Chapter 8: Set for Three

Bright sunlight shone down onto Sergeant Thunder and Xu Qing as they walked through the scavenger basecamp. One was tall, the other short. One was old, the other young. Yet from a distance, they seemed to belong together. Despite the brutal world they lived in together, they seemed like close companions. Perhaps because of the snake corpse that Sergeant Thunder carried, any locals present who didn’t go to the arena... didn’t even think about causing problems for them. Xu Qing reveled in the sensation. Maybe it was the upcoming chance to eat the snake, or simply the warmth of the sunlight. Either way, he felt wonderful and eager. What was more, the way the sunlight shone on the snake’s scales made him salivate. He also loved eating snake. Sergeant Thunder’s place was in the middle ring of the camp. The inner ring had brick houses with tile roofs, and the outer ring had simple tents. The middle ring featured wooden cabins collected into groups of three. The cabins weren’t very big, but they were a lot better than the places Xu Qing had lived in the slums. What was more, Sergeant Thunder even had a small courtyard with a bamboo gate, which wasn’t common. Sergeant Thunder opened the gate and stepped inside. Xu Qing followed, looking around to get his bearings. Sergeant Thunder, carrying the snake corpse, headed toward the kitchen. As he did, he pointed at the second cabin of the three. “You stay there, Kid. Look around. I’ll let you know when the meal’s ready.” Sergeant Thunder disappeared into the kitchen, and it wasn’t long before the sound of chopping rang out. Xu Qing swallowed his hunger as he went into the cabin Sergeant Thunder had pointed to. It had a bed, a blanket, and a table. Nothing else. The floor was swept and the desk didn’t have a spot of dust on it. Clearly, someone kept the room clean, and opened it often to get sunlight. Xu Qing couldn’t have been more pleased. He didn’t like big rooms; he preferred places he could take in with a single glance. He felt safer that way. After looking at everything, he glanced at the neatly made bed, but decided not to get on it. Instead, he sat down on the ground. Closing his eyes, he started working on his daily cultivation. As the spirit power poured into him, he heard the faint sound of cooking oil popping and hissing in the kitchen. Before long, a fragrant aroma drifted in through the cracks in the wall, filling his small room and making his stomach grumble. It smelled wonderful. At a certain point, his throat twitched, and he opened his eyes. He had lived for years in the slums, and couldn’t remember ever smelling something this wonderful. Trying hard to ignore the cries of his stomach, he closed his eyes again and went back to cultivation. Just like that, time slipped by slowly but surely. Eventually, evening came. He was just finishing his cultivation when Sergeant Thunder called to him from outside. His eyes snapped open. Rising to his feet, he walked out and saw the old man beckoning at him from the kitchen. Xu Qing stopped at the door and looked inside to find a table filled with seven or eight dishes. There was fried snake, braised snake, steamed snake, snake soup, and more. It really was a serpentine banquet. Sergeant Thunder clearly was a master of the culinary arts. Everything looked and smelled amazing. In fact, Xu Qing’s eyes went wide looking at it all. Sergeant Thunder chuckled, turned, and began to set the table. Xu Qing walked inside, the aroma growing stronger around him as he did. However, he didn’t sit down. Instead, he waited for Sergeant Thunder to set out the bowls and chopsticks. When he did, he set the table for three. The sight of three sets of tableware caused Xu Qing to momentarily stop focusing on the amazing food. Looking cautiously at Sergeant Thunder, he quietly asked, “Is someone else coming?” “Don’t worry, it’s just a habit of mine. The third set... is for someone who’ll never come.” A flicker of reminiscence passed through Sergeant Thunder’s eyes a moment before vanishing. He sat down. Xu Qing nodded and also sat. Unable to restrain himself, he reached out and grabbed a piece of fried snake and shoved it in his mouth. It was burning hot, but it tasted amazing. Very juicy. Swallowing a bite, he licked his lips and reached for the braised snake.  Sergeant Thunder cleared his throat. “Use chopsticks.” “Oh.” Xu Qing took a pair of chopsticks, fiddled with them briefly, then stabbed them into a piece of braised snake. Neither of them talked as they ate. They just enjoyed the meal. Sergeant Thunder ate slowly, taking only two or three bites from each dish. It seemed at odds with how scavengers usually acted. On the other hand, Xu Qing ate like a ravenous wolf, consuming far more food than Sergeant Thunder. Seeing how Xu Qing was eating, Sergeant Thunder eventually said, “How come you aren’t picking at it like you did with the steamed buns?” Xu Qing swallowed a chunk of snake meat, looked up, and said, “The steamed buns were yours. This snake meat is mine.” Sergeant Thunder wasn’t sure whether to laugh or cry. He just sat there watching Xu Qing stab things with his chopsticks and slurp the snake soup. However, he also noticed that Xu Qing left plenty for him to eat, yet didn’t hold back in devouring his own portion. “That snake was big,” Sergeant Thunder said. “I think it’ll take half a month to eat it all. Plus, the skin and bones are worth quite a bit....” “I’ll pay the rent in full,” Xu Qing said. “Don’t deduct the value of the snake.” As far as he was concerned, the snake meat would make up for the steamed buns and the sleeping bag. And the skin and bones would cover Sergeant Thunder’s silence regarding the fate of Cruel Ox. That wouldn’t leave any extra for the rent. In terms of Sergeant Thunder taking him out of the ruins and to the basecamp, he would treat that as a favor. Paying back a favor with material things didn’t seem right, but Xu Qing wouldn’t forget it. Sergeant Thunder looked at him for a moment, and could see how serious he was. Xu Qing was obviously a person who knew whom to show gratitude to, and whom to feel resentment against. Sergeant Thunder nodded. “I bet you have some questions about who I am, right, Kid?” Xu Qing didn’t respond, but he slowed down in eating. “People call me Sergeant Thunder. That’s not my real name, but it doesn’t matter. Nobody in scavenger basecamps uses their real name.” Sergeant Thunder picked up a chunk of steamed snake and put it in his mouth. “The reason for the name is that I have a group of friends here that I trust with my life. We call ourselves Squad Thunderbolt. I know, it’s not the most inventive name. “We take whatever work we can get, and it’s only when we get something really difficult that we work together. Including me, there are four members. As of right now, the other three are out on assignments. “However, they’ll be back soon, and I’ll introduce you to them. I want you to be our newest member. That’s how you’ll earn money to live on and resources for your cultivation.” Apparently, Sergeant Thunder was full, as he set his chopsticks down and looked at Xu Qing. Xu Qing wasn’t surprised that Sergeant Thunder knew he practiced cultivation. If he could tell that Sergeant Thunder was a rogue cultivator, it made sense that the man had noticed the same thing about him. “Okay,” Xu Qing said with a nod. He had no reason to hesitate. In fact, he felt relieved. Living in the slums, he had long since learned that people didn’t give you things or offer help without wanting something in return. “Keep eating,” Sergeant Thunder said. “I’m old, so if I eat too much, I have digestion problems.” Clearing his throat, the old man stood up and stepped to the door. “Spirit power is like poison. If you rush it, you won’t get far without the mutagen spreading within you. You should really go for slow and steady over fast and aggressive.” Xu Qing didn’t say anything in response. Sergeant Thunder looked back at Xu Qing and shook his head. “That said, focusing on cultivation is the right thing to do. The forbidden region next to this basecamp is different from the place you came from. The reason so many fugitives and rogue cultivators gather in this area is because of the resources to be found there. If you’re going to live here, you’ll have to go inside eventually. So you really do need to work on your cultivation.” With that, the old man left. Left alone, Xu Qing finished all the snake meat. However, he didn’t just go back to his cabin. He collected all the bowls and chopsticks, cleaned the kitchen, and then returned. Sitting down cross-legged, he started cultivating again. Xu Qing knew that if he didn’t want to be weak, if he didn’t want to struggle through life, and if he didn’t want his survival to be controlled by other people, then he had to get stronger. There were a lot of rogue cultivators in the scavenger basecamp. In fact, there were more here than he’d seen in the past six years combined. And they weren’t good people. If the slums had been a kennel of dogs, this place was a den of wolves. If he didn’t get stronger, he’d die at the hands of a scavenger before he died from mutation. He would be dead and buried at the hands of another person. Thanks to the information in his Sea and Mountain Incantation bamboo slip, Xu Qing knew that there was a medicinal pill that could alleviate the effects of mutagen. Though that method was treating the symptoms but not the root cause, it was still the best option. Thanks to his time on the road with the other scavengers, he knew that the pill was called a white bolus. And the forbidden region near the camp was where you could find some of the ingredients to make it. Given that, it seemed obvious that this camp would have places that sold white boluses. With such thoughts on his mind, he rubbed the spot on his chest where he’d inserted the violet crystal. He already knew that the crystal gave him powers of regeneration, but also, made him faster and stronger. What was more, though he had only reached the first level of the Sea and Mountain Incantation, he could sense that he already had more strength than that described in the bamboo slip. The first level had the power of a single tiger, but he was beyond that. I could kill multiple tigers, he thought. Based on the spirit power fluctuations within him, he was certain that his focus on cultivation while traveling had pushed him close to the second level. I’m going to get there tonight!  His eyes shone with determination before he closed them and started his breathing exercises. Before long, spirit power rolled toward him from all directions. Thankfully, there was a lot less mutagen outside of forbidden regions than within, which meant his cultivation advanced more quickly. Opening himself up, he used his breathing exercises to absorb large amounts of spirit power. As he did, his chest beneath his clothing glittered with violet light. Time passed. Soon, popping and cracking sounds rang out from inside Xu Qing, and black sludge oozed out of his pores. As his flesh and blood was nourished, he grew tougher, and the energy within him built toward an explosion point. *** It was night outside, and the girl from the beast trial was approaching. Standing outside the courtyard gate, she hesitated for a moment. Finally, she mustered her courage and knocked. The sound was so weak it didn’t seem capable of passing through the gate and into the rooms beyond. What was more, the moment she knocked was when the popping sounds inside Xu Qing reached a crescendo. *** A roaring sound filled his mind, and his eyes snapped open. Violet light twinkled within, and a pleased expression covered his face. Looking down at his arm, he saw a second mutation blotch. He had reached the second level of Qi Condensation!