An Fei’s snow white fox appeared to be nothing legendary to the common people’s eyes. Except for its pallid and heavenly soft fur that was whiter than snow, the fox didn’t exhibit any unusual traits that cultivators generally sought after.
It was of the same stature of a regular artic fox, with a single, solitary tail.
If it weren’t for the fact that artic foxes absolutely abhor the warmer regions and the fox besides An Fei seemed to exhibit none of the common dislikes relevant to its species, the cultivators of the Hundred Clan Coalition and the youths of the Violet Jade Pavilion would not assume it to be a spiritual beast.
Alas… to the expansive world of the Shattered Star Continent, resources were limited for every existence. Mortal or cultivator, each required a set amount of a variety of resources to develop, populate, and advance.
Particularly for the cultivators, many desired the usage of medicinal pills and consumption of spiritual beasts to gain abrupt advancements in their attainment in cultivation.
Moreover, a domesticated spiritual beast, if properly reared and developed, could become a powerful existence that guarded the practitioner as they encountered a hidden danger.
…the only issue was such a glamourous concept was that human bodies were inherently weak, and spiritual beasts rarely enjoyed the experience of leaving their habitat. As such, it was inevitable for a brave practitioner to march into a secluded forest to hunt for a spiritual beast to tame, only to be utterly ravaged and consumed for dinner…
With such risks accompanying the golden fruit, it was nearly impossible for a sole cultivator or small groups to journey deep into uncivilized regions.
Only sects possessed the resources to dream of building a domesticated hill to rear spiritual beasts from infancy, removing the threat of retaliation at its root.
Being hardly qualified to be entrant disciples of the dog-eat-dog Violet Jade Pavilion, how could these youths resist the temptation?
“Seize it! The woman’s a mortal; flank the male!”
The male youths howled as they formed a triangular formation, rushing towards Wen Jiu with brazen expressions on their countenance. Dust unfurled into the air as the numerous pair of boot-clad feet churned the earth, spiritual essence coursing through the ground to topple the pair of man and woman.
“Well, Young Miss, isn’t this quite the energetic group of youths?”
Wen Jiu casually patted his hands as he eyed the incoming group of youths, paying no heed to the numerous sharp weapons aimed towards his exposed throat.
Instead, the handsome man even turned around to face An Fei, staring deep into the pair of scarlet irises.
“They have so much energy and enthusiasm, yet they can’t even grasp the basics of fighting,” he sighed.
“Look at the boy at the far right! He’s trying to run with his sword unsheathed – just how is he planning on managing his balance?”
“Are you not going to pay attention to your safety?” the young girl raised an eyebrow as she pointed towards the maddened youths of Bei Tang.
“Weak or not, those weapons are still properly sharpened… probably.”
“Young Miss, don’t worry about such trivial things!” Wen Jiu clapped his hands, a confident expression on his admiring countenance.
“They’ll never be able to touch my body. Such is the gap of cultivation realms – an absolute gap that not even the greatest geniuses of the jianghu can possibly break.”
“Slaughter him!”
With a unified roar, a line of swords, falchions, and spears hurled their bitter points towards the handsome man’s body. And yet, once they approached Wen Jiu’s cloth robes, the utilitarian military weapons of forged steel halted into place without a sound.
They were seized by an invisible vice of immense strength, preventing the youths from reclaiming their weapons to launch another strike.
“What!?”
“Are you alright!? What’s going on!?”
The young girls who had not made an attack released agitated shouts towards the dumbfounded and terrified group of young men. The youths of Brightstone Village howled in response, forcing their meagre strands of spiritual essence to energize their body to retrieve their weapons and flee.
Their efforts were futile; some of them had yet to encroach upon the first pillar of Body Tempering, and as such, ultimately wasted their physique’s capabilities and rendered themselves unconscious in a few minutes.
Who was this monster – swords couldn’t cut him!?
“Young Miss, do you know the importance of a formation?”
Wen Jiu flashed a brilliant smile as he flicked the dust off his shoulders, and his index finger traced through the air to rest against the sharp edge of an in-geom.
Upon contact, however, the finger was not harmed; instead, the steel blade warped as it screeched in utter agony, the weapon reduced to a pile of scraps in a matter of seconds.
“Formation… doesn’t it serve as an arrangement to effectively micromanage the delicate balance of consumption, attrition, and combative capability?”
“…micromanage?” the handsome man blinked for a brief moment at the unfamiliar word, before nodding as the remainder of the words were clear.
“That is the general concept of a formation. However, Young Miss, that would constitute a formation of the secular world, for the formations we cultivators employ are different!”
“And why would I know something of the jianghu? I’m simply a mortal, why do you bother?”
An Fei snorted at the smile plastered on Wen Jiu’s countenance.
Ignoring the greedy gazes of the Brightstone Village youths, the young girl crouched onto the ground to run her fingers through the snow white fox’s fur with closed eyes, ignoring its helpless protests.
The little raven gloated upon its compatriot’s suffering with an expression full of schadenfreude, its crimson eyes twinkling with a multitude of sinister thoughts.
“Alas, Young Miss, though you may be a mortal, there will be one day when you cultivate! As such, learning such information beforehand is vital –”
“Excuse me, but is the Esteemed Immortal planning to reside in our Brightstone Village?”
The hoarse voice of an elderly man cut across the impassioned lecture departing from Wen Jiu’s lips. As the handsome man turned to face the speaker, he found before him a withered man well beyond his time.
…withered was the only word suitable for describing the elderly figure.
His clothes were of the worst-quality rags of flax twisted and sewed to compose a makeshift robe. When the young girl peered upon the elderly man, she saw nothing but withered limbs, withered torso, withered countenance, but a pair of eyes brimming with knowledge and wisdom.
Even if his withered vocal cords could hardly pass a coherent word past the throat, nobody dared misinterpret the elderly’s words.
“My wife and I indeed planned on staying here for a few days to reorient our journey,” Wen Jiu remarked with a polite yet severe voice.
“However…”
Before the handsome man could say any further or gesture towards the gaggle of youths waving their weapons towards his head, the elderly man lowered his head into a deep bow, bending at the waist for a perfect ninety-degree angle bow of respect and servitude. Not only that, after completing his bow, the elderly man’s bones released audible creaks as they pitched into a complete kowtow, and the almost inaudible sounds of a withered forehead making contact with the roughened soil boomed across the entirety of Brightstone Village.
“Village Patriarch!”
The group of youths cried out with a sorrowful voice mixed with anger, humiliation, and despair. Their hands naturally relinquished their grips on their various weapons, yet neither did the weapons fall, nor the elderly patriarch’s kowtows cease.
“What are you doing?”
“May the Esteemed Immortal accept this withered one’s plea and request,” the village patriarch responded in a collected yet submissive bow.
“The youths are young, and their hearts are bold. As such, they are easily prone to bequeath their conscience to greed and evil. Please grant them a chance to mature, to gain experience of the world as the Esteemed Immortal. For however weak a mortal’s life may be, a life is still a life.”
Wen Jiu’s brows furrowed at the odd yet natural mixture of peace and despair mixed within the elderly figure’s speech and actions.
The handsome man glanced at the blue sky and the various weapons aimed for the back of his head, then onto the numerous youths and their eyes brimming with tears of humiliation.
Finally, he asked a single question.
“Why have you raised such a request, knowing that it is considerably easy for me to deny your grasp of hope?”
“Because they are the only youths of Brightstone Village,” the village patriarch responded with another long bow.
“It is easy for the Esteemed Immortal to deny the plea of Brightstone Village. However, as rude and filthy as they may be, these youths are the only youths of Brightstone Village. If they die, then the village’s legacy will be wiped out for all eternity.”
“So I should spare these youths for attempting to off my head, for they are your war-ridden village’s final descendants?” Wen Jiu raised an eyebrow of challenge.
“However, if I am to accept your plea for hope, then they must live as mortals. Can you accept such a fate?”
The village patriarch of Brightstone Village bowed his aged head in acceptance without argument, his hoarse voice ringing with sonorous calm and finality.
“Then as mortals shall they live, if they may gain a second chance to life.”
