As Ye Fan departed from the courtyard, he headed for the nearby city.
In the past five years, Ye Fan had gone through an intense training regimen. As they traveled through the many parts of the Chi Dynasty, Shi Qiongtian had Ye Fan practice his skills, take herb baths, and temper his body. His Master had listed the conditions in the contract as if it was a step-by-step process, but it ended up just being conditions that would eventually be met. As he tempered his body and took herb baths, it would grow stronger and he'd be unfamiliar with his body so he'd hone his skills while fine-tuning his control of his strength at the same time. This resulted in a lot of time being saved.
Everything was a blur due to the dull and monotonous lifestyle. The whole trip was dedicated to training so he spent most of his time in the forest. Besides the first day when they had stayed in Eagle Flame City, the remainder of the journey was spent in a residence on the outskirts. There was little human presence to interfere with the training. Whether it was striking a wooden post with a wooden sword, practicing archery, or running laps, Shi Qiongtian was always at the side reciting passages from a book in his hand.
Well, to be honest, Ye Fan wasn't quite sure he was reciting from the books. Once, out of curiosity, he had taken a peek at the booklet and found none of the passages he was reciting on the page. The booklet outlined a set of conditions that needed to be met when training in archery. The title was "Archery: A Beginner's Dilemma"
The contents of the page mentioned the idea that the archer's conscious decision-making needed to be synchronized with their instincts. This core concept applied to other skills as well, but the author wanted to make sure that the reader knew its importance before moving on.
Although it's good to train your instincts, you cannot rely solely on your instincts for the best decision-making. A clear example of this is an illusion formation. A good formation would rely on confusing the five senses. The target's instincts would be put at ease and this would be fatal if the illusion formation was paired with an attack formation. With the use of the mind, you can deduce the oddities of the situation and find your way out, escaping danger. Not everyone had an innate divine eye that would allow the user to see past all obscurities.
Ye Fan paid attention carefully to what Shi Qiongtian had mentioned that day. Although he had made corrections to his form, he had never spoken of this concept. From then on, he would take a look at the book in his Master's hand to clarify any confusion before asking his Master directly.
He was now proficient in the sword, bow, tracking, hunting, and Flying Cloud Step. The easiest part of the training was fighting the bandits. Although he had heard of bandits from stories told by the clan's guards, he had never witnessed them in person. He did have some trouble with morality when it came to killing the bandits at first, but it was quickly overcome when he saw what they had done. It was truly horrifying and disgusting to see how the bandits treated their captives. He never could've imagined such a thing could be done by a human being to another if he hadn't seen it in person. Young boys and girls were treated like livestock and prepared to be sold into slavery. When Ye Fan freed them, they had nowhere to return to for the bandits had already killed their relatives.
From that moment on, he was determined to hold justice and righteousness at his core. Ye Fan vowed to himself that he would do his best to rid the world of this filth. But, currently, he was too weak to do anything. Even now, he was only at the peak of the Body Tempering realm. He had one foot on the road of cultivation. Although the peak of Body Tempering sounded impressive to the average mortal, it was barely enough to call someone a practitioner in the wider world. Even the Outer Disciples of lower-ranked sects had a cultivation at the Qi Refinement realm.
Ye Fan broke free from his thoughts as the city's gates came into view. The guards waved at him in a friendly manner. As Ye Fan got closer, one of the guards began speaking to him with a worried tone.
"Young Master Ye! It's good to see you. How's Bai Hu? Is he alright?"
"Uncle Hu's been well."
Ye Fan held an innocent expression as the guard waited for him to elaborate. After a few moments, the guard explained his words.
"I haven't seen him go the market all week, so I was worried something had happened to him."
Ye Fan had a moment of realization. With the added knowledge, he replied to the guard sheepishly while rubbing the back of his head.
"Ah, I went hunting and caught a bit too much so we've been trying to finish the meat."
"I didn't know Young Master was a hunter."
"My Master taught me how. He said that it was important to be self-sufficient."
As Ye Fan spoke about his Master, his face lit up. It was as if he was bragging about himself. The guards' expressions lit up with respect. One of the other guards took this chance to enter the conversation.
"Lord Shi is truly wise. I never thought I would see the day that an Immortal teaches survival methods."
The other guards nodded in agreement. The Sect cultivators that they had seen were too focused on cultivation to learn survival skills. A robust cultivation base meant it wasn't hard to survive without them. How was an ordinary boar supposed to survive a flying sword? What ordinary animal could hide from a cultivator's spiritual sense? Not to mention that those with high cultivations didn't need food and could sustain themselves on Heaven and Earth Qi.
"My Master is the best!"
The guards laughed at the boy's proclamation. Ye Fan showed a bright smile but didn't understand why they were laughing. One of the guards that were the first to recover addressed Ye Fan.
"So, Young Master Ye, what have you come to the city for?"
The others listened intently for Ye Fan's answer.
"My Master told me that my test will be today. I'm not sure what it is… but I'm sure that I need to be prepared. I just came to grab some supplies."
"All right, then. We won't hold you any longer. If anyone gives you any trouble, feel free to contact the authorities. Good luck with your test!"
"Thank you, kind Uncles! Have a good day!"
Ye Fan waved to the guards as he made his way into the city. He had been to Giant Skull City a few times and his memory as a cultivator was much better than a normal person's. After a few minutes of walking, Ye Fan made his way to a pavilion. The signboard that hung out front read "Five Treasures Pavilion". Fishing a folded piece of paper from his pocket, he read the first entry in the list to confirm he was in the right place. Nodding to himself, Ye Fan walked through the open doors.
