Calculating Cultivation - Chapter 50: Hostages

“No,” Elder Zedong said and shook his head.

“There is no way?” I asked and he let out a sigh and gave me a tired look.

“We were defeated once. If you want people to help you, hire a sect, but even then, they would refuse. No one, not even the first child of an Immortal would be worth the price or the risk,” he explained. I bowed my head at that. “I understand she is family, but the risk is too high. For now, we are safe, since we won’t be attacked again by the demonic sect. That would be the same as claiming territory. Our neighbors will send people to check on us, and will find us strong enough, without resources to risk an attack for little benefit.”

“You know where they went?” I asked, while thinking reckless thoughts. I wanted revenge and to strike back.

“I won’t tell you. There has been a lot of effort invested into you. I won’t send you to your death. As for your niece, she is already dead most likely and turned into a cultivation resource. The fate of all cultivators captured by a demonic sect,” he replied. I clenched my fists in anger. How could we have been so weak? I knew the Cloudy Moon Sect wasn’t the strongest, but it also wasn’t the weakest in my mind.

More had rested on my master, the previous Sect Leader, than I had realized. With his death, it left the Cloudy Moon Sect vulnerable. “Thank you, Elder Zedong,” I replied with despair.

“I understand where you are coming from, I wish I had strength myself. Strength to chase down the attackers, save our sect members, and kill them. But it just isn’t possible, Disciple Zhou. The harsh reality is that we are not capable of fighting back, we can only endure.” I bowed to the Elder as he waved me away.

It was incredibly disappointing that there would be no rescue mission for the captured sect disciples, which included my niece. I let out a sigh, I knew what I had to do, but I didn’t want to do it. Doing the right thing was never easy.

I left the sect and made my way to Cloudy Moon City. I would be headed to Imperial City afterwards to sort out the mess that was my mining business. That was going to be much harder and even more complicated. While I would like to hope that I could outrun the news of the attack on the sect, it was doubtful that would be the case.

Just one high level cultivator flying about, would find out the information and it was the kind of news they would pick up and bring back to Imperial City. Regardless, I needed to finish my cultivation in the third stage. I had only completed a very small portion of it, and I had a lot of channels left. There were 1,304 channels in total, and I had only completed 91 of them, a drop in the bucket that was my cultivation.

At the end of the day, that needed to be my priority right now. I was only 58 years old, while I would easily live to be around 300 years old, each second was precious. It was all too easy to say, I will cultivate later, or I have time. That was one message that was always conveyed, a lack of time. Since I had cleared the obstacles for the third stage of my cultivation, but the fourth stage and the bottleneck, would be the hardest part. That was what I needed time for.

That was why my focus needed to be on my cultivation. It would also increase my strength at the same time. While I had won the fights I had been involved in, that was relying on equipment that had a much greater level than my cultivation. While tools and equipment were valid, my base abilities still lagged behind elder cultivators and not being able to use techniques.

Chimei’s clone ability had been incredibly powerful. Against anyone else who wasn’t able to see the energy of a person and in the air, it would have been a much harder fight. I just needed more experience in seeing techniques being used and fighting at that level.

Regardless of these thoughts and plans, there was something I needed to do, but absolutely did not want to do. I arrived at Cloudy Moon City and made my way to my sister’s home early in the morning. I was let in and was led to a sitting room while the servants let her know that I had arrived.

“Brother,” she greeted me as she entered, and I got up to hug her. “There are rumors the sect was attacked?”

We sat down. “All you servants leave,” I commanded. They quickly left without any objection, and I let out a sigh. “The sect was attacked, by demonic cultivators. Many were killed and several cultivators captured to be used as resources by the demonic cultivators,” I began to explain.

“No. No. Yuan Zhou, it cannot be true,” my sister said.

“Yao Lan was either captured or her body destroyed, and no trace found. I do not know which. In either case she is dead,” I morosely explained.

“Nooooo!” my sister let out a scream and then broke into tears. “How could you let this happen?” I knew it wasn’t really a question, but one born of despair. Her daughter was either dead or suffering a fate worth than death. She got up and I did as well. She came over and began hitting my chest, which did nothing to me as she wailed and screamed.

This went on for a couple of minutes before she finally collapsed, exhausted, gasping for air. I slowly and carefully lifted my sister up and put her back in her chair. I then took my seat again as we were both silent.

“Who did this?” my sister asked.

“A cultivator beyond me, one step away from being an Immortal,” I replied. My sister sagged into her chair.

“Why?” she asked. The true answer was the balance of power between sects, and Aoyin sending a message, while hoping to capture me. If one was more focused on conspiracy theories, then one would even say an Immortal from the Imperial Sect ordered such a thing, to cut my path short. Regardless, none of that was stuff to be shared. My sister was a mortal, not a cultivator, so was her daughter.

For the most part, mortals were off limits. The cities and mortals formed the economic base for the entire region controlled by the sects. Even the high-level sects were impacted by the number of cities under their control. While each one only sent back a small portion of income, they added up and created the foundation of wealth for the high level sects to draw from.

What my sister was really asking, is to give some kind of explanation on why this happened that she could make sense of.

“The Demonic Cultivators made a move on the Cloudy Moon Sect. I only survived since I was deep underground in a cultivation chamber and was almost crushed during the attack. That is the risk of being a cultivator, that someone immensely stronger, just crushes you without regard or warning,” I replied and there was a long stretch of silence as we both thought over the entire situation.

“I am sorry for hitting you,” my sister said.

“It is fine. While I might not have deserved it, you were upset,” I added. Also, she didn’t do anything to me.

“Are we in danger?” she asked quietly.

“No. The demonic sect won’t return, otherwise there would be an intervention.” The timeframe was seen as around 100 years. Cultivators thought in different time frames than mortals. While the high-ranking sects might allow demonic sects to roam around as a threat and reminder, they couldn’t allow them to take known territory.

It would be a slap in the face. That entire power balance would change if Aoyin or another demonic cultivator reached the rank of Immortal. I suspected even if that happened, the high-ranking sects would not allow the status quo to be threatened. It was clear they had worked very hard over the millennia to create a stable society, that still allowed cultivators to rise up.

How else could a society have lasted for 200,000 years without active intervention? There were reasons and forces at work, that I didn’t understand and wasn’t qualified to understand. It was incredibly frustrating, but the only solution was to get stronger.

“You are leaving?” my sister asked.

“Yes, for a long time. I won’t be able to visit again. This would be goodbye,” I explained. The distance to Imperial City was too much, unlike the sect. Once I began cultivating in earnest, there would be very few chances for breaks. Even then, returning all the way out here to Half Moon City, just wasn’t feasible. I would lose too much time in progressing my cultivation.

I always knew this day would come. When I had to say goodbye. I just hadn’t realized it would be so soon. My heart felt heavy. My sister had been one of the only family members I viewed as family since being born into this world. It hadn’t started off this way, but she had grown on me over the years.

“I knew this day would come, where I could no longer look upon you as you moved further and further away little brother,” my sister said. She had no more tears to give, or I am sure she would be crying right now.

“I did ask you know,” I said, and she stared directly at me. “If older people could be brought into the path of cultivation in order to live longer. It is forbidden. One of the many rules that the high ranking sects enforce.”

“I appreciate it. I just…I just…my hopes and dreams rested with Yan, my little flower. Now she is gone,” my sister said slowly and with hesitation. The silence stretched out once more as we just sat in each other’s company. “I should arrange a funeral. How long will you be staying?”

“Not long at all. I plan to leave right after this,” I replied.

“No one else?” she asked.

“I have said everything I needed to say long ago when I went into seclusion. I wouldn’t have come here, except for Yao Lan and what happened to her,” I explained. Having long heart wrenching goodbyes wasn’t something that I wanted. While originally, I had been okay with possibly visiting over the decades, this would no longer be an option. Better I just move on without fuss.

There was the slim chance that Aoyin would make a move to use my family against me. While very unlikely, it was still possible. Better not to give me any more targets than I needed to. Even if Aoyin wouldn’t act, I could Chimei trying to take revenge on me for wounding him in anyway possible. He didn’t seem the type to let an injury and defeat go.

That was why it was best in my mind to leave right away without a fuss. “You care more for cultivating than your family?” my sister asked. It was a rude question, but she clearly wasn’t at her best at the moment, so I forgave her.

“People move on. That is the nature of the world,” I countered.

“Except cultivators,” she replied.

“Except immortals. That is the dream of all cultivators, to reach such a height. I have put in so much work and effort, to stop now, would be to spit on the help so many people have given me,” I replied. Also, I refused to stop. I had died once and somehow came back. It was not one of the things I liked thinking about.

I wanted to keep going no matter what. To have power to decide my fate, no matter what was out there. Stronger cultivators, ancients, or other terrifying powers I had no clue about. I also enjoyed the self-progression. It was like a thesis, with the thesis topic, being my cultivation. The validity of a chosen path was shown by how far you were able to go. To be the best.

Back on Earth, this was a struggle with so many competing factors. But in cultivation land, it was simpler and more complex at the same time. Simpler due to the fact, everything was based on how dedicated an individual was to cultivating. It was complex since it all came down to risk and how much risk a person was able to stomach.

“A genius of hard work,” my sister muttered.

“Indeed. While I leveraged my genius nature in the past, hard work is what separates people who go far and those who don’t. It would be easy to give up on cultivating. Live a peaceful life. Have kids one day, and then die,” I said.

“What? I don’t believe that,” my sister countered and I shook my head.

“It is something I have thought about. It is easy to stop. Easy to make excuses. It is hard to keep going forward, year after year, hoping that I will succeed,” I replied. The long cultivation session, was something I could endure, but there were mental stresses from having to cultivate so much. “We all struggle in some way. I might be the cool older brother, but I struggle quite a bit as well.”

“I never thought you didn’t struggle, but giving up? Really?”

“I considered it a few times. But in the end, I will keep going. To be a cultivator is to endure, and only I will remain,” I said softly. I didn’t cry, but my heart beat heavily in my chest.

“Thank you for letting me know what happened to my daughter Cultivator Yuan Zhou,” my sister said and stood up. I got up as well. She hesitated for a long moment before approaching me and giving me a hug. She leaned her head down next to mine.

“No matter what happens, I love you brother. Be safe. Take care. Don’t let your heart become a rock. And once you are an Immortal, remember your foolish sister who had foolish thoughts.” I had no idea what thoughts she was talking about as she gave me a kiss on my head before leaving.

I stayed in the room for a minute, looking at the door she left through. This would be the last time I saw my sister Yao Chuntao. “Take care sister. Sorry I failed to protect your daughter.” The words sounded out in the empty room, and I shook my head. There was no need to say anything more. It would just create more heartbreak between us.

No one stopped me as I left her home. I didn’t look back. Unless I got past the first bottleneck, there was nothing I could do for the Cloudy Moon Sect and nothing they could do for me. Rebuilding would take a tremendous amount of effort and time. Finding people willing to be cultivators and setting them on their path was not simple.

At least a lot of members had survived, since many of them were outside the sect when it was destroyed. Unlike my first Master Yi Rong, who was sent to live outside the sect in retirement, these people would be allowed and encouraged to stay inside the sect to provide guidance. The foundation of knowledge was still there as well.

The Sect wasn’t destroyed, but it had suffered a serious setback. With how much I had to focus on my cultivation I wouldn’t be able to do anything to help them and they didn’t have any spare bandwidth to help me in the slightest. I was on my own going forward now.

I paused to look at the Zhou family compound, where I had grown up. My nephew from my half brother was now the patriarch of the Zhou family. I continued onwards. There was nothing for me to say or any reason for me to visit. It was better that I just leave without making a fuss.

Leaving the city and then the outer wall, I quickly began to travel along the road by myself. While unlikely, if I wanted to have any hope of getting to Imperial City in time to deal with the destruction of the Cloudy Moon Sect, then I needed to hurry. The delay to speak to my sister about her daughter’s death was the only delay I had been willing to make.

This would also be the best time to intercept me. If there was an ambush, it would most likely occur after leaving Half Moon City. That was why, I went off road into the surrounding forest. It was a bit of a risk with the beasts, but I was confident in my own strength and ability to keep moving to the next city before needing to rest.

The roads formed a very shallow pyramid, with one city at each point. I was taking a straight line, cutting out a city in my trip, but going offroad to avoid anyone from tracking me or intercepting me. I would change out of my sect robes and wear martial robes that were non-descript. It would be a headache with my stature, but I could easily get a place to rest discretely and then continue on my trip.

I had traveled enough in the past I was confident about avoiding detection if I needed to. Traveling through the forest would slow me down slightly, but I didn’t want to get ambushed or intercepted. I made my way through the forest, only having to kill a couple of beasts. There spirit stones would be used as basic spending money.

Technically killing beasts this near to cities and roads was illegal, but I wasn’t concerned. I wasn’t constantly killing beasts in this area, just traveling. Even the neighboring sects wouldn’t care, since they wouldn’t find me with how big the wilderness was.

It took a five days of travel, before I was about to reach the outer wall of the city I was aiming for. I paused as I felt a stillness in the air. I had my sword in hand already, in case a beast showed up, but there were no beasts around.

That was when a blood clone of Chimei showed up in my vision and was approaching slowly. I looked around, and there were no other threats that I could see. “Still alive,” I pointed out to the clone. Normally I wouldn’t talk, but he wasn’t actually here. Either he was delaying me, or he wanted to speak.

Since he had found me, I was content to speak for a bit hoping to get more information about what he was planning and Aoyin. “You are a dead man walking,” Chimei’s clone said. I smiled ruefully at being called a man with my small stature.

I looked around for other threats but didn’t see any. But that didn’t mean much. I had not studied techniques in depth, to understand their limits and constraints. I had been too focused on my cultivation plan and businesses. Not techniques I wouldn’t be able to use until the fourth stage of cultivation.

“How so? I don’t see you around, you gave up your element of surprise. Unless you are calling on Aoyin?” I asked. That was my biggest concern and I paid close attention to how this clone responded. The slightest twitch or glance might give something away. Instead, it took a different track.

“I have your niece. A pretty little thing. Hand yourself over to me and I will let her go,” he said, and I rolled my eyes at that. That seemed like a pointless threat. Why even make such a threat? I considered his words in my head, but no matter how I thought about them, it was just a pointless claim. Unless he was hoping to enrage me to make a mistake? That was not going to happen.

“After you suck her cultivation dry and leave her a dead husk. I have already accepted in my heart that she is dead,” I replied. The blood clone frowned at that. “What? Were you thinking I would just roll over and die for someone else?” I asked while staring at the clone. I was really starting to dislike this technique. The combat techniques I had seen so far weren’t that useful, but this method of using clones to distract and communicate was surprisingly effective.

There would be no way to have a conversation otherwise. Since I wouldn’t hesitate to attack to get an advantage. Unfortunately, there didn’t seem to be any kind of connection I could trace, and I had no idea about the range limitations. Chimei probably hadn’t recovered quickly, so I was leaning more towards delay and less ambush for what he was currently trying to do.

“No. But it was worth a shot. So, sending clones everywhere?” I asked while looking around. I was more worried about how he had found me so easily. To find someone in the wilderness wasn’t a simple task. I had no idea if I could get away even if I killed this clone.

“Something like that,” the clone said while I advanced. He clearly wasn’t sharing and appeared intent on delaying me instead. That meant it was time to leave. I was going to kill the clone and then head in a random direction, hoping to lose anything or anyone that might be after me. “Don’t be in a hurry, I am here to deliver more than a threat.”

“And that is?” I asked as I got closer and closer. The clone suddenly collapsed as three people appeared in my sight at a slight distance. That was annoying. A wide net had been spread. Chimei or Aoyin clearly had a lot of knowledge about me. Knowing I was headed for Imperial City, there would only be so many wilderness routes I could take. The fact that this team took time to get here, meant they were stretched out over distance and there were probably more cultivators closing in at the moment.

All of them rank 4 cultivators. He had been delaying. They knew about my gun as well and would most likely make preparations, which was why I needed to get past them and not retreat. Breaking past them would hopefully let me escape any kind of encirclement.

The demonic cultivators were quickly closing in on me through the trees with weapons out. One had a spear, and two more had swords in hand. I put my sword away and got out my gun. I would need to be ready to reload quickly. At least they were rank 4 cultivators, so while they had techniques, I wouldn’t have to use my more expensive ammunition to wound or kill them.

I rushed forward. I saw one of them stop and slam their hand onto the ground and release a surge of energy. It flowed through the ground and into the nearby plants. It was a bit of a long distance shot, but the cultivator was clearly engaged in some kind of technique and not moving. That was their mistake. I fired, and hit them in the chest, blowing a hole through their body and painting the tree and dirt behind them red with their blood.

The energy stopped floating just as vines had begun to burst out of the ground. They quickly began to wither as the last two cultivators kept closing in on me. I quickly reloaded while retreating. Staying in one spot like that one cultivator who had tried to trap me, would be a major tactical mistake.

Quickly dodging through the trees, the remaining two cultivators through fire balls at me, singing my clothes slightly, but not hitting directly. I managed to go to the side of them and loop around, heading in the direction they had come from.

That was the one direction I was confident didn’t have more enemies, since they had come from that direction. Any other way I went could have more enemies. While I kept glancing over my shoulder, and waving my gun at the two pursuing cultivators, they kept moving and I couldn’t get a good shot.

I was tired from traveling so much and needed to figure out a solution and quick. When I made a feint back to the two cultivators, they kept their distance and attacked from range, forcing me to keep moving. It was clear they weren’t going to try and engage me, just wear me down. I had about the same speed as them, so I couldn’t separate or close the distance to escape or wound them.

There wasn’t much of note in the nearby geography, which meant, I would have to take more drastic actions. Very drastic actions. Thankfully we were far from any city at the moment, which would hopefully be enough. But I saw no other way to survive.

I altered my direction to a nearby beast and got out my sword. I killed it. After that I repeated the process, while doing a large loop, catching the beasts that came back to feast on their fallen brethren. The two cultivators kept up pursuit, but they seemed content to hang back and not try and ambush me while I was killing the beasts.

More beasts were pulled in by the recent kills, and now the two pursuing cultivators had to act as well, to keep from being attacked. No rank 4 beast yet, but it was only a matter of time. In a quarter of a day, the number of beasts in the area was rapidly increasing as I killed more and more, quickly creating a beast tide.

That was my crazy plan. To create a disaster to force all pursuing cultivators off my trail and hopefully ruin any kind of tracking and pursuit. But it would be a big risk as I couldn’t escape just yet. More beasts kept pouring into the area, and it was a test of resolve and strength, to see who would break and flee first, the enemy cultivators or myself. Or if we would all die, once there were too many beasts or high rankings ones showed up.