Volume 2 - Fated Encounters
A lone boy with a spear in one hand and a sack hung over his shoulder was currently walking towards Northern Star City.
The mission he took this time required him to travel out of the continent. The Southern Ice Continent was a very small continent that had 4 countries in it with the Xia Empire being one of them. Directly north of the Southern Ice Continent was a landmass with two countries controlling it. One was the Dark Empire while the other was the Central Union. Yet what made him shocked was that the area of land that either one of these countries controlled was as large as the Southern Ice Continent itself.
To the northeast of the Southern Ice Continent, there was a country, about half the size of the Southern Ice Continent, known as the Soba Empire which was where he would need to go for his mission. The first king of the country had named the country after a famous noodle dish that was created there and it later became a worldwide delicacy. After that, the country gradually became a cultural phenomenon and a center for food and cooking. For many chefs, it was their dream to visit the country. This reputation had also spurred Qian Yu to visit this country for his mission.
Regarding the mission, it wasn’t too hard as he was only a qi gathering disciple. While it was called a mission, it could be better seen as a rite of passage. Its practical use was to allow the disciples to mature and gain experience outside the sect. Nothing could allow a person to mature better than life and death experiences.
That being the case, he was like a scout for the sect. Roaming the region and sending reports to the sect branch was all he needed to do.
Following that, he thought about his personal predicament. He had already gotten adjusted to using qi and mastered basic control of qi. The first layer in the cultivation technique included the martial technique called “Lightning Spasm” which Qian Yu had barely learned to execute properly. Even then, Qian Yu was pretty satisfied with its power already when he tested it on a few unlucky trees. As to date, he didn’t use it on any enemies yet.
Regarding his plans on dual cultivating, he somewhat had a plan. There were three ways of acquiring Yin qi.
The first method was pretty easy but didn't actually work. Just go to a brothel… yet Qian Yu quickly abandoned that idea. The women in the brothel were weak women, mortals who didn’t cultivate. If he cultivated with a regular woman, no matter how beautiful she was, she would only have minimal amounts of qi in her body. Of course, there were special brothels with women that had high cultivations but he didn’t know where he could find one of those and they would no doubt be extremely expensive.
The second method was to get a slave. This method was a lot more applicable but it had its own difficulties as well being the cost. Previously, Qian Yu never had the thought of getting one but now, it seemed like a viable option. Still, he still had qualms about it and he couldn’t really force someone to cultivate with him. As for persuading her, that was something that could be worried about afterwards. Whether it be setting her free after a while or something along those lines, Qian Yu didn’t think too far.
Lastly, the third option was the most natural yet difficult method that was out of his control. Obviously, he just needed to find a lover. Roaming along the rogue cultivators, he hoped to meet others similar to his own status and power.
Without any clear plan in mind, the best thing to do now was making money, in case he discovers a high level brothel or decides on getting a slave.
At the moment, he had 1 spirit stone and about 20 gold coins in liquid money. However, he had about a total of 120 Snowdrop Flowers that he had gained from the hunt! This could potentially be 600 gold coins or 6 spirit stones!
It was a peaceful journey to Northern Star City as a few days passed by. Entering the city, he couldn’t help but feel nostalgic about his date with Zhao Xieren here a couple months ago. He walked around and went to a restaurant and ate alone silently before he headed towards Northern Star Auction House to sell some of his Snowdrop Flowers.
“Hello, I would like to auction off some Snowdrop Flowers, approximately 40 of them”. Qian Yu asked. For now, he didn’t want to attract so much attention and only sold a third of his savings. Furthermore, there was a chance that these flowers could be sold for more in the Soba Empire.
“Alright, follow me,” the receptionist said as he brought Qian Yu to a room and they proceeded to finish the deal. Afterwards, Qian Yu participated in the auction house but nothing attracted his attention. After his flowers were sold, he took the money and left as he made some preparations before going to the Soba Empire.
Entering a store in a rather shady corner of the city, Qian Yu asked the owner, “Information on the Soba Empire, maps and a run down of important sects and cities, latest news is good too.” His knowledge on the Soba Empire was extremely low and as he didn’t know anyone from there so it was best to be prepared and safe.
The owner nodded and as he went into the back of the store, Qian Yu looked around before he decided to buy a black robe that was very common for rogue cultivators.
“The total is 10 gold coins,” the shopkeeper said.
‘Tch,’ Qian Yu snickered but still paid the shopkeeper. With little time before the ship departed, he couldn’t afford to be stingy.
Putting the scrolls and robes and into his sack he quickly left to buy a cruise ticket to the Soba Empire.
Looking at the gigantic wooden ship, Qian Yu who was in a black robe, no longer felt that he had been scammed initially for 5 gold coins. It was the first time he had ever seen a ship this close and the one in front of him could hold a couple hundred passengers.
Upon entering his room on the ship, he even felt the money was spent well. The room was bigger than the room he had in the sect and they provided unlimited food! With the awakening of his heavenly constitution, the amount of food he ate had gone up increasingly and he could easily get his money’s worth over the next 7 days as the ship traveled to the Soba Empire.
Looking at Northern Star City which was continuously getting smaller in his view, he was finally out of his comfort zone, ‘My adventure starts now!’
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So I wounder what the dark beauty did to mark him? It would not make much sense if she was unable to find him.
She didn't really mark him, she just wanted to remember him by looking at him from close to get a better memory. Think of what the spiritual beast showed her as a pixelated and lower quality picture I guess. She can easily find him though if needed as she knows what sect he's from. Then again, from her point of view, it's not like she needs specifically him to do something for her. But ya obviously something is gonna happen
Tch,’ Qian Yu snickered at the expensive price
Snickered doesn't seem like the right word for this context. To snicker means to laugh, giggle, but less cute and more derisive.
thanks for the chappie
I'm really hoping that if he gets a slave they'll have a lovey dovey relationship. I'm also hoping you won't make the story dark.
Thanks for the chapter, can't wait for the next one.?
Yea I'm not going to ruin my novel by making it dark LOL. Who said a normal relationship can't start from a master and slave though
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@takeaseat mostly because extreme power imbalance in a relationship means the weaker side has no choice but to comply with the other sides wishes, and doesn't breed a true relationship in most cases.
@drakensji most cases xcept MC cases
Thanks for the chapter
Oh, dear. Well, I took a break from this novel after you finished your first volume. The biggest thing I remember was that the pacing was terrible and the whole thing felt like a prologue to becoming a protagonist amongst other issues. That took you over thirty chapters to get here. I remember the broader strokes of course, but that does not really matter. Anyway, I was going to wait until you had about 90 chapters out to try again, my logic being that by that time you would be in a decent place with your pacing for me to judge the quality of the story going forward, but your release cadence was very slow so I'm back for a bit to see what you got.
My first impression is that your descriptions and moment to moment have yet to really improve. The story still feels tone-deaf because of it. Like someone listing out their chores with all the enthusiasm of waking up in the morning to read a fluid dynamics textbook and that's only made worse because of some of the poorer narrative choices you've made with your pacing in the previous novel. Choices that set things to be either forced, boring, overly dramatic for this stage of development which feels incongruent, or just uncomfortable to read. Now he's thinking of resorting to human slavery? As if there wasn't enough deplorable sh*t stain protagonist and awful writers trying to whitewash human slavery as it is in the genre. Wake up dude, it's 2021. 😆
Because of the power dynamic, no matter how you write it you're basically introducing plot holes, forced writing that's uncomfortable to read, breaking verisimilitude to readers that aren't ignorant of the last two centuries, and adding plot armor to try and pretty it up. And that's no matter how you write that. That's to say nothing of the ethical, economic, and other issues it has long term on a demographic. Like the unlikelihood of educated cultivators becoming slaves or slaves being treated we'll, and the whole practice not just being utterly disgusting save for such a small part of the slave population that it isn't worth mentioning. It's even more gross than writing the dreaded aphrodisiac date rape girl who can only live if she gets some cum in her. Just don't do it! How hard is that? It's your story, but damn. That's just so stupid. Sigh... Even if you were just trying to be historically accurate, then the story is just too dark for no reason. Who wants that in their fantasy?
These are just my initial impressions. I'll likely stick around for a few chapters and see if the quality improves, which I highly doubt now, but I will drop if he ends up buying a slave. (Personally, I'd be more likely to kill slavers than help them by paying them. It's f*cking disgusting, man. Probably would sleep like a baby afterwards too.)
Sigh... Either way, just from the quality, other aforementioned issues in past post of volume one, and now this? If I were to rate the story it would be maximum three stars. Large part of that is your pacing, syntax, ethics, the likability of your protagonist, the narrative structure, and just where you are at now with all this writing.
I see you're clearly against the slave thing. Others are the opposite. I did put the "slave" tag on the novel so not really sure what you were expecting going in unless you missed that.
Pacing wise, some say its too fast and some say its too slow. It's just preference. Other than that, your other points are valid.
All in all, my novel just isn't what you're looking for, nothing wrong with that.
Have a good day.
@takeaseat it's disgusting because having s*x with slaves is a form of rape. Slaves can't say no. You said there would be no rape, but alas, it looks like you'll be breaking this promise without even realising it.
Also, who wants to read about some loser who's first instinct is to go pay for sex. Why not just ask his closest female friend? It just reeks of cowardice. He's supposed to be a cultivator? And yet he's too afraid to ask a girl out.
@Pattttetn
This was one of the biggest reasons why I dropped this. I don't think the writer has a problem with that, though. Rape? Might not even see it as what it is. It's basically like Harvey Weinstein the cultivator.
@Ouroboros I'm going to push a few more chapters and see where this goes. I like the idea of lightning but it isn't really being optimised so far.