Spirit Cultivation

Xuefeng's group continued their journey, but this time they flew straight towards their goal without any delays. They would be extremely lucky if they happened to meet a fragment holder somewhere in the wilderness, but Xuefeng knew that such luck wasn't quite probable.

He decided to just focus on improving himself first with the current mission of destroying the bandit camp on the border. No one wanted to bother taking this mission because of the small reward, but Xuefeng wasn't after rewards. He wanted to fight a battle with many opponents at the same time, to test and further improve his skills. ​​

"Big brother, did something happen today? You seem to be happier than you used to be yesterday." Wu Kong asked as he observed Xuefeng smiling from time to time without any reason.

Xuefeng nodded, patting the boy's head, "Mhmm, big brother had something nice happening to him today. Sometimes good things happen even without you even asking for them. Don't you think that having so many big sisters around you is nice?"

Wu Kong glanced at the other eagles and agreed, laughing happily, "Hehe, yeah. When I'm older I will definitely follow big brother's footsteps."

Xuefeng also laughed, saying confidently, "Heh, big brother will teach you some skills when you are older." Only afterwards did he realise that he was never the one to initiate the relationship, which made him quite embarrassed but seeing Wu Kong's happy face, he didn't say anything else, deciding to study more before that time.

...….

"Sigh, he didn't come yet, right?" A bored voice of a lady sounded from behind the bed curtains. Nothing interesting happened around her since the last time she rushed with the gold-robed youth to meet a certain Fate Fragment Holder, who appeared out of nowhere inside the Central Region.

The same golden-robed youth was currently reporting the news from her domain right now and hearing the same question which she already asked many times. he replied patiently, "No Milady. I still didn't get any news from him. I will inform Milady as soon as he appears in the Central Region again."

The lady pushed the curtains to the side and sat at the edge of her bed, wearing only a pair of white undergarments. She wasn't worried that the youth would ogle at her body as she knew he wouldn't. His head was looking downwards from the moment he entered the room, to not accidentally see her pure body.

"Gosh, I wish I stopped him before he ran away… It would be very interesting to meet with him in person." The lady sighed again, blaming herself for not stopping Xuefeng in time before she asked, thinking of other solutions, "How about we search for him in other Regions?"

"Milady, we are already very busy with our current work. If we were to order anyone to search aimlessly through all the Regions, it would definitely cripple our plans." The Youth presented his opinion frankly, knowing that his milady wanted full honesty from him.

Rubbing her chin she quickly thought of another idea, "How about we use someone else instead? There are many Fragment Holders who can work for us. You can ask the one you told me about recently. He is at least somewhat interesting. What was he called?"

"He is called Pio, Madam. He recently won his first battle in the arena, showing some interesting skills. I can bring him if Madam wants." The youth introduced the recent star they found.

"Right, he is the one. His soul is very pure. With a little persuasion, he will do what we want. Bring him to me here right now. I will convince him to help us." The lady nodded, recalling the cold man she found interesting and decided to use him this time.

"Bring him here? Milady, how about moving to the meeting room instead after dressing up? He doesn't know the proper etiquette, which could lead to him sneaking a peek at Milady." The golden-robed youth advised but the lady didn't mind, waving with her hand and said while yawning, "I feel like lazing around in my bed the whole day. I don't plan on going anywhere. You can just explain it to him before you bring him here. Now go, don't waste any more time."

"Yes, Milady." The youth could do nothing else other than complying and disappeared after using a golden token with a small star engraved on it. Not many people knew about it, but each contracted Fate Fragment Holder had his own token which could allow the youth to teleport near them at any time and place.

Pio just happened to be cultivating alone in his courtyard which he rented with the money he won in the arena. When he arrived here, Pio realised that his Cultivation of Stars was improving at a very fast pace inside this land. He didn't hesitate to start training the moment he paid for this place.

The star-shaped mark on his forehead shone brightly as the white mist was floating around him, with tiny fragments of it being absorbed by his skin each second. If one looked closely, they would see some white dust turning into black ones and Pio would also absorb them.

Suddenly, he abruptly opened his eyes, noticing that someone else in the room and saw that the golden-robed youth he met a while ago was standing on the side, watching him with a curious gaze.

"When there is a light, there is also a shadow. How is your control over the latter?" The youth asked mysteriously.

Pio normally wouldn't talk much, but this youth helped him a bit when he first came here so he didn't mind answering to repay him, "It will still be within my control for a while. I am already preparing to face the black side in the near future. It would be best if I can control it, else you all would have to stop the other me. Why did you come?"

The golden-robed youth didn't reply and instead pulled out a small round crystal which shone with very pure white light. He made it float towards Pio and said, "Take it. Before trying to cross to the other side and it shouldn't be hard for you to control it for a while."

The moment Pio touched the crystal, his cold face which rarely showed any emotions finally expressed some surprise. He was overwhelmed by the amount of Pure Star Qi being gathered inside the crystal and muttered under his breath, "Such a pure Star Crystal… Where did you get it?"

"Let's say I know someone who has access to such goods." The youth said humbly, not revealing his source. Of course, the truth was that the person he mentioned was his Milady but he couldn't tell that to anyone else, because she would beat him up if he did.

"Thank you, I will take it. I really need it. If you need something in the future just tell me." Pio didn't hesitate to take the crystal as he really was in need of such items. Each cultivation step was harder than the previous one and if he wasn't careful, the dark side could easily consume him.

The youth smiled, predicting such reaction and decided to use that favour right away,

"Actually, I would like to ask you for something right now. My Milady would like to meet with you. Would you mind following me now to meet with her?"

"Of course." Getting such a gift, Pio couldn't say no, so he stood up without wasting time and asked, "Where is she?"

"I will take you there. Don't resist." The youth approached Pio and placed his hand on Pio's shoulder, making them both disappear after Pio confirmed with a nod.