Cloak of the Bear Demon

Bao and Zhen left the chief's home, making their way through the night. It was late but no one in the village was in the mood to sleep, keen on spending possibly their last moments with their sons and brothers.

"You are still planning to follow us, don't you?", Bao asked out of the blue, "Your expression, when mum told you to not leave. I may be a little slow but I am no fool."

Zhen did not say anything.

Bao sighed, "Stubborn as ever, huh."

"If not for me, at least for mother. She is already losing his one son, if you too left she will have no one. She had lost everyone, father, sister, and now me but if she lost you, what would she do?"

Zhen looked down his resolve weakening. Bao said no more and an uneasy silence settled between brothers.

Zhen finally spoke, "Come with me, I will show you something." and sets off at a brisk pace towards the forest.

Bao followed after Zhen, his now strength helping to keep pace. Soon they reached a familiar clearing in the forest.

"This place..."

The trees around the clearing were flattened and a huge crater stood in the center, a little away from the cliff face.

Zhen looked at the crater and suppressed a shudder. To this date, he had no idea how he survived the Heavenly Tribulations as a mortal.

Crossing around the crater, Zhen reached the cliff wall and tapped the wall in a specific pattern, pushing his qi into the hidden formation at every tap. Since he entered the Qi gathering realm, he had updated the formation hiding his lair.

The wall disappeared and a large cave appeared on the cliff wall. The entrance was large enough to fit a tow of his houses and it only got larger inside, walls were too smooth, to be dug with a pickaxe.

Zhen motioned Bao to follow inside. There was no torch inside but neither Zhen nor Bao had much difficulting seeing with smidges of moonlight that reached inside the cave. Despite being only in the first great realm of cultivation, they were far from mortals.

The cave ended into a large caravan, and Bao gasped upon seeing what was inside. A myriad of leaves, flowers, seeds, and fruits stacked systematically near the walls of the cavern. A small hole in the ground spewed out red flames in a corner; cleanly skinned hides and fur of animals littered the floor. But the thing that shocked Bao most was the carcass of a Bear, that looked larger than their entire house, lay in the middle of the room.

'You...you Zhen, just how?", Bao questioned, shocked. The beast of this size could not have been weak.

"Brother, don't ask and I won't lie," Zhen said, picking up a sharp obsidian shard and an animal skin he had turned into a halfway decent parchment. He then dipped the sharp obsidian in an ink paste and began to draw an arcane pattern on the animal skin.

After finishing the small but complicated pattern, he nodded in satisfaction at his work. He then picked up the parchment and handed it to Bao.

Seeing Bao's puzzled expression, he explained, "After you leave with the army, we would not have any way to contact each other. This here is the identification formula of a transmission talisman. In the future, take it to a talisman master and have him create a transmission talisman with it. You can contact me through it."

Bao nodded and took the parchment before his mind came to halt, and he realized, "You don't plan to leave!"

Zhen shook his head, "No I will leave,"

"But not now, someday in the future, Yes, but not today or tomorrow."

He continued, "You are right, It would be... selfish of me to leave mum alone and I am too young, no matter how strong."

Bao looked at Zhen in shock. Bao knew how stubborn his little brother was, once he decided on something, he got at it with all the determination of a hard-headed bull. Dissuading him is an exercise in futility, and reasoning with him...well forget about it, Zhen was the smartest person he knew by a wide margin and he was only eight years old; he would tear your reasoning into shreds within seconds.

For him to compromise, Bao never thought such a day would come.

Zhen paid no mind to Bao's shock and jumped up, landing on the head of the huge Goldbear. Taking out a dagger from the spatial ring, he dug it into its tough fur and started to tear it apart. The gold fur was tougher than the steel and individual hair stood out like quills of iron. It would become an excellent armor.

Taking a large piece of fur from the bear, he moved to dip it into a vat containing ichor made by mixing spiritual fruits and crude oil. It was a special method to make fur resilient and strong so much so that even cultivators in the false core realm will have a problem cutting into it.

After it was completely covered in ichor, Zhen pulled it out and moved to the fire pit. Under the puzzling glance of his elder brother, Zhen injected his qi into the fire pit that was nurturing the flame spirit. The flame was still immature and not useable for alchemy but it was enough for refining the fur.

Controlling the flame with precision, he placed the ichor-covered fur on the flame. The ichor caught fire, burning in a light green shade. The heat, spiritual plants, and essence qi worked together to refine the piece of fur. Soon entire ichor was burned off and only a piece of fur in dull gold and bronze remained.

Picking up the fur, he walked to Bao and draped it onto his back. The fur piece wrapped around him like a cloak. Bao looked at it in wonder, the fur was soft and silky, the hide under felt strong despite being elastic.

"Consider this cloak a gift, it would protect you from the attacks of most low-level cultivators."

Bao shook his head, he knew this cloak was extraordinary. Even a small piece of fabric that can defend against attacks of even Qi gathering cultivator would cost more than the entire village and he did not think Zhen meant Qi gathering experts when he said 'low-level' cultivators.

Bao opened his mouth to protest but closed it upon seeing the look on Zhen's face, accepting his cloak and carefully wrapping it around his shoulders.

"Make no mistake brother, I am allowing you to sacrifice yourself for me but... this is the last time I let it happen", Zhen said, letting out his inner discontent. He loved his mother, his family, and his village, and seeing them split, he hated it but he hated most was feeling useless.

"Next time we meet, I will be the one saving you and not the other way around."