June was still cultivating in silence. He didn’t know that Franz and Shar was talking about him not too far away. He did what he has always done. Feel the Qi, gather it, then guide it to the dantian.

With a thought, a book appeared in his mind. It was the book that he got from his inheritance. He began to search at the place where he left off before the situation with Boa appeared.

June was delighted when he found the place where he stopped at last time. With excitement, he continued to read.

“The benefits of the spirit and matter stage are different from a normal spirit condensing cultivator. Before, you had to take in Qi and hold it in your dantian. The first step is to be able to feel and accumulate Qi. The next step is to nourish your spirit and keep condensing it.”

From what June read, it would seem as if June wasn’t really at a cultivation comparable to a spirit condensing cultivator because it would seem as if he hadn’t really condensed his spirit to the point where it would be enough. However, this was one of the benefits of the spirit and matter stage. His spirit was nourished enough when he created the yin-yang symbol made of water and fire. The elemental Qi in the yin-yang symbol was absorbed by June, but that was not the only thing he absorbed. He also absorbed the spiritual power that the symbol held. This caused his spirit to be nourish and it was nourished enough to be comparable to an early spirit condensing cultivator. The water and fire yin-yang symbol that he made allowed him to breeze through the starting point of cultivation.

It allowed him to feel Qi and condense his spirit without any troubles. Normally, it would take quite a while for normal cultivators to condense their spirit to the point where it would be powerful enough for them to be called an early spirit condensing cultivator.

First, they would train their bodies with the nourishment of Qi until it could handle a powerful spirit, but before that, they would have to try and control Qi with their weak spirit into their dantian and this was quite a task. After they nourished and trained their body enough, they would have to accumulate Qi and let it sit in the Dantian until there is enough to help their spirit condense to a certain point. When it condenses to the size of a fist, then and only then would the cultivator reach the early spirit condensing stage. The spirit would become smaller, but it would be denser and more powerful. This process would be faster if people had different way to cultivate like how mystical beasts have different ways from their inheritance. When the spirit becomes more powerful, the process of controlling Qi would easier.

June was reading, but he was confused, so he asked July, “The book in my mind says I should use my Qi and nourish my spirit. How do I do that?”

July was slack-jawed as she answered his question with a question of her own.

“If you don’t know how to nourish your spirit then how are you at a stage comparable to the spirit condensing stage?!”

June replied meekly, “I don’t know.”

July sigh and started to explain, “A spirit is made from your will. It is like another you, but in spiritual form. Anyways, if I remember correctly, you just need to imagine yourself in your dantian and just think of it like you're bathing in Qi.”

When he hear the word bath, June let out a toothy grin and exclaimed, “I love baths!”

Sure enough, as June imagined himself in a bath, his spirit appeared in his dantian. The water and fire Qi swirled around his spirit and nourished it. His spirit was sitting on the small black and white Yin-Yang symbol while the Fire and water Yin-Yang nourished it.

There was a small amount of Qi from June’s Qi gathering sessions. It was nowhere close enough to the point where the spirit would advance to the middle stage, but there was still a small upgrade in strength.

A comfortable feeling rose inside of June and a relaxed look appeared on his. When July saw his relaxed look, a smile broke out from her face while she thought, “seems like he was able to do it.”

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Franz and Shar quickly reached the area around Boa’s cave. Currently, it was silent, but they could feel trouble brewing up.

A voice echo through their minds as they stopped in their tracks. “Franz and Shar… what brings you two here?”

It was the voice of Ora! His voice was soft, but it sounded domineering. Franz replied, “We’re here to watch you guys fight it out. It should be a good fight, no? Where are you? We’ll come to you.”

“I’m in the boss’s cave with Tinzu, Ahrn, and Sur,” said Ora. His voice reverberated through Franz and Shar’s mind. The two immediately set off towards Boa’s cave.

When they arrived, Tinzu the silver-backed gorilla was there to greet them. “Franz the Black-Tailed fox and Shar the Steel-Winged crane.”

When they saw Tinzu, Shar cawed, “Tinzu! How have you been lately? Our territories are far apart, so we don’t see eachother often.”

Tinzu huffed her reply, “Been fine, lots of fighting lately though. Come in… Ora has been expecting you guys.”

The three walked into the cave and they were greeted by the sight of 3 other animals. Deer, snake, and hawk. Ora the deer, spoke up when he saw Franz and Shar.

“Franz, Shar, welcome! We are all forming an alliance for the time being. Are you guys here to join?”

Franz’s eyes twitched a bit before he replied, “Join you? We would be the first ones to die if we did join your group.”

“That is right!” agreed Shar.

Before Ora could speak up, a giant hawk spoke, “Leave it Ora! These two are useless to us.”

Shar glared at the hawk with contempt. “Shut up Ahrn! Watch what you say before you regret it. What heavenly-eyed hawk you are! More like hell-eyed hawk!”

“What did you say you bastard?!” shouted Ahrn in rage. A greenish aura enveloped the both of them. It was obvious that Ahrn’s green aura held more power though.

“Maybe you should watch what you’re saying instead,” warned Ahrn.

“Fuck your moth…”

Before Shar could curse Ahrn, Ora’s domineering voice was heard. “Let's not fight. You can fight after we deal with Gera and the rest.”

“Those bastards with Gera… they are forcing us to ally together! How shameful is this?! If only they didn’t join him then we could kill Gera together in one quick swoop then be on our own ways.” The snake coiled in the right corner of the cave suddenly spoke up. His voice was eerie and sharp.

“You’re right Sur, but I know what Kol, Lu, and Fera are thinking. Kol is just lazy, so he just wants to relax alongside the strongest of us. That just happens to be Gera, so there's nothing we can do. He is a Million Year Old Turtle afterall. They are known for their laziness. I remembered that his father didn’t even take care of him and just lazed around instead. As for Lu, there is no hope for him. He is a Star Washed Wolf and he’ll only follow the strongest of us. It is in his blood. Fera on the other hand isn’t on anyone’s side.” Ora knew that there was no hope with Kol and Lu, but he had a slight thread of hope for Fera. If he wanted to be the new boss then he would have to win against Gera.

The more people he had the better. Tinzu let out a low grunt, “Fera the Thousand Feathered Sparrow. I know her too well… she's a good friend of mine afterall. Ora, you should forget about inviting Fera. She loves freedom and doesn’t really care about her territory. In fact, her territory is the only reason why she is still in this forest. Otherwise, she’ll be flying around the world by now. It would be better to let her go, otherwise, she might join with Gera.”

Ora sighed heavily, “Franz and Shar! If you two join then we might be able to win.”

Franz looked at Shar and Shar looked back at him. The two have been great enemies for many years. Their territories were right next to each other and they often have disputes, but even after everything, they understood each other the most.

Franz gave Ora a sharp look as he replied for the both of them, “Sorry Ora, but we don’t want to die early. We won’t join you even if our land gets taken away. If that does happen then we will train until the day when we can get it back.”

Sur wasn’t happy at their response and glared at them. “Your parents won’t be happy if they knew that you abandoned the land that they passed down to you.”

Shar didn’t mind his glare at all and replied, “If it gets taken away, then… one day we will get it back. All of the older generation with the exception of Gera has ascended with the boss’s ascension. They wouldn’t know that we lost our territories for a bit, so it should be fine.”

“It is our responsibility to protect the land,” inclined Ora.

“We can’t protect it if we’re dead,” Franz replied sharply. “He is right Ora, we cannot protect our land if we are dead,” said Tinzu.

Ora threw away the thought of persuading Franz and Shar. He saw that the two of them were resolute in their decision.

“Ok! It is all or nothing. Gera is probably waiting for us to weaken our guards. When we do, he will strike! We must be vigilant at all times. When the time of fighting comes, Sur and Ahrn will distract Lu while Tinzu will deal with Kol. I will face off with Gera. If all comes to naught then I will at least take him down with me.”

Ora was heroic and the other mystical beasts saw this side of him. However, being heroic does not mean that the fight will be automatically won.

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June stopped nourishing his spirit after the water and fire yin-yang symbol in his dantian disappeared. He was filled with vitality and it was a refreshing experience. Cultivating took a lot of time. It was already noon. The sun hung in the middle of the sky and showed the earth with light.

For June, this meant that it was time to eat. July could only shake her head at his rumbling stomach and pluck a Dai fruit to hand to him. Unfortunately, one Dai fruit was not enough to satisfy his hunger. As she plucked the second Dai fruit, she noticed that the tree that produces the fruit was almost out of stock. She handed the second Dai fruit to June, but he didn’t take it.

His focus was on a little rabbit drinking from the pond. He eyed the rabbit like it was already cooked. Such delicious meat was something that he must have!

He slowly crept up on the rabbit. His footsteps were not heard by the rabbit and soon he was close enough to where he could catch it with a pounce.

June was oddly patient, maybe it because of his need for meat that he acted like this. With one fell swoop, he quickly jumped on the rabbit and held it down. His skirt made of leaves fluttered and that revealed his polished buttocks, but he had caught the rabbit.

No matter the difficulties, meat was meat afterall. June ran to July while carrying the white coated rabbit in his hands.

“Meat,” he said, “I want to eat!” July had a complex look on her face. “How can a panda love meat so much?” she thought to herself.

June gave July the rabbit and expected her to cook it, but July was not a cook. What was even worse was that she could not make fire.

“I can’t make fire, so I don’t think we can eat this,” she said. Her words broke June’s heart, but he was determined. He held out his right hand and asked about the process of making fire as he took the rabbit.

July’s body was made out of water’s essence, so she didn’t have to eat and thus, she did not have a need for fire, but for June’s sake, she recalled the process of making fire.

She remembered within a few seconds. With a proud tone, she explained, “ You have to rub two sticks together until you get a fire.”

There was also the process of making fire with flint, but she was sure that there was not any flint around the area.

June did not know why rubbing two sticks together would create fire, but he trusted July, so his face brightened as he leapt off to find two sticks with the little rabbit in his hands.

He sat down on the rabbit after he found two sticks that had the same length. He positioned the sticks in a cross shape as he began to rub them together. He used all his strength and effort, but his hands did not get any blisters. His body had the toughness of a spirit condensing cultivator afterall.

June rubbed and rubbed, but it was to no avail. The sticks only felt warm. There was not even a hint of fire showing up. He started to doubt what July told him and thought about other ways to create fire.

After a while, June was able to come up with an idea. He sat and cultivated for a few hours to replenish the Qi in his dantian then carried on with his plan.

His plan was to use Fire Qi to create a fire. It was just like how he used his spirit to guide the Qi into his dantian, but this time, he guided it to his right hand.

His right hand instantly glowed red and he felt a great amount of power in his hands. The stick in his right hand got broke from the unexpected strength. It also ignited and lit up with searing fire. June jumped around laughing wildly. His idea was a success!

The red membrane covering his hand protected him from the fire as he ran to July. He wanted to show her his creation.

“You actually created fire?” said July when she saw the burning stick. She didn’t expect the him to make a small fire when she told him about the method. It was a primitive method, but it was the only one that was available could use. She didn’t think about the possibility of June having an affinity with fire.

“How did you do it?” she asked. June grinned as he answered proudly, “I used fire Qi!’

“Oh! Using the heat from your fire Qi to create fire. Not bad,” she said, “You’re learning.”

Before the fire ran out, July got some more sticks and added them together. Soon enough, the fire became bigger and bigger as more sticks were added. The crackling fire excited June and gave him warmth.

It was already evening and he was hungry. His rumbling stomach could not hide it. Without hesitation, June threw the rabbit into the fire impatiently. July was not fast enough to stop him. She wanted to tell him that he would need to gut it first, but what has happened cannot be undone.

The fire quickly cooked the rabbit and soon, it was ready to eat. The fur was burnt off by the fire, so the cooked meat was shown. From July’s perspective, the meat was inedible and the insides would surely be a mess, but June was quite happy.

He bit off a chunk and savored the burnt flavor. He was the kind of person that couldn't go without meat. July thought that it was strange, but seeing June eating happily made her warm and happy too.

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As the days pass, Ora became more anxious. He could feel a sense of dread rising in his red antlers. Gera on the other hand was completely relaxed.

“Lu, when do you think the others will come? I’m getting tired of waiting,” said Gera. His ancient voice spreaded throughout the cave thoroughly. His whiskers were white along with some of his fur. Anyone could tell that he was an old fellow.

Lu looked at the outside of Gera’s gem covered cave. “They should come soon.”

Gera eyed Lu and saw a shadow of an old acquaintance. “You look and act just like your father. You star washed wolves are one of a kind,” he said with a tint of remembrance

Lu’s body stiffened as he heard Gera, but he quickly gained his composure and said nothing.

A scoff came from Gera as he looked at Kol in the corner. Kol was sleeping and it seemed as if he would never awaken. “Lazy as ever. You lot are really like your parents,” he remarked.

Gera became impatient after two weeks of waiting. If Ora and the others would not come to him then he would come to them. The three set off of from his territory and reached Boa’s cave shortly after.

“Ora! I’ve come!” shouted Gera with his ancient voice. “So you have,” said Ora as his figure came out of the cave. Sur, Ahrn, and Tinzu were alongside him while Shar and Franz were watching from a distance.

“Gera! We don’t have to fight like this. As long as you let us keep our territories then we would hand over the position of being boss to you,” said Ora.

Gera’s eyes sharply looked at Ora before he said, “The position of being boss is nice. I’ve been under your parents for such a long time. It was only recently that i’ve gotten my own territory, but there are things that I need to do in your territories. I’ll let you lot keep your territories, but you should let me excavate some gems. You all know how much I like gems.”

The rest of the lords looked at each other. Let Gera find gems in their territory? That would be easy, but finding gems would require lots of the land being dug up. They would never allow their land to be dug up like that. They are prideful beings. Another person stepping on their land and messing it up? They would never allow that. They’ve all seen Gera’s land and what they saw was a mess. Mounds and holes everywhere. This was a true gem loving maniac.

“Don’t push it Gera,” threatened Sur.

Ora stepped up and lowered his antlers threateningly. “It seems like actions are more powerful than words in this situation,” he said. A brown membrane of Earth Qi covered his body. It was apparent that he was ready to fight.

“It seems like we really have to fight,” said Gera. “Why don’t we do it this way. We will fight, but it will just be me and Ora. The rest can watch. This will be a fight to the death.”

The others looked around and conflict could be seen in their eyes. Could they really let their land hang on Ora? They knew that they had to, but they were reluctant.

Ora saw their nervousness and stepped up. “Don’t worry, if I cannot win then I will take him down with me. I’d rather die than let my land get touched by this gem loving maniac.”

“Alright,” said the group. As soon as they said that, a membrane of Fire Qi enveloped Gera’s feline body. His three horns looked menacing compared to Ora’s antlers.