Cultivator in a Zombie Apocalypse

Chapter Seventy Six - The Mind of a Scholar

The soldiers settled in to their new, though temporary accommodation and given tools to keep it clean. Ren Zexian also provided lessons on how to cultivate, teaching Luke, Thomas and Theo a generic cultivation method, for their root combinations were not simple. As for Faith, he felt that the Dancing Sword method was best for the female warrior, while he had only one cultivation method to offer Zak; the Radiance of Heart method.

Each cultivation method had its benefits and its flaws, for example, the water method he had taught Tyler primarily focused upon the variations of ice and cold, thus would his body become more cold to the touch and he would find being in such weather more comfortable as he progressed. And in counterbalance, he would find heat unpleasant, although this side effect was easily countered by one's own spiritual energy.

The Dancing Sword was a flexible and gentle cultivation method, even though it was for the metal based roots. This effected the manipulation of the element, but one's inner spirit. Like all cultivation methods, one's temperament could be effected if one was susceptible to influence. Of course, Masters generally would not have selected such people to apprentice less they become affected by heart demons and fall upon the demonic path.

The Radiance of the Heart method... well... it was the only light based cultivation method in Ren Zexian's repertoire, so no need to worry the fellow learning it.

As for the others studying the generic method, Ren Zexian did not plan for this to be a long term solution. In the previous world, he was something of a scholar and had adapted and improved cultivation methods based on his understanding of such things. He was certain he could create more person cultivation methods for each student at some point.

Ah, Chang Min thought of the stories Elder Yu Zhang had told him about Ren Zexian's long history, if the souls of former Cultivators from his world were aware he was gifting his wisdom so freely, they would spit ectoplasm and curse his new students to never enter the reincarnation cycle upon their deaths! Not that his Master wasn't a generous man, only that he used to disappear for decades at a time, wandering in search of ancient scripts or hide away in deep contemplation, not willing to be disturbed while he was pondering over things. Or so he'd heard.

While the new students were debating whether or not to go along with the 'delusions' of meditation, the small haven's occupants were sorting out accommodating the hens.  The birds were naturally nervous of their new environment, used to a warehouse without much natural light and frankly they hadn't arranged coops nor henhouses, thinking their luck wouldn't be so great to obtain hens on their first attempt of trade.  So for the first night, they were placed in a shed on the second mansion's grounds.  This actually proved to be a wise decision, the dim light calming the hens.

During the second day, the truck left for the old farmhouse that they had last raided to take the ready made fencing and coops for the hens, then the birds, shed and everything else was set up next to the sheep's home.  Dexter lead Winston and Paul into adapting the ensemble so that the hens' new two story home had a permanent roof and was only a little exposed to the elements; they could still root around in dirt and grass beneath the stilts of their coop and an area surrounding it. The sheep were hardy, already mutated and so were less vulnerable to the contaminated rain, but the birds were all normal. Better to be a bit safer than sorry.

They thought it would take several more days before the birds felt settled enough to begin to breed and lay eggs, but the group kept checking in on them daily, just in case.

*****

A tray of fertile soil rest upon the tabletop. Several small holes had been poked into the dark earth and happened to be spaced extremely evenly across and along the rectangular tray as if someone had taken a ruler to ensure the spacing was exact. A seed dropped into the first hole and then the second.