Calculating Cultivation - Chapter 27: Hunting Beasts

The carriage took off immediately. There were two guards on the carriage along with the driver. While we hadn’t been attacked on the way out here, it was dangerous traveling between cities. Even if the main roads were well maintained and paved. With how well the roads were made, it was obvious cultivators had been involved in fusing stone togeather, and creating a slightly elevated roadway between cities.

I made sure my pack was tightly secure to my back along with my sword sheath. I pulled the sword free and held it in my hand as I set off down the dirt path away from the main road. If I was attacked, there would be no time to get my sword free in time. Better to have it in hand.

Quickly picking up speed, I bounded across the ground in large leaps along the dirt path. If I walked it would be too slow and I would have to watch my footing too much. Getting used to high-speed movement was important. Martial Elder Lei had shown me how to do it properly. It was all in the ankle to properly angle oneself and staying close to the ground. Adjusting my position in the air wasn’t possible until the fourth stage when I could use techniques.

I occasionally swung my sword to cut through a branch or vine in the way. Each move was crisp and assured. While I could use only one hand to wield the oversized sword, it unbalanced me due to my small stature. If it wasn’t for my cultivation strengthening my body, I would have struggled with it, even with two hands.

But the more motes I aligned in the second stage of cultivation the stronger I became. Even my senses felt improved as everything had a crispness to it that it didn’t before. I could only imagine how higher rank cultivators viewed the world.

When I wasn’t scanning my path, I was scanning the forest for any signs of beasts. I needed to be ready the moment any beast attacked me, otherwise I would be killed.

My current destination was a wilderness outpost that the Cloudy Moon Sect occasionally used for hunting expeditions. Sects had several such outposts scattered in the wilderness near their sect for such purposes. They consisted of a single stone room built deep into the ground.

One such outpost was my first destination to make sure it was clear, and I could use it as a fallback point if needed. Ensuring a path of retreat was important in my mind and something the Sect Leader had recommended.

There was something glowing that was approaching. I could see it through the trees. A beast core! As my cultivation improved, my ability to concentrate on Qi and see it had improved. I had been ignoring the motes for the most part, ever since I entered the second rank. The fact I could see the approach of a beast core was a huge boon and eased my mind for the trials I was about to endure.

The wolverine like beast was quite large. It was rank 2 if I had to guess since it was the size of a very small compact adult car. I had both my feet planted on the ground as it charged at me through the various shrubs covering the forest floor. I stepped to the side and slashed out, my form perfect, my timing impeccable.

The beast was cut open horizontally. Blood and viscera spilled out as it crashed into the ground. I did a follow up swing to get the blood off my sword while I checked around me. There were no other beasts. It was unlikely, since they rarely got together except for a beast tide. But better just to be sure. I put my sword away into my spatial ring to free up both of my hands.

I quickly pulled out my Cylinder Extractor and used it, aiming around the beast core. The flesh parted easily. I grabbed chunk of fur and pulled, a large amount of beast flesh and bone in a cylindrical shape was pulled free. The core was pulled along as well. I quickly plucked it free, with a pair of clamps. I put the core and then the clamps into my low-rank spatial ring.

The cleaning of the spirit stone could happen later. I pulled my sword out of my spatial ring and set off once more. Quickly rushing forward, there would be another beast or two moving in on the beast corpse I left behind.

The more I learned about beasts the more their very nature threw me off. They had similar organs to other mammals. The only difference being a core. There were no weird cultivation organs. Then at the later stages, intelligence and then shapeshifting.

It was honestly quite confusing, how all this worked at a fundamental level, but there had been nothing on what Qi actually was beyond the energy of the heavens and the earth. If anyone knew it would be the high ranking sects, but they weren’t sharing. There was a black hole of information around the most critical aspect of cultivation. But I had neither the backing nor the personal power to contest this or get answers.

Following the dirt path, I paused when I heard another beast approaching, but didn’t see a core. It was smaller than the last one, so only a rank 1 beast. It rushed at me and leapt. I stepped to the side and slashed out. The beast was mostly bisected. It would have been if I had stepped in closer, but I didn’t want to get blood on me. That risked drawing other beasts.

Using my Cylinder Extractor and the pair of tongs, I retrieved a rank 1 beast core. Useful to power my equipment, but not much else. Even such a priceless item was nothing but a bronze coin to me, with how much money and resources I needed.

No wonder mortals said cultivators were rich. They could just rush out and kill a couple of beasts and make an incredible amount of money for a mortal. But for a cultivator, this was just spending money at best. The scale difference that the Sect Leader had spoken about was more evident than ever with how my thinking had shifted.

I had been playing in the kiddie pool this entire time with my all my businesses. A single beast core would be an immense source of wealth for any cultivator. I would have more wealth from killing a level 3 beast than all my businesses earned in a single year.

It was humbling in a sense. I thought I was the next Steve Jobs, instead I was the kid with a lemonade stand that made a lot of money with it. My genius meant nothing compared to old monsters that had lived for millennia. Even if they only had one original thought per century, the sheer amount of time had entrenched their positions more than any amount of wealth ever could.

Not even considering the command-and-control economy that the high ranking sects used, it was the sheer age of elder cultivators that was just completely overbearing. As I made my way through the forest, I felt despondent about the scope of the problem in front of me.

I did not want to be out here in the wilderness fighting. But it was both the only and best source for cultivation resources any cultivator could get. I had spoken with the Sect Leader about why more cultivators at the Core Formation stage and at the first bottleneck didn’t go out and hunt.

They did, and they died. Others tried other things in order to breakthrough. Many just gave up as the sheer amount resources and headache was too much. Even with all that effort, countless cultivators failed in their attempts to break through the bottleneck, which had a failure rate of around 99.9%. That meant for every thousand cultivators that reached Core Formation, only one would break through to the fifth stage.

The more martial sects did what I was doing. Send their members out to fights beasts. Countless died, more were crippled. There was a reason why my former master Yi Rong wasn’t out fighting. Cultivators feared injury. Since any serious damage to a person’s body before the fifth rank would cripple a person’s cultivation short. Imagine spending centuries working on something and it is ruined in seconds. This fact combined with the patience necessary to cultivate made cultivators outside martial sects risk averse.

For me there was no other choice. Being confident in swinging my blade the right way to cut through low-ranking beasts was easy enough. But one mistake, and I was finished. One rank 4 beast with human level intelligence, and I would be in a very tough position. The two beasts so far had just mindlessly raced at me. A rank 3 beast might circle a bit and be weary of my sword like a dog, but they would still attack. A rank 4 beast would have patience and be willing to wait and stalk me.

Scanning around me, there were no other beasts nearby. It would take a couple of days to reach the outpost. It was set deep in the wilderness to avoid any beast tide from impacting a nearby city. The Sect Leader had kindly told me that if I didn’t return within five years, he would stop worrying about me and I should just give up if I was still alive.

The basic implication being that I was dead, and the beasts had ripped the outpost out of the ground to get to me in a frenzy. “Crazy sect, crazy sect leader,” I muttered. It had been a mistake speaking about body cultivation in that sect meeting. Now my cultivation was even more complex. But I wanted to be the best, and I was going to be the best. That meant focusing everything I had into completing my cultivation.

There was no more easy mode, of bullying small business owners and running around to collect motes. I had come to terms with the sheer difficulty my cultivation would bring and the market environment of the continent for cultivators.

Another beast rushed out of the forest, another level 2. It was easy enough to kill and get its spirit stone. Mindless beasts were easy with my cultivation level and all the practice I had put into swinging a sword properly. I was just forced to endure simple swings as part of my training.

There had been no sparring with other cultivators. If I needed to fight other cultivators, Martial Elder Lei told me I would die instantly or crush the opposition with my cultivation. Nuance in fighting came at the fourth stage of core formation when techniques could be used. Against a martial cultivator who had trained with weapons since birth, thinking I had any chance was a quick way to die.

I was thoroughly disabused of any notion that I could fight my way out of such a predicament. The hardest type of fight where I would have a chance of surviving but be challenged would be against level 4 beasts. Their intelligence and size would make them tricky and an easier target. But their cultivation and the benefits of increased strength and speed would make it a hard fight.

My sword, One Swing To Sperate Heaven And Earth, was a rank 5 treasure. That meant I could kill things at that stage with my sword without a technique imparted into it. Hitting a cultivator or beast at that rank would be impossible though. The sheer speed and range of the techniques cultivators could use would allow them to crush me like a bug. Beasts could transform and had even more options.

These were the martial lessons imparted upon me. As for my current rank, I would dominate all under the heavens with my cultivation and partially into the next one as well. I kept thinking about this as I ran into the occasional beast and killed them. Only beasts at rank 1 and 2. I did not like killing or blood. But I had to prove I could fight and get resources. Even my first master Yi Rong had indicated as much to me before he died.

Once it got dark, I could kind of see, but had to slow down. That was when a rank 3 beast rushed out at me from the forest. It was the size of a car or personal truck. I leapt to the side and swung, but it twisted towards me. My blade cut into its flank, but it wasn’t a mortal wound. It spun around and was slightly weary now, as its blood dripped down.

I had to hurry, or other beasts would be drawn in. Fighting two on one was incredibly dangerous. Beyond that was death. I kicked off the ground and the beast rushed forward. I feinted moving to the same side it was injured and then moved the other way. While rank 3 beasts did not have human intelligence, they had dog like intelligence and were smarter than their lower ranked counterparts.

The beasts head was out of position, as my sword cut deeply into its side, parting muscle and bone. The beast collapsed behind me, and my breathing was still steady. The countless hours of swinging my sword in the training yard had made it second nature. I didn’t even need to think about it as I moved myself around in combat, which was the point of the training.

Much better than the frantic sword swinging when I had been on a carriage returning to the sect. I would have struggled greatly and possibly been crippled or killed by a rank 3 beast back then if I had run across one.

Checking around me, there were no other beasts. I put my sword away while I extracted the core from the beast. I was really grateful for my extractor device, since the core was buried deep inside the beast near its gut. Just cutting right to it and being able to pull it out, made the task much easier and quicker. It also kept me clean of any blood, something I was quite meticulous about so I wouldn’t be easily tracked down by other beasts.

With the core extracted and put away I quickly set off once again. I encountered a few more rank 2 beasts and another rank 3 before making it to the outpost the following afternoon. It was exactly where it was indicated on the map I had been shown.

A small mountain with the outpost dug into the rocky peak. It provided a commanding view of the surroundings when it wasn’t covered in damp fog. Small shrubs and other plant life existed at this altitude and there was a slight chill in the air, that even I could feel with my cultivation. My clothing clung damply to my body.

Reaching the entrance to the outpost, I found the large stone slab with the Cloudy Moon Sect symbol etched into the rock. I pushed the slab to the side with a great bit of difficulty. This was meant for stage 4 cultivators. Not someone partially through stage 2. Thankfully my cultivation was enough to give me the strength to move the stone slab.

There were damp stone steps leading underground. Every so often the sect would send a small group from outpost to outpost, to hunt up their century tribute and to maintain the outposts. The walls were sealed stone and there was very little dampness. I made my way down the narrow stone stairs about two floors underground to a second stone slab with the sect symbol. This slab rested in an indentation into the ceiling and the floor, which also prevented the little bit of moisture that came down the stairs from outside from entering the main room of the outpost.

This one I had to be careful about. There were four holes on either side of the narrow passage. Left, third up from the bottom. I had to stand on my tiptoes and really stretch my arm for this. I reached in and gripped a handhold and twisted. The stone slab slid to the side with barely any sound. Clearly not built for children sized cultivators.

If I had guessed wrong, formations would have triggered and crushed me. That was why mortals and other sects didn’t use outposts made by a sect. It took time and energy to make a place like this. If people were intruding, the sect would like to know. Also, these traps were to keep demonic cultivators and beasts from using this place as a base or lair.

The underground stone room that was the outpost was quite small. Like a very small studio apartment in a crowded city. But I knew that it was heavily reinforced. The walls were a couple feet, or about a meter, thick compacted stone made with techniques. This place was meant to be a refuge against level 4 beasts and below and might even survive a beast tide. But that was unlikely.

There was a stone table, four stone chairs built into the center of the room. They weren’t moving. And two stone bunkbeds on either side of the table. I leapt on top of the table in the dim light and placed a rank 1 spirit stone into the center of the formation built into the table.

Small white recessed lights on the table’s surface lit up illuminating the room. The stone slab then slid back over the entrance. I let out a sigh of relief. I had made it. I took my pack off and collapsed into a chair, that was too big for me. I got out my flask of water and drank. I then used scent concealer on myself and this room.

Once that was done, I began cleaning off the spirit stones I had collected before putting them back in my spatial ring. The bloody water was collected in a small pot I had with me. I would throw it away a distance from the outpost to be safe.

With my tasks done, I had a bit of salted beef jerky, before settling in for some much-needed sleep on one of the stone slabs. I used my sect robes as a pillow. Cultivators sure did like their hard living. I let out a long sigh as I drifted off to sleep.

After arriving at the outpost, my day and life quickly settled into a routine. I left my pack behind at the outpost, while I would make a three day loop at a distance from the outpost. I picked a different direction to leave each time.

The average level of the beasts quickly began to rise. At first, I encountered mostly rank 1 beasts with some rank 2 beasts, and the occasional rank 3 beasts. But after a month, I rarely saw level 1 beasts anymore and encountered level 2 and level 3 beasts in greater frequency as well.

I was riding the edge of destruction. Any more killing and I would trigger a beast tide on my location. The wolverine like beasts would go into a killing frenzy and they would target me as well. The risk of a higher ranked beast would massively increase.

The fact I hadn’t seen a rank 4 beast yet was a sign that if there was one out there, they were being incredibly careful. Human level intelligence, meant they were willing to wait and assess the situation and not rush in like their mindless lesser.

Sitting in the outpost, I cooked a small portion of meat I had harvested before returning. I only drank some water while hunting and ate once at the end of every three days. The meat of rank 3 beasts was quite invigorating. It made me feel stronger and refreshed, but it didn’t provide any cultivation benefits.

The main portion of a beast’s energy was in its core. While its body was diffused with the energy of heavens and earth, it wasn’t a large amount or in any specific form. At best it was like a meat form of coffee and energy drink combined. It didn’t taste that good either, but I just had a bit of salt to season it with and I had to ration my salt.

I didn’t know enough about wilderness survival to find food in the wilderness. And while I had never been a fan of streak, this was the cultivator lifestyle. If I left to get more supplies and comforts but didn’t meet the deadlines the Sect Leader threw out, he would be very annoyed.

While he was helpful in many ways, I was under no delusions that he was my friend. Our relationship was one of mutual benefit. I didn’t really understand the full picture of how he benefited, but there were several things that had been mentioned in passing. Being the sect mascot, helping elders with their Dao or path, getting resources, and charting a new path for cultivation techniques. Becoming an elder or even immortal wasn’t even part of their consideration.

After my meal, I went to sleep. The next day I took the spirit stone off of the table, left the room, and sealed it back up. Just as I was about to clear the top of the stairs to the mountaintop, I felt a sense of unease. I looked around but didn’t see anything. My sword was in my hand like always, when I left the outpost.

I carefully poked my head out of the top of the staircase and looked around, even above me. There was a massive form hiding behind some rocks that were behind the staircase’s direction. I checked again and there was only one beast. A rank 4 beast.

I wouldn’t be able to ambush it. Their senses and intelligence were too good along with their cultivation. I might surprise it, but with the beast focused on me, I wouldn’t be able to easily kill it. This was what the Sect Leader had told me would happen. I would kill too many beasts and would attract attention I couldn’t easily handle.

Initially I had thought I would just run back to the outpost if a rank 4 beast appeared. Their large size, about the size of a semitruck, made it hard for them to maneuver. But it was clearly willing to wait and ambush me at the outpost. It wasn’t stupid, which was the problem.

I looked at my sword. Against such a large beast it would struggle to get to a depth that would kill it in one blow. And while large, it would be more than happy to wait until I engaged another beast to ambush me.

The only option was to fight, here and now. I felt nervous. This wasn’t like fighting the other beasts that were animals. This was an inhuman intelligence I had to kill no matter what, otherwise I would be eaten or trapped. Even if I ran away, I would run into another beast and then the rank 4 beast would do a pincer attack.

I might be able to kill two rank 3 beasts at once with a bit of luck and positioning. But against a rank 4 beast I knew I wasn’t capable for that kind of combat. I took a deep breath to steady myself and exited the staircase and turned around.

I slowly began to circle where the rank 4 beast was hiding. For a massive creature, it picked its location very well, behind several rocks and almost looking like another off-colored rock in the group.

“So, you spotted me,” it muttered with a growl as it quickly emerged and stood up, turning to face me. I jumped slightly at the voice. The beast was massive. “A bit small, but your cultivation smells delicious,” it said with a grin that had far too many teeth.

“I am Yuan Zhou of the Cloudy Moon Sect,” I introduced myself while keeping my blade extended. It was a common courtesy for introductions before fighting to the death. Even with beasts and demonic cultivators. Most wouldn’t observe such a thing, but when the beast was already speaking, then it did not matter.

“I am Roaring Twilight Upon The Rocks, child of Whirling Flames From The Heavens,” it replied. Its yellow eyes never leaving me or wavering in the slightest.

“I don’t suppose you will just leave or be willing to make a deal?” I asked. If it had human level intelligence and could speak, that meant a bargain was possible.

“Perhaps, but why should I cooperate with someone as weak and tasty as you?” The other reason why cooperation never worked in all recorded texts was that the beasts would attack the moment they sensed weakness. Cultivators were delicious treats to them, that they couldn’t resist.

“Weak? Then I will gamble with my life,” I boldly said while my heart was about to burst out of my chest. “If I wound you, you will obey me. If I lose, well then you will devour me,” I replied.

“A deep wound. And if you are ever wounded in turn, and not by me, our deal would be over and I would eat you then. But if you manage to hold my life with your sword, then I will obey unless my life would be forfeit,” Roaring Twilight said. “I swear to this by the heavens and earth as witness.”

“I swear by the heavens and earth as witness,” I replied. While there was nothing holding us to our words, breaking them would be considered a great shame. It made no sense, and I am sure there were cultivators who lied. But this deal only had upsides for me. I took a step forward and Roaring Twilight took a step back. I wasn’t going to get anything better. Beasts weren’t lawyers unfortunately.

“Little human, I will wait. We do not have to fight now. Go hunt. I will accompany you,” Roaring Twilight said with a massive, malicious grin. Dammit, human level intelligence, meant it could see obvious loopholes and exploit them. It was also reassuring in a way, since if I did manage to deeply wound it, I would have a temporary ally. His wording was fairly loose, but a level 4 beast at my side would be a big help.

The problem was getting to that point. I kicked off the ground and the beast easily leaped backwards with a chuckle. “Oh no, I am so weak, please don’t hurt me,” it teased. The effect was ruined by how its voice came out as a growl.

“Fine, then attack from behind, I will be ready,” I replied and turned away. Roaring Twilight followed me at a distance. I didn’t even look at the beast anymore. How annoying. It was content to wear me down and attack at the worst possible moment.

One thing it didn’t know was that I could locate it at any time. Its attack would not be surprise. Its shamelessness was impressive as well, but also revealed a fear. Being overly cautious was not always a good thing. It showed weakness of spirit. That was another thing Martial Elder Lei had talked to me about. Being decisive was just as important as any skill or technique in combat.

Roaring Twilight clearly was not willing to attack me head on. That lack of conviction showed that it was burdened with consciousness. It was overthinking things too much. Human level intelligence was also a weakness as it suppressed its instincts to shadow me. It was probably wondering how I had noticed it and wanted to observe anything I did.

I just needed to lure the beast in for an attack and be ready. As I left the area around the outpost, there was a level 3 beast who was rushing up the mountain at me. I adjusted my positioning to be on a nearby plateau.

The beast leapt at me. This time I didn’t move to the side, but stepped forward and drove my sword directly into its head with a thrust. With my low stature, the blade was aimed upwards and I had moved into a position, so the beast had to rush right at me and wasn’t pouncing.

Its bulk hit me, and I let go of my blade. Normally a foolish decision, but I needed to lure Roaring Twilight closer to in order to deal with that rank 4 beast. “Ahhhh!” I let out a fake scream of pain from under the massive rank 3 beast on top of me. Pushing the beast off I weekly crawled out. Roaring Twilight was closer than before.

Just as I was starting to crawl free. It leapt. While it had some patience, it didn’t have that much. My cry of pain, combined with everything else, was enough for it to think attacking was a good idea. While beasts might inherit basic knowledge from the heavens and the earth through their cores, that didn’t give them experience to recognize a trap that had been laid for them.