Tumbling in a cart, in deadly sunlight.
"So, where are we going again…?" Cui Rong couldn't help but ask, her skin completely covered from being exposed to the sun as well as seen by others, she wore a complete black veil that covered her entire face while her arms and legs were covered by a long dress with long sleeves! In her hands she had two black gloves, completely covered in black from head to toe. She got these clothes from Yun Chen, Wei Wei's big brother, who had them in his cart alongside a lot of seemingly useless things, such as crystals, eggs, rocks, roots, and even a few flowers that had withered. 'Why does he hold them when they have no use?' Well, except for the dress with really long sleeves and the gloves, those came in handy- why did he have it in the first place? How did he get that? Questions she's too afraid to ask, knowing the answer would not be something she'd like to hear.
"We're following big brother Yun's senses!" Wei Wei innocently moved his legs as they sat on the cart that Yun Chen owned, that was being dragged by their "father", a male "moose" called Fyghon. "His… senses?" Confused, Cui Rong asked- What is he talking about? "You know how every cultivator has a sense for their own Qi? Well, big brother Yun is very attuned to his the Qis he has affinity to-" Yun Chen decided to keep the story, as he answered: "I absorbed and assimilated, taking the curse from a Wood Ram, I use Nature and Earth Qi, so I can really feel the Qi from the ground, and it feels too… bad for me." Shrugging, Yun Chen kept talking: "Anyway, what I feel is this huge urge to go a certain direction, the instincts of the Wood Ram that I have absorbed into myself has been telling me-"
Spreading his arms wide, Yun Chen smiled: "-go to where the sun rises, for there will be salvation from this drought."
Instincts.
The Cursedkin is also known for their sharp instincts, which are very influenced by the beasts they absorb and assimilate- A Shark-like Demonic Beast would give different abilities and instincts when compared to a Bee-like Demonic Beast. Their types of Qi influence a lot a Cursedkin's senses and battle styles.
"...okay?" Cui Rong was still confused, but where is she going? What can she do? She's just sitting in this cart, unable to do much but move around using her Qi for a little while. "I'll… trust your instincts, I guess?"
What else is there to do?
Amidst the trees, in lush green.
Year 11, Day 7
Root sighed softly to himself- This… This is going to help him establish himself in this world. "Go on, little one." He whispered to the small Seedling that walked away, his little stubby root feet squashing the soft grass as it ran towards the direction Root oriented it to go. "When you get to your section, root yourself upon the ground." Listening to his father and maker, the little seedling ran into the woods before him. This was another one of Root's strategies: Remember the description of his skill [Seedling Make]?
That's exactly what he is doing- He is making his little seedlings move towards a place and root themselves to the ground, upon that he will then use his [Mycorrhizal Network] technique to connect his roots to their roots and increase his sight and detection. It was amazing to be able to connect to so many trees… They all started small, but under his care, they quickly rose to their amazing size of 10 feet tall! He himself was about 150 or so feet tall now, which was amazing. "Now…" He spread out his Qi, seeping deeply into the ground and rippling through the wind… He soon looked deeply into himself, seeing that galaxy that was the connection he shared amongst his progeny, his children.
They grew up.
He could see and feel Leaf swinging his training sword, the wooden sword that he gave him- That sword was degraded into becoming a training sword thanks to the beautiful piece Ahteus made for his brother. It was a flat pin thin sword that was surprisingly sturdy for its size and thickness, because it was made with very pure Iron and Silver, making the sword have both the sturdiness of Iron Qi and the absorbing factor of the Silver Qi.
Iron Qi is sturdy and resistant to attacks, being able to withstand a lot of attacks, but it is also weak to strong Fire Qi and corrosion attacks such as acids and time itself.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
Silver Qi absorbs the Qi from attacks, containing it within itself as a vessel, but it can also make pretty good catalysts for Qi Items!
Such items were made by none other than Namis. Surprising, right? The lazy bum decided to have a hobby, she would start making small items with the things she could get her hands on, and soon she started liking working on items and made a few very interesting ones that could only be used by mortals because of how useless they were to cultivators.
She used some of his twigs to make a few "wands" that gather the Water Qi from the atmosphere and materialize it into liquid water, practically making water out of thin air to the eyes of the mortals. They now had a reliable source of water to give their families, with many working on making farms for themselves… That was when Root decided to make this whole place a city.
His sect was growing a lot faster than he thought it would, he wasn't scared in the least, only surprised. This accelerated his plans forward, and maybe he'd gather the attention of many, but he will do his best to protect his children.
And protecting them was his plan! His seedlings all spread out, making more and more big trees that gathered Sun Qi from the sun rays and transformed it both in energy hy dispersing Nature Qi in the atmosphere, but also into nutrients by converting some of that Nature Qi into Water and Earth Qi for themselves. The Death Qi beneath the ground was also dealt with when Root managed to teach a single one of his seedlings how to cover their roots with Earth Qi, which was passed on to every single seedling thanks to the [Generational Instinctual Knowledge] skill that Root had.
As long as one of them can learn, all of them can too.
With his [Root of Knowledge] skill, he was able to share his knowledge with the seedlings as well, making their expansion way easier when they also started using his [Mycorrhizal Network] skill, connecting to each other via their roots.
This progress took an entire week, and they haven't even expanded beyond a 500 meter radius around his main body, because he has to give them time to grow and root themselves properly into their space! But thanks to that, the desert that was the Demonic Fields of the Fhenzi Region now had a bright and beautiful green spot amidst the dry and dead yellow and gold colors. Such an oddity would attract the attention of any cultivator, but that also meant that they would have to care first… A spirit tree? No one cares very much about them, unless they are Nature Cultivators, in which case they might try to either coach the tree into making a pact with them, or outright use the tree as a material to further increase their own cultivation.
Regardless, Root had things to do!
Amidst the Trees, a passing breeze.
Zylph smiled softly as her long silvery hair flowed alongside her wind, her thin strands of hair moved individually as she whispered the name of her technique: "Winds of Change…" Wind gathered around each strand of hair, reinforcing it and making it move wildly- Zylph's appearance changed from her soft one to a disheveled and cold one, her own hair being a weapon of mass murder. As she approached her targets, her hair started to move to automatically attack the beings she designed as enemies: Flying Ants.
Ants… How she hates them. 'Brother Leaf wasn't kidding…' Indeed they were good targets to practice their techniques, but they're so fucking many… She could count about a thousand of this swarm, flying towards the trees that were her father's creations. And she didn't like it one bit! "Winds of Change - Piercing Sky." Suddenly, as she was before the swarm, all of her strands of hair solidified like sharp spikes before impaling many of the ants- About 140 of them? They were all pretty weak, seeing as they all were in the Qi Gathering stage, between the 1st and 3rd stage.
They were very good targets, at least.
She has created two styles for combat that she uses- Her body techniques are called Winds of Change, seeing as she can change between various techniques swiftly and smoothly! She has about 10 attack techniques using her body, 10 using her fan, and even 5 other techniques for a few other things she can do with her Qi alone! From dodging, attacking, and defending, her [Winds of Change] technique is very versatile and great.
She has only to practice switching between them to increase her power.
She is so excited to increase her power- She wants to be just like Big Brother Leaf, he can wield two swords and cut stones like it's nothing with a wooden sword! He got even better at it once he figured out how to use Sword Qi and how to cultivate it too, seeing as he needs to use his sword to make Sword Qi, like she has to use her fan to make her Fan Qi.
She is so excited.