139 Saloman the Eternal.

In the middle of a wide circle, Zhi Rui stood still with eyes closed.

The smell of sand and blood stagnated the air, while the heat messed with everybody's peace of mind.

She could feel the breathing, the mood, a person's whole plethora of feelings of everyone around her.

Three people stood at the edge of the ring, two with a bleeding nose and One with a broken jaw, they watched with attention while three warriors encircled Zhi Rui.

Zhi Rui concentrated on the strings she latched onto those she already touched.

(Breathe. Focus on yourself, then project it.)

Two men stood in front of her, they were encroaching very slowly. Zhi Rui focused on the woman behind, she could feel her nerves going crazy. She could even hear her clenched teeth gritting against each other

Their tactic was simple,the one behind would attack first as a surprise, and when Zhi Rui turned around the other two would jump with every might they could muster.

But the woman was alone. She saw how fast and decisive Zhi Rui is. The ones unconscious and the ones watching with bleeding noses were proof of that.

Zhi Rui breathed and did as Tianzy instructed. She had shaken hands with those three before the spar so she latched a leech string in each of them.

Slowly Zhi Rui could feel the woman becoming calmer at an absurd rate, a second later she was as calm as Zhi Rui herself.

The woman didn't understand what happened with her, but she took the chance and swung her cudgel at Zhi Rui' head.

Zhi Rui swung her arm back grabbed the woman's hand used footwork to spin and stand behind the woman, the two warriors was already mid-action.

Zhi Rui embraced tightly the woman's waist pinning her to herself and with the other hand swung the hand holding the cudgel at the incoming warriors.

*TAK* *TAK*

Two sounds and the two warriors fell to the ground.

Zhi Rui opened her eyes and relieved the pressure on the women waist.

the woman turned back and looked up at Zhi Rui, speechless.

Zhi Rui gave a quick peck on her lips and slapped her ass. "Go rest."

The woman went red for a second then laughed and walked away to her group, they were laughing and drinking.

Both warriors stood up. "You're not too hurt, but wait until tomorrow to fight again."

Both of them nodded, laughed and walked away.

Zhi Rui looked at some eager participant by the side.

(How it went?) Tianzy asked.

'She calmed down, but when I pulled her to myself and counter-attacked I felt her mood going back to surprise and anxiety."

(Feelings are momentaneous things, once your influence fades, they go back to reacting to whatever is around them. It fades even faster if what you induced is completely opposite to what they were feeling in the first place.)

Zhi Rui nodded to herself.

'What about inner energy? it doesn't have mass before being processed by the cultivator, can I leech it?'

(Just focus on the strings you already latched and activate them but don'tinduce or steal any emotion, just activate your connection with them)

Zhi Rui breathed in feeling the light shine on her skin. she did as told, her strings latched all glowed, three of them were on the people she just defeated. The other three extended beyond what she could see. She guessed it was Rain and the other two she fought before.

'It isn't coming.' Zhi Rui said.

(...You're not feeling it?)

The strings glowed and she could feel it working in some way, Zhi Rui frowned at his question and focused more.

(Not the strings. your core.)

Zhi Rui looked into her core and widened her eyes. Fire attributed inner energy, Earth attributed, water attributed, even lightning attribute, although few, it swirled around inside her core.

Zhi Rui forgot the strings and sent her consciousness inside herself.

amidst her foggy ethereal energy, she could see a small amount of those different attributed energy being refined by her core, after refined, less then half of the quantity remained but it was now ethereal attributed. The only type she could use.

Zhi Rui smiled.'Old man, of the two cultivation methods, I want to cultivate the one made by Saloman the eternal.'

(Oh? You picked the unusual one. well it's not unexpected from you.)

Zhi Rui opened her eyes and smiled, she looked at everyone around.

"We continue tomorrow, today I have issues to solve."

"YES!" the people around screamed.

Zhi Rui walked absentmindedly, she entered her manor walked all the way up to her haven.

Inside, Zhi Rui took every clothing off and cooled off on the tub.

"Salomon the eternal" Zhi Rui said, and various books flew her way.

(The etheric body; Mind is eternal, the body is a Shell.) Tianzy said

Zhi Ru reached out and picked the book with that title.

(The front and back is a beginning, Both sides end in the middle, front teaches the methods for the mind and back the methods for the body. You'll need to do both.)

"Tell me about him, as his descendant what have you heard of him?"

(Saloman the eternal, was an outcast between the people, in a world where everybody had the physical body as a gift from god and glorified it. He preached that the body was merely a shell for the mind and that if you trained the mind enough the body becomes useless.

That was one of his first ideas. After he aged. He stated that he was wrong that the body is vital for the mind but replaceable. He was shunned for his words.

He followed with his studies, living three hundred years,in his fights his body was always resilient, and although he suffered injuries it took no time to heal. When he passed in old age. He stole the body of another person and lived that person's life, he kept on doing this for three more lifetimes until he was found out and killed by the church of abstinence for being greedy and prolong his life unnaturally.

That book was written on his last lifetimes, he resumed all his studies and created that cultivation method. No one has ever used it.)

Zhi Rui eyes turned red and she smiled.

(... He followed a dark path. You can still choose the other, a path of life without ambiguity, you'll live long and create life as you walk, and your body will be indestructible.)

"No, this one is perfect for me. by its nature and the abilities I already acquired, it can only be this one."

(Sigh... fine, from what I read from the book, you'll suffer a lot. The body is the shell of the mind, and it needs to be tempered and strong so it can withstand the weight of the trained mind while protecting it. When Salomon took over another body for the first time, He took in a disciple and raised him to have the greatest physique of his time. On the throes of his death bed, He attacked his disciple's mind and took over his body. He gave up physical training on his own to catch one already trained.)

"He must've been a lazy old man." Zhi Rui laughed.

A soft knock reached her ears. Zhi Rui looked at the door, but it came from the library entrance downstairs.

She got out of the tub, wore a simple thin satin robe and went downstairs.

She opened the door to see Rain wearing a light dress standing on her doorway with a smile.

Zhi Rui invited her in and went down the stairs beckoning to Rain.

A flight of stairs before where the stele stayed, there was a simple room that Zhi Rui kept clean in case she had guests.

She served simple tea and sat across form Rain.

"Do you have a counter offer?" Zhi Rui asked.

Rain nodded smilingly then she pulled up a small list.

Zhi Rui batted an eye at it, it was only requests of for basic survival necessities and a solemn wording, saying she couldn't change the fundamentals rules of the culture.

"Okay, anything else?"Zhi Rui nodded with a smile.

Rain took a deep breath, she visibly relaxed her body and spoke in the sternest tone she could muster.

"I have to be in charge in the barbarian lands when you're not here."

"HaHa,! Zhi Rui laughed "I must look too stupid, what difference is that from leaving the wolf to take care of the sheep?"

Rain' eyes turned serious "We of the white tribe follow you because you're competent and strong.How can we trust another's mind?"

There was nothing but calm rage in Zhi Rui's eyes "There's no deal then."

Rain bit her lips. her eyes filled with rage. after a few seconds, she sighed.

"Fine!I'll concede but you'll have to at least keep me by your side! I must know and understand your intentions towards my land."

"Do you think I just do things because people ask me?" Zhi Rui said.

"I'll fight and work for you, all I ask is for you to let me be the one to administrate this land."

Zhi Rui frowned, she took a sip of tea and looked the woman in the eyes

"Swear you'll never overstep your boundaries and ignore or overrule my orders, and we have a deal."

Rain sighed, her face was a display of defeat, slowly and resignedly he sited the word stating she would not overstep her boundaries and that everything of major importance would be decided by Zhi Rui unless Zhi Rui herself order otherwise.

The mood died down. Rain got up and walked out with slumped shoulders.

Outside, on the way to her manor, Rain smiled with disdain. 'So what if I swear? My family didn't."She went out in a good mood.

----

Still seated on the couch Zhi Rui amusedly smiled.

(She' a dumb woman, are you sure you want to recruit her?)

"Unawareness is not stupidity,How could she think her father was coerced into warning her of my meeting with the siblings? How could she know her father's seemingly casual advice, was again coerced by me?"

(But look at this discussion, she clearly used the tactic of demanding something outrageous so you would refuse and settle for what she actually wanted. You followed her intentions so smoothly, hoe did she not doubted you or herself for even a second!?)

Zhi Rui laughed.

"When you use your wits and are about to get what you want with it, your vanity takes place and you won't dare to question your own abilities. that happens a lot with spoiled kids that want to show off."