Cultivation Through Artifacts

The building atop the mountain was by no means small. Only a fraction of it was visible currently for Khal, but even that part was larger than any building in Moon City, including the main mansion in Moon Academy.

The visible building, which, was a tower, alone showed that whoever built it had extreme skills and imagination in architecture. The tower's walls were made out of beautiful, snow-white jade that shone brightly under the moon's light, while on its surface, even from far below where Khal stood, the different symbols and designed elements, such as the mystical beasts and sceneries, were amazingly glamorous and harmonious with each other.

The roof had a strangely sloping shape with layers of vibrant red tiles that covered even sharp angles while above the closed windows gold ornaments were hanging, that moved gently here and there in the slight breeze. The whole building was marvelous and emitted a majestic aura that made Khal feel kind of tiny before its presence.

"What is that?" Khal mumbled in a low voice, but before he had the chance to see further, clouds appeared in the sky, concealing the glorious sight from his sight once again.

'...'

Khal remained silent for a while, his brain trying to process the sight he just saw a few moments ago.

Never did he see a building as mysterious and spectacular before as now, while he also never heard rumors about a building existing on top of Moon Mountain before. The sight surprised him quite a lot while also piqued his curiosity, but as he knew that high Beasts on the Sixth Cultivation Stage and above it were rather common toward the top, he decided not to ascend any further and hunt for creatures on the level where he currently was.

But to his great surprise, except for the Shadow Claws he just killed, he met with no other True Beast but only creatures on the Fifth Cultivation Stage at most.

It seemed that the area where he was hunting was previously the Shadow Claws' territory, thus seeing as there were no other True Beasts now made sense.

Time passed rather quickly, and once the sun appeared on the east, Khal decided to leave the mountain and head back to Moon City.

He was able to increase his 694 units of Beast Essence to 1327, which was quite a good harvest under one night. It could have been more, but as he gave half of his Beast Essence to Rubie, he was able to obtain that much.

After arriving back at Moon Academy, Khal decided to continue learning forging with Bazz for a few hours before finding a quiet and peaceful spot from others where he could continue with his cultivation without attracting any unwanted attention like previously.

'Jas told me he will give me a room where I can stay, but he still didn't give me anything. I wonder if I should go and find him.' Khal sighed inwardly and decided to put this matter aside until he unlocked his fourth Essence Path.

Sitting down below a colorful tree's shade and closing his eyes, Khal moved his Essence inside his already opened paths and pushed it against the fourth gate which will allow him to finally use his Jade Tombstone.

And soon, Khal felt a strange power emerge inside his body, seemingly the sensation that he had to comprehend to unlock the Fourth Essence Path.

Minutes... Hours... And a day. Time passed with nothing but Khal sitting in one spot, while Rubie sat on a branch above his head with closed eyes and a relaxed body.

And exactly after a bit more than a day later...

BAM!

Suddenly, a sound akin to breaking an iron lock in half resounded from Khal's body before his eyes opened with flashing excitement.

[You have successfully unsealed the Path of Unbreaking Spirit!]

"It was quite hard, but in the end, I was able to do it!" exclaimed Khal happily and without hesitation took out his Secret Art to start learning it.

However, just as he did, a figure emerged abruptly on his side, halting him from starting to learn the Jade Tombstone Art.

"Principal Jas!" Khal jumped onto his feet and was ready to bow, but Jas just simply waved his hand.

"No, please, don't. You are no longer a student of this academy but a Real Cultivator. Just call me as a fellow Cultivator, Jas."

Khal upon hearing this nodded and after bowing politely, he looked at Jas in silence, curious if he was here as he thought or for some other reason.

And indeed, just as he thought, Jas extended his arm that was holding a silver key, with an appearance quite similar to the V.I.P Key Khal had to give back.

"Here, as I promised you can use this key to stay here until you wish for. However, once you decide to leave with no plan to come back, you must give it back to me." Jas explained to Khal as he handed the key over to him.

"I understood, thank you very much."

"Don't even mention it." smiled Jas, but soon narrowed his gaze and said, "I see you have already opened 4 Essence Path, huh? You exceed all of my expectations whenever I see you."

Khal could only smile and shake his head gently. In his opinion, even though these 4 paths he unsealed caused him some small trouble at the start, all of them were easily comprehended by him in the end. He even started to doubt if the rumors about the Essence Paths were real or no.

However, if Jas would have heard his thoughts he would have definitely slapped him hard that his face would remain red for days if not weeks!

The four Essence Paths Khal unlocked could be referred to as simple to understand and the hardest ones will only appear once he unlocks more than half at least.

Jas, still oblivious about Khal's previous thoughts, caressed his beard gently and asked, "Anyways, I still have quite a few things to do so if you excuse me..."

"Wait, I have a question." Khal suddenly said, stopping Jas in his tracks just before he could have vanished.

"What do you want to know. If it's in my knowledge I will definitely answer it."

Khal nodded and after taking a deep breath he began to explain the sight he saw atop the mountain yesterday.

He described everything he could remember, what it looked like, and even the symbols that were carved on its walls.

After he finished talking, however, he noticed as Jas's face held a confused look, seemingly deep in thought what or how he should answer.

After a moment of silence later, Jas raised his gaze and asked, "You sure what you just saw was right? I hope you didn't hit your head during your hunt."

"Huh? No?" Khal raised his brow in confusion and proceeded on asking, "Why?"

Though, his answer only made Jas frown deeper before he sighed and said, "To tell you the truth, even myself don't know the answer as this is the first that I hear something like this."

"Huh?"

Khal turned perplexed once he heard this, and didn't know how to react.

Jas could only shake his head and sigh, "I'm sorry, but I really don't know. Maybe there is indeed a tower there, but as I have no news about it, I can't help you." 

"No, it's nothing." Khal waved his hand before sighing helplessly.

After Jas walked away, Khal sat back down and looked a bit confused.

"Not even he knows about the building? Maybe I really just imagined things and there was nothing there?" Khal seemed to doubt his memories, but until he doesn't go back to Moon Mountain and see if what he saw was right or not, he couldn't help but stay skeptical and start learning his new Secret Art.

Meanwhile, right at the foot of Moon Mountain, Jas was already standing with a gaze staring at the white clouds above, while Logan stood beside him with an indifferent expression.

"I hope you don't plan to go up there and see if what he said is true, right? You know what kind of Beast resides up there and so do I."

Jas stayed silent for minutes before averting his gaze and glanced at Logan, "Yes, I do. That is why I invited you to come as you have already surpassed me regarding strengths. So with you here, I don't need to think, right?"

Logan hearing this turned to look at Jas to meet his gaze with a nonchalant look, but deep inside he didn't know whether he should laugh or cry.

What was he? A bodyguard? Of course, as a teacher inside Moon Academy where Jas was the principal, he must make sure he was safe and sound, but that didn't mean he could make him do tasks he didn't want to.

Especially ones that were about to find something that came out of a previous disciple's mouth, that seemed more than impossible to believe.