Chapter 15: Want to be a Monk?
Chapter 15: Want to be a Monk?
"I read a few books about diviners, and they are ever so mysterious as they seem," Xue Wei began as they were walking, and for once all of the young men and women were holding their breaths listening to him.
Everyone knew that Xue Wei had read books about almost anything he could get his hands on and as a result of this, his knowledge far outstripped theirs.
"On the continent of Chang'an, all the kingdoms have temples, and the monks control these temples. Every monk on our continent is one single faction, but within these, there are different paths that one can take."
"Some becomes discipline priests or monks and fight against fierce and primordial beasts, some become monks and priests to heal and help others, and yet some become diviners."
"To become diviners is the most mysterious but also the most restricted one amongst all the vocations that a monk and priest can pick."
"Not much is know about what happens when one becomes a diviner, but the only ones eligible are kids below the age of five years old."
"They undergo some sort of baptism that allows for them to tame beasts but no diviner has ever told about this baptism before, so we don't know much about it."
"Diviners are not allowed to join any factions. They can work for people if they get a high enough amount of money in return, but they always claim the right to reject working with someone."
"If a diviner breaks the code of conduct they will be chased down by other diviners and monks. Every priest and monk will go for the diviner and kill him at whatever possible chance."
"A diviner is capable of defeating a beast at their own strength and maybe a bit stronger if the intellect of the beast is lower. If the diviner is strong enough, he is capable of taming Primordial Beasts even."
"They are called diviners because they figure out where and when they can tame beasts by making divinations. Another reason is that they are divine fighters when they have fierce beasts under their control."
"I know you want to know about the baptism, but I don't know about it," Xue Wei shook his head as he saw that Luo Zhirou was about to ask a question and she quickly got quiet again.
"Also, I am not sure how their divination works, but I do know that when a diviner gives a beast a command, the beast will follow it unconditionally. Even if the beast already has a new owner, any diviner will be able to turn the beast against their owner, a reason that many people fear diviners."
"Is that true?" Song Niu, another friend of Shen Mu, asked breathlessly. "Every esteemed expert above the Earth Warrior rank wishes to have a beast companion, but only a few are capable of getting them," Xue Wei said.
"Every command from a diviner is a heaven-sent law for the tamed beasts. Even if it means to kill their owner."
"There are around a thousand to two thousand diviners on the entire continent according to my books, and these diviners are nomads that travel for a job. It is incredibly lucky that we will get to see them."
"Although that Tiankong City is one of the major cities of Heping Kingdom, the Kingdom of Heping is rather small, and it also is quite weak compared to the outside world. We might be considered geniuses in the kingdom of Heping, but we are truly frogs at the bottom of the well."
Xue Wei sighed and thought of all that he had read about the rest of the world, but the others did not seem to understand what he meant.
They had already reached the center of the marketplace they had been walking towards, and Xue Wei stopped speaking, but the way all of the young men and women looked at him changed entirely from the few words he did say.
The marketplace was bustling with sounds, and even more, people had appeared than usually. The stalls were all strangely quiet, and not many merchants were yelling out their prices, all of them were busy trying to squeeze their way closer and closer to a podium that had been erected in the center square.
Although these people wished to have more space, none of them dared block Shen Mu and his entourage, and a lot of them gave Xue Wei an in-depth look of contempt mixed with fear and a few even reverence.
At the very front of the podium were Li Jian and his henchmen. They were gloating and enjoying themselves as they joked amongst one another, yet suddenly one of them noticed Shen Mu and the group got quiet, all of them staring daggers at Xue Wei.
"So you finally arrived," Li Jian sneered, and Shen Mu was about to respond when he saw that Xue Wei was completely ignoring Li Jian and he had sudden enlightenment.
Usually, Shen Mu would be riled up by Li Jian quickly, but he wanted to try and see how annoyed the other would be if he completely ignored him. He knew form himself how frustrating it was to be ignored, Xue Wei had honestly ignored him many a time.
"So this is the beasts?" Shen Mu asked his friends who all were at a loss for word. They were ready for the usual war of words against Li Jian and Shen Mu, but they saw him saying absolutely nothing to the other, it was quite clear that he was ignoring him, and watching how Li Jian's face turned red, it was clear that it was an even more successful taunt.
"Who do you think you are to ignore me? My father is also a Heavenly Warrior!" Li Jian almost spat out the words, and the audience who had come to see the diviners and the beasts were filled with excitement. They loved to see the younger generation fight amongst themselves.
"I don't need to worry about a brat who can't even defeat a fourth layered Ordinary Warrior when he is a ninth layered cultivator himself," Shen Mu laughed and shook his head magnanimously as if he was taking pity on Li Jian, and Jian was feeling incredibly uncomfortable.
"I can beat him!" he sneered, "I can kill him right now!" He exclaimed, and a Sonic Palm descended from the heavens at a rapid speed, but Xue Wei was faster.
During their last fight, Xue Wei had not even cultivated to the fifth layer, and he had never before tried using the Shattering Mountain Palm. Now he had spent a few weeks perfecting his understanding of both Forbidden Rush and Shattering Mountain Palm, and his performance was many times more astonishing.
It seemed as if his body trembled slightly and then he vanished from sight before reappearing behind Li Jian.
Shattering Mountain Palm!
The attack descended onto Li Jian's back, and Xue Wei had held nothing back, added all his Qi into this strike.
Li Jian shot forward again; blood spurted from his mouth this time. He had been wholly unprepared for the strike, and it had caused a lot more injuries to him that if he had been prepared. If he was prepared, although he would have been injured, it would not have been as bad as it was now.
Like a leaf fluttering in the wind, Xue Wei vanished again and reemerged the place where he was at first. His facial expression was the same as it had been before Li Jian had cast his sudden attack, and although his clothes fluttered slightly, he seemed so casual as if he had not even attacked.
Xue Wei completely ignored Li Jian who was biting the dust on the ground and turned to look at the podium in front of them.
Sitting on the podium on five regular chairs were five people. They were wearing monk robes, and their eyes were observing what was going on in the crowd.
Xue Wei, looking at the monks, felt that their auras were similar to Manager Su and even closer to his uncle, Xiao Lei.
Some of the five experts were looking at the actions of Xue Wei with interest, one of them especially had his eyes lightening with excitement, while two were looking with polite boredness. One was filled with apathy, and the last one was just smiling slightly, not displaying any of his real emotions.
"The rumor is true!" someone whispered in the crowd, and suddenly it burst, "he is not trash anymore!"
"How did he do it? I cannot even see what his cultivation level is at?"
"What kind of plant did that bastard eat to become so strong?"
"A dragon uncle cannot foster a dog nephew; I guess some of Xiao Lei's strength is finally starting to rub off on him!"
So many thoughts were being spoken out loud, and all of them were filled with excitement. Their words made it on top of the stage and the guy who was very curious about what he had seen raised an eyebrow.
"You there, kid, they call you trash, and although your cultivation base is quite low for your age, you have a movement technique. What is this about?"
"My lord, I have a special physique," Xue Wei said, once again willing to borrow of the excuse he had used to Shen Bingwen. He had read in books that many different physiques existed, and although he had never seen one and they were as rare as only one a generation in the whole continent would be born, he betted his luck on it.
"My physique is such that I could not cultivate, but Qi gathered in my body whenever I was breathing. Back then, it was only a question about time before my dantian would unlock and when it did, all the Qi my body had gathered would quickly turn to become Qi within my dantian."
"The unlocking of my dantian happened around four and a half month ago," Xue Wei said and looked as honest and upright as anyone could expect, and the monk nodded his head when he heard this.
When Xue Wei said particular physique the other monks showed interest, even the apathetic and the two bored monks. Their eyes roamed over Xue Wei's body, but upon noticing that there was nothing unusual they just nodded their heads.
The monk who was speaking rubbed his chin for a bit and nodded his head too, "to think that this small kingdom had a person with special physique. But I guess that you did not tell anyone about it before and was treated like trash?"
Xue Wei politely nodded his head. He had been looking for a way to say these words out loud so that everyone could have an excuse for his fast cultivation base.
The words unique physique caused a lot of commoners to startle. They did not know about such a phenomenon, but after hearing Xue Wei explain what he did, they were all surprised and enlightened.
"Young man, if you ever want to be a monk, come with us to visit our master," the speaking monk said with a smile, "although you cannot become a diviner I am sure you would make it quite well as another kind of monk."
Xue Wei cupped his hands and bowed deeply to the monk, "Thank you for your kind offer," Xue Wei said politely. "I have to say that I am tempted, but I am also a warrior. I wish to fight the Primordial Beasts in the war. I wish to become a great figure like my uncle and slaughter Primordial Beasts."
Xue Wei was honest and upright, and the monk did not press further. He just smiled and nodded his head before he sat back down on the chair.