Aimless Ascension

Shi Fan bit a peach, sitting atop a boulder. He hadn't found time to practise his spiritual arts to consolidate the new rank yet, leaving him a bit queasy. He did have some squabbles with wild beasts, which let him have a better gauge of his strength.

Well, he had a grasp over his physical body, which seemed to have taken the first big step of shedding the mortal coil into the realms of immortality.

Sadly, it was still far away. Barely one out of a hundred thousand practitioners made it into Gold, and that's not even a sliver of transcendency.

Only Gemheart rank practitioners were true transcendence. Shi Fan once hoped he would reach there one day, but now it was a matter of life and death. His dead master was proof of that. He couldn't always run away or hide in some place like he was now.

People were looking for him. It didn't matter if it was because of his dead master, or the legacy and treasure he had taken with him.

Shi Fan would need to use all his treasure and talent to advance as soon as possible to keep being alive. He couldn't run away forever. Nor would Twilight be there every time to save his ass.

As his thoughts drifted to Twilight, Shi Fan turned his head around, inspecting to see if he could find her anywhere. That woman was really like a ghost.

She was invisible as the air. Well, she did remind him once in a while that she was there, so that Shi Fan wouldn't try anything weird on his own. Not that he would try.

Unknowingly, a sigh came out of his mouth as he leapt off the boulder. He should start preparing the meal now. The sun was getting low.

"I don't know what a boar will taste like," Shi Fan thought out loud, mostly to have any reaction from his invisible friend.

On the way, Shi Fan came across a lot of wild animals. While most were coppers and ran away finding the wild air of iron rank around him, some did come intending to make trouble. The wild boar was one of the very few. It had been a tough challenge, but in the end, Shi Fan managed to defeat it single-handedly.

Twilight didn't show up and Shi Fan took that as an affirmation. 'Well, boar it is.'

It was when his cooking was halfway done that Twilight finally showed up in her uniquely uncanny appearance. She was like a gothic presence in the colourful world.

Shi Fan perked his head to look at her questioningly.

"That dog you mentioned," she said, "it's moving straight towards here."

"Dog?" A flash of recognition painted on Shi Fan's face as he lurched up. "A big white furry one?"

"Yes."

Shi Fan tilted his head, considering what to do, but his shy friend provided the answer for him.

"I had spied on the dog's master," Twilight said. "He's probably a silver ranker and doesn't seem to hold any interest in anything. I learned he had given up on advancing, and that's why he had no interest in your treasure. As for the beast . . ."

Her voice trailed off as Shi Fan considered how she came to this conclusion this early. It hadn't even been three days since he commissioned her for work.

"Bonded beasts tend to have a similar inclination to their master," Twilight continued. "The hound should be the same. Act natural, like how you usually do and be careful."

Shi Fan nodded. "And what will you do . . ." before he could finish, the gothic presence already vanished from his sight.

So she would watch, he thought. He really needed to develop some ability to detect her.

Twilight used her presence to benefit, though it should be because she hated confrontation and had something to hide. Her actions were always quick and precise, and for that, she had to do a lot of homework. Then one or two sneak attacks or unexpected ambushes always put her in advantageous situations on most occasions.

Well, at least, that's what Shi Fan understood about her. He had seen her in action a few times, and that left him with enough assurance.

As Shi Fan was deliberating about his option, an adorable furry beast crept into his view. But the cute looks wouldn't deceive Shi Fan. He had suffered once for the mistake already. The dog had smacked him with no effort, taking advantage of a sneak attack. Although Shi Fan wasn't sure how well he would do if the fight was fair.

The dog was clearly more intelligent than most beasts he came across, though hadn't shredded his beastly form yet. Well, some beasts tend to have a preference for their original form over being biped.

Vale slowed down, sensing the familiar man before him. He inspected him, evident signs of intelligence in his eyes. The beast refrained from any action and looked around in confusion, as if looking for something.

Shi Fan tensed. Is it looking for Twilight? He wondered, but discredited that thought instantly. Even gold rankers couldn't find Twilight when she was at her best. As for this beast . . . Well, Shi Fan wasn't really sure what rank it was, but he was sure it hadn't reached gold yet.

"Vale," Shi Fan called after a while, "are you lost?"

The dog looked at him in confusion, then his eyes drifted off towards the meat hanging on the tree behind him. A flash of craving showed up in his eyes as he turned to the youth with his cute puppy eyes.

Shi Fan had the urge to laugh. This thing could literally kill everyone in the town, yet looking at him so pitifully for the piece of meat.

"Are you hungry?"

"Woof!"

That means yes, right? Shi Fan wondered. "Well, help yourself. I already have enough for myself and . . ."

The dog woofed again, this time in gratitude. It scurried right past him to leap at the raw meat.

***

Gale never had to look for Vale, save for the early days when their bond wasn't that tight. But it looks like many things were changing after Gale got infected with corruption and went through the so-called "treatment".

Gale could swear it hadn't been this bad before the treatment, but everyone was so sure that the corruption would take control of him if left as it was. So they suppressed the corruption and in doing that, they also locked away most of his Qi.

Well, technically, it wasn't locked, but much of the Qi was busy fighting away the corruption. Gale wasn't sure if this way was correct, but they sure hadn't given him a second option.

By them, he meant his master and senior brother and sister.

Anyway, Gale never had to search for Vale, but today seemed to be the exception. After being done with the woodcutting, he expected his companion to come back having fun in the wilderness, but the bond told him the big boy was still running around in the mountains. The mountains seemed to have sparked a wistfulness in him.

The bond expressed no threat, which was good. Gale would only need to navigate the way the bond was pointing.

Sadly, it wasn't as good as GPS.

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