Severing Time & Space

A Clan Heir's Worries

After parting ways, Wu Jian traveled to his compound, wiped his body down with a wet rag and some soap since it took too much time to draw a bath, and met back up with Wu Meiying at the dining hall. They entered together and sat down. A young maid came by and placed a bowl of congee in front of them both. Another bowl full of nuts, berries, and a small flask of honey was set beside the congee.

Dumping the nuts, berries, and honey into his congee, Wu Jian surveyed the people around them as he stirred it all together. A lot of the people eating at this time were his peers or kids slightly older. He spotted a large number of branch family members. Sitting at a table to his left was Wu Liufeng, a sixteen-year old who had managed to complete his right of passage by breaking through to the Hunger Realm just a few days ago. A party had been held for him the other day. Not only had he been given a large sum of money as a reward, but they said he would be allowed to take the entrance exams for the Imperial Academy when it came around this year.

Wu Meiying had not only predicted that he would break through, she had also predicted that he would fail to pass the exam this year but succeed and set off for the Royal Capital next year.

Strength was always celebrated in this world. This fact had been drilled into Wu Jian’s head from a young age. He didn’t understand it himself, but he knew from seeing how happy everyone was at Wu Liufeng’s breakthrough that it was important for someone to be strong—if for no other reason than to make people happy. Get stronger. Make people happy. It was certainly a motivating reason.

Of course, he had another, even more powerful reason to grow stronger.

He glanced at Wu Meiying as she ate her congee. She noticed his eyes on her and turned her head to look at him, a smile lighting up her face.

“Is something wrong?” she asked.

“No, but you have some congee on your face.” Before she could wipe it off herself, he reached out, swiped it off with his thumb, and licked it. “Got it for you.”

Wu Meiying blinked several times in surprise, but then she beamed at him. “Thanks. By the way, don’t look now, but Wu Yong is here.”

While she told him not to look, the very act of informing him that his rival had appeared forced him to swivel his head around, until he found Wu Yong. He had just entered the dining hall and was heading toward a table. As if he could feel someone’s eyes on him, the young man turned to look at him. Their eyes locked. However, after another moment, Wu Yong gave him a nasty sneer before ignoring him.

“He’s still not doing anything,” Wu Meiying said. “I’m a little surprised he hasn’t tried to bully you more.”

Wu Jian shook his head. “He wouldn’t do that since our challenge has been recognized by Father and the elders. If he did something, it could be seen as him attempting to sabotage me. And he’s confident he won’t lose to me, so he won’t do anything that could jeopardize his position.”

“I guess not.” Wu Meiying tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “By the way, do you think you can defeat him?”

Wu Jian closed his eyes and struggled to come up with an answer. He wasn’t all that confident in his victory, but at the same time…

“It doesn’t matter.” He opened his eyes again. “Even if I didn’t have any confidence, I still have to beat him.”

“That’s a good answer.”

“Thanks, I guess. But there’s still the problem of whether or not I’m strong enough to beat him.” Wu Jian set his spoon inside of his now empty bowl. “The last time he took the strength test, Wu Yong’s strength was at three thousand two hundred units. Mine barely surpassed a thousand. I’m sure I’m stronger now, but I doubt Wu Yong has been lazing around. He’s probably even stronger than he was before. Have I caught up to him? I just don’t know.”

The Wu Clan’s annual strength test was taken at the Testing Stone, which measured the strength of one’s punch, converting the kinetic force from the one punching into measurable units. This let the clan know which members had enough strength to break through to the Hunger Realm. According to his lessons, a cultivator needed at least five thousand units worth of strength to break through. Of course, that number was the bare minimum. The more physical strength someone had, the easier it would be for them to reach the Hunger Realm.

“You are worried,” Wu Meiying stated.

“Of course, I am.” Wu Jian sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “How can I not be? Even if I got a little stronger, the gap between Wu Yong and I is already so big that it feels like I’m trying to reach heaven while lying in the dirt.”

“In other words, you want to find a faster way to increase your strength,” Wu Meiying said, eyes glazing over.

“That would be nice, but how am I going to do that?” asked Wu Jian.

“By traveling to the Twin Fang Mountains,” Wu Meiying said. Wu Jian fell silent when he saw the look in her eyes. It was the glazed over expression she wore whenever she announced something that would eventually come true. “There are many powerful herbs in the Twin Fang Mountains that can enhance your body. If we go there soon, we can gather a powerful medicinal herb that will increase your strength several fold.”

Known by many as natural treasures, medicinal herbs had a range of uses, from increasing one’s strength or perception, to even helping cultivators break through when they reached a bottleneck in their training.

Of course, natural treasures could not compete with alchemy pills, which combined many natural treasures and medicinal herbs to create an even more powerful effect. However, for someone who could not attain alchemy pills easily, it was sometimes easier to consume natural treasures as they were. And there were some benefits to consuming them without refining them.

Wu Jian nodded. “In that case, let’s ask Father if we can travel there after our lessons today.”