Requirements

Five months later.

"The Primordial Unity: before primordial qi divided, chaos was one; it was the beginning of primordial qi. Primordial qi was born within chaos, bright without, dark within."

Lu Xiaotian sat cross-legged on a grass mat in the open space before the cave dwelling, silently circulating the cultivation method from the Primordial Unity Scripture. He held his breath, focused his mind, embraced the primal and guarded the one. After circulating that wisp of primordial qi within his body through a second major cycle, he exhaled a breath of turbid air. Before entering the First Layer of Qi Refining, the air from Lu Xiaotian's lungs would scatter the moment he exhaled it. But now, the air he breathed out shot from his mouth like a short arrow.

It had taken Lu Xiaotian nearly four months to enter the First Layer of Qi Refining, and over this past month, he had consolidated it slightly.

"Oh no, I nearly forgot to feed the little green ants their Spirit Beast Pills."

Lu Xiaotian slapped his forehead. The spiritual qi outside the cave was more abundant, so he had cultivated a little longer than usual. Coming back to his senses, Lu Xiaotian sprang up from the ground, hurriedly pumping his short legs as he ran into the cave dwelling. The great black bear lying at the entrance opened its eyes. Seeing that it was Lu Xiaotian, it listlessly shut them again and continued snoring.

Lu Xiaotian skillfully ran to the hidden chamber of the pill room and took out a small white bottle. Then he went to the spirit beast room inside the cave dwelling. In the relatively spacious room stood a jade pool about ten feet square, scattered with leaves of White Gleam Grass. White Gleam Grass was a low-grade spirit herb, its leaves shimmering with a faint white luster. From within those leaves came tiny rustling sounds from time to time.

Lu Xiaotian took over a dozen black medicinal pellets giving off an exotic fragrance from the white bottle and scattered them over the White Gleam Grass leaves.

Hiss, hiss.

The jade pool immediately erupted with rustling. More than twenty little green ants, five or six times larger than ordinary ants, crawled out from the leaves and scrambled toward the Spirit Beast Pills, chewing them in huge mouthfuls.

"One, two..."

While the little green ants ate, Lu Xiaotian counted them repeatedly. Only after confirming that none were missing did he finally breathe a sigh of relief. Over the past half year, the black-robed elder had gone out more and more frequently. Besides cultivating, Lu Xiaotian also had to help the black-robed elder care for these little green ants.

These little green ants were low-grade spirit insects and difficult to raise. After nearly half a year, only these twenty-odd had been bred. Once they lacked sufficient food, the little green ants would slaughter and devour one another.

Two months ago, because Lu Xiaotian had fed them too late, two little green ants had been killed and shared among their stronger kin. For that, Lu Xiaotian had received twenty lashes from the black-robed elder. The pain had nearly killed him, and he had needed more than three days of rest before he could get out of bed. After learning that lesson, Lu Xiaotian had always been especially careful.

Lu Xiaotian plugged the white bottle with its peachwood stopper. Suddenly, a long, narrow shadow appeared on the ground. His heart tightened, but he quickly relaxed. Turning around, he found that, as expected, it was the black-robed elder.

"Geng Lao!" Lu Xiaotian bowed to the black-robed elder.

"You knew it was me?" His cultivation was far above Lu Xiaotian's, yet the instant he had appeared at the entrance to the spirit beast room, Lu Xiaotian seemed to have already noticed him. The black-robed elder could not help feeling somewhat surprised.

"There was a faint human shadow on the ground. The black bear guards the entrance to the cave dwelling, so the only one who could enter without making a sound was Geng Lao," Lu Xiaotian answered truthfully.

"Not bad. At such a young age, to possess such a mind—you truly stand head and shoulders above your peers." The black-robed elder nodded slightly. He secretly thought it was a pity that this boy's Spirit Root aptitude was somewhat poor. He had cultivated the Primordial Unity Scripture for nearly half a year, yet had made little progress. In the past, taking him as a disciple would not have been impossible. But ever since the Earthfire Palace had been wiped out, the black-robed elder's face darkened whenever he thought of the word disciple.

"You have also raised the Shadow Ants well. Here is a Qi-Gathering Pill as your reward." The black-robed elder took out a pill bottle. With a lift of his palm, the bottle floated before Lu Xiaotian.

Lu Xiaotian took the pill bottle and opened its cap. A refreshing medicinal fragrance rushed into his nose, and he could not help beaming with joy. Qi-Gathering Pills were used by cultivators in the Qi Refining Early Stage, and they had good effects from the first layer through the third. For someone like him, who was only at the First Layer of Qi Refining, this single pill was worth three months of bitter cultivation.

"Thank you, Geng Lao, for bestowing this pill." After carefully putting away the pill as though it were a treasure, Lu Xiaotian hurriedly voiced his thanks.

"As long as you do your work well, I will not be stingy with rewards." The black-robed elder nodded, then took out a small jade gourd. "I may spend even less time in the cave dwelling from now on. Once the Shadow Ants in the jade pool mature, if I have not yet returned, place the mature Shadow Ants into this jade gourd."

Only then did Lu Xiaotian learn that these little green ants were called Shadow Ants. Yet his expression became somewhat troubled. These little green ants were low-grade spirit insects. Their killing power was not particularly great, but their paralysis was extremely potent. Two months ago, when he had failed to feed them in time, Lu Xiaotian had carelessly reached his hand into the jade pool and been bitten by a little green ant. His movements had become far slower than usual, and he had collapsed onto an animal hide. That night, he slept two hours longer than normal. When he awoke, the little green ants in the jade pool had already begun devouring one another.

"Geng Lao, after I am bitten by a Shadow Ant, the paralysis lasts nearly an entire day. Without some means of prevention, I fear I may delay the task Geng Lao has assigned."

Lu Xiaotian spoke cautiously, terrified of making the black-robed elder unhappy.

"This bottle contains the antidote for the paralytic poison of the Shadow Ants. You need only take it before catching the Shadow Ants." The black-robed elder gave Lu Xiaotian another small medicine bottle.

"Yes, Geng Lao."

After receiving the antidote, Lu Xiaotian thought to himself that it was no wonder the black-robed elder, who had always been cold toward him, had suddenly rewarded him with a Qi-Gathering Pill. So he wanted him to do this kind of hard labor. Even with an antidote, being bitten by a little green ant was quite painful. But with the black-robed elder making such arrangements, there was no room for him to refuse.

"I will leave tomorrow and take the pill furnace with me," the black-robed elder said.

"If the Spirit Beast Pills run out and Geng Lao has not returned, I am afraid I will not be able to care for these Shadow Ants properly," Lu Xiaotian said truthfully.

"I still have a small pill furnace here. It is not much, but it is more than enough to refine Spirit Beast Pills."

The black-robed elder took out another small pill furnace, entirely black and seemingly forged from dark iron. Judging from its quality, it was far inferior to the one the black-robed elder had used before. But Lu Xiaotian had no other pill formulas and even less access to other spirit materials, so he did not mind this. Still, Lu Xiaotian thought that he currently had no means of protecting himself. From the conversations between the black-robed elder and several others, he knew that cultivators needed not only cultivation methods, but also spells or combat techniques before they could be said to possess fighting strength.

Back when he had been in the Thunder Blade Sect, Big Brother Shi Qingshan had also needed to practice martial skills after cultivating internal energy techniques before he could be considered a true martial artist. Thus, Lu Xiaotian thought that martial artists and immortal cultivators had something in common as well.

The black-robed elder's absences had grown longer each time. After pondering for a moment, Lu Xiaotian gathered his courage and said, "Geng Lao, if you do not return in time, I will need to go out and gather the spirit herbs for refining Spirit Beast Pills. If I take the black bear out with me and a demon beast enters the cave dwelling, it may damage the things inside. But if I do not take the black bear with me, encountering danger outside would be a minor matter. If I fail to return, though, delaying the Shadow Ants Geng Lao wishes to raise would truly let down Geng Lao's expectations."

"So, you want benefits from me?" Geng Lao smiled darkly. The gaze bursting from his triangular eyes was as cold and sinister as a venomous snake.

"No, I would not dare."

A layer of cold sweat immediately broke out across Lu Xiaotian's forehead. The pressure of a high-level cultivator made his calves tremble. Being able to remain standing without dropping to his knees was already quite impressive.

Geng Lao's expression shifted between light and dark. The spirit treasure discovered in the valley was indeed something he was determined to obtain. The Shadow Ants were also one of his trump cards, though individually they were not very destructive. In several fierce battles with disciples of the Soaring Heavens Palace, more than half of them had been destroyed. This little fellow before him was still of some use. If matters truly went as Lu Xiaotian said, it would indeed be troublesome.

After a brief consideration, Geng Lao's expression eased slightly, and a trace of amusement flashed through his eyes. He then tossed Lu Xiaotian an ancient silver ring and a booklet. "This is a Spirit Beast Ring, and the booklet contains the Beast-Taming Art. You may take the black bear out and subdue a low-grade spirit beast."

"Thank you, Geng Lao."

Lu Xiaotian finally let out a breath of relief. He felt an instinctive fear toward the black-robed elder. Unless forced to, he truly did not wish to endure such pressure for no reason. But once the black-robed elder left, going out alone to gather spirit herbs and refine Spirit Beast Pills would indeed be far too dangerous. For the sake of his own life, he had no choice but to act this way.