Chapter 3 Setting out on the road alone.
Shanyang Village, a village very close to Gu Yuncheng, is not big, with only more than a hundred households. The villagers here follow the habit of working from sunrise to sunset, making a living by farming and hunting, and their lives are quite ordinary.
But today is an exception.
The sun has long since set, and countless stars are dotted in the night sky. After dinner, the villagers lit the lights and stood at the entrance of the village, looking quietly into the distance, waiting for something.
The noisy sounds came one after another, all inseparable from the name of one person.
Outside Shanyang Village, a figure gradually appeared. Looking at the village so close, a smile flashed across Jun Ting's slightly tired eyes. Shanyang Village is still some distance away from Gu Yuncheng, and it took him half a day to get back after leaving the city.
At the front of the crowd at the village entrance, an old man stared at the main entrance, muttering to himself with some worry, "It's so late, and Jun Ting hasn't come back yet. I hope nothing has happened to him."
A nearby woman overheard this, clutching a kerosene lamp in one hand and patting the old man's withered hand with the other. She smiled and said, "Alright, Village Chief, Jun Ting won't be a cause for concern. Maybe he'll become a spirit master, and some important figures in the Song Mansion will stay. Hey, hey, hey! Look, he's back!"
Even as the woman was reassuring the village chief, she spotted a familiar, short figure approaching on the road not far ahead and called out.
Though old, the village chief's eyesight was sharp. Recognizing that it was indeed Jun Ting, his expression instantly relaxed. Before he could approach, he saw Jun Ting suddenly accelerate, running up to the village chief and his companions.
"Village Chief, Aunt Hu," Jun Ting greeted first. Seeing the villagers waiting for him, a warm feeling welled up inside him. "Everyone, I'm back."
"Glad to be back," he said, as the village chief's sharp eyes caught sight of the cloth bag on Jun Ting's body. Before Jun Ting could say anything, his withered hands snatched the bag away. Feeling the weight within, his eyes lit up with anger.
"You kid, you didn't even awaken your martial spirit!?"
The villagers' expressions changed at these words. Anger? Perhaps. But more often, there was a sense of betrayal and frustration.
"Everyone, this is something the Song Mansion returned to me." Realizing the villagers might have misunderstood, Jun Ting felt a mixture of amusement and frustration.
He quickly summoned his martial spirit.
The Seven Killing Sword, once in his hands, shocked the villagers to varying degrees.
"Uncles, aunts, grandparents, look! This is my martial spirit, the Seven Killing Sword. My soul power is at full innate strength!"
Jun Ting confessed the truth to the villagers who had raised him, without a single secret.
At that moment, everyone fell silent.
It took a full half minute for the villagers to recover from the shocking news.
"What did you just say? Full innate soul power!"
"Little Jun Ting never lies! He truly has full innate soul power! A powerful soul master will emerge in our village!"
The significance of full innate soul power was well known.
At that moment, the entire Shanyang Village was in an uproar!
The night's bustle was a first for the village. Only when sleepiness overcame the village did the silence settle.
However, before leaving, the village chief left behind the gold soul coins that Jun Ting had intended to return to the villagers. "Jun Ting, becoming a soul master requires spirit rings. The village can hardly help you. These ten gold soul coins are all the village has to offer."
Later, in his own small room, Jun Ting was lighting a kerosene lamp. He was not at all sleepy.
With the awakening of his martial spirit, the Seven Killing Sword, coupled with his innate talent of full soul power, Jun Ting was filled with many thoughts at this moment. Most of all, however, he was focused on determining his first soul ring.
"Sword bamboo," he unfolded a map depicting the topography of the mountain range near Shanyang Village. While this mountain range was mostly inhabited by wild beasts, there were actually traces of ten-year-old soul beasts deep within the mountains.
Even traces of century-old plant-type soul beasts were found.
As far as he knew, the sword bamboo was one of them.
"It's confirmed, it's my first spirit ring."
...
The next morning, Jun Ting, with the help of the villagers, packed his rations and luggage and headed into the mountains near Shanyang Village to hunt for his first spirit ring.
Although the mountains were near Shanyang Village, they were actually quite a distance away. At Jun Ting's speed, the journey would probably take most of the day.
"The sword bamboo can emit sword energy attacks. This alone perfectly meets the requirements of my martial arts skills." As Jun Ting hurried on, he mentally reviewed information about spirit beasts like the sword bamboo. "As a bamboo-type spirit beast, its roots must be eradicated to kill it. To safely eradicate its roots, we must first cut through the bamboo stalks, depriving it of its attack power."
"I hope I can find a sword bamboo of the right age."
...
When Jun Ting arrived at the mountains, the sun was almost setting. So he rested outside the mountains for the night, preparing to venture deeper into the mountains the next day to search for the sword bamboo.
That night, Jun Ting sat alone by the fire.
As the flames crackled against the wood, he opted for a simple meditation instead of sleep. However, at that moment, a wave of unease washed over him. He suddenly opened his eyes, his sharp gaze scanning his surroundings.
Slowly rising, he drew his Seven Killing Sword.
A murderous aura permeated the air, stimulating the uninvited guest.
A figure suddenly leaped from the brush. Without hesitation, Jun Ting struck with his sword, blood spilling and a head falling to the ground. Only then did he see the figure clearly.
It was just an ordinary rabbit.
But he didn't relax at this moment; even his breathing slowed. His instincts told him that the real uninvited guest had already given up on the rabbit and chosen him as a midnight snack.
Now, the uninvited guest was waiting for his moment of complacency to deliver the fatal blow.
Then, his hair standing on end, Jun Ting dodged to the side and swung the Seven Killing Sword, striking forward to the left.
"Meow!!!"
With a shrill cry, a small civet cat with wings on its ribs and tiger-skin stripes appeared before Jun Ting. Its fur was pale cyan, and its eyes were purplish-red. A cut had been made on its body, and blood flowed from it, its eyes gleaming with ferocity.
Though only about a foot long, the civet cat put Jun Ting under considerable pressure. It was clearly a spirit beast.
"Ten years old? Then it can still fight."
He didn't sense a lethal aura from the spirit beast, so he roughly guessed its age.
Even as Jun Ting was assessing it, the civet cat could no longer contain itself. Unleashing its innate ability, it pounced like a flash of cyan lightning, its two front paws jutting out, its fur radiating a faint, yet ripple-like halo.
But before Jun Ting could make a move...
"Shua!"
An attack landed, and the raccoon cat died instantly. A faint white light appeared on it, and gradually, this white light slowly condensed into a white spirit ring above it.
But Jun Ting paid no attention to this spirit ring. Instead, he gripped the Seven Killing Sword tightly, his nerves tense to the extreme.
(End of this chapter)