The eighteenth star was on the horizon. With so determination, Anton would be able to reach it. Strengthening the connection between body and spirit was the true beginning of the second half of Spirit Building, and he could already feel the changes without completing the eighteenth star. But he stopped reaching for it. The further he went in his cultivation before properly cultivating Fleeting Youth, the less he would benefit from it.
While to the current point Anton had found his own progression sufficient, he could feel his disadvantages from age accumulating. Having a good cultivation technique mitigated that, but he knew if he wanted to continue in his cultivation, he would have to concern himself with people like Anish from the Glorious Fla Palace. People who were at the peak of Spirit Building in less than five years. To match that he would have to accelerate the pace of his own training back to two months per star.
That simply wasnt possible to keep up for two more years. And, while strict cultivation rank wasnt everything, it was common that those who progressed quickly also obtained other advantages, powerful foundations and techniques that would augnt their abilities.
Anton could continue as he was, and he might continue to be above average but his aspirations didnt end with simply killing a pair of n. He didnt know if he could reach the level where he could change the world, but he was going to take every chance he had to improve himself. Even if it was particularly difficult.
The problem was that Fleeting Youth promised to augnt his flow of energy. The question with what arose, and he didnt know how to answer it. Training the body allowed it to store more energy and make use of it more quickly and efficiently. This was because the dantian and ridians were part of the body, bridging the gap between the fully physical body and the spirit. Energy was connected to both.
Every living thing produced natural energy, as well as so things that werent considered to be alive like certain types of stone or crystals. The augntation to energy wouldnt be coming from his body- he was already using that energy, and the technique made it clear that wasnt what it relied on. Instead, the power ca from age. That wasnt a quality that seed to lend itself to being drawn upon, even in the context of the other things Everheart did.
In a way, Anton could comprehend how there might be sothing to draw on by drawing on the value of sothings future. He couldnt give an explanation for how it would be done, but if two pillars were both able to last a hundred years on their own, the idea that together either one of them could end up lasting two hundred years vaguely made sense. One of the pillars would rely appear to be intact. Or sothing like that. But with age, there was no future to pull against. After death one would rely
It was strange to admit he didnt know. Anton knew there were several theories as to what happened after death. Moving on to so sort of afterlife was one. So proposed life simply ceased, the spirit fading into nothing. Another was entering the cycle of reincarnation to be born again once more. In fact, if he thought about it, life ending in nothing was more of an exception to the more common beliefs. So the question beca whether he could draw on whatever happened after death.
And whether he should.
But as those thoughts passed through his head, he was able to reconcile why it wasnt useful except at an advanced age. Creating a connection with sothing required closeness, and of course training that connection would take ti. The requirents began to make sense, though he didnt find that he was actually significantly closer to making use of the technique. But he felt he had passed an important hurdle. As for the rest he would need to consult with others. Perhaps they would know about possibilities for what happened after death.
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Dozens of scents tickled Fuzz snout as he sniffed the ground. He was slling for sothing big. So people might have said that big didnt have a sll, and they were right. Sort of. Because if you went about it right, slling for a big thing was just like finding it any other way- by there being more of it. More sll made a bigger thing. Sotis. Not always, because if it were always true than skunks would be the biggest things, and they werent. Fortunately Fuzz had known to avoid them since that one ti when he was a little pup. Rolling around in the dirt and rubbing his fur off on trees and splashing around in the water had barely done anything. It was awful. Almost as much as the death moss. But at least that led to having his current pack, which was good.
The one known as Elder Tshering didnt want just sothing big. There were lots of those things around. It was entirely possible to find creatures larger than the boar overlord that they had eaten. Very tasty. An oversized elephant would do. But it wasnt just about big body. It was about big energy. Another overlord, or sothing like it.
Fuzz almost buried his snout in the dirt. Sotis traces of energy seeped into the ground and stayed there. He sniffed. Mmm, nothing here. But if he crossed sothings path, he would sll it. He slled lots of things, but nothing that mattered.
Ooh, a bug! He ate it. Very crunchy. Usually they didnt make them big enough to be a proper mouthful, but this one was at least part of a bite. There were those ants, but they were probably too big.
Sniff sniff. Oh! A person! And another person. Frequent tracks indicated there was probably a village or sothing nearby. They should go et them. Fuzz liked people, though he found that people didnt always like him for so reason. Even when he was being friendly.
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Elder Tshering did not choose to involve himself in managing the Beast Forest because he was good with people, but he did understand that it was better to introduce yourself to the local populace before running around in their woods. He wasnt sure if the group of several hundred people was properly in ownership of the area, but it was best to avoid conflicts.
At first glance, it had seed like a group of traveling cultivators like themselves. Technically that was still true, but the scale of things was much different. The Ghaita tribe were nomadic and had several hundred mbers, nearly all cultivators. Most were in Body Tempering, but Anton took great interest in that aspect of them.
As for Elder Tshering, he didnt care about it so much. After so assurances that they didnt intend to cause any trouble, he was able to speak with one of the village elders, an old man in Spirit Building. Have there been any problems with powerful beasts in the area? he asked.
The old man shook his head. No. In fact, it is perhaps the opposite here. We used to follow several herds around the area controlled by the Clear Lake Sect. The herds began to roam further and we eventually arrived here with the herds smaller and weaker. We have had to hunt more dangerous beasts as we pass through areas rather than our preferred quarries, but there has been nothing particularly dangerous.
Do you know what made the herds you follow change their patterns?
Not directly. It seems the herds were attacked by sothing, as we were regularly finding their mbers dead. The attacks must have happened at night, because we monitored the herds during the day and saw nothing irregular. Strangely, we even found so that had not been consud at all, rely with puncture wounds that killed them and little more. The elder bit his lip, When we fed on the bodies, so of the villagers beca sick. But it was clear that the animals did not die from a disease but an attack of so sort. A strange result.
Indeed, Elder Tshering admitted. He continued to ask questions- about the nearby area and where they ca from. It seed the villagers of the Ghaita tribe had little interaction with the Clear Lake Sect except for occasional mbers who tried to join them. They rarely returned, except perhaps to pass through on their way to sothing else- as expected of cultivators. Many who chose to devote themselves to cultivation left their old lives behind.
It seed the Ghaita tribe hadnt been able to investigate more deeply. With herds to follow, they kept on the move. While they could make up for a day or two of lost travel, it was difficult on the weaker mbers of the tribe. Staying in the sa area also ant they were able to gather less local food and had to rely on dried foods. In short, they were busy keeping their daily lives stable and had no ti for much extra.
Getting directions to the Clear Lake Sect was slightly harder than Elder Tshering had anticipated. They had information it was to the north, but there werent any convenient rivers to follow to it. However, they were able to learn about a series of landmarks, and the group was on their way- the next day, after Anton had a chance to talk to them all about their tribe-wide cultivation practices.
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As the group approached the area described by the Ghaita tribe, it beca ever more clear that sothing was off. In areas so obviously brimming with vibrant plantlife it was expected to see large herbivores and predators. Instead, the majority of animals they spotted were smaller. As they approached closer to the Clear Lake Sect, they found so plants were dead or dying with no obvious cause. No blight or damage that anyone could find, simply once-healthy plants that had perished. These were subsequently being fed on by large swarms of insects, but for the most part the normal kind. Nothing that would be more than a nuisance to even a normal human.
With no clear results, they continued to press forward towards their destination. With the warnings from the Gheita tribe they kept watch at night. It was during Antons watch one night that their first real clues surfaced.
Everything seed normal for the night, except for perhaps how quiet it was. With tempered senses Anton could still hear smaller animals moving around and the sound of various insects. At first he didnt notice anything strange as the sound of insect wings grew louder. The pitch was a bit off, but any number of things could have caused that. But when he idly turned to look towards a particular droning sound that continually grew louder, he spotted sothing unnatural.
The moonlight revealed the figure of a mosquito- not the size of a knuckle or anywhere close to what he would expect, but closer to the size of a small dog, its body a half ter in length and its wingspan several tis that. Without even stopping to think about it, he fired a shot at it. Though the creature noticed his attack coming and tried to move, his control over his arrows allowed him to redirect his shot, nearly splitting the creature in two as his arrow struck between its head and thorax. There was a loud crunch as his arrow pierced its carapace, but it fell to the ground.
The sudden aggressive use of energy woke everyone else, and soon enough Anton was showing them the giant bug. He held it up for them to see. It was generally moving towards us. Perhaps it had no intention to attack, but regular sized insects are bad enough. I think I might have spotted a few more in the distance, but theyre unfortunately difficult to distinguish from birds.
Elder Tshering nodded, An unnatural find, to be sure. More importantly I sense a small amount of energy within it. Not directly its own, but from so magical beast it may have fed on. This may be connected to our problem and even if not, I do believe it would be for the best to remove these creatures.
Gross, Catarina comnted as she poked it with her sword.
Fuzz silently concurred by not attempting to eat the body even after it was left alone and everyone returned to bed so they could be well rested for the morning.
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