Hu Meng stared at the dangerous looking concoction in front of them uneasily before saying "Yin Xiu, are you sure you want to use this?"
"I have to figure out my cultivation path myself, so we should try it at least." Yin Xiu said with a determined expression. "How about I apply it on my arm first before trying to fully cover myself?"
Hu Meng nodded heavily "It seems like that's the best option. If something goes wrong at least it won't affect your entire body."
"Okay, here goes nothing." Yin Xiu scooped out a small amount of the paste with a flat piece of rock before spreading it out as evenly as possible on his left forearm. Both the man and the beast held their breath, as the paste started bubbling on his skin within seconds. Yin Xiu cried out in shock as the toxins penetrated straight through his skin causing a searing pain, soon the bone in his chest moved, expelling one part of the paste while incorporating the other two into Yin Xiu's skin.
"So, the weird root isn't suitable I guess, but the thorn-vine berry, and the red fruit seem compatible. Hmmm... maybe if the goal is flexibility, the paralysis effect was more counterproductive that anything." Yin Xiu determined.
"Should we search in another area? These were all we found in the autumn section of the forest. Is there a section of spring, or winter nearby Hu Meng?"
Hu Meng deliberated awhile before replying. "There's an area of winter on the other side of the summer area you originally stayed, it's the territory of a small group of black-fanged wolves, but they shouldn't attack us if I'm there."
"Works for me, not really sure how likely we are to find something usable in such a cold environment..." Yin Xiu murmured.
"Well we might be surprised, Winter is typically a good yin environment, and certain spiritual plants only grow in such climates, plus poisons are typically yin attributed as well." Hu Meng offered a timely conjecture.
As the duo made their way towards their destination they observed the traces left behind by Yin Xiu's trance-like cultivation in the summer environment. "You really made a mess around here." Hu Meng said as he looked at the corpse of the blood-spotted viper which was rather grotesquely missing half of its head.
"I don't even really remember much of it, Those berries distorted my perception of reality severely." Yin Xiu remarked.
Hu Meng shrugged "Trances are often a good thing in cultivation, it typically represents enlightenment, but for your experience I'm unsure if enlightenment is really the right word."
"I agree, it felt more like I was out of control than anything." Yin Xiu agreed before saying "Honestly why don't we figure out the skin refining process the same way?"
"What do you mean?" Hu Meng asked in consternation.
"Well, why don't we gather as many different options as possible, and just mix them all together in the same concoction? Earlier my body automatically filtered out the ones that could be used, so instead of taking all the extra time to mix and match the ingredients why don't we just do them all at once." Yin Xiu said with excitement.
Hu Meng stopped to look at Yin Xiu with a pensive expression. 'Does he really just enjoy pain?' selectively ignoring the unflattering thoughts he just had about his new friend, Hu Meng managed to cough out "I guess that could work."
"Then maybe we can also figure out the poisons suitable for bone refinement as well! Think about it Hu Meng! Just because it isn't suitable for the skin doesn't mean it won't be for the bones. The muscles and skin may focus on flexibility, but the bones will almost certainly be going a different direction. For example, the bone that makes up my unique physique seemed more focused on absorbing the toxins to complete itself, so maybe the goal for my bone refining is more focused on different varieties of poison instead of only flexibility." Yin Xiu rambled with an increasingly convinced expression.
"Hold on, what about the organ refinement stage." Yin Xiu carefully exclaimed before pulling out the Azure Cliff refining art and reading the chapter to Hu Meng.
"The organ refining stage is to reinforce and elevate the body's functions to eventually ascend from a mortal to a cultivator. The process is focused on forming a cycle of mutual reinforcement of the five elements within the body by refining the heart with fire attributed medicines, the lungs with metal, the kidneys with water, the spleen with earth, and the liver with wood. You can start the cycle in any order, but the next organ to be refined must be the next in the cycle to prevent an imbalance in the body resulting in death."
Hu Meng nodded "That's definitely the easiest to figure out. We can also gather attributed materials fairly easily throughout the four seasons forest. Winter areas will predominantly have water attributed herbs, Summer will have basically every element, and Spring will have a ton of grass attributed materials, so the main issue would be metal element materials, but my mother should have a supply of those on hand that she doesn't need anymore that we can borrow from. If worst comes to worst, and you can't get everything you need here, we can buy it outside."
They kept moving through the underbrush unhurriedly until they felt the cold wind blowing in from the approaching winter area, Hu Meng stopped abruptly and crouched down. "Yin Xiu, there's a scent of blood coming from over there." Hu Meng's eyes stared fixedly through the barren trees. "The direction it's coming from is where the lair of the black fanged wolves live. If I had to guess those sect cultivators are throwing their lives away again."
"Should we take a look?" Yin Xiu questioned seriously. Hu Meng slowly shook his head before replying, "You should wait here for now and I'll go to check out their strength. I won't be discovered if they are still in the Qi refinement stage. My affinity with shadows ensures stealth for the most part."
Yin Xiu sighed and nodded "I understand, hopefully my strength will improve, so you won't have to risk it alone in the future." a hint of disappointment in his tone.
Hu Meng nodded "I'll be back soon." before disappearing into the shadows.
Yin Xiu crouched down, and waited patiently for Hu Meng to return.
Hu Meng stalked forward in the shadows, the world appearing as mix of gray and black in his eyes as he stepped over the snow covered ground, without making a single sound or leaving a single footprint. Traces of fighting, and the occasional drops of blood left on the snow led him to a recently deceased wolf with a large cut almost dividing it in half from its waist. It's black hair slick with rapidly freezing blood. Hu Meng observed the wound closely. 'Judging from the lingering Qi, the strength of the attacker was around the third stage of Qi refinement. It's still manageable.' he quickly deduced before continuing onward.
Soon, he reached the edge of a clearing. Peering inside, there were two male cultivators wearing blue robes wielding silver longswords against the last two black-fanged wolves while two more were already laying motionless around them.
Before Hu Meng could decide whether or not to pounce one of the cultivators made a move
"Azure cyclone slash!" He twirled his sword domineeringly, and cut out a storm like wave of Qi which quickly shredded both of the remaining wolves.
"Senior Brother Ming, your attainments in swordsmanship are getting more and more incredible!" The slightly shorter cultivator said in admiration.
"I've been lucky enough to make a little progress Junior Brother Han." Senior Brother Ming said with barely hidden pride.
"Let's quickly process these wolves, and rest a bit before we continue deeper. The next zone is considered higher level, and we should have some extra gains. Maybe we can find a material to finish your body refinement, we entered the sect at the same time, so we need to get you into the Qi refining stage soon to keep up with the others." Senior brother said with a touch of condescension.
"Thank you for your care senior brother." The shorter cultivator bowed in thanks with a bit of resentment hidden behind his obsequious smile.
Hu Meng having heard their conversation formed a plan in his mind. 'I could kill them both myself fairly easily, but there is an opponent that Yin Xiu can test himself on, and I can test his determination to stand with us. So, I'll kill the Qi refinement one, and let Yin Xiu test his strength against the other.' After determining his course of action, Hu Meng ran rapidly through the shadows before relaying his idea to Yin Xiu.
"Are we going to kill them?" Yin Xiu asked with a touch of shock
"Yin Xiu, cultivation is boiled down to one word. Competition. They are planning on invading my mother's territory. They are enemies, not friends so get rid of any foolish misunderstandings you might have." Hu Meng growled coldly.
Yin Xiu slightly taken aback by Hu Meng's callousness quickly overcame his emotions, and nodded before giving a suggestion. "How about this, you go behind them in the shadows while I approach openly, that way the stronger one will be distracted for a second by my appearance and you take the opportunity to kill him off." Yin Xiu said with a hint of tension.
Hu Meng nodded and quickly returned to the shadows. 'I hope you can make the right choice Yin Xiu. I don't want to have to kill my first friend.' Hu Meng brooded inwardly.
Yin Xiu took stock of what he could use to fight with, and determined that all he had that could potentially be useful were the remaining poisonous materials he had on hand. Quickly, he determined his course of action and crushed up a berry, and a root. Hiding the mixture in his hand he started walking in the direction Hu Meng mentioned. As he got closer to the fateful encounter his heart beat started rising slowly, and a pounding sound entered his ears as adrenaline coursed through his veins.
In the clearing the two cultivators were sitting cross legged recuperating after their battle when the Senior brother looked sharply outside into the forest. A strange young man with a striking appearance and torn white robes entered his vision, slowly approaching the two of them.
"Junior brother get up, we have company." he said with a serious expression. His sectmate got up in a hurry and turned to face Yin Xiu as well. "Fellow Daoist what brings you here, this is clearly the territory of the Azure Cliff Sword sect." Senior Brother Ming said forcefully.
"Ah, fellow Daoist, I was chased into the depths by a large bear which I'm rather lucky to have survived. I'm rather confused, what do you mean this is your noble sects territory? I don't believe you have the strength or means to backup that claim." Yin Xiu replied with a dangerous smile.
"Insolent!! You don't kno-" before he could finish his sentence he felt a sharp pain emerge from the back of his neck before his vision went dark.
Junior Brother Han stared in horror as a black streak sent his senior brother's head circling in the air, scarlet red blood dying the snow once more. Splattering his robes with drops of blood as well. The head slowly rolled on the ground before stopping just in front of the feet of the white robed cultivator. In shock Junior Brother Han looked into the blood red eyes of his opponent, and a deep sense of foreboding emerged from his heart, watching as he continually walked toward him, not even glancing at the head that had landed on the ground nearby.
Pulling out his sword with slightly shaking hands Junior Brother Han delivered a flurry of haphazard strikes that in his haste and unease were executed with almost no technique.
Yin Xiu contorted himself in a strange manner as he forcefully dodged every strike. In Junior Brother Han's, eyes it was terrifying to watch his assailant's body twist in such an inhuman manner. In fear he tried to jump back to open up distance, when Yin Xiu suddenly lunged forward throwing a mass of pulp directly into the face of the junior brother.
"Arghhh my eyes!" He screamed in shock, forcefully trying to wipe away the residue that was tightening the muscles in his face, and neck. Horrified he quickly found that his vision started to distort while strange colors swam in and out, as hallucinations started to grip his mind.
Yin Xiu, not wanting to miss this opening, twisted his body and locked the cultivators sword arm, swiftly immobilizing his weapon. Then with a violent twist the cultivators arm snapped at the elbow forcing him to drop his sword. Catching the falling sword Yin Xiu swiftly pierced it through the delirious cultivators neck.
Yin Xiu stared in silence at the man's face. Watching the panic and struggle fade from the cultivators eyes as he breathed his last breath. The cultivators facial expression frozen in place due to his muscles still being stuck in place by the paralytic effects of the poisonous root.
As the image burned itself into his memory, a rune lit up on the mysterious black bone in Yin Xiu's chest, and a sudden feeling of enlightenment calmed his restless mind.