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Chapter 26: The Young Generation's Level

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The next morning, after getting up from the bed, Kyu Cao calmly took a towel damp with cool water and a bit of perfumed oil and began to rinse his fur.

The room's illumination was dim, yet the silky fur seemed to reflect a luster like that of the most prized fabrics.

Together with the cat's uncovered body, defined with carved muscles and an elegant profile, would have made many young girls swoon.

Kyu Cao then brushed himself as it was ritual, needing only a quick pass to finish.

It appeared Cultivation really made many things much more convenient.

A deep green, long formal attire, like a piece carved from the darkest jade and decorated with precious gold carvings, finished Kyu Cao's morning routine.

But as he smoothed his outer robe and his paw passed over his abdomen, this one stopped, but only for a brief moment.

Regarding the Thunderlightning Seed, Kyu Cao actually couldn't do much about it so he put the matter aside for now.

Anyways, thinking about it was bad for his heart.

Ready, he came down to the first floor.

The servant with his morning meal should be arriving soon, but Kyu Cao walked toward a small high table at one end of the room.

There, on the small table, was a golden disk with a cyan stone embedded on it. The golden disk was carved with an assortment of mysterious symbols, and although these were quite harmonious and beautiful, appearing merely decorative, they were in fact a complex formation.

This was an echoing disk, a rather convenient tool.

Putting his paw on the disk, Kyu Cao inserted some Qi into it and activated the formation.

Nothing seemed to happen, but the echoing disk was already operating.

"Send some food that can be preserved for a few days. Enough for a complete week. It is fine if it is all the same dish," he said clearly and loud enough to not be misinterpreted. "Also, send someone to carry a message."

Then, he retired his paw and moved toward a drawer on the other side of the room.

He took out some paper, a brush and an inkstone, and took them with him to the table.

Last night, Kyu Cao had more or less decided on how to proceed with the matter of the duel.

Notifying the Goldcloud brothers of the place he had decided upon could be said to be the only important matter left.

And while he would very much not mind giving them a yank on the tail and only tell them the location a day before the duel in retaliation for having cornered him at the sparring rings, he really couldn't do such rascally thing as this concerned the reputation of the Bloodstripe Clan. Even if the other party possibly didn't know this fact.

For this, he was planning on asking Mister Pong for his assistance, so he was going to write him a letter.

He had promised Li Ling too that he would tell them, so they could go.

He had to delegate some matters if he wanted to maximize his training time.

The limit was one week, no, only six days.

After finishing all his business, Kyu Cao went up to the Backdoor's Forest the same manner as previous days.

In front of the forest's entrance, the figure of the dog guard, Uncle Wan Tanpei, could be recognized.

However, the other two guards had changed, with now them being a pair of cat and snake.

Wan Tanpei and the two newcomers too noticed the young cat.

The dog's eyes briefly illuminated, before it was quickly concealed. As for cat and snake, they stared inquiringly at the youth, who for some reason had come here donning a long, obviously expensive robe.

Kyu Cao advanced forward, however, his direction was directly toward the three guards, eliciting some confusion from the trio.

Regardless, they kept their backs straight and their expressions sharp, maintaining the bearing of stern guards.

It was when Kyu Cao reached in front on them that Wan Tanpei decided to speak.

"Early greetings, Third Young Master."

"Un. Greetings, Uncle Tanpei."

Again, Wan Tanpei's eyebrow imperceptibly twitched.

Regarding this form of addressing, he felt rather complex about it.

The cat and snake guards observed curiously from the side, maintaining their distance.

They believed this third young master should be someone close to this senior, so they decided to let them be.

Kyu Cao too, ignored the two guards since they had not greeted him.

"Senior Uncle, about yesterday, you said the most important thing in battle was to know when to retreat, right?"

The Young Master ways of addressing were becoming stranger, but Wan Tanpei put this aside for now and responded the question, "Yes, that's what I said."

"Then, what happens when direct confrontation is the only option?"

This question, was something Kyu Cao had been wondering since yesterday.

Although what Wan Tanpei had said before was not what he had imagined, Kyu Cao pretty much agreed with the dog.

He would rather live to try again, than have a glorious death.

Actually, he didn't think there was anything glorious about dying. In his opinion, retreating now and coming later with more strength was a more sensible way of action.

But this was his opinion anyways, and he had to admit that he had not much experience when it came to these matters.

Thus, he had thought of asking this uncle soldier for advice, since he got a pretty good feeling from him.

Of course, the matter of the duel was not that serious, but it should make a good reference.

Wan Tanpei suppressed the urge to ask for details, and dutifully began to consider his answer.

The previous time, he had oversimplified his answer, because he thought that it would be better for the Young Master, who was not very powerful, to have a more cautious and evasive disposition toward conflict.

However, could the Young Master have encountered some sort of problem?

No, just what position the Third Young Master held? Within the Bloodstripe State, there was simply not someone who could make trouble for him.

He should only be curious. Wan Tanpei was clear on how curious the cat could be.

"I think it is always best to approach things smartly. No way of retreat does not mean it has to become a direct confrontation, and a direct confrontation does not have to be an exchange of direct attacks. Bluff and wasting away the opponent is a valid tactic. Being three moves ahead is better than one, and five is better than three. Young Master, a direct confrontation is only a hot-blooded term."

Again, not exactly what he'd expected, but Kyu Cao found this answer extremely to his liking.

Actually, these were things he was pretty familiar with from his dealings in Bloodbath City's Auction Houses.

But since he believed a battle between martial artists to be something entirely different thing to his usual experiences, akin to comparing calligraphy to dancing, he'd thought that maybe existed a completely different and more advantageous method he could use.

But it seemed he'd been thinking too much, and this had actually cleared his mind a bit of his misconceptions about fighting.

"I see. I thank Senior Uncle for his advice."

"No, it is this lowly one's honor to be of use to the Young Master."

The idle pair on the side couldn't help but notice that the atmosphere around these two was somewhat peculiar.

"Right, I have something else I have been wondering?"

"Please do not hesitate to ask. I will respond at best of my abilities."

Seeing the dog being so cooperative, Kyu Cao didn't hold back. "Regarding Cultivation, what is the normal level for youths ranging from thirteen to eighteen years?"

Hearing this, Wan Tanpei was briefly stumped, and he only recovered his wits a moment later.

Regarding Cultivation? The level of youths ranging from thirteen to eighteen?

Why was the Young Master interested in this?

In Wan Tanpei's mind, Young Master Kyu Cao's image was that of a brilliant, if pitiful, scholarly young master.

Martial arts and Cultivation were things that simply had no relation to him. Not only because it did not seem to suit him, but also because of his difficult position.

Wan Tanpei carefully considered the possibilities.

... He couldn't be thinking of starting to cultivate himself, could he?

Cultivation was not an easy thing. Or at least, it was something that required constant work of entire years and many precious treasures for it to show some rewarding results.

It maybe would be fine if he'd thought of this only because he'd become curious.

But if the Young Master was thinking of starting cultivating for some other reason, like, trying to make his father notice him... He could only end being disappointed.

That was because he was simply too old already.

Cultivation was something that had to be started as soon as the body could handle it, at childhood.

Even with precious spirits herbs, breaking through the many levels of the Earthly Warrior Realm was something that took dozens of years for most.

And spirits herbs were something that even if one had in abundance, they couldn't be used wantonly to raise one's level too fast; otherwise, there would be grave consequences. Plus, they took long times to be digested.

So even if he started now, he was already a decade behind those his age, and once he went past his prime, cultivating would only become more difficult.

The Young Master couldn't really be thinking of this right?

"Senior Uncle?"

The cat's voice snapped Wan Tanpei out of his musings.

He looked at the Young Master's impassive face, who seemed to be staring back at him wonderingly.

"No, I must be thinking too much. The Young Master is not that kind of individual," he mentally scolded himself. Then, he hurried to answer the question. "If the Young Master wishes to know the average... well, I would say regardless of if it's thirteen or eighteen, the average level would be the fourth level. That's because from level four to level five it's the first big span of time between levels."

"The first big span?"

"Yes." As he expected, the Young Master had limited knowledge of Cultivation, so Wan Tanpei was not stingy with his lecture. "As the Young Master might've heard, the Earthly Warrior Realm is also known as the Cultivation Abyss. Because, simply the time required to gather enough Qi to transform the muscles, the bones and the marrow, is truly too frightful. Many can advance to the fifth level after some time, but countless martial artists can spend the rest of their lives without even advancing to the sixth."

"Oh?" Hearing such a thing, Kyu Cao was surprised, and his interest was really piqued.

The cat and snake guard pair too inwardly nodded, also issuing a deep sigh of helplessness.

It was only the very first realm of Cultivation. Yet, for any commoner Cultivator, this was comparable to a monstrous trial.

"That is, of course, mostly the case for martial artist with no backing or luck. But even theriopes with access to good cultivation methods and precious spirit herbs might not necessarily advance too quickly, as consuming a spirit herb's energy takes a long time. Thus, many youths at that age are at the fourth level, five if they have the resources. Youths with talent and good constitution may achieve level six." Toward here, Wan Tanpei's stern voice couldn't help but turn a bit passionate.

He himself was only at the twelfth level of the Earthly Warrior Realm, and currently digesting a spirit herb, something he was at since a year ago.

For a relatively common soldier with only above average talent, this was an astonishing figure that would make many drop their jaws to the floor, and would make one wonder what kind of experiences and hellish training he had to go through to reach such level.

But compared to those beloved, Heaven sent talents, he was only lagging behind, and his time of most potential was already coming to an end.

He didn't envy those nobles though. That was their luck, and luck was also a strength. Plus, he was proud of what he had achieved.

"This could be said to be the average level of the young generation."

"So the most is a sixth level?" Kyu Cao asked.

Wan Tanpei immediately shook his head. "There are also those geniuses that could only be described as monstrous. They are the ones that can advance to the middle stages, and become a level seven Earthly Warrior." Then, he thought a moment before adding. "But the utmost pinnacle is theriopes like Second Young Master Min Lao, who has what could only be called a perfect constitution. He achieved level eight by the time he was seventeen, which is something this Empire had never seen before."

Kyu Cao nodded.

He actually remembered that event, and how much commotion had caused.

Everyone in the state was discussing heatedly the topic, calling his older brother a never seen before, unparalleled genius.

While at that time, he had never doubted that his brother was indeed an outstanding talent, he hadn't truly comprehended such achievement, so he'd been at most impressed and glad for him.

However, it seemed his second brother was much more extraordinary than he'd ever thought.