"Did you hear that Yin Xiu? We're going to be geniuses." Hu Meng chuckled before he awkwardly stopped when Hu Fang threw a withering glance his way. Coughing awkwardly he hurriedly changed the topic. "Let's check what else is here." He began opening the seals on the various storage bags and setting their contents on the ground with excitement.
A dazzling array of various materials started to appear, herbs, fruits, and occasionally ores appearing in abundance. It wasn't long before Hu Meng saw a material that seemed to call to him, it was a pure black ore that had a shadow that never stayed in one place. It constantly swayed, shifted and deformed itself in complex ways. His eyes in a trance, he carefully observed the changes in the shadow as if enlightened. Hu Fang and Yin Xiu stopped their movements as they waited patiently for Hu Meng's epiphany to end. Around thirty minutes later, his eyes opened, shining brightly with excitement.
"I seem to have understood the way my shadow Qi should circulate a little bit!" He practically shouted in joy. Hu Fang looked at him with pride deep in her golden pupils while Yin Xiu happily exclaimed. "Congratulations Hu Meng! Do you think that this ore can help you figure out a suitable Qi technique?" Yin Xiu asked with palpable curiosity.
"Not yet at least, but I have at least caught a glimpse of hope on at least getting started with technique creation. I'm going to try and observe and meditate with this ore, and see what results I can get. If that was the only epiphany I achieve, I can at least absorb the energy inside it easily, as its origin is similar to my own." Hu Meng explained his feelings to Yin Xiu excitedly.
"That's great! Hopefully you'll make more progress soon! I'll have to seek you out for advice if you succeed before me." Yin Xiu joked happily.
Hu Meng's nose pointed straight into the sky at the prospect. "Well you are my junior, so of course you'll have to seek my advice." Noticing neither Yin Xiu nor Hu Fang were very impressed with that statement, he asked Yin Xiu "Have you seen any materials that are useful for your cultivation so far?"
Yin Xiu shook his head slightly "Not yet, but I'm sure we can find something at least." Yin Xiu said with confidence.
A few minutes later he was proven correct, as Hu Meng removed a jade medicine box that made Yin XIu's physique heat up in excitement. "Hu Meng my physique just reacted to that box!" He hurriedly called out to Hu Meng who then gave it to Yin Xiu. Watching curiously as the box was opened to reveal a mushroom which was similar in appearance to a strange pitted stone. The stalk was slender and light gray while the cap of the mushroom was much darker with deep holes spread sporadically around it.
"It's a pity its not a fire element poison, so I can't refine my heart right away, but this should be perfect for refining my spleen."
Hu Meng nodded in response as he warily looked at the mushroom, his instincts warning against coming into contact with it. "It's definitely an earth attributed material. It also feels extremely dangerous."
Hu Fang interjected to identify the herb for the both of them. "It is called the desiccated earth mushroom. Where it grows it consumes the nutrients of the land around it completely, resulting in large areas of sand. It quite literally removes the energy of the earth from its surroundings. It contains an extremely potent poison that forcibly combines its stored energy into the flesh and blood of cultivators basically turning them into stone statues if their strength isn't enough to withstand it. It can be a panacea to earth attributed cultivators of sufficient strength, but to the vast majority of cultivators it'll spell their doom."
She continued on "I only know of this particular herb because my elders once told me of an unorthodox human cultivator many years ago who would force cultivators he had imprisoned to eat both this mushroom and another poison called the hysteria hyacinth. The combination of the two would create cruel statues depicting immense suffering and panic that he liked to collect." Her voice laden with disgust at the mention of the deeds of this particular individual.
"He was active in Primal Heaven before sovereignty was won by the spirit beasts, so the war was still going strong. He would abduct the injured from battlefields, and turn them into his statues. His concealment technique was extremely strong, so he wasn't caught for many years, it was discovered after his death that besides the sick enjoyment he got from the collection, he also practiced a heretical technique that absorbed fear to cultivate faster. So, with his own creations along with the suffering of the massive war he rapidly rose in strength. Eventually, all of the factions in that area Primal Heaven called for a temporary end to the fighting and made a joint mission to eradicate him once and for all."
Yin Xiu's expression changed slightly as he looked once more at the inconspicuous mushroom with a bit more trepidation. Upon noticing this Hu Fang assured him. "Don't equate the tool with the offender Yin Xiu, it was created by the Dao, and it is not inherently evil. The main reason I tell you this story is mainly one of vigilance and caution. There are many types of cultivators in this world, and you should be careful and vigilant until you are sure that they can be trusted."
"Thank you for your advice senior." Yin Xiu thanked her respectfully before closing the lid on the medicine box, and placing it into his personal storage bag. All three were noticeably in good moods after each finding something beneficial to their cultivation. Hu Meng practically humming in excitement at finding the first glimpse of successfully creating a suitable technique for himself.
As they finished organizing the remaining materials, Yin Xiu discovered a strange picture of a baboon engraved on a large stone slab with rough words in an unknown language written alongside the picture. "Senior Hu Fang can you identify this? I don't understand the language." Hu Fang turned her gaze over and visible surprise took over her features, as she scrutinized the engraving.
"I can't believe it, no wonder that old baboon reached the strength he did, he had an epiphany and created his own foundation establishment technique." She looked at both of them and continued. "Remember what I said about the Heavenly Dao rewarding those who create their own techniques and transcribe them to be passed being rewarded with merit? With that old baboon's natural talent, stage three should have been his stopping point, but the merit he received allowed him to push through to the peak of the fourth stage." Both Hu Meng's and Yin Xiu's eyes widened in shock at the implications of that statement. Hu Fang disregarding their shock continued on.
"Hu Meng you should observe this engraving, and use the Qi pathways indicated on it to draw inspiration from when meditating on making your technique. Their body structure is wildly different from ours, but learning from the similarities is indeed possible. You've already studied my technique, so spotting the differences will be much easier." She then turned her attention to Yin Xiu. "The script on the engraving is a unique written language used by most of the spirit beasts in the Nine Heavens. You can have Hu Meng teach you sometime, it'll definitely be extremely beneficial to you as you progress throughout your cultivation." She paused and brooded for a few moments as she observed the stacks of newly organized storage bags.
"It seems like you both will need to head to sell off goods now. I wasn't expecting to harvest such a large amount of materials from the baboons. I also think both of you proved yourselves capable of defending yourselves, so I am more relieved to let you travel outside."
"Senior are you sure? I thought you wished for us to wait for me to reach Qi refining first?" Yon Xiu asked with a mixture of excitement, and tension intermingled in his tone.
"I mainly wanted to wait until then, but honestly I think it would stall your growth more than anything. We all need specific materials to cultivate, and you two in particular need as many examples of cultivation techniques as possible to perfect your own." She shook her head before continuing. "I also can't always be your only source of information in this world. My knowledge is predominantly from the memories in my bloodline, but there are many records made by humans. Especially knowledge that we spirit beasts are not proficient in."
Having made up her mind she took out a large scroll from her storage bag which depicted the surrounding areas adjacent the four seasons forest. "I first want you all to head to this city here." She pointed to a location about two days away from the forest, in the opposite direction of the Azure Cliff Sword sect. Pointing to a dot marked Violet Mist City. "This is a smaller city controlled by a few small cultivation families. They should have a market that you can exchange goods in, and the strongest cultivator there should only be around late stage Qi refining, so it is relatively safer." She solemnly looked at both of them "Don't sell much at one place, and spread it out over a period of time. Attracting others with wealth is an easy way to die." They both nodded hurriedly in understanding.
"Good." She said in relief, "I'll have you take a specific storage bag and you'll leave tomorrow." She looked up at the sun slowly descending in the sky. "Let's head back."