World of Beasts

by Tinalynge

  Amongst the commoners, many of the maids and servants who had quit their job at Xiao Lei's mansion were filled with regret. They regretted it so much that their insides turned green, but they could do nothing about it. It was already too late to go back and beg for another position.

  But while the city was split amongst those who felt regret for not treating Xue Wei better when he was trash and those who hated him even more intensely, there was especially one young man who was filled with such enmity that he swore that as long as Xue Wei lived in this world, he would never find peace.

  This young man was precisely Li Jian, and his eyes were filled with hatred and resentment.

  "Father, we ought to kill him!" Li Jian sneered as he was in his father's study. These words were not foreign to Li Jian's father, Li Fang. He had heard them more than hundred times since Li Jian had returned home from the match that had ended in a draw between Xue Wei and him.

  "Father, he has a whole lot of superior martial arts. One of them is even a movement technique! Can it really be that we are too scared of Xiao Lei to try to get our hands on such treasures?"

  Li Jian had previously looked up to Xiao Lei like everyone else. However, his hatred towards Xue Wei had long since overtaken his reverence for Xiao Lei, and now he wished to kill both of them if possible.

  "You can kill Xiao Lei, and I will kill Xue Wei!" Li Jian said with certainty in his voice, but his father still said nothing. The Li Patriarch just sat behind his desk and looked at his son with a calculating gleam in his eyes.

  "I cannot go against Xiao Lei," he finally said with a sigh. "Even if I wish to do so, I cannot win against him. And do not forget that Xiao Lei is not alone, Shen Bingwen is by his side. If I have to face the two of them, I will die within ten moves."

  "But father, I cannot let things be like this. I am not satisfied!" Li Jian yelled loudly; his voice was so filled with madness and desperation that Li Fang knew that he had to come up with some sort of solution, or else his son would sink into insanity.

  "You can deal with Xue Wei, and I will shield you. You are both members of the younger generation and what happens between the younger generation cannot be controlled by us old geezers," he finally agreed.

  Chapter 14 - Diviners

  While Li Jian was talking with his father Li Fang, Xue Wei was training. He was ecstatic that he had managed to reach the fifth layer of the Ordinary Warrior rank and did not need to fear Li Jian any longer.

  Even if Xue Wei had heard what Li Fang said, he would still not fear Li Jian. Li Fang had made it clear that he would not act, and as long as he was not involved, Xue Wei had the means to protect himself.

  Although Xue Wei could dodge Li Jian’s attacks with Forbidden Rush, he was also aware that a Heavenly Warrior’s attacks were far beyond what he could deal with. In fact, he was quite certain that even an Earth Warrior could easily defeat him.

  Although there was only one layer between the ninth layer of the Ordinary Warrior rank and the first layer of the Earth Warrior rank, there was an immense difference when it came to it.

  The gulf between the Ordinary and Earth Warriors was large; and the further up one climbed in the ranks of cultivation, the harder it was to progress and the more energy it needed.

  Because of this, the difficulty rose sharply. Xue Wei was very well aware of this, and he even knew that although it would, in theory, take Li Jian between half a year and a year to reach the Earth Warrior rank, there were plenty of ways to improve, one being the consumption of low purity medicinal pills.

  Although this would be a very desperate action, it was something Xue Wei took into consideration. Right now, Li Jian's Sonic Palm was not a mortal threat to Xue Wei, but if he reached the Earth Warrior rank, he would be able to command at least seven percent of the ability's strength.

  With that upgrade, and considering that the Sonic Palm specialized in speed, Xue Wei knew that he had met a fierce opponent. His only hope was that Li Fang would never allow his son to consume low-ranked medicinal pills.

  Xue Wei lived a simple life. His every waking hour was spent cultivating his abilities or his Qi, and he would not waste any time sleeping. Ever since he had become an Ordinary Warrior, every moment was squeezed for time, and he would even sit on his bed at night, cultivating as his rest time and not allowing himself even one moment of rest.

  A couple of weeks went by like this, with Xue Wei continuously training Forbidden Rush, Shattering Mountain Palm, and Azure Light Finger. Every once in a while, he was also seated in the bathtub filled with the concoction of plant extracts.

  That lasted until the day Shen Mu paid him a visit again. His eyes shone with excitement, and his face had a great smile plastered on his lips.

  Manager Su let him in right away. Although Manager Su did not want anyone to interrupt Xue Wei, he also understood that this person was the next City Lord, and assumingly Xue Wei's only friend.

  Manager Su noticed that Shen Mu had brought with him a whole group of youngsters from the noble families within Tiankong City, but he did not allow even one of them to enter the premises.

  Shen Mu and the others did not mind. They were all fully aware of how they had treated Xue Wei in the past. Although this group had never bullied him due to their relationship with Shen Mu, they had never been friendly towards him either.

  Shen Mu rushed to Xue Wei who was currently in the training field. The eagerness with which he moved was evident. Xue Wei soon noticed him, stopped what he was doing, and turned around.

  Xue Wei was drenched in sweat from constantly moving and using combinations of the Forbidden Rush, Shattering Mountain Palm, and Azure Light Finger. He had used all his Qi time and time again, only to restore it, and he found that every time he was empty of Qi, his restoration went much faster than when he had a bit left behind.

  "Wei, listen to this!" Shen Mu exclaimed the moment he saw Xue Wei move towards a towel and some water that a maid had left for him by a bench. "There are Diviners in town!"

  Xue Wei, who had not been too interested in whatever it was Shen Mu had to say, suddenly widened his eyes in surprise. Had it been before, he would have told Shen Mu to leave soon because he was training, but now that he knew it was about Diviners, he was eager to see them too.

  "Real Diviners?" Xue Wei could not help but ask a little doubtfully, but Shen Mu nodded his head seriously. "They are here, and they brought some Fierce Beasts that they have tamed! They are going to be auctioned off this afternoon; the Tiankong Auction house has promised to let them use their auction hall without any form for a commission fee."

  Xue Wei was stunned but also excited. "We should go see them!" he exclaimed excitedly. "Wait a moment, I will quickly wash myself."

  Shen Mu nodded his head. It was early in the morning, so they still had some hours before the auction started. Rinsing off the sweat would not take long and thus waiting was no problem.

  "I have to tell you though, quite a few of my friends have followed me. I don't know if they came to see you who is no longer trash, or if they came to see the Diviners, or both," Shen Mu said honestly, "but since their old men follow Dad unconditionally, I really ought to treat them with respect, and when so many of them requested to come with me, I could not say no."

  Xue Wei was taken aback, but he quickly shrugged his shoulders. He did not care about them as they had never bullied him, but he never liked them either. As long as they did not cause problems for him, he would just choose to ignore them.

  After rinsing himself free of sweat and changing into a clean set of clothes, he grasped his purse filled with coins before walking out of the mansion gate together with Shen Mu. In front of him was a full twenty-four people standing and looking at him curiously.

  Some looked more hesitant than others, but they were all checking him out without an ounce of embarrassment.

  "Seen enough?" Shen Mu asked, a little uncomfortable, after a bit of time, and they all realized that they had just collectively stared at Xue Wei, but suddenly
someone exclaimed, "I thought he was only at the fourth layer of the Ordinary Warrior rank, so when did he become a fifth layer cultivator?"

  The others had also noticed Xue Wei's cultivation base, but no one had dared to ask about it. All of them were between the seventh and the eight layer. Only Shen Mu and Li Jian were at the ninth layer among their generation in Tiankong City.

  These youths had all trained since they were ten years old; when they realized that not even five months had gone by since his disappearing act till now, and that he had still managed to reach the fifth layer, his progress seriously made their cultivation speed seem like a joke.

  "Let us get going," Xue Wei said casually and completely unperturbed. He started walking towards the marketplaces in the center of the city.

  "Mu, I do not know which one of the markets they are at, so why don't you lead the way?" He stopped and asked after realizing that the group of more than twenty youths had not moved even an inch – not even Shen Mu had moved.

  "You broke through?" he asked, surprised. Although he could easily sense Xue Wei's cultivation base now that he paid attention to it, he had not done so earlier.

  It was correct that Xue Wei had been a peak fourth layer Ordinary Warrior when he had fought Li Jian, but to make it to the threshold of the fifth layer so swiftly was unheard of.

  Xue Wei just smiled wryly. "You know about my situation," he said with a shrug of his shoulders. "It will get harder for me soon."

  The situation he was referring to was obviously the lie he had told Shen Bingwen before. That he had been gathering Qi in his body which had just waited for the dantian to open, and now all this accumulated Qi was charging out to increase his cultivation base.

  The explanation was a complete lie, and even Xue Wei did not know for how long he would be able to cultivate at such a swift speed as he was doing now, but he had to say something to keep the curious experts at bay and not cause a complete shock and horror, not to mention subvert greed towards his Azure Dragon Scripture.

  "Anyways, what we should consider is not my strength but the Diviners. I am sure that Li Jian and his friends are already there... and although we are too weak to purchase any Fierce Beasts, I am sure that we do not want to be behind them in anything."

  Xue Wei did not care about arriving later than Li Jian at the marketplace, but he knew that these other youths indeed minded. There was a fierce battle between the Li and the Shen family, but so far it had only been amongst the younger generation, as Li Fang was aware of his inferiority when Xiao Lei entered into the equation.

  "What kind of beasts do you think the Diviners have brought with them?" one of the youths asked. His name was He Mengyao. His name meant to be handsome, but contrary to his appearance he was rather short and not too handsome, and although he was lean he could be described as average at best.

  "I hope it is a Nine Headed Hydra," one of the girls, Luo Zhirou, answered ecstatically.

  The others also started commenting on which fierce beasts they hoped to see, but Xue Wei kept quiet and walked steadily with the group.

  This was the first time in his life that he was walking together with a group, and he felt strangely tense and uncomfortable hearing the many chattering youngsters around him. He had never before experienced it and was unsure of how to react, so in the end, he just stayed out of their discussion.

  No one was sending strange looks at Xue Wei any longer, and although he was outwardly the weakest of the group, no one dared to look down on him anymore. He had been able to avoid Li Jian's Sonic Palm, so it was clear that they could not even touch the hem of his clothes, and his cultivation speed was also incredibly fast.

  These youths were all aware of different things, and they understood that with his current performance he would overtake them soon. When this time came, they would want to be on good terms with him.

  "I haven't seen a Diviner before," Luo Zhirou said with a low voice.

  "I know that they are monks, but what else is there to say about them? I know that they can tame Fierce Beasts, but how are they able to do so?"

  Everyone was silent, and no one knew how to answer before Xue Wei sighed. "They can not only tame Fierce Beasts, but if the Diviner is strong enough, they can tame a Primordial Beast, too."

  Hearing him speak, the others were surprised, but they looked at Xue Wei curiously. "Do you know about Diviners?" Luo Zhirou asked curiously, and Xue Wei shrugged his shoulders. "I know a bit," he answered evasively.

  "Can you tell us about them?" the girl asked once more and Xue Wei nodded his head, seeing no reason not to tell what he had learned while reading books.

  Chapter 15 - Want to be a Monk?

  "I read a few books about Diviners, and they are ever so as mysterious as they seem," Xue Wei began as they were walking, and for once all of the young men and women held their breaths while listening to him.

  Everyone knew that Xue Wei had read books about almost anything he could get his hands on, and as a result of this, his knowledge far outstripped theirs.

  "On the continent of Chang'an, all the kingdoms have temples, and the monks control these temples. Every monk on our continent belong to one single faction, but within it, there are different paths that one can take."

  "Some become discipline priests or monks, and fight against fierce and primordial beasts; others become monks and priests to heal and help others, and others become Diviners."

  "Becoming a Diviner is the most mysterious but also the most restricted path amongst all the vocations that a monk and priest can pick."

  "Not much is known about what happens when one becomes a Diviner, but the only ones eligible are kids below the age of five years old."

  "They undergo some sort of baptism that allows for them to tame beasts, but no Diviner has ever told any outsider about this baptism before, so we don't know much about it."

  "Diviners are not allowed to join any factions. They can work for people if they get a high enough amount of money in return, but they always claim the right to reject working with someone."

  "If a Diviner breaks the code of conduct, they will be chased down by other Diviners and monks. Every priest and monk will hunt said traitor and kill them at whatever possible chance."

  "A Diviner is capable of defeating a beast at their own strength and maybe a bit stronger if the intellect of the beast is lower. If the Diviner is strong enough, he is capable of taming Primordial Beasts even."

  "They are called Diviners because they figure out where and when they can tame beasts by making Divinations. Another reason is that they are Divine fighters when they have fierce beasts under their control."

  "I know you want to know about the baptism, but I don't know about it," Xue Wei shook his head as he saw that Luo Zhirou was about to ask a question, and she quickly went quiet again.

  "Also, I am not sure how their Divination works, but I do know that when a Diviner gives a beast a command, the beast will follow it unconditionally. Even if the beast already has a new owner, any Diviner will be able to turn the beast against their owner, a reason that many people fear Diviners."

  "Is that true?" Song Niu, another friend of Shen Mu, asked breathlessly. "Every esteemed expert above the Earth Warrior rank wishes to have a beast companion, but only a few are capable of getting them," Xue Wei said.

  "Every command from a Diviner is a heaven-sent law for the tamed beasts. Even if it means to kill their owner."

  "There are around a thousand to two thousand Diviners on the entire continent according to my books, and these Diviners are nomads that travel for a job. It is incredibly lucky that we will get to see them."

  "Although Tiankong City is one of the major cities of Heping Kingdom, our kingdom is rather small, and it also is quite weak compared to the outside world. We might be considered geniuses in the Kingdom of Heping, but we are truly frogs at the bottom of the well."

  Xue Wei sighed and thought of all the things he had read about the rest of the world, but the others did not seem to u
nderstand what he meant.

  They had already reached the center of the marketplace, and Xue Wei stopped speaking, but the way all of the young men and women looked at him changed entirely from the few words he had said.

  The marketplace was bustling with sounds, and even more people had appeared than usually. The stalls were all strangely quiet, and not many merchants were yelling out their prices; all of them were busy trying to squeeze their way closer and closer to a podium that had been erected in the center square.

  Although these people wished to have more space, none of them dared block Shen Mu and his entourage, and a lot of them gave Xue Wei an in-depth look of contempt mixed with fear and a few even reverence.