"Would you prefer the fish cooked or fried today, master?"
A skeleton held a large fish in its bony hands and spoke Han Xuhan, who was busy going through his notes on integrating qi cycles belonging to different techniques.
Elder Kong Ye was a really capable teacher. Han Xuhan had managed to learn a lot from him. In fact, he suspected that the elder's abundant help was more than just a sympathetic favour.
As their most important lessons were overseen by Elder Ye, it was natural that Han Xuhan got to spend more time with him than the rest.
"Fry half of it and leave the rest for the next day, little Zhanxian!"
Yes, Han Xuhan had named the skeleton soldier Zhanxian, despite its harmless appearance. The skeleton didn't seem very happy with the name though, and it expressed that verbally, several times.
He had been quite surprised after hearing it speak for the first time. He hadn't designed any vocal cords inside its throat. How it could speak was a mystery.
When he had raised the matter to Ku Ran, the response he got was pretty solid.
"It doesn't have eyes, either, but it can still see me, Mountain Tai. So why wouldn't it be able to speak?"
He had stopped marvelling about it since then.
The skeleton was predictably quite weak. Even Han Xuhan himself could defeat it within a few seconds. But it seemed reasonably smart, seeing how it caught onto things quite easily.
In fact, he even felt that the skeleton was rather adorable. Han Xuhan had taught it to cook, sweep the hut, clean the toilet, wash the clothes and all sorts of other miscellaneous jobs.
This way, he wouldn't need to pay for them in the future resident package purchases. It did the jobs assigned to it very seriously, unlike the cocky servants.
He had a rudimentary idea to teach the skeleton how to cultivate after noticing how human-like its behaviour was. But it had no meridians, so Han Xuhan had to put that idea aside.
This also made him contemplate a grave matter; was the world of the crimson sun where the personalities of summoned skeletons resided as simple as it seemed?
Why did it feel like a world where souls without memories were detained?
Nevertheless, that wasn't something he had any means to verify, so he put it out of his mind too, for now. Ever since he had entered this sect, he had been trying to juggle too many matters at once.
It had been a week since he had reached the second layer of his Mystic Art. Elder Ye's deadline of five weeks was almost about to end. Han Xuhan had little hope of reaching the top 30 in the soon-to-be-held competition. As far as he knew, he was the last outer court disciple to have reached the second layer!
Moreover, he was facing quite a dilemma regarding his cultivation. Should he continue to practice the Skeleton Monarch technique, or switch to the Spiritual Bone Art?
The Skeletal Monarch technique had no offensive ability to speak of. As a cultivator, it was essential to have a few offensive and defensive techniques. If he cultivated the Spiritual Bone Art, at least Zhanxian would be able to take a few hits.
But cultivating multiple techniques would slow down his already abysmal cultivation speed. His small goal of hitting the peak of the second layer within two months would never be achieved if he switched techniques right now.
Unable to make up his mind, Han Xuhan got up from his bed and went out of the hut to visit Xuanyuan Zhou. But her hut was locked from outside, devoid of human presence.
"Strange. We don't have classes today. Where did she disappear off to?"
Contemplating the possibilities in his mind, he headed to Mu Ran's hut.
Mu Ran was enjoying his life in the sect. His cultivation had boomed forward to the fourth layer a couple of days ago after he had returned from a sneaky venture out of the sect. When interrogated by Han Xuhan and Xiao Wu, he had refused to disclose how.
"Boss, did you meet a jade beauty who specializes in the mythical dual cultivation arts?" Han Xuhan had probed back then slyly, only to hear a ridiculous response.
"Would I return in just two days if I was having sex with a jade beauty? I would keep going without a break for a couple of weeks, at least!"
His overcompensating boss could be very adorable sometimes, hahahaha!
Reaching his hut, he found his boss contemplating something deeply, sitting outside in the yard.
"Boss, what's worrying you?"
"Oh, no, nothing serious. Just experienced a minor enlightenment a few minutes ago, so I was consolidating the gains in my mind. I'll probably make a breakthrough soon. Ai~my cultivation speed is so slow..."
Han Xuhan nearly choked on his spit upon hearing his boss calling an enlightenment 'nothing too serious'.
He himself would sell all of his current possessions for an enlightenment during cultivation. One enlightenment could boost his skillfulness and creativity in the Mystic Art beyond years of hard work.
He could finally relate to all those arrogant and talented young masters who failed to keep up with the protagonist in xianxia novels. This feeling of being outpaced so simply was unbearable!
"By the way, underling, why did you create a male skeleton? Why not create a well-proportioned female skeleton?" Mu Ran suddenly asked, leaving Han Xuhan confused.
"Just think about it. One day, you might reach a very high realm of cultivation. With the skeletons in tow, they're bound to evolve alongside you. They might be simple skeletons today, but at that stage, they might evolve into real people! If you keep constructing these powerful male skeletons, what can you get then?
"A bunch of disposable soldiers! Useless bags of bones and meat! Isn't it better to create heavenly beauties with perfect bone structure? You can have a custom-made harem!"
The laugh that escaped Han Xuhan's mouth was born from amazement, just not the kind of amazement Mu Ran was hoping for. The response he gave, of course, was befitting.
"...Boss, you're so farsighted! Indeed, you're a dragon among men. Only someone as exceptional as you could come up with such incredible ideas!"