Chapter 4: The Way of Spirit

Chapter 4: The Way of Spirit

*Chirp*

Small sparrows chirped and flew over a considerable settlement. The sun had risen and bathed the Green Star Village in a warm glow. Housewives stepped out to work within the village itself. Some of them taking care of the pigpen while a few of them washing clothes across a wooden board next to wooden tubs.

The men moved out. A few of them held farming tools in their hands. With the group, there were individuals who did not hold their farming tools. Instead, their farming tools were glowing and floating around them.

These are tool spirits.

In Douluo Continent, the marital souls are divided into Beast Spirits and Tool Spirits. If any spirit is in the form of an animal, then it naturally falls under the categorization of beast spirits while any other form of spirit, including plant spirits, is generally coined as Tool Spirits.

As they walked and chatted amongst themselves, they passed a rather majestic structure. Unlike the cottages that needed constant repairs, this building was built solidly. Its roof had beautiful brown tiles and the entrance seemed to be marked with a strange writing.

In front of this building is a wooden notice board. As they passed, a few of these villagers stopped in front of the notice board and looked at the parchments stuck on the surface of the board.

"Hmm, look at these renegades! Spirit Hall is the strongest power after Heaven Dou and Star Luo Empire. Tch... ah, they still haven't caught this kid?"

One of them pushed a recent parchment aside and looked at an old notice. The parchment was already dirty and yellow, making the ink over the parchment rather light but it was still easy to read and visualize.

On the parchment was a portrait of a small boy. Short black hair that wasn't long enough to even have any partition; slightly longer than a buzz cut. His innocent features could strike a chord amongst villagers but below the portrait was a piece of information.

Ja Sun is an innate evil cultivator with a very destructive spirit. Any person who brings this boy to the spirit hall alive will be rewarded with a 10000-year-old spirit beast. Anyone who brings his corpse will be rewarded with a 500-yead-old spirit bone. Those who bring validated information about his whereabouts will be rewarded 10000 gold coins.

Caution: An evil spirit attacks any who tries to hurt him. Distance from this evil cultivator is advised.

"It's been a little over 12 years now. This guy must have become a true demon by now!" One of them proclaimed.

"Yeah... damn evil cultivators! They need to be burnt and torn apart! So many villagers are suffering at the hands of evil cultivators. If it wasn't for Spirit Hall, ordinary men like us would have been killed long ago!"

"Let's go... sigh, no point in wasting our time here. Besides, the spirit hall isn't due to be open till next year. Even this year, our village only had two youngsters with spirit energy... what will happen of us, sigh," One of them patted the man's back and began following the group once again.

"Old Xue! That Li guy, did he ever come down?" The leader of the group looked at the bald Xue Bing. Right now, Xue Bing held a broom as he cleaned the area right in front of the entrance of his tavern.

"No, Brother Li is still in seclusion. Say, Old Ji, did you read it?"

Xue Bing inquired and the man nodded vigorously!

"Your Brother Li is amazing! Last night, Zun'er kept thinking that it was her magic but really, it is Brother Li's writing that made the last night possible!" Old Ji sighed deeply before chuckling.

"Anyway, let him know that I'm really thankful!"

"Of course. He said that he'd leave in a week so he'll probably be down in a few hours," Xue Bing smiled.

Meanwhile, inside the room of the tavern, Ja Sun was sitting on the floor with his legs crossed.

Right now, he was completely naked while his clothes could be seen placed over the straw mattress. Next to the clothes were two tomes, thin manual booklets, and even scrolls.

Ja Sun's thin body was covered with sweat at this moment. He had spent the week inside the room, constantly setting up missions regarding cultivating skills. He did not cultivate the same skill twice. Instead, he would set up additional objectives and then start practicing new skills to gain more techniques as a reward.

A thoroughly broken trait, Ja Sun knew. But out of all these skills, Ja Sun could only cultivate a few. After all, learning techniques and practicing them were clearly two different concepts.

In between, his clothes had gotten too dirty to be worn so he politely requested Xue Bing to have them washed. But Ja Sun himself did not go down to clean himself. At this moment, he was reaching the new depths of personal hygiene.

'So... aside from the most basic spirit qi present in the surroundings, internal energy can be cultivated to raise the quality of the body. Mental Energy can be cultivated to raise the quality of consciousness. Even though I have tried to cultivate spirit energy, it won't have any effect until I actually acquire a spirit ring.

The old Ja Sun was helpless. Although glib, he did not have the skills and resources to get a spirit ring on his own. I do have the skills, but not the resources. Not to mention that while absorbing a spirit ring, a cultivator is completely vulnerable. It's not rational to do this alone.'

Thinking of this, Ja Sun raised his hand and looked at the back of his right palm. The pitch-black eye stared back at Ja Sun.

'Humans are also a form of spirit beasts. Like spirit beasts, we also understand our basic abilities instinctively.

What the others will think wouldn't matter much to him since he's already leaving. The chances of being pursued will be significantly lessened once he enters the outskirts of the nearby forest.

Once he had the books tied up in the bedsheet, Ja Sun strapped the cloth bag on his back under the cloak. Although he had practiced the body enhancement technique Revitalized Blood Qi Art, his strength was still in the confines of ordinary men and women and the collective weight of books was not a joke!

His descent into the main hall instantly attracted the attention of two brothers. In fact, Ja Sun chose this time to take his departure since other figures who started their days late were still probably in their mattress.

"Brother Li!" Xue Bing greeted with a cheerful expression. His plump cheeks were pushed up and his mustache tilted upwards.

"Brother Xue," Ja Sun greeted lightly. He was on borrowed time so he kept his words concise to keep Xue Bing and his brother from feeling more excited than necessary. "I must leave at once."

With that, Ja Sun turned around and walked towards the exit.

"B-brother Li! Is this"

"Brothers!" Ja Sun stopped and tilted his head to glance at the two siblings with his striking green eyes.

"Don't think of this departure, just think of our future meeting. Till fate brings us all together once again... I'll have more poems ready!"

With that, Ja Sun pushed open the exit and walked towards the exit of the Green Star Village opposite to the entrance Ja Sun chose to enter with.

On the way, he glanced towards the noticeboard of the Spirit Hall and narrowed his eyes.

'That's why color printing is far better... bitches didn't even get my eye color correct. And look at that cute face... evil cultivator my foot!'

"Set Mission."

[Set Perimeters.]

"Survive in the Demon Pond Forest for a day. Additional objectives:

1) Survive in the demon pond forest for 10 days.

2) Survive in the demon pond forest for 30 days."

[Setting up Mission.]

[Calculating Rewards.]

[Objective: Survive within Demon Pond Forest for a day without leaving the area of a 25-kilometer radius around the core pond.

Optional Objectives:

1) Survive for a total of 10 days.

2) Survive for a total of 30 days.

Mission Rank: E-D-B

Rewards: A pair of spirit material bootsJournal of Spirit PlantsDevil's Blood Crystal.

Time Limit: 1/10/30 days.]

Accepting the mission, Ja Sun entered the adjacent forest of the Green Star Village. Although he acted high and mighty before leaving, it wasn't beneath Ja Sun to return to the village to recover himself in case of some unexpected issue.

The only reason why Ja Sun chose Devil Pond Forest for this mission is because of the pond formation of the forest. This is one of the rare sources of water without any dangerous spirit beast hiding inside. Aside from the core devil pond deep inside the forest, the ponds around the core pond are clear and often visited by multiple spirit beasts.

Not only that, but this outer pond formation also acted as the 25-kilometer border of the core pond. This way, Ja Sun wouldn't accidentally step out of the determined border.

Seeing the rewards, Ja Sun was slightly satisfied. He could use a pair of new shoes.