Chapter 17
Author's Note: Clothing and spiritual beast glossary added. Enjoy the chapter :D
A few days later, Qian Yu woke up early as he met with Wu Jing and Chen Ya to train. Over the last few days, he had been training with different weapons after he realized the urgency to start learning a weapon. He didn’t like the sword after using it last time.
“Hmm, the spear feels pretty nice,” Qian Yu sat down as sweat dripped down his forehead.
“Hahaha, you seem pretty natural at using it,” Wu Jing laughed as he sat down next to the tired Qian Yu.
“Yea, I think I’ll settle for this,” He had finally made up his mind and decided that he would start learning the spear as it felt most natural to him. He had tried the regular one handed sword, great sword, daggers, axes, hammer, and many more but the polearm weapon was the right fit for him. It was light and had a long range which was what Qian Yu was comfortable with.
“Alright let’s get back to training,” Qian Yu stood up as they resumed training.
After an hour of sparring, Chen Ya was miserably beating him up but he suddenly felt a surge of power rise through his body. Indeed he managed to enter the 6th stage while training sparring! Within a few seconds, he was no longer being easily abused by the 7th stage Chen Ya.
After the morning practice, Qian Yu got some breakfast before he headed over to the medical hall to see Bai Jia and work.
Entering the medical hall, he saw Gu Zan who he hadn’t seen in a while as well. Towards this guy, he had pretty good feelings. He wasn’t a bad guy and contrary to that, he had good intentions. He was just slightly weird but he was one of the few people in the sect he felt comfortable around.
“Yo Lil bro, it’s good to see you back in one piece,” he gave a thumbs up.
“Thanks for worrying,” Qian Yu laughed. “Anything new for you?” he continued catching up.
With a large grin on his face, he said “The legendary Gu Zan has finally ascended to the qi gathering realm. I’ll be going back to Yellow River City to tell my family and enjoy myself a little before I become an inner disciple.”
Hearing this, Qian Yu couldn’t help but be happy for the guy, “Congratulations. I take it, it’ll be a while until we’ll see each other again?”
“Yea, did you have time to visit the places in the city?” Gu Zan asked.
“Nah, I only stayed there for a night.” Qian Yu shook his head.
“Ahh, so you’re still a...” he stopped for a second before laughing, “Haha, ok, I’ll see ya later then.”
“Yea, I’ll catch up to you, don’t worry brother,” Qian Yu had grown to ignore half the words that came out of his mouth over the two months he was here as he headed to the second floor and entered the office.
“Sister Bai, what do you think about the spear?” he asked earnestly. He knew that most people used swords and there was always a bias for swords. Even then, he wanted to ask Bai Jia of what she thought as it was always nice to hear the inputs of someone he respected. And well… it was another topic he could use to flirt with her.
Hearing his thoughts, she immediately thought about the spear users she knew which was very small. However, it didn’t mean they were weak. It just meant that there weren’t many cultivation techniques with spears or polearm-related weapons to learn so the cultivators were at a disadvantage.
“It’s like this. The spear isn’t weak and every weapon has its own advantages and disadvantages when it comes to a direct fight. However, it is harder to find cultivation techniques that have a spear or polearm as it is less popular,” she explained what she thought.
Hearing her words, Qian Yu sighed, ‘It looks like I’ll just train on it for now. It’ll be awhile until I learn another cultivation technique anyways.’
“Alright, I’ll make sure to keep my options open. Anyways, sister Bai, are you cultivating a legendary grade cultivation technique?” he asked. As he learned that the Zhao family had one, he thought there was a good chance the mysterious Bai Jia would have one as well.
“Mhm, you guessed correctly hehe,” she laughed proudly.
“Then are the rumors true that you are here for Ice Arts heaven grade technique?” he asked even more excitedly. Before, he didn’t ask any questions regarding her background as she didn’t take the initiative to tell him and he didn’t care that much. But after talking with Zhao Xieren, it was a different story and he was currently very interested in these legendary cultivation techniques.
“Pftt,” she laughed. “Do you think I, your great sister, would want a measly heaven grade cultivation technique?”
Then she closed the distance between them and whispered in his ears, “The Ice Arts technique is part of a legendary grade cultivation technique called the Ice Sutra. This applies to the lower sky ranked Ice Manipulation version called as well. They just removed parts of the scripture in the technique to lower the grade. Only core disciples and the trusted and inner court elders have access to the Ice Sutra. As for me, well, I sold two years of my life to stay here and some treasures for it hehe!”
At this point, she had already taken a step back to look at Qian Yu. On the other hand, Qian Yu couldn’t enjoy the young and fresh scent that Bai Jia emitted as he repeated her words in his mind.
‘... MERE CABBAGES I SAY. I’ KNOW MORE ABOUT LEGENDARY GRADE TECHNIQUES THAN HEAVEN GRADE TECHNIQUES!’ he swore in his mind.
Yet it was just due to circumstances that Qian Yu would learn the names of more legendary grade cultivation techniques rather than heaven grade techniques. Despite there only being 3 major sects in the Xia Empire, only the Ice Arts Sect had a legendary grade cultivation technique.
As for the nobles in the empire, only the strongest of the noble families in the kingdom would have one. Even including the imperial family, the amount of families that had legendary grade cultivation techniques could be counted on one hand still.
Meanwhile, he didn’t know of Bai Jia’s background otherwise he would be even more shocked. 2 years of serving at the sect and “some treasures” was traded for access to a legendary cultivation technique which was a priceless treasure.
‘Wait this means I can have access to a legendary grade cultivation technique,’ Qian Yu thought excitedly. However, he knew it was a seemingly impossible task. Nonetheless, it was something he aimed for.
Seeing his depressed look, Bai Jia was about to go over and hug him but she realized that the previous kid who was a head shorter than her, had grown taller and more masculine over the previous 2 months. He was now just an inch shorter than her so she felt a little uncomfortable as she changed her mind. Patting his head she said, “Don’t be too sad brat, you still have a lot to go before you enter the soul foundation realm anyways.”
Hearing her words, Qian Yu couldn’t help but smile thinking about how lucky he was to have such a friend. Of course, if he knew he could have received a hug from her, who he admired the most, if he was just a little bit shorter, he may be crying on the ground instead.
“Alright now, let’s eat,” she smiled radiantly.
Just like that, the next two and a half months passed by and it was an auspicious time for the sect. Spending every day training, learning from Bai Jia, and working, it was a relaxful time for Qian Yu as he slowly and happily developed his bond with Bai Jia and Zhao Xieren over this whole time.
Soon, in two weeks, it was time for the annual winter hunt and everyone was on their way to the Xia capital where it would be held. For the new disciples, it was a novel and rare experience. For some, it would be a time to show their talents and earn glory. For Qian Yu however, it was the turning point in his life, one that would set him on the path to immortality.
Knowing that the event was coming, Zhao Xieren had decided to take the group out on a mission to have one last practice session to prepare for the winter hunt.
Leading the outer court disciples out of the sect, she announced “Alright, let’s head out for the mission!”