A Dog Father Cannot Beget a Dragon Son

World 50: Part 4

Soon, it comes time to address the second issue, and perhaps the more pressing one. "Fucheng," Fei Chuan says softly. "It appears that you haven't progressed much in your physique since two years ago. Has something happened?" 

Fucheng, holding the Lightning Orb loosely in his hand, looks confused, then embarrassed. "Sorry elder brother, I found it hard to cultivate my physique. Your younger brother is incapable." 

Fei Chuan shook his head. "That's impossible. My younger brother is a very talented child. Have the pills started to lose their efficiency?"

"What pills?" asked Fucheng, baffled. "Brother, how could there be pills when there aren't any more ingredients?" 

Fei Chuan stopped walking and frowned. "That's impossible. I bring back ingredients every year. You haven't gotten any Yang-Purifying Pills?" 

"No?" Fucheng looks at his older brother's perplexed expression, and feels a flash of warmth. Perhaps...his brother hadn't abandoned him after all? 

His brother clicked his tongue, and Fucheng could not remember ever seeing such a displeased look on Yan Jing, who was as gentle as they came. His brother whirled around, and started stalking in a very particular direction. "We need to get to the bottom of this." 

****** 

Actually, Fei Chuan had known exactly what happened. He had the system, after all, and hardly anything ever escaped the system's eye. Additionally, all this was in this world's Task Description. Elder Fong, upon realizing that there was another candidate for the Pure Yang body-- one who not only did not have any ties to any meddling and powerful families, but also was born with a naturally occurring 90% Yang body-- immediately changed investments. He still made pills with the ingredients Fei Chuan provided, of course, but it didn't take much for him to "give in" to his granddaughter's begging and start funneling some Yang-Purifying pills to He Liufeng.

Or, perhaps, should it called "all of them"? Either way, little Fucheng was left with little to nothing, and it was only due to his own diligence that he could even improve that 1% from when Fei Chuan saw him last. 

**

"I'm afraid I haven't received any herbs," says Elder Fong, bewildered. "Mu Hong has not given me anything in the past two years." Fei Chuan reluctantly admired his ability to act for one so old, but Elder Fong probably had some vested interest in all this, especially once the elder got a Pure Yang practitioner in his debt. 

"Mu Hong," Fei Chaun says instead of calling the elder's bullshit. "And where may I find Mu Hong?" 

Elder Fong gave him some directions, and probably thought himself clever once Fei Chuan and Fucheng left. 

******

"Oh, no!" gasps Mu Hong theatrically when he sees them. "Have I been caught?" 

Fucheng nearly snarls at this, but Fei Chuan pulls him back. "Mu Hong, I hope you can accompany me for an experiential learning. I feel it could be a great experience for you." 

"Ah, Senior Brother Yan, I'm a little busy..." simpers Mu Hong. "See, I have a final...." 

It's so irritating that Fei Chuan wants to punch his face in. After a moment's thought, he decides to do it anyway. It'll add more credibility to their cover. "Meet me at the sect entrance at 8," he says to the downed and shaking form. "Don't be late." 

****** 

It's incredibly easy to get both him and Fucheng signed off to go on an experiential learning. Yan mother and father protested a little at the thought of both their sons outside of the sect, but agreed that some brotherly bonding would do Fucheng much good. Elder Fong was also more than happy to sign off for his disciple, and everyone in the administration agreed tacitly not to acknowledge the fact that murder was about to take place. 

On the surface, the goal of this experiential learning was still to collect Yang-Purifying pill ingredients, but for the first time since Fei Chuan was 16 the sect also sent out another group under the same mission. The sect had a new Yang darling now, and it was reasoned that Yan Jing would hardly be willing to give up his brother's materials to some unrelated disciple. 

Plus, it was rumored that Yan Fucheng and He Liufeng's relationship were just on this side of sour. 

******

Contrary to popular belief, Mu Hong does not die the minute he steps out of the sect's gates. 

Fucheng doesn't know what to make of his brother and Mu Hong's relationship. At times, they seemed deeply irritated by each other, and at other times they drift towards each other. It seems to be subconscious, the way Mu Hong's hands twitch as if trying to reach his brother, or the way his brother's eyes inevitably fall on Mu Hong every so often.

Also, whenever either of them catch him looking, they smile (Yan Jing always has a soft curl to his lips whenever Fucheng is involved and Mu Hong tends to grin like a fox). Fucheng doesn't know why, but this is both comforting and disorienting, to see people so genuinely happy for his company. 

Yan Jing brings them both up a mountain, and eventually they stand in front a large rock outcrop. With a wave of his hand, the rocks fade away like an illusion and a cave shows up before them. Fucheng is more than reasonably confused, but he follows them in. 

What he sees makes him gasp. The cave is so much larger on the inside, and sunlight filters in through a hole the ceiling, landing squarely on a truly large garden of Yin Grass. There is a ceiling-high pile of Beast Dan hidden in a corner, perfectly preserved, and much further down Fucheng sees something sparkling with aggressive electricity, but cannot tell what it is. 

"Hey, not bad," says Mu Hong, admiringly. "Where do I work?" 

Yan Jing waves his hand, and on cue a large, intricate furnace appears in front of them, on the surface of a raised ground. Fucheng has never even seen those inscriptions before, but he somehow knows it's of a quality higher than this world can produce. 

(The furnace is purchased from the Store, of course.)

"And you have the other ingredients?"Yan Jing removes his hair pin and hands it over to Mu Hong. Then he turns to Fucheng and smiles, "Little brother, come here."

Fucheng follows, of course, and towards the garden of Yin grass. How did his brother do it? Yin grass needed extremely specific Ying-Yang concentrations, and were notoriously hard to grow. "You forget that I also have a special physique, Fucheng," his older brother says, as if reading his thoughts, but Fucheng's breath is taken away by something else entirely. 

At the center of the Yin field, there is a single, sparkling pool. 

"What is all this, brother?" Fucheng asks, unable to restrain his curiosity. 

Yan Jing looked around, satisfaction lining his every move. "What do you think about an Absolute Yang physique instead, Fucheng?" 

******

 There was a world of difference between a Pure physique and an Absolute physique. 

If a Pure Yang physique is one that is saturated with Yang qi, then an Absolutely Yang physique is one that is overflowing with Yang qi. The owner of such a physique was not only heaven-defying, he was beyond heaven. In the densest spiritual areas, he could cultivate. In the most barren spiritual landscapes, he could cultivate. In battle, a single attack could pack into it highly condensed Yang qi that ignited upon contact and burned away all his opponent's qi. 

Of course, there were drawbacks. Poor mental and physical control could cause a huge backfire, and this was the reason why infants already born with the Absolute Yang physique usually don't live until adulthood. Fucheng would not have that problem, as he had already matured and had the most rudimentary control over his qi. 

The only issue now was that making an Absolute Yang physique required a great amount of invaluable materials, some of which couldn't be gotten without a fight. The aurous core of a lightning cultivator, for one. But all the materials on the list Mu Hong had given him were collected, and everything was ready. 

If Fucheng were to become an Absolute Yang cultivator, the first in ten thousand years, he'd be invincible.