The Other Side of A Cultivation Story

It was Mo Shui.

The Mo Clan has arrived.

"It's been a while Shu Qai," Mo Shui said.

Shu Liang already heard of Mo Shui before from Qai and her father, but as soon as she saw her, she felt the urge to size her strength up.

Mo Shui and the two others behind her were all half-step sage.

"Are you sure we're teaming up with these country bumpkins," one of the young cultivators behind Mo Shui arrogantly said.

'Grrrrrrr.'

Shandian, who stood about two meters tall beside Qai, showed his fangs in retaliation to the arrogance of the Mo Clan disciple while emiting a heavy demonic Lightning aura.

Qai mentally communicated with Shandian to step back.

After a moment of stares, Patriarch Mo Chen suddenly appeared.

"Ho ho ho, it's good to see you little Qai..," the patriarch said, "..and you must be Shu Liang.. good.. good."

"Greetings Patriarch," Qai saluted by bowing deeply. Shu Liang did the same.

"I can see you and your Lightning black tiger have improved a lot.. ho ho.. good.. good," the patriarch said.

"I've heard a lot of things in here are your ideas," he added.

Qai simply bowed in approval.

"I can see why even the Purple Mist Sect Headmaster has grown interest in you," the patriarch said in jest as he chuckled.

Qai simply smiled while he rubbed his nose.

All of those around, including Shu Liang, were dumbfounded. Their eyes almost popped when they heard the news.

"By the way," the patriarch remarked, "the five of you will be the Mo Clans first team.. we came this early so you five can spend some time training together."

The five of them definitely needed the next few weeks to make all the necessary adjustments to get their act together. But with the way the mutual enmity was brooding, it might need more than the remaining weeks to resolve the problem.

***************

Mo Shui's companions were both 10-year old disciple of the clan.

The girl who didn't say a word earlier was Lin Qiao. Her elemental affinity was Fire, but instead of threading the alchemy path, she focused on learning attack skills. At half-step sage realm, she sure was a strong cultivator.

On the other hand, the arrogant male youth was called Hao Ren who was also 10 years old. His Metal elemental affinity, like Lin Qiao, deviated away from the occupational path. Instead, he focused on building a metal defense set up. And at half-step realm, he would be a great tank inside the Wasteland.

***************

As planned, the group headed to the Darkwood forest to test their teamwork.

But even before they set their foot inside the forest, things were already heating up.

"What a stupid thing to learn 'Beast Taming," Hao Ren said in the air while shaking his head.

"So what?" it was Shu Liang who answered.

"You should have known, once your contracted beast meets its doom, it's the end of the line," Hao Ren went on again shaking his head.

"For all I care.., I think you'll even die ahead of Shandian inside the Wasteland," Shu Liang responded.

"Quit it you two," Mo Shui interrupted. She was the designated leader of the team.

"Hmmmp," Shu Liang Smirked.

Mo Shui had rolled her eyes in response before she took a deep breath--clearly getting impatient with the way things were going.

Qai on the side was simply pretending not to hear a thing.

"Shu Qai, please help me tell your sister to control her temper," Mo Shui begged.

"Then tell your friend to shut his mouth.. we are not going to accomplish anything if we let him run his mouth all day," Qai replied.

Hao Ren didn't like what Qai said but before be could say another word, Shandian was already emitting an aura ready to attack.

'Grrrrr.'

Mo Shui was indebted to Qai and his tiger. She was, like Hao Ren, acted arrogantly in front of Qai back then.

Like many of the cultivators, she was taught how disadvantageous it was to learn 'Beast Taming' skill. But after being saved, she felt nothing but respect for Qai and Shandian.

And this, she specifically teamed up with Qai in the hope of returning the favor. But the egos of Hao Ren and Qai's sister were not helping her cause.

Qai tapped Shandian to stop--and the black tiger obediently followed.

"Here's the thing," Qai told Mo Shui. "You're the leader of this team so just give us our assignments."

The words were plain but it obviously meant something.

"My sister is a great scout..," Qai added, "..that at least I can assure you.. as for me.. you can assign me whatever task you think fits me."

When Qai stopped, there was a moment of silence.

Qai's words were simple--they were not polite, but were not sarcasstic either. It's just that at least he showed signs of willingness to follow.