Calculating Cultivation - Chapter 29: A Trap

I brought out the large false rank 4 helmet in front of Roaring Twilight on top of the mountain. Its eyes went wide. “Try it out,” I replied. Roaring Twilight picked it up in his massive paws and slid it on. There were spots left open for the ears, and the back laid flat against his spine. It wasn’t a human helmet, that was for sure.

“This good, comfortable too. Sturdy as well,” the beast said while appreciating it. There was a slight bit of padding built into the helmet Roaring Twilight turned his head around. “Very well follow me. The full moon is three nights from now, so you can get one of the flowers then. Just one, unless you have something else?” it asked.

“A spatial ring, a low rank one in exchange for a second flower,” I told it. I held it up and it brought an eye close to the ring. I had my sword in one hand. I wasn’t taking any chances. “It is where I put and take stuff from. While a bit small, once you get to rank 5 it will be quite useful,” I told the beast and it nodded at that.

After a bit of back and forth, I slid the ring into a slot on the helmet after Roaring Twilight took it off for a moment, making sure not to leave myself open to an attack. I had left a few rank 1 spirit stones inside. “Small, but useful if I find a trinket,” it said with a nod. “Definitely worth a second flower.”

With my half of the trade completed we set off at a fast pace. Beasts would often make gardens, or grow them once they hit rank 4 and above. To supplement their draw of the energy of heavens and earth. Lesser beasts would stay away, while higher ranked beasts would mostly respect other beasts’ gardens.

Their bottleneck to the fifth rank and beyond was worse than the humans’ bottleneck. I still wasn’t sure why it was so tough, but since they gained the ability to shapeshift, it most certainly had to do with that. My personal guess after months of hunting and observing Roaring Twilight was their body would become too big and they had to shapeshift to survive.

The square-cube law limited the size of creatures, even in cultivation land. It basically was the rule that the bigger the object, the more its internal volume needed to be devoted to support structures like bones and muscles to move it. That was why the bones of an elk were larger than the bones of dear, since the elk was bigger. There was also the issue of heat transference.

I had noted that Roaring Twilight was a lot warmer than the other beasts the few times I came close. It radiated off a lot more heat. It also liked to plow through water sources. While cultivation might help with its size, there were other facets of biology that limited the beast.

It had also grown another foot, or a half a meter in length from when I had met it. Again, not easily noticeable, but it was getting bigger. That was the confirmation I needed that the beast’s bottleneck was one of size, where they would be forced to alter their organs and move their consciousness into their core.

They had brains like regular creatures, but if they could shapeshift, that meant their brain had to shift as well. Otherwise, shapeshifting was pointless. If the brain shapeshifted, that meant they had to have their consciousness elsewhere.

Unfortunately, higher ranked beasts were very rarely fought, or their cores captured. I had no idea how the Sect Leader would get rank 6 refined beast essence, but he would somehow do that. He had promised on my return that he would have it and be ready to integrate it into my body. I just needed to pay for the refined beast essence, and he would handle all the arrangements as my master.

My guess was that some more martial sects had higher ranked beasts imprisoned, or killed such beasts, and extracted everything they could out of them. Regardless, my cultivation progress for body cultivation would now occur and I wouldn’t rip my body apart or explode. While an elder would not steal a low leveled item like a low ranked spatial ring, anything above rank 5, needed to be handled with care in case someone got ideas.

I was more than content to let the rank 8 Sect Leader take the lead procuring the difficult cultivation ingredient and figuring out the technical applications of applying it to my body. While he might have been annoyed with me working with a beast, I could also tell he was impressed I had fulfilled his requirements so quickly.

All these thoughts went through my head as I followed Roaring Twilight and kept an eye out on my surroundings. I had a plan for what I wanted to do, and a plan of what needed to happen no matter what. If I returned without a rank 4 beast core, the Sect Leader would not be happy with me. While it made no sense for him to betray me or kill me, I couldn’t afford to cross his bottom line.

He would be more than happy to kick me out of the sect or punish me, or it could be what he wanted me to think. Unlike a computer game, I had no easy measure to judge how annoyed or pleased he was with me. I knew I would eventually screw up or hit a rough patch, and I needed to build up good will until that point.

Roaring Twilight while useful, was not a friend. It was an inhuman intelligence, which would kill me without the slightest bit of hesitation. I also suspected there would be trap or betrayal coming up in some way. With the direction and distance, we were traveling.

Before it was a three-day loop around the mountain. I wasn’t worried about running into another level 4 beast. But this time we were headed in a straight-line path away from the mountain outpost. That meant Roaring Twilight would ‘accidentally’ lead me into the path of another beast, or perhaps claim its garden for his own.

I had prepared a surprise with the support of the Sect Leader who was content to let me handle this situation I had created. He had made it clear he wouldn’t be bailing me out and there would be no secret elder or member watching me. I gripped my sword tighter and kept my head on a swivel once we cleared the previous hunting area.

With Roaring Twilight in directly in front of me no other beasts bothered us. I did see the occasional one watching at a distance, but they quickly left as we traveled. There was no large pack behind us either, when I called for a halt after a day for a quick water and bathroom break. I checked behind us for a kilometer quickly and there was no beast horde that Roaring Twilight had formed.

That meant it was a probably a high-level ambush of some kind. If there wasn’t, then I planned to have an honest conversation with Roaring Twilight, but I doubted that would happen. Humans and beasts were enemies. Still, Roaring Twilight had kind of grown on me like a dog. But just like tigers and bears weren’t real pets, Roaring Twilight was not a pet, it was a sentient creature that wanted to eat me.

It was evening of the third day when we finally slowed down and entered a steep canyon area with a small stream. There weren’t cliffs on either side, but very steep tree and rock covered slops. There were also a lot more motes in the air.

That was when I saw the ambush that was planned. The stream was connected to a pool of water and there were several plants growing around it pool. A small waterfall fell down from an actual cliff. The ambush was in the form of a hawk that was watching from a nearby tree. I kept my face controlled as I scanned the rest of the area.

“Here we are. You can get your flowers when the moon rises, and then we shall part ways. When the time comes I will eat you little human,” Roaring Twilight said. I was nervous as the elder beast was watching me from a tree. There was no way that Roaring Twilight didn’t know about it laying in wait. I didn’t turn my back to it, since I didn’t want a fight to break out now.

I could feel my life hanging my thread. I had no frame of reference to determine what rank the elder beast was. If it was rank 5, I had a chance. If it was rank 8, then I was instantly dead. “Is this place yours?” I asked Roaring Twilight.

“No. You will only take what we agreed on and nothing more,” it said with a growl. It clearly didn’t want to elaborate, and I didn’t press Roaring Twilight.

“Two blue moon orchids. That’s all I want,” I replied while scanning the other plants for anything valuable. There were several valuable plants, but no red sun rose, or green ocean lily. This was clearly not a simple garden in the wilderness. “I won’t be coming back either or mentioning this place.” I added.

Roaring Twilight seemed surprised, but the fact it hadn’t said anything about this was more confirmation that this was a trap. “Good,” it grunted. I kept my sword ready in my hands. The beast disguised as a hawk was still sitting on a branch and watching me.

If it could hide itself, it probably didn’t care against a baby cultivator like me. And that was reference to my low cultivation rank, not my stature. The sun slowly set. There was a low amount of cloud cover in the sky.

The full moon was out and came out from behind a cloud. Ten blue moon orchids materialized around the pond at various locations. I approached them and pulled out a trowel. I had to put my sword on the ground next to me, but no attack came as I carefully moved two of the plants into carrying containers. I sealed the containers up and carefully put them away in my spatial ring.

“Or deal is completed, I am free?” Roaring Twilight asked me.

“Once I leave. Otherwise, you would try and eat me. Consider it fulfilled three days from now,” I said as I picked up my sword again. The beast disguised as a hawk was still watching me.

“Three days then, goodbye little human.” I wanted to repeat my name, but no need to leave it behind. That had been a foolish mistake.

“Goodbye Roaring Twilight Upon The Rocks,” I said and quickly left, retracing the route that had been used to arrive to this place deep in the wilderness. I wanted to attack or say something, but I couldn’t with that elder beast watching. If I mentioned about wanting to kill another rank 4 beast, I had no doubt it would intervene. The Sect Leader would not be happy with me, but picking a fight with an elder beast was beyond me.

I occasionally checked behind me and noticed a large source of energy of the heavens and earth in the sky following me. Dammit! It was the elder beast. It would definitely attack in three days. I kept the same pace, since this was a marathon, not a sprint. Once I left the canyon I made a zig zag pattern.

The outpost would be a tomb if I went there. I needed to make it back to the sect, but that was a month away on foot. This meant I needed to lose an elder beast that could shapeshift and had three days leeway to do so. I pulled out scent concealer and repellant and used both liberally. Once I cleared the canyon, I tossed scent attractor to the sides behind me as I kept rushing through the forest in the night.

Dawn came, and the few beasts I had seen were moving towards the scent attractor at the start of the canyon. I altered my path to kill them to stir up the beasts in the area. That elder beast clearly valued its garden. I had no idea why Roaring Twilight was allowed to trade me two flowers, but it was. Perhaps some sort of communal garden and it used its share to pay me?

Regardless, the elder beast was following me, which meant I needed to force it away. Trying to fight it was like an ant trying to fight an elephant. There was little to no chance of winning. That meant I had to threaten the garden itself with a beast tide. My zig zag pattern intercepted several beasts. The elder beast was too high up in the air to smell all the alchemic products I had used, but it would quickly realize what I was doing. This was the most dangerous point.

More and more beasts began to arrive, one every ten minutes, now one every three minutes. They were quickly surging in this direction. Their corpses littered the forest. I killed another rank 3 beast and then quickly departed. I was grateful for all the martial training and hunting I had done, since my arms were tired from swinging so much.

I raced by more beasts, but they ignored me since I used the scent concealer and had left a lot of corpses around the entrance to the canyon. I felt something pressing down on me and quickly dove to the side while bringing my sword up. The elder beast swooped through where I had been and quickly turned into a humanoid beast.

The transformation was near instant. I saw the surge of energy twist out and ground from its core to form a new shell around it. A beast’s head and a man’s body. It was completely naked but was covered in fur.

“I was going to wait three days as part of my favor to Roaring Twilight, but I have a beast tide to deal with,” it casually said with only a soft growl behind the words and advanced.

“Junior greets senior. May I know the name and rank of the beast that is going to kill me?” I asked. This was purely for information and my personal knowledge. If it was a rank 8 beast, I would just slit my wrists and save myself the agony of being eaten.

“I am Water Running Over The Rocks, child of Whirling Flames From The Heavens. Roaring Twilight Upon The Rocks is my sibling. A young foolish one letting you visit our garden, but I am rank 6 beast and will not let a human sully things they are not meant to have.”

The beast was walking towards me and my heart began to speed up. “I understand senior,” I said and brought up my right arm to cover my eyes which I shut tightly. I opened my mouth wide and exhaled. My left arm swiped out and I called on a flashbang from my low-ranked spatial ring. Activating it and pushing it towards the beast that was almost upon me.

BANG!

“Ahhhh!” There was a scream of pain as I felt the energy wash over me. It was a known device and each one cost 2 rank 3 spirit stones. One to charge it, and the other for the production. I lunged forward with my sword, whipping it around, using the Parting Cloud style.

The blade’s edge dragged across the beast’s chest, refusing to cut that deeply. Still there was a sizable wound left behind. I was already retreating back and dodging to the side when it lunged forwards. I tossed out another flashbang and an entire sack of dried hot sauce powder. There was another bright explosion, sound, and energy, which made my head spin even though I was ready.

The red dust settled over the wounded rank 6 beast and I quickly set off in a random direction. I quickly put my sword away. The blood I had drawn could be collected later and was quite valuable. That was only a flesh wound, and it would quickly recover in a few minutes. I wouldn’t have been able to kill it.

The fact my blade only cut half a finger’s depth into the beast was all the proof I needed that it was too tough for me to kill. With its ability to shapeshift it would quickly heal. That was why at similar ranks, beasts held the advantage in the upper ranks, their shapeshifting. Still those were valuable minutes to get distance and the beast tide needed to be dealt with.

I put everything I could into running and getting far away from this place. My hope was the garden was worth more than killing me. And that I would get enough distance to lose the elder beast. I couldn’t stop running until I got back to the sect no matter what.

These preparations could also have been used to ambush and kill Roaring Twilight, but that wasn’t possible now. All I could do was hopefully escape. It was a shame I didn’t have a chance of killing the rank 6 beast. It clearly was overconfident in defeating me and had every right to be. With 4 ranks separating us and its innate abilities, there was just no way to defeat it.

After ten minutes, I altered my direction once more, with my route turning into a long curve. Every minute I wasn’t discovered meant a lot more area that rank 6 beast Water Running had to explore. Beasts relied on their sight and smell, they had no special vision of the energy of heavens and earth like I did. While there was some energy sense, it wasn’t very strong and more tied into their sense of smell.

With the tree cover of the forest, I wasn’t too worried about being spotted, but I avoided open areas and streams. After a day of running, I was exhausted. I had traveled for three days and then ran for a day.

Finding a place between some large rocks, I used more scent concealer and pulled out a large gray blanket. Wrapping myself up in the blanket, I hid in the damp docks, and fell asleep instantly.

When I awoke, I wasn’t dead, and the beasts had not found me. I put the blanket away and set off again carefully. While I was celebrating in my head, I wouldn’t fully celebrate until I returned to the sect and was safe from the beasts.

I was disappointed I wasn’t able to team up with Roaring Twilight and ride it around. Or when it became a rank 5, it would travel with me. These were foolish thoughts. Beasts and humans weren’t friends. But enemies based on their very nature and needs. Just like the gazelle couldn’t be friends with the lion. It was the same for beasts and humans.

It took a month and a half to get back to the sect, but I finally showed up and presented myself to the Sect Leader once again. I explained everything that happened and my choices. He didn’t say anything as he stared intently at me.

“You kept your sword in your ring this entire time?” he asked me.

“I didn’t run into any other beasts and avoided them,” I replied. He considered that carefully. “I doubt refined beast essence is possible, but the blood should be worth something, regardless. Unless you know another way?” I asked.

“Elder Liu Chen will be here shortly. He will know such a thing.” A few minutes later the elder who had a lot of crazy ideas about my cultivation showed up.

“Beast blood? Really, you called me for something so mundane?” the elder complained and the Sect Leader sighed.

“Blood from a living rank 6 beast, on a rank 5 sword. As you know Yuan Zhou requires refined rank 6 beast essence. He wounded the beast in question.”

“Oh, now that is interesting. Single combat?” the elder asked me.

“Yes elder, I wounded it across the chest when it took a humanoid form and was distracted,” I said.

“Interesting. And the blade has been in your spatial ring?” he asked which I confirmed. “The essence would be weaker than essence extracted in the regular manner,” he said.

“We can supplement that, but it will help the later ranks if he ever makes it there. A trace of the martial Dao,” the Sect Leader said.

“Indeed. I have been considering the best Daos that he should pursue at the later ranks. With four mind cores, it would allow for four Daos. Anything of a martial bent would be enhanced by such a choice. But enhancing it to match regular rank 6 refined beast essence will not be simple. A lot of energy would be needed to purify the blood and slowly enhance it over time. It would take three years at least, if we had the spirit stones.”

“Would 1,200 rank 3 spirit stones do?” the Sect Leader asked, and Elder Liu Chen considered the question while I listened in. Like doctor’s discussing a patient, I only got cursory input. “It would be possible. And it would be an interesting diversion. The ring with the sword,” I quickly handed it over to the elder without question. He stared intently for a moment.

“Preserved quite decently. I will handle this. Give it three years or so and it will be done,” he replied.

“Thank you Elder Liu Chen.”

“An interesting diversion and seeing two cultivations in a single body will be quite interesting,” he replied and left. I glanced over at the two blue moon orchids’ carrying cases on the Sect Leader’s desk.

“Thank you, Sect Leader,” I told him and bowed my head. I didn’t know what he would do with the refined beast essence he already had, but I am sure he would figure out something to do with such a treasure.

“Since you are succeeding on your path of defiance, I shall make things easier for you. However, you did fail in a direct order from myself and allowed such a helmet to be used, and the beast in question to not be killed.” I was silent and wondered what headache I would have to deal with. “But I am not unreasonable. The extra blue moon orchid makes up for you what you did and the presence of an elder beast. The fact you wounded it shows you tried at least.”

“If anyone asks, you were exploiting and tricking the beasts to get resources, not aiding them. But the presence of an elder messed things up,” the Sect Leader decided. I let out a sigh of relief at this.

“Thank you, Master,” I said and bowed my head.

“Elder Liu Chen’s time is valuable as well as several elders I have working on things pertaining to your cultivation. The blue moon orchid you recovered for the sect, will go a long away in terms of silencing any complaints about your cultivation path.” I nodded at this.

“Now I wait?” I asked.

“And keep cultivating. Your age and aligned motes?” he asked me.

“Age 27 and approximately 400,000 motes are aligned. I am going to be starting on the valve structures soon for my soul cultivation, since the channels are progressing well.”

“Good, you cannot slow down, no matter what, and your progress while hunting is acceptable. You are going with Elder Liu Chen’s valve structure.” That was kind of a question and also wasn’t. I was an experimental platform of this elders and what kept their interest. Liu Chen had agreed easily enough once realizing it was for my cultivation. If I didn’t take the path of most interesting and complicated cultivation, they would lose interest.

“Yes, Sect Leader,” I replied.

“That means for Meridian Attunement, you will need a null metal and a focusing gem,” he said with a long sigh. “Those are things that cannot be purchased easily. I will inquire about them, but it won’t be simple. Also, the number of cores you need are immense. It isn’t possible here on the continent most likely, but I am hesitant to send you into the Firmament before you can use techniques at Core Formation,” the sect leader said out loud.

“Due to the danger,” I added in.

“Yes, the danger is immense. Rank 8 cultivators are nothing but cabbages on the side of the road, with how easily their lives can be plucked. But the sheer amount of resources you need leaves no other option, unless you come up with something else to get the items needed,” he explained.

“It is a death sentence?” I asked and the Sect Leader nodded.

“It is. Even with you absurd luck and heaven’s favored path, you will be in a precarious position.”

“There might be another way. I was considering heading towards Imperial City to see if I could do business there,” I said. The Sect Leader looked at me as if I was truly brain damaged.

“You can try. But you will stay until we can apply the refined beast essence. Then you may depart and see the futility of your business aspirations first hand. If you want to cultivate you will have to fight and kill. The beasts you have killed so far, are but a drop in the ocean of blood you will have unleash.”

“I would prefer spreadsheets to viscera Master,” I replied.

“If you succeed in Imperial City and aren’t taken for everything you are worth or give up since all your ideas have been thought of already, then I will bow my head towards you as an apology for my doubt in front of the entire,” the Sect Leader said. My eyes went wide at that.

He clearly doubted my business skills, and I was doubting them now as well after everything I had learned and this new challenge. But the Sect Leader taking responsibility like this would be a huge deal. The Sect Leader apologizing would be the equivalent of the sect apologizing. The amount of face he would lose and give me would be massive. It just wasn’t done. A cultivator at the threshold of immortality apologizing to someone in Foundation Establishment in public, was a legendary event. He probably didn’t think it would happen, but was willing to admit if he was wrong.

“I will do my best Sect Leader,” I replied.

“You have gone against my predictions twice. Returning successful from the astral plane and getting the blue moon orchid. I thought both would end in your death far away from the sect.” I noted he expected me to get the beast cores. Well, any cultivator could get there with focus and time. The amount was a lot but not impossible.

I left the blue moon orchids with him. Five days later I also got back my low ranked spatial ring and my sword. I was busy constructing the three six-fold valves per channel and the non-valve valves that Elder Liu Chen had suggested.

His physical model made it a lot easier to understand. Not having moving parts made it easy. The trick with regular valve construction was to make the plane that formed weak. It was a simple matter of not putting as much focus into it. Unfortunately, the plane that formed between the motes was all or nothing.

The one edge was connected to the side of the channel would bend slightly. There was no good way to set the strength of these barriers. There was very rigid and almost nothing. But the amount of pressure between the top and the bottom was different for each cultivator. That was why valves had to start at the bottom and have multiple valves for the best effect without guessing.

I would use the weakest three valve structures at the far edge of the channels, and then Liu Chen valve design for the remaining seven tenths of my channels. Since I had to fit it inside the existing channels I had constructed, it would be a bit narrower than I wanted.

My attunement would have to be perfect no matter what. Normally cultivators put one valve by their meridians and another at their core. Enterprising cultivators might go for a third in the middle. But with Liu Chen’s design, the flow of energy would be forced back on itself with a loop.

I had been fiddling with how I would lay out the motes and the walls for such a valve inside my channels for a while. Ever since he had explained his design, I was working to figure it out and looking at how water flowed in carved out models.

The real trick was to have the main path slightly spiral inside my triangular channel with the loops alternating directions. This would disperse the movement of energy inside my channels, instead of focusing it to one side. It was even more complex, but I was used to it by now. The goal of the valves was to stop the energy from flowing out, once it was pulled in by my meridians.

A cultivator could contain so much energy on their own just using their meridians. But the amount of drops my cores needed was immense. So immense, I had to have valves to contain all that energy, or there would be leakage. I couldn’t afford to lose a single drop with how much I had to get. As I finished up the valves in three years’ time, I could then move onto the body cultivation channels for my central core.

After that I needed to get the Pill of Peace, so I could do mind cultivation and align my motes with the world itself. I wasn’t entirely sure how that would work. Aligning motes with my body or soul was a simple process of focusing on them and pushing them into place. I could feel the difference on which direction I could push the motes inside of my body.

But apparently mind cultivation used a separate methodology. Something to look at investigate during my next three years while I wasn’t cultivating, so I would be read, for when the pill of peace was finally completed.