Ubel faced a relatively large oak tree with his hatchet in one hand and a ball of Qi on the other one.

The ball of Qi gathered atop of his palm was similar to the screen of light he used whilst meditating, other than the obvious shape and its condensed form. To his former self, this ball of Qi would be at most one-hundredth of his reserves. But to his present self, it was the largest amount he could control.

But controlling didn’t mean Ubel could use the Qi. In principle, use and control of Qi entailed two different matters; former could enable the body to support, refine, and transform the Qi to its demands while the latter could only sense, gather, and shape the Qi to one’s preferences. The former was, essentially, a shortcut to the mastery of Qi without mastering the control.

And in a normal circumstance, no one would even need to master the skill of controlling the Qi.

But as a person who lost his primary source of help, meridians, primal ways of using Qi was the only choice for him to grasp a semblance of his old power. Though, he did not practice control of Qi to regain his power. Instead, per Quan’s wishes, all the effort he put in were to learn several divination techniques and pictograms to decode ancient tomes and books. But learning the technique didn’t equal to him being able to use it. Even the simplest one required him to be able to control a ball of qi double the size of his palm, so he had an arduous way to go.

But for now, using it for simple things like cutting wood was easy.

Taking a deep breath, Ubel focused on the condensed Qi on his palm, now wobbling like a pushed egg. In no time it opened like a blooming flower and tendrils of Qi spread around. They gathered around at the tip of his index finger and soon established some kind of road, and it kept going further and further until it was around thirty centimeters long.

This was an imitation of his old Depression skill, only in shape but not in nature. He had the breathing technique and even the knowledge of the further skills of the Death River Manual, but his lack of meridians made it, for now, impossible to filter the Qi in the air into Death River Qi. On his own, he had almost no chance of extracting a sub-elemental essence like Death and River. So, this Depression was only a replica.

Its use was also different, too. Ubel lifted his index finger and the long, slim depression followed its trail. With a sweep of his hand, the Depression’s almost illusory edge cut through the large trunk like a hot knife through butter. No trembling, no fluctuations. Ubel followed that with a small tap from his hatchet’s hilt, and with a boom the trunk crashed to the ground.

Patting off the dirt from the hem of his brown leather pants, Ubel raised his hatchet and cut all side branches of the trunk. Waving his hand, a gust of wind appeared and the dry branches piled up to a single side. The might of the wind, of course, stemmed both from his increased control over Qi and the physical might of his immortal physique. Little tricks like this were much easier to do than the replica of Depression.

Done with the clearing, Ubel grasped the wide trunk from the bottom and mounted it on his shoulder. Walking back, he passed through the small clearing he created. Maple, oak, birch, and other kinds of trees’ roots sprawled over, their numbers around hundreds. After walking over a few minutes, he came in front of a different segment of the forest, where even the remnant roots vanished and grass looked trimmed.

At the center of this empty grassland was a huge pit of hexagonal earth. Inside, pillars of stone connected with wooden beams and a considerably stronger kind of resin and mud stuck those together. These were the foundations of the shrine, which he made a few days ago. At the side of the foundations stood piled up woods and large boulders weighing hundreds of kilograms. The latter was hard to carry, as Ubel excavated them from the small iron mine in the southeast.

And they were the last batch of materials with the wood over his shoulder.

Ubel put down the wood near the pile and threw himself to the ground. The brown earth below the grass wasn’t harder than a wooden bed, so Ubel's back welcomed the relaxing change quite joyful. Yawning and stretching, he looked up and watched the clouds for some time. In the meantime, he thought of how to build the shrine.

Priest Hong requested its base to be the same shape with the foundations, it wasn’t that hard to accomplish. But the main body had to be made of four different kinds of tree trunks, and the ceiling was to be adorned with feathers of four bird species; Raven, hawk, falcon, owl. The latter could be done by the priest himself, as long as Ubel captured the beasts. Ravens would be troublesome, as they were intelligent and learned over time the customs of mortals. Other three, not as much but they still proved a bit of a headache.

Of the six sides of the two-floored shrine, three of them had to be stone. Hong Seng said over and over again, even though Ubel advised him to make it entirely out of stone so that it would be durable. But, as Priest Hong replied, The Raven knew the best for himself.

Ubel had grown curious over this man, deity, called The Raven. Only a slight interest, one that he considered talking with Priest Hong over a meal or a tea session. But for him to get that chance, he had to take care of the shrine itself first.

In his luck, all Ubel had to do was to wait for Hong Seng to come back from the market of the Denizage with the tools. After all, he didn’t want to use the replica Depression all the time to carve the boulders into shapes and pillars.

But it might be good training, Ubel put that notion in his mind for another time.

For now, all he had to do was to wait.

*********

Steam rolled into the clouds from the dockyard of the Denizage, a breeze spread the salty scent of the ocean.

Sea vessels of all kinds swayed in the piers, anchored to the hard bottom, and like a streak of light spread out into the horizon. Caravels, carracks, huge hulks, and even the treasured trade ships of the Haishen Empire, Baochuans could be spotted from afar. Men moved up and down from these boats; either carrying a box, a treasure, or a captive. Atop the scouting towers of these ships, some sailors gazed at the grand ocean and the five and seven floored pagodas of the Denizage.

But most of the gazes, including Hong Seng’s, switched to not the vast and exotic sights, but a middle-sized, unassuming vessel.

To the surprise of many, this ship’s outer shell shone under the sunlight with a metallic gleam, as it consisted of hardened iron. The deck was the same, a dark and treacherous air loomed over the strange vessel. But the most important of all was the lack of sails. Instead, a large tube forged out of, again, hardened iron, like the body of a cannon, spiraled from the middle of the deck into the air. From the mouth of this tube escaped those milky white streams of steam and traces of fire Qi seeped out with them.

A new invention of Haishen? Hong Seng recognized the symbols covering the side of the vessel. It was a blue sea dragon pierced by two javelins, one red and the other gold. Haishen Empire’s admirals were also a craftsman of their vessels, some even created their fleet from scratch with their own hands. So it was normal, or almost a tradition for people to brand their creations. And this vessel, Hong Seng couldn’t help but sigh, belonged to the Imperial family itself.

Many rumors traveled between the slippery mouths of the sailors and the common folk, even the slaves carrying goods and loads whispered something to their compatriots. But Hong Seng chose to ignore the flurry of false, and possibly exaggerated, information. In a few days, the imperial family itself would declare what their new invention was, as, if they had no intention of doing so they wouldn’t even let the ship see the face of light.

Moving through crowds of people, brushing past some slaves who beg their pardon and walked faster than they came in fear of retaliation, Hong Seng left the dockyard spanning half the beach and entered the commerce area.

From the moment he stepped in, luckily, he spotted what he needed to buy. With large strides, he came before one of the many individual stalls, one where a slim and hunched old man sat on a stool behind the counter. Ink, pens, axes, hatchets, chisels, hammers, and a few more tools laid on the red wool below the stall.

‘’May you have a splendid day, old sir.’’ Hong Seng clasped his fists to greet. ‘’Could you tell me about the prices of the tools?’’

‘’There are lots of 'em, which you wanna buy?’’

‘’A solid chisel, a hammer, a pickaxe, and if it is possible, a vial of medicine.’’

The old man behind the counter glanced up at Hong Seng, then burst into laughter.

‘’Alright, the chisel is fifteen, hammer and pickaxe is twenty silver each. The medicine is my gift for you.’’

Hong Seng smiled at his luck and clasped his fists again in gratitude. He took a soulstone from the hem of his robe and gave it to man, who snatched it and put it under the stall.

‘’Hey, old man. How much is this?’’ A rough, staunch man approached the stall as the old man pried the contents of his ragged clothes to get the remaining silver. He looked up at the robust man with a glint.

‘’Twenty-five silver for saws.’’ He replied.

‘’Twenty-five? Are you a swindler, old man, or a beggar?’’

‘’If you don’t like ‘em, then get lost. Many sell tools like me!’’ The old man spat and pointed at his sides. Indeed, many of the individuals sold goods similar to his and even looked at the rough man who could be their customer.

‘’Theirs are trash, yours are at least fine.’’

‘’Then pay their price.’’

‘’I refuse, at most eighteen silver.’’ The rough man tried to haggle for the price but whatever amount he put, the old man refused. ‘’Either pay up or get lost.’’ He said, and veins popped around the rough man’s neck.

‘’Here you go, the change.’’ The old man stretched Hong Seng a purse at the same time, where he put the leftover forty-five silver. Hong Seng nodded and reached for the purse.

‘’Old man, twenty-four silver, my last price.’’

‘’You know what? Scram! You are annoying.’’ Right before Hong Seng could grasp the pouch, however, the rough man started to howl.

‘’You annoying pest! All I want is a fucking saw!’’ From his body explosions rang out and the breaking of bone echoed in the streets. Pedestrians, sensing the dangerous aura scrambled to sides while a few strong-looking men and women surrounded the howling man.

The man let out a deep breath and sent a fierce punch towards the face of the old man. The air whistled and the purse took flight, floated to a narrow alley beside the stall, rolled on the ground and disappeared into the darkness.

‘’My money!’’ Hong Seng took a step back to rush to his purse but the punch in front of him proved a more imminent disaster. With a swipe of his hand, a transparent grey barrier sprang from his body and covered his front. At the same moment, it came into being, the punch struck the old man.

Qi exploded like a whirlpool and the surrounding stalls went into a frenzy, like arrows they turned into shrapnel and crashed onto the onlookers. A few Qi barriers sprang around the crowd and protected them while another one covered the old man in the stall.

‘’You dare call me pest!? I’ll skin you alive!’’ A low whistle escaped from the old man’s mouth and the airflow from the punch abruptly stopped. His body glowed the color of red for a moment, then he acted. He sent a palm, at least triple the speed and power of the rough man’s punch crashed onto the unprotected chest of the man.

Aura of a second layer Path Finding cultivator blasted out of the old man’s body at the split moment. The rough man bore the brunt not so well, shockwaves exploded like firecrackers and his chest caved in, then turned into a palm-sized hole. Coughing blood he flew back towards the crowd but crashed a few meters away from them, dust and earth rose and fell.

Hong Seng, in the meantime, found himself floating back from the fierce winds surrounding the strike and came next to the dark alley. Hong Seng sighed in relief and before going back to get the purchased tools, he snuck inside the alley to get his purse.

‘’What is this smell?’’ Hong Seng grasped his nose. A foul stench, full of death and blood loomed over the alley. Though it was still dark, he could see both his purse and the source of the stink.

With hurried steps, he came before the dangling body of a woman and grasped his purse beneath her revealed, bleeding white legs. Hong Seng cast a long glance at the woman. Her feet toes were pulled out, long scratches and stitched gashes spread from the tip of her feet to her calves, where signs of palms and cuts covered the surface of her bottom. Some parts of her belly showed rotten flesh, she must have been here for more than a few hours. And her upper body...Hong Seng didn’t find it pleasing to look at a vile and alive sign of abuse longer than a few seconds.

He kneeled in front of the corpse and put his hands together.

‘’The Raven’s wings span the world, but his eyes can only look forward. Perhaps there will be justice for you in the path of the future or maybe not. But be assured, not many will suffer your fate after The Raven comes.’’

Following the prayer with a few more words, he blew onto the face of the corpse.

His breath turned into seeds the size of a walnut and pierced through her skin, burying themselves inside her brain, then exploded. The muffled burst didn’t spread much sound and soon, the body collapsed into a mixture of blood and dust.

Leaving the alley, with his purse hidden inside his robe, Hong Seng approached the old man once more. He was talking with a woman donning a white tunic over mail armor, bearing the insignia of the Imperial family, when he noticed Hong Seng. In his hands was a strap of cloth and from the bulges, it was evident the tools he requested were in there.

‘’Here you go,’’ He put the cloth in his hands. ‘’Have you found your money?’’

‘’I did, many thanks for your consideration.’’ Hong Seng clasped his fist. ‘’You have my gratitude for the other thing as well.’’

‘’No worries.’’ The old man smiled. After saying a few more words and inquiring about some matters about the city, Hong Seng departed.

He felt a strange sensation of fulfillment, as the date The Raven would get his new shrine approached. Soon, both he and his deity would have a home to live in.

And once it was done, they could proceed to draft some missionaries.

*********

Contrary to the sensing and absorption of Qi, once the control over the ambient Qi grew more proficient the shaping abilities of a cultivator increased exponentially.

The shape, of course, depended on whether the cultivator could sense the nature and state of the Qi around them, as well as how many types of Qi his/her body could contain without a deficit. So, even if someone had great accomplishments in controlling the Qi, without the ability to sense and absorb, they wouldn’t accomplish anything noteworthy. After all, a blind man does not know of the colors and a river without a source is fated to dry up.

In that aspect, Ubel was a lucky one. As someone who broke through into the Path Finding realm, where the cultivator already experienced thousands of essences and determined the main essence they would pursue in the future stages, his body’s capability to sense and absorb the Qi was over average. Of course, he couldn’t absorb the Qi into his meridians, so the value of it stood below the normal standards. Yet the experience of breaking through and the perception of a Path Finding cultivator still existed.

So, for him, it wouldn’t be necessarliy impossible to recreate the effects of his Death River Manual. That was, however, as long as he had any source for the Death and River Qi. And him being able to sense those wouldn’t help him like a glass of water would to a helpless pilgrim in a desert. The essential skill was ultimately the ability to control the Qi, shape it, imbue the wished type of Qi, and maintain(Or release) it. And at his stage, he might as well be a small sapling aspiring to be a mountain.

There are trees towering even mountains though...

Cheering himself was important to keep him going on as well. Or he felt like it since, in a large amount of time he spent alone, he found dark thoughts at the corners of his consciousness more willing to go out. Ubel didn’t want to spend half of his day about what would happen once the forest was gone, it was pointless. If it would come, then it better come soon.

As his thoughts wandered around different topics, he came back to their hut. Coming inside, he snuck inside with silent steps and saw the trio napping in the bedroom. Without disturbing them he picked up a book, returned to the kitchen, and laid down the hatchet on the leather cloth. He might as well read through some things while waiting or priest Hong to arrive.

Ubel strolled outside and gazed up. White milk clouds dominated the sky as of now and the sun started to sway towards the west, it was past noon. Priest Hong could arrive at least by evening, so he had a few hours to finish this one, too. With a few large steps impossible to execute by mortals, he appeared on top of the boulder in the garden, sitting cross-legged.

He read through the first three rules yet again, their imposing writing affected him the same as always. Then the lines started to follow.

To start my words, I should address the matter that is the classifications of these pieces, at least from my own hands. There is no certain arrangement to look into these notes I wrote but if you aren’t as picky as you were in the last month, it might have taken you a few months to read through all the technical and lore related materials I left for you. And as a result, you are here.

In the case, however, you have stumbled on this at the start of your departure, or not far from that time, then I suggest you read through all before looking into this, My Disciple. For without adopting all the knowledge you have to, learning how to control the ambient Qi without getting strained for a moment, and accomplishing all the goals I set up for you to activate the divination spells you will most likely stray away from the path I intended you to pursue.

But even if you are unwilling, then...The sentence cut here with a line that kept going until the end of the page. Ubel flipped the paper.

Then, I will respect your decision to learn eagerly.

What am I going to learn, you ask? If you did as I intended you to, you might have guessed already. But I still assume you haven’t. What you are going to learn is one of the first paths the early immortals, inventors of the meridians and the cultivation failed to progress in. It is the path that led our civilization to take their first step, the path of flesh and blood.

Body Enchanting.

*********

At the southeast of the Cindersnow City, farther from the seven towns surrounding the Peaking Hills laid the single domain of northern continent covered in endless sand. The hot and dry yellow sea started from the border of Shuanguang Empire’s Spire Castle, Shaowei Empire’s Noble Quarters, and Haishen Empire’s Town Of Exploration. Its eastern coasts once bordered the broken third continent, which caused the sea levels near the shore rise exponentially.

But now, all left was the endless royal blue stretching to the horizon and battalions of mounted archers. These groups of cavalry archers, consisting of a few hundred soldiers each and mounting crimson horses bigger than destriers, patrolled around the coast to both look out potential survivors and help the excavators if any need arose.

And among one of these battalions, a company of a hundred and twenty men and women stood apart at the edge of the border between the desert and Shuanguang Empire. Their eyes moved around the three-hundred meters tall tower surrounded by light grey walls in their front, the Spire Castle, and their gazes cast automatically towards the raised hand before their sight.

The mounted archers all flicked their wrists. The bows strapped to their backs and now grasped in their hands were made of Demon Oak, a bedeviled oak tree’s with dark color. On their brown scale armor's sides hung two belts, one carrying a quiver and the other one a cavalry saber. From the quiver of the same color as their armor, the company retrieved their sharp feathered arrows and nocked them, pulling the bowstring to their shoulders.

The dark, tanned hand in their vision fell and together with that their rough fingers set loose the string.

A flurry of arrows flew over their heads, winds rustled, and because of the empty gouge at the heads of the arrows, a shrill scream followed. From the opposite, from a hill not far away from their position wails and shouts arose and several dozens of people rushed out. As it seemed from their eyes, the full-plate armor over their hulky bodies couldn’t protect them from the arrows of their people. Without any delay, the commander raised and lowered his hand again, another volley followed.

After three volleys of arrows, the remaining few retreated with their wounded comrades in their arms, the remaining either laid dead in their blood or were in too bad of a situation to move.

A sigh echoed.

‘’Shuangxing is quite hungry, it had been only a few days since sect gathered back their power. Does he not fear this is a test for them to observe the continent?’’ The commander turned around. A few strands of his hair sneaked from the turban covering his head, now all yellowed from the sandstorms they endured for the past few hours.

‘’What do you think, Qibing?’’ After swiping the sand over his dark hair and flashing a part of his scarred face to his troops, the commander turned to look at an elegant man among their midst. He seemed too out of place with that fancy robe and court hat, though he didn’t give the impression of one of those young lords from afar. Instead, the sun looked on at his eyes like a shy maiden, every once in awhile brightening the red in his iris.

‘’My Khan, we all knew he was a man of ambition long ago. Is it too surprising that he took the initiative to probe his potential allies and enemies?’’

‘’All men of the Kuhzey are ambitious, Qibing.’’ The commander continued. ‘’Were it not for the sect’s existence, instead of the few of us empires there would be tens of different realms on our ancestral home because of them.’’

‘’Then it is more of a reason...but you have a different thought it seems, my Khan?’’

‘’I do. Even though they are all ambitious and crave for the same power the sect holds, none of the reigns of the time are stupid. Shaowei’s old strategist Kaiming and the Haishen’s Da Yuwang are literal beasts when it comes to administration. Former in civil, latter in the military. Shuangxing himself is, however, on another level from us each.’’

‘’A demon, perhaps.’’

Qibing Zhanlue closed his eyes for a moment to think while Mansour Khan waited. In the meantime, a bright flash of light appeared on the Spire Castle’s tower, some kind of sign resembling two sets of flags.

‘’These bastards...’’ Mansour cursed and turned around, Qibing opened his mouth at the same time.

‘’My Kh-’’

‘’We return to the capital right now. Send the message, three of the eight battalions should change their route from the coastline to the hills west from here.’’ He cut Qibing’s words and pointed towards a high sandhill further from their position. ‘’And to the Northwest,’’ His finger followed the border and ended signaling at the Spire Castle.

‘’Other five continue for two more days, let one stay as additional reinforcements and the other four may return to their tribes.’’ A woman among his company nodded and strode her scarlet horse towards the company’s back, to the east shoreline. At the same time, Mansour Khan spurred his mount and rounded the company, who followed him from behind. Qibing Zhanlue, however, looked at his back for a second more. Once out of the daze, a sharp glint passed through his eyes and he urged the horse under him, too, and caught up with the rest of the unit.

Sounds of hooves and clouds of sand drifted behind them until they were out of sight.