Calculating Cultivation

Traveling through the Great Jungle reminded me a lot of the Forever City. There was a constant mist everywhere. Instead of a yellow toxic cloud, it was a damp mist with a salty aftertaste. The trees had quickly grown to massive behemoths. Large enough to be like miniature towers, with the branches acting as tunnels between them.

They should be called bridges, but that was another fun quirk of the Forever City I couldn’t forget. The light was hazy. The Life Light was rarely seen directly with the massive canopy above us.

There were four levels to the Great Jungle. The top of the canopy was a toxic hell. It was toxic due to the massive amounts of non-breathable gases the massive trees pulled in and released. It was hell due to the unrelenting heat. The higher one climbed, the worse the heat got.

The bottom level was very dark. Not completely pitch black, but it was quite bad. Also, there were countless plants that lived off of the large trees, creating an entire separate ecosystem down below. The air was even more toxic down there.

My personal guess was that there was too much oxygen up above and too much carbon dioxide down below. That was why the middle two layers were breathable. The upper middle layer was the one Guide Zee liked to keep us as much as possible. The temperature wasn’t terrible, the air was decent, and there was enough light.

Unfortunately, travel on the large branches was an art form, not something that was planned. After the first month of the Great Jungle growing in size to its maximum, we reached the point where there were no more bridges or known paths. Having bridges and paths that looped around the trunk of the large trees made traveling much quicker.

I could have easily leapt from branch to branch, quickly traveling on my own, but the cultivators following me did not have that ability. That meant traveling on foot. Guide Zee took the front while I followed right behind them, sword in hand.

Once we had gotten past the easy portions, we had to use the branches as slippery, dangerous paths. The branches were large, but knowing which way to go along them was guesswork. Choose wrong and you would lose a lot of time backtracking. Guide Zee had a six sense about choosing the right path, only having to backtrack a handful of times. My personal guess was that it was experience and being part tree.

The worst portions were where we had to descend. There were a lot of smaller animals like birds and rodents in the upper middle layer, but they were prayed upon by larger creatures in the lower middle layer. Bugs and other monstrosities roamed the bottom layer. It was too hot for anything to want to live above the canopy.

“Good place to stop,” Guide Zee said after coming to a particularly wide branch. I scanned the area and didn’t see any threats.

“Alright, we can rest here,” I replied. The cultivators traveling with me slowly filed in and began setting up camp. Each one brought their own supplies. Water was easy enough. A spigot was installed into the tree and thin flavored sap was extracted. Unlike regular trees, the large trees had incredibly thin sap and light but incredibly strong trunks to support all that mass.

There wasn’t one type of large tree either. I couldn’t be bothered to learn all the differences. Other cultivators in my group had and I knew enough to recognize this was one of the safe trees. There were large trees that had poison sap or poison bark.

“I will scout out the route ahead, with your permission Senior,” Guide Zee asked me.

“Go ahead,” I waved them off. They would only be gone for a short time before returning. Making sure that we got off to a good start once we started moving again. The cultivators traveling with me had easily caught the small creatures and were turning them into food.

I went to the side of the branch and looked down into the dark abyss. “Oh, that isn’t good,” I muttered.

There was something down there that had energy. The Great Jungle was home to a wide range of creatures that had somehow learned to cultivate on their own. Learning to harness the power of nexus crystals that were scattered about this place, similar to the leviathans.

The leviathans had some differences, but they all were large eel like creatures with scales. There were no krakens or other types of leviathans. Here in the Great Jungle that was not the case. The variation one could find was immense. While there were some common known creatures that had been reported, there were far more unknown ones as well.

The worse part was that unlike leviathans, these creatures tended to be much more aggressive and predatory. The main reason being the plants with faint traces of energy inside of them. Just like the blood seed, there were other plants out there that had energy.

I had inspected several of these plants myself, but I was unable to discern anything that might allow them to avoid the oppression of the Great World. My personal guess was that several nexus crystals had sunk beneath the roots. The trees drew the energy they were able to strengthen themselves. This in turn led to the trees having some energy.

Over time the high energy trees would be ripped apart by these creatures or by humans who wanted to harvest them. The trees that kept the energy low in their main tree bodies and used high energy offerings gathered creatures who wanted to protect them. It was the cycle of cultivation, that had replaced the cycle of life to some degree.

The large shape below us, was one such creature. I checked above and around the branch we had stopped on. I could then feel a slight fluctuation of energy and the faintest hints of danger as the creature hidden in the darkness paused and focused up at me.

A couple of cultivators always kept watch. The creature was content to stay hidden. I got some rest as well. Eventually Guide Zee returned and got some rest before we continued on our journey.

As everyone packed up and stretched for the next round of travel I beckoned Guide Zee over. “What is that down there?” I pointed at the creature hidden in the root system below us. Guide Zee leaned over and was quiet for over a minute.

“That is not good. It is a Root Strangler,” they replied.

“And that is?” I asked.

“A creature that is part plant and very good at hiding. Normally you would only spot one as it strangles you to death. It is a mass of carnivorous plant life. The problem is that once it locks onto a target, it will wait,” Guide Zee said.

“It has locked onto me?” I asked.

“Like everything else it craves to take your cultivation for itself. It won’t attack directly. It will ambush cultivators not paying attention and look to attack if another creature ambushes us,” Guide Zee said.

“I could go down and kill it fairly easily,” I replied.

“It will run away and seek to hide in the roots under us. The creatures that inhabit the Great Jungle have learned to preserve themselves and are not easy to kill. But you know your strength best Senior,” Guide Zee said.

“Those this Root Strangler have any special abilities?” I asked.

“Not that I know of, but such things are not known. It is rare that a fight where such an ability is used allows a person to walk away. Also, the name is a generality for this type of plant monster. The Great Jungle is massive after all,” Guide Zee replied.

Just like there were variations between individual leviathans, there could be variations between similar creatures of the Great Jungle as well. “How long will it follow us?” I asked.

“Until it is forced to break off by another creature most likely Senior,” Guide Zee said. I considered attacking it. While it was tempting to ignore the problem and not take the risk, I didn’t like that outcome. If it really wanted to follow us, then it could do so from much further away.

I pulled my sword from my sheath. “I will be back shortly,” I said out loud. Junior Wei nodded at me as I leapt off the branch. I began to free fall through the air directly for the Root Strangler, hiding in the darkness below.

Focusing, I gathered my energy and swung my sword. Utilizing the force of the attack, my fall was countered as an energy blade cut downwards. The Root Strangler tried to move, but it was nowhere near strong or fast enough. The tangled mass of plant matter was cut in half along with several roots. Fountains of sap exploded outwards from the massive cuts.

Swinging my blade around and twisting my body, I used my blade to stab into the tree bark next to me, being careful not to cut too deep. I quickly came to a stop and scanned the darkness below me. I could make out shapes and the twitching mass of the Root Stangler. It might not be dead, but it had been wounded heavily. I would not have some monster nip at my heels waiting for a time to strike.

Pulling my sword free from the tree trunk I began to quickly climb back up. It was a simple matter of kicking down on the tree and leaping upwards. Like running vertically. It was tiring and not something I would want to regularly do, but it made for a great way to move about during combat or climb back up quickly.

Landing back on the branch, Guide Zee was fearful. While they might be covered in leaves that looked like cloth, with no discernable human body parts, I could sense their fear. It was one thing knowing how strong I was and another seeing me easily dispatch such a creature. That was another benefit of having gone down. To act as a warning and a reminder for everyone traveling with me.

I managed to spot the Root Strangler, but that might not be true for every creature out here in the Great Jungle. Sheathing my sword the entire group set off once more.

Several days after the Root Strangler, the next problem arose. “Look, there in the distance,” Guide Zee said and gestured in front of us.

“There is a dip in the terrain,” I replied while looking ahead through the trees. This would be where the sea would have been if it wasn’t for the trees sucking up all the water.

“Not the dip, the change in trees. Thiner, but with more branches. They also merge togeather in some areas. It is one giant plant, instead of multiple plants Senior. The danger comes from the toxic gas that massive plant emits. There are two options. The first is that we go around until we find a gap we can make our way through. That will take a long time. The second is to go through, but we will have to travel much closer to the bottom level of the Great Jungle, much closer,” Guide Zee explained.

“And the problem with traveling at a lower level?” I asked.

“The gases can shift rapidly. Cutting into the plants will release more toxic fluids. If it was just us, that is no problem. Such a large group will be difficult,” Guide Zee explained.

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“Why not head to one of these gaps?” I asked.

“They change and are rare. Also, the plant has lots of tiny thorns.” I looked at the giant bramble patch ahead of us. That was when it started to rain intensely. Huge streams of water poured off the leaves above us creating miniature waterfalls all over the Great Jungle.

“And if the gas shifts?” I asked.

“We will have to move quickly. Like a wave, the gases surge up to the base of the plant and then drop down.” I looked upwards.

“Going up top?” I asked.

“If the heat doesn’t kill you, the gas will. A few breaths are fine, but too many you will weaken, slow down, and die,” Guide Zee answered. I didn’t like either of the choices I was presented with.

“We can move with the entire group?” I asked.

“It will be hard. Since the entire group travels in a line. The front is fine, but the rear will have more difficulties. If the gas shifts, we will have to move quickly,” Guide Zee said.

“Explain this to Junior Wei. We will go forward after resting for a while,” I ordered. The overall group was not my responsibility. If the cultivators died, that was their fault for being weak and making the choices they did.

At least my decision to bring Guide Zee along was the right choice. I could have handled everything myself without a problem. I had the mask from the Forever City. I could put that on and easily survive in almost any environment. While I had lessened the need for a lot of my body’s processes considerably, I still needed my body. Until I could separate my soul from my physical body and have my mind composed of energy, I would need to continue fuel my body in various ways.

“Ahhhh!” A pair of screams echoed out from off in the distance. I looked in that direction but couldn’t see anything. I freed my sword and quickly made my way over to that location. Acting quickly and decisively was the best way to deal with problems. I leapt from branch to branch and traveled the short distance to where the scream had come from.

Drill Birds had landed on their heads and drilled through their skulls. Large powerful beaks to pierce their targets. I swung my sword and bisected a Drill Bird trying to kill me, while dodging the splatter of blood. I then killed off the two Drill Birds enjoying their meal on the cultivators.

Since we had called a halt, they had gone off to look for useful resources. Everyone knew the risks, but they still looked for valuable items to help their cultivation in some way. Five cultivators from the group soon arrived. The Drill Birds’ beaks were harvested and the resources of the dead cultivators were taken.

That was the benefit I gave to the people following me. A degree of protection if they could survive. I returned to the main group and waited for Guide Zee to return.

They eventually came back near the end of the rest period. “Find anything?” I asked.

“I have a general path, but it won’t be easy. It’s the main route through this area, but if the gas levels change, then we will need to ascend or descend,” Guide Zee said.

“And there are safe points? Why didn’t you know about this before?” I asked.

“Some. We might encounter other cultivators. I didn’t want to mention the path, before I confirmed its existence. Things change over time. What was safe one year is not safe the next. But there is a well used path. With it we will pass by this barrier and enter the inner portion of the Great Jungle,” Guide Zee said.

“And the difference between the inner and outer portion?” I asked.

“The outer portion is traveled and explored heavily by the sects that live outside the Great Jungle. The inner portion is wild and there will be demonic sects and more dangerous creatures,” Guide Zee said.

“Is there an inner, inner portion?” I asked jokingly.

“The division between the Great Jungle and the Great Desert is very abrupt. There is a one last mountain range one needs to ascend to get to the Great Desert. On one side the Great Jungle diminishes until the peak, and on the other the winds will flay the flesh from your body,” Guide Zee said.

“Any settlements or places we can rest and get more information?” I asked.

“If we are lucky, we will exit the Great Jungle close to the city of Zama. It is controlled by a demonic sect last I heard. But they could have been destroyed or taken over by another sect. Alliances and terrain shift constantly out here Senior,” Guide Zee said.

After resting some more, we left to take the path Guide Zee had mentioned. I looked at the giant bramble plants and they were covered in tiny, poisonous thorns. The leaves even had thorns on them. The path we took was at the bottom edge of the lower middle layer.

Traveling through the bramble area quickly became routine after a while. “We stop here, the gas levels are shifting up,” Guide Zee called out. The entire group moved up into a cramped space that had been cleared out previously. I noted the gas levels shifting as well. After traveling with Guide Zee and observing my surroundings, I had worked out the shifts in gas as well.

“A group is approaching,” I said and drew my sword. Ten cultivators arrived heading in the opposite direction. They paused after seeing me and my massive group, but had no choice but to approach us with the rising gas levels.

“Greetings Senior. We are explorers of the Great Jungle, independent of sect or faction. I am Hunter Kwan,” their leader said while bowing towards me. I noticed they had glanced at Guide Zee standing slightly behind and off to the side. “You have a cursed individual with you.”

“I know. You can join us in rest. I would listen to what is ahead of us,” I said.

“Of course, Senior. That is the least we can do to repay your hospitality,” Hunter Kwan said. What they told me was nothing new.

They were a group that went into the inner jungle to find valuable items and come back to civilization with them or to improve their cultivation. The gas levels stayed high day after day, making me annoyed we were stuck. I had checked the poison and gas myself and while not immediately lethal I would be weakened if I didn’t have a mask to filter the air.

The other thing I was paying attention to was the group that had shown up led by this Hunter Kwan. Just as the gas levels began to go down, he made his move along with his people. They had gathered around my location at a distance. It was subtle and well done, but it was clear they were planning to ambush me from multiple directions.

I feigned going to sleep and they attacked. I freed my sword near instantly and quickly cut them down, one after another. The difference in cultivation was too great. Their blood and body parts tumbled off the branches into the depths of the Great Jungle.

“You didn’t say anything,” I accused Guide Zee.

“I didn’t know. They were quite strong. Probably from stuff they found in the Great Jungle,” Guide Zee countered.

“Even if they could beat three regular cultivators traveling with me, they had no chance against me,” I replied.

“It was a chance they wanted to take. Consuming items is not good for your body or your mind as I can attest to,” Guide Zee said, and I nodded at that. “I can also say that ambushing you, or trying to kill you is pointless, Senior.”

“Really? You are saying that now?” I asked.

“Killing a creature of the Great Jungle is one thing, but effortlessly dealing with a group like that is another.” The other cultivators traveling with us gave me impressed looks. “While I know you won’t trust me, I won’t be plotting anything either.”

“So, you were plotting before?” I asked with a frown.

“Considering all my options Senior. If we are going to continue then I will need to trust that you have my back, since the dangers will be much higher. This is the easy part, it is only going to get harder. We will lose more cultivators,” Guide Zee explained.

I didn’t like their attitude, but the fact they had admitted to scheming, in their head at the very least, indicated that the upcoming portions would be a lot more challenging. At least for Guide Zee and the people traveling with me. I wasn’t concerned. The level of danger of the Great Jungle was not enough to threaten me.

I wouldn’t let my guard down, but I had confidence in my ability to handle anything that might come up. It was a fine line to walk, but I had managed so far. My gaze snapped downwards off to the side of one of the large branches we were resting on. Guide Zee looked in that direction as well.

“How?” I muttered. The level of cultivation was almost on par with me. The gas levels were still high as well, so we were trapped in this area.

“Strength calls to strength, senior. The creatures who hunt out useful stuff for their cultivation are drawn or waking since you are in the area,” Guide Zee said.

“What is that?” I asked as the creature was steadily approaching, but it was impossible to see it clearly with all the roots and branches in the way.

“Something strong, beyond that I couldn’t say,” Guide Zee said. I hadn’t expected an answer. This place was a bunch of unknowns.

I drew my sword and got as much distance as I could between me and the group I was traveling with. It was a millipede. A large one to be sure, but it wasn’t a giant. Large enough to move easily between the roots and the trees, but not too large. Its speed and flexibility were massive.

The creature didn’t move up above me, but was content to move around in the darkness below. I noticed a second and a third centipede appear as well. No, they weren’t really there. Some sort of illusion that was near perfect. But they didn’t exert the same level of force on the branches they moved on. Most likely solid illusions, but still illusions.

All three of the centipedes moved togeather, trying to hide where the real one was located. I leapt off my branch directly towards them after taking a deep breath. If I attacked from too far away it would dodge with its speed and maneuverability. “One Swing To Sperate Heaven And Earth.”

Both illusions shattered and a deep gash was left on the main centipede, but it hadn’t been split apart or killed. I leapt at me. Its mouth pincers, looking to rip me in half. I interposed my blade between me and a pincer and was forced backwards through the air.

I had expected to kill the creature in a single hit and was not in a good position to counter the creature. It opened its mouth and I could tell it was going to use some kind of mouth based attack from how it was gathering its energy inside its body. My foot impacted a trunk behind me and I kicked upwards, dodging the stream of acid that was shot out, that instantly disintegrated everything in its path.

Kicking off the tree, I flew above the large centipede and cut downwards. My sword cut through chitin and three of its legs, leaving another grievous wound on the creature. It kept its forward momentum, going right behind the trail of acid, running off into the darkness and depths of the Great Jungle. I made my way back to the group where I could breathe once more.

“Impressive, very impressive Senior,” Guide Zee said. I sheathed my sword and shook my head.

“They matched my cultivation level. I didn’t think it was possible in the Great World,” I muttered loudly.

“The Great Jungle has many dangers and many secrets,” Guide Zee replied and I rolled my eyes. They might be right, but it was concerning and intriguing in my mind. The outer edge of the Great World was a desolate frozen wasteland. The vast middle portion was heavily settled by humans after countless millennia. There was nothing left to discover.

But here in the Great Jungle, it was primordial in a way I wasn’t expecting. I was drawing too heavily on my energy as well. I would need to be more careful going forward. What was worse, was this was supposed to be the easy portion of the Great Jungle.

What if there was something stronger than me? I would have to run. How could there be something stronger than me? Or even matching my cultivation like that centipede. That centipede had to be ancient. I would even go so far as to say it existed since the Great World was created. A primordial creature.

A shame it couldn’t speak to tell me about its history or the history of this place. While the thought was stupid in many respects, there was a high chance I would have to fight a powerful creature in the Great Desert to advance. Something stronger than the centipede I had just driven off. A giant desert worm would be the most likely. Something that was akin to a natural disaster.

That would be the perfect guardian or guardians for whatever secret lay hidden at the center of the Great World. Make the air itself super-hot and unbreathable and it would be easy to hide whatever secret existed at the center of this place.

The cultivators living here didn’t have the strength. That centipede would have killed everyone it had wanted to if I wasn’t here. The only option would be to flee, which would see the slowest killed.

“Where is that term from, strength calls to strength?” I asked Guide Zee.

“It is a common saying in the Great Jungle and the communities around it, Senior. People use it as a way to explain why they run into various creatures out here,” Guide Zee answered.

Or perhaps they were guardians, meant to cull the weak in some way. Another data point to add to the mystery of this place. With how strong I was, I would get the strongest creatures traveling from the darkest depths to kill me. The centipede was smart and chose to run. It was not a mindless beast. It had even counterattacked while I was out of position in mid-air. Not that it did much, but it should know it was outclassed.

Attacking someone or something stronger than itself was illogical, unless the creature was designed that way. While our strengths were comparable, it was like comparing speed boat to a cruise ship. I was much stronger. The other cultivators weren’t even a boat in that analogy, but stones in comparison. Perhaps it didn’t have good senses in determining strength, but it would have had a danger sense.

To still attack me it was either incredibly brave, foolish, or was being directed in some way. I had come to the conclusion this place was meant to train up cultivators. I still had not worked out the reason or purpose. The lack of iron was the most obvious clue, since that made advancements in science and technology nearly impossible.

I was still unsure of why cultivators were needed. There were too many guesses, ranging from advancing the development of micro-cultivation to trying to create a super strong cultivator with an impossibly solid foundation. The centipede was proof in my mind that there was something useful in the center of the Great World. It was nice to have some kind of confirmation after all this time traveling, that it wasn’t a waste to come out here.

The only issue was that the challenges would get much stronger going forward. Of that I had no doubt. The centipede was a probing attack, to assess my strength. In time there would be stronger monsters, most likely in the Great Desert. Honestly this fighting was getting me back in the mindset of fighting and not just traveling and being superior to everything I encountered.