*Swish*...... *thwump* … *swish*...... *thwump* … *swish*...... *thwump*
I lower my new bow, made from Ninety-Nine-Year-Old Metal Bamboo and a bowstring made from the tendon of a Houtian-rank fierce beast. It’s a good size and weight for my current height and strength, but the curve will be too short when I get my growth spurt.
Moving forward to collect my arrows, I check where they all hit. Some hit the centre, but most were a bit off. I’ll need much more practice to make my shots always strike true. After all, it has only been three days since I started practising archery, and no matter how good my eyes are compared to an average mortal, they don’t help with muscle memory.
The other weapon I decided on is the sword; I can’t just have a long-range weapon and expect to survive quarrels for lucky chances. It may seem cliché, but the sword is a good all-around weapon, being able to slash, defend, parry, and even bludgeon if I hold it by the blade, which is an actual technique. I would need a good glove to be able to do that though, swords here are much sharper than back on Earth. The one I have right now is a shortsword made of relatively heavy metals. Good for now, but will be replaced later.
I’m not a strength fighter like Lin Ming, for now at least, or able to ignore hits. I can’t, and I won’t be. Playing to my nature and strengths, like being faster and more precise, is for the best. In cultivation novels, staying true to one’s self is an important aspect. You need to be able to cultivate and move forward with no regrets or hesitations, or the heavens will strike you down.
In light of that revelation, in the library, I took a foundational bow manual and a foundational sword manual; they’ll help me get a handhold in the arts and allow me to cover any misconceptions I may have. There is no reason to rush yet.
My cultivation is still progressing, though I’m taking it slower in strength training so I may take advantage of the new resources available to me, like the medicinal herbs to heal and speed up cultivation. Building a strong foundation is an important step in the road of martial arts; it’s best to go strong and steady.
Speaking of medicines, my Master has been a huge boon. Using a small number of her resources, she bought several resources to clean out any clogs and impurities I may have, improving my body for cultivation. The amount of stuff expelled from the cleansing was less than I expected; going through my memories, it seems every once in a while Yun ate a spirit herb or two instead of delivering them to Tang Shi.
Regarding lucky chances, my control of the Purple Card finally improved enough for me to be able to guide energy through my meridians, quenching and strengthening, and breaking through a few tougher blockages that the medicines couldn’t. I could feel my essence absorption rate skyrocket compared to before the unclogging. Before, the absorption was like breathing with a stuffy nose, now that nose is clear. Just to be clear, I can’t actively absorb energy, but the Purple Card can.
I’m also able to layer the Purple Card over my eyes, though more metaphysically, as it doesn’t leave my body, and see the energy compromising the world; energy like land qi, wind qi, rock qi, metal qi, wood qi, etc. I’m unable to use it yet; it would require a much higher cultivation base to pull qi from such stable places like rocks. However, I can pull from medicinal plants, but that’s because they release qi the moment the connection to their roots is broken.
For my main cultivation route, I’m using the best physical training manual, which involves complicated stretches and manoeuvres that strain every muscle, organ, and bone in my whole body, and sticking to a diet rich in protein and calcium, though not stated like that in the manual. It just says to eat the bones as a powder in a bone stew and all the meat in the animal. It may not be as effective as a Divine Realm training manual, but it does what it needs to: train my body to accept qi. I’m redoing my first two stages of training with it, building a better base, and not moving forward yet.
Speaking of body modification, Master offered me a choice between a drop of Vermillion Bird blood essence or a drop of Blue Luan blood essence, but I couldn’t give her my choice yet. I need to see if I’m more suited to fire or ice before I can make that decision, so I’m currently practising both a fire-based technique and an ice-based technique.
I haven’t decided on dual cultivation yet, whether it be spirit or body. Hell, I can’t even get a good spirit cultivation manual, and I won’t even be able to weasel Lin Ming’s strength cultivation out of him until six years from now! At that point, it’d be too late to start body refining unless I somehow go with him to the steppes and use the rich vitality there to cultivate it. Or, I suppose I could try and wing it by infusing my marrow with qi form medicine and condensing a bunch using the Purple Card before releasing it, acting like a pseudo-medicinal herb. If I can condense enough, it could even be better than one! Regardless, I can’t do anything yet.
Extra strength would help with pulling higher draw-strength bows, such as anything made of metal that can resist bending, like that purple metal for Lin’s first spear, Penetrating Rainbow.
On another note, Master said Mu Qianyu will be out of secluded cultivation soon, and I honestly can’t wait to meet her. Building a relationship with someone like her will help me a lot, and she also seems to be a pleasant person to be around.
Having a sparring partner will also help me advance any fighting techniques I practice. Furthermore, hanging around training, sleeping, and meditating in one place is tiring to any person, and Master isn’t allowing me to go to the valleys until I reach Houtian; she says it’s to have time to tighten my discipline and work on my heart of martial arts. Not that I disagree with her; it's just lonely and boring sometimes.
Speaking of the sect, nothing interesting has happened in it that would require Master’s attention. Just the normal things that happen: skirmishes between disciples, a little tournament arc that was supervised by an elder, and a disciple being kidnapped to be used as a human cauldron. That last one almost had Master on the move, but the girl returned on her own after killing her captor. Good on her, I guess. Not much more to talk about…
The sound of someone knocking on my door awoke me from my meditation trance. "Mu Yun? Mu Qianyu is out of seclusion. She was able to break through, but it was fairly quiet compared to a stage breakthrough, so you may not have felt it. Do you want to come meet her now?" My Master asked.
"Of course!" Was my answer.
Standing and dusting myself off, I leave the meditation room and travel to the entrance of my residence. Opening the front door, I'm confronted with the image of my Master and someone else, Mu Qianyu, I imagine, behind her.
At first glance, she's rather pretty. Not to the point I'd start drooling or try to keep her for myself, but just pretty. It may have something to do with my puberty not having come yet. She also has a bit of an air to her, like most geniuses or children of heaven.
"Hello," I wave to her.
“Hello, junior martial brother.”
