Inside a carriage, a young man stared at an open book. His eyes were tinged with sadness and regret. This was Yun Qiang, it had been a few weeks since he had left the Shard and now his group was traveling with a merchant caravan towards River City. A city near his final destination.
Yun Qiang closed the book in front of him. He let out a long sigh.
"This technique doesn't suit me..."
He had just finished reading the Spear Shield, one of the two manuals Voss had left him. At first Yun Qiang was determined in learning this technique, since it was the signature move of Voss's master however the more he read the more his mood deteriorated. This technique wasn't a good fit for him.
"So I only have this..." as he said this he took out another manual from his space ring.
It was a ruined book titled "Sacred knife technique", it was clearly a manual that Voss had stolen from one of the enemies' leaders.
Yun Qiang started playing with the book, sometimes he read it half heartedly without paying attention to the words or their meaning.
It's not like this is my only choice...
In fact Yun Qiang knew two other techniques "blood spear" and "Thousand Clouds Palm" however the former was a blood technique and would make him a public enemy while the latter required a lot of time to train.
Yun Qiang sighed, in that moment he felt extremely unfortunate.
Even if he knew a technique that was ranked as "Golden Core" he couldn't learn it since he lacked time. Besides this the only technique that fit him came from the "Sacred Empire" and not from his nation.
He truly felt like he was born in the wrong place at the wrong time!
He closed the book seemingly lost in thought. Then after a while he started reading it again. This time he had a determined yet conflicted look. Yun Qiang didn't want to learn a technique from the Sacred Empire however he needed to become stronger. And he had to do it fast!
Even if it felt dishonorable to use a technique that came from the enemy nation he pushed his honor aside and tried his best to memorize it. If he wanted to survive this was the best he could do.
It was only after reading the book multiple times that Yun Qiang put the book back in the ring.
Tired he leaned on his seat.
He let out a long turbulent breath as his mind recalled the moves he had just read. Trying his best to visualize and imagine how to execute them.
The "Sacred blade" was a versatile technique, that let its user engage both in ranged and melee combat through the usage of summoned blades that could be either wielded or thrown at the enemy. Furthermore the book divided the skill into three levels depending on one's mastery of the technique. The first level was based around maintaining a single weapon and controlling it, the second was based around controlling two or more weapons, while the third required a cultivator to form their summoned weapon in their dantian so they could be summoned immediately without delay.
This skill could be considered redundant to cultivators that had already achieved the first level of Qi mastery since they could already summon their Qi blades at will. However to someone like Yun Qiang who had extreme difficulty in training Qi mastery this technique was extremely useful since it let him emulate the first level of Qi mastery without reaching it.
Obviously this skill also had various disadvantages like the higher consumption of Qi but Yun Qiang didn't mind, he only needed to become stronger, even if this wasn't the best skill it was still a huge help for him.
"I can still switch to the Thousand Clouds Palm when I have more time to train..."
He let his mind wander for a second, then he let out a long yawn. From his carriage windows he could see that the day had almost ended and the last rays of sunshine were entering his vehicle.
"It's already time for my meditation"
Slowly Yun Qiang closed his eyes again and started cultivating, pulling the Qi from the air towards his spiritual root. He knew that gathering Qi was almost useless since his root was low quality but he still did it to clear his mind.
Even if he had to pass the two Qi stages with medicines he still wanted to sit down and cultivate like a normal cultivator did.
As his meditation continued, his mind sank deeper entering a familiar place.
When Yun Qiang opened his eyes darkness surrounded him, this was his dantian a cultivator's most private space. The cultivators from legend could even practice new skills and theorize on the ways of heaven in their dantian, giving them double the results with half the effort. If the outside world was a lab, then those legends' dantians were specialized faculties were one could study with the best equipment.
Obviously Yun Qiang was still too weak and could only meditate and cultivate while in here.
All of this was done in endless darkness. Only an extremely small circle the size of a fist barely let out some light.
This circle symbolized Yun Qiang's cultivation progress. After breaking through Yun Qiang's previous circle had solidified becoming real, allowing him to reach the Foundation realm. However in this process it also became smaller, making it barely visible.
Yun Qiang looked at it, his eyes shimmering with doubt for a second. According to the circle he was already a tenth of the way to the first soul level.
Yet he had never trained his soul.
He diverted his gaze towards the darkness. His mind going back to his time as a recruit. At the time Voss had said that his soul was special, however he had never realized how special it was.
The soul levels were the most difficult to complete and it wasn't uncommon to remain stuck at a Realm forever because of them, however to Yun Qiang it was nothing. In just two weeks his soul had already completed a tenth of a level.
For a brief second Yun Qiang smiled, before remembering the dangers that came with a special soul. He had to hide this from other cultivators, his backing was basically non existent and both evil and righteous cultivators were sure to try and steal his soul if they discovered his unique ability.
Yun Qiang sighed again.
Life is so difficult...
For a second he wished to be like his brother, gifted from the start with the best spiritual root and taken in by the Liang family at a young age. He was sure his brother was having fun somewhere luxurious while he was risking his life at the border.
However after a brief moment he calmed himself and restarted his meditation. There was nothing he could do about this. He could only grit his teeth and do his best.
After a few hours the sound of someone knocking at his carriage interrupted his meditation.
Yun Qiang slowly opened his eyes, Sun had already entered the carriage and was seated in front of him.
It was now night, and only the dim light of the moon illuminated the interior of the carriage, letting Yun Qiang see only half of Sun's figure.
Sun was the first to speak.
"So, why did you apply for transfer?" he stopped for a second "I know it's not Voss's last wish"
Yun Qiang sucked in a breath of cold air, before taking out a small piece of paper and handing it to Sun.
"I don't know what you are saying. This is really Voss's last wish"
As Yun Qiang talked he eyed the paper, Sun instantly understood and started reading it.
Then Yun Qiang continued telling a premade story about Voss's death and his last wish, however Sun only paid attention to the paper.
Sun's pupils slightly shrank but he remained composed, before handing the paper back. He clasped his hands and did a small bow.
"I'm sorry Qiang I didn't mean to doubt you.."
There was an awkward silence before Yun Qiang patted Sun's back, his tone sounded cheerful.
"You don't have to worry. We are sworn brothers, you didn't offend me."
Sun seemed happy then after exchanging a few pleasantries he left the carriage.
After Sun closed the door, Yun Qiang lay down before unexistantly burning the paper. Only a phrase was written on it.
"There is a blood sacrificing array under the Shard"
After leaving the Shard, he had become slightly paranoid and he constantly felt that the movements were under control as if someone was spying on them. This weird and awkward method was the only way he had managed to think that allowed him to tell the truth to Sun.
As the paper became ashes his mind wandered back to the past, when he was still at the Skyward Pavilion with Sun, Brook and the others. He couldn't help but recall all the happy times they had shared together.
"Look how things have changed..."
He let out one last murmur before falling asleep for the night.
Outside the carriage Sun was walking to his bedroll, his appearance looked cold, yet on the inside he was fuming with rage. After he had read Yun Qiang's paper the outline of a refined looking scholar started happening within his mind, bringing with it a series of painful memories.
As he went to bed he let out an extremely low whisper.
"Wei, you will pay for this"