Chapter 10 - New Competition

With the mid-week review still in progress, Aster Wen headed to the contribution hall to take a task. With the elder saying that there wasn't much of a strength difference until a monster beast reached the Foundation Body sixth stage, he decided to take on a Foundation Body fifth stage monster beast.

Heading into the contribution hall, the clerk chuckled at him.

"It seems the elders didn't believe you refined the pill on your first try," he said.

"Well, I wouldn't believe it, either. I was surprised myself when I opened the alchemy furnace and there was a successful pill formed," he said.

"Yes, that makes sense. Well, the elder should've talked about the strength difference of monster beasts because of you, right?" the clerk asked.

"Yes, he did."

"Well, you better be ready for some new competition then. I've been in the Lone Phoenix Sect and have seen this happen two times before. One, a few decades ago, and the other was Kai Lian. Every disciple now knows they can beat basically every monster beast on this mountain now. You better use the time they're still in review to take some tasks. That's one of the reasons the elder let you leave early. Get as many points as you can before the contribution hall is overrun with people," the clerk explained.

Aster Wen nodded and went to take a task. He picked the Foundation Body fifth stage monster beast called the Yang Opening Bird. Its blood and core were useful in alchemy, and for those who practiced with a yang martial art. Aster Wen didn't know what dao the Looming Blossom Martial Technique followed aside from the martial dao. He would need to figure it out himself, and he doubted it would show up before he had completed the first nine movements. The advancement to the next major realm, the Flow Qi stage of cultivation, would give him better insights into the martial dao and what other dao the Looming Blossom Martial Technique used.

The Yang Opening Bird was one of the first monster beasts to be able to show insights into the dao. However, Aster Wen didn't have a use for the insights he would get from the Yang Opening Bird. He headed up the mountain and just before the final stretch to reach the peak, he found the nest of the Yang Opening bird. It was situated in a dead tree, and its nest was very charred due to the bird's affinity to fire. The bird's charred nest itself was valuable and could also give someone insights into the dao of yang. He would take the nest back and exchange it for contribution points. Though not as valuable as the core and blood of the bird, it could still be exchanged for thirty contribution points.

Aster Wen whistled, clapped, and made other loud noises to attract the attention of the monster beast. It soon flew out of its nest and swooped towards him. Heat rolled off of its body, causing Aster Wen to sweat as it got closer. His dagger was in his hand as the bird moved its legs to scratch him. The wounds on his arm were cauterized as the claws swept through it. But Aster Wen had stabbed into the abdomen of the bird as well. The bird flew back, dislodging the dagger from itself. The dagger in his hands was hot to the touch, but the pain of the Five-Colored Toad's saliva was worse than the Yang Opening Bird caused him.

As the bird dived in again, Aster Wen bent backwards to dodge, and stabbed upwards and backwards. This made the dagger latch onto the bird, and Aster Wen fell to the ground, taking the Yang Opening Bird with him. Holding firm to the dagger, he turned over and continued pinning the bird to the ground. Grabbing the bird's neck, it burned his hand, but he willed through it. He pulled out the dagger and stabbed into the bird's head. With the bird dead, the heat dissipated from the bird, concentrating in its core. The outer layer of the monster core prevented the core from being scorching hot if one were to pick it up, making it safe to carry in one's hand.

Picking up the charred nest and the bird, he returned to the contribution hall. Exchanging for the contribution points, he was given eighty, bringing his total to two hundred fifteen. He soon took tasks on after another before the mid-week review ended. Asking the clerk, the review typically lasted until mid-afternoon, meaning he had quite a few hours to do as many tasks as he could. By the time mid-afternoon rolled around, he had gotten six-hundred contribution points, making his total eight hundred fifteen. By this time, he was tired, having dealt with twelve monster beasts at the Foundation Body fifth stage.

Still, he went to practice the first movement of the Looming Blossom Martial Technique. Going to the tree he practiced under, he started the first movement. Even though he was tired, he still felt as though he had used a fourth of his energy from a full tank. This made him realize that the energy that the technique used was different from the physical energy of his body. Meaning, he could always practice the technique without overexerting himself. Practicing the technique the three more times he could, the time he was immobile once again went down by one second, to eight seconds.

Now, truly exhausted from the day's work and practicing the Looming Blossom Martial technique, he retired to his room and sit on his cot. Circulating his natural qi, the power of it improved again, this time the same amount as previous. Lying down on his cot, he fell asleep as soon as his head hit his pillow. He had already gotten much closer to his goal of buying an alchemy furnace, but he didn't know how easy it would be to gain contribution points after today. With everyone aware they can kill monster beasts above their cultivation level on the mountain, it would be much more difficult for him to quickly gain contribution points.