Feng Po

In a dark place deep within the mountains, Ryu Sei opened his eyes, waking, in a rocky place lit only by a faint, flickering orange light. While he was still processing his surroundings, two different sounds caught his attention: first, a sound of snapping wood, and second, a constant and rhythmic sound of knocking.

Curious, Ryu walked to the light source and saw the back of an old man sitting on the ground before a fire pit, in his hand a wooden staff at which he seemed to be hammering something in one of the ends.

As if the old man noticed his presence, the hammering stopped, and for a few seconds, absolute silence reigned over the cave while Ryu assessed the risks he was. The last thing he remembered was fainting after using a lighting strike to defeat the horned lizard mother, but now he woke in another place with an unknown person.

"Finally awake, kid? You certainly like to sleep a lot." The old man said while his deep voice reverberated in the small cave, adding to Ryu's apprehension.

"You must have saved me when I fainted, thank you. May I ask for your name?" Ryu said, ignoring the old man's first demonstration of rudeness. Ryu fainted in battle, sleeping for a few more hours after a life and death fight was only natural, but this old man still pointed this as Ryu's laziness.

"Shouldn't you introduce yourself before asking for someone's name?" The old man asked, and for a second the time, he pointed a flaw in Ryu's behavior.

"My name is Ryu Sei. I am a cultivator rookie from the Earthly Transitions Sect. Nice to meet you, senior. May I ask your distinguished name?" Ryu said, using all his education, but the truth was that he was already irritated with this old man's rudeness, however, he was not in a position to act rashly.

"I am called Feng Po." The old man said after a brief pause. As if he was deliberating if Ryu's introduction was enough to please him.

After Feng Po's rude introduction, Ryu approached the fire pit and got a glimpse of the old man. He had a long white beard and hair, in the same style that cultivators used in old days, and his face showed signs of age and sorrow, but it was still possible to see traces of beauty and nobility. His yellow robes made of the finest material, handcrafted by a skilled artisan, something worn only by a high-level cultivator, showed that this was no regular man.

However, the fabric was threadbare, a sign of usage, which was uncommon for a piece of work of this level, the only way this damage could happen would be if using it for centuries.

Ryu sat on a rock next to the fire pit and saw Feng Po hammering a black cylinder at the end of a shaft to make a weapon. The dark brown wood perfectly shaped in a circle had rune inscriptions covering its whole shaft extension. Truly a masterpiece of work, see this crafting skill was really pleasant.

"There is food at that bowl." Feng Po said, pointing to one side of the cave.

After taking a bowl full, Ryu returned to his place to continue to see weapon crafting. Since his body recovered from the fight, Ryu could leave at any moment, but he decided to spend some time with Feng Po to thank the man properly before asking for direction.

"It is a beautiful weapon." Ryu said.

"Is good that you liked it because it is yours." Feng Po said.

"Thanks, but I already have a weapon. By the way, where are my things?" Ryu asked, noticing his ring almost empty.

"Your things are over there." Feng Po said, pointing to one side.

However, when Ryu went to take his things, he only found his sword and two beast cores.

"Senior, my spear and the talismans, and the pills I had. Did you saw them?" Ryu asked.

"Kid, you broke that spear with that lighting attack. You can't possibly imagine how surprised and angry I got when I saw a jade-grade weapon break in a fight with a stupid horned lizard. In my time, if people discover about this, they would gang up and beat you to death for wasting such a fine weapon, but I suppose this type of weapon is no big deal nowadays." Feng Po said, pausing his work with the staff to look at Ryu with judging eyes.

"It broke? But what about the rest?" Ryu asked after a moment of stupor. He doesn't know about a jade-grade weapon, but he knew that breaking that spear was something impressive, both in a good and bad way.

"What? Do you expect me to lay down and collect that bunch of trash scattered on the floor? I got what was worthy, here, there is also this egg and this dagger I picked for you." Feng Po said, picking a golden egg at his side and a dagger.

Hearing Feng Po's words made Ryu angry, as he had enough of his rude behavior. Offending with words was one thing, but now he called his precious belongings garbage and said he left them behind deliberately. Ryu decided he would grab his stuff and go, leaving this crazy old man alone in his cave, and forget about thanking him for the rescue.

"Egg?" Ryu mumbled, not remembering anything about an egg, especially a golden one.

However, before he could speak further, he felt a connection to the egg the moment he touched it, and a warning of the system appeared.

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Understanding what was happening, Ryu's face paled white, his precious treasure wasted on a measly rank 1 beast's egg. If he were to use the primal stone to enhance an egg, he would wait until he could put his hands on the egg of a high-level beast, something that could evolve into a dragon or a phoenix.

The dream of flying through the skies on the top of a large and powerful dragon crossed his mind, making him dispirited, thinking about what could possibly hatch from this egg.

Ryu grabbed the egg tightly and placed it in his arms, protecting it like it was his own egg. Since the worst happened, he would have to accept it and take care of the egg.

"You don't want the dagger?" Feng Po asked, extending a dagger.

In fact, Ryu never gave importance to this dagger.

That was the dagger Clark gave him as a token of friendship, a simple knife made of black steel with a thin layer of rust covering a faded decoration and not even a handle to decorate the piece.

"I can't believe you picked this dagger and left all those talismans and pills behind." Ryu said, holding himself to keep his composure.

"What kind of problem do you have, kid? Do you consider yourself a cultivator but don't even recognize a treasure when it is in your hand?" Feng Po asked, shaking his head in disappointment.

Ryu extended his hands to pick the dagger and inspect it carefully, but no matter how much he looked, it was just a regular rusted knife, which made him feel that the old man was playing a prank on him.