Yin Hu sighed as he stared at Shui continuing her rascal ways without remorse to the couple currently being subjected to her attention. Jun was with them to keep her in check, but that only went so far. The three days he set up for the process of finding the two of them cultivation manuals passed by quicker then he expected. He struggled to figure out what he was supposed to do and how he was going to accomplish what he had set out. It did not seem like it was realistic to give them anything worth their time due to system constraints.

He and the entire group left their camp a few hours after the mental deadline he created for himself. They started to head towards their destination and hopefully out of this boring forest as soon as possible. It wasn't until four days later that Yin Hu came across a very strange looking manual that was quite different compared to everything else.

It was not a cultivation manual per se' so he had ignored it the entire time. Plus it was an (F-) ranked item that would have been completely ignored had he even noticed it at all. Yin Hu had refused to look at anything below the (C) rank during his entire initial search simply because it was to low and would leave a horrible taste in his mouth to have provided the girls with something so pathetic when better options were just sitting there. He was trying to figure a way around the system, but without any luck.

The plan was always to take care of the girls to the best of his abilities. He would provide for them the best options that were in his rice bag, if the system did not agree, then he would figure out a way to get around it. Yet the longer he searched the more he lost hope in that option. It wasn't until recently that he found these pseudo manuals sitting there untouched.

Four manuals within his entire rice bag that had been hidden among the thousands of books in there. Unique in shape and form as well.

They felt ethereal to hold, letting out a cold fog from their pages as he flipped through them. He had to figure out if they were demonic in nature before he made any further decisions, only that he came to find they were nondescript and without solid defining metrics; no element, no prompt for compatibility or purity, none of them had any names either though the differences were obvious among them.

Yin Hu frowned as he remembered a line he had read over and over again in the first one he grabbed. They were not for cultivation, but rather their express purpose was nothing but to set up for future cultivation manuals down the line. The manual called it Greater Cultivation. He wasn't sure they could even be called cultivation manuals the longer he read them, but they did exactly what he needed at the moment and helped set a foundation for future advancement.

He looked up from where he was standing in the shade under a tree. The forests had thinned considerably and in the far distance, he could see no trees at all, nothing but grass fields as far as he could see. He had not expected there to be no forest within the Bleak Forests.

Shui and Jun were out there on the grass plains after having dragged Zhong Da and his wife, Wu Xui, with them.

Yin Hu knew quite well that the couple did not want to be out there, but they followed anyway. It showed their character and made it harder to be so suspicious of them.

Hu Shui, at some point, had snuck off again and somehow tamed a wild dog, wolf hybrid creature. Except that mix was seven feet at the shoulders, had spikes and black fur, and had two massive horns for a crown. A literal Warg that seemed like a perfect dungeon boss out in the wilds. One that she pulled around with the thinnest thread of rope he had ever seen. If the massive thing sneezed wrong, it would have snapped. Yet, that the apex predator refused to run away, allowing itself to suffer great injustices at the hands of Shui.

Yin Hu had a pretty good reason why. He watched as the girl doted on it acting as if that horrific looking thing was a cute little kitten or pup. It was hideous to say the least: had sharp claws and a horrible rotten smelling mouth, missing an eye from some fight and a plethora of battle scars all over his body. That was a battle hardened monster that should have been lording over this area and attempting to hunt them.

The most reliable reason for why it had submitted so quickly and so easily, he assumed, was simply because of the existence of Mr. Mo Mo. This supposedly gigantic bear that towered over the forest and pressed all its pressure down on the little creature before him. The Warg was big, but not stand over the forest big.

"Make sure you fetch good this time around, Mr. Cupcake." Shui whispered to it loud enough for him to hear.

Zhong Da sighed as he picked up a massive log he had dragged along with him and threw it as far as he could, launching it like a missile in the distance.

Shui gave the Warg a few pats and head nods to go fetch. The Warg did not like this game, sagging shoulders, tail between its legs, and pinned ears were clear indications if the whines were not enough. Only Shui's intense glares and pointing made the thing jump to its feet and bolt to grab the log and bring it back. Neither it nor Zhong Da and Wu Xui wanted to be part of this exercise, but they were there nonetheless.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

Yin Hu appreciated them for it. He would remember this moment when he made a final decision on their fates with him.

He stepped out of the shade and caught up to the group, taking a seat next to Jun. She was currently wiping down her sword. He was confident that it did not need any sort of cleaning. Weapon Spirits tended to make themselves look immaculate at all times possible. Jun was so focused on her task and keeping an eye on Shui's shenanigans she hadn't even noticed him approach.

She started when he sat down next to her. "Master?"

Yin Hu pulled out the elementless, almost purposeless manual that he had overlooked. The system did not give him a prompt for it like it did every other manual he had taken out of his system. He would make this the base of the whole clan and then figure out how to instill the higher tiered manuals as he figured out the rest of their properties; body, soul, and mind.

"Take this Jun," he said.

She perked up as she grabbed the manual, staring it at it and back at him.

He nodded for her to read it.

Jun sheathed her sword and took her time to open the book, only to stare at the first dozen pages with a black face. Eventually looking back up to him with a quirked eyebrow after reaching the twentieth page without a single thing written. It was all empty so far. "...Are you sure theres something there, Master? Or am I just to weak to see it?"

No, Jun. I am not sure, but what choice do I have? Let you ruin your cultivation by stagnating for months? A year? How long will it take me to figure out how to get you to cultivate better without ascending you? I can't risk that.

"Continue. Don't be so impatient."

"Yes, Master."

She looked back down and started to go through the hundreds of blank ethereal pages. The entire thing only had about twelve out of the four-hundred pages that had any content at all. Everything else had nothing. Not even a forward or table of content. It delved into the process of opening all meridians, core, body, and soul through the flooding of her body with purified Qi through specific breathing techniques. They were not meant to circulate any of it at all, rather, let it surge and crash within their bodies before channeling it out as quickly as they brought it in.

It did nothing but simulate and prepare the body for vast quantities of Qi rushing through their entire bodies and expanded their core. It did nothing to grow their cultivation.

Jun looked back at him with raised eyebrows again.

He acted like he didn't see her reaction.

She started reading the pages that were available, humming along the further she went. Whispering to herself the entire time. "Huh, I never thought of it this way. I didn't even think that was possible, or useful at all…"

Yin Hu waited until she was done before started asking his own questions. Primarily what happened to the forest? The change was not gradual, rather abrupt as they stepped out of the thickest parts of the forest and stumbled forward into low cut grass plains that stretched for what looked like miles.

"Wasn't the Bleak Forest supposed to be thick with trees and bushes, filled with spiritual beasts that make the world tremble, and impossible to pass?" he said as he turned back to watch Shui try to launch the log as far as Zhong Da had, only to fail. She was quick to readjust and assign him the role of sole log thrower. Wu Xui's job was to help pet Mr. Cupcake because it was to big for her small hands to do the petting justice.

Jun nodded, her attention was still locked into reading the manual she had been given. "It still is."

You waited until a few seconds, blinking all the while.

"Oh." Jun said, noticing that he was waiting for more information. "Of course, you were there before the Primordials, no wonder you don't remember–"

He was not about to correct her assumption. It helped that he had cultivated this very persona to match that identity. Yin Hu had lost count how many times it had saved him from uncomfortable situations time and again.

"As I said before, the primordials ended up battling for eons, scaring the lands and causing massive changes to the Earth. Wherever their blood was shed, the Qi within affected the surroundings. Though the biggest changes were where their bodies were laid to rest, dead, leaking their lifeblood and watering the grounds with it. I'm not sure how that would look, but assuming that this is correct then we would expect different landscapes in the area. With the thick forests of the Bleak Forest being the original form of the place."

Yin Hu hummed as he considered what she had said. How could a being be so strong that just their blood would poison or affect the land in concrete and visible ways. What type of Qi did they need to fill their entire being for something like that? That was a type of power he couldn't imagine wielding at all. Destroying mountains with a wave of his hand? Making entire continents sink? How long had they traveled so far? Yin Hu couldn't imagine someone so powerful that they could cut the entire landmass with a swing of their blade.

It was to fantastical.

Jun went on to tell him about rumors, myths, and legends that were over exaggerated. The world was quite literally destroyed and turned into motes of dust twelve times in her story. That was something unrealistic, to be honest. Not that he would say anything. The more she was telling her tale, the more excited she became. Jun's eyes turned into glittering stars, arms waving wildly as though she could shape the primordials and act out the battles herself.

He was not about to break her image of what the most powerful ancestors that she could recall after him were supposed to look like. Not that he was her ancestor at all.

Jun had gotten better mentally the longer they were away from all the Demonic Cultivators like Dong ZhenKang and Shao Yating. She far more vocal and far more extroverted now. The odd fits of passion struck her, mostly, when she was storytelling. Yin Hu hadn't noticed her love for something as simple as weaving tales. Maybe he could use that to help advance her mental stability and her personality. Develop her into a better person and further than he would have expected for.

It was good to see her have such a mundane little thing that she enjoyed doing to ground and balance all the fighting to defy fate and eventual ascending to greater realms.

Yin Hu couldn't help the small happy smile that spread across his face, hidden by the beard.

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