《Eat and Grow Strong (Old)》 Prologue I watched the stars scattered throughout the night sky through the window. The curtain was left open. The nurse on duty must have forgotten. I wondered if I should call out to her and ask her to draw it for me but decided against it in the end. My body felt extremely weak. Even lifting a single finger required me to exert all my effort. My end was nigh. I knew it. But I felt nothing about it. No. Rather, I felt glad about it. I had enough of living a life that was only waiting excruciatingly for death. I had enough of seeing my parents¡¯ guilt-ridden eyes, which silently accused me of being a burden. I had enough of those pitying gazes that everyone around me seemed to think was their duty to send towards me. Death, to me, was a sweet escape.Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. With each passing moment, I could feel my strength slowly draining away from me. My eyelids felt heavy. Giving the starry sky one final look, I decided to close my eyes. I sighed. I wanted to taste all the delicacies in the world. Now, it could only remain a dream. Due to my frail body, I lived most of my life on Life Support. I was barred from eating many kinds of food. ¡°It is not good for your body,¡± they said. I knew they were speaking the truth. But that didn¡¯t stop me from developing a strong yearning for good food. The stuff that I was allowed to eat was barely palatable. I tried to sigh again. But I couldn¡¯t. My breath got caught in my throat. Breathing was starting to become difficult for me. If there is a next life, I prayed. Please let me have a constitution strong enough to eat anything. My consciousness became heavy. It started to drift away towards oblivion¡­ Ding!
Congratulations! You have acquired [Innards of a God].
01. Innards of a God
I awoke to a melodious bell-like ¡®ding!¡¯ sound. No. It would be more accurate to say, I regained consciousness, as it was not my body waking up from a state of rest. But let¡¯s leave those technicalities aside for now. A blue panel appeared on the bottom right corner of my vision.
Your soul has crossed over to another world! A suitable vessel will be constructed for your soul. Please wait¡­
When I willed it, the message quietly faded away. I couldn¡¯t help giving a celebratory pose inside. If I could, I would have yelled and danced in joy. I mean we are talking about the whole going to another world business here; and, with a game-like system to boot. Anyone with a sliver of adventure of in their heart would flip themselves out in happiness if such a chance was presented to them. Ding!
The construction of your vessel has started! Progress: 0.000001% Please wait¡­ (Remember, patience is a virtue.)
Patience is a virtue? It almost sounded like coaxing. Wait a minute¡­ What''s with those zeros?A bad premonition rose in my heart. And it didn¡¯t take me long to realize how right I was! I waited for the progress bar to reach hundred percent. Then I waited for some more. And then, I waited for some more, again. But the stubborn progress bar climbed at its own leisurely pace, even slower than a snail¡¯s pace. It was enough to drive any sane person insane. I was only able to persevere through the whole ordeal due to having similar experiences before. I spent most of my life¡­ most of my previous life in the bed, unable to move. Two lifetimes. Most of the time spent immobile. I couldn¡¯t help but think that I must have accumulated a serious amount of bad karma. After this passes, I will go out into the world and sow many good seeds of karma, I resolved.
Ding! A sound never felt as heavenly as this. Finally! It felt as if I had waited for an eternity. Well, I did wait for a very loooooonnnng time. With trembling heart, I read the blue window in front of me.
Creation of vessel completed! Running the final calibration¡­ Process completed!
I could sense my body. It felt unfamiliar yet familiar. It was a really strange feeling. Ding!
A new identity has been forged for you. Please enter a name.
It was like creating the profile for a game character. I almost used my previous name by reflex but stopped. My previous life was associated with pain, loneliness and suffering. It was a life I led with a lot of restriction. If possible, I wanted this new life to not be marred by the fate of my previous one. Su Ren, I thought in my head. It was a random name I thought of at that moment. Ding!
The name ¡®Su Ren¡¯ has been designated. Would you like to confirm it?
Yes. Ding!
The name ¡®Su Ren¡¯ has been assigned to your persona!
I opened my eyes to find myself lying in a dimly lit cave. I tried to move my body. Rusty. But there was no difficulty. Moving on with the next order of things, ¡°Status!¡± I muttered, taking cue from the novels that I read. I was not disappointed. A blue window appeared before my eyes.
GENERAL
Name Su Ren AgeThe author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. 10 years old
Cultivation Method N/A Realm N/A
Lifeforce 90/90 (Regeneration: 0.5% per second)
Qi 0/110 (Regeneration: 0.5% per second)
ATTRIBUTES
Strength 5 Physique 9
Movement 4 Control 2
Soul 11 Comprehension 6
Charm 7 Fate 1
INNATE TRAIT(S)
Innards of a God
A little different from what I was expecting. 10 years old? The number did not make sense. I was already nineteen years old when I died, so my soul¡¯s age should be nineteen. Did the status window take the age of my body? That begged another question. Did I spend ten years in that limbo-like state? I decided to ignore it for now. No use getting worked up about something I had no control over. I looked carefully at the different attributes. Strength, easy to understand, was the pure physical offensive strength. Physique was the physical toughness and endurance of the body. With each attribute point in Physique, ten points would be added to Lifeforce. Movement was the overall bodily speed. Control dealt with reflexes, accuracy and other finer movements of the body. Soul depicted the mental faculty, at the same time, perception. With each attribute point in Soul, ten points would be added to Qi. Comprehension showed the learning capacity. It also showed the chances of sudden insights and enlightenment. These were the six basic attributes. Charm and Fate were attributes that were a little vague and hard to define. Charm showed the attractiveness. As for Fate, it was the luck the individual possessed. One could say that it depicted the fortune and misfortune of a person. Since I had no basis for comparison, I was unable to tell how my stats compared to an average person. As for the Cultivation Method, I reckoned I needed to get some jade, scrolls or something like those xianxia novels. Cultivation Realm seemed to be tied together with the Cultivation Method. No Cultivation Method, no Cultivation Realm. No surprise there. The Innate Trait was the inborn talent one was born with. It seemed pretty important. When I willed it, the details of my innate trait [Innards of a God] appeared.
INNARD OF A GOD You can eat anything. There is nothing in the universe you can¡¯t eat. You have chances of acquiring traits from what you have consumed.
Not bad. Not bad at all. With it, I could eat anything in the world. No, strike that, anything in the universe. Although, there were still many things I couldn¡¯t make sense of at the moment, my new life was already off on a good start. I felt a sudden urge to laugh uproariously at the sky. My stomach rumbled as if it had heard my inner thoughts. I propped myself and got up. I moved towards the mouth of the cave. Time to look for some food¡­ A cool breeze hit me. I shivered. I belatedly realized that my body was bare without a single thread on it. And something to wear while I am on it, I thought.
I underestimated the difficulty of procuring food. First of all, I was in the middle of a huge forest. The trees and vegetation that covered the major bulk of the forest was something I had never seen before, let alone come across. Just what you would expect from another world. On top of it, huge creatures roamed the forest. I had to tread my way really carefully or before I knew it, I would lose my little life. Coming to the all-important matter at hand, I was not able to get anything that could be safely consumed. None whatsoever. I know you must be like: Hey, don¡¯t you have that all-powerful trait that enabled you to eat anything? Yes. I possessed that trait. But I was unable to tell whether it granted me immunity to poisons and other ailments. It was a strange world I was in. Anything seemed possible. If I could, I wanted to avoid any form of risk-taking. It was better to be safe than sorry. Alas! Things did not work out, as I wanted. After several hours of frantic search, I was on the verge of collapsing. My stomach was roaring for all it was worth. It threatened to devour me from inside. My head was a mess. It was not in a fit position to make any rational thoughts. All sorts of negative scenarios appeared in my head. Am I going to die? I felt indignant. No. I didn¡¯t want to die. Not after getting this second chance at life, no matter how weird and bizarre it was. As for what I did next, I can¡¯t really explain why I did it. Maybe it was all the emotions that was messing with my head or maybe it was the desperation that was gnawing at my heart. I grabbed a fist-sized rock and bit it. Crunchy. But the taste was bland. It wouldn¡¯t be wrong to say that there was practically no taste to it. I froze. All thoughts in my head stopped. It was like the whole world paused. It must be because of [Innards of a God], I reasoned. With a gulp, I swallowed the rock that I had bitten. A tiny stream of energy flow into my body. My heart perked. I saw hope. I gathered all the rocks I could find and began stuffing for all I was worth. But I soon realized that the amount of energy the rocks were giving were very little. It wouldn¡¯t be surprising if it took months, if not years just to collect enough energy to recover to the state I was in when I first set out from the cave. For some reason, nothing accumulated in my body. It was like I was eating smoke. There was a need for change. I looked at the grasses near around me. Should I? Or should I not? A little tug of war played out in my head. In the end, I stretched out my hand towards a bunch of them. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Gritting myself, I ate the grasses. A pleasant surprise greeted me. The amount of energy I got from the grasses was so much more than the rocks. I promptly decided to change my diet.
Ding!
Congratulations! You have earned +1 Physique.
I wondered just how long had I been eating grass. And just how much grass did I eat. The sun was slowly sinking down the horizon. I decided to head back to the cave. It didn¡¯t feel safe to be in the wilderness, especially during night. I could vaguely remember the way towards the cave. As I walked towards it, I grabbed onto whatever plants my hands could grab on and threw them into my mouth. My stomach was like a bottomless pit. No matter how much I dumped into it, there was no end to it. Even after hours of eating, I was still hungry. If it wasn¡¯t for the closing nightfall, I would have liked to continue filling my stomach. It was discomforting to have a stomach that was constantly growling. Tomorrow, I will find something that will fill my stomach to the brim, I promised myself as I closed my eyes in the dark cave. 02. The Egg Thief After a restless night, I woke up, feeling discomfort all over my body. I had the whole itinerary for the day planned out. Mainly, eating¡­ eating and eating. If possible, I wanted little bites of meat to go in-between. Okay. Okay. I wanted to eat a whole lot of them but it was not good to get ahead of myself. One step at a time, I reminded myself. I adjusted my clothes¡­ a bunch of leaves stringed together with vines. I made sure all of me was covered, except for my eyes, that is. The assortment of leaves not only helped to keep the cold out but also helped me to blend in with the environment. What better camouflage in the forest than leaves? All set. I moved out of the cave for the day¡¯s foray. I munched on the plants around me while looking for small animals like rabbits. So far, no luck. I felt like screaming at the whole unfairness of the situation. The isekai protagonists I read about would go ¡°BAM!¡± and they would have all the delicacies spread out in front of them. Heck, they even had entourage of harem following them. And here I was, trying to make end¡¯s meet. How come I had no such fortune? I couldn¡¯t help thinking back to the measly ¡®1¡¯ I had for my Fate value and lament. It was late into the afternoon when my luck finally observed some changes. I ran across a nest. There was only a single egg. But boy, it was huge! It was at least two meters tall. Glorious. Drool escaped unbidden from my mouth. I had the urge to run and hug the pearly white shell. I tried not to let instinct overcome my rationality. But it was tough, I tell you. Every cell in my body was yelling at me to go and just take the egg. It took all the rationality in my head to rein in the impulse. Whoosh! Moments later, a giant hawk that was at least three meters tall and ten meters long scooped down onto the nest. I shuddered at what could have happened if I had acted recklessly. It took all my courage and self-control to resist the instinct to flee with all my might. I stayed hidden in the thicket I was in, barely daring to breath. With no other alternative, I could only wait. I clutched my stomach, lest it rumbled and gave me away to the giant bird. Good thing I had stuffed in many plants before I came here. In the end, I had to camp out the whole night, afraid to disturb the brooding bird. I was afraid I would bring down a huge calamity upon myself. I watched it fly off to hunt when the sun rose. I was finally able to breath out a sigh of relief. I wanted to return to my cave and get a good rest. The whole ordeal had left me battered and sleep-deprived. The mental strain I suffered was also in no way small. But when I looked at the egg, I felt reluctant. In spite of my cautious nature, I just couldn¡¯t let go of it. Should I or should I not? Now, that was the question. After crossing over, I was beginning to understand how Hamlet really felt. In the end, I decided to make a break for it. I dashed towards the egg with all the speed my movement stat could afford. I hugged the large egg and lifted it. Too heavy. As soon as I lifted the egg, I knew it was impossible for me to take it to my cave where I was planning to eat it at my leisure. My plans fell through. Now, there was only one thing I could do. I punched the egg with all my might. Nothing. Nothing happened to the egg. Apparently, my strength was not enough to break the shell. I felt unwilling. I loathed giving up after all the suffering I had been through. Then I recalled how my teeth were able to bite through the rocks like those rocks were biscuits. Without wasting any more time, I bit onto the egg. My teeth sank into the rock-hard shell my fist could do nothing against, like persimmon. It was a pleasant surprise. A little bit of juice that was egg white seeped out of the hole I made. As soon as it touched my tongue, I felt electric currents ran through my whole body. It was the most delicious thing I had ever eaten. It was like I had lived all my life, make that two lives, just for this moment. I felt glad to be alive. Even if I died after this, I felt I would have no regret left. All my rationality and restrain fled to some tiny corner. The entirety of my head was filled with the heavenly flavor. It felt like blasphemy to think about other stuff when I was savoring this egg. I widened the hole and slurped for all I was worth. It was the most blissful I had ever been. Ding!
Congratulations! You have gained +2 Strength, +5 Physique, +5 Movement, +3 Control, +1 Soul, +1 Comprehension
The familiar notification window appeared after what felt like a long time. I rubbed my stomach in a satisfied manner. If I could see myself, I was sure I would be grinning from ear to ear like a Cheshire cat. My stomach was full for the first time since I crossed over. There was no happiness greater than this. I could feel changes happening to me. I could feel myself grow stronger. Ding!
Congratulations! You have acquired the trait [Hawk Eye].
Still in a state of euphoria, I checked my status.
GENERAL
Name Su Ren Age 10 years old
Cultivation Method N/A Realm N/A
Lifeforce 150/150 (Regeneration: 0.5% per second)
Qi 0/110 (Regeneration: 0.5% per second)
ATTRIBUTESThis tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
Strength 7 Physique 15
Movement 9 Control 5
Soul 12 Comprehension 7
Charm 7 Fate 1
INNATE TRAITS
Innards of a God Hawk Eye
There were noticeable changes in the attribute points. The biggest change was an extra trait. I recalled that [Innards of a God] gave me certain chances of acquiring traits from what I had consumed. It didn¡¯t take a certified genius to figure out that I had gotten another trait due to it. I checked the details of my new trait.
HAWK EYE You can view objects in the far distance as if it is in front of you. Range: 3 Kilometer Range depends on the Soul attribute.
I suddenly remembered a certain matter I had put at the back of my mind in my reckless endeavor to devour the egg. The mother hawk¡­ If she had the same trait¡­ Not good! Cursing my complacency, I surveyed the area around me with my newly acquired trait. I thought it would be like using a telescope or binoculars. I was mistaken. I could see everything within three kilometers like I was watching from above. And the images were magnified to appear as if it was happening right before my eyes. A couple of times, I involuntarily backed away when my eyes lay on the ferocious beasts. This forest was far more dangerous than I had imagined. No sign of the giant hawk in the periphery. Good. Picking a safe path, I made my way towards the cave. I kept my guards up. There were far too many dangers lying in every corner of the forest. I marveled at how I had managed to survive through all these with virtually no inkling about it. I was only able to relax when I reached the cave. Through the [Hawk Eye], I learnt that no beasts came near the cave. It was like something was keeping them off. I will investigate it when I have more leisure. I put off the study of the cave for now. Even if I wanted to, I had no means. Why make futile attempts at what is not really necessary when there are many necessary things waiting to be completed? Later in the afternoon, I heard loud angry screeches resounding throughout the forest. It was the hawk. I stayed put in the cave, not daring to venture out. I looked at the detail of Hawk Eye again.
HAWK EYE You can view objects in the far distance as if it is in front of you. Range: 3 Kilometer Range depends on the Soul attribute.
I could see many possibilities with the new trait I had acquired. Slowly but surely, a plan started to hatch in my mind. And thus, began the legend of the Egg Thief. But that¡¯s a story for another time. No. Not really.
I hummed as I made my way towards the cave. More than a week had passed from the time I had eaten my first egg. The number of eggs I ate since then had passed hundreds. After acquiring [Hawk Eye], I never had to go hungry. The only complain I had at the moment was, there was no variation to my meal. It was either eggs or plants. Or in some rare occasions, some fruits. I wanted to hunt animals, mind you. But this one time, I noticed a tiny rat, which was barely twenty centimeters take down a huge boar that was at least seven meters. That dissuaded me from hunting. A harmless bunny just might kill you within seconds. Until I found a way to gauge the power level, I was planning to put hunting on an indefinite hold. I looked at the egg I was carrying with satisfaction. My stats had grown strong enough for me to carry a giant egg effortlessly. Yet I couldn¡¯t help frowning. Lately, the beasts in the forest were getting restless. Well, I guess I had a huge hand in it. What with me stealing their eggs all over the place? Still, I couldn''t help but feel troubled. I was afraid, there would be a beast stampede soon. That¡¯s why I was stockpiling my supply of eggs. I was planning to lie low for some time. ¡°Status,¡± I muttered.
GENERAL
Name Su Ren Age 10 years old
Cultivation Method N/A Realm N/A
Lifeforce 640/640 (Regeneration: 0.5% per second)
Qi 0/540 (Regeneration: 0.5% per second)
ATTRIBUTES
Strength 35 Physique 64
Movement 43 Control 42
Soul 54 Comprehension 23
Charm 4 Fate 5
INNATE TRAITS
Innards of a God Hawk Eye
All my stats grew, except for Charm, which for some reason decreased by three. Even my luck stat grew. Guess those close shaves that I encountered contributed towards it. I hadn¡¯t managed to get a new trait in spite of consuming many eggs; therefore, I chalked up the first one for beginner¡¯s luck. Would I be able to go against those beasts? I wondered, not for the first time. The increase in stat points that I was getting from eggs had been decreasing lately. There were even times where I got none. If I wanted to grow stronger, I would have to kill the beasts and eat them. But I didn¡¯t want to take chances. Lost in thought, I soon reached my cave. ¡°What in the world happened here?¡± A murmur escaped unbidden from my mouth. I unconsciously dropped the egg that I was carrying. Thankfully, it was safe due to its thick shell. But the eggs that I had stockpiled weren¡¯t. Broken eggshells was lying everywhere in the cave. Egg white and yolk were spread all over the floor. The culprit, a fat white cat with black stripes with wings, no, a white tiger cub with wings, corked its head inquisitively at me. ¡°Nuu~¡± it purred. My eggs. My efforts. It was all gone. Destroyed by a single mischievous tiger cub. The most infuriating thing was, it hadn¡¯t even eaten much of it. Yet there was not a single egg left undestroyed. Rage, like never before built in my head. All I wanted to do was tear the little culprit into pieces. Ding!
Since you are the first person it has seen, the white tiger cub has imprinted you as its parent. The white tiger cub has initiated a bond with you. Would you like to accept it?
I was so angry, I did not read through the notification carefully. I waved it away. I picked up the cub roughly. It didn''t seem to suspect anything. It didn''t seem to feel my rage and killing intent. It looked innocently at me. Ding!
Congratulations! You have created a bond with the white tiger cub. Please give it a name¡­
Before I could figure out the situation, an immature voice said in my head, ¡°Fa...ther...¡± I froze. What? Things happened so fast that I was left befuddled. I looked at the notification that had yet to fade away and the little white tiger cub. I could sense some sort of connection with the little guy who was purring ¡°Nuu~ Nuu~¡± in my hand. Maybe I can eat this fellow. As soon as that thought appeared in my heard, an incredible amount of guilt overwhelmed me. I felt disgust at myself for thinking like that. It was the bond. It had made me see the little white tiger cub as family. I shook my head in dejection. Forget it. This could also be considered as me accruing good karma. Maybe, the little fellow might grow up to a dependable helper in future. The little guy looked at me happily, without realizing how close it, no, I should say, he had been from being eaten. ¡°I guess I should give you a name.¡± I thought about it for a while. ¡°Byakko.¡± That was the only thing that came to my mind. It was one of the mythical animals in my previous world. A white tiger. Ding!
The name ¡®Byakko¡¯ has been assigned to the white tiger cub.
The little fellow frolicked happily in my hands. The cave looked as if a storm had passed through it. I sighed. In the end I could only grit my teeth and start cleaning. 03. Treasures of Nature ¡°Byakko, hold the fort.¡± I waved at the white tiger cub that was seeing me off from the entrance of the cave. ¡°Nuu~¡± the little fellow protested. He shot me a resentful look. I laughed. The little guy wanted to come together with me. But I adamantly refused him. I mean he was just a newborn. He was all wobbly when he moved around for a long time. If I took him with me, he would be nothing more than a burden. Although he had a lot of potential, he was still very weak. He was simply too young. I had already seen his status due to the bond we shared.
GENERAL
Name Byakko Age 1 day old
Race White Tiger Realm Qi Gathering 1 (5/100 Essence)
Lifeforce 110/110 (Regeneration: 1% per second)
Qi 100/100 (Regeneration: 1% per second)
ATTRIBUTES
Strength 11 Physique 11
Movement 15 Control 15
Soul 10 Comprehension 5
Charm 10 Fate 10
INNATE TRAIT
Wings of the Heavenly Tiger
Bonded to: Su Ren
The biggest difference between humans and magical beasts, from what I conjectured after seeing Byakko¡¯s status, was the way we cultivated. Humans were required to have a Cultivation Method to cultivate whereas magical beasts had their path to cultivation wide open by the simple virtue of being magical beasts. They could start cultivating as soon as they were born. Byakko was already at the Qi Gathering Layer 1 while I had yet to cultivate. Still, his stats were a far cry from mine. I felt a strange surge of confidence brimming inside my heart. I was much stronger than I had credited myself for. I plucked some random plants on the wayside and munched on them. Plants rarely provided increase in stat points. But I didn¡¯t care. I was in love with the whole act of eating. The gain of stat points, to me, was a bonus. I decided to change the location of my hunting ground. The beasts in my previous one were going wild with frenzy. It was better not to prod a hornet¡¯s nest that was already raging. I moved deeper into the forest. Ding!
Congratulations! You have acquired the trait [Photosynthesis].
I spat out the stuff I was eating. What the hell? No matter how I looked at it, this newly acquired trait [Photosynthesis] sounded ridiculous. It must be a troll trait. That was what I thought. It was like the system was telling me that I had eaten so many plants that I was starting to turn into one myself. Not holding much hope, I checked the details of the trait.
PHOTOSYNTHESIS Enables you to absorb Pure Yang Qi from the sun and store it in your body. Regeneration of Qi will increase by 5% in areas filled with Pure Yang Qi.
Oh! The trait turned out more decent than I thought. Especially the increase of Qi regeneration by 5%. Even if it was only in places with Pure Yang Qi. From my compendium of xianxia knowledge, I knew Pure Yang Qi meant concentration of high heat energy. So, places with Pure Yang Qi should be locations like volcanic regions. My Lifeforce and Qi Regeneration was still 0.5% per second, which meant that I would recover all my Lifeforce and Qi in 200 seconds, which roughly translates to a little more than three minutes. But in a battle, there would be many factors at play. I wasn¡¯t very optimistic about my regeneration rate, given the opponent would also have similar or higher regeneration rate. Smiling in satisfaction, I continued my way forward. A little while later, I came across a small pond. I checked my surrounding with [Hawk Eye]. With the growth in my Soul, the range I could see with it was a whooping thirteen kilometers. I could make out several beasts around. But none of them were close enough for me to be wary about. I carefully undid the vines that held the leaves together. I didn¡¯t want to wreck it. It was the result of several hours of painful labor. It would definitely break my heart if I damaged it due to mishandling. It had been a long while since I had last washed myself. Correction. I had not washed myself since I had crossed over to this world. My body was starting to feel itchy. That¡¯s why, the first thing I thought when I saw the pond was to wash myself. I guess it had something to do with a modern person¡¯s sensitivities. A fat person with dirt and grime all over his body stared back at me. Is that me? I looked at the figure reflected on the still surface of the water in disbelief. I couldn¡¯t bring myself to believe it because the figure was simply too ugly. Granted, I felt my belly protruding out lately but this¡­ No wonder I was losing points in the charm stat. [Innards of a God] was not as OP as I expected it to be. It enabled me to eat anything and a huge amount to boot. But it did nothing about my weight. I thought of controlling my diet but quickly dismissed the idea. Eating to my heart¡¯s content was my raison d¡¯etre. I was not going to compromise it no matter what. So what if I looked a little unsightly? I quickly washed myself and checked my status.
GENERAL
Name Su Ren Age 10 years old
Cultivation Method N/A Realm N/A
Lifeforce 640/640 (Regeneration: 0.5% per second)
Qi 0/540 (Regeneration: 0.5% per second)
ATTRIBUTESStolen story; please report.
Strength 35 Physique 64
Movement 43 Control 42
Soul 54 Comprehension 23
Charm 6 Fate 5
INNATE TRAITS
Innards of a God Hawk Eye Photosynthesis
Bond: Byakko (White Tiger)
My charm had upped by two points. No. I should say my charm had recovered by two points. I closed the status window. It had already been several hours since I set out. Yet I still had to find eggs that I could take to my cave. It was not that I didn¡¯t see any eggs. In fact, with my [Hawk Eye], I saw many eggs on my way here. The thing was, it was not left unguarded like in my previous territory. One or other beast would be constantly guarding it. As I moved deeper into the forest, the presence of ferocious beasts was getting more and more. Maybe that was the reason the beasts around here were so guarded. In the end, I could only give up. I turned and retraced my steps. I tried to look for other alternatives. Like fruits. Although, it wasn¡¯t as fulfilling as the eggs and didn¡¯t give as much boost in stat points, it was still delicious. At the end of the day, it was all that mattered. It was fine as long as I could get eat something. Before long, I found a bunch of fruits some two kilometers away from where I was. And most important of all, there was no beasts around that area. It was like the ferocious beasts were all avoiding that place. I cautiously made my way towards that spot. As I neared the area, a clear stream of energy entered my head that made my mind unusually clear. Every step I inched closer, that clearness in my head grew. At that moment, it felt like nothing would confuse my head. The fruits were extraordinary. I could feel it in my gut. I picked one of the fruits. It was the size of an apple. I paused. I had already verified that nothing I ate would harm me. Well, except, maybe make me fatter. Still, I couldn¡¯t shake off the hesitation in my heart. Yet at the same time, I had a huge urge to eat it. In the end, I gave in to my natural instinct. With a crunch, I took a bite of the fruit. Super sweet and juicy. It was the nature at its best. I wanted to describe the whole sensation vividly but there¡¯s simply no word to describe what I savored. Otherworldly. That¡¯s the only thing I could say. I quickly gobbled up the rest of the fruit. Then I had the weirdest experience ever. Add frightening while we are at it. My stomach started to churn and a huge amount of energy began to spread all over my body. My body began to inflate like a balloon. At one point, it became as round as a ball. My body was frantically absorbed the rampant energy. I so regretted my reckless act of eating the fruit against my better judgment. There was nothing I could do but wait, fearful and helpless. Slowly, to my relief, the out of control energy was absorbed in its entirety. My inflated body also shrank, thank the heavens above. The most surprising thing was, my insatiable stomach was full with just a fruit. That was really shocking. Ding!
You have consumed Clear Spirit Fruit. Congratulations! You have gained +1 Physique, +20 Soul, +40 Comprehension
Holy! That was the highest amount of stat points I ever gained. I quickly checked my status.
GENERAL
Name Su Ren Age 10 years old
Cultivation Method N/A Realm N/A
Lifeforce 650/650 (Regeneration: 0.5% per second)
Qi 0/740 (Regeneration: 0.5% per second)
ATTRIBUTES
Strength 35 Physique 65
Movement 43 Control 42
Soul 74 Comprehension 63
Charm 6 Fate 5
INNATE TRAITS
Innards of a God Hawk Eye Photosynthesis
Bond: Byakko (White Tiger)
I could already feel the effect of the increase in my soul and comprehension. My thoughts felt much clearer than before. Things that appeared difficult were much easier to understand now. Thinking that I had enough excitement for the day, I headed back. Naturally, I didn¡¯t forget to pick the fruits. There were seven of them. A nice haul, if you ask me. An excited Byakko greeted me at the cave entrance. It went, ¡°Nuu~ Nuu~¡± as soon as he saw. ¡®Father¡¯ was still the only word it could understand and utter, if you could count the whole telepathy thing as talking. But somehow, I was able to vaguely understand him. It must be due to our bond. It was simply impossible to hate this little guy. He seemed to grow on you the more time you spent with him. I picked him up in my arms and went into the cave. ¡°Nuu~¡± the little fellow purred. He was hungry. I belatedly realized that, apart from the Clear Spirit Fruits, I had found nothing to eat. Our stock of eggs was already gone. Well, Byakko had destroyed all the eggs, apart from the one that I had brought. We already finished it that every evening. I took out one of the fruits and hesitated. The fruit was too potent. Even with my [Innards of a God], I had a difficult time ingesting it. But leaving little Byakko hungry just didn¡¯t sit right with me. I scrapped a real tiny piece of the fruit and brought it to Byakko¡¯s mouth. He licked the piece in with his tongue. I fearfully observed if there was any weird changes with the little guy. Luckily, there was none. Byakko looked at me as if he was asking for more. No. He was asking for more. I scrapped another tiny piece and gave it to him. I continued this process for five more times. Finally, Byakko purred his trademark ¡°Nuu~¡± in satisfaction and then fell asleep. I checked Byakko¡¯s status.
GENERAL
Name Byakko Age 1 day old
Race White Tiger Realm Qi Gathering 1 (9/100 Essence)
Lifeforce 110/110 (Regeneration: 1% per second)
Qi 100/100 (Regeneration: 1% per second)
ATTRIBUTES
Strength 11 Physique 11
Movement 15 Control 15
Soul 11 Comprehension 7
Charm 10 Fate 10
INNATE TRAIT
Wings of the Heavenly Tiger
Bonded to: Su Ren
There was increase of one point in soul and two points in comprehension. Not a bad growth. I decided I would feed scraps of Clear Spirit Fruit and raise Byakko¡¯s soul and comprehension. And maybe, find other fruits with similar effect on other attributes. I took out a new fruit and ate it. I felt the effects were bigger when taken as a whole. I saved the previous one for Byakko. It just might be my misplaced misunderstanding playing with me. This time, I took the fruit slowly, letting the rampant energy sink in with each bite. Even when I finished the whole fruit, there was no repeat of the previous episode. I learnt a valuable lesson. Eat slowly. Ding!
You have consumed Clear Spirit Fruit. Congratulations! You have gained +1 Physique, +20 Soul, +40 Comprehension
I thought there would be a loss of efficacy or something but the effects were the same as before. I mumbled, ¡°Status.¡±
GENERAL
Name Su Ren Age 10 years old
Cultivation Method N/A Realm N/A
Lifeforce 660/660 (Regeneration: 0.5% per second)
Qi 0/740 (Regeneration: 0.5% per second)
ATTRIBUTES
Strength 35 Physique 66
Movement 43 Control 42
Soul 94 Comprehension 99
Charm 6 Fate 5
INNATE TRAITS
Innards of a God Hawk Eye Photosynthesis
Bond: Byakko (White Tiger)
Wait a minute. The math didn¡¯t quite add up. Wasn¡¯t comprehension supposed to be 103? The only explanation I could think of was a bottleneck. From what I knew, it was a very common occurance on the journey of cultivation. I wondered if that was the limit of a non-cultivator. I needed to find a cultivation method if I wanted to break through the limits imposed on me. It was about time I tried to come in contact with other humans.
The monster opened its eyes that were like slits. Why did it wake up? It shouldn¡¯t be more than a few millenniums since it started to rest. It was not yet the time for it to wake up. The wound on its body that it sustained during that battle was still festering. It had yet to recover fully. It felt some disturbances coming from the ground above. A nostalgic scent of hot blood running through veins hit its nostril. Saliva started to accumulate its mouth. Why not partake on the prey that had willingly delivered itself to its doorstep? It wouldn¡¯t hurt to have some snacks in-between his rest. The monster stirred its body. 04. The First Battle ¡°Byakko, it¡¯s time to eat,¡± I called out. I heard some rustles coming from some part of the cave. The cave we were living was much deeper than I had expected. But I never felt the need to explore it. As long as it provided shelter, I was fine with it. The little white tiger cub, on the other hand, took to exploring the area. I couldn¡¯t blame him. I forbad it from going outside. The outside was still not safe for the little guy. He must be feeling stifled inside. I soon saw the tiny figure dart out towards me. I took out an assortment of fruits. Ever since I found the Clear Spirit Fruits, which was about a week ago, I had been foraying the forest for fruits with effects similar to it. Over the course of days, I came across many fruits that provided boosts to the stats but none of them came close to the potency of the Clear Spirit Fruits. Heck, they didn¡¯t even reach a tenth of the efficacy of the Clear Spirit Fruits. As of now, my status ran like this.
GENERAL
Name Su Ren Age 10 years old
Cultivation Method N/A Realm N/A
Lifeforce 890/890 (Regeneration: 0.5% per second)
Qi 0/990 (Regeneration: 0.5% per second)
ATTRIBUTES
Strength 87 Physique 89
Movement 89 Control 92
Soul 99 Comprehension 99
Charm 6 Fate 8
INNATE TRAITS
Innards of a God Hawk Eye Photosynthesis
Bond: Byakko (White Tiger)
As for Byakko¡­
GENERAL
Name Byakko Age 8 day old
Race White Tiger Realm Qi Gathering 2 (17/200 Essence)
Lifeforce 250/250 (Regeneration: 1% per second)
Qi 250/250 (Regeneration: 1% per second)
ATTRIBUTES
Strength 20 Physique 25
Movement 23 Control 23
Soul 25 Comprehension 18
Charm 10 Fate 10
INNATE TRAIT
Wings of the Heavenly Tiger
Bonded to: Su Ren
It was some great growth, especially for Byakko. The fruits that we ate enabled him to reach Qi Gathering Layer 2 really fast, which added extra five points to all the six basic attributes on top of the stat points he earned through eating fruits. The increase in comprehension was doing wonders for him. His learning speed and capacity had increased by leaps and bounds. I could already hold conversation with him in my head. Well, sort of. That was not the only thing I did. I tried my best to search for signs of other humans. Every time I saw the two stat values that were stuck at 99 and refused to budge no matter what I did, it frustrated me to no ends. I needed to get my hands on a cultivation method. But so far I had no luck. After the meal, I accompanied Byakko and lazed around in the cave. Thump! The cave shook. More thumps followed. Before I could do anything, a giant pair of eyes appeared in my mind. An unreasonable primal fear struck my heart. I didn¡¯t know what was happening. But I knew what I had to do. I had to get away from here. Fast. I tried to flee. But to no avail. My body refused to listen to me. It was frozen. The eyes that appeared in my head held me captive. The ground a few meters in front of me cracked open. The head of a huge snake, the likes of one I had never seen in my life, rose up from it.This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. Byakko, run!I sent a mental message to the little guy. He was behind me, near the entrance of the cave. The serpent had all its attention drawn on me at the moment. He should be able to make it if he made a run for it. Byakko replied with a whimper. I could sense his reluctance to leave. RUN! I yelled in my head with all my might. I threatened to cut all ties with him if he refused to leave. Finally, he left. I sighed in relief. I could sense his presence leaving further from the cave through the link of our bond. The entire body of the snake came out of the ground. The eyes that were really similar to the ones that appeared in my head held disdain and disregard for me. I was its prey. Nothing more. Nothing less. It leisurely made its way towards me and opened its big mouth. And swallowed me whole¡­ I gained some semblance of movement after about a minute. The leaves that covered my body were already dissolved by the strong digestive fluid of the creature. I got the sensation that I was being digested slowly. I fought off the panic building inside of me. It was imperative that I remained as calm as possible in such situations, although it was proving to be a difficult task. I opened my status window and quickly dismissed all the other distracting information, leaving only lifeforce bar.
Lifeforce 737/890 (Regeneration: 0.5% per second)
I learnt to do it while I was playing with the status window when I had nothing to do. I never thought it would be useful. My lifeforce was depleting fast. My body was weakening at the same time. I observed the process for a few seconds. I was losing 7 lifeforce per second. My 0.5% per second lifeforce regeneration added 4.45 to my life force, but I still lost out 2.55 lifeforce per second. It was a matter of minutes before my lifeforce depleted completely and I lost my life. I needed to do something. An idea stuck me. Whether it would work or not was a gamble. Rather, it was my only hope. Well, there was only one thing I could do. I sank my teeth into the membrane that surrounded me and took a bite. I was in no mood to savor the taste. I swallowed it. Ding!
You have consumed the meat of a Nascent Soul being. Congratulations! You have gained +2 to all attributes.
It worked. I only gained stat points after eating the whole thing, so I wasn¡¯t sure I would be able to gain any if I ate something partially. There was the case with Byakko I could draw from but I wasn¡¯t sure it would work with me. Now that I saw some light, I continued eating the inside of the giant snake. The snake on its part thrashed around. I didn¡¯t relent. I could do nothing to it outside. But now that I was inside its body, there was nothing it could do to me. After several notifications, I scanned my status.
GENERAL
Name Su Ren Age 10 years old
Cultivation Method N/A Realm N/A
Lifeforce 541/990 (Regeneration: 0.5% per second)
Qi 0/990 (Regeneration: 0.5% per second)
ATTRIBUTES
Strength 99 Physique 99
Movement 99 Control 99
Soul 99 Comprehension 99
Charm 6 Fate 8
INNATE TRAITS
Innards of a God Hawk Eye Photosynthesis
Bond: Byakko (White Tiger)
The whole rationale behind my action was, the bigger the lifeforce pool, the more lifeforce will be regenerated with my 0.5% per second regeneration. I ran a quick calculation in my head. Not good. I was only able to regenerate 5.95 lifeforce per second as opposed to 7 lifeforce per second I was losing. I was still running a deficit of 1.05 lifeforce per second. I had only been able delay the problem, not solve it. My sense of hopelessness gripped me. No. I could not give up like that. I continued eating the inside of the snake while it thrashed itself on the floor. I could hear its roar filled with rage and pain. I felt a sadistic sense of joy when I heard it. Even if I died, I wanted to take this bastard with me. Notifications that did nothing to my stats appeared in front of me. I dismissed them all. Soon, I noticed peculiar masses of energy amassing here and there in my body. The more stats I gained, the more it would increase. I didn¡¯t know what it did but I upped my speed of eating. The speed of the formation of the masses of energy increased. They tried to flow and gather together to the place where my heart was located but something in my body obstructed them. I willed the masses of energy to force through the obstacles. To my surprise, they easily crushed through the obstacles. The obstacles couldn''t even put a decent fight against the huge momentum the huge masses of energy generated. I heard cracking sounds come from all over my body. The masses of energy become a big whole for a moment before they dissolved into my cells. It was really a curious case. Ding!
You have accomplished an unprecedented feat that was deemed impossible. You have broken through the first shackle of a mortal without any cultivation. Congratulations! You have acquired [Eternal Stratum (Incomplete)]
I had grown stronger. I could feel it. I didn''t need my status to tell me that. I checked the details of [Eternal Stratum (Incomplete)].
ETERNAL STRATUM (INCOMPLETE) Adjusts your Lifeforce and Qi Regeneration to 10% per second. (Note: The trait is incomplete.)
I wanted to laugh. A few moments ago, I was furiously fighting for my life. Now, even if I stayed like this, I would have no problem. The lifeforce regeneration provided by [Eternal Stratum] easily outstripped the lifeforce I was losing. There was no reason to worry. Not anymore. I checked my status while I was at it. I had some leisure time now. There was no need for me to hurry. It could be said that I was in the safest place I could be.
GENERAL
Name Su Ren Age 10 years old
Cultivation Method N/A Realm N/A
Lifeforce 754/1340 (Regeneration: 10% per second)
Qi 0/1430 (Regeneration: 10% per second)
ATTRIBUTES
Strength 124 Physique 134
Movement 135 Control 132
Soul 143 Comprehension 150
Charm 6 Fate 9
INNATE TRAITS
Innards of a God Hawk Eye Photosynthesis Eternal Stratum (Incomplete)
Bond: Byakko (White Tiger)
Closing the blue screen, I moved to the next order of things on my to-do list. Mainly, devour this snake. Let¡¯s see if it remains alive without any of its internal organs. A few minutes later, the serpent stopped thrashing. Another few minutes later, it stopped moving altogether. Ding!
You have killed a Nascent Soul Stage Basilisk. Congratulations! You have gained +23567 essence.
A huge amount of energy flowed into me and made to accumulate. But finding no reservoir, the energy quickly dissipated into the air. I felt a huge sense of loss. I would have levelled up my cultivation realm if I had been able to retain the energy. The fact that I had no Cultivation Method rendered me unable to absorb essence or use Qi. Ding!
Congratulations! You have acquired the trait [Basilisk¡¯s Eye]
Before I could check the detail of the trait, another notification hit me. Ding!
You have two traits related to eyes. Would you like to fuse them? (The abilities of the previous traits will be retained. There is a chance of acquiring an all-new ability.)
Didn¡¯t sound like a bad deal. Fuse, I thought. Ding!
Hawk Eye and Basilisk¡¯s Eye are fusing together. Fusion complete. The new trait [Kaleidoscope Eye] has been created.
I checked the details of the newly created trait.
KALEIDESCOPE EYE Mode Silver: Enables you to see into distance. Range: 36 KM Mode Yellow: Freezes the soul of your opponent. Depends on the differences between Souls. Mode Black: Can identify and appraise anything. Limit: Above two Realms of user. (Note: Further eye-related traits will automatically be assimilated into this trait.)
It sounded really useful. I couldn¡¯t wait to try it out. But it would have to wait. I tore a hole and crawled out of the body of the basilisk. I went to an area that was relatively neat and lay there. The whole cave was a mess of cracks, blood and flesh. My lifeforce was almost recovered to full but I felt too weak to stand. The mental strain I suffered was huge. I wondered how Byakko was doing. I felt worried about the little fellow. I resolved to look for him as soon as I was able to muster up enough strength. At the moment, I wasn''t in any condition to move. I closed my eyes and let fatigue take me away. 05. Tempering, Language and Skills In a dark location, a dark figure was meditating. Another dark figure approached him. ¡°Sir, Bali¡¯s life jade was broken,¡± the newly arrived figure said. ¡°I am afraid he has passed away.¡± The figure that was meditating opened his eyes. An aura of strength and vastness radiated from of his frame. His eyes seemed to contain the whole universe in it. It was like he could see through everything. ¡°Should we send a punitive team to investigate?¡± the newly arrived figure continued. ¡°No,¡± the meditating figure finally said. His voice contained an imperative authority that took no disobedience. ¡°As you wish, sir.¡± The other figure bowed and left the scene. ¡°That stupid little snake,¡± the mighty figure that was left behind muttered. ¡°He must have let his impatience and gluttony get the better of him.¡± He sighed in pain. In front of the other figure, he hadn''t shown any fluctuation of emotion. But how could he not feel pain when his beloved disciple who was akin to a son died? If he could, he would have liked nothing better than to find and rip the body of the culprit piece by piece. But he couldn¡¯t. If he made a careless move now, everything he had worked towards for many millenniums would be wasted. Not yet. He told himself. It was not yet the time for him to bare his fangs. But when he did, he would drown the world in blood. He would have his revenge.
An unbearable stench woke me up. Ding!
Congratulations! You have cleansed your body of impurities.
My body felt lighter and smaller. It was like my whole body was restructured. In a way, it was. I saw my body lying on a small pool of dark murky liquid. The thing was, it was coming from my body. It was also the source of the unbearable stench. ¡°Fa¡­ther¡­¡± an immature voice spoke. I saw Byakko a few feet away from me. He was looking at me with worried eyes. He looked torn between coming closer to me and moving further from me. I didn¡¯t blame him. I already lauded his tolerance. The smell that was coming from me would have even made saints wrinkle their nose in disgust. When did he learn to speak? It occurred as an afterthought. Last time, he had only been able to pass a few words mentally. I was relieved. I had been worried something untoward would happen to him outside. My first priority, after I recovered my strength had been to look for him. Now, there was no need for it. There was a change in my priority list. For starter, I needed to give myself a good bath. With Byakko in tow, I headed out. Our destination was the pool I had found previously. I had already figured out that the reason none of the beasts approached the cave we stayed in was due to the presence of the basilisk. I guess they had some sort of senses that could sense the presence of a strong predator. As for why Byakko didn¡¯t sense it, I could only attribute it to his immaturity. The basilisk was dead now. I didn¡¯t know if his body would still deter the other beasts. I didn¡¯t want to risk leaving Byakko there. And for some reason, I felt a strong surge of strength after that whole thing with the giant serpent. I felt like I could take on the beasts. Relatively weaker ones, that is. I plunged into the pool and scrubbed my body clean until the disgusting smell of my body was totally gone. I checked out my reflection. I now looked like a proper ten-year-old kid. Those unsightly fat was all gone. I could even consider myself cute and adorable. Definitely not being narcissistic here. My status window would attest to it.
GENERAL
Name Su Ren Age 10 years old
Cultivation Method N/A Realm N/A
Lifeforce 1500/1500 (Regeneration: 10% per second)
Qi 0/1430 (Regeneration: 10% per second)
ATTRIBUTES
Strength 124 Physique 150
Movement 135 Control 132
Soul 143 Comprehension 150
Charm 21 Fate 10
INNATE TRAITS
Innards of a God Kaleidoscope Eye Photosynthesis Eternal Stratum (Incomplete)
Bond: Byakko (White Tiger)
My charm was more than double of my previous one. It was more than Byakko¡¯s. Another thing to take note of was the massive increase in my physique since the last time I checked my status. I checked my newly acquired skill, namely [Kaleidoscope Eye]. I had no means to test [Eternal Stratum] at the moment. I had no Qi to deplete. Since I had no cultivation, I had no way to accumulate the Qi. As for depleting my lifeforce, I wanted to avoid pain, if possible, thank you very much. With [Kaleidoscope: Mode Silver], I captured the figure of a cantering deer some twenty kilometers away. I simultaneously activated mode [Black]. The status window of the deer appeared in front of me.
GENERAL
Name N/A Age 13 years old
Race Deer Realm Qi Gathering 9 (900/1000 Essence)
Lifeforce 500/500 (Regeneration: 1% per second)
Qi 480/480 (Regeneration: 1% per second)
ATTRIBUTES
Strength 47 Physique 50
Movement 50 Control 50
Soul 48 Comprehension 47
Charm 9 Fate 5
INNATE TRAIT
Fast Leg
I activated mode [Yellow]. The deer stopped in its track.A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. Success. I could simultaneously use all the three modes of [Kaleidoscope Eye]. That increased the usability of the trait by a big margin. The three modes were useful individually. But when three of them were used together, the usefulness shot through the roof. Also, I noticed that the stats of the deer were weaker than me. It occurred to me. Maybe, I had overestimated the strength of the beasts around me. I looked around and checked. Most of the beasts were at Qi Gathering Layer 9 or below, with a rare few in Foundational Stage. Their stats were below mine. Looks like we were going to have meat for dinner. I grinned. Then, I recalled the corpse of the basilisk in the cave. The need for the hunt disappeared. I soon remembered Byakko was unable to consume food with high energy content unlike me. Looks like I needed to hunt after all. It would also serve as a valuable combat experience for me.
The boar readied to charge forward, sending a cloud of behind it. Its red eyes filled with rage seemed to say ¡®How dare a puny human with no cultivation oppose me?¡¯ I swallowed my saliva with gulp. The stats of the boar were much weaker than me. Incidentally, it ran like this.
GENERAL
Name N/A Age 9 years old
Race Boar Realm Qi Gathering 3 (30/400 Essence)
Lifeforce 200/200 (Regeneration: 1% per second)
Qi 170/170 (Regeneration: 1% per second)
ATTRIBUTES
Strength 20 Physique 20
Movement 20 Control 15
Soul 17 Comprehension 15
Charm 4 Fate 5
INNATE TRAIT
Charge
I purposefully picked a weak opponent. Many had lost their lives due to their overconfidence. I didn¡¯t want to be one of them. So what if people accused me of being a bully? Technically, wasn¡¯t I the weaker side? I had no cultivation while the boar was of Qi Gathering Layer 3. The opponent was weak, I knew. Still, I couldn¡¯t shake off my nervousness. This would be my first real combat. The one with the basilisk didn¡¯t count. At best, it could be considered a wild tussle. With no signs or signals, the boar charged towards me. I activated [Kaleidoscope: Mode Yellow]. The boar froze. The momentum it had gathered worked against him, making it crash against the ground, throwing dust everywhere into the air. I gingerly approached the fallen figure of the boar and tore a hole in its neck. I used the [Kaleidoscope: Mode Yellow] again, to make sure the beast didn¡¯t berserk as his last struggle. I sighed in relief when I saw the boar breath its last breath. That was nerve-racking. The battle itself was pretty anticlimactic. But I couldn¡¯t stop shaking. I had taken a life with my own hands. My heart felt uneasy with guilt. I hadn¡¯t felt anything when I killed the basilisk. Maybe, it was due to the high adrenaline running through me at that time or the whole situation where death loomed over my head at every second. Ding!
You have killed a Qi Gathering Layer 3 Beast. Congratulations! You have gained +35 essence.
I dismissed all the unnecessary thoughts. If I wanted to survive, I will have to take many lives. I couldn¡¯t let myself get down just because of one life I took. Just like with the basilisk, the essence energy disappeared after finding no reservoir to occupy. Byakko came out from the thicket he was hiding in. I didn¡¯t let him participate in the battle for now. I wanted to gain enough experience to bail us out if we came across any unexpected situation before I let him fight. Carrying the body of the boar and with Byakko trotting at my heels, I headed back to the cave.
And thus, many days passed. Meanwhile, nothing unexpected happened. The beasts still didn¡¯t dare to approach our cave. Guess the deterrent provided by the basilisk was still very strong, although, it was already dead. Our lives were relatively peaceful. The same couldn¡¯t be said for the region we were staying at. We had been using the beasts around us as grindstones. By now, I could easily take down a Qi Gathering Layer 9 beast. I had learnt to use my overpowered stats to my advantage. I didn¡¯t even have to resort to using any of my traits. I also let Byakka participate in battles. Let me tell you, he was an absolute monster. He tore through the beasts very swiftly and ruthlessly. When I noticed that, it made me appear silly for worrying unnecessarily. ¡°Father~ Father!¡± Speak of the devil. The fellow glided towards me, with his wings stretched. At some point of time, he became able to use his wings to fly. Also, he became able to talk fluently, although his voice was still immature. Talking about conversation, I should mention something about the language of this world. It was really strange. I was sure I had never heard it, let alone use it. Yet I could understand and converse in it, without having to learn it! Byakko, too. As his comprehension grew, he became able to use the language automatically. It was all a mystery. Unfortunately, at the moment, my level was too low to unravel it. ¡°Father, I gained a Qi Skill!¡± The little guy chattered in an excited tone. I promptly checked his status.
GENERAL
Name Byakko Age 3 months old
Race White Tiger Realm Qi Gathering 8 (654/900 Essence)
Lifeforce 822/830 (Regeneration: 1% per second)
Qi 840/840 (Regeneration: 1% per second)
ATTRIBUTES
Strength 84 Physique 83
Movement 85 Control 85
Soul 84 Comprehension 78
Charm 21 Fate 12
INNATE TRAIT
Wings of the Heavenly Tiger
Bonded to: Su Ren
QI SKILL LIST
Slot Skill Name Rating Level
1. Heavenly Tiger Transformation Epic 1
2. <>
It was true. He had an extra table. I checked the details of the skill next.
HEAVENLY TIGER TRANSFORMATION (EPIC) Level 1 Enlarges the size of the body. Increases Strength and Physique by double while at the same time, reduces Movement by 50%. Cost: 10 Qi/sec
Not a bad skill at all. I felt a small trace of envy. I could infer several things from this. First, one could only start learning skills when one had a cultivation base of Qi Gathering. Second, it was not easy to learn skills. I had already battled many Qi Gathering beasts but I had yet to battle a beast in possession of a skill. Even Byakko learnt this skill after many battles. I could only study about Skill Learning slowly. Third, skills had rating based on its effectiveness. I was not sure about the exact ratings for now. Fourth, there was a limit to how many skills one could learn at a stage. It seemed to be two for Qi Gathering Stage. And finally, Qi had a use, after all. Seeing it doing nothing, I took it for a dead stat. I felt a whole new world open before me. ¡°Byakko, let¡¯s go and give your skill a spin.¡± ¡°Okay, father.¡± We picked a Qi Gathering Layer 9 leopard for Byakko¡¯s opponent.
GENERAL
Name N/A Age 32 years old
Race Leopard Realm Qi Gathering 9 (789/1000 Essence)
Lifeforce 880/880 (Regeneration: 1% per second)
Qi 780/780 (Regeneration: 1% per second)
ATTRIBUTES
Strength 86 Physique 88
Movement 90 Control 92
Soul 78 Comprehension 54
Charm 7 Fate 3
INNATE TRAIT
Agile
It was a tough opponent for Byakko. I activated and kept [Kaleidoscope Eye: Mode Yellow] ready just in case I had to jump in. ¡°Use your skill and dive down! Go!¡± I commanded Byakko like it was a Pok¨¦mon Battle. Byakko who was floating in the sky, out of the leopards reach, increased his size. From a cute and cuddly little figure, Byakko became a ferocious tiger that boasted a height of two meters and length of five meters. ¡°Auoo!¡± With an adorable roar unfit for his size, he dived down from the sky. Poor leopard! It was not able to make full use of its agility. Before it could do anything, Byakko¡¯s giant paw hit the leopard¡¯s head. With a ¡®boom!¡¯ the leopard was thrown away and it crashed against a tree, breaking the tree in the process. It fell limply to the floor and didn¡¯t move. It had died. I could only gape in surprise. The opponent that was more than a match for Byakko was one-shotted by Byakko due to the existence of a single skill. I checked my status.
GENERAL
Name Su Ren Age 10 years old
Cultivation Method N/A Realm N/A
Lifeforce 1980/1980 (Regeneration: 10% per second)
Qi 0/2010 (Regeneration: 10% per second)
ATTRIBUTES
Strength 167 Physique 198
Movement 187 Control 176
Soul 201 Comprehension 205
Charm 27 Fate 17
INNATE TRAITS
Innards of a God Kaleidoscope Eye Photosynthesis Eternal Stratum (Incomplete)
Bond: Byakko (White Tiger)
Would I be able to take on the skill? Yes, for now. But what if Byakko¡¯s stat increased more? I wasn¡¯t optimistic enough to think that Byakko was the only one with skill. If an opponent with a stronger cultivation base, with good stats and a skill, heck, it could be more than one, would I stand a chance? The sense of urgency I had forgotten for a while crept back to me. Byakko shrank back to his normal size and tottered towards me. His eyes seemed to say ''Praise me~ Praise me~'' I obliged. I picked him up and said, ¡°You were great there, Byakko. You have become truly strong.¡± The innocent little fellow purred, ¡°Nuu~ Nuu~¡± in contentment and nestled in my arms. On the way home, I thought through things carefully. The appearance of Qi Skill had poured cold water on the confidence I had on my stats and traits. I needed to up my game. I had to find ways to get my hands on Qi Skills, too. But before that, I needed to get my hands on a Cultivation Method¡­ Then, an absurd thought occurred to me. If I can¡¯t find any, then why don¡¯t I create one? The more I thought about, the more it appealed to me. 06. Path of Cultivation I opened my eyes in frustration. Meditating was not as easy as I thought. For starter, I was not able to sit still in lotus position for more than three hours. I would get cramped leg soon after. And in that sort of discomfort, meditating on Dao was the last thing I could do. How did those xianxia characters manage to do it for thousands and thousands of years? I got up. There was no use trying to endeavor further. I had already been at it for several days. Absolutely no progress. Except, if you count the slight increase in time I was able to sit in lotus position. Instead of seeing a clear direction, the brief moment of inspiration I had in the beginning gradually got murkier. I felt the need to get some fresh air. Byakko was nowhere in sight. He must have gone out to hunt. That fellow would get really restless when he was made to stay cooped up in the cave for more than a day. In the end, I could only let him go outside. He was proving too much of a distraction with all his whining and scratching. Besides, he was strong enough to take care of himself. A warm breeze hit my face, bringing with it the fresh scent of earth. It felt refreshing to come out after only being indoors for a few days. I looked at the midday sun that was at its zenith. My trait [Photosynthesis] activated on its own and greedily absorbed the Pure Yang Qi, the essence of life. My body was also beginning to feel hot. What is cultivation? I asked myself. I had asked the same questions again and again. I had been on the verge of giving up many times. But I hung on. Through the system notification, I learnt that I was the first person to break through the first shackle of mortal with no cultivation. What it meant was, the person who created the first Cultivation Method possessed at most half of my comprehension. If he could do it, why couldn¡¯t I, with all my advantage? I looked at the plants around me. I knew they were absorbing the Yang Qi frantically like I was. Maybe, I overthought the whole thing. All those xianxia and xuanhuan novels might have fed wrong ideas about cultivation to my head. Cultivation, from what I assumed, was a grand thing. It was a ticket to becoming a powerful figure in one shot. Fortuitous encounters and sudden insights were the stuff it was made of. Maybe, it wasn¡¯t as complicated as that. Ding!
You have entered a profound state of Enlightenment! Congratulations! You have gained +5 Soul, +5 Comprehension.
What is cultivation? Cultivation, in a layman¡¯s term, is to plant seed, nurture it and then, finally reap it. The fruit that you would be able to reap in the end would only be the one you had planted before. Plant rice, you would reap rice. Plant wheat, there¡¯s no way you would reap buckwheat. Naturally, to get to the fruit, one needs to nurture the seed. No water, the seed will fail to germinate. Too much water, the seed would be affected adversely. Also, the seed absolutely couldn¡¯t do without Pure Yang Qi, the essence of life and the nutrition provided by Mother Earth. That¡¯s not the end of it, if you are not careful, you will be hit by pestilence. Cultivation of Dao could be talked in the same vein. Then Cultivation Method must be the process of choosing a suitable seed for oneself, planting it and nurturing it all in the hope of reaping the fruit in the end. What type of fruit did I want? What did I want to achieve through cultivation? I thought about it carefully. I thought about my previous life, which was akin to a vegetable. I thought about all the things that happened to me after I crossed over to this world. An impression of the Dao Seed I wanted appeared in my head. As soon as it did, the world essence in my surrounding began to gather and coalesced themselves into the form of an almost incorporeal tiny seed in the abdomen region of my body, the so-called ¡®Dantian¡¯. The whole process lasted for several minutes. Ding!
Congratulations! You have coalesced your Dao Seed.
I was elated. I was on the right track. But the creation of the Cultivation Method was far from over. I needed to nurture the seed. That is, I needed a method to draw the world essence and bring it to the seed. Even when I killed a beast, the essence would only gather for a brief moment and then dissipate. There was no time for me to draw it to the dantian to nurture the Dao Seed. It was quite a predicament. Then I thought about the magical beasts. They were able to draw the world essence to themselves just fine. Another problem rose. I was not able to see how they did it! Maybe I was still in the state of enlightenment, the solution came easily to my mind. If I could see the flow of energy inside the body of the beasts, like a certain doujutsu, I would be able to easily make out how the beasts did it. The only thing I needed to do was to upgrade my [Kaleidoscope Eye]. For that, I had to eat a lot of beasts possessing traits related to eyes! I surveyed my surrounding with [Kaleidoscope Eye: Mode Silver]. I picked my first prey. The hawk, the same type as the one whose egg gave me [Hawk Eye].
I swallowed the last bit of the meat. I was starting to hate raw meat. No. Raw food in general. I wanted to eat a properly cooked food for once. Heck, it would be fine even if it were simply roasted. But I had no way of starting a fire. None of my traits helped in it. Plus, I had no match or lighter to do the job. I had heard of methods ancient people used to start the fire but I didn¡¯t bother about it that time. Why learn primitive methods while you can use convenient modern ones? That¡¯s what I thought. And now my inattention was coming to bite back at me. Ding!
You have gained +1 Movement, +1 Control
The amount of attribute points I could gather from the Hawk was reduced to almost an abysmal rate now. But that was not the important thing. Ding!
You have already acquired the trait from this beast type. Unable to gain any trait! Unable to assimilate anything to [Kaleidoscope Eye].
¡°NOO!¡± I yelled in lament. After putting in a lot of effort, this is how it ends? How could this happen to me? I had already hunted over hundreds of giant hawks from all over the forest. I had spent more than two month, which I could have used for some other useful stuff. This¡­ Couldn¡¯t they have warned me before? ¡®You will not get trait from the same type of beast; also, no evolution will happen to your previous trait.¡¯ There. It shouldn¡¯t take more than thirty seconds. Would it hurt them to spare me this little time? I felt exhausted all of a sudden. My body collapsed to the floor lifelessly. I didn¡¯t feel like doing anything. Byakko returned at dusk. ¡°Are you alright, father?¡± He came towards me with worried looks in his eyes. ¡°Yeah,¡± I told him. ¡°Just feeling a bit weary and under the weather.¡± The little fellow fell silent for a few moments. ¡°Do you want me to go and catch you something to eat?¡± he asked, after a while. He knew that the activity I liked to do the most was to eat. I took the white tiger cub in my arms and ruffled his head. ¡°Nah, it¡¯s okay. I am already fine.¡± This fellow was simply too loveable. He was growing into a really conscientious fellow. I was really proud of him. Also, as of late, he observed a great increase in power.
GENERAL
Name Byakko Age 5 months old
Race White Tiger Realm Qi Gathering 9 (999/1000 Essence)
Lifeforce 1220/1220 (Regeneration: 2% per second)
Qi 1250/1250 (Regeneration: 2% per second)
ATTRIBUTES
Strength 134 Physique 122
Movement 135 Control 135
Soul 125 Comprehension 102
Charm 23 Fate 14
INNATE TRAIT
Wings of the Heavenly Tiger
Bonded to: Su Ren
QI SKILL LIST
Slot Skill Name Rating Level
1. Heavenly Tiger Transformation Epic 3/10
2. Claw Swipe Epic 2/10
He also broke through the first shackle of a mortal. However, the only perk he earned was the increase of his Lifeforce and Qi Regeneration to 2% per second. Additionally, he also learnt another skill.
CLAW SWIPE (Epic) Level 2 Enables to yield Qi in your claws increasing your attack power by 100% Cost: 500 Qi
I had seen the skill in action. One word: brutal. The only downside to the skill was the massive amount of Qi it required. With Byakko¡¯s full tank, he was only able to consecutively use this skill twice. Incidentally, this is how my stats ran¡­
GENERAL
Name Su Ren Age 10 years old
Cultivation Method N/A Realm N/A
Lifeforce 2880/2880 (Regeneration: 10% per second)
Qi 0/2900 (Regeneration: 10% per second)
ATTRIBUTESStolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Strength 276 Physique 288
Movement 267 Control 268
Soul 290 Comprehension 292
Charm 29 Fate 20
INNATE TRAITS
Innards of a God Kaleidoscope Eye Photosynthesis Eternal Stratum (Incomplete)
Bond: Byakko (White Tiger)
If I didn¡¯t use my traits, I was pretty sure Byakko could beat me with the assistance of his two skills in spite of my high stats. No time to mope around. I planned my next course of action. The only other beast that I knew that had the probability of possessing an eye-related trait was an owl. I had yet to come across any of them. They were by nature nocturnal. On my side, I rarely strayed out during nights. Hence, our path never crossed. But now it seemed, I needed to make a move on them. I waited for the dusk to settle in. As soon as it did, I set out from the cave with the little white tiger cub. Spotting a giant owl with [Kaleidoscope Eye] wasn¡¯t a big problem, especially under the illumination of the full moon. Rather, the owl was so conspicuous that it would be weird if one didn¡¯t notice it. It was sitting atop a tall tree, pruning its feather. It looked at the night forest like it owned the whole thing. It had a distinct majestic pride. As soon as I saw it, I wanted to attack it. But a new situation arose. The owl was a Foundational Stage beast!
GENERAL
Name N/A Age 43 years old
Race Owl Realm Foundational Stage 6 (5670/7000 Essence)
Lifeforce 2060/2060 (Regeneration: 2% per second)
Qi 2000/2000 (Regeneration: 2% per second)
ATTRIBUTES
Strength 202 Physique 206
Movement 208 Control 208
Soul 200 Comprehension 124
Charm 8 Fate 7
INNATE TRAIT
Owl Eye Ruler of the Night
I hadn¡¯t fought against a Foundational Stage beast yet. I knew nothing about them. I wasn¡¯t sure if I could take on one of them with my current stats. Also, I hadn¡¯t forgotten about the existence of Qi Skills. If it was possible, I wanted to avoid battles where I wasn¡¯t sure I would win. But seeing the [Ruler of the Night] trait, a particular characteristic of owls rose in my head. Too bad I wasn¡¯t able to check the details of the [Ruler of the Night]. Apart from Byakko who was bonded to me, I wasn¡¯t able to check the details of the traits of others. Add Qi Skill on top of that. I wasn¡¯t even able to make out if a particular beast possessed Qi Skills or not. [Kaleidoscope Eye: Mode Black] also had its limitations. A plan slowly formed in my head. I carefully observed the owl from far away. I didn¡¯t dare to get too near it, lest I attracted its aggro. I observed it hunt. It watched its prey noiselessly until the prey was at its least guarded moment when it would suddenly swoop down and finish it. Its modus operandi was pretty similar to mine. I felt a certain sense of kinship with it but that wouldn''t stop me from hunting it. I watched it return to its nest to feast on the prey. I only stopped observing the owl when the day broke. If it was the previous me, I would be as tired as heck. Now, with the grown in my stats, staying without sleep for a while didn¡¯t affect me much. I basked in the sun for a while. [Photosynthesis] absorbed the Pure Yang Qi and warmed my body. It felt quite nice. After I was sure that quite a while had passed, I headed towards where I had seen the giant owl disappear into. It was a well-hidden place. If I didn¡¯t know about it, finding it would virtually be impossible. In an alcove, the giant owl was sleeping peacefully, with no care in the world. Little did it know that a life-threatening situation was looming over it. It didn¡¯t live to find out. I tore through its throat as fast as I could, depleting its lifeforce quickly. The entire process took only a few seconds. During the night, the owl might have been an imperial hunter but during the day, it was just a sitting duck waiting to be slaughtered. I took it to the cave and made the necessary preparations. Ding!
Congratulations! You have gained +5 Physique, +5 Movement, +5 Soul
Ding!
Congratulations! You have acquired the trait [Owl Eye].
Yes. I quietly celebrated inside. Ding!
[Owl Eye] is being assimilated to [Kaleidoscope Eye]. Assimilation complete. [Mode Lumos] has been created.
I waited. Nothing happened. No further notifications. That¡¯s it? I couldn¡¯t help feeling letdown. I had been banking on the extra ability [Kaleidoscope Eye] would gain at times of assimilation. I had wanted it to be something of an energy vision. But I should have known. When had fate ever been kind to me? I couldn¡¯t help shaking off the feeling that the only reason I got a trait from the first owl I ate was because fate wanted to play a cruel joke on me. I won¡¯t give up. I steeled my resolve. I won¡¯t give up until I had thrown off all the shackles fate had bound around me. Even if I have to go through this stuff again and again for hundreds of times. As if on cue, Byakko walked in through the entrance. In his immature chirpy voice, he said, ¡°Father, I got you something good to eat.¡± This fellow had disappeared as soon as he learnt that I would be camping out to observe the owl. Seriously, this guy! All my effort to raise him to an intellectual who could use his wit to dominate the world had been in vain. He would brute force his way through everything. ¡°Why go through all that trouble when a simple claw strike can solve it?¡± he would say. Jeez! I wonder whom did he take after. I sighed. Some things in life just couldn¡¯t be helped with. Byakko passed me a tiny snake. Naturally, it was dead. Whenever he found something different, he would always bring it to me. It was not safe for him to consume whatever he found while I could. I promptly put it in my mouth. Ding!
Congratulations! You have gained +1 Movement, +1 Control, +1 Soul
Ding!
Congratulations! You have acquired the trait [Thermal Eye].
Ding!
[Thermal Eye] is being assimilated to [Kaleidoscope Eye]. Assimilation complete. [Mode Heat] has been created.
Ding!
A rare occurrence has happened! Two similar traits had been assimilated consecutively. Congratulations! [Mode Heat] has evolved to [Mode White]
A slew of notifications assaulted my head. I was stuck dumbfounded. Quickly recovering my wits, I scanned my status.
GENERAL
Name Su Ren Age 10 years old
Cultivation Method N/A Realm N/A
Lifeforce 2930/2930 (Regeneration: 10% per second)
Qi 0/2960 (Regeneration: 10% per second)
ATTRIBUTES
Strength 276 Physique 293
Movement 274 Control 270
Soul 296 Comprehension 292
Charm 29 Fate 21
INNATE TRAITS
Innards of a God Kaleidoscope Eye Photosynthesis Eternal Stratum (Incomplete)
Bond: Byakko (White Tiger)
There¡¯s some increase in the stats. But that¡¯s not important. Impatiently, I checked the all-important details of [Kaleidoscope Eye] that had observed the greatest change.
KALEIDESCOPE EYE Mode Silver: Enables you to see into distance. Range: 74 KM Mode Yellow: Freezes the soul. Depends on the Soul. Mode Black: Identify. Can only identify objects two Realms above the user. Mode Lumos: Enables to see in the dark. Mode White: Enables to see the flow of energy.
Finally, I had what I needed. I felt joy yet at the same time a sense of loss. It was quite complicated, if you ask me.
Thereafter, the last step to creating the Cultivation Method went smoothly. I observed how the energy flow of the beasts worked. I observed all sorts of beasts, including Byakko. I didn¡¯t even spare myself. Although there were similarities between the beasts, there were also differences. As for the difference between humans and beasts, there were too many to count. The biggest difference was: humans cultivated Dao Seed while beasts cultivated Beast Core. Dao Seed would enable humans to use Qi Skills efficiently while a Beast Core would enable beasts to have a strong Physique. I felt that there was more to it. But that was the only thing I could understand with my level. After many sessions of observation and brainstorming, I finally devised an all-new energy chart to nurture my Dao Seed. It was neither that of a beast nor that of a human but a culmination of both of them. Best of the both world, that¡¯s how I wanted it to be. In the process, my Dao Seed also transformed. It acquired the characteristics of a Beast Core while at the same time maintaining its function as a Dao Seed. I found an isolated area with high world essence and rotated the energy according to the energy chart I devised. It was the moment of truth. This was where I would learn whether all my effort would be rewarded or go down the drain. Ding!
Congratulations! You have created a Heaven-defying Cultivation Method. Please give it a name¡­
¡°Heart¡¯s Yearning!¡± No brainer there. This cultivation method was created due to the yearnings I had yet at the same time, it was created to fulfill those yearnings. Ding!
The name ¡®Heart¡¯s Yearning¡¯ has been assigned to the Cultivation Method.
Ding!
You have accomplished a remarkable achievement! Congratulations! You have acquired the trait [############]
A clear stream of energy flowed towards my dantian and reached the Dao Seed. The Dao Seed shook itself in joy as the energy flow to it became smooth and constant. Ding!
You have cultivated ¡®Heart''s Yearning¡¯ successfully! Congratulations! You have broken to the Qi Gathering Layer 1. You have gained +5 to all basic attributes.
I happily opened my status window.
GENERAL
Name Su Ren Age 10 years old
Cultivation Method Heart¡¯s Yearning Realm Qi Gathering 1 (1/200 Essence)
Lifeforce 2980/2980 (Regeneration: 10% per second)
Qi 2990/2990 (Regeneration: 10% per second)
ATTRIBUTES
Strength 281 Physique 298
Movement 279 Control 275
Soul 299 Comprehension 297
Charm 31 Fate 23
INNATE TRAITS
Innards of a God Kaleidoscope Eye Photosynthesis Eternal Stratum (Incomplete) ############
Bond: Byakko (White Tiger)
Finally. Finally, I could start my cultivation journey. I had to go through many things to reach this stage. I felt like crying and laughing at the same time. Everything was worth it. I would start my own legend starting from now. I would roam the whole world and taste everything. However, my thoughts were soon interrupted. The sky darkened. The clear blue sky suddenly had many dark thunderclouds in it. Ding!
WARNING! You have cultivated a Heaven-defying Cultivation Method. A minor 3x1 Tribulation shall befall you!
I had complained a lot about how my life was dreary and uneventful in my previous life. I wanted excitements. But this was not the type of excitement I wanted. I checked for what I could use to protect myself from the tribulation. But nothing. I could find nothing. All my traits were useless in such situations. I had no weapons to speak of. I had no skills to resist it. What the hell was I supposed to do? While I was panicking, the first bolt struck down onto me. It hurt like hell. But I could only grit my teeth and bear with it. I felt like thousands of bugs were crawling inside my body. That sensation soon disappeared. Something inside my body swallowed the tribulation lightning. The second bolt struck, the same thing happened. The third bolt struck, the same event repeated. Ding!
Congratulations! You have passed through the tribulation. You have gained +10 to all basic attributes.
The whole thing left me speechless. At this point I was too tired to even feel surprised.
GENERAL
Name Su Ren Age 10 years old
Cultivation Method Heart¡¯s Yearning Realm Qi Gathering 1 (123/200 Essence)
Lifeforce 2990/2990 (Regeneration: 10% per second)
Qi 2990/2990 (Regeneration: 10% per second)
ATTRIBUTES
Strength 291 Physique 299
Movement 289 Control 285
Soul 299 Comprehension 299
Charm 36 Fate 29
INNATE TRAITS
Innards of a God Kaleidoscope Eye Photosynthesis Eternal Stratum (Incomplete) ############
Bond: Byakko (White Tiger)
07. Choice of Fight Style The City Lord sighed. He had been doing so unbidden for many times in the past few days. The troubles were piling up one after another. The most annoying thing was, he was unable to find a viable solution to them. He recalled the scene that took place in the last City Council Meeting. He felt like gnashing his teeth in anger every time he remembered it. Something abnormal was happening in the Magical Forest that bordered next to them. There were chances of a beast horde approaching the city. It only meant one thing: a powerful magical beast had appeared. As if to cement that thought, one month ago, minor lightning tribulation was observed in the Magical Forest. It meant that a Nascent Soul Beast had appeared! Abnormalities were occurring, big deal! In the end, how was this his fault in the first place? But oh no! Those from Yu Clan simply wouldn¡¯t have it. They managed to chalk up everything to his incompetence. In the end, the only thing he could do was sent some of his best forces as punitive to subdue the Nascent Soul Beast. He would suffer from losses but there was nothing he could do. He could only grit his teeth in silence and bear through it. Just when he was about to send for his assistant, the assistant entered his office with an unusually anxious expression. Normally, he would have gotten angry with the assistant for entering his office without permission but the face the assistant was making stopped him. He knew his assistant. He was a calm person. He was rarely flustered. ¡°My lord, we have a situation,¡± he said.
¡°Byakko, look at this seed. A plant like this would grow from this. Later, it would grow big like the tree over there.¡± I was trying to teach how to cultivate a Dao Seed. I was already finding how advantageous it was to have the best of both worlds. Naturally, I also wanted Byakko to have this advantage. But this little fellow¡­ ¡°But I don¡¯t like plants. They don''t taste nice,¡± he said, adamantly. It was proving much more difficult than I thought it would be. I sighed. After creating ¡®Heart¡¯s Yearning¡¯, I took a while to analyze the cultivation method. Through it, I was able to learn that it was possible to give a human¡¯s advantage to a beast, just like how it was possible for me to possess a beast¡¯s advantage. The first thought I had in my mind was to strengthen Byakko. This guy ran around too much. If he had the strength to back it, he would have less trouble at hand later. So far, it was proving a futile attempt. He was unable to comprehend the concept of germination and growth. I raised his comprehension by giving him Clear Spirit Fruit but it seemed, some things couldn¡¯t be solved with high stats. I tried various things to teach him the concept. First, I simply explained it. How difficult could it be? That was my thought. Next, I tried drawing diagrams for him. He got enamored with the skill of drawing instead of what I was trying to convey. Guess it was something new to him. I had to provide him drawing lessons for a while. Our cave was now covered in so many weird scribbles that in the future, the archaeologists (if this world had it) would have a field day with it. But I was unable to accomplish what I set out to do. That¡¯s how we reached here. In the end, even a life demonstration was useless. With the amount of comprehension he had, it should be a cinch. But that¡¯s not how it worked. I guess there were certain other factors I was unable to recognize that didn¡¯t allow beasts to learn concepts easily. Incidentally, this is how his stats ran.
GENERAL
Name Byakko Age 7 months old
Race White Tiger Realm Qi Gathering 9 (999/1000 Essence)
Lifeforce 1540/1540 (Regeneration: 2% per second)
Qi 1520/1520 (Regeneration: 2% per second)
ATTRIBUTES
Strength 144 Physique 154
Movement 155 Control 155
Soul 152 Comprehension 147
Charm 25 Fate 16
INNATE TRAIT
Wings of the Heavenly Tiger
Bonded to: Su Ren
QI SKILL LIST
Slot Skill Name Rating Level
1. Heavenly Tiger Transformation Epic 5/10
2. Claw Swipe Epic 4/10
He had been stuck at Qi Gathering Layer 9 for quite a while. He had reached some sort of bottleneck in his training. Does it have to be a plant? I wondered. I could use a different approach. Growth happened to everything. Everything needed nurturing. There was no need to stick with plants. I thought of a new idea. Since this cultivation method had a lot to do a lot with one¡¯s yearning, the seed it planted should be one filled with one''s emotions and attachment. ¡°Byakko, do you like eggs?¡± I asked him. ¡°Hmm! They are delicious.¡± He nodded firmly. ¡°It also reminds me of how I first met father. I like it a lot,¡± he added as an afterthought. When he reminded me of how I first met him, I felt guilt come back to haunt me. I was ashamed of the unsavory thoughts I had at that moment. ¡°Byakko also came out of an egg, do you know?¡± He nodded. ¡°Imagine this, Byakko was really really tiny in the egg. Then, you ate all the things that filled the egg and grew bigger. Finally, when you had eaten everything, you came out. Can you imagine it?¡± The little cub corked his to the side, looking very adorable. I could make out his forehead scrunched in thought. After a few moments, his eyes lit up. ¡°Yes~¡± he purred in excitement. ¡°Good. Now, what will happen if you eat more and more?¡± ¡°I will become bigger and bigger?¡± ¡°Yes. So, Byakko needs to create an egg from which something that will help to fulfill your desire will come out. At the same time, you will have to give it food, the world essence, in other word. Do you get me?¡± I asked. The little fellow thought for a few moments and nodded. ¡°Okay, let¡¯s go outside and try it out.¡± We went to the place I had overcome my tribulation. It was a place with a good flow of world essence. ¡°Byakko, give it your best!¡± I cheered him on. ¡°Yes, father~ I will try my best!¡± he said with a determined look in his eyes. He closed his eyes. From the fluctuating essence around him, I knew he had begun. I waited. It was taking him far longer than it had for me. But it was fine. As long as he was able to create a Dao Seed, his strength would go up in leaps and bounds. The swirl of essence around him grew stronger and stronger. It only stopped when two days had passed. Byakko opened his eyes. ¡°Father, I did it!¡± he yelled out to me in excitement. ¡°I also broke through to Foundational Stage.¡± I smiled at him and nodded. But I didn¡¯t make my way towards him to congratulate him. There was still one last hurdle he had to overcome. Well, more than a hurdle, it was more of process. The dark clouds gathered in the sky. ¡°Father~¡± the little guy whimpered. It was the first time I had seen him with a terrified look on his face. ¡°The tribulation lightning is about to befall me. I-I am scared.¡± Magical beasts were innately afraid of lightning. I could vaguely make out the reason why but I was not hundred percent sure. ¡°Byakko, do you trust your father?¡± I asked him.Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. He nodded. ¡°You are going to be just fine, trust me.¡± His face eased a little. Well, children usually trusted their parents. They believed their parents would hold the world for them. I could still find traces of nervousness on him but he was not a bundle of nerves like he was in the beginning. He should be fine. The first lightning struck. The second lightning struck. The third lightning struck. Byakko looked at the dissipating dark clouds with disbelief written all over his face. I could make out that he was shocked because nothing had happened to him. I smiled. I knew this would happen. My Cultivation Method ¡®Heart¡¯s Yearning¡¯ was impervious to lightning tribulation. I wanted to be strong against all sorts of trouble. That adamant determination had come out in the Cultivation Method I created. Lightning tribulation could do nothing against it. Rather, it served as a tonic to further cement the foundation. ¡°I am fine?¡± the little cub was still not over his disbelief. I went and picked him up in my arms. ¡°What did I tell you? There was nothing to worry about, right?¡± I rubbed his head. ¡°Nuu~¡± Byakko purred. He nodded in agreement. I rechecked his status window.
GENERAL
Name Byakko Age 7 months old
Race White Tiger Realm Foundational 1 (2/2000 Essence)
Lifeforce 1540/1540 (Regeneration: 2% per second)
Qi 1520/1520 (Regeneration: 2% per second)
ATTRIBUTES
Strength 199 Physique 209
Movement 210 Control 210
Soul 207 Comprehension 202
Charm 26 Fate 19
INNATE TRAIT
Wings of the Heavenly Tiger
Bonded to: Su Ren
QI SKILL LIST
Slot Skill Name Rating Level
1. Heavenly Tiger Transformation Epic 5/10
2. Claw Swipe Epic 4/10
3.
4.
I nodded in satisfaction. ¡®Heart¡¯s Yearning¡¯ gave ten points to all six basic attributes when I leveled up instead of the measly five Byakko got. It seemed the forty-five points he missed out was compensated. Now that this thing was off my chest, it was time to move to the next order of things. I had put it on hold for a while. It was about time I gave it some deep thought. I opened my status screen.
GENERAL
Name Su Ren Age 10 years old
Cultivation Method Heart¡¯s Yearning Realm Qi Gathering 2 (183/300 Essence)
Lifeforce 2990/2990 (Regeneration: 10% per second)
Qi 2990/2990 (Regeneration: 10% per second)
ATTRIBUTES
Strength 299 Physique 299
Movement 299 Control 299
Soul 299 Comprehension 299
Charm 42 Fate 31
INNATE TRAITS
Innards of a God Kaleidoscope Eye Photosynthesis Eternal Stratum (Incomplete) ############
Bond: Byakko (White Tiger)
QI SKILL LIST
Slot Skill Name Rating Level
1.
2.
I was yet at another bottleneck. I didn¡¯t raise my level up just in case I lost the attribute points I would gain when I gained a level. It seemed my worry was unfounded. Looking at Byakko¡¯s situation, the attribute points would be compensated. That was a small piece of good news. Yet there was a need for me to break through the second shackle. That¡¯s beside the point. The main thing here was, I got the Qi Skill Slots. I could now learn Qi Skills. Learning a skill was apparently very easy, as long as you had high comprehension, that is. The problem is: I comprehended a little too many skills. It was difficult to pick two from the list and assign it to the slots. Once I slotted the skills, I would not be able to change it. Of course I could slot the skills I comprehended now to the slots I opened later. But the first two slots would determine the route I would take in the future. I absolutely have no intention of taking the Jack-of-all-trades or master-of-all-trades route. Once your power reached an overwhelming state, it would eclipse everything. Why trouble myself and learn stuff I may or may not need? I opened the skill options that were available to me.
The following skills are available to you:
No. Name Rank Effect
1. Radiant Sword Epic Infuses the sword with Qi to increase damage.
2. Fist Burst Epic Fires a burst of Qi from the fist
3. Qi Arrow Unranked Creates arrow with Qi.
4. Flash Steps Epic Increases the Movement Speed.
5. Minute Steps Epic Enables to make minute movements.
6. Earth Step Epic Creates a stable footing.
There were many more but I eliminated them from the list because some were way too complicated, some really unsuited for me and some, they had low ranks. Incidentally, skill rank went like this: Common >> Uncommon >> Rare >> Epic >> Legend >> Celestial >> Divine >> God. I only learnt it after acquiring the skill slots. I already had the two skills I preferred in my mind. Still, I wanted to give it more thoughts. It never hurt to be careful. would naturally take me on the path of a Sword Cultivator. If you added , I would be on my way to be a high-speed swordsman. If were to be added, I would take the path of a swordsman who made very little but effective moments. As for , it would turn me into a defensive Swordsman. Frankly, I was quite attracted to this style of fighting. Paving my way with the wave of a sword, just like those xianxia characters did. As for , it would make me tread the path of a close-combat specialist. Adding on the movement skills, a speedy one with , an effective one with and a defensive one with . would make me embark on the path of an Archer. and didn¡¯t suit it. The only movement skill that suited it, would enable me to exert more strength when firing arrow. I thought through the three paths carefully. But in the end, I went with Archer. My traits and personality suited much more with a long-range style. It was not romantic at all, I know. Swordsman and Close-Combat Specialist sounds so much cooler. I tried to find justifiable reasons to tread another path but in the end, came up with nothing. In a way, this fighting style was tailor-made for me. I couldn¡¯t just hand my life to some random whims that came to me. I slotted and to the skill slots.
QI SKILL LIST
Slot Skill Name Rating Level
1. Qi Arrow Unranked 1/10
2. Earth Steps Epic 1/10
I checked the details I was unable to check it before I slotted them.
QI ARROW (Unranked) Level 1 Generates arrows with Qi. Cost: Depends on strength and number of the arrows
EARTH STEPS (Epic) Level 1 Enables you to have stable footing. Cost: 10 Qi per second
I was unable to say whether the skills were good or bad. I could only try to find out. I used a tiny amount of Qi to generate a small arrow. A mental image of pulling a bow appeared in my head. The arrow flew and hit a tree. The arrow tip sank into the tree. Moments later, the arrow made of Qi dissipated, leaving a tiny scratch-like hole on the bark of the tree. Disappointing. I generated another tiny arrow. This time, I added rotation to it as a test before releasing it. Boom! It drilled a hole though the tree and passed through it. I was dazed. I never thought it would be this effective. I had heard that bullets worked on that principle, so I gave it a try. Ding!
You have found a new way of using a skill. Congratulations! Your skill had leveled up!
Oh! I can work with it, I thought as I closed all the notifications.
The City Lord surveyed the people in the Council Room. Everyone had grim expression on their faces. He found the Patriarch of Yu Clan among them. His face was equally grim. The City Lord wanted to gloat at the failure of Yu Clan Patriarch¡¯s plan to make him suffer losses but he was not in the mood. A second Nascent Stage Beast had appeared. It was more than what they had bargained for. There were only eleven Nascent Stage Cultivators in the city. If they wanted to take on the two Nascent Stage beasts, the strength of at least eight of them would be required. There were even chances of suffering casualties. But who is to say that there would be only two Nascent Stage beasts. Moreover, beasts were generally more powerful than human cultivators. Even the Yu Clan Patriarch couldn¡¯t be shameless enough to push everything to the him now. ¡°What should we do now?¡± The City Lord asked to open the floor. It was a pretty rhetoric question. There was only one way to tide over the situation. ¡°What can we do? We can only pool our strength and fight. We can only hope that there are only two Nascent Stage beasts,¡± an old man, the ancestor of Hua Clan said. Everyone nodded. There was nothing to argue. If they didn¡¯t take action, a beast horde would come to their city. The amount of damage and casualties the city would suffer would be enormous. Although everyone had their own hidden agenda, they couldn¡¯t compromise with the safety of their city. The repercussion would simply be too strong for them to bear. ¡°It¡¯s settled, then. Let¡¯s mobilize our troops in fifteen days.¡± The City Lord settled the matter. ¡°What should we do about the Yearly Beast Hunt Ceremony? It just so happens to fall on the same day we mobilize the army. Should we postpone it?¡± another member of the council broached the topic. ¡°We can¡¯t,¡± an old man, who served as the Chief Advisor in the council, refuted. ¡°It¡¯s an age old tradition. We can¡¯t just play with it. No matter what, the Hunt has to take place on that day.¡± ¡°We can¡¯t risk the lives our young talents,¡± another member raised the issue. The City Lord nodded. This year, his daughter had just come of age. She would be one of the participants in the Hunt. Naturally, he didn¡¯t want to send his daughter to the Magical Forest if he could. ¡°You know the Law,¡± the Chief Advisor said. ¡°As long as you are fine with your children staying mediocre, I don¡¯t mind.¡± The single statement wiped away all the oppositions. The City Lord sighed, yet again. ¡°We can only let the Hunt continue. We will try to arrange escorts to watch over them. Until and unless they don¡¯t run into the two Nascent Stage beasts, they should be safe.¡± Thereafter, the discussion went towards the details of the troop and the matter of the escorts. It was one of the few City Council Meetings that was not rife with conflict of interests, secret agendas, hidden daggers and other stuff that made politics. 08. Essence Flame Wu Liuyun watched the beasts slowly surround him and his friends. He felt helpless. His friends, Hu Sang and Chu Yang wore expressions filled with hopelessness on their face. If he could see himself, Wu Liuyun was sure he had an expression that mirrored them. Most of the beasts were in Qi Gathering Stage, apart from the leader, a huge gorilla. It was in Foundational Stage Layer 4. All three of them were Foundational Stage Layer 1. If it were only the leader, with their combined effort, they would be able to take it on. Even if they were unable to defeat the gorilla, they would be able to make their way out safely. But the problem was, the crowd of beasts. There were simply too many for them to take care of in a short amount of time. Moreover, they would have to watch out for the leader. He cursed at himself inwardly. Why did he have to be so reckless? Why did he participate in the Hunt? For heaven¡¯s sake, why did they separate themselves from the main group? They had thought there would be more chances of getting good rewards if they acted alone. In a bid to leap over the dragon¡¯s gate, he was about to lose his life. How laughable! If he could turn back time, he would never set foot in this godforsaken forest. So what if they earned more world essence than usual on this day? So what if they had chances of acquiring a good innate trait? So what if they could get some heavenly treasures? What use would it be if he were to die here? The beasts approached, their snarling fangs, dripping with saliva. He quietly opened his status window in his head.
GENERAL
Name Wu Liuyun Age 18 years old
Cultivation Method Heavenly Flame Art Realm Foundational 1 (1345/2000 Essence)
Lifeforce 372/410 (Regeneration: 1% per second)
Qi 403/670 (Regeneration: 1% per second)
ATTRIBUTES
Strength 60 Physique 41
Movement 53 Control 52
Soul 67 Comprehension 70
Charm 11 Fate 5
INNATE TRAITS
Fire Qi Meridian
QI SKILL LIST
Slot Skill Name Rating Level
1. Fire Burst Uncommon 9/10
2. Flame Sword Rare 8/10
He still had more than half of his Qi. If he utilized with his sword, he would be able reduce his Qi usage to bare minimum. Let¡¯s go with that, he thought as he gripped his sword tightly. He saw the eyes of his two friends. He could tell they had come to the same decision. He could see the resolve in their eyes. ¡°Let¡¯s take as many of these darn beasts as we can with us,¡± he told his friends. They nodded at him. As they were about to make their move, Wu Liuyun suddenly felt the atmosphere become cold. He looked around and found the beasts that were slowly closing on him and his friends frozen in their track. Before he could utter ¡®Ah!¡¯ in surprise, tiny light rays bloated the sky and hit the horde of beasts. Blood began to splatter from the bodies of the beasts. In a matter of seconds, all the beasts collapsed to the floor under the disbelieving eyes of the three friends. They were all obliterated. Even the Foundation Stage Gorilla was no exception. It was now a pile of corpse. He gulped. He saw his friends do the same. What the hell is happening? Wu Liuyun looked at his friends in confusion. His mind couldn¡¯t wrap around the whole situation. His two friends looked as confused as him. Rustling sounds came from one of the sides and a strange being, no, a young boy appeared from it. Wu Liuyun was not able to make much of the features of the boy since he was wholly covered in leaves. It was quite a strange sight. The boy made his way to the Gorilla. ¡°I have not eaten a gorilla yet. I wonder how it taste?¡± he muttered. Wu Liuyun and his two friends watched the boy in silence. They didn¡¯t dare interrupt. The boy only had a cultivation level of Qi Gathering Layer 6. Yet, there was something off about the boy. The boy was dangerous, his instincts were yelling at him with all their might. Even Chu Yang, who was prone to easy anger and reckless behavior stayed put. The beasts. It must be the work of this wild boy. ¡°Hmm¡­ it would nice if I could grill it, even roasting is fine.¡± Then suddenly, he turned towards the three of them and surveyed them with his eyes that were as dark as the new moon night. It was like those eyes could see through everything. ¡°You.¡± He pointed at Wu Liuyun. ¡°Yes!¡± Wu Liuyun replied promptly. His voice came off stiff due to the terseness he felt. ¡°You seem to have some affinity with fire. Can you start a fire for me?¡± ¡°Yes!¡± It was the same reply he had given previously. But he failed to notice.
It was a surreal experience. Wu Liuyun was sure it was one of the strangest experiences he had ever been through. ¡°Eat up, eat up, no need to feel shy.¡± The wild boy, who had introduced himself as Su Ren, gestured towards Wu Liuyun, Hu Sang and Chu Yang to eat more. Meanwhile, the boy was stuffing the roasted meat nonstop into his mouth. ¡°This is the taste. Ah, it feels like I am in heaven.¡± The boy would constantly mutter to himself as he ate.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. It was an incredulous scene. The boy managed to finish off all the meat of the Gorilla by himself, except for the few pounds Wu Liuyun and his friends took. They shared that few pound of meat between them. It was enough for them. No. It was more than they could take. They became full as soon as they bit onto a bit of meat. Wu Liuyun swallowed the last bit of meat. It was the most full he had ever been in his life.
You have consumed high quality meat. Congratulations! You have earned +1 in all six basic attributes.
Meat of Foundational Stage Beast, on top of the bonus offered by the day of Hunt, he was able to earn one point in all six attributes. He felt satisfied. If he could, he would have liked to eat tons and tons on this day. But he had reached his limits. Earning stat points was really difficult. In a way, he was envious of Su Ren¡¯s capacity to eat. If he had the same capacity, he would be able to earn many stat points. He wondered where all that food disappeared into in that tiny frame. When they met him the first time, the boy gave off a detached aura. But that soon disappeared when Wu Liuyun started a fire and they started roasting meat. He became incredibly affable. He would go ¡°Ah!¡± and ¡°Oh!¡± as he looked at the savory meat roasting over the fire, his saliva almost dripping out of his mouth. The boy brought another beast and started roasting it. Are you not full yet? Wu Liuyun wanted to yell. It was like the boy was a bottomless pit. Wu Liuyun felt this was one of the most bizarre things he had ever seen. Of course he didn¡¯t dare to voice it out. Although Su Ren was being incredibly friendly to them, he couldn¡¯t shake off the feeling that the wild boy had a sleeping beast inside him, an incredibly dangerous one at that. ¡°Hey, do you guys happen to have some spare robes?¡± the boy who was still greasily from eating the beast asked. ¡°This leaves, let¡¯s just say, they are not really that comfortable.¡±
¡°Mistress, there is the news of a huge Qi eruption in the North.¡± Mu Lanran looked at her servant and nodded. ¡°Let¡¯s go and check it out. I bet the others will all gather there, too.¡± Including that wretched women, she thought inwardly. Mu Clan and Yu Clan had always been at loggerheads since time immemorial. It wasn¡¯t that difficult to understand. A mountain couldn¡¯t hold two tigers. They had been tussling with each other for the control of Red Dawn City for years. Naturally, as the daughter of the Mu Clan and the current city lord, she hated that wench, Yu Chen¡¯er. As she neared the location, just as she expected, she found many young masters and mistresses of famous clans from Red Dawn City gathered there. She immediately found Yu Chen¡¯er and got into a glaring competition with her. ¡°Lanran, you have come.¡± A handsome youth approached her, making her look look away from Yu Chen¡¯er. ¡°Yang Chen, I don¡¯t remember giving you permission to call me by my name,¡± she said in an icy tone. How could she not see it? She grew up in the City Lord Mansion where everyone, including servants dabbled in politics. She was very acute when it came to seeing people¡¯s hidden intentions. Yang Chen would always try to woo her with a gentle smile on his face. But who was to know what hid behind it? Mu Lanran was clear about what she represented. She was the only daughter of the City Lord of Red Dawn City as well as the only granddaughter of the Mu Clan Patriarch. Mu Clan Patriarch had sired only one son who in turn only had one daughter. Mu Clan only had a small number of people but they were extremely powerful. In other words, if someone were able to get their hands on her, they would take a giant leap in power. Many people eyed the possibility she represented. This Yang Chen was also one of them. There was no way she was going to be polite to a double-faced dog. Yang Chen laughed awkwardly to cover his embarrassment. ¡°My scouts just sent me a report saying that they found the presence of an Essence Flame ahead. At the moment, it is in a berserk state, therefore, it wouldn¡¯t be wise to approach it.¡± He completely ignored the cold-shoulder Mu Lanran gave him. He had really thick skin. An Essence Flame. Mu Lanran was surprised. It was one of the rare treasures of nature. One could only come across it by chance. Even with her position, in all sixteen years of her life, she hadn¡¯t had the opportunity to lay her eyes on one of them. She had only read about it in records. To think, one would appear here. Just what you would expect from the Day of Hunt. One would be able to stumble upon all sorts of incredible things on this day. An Essence Flame would be a great help to pill concoction and weapon refining. If hearsay were to be believed, one would be able to acquire a powerful fire-related trait from it. She was unable to contain the traces of greed in her. But she knew she didn¡¯t have a chance at acquiring it at the moment. No. It would be accurate to say, nobody did. Not now at least. When the Essence Flame calmed down, that would be when everyone would scramble for it. Subduing an Essence Flame was a very difficult feat. Subduing a berserk Essence Flame, it was courting death. She wondered if she should send a jade message to her father but dismissed it in the end. Her father was leading an important expedition at the moment. She didn¡¯t want to disturb him, if possible. ¡°Whoa! What an adorable beast!¡± She was suddenly brought out of her reverie by Yu Chen¡¯er¡¯s loud exclamation. ¡°Nobody fight for it with me. I want it!¡± Mu Lanran looked in the direction everyone seemed to be looking and found a chubby white tiger cub with wings flying leisurely in the air. One look was enough to tell that the beast was extraordinary. It had already reached Foundational Stage at such a young age! If she were able to get her hands on it, it would prove an incredible asset to her father and her clan. They could train it to be their guardian beast. She could already see the servants of the other Houses making their move. Although Yu Chen¡¯er had claimed the young tiger cub for herself, who would give up on such a delicious morsel? ¡°Capture it,¡± she commanded quietly to her six servants. All six of them were in Core Formation Stage. The City Lord had arranged them to guard her during the Hunt since there were chances of the beasts going into frenzy due to the presence of the two Nascent Stage beasts. It was the same for others. Their clan had arranged Core Formation Stage servants to escort them. Four of her six servants joined the fray, leaving two servants behind to protect her in case something unexpected happened. ¡°What are you doing?¡± An immature and panicked voice came from the little white tiger cub when it saw many people rushing towards. It could talk? Just how high was its comprehension? Isn¡¯t it supposed to be really hard for the beasts to raise their comprehension attribute? Everyone present at the scene had shocked expressions on their face. The competition to get the beast became fiercer. ¡°I will be fine. Go, grab the cub,¡± she urged the remaining two bodyguards. They had to get that beast, no matter what. A beast with high comprehension and a young one at that, it was a priceless treasure. She was ready to pull all stop. The two servants hesitated for a moment but joined the other servants. A huge scramble took place. Everyone was trying to get ahead while stopping others. In the whole mess, the little tiger cub suddenly transformed into a massive tiger and attacked back. It even managed to injure three Core Formation stage experts! But unfortunately, there were too many Core Formation experts. It was soon subdued. ¡°The little white tiger cub now belongs to the Yu Clan!¡± Yu Chen¡¯er laughed. In the tussle, the servants from Yu Clan had managed to come up on the top due to the early initiative they had taken. They had to pay some prices, of course. Two of the three servants injured by the white tiger cub had come from their clan. Moreover, another servant had gotten injured while preventing others from moving forward. But it was worth paying the price. They had gotten their hands on the cub. Besides, a few pills would heal their injuries. Mu Lanran looked at the white tiger cub that had shrunk to its normal size, locked in a cage. Seeing the gloating look on Yu Chen¡¯er¡¯s face, she gnashed her teeth. If she could, she would have liked to go on an all-out attack to snatch it. But she couldn¡¯t. One of the rules of the Hunt stated: the treasure shall belong to the first one who gets it. In a way, the beast could be considered a treasure, too. ¡°Release me!¡± the white tiger cried. It looked really miserable. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, little fellow. You will like your new home,¡± Yu Chen¡¯er sweet-talked. The cajoling voice almost made Mu Lanran sick. She wanted to pass some snide remarks but dismissed it in the end. It would only make her sound like a sore loser. ¡°No. I don¡¯t want to go anywhere. I want to stay with father.¡± ¡°Take him to the clan,¡± Yu Chen¡¯er ordered one of her servants, ignoring the beast cub. ¡°NOO! Father! FATHER!¡± The white tiger cub created a huge ruckus in the cage. Too bad, the cage was made from special alloys. It¡¯s properties allowed the cage to restrict the strength of the beasts that was captured in it. No matter what it tried, the white tiger cub was unable to do anything against it. The servant of Yu Clan picked up the cage and readied to go, taking the whimpering white tiger cub with him. Just then, Mu Lanran felt a sudden chill. Why did it suddenly become cold in the middle of a hot day? She wondered. ¡°What¡¯s wrong? Why aren¡¯t you moving?¡± Yu Chen¡¯er asked her servant. Mu Lanran belatedly found the Yu Clan servant, who was about to leave, frozen in his track. She could make out fear in his eyes. What happened? What was it that made a Core Formation Stage display fear like that? They heard rustles coming from some part of the forest. It was approaching them at a really fast pace. Mu Lanran recalled the ¡®father¡¯ that the white tiger cub repeatedly called out to. A chill ran down her spine. Could the parent of this beast be approaching them? Did they provoke a great danger? But that seemed to be wrong. A boy who looked between ten or eleven years old appeared from the woods. He wore oversized robes that somehow seemed too big for him. Cute and adorable. That description seemed to fit the boy perfectly. The boy was only at Qi Gathering Layer 6 but she, as a Foundational Stage Cultivator was unable to see through him. She felt an aura of danger from him. It was unfathomable. He made his way towards the servant carrying the cage. Under the stunned gaze of everyone, he broke the cage with a light tap. He took the whimpering cub out and cradled it gently in his arms. It happened so fast that everyone could only watch it as if they had fallen under a spell. ¡°Jeez! I told you not to wander off by yourself,¡± the boy said. Although his voice was boyish and immature, the tone he used was really mature. It was like a grownup was gently chiding a naughty kid. ¡°I am sorry, father. I won¡¯t do that again.¡± ¡°As long as you understand.¡± ¡°Hey, what do you think you are doing? That beast belongs to Yu Clan.¡± Yu Chen¡¯er seemed to have finally regained her wits. The boy ignored her. ¡°Tell me, who dared to bully my little Byakko?¡± The little cub pointed at all the Core Formation Stage servants who had participated to capture it with its little paws. ¡°Hey!¡± Yu Chen¡¯er yelled at the boy who was ignoring her. Mu Lanran knew that Yu Chen¡¯er held reservations towards the boy like she did. Otherwise, with her hotheaded personality, she would have already jumped at the boy rather than just yelling. Everyone at the scene grew up in huge clans. Their ability to gauge other people and their strength was really high. Otherwise, how would they survive in this strong eat weak world? And that ability at the moment was telling them that the boy who looked harmless was not to be trifled with. ¡°Now then.¡± The boy took in the people on the scene. With a swirl, his dark eyes turned yellow and slit-like. The temperature around them dropped drastically. Mu Lanran finally knew the source of the cold she felt earlier. Dozens of light arrows appeared in the air. With a simple wave of his sleeve, they flew and pierced the Core Formation servants. The Core Formation Servants simply took the arrows with their body without resisting. No. It would be more accurate to say, they could do nothing to resist. For some reason, all of them were frozen in their track. An eye trait with the ability to freeze? Mu Lanran analyzed in her head. Basilisk¡¯s Eye? But how could it appear on a human. She was unable to wrap her mind around the whole thing. All the servants, including her six servants who participated in the bid to capture the tiger cub collapsed. ¡°I won¡¯t kill any of you today,¡± the boy said in a solemn voice. ¡°I don¡¯t want to create unnecessary bloodshed. But make no mistake, I will kill you if you cross me again.¡± Giving them one final look, the boy walked into the woods with the little white tiger. ¡°There are many delicious food waiting for us to eat.¡± Mu Lanran thought she heard the boy say that in an incredibly childish voice but she could be mistaken about it for all she knew. 09. Start of Chaos I made my way through the woods. After being here for a while, this place was very familiar to me. It wouldn¡¯t be an understatement to call it my backyard. I looked at the white tiger cub in my arms. He had fallen asleep at some point of time. What was I going to do with this little troublemaker? I sighed. I needed to teach him to be more cautious. He had become powerful but there would be many situations where an individual strength would not solve the problem. It was time for some education. I thought back to the two encounters I had with other humans. It was weird, to say the least. I felt somehow disconnected from them. It was the same as I saw the beasts! I had the feeling that I would have no problem killing them if I wanted. That thought frightened me. I was changing. No. I had changed. Something told me that I was not purely human now. It might be one of the side effects of the traits. Another thought occurred to me. I recalled how I lived in my previous life. Alienated. Alone. Disconnected from the society. Maybe, the effects had carried over. Or maybe, it was both. I wasn¡¯t able to say for sure. When I first woke up in the forest, I wanted to find other humans. The primary reason had been for the Cultivation Method. The secondary reason had been to find solidary among the fellow humans. I was no longer weak and sick, I would fit right into the society. That¡¯s what I thought. But now, it all seemed troublesome. I had seen the eyes of the young masters and young mistresses I ran into. They were like nothing I expected. They were arrogant but none of them were reckless. It was like they were looking at something bigger. Even as they were looking at me in fear, I noticed strange flickers in their eyes that were silent placing value tags on me. I wanted nothing to do with those subtleties. I would have to make some trips to the human cities. Spices. Salt. Oil. Cooking methods. Pots and pans. Ways to start fire. Clothes. And other conveniences. They were things I would only find if I stepped into human territories. As for those Core Formation Stage Cultivators, apart from their comprehension, their stats were even weaker than some of the Foundational Stage beasts I ran across. Taking them out with [Kaleidoscope Eye] and [Qi Arrow] was as simple as taking a candy from a kid. I opened my status window.
GENERAL
Name Su Ren Age 10 years old
Cultivation Method Heart¡¯s Yearning Realm Qi Gathering 6 (675/700 Essence)
Lifeforce 2990/2990 (Regeneration: 10% per second)
Qi 2990/2990 (Regeneration: 10% per second)
ATTRIBUTES
Strength 299 Physique 299
Movement 299 Control 299
Soul 299 Comprehension 299
Charm 46 Fate 33
INNATE TRAITS
Innards of a God Kaleidoscope Eye Photosynthesis Eternal Stratum (Incomplete) ############
Bond: Byakko (White Tiger)
QI SKILL LIST
Slot Skill Name Rating Level
1. Qi Arrow Unranked 3/10
2. Earth Steps Epic 3/10
I frowned. Apart from charm and fate, which observed minor rises, other stat points were stationary. In spite of eating all sorts of high quality meat, gathering a huge amount of Essence through killing beasts and cultivating, there was no progress. The presence of a berserk energy awoke me from my senses. I activated [Kaleidoscope Eye: Mode Silver] and observed the surrounding around me. I found a cluster of flame in the shape of a butterfly about ten centimeters raging some few kilometers ahead. The first thought that appeared in my head was the Heavenly Flames from Battle Through The Heaven. I wiped the drool that was threatening to spill out of my mouth. What a great thing! I recalled how envious I had felt towards that guy who could start a fire. I had even felt a sense of ingratiation towards that fellow. I was thinking of finding him after finding some great meat. Naturally, with some presents. But now it seemed like there was no need for it. I was going to get my own flame. I laughed. I was going to devour that flame! I impatiently ran there. It didn¡¯t take me several minutes to reach that place. Those several minutes felt like an eternity. Relativity, I know. Thank you, Einstein!Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. The butterfly flame was raging in a berserk state. Everything within fifty-meter radius of it was charred black. As I neared it, a strong heat wave assaulted me. It was at least hundred degrees Celsius. If it weren¡¯t for the strong resistance provided my strong physique stats, my flesh would be roasted without even being able to make it within hundred meters of the flame. What a high temperature! I activated [Kaleidoscope Eye: Mode Yellow] and froze the butterfly flame. I felt really thankful that I had this trait. It was one of the biggest fortunes I ran into. It was really versatile. The temperature immediately turned cool. Much better. I approached the still flame. Opening my mouth, I gobbled up the butterfly in one gulp. A searing pain from my stomach made me collapse to the floor. A similar scene appeared in my head. It was the first time I ate the Clear Spirit Fruit. [Innards of a God] enabled me to eat anything but it did nothing about the pain. How could I forget it? Why didn¡¯t I learn my lesson the first time around. The berserk energy spread all over my body. The cells in my body were broken apart and new cells were generated. The pain finally subsided after about two hours. It was hell! I tell you. I never wanted to go through this experience ever again. But I had a premonition that it wouldn¡¯t be the last time. Ding!
You have consumed Heavenly Butterfly Flame. Congratulations! You have acquired the trait [Heavenly Butterfly Flame].
Ding!
Congratulations! You have broken through the second shackles of a mortal. [Eternal Stratum] will be upgraded. Please wait¡­
Ding!
Upgrade Completed! Your Lifeforce Regeneration and Qi Regeneration will be set to 20% per second
Not bad. I earned some great rewards. At the same time, I solved the problem that had been haunting me for a while. I scanned my status.
GENERAL
Name Su Ren Age 10 years old
Cultivation Method Heart¡¯s Yearning Realm Qi Gathering 6 (687/700 Essence)
Lifeforce 4310/4310 (Regeneration: 20% per second)
Qi 4250/4250 (Regeneration: 20% per second)
ATTRIBUTES
Strength 403 Physique 431
Movement 401 Control 401
Soul 425 Comprehension 412
Charm 53 Fate 35
INNATE TRAITS
Innards of a God Kaleidoscope Eye Photosynthesis Eternal Stratum (Incomplete) ############ Heavenly Butterfly Flame
Bond: Byakko (White Tiger)
QI SKILL LIST
Slot Skill Name Rating Level
1. Qi Arrow Unranked 3/10
2. Earth Steps Epic 3/10
I nodded in satisfaction. All the stat points I accumulated made my stats grow at a rapid pace. I would need a bit of time to get adjusted to my new stats. But it shouldn¡¯t be a problem. I checked the details of [Eternal Stratum (Incomplete)] and [Heavenly Butterfly Flame].
ETERNAL STRATUM (INCOMPLETE) Adjusts your Lifeforce and Qi Regeneration to 20% per second. (Note: The trait is incomplete.)
Still incomplete but double effective.
HEAVENLY BUTTERFLY FLAME Summons Essence Flame. (Note: The flame is sentient. You can transfer it.)
Finally I can say goodbye to raw food. Oh! I should treat Byakko to some roasted meat, too. He never had the opportunity of eating anything cooked. At the same time, I should teach him things about humans.
¡°Young mistress.¡± Mu Lanran looked around but found no one. She wasn¡¯t surprised. ¡°Uncle Bai, tell me what you found about the boy.¡± ¡°That boy is a freak!¡± came the prompt reply. The owner of the voice didn¡¯t make his presence out but remained hidden. Mu Lanran was surprised. Uncle Bai was her grandfather¡¯s right hand man. He never placed any young generation in his eyes. Although he doted on her, she knew he never took her seriously. At his stage, it was nothing surprising. The young generation may have potential. But in the end, that was it. What use those potential be if one were unable to face the tribulations in the Cultivation World? Uncle Bai was someone who had reached his strength overcoming many tribulations. To hear him label a boy who looked to be around ten or so years old as a ¡®freak¡¯... It was quite a shocking. She thought the boy was monstrous but that was judging from her level. But when she heard the details, she could only open and close her mouth like a goldfish. Devour a berserk Essence Flame? It was an impossible feat. Even if it were someone who had that legendary Cultivation Realm, it would be impossible to devour an Essence Flame. It was an action courting death. The best they could do was to force the Essence Flame to a bond. Yet the boy had done it. Just what kind of freak of nature was he? ¡°Thank you for your work, Uncle Bai,¡± Mu Lanran said, finally. She became even more resolute to draw the boy to Mu Clan. Her Mu Clan was in need of a sharp weapon like that. She would do it at all cost. ¡°Mistress,¡± one of the Core Formation servants interrupted her thoughts. ¡°Master has sent an urgent jade message.¡± ¡°What does it say?¡± she asked. ¡°Get out of the forest as quickly as possible. It¡¯s dangerous,¡± the servant replied. Mu Lanran looked around. The young masters and young mistresses of the other clans of Red Dawn City were restlessly looking at each other. They must also have received similar messages. She was easily able to guess. She looked towards the six servants the wild boy had injured. They would be burdens in their escapade from the forest. Rather than that, there was a better use for them. He said to them, ¡°You know what to do, right?¡± ¡°Yes, mistress!¡± they replied, with darkened expression. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, I will take care of your families. They will never go hungry and unclothed as long as the Mu Clan exists.¡± Mu Lanran promised them. Their expressions brightened up. ¡°Thank you, young mistress!¡± Mu Lanran nodded. ¡°Let¡¯s set out!¡± she told her other servants. Although her other servants were not as strong as the six she was leaving behind, they would suffice to leave the forest safely. Moreover, there was Uncle Bai protecting her in the shadows. There would be no problem to her safety. That didn¡¯t mean she could be complacent. The other young masters and young mistresses congregated towards her. Due to her strength and background, she was naturally picked as the leader of the young generation. She welcomed them cordially to her group. There was strength in numbers. They had also made the same decision as her. They had decided to leave their injured servants to stall for time so that they could make it to safety. Their life was precious. Even the lives of hundreds of servants would be unable to make up for one of theirs. It was a sentiment shared by everyone. It was the type of society they lived in. Powers and backgrounds decided everything. Yu Chen¡¯er was the most aggrieved. She had to leave behind the majority of her servants. Mu Lanran felt great happiness at her misfortune but she didn¡¯t let it show on her face. As a daughter of the City Lord and Mu Clan, she had to be at her best behavior all the time.
Just what kind of calamity did we provoke? The City Lord, Mu Yan cursed under his breathe. He had led a team of eight Nascent Soul Stage cultivators. Including him, there had been nine Nascent Soul Stage cultivators. Apart from that, there had been more than hundred Core Formation Stage cultivators. It was a formidable lineup. They had searched everywhere for the aura of the two Nascent Soul Stage beasts. As they did, they had strayed deeper into the forest. Their forefathers had warned them against going to the core region of the forest but they, in their rush of adrenaline had done it. They had been confident about themselves. They thought their lineup would be able to sweep away everything. How wrong they had been! ¡°How dare you disturb my rest?¡± a mighty roar resounded as soon as they reached the core region of the forest. An energy attack followed the roar. Two Nascent Soul Stage cultivators and more the half of the Core Formation Stage cultivators had died in that single attack. Many others had been injured. They had promptly retreated. The enemy was too strong. They encountered many beasts that blocked their path. In spite of their heavy injuries they could only battle. The only saving grace in the whole situation was: that frightening beast had not attacked again. Otherwise, most of them would have died. They had quickly send messages to their descendants. Even if they had to waste a precious jade, there was no other option. They could only grit their teeth and do it. Even if that powerful presence at the inner forest did nothing, the other magical beasts were in frenzy. It wouldn¡¯t be difficult to crush those inexperienced kids easily.
What the hell is happening? I looked around. The beasts were on a huge stampede, the likes of one I had never seen before. Not that I had seen any. I never realized that there were this many beasts in this forest. I looked deeper into the forest. There was a powerful presence I was unable to see through. But I could see something else. I grinned. There was an opportunity waiting for me. 10. Way of Archer With the sleeping Byakko in tow, I made my way through the woods. The beasts were rampaging everywhere in the forest. The presence in the core of the forest seemed to have done something that made all the beasts go berserk. I had to evade them, lest I found myself surrounded before I knew it. With [Kaleidoscope Eye: Mode Silver] and [Kaleidoscope Eye: Mode White] playing tandem to each other, it wasn¡¯t that big of a challenge. This stampede drew in all sorts of beast. I never realized there were this many different types of beasts living in the forest. It was a rare opportunity for me to get some nice traits. How could I let it go? I made a huge arrow appear. It slowly started to rotate and gradually gained momentum. I infused more and more Qi into it. With the Qi Regeneration of twenty percent per second, I didn¡¯t have to worry too much about running out of juice. I would be on full tank five seconds later. After five minutes, when I was sure it had packed enough power, I released it. With a large sonic boom, it made its way towards the target I had designated it. The recoil was so strong that even with , I was sent flying about ten meters back. Ding!
You have killed a Core Formation Beast! Congratulations! You have gained +1089 essence.
Ding!
You have leveled up! You have leveled up! Congratulations! You are now at Qi Gathering Layer 8.
Ding!
Congratulations! Your Skill has leveled up. is now Level 4.
Ding!
Congratulations! Your Skill has leveled up. is now Level 4.
¡°Status!¡±
GENERAL
Name Su Ren Age 10 years old
Cultivation Method Heart¡¯s Yearning Realm Qi Gathering 8 (276/900 Essence)
Lifeforce 4510/4510 (Regeneration: 20% per second)
Qi 4450/4450 (Regeneration: 20% per second)
ATTRIBUTES
Strength 423 Physique 451
Movement 421 Control 421
Soul 445 Comprehension 432
Charm 55 Fate 35
INNATE TRAITS
Innards of a God Kaleidoscope Eye Photosynthesis Eternal Stratum (Incomplete) ############ Heavenly Butterfly Flame
Bond: Byakko (White Tiger)
QI SKILL LIST
Slot Skill Name Rating Level
1. Qi Arrow Unranked 4/10
2. Earth Steps Epic 4/10
I nodded. Still, I needed to find a bow for myself. An archer without a bow? It sounds so ridiculous that I want to dig a hole and bury myself in it. Besides, due to the way I released , I was not able to add my strength onto it. Qi was the only thing I used. Although it had great effectiveness, the time required to prepare and the strong recoil were big minuses. If I added a bow into the equation, the whole thing would be solved. That was the mission of this expedition. I had found the right beast. When I surveyed the forest previously, I had found a centaur among the beasts. Centaurs had the appearance of a half man and a half horse. When I had observed it, it was carrying a mighty bow on it. As soon as I saw it, I knew I wanted it. I impatiently ran to retrieve the bow. But things didn¡¯t go as planned. When I arrived at the scene, the promised bow was nowhere to be seen. ¡°What the hell?¡± I cursed. I kicked the corpse of the beast in anger. Then a certain possibility struck my mind. Unfortunately, I was not able to use [Kaleidoscope Eye: Mode Black] to verify my hypothesis. All it would have displayed was:
Centaur (Dead)
It wasn¡¯t much of information if you haven¡¯t noticed. I hesitated. I felt slight aversion to eating a human shaped monster. Not that the upper region of the centaur¡¯s body really looked like human. If I had to liken it, it was more like a hairy gorilla. Still, I couldn¡¯t help but falter. Steeling my heart, I lifted the beast and took it to a relatively deserted place. I willed flame to appear on my palms. It did. The flame didn¡¯t give any sensation. It was like I was holding a normal thing. It felt surreal. I couldn¡¯t help but feel that [Heavenly Butterfly Flame] was miraculous. I started a fire and began roasting the meat. The sleepyhead finally woke up. ¡°What¡¯s happening? Smells delicious~¡± Byakko muttered, rubbing his eyes with his paws. The smell of the meat must have woken him up. That glutton. When we were about to dig in, a butterfly made out of flame appeared out of my body. It started to twirl around. I had almost forgotten that the flame was sentient.This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. ¡°You want to eat, too?¡± I asked. It started to fly up and down in an excited manner. I took that as a yes. I separated a chunk, double its size and held it out to it. It took it with an excited gleam in its eyes. Another mouth to feed. I sighed. Why was everyone around me so into food? Although Byakko didn¡¯t eat as much as I did, he did eat a fair amount. By normal standard, he could be considered a really gluttonous beast. What¡¯s more, his intake of food was increasing at an alarming rate. It could be said the same for me. Now, this little butterfly! Ding!
You have consumed the meat of Core Formation Beast. Congratulation! You have gained +5 Strength, +5 Physique, +8 Movement, +8 Control
I gained no new trait. I looked for another centaur. It wasn¡¯t difficult. With all the beasts in frenzy, all sorts of beasts were out in the open with nary a cautiousness on them. In fact, I could already make out of more than fifty of them. This time I didn¡¯t forget to use [Kaleidoscope Eye: Mode Black] to observe. The status window of the centaur I was observing appeared in front of my eyes.
GENERAL
Name Gongo Age 107 years old
Race Centaur Realm Core Formation 3 (675/4000 Essence)
Lifeforce 1540/1540 (Regeneration: 3% per second)
Qi 1520/1520 (Regeneration: 3% per second)
ATTRIBUTES
Strength 324 Physique 340
Movement 356 Control 356
Soul 307 Comprehension 306
Charm 17 Fate 7
INNATE TRAIT
Bow
Finally, a beast with a name. That was the first thing that struck me. Apart from Byakko, I had not seen any beast with name. At some point I had started to think that beasts didn¡¯t have names. Apparently, they got it when they reached Core Formation Stage. I wasn¡¯t sure whether there was something that was restricting them or some sort of culture. The second thing I noticed, the more important one was the presence of the innate trait [Bow]. It seemed my conjecture had been right. The mighty bow I had seen was a trait, not equipment. I charged a and killed it with a single shot. Ding!
You have killed a Core Formation Beast! Congratulations! You have gained +1045 essence.
Ding!
You have leveled up! Congratulations! You are now at Qi Gathering Layer 9.
As far as stats went, I was stronger than most Core Formation Stage beasts and cultivators. Although I was lacking when it came to skills, I could make up for it with the numerous traits I possessed. No. It would be more accurate to say, the numerous traits put me at the top. Roasting the meat, I ate it, accompanied by Byakko and the little butterfly. Ding!
You have consumed the meat of Core Formation Beast. Congratulation! You have gained +4 Strength, +4 Physique, +7 Movement, +7 Control
Still, I was not able to get the trait. This went on till I kill my 26th centaur. The little butterfly and Byakko accompanied me till the fifth and eighth beasts respectively. After the ninth beast, I was only able to get only single points in Movement and Control. It was similar to when I hunted the hawks. The reduction of points as I consumed the same thing again and again didn¡¯t happen with Clear Spirit Fruits and other fruits. I couldn¡¯t quite figure out how this whole world worked. It felt so random. I ate and ate. Naturally, I took some small breaks in-between. Still, the amount of meat I ate surprised even myself. It was like I was discovering something new about myself everyday! Go figure! Ding!
Congratulations! You have acquired the trait [Bow].
¡°Status!¡± I wanted to check where I stood.
GENERAL
Name Su Ren Age 10 years old
Cultivation Method Heart¡¯s Yearning Realm Qi Gathering 9 (999/1000 Essence)
Lifeforce 4760/4760 (Regeneration: 20% per second)
Qi 4550/4550 (Regeneration: 20% per second)
ATTRIBUTES
Strength 448 Physique 476
Movement 474 Control 474
Soul 455 Comprehension 442
Charm 56 Fate 35
INNATE TRAITS
Innards of a God Kaleidoscope Eye Photosynthesis Eternal Stratum (Incomplete) ############ Heavenly Butterfly Flame Bow
Bond: Byakko (White Tiger)
QI SKILL LIST
Slot Skill Name Rating Level
1. Qi Arrow Unranked 5/10
2. Earth Steps Epic 5/10
I checked the details of my newly acquired trait [Bow].
BOW Creates a bow according to your imagination. (Note: You can upgrade the bow by ingesting materials)
I couldn¡¯t shake off the feeling that this trait was tailor made for me. With [Innards of a God], I would have no problem upgrading it. Being able to come across such a trait made me glad that I had chosen the path of an archer. Whatever reservations I had before, disappeared altogether. I would walk this path to the end. I activated [Bow]. The hazy outline of the mighty bow appeared in my hand. A little bland, I thought. Then I thought back to the bows I had seen on TV and Internet on Earth. A hazy outline of the mighty bow in my hand changed to a sophisticated compound bow with three bowstrings. When I pulled the bowstring, a notched itself. Charging for a bit, I released it with no particular target in mind. Much better. I nodded in satisfaction. What took me five minutes before took only ten seconds now. The amount of Qi spend was also less. My strength was also added to the final output. I felt very little recoil. Also, from the looks of it, I would be able to shoot arrow with more damage. Naturally, the prerequisite was, I needed to charge the more. It was everything I wanted and more. If it wasn¡¯t my bloated stomach that could eat no further, I would have gone in search of materials to upgrade the [Bow]. Ding!
You have fulfilled all the requirements to level up to a Foundational Stage Cultivator. Would you like to level up?
¡°No!¡± I replied. I had leveled up very quickly these past few days. There was a need for me to consolidate my strength. My body also needed to adjust to the new stat points I gained. Also, I had a feeling that it wasn¡¯t wise to level up from one Realm to another quickly. I will only level up once I have broken through the third shackle. I resolved. The shackles served as bottlenecks. To break through from Qi Gathering to Foundational Stage, one was required to break through the first shackle. To break through to Core Formation Stage from Foundational Stage, the second shackle. To Nascent Soul, third shackle and so on. I activated [Kaleidoscope Eye: Mode Silver]. The beasts were still rampaging. I still couldn¡¯t understand how it was possible to get all the beasts this riled up. There was another thing that was puzzling me. ¡°Byakko, don¡¯t you feel like going on a rampage?¡± I asked. The little fellow who was lying next to me with a huge bloated stomach turned towards me and nodded. ¡°My blood boils. Something inside me is telling me to go and rampage. But I am able to resist it.¡± I nodded. Well. I couldn¡¯t really understand. I could only shelve what I couldn¡¯t understand for future. I opened the little guy¡¯s status. It had been a while since I last did. He had grown a lot from that time.
GENERAL
Name Byakko Age 7 months old
Race White Tiger Realm Foundational 3 (2876/4000 Essence)
Lifeforce 1540/1540 (Regeneration: 2% per second)
Qi 1520/1520 (Regeneration: 2% per second)
ATTRIBUTES
Strength 238 Physique 244
Movement 250 Control 249
Soul 232 Comprehension 227
Charm 29 Fate 21
INNATE TRAIT
Wings of the Heavenly Tiger
Bonded to: Su Ren
QI SKILL LIST
Slot Skill Name Rating Level
1. Heavenly Tiger Transformation Epic 5/10
2. Claw Swipe Epic 4/10
3.
4.
A pretty decent growth. He still had been unable to learn new skills. I didn¡¯t blame him. Beasts had it tough. I closed my eyes and lay there. It felt good to be full. 11. Chimera The incessant shake of the ground woke me up. I promptly stood up and summoned the [Bow]. The first thought that came to my mind was: Crap! Due to my stuffed stomach, I had unwittingly fallen asleep. We all had. Byakko, the little butterfly and me. ¡°Father~¡± Byakko muttered groggily as he got up. His voice had none of the tension I was feeling. Thinking that I was probably overthinking stuff, I surveyed the surrounding. No, I hadn¡¯t been overthinking. In fact, it had already exceeded my expectations. Innumerable beasts were rushing towards where we were from all sides. They were not out to get us, per se but we would definitely get caught up in the charge. ¡°Byakko! Ling! Prepare for battle!¡± I yelled. Ling was the name I gave to the little butterfly flame. Everyone needs an identity. That¡¯s what I believed. I was not able to identity the gender of the butterfly. I took it for a female. It felt disconcerting to call a companion who might accompany you for a lifetime as ¡®it¡¯ like an inanimate object or an animal. I started shooting numerous arrows in all direction. Ding!
You have gained¡­
Ding!
You have gained¡­
Ding!
You have gained¡­
Ding!
You have gained¡­
Many notifications floated in front of me. But that was just a destraction. I waved them away. No time to waste reading stuff I already knew. I turned off all the notifications regarding gaining of essence and leveling up to Foundational Stage. I didn¡¯t need them at the moment. As for others, I left it on. You never know what you might miss if you closed off all of your avenues. The beasts couldn¡¯t be considered strong. Even an arrow that was part of the mass of arrow I shot at the same time was enough to take care of it. But the problem was, their numbers. It was just too much. I kept shooting arrows like a mad person. Due to sheer number of the beasts, I rarely missed. In one shower of arrows, I would be able to take down hundreds and hundreds of beasts. But that did nothing. The beast horde that was more than ten kilometers away before was now a little less than two hundred meters away. ¡°Byakko! Ling!¡± ¡°On it!¡± He immediately turned massive. As for Ling, she summoned a circle of flame around her. Although she was one of my traits, she was capable of independent action due to her sentience. ¡°Byakko, don¡¯t use your Qi recklessly.¡± When would this guy learn to be cautious? What if he had no Qi when he really needed it? ¡°Got it, father~¡± He promptly turned off his skill and became his miniature size. I sighed. This guy was too simple. I worried for his future. Byakko and Ling joined the fray. Byakko was swiping with his claws. Naturally, not using his skill. Piles of corpses built around him. As for Ling, she charred all the beasts around her with her flame. There were no Core Formation Stage beasts in the group. That was the only saving grace in the whole situation. If there had been a few of them, we would have had to struggle a lot. But I wasn¡¯t optimistic enough to think that they wouldn¡¯t appear at some point. I kept shooting the beasts that were in the distance. Byakko and Ling fought of the beasts that were in close range. Gradually, we got into our own battle rhythm. It became much easier to take care of the beast horde. The problem was, how long would we be able to keep the rhythm. I kept shooting, my fingers sore. Ding!
Congratulations! You have comprehended .
Oh? I couldn¡¯t help but be surprised. I didn¡¯t check the skill but kept on shooting. I immediately noticed the effect. Shooting arrow became much easier, especially targeting part. It was like an invisible hand was guiding me. Ding!
Congratulations! Your Skill has leveled up. is now Level 6.
Ding!
Congratulations! Your Skill has leveled up. is now Level 6.
That took a while. I thought the skills would level up like crazy since I was constantly using them in the battle. But I guess it got more difficult to level up, as it got higher and higher. Still, the extra damage I would get was a nice addition. It was like getting water in the times of drought. The battle became easier. ¡°Father, I got a new skill called ! It¡¯s amazing! I can sense everything within the radius of ten meters!¡± Byakko yelled over the sound of the battle and rushing beasts. ¡°Good!¡± I nodded at him. Then, I looked towards Ling. Did she become stronger? I wondered. The circle of flame around her was clearly much bigger than before. The area of damage she was dealing was also increased. Essence Flames could also grow? That was something new. I decided to study more about the world after I got out of this. It was clearly much more mystical than I had given it credit for. Ding!
Congratulations! You have acquired the skill .
Wasn¡¯t it the same skill Byakko got? I pushed back the urge to check out my status and concentrated on the battle. It was true, I could sense everything within ten meters around me vividly. With it, I could put a decent fight in close quarter. Not that there were any need at the moment, Byakko and Ling were doing a fantastic job. But the Qi exhaustion by the skill had me gaping. Finally, the battle subsided. I looked at the numerous corpses around us in disbelief. The sheer amount of beasts that rushed towards us in the beginning had me frightened out of my wit. But now that it was taken care of, it sort of felt anticlimactic. It wasn¡¯t that difficult. That was my honest feeling at the moment. I laid myself on the ground to rest. Although there had been no damage and the Qi I spend had already recovered, I couldn¡¯t help feeling tired. The mental strain that I got from facing an innumerable amount of beasts was really something. Byakko and Ling did the same as me. I checked my status. I had put off doing it due to the urgency of the situation.
GENERAL
Name Su Ren Age 10 years old
Cultivation Method Heart¡¯s Yearning Realm Qi Gathering 9 (999/1000 Essence)
Lifeforce 4760/4760 (Regeneration: 20% per second)
Qi 4550/4550 (Regeneration: 20% per second)
ATTRIBUTES
Strength 448 Physique 476
Movement 474 ControlEnsure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. 474
Soul 455 Comprehension 442
Charm 56 Fate 35
INNATE TRAITS
Innards of a God Kaleidoscope Eye Photosynthesis Eternal Stratum (Incomplete) ############ Heavenly Butterfly Flame Bow
Bond: Byakko (White Tiger)
QI SKILL LIST
Slot Skill Name Rating Level
1. Qi Arrow Unranked 6/10
2. Earth Steps Epic 6/10
3. Heart Force Unranked 1/10
4. Spiritual Sense Unranked 1/10
That didn¡¯t make sense. Weren¡¯t we supposed to have only two skill slots when we were in Qi Gathering Stage? I checked the details of the skills.
HEART FORCE (Unranked) Level 1 Provides a steady aim. Cost: 20 Qi per second
SPIRITUAL SENSE (Unranked) Level 1 Extend your senses to 10 meters. Cost: 100 Qi per second
When I looked into the details of the skills, one thing struck me. Both of them were passive and support type skills. Maybe, one could learn these passive skills even though all slots were filled. Maybe, the slots were for active skills that would have a direct bearing outside. When it came learning these passive skills, we did not have the option of choosing. If you comprehended one, it would be learnt without fail. I could only pray that there were more slots. I checked Byakko¡¯s status.
GENERAL
Name Byakko Age 7 months old
Race White Tiger Realm Foundational 3 (2876/4000 Essence)
Lifeforce 1540/1540 (Regeneration: 2% per second)
Qi 1520/1520 (Regeneration: 2% per second)
ATTRIBUTES
Strength 238 Physique 244
Movement 250 Control 249
Soul 232 Comprehension 227
Charm 29 Fate 21
INNATE TRAIT
Wings of the Heavenly Tiger
Bonded to: Su Ren
QI SKILL LIST
Slot Skill Name Rating Level
1. Heavenly Tiger Transformation Epic 5/10
2. Claw Swipe Epic 4/10
3. Spiritual Sense Unranked 1/10
4.
5.
Yup. Like I thought, the passive skill didn¡¯t take the slots that were available to the active skills. I checked Ling while I was at it.
Ling (Heavenly Butterfly Essence Flame)
That was it. Either my level was too low or Ling had yet to activate her status, I was unable to tell. Maybe, this was all that there was to it. But I was unable to dismiss it like that. Ling had clearly become strong. There should be something to display it. There were many things I needed to study. I made a mental note and included the matter about Ling to my list. ¡°Not bad! Not bad at all!¡± An old voice suddenly rang out in my head. ¡°Who?¡± I looked around but found no one. ¡°Don¡¯t bother, boy. I am not around you. If you used that eye trait of yours, you might see me at the core region of the forest.¡± I shuddered. It wasn¡¯t that difficult to figure out the identity of the voice. It was the presence I had felt from the core region of the forest. I had been unable to see though it with my [Kaleidoscope Eye]. Its cultivation was at least Nascent Soul Stage. That¡¯s the stage where I was unable to use [Kaleidoscope Eye: Mode Black] to identify. But something told me that its cultivation was beyond that. Why was someone this powerful talking to me? I wasn¡¯t na?ve enough to believe that the powerful presence talked to me due of kindness. This was cultivation world. Everyone¡¯s hand was strained in blood. ¡°You have a nice body,¡± it said. I had a bad premonition. ¡°Just right for me!¡± My premonition was spot on. Ding!
WARNING! A foreign consciousness has invaded your body and consciousness. It is trying to take over you. Please do something.
Before I could think of a plan to counter the invasion, I felt a huge presence in my head. My consciousness grew hazy and everything became black around me.
The demon grinned. It hadn¡¯t expected such a nice present to walk right to him. He had been irritated when he was rudely interrupted from his rest. If it weren¡¯t for the injury that only let him use a meager amount of Qi, he would have killed all those ants. Too bad, he could unleash only a single skill. If he used another skill, his recovery would have been in serious jeopardy. With the new body, his recovery would speed up by a lot. The potential of the body would enable him to walk further than he had ever done in his life. Just a bit more. Suddenly, he felt a certain engulfing force from the body he was attempting to take over. What is happening? Before he could figure out the situation, he felt a searing pain in his soul. Ding!
The part of your soul you send out was devoured. WARNING! If you don¡¯t sever the connection with that part of soul, the chances of your soul getting devoured is very high.
He promptly followed the notification and severed the connection between his main soul and the soul he had sent out. His soul was damaged. The stats of the soul had been reduced by at least one-third. It was a major loss. Just what kind of monster did I provoke? The time he could return to his prime had been lengthened yet gain. He had been unwittingly made to eat a loss by a Qi Gathering Stage brat!
The City Lord and his team didn¡¯t make a pretty sight as they sneakily made their way through the forest. They had to tread carefully or they would run into a beast horde. It wasn¡¯t that it would be difficult to tackle a horde or two but the exhaustion they would accumulate was something he wanted to avoid. ¡°All clear, sir!¡± the scout reported. Mu Yan nodded in acknowledgement. They had come as a majestic team with nine Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators and hundreds of Core Formation Stage Cultivators. But now, they were returning with only seven Nascent Soul Stage Cultivators and less than fifty Core Formation Stage cultivators. This was a tragedy! ¡°Sir,¡± another scout came to make his report. ¡°There¡¯s something that is rapidly approaching us.¡± ¡°Number?¡± he asked, tersely. They had already fought against beasts for more than a day. Everyone was tired. ¡°One,¡± the scout replied. Mu Yan relaxed. Taking down a single beast shouldn¡¯t be that big of an issue. But he could see some unease in the eyes of the scout. ¡°What is it?¡± he asked. ¡°It¡¯s a chimera.¡± The scouts voice shook. It wasn¡¯t that difficult to figure out that he was trying to fight off his fear. Since when did this forest have a chimera? Mu Yan cursed. Chimeras were really troublesome beasts. One was never able to predict the traits and skills they possessed. Moreover, they would have a huge arsenal of it. Chimeras meant only one thing. Massive destruction. Even if it was just one chimera, Mu Yan couldn¡¯t underestimate it. He gathered others and quickly prepared a plan to fight off the beast. The chimera had already locked onto them. Turning their back to it was the most foolish thing they could do. Mu Yan, as the City Lord, had some [Mass Teleportation Scroll] in his hand. But he wanted to avoid using it, if possible. He had paid a huge amount to get those in his hands. How could he bear it use it just like that? They had hardly finished their preparations when the chimera reached them. Mu Yan shuddered. Even for a chimera, the one in front of them was too bizarre. The chimera had two heads, a serpent and a bird. It had two snakes with glaring red eyes for its tails. But the most weird aspect of this chimera was the huge round belly. A huge mouth with rows of sharp teeth in it was located there! He had seen chimeras before but never one such as this. Also, he could sense a primordial aura from it. They would be unable to take on the beast. He could sense it. He took out the [Mass Teleportation Scroll] and inserted his Qi into it. He couldn¡¯t afford to continue being miserly or else, they would be wiped out. Moments before they were teleported out of that place, the chimera attacked. It was a pretty simple pattern. With a sonic boom, it rushed towards a cluster of people and opened its big mouth. Moments later, all those people were in its mouth. All Mu Yan and his team could do was watch helplessly. Fight that thing? No way! The scroll activated and the survivors were teleported out of that area. Before he was teleported away, he didn¡¯t forget to inform his daughter about the situation in a concise manner. He told her to use a [Mass Teleportation Scroll] and get out of the forest as soon as possible. They were teleported to the City Gate. He checked the survivors grimly. Four Nascent Soul Cultivators and twenty-one Core Formation Stage cultivators. The others, they had all ended up in that beast¡¯s stomach. Their losses from the Chimera was bigger than the one they suffered from the mighty presence in the core region of the forest. Mu Yan regretted not activating the [Mass Teleportation Scroll] as soon as he knew about the chimera. Few moments later, lights lit up the gate. It was the activation of another [Mass Teleportation Scroll]. Mu Lanran and other young generations walked out the light. Mu Yan sighed in relief. At least his beloved daughter was safe.
¡°Father!¡± Byakko muttered in a tone filled with worry and loneliness as he looked at the chimera that was trampling down on a beast horde. After they had finished the fight, his father had fallen into a trance with a painful expression on his face. Soon after, he had transformed into that bizarre creature. He attacked everything in his path indiscriminately, whether it was beasts or humans. The only exception was Byakko and Ling who were connected to him. Ling was in a berserk state, too. She had transformed into a huge butterfly and razing everything in her path to ashes. These two were on a destruction spree. Byakko, with his little head was unable to think of a solution. He could only follow his father worriedly. 12. Unfinished Business I woke up in a semi-lit room. My head throbbed with an incessant pain. It was more annoying than painful. I tried to figure out my situation. I blanked. Nothing. I was not able to recall anything. Not even my name! Everything was a blank slate. Panic rushed to my head. Fortunately, that didn¡¯t last long. To my relief, I was gradually able to remember everything. I was Su Ren. While I was resting after a fierce battle with a beast horde, a foreign consciousness had invaded my body. I had lost my consciousness after that. Where am I? I examined the room. Nothing special. It was about four meter square in size. Apart from a door and a window, there was nothing. No carpet, no furniture, no anything. Six figures stood in front of me in a semi-circle. A huge belly that had an equally big mouth spread horizontally across it. A pair of eyes that seemed to swirl with different colors. A leaf that gently floated in the air. A mass of energy that seemed endless. An indistinct figure that seemed to have no definite shape. A vague outline of a bow. My traits. Ling was absent. I closely examined them. They seemed to possess the power level of a Qi Gathering Stage cultivator, the same stage as me. But that was not the important part here. Each and every one of the six figures seemed to possess their own egos. What is happening? I was unable to figure out the whole situation. I looked at the window. I was able to see a scene play out through it. A strange creature, which was a mixture of many other creatures, a chimera, was wrecking havoc everywhere. It slaughtered everything its path. I had never seen the creature before but for some inexplicable reason, I knew that creature was me. I watched the creature tore down many beasts effortlessly. But I didn¡¯t fail to notice the gradual decrease in its movement. It wouldn¡¯t be long before it collapsed and fell prey to the countless beasts it had provoked. I felt a sense of urgency. I stood up and made to move towards the door. The six figures blocked my path. I tried to evade and make my through another direction. The six figures blocked my path. Again. ¡°Move out of my way!¡± I told them. They remained silent but refused to budge. It wasn¡¯t that difficult to figure out their motive. At the moment, my body was under their control. They could give vent to their natural instincts without any restriction. Needless to say, they were reluctant to relinquish that control. But the problem was, they were simply egos. They had neither the reasoning capabilities nor capacity for logical thoughts. They moved according to their baser instincts. It was taking a huge toll on my body. I sighed. I knew it would come to this as soon as I learnt that traits possessed egos. I was already assessing my chances. I summoned . Thank goodness! I could at least use the skills. The only logical explanation I could think was: Qi Skills were linked to Qi, which in turn was linked to Soul. Soul was the core of my being. That¡¯s why I could still use skills. Traits were a different story altogether. Rather than assist, they were obstructing me. I released the arrows. It served as the signal for our battle. The six figures moved. Ding!
You have subdued the ego of [Photosynthesis].
I paused. Just like that?I had envisioned a bloody battle before I was able to subdue one of the traits. This¡­ But when I looked back, it did back sense. The leaf had no offensive or defensive strength. All it could do was absorb Pure Yang Qi. That wasn¡¯t much of help in a battle. Also, the stats possessed by the traits must not be that high. If they possessed the same stats as me, one of the mass-produced could barely scratch them. According to my conjecture, all their stats should be capped at ninety-nine, the limit of a Qi Gathering Stage cultivator. The leaf turned into a stream of light and entered me. I checked my Qi. Now that I had no [Eternal Stratum] to assist with the Qi recovery, I had to be careful about my Qi expenditure. To my surprise, I was running on full tank. It took me a while to understand the situation. This wasn¡¯t outside. It was inside a mindscape, my mindscape. It was a virtual battle. There was no real expenditure of Qi. I grinned. I could work this to my advantage. I activated . Nothing escaped from my senses within ten meters. Just then, I felt myself freeze. An arrow entered my notice shortly. Fortunately, the duration I remained in the frozen state was not last long. I quickly evaded the arrow. It was a close call. I finally tasted my own medicine. If it weren¡¯t for the huge difference in values of our Soul attribute, I would be in a whole world of pain. The big mouth and the indistinct figure were the next to attack. But taking advantage of my higher movement stat, I moved out of their range and stabbed the stationary bow with a rotating . Ding!
You have subdued the ego of [Bow].
Same like the leaf, the bow transformed into light and entered me. Without pausing, I charged a . It felt like a long time since I last did that, although it shouldn¡¯t have been more than a few days at most. A lot of things had happened in this short span of time. I moved around to keep myself from getting hit by an attack. The giant pair of eyes floating in the air would occasionally freeze me. The duration was too short to serve any purpose, apart from annoying the hell out of me. When I was sure I had packed enough power in it, I released the arrow. Ding!
You have subdued the ego of [Kaleidoscope Eye].
The annoying eyes were finally gone! I turned my attention to the mass of energy that was serving as a power station for the traits. I repeated the same process as I did before. I charged a while evading the attacks from the big mouth and the indistinct figure. With no annoying pair of eyes obstructing me, I was smoothly able to finish the job. Ding!
You have subdued the ego of [Eternal Stratum].
Finally, there were only two left. But both of them were troublesome. Others had been stationary but these two moved around a lot. I had to change my strategy. I began charging the . This time, however, I didn¡¯t release it like I did before. I used it like a dagger and stabbed the indistinct figure. With the higher mobility I possessed, it wasn¡¯t that difficult of a task. Ding!
You have subdued the ego of [############].
Charging another , I rushed towards the big mouth. Ding!
You have subdued the ego of [Innards of a God].
Over. It was all over. I was the only one in the room. I wiped the nonexistent sweat off my brow. If there had been a slight change in variables, I would be in for a huge disaster. If I had leveled up to a Foundational Stage, I would have had to fight against stronger traits. If I didn¡¯t have the skills that I did, I would not be able to come out of this fight unscathed. I had underestimated the traits. I didn¡¯t understand anything about them. I had seen other humans and beasts possessing traits doing just fine. But I had forgotten that I was not like them. I had crossed over from another world to this world. I had more trait than any of them and my stats were so ridiculous that I escaped the concept of cultivation level. I was different. It was about time I acknowledged it. Ding!
True assimilation of the traits to your soul has started! Progress: 0.0001% Please wait¡­
I nodded. This should enable the traits to be truly assimilated to my soul. With this, I should not have a rerun of this episode. Waving the notification away, I pushed open the door. I escaped the prison in my mind the traits had constructed to trap my consciousness. They must have taken the opportunity when my consciousness was weakened by the invasion of the foreign one. I returned to my body. The first thing I felt was the strong surge of strength and energy. I felt like I could do anything in this form. Yet at the same, it was too draining. Without even having to open the status window, I knew my Qi and Lifeforce were depleting at a rapid pace. If there wasn¡¯t [Eternal Stratum] to recover them, it was impossible to sustain this form. Hell! I might even have lost my life! Ding!
You are in [Chimera Transformation]. Would you like to turn it off?Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
I looked around. There were no living beasts around me. Yes, I said in my mind. The surge of strength and energy dissipated. The depletion of Lifeforce and Qi stopped. My body was normal again. ¡°Father~¡± Byakko came flying through the air and jumped into my chest. ¡°I was so so worried. Father became really strange. You didn¡¯t respond to me at all. I called you again and again.¡± I rubbed the little fellow¡¯s fur. ¡°I am sorry. It must have frightened you.¡± ¡°Nuu~ Nuu~¡± he whimpered. I sensed the presence of Ling some three kilometers away. I called her to my location. Ding!
You have [Chimera Transformation] available to you. Would you like to assimilate it to your body?
I paused. If it were me from before who didn¡¯t go through this whole ordeal, I would have jumped at this chance. Ability to transform into an overpowered chimera? Hell yeah! But now, I felt cautious towards it. I didn¡¯t understand much about it. If I went through this without thinking, it might come back to bite me. I decided to shelve it for now. It would never be late to assimilate after a thorough study. Ling''s tiny figure soon fluttered into view. ¡°Let¡¯s head home.¡± I felt really tired. Both my body and mind felt extremely fatigued. I would take a long break, I decided.
Ding!
Congratulations! You have turned eleven years old! You are awarded +1 to all attributes.
Oh? It has already been a year since I first woke up here? I thought and went back to sleep. I was only able to check the change in my status after the sun had risen and I had fully woken up.
GENERAL
Name Su Ren Age 11 years old
Cultivation Method Heart¡¯s Yearning Realm Qi Gathering 9 (999/1000 Essence)
Lifeforce 4870/4870 (Regeneration: 20% per second)
Qi 4910/4910 (Regeneration: 20% per second)
ATTRIBUTES
Strength 460 Physique 487
Movement 485 Control 486
Soul 491 Comprehension 489
Charm 64 Fate 39
INNATE TRAITS
Innards of a God Kaleidoscope Eye Photosynthesis Eternal Stratum (Incomplete) ############ Heavenly Butterfly Flame Bow
Bond: Byakko (White Tiger)
QI SKILL LIST
Slot Skill Name Rating Level
1. Qi Arrow Unranked 7/10
2. Earth Steps Epic 7/10
3. Heart Force Unranked 4/10
4. Spiritual Sense Unranked 2/10
I nodded and closed it. Apart from grinding the skill levels, I didn¡¯t do anything much these days. I left hunting to Byakko and roasting the meat to Little Ling. I spent most of the time basking in the sun, where [Photosynthesis] would activate by itself and absorb the Pure Yang Qi. My mind felt calm and peaceful. It was like it had been elevated to a higher level. I was planning to head out to a human city soon. It was a good place to study about the world. Before that, I had some unfinished business left. The moment I had been waiting came a few days later. Ding!
True assimilation of traits completed. Running the final calibration. Process completed!
I tested out the traits. Smooth. That was the only word that came to my mind. Using traits became natural. It was like using my limbs. There was no obstruction. I was able to control everything simply with thoughts. It was much better than I expected. The next day, taking Byakko and Ling together, I headed out. Even with the improved [Kaleidoscope Eye], I was still unable to check the details of the mighty presence located at the core region of forest. That didn¡¯t mean that I couldn¡¯t see it. The obscure energy that prevented me from seeing the figure was now gone. I was able to see a half man and half beast being was lying in a cave. To be more accurate, the upper body was that of a wolf and the lower region was that of man. It was injured and unable to move. That was important. I found a suitable place one and half kilometers away from it. That was the furthest range I could stay to use my archery with hundred percent effect. The wide entrance of the cave, that was left open for reasons unknown to me provided me with a clear shot for my arrows. ¡°Byakko! Ling! Guard me!¡± Summoning the [Bow], I charged the arrow with Qi to its limit. It took thirty minutes. BOOM! Leaving behind a crater, the arrow took off with a loud blast. The recoil was so powerful, I was left staggering for a while. ¡°HOW DARE YOU!¡± The half beast in the core region yelled in my head using or an upgraded version of it. I knew I had hit my mark. I shot another arrow as a reply. ¡°I WILL KILL YOU!¡± More yelling ensued. I couldn¡¯t be bothered with its threats. If he could kill me, would I still be alive? With the difference in our cultivation level, to kill me would be the same as squashing a bug for him. But he didn¡¯t do it. No. He couldn¡¯t. In fact, he couldn¡¯t even move. He must have paid some sort of price when he tried to take over my body. My confidence was boosted. I charged another arrow and shot it. Similar effects to the previous one were generated. On my end, I had to bear through the recoil. The other end, the half beast yelled incessantly. This continued for ten hours. My hand was sore. I didn¡¯t expect it would be this difficult. I thought it would take at most three to four hours. But what was this? Was this half beast the reincarnation of an immortal roach? I was tempted to stop halfway but I couldn¡¯t. Enmity was already sown. I wasn¡¯t na?ve enough to believe that everything would be fine after I left him alone. Once he recovered, he would definitely come and hunt me down. The problem was, I wouldn¡¯t be able to continue for long. Shooting all those arrows with high damage was really exhausting. My body would reach the breaking point soon. While I was in a dilemma, an idea struck me. I summoned a but this time, instead of infusing it with Qi, I infused it with Essence Flame. Ding!
You have found a new way of using . Congratulations! Your Skill has leveled up. is now Level 8.
Due to the level up, I was able to infuse more energy. BOOM! I released the arrow. From what I could make out with [Kaleidoscope Eye], I was able to deal more damage than before. It was at least doubled. This bolstered my sagging confidence. I saw hope. ¡°What do you want?¡± the half beast asked in a courteous tone. He was no more yelling and cursing. I noticed traces of panic in his voice. Oh? It was a surprise. I never thought this overbearing half beast would ever lower his head. ¡°Why don¡¯t we both take a step back? I will give you a heaven-ranked treasure. I will also swear upon the Laws to not seek revenge on you. Just let me recover here in peace. How about it?¡± he said, his voice soft and his tone patient. After seeing all of his base nature in the earlier ten hours, I would be stupid to believe him. I summoned a and infused Essence Flame into it. Even if I wanted to negotiate, there was no way to pass my voice to him like he did. Besides, there was no need for it. The fact that he was trying to negotiate proved that he was already at his tether¡¯s end. Just a little push and he would topple down. ¡°BOY! STOP IT NOW!¡± He must have seen me prepare the arrow. BOOM! I released the arrow. Ding!
You have slain a Spirit Transformation Stage Demon. Congratulations! You have gained 302345 Essence.
I let the essence dissipate without absorbing. I had no plans to advance to Foundational Stage at the moment. I needed to gather more information. Only when I had understood my situation perfectly would I advance. I rested for an hour before I went to the half beast¡¯s dwelling. It was an ordinary cave. There was nothing of worth in it. I was disappointed until I noticed a glint on one of his fingers. It was a ring. Trembling with excitement, I used [Kaleidoscope Eye: Mode Black] to ensure it was what I think it was.
Spatial Ring Owner: None You can store inanimate objects within the ring and freely take it out. The weight of the objects will be negated. Capacity: 100 Cubic Meters (Note: Dip a drop of your blood to claim ownership.)
¡°Yes!¡± I yelled. It was one of the must-have for any decent cultivator. It was one of the objects I desired from those cultivation novels. I mean, this thing was convenient as hell. Using the tip of the , I made a small cut on one of my fingers and dipped the blood onto the ring. Ding!
Congratulations! You have claimed ownership of the spatial ring.
I put the ring on my thumb since it was too big for any of the other fingers. That was stupid. The ring adjusted its size to fit my finger just right. I thought of switching fingers but left it in the end. The new details of the ring went like this now.
Spatial Ring Owner: Su Ren You can store inanimate objects within the ring and freely take it out. The weight of the objects will be negated. Capacity: 100 Cubic Meters (Note: Dip a drop of your blood to claim ownership.)
I nodded in satisfaction. I could sense the objects in it but I decided to leave the full examination to when we reached our cave. I collected the corpse of the half beast that I now knew was a ¡®demon¡¯ and stepped outside. ¡°Did you find anything nice inside, father?¡± Byakko ran towards me. I had left him and Ling as guards, in case someone or something came. I nodded. ¡°Let¡¯s go to our cave and check them.¡± Ling flew out from wherever she had been and landed on my shoulder. She liked to rest there, so I let her be.
I gave the cave we had been living for more than a year one last reluctant look. We were setting out for the city. I wasn¡¯t sure if I would ever return to this place. ¡°Father~ Let¡¯s go~ Let¡¯s go~¡± The little guy was a bunch of excitement. The prospect of going to a new place had him up on cloud nine. Ling was no exception. She was fluttering in the air in excitement. I sighed. They were like kids before a school trip. Well, they were kids. Even I could be considered one, in a way. I followed the two overexcited fellows. 13. Some Things Never Change
¡°Whoa~¡± ¡°Magnificent!¡± Byakko and I exclaimed to show our appreciation. Meanwhile, Ling flew around to show her excitement. She was still unable to articulate. From the intelligence she displayed, I was sure she would be able to do so soon. Right now, we were on a hilltop. We were overlooking the city that was situated at the foot of the valley. It was a beautiful city. Naturally, it wasn¡¯t as big as the modern day cities on Earth. Neither did it have skyscraper like buildings. If the city were on Earth, it would be a cultural heritage and a hot tourist spot. This city was reminiscent of ancient china cities that I had seen on Internet, just more exquisite and perfect. A huge wall that could make the Great Wall of China cry in shame surrounded it. If you lived a few kilometers away from wild beasts, you would at least need a wall like that to let you sleep soundly at nights. The city was just a day or so away from the cave we lived in. But it took us nearly half a month to reach here. It was already a miracle that we made it here in such a short amount of time. We had no map, no direction. The only thing we knew was that there was a city close by. It was like searching for needle in a haystack. We headed down. This would be the first time I would come in contact with the society, in both of my lives. I had to be careful. There were many things I didn¡¯t know. I repeated the plans in my head. First, find something to eat. Second, find a place to stay. Third, make proper arrangement for future meals. Fourth, find a place to study about this world. A library or something, if it existed. Fifth, search and learn some good cooking method. Get some cooking utensils while I am at it. Oh, I need to get some robes that fit me, too. While I was buried in my thoughts, we reached the city gate. A huge number of people were queued outside it. With Byakka and Ling behind me, I also lined up. The progression moved slowly. After several hours, I was finally able to reach in front of the guards who were guarding the gate. In the meantime I had seen several young masters and young mistresses enter the gate on their horses or in the carriages. They didn¡¯t even bother to glance at the guards. The guards took it as if it was normal. Such privileges! I couldn¡¯t help but feel envious of them. Yet at the same time, I tensed up. In xianxia and xuanhuan webnovels I read, wasn¡¯t this the perfect time for an arrogant young master to show himself? ¡°Name?¡± one of the guards asked, bringing me out of my reverie. ¡°Su Ren,¡± I replied. ¡°3 Copper Coins,¡± he said, without even bothering to look in my direction. I handed him the money. It was the gate toll. I had already seen people before me pay; therefore, I had quietly withdrawn it from my spatial ring. At the moment, I was really wealthy. There were mountains of copper coins, silver coins, gold coins and some glowing stones, which I identified as ¡®spiritual stones¡¯. The measly three copper coins didn¡¯t make even a tiny dent in it. I entered the gate without any problem. But I suddenly felt at a loss. This was the first time I was among a huge crowd of people. That time when Byakko got beastnap didn¡¯t count since it was a special circumstance. Moreover, the number of people here were many times more than that time. Street hawkers. Food stalls. Fruit vendors. Carriages. Throngs of people were moving here and there. I was suddenly overwhelmed. The only thought in my head was: Huge city, scary! I felt alienated. I never thought I would feel this way among a huge crowd. ¡°Young boy, are you lost?¡± A pudgy figure with a kind smile approached me.
Zuban watched the boy for a while. One look and it was enough for him to tell that the boy was a country bumpkin. Even if the oversized robe that was torn all over the place and the long messy dark hair didn¡¯t give it away, the uneasy and the lost look on his face made really easy for others to guess. These types of people made easy prey. He eyed the white tiger cub and the little butterfly that seemed to be made of flame. They seemed extraordinary. A greedy glint appeared in his eyes. Not good. He couldn¡¯t let his face betray him. He adjusted his face to kind smile and approached the boy. ¡°Young boy, are you lost?¡± he asked. The boy looked at him and nodded. ¡°I am looking for a place to eat but I am somehow unable to decide.¡± ¡°What a coincidence! I run a diner. Would you like to come with me?¡± Crap! Did I make it sound too effusive? He carefully examined the boy¡¯s face. He sighed inwardly in relief. The boy didn¡¯t seem to have caught on. The boy thought for a while and gave a gentle smile. ¡°Oh! That seems perfect. Lead the way, uncle,¡± he said. Zuban took the boy to his restaurant. ¡°Listen!¡± he told the boy in a loud voice, drawing the attention of all the diners at the same. This was important. ¡°I run an All-You-Can-Eat restaurant! There are some rules you need to follow!¡± The boy was paying great attention to him. As for the other diners, they had returned to their meals. It was fine. As long as they testified that Zuban had warned the boy about the rules later, his ploy would succeed. ¡°You have to finish the first serving no matter what. If you are unable to finish it, you will have to pay ten times the price. Boy, let me warn you, it¡¯s very expensive! On the other hand, if you are able to finish the first serving and finish ten servings, then you will be waived off of all bills. Naturally, if you are able to eat more than ten servings and still wants to eat more, the restaurant will provide food until you are full.¡± He grinned inwardly. As if that¡¯s possible. The boy stood in silence for a few seconds in thought and said, ¡°Uncle, give me three servings.¡± Zuban rejoiced. The prey had bitten the bait. Hook, line and sinker. He hadn¡¯t even asked the price of a serving before he ordered one! He must be attempting to finish ten servings. Little did the boy know that the very first serving would be his stumbling block! A huge serving of foundational stage beast meat! He would like to see how a brat at Qi Gathering Stage manages to finish it all. He had been in this business for years. Apart from veteran cultivators in Core Formation Stage, few had been able to finish the first serving. As for the ten servings, none in all his years had been able to finish. He guided the boy and his two companions to a table. What he wanted from the boy was not money. He wanted to get his hands on the two beasts. At the same time, it wouldn¡¯t hurt to have a new serving boy. The boy seemed to possess high charm; the older ladies would definitely go crazy over him. He personally helped to deliver one of the servings. ¡°Enjoy~¡± he said. ¡°Thank you, uncle.¡± The boy gave him a harmless smile. He returned the smile. Smile while you can. It will soon disappear. He had such sinister thoughts in his head. Disappear, the smile did. But it wasn¡¯t the boy¡¯s smile. It was his. It took all his effort to keep his face from crumbling. Where did these ravenous monsters come from? He could only watch in horror as servings after servings of high quality disappeared in their mouth. Even the little butterfly managed to eat twenty-three servings! Where did all those food disappear in that tiny body? The white tiger cub managed to eat forty-seven servings before he gave up. As for the boy, he was still eating. Was his stomach a black hole?If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. Zuban knew he made a mistake. A huge mistake. The most infuriating of all, there was nothing he could do. The only reason his restaurant had no problem so far was because of the rules. He had explained it clearly to all the diners. They couldn¡¯t argue back when he had extorted an exorbitant amount from them. Now, those same rules bound him. He could only watch helplessly as the boy ate everything in his restaurant. He couldn¡¯t stop the boy or the people he had scammed would come knocking at his door. More than a years worth of profit disappeared just like that! The meat and condiments were specially ordered. They had very high energy content. He had to pay a hefty sum to acquire them but he was satisfied with it. He was able to earn so much from them. Is it karma coming to bite back at me? After eating hundreds of serving, the boy gave a satisfied burp. ¡°That felt good. Thank you, uncle. You are a good man. I will patronage your restaurant everyday. Don¡¯t! He wanted to yell but couldn¡¯t. He gave a cramped smile. If this malefic visited him everyday, he would soon go bankrupt. He had to think of a solution to stop this freak. Quick!
What a ¡®kind uncle¡¯! I laughed. It was a scam. It was easy to see through. But putting on an innocent facade, I decided to play along. In the end, I didn¡¯t even had to do anything to foil his scheme. The pudgy man digged a hole andjumped into it himself. All I did was eat delicious food to my heart¡¯s content. If all scams were like this, I would like more. Byakko and Ling had fallen asleep as soon as they finished eating. Jeez! These fellows had nary a care in the world. I asked the ¡®kind uncle¡¯ to recommend me a good inn to rest. I put the most innocent smile I could find in my arsenal. He lifelessly gave me directions to an inn that wasnearby. Cradling the two sleeping fellows in my arms, I walked out of the clamoring restaurant. It was a satisfying meal. I opened the last notification that came to me as soon as I finished eating the meal.
You have consumed a huge amount of High Quality Meal. Congratulations! You have gained +5 to all six basic stats.
This was far higher than the other Foundational Stage beast¡¯s meat gave me these days. It seemed the condiments and the cooking method used had a lot of effect. I needed to do more research on it. I opened my status.
GENERAL
Name Su Ren Age 11 years old
Cultivation Method Heart¡¯s Yearning Realm Qi Gathering 9 (999/1000 Essence)
Lifeforce 5010/5010 (Regeneration: 20% per second)
Qi 5020/5020 (Regeneration: 20% per second)
ATTRIBUTES
Strength 473 Physique 501
Movement 497 Control 495
Soul 502 Comprehension 500
Charm 67 Fate 41
INNATE TRAITS
Innards of a God Kaleidoscope Eye Photosynthesis Eternal Stratum (Incomplete) ############ Heavenly Butterfly Flame Bow
Bond: Byakko (White Tiger)
QI SKILL LIST
Slot Skill Name Rating Level
1. Qi Arrow Unranked 8/10
2. Earth Steps Epic 7/10
3. Heart Force Unranked 4/10
4. Spiritual Sense Unranked 3/10
It had grown. I was satisfied. It wasn¡¯t that difficult to find the inn. The innkeeper was a homely plump lady. She was really kind and helpful. After tucking the two little fellows in, I also dropped myself onto the bed. I was soon overwhelmed by sleep. I woke up the next day, feeling refreshed. The two little fellows woke up at the same time. ¡°Food~¡± Byakko said. Ling fluttered around ceaselessly. She seemed to be saying that she wanted to food, too. They must have fallen in love with the meal he had yesterday. Well, it could be said the same for me. It totally beat the raw meat and the roasted meat we had been having. ¡°Shall we go and visit that ¡®kind uncle¡¯ again?¡± I sneered. I would make him pay a huge price for trying to scam me. But when we neared the location, there was a huge commotion going on there. A huge crowd was gathered in front of the restaurant. I made my way through the crowd to the front. The restaurant was closed. I heard snippets of conversation from around me. ¡°¡­what? He¡¯s gone?¡± ¡°¡­He quit¡­?¡± ¡°¡­but his business was going so well¡­¡± ¡°¡­heard a freak appeared¡­¡± ¡°¡­too bad. I liked the meals here¡­¡± ¡°¡­the quality was really good, although the price...¡± To summarize, the ¡®kind uncle¡¯ had closed down his business. Did I push him too hard? I wondered. It was a pity. I was betting on a source of delicious free food.But it didn¡¯t affect me. There were many restaurants in the city. Itshouldn¡¯t be a problem for us to find food. Money was the least of our worries. I was still a little hesitant to talk to strangers but I thought I would be able to manage. With Byakko and Ling on my heels, we left the place. For a little more than a week, we went on an eating spree. We went to all sorts of restaurants and tasted all sorts of delicacies. This was how a fulfilling life should be. This was what I was craving for. Eating whatever I wanted and all I wanted. It was pure bliss! Byakko and Ling were also satisfied with such a lifestyle. Alas! Nothing could continue forever. ¡°I am sorry, young sir, you are no more allowed in our restaurant,¡± the serving boy said to me. ¡°Why?¡± I asked. ¡°As far as I know, I had created no problems for you guys.¡± The boy awkwardly rubbed his head. ¡°The thing is, young sir and your two companions eat too much. All the materials would be exhausted after serving young sir. There would be none left for the next guests. There had been many complaints. If this continued, we are afraid, there would be a riot soon.¡± I was speechless. Such things could happen, too? ¡°Fine!¡± I decided to not make it difficult for him. He already sounded apologetic. Besides, his superior must have set him onto me. He was just a go-between. There was no use venting my emotion on a small figure. I left that restaurant and moved to the next one. Similar things happened in all of them. Byakko, Ling and I had been blacklisted in all the restaurants. The reason? We ate too much and disturbed the normal flow of the place. That was weird. Wouldn¡¯t people normally want customers who ate a lot and paid a huge amount of money? What the hell was going on with this world? Was this world bent on starving him?
Bai quietly made his way through the shadows and stopped before a door. He knocked on the door with a certain rhythm. ¡°Uncle Bai, please enter.¡± A tender voice came from inside. He pushed opened the door and entered the study to find a young lady pondering upon some documents. ¡°Uncle Bai, please take a seat,¡± Mu Lanran said. But when she saw that Bai made no move to sit, she sighed helplessly. ¡°Do you need to be so stiff when it is just the two of us?¡± ¡°Protocols must be observed on all occasions. Only then will everything operate smoothly.¡± She had grown up to be a beautiful and a smart lady. A little on the side of manipulative but he felt that was necessary quality. She was hundred percent better than that straightforward lass of Yu Clan. He was quite proud of her. He had no children of his own, let alone grandchildren. He doted on her like she was his own granddaughter. But this and that were difficult. Sighing again, she asked, ¡°What report do you have for me, Uncle Bai?¡± ¡°That boy has appeared here,¡± he said. ¡°The boy from the forest?¡± she asked. When Bai nodded, she smiled. ¡°I was unable to do anything to him. But now that he is in my turf, I will have him dancing around my palm.¡± Bai wanted to dissuade her. The boy was far more dangerous than they had given him credit for. Last time, whenever he looked at the boy, he would get a prickly feeling in his gut telling him to avoid the boy. But now, he felt nothing. If he hadn¡¯t encountered him before, he would have dismissed him as an ordinary boy. The monster had learnt to retract its claw. That only meant one thing. The monster had become more cunning and dangerous. But in the end he didn¡¯t say anything. It was not his place to advise the heir of Mu Clan. The only thing he could do was to guard her tightly. He would do that without fail. 14. Books Both of my lives were filled with struggles. It was like ordeals after ordeals were awaiting me at every nook and cranny. I looked at the restaurants. How could I go back to eating raw and simple roasted meat after tasting delicious meals prepared with exquisite methods? I tried the skewers on the roadside. It was better than the roasted meat we had before but it reached nowhere the level of those restaurants. I sighed. Why does my lives have to be this difficult? There were restaurants everywhere but I was blacklisted in every singe one of them. Byakko, Ling and I trudged through the city lifelessly. We were trying to familiarize with this new place. It was always a good idea to have more information. One could never know, we might come across some great fortune in an unremarkable alley. ¡°Father, I don¡¯t like this place!¡± Byakko complained. ¡°Why don¡¯t we go to a different city?¡± Ling bobbed her head up and down to agree. It seemed these two fellows had enough of this city. Getting blacklisted from the restaurants and being unable to eat the food they wanted made them hate this city. It was not like I couldn¡¯t understand where they came from. But as long as we didn¡¯t solve our core issues, I felt that we would face similar situations in other cities, too. Reducing our food intake was not an option! ¡°Don¡¯t worry, everything will be solved. Believe in me.¡± I could only assuage the unpleasant mood of the two gluttons and buy some time. It wouldn¡¯t be pretty if they took the matter into their hands and resorted to violence. That said I had no idea what to do. Being new to the place and all, it was quite difficult for us to find our way through the city well. There were times we would get hopelessly lost. For the moment, our target was a bookstore or a library. I needed more knowledge to plan out our future carefully. If I could, I wanted to leave no hidden menace like the traits. That incident had been quite an eye-opener. That was the reason I had not yet devoured the demon¡¯s meat. I wanted to be ready when a new trait appeared. There was also the matter of [Chimera Transformation]. So far I had no luck finding such places. It was like this whole city was conspiring against me. ¡°Hey!¡± I heard a female voice yell. It was loud and brass. I had this weird feeling that I had heard it somewhere. But I wasn¡¯t able identify it. Besides, apart from our plump innkeeper, I had no acquaintance in this city. I decided to ignore it. ¡°Hey! You!¡± the loud female voice yelled again. ¡°The boy with the wild hair! The one with the tiger and the butterfly!¡± Was she by any chance talking about me? I turned to find a young lady making her way towards me. She was beautiful. She must possess a huge charm value, I thought. Her manly garb and her manly gait made her appear more like a ferocious tiger than a delicate woman. There was this strange feeling again. It was like I knew her from somewhere. ¡°Big sister, are you by any chance talking to me?¡± I asked. The young lady raised her brow in surprise as if she had come across some rare occurrence. After overcoming her initial surprise, she said, ¡°Don¡¯t tell me, you don¡¯t recognize me? We ran into each other in the magical forest.¡± When she said that, everything suddenly clicked into places. I was able to recognize her. Now that I look back, due to the influence of my traits, apart from Byakko and Ling, I had seen the whole world in a disconnected and hazy manner. It was only after I had subdued the egos of the traits that I was able to see the world clearly. ¡°You are that beastnapper older sister!¡± I yelled out. ¡°You are the beastnapper! Your whole family is the beastnapper!¡± she retorted angrily. I coughed awkwardly. I felt the inappropriateness of yelling out such a phrase in public. As I recalled, in Xanxia and Xuanhuan worlds I read about, they seemed to place a huge amount of value on the so-called ¡®face¡¯. The uneasy looks the young lady was giving the crowd and her eventual relief when the crowd didn¡¯t seem to have noticed the minor commotion we caused proved my conjecture. ¡°This is not the right place to talk!¡± she hissed. She took the three of us to a restaurant. When the manager saw the three of us, he immediately came out, ¡°Lady Yu¡­ This¡­ The three of them had been barred from entering this restaurant,¡± he said. ¡°What!¡± she glared at the manager. ¡°This lady can¡¯t even bring a friend over to one of her clan¡¯s restaurants?¡± ¡°It¡¯s not like that¡­ This boy¡­ No, I mean, this sir¡­ I didn¡¯t realize he was Lady Yu¡¯s friend.¡± He was sweating buckets. Meanwhile, I was taking joy in his misfortune. He had been quite pompous when I had been here the last time. ¡°¡­Any friend of Lady Yu is more than welcomed here.¡± The manager finally retreated. I shot him a gloating look. ¡°What did you do to get blacklisted like this? I even had to exert my power as the Young Lady of Yu Clan for you to be admitted into the restaurant,¡± she said. I gave her a helpless shrug. ¡°Nothing. I just ate here.¡±This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. She shot me a look filled with suspicion. ¡°You can order anything you want here. It will be my treat. Treat it as an apology for capturing that little guy.¡± She pointed towards Byakko. ¡°No problem~¡± Byakko easily forgave her. The allure of delicious food was too strong for the little guy with very little space in his brain to resist. The foods that we ordered were soon placed on our table. I started gobbling it up. It felt like we had waited years for this moment. Our table manners were terrible. It went without saying for Byakko and Ling who had no concept of etiquette. Even someone like me who had who had lived two lives went wild. I tell you, the type of environment that you grow up in could have a huge impact on you. Ding!
You have consumed a huge amount of High Quality Meal. Congratulations! You have gained +3 in all attributes.
¡°I can see why the three of you got blacklisted in this restaurant. If my guess is not wrong, it shouldn¡¯t just be this restaurant, right?¡± The young lady had an incredulous look in her eyes. I scratched my chin awkwardly. What could I say to that? She was spot on. I decided to ignore it. I coughed to clear away my throat as well as to drive away the awkwardness. ¡°Thank you for your treat, Lady Yu.¡± ¡°You can just call me Sister Yu or Sister Chen¡¯er,¡± she said. I didn¡¯t know what to do. My social skills were lacking. No, that was an understatement. I had no social experiences. In both of my lives, I had very less interaction with other people. In times like this, I didn¡¯t know what to do. In the end, I decided to go with the flow. ¡°Thank you for your treat, Sister Yu,¡± I said. She nodded in acknowledgement. I turned towards the two little gluttons. They were sleeping on the table with happy smiles on their face. ¡°You know, you are now quite different from how you appeared in the magical forest,¡± Yu Chen¡¯er said, breaking the silence. ¡°You had this whole aura that seemed to say, ¡®Cross me and I will shred you to pieces¡¯. But now, you just seem like an ordinary boy who loves eating.¡± I had been like that in the forest. My real personality was mixed together with those of the egos of the traits. That must have given off a dangerous vibe. I mean, all those traits wanted wanton violence. That was the only explanation I could think of. Naturally, I wouldn¡¯t talk about my traits and all. I waved it off with a few excuses. I talked with Sister Yu for a while. From what I could tell, she possessed a straightforward personality. She was easy to get along with. I felt she was someone worth befriending. Of course, it could all be a fa?ade to deceive me. But if I kept on being suspicious of everything in life, I would make no progress. Naturally, I would keep my guard up. This was an unknown world. You never know, you could be stabbed in the back if you were not careful. ¡°You want to buy books?¡± she asked. I had broached the subjects of books and how I was not making any headway with it to her. ¡°Why would you need books? If you want to learn skills and other things, you could always check jade records. Books only contain basic information and theories with no practical application.¡± It was exactly basic information and theories I wanted to learn. That was where I was lacking the most. But I didn¡¯t tell her that. I just gave her a vague reason. ¡°I love reading,¡± I told her. It wasn¡¯t a lie. It was one of the activities I loved doing the most in my previous life. I was able to take my minds off my ailments whenever I was reading and be another person on a great adventure. She gave me directions to a bookstore. She told me that it was the only one in the whole city. Bidding her goodbye, I made my way to the store, naturally carrying the two sleeping fellows. It wasn¡¯t too much of a burden since they were quite small but I think I needed to drill some awareness lessons in their heads. I entered the old bookstore. As soon as I did, I was hit by the musty smell of the old books. It made me quite nostalgic. The store was untidy. It was located in the cranny of an alley. No wonder I couldn¡¯t find it. ¡°What do you want?¡± A grumpy-looking old man came out from behind some shelves and asked in a gruff voice. ¡°I am looking to buy some books,¡± I said. The man¡¯s expression brightened. He tried to smile but failed miserably. He beckoned me forward and talked about his merchandize enthusiastically. Seeing the trembling excitement on his body, I couldn¡¯t help but wonder, just how bad was the book business in this city? ¡°Owner, how much would it cost if I wanted to buy all the books in this store?¡± I asked. I had no shortage of money. On the other hand, information was something I sorely lacked. From the prices of books the old man had quoted, they seemed really cheap. The old man looked at me as if he was looking at a saint. ¡°You want to buy all the books?¡± he asked in a disbelieving tone. I nodded. ¡°N-nine gold,¡± he said in a trembling voice. ¡°E-eleven gold and I will add this store on top of it.¡± I promptly handed him eleven gold coins. I still had no exact valuation of this world¡¯s currency. But that didn¡¯t matter. There were mountains of it in my spatial ring. Eleven gold coins were merely pocket changes. It also solved a very important dilemma. I was wondering how I could collect the books into spatial ring. Now, I had no need for it. ¡°Finally, I can get out of this accursed place. I can now freely roam the world.¡± I heard the old man mutter. He went upstairs and came down carrying a big leather bag. He hurriedly shoved me some old papers and went out of the door. It was like he was getting away from something dangerous. I belatedly realized that it was the title deed for the store and some other documents that served as authorization to run the store. The old man did everything very fast. It was like he was afraid that I would change my mind if he didn¡¯t act fast. I could only stand there foolishly, opening and closing my mouth, unable to say anything. It took me a while to come to terms with everything that happened. I had gotten more than I had bargained for. Still, the manner in which the old owner left bugged me. There must be more to this store than he had let on. I opened [Kaleidoscope Eye: Mode White] and looked for traces of energy. It didn¡¯t take long for me to find it. There was a book filled with malicious energy sitting on one of the shelves. I picked it up. If it weren¡¯t for [Kaleidoscope Eye: Mode White], I would have dismissed it as an ordinary book. What do I do with the book? I wondered. The book seemed quite special. At the same time, it seemed dangerous. I checked for more details with [Kaleidoscope Eye: Mode Black] but could find nothing in the end. For now, I stored it into my spatial ring. I could only wait till I had enough capabilities. 15. The Beggar ¡®The mighty gods yielded the power of the Laws and created the world. They also created all the living beings. ¡°Cultivate,¡± the gods said. ¡°Cultivate and come to where we are. Help us protect the Law.¡± They handed out many cultivation methods. And thus, began the Age of Cultivation.¡¯ I closed the book. What a load of crap! I thought. Ding!
You have gained +1 Comprehension.
I was trying to find out more about this world. So far I was not having any luck. Apart from the fact that this world was huge (according to the books I read it was at least hundreds of times bigger than Earth) and the fact that many Empires and Kingdoms with many different races existed, there were not many take away. No definite map. No proper communication system. Most part of the books was dedicated to praising the gods. There was also the Law. According to the books, the gods, to bring order and harmony to the worlds they governed, they created the Law. Yet they also seemed to be bound by it. It was very easy to guess that Law was not something the gods created. But all the books somehow skipped over that detail. The Law was pretty vague. Why do rivers follow downstream instead of upstream? It was because of the Law. Why was fire hot? It was because of the Law. Why did people grow and die? It was because of the Law. In other word, the Law was the one-stop answer to everything that was incomprehensible. That said, any oath you took, swearing to the Law, you must absolutely abide by it. Otherwise, the consequences were really dire. I heard the loud commotion little Byakko and little Ling were creating in the kitchen. Keeping the book aside, I stood up and went to check on the two troublemakers. We moved into the bookstore a few days back. Apart from the storefront, the bookstore came with a bedroom, a bathroom and a kitchen. It couldn¡¯t be considered luxurious but it was definitely be better than living in an inn where you had little to no privacy. Moreover, we had access to our own kitchen. We could roast all the meat we wanted! We had to go and buy many necessities from the market. For starter, we switched the old man¡¯s dingy bed for a larger one, together with a big comfortable mattress and beddings. We also bought some simple cooking sets. Thanks to Sister Yu, the restaurant finally relented to letting us eat there once in a week. It took a tedious amount of negotiation. We were not exactly satisfied but it was better than nothing. For the other days, we could only sustain ourselves with skewers and other foods from the street. We had to be careful not to frighten the street food sellers. It wouldn¡¯t do good to get blacklisted again. The last line of our defense was our own homemade roasted meat. There were many bodies of beasts in my spatial ring. It would take us a while to deplete it. Even if we managed to deplete the whole supply, we could always go and hunt for more. I decisively closed the bookstore. There was no business to talk of. Beside, I had no shortage of money. I converted the storefront to my personal library, a haven where I could quietly read. But with Byakko and Ling, quiet was the last thing I could get. ¡°Father~ we prepared the dinner~¡± Byakko said with a triumphant smile on his face. Ling also held her head high with pride. I looked at the mess in the kitchen. Many pots and pans were burnt and scattered carelessly all over the kitchen. It was alright to let them handle everything in the wilderness but putting them in a close-knit kitchen didn¡¯t seem to be a good idea. I sighed. We wish we could get a proper cook.
I gave up on trying to read more books about the world. Travelling the world was already on my itinerary. As they said, travelling hundred miles is better than reading hundreds of books. I could learn about this world as I explored it. I switched my focus to those related to traits. ¡®¡­Traits are gifts of the gods to the beings of the lower worlds.¡¯ I closed the book as soon as I saw the line. It might be my biasness coming into play but as soon as I saw superfluous language praising gods, I felt no credibility from that book. I sifted through many books and finally found a concise book that was written in a precise manner. Just the thing I wanted. I immediately read through it. ¡®Trait is the innate qualities one was born with. It could also be acquired through special circumstances,¡¯ it said. I continued reading. Traits were pretty useful. It needed no special energy or anything to use. Yet it was also dangerous. With the grown in its owner, the trait would grow. If the trait outgrew the owner, there were cases where the trait would take over the consciousness of the owner. It didn¡¯t normally happen with people possessing two or less traits. More traits did not mean a good thing. The book chronicled the incident of a man who had five traits, the highest that was ever recorded in history. With his five traits, he made a strong presence in the cultivation world. Everyone believed that he would transcend this world and go beyond. Yet when he broke through to become a Spirit Transformation Stage cultivator, he lost his mind. He went on a slaughter spree. In the end, the Empire could only send some of their best cultivators to kill him. The journey of a great cultivator ended on a tragic note. I couldn¡¯t help but sweat. That man only had five traits while I already had seven. From the looks of it, I would acquire more in the future. The book did not explicitly mention about the egos of the traits but I could see traces of it alluded in the book. The author had mentioned two methods of taking care of this hidden danger. One, cultivating strong stats. That would enable the owner to fight against the traits. Second, cultivate the and take control of the traits. Ding!
You have gained +1 Comprehension.
I recalled my situation and thought that it had unwittingly played out the way the author had penned down. I had high stats that enabled me to fight my traits and my had been activated, albeit not fully. was a skill that one could cultivate when one reached Core Formation Stage. But with my stats, I shouldn¡¯t have any problem cultivating it now. I remembered that dingy room created by the traits to imprison me. That had been a . I searched for a book on but found none. I could only go and check out one of the stores that sold jade records. It had a whole different atmosphere than the bookstore. It gave out a classy and high-class vibe. There was a cashier at the counter and many assistants to assist the customers. What¡¯s more, they were all beautiful women! Talk about customer care! As soon as I entered the store, an assistant approached me. ¡°Young sir, is there anything I can assist you?¡± ¡°I am looking for a jade record on ,¡± I replied brusquely. I was still not that good with strangers, although that was improving lately. ¡°Please come this way, young sir.¡± She guided me to a shelf that contained many jades. She patiently explained all the jade records available on . The only thought in my head was: How professional! I picked the best one. It cost me two gold coins. The assistant enthusiastically explained how to use jade records, which was really useful to a person like me. Judging from her reaction, two gold coins was apparently a huge amount of money. Not that it mattered to me. I had plenty to spend. Thank you, Mr. Demon. You made my life so easy. Otherwise, I would be toiling to meet ends meet. What with the two gluttons at home! I went home and promptly used the jade record. It was a one-use item. Once it was used, it couldn¡¯t be used anymore. The process was really simple. I just needed to meditate while sending the Qi into the jade. Information flowed into my head. I didn¡¯t gain any attribute points.The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. I could see why people preferred using jade records rather than books. It was very easy to learn things through jade records. But I still preferred books. When one went through books, people would be required to process through the whole thing. It helped develop comprehension and fostered creativity. Ding!
Congratulations! You have acquired the skill .
Ding!
Please create your ¡­
Through the information I got, could be considered a world of its own. The main purpose of this skill was to defend our consciousness against external influences. However, in the later stages of the skill, one could even store things, including living beings in it. Therefore, one needed to be really careful when they first created their . One wouldn¡¯t be able to change their . There was a step-by-step guide to creating a great included in the jade records. It wasn¡¯t the most expensive jade records on for nothing. The final result would be a sturdy castle. Most people created some sort of building as their . But I didn¡¯t want to follow the crowd. Leaving behind the processes, I dismissed everything. I created a vast land. It could be considered weak at the moment. But that was fine. It was just a foundation. I wanted my to be ever evolving. In normal circumstances, it would be impossible but it was possible for me. I was creating as a Qi Gathering Stage cultivator with very high stats. There was still time for me to slowly build onto it. Ding!
Congratulations! You have successfully created your .
I opened my status. I hadn¡¯t looked at it for a while.
GENERAL
Name Su Ren Age 11 years old
Cultivation Method Heart¡¯s Yearning Realm Qi Gathering 9 (999/1000 Essence)
Lifeforce 5320/5320 (Regeneration: 20% per second)
Qi 5380/5380 (Regeneration: 20% per second)
ATTRIBUTES
Strength 507 Physique 532
Movement 526 Control 528
Soul 538 Comprehension 550
Charm 68 Fate 41
INNATE TRAITS
Innards of a God Kaleidoscope Eye Photosynthesis Eternal Stratum (Incomplete) ############ Heavenly Butterfly Flame Bow
Bond: Byakko (White Tiger)
QI SKILL LIST
Slot Skill Name Rating Level
1. Qi Arrow Unranked 8/10
2. Earth Steps Epic 7/10
3. Heart Force Unranked 4/10
4. Spiritual Sense Unranked 3/10
5. Mindscape Epic 1/10
My stats were growing at a steady rate. I had promised myself that I wouldn¡¯t break through to Foundational Stage until I broke through the third shackle of a mortal. Time for some experiment. I rubbed my spatial ring and took out the book with the malicious energy. I hesitated a moment before I chomped on it. In a few more bites, I had eaten the whole thing. Ding!
You have consumed a Corrupted Living Grimoire. Congratulations! You have gained +10 Soul, +5 Comprehension
While I was celebrating my growth, a searing pain that came from the very core of my being overwhelmed me. Damn it! I had forgotten that [Innards of a God] did nothing against pain. Again. Not that I would have stopped. The corrupted energy the Grimoire possessed put me through torture for what felt like an eternity to me. In reality, it was less than thirty minutes. Ding!
Congratulations! You have acquired the trait [Living Grimoire]
Ding!
A synergic effect has been found between [Kaleidoscope Eye] and [Living Grimoire]. Congratulations! [Kaleidoscope Eye: Mode Black] has been upgraded. You can now identify anything recorded in [Living Grimoire].
I opened the details for the new trait.
LIVING GRIMOIRE Consumes books to record all the information contained in it. Generates extra information depending on your Comprehension level.
Good. Good. With this, I would be able to get more information. If I used it together with [Kaleidoscope Eye: Mode Black], wouldn¡¯t it be like I had my very own pokedex? Now then, it was time for me to move onto the next stage. I closed my eyes and entered my . Like I expected, there was a book floating in the air. Unlike the first time, I was in full control. I could even use other traits! I froze the book with [kaleidoscope Eye: Mode Yellow] and tore it with a [Qi Arrow]. Ding!
You have subdued the ego of [Living Grimoire].
The book transformed into a stream of light and entered me. I curled my lips upward in a smile. With this, there would be no future troubles. I wouldn¡¯t have to worry about traits taking over me since their egos no longer existed. Now, I could eat without having to worry about acquiring a new trait accidentally.
The three of us, Byakko, Ling and I were returning from the restaurant. Today was the agreed upon day. I rubbed my stomach in satisfaction. How good life would be if I could eat like this every day. Byakko was walking in a wobbly manner due to sleepiness. Ling, who was sitting on my shoulder, was also trying to fight off the sleep. Following the several incidents of them falling asleep immediately after eating, I had warned them I wouldn¡¯t bring them next time. It was super effective. I didn¡¯t want to put them through this but if I didn¡¯t stop them now, it might devolve into bad habits. Near one of the skewer stands, I noticed a scrawny girl. She was begging for food to the passersby. Most would ignore her while some would give her small bits of food in pity. There were even some who would outright spit on her. The girl would just take in the insults without complaining. I had the urge to go up to them and give them a good beating. But I didn¡¯t. The world was unfair. I couldn¡¯t change anything even if I bare my fangs against it. What struck me the most about the girl were her eyes. They were dim and lifeless. It was like she didn¡¯t understand why she was living yet she struggled to survive. Just like me in my previous life¡­ I bought a skewer from the nearby stand and gave it to her. ¡°Thank you,¡± she said in a really small voice, her expression still lifeless. I watched her as she slowly nibbled at the skewer like she wanted to imprint the taste in her mind. ¡°Say,¡± I began. ¡°Would you like to live together with me?¡± She looked up from her skewer. Her eyes, for the first time, contained something different.
I brought her, I thought in disbelief. I suddenly started to feel like that uncle who deceived kids with candies. It was like I was a sly kidnapper. But at that moment, I had been overcome with emotion. I felt the need to do something for her. I had acted on that impulse. In my previous life, I had wanted others to hold out their hands to me. I hadn''t wanted their pity, I had wanted their companionship. I had wanted to be treated like a normal person. What she wanted might be different from me, I was sure, she was definitely asking for help silently, a ray of hope to give her strength to go on living. Although I felt a little weird for bringing her along with me, I felt no regret. I heard the sound of running water coming from the bathroom. I had bought her spare clothes while we were on the way. I had told her change into them after taking a bath. And thus, a new member was added to our family. She told us that her name was Xue''er. Apart from that, we didn''t know anything about her. Her background. Her circumstances. Nothing. But that was fine. As we stayed together, we would get to know more about each other. 16. The Girl Loved By Heaven I woke up in the middle of the night and noticed the side where Xue¡¯er was supposed to be was empty. Byakko and Ling were carelessly sprawled on the bed. Ling, as a trait could enter my body. But she liked to stay outside, free and unrestricted. I looked for Xue¡¯er and found her sitting in one of the corners of the room. ¡°Xue¡¯er is sorry. Xue¡¯er is sorry. Xue¡¯er is sorry. Please do not punish Xue¡¯er! Xue¡¯er is sorry. Xue¡¯er is sorry. Xue¡¯er is sorry. Please do not punish Xue¡¯er! Xue¡¯er is sorry.¡± she muttered these lines, like a broken record. I checked the place where she was supposed to be sleeping and found a patch of wet area. Just as I expected. ¡°Xue¡¯er,¡± I called out to her. She looked towards me, her eyes filled with fear. ¡°Xue¡¯er will sleep on the floor. Please let Xue¡¯er stay. Please don¡¯t send Xue¡¯er away.¡± She was a bundle of nerves. She flinched at every little movement I made. I sighed and went to her. I patted her head, as softly as possible. ¡°It¡¯s okay. No one is going to punish Xue¡¯er here.¡± I consoled her until her nerves calmed down. Once she was calm enough, I made her go and change into a new set of clothes. Fortunately, we had bought enough clothes. Meanwhile, I changed the sheets. Byakko and Ling slept through the whole commotion. They didn¡¯t even wake up when I picked them up and changed sheets. I could only sigh, feeling helpless. Just how weak were their vigilance? ¡°Xue¡¯er is fine sitting on the floor,¡± she said. I shook my head. ¡°We are family. Don¡¯t let a small thing like this bother you, Xue¡¯er.¡± I dragged her by force and tucked her in. ¡°Is it really alright for Xue¡¯er?¡± she asked. ¡°Yes,¡± I affirmed. Although it was obvious, some things needed to be said. ¡°Have a good night, Xue¡¯er.¡± ¡°Good night, Young Master,¡± she replied. I sighed. I was unable to stop her from addressing me as ¡®Young Master¡¯. I would have been fine if she just called me ¡®Big Brother Su Ren¡¯. But seeing her in her jittery state, I decided to give her more time. Time would be the best remedy to heal her heart.
Following that day, I had her accompany Byakko and Ling. I hoped the two¡¯s silly antics would brighten her up and open her heart gradually. It proved to be the right decision. She became livelier and less reserve as days went by. As for me, I researched [Chimera Transformation]. A memoire about a great war mentioned people transforming into giants and other fantastical creatures. The description given in the book made me believe that [Chimera Transformation] fell into the same category. Unfortunately, I was not able to make any headway. There was no further information. Even the [Living Grimoire]¡¯s ability to generate extra information was useless when there was no starting point. I went to check about related information to all the jade record stores. None. There was no information. Just what was with these transformation abilities? In the end, I could only give up on researching it on my own. I could only turn to external help. ¡°Transformation abilities? Can¡¯t say I have heard about it,¡± Yu Chen¡¯er said putting the teacup to the table. ¡°I don¡¯t think I have seen any books on it in our clan¡¯s library either.¡± I was disappointed. I had hit a wall. Again. ¡°Maybe, Brother Chen knows something about it,¡± I heard her mutter in a small voice. She got up. ¡°I will check up on him and get back to you. He might have some idea about it,¡± she told me. I had not idea who this Brother Chen was but I nodded. I was ready to cling at any little hope. In a flurry of movements, Sister Yu left the scene. With nothing to do, I paid the bills and went back. Byakko, Ling and Xue¡¯er were waiting for me. ¡°Father~¡± Byakko said, jumping into my arms. ¡°Sister Xue¡¯er prepared the meal today. It smells very delicious.¡± Ling bobbed her head up and down to agree. ¡°You did?¡± I was pleasantly surprised. A few days ago, she was a bundle of nerves. Now, she was taking the initiative to do things. Good. She was making progress. She was slowly integrating into the family. I smiled. My foul mood from my inability to find anything about transformation abilities disappeared. Xue¡¯er nodded her headed with a slight blush on her face. I rubbed her head and went inside. A table filled with roasted meat was set up on the kitchen. ¡°Let¡¯s dig in,¡± I said. That served as a signal. The four of us started stuffing food ravenously. Even Xue¡¯er. Staying with us, she was adapting to our lifestyles. What is this? I couldn¡¯t help but pause. The meat. They tasted so delicious. It was not at the level of those at the restaurants but it was pretty close. If condiments were to be added to it, I felt that it would give those meals that we ate at the restaurants a good fight. Everything seemed to be done perfectly. It was roasted to the right temperature. The right amount of salt was added. The little amount of spices we had was also used perfectly. ¡°Did you really prepare this?¡± I asked. I couldn¡¯t keep off the surprise that I felt. ¡°En,¡± she nodded with a quizzical look on her face. There was more to her than met the eyes. I had not yet checked her status. I hadn¡¯t found it necessary to check her status. But this time, I did. I felt like I was prying into her secrets. But that didn¡¯t stop me from trying to sate my curiosity. Activating [Kaleidoscope Eye: Mode Black], I opened her status.
GENERAL
Name Xue¡¯er Age 10 years old
Cultivation MethodThe narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. N/A Realm N/A
Lifeforce 5/10 (Regeneration: 0.5% per second)
Qi 0/120 (Regeneration: 0.5% per second)
ATTRIBUTES
Strength 1 Physique 1
Movement 1 Control 1
Soul 12 Comprehension 10
Charm 50 Fate 108
INNATE TRAITS
Divine Tongue Nine Yin Body Divine Ice Phoenix Moon Eye Death Inscription Shadow Travel
AILMENT
Touch of Death
There were so many things weird about her status window that I was left speechless for a while. What the hell is this? Taking a deep breath, I calmed myself down. I couldn¡¯t let my rationality be ruled by my emotions. If I wanted to make a clear analysis, I needed all my reasoning faculty. Let¡¯s begin from the beginning. Her name was Xue¡¯er. No surname. According to what I came across, that could only mean one thing. She was disowned. I already knew that she was ten years old from the few conversations we had before. But if one were to purely judge her by her tiny frame, most people would take her for a seven year old. It didn¡¯t take a genius to figure out that she had not been living a good life. Moving onto the attributes, strength, physique, movement and control, four of the six basic attributes were at the lowest they could be. Soul and comprehension could be considered high for a person who had not begun cultivation yet. The thing I was really confused was, we had been eating high quality meats. How did they not even add a single stat points to those basic stats? Charm and fate stats were also strange. They were very high, especially fate. Even with all the events I had been through, my fate was not even half of hers! Just how much did Fate love her? She had six traits. That was very shocking. The highest amount of traits ever recorded in the history was five. She had already beaten the record. As for me, I started off with a single trait. The others, I acquired it. I checked the details of the traits. If it was before, it would have been impossible but now that [Kaleidoscope Eye: Mode Black] had been upgraded and there was also [Living Grimoire] to assist, to check the details of traits was very easy.
DIVINE TONGUE Identifies all flavors under Heaven and make the perfect combination.
This must be what enabled her to make the perfect meal.
NINE YIN BODY Blocks all the meridians, disrupting the flow of Qi and Essence in the body. However, if the blocks are cleared, the body will go through an absolute rebirth.
DIVINE ICE PHOENIX Gives absolute control over ice element.
MOON EYE Can create illusion.
DEATH INSCRIPTION Reduces the maximum Lifeforce limit of those afflicted for certain duration. Depends on the difference in Soul.
SHADOW TRAVEL Can travel through shadows.
She would make a perfect assassin, that¡¯s what I thought. Her traits were all inclined towards it. The problem was, there seemed to be a huge obstacle blocking her path, namely [Nine Yin Body]. It gave her a lot of potential yet at the same time, it imposed a huge barrier in front of her. If she were unable to overcome it, she would forever be an ordinary person. Finally, I checked the Ailment section. [Touch of Death] seemed very ominous.
TOUCH OF DEATH (Ailment) Cause: Presence of five yin traits Effects: Disable the growth of stats through any means. Disables the use of five yin traits. Disables the ability to cultivate. Reduces the maximum lifeforce limit by 5% every year. Cure: Presence of equally powerful yang energy in the body.
The ailment was far worse than I had thought. The most worrying thing was the reduction of lifeforce limit. The maximum limit her lifeforce could regenerate was ten. But every year 0.5 was reduced. This was her tenth year and the lifeforce limit had already reached down to five. It was half of the original value. By the twentieth year, she would not be able to hold any lifeforce. In other words, she would be unable to live past twenty. Moreover, she was unable to cultivate. In a cultivation world like this, she was basically a cripple. She also couldn¡¯t increase her stats through other means like eating food, taking pills and training. To add insult to the injury, those five traits that caused the whole situation couldn¡¯t even be used. No wonder she was disowned and thrown away. She was nothing more than a waste of clan resources. The clans could get pretty heartless. Even if it were one of their members, they would treat them very cruelly if they couldn¡¯t bring any benefit to the clan. I looked at her dark eyes that were gazing at me with a shy yet happy look. They were no more lifeless. I was really fond of this quiet young lady. I could see how cruelly life had treated her so far. Yet she kept on trying her best to live. Even now, she was working really hard. Such a person did not deserve such a horrible future. I clenched my fist. I had no way to solve her problem at the moment. But that didn¡¯t mean that I wouldn¡¯t have any in the future. From this point forward, finding the remedy to solve this issue would be at the top of my priority.
The shadow quietly trailed the human boy that appeared to be around sixteen or seventeen. It had been at it for several hours. It had to suppress its urge to jump at the prey. Other humans had been around. If they found it, it would have a huge mess at its end. Finally, its patience bore fruit. The human boy it had selected separated from the other humans and began to move on his own. The shadow trembled in joy. Yet it didn¡¯t attack. The difference in their strength was not much. If it got dragged into a fight, there would be loud commotion, which was something it wanted to avoid at any cost. It had to finish everything in a single attack. Its moment came soon. Taking out a dark dagger, it sneak attacked the human boy. The boy never saw it coming. He was dead before he knew what happened. Success. It smiled happily. With the help of the dagger, the shadow gouged out the heart of the human boy. Warm. The shadow opened its mouth and ate the human heart that was still dripping with warm blood. Ding!
You have consumed a ¡®Heart of Human¡¯. Congratulations! You have gained +1 in all six basic attributes.
Ding!
The number of ¡®Heart of Human¡¯ you have consumed has reach 100. Congratulations! You have acquired the trait [Devour].
Yes. It had finally been able to rank up to become a true demon. It had not been confident. It was a long journey but it had been able to travel it. It checked the details of its new trait.
DEVOUR Enables you to consume the ¡®Heart of Humans¡¯ and ¡®Heart of Beasts¡¯ to steal their stat.
The shadow¡­ no, it should be now the demon, smiled. It could finally embark on the journey it wanted. 17. Maids and Young Masters Yu Chen¡¯er walked through the courtyard. Although it wasn¡¯t her clan¡¯s place, the courtyard couldn¡¯t be more familiar to her. She would often come to this place. It had been her safe haven. Yes, had. She sighed. Nothing could remain the same forever. She reached before a door. She hesitated a little before knocking. ¡°Brother Chen, are you there?¡± she called out. There was no reply. ¡°Brother Chen, it¡¯s Chen¡¯er!¡± she said. She stood by the door patiently waiting for the one beyond the door to give her permission to enter. If it had been before, she would have directly barged in impatiently. An exasperated smiling face would have greeted her. But now¡­ ¡°Come in,¡± a gruff voice said after a long while. Pushing the door, she entered the room. She felt gloomy as soon as she did. A young man who appeared to be about eighteen to nineteen years old was sitting propped up on the bed. Eye patch covered his right eye. He gave her a glance and continued gazing out through the window. Yu Chen¡¯er felt her heart break. Ever since he returned, he had been like that. The person she knew was gone. A grim-faced person who rarely talked replaced the face that always had a gentle smile on it. Just what happened to make him like this? Yu Chen¡¯er wondered. She would always find herself asking this question every time she visited Brother Chen. ¡°Brother Chen, how are you feeling today?¡± She tried to make her voice as cheerful as she could. Inside, she felt like breaking into tears. ¡°Fine,¡± came the reply. It was always like this. He would use the bare minimum of words to reply to her. It was better than the first few days after he had returned. At that time, he would just give her a hollow look and would not say anything. At least, he was talking now. They stood in silence for a while. Unable to bear it, she broached the reason she came to visit him. ¡°Brother Chen, do you know about transformation abilities? A friend of mine wanted to know about it.¡± The young man didn¡¯t respond. He stayed gazing through the window with his empty left eye. Yu Chen¡¯er let him take his own time. She knew that he would give her an answer her, whether it was positive or negative. She needed to be patient. Ling Chen, that was the full name of the young man Yu Chen¡¯er called ¡®Brother Chen¡¯, touched his spatial ring. A thick book appeared in his hand, which he passed to Yu Chen¡¯er. Yu Chen¡¯er received the book. She couldn¡¯t help but feel disappointed. She wanted to hear Ling Chen talk more. She wanted her cheerful Brother Chen back. She tried to think of some topics to converse but found none. If it were just mundane stuff, Ling Chen would ignore her. ¡°I will take my leave, Brother Chen. I will come and see you from time to time,¡± she said. Ling Chen nodded but didn¡¯t say anything. Sighing inwardly, Yu Chen¡¯er could only make her way out of the room. She fought back the tears that were threatening to drown her. Yu Chen¡¯er was a simple girl. She was always gruff and straightforward. If she weren¡¯t born in a big clan, she would have led a carefree life. But she couldn¡¯t. As a scion of Yu Clan, she had to take her own part in the conniving world that the young masters and young mistresses led. That didn¡¯t mean that she liked it. Among the younger generation, she only admired two people. First, Ling Chen. She thought that there could be no better man than him in the world. Although he was not in his right self at the moment, she thought that he was still the best. Second was that unfathomable boy, Su Ren. Their first meeting couldn¡¯t be considered great. She had attempted to take away the white tiger cub that Su Ren seemed to care a lot about. When he had taken down many Core Formation Stage servants like it was nothing, she had thought he was a terrifying existence. But when she met him later, she found that he was pretty easy to get along with. Moreover, he had no ulterior motives towards her unlike most of the people around her. He was quite troublesome, with his lack of common sense. She had to constantly help him. But she thought he was cute. She viewed him as a strange little brother she just couldn¡¯t leave alone. She put the book into her spatial ring. I will pass it on to him when I meet him next time, she thought.
¡°Father~ Hurry! Hurry!¡± Byakko yelled in excitement as he led the way. Ling was behind him, fluttering in the air. She was as excited as Byakko. Xue¡¯er looked at her young master who was walking in front of her. Her heart warmed. She felt that way every time she looked at him. He was the one that brought her out of the dark world she was living in. They were going to a restaurant to eat. That¡¯s what she was told. She had mixed feelings regarding this. Lately, she had taken on the mantle of a chef for the four of them. She always felt happy when her young master, Byakko and Ling enjoyed what she prepared. Although she was filled with anticipation to visit her first restaurant, she couldn¡¯t help but feel a trace of jealousy in her heart. A selfish part of her heart wanted her young master to eat only her food. I will steal their recipe, she resolved. She opened her status.
GENERALThe tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
Name Xue¡¯er Age 10 years old
Cultivation Method N/A Realm N/A
Lifeforce 5/10 (Regeneration: 0.5% per second)
Qi 0/120 (Regeneration: 0.5% per second)
ATTRIBUTES
Strength 1 Physique 1
Movement 1 Control 1
Soul 12 Comprehension 10
Charm 50 Fate 108
INNATE TRAITS
Divine Tongue Nine Yin Body Divine Ice Phoenix Moon Eye Death Inscription Shadow Travel
AILMENT
Touch of Death
She knew her condition better than anyone. She would not be able to live past twenty years due to her ailment. Half of her life was already gone. She wanted to devote the other half of life she had to her young master. She was unable to use five of her traits, leaving her with only [Divine Tongue]. That was enough. With the trait she could control, she could make her young master happy. They soon reached the restaurant. The waiters brought all kinds of food to the table. It filled the table to the brim. The amount of food seemed too much for the four of them. But Xue¡¯er knew. The food would barely be enough for them. As soon as she sniffed the scent of the food, she knew they were better than the ones she prepared. Her face scrunched into a little frown. ¡°What are you thinking?¡± Her young master Su Ren lightly tapped her shoulder, bringing her out of her thoughts. ¡°Come, let¡¯s eat.¡± ¡°En.¡± She nodded. She grabbed a small piece of food from the table and took a tiny bite. Immediately, many pieces of information entered her head. The ingredients used. The methods used to prepare it. They all entered her head. She grabbed at another dish. The same thing happened. She kept on taking small bites of all the food that was brought out for them. In a few moments she had all the information to prepare the food they ate. No. She could even prepare a better one. Her young master, little Byakko and little Ling laid on the table, rubbing their stomach in satisfaction. She clenched her fist under the table. She would make them feel the same with her abilities. Just then, a group of seven youths entered the restaurant, accompanied by their maids. From the dresses they wore and the way they carried themselves, Xue¡¯er knew they were from the big clans in the city. However, unlike the young masters the clans had placed all their hopes on, they were wastrels their clans had basically given up on. They wasted themselves away loitering here and there in the city. Her young master who was lying on the table with a laidback attitude suddenly raised his head. His expression brightened. He looked at the maids as if he was seeing something rare. ¡°Real life maids,¡± he muttered in a voice that was filled with a pleasant surprise. His actions were so negligible that it escaped the notice of everyone. Except Xue¡¯er. Her attention was always on him. How could she fail to notice the change in her young master¡¯s expression? Xue¡¯er saw one of the waiters guide the seven young masters towards their table. She frowned. She felt as if they were undermining her young master. She felt annoyed on her young master¡¯s behalf. But she controlled her outburst. She didn¡¯t want to create unnecessary troubles for him. The seven young masters sauntered over to them. ¡°Little boy, leave the table,¡± one of them, who seemed to be the leader, said in a condescending manner. Her young master Su Ren did not say anything. He got up from the table. ¡°Let¡¯s leave,¡± he said. He picked up little Byakko and little Ling who seemed unable to move on their own. Avoiding the seven young masters, he made his way out. Xue¡¯er followed him. She gritted her teeth. If it were left to her, she would have jumped at them. ¡°Young master, why?¡± she asked once they were outside. She was unable to hold it in. She knew how strong her young master was. She had seen her young master do many amazing things. If he wanted, he could take care of those wastrels of young masters simply with a simple flick of his sleeves. He gave her a gentle smile and rubbed her head. ¡°What use would it be? We would just provoke their retaliation. They will try all sorts of methods to get back at us. In the end, the conflict would escalate to involve the clans they are from. Although their clans may have given up on them, they would participate in this affair simply to prevent a loss of face. It would get really troublesome. If we could avoid this just by walking away, isn¡¯t that good?¡± Xue¡¯er thought over what her young master had just said. It made sense. Yes. Why get into trouble when they could avoid it? She came from a big clan. She knew. The clans would use all sorts of unscrupulous methods to get what they wanted. Her young master might be able to take care of them but what if they struck in the dark? It was better to avoid it. She nodded. ¡°Xue¡¯er understands, young master.¡± As they moved forward, Xue¡¯er remembered an important matter she had forgotten due to her distress. No, make that two matters. ¡°Young master,¡± she said. ¡°I think I can prepare the dishes that we ate today at the restaurant.¡± Her young master¡¯s eyes widened, a pleasant surprise reflected in them. Xue¡¯er felt a sense of fulfillment. This was it. This was what she wanted. ¡°Let¡¯s go and buy the condiments and other necessary stuff,¡± he said, his voice sounding childish for once. She nodded. ¡°Also, young master¡­¡± She hesitated. She wasn¡¯t sure how to go about it. She was not used to asking others to buy her things. But this was necessary. Yes, necessary for both herself and her young master. ¡°I need some new sets of clothes,¡± she said finally.
Mu Lanran was waiting in her study. She heard a rustle from the dark. She had been waiting for this moment. ¡°Report,¡± she said. ¡°Young mistress, the plan failed. The fish didn¡¯t take the bait,¡± a voice said from the dark. Her brow rose in surprise. How could it be? She had taken all parties¡¯ reaction into account and created what she thought to be a fool-proof plan. Wasn''t the other party supposed to be a boy who was ten to twelve years old? ¡°Details.¡± Her voice was cold, betraying none of the turbulent emotion she was feeling. ¡°Like mistress ordered, I bribed a waiter to set those wastrels from various clans onto the boy. The wastrels, seeing that the boy was not someone from an influential family tried to provoke him by claiming his table. The boy just stood up and left.¡± ¡°Just like that?¡± Her surprise slipped out. He took the provocations just like that? Was he really that same boy who injured many Core Formation Stage servants in the forest? Wasn¡¯t he supposed to be prone to easy anger? There seemed to be more variables than she had taken into account. She decided to rethink everything. The boy was an integral piece in her plan. She was ready to go to any extent to get her hands on him. A new idea slowly appeared in her head. 18. Setting Out To Train I materialized [Bow]. An arrow slotted itself as soon as my free hand touched the bowstring. I activated [Kaleidoscope Eye: Mode Silver] in conjunction with [Kaleidoscope Eye: Mode White]. It became easy for me to notice the living beings, even if they were many kilometers away. Calming my breath, I shot the arrow. With a ¡®whoosh!¡¯ it traversed through the air and disappeared after few kilometers. It didn¡¯t hit anything. It wasn¡¯t supposed to. The arrows kept slotting themselves automatically and I kept shooting them, making them disappear at the exact same place where the first arrow disappeared. A few arrows were off a little but most reached the target I had designated Ding!
Congratulations! Your Skill has leveled up. is now Level 5.
I frowned. It had been a long while since any of my skills leveled up.
GENERAL
Name Su Ren Age 11 years old
Cultivation Method Heart¡¯s Yearning Realm Qi Gathering 9 (999/1000 Essence)
Lifeforce 5580/5580 (Regeneration: 20% per second)
Qi 5640/5640 (Regeneration: 20% per second)
ATTRIBUTES
Strength 537 Physique 558
Movement 556 Control 555
Soul 564 Comprehension 580
Charm 68 Fate 41
INNATE TRAITS
Innards of a God Kaleidoscope Eye Photosynthesis Eternal Stratum (Incomplete) ############ Heavenly Butterfly Flame Bow Living Grimoire
Bond: Byakko (White Tiger)
QI SKILL LIST
Slot Skill Name Rating Level
1. Qi Arrow Unranked 8/10
2. Earth Steps Epic 7/10
3. Heart Force Unranked 5/10
4. Spiritual Sense Unranked 3/10
5. Mindscape Epic 1/10
I hadn¡¯t observed much growth the past few weeks. The easy and comfortable life I had in the city was not a good influence on my development. Next, I sat down and trained . But this skill was so stubborn that it refused to level up in spite of all the training I did. After thirty minutes, I could only give up. I hoped it would accumulate and eventually level up. I thought about training my other skills but gave up in the end. What I lacked was not training but stimulus. Thus, I ended my daily routine. Should I make a trip to the magical forest? I could fight all the beasts I wanted. The city was starting to make me feel stifled. It was too peaceful. Apart from the Arena, people were not allowed to fight anywhere within its walls. It was the Law. Everyone had to obey it, even if it was the City Lord. Well, there were small fights. It seemed fine as long as there were no deaths and serious injuries. ¡°Young master.¡± Xue¡¯er approached me with a towel as soon as she noticed that I was done. I couldn¡¯t help but cringe inwardly when I saw her. She was dressed in a maid uniform! After that small incident at the restaurant, she had insisted on buying some sets. I never knew that she could be that adamant. The impetus was the momentary lapse of concentration I suffered when I saw a real life maid for the first time. I took the towel and wiped the sweat from my face. She took the towel back like it was natural. She had totally stepped into the role of a maid. I couldn¡¯t help finding it a bit strange but you got to admit, it felt good to be served. It was like a hidden desire that I didn¡¯t know I had was being fulfilled. ¡°Young master, breakfast is ready,¡± she said. I nodded. Xue¡¯er had been getting better and better at cooking. With her at home, the need for Byakko, Ling and me to visit restaurants had disappeared altogether. She had also gone on many espionage missions to other restaurants to steal¡­ no, strike that, to learn new recipes. Our lives became so much better. She was a great blessing to us, the three gluttons.The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. But her ailment always bothered me. I was keeping my eyes and ears open for any solution that could help to resolve this ailment. After a satisfying meal, I made an announcement. ¡°My growth has stunted here. I am going back to the magical forest to train for a bit. I will be back in a few days.¡± ¡°I want to go with you, father. I am tired of staying cooped up in the city,¡± Byakko said as soon as I was done. Ling also fluttered to show that she wanted to go. ¡°Xue¡¯er also wants to accompany young master. Without Xue¡¯er, young master will not be able to have any good meals.¡± Xue¡¯er added her input. ¡°No,¡± I refused all of them. ¡°I plan to go much deeper. It might get dangerous.¡± The three of them started to raise all sorts of objections. I could feel my head hurt. But I stood my ground firmly. In the end, I was able to convince them to stay in the city for the time being. I promised to take them together with me on my next trip.
¡°Young mistress, the boy has stepped out of the city.¡± Mu Lanran nodded. ¡°Tell Uncle Bai to go on with the plan.¡± ¡°Understood, mistress,¡± the figure in the shadow said. You can¡¯t blame me for being a little ruthless, Mu Lanran thought. Blame yourself for not falling for a harmless trap.
It felt good to step out of the city after many days. It was strangely liberating. Unlike when you entered the city, there were no tedious procedures involved. You could freely walk out of the city. I walked towards the magical forest. My destination: the core region of the forest. I had taken down a Nascent Soul Stage Basilisk and a Spirit Transformation Stage Demon. But I knew that if it were under normal circumstances, I would have stood no chance. For starters, both of them had been injured. Also, when I attacked them, they had been in no position to retaliate. I couldn¡¯t let those two accomplishments get into my head. Their stats were higher than mine. I had to be on my toes at all times. The Core Formation Stage beasts shouldn¡¯t be much of a challenge. I used [Kaleidoscope Eye: Mode Silver] to survey the surrounding. There didn¡¯t seem to be anything out of place. I killed a few beasts and used them as snacks. The snacks Xue¡¯er prepared for me were all gone. I could only make do with the beasts I killed and roasted. Before I knew it, the night had descended. I found a clearing and set up a camp there. The cave we used to live in before was still some distance away. Apart from the rustles of the leaves and cries of the nocturnal creatures, it was a peaceful night. Yes. It was a peaceful night. A little too peaceful! I woke up with a start. Try as I may, I was unable to shake off the unease in my heart. I could feel a premonition. Something bad was about to happen. I activated [Kaleidoscope Eye: Mode Silver] and [Kaleidoscope Eye: Mode Lumen]. Nothing. My trait detected nothing. But the unease that I was feeling didn¡¯t ebb away. I switched [Kaleidoscope Eye: Lumen] with [Kaleidoscope Eye: Mode White]. Immediately, I was able to see all the energy signatures around me. Not good. There was a strong energy signature just twenty meters away from me. I was not able to identify it. That only meant one thing: a cultivator of Nascent Soul Stage or higher. A Nascent Soul Stage cultivator must break through the third shackle of a mortal. That meant all his basic attributes were above six hundred. That was higher than mine as I had yet to break through the third shackle. Moreover, this cultivator seemed to have no impairment that I could take advantage of. The only saving grace in this whole situation was that the Nascent Soul Stage cultivator had yet to make his move. I had some time to prepare. I used [Kaleidoscope Eye] to investigate my surrounding. I noticed a huge mass of peculiar energy some kilometers away. A plan slowly formed in my head. It was definitely risky but it was worth a shot. If the Nascent Soul Stage cultivator made his move, I definitely wouldn¡¯t stand a chance. I made up my mind. Summoning [Bow], I charged up a with Essence Flame. This was the most powerful attack I could use. I sneaked a peek at the hidden figure. It didn¡¯t seem to have noticed me. My conjecture was proven to be correct. The figure didn¡¯t have its activated. Otherwise, it would have noticed my action. It was understandable. It was not a skill you could keep activated all the time unless you had an endless supply of Qi. This skill was simply too draining. It took me a while to fully charge it. I was thankful to the cover offered by the darkness and my tent. I cast [Kaleidoscope Eye: Mode Yellow] and froze the figure. I wasn¡¯t sure how long it would last but it shouldn¡¯t be long. Activating to create a stable footing, I released the . Boom! The arrow blew the tent apart and flew towards the Nascent Soul Stage cultivator. The arrow hit right on target. Ding!
Congratulations! Your Skill has leveled up. is now Level 8.
Dismissing the notification, I dashed out of the broken tent towards where I had noticed the peculiar energy. I made it a point to check on the figure with my [Kaleidoscope Eye]. I was able to safely create a distance of six hundred meters before the figure moved. It immediately ran after me in pursuit. I released the sigh I was holding in. It didn¡¯t seem to possess a long-range attack. The figure was cloaked in a dark hood. Even with [Kaleidoscope Eye: Mode Lumen] I was unable to make out the face. The figure closed in at a very high speed. I used [Kaleidoscope Eye: Mode Yellow] to freeze its movement from time to time. It was barely able to earn me ten seconds each time but that was more than enough. I was able to reach the place with the peculiar energy. The dark figure stood about fifty meters away from me. I couldn¡¯t help but give it a triumphant grin. Whoosh! Something hard hit me. The pain forced me to let out a groan. My lifeforce stat floated in front of my eyes.
Lifeforce 2103/5580 (Regeneration: 20% per second)
This simple attack shaved off more than half of my lifeforce. This was not the end. The momentum of the force was so strong that it sent me flying backward right into the gorge that was behind me. With a ¡®splash¡¯, my body collided with a river of magma!
¡°Ling! What¡¯s wrong?¡± Xue¡¯er asked as she saw the little butterfly flying around frantically. Flames were flickering madly around her. Did something happen to the young master? She felt worried. Ling was one of her young master¡¯s traits. The fact that she was behaving weirdly meant that something strange was going on with her young master. ¡°Byakko!¡± she called out. The little white tiger cub trotted into the kitchen. ¡°Yes, Xue¡¯er?¡± he asked in his immature voice. ¡°Can you sense anything wrong with young master through your bond?¡± ¡°With father?¡± little Byakko closed his eyes for a few seconds. ¡°Nothing. There¡¯s nothing wrong with father. Except, he seems to be feeling somewhat hot?¡± He corked his head, confused. She released a sigh of relief. Thank goodness! Her young master seemed to be safe and sound. But still¡­ she looked at little Ling. What was going on with the little butterfly? The little butterfly was flaring with a huge amount of flame. The temperature in the room was increasing at a drastic rate. ¡°What¡¯s wrong with little Ling?¡± Byakko finally noticed the unusualness of the Heavenly Butterfly Flame. Xue¡¯er didn¡¯t know what to say. Even she was unable to understand the situation. She was only a ten-year-old kid in the end. What should Xue¡¯er do? She panicked as the flames surrounding Ling started to grow. A stray flame hit her out of nowhere. She was very close to the berserk butterfly. It was no wonder one of them hit her. But to her surprise, the burning sensation she was expecting didn¡¯t come. Ding!
You have absorbed Pure Yang Qi. Effect of has been reduced.
What? These flames could help alleviate her ailment? She looked around. Ling was giving off so much extra flame that if she weren¡¯t stopped soon, their home would be burnt to the ground. Xue¡¯er hesitated for a bit. Then, she stretched her hand towards one the stray cluster of flames. The flames immediately disappeared. Ding!
You have absorbed Pure Yang Qi. Effect of has been reduced.
She went to next one. Ding!
You have absorbed Pure Yang Qi. Effect of has been reduced.
Next. Ding!
You have absorbed Pure Yang Qi. Effect of has been reduced.
Next... Next... Next... Finally! Xue¡¯er wiped of the sweat off her brow. There were no more flames in the room anymore. Ling¡¯s condition had also stabilized. Ling had changed. As for the exact detail, Xue¡¯er was unable to quite put her finger at it. As far as looks went, there wasn¡¯t much change. But she couldn¡¯t shake off the feeling that Ling was somehow different. It was like she had been elevated to a higher level. Ding!
You have accumulated a huge amount of Pure Yang Qi. Congratulations! Certain effects of have been removed. You can now use the trait [Divine Ice Phoenix]. Limitation imposed on the growth of your stats has been removed. You can now cultivate.
She checked the details of her ailment.
TOUCH OF DEATH (Ailment) Cause: Presence of five yin traits Effects: Disables the use of four yin traits. Reduces the maximum lifeforce limit by 5% every year. Cure: Presence of equally powerful yang energy in the body.
Some of the effects had disappeared. Xue¡¯er felt like crying. She had given up on ever getting rid of her ailment in her entire short lifetime. But she was already rid of some of the effects. She knew it was all due to her young master. She didn¡¯t know what he did but he was definitely behind this. ¡°Ling!¡± Xue¡¯er was suddenly brought out of her thoughts by a sharp crisp voice. ¡°Ling can finally talk.¡± The little butterfly was fluttering excitedly in the air.
Mu Lanran heard someone knock on her door. There was a certain rhythm and pattern to it. ¡°Please enter, Uncle Bai,¡± she said. The door opened to reveal a haggard looking old man with injuries all over his body. ¡°What happened?¡± she asked in surprise. Uncle Bai was a Nascent Soul Stage cultivator. There were very few cultivators who could do this to him in Red Dawn City. ¡°The boy found me before I could act. With the cover of darkness, he sneak attacked me¡­¡± Uncle Bai told the rest of the story. ¡°¡­In the end, I lost it and attacked him with my full power. He fell into magma.¡± Mu Lanran never expected a boy who was still wet behind his ears to give her so much trouble. She had tried to investigate his background to use it against him but came up with nothing. It was like the boy came out of thin air. Next, she had set a group of wastrels on him. She had expected the boy to feel provoked and pick a fight with that bunch. Many major clans would get involved in the process and put pressure on the boy. Then, she would step out and solve the problem. Thereafter, she would have had no problem taking him under her wing. The assassination attempt had similar motive. She wanted to make him feel insecure. In that way, when she offered to take him under her wing, he would readily agree. But all those plans had gone wrong from the very first step. She clenched her fist tightly. She had the urge to scream. But she couldn¡¯t do it. If she did it, it would offend Uncle Bai. Moreover, it would affect her image. In the end, she could only bear through it. ¡°Thank you for all your work, Uncle Bai. I am sorry for keeping you here long when you are in this state. Please go and take a proper rest. Let Lanran know if there¡¯s anything she can do for you.¡± ¡°Thank you, young mistress.¡± Uncle Bai¡¯s figure flickered and disappeared from the room. Mu Lanran sighed. She needed to think of a proper plan. That is, if the boy made it back alive. 19. Progress Hot. Hot. Hot. That was everything that I felt. It was like I was burning in a pyre. Well, I was. Sorta. For a few moments after I fell into the magma, my lifeforce went on a sudden dip. [Photosynthesis] activated on its own and started to absorb the heat at a frantic pace. That was not enough. I opened my mouth and started gulping the magma. Ding!
You have consumed Pure Yang Qi matter. Congratulations! You have acquired +6 in all six basic attributes.
The depletion of my lifeforce was offset by the natural regeneration [Eternal Stratum] offered and the extra five percent [Photosynthesis] gave me in places with Pure Yang Qi. Sizzling sound came from all over my body. The magma burnt my body but it was soon recovered by my regeneration. Even, my hair grew back! Ding!
You have consumed Pure Yang Qi matter. Congratulations! You have acquired +5 in all six basic attributes.
Ding!
You have consumed Pure Yang Qi matter. Congratulations! You have acquired +4 in all six basic attributes.
Ding!
You have consumed Pure Yang Qi matter. Congratulations! You have acquired +3 in all six basic attributes.
Ding!
You have consumed Pure Yang Qi matter. Congratulations! You have acquired +2 in all six basic attributes.
Ding!
You have consumed Pure Yang Qi matter. Congratulations! You have acquired +1 in all six basic attributes.
The stat points I could get from magma decreased and in the end disappeared. I was unable to tell whether it had become ineffective or the reservoir of Pure Yang Qi in the magma had been exhausted. Ding!
Your trait [Photosynthesis] has absorbed Pure Yang Qi to the brim. It can now evolve. Would you like to evolve it?
I thought it over. The evolution should take a while. Although I was in magma, there was no immediate danger. Moreover, the burning sensation I felt in the beginning now only felt I was in a hot bath. It actually felt quite pleasant. In the end, I gave a silent ¡®Yes!¡¯ in my head. It was not like I had anything better to do. Ding!
Your trait [Photosynthesis] is evolving. Progress: 1% Please wait¡­
It was completed in a few minutes. Ding!
Evolution complete. Congratulations! Your trait [Photosynthesis] has evolved to [Pure Yang Body].
It sounded amazing. I made to open my status window. Ding!
There¡¯s a huge amount of Pure Yang Qi in your body and in your surrounding. It is now possible to evolve your trait [Heavenly Butterfly Flame]. Would you like to evolve it?
Why not? I thought. Evolution meant becoming better and more powerful. Ding!
Your trait [Heavenly Butterfly Flame] is evolving. Progress: 0.25% Please wait¡­
The process took a little more time but it was also completed without much disturbances. Ding!
Evolution complete. Congratulations! Your trait [Heavenly Butterfly Flame] has evolved to [Divine Yang Butterfly].
I checked my status. There were bound to be a lot of changes.
GENERAL
Name Su Ren Age 11 years old
Cultivation Method Heart¡¯s Yearning Realm Qi Gathering 9 (999/1000 Essence)
Lifeforce 5730/5730 (Regeneration: 20% per second)
Qi 5790/5790 (Regeneration: 20% per second)
ATTRIBUTES
Strength 552 Physique 573
Movement 571 Control 570
Soul 579 Comprehension 595
Charm 69 Fate 42
INNATE TRAITS
Innards of a God Kaleidoscope Eye Pure Yang Body Eternal Stratum (Incomplete) ############ Divine Yang Butterfly Bow Living Grimoire
Bond: Byakko (White Tiger)
QI SKILL LIST
Slot Skill Name Rating Level
1. Qi Arrow Unranked 8/10
2. Earth Steps Epic 8/10
3. Heart Force Unranked 5/10
4. Spiritual Sense Unranked 3/10
5. Mindscape Epic 1/10
I checked the details of the two traits that evolved.
PURE YANG BODY Enables you to absorb Pure Yang Qi from the sun and store it in your body. Enable you to control Pure Yang Qi. Grants immunity to Pure Yang Qi. Regeneration of Qi will increase by 25% in areas filled with Pure Yang Qi.
DIVINE YANG BUTTERFLY Summons Essence Flame. Enables you to control Pure Yang Qi. Grants immunity to Pure Yang Qi. (Note: The flame is sentient. You can transfer it.)
The effects of the two traits looked similar. Still, I was happy with what I got. I hadn¡¯t expected to benefit from this debacle. I opened my [Kaleidoscope Eye] and looked for that Nascent Soul Stage assailant but came up with nothing. Still, I stayed inside the magma for a while. You never know what sort of trick it had in its sleeve. Besides, it was pretty comfortable inside. I entered my . Seeing no one there, I was relieved. Evolution didn¡¯t appear to have any adverse effect on me. After some hours passed, I swam out of the magma. I took out a new set of clothes from my spatial ring and wore it. My previous ones were burnt by the magma as soon as I collided with it. I opened [Kaleidoscope Eye: Mode Silver] and [Kaleidoscope Eye: Mode White] as a combo. This little episode had made me realize. The many strange clusters of energy my eyes had come across from time to time in the forest could bring a huge benefit to me. The fierce beasts in the forest had avoided them; so, I did the same. The only reason I had run towards this particular place was due to the presence of Pure Yang Qi. I felt I would survive inside it due to [Photosynthesis] and [Innards of a God]. To think I would unexpectedly benefit from it¡­ Didn¡¯t that mean that the other types of energy would bring me gains, too? The more I thought, the more attractive the idea seemed. At the same time, I told myself to be cautious. I wouldn¡¯t have the same advantage I did when I had approached this magma region. I found another region with similar peculiar energy. Unlike the red glow Pure Yang Qi gave off, it had a cold dark glow. The place was a few kilometers from where I was. The energy it gave off was on a smaller scale. I thought this was perfect for my little experiment. Several minutes later, I reached the region. The thing that was emanating the energy was an orb about the size of a football. It had a metallic sheen. As I neared the area, the energy emanated from the orb shaved off my lifeforce. The closer I moved, the more my lifeforce was removed. Fortunately, [Eternal Stratum] recovered it soon after. I could understand why the beasts didn¡¯t approach the strange clusters of energy. If you didn¡¯t have high lifeforce regeneration, to approach it was equivalent to offering your life. I picked the orb. It was cold, heavy and metallic. Examining it for a few moments, I brought it to my mouth. It tasted weird, to say the least. The most fitting description I could give would be: metallic. I can¡¯t say it was a pleasant thing to eat. I finished it in a few minutes. Ding!
You have consumed Meteorite Metal. Congratulations! You have acquired +8 to all basic attributes.
Cool. Ding!Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings.
Suitable material detected. It is now possible to upgrade your trait [Bow]. Would you like to upgrade it?
Sure. Ding!
Your trait [Bow] is evolving. Progress: 1% Please wait¡­
A few minutes later¡­ Ding!
Evolution complete. Congratulations! Your trait [Bow] has evolved to [Metal Bow].
I immediately checked the details of the evolved.
METAL BOW Creates a metal bow according to your imagination. The damage of your attack will be increased by 10%. (Note: You can upgrade the bow further by ingesting materials]
Pretty neat. I summoned the [Metal Bow]. The figure of the compound bow was not vague like before. It was solid. It looked glossy and most of all, strong. I nodded in satisfaction. This was how a bow should be. With it in my hand, I truly felt like an archer. After examining and admiring it for a while, I dismissed it. Now that I could harness the clusters of energy safely, it was time to get to work. I moved to the other regions. There, I found a small pool of dark water that had a dark blue energy swirling over it. Ding!
You have consumed Dark Water. Congratulations! You have acquired +6 to all basic attributes.
Ding!
You have consumed Dark Water. Congratulations! You have acquired +5 to all basic attributes.
Ding!
You have consumed Dark Water. Congratulations! You have acquired +4 to all basic attributes.
Ding!
You have consumed Dark Water. Congratulations! You have acquired +3 to all basic attributes.
Ding!
You have consumed Dark Water. Congratulations! You have acquired +2 to all basic attributes.
Ding!
You have consumed Dark Water. Congratulations! You have acquired +1 to all basic attributes.
Next, I found a block of frozen ice. Ding!
You have consumed Yin Qi matter. Congratulations! You have acquired +7 to all basic attributes.
Apart from the increase in my stats, there were no other effects but I was satisfied. I couldn¡¯t get lucky all the time. I found a cave and retired for the night. Naturally, I made extra sure there were no dangers waiting to spring on me. The next day, I continued the lookout for the masses of energy. Now that I was searching for them purposefully, I found they were not as numerous as I thought they were. I found a beautiful red flower swaying gently in the air. I plucked it and stuffed it into my mouth. Ding!
You have consumed a thousand year Blood Orchid. Congratulations! You have acquired +7 to all basic attributes.
Ding!
Congratulations! You have acquired the trait [Aroma].
I perked up. This was a pleasant surprise. It had been a long while since I last obtained a trait. I checked the details of my new trait.
AROMA Sends a fragrance that attracts all beings that possess less Soul than you. Range: 10 Kilometers
It appeared quite useful. I activated it to see the effect. A pleasant and tantalizing aroma emanated from my body. The smell of everything I loved hit my nostril. If I didn¡¯t know the fragrance was coming from me, I would have run to the source. I didn¡¯t have to wait long to see the result. Rumbling sounds came from all around me. Using [Kaleidoscope Eye], I looked over the situation. A huge amount of animals that ranged from a small insect to giant beasts were moving towards me. I immediately turned [Aroma] off. Strange! Why hadn¡¯t they stopped moving? I sniffed at my body. Weak but the smell was definitely there. Swearing all the profanity I could think of, I summoned [Metal Bow]. With [Kaleidoscope Eye], I found the area with the least monsters. I started shooting for all I was worth. Thank goodness! There weren¡¯t any strong beasts. I was able to pave out a path for myself and break out of encirclement. With no Byakko and Ling by my side, there was no way I was going to engage them. As soon as a bunch of them reached me, with no close quarter combat skills in my arsenal, I would be as helpless as a flock of sheep in front of a wolf. Although I escaped the horde, I had to keep running. Insects and beasts chased me as if I had stolen their most precious belonging. For all I know, even microscopic beings might be chasing me or they might even be nibbling at me. It took two hours for the scent to wear off. I had to be on a constant run the whole time. That was stupid. To be brought to such misery by one¡¯s own trait, there couldn¡¯t be anything more stupid than that. Also, I had been the one to trigger it¡­ I had always praised myself for my cautiousness but this. I found a big tree to rest at and opened my status window.
GENERAL
Name Su Ren Age 11 years old
Cultivation Method Heart¡¯s Yearning Realm Qi Gathering 9 (999/1000 Essence)
Lifeforce 5990/5990 (Regeneration: 20% per second)
Qi 5990/5990 (Regeneration: 20% per second)
ATTRIBUTES
Strength 595 Physique 599
Movement 599 Control 599
Soul 599 Comprehension 599
Charm 71 Fate 43
INNATE TRAITS
Innards of a God Kaleidoscope Eye Pure Yang Body Eternal Stratum (Incomplete) ############ Divine Yang Butterfly Metal Bow Living Grimoire Aroma
Bond: Byakko (White Tiger)
QI SKILL LIST
Slot Skill Name Rating Level
1. Qi Arrow Unranked 8/10
2. Earth Steps Epic 8/10
3. Heart Force Unranked 5/10
4. Spiritual Sense Unranked 3/10
5. Mindscape Epic 1/10
All of basic attributes, except strength, had hit a bottleneck. It was about time to think about breaking the third shackle. Then, I could advance to Foundational Stage. But before that, I need to take care of the little tumor that might prove to be a huge headache in future. Closing my eyes, I entered my . A pleasant aroma wafted over to my nose. The ego of [Aroma] was in my . Yet when I looked around, I found nothing. I panicked. Coming across an opponent without form was a first for me. I was so used to relying on the combo of [Kaleidoscope Eye: Mode Yellow] and that it flustered me when I found I couldn¡¯t use it. I took a deep breath and calmed my heart. It was times like this where I was required to have clear head. I ran through the options that were available to me. When the solution came to me, I couldn¡¯t help but gawk foolishly at the empty landscape that stretched before me. I summoned flame. With [Diving Yang Butterfly] and [Pure Yang Body] assisting me, it wasn¡¯t difficult to fill the entire with flame. I wasn¡¯t affected since I was immune. Ding!
You have subdued the ego of [Aroma].
The tantalizing smell disappeared. The raging flame also disappeared like a dream. I opened my eyes and let out a happy smile. Now, I could move to the next agenda on my list. First, I needed to find a place where I wouldn¡¯t be disturbed. I decided on the cave we used to live in before. On the way, I noticed a huge group of demons congregated at the edge of the magical forest that was on the opposite side of Red Dawn City. There were at least five hundred of them. If it weren¡¯t for [Kaleidoscope Eye], which boasted a whopping one hundred fifty kilometer range and the ability to identify, I wouldn¡¯t have noticed it or I might have dismissed them as a group of humans. They were up to no good. I had a premonition. Things were not going to remain peaceful for long. I made a mental note to talk about it to Sister Yu. I reached the cave and took out the corpse of the demon I had been saving for this moment. I started a fire and roasted it. Tantalizing smell spread everywhere in the cave. I tore a small chunk of the meat and put it in my mouth. A savory flavor smell spread everywhere in my mouth. It was nowhere near the meals prepared by Xue¡¯er but by its own right, I felt that it was not bad. Ding!
You have consumed the meat of a Spirit Transformation Stage demon. Congratulations! You have gained +3 to all basic attributes.
I waited for the raging energy that entered my body to settle to take another bite. Ding!
You have consumed the meat of a Spirit Transformation Stage demon. Congratulations! You have gained +3 to all basic attributes.
With that, strength had also reached the bottleneck. I continued eating the meat of the Spirit Transformation Stage demon and accumulating energy in my body. Although the size of the demon was small, the energy content in its meat was so much that I was starting to feel full. After an exhausting process, I was finally able to finish the whole of the demon. Ding!
Congratulations! You have broken through the third shackles of a mortal. [Eternal Stratum] will be upgraded. Please wait¡­
Ding!
Upgrade Completed! Your Lifeforce Regeneration and Qi Regeneration will be set to 30% per second
Finally! It took a long while to reach here. Ding!
Congratulations! You have acquired the trait [Devour].
Ding!
[Devour] has been devoured by [Innards of a God]. Congratulations! The chances of acquiring traits increases. The attribute points you can acquire also increases.
I was a touch disappointed. I had banked on acquiring a strong trait from the demon. It was a Spirit Transformation Stage demon, after all. After I had broken through the third shackle of a mortal, my status ran like this.
GENERAL
Name Su Ren Age 11 years old
Cultivation Method Heart¡¯s Yearning Realm Qi Gathering 9 (999/1000 Essence)
Lifeforce 6840/6840 (Regeneration: 30% per second)
Qi 6820/6820 (Regeneration: 30% per second)
ATTRIBUTES
Strength 643 Physique 684
Movement 672 Control 674
Soul 682 Comprehension 687
Charm 75 Fate 44
INNATE TRAITS
Innards of a God Kaleidoscope Eye Pure Yang Body Eternal Stratum (Incomplete) ############ Divine Yang Butterfly Metal Bow Living Grimoire Aroma
Bond: Byakko (White Tiger)
QI SKILL LIST
Slot Skill Name Rating Level
1. Qi Arrow Unranked 8/10
2. Earth Steps Epic 8/10
3. Heart Force Unranked 5/10
4. Spiritual Sense Unranked 3/10
5. Mindscape Epic 1/10
I brought out the notification I had shelved for a long time.
You have fulfilled all the requirements to level up to a Foundational Stage Cultivator. Would you like to level up?
¡°Yes!¡± I affirmed. Ding!
Congratulations! You have broken to the Foundational Stage Layer 1. You have gained +10 to all basic attributes.
Ding!
WARNING! You are cultivating Heaven-defying Cultivation Method. A 3x2 Tribulation shall befall you!
I didn¡¯t panic like last time. The tribulation lightning was nothing to be feared. More like, it was beneficial. I went outside and looked up. Dark clouds were gathering over my head. It was much bigger than the last time. Lightning was slowly accumulating. I took a seat and waited for the tribulation. The first bolt struck. The second, the third, the fourth, the fifth and the sixth followed. To be honest, the whole affair was anticlimactic. Except for some tingling sensation I felt when the electric current ran through my body, there was nothing. Ding!
Congratulations! You have passed through the tribulation. You have gained +10 to all basic attributes.
Post tribulation, my stats ran like this.
GENERAL
Name Su Ren Age 11 years old
Cultivation Method Heart¡¯s Yearning Realm Foundational 1 1/2000 Essence)
Lifeforce 7040/7040 (Regeneration: 30% per second)
Qi 7020/7020 (Regeneration: 30% per second)
ATTRIBUTES
Strength 663 Physique 704
Movement 692 Control 694
Soul 702 Comprehension 707
Charm 77 Fate 46
INNATE TRAITS
Innards of a God Kaleidoscope Eye Pure Yang Body Eternal Stratum (Incomplete) ############ Divine Yang Butterfly Metal Bow Living Grimoire Aroma
Bond: Byakko (White Tiger)
QI SKILL LIST
Slot Skill Name Rating Level
1. Qi Arrow Unranked 8/10
2. Earth Steps Epic 8/10
3. Heart Force Unranked 5/10
4. Spiritual Sense Unranked 3/10
5. Mindscape Epic 1/10
6.
7.
20. A Beautiful Day I woke up with a start. Something was amiss. No. Rather, there was something more. It was the same dark cave. There was the same muddy smell. The cave was as silent as it always was. What is it? I activated [Kaleidoscope Eye] and investigated. Nothing. There was nothing unusual. Was I simply being paranoid due the night assault I suffered yesterday? ¡°Master!¡± a crisp chirpy voice spoke in my head. I propped myself up, my heart on full alert. ¡°Master!¡± the voice spoke again. Maybe it was because it was the second time, I didn¡¯t feel as panicked as before. More mysteriously, I felt a strange connection to the voice. It was like it was a part of me. Wait a minute¡­ ¡°Master! Ling¡­ Ling¡­ Ling can talk now!¡± the chirpy voice said in a happy tone. Ling? I rubbed my head. The many things that happened during the day had made me forget that Ling had evolved. I was planning to stay in the forest for a few more days and comprehend some good skills to fill the two extra slots I acquired when I broke through to Foundational Stage. Now, it looked like I needed to change my plans. Ling, can you hear me? I spoke in my mind. ¡°Yes! Yes! Ling can hear master¡¯s voice!¡± Ling¡¯s excited voice reached my mind. I sighed. I wondered if it was a good thing for the easily excitable butterfly to have the ability to speak. I couldn¡¯t shake off the feeling that my days won¡¯t be quiet anymore.
When I reached home, there was an expected person waiting for me. ¡°Little brat, where did you run off to?¡± Yu Chen¡¯er¡¯s grumpy face greeted me near the entrance of the bookstore. ¡°Sister Yu, I didn¡¯t know you were here,¡± I said. I always felt a little apologetic towards her. She was always helping me out and taking care of me but I was unable to do anything in return. ¡°Little brat ¨C¡± ¡°Master! Master! Master is back!¡± I heard the overexcited voice of Ling before I saw her figure come out of the store that we called our home. There wasn¡¯t much change in her appearance except the flame she emitted was more vibrant. ¡°Father~¡± Byakko¡¯s little figure dashed out of the store and jumped into my arms. I caught the little fellow and nestled him in my arms. The last figure to come out of the bookstore was Xue¡¯er. She gave an exceedingly bright smile when she saw me. ¡°Welcome home, young master,¡± she said. ¡°Ling. Byakko. Xue¡¯er. I am home,¡± I told them. It was only a few days but it already felt like a long time since I last saw them. I seriously missed these guys. ¡°Sister Yu, why don¡¯t we talk inside?¡± Sister Yu gave her consent with a nod. The small table in the dingy storefront that I now used as a study was crowded. Sister Yu, Xue¡¯er and I, we were sitting round the table while Byakko and Ling were sitting right on it. Xue¡¯er had brewed everyone an exquisite cup of tea. We made small talks while we sipped the tea. ¡°So, what brings you here, Sister Yu?¡± I broached the topic. ¡°You have the nerve to ask?¡± She glared at me. ¡°You make others work for you and you disappear on them. Isn¡¯t that a little too shameless?¡± ¡°This¡­¡± I rubbed the back of my neck. It was embarrassing. ¡°Sister Yu, I had to go out to train. I am really sorry. I will definitely make it up to you.¡± ¡°You promise?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± ¡°Young master,¡± Xue¡¯er interrupted. ¡°Would you like some more tea?¡± I looked at my cup and noticed that it was almost empty. I nodded. Xue¡¯er got up to get more tea. ¡°You have got yourself a nice maid.¡± Yu Chen¡¯er looked at Xue¡¯er with a strange glint in her eyes. ¡°She is not my maid.¡± I sighed. No matter how I dissuaded her, she refused to wear normal clothes and stuck together with maid uniform. In the end, I could only give up. If I could, I would have gone to the old me who ogled at the maids and punch him in the face. ¡°She is family. Apart from that, it¡¯s true that she¡¯s nice. Byakko, Ling and I feel fortunate that we were able to meet her.¡± ¡°Young master!¡± Xue¡¯er who had returned with a teapot beamed. She looked so adorable that I couldn¡¯t help but reach out my hand and rub her head. She purred. Sister Yu coughed, drawing my attention to her. She withdrew a book from her spatial ring and handed to me. ¡°This book should have the information you want,¡± she said. ¡°I borrowed it from Brother Chen, so don¡¯t damage it.¡± ¡°Thank you, Sister Yu.¡± I flipped through the pages. The whole book seemed to be about transformations. I couldn¡¯t help but feel happy. Finally some answers. I was still torn between dismissing the [Chimera Transformation] and assimilating the transformation into my body. This book would be a great help to me while making the decision. ¡°There¡¯s one more thing,¡± Sister Yu said after some hesitation. ¡°Will you accompany me to the Auction? There are not many people I am close with¡­ And it also feels odd to go by myself¡­¡± ¡°Sure,¡± I replied. This was the first time she was asking me to do something. Besides, it was going to the Auction, which I was pretty interested in. There was only one answer. Her expression brightened up. After that, we made some small talks and Sister Yu took her leave soon after. ¡°Young master,¡± Xue¡¯er said a few minutes after the departure of Yu Chen¡¯er. ¡°Some of the effects of my ailment have disappeared. Oh? I looked at her in surprise. Opening [Kaleidoscope Eye: Mode Black], I checked her status. It was true. The restriction on the growth of her attributes and the restriction that blocked her from cultivating were gone. She could even use one of her five yin traits, [Divine Ice Phoenix].This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. ¡°It was Ling! Ling helped Xue¡¯er!¡± Ling, who had been quite well behaved for a while started jumping around in excitement. After a disjointed storytelling between Byakko and Ling (with a little help from Xue¡¯er), I was finally able to understand the whole situation. During her evolution, Ling had spewed out the extra flames, which Xue¡¯er had unwittingly absorbed. And when she did, her ailment had abated. I was speechless. This can happen, too? Truly the girl loved by heaven. The hundred and eight in her fate attribute was not just for show. This incident got me thinking. Pure Yang Qi was berserk in nature. Not just Pure Yang Qi, all forms of energy were berserk in their natural form. If it weren¡¯t for [Innards of a God], [Photosynthesis] and the almost insane regeneration offered by [Eternal Stratum], I wouldn¡¯t have dared to go anywhere near that magma. Trying to absorb any form of natural energy was equivalent to courting death. That was why, I wasn¡¯t surprised that her clan in spite of her great talents had abandoned Xue¡¯er. To them, [Touch of Death] effectively sealed her fate. There might be ways to tame the berserk Pure Yang Qi and insert them into her body but it was not available at the place where we were and the place the clan was situated didn¡¯t seem to have it either. But absorbing Pure Yang Qi through Ling didn¡¯t seem to possess any risk. Wouldn¡¯t her ailment be solved if I transferred Ling to her? But I paused. No. Before that, she needed to take care of the egos of the traits that were already available to her. If all her traits were unlocked, with her meager stats, the egos of the traits would control her before long. To avoid that¡­ ¡°Xue¡¯er, would you like to cultivate?¡± I asked.
Three days later, the four of us were in the forest. ¡°Xue¡¯er~ Try your best~ Even I did it~¡± Byakko yelled in encouragement to Xue¡¯er who was sitting in lotus position in a clearing. ¡°Xue¡¯er, try your best!¡± Ling cheered. Xue¡¯er eyed the dark clouds gathering above her with unease written all over her face. ¡°Young master,¡± she mumbled. ¡°Xue¡¯er!¡± I yelled. ¡°Nothing will happen to you. Believe in me!¡± Similar situation had played out when I had Byakko condense his Dao Seed. I wondered if I had to do this every time I passed my Cultivation Method to someone. ¡°Xue¡¯er will believe in young master!¡± Xue¡¯er said with a determined look on her face. But that soon changed to a terrified one when the first bolt of lightning struck. Without giving her any break, the second bolt struck. The third bolt struck. Xue¡¯er stayed frozen for a long while after the tribulation had passed. She finally came back to her senses. ¡°Young master, I did it,¡± she said with tears in her eyes. Byakko, Ling and I went to her location. ¡°Yes, you did,¡± I told her, ruffling her hair. ¡°I told you it was easy,¡± Byakko said with smug look on his face. I had the sudden urge to tell him how frightened he had been at that moment but dropped the idea in the end. Let the little fellow have his moments. ¡°Xue¡¯er! Xue¡¯er! Xue¡¯er!¡± Ling fluttered around her, displaying her delight. ¡°I am in Qi Gathering Layer 1.¡± ¡°Yes, you are,¡± I told the disbelieving little loli. ¡°Let¡¯s go home.¡± She nodded. She made to stand up but her leg gave way, making her sit back on the ground. ¡°Young master, Xue¡¯er is very sorry. Xue¡¯er¡¯s legs are a little weak. It should be alright in a few minutes.¡± I bent down, my back facing her. ¡°Get on,¡± I said. ¡°This¡­ Young master¡­ I¡­¡± ¡°It¡¯s alright. You are always taking care of us. Let your young master take care of you now and then.¡± ¡°That¡¯s not true,¡± she said in a small voice. Two small hands gingerly crept on my shoulders. When I was sure she was ready, I held her legs and stood up. ¡°Not fair!¡± Byakko complained. ¡°I also want to be carried by father!¡± ¡°Sorry, little fellow, I am unable to do that.¡± I could only shake my head helplessly at the little guy. ¡°No.¡± He flew in the air and settled on my head. ¡°It¡¯s fine like this,¡± he said. ¡°Ling! Ling! Ling, too!¡± The little butterfly came flying and landed on my shoulder. ¡°So comfortable!¡± Her little voice was filled with satisfaction. Xue¡¯er giggled from behind. ¡°Young master has become a horse today.¡± I couldn¡¯t help but be speechless. These two fellows had no problem walking. Heck! They could even fly! Still, they insisted on being carried. Were these two fellows getting lazy? I couldn¡¯t help but wonder. But it didn¡¯t feel so bad to be depended on like this. I ran through the things that I needed to get done. I needed to raise Xue¡¯er¡¯s stats and help her subdue the egos of her traits. Next came curing her ailment. Transferring Ling to her could solve it but I didn¡¯t want to force Ling. If Ling was unwilling, I will look for another way. Now that Xue¡¯er could cultivate and raise her stats, we should be able to buy some more time. I should buy her a jade record. On my front, I needed to study on [Chimera Transformation]. There was also the auction¡­ ¡°Young master, Xue¡¯er is sorry for being an inconvenience,¡± Xue¡¯er said in a really small voice from behind, bringing me out of my thoughts. ¡°What are you saying? I don¡¯t think you are an inconvenience at all. In fact, I would like it if you imposed more of your wills. Cause us troubles, it¡¯s fine. We are family. We should be there for one another.¡± ¡°En.¡± I heard her say. Thereafter, we travelled in silence. From the top of my head, I heard Byakko snore. Ling, who was on my right shoulder, echoed him. Soon, a little snore came from behind me. I laughed. It was a beautiful day.
Xue''er''s status after the tribulation:
GENERAL
Name Xue¡¯er Age 10 years old
Cultivation Method Heart''s Yearning Realm Qi Gathering 1 (1/200 Essence)
Lifeforce 205/210 (Regeneration: 1% per second)
Qi 320/320 (Regeneration: 1% per second)
ATTRIBUTES
Strength 21 Physique 21
Movement 21 Control 21
Soul 32 Comprehension 30
Charm 55 Fate 111
INNATE TRAITS
Divine Tongue Nine Yin Body (Locked) Divine Ice Phoenix Moon Eye (Locked) Death Inscription (Locked) Shadow Travel (Locked)
AILMENT
Touch of Death
QI SKILL LIST
Slot Skill Name Rating Level
1.
2.
21. Birth of Another Glutton I took out the book Sister Yu had given me from my spatial ring. When I did, I suddenly remembered an important thing I had forgotten. The demons! I was going to talk to her about it. I had completely forgotten about it for four days! I perspired. If she knew that I forgot something this important, she won¡¯t let me off lightly. She would annoy the hell out of me with her snide remarks for days. I couldn¡¯t let this happen, I needed to salvage the situation. Then it occurred to me. She didn¡¯t need to know. I could just say that I saw the demons today. Perfect. I will search for her tomorrow and tell her, I resolved. Calming myself down, I opened the book and began to read it. ¡®Ages ago, long before humans came into existence, the world was under the rule of Primordial Beings. They were mighty warriors. With a single stomp, they would cause earthquakes. With a single wave of their hands, they would collapse the sky. Even a simple sneeze they gave were enough to blow mountains into smithereens¡­¡¯ Oh, please! I couldn¡¯t help but snort at the ridiculous description I was reading. Couldn¡¯t they have exaggerated a little less? Rolling my eyes, I continued. ¡®¡­This ancient race, for some inexplicable reason, disappeared from the world. All signs of them were wiped out, apart from a few records from that era. It was like they never existed in the first place.¡¯ It was excruciating. The author of this book knew how to torture his readers. He kept on going about an ancient history that didn¡¯t seem to have any relevance. Yet, I couldn¡¯t skip it for the fear of missing some vital information. It was only when I was halfway through the book that I finally came across the information that I wanted. ¡®¡­Transformations, in essence, is the ability to transform into lesser version of one of those primordial beings. There are many theories regarding why some humans can transform while others can¡¯t. One theory states that those humans were descended from the primordial beings. Another states that some sort of mutation happened with the traits of those humans, which later evolved to transformation abilities¡­¡¯ The author carried on with his verbose theory for a while before giving some more useful information. ¡®¡­Transformation abilities don¡¯t seem to possess any side effects like having too many traits seemed to do. However, when a person uses it, it seems to deplete Lifeforce and Qi at a very rapid pace. Also, the user isrequired to have high control. There were times when humans were unable to control their transformation. I closed the book. Ding!
You have gained +1 Comprehension.
I brought the notification screen I had left unattended for a while and thought carefully about it. There didn¡¯t seem to be major disadvantage to possessing [Chimera Transformation]. It was powerful. There was the drawback of it eating too much Lifeforce and Qi but with my regeneration, it shouldn¡¯t pose a huge problem. Besides, I was not planning to use it as my main skill but rather a trump card. I affirmed the selection in my head. Ding!
Congratulations! You have acquired [Chimera Transformation].
I opened my status window. An extra stat column, Transformation, was added; below it, [Chimera Transformation] was listed. I nodded in satisfaction. A sweet aroma of meat wafted over to my nose from the kitchen. I knew that Xue¡¯er was almost done with the preparation of dinner. Not betraying my expectation, I heard her call me in a few moments later. ¡°Young master, dinner is ready!¡± I stood up and moved towards the kitchen. After our expedition to the forest, Xue¡¯er had transformed. She was not a timid child anymore. She had finally opened her heart fully to Byakko, Ling and me. I was really happy about her change. Byakko and Ling were already sitting on the table eying the food with drools in their mouth. I couldn¡¯t help but sigh. There was no helping these gluttons. Not that I was in any position to scold them. I took a seat. Xue¡¯er brought the last of the dishes and sat. ¡°Young master. Byakko. Ling. Please dig in,¡± she said with a wide smile on her face when she saw our hungry faces. ¡°Thank you for the food,¡± I muttered, reaching out my hand for the food in the center of the table. Byakko and Ling didn¡¯t bother to say anything and jumped at the food. Slowly, our mealtime descended into chaos. Like always. But it was different tonight. I only realized when we had almost cleared the food on the table. Byakko and Ling seemed to have realized the same thing at almost the same time. All of us looked at Xue¡¯er as if we had discussed this before. Xue¡¯er gave a bashful smile as she nibbled at the meat in her hand. ¡°I seem to¡­ I seem to have developed a huge appetite after the tribulation,¡± she said in an embarrassed tone. The three of us nodded at her, still in the state of surprise. I thought it over. Is it because of the Cultivation Method? I wondered. I hadn¡¯t noticed any change happen in Byakko and me but we weren¡¯t exactly good test subjects. We were people with huge appetite to begin with. Heart¡¯s Yearning was something I created. It wouldn¡¯t surprise me if [Innards of a God] had a subtle influence on it. I decided not to dwell too much on it. It was a good thing for Xue¡¯er if she was able to eat more. With more food, she would be able to gain more stats. ¡°Don¡¯t be shy,¡± I told her. ¡°Eat to your heart¡¯s content.¡± ¡°En.¡± Xue¡¯er nodded, a slight blush spreading across her face.
The first thing I did the next day was to look for Sister Yu. I couldn¡¯t keep the matter of the demons gathering pending for a long time. If I was late and something irreversible happened, I wouldn¡¯t be able to forgive myself. With [Kaleidoscope Eye], it was easy to locate her. Oh? When I saw where she was, I couldn¡¯t help but feel a little surprised. But in a way, it suited her. She was sparring with some guys at a training ground. From what I could see, she was overwhelming them. I made my way towards her location. ¡°Ren!¡± She called out as soon as she saw me. She exchanged some words with her training partners and jogged towards me. ¡°What brings you here?¡± she asked. ¡°Can we find some place quiet?¡± I said. ¡°It¡¯s not something I want everyone to hear.¡± She looked around for a bit and nodded. ¡°Give me a few moments. I will get changed and come back.¡± She gestured at her coarse training clothes. She ran to one of the buildings near the training ground and came out dressed in a red silk robe. ¡°Let¡¯s go,¡± she said. We found a quiet teahouse. With the influence she possessed, it wasn¡¯t difficult for us to get a compartment all to ourselves. ¡°So, what did you want to talk?¡± she asked after the servers had left the tiny room after serving the tea.This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience. I told her about what I found in a concise manner. Naturally, I didn¡¯t tell her that it was something that I came across more than a few days ago. ¡°How did you find out?¡± she asked. I activated [Kaleidoscope Eye] and switched between modes. ¡°My eyes are a little special,¡± I told her. Even though we had known each other for a while, we hadn¡¯t divulged our secrets to each other. We also didn¡¯t ask. Apparently, it was considered rude to ask about others¡¯ traits. Not that I needed to. I could use [Kaleidoscope Eye: Mode Black] and get all the information I wanted. But I avoided doing it unless it was absolutely necessary. Or I was unable to contain my curiosity¡­ ¡°Oh!¡± Sister Yu gave me a blank look. She must not have expected me to reveal one of my traits. ¡°You should not expose your trait like this,¡± She said in a stern tone after she recovered from her surprise. She put on a strict demeanor. ¡°Your trait is your lifeline. Once you show it to others, others will be able to counter it. Until and unless you have absolute trust in that person, you should hide your strength. This world is not as simple as it looks on the surface.¡± ¡°I understand, Sister Yu,¡± I told her. ¡°Besides, I trust Sister Yu.¡± It was the truth. After interacting with her for a while, I felt like I could trust her. Sister Yu picked her tea and sipped it without replying. I found a rare flush on her face. I felt like teasing her but stopped. I was pretty sure she would go berserk on me if I did that. It was better to not wake the sleeping tigress. She set down her cup and coughed. ¡°I will pass on this message to my grandfather. He should be able to verify it. If what you said is the truth, then a huge calamity is about to befall the Red Dawn City.¡± She stood up. ¡°I will go and tell my grandfather immediately.¡± ¡°Yeah, you should.¡± The information was already more than a few days old. I hoped there weren¡¯t any changes with the demons. After saying goodbye, she walked to the entrance of the compartment when she turned back. She appeared to have remembered something. ¡°The Auction is in two days. Don¡¯t forget. Don¡¯t disappear on me like last time. If you do, I will never forgive you.¡± I nodded. After a few extra reminders, she finally left. I couldn¡¯t help but let out a wry smile. Now that I was all by myself, I wondered if I should go and look around the city. Apart from the restaurants and the inn I lived in, I hadn¡¯t explored much of it. But in the end, I decided against it. That would just be a waste of time. It would be better to use that time to do something productive. I went to a little cave a few kilometers away from the city. There were few beasts around. Moreover, there weren¡¯t any humans around. It was a quiet place. Perfect for you to meditate and try to get some insights. Ding!
Congratulations! You have comprehended the skill .
I checked the details.
BURST STEP (Epic) Enables you to make short burst of high-speed movement.
The two skill slots I got after breaking through to Foundational Stage was still empty. After much contemplation, I decided on a movement skill for the first one. I didn¡¯t have a good movement skill, so this choice was obvious. couldn¡¯t be considered one since all it did was create a stable footing, which was great for shooting but not so much for moving. I recalled the awkward moment when I had to flee from the beasts when I went out to train solo just because I was unable to engage them in close range. I wanted a movement skill that would enable me to shoot while on the move. I frowned. None of the skills somehow satisfied me. With , there was also and , which I comprehended previously. None of them fit the bill. I couldn¡¯t give up just like that. I closed my eyes and tried to come up with another skill. I wanted a skill that would allow me to shoot from anywhere. Even if it was from the sky! Ding!
Congratulations! You have comprehended the skill .
The details of the skill went like this.
SKY WALK (Epic) Enables you to walk in the air.
This was a pretty good skill. With the Qi that I possessed and my regeneration ability, I was confident that I would be able to stay in the air for a long time. It was still missing something. The all-important speed was not there. If I stayed in the air using this skill, I would be easy prey for the flying beasts and long ranged attackers. The highest rank skill I could comprehend at the moment was epic. There seemed to be some sort of wall that stopped me from reaching out to legendary-ranked ones. I knew my comprehension was not enough. What the hell was I supposed to do? If only there was a skill that encompassed all the four movement skills I comprehended. Wait a moment! I could try and combine the four skills. I saw a slight glimmer of light in the darkness. Once again, I dived into the deep recess of my mind. I brought out the details of the four skills in my mind and imagined them combining into one skill. Ding!
Not enough insight. Sorry! Unable to combine the skills.
I opened my eyes in frustration. This time I truly felt like I had hit some sort of a wall. Forget it! I could only give up for now. I looked at the horizon. The sun was already setting. It would be night before long. I needed to get home before those three fellows started to get worried about me. I will continue on this path, I decided. So what if my insight was not enough today, it wouldn¡¯t be the same next time.
Su Ren¡¯s status:
GENERAL
Name Su Ren Age 11 years old
Cultivation Method Heart¡¯s Yearning Realm Foundational 1 34/2000 Essence)
Lifeforce 7060/7060 (Regeneration: 30% per second)
Qi 7040/7040 (Regeneration: 30% per second)
ATTRIBUTES
Strength 665 Physique 706
Movement 694 Control 696
Soul 704 Comprehension 710
Charm 80 Fate 47
INNATE TRAITS
Innards of a God Kaleidoscope Eye Pure Yang Body Eternal Stratum (Incomplete) ############ Divine Yang Butterfly Metal Bow Living Grimoire Aroma
TRANSFORMATION
Chimera Transformation
Bond: Byakko (White Tiger)
QI SKILL LIST
Slot Skill Name Rating Level
1. Qi Arrow Unranked 8/10
2. Earth Steps Epic 8/10
3. Heart Force Unranked 5/10
4. Spiritual Sense Unranked 3/10
5. Mindscape Epic 1/10
6.
7.
22. The Auction The two days passed in the blink of an eye. The day of auction came. Meanwhile, I observed no progress with the skill combination. I could feel that it was possible but there was some kind of barrier blocking me from successfully combining them. It is just a few days. With this thought in my head, I persevered. There were characters in xianxia who spent thousands and thousands of years to simply create a skill. They would observe their surroundings for years until they gained insight. I couldn¡¯t give up just because I tasted failure for a few days. It would be ridiculous to do so. If someone found out about it, I would have no face to show. Xue¡¯er, on other hand, was increasing her stats steadily. She had even comprehended some skills but I didn¡¯t let her learn and put them in the skill slots. They were rare ranked at best, which in my eyes was pretty low. I handed her one of the two leftover Clear Spirit Fruits to increase her comprehension. With that, she should be able to comprehend epic-ranked skills. As for Byakko and Ling, well, they were doing stuff they did, namely, create ruckus everywhere. Lately, I was starting to feel that the bookstore was a little small for us. I played around with the idea of purchasing a bigger and wider house but dismissed it in the end. We were not planning to stay in this city for long. ¡°Ready?¡± Sister Yu asked. I nodded. ¡°Xue¡¯er, Byakko, Ling! I will be taking my leave,¡± I said. ¡°Have a safe trip, young master.¡± Xue¡¯er lightly waved. ¡°Don¡¯t forget your promise to get me some good stuff from the Auction, Father~¡± Byakko had insisted on following me. He threw a huge tantrum when I refused him. He only relented when I promised to get him a lot of good things, albeit reluctantly. ¡°Ling! Ling also want some good things!¡± The little butterfly fluttered in the air. I could only sigh. ¡°I will.¡± Giving them a final wave, I went with Sister Yu Chen¡¯er, making small talks on the way. The Auction House was a huge building, located near the outskirt of the city, which was a little unexpected. I expected it to be at the center of the city that observed the highest traffic of people. But in a way, it was understandable. The massive building would take too much space. From what I could conjecture, it could easily fit more than ten thousand people. People were slowly filing in. There were attendants who were guiding the guests from the many entrances of the House while at the same time, collecting entrance fee and deposit. Every person was required to pay ten gold coins and three silver coins. The ten gold coins would be returned after the Auction if said person didn¡¯t buy anything. ¡°Let¡¯s go!¡± Sister Yu said without bothering to pay any attention to the attendants. The attendants, for their part, didn¡¯t say anything when Sister Yu directly bypassed them. I followed her without saying anything. Nobody stopped me. Inside the Auction House, there were two entrances. Sister Yu directly took the one that led upstairs. At the top of the stairs, a gorgeous woman dressed in a pure white silk robe greeted us. ¡°Young mistress of Yu Clan, Young Master, please follow me.¡± Sister Yu Chen¡¯er gave her a brusque nod and followed the woman with me trailing behind her. She was quite different from how she normally behaved. She put on an imposing and dignified fa?ade. I had to try my best not to laugh. It didn¡¯t fit her at all. Knowing her boorish personality, it was quite amusing to see her act all serious. The woman led us to a small cabin. ¡°Please let me know if there is anything you want,¡± she said and took her leave. ¡°Finally, I can breathe.¡± Sister Yu Chen¡¯er sat carelessly on one of the couches in the room. I sat on another one of them. Since it was just the two of us in the cabin, there was plenty of space. ¡°You sure have it tough,¡± I told her. ¡°I know,¡± she said. ¡°As a scion of Yu Clan, I have to put on a dignified appearance at all times. It can get really stifling. I wish I could skip all these formal gatherings.¡± She started complaining how she suffered from all sorts of injustice at social gatherings. Although she said injustice, it was nothing more than having to wear pretty dresses and putting on a well-behaved front. I put on a sympathetic expression and nodded at her from time to time, while I examined the interior of the Auction House. From the cabin on the balcony, I could make out the whole of the Auction House. There was a stage at the very front. Apart from it, seats filled the entire hall. People were slowly filling them. There were other cabins on the balcony but I was not able to make out the occupants. The cabins had absolute privacy. After everyone had settled in, which took a few hours, an old man entered the stage. ¡°Welcome to Red Dawn City Auction!¡± he said. Although his voice could not be considered loud, it could be heard everywhere in the hall. It didn¡¯t take a genius to guess that he was using some kind of skill or an item to boost his voice. ¡°My name is Li Jun. I am an elder in this Auction House. I will be acting as the Auctioneer for all of you today. Before I begin, let me warn you. Do not threaten others. Do not use your influence to get an item. Do not bid if you are unable to make the payment. Remember, the Law is always watching us.¡± He paused to let his words sink in. ¡°Then, without further ado, let the Auction begin!¡± A beautiful lady entered the stage carrying something covered in red silk clothes. Elder Li Jun removed the cloth piece and revealed a golden sword. Its sheath, which was also golden, was lying next to it. ¡°For the first item, we have the rare-ranked sword crafted by a dwarven blacksmith. It¡­¡± He started to explain all the features of the sword. I was disinterested so I ignored it. People started to bid, fighting over the right to own the sword. Finally, a young cultivator, who was sitting in the hall, won the bid. He had a proud smile plastered on his face. None of the guests in the cabins on the balcony bid. The sword didn¡¯t seem to catch their interest.Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. Elder Li auctioned off one item off one item after another. ¡°The next item we have is a Clear Spirit Fruit!¡± I perked up. I also had one of them in my spatial ring. ¡°I don¡¯t have to elaborate much on it!¡± Elder Li¡¯s voice continued. ¡°It is the key ingredient to produce Clear Spirit Pills that can increase one¡¯s comprehension by two points. The starting bid will be hundred gold.¡± Expensive. I couldn¡¯t help but think. I had lost all valuation of money by the sudden windfall the demon¡¯s spatial ring gave me. I only paid eleven gold coins to buy the store that I was living in. If I were to compare the two, the Clear Spirit Fruit was a lot more expensive. There was another thing that puzzled me. I turned to Sister Yu. ¡°Can¡¯t we eat that fruit?¡± I asked. The auctioneer had not mentioned it. ¡°Are you courting death?¡± Sister Yu¡¯s eyes became stern. ¡°Don¡¯t eat that fruit, no matter what. Many people thought they would gain a lot of comprehension points after eating it. Do you know what happened to them? They all died, unable to bear the energy. The only way to safely ingest it is to take it in the form of pills. I put on an obedient front and nodded at her words. No wonder the beasts in the magical forest avoided the bunch of fruits like plague. How would she react if I told her that I already ate four of them? My mind briefly went to Xue¡¯er. I had given her one of the fruits yesterday. Then, I shook my head. She should be fine. [Heart¡¯s Yearning] should enable her to safely consume the fruit if it was taken in small amounts. ¡°One hundred and twenty-one Gold!¡± ¡°One hundred and twenty-three Gold!¡± ¡°One hundred and twenty-four Gold!¡± The auction was in full swing. People were yelling out their bids. I hesitated a bit. I was not accustomed to doing stuff like this, especially in front of a large crowd. I cleared my throat and yelled, ¡°Two hundred Gold!¡± The Auction House descended into silence. To have the price hiked up suddenly to double the starting bid must have been a surprise to them. Elder Li regained his calm. ¡°The guest from Cabin Six has bid two hundred Gold. Two hundred Gold, going once. Two hundred Gold, going twice. Two hundred Gold, going thrice! The Clear Spirit Fruit goes to the guest in Cabin Six. Congratulations!¡± Sister Yu Chen¡¯er eyed me with a suspicious look. ¡°You aren¡¯t planning to eat it, right?¡± ¡°No way!¡± I waved my hand. ¡°I love my life. Why should I risk it for something stupid like this?¡± That explanation seemed to be have satisfied her. She withdrew her looks. ¡°Yeah. No one would be stupid enough to eat it,¡± she muttered. I didn¡¯t say anything. There was a knock on the door. A young lady, after Yu Chen¡¯er gave her permission, entered the room. ¡°Esteemed guest, I have brought your Clear Spirit Fruit,¡± she said, holding out a plate on which the fruit was lying. I took out two hundred gold from the spatial ring and gave her, while storing the Clear Spirit Fruit into it. ¡°Thank you for your purchase, esteemed guest,¡± the young lady said and left the room. The auction resumed. After the Clear Spirit Fruit, many interesting things came out. The auction became more heated. Even the guests in the cabins competed fiercely. That said I purchased all the items I was even slightly interested in. It wasn¡¯t that difficult with the amount of wealth in my position. There was a strange stone that emitted chaotic energy. Strange metals. Rare spices and condiments. All kinds of fruits. Any food item. Meats of creatures I had never seen. There was also a miniature garden where you could cultivate herbs. I was planning to give it to Xue¡¯er so that she could grow vegetables, spices and condiments there. Sister Yu Chen¡¯er gave me a weird look. ¡°You sure bought a lot,¡± she said. I could only laugh. The auction finally ended after several hours. I was glad I came. I found many things, which I would otherwise have no access to. Heck! I wouldn¡¯t even have known that they existed! Together with Yu Chen¡¯er, I left the Auction House. As soon as I stepped out, a beautiful and graceful young lady approached me. I had the vague feeling that I had seen her somewhere. ¡°Young master Su Ren, I am Mu Lanran. We ran briefly into each other in the magical forest. I was awed by your presence as soon as I saw you but didn¡¯t have the opportunity to greet you. Now that, an opportunity had presented itself, can I borrow a few moment of your time? There¡¯s some business I wanted to discuss with young master Su Ren.¡± When she mentioned the incident in the magical forest, I was able to figure out that she was one of the young ladies present there. No wonder I felt like I had seen her somewhere. Mu Lanran turned to Yu Chen¡¯er. ¡°Young lady Yu, can I borrow young master Su Ren for a few moments?¡± I could see Sister Yu¡¯s face cramping. I had to control my urge to laugh. There was a huge difference between the two. Mu Lanran was everything a young lady from a good family should be while Sister Yu was someone who barely made the mark with her fa?ade. ¡°Sure,¡± she said to Mu Lanran. She turned towards me and said, ¡°I will wait for you to return.¡± She turned and walked to a nearby restaurant. Mu Lanran led me to a teahouse. After the tea was served, she began, ¡°Young master Su Ren must have heard a lot about me from Yu Chen¡¯er, right?¡± ¡°I did.¡± And it was all bad things. ¡°From young master Su Ren¡¯s expression, they should not be the flattering kind, right?¡± she sighed. ¡°I would like to be friends with her. However, with the way our families are at each other at every little opportunity, it will always remain an impossible dream. As heirs, it is especially so. As a result, we have developed some sort of rivalry with each other. I hope you won¡¯t take those words spoken due to circumstances to heart.¡± I nodded. It was not that difficult to understand. We sipped our tea quietly for a few moments. Putting the teacup on the table, I broached the topic, ¡°Young lady Mu said that there was some important business you wanted to talk to me.¡± She put her cup down. ¡°Young master Su Ren must be aware of my background,¡± she said, not getting into the main topic. How could I not know? This city was practically owned by them. Even though I had only met her as the daughter of City Lord today, I had already heard a lot about her. There was also Sister Yu who would badmouth her all the time. I gave her nod. ¡°Then, I will be direct with you. Young master Su Ren, please join my Mu Clan!¡± I raised my brow in surprise. I didn¡¯t expect this invitation. ¡°I know I came off a bit abrupt but I want young master Su Ren to think over it carefully. The Mu Clan promises to treat you with absolute care. We will provide all the resources you require to cultivate to a powerful cultivator. We will even provide an opportunity for young master Su Ren to enter a sect. Young master Su Ren might not be aware but the world out there is huge. Red Dawn City is just tiny speck in the whole picture.¡± What she said made sense. There was a bigger world out there. ¡°Can I have a few days to think it over?¡± I asked. ¡°Of course.¡± Mu Lanran beamed at me. After a few more pleasantries, we parted our ways. Naturally, I had no intention of joining Mu Clan. It would just restrict me. However, if I rejected her offer outright, she might get offended and it would create unnecessary troubles. I wasn¡¯t planning to stay in this city for long, so I would just draw out the deadline until I left. Sister Yu Chen¡¯er was waiting for me. ¡°What did that conniving wench say to you?¡± I repeated what Mu Lanran told me. I didn¡¯t feel the need to keep it a secret. ¡°You absolutely must not join a sect!¡± she said, her voice more severe than it had ever been. ¡°They are not good people!¡± It was a surprise. I thought she would tell me to stay far away from Mu Clan and Mu Lanran but she picked an unexpected thing. ¡°Why?¡± I couldn¡¯t help but ask. ¡°Come with me,¡± she said. ¡°I will take you to a place.¡± 23. The Demons March ¡°Where are we?¡± I asked. From my knowledge, this was not the Yu Clan compound. Although I didn¡¯t know much about the city, I at least knew about the two big clans of Red Dawn City. ¡°We are at Ling Clan. They are very close to my Yu Clan. You can say that we are in the same camp.¡± I gave a nod to show my understanding. For the rest of the way, we walked in silence. ¡°We are here,¡± she said when we reached a courtyard. She stood before the door of a room and lightly tapped on it. ¡°Brother Chen, it¡¯s Chen¡¯er.¡± There was no reply for a few moments. ¡°Enter,¡± a soft murmur came from inside. Sister Yu Chen¡¯er pushed the door and entered the room. I followed. A handsome young man sat propped on the bed. He looked about eighteen to nineteen years old. When we entered, he gave a cursory glance in our direction. The first thing that caught me was the eye patch that covered his right eye. The next thing was the other eye; it was devoid of any life in it. A deep sense of hopelessness and lethargy permeated it. All at once, the image of another young man appeared in my mind. I was the same in my previous life. ¡°Brother Chen, how are you feeling today?¡± Yu Chen¡¯er asked in a gentle tone. ¡°Fine,¡± the young man replied. After that, he stared out at the window. ¡°Brother Chen, this is Su Ren,¡± she said gesturing towards me, undaunted by the lackluster response from the other side. ¡°Su Ren greets big brother Chen.¡± I came forward and greeted him. The young man gave a slight nod in my direction. Thereafter, Sister Yu started telling many stories. How we encountered. How we became close. The lifestyle that we led. Anything that was remotely interesting. This was the first time I was seeing this side of her. I always knew that she was a caring person despite her rough exterior. Brother Chen would sometimes nod, sometimes he would quietly listen and sometimes, he would just blankly stare out through the window. I desperately fought against the urge to use [Kaleidoscope Eye: Mode Black] to check his status. It felt morally wrong. In the end, my curiosity won the battle. I activated [Kaleidoscope Eye: Mode Black] and checked his status.
GENERAL
Name Ling Chen Age 19 years old
Cultivation Method Rhythm of the Metal God Realm Core Formation 7 (7232/80000 Essence)
Lifeforce 2320/2320 (Regeneration: 2% per second)
Qi 0/2990 (Regeneration: 2% per second)
ATTRIBUTES
Strength 231 Physique 232
Movement 235 Control 299
Soul 299 Comprehension 299
Charm 58 Fate 32
INNATE TRAITS
Essence Eye (Damaged) Metal Fingers (Damaged)
AILMENT
Crippled Cultivation
I checked the details of the traits.
ESSENCE EYE (Damaged) Enables to see the essence of the world. (Note: The trait can¡¯t be used in damaged state.)
Similar to my [Kaleidoscope Eye: Mode White], I guessed. Since I was unable to compare directly, I wasn¡¯t sure.If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.
METAL FINGERS (Damaged) Enables to work with all sorts of metal in great finesse. (Note: The trait can¡¯t be used in damaged state.)
I looked to check his fingers but found his hands hidden among the bedclothes. I was unable to check the damage on the fingers. There was no need for me to check the ailment. The name said it all. But still, I did.
CRIPPLED CULTIVATION (Ailment) Cause: Destruction of Dantian Effects: Disable the growth of stats through any means. Disables the ability to cultivate. Cure: Regeneration of Dantian
I deactivated [Kaleidoscope Eye]. When I did, my eyes met with the hollow eyes of Ling Chen. Did he find out that I was spying on him? I felt guilty for doing that. I didn¡¯t know what to say. Soon, he averted his eyes. I sighed in relief. It didn¡¯t seem like he would pursue the matter. ¡°Brother Chen, we will take our leave,¡± Yu Chen¡¯er said. A few hours had already passed. I bowed. He gave a slight nod at our gestures. When we were about to go out through the door, he mumbled, ¡°Too much blood. Not good.¡± I knew he was addressing me. I turned towards him. I wanted to ask him what he meant by those cryptic words but he was already looking beyond the horizon. He didn¡¯t look like he would answer any queries. This was already the longest thing he said. Maybe, next time. I made plans to come back again. We went out the Ling Clan compound. A grim silence stood between us. ¡°Brother Chen was the most talented person in the history of Red Dawn City. At the age of seven, he broke through to Qi Gathering Stage. At the age of eleven, he broke through to Foundational Stage and at the age of fourteen, he broke through the Core Formation Stage. It was impressive but that was not what made him special. His two traits made him perfectly suited to become a Celestial Metalworker. His calm disposition was the icing on the cake.¡± She looked in the distance as if recalling the beautiful past. I didn¡¯t interrupt. I let her continue the narrative at her own pace. ¡°He told me that he would become the best Celestial Metalworker in the world,¡± she continued. ¡°At the age of fifteen, he set out to join a sect that especially dealt with Celestial Metalworking. After that I didn¡¯t hear from him for a long while.¡± She paused. I could see tears accumulating in her eyes. ¡°He returned a year ago. I was there at that time. He was all bloody and tattered. His right eye was injured, his fingers broken. I still remember what he said at that moment. ¡®They are worse than monsters. They are worse than monsters.¡¯ He kept repeating that again and again. He never talked about what happened in the sect. But it was easy to guess: the ¡®they¡¯ he kept repeating was the people from the sect. It was them who did all this to him.¡± ¡°Ren,¡± she turned to me. ¡°I know you are very talented, much more than brother Chen. I also know that you are monstrously strong. To judge you as a normal eleven year old kid would be the worst mistake anyone could commit. But listen to your elder sister Chen¡¯er. The clans might appear dirty with all the politics and clan benefits. However, there is at least tiny bit of kinship among the clansmen. As for the sects, they are just a bunch of strangers who came together for benefits. If you are not a core member, I don¡¯t think you will even be treated as a proper member of a sect but rather a tool. This might be my prejudice speaking but think carefully if you want to join a sect, Ren.¡± ¡°I will, Sister Yu. Thank you,¡± I replied.
I returned home, feeling a bit heavy. As soon as I neared the entrance of the store, Byakko dashed out and jumped into my arms. I had to catch him, lest he fell. ¡°You are late. What took you so long?¡± he grumbled in my arms. ¡°Sorry. I had stuff to take care of.¡± I rubbed his soft fur. Xue¡¯er and Ling were at the entrance. ¡°Welcome back, young master,¡± she said with a gentle smile. ¡°I am home,¡± I replied, smiling. Ling fluttered around me. ¡°Master! Master! Did you get some good stuff?¡± I nodded. ¡°Let¡¯s go inside first.¡± We gathered in the study room. I took out all the items that I bought from the auction. To be accurate, there were seventeen items. ¡°Father~ Which ones are mine? Which ones are mine?¡± Byakko looked at the items with bright and shining eyes. ¡°Mine! Mine! Mine!¡± Ling echoed. Xue¡¯er stood by the side without saying anything, feigning disinterest. But I could see sparkles in her eyes. She was interested in the items a lot. Well, it wasn¡¯t that difficult to understand her. She was a ten-year-old kid, after all. I picked a ball made of unknown materials and rolled it towards Byakko. My [Kaleidoscope Eye: Mode Black] was unable to identify it. That meant its rank was high. It should at least be legend-ranked. From my readings, I had found that pills, weapons and other items were ranked similar to the spells. That is, Common >> Uncommon >> Rare >> Epic >> Legend >> Saint >> Celestial >> Divine >> God. I could only identify till epic rank with my present cultivation level. ¡°What is it?¡± he said, pawing it tentatively. The ball rolled on the floor. He followed it. ¡°What is it? What is it?¡± I heard him mutter but he was soon caught up in playing with it that he forgot that I was supposed to bring him more stuff. I grinned. He may be the descendant of a legendary beast but that didn¡¯t change the fact that he was a cat in the end. I picked a potted plant from the items. There was only a single yellow plant on it. The auctioneer introduced it as Glaze Yang Flower, a legend-ranked treasure. It had the ability to absorb yang energy from all source and it gave out a calm aura that boosted comprehension if one was near it. I passed it on to Ling. Ling, who was only half the size of the flower, easily picked the potted plant and took it to a corner. Setting it down, she flew and perched herself on the flower. ¡°So! So Comfortable!¡± Her whole being exuded satisfaction. ¡°Ling! Ling will use this as my bed from now on!¡± she said. I almost choked. If those guys who bid furiously for the flower heard her line, they would spurt blood. I decided not to mind this wastrel. I found the miniature garden that was in the form of a small bottle and handed it to Xue¡¯er. ¡°You can grow vegetables, spices and condiments in it. All you need to do is send a small stream of consciousness into it and you will be able to enter it.¡± I handed her the fruits I bought from the auction. One was the Clear Spirit Fruit. Naturally. The other one was a peach-like fruit called Strength Fruit. Like its name suggested, it increased strength. The final one was an apple-sized red berry called Sacred Berry. It nourished the soul. All three were considered potent and therefore, was recommended to ingest only after concocting into pills. ¡°Can you extract the seeds and try to plant it in the garden?¡± Xue¡¯er nodded. ¡°I will give it my best, young master.¡± I took inventory of the rest of the items. Five of them were bodies of beasts I had never seen. The other five were metals that gave off peculiar energies that I was unable to identify. The last one was the stone that emitted the chaotic energy. It was only fist-sized. I hesitated for a few moments and popped it into my mouth. Nothing happened. No notifications. No sudden influx of energy. Nothing. I waited for while. Still nothing. Forget it, I told myself and pushed the matter to the back of my mind. With [Innards of a God], there would be no risk to my body. The only thing I would need to worry was: would I be able to bear the pain? I stared at the five bodies of the beasts. I looked forward to eating it. The thing was, with the amount of gluttons in the house, it wouldn¡¯t last more than one mealtime.
City Lord Mu Yan gritted his teeth and glared at the old man from Yu Clan who was sitting with a composed look on his face. He felt that he was being undermined a lot these days. After that failed expedition in the magical forest, his credibility had taken a serious blow. Clearing his throat, he asked, ¡°What are the reports from the scouts?¡± ¡°Yes sir,¡± a middle-aged man came forward. ¡°An army of demons is on the move. There are at least five hundred demons, all of them at Core Formation Stage. The scouts have noted the presence of Nascent Soul Stage demons. They were unable to make out the exact number but they theorized that there should be at least ten of them.¡± There were sharp intakes of breathe from all over the council room. ¡°How long do we have?¡± one of the council members asked. ¡°Not long. They should be able to reach the Red Dawn City within fifteen days. It is a good thing that Patriarch Yu Long notified us about it beforehand. Otherwise, we wouldn¡¯t have any time to prepare.¡± The middle-aged man finished his report. Mu Yan gnashed his teeth inwardly. His authority was on a free-fall while the damnable old man from Yu Clan was on the rise. Not good. He needed to take drastic measures. It looked like he had consult with his father, the patriarch of Mu Clan, who normally didn¡¯t bother about the small quarrels in the city. The council began to discuss how to counter the demons. It was not an understatement to say that this was one of the biggest threats the Red Dawn City had ever encountered since its founding. 24. Mindscape The demon brought the blood-drenched heart to its mouth. The notification it expected came its mind without fail. Ding!
You have consumed a ¡®Heart of Human¡¯. Congratulations! You have gained +1 in all six basic attributes.
Yet, the demon wasn¡¯t happy. It frowned. Due to the invasion of the demon army, everyone in the city was tense. Curfew was imposed. There were very few stray humans out in the night. Even if they were out, they were all in Core Formation Stage, which was something this newly born demon couldn¡¯t handle. It was running out of prey. If only I was in Core Formation Stage, it thought. Then, everything would be easy. It could easily devour those cultivators; at the same time, earn more stat points than it gained from eating the hearts of the Foundational Stage cultivators. But before that, it needed to make a sacrifice to break through to Core Formation Stage. The thing was, the prey it had chosen for the sacrifice ritual was proving to be a tough nut to crack. There was no opening it could take advantage of. If it tried to attack recklessly, it was sure that it would be the one to end up dead. It sighed. There was another path it could take, an alternative it had wanted to avoid it if it was possible. From the looks of things now, it could only take that path. The demon invasion was nigh; it was both a deadline and an opportunity for it.
I was in my . This was a skill that stubbornly refused to level up no matter what I did. At first, I thought it was because it was a skill that you could only begin to learn when you reached Core Formation Stage. But the more I thought, the more it didn¡¯t make sense. The only difference between the first three cultivation realms, as far as I was concerned, was the difference in stats and the number of skill slots. With my stats, that were comparable to Nascent Stage cultivator, I shouldn¡¯t be impeded like this. I was analyzing . I had the feeling, the answer to combining the skills laid in there. What is ? The details of the skill went like this:
MINDSCAPE (Epic) Level 1 Enables you to enter your subconscious realm. Protects your mind from outside influence. Cost: 1 Qi per second
Realm. This was the key word here. This was also the reason why I didn¡¯t rush to build a grand castle like the jade record directed me to. It was a world of its own in my subconscious mind, I couldn¡¯t restrict its development with a simple castle, could I now? What is ? I asked again. It was a world inside me. And I was the owner of it. I could enter and leave it at will but that was it. Apart from that, I was not able to do anything much in it. I stared at the vast land I created when I first learnt this skill. It was empty. I hadn¡¯t figured out what to do with it yet. I didn¡¯t want my hasty decisions to ruin everything. Maybe, that was the reason I was not able to level this skill up. What should be there in my world? Vegetation, that was the first thought. Whatever what kind of world it was, vegetation was necessary. I wondered if I would be able to create it in . Closing my eyes and closing my mind to everything, I imagined a plant sprouting from a seed. I could feel some kind of change happening. Ding!
You have created something in your . Congratulations! Your skill has leveled up. is now Level 2.
I opened my eyes to find a small plant in front of me. Success. My confidence boosted, I went into creating more plants. My skill gained another level when I created another five plants. I continued creating more plants but I had to stop when the number reached twenty. Ding!
Not enough soul. Sorry! Unable to continue further creation.
Looks like this was my current limit. Also, I didn¡¯t gain any new level in skill proficiency. But that was enough. I could already feel the effect of the two level ups. My mind was in an unprecedented clear state; I felt like I could analyze everything. It was time to try combining the skills once again. Closing my eyes once again, I delved into my mind. I brought the four movement skills I had yet to slot and tried to combine them in all sorts of ways. Each time I got the same notification window notifying me about my failure. The success felt very close, there was only a thin membrane that stood between us but that tiny barrier was like an unshakable mountain. After countless tries, I could only give up in the end. I felt a bit frustrated but it wasn¡¯t like I hadn¡¯t gained anything from this session. I exited and opened my eyes. Xue¡¯er was standing before me with a cup of tea. ¡°Good work, young master,¡± she said. ¡°Thank you.¡± I took the cup and drank the tea. My throat felt parched after this training session of several hours, although, all I did physically was sit in meditation posture in my study room. As I drank tea, a sudden thought occurred to me. ¡°Xue¡¯er how¡¯s your soul stat?¡± I could always use [Kaleidoscope Eye: Mode Black] to check it but it seemed like prying without permission. As far as possible, I wanted to avoid doing that to people close to me. ¡°It¡¯s forty-four, young master,¡± she said. ¡°I broke through to Qi Gathering Layer 2 in the morning.¡± I nodded. There was something I wanted to try. ¡°Xue¡¯er, I am going to impart a skill to you. Come and sit.¡± She nodded obediently. I made her sit in lotus position. I said ¡®skill impartation¡¯ but it was more of passing my experience. Once your soul reached a certain realm, you could impart your knowledge. I was planning to teach her the process of creating . It was not possible to pass on what I acquired from jade record but I could pass on the process I used since I diverged from the way the jade record taught. This was also the reason I was teaching this skill to Xue¡¯er now. If it was a normal , her soul would be too weak to bear it. The one I was created had no such requirement. You could build small and slowly make it big. I wondered why the people in this world didn¡¯t think of it. ¡°Close your eyes and clear your thoughts,¡± I told her. ¡°En.¡± She nodded and closed her eyes. I touched her forehead with my index and will the information I wanted to pass onto her to move. I felt the world essence gather in my head and enter Xue¡¯er¡¯s head through my finger. It was my first time trying this. The books I read said that there was very low risk, still I felt a little worried. She scrunched her forehead when the essence entered her head but it disappeared with the essence. She opened her eyes. I heaved my chest, feeling relieved. ¡°Did you get the process?¡± I asked. She nodded.Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. ¡°Now, follow the process I gave you. At the same when you are creating , remember, it is your world, envision how you would want your world to be,¡± I explained while Xue¡¯er listened attentively. ¡°But don¡¯t forget, you don¡¯t have soul equivalent to a Core Formation Stage cultivator, therefore, start small. I recommend you to start with a small land mass. Keep this in your mind, you will be constantly adding to your as you grow.¡± ¡°Yes, young master, Xue¡¯er understands.¡± She gave a reassuring nod. I rubbed her head. This girl was too obedient and adorable. ¡°Now, try to create your . Tell me if you encounter any problems.¡± I watched as she closed her eyes and sank into her subconscious mind. She shouldn¡¯t have any problems. I climbed the stairs to see what the two troublemakers were up to. They had been unusually quiet today. As soon as I opened the door to our bedroom, I came upon an unusual sight. Byakko was fast asleep on the bed, giving light snores. One of his paws was hugging the ball that I bought him from the auction. Meanwhile, Ling was nestled on the Glaze Yang Flower with her eyes closed. I could, now and then, hear her mumble, ¡°Ling! Comfortable!¡± I was speechless. There was only one explanation for these hyperactive two fellows to be this tired. They played too much! I sighed. I went down; back to the study, storefront or whatever you want to call it. Xue¡¯er was still meditating. I sat a little further away from her and took out the five metals. I hadn¡¯t consumed them yet. I stuffed the first one into my mouth. Then another. Then another. Before long, I had consumed all five of the metals. I was not able to catch their name as no notification window came up after I consumed them one after another. I gained +5 Physique, +5 Strength and +5 Soul after I ate them. The stats gain could be considered okay. Also, there was no upgrade to [Metal Bow]. I guess they weren¡¯t as potent as the meteorite metal I ate in the forest. It made sense. Meteorite metal shaved off lifeforce as soon as I neared it; compared to it, the energies these metals gave off were mellow. It meant only one thing. If I wanted to upgrade or evolve [Metal Bow] in future, I could either consume a huge amount of them or consume ones containing tremendous amount of energy. Xue¡¯er opened her eyes. She jumped with a happy and excited smile when she saw me. ¡°Young master, Xue¡¯er did it! Xue¡¯er constructed her .¡± I got up and went to where she was. I patted her head. ¡°Xue¡¯er did a good job. Xue¡¯er is a really good girl.¡± She went ¡°Ehehehe!¡± smiling brightly. After that, I explained to her about how traits had egos. If she didn¡¯t want to have troubles in future, she needed to take care of them as soon as possible. would assist her to do it. She listened to my explanation like an attentive student. I felt pleased about it. ¡°Remember this, only attempt this after you think you can take on the ego of your trait in one fell swoop. Did you get, Xue¡¯er?¡± ¡°Xue¡¯er got it! Xue¡¯er will listen to young master.¡± I nodded, rubbing her head. She was really an obedient child.
Or so I thought. A sudden chill in the atmosphere woke me in the middle of the night. I looked around. Xue¡¯er was not where she was supposed to be. I was hit by a sense of d¨¦j¨¤ vu. I remembered the bedwetting incident when I first brought her here. Looking around, I found her figure shivering in one corner of the room. ¡°What happened, Xue¡¯er?¡± I asked, moving towards her. ¡°Xu-Xue¡¯er¡­¡± She was unable to form proper words due to the cold. Her teeth were clattering too much. I touched her hand. Cold. Freezing cold. I sent a stream of Pure Yang Qi into her body. It wasn¡¯t difficult to guess what happened. She had gone into her and attempted to subdue the ego of her trait. ¡°Xue¡¯er¡­ Xue¡¯er is sorry, young master,¡± she said. ¡°That ice bird¡­ that ice bird was too strong.¡± And apparently, she had failed. It was a good thing that nothing untoward had happened to her. I checked with my [Kaleidoscope Eye] to make sure. I hugged her. ¡°It¡¯s okay, Xue¡¯er,¡± I told her. ¡°But next time, tell me before you attempt it, alright?¡± She nodded, meekly. Looking at her like this, I found no will to scold her. It was partly my fault. I had overestimated her mental age. Due to how obedient and matured she behaved, I had forgotten that she was just a ten-year-old kid with very little life experience. I made a mental note to take extra care in future. ¡°Let¡¯s go and sleep,¡± I told her once she was warm enough. ¡°En!¡± she replied.
Su Ren¡¯s status:
GENERAL
Name Su Ren Age 11 years old
Cultivation Method Heart¡¯s Yearning Realm Foundational 1 (1234/2000 Essence)
Lifeforce 7060/7060 (Regeneration: 30% per second)
Qi 7040/7040 (Regeneration: 30% per second)
ATTRIBUTES
Strength 684 Physique 718
Movement 702 Control 703
Soul 716 Comprehension 718
Charm 81 Fate 47
INNATE TRAITS
Innards of a God Kaleidoscope Eye Pure Yang Body Eternal Stratum (Incomplete) ############ Divine Yang Butterfly Metal Bow Living Grimoire Aroma
TRANSFORMATION
Chimera Transformation
Bond: Byakko (White Tiger)
QI SKILL LIST
Slot Skill Name Rating Level
1. Qi Arrow Unranked 8/10
2. Earth Steps Epic 8/10
3. Heart Force Unranked 5/10
4. Spiritual Sense Unranked 3/10
5. Mindscape Epic 3/10
6.
7.
Xue¡¯er¡¯s status:
GENERAL
Name Xue¡¯er Age 10 years old
Cultivation Method Heart¡¯s Yearning Realm Qi Gathering 2 (2/300 Essence)
Lifeforce 335/340 (Regeneration: 1% per second)
Qi 440/440 (Regeneration: 1% per second)
ATTRIBUTES
Strength 34 Physique 34
Movement 34 Control 34
Soul 44 Comprehension 49
Charm 52 Fate 108
INNATE TRAITS
Divine Tongue Nine Yin Body (Locked) Divine Ice Phoenix Moon Eye (Locked) Death Inscription (Locked) Shadow Travel (Locked)
AILMENT
Touch of Death
QI SKILL LIST
Slot Skill Name Rating Level
1. Mindscape Epic 1/10
2.
3.
25. [#########] Sister Yu Chen¡¯er came to visit me one morning. It was a few days after that little incident with Xue¡¯er. ¡°The city is preparing to defend against the Demon Army,¡± she told me. I nodded. There were only two things they could do in a situation like this: fight or flee. That latter was not really an option, especially for those on the higher levels. This city was their base. Everything they had: power, authority and wealth was vested here. If they lost the city, they would lose everything. Therefore, there was only one thing they could do: rally troops and fight against the invaders. I didn¡¯t say anything but quietly sipped my tea. We were in my study. I saw some hesitation in her eyes. I knew what she was about to say but I waited for her to voice it. After overcoming some sort of struggle, she said, ¡°Your sister knows she shouldn¡¯t involve you but¡­¡± ¡°You want me to join the fight, right?¡± She averted her eyes in guilt. ¡°I¡­ I don¡¯t know what to do¡­ I know¡­ I know you are very powerful. Even now, I can¡¯t see through you¡­ I get the feeling that if it is you¡­ you might be able to create a miracle. Of course, I am shameless... for asking a eleven year kid to fight¡­ but the city¡­¡± Her voice trailed off. I gave it some thought. ¡°Sure,¡± I replied. ¡°I will fight.¡± It would be a good opportunity for me to learn. ¡°You will?¡± Sister Yu asked in a disbelieving tone. I nodded in affirmative. ¡°You will really participate in the fight?¡± she asked again. ¡°I will,¡± I replied. She heaved her chest as if a huge load had been taken off her chest. She gave me a relieved smile. ¡°I knew I could count on you,¡± she said. ¡°The troops will gather together four days from now. The plan is to move and make camp on the outskirt of magical forest. It is to avoid damage to the city. You don¡¯t have to worry about anything. You will be in my squad. Your elder sister will take care of everything.¡± ¡°Can Byakko and Ling join the battle?¡± ¡°Naturally. I was planning to ask you to bring them along with you. A beast who can fight on equal ground with many Core Formation Stage cultivators and an essence flame would be a huge help on the battlefield.¡± With that, everything was settled. Sister Yu took her leave soon after. Before she left, she reminded, ¡°I will be here to take you. Remember, four days from today. Have everything ready.¡± Only after I gave her many assurances did she leave. Xue¡¯er came out of the kitchen that was adjacent to my study and approached me. ¡°Young master, Xue¡¯er also wants to participate in the battle,¡± she said. ¡°No,¡± I refused. There wasn¡¯t even the need to think. ¡°Why? Byakko and Ling can take part in the battle. Why can¡¯t Xue¡¯er?¡± she protested. Byakko trotted into the study after her. ¡°It¡¯s because I am strong,¡± he gloated. ¡°Ling! Ling is also strong.¡± Ling who was fluttering behind him added her piece. Xue¡¯er shot them a resentful glare. ¡°I will reduce your portion of meat if you say anything more.¡± That effectively shut the two gluttons. She turned to me, as if nothing had happened, with an imploring look on her face. ¡°Young master, please. Xue¡¯er wants to help young master.¡± ¡°No. Xue¡¯er is not ready at the moment.¡± ¡°Xue¡¯er¡­ Xue¡¯er¡­¡± I could see her fighting off the tears that was threatening to burst out at any moment. I resolutely turned my back to her. If I gave in here, there would be a lot of things I wouldn¡¯t be able to control. I had to be adamant. Although I was sure that I would be able to come off this battle unscathed, there were many things that could happen. If Xue¡¯er who had neither the strength nor the experience joined the fray, she would face many dangers. Byakko and Ling had enough strength to safeguard themselves. I picked a book and started to read it. Or rather, tried to. Xue¡¯er, who was moving around the study more than usual was proving too much of distraction. Although she didn¡¯t say anything verbally, her eyes constantly seemed to appeal her cause. In the end, I could only close my book with a sigh. ¡°Xue¡¯er, come here.¡± Xue¡¯er, who was nearby, moved towards me with a beaming face. ¡°Young master, you are letting Xue¡¯er¡­¡± ¡°Why do you want to join the battle so much?¡± I interrupted her. ¡°Xue¡¯er¡­ Xue¡¯er don¡¯t want to be left behind,¡± she said in a small voice. Her answer made me freeze. I hadn¡¯t considered this matter from that point of view. I had only taken this battle to be a valuable battle experience and an opportunity to accumulate essence. Now that I think about it, she would be the only one left behind if the three of us went. Although, she was mostly recovered, she was still fragile. I took her hand and made her sit beside me. ¡°I am sorry, Xue¡¯er. I didn¡¯t think of that.¡± Should I withdraw from the battle? No. I can¡¯t do this to Sister Yu after all she had done for me. I went through all the other possible alternatives in my head. The best I could do was to leave Byakko and Ling behind with Xue¡¯er. But would those two fellows who always looked for excitement listen? I felt my head hurting. ¡°I also want to fight by young master¡¯s side,¡± she added. I rubbed her head. It was not like I didn¡¯t understand where she was coming from. The problem was her strength. There was also another matter. The brutality of the battlefield would be too much on this little loli. No. I think my thought process was wrong here. This world was brutal. She, who had already been through so much, should know it. Moreover, it was something she would encounter sooner or later. Should I let her? As for her strength, I could work something. As long as she had enough strength to protect herself for a few moments, Byakko, Ling and I should be able to safeguard her. ¡°The battle will be really cruel and bloody, you know?¡± I asked. She nodded. ¡°You will have to face demons who are many times stronger than you. You will face a lot of danger, you know?¡± She nodded. ¡°Xue¡¯er is not afraid of anything as long as she is beside young master.¡± What is with this blind faith? I sighed. ¡°Fine, I will let you join the battle. But there¡¯s one condition. For the next four days, you have to listen to everything I say and train really hard.¡± ¡°Xue¡¯er will listen to young master.¡± She gave me bright smile. Patting her head, I made plans for her training. If everything went as planned, then there shouldn¡¯t be any problem even if I let this adamant girl join the battlefield. The only thing I was worried was: would she be able to complete my training?
Once again, I found that I had underestimated this girl who was the darling of the Heaven. ¡°Young master, Xue¡¯er comprehended two epic skills like you asked,¡± Xue¡¯er came to me. That fast? I had only told her to try and comprehend two epic skills just yesterday. I wasn¡¯t expecting much. As long as she comprehended two good rare skills, I was fine. The best I expected was one epic skill. But this¡­ Wasn¡¯t this a little too easy for her? Did that huge fate stat have that great of the effect? She told me the details of the two skills. The first one was . It enabled her to infuse her Qi into the knife, which would make the knife sharp. She could even make the knife fly according to her will. I couldn¡¯t help feeling that it was a superior version of I comprehended. The second one was a movement skill called . It enabled her to make fast and light movements without making sound.This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. The two skills fitted her perfectly. I told her to slot them, which she did immediately. ¡°What should I do next?¡± she asked, her voice eager and her eyes shining. For a few moments, I was unable to answer. She had caught me off-guard. Originally, I thought she would take the whole time to get two suitable skills. I thought for a while. Then an idea stuck me. ¡°Now that you have skills, how about trying to subdue the egos of the two traits available to you?¡± At this point, I was just trying to buy myself some time to think of a proper plan. ¡°Yes, young master.¡± She promptly sat in on the floor in lotus position and entered her mindscape. It was a surprise. I thought she would at least flinch due to her previous experience. I roused the Pure Yang Qi inside me, just in case the last incident played out again. After a few minutes, Xue¡¯er opened her eyes. She beamed at me. ¡°Young master, Xue¡¯er did it!¡± I felt lost for words. Wasn''t it too soon? ¡°H-How?¡± I managed after some struggle. ¡°When Xue¡¯er entered the , Xue¡¯er didn¡¯t rush towards the tongue and the ice bird as soon as Xue¡¯er entered like last time. Xue¡¯er observed and waited for them to make the first move.¡± So that¡¯s what happened last time. I pictured her small frame attacking the egos of her traits, namely the tongue and the ice bird, recklessly. It formed a funny image. This sensible girl¡­ no, she couldn¡¯t be considered sensible. Well given her age, it was understandable. Still, she didn¡¯t look like she would act in this manner. ¡°Xue¡¯er waited for them but they didn¡¯t do anything,¡± she continued. I remembered the time I was caged by the egos of my traits. It wasn¡¯t them who attacked me first; it was me, who did it. I nodded in understanding and encouraged her continue her story. ¡°It was weird. Xue¡¯er didn¡¯t feel any sense of hostility from them. Therefore, Xue¡¯er tried to talk to them. It was like they could understand Xue¡¯er. Xue¡¯er asked them to help her and become a part of her. The tongue and ice bird turned into light and entered Xue¡¯er. The notification told Xue¡¯er that egos of [Divine Tongue] and [Divine Ice Phoenix] became a part of Xue¡¯er. Then, Xue¡¯er exited her .¡± Wait a minute¡­ What? It could also work like that? But the book said¡­ No. I calmed the frenzy that was going on in my mind after this bizarre revelation. I thought I understood traits clearly. But what was this? It reminded me once again that I had much to learn. There was more to the traits that I understood. Xue¡¯er was shooting ¡®Praise me! Praise me!¡¯ looks in my direction. I obliged. I patted her head. ¡°You did well, Xue¡¯er. You even exceeded what I expected.¡± She smiled happily at my compliment. ¡°That is it for today. We will continue the training tomorrow.¡± Xue¡¯er nodded happily and went to kitchen prepare our meal. I stood there without moving for a while. I guess it was about time I moved to the plan I had conceived before. Since she could take care of the egos in her own way, the four locked traits shouldn¡¯t pose a problem for her if they were unlocked. The thing was, I had to talk to Ling before that. I made my way to the bedroom. Byakko and Ling were playing with the ball. ¡°Ling, can I talk to you for a few moments?¡± I asked. Byakko and Ling stopped their game. ¡°Master! Master wants to talk to Ling? Okay!¡± she agreed readily. ¡°Father~ What is it?¡± Byakko asked. I sat on the bed and rubbed Byakko¡¯s head. The little fellow purred happily. I turned to Ling who was fluttering in the air and broached the topic directly. ¡°Ling, I want to transfer you to Xue¡¯er. Xue¡¯er is suffering from a bad disease. If Ling is transferred to her, she will be cured. That is, if Ling wants to.¡± ¡°Xue¡¯er is ill? If Ling goes to her, she will recover?¡± I nodded at her queries. She corked her small head in thought. ¡°Okay! Ling will go! Ling wants to help Xue¡¯er!¡± I nodded, happy at her reply. She was a simple fellow. I could feel the sincere feeling to help in her. I decided not to delay too much and transfer Ling tomorrow.
¡°Are you ready?¡± I asked. Xue¡¯er nodded with a stiff expression on her face. Byakko, Xue¡¯er, Ling and I were in my study. We were going through the procedure of transferring Ling from me to Xue¡¯er. I say procedure but it was a simple matter of giving and receiving, that is, if every party involved were willing. I read that there were methods for forced transfer of transferable traits but I knew none. Not that I needed it. I had already talked to Xue''er about this last night. When I willed Ling to be transferred to the sitting Xue¡¯er, a message appeared before my eyes. Ding!
You have initiated the transfer of your trait [Divine Yang Butterfly]. Would you like to confirm it?
¡°Yes,¡± I muttered. Seconds later, I heard Xue¡¯er mutter, ¡°Yes.¡± Ding!
[Divine Yang Butterfly] has been transferred.
Ling, who was fluttering in the air flew towards Xue¡¯er and dissipated into her. Xue¡¯er, on her part, closed her eyes. I opened my [Kaleidoscope Eye] and observed the change. I could feel the heat in Xue¡¯er¡¯s body. ¡°Will they be alright, father?¡± Byakko asked in a worried tone. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, they will be alright,¡± I reassured the little guy. To be honest, I was also nervous. I observed Xue¡¯er¡¯s status carefully. Few minutes later, her trait [Shadow Travel] was unlocked. [Death Inscription], [Moon Eye] and finally [Nine Yin Body] were all unlocked. I moved my sight to the ailment status. [Touch of Death] was still there but not for long. It grew dim and disappeared altogether. I sighed in relief. I watched as a new trait appeared on her status window. But why was it [#########] instead of [Divine Yang Butterfly]? The heat subsided. And Xue¡¯er opened her eyes. ¡°Young master, Xue¡¯er is cured of her ailment!¡± she yelled in excitement. Before we could congratulate her, two streams of energy came out of her. One was freezing cold while the other was blazing hot. These two energies that shouldn¡¯t coexist together combined in an inconceivable manner and formed a ball. No. It should be an egg. One side of egg was white while the other was red. ¡°What happened to Ling?¡± Byakko asked, concerned. I wanted to ask the same thing. ¡°The message said that she is evolving and that she will hatch after three days,¡± Xue¡¯er replied, as she took the egg in her arms. I sighed relief and nodded. Thank goodness! Nothing untoward had happened to her. I picked the little guy who was worried about his playmate. ¡°She will hatch soon. By then, she will be really powerful. You better prepare yourself.¡± ¡°I won¡¯t lose,¡± the little fellow said. I laughed and ruffled his fur. I turned to Xue¡¯er. ¡°Congratulations, Xue¡¯er. You have finally been cured of your ailment.¡± She nodded. ¡°It¡¯s all because of young master.¡± I could see tears brimming in her eyes. She must have gone through many things due to her ailment. She must have endured a lot. I pulled her in my arms and hugged her. ¡°Everything is alright now,¡± I told her. ¡°En!¡± she replied. But she sobbed in my arms. I let her without disturbing her. She needed to vent her sadness. Byakko, who was nestled in my other arm, also didn¡¯t say anything; he quietly watched her like me. After several minutes, she stopped. I hastily rubbed her eyes with her sleeve. ¡°The house feels empty without Ling.¡± ¡°I miss her already,¡± Byakko said. I felt the same. The bookstore suddenly felt quiet and desolate without that chattering butterfly. ¡°Don¡¯t worry. We will see our Ling in three days.¡± Our whole family will be complete then. With nothing more to worry about, we can finally set out to enjoy ourselves.
Xue¡¯er¡¯s status:
GENERAL
Name Xue¡¯er Age 10 years old
Cultivation Method Heart¡¯s Yearning Realm Qi Gathering 2 (23/300 Essence)
Lifeforce 390/390 (Regeneration: 1% per second)
Qi 490/490 (Regeneration: 1% per second)
ATTRIBUTES
Strength 38 Physique 39
Movement 40 Control 41
Soul 49 Comprehension 57
Charm 54 Fate 108
INNATE TRAITS
Divine Tongue Nine Yin Body Divine Ice Phoenix Moon Eye Death Inscription Shadow Travel #########
QI SKILL LIST
Slot Skill Name Rating Level
1. Mindscape Epic 1/10
2. Dancing Knife Epic 1/10
3. Silent Steps Epic 1/10
26. The Ambush The day of the battle came. Sister Yu Chen¡¯er came to fetch us. Byakko, Xue¡¯er and I moved out, with Ling in her egg form in Xue¡¯er¡¯s hand. She would hatch today. There shouldn¡¯t be any battle. From what I could guess, it should mostly be setting up the camp. It should be safe for Ling if she hatched. ¡°Is it really alright?¡± Sister Yu asked, indicating Xue¡¯er. I nodded. From the extent I had seen of her strength, Xue¡¯er shouldn¡¯t have any problem defending herself against Core Formation Stage cultivators. That was enough. If Ling hatched, with her strength, Xue¡¯er should have a decent chance. ¡°If that¡¯s what you think, then it should be fine.¡± Sister Yu led us out of the gate. A huge crowd was gathered there. It was mostly men but there were women, too. There were people who appeared rough. There were also people who looked refined and high class. From what I could, the youngest among them appeared about fifteen to sixteen years old. There were at least five thousand here. Too bad, most of them were in Foundational Stage. I couldn¡¯t help but feel that the upper echelons were cruel. Most of the people would end up being cannon fodder. ¡°What¡¯s a bunch of kids and their pet doing here?¡± ¡°Do they think we are going on a picnic or something?¡± ¡°They have no idea how savage it is going to get.¡± I heard whispers around us. It was not like I didn¡¯t understand where they were coming from. Byakko and Xue¡¯er were rearing to attack the crowd to prove their strength. But I stopped them. It didn¡¯t matter what they thought of us. We were here to fight the demons and gain some battle experience, not to quarrel with some small fries. ¡°Will you shut up for this young lady?¡± Yu Chen¡¯er, who was beside in front of us, glared at the crowd. Her prestige proved effective. Those voice around us died down. ¡°Don¡¯t bother about these narrow-minded people.¡± She turned to me with an apologetic look on her face. ¡°They mouth off whatever comes to their mind.¡± I shook my head to show I didn¡¯t mind. Sister Yu Chen¡¯er took me to the Yu Clan and introduced me to her troops. We exchanged some simple greetings but that was all. I could see the condescension and derision in their expression. In their eyes, I was a simple pet their young mistress found on the roadside. As for me, I was never good with other people. The only reason I was here was to assist Sister Yu Chen¡¯er. As for others, I didn¡¯t care. Accompanied by Byakko and Xue¡¯er, I moved a little further from the Yu Clan troops. Sister Yu looked awkward when she saw that I had drawn a clear line between Yu Clan and us. She sighed and came to where we were. I saw Mu Lanran a little further away with people from her Mu Clan. She saw me at the same time. She gave a nod in greeting, which I reciprocated. I sensed a familiar aura from the Mu Clan area. I promptly opened [Kaleidoscope Eye: Mode White] and identified it. The missing puzzle in my head slowly started to fit in. After a few hours, the crowd started to move towards the magical forest. While, we were on the move, Sister Yu Chen¡¯er shared the plan the higher levels of Red Dawn City had come up. ¡°If everything goes as planned, we wouldn¡¯t have to fight at all. The true elites have already gone ahead to carry out covert operations. We are just supports. Our main duty is to take care of the remnant demons.¡± That made sense. The troops that I saw were made up of different forces. There was a lack of cohesion between them. If they were to enter battle in this mess, a miserable ending was all I foresaw. The camp was several kilometers away from the city, about twenty kilometers, if I had to put it in numbers. The different forces of the city chose their area and started to set up tents. As for us, we set up our tents a little distance from Yu Clan¡¯s area. ¡°Young master, Ling will hatch in an hour,¡± Xue¡¯er told me, still holding onto the egg. I opened my [Kaleidoscope Eye] and surveyed the area. I found a deserted place that was a little further from the camp. It looked like we wouldn¡¯t be disturbed there. I nodded. ¡°I found a suitable place. Let¡¯s go there.¡± Byakko and Xue¡¯er agreed to my suggestion. After talking briefly with Sister Yu about it, we made our way towards it. I had already told her that Ling was undergoing evolution, so it was relatively easy to slip out quietly from the camp with her assistance. Naturally, she was unable to come with us. She would draw too much attention if she did. I took out some clothes from my spatial ring and laid it out on the floor like sheet. Xue¡¯er gently put the two-colored egg on it. Now, there was only one thing left for us to do but wait. Time slowly ticked away and the hour passed. Crack! A tiny fissure opened on the egg. It slowly widened. A tiny exquisite figure like a fairy ¨C no, she was a fairy, appeared from it. She was fifteen centimeters tall. She wore a white dress that looked like it was made of delicate petals. She had a fiery crop of hair that reached her feet. She had a pair of odd wings; one was made of flame and the other, ice. The fairy opened her eyes. Her heterochromic pair of eyes, one red and one silver, stared quizzically at the three of us. I felt an unknown pressure weigh on me. There was a strange majesty to all her action. It was like we were standing in front of royalty. From the silence, I knew Byakko and Xue¡¯er were thinking along the same line. Is this the same Ling? I wondered.Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. The little figure opened her mouth. ¡°Ling!¡± she said. ¡°Ling is hungry!¡± And that broke the spell. Ling was the same. She might have gained a lovely appearance but her essence was the same. I felt a tad disappointed. But most of all, I was relieved. Our Ling was back. ¡°Welcome back, Ling,¡± I said with a smile. ¡°Welcome back, Ling,¡± Byakko echoed. ¡°Now that you are back, Xue¡¯er will prepare a delicious meal for you.¡± Xue¡¯er smiled. Ling flapped her wings and fluttered into the air. ¡°Ling! Ling is back! Now Ling wants to eat!¡± We laughed. I took out the cooking utensils, meat, spices and condiments from my spatial ring. Xue¡¯er got to cooking and under the darkening sky, the four of us feasted. As we did, I activated [Kaleidoscope Eye: Mode Black] and examined Ling. To my surprise, she actually had a proper status window this time.
GENERAL
Name Ling Age 4 Months Old
Race Divine Yin-Yang Butterfly
Essence Yin, Yang
ATTRIBUTES
Movement 53 Control 56
Soul 321 Comprehension 21
Charm 93 Fate 67
INNATE TRAIT
Yin-Yang Entity
Mu Long trudged his way through the forest. The heavy injuries he sustained were making it difficult for him to move freely. There had been many times where he had been on the verge of giving in to the pain. But each time he recalled his son, granddaughter and his clan, he felt bursts of energy that enabled him to keep on moving. He had to pass on this information or else a huge calamity would befall Red Dawn City. He had lead four Nascent Soul Stage cultivators with more than five hundred Core Formation Stage cultivators on a night ambush on the demons¡¯ camp. Under the cover of the darkness, they had been able to approach the demon camp without any incident. Unlike hearsay that said demons were creatures of the darkness, Mu Long knew there weren¡¯t many differences between humans and demons. The path they traversed was different, that was all. Everything had gone according to plan until then. They had attacked the demon camp with their full force. Mu Long cursed under his breath when he recalled that moment. The demon camp had been empty! They had tried to retreat as soon as they found it. But alas! They were too late. They had been surrounded. With no other alternative left to them, they could only fight. A fierce battle ensued. They had killed many demons. In fact, Mu Long himself had slain two Nascent Soul Stage cultivators. But they had to pay a huge price. All the elites who were on this mission, except for him had been killed. They had sacrificed themselves to pave way to his escape. The ambush had been a top-secret plan. Although many clans knew that there was an advance troop before them, the plan to ambush the demons had been kept in absolute secrecy. This only meant, there was a mole among the upper echelons of the city! Moreover, the demon¡¯s army was still there. There were at least seven Nascent Soul cultivators remaining, with more than three hundred Core Formation Stage cultivators remaining. It would be difficult for the hastily gathered army to face the demons. If the demons attacked by surprise, it would be a huge tragedy. He had to tell his son, Mu Yan that the mission had failed. The worst scenario they had envisioned had played out.
How could this happen? City Lord Mu Yan asked himself. The mission had failed. The demons were undeterred. Including him, there were only three Nascent Soul Stage cultivators remaining in the city force. Even the number of Core Formation Stage weren¡¯t high. What could he do against the demons? Everything was falling apart. He smelled the sweet fragrance of the incense stick in his tent. His daughter, Mu Lanran must have lighted it when she came by earlier. His mind went back to a few hours ago when his father returned all injured. It had caused a huge commotion in the region. Fortunately, he had been able to keep the news from going out. His father, Mu Long was the strongest cultivator he knew. He was at the peak of Nascent Soul Stage, just a step from entering Spirit Transformation Stage. He was the pillar of Mu Clan. He was also the support Mu Yan depended on. Now that his father was in this condition, what was he to do now? Dawn was about to break. When the day broke, he would have to face all those who were gathered in the camp and break this unpleasant news. He wasn¡¯t looking forward to this task. But as the City Lord, he couldn¡¯t escape his responsibilities. He sighed. Just then, he heard the sound of footsteps from behind him. He turned to find a familiar face moving towards him. He smiled. ¡°What brings you¨C¡± Before he could complete his sentence, a dagger was thrust into his chest. ¡°You¡­¡± He tired to rouse his Qi but found that he was not able to do so. Not only that, his body felt unusually weak. He hadn¡¯t noticed it before, as he was lost in his troubles. Poison! That was the only logical explanation. He recalled the scent of the incense. That must be it. The figure pushed the dagger deeper into his chest. His lifeforce drained at a fast pace and soon hit rock bottom. He heard the figure say something but his consciousness was so fuzzy that he was unable to hear what the figure said carefully.
¡°Goodbye, father,¡± Mu Lanran said in an emotionless tone as she pushed the dagger deeper into her father¡¯s chest. ¡°I didn¡¯t want to do this. If I want to travel further on the journey of cultivation, I can only do this.¡± Mu Yan breathed his last soon. She gouged out her father¡¯s heart and left his tent quickly. Better to leave the scene of crime fast if she didn¡¯t want to be caught. As long as she was not caught red-handed, no one would suspect her. Uncle Bai was tending to her grandfather; there was no better opportunity than this. She returned to the fold of her tent and consumed the heart. Ding!
You have consumed the heart of a family member. Congratulations! You have fulfilled the requirement to break through to Core Formation Stage demon. Would you like to break through?
¡°Yes,¡± she muttered. Ding!
You are breaking through to Core Formation Stage. Progress: 1% Please wait¡­
Mu Lanran. No. The demon grinned as she saw the notification. Soon. Very soon, she would be able to take care of that boy. So what if he could fight against many Core Formation Stage cultivators? She wasn¡¯t going to be any ordinary Core Formation cultivator; she was going to be a Core Formation Stage demon. 27. Demons
Mu Lanran waited for the progress to reach hundred percent. She still had time. It would take a while for others in the camp to discover that someone had killed her father. She felt a tinge of sorrow but that was all. She felt no remorse. After becoming a demon, her heart had hardened. She felt little to no familial love towards her kin. If she could use them to advance, she would. Yes. Humans were nothing more than prey to her now. She was the granddaughter of the Mu Clan Patriarch, Mu Long and the daughter of City Lord, Mu Yan. She was someone who was born with a silver spoon in her mouth. Power, authority and wealth, she had everything. On top of that, she was beautiful. There were many suitors running after her. That was not the end; she was a very talented cultivator, one of the strongest in younger generation of Red Dawn City. Why would someone with everything stoop low and become a demon? Well, it was exactly because she had everything that she became a demon. From a young age, she had everything. Everyone around her would cater to her needs. Her parents loved her. Her grandfather doted on her. All the servants adored her. She had a blissful childhood. She didn¡¯t have to worry about anything. When she turned nine, her mother passed away. Naturally, she was filled with a huge amount of sorrow, as any daughter would be when one of her parents passed away. But more than that, she was filled with a huge sense of unease. With the huge amount of leisure time at her disposal, she thought more of it and that unease slowly grew into fear. With the resource Mu Clan provided and the talent she had at her disposal, it was easy to make leaps in her cultivation. That was until she hit Foundational Stage. She couldn¡¯t use external essence to break through anymore or she would suffer from Qi Deviation. She could only cultivate excruciatingly. That was when she realized the existence of shackles that bound her as a mortal. The Law bound her. It was said that if one cultivated diligently, one could break through the shackles of Law. But Mu Lanran didn¡¯t buy it. She had pored over many records but none recorded of cultivators who broke through all the shackles. There was nothing she could do to fight against her fate. She could only let herself be chained by Law. That all ended when she turned fourteen. That was two years ago. She ran across an injured demon and her fate started to change. No. She changed her fate. The demon showed her an all-new path, one that evaded the Law. But it was a heretical path. It required her to consume the hearts of her kinds, in other words, the hearts of humans. If she consumed the hearts of her closer kin, she would be able to advance more. There was more. If she consumed the hearts of very talented humans, she would be able to steal some of their talents. She hesitated but her hesitation only lasted a year. In the end, she gave in to the demon¡¯s temptation. She became a demon. Ding!
Congratulations! You have broken through to the Core Formation Layer 1. You have gained +6 to all basic attributes.
The notification brought her out her reverie. She got up. Soon, the camp would descend into chaos. She had to prepare herself for it. She heard the flap on her tent open. When she saw who the intruder was, she got up with a smile. ¡°Mu Lanran greets her master.¡± The demon looked no different from an amiable middle-aged man. He examined her and muttered. ¡°Not bad. You were able to become a Core Formation Stage demon even without my help.¡± Yes. It was the same demon that had seduced Mu Lanran to become a demon. He had been injured then but with the herbs and healing pills Mu Lanran provided, he was able to recover. He had left to serve the Demon Lord and had returned for a mission. ¡°Did master complete the mission?¡± Mu Lanran asked. ¡°No. Not yet,¡± the demon replied. ¡°One of my senior brothers went to that place while I came to get you with a few of my other brothers. It was all thanks to the information you provided that we were able to avoid getting ambushed. The Demon Lord will definitely reward you. We might not be wiped out but we would definitely have lost a huge number. In the first place, how did they find out about us? We weren¡¯t even planning to come to Red Dawn City.¡± ¡°It was the old goat from Yu Clan,¡± she told her master. ¡°He somehow stumbled upon the information. That threw everything off course.¡± The demon sighed. ¡°Well, leave it be. Let¡¯s go and get that amazing boy you mentioned. But before that ¨C¡± He took out two bloodstained hearts. ¡°Is that ¨C¡± ¡°Yes. It is the hearts of your grandfather and the one called ¡®Bai¡¯. Consume it. And we will go after you finish.¡± ¡°Yes, master.¡± Mu Lanran took the hearts from the demon¡¯s hand.
Ma Ru watched as Mu Lanran ate the hearts of her closed ones without flinching. She didn¡¯t have any emotion on her face. He nodded in his heart. He was quite satisfied with this disciple of his. She was ready to be ruthless to everyone; even her loved ones were not spared. This was an important quality many demons sorely needed. She was a seed that they needed nurture carefully for their cause. Also, if it wasn¡¯t for her, the mission this time could have been compromised. Just then, he heard the sound of bell rang out in the whole camp. He heard the yell ¡°Demons! Demons are here!¡± ringing everywhere. It wouldn¡¯t be long before the whole camp was roused out of their sleeps. He cursed under his breath. Which idiot had revealed their position? They were supposed to wait quietly for his return. They would soon find the City Lord and the higher levels of Mu Clan dead. There would be a huge commotion. His original plan had been to slip away quietly. ¡°Master!¡± Mu Lanran, who had finished consuming the two hearts, called out to him. ¡°What should we do, master?¡± ¡°What can we do? Let¡¯s try and get away from here. It wouldn¡¯t be good to engage with the cultivators here. We would sustain too much loss. If the whole demon army was here, then it would be a different case. We will have to leave the matter of the boy for next time.¡± ¡°Lanran understands master¡¯s thoughts.¡± Mu Lanran bowed towards him. He could see a touch of reluctance in her eyes but it soon disappeared. Ma Ru nodded. It would be a little hard but with his cultivation, he shouldn¡¯t have face much problems getting out of the camp.
The loud sound of the bell and the yells woke me up. Byakko, Ling and Xue¡¯er, who were sleeping beside also woke up. ¡°Young master, are the demons really here?¡± Xue¡¯er asked. Opening the flap of our tent, I activated [Kaleidoscope Eye] and surveyed the area. I found a bunch of people with strange energy signatures. Those must be the demons. Their number wasn¡¯t that high, only about hundred Core Formation Stagers and two Nascent Soul Stagers¡­ No, wait a minute, what were two demons doing inside the camp? Activating further modes of the [Kaleidoscope Eye], I checked their stats. In the process, I also saw their identities. The one who was at the peak of Nascent Soul Stage was a stranger but the one who was at the Core Formation Stage was someone I knew. It was Mu Lanran!This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. It came as a surprise to me. Due to the revelation I had yesterday, I knew she was a scheming wench but to think she would turn out to be a demon. ¡°Are the demons here?¡± Byakko repeated Xue¡¯er¡¯s question. I nodded. ¡°Nice.¡± Byakko danced around in joy. ¡°It has been a long while since I had a decent fight.¡± ¡°Ling, too.¡± Ling also jumped into the excitement. ¡°Ling wants to burn them! Also freeze them?¡± It was easy to understand from her tone that she had just grasped her new ability. I looked towards the hundred or so demons that were led by two Nascent Soul Stage demons. They were in disarray. I could also see the cultivators from Red Dawn City moving towards their location. There were two Nascent Soul Stage cultivators among them. Quality wise, Red Dawn City lost to the demons. Quantity wise, the cultivators from Red Dawn City vastly outnumbered the demons. It would be a different case if the whole demon army that I saw was here but the demons here, Red Dawn City should be able to handle them. I faced towards Xue¡¯er. ¡°Do you want to join the battle?¡± I asked her. She bit her lips. She was nervous but she nodded. I sighed. This girl was too stubborn. I turned towards the two excited fellows. ¡°Byakko! Ling! Listen here! You can participate in the battle but the most important thing to keep in mind is your safety. It shouldn¡¯t be compromised no matter what,¡± I told the two, trying to sound as stern as possible. ¡°Also, you need to protect Xue¡¯er.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t worry, father~ I will do my best.¡± ¡°Ling! Ling will protect Xue¡¯er!¡± I nodded towards the two fellows with a smile. I rubbed Xue¡¯er¡¯s head. ¡°You heard them. You can depend on them. Don¡¯t push yourself too much. It is okay to take it easy.¡± Xue¡¯er nodded. I directed them towards the direction of the fray. By the time they joined it, the battle would be in full throttle. I watched as they disappeared from my view. I was still a bit worried but with Byakko and Ling, they shouldn¡¯t face any difficulty. As for me, I was planning to intercept the two demons that were quietly making their way out. I hadn¡¯t fought against an uninjured Nascent Soul Stager, let alone one who was at the peak of this stage. My stats should only be a little weaker than him. Would I be able to take him on. There was no time to waste. I made my way from the Yu Clan area towards the two. I summoned [Metal Bow] and charged a with Pure Yang Qi from my body. It should provide similar effect as when I charged this skill with essence flame. Due to the higher skill level and my stats that was higher than that time, it didn¡¯t take long. It would get a little noisy but it couldn¡¯t be helped. If I didn¡¯t bring out the strongest gun from my arsenal right from the beginning, I wouldn¡¯t have the opportunity to use it later. When I was about hundred meters away from the two figures, I released the arrow. BOOM! As conspicuous as always, the arrow flew towards the target. I heard another ¡®Boom!¡¯ from hundred meters away. Did I hit the target? No. Not quite. With the assistance from [Kaleidoscope Eye], I felt the presence of the two figures, which were as strong as ever. The Nascent Soul Stager aside, even the weaker Mu Lanran was fine. The Nascent Soul Stage demon dashed towards me. Fast. That was the only word I could think of. I tried to freeze him with my ocular trait but my eyes were unable to pinpoint his exact location. It was one of the weaknesses I didn¡¯t know I had. Giving up on [Kaleidoscope Eye], I activated . Got him! I sensed his presence when he got within the range of my spiritual sense. But that was it. The next moment, I felt a slash on my body that depleted more than half of my lifeforce. I staggered backward, covering the large wound on my chest with one of my arms. I didn¡¯t want him to see my high regeneration rate. ¡°Heh!¡± The demon stopped and grinned. ¡°Not bad,¡± he said. ¡°You are only a Foundational Stage cultivator yet you survived my slash. Not bad. Not bad. It would be a waste to kill you. Why don¡¯t you join my demon brigade?¡± ¡°Master! He¡¯s the boy I told you about!¡± I heard Mu Lanran¡¯s say. She was still in the original location. ¡°Then, that¡¯s too bad. Since my disciple has chosen to make you one of her sacrifices, as her master, I can only give in to her whims. Your potential will be passed on to her. Don¡¯t worry, it wouldn¡¯t be wasted.¡± While the demon kept on talking leisurely, I had already recovered my lifeforce and Qi to full. I activated [Kaleidoscope Eye: Mode Yellow]. I had to keep my eyes cast low to avoid him from noticing. He flexed his fingers that were covered in blood, my blood. ¡°Now then ¨C¡± he began to say. But he never got to complete it. I froze him. I kept on spamming the freezing ability of [Kaleidoscope Eye]. I couldn¡¯t take any chances. I transformed into a chimera. This was my strongest form. As soon as I did, all six of my basic stats jumped up and became double of what it was before. My lifeforce and Qi didn¡¯t change since the buff in stats offered by [Chimera Transformation] was only temporary. Even with [Chimera Transformation], it would be difficult to finish him off in one attack. But that was not a problem. My mouth that became huge due to the transformation chomped on his two legs. Ding!
You have consumed the meat of a Nascent Soul Stage demon. Congratulations! You have gained +1 to all six basic attributes.
As long as I took away his mobility, there was no problem. With the means available to me, he was no match. ¡°MASTER!¡± I heard Mu Lanran¡¯s yell. Without me realizing, she had reached where the Nascent Soul Stage demon and I were. She dashed towards me. Ding!
You have consumed a Core Formation Stage demon. Congratulations! You have gained +2 to all six basic attributes.
Ding!
Congratulations! You have acquired the trait [Devour].
Ding!
[Devour] has been devoured by [Innards of a God]. Congratulations! The chances of acquiring traits increases. The attribute points you can acquire also increases.
What happened? I stood there dumbly for a while. Did I just eat Mu Lanran? That too, whole? How did it happen? I had no plans to eat her. I swear. It was all an accident. The very idea of eating a human, even if that human had become a demon, was repulsive. Well, it was supposed to be. But I felt nothing. The answer hit me soon. I was in [Chimera Transformation]. I realized that I had unwittingly lost a bit of control. And the end result was this! I didn¡¯t know that I could eat the whole body at once with this transformation ability. Deciding that it wasn¡¯t necessary anymore, I turned off the transformation. ¡°You¡­¡± the Nascent Soul Stage demon said. The effect of [Kaleidoscope Eye: Mode Yellow] seemed to have run out. Even without it, the demon was unable to move. I turned towards it.
Byakko¡¯s Status:
GENERAL
Name Byakko Age 1 Year
Race White Tiger Realm Foundational 6 (2876/4000 Essence)
Lifeforce 2990/2990 (Regeneration: 2% per second)
Qi 2990/2990 (Regeneration: 2% per second)
ATTRIBUTES
Strength 298 Physique 299
Movement 299 Control 299
Soul 299 Comprehension 289
Charm 42 Fate 26
INNATE TRAIT
Wings of the Heavenly Tiger
Bonded to: Su Ren
QI SKILL LIST
Slot Skill Name Rating Level
1. Heavenly Tiger Transformation Epic 5/10
2. Claw Swipe Epic 6/10
3. Spiritual Sense Unranked 2/10
4. White Tiger¡¯s Roar Epic 1/10
5.
28. A Baffling End Ma Ru watched as the chimera in front of him ate his disciple. He was helpless during the whole process. It would be another matter if he were at his best condition. He shook his head inwardly. No. Even if he was in his best condition, the best they could have managed was to get away from here safely. He had underestimated his opponent by a huge margin. The creature transformed back to the form of a young boy, a charming young boy with a gentle expression on his face. But that gentle expression scared Ma Ru more than anything. What is this malefic? If he were at his peak, before that battle, this sort of opponent would be an ant before him. Now, he was cowering before one. Such were the workings of the fate. ¡°You¡­¡± He managed to say. The effect of whatever that was freezing him had run out. But that did nothing to improve his situation. Both of his legs were gone. More than half of his lifeforce was depleted. The monstrous boy turned towards him. Without saying anything, he materialized an odd metal bow. Ma Ru could feel swirls of Qi gathering to form an arrow. Ma Ru knew the power of this skill. If he hadn¡¯t evaded it previously, he would have suffered a lot. There was nothing he could do. He could only accept his death. And graciously he would do, like a true demon that he was. But that resolve didn¡¯t last long. He saw something that made him change his mind in the very next second. That ring! He saw a familiar ring on one of his opponent¡¯s fingers. It¡¯s color, the intricate carvings of beasts on it; they were all too familiar to him. How could it not be? This ring had been the object of his envy for a very long time. As far as the quality of the ring went, it was slightly better than the one he possessed. That was not the important thing. The important thing was, this ring contained almost half of the wealth of the Demon Kingdom! The previous owner of the ring, his senior uncle ¨C Ma Linzheng, had been one of the two treasurers, the other being the Demon Lord himself. The main objective of their mission had been to collect this ring! After that great battle, the demons had hidden themselves to recover. They didn¡¯t dare to gather in large groups for the fear of attracting too much attention. They scattered everywhere, slowly recovering the strength they had lost. Many succumbed to the injuries they sustained. Therefore, it didn¡¯t come as a surprise when the treasurer, Ma Linzheng¡¯s life jade had broken, just a little pity. However, they couldn¡¯t let go of the immense wealth in Ma Linzheng¡¯s spatial ring. It was too important for the development of the demons. Thus, the Demon Lord had ordered this expedition in spite of all the risks. Did this boy have anything to do with his senior uncle¡¯s death? He dismissed the idea as soon as it came to him. A lofty person like his senior uncle definitely wouldn¡¯t fall to a small character. The boy must have stumbled across the body of Ma Linzheng. Not good. I need to pass this information to senior brother Ma Zhuyan. It went against his code but there was no other way. ¡°Please¡­ please spare my life,¡± he begged. ¡°I swear on the Law¡­ I swear I will not seek revenge. I will also give you my spatial ring. Please. Just spare my life.¡± He threw away all his pride. This success of this mission was too important for the demons. ¡°Sorry,¡± came the cold reply. ¡°It is against my policy to spare my enemies. Besides, everything you possess will become mine after you die.¡± Before Ma Ru could say anything more, the arrow had finished forming and flew towards him.
It didn¡¯t take me long to finish off the injured demon. Ding!
You have killed a Nascent Soul Stage demon. Congratulations! You have gained +23002 essence.
As I was about to absorb the essence I earned after killing the demon, I noticed a trace of red energy in it. It was like blood. Normally, I would have ignored it; but some reason, I recalled what Ling Chen had said: ¡®Too much blood. Not good.¡¯ Is this the blood he was referring to? Till now, I broke through to where I was by killing others and absorbing their essence. I must have accumulated a huge amount of the blood energy. I let the essence dissipate without collecting. It might leave hidden dangers behind. Before I understood fully, I planned not to absorb further essence. I made a mental note to visit Ling Chen and consult him, that is, if he was willing to talk. There was also another matter that baffled me. I earned no essence when I finished off Mu Lanran in [Chimera Transformation]. This one also needed to be looked into. I took the spatial ring from the demon and put it in mine. I planned to give it to Xue¡¯er to store cooking stuff since she was effectively our chef. That way, she wouldn¡¯t have to come to me every time she needed something.Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. I stored the demon¡¯s body into my spatial ring with a little hesitation. Now that I was no longer in [Chimera Transformation], it felt sickening when I recalled that I had eaten Mu Lanran. I had the urge to throw up every time I did. I felt disgusted at myself. If I could help it, I would like to avoid such occurrences in the future.
Ma Zhuyan entered Ma Linzheng¡¯s cave. It was empty! His heart sank. He could make out traces of fight in the cave. There were very few who could take down his senior uncle in this world. Even if his cultivation base had dropped drastically, there shouldn¡¯t be anyone in this tiny corner who could give Ma Linzheng a tough time. Who did this? His senior uncle hadn¡¯t succumbed to death due to his injuries; someone had killed him. When he thought of the possibility of someone strong enough to kill a powerhouse lurking in the shadow, his skull went numb with fear. Their whole expedition would be wiped out if they encountered that person. Retreat. They had to retreat. ¡°Sir,¡± one of his subordinates came to him. ¡°The life jades of Sir Ma Ru broke just a few moments back. The others, many are breaking as we speak. Should we go and reinforce them.¡± ¡°No,¡± Ma Zhuyan replied. There was no value. They would only sustain further losses if they did. Also, if the one who took Ma Linzheng¡¯s life were in the human camp, it wouldn¡¯t bode well for them. They could only sacrifice them. He checked the cave carefully once more just in case the spatial ring was hidden in some corner. He came up with nothing. In the end, he could only give up. ¡°Pass on my order,¡± he told his subordinates. ¡°We are retreating!¡± There was no way to complete this mission. The spatial ring they had come for must be in the hand of the high level cultivator who had killed their treasurer. There was no way they could snatch the ring from such a person. They could only give up.
I returned to the tent. Byakko, Ling and Xue¡¯er were already back. The battle (if you could call that) was already over by the time I finished off the Nascent Soul Stage demon. The demons mostly concentrated on running away while the cultivators from Red Dawn City chased them. ¡°They were a bunch of cowards,¡± Byakko said in an unsatisfied tone. ¡°I was only able to kill eleven of them.¡± ¡°Ling! Ling! Ling burnt eight demons and froze seven of them! Ling did better than Byakko!¡± Ling said with a gloating expression on her face. ¡°It¡¯s only because you can attack a large area at once.¡± While the two fellows were quarreling, I looked at the other participant of the battle who was crouched in one corner of the tent. ¡°What happened to Xue¡¯er?¡± I asked. The two stopped their bicker. ¡°Nothing,¡± Byakko replied. ¡°Xue¡¯er managed to kill a demon and she had been like this since then.¡± ¡°Ren! Ren! Ling! Ling protected Xue¡¯er!¡± I had told her to call me ¡®Ren¡¯ since I was no more her master, which the simple fellow easily did. ¡°I protected Xue¡¯er, too.¡± Byakko and Ling began the second round of their quarrel. I went to Xue¡¯er who was oblivious to the surrounding. This was the first she had killed someone. It must have come as a shock to her. It wasn¡¯t like I didn¡¯t understand since it was the same for me. The first time was always difficult. I knelt down beside her and rubbed her head. It was only then she noticed I had returned. ¡°Young¡­ young master, welcome back,¡± she said. There was a slight tremor in her voice. ¡°How are you feeling?¡± I asked. Well, it was obvious how she was feeling but I still asked. ¡°Xue¡¯er¡­ Xue¡¯er is fine,¡± she replied. With you shaking like that? I thought but didn¡¯t voice it out. I continued patting her head. ¡°This was your first battle, you did well, Xue¡¯er. I am proud of you¡­¡± I added a stream of cajoling words. Her shaking lessened as time passed and disappeared altogether in the end. ¡°Thank you, young master,¡± she said, color returning to her face. I took out the spatial ring I had taken from demon and handed it to her. ¡°This is for you. Take it,¡± I told her. She didn¡¯t take the ring. She hesitated as if she had something to say. I waited. ¡°Young¡­ young master, Xu-Xue¡¯er has a presumptuous request,¡± she said finally. I encouraged her to go on, with a smile. ¡°Cou-Could young master put the ring on Xue¡¯er¡¯s finger?¡± ¡°Sure,¡± I obliged. ¡°Which finger do you want me to put the ring on? For some reason, she chose her left thumb. Was it because I had it on the same finger? It wasn¡¯t important, so I stopped thinking about it. I watched her as she looked at the ring with a dazed expression on her face. She must be happy to get a spatial ring. The trauma she got from killing a demon was gone from her face. I nodded in satisfaction. It wasn¡¯t a major battle but I was glad nothing untoward happened.
Sister Yu Chen¡¯er came to visit me in the latter half of the morning. She brought me up to date with the situation. The two Nascent Soul Stage demons had managed to run away. As for those with Core Formation Stage demons, most of them had been killed. Also, I heard some shocking news. The elite team had tried to ambush the demon camp but failed. All of them were wiped out except for the Mu Clan Patriarch, who was later assassinated by one of the demons that had infiltrated the camp. City Lord Mu Yan was also assassinated while Mu Lanran went missing. At the moment, Yu Clan Patriarch was controlling the situation as the Acting City Chief. Red Dawn City camp was preparing for further assaults from the Demon Army. I passed on the information I had acquired through [Kaleidoscope Eye] to her. The demons had retreated. They were moving back, away from Red Dawn City. At first, I thought the demons were coming for Red Dawn City. Now that the Red Dawn City was at a perilous state with only two Nascent Stage powerhouses remaining, why didn¡¯t they attack with their full force? They were in the advantageous situation, weren¡¯t they? If they were going to be so half-hearted about battling the cultivators from Red Dawn City, why did they come here in the first place? It was confirmed three days later that the demons had really retreated. The troops made the return trip. It couldn¡¯t be considered a triumphant return since the city had sustained a big loss. Still, people couldn¡¯t help but rejoice. They had averted a huge crisis. As we walked towards the city, I saw the others give our group peculiar gazes, especially, towards Byakko and Ling. ¡°Hmph!¡± Byakko snorted, raising his head high in pride. ¡°Hmph!¡± Ling snorted, copying Byakko. Sister Yu quietly whispered to me, ¡°They made quite a show of might during the confrontation with the demons. Everyone now acknowledges their strength.¡± Looking at the two fellows who were putting a high and mighty front, I laughed, shaking my head. Thus, the baffling battle with the demons ended. SS 01 Ling Chen Ling Chen stared out through the window. Apart from sleeping and eating, that¡¯s all he did. Why did he do it? He wasn¡¯t sure. Maybe, he was searching for something, an answer, a helping hand, a light in his dark world, anything. So many thoughts passed through his head that sometimes he wasn¡¯t sure what he was really thinking himself. When he lost his cultivation base and when he lost his traits, he lost his world. If it weren¡¯t for his caring clan, family and friends, he would have long taken his own life. As a cultivator, it would have been a dishonorable end. He wouldn¡¯t be able to face his ancestors on the other side if he did. He could only wait for his death. He heard a knock on his door. ¡°Brother Chen, it¡¯s Su Ren. I came here with Sister Yu Chen¡¯er last time. I wanted to consult you about something,¡± an immature voice that sounded mature for some reason came from the other side. It¡¯s that boy! They had met just a few days ago through Yu Chen¡¯er, so it was easy for Ling Chen to recall. Moreover, Su Ren had piqued his interest. When he was in the sect, he had seen many young geniuses yet none of them were as mysterious as Su Ren. He was too powerful for his age. At the same time, the boy appeared clueless about cultivation. ¡°Enter,¡± he said. The response came far later than he wanted. After he became like this, he tended to get lost in his thoughts a lot. The door was pushed open and a figure with long unkempt hair entered. ¡°Su Ren greets big brother Ling Chen,¡± the boy said, clasping his hands to a fist in greeting. Ling Chen nodded. They stood in silence for a while. ¡°Big brother told me that too much blood was not good. I didn¡¯t understand it until I saw the blood essence in the essence I was absorbing¡­¡± Su Ren broke the silence. Saw? Like he suspected, the boy seemed to posses an eye trait. ¡°¡­ I didn¡¯t quite understand why it was not good. I mean, absorbing all kinds of essence should elevate our cultivation level and therefore, it should be good for us.¡± Like he suspected, the boy had only superficial knowledge about cultivation. Anyone who cultivated should have told him that it was not good to absorb essence from all sorts of sources. That was the most basic knowledge in cultivation. Maybe because it was basic knowledge, no one has brought it up to him. Chen¡¯er was not someone who cared about details. She definitely wouldn¡¯t have noticed the heterogeneous essence in the boy. He took some books from his spatial ring and passed it to the boy. They all contained basic information, they were quite useless to him. The only reason he had them in the first place was to grind his comprehension stat. Su Ren took the books and stored it into his spatial ring. Ling Chen thought his guest would leave soon after. He was wrong. The strange boy still stood beside him. Ling Chen could make out traces of hesitation in his eyes. Su Ren seemed to have more requests. Ling Chen waited. ¡°This¡­¡± he began. ¡°I know it may come off as shameless but if big brother has any books that can assist to travel different regions¡­ naturally, I am willing to pay for it¡­¡± Ling Chen retrieved all the books that fit the boy¡¯s need and passed it. He had no need of them anymore. Su Ren stored the books, like before and took out gold coins. From what Ling Chen could conjecture, there were at least hundred of them. He shook his head gently. Why would a cripple need gold coins? The boy stored the gold coins back. He made a troubled face. To take the books without giving something in return didn¡¯t seem to sit well with him. I should have taken a few of them, Ling Chen thought. It would only have been a gesture but it would have at least saved the boy from feeling troubled. To him, the fact that Su Ren was close to Yu Chen¡¯er was enough for him to go out of his way to help him. Su Ren¡¯s face suddenly lit up. He seemed to have thought of something. He took out an empty jade record and began to record something. Ling Chen couldn¡¯t help but feel surprised. Recording cultivation technique and skills into jade record didn¡¯t require much skill. Anyone could do it as long as they had some idea on how to do it and their soul was strong enough. The thing was, only Nascent Soul Stage cultivators and above had souls strong enough to do it! From what he could sense, Su Ren was clearly at Foundational Stage Layer 1. ¡°Done!¡± Su Ren muttered. He turned towards Ling Chen. ¡°Brother Ling Chen, I can¡¯t thank you enough for giving me the books. I have recorded the cultivation method I practice in this jade. I don¡¯t know how helpful it will be to you but please give it a look.¡± Ling Chen accepted it. Not that he needed it. But if he didn¡¯t accept it, it looked like Su Ren wouldn¡¯t leave. Su Ren smiled. ¡°Brother Ling Chen, I will be taking my leave now.¡± He nodded. When the boy finally left, Ling Chen couldn¡¯t help but release a sigh of relief. After his dantian got destroyed, he couldn¡¯t muster up any energy to do anything. He felt sluggish. He would find himself often lost in thought to interact properly with others. In the end, it couldn¡¯t be considered a proper interaction and he would always feel guilty about it. He resumed his staring. The scenery didn¡¯t enter him, rather, he got lost in his thoughts. How good would it be if he could go back in time? He twirled the jade record in his fingers. What prompted him, Ling Chen was unable to tell but he decided to study the cultivation technique. Fortunately, the jade record didn¡¯t require him to insert Qi, the Qi required to activate it was stored in the jade. He sent his mind into the jade record.If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement. Heart¡¯s Yearning. Good name. He nodded in approval. The cultivation method itself appeared mundane. It was based on the growth of plants. Ling Chen had come across many cultivation techniques in his time at the sect. All of them had been grandiose. They had been based on either the image of a god or they had been created after studying some legendary beasts. There were also some that were rumored to be passed down by Celestials from Celestial Realm. You have cultivated [Heart¡¯s Yearning]! You have gained +135 to all basic attributes. What? It¡¯s this easy to learn? He couldn¡¯t help but feel shocked. He had just been going through the cultivation method. No matter how simple a cultivation method was, it shouldn¡¯t be this easy. It had taken him three months to learn the [Rhythm of the Metal God] and it was only a low tier method. Most of all, he hadn¡¯t even been trying to learn it! And there was that crazy amount of attribute points he gained! What the hell was happening? Congratulations! You have condensed Dao Seed. Another notification appeared in front of his eye. Condense Dao Seed? Wasn¡¯t it said that it was only possible to condense one¡¯s Dao Seed when one broke through Spirit Transformation Stage? A huge amount of essence gathered towards him. They moved towards his destroyed dantian where the seed was located. To his disbelief, his destroyed dantian started to repair itself with the help of the essence. Before long, it was as good as new. Congratulations! You have been cured of your ailment [Crippled Cultivation]! You can now cultivate. Congratulations! Your trait [Metal Fingers] has recovered. The essence he lost slowly accumulated. If it went on like this, it wouldn¡¯t be long before he recovered to his peak. No. He would be far stronger than his peak. The only thing was ¨C his other trait, [Essence Eye] hadn¡¯t recovered. He could guess the reason. His fingers had simply been broken while his eyeball had been plucked out and taken by those people. There was no way it would recover since it wasn¡¯t there in the first place. Ling Chen was still in a stage of shock. You have cultivated a Heaven-defying Cultivation Method! A 3x2 Lightning Tribulation shall befall you. This notification woke him up from his stupor. He got up as fast as he could. If others saw him, they would be surprised. After he came back, he had barely moved. Even if he did, it would be at a snail-slow pace. He dashed to the door and rushed outside. It was fortunate that he could delay the tribulation. Otherwise, a huge calamity would have befallen on the Ling Clan compound. Damn it! He cursed under his breath. ¡°Ling Chen!¡± ¡°Father!¡± ¡°What happened to you?¡± His father, who was near his door asked him. He must have come to visit him. He would do it every few days. Ling Chen¡¯s mother would also visit him, more often than his father. Ling Chen was thankful they didn¡¯t give up on him. Yet, he could only be a disappointment of a son. ¡°I don¡¯t have much time. Accompany me to the magical forest. I will explain everything on the way.¡± ¡°Okay!¡± his father replied promptly. He looked happy. Ling Chen knew that his father was happy because he was active like this after a long while. The two of them quickly made their way towards the forest. Ling Chen explained the sequence of events to his disbelieving father. After two hours of running, they finally found a suitable place in the magical forest. ¡°This should do,¡± Ling Chen said. ¡°Concentrate on your tribulation. Your father will be your guard.¡± Ling Chen nodded and initiated the tribulation. Dark clouds gathered above him. He could feel the crackle of electricity in it. It should be coming soon. He couldn¡¯t help but feel fearful. This was tribulation. Many had fallen before it. Yet at the same time, there was a sense of anticipation. If he made it through this, he would be born anew as a genius that stood heads other geniuses. The first bolt of lightning struck. The pain and shock that he anticipated didn¡¯t come. He felt¡­ nothing. The second bold struck. Still nothing. The third bolt struck. He realized belatedly that the cultivation method he was cultivating was using the tribulation lightning as tonic to perfect itself. He was dumbfounded. What a godly cultivation method! The fourth bolt¡­ the fifth bolt¡­ the sixth bolt¡­ Congratulations! You have passed the tribulation. You have gained +10 to all basic attributes. Congratulations! You have broken through the second shackle of a mortal. It felt unreal. It was tribulation after all. It shouldn¡¯t be this easy. Ling Chen felt dazed. Did he come out of a tribulation unscathed? Was he dreaming? ¡°Ling Chen!¡± His father ran towards him and hugged him. ¡°I am glad you made it though the tribulation. Are you hurt anywhere?¡± ¡°No, father. Nothing happened to me.¡± For now, he pushed those thoughts away. For now, he should just let happiness sink in. The father and son duo went home. The reality slowly sank into Ling Chen¡¯s head. He had recovered fully. The sluggishness and the loss of concentration he felt disappeared like it was all a dream. When they reached the Ling Clan Compound, his fathered gather all the other members of the clan. His mother, as soon as she saw him, came to him and hugged him, breaking into tears soon after. ¡°My child¡­ my child¡­¡± she kept muttering. Ling Chen hugged her back. He realized how much his parents loved him. The clan members came to him and congratulated him on his recovery. They were full of joy for him. He was the genius of the clan and he had returned. Ling Chen couldn¡¯t help but feel warm. He had gone to the sect and it lacked this warmth. This was his clan. This was his family. This was his home. No matter where he went, it would remain so. Ling Chen made a mental note to find Su Ren later. He needed to have a good talk.
Ling Chen''s status:
GENERAL
Name Ling Chen Age 19 years old
Cultivation Method Heart''s Yearning Realm Core Formation 7 (7734/80000 Essence)
Lifeforce 2770/2770 (Regeneration: 3% per second)
Qi 4090/4090 (Regeneration: 3% per second)
ATTRIBUTES
Strength 376 Physique 377
Movement 380 Control 405
Soul 409 Comprehension 407
Charm 60 Fate 33
INNATE TRAITS
Essence Eye (Damaged) Metal Fingers
ANNOUNCEMENT I have decided to rewrite the whole story! For the past few days, I have been going through the chapters I wrote before and I realized, there was a huge amount of problem. Before I get to them, let me tell you how I wrote this story. That was also where most of the problems began. For a long time, I was playing with the idea of writing a story with Xuanhuan + LitRPG elements. Slowly, a story formed in my head. However, to my horror, I realized my language and my style were not up to the task. I can¡¯t waste my idea, that¡¯s I thought. Then, I conceived the idea of writing a prototype that I could use as my grinding stone to improve my writing as well as perfect the system I was going to use. That¡¯s how this story ¡®Eat and Grow Strong¡¯ began. When I wrote this story, I didn¡¯t put much thought and wrote whatever came to my mind. Everything was casual. Apart from a vague outline and some shadowy characters, I didn¡¯t plan much. That was the first problem. I powered-up the main character whenever I thought the story was losing steam. That was the second problem. In that process, the main character refused to stay confined in the outline I created. The world I created (not that I created much of it) became too small for him. You can notice that from the anticlimactic battle. At that stage, I had no idea how to go on.Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. The cultivation system is also flawed. It is almost redundant. Replace it with level-system and nothing will change. The setting was not planned out well. From the hiccup at the very first city, you can see that there wasn¡¯t much. The characters were not planned out well. They appear so randomly. The pace, it is all over the place. The plot has also spiraled out of control. As a reader, there are two things I really hate: one, incomplete stories and two, a disappointing end. At this rate, I feel that this story is heading towards one or the other. Therefore, I decided to write it again. This time, with a proper plan and plot progression. I know that it is unfair on my part to pull a stunt like this. I am really sorry about it. Please find it in your heart to forgive me. You have given me a huge support and I can¡¯t thank you enough for it. I will try my best to make it up to you with the revised version of this story. If everything goes as I have envisioned, I should be back in twenty to twenty-five days. Thank you once again for everything. ~ Lazy Turtle Been a while So, yeah! As shameless as this sounds, this turtle returned after frolicking in the ocean for a while. Don''t know how this will turn out but this turtle has started the rewrite. This turtle is taking it slow this time, so hopefully, this turtle will be able to avoid the same mistakes he did the last time.Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! This turtle decided to go with an all new plot. At first this turtle thought of just polishing the previous ones but thought it would be boring. The previous characters will reappear, just not the same way. Therefore, please give it a read and tell this turtle how it is. The link is provided at the foot note...