenhouse he’d at least be envious of those with much nicer greenhouses. Only descendants of the imperial family or the disciples of sages were worthy of Jiao’s jealousy. 

The young boy finished his insincere lamentment and got dressed, ready to begin his day. Because the announcement of the youth competition rules as well as prizes were set for just after sunrise, Feng Jiao didn’t have much time to make himself breakfast. He scarfed down some travel rations of hardtack and jerky, admittedly probably on-tier if not better than his cooking would have been anyways, before rushing toward the stage that had been set up outside of camp. ‘This world and their setting up stages for every little thing,’ he though to himself as he weaved between tents.

The other children had already begun collecting in small groups in front of the stage, chattering amongst themselves as they waited for this year’s competition patron to arrive. Every year, the heads of each of the four towns located upon the Banded Plateau would rotate who headed up the competition. The town would be responsible for setting up that year’s event as well as providing the prizes. This usually worked out better for the youth as the town heads would compete amongst each other to see who could provide the best reward.

The children who were collecting all seemed to be between the ages of twelve and fifteen, the socially acceptable cutoff for when hallowed artists were expected to depart home and begin their journey. The yearly reunion youth competition doubled as a sort of tempering trial for the Feng family youth, allowing them to gain combat experience as well as earn a bit of extra cultivation resources. The family was wealthy, but no so wealth that they could just pass out cultivation resources to all of their kids so they used competitions to determine which of the young generation would make for good investments. 

Feng Jiao searched the crowds for familiar faces, sorely missing the company of Duan Cao, who he hadn’t seen since before he went into isolation for two months. He didn’t see any, with this being his first time in the region of the Banded Plateau, but it was probably for the best. Of the Feng family’s younger generation, the only kids he got along with were his two little sisters. He’d met others when their parents had visited the Crouching Grass but they usually either ignored him or teased him.

While Jiao had been hesitating another group of kids arrived behind him. In truth, he’d heard the rowdy bunch approach but hadn’t really paid them any mind. The group of kids had met up before coming to the stage and were far too lively for Jiao’s tastes. If he was being honest, he’d never been much of a morning person.

“Hey there, cutie. I don’t think I’ve seen you around these parts before.” A breathy voice arrived next to Feng Jiao’s ear followed by a swift hand cusping his behind. Jiao jerked away and spun with his hand nearly whistling through the air. Although he hadn’t noticed the leader of the new group getting so close to him, Jiao would be a dog before he let such embarrassment go unreciprocated. Although he’d been touched before, Jiao had never been groped in such a sudden manner.

The offender, a young boy who looked about the age of fourteen, saw the hand as it honed in on his face and swiftly dodged by ducking forward and leaning to the side. As a step-three Mortal Awakening artist, he’d already connected three of his meridians and his reaction speed was quick. At the very least, it would be faster than a ten year old girl would be able to deal with.

It was both to his surprise and the amusement of many that, while he attempted to dodge the palm, the hand tracked him seamlessly through the air. To many, it looked like the little girl had known where the boy would dodge to the entire time and had aimed for that spot preemptively. This wasn’t the case, however. Feng Jiao’s two month stint in the forest behind his home had not been for naught. Through several battles like those with the gorilla, Feng Jiao had budded a fighting instinct and bolstered it through life and death battles. His reaction speeds as well as martial prowess were far more developed than any kid there.

The would-be assaulter’s eyes widened as he realized that he would be unable to dodge the slap after all. He opened his mouth to demand that the little girl stop her attack, hoping to regain some face through verbal domination. Unfortunately for him, Feng Jiao’s arm suddenly accelerated and, like a python striking out at its prey, his arm whipped forward and his hand landed resoundly on the boy’s face.

The boy was slapped so hard that he was spun twice before falling from his feet onto his ass. With a red welt slowly rising on his cheek and tears beginning to well up in his eyes, the boy’s state was extremely pitiful. 

“D-d-d-do you have any idea who I am?” After regaining a bit of his senses, he spat out a single line. In his heart, he knew that verbally lashing out with his identity would not save him from the embarrassment, it was far too late for that, but he wanted to make this little girl feel miserable as well.

“How could I possibly know who you are? Didn’t you say it yourself? You’ve never seen me around here before, so obviously I am not from around here.” Feng Jiao was not backing down. Regardless of this kid’s identity, Feng Jiao too was a young lord of the Feng family. He would never tolerate such lecherous from anyone, let alone a family member.

The boy sputtered for a moment as his face reddened even more, this time not from a slap. With teeth bared, he pushed himself to his feet and grasped for the sword at his hip. Only after placing his hand upon the hilt did he see the wicked looking spear that Feng Jiao slowly shifted from his non-dominant hand. A cold sweat trickled down the boy’s neck as he pictured a scenario where the girl he’d copped a feel from struck out with her spear rather than her viper like hand. He’d gotten off lightly, he knew that. Still, once a tongue started wagging it became infinitely harder to wrangle back in.

“I am the third son of Feng Nan, Feng Nian.”

“And I am the first son of Feng Zhipei, Feng Jiao. What’s your point?” Ruthelessly, Feng Jiao did not even blink at this Feng Nian’s name drop. Why would he back down from someone so inferior to himself. As far as Jiao was concerned, he was better than this boy in every aspect including the ability to be an arrogant young lord.

“My father is- wait. Did you just say young son?” 

Instead of verbally replying, Feng Jiao simply made a suggestive motion with his hand while smirking. Snickering broke out behind Feng Jiao as the small groups couldn’t hold back anymore. First, the kid got smacked so hard he spun only to find out he’d assaulted a boy. As far as they were concerned, he had so little face left that he should go invest in a mask.

“Good. Good. Good. Keep up that confidence.” With three goods and a flare of his sleeves, Feng Nian turned to his possy and led them to a different part of the clearing. There was no need to harbor ill-intents for Feng Jiao, Nian told himself. He had, in the end, been the won in the wrong. Feng Jiao may have gotten the upper hand this time, but Feng Nian would be the won shining at the end of that day.

With his brand new sword and insider knowledge of the competition, after all, he could only win.