Calculating Cultivation

Chapter 106: The First Trap

The Life Light was shining quite bright overhead and the temperature was much warmer. The humidity in the air was annoying, but I expected as much. We had reached the outer edge of the Great Jungle after hundreds of years of traveling.

“Senior, our ship can go no further,” Junior Wei said. She was quite old but had clung to life so far.

“There is no canal to the next body of water?” I asked.

“No. Only the Great Jungle lies ahead and beyond that, the Great Desert,” she replied. I rarely exited my room to observe our travels. The last time I had gotten involved, I had been poisoned by the temporal wood sap. I did not want such a situation to occur a second time. Better to focus on my cultivation as much as possible while removing the remaining remnants of the poison from my body.

“Do people live in the Great Jungle?” I asked and Junior Wei shook her head.

“There are scattered tribes, hidden sects, and fugitives, but there is no civilization,” she said and I frowned at this.

“Why? I would have thought people would have settled this area by now after millennia?” I asked.

“Several reasons. The first reason is that there are powerful creatures inside the jungle. The Man Eater Snake. The Blood Sap Tree. The Black Ooze. The Fire Bats. Cultivators can handle such threats if they are careful enough. The second are the large amounts of bugs and diseases. Progress has been made pushing back the Great Jungle, but it is a struggle.” I nodded at this.

“Finally, criminals from the surrounding areas have fled into the Great Jungle and there are several sects that practice demonic cultivation,” Junior Wei explained.

“So, it is a huge warzone, which is a pain to build in, travel through, and is incredibly hostile,” I said while thinking over what I had just been told.

“Unfortunately, yes. While should be able to move through the Great Jungle without too much difficulty. With your presence and our large group, which has grown to around 400 cultivators,” Junior Wei said.

“I did note we had more ships tagging along. How much further to the Great Desert?” I asked and she shook her head.

“Rumors place it at least decade away.” That was quite shocking.

“We will have to cross another sea, several seas,” I muttered.

“The ground is more wet, but the entire area going forward is the Great Jungle. There are no more major bodies of water,” Junior Wei said. That was a shock. Or maybe not. After thousands of years, the trees and plant life would spread out. Get the right type of plants, and the sea would be drained. Even if it rained, the plants would suck up the water.

It would be a lot of water, that was for sure, but the depth of the oceans had been decreasing the closer we had gotten to the center of the Great World. The same with the mountains between the seas, they had been getting smaller. The entire world was like a ripple pattern, emanating from the center. The peaks of the ripples were the land and the dips the oceans.

There hadn’t been a leviathan attack in quite a while. They were still out there, but they were smaller and less aggressive than the leviathans in the seas near the edge of the Great World. I would need to get through the Great Jungle and then the Great Desert.

“What about the Great Desert?” I asked.

“Death. Creatures of great size roam the desert and kill all. From the giant Sand Worms, to the Super Scorpions,” Junior Wei said.

“No tribes, or anything else? No one has tried to get to the center of the Great World?” I asked.

“There are rumors of such things. But the only thing all the rumors agree on, is that after a certain point, the very air itself is on fire,” Junior Wei said. That would be a good way to keep out anyone who was curious about what was happening in the center of this place.

“No Great Sect hiding in the Great Desert?” I asked.

“That is one of the rumors, but it is not taken seriously. Others include an impossibly strong cultivator residing there, the path to the next level of existence, the secrets of cultivation inscribed on metal tablets, and countless other tales. There is no proof, just stories people make up. But the one commonality is that the air and ground burn,” Junior Wei explained.

“I will need to stock up on supplies then. Lots of fresh water and some food. I will continue. Do we have a guide?” I asked.

“There are several. There are many other cultivators who make pilgrimages to see the Great Desert and die there. Many call it the Great Graveyard. The hope is that they will break through from the environment or find something that will help them. Hence all the demonic sects looking to pray upon such travelers. We will likely get people who want to follow us,” Junior Wei explained.

“I will leave those arrangements to you. Whatever you think is best. I will see this burning air and ground myself. Perhaps I will be able to go further and truly see what lies at the center of the Great World,” I replied. Junior Wei bowed towards me and then left to fulfill my orders.

While we had made good progress to the center of the Great World, my cultivation progress was not as good unfortunately. The temporal wood sap poison had slowed my progress down by a great deal while I dealt with the stuff stuck in my body.

I looked out over the port city we had come to a stop in. The style of the buildings had changed quite a bit. Much flatter roofs with a lot more drainage systems set up. I looked up at the sky and there were clouds gathering. With the Great Jungle, it probably rained quite a bit due to all the evaporation taking place.

Junior Wei returned after a while along with another person. “Senior, this is the most experienced guide I could find. Guide Zee,” she introduced the person. They were wrapped in so many layers of dark cloth I couldn’t tell if they were a man or a woman. Even their face was covered with only a pair of dark tinted goggles hinting at where their eyes might be.

“Greetings senior, I am Guide Zee,” the voice made it hard to discern anything about this person as well.

“Have you been to the Great Desert before?” I asked.

“Only once have I traveled the full distance. It is a long and dangerous trip. Normally the expedition runs into too much danger and is forced to turn back, or they all die,” Guide Zee said.

“And you abandon them?” I asked.

“I value my life. The distance is great and the Great Jungle makes it incredibly difficult to properly travel using the Life Light. What you see beyond the city is only the outskirts of the Great Jungle. In its depths, there are trees that tower into the sky and block out most light. There are layers in the Great Jungle. To travel on the ground layer is incredibly dangerous. I can show a way through the Great Jungle and spot many dangers, but I am not a fighter,” they explained.

“But you lead people into danger,” I countered.

“The creatures don’t have set paths, unlike the demonic sects. And even they send out people to try and kill others. A large group will deter them, but it will also bring strong beasts. It is a dangerous job, acting as a guide,” they explained.

“Or you lead people to the demonic sects,” I countered while trying to work out the scheme here.

“They have people watching the cities, but I am not one of them. I am happy enough to stay here, but your junior asked for the best, and I am the best,” Guide Zee said.

“You hide your cultivation well,” I replied, since their outfit was blocking me from telling how far they had cultivated.

“Weaved from the threads of the Hidden Weeper, a large plant that is designed to ambush cultivators. The demonic sects like to hide in groves of them to avoid being easily detected or pursued,” Guide Zee explained.

“Your price?” I asked.

“Two blood seeds,” they replied and I looked at Junior Wei who had a shocked look on her old face.

“What are those?”

“The main high-end currency around the edge of the Great Jungle. Blood seeds, heal the physical body and allow a person to live longer,” Junior Wei said.

“Really? Why aren’t they grown in fields?” I asked and Junior Wei looked at Guide Zee.

“It has been tried many times, but each time such a thing has failed. They are the pillar of each demonic sect and the main reason why cultivators risk searching the Great Jungle,” Guide Zee explained.

“And the price?” I looked at Junior Wei.

“Priceless. Even demanding one blood seed would be exorbitant. There are other cheaper guides,” Junior Wei countered.

“And they are spies or idiots but most likely both. It will take a decade for me to take you to the Great Desert and about that to get back. My time is valuable, that means blood seeds,” Guide Zee explained.

“How much time do they give you back?” I asked.

“Ten to twenty years each, depending on their strength. You merely need to ingest one and the body grows younger,” Guide Zee explained. That wasn’t that much time for me, but for people of the Great World, it was invaluable. Getting extra time to cultivate and become stronger.

“We can trade the ship for one seed, but that is it. Even with the remainder of our wealth we can’t trade for a second blood seed,” Junior Wei said. A nearby sect would want my array in order to cultivate on the ship or for their sect to assist themselves in cultivating even more.

“If you have one, I will work for seven years, the last two years being on credit,” Guide Zee said.

“You are dismissed for now, I will make my decision later and have you informed,” I said. Guide Zee quickly bowed and was escorted away by one of my followers. “I want to inspect one of these blood seeds before purchasing one.”

“Of course. The local sect in charge of this city has a few in their possession. Speaking with you directly will make negotiations proceed more smoothly,” Junior Wei said. I didn’t care about that. I was more interested in these blood seeds. Turning back the time on a body with no side effects was insanely valuable. Not just to these cultivators, but to all cultivators.

Just like the nexus points. They were something unique to the Great World that had captured my attention. The wood sap was also interesting, but ultimately it revealed a weakness. Not a major weakness, but still a weakness. A major weakness would have allowed a weaker cultivator to kill me instantly or near instantly.

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I considered the nexus crystals and was wondering what these blood seeds would be and how they interfaced with the Great World. It didn’t take long at all for a showing of a single blood seed by the local sect. Junior Wei had taken care of all the tedious details, which I appreciated.

The blood seed was a simple oblong red seed, about the size of my small finger. I gazed intently at it, trying to work out what it did exactly. “Why are they called seeds? Can they grow a similar tree?” I asked the Sect Leader who had brought the blood seed out for my inspection.

“It has been tried in the past, but they remain in the ground unchanged. They are called seeds, since the trees they grow from occasionally produce such an item. The term for blood comes from their coloration,” the Sect Leader explained.

“How often do such trees produce a seed?” I asked.

“The estimate is one seed, once every hundred years,” they replied.

“So, with five to seven trees, one would live forever,” I pointed out.

“There are stories about such things, but no one has broken through. If they have, then they have remained in hiding,” the Sect Leader said, and I nodded at this. Unless they broke through, one cultivator would struggle against a sect. Only when there was a large gap in cultivation would it be possible to take what one wanted. But if they had reached even a fraction of my strength, then such items would not be that interesting. Also there was a much more insidious reason why consuming such an item was a bad idea.

Looking at the blood seed, I had already made several determinations about what it actually was. It was condensed energy. My best guess was that some cultivator made such a plant in order to try and process more energy from the environment, no matter the low amount.

The tree would draw in energy, possibly tapping into the same formation that the nexus crystals used to circumvent the Great World’s oppression. Most likely less efficient if there was only one blood seed every hundred years. If I was any weaker, not received Yang Heng’s advice, or had less experience I would have probably missed the trap present.

The energy inside the blood seed was not free-floating energy. It was tainted with the tree’s energy. It would be easy to overlook. But the fact that the energy was tainted like that and wasn’t pure, proved to me that the blood seed was a trap of some kind. Preserving the memories while the body grew younger was not something these weak cultivators should be able to do, even with a powerful item like this.

My guess was that after consuming so many blood seeds, the cultivator would turn into a tree that would grow blood seeds. Demonic sects appeared and disappeared all the time. Crazed cultivators probably ran into the forest hoping to find these seeds and eventually found a grove.

They would rapidly consume several blood seeds to get younger and then a new tree would appear. Perhaps after a period of gestation or when the cultivator was far enough away from other trees if the plant were truly clever. The fact that these people didn’t realize what was happening was due to the rarity of such items and how the Great Jungle was massive. But they still had a couple of blood seeds.

The demonic sects probably knew the truth and most likely tried to suppress the tree’s energy inside of them. But once their bodies were contaminated, it would only get worse. With how much of a pain it was to purge the wood sap from my brain, something that changed the entire body would be much more ingrained. In fact it would be impossible to tell the difference once consumed.

“Has anyone ever attempted to use alchemy to change the nature of the blood seed?” I asked.

“Perhaps, but nothing I know about. They are too valuable for such things,” the Sect Leader said.

That was when I realized what Guide Zee actually was. A sentient tree. Bringing up the price of a blood seed served multiple hidden goals. If they were chosen as a guide, they would eventually lead me into a trap. That was without question. The price of two blood seeds was designed to draw a cultivator’s interest.

Then they would be drawn to the item. Time was the most precious resource of all cultivators. And they would get more time once they consumed a blood seed. But then they would want more and more. Guide Zee might not be a tree in full, but they were most likely a demonic cultivator who needed to draw out the energy of other cultivators to counter the energy they had taken in from the blood seeds. That explanation was much better in my mind.

All cultivators liked to show off to some degree. Even I wasn’t immune to such things. It was like a threat display. The fact that Guide Zee hid their cultivation and appearance completely was a huge red flag. While I didn’t flash my cultivation about, I didn’t hide myself either or downplay my strength.

The only reason to do so was to ambush other cultivators in some way. It would have been a different matter entirely if Guide Zee had put on their robes after we had bet and started traveling togeather. But here in this city, there was no need for such a thing. While there might be other more convoluted explanations, the answer felt obvious.

I had gone through too many mysteries already. A simple one like this was easy once I had gathered enough information. The real trick would be if there was a way to purify the energy inside the blood seed. It would be quite useful if that were the case.

“We will purchase the blood seed. I believe there was interest in the energy gathering formation I have?” I asked the Sect Leader. He offered two blood seeds in exchange, which I easily accepted along with a small compound at the edge of the city for one month.

“Why did you want the compound, Senior?” Junior Wei asked me.

“I will be looking at these blood seeds in more depth. Also, does Guide Zee have any connections or backing I should be concerned about?” I asked.

“No. They are independent of the local sect,” Junior Wei said, and I nodded at this.

“Summon them to the compound we have been provided. I will make a deal with them directly,” I replied. Junior Wei bowed towards me and scampered off. It was nice having minions to handle things and the strength to seize what I wanted.

I was in a large empty room, looking at the two blood seeds I had sitting on a table in the center of the room. All the other furniture had been removed. Guide Zee and Junior Wei entered the room, and both bowed to me.

“Guide Zee, I will have to ask you to remove your cloak,” I said and they froze up.

“It is connected to my flesh,” they replied and I nodded at this. They were a tree person of some kind.

“How many blood seeds have you consumed?” I asked.

“Twelve,” they replied, and I nodded at this.

“You are more plant than person now, I take it,” I said. They let out a long sigh. I had one hand resting on the pommel of my sword, but I hadn’t drawn it yet. If we could talk, that was preferable to violence.

“The curse of the blood seeds. Now I need more of everything to stay alive. Are you going to kill me?” they asked.

“I don’t plan on fighting unless you start one. As long as we can discuss various topics peacefully, then you can keep your life,” I replied kindly. They untensed slightly at that.

“There is nothing to hide,” they replied.

“Oh, not even how you use regular cultivators to counter the blood seeds you have consumed?” I asked.

“How…yes,” they said with a heavy tone. They seemed to wilt in my presence as I considered them. They knew they had no chance of escaping me. I had been in their spot in the past. If you were before a much stronger cultivator, the only thing you could do was answer their questions honestly and bow your head, hoping it wouldn’t be cut off.

“What would you even do with these?” I asked, gesturing at the blood seeds on the table.

“Traded them with other demonic sects for useful items. While I used demonic techniques to stabilize my cultivation, my hope is that by breaking through, I will be able to fix myself,” they explained. I shook my head at that.

“I won’t say anything is impossible, but breaking through would not fix your problem. You want to return to human, while purging the tree energy?” I asked.

“That was my hope,” they replied. I shook my head once more. They had messed up their cultivation far earlier than me, and it just made their foundation even more shaky. My problem had been that my foundation was too immense, too strong. It had helped me of course, but it had also made my cultivation difficult.

Guide Zee here had a similar but opposite problem. They had messed their cultivation up, which had caused immense problems in their biology. They entire existence reminded me of the tortured souls in the Forever City. Cloaked and trying to live out what meager lives they could before their death. Hoping they would find some way to advance.

This half person in front of me had an even smaller chance than them, stuck here in the Great World. They would eventually die, that was without question, but they still persisted. I could respect their determination at the very least. However, it wasn’t my problem.

I finally felt what all my seniors had felt when looking at me. It was interesting, but ultimately it was a disaster. I had gotten lucky by someone managing the correct path that the elite of the Heavenly Alliance used. But for every success, there were millions upon millions of failures. This was just another one, just in another cultivation system.

Unless I was so far above, or knowledgeable like Yang Heng, there really wasn’t anything I could do to fix their problem. Eventually the energy would build up enough they would break through, but the problem would be that breakthrough to having a soul. It wouldn’t be their soul, since the soul would be part tree. Their biology had been changed too much.

Now that I was looking closely. The dark green cloak they wore wasn’t a cloak at all. But giant leaves growing out of them and melded togeather to make it appear like a ragged cloak. It was a good disguise, but ultimately they couldn’t hide from me.

“Can you get us to the Great Desert?” I asked. That was what mattered. All of this was just an amusing distraction at best on my journey to the center of the Great World.

“Yes. But it is dangerous. There are things in the Great Jungle, that even I am afraid of,” Guide Zee replied.

“Take your payment. And you will guide us. We leave in a month,” I said. Guide Zee nodded and took both crystals. They bowed towards me before leaving the room.

“Senior, are you sure? They could just run away,” Junior Wei said.

“I pushed a small bit of my energy into the blood seeds. It will bond with them and create a critical weakness. There is a reason why demonic cultivators make sure to kill the people they used to advance their cultivation. If two cultivators share a cultivation, it creates a link between them. The stronger one can sense the weaker,” I replied. That was what Aoyin had done.

“You can?” Junior Wei asked in surprise.

“I can. The crystals are ultimately alive in a way. I can sense where they are. It was only a small bit of energy, and it will disappear after a decade. Less if the blood seeds are consumed. Ultimately it will most likely be a distraction, but if Guide Zee runs, they will have to give up the blood crystals, or I will kill them,” I explained.

“That is quite clever of you, Senior,” Junior Wei said.

“Not really, Junior Wei. Please make sure we have all the necessary supplies and anyone coming with us is aware of the dangers. The month we will remain here will let people make their decision if they wish to keep going and relax before we no longer see civilization,” I said.

“I have made them aware of such things. It is only a minor delay and there were no complaints. If I may ask, you aren’t interested in the blood seeds Senior?”

“No. They will ruin your cultivation. As for fixing them, it isn’t worth the effort. They are a concentrated source of energy, but the alchemy required is beyond me and I do not want to waste the time after having looked at them. Also, their biological properties are directly related to the energy stored inside of them. Purging the energy while keeping the biological properties intact, would require an expert. I might know a small amount of alchemy, but this isn’t simple,” I replied with a shake of my head.

“Thank you for explaining Senior,” Junior Wei replied. I waved her off. I then had a couple of servants bring in sedan to lay on for the next month. I would keep working at removing the wood sap from my head while I waited. If anything interesting happened Junior Wei would let me know.

It always felt strange being the senior cultivator but I had come to enjoy the position. Being able to boss people about, getting better deals just by being present, and not having to worry about every minor thing.

I had no doubt that most if not all of the cultivators following me were going to die. If this was the welcome of the Great Jungle, I knew the entire trip would be a series of headaches. A giant primordial forest would be incredibly dangerous. I considered traveling on my own, but it was better to sacrifice the lesser pieces first if possible.

The wood sap had made me a tad more cautious. I had felt I had could just plow over anything in the Great World with my strength and knowledge. I would lose about five or six years with how slow these people were able to travel compared to me. But their sacrifices would give me a slight advantage.

Junior Wei had pointed out the dangers of the Great Jungle. While I didn’t think they would be that dangerous to me as long as I kept my guard up, they were unknowns. This month would give the people traveling with me time to get information. It was also why I had ultimately accepted Guide Zee. It wasn’t the danger I could spot that was dangerous. It was the weird creature with some crazy ability that was dangerous, the hidden threat.

The cultivators traveling with me would deal with those threats first. I would also be checking people’s cultivation who traveled with me and instituting a buddy system for everyone. Guide Zee would be my buddy for this trip. If they led me into a trap or were unable to explain a phenomenon to my satisfaction, they would be the first to die. Well maybe not die, but I would cripple them to teach them a lesson not to mess with me.

While I had only spoken with them, I hoped they had gotten the message. Working with a demonic cultivator was always dangerous. The trick was the same as any other cultivator. Just be far stronger than them, to make them afraid of betrayal.

I gave it a fifty-fifty chance that Guide Zee would actually betray me. They would probably see how I dealt with other challenges. I was probably ahead in their eyes by figuring out their plot. But behind due to how I had given them two blood seeds and was bringing them along. That would make them even more paranoid, which would turn in my favor.

These mind games were incredibly annoying, but I needed to mitigate the future risks however I could. Having a half tree half person guide us really was the best option, if I didn’t want to lose the lesser cultivators left and right.

I wanted enough to survive so they would be useful in the Great Desert. I would be bringing along a lot of supplies, but I needed to ensure that I would have enough to make a return trip no matter what. Based on the estimated distances, the Great Desert was about three times the distance across as the distance we had to get through the Great Jungle.

A half of that distance was just on the other side of the center. The end of the Great World was so close I could almost taste it, but that was why I needed to pay attention and assess the situation myself. I needed to get back into the traveling mind set and dealing with possible schemes. Guide Zee was a good warm up in this regard.