The slog through the rain forest from the Sect to Xiwang was exhausting. The forest canopy was too dense to have Storm flying overhead to keep an eye out for predators for the most part. She was able to give warnings, her perception allowing her to 'see' what the canopy hid, but that didn't mean we had any choice but to face whatever we encountered. She had just sent me a warning of a tier two feline species that had some of the same markings and characteristics of a saber-tooth tiger.

I had managed to collect a mixed bag of people willing to leave the Sect and join me, so it was impossible for me to simply take flight and leave them to fend for themselves. I had tried to be selective, at least for this first batch of recruitment, and had managed to gather people with most of the skills that I needed. Not every skill, but enough to get the Dojo built and a foundation of cultivators settled in to help with training secondary professions and maintenance.

I would have to assume the role of weapons trainer for now. No one I had interviewed had any real talent at combat. They had focused their time and talents on the secondary professions. I was certain Sect members interested in the Rift would cover that weapon training, eventually.

Other than Siam, who I planned to task with the creation and running of a Beast Taming Hall for the Dojo, I had also found a few cultivators that had at least real talent in the secondary professions and could be placed in charge of their respective fields of interest. I'd even managed to snag two Alchemists that were willing to join once I promised them a supply of the Golden Lodoicea seedpods.

The Herbalist I enticed was the highest-ranked cultivator. She had failed her first attempted tribulation to gain the Qi Gathering Realm, but she had survived and was honing her body to make another attempt. She had come away from that encounter with a better and deeper understanding of the interplay between plants and the land, but with that failure at ascension, she had lost her position as an Outer Sect member.

There was a real stigma faced by cultivators that failed Heaven's tribulation within Sects and Clans. They believed those rare individuals that lived with their cultivation intact to be tainted, and few of them would ever progress. Most believed that Heaven gave you one chance to ascend, and if you failed, you either died or lived the rest of your life Realm locked.

For most, that was true. Very few people had the drive to try again. They would need to be brave enough to face another Tribulation that was more profound than the original. Some did make a second attempt and prevailed, but those who did were as rare as being blessed with a Gold Spirit Root.

She was a talented Herbalist with a Tin Spirit Root and life affinity. Her spirit root was only one tier lower than mine, but it was her affinity that was the real prize. Life affinity was rare and prized by herbalists of any rank. I was going to rely on her to help create a spirit herb formation that mirrored the elements, something very like what Flowing Water Sect had done. Water, air, and earth seemed easy enough to manage. It was fire and some of the more esoteric affinities that presented the real obstacle.

No one besides me had a beast companion that could fly. That would change. It was only a matter of time. I intended to let Siam bond with the adult male Roc. I was going to give him his pick, but decided against it. I didn't have the luxury of time that it would take for him to rank up any of the juveniles.

It would make things easier for him, bonding with the adult. He was at the perfected stage of Body Refinement and would actually get a boost to cultivation by bonding with the higher-level animal. The young Rocs would be able to tier up, but it would take time unless he faced his tribulation and advanced to the Qi Gathering Realm. That was the largest drawback of bonding with an animal at the perfected stage. It would take twice as much effort to increase a beast's stage if it was rated lower than the cultivator.

It left little room for growth. It would waste the baby Rocs on him. They were much better off being placed with the new cultivators that had decided to join my House and become Beast Tamer Cultivators. As they advanced from low, middle, high, and perfected tier of Body Cultivating Realm their bonded companions would grow with them.

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That was a great advantage to what I had planned, and one of the biggest drawbacks. The fleet of Beast Tamers that I envisioned to link my territory and create trade routes would have to wait until the cultivators and their bonded advanced far enough that they could carry the cultivator and fly together. But by starting fresh, they would have an advantage in leveling up and forming a bond that was stronger.

Siam promised that flying would be possible by the mid-level stage of Body Refinement, the techniques the Beast Tamers cultivated would add a boost to growth that Storm as my companion hadn't had access to. They wouldn't be adults until after they faced their tribulation, but they would be juveniles. Tier-one beasts, able to fight, protect, and fly with their bonded.

The feline that Stormed had warned me about was a spirit beast. That gave it abilities and skills that made it more deadly than it already was. I had been watching it and noticed increased strength, speed, and an ability to slash using something similar to a sword technique.

What was even more troubling was its ability to hide. For me, that wasn't a real disadvantage, my perception was high enough not to worry. But if it broke their line of sight, even for a second, the cultivators traveling with me would be useless. If it weren't for my perception, the people I was leading would have been decimated.

The forest growth made it all but impossible to use arrows to fight from a distance. Anytime I tried, it managed to dodge and retreat behind one of the larger trees. Once it managed to hide, it would take to tree branches so that it could spring at us from above. It was more leopard while hunting than a lion or tiger.

Most of the people that I was leading were more craftsmen than cultivators. They were not fighters, and cultivated techniques that would give them control of their Qi and little else.

Siam was an exception. He had a bear bonded companion that was large enough and tough enough to contend with the cat. I had expected him to be able to help defend and attack, so I wasn't surprised when he acted. I hadn't expected Moa to be as helpful as she turned out to be.

Moa had a strong earth affinity and had a real talent for construction. She had helped carve out the tunnel system and enlarge it so that the Sect's underground buildings could be created. I had recruited her for her building skills. It was her quick thinking that allowed me to finally deal with the cat. Its agility and speed was simply too high for me to do anything more than defend, not if I wanted to protect my people.

I'd gotten a few slashes in, using the reams of fabric that had become as much a weapon as my Tessen and Bow proved the more effective. It fouled the animal's leaps, forcing it to slash its way out of fabric that moved to my will to wrap and trap. Unfortunately, the fabric was easily defeated with the Qi-infused talons the cat brandished.

Moa had created a pit trap deep enough that the animal couldn't get out while I was fighting. That she was able to create a hole so quickly was interesting, that she was able to create it under the cat as it leaped down from a tree branch was astounding. Her control over earth was so complete that she was able to react and place her construct where the cat would land.

It wasn't until the cat had landed on what looked like solid ground that the earth opened beneath it, capturing it. A close examination on my part showed a twenty-foot-deep pit with walls polished into an almost glass-like finish. The cat would not be climbing out, and now that it was trapped, it was easy enough for me to finish it off with a well-aimed arrow.

Moa manipulated the earth after I had killed the animal to raise its corpse and remove the trap she had created. The animal was quickly harvested, the process almost mechanical as different people scrambled for choice parts of the beast.

I gave the beast's core to Moa. The animal was a tier-two spirit beast, so the core was a real boon. The skin, bones, teeth, and claws would be fashioned into armor or weapons, and the meat would be treated and cooked so that it was safe to eat, at least for anyone in the Body Refinement Realm.

There was some discussion about what to do with some of the animal's organs, but I had that discussion tabled until we reached town. The parts could be used for Alchemy and Arrays, but with spatial devices, there was no immediacy in making a decision.

I looked at the people I was leading with different eyes, the beginning of pride at acceptance part of the words of praise I shared. It was nice to know that I had the beginnings of a real House. People willing to support each other. People willing to step up and do what they could, even when it wasn't asked of them or expected of them.

These cultivators would make a good start, and I took comfort in knowing that this might be only the beginning, but it was looking more and more like the foundation I was building for myself and my people would prove steady.