Jackie reads and rereads the mission. He tugs on his beard and narrows his eyes. It's true that he doesn't have any spells for any of his cultivation techniques, he's just like an unloaded tank cannon. No ammo, just swinging around his barrel to hope to smack people. His Shovel Stomps are just a raw manifestation of his 100 shovel stomps cultivation, extremely wasteful.

The old man considers a good comparison. Imagine two gorillas in a brawl for their lives. Everything about them is the same, except one of the gorillas is a Chuōjiǎo Master. That gorilla clobbers the other in moments.

Spells to cultivation are like martial arts to mortal practitioners. Without them, they can't leverage their might to its fullest, and everything they do is full of wasteful energy loss.

This correlation is so strong that many weapon cultivators call their spells Martial Arts, such as Sword Cultivators, or append the title Art to their practice - Such as the Jade Wind Freezing Ice Blade Art.

Jackie then considers his plans. He needs time to influence Silent Wolf to become his student and then milk information from the young man. With that thought, he pauses, The young fellow is very hot-headed, perhaps some time away would do him some good.

Yes, that could be the key to getting through to him. Jackie nods. He then stares at the Y, but pauses.

If he does this, it will put him behind on his cultivation by two weeks, but the rewards are worth it. He strokes his beard, concentrating as he runs a couple of possibilities through his mind.

Perhaps the spoon mission may be worth his time, but he needs that spell. He'll have plenty of time to look at it later.

Jackie nods and then focuses on the Y. The pane turns golden, and a timer starts counting down. Jackie slaps his forehead, "No!"

He has less than five hours to get to the tunnel from here. The old man doesn't have enough time to grab any necessities; he pitifully laughs at his misfortune, "Worms again."

Jackie turns to peer at the quiet yurt across the lake, smoke rising from its center and trailing into the sky. He focuses his vision, zooming in on it like an eagle. He then blinks his eyes and dashes out from his foggy hideout into the grassy land next to it.

The old man waves his hand and summons a phantom shovel next to his feet. The ground quakes and rocks and launches Jackie across the lake in an instant. He lands, followed by multiple booms that rattle the Yurt.

Silent Wolf bursts out through the Yurt's leather curtain as his eyes dart around, his right hand gripping his bow and arrows. His eyes land on Jacky, and his lips instantly turn down into a snarl, "What-"

A frightened baby's cry sounds inside the yurt, Quiet Bear's soft voice echoes, trying to sooth the child.

Jackie cuts him off, booming, "Something's come up, I'll be back in two weeks. Hold down the fort while I'm gone!"

The old man then channels his Shovel Stomp through his Vessel, the speed-focused occult pathways sending him rocketing into the distance.

Silent wolf watches the old, towering and muscle-strapped cultivator blur and then streak into the distance.

Silent Wolf's hair whips around his body from the wind created by the old man's wake. The young man's eyes are forced to squeeze into slits to withstand the buffeting gusts. He witnesses the old man stomp down in the far distance and then blur into an after-image, turning into a long white beam into the sky above. Jackie leaves behind a resounding, thundering boom rolling out over the planes, rattling the Yurt yet again.

The young man's jaw drops, then he grits his teeth. Silent wolf's resentment from the spanking grows, he hates that old man with every fiber of his being, but the heavens are unfair, he can't do anything to him with his current strength. He needs to be strong! But... just how strong is Jackie Lewin?

Silent Wolf kicks the ground a few times in frustration and rage over his weakness. Other people decided everything for him; the villagers kicked him and his family out just because they were frightened of Jackie. Weak!

I am weak! They are weak! He shouts, his nose turning sour as a knot of pressure forms in his chest. His lips quiver and he dashes out to the lake, roaring at the water, then dropping to his knees and starts punching the emerald blue surface, sending out towering waves as he puts every bit of his qi condensation cultivation into the blows.

Soon, He hits faster than the water can return, and the ground rattles while his hands grow bloody.

He sniffles for a while, but feels some relief, even if the knot of frustration in his stomach hasn't vanished entirely. The mist cools his burning arms and hands, steam rising from his taught form.

"Haha.." He sorrowfully laughs. "I've broken through to Qi Condensation level 2 peak. That's as far as I can go, I need to get stronger, then someday, I'll give that old bastard tenfold what he gave me! Five hundred spanks in public, then run him out of his home village, wherever it is. I'll show him!"

Silent Wolf sighs while standing up, feeling inky impurities spurting out from all over his skin, and then painful rumbling from his belly. He groans, "Arg..."

The young man dashes for the latrine.

A few hours pass and Quiet Bear works to treat his wounds with purple grass poultice inside the Yurt. He works up the determination and says to her, "We are so weak. But, someday, We'll be strong."

She nods quietly, tugging on the cordage to make sure the poultice holds on, then returns to nursing her son. Her eyes glitter when she murmurs, glancing back to Silent Wolf, "You'll be so strong that we could go back home and no one could say a thing."

-------

Jackie learned from his first attempt using the Shovel Stomps to maneuver through the air. He stomps to ascend, then stomps to traverse the sky. He saves his final stomp to just before he lands to arrest his fall.

He then runs until his Occult Runes have recharged, then does it all again. He races as fast as he can and finally arrives at the tunnel at in three hours.

Jackie speeds into the gaping maw of the earth and races his way down the winding passageways. He channels every little bit of his 100 Shovel Stomp's cultivation through his Vessel's occult pathways, racing in one and a half hours what took him months to dig the first time.

He arrives at the bottom, panting and heaving for breath and then collapses on the soft and warm dirt. The old man freezes as he realizes his shovel senses are fading away, leaving him blind in the darkness.

"I can't see the elemental energy, no energy, I see nothing!" He jumps up and headbutts the dirt bulwark, rattling his head. He kneels, clutching his scalp, "Ohh... well, that didn't hurt, just surprised me."

Jackie Lewin sighs, looking at the system interface. Well, at least it's there to look at when he gets bored. Then, he realizes that even it is fading away from his vision as well.

[Ding: Mission Start. ]

[Good Luck, User.]