Chapter 5: Help in Hard Times

The young Taoist frowned slightly, thought for a moment, then said, “Well, even if you’re a self-trained disciple, you still belong to the same sect. Meeting by chance in these wilds means fate has brought us together. Since you’ve already called me ‘uncle,’ I’ll help you.”
With that, he flicked his hand, sending three items floating into the air and placing them on a rock in front of Su Che.
“Use your own strength to get out of the Blood Veil Mountains. If you pass my test, take the token I give you and return to the sect. I’ll recommend you for entry into the outer sect, so you can become a full-fledged disciple of my sect.”
As a core inner disciple of the sect, he indeed had the authority to recommend others for the outer sect.
“Thank you, uncle…”
Su Che bowed deeply, suppressing the pain as he knelt heavily on the ground. Before he could say more thanks, the young Taoist had already risen into the air and left on his sword.
Coming like lightning and going like a rainbow—such a person, such grace—left Su Che in awe.
This was truly a cultivator…
“He’s also a kind-hearted person in the world of cultivation.”
Taking a deep breath, Su Che looked down at the three items on the rock: a short sword, a small porcelain bottle, and a jade plaque.
The short sword, over a foot long, solved Su Che’s immediate problem—he was worried about having no weapon for self-defense in these wildernesses. It seemed of good quality; a tool given by a cultivator, even if not a powerful magic weapon, would surely be a formidable ordinary weapon.
Su Che tried the sword a few times—it was indeed very sharp, able to cut through stones effortlessly. It would be more than enough to deal with ordinary wild beasts.
But with his current strength, even if he had a magic weapon, facing real monsters would be pointless; it wouldn’t make much difference.
He picked up the small porcelain bottle, opened its lid, and sniffed it. A faint medicinal scent filled the air—it must be a high-quality healing potion. A cultivator’s pill would surely be highly effective in treating his physical injuries.
“All of this is help in hard times…”
Su Che then picked up the last item: the jade plaque.
The crystal-clear, white jade plaque had the characters “Mystery” on the front and “Jade Clear” on the back.
Su Che understood that this jade plaque was the token left for him by Uncle Jade Clear. He was an inner disciple of the Mystery Peak of the Tianxuan Sect. With this plaque, he could enter the sect’s inner areas to find him.
Normally, without special reasons, a self-trained disciple like him wouldn’t even be allowed to enter the inner areas and could only stay in the outer regions below the mountains.

After some thought, Su Che tucked the medicine bottle and jade plaque into his chest, grasped his dagger, leaned on his walking stick, and headed deeper into the valley. He wondered if there was still any leftover food in the valley. His physical condition couldn’t rely solely on medicine—he was far from reaching the level where he could fast, and he still needed nourishment from food. The valley was in complete disarray, with debris everywhere and numerous deep pits. The patches of wild grass had long disappeared, almost completely flattened. This showed just how fierce the battle earlier must have been… As expected! Taoist Yu Qing had only taken the most valuable materials from the giant bear—such as the fur from the part of its back with the strongest defense, its internal organs, paws, teeth, eyes, and gallbladder. Aside from these, the bloody corpses piled up like a small mountain were, for Su Che, nothing short of a treasure trove. Without even considering other things, just those thousands of pounds of bear meat were extremely precious nourishment for a cultivator who hadn’t yet mastered fasting—it strengthened qi and blood, reinforced muscles and bones, and aided in cultivation. After all, this was genuine flesh from a monstrous beast. Under normal circumstances, even the most skilled martial artists in the physical cultivation stage couldn’t hope to kill such a powerful beast. He should eat quickly—Su Che wasn’t in a hurry to leave. He should make the most of the time and eat as much as he could, as even beast meat would rot over time. Wielding his sharp short sword, he cut through the meat effortlessly. He didn’t have the energy to start a fire, so he grabbed a large piece of bear meat and began to tear and chew it raw. It didn’t matter—monsters were also high-level cultivators with strong bodies, healthy internal organs, and constant flow of demonic energy, preventing parasites from living inside them. So, eating their meat raw was just unpleasant in taste; there was no need to worry about getting sick. Unfortunately, Su Che was still recovering from serious injuries and hadn’t eaten for days, leaving his digestive system in disarray. Eating too much all at once would be suicidal. Thus, he only swallowed a piece the size of his palm, wiped his mouth, and forced himself to stop eating. “I can’t rush. I’ll eat another piece in two hours. By this time tomorrow, I should be able to eat freely…” With that thought, Su Che raised an eyebrow, coming up with another idea. Swinging his short sword, he carefully cut away the remaining valuable parts from the bear’s corpse, including a large piece of meat enough for five days’ worth of food. Finally, he wrapped these materials in the leftover bear fur and hid them in a cool, dry spot in the valley.

These materials were all parts that Daoist Yu Qing considered worthless, but still, they could fetch a good price at the cultivation market—worth at least a dozen spirit stones. The reason he hid these materials in advance was that Su Che had learned from a young age not to put all his eggs in one basket; it was never a bad idea to have multiple backups. After that, Su Che sat cross-legged beside the pile of bear meat and began cultivating, using his internal energy to quickly absorb the immense energy and nutrients contained in the meat. Of course, he didn’t forget to take the healing pills given by Daoist Yu Qing, allowing him to heal while practicing at the same time. The warm airflow from the small tower, the pills, and the bear meat combined to produce astonishing results. In just one day, Su Che was sure his injuries had healed completely, his combat abilities had returned to full strength, and his cultivation level had improved significantly. If he continued like this for a few more days, it might even lead to a breakthrough, allowing him to generate true qi! Fortunately, it was winter, and the daytime temperatures weren’t high, so the bear meat wouldn’t spoil in a few days. This was a rare opportunity, so he had to make the most of it. With focused mind, Su Che decided to strive to reach the most perfect state of his physical cultivation foundation before attempting to condense true qi… He had a family cultivation method in mind—after all, the Su family was originally a cultivation clan, though it had declined over the past century. Still, they still possessed basic cultivation techniques. The previous Su Che had tried many times to practice these techniques but failed each time, unable to condense even a trace of true qi. Cultivation was like this—talent, diligence, and opportunity—all were crucial and indispensable! This time, Su Che felt that the chance to succeed in generating true qi had arrived. Yet, in life, things often didn’t go as one wished; many things simply couldn’t be controlled. The day after eating the bear meat, unwelcome guests invaded the valley again. This time, there were three people—two men and one woman—all wearing the robes of the Tianxuan Sect. The pure white robes featured faint silk patterns unique to the Tianxuan Sect, with silver threads embroidered at the cuffs and collar, clearly indicating they were outer sect disciples (one silver thread meant an outer sect disciple, two meant an inner sect disciple, and three meant a true disciple). These three likely lacked the strength to fly on swords, and Su Che guessed they had followed the traces left behind by the fleeing bear.

The giant bear charged recklessly, toppling trees and shattering rocks wherever it went. Su Che didn’t have the ability to erase these traces. Su Che did know that the Blood Curtain Mountains were under the jurisdiction of the Tianxuan Sect, with at least dozens of sect-related missions there, making it a testing ground for sect disciples as well. So, it wasn’t surprising to encounter Tianxuan Sect disciples here time and again. “Look! The carcass of the Red-Backed Berserker Bear!” As soon as the three of them entered the valley, the female disciple pointed over and exclaimed. Only then did Su Che realize that the monstrous beast he had eaten the flesh of was called the Red-Backed Berserker Bear. “Greetings, my three senior uncles.” Before they could get closer, Su Che stood up in advance and greeted them loudly. His voice had returned to normal after recovering from his injury. “Hmph, so it’s a self-trained disciple.” The female disciple curled her lips in disdain. The two male disciples—one with an ordinary appearance and the other quite handsome—far fell short of the elegance and presence of Taoist Yu Qing in terms of overall demeanor.