Chapter 8 - Star Rookie

The workers of the contribution hall smiled when Aster Wen entered the building. He decided he would take on Foundation Body fourth stage monster beast to see how it would go. He chose the one with the least risk, called the Nightingale Raven. As dark as the empty night sky, it was a nocturnal predator who had vicious claws and teeth. However, it wasn't much bigger than a normal raven and its senses weren't as developed as its cultivation would've suggested. This meant one could sneak up on it and kill it without it even knowing what happened. It made its nest in the lowest branch on trees to shield it from sunlight.

Heading out to find a nest, the closest one to the ground still needed Aster Wen to reach his arms up to reach it. Using the knowledge of its bad sense against it, he went on his tiptoes and picked up the nest from the tree with great care. Slowly moving the nest towards the ground, he placed it and took out his dagger. Crouching down, he aimed the dagger at the raven's head and swiftly stabbed into its brain. The raven died a painless death without even knowing what happened to it.

Taking it back to the contribution hall, he got its monster core and contribution points. There wasn't enough blood in the raven for it to be worth it to extract it. Adding another forty contribution points, he had fifty-five now.

"I'd say you're the star rookie of this year, hell, maybe even the last five years," the clerk said.

"Only the last five?" Aster Wen asked.

"Six years ago, there was a genius in cultivation who swept everyone's expectations off the floor. I don't know if you'll reach his heights, but if you continue with the pace you're going, maybe you will," the clerk said.

"What was their name?"

"Kai Lian."

Noting the name, if he ever met him in the future, he could see how much the difference is between them. Taking another task, this time another Foundation Body fourth stage called Hateful Crane, he headed into the mountain. The crane had the feature of fiery orange eyebrows that made it always look as though it had a hate filled gaze. These cranes live around ponds and lakes near mountains and migrated every season. They had a powerful beak that could peck an inch into one's flesh. However, they were more intelligent and knew if someone was attacking them, it wasn't a good idea for them to peck as their neck could be damaged easily by the other party. Instead, they would use the sharp claws on their feet as they flew above the opponent to attack them.

Aster Wen planned to use that attacking above the opponent to attack them against the crane. He would lure it to attack him when he was crouched down, and when it flew over him to attack, he'd jump up and stab at its abdomen. He himself would be injured by the claws in this attack, but it was the best chance he had at taking the monster beast down. Finding a pond that a crane was fishing at, he taunted it by whistling and feinting a run towards it. The crane took the bait and flew over. Crouching down, the crane starting lowering itself and when the claws were just about near him, he jumped and stabbed with all his might into its abdomen. The crane's claws scratched long lines into his arms, as blood flowed from its abdomen. Twisting the dagger around inside the crane, it screeched and fell down on the ground.

Taking back the dagger, before the crane could react, he stabbed into the long neck of it. The neck went limp as the crane died, and Aster Wen carried it to the contribution hall. He was given the blood, core, and forty more contribution points, bringing it up to ninety-five. He decided to take one more monster beast hunting task before setting off to perform the first movement of the Looming Blossom Martial Technique.

The next beast was the Gold Sun Snake, another Foundation Body fourth stage monster beast. The snake was a warm-blooded snake which slithered through the branches of trees to eat the birds and fruits of it. Once it chooses a tree, it never leaves it for the rest of its life, eventually poisoning the tree if it lives long enough.

He found a tree not that far from the main compound of the sect which had a Gold Sun Snake. It was trying to eat one of the fruits on one of the lowest branches, which was just under the height of Aster Wen's head. This allowed for him to grab it as close to its head as he could. Pulling it away from the tree, it thrashed its body about to no avail, with its weapon being its teeth and poison. Pushing it onto the floor, he knelt down onto its body and stabbed through its head. Taking it to the contribution hall, he was given its monster core and golden blood, which could be used as an ingredient in alchemy. He once again was awarded forty contribution points, bring his total up to one hundred thirty-five.

Going back to the tree he had practiced the first movement near last time, he took out the manual to read about the next two movements, so he could perform them when he advanced and wouldn't have to exchange for the manual again. The next two movements were quite simple as they only added onto the first movement and didn't change it. He wondered if the fourth movement also just added on and took a peak. However, the fourth movement did have a change from just adding on to the first movement. Going back to the second and third movement, the second movement required adding the stomach and liver meridians before circulating to the heart, lung, and blood circulation meridians. The third movement required adding the gall bladder and conception vessel meridians before circulating the heart, lung, and blood circulation meridians.

As the next two movements were easy to memorize, he practiced the first movement. He found that the time he was immobile had decreased a second, and he was now only immobile for nine seconds after performing the movement. The movement still required a fourth of his energy to perform. After performing the movement three more times, he went to his room to circulate his natural qi. It once again grew in power, but it seemed as though it was a little less than the power increase from the first time he performed the movement four times. He finished circulating and went to bed, ready for tomorrow to arrive.