28 Chapter 27 - Meaning of the Token

Lind had thought Solon was simply being rowdy to relax him being taken from home, but the swordsman was a free spirit outside of battle. The ground blurred at the speed they were flying and Lind enjoyed most of it. Occasionally, he saw the Qi fluctuate in the wilds they passed but Solon seemed to sense the cause before Lind had a chance to consider it.

"World Beasts are lords in this area. They are mostly in the Sand Tier but a few Stone Tiers are rumored to still exist within the bounds of the Empire. For a subservient power to demon, this emperor is effective." Lind nearly fell out of the sky at that bomb. He had known the Lotus Empire was a subservient power but he did not know it was to demons.

The few subjects on them were vague about their characteristics and now Lind knew why. He had heard more than one senior member of the Frey Clan disparage the demons they encountered in the outside world. It was clear that people did not like the idea of being under demons, but Lind had few truths to elaborate about it. Solon, for instance, made a sarcastic remark but his tone was not disrespectful.

"What is the name of that power?" Lind felt it wise to know since he was going to the Lotus Academy. No doubt the capitol had this as common knowledge but Solon showed no surprise.

"Better conversation on the ground and time for some action anyway." Lind barely registered his words before the sword dove suddenly to the ground. The feeling of his stomach trying to escape via his throat was unpleasant but he noticed a pack of wolves in front of them in the clearing. They looked odd to his eyes as the wolves near the Frey Clan looked similar to earth.

Lind realized they were all peak Soul Realm! Their fur was shining in the sunlight and Lind saw they all had earth as their element but the largest wolf was as dark as night with the darkness element. They were a pack of beasts called aether beasts. Any animal with elements fell under this term but it covered a massive variety. Compared to the body refining realm and below, they were far more powerful.

Worse, the higher their cultivation the more intelligent they became. Further, their power while measured by the same tiers usually had 2 to 3 times the strength of a human cultivator in the same tier. Solon was no longer rowdy and Lind saw him switch the sword beneath his feet into his hands before slamming into the earth. Lind, on the other hand, stopped outside the reach of the wolves and watched the battle.

Sword intent blazed around Solon and his weapon which cowed most of the pack but not the large one. He was not wantonly slaughtering them, but responding to their attacks. Even though Solon was outnumbered and lower tier, it was difficult to tell by his prowess. The sword sang in joy as it deflected claws and teeth from Solon. His attacks hurt the earth wolves, but the darkness wolf seemed able to dodge the attack easily. What seemed a dangerous situation was quickly turned against the pack. The beasts could not keep up with the precise swings of the broadsword as it wove intricate patterns of death.

Blood finally began to fly as Solon got the speed of his opponent and took the openings. Supposedly, such tactics would not work against World Realm aether beasts. Lind then saw something odd. The other wolves had a core, similar to his dantian, but the darkness wolf was different. The Qi seemed to blend into its body while the core was far larger than it should be at the Soul Realm. Even so, it was a Soul Realm.

"Crap. It is a manifestation, Solon!" Lind shouted the words as the beast's bright yellow eyes stared at Lind in anger as Solon's aura changed. He was challenging himself, but a manifested aether beast was a very dangerous creature compared to a normal cultivating beast. Humans could only cultivate, but beasts had 2 paths.

One was like humans, to absorb the energy of heaven and earth until they broke through their realms. Unlike humans, they seemed able to naturally progress until they gained intelligence, then they were forced to cultivate by consumption of other beasts or treasures. Beast cores were precious ingredients in pills and weapon refining, but nothing compared to manifestation.

Aether beasts could simply coalesce out of the Qi in the right conditions. In this case, an area of pure darkness must have been affected by the large pack of beasts living near it and caused a manifested wolf to be born. As they were not born like other beasts, they were known to have greater intelligence than similar tier beasts and often far stronger in the elements there were composed of.

Solon's sword now slaughtered quickly through the wolves around him and reduced their numbers to single digits in a few breaths. He had already wounded many of them, but the training opportunity had now become a battle of life and death. The darkness wolf vanished suddenly. Solon could no longer sense it even with his instincts but then a ball of fire exploded behind him.

It took no damage, but the darkness wolf was pulled out of the shadows it tried to use to sneak attack the swordsman. Solon gave it no chance and his sword intent increased massively as white Qi blazed across the clearing. Every blade of grass, branch, and bush was cleanly sliced between the wolf and Solon. Both Lind and Solon watched as the attack disappeared into the wolf. The clearing paused as yellowed eyes looking in rage at both humans before the light went out of them.

The body split lengthwise cleaning as blood exploded where it stood. The few surviving wolves bolted but Solon let them go. His Qi was exhausted by the darkness wolf. Lind's sword wobbled as it came in for a landing as Solon claimed a tree stump to recover. His breath was ragged but he was smiling.

"Nicely done, Lind. Your eyes are very useful!" Lind smirked as he took out some water from his flask on his hip and poured it into a few metal cups. Lind froze as a mug appeared in Solon's hands. A storage treasure! "We will rest here for a bit and then continue. We should reach the capitol tomorrow."

Lind froze as he realized he had not packed any tents or anything but Solon smiled wide as he held up a bag hanging off his belt. Lind smiled and continued to rest. The sunlight lit up the macabre scene but Lind had long since gotten used to it. In fact, he started harvesting the cores and other precious materials for Solon. Lind was methodical as he had done this many times before during Clan hunts.

The weakest members were always the ones in charge of harvesting and Lind's tier was very slow to advance over the years. Lind used some of the water with his dantian to clean up and found Solon staring at him in confusion.

"Why have you set all useless materials aside?" Lind looked at the pile and saw several peak Soul Realm beast cores, intact claws, and a few vials of blood. The organs had been destroyed in the fight, thus they were not useful by themselves, but Lind had put a few pieces of usable meat aside as well to eat later.

"Useless?" Lind then stood up and began with everything he knew. "The cores are in good shape and high purity could be used in several pills for enhanced defense, strength, or even simple Qi absorption for earth elemental cultivators. The claws are good for making materials for treasures or weapons. The blood is excellent in pills or as paste material to help hunters later." Lind then went over to the darkness materials.

"The materialized aether core is a great treasure for pills, material refining, or even direct absorption. Its teeth and claws are as precious due to being formed of very pure Qi." Lind had studied extensively when trying to figure out his issues making pills thus he had a lot of theoretical information and some practical mixed in.

"The materialized ones are fine, but why the rest?" Solon seemed genuinely confused before his eyes suddenly blazed with clarity. "AH! I forgot! You are from the Southern District all your life. These are quite precious to you all down there!" Solon then had a pill appear in his hand inside a jade vial. Lind's expert eye quickly identified it as grade 3!

"So these are no good in the capitol, then?" Lind felt like that was wrong. For Soul Realm cultivators, all of these materials were really good. Lind saw Solon freeze as he held the vial and a wry smile appeared on his face.

"Ah, I forgot, sorry." Solon then stretched as he started a fire to start cooking some of the meat for themselves. "I keep slipping into my thoughts of the Divine Sword Sect. My goal is to reach Immortality afterall." Lind's curiosity was piqued but helped gather some of the meat that had drained sufficiently to be cooked. As the meat began to fill the woods with a wonderful smell, Lind took out the silver token the princess had given him. So much of the world was beyond his reach, but this token represented a chance to step out into that wide world.

"Lind, has anyone else besides you held that token?" Solon was no longer goofing around. He was not as grim as when he was in the arena ring, but Lind recognized the solemn mood. He held it up to glint off the sunlight for a moment off the lotus carved on one side.

"Princess Jia told me to never hand it over once she gave it to me until I was at the Academy. Teyla and Teylin both wanted to hold it, but the Old Man stopped them cold. Why?" Lind never got the answer and he saw Solon was also conflicted. The swordsman then did a strange thing.

He summoned a strange artifact that looked like it was in constant motion. Circles wrapped around several mathematical shapes. The man then threw it up and it started to float. Lind was forced to stop looking at it as the Qi in the area flared as bright as the sun. What was that artifact using so much Qi for?

The flare of Qi faded but Lind still saw spots for a bit. He noticed that Solon never looked away the whole time. In fact, the swordsman seemed like he had entered a trance. Lind tried to look with his eyes again, but now it was a myriad storm of Qi. It was painful to try and sort it out. With that, Lind at least confirmed the level of the item.

"World Realm Artifact." Lind was curious, but his cultivation was too low to delve into it. It was the same as trying to see the elements in the Old Man or Granny, he just saw a void. He could see how the Qi flowed around them and guess, but he was never 100% certain.

As quickly as it began, the artifact came to rest and landed back in Solon's hand. Lind noticed a slight change to Solon. It was not his cultivation or elemental tempering, but he seemed to have comprehended something important.

"Sorry, I had to run some scenarios." Lind was confused as to what that meant but did not pry. It was considered rude to try and learn the secrets of a fellow cultivator. Enemies were exempt for obvious reasons but it got complicated with rivals to Lind's mind. Even so, he waited to see what Solon intended.

"Normally, a token like that should be issued to a scion of a great Clan, sect, or other considerable power. This is also for those outside the Lotus Empire as well." Lind suddenly felt a weight on his shoulders. While the Frey Clan might be a power in the Southern District, it could never be considered a great power by any measure. The Gu Clan might be able to use their history to barely qualify, but only with matching merit.

"Never let someone take that willingly from you, Lind. That is the best advice I can give you and all I can say." Confusion flared in Lind. Why were people not allowed to talk about a simple token? He looked at it hard with his eyes but other than a simple formation, Lind noticed nothing special about it.

Solon saw the boy trying to pierce the secret of the token but the token itself was the secret. Anyone issued with that token was being tested. It was why knowledge was limited. His own fellow disciples had chances but had lost out. Only someone like Lind would be completely clueless. Others would try to ruin this chance by taking the token from him.

Lind did not understand why he needed a guide. It was a courtesy the Princess extended to give him a chance. Otherwise, Solon sure Lind would be targeted by those that want to steal another slot for their cherished members. The boy's body would be lucky to be found in 1 piece.

Solon swore he would see Lind safe to the Academy ritual.