ã€ŠCosplay Cultivator [Xianxia, Isekai]ã€‹


 A Friend In Need

    What does it mean to reincarnate?

    The soul is eternal - and much like a person swapping their clothes, can swap bodies as it undergoes an endless cycle of reincarnation until it at last, breaks free of this cycle.

    Tang Ze had heard of such things, but had never experienced anything like this before.

    That said, this could not be said to truly be reincarnation, could it?

    He knew he had died - that much was certain, but he was not in the body of a crying newborn, but had the same body he had when he had passed away on Earth.

    So, this could not be called reincarnation per se- if he didn¡¯t know better, he would¡¯ve thought that he was back on Earth, but this could not be Earth. These woods were nowhere near his home, and it made no sense for him to be here. Not to mention there was¡­ something else in the air here in these woods, something that marked them as completely alien.

    Part of reincarnation, though, also includes forgetting all of what you were in the last life.

    No trace of who you were previously is supposed to remain in the next life - in a way, it would be as if a slate had been washed clean.

    And yet, not only did his memories of his life back on Earth remain, he had carried something¡­ ¡®special¡¯ with him.

    Tang Ze couldn¡¯t put a finger on exactly what it was, but there was definitely something different about him.

    Back on Earth, Tang Ze hadn¡¯t lived much of a remarkable life. He hadn¡¯t accomplished anything of note, but there was a hobby of his that he had absolutely loved engaging with.

    And that was cosplaying!

    Buying or making costumes - and then breathing life into them to, if only for a moment, become the character you were trying to emulate.

    His free time was always wrapped up in such pursuits. Much to the chagrin of the rest of his family, who had oftentimes told him to focus on studying or something else that was more productive.

    Looking back, Tang Ze honestly couldn¡¯t say that they had been wrong.

    He really should have put more effort into things during his old life.

    Then again, there were quite a number of things that he harbored regrets about not doing during his old life¡­

    He shook his head.

    This was no time to dwell on that.

    He had been given something of a second chance, hadn¡¯t he? A second chance to perhaps make up for his shortcomings in his previous life.

    As Tang Ze calmed himself down somewhat, he was able to better grasp this part of him that was ¡®new.¡¯ A part of him that appeared to be influenced by his hobby in his past life.

    No words appeared on a screen before him, but as he looked inward, he knew them to be true as if they had been written in mile-long flaming letters in the sky above him.

    Hidden Talent: When you cosplay a character, you can gain their powers. The closer to the character your costume appears, the closer you will get to their abilities so long as you wear the costume.

    Cultivation Talent: The longer you wear said costume, the more you can permanently imbue yourself with the powers of said character, up to a limit also based on how good your costume is.

    Tang Ze couldn¡¯t help but laugh.

    To think that of all things, his hobby from his previous life could be the gateway to power in this next one?

    Of course, this left him with a few problems.

    For one, he was in the middle of the woods, away from civilization. Meaning there were probably wild animals that were around that could be dangerous.

    Second, his power was kind of useless if he didn¡¯t have the tools to make a costume, now then wasn¡¯t it? He was in his regular clothes, though thankfully he had transmigrated with his shoes on even though he hadn¡¯t been wearing them when he died, strange as that was.

    Third, he had no supplies with him. No food or water.

    All of these things could be solved by finding the nearest place of civilization, which is what he needed to turn his attention to.

    And hope that something like a bear didn¡¯t maul him on the way¡­.If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    Within an hour, he heard something in the distance.

    It sounded like the beating of hooves - so unless there were some kind of flesh-eating zebras in this world, this was likely coming from horses.

    It was risky to approach the noise, but then again, what other choice did he have? Die of exposure in the woods as he ran around in circles?

    The hooves were moving fast, such that the riders had passed Tang Ze a spear¡¯s throw away before he could even call out to them, asking for help or something along those lines.

    There were seven of them, and they were riding what looked like regular earth horses and not some sort of fantastical mythical beast. What caught Tang Ze¡¯s eyes however; was that there was an unwelcome passenger with them, so to speak.

    He couldn¡¯t tell clearly from this distance, but it looked like this person was a woman, and more alarmingly, she had been tied up.

    It didn¡¯t take a genius to put two and two together, and realize that she had been kidnapped, or was some sort of prisoner.

    The men were wearing some kind of uniform of blue robes, though the finer details were not visible to Tang Ze from this distance.

    Naturally, he wanted to either stop them, or to try to rescue the woman.

    It was the obvious thing to do.

    The issue was that Tang Ze had no method to do so. He was still for all purposes a normal human, and they not only greatly outnumbered him, but were much faster as well, being mounted atop horses.

    So much so that the dust cloud made by the stomping of their hooves was a distant sight by the time that Tang Ze could get these thoughts together.

    In other words, there was no hope of him being able to do anything.

    Still, they had proved useful in the sense that they had led Tang Ze to what was clearly a demarcated path of sorts.

    Roads were made to connect two places together- so there were two directions that Tang Ze could go in.

    After considering it, he decided that it was best not to follow the people who had possibly kidnapped a girl, and went in the other direction instead.

    It was a few hours later that he managed to run into someone.

    This person was wearing scarlet robes with an emblem stitched to the breast pocket, though Tang Ze couldn¡¯t really see what it was. He was also carrying a rucksack on his back, and was panting heavily as he walked. Wherever he was going, he was in quite a hurry. He looked to be about Tang Ze¡¯s age or only slightly older, and sweat coated his brow. He had clearly been running for quite a distance, and his face was flushed from exertion.

    Still, at the very least, he didn¡¯t appear to be hostile in any way, so Tang Ze figured it couldn¡¯t hurt to ask him for directions.

    ¡°Hello stranger, I was wondering if you could help me out-¡±

    ¡°Sorry, I¡¯m in a rush!¡± the man yelled out between breaths. He didn¡¯t even send a second glance towards Tang Ze¡¯s way as he rushed on past. ¡°I can¡¯t stop, I have somewhere to be!¡±

    Tang Ze considered what was going on for a moment- and as to why this man might be in such a rush.

    Either he was delivering that bag on his back somewhere, or¡­

    ¡°...are you perhaps chasing after those men on horseback, who were carrying a woman with them?¡± Tang Ze asked.

    The man clearly wanted to stop, but had put in so much momentum that as he tried to do so, he tripped and fell to the ground.

    ¡°Are you alright?¡± Tang Ze asked. It didn¡¯t look like much of a fall, but then again, he was carrying something rather heavy on his back.

    The man didn¡¯t answer, instead grabbing onto Tang Ze, who had offered his hand to help him up, and said, ¡°Where? Did you see them? Where are they going?¡±

    ¡°Hey, easy there,¡± Tang Ze said. ¡°They went in that direction,¡± he said, pointing this person in the direction he had seen the horsemen leave.

    The man didn¡¯t let me say anything further as he got up and began running in that direction.

    It was clear that the kidnapped woman was either his lover- a wife or girlfriend; or a family member like a sister or cousin.

    ¡°But wait! No matter how fast you run you won¡¯t be able to catch up with them on foot!¡± Tang Ze yelled out after him. ¡°And even if you do get to them, are you going to fight off seven people on your own?¡±

    Even if the people of this world had magical powers or could cultivate, if his running speed was any indicator of his strength, he was not that much stronger than a normal person.

    ¡°I know!¡± he yelled back, not even turning around. ¡°But I can¡¯t give up - I have to go after them.¡±

    ¡°At least get rid of what you¡¯re carrying,¡± Tang Ze said, pursuing him, now somewhat invested in this man¡¯s story. ¡°How are you going to run lugging all that weight behind you?¡±

    ¡°I can¡¯t- I have to keep this stuff safe!¡± he said, though from how red his face was getting, Tang Ze could tell that this man would not be able to keep up this pace for much longer.

    An idea began to form in Tang Ze¡¯s mind - he didn¡¯t know if it would work, but what did he have to lose by trying? ¡°Wait- I think there might be a way that I can help you!¡±

    The man slowed down ever so slightly, giving Tang Ze a suspicious look. ¡°Help me? How? And why?¡±

    ¡°First things first,¡± Tang Ze said, the gears in his head turning. ¡°Do you happen to have a spare uniform? Or just a bit of red cloth?¡±

    The man gave Tang Ze a confused look. ¡°What good will that do?¡±

    ¡°Look, I know you want to save that girl, but you¡¯re not going to be able to get anywhere like this,¡± I said. ¡°You¡¯re just going to end up running yourself into the dirt, and accomplish nothing.¡±

    The words tasted bitter in Tang Ze¡¯s mouth - he was all for acts of heroism and did not want to demoralize this person, but even he had to note when things were impossible. Unless this man had a secret technique he was keeping hidden for whatever reason, he didn¡¯t have the slimmest chance of rescuing that woman.

    And if he had something powerful like that he probably wouldn¡¯t have been in this predicament in the first place.

    ¡°I know that!¡± the man said angrily. ¡°I know that! But I can¡¯t give up!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not asking you to, I¡¯m saying there¡¯s a way I might be able to help you,¡± Tang Ze said.

    The man slowed down and once again, looked at Tang Ze with suspicion. Tang Ze could understand that - it was odd for a random stranger to be offering a lending hand to someone else, but, from Tang Ze¡¯s perspective, this was an easy enough way to endear himself to someone in this new world he¡¯d found himself in.

    At least, it should be easy - if his idea worked that is.

    ¡°Yeah, I do have a spare uniform,¡± the man said. ¡°Again, why do you need it?¡±

    ¡°If you hand it to me, I might be able to do something with it,¡± Tang Ze said. The man didn¡¯t fully seem to trust Tang Ze as of yet, but seemed to be willing to play along, if for no other reason than he had no other choice in the matter if he wanted to save that woman.

    Tang Ze watched as the man opened up his rucksack, in which there were several packets wrapped up with the emblem of a phoenix on them, but also a spare set of robes.

    ¡°Thanks,¡± Tang Ze said as he took the set of robes, and then tied the sleeves around his neck.

    It was a pathetic attempt at a costume, but then again, he hoped it was somewhat close enough that it would get him something.

 Greetings, Zhang Long!

    After all, even if his costume was only 0.5% of what constituted a proper costume, 0.5% of the character¡¯s power he was trying to emulate was nothing to sneeze at.

    ¡°What are you doing?¡± the man asked.

    That confirmed it for Tang Ze that he really was in some sort of parallel world, because anyone from back on Earth would¡¯ve almost instantly recognized who he was trying to dress up as.

    If there ever was a child who wrapped a red towel behind them like a cape and started running around like they were trying to fly, it was easy enough to tell who that child was emulating. That was just how famous that character was.

    A character from Western comics who was said to be stronger than a planet! An image that was famous the world over back on Earth.

    Costume is 0.7% accurate to character.

    Tang Ze knew this instinctively, much like he had with how his talent worked, and he smiled. That was to be expected, all he had was a red cloth which he was wearing like a cape, but even that was enough to get a fraction of a fraction of the character¡¯s power.

    And a fraction of a fraction of that power is still immense! Just like how even one percent of a top CEO¡¯s compensation back on Earth was more than many of their employee¡¯s salaries, if you had even around 0.5% of a character that was planetary level, that was still amazing power for a normal person!

    Tang Ze bent his knees, and then launched himself into the air, easily climbing for six hundred feet before he slowly began to descend. While doing so, he made sure to clasp onto his ¡®cape¡¯ tightly - not wanting it to come loose while he was moving, else he might end up going back to normal as he would no longer be wearing a ¡®costume¡¯ - and a fall from that height would certainly kill him then.

    He felt strong enough to lift up a mountain - no, a mountain was probably too much, but he was probably strong enough to lift up a building on his own.

    The man watched with a shocked expression as Tang Ze touched the ground.

    ¡°That reminds me,¡± Tang Ze said. ¡°I never caught your name.¡±

    ¡°Z-Zhang Long,¡± the man said.

    ¡°So then, shall we go try to rescue her? Who was she anyway? You bride-to-be? Or sister?¡± Tang Ze asked.

    He still wasn¡¯t sure who the ¡®good guys¡¯ were here. He had thought it better to choose a side so that he would at least endear himself to someone. In such a situation, it was better to align oneself, from a mere pragmatic perspective, with the weaker side. After all, if Tang Ze helped Zhang Long, he would be greatly indebted to him as the others already looked like they had accomplished what they wanted to do. If he sided with the people who had taken the woman away, what did they really have to gain via his help?

    However, that was just from a practical point of view - Tang Ze wasn¡¯t going to help someone in the wrong regardless. He wanted to get the full story from Zhang Long before getting into a fight - and whether or not he would believe Zhang Long depended on how much his story made sense.

    Zhang Long, however, still couldn¡¯t come to terms with what he had just seen.

    This man could fly - and that was a technique that would place him in the Nascent Soul realm at the very least! Zhang Long could not feel an ounce of Qi from this stranger, which meant that he either could not cultivate at all, or was more than one major realm above him. It looked like the latter was true.

    This branch of the Rising Phoenix sect did not have any Nascent Soul cultivators to its name - only two Golden Core ones (the branch head and the sect janitor). Some of the higher-ups in the sect were at the Nascent Soul stage, but none of them were near a backwater like this, they were either in seclusion, on missions, or in the main headquarters of the sect.

    Zhang Long himself was at the fifth minor realm of Qi Condensation, which meant that this man was leagues above him.

    And that was why he couldn¡¯t believe that such a man had bothered to stop and help him out.

    Would a man be bothered by two ants fighting each other?

    No, he would not even think twice about such a thing, which is why it was incomprehensible to Zhang Long that this man was offering him his help especially given the fact that they had no ties together. If it were someone from his sect, Zhang Long could maybe entertain the fact that there was a reason for someone to intervene, but as far as Zhang Long knew he had no connections to this stranger.

    And even if he was helping him out of boredom - Zhang Long was not na?ve enough to think that such help would come without strings attached.

    What would he ask of him in return?

    Even as he pondered this though, Zhang Long came upon an epiphany: if he wanted to save Jin Zhen, there was no other choice in front of him.

    This man could literally ask for Zhang Long¡¯s soul, and Zhang Long would find it hard to say ¡®no.¡¯This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

    There was also the factor that if he was indeed so strong, Zhang Long needed to be more careful about how he spoke to the man.

    He had heard stories of high-end cultivators crippling others for so much as sending a glancing at them in a manner which they did not like, and he did not want to find himself at the receiving end of such a blow.

    Tang Ze on the other hand, could not understand why Zhang Long¡¯s demeanor had suddenly changed in the span of a few seconds as Zhang Long answered.

    ¡°Lord,¡± Zhang Long said, bowing deeply. ¡°This one would be eternally grateful for your assistance! However, this one does not have an appropriate treasure or the means to repay the generosity of one such as yourself!¡±

    ¡°I¡­. don¡¯t remember asking for anything,¡± Tang Ze said, rather confused.

    Now that made Zhang Long even more wary. It would be one thing if this man had asked for his eternal servitude, or a massive amount of cultivation resources, or for Zhang Long to offer up any of his future daughters to be his concubines- but to ask for nothing?

    If anything, the unknown was far more frightening than what was known. Because not asking for anything upfront meant that Zhang Long would be in constant fear of what he might eventually ask for.

    Tang Ze on the other hand, seemed to realize what it was that was bothering Zhang Long. ¡°Look, Zhang Long, do you know about¡­ or rather, do you believe in reincarnation?¡±

    ¡°Yes, this one does know about it,¡± Zhang Long said.

    Tang Ze looked out into the distant forest, unsure of how to phrase his intentions. ¡°Most people, when they reincarnate, they don¡¯t remember what happened in their past lives, do they? Well, something like this has happened to me. You might be wondering why it is that I want to help you - and the answer is, that I want to live this life, my second life, at the very least, without any regrets. There was a time when something happened in my prior life, something that I should¡¯ve stepped in to prevent, but I didn¡¯t. I don¡¯t want for that to happen in this life either. I want to¡­ be better than I was in my prior lifetime. Someone who I can actually be proud of.¡± He gave Zhang Long a smile. ¡°You are trying to rescue her, aren¡¯t you? So long as your cause is just, I wish to support it.¡±

    Zhang Long was somewhat even more troubled now. For one to remember one¡¯s memories from a past life - he had heard of some Nascent Soul cultivators who were able to do so, and it was even said that some cultivators of the Eternal Soul realm could influence their future reincarnations and also reincarnate with their memories intact.

    That meant that although this man looked to only be in his twenties, he could actually be a five thousand year old monster in terms of experience! Zhang Long had somewhat misinterpreted what Tang Ze was saying - because Tang Ze did not want to frame himself as coming from a separate world, and instead just described it as his ¡®previous life.¡¯

    After some internal deliberation, Zhang Long realized that he had very little choice, and that if this man did not wish to state his desire upfront, he could not very well force him to.

    ¡°Yes, that girl is my childhood friend, Jin Zhen,¡± Zhang Long said.

    ¡°Right, so how strong are those seven people? Who are they, anyway? And why¡¯d they kidnap her - you know what, the longer we stand here the further away they¡¯ll go, hop on, and tell me the story on the way,¡± Tang Ze said, offering his arms.

    ¡°What?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll carry you over there - how else can we outrun them? Well, not outrun per se - but you get what I¡¯m saying, right?¡± Tang Ze said.

    Zhang Long did not want to be carried around like an overgrown child, but at the same time, he truly had no alternative.

    ¡°Just make sure that my cape is on tightly,¡± Tang Ze warned as he flew off.

    Zhang Long filled him in little by little as they soared. As it was, Tang Ze¡¯s top speed was not that much faster than that of a horse¡¯s, but that was with him carrying Zhang Long, and they could travel in a true straight line without having to stop for obstacles, meaning they¡¯d catch up to those men soon.

    Tang Ze told Zhang Long that he came from a distant land and was unfamiliar with the local geography, and so Tang Ze began to fill him in on things, as well as what had happened to put him in this situation in the first place.

    The country they were in was called the Raswatian Empire, which, as per Zhang Long, had stood for a little over one hundred thousand years. Most of its land was managed directly by the emperor, though there were portions of land which were managed by sects instead.

    Tang Ze belonged to one such sect - the Rising Phoenix sect, which explained the emblem embroidered into his robes that Tang Ze could now see; a phoenix.

    There were seven other major sects - the Jasmine Dragon sect, Emerald Floral sect, Golden Sun sect, Diamond Dust sect, Astral Winds sect, Swift Sword sect, and the Silver Moon sect.

    The people who had taken Jin Zhen away were rival members of the Diamond Dust sect.

    Zhang Long¡¯s village was near this place. This region was very close to the border between the territories controlled by the Diamond Dust Sect and the Rising Phoenix Sect, though the sprawling forest divided the two of them.

    ¡°So why did these people decide to mess with you?¡± Tang Ze asked.

    ¡°It¡¯s a game for them!¡± Zhang Long said. ¡°Some of their disciples come into our territory, burn our crops, steal things, and harass our women!¡±

    Tang Ze frowned. ¡°And your sect elders don¡¯t do anything about it?¡±

    ¡°Ah, no,¡± Zhang Long said. ¡°Not unless things are really serious - they usually respond with things such as ¡®we don¡¯t want to be bothered with such trivial matters¡¯ or the like. If they did something like burn down the whole village, then there would be retaliation, but no one is going to rally to my aide for something like this.¡±

    ¡°That sounds messed up,¡± Tang Ze said. ¡°You¡¯re one of their members - shouldn¡¯t they be helping you? I mean, even if not out of benevolence, but to keep face?¡±

    Zhang Long¡¯s face fell. ¡°I am only an Initiate, and we are expected to contribute to the sect, not take from it. My other villager friends aren¡¯t strong enough, and to make matters worse, they did this in the middle of one of my sect missions! I was supposed to be gathering herbs to take back, but then right when I was about to be done, they swooped in the moment they saw that I was alone! Mainly because they don¡¯t have the courage to fight fair!¡±

    ¡°Is that what you¡¯re carrying in your bag? The herbs, I mean,¡± Tang Ze said. Was that why he refused to toss it away even as it was slowing him down?

    ¡°Yes,¡± Zhang Long said. He then paused as he saw a cloud of dust in the distance. ¡°Is that them? Are we finally there?¡±

    ¡°Yes, but hold on,¡± Tang Ze said. ¡°You¡¯ve told me all of this, but I need to know how strong these people are before I challenge them. They¡¯re riding on what look like normal horses so I¡¯m guessing they are not too strong but it would be helpful to be sure before I engage them.¡±

    ¡°I think two of them are at the Qi Refining realm,¡± Zhang Long said. ¡°And the rest are at Qi Condensation.¡±

    ¡°¡­.you do realize that means nothing to me, right?¡± Tang Ze asked.

    It was here that there was yet another misunderstanding between the two of them.

    Tang Ze was asking Zhang Long for clarification, however, Zhang Long interpreted his words as saying ¡®Qi Refining realm cultivators are nothing to me in terms of power,¡¯ which, given he thought that Tang Ze was at Nascent Soul at the very least, he understood.

    As such, Zhang Long did not answer Tang Ze¡¯s question, which annoyed him.

 The Diamond Dust Sect

    ¡°Hey, I asked a question,¡± Tang Ze said.

    ¡°Hmm?¡±

    ¡°I said that I don¡¯t really know how strong they are,¡± Tang Ze said. ¡°So how much stronger are they than a normal person?¡± From what Tang Ze could tell, Zhang Long might¡¯ve been in a much better physical shape than he was - but that was also likely because Tang Ze hadn¡¯t been quite athletic in his previous life.

    As it was, it did not seem like Tang Ze had superhuman strength or anything along those lines.

    ¡°Ah¡­ about five times as strong as a normal person,¡± Zhang Long said. Shouldn¡¯t a Nascent Soul cultivator know this? Or maybe it had been so long since this man had ascended to a higher realm that he had forgotten what it was like to be at the lower realms? That was a possibility. ¡°And around three times as strong as I am.¡±

    Tang Ze nodded. That should¡¯ve been easily manageable - so long as they didn¡¯t have any strange glowing rocks with them. It also explained why they were still using horses, they clearly weren¡¯t strong enough to the point where they could get around solely on foot yet. Either that, or they wanted to conserve their stamina.

    ¡°Right, so how should we do this?¡± Tang Ze asked Zhang Long.

    ¡°Land in front of them and demand that they hand Jin Zhen back - else we¡¯ll cripple their arms and legs!¡± Zhang Long said.

    Tang Ze sighed. ¡°No matter how strong we are, the fact remains that they have a hostage with them, don¡¯t they? So what will we do if they threaten to chop off you little friend¡¯s head before we can do anything?¡±

    ¡°...ah¡­¡±

    ¡°So this is the game plan,¡± Tang Ze said. ¡°I¡¯ll land a bit behind them, and I¡¯ll grab Jin Zhen and take her to safety. Then, we teach them a lesson.¡± He then paused. ¡°Wait - do you think they¡¯ll have any special techniques that they can use?¡± Zhang Long had said that they were only about five times as strong as a normal person, but if they had something say, a skill that could attack one¡¯s soul directly or some other kind of ability that bypassed Tang Ze¡¯s physical strength and capabilities, he might find himself in a pickle.

    Come to think of it, if they knew how to transform living objects, then, he might actually find himself turned into a literal pickle. After all, the character he was emulating did not have any resistance to magic or similarly-based attacks.

    ¡°They might know some techniques,¡± Zhang Long said. ¡°But at Qi Refinement, the amount what they can do is limited to temporarily granting themselves some boosts, or healing, and what little attacks they can do are nowhere spectacular. I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll have no problem with them.¡±

    Tang Ze was somewhat relieved by this, but was also aware that for whatever reason, it sounded like Zhang Long thought he was a lot stronger than he actually was. The kowtowing near the beginning when he had flown was an example - maybe that was it? Maybe flying was something that was rather difficult in this world?

    So, while he was relatively certain of his victory, he would still need to be careful in case one of them looked like they were going to use a special technique against him.

    The actual best thing to do would be to wait, and see how his powers worked first. But Tang Ze could not do that - he had been thrust into this situation basically the very moment he had walked into this new world, and if he left, it would leave Zhang Long without any method to save his friend.

    And while Tang Ze was not the type to throw away his life when there was some other recourse, he was not overly-cautious to the point where he would not engage an enemy like this.

    There were some times when, even if you knew the odds were stacked against you, or that defeat was inevitable, you had to fight regardless!

    It wasn¡¯t as if Tang Ze was not afraid.

    He was running into an unknown situation - and did not know for sure if he could win or not.

    His heart was thumping loudly in his chest, and yet, he could not turn around.

    He felt afraid, yes, but at the same time, he knew that he couldn¡¯t back down.

    Why was that?

    It was not because of any special attachment to Zhang Long - it was because Tang Ze no longer wanted to be that person he was before.

    The coward he had been in his last life.Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

    If only he had had the courage to step up like this back then¡­

    ...to step up when it had mattered.

    But that was all in the past now!

    One could not choose the circumstances of one¡¯s birth - though to a small extent, one could choose the circumstances of one¡¯s death.

    And if Tang Ze had one wish, it was that in his life, that he could go down fighting for what he believed in.

    Maybe then, he could make up for his failures.

    And so, with a deep breath, Tang Ze landed, depositing Zhang Long a few feet back.

    Tang Ze hadn¡¯t been noticed yet, and it was at this crucial moment that his actual skills would be put to the test.

    He had only recently gotten such strength and speed - he had had no time to practice.

    But like an animal who taught its children how to swim by tossing them into the water, he too, would have to learn by doing. And so, Tang Ze launched himself into the air.

    The leader of the horsemen who were part of the Diamond Dust sect, was named Li Wei.

    He was at the third minor realm of Qi Refining, and had been leading this group for a singular purpose.

    And that was to rile up the Rising Phoenix sect!

    Such border conflicts, in which low-ranking members of a sect would sneak into the borders of the other sect and then either steal or harass the other members, was long since considered ¡®fair play¡¯ between the sects of the Raswatian Empire.

    Not only was this allowed, but it was also somewhat encouraged as a way for the sects to fight amongst each other in a covert way, and to give the newbies some combat experience as well.

    It also fostered a sense of camaraderie between those engaging in such behavior together, as well as a sense of rivalry between factions.

    Granted, there were still tacit rules to such activities. For one, killing or maiming was greatly frowned upon - while it could be said that the journey of a cultivator was all about strength, and as such, even if someone died in the fighting it wouldn¡¯t be ¡®too much of a deal¡¯, Li Wei was not in good graces with his sect, and would like to avoid further censure.

    Golden Core and higher ranked cultivators were not sent on such journeys given how much stronger they were, which would no doubt invite strong retaliation from the invaded sect - as it was such cultivators were rare enough that they were busy with other aspects of sect business rather than doing things like this.

    As another general rule, mortals were left alone.

    Why did they seize this woman then?

    When Li Wei had been given a few horses and told to ¡®sow chaos¡¯ in the Rising Phoenix sect¡¯s territory, he had happened upon a nearly perfect scene.

    He saw an Initiate of the rival sect, along with what looked like his jade beauty! Such an opportunity was perfect for them to have some fun - and to grab her.

    The Initiate had been a pitiful Qi Condensation rank cultivator, so there was no real glory in ganging up to beat him to a pulp. Instead, they took her before his eyes and then taunted him before running off.

    No doubt that Initiate would run back to his sect, and then they would send some others after them. But that would give Li Wei and his gang a chance to fortify their location and ambush the Rising Phoenix sect¡¯s forces!

    In so doing, they would emerge victorious over either an equal number of fighters, or maybe even a numerically superior force if Li Wei played his cards right.

    Now that - there would be great glory in that as he returned back to his sect!

    The Diamond Dust sect would finally be able to recover a bit of its face after recent events at the Advanced Tournament a few months ago. Li Wei also knew that for such a small issue, the Rising Phoenix sect would not send anyone of Golden Core rank or higher to deal with them - meaning that it was would most likely be either evenly matched, or heavily skewed in their favor.

    Despite all that they had traveled for, the horses had not tired one bit.

    That was because these were special horses - raised by sects and essentially the animal equivalent of a Qi Refining cultivator. They were not that much faster than normal horses, but could maintain their top speed even while carrying weights like Li Wei without stopping for several hours, a feat that no ordinary horse could do.

    Naturally, they were almost five times as expensive as normal horses.

    It would¡¯ve been even better for their mobility if they could have something like pegasi or griffins - but there was no way the sect would give such things to Qi Refining realm members like themselves.

    Before he could think any further, a flash passed before his eyes.

    With his heightened senses, he could somewhat make out the blur pass behind him, in front of him, and could just barely trace it with his eyes as it went out of sight.

    What had happened was Tang Ze had flown in, grabbed Jin Zhen after tearing through her restraints, turned around, and then flown back to Zhang Long.

    It was actually good that he could only bring out a fraction of the character¡¯s power, else he might¡¯ve done something like snap Jin Zhen¡¯s body in two by accident.

    Nothing of the sort happened though, and she was quickly reunited with Zhang Long without any issues.

    Tang Ze was quite glad that no harm had befallen her - he was still suppressing quite a bit of his power, and it was good to know that she hadn¡¯t been hurt when he had snatched her away.

    Zhang Long began untying her as Tang Ze turned around to face the perpetrators.

    ¡°Whoa there!¡± Li Wei yelled out as he urged the horse to turn around. It was still an animal and its intelligence was nowhere near the level of a proper magical beast, but it was able to respond to such commands quickly.

    Tang Ze knew that he had to act before they figured out what was going on, and made to strike at the nearest horseman.

    The thing was that there were two targets here - the horse, and its rider. And though he wasn¡¯t one for pointlessly hurting animals, this was a fight, and the horse was the larger target. Not to mention he figured that if he threw the horse off-balance, the rider would also be thrown off and would be out for the count.

    Though, in this case, he did end up underestimating how strong he was.

    The punch he threw was not practiced or elegant, but carried such brute force that it snapped the animal¡¯s spine in half as it was tossed twenty feet back, the point where his fist made impact leaving a huge dent in the animal¡¯s body. Without a doubt, it was dead.

    All through this, Tang Ze had felt nothing. It was like punching a pillow - but that was where the problem lay. He had not actually meant to do that to the horse, as such the result stunned him slightly.

    What if he couldn¡¯t control his power?

 [Monkey Stealing Peaches]

    This is why Zhang Long would¡¯ve loved to have some time to train and figure out what he could do, but no dice.

    Not only was he faster and stronger, but the world also slowed proportionately to accommodate him. It was as if it took an entire ten seconds for a nearby person to draw their sword, by the time that man was done Zhang Long had already knocked them over and moved on to their neighbor.

    These people were only lightly armed with swords and spears, though if they were somehow magical or enchanted, they might end up hurting him.

    So it was best to break their arms, so that they couldn¡¯t draw their weapons, and also one of their legs, so they couldn¡¯t stumble away.

    One didn¡¯t need to go that far though honestly, merely breaking their wrists and their feet was good enough - though it wasn¡¯t until he was at his third victim that this occurred to Tang Ze.

    Zhang Long was not sitting idle while this happened - he did not have any weapons on him, but was able to grab a staff which its unfortunate owner had fortunately dropped for him.

    Li Wei was the only one who was able to reach for his weapon in time.

    What in heaven¡¯s name was going on?

    It was like a bolt of lightning had struck from a clear blue sky, upending their plans completely.

    What made the least sense was the person who was attacking them - a man wearing very strange clothes and with the scarlet robe of the Rising Phoenix Sect wrapped around behind him like a cloak.

    Li Wei couldn¡¯t sense a drop of Qi from this person - which meant that he either had not started cultivation whatsoever, or that he was more than one major realm above him. Meaning that he was not simply a Golden Core cultivator, but a Nascent Soul cultivator!

    The problem was that he couldn¡¯t square either of those scenarios as even being remotely possible.

    If this man had no cultivation, he couldn¡¯t have had the courage to stand before them like this - and his works of strength clearly showed that he was no mortal.

    On the other hand, it was basically impossible for him to be a Nascent Soul cultivator. What would someone of that kind of rank be doing out here - in the boonies? He knew for a fact that the Rising Phoenix sect¡¯s local influence did not extend to beyond the Golden Core realm - for that matter, not even his own Diamond Fortune sect branch had more than one Golden Core member with them.

    And a Golden Core cultivator would¡¯ve definitely thought of this as far below their pay grade, let alone a Nascent Soul cultivator.

    So what gives? The more he thought about the situation, the less it made sense to him.

    Could this man simply have some sort of technique which stopped others from sensing his Qi? Li Wei had not heard of such a technique, but perhaps there was a hidden secret or a treasure that could do so.

    How would such a technique work? Qi was the lifeblood of cultivators, to hide it was like trying to hide your own heartbeat.

    Still, there were ways to slow down one¡¯s heartbeat, were there not?

    Even Li Wei could to some extent suppress his Qi if he so desired - it was not completely far-fetched to believe that one could take this a step further and block other¡¯s from sensing one¡¯s Qi, even if one was just at the Qi Refinement stage.

    Or maybe there was another explanation.

    Li Wei glanced towards the Initiate who he had targeted, and then back towards Tang Ze.

    The two of them looked to be of the same age - though the issue with cultivators was that looks could be quite deceiving. The one he was fighting could be that Initiate¡¯s great-great-great-grandfather for all he knew.

    Following that line of thought, could it be that this Initiate was the descendant of some powerful lineage? And that was why a Nascent Soul cultivator, one of his ancestors, had come to his aide?

    No, Li Wei thought, there was no way this Initiate was some kind of young master. He hadn¡¯t even said ¡®Junior, you dare!¡¯ or ¡®Courting death!¡¯ even once, let alone threatened them with his parental heritage.

    So, Li Wei came to the conclusion that his first idea was most likely the correct one. Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    This man likely had some kind of technique that suppressed his Qi.

    Building on from that thought though, and considering things rationally - he couldn¡¯t keep doing that, now then could he?

    Even if one learned to slow one¡¯s heart rate during meditation, as some monks were able to do, when they went to exercise, surely it would increase again?

    By that same logic, even if this man could suppress his Qi in a resting state, while fighting, he most certainly would have to loosen some of his control over the same.

    And so, Li Wei pointed his weapon at his target - there was only one sure way to find out!

    He charged - though before he could take even three steps forward, he found that the man was no longer standing in front of him, and that a blur had swept out his feet from under him.

    The world did a somersault before Li Wei as he suddenly found his face firmly planted on the ground.

    Roaring, he made to get up, before he heard something that chilled him to the bone.

    ¡°If you don¡¯t give up - I¡¯ll have to resort to my ultimate technique,¡± Tang Ze said. ¡°[Monkey Stealing Peaches!]¡±

    With that, anyone who was in Li Wei¡¯s group who was still somewhat conscious instinctively crossed their legs.

    ¡°No - NO!¡± Li Wei said, all fire in his heart gone. He had heard of that demonic technique, and did not want to be on the receiving end of it.

    More importantly, he had been keeping a close eye on his enemy when they had charged at each other, and he still hadn¡¯t felt a drop of Qi from his enemy, something he would¡¯ve expected if Li Wei¡¯s earlier theory about him suppressing his Qi was true.

    Either he had achieved such master over his Qi that he could keep it suppressed even while fighting - or that Li Wei had not even been enough of a challenge for him to lose control of his Qi.

    Both of these possibilities was equally terrifying.

    Meaning that the odds that this really was a Nascent Soul cultivator suddenly shot up!

    Of course, Tang Ze did not know such a technique. He didn¡¯t know a single technique actually - but in the many web novels he had read back on Earth, these words would have struck fear into many of the characters.

    After all, even if his bluff did not work out- what did Tang Ze have to lose? He was clearly at an overwhelming advantage already, he just wanted to do something to end this fight quickly.

    Tang Ze feared that the longer that they fought, the higher the chance was that they might notice some weakness of his that they would exploit. Without having a deeper understanding of how this world¡¯s cultivation system worked and what kind of techniques he might end up running into, he would always have to err on the side of caution that his enemies might have some way to one-up him.

    ¡°Ah, please forgive me,¡± Li Wei said. While he had his pride, it was not worth risking his jewels. He then tried to give the Initiate a weak smile. ¡°Such small things are just a way of rival sects to build friendship in a way, aren¡¯t they, fellow taoist? My friends and I didn¡¯t mean anything serious with this¡­¡±

    Li Wei was cursing his fate internally however even as he smiled outwardly. This was supposed to be a simple task - why was there someone so strong here?

    ¡°You honestly cannot be trying to pull the ¡®it was just a prank bro¡¯ excuse here,¡± Tang Ze said. While Li Wei didn¡¯t fully understand the context of what Tang Ze was saying, he did understand that what he was saying was not doing a good job at convincing these two.

    ¡°Do you really think we¡¯re going to let you be after what you did to Jin Zhen?¡± Zhang Long asked, cracking his knuckles and giving him a death glare.

    Tang Ze put two and two together to figure out what he was talking about. ¡°N-No! Ah, we would never think of so much as touching a hair on her head!¡± There was a good reason for that - all sects had a good proportion of their members as women, and that proportion was slightly higher in the Diamond Dust sect compared to the others.

    And so if it got out to the others that Li Wei had a habit of forcing himself onto vulnerable women, it was highly likely that a group of his senior sisters would find him one night and then decide to have their way with him - and not in the way that he would¡¯ve liked (though maybe some of his junior brothers might¡¯ve enjoyed even such treatment)!

    That said, if maybe that girl had been a little more attractive he might¡¯ve copped a feel - but that was the main disappointment he had encountered when taking her away!

    The girl was homely to the extreme!

    Was this supposed to be this man¡¯s jade beauty? Didn¡¯t the word ¡®jade beauty¡¯ imply that that woman was actually beautiful?

    The woman they had kidnapped was extremely below-average in looks!

    Li Wei had actually assumed that to be so riled up, she must¡¯ve been this man¡¯s sister instead rather than his lover (though he had heard that in some areas, the two were not necessarily mutually exclusive terms), but it looked like he had been wrong.

    ¡°Calm your heart,¡± Jin Zhen said, putting a comforting hand on Zhang Long¡¯s shoulder. ¡°They tied me up yes¡­ but nothing like that happened¡­¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right!¡± Li Wei said. ¡°I would never! Neither would any of my men! She looks way too much like a pig for us to even think about it, it would be like jumping into gutter because one couldn¡¯t find a swimming pool-¡±

    He did not get any further as Jin Zhen had grabbed a sword and nearly cut his head off with it.

    ¡°Ah, calm down just a moment!¡± Zhang Long said, the roles now reversed - with him trying to calm Jin Zhen down.

    In his eagerness to prove that they had not done anything to the girl, Li Wei might¡¯ve ended up saying a bit too much.

    ¡°Who do you think you¡¯re calling ¡®pig¡¯ you swine! I will fill your sinuses with cow urine!¡± Jin Zhen screamed at him.

    Li Wei hurriedly backed off.

    However, now Tang Ze was faced with another problem that he felt was out of his depth to solve, simply because of a lack of experience on how this world worked.

    What should they do with these people now that he had defeated them?

    The character that Tang Ze was dressed as would¡¯ve just told all of them to scram or handed them over to the authorities - after all, he was a paragon of justice. But just because Tang Ze was dressed as him- did that mean that he had to act like him too?

    His innate sense for his talent hadn¡¯t made some things clear, but did part of making an ¡®accurate¡¯ cosplay also include acting like the character? Would it make Tang Ze more powerful?

    Well, he had gone to rescue this girl, and that didn¡¯t seem to grant him any extra powers, but maybe his acting just needed to be better?

    He would need to experiment on that little bit later.

 Hand Over Everything- We Mean Everything!

    On the other hand- if one took his character¡¯s propensities aside, this was a world rooted in cultivation. And in that case, the usual answer was to completely eradicate your enemies - not even leaving their chickens or dogs alive.

    But, Tang Ze was a normal person from Earth and committing what nearly amounted to cold-blooded murder was not something that he could stomach.

    Then again, this world might have different mores on what was acceptable or not than the ones he¡¯d read of. Perhaps there was someone they should hand over these people to? And it might even be possible that it would cause even more trouble for someone like Zhang Long if they were to execute these people.

    Kindness or cruelty - which path was it?

    ¡°Um, Zhang Long,¡± Tang Ze said. ¡°What should we do with them now?¡± Given the fact that he had no real idea how to proceed, he was fully willing to trust Zhang Long here, who would know better than him what the right answer would be.

    ¡°Alright,¡± Zhang Long said. ¡°Given that you came into our territory and tried to steal from us, I think it¡¯s fair that you give us everything that¡¯s yours.¡±

    ¡°Of course! Of course!¡± Li Wei said, turning out his pockets, and throwing various things onto the ground that Tang Ze did not recognize, but looked to be important.

    ¡°And we¡¯ll be taking your horses too,¡± Zhang Long said.

    ¡°It is my great fortune that my sect¡¯s animals will be taken care of by such talented fighters!¡±

    Tang Ze sighed. He was used to reading about such shameless turnarounds from characters in the web novels he had read back on Earth, but to see it in person gave him secondhand embarrassment. ¡°Of course - tell whoever sent you here that if I ever spot you on this side of the mountains again, I will find whoever sent you, and they will indeed be a victim of my technique. Even if they¡¯re a woman, I¡¯ll shove Yin-Yang Pills down their throats and then use it!¡±

    Once again, he was bluffing as he didn¡¯t even know if such pills existed in this world, but based on how Li Wei¡¯s face paled, he figured he had hit the mark.

    Li Wei was shuddering - it was normal for rival sects to hurl insults at each other. ¡®Courting death!¡¯, ¡®I will slaughter your family till nine generations!¡¯, ¡®I will turn your women into cauldrons!¡¯ - these were all standard things that Li Wei had heard and would wash over him like water off a duck¡¯s back.

    However, what were these lunatics saying? Filling his sinuses with cow urine? Turning the female members of his sect into men and then using [Monkey Stealing Peaches]?

    How had he found himself in such a situation?

    Regardless, the important thing was that he could leave with his life.

    So long as his life was safe, Li Wei could always plot revenge later on in the future.

    As he went to grab some of his unconscious comrades and carry them away, a voice yelled out, ¡°Stop!¡±

    He froze.

    What did they want now?

    ¡°We said give us everything and that means <i>everything</i>,¡± Zhang Long said. ¡°That includes your clothes- you can walk back to your sect naked!¡±

    With all of that wrapped up, Zhang Long and Jin Zhen mounted their freshly stolen liberated horses with the rest of the horses trailing behind them. These horses had been reared as a group, and by instinct chose to stick to each other.

    ¡°Ah, will you not take a mount?¡± Jin Zhen asked Tang Ze.

    ¡°I uh, actually don¡¯t know how to ride a horse,¡± Tang Ze said. It wasn¡¯t like that was something that was useful back on Earth, and he didn¡¯t fully trust them as it was.

    These horses were more intelligent than horses back home, it seemed, but that also meant that they were more crafty. Who knows what kind of horseplay they might be planning? What if they tried to take revenge for their original masters?

    He would honestly just rather fly alongside the other two, though at a low enough altitude so that he could easily speak to them.

    ¡°Oh? That¡¯s rather odd¡­¡± Jin Zhen said. In this world, a man who didn¡¯t know how to ride a horse was like a man who didn¡¯t know how to ride a bicycle back on Earth.

    ¡°I doubt it,¡± Zhang Long said. ¡°Think about it - if you could fly, why would you even want to know how to ride a horse?¡±

    ¡°Ah! That explains it!¡±

    Tang Ze took some time during their journey back to try to learn a bit more about this world.

    At first, Zhang Long was a bit wary - why was someone at his level asking these kinds of questions? Was this some kind of test to see how good that Zhang Long was?Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

    "Oh, I''m not a cultivator yet," Tang Ze explained, when Jin Zhen just asked him straight up why he didn¡¯t know the basics when he was supposedly so powerful.

    "What?! But then - how did you...?" Zhang Long mused. "Are you a mage?" He had heard of people known as mages who used something called ''mana'' to warp the world around them. They were quite different from cultivators - though Zhang Long had not met one before. However, cultivators and mages generally did not get along very well from what he had heard.

    "Ah, no," Tang Ze said. "Actually - maybe what I said earlier wasn''t fully right. I am a cultivator, I guess, based on my talent, but.... not in the normal sense I guess?"

    Tang Ze tried to tell Zhang Long a bit about his talent (though not too much, he didn''t fully trust Zhang Long as of yet). Zhang Long didn''t understand it very well, so instead the topic shifted to how normal cultivation worked in this world.

    Tang Ze had some idea already about things based on the names of what he''d heard up till now - like Qi Condensation which was a realm he''d heard of many times in some of the web novels he used to read, but he wanted to actually know what they meant and if there were any gaps in his knowledge.

    Cultivation was divided into major realms with each major realm being split into ten minor realms - that was rather standard.

    Some of the names were unfamiliar to him though - Zhang Long knew of seven; Qi Condensation, Qi Refinement, Golden Core, Nascent Soul, Eternal Soul, Hinayana, and Mahayana. There might be realms beyond that as well, but there seemed to be no information on them.

    It took Zhang Long a few times to explain things in a way that Tang Ze could understand.

    While Tang Ze had been far from the ideal student back in his old world, he had been reasonably good at mathematics. It was one of the few things that he generally could understand somewhat without having to put in too much effort - which is ultimately why he had been somewhat fond of the subject.

    As such, Tang Ze made his own summary inside his head which was easy for him to understand.

    If each major realm was assigned a value of ''N'' starting with Qi Condensation being N = 1, then each minor realm within that major realm would increase one''s strength by a value of (10 x N/100) percent.

    In other words, at Qi Condensation, going up a minor realm would increase one''s strength by 10%. While this did not sound like much, there was also the fact that this was compounded, meaning that by the time one reached the final realm of Qi Condensation, one would not be twice as strong, but rather, about two and a half times as strong as they would be at the first minor realm.

    Each major realm though, increased one''s strength by a factor of ''N'', as in, going to the initial stage of Qi Refinement from the final stage of Qi Condensation doubled one''s strength.

    So, the difference in strength between a cultivator at the initial minor realm of Qi Condensation and that of one at the initial minor realm of Qi Refining was: 1.1<sup>10</sup> x 2

    Zhang Long had said that the value was about five times, which was correct once Tang Ze tried to do the math himself.

    Then, at Qi Refining, each minor realm was a 20% boost compared to the last one, and going up to Golden Core was a 300% boost on top of that.

    That led to a Golden Core cultivator being sixty times stronger than they had normally started out! And this number went up to over three thousand times one¡¯s base strength at the Nascent Soul stage!

    By the time one reached the Nascent Soul stage, a minor realm was equivalent to forty percent in terms of strength compared to the last minor realm. At that point, even a few minor realms would equal a significant increase in one''s strength and the difference of a single minor realm could greatly influence the outcome of a fight.

    However, going up the realms was also more difficult the more that one progressed, and this too increased in a cumulative fashion rather than linearly. It was said that it was almost harder to go up a minor realm of Golden Core than it was to get from Qi Refining to Golden Core in the first place, which was something that one of Zhang Long''s sect elders had told him once.

    Regarding mages, Zhang Long had very little idea whatsoever on that topic, so he couldn''t tell Tang Ze anything regarding the same.

    However, these ''power adjustments'' in terms of numbers really didn''t really capture the full strength of cultivators - it was more the floor of their abilities rather than the ceiling.

    Starting at the Qi Refinement stage, they could use Qi in their attacks to a minor extent, and for other purposes like healing as well. According to Zhang Long, since the people Tang Ze had beaten were near or beyond the Qi Refinement stage, they could heal things like normal fractures in a matter of days, so long as the wounds had not also been made with Qi.

    Tang Ze didn''t know how to do that, so he guessed that they would soon be back in fighting shape before the week was over.

    At the Golden Core stage, many... interesting things began to happen in terms of the ways that one could use Qi. To the point that a Golden Core cultivator could kill tens of thousands of mortals even at the initial minor realms of Golden Core - and if Zhang Long was to believed, a near infinite number at the higher minor realms of Golden Core.

    "Infinite? Isn''t that saying a bit much?" Tang Ze asked.

    Zhagn Long shook his head. "At that point, they can harden their body passively through Qi to the point where nothing weak can even get through - or they''ll heal faster than any mortal, heck, any Qi Condensation rank cultivator could even hurt them. So yeah, in theory, could take on a limitless number of such foes."

    Regarding the Nascent Soul stage, Zhang Long belonged to an outer branch of the sect, and as such, there were no such people there, though at the sect''s main headquarters you could find a handful of such people.

    As for Eternal Soul realm, only three of the eight sects had even a single person at that level - neither the Rising Phoenix sect nor the Diamond Dust sect were among those three.

    Both the Rising Phoenix sect and the Diamond Dust sect were middling sects in terms of power, they would both be ranked around four or five out of eight as per Zhang Long (though Zhang Long did say that he believed the Rising Phoenix Sect should be ranked higher, he was somewhat of a biased source so Tang Ze chose to take this with a pinch of salt). The Imperial Family also had one Eternal Soul realm cultivator among them, bringing the total number of Eternal Soul cultivators in the country to a total of four.

    The Raswatian Empire had only had four Hinayana realm cultivators in its entire one hundred-thousand-year history - or put more simply, such an individual seemed to emerge about once every twenty-five thousand years; would wander the mortal realm for about ten thousand years, and would go down in the history books of the empire as one who had made great contributions to the country.

    No such cultivator currently lived, however. As for the Mahayana Realm, it was said that it existed, but outside of stories and the like there was no evidence for the existence of a cultivator who had reached it. Extrapolating from what they knew about Hinayana Realm cultivators, however, it was estimated that one would probably arise every half a million to one million years or so.

 Elder He Xuan

    Regarding the rest of the country and the world at large, Zhang Long didn''t have much knowledge regarding them firsthand. He had lived in the region that the Rising Phoenix Sect controlled his whole life, with the majority of that time living in the village he was born in.

    However, from what Tang Ze understood based off of Zhang Long¡¯s descriptions, just the land area that the Rising Phoenix Sect controlled would make it the second or third largest country on Earth.

    The Raswatian Empire was bordered by two countries - the Theocracy of Serragnia which favored mages over cultivators, and the Parthian Empire which treated both about the same.

    All three countries were currently at peace as there was a relative power stalemate between them, though Zhang Long actually knew very little about them - he had rarely concerned himself with anything that fell outside the domain of this outer division of the Rising Phoenix Sect, but any thought that there might be an upcoming war did not even cross his mind as a remote possibility.

    There was also the ocean which bordered a side of the Raswatian Empire, though where they lived was very far inland, and Zhang Long had never seen the sea with his own eyes his life.

    Beyond the sea though, there was the island nation of Maltonetta, but Zhang Long''s knowledge of this was so miniscule as to be practically nonexistent.

    This was a lot of information for Tang Ze to take in. It was also apparently not even a fraction of what cultivation was truly about, but he couldn''t be expected to learn about that so quickly, now then could he?

    As an analogy, it was like he had only just learned to count while other people were already doing trigonometry. If he tried to understand things on their level, it would be a pointless endeavor that would only serve to confuse him. It would be like trying to drink from a fireman¡¯s hose.

    He would need to start at the basics - the very basics. The few lines he had read in some web novels back on Earth likely didn''t amount to anything when compared to what actual cultivation entailed, if they were even slightly accurate to this world at all.

    "So... about the Rising Phoenix sect," Tang Ze said after some contemplation. "How would one go about becoming a member?"

    He had thought of joining for the simple reason that he had just spawned into this world without any real backing.

    His body was still the same from back home, and certainly did not belong to any ancient bloodline. Forget that, he didn¡¯t have any family here in this world.

    And without some kind of backing, whether from family or from a sect, it was nearly impossible to move up in this world, or so he understood. As a matter of fact, extrapolating on his knowledge from back home, familial ties were extremely important in this kind of day and age. Without any, he would be a sitting duck and face problems at nearly every turn.

    He also needed time to get more materials and the like for making costumes, and someone to teach him about the world while he got stronger.

    Not to mention, he needed somewhere where he would be safe from threats like wild beasts and rogue cultivators as well.

    And if he was going to join a sect, well, Diamond Dust was likely already out given what he had done, so it made sense to go with somewhere he might already have an ''in'' with so to speak - depending on how much clout Zhang Long had in the sect.

    "Ah? You? Wish to join?" Zhang Long asked. He really hadn''t bought Tang Ze''s story completely given how outlandish what he had heard was, but the more that Tang Ze asked questions that even a toddler would know the answers to, the more he had a suspicion that he wasn''t faking this.

    Obviously, had he genuinely been a Nascent Soul cultivator there was no question as to whether or not he could get into a sect - they would on the contrary be fighting over each other to recruit him!

    But, that did not seem to be the case.

    "Well, if you don''t have any family members or anyone else you know within the sect..." Zhang Long began. "Well, there is a fee and an entrance exam, let me ask the division elder if you can take it at some point."

    A fee? Tang Ze did not have a coin to his name.

    "Ah, don''t worry about the fee," Zhang Long said. "What you got from them should more than enough cover it. As for the exam... again, I need to ask around." Zhang Long honestly did not have much influence in the sect - he was just an Initiate, which was the lowest level within the sect hierarchy. A reference from an Initiate wouldn¡¯t carry much weight.

    To advance from an Initiate, one either needed to either reach Qi Refinement stage or give thirty years of service to the sect. After that they would become a regular member, and could try to vie for a position like that of a sect prefect. To become a sect elder required one to be at the Golden Core realm.

    Still, having a reference from Zhang Long was better than him just randomly showing up at the sect door with nothing else in hand.

    "What are you doing?" Jin Zhen asked, curious as to why Tang Ze was examining the clothes they had looted from the Diamond Fortune''s Sect so closely.

    "I wanted to see if there was anything that I could use," Tang Ze said, trying to get a feel for the fabric. "What are these things made of?" This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    "Silk, and if they''re especially of high quality, they''ll be woven in with Qi between the threads or made from special Heavenly Silkworms - though I doubt small fry like them had the money for things like that," Zhang Long said.

    "Hmm..." Tang Ze said. He wanted to work on the costume he had right now, and spandex was what you would really want for something like it, though he doubted he could get something like that in this world. Other synthetic fabrics like nylon or polyester would also be out of the question.

    Silk could be dyed to somewhat look the same, but it wouldn''t feel the same, and Tang Ze had a feeling that it wouldn''t count as a very good costume.

    How exactly did the intricacies of his talent work? Was it more important that his cosplay look like the real thing, or that it was made of material that was close to the original thing?

    Tang Ze was not a stranger to trying to make costumes himself - he had had an interest in doing so ever since he had made masks out of paper back when he was four.

    However, he was not used to making them entirely from scratch. While repairing tears or making some alterations were within the scope of what he could do, he tended to outsource the harder parts to other people, or buy them from suppliers.

    Such luxuries would not be present in this world, so he would need to learn to be his own tailor if he intended to use his talent to its full extent.

    ...

    How strange...

    It felt so strange for Tang Ze to want to make costumes again. Who knew that his experience with the same would end up being so useful?

    He had nearly given up on his hobby completely back on Earth. How long had it been since he had last indulged in it?

    Of course!

    Two years.

    Two very long, painful years filled with regret.

    "Is something wrong?" Zhang Long asked. Tang Ze¡¯s face had suddenly taken the expression of one at the funeral of a very dear friend.

    "No, I was just ah - reminded of something unpleasant," Tang Ze answered, shaking his head.

    They reached Zhang Long''s village by sundown, after which he said he had to go back to his sect to finish his delivery and his mission - though he said he would try to put in a good word for Tang Ze when he got there, and send word back if the sect might be amenable to taking him in.

    During such time, Tang Ze spent time with Jin Zhen''s family, who were more than happy to temporarily take him in.

    Word did get back to him eventually that the Rising Phoenix Sect was willing to consider taking him in as a disciple, and he needed to start getting ready - as a week later was when he had the sect entrance exam!

    His days were filled with working tirelessly on his costume. Fabrics and dyes were not easily available where they were - but he had to try his best.

    A week later, Elder He Xuan watched from a mountain top. He cast an imposing figure, being one of the two Golden Core cultivators in this branch of the Rising Phoenix sect. He was also the branch elder, meaning he had total authority over this branch.

    This was not the usual mountain that the Rising Phoenix sect used for the sect entrance exam - they¡¯d normally use a low hill or something less difficult.

    However, word had reached him of this particular man¡¯s feats, and he wished to see how he would deal with something like this.

    The mountain by itself was nothing too significant - a man could make his way to the top within two days or so with ease. Even a mortal could do it, provided that they could avoid the myriad number of beasts that were living on it.

    That was to say nothing of the number of traps that Elder Xe Huan had had the Rising Phoenix Sect members laid out for this person who wished to join.

    Moreover, Tang Ze would not be given two days to reach the peak- he had to do so by sunset. All the while avoiding the wild animals and the traps that had been set up by the sect.

    There were several Qi Refining rank cultivators lurking on the mountain as well - they were not there to obstruct Tang Ze in any capacity, but would intervene should his life be put in danger.

    Elder He Xuan was not looking to kill the man, if he was indeed as interesting as Zhang Long made him out to be.

    Alongside Elder He Xuan was Zhang Long, who had been a bit surprised when he had been asked to be here.

    For one, it was very odd for Elder He Xuan to supervise an entrance test himself. Usually he would send one of the prefects to do so instead as he had more important things to do.

    As it was, Golden Core cultivators were the pillars upon which the sects were built. They were strong enough to actually matter significantly, and were also numerous enough to fill in various positions over the Rising Phoenix Sect¡¯s vast domain. Qi Refinement and below level cultivators were too weak for some tasks, and Nascent Soul and higher ranked cultivators were so few in number it was impossible for them to cover a large area. Not to mention they were often tied up in difficult tasks or had gone into seclusion to cultivate for long stretches of time which could occasionally ben as long as several decades.

    If one was good at managerial tasks, they could apply for and reach the position of prefect after they had become a regular member - but the real power always lay in the hands of the elders, who were at minimum Golden Core cultivators. Nascent Soul and higher ranked cultivators, although important, were so few in number and rather inaccessible to the ordinary members and people, so it was the Golden Core cultivators who oversaw the majority of the actual functions of the sect.

    Not to mention that it was at Golden Core that one¡¯s lifespan truly began to extend significantly.

    The best Qi Refinement cultivators could live for about one hundred and eighty years if they were careful, while at Golden Core lifespans averaged around five hundred years. This meant that Golden Core cultivators were also around for far longer than those of the lower cultivation realms.

    As such, they were rather busy even if they weren¡¯t division heads - so why would Elder He Xuan come out to oversee this entrance test himself?

    Then again, he had been rather interested earlier when Zhang Long had described how Tang Ze¡¯s powers worked.

    ¡°Hmm¡­¡± Elder He Xuan had said at the time. ¡°I have heard of something somewhat similar - there are some tribes near the border who make animal masks, some of which carry the property of granting one the abilities of said animals when worn. This seems to take things a step further, though.¡±

    Maybe Elder He Xuan just wanted to see Tang Ze¡¯s powers in action?

    Well, Zhang Long felt slightly uneasy right then. Because he had ¡®overlooked¡¯ one fact when describing Tang Ze¡¯s abilities in his report.

    Tang Ze walked to the starting point.

    He had worked almost night and day on this new costume over the past week - and had verified via Zhang Long that nothing he was going to do was against the sect rules.

    He could wear whatever he wanted during the entrance test, so the costume was fine.

    Overall, Tang Ze was not truly satisfied with what he had made.

    The cape was the easiest part - just requiring a large red cloth. But the rest of the actual costume as well as the symbol on the torso - that had required more work from him.

    For one, the years of him not working on this hobby had showed when he was trying to make the costume - he was out of practice, in other words.

    He also did not have some of the reference materials he would have back home to use while making it, and though he had a good idea of it from his memory, he constantly wished he would just have a picture to compare it to.

 Sect Entrance Exam

    Additionally, the tailors here, while helpful, did not fully understand what Tang Ze needed.

    The barber had been a bit more helpful. ¡®Are you sure you want me to cut your hair even shorter?¡¯ the barber had asked, to which Tang Ze had nodded. His hair was a bit overgrown as he hadn¡¯t had a haircut sometime back on Earth, but nowhere near the level to which men in this world kept it. His hairstyle needed to be modified as well for the cosplay though, not to mention, he could always regrow his hair back longer as seemed to be the custom in this world.

    Thankfully his hair was already black, meaning that hair dye or a wig was not necessary. He also didn¡¯t need contacts as his eyes matched the color needed as well. But he had had difficulty assembling some of the other parts.

    Still, the overall costume was¡­ very lackluster from his own point of view. The symbol on the chest was slightly off-center and something about it seemed wrong though he couldn¡¯t quite put his finger on what that was. A lack of references likely contributed to that.

    The boots were also not made of what he would¡¯ve wanted, but he could not find the required materials in this world. They were also out of shape and not the right fit for him, with him having to tie them to his feet with ropes so they wouldn¡¯t fly off them.

    His costume was basically held together with duct tape and prayers - not actual duct tape mind you, that might¡¯ve been useful, but it was not as structurally sound as he¡¯d have hoped.

    It could probably not handle a large amount of strain, which was fine if this was back on Earth and he was only doing something like a photoshoot, but it was important for Tang Ze that his costumes be durable and easy to move about in, two things that this one lacked.

    Not to mention there would be no photo editing he could do to make things look better in post. A lot of the more impressive cosplays you find online definitely have a touch of special effects added to them.

    It was clear that even his natural talent thought that this was not a very good imitation, as he had access to only fifty-five percent of the character¡¯s powers.

    Still, it was far better than simply taking a red towel and wrapping that around his neck for sure. And even around half of this character¡¯s strength, well, it would take him very far. So long as his costume held up, that is.

    The entrance test began the moment the sun crested the horizon, and as Tang Ze basked in its glory as it cleared the horizon, he tried to put the doubts about his costume behind him.

    Yes, he might¡¯ve not been able to make what he really wanted to - but it wasn¡¯t like this was the end of the road.

    He could improve - no, he would improve on the design!

    He would find better materials!

    Not only that, but he would continue to add the strength of these characters to his own so he could use them when he wasn¡¯t even wearing his costume. If he could cultivate on top of that, who knows what the limits of his power would be?

    After all, wasn¡¯t the best part of being reincarnated like this the fact that he could start over? Even if he hadn¡¯t been proud of what he had done in his last life, he could look forward to a new start in this one.

    And with that, his feet began to hover off the ground, and as the sun completed its climb, basking the world in its radiance, Tang Ze launched himself into the air.

    ¡°What?!¡± Elder He Xuan exclaimed. He looked over at Zhang Long, who was trying to appear as innocent as possible. ¡°Zhang Long, did you know about this?¡±

    Zhang Long shook his head. ¡°Elder He Xuan, I am as shocked as you are!¡± If he had told people that Tang Ze could fly, thereby making all the preparations they had done for this test meaningless, they would have found some other way to test Tang Ze.

    And that might¡¯ve been a test where Tang Ze¡¯s powers could not help him.

    This however, ensured Tang Ze¡¯s success. Which is why Zhang Long had chosen to omit that crucial piece of information in the first place.

    Tang Ze actually ended up vastly overshooting his mark and ended up far above the clouds in a single breath¡¯s time - the disparity in power that this costume provided compared to before was immense and so he was not used to it, and he took a minute to control himself and land at the mountain¡¯s peak.

    And with that, he was done with the sect''s entrance test!

    Elder He Xuan, once he got over his shock, had a sordid expression on his face. If Tang Ze or Zhang Long were able to sense Elder He Xuan¡¯s Qi, they would sense the man¡¯s Qi fluctuating wildly at this point.

    But neither Tang Ze nor Zhang Long could not feel anything. Zhang Long, because his cultivation level of Qi Condensation did not allow him to sense the Qi of those at the Golden Core realm, and Tang Ze couldn¡¯t as he had no practice in the matter.This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

    As He Xuan took a deep breath, curiosity overcame his initial irritation at having gone through the trouble of setting all of this only for Tang Ze man to leap over all the obstacles laid out before him like it was nothing in a heart beat.

    Elder He Xuan had to admit, the man¡¯s clothes were rather odd. Not in what they were made of - he had initially suspected that there might be some trick involving Qi, suspecting that the clothes were like magical armor or enchanted raiments one could find, though he could feel no Qi between the individual threads.

    When Elder He Xuan had come into contact with one of the wandering tribes near the border during his earlier days, he hadn¡¯t felt a drop of Qi from their masks either.

    They were works of great craftsmanship, undoubtedly so, with the tracings on the wood carvings making them leak an eerie but exalted presence nonetheless. In addition they were adorned with the hair and occasionally bits of fur of the animals they were supposed to represent.

    However, when one of the tribesmen had put one on his face, it was as if the mask rippled into life, and Elder He Xuan could actually feel the presence of a lion behind the man! All of a sudden, He Xuan felt a burst of Qi emitting from the man as if a lamp had been turned on bathing a formerly dark room in light.

    It was not so here, however.

    Elder He Xuan could not feel anything at all from Tang Ze¡¯s clothes. There was no sensation of power or strength emanating from him. And yet, they were supposed to be his source of strength?

    Tang Ze looked as he was - a guy who was cosplaying as a western-based superhero in a world of Qi and cultivation, standing before the elder of a sect.

    In other words, he looked ridiculous - and was closer to seeming like a court jester than a powerful cultivator.

    There was truly nothing exceptional about this Tang Ze - that was what Elder He Xuan¡¯s spiritual senses told him.

    And yet, Elder He Xuan could not deny that he had seen him soar up into the sky just now.

    Rather than censure Tang Ze or let his true feeling be known, He Xuan gave a gentle smile instead and said, ¡°Ah, well done Junior Tang Ze! I am quite impressed by your performance! To have cleared this test in so short a span of time - this was completely unexpected! A new record for the sect, as a matter of fact! One I don¡¯t think will ever be beaten mind you¡­¡±

    ¡°I thank you for your kind words, Elder He Xuan,¡± Tang Ze said, cupping his hands and bowing just as Jin Zhen had taught him to.

    ¡°Now, as a formality, I would just like to examine your dantian before you enter our sect?¡± Elder He Xuan said rather casually, though Zhang Long¡¯s eyes widened at the request.

    The dantian was the key origin of a cultivator¡¯s Qi, to ask to examine it was nearly tantamount to asking to examine another cultivator¡¯s privates, though in such a situation, it was difficult for Tang Ze to say ¡®no.¡¯

    Tang Ze, however, really didn¡¯t understand the significance of this and merely nodded as Elder He Xuan put a hand forward and onto Tang Ze¡¯s lower abdomen. Tang Ze, a newcomer to this world, figured this was just part and parcel of joining the sect.

    By examining Tang Ze closely, even if he was multiple major realms above Elder He Xuan, Elder He Xuan would be able to detect the flow of Qi within him.

    It was only at a distance where people could be fooled, at such a close range, and as long as Tang Ze wasn¡¯t doing something funny to obfuscate his own talent, Elder He Xuan would have no problems with his little interrogation.

    Elder He Xuan¡¯s eyes widened at what he had just found.

    He found¡­ absolutely nothing!It appeared that Tang Ze had not even awakened his lower dantian, nor had opened any of his meridians!

    If Elder He Xuan did not know any better, he would have guessed that what was standing before him was a corpse - there was no detectable Qi inside this person at all!

    And yet, this person was breathing, and He Xuan could feel a pulse, so they were not some zombie-like creature either!

    Elder He Xuan would normally interpret this as meaning that Tang Ze was, as a matter of fact, doing something that stopped such surveillance methods like what he was doing, but then he decided to take a second look.

    Elder He Xuan looked further, and it was then that he found the tiniest spark of Qi - it truly was a spark, it could not even be compared to the dying flame of a candle - that was just how weak it was!

    In other words, He Xuan was not being deceived with some kind of technique - it was just that Tang Ze barely had any Qi!

    This was nearly inconceivable!

    ¡°You are¡­ a Zeroth Realm individual?¡± Elder He Xuan said once he had found the right words, though they still felt odd in his mouth.

    When children were born into this world, their bodies would normally start accumulating Qi from their environment in their lower dantian until it was filled, and after this they would gradually prime their meridians to be ready to enter the first minor realm of Qi Condensation.

    This realm that existed before Qi Condensation - well, it couldn¡¯t really be called a proper ¡®realm¡¯ in and of itself, but this state- was sometimes called the ¡®Zeroth Realm.¡¯ Few people even had heard of this stage because virtually no adult was at that level.

    Babies, by the time they were around one year of age or even sooner if they were born to prodigal parents or in a place where the Qi in the air was thicker, would have their lower dantians completely filled by that time.

    As for priming the meridians - that might take a bit longer, say, until one was four or five. But nearly everyone finished this stage by the time they were seven! It was not even something that had to be done consciously, so it was impossible to mess it up.

    Tang Ze however, had not been born in this world. And as such, he had not the time to develop these parts of his body, and had to start from scratch.

    Granted, he was older, and this process would theoretically be far faster than it would be for a newborn or child, but it would still take time.

    He had only been in this world for about a week, after all.

    ¡°Tell me something,¡± Elder He Xuan said. ¡°Were you ever injured in a way that reset your meridians?¡± It was theoretically possible that a major injury or exposure to some kind of poison could derail one¡¯s cultivation and send it back to the Zeroth Realm, though Elder He Xuan had never heard of such a case in his entire career. Granted, anything that could drop it all the way down to the Zeroth Realm should¡¯ve also killed the cultivator in question, but stranger things had happened in this world.

    ¡°I¡­ don¡¯t think so?¡± Tang Ze said. He didn¡¯t even fully comprehend how the meridians worked or even what they were, but he was relatively certain that nothing had happened to damage his.

    ¡°That¡­¡± Elder He Xuan began to say. Even if one was just passively absorbing Qi from the environment, much like a plant, they should have been far beyond this level. Going beyond the Zeroth Realm¡­ it was as simple as learning how to properly take a dump!

    Anyone who had not reached this level was clearly a hopeless cause.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± Elder He Xuan said. ¡°I know that you technically passed this exam, but we cannot accept you into the Rising Phoenix sect.¡±

 Elder He Xuan, Please Reconsider!

    The result of the entrance test was not what ultimately made the decision whether one could join or not - one could fail it, but if they gave off a good enough of a performance, the prefect could still pass them.

    The reverse was also true, but almost never happened.

    This was one of those ¡®almost never happened¡¯ scenarios playing out however.

    ¡°What!?¡± both Zhang Long and Tang Ze screamed simultaneously.

    ¡°You simply do not have any talent as a cultivator,¡± Elder He Xuan said. He explained to both of them what the Zeroth Realm was.

    Tang Ze began to understand why it was that this was going on. Elder He Xuan didn¡¯t understand the root cause, but he did. It was because he was from Earth and his body had not had time to acclimatize to the higher Qi density of this world! ¡°Ah- but wait, I can improve! I want to learn!¡± Wasn¡¯t the point of joining a sect to learn to cultivate? So why was he being barred from entry because he had made so little progress?

    While Tang Ze was partially correct, even back on Earth, say, for example, you wished to go to Art School to become a painter - you would still be required to demonstrate some proficiency in painting before they would let you in. They would most definitely not take someone who didn¡¯t even know how to hold a paintbrush the right way! A creative writing class wouldn¡¯t take in someone who was just learning their letters, either, for example.

    It was for a similar reason that Elder He Xuan was rejecting him.

    Elder He Xuan shook his head. ¡°I¡¯m afraid any resources spent on you would be the equivalent of a ship tossing its cargo into the ocean.¡±

    ¡°But, Elder He Xuan, look at how strong he is - and he can fly too!¡± Zhang Long said.

    He Xuan replied, ¡°Strong he may be.¡± He then used a technique - [Gravity Field] which increased the effect of gravity around an area, and Zhang Long fell to one knee. Tang Ze remained standing, able to withstand the increased gravitational force with ease.

    Yes, Tang Ze was clearly strong. But¡­

    ¡°[Qi Binding Field]!¡± He Xuan said, a technique which worked similarly to [Gravity Field], but instead bound one¡¯s Qi compared to the user''s own.

    With that, Tang Ze immediately fell to the ground. His near-indestructibility thanks to his costume meant that it didn¡¯t hurt, but he found that he could not move.

    ¡°Strength is not just physical strength,¡± He Xuan said. ¡°There are many other forms of attacks - ones that target karma, ones that target the soul, and so on. Given this, just being strong is not enough. You will soon be the victim of a weak spiritual technique which will tear you to pieces if you cannot cultivate no matter how strong you are - and that is the point of a sect, to cultivate! If you are strong physically, join a martial arts dojo or a mercenary group - both might willingly take you! But the sect cannot afford to waste resources on one such as you who is so behind regarding their cultivation.¡± He said this with a gentle but firm tone that implied there was no room for bargaining. ¡°However, I will refund your exam fee. You may rest assured of that. If you manage to progress in your cultivation on your own, however, we may reconsider letting you join in a few years.¡± Elder He Xuan had no obligation to return the exam fees, even if someone failed their fee would be forfeit, but in this case, he felt that that was a reasonable thing to do.

    Had it been anyone else¡¯s future on the line, Zhang Long would not have dared to speak up to question Elder He Xuan¡¯s decision.

    But this was Tang Ze, who he owed a great debt to. If he kept his peace right now and remained silent, it would definitely haunt him for the future!

    ¡°Elder He Xuan,¡± Zhang Long said. ¡°The Novice Tournament is coming up soon in around a year, and Tang Ze would do well in some of the categories. For that alone, can¡¯t we say that any investment in him is worth it?¡±

    Elder He Xuan¡¯s eyebrows furrowed.

    In this world, resources were not evenly distributed - it could be said that the distribution of resources was far more skewed and uneven in this world than back on even the most unequal nation on Earth. If an economist were to sit down and calculate the Raswatian Empire¡¯s Gini coefficient, it would probably come as close to one as was possible.

    The philosophy of this world was not ¡®each according to each individual¡¯s needs¡¯ but instead ¡®each according to each individual¡¯s abilities.¡¯

    In cultivation, the most important thing was resources. Theoretically speaking, even if one lacked talent and was the most hopeless cripple in the empire, if one had all the resources in the world they could still soar to heights that someone with plenty of talent could not.

    Of course, such a thing was only theoretical.

    Practically speaking, those with talent rose to the top, became powerful, and then hoarded resources, becoming even more powerful thanks to their hoarding, and so on and so forth.

    It was the ultimate ¡®rich get richer¡¯ scheme.The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

    The Raswatian Empire followed this principle as well.

    The vast majority of territory in the empire was managed by the Imperial Family themselves. They had many areas and resources which were considered to be national treasures when it came to cultivation.

    Such areas were places where the Qi in the air was much thicker, or had plants which made excellent pills, or were the territories of very friendly and powerful spiritual beasts. There was also the matter of certain scriptures that helped with cultivation or described powerful techniques.

    The Imperial Family took a good portion of the best of these, of course, but there was still quite a bit left over for them to distribute to the sects.

    But which sects should get them?

    In line with the philosophy of giving resources to those who could utilize them best, the better sects would get better resources.

    Of course, this was not done simply in line with philosophy - but also from a pragmatic political perspective.

    If the eight sects united, they could easily overthrow the emperor. Yet, by keeping these resources for themselves and distributing them out as rewards, the Imperial Family could play the sects against each other.

    If ever a few sects rose up in rebellion, the Imperial Family could bribe the other sects with rewards to turn on those. In this way, the Imperial Family could keep itself in power, while keeping the individual sects under its thumb. And in exchange for these cultivation resources, the Imperial Family could demand the service of the sects in matters such as national security and the like.

    Currently, none of the sects was strong enough that they could significantly challenge multiple others, and the only time that had not been so since the empire¡¯s founding were the time periods when a Hinayana realm cultivator existed. The first Hinayana realm cultivator was the first emperor himself who had founded the country, and the three others that followed had also left their marks on history before departing this world.

    The sects of course, could not compete with each other directly by fighting without causing untold amounts of destruction and collateral damage. What was the point of being king if all that was left was a huge pile of rubble? So the sects competed in other ways.

    The tournaments were the best example of how sects were often judged - there were two kinds; the Advanced Tournament, which was for Golden Core cultivators only, and the Novice Tournament for Qi Condensation and Qi Refining stages.

    If one was Nascent Soul or higher, one was barred from these tournaments, though such cultivators contributed to their sects in other ways, and would often train the lower-ranked members for these tournaments since they could not directly participate.

    The Advanced Tournament was held every twenty years, while the Novice Tournament was held every five years. Naturally, the results of the Advanced Tournament held more weight, but the resources distributed during the Novice Tournament were nothing to scoff at either.

    There were twelve events in the Novice Tournament, some of which could be won by mere feats of strength.

    If Tang Ze won the first spot in even one of those events, forget about the rewards, just the amount of face that would be gained by the sect would be worth the investment of a hundred Initiates.

    Initiates of the sects often grumbled that they were worked like donkeys, being handed the majority of ¡®scut work¡¯ by the sect, which were things that the higher-ranking members of the sect did not want to do.

    The fact of the matter though, was that the Initiates were - on a pure profit and loss basis, a net negative for the sect.

    The sect spent more to rear and nurture them than they got in return, it was only starting at the higher minor realms of Qi Refining that it could be said that the sect members contributed more to the sect than they took - and it was the Golden Core and Nascent Soul realm cultivators which really contributed to a sect¡¯s financial success.

    Still, that was from a simple profit/loss perspective - but the fact remained that not even Eternal Soul cultivators endured forever. One could not hope to reap the harvest of a field if one did not water and tend to the seeds first. A sect that did not invest in its Initiates would sooner or later, go extinct.

    Of course, one would not invest in a broken-down car to fix it up when there were alternatives available. So why recruit Tang Ze then?

    Yet, one also needed to look at potential. However, most of the time, those with true potential had already accomplished much by the time that

    ¡°So, you are saying that in the long run, he is worth having?¡± Elder He Xuan asked Zhang Long.

    ¡°Indeed- Brother Tang Ze is like a gambling den rock which is of the lowest grade on first glance, but that which has a celestial treasure hidden within!¡± Zhang Long said.

    Elder He Xuan paused for a moment - Zhang Long had made that analogy likely because he had heard of his past of working in a rock gambling den in his earlier days. How did he know that though?

    Ah, that was right -Elder He Xuan had told Zhang Long that himself when Zhang Long had first joined, though he was a bit surprised that the Initiate still remembered that small of a detail after so many years.

    Either that, or this comparison came about as a matter of a mere fluke, though Elder He Xuan doubted that was the case. Zhang Long had shown in multiple instances that he possessed the qualities that would be valuable in a future prefect - and if he could reach the Golden Core stage, an adept elder.

    More likely than not, Zhang Long¡¯s words had been carefully crafted to appeal to Elder He Xuan.

    ¡°I see,¡± He Xuan said. He then turned to Tang Ze. ¡°I will let you know, young man, that we will not go easier on you in any way because of your¡­ condition. You will still be expected to carry your weight.¡±

    The sects distributed resources in their own systems by the same principle of ¡®those who can utilize resources better, deserve more resources.¡¯

    So, Tang Ze would not get any extra help to bring his cultivation up to par.

    This was rather unlike back on Earth - where, had Tang Ze been a weak student, a school would¡¯ve endeavored to get him help in the form of remedial classes, more one-on-one attention, etc.

    He had never been that bad of a student in his previous life, though he knew many who did end up getting this kind of treatment. This was in line with a school¡¯s fundamental idea of lifting everyone to a minimum basic standard. Here though, it was either sink or swim!

    If you wanted something, you had to prove that you were deserving of it first! In other words, geniuses were the ones who received disproportionate amounts of care via the sect.

    ¡°I understand,¡± Tang Ze said, just relieved for now that he had gotten in.

    Elder He Xuan nodded. ¡°Zhang Long, your squad has a missing member, correct?¡±

    ¡°That is correct, Elder He Xuan,¡± Zhang Long said. He was quite relieved that Elder He Xuan had listened to what he had said- if it had been some other elder, or even one of the more arrogant and prideful prefects, they would¡¯ve been enraged at the mere fact that Zhang Long had dared to question one of their decisions in the first place, whether it was correct or not.

    But, thankfully Elder He Xuan was not like that.

    ¡°Then he will join as a probationary Initiate in your squad,¡± Elder He Xuan said. ¡°I expect you to properly guide him.¡±

    ¡°That I will, Elder He Xuan!¡±

 Meeting The Squad

    Elder He Xuan turned towards Tang Ze. ¡°Out of curiosity, what exactly is this¡­ costume of yours supposed to depict?¡± It looked like nothing Elder He Xuan had ever seen - even in paintings or murals.

    ¡°A hero from where I come from who is renowned for his strength and sense of justice,¡± Tang Ze replied.

    He could not speak the actual name of this hero, or else the Heavenly Court [Copyright Lawyers] would strike down the world, burn it to countless pieces, and then after scattering these pieces to the wind seal away the world in a state where no soul could get in or go out.

    He Xuan nodded. ¡°Let us hope you live up to his name then, and not just his strength.¡±

    He made a note of these two- both of them he had no doubt carried great potential to rise in the sect hierarchy.

    Tang Ze, because of this strange ability of his. Who knows - maybe he would never go beyond being a muscle head and remain a frog in a well, never being able to compete with Golden Core cultivators. Or, perhaps he was a hidden dragon, and would soon soar to the heavens.

    Zhang Long, though average in cultivation talent, did show signs of having a good head on his shoulders, was diligent, and was able to lead others well. The sect did not just need powerful people, but managerial talent like his, for lack of a better term, was also invaluable.

    However, the truth of the matter was that Elder He Xuan had not agreed to let Tang Ze in because of what Tang Ze might accomplish in the upcoming Novice Tournament, though if he could do well that would be a nice bonus.

    No, there was another matter entirely that Elder He Xuan thought that Tang Ze could potentially be useful in solving.

    ¡®If he is strong even now, if he can increase his base strength via cultivating, could it be possible that he could get strong enough to actually be able to move that rock?¡¯ Elder He Xuan contemplated. ¡®Well, it¡¯s unlikely, but so long as the chance is there, what¡¯s there for me to lose? And if he does actually manage to come through¡­¡¯ Elder He Xuan smiled in his heart at the thought.

    There was a reason Elder He Xuan had decided to pair Zhang Long and Tang Ze up like this though - because he was curious as to not only what each could accomplish on their own, but how far they could fly together.

    After all, he would need to keep a close eye on Tang Ze¡¯s growth. And Zhang Long was good and loyal to the sect, Elder He Xuan had no doubt that he could use Zhang Long as his watchman in that regard.

    With a flourish, He Xuan left on a flying carpet as the others were left to make their way on foot back to the sect.

    This division of the Rising Phoenix sect was located, like most divisions, on a cluster of mountaintops.

    This was partially for militaristic purposes, given that it was easier to defend them, and also from a cultivation perspective, where the density of Qi tended to be higher at higher altitudes compared to the plains.

    Of course, there was also the status that one showed of one¡¯s station by staying at a higher altitude, literally towering above the common folk.

    There were actually three buildings in this sect division, one was the main building for the administrative branch of the sect which was on the highest mountain, with two smaller buildings on its neighboring peaks.

    It was not usually possible to go from one of the buildings to another without descending the mountainside first and then going up another mountain, though the main building did have some apparatuses that could bridge the gaps on special occasions for special people.

    Not that either Zhang Long or Tang Ze needed such things, when Tang Ze could easily soar to the mountaintop.

    ¡°Are you alright, Senior Brother Zhang Long?¡± Tang Ze asked teasingly as they reached the gates of the building where they would be staying. It was one of the buildings located on a lower mountaintop.

    Zhang Long shook his head. ¡°Again - just call me Zhang Long. Or Brother Zhang if it comes to it. Come on, there¡¯s quite a bit that I need to show you before tomorrow morning.¡±

    Tang Ze was a probationary Initiate, which was where all Initiates started out, meaning that for one year he would be working under the direct supervision of a squad of proper Initiates.

    He could be promoted past this probationary state by either serving for one year, reaching the third minor realm of Qi Condensation, or by completing a significant act of valor that would signify he was ready for more serious duties.

    The third minor realm of Qi Condensation was not difficult to reach - to put things into perspective, some non-cultivators could reach that minor realm without any resources or guidance simply by passively absorbing the Qi in the world and meditating.

    This would take the entirety of their lifespans for mortals to accomplish, but there were some Initiates who had already passed that bar before even the entrance test. Such people either had substantial talent, or excellent resources and backing from their families. For Tang Ze however, who was at the Zeroth Realm, this was a pipe dream.This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    As for a ¡®significant act of valor¡¯ that was determined by a prefect, though there were no clear rules on what this meant.

    Being on probation meant that Tang Ze did not get a sash, and his place within the sect was technically tenuous as he could be kicked out without any recourse during this period. There were some other privileges he could not exercise as well.

    All that didn¡¯t matter too much to Tang Ze, he had expected to start out at the bottom of the totem pole, after all.

    What did bother him slightly was that they were expected to wear the official sect uniform at nearly all times.

    This was an issue for someone like him who got his powers from dressing up as other people - but he would try to find a workaround for that later.

    ¡°This is the rest of my group,¡± Zhang Long said after a short tour of the building, leading Tang Ze towards the living quarters for Initiates.

    Being Initiates, they shared a common living space as a squad, though they had separate bedrooms.

    ¡°Hello everyone!¡± Zhang Long announced as he walked in.

    There were two other people lounging in the common area. One of them was working with a mortar and pestle, while the other one was writing something on a scroll.

    Both of them stopped what they were doing to look at Zhang Long, and then at Tang Ze. These two both wore white sashes on their waists, meaning that both of them were proper Initiates, and were not probationary Initiates like Tang Ze.

    ¡°So, this is our new squad member!¡± Zhang Long said, pointing to Tang Ze. ¡°I told you about him - Tang Ze!¡±

    ¡°Is he the one¡­?¡±

    ¡°Yes!¡± Zhang Long said. ¡°Alright, Tang Ze, that person over there is Yin Tiang,¡± he said, pointing to the person who was working with a mortar and pestle, ¡°he really likes alchemy - which is why he¡¯s trying to make ah¡­ something I guess?¡±

    ¡°Dragonroot Powder,¡± Yin Tiang said, exasperated while rolling his eyes, as if this was something he had told Zhang Long multiple times over and over.

    ¡°Right! That! And that person over there is Chen Yu,¡± Zhang Long said, pointing to the person who lazily lifted a hand in salutation.

    ¡°Well met, Brother Yin Tiang, Brother Chen Yu,¡± Tang Ye said.

    ¡°No need for the ¡®brother¡¯ part, we are all squad mates, aren¡¯t we?¡± Yin Tiang said. ¡°With that said - when do we proceed with the hazing, Squad Leader?¡±

    This question was directed at Zhang Long who frowned and then sighed. ¡°Come on guys, after all that Tang Ze did, you can¡¯t be serious about the hazing thing, right? Not to mention not only is he strong, but he knows [Monkey Stealing Peaches] too.¡±

    ¡°Uh¡­¡± Tang Ze was about to point out that he couldn¡¯t use that - why did Zhang Long think he could when he knew that Tang Ze couldn¡¯t cultivate? Maybe he thought it was a power given by his costume?

    Regardless, the two other Initiates immediately paled, and the thoughts of ¡®hazing¡¯ immediately left their minds.

    ¡°So, Tang Ze, forget about all that ah,¡± Yin Tiang said, waving his hand. ¡°Chen Yu says stupid nonsense all the time, best to ignore it.¡±

    ¡°Right¡­¡± Tang Ze said.

    Zhang Long told him more about how the squad system within the Initiates worked. They usually consisted of four to five members, one of whom would possibly be a probationary Initiate.

    The Squad Leader was chosen by popular vote among the squad, though as a probationary Initiate Tang Ze would not get a vote.

    It was a bit shocking to learn that, and even more so to learn that the Squad Leader could be replaced at any given time by popular vote once again - barring times of emergencies and when the squad was on a mission, both of which were not the times for democracy or a popular vote.

    The fact that Zhang Long had apparently been Squad Leader uncontested in all the time he had been here in the sect spoke volumes to his leadership skills - either that, or he had been paired with people who essentially had no desire to move up the managerial chain.

    As it was, being Squad Leader, from a simple benefits to effort ratio point of view, was not worth it.

    Squad Leaders did get a slightly larger distribution of resources compared to ordinary Initiates, but compared to the work they had to do in writing monthly reports, organizing logistical issues, and attending the mandatory Squad Leader meetings, it was certainly not in proportion to them.

    Rather than spending time organizing things like that, it would be better to spend time cultivating. You would get much further that way rather than relying on the slightly increased batch of resources you would get.

    The real benefit to being Squad Leader was the prestige - which most people didn¡¯t care that much about as on the totem pole they were still very close to the bottom, and the slight chance that in the future it might give you an edge if you wanted to become a prefect. Beyond that though, the benefits were practically nonexistent.

    ¡°Anyway, you probably want to set things up in your room,¡± Zhang Long said. ¡°This place only has four sets of bedrooms, but you can take Xu Feng¡¯s old bedroom. It hasn¡¯t been used in months - but don¡¯t worry, it¡¯s clean.¡±

    ¡°Oh,¡± Tang Ze said. ¡°So Xu Feng graduated and left?¡±

    ¡°Nah, he died,¡± Chen Yu said nonchalantly, as if this was not a big deal to him. The others were slightly more aghast at the mention of the demise of one of their squad members, though only slightly so.

    ¡°Died? How?¡± Tang Ze asked.

    ¡°Well, there exists this potion called the Elixir of Tribulation,¡± Zhang Long said. ¡°Yin Tiang can explain it better than I can though¡­¡±

    ¡°It allows a cultivator to greatly speed up their progress in cultivating,¡± Yin Tiang said. ¡°It¡¯s also pretty cheap, relatively speaking - though there¡¯s a reason that almost no one uses it. It causes the cultivator to undergo three days of intense pain, said to be so horrible that most people who use it die from the pain overwhelming their senses. Xu Feng had other ideas though, and decided, ¡®How bad can it possibly be? I¡¯ll try this out! After all, if we wish to defy heaven we need to take risks! Those who died were just weak-minded fools!¡¯ despite literally everyone warning him against it.¡±

    ¡°He didn¡¯t even last ten minutes before he died from the pain, let alone three days,¡± Chen Yu said, shaking his head. ¡°He died right there, actually, right about where you¡¯re standing right now.¡±

    ¡°Ack!¡± Tang Ze said, moving away from the spot while the others laughed, leaving him unsure if that had been a joke or was just a prank on their part.

    ¡°Anyway, point is, he¡¯s not using his room now,¡± Zhang Long said. ¡°So go ahead and keep your stuff in there.¡±

    The individual rooms were barely larger than a closet, but Tang Ze had expected as much. There was only enough space for him to sleep and keep at most, something the size of a suitcase.

    Tang Ze, however, needed more space to make as well as store costumes and would need other supplies - he hoped that the others wouldn¡¯t mind him taking a share of the common space to set up something like that. It seemed that Yin Tiang had already done so with his alchemy set and the like, so Tang Ze hoped they would allow it once they saw what he could do with making costumes.

 Breakthrough!

    Tang Ze exited his bedroom, to see that Zhang Long had placed a wooden box in front of him. ¡°Before I forget, here¡¯s your split from what we got from those Diamond Dust idiots. We have a few pills here, and they should help you advance.¡±

    ¡°Thank you,¡± Tang Ze said, observing the three pills, which were about the size of a thimble each, round, and were a dull gray. They were not high-grade pills, only somewhere between low and medium quality, but it would be unreasonable to expect those kinds of people to be carrying high-grade pills anyway. As it was, he was sure that these were still quite expensive by mortal standards. ¡°I bet they weren¡¯t expecting to lose these otherwise they wouldn¡¯t have been carrying them.¡± As Tang Ze was about to reach for one, Yin Tiang closed the box before him quickly, as it contained some kind of venomous snake. ¡°Wait - before that, what realm are you at? I can¡¯t sense any Qi coming from you.¡±

    ¡°Zeroth Realm,¡± Zhang Long said. ¡°So he can¡¯t even start cultivating - which is why he needs some resources to help him with-¡±

    ¡°Wait, Zeroth Realm?¡± Yin Tiang asked. ¡°In that case¡­ you definitely can¡¯t consume one of these!¡±

    ¡°Eh? Why not?¡±

    ¡°There is a limit to how much Qi you can consume through pills,¡± Yin Tiang said. ¡°When it comes to natural Qi in the environment, the body absorbs as much as it can, and expels it out slowly as well, so there is never any risk of overloading the body. When it comes to pills though, as they go directly through the stomach and through both the dantians and the meridians, without a proper outlet, they can easily overload a person.¡± He then sighed. ¡°As another example, one can drink water of course - water is necessary to life. But even drinking too much of something as harmful as water can kill you.¡±

    There was something called ¡®water intoxication¡¯ where the body couldn¡¯t get rid of water fast enough, and it would accumulate, leading to swelling of various organs, most significantly of the brain and this could be fatal.

    In that way consuming too much Qi like this could also be fatal.

    That was why even if the pills were appropriate for the cultivator, there was a limit on how much they could take at a time as their bodies would dissipate the excess Qi gradually which had a limit to it. And if the pills were too high of a grade, they couldn¡¯t be used at all.

    There was a story about a Qi Condensation cultivator who had broken into the house of a famous alchemist, and found a pill appropriate for Golden Core cultivators. The thief, not understanding what he was doing, took it, and then burst into flames, dying nearly immediately from Qi overload.

    ¡°But these are just low to medium grade pills,¡± Zhang Long said. ¡°So why can¡¯t he use them? A single one shouldn¡¯t hurt.¡±

    ¡°Yes, and they would be fine for someone like you or I,¡± Yin Tiang said. ¡°But at the Zeroth Realm, his meridians have not even fully opened. So when he swallows a pill, where does the Qi go? It is the equivalent of trying to eat food when one¡¯s stomach has been removed. The Qi will be forced to disperse through his other organs, damaging them permanently. Just as blood has to flow through vessels and if such a vessel ruptures inside the body it is an internal hemorrhage, Qi also has to flow through its own proper channels being the meridians and not some other part of the body itself. It will be too much for him.¡±

    ¡°Alright,¡± Tang Ze said. Yin Tiang did not look like he was lying, and it wasn¡¯t like Tang Ze was going to pop a pill just to prove him wrong. ¡°So, is there anything that can help me clear the Zeroth Realm?¡±

    ¡°No,¡± Yin Tiang said. ¡°Actually - there probably is, or at least a way to make something like that, I guess? It¡¯s just that no one would develop something like that, because well¡­ no one would actually need something of the sort. So why even bother with that in the first place?¡±

    ¡°Wait - you¡¯re really stuck at the Zeroth Realm?¡± Chen Yu asked incredulously. ¡°Our family¡¯s maid¡¯s daughter was only able to pass that at eight years old, and her mother was worried sick because of her ¡®slow cultivating progress.¡¯ What have you been doing for the past few decades? I mean, I was called a slacker when I was younger, but even I cleared this at six years old.¡±

    ¡°I guess it has something to do with my alternate powering method?¡± Tang Ze said sheepishly. ¡°So, there really is no way to improve myself then?¡±

    ¡°The best thing to do,¡± Yin Tiang said. ¡°Would be to go somewhere where there is a lot of natural Qi in the air - only thing is that such places are coveted cultivating locations, and all of them are taken up. Our sect has access to a few, but they wouldn¡¯t let an Initiate like you visit them.¡±

    ¡°So I really am hopeless then?¡± Tang Ze sighed. ¡°Well, at least I can focus on other ways to power up until then. And then I can eventually use these pills.¡±

    ¡°Ah, about that,¡± Yin Tiang said. ¡°Pills have an expiry date, at least the lower-quality ones do. If you don¡¯t use these in about¡­¡± he picked one up, examining it, ¡°...six months, they¡¯re as good as gone.¡±

    ¡°Oof, that¡¯s right,¡± Zhang Long said.A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

    ¡°If you want, I know a few alchemists who will buy a few,¡± Yin Tiang said. ¡°And then you can keep the money you get and use them later.¡±

    Tang Ze thought about it for a minute, and then said, ¡°Rather than that, there are three pills left over, each of you can have one.¡±

    ¡°Eh?!¡± three voices exclaimed.

    ¡°Yeah, they say that cultivation is the greatest treasure, right?¡± Tang Ze said. ¡°So why sell the pills for something else when they can help you three? As it is, I can¡¯t use them right now, and so, I think it¡¯s better someone makes use of them.¡±

    Tang Ze knew that he was still ¡®the new guy¡¯ here, and in his mind, giving up these pills was a small price to pay to earn the goodwill of his squad. As it was, for the foreseeable future, they would be working together.

    He offered them these three pills as a gesture of friendship. Not that Tang Ze thought that Zhang Long needed that, but he did not know the other two.

    ¡°Is this really alright?¡± Zhang Long asked.

    ¡°In return,¡± Tang Ze said, ¡°can you guys help me get a few things?¡± There were some materials for costumes he needed, and he wasn¡¯t sure where the best places to get them in the sect would be, or how much they¡¯d cost.

    Tang Ze took stock of the situation. At his level, even if he broke through the Zeroth Realm, a minor ten percent increase in strength was nothing compared to what he could achieve with his cosplay.

    Of course, eventually he would need to focus on cultivating, but he could focus on his own power system right now.

    Cultivation wasn¡¯t the only way to gain power in this world, after all. Mages did exist, and there was his own talent. Why cry about what he couldn¡¯t change when there was something that he could change?

    It was better to make use of what he could do.

    ¡°Sure,¡± Zhang Long said. He gave the other two a gist of Tang Ze¡¯s powers.

    ¡°So, as I understand it, what you¡¯re dressed up right now is a famous hero from where you¡¯re from?¡± Chen Yu asked.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Tang Ze said.

    They wanted to hear some stories about him, and Tang Ze began narrating some of them.

    Eventually he moved on to other things.

    Back on Earth, Tang Ze had read and watched quite a bit of media - not just western shows, comics, anime, and movies, but Xianxia and other genres as well.

    Basically anything to escape from the mundane realities of life!

    As he went towards them, enrapturing his squad mates in the process, they all suddenly stopped as¡­ something happened to Zhang Long. There was a strange shift in the air, though Chen Yu and Yin Tiang were the ones who could pick up on it far better than Tang Ze could.

    Tang Ze thought that he was having a seizure for a moment given how his eyes were fluttering and his body was shaking, but neither Yin Tiang nor Chen Yu seemed to be alarmed enough for that to be the case.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± Tang Ze asked.

    ¡°Can¡¯t you tell? Can¡¯t you feel the spike of Qi in the air?¡± Chen Yu asked.

    But, the thing was that no, Tang Ze couldn¡¯t. Realizing this, Chen Yu added, ¡°He¡¯s breaking through a minor realm!¡±

    Zhang Long¡¯s face was flushed with sweat as the episode was over, but he breathed as he calmed down somewhat. Yin Tiang handed him a vial of some red liquid which Zhang Long gulped down and within five minutes was mostly back to normal afterwards.

    ¡°Sorry - what happened again?¡± Tang Ze asked.

    ¡°What¡¯re you sorry for?¡± Zhang Long asked. ¡°That was incredible! I was listening to your story, and something in it, just¡­ struck a chord with me, you know? And before I knew it, I felt as if the Qi in my body had swelled up, and then my meridians just flared with Qi.¡±

    Cultivation was usually a slow and gradual process, as Tang Ze understood it, but there were points where cultivators would stagnate for long periods of times, called bottlenecks. On the other hand, there were times, usually when cultivators had a surge in emotion, were in dangerous situations, or had suddenly realized some deep and profound mystery of the universe, where their cultivation would suddenly advance. They might even find themselves being able to reach new horizons after this breakthrough.

    Cultivators often longed for breakthroughs, whether to get past bottlenecks, or to just quicken their progress. They would meditate in caves for years on end, sit under waterfalls, travel the world over, or fight dangerous enemies - all in the hope of getting a breakthrough.

    Now, Zhang Long was still at Qi Condensation so a breakthrough really wasn¡¯t that much of a big thing - he had just recently used some pills from the Diamond Dust raiders earlier and had felt that he would be nearing the next minor realm within a few month¡¯s time anyway, but it turns out that not even that was needed. More important than the jump though, was whether his future progress would be faster, as sometimes happens after a breakthrough as well.

    The pill he had just been given by Tang Ze was still there, unused.

    Tang Ze wasn¡¯t sure what to make of it - it was clearly a big deal, and he understood that, but he couldn¡¯t help but feel a pang of jealousy in the moment.

    Here he was, helping Zhang Long jump up a minor realm, while he himself was not at Qi Condensation yet, and not only was he not there right now - there was apparently nothing that he could do to quickly bring himself up to that point. He couldn¡¯t even use resources to try to make this step quicker.

    But this was only a fleeting feeling, as he congratulated Zhang Long.

    What bothered Tang Ze more was what they told him next.

    ¡°Let¡¯s hit the hay early,¡± Chen Yu said. ¡°We have to wake up extra early tomorrow.¡±

    ¡°We do? Why?¡± Tang Ze asked, greatly alarmed.

    ¡°We have to fill up this building¡¯s reservoir with water tomorrow,¡± Zhang Long said.

    Tang Ze sighed inwardly.

    If there was one thing that he hated, it was having to get up early.

    This had been the same back on Earth, and had been a big reason as to why his performance in school tended to be as mediocre as it had been.

    Quite frankly, if the secret of immortality involved waking up before sunrise to obtain it - Tang Ze would prefer to keep dreaming.

    And to be told that they had to get up extra early for this task?

    But, Tang Ze could do no more than groan.

    He tried testing out a few new ideas on how his talent worked before heading off to bed.

    That night, Tang Ze dreamed.

    His dream started off as it had many times before.

    Tang Ze was walking down a crowded street, back on Earth. Only he wasn¡¯t himself, he was watching the scene from the side, like he always did in this dream.

    The worst part was that he was frozen like that, unable to do anything in this dream.

    No matter how much he wanted to shout out, or move, it was as if he had been petrified and turned to stone.

    There was nothing he could do to warn himself about what was coming up.

    There was a flash of steel in the crowd in front of them¡­

    And then his dream shifted.

 Slap Young Masters, Court Jade Beauties!

    Tang Ze was no longer back on Earth, and there was no crowd in this new dream.

    He was in the middle of a large cavern, and there was an eerie presence around him.

    He couldn¡¯t put his finger on it, but it was as if he was being watched.

    He looked around constantly - now being free to not only move, but to call out, ¡°Is anyone there?¡±

    Only he didn¡¯t get a response, and on top of that, he didn¡¯t see anyone either.

    There was a large lake in the cavern, which was perfectly clear, though there was nothing at the bottom.

    As he walked towards it and saw nothing, not even his own reflection, he turned around to see something that hadn¡¯t been there before.

    There was a large dress made up of patchwork materials - it was sewn together out of various pieces of cloth which did not mesh with each other at all.

    Whoever had started making that dress looked like they had no idea what they were doing as it was a mess of clashing colors, textures, and materials. It was like someone had decided to make food in their kitchen by dumping all the ingredients that were in there into a pot - which would¡¯ve resulted in an inedible mess of course.

    Next to it were a pair of scissors, sewing needles, and threads - arranged in a neat workstation that Tang Ze wanted to replicate for himself at some point.

    It would be useful to have something like that set up.

    Still, the eerie feeling that told him that he was not alone down here remained until he felt someone shaking him.

    ¡°Get up! Time to go!¡±

    That abruptly ended the dream.

    Breakfast wasn¡¯t being served in the mess hall this early, but Zhang Long made something for the whole group.

    ¡°This tastes pretty good,¡± Tang Ze said, his rather poor mood at having been roused so early mildly improving as he tasted breakfast.

    ¡°Yeah,¡± Yin Tiang said. ¡°He¡¯s a great cook - unfortunate that it¡¯s kind of a useless skill.¡±

    ¡°Useless?¡±

    ¡°Well, eventually useless, right? When he marries Jin Zheng it¡¯s not like he¡¯s going to cook for the two of them - and later on, they¡¯ll have a team of servants to cook for them.¡±

    ¡°Uh¡­ right,¡± Zhang Long said, though his face twitched unnaturally when this had been said, as if there was something he wanted to say at this point but didn¡¯t.

    Come to think of it, as Tang Ze recalled, Jin Zhen hadn¡¯t made a single meal back when he had been staying with her family. Her family always dragged her away from the kitchen whenever she tried to enter through some excuse or the other.

    Breakfast was finished rather quickly though as they moved on to their job.

    Their squad¡¯s task was to fill this building¡¯s water reservoirs for the day. As it was located high up, and rainfall was not consistent enough to fill them, people were required to carry water up to these reservoirs whenever they were about to run dry.

    This task fell to the Initiates - though thankfully, they did not have to travel all the way down to the mountain¡¯s foot to get water. There was a stream a ways down from the peak, but it was still quite the climb to take water from there all the way up. It was tedious and back-breaking work.

    At least, it would be normally, given the climb and the steepness of the path.

    For one like Tang Ze who could fly, the task was completed before the sun could fully crest the horizon. He was wearing only his cape right now, as he didn¡¯t want to be scolded for being out of uniform, but that in itself was more than enough to make short work of things.

    ¡°Alright, we¡¯re done, do you want me to report that we¡¯re done-¡± Tang Ze began to say, before he was interrupted.

    ¡°No, don¡¯t do that,¡± Chen Yu said. ¡°Let¡¯s just stay here by this stream, and we¡¯ll tell them that it took us till noon to get this done later on.¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± Yin Tiang said. ¡°We don¡¯t want them thinking we¡¯re too good at this, or they¡¯ll ask us to do this every single time the water runs low.¡±

    The prospect of having to wake up this early stung Tang Ze like a swarm of bees. ¡°Alright - but won¡¯t we also get something for a job well done like this?¡±

    ¡°Pfft,¡± Zhang Long said. ¡°They might give us ten percent more rewards for double the work. Trust me, we won¡¯t make a name for ourselves by being good at carrying water. It¡¯s not like we killed a beast king or anything impressive.¡±

    ¡°Alright¡­¡± Tang Ze said. He personally felt different, but he had just been here for a day. He wasn¡¯t about to go against the group. ¡°So then what do we do?¡±This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.

    ¡°Relax,¡± Chen Yu said, finding a nice spot to lie down. ¡°You were complaining the whole morning about having to get up early- get some shut-eye then?¡± The reason they had to wake up so early was because the reservoir had to be filled by noon, and it was assumed that they would need a head start to get it done on time. That had not been the case, however, because of Tang Ze''s little talent.

    ¡°Yeah but¡­¡± Tang Ze said, trailing off.

    It was true that he hated to be woken up early, but now that he had woken up, gotten ready, and worked on something like this, he didn¡¯t feel like he could drift off back to sleep so easily.

    The others though, seemed to have a similar idea as to Chen Yu.

    Tang Ze was a bit disappointed at their lack of ambition, though he guessed that these people must¡¯ve known what they were doing.

    ¡°You¡¯re not going to take a nap?¡± Chen Yu asked, seeing Tang Ze just standing there.

    ¡°Don¡¯t you all feel that we should be doing something¡­ I don¡¯t know, more productive with our time?¡± Tang Ze asked.

    ¡°Like doing what?¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t know- cultivating, or making pills or¡­ if that feels like work, why not try to go on some kind of adventure? Like, trying to impress jade beauties? Or fighting arrogant young masters?¡± Tang Ze suggested.

    His head was still full of thoughts of the web novels and other such things he had read back home. Even though this was his first day in the sect, he already expected something significant to happen.

    Such ideas were highly unrealistic and just showcased his naivety - he knew this deep down, still Tang Ze couldn¡¯t help but be swept up by them.

    ¡°I already have someone,¡± Zhang Long said. ¡°No interest in courting jade beauties - Jin Zhen and I have promised to be together for seven lifetimes.¡±

    This was an expression oftentimes used in this world - when two people really loved each other, they would promise to be together for seven lifetimes.

    ¡°Do you really think it works like that?¡± Yin Tiang asked. ¡°Do you think that relationships can last beyond a lifetime?¡±

    ¡°I mean, doesn¡¯t Tang Ze remember some things from his earlier life?¡± Chen Yu pointed out.

    ¡°Well, I don¡¯t know if you can really call that reincarnation,¡± Tang Ze admitted. True, he had died back on Earth, but here - he still had his old body from back home. He even had his clothes from the time he died when he had spawned into this world, and to add to that, his shoes as well, though he hadn¡¯t been wearing them at the time when he died. ¡°But people do remember their past lives sometimes, right?¡±

    This was only partially true - there were stories of people suddenly reawakening the memories of their past lives, but these stories were so notable precisely because of how infrequently they occurred when it came to ordinary people. Very experienced cultivators could do so by meditating as well, but they were also very few in number.

    Take for example, a story that occurred in a village on the other side of the Raswatian Empire. A wealthy couple had lost their daughter at the tender age of six years in an accident, who had been their only heir.

    The grieving couple gradually moved on from their loss, only for thirty years later, a woman to walk up to their doorstep. When asked who she was, she replied, ¡°Ah, Mother, Father, do you not recognize your daughter when she finally returns home?¡±

    This was a woman in her twenties, claiming to be their daughter in her previous life, who had just only reawakened her earlier memories one day when she tripped over a rock and hit her head on a tree!

    Naturally, the couple were highly skeptical of her claims at first. This woman¡¯s ¡®new¡¯ family she had been ¡®reincarnated¡¯ into was poor, and this seemed to be more of a case of a conwoman trying to fleece the two of them out of their wealth more likely than not.

    They did not have any other children, so the allure of inheriting their estate must¡¯ve been quite tempting for people who wanted to worm their way into their good graces.

    Initially they assumed that this lady had simply found out a few clues about their daughter from some sources and was using them to masquerade as her, but as the weeks dragged on, and they continued to probe her, they could find no fault in her story.

    Of the couple, the wife soon passed away, and the husband only a few months thereafter. As he was lying on his deathbed, however, he called the woman over and said, ¡°Even today I harbor doubts in my heart¡­ yet you have given me no reason to doubt you in all these years. I give you my blessing, and choose to think that you truly are the daughter I lost all those years ago¡­ I wish to embrace her one last time¡­¡± He hugged the woman and from that point on only called her by his deceased daughter¡¯s name, then made the woman his official heir before passing away three days later.

    The woman in question, until her dying day, maintained that she was, as a matter of fact, the couple¡¯s reincarnated daughter.

    Even now, this story was talked about with people eagerly debating whether she had really been the couple¡¯s reincarnated daughter, or was just one of the most successful swindlers in the history of the Raswatian Empire.

    There was another famous story - in which there had been a couple who, two years after marrying, had both nearly drowned in a river in a tragic accident. When they recovered, they realized that they had both been brother and sister in their earlier lives!

    While they had been extremely passionate lovers earlier, now they could only look at each other, even in their new bodies, as nothing more than siblings!

    Both of them recounted the fact that they now had severe mental trauma whenever they thought of the intimate times spent together with each other in their new bodies, and were, for this reason, granted a swift divorce.

    Even in this case, there were some who doubted the veracity of their claims and thought that they had simply fallen out of love and wanted an easy excuse to separate without causing any hassles; though this did not seem to be likely.

    Nascent Soul and Eternal Soul cultivators were said to have techniques by which they could actually verify such claims, and even plan to take some memories of theirs into their next lives, but such people were rare enough that information on them was limited - at least, for people at the Qi Condensation level it was.

    And given all the shenanigans awakening one¡¯s prior life¡¯s memories could cause, it was probably for the best that people don¡¯t remember what happened before they were born.

    Tang Ze could imagine several more strange situations that could arise as a consequence of that.

    ¡°Well, for what it¡¯s worth, I¡¯m fully willing to believe that we may have met each other in a prior life,¡± Chen Yu said. ¡°Like, I think in a prior life, I was a hardworking farmer, and Yin Tiang was one of my donkeys. I could totally see that happening. But moving on, if you want to court jade beauties - it¡¯s easy! Just tell them that you have the ¡®Extreme Yang Physique¡¯ and that you¡¯re going into ¡®Yang Crisis¡¯ in front of them, and then collapse before saying you need an injection of their Yin energy to survive before pretending to pass out. Taking pity upon you, the jade beauty will ¡®heal¡¯ you by extracting your excess Yang with her Yin vitality. Naturally, she will grow attached to you as well after saving your life, and with that, your love story will begin!¡±

 Success Probability 0%

    In response to Chen Yu¡¯s suggestion, Zhang Long could only shake his head.

    ¡°It¡¯s said that the universe is three thousand celestial cycles old,¡± Zhang Long said. ¡°Each celestial cycle lasts for ten great ages - and each great age lasts for ten thousand eras. Each era lasts for as long as the longest lived person in that era lived for. With that said, in the entire history of the universe that strategy has never worked, and even if the universe lasted for another three hundred thousand celestial cycles, I don¡¯t think that strategy would even work once!¡±

    ¡°You genuinely would have better luck,¡± Yin Tiang said, ¡°walking up to a girl and saying, ¡®I think I crapped my pants, can I slide into yours?¡¯¡±

    ¡°Yeah well,¡± Chen Yu said, ¡°a guy can dream, can¡¯t he?¡±

    ¡°And as for arrogant young masters,¡± Yin Tiang said. ¡°We have the ¡®arrogant young master at home¡¯ right here - our very own Chen Yu!¡± He continued with his voice dripping with sarcasm. ¡°Did you know that his father is one hundred and ninety-fifth in line to inherit the throne? That means that all that needs to happen is for one hundred and ninety-four of his relatives to die all at once, and then Chen Yu will be the next heir to the throne! Well, after his other three brothers, that is!¡± Yin Tiang then chuckled.

    ¡°Well, in case that does happen,¡± Chen Yu said, glaring at Yin Tiang, ¡°Emperors have a habit of keeping eunuchs in high positions, why don¡¯t you start right now by castrating yourself, and I¡¯ll consider adding you to my council in the future?¡±

    ¡°Uh¡­¡± Tang Ze said, turning to look at Zhang Long, who shook his head and gave him a ¡®those two are always like this¡¯ kind of look.

    ¡°But, one hundred and ninety-fifth?¡± Tang Ze asked. He knew that the emperors kept huge harems, but to not only have so many children, but keep track of who was to inherit up to that big of a number - it was actually quite impressive in a way!

    ¡°Well, you might not know this,¡± Zhang Long said, realizing that Tang Ze hadn¡¯t fully understood what it was that Chen Yu and Yin Tiang were fighting about. ¡°But, the emperor has far more relatives than just that - probably more than you can even imagine. Most of them aren¡¯t in line to inherit at all because of one reason or the other - but in all our history, the maximum degree of separation that anyone has actually inherited the throne was the fourth in line, and that was over twenty thousand years ago. Anyone beyond number ten has virtually no real chance of inheriting, and anyone beyond a hundred is just there for record-keeping purposes.¡±

    ¡°Indeed,¡± Yin Tiang said, also catching on that Tang Ze might¡¯ve actually thought he was being serious earlier. ¡°Not to mention if someone in front of him in line dies, they might be replaced by someone else before you can move up. The only way for his father to inherit would be for the Imperial Family and everyone in front of him in the line of succession to die in one fell swoop.¡±

    Resources were great in this world, but not limitless. A family like Chen Yu¡¯s, while technically in the line of succession, basically got next to nothing in terms of resources given how far removed they were from the throne.

    They were worse off than most noble families in some ways, leaving Chen Yu a ¡®young master¡¯ in only name.

    ¡°Careful now,¡± Chen Yu said, his face more serious than before and he voice had lost its jovial tone. ¡°There are eyes and ears everywhere - even while joking, you shouldn¡¯t speak of the Imperial Family¡¯s demise. That could be called treason, and before you know it, all of our heads are on the chopping block.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± Zhang Long said, yawning. ¡°Better to just take a nap for now.¡±

    While the others napped, Tang Ze couldn¡¯t fall asleep and instead focused on the one thing that he felt he could improve about himself - his talent in other words.

    After some experimenting, he had learned a few intricacies of how it worked.

    First off, regarding the fact that the closer his costume was to the original, the closer his powers would also be to the original.

    For one, it did not work with religious figures or the such - he would¡¯ve loved to be omnipotent, whatever a fraction of omnipotence would be, but it turned out that was a limit it could not cross.

    Secondly, it was only the costume that mattered, he didn¡¯t need to pretend to be like the character.

    Thirdly, despite making him more powerful, whatever costume he happened to make was just that - a costume made up of whatever it was made of. This could be an issue regarding durability in the future. He had made a somewhat rough getup for a character he knew about whose power was super speed and who could move many times faster than light at his peak power. The issue was that even when he moved at a fraction of that speed, the air friction would cause what he was wearing to wear down - and the moment that his costume was damaged, the amount it represented the character decreased, and so on until he could not really run much faster than a normal person.The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    The outfit he had used to pass the entrance test, despite being used only for a few minutes, had minute tears in it from the strain that he had put on it and needed to be repaired. With his costumes, he needed to take care that they didn¡¯t rip apart in the middle of battle. That was going to be hard with some of them though given the nature of their powers. It would be very hard to use any character with, say, pyromancer-like abilities for this reason.

    Because while getting hit by fire, or acid, or something else that might not harm him because of his powers still meant that part of his costume could dissolve though, weakening him. Also, he couldn¡¯t rip his shirt off in the middle of combat no matter how cool that might seem later on when he finally got around to working out and getting a six pack.

    Fourthly, it wasn¡¯t just appearance, what the costume was made of did matter if it was something that clearly was not made of that material. For example, for a character wearing leather boots, he could make socks that resembled them, but the fact that they would be made of cotton or something of the like meant that its resemblance to the original was less, meaning it would not make him as strong.

    Fifth, he had to actually intend to cosplay a character for it to work. If you think about it, he was almost constantly cosplaying something or someone even if it was just 0.0000000001% resemblance to the character, but he had to intend to be doing it - or it wouldn¡¯t count.

    Sixth, he couldn¡¯t mix-and-match different outfits to get a piece of multiple character¡¯s powers simultaneously, he could only do one at a time.

    Seventh, the outfit had to actually be visible for it to work. Tang Ze was secretly wearing a costume underneath his sect uniform, but he couldn¡¯t get access to any of its abilities. It was only the fact that he could still wear his cape was what gave him what little powers he had right now.

    It didn¡¯t matter if no one could see it - say if it was pitch-black in darkness it would still work, but it had to be visible and not covered by something else like a cloak or coat.

    Now, coming to the second part of his ability, that was naturally what Tang Ze was more interested in.

    The power to keep these abilities permanent and add them to his repertoire even when he wasn¡¯t dressed up - that was something that he could mix-and-match to ultimately become undefeatable.

    If only it didn¡¯t take so long!

    The closer his costume was to the actual thing, the faster that he could gain those abilities permanently it seemed, up to the maximum that the costume allowed for.

    Sadly, ¡®faster¡¯ was a relative term. Even when considering his full current set, by his approximation, it would take him about two hundred years to fully acclimate to its powers.

    Now, its powers were great - no doubt about that. Even if he could only be half as strong as the character in question, it would likely place him around the Hinayana realm or higher in terms of the raw strength it would give him.

    The weakest Golden Core cultivator was about sixty times as strong as an ordinary human. That number jumped to three thousand at the Nascent Soul stage.

    An Eternal Soul cultivator could approach the strength of over a million times that of a normal person, while a Hinayana realm cultivator could nearly approach the strength of a billion. The Mahayana realm, if it even existed, was over a trillion times one¡¯s base strength. Tang Ze had a bit of difficulty believing those numbers at first, but that was just the effect of compounding on top of bigger and bigger numbers cumulatively. Compounded numbers have a way of getting out of hand rather quickly.

    That was still relatively about what his costume could provide, and to gain just the physical strength of even a Hinayana realm cultivator in two hundred years was an excellent opportunity that many cultivators would die for.

    Still, two hundred years! A normal human lifespan would not last that long, so his only real way out was to extend his lifespan somehow. He would need to cultivate for that, something he was apparently quite bad at given that he was at the Zeroth Realm right now.

    No, it wouldn¡¯t be right to say that he was necessarily bad at it, rather, he was behind by several years as he didn¡¯t belong to this world, and had to literally start at zero.

    Maybe there was a way to speed up the process of his talent to make it take less time than two hundred years? That was why resources were so important for cultivation in the first place, after all.

    It was unfortunate he couldn¡¯t find anything in the meantime to speed up breaking through the Zeroth Realm, but in the future he would be able to use resources like the rest of his squad could.

    He tried to sit down on a rock and start meditating - though he didn¡¯t get very far and didn¡¯t think that he had accomplished much as noon came and the team reported that they had finished the job.

    That was not the only job they were given - they were given various other tasks by the sect, either to do as a group, or more rarely - alone. Most of these were very mundane tasks like gathering, throwing out waste, or cleaning. As it turns out, the majority of their time was spent tied up in these tasks.

    Two things did happen in the next week that could potentially help Tang Ze when it came to his cultivation, however.

    One was that Chen Yu slipped him a bottle of some clear liquid one day. ¡°I got this from my family - it¡¯s a bottle of baby oil.¡±

    ¡°How many babies did you have to kill to make that?¡± Yin Tiang asked. While he was working on some kind of concoction, he had evidently been overhearing what they were saying.

    Yin Tiang was joking - but Tang Ye knew even with his limited experience in this world that if killing babies could raise your cultivation by even zero point one percent, even the most righteous sects would start researching the most efficient ways to slaughter babies.

    Chen Yu ignored the rather bad joke and added, ¡°This is supposed to be good for babies - in that it has small amount of Qi in it and is supposed to seep into one¡¯s body through the skin. It¡¯s very mild of course, so even babies can wear it without it causing any nasty side effects - maybe if you put it on every night it¡¯ll help with your breakthrough to the first minor realm of Qi Condensation?¡±

    ¡°Maybe?¡± Tang Ze asked, taking the bottle. ¡°You¡¯re not sure if it works?¡±

    Chen Yu shrugged. ¡°I mean, if you ask me - it¡¯s probably just a marketing ploy to sell it at five times the normal price, which is why my mother used to use it. Didn¡¯t really help me that much though, as you can see.¡± Chen Yu and Yin Taing were both at the fourth minor realm of Qi Condensation, while Zhang Long had only recently broken to the sixth minor realm of Qi Condensation. There was only a twenty-one percent difference when it came to two minor realms at Qi Condensation, though as this effect was cumulative, the absolute difference was higher when one went to higher minor realms.

 Supernatural Sam

    Basically, Chen Yu was saying that he really didn¡¯t believe that it would work, but on the off chance that it could, he was giving it to Tang Ze. ¡°Thanks - what do I owe you for this?¡±

    ¡°Forget about it, this is a fraction of that pill¡¯s value you gave me earlier,¡± Chen Yu said.

    Before sleeping, Tang Ye would apply the oil, hoping for some kind of benefit. He also slept in modified pajamas he had made himself to sort of look like a costume, so that he could gain the passive benefits even while he slept.

    Yin Tiang also found something that might help him.

    ¡°So, there was a theater troupe I found, and they had all these old and worn out costumes - I though that maybe you could use them? I got them for cheap,¡± Yin Tiang told him.

    The pile of messy clothes, many of which were torn up, would be junk to most people and especially to cultivators.

    However, to someone like Tang Ze, these were like hidden gems, covered in dust and needing polishing, yes, but still quite valuable.

    They were made of various different materials and not just silk or cotton, and because they were costumes, they were already stylized in different ways that normal clothing wouldn¡¯t be. It would be much easier to make alterations to them.

    In addition, they came with various other accessories like masks, hair clips, props like swords or magic wands, and even one or two wigs. A lot of the stuff needed to be cleaned up before it could be used, and probably also had to be disinfected for things like lice given the day and age they lived in, not to mention most of it needed to be repaired in some way or the other - but as the saying goes, you cannot make bricks without clay.

    Already, as he glanced through what was laid out for him, he could already picture what he could arrange from these.

    When asked how much he needed to repay Yin Tiang for this, he gave him the same answer that Chen Yu had - that this barely covered a fraction of the cost of the pill that Tang Ze had given him earlier.

    Both of these things - the costumes, and the oil - were not big gestures. One could even say that such things were expected given what Tang Ze had done for them by donating his share of pills.

    Still, even if the oil was not useful, or if the costumes were damaged - they showed a degree of thoughtfulness, and as the saying goes ¡®it¡¯s the thought that counts.¡¯ His new squad members had thought of him enough to go out of their way to arrange these gifts for him.

    Both of these gifts, however small, moved Tang Ze.

    He had been thrust into this world all alone. He had no family or friends from beforehand that he could rely on while here.

    Reciprocity was the basis for nearly all social interactions - but Tang Ze felt that he couldn¡¯t take it for granted. After all, he had read stories of people getting betrayed by their teammates and the like in various stories he¡¯d read. Not to mention this was supposed to be a cultivation dog-eat-dog world.

    Giving up the pills had not just been a spur-of-the-moment decision with no intention behind it, but also to see how they reacted to this.

    Tang Ze had already seen Zhang Long vouch for him during the entrance exam, so he already knew that Zhang Long was not the kind to repay honey with vinegar - or to take kindness as weakness.

    It looked like Chen Yu and Yin Tiang were also in the same camp.

    Tang Ze had thought that was to be expected given that they were all in a sect. A sect, unlike a clan, took members from different families and asked them to work together in tightly knit groups. It would make sense that different members would want to be cordial to each other.

    But, at the same time Tang Ze felt that he couldn¡¯t take such a thing for granted without testing it out.

    And it seemed to be true enough!

    His heart was somewhat more relaxed than it had initially been, so he didn¡¯t have nightmares about that incident back on Earth as frequently as before.

    What he did dream of nearly every single night was that same underground cavern, where he always felt that there was someone else there with him, even if he couldn¡¯t see who that person was.

    He noticed over time that it was as if the Qi in this cavern was denser than even on the top of the mountain. Could you absorb Qi in a dream? Was this place even real? It looked the same to him every single time he dreamed of it, with the tools for making clothes next to a patchwork dress always being there in the same spot. The dress, also, no matter how many times he had the dream, always seemed to be the same with the same patches in the same location.

    Later, one afternoon, they were tasked with cleaning up some antiques in a storage room.Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.

    It was here that Tang Ze¡¯s unnatural strength and speed were more of a bane than a boon.

    After all, if he couldn¡¯t control himself, some of these items might end up becoming damaged.

    To avoid this, he was asked to contribute relatively little to this task. The rest of the slack was picked up by the other three members - this was not entirely fair, but Tang Ze had contributed far above his weight with other things, so the others did not grumble about this.

    Still, accidents were bound to happen at some point or the other.

    CRASH!

    The sound of something fragile smashing against the floor rang across the room, as they saw that Yin Tiang was standing over the remains of a shattered vase.

    Zhang Long sighed. Oh well, the cost of that would be deducted from the squad¡¯s resource distribution at the end of the month, but it was no big-

    -these thoughts died in his mind as he realized which vase it had been that Yin Tiang had broken.

    ¡°Is that¡­?¡± Zhang Long began.

    ¡°...a Yuo Ping General Vase?¡± Chen Yu finished, his face becoming pale.

    ¡°Can you guys see something I can¡¯t?¡± Tang Ze asked. The three other members were looking at the vase as if there was some secret inside, but to Tang Ze, it looked no different different than half a dozen other vases in the room.

    ¡°There¡¯s Qi around the shards,¡± Zhang Long said. Right, Tang Ze¡¯s ability to see and sense Qi was still very rudimentary given that he was at the Zeroth Realm. ¡°About two thousand years ago, the then emperor¡¯¡¯ brother Yuo Ping staged an attempted military coup - long story short he was killed, and as punishment, many of his generals were turned into ghosts and trapped in vases like this. I didn¡¯t think one would be here, but¡­ if word gets out that a ghost escaped, we¡¯ll be in much worse shape than if we simply had broken a normal vase.¡±

    ¡°What do we do?¡± Yin Tiang asked.

    ¡°We have to catch that ghost somehow before someone finds it,¡± Zhang Long said.

    The issue was- how?

    None of them had any skills that could detect or restrain ghosts. The higher-ups would though, and once they found that a ghost was on the loose, they would be cooked!

    At least, none of them that they knew of had a way to detect or catch a ghost.

    ¡°Tang Ze, do you have anything in your wardrobe that can help us?¡± Zhang Long asked.

    Tang Ze closed his eyes and went through his memories.

    There was one character that he knew which could easily hunt ghosts down, but trying to cosplay them was extremely difficult given their design. He would need a way to make a spectral tail, and also some body paint - two things that he did not have at the moment.

    But wait!

    He suddenly remembered someone else - a character he seldom thought of, but who might be able to do the job.

    And it wouldn¡¯t require that much work for him to create either.

    ¡°Wait right here, I think I do have someone,¡± Tang Ze said as he rushed back to their living quarters.

    Back in the 1980s there was a western cartoon called ¡®The Stories of Supernatural Sam.¡¯ It was basically about the titular ¡®Supernatural Sam.¡¯

    It was a very campy and corny show, even for its time. The only reason Tang Ze knew about it was because there was one episode that a friend of his liked to watch.

    The usual episode formula went that there was something like a ghost or curse that needed to be resolved, and Sam would be called in to investigate. He had a magic watch from somewhere wherein he could trap spirits, and would often use it - though in that particular episode he didn¡¯t end up chasing the ghost out.

    He had been called to an old house where it was rumored there was paranormal activity occurring inside by the neighbors - though for some reason the owner of the house didn¡¯t seem to even want Sam there for some reason. The owner treated him more like a pest than anything else, and was very reluctant to even let Sam step in to his house.

    After some investigating, Sam was able to determine that the cause of the supernatural disturbance was a haunted doll. You see, about a hundred years before the start of the episode, a girl who lived in that house had passed away from tuberculosis. But, her spirit had remained, and was able to live inside a porcelain doll within that house.

    Every night, she would come to life as she possessed that doll, and would return to a lifeless doll by the morning.

    Sam was ready to capture her, but it turned out that the owner of the house had fallen in love with her, and as such, Sam left the two alone.

    Looking back - it had been quite the bizarre episode. It was the only one in which Tang Ze remembered that Sam had left the ghost or paranormal entity alone at the end.

    Then again, that was why he remembered it so well in the first place.

    The other episodes were far more clich¨¦ and generic and didn¡¯t have that kind of ¡®twist¡¯, so Tang Ze didn¡¯t watch more than a few - but he still remembered how Sam used to dress up like.

    It would be easy to make a costume like that if Tang Ze were back on Earth, but some of his clothes were hard to replicate in a world like this.

    He wore a Hawaiian floral shirt, khaki pants, sandals, and a fishing hat most of the time. Oh, and there was the famous watch in question - Tang Ze thankfully still remembered the design.

    He didn¡¯t have much time to get to work, but he also didn¡¯t need for it to be perfect. The clothes were easy enough to either make, or to make something that at least was close to them visually.

    As for the watch - Tang Ze had to take a piece of parchment, cut it into a circle, draw on it, and then strap it to his wrist with leather.

    A poor substitute, but it was all apparently forty-five percent good enough!

    He just hoped that would be sufficient as he ran back.

    Normally, you couldn¡¯t wander outside out of your uniform, but in this case, Tang Ze was more worried about what would happen if that ghost escaped or was found out by a prefect.

    ¡°Will this work?¡± Yin Tiang asked, seeing Tang Ze¡¯s getup.

    Tang Ze scanned the area, and could see glowing green footsteps. ¡°Looks like it!¡± That was one of Supernatural Sam¡¯s powers, to be able to not only see ghosts, but track them down based on where they had been.

    ¡°Alright, let me come with you,¡± Yin Tiang said. The others remained behind, after all, we still had to clean the room.

    The two followed the spectral footsteps that only Tang Ze could see, while Yin Tiang tried to calm down anyone who saw them.

    ¡°Ah, just passing through - Brother Tang Ze here is trying out for this month¡¯s play, that¡¯s all!¡± he would yell out whenever someone gave the two of them an inquisitive look.

    Tang Ze stopped in his tracks as he found the culprit.

    The ghost looked hideous - barely resembling a human. It was like a light green figurine of a person which had melted after it had been put outside in the sun for too long.

    And it was in the open, in a courtyard.

    Tang Ze didn¡¯t know if it could tell that he could see it, but it began to move faster nonetheless. Sadly, for it, ¡®faster¡¯ was only relative as Tang Ze went to pounce on it.

    Would Sam¡¯s watch work like it did in the show?

 Ghosts of the Past

    The moment Tang Ze thought of this question, the watch - even though it was just a piece of paper and a strap of leather, began to glow.

    The ghost had a horrified expression on its face - even more than its usual one, as it was sucked into the watch.

    After that, Tang Ze could feel it in the watch.

    He was aware of its consciousness inside. It was quite the eerie feeling.

    ¡°Right, I caught it,¡± Tang Ze said. ¡°What do I do now?¡±

    Yin Tiang shrugged. He hadn¡¯t thought of what they would do once they had it, only that they needed to catch it.

    The two of them returned back to the room, to tell them that they were successful.

    ¡°But what do we do about the ghost?¡± Tang Ze asked. ¡°I can¡¯t leave it like this on my wrist forever!¡±

    ¡°Hmm¡­¡± Zhang Long said. ¡°I have an idea¡­¡±

    He brought out another vase, nearly identical to the one they had broken, and opened its lid. ¡°Earth jars like this can be used to capture spirits if you know the right technique even from a distance - but if you put a spirit inside it, that also means that it shouldn¡¯t be able to walk out. Drop your watch into this, and then I¡¯ll seal the lid.¡±

    ¡°Will that work?¡± Tang Ze asked.

    Zhang Long shrugged. ¡°I don¡¯t have a better idea.¡±

    Not feeling particularly confident, Tang Ze put his hand into the jar, and then removed the watch. He saw a green light fill it just as he withdrew his arm and Zhang Long slammed the lid on the jar.

    Now, his cosplay was only judged at forty percent, but it was still good enough to see that the ghost was sealed for good, it seemed.

    Only then did Tang Ze relax.

    ¡°Alright,¡± Chen Yu said.

    They put this new vase in place of the old one, and hid the old one¡¯s shards away.

    Very few people came into this room, so what happened would likely never be discovered.

    And if it was, more likely than not it would happen in a few years¡¯s time, after which the group would have a lot of plausible deniability.

    All of them let out a great sigh of relief now, though Zhang Long warned them that they were not out of the fire yet.

    ¡°Tang Ze, you should change out now,¡± Zhang Long said.

    ¡°Right,¡± Tang Ze said, leaving to change back into his sect uniform.

    His pace was slowed down because of how out of breath he¡¯d gotten after chasing the ghost. He wiped the sweat that coated his brow.

    He first washed his face in a water basin. He had requested a spot to set up a little workstation to work on outfits and the like. There were a few spots in the shared space that could be used for this, and his squad members understood why he wanted a space like this, so he had been granted the request.

    He wanted to change into a washed set of sect robes instead of his old ones, and there was a washed set in his room, but when he opened the door he yelled out and drew back.

    Tang Ze was still wearing the Supernatural Sam costume, and so he still had its abilities.

    But he had not been expecting to see a second ghost that day!

    This ghost was not deformed, but had the pale, bluish form of a man about Tang Ze¡¯s age, and who was wearing a translucent Rising Phoenix sect uniform.

    ¡°Can you see me?¡± the specter asked.

    Tang Ze found his words soon enough.

    Right, he had seen a ghost - but in this world, that wasn¡¯t too shocking.

    Most people could not, not unless they had some inborn talent to see spirits, were at Qi Refinement stage and had specialized in such, or were at Golden Core stage.

    It was said though, that if you were able to see a ghost in the periphery of your vision, you should ignore it.

    Apparently, ghosts had the ability to tell when people could see them, and if it were a sinister spirit with evil intentions, they would then attack you if they could tell that you had spotted them.Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more.

    Evidently, this was true, as the pale aura around this boy flared as Tang Ze took note of him.

    It had been different back with the vase - with the ghost of the general having been stored there for so many years, the small amount of Qi they saw was a defense mechanism designed into the vase to let them know the ghost had escaped, which is how the others had noticed it.

    With a ghost like this though, it appeared that no one in Tang Ze¡¯s group had noticed its presence till now.

    ¡°W-Who are you?¡± Tang Ze asked.

    Even though he knew that most ghosts in this world were weak and therefore couldn¡¯t hurt him, and that this outfit likely gave him some protection against it, his voice couldn¡¯t help but tremble before this ghost.

    ¡°My name is Xu Feng,¡± the ghost said. ¡°And you¡¯re in my room!¡±

    ¡°Xu Feng¡­ why is that name familiar¡­ oh!¡± Tang Ze exclaimed as he realized where it was that he had heard that name.

    That was the name of the person who had earlier been a member of Zhang Long¡¯s squad - the one who had died after drinking an Elixir of Tribulation since he couldn¡¯t handle the pain.

    ¡°Right, I know who you are,¡± Tang Ze said. ¡°But why are you still here? We all would¡¯ve thought that your soul would¡¯ve passed into the next life already by this time.¡±

    Xu Feng shook his ghostly head. ¡°It is not so. Unfortunately, I still have a deep regret within my heart, Brother Tang Ze. I cannot leave this mortal plane until I resolve it. I have been watching you and the rest of my friends for some time, hearing your voices, but unable to say anything.¡±

    As Xu Feng said this, Tang Ze couldn¡¯t help but feel like he had heard of something like this.

    Right!

    This was like literally every single episode of Supernatural Sam that involved a ghost!

    Sam would find a ghost, find out that they were in the mortal realm because of some regret they had from their human lives, and then he would either try to resolve it and the ghost would pass on into the next life - or if the ghost was really dangerous, capture it in his watch.

    Tang Ze chuckled lightly, but then his smile dropped as he thought of Xu Feng¡¯s condition.

    The guy had overstepped by drinking that Elixir of Tribulation, yes, but maybe he had just been overly optimistic? He should¡¯ve listened to other peoples¡¯ cautionary tales, but Tang Ze didn¡¯t feel like he should¡¯ve died for that kind of folly.

    And now, his heart was filled with regrets - so Xu Feng was stuck here, in the mortal realm, unable to cross over to the other side. Worse still, he had seen Tang Ze take his place within the squad, and his former friends gradually forget about him over time.

    Realizing this, Tang Ze¡¯s heart was filled with sympathy for Xu Feng, even though the two of them had never met before.

    His heart filled with resolve, Tang Ze slammed a fist to his chest, in a form of gesture often done in this world when making vows. ¡°Alright, Brother Xu Feng, I¡¯m sorry to hear that - but worry not, for I, Tang Ze, promise to help you with whatever lingering issues you have in this world!¡±

    He felt it was the least he owed to this spirit of a former squad member, even if they hadn¡¯t been in the squad back when Tang Ze had first joined.

    ¡°Is that so?¡± Xu Feng asked, surprised.

    ¡°Yes, what is that troubles you?¡±

    ¡°Brother Tang Ze, there is a girl by the name of Tang Ru. During life, I had been too scared to tell her of my feelings towards her, but I need to let them out,¡± Xu Feng said. ¡°But for some reason, I cannot wander far from this room, else I feel like I¡¯ll disappear completely.¡±

    Tang Ze nodded. ¡°No worries - I can take you to her with the help of my watch - wait, it¡¯s back there in that vase. No problem, I can make another one soon enough.¡±

    ¡°If you really want to help me,¡± Xu Feng said, ¡°I know where and when we can find her. Every morning, before sunrise, she tends to a garden of Yellow Apricot Flowers.¡±

    ¡°So you know where she¡¯ll be huh?¡± Tang Ze said, but then he paused. ¡°Oh, in that case, I change my mind. You¡¯re on your own if you want to confess to her.¡±

    There was a simple reason for Tang Ze to say this.

    Well, it was against the rules to go to the women''s side, but he wasn''t too miffed about that.

    No, what he was against was waking up so early in the morning.

    He had never liked doing so back on Earth, and here in this world it was only slightly better.

    Slightly better in the sense that a lack of things like smartphones, tablets, television, or a computer made it easier to go to bed on time.

    It still annoyed him greatly to have to wake up early though!

    And tomorrow was one of the very few days in which he didn''t have to wake up before the crack of dawn as there were no early-morning chores planned for his squad - he wasn''t about to give up a day of sleeping in for this!

    "If the only way to claim immortality is to get up early in the morning," Tang Ze said, "I''m happy just being mortal and content to keep on dreaming."

    After all, he barely even knew this Xu Feng guy. And while he was willing to do a lot for his friends, he just wasn''t willing to do that.

    It was a good thing that he hadn''t spawned into this world with some sort of system that rewarded him the more he woke up early in the morning - had that been the case he would have basically gotten zero benefits from that kind of system in the first place.

    Xu Feng''s ghost got rather agitated at Tang Ze¡¯s sudden one-eighty on his stance. "Brother Tang Ze? What are you saying - right now you just gave a heartfelt declaration that you would do whatever it took to help me? How can you turn back on your word so fast and shamelessly? Do you have no regard for your Senior Brother¡¯s plight?"

    "Eh, that was before I knew that I''d have to wake up early," Tang Ze said. He was already yawning just thinking about having to get up that early. "You''ll have to find some other way."

    However, Xu Feng''s ghost was not going to relent so easily. "If you don''t help me, you''ll have to live with the consequences of always seeing me and knowing that you let me down!"

    "I''ll just take this costume off and then I won''t be able to see or hear you any more," Tang Ze said smugly, proud that he had found a workaround for all of this.

    "But then you''ll have to live with the knowledge that I''ll always be watching you, and you let me down!" Xu Feng said. "I''ll put a curse on you!"

    "Yeah, if you could actually do something, you''d have done so in the week I was already here," Tang Ze said to him. The fact that neither Tang Ze nor the other squad members even got a hint that something was amiss until now spoke volumes about how little this ghost could do.

    Eventually, after some pleading, and crying, and more pleading, and even more crying, Tang Ze finally agreed to do it. But he told Xu Feng that he would complain all the while while doing so.

 Confessing My Feelings

    "Thank you Brother Tang Ze, I won''t let your kindness be in vain," Xu Feng said once Tang Ze had finally begrudgingly once again agreed to do what he had said he would do in the first place before learning it involved waking up early. "As a matter of fact - there was a little secret that I never ended up telling anyone - but I''ll let you know before I pass onto the next life. I think this secret will help you greatly!"

    "Whatever," Tang Ze said. "Now turn around - I need to change back into my uniform!"

    Had Xu Feng¡¯s ghost been watching him all this time when he had been in here? Because Tang Ze had changed many times while in this room...

    Whatever, at this point it was too awkward a point to even ask about.

    "What took you so long?" Yin Tiang asked when Tang Ze finally came back to see that they were almost done cleaning. Yin Tiang had thought initially that Tang Ze had used the opportunity to goof off somewhere, but a look at Tang Ze''s facial expression said there was something else going on.

    "What happened?" Zhang Long asked. "You look like you''ve... seen a ghost!" He then laughed at his own joke before adding, "No, seriously, what''s going on? Are we done for? Did you get caught?"

    "No, I just ah, saw something really weird," Tang Ze said. He then cleared his throat. "Um, I wanted to actually know something - how was Xu Feng? I mean, what kind of person was he?"

    "Xu Feng? Why are you asking of him all of a sudden?"

    This was a rather weird and abrupt change of topic- to the other squad members it was quite odd that Tang Ze was now asking about their deceased friend.

    Tang Ze hadn¡¯t asked anything about the guy before now, and given the fact that Xu Feng was dead, there was little point in pursuing that line of questioning, now then was there?

    "No reason, just curious," Tang Ze said.

    He didn''t get much on Xu Feng, only that he had really wanted to advance in cultivation when he had been alive - more badly than anyone else for whatever reason. That was what led to his downfall in the end.

    The others probably knew far more than that about Xu Feng, it''s just that they likely didn''t see how any of it was relevant to Tang Ze so they didn''t actually tell him that much.

    Tang Ze later went to sleep still wearing most of his Supernatural Sam costume while he did so, and something very odd happened - even before Xu Feng tried to wake him up.

    He had the same dream where he was in the same cavern.

    While he was still in that cavern; the exact same one where he felt there was a lot of Qi (and there must have been quite a considerable amount if even someone like him could tell this), and he still could feel like someone else was there. But, he could actually see someone else besides him here this time!

    There was what looked like to be the ghost of a woman sitting near the lake in the center. She hadn''t noticed Tang Ze''s presence yet - but this was the first time that Tang Ze had seen her despite having this same dream many times before.

    Before he could step any closer to the woman to investigate, he heard someone almost yelling into his ear.

    "Brother Tang Ze wake up!"

    The dream ended and he flicked his eyes open to see Xu Feng''s ghost standing over him. Or hovering, really.

    Whatever.

    "Alright, let''s head out," Tang Ze said. He had made another replica ''watch'' which he absorbed Xu Feng into, after which he could still ''hear'' him.

    Tang Ze gently opened the door. The others would still be asleep, and he, as stealthily as possible, exited their common area.

    He didn''t really need to hide as he walked out, mainly because there were a good number of other Initiates already up. Some of them gave him and his clothes an odd look, but by now many were aware of his reputation and that he tended to parade around in costumes sometimes, so no one stopped him as he neared the outer wall of this building.

    The chilly morning air made him shudder before he took a good look at where he was going to go.

    The men''s and women''s divisions were separate, on separate mountains.

    Naturally, there were many on the men''s side who wanted to visit the other mountain - since the rules forbade such, and given what lay on that side was a tantalizing dream for many of them, it had the allure of forbidden fruit. A sacred spring to which none were allowed entry, but which nonetheless many dreamed of!

    The normal entrance was of course, well-guarded because of this.

    "How do you intend to get in?" Xu Feng asked.Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

    Tang Ze could ''hear'' Xu Feng through the watch, but no one else could. However, if Tang Ze wanted Xu Feng to hear him, he had to speak out.

    "It doesn''t matter if there are guards at the front gate, we''ll just enter in through the back door!"

    "...I don''t know if that''s some kind of innuendo, Brother Tang Ze but..."

    "No! I mean, the front gate is guarded, but no one is watching the other side of the wall too closely!" Tang Ze said.

    Of course, no one really needed to watch that side. They were atop a mountain of course- so how were people going to get over it?

    By flying? Anyone with that technique had better things to do than sneak into the women''s side. And in case someone that powerful did manage to sneak in, a few measly guards wouldn¡¯t have done anything! Not to mention such a person would likely have stealth-type techniques like invisibility as well.

    But that was exactly what Tang Ze planned to do!

    He couldn''t fly nearly as fast as he could otherwise if he was actually wearing his superhero costume, during which he could easily out speed a jet fighter, but he could still float along at a somewhat leisurely pace.

    And even if he was wearing another costume, the ''permanent'' effects still remained!

    So, if Tang Ze lived long enough, there was the possibility of stacking various power sets on top of each other. He might become unrivaled not just in the Raswatian Empire, but in the entire world as well!

    Still, that would likely take millennia to accomplish, and right now, Tang Ze was still very much the person he was from back on Earth.

    In other words, someone who thought that the two minutes you had to wait to cook instant noodles was too long a time to wait for!

    He still did not have a lot of patience for many things.

    And so, Tang Ze slowly drifted along, under the cover of darkness, away from where he knew the watch would usually be.

    He did however, complain the whole way through.

    "I don''t get why I have to wake up so early in the morning. Humans are diurnal animals, aren''t they? So why make us wake up when we''re not even fully awake? There aren''t even things like coffee or energy drinks to wake you up here and by the time I''m done with my chores I can''t even feel like I can take a nap or something..."

    "I have never heard someone complain so much about having to wake up so early," Xu Feng said.

    Honestly, even for a ghost who had nothing better to do, it was quite tiring to hear.

    That said, complaining aside, they had no problems leaping over the wall.

    Right - the women''s side! A paradise that normally they could not reach, unless one had specific work, and that too only during the day during certain restricted hours! Not to mention even during those fixed times, one could only enter certain areas and could not roam freely into spots like the hot springs.

    During the night - forget about even entering!

    Unless you were someone like Tang Ze.

    "So, do you happen to know where it is that we''re supposed to be looking for?" Tang Ze asked.

    "Right over there, I think that''s where the flowers are," Xu Feng said.

    Tang Ze didn''t encounter many people - although there were some out and about, being that they had early duties, the sun hadn''t even come up yet. And those people weren¡¯t going through the bushes like he was, they were headed towards where they had work.

    The sky had barely begun to lighten as they reached their destination - and though there had been some close calls, they were able to move without being discovered.

    Tang Ze''s lack of cultivation actually helped here - given that no one could sense his Zeroth Realm level of cultivation, meaning that it wasn''t easy to find him. Otherwise he would¡¯ve needed to master some kind of stealth technique to hide his Qi, else he¡¯d be found out in about five minutes.

    "There she is!" Xu Feng said.

    Tang Ze honestly didn''t understand how it was that Xu Feng could ''see'' given he was still in the watch, but he didn''t let that bother him.

    Tang Ru was extremely beautiful - with flawless skin and long eyelashes.

    She was taking care of the Yellow Apricot Flowers, treating them each with a tenderness that evoked a picture of a mother gently stroking her newborn¡¯s cheek.

    She looked ethereal in the early morning light, like a fairy twirling through a celestial garden!

    Tang Ze could understand how it was that Xu Feng had fallen for someone like her.

    Of note, she was not wearing an Initate¡¯s uniform, but that of a regular member. She didn¡¯t look old enough to have served for thirty years, so that meant that she was probably at the Qi Refinement stage. Which likely meant that she came from a wealthy family or had great talent.

    "Alright, how do you want to tell her how you feel?"

    "Can you let me use your mouth? It''ll be easier than relaying words through you. That way, it''s really coming from my own heart, you know," Xu Feng said.

    "What do you mean ''let me use your''-" Tang Ze was about to ask when he felt a spectral essence grab onto his tongue. Naturally - his body fought to get rid of this invading presence and expelled it.

    "Stop resisting!" Xu Feng complained.

    If it was so easy for ghosts to possess people, there would be far more possessions in this world! But if it was just a normal spirit like that of Xu Feng, even one of the weakest people could easily resist a spectral assault.

    It was the spirits of people who had been Nascent Soul or Eternal Soul cultivators that one really needed to watch out for - such as by using talismans to ward off possession by such people.

    There were also several demons and evil spirits that might attempt to take hold of a living person¡¯s body, though once again, the ones strong enough to do so were thankfully very rare.

    As it was, it was highly likely that Tang Ze¡¯s Supernatural Sam getup also provided some protection from spirits.

    "Alright," Tang Ze said, and let Xu Feng command his tongue for now, as he jumped off the ledge he was standing upon and landed in front of Tang Ru.

    Naturally, Tang Ru gasped when she saw someone just leap out of the shadows like that. "Please don''t be alarmed, Senior Sister Tang Ru!" Tang Ze said. "I just had something I wanted to say to you - and to only you! These are the feeling from the bottom of my heart! Please here them out!"

    For now, that was actually Tang Ze talking.

    This whole plan would go up in flames if Tang Ru screamed for help, but while she was shocked by his presence, she didn''t.

    "How - how did you get here?" she asked. Tang Ze had to note that she had a pretty cute voice too - no wonder that Xu Feng had fallen head over heels so badly for her. A shame that they couldn¡¯t get together, given Xu Feng would pass away to the next life soon.

    "That¡¯s not important right now," Tang Ze said. "What is important is why I came over here."

    Tang Ru had half a mind to scream for help - but on the other hand, she had heard of a new Initiate by the name of Tang Ze joining who had some odd powers, and was vaguely curious as to what this was about.

    Also, why was he dressed so weirdly?

    And now, Xu Feng began to speak through Tang Ze.

    "Tang Ru," Xu Feng said. "I wasn''t able to say this before back when I was alive, because I was too scared. But... before I passed on, I wanted to make sure you knew¡­ just how much of a bitch I always thought you were!"

 Collective Punishment

    Tang Ze''s eyes widened- he was not sure why Xu Feng was saying stuff like this!

    Tang Ze had assumed that Xu Feng wanted to confess his love to Tang Ru- but no, it sounded like when Xu Feng said ¡®confess his feelings¡¯ he had meant that in the negative sense!

    "I always thought that your tiny nose made you look like a pig! Out of all the women I''ve met in my life - I had the lowest opinion of you!" Xu Feng continued.

    Tang Ru''s eyes flared, her tranquil expression gone and her eyebrows now knitted in fury.

    "I still remember how on the day we first met, you ended up spilling what you were drinking on top of me - and that was after I had just washed my sect uniform! And rather than apologizing, you made it out to be my fault instead, well guess what-" Xu Feng then let out a stream of expletives that would make a sailor blush, in addition to several sentences that implied that Tang Ru and her family by extension had intimate relationships with a wide assortment of animals.

    Was this why Xu Feng couldn''t pass on to the next life?

    Because he just had to tell this girl how much he hated her?

    No - that wasn¡¯t it!

    ¡°Well, that¡¯s all I wanted to say, good luck Brother Tang Ze,¡± Xu Feng said to Tang Ze telepathically before laughing wholeheartedly.

    It was only then that Tang Ze realized that he had been played.

    Unfortunately, there was very little that Tang Ze could do to fix the situation before Tang Ru raised her fist and then started to furiously pummel him without mercy.

    Tang Ze was stronger than he had been before, but not as strong as a Qi Refinement cultivator like Tang Ru yet, not without wearing his actual costume.

    This Supernatural Sam getup didn''t give anything in the way of physical defense. He had not yet absorbed enough of the earlier costume''s power to make much of a difference in this kind of fight, and so, this was less of a ¡®fight¡¯ and more of a one-sided beating.

    "Help! Guards! Save me!" Tang Ze shouted out.

    Why was he the one who had to call for the guards in this situation?!

    ¡°Ahahahaha, that¡¯s what you get for trying to replace me you idiot!¡± Xu Feng said to him telepathically. ¡°You are far too naive, Junior Brother Tang Ze. But, I will still fulfill my end of the bargain. There is a secret place where you can¡­¡±

    Tang Ze didn¡¯t fully catch what he was going to say next as he was too busy trying to avoid Tang Ru¡¯s fists.

    Later that morning, Tang Ze nursed his numerous bruises with a sorry expression on his face.

    After Tang Ze had been caught by the guards, and after they had dragged Tang Ru off of him, Tang Ze was in big trouble.

    Not just him though, his entire squad had been punished for what he had done by being forced to clean up one of the biggest courtyards all by themselves. Tang Ze was still a probationary Initiate and as such, it was expected that the rest of his squad would show him the ropes and keep him in line. If he committed a huge mistake like this, the others would also be punished.

    Additionally, despite being banned by the Geneva Convention back on Earth, collective punishment was common not only in the sects, but in the Raswatian Empire as a whole. As a more extreme example, the worst offenders against the State would have nine generations of their family executed, whether the others were also guilty or not did not matter.

    In a world where relations, both familial and otherwise, were extremely important it was a very effective way of keeping people in line.

    "I''m so sorry guys,¡± Tang Ze finally said after fifteen minutes of awkward silence. He had done all that work last afternoon so that they wouldn''t get into trouble for the escaped ghost - and they hadn''t, not for the vase.

    However, they were all getting punished now for something that was entirely Tang Ze¡¯s fault.

    The other squad members had all thrown him angry looks while the prefect was shouting at them. Zhang Long, as Squad Leader, ended up taking most of the heat during this time, furiously apologizing for ¡®their¡¯ actions to the prefect, even though there was only Tang Ze to blame.

    To their credit, Tang Ze recalled, the others had not thrown him under the bus by trying to emphasize that it was all his doing and they had no involvement with what had gone on - even though that was the truth. They all just bowed their heads, apologized, and accepted their punishment.

    Which made Tang Ze feel all the more guilty about it all.If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    Tang Ze knew they were furious at him, he just hadn¡¯t known where and how to start apologizing.

    Yin Tiang shot him a look and said, "What I don''t get is why - why didn''t you invite us with you?"

    "Eh?" Tang Ze asked.

    "Yin Tiang and I have been planning a way to break in for months, but those were all dumb plans," Chen Yu said. "And then you went ahead and broke into that place without us? What gives, man?"

    Most of the Initiates were in their early or late twenties, and being busy with sect duties and the like didn¡¯t leave much time or money for trying to meet up with women. Few of them were like Zhang Long who already had someone outside the sect. Although one would think that they would be above such things as trying to break into the women¡¯s side, but they were at the Qi Condensation stage after all.

    No matter how much their teachers told them that they had to give up on their worldly desires to find enlightenment, it wasn¡¯t as if such teachings were going to trump basic human biology for most of the Initiates.

    Especially at their level when they had just started out on their cultivation journeys.

    It would be a different matter entirely if they were at a higher level, like Golden Core, and had had several decades to hone their minds and senses - but as they were right now, they were little better than hormonally-fueled college frat kids.

    "Ah, no guys, you don''t get it - it isn''t like that," Tang Ze tried to explain. "I wasn''t going over there for any... lecherous reasons, it was all for a noble cause believe me-"

    Tang Ze tried to explain what had happened, but none of them believed him.

    "You''re telling me that you wanted to help Xu Feng confess to Tang Ru?¡± Yin Tiang snorted. ¡°He hated Tang Ru. Just goes to show you that you clearly didn¡¯t meet him since you don¡¯t know the first thing about him. And hey, if you liked Tang Ru and wanted to confess your feelings to her, you can just say that - we won¡¯t judge you for it. And I get it, Tang Ru rejected you and humiliated you, and that must hurt, but that doesn¡¯t mean you need to make some story up how it was the ghost of Xu Feng compelling you all along to cover that up."

    "Xu Feng always used to cuss out Tang Ru when he was with us,¡± Chen Yu said. ¡°Never could say any of that to her face though."

    "Yeah! Well why didn''t you guys tell me that earlier?" Tang Ze asked. If he had known that it hadn''t been a love confession and something else entirely, he never would have agreed to go on this whole excursion in the first place.

    Xu Feng had technically not lied to Tang Ze - but he had tricked him nonetheless by omitting crucial information. Xu Feng clearly resented Tang Ze¡¯s presence in the group, and so had come up with this plan.

    By doing so, Xu Feng had killed two birds with one stone. He had gotten to tell Tang Ru just how much he hated her, and had left Tang Ze to face the consequences!

    "Why would that matter? He''s dead," Zhang Long said.

    Tang Ze sighed. Xu Feng''s spirit had moved on, meaning Tang Ze had no evidence anymore. And even if he wanted revenge against Xu Feng, there was nothing more that Tang Ze could do to him because of the same.

    No one in his squad believe him no matter how much he insisted that was all the truth.

    All throughout while the four kept cleaning, people were watching them from the shadows, muttering to each other. They didn¡¯t approach the group for a while, until finally, one of the other Initiates approached them.

    "Is it true that you all... went over and broke into the women''s side?" he asked.

    There were about twenty people in total looking at the four of them - some of them had haughty expressions while others looked angry, but all of them seemed to want to know what happened.

    "Not really, well, to start off with things, it wasn''t their fault-" Tang Ze began to speak, trying to explain that this was all his fault and that the others hadn¡¯t been involved at all; but Yin Tiang put a finger to his lips before he could finish.

    "Let me answer - indeed, you are all correct! We snuck into the women''s side - all four of us!" Yin Tiang said proudly.

    Eh?

    Why was he trying to take the blame for Tang Ze''s actions? Tang Ze couldn''t wrap his head around it at all.

    "Of course," Chen Yu continued, "however, while we all broke in, it was all my plan!"

    "Don''t flatter yourself, it was I who thought of it!" Yin Tiang countered.

    The two of them were fighting - not for taking up the blame for the incident, Tang Ze realized, but for taking credit for it instead!

    After all, many of the male Initiates wanted to do what Tang Ze had done.

    The women''s section was kind of like a ''forbidden sacred realm'' for the males - the others just didn''t have the courage or means to replicate Tang Ze¡¯s infiltration!

    "Heh," Chen Yu said. "All of you, I know - were planning on going to the women''s side, weren''t you? Or at least, you all dreamed of it. But none of you had the stones to do it!"

    "Indeed," Yin Tiang said proudly. "We''re the only real men here since we were the only ones who had the courage to walk into the lioness¡¯s den! Y''all are nothing more bunch of eunuchs!"

    "This Yin Tiang - calling us a bunch of eunuchs, he''s going too far!"

    "But it''s true that I wanted to see what was there though..."

    "Yeah, but we would get beaten to a pulp if we were caught..." Thinking this, none of them had tried - and yet these four were apparently brave enough to do so regardless of the consequences?

    "And to think we were making fun of Brother Tang Ze for being unable to cultivate - he does have guts though!"

    ''Wait- the others were making fun of me for that?''- Tang Ze thought. Maybe they did it behind his back - because no one had ever said something like that to his face.

    Perhaps they feared falling victim to [Monkey Stealing Peaches] that much?

    There was grumbling from the other Initiates, but most had awe and wonder in their eyes.

    "But... what did you guys see when you were over there?" one of them asked.

    "Did you happen to sneak into the women''s bathhouse?"

    ''What kind of degenerates do these guys take us for?''- that was what Tang Ze was thinking at the moment.

    "Ah, we would love to tell you all the... juicy details...," Zhang Long interjected, "but we have a courtyard to clean up, and it''s going to take up so much time on our own..."

    Before the sentence had even left his mouth, the other Initiates had already started helping them clean up.

    With so many people working - this task that would''ve kept the four of them busy till midnight was done in a matter of a few hours!

    As for what they told the other Initiates regarding what the four of them had apparently seen that was so tantalizing - well, the answer was easy- they just made it all up!

    It wasn''t like the others could discredit or disprove what they were saying.

    The only person who could do that was Tang Ze, and he wasn''t about to open up his mouth!

    It seemed that in a strange way, their reputation had increased among the male Initiates rather than decreasing!

 Lessons

    "Ah, why is Brother Tang Ze bruised though?"

    "Didn''t you hear? He tried to confess his love to Tang Ru and she beat him like a dog!" This statement was not correct, but it was the version of events.

    "Oh, I see - Tang Ze is a masochist who likes it when girls beat him."

    "No, that beating was not an expression of love - she rejected him and then she did that to him. She''s always been a cold-hearted harpy."

    "Hmm... she is pretty though - and has a really nice rear."

    "True, likely why Brother Tang Ze fell for her in the first place."

    ¡°But to thrash him so thoroughly after he confessed to her, Tang Ru might have the appearance of a sura, but she has the personality and temperament of an asura!¡±

    The suras were divine beings who were noted to be beautiful, powerful, serene, benevolent, wise, and restrained. They ruled over heaven, and Indra was said to be their king. They were often mentioned in the mythology of this world, though no one in living memory could be reliably said to have seen one for themselves.

    The asuras, in contrast, were deformed, demonic, violent, ruthless, malevolent, ill-tempered, and cruel. It was said that long before the Raswatian Empire was founded the asuras were engaged in a massive war with humanity. The asuras not only eventually lost said war, but were also completely eliminated by its end. Archeologists would occasionally find the remains of the asuras, so unlike with the suras, there was at least concrete evidence that they had, at one point, existed.

    ¡°Wait- their names are Tang Ze and Tang Ru, no? Aren¡¯t they related? Why was Tang Ze confessing his feelings to her?¡±

    ¡°No, no, they just coincidentally share the surname ¡®Tang¡¯, they aren¡¯t actually related¡­ at least I hope so.¡±

    When all of it was over, there were so many rumors and misunderstandings from this one simple incident that Tang Ze himself had trouble keeping his own head on right as to what actually had happened.

    And yet, no matter what Tang Ze did, he couldn''t straighten things out. Many of the men respected him for crossing over to the women¡¯s side and confessing his feelings to a girl- something a lot of them fantasized of doing but were never bold enough to carry out. The fact that Tang Ru had ¡®rejected his love¡¯ also made it so that he garnered some of their sympathies- and the others thought that even if he had been rejected in the end, he had at least been bold enough to put his heart on the table.

    Of course, these people didn¡¯t understand what actually happened, nor would they believe it even if Tang Ze told them.

    And while Tang Ze''s reputation amongst the men might have skyrocketed, his reputation in the eyes of the women was now lower than even the piles of mud that one would find after the rainwater had dried up!

    ''Nasty pig'', ''pervert'', and ''heartless boor'' were some of the nicer things that they called him.

    <hr>

    There were quite a number of downsides to joining a sect, Tang Ze had soon realized this after joining - but there was quite a bit of upside as well.

    One such upside were the lessons.

    Lessons were sparse and not as frequent as Tang Ze would¡¯ve liked - usually only two or three per week, but the fruit of such was quite rich.

    The best part was definitely the attitude of the teacher¡¯s - Tang Ze had initially been worried, or perhaps it was from the influence of consuming media back in his world, that the teachers here would be overly strict and arrogant.

    But it was not so!

    As an example, when they had a lesson about cultivating, the teacher did not seem to be the slightest bit fazed when he found that Tang Ze was at the Zeroth Realm.

    He did not scoff at Tang Ze or dismiss him as being hopeless.

    Instead, the teacher gave Tang Ze some even more basic pointers than everyone else, based on what he thought Tang Ze could do to get to the first minor realm of Qi Condensation quicker.

    In truth, even his teacher didn¡¯t have much to say to him in that regard, because something like this was not a problem that people usually encountered.

    However, even a few pointers went a long way to someone like Tang Ze - who felt like he was stuck with no real guidance on how to move forward.

    ¡°Cultivation, at its core is about knowing oneself,¡± his teacher told him. ¡°If one does not know oneself, how can one understand the vastness of Heaven and Earth?¡±

    There was a technique called mirror-meditating that worked well for the same.The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    The concept was simple, one had to sit in front of a mirror - which were not that common in this world, so most people preferred to sit in front of a small pond or lake, so that there was the added benefit of being surrounded by nature.

    And then, one would look at one¡¯s reflection, contemplating every inch of it, and thinking of one¡¯s past experiences.

    The goal was to get to know oneself better.

    ¡°Once you have become comfortable with that, the next step is to understand the world around you,¡± the teacher continued. ¡°But, that is jumping far too quickly ahead. For now, focus upon yourself.¡±

    Additionally, the teacher noted that Tang Ze¡¯s dantian and meridians were quite weak right now, and much like Yin Tiang, also advised against the use of pills. ¡°Your meridians are weak - just like the bones of a baby are much weaker than that of an adult. Put too much stress on them, and they may be irreparably damaged.¡±

    As for the baby oil, the teacher noted that he wasn¡¯t really sure whether it would work or not, but at the very least it wouldn¡¯t hurt either. ¡°My knowledge has limits, you know,¡± he said with an apologetic tone.

    However, that only made his image rise higher in Tang Ze¡¯s eyes.

    In Tang Ze¡¯s experience, not just from this world, but also back on Earth - a teacher who couldn¡¯t admit they didn¡¯t know something was usually not a very good one. They might make up an answer, or get angry and deflect the question - but this man wasn¡¯t like that.

    That told Tang Ze that he likely knew what he was talking about, and he continued to try to meditate daily, hoping that he would soon be able to use the more advanced techniques that Zhang Long and his other squad members could use.

    In the meanwhile, he continued to try to strengthen himself with the help of making new costumes. However, he was now running into some issues with this that he hadn¡¯t foreseen earlier.

    For one - while it was fine enough to make new costumes for different characters, the fact remained that some were far more powerful than others!

    As an example, he had purchased a large amount of orange cloth to make an outfit that was based on a certain character who was even more powerful than the superhero he had first emulated. This character was based off of Sun Wukong - and for some reason was quite beloved by cartels back on Earth. He could even use Qi to some extent, though was still weak to most magical and spiritual abilities.

    But because some characters were so much better than others, it led to the issue that there was little point in making dozens of costumes. Better to just make one and absorb that one¡¯s power completely!

    On top of that, he hadn¡¯t figured out a way to make things go faster. It would take about three hundred years for him to absorb this new character¡¯s power quickly, but because the ceiling was much higher- it still meant that he got stronger faster with this costume than with the previous one.

    But, it was extremely frustrating to do nothing but wear a costume and wait to get stronger!

    On top of which, it wasn¡¯t just strength he was after. But when it came to thinking of other abilities, he was so spoiled for choice that it was hard to decide. He had the opposite problem here - there being too much choice, and not too little. He didn¡¯t know what might be useful in the future.

    The downside of having a unique talent such as this was of course, that there was no one who could guide him further on what to do here.

    Tang Ze would have to learn by trial and error.

    It was here that a teacher could¡¯ve helped him - but if he was the only one with such a talent which truly did seem to be the case, he could rely only upon himself.

    If the student was unwilling to learn or was completely hopeless, it wouldn¡¯t matter how good the teacher was - that student would not go far.

    Conversely, even if there was no teacher, a willing and good student could eventually accomplish or figure out most things for themselves.

    But that would take time!

    The role of a good teacher in that kind of scenario was to make the few things that a student couldn¡¯t figure out on their own clear - and to shorten the amount of effort and time needed to understand things.

    A good teacher could take something that might take hours to understand comprehensible in a few minutes!

    And even in this world, where people could potentially live for thousands of years, time was not a luxury that could casually be discarded.

    When it came to his talent, Tang Ze would have stumble in the dark to find what worked and what didn¡¯t. There would be no help on that front.

    Other than the cultivation lectures, they had had a basic alchemy lesson as well.

    This was a ¡®basic lesson¡¯ with the more advanced ones reserved for those like Yin Tiang who showed that they were ready to actually specialize as being alchemists.

    These basic lessons were, as the teacher said, more for making sure that they all didn¡¯t make a dumb mistake like eating or drinking something that could kill them, and to ensure that they wouldn¡¯t be swindled when buying or selling such objects either.

    After all, sect missions did involve things like collecting herbs - which is what Zhang Long had been doing when he had run into Tang Ze in the first place.

    They could not do these jobs correctly if they could not, to some extent, identify the plants which were relevant to cultivation.

    Tang Ze found this whole class to be quite boring - as it was just the teacher handing out a plant, going into details about it, asking them to memorize its name, appearance, and properties, and this would continue for another forty plants.

    Tang Ze¡¯s ability to rote memorize things were not good - he could¡¯ve been a much better student back on Earth had that been the case.

    Zhang Long and Yin Tiang shared much of the same predilections as him when it came to this lesson, but because they had been born in this world and had been raised in it, they had some ideas of these plants as they had seen them before.

    Tang Ze was approaching this subject as a total newcomer, and things that would¡¯ve been otherwise very obvious to even an ordinary mortal were foreign to him.

    The teacher though, didn¡¯t seem to care and kept droning on, hoping that by showing them things again and again often enough they would get a hang of it.

    And for those who would reach the Golden Core stage - there was likely some truth to that. After looking at plants over and over again for potentially hundreds of years, even if you weren¡¯t actively trying, you would be able to get quite a bit of information on them.

    Tang Ze did not particularly like this class - mainly because he wasn''t too good at it. It was much the same with the cultivation lessons, only he was far more interested in those as that was a definitive requirement of this world if he wanted to go forward.

    In contrast to those two, there were the martial arts lessons. Tang Ze did reasonably well with these, though, in this instance, he had the opposite problem. While he was happy, his teacher was quite annoyed with him.

    The martial arts instructor walked up to Tang Ze after telling everyone else to pair up to practice, and he had a sour expression on his face.

 Martial Arts Training

    ¡°Where did you get those bruises?¡± the martial arts instructor asked Tang Ze.

    ¡°Ah - I uh, got into a fight,¡± Tang Ze said awkwardly. By now, everyone in the sect knew how he had gotten those bruises, so he knew that this had been a rhetorical question.

    The martial arts instructor sighed and put a hand to his forehead. ¡°You do realize how it looks like, don¡¯t you? To have lost to a woman? And how that reflects on me!?¡±

    Why was the martial arts instructor so ticked off at Tang Ze?

    The reason was that back during their last lesson, which had occurred before the whole incident with Xu Feng, the martial arts instructor had noted Tang Ze¡¯s lack of cultivation, and then asked him to spar with him to demonstrate some techniques to the rest of the class.

    While doing so, the martial arts instructor had said the classic line he had said so many times before, ¡°If you want to have a chance of putting up an actual fight - you¡¯ll have to come at me with killing intent. Attack me as if you¡¯re trying to kill me Junior Tang Ze!¡±

    The martial arts instructor knew that Tang Ze was stronger than a normal person - but how much could that possible be? Two times? Five times? At most maybe ten times.

    Not nearly enough to bridge the gap between them, especially given the martial arts instructor¡¯s experience. So what was there to worry about?

    The martial arts instructor knew that Tang Ze¡¯s cultivation base was weak, but by showing him that his physical strength could be a great attribute, he hoped to inspire the other Initiates to train harder, and also to raise Tang Ze¡¯s morale in the same way.

    The problem was that during martial arts lessons, the restrictions on having to wear the sect¡¯s uniform were lifted to a certain extent to allow for comfort during movement.

    And that was why Tang Ze had been able to modify a part of it to resemble a costume. He was only about two percent of full strength, but the problem was that Tang Ze was so hyped he took ¡®come at me like you¡¯re trying to kill me¡¯ seriously. Tang Ze had mistakenly thought that the martial arts instructor would have some way to handle it.

    The result was that he ended up nearly crippling the martial arts instructor in one blow.

    The kicker?

    Tang Ze hadn¡¯t even been fighting at his full two percent of strength. He had still been holding back. After all, there was no way he could actually fight someone with the intention of killing them right now. On top of which he was a novice when it came to actual fighting.

    The strike had also been so strong it collapsed a part of the dojo, which is why this lesson was taking place outside in a courtyard while the damage that Tang Ze had done was being repaired.

    As you can imagine, these two facts did nothing to endear Tang Ze to the martial arts instructor, which was why he had such a sour expression when compared to Tang Ze¡¯s other teachers while dealing with him. It was one thing to be bad at the subject the teacher was teaching - that could be excused, after all, they were there to learn in the first place. It was much harder for a teacher to overlook their student nearly killing them.

    But that wasn¡¯t why he was upset at Tang Ze today. At least, it wasn¡¯t the entire reason.

    You see, Tang Ze could clearly defeat the martial arts instructor. There was no way for the latter to deny that after what had happened last lesson.

    And so, if Tang Ze lost easily afterwards - that was like the martial arts instructor losing easily!

    This was like a slap to his face - because people would measure him using Tang Ze¡¯s feats as a ruler of comparison of sorts.

    He was an ¡®instructor¡¯ after all - what would it look like if he had lost to someone at Qi Refinement stage who was at a lower minor realm than he was?

    Of course, it could be noted that Tang Ze was even lower at the Zeroth Realm, but he was an exception that was relatively well known about. No one would fault a loss to him - but this made it look like nearly anyone could beat the martial arts instructor!

    ¡°I wasn¡¯t able to fight at full strength,¡± Tang Ze protested. He hadn¡¯t been wearing something suited for combat at the time, and had been taken by surprise by Tang Ru. Also, he had just started passively absorbing a costume¡¯s full power, and all of this meant he had not been able to keep up with her.

    The martial arts instructor shook his head, ¡°Just keep that in mind in the future, alright?¡±

    ¡°I will,¡± Tang Ze said. ¡°With that said - is it alright if I can ask you a question?¡±

    This seemed like Tang Ze was trying to change the topic as quickly as possible, but Tang Ze did in fact genuinely have a question.Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

    ¡°What is it?¡±

    ¡°If someone were to say¡­ charge at us with a knife and we were unarmed? What would be the best way to stop them? I mean, assuming we can¡¯t use any skills?¡± Tang Ze asked.

    ¡°With your strength you wouldn¡¯t have to worry about it,¡± the instructor said. ¡°You should be more worried about swords and lances-¡±

    ¡°I get that but, say, let¡¯s say that I was fighting someone about as strong as I was, with a knife, and they ran at me - what¡¯s the best way to block them?¡± Tang Ze asked, wording his question differently.

    ¡°Why would they run at you with a knife instead of throwing half a mountain at you?¡± the instructor asked, confused as to why Tang Ze would be pursuing this line of questioning.

    ¡°Let¡¯s just suppose so,¡± Tang Ze said, insisting on that. ¡°Or if it was some other kind of small object that could hurt me. What¡¯s the best kind of maneuver to do to avoid it?¡±

    ¡°Alright, let¡¯s see,¡± the martial arts instructor said, handing Tang Ze a small cone he had made out of parchment. ¡°Pretend that that¡¯s a dagger, and try to stab me.¡± He then hastily added. ¡°But please, hold back!¡±

    Tang Ze nodded and then tried to approach with the ¡®dagger¡¯, to have the martial arts instructor twist his arm and then show how Tang Ze could then be forced to the ground.

    There were some other variations of this, such as sweeping out his legs from under him.

    All throughout, the martial arts instructor mentioned that the most important thing was to keep the tip of the knife away from his vital organs, especially if he wasn¡¯t wearing armor.

    Tang Ze did his best to try to understand them, but many of these techniques relied on one¡¯s strength and speed.

    Even if Tang Ze had known this back on Earth, would he have been able to make any difference back then?

    Perhaps not - but he continued to practice this regardless.

    Speaking of the martial arts lesson, Elder He Xuan was currently examining the damage done by Tang Ze from the previous martial arts lesson.

    He had been told of the same before, but had only had time to personally come and inspect it today.

    ¡°This Tang Ze is far too much,¡± a prefect complained to He Xuan. ¡°In the short time that he has been here he has violated two major rules - one, he has caused such damage to the training hall. And two, he snuck into the women''s division past hours!¡±

    The dojo had taken quite an investment to get it up to shape, with the martial arts instructor having to repeatedly ask for the funds for it - and to see it destroyed in a single blow; no wonder the martial arts instructor was in a bad mood.

    ¡°Was this damage really caused by a single blow?¡± Elder He Xuan wondered.

    He could potentially do something like this, but he was at the Golden Core realm. For someone at the Zeroth Realm to accomplish this kind of feat¡­

    He Xuan knew that Tang Ze was strong for his cultivation level, but he had clearly underestimated how strong.

    The reason for this was simple - there had not been an opportunity for Tang Ze to use his full strength as of yet.

    As a matter of fact, even this damage was not caused by his full strength.

    ¡°Indeed, Elder He Xuan!¡± the prefect said. ¡°A second offense so soon after the first - we cannot let this slide easily!¡±

    The prefects were the upholders of the sect rules, so no doubt they found Tang Ze¡¯s presence quite frustrating.

    Tang Ze, for all of his faults - was not actually a habitual rule breaker.

    He hadn¡¯t been like that back on Earth, and he wasn¡¯t like this right now either. While he might¡¯ve gotten into trouble for sleeping in class or being late, he never caused any kind of severe trouble like a delinquent.

    The trespassing incident was entirely because Xu Feng had tricked him, and the dojo incident was because he had overestimated what the martial arts instructor could do and used too much of his strength.

    However, as they say, ¡®you only get to make one first impression.¡¯ The fact that these two incidents had happened so quickly in succession to Tang Ze joining the sect marked him as a severe problem child in the eyes of the prefects and many of the other staff.

    He was now viewed as someone who would cause nothing but trouble - even if this was not true.

    Not to mention it had been the prefects who had spent several days setting up traps for the entrance test, and Tang Ze bypassing all of them by flying, they felt, was like spitting in the face of all of their hard work.

    ¡°If he is so strong at the Zeroth Realm,¡± Elder He Xuan said. ¡°Imagine what he could do if he ascended even higher? Perhaps one day he really will be able to¡­¡± He Xuan trailed off, deep in thought.

    Advancing along the realms of cultivation did make one strong - but that was not the only way to get stronger. The multipliers to one¡¯s strength were multiplying a person¡¯s base strength. A person could actually get much stronger, at least when it came to the Qi Condensation realm, by doing exercises and weight training rather than cultivating. Of course, as one got further along the multipliers became almost ridiculous to the point they were more important than anything else, but the amplification was more useful the stronger you were naturally.

    So, if Tang Ze was this strong at the Zeroth Realm, what would happen when he was two-and-a-half times stronger at the final realm of Qi Condensation? Or for that matter five times stronger by reaching Qi Refinement? Or even sixty times stronger than this at Golden Core - He Xuan shuddered at what the outcome would be!

    ¡°Alright then,¡± He Xuan said, finally coming to a decision. Tang Ze had already been punished for trespassing, but had not been handed a punishment for this as of yet. ¡°As punishment for this, cut down his monthly compensation for this month by ten percent.¡±

    Members of the sect did not get an income for what they did. Almost all they owned, especially at the lower levels, was owned by the sect. If they found a large treasure, they were usually expected to hand it over to the sect itself which would then distribute said treasure - though this usually only applied for treasures on the higher side.

    Instead of a salary, resources were distributed to them every month - such as in the form of sect merit points which could be exchanged for various goods and services later. These points were kept track of strictly by the prefects - though they had no value outside of the sect, they also could not be stolen either. And it was a way to disincentivize people from changing sects- as these merit points would not carry over.

    He Xuan was saying that these rewards, which were already rather pitiful for a probationary Initiate, would be reduced to ninety percent of what they would normally be.

    ¡°Sect Elder!¡± the prefect cried out. ¡°What manner of punishment is this? It is hardly anything!¡±

    The prefect had secretly been hoping to have Tang Ze thrown out of the sect entirely, that was how much a problem they anticipated that Tang Ze would eventually become!

    It was much harder to throw someone out once their probationary period was over, which is why they felt the need to put tacit pressure upon Elder He Xuan, who was overall in charge of this outer division of the Rising Phoenix Sect and could make that kind of decision.

 Introduction to the Mercury Kingdom

    Once Tang Ze became a regular Initiate, it was much harder to kick him out without a good reason. During his probationary period, a decision from Elder He Xuan could terminate his membership as one of the sect. However, once he became a proper Initiate, it would take a decision from three Elders to revoke his membership.

    Naturally the prefects wanted to nip the problem in the bud, so to speak, as from their perspective Tang Ze was a hopeless case who would only cause them more problems in the future.

    Elder He Xuan scoffed, not moved at all by the prefect¡¯s words. ¡°I don¡¯t see a reason to punish him any more than what I have already decreed - one can also argue that it is debatable if he should be punished or not at all.¡±

    ¡°Division Elder - with the damage he has caused and the resources it will take to repair this, how can you say that?¡±

    ¡°With the matter of him trespassing, he needed to be punished, and I agreed to the same,¡± Elder He Xuan said. ¡°But this? This was not done intentionally, first of all, nor was it malicious. It is normal for accidents to happen in training - I can only count this as yet another one of the same.¡±

    The prefect sputtered. Elder He Xuan had a reputation for being a bit softer than the other division heads, likely because at only two hundred and twenty-four, he was much younger than the rest of them. But the prefect still felt that this was far too lenient even for him. ¡°What if he had killed his teacher?¡±

    ¡°Did he though?¡± He Xuan asked. ¡°During sparring, accidents can naturally happen and are even expected to a certain degree. Thankfully a death has not occurred in the past few decades, but there is always the chance of that happening. Should we stop the martial arts lessons altogether because something like that might happen? Of course not! Naturally if we determined that someone was doing such a thing purposefully, they would be punished. But Tang Ze had been asked to come at his teacher with killing intent - and was he not then just doing what his teacher asked?¡±

    ¡°But-but-¡± the prefect sputtered. This was going in an entirely different direction, as if Elder He Xuan was secretly praising Tang Ze.

    What the prefect did not know what indeed, Elder He Xuan was in great admiration of Tang Ze¡¯s physical strength.

    After all, Elder He Xuan had future plans that might involve Tang Ze, so naturally he was not going to kick him out!

    As a matter of fact, it could actually be said that Tang Ze''s position in the sect was nearly untouchable so long as Elder He Xuan was the division elder. Of course, if Tang Ze did something egregiously bad Elder He Xuan would have to step in but barring that, Tang Ze was not going to be thrown out anytime soon.

    Of course, no one other than Elder He Xuan was aware of this.

    ¡°Even the martial arts instructor,¡± Elder He Xuan said, ¡°although he greatly chastised Tang Ze, did not once question the boy¡¯s talent. If anything, he asked if he could take Tang Ze aside for more personalized one-on-one training to bring out his potential and so that he didn¡¯t cause anymore accidents. I don¡¯t know if he¡¯s ready for that yet - or if I should agree to that given it could be seen as a reward, but it is clear that the boy has the potential to become the strongest body cultivator of this generation.¡±

    The prefect realized that there was no use in arguing further. ¡°And about the cost of repairing this place¡­¡± Even if they confiscated the resources they gave Tang Ze for a whole year, it still wouldn''t pay for the repairs.

    ¡°What of it? Don¡¯t accidents happen? If the wind blew and a tree fell, crushing the roof of a building - would we sue the god of wind for damages? Write this off accordingly,¡± Elder He Xuan said.

    As he was about to consider the matter dismissed, an idea crossed his mind. ¡°Let those Initiates know that I will be giving them a ah¡­ special lecture next week!¡±

    ¡°It will be done,¡± the prefect said, not daring to protest any further.

    The next week, the Initiates were sitting, completely focused on Elder He Xuan as he walked into the room.

    Even those who had been there for a few years had not known a single instance in which Elder He Xuan had come to personally teach them.

    Without a doubt - this was not a lecture worth missing!

    Even those who might have otherwise played truant had made it a point to attend.

    What kind of knowledge would Elder He Xuan impart to them? Some secret fighting technique? Or some deep insight into the Dao? Or a way to cultivate more efficiently?

    They all waited with bated breath in excitement!

    Only¡­ they were soon disappointed.

    The lecture wasn¡¯t really about anything that they could think of as being interesting or useful.

    Elder He Xuan was giving them a history lesson.

    ¡°Before the Raswatian Empire stood, there was a great civilization before us,¡± He Xuan said.Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

    He was talking about the remnants of the kingdom that had stood before the Raswatian Empire had been founded.

    No one was really sure what had happened to it - as most artifacts and relics from that era had been destroyed and knowledge of the same was lost to time.

    What they did know was that there had been a series of calamities that occurred that lead to their downfall which likely involved the asuras in some way, and for several hundred years the area that would eventually become the Raswatian Empire was in a state of chaos and anarchy. Kingdoms would rise and fall in the matter of a few years or decades during this ¡®warring states period¡¯, until finally stability was achieved and the Raswatian Empire was founded.

    Things were so bad regarding the knowledge of this ancient civilization that they didn¡¯t even know what those people called themselves - but because many of their artifacts and relics, at least those that survived, contained mercury, it was called the Mercury Kingdom by many archaeologists.

    Elder He Xuan personally had something to add to this field, as he had written several books on them, conducted his own research into the matter, and also had his own theories on what they may have been like.

    Tang Ze found the subject to be mildly interesting given how little he knew of this world - it was fascinating to learn a bit about its history. However, he could tell that his comrades did not feel the same, as many of them were visibly struggling to stay awake.

    And after two hours of that, they were dismissed.

    Many of the people had forlorn looks on their faces.

    Why had they been forced to sit through something like that? What was the point?

    They had come in with such high expectations for the lesson, but left empty-handed, or rather empty-brained, in their opinions.

    Tang Ze didn¡¯t feel like it was a total waste of time, but he also couldn¡¯t see the application of anything that they had been taught.

    Before Tang Ze stepped out, Elder He Xuan called out to him. ¡°Tell me, Junior Tang Ze - how did you find the lesson?¡±

    ¡°Ah¡­ quite fascinating!¡± Tang Ze said, trying to sound more eager than he actually was.

    ¡°Yes, we greatly benefited from Sect Elder¡¯s wisdom!¡±

    ¡°Truly, I think I speak for everyone when I say that I feel enlightened!¡±

    ¡°I think I nearly jumped up a minor realm through this lecture!¡±

    Such toadying echoed from the other stragglers around Tang Ze, though Elder He Xuan ignored them completely. ¡°I hope that you reflect on what I taught you, Junior Tang Ze.¡±

    Tang Ze couldn¡¯t help but think there was a deeper meaning to what Elder He Xuan was saying.

    Was there a reason he should be interested in the Mercury Kingdom in the first place?

    Did it have some sort of ties to Tang Ze?

    Elder He Xuan didn¡¯t say anything more, but gave Tang Ze a small nod as there was a twinkle in his eyes.

    That confirmed to Tang Ze that there definitely was some concept or reason behind this lesson which he wasn¡¯t seeing that Elder He Xuan expected him to - or that it would be important for him to know in the future.

    Given this, Tang Ze did try to find out more about the people of the Mercury Kingdom, but they were quite obscure, and what Elder He Xuan had already told him made up the bulk of what he could find in the sect¡¯s libraries.

    He still couldn¡¯t find a deeper meaning behind any of He Xuan¡¯s teachings, however.

    But perhaps, with time, the answers would come to him.

    <hr>

    As part of their work for the sect, not only were sect members sent out on missions or assigned tasks as groups, but also alone as well sometimes.

    This was because while the squad system was intended to foster bonds between members of the sect, the fact remained that the journey of cultivation was one which was ultimately an individual¡¯s road to travel on their lonesome.

    As such, it was also important that Initiates learn how to work alone, and not just as a group.

    Well, that was probably the intention - but it wasn¡¯t like Tang Ze had been with his group for very long before he had been assigned this post. So it felt like he had been separated from them before even getting to properly know them.

    Not that this role was difficult.

    There was a bridge that crossed a river, which was the shortest route between two large trading centers. If one wanted to avoid using the bridge, they would have to risk the treacherous currents of the river, which was almost certainly going to lead to death, or to go the long route through the mountains.

    The mountains might¡¯ve been slightly safer than the river, but there still was the risk of running into wild beasts and the like, not to mention there was no good trail. What would take a day to traverse would instead take about a week to do if one triad traipsing through the mountains.

    This was one of the peak traffic seasons for the bridge, and said bridge had been built and maintained by the Rising Phoenix sect.

    Tang Ze¡¯s job was to operate the toll booth and collect a toll from the people who used said bridge.

    It was hardly a job that on paper would require someone strong to do it, but there was the slight risk of bandit attacks or animals wandering near the bridge or booth.

    This job would usually only be given to someone of Qi Refinement rank, but the prefect in charge of distributing tasks just said, ¡°Ah, but we¡¯ve seen how strong you are, I¡¯m sure you can handle it Junior Brother Tang Ze.¡±

    One person who was approaching said bridge was a woman by the name of Zheng Mei.

    Her family owned a small farm, and she was transporting some of their produce to sell. That was how relatively safe the area was kept - even a lone woman could travel like this without having any major worries. Any major bandit or animal attacks would usually be taken care of whoever manned the bridge before it could lead to problems.

    After all, the bridge was an important source of income for the sect for relatively little work, and they would not want one of their golden geese to croak, now then would they? So whenever a problem occurred, the sect would swiftly deal with it.

    Zheng Mai saw the toll booth up ahead, but she was not worried.

    She had used her feminine charms to sneak past without having to pay anything many times in the past. After all, the toll booth was usually manned by a single male cultivator, and one who was rather low-ranking as well.

    A few sweet words, and Zheng Mei was sure that she could slide on by without having to part with a single coin.

    ¡°Hello,¡± Tang Ze said as she approached. Tang Ze calculated the toll required for a person and a cart in his head, and after an inspection of the luggage, told her how much she needed to pay.

    ¡°Oh dearest me!¡± Zheng Mei suddenly said with an exaggerated look. ¡°I don¡¯t seem to have any coin on me.¡±

    ¡°Alright then,¡± Tang Ze said without batting an eye. ¡°You¡¯ll have to leave a portion of your goods instead then.¡± Most farmers did not do much business with actual coinage and instead bartered, so the sect did allow people to pay tolls and taxes with produce instead most of the time.

    Zheng Mei sighed, fluttering her eyelids. ¡°You know¡­ I¡¯ve heard that beautiful girls don¡¯t need to pay the bridge toll.¡±

    Tang Ze knew there was no such rule, but decided to humor her regardless. ¡°That¡¯s right. So if you see a beautiful girl, let her know that she doesn¡¯t need to pay. Now, the toll please!¡±

 Arrogant Young Master, Where Art Thou?

    Zheng Mei scowled. What was wrong with this man? He seemed to have eyes but could not see Mt. Tai if he did not acknowledge her beauty!

    She was used to the toll keepers letting her pass without her even having to ask for this kind of favor!

    In truth, it wasn¡¯t like Tang Ze didn¡¯t acknowledge her beauty. She was quite cute¡­ but the issue was that with like most ¡®beauties¡¯ of this world, there was something - for lack of a better word, unreal about her.

    He couldn¡¯t quite put his finger on it. If Tang Ze was asked the question, ¡°Is Zhang Mei beautiful?¡± his answer would no doubt be ¡®yes.¡¯ But if asked if she was his type, the answer would be ¡®no.¡¯

    Standards of beauty varied of course, Tang Ze acknowledged that, and what was considered beautiful in this world was slightly¡­ uncanny for a lack of a better word. Skin like jade, a thin waist, wide eyes, and delicate eyelashes - these features were valued in this world just like on Earth but were exaggerated to the point that Tang Ze thought that many of such girls appeared somewhat alien.

    Now, Tang Ze had average to below average looks, he knew that and while he wasn¡¯t in a position to judge others by appearance, a lifetime of consuming media had primed him to expect otherworldly beauties in a different world.

    And they were otherworldly alright- in a strange, exotic way.

    Compared to this woman, Jin Zhen, although she could be said to be only average in looks at best, at least looked like an actual person.

    Or maybe it was just Tang Ze who was wrong? He thought that was a possibility given this could just be his experience from Earth coloring his judgement.

    Zheng Mei sighed. ¡°I really don¡¯t have the money - and my family can¡¯t afford to give up some of our goods. Can¡¯t I just go through?¡± She even brought out a few crocodile tears to try to appeal towards Tang Ze¡¯s sympathy.

    Tang Ze sighed. ¡°Lady, if it was up to me, I wouldn¡¯t get a toll from anyone - but this isn¡¯t my bridge, it¡¯s the sect¡¯s and I just can¡¯t let anyone pass.¡±

    ¡°Please?¡±

    ¡°Well,¡± Tang Ze said, considering things and giving her an odd look. ¡°Maybe you can pay me back¡­ in a different way?¡±

    Zheng Mei recoiled. Could this man really be trying to take advantage of her like that?

    Despicable!

    All of a sudden, Tang Ze pointed at her and screamed, ¡°Junior, you dare! You are courting death!¡±

    Zheng Mei backed up. Courting death? What had she done to get that kind of reaction from him?

    Tang Ze sighed. ¡°I¡¯ve been in this world for so long, and yet, no one has said those words to me. My ears have been starved for them, much like a wandered in the desert thirsts for water. In all the media I¡¯ve consumed, shouldn¡¯t that be a staple in a cultivation world? Is it too much to ask for an arrogant young master to appear and say those words? Last week, I was in the sect mess hall and accidentally bumped into someone, spilling some soup on their clothes. Do you know what they said?¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Zheng Mei asked, bewildered by this turn of events.

    ¡°They said, ¡®no issue¡¯ and then walked on with their day without asking me to kowtow ten thousand times or to break my arms for forgiveness! Who does that? Why were they being so reasonable and calm? They even looked somewhat wealthy and powerful!¡± Tang Ze vented. ¡°If I ran into someone who was like that though, I might be able to make more progress!¡± After all, that was how these stories went, right?

    Zheng Mei was sure that this man had a screw loose somewhere, but if that was all he was asking for¡­

    ¡°Junior, you dare!¡± Zhang Mei asked. ¡°Asking for a toll from someone like me? Don¡¯t you know who I am? You¡¯re courting death!¡±

    Tang Ze sighed. ¡°It just doesn¡¯t feel real when you say it.¡± It was clear that Zheng Mei didn¡¯t truly mean those words, which was what he was looking for. ¡°Ah, whatever, at least you tried- go on ahead.¡±

    Zheng Mei crossed the bridge before that man could say anything even weirder.

    Tang Ze watched her go and sighed.Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

    Was he really just going crazy being stationed out here?

    While it was normal for Initiates to be given individual assignments, he was the only one who had been assigned to a post so far away from the sect.

    It was so out of the way that he had to travel two days to get here - or would have, if he didn¡¯t fly the way here. That was easy enough given that he could just swap into his uniform once he got here, though he still kept his cape on.

    Although the prefects hadn¡¯t outwardly said this, Tang Ze was sure that this assignment was a form of punishment for his actions up till now.

    He was here, in a toll both, away from most civilization. During the day he would just sit there, collecting the necessary toll.

    The only people he could talk to was the occasional person who wanted to cross the bridge, and once night would fall he would close it down and fall asleep near a shack near the toll booth.

    Because of this, while he was working, there was really little that he could do other than wait for people to come. They came regularly enough for him to be unable to do something like cultivate or work on anything.

    On top of that he was not near any major trading hub himself to buy things to either cultivate or make costumes with. Even if that were the case, he couldn¡¯t really buy anything as he didn¡¯t have much in this world¡¯s currency. Much of his ¡®wealth¡¯ was in the form of merit points with the sect, which he couldn¡¯t use out here.

    He didn¡¯t dare touch the stash of the toll coins that he had gotten - those were to be given to the sect, and he didn¡¯t want to get into more trouble for appropriating funds. He was on thin ice as it was when it came to his reputation in the sect.

    Come to think of it, he had probably made a mistake letting that girl go by without paying the toll - but he really had wanted to hear those words.

    Why was that?

    The truth was that he was quite disappointed with his stay in this world up till now. Part of that could be because his expectations were too high, but there was also the fact that till now, he seemed to have quite a run of rotten luck.

    There were quite a few things which contributed to his despondent mood.

    The biggest was that he was out here, alone. Although it wasn¡¯t like things with his squad were perfect, at least they were people he could talk to.

    Most of the other people in the sect didn¡¯t like him very much- he could tell even if they didn¡¯t openly say it. The women openly gave him looks of disdain because of what had happened with Xu Feng, even if his intentions had been only to help out a friend at that time.

    His heart flared up in anger the moment he thought of Xu Feng. That man had taken advantage of Tang Ze¡¯s naivety and sense of doing right by people. When Tang Ze had first come to this world, he had been wary of potentially being taken advantage of by people, but hadn¡¯t run into anyone till that point who was like that. Since Xu Feng was a ghost and Tang Ze had some sympathy for him, Tang Ze had quickly trusted him. After all, he was one of the former members of the squad- just like Zhang Long, Yin Tiang, and Chen Yu, so Xu Feng also had to be trustworthy like them, right?

    Tang Ze did not have ¡®being tricked by a ghost¡¯ on the list of things he thought might happen if he was ever transported to another world.

    In the future, Tang Ze swore to be more mindful of anyone asking for his help. If it was someone he trusted, like his current squad members, it was fine to lend them a hand - but anyone else, he would need to be more wary of.

    As for Tang Ru, he harbored great resentment towards her as well, though he had to note that given what Xu Feng had made him say to her, her reaction couldn¡¯t entirely be faulted. If someone had said such things about Tang Ze¡¯s family, he too would¡¯ve likely flown into a rage.

    He had tried reaching out once to her via letter, explaining what had happened, and in return all he got was this world¡¯s version of a restraining order telling him that he was no longer allowed to send her letters any longer.

    Evidently she did not believe his explanation.

    It wasn¡¯t just the women though, the higher-ups on the male side also looked at him with distrustful gazes - if his posting here wasn¡¯t a punishment, it was almost certainly a way to get him out of sight and away from where he could potentially cause them trouble.

    If they were feeling particularly vengeful, they might even arrange for some trouble to occur here in this place. Tang Ze didn¡¯t feel like that was very likely, but he had difficulty keeping down the paranoid thoughts.

    If only he had had more of a chance to prove himself - Tang Ze felt that he would be thought of more highly. Right now though, on paper all he was known for was for taking down some of the rival Diamond Dust clan members, a feat that didn¡¯t earn him much renown as it occurred before he had joined.

    He had lots of strength, potentially more than even a Hinayana cultivator, yet the right opportunity to show it off hadn¡¯t presented itself.

    If anything, his strength had been more of a hindrance than anything else as demonstrated with him accidentally destroying part of the dojo.

    His lack of cultivation progress was also bringing his mood down. Right here, where he was, out and away from most people - this would technically be one of the better places to try to cultivate by meditating, but if anything, just sitting here brought out more negative thoughts within him than positive. He was still at the Zeroth Realm - and it wasn¡¯t like he could console himself and say that his rate of growth was good so that he¡¯d eventually outdo his peers. It didn¡¯t bother him that much that his cultivation was the lowest in his squad¡­.

    ¡­no, that was a lie, it bothered him a lot!

    And the fact that during the time he had joined, it looked like his squad members were each going to go up a minor realm, with Zhang Long having even done so with his assistance, while he was still stuck behind even where a child would be - it stung his heart greatly!

    Could he compensate for all of this with his cosplaying talent - maybe, but since coming to this world the talent had already been defeated two times.

    Once, by Elder He Xuan using a technique that didn¡¯t rely on physical strength. And secondly by Tang Ru; although that was because of the circumstances and him being caught off guard, it was a weakness nonetheless.

    It was clear that he couldn¡¯t just coast on his talent in the future as these two losses exposed some glaring weaknesses with it.

 Mistakes of the Past

    Perhaps all of his worries, while somewhat rooted in what was going on in this world, were a symptom of a much deeper problem.

    Tang Ze was still the person he had been back on Earth. Talent or no talent, cultivation or no cultivation, he could not escape who he was.

    The disdainful glances from the other sect members - though painful, were nothing compared to the looks his parents gave him back home.

    They had never said anything outwardly, but Tang Ze had always thought that he could feel their resentment towards him whenever he locked eyes with them.

    Tang Ze¡¯s parents¡­

    He couldn¡¯t help but wonder how they were doing right now - though the moment his thoughts went in that direction, he realized what they must be going through, and immediately severed that train of thought.

    He would prefer to never think about that ever again, and buried that line of questioning deep within his mind, where hopefully it would never bother him again.

    He could only turn to the here and now for comfort - but there was little comfort to be found here.

    Here Tang Ze was, repeating many of the same mistakes as back in his earlier life.

    Complaining about getting up early - which had been such an issue in his past life that he would sometimes miss morning classes because of it.

    Secondly, he was being extremely impatient with things just like he had been back home. If he couldn¡¯t understand something in a few week¡¯s time back home, he would usually give up on it and move on to other things.

    Tang Ze really couldn¡¯t do that here.

    This world was a cultivation world, and cultivation took time. Even if he was bad at it, he had to keep walking on that path. Elder He Xuan¡¯s words from the entrance test echoed - he could be strong, but just being strong was not the point of joining a sect, at least not physically.

    Cultivation was a journey that was unfathomably long. As an example, one would remain an Initiate until one had either served for thirty years, or gotten to Qi Refinement stage. Most people did not meet that second criteria unless they had gotten significant help from their families or lucked out with immense talent, meaning most people took longer than thirty years to get to Qi Refinement stage.

    In practice, it was actually expected for someone to take about forty or fifty years to reach Qi Refinement stage. Most would never reach the Golden Core stage before dying of old age.

    To put things into perspective, back on Earth, his father had once tried to encourage him to enter the medical field. His father had aspired to become a doctor at one point, though hadn¡¯t been able to because of some personal issues at the time. But the time investment required - nearly a decade or more of study, had been more than enough to scare Tang Ze off from even considering going into it!

    His father had been disappointed, though not to the point of trying to force Tang Ze onto that route.

    Instead, his father¡¯s aspirations had been shifted to his younger brother - who might¡¯ve been able to accomplish them.

    When it came to the things that actually mattered, like doing well in school, or getting good grades, studying, or extracurriculars that didn¡¯t involve cosplaying - his younger brother far outshone him.

    Tang Ze felt a sharp pain in his chest at the memory of his brother.

    For a moment, he thought he could even see traces of his brother¡¯s blood on his hands and clothes. The sounds of an ambulance almost began to ring in his ears as well.

    He immediately shook his head.

    If his mind went down that route, it would lead to even more pain. He gave himself a gentle slap, trying to get back to the original point he was thinking of.

    Point being, if around a decade was too long a time to wait on Earth, what was the centuries or even millennia that would need to be invested to become a cultivator about?

    While he hadn¡¯t necessarily imagined himself soaring through the realms with no effort, he didn¡¯t think he¡¯d be stuck at the Zeroth Realm for this long. He was essentially worse than even the lowest cultivator in the sect, worse than many children as a matter of fact, as he was right now.The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    True, it had only been a little over two months - and in cultivator terms that was nothing, but Tang Ze was still someone who came from Earth. And to have made essentially no progress up till now was extremely frustrating.

    Video games, web novels, anime, movies - all of them had been an escape from life back home.

    His hobby of making costumes and cosplaying was also that - an escape.

    Eventually, he remembered that life had become so painful that even those windows of escape had lost their flavor for him.

    And that had been all that he wanted to do - to escape.

    This was the ultimate escape though, to be in a whole different world. Where he could be someone completely different.

    For a time, he even believed that he was someone different. When he had helped Zhang Long, it had felt incredible - like he was on top of the world!

    As if he really had reinvented himself!

    As if his problems had vanished instantly.

    Tang Ze felt back then that if his family could see him now, as he was in this world, they might actually be proud of him. That he had finally, in some way, lived up to their expectations.

    That he had come one step closer to redeeming himself in his own eyes¡­

    The high from that had faded off quickly, and been replaced by the dour reality of this world.

    It was certainly not a bed of roses.

    Living in a cultivation world had its own problems, he was well aware of them now.

    The sheen of coming to a new world had worn off, and its mundane reality was now staring him back.

    A reality that was not completely hopeless, but was disappointing nonetheless.

    Most of the jobs they were given were hard, pointless, and also not the kind he¡¯d normally want to do. He remembered having to clean out pegasi during the time he and his squad had been asked to clean up the stables.

    That was just considered to be ¡®paying one¡¯s dues¡¯ as an Initiate, though as he understood it while things might get better in the sense that the amount of scut work would go down as one moved up the ranks, they would be saddled with different responsibilities then instead. So it seemed that cultivation never truly got easier, because people never truly thought that they were finished. There was always another minor or major realm for them to go up. There was always another rare plant or animal they could be hunting down that could be the ingredient for a valuable pill.

    And so, they would run like that, just like a hamster on a wheel, until they died.

    In that regard, this world wasn¡¯t too different from back on Earth. The only thing was that here, people aspired to be immortal instead of filling their days with work and family, though no one ever had achieved true immortality in this world. The Mahayana realm, after all, was largely considered to just be a myth.

    This job wasn¡¯t too bad on paper, though Tang Ze didn¡¯t think that his days in this new world would be spent as a glorified toll booth operator.

    That was why he had gone off on that girl earlier. Maybe - he thought, if he encountered something like an arrogant young master and put them in their place, or beat an old monster - he¡¯d finally either make some progress or get some recognition from people. He didn¡¯t want to be seen as the black sheep of the sect.

    He was just so tired of how slowly he was making progress.

    Was Tang Ze being unrealistic?

    He absolutely was! Without a doubt, even he knew this.

    A few tiny setbacks like this shouldn¡¯t have derailed someone¡¯s ambition to succeed.

    But, that didn¡¯t change that he felt how he felt. He hadn¡¯t yet grasped the mental fortitude needed, despite all of his lessons, to be able to change that.

    And truth be told, he hadn¡¯t been in the best mental state before coming into this world either.

    That part of him hadn¡¯t been magically fixed by coming here.

    Cultivation was about being true to yourself, apparently - though when thinking of who he was, all that came to his mind was ''worthless trash.''

    What was he going to do about it, though?

    Even if a portal opened up somewhere that would take him back to Earth, he would not have done so. There was no way that he could face his parents again after what he had done.

    The sun set after he collected the toll from a few more travelers. Some of them were just walking on foot, and grumble about having to pay just to walk, but Tang Ze gave them the same answer he¡¯d given Zheng Mai. If it was up to him, he would just let them pass - but the sect demanded its dues.

    Once it was nighttime, he closed the bridge through a mechanism that lifted up the half closer to him up in the air. With that, he went to the adjoining cottage, which was more of a glorified shed than anything else.

    All it had in terms of furniture was a bed and supplies needed to change the linen. There was enough food for the maximum time he would be expected to be here, and things like lamp oil and the like were brought in periodically.

    The most important thing to do was to lock up the coinage in a special box kept in the cottage. The box couldn¡¯t be opened easily, and was bolted to the ground making it very difficult to steal.

    As for the produce, that had to be kept in storage, and would be taken away by the same people who would come to resupply the cottage.

    The door to the cottage was made of iron and could be barred shut, making it very difficult to knock down. This would also meant that Tang Ze would be forewarned if anyone tried to knock it down. Not that he thought such a thing was likely - this was supposed to be a relatively safe area, after all, though the sect did leave a staff, sword, and other such basic weaponry in a corner for protecting himself need be.

    Though, for Tang Ze, his costumes were far more effective weapons than such things.

    That was why he still slept in modified pajamas, so he could be fighting ready if need be even in the middle of the night.

    Tang Ze went to bed after preparing a meal, wondering what to do. A diligent person would¡¯ve tried cultivating for even just an hour, but he just felt so drained despite not having done anything that should¡¯ve caused him to feel such in the entire day. He tossed and turned in bed, but despite his fatigue, found it hard to sleep.

    He sighed and wondered what the others were up to.

    How were Zhang Long, Ying Tiang, and Chen Yu handling their missions?

 Ironthorn Fruit: Part One

    The others had also been assigned to solo missions, though they were far closer to the sect.

    Chen Yu had been assigned the same mission this time as he had been last year, though this had been within his expectations.

    When news had reached the group that Tang Ze was being assigned to a faraway outpost, Chen Yu had been shocked along with the others.

    Why were they sending Tang Ze so far away? Not only that, but it was a mission usually given to those at the Qi Refinement realm. Tang Ze wasn¡¯t even at the Qi Condensation realm yet, so this seemed doubly odd.

    This was clearly some form of retribution - though for what, he couldn¡¯t really fathom.

    There was the incident with Tang Ze crossing into the women¡¯s side, but in his opinion, that wasn¡¯t that much of a major breach. Not to mention that all of them had been punished for that, not just Tang Ze, but Tang Ze was the only one who had been sent far away to a remote location.

    As for the incident with the martial arts dojo - even Elder He Xuan didn¡¯t seem to be so mad about it, so what gives?

    Maybe it was just because Tang Ze had no deep foundations within the sect, and was also in his probationary period that they were so made at him?

    There was also his complete lack of cultivating ability that caused many people to look down on him.

    The thing was that Chen Yu was underestimating how petty the prefects could be sometimes.

    They had made up their minds about Tang Ze being a problematic new recruit, and wanted to try every legal method in the book to throw him out. However, they had been unable to do so.

    But if they couldn¡¯t do that, they could try to make things as miserable for Tang Ze as possible, in the hope that he would voluntarily leave.

    Chen Yu sighed. Regardless of how they felt about things, there was little that they could do.

    At the very least, there was a silver lining to all of this in that Tang Ze couldn¡¯t be stuck in that outpost forever.

    There was a certain ratio of group to solo tasks that Initiates had to do, so at most Tang Ze would be away for a month.

    Also, Tang Ze had the benefit of being able to fly there quickly and get back, so he wouldn''t be wasting as much time as someone else would who¡¯d have to walk or ride all the way out there. That allowed him to depart for the mission a lot later than he otherwise would have, and would also let him come back earlier too.

    In all of his time in the sect though, Chen Yu hadn¡¯t heard of a Qi Condensation stage cultivator getting a mission usually assigned for Qi Refinement stage cultivators. However, even if it wasn¡¯t typical, it was not against the rules - Zhang Long had dived into this aspect to see if he could help Tang Ze, but hadn¡¯t really found anything.

    They all had to basically give up and accept whatever fate had in store at that point.

    So what was Chen Yu¡¯s task during this time?

    It was one that he was especially suited for, which is why it was only natural that the sect had assigned him to it once again.

    Although Chen Yu was at the fourth minor realm of Qi Condensation along with Yin Tiang, and Zhang Long had run ahead of the two of them by two minor realms despite being two years younger than either - realms were not everything when it came to fighting.

    Especially when it came to the lower realms of Qi Condensation.

    Before Tang Ze had joined their group, Chen Yu had been quite confident that if it came to one-on-one fights, he was the strongest and would be able to beat any of the others.

    That was because Chen Yu had a trump card that the others simply did not.

    Chen Yu was the youngest of four brothers, and yet, his family had poured a disproportionate amount of resources into him. The baby oil had just been a part of this - he had had access to teachers and the like as well as anything that his parents thought could¡¯ve even given him a hair¡¯s breadth worth of advantage over his peers.

    Most of this money had been a huge waste - even Chen Yu felt like that was the case for much of it, but he couldn¡¯t blame his family.

    Despite being technically in the line of Imperial succession, they had nothing else that could really give them a leg up when it came to this world.Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

    After all, they were so far down the list when it came to succession that Chen Yu was sure the list only went so far into detail so some bureaucrats could keep their jobs maintaining it - they got virtually no benefits from the same.

    There were many times when it had come as a hindrance, however.

    People dealing with them suddenly assumed that they were swimming in money and would jack up the prices of things two or three times.

    There were also some jobs and opportunities that they could not avail of simply because they would be seen as ¡®beneath them¡¯ despite the fact that they were in all practical terms no different from an ordinary family.

    For example, because they were not within one hundred ranks of succession, they still had to pay taxes! So they didn¡¯t even get a reprieve from that.

    They also had a financial penalty in the sense that there were things that his family had to do to keep up appearances - including making a certain amount of charitable donations to the poor or hosting certain events. Not all of these things were necessarily negatives - though it all did strain their finances.

    Chen Yu and his brothers all knew they had to put forward their best efforts to keep the family name afloat - though Chen Yu had essentially bore the entire weight of his family¡¯s expectations since the moment he was born.

    That was because Chen Yu¡¯s birth had been special.

    In this world, certain talents and techniques could be passed through bloodlines.

    Chen Yu was descended from the Imperial Family, by a number of degrees of separation of course, but they could still trace their lineage to the founder of the Raswatian Empire.

    He was called the Emperor of Five Attributes.

    He was a Hinayana realm cultivator, though it was said that his strength could somewhat reach a shadow of what the Mahayana realm could achieve - not that many knew what it was exactly that the Mahayana realm could do given that there were only sparse tales of people who had reached that far. No one in the Raswatian Empire¡¯s history had ever become a Mahayana realm cultivator. As a matter of fact, they had no reliable records of anyone becoming a Mahayana realm cultivator even outside their empire¡¯s history, but if such records had ever existed, it was likely that they wouldn¡¯t have stood the test of time.

    Regarding the first emperor, it was thanks to his mastery of the ¡®Five Attributes¡¯ that he had united the warring states at the time and placed them all under the rule of a single iron fist.

    The Five Attributes were - One, to strike as fast as lightning; two, to be as swift as the wind; three, to be as strong as a mountain; four, to be as tough as steel; and five, to be as calm as ice.

    These attributes manifested themselves into various techniques, and the attributes themselves were carried through his bloodline. People descended from him would occasionally be born with the ability to use one of the Five Attributes.

    No one currently alive was able to utilize any of them to the full ability of what the Emperor of Five Attributes could, and with time as his bloodline diluted, fewer and fewer people were born with the ability to use them.

    On very rare occasions though - there might be people born with not just one, but two out of the Five Attributes. Thirty-five thousand years ago, a person had been born with three out of five of them, though the Imperial Family at the time had feared their rise and had them executed once they were only twelve years of age; before they could get powerful to the extent that they could become a major threat to their rule.

    It just went to show that in this world, sometimes, it was best to keep your strength hidden!

    Chen Yu shuddered as he thought of the cruelty of that decision - thankfully times were now different, and such a thing wouldn¡¯t have likely been permitted in this day and age.

    After a hundred thousand years of diluting bloodlines, it was now quite rare to find someone who was born with even one of the Five Attributes.

    So you can imagine how happy Chen Yu¡¯s family had been when he had been born with one of the Five Attributes - he had number four of the five attributes; to be as tough as steel!

    His parents had thrown a grand party at the time of his birth as they had been unable to contain their joy at the time.

    This was a powerful defensive attribute, and could be honed into various techniques.

    Ever since then, Chen Yu had bore the weight of his family¡¯s expectations on his shoulder.

    Not to say that everything had all been bad because of this, he had been given quite the bit of favoritism from his parents because of the same.

    He could get away with things that his brothers couldn¡¯t and he usually got his way when it came to conflicts - to the point where his brothers nicknamed him ¡®Little Emperor¡¯ because of this golden child treatment.

    His parents also tried to give him anything that they felt might give him the upper hand later in life - the baby oil had been an example of that. Something that was likely useless, but they were willing to try anything that might give him even the slightest bit of an edge - much like some parents back on Earth would have their children listen to classical music when they were just a few months old in the hope that it would help them become smarter later in life.

    Speaking of such bloodline abilities though - Chen Yu highly suspected that Tang Ze¡¯s strange potential to draw powers from fictional characters he was ¡®cosplaying¡¯ as (as Tang Ze described it, a term for what he was doing) was also some kind of bloodline ability. Just one that he had not heard of before.

    Tang Ze was strangely distant whenever asked about his family for some reason - which Chen Yu found odd. It wasn¡¯t like Chen Yu was particularly interested in Tang Ze¡¯s heritage, it was just one of the first things that people would ask about in this world. After all, people usually identified themselves first with their family, then with their village, and after that with their sect. The two of them already belonged to the same sect, so that left only two things to inquire about.

    From what he could tell though, Tang Ze seemed to talk of his mother and father with no issues, though when asked about siblings, his face would suddenly become cloudy and his mood would become gloomy.

    Chen Yu wasn¡¯t sure if it was because Tang Ze didn¡¯t have a good relationship with his siblings or if something tragic had happened - as it was, he was sure that Tang Ze would tell them when he felt comfortable.

    Chen Yu had no desire to meddle into other people¡¯s affairs, especially if they might make someone uncomfortable.

    And it looked like Tang Ze had enough problems on his hands without being given extra stress.

    ¡°Young Master Chen Yu, are you ready to begin?¡± one of the farmers asked, snapping him out of his reverie.

 Ironthorn Fruit: Part Two

    Chen Yu frowned at the ¡®Young Master¡¯ title - he didn¡¯t like it.

    Back home, it was a symbol of the familial expectations he often found to be suffocating at times. At least when his brothers called him ¡®Little Emperor¡¯ there was a touch of endearment to that name. Here, in the sect, it was usually said by Yin Tiang to needle Chen Yu as it was said ironically. Chen Yu had specifically asked everyone he knew not to call him by that title - Yin Tiang still did so as a joke of course, but no one said called him that with any seriousness.

    However, Chen Yu didn¡¯t express his discontent - he knew this farmer was just doing his job and trying to give him the due respect he thought Chen Yu deserved.

    ¡°Yes, I¡¯m ready,¡± Chen Yu said.

    He was not that far from the sect division where he usually lived - so close that he could, if he wanted to, go back within three hours. He didn¡¯t and stayed in place near here just because that much traveling would be exhausting, but it just went to show how far they had gone out of their way to screw Tang Ze over.

    These fields were specially owned by the sect and grew Ironthorn Fruit. It was very useful for nearly all kinds of alchemical recipes depending on how ripe they were - but they were extremely difficult to grow and even more difficult to harvest.

    The fruit was tiny, so small that one of them could easily be balanced on the pulp of one of Chen Yu¡¯s fingers.

    The fruit was so called because it grew along a vine. The vines could be as thick as Chen Yu¡¯s body in places, though most of the time they were only as thick as a limb. They were covered entirely with barbs that were incredibly sharp, hence the vine¡¯s name. The fruit was hidden within the vine, and naturally, to get to it one needed to dig through the thorns.

    Despite multiple millennia of trying, people had not been able to breed a variation of the Ironthorn Vine that would grow fruit superficially in large numbers. Instead, the vine had a tendency to grow in layers, with most of the fruit only nestled at the very bottom.

    It was very hard to harvest for this reason - there were not that many ways that one could get to the fruit while bypassing the thorns while also not damaging the fruit, which was incredibly fragile.

    The fruit also grew in very little proportion to the vine, to the point where a field as big as a room might only have a handful of the fruit.

    But, harvesting it was only difficult if one did not have someone like Chen Yu with them. Thanks to his talent, he had a technique that allowed him to be able to reach for the fruit with little difficulty without risking damaging them, and so this was why he had not been surprised when the sect assigned him to this role once again. He was a natural at doing this.

    His technique was called [Steelskin]. Even most Qi Refinement cultivators did not have a special technique like this given that they usually did not have full control over their Qi at that level, but this was the benefit of being born with one of the Five Attributes!

    There was a weaker version of [Steelskin] known as [Ironhide] which some Golden Core cultivators could use, but it had drawbacks that [Steelskin] did not, not to mention [Steelskin] was something that Chen Yu could use even at his low level of cultivation.

    It was thanks to this technique that he was confident of fighting any Qi Condensation cultivator in a one-on-one fight in the sect and coming out ahead - and even most Qi Refinement cultivators as well.

    Well, perhaps Tang Ze could find a way to break through this defensive skill using the powers he got from his odd ¡®cosplaying¡¯ skill, but he was quite the outlier.

    Chen Yu had not yet mastered the technique to the point where he could make his entire body as hard as steel, but he was able to use it on a part of himself. The hands and the arms were the easiest parts.

    And so, Chen Yu¡¯s hands suddenly turned gray and were more well-protected than if he were wearing several layers of inch-thick plate armor over his arms.

    Despite how heavy his hands looked, it did not affect his mobility in any way whatsoever. They were still as flexible as they always were, which is where the lethality of such a technique lay - to be able to strike through bone and skin without sacrificing flexibility or agility!

    Not only that, if Chen Yu were able to use this technique to its fullest, he could cover up his body completely, leaving no weak spot. Normally areas like the groin, neck, and eyes would be especially vulnerable to attacks, but [Steelskin] could completely negate this weakness.Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!

    If Chen Yu practiced further using his attribute, he could branch out into other abilities like [Soul of Iron] which defended from soul-based attacks as well.

    Even the sect acknowledged his innate talent and was willing to invest more in him so that he could continue to build upon it, though right now, he was still at Qi Condensation and couldn¡¯t do much more with it other than using it to cover parts of his body for short periods of time.

    It would only be at Qi Refinement when more avenues would open up for him to use his attribute to its fullest!

    For now, he used his hands to weave through the Ironthorn Vine. The vines were stacked on top of each other and were so crowded it was nearly impossible to find a way through them without cutting them, but this risked damaging the fruit and also injury to whosoever did such.

    Not to mention it would be very time-consuming.

    For Chen Yu however, it was child¡¯s play. The thorns could do nothing to him as he went elbow-deep into the vine, easily finding the bottom, and able to easily remove several pieces of fruit without damaging them or hurting himself.

    The fruit was tiny, almost like a raspberry, and the light color of saffron. It did not look that remarkable when one glanced at it - and someone, if they didn¡¯t know what it was and left it out on a counter, might even eat it, not realizing that what they had eaten could fetch a price that could feed an ordinary mortal family for nearly a month.

    Normally, there would also be some slight damage to them no matter how careful one was while retrieving them, but by now, Chen Yu was a seasoned hand at this kind of work and was able to extract them with minimal loss.

    The amount he managed to get out was worth more than its weight in gold.

    ¡°Amazing!¡±

    ¡°So this is the power of one of the Five Attributes!¡±

    ¡°Young Master Chen Yu truly is superb! To be able to work so fast - he can harvest more than twenty of us put together!¡±

    Chen Yu was used to such praise - as it was, it was coming from mortal farmers so he didn¡¯t put too much stock into it, but it was quite satisfying to see the talent he was born with actually be useful in some way other than in trying to fight.

    Who knows how far it might take him in the future?

    Normally, it was said that the sect spent more on Initiates than they contributed back to the sect, at least in terms of financial resources.

    This could not be extended to Chen Yu, however.

    The amount of Ironthorn Fruit that he harvested not only made up for what the sect spent on him, but his entire squad as well.

    If he continued to improve on his ability to use his attribute, he could easily rise up in the sect at an astonishing rate!

    As it was right now though, there was little else for him to do.

    He could only use his ability so often in a day, and now that he couldn¡¯t anymore after extracting a few more fistfuls of fruit, he had the rest of the time off.

    The sect did not mind this, given how fruitful his labor otherwise was, so he was now left to cultivate.

    He found it all to be quite ironic in the sense that he was considered valuable to the sect right now because he could harvest a kind of fruit very easily - which would be work that his family would otherwise scoff at and believe was quite beneath them.

    Not that that mattered when he was in the sect. It was actually quite relaxing in a way, to be unburdened by his identity while he was within the sect for the most part. Chen Yu was basically given the same tasks as nearly everyone else, though sometimes, such as in this situation, he was given what could be seen as preferential treatment with an easy solo task to complete - though on the other hand, it was something he was being rewarded for being skillful at it.

    Being the golden child had come with downsides, after all. His parents hadn¡¯t strictly forbidden him from having friends, but they had disapproved of nearly everyone that Chen Yu had become friends with as they thought that they would lead him astray and would distract him from progressing. He also couldn¡¯t do some things that his brothers could - such as playing games with the other children outside. His parents had been overprotective to the point that they didn¡¯t want him to accidentally get a fracture or the like, and at the time he didn¡¯t have the [Steelskin] ability.

    Not to mention, now that Chen Yu was older and got to reflect on some of his earlier behavior, he realized with embarrassment at how much of a spoilt child he had been. When his older brothers told him stories about the antics he used to pull back during the times he was so young that he couldn¡¯t remember them, he had trouble believing they were true until his parents would usually confirm that that had been the case at the time..

    Here though, he was just another member of the sect - slightly more talented and with a greater future potential than many others, but still for the most part another sect member. He was also unburdened by many of the usual restrictions placed on him by his family, and was able to grow past the ¡®spoilt child¡¯ phase he had been in before.

    He did not usually like to be reminded of his heritage while in the sect, a fact that Yin Tiang knew, and often needled him over as he knew that it annoyed Chen Yu.

    But, after some time, Chen Yu had learned to ignore such things and even counter Yin Tiang¡¯s taunts with his own.

    Chen Yu watched from a distance as the farmers gathered the Ironthorn Fruit he had managed to pick up and put it carefully into boxes which were loaded upon carts before he went to focus on cultivating inside his lodgings. The place where he stayed was far more luxurious than the cottage where Tang Ze was staying; since it was so close to the sect, supplying it was not so much of an issue.

    Chen Yu sat down on a mat and began breathing in and out until his breathing and heartbeat were steady, and he began to condense the Qi in the air, driving it into his lower dantian. He continued to repeat this process over and over, gathering as much Qi in there as possible, before driving it towards his meridians. Once one such cycle was completed, he repeated the entire process again.

 The Alchemy Lab: Part One

    Once the Ironthorn Fruit was harvested and loaded, a Qi Refinement cultivator would lead the cart with it back to the sect.

    They were still very close to sect territory, so a high level of security was not really required.

    The fields that Chen Yu was working on were directly managed by the sect as they were very close to the sect division and direct oversight over them was feasible - rather than the usual system of having a village chief who would pay taxes to the sect yearly, as was true in other parts of the territory the Rising Phoenix sect controlled.

    Some of the harvested Ironthorn Fruit would be sent to other branches of the sect, while some of it would be sold on the open market.

    A portion of it was kept by the sect for internal activities of course - meaning that it would be used by the alchemists of the sect to make various products.

    Yin Tiang inspected some of this latest shipment of Ironthorn Fruit as it arrived. ¡°Hmm¡­ not damaged, and almost all of it is intact.¡± This was a very good batch of Ironthorn Fruit, and Yin Tiang felt that whoever had harvested this batch had done a phenomenal job.

    While it was true that the Ironthorn Fruit could still be used even if it wasn¡¯t intact as its juices had various alchemical properties, it was still the most useful as a whole fruit.

    Yin Tiang¡¯s solo mission involved working in the sect¡¯s alchemical division - this was rather expected given the fact that this was the area he not only wished to specialize in, but also the area where he was most talented in.

    Not to mention that the alchemical division generated a huge portion of the sect¡¯s revenue and they could always use a few extra hands, so anyone who was even moderately good at handling things in it would be assigned to it for virtually every solo mission.

    There was a reason that Yin Tiang was rather adept at alchemy. Although Yin Tiang was the oldest of his squad, he was the one who lagged behind the most when it came to cultivation - that was before Tang Ze showed up though and really brought their group¡¯s average level of cultivation down.

    This was not of much concern to him - he lagged behind because he chose to focus on alchemy, and it wasn¡¯t like he was too far behind. He was just slightly below average for where one would expect him to be at this point in time.

    Conversely, though he might lag behind slightly when it came to cultivation, he more than made up for it by greatly excelling at alchemy.

    Most Initiates couldn¡¯t get into advanced alchemy classes like he could, and didn¡¯t have his skill either.

    Then again, most of them didn¡¯t share the kind of heritage that Yin Tiang had either.

    His grandfather had married a wood nymph - and a part of that blood flowed through him.

    Wood nymphs were known to be quite close to nature, animals, and plants as well.

    Yin Tiang had basically been born with a green thumb kudos to this, and was excellent at naming and identifying plants even when he had only been five years old.

    Of course, this was only one part of alchemy. It was one thing to be able to identify and nourish rare plants - and another to know how to use them well. Still, being able to identify plants was the first step to becoming a good alchemist, and he was extremely gifted at this step. This was also the part of alchemy that most beginners struggled with the most, though Yin Tiang soared over this obstacle with ease, allowing him to focus on more advanced aspects.

    He never really appreciated how useful this inherent talent of his was until he saw how much his squad members struggled to remember the names of plants. That notwithstanding, he had to say that Tang Ze was nearly hopeless when it came to such things to a point that it shocked Yin Tiang - Tang Ze was not even being able to tell Moon Lilies and Silver Lotuses apart, something that was childishly simple.

    When it came to using the plants properly, Yin Tiang had another advantage which gave him yet another leg up compared to his peers.

    His father was an alchemist as well, and so Yin Tiang had gotten a head start and access to some alchemical manuals the other Initiates wouldn¡¯t have from a very young age.

    So it was only natural he was asked to work in this division - his solo mission involved not even having to go out of the sect building itself.

    He felt a pang of pity for Tang Ze - who knew how he was holding up right now?Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    In addition to being worried about Tang Ze¡¯s issues with this current mission, Yin Tiang really wished he could think up of something that might be able to help Tang Ze break through the Zeroth Realm.

    After that, Tang Ze would actually be able to use some of the resources that the sect provided.

    As of now, all that Tang Ze could do was sell them to other people. If he kept them for later use, they might expire by them. And the closer they were to their expiry date, the lower the amount they would fetch on the market.

    He ended up giving some of his monthly resources to the other members of his squad because of this - at least between the four of them, he could be relatively assured that they might pay him back later at some point.

    Yin Tiang had reached out to not only his teachers, but also to his father to ask if they had any ideas that might aide Tang Ze.

    Sadly, nothing had turned up that might be able to solve his issue.

    It wasn¡¯t like it was a hard problem in terms of Qi. The amount of Qi needed to reach Qi Condensation from the Zeroth Realm was minimal, the issue was making it in a form that Tang Ze could take. After all, you would not use a flamethrower to try to light a candle.

    But - everywhere that Yin Tiang looked, he got the same answer.

    One could not build where there was no foundation.

    You could not give a newborn baby steroids and expect it to be able to lift weights suddenly, now then could you?

    The only option that Tang Ze had was to let his dantian and meridians open slowly on their own as nature would allow - that was the conclusion that Yin Tiang had reached after searching for so long.

    It had been his initial hypothesis as well, but he had hoped for Tang Ze¡¯s sake that he would be proven wrong.

    Alas, it was not so.

    Yin Tiang was sure that there was an answer somewhere - it was just that such an answer was not profitable enough to develop a solution for.

    After all, Tang Ze¡¯s situation was rather unique. If he had regressed to the Zeroth Realm due to injuries to his meridians, as did happen to some people, there were medicines to help cure them.

    What there wasn¡¯t was something that could cause them to open faster. No one would really think to do so - at least, no one before someone like Tang Ze had showed up.

    However, Yin Tiang, even if he was precocious when it came to alchemical ability, was still just a novice.

    He had not reached a stage where he could really develop new recipes or modify existing ones on his own - which was something that even seasoned veterans had trouble with.

    And any mistake could potentially endanger Tang Ze¡¯s life - and Yin Tiang doubted that Tang Ze would agree to become a guinea pig for his experiments.

    Even if there were no huge benefits to anyone from solving Tang Ze¡¯s problem - it was an interesting enough question that it might be worth trying to solve merely as it would deepen people¡¯s understanding of alchemy.

    Yin Tiang didn¡¯t quite grasp how it was that Tang Ze had landed in this situation in the first place.

    The only thing that he could think of was that he had grown up in some environment entirely without Qi - though he didn¡¯t know how that was possible.

    Even in the regions of this world where Qi was the weakest, by the time one was twelve years old at the latest they would have advanced beyond the Zeroth Realm.

    Only if they had somehow been born and brought up in an environment where someone had artificially siphoned off the Qi in the air could such a thing happen - though Yin Tiang couldn¡¯t think of a reason as to why someone would do such a thing. It was possible to do something like that, but why go through that kind of trouble? What would the point be?

    If Tang Ze had a good family backing - say, were he an actual noble (and not a pseudo-noble like Chen Yu) it might¡¯ve been worthwhile for someone to find a way to get him to leap across through the Zeroth Realm into the first minor realm of Qi Condensation.

    Putting that aside, if Yin Tiang had been a bit more experienced and his cultivation more advanced, say, at the Golden Core realm - he could likely embark on solving the problem himself.

    It was much like solving a curious thought experiment - though it might not have any direct benefits, it could improve one¡¯s understanding and building upon that, be useful sometime in the future.

    By its very nature, one couldn¡¯t know how valuable an unknown piece of knowledge was until one had obtained it.

    But, Yin Tiang did not have any sort of backing.

    He was still a novice alchemist, and it was unlikely that anyone who was higher up would take a harebrained idea like his seriously. There might even be some flaws to the ideas that Yin Tiang might come up with that he simply couldn¡¯t recognize because of his lack of knowledge - that possibility could not be ruled out either.

    Resigning himself to the fact that a solution to said problem was not going to appear anytime soon, Yin Tiang set out to do his actual work.

    The alchemical lab in this division of the sect was located underground and was built so that the floor was the earth of the mountain itself. This was so that any spills could easily seep into the ground rather than onto a floor which would get damaged anyway.

    The room was large - one of the biggest in the entire sect, and was filled with beakers and cauldrons.

    There was a fume hood at nearly every table, to carry the noxious vapors often generated during alchemical processes safely outside, and most people chose to wear masks inside the place.

    Noises permeated throughout the lab, whether they were from the results of experiments or just things like beakers rattling as they were heated - and it was full of activity, though no one was dumb enough to do something like run around the place.

    It was busy, sure, but not chaotic. Many of the things being made in this place were dangerous and so no one was going to risk a spill.

    If there was such an immature person who didn¡¯t know what they were doing, they would be kicked out at once!

    All of the rest of his coworkers, those who were actual alchemists and not assistants or the like - were at the Qi Refinement stage at the least.

    However, thanks to his bloodline in part and because of his early education as well, Yin Tiang was able to keep up with them when it came to many things!

    Much like with Chen Yu, Yin Tiang contributed enough to the sect through these kinds of missions that he actually fully repaid the amount the sect spent on him and then some; making him yet another outlier when it came to considering a net profit/loss ratio among the Initiates.

 The Alchemy Lab: Part Two

    Coming to alchemy, there were various theories on how it worked, though the most mainstream and widely accepted of these was based on the principle that it was a form of external cultivation.

    Cultivation was a way of strengthening the mind and soul to get closer to immortality. But while man might think of himself as the center of the universe, the universe is vast and broad. The Dao existed not just for humans, but for everything from the beetles crawling through the grass to even non-living things such as minerals.

    The Dao was everything - and as such, conversely, there was nothing that was without the Dao.

    In truth, the earliest ideas and theories of cultivating came as an adaptation of alchemy, not the other way around.

    In alchemy, one usually took ingredients from outside and then merged them with the help of fire. This was a gross oversimplification of course, but it fell in line with what most people could understand.

    There was a deeper meaning to this that fewer people knew about - in that alchemists intended to mimic the way in which the universe was said to have been created from a primordial flame (what might in modern day terms if one were living on Earth be called ¡®The Big Bang¡¯) and replicate it through their experiments.

    Much like that, humans were said to contain a ¡®fire¡¯ within them. It was said that the creation of the universe itself involved the usage of a sacred flame, into which the components of the universe merged to create something greater than the mere sum of the components - in other words, just like an alchemist making pills.

    Life essence was compared to fire, and as alchemists would add ingredients to a flask, cultivators would add ¡®ingredients¡¯ - thoughts, will, and life experience to their life essence to temper their own bodies.

    Essentially, alchemy could be considered to be ¡®external cultivation¡¯ while cultivation could also be thought of as ¡®internal alchemy.¡¯

    That was why people could also technically be turned into cauldrons and pills - though obviously, such things were demonic in nature and not done by any of the righteous sects of the Raswatian Empire.

    At least, not openly. There were always rumors that either some of the sects or the Imperial Family themselves held underground ¡®dark laboratories¡¯ where such forbidden research took place.

    Such stories would always pop up from time to time - whether or not they had even the slightest bit of truth to them or not. There were conspiracy theorists in this world just like back on Earth, and this was a popular conspiracy theory to believe in - because many people felt that it was plausible. After all, cultivators were oftentimes people willing to do anything for power. Was it so hard to believe that powerful people like the Imperial Family or the sects would take advantage of weaker people if it would make them stronger? No!

    Just because it was easy to believe didn''t make it true, however.

    Of course, regarding whether or not there were demonic cultivators who engaged in such practices - that was almost always going to be true at any point in time no matter where or when you were. That was what made them demonic in the first place, after all- a willingness to disregard life for their own personal gain.

    Tang Ze had even told Yin Tiang about an alchemist from his old memories who had fused his daughter with a dog as a part of an abnormal experiment - Yin Tiang had heard of more horrifying and disturbing stories than that though.

    Yin Tiang picked up one of the Ironthorn Fruits.

    His task today was to work on an aphrodisiac.

    This aphrodisiac was not intended for human use - such a thing, much like making human pills or cauldrons, was forbidden for obvious reasons.

    Moreover, humans are intelligent creatures and there is a limit to how much such things would really work on them in the first place.

    Certainly nothing as low-level as what Yin Tiang could make could greatly move a person¡¯s heart.

    Some of Yin Tiang¡¯s fellow Initiates had asked him in roundabout manners for ¡®human aphrodisiacs¡¯, and he had angrily told them all to get lost whenever they approached him.

    Some people did sell ¡®human aphrodisiacs¡¯ on the market, though up till now, Yin Tiang had found that all of them were just scammers.

    The aphrodisiacs he was making were for a certain species of animal - pandas!

    Much like back on Earth, pandas as a species had several aspects to them which could be considered to be evolutionary flaws such as feeding on food that was not nutritionally optimal, and also that they did not breed very willingly or frequently.

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    In order to assist with their breeding - that was what this aphrodisiac was actually for!

    In other words, to bring up the panda population, which teetered on the brink of extinction even in this world.

    Making alchemical pills and elixirs was far more difficult than making medicine back on Earth.

    There were various things that one would not even notice while making medicine back on Earth, since they didn¡¯t matter to the final product.

    And yet, several minute details that one would normally not even think of as carrying importance; well, they could not be ignored when it came to alchemy.

    As a famous example - an alchemist had been working on a certain elixir over and over again, and had failed nearly ten thousand times.

    And yet, one day, while going through very similar motions as before, he managed to succeed!

    Unfortunately, despite trying to make this recipe again and again another ten thousand times, he was unable to recreate the single stroke of success he had managed to achieve.

    What was it that had led to him being able to make it one time and failing all of the others?

    He went through all the things he had done differently that day - whether it had been what he had eaten for breakfast, the phase of the moon in the lunar cycle, the temperature and weather outside, as well as if there had been any impurities in the ingredients used that day.

    He could not come to a solution despite racking his brains thoroughly and trying to recreate all the conditions as much as possible. Until one day, it came to him.

    That day when he had been successful, he had visited a friend¡¯s house beforehand. And that friend had a doorknob that was rusty, so that some of the metal had stuck to his hand.

    And it was this tiny detail that had allowed the elixir¡¯s recipe to be finalized! The small traces of metal, although they were so small he could not see them, mixed in with the ingredients of the elixir and allowed it to be made successfully.

    That was how meticulous one had to be while doing alchemy.

    First, Yin Tiang had to crush the Ironthorn Fruit - it was imperative he do it with his hands and not with an instrument. The crushing part was actually quite important, which is why intact fruit was better than simply using its juices.

    He then had to keep the juice in a silver bowl.

    He then added some Dragonroot Powder, and then mixed the two with a copper spoon until they made a thick paste.

    Now, this would be put aside for an hour while he worked on the other half of the recipe.

    He took out a bath of copper sulfate and then soaked several pieces of deerskin within it.

    Once the deerskin was done drying, he lit up a flame, and then dipped the deerskin in the same.

    Instantly fumes began to emerge from the deerskin, which is why this step had to be done under a fume hood.

    Many alchemists had accidentally poisoned themselves through their experiments, even those who were experienced veterans. Occasionally they had to work with substances regarding which even an accidental whiff was fatal, though they did not try to make such things here. If one wanted to work with really noxious ingredients, they would have to go to a larger division of the sect where there were special rooms prepared for the same.

    While nothing was being used in this laboratory that could kill you by inhaling a single whiff of it, there were still a thousand and one ways to kill yourself if you were not careful.

    Once the deerskin had been burnt to a crisp, the flame took on a gentle green color.

    Yin Tiang let out a sigh of relief - that meant that this step had been successful.

    The next step, however, was where his skill would truly be tested. The thick paste he had just made was then put atop this flame.

    All alchemical processes had one step in common - they needed a burst of energy in order to trigger the whole process. This was usually fire, though it could more rarely also be lightning, light, or even spiritual energy from the alchemist.

    While it was widely assumed that the universe had been created in much the same way - a large number of ingredients coming together with a sudden burst of energy fusing them and creating something greater than the sum of the ingredients used, resulting in the myriad number of lifeforms, galaxies, and planets that were seen today. It was unclear, however, as to who had carried this process out.

    Whether it had been a case of ¡®natural alchemy¡¯ - as in, ingredients coming together in nature by themselves to make something (which was seen occasionally) or the action of some greater being was a topic that many alchemists and non-alchemists debated till this day. Also, the ingredients used would''ve needed to come from somewhere, resulting in a strange circular problem with no true end the more one contemplated this.

    There was a reason why many Bodhisattvas said that it was an exercise in futility to try to contemplate the origin of the universe.

    This paste, as it was heated, was not meant to be stirred. Instead, Yin Tiang took out an identical bowl to the first one, and began gently tapping the second one while keeping it close to the first.

    It was through this - resonance - that the mixture would be stirred, indirectly.

    The skill was in keeping the frequency of taps at a level that would resonate with the other bowl.

    Sweat began to coat Yin Tiang¡¯s brow, but the paste finally turned the light blue color that he had been expecting. That signified that it was finished. He let out a sigh of relief - although he was successful ninety percent of the time when making this, the ten percent of the time that he failed always felt soul-crushing.

    He put the finished aphrodisiac into a vial, capped said vial, and handed it over for it to be sold. The sect itself had no use for it, but it would fetch a high price on the open market. Many people bred pandas as they were popular, and this was somewhat encouraged as their numbers were low.

    As Yin Tiang washed his hands, he hoped that the pandas in question, once they¡¯d had their fun, would appreciate his effort. More likely than not though, being animals, they wouldn¡¯t.

    As his work was quite profitable, he didn¡¯t need to stay in the lab for long before his daily quota was met.

    Once he was done with his daily quota, he could do whatever he wanted - though Yin Tiang preferred to remain in the laboratory looking at what else was going on even after he was done with his work. There was quite a lot that you could learn by observing the more senior workers. Nearly everyone in the lab knew Yin Tiang so no one really minded letting him watch, or giving him a few pointers to help him improve.

    It wasn¡¯t like the rest of his squad was there for them to do anything together once he got back to their shared room anyway. He could go back to his room to try to cultivate, but he would rather stay here and study alchemy.

    Speaking of the rest of his squad, hopefully, Chen Yu thought, they were also having an easy time like he was.

 Zhang Long Returns Home: Part One

    It could be argued that Zhang Long had gotten the easiest and nicest task for his solo mission.

    He had been asked to collect taxes from a village - which just so coincidentally happened to be his own village.

    This could be said to be less of a job and more of a reward.

    Zhang Long was the best among the current batch of Initiates in his division when it came to cultivating speed. Despite being younger than many of them, he was already at the sixth minor realm of Qi Condensation, and it looked like he would be one of the few who would graduate from Initiate without having to wait the full thirty years of service to do so.

    Then again, he was kind of getting ahead of himself by already thinking of the Qi Refinement realm.

    While it was true that after a breakthrough, usually cultivators would also find their potentials also expanded, being able to progress faster, he was still a good ways away from the tenth and final minor realm of Qi Condensation.

    Not to mention that breaking through a major realm to Qi Refinement would be the real test of his cultivation talent, in that it was going to be much harder than ascending a minor realm.

    It wasn¡¯t like the difference of a few minor realms meant that much at Qi Condensation anyway.

    But, Zhang Long had a feeling that he wasn¡¯t necessarily being rewarded for his ability to cultivate, but for other softer skills such as when it came to managing his team.

    Although Zhang Long had not been given a mission near the sect division and had to travel a bit of a way, in a sense being posted the second furthest away right behind Tang Ze, he had basically been given an extended vacation to go back home during this time.

    He was welcomed with great fanfare back in his village.

    Tax season was not a happy time for any village, but they were joyful in that the collector was someone they knew.

    Unlike in modern times, there was no easy way for the Raswatian Empire to keep track of most people¡¯s incomes and tax them through a central authority.

    The Imperial Family couldn¡¯t do so, and neither could any of the sects.

    As such, tax collectors had a bit of leeway in their assessments of how well villages were doing.

    Given this, bribery and corruption were usually rampant, not to mention the fact that tax collectors had a habit of skimming a bit off the top from what they collected for their own ends.

    As such, people ended up paying far more in taxes than were collected - or so was usually the case.

    There was no need to try to sweet-talk or bribe Zhang Long, after all.

    He was the son of their village chief, and could be relied upon to overlook many things regarding the village and to overexaggerate some of the hardships they had faced.

    While Zhang Long was loyal to his sect, he was more than fine with slightly fudging the numbers to help these people who he¡¯d known ever since he was a child. After all, it wasn¡¯t lying, just embellishing things ever so slightly.

    Life in the villages was not easy.

    While things could go smoothly for several years at a time, there was the risk of monster attacks, calamities, demonic cultivators, and raids from other sects as well. This was in addition to the normal hazards like crop failure due to droughts, floods, or pests.

    Given this, he thought that his village more than deserved a break.

    Not to mention his ¡®work¡¯ was done in less than three days, leaving him to relax for the rest of his term there.

    It was clear that the difference in his treatment and that of Tang Ze was the difference between heaven and earth!

    Zhang Long had noted that Tang Ze¡¯s placement was rather odd, and as such, had offered to escalate the matter further to Elder He Xuan himself if need be since the prefects seemed to be of little help, though Tang Ze himself had requested that he not do so.

    Elder He Xuan wouldn¡¯t have cared for the complaint even if they did. He wanted Tang Ze in the sect, yes, but he would likely also view this as a chance for Tang Ze to prove himself and potentially get stronger.

    He also couldn¡¯t show Tang Ze blatant favoritism, and the prefects were technically not breaking any rules, so in such a situation, why would he intervene?

    ¡°Whatever- it¡¯s only for a short break of time, how bad can it be?¡± Tang Ze had said at the that time. ¡°And I don¡¯t want to gain a reputation as someone who complains about work like that and then goes bothering the higher-ups about something so simple.¡±

    Tang Ze had said that at the time - though right now, he was currently realizing just how bad the job was.

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    Zhang Long though, was oblivious to what was going on with Tang Ze right now - he only knew that Tang Ze was likely facing some trouble with it, he just didn¡¯t know how bad it was.

    Tang Ze was someone who deserved a break, Zhang Long felt, given how much he had done until now.

    Tang Ze had helped Zhang Long jump up a minor realm, after all, though he himself was still stuck at the Zeroth Realm and was unable to move forward.

    There was seemingly nothing that anyone could do for him on that matter.

    Zhang Long, when he wasn¡¯t cultivating, tried to see if he could find something to help Tang Ze out, though didn¡¯t come across anything.

    ¡°Young Missy Jin Zhen is here to see Young Master Zhang Long,¡± one of the servants called out as Jin Zhen walked into their house one day.

    Zhang Long was sitting in his bedroom on the upper floor, but had heard those words loud and clear. There house wasn¡¯t that big, after all.

    He did his best not to scoff- so he was ¡®Young Master¡¯ now that he could cultivate? Ah, whatever, it didn¡¯t bother him too much.

    ¡°Welcome, Jin Zhen, how have you been?¡± Zhang Long¡¯s mother asked.

    ¡°I¡¯ve been well, how have you been?¡±

    ¡°My son¡¯s finally home for a while, so I couldn¡¯t be better! You¡¯re here to see him, aren¡¯t you?¡±

    ¡°Yes,¡± Jin Zhen said.

    ¡°He¡¯s upstairs in his bedroom,¡± his mother continued. ¡°Feel free to go up to visit him - but, while you¡¯re there, remember to leave the door open.¡±

    Jin Zhen blushed lightly as Zhang Long called out from upstairs, ¡°Mother! I¡¯m not a child anymore! You don¡¯t need to impose those kinds of rules!¡±

    His mother rolled her eyes. ¡°I know the two of you aren¡¯t children anymore - that¡¯s why I¡¯m asking you to keep the door open, after all. It wouldn¡¯t be a problem if the two of you were still kids.¡± She sighed. ¡°Ah, it feels like just yesterday when the two of you were this tall,¡± she said, motioning to her knee, ¡°and playing husband and wife together! Ah, how swiftly does time pass. Before it feels like I can even blink, the two of you have grown up and are going to get married for real!¡±

    ¡°Well, I¡¯m just here to talk to Zhang Long,¡± Jin Zhen said. ¡°That¡¯s all - I just want to talk to him. You don¡¯t need to worry.¡±

    ¡°I know that might be the only thing that you want,¡± his mother replied. ¡°But men have a way of¡­ shall we say, escalating things? About nine months before Zhang Long was born, all I wanted one night was a back massage from his father but then-¡±

    By this point Zhang Long had run downstairs, face bright red, and yelled out, ¡°MOTHER! What kind of things are you saying to our guests?¡±

    ¡°Oh? Since when is Jin Zhen a guest?¡± his mother asked, lightly laughing. ¡°She¡¯s always dropped by here whenever she wanted. Almost like she¡¯s the daughter we never had - and now she¡¯s about to become part of the family, isn¡¯t she?¡±

    ¡°So then why are you sharing that with her then?¡± Zhang Long asked through gritted teeth.

    Jin Zhen lightly giggled as she made her way upstairs. Zhang Long followed her, and just to spite his mother closed the door.

    ¡°How have you been doing?¡± Zhang Long asked her. He couldn¡¯t imagine things were going easy for her after what those Diamond Dust idiots did. In the letters she sent him, she had said she was doing fine, but it was another thing to ask in person.

    ¡°I¡¯m fine,¡± Jin Zhen said reassuringly, catching onto what he was trying to ask. However, there seemed to be more to her visit than just catching up.

    Their families were hoping to plan an official wedding sometime soon, though the official engagement would have to take place first.

    Zhang Long would¡¯ve hoped to have waited a bit longer - until he was past the rank of Initiate at the very least, though as his father reminded him, that could very well take several years.

    ¡°And she can¡¯t wait forever for you, remember that,¡± he had told Zhang Long.

    Zhang Long had hoped that he could delay things - not because he didn¡¯t want to get married, but because he felt he would be more stable if he could become a regular member of the sect rather than an Initiate.

    Regular members had, well, more regular working hours and weren¡¯t sent outside the sect as much. They also got certain privileges he thought were quite relevant.

    Children of regular sect members, once they became of age, could automatically join the sect without having to take the entrance test and without paying said fee.

    It was too early to plan for children, despite what his mother was insinuating, but it would¡¯ve put his mind slightly at ease if he moved up from Initiate before the wedding.

    Still, even he couldn¡¯t deny the fact that at the speed he was going at, it might very well be another decade before he could ascend to Qi Refinement.

    However, Jin Zhen wasn¡¯t here to talk about anything like that today.

    ¡°I was wondering - when would you and the other members of your squad be free?¡± Jin Zhen asked.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know - might be a while until we can get together again, why?¡± Zhang Long asked.

    Jin Zhen¡¯s next words, though they sounded innocent enough, made Zhang Long sweat bullets in response to hearing them.

    ¡°I was thinking of cooking something for all of them as thanks! Especially for Tang Ze! So when do you think would be a good time?¡± Jin Zhen asked.

    These words pierced Zhang Long¡¯s heart as if each of them were an arrow.

    ¡°Never!¡± Zhang Long yelled out suddenly, shocking Jin Zhen.

    ¡°Eh? What do you mean by ¡®never?¡¯¡±

    Zhang Long calmed down somewhat and racked his brains to find a way to say what he wanted to say without crushing Jin Zhen¡¯s heart.

    He also needed to keep his voice down - who knows what kind of conclusions his mother would be jumping to downstairs if he kept on shouting?

    ¡°I mean¡­ I would never allow it!¡± He put on a weak smile that he hoped would be convincing enough. ¡°Your cooking is just so good - I can¡¯t possibly share it with anyone else! Isn¡¯t that something special only for me?¡±

    Jin Zhen pouted. ¡°Come on now - you¡¯re behaving like a spoilt child! Of course I¡¯ll cook for you everyday but-¡±

    Zhang Long felt a chill crawl down his spine as she said those words. It was as if Death itself had decided to take up residence in his stomach in anticipation for what was to come.

    ¡°-but I want to do something for them too!¡± Jin Zhen said.

    ¡°Ah, well, it¡¯s hard to find a moment when we¡¯ll be free, and the sect doesn¡¯t usually allow women to enter that area so¡­¡± Zhang Long tried to think of any excuse possible to spare his friends the tribulation that might befall them if he couldn¡¯t.

    ¡°I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll find a solution,¡± Jin Zhen said. ¡°And I saw the sect rules! I can come so long as it¡¯s daytime!¡±

    Jin Zhen hadn¡¯t joined the Rising Phoenix Sect yet as her family couldn¡¯t really scrounge up the fee needed for the entrance test, not to mention her cultivation wasn¡¯t high enough yet to get through the test anyway. However, once Zhang Long made his way up and became a regular member, it would be much easier for her to join him - she might even be able to skip the entrance test altogether if he became a prefect.

    But that would have to wait for later.

    He had a bigger issue to solve here.

    The fate of the world - well, no, it wasn¡¯t quite that dramatic - but the fate of his friends (who, to Zhang Long, were his whole world) was at stake here!

    ¡°Alright,¡± Zhang Long said, not seeing a plausible reason as of now to deny her request. He would just have to make sure that the others were conveniently absent whenever she happened to drop by.

 Zhang Long Returns Home: Part Two

    Before Zhang Long could even try thinking of a last minute excuse, his mother slowly opened the door.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on? I heard shouting,¡± his mother said. "And, oh - when I heard Zhang Long shouting ¡®Never!¡¯. I assumed that maybe you, Jin Zhen, had told him that he needed to wait until marriage before doing ¡®those things¡¯ together with you, but then he yelled out ¡®Never!¡¯ and was harassing you.¡±

    ¡°That is all sorts of not what¡¯s going on right now!¡± Zhang Long said. ¡°Also, when all you heard was the word ¡®Never!¡¯ why was that the conclusion you jumped to?! Do you have so little faith in me!?¡±

    ¡°Why did you keep the door closed when I asked you to keep it open then if you weren¡¯t up to something naughty?¡±

    Long story short, Zhang Long did not manage to find a reason to at least stall Jin Zhen in any way.

    He kept on thinking of ways of avoiding or at least delaying this incoming calamity as he took a stroll around the village later that day, only to find himself on a path he usually didn¡¯t frequent.

    ¡°Hmm?¡± he wondered. He suddenly felt a sudden fluctuation in the Qi in the environment, and found that it was coming from the base of a tree. He went to go inspect it, and brushed his hand against the trunk, only for the scenery around him to change.

    ¡°This is¡­¡±

    Zhang Long had discovered a secret realm!

    If the world could be thought of as a huge bubble, there were smaller bubbles inside of it that were called secret realms.

    They were worlds within worlds, and could sometimes follow the same rules as that of the regular world, or entirely different ones. Sometimes time worked differently in them, or certain laws of physics or cultivation didn¡¯t work the same inside them.

    There were occasional stories of normal people happening upon such secret realms and then gaining access to powerful treasures - though in reality, secret realms were actually not that uncommon. Most of them were just tiny areas with nothing of significance inside.

    Zhang Long found it strange that no one in the village knew about this one though - if they did, he¡¯d have heard of it.

    There were a couple of reasons that this could¡¯ve been the case.

    One, the entrance was usually hidden. The rules under which such secret realms would open up varied. Some would only open up at certain times of day, or would only open up for a specific kind of person, or for a specific rank of cultivator, or if someone was a mortal, etc.

    However, all secret realms had to open up sooner or later, otherwise they would collapse in on themselves. The reason for this was that they had no way of generating Qi within themselves, and so, had to open themselves to the outside world to absorb Qi in order to maintain their structural integrity.

    If they did not do so, they would eventually run out of Qi and disintegrate. So while it was possible to create a secret realm that would only open for a specific person or under special circumstances, if someone like that didn¡¯t visit, you might risk the secret realm collapsing in on itself.

    It was possible that Zhang Long had been the first one to discover this secret realm if it had opened up to him because he met some kind of certain condition now that he hadn¡¯t earlier when he had passed by this place. Perhaps it was because his cultivation was higher?

    Secondly, it could be that this secret realm had only been recently created.

    High level cultivators and mages could make artificial secret realms if they knew the required techniques, though someone like Zhang Long could only dream of having that kind of ability one day.

    However, they also appeared naturally, though what caused them to appear naturally was anyone¡¯s guess.

    The possibility of this was discounted immediately though, as Zhang Long ¡®heard¡¯ a voice in his head.

    ¡°Welcome, stranger, you have chanced upon the realm in which I have left my inheritance. Clear the obstacles and get to the other end of this realm, and you will find the treasure I have left behind for you.¡±

    This meant that this secret realm was either man-made to serve as an inheritance, or someone had found it and then chose to leave their inheritance here by modifying the secret realm somewhat.

    It was easier to modify an existing secret realm than to create an entirely new one by yourself, so cultivators who lacked the required cultivation level or skill might opt for the former.

    At the thought of treasure, Zhang Long couldn¡¯t help but feel a rush of excitement.

    Was this one of those rare opportunities where there was something worth finding inside a secret realm?

    Granted, there was still the third possibility - that someone already knew of this inheritance, had taken the treasure, and so there would be nothing at the end for Zhang Long to find.

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    With that said, as the saying goes ¡®nothing ventured, nothing gained¡¯ and he decided to step forward to see what kind of trials awaited him.

    The secret realm did not seem to be very large, as there was an area on the horizon where it seemed to ¡®end¡¯ and all that lay beyond was a white void. It was quite disorienting to see a place like this - it was Zhang Long¡¯s first time in a secret realm, so it took his brain a moment to process the strange imagery he was seeing. .

    What he could also see were areas of tropical jungle all around, and a path paved with stone that went forward, presumably to the ¡®other end¡¯ that the voice in his head had been talking about.

    The sky above was bright, but there was no sun or clouds - he had heard that most secret realms were like that as they did not have a true sky or a proper day and night cycle either. But again, it was disorienting to actually see such a thing with his own eyes.

    Before he took a step forward, he took a moment to consider the risks.

    He didn¡¯t know what was living in the jungle - he couldn¡¯t see any wild beast groups, and there could be other non-living dangers lurking in this place like traps.

    He could not sense any Qi signatures in the jungle, though that could just be because they were too far away, or so far above his current level of cultivation that he couldn¡¯t sense them. Being a Qi Condensation cultivator, he could only sense Qi from Qi Refinement level cultivators and below. Anyone at the Golden Core or higher would be basically indistinguishable from a mortal to him.

    Also, there was always a chance that this whole thing could be a trap.

    Should he turn around? He had only taken a few steps from the entrance, and leaving a secret realm was usually easy.

    Then again, if there was treasure here, it could be some kind of lost knowledge that could greatly help with his cultivation.

    Ultimately, he settled on forging ahead for now.

    He would need to be cautious at every turn though, and if he found anything suspicious, he would immediately turn around and run.

    As it was, he was left wondering who it was that had left this supposed inheritance. He hadn¡¯t heard of any famous cultivator or alchemist who had lived in the area in recent memory, unless this was something that had been set up several thousands of years ago. That was a possibility, in which case whatever was inside would definitely be quite valuable, such as a technique or recipe lost to time.

    People in this world hoarded knowledge - that which could benefit a cultivator greatly would not be easily shared. As such, it was easy for such knowledge to be lost. Sometimes, when cultivators realized that their final days were upon them, they would create such an inheritance to ensure that a bit of their legacy still continued to exist in the world.

    Zhang Long took a few steps ahead, finding that nothing happened in response, and so he quickened his pace a little, though remaining ever vigilant throughout.

    The path led up to a raised circular dais, atop which there was a small table with a single chair.

    As Zhang Long approached it, the voice echoed in his head again.

    ¡°There is a puzzle atop the desk, solve it to move forward, and then the correct path will be revealed to you.¡±

    The path beyond the dais branched into seven different paths, and it was highly likely that the six ¡®wrong¡¯ paths either led to somewhere dangerous, or would lead him outside the secret realm, after which he would not be allowed to enter again. The ¡®correct¡¯ one would take him forward.

    Either that, or all of them were considered ¡®wrong¡¯ until he solved the puzzle, after which all of them would be considered ¡®correct.¡¯

    There were multiple ways that one could set up an inheritance, but Zhang Long had the benefit of hearing many stories of them and how they were set up.

    Humans might be very creative, but their decisions often end up falling into similar patterns.

    If this inheritance was made in a hurry, it would be especially so - the creator might not have had time to get too fancy and relied on tried-and-tested ways of setting it up.

    That was why Zhang Long could quite reliably theorize on how the paths worked.

    So, the only thing to do was to solve the puzzle right in front of him.

    He approached the table, and saw there were wooden pieces scattered over it, with markings on them.

    It looked like he needed to rearrange these pieces to make a whole - though the issue with that was that he had no idea what they were supposed to look like when they were finished.

    There were sixteen pieces in total, with each of them being identical in shape and size, though some of them had a dark green border on some edges.

    If the dark green borders were supposed to be the borders of the puzzle, that meant that he could find the outer layer of what the finished project should look like.

    Those that had two green edges were corner pieces, and those with only one green edge were those at the edge.

    From this he had a rough idea as to how the puzzle pieces were supposed to be arranged - there were sixteen of them in total, and each side added up to four, meaning they were to be arranged into a larger square of four by four puzzles.

    He knew where the four corner pieces would be, though he wasn¡¯t sure which corner was which or how they should be arranged in respect to one another.

    Then there were eight edge pieces. These could be arranged in three different ways depending on which side they belonged to, and could belong to one of two places on a side.

    The four middle pieces had no edges, but could be arranged in any of four directions in the four spots in the center.

    Zhang Long played around with the pieces for around five minutes before frowning.

    He was definitely missing something, wasn¡¯t he?

    Why did people make inheritances?

    It was either because they were going to die, and had not found someone worth bestowing their treasures to while they still breathed, or they no longer had use for them, and similarly wanted to find someone worthy of getting their hands on such treasures.

    What was ¡®worthy¡¯ varied from person to person, and it was usually to check this worthiness that trials like these were made in the first place. Trials could test various things - knowledge, virtue, courage, or even lack of morals.

    Given that, what was the point of seeing if he could solve this puzzle? It had to be the same point as with solving any puzzle, in other words, it was a test of intelligence.

    So that meant that it was highly unlikely that Zhang Long was meant to just sit there rearranging the pieces randomly until they fit together.

    More likely than not, he was supposed to have seen something until now that would give him a hint as to what the puzzle was supposed to represent.

    But, no matter how hard he tried to think, he couldn¡¯t recall anything on his way to the dais that might be able to help. There was no image, or picture, that he could think of that he was supposed to be making. The fragments of a greater image inscribed on each puzzle piece also didn¡¯t seem to jog his memory in any way.

    It was as he kept fiddling around with the pieces that inspiration suddenly struck him like a bolt of lightning.

    The lines on the puzzle pieces did seem to be forming some kind of shape.

    It was just a picture he had not imagined he''d be seeing here, which is why it hadn''t occurred to him before.

    ¡°No¡­ how can this be¡­?¡± Zhang Long muttered to himself as he hastily began arranging more of the pieces, to find out that, to his shock, they actually fit together.

 Zhang Long Returns Home: Part Three

    In less than a minute the puzzle was now complete, but Zhang Long could not find an ounce of joy in him at this victory.

    Instead, he sat there, dumbstruck as the puzzle formed the face of Jin Zhen!

    ¡°How in the world¡­?¡±

    How did an inheritance that had supposedly been made at least decades, if not centuries, ago have a puzzle that formed the face of his fianc¨¦ on it?

    Imagine, if you will, that you had decided to go on vacation to a different country. A country neither you nor any of your family had been to before, and a country you had no relation to beforehand. During your vacation there, your rental car suddenly broke down in the middle of the road, but thankfully, a kind stranger whom you had never met before who was passing by offered to give you a lift. You got into their car, only to find, as they were driving along, that they had a photo of your father on their dashboard.

    Or to go a step further- imagine that you had chosen to become an astronaut and became part of the first manned mission to Mars. As you got off on the Red Planet, you noticed something lying in a crater on the planet¡¯s surface - and you approached it to find that it was your favorite childhood toy that you had lost twenty years ago, lying there, just like the day you had lost it.

    To go even further, imagine if an alien spaceship landed on Earth. As part of the team tasked with exploring it, you went inside and saw heaps of alien technology - and also that one of the rooms was inexplicably an exact replica of your living room.

    That was how Zhang Long felt in that instance!

    His fiance¡¯s face, normally a welcome sight, stared back at him and gave him an uncomfortable feeling of jamais vu while looking at it.

    Before, his mind had been somewhat turbulent since coming to this secret realm as he had been unsure of what to do, but he had managed to keep it under control until now. Much like a raft sailing down a turbulent river, he was able to just keep it steady.

    Now though, it was like a sudden tidal wave had come out of nowhere, and all control over that vessel had left him, leaving him at the mercy of the river.

    For a good minute - his brain felt as if it was being scrambled as he couldn¡¯t form a coherent thought.

    When he slowly began to feel like the gears in his head were turning again, he went through what this could possibly mean.

    Alright, this picture of Jin Zhen was rather recent and it was of her as an adult, so it should¡¯ve been made in the past few years. This secret realm though, seemed to be far older than that.

    Was this some kind of prank? If this had been a secret realm close to the sect, then he would have believed so, but out here - only two potential culprits came to mind.

    One was Jin Zhen herself - but Zhang Long had known her since the two were three years old, and he didn¡¯t think she would do something like this. She wouldn¡¯t be able to, let alone would see a point in doing so. No, he discarded this possibility almost immediately. The idea that she was somehow involved in all of this was ludicrous.

    The second was Tang Ze. He was also a cultivator, and had been in the area recently. Not to mention he knew what Jin Zhen looked like, and what she meant to Zhang Long.

    However, as far as Zhang Long knew - Tang Ze had no way of doing something like this, unless one of his costumes could give him this kind of power. There was a slight possibility of that - was this just Tang Ze playing a prank on him? He didn¡¯t seem like the kind of person who would go to such an extent for a simple practical joke - but if it were Yin Tiang or Chen Yu it would be a different matter. However, those two had never been near his village as per his knowledge, and likely didn¡¯t even know its exact location.

    So that also seemed highly unlikely.

    What then could be the possible reasoning behind all of this?

    One was that the person who had made this inheritance had been able to see the future, and knew that it was Zhang Long who would be the one to come here in the future, and so had designed this puzzle with this in mind.

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    As he took a few deep breaths and tried to calm himself down using some mental exercises he had been taught, another answer came to him.

    It could be that these puzzle pieces were enchanted, and were made to show the face of someone who that person loved dearly.

    In such a case, it was merely this fact that had led to her face being on this puzzle, and there was no weird conspiracy going on behind the scenes.

    The only way he could test this though was if he had someone along with him, and asked them what they saw now that the puzzle was complete. If they saw something else other than Jin Zhen¡¯s face, that would prove this theory.

    However, he had come into this secret realm alone.

    Most people would come into such places alone - and perhaps that was the ultimate goal of this test? To unnerve whoever came here before the real trials began?

    The other paths had disappeared, leaving only one before him, and one that led back.

    Zhang Long was now more apprehensive about this place after what he had just discovered. Should he turn back?

    If he did, depending on how this secret realm worked, there was a chance that it would not let him come back afterwards. And given that he had seen something that related to Jin Zhen, he wanted to get to the bottom of it if she was actually involved in all of this in any way - or if the person who made this knew something about her.

    As such, there was only one way to go if he wanted those answers - forward.

    He kept walking on that stone path, while the jungle around him was eerily silent. That would usually mean that many animals were keeping quiet as there was a very dangerous predator around, though he had strangely enough not seen any kind of wildlife in this secret realm.

    Not only that, but there was nothing else in the forest of note other than rows and rows of trees. He saw no large gaps between them, or such features like rivers or ponds. It was an endless formation of tightly-knit trees each of which looked the exact same that seemed to go on forever.

    Occasionally, one might find animals or plants within pocket realms that had either gone extinct or did not exist anywhere else. The panda population in the Raswatian Empire, for example, would have nearly gone extinct several time, but for people finding some groups within pocket realms like these. And now, more dedicated efforts were put in place to preserving that species.

    Still, it was not unheard of to find pocket realms where there was no living creatures at all.

    It was highly unnerving though, and soon enough Zhang Long found himself at another dais.

    It was like the one that he had seen before, only this one, instead of having a table, had a pile of gold and silver coins on it.

    As he approached the platform, the voice spoke to him again.

    ¡°Take only a single copper coin and move ahead.¡±

    This was a far more straightforward test than the one before him, to the point that Zhang Long was almost slightly disappointed.

    In all of these gold and silver coins, there were only a few copper ones.

    In this world, precious metals were used as currency, especially among mortals. Farmers might prefer to trade with produce, though in any place where commerce was more developed coinage was the way to go.

    Among cultivators, prices could soar to the point where one might need mountains of coins to make transactions for certain things.

    At that point, cultivators would also engage in bartering much like farmers and peasants, usually swapping pills as a standard or other such things among themselves.

    At the Qi Condensation and Qi Refinement realms, gold coins were still valuable, and if someone were to stuff their pockets full of all of the gold coins here it would be worth quite a lot. Even someone at Golden Core might be tempted.

    But, Zhang Long could see through all of that.

    This was a test of honesty - and one that was far more standard than the initial one.

    Unlike the one that came before, solving this was simple, and didn¡¯t disorient him with its result.

    He took a copper coin, and then embarked on one of the six paths that were laid out before him.

    The way that these things worked, by taking just a single copper coin, whichever path he embarked on would lead him to the correct destination.

    Conversely, if he had gotten greedy and taken more, either he would be ejected out of the secret realm, sent somewhere not so pleasant, or his rewards at the end would be sharply decreased. Which of these happened would depend on the proclivity of the one who had set up this inheritance, as well as their skill in being able to design and influence the world of the secret realm.

    Given how the trial had gone up till now, Zhang Long could get some insight as to what kind of person had set this inheritance up. They valued honesty, which meant that they were a righteous person. If they had been demonic, his life would have been in far more danger through these trials, but they had been relatively benign in terms of the dangers he had faced.

    Yes, the first trial had been somewhat... strange in its result, and he hadn''t as of now figured out what it was about, but it wasn''t like his life had been in danger at the time.

    Given that, he had a new surge of courage as he stepped forward.

    But, he was a bit taken about at how easy this round had been.

    Compared to the first, it was quite straightforward - which made him think that he had just been overthinking the result of that puzzle.

    Perhaps it really was just meant to form a drawing of someone he knew - though, for what reason?

    It was hard to tell how long he had been walking for, as the dais disappeared behind him, and the jungle seemed to be perfectly identical all around.

    The lighting did not change whatsoever either, so it was very hard to figure this out. Zhang Long felt that it was well over two hours in total that he had spent in this secret realm, though it could be far shorter or longer than that.

    All of a sudden, another platform appeared in front of him.

 Zhang Long Returns Home: Part Four

    The voice spoke to Zhang Long again once he had reached this platform.

    It was much smaller than the ones before it, being just big enough for someone to barely stand atop it comfortably.

    ¡°Stay on the platform for ten minutes.¡±

    That seemed to be easy enough, until a shadow emerged from the trees .

    It was the first other living thing that Zhang Long had seen while in this secret realm.

    A creature that he had seen only in paintings before - a manticore.

    Its mere presence would¡¯ve been enough to send grown men running. It had the main body of a lion, only the size of an elephant. Huge wings sprouted from its back, and its tail ended in the form of a snake which was as thick as a tree trunk.

    Its gaze carried ferociousness and hatred, and it roared so loudly it felt like it would almost rupture Zhang Long¡¯s eardrums for an instant. Its muscled limbs could crush boulders like they were pebbles, and as it had opened its mouth, Zhang Long had seen canines as thick as his arm.

    Faced with such a creature, even cultivators who were at the initial minor realms of Golden Core would hesitate to fight and be forced to turn tail and flee. Zhang Long could not even feel a drop of Qi from it, signifying that it far outclassed him in that regard.

    However, Zhang Long did not run. The pathways leading to the platform had disappeared, and he still remembered what that voice had said.

    He had to stay on this platform.

    He knew he had no chance of beating this thing - the only ones in his squad who could last more than a few breath¡¯s time against this creature were Chen Yu thanks to his attribute, and Tang Ze depending on what costume he was wearing.

    Even Chen Yu¡¯s defense would last for only but a few seconds before the manticore broke through it. Maybe Tang Ze could beat this creature depending on the circumstances.

    Zhang Long did not have either Chen Yu¡¯s or Tang Ze¡¯s talent.

    But, by now Tang Ze had a good understanding of this place and its inheritance.

    In a way, the inheritance had communicated what to do in this round with the first two rounds.

    Because it played an emphasis on honesty in the second round, it told Zhang Long that the person who had set up this inheritance put high value on virtue.

    A demonic cultivator might¡¯ve either set up a test that tested one¡¯s cruelty - such as offering a human sacrifice, or tested one¡¯s resilience, like forcing one to cut their right ear off to prove how badly they wanted the inheritance.

    But, the person who had set up this inheritance had not made anything like that.

    And such a person wouldn¡¯t have their applicant killed in the third round for no reason.

    True to what he had expected, the manticore, though it did its best to look intimidating and growled, did not actually attempt to pounce upon him.

    As it was, Zhang Long was not confident in his ability to run away from it anyway, and he sighed as he stood on the platform, not moving whatsoever.

    The manticore now became more bold, approaching closer, and Zhang Long couldn¡¯t really say that he wasn¡¯t scared at all.

    It was like being in the same room as a tiger and being just out of reach of its grasp while it was on a leash. The thought of what would happen if its leash had broken would constantly play in your mind - and it would be easy to take a few steps back, if only subconsciously.

    But, Zhang Long did not take the bait and continued to stay there, as steadfast as a mountain.

    This was a test of courage. He was sure of it now - the manticore would not actually attack him.

    He had to stay there on the small platform for about a total of ten minutes, though every second seemed to feel like an hour as time moved at a glacial speed.

    Right around the midpoint of this time, another manticore leaped out of the jungle, and began acting in a similar way, trying its best to get Zhang Long to step off the platform.

    Both of them ended up orbiting the platform quite close to him, to the point that he could smell their rancid breath in the air. To the point where he could hear the sounds of them breathing - and even the beating of their hearts.

    Or, was that actually his heart? Although he tried his best to control his emotions and fear, there was a limit to how successful that would be given his age and understanding of cultivation.

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    After what felt like an eternity, ten minutes were finally up and the two manticores retreated into the jungle, leaving no trace that they had ever been there in the first place.

    Zhang Long had built up a huge layer of sweat on his forehead, and his clothes were soaked as well. HIs throat felt as dry as sandpaper, but at long last, the third trial was over.

    A path now appeared, leading forward.

    Nothing more came out of the forest to challenge him as he proceeded, and it was as eerily quiet as it was before.

    This time though, rather than ending in another platform, the path led to a cliff, where there was what looked like the ruins of what once had been a large stone building.

    Most conspicuous was the presence of a mirror on the outside.

    As Zhang Long approached the mirror, he watched his reflection within it suddenly become distorted as the mirror rippled like a still pond that had just had a stone tossed into it.

    A hand emerged from the mirror, then a leg, and finally the rest of the body, as Zhang Long¡¯s reflection walked out.

    ¡°Defeat your double image to advance.¡±

    Zhang Long¡¯s doppelganger charged at him.

    Zhang Long avoided the initial kick, backing up slightly.

    His mirror image did not let up, however, launching blow after blow in a fighting style that he recognized - because it was his own!

    Zhang Long didn¡¯t even have room to think as he focused on blocking his enemy¡¯s strikes.

    There were limits to how mirrors like this could copy one¡¯s abilities - he doubted that it could fully copy say, a Golden Core cultivator¡¯s strength, for example. However, Zhang Long was not a Golden Core cultivator. And unfortunately, it looked like this other Zhang Long was just as strong and skilled as he was.

    The mirror image was also likely unable to copy any powerful treasures or secret techniques that Zhang Long knew - the issue was that he had none of those things. As such, the two of them were playing on an even field, with nothing available that could give Zhang Long an advantage.

    The two of them exchanged blows for several minutes. Both of them ended up with bruises - though the original Zhang Long had more of them. He had already been somewhat exhausted, and was caught off guard by the ferocity with which his mirror image attacked him.

    His mirror image was fully focused on defeating him without regard to its own safety, and in that, Zhang Long had a major disadvantage as it would not matter if he had won if it lead to him being given a fatal injury. Not to mention he had to watch out for the terrain - that cliff looked like it lead to a significant drop and he might end up pinned down against it if he was not careful. Sadly, it looked like his mirror image had realized the same thing.

    They exchanged blows for several more rounds, with Zhang Long being forced back to the edge of the cliff despite his best efforts, until, all of a sudden, his mirror image stopped, and then collapsed to one knee.

    Zhang Long chuckled.

    So it had finally worked!

    This might¡¯ve been a challenge for Zhang Long in the past, but he had already engaged in a similar ¡®mirror-training¡¯ experiment three years ago.

    They had had a different martial arts instructor at that time, and he had thought that such training would help them understand their own training styles. Not to mention, there were some techniques that cultivators could use that could achieve the same effect, so they all had to be wary of something like this in the future.

    ¡°So how do we deal with something like this?¡± Xu Feng had asked as his mirror image had knocked him down despite three attempts at beating it.

    It was then that the martial arts instructor had taught them of a ¡®hidden method¡¯ to defeat one¡¯s body double if they did not have access to any unique treasures or techniques which could not easily be copied.

    Such doubles were made using the user¡¯s own strength as a template - that included their Qi flows. If the user suppressed their Qi flow, a weak mirror image would appear. However, to counter that, when they would actually begin to use their Qi unrestrained in combat, they would also increase their power. But, vice-versa, should the opposite happen, it would also have to adapt. There was no such thing as a free lunch, after all, and that was how their internal systems were designed. Perhaps there were ways to patch up this design flaw, but that probably required a higher level of technique.

    The mirror image needed to accommodate for fluctuations in the original owner¡¯s Qi.

    Naturally, there was a limit to this ability.

    That was what Zhang Long had been doing during their fight till now, wildly causing fluctuations in his Qi that he knew his mirror image wouldn¡¯t be able to keep up with.

    And now, Zhang Long, had, by doing so, made it so that his mirror image could no longer keep up with the Qi fluctuations.

    It was a creature entirely dependent on Qi in a way that Zhang Long wasn¡¯t, being a sort of construct made directly from Qi. As such, the fluctuations were causing it immense damage, and leading to it unraveling itself.

    Zhang Long did not relent though, altering his Qi rapidly until finally, the mirror image broke down into a million pieces, and then these pieces turned into tiny motes of light which disappeared.

    It was kind of odd seeing himself being destroyed.

    ¡°Congratulations - step forth and my treasure awaits you.¡±

    ¡®So that was it, huh?¡¯- Zhang Long thought to himself as he advanced past the cliff. ¡®Mirror images¡¯ were a pretty old-fashioned way of testing cultivators out, and he suspected that any high-ranked cultivator would have something to deal with them, even if the mirror image was of a higher grade than this which had this specific design flaw he had exploited patched up.

    Overall, he would rank the difficulty of this inheritance, on a scale from one to ten, as a one or two.

    There were far more deadly inheritances in this world, some that required weeks to get through, and could easily lead to death.

    This by far, had been far more benign than some of the stories of inheritance¡¯s he had heard about in the past.

    A book awaited him atop a desk inside the ruins of the abandoned building, and he took it. The moment he did so, the world changed, and he found himself back near his village.

    The whole thing had likely been set up so that the secret realm would eject him the moment he got his hands on the treasure, or if he failed.

    Out of curiosity, Zhang Long tried to enter the secret realm again, but found that he couldn¡¯t.

    It was possible that the secret realm was designed to collapse and destroy itself once someone took the inheritance.

    And so, it appeared that he had been overthinking that puzzle back in the beginning.

    He still didn¡¯t understand the point of it showing him Jin Zhen¡¯s face though.

    He opened up the book and saw that the first page had these words on it: ¡°The True Treasure is Friendship.¡±

    That was it.

    The next page was blank.

    So was the one after that.

    ¡°You¡¯ve got to be kidding me!¡± Zhang Long screamed.

 Zhang Long Returns Home: Part Five

    So, this was a prank inheritance?

    Such things did exist - there were people in this world who had far too much time on their hands and decided to get their kicks from setting up pointless or sometimes even dangerous inheritances.

    Sometimes such troublemakers didn¡¯t set up a reward at all or put in a prank reward - looks like this was one of the latter cases.

    The pranks could even be harmful at times. Everyone in this world by now was familiar with some of them.

    ¡®Castrate yourself!¡¯

    People would write this on the first page of a book, leave the second page blank, and hope that people assumed you needed to follow the instructions to read the rest of the book. The third page would then say, ¡®Do you really do anything that a random book instructs you to do?¡¯; and that would be all.

    Zhang Long doubted that anyone had fallen for such a prank in recent memory given that knowledge of this was widespread by this point, but there likely had been one such individual at some time in the past who had fallen for it which was why that kind of prank was so popular.

    That wasn¡¯t the only kind of scam going around. There were stories of applicants being asked to put their hands into small slits within boxes, within which there would be scorpions or snakes - and a bite or sting would be the only ¡®inheritance¡¯ that those people got.

    Zhang Long had to admit that some of the stories he¡¯d heard really were quite funny though. There was a famous one about someone who had supposedly found the inheritance of a great alchemist, and were promised a special recipe so long as they could pass through a trial.

    The trial was to catch and kiss one hundred frogs - this took place in a swamp, as you can imagine, so catching the frogs themselves was no easy feat either.

    Once the applicant had done so, it turned out the reward was just the recipe for a regular fruit smoothie with a page attached to it that said, ¡®Hope this helps wash the bitter taste in your mouth down!¡¯

    Despite himself, Zhang Long couldn¡¯t help but snicker at the thought of Yin Tiang running around a swamp trying to catch frogs to kiss in order to receive a valuable alchemical recipe.

    That said, once he was done laughing at that mental image, rage gripped him and he wanted to find the person who had set up this phony inheritance and give them a swift kick to the Mt. Tai!

    Why did people go through so much trouble to set up such pranks? For mostly the same reason as to why people back on Earth made computer viruses that would break your computer - that is to say, for personal amusement.

    Even if the inheritance was set up properly and with the intent of actually leaving something useful behind, there was a chance that someone had already taken it and the creator of said inheritance hadn¡¯t had the foresight or ability to close the secret realm off once it had been taken. However, had that been the case, Zhang Long wouldn¡¯t have been nearly as furious as he was right now.

    Granted, the trials hadn¡¯t been too hard, so he really wasn¡¯t expecting anything spectacular, but still, it was annoying to be handed basically nothing.

    No, actually, if he had found out that the prize was ¡®nothing¡¯ he might be disappointed that someone had gotten to it before him, but that would be somewhat within expectations for such an easy inheritance. He was not just disappointed now though - he was furious that someone had gone out of their way to pull this prank. Imagine all that time and effort spent setting all of that up - just so you could pull a ¡®gotcha!¡¯ on someone in the future.

    That was what he thought, before he suddenly realized that there were more pages that he hadn¡¯t checked out yet.

    ¡°Oh, turns out I had jumped to conclusions too fast,¡± he said to himself as he saw text on the other pages, which described a certain technique.

    There was no name on the book or title, however, so all of this had likely been set up by a cultivator quite a long time ago. Their village was only two hundred years old, after all.

    And it turned out there was a good reason for the words written down on the first page, Zhang Long discovered as he read more of what was in the book.

    He spent most of the rest of his time in his village on this ¡®assignment¡¯ learning about what was written inside and how to practice the technique enshrined within.

    Zhang Long discovered a few interesting things about the manual he had gotten from that inheritance. For one, once he turned a page, it stuck to the pages prior, so that he couldn''t turn it back to see what had been written before. Yet, whatever he read seemed to ¡®stick¡¯ in his mind permanently once he was done reading it. This was likely a feature of the book.

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    The philosophy it expounded was quite different from what he was used to as well.

    This was an excerpt from said text:

    "Before the creation of the universe, and the separation of all, there was a single entity. There was a single soul, and we were all part of that soul. After the creation of the universe, that soul was splintered into countless pieces, and we all originate from this soul. But, at the beginning, it was all one - one body, one soul, and one mind. Humans are the creatures which are closest to comprehending the Dao, and as such, humans spend their entire lives as social creatures - trying to forge bonds with each other, in a form, attempting to reunite with these other souls of which we were once part of.

    Since our souls have been split from each other, we constantly wander this earth, alone, trying to find company - though no matter how much we may seek companionship, the fact remains that nothing can truly fill in the gap, the true longing we have to one day merge with each other completely. Not even the most intimate or close relationship can compare to the fusion of two souls together. We all have the innate desire, perhaps subconsciously, to return to the state that we had once been in, when we were truly one with everything and with each other. And were that to happen, the loneliness that grips us, that surrounds us, and that we dread from the bottom of our souls would completely cease to exist.

    However, through forming bonds with others, we can come closer to understanding each other - and come closer to understanding this ''supersoul'' that had once existed."

    Zhang Long contemplated the words in the text. Some of this philosophy ran counter to what he had been taught was the ideal way of learning the Dao.

    Yes, cultivators did cooperate with each other - weren''t sects just an example of that?

    Yet, it was always said that the road to true enlightenment was a road that one had to walk alone.

    That was why cultivators would oftentimes become ascetics - vowing to never marry or have children. They would meditate in caves away from society, sometimes for decades on end.

    After all, no matter how much you might wish it, you could not give enlightenment to someone else - that was what his teachers had always taught him. It was something that they had to discover for themselves.

    You can lead a horse to water, but you can''t make it drink!

    Then again, this book was based off the life experiences and ruminations of its writer - it didn¡¯t necessarily mean that what was written was objectively fact.

    There were as many interpretations of the Dao as there were cultivators, and many of these contradictions outright contradicted each other.

    There was a Nascent Soul cultivator, who one day, after emerging from a seven year secluded meditation session said, ¡°There is no ultimate meaning to life, or grander truth that can be found through cultivating. One should spend as much time seeking as much pleasure as possible through activities like gambling, doing drugs, and fornication - because after death nothing remains.¡± He then left his sect, and spent the rest of his days in debauchery.

    This went against practically everything known about cultivation, but it was the ¡®truth¡¯ that this person had stumbled upon. It had caused him to stop cultivating entirely after denouncing the whole practice as ¡®inherently worthless.¡¯

    However, that did not mean that this person had been correct.

    Oftentimes, the only true way to understand the Dao was to experience it for yourself. Zhang Long really didn¡¯t have enough life experience to come to any conclusions on his own - he could only rely on the teachings of those who had come before him. That was not to say that those teachings were absolute truths, of course - but there usually was at least a grain of truth to them, and it was easier to walk the beaten path rather than trudging through the wilderness on your own.

    That is to say, that Zhang Long would take these words with a grain of salt. What was described was the truth that the writer of this manual had discovered, but it did not mean that it was The Truth. It might be a portion of the greater truth, or could even be completely false entirely, but only the truly enlightened knew the complete truth.

    "We are born into this world alone, and also leave it alone. No one can accompany us into the next life, no matter how we may promise to stay with them for seven lifetimes. And yet, we spend our time in between these moments searching for others.

    However, if enlightenment is truly possible, then it means that eventually, once it occurs, all living beings will achieve it at one point, and the supersoul will be formed once yet again. The universe cycles over and over, and with the eventuality that one can become enlightened given enough time - all will become enlightened in the very end."

    Zhang Long read more and more of the philosophy until it finally turned into something that was more tangible in its use for cultivation - an actual technique.

    ''The True Treasure is Friendship''- the reason that was written on the manual''s first page was because of the technique that was kept within. All souls had once been part of one another, and as such, were still connected to each other in a way.

    This technique involved the use of a power granted through the formation of bonds between people.

    Humans, throughout their lives tried to strengthen these bonds.

    When this author described ¡®bonds¡¯ they started off by describing their function on a molecular level - bonds were what kept atoms from falling apart and how matter could exist in the world in the first place.

    And yet, bonds did not exist in simply that kind of material regard - there were also those bonds between people. Between father and son, between friends, and even bonds that existed between humans and animals.

    One can draw strength from these kinds of bonds - and in doing so, borrow a portion of another person¡¯s strength!

    ''Ah, so that is why I saw Jin Zhen''s face in that puzzle. It was a clue about what kind of inheritance lay up ahead - it was showing me the face of my closest friend!'' - Zhang Long realized. There had been a purpose to what the first trial had been about, rather than it being a portent of something malevolent going on behind the scenes.

    But, he had overthought it to the point where it had nearly given him a headache at the time.

    Once one had mastered the technique described in the text, they could draw on the techniques of their allies depending on how deep the bond between the two of them was.

 The Squad Is Reunited

    Zhang Long had often times heard in stories of warriors drawing strength from their friends and families - a hero collapsing to the ground and then suddenly finding the strength to rise and fight as the memories of their allies ran through their minds was a well-known trope in stories in this world as well as back on Earth.

    This, however, took ''the power of friendship'' and made it quite literal.

    There were still limits to this ability - it could ¡¯t copy bloodline-related abilities like Chen Yu''s [Steelskin], and it probably couldn''t copy things like Tang Ze''s talent either now that Zhang Long thought about it, but still, this was quite useful.

    Techniques took time to learn and master - and there was no one who could learn all of them. Some of them didn''t suit certain cultivators or they lacked the kind of capacity needed in order to learn them - but this could bypass some of those issues.

    Zhang Long thought it would be useful to teach this to everyone in the sect, or at least, to many people, but as he finished the text- it vanished, disappearing like the morning dew, as if it had never existed in the first place.

    Zhang Long might''ve even thought that the whole thing was just in his imagination, were it not for the fact that everything that had been written in the manual was now completely engraved into his memory.

    He felt that even if he tried to forget what was written on it, he wouldn''t be able to.

    Despite the manual containing pages and pages of the writer''s philosophy on what enlightenment was, there was almost nothing on who had written it. They had not even left something like a signature for Zhang Long to try to piece together who it was - though their distinct writing style and language gave him some insight into what he thought that this person¡¯s character and personality were like.

    Still, no name, and although he had asked around the village, no one remembered anyone of importance living there who could have written it.

    This technique by itself was not that hard to learn, relatively speaking, so while it was somewhat unique in that Zhang Long had not heard of something like this before - it could be that the person who had made it had not been anyone outstanding. It might even be possible that there already was such a technique, and it was just Zhang Long who had never heard of it before.

    But it didn''t look like it would be easy to spread this technique, not until he had mastered it first himself.

    Even after mastering it, it would be difficult to use, as this technique had a chance to fail - even if the bond between two people was quite deep, it could not be the same as them being a single soul!

    Again, this was a relatively easy to learn low-level technique - there probably was a way to refine it and advance it further so that the odds of it succeeding were higher.

    It was likely that that was the reason why the inheritance had been made in the first place, because the person who had developed it had been stumped, given up on it - and either died, or moved on to some other project. But, if it had been the latter case, they had likely hoped that someone would come along and finish their work for them which they themselves were unable to, which is why they left this manual there.

    It was possible there was another version of this book, and this was just a copy of that one.

    But, given how long ago the inheritance had been set up, it was safe to assume that the original maker had already long since passed away.

    If Zhang Long knew more about secret realms, he could''ve investigated this a bit further - but as a Qi Condensation cultivator there was little he could do.

    Those kinds of secrets could only be learnt at the Golden Core stage.

    Before he knew it - just while dwelling on these small matters time had passed by quickly and Zhang Long made his way back to the sect, the taxes in the form of produce being hauled in the cart he was sitting in.

    For the farmers, it was hard to get their hands on coinage. They often bartered among themselves, and as such, being able to pay taxes in the form of produce was quite convenient to them - not to mention they might suffer a loss if such produce was sold on the market when tax season was near and everyone was selling at that time.

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    They would have to pay a cut to whoever was helping to facilitate the deal, not to mention the travel expenses incurred.

    Sometimes, sects would demand payment of taxes in coinage regardless, but because Zhang Long was a sect member himself, he was able to easily smooth things out when it came to this.

    No wonder that there were many cheers and shouts when he had come to the village - he had been welcomed and sent off like a conquering hero.

    Zhang Long was the only serious cultivator in the village - his father had some talent but had taken so long to accumulate resources in order to join a sect that before he knew it, his hair was already as white as snow, and so, he left this task to his son.

    And the return on such investment was already evident - that was to say, in this year''s taxation.

    "Mother, father, Jin Zhen, I''ll be sure to keep making you all proud!" Zhang Long said, as the visage of his home faded away in the distance.

    Zhang Long was not satisfied with just his progress yet - he needed to go further.

    Ideally, he wanted to reach Qi Refinement stage within the next three years, and then bring Jin Zhen along with him as a sect member.

    That was quite ambitious - and likely to fail given his current lack of a strong backing. However, Zhang Long was not one to give up hope.

    After all, who knew what surprises life had in store for him?

    This inheritance was just one of the many unexpected things that could happen in the future!

    hr

    Back at the sect, the four Initiates - Zhang Long, Chen Yu, Yin Tiang, and Tang Ze were finally reunited after just under a month of staying apart.

    Chen Yu and Yin Tiang, though they hadn''t been treated as favorably as Zhang Long, had still had relatively enjoyable experiences with their solo missions.

    Tang Ze on the other hand...

    His face looked like that of man who had been left to wander the wilderness for several months on his own and who had just found his way back to civilization. Which was actually not too far from the condition he had been left in.

    While Zhang Long had returned from his solo mission feeling revitalized, Tang Ze looked like the life had been sucked out of him instead.

    Of all of them, Tang Ze was the happiest that they were finally together again!

    Zhang Long felt an immense wave of guilt upon seeing Tang Ze''s face like that - the difference in their treatment by the sect was like the difference between night and day!

    Not only had Zhang Long gotten the opportunity to rest and relax, but he had also chanced upon an inheritance that granted a special technique! It could be said that his path had practically been paved with gold - his luck was just too good.

    On the other hand, Tang Ze had clearly suffered.

    Zhang Long had almost forgotten about Tang Ze''s condition after finding that inheritance - he couldn''t help but curse himself inwardly.

    ''Ah, even more so ironic that the inheritance was on friendship, and here I had completely neglected the suffering of one of my friends!''- Zhang Long had such thoughts.

    It was like seeing a friend lose his job after you had just gotten a big promotion. On top of that, as Squad Leader, one of his responsibilities was to take care of the well-being of the other members as well as his own.

    Zhang Long couldn''t help but feel that he had failed in that regard.

    "Ah, Tang Ze - did anything happen during your mission?" Zhang Long asked. Being posted out in the wilderness meant that one would be at risk of encountering not only the likes of bandits, but wild beasts as well. Had Tang Ze ran into one of them? The odds of such a thing happening were rather low, but never zero.

    "Eh? No, it was quiet," Tang Ze said. "Too quiet!" He might''ve actually welcomed a small group of bandits attacking, because that would have at least meant that there was something for him to do. He was more than confident of being able to take on any ragtag group of ruffians.

    Instead, he had just sat at that toll booth day in and day out. It was busy this time of year, but the people tended to come in waves so to speak, so sometimes, he would not get a single visitor, while other days he would be busy from sunup to sundown. The days where he was busy were far better than those days where he got no visitors.

    Because then, he was all alone - with nothing but his thoughts to comfort him.

    And none of Tang Ze''s thoughts were positive.

    While it could be said that Tang Ze had not suffered physically - his mental state, which had never been that stable coming into this world to begin with, had taken a huge toll from this task.

    Also, there had been one incident that Tang Ze hadn¡¯t shared with them, because he didn¡¯t think it was worth talking about.

    When he came back to the sect from his job, the prefects had asked him to turn out his pockets. ¡°We just want to make sure that you didn¡¯t skim anything off the top,¡± they told him.

    Tang Ze had never heard of anyone else getting searched like this, not to mention they seemed to have been disappointed when they reviewed Tang Ze¡¯s performance and found nothing wrong with it that they could chastise him for.

    It was clear as day now that they really were going out of their way to give Tang Ze a hard time.

    Zhang Long had been a member of the sect for a while, and the prefects clearly approved of him and his performance, treating him like the golden child of the family. That was why he had gotten such a nice and cozy ¡®mission.¡¯

    Tang Ze on the other hand, felt like he was being treated much like Cinderella was by her stepmother.

    Who knows - maybe if he dressed up as Cinderella, he¡¯d get a pumpkin carriage and a fairy godmother who¡¯d magic away all of his problems?

    Or maybe he should just cut out the middleman and become the fairy godmother he wanted to see in this world?

    "Oh, it''s good to hear that you didn¡¯t have any problems..." Zhang Long said, though he could see from Tang Ze''s expression that what Tang Ze was saying did not express the whole of it. Something was still clearly bothering Tang Ze.

    But, what did all that matter now? Now, they were back together as a group! That was the important thing.

    Hopefully that would cheer Tang Ze up, and hopefully he¡¯d find a way to advance when it came to his cultivation.

 The Sect Janitor Enters: Part One

    "Ah, well, that is the situation..." the prefect said, eyes slightly downcast as he wrapped up his explanation, to the sect janitor.

    The sect janitor had only recently returned from meditating in seclusion, and to be told that there was a mess as large as this that needed to be cleaned the very moment that he walked back in?

    Someone had broken a large part of the newly constructed martial arts dojo. A good portion of the ceiling had caved in, and there was rubble everywhere.

    Effort had also been made to try to clean it up to a certain extent before the sect janitor got there, though, this could be said to only be a few light touches here and there.

    The mess was still quite apparent - no, it was closer to a calamity than a mess. If he didn¡¯t know any better, it was like they had let a wild rhinoceros rampage in here.

    The sect janitor was the only other Golden Core cultivator in the sect aside from Elder He Xuan. He was, as such, the second strongest in the sect.

    Naturally, the prefect feared offending him because of this.

    The sect janitor, however, did not seem angry whatsoever. "Well, this will take some time to clean up.... but... to cause this much damage in a single blow - and you tell me this was unintentional?"

    The prefect nodded.

    "Right - and who was it that caused this much damage?" the sect janitor asked.

    "Tang Ze!" the prefect said. Being one of the prefects, he had no attachment to Tang Ze at all and did not hesitate for even an instant before throwing him under the bus. If the sect janitor chose to deal with him harshly - well, the prefect secretly hoped that would be the case!

    "Tang Ze... Tang Ze..." the sect janitor said, committing that name to memory. "Very well - thank you. You may leave now."

    The prefect scurried off with a wicked grin on his face. ''Tang Ze - just see what happens to you now!'' is what he was thinking as he made his exit.

    The sect janitor did not take any immediate action against or even try to seek out Tang Ze, instead working on clearing out the rubble.

    He had been planning on checking on Guo Jia when he came back, and he would deal with that issue first.

    Two incidents had made a very large impact on his life.

    The first was losing both of his parents when he was ten years old. As he had no other relatives, he would¡¯ve either been thrown on the streets or had to live in a public orphanage, both of which were close to death sentences. Especially for someone like him at the time, who would¡¯ve known next to nothing about how to survive in such a place having been raised in a cozy environment up till then.

    Instead, he had been taken in by the sect. After all, both of his parents had been regular members, and one couldn¡¯t say that such an upbringing was pleasant or even came close to how times had been when his parents had still been alive, but it was far preferable to the alternative. He had been old enough to understand that.

    Since then, he felt like he owed the sect a great debt in return. The family was the upon which the world was built, sects attempted to take this a step further by creating a giant family - many people scoffed at such an idea, but the sect janitor was someone who took this to heart.

    The second incident was one that had occurred when he had been an Initiate. Being a ward of the sect, he had been allowed to join without a fee or having to take an entrance test, that was thanks to the legacy of his parents. He had trained in an outer division of the Rising Phoenix sect, a division which had been much like this one.

    His youth had been spent having fun and cultivating with his squad members, when one night, calamity struck.

    He did not know this at the time, but one of his friends had been harboring a heart demon. This heart demon took corporeal form, and rampaged all over that division, damaging it to the point that the location still had not been fully repaired as of yet.

    The heart demon had tried to kill him as well, and the sect janitor had a scar over his left shoulder from the blow, but he had fortunate enough to survive. That day, a peculiar ability had awoken in him - one that one could normally only get by certain very specialized techniques at the Eternal Soul level of cultivation.

    It was the ability to see heart demons!

    At the time, he had been full of regret for being blind to what his friend had suffered from, and this regret, combined with the heart demon¡¯s attack which had nearly slain him, had caused this strange ability to be born within him.

    He had already lost one family back in his youth, and when he felt like he had found another one later in life within the sect, his squad members; they too had died.

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    He had vowed to himself that he wouldn¡¯t let that happen again, and was ever-vigilant for heart demons since then.

    What were heart demons?

    As light cannot exist without casting shadows, and as yin could not exist without yang, so could positives not exist without negative.

    Cultivators contemplated the Dao, and this generated positive effects in the form of their enlightenment and ascending cultivation. But, there was a negative shadow to this as well, heart demons.

    That was the original theory regarding heart demons. It was the one he had been told to by other people, though through his own experiences, he felt that there was far more to them.

    It was not always equal of course - the benefits gained from cultivation did not equal the risks of heart demons; more times than not, it was imbalanced in one''s favor. As in, the benefits greatly outweighed the risks.

    But the opposite could also happen.

    Which was how he had developed his own theory regarding heart demons.

    The earlier theory, which was one he had begun to doubt as it clashed with what he had seen with his own eyes, was that heart demons were the ''waste products'' of cultivation, in other words that they were negative thoughts that were a byproduct of ascending to higher realms that cultivators did not carry with them while ascending.

    However, after his own study, the sect janitor had a different idea on what they were.

    One could nurture positive thoughts through cultivation - and advance, but what about the opposite? What if one cultivated negatively, or in the wrong direction so to speak? That was his own theory as to how they formed - which would explain how he could sometimes see them even among mortals.

    Some people never get heart demons. They were either complete psychopaths who had no regrets in life, or those with transcendent wisdom who had completely cleansed their souls.

    As such, they depended on the mental state of the person in question.

    Heart demons were extremely malevolent by nature. The weaker ones would disrupt one¡¯s cultivation or make it harder to ascend - while the stronger ones could even take physical form. Not only that, they had a habit of remaining hidden, biding their time until it was the right opportunity to strike. The ¡®right¡¯ opportunity being the moment when they could cause the most havoc and destruction to a cultivator.

    Cases like what had happened to his friend, where they grew strong enough to cause significant damage were thankfully, extremely rare.

    Naturally, he wanted to do something about them whenever he found them to nip the problem in the bud, but he had no methods with which he could directly strike a heart demon. Perhaps someone at Nascent Soul or Eternal Soul level might be able to create such a move, but he could not. Instead, all he could do was nudge people along the right path.

    However, dealing with heart demons was tricky.

    No matter how friendly he was, people would not usually open up to him, a complete stranger, about what was truly bothering them.

    He had made it his goal in life, after his second home had nearly been destroyed, and that too due to what he felt like was his negligence in not recognizing what his friend had been going through, to help others with their heart demons.

    If he had been on Earth, he likely would have become either a psychiatrist or a therapist. He tried to fill out a similar role for the cultivators in the Rising Phoenix Sect - to help them deal with their heart demons before they became too big of a problem.

    Right now though, in the Raswatian Empire, no such occupation existed. As such, all he could do was to give other people pointers in which direction to move in.

    Being sect janitor gave him ample such opportunities.

    Coming to Guo Jia, she was a Qi Condensation stage cultivator. The sect janitor usually saw heart demons as small black wisps above people¡¯s heads - in that stage, they were not too dangerous and people usually dealt with them on their own.

    However, what he saw above her head was a dark cloud, and he had been meaning to check up on her to see if it had gotten worse. He had a good idea as to what was causing it, but if the problem had already resolved itself, there was no reason for him to but in.

    For now, though, he kept a low profile, mopping the floor.

    Truth be told, his ability to become inconspicuous and fade into the background made it so that he had the most far-ranging eyes and ears in the entire sect. If he were a spy, he would easily be a top-rate one.

    However, he had no such malevolent intentions.

    Several people passed him by while he was working, some with scornful looks on their faces.

    The fact of the matter was that, as a Golden Core cultivator, his strength would be unknown to those of the Qi Condensation realm, and as such, many of these Initiates thought of him as nothing more than a lowly janitor - and as one who had no Qi to speak of, not worthy of their respect or acknowledgement.

    Such people were those who had recently joined the sect and did not know the truth about him, or mortal workers and assistants in the sect who didn¡¯t know who he was.

    But, it was not like the sect janitor minded.

    Truth be told, he was not a vindictive person. There were some cultivators who would not only kill someone for looking at them wrong, but also their entire families and villages as well. But, the sect janitor was not like that.

    He considered everyone in the sect part of his family, and wished them all well within the depths of his heart, regardless of what opinion they had of him.

    Soon enough, Guo Jia approached and sat down on a nearby bench. His heart fell as he saw that the cloud above her head had become thicker and darker. This was not good - he had to act.

    The sect janitor approached her while mopping, and as he did so, he dropped several coins onto the floor.

    While Guo Jia had her brows furrowed in deep rumination, the sound of the metal striking the floor shook her out of her reverie.

    Guo Jia knew was an exceptional Initiate, she was at the tenth minor realm of Qi Condensation, and as such, knew who the sect janitor was. She was not shocked by his presence - but rather, by the way he kept dropping coins on the ground without picking them up.

    Initially, she figured that once he was done cleaning, he would pick them up, but no - he kept moving on, the metal coins glistening as they caught the light of the sun.

    She couldn¡¯t help but notice this odd scene - and eventually, found herself compelled to say, ¡°Wait! Don¡¯t leave your money like this here!¡±

    The sect janitor gave her a long look. ¡°Ah, you see, when I dropped those coins, they became dirty and tarnished. They¡¯ve lost all of their value now, so why would I bother picking them up?¡±

    Guo Jia was bewildered hearing those words. ¡°That¡¯s not true at all though! You can just clean the dust off, they¡¯re still just as valuable as before.¡±

    ¡°So you say¡­¡± the sect janitor said, scratching his chin, as if Guo Jia had just uttered some words of profound wisdom rather than what was common knowledge to even a child. ¡°In such a case, why have you been doubting your own worth then, simply because of one failure?¡±

 The Sect Janitor Enters: Part Two

    Guo Jia¡¯s eyes widened. ¡°How could¡­¡± But the words died in her mouth. With the way she was behaving, it would have been obvious to anyone watching her.

    Guo Jia was quite gifted, soaring through the minor realms of Qi Condensation with little effort and at a rate that shocked many people. ¡®Genius¡¯, ¡®Talented, and ¡®Gifted¡¯ were words often thrown around when describing her. Naturally, many people had great expectations from her, and she had continuously met all of them without fail until very recently.

    There was a downside to being gifted. When one had never tasted true failure in their lives, they would not know what to do when such a thing inevitably happened. The higher one soared in the sky, the more it would damage them when they fell to the ground.

    Guo Jia had tried to ascend through a major realm to Qi Refinement, but had failed. It was the first major shock of her life, and the first time she had truly stumbled.

    Naturally, all she had to do was try again after preparing for the ascension. It was not uncommon for people to fail this jump from Qi Condensation to Qi Refinement two or three times before finally succeeding.

    Guo Jia knew that. However, she couldn¡¯t square that fact with the image of herself she had built up in her head. Something that had been encouraged by her parents, peers, and teachers.

    ¡®You¡¯re a genius - you should¡¯ve succeeded on your first attempt! Other people might fail, but how can you call yourself talented if you¡¯re the same as them? Don¡¯t you see how you¡¯ve disappointed everyone around you?¡¯ - a voice in her head echoed over and over.

    It had been two years since she had failed, and in that time, although she had prepared enough resources to attempt it again, she hadn¡¯t.

    That little voice in her head had gotten worse, giving birth to a heart demon. This eventually led to a vicious cycle where it would cause her to doubt herself more, worsening the heart demon, and it causing her to have more such negative thoughts.

    She had developed a severe case of imposter syndrome, doubting whether she was even half as good as everyone told her she was. She even looked back on her past achievements and started wondering if they had all been due to luck.

    With this, her own self-doubt sealed off any chance of success at ascending.

    But, she realized what the sect janitor was trying to say.

    ¡°When this coin is not worth any less just because it fell out of my pocket, why should you think of yourself as any less due to a single failure?¡± he asked her, before chuckling and picking the others up.

    Guo Jia stammered. ¡°B-But what if I¡¯m not good enou-¡±

    ¡°Do you trust my judgment¡± the sect janitor asked.

    Guo Jia nodded. He was a Golden Core cultivator, so obviously if he said something and she said the opposite, it was he who was right!

    ¡°My judgment is that you are still one of the most talented Initiates in the sect,¡± he said. ¡°And I have no doubt that you will accomplish great things in the past.¡±

    ¡°How can that be true when I can¡¯t even ascend to the Qi Refinement realm?¡± she protested. That was the easiest of the major realms to ascend to, going from Qi Refinement to Golden Core was even more difficult! When people told her she might even be the next Nascent Soul cultivator in the sect, she had believed them, but now, she looked back at such statements as being hollow and worthless. How could she soar among the clouds like so many people had told her she was destined for, when she had tripped on such a relatively minor obstacle?

    ¡°Sometimes, when we run ahead, trying to go as fast as possible, we stumble,¡± the sect janitor said. ¡°But that only means we need to take a moment to dust ourselves off, pause to see what we were doing wrong - maybe even slow down a little. But that doesn¡¯t mean we give up advancing entirely. Trust me when I tell you that I know that you can do it.¡±

    ¡°But I-¡± Guo Jia wanted to protest, but then realized the trap she was in. She had admitted to herself that if the sect janitor said something which went against what she believed in, she would¡¯ve been in the wrong. With that same logic, she was also wrong here!

    The sect janitor could guess what was going on in her mind. ¡°Calm down for a few days, meditate, and when you think you¡¯re ready, try to ascend again.¡±

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    Guo Jia let out a defeated sigh, and then a gentle smile. ¡°How can anyone win against you?¡±

    ¡°Win against me? Here I thought we were on the same team,¡± the sect janitor said in mock shock. He laughed and handed her a gold coin. The Initiates, no matter how talented they were, would have trouble getting their hands on real currency. They were usually paid entirely in sect merit points. ¡®Money will spoil them,¡¯ was one of the lines of reasoning behind the decision, though the sect janitor knew it was a way of keeping the Initiates in line and dependent on the sect. He did not approve of this method, but was not at the level where he could change this fact. ¡°Buy yourself something nice from outside.¡±

    ¡°I think... I¡¯ll keep it as a token to remember the lesson you taught me today instead,¡± Guo Jia said. She wanted to refuse the coin, though from what she knew of the sect janitor, that was an exercise in futility.

    ¡°So be it,¡± the sect janitor said.

    However, Guo Jia had not left. ¡°Thank you¡­ I don¡¯t know how I can repay you?¡±

    ¡°Repay me?¡± the sect janitor asked. ¡°For what? All I did was drop a few coins while cleaning. If anything, I should be thanking you.¡±

    He did not do what he did for glory or fame. He did it because he never wanted to see another incident like what had happened to his friend so long ago repeat itself.

    He did it because he wanted to see the sect grow to be a place where cultivators could thrive together. Of course, there would always be rivals and competition, but he wanted to see them limited to the point where they encouraged people to do better, not to knock each other down.

    The sect system had its flaws, for certain, but he still believed in its inherent goodness. What would the world be without sects? People would be chained by the ties of clans, dissolving into a thousand different factions at odds with each other.

    The only reward he needed was seeing the dark clouds over Guo Jia¡¯s head lighten up. Soon enough, he was sure, they would dissipate completely.

    With that out of the way, he turned his attention to actually cleaning up the floor - he had been walking over the same areas he¡¯d already mopped while trying to teach Guo Jia a lesson and now had to do them again.

    With that out of the way, he turned his attention to this new Initiate he had heard so much about - Tang Ze!

    Much like with Guo Jia, it was easy enough for him to blend in seamlessly while cleaning.

    Unlike what the prefect who had complained about Tang Ze damaging the martial arts dojo thought, he had no desire to scold Tang Ze for what had happened.

    After all, he was the sect janitor - and fixing up such a mess at his level was child''s play. Not to mention in a sect that specialized in cultivation, accidents like that were expected to happen. Sure, it was important to let the Initiates know to be more careful in the future, but he was sure that Elder He Xuan had done so already.

    If the newly hatched chicks could not even spread their wings or were afraid to do so - how could they learn to fly? As such, why would he want to demoralize the person who had done this even further, when it looked like they had learned from their behavior and had no intention of repeating it?

    He did want to see what this new Initiate was like though, just so that he had an idea of what kind of person could do that kind of damage accidentally and that to in a single blow.

    If what he was hearing was true, then that meant that this Initiate could very well become the top body cultivator in the entire Raswatian Empire.

    Groups of Initiates passed by him, and about an hour later, it finally happened.

    The sect janitor saw Tang Ze walk past with the rest of his squad members.

    But the gentle smile that had played on his lips while mopping was replaced by shock and bewilderment.

    "This is....!"

    The sect janitor, despite his years of study and experience, had never seen a heart demon as vicious and huge as the one that clung to Tang Ze.

    He generally saw heart demons as dark clouds that usually hovered over people''s heads, typically only as small as tiny specks of dust, or, if they were particularly big, as clouds about the size of one''s fist.

    But the latter were rare, and those that were even bigger rarer still.

    This boy though... it was as if the heart demon was the main body and the boy was the heart demon instead!

    The miasma didn''t simply hover over his head, it engulfed him to the point that it looked like Tang Ze was walking around with a dark fog all around him.

    "This..." the sect janitor took a few steps back when he saw this. He could no longer keep up the fa?ade of a tranquil expression - the mask slipped off to reveal his true emotions.

    He had only wanted to see Tang Ze so that he could gauge the man''s strength somewhat; he had not expected to find a heart demon of this magnitude!

    Heart demons were not just dangerous to an individual cultivator, as he could very well attest to.

    But, his desire to solve such problems was not just born out of a desire to deal with heart demons for other''s sake.

    His disposition did not want to see someone suffer like that, and if Tang Ze had a heart demon that was of that size, then he truly must have been suffering deep within. The sect janitor felt that he had to find a way to help the man.

    From that point onward, despite oftentimes ''conveniently'' doing things like washing windows or mopping the floor where Tang Ze popped up, he had not found the right time to strike a conversation with Tang Ze.

    He also hadn¡¯t been able to find any information on him, despite asking around. What was his background? Where had he come from? If he knew the answers to those questions, he would be more easily able to figure out what had caused such a grave heart demon to develop in the first place.

    Despite all of his inquiries, however, he turned up very little. No one knew which village Tang Ze was from, and the sect janitor had not heard of his parents before, and per records they had not been members of the sect. ¡®Tang¡¯ was also a rather common surname so he could not really rely on that for any clues.

    Still, it was clearly imperative that this had to be dealt with as swiftly as possible given just how powerful this heart demon in question was.

    What to do?

 The Sect Janitor Enters: Part Three

    The more that the sect janitor couldn''t act, the more anxious he felt, to the point that he thought he might actually end up developing a heart demon thinking about Tang Ze¡¯s heart demon!

    Who knew when that heart demon might erupt? Who knows how powerful it would be if it were to take physical form?

    Yet, again, the sect janitor had no direct method to use against the heart demon.

    A lack of information was what really hamstrung the sect janitor in his efforts though. How was he going to figure out what was going on with Tang Ze? It was doubtful that he would tell the sect janitor if he simply walked up to him and asked - that might even end up causing him more pain and triggering the heart demon to action.

    His information-gathering network had failed him in digging up anything useful regarding Tang Ze.

    Unless...

    A flash of inspiration came to him.

    One day, Zhang Long was sitting in a courtyard, while the sect janitor thought it was a good time to start tidying up the benches.

    "Ah, I''ll get up," Zhang Long said, noticing the sect janitor. He was a person who knew of the sect janitor''s strength, and did not want to get in his way, not knowing that there was no actual cleaning going on, and that it was to speak to him that the sect janitor had even bothered to come there.

    "Ah, no, relax," the sect janitor said. As it was, he had a high evaluation of Zhang Long from all that he had seen of him - and knowing that Zhang Long was Tang Ze''s squad leader, it gave him a new possible route of inquiry. It wasn¡¯t just the sect janitor who thought highly of Zhang Long though - nearly everyone had a good opinion of him. Much like Guo Jia had been, he was also thought of as one of this division¡¯s rising stars. Even the sect janitor was a bit surprised to notice that Zhang Long¡¯s cultivation had risen by a minor realm since the last time he had seen him - not knowing of Zhang Long¡¯s breakthrough.

    The sect janitor began dusting off the statues next. "You know - when you start dusting things off, people often wonder- where does the dust go? After all, dust off the statues, and it goes onto the plants, or the floor, no? But don''t dust them off, and it will start building up in some places." He went to a corner which was usually neglected due to how hard it was to reach. "And grime accumulates in these corners the longer you leave it."

    The sect janitor had been saying these words with a deeper intention behind them, but it seemed that they were lost on Zhang Long.

    Ah well, he had somewhat expected this.

    "What had gotten Junior Brother''s mood so low today?" the sect janitor then asked, choosing a more direct route. He couldn''t with a complete stranger, but Zhang Long was at least somewhat aware of him and his status. Also, it looked like Zhang Long''s worries were rather superficial, unlike whatever it was that plagued Tang Ze''s mind - as such, it would be much easier for Zhang Long to say what was on his mind.

    "Ah, it''s nothing," Zhang Long said dismissively.

    This was the most common comment that the sect janitor heard when asking people what was bothering them, so he had naturally developed his own ways to counteract such things.

    "Even if it is small, going to sleep with a mosquito in your room will keep you awake at night, won''t it?" the sect janitor asked.

    "Right well..." Zhang Long said, wringing his hands somewhat. It looked like there was something on his mind he wanted to unload, but he wasn¡¯t sure how to express. "I''m a bit concerned about one of my squad members."

    The sect janitor guessed that most likely, Zhang Long was talking about Tang Ze.

    After all, with the size of his heart demon, it was only to be expected that other people could tell that there was something going wrong with him as well.

    They may not have been able to see the heart demon like the sect janitor could, but they could ¡®see¡¯ the inner turmoil within the heart of that person.

    No matter how much someone tried to hide it, their inner problems would manifest themselves in either their expressions or actions. With a heart demon of that size, it was no surprise that the feelings that had caused it to develop could not be hidden.

    If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    Still, some people were just too good at hiding their worries. His friend from so long ago who had succumbed to his heart demon¡¯s attack always had one of the brightest smiles on his face whenever the sect janitor had seen him - who could''ve thought that he was battling with such demons inside of himself?

    As it was said - the brightest smiles often hid the darkest of shadows. One could not just judge people from how they appeared - he had learned that in his decades of helping others battle their heart demons.

    "So, what could be bothering this person?" the sect janitor asked.

    He wanted to know the name of this person so he could be sure, but realized that he couldn''t ask for such a thing directly. Instead, he directed his line of questioning elsewhere.

    "It has to do with our newest member," Zhang Long said. "His name is Tang Ze." The sect janitor smiled internally, so it looked like Zhang Long had offered this information openly. Good! There was no need to beat around the bush for the same.

    "And what''s going on with him?"

    "Well, he''s stuck at the Zeroth Realm of cultivation," Zhang Long said. "And it''s been a while, but he hasn''t even been able to move up to the initial minor realm of Qi Condensation yet - and there''s not much I can do to help him. He can''t take pills because he hasn''t cleared his meridians yet, and there''s really not much else any of us can do to help him."

    The sect janitor had noticed that he couldn''t feel any Qi around Tang Ze - but he hadn''t thought that was the reason. He instead thought it might''ve been some kind of technique. "If that is the case, how did he join our sect in the first place?" They would usually not take people who were not at least in the second initial realm of Qi Condensation unless their parents were also members.

    So he couldn¡¯t understand why they would make an Initiate of someone who had not even taken the first steps when it came to cultivating and was also an outsider.

    Zhang Long then described Tang Ze''s strengthening method to the sect janitor.

    "Tang Ze might be strong," Zhang Long continued, "but, he still seems weighed down by the fact that he can''t even start cultivating like a normal person properly."

    The sect janitor chuckled. "Have you ever heard the story of Lady Ling Shui, Zhang Long?"

    Zhang Long frowned. The name was somewhat familiar - though given how long the Raswatian''s Empire history went, and how big it was - there were so many names and people to learn about that it was hard for someone his age to cram them all inside of his head. "Did... she defeat a large army at one point?"

    The sect janitor nodded. "But that''s not what she was most famous for. You see, she was the daughter of a very influential cultivator, though she displayed very little talent for the same. After spending nearly twenty years trying to teach her, her family had basically given up on ever trying to get her to advance as a cultivator and eventually resigned her off as someone to be married off for political gain. However, she had a peculiar fondness for painting. That was part of why she couldn''t truly advance in her cultivation. She would spend hours practicing brush strokes instead of cultivating, and she continued to do so even after her family had nearly given up on her."

    "One day, while she was finishing one of her paintings, she was struck with profound insight into the mechanisms of the world through her art, and in a single leap, jumped from the Qi Condensation realm to the Nascent Soul realm," the sect janitor continued. "Her paintings were how she grew closer to the Dao, and after she achieved that level of enlightenment, she once defeated an army by painting a landscape into which the enemy soldiers were led into - before then wiping them out by erasing them with a few strokes of her brush. That was a special technique she had developed entirely from her understanding of painting, something that no one else since has been able to replicate."

    "Ah, yes, I remember that last part now," Zhang Long said, having heard that story. "So, you''re trying to say that you think that Tang Ze might also have that kind of talent?"

    "Such things are rare, occurring maybe once every thousand years or so - but remember, everyone is different. Not even twins are the same when it comes to comprehending the Dao, and so, while most people cultivate in the same way, some cultivate entirely differently. Who knows - perhaps Tang Ze is one of those people and this work he does in making costumes is just his expression of his understanding," the sect janitor said.

    "So you think he might actually be building up to something like a breakthrough?" Zhang Long asked.

    "Who knows? He might end up working for ten or twenty years, and then suddenly leap to the Golden Core realm in a single step," the sect janitor said. Such cases, again, were extraordinarily rare - but there were such people who had immense talent and genius in things like artwork and poetry, and would one day suddenly make huge leaps in their cultivation.

    Zhang Long''s face fell a bit though. "Ten or twenty years... that''s such a long time."

    "If one wants to cultivate, one has to be willing to wait for so long," the sect janitor said. ¡°And in cultivation terms, ten or twenty terms is not long at all.¡± Cultivators could be stuck at a minor realm for centuries when it came to the higher major realms. He himself had been at the fourth minor realm of Golden Core for a good three decades now.

    "Right," Zhang Long said, cheering up slightly.

    However, the sect janitor did not feel like his work was done yet.

    This could at most, only partially explain what was going on with Tang Ze. He could understand how such a problem might trouble a young man, but it couldn¡¯t

    Likely, there was a deeper problem afoot. One that Zhang Long had not realized as of yet.

    Given the lack of information that the sect janitor could find on Tang Ze, he had a good hunch it involved them somehow. But, he had no real way of getting to the bottom of things.

    He made a mental note to follow Tang Ze closely for now, and hoped that what little he had done right now would at least help Tang Ze somewhat.

 The Komainu: Part One

    The squad of four got several missions after they had returned, though these were usually simple tasks.

    Tang Ze continued to try to meditate every single day - but it looked like frustratingly, he was still nowhere closer to breaking through to the first minor realm of Qi Condensation. His dantian was still barely developed, forget about the initial priming of his meridians that had to happen after that in order to advance!

    Babies would usually remain in this state for several years, and as an outsider to this world, he had not been given that opportunity at birth.

    Still, it shouldn''t have taken him years to reach that level. There was a difference in a baby and an adult of course - he should naturally be able to reach that point of maturity much faster. Nearly everyone he asked about this told him the same.

    However, even as he was told this, he couldn''t but help feel that he was getting nowhere. What if this was like learning a new language - and it was much easier to do when you were younger? What if instead of getting to the initial realm faster than a child, he ended up taking longer - and was stuck like this for twenty or thirty years while everyone else moved way ahead of him?

    Everyone told him that it wouldn''t be like that, and that he was worrying needlessly. But, still seeds of doubt remained in his mind.

    After all, he was the first such person they had seen. So how could they be sure about what was going to happen?

    Even worse, what if he just couldn''t reach that first minor realm at all? He was transported to this world from Earth, which meant that it was likely his body was still the same as that back on Earth. He looked the exact same before he had died, after all.

    What if there was some biological difference between him and the humans of this world? What if that meant that he just couldn''t cultivate? It had been a miracle that he hadn¡¯t fallen prey to some disease in this world that the natives were immune to, all things considered.

    These seeds of doubt soon sprouted into a garden of weeds in his mind.

    He kept working on the one thing he was somewhat good at which was making costumes - and by now had absorbed enough passive strength from a very strong character he knew, such that his physical abilities were now nearly on par with a Golden Core cultivator, even if he wasn''t wearing a costume.

    That was just how strong this character was in question - someone who was said to have the strength to break planets with ease, meaning even a fraction of a percent was still a huge boost to his strength. It would take him thirteen hundred years to fully absorb all the power from that character, but even fractions of fractions of a percent were of enormous help to him in the strength department.

    If Tang Ru had tried to fight him now, there was no way that he would lose to her! Fighting someone like Elder He Xuan was another story altogether, though.

    He also had several costumes made which didn¡¯t have very helpful abilities ordinarily, but which he kept in case they might be useful in a certain specific situation.

    Unfortunately, he couldn¡¯t swap clothes in the middle of a fight - and usually there wouldn¡¯t be an opportunity to find a place to change in the middle of one either.

    That got him thinking of other abilities that he would like to have. The issue was that they were not the good when it came to just having fractions of them, and so the best results would be if he could advance his cultivation so that he could have some form of resistance against most attacks that didn¡¯t involve physical strength.

    He also couldn''t really think of a costume to counter every single strange technique some Golden Core and nearly all Nascent Soul cultivators had, but by advancing in cultivation, such attacks would be less likely to affect him.

    "Ah, looks like our luck has run out a bit," Zhang Long said one day, seeing what their next assignment was.

    "Is it a tough one?"

    "Not really that tough - but something that''s going to be pretty annoying to deal with," Zhang Long said, sighing. "And more sad than even annoying honestly. Oh - but you just joined recently, didn''t you Tang Ze? So you wouldn''t know about this, but this job is to help take care of the sect''s celestial beast for a day."

    "Really?" Tang Ze said, a bit excited to see a phoenix in person. He had wanted to do so ever since he had joined.

    And it turned out that he would keep wanting to see one even after the task was done, because this was certainly no phoenix.

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    "Zhang Long?" Tang Ze asked.

    "Yes?"

    "Why is our celestial beast a giant dog?" Tang Ze asked. It wasn''t technically just a giant dog, it was a Komainu, a creature whose statues would usually serve as guardians to either temples or shrines back on Earth, and was actually a hybrid between a lion and a dog rather than just a dog. It was the size of a large truck, and had sharp fangs that protruded from its mouth. It was a living creature and not made of stone like the statues back on Earth - its fur was a striking bright blue color that stood out in the sunlight.

    The others could sense a good amount of Qi from it, though Tang Ze couldn''t.

    "What else did you expect?" Zhang Long asked.

    "I don''t know - maybe a phoenix?!" Tang Ze snorted.

    "Ha, phoenixes are way too powerful to be made pets of like this," Chen Yu said, as if this should have been obvious.

    "So, why are we called the Rising Phoenix Sect again?" Tang Ze asked, feeling that someone had told him this at one point, but he couldn''t remember what the answer was.

    "The sect''s founder was lost in a mountain range for days when he was a young child, and was starving and could not find his way out," Yin Tiang began. "Though, as he lost hope one night, a blazing inferno suddenly shot out of the earth, and he was able to follow its trail to a nearby village. Since then, he revered phoenixes, and hence our name."

    Taking care of the celestial beast mainly involved scrubbing it clean - thankfully it was more cooperative than a regular dog in that regard. Feeding it wasn''t too hard either, but Tang Ze couldn''t tell what the ''sad'' part was.

    "Ah, there''s something wrong with it," Zhang Long said when Tang Ze asked. "A lot of healers came to take a look at it, but they couldn''t find anything wrong with him he just... isn''t as he should be."

    Tang Ze thought he could see a glimmer of sadness in the Komainu''s eyes, though that could have very well just been his own sadness being reflected back at him. That was what he had thought initially, but no, for whatever reason, it was no long as active as it had once been.

    Taking care of it was not really that hard, Zhang Long was right about that - but there was still something... off about it. It was not behaving like an animal should, and despite the effort of many people including the top veterinarians in the Raswatian Empire, no one could find anything wrong with it.

    "Time to take it on a walk then," Yin Tiang said.

    It bounded up happily at this, suddenly perking up, and Tang Ze launched forward.

    With his new physical prowess, he could easily outstrip the other three. He hadn''t actually been meaning too, but when the Komainu came bounding right behind him, tail wagging, he couldn''t help trying to go even faster. He was egged on by the Komainu¡¯s joyful expression as it panted behind his heals.

    This Komainu was said to have the powers almost equivalent to a Golden Core cultivator - though older members of its species could even reach strength that rivaled the initial minor realms of the Eternal Soul realm.

    As such, it had no trouble keeping up with Tang Ze. And Tang Ze, for that matter, didn''t mind running around at full speed. After all, most of the time, he had to restrain his physical capabilities, didn''t he?

    But now, out in the open field, he could run and jump as much as he wanted. He could clear most houses back home with a single leap, and could easily outpace a car.

    In such a situation, who wouldn''t want to go all out once in a while to relieve some stress?

    Granted, he wanted to be sure that he wasn''t tiring out the Komainu, but that didn''t seem to happen.

    He leapt over fields, charging towards the sky, and left large clouds of dust wherever he went.

    "Hey! Tang Ze, wait up!" Zhang Long called out after him.

    "Didn''t you remember that we can''t keep up with you?" Yin Tiang called out.

    "Come back!" Chen Yu shouted out.

    However, Tang Ze couldn''t hear them anymore, and there was nothing the three of them could do other than watch and hope that Tang Ze didn''t drift too far.

    Tang Ze, for his part, was having the time of his life!

    To finally be able to move unrestrained like this - to feel the wind whipping through his hair as he moved at speeds he couldn''t have fathomed before back on Earth, all the while the Komainu kept following him, keeping pace with him, tail wagging frantically a new spark in its eyes.

    After about ten minutes like this, Tang Ze took a pause. He had been worried he was tiring it out, but from the glint in its eyes - he got the feeling that it wanted to run around even more!

    "You up for more boy?" Tang Ze asked. It let out a noise which he took to mean as ''yes.''

    "Then let''s run until both of us collapse!"

    An hour later, the two of them ended up back where they had started.

    Tang Ze had worked up quite a sweat from their excursion, though his smile fell a little as he saw the other members of his squad glaring at him.

    However, their expressions changed as they glanced at how the Komainu was doing.

    It had a new radiant sheen to its skin and fur, and the Qi around it had bolstered by quite a bit.

    Many people had wondered what it was that was ''wrong'' with the Komainu, and had been unable to reach an answer regarding the same.

    The answer was that there was nothing really ''wrong'' with it, so they had been unable to find anything to fix. Because there was nothing physically wrong with it- but sometimes, the answer was much simpler than what people realized. The Komainu required a large amount of exercise to stay fit - else, it wounded up feeling like it had excess pent up energy within it. It was like a lot of dog species that needed abundant exercise in that way.

    This had become an issue in the first place because of two factors.

    One, only Qi Refinement stage and below cultivators took care of it. There were not enough Golden Core cultivators in the sect to be free to walk it around, and those would be the only ones who could keep up with its physical abilities.

    Two, it had been raised since it was a pup within the sect, as such, it felt it could not run around on its own without having some of the sect members accompany it.

    If it had been a wild animal, it would not care for such and run around unburdened and freely on its lonesome when given the chance. However, as a domesticated celestial beast which was still a young child at its age by the standard of its species, it could only feel reassured when there were humans by it.

    If it didn¡¯t have humans accompanying it, it would start to feel very lonely and unsafe, like a toddler without its parents.

    Tang Ze had been the perfect person to take care of both of these problems.

 The Komainu: Part Two

    And now, for the first time in many months, the Komainu finally felt like it had gotten some of the exercise it so badly needed.

    In excitement, it began to radiate a thick wave of QI around itself.

    The Qi it radiated was so thick that even someone like Tang Ze could feel how heavy it was, and instinctually took a step back. He had been told that too much Qi was bad for him...

    ...and while that was true, that was generally only said when it came to regards of ingesting Qi and the like. Tang Ze had forgotten this, but Qi that was released into the air was generally fine, as it could not be absorbed quickly enough for it to be lethal unless it was in an area that was exceptionally thick.

    As a matter of fact, some Qi path cultivators could use an attack called [Qi Cloud] designed to overwhelm their enemy¡¯s Qi network and damage it, but this was so difficult to do it was only possible by specialists at the Nascent Soul realm.

    For quite a while now, Tang Ze had been trying to break through the Zeroth Realm - to reach the first minor realm of Qi Condensation.

    Despite his efforts, and attempts to find a way to make this process somewhat easier, he had failed when it came to both aspects.

    It was a simple problem when it came to the amount of Qi required, but like trying to charge your phone with a lightning bolt, it would not work, and would just break your phone.

    No matter where Tang Ze or his friends had looked, they had not been able to find a solution to this.

    However, the wisdom of celestial beasts worked in strange ways.

    Even on Earth, it was said that sometimes animals behaved in ways or comprehended things in a way that humans couldn''t. For example, how exactly it was that birds knew which direction to fly in during migration was still hotly debated. And certain animals were said to behave oddly when disaster was about to strike - say, like rats who jumped off a ship that was going to sink on its next voyage, or animals like mice being able to sense an incoming earthquake.

    If the Komainu could talk (something it could not do until it matured a bit more), it would not be able to describe what it had done. At least, not in ways that humans could understand.

    All it knew was that it wanted to help its new friend - that is to say Tang Ze, out. It understood that something was wrong with him, and moved to fix it.

    And as the viscosity of the Qi continued to increase in the air, the Komainu gently rubbed its nose against Tang Ze. The impact would''ve squashed a mortal, but he handled it with ease. Tang Ze then felt something run from the Komainu¡¯s body into his own.

    All of a sudden, he felt something change in himself.

    It was drastic - like a current had run through every pore of his body!

    Not only that, parts of his brain which had been lying dormant till now had suddenly awakened. He was aware of a hundred things he hadn¡¯t been able to notice before.

    In nearly an instant, his dantian had not only fully developed, but each of his miridians had been primed for cultivation!

    "This is..."

    "The first minor realm of Qi Condensation!" Zhang Long exclaimed, now being able to feel the Qi emanating from Tang Ze, just like he could with his other friends.

    It was not only Tang Ze who benefited from this, however. The leftover Qi in the air was absorbed by the others, moving them each up a minor realm as well.

    Chen Yu and Yin Tiang moved to the fifth minor realm of Qi Condensation, while Zhang Long moved to the seventh minor realm of Qi Condensation.

    Tang Ze couldn''t believe it.

    All the time he had spent agonizing over the lack of his ability to progress.

    All the time looking up ways that might work - and wondering whether he could cultivate or not in the first place.

    All the while feeling like he was inferior to his other sect members - because there was so much that they could do that he could not. He had felt like he was stuck in quicksand and not only could not move forward, but had nothing to cling onto to keep himself from sinking.

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    And yet, despite all that brainpower that went into agonizing over anything that could give him an edge - he had not accomplished anything when it came to solving the issue. At least, it felt like so.

    Maybe if he had even more time to focus on cultivating, he could have found a way even without the Komainu''s help.

    But, his mental state had not been very good even before coming to this world - and that was putting it mildly.

    It felt so good to finally have another win under his belt other than beating those people of the Diamond Dust sect.

    The Komainu could sense his happiness, and began smiling and wagging its tail as its ears perked up.

    "Back on Ear- where I''m from, they used to say that every dog is the best in the world," Tang Ze said. "But, I think that applies without any conditions to you." Tang Ze was gushing with praise, and that caused the Komainu to become even happier than before, its tail wagging so fast that it was kicking up dust clouds and which could easily injure any mortal that came too close to it.

    "Hey - calm down a little!"

    One thing was a bit of a blemish on Tang Ze''s happiness.

    He knew he shouldn''t have been feeling this way, but he slightly resented the fact that this teammates had benefitted too.

    It had taken him so long just to get to square one - and in that time, they had all managed to move up a minor realm as well! Not to mention Zhang Long had actually gone up two minor realms in the time period that Tang Ze had joined.

    Granted, there were reasons for this. Chen Yu and Yin Tiang had benefited from receiving Tang Ze''s shares of resources, and Zhang Long had benefited from breaking through thanks to Tang Ze (this had let him skip a minor realm as well as increased his potential later on). Zhang Long had also had another stroke of luck with finding the inheritance near his village.

    There was a reason they had been able to advance so suddenly.

    "The Qi here is really thick!"

    "Yeah, it must have been building up for months!"

    The Qi from the Komainu was much more dense than it normally would have been - likely it had been in storage until this moment.

    Though Tang Ze knew that it was wrong, he couldn''t help but resent them slightly for benefitting from something that he had accomplished. It was the wrong way to go about it, especially as they had all tried to help him - but Tang Ze still felt that it would''ve meant so much more if only he had gotten to benefit from this.

    He shook these thoughts out of his head - if he kept going down that kind of path, who knew what kind of person he''d end up being?

    He should be happy for his own success, yes - but he didn''t want to become the kind of person who thought, "It''s not enough for me to know that I''m flying in First Class - I need to know that all of my friends are in Economy!"

    He had heard that phrase from a business tycoon, and at the time he couldn''t help but think how petty that line of thinking was. And yet, here he was, nearly falling prey to the same mental trap.

    There was a similar story told since ancient times: A man was granted three wishes, though whatsoever he asked for, his neighbor would get double. The man asked for wealth, his neighbor received double. The man asked for land, and his neighbor got twice as much land. And for this third and final wish - after careful consideration, he asked to be made blind in a single eye.

    Such thoughts disappeared quickly - Tang Ze wasn''t going to let something like that dampen his mood.

    And he saw no reason to give in to the green-eyed monster.

    His low speed of cultivation was an issue, but now that he could use pills like the others could, he should be able to catch up. There wasn''t supposed to be that much of a difference in ascending between minor realms at the Qi Condensation level, so he would likely still be behind for the foreseeable future.

    Still, it was progress in some form after all this time, and he was grateful to be able to finally start. And as the decades would turn into centuries, this gap would slowly narrow.

    However, this was not the only stroke of luck that Tang Ze got through this.

    Because the Komainu was doing so much better after he had been with it, he had been promoted to a normal Initiate from a probationary one by Elder He Xuan.

    ¡°Excellent work - I look forward to seeing more of your exploits,¡± Elder He Xuan had said when giving him the news.

    The issue with the Komainu had actually been quite a bit of a problem for the sect, and apparently solving it qualified as an ''act of valor.''

    Zhang Long explained why that was in a bit more detail for Tang Ze¡¯s sake.

    "All the Komainu cubs are from a single line near the main sect headquarters - training these was supposed to be a test in and of itself, and the fact that one of them was not doing well did not look good on our division," he said.

    Tang Ze personally thought it was better for the cub to be near its family rather than with the sect were that the case, though no one really seemed to care about his opinion on this matter. And he couldn¡¯t really do anything that would change their minds.

    And so, that day, Tang Ze finally got his white Initiate belt from the sect, making his uniform the exact same as the others in his squad.

    He had tried to modify his costume if only slightly at times so that he could get some benefit from a costume, though the prefects had always called him out on it despite how small the modifications were. They were likely targeting him specifically and just looking for an excuse to reprimand him, as he saw others walking around with small touches to their uniforms. But, whenever he protested this, they would always tell him that such a thing did not excuse him from doing something like that.

    For now though, he was happy with his new uniform, as he was finally fully one of them.

    This also meant that it was much harder to kick him out, to the chagrin of many of the prefects. However, upon learning that he had solved the issue with the Komainu, many of them re-evaluated their opinions of him, if only slightly. He had moved up in their eyes, if only microscopically.

 The Lady By The Lake

    Tang Ze went to bed extremely happy that night.

    What he had been aspiring for and searching for with so much effort he had achieved in the most unexpected of places.

    Who would¡¯ve thought that the Komainu would have an ability like that? Celestial beasts truly were amazing - no wonder the sects put so much effort into raising them.

    Now, he could call himself a real cultivator! Granted, he was only at the first minor realm of Qi Condensation, meaning there were plenty of mortals who outpaced him when it came to cultivation.

    But now, his cultivation journey could finally begin. And he was only trailing behind right now because he had started out from less than zero. With time, he was sure that he too, could advance through the ranks rapidly.

    If nothing else, by leveraging the power of his talent, he could gain abundant resources in the future through things like the upcoming Novice Tournament. If he could secure an abundance of resources for himself, he could make up for the gap that currently existed between him and the other Initiates.

    However, all of that could wait for later. For now, he had to rest. While the Komainu had allowed him to breakthrough to the Qi Condensation realm in one go, it had also made him feel extremely tired as a result. It was as if he had spent the whole day hiking back when he had no super strength or endurance at all.

    For now, he needed to get some rest.

    That night, Tang Ze dreamed.

    The same dream as before....

    Tang Ze had dreamt of this cavern ever since he had come to this world.

    Actually, that wasn¡¯t fully accurate, now that he thought about it. He had only had this dream ever since joining the sect. His other dream, the one in which he was walking down a busy street on Earth¡­ now that was a nightmare he¡¯d had over and over even before he¡¯d come to this world.

    Still, it was odd that he kept coming back to the same cavern in his dreams, which made him wonder if it was based on something like a video game or movie he had seen in his past life which he had forgotten about, but had remained in his subconscious ever since.

    Anyway, it was better to dream of this place than the other dreams which plagued him. This was much better than the usual nightmares he¡¯d otherwise get of being back on Earth, so he wasn¡¯t complaining.

    The clear water below, the strange heaviness of Qi in the air, and that weird patchwork dress - all were here just as they¡¯d always been. Even though this dream was a bit confusing in that he had no idea why he kept coming back here, at least it was a somewhat peaceful and overall harmless dream.

    Tang Ze was used to feeling like something was watching him while he was in this space - though he had once seen the spirit of a woman here.

    There had only been one time though when he had spotted her, back during that night when that traitor Xu Feng had tricked Tang Ze into lending him a hand¡­ or tongue to be more accurate.

    Just as he turned around, he saw her form yet again, and then immediately retreated two steps.

    Before, she had been near the edge of the lake, quite a distance away from him, but as he had turned now - he saw that she was right in front of him!

    Even though this was a dream, he couldn¡¯t help but feel startled by her sudden appearance.

    "Finally, I see that you''ve come to be able to notice me," the specter said.

    "Ah... huh?" Tang Ze asked. Though this was quite lifelike, it also had the strange mental haze that being in a dream had. As such, his thoughts felt slightly sluggish. "Ah... who are you?"

    The woman sighed. "My name is Xian Yue. I have been calling out to you for so long - but your cultivation base was so weak that you couldn''t notice me. Thank heaven that I can actually speak to you now."

    Tang Ze took a moment to process those words. Before this time, he had the ominous feeling as if he was being watched while he had been in here, though he had only seen this lady once¡­ right! A thought suddenly occurred to him.

    That was when he had been wearing the Supernatural Sam costume while he fell asleep! It was probably the costume¡¯s powers which had let him see her that time, but he had been woken up by Xu Feng before the two of them could talk that night.

    He hadn''t worn it again because that costume had been heavily damaged when he had ''fought'' Tang Ru (''fought'' being in quotation marks given it wasn''t much of a fight as much as a one-sided pummeling) and he had not made a new one, mainly because working with ghosts had already gotten him into so much trouble he didn''t want to meet another one.

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    That was why he hadn¡¯t put two and two together before, not realizing that it was that costume that had made that woman appear in his dreams. He had thought it was just a coincidence or variation of the dream somehow, but there had evidently been more to it.

    He wouldn¡¯t have slept in a Supernatural Sam costume anyway, it was far more productive and comfortable to sleep in the special pajamas he¡¯d made so that he could gain immense strength even as he slept.

    This woman was beautiful in the same way that a lot of the women in this world were beautiful - in an odd, almost alien sort of way. Though again, just like with Zheng Mei, Tang Ze couldn¡¯t say that she looked bad per se - just that she was beautiful more in the sense of how an object like a painting might be beautiful, rather than like a person would be beautiful. There was just something¡­ slightly inhuman about the way she looked. Not enough for it to have some kind of uncanny valley effect, but just enough that it felt odd in a way that he couldn¡¯t really put his finger on what it was exactly that bothered some part of his mind regarding her appearance.

    The small oval of her face was embraced by her long hair that parted on either side - when she was alive it had likely been black, though it was a bit harder to tell as it looked like nearly all of the colors had been bleached out of her visage. A raiment embroidered with lilies at the borders adorned her, and her feet neatly poked out from under it all.

    If there had been color to her skin during life, it was completely gone now, leaving it completely devoid of color. She was not completely see-through like Xu Feng¡¯s ghost had been, being far more solid in that aspect.

    She actually looked nearly solid enough to touch, and were it not for her extreme pallor, lack of colors other than black, blue and white; and the odd white glow that surrounded her - he might¡¯ve mistaken her for a living person.

    "So, you''re a ghost?" Tang Ze asked.

    She shook her head. "No, I am much more than a ghost. I am the soul of an Eternal Soul cultivator."

    Right - Tang Ze had learned a thing or two about the higher realms of cultivation. And by that he quite literally meant a thing or two, as he was more occupied with whatever could help him get to the first minor realm of Qi Condensation and little else.

    The process of ascension to enlightenment involved several steps. The first two stages, Qi Condensation and Qi Refinement allowed the body to quickly uptake and utilize Qi for its own purposes.

    To become more than a mortal, it was necessary to temper both body and soul. In Golden Core stage, the cultivator''s own body would develop into a golden core - capable of handling the rigors of refining the soul.

    Tempering the soul required more effort - which is why the next two stages Nascent Soul and Eternal Soul were both dedicated to the same. Both of these cultivators had tempered their souls so that they could remain in the world even after their bodies were destroyed - though they would be largely powerless until they found another vessel to occupy.

    This was the soul of an Eternal Soul cultivator - capable of persisting in this world without its body for several centuries or even millennia!

    As he contemplated this, Tang Ze had a burning question in his mind which he felt that he just had to ask.

    "Why are you wearing clothes?" Tang Ze asked.

    "W-what?" Xian Yue asked him. ¡°Why are you asking that?¡±

    "I mean to say, why do you have clothes when you''re a spirit? Do you take your clothes with you when you die? Do clothes also have souls?"

    "Would you prefer I present myself to you naked?!"

    "That would make more sense, honestly."

    "Why you shameless-" Xian Yue began, furiously blushing which brought out a slightly darker tinge to her cheeks, before Tang Ze put a hand up to stop her before she could begin her tirade.

    "Lady, I am a man who deals in various kinds of clothes," Tang Ze said. "That''s what I do - make various kinds of costumes. Given that this is my trade of sorts, I naturally want to know about all kinds of fabrics, and I was just curious as to what these spectral clothes were made of." What would a ghost''s - or soul¡¯s fabric feel like? Could he cut it or sew it like regular clothing or did it need special instruments for that? It looked solid enough to touch, but could he actually do so? His reasoning was so on point that even Xian Yue began to take him seriously, after all it was partially due to his talent that she was seeking him out so desperately. That is, until he added something else: "That''s why I wanted to request that you remove them - for scientific purposes, of course."

    "To think that you would say such things with such a straight face!" Xian Yue said, cheeks turning dark again. It was odd to see someone ¡®blush¡¯ without their face turning red and only turning slightly darker. "It''s rather impressive in a negative sense of the word."

    Tang Ze shrugged. "I mean, not really. This is all just a dream, right? So what does it matter what I say - wait, no¡­¡± he suddenly had a horrified expression on his face. ¡°¡­this isn¡¯t just a dream!?¡± His thoughts had been rather sluggish because of the dream-like state they were in, but of course, he wouldn¡¯t have said something like he had earlier asking her to undress herself if he thought he was talking to an actual woman!

    But as the gears in his head turned, slower than usual, but they turned nonetheless - he realized that based on their whole conversation right up till now, it was far more likely that this was real and not a product of an overactive imagination. Why else would this cavern always remain exactly the same when he dreamt of it? Why else had he only seen this woman twice, there being a logical explanation for the same both times? Dreams don¡¯t work on logic!

    Xian Yue shook her head. "You are dreaming, but this is as real as anything else in this world." She sighed - it would take her far too long to explain things while Tang Ze was dreaming, and as it was, she would eventually need his actual physical presence where she was. "I need you to come to this cavern, it is located under Ling Yuan mountain. Come visit me, there is a favor I have to ask of you.¡±

    Tang Ze still had a thousand questions in his head, but the world around him started to dissolve. ¡°I just wanted to say I¡¯m sorry for what I said earlier -" he had begun to apologize, but Xian Yue interrupted him with a frantic look on her face.

    ¡°Ah - you¡¯re waking up. No matter, forget about everything else - remember! Ling Yuan mountain!¡± Xian Yue said, her face turning to fog as Tang Ze opened his eyes.

 What Zero Girlfriends Does To A Cultivator

    The squad didn¡¯t have an early morning task to do today, thankfully, but they still all got up far too early for Tang Ze¡¯s liking even on normal days - to do things like get ready, clean up the common area and their rooms, etc.

    However, despite how groggy his head felt at being woken up at this ¡®early¡¯ hour, the dream was still vivid in Tang Ze¡¯s memory.

    ¡°Ah, there was something I wanted to ask you all about,¡± Tang Ze said to the others while they were having breakfast.

    ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡±

    ¡°I uh, had a strange dream,¡± Tang Ze said. ¡°Actually, I¡¯ve had this dream before - but there was something different about it now. There was a woman there, and she was really beautiful, but it wasn¡¯t an actual woman though, it was her spirit, and she was talking to me.¡±

    The others suddenly had worried looks on their faces, and they glanced at each other. While they didn¡¯t say anything, from their expressions Tang Ze could figure they were communicating to each other something along the lines of ¡®I was worried that something like this would happen in the future, and now it actually has.¡¯

    Zhang Long walked over to Tang Ze and clasped him on his shoulder. ¡°Brother Tang Ze,¡± Zhang Long began. They never addressed each other with honorifics, so this alone set off alarm bells in Tang Ze¡¯s mind. What was so wrong with what he had just told them to elicit this kind of reaction? ¡°I think it¡¯s obvious what¡¯s going on. The fact that you don¡¯t have a girlfriend has been messing with your head - causing you to have weird dreams like this.¡±

    ¡°True, true,¡± Yin Tiang said. ¡°The only scenario in which Tang Ze could get his little brother wet is if he washes it himself - ah, no offense intended.¡±

    ¡°Indeed,¡± Chen Yu said, shaking his head. ¡°None of the female sect members want to even be near him after he broke into their side. No doubt this has caused severe psychological trauma to him, which has manifested in this kind of dream.¡± After that incident, all of them were aware of what Tang Ze did. Although the others had also taken credit for the same, the women knew the truth, and the others had only tried to claim credit around the men. As such, only Tang Ze¡¯s reputation was tainted among the women - which he thought was fair, given that he was the one who had crossed over, but no one would believe his explanation involving Xu Feng at all, which he thought was quite unfair. Why was he being forced to bear the consequences of Xu Feng¡¯s actions?!

    Tang Ze sighed. ¡°There¡¯s nothing like that going on - I don¡¯t have psychological trauma or anything because of not getting a girlfriend or anything like that.¡±

    ¡°Right,¡± Zhang Long said, sounding unconvinced. ¡°So, you had a dream about a spirit, and rather than reacting in the normal way by being scared or running away - you described her as ¡®beautiful?¡¯ Ah, I think you can see why we¡¯re all concerned for you, Brother Tang Ze. Surely you don¡¯t think that¡¯s normal behavior?¡±

    ¡°No, no, it¡¯s not like that,¡± Tang Ze said.

    ¡°Okay - so you saw the spirit of a woman in your dreams. What happened next?¡± Zhang Long asked.

    ¡°I ah¡­ that¡¯s right! I asked her if she could take her clothes off,¡± Tang Ze said, only realizing how that must have sounded after the words left his mouth. The others gave him deadpan looks, so he quickly added. ¡°I mean, I just wanted to know what kind of fabric it was made of, y¡¯know, it was nothing like that, I mean, it was entirely for research purposes-¡±

    Zhang Long clasped Tang Ze¡¯s shoulders again. ¡°Right¡­¡±

    None of the other three were even the slightest bit convinced by Tang Ze¡¯s explanation.

    ¡°You know,¡± Zhang Long said. ¡°I think I can ask Jin Zhen if she has any friends who are single - if you¡¯re fine dating a mortal woman. Ah, but those kind of girls would be looking for marriage though, I should warn you, and not just some fun.¡±

    ¡°Nah, he needs something quick and easy without having to commit,¡± Yin Tiang said, waving his hand. ¡°Look, Tang Ze, I know this brothel a ways out - they buy contraceptives from our sect, I think you can easily get in and it should be cheap - plus I have cures for most venereal diseases even if you happen to catch one.¡±

    ¡°Nah,¡± Chen Yu said. ¡°I still think that my idea is the best - he should pretend to collapse from an ¡®Extreme Yang Physique.¡¯ Then again, I think some of the women hate you so much that they wouldn¡¯t even try to save you¡­¡± Yin Tiang and Zhang Long shook their heads at this suggestion, both of them still believing it to be preposterous.

    Tang Ze sighed. ¡°Look guys, I¡¯m serious, what I wanted to know was that the spirit was asking me to visit her at¡­¡± He frowned. Due to all of this conversation, he had been distracted and forgotten what the name of the place was!

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    ¡°Oh, I wouldn¡¯t go anywhere if a spirit asks you to visit it,¡± Chen Yu said. ¡°It¡¯s probably just a malignant demoness who wants to steal your Yang energy.¡±

    ¡°True,¡± Yin Tiang said. ¡°I heard of this Golden Core cultivator at another branch, who, while he was walking down a dark path in the woods at night - he was likely picking Moonspun Flowers; an alluring woman invited him to join her behind a group of trees, and once they had done the deed, he had found that his cultivation progress from the last few months was gone as the woman disappeared into the shadows! True story, at least, the guy swears it was true.¡±

    ¡°That¡¯s crazy,¡± Zhang Long said.

    ¡°Actually what¡¯s crazy is that he would later be found wandering the same place loudly saying things like, ¡®Ah, I¡¯m a vulnerable cultivator and it would be a real shame if any demonesses came to try to take advantage of me right now,¡¯¡± Yin Tiang added.

    ¡°Truly horrifying,¡± Chen Yu said. ¡°Would you mind giving me the exact coordinates of where that took place so that I can make sure I never wander there by accident?¡±

    ¡°Right, that is crazy,¡± Tang Ze said. ¡°But again, not what¡¯s happening with me¡­ at least I don¡¯t think so¡­¡±

    The day proceeded as it usually, though there was something quite different in the way that Tang Ze perceived things.

    Ever since he had gotten to the first minor realm of Qi Condensation, it was like he had been partially blind his whole life and someone had suddenly granted him a pair of corrective glasses.

    The whole world seemed different now. Qi was everywhere, he could sense it flowing through his friend¡¯s meridians brightly, but there were more subtle Qi flows he hadn¡¯t noticed before. Like the tiny spots represented by the bees collecting pollen, or the even slower, but still present nonetheless, flow of Qi in the trees in the courtyards.

    People also looked at him differently now - likely because they could now tell he was a cultivator, and they seemed to give him a bit more respect than usual thanks to that. Well, either that was the reason, or it was the white sash around his waist. There was also the possibility that they had heard of him ¡®curing¡¯ the Komainu.

    Regardless of the underlying cause, there was a new spring in his step now as he took note of it.

    The others had offered to give him a portion of their pills given that he had given them his share before, but Tang Ze was fine with things as they were.

    He felt bad for his envious thoughts yesterday knowing how much they had all tried to help him before then, and he just wanted to be better. He was okay with them all starting with a blank slate and forgetting about the earlier shares of his pills.

    That night, he found himself back in that same cavern.

    Xian Yue stared at him. ¡°You didn¡¯t come¡­¡±

    ¡°Yeah, uh, this is kind of awkward, but I sort of forgot where this was again?¡± Tang Ze said.

    ¡°Ling Yuan Mountain! Remember that this time!¡± Xian Yue said.

    Tang Ze scratched his chin suspiciously. ¡°You¡¯re not just trying to steal my Yang energy are you?¡± The last time he had trusted a ghostly presence, things had not turned out peachy for him. Well, she wasn¡¯t exactly a ghost but still¡­

    ¡°What? No! What does that even mean?¡± Xian Yue asked. ¡°I have something else to ask you - but I need you to be here physically first!¡±

    Tang Ze wasn¡¯t really crazy about approaching her after what his squad mates had told him, but he would consider it.

    In the future, after taking the necessary precautions that is.

    <hr>

    As a side benefit of Tang Ze helping the Komainu out, he was basically made its ¡®unofficial caretaker¡¯ and he and his squad were assigned to it at least once a week, so that Tang Ze could help it routinely get the exercise it needed.

    Tang Ze and his squad didn¡¯t mind this at all, as taking care of the Komainu was far better than some of the other tasks that they could be assigned to.

    ¡°It¡¯s already wagging its tail the moment it sees you - it seems to really like you, Tang Ze,¡± Zhang Long said as they went to go give it a bath first as usual.

    ¡°Yeah,¡± Tang Ze said.

    There were also other things - like the fact that it would sometimes let out Qi, which would help them in their cultivation, and also the fact that Tang Ze could use some of its fur to make things like wigs - he was actually trying to gather some to make a fake beard, which was something he hadn¡¯t gotten with the costume set that Yin Tiang had given him.

    Once Tang Ze and the Komainu were done running around, he told the others that they could head back to the sect as he was fine leading the Komainu back to its shed on his own.

    The Komainu gave him a sad whimper when it realized that Tang Ze was leaving. ¡°Don¡¯t worry - I¡¯ll be back next week!¡± It perked up whenever he said those words.

    As Tang Ze was headed back to the sect, someone stopped him.

    ¡°Ah, would you happen to be Tang Ze by any chance?¡± the man asked.

    ¡°Uh, yes,¡± Tang Ze said. ¡°Do you need something?¡±

    ¡°No, no,¡± the man said. ¡°I just wanted to congratulate you - and say that I truly appreciate your work helping the Komainu out. I had seen the sect Komainu when it had first been brought here as a puppy, and had been quite worried about its health when I heard that it was declining, so to see that it¡¯s finally feeling better is wonderful news.¡±

    ¡°Ah, it was nothing,¡± Tang Ze said. He scanned the man up and down - who was this guy? He was wearing a sect uniform, but not of any kind that Tang Ze recognized. It was ¡¯t an Initiate or Regular uniform, and to cap it all off, he couldn¡¯t feel a drop of Qi from this person, and he should have been able to unless he was beyond the Qi Refinement realm. ¡°Are you one of the Komainu¡¯s caretakers?¡±

    The man shook his head and gently smiled. ¡°No, no, if only my days could be spent playing with the Komainu from sunrise to sunset, that would be paradise in a way - but, I have a different role in the sect. I merely saw you on my way, and wished to congratulate you, and ah - come to think of it, take this as a personal ¡®thank you¡¯ from me for your work.¡±

    He reached into this pocket and handed Tang Ze a small envelope. ¡°There are first-class Qi Condensation pills in there, I had heard your cultivation was lagging behind your peers. Take it as a sign of gratitude from me, and hopefully it will help you catch up with them.¡±

    ¡°Ah - there¡¯s no need for-¡± Tang Ze was about to say before the man pressed it into this hands, and then went on his way.

 Using Pills

    Tang Ze opened up the envelope to see that indeed, there were three pills inside of it. Were they really first-class pills though? He couldn¡¯t tell.

    As it was, it was a rather stupid idea to take drugs from someone who he didn¡¯t know even in this world, though he thought to get Yin Tiang to take a look at them later.

    Before heading back to their common living quarters, Tang Ze decided to visit the sect library. He had asked around regarding what Ling Yuan mountain even was, and where it was located. The location was easy enough to get - it was quite far from here, and was actually outside of the Rising Phoenix sect¡¯s demesne. Tang Ze could get around that, but other than the location he couldn¡¯t find much more about the area.

    The mountain didn¡¯t seem to have any special lore or history to it. As for Xian Yue, Tang Ze tried to see if there were records of her, but she probably belonged to a different sect as he couldn¡¯t find her name in the Rising Phoenix sect¡¯s records. That name could have also been an alias.

    Having not gotten much further regarding digging into this mystery, he supposed the only way he was going to learn more about it was to finally try to open Pandora¡¯s Box by visiting her. She spoke to him every single night now, asking when he was finally going to show up to the point where it was getting really annoying. He could tell that she was getting rather annoyed as well.

    Still, though he had resolved to go there, he was going to take the necessary precautions of course.

    Hence, the costume he was putting the finishing touches on back in their common living quarters.

    He took the small pieces of fur from the Komainu and set about working on them. He needed them dyed white for what he was going to use them for. After that, he would need to get them to stick together so that they could act like a fake beard, and he would need some string as well so that he could easily hang it around his face - although an adhesive one would be better, he didn¡¯t want to commit to that just yet as that would be a pain to take off.

    These steps would¡¯ve been much easier back on Earth even if he couldn¡¯t just buy the costume off of a store. For example, the adhesive - he couldn¡¯t just run down to the store to get some glue, he had to find something like that himself. He had heard that glue was made or used to be made from horses, but that was the limit of his knowledge. How was it made from horses? And was modern glue also made from horses? He also didn¡¯t have the time or money to experiment with such things to see what would work and what wouldn¡¯t.

    Even if he found something like it on the market, buying it was a different problem since the sect did not usually give them the metal coins commonly used outside when they distributed resources, so he often had to barter for things. Many people were happy to help him with stuff in exchange for cultivation resources which were relatively easy to sell. He had gotten the white dye he was currently using for the beard through such a deal, and he would sometimes find things that other people were throwing out to use.

    Some things though were just nearly impossible to find or manufacture. Say, contact lenses that could change your eye color. Maybe there was an alchemical solution that could do so, but Yin Tiang didn¡¯t know about one. It was a rather niche use after all and Tang Ze couldn¡¯t imagine that there was a lot of demand for such a product other than from someone like himself.

    Ultimately, this led to some rather shoddy and odd costumes that he would otherwise not have found to be acceptable back on Earth. He had not yet managed to make one which was more than seventy percent acceptable according to his talent, so his talent clearly agreed with him in that regard as well.

    A lot of them not only did not look that pleasant, but they were also not really that durable and would fall apart if worn for more than a day, and when they did, he would lose their powers. Tang Ze would¡¯ve liked to have multiple sets of the same costume for situations like these - but that was not feasible for a number of reasons. Lack of resources was one, but also, they would take up too much space.

    The others had already been more than accommodating with him having an extensive wardrobe, but he really couldn¡¯t expand it any more until he got more space.

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    Something he likely wouldn¡¯t get until he had gotten past the rank of Initiate.

    He was already on a first-name basis with the sect¡¯s tailor, but even he couldn¡¯t help Tang Ze out that much. While the tailor and seamstress were good, they were good at their tasks when it came to making the regular clothes the people of this area and time period usually wore - they had not seen or heard of things like the costumes that Tang Ze made for his cosplays. It was hard for him to describe such things to them, and oftentimes, they would just shake their heads, saying that they didn¡¯t know of any solution.

    These thoughts weighed on Tang Ze as he waited for the fur to finish dyeing, and once the others walked in, he remembered the pills he had been given.

    He handed one of them to Yin Tiang. ¡°General rule of thumb - don¡¯t take things that strangers give you,¡± Yin Tiang said, examining them closely. ¡°I can¡¯t really see anything wrong with them, but there could be a hundred ways to tamper with them without me being able to tell. I could try to find out, but that would destroy them in the process.¡±

    ¡°Who gave them to you again?¡± Zhang Long asked.

    Once Tang Ze had finished recounting the story again, this time with more details, Zhang Long said, ¡°Ah - that must¡¯ve been the sect janitor! You couldn¡¯t tell his cultivation level because he¡¯s at Golden Core! So these aren¡¯t weird pills from a stranger - you know who it is. It¡¯s safe to take them then.¡±

    Tang Ze looked down at them, not feeling entirely sure. He trusted Zhang Long - and Zhang Long seemed to trust this person completely, but was this really okay?

    ¡°So, they¡¯re first-grade pills right, what makes them different from the ones we get?¡± Tang Ze asked.

    Yin Tiang sighed, as he usually did whenever asked a very basic alchemical question that he felt the others should already know the answer to. ¡°Pills have Qi energy, but because they are based on either plants or animals, and they are ingested instead of being absorbed from the air, since they aren¡¯t the body¡¯s normal Qi - much like eating food this process generates waste as well. The waste has to be removed by the body¡¯s meridians. Higher quality pills not only have more Qi, but they also generate less waste. So you can use more of them in a single go, they don''t have as many side effects, and you get more value from them per pill. But, if this is your first time taking them, I still wouldn¡¯t take two of them at the same time. Space it out by at least twelve hours.¡±

    That part was easy enough to do, Tang Ze could take one now and then another one the next morning.

    It was his first time using a pill, and with a slight bit of hesitation, he swallowed it. It didn¡¯t carry any of the bitter aftertaste of medicine on Earth, and for a while, he didn¡¯t feel anything and went back to working on his new idea for a costume.

    He likely couldn¡¯t feel anything because it would take time for it to be digested - though he began to notice the difference within half an hour. It was as if a small fire had been lit within his stomach, not to the point of being uncomfortable, but if he hadn¡¯t been at the Qi Condensation stage, he would not have noticed the slow flow of Qi from his stomach, down to his lower dantian, and eventually through his meridians.

    Cultivation at the Qi Condensation level was often compared to, at least by Tang Ze¡¯s teachers, to paving a road. In the beginning, at the Zeroth stage, it was as if there was a wild, expansive forest with no path made for Qi to flow.

    At the first minor realm of Qi Condensation, it was as if a portion of the forest had been cleared and eight paths had been developed in it, but they were very rough paths which were difficult to traverse. In order to facilitate the flow of as much Qi as possible, they had to eventually be turned into paved roads before one could ascend to Qi Refinement.

    Initially, the roads would just be dirt and overgrown weeds, though through a series of stages, one would build upon them. First, by removing the weeds, then by flattening the roads, then by making a rough dirt path, then building upon it with a layer of underlying support in the form of gravel, and then finally with the last layer of bricks.

    That was going a bit too far into the road metaphor for Tang Ze¡¯s taste, but it was rather accurate to what Qi Condensation was mainly about.

    Tang Ze felt a strange warmth moving through his meridians - it was like what he felt back when he was meditating and gathering Qi, though if he had to quantify it, it was a dozen times stronger.

    Not only that, but it was steady. When Tang Ze tried to do it himself, his concentration would naturally waver after a while, and this stream of Qi would be interrupted. But, the Qi from the pills continued to flow for several hours without any pause, working on his meridians and upgrading them so that they were one step closer to maturity.

    Tang Ze could see how this would help with cultivation given that it was far steadier and stronger than his own ability to gather Qi from the environment and drive it towards his meridians - maybe his own ability would get better with time, but even if he got two or three times better at that he could see how these pills would still be useful.

    Not to mention, it was a way that he could cultivate even while he was sleeping.

    He went to sleep, to find Xian Yue in his dreams asking him yet again why he hadn¡¯t gone to visit her yet - and he reassured her that he would try to visit her tomorrow.

    By then, his new costume would be ready.

 Meeting Xian Yue: Part One

    The next morning, Tang Ze came back into the common area after finishing his costume.

    ¡°Ah, Tang Ze, is that¡­ are you dressed up as a mage?¡± Zhang Long asked.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Tang Ze replied. He had finished the fake beard and tied it around his chin. The robe had been easy enough to make - it was not hard to get a set of black robes. As for the hat, he had initially made it using paper, but managed to find a more durable one made of felt in the market. Overall, this was still only about thirty-three percent good per his talent, but that was more than enough for what he wanted to do.

    ¡°Be careful,¡± Yin Tiang said. ¡°Some people might beat you up if they see you wandering around like that.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, I might¡¯ve been one of them if I didn¡¯t know who you were,¡± Chen Yu added.

    ¡°Oh, I could tell,¡± Tang Ze said. He was coming back from the mess hall just now. ¡°The people at the mess hall told me ¡®We don¡¯t serve your kind here!¡¯ and told me to get lost when they saw me in this costume - and I got more dirty looks from people than I ever have before.¡±

    Tang Ze was aware that mages and cultivators did not get along very well. Common jokes or sentences he¡¯d heard regarding cultivator¡¯s opinions of mages included: ¡°Mages are just baboons wielding sticks thinking that they can play god.¡±, ¡°The only thing more fragile than a mage¡¯s spells are their egos.¡±, and ¡°What use are spellbooks when they cannot save you from the tribulations of heaven?¡±

    He had not expected things to be as bad as he had just experienced though.

    He had wanted to test out some of its abilities outside, but had greatly underestimated the amount of disdain cultivators had for mages; having never witnessed it for himself and being a newcomer to this world.

    With the benefit of hindsight, it had clearly been a mistake to go around wandering about in his new costume.

    ¡°Ah, sounds bad,¡± Zhang Long said. ¡°Wait - let me make breakfast today then. But - why are you dressed up like that? Is that also a character?¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± Tang Ze said. This costume was that of a famous and powerful spellcaster back on Earth. ¡°He can teleport, which is how I¡¯m going to visit Ling Yuan mountain.¡± He could¡¯ve tried flying, but it was a considerable distance away even then, and this character had several other abilities that might come in handy in case he needed to make a swift exit from there.

    ¡°You¡¯re going to meet this imaginary girlfriend of yours?¡± Yin Tiang asked.

    ¡°She - she¡¯s not imaginary,¡± Tang Ze said. ¡°She¡¯s just not in this sect is all. And she¡¯s not my girlfriend.¡±

    ¡°Keep telling yourself that.¡±

    ¡°Anyway,¡± Chen Yu said. ¡°Be careful that she doesn¡¯t suck the Yang energy out of you, ¡®kay?¡±

    The other three laughed gently at Tang Ze, who sighed.

    Whatever, Tang Ze thought. Once he was done with breakfast, he visualized that place he kept seeing in his dreams, and then teleported there.

    ¡°Ha! So this does exist,¡± Tang Ze muttered to himself. The cavern looked quite different in daylight, with some luminescence filtering in, though it still had a quiet, haunting feel to it. The walls merged towards each other until they met at the top, though there must have been some sort of side passage along the way which let some light in. The small lake in the center was surrounded by grass, and the lake water itself was perfectly clear. Tang Ze couldn¡¯t see or feel that there were any major life forms like fish inside of it, however.

    He turned around to see that same patchwork dress. As he approached it, he also noticed Xian Yue approaching him.

    ¡°Ah, hello,¡± Tang Ze said. ¡°You look just like you did in my dreams.¡± He only realized how corny that sounded after he had said it - even though he had been intending it in a different context.

    He could see her more clearly now devoid of the mental haze that dreams had, and it was even more obvious to him that she didn¡¯t seem like any of the ghosts that he had seen up till now. She was far too solid for that to be the case, it was as if she was a real woman and had simply spray painted herself with glowing blue paint. Though, some things did give her away, like the lack of color in her skin and clothes.

    He could see more of the details on her clothes, including the individual fibers that wove them together. Not only did she have lilies embroidered into the edges, but there was a pattern of a long vine tracing from her left shoulder to her waist that he had missed as the design was very light. She was wearing sandals - though it made Tang Ze wonder why she needed those if she could float. Could she float though? Xu Feng¡¯s ghost had been able to, but maybe the souls of Eternal Soul cultivators were different from ghosts in that aspect?

    This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

    ¡°Well, this place is real after all,¡± Xian Yue said. ¡°I¡¯ve been waiting for you here for so long - what took you all this time?¡±

    ¡°This place is far from where I am,¡± Tang Ze said. ¡°Also, I um, am sorry about what I asked about you disrobing back when we first spoke, I thought it was a dream and I didn¡¯t really think it had any consequences and I¡¯m not really like that at all-¡± he began rambling out an apology, half of which was nearly incoherent.

    ¡°Forget that,¡± she said, waving an ethereal hand. ¡°It¡¯s good that you¡¯re finally here.¡± Her gaze, though revealing a trace of annoyance, still carried quite a bit of warmth, despite her lifeless appearance. ¡°I had a favor I want to ask of you.¡±

    ¡°If it involves waking up early in the morning, forget about it,¡± Tang Ze said.

    Many cultivators had deep philosophies when it came to how they lived their lives - these were usually developed after profound reflection upon the nature of human existence and the Dao.

    One cultivator famously said as his last words, ¡°Let it be known, that I never had a friend who helped me or a foe who wronged me that I did not pay back in full.¡± Another said, ¡°So long as I can obtain enlightenment in the morning, I will have no regrets if I pass away in the evening.¡± Yet another would say, ¡°A cultivator who would give up the pursuit of the Dao for pursuing a woman instead, deserves neither the Dao, nor the woman.¡±

    Much like them, Tang Ze had his own philosophy: ¡°If obtaining immortality requires me to wake up early in the morning, then I am content simply dreaming of obtaining immortality.¡±

    He really hated having to wake up early.

    ¡°What? No, I need your help with this,¡± Xian Yue said, leading him towards the odd dress.

    Now that he was closer, Tang Ze could feel the threads of Qi holding the parts of the dress together. This was no ordinary dress. There were a few patches missing, as if it was a puzzle that had not been solved.

    ¡°I need you to finish this dress,¡± Xian Yue said. She then frowned. ¡°But before that, please take that ridiculous fake beard off.¡±

    ¡°Um¡­ sure?¡± Tang Ze said, after taking the beard in question off. There were only a few spots missing in the dress, and if she didn¡¯t care what he filled them in with, it would take a few hours at most to sew it in. Even if he didn¡¯t have much experience sewing things using Qi, he had heard that it wasn¡¯t too hard of a skill to master.

    ¡°It won¡¯t be as easy as you think,¡± Xian Yue said, noticing how nonchalantly Tang Ze agreed to this. ¡°This dress is sewn together with Qi, and there are specific things that need to be fixed to it in a certain order.¡±

    ¡°Oh,¡± Tang Ze said. He thought it would be as simple as just sewing a few pieces of cloth in. ¡°What do you need it for?¡±

    Xian Yue shook her head. ¡°It isn¡¯t about the dress itself - it¡¯s what the dress represents.¡±

    ¡°I¡­ don¡¯t follow?¡± Tang Ze said.

    ¡°I know you come from a different realm,¡± Xian Yue said, shocking Tang Ze slightly. The only people who were sort of slightly clued in that he came from a different world were Zhang Long and Jin Zhen since Tang Ze had sort of hinted at it when they first met, but neither of them knew the full backstory and might''ve interpreted what he had said at the time in a completely different way. ¡°But have you heard of my name before? While in this world?¡±

    Tang Ze shook his head.

    ¡°So you don¡¯t know who I am. Let me start from the beginning then,¡± Xian Yue said. ¡°It starts before I was even born - at least, before I was born as Xian Yue. I remember several of my past lives before I became Xian Yue. Thirty thousand years ago, I was born as a young girl in a small town in this country. This dress you see before you was initially supposed to be my wedding gown - though so little of that original part remains for it to still be called that. On the day of my supposed wedding, my to-be husband abandoned me for another woman. I was distraught, though I found an inheritance later on and began cultivating, hoping to forget those worldly sorrows.¡±

    ¡°I did not get past Qi Refinement during the first two lives that I remember,¡± Xian Yue said. ¡°However, I had a fortuitous encounter with another inheritance during my third life - it was right here under this mountain as a matter of fact, and was able to reach the Nascent Soul stage. It was then that I actually began to remember the details of my past lives - and I remembered this dress. I had intended to burn it at first when I had been jilted, but I ultimately decided to bury it outside our house in a small box - thinking perhaps I would use it sometime in the future? Out of mere curiosity, I went back and dug it up. Very little of it was usable, and I began to repair bits of it with other fabrics I had from my other lives.¡±

    She started pointing to patches of fabric on the dress. ¡°This? This was from my sect uniform that I wore on my first day when I had joined during my third life. This is what I was gifted when I finally reached the Eternal Soul stage by the Emperor himself. This is from the wedding dress of one of my former friends - she has passed away a long time ago now. Ah this, is from the uniform of a general I defeated.¡±

    Like that, she traced over the various patches of fabric used to make the dress. Some of them were in a very sorry state, but Tang Ze was a bit surprised that some of them had held up till this point given how old they were. Perhaps it was the Qi stitches?

    The dress told the story of her many lifetimes, though there were doubtlessly pieces missing given how long ago she still remembered.

    These were just bits and pieces of the lifetimes that she could recall, probably less than even one percent of the total picture. ¡°Twelve thousand years ago, I reached the Eternal Soul realm. And I have been stuck at the same ever since - even after another lifetime and one more, I had hit a bottleneck that I could not get past.¡±

    Tang Ze could understand that such a thing was quite difficult, to put it mildly - in the Raswatian Empire¡¯s one hundred thousand year history, there had only been four Hinayana realm cultivators.

    He remembered how frustrated he had been at not being able to get past the Zeroth Realm, even though that process had only taken a few months. To be stuck at the same bottleneck for twelve thousand years over the span of three lifetimes- he couldn¡¯t even imagine how frustrating that must feel like.

 Meeting Xian Yue: Part Two

    ¡°During the third lifetime during which I had not made any progress,¡± Xian Yue said. ¡°My frustration had reached such a peak that I visited a seer in a distant country. She was able to instill in me a technique that would let me peer into the possibilities of the future, though when I used it - the knowledge cost me dearly. I lost eight hundred years of lifespan in exchange for several points of knowledge. One, that once this dress would be completed - even though I had never thought of it as more than a curious side project - that I would ascend to the Hinayana realm. And two, that it would be completed by a certain person, and in a vision I had of said person - I saw them flying to the peak of a mountain wearing a strange costume. A costume I¡¯d never seen before, with a red cape billowing in the wind behind them.¡±

    Tang Ze realized what she was talking about. ¡°Was that me during the sect entrance exam?¡±

    Xian Yue nodded. ¡°And once I saw that, I knew that I had to reach out to you as I had finally chanced upon the moment I was waiting for. I¡¯ve been trying to contact you via dream, but your cultivation base was so weak that you couldn¡¯t even detect my soul. I had waited so long for you that my body could not withstand the ravages of time after I had sacrificed so much of my lifespan for those pearls of knowledge, and I was left in this state. I have been like this for the last two thousand years.¡±

    Tang Ze couldn¡¯t feel a drop of Qi from her, though given the difference in their cultivation realms, that was to be expected. What was more odd to him was that he couldn¡¯t even see her before he had entered the first minor realm of Qi Condensation, though he guessed that might¡¯ve just been how souls worked in this world.

    ¡°So, I¡¯m destined to finish this dress one day?¡± Tang Ze asked. ¡°Is that it?¡±

    Xian Yue shook her head. ¡°Destined implies that you are certain to do it - but the future is never certain. I only saw the most likely possibility that would help me break through. You may or may not actually be able to do it. As a crude example, I could kill you right now and then the future that I had foreseen would never come true, would it?¡±

    Tang Ze understood. ¡°Alright - but what are the criteria for ¡®finishing¡¯ this dress?¡±

    Xian Yue shrugged. ¡°I can only ask you to try to solve it to the best of your ability. I don¡¯t know what it will look like when it¡¯s finished, and I have no clues to help you - only that I have seen a future in which you do so. In other words, it is possible.¡±

    ¡°So it¡¯s trial and error then,¡± Tang Ze, trying to take a closer look at the dress.

    As he examined it, Xian Yue bit her lip. There was a third bit of information that she had also gotten at the time, though she was withholding it for a good reason.

    It was that she would fall in love with and marry the man who would finish that dress.

    She had scoffed at that idea, because that memory of being left at the altar so many lifetimes ago was still engraved into her mind. Still, she had not completely written off the idea. Even if it was just a marriage of convenience - she would do it if it would help her ascend to the next realm.

    That was how desperate she was to finally taste that higher realm of power after so many millennia. If that was what it took to motivate him, she would happily tell him that she would marry him once he was finished.

    The urge to advance was like a constant itch in her soul - she could just barely taste the power of the Hinayana realm but could never make it her own. It was always just out of reach, something that she could scrape her fingertips against now and then but never grasp fully.

    The higher one went in the realms of cultivation, the greater the allure of advancing became. Eventually, cultivators would forsake love, money, wealth, and happiness for the sake of advancing.

    For someone like her, who had abandoned all other material pleasures for the sake of cultivating, such a draw was even greater.

    It was as if there was a glass of water being kept just out of reach of a person dying of thirst.

    Case in point, the second Hinayana realm cultivator who had emerged in the Raswatian Empire was a man by the name of Teng Ming. He had heard a prophecy, which had been deduced in much the same way that Xian Yue had, that the next Hinayana realm cultivator would be a woman.

    He was also an Eternal Soul cultivator at the time - and when he heard of this, he made use of this knowledge by finding a way to turn himself into a woman. Once he had ascended to the Hinayana realm, he simply turned himself back.

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    That was how strong the draw of advancing was - Teng Ming had not thought for even ten breath¡¯s time before deciding that changing his gender was worth it if it gave him a slightly better chance of ascending.

    In her previous lives, Xian Yue had not understood why demonic cultivators behaved the way they did. She had always followed the righteous path in every single lifetime.

    Now though, she felt that she could somewhat understand what would drive them to commit such atrocities for the sake of advancing. It was oftentimes said that the only reason that righteous cultivators were righteous was simply because the benefits of becoming demonic at that time and place were not high enough for them to outweigh the downsides - she had scoffed at that idea in the past, though no longer.

    If she could ascend to the Hinayana realm and was told that she had to kill ten million innocents to do so - could she truly say that she wouldn¡¯t do so? She would like to believe that she would have the strength to refuse, but on the other hand, she couldn¡¯t deny that her heart might waver at that offer.

    More than even a drug addict seeking out their next fix - that was just how much she craved ascension to the next major realm!

    Even if she had closed her heart off to the idea of love or ever marrying again millennia ago, in the face of increasing her odds of advancing, she would gladly throw those long-held principles away in a heartbeat.

    The reason she held her tongue on this matter though was that part of that prediction said that the two of them would truly fall in love, and she feared that if she told him so, it would not come true even if it would¡¯ve otherwise happened. Forcing people to fall in love rarely worked, and so she figured it was a safer bet just to not mention that part of things.

    As it was, it was said that this would happen after he was successful, so it wasn¡¯t going to be an issue for now.

    Tang Ze stopped examining it.

    ¡°Any ideas?¡± Xian Yue asked. She didn¡¯t expect him to solve it within an instant, but she couldn¡¯t help but feel her heart flutter at the slim prospect that he might¡¯ve already seen a solution.

    ¡°If I¡¯m being honest, not really,¡± Tang Ze said. ¡°I¡¯m not even sure where to begin.¡±

    ¡°No issue,¡± Xian Yue said. Inwardly, she was quite disappointed, but she didn¡¯t let that show on her face. She had waited so long for his arrival, a few more years or even decades were nothing to her. ¡°With time I¡¯m sure that you¡¯ll succeed.¡± She was reassuring herself more than she was Tang Ze with that statement.

    ¡°I do have a question though,¡± Tang Ze said.

    Xian Yue gave him the sweetest of smiles before saying, ¡°If you ask me to take off my garments again, I¡¯m going to break both your legs. You won¡¯t need them to fix the dress.¡± Inwardly though, she was hoping that he wouldn¡¯t ask for that as a form of payment in exchange for helping her, because she wasn¡¯t sure if she could refuse.

    ¡°What - no!¡± Tang Ze said. How could she even break his legs in her current state anyway - he wondered? Xian Yue had said that she could kill him rather casually, and if she had her actual body he didn¡¯t doubt that such would be the case.

    But did she have some way of attacking him even while she was just a soul? She was able to ¡®see¡¯ things going on outside this place somehow, so it was possible.

    Anyway, he wasn¡¯t curious enough to want to experience that firsthand.

    ¡°I wanted to ask - why are you living like this? Like as just ¡­ soul? Even if you do climb to a higher realm, won¡¯t you still just be¡­ well, this?¡± Tang Ze asked. He couldn¡¯t imagine someone wanting to stay like this for even a few years, let alone thousands of them.

    Xian Yue replied, ¡°When one ascends to the Hinayana realm, their body and soul are completely transformed as they fuse together. Were I to do it, my body would be reformed as that of a Hinayana realm cultivator. In other words, I would have a new body at that point in time.¡±

    ¡°Still, doesn¡¯t this all seem¡­ so elaborate?¡± Tang Ze asked. ¡°Why not just reincarnate and try again?¡± Although this realm was called ¡®Eternal Soul¡¯ the ¡®eternal¡¯ part was a bit of a misnomer in the sense that it was not truly eternal.

    Although it could survive much longer than her body had, Xian Yue¡¯s soul would still slowly deteriorate over time. A soul without a body was inherently unstable, it was only at the Nascent Soul and Eternal Soul realms that they could exist without one for any considerable amount of time.

    ¡°I have already failed over the course of three lifetimes,¡± Xian Yue said. ¡°And though we can peer into our past lives, this is still limited. I am one who specializes in the soul path, so my ability to peer at my past lives, and to recall them after I reincarnate is greater than my peers at the same level, but it is not failproof. Even before the first life I remember living, I must¡¯ve gone through thousands of reincarnations which I do not remember. And reincarnation washes the soul before it is placed in another body - I can¡¯t be entirely certain that my memories will carry over into my next life. I can take steps to make it more likely that it will happen, but even a trained soul path cultivator cannot guarantee it. And even if my memories do reawaken - what if I don¡¯t reincarnate into a world where cultivation is possible - like your world for example? I can somewhat influence these factors such as where I will be reborn, but there is always an element of chance involved. I can¡¯t be certain that things won¡¯t go wrong in my next life. Compared to that, this is the surer bet.¡±

    For example, even if there was only a five or ten percent chance of failure, the more often Xian Yue would roll the die, the more likely it would be that she would eventually fail. And failure would mean all the effort of her recent past lives would be washed away by the river of time - she would essentially be starting on her next life after that from scratch.

    And if she continued to do so over and over, she would certainly lose at one point in the future. Who knew if her next life would be more suitable for advancing than this one anyway?

    That was why she had taken all of these measures and was placing her hopes on Tang Ze.

    ¡°Ah,¡± Tang Ze said.

 Deepcurrent Surfaces: Part One

    Cultivation was not a safe or reliable path to travel upon - that was one of the first lessons that had been imparted to Tang Ze. One would have to take risks at multiple points, and there were never any guarantees. At Qi Condensation and Qi Refinement stage, it was relatively safe, but there would come a point in every cultivator¡¯s journey where they would have to take a leap of faith of sorts. They might end up clearing the chasm and soaring on forward, or failing and smashing against the chasm¡¯s floor.

    But, if they did not choose to leap at all, they would never advance.

    Xian Hue knew that success was not guaranteed even if she bet on Tang Ze, but it was still the best of her available options.

    Tang Ze examined the dress for a while more before getting up. ¡°Sorry, I have to get back to my sect, but I¡¯ll look into trying to fix this.¡±

    Xian Hue had a lot of things set up to work on the dress, but they were old and not the sort of things that Tang Ze was used to working with. He would also need far more time to go over the mystery of how the dress had been made. ¡°I can¡¯t promise I can do this, but I can try,¡± he attempted to reassure her.

    Xian Hue nodded. ¡°Let me know if you need my help in any way.¡±

    ¡°Out of curiosity, what do you intend to do after reaching the Hinayana realm?¡± he asked her.

    ¡°I - honestly haven¡¯t thought of that yet,¡± she admitted. He chuckled but did not ask anything further as he prepared to leave.

    One thing had greatly surprised her - something that had not gone as per her expectations during their meeting.

    Why had he agreed to help her out so quickly?

    She had prepared various things to bargain with him for his aide. Threatening him wasn¡¯t likely to work, simply because threatening people when it came to art rarely if ever succeeded.

    There was a famous story about a poet who was so renowned that an enemy warlord spared his life but demanded that he write a new poem every day under punishment of death instead. The poet attempted to do so for a week, but further than that, found that he could not continue.

    The warlord, in a stroke of mercy that was unlike him, recognized that art could not flourish under duress and let the poet go free.

    One could catch a songbird and keep it in a cage, forcing it to sign on command, but it would never sing as freely as it would were it soaring through the air.

    And this dress was a work of art, Xian Yue realized that.

    If Tang Ze was going to find an answer, Xian Hue felt, it would be of his own accord. She could not force him to find an answer by holding a sword to his neck. If she had wanted to enslave or imprison him here with her until he found a solution, she had plenty of methods to do so - she simply realized that doing so was counterproductive.

    She had prepared rewards in advance for him though - her hand in marriage was only a last resort (as it was in her current form she had little to offer a man); she knew the locations to various inheritances and some lost techniques that even a Nascent Soul cultivator would¡¯ve killed for.

    And yet, despite preparing all of those things - none of them had been necessary at all.

    He had just agreed to help her.

    Tang Ze was helping her for a simple reason- because he had been moved by her story. Much like her, he had been stuck at a bottleneck with little hope of succeeding at the time, only her situation was so much worse. And he had managed to overcome this due to an unexpected act of kindness from the Komainu. Given this, he was more than willing to give it his all when it came to this kind of project.

    And putting that all aside - he just thought it was a fun challenge. Even something as simple as that was enough to motivate him.

    And so, he put his fake beard back on, and then teleported back to the sect.

    Once he was back in their common living quarters, he opened the door to his room to find another copy of himself sitting there.

    That was because the Tang Ze that had gone to meet with Xian Yue had been a clone created by magic - his original body had been safe here back in the sect.

    This was one of the precautions he¡¯d taken while going to meet with her. After all, following the incident with Xu Feng, he wasn¡¯t going to immediately agree to help everyone he ran across. Not to mention this situation had been far more suspect than the one with Xu Feng. He had created this clone and allowed it to wander around the sect, even having it speak with his squad members first; in order to make sure that it was indistinguishable from his original self.

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    Another precaution that he¡¯d taken was to cast a spell that allowed him to detect lies. Xian Yue had not lied to him, but this was not enough for him.

    Tang Ze snapped his finger and his clone disappeared, with all the knowledge that the clone had accumulated being transferred to his memory.

    Before he made any further moves to help Xian Yue, he would need to dig further into her background to make sure that he wasn¡¯t helping some kind of demonic cultivator who would slaughter half the country once they had reached the Hinayana realm. He was fine with helping her for the sake of helping her, but he was not going to help someone evil.

    That didn¡¯t seem to be the case, but it made sense to verify some of what he¡¯d heard from other sources. Since she had passed away two thousand years ago, he now had a lead that he could follow to learn more about her.

    <hr>

    The Raswatian Empire had stood for over a hundred thousand years. Although the Imperial Family had maintained the line of succession up till this point, things had not always been rosy in the empire.

    There were times of peace, and times of turmoil. Oftentimes, though the times of turmoil were times of great suffering, these were also time in which heroes rose up, in which star cultivators were born, and new techniques and treasures were discovered.

    Many of these new techniques and treasures had long since been lost to time, however. Some people simply didn¡¯t see it prudent to share their learning and died, taking their knowledge to the grave with them. Some of them left inheritances which were destroyed before they could be discovered. Others were just destroyed out of spite.

    It went the same for some plants and species as well. One hundred thousand years of cultivators trying to snatch anything that was valuable and throwing attacks that obliterated entire valleys at times was more than enough to cause many plants and animals to go extinct. As an example, the pandas were barely hanging in modern times.

    One such treasure that had supposedly been lost to the ravages of time was Feng Shuiyu¡¯s notebook. She had been a very famous alchemist of her time, and had a habit of sailing out near a certain lake. Unbeknownst to her, the mermen who lived in the lake at the time had taken none too kindly to humans polluting their habitats, and as such, when she sailed out one day, they drowned both her and her boat.

    Sadly, Feng Shuiyu had known nothing about this feud, and was an innocent bystander in this whole kerfuffle. Even after peace had been made, nothing really came of things other than people bemoaning the loss of a famous alchemist and then moving on with their lives.

    Although heroes rose up all the time, they also fell all the time as well.

    And it was to this specific lake that Yin Tiang and Tang Ze teleported one day.

    Yin Tiang grumbled about Tang Ze wearing his wizard outfit to get them there, but then again, Yin Tiang didn¡¯t really have any better way to get to this place given how far away it was from their sect division.

    The two of them were here for one simple reason - it was said that when Feng Shuiyu drowned, her notebook in which she wrote most of her findings was also lost with her. And they were here to see if they could retrieve said notebook.

    ¡°Are you sure her journal is even going to be intact - given you know, it¡¯s been underwater all this long?¡± Tang Ze asked.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Yin Tiang said. ¡°Alchemists usually write their recipes in books which have to be very durable in order to last for centuries - most of them are imbued with Qi and are impervious to the elements. Two years back a small fire broke out in our sect library and a single book wasn¡¯t charred - did you know that?¡±

    ¡°Hmm¡­ so it might still be useful,¡± Tang Ze said. ¡°But, we¡¯re not even sure if she had it on her when she y¡¯know¡­ drowned? It was just a rumor it was with her, right?¡±

    Alchemists usually kept several notebooks, and it made sense that she would have kept at least one with her on her person to jot down any sudden strokes of inspiration that she had. But, this was not a certainty. And even if she had such a notebook on her, if only a few pages of it had been filled it would be next to useless.

    ¡°Well, only one way to find out,¡± Yin Tiang said. ¡°We explore the lake!¡±

    Even if the odds of finding it were low, the fact remained that cultivators had ventured into territories and sought treasures with far less likelihood to exist than this. Yin Tiang had heard the story from his father, and had been fascinated with the same ever since he had been ten years old. Why then would he back out from taking a chance to see if he could really find it?

    Naturally though, there was a reason that few people had tried to do this before them. While cultivators were powerful, very few of them knew techniques for lasting underwater for large amounts of time. It wasn¡¯t just about holding your breath for long - seeing in the darkness of the depths, handling the pressure of the water itself - all of these required special techniques to handle which most did not see the point in specializing in.

    Yin Tiang would¡¯ve had little hope of discovering this himself for that matter, but he wasn¡¯t alone in this endeavor. He had Tang Ze and his talent helping him.

    Of course, Tang Ze¡¯s talent had its own limits.

    Since it was dependent on the integrity of whatever costume he was wearing, it meant that if he were to take a dive underwater, the clothes themselves would start to get damaged. As they got damaged, he would be able to rely on less and less of the character he was cosplaying as powers¡¯, and so on and so forth possibly leading to his demise.

    As it was, this character he was going to rely on was a bit special in the sense that aside from some boxers, Tang Ze wasn¡¯t going to be wearing much at all, but he needed something else.

    This character was called Deepcurrent. He starred in his own little superhero show back on Earth, and the lore went that he was the son of a group of sentient fish creatures that lived at the very bottom of the ocean. One day, he got interested in what lay above the ocean¡¯s surface, and then emerged onto land where initially people began hunting him down thinking he was some sort of sea monster. However, he saved a group of fishermen lost at sea and then became hailed as a hero.

    The typical episode would go like this: humans or occasionally an evil race of some deep water creature was causing trouble, Deepcurrent was called to save the day, the enemy would narrowly escape, and then Deepcurrent would have to chase them. A final battle would ensue, and within twenty minutes the story would be concluded before the next villain of the week came around.

    All in all, it was your traditional superhero fare, but as you might expect, Deepcurrent had a number of powers that were quite useful in this particular situation. He was said to be immensely strong and nearly indestructible while underwater - enough to lift up a mountain. He could naturally breathe and talk underwater, had a built-in sonar ability, and could telepathically control fish.

 Deepcurrent Surfaces: Part Two

    The problem was in portraying Deepcurrent given the costume didn¡¯t have much in the way of clothes that one would need to make. A speedo was all that was needed, it was the rest of the body that was the problem.

    He was designed to be a fish-like creature, and as such had dark green skin all over. While Tang Ze could try to make gloves and shoes that would somewhat mimic his webbed hands and feet, the skin was another deal altogether.

    Not to mention, it was hard for anything to hold up while underwater.

    That necessitated the use of waterproof body paint, which was not easy to come by. Yin Tiang, when he got to know of this, had spent time trying to make his own - and they had finally come up with an alcohol and oil-based solution that somewhat worked.

    The issue was that even this had its limitations, as even if you put it on your skin and the water didn¡¯t wash it off, the body would naturally sweat and that would cause it to slowly disintegrate. If he was back on Earth he probably would have been able to find a better solution, but here, this was the best that Yin Tiang could come up with.

    And, despite its drawbacks, it should have been able to last for a few hours at least.

    Tang Ze found that he couldn''t use his power to make better costumes, unfortunately. He couldn''t become a wizard and make one out of magic, its powers would not work, nor could becoming a shapeshifter and then turning into a picture-perfect representation of that character work. He had to make the costumes normally through his own effort.

    Back on Earth, Tang Ze would not usually do things like this. He didn¡¯t like putting on body paint or applying huge amounts of makeup for his costumes, so this was a novel experience for him as he began dabbing his entire body in green bodypaint.

    After that, were the designs that Deepcurrent had on his body. He had to get near the lake¡¯s surface so he could see himself properly - and this still took him nearly an hour to get it all reasonably right.

    At least, he hoped it was right. One new problem he was running into was that he had no references to really draw upon, and he didn¡¯t remember all the fictional characters he¡¯d seen that well. Did Deepcurrent have those black markings on the left or the right? Did he have three pairs of gills or two? Wasn¡¯t his face a different shade of green than the rest of his body?

    There was some trial and error which could work by seeing how each change affected how close the costume was to the original, but it was extremely tedious to keep changing things and seeing what the difference was.

    ¡®I really need a makeup artist¡¯ - Tang Ze thought to himself, though he knew that was a pipe dream.

    The ¡®gills¡¯ were just streaks of black paint, and no matter how hard Tang Ze tried, he could not find contacts in this world or an alchemical solution that might have the same effect, so while Deepcurrent had yellow irises, there was no known way for him to replicate that.

    There were a few webbed accessories attached to his head, and overall, he was about thirty percent accurate to the character once he was done. And given just how overpowered Deepcurrent was while underwater, that should easily be more than enough.

    ¡°Remember though, the paint won¡¯t last forever,¡± Yin Tiang said. ¡°So before something like that happens, you need to surface up.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, yeah, I know,¡± Tang Ze said. ¡°Though, what about the mermen? They won¡¯t get mad that I¡¯m in their territory, right?¡±

    ¡°They have a city under the lake, but they don¡¯t really rule the entire territory of the lake, you know,¡± Yin Tiang said. ¡°Try to avoid them, and see if you can spot anything worth taking.¡±

    ¡°Alright,¡¯ Tang Ze said. As it was, they were mostly confident that even if they got the mermen somewhat riled up, Tang Ze could just run away and they¡¯d teleport back to the sect before anything major could happen.

    So there would be no harm done.

    With a deep breath (even though this was unnecessary), Tang Ze dove into the water.

    He hadn¡¯t been very good at swimming back home, but as a consequence of his new abilities, he found that being in the water was quite pleasant.

    For one, although he had been feeling cold before, he now felt like it was quite warm. Not warm in an uncomfortable sense like on a hot day, but as if the water was just right.

    Stolen story; please report.

    Swimming in the lake felt so natural, like it was where he should¡¯ve always been. What on Earth was he doing spending all that time on land for?

    His ¡®gills¡¯ though they were nothing more than painted lines, seemed to work fine enough as he had no need to surface to breathe.

    The most important thing though was the fact that his eyes were working much better than they otherwise would. It was like his vision was better than even a hawk¡¯s as he could see nearly every detail in the murky depths.

    Tang Ze clicked his tongue, letting out a number of sound waves, which went out before bouncing back towards him, making a mental picture in his head.

    The best part of all of this though, was the mobility. It was almost like flying - he just had to think of where he wanted to go and within the blink of an eye, he would be there, not feeling the slightest bit of fatigue at all.

    He tried testing his powers to read the minds of fish, though he didn¡¯t find anything very interesting. Turns out that fish did¡¯t have very complicated thoughts.

    In the distance, down below, he could make out some lights and structures which he guessed belonged to the mermen city. A bit of him was curious as to what it was like and wanted to give them a visit, though as far as he understood, they were fiercely independent and did not like outsiders. Going close might end up getting him a trident to the rear, so Tang Ze made a mental note to stay as far away from it as possible.

    Although Tang Ze could move much faster than he could¡¯ve otherwise imagined - to the point where the mere friction would''ve skinned him alive normally, he could not bring out his full speed. The reason was that his costume itself had no special powers, and was vulnerable to the elements. He had already lost a flipper in the short amount of time he had been down here, and if he moved any faster, he would also end up losing things like the prosthesis he was wearing to simulate fins.

    And if his costume was damaged too much, it would lead to him losing too much of his powers. And then he would end up taking more damage to his costume. He might end up sinking like a stone, or asphyxiating if he lost his ability to breathe underwater.

    He had to admit one thing - the lake was huge! It was closer to being a pocket of the sea rather than just a lake, although he could somehow tell that it was filled with freshwater. Even with his abnormal speed, it would take him ten minutes to lap the lake.

    Not to mention it was extremely deep, if he wanted to, he could dive to the point that no light filtered from above, or even from the mermen settlement.

    Still, his eyes seemed to work perfectly even in this kind of environment, and he had his sonar to guide him as well.

    With a few clicks, he noticed a huge number of creatures moving towards him - squid!

    Each of them was about the size of a car back on Earth, and they were all a bright shade of scarlet. What was remarkable was just how many there were; soon, hundreds if not thousands of them were passing him by, to the point where he was surrounded by a cloud of squid.

    Tang Ze sent out telepathic waves towards them, and while they could tell that he didn''t belong down there, they didn''t strike him down or otherwise try to do anything to harm him. Right, Deepcurrent also had the ability to make friends with any fish he encountered - though Tang Ze wasn''t sure how far that ability would go.

    Could he make friends with the mermen like that?

    Squid would normally not live in fresh water like this, so the squad that Tang Ze had encountered was likely some species unique to this world.

    As he went deeper, still finding nothing interesting, he suddenly froze.

    He wasn''t sure what it was that he had just detected, initially thinking he had found some kind of underwater mountain. However, his sonar was telling him that it had just moved.

    This thing, which felt like a behemoth to his sonar, had actually moved ever so slightly.

    His eyes could barely make out the outline of a shadow at this distance, but his sonar was able to give him a much better picture.

    That was not a huge rock - it was a massive¡­ fish? Squid? He couldn¡¯t really tell.

    Immediately, Tang Ze backtracked as his brain struggled to comprehend just how massive this thing was.

    He could not even make out what the exact shape was of whatever it was he was looking at, even with his sonar. It was something so big he had initially mistaken part of it for the lake floor, though that movement (even if it was just a slight shift from its point of view, it felt like a monumental shift to him) signaled it was something else. What he thought was a massive valley within the floor of the lake was the gentle dip towards what Tang Ze guessed was an eye.

    He had heard that ''there''s always a bigger fish'' - but this was ridiculous. He didn''t even know if what he was looking at was a giant merman, crab, or cephalopod, because he couldn''t capture the whole thing with his sonar in one go, and as such the image generated in his mind was quite broken and disjointed, as if he was looking at a scattered jigsaw puzzle of an image.

    In a flood of panic, he sent out his mind towards the... thing for lack of a better term. It was thankfully asleep, or maybe hibernating, as its mind was very slow. He didn''t dare do anything that might even have a remote chance of waking it up. Even its mind made his own look like a flea before an elephant, whatever it was, it gave the mental energy of something that was unfathomably ancient, that had existed since long before the Raswatian Empire was even a dream.

    Likely no human had ever gone this deep before, or else he''d have seen records of it somewhere. Either that, or whoever went down so deep never came back up.

    Both of those thoughts terrified him.

    Even with his otherworldly strength underwater, which was combined with the passive strength he had gained from another costume and then boosted by ten percent kudos to his cultivation, he did not feel at all confident in taking whatever was down there in a fight.

    It looked like something that, were it to be awakened, could possibly endanger the whole empire. Seeing it no longer made the water seem like a fun and safe place to be, but a prison that he felt he needed to get out of as soon as he could.

 Deepcurrent Surfaces: Part Three

    It was good thing that what it was was asleep - actually, its mind was even more somnolent than someone who was asleep, it was definitely hibernating, he was sure of it now as he reflected on that.

    And good thing too - Tang Ze couldn''t imagine how, even if it somehow consumed everything else in the lake, it would be able to fill even half of its belly. What kind of carnage would it cause once it woke up?

    He hoped that he would never have to find out.

    Then again, the lake was pretty deep - he realized, as he began to surface. Despite his abnormal speed, he still couldn''t even begin to detect the traces of light coming from the surface. In his search for treasure, just how deep did he end up going?

    In his haste to get back to the surface, he passed far closer to the mermen settlement than he otherwise would have. But, this did not even cross his mind, with him only wanting to get away from whatever that thing lurking in the depths was, and he was soon out of the eyesight of the mermen anyway.

    If he was back on Earth, surfacing so fast would have no doubt given him some form of decompression sickness, but Deepcurrent was naturally immune to such things.

    He peeked out of the lake''s surface, and spotted Yin Tiang. "Hey - I couldn''t really spot anything worth taking, and no journal either. But the lake is way deeper than I thought, I''ll give it another try, but I wouldn''t get your hopes up."

    Yin Tiang nodded as Tang Ze dived back down, this time only wading into the relatively shallow water. He could see a small cloud of discoloration around him as he moved - the waterproof body paint was beginning to dissipate, and he didn''t have long before it would be completely gone.

    He didn''t find much of importance near the shallower beach bed - there were tons of things that were shiny, but it was mostly just trash like old bottles and the like. He found a handful of copper coins, but it was not even worth the effort to collect them. The paint that he had applied to his body was in itself far more expensive than any of these coins.

    "No good," Tang Ze said, coming back to shore and approaching Yin Tiang. "Nothing worth taking."

    "Ah, well, I guess I should''ve seen that coming," Yin Tiang said.

    "A question though - is there some story of a big sea monster - or I guess, lake monster living in this lake?" Tang Ze asked. Tang Ze described what he had seen to Yin Tiang.

    "Never heard of something like that," Yin Tiang said. "With that said, even if you couldn''t get anything else - do you mind picking up some Freshwater Serpentweed? We can at least sell that to get something back." If Yin Tiang had never heard of it, maybe it was something that was older than this empire itself. How long had it been hibernating within the depths of this lake for?

    "Freshwater Serpentweed?" Tang Ze asked. Yin Tiang told him that it was a plant that looked quite like seaweed, but grew in large quantities slightly deeper in the lake. It could be used as a somewhat valuable ingredient in the refinement of various pills.

    "Alright," Tang Ze said. They had already come out so far, so they might as well try to recuperate something of value from this whole journey. Not to mention, at the very least, this would not involve going deep into the water.

    To where that thing was...

    Tang Ze shuddered even now at the memory of that creature.

    He had bought a special towel with oil-cleansing substances to help him wash off the layer of body paint. It was getting to be slightly irritating for his skin, which is why he never really liked costumes like these which involved having to put on a full layer of body paint.

    That said, Tang Ze had seen people back on Earth completely covered in paint - sometimes gold or silver, or other colors if they were trying to be orks, aliens, or some other creature that required changing your skin color. Those people were quite dedicated, and back home, he had told himself that he too once wanted to try such a thing but had never gotten around to doing so... and he had ended up here before he could ever act upon such a desire.

    And yet, here he was, not only doing that in a new world - but also not just as a hobby but something that was quite useful.

    The two of them had brought lunch for such an occasion. There was a human settlement out in the distance, but it was too far to conveniently walk to unless they wanted to fly or use magic.

    While they were eating, however, Tang Ze¡¯s actions had unwittingly caused quite the commotion beneath the surface of the lake¡¯s seemingly tranquil surface.

    Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    <hr>

    The mermen settlement of the lake was not a huge force - numbering only about thirty thousand or so. There was a much larger mermen settlement near the coast of the Raswatian Empire but that was a seawater mermen settlement; these mermen were adapted to freshwater.

    They only had a single town which had been created using a special ability of the mermen to grow sponges in a way that allowed them to become huge and shaped like buildings. At the same, time, they could also be made to grow as hard as stone.

    The mermen for the most part had a peaceful coexistence with humans, who had learned that it was not a good idea to dump a large amount of trash into their lake long ago. Although their population was too small to generate a good number of high-level cultivators, on average, they were stronger than humans especially underwater. They had a number of other features that allowed them to save themselves while living in the lake - a form of magic that could control the waves, weapons that could fly through water as if it was air, and the ability to retreat into the depths of the water if they were defeated where humans could not easily follow them.

    It was thanks to these advantages, and the fact that there was nothing of extreme importance in the lake in the first place, that they were left to their own devices by the humans.

    Naturally though, they had their own groups of sentries and scouts around their settlement, and though Tang Ze might¡¯ve not thought much of zipping by them while surfacing, they were immediately on guard upon noticing the same.

    From their point of view it was bizarre - a creature emerged from the depths moving at a speed they could barely keep track of, but instead of approaching their civilization, it zipped away and turned towards the surface with the speed of a torpedo.

    Only two of them got a good enough look at this thing to be able to describe it when they went back to report to the other mermen.

    The mermen burst into a flurry of activity like they hadn¡¯t in decades, speculating on the identity of this stranger. This was akin to a military helicopter flying over a remote uncontacted tribe back on Earth.

    Although the two of them had gotten a closer look at Tang Ze when compared to the others, this was only relative - and they were also unsure about the finer details.

    The younger mermen had no idea what to believe, and the elders had not heard of anything like this either.

    It was only when one of their priests was consulted that they got something resembling an answer.

    ¡°Based on the description¡­ could this be Ma¡¯akt?¡± one of the priests wondered.

    The mermen religion was complex, and in the stories that made up their beliefs, there were creatures which could be loosely termed as ¡®minor gods¡¯ which would occasionally visit the mortal mermen. Ma¡¯akt was one of them - whose name translated to ¡®one who is as fast as lightning.¡¯

    Given the speed with which they had seen that creature move, this theory began to gain traction and spread like Greek fire among the mermen civilization.

    The mermen king, Jiao Ming, naturally heard of these stories, and was approached by his High Priest, Jin Lei regarding the same.

    ¡°Your Highness, I trust that you have heard the stories of Ma¡¯akt descending from heaven to meet with us?¡± Jin Lei asked.

    The mermen king was sitting in his throne room - which was located in a palace made not of sponge, but of coral - a rarity for them that had to be imported from their brethren living near the coast. He sat upon a throne adorned with gold and silver, and as his High Priest continued, scratched his chin in contemplation.

    ¡°Your Highness, in the days of old,¡± Jin Lei continued. ¡°It was common for us to offer sacrifices to the gods.¡±

    Back in the olden days, every month, the mermen would sacrifice a young boy to the temple of Mar¡¯chel, Ma¡¯akt¡¯s uncle. And every seven years, seven virgins would be strangled in honor of J''abal, mother of the lesser gods.

    With time, such practices were decreed as being ¡®barbaric¡¯ and had been phased out by the kings that came before Jiao Ming.

    ¡°What are you getting at?¡±

    ¡°Your Highness, our city has been in peril the past few years,¡± Jin Lei said. ¡°Our foundations have been sinking without us having an explanation for why.¡± The mermen civilization was built atop a rock, though for some reason, the foundation upon which they had built their homes was beginning to crumble from beneath them. A section of their city had already collapsed, with no one having a clear explanation as to why. ¡°Isn¡¯t it clear then, than this is a sign from the gods that we have lost their favor? And to see that Ma¡¯akt himself has visited us. But, think of this - even though he passed by our city, why did he not stop by to visit us? Is this not a further sign that we have lost the favor of the gods, that although he was in our waters, he did not deign to even give us a message or engage with us?¡±

    Jiao Ming did not fully agree with Jin Lei, though there had been talks of their city losing the favor of the gods for several years by now. Jiao Ming had attempted multiple times to hold large congregations or grand sacrifices to them, to no avail. Their city continued to sink, with no one being able to give an answer why even now, and it seemed the gods continued to scorn them.

    ¡°Perhaps,¡± Jiao Ming said. ¡°But those guards don¡¯t even know for sure what they saw.¡± Their descriptions were rather hazy and unreliable, able to essentially be molded into whatsoever people wanted them to be in order to suit their own desires - such as with the priests of the city who badly wanted this to be some kind of portent from the gods. Jiao Ming highly doubted that Ma¡¯akt had genuinely descended from heaven to come visit them.

    That said, the priesthood had quite a large influence on the general populace.

    And though he was an absolute monarch, even he was subject to the whims of the crowd.

    If word got out that he was treating this matter lightly, it would cause an uproar, perhaps even greater than with the fact that their city seemed to be mysteriously sinking into the earth.

    Given this, he had to do something to appease them.

    But what?

    ¡°Perhaps one of these facts could be dismissed as a coincidence, Your Majesty,¡± Jin Lei continued, placing pressure on the king. ¡°But these many coincidences coming together cannot simply be a coincidence.¡±

    ¡°What would you have me do then?¡± Jiao Ming said through gritted teeth. He had to restrain himself from yelling out ¡®Get to the damn point already!¡¯ Jin Lei was speaking with an excessively servile tone, though Jiao Ming could notice the glint in his eyes that communicated that the High Priest knew that he had the king cornered.

    And despite this, the king could do nothing.

 Deepcurrent Surfaces: Part Four

    ¡°We should seek out Lord Ma¡¯akt,¡± Jin Lei continued. ¡°And offer him a proper¡­ tribute as atonement for whatever sins we have committed to make him so angry. Only then will the gods be appeased and we would have a chance at saving our glorious city.¡±

    Tribute.

    That word could mean many things, though when it came to the gods, for the mermen, it almost invariably meant live mermen sacrifices. And to appease a god who had descended to meet them, the sacrifice of an ordinary merman would not suffice, but it had to be one of the royal family.

    ¡°Fine then,¡± Jiao Ming said, knowing that he had little choice in the matter. He had several wives and concubines, and he selected among the youngest of his daughters. ¡°Tell them to offer Zhi Yun to Ma¡¯akt then. Send our finest warriors to Ma¡¯akt, and should he wish it, I will bend the knee to him myself.¡±

    The only reason that Jiao Ming was even going along with this was, in addition to the severity of the situation, he did not believe in the slightest that they would actually find Ma¡¯akt. It was more likely than not those two guards had simply gotten drunk last night and were seeing things.

    Jin Mei smiled. ¡°Your Highness is truly wise! To give up his own flesh and blood for the sake of his people - no doubt the people will remember his sacrifice for eons to come!¡±

    hr

    After eating lunch, Tang Ze and Yin Tiang decided to take a little nap under the shade of some trees before Tang Ze started putting on another layer of waterproof body paint to dive into the lake and grab some Freshwater Serpentweed.

    ¡°Now remember,¡± Yin Tiang said. ¡°No matter what happens, we need to avoid the mermen as much as possible. We wouldn¡¯t want to cause some kind of incident.¡±

    ¡°Right,¡± Tang Ze said, moving closer to the water to apply the bodypaint while glancing at his reflection. He was sure he had passed somewhat close by their city, but he had immediately rocketed off in the other direction, so he was also sure that nothing too bad should have come of it.

    Just as he thought such, he noticed his reflection in the water was slightly odd. He had been trying to finish the layer of body paint on his face - but that looked far too alien for it to -

    -and before he could finish that thought, a group of mermen emerged from the water. There were twenty of them in total.

    The mermen were able to go onto land for very short periods of time, though they didn¡¯t like it - much in the same way that humans couldn¡¯t live underwater for a very long period of time but could manage to dive for a certain duration if it was needed. They looked far more like fish than like people, and they wore a strange green armor which Tang Ze remembered was some kind of mineral they mined. Their weapons were made of the same green mineral, and these weapons could move through water as if it were air. Some of them were earing golden ornaments like earrings or necklaces.

    Tang Ze turned around to Yin Tiang, and they both exchanged a ¡®We really screwed up didn¡¯t we?¡¯ look instantly.

    As it was, the mermen and the humans were living in peace, at least currently. It looked like Tang Ze had unwittingly riled them up somehow - and if it turned out that they had somehow precipitated an inter-species conflict, the bloodshed that would ensue was a distant thought in their minds. What they thought of before all of that was that their heads would absolutely be the first things on the chopping block should such a thing happen.

    Both of them were preparing to kowtow ten thousand times and break their arms if that would calm the mermen down, though before they could even begin apologizing, the mermen all bowed their heads instead.

    ¡°Leader of the First Trident of King Jiao Ming, Captain Hai Long, greets Lord Ma¡¯kat!¡± the one kneeling in the front said.

    Yin Tiang looked between Tang Ze, and Tang Ze glanced back. They were able to communicate a few things from expressions alone, and had somewhat understood that they weren¡¯t in big trouble. At least not yet.

    The mermen warriors remained as is for a while, until Tang Ze said, ¡°Raise your heads!¡±

    They complied, and took a good look at Tang Ze. None of them dared show it in their facial expressions - but they all though that Ma¡¯kat looked quite different than what they had been expecting.

    If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

    Tang Ze had almost finished applying his body paint, but he still looked very human. And that surprised them - for their religious dogma said that the gods had made the mermen in their image. Yet, why did Ma¡¯kat look more human than he did a merman?

    Not to mention the strange accessories that Tang Ze was wearing - just what were they?

    However, these were warriors who were very nearly convinced that Tang Ze was actually Ma¡¯kat, and so none of them dared voice any concerns or issues they may have had with his appearance.

    ¡°Lord,¡± Captain Hai Long continued. ¡°We seek you on behalf of King Jiao Ming, and would like to apologize for the offenses our people have caused against the gods.¡±

    ¡°That is ah, alright-¡± Tang Ze tried to say, though at the moment, his mouth had gone dry and his words were softer than a pin drop on a busy dance floor - that is to say, no one other than him heard them.

    ¡°As such, we offer you tribute,¡± Captain Hai Long said, and one of the warriors standing behind him fetched something from the water.

    Within a fishing net which looked like it was made of silver, there was a small creature - initially Tang Ze thought that it was some kind of fish, though a closer look revealed it to be a small merman, which was clearly a child. It was richly dressed and adorned with gold and pearls, though the moment it saw Tang Ze, it started wailing.

    ¡°This is Zhi Yun, one of the daughters of His Majesty Jiao Ming himself,¡± Capatin Hai Long said. ¡°His own flesh and blood, who he offers as recompense for his misdeeds.¡± He then jabbed Zhi Yun with the blunt end of his trident and scowled. Zhi Yun stopped crying though still looked just as tearful as she had before.

    Now, both Yin Tiang and Tang Ze still had no clue what was going on, but the context was more than enough for Tang Ze to figure some things out. ¡°Well¡­ ah, in that case, you may tell your king that I, Me-Ma-¡± he coughed, ¡°Ma¡¯kat have been touched by his willingness to offer his own child. I ah, am willing to overlook all of his misdeeds, and as a gesture of my forgiveness, you may ah, take Zhi Yun back. His mere willingness to offer such is more than enough to earn my forgiveness.¡±

    Tang Ze really hoped that this would work and that the two of them hadn¡¯t just dug an even deeper hole for themselves.

    To this there were various cries from the mermen.

    ¡°We do not deserve lord¡¯s kindness!¡±

    ¡°So wise!¡±

    ¡°At last we have been blessed!¡±

    ¡°Lord Ma¡¯kat,¡± Captain Hai Long said, now bowing once again. ¡°We once again offer you Zhi Yun, as we cannot take an offering back to the king. With what face will we tell him that the gods rejected his sacrifice? And with what face will Zhi Yun return, knowing that she has been rejected by the gods?¡±

    ¡°No, no,¡± Tang Ze said, trying his best not to burst into sweat - because the more he sweat, the less long that the body paint would last. At least right now he looked sort of alien, and could maintain something of a fa?ade. ¡°Consider it my¡­ ah, act of mercy.¡±

    ¡°In such a case, will Lord Ma¡¯kat save our city?¡± Captain Hai Long asked.

    ¡°Save your city¡­?¡±

    ¡°Indeed, the fact that the ground beneath us has been sinking has caused us great trouble, Lord,¡± Captain Hai Long said. ¡°We request that you please show us your mercy by relieving us of this sword that hangs above our heads.¡±

    Tang Ze tried to get out of this, but was unable to, and eventually resigned himself and agreed to go with them back to their city.

    Before that though, he said he needed to have a word with his ¡®trusted servant¡¯ aka Yin Tiang.

    ¡°What are you doing?¡± Yin Tiang whispered hurriedly to him.

    ¡°I don¡¯t know, but how are we going to explain how we messed up this badly to anyone?¡± Tang Ze asked. ¡°Do you know who Ma¡¯kat is?¡±

    Yin Tiang shook his head. ¡°The mermen are very isolationist, but based on context he sounds like some sort of god.¡±

    ¡°Yeah, I figured that too,¡± Tang Ze said, sounding annoyed - but if Yin Tiang, who had researched the lake quite a bit beforehand was unable to tell him more, it was likely that no human could either.

    ¡°So what now?¡± Yin Tiang asked.

    ¡°I go down and hope that they don¡¯t suddenly declare war on us,¡± Tang Ze said. They were too deep into this - while he was sure that the mermen would be angry if they found out that Tang Ze had wandered too close to their airspace (or waterspace he guessed) he was sure they would be even more mad if they found out they had been deceived and that Tang Ze wasn¡¯t Ma¡¯kat.

    As such - there was only one option. And that was to double, triple, and then quadruple down on their lie!

    ¡°Good luck then,¡± Yin Tiang said. There was no further help he could provide in this situation. ¡°Try not to start a war, m¡¯kay?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯ll try,¡± Tang Ze said.

    Anyone among the mermen soldiers who had any doubts as to who Tang Ze really was were more than convinced the moment he began to move in the water.

    ¡°So fast!¡±

    ¡°He truly lives up to his name!¡±

    Some of them had noticed that he looked suspiciously like a human who was wearing some kind of body paint, but upon seeing how he moved in the water so gracefully and agilely, these doubts were put to rest.

    It looked like Tang Ze, even when restricting his speed, could swim to their city and back fifty times over in the time it took them to get there. They had to request that Tang Ze slow down while swimming, because they didn¡¯t want to leave their ¡®god¡¯ without an escort.

    Tang Ze was convinced then that he could likely handle all of the mermen if it came to a fight - the issue was that he was trying to avoid such a fight if possible.

    The mermen were essential to the ecosystem of the lake - otherwise the Raswatian Empire, if it truly wanted to, would¡¯ve eradicated them long ago.

    He also didn¡¯t want the other humans, most of whom were mortals, to suffer due to something he had done. While they swam towards the mermen settlement, he kept racking his brains for what to do next.

 Deepcurrent Surfaces: Part Five

    ¡°You¡­ what?!¡± King Jiao Ming said, nearly speechless as Captain Hai Long narrated what had happened to them.

    It looked like Jiao Ming had been terribly wrong when it came to his belief that Ma¡¯kat did not exist - because these soldiers, all of whom he trusted, all had the same account when he probed them.

    ¡°He appears slightly different than what the murals and artists would have us believe,¡± Captain Hai Long said. ¡°But if anything, the tales do not do enough justice when it comes to describing his speed. He truly is nearly as fast as a lightning bolt!¡± Well, to take that literally was a bit of an exaggeration, but he moved faster than anything they had ever seen before.

    The only reason that Jiao Ming had agreed to send the soldiers in the first place was because he had been rather certain that they would come back empty-handed.

    Suddenly, something struck him. ¡°How is Zhi Yun?¡± Although he had many children, and didn¡¯t have the time to care for each of them personally, he had never seriously considered giving her away. It was only the pressure of the crowd that had compelled him to make a token gesture like that.

    ¡°Ah, Lord Ma¡¯kat is truly kind and generous indeed,¡± Captain Hai Long said. ¡°He returned your daughter, saying that he was greatly moved by your act of sacrifice, and that as a show of mercy, he would be giving her back to us.¡±

    While Jiao Ming was greatly relieved by this, it also planted a seed of doubt in his mind. That was not at all how Ma¡¯kat acted in any of the legends - he was the kind of person to kidnap and marry any young maiden that met his fancy if the tales were to be believed. He was still more merciful than many of the other gods in the sense that at the very least, he didn¡¯t eat those he considered beneath him.

    He felt a pang of pity for Zhi Yun. Although she was not in the direct line of succession, he did have the faintest bit of paternal feelings towards her as she was his child, though he tried to bury this sentiment in his heart. However, no matter how hard he tried to suppress it, the feelings and various questions that came with them would not stay put and continued to resurface in his mind. How would Zhi Yun react later on when she became old enough to truly understand what he had done? Was an explanation of ¡®I didn¡¯t think it was real¡¯ actually sway her heart at that time? He shifted uneasily on his throne as he pondered the same.

    His thoughts were interrupted by Captain Hai Long continuing to wax on about how great Lord Ma¡¯kat was. It was clear that he was completely taken by this figure, and as the soldiers would share their stories with the rest of the populace, they too, would be completely enamored with this figure. Hai Long was one of Jiao Ming¡¯s most trusted warriors, though Jiao Ming also knew that the captain was quite devout as well. The reason he had chosen him was the fact that he believed that if this ¡®Ma¡¯kat¡¯ truly was an imposter, Hai Long would be able to sniff that lie out immediately.

    But this idea had backfired on him.

    Whether this figure was Ma¡¯kat or not, by this point, his subjects would treat him as such. And that meant that Jiao Ming could not openly oppose him - if he did so, he would soon find his head on a pike.

    ¡°Forget all of that for now, where is Lord Ma¡¯kat?¡± Jiao Ming asked. He hadn¡¯t seen him come in with the guards.

    ¡°Ah, Lord Ma¡¯kat is truly merciful and generous,¡± Captain Hai Long said. ¡°When he heard of our plight, he said he would first try to stabilize the ground beneath our feet, and then said he would meet with us. He has gone to investigate the cause of why our city is sinking right now.¡±

    ¡°Eh?¡± Jiao Ming said, dumbfounded. That sounded even less like Ma¡¯kat - no, that didn¡¯t sound like any of their gods for that matter!

    The gods of the mermen religion rarely did anything nice without demanding some kind of tribute first, oftentimes demanding dozens if not hundreds of sacrifices. On the contrary, they were very quick to anger, killing mortals for the slightest perceived insult.

    That was how their religion depicted the gods - and so to hear something like that completely took him for a spin.

    ¡°You should have demanded he come into the city regardless,¡± Jiao Ming said, a trace of anger in his voice. ¡°How will the people react when they see that one of the gods themselves has visited us, and we did not extend the slightest bit of courtesy to them?¡± It didn¡¯t matter if Ma¡¯kat was a god or not, even if they were to treat a normal guest in that matter people would spit on their sense of hospitality.

    Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

    Captain Hai Long shuddered, but composed himself nearly instantly. ¡°I can only apologize for my mistake, but Lord Ma¡¯kat did not agree no matter how many times we begged, and this one did not dare put pressure upon one of the gods.¡±

    Jiao Ming sighed. ¡°Well, so be it. Tell the people to start preparing the largest feast seen in our city¡¯s history - we will welcome Lord Ma¡¯kat properly when he comes back!¡±

    hr

    As Tang Ze looked up towards the surface, he could not help but remember his mother¡¯s words.

    ¡®You shouldn¡¯t lie, because to cover up a single lie, you will need to tell a hundred more lies!¡¯

    But, there was little he could do right now.

    He knew that one thing he couldn¡¯t do at all was to walk into the city, because if he got that close to the mermen, he was sure that his cover would be blown rather soon.

    Instead, he tried to focus on the task at hand.

    The mermen were wondering why the bedrock upon which they had built their city, which had stood firm for many thousands of years, suddenly seemed to be collapsing.

    Tang Ze¡¯s plan was to solve this crisis, and then tell the mermen he had to run afterwards.

    As it was, this was not too out of place for an episode of Deepcurrent. A foreign tribe of fish were having some kind of trouble, like a sea monster attacking them, or fishermen poaching them, and they would come to Deepcurrent for help. And Deepcurrent, being the hero he was, would help them out.

    Only he wasn¡¯t sure where to begin when it came to solving this issue. He was not actually Deepcurrent after all, even if he was pretending to be him.

    Why was the bedrock collapsing? It wasn¡¯t like he had any power that would let him ¡®talk to the earth¡¯ or something along those lines.

    He went closer to the city¡¯s foundations, and after getting nowhere, did the only thing he could think of.

    That was to ask himself, ¡®What would the actual Deepcurrent do in this kind of situation?¡¯

    The answer came to him immediately. He would probably say something like ¡®One can find the answer to any problem if only one learns to listen the ocean!¡¯ That had basically been Deepcurrent¡¯s catchphrase, and something that he said nearly once every episode.

    Of course, the ocean, being a body of water, could not talk, but this was often interpreted by the Deepcurrent fandom as learning to listen to nature.

    Then again, it could also be interpreted as listening to the fish.

    Tang Ze let out a wave of ichthyoeidekinesis towards the rock, and to his surprise, he got a response from a large number of fish.

    The thing was that the signals seemed to be coming from inside the bedrock somehow? How was that possible? Unless it was hollow from the inside?

    That might make sense as to why the foundation was weakening then. Was there a group of underwater moles digging out under the mermen city?

    Tang Ze couldn¡¯t find a way into the bedrock, and it was here that he once again asked for help from the only source he could rely on - the fish themselves.

    How could he get inside?

    A mental map began to form in his mind as he dived deeper - deeper than the mermen would normally go, until he found a narrow crevice. It would¡¯ve normally been hard for someone his size to fit through, but he had Deepcurrent¡¯s supernatural underwater strength right now, and chipped away at the rock with his fists whenever it got too narrow.

    Once he had traveled some distance, he found himself in a large cavern and saw the fish who he had been sensing.

    ¡°Crabs?¡± Tang Ze muttered, seeing millions of them in the crevice. They had made nests in the rock.

    It was clear now what was happening - this huge crab colony was slowly digging away under the foundations of the city!

    Well, it wasn¡¯t like they were actual moles, but his initial hunch had been correct.

    That said, had it been something else like a natural phenomenon, there really wouldn¡¯t have been anything that Tang Ze could¡¯ve done to help them out.

    This, however, was something that he believed he could solve with relative ease.

    He just had to convince the crabs to leave - however this turned out to be harder than just reaching out to them with his mind and asking them to go away.

    While some of the crabs were receptive to this kind of hypnosis, some of them began to fight. A lot of them were bigger than the others, with one of them being as large as a truck - and these resisted his urging of asking them to leave.

    Not to mention that even if he did clear out all of them this way, there would be a second problem in where the crabs would all go. That in itself could cause a huge ecological headache.

    That said, now that he knew the root cause of the matter, he could just tell the mermen this and have them deal with it. It was their problem in the end, and they likely had a better idea of how to deal with this than Tang Ze did. They also could probably find a solution that wouldn¡¯t damage the ecology of their environment that much.

    He might¡¯ve been able to come up with a better solution had he more time, but the thing was that even now, his body paint was beginning to thin. And Yin Tiang did not have much more left, so he needed to get out of here.

    He swam out, though he marked the place where he had entered the cavern so that the mermen would be able to find it before going near the city. It was likely there was an even deeper entrance below it, which is how the crabs had gotten in the first place, but Tang Ze had no desire to go any deeper into the lake after what he had found earlier.

    It was here that his heart fell as he saw that the mermen had prepared quite the welcoming party for him.

 Deepcurrent Surfaces: Part Six

    Someone, whom Tang Ze assumed was the king, was at the forefront of the welcoming party, but there were around four thousand other mermen behind him. Some of them were dressed in resplendent armor, while others were civilians either carrying musical instruments or chanting what Tang Ze could only guess were hymns. There was quite a bit of noise as they spotted Tang Ze, though Tang Ze still couldn¡¯t risk going any closer to them.

    They would ask him to stay in the city, and he was already running out of time, with the paint layer around him growing thinner and thinner.

    Tang Ze did not dare get any closer, but that did not mean the same was true the other way around.

    Jiao Ming swam forward, waving his hand as a signal, telling the others to wait as he went to go speak with Ma¡¯kat.

    It was only natural that the most prestigious among them would go to meet a god.

    Not that Jiao Ming was convinced even now that who he saw before him was truly Ma¡¯kat, but he did not let this show on his face as he stopped some distance before Tang Ze.

    ¡°I, King Jiao Ming, greet Lord Ma¡¯kat,¡± Jiao Ming said. He was at a respectable distance from Tang Ze and did not approach unless asked to.

    ¡°Greetings,¡± Tang Ze said. Jiao Ming frowned - why did that voice sound like that of a scared child instead of an ancient lord of the seas? ¡°I uh, have found the root cause of why your city is sinking¡­¡±

    Jiao Ming¡¯s eyebrows narrowed. Was this stranger telling the truth?

    Even if he hadn¡¯t bought into the ¡®Lord Ma¡¯kat¡¯ story, he was just as worried as everyone else about the city sinking.

    ¡°There is a colony of crabs undermining your city,¡± Tang Ze said.

    He hadn¡¯t wanted to do this earlier, but decided that it was most appropriate to make use of his telepathic abilities to communicate with fish to let their king know what was going on.

    To Jiao Ming, it was a very strange and uncomfortable sensation. Though the television series always described one of Deepcurrent¡¯s abilities as being able to ¡®make friends with any creature of the seas¡¯ (not literally as it was also used on freshwater creatures in some episodes), its actual effect was essentially to mind control them.

    But, right now Tang Ze only had about a fourth of Deepcurrent¡¯s powers, and mermen were intelligent creatures and so not easily subdued.

    In any other circumstance, Jiao Ming would¡¯ve taken such an attempt to be equivalent to an attack on his person, but he paused as images entered his mind of a location beneath their city whereupon they could enter to find this crab colony.

    ¡°I must thank Lord Ma¡¯at for his wisdom,¡± Jiao Ming said. ¡°And I invite him to feast and dine with his followers.¡±

    ¡°Ah, sorry that isn¡¯t possible, I have to ah, run,¡± Tang Ze said, flustered as he racked his mind for an excuse to leave.

    Jiao Ming once again found this person¡¯s lack of confidence in their voice to be quite telling. It was as if they were a rather poor actor than the real thing.

    ¡°Yet, the glory of my people will be greatly diminished if it were to be known that one as esteemed as yourself turned his nose to our hospitality,¡± Jiao Ming said.

    ¡°Ah, maybe but ah, my father calls for me, like, now,¡± Tang Ze said. If he was a god, surely his father would also be important.

    ¡°Ah, if your father Mal¡¯char calls for you, what can mortals like us do?¡± Jiao Ming said.

    ¡°Right, sorry, but I do have to dash,¡± Tang Ze said.

    That confirmed for Jiao Ming that this thing, whatever it was, was not Ma¡¯kat. Ma¡¯kat¡¯s father was killed by his brother in their mythos, and was also not named Mal¡¯char - that was a name he had made up on the fly.

    And yet, he did not call out Tang Ze on this. By now, he was aware that his own people had bought the lie hook, line, and sinker - and as such, pulling the wool from their eyes would only lead to extreme confusion and panic.

    Not to mention, he already potentially had what he had truly wanted all along - a way to save their city!

    Although Jiao Ming was not aware of this, he was behaving in this manner partially because of Tang Ze¡¯s mind control. Though it hadn¡¯t overtly affected him, it had subconsciously influenced his thoughts so that they would line up in a manner which suited Tang Ze¡¯s own.

    Instead, as he went back to his subjects, he ordered them to deal with the crab issue after relaying what Tang Ze had told him, though he made up some other excuse as to why Lord Ma¡¯kat had to leave without gracing them with his presence - namely that his sons had suddenly fallen into danger and he had to go rescue them.

    Stolen story; please report.

    ¡°But, rest assured, Lord Ma¡¯kat told me that he would come by to visit us in person when the time is right,¡± Jiao Ming said. ¡°Though, the time in the realm of the gods moves differently than ours, so it might end up being a couple of thousand years. Still, rest assured that his blessings are with us!¡±

    It would later turn out that although that thing had lied about being Ma¡¯kat, the information on the crab colony was indeed true, and their city¡¯s foundations were soon stabilized once again.

    He did make a note to appoint a new High Priest as soon as was feasible though. It was clear that the one they currently had did not have any clue as to what he was talking about.

    While Jiao Ming was returning to his subjects, Tang Ze quickly swam up to Yin Tiang who was waiting for him on the shoreline.

    ¡°Come on, let¡¯s get out of here,¡± Tang Ze quickly urged.

    ¡°What happened?¡± Yin Tiang asked- he had been pacing back and forth for quite a while, wondering what it was that was going on beneath the water¡¯s surface.

    ¡°No time to explain,¡± Tang Ze said, changing into his wizard costume. ¡°But, I think I gave them just enough to convince them - and there shouldn¡¯t be a fight¡­ I think? Anyway, we¡¯ve done enough damage as it is - let¡¯s get out!¡¯

    Yin Tiang did not need to be told twice as they went back to their sect.

    <hr>

    ¡°...and after that happened, Yi Tiang and I hightailed it out of there,¡± Tang Ze recounted.

    ¡°And then what happened?¡± Xian Yue asked.

    She was watching Tang Ze looking over the dress, trying to figure out what it was that was missing.

    He had managed to piece together a few vital pieces of information during the times he came to visit Xian Yue over the past few weeks.

    One, whatever pieces were missing needed to be sewn in using Qi within the threads. The amount of Qi was low enough that he could use a simple iron needle to thread it - the issue was with the thread itself. He would need something stronger than normal silk. But, this was not hard to arrange for - though he might not have more than a few pennies to his name, Xian Yue had accumulated quite a bit of treasure over the centuries and was more than happy to give it out if it might help him solve her problem.

    On top of that, whatever he sewed in had to match with the rest of the dress¡­ now this was the real hard part. He couldn¡¯t figure out what the pattern he was looking for was, given the rest of it was so scattered in terms of both theme and material.

    Very little of the original dress even remained.

    What was he looking for?

    The only conclusion that he could come to was that the real answer lay with Xian Yue. This dress was a collage of her life, so there was likely something that she was missing that had to be put there, metaphorically speaking.

    However, last time, when he had brought this up, she shrugged and simply said that she didn¡¯t know. She had pinned all her hopes on Tang Ze, but he hadn¡¯t the slightest clue how to proceed any further.

    The answer had to be out there - after all, she said she had seen a possible future where he would do so. It was like being given a test question - the teacher wouldn¡¯t have handed him a question that couldn¡¯t be solved. But that didn¡¯t mean that Tang Ze knew the answer.

    He had been talking about his recent escapades with the mermen simply to fill in time, but he was so lost in thought that Xian Yue had to repeat the question before he registered it.

    ¡°Oh? What happened after?¡± he said. ¡°Well, I didn¡¯t dare go near that lake again after that, but Yin Tiang had a way of asking things in a roundabout way about what happened after we left - and as far as we can tell, nothing happened to the human village, so it looks like the mermen took it well. That, or they didn¡¯t take it badly enough for war to break out.¡±

    Xian Yue sighed. ¡°The two of you though - being so reckless. What if what you had done got yourselves into trouble? Or caused trouble for the empire? The Emperor wouldn¡¯t give a damn about saving the two of you, you know? You would find yourselves either exiled or having your heads offered to the mermen as atonement.¡±

    ¡°Yeah,¡± Tang Ze said. ¡°But, thankfully it all blew over¡­ at least it looks like that¡­ don¡¯t know what they are going to do about the crab issue though.¡±

    ¡°If you¡¯re suffering from a crab problem,¡± Xian Yue said, winking slyly, ¡°there are medicines for that.¡±

    Tang Ze chuckled. ¡°You don¡¯t make very good jokes, you know that?¡±

    ¡°You try being funny after being stuck like this for so long,¡± Xian Yue said.

    She took no offense at Tang Ze¡¯s remarks, she had had very little contact with anyone in so long, and no one came to visit her except for him. Even before that she had been quite introverted and recluse - avoiding human contact as much as possible, and as such her social skills were rather lacking.

    ¡°Oh - I was actually meaning to ask,¡± Tang Ze said. ¡°Do you know anything about a lake monster?¡± He described what he had encountered deep within the dark depths of the lake.

    ¡°I haven¡¯t heard of anything like that,¡± Xian Yue said. ¡°Whatever it is, it sounds like some kind of ancient desolate beast. It¡¯s a good thing you didn¡¯t end up waking it - otherwise not even your corpse would¡¯ve made it back to the sect.¡±

    Tang Ze shuddered. He had suspected that. ¡°But, you don¡¯t have an idea of what exactly it might be?¡± He knew what he encountered was strong and powerful, but still, he wanted to have some idea of just how strong and powerful it was.

    ¡°No,¡± Xian Yue said. ¡°And I think this goes without saying, but don¡¯t go back to that lake.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not,¡± Tang Ze said. If it were up to him, he would never go back within a hundred miles of it knowing what lurked beneath, let alone that little incident with the mermen.

    Silence fell between them, with Tang Ze not making much progress at all, until Xian Yue asked him, ¡°Can you tell me more about your world?¡±

    ¡°What would you like to know?¡± Tang Ze asked. ¡°There¡¯s a lot I could tell you, but there was no real cultivation or magic back there, so it¡¯s kind of, you know, boring.¡±

    ¡°I doubt that - even mortals have amazing stories of bravery and honor,¡± Xian Yue said. She had little in the way of entertainment, and while she could go snoop around the place, after so many lifetimes, there was little that she found to be engaging or entertaining within this world. It was as if she¡¯d seen it all when it came to things in this world. Something from a different world though - that might actually feel fresh and engaging for a change.

    ¡°I guess,¡± Tang Ze said. ¡°But, where do you want me to start?¡±

    ¡°How about starting with your dream?¡± Xian Yue asked.

    ¡°What dream?¡± Tang Ze asked.

    ¡°Whenever I tried to contact you, I would usually find that you were already dreaming. And it was almost always the same exact dream,¡± Xian Yue said, and Tang Ze¡¯s spirits fell. He knew what dream she was talking about. ¡°What was going on? I saw you in a crowd with other people. Is there any significance to that dream? Or is it something random?¡±

 Scars of the Past

    ¡°I uh,¡± Tang Ze began. It was a bit of a sour topic for him to discuss those events, and again, in this world, he had wanted to leave that stuff behind. He had not told anyone this - but despite his attempts to bury the story deep inside him and the feelings associated with it, it had not gone away. The fact that he still had nightmares about it nearly every day, just like back on Earth was proof that ignoring it hadn¡¯t made the problem go away. Changing worlds had not changed things as much as he¡¯d have hoped. He hadn¡¯t seen a reason to tell anyone else regardless because it would just lead to a hundred more questions like where he came from, which were questions he was hesitant about answering. But to Xian Yue, who already knew he came from another world - maybe this was a good chance to get things off his chest? He couldn¡¯t see it hurting at least. ¡°Well, back on Earth, two years before I came here, I was in charge of babysitting my younger brother over the weekend. During that time - I used to be really into making costumes, you know, like the other ones I make here.¡±

    Xian Yue nodded. Even she had no idea why Tang Ze had this strange talent when he came to this world - she had never heard of anything like it before. She could only assume it had been a strong desire within him back on Earth which had somehow manifested when he transmigrated across worlds.

    ¡°And so that weekend, there was a convention, where well, a lot of people like me came to dress up and I guess just have fun,¡± Tang Ze continued. ¡°I wanted to go, and my parents basically told me to take him with me since I was supposed to be taking care of him. I agreed, and he complained throughout the way, but he still came along. Only¡­¡± His voice cracked for a moment. Talking about it was harder than he had anticipated. He had tried to shove his feelings away much like someone would try to clean their room by shoving everything underneath their bed - in other words, it hadn¡¯t worked very well.

    The memory of the two of them walking down the street, while he suddenly saw the crowd in front of them part as he saw the glint of steel to which he reacted far too late¡­

    He could remember it as if it had happened yesterday. His brother had looked quite annoyed at the time - he probably would¡¯ve preferred to stay at home watching television or playing video games, but Tang Ze had been planning to attend this convention for quite some time. He had protested to his parents about this, and they had basically told him, ¡°Take him along with you.¡± Neither of them had been too happy about that - but though his younger brother grumbled about it, he still went along with Tang Ze.

    ¡®If only I¡¯d stayed home that day,¡¯ - Tang Ze thought for what felt like the millionth time. Maybe then he wouldn¡¯t be here, in this place, and the two of them would still be playing video game back home.

    ¡°Well, some lunatic in the crowd decided that it was a good day to go on a killing spree. He had a knife with him, and ended up stabbing my brother. He uh, didn¡¯t make it.¡± Tang Ze licked his lips. ¡°I uh¡­ have dreamt of that day a lot. Wondering why, you know, I didn¡¯t just push him aside or step in front of him. Or if I had just decided to not go to that convention that day¡­¡±

    The vivid image of his brother¡¯s blood on his hands and clothes came once again, along with the feeling of helplessness and despair as he watched hid brother bleed out on the pavement returned in full force at that moment.

    Tang Ze had to move away from the dress, otherwise his tears threatened to fall on the fabric, potentially ruining it. ¡®Damn it - I really am pathetic, breaking down like this,¡¯ - he thought to himself as he attempted to compose himself.

    Xian Yue was silent. She could tell that this was not easy for Tang Ze to talk about, though she wasn¡¯t sure how to comfort him.

    Xian Yue had spent the better part of her lifetimes isolating herself from human contact whenever possible, though never to the extent that she had right now.

    Still, she had experienced and seen so much hardship, pain, and suffering, that what Tang Ze was describing did not move her heart in the slightest. If anything, life in this world was far more dangerous than back on Earth, and so stories more tragic than Tang Ze¡¯s were commonplace. She had seen entire villages wiped out in a breath¡¯s time, thousands of people being refined by demonic cultivators to make pills, and some of the most agonizing deaths imaginable. Tang Ze¡¯s story seemed tame by comparison.

    She could not say such of course. Even if she wished to tell him that everyone had tragedies in their lives and that he needed to get over it - while that was her instinctual reaction to the story, she could not voice it aloud.

    This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

    Every cultivator had to deal with grief and loss, even mortals had to deal with them as well. They were an inescapable reality of life.

    In her multiple lifetimes, she had personally witnessed several bloodcurdling incidents. She was not a callous person, but a story like Tang Ze¡¯s, after all her experiences gathered over several lifetimes, could not move her heart in the slightest.

    She could tell that Tang Ze was not ready to hear those kinds of words.

    Not yet at least. He didn¡¯t have her millennia of experience to place such things into perspective.

    ¡®Is this-?¡¯ she thought as her eyes widened ever so slightly. Tang Ze¡¯s Qi was fluctuating wildly - in any other circumstance, she would think that he was either doing this on purpose, say, to deal with something like a mirror match; if he was breaking through a minor realm, or if he was dying.

    Needless to say, none of those three things was going on. It could be one thing else though - the sign of a developing heart demon.

    Xian Yue had not specialized in any field that would allow for detection of heart demons, nor was she someone like the sect janitor who had managed to acquire a talent that would help her do so.

    Xian Yue¡¯s demeanor was usually like ice - it had become so after thousands of years of cultivation, yet, her frigid personality melted ever so slightly as she spoke.

    Even as she wanted to chide Tang Ze, she couldn¡¯t deny that there were several incidents in her own lives that she felt still stung even after all this time. That was despite them, objectively, being less tragic than Tang Ze¡¯s story.

    It was easy to minimize things when it came to someone else¡¯s sorrows, but not one¡¯s own.

    ¡°Don¡¯t blame yourself,¡± Xian Yue said. ¡°It wasn¡¯t your fault. You can¡¯t be blamed for walking down the street, ah, unless that¡¯s something dangerous and routine that happens back in your world.¡±

    Tang Ze actually laughed at that, despite himself. ¡°I was going to say that no - it wasn¡¯t, but, thinking of everything that happened, I guess I¡¯m wrong.¡± His tears had stopped and he let out a wry smile. ¡°No, walking down the street wasn¡¯t risky. At least, not as much as it is here.¡± In this world, there were always stories of roadside bandits or monster attacks, at the very least Earth didn¡¯t have things like that. ¡°But¡­ I still always wonder why it was that I didn¡¯t do anything. If I¡­ had acted in any way to save him, how things would¡¯ve changed.¡± He turned to Xian Yue. ¡°There¡¯s no way to go back in time, is there?¡±

    ¡°I know of no such method,¡± Xian Yue said. ¡°Even if it could exist, it would take you back in time in this world, not yours. But if you ask me, you will get nowhere dwelling on what you cannot change. As painful as it might be to hear - time will wash away those wounds of the past.¡±

    Tang Ze could only nod. ¡°I hope so.¡±

    Tang Ze then went ahead into describing other things from back on Earth, like planes, and computers, and the like.

    ¡°Your world is mildly interesting,¡± Xian Yue said. ¡°Perhaps one day I would love to see it.¡±

    ¡°Really? Because I can think of many people from back on Earth who would love to escape to a realm like this,¡± Tang Ze said. He said ¡®escape¡¯ because it was the truth - even he had wanted to come to a place like here where he could leave his worries behind. Only the ghosts of the past refused to die, and he was still as haunted by that day the same way that he had been back on Earth. ¡°And the Qi there is so thin you can¡¯t really cultivate.¡± That said, most of the people who would want to ¡®escape¡¯ from Earth would be quite disappointed if all they ended up as was cannon fodder for some rogue cultivator in a place like this. If it hadn¡¯t been for Tang Ze getting a unique talent, he too would not have gotten far in his journey.

    The desire to cross realms was less about getting actual power, and more about the hope that maybe, somewhere out there, you would find something that might finally take the pain of modern life away.

    ¡°Maybe,¡± Xian Yue said. ¡°Or your people from there just haven¡¯t been trying hard enough?¡±

    Tang Ze chuckled. ¡°Yeah, there were people who tried to achieve immortality - though I don¡¯t think there was a method to succeed.¡±

    ¡°Or, again, did your people just not look hard enough?¡±

    ¡°Maybe one day you¡¯ll travel to Earth and find out,¡± Tang Ze said. He turned to her. ¡°Maybe, if one day, we¡¯re both there, I could show you around.¡±

    ¡°Then at the very least I¡¯ll have a guide,¡± Xian Yue said.

    All of this talk was pointless - the two of them knew it, as such a scenario was never going to happen. But they enjoyed it regardless. To be in a world away far away from their troubles, where they could imagine living entirely different lives¡­

    ¡­maybe in that scenario, both of them felt that they would be happier than they were right now.

    It was easy enough to imagine yourself happier in whatever fantasy you created, after all.

    Tang Ze did not end up making any great leaps of logic when it came to solving the problem of the dress, though Xian Yue did not chide him for the same.

    ¡°With time, I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll solve it eventually,¡± she said to him as he left to go back to the sect. He couldn¡¯t stay here for very long as there were always things that Initiates had to do, and he didn¡¯t want to take the dress with him back in case something happened to it. He wasn¡¯t always there in the common living quarters - even if someone didn¡¯t steal it, what if one of Yin Tiang¡¯s experiments went wrong and there was a fire? Given how important the dress was to Xian Yue, he felt that he could not take that risk.

 Condensing Qi

    After Tang Ze was done with his chores, he still had some free time before he¡¯d have to go to bed in order to wake up on time.

    He could go back to see Xian Yue - but he felt quite embarrassed right now about his emotional outburst. He had thought it might be cathartic to get the feelings off his chest, and while he was slightly relieved after sharing them; he was more concerned with how Xian Yue now thought of him.

    Crossing that off the list of potential activities, the next most logical one would be to work on a costume.

    However, reliving that tale had reminded him of why he had abandoned making them back home for the last two years in the first place.

    It might have only been indirectly, but his hobby had been what had gotten his younger brother killed. If he hadn¡¯t gotten into making costumes, he never would¡¯ve wanted to go to that convention - and they never would¡¯ve ran into that knife-wielding maniac. It was several massive leaps of logic too much to actually be reasonable, but Tang Ze had found himself dwelling on this train of thought whenever he looked at his costumes back home regardless.

    And ultimately, he no longer got any joy from his hobby.

    Because of that, he had lost all interest in it after that incident.

    Now that he could get a tangible benefit from it in this world, he had started doing it again. His passion had been somewhat reignited when he had discovered that it was a method to make himself stronger.

    That moment when he was able to do good - by saving Jin Zhen through wearing a costume, had been the turning point for this change in his attitude.

    But, with those bitter memories resurfacing from when he had opened up to Xian Yue, he didn¡¯t want to look at them again.

    That left the next most logical choice: cultivating.

    He hadn¡¯t been paying that much attention to it up till now, unfortunately, despite having escaped the confines of the Zeroth Realm a while back. The reason was that unfortunately, he wasn¡¯t that good at it, and that led to him focusing more of his energy on making costumes. But, even if he was bad at it - he knew deep down he would just have to keep trying. And if he didn¡¯t make any effort to improve, he would always be bad at it.

    And so, he went to his room, and then began meditating.

    Actual cultivating at this level involved trying to take in Qi from the environment, condensing it, and then driving it towards one¡¯s meridians. After that, the remnant Qi would leak out of one¡¯s body and then into the air - with a portion of it being used to develop the meridians.

    This sounded simple in theory, the issue was putting it into practice.

    Manipulating Qi took concentration, as did driving it towards one¡¯s meridians.

    Per his teachers, it was far easier to first condense some Qi within your dantian, and then drive it towards the meridians rather than doing so continuously.

    Qi was present in the air, and Qi Condensation cultivators would first drive this into their dantian. After doing so, they would focus on the Qi and condense it into small beads of liquid. As with water, the vapor form occupied far more volume than the liquid, so in one go one would find only a few drops had formed and dropped to the bottom of one¡¯s dantian.

    The Qi in liquid form had been modified after interacting with Tang Ze¡¯s dantain when it was being condensed.

    Everyone¡¯s Qi network was different - even among twins it differed ever so slightly, just like fingerprints. As such, this condensed Qi was slightly different for everyone. For Tang Ze, it was a light blue color; though every shade of the rainbow was possible depending on the person.

    Even if it was the same color, it would not be the exact same shade - even if at first glance it appeared so. Between relatives the condensed Qi was usually similar though not always exact.

    Because the condensed Qi was different from person to person, you could not transfer your Qi after condensation to another¡¯s dantian.

    If you tried, you would get the same result as if you had transfused someone with a unit of blood of a blood type with which they were incompatible - it would end up damaging their Qi network! The extent of the damage depended on how different the Qi was.

    That was why you couldn¡¯t give someone your own refined Qi at this stage to help ¡®power level¡¯ them to the next realm.

    As one moved up the minor realms of Qi Condensation, the middle and upper dantians would also become available. In that way, one could condense Qi faster. However, it was entirely possible to get through all of the Qi Condensation realm using only the lower dantain. Where they became essential was for Qi Refinement stage cultivation, in which the main focus was passing the liquid Qi through each of the dantians in a stepwise fashion to practice ¡®purifying¡¯ or refining it.

    The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    Some people like Guo Jia and Zhang Long were able to use one or even two of the other two dantians before others could, which allowed them to advance in their cultivation faster as they had two dantians with which to draw in Qi.

    Once a few drops were formed, Tang Ze then drew in more Qi from the air, and then condensed it to add to the pool that was developed at the floor of his dantian. He repeated this over and over. Once he had accumulated a satisfactory amount, he began to drive it towards his meridians at a steady rate.

    Too fast and it might end up damaging them (such damage would only be temporary, though he wouldn''t be able to cultivate for a few hours thereafter otherwise he''d risk causing permanent damage), too slow and it would accomplish very as his gathered Qi slowly returned back to its vapor phase and leaked out of his dantian. At his level, he couldn''t hold the liquid Qi in his dantian for much longer than a few hours before it would escape into the environment.

    All of this was mainly a game of concentration, which is where Tang Ze had most of his problems.

    He found it difficult to clear his mind of distractions, and could only focus on the Qi for a few seconds. By the time he had gathered it up, he was already losing control of it, with it running amok instead of condensing properly. Even when it was condensed, he would end up wasting some of it as he didn¡¯t drive it to his meridians properly, with the wasted Qi turning into vapor and leaking into the air.

    It was the cultivation equivalent of trying to drink soup with a fork. Yes, it was possible, but it was extremely inefficient.

    Basically, his efficiency at doing so was very low, to the point where he was only able to effectively use about ten percent of the Qi he took in. Yin Tiang and Chen Yu could use about twenty-five percent, while Zhang Long was able to focus enough to use thirty percent. Experts could go even higher than that.

    This was not for a lack of trying on Tang Ze¡¯s part, but he had never been good with paying attention to a specific task for very long, and in the days of the Internet which is where he came from, it was easy for one¡¯s mind to grow wild and easily distractible. Watching one too many TikTok reels had greatly compromised his ability to focus on anything for longer than a minute.

    There were ways to expedite this process. One was to cultivate somewhere where the Qi was thicker, so that even if he could only utilize ten percent of it, he could take in more in the same amount of volume.

    The other thing was to simply cultivate for longer periods of time, the only issue was that Tang Ze had problems with that as well.

    He had managed to leap into the first minor realm of Qi Condensation, but all that meant was that his journey had just begun, not that it was over.

    Sure, he could use some shortcuts like pills to try to bolster his lack of practice, but that was just a temporary solution.

    At Qi Condensation, high quality pills were ubiquitous enough that some very wealthy families could afford to have their descendants just chug pills every single night so that they got to Qi Refinement extremely fast. These pills were essentially filled with liquid Qi which could be digested after which it would interact with one''s own Qi network to make liquid Qi without the cultivator having to put in any effort. They were designed to dissolve and release it steadily so that the entire process that Tang Ze was trying to do happened on its own.

    Perhaps the Imperial Family and a handful of other cultivators could also afford enough pills at the Qi Refinement level to let one skate through that as well.

    Tang Ze did not have such resources - and while for the first time he was actually able to use some of the pills that the sect distributed to them, he quickly realized why the first three that he had gotten from the sect janitor were considered to be ¡®high quality¡¯ when he tried them out.

    He popped one before sleeping, thinking that it would be a good idea to use it when he was asleep and couldn¡¯t cultivate. If you tried to use a pill you couldn¡¯t cultivate at the same time, because the Qi from the pill was running through your system all on its own. If Tang Ze tried to direct the Qi in any way on his own, it would just lead to the pill¡¯s efficiency declining. So why not use one when he couldn¡¯t cultivate to save on time when he wasn''t doing anything anyway?

    That had been his line of thinking, but what he hadn¡¯t counted on was the side effects. The burning sensation that he had felt earlier when he had taken a pill was extremely mild compared to this - and it was so bad that he ended up fidgeting all night and not getting a wink of sleep. The pill only had about a fourth of the Qi as the one the sect janitor had given him - and it was really only at this point that he truly appreciated the difference between a high-quality and an ordinary pill. It felt like his meridians were burning well into noon the next day.

    Sooner or later though, he would reach a point where it would no longer be feasible at all to use pills. He would have nothing but his innate skill at drawing in Qi during that time. He might as well work on that right now, because it would only become more useful in the future.

    His cultivation teachers had a couple of pointers for him in that regard. ¡°Focus on a rhythm and help it empty out and clear your mind.¡±

    This could be something like a metronome, or water trickling down at a steady rate. Even if those things were not available, every cultivator still had the rhythm of their breathing or their heartbeat to rely on.

    Tang Ze would try this over and over - sitting down and focusing on his own breathing, controlling it, before moving on to gathering Qi.

    His thoughts just always had a habit of moving elsewhere. Like towards stories he had heard on Earth, or what was going to be served for lunch in the cafeteria. And on the worst days, his mind might end up dwelling on something more morbid and darker - like his brother¡¯s face as he bled out, or the face of the assailant who had caused all of that.

    That wasn¡¯t to say that he wasn¡¯t making any progress whatsoever. He estimated that within a couple of months to maybe a year, he should be able to climb to the next minor realm.

    Tang Ze wasn¡¯t the only one who was working hard.

    Zhang Long spent long hours dwelling on the technique he had learned. While he could use it at the Qi Condensation level, it was only really going to be useful towards the Qi Refinement level when others would actually have techniques that he could borrow.

    Still, it wasn¡¯t like he couldn¡¯t start working on it right now. It might be a decade or so before he could actually start using it, depending on when he would break through the next major realm, but whenever he did, he would already have a leg up on other people as most other people did not know even a single technique by that point.

 Arranged Marriage Meeting

    Yin Tiang and Chen Yu focused on their own respective talents as well in addition to cultivating - Yin Tiang on alchemy, and Chen Yu on using and developing his bloodline attribute technique.

    A few weeks later, and very little progress made on Tang Ze''s part in either cultivation or in solving Xian Yue''s issue, he awoke to see Chen Yu perusing a letter, looking worried.

    "Everything alright?"

    "Not really," Chen Yu said, sighing as he folded up the letter. "Is Zhang Long still out?''

    Zhang Long had gone back to his village for the past few days because they were finalizing his and Jin Zhen''s engagement, for which he was given a temporary reprieve from sect duties.

    However, this meant that for the time being, the squad was leaderless.

    "Yeah, he''s still gone," Tang Ze said. "What''s bothering you?"

    "I got a letter from my family," Chen Yu replied. "They want me to meet this girl some distance away."

    "Meet up with a girl? Like an arranged marriage?" It was a bit odd for Tang Ze to think about, but then again, the others were older than him by several years.

    Tang Ze was about to turn twenty back on Earth, and if time worked the same in this place as it did there, he would''ve crossed that age a few months back. This world didn''t have the exact same calendar as Earth though, so it was a bit hard for him to pinpoint an exact birthday and when that would fall, but that time had most definitely passed at some point.

    As for the others - Zhang Long was twenty-five; while Chen Yu and Yin Tiang were twenty-six. It made sense, especially in a world like this, that they would be moving forward in their lives.

    "Yeah," Chen Yu said. "I don''t know why, but they''ve started to become obsessed with the issue. Maybe I''m just getting older - and they''re seeing that all my other brothers are all married."

    "If you get married," Yin Tiang chimed in from the background. "can I use your room to keep some of my stuff once you''re gone?"

    Chen Yu glared at him, to which Yin Tiang simply waved his hand and said, "Don''t worry - I jest. Of course, if you happen to leave they''ll just find someone else to shack up with us."

    "So, what are you thinking?" Tang Ze asked.

    "I don''t think there''s any harm in going down to see her," Chen Yu said. "But, usually I''d have someone tagging along with me- like one of my brothers or family members."

    "And they can''t come?"

    "It says here in this letter that they can''t spare anyone right now, and they asked me to take someone from the sect with me," Chen Yu said. "I would''ve taken Zhang Long but it doesn''t look like he''ll be back in time..."

    "Not to worry," Yin Tiang said, clasping a hand to his chest. "I will accompany you. And don''t worry, if you don''t like the girl, just give me the signal, and I''ll make sure to tell them all I know about you. They''ll be sure to give you a ''no'' then."

    Chen Yu turned to Tang Ze and asked, "Mind coming with me for a day?"

    "Uh, sure," Tang Ze said. "We can even tele-"

    Chen Yu shook his head. "Let''s try not to go around dressed up like wizards, or we really will be kicked out before even reaching the front door."

    "Are you sure?" Tang Ze asked. "You guys have a really negative preconception about wizards, haven''t you considered well, that maybe... they might not be all bad?" Tang Ze really felt that they were being unreasonable when it came to magic. He had once teleported into the nearby marketplace only for the other cultivators to ridicule him - ''Look at that mage, he''s so poor he can''t even afford a proper flying sword or flying carpet!'' they had mocked. Someone even added: ''He''s so poor he can''t even afford a real beard!''

    "I''ll see it when I believe it," Chen Yu said. "So the answer''s still ''no'' on that front."

    "True, true," Yin Tiang said, nodding along. "But think about it - with Tang Ze''s luck with woman, aren''t you worried that they might consider you a catch when comparing yourself with him? What if the girl really falls for you and you wanted to say ''no?''"

    Both Tang Ze and Chen Yu glared at Yin Tiang as the latter chuckled.

    However, Yin Tiang could not resist. He loved needling Chen Yu, and now he could poke fun at both him and Tang Ze simultaneously within the same joke. It was like hunting two birds with a single arrow. When Heaven had granted him such an opportunity, how could he resist?

    "What are you thinking by the way? I mean, if you¡¯ll say ¡®yes¡¯ or not?" Tang Ze asked Chen Yu.

    Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

    Chen Yu shrugged. "I don''t really want to get married right now - but I can''t just say no to this request from my family unfortunately. I have to at least go see her - I do owe them that much. I don''t think that they''re too crazy about the idea either - they''re likely just doing this to see what options I have." He didn''t seem to be taking the whole thing very seriously, so neither did Tang Ze for the moment. Anyway, he doubted that even if they agreed to things, that things would move at anything faster than a snail''s pace.

    As an example, Jin Zhen and Zhang Long already were childhood sweethearts, and yet even with that fact and the families already being agreeable from beforehand it seemed to be taking forever for their engagement and marriage to be finalized. There was still a long list of ceremonies that the two had to go through.

    "Got it," Tang Ze said.

    Yin Tiang walked over to Chen Yu and then clasped him on the shoulder. "I want you to remember one thing if all else fails - just be yourself. I''m sure you''ll be rejected immediately afterwards."

    "Alright, Tang Ze, let''s go," Chen Yu said, turning to him after dismissing Yin Tiang as a hopeless cause. "We just need to wake up early in the morning and-"

    "-on second thought, you''re on your own Chen Yu, I think that would be for the best," Tang Ze said. "You should go in to meet this girl alone - to show her and her family you''re not afraid of anything and to really demonstrate your alpha male status-"

    <hr>

    Tang Ze and Chen Yu arrived at the mentioned place. Tang Ze complained about having to wake up so early nearly half of the journey there, but get there in time they did; and that too without Tang Ze having to dress up as anything weird (not for lack of trying mind you, but Chen Yu dissuaded him from trying anything).

    They both chose to come in their sect uniforms, simply because showcasing their sect affiliation was another way of showing their status.

    It was a manor in the opposite direction of Zhang Long''s village, so they couldn''t plan to meet up with him as he returned. As it was, the place looked relatively affluent, though that was to be expected of any family trying to marry in with Chen Yu¡¯s.

    These people were farmers, though this was only in name - they owned vast quantities of farmland, and loaned that out to people who did the actual farming while they collected the crops and paid those people a fixed salary for their work. Since they owned land within the territory controlled by the Rising Phoenix sect, it stood to reason that they had good relations with them as well. That was part of the reason that the two had chosen to come in their sect uniforms, though they had made sure that they were neatly pressed and clean.

    In the Raswatian Empire, next to one¡¯s familial affiliation, one¡¯s sect came in at a close second.

    "Remember," Chen Yu said. "Please don''t do anything that would embarrass me, Brother Tang Ze." Tang Ze''s eyes dropped - why was it ''Brother'' in this situation?

    "When have I ever embarrassed you?"

    "Let''s not open that can of worms, else we''ll be here till tomorrow evening," Chen Yu said. "And let''s go meet them."

    The two of them were led inside the manor by a group of servants.

    It was immediately clear to Tang Ze that the family had pulled out all of the stops to impress them. The garden¡¯s hedges looked like they had been freshly trimmed, and there was a koi pond in the middle with a stone by it that was said to be excellent for meditating beside. There were also several famous plants whose names neither of them could remember though had Yin Tiang been here he likely could''ve been able to tell them what they were at a glance. They were then led into the main sitting area where food was laid out for them, before the girl''s parents arrived.

    The two of them seemed to be pleasant enough, and there was some general back-and-forth though nothing of real substance was said until Chen Yu gently tapped Tang Ze on the knee.

    That was the signal that Tang Ze had been hoping for!

    He didn''t really understand this whole arranged marriage setup, though per Chen Yu, his role was that of a sort of ''wingman'' or to say things that would be considered untoward for Chen Yu to say himself.

    "Ah, all of this talk is good and nice," Tang Ze said. "But, where is the potential bride-to-be in question?"

    Tang Ze found it odd that the girl wasn''t even involved in anything till now, but that was apparently just how it went. After saying so, the mother brought someone down the stairs, who was wearing a thin veil.

    "It''s alright, you can show your face dear," the girl''s mother said as she lifted her veil ever so slightly. The girl was blushing deeply, and as Tang Ze turned around he could see that Chen Yu was also fidgeting somewhat oddly.

    However, Tang Ze was taken aback by something.

    It was odd... but he was sure that he had seen this girl somewhere before.

    But where? He had only come to this world a few months back, so it was weird that she seemed familiar to him though not to someone like Chen Yu.

    It was customary to give the prospective bridge and groom some time to talk alone, though this turned out to only be a period of five minutes before everyone came back in.

    The two sides then made some promises to keep in touch, and Tang Ze and Chen Yu declined to stay for dinner.

    It would''ve been nice actually, Tang Ze felt, to stay overnight to see how the family actually was, though Chen Yu whispered to him that this wasn''t a ''real'' offer and the two made their way back to the sect.

    The sun was close to setting by the time they got back, and overall, Tang Ze had found the entire process to be quite boring.

    "Are all meetings like this?" Tang Ze asked.

    "Most of them are," Chen Yu said. "I used to go with some of my brothers along with my parents when they met prospective brides."

    "Isn''t it... kinda odd that the two of you only met for five minutes?"

    "Not really. The first time my grandmother saw my grandfather was on their wedding day - not everyone marries like this, but it''s is the usual norm with uh, I guess you would say ¡®people like us?¡¯ I mean, on the other hand, Zhang Long and Jin Zhen have known each other forever, but they¡¯re more of an exception aren¡¯t they? Still, even their whole show is taking time while their parents go through the formalities." Chen Yu said. He then frowned. "But you say that you''ve seen her before?"

    "Yeah," Tang Ze said. "I just can''t remember where." He strained his memory, and the more he did so, the more he was convinced that he was not mistaken and that he, as a matter of fact, did know the girl from somewhere.

    But the question still remained - from where?

    "If you happen to remember, let me know," Chen Yu said.

    "And so how do things proceed from here?"

    "Well, my parents would then go over things in more detail, there would probably be a couple more meetings, then we''d announce an engagement formally to all our relatives, then the engagement and all the meetings and logistics that involve, and then the actual marriage - if it gets to that point," Chen Yu said.

    "I see," Tang Ze said.

 The Grimoire of Heaven: Part One

    Nothing more of interest happened the rest of the day, though the next morning, for the first time in recorded history, Tang Ze woke up on his own before anyone else - and before the sun had begun to rise as well.

    He got up and knocked on Chen Yu''s door.

    Chen Yu stifled a yawn as he opened up the door to his bedroom. His eyes widened in mock shock as he saw Tang Ze. ¡°You woke up before me? Did the sun rise in the opposite direction today?¡± Chen Yu then made a big show of looking out the window to check. ¡°Nope - it rose in the west just like it always does. What got you up so early?¡±

    "No, I remembered where it was that I''d seen that girl before!" Tang Ze said, ignoring the jab.

    "Oh?"

    "You see, a few months back - when I met with Xu Feng''s ghost-"

    "-are you still on about that?"

    The others still didn''t believe that Tang Ze had met Xu Feng''s ghost; which Tang Ze had come to terms with - but to think that was related to this girl was something he never would¡¯ve imagined.

    Xu Feng had told him that he would pay Tang Ze back for his kindness, and though at the time Tang Ze had been too busy getting beat up by Tang Ru to notice - Xu Feng had told him about a certain cluster of trees which were very good for bird watching.

    Even when Tang Ze had been able to recollect this fact after the matter, he couldn''t understand what was so great about a place to watch birds.

    He visited it after he was able to teleport, though didn''t notice anything strange, as a matter of fact, it seemed that the location was actually rather poor for watching birds because of the foliage that would obstruct one¡¯s vision.

    It was very good at keeping the watcher hidden, however, and this was what Xu Feng had really meant by ''bird watching.''

    You could not only peep on some of the female sect members bathing, but also spy on a spot that was popular for couples.

    Naturally, Tang Ze had disregarded the place and written Xu Feng off as someone who was truly hopeless after he figured this out, but that was where he remembered that girl from.

    When he had realized this while half-asleep, he had immediately woken up to tell Chen Yu.

    "She already has a boyfriend!"

    "Whatever," Chen Yu said. He hadn''t been planning on saying ''yes'' anyway, and so he then immediately went back to sleep, a rare instance of Tang Ze not being the laziest member of the group for once.

    Oh well, Tang Ze thought to himself as he too, went back to bed, yawning.

    Hopefully Zhang Long was having better luck than they were.

    Meanwhile, with Zhang Long

    Zhang Long was rather tired from all the meetings, wishing they¡¯d get straight to the point.

    The two families had gathered at his house, and Jin Zhen was wearing a veil. Why? He had no clue - they had known each other since they were children, but this was ¡®traditional¡¯ so he had to go along with it.

    He tapped his foot as he was getting antsy. When he finally couldn¡¯t take it anymore, he voiced his concerns. ¡°I¡¯m sorry, can we please get this done faster? The sect won¡¯t give me a break forever, you know.¡±

    It was true - the prefects might have a favorable opinion of him, but there was a limit to how much they would accommodate him There was a pause in the flow of the discussion.

    ¡°My, my,¡± his mother said, which immediately made him realize that he had made a mistake. ¡°I apologize for my son¡¯s behavior - he seems a bit too eager in his anticipation to enjoy his wedding night, I think you can excuse his impatience, you know how young boys tend to be,¡± she said to Jin Zhen¡¯s parents.

    Zhang Long wanted to throw himself out the window right then and there. Just two days back, Jin Zhen had a bit of nausea after eating something off - and his parents had glared at him the whole day, thinking he had gotten her pregnant hence her symptoms.

    The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    <hr>

    A few weeks later, after Zhang Long had returned, there was a large commotion within the sect.

    "Eh? What''s going on?" Yin Tiang asked, poking his head outside of the squad''s common living space and checking to see what was going on in the hall. He had been making a Leaden Semi-Heavenly Elixir, whose manufacturing process was quite sensitive to loud noises like this. That was why he wasn¡¯t making it in the alchemical library as there would be too much noise there what with the occasional explosions - but he hadn¡¯t been expecting things to be even louder here. ¡°Can¡¯t you idiots keep it down for an hour!¡±

    As he said this and opened up his door, he saw that everyone was hurriedly rushing somewhere.

    "Didn''t you hear? They''re selling raffles for the Grimoire of Heaven!" one of the people he had yelled at replied before resuming going wherever they were.

    With that, Yin Tiang, who had been annoyed by the noise disturbing his latest project, immediately abandoned it to run after the others in the corridor.

    After all, there was no one in the sect who would miss out on a chance to view the Grimoire of Heaven.

    Eternal Soul cultivators were quite rare - with only four of them in the entire Raswatian Empire currently, not counting Xian Yue.

    In this day and age, the Rising Phoenix sect did not have a single Eternal Soul cultivator to its name, which is why it could not be counted among the top sects of the Empire.

    However, this had not always been the case in its history.

    Thirteen thousand years ago, the Rising Phoenix Sect had an elder by the name of Song Xian. He had a rather remarkable life story. He had been born to a family of average means, though he had a total of three fortuitous encounters in his life which had allowed him to get to the second-highest echelons of cultivating known to be achievable by man.

    One was that he had found the inheritance of a Nascent Soul cultivator in a secret realm. The second was being chosen as the disciple of the Seer of Ten Thousand Li. The third was to have found the Grimoire of Heaven in a ruined library.

    The Grimoire of Heaven was part of a trilogy of long-lost texts related to cultivation, which were: the Grimoire of Earth, the Grimoire of Heaven, and the Grimoire of Man. The Grimoire of Earth was the least powerful of the three, followed by the Grimoire of Heaven being in the middle, and the Grimoire of Man taking first place.

    Only the Grimoire of Heaven was currently known to actually exist, with the other two volumes having been lost to time. They were mentioned within the Grimoire of Heaven itself, which quoted some of their passages, but no one knew where the originals of the other two grimoires were or if they had even survived the ravages of time.

    The grimoires had been made with special technology by the civilizations that predated not only the Raswatian Empire, but the Mercury Kingdom as well. The books were made of Qi itself; allowing them to stand the test of time and meaning they were nearly indestructible unless they were attacked with special means.

    They contained various secrets to cultivation - to the point where Song Xian had said that he would have absolutely been stuck at the Nascent Soul realm if he hadn''t found the Grimoire of Heaven.

    However, while he got far with the help of the grimoire, that was the peak of how far he progressed. Song Xian left the Grimoire of Heaven not to his children (he had none for that matter) or other descendants but to the Rising Phoenix sect as the sect''s own property.

    It was for this reason that he was highly revered within the Rising Phoenix Sect, perhaps next only to its founder - even though the sect had had six other Eternal Soul cultivators in the past.

    Although Song Xian left the Grimoire of Heaven to the sect, he still remembered his roots, and how he had been lucky to find it in the first place. As a matter of fact, were it not for those other two fortuitous encounters as well, he knew that he would not be the cultivator that he had become.

    As such, he did not want the Grimoire of Heaven stored in a sect vault somewhere where only a few could benefit from it - he wanted it to be given to the members of the sect, with even the most ordinary member getting a chance to peer at its contents.

    The Grimoire of Heaven was entrusted to the care of a high-ranking Nascent Soul cultivator, who, in according with Song Xian''s wishes, rotated the Grimoire of Heaven through the various divisions of the sect.

    Naturally, not even a fraction of a percent of the sect''s members could actually spend any time with it, but Song Xian wanted the decision of who got to read it to be left up to pure chance rather than based on merit, talent, or money. Otherwise, he felt, it would turn into a situation where those with connections or money would be the only ones with any opportunity to use it - meaning only those who had already accomplished much leading to a ¡®rich get richer¡¯ scenario.

    Going against the widely-held philosophy of this world, he did not want the grimoire to go only to those who were already good, but also wanted those who might be weak to have a chance at using it.

    So, instead, raffles were set up - whose tickets could be bought with sect points.

    To keep things fair, there was an upper limit on how many one could buy, and anyone who had not bought a ticket during a prior event would automatically get one the next time around.

    In this way, Song Xian wanted for things to be more equitable among the sect members. "Let Heaven have a chance to pick new favorites - instead of those already chosen by Heaven alone moving forward!" Although it might seem counter-intuitive at first glance to say that giving out opportunities at random was more egalitarian than giving them based on merit, by simple fact, there were more average people in the sect than there were people with strong backings.

    Given this, this sort of system did help with evening the odds a little and giving the little guy a chance, so to speak.

    It was so valuable that Yin Tiang had completely forgotten about what he was making and left it aside, as he absolutely did not want to miss the chance to possibly get a chance to read it.

 The Grimoire of Heaven: Part Two

    Naturally, all four members of the squad had rushed to buy tickets, with Yin Tiang being the last to the party. The Rising Phoenix sect had many divisions - and this chance might only come once every seven or eight years.

    The ''prize'' for winning was six hours that one could spend with the grimoire. Although it may not seem like much, given how valuable a resource it was, many people greatly longed to get a chance with it, spending all of their merit points to buy as many tickets as was allowed without a second thought. The knowledge that one could obtain from it could potentially propel one''s cultivation forward for several years or even decades to come in the future.

    Given this, there was a huge line to buy tickets. Even though the number of tickets one could buy was limited, people still jostled in the queue.

    Yin Tiang found Zhang Long and Chen Yu standing slightly away from the crowd with morose expressions on their faces.

    "What happened?" Yin Tiang asked, though he could already guess what had happened from the looks they gave him.

    "No dice," Zhang Long said, shaking his head.

    "Maybe you''ll have better luck," Chen Yu said.

    However, by the time that it came to be Yin Tiang''s turn to buy a raffle, he was told that the winning tickets had already been sold, so he may as well save his sect merit points for now.

    "Ah, well, looks like none of us got in," Yin Tiang said. If there hadn¡¯t been enough winners, everyone who had bought a ticket would have been able to take another one for free until all the winning ones were sold out, but it looked like unfortunately, all the winners had already been picked.

    While disappointing, this was not unexpected. For even one of them to be able to get a winning ticket would be an incredible stroke of luck given how many were competing for so few spots. However, Yin Tiang realized that there was someone missing from their group. "Where is Tang Ze?"

    "I don''t know," Zhang Long said. "Is he still sleeping in?" It was nearly noon, but it was not unheard of for Tang Ze, during his days off, to daze off till this time if the others let him. Which, given how much he complained when they tried to rouse him early, they had learned was more trouble than it was worth; and as such, they no longer really tried to do so unless there was something urgent that needed to be done early.

    "No," Yin Tiang said. "I didn''t see him in his room, and the smell of what I was making is something not even he could sleep through." He frowned. ¡°At least, I¡¯d be quite impressed if he managed to sleep through that.¡±

    "Maybe he left to go see this girlfriend of his," Chen Yu said and they all laughed.

    Tang Ze had told them that he had found the spirit of an Eternal Soul cultivator by the name of Xian Yue who needed his help to ascend to the Hinayana realm in a cavern far away - naturally none of them were willing to believe something so far-fetched and they each had their own theories on what he actually did when he vanished for some periods of time after dressing up like a wizard.

    ¡®Most likely off playing with his wand¡¯- is what they assumed was the most likely possibility.

    However, it turned out that Tang Ze was not only awake, he was not too far from where they were standing.

    "How''s it going?" Tang Ze asked. The others turned to stare at him in bewilderment at what he was wearing.

    He had dark green shorts on, a similar blazer, and a four-leaf clover emblazoned onto his coat as well as a green top hat atop his head.

    Needless to say, compared to the other members of the sect, he stood out like a sore thumb.

    Tang Ze was wearing this outfit for a good reason - it was based off a character on Earth by the name of Leonald the Lucky Leprechaun. He appeared in a series of very short cartoons - most of which revolved around him showing off his amazing luck. And not only was he lucky, he was absurdly lucky to the point it would have you pulling your hair out while watching some of the episodes.

    The general episode format was that either he needed something or one of his friends was in trouble, and then they would end up fighting an evil wizard or whatnot who would cast a powerful spell on them that had a one in ten million chance of backfiring, and it would just happen to backfire that instant. Either that, or the writers would come up with some other truly ludicrous ways that he would somehow stumble his way to victory.

    It was not a serious show, but Tang Ze had wished to borrow the character¡¯s obscene luck for this little contest.

    Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

    So what if he looked completely out of place dressed as a leprechaun given this country¡¯s fashion was based off of that of China in the Middle Ages? What mattered was the abilities that this costume gave him! If any of the other cultivators out there had his talent and could guarantee a shot at being able to use the Grimoire of Heaven, they too would¡¯ve dressed up like him without a second thought.

    As such, given the benefits, why shouldn¡¯t he take this chance?

    ¡°We¡¯re fine, well, we all lost the chance to get a look at the Grimoire of Heaven, I guess,¡± Zhang Long said with a gloomy look. He did not voice his thought that Tang Ze somehow looked even more ridiculous than usual - it was safe to say that this was his most outlandish costume as of yet. Still, Zhang Long wouldn¡¯t say that to Tang Ze¡¯s face, and as it was, his attention suddenly shifted to the black ticket that Tang Ze was waving around. ¡°Wait - you actually won?¡±

    The raffle tickets were specifically made to be nearly impossible to forge given their importance. The way they worked was that a few winning tickets were mixed in with a large number of identical blank ones - if you pulled a winning ticket out and injected your Qi into it, if it was a winning ticket it would turn black. Else the words ¡®Bad luck!¡¯ would appear on the white paper.

    Additionally, the winning tickets were all numbered. Tang Ze¡¯s winning ticket had the number ¡®3¡¯ on it, meaning he would be third in line to get a chance to use the Grimoire of Heaven.

    As such, if you tried to forge a ticket, you would also have to forge a number which hadn¡¯t been picked yet before. It was also highly likely that the elder in charge of the Grimoire of Heaven had a way to tell the actual tickets apart from the fakes through some process only he knew.

    ¡°Well, that¡¯s great,¡± Chen Yu said.

    ¡°Yeah,¡± Yin Tiang said.

    All of them tried to look happy for Tang Ze, but they still had a tiny bit of regret within their hearts.

    ¡°Does this costume give you amazing luck or something?¡± Zhang Long asked, piecing together why Tang Ze would be dressed up like this.

    ¡°Yes,¡± Tang Ze said.

    ¡°Amazing,¡± Zhang Long said. Even if someone accused Tang Ze of cheating, no one else seemed to fully understand how his ability worked - as such, there was no one who could prove that Tang Ze was definitely cheating. Basically, it was the perfect power to have in this circumstance. ¡®Oh, you¡¯re saying that Tang Ze has a lucky costume? I also have a lucky pair of socks I wear sometimes, but that didn¡¯t help me win a ticket,¡¯- would be the usual response if someone tried to accuse Tang Ze of underhanded behavior.

    ¡°In that case though - couldn¡¯t you have tried a few more tickets?¡± Zhang Long said those words jokingly - he guessed that Tang Ze had likely bought multiple tickets just like he had, but only one had been a winning one. He wasn¡¯t truly insinuating that Tang Ze should¡¯ve bought more in case he could possibly win another winning ticket.

    Those words might¡¯ve been said as a joke, but Tang Ze replied, ¡°Why, there are only four of us, right? Did you want to invite someone else along?¡±

    ¡°You do realize that each ticket can only be used by one person rig-¡±

    Those words died the moment that Tang Ze reached into a pocket and pulled out three other black tickets - marked with ¡®5¡¯, ¡®7¡¯, and ¡®9¡¯ respectively. ¡°I did buy four - I figured if I was lucky enough that I¡¯d manage to win with all four of them,¡± Tang Ze said.

    Four had been the maximum that he could buy anyway as it was with the number of sect merit points that he had - he had gained a fair number from when he had helped the Komainu as a reward, but being someone who had recently joined, four tickets was still his limit. This meant though that in terms of sect merit points, he was basically nearly bankrupt now. But in the face of the benefits he could gain, this was still an excellent deal for him.

    ¡°Wait - you won all four?¡± Yin Tiang asked. Chen Yu and Zhang Long had both bought the maximum of twelve tickets and Yin Tiang had bought eight (he was a bit short on sect merit points compared to the other two as he usually spent them on reagents for his alchemical projects) - yet, none of them had won with even a single ticket, but Tang Ze had won with all four of his?

    This went beyond just being lucky, this was truly heaven-defying fortune!

    And though others might think that this was ridiculous, if Tang Ze remembered correctly, this was still less fortunate than some of the things that happened to Leonald the Lucky Leprechaun in his stories.

    A prefect walked over who did not have a pleasant expression, mainly because he was talking to Tang Ze - but also because naturally he was envious of Tang Ze¡¯s luck. ¡°Junior Tang Ze - the rules state that you cannot use more than one ticket.¡±

    Although highly unlikely, there were scenarios in which some people had gotten multiple winning tickets before - though no one could boast as ever having matched Tang Ze¡¯s one hundred percent win record. Each person could only use one, so anyone who won more than one had to either cash it in for sect merit points or trade it with someone. They could not, unfortunately, be stored or saved away for later use.

    This was another way to make sure things were more equitable when it came to the Grimoire of Heaven.

    Alternatively, you could just give them away. ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m giving these other three to my other squad members,¡± Tang Ze said.

    The prefect sighed, he had wanted another chance at getting a ticket and was considering buying an extra one from Tang Ze, but not only was there nothing he could do because what Tang Ze did was perfectly within sect rules - there would be many people who would commend Tang Ze for such an action.

    After all, the purpose of the squad system in the first place was to get people to work together with their squad members, and learn to put the collective good their own personal gains.

    As such, there was nothing the prefect could do regarding Tang Ze¡¯s choice to give his spare tickets to his friends. The prefect simply grumbled and reminded Tang Ze that Tang Ze should be wearing his sect uniform during this time before walking off.

    ¡°Alright! Thank you Tang Ze - don¡¯t worry about being single, we¡¯ll all help you find a girl so you don¡¯t have to make-believe anymore!¡±

    ¡°I am not worried about being single,¡± Tang Ze said, and then frowned. ¡°Wait - what do you mean by playing make-believe? Are you talking about Xian Yue? Because she¡¯s real. She¡¯s just somewhere far away from here.¡±

    ¡°You don¡¯t have to do the ¡®I have a girlfriend, she just goes to another sect¡¯ routine with us, Tang Ze. We understand.¡±

 The Grimoire of Heaven: Part Three

    ¡°Of course she is,¡± Zhang Long added, not the slightest bit convinced by Tang Ze¡¯s story.

    Tang Ze sighed. He had repeatedly told them all that if they didn¡¯t believe him, he could teleport them to where she was so they could see her in person.

    However, they had all declined this offer, because they thought that using wizard magic might weaken their cultivation bases somehow.

    Sure, they might be Tang Ze¡¯s friends, but they had also been raised to believe that wizards were these weird, strange, creatures antithetical to cultivation.

    As it was, Tang Ze hadn¡¯t had any of his cultivation progress stalled by dressing as a wizard¡­ at least, he didn¡¯t think so. He was worse than the others at cultivating, though he chalked this up to other things.

    Whatever, he thought finally, it didn¡¯t make much of a difference whether they believed that Xian Yue existed or not.

    Some of the other sect members tried to buy their winning tickets off of the four of them, only to be given harsh glares by the priests.

    People were not allowed to sell tickets to each other - otherwise what was the point of the raffle in the first place? You might as well just auction them off directly then. The only reason Tang Ze might have been allowed to do so with the three extra that he had was because they were extra. Now that each of them only had one, they could not be exchanged or sold.

    As a matter of fact, the rules were so strict that they could not even give away their winning tickets if they wanted. After all, what would prevent someone from being ¡®gifted¡¯ a ticket and then two years later returning that gift with a hefty sum of money? The winner¡¯s names were recorded, and only they could use the winning tickets.

    The most they could do was refuse to use their chance, but in that case, all that would happen was that one chance would be wasted. And why would someone who had purchased a ticket do something like that in the first place?

    The next question was to decide in which order the four of them would go to use the grimoire.

    ¡°Tang Ze was the one who won the tickets in the first place, so he should go first,¡± Zhang Long said, and the others nodded.

    They could agree on that well enough, the issue was how would the rest of the three of them decide among each other? Going before someone else wasn¡¯t really that big of a deal, but everyone was eager to try it out first - especially as there were a few days of waiting time between each number.

    They drew straws for this, and the sequence was Zhang Long, then Chen Yu, and finally Yun Tiang.

    Zhang Long couldn¡¯t help but bemoan something though. ¡°If you had told us that you could do this earlier, we wouldn¡¯t have spent so many of our sect merit points on buying tickets.¡±

    ¡°I uh, honestly didn¡¯t know beforehand that it would work,¡± Tang Ze said. ¡°And not that it would work to this extent either.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s alright,¡± Chen Yu said. Though they had paid a lot of sect merit points, the fact that they had all won made the points spent well worth it. ¡°We¡¯ll just think of it as each of us having paid to win one of them.¡±

    ¡°Right,¡± Tang Ze said. ¡°Still, I¡¯m sure that this costume has more uses. I think we should go to a rock gambling den one day¡­¡±

    The thing about such dens was that Tang Ze knew that he could not use his ability over and over in such places, else people would either get suspicious, or just throw him out.

    Of course, they couldn¡¯t prove that his outfit was the reason why he kept winning nor would they ever think that as being any more real than someone who said that they had a ¡®lucky jacket¡¯ back on Earth - but they didn¡¯t need to. They would just straight up refuse to service him after a while.

    For something like this sect raffle, though, it was perfect.

    ¡°Tch! Can¡¯t believe I didn¡¯t win anything.¡±

    ¡°Did you hear though? Zhang Long¡¯s squad all won a ticket each.¡±

    ¡°Really? That sounds impossible!¡±

    ¡°Maybe Zhang Long really is some kind of favored son of heaven...¡±

    ¡°Nah, it wasn¡¯t Zhang Long who won them. It was Tang Ze.¡±

    ¡°They say he got four winning tickets in a row!¡±

    ¡°That has to be a lie - no one¡¯s luck could be that good! I would eat my hat if that ever happened!¡±

    You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

    ¡°Nah, I swear it¡¯s true!¡±

    ¡°He¡¯s right but tch, there¡¯s no way that someone could actually be that lucky! He must¡¯ve cheated!¡±

    ¡°How though?¡±

    ¡°Dunno, but no one else seems to be able to figure it out either.¡±

    ¡°He must¡¯ve had someone helping him!¡±

    ¡°Who though - he doesn¡¯t know anyone else in the sect.¡±

    ¡°Maybe he¡¯s secretly the sect elder¡¯s son or something?¡±

    ¡°I have a better question - what¡¯s he wearing?¡±

    Talk like that echoed throughout the place as the squad made their way back to their common living space.

    Tang Ze re-evaluated how useful Leonald the Lucky Leprechaun¡¯s outfit was.

    He had not used it before because he had difficulty getting some of the materials for making the costume - it was extremely hard to find a vibrant, dark green fabric for some reason in this place. The best he could find were fading light green clothes, which were not how Leonald the Lucky Leprechaun dressed himself. There were other such colors which weren¡¯t easy to get his hands on as well, such as deep purple, and he had to find a workaround for them.

    Thankfully, he had managed to finally make one before the sect raffle. He had not considered how powerful just being lucky was, or if it would¡¯ve actually helped him out, but it was clear now that he could in fact, increase his luck by wearing this outfit.

    Doing the math in his head, he calculated the odds of him being able to pull off four winning tickets by just buying four tickets as being less than one in several hundred billion.

    That made this outfit a perfect candidate for something he could try to passively gain once he was done absorbing strength.

    There was a reason why he wasn¡¯t going to focus on gaining this power though - luck was a rather nebulous concept and he was not sure how much something like zero point one percent of this character¡¯s luck would mean in practical terms.

    Compared to that, increasing his strength seemed to just be more reliable and something he could actually wrap his head around.

    As it was, it would take about one hundred and fifty years to fully passively absorb this character¡¯s powers to the fullest extent that he could, which made him think that it wasn¡¯t all that powerful in the first place.

    Several things influenced how fast he could passively absorb a character¡¯s strength. For one, the stronger they were, the longer that it would take. The better the costume, the faster he could do so, but it did not increase proportionately.

    For example, if a costume he had made could access twenty percent of a character¡¯s powers, it might take him a hundred years, hypothetically speaking, to be able to fully absorb that twenty percent. If he made a better costume, say, one that could access forty percent of said character¡¯s power, he could now fully absorb forty percent, and at a faster rate too, so that rather than taking two hundred years like one would expect, it might only take one hundred and fifty years.

    Still, those were very long time intervals. For now though, at least for twenty or thirty years, Tang Ze felt, it was best to passively increase his strength as much as possible.

    After all, if he did well in the Novice Tournament using feats of strength, he could easily gain resources that might make up for his lack of cultivation talent for the time being. The Grimoire of Heaven was just an example of such a thing, though he had earned it through manipulating his luck rather than strength. But, there were other such similar things he could access if he got stronger.

    He had initially thought that after increasing his strength to a certain amount, he would then try to absorb the powers of a spellcaster (as blasphemous as the other cultivators would think of this) so that he would have another avenue of attack. However, it might be worthwhile to boost his luck instead.

    Still, that was something that would come up in a few decades. No need to stress his mind over that right now.

    The day for using the Grimoire of Heaven came soon enough.

    The sect was already buzzing about the grimoire¡¯s benefits. One of the people who got to use it before Tang Ze jumped through a minor realm just from using it, and that was at the Qi Refinement level!

    Even if people did not experience breakthroughs, they would often find their speed of cultivation accelerated, or their future horizons broadened through using the Grimoire of Heaven.

    Without a doubt, it was a first-class tool for cultivators, which is why it was so much in demand, and why Song Xian had set up this kind of system in the first place.

    Access to the grimoire was given out in six hour intervals, with two of them occurring per day. For the other twelve hours, the elder who oversaw the grimoire had to sleep and it was locked up for safekeeping.

    As such though, Tang Ze got to use it the second day after the winners could start using it.

    This involved waking up early, and though Tang Ze would normally complain about such, the benefits were to the point where he seriously considered just not going to sleep all night so that he would not miss a moment of the time he got.

    He didn¡¯t go that far though, and just had his squad members wake him up.

    He arrived at the designated place half an hour before he could actually use the grimoire, which wasn¡¯t too out of place for the winners. As it was, the grimoire was kept in a remote area, so it was very hard to infiltrate, and Tang Ze hadn¡¯t wanted to get lost and end up being late for his turn. Any time that he lost from being late would be time he would not be allowed to make up..

    ¡°The person before you came in two hours early,¡± the elder in charge of the grimoire said as he finally let Tang Ze in after verifying via his ticket that he was the winner, and matching his name with the records he had to make sure that it wasn¡¯t stolen.

    The elder was really all the security that one needed for the grimoire - he was a Nascent Soul stage cultivator, meaning he could likely fight all of the other members of the sect here and still win. The Nascent Soul cultivators of the sect took turns to keep guard over the Grimoire of Heaven, because, as a great treasure of the sect, it had to be kept under close watch.

    ¡®Oh, but maybe if I could get a blow in with my strength if I could wear a costume, we might have a chance,¡¯- Tang Ze though idly, though there was little point to pursuing this imaginary scenario in which this elder fought against the rest of the sect.

    ¡°Come with me,¡± the elder said, and led Tang Ze to a room.

    Tang Ze had expected the room where the Grimoire of Heaven was being kept to be fancy or at least giving off an air of spirituality, but instead, the walls and the floors were made of what looked like iron but had a dark glow to it - meaning it was likely some kind of magical alloy and not just steel.

    This was not a room - this was the inside of a vault!

 Tang Ze Uses The Grimoire: Part One

    The only thing that didn¡¯t make the room look like a prison cell for one of the world¡¯s most dangerous prisoners was a single chair, and a pedestal upon which a single book was propped up. It was about three times as big as a textbook back on Earth, and glowed with a gentle blue aura.

    Tang Ze could feel the Qi emanating from the book even from here.

    ¡°Remember, not a second over six hours,¡± the elder said, and lit an incense stick to measure the passing time. Strangely enough it didn¡¯t seem to give off any smoke, which was a relief given the near claustrophobic setting that the book was in. ¡°If you need to use the restroom, let me know. The person who came before you hadn¡¯t wanted to waste any time and simply pissed on the floor instead.¡± The elder frowned. ¡°The grimoire is a very useful tool, but I request that you not stoop to such levels to simply eke out a few extra minutes with it.¡± He clearly was not happy with that kind of behavior, and this served as a warning for Tang Ze to not do the same.

    ¡°Uh, right, I¡¯ll keep that in mind,¡± Tang Ze said. He had made it a point to use the restroom before coming here, and had not taken a sip of water since then, preferring to go thirsty for six or seven hours rather than risking interrupting his time with the grimoire.

    Truly, that was how valuable each second with it was! Tang Ze had even gotten up early willingly just so that he wouldn¡¯t risk being late by even a second! Though he had to admit, peeing on yourself to save a few minutes really was taking it a bit too far¡­ no wonder the elder was quite upset.

    Tang Ze did not waste any time as he walked over to the book the moment the elder left, the air of QI that it emanated getting stronger as he approached, to the point that he felt that the Qi was four times as thick near the book as elsewhere on the mountain.

    That meant that even if you disregarded what was actually written in the book, and only considered it as a source of Qi to cultivate in close proximity to, it still had its uses as it would make cultivating four times faster!

    So how good was it going to be when he actually got to read it?

    His heart was already pounding as he turned the cover and began reading the first page.

    The secrets of the earth are difficult to decipher, though with patience one can elucidate them as one originates from the earth and it is easily accessible. The secrets of heaven are more mysterious still, as the entity that crowns over us and rules over us with an iron fist. But above both in terms of difficulty to understand are the secrets of man, for man is the true spirit and offspring of the union of heaven and earth. This volume shall delve unto the second layer of mysteries, the mysteries of heaven.

    Tang Ze figured this paragraph was one of the allusions to the Grimoire of Earth and the Grimoire of Man within the book, both of which were currently lost.

    Before he could go about reading further, white light washed over him.

    For a moment his heart nearly jumped out of his chest, but he calmed down as he remembered that this was something he had been told could happen.

    The Grimoire of Heaven was no ordinary book, and the way it often helped one understand the secrets of heaven was through array formations or other such functions. It was more like working on a supercomputer that could simulate various scenarios and tap into the secrets of cultivation rather than reading a simple book.

    After the flash of light, Tang Ze was no longer sitting in that room which looked like a vault. He was sitting atop a rocky crevice under a cloudy sky.

    There was nothing else in front of him as he glanced around, only to find a chameleon sitting right across from him the moment he glanced there later.

    He found that after that, he couldn¡¯t turn his head to the side, and was fixated on the chameleon.

    Clearly, the grimoire wanted to show him something here.

    The chameleon turned red, then green, then blue, then orange - and then began changing into a mishmash of colors with a spot of blue here and a spot of green there, etc.

    Tang Ze watched the lizard shift colors over and over like this, with the color variation becoming even more erratic with each iteration, until finally, it disappeared completely.

    Above him, the clouds finally burst, drenching the landscape in rain.

    ¡®This feels so real-¡¯ Tang Ze thought, as the gentle rain drops assaulted him. Of course, none of this was happening in real life, it was like being in a very detailed dream while awake, but the powers of the grimoire were already making quite an impression on Tang Ze¡¯s mind.

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    The scene shifted, and he found himself dressed up in armor. Not real armor, mind you - some kind of replica, with a cape billowing behind him. He took a look down at his gauntlets and felt the helmet that now adorned his crown.

    It took him a moment to realize who he was dressed up as; it was only when he saw the crudely drawn monitor on his left arm that it really sunk in.

    Space Emperor Cygrixous!

    He was the main antagonist of a video game that Tang Ze had played - and there was very little depth to his character. He was a Saturday morning cartoon villain if there ever was one, but his power set was actually quite neat.

    In the canon of the video game, he was said to have been so strong that he had once wiped out an entire moon full of rebellion soldiers on his own. He was defeated by what amounted to a gang of four teenagers in-game, but that didn¡¯t diminish the fact that he was still very strong.

    While he was powerful and had some useful abilities, Tang Ze had not tried to make such a costume because a lot of his gear, including his armor, would be difficult to try to make replicas of and was also time-consuming. Not to mention that while he was strong, there were stronger characters that Tang Ze knew he could draw inspiration from.

    He also looked quite ridiculous- now, that was true of a lot of the characters that Tang Ze dressed up as, but Space Emperor Cygrixous was on a whole different level. It was clear that the character designers had had a lot of fun when it came to designing him - but the issue was that this design was quite difficult to try to faithfully replicate in real life.

    Tang Ze had seen photos of other people dressing up as Space Emperor Cygrixous, and they just didn¡¯t look right. Some things just didn¡¯t look good at all when translated from animation to real life.

    These thoughts were interrupted by a spear that was chucked his way.

    Tang Ze instinctively activated his forcefield ability, the spear shredded to atoms before it could even reach him. Space Emeperor Cygrixous¡¯s forcefield was so strong as to repel missiles - what could a lone spear do? However, he was pretty sure that the ¡®armor¡¯ he was wearing would not be as strong as the Space Emperor¡¯s, so it was good that he had intercepted that spear in time. The fact that his clothes did not carry any special powers, making them especially vulnerable as a weak point, would apply here as well.

    The perpetrator of the attack was one among over a hundred thousand soldiers who were now glaring at him. All of them were dressed up in the way of this world, carrying swords, axes, spears, bows, and other weapons that Tang Ze didn¡¯t even know the names of. Some of them were empty-handed, eager to fight with nothing more than their fists. Some of them were mounted atop horses, but they all seemed quite disorganized - there was no pattern or formation to how they were standing.

    It was surreal to be fighting them as a man wearing space armor, even more so than dressing up as a leprechaun had felt earlier, but not difficult whatsoever.

    Tang Ze went with the most obvious strategy - flying out of range of their weapons and then blasting everything with his palms, as he rained purple lasers over them that vaporized huge swathes of people wherever they landed. His lasers, if they were at full power, could break off huge chunks of the earth itself.

    It was a cheap tactic - but one that worked, and the opposing ¡®army¡¯ if it could be called that was blasted to smithereens within what felt like an hour.

    Then, his perspective suddenly shifted.

    Tang Ze wasn¡¯t himself anymore - he was watching his own body from a third person perspective now. Nor was he in control of his body as he watched this other version of himself, after finishing off this army, fly near a village in the distance.

    Where had that village come from?

    Before, all Tang Ze had seen was an endless plain and an army that had spawned out of nowhere to try to attack him. That was why he had done the natural thing, which was to attack them. He had thought of them as nothing more than faceless enemies like you¡¯d find in a video game - this was all just like a dream, after all? That was why he felt like he could go all out against them without any restraints or moral quandaries.

    He didn¡¯t figure that his actions would matter in any shape or form - just that it was some sort of test from the grimoire.

    Perhaps it was a test - but not in the way that he had expected. Maybe the test had not been about how to defeat the army before him, because that would have been easier than going on an afternoon stroll.

    Tang Ze now had to watch as his body double completely nuked a nearby village, bathing the area in crimson flames. There were some screams of the people caught up in the fire, though most of them were slain instantly, not even having a breath to yell out as their existences were snuffed from this world.

    Tang Ze frowned - he couldn¡¯t see what this ¡®other self¡¯ of his was thinking or feeling, but after this other version of himself was done with this village, he moved to another one.

    And another one.

    The scene shifted, to one of Xian Yue floating above the clouds. It was not her spectral form, but she was in a real body.

    ''Is this world flat?'' - Tang Ze wondered, as at this altitude, they should''ve been able to make out the curvature of the earth if it was round. Instead, all he saw was a flat plane below them.

    However, he only noticed this detail for an instant as his attention turned to Xian Yue; admiring her appearance.

    Tang Ze had to admit, though he wasn¡¯t fond of the beauty standards of this world, Xian Yue somehow managed to really make them work.

    Also, did Xian Yue really have brown hair? Did the Grimoire of Heaven really know what her hair used to look like? Or did it think that Xian Yue wanted her to be a brunette? He had thought that her hair was black, though in her spectral form, this was hard to really determine.

    ¡°Ah, will you marry me?¡± Tang Ze watched as his doppelganger said these words, and Xian Yue laughed softly before nodding.

    It was then that he noticed how his doppelganger had reached the clouds in the first place - he wasn¡¯t flying, no, he was standing atop a huge pile.

    A huge pile of bodies. Men, women, children, many of them not even human, but belonging to beastmen or other demihumans.

    He had been told that no cultivator had ever ascended to heaven without standing atop a mountain of bodies, but it was usually not interpreted so literally. As he looked at the dead, many unanswered questions in their eyes - the foremost of them being ¡®Why did you do this to us?¡¯ the scene shifted.

 Tang Ze Uses The Grimoire: Part Two

    Tang Ze was standing at the edge of a river in a forest somewhere. Out of the forest, an elephant emerged and began to wade through the forest.

    As Tang Ze watched this, a crocodile suddenly leapt out of the water and grabbed onto the elephant¡¯s left hind leg with its jaw.

    Immediately, the elephant let out a cry of pain as an immense struggle between the crocodile and the elephant began, though no matter how much the elephant applied itself, it could not free itself from the crocodile¡¯s jaws.

    Tang Ze¡¯s attention was then drawn to a single lotus flower floating alongside the river, which seemed to float along without an issue despite the disturbance created by the elephant and crocodile.

    The elephant grabbed this lotus, and held it high in the air as a light began shining out of the clouds.

    The crocodile released its grip, and the elephant walked out of the water, finally free.

    The scene shifted again.

    ¡®This is- am I back on Earth?¡¯ Tang Ze thought as he realized that he was standing in his old bedroom.

    Once again, he was watching a version of himself from the third person point of view, though this Tang Ze was quite younger than he currently was.

    Tang Ze thought he had seen this scenario before - no doubt, it was based off of something in his memories, but why? And to what end?

    His younger self reached over the side of the bed, but reached too far, and ended up stuck in the space between there and the bed.

    Ah - yes, Tang Ze realized he remembered this. He had gotten stuck in that gap unwittingly, and had to call for his family to help him out, who had all gotten a good laugh at his predicament, though his father had been able to pull him out rather easily.

    His younger self began to call out for help, and no doubt, any time now, his parents and younger brother would come running.

    Only time passed¡­ and no one came.

    Tang Ze frowned. He didn¡¯t know how time worked in this strange dream realm when compared with reality, but he was sure that more than ten minutes had passed.

    No matter how much he tried, he couldn¡¯t get his younger self to acknowledge his own presence, nor could he rescue himself by his own hand.

    He was reduced to a simple spectator at this point and nothing else.

    And, as he was wondering just what was going on, he heard someone coming up the stairs.

    Just as he was about to let out a sigh of relief, he saw that it wasn¡¯t his parents coming up.

    It was a giant spider, about the size of a dog, crawling up onto the roof, and towards his younger self.

    And then this scene, too, vanished.

    He now found himself looking at the ground. Wherever he was, it was back on Earth, though he was a lot shorter than he currently was.

    Tang Ze examined his hands - it looked like he was a toddler right now.

    Out of nowhere, hands grabbed onto him, though he didn¡¯t resist as his father lifted him and placed him in a swing set.

    His father began to push him, and a while later, his mother came into view, with a bulge in her belly that signified to him that she was still carrying his younger brother inside of her.

    That meant that he was probably about three at this time.

    His father stopped pushing Tang Ze as his mother¡¯s face came into view, who gently stroked his hair.

    His parents started talking, and his father held his hand as they walked back home.

    It was rather odd to see how big everything felt when his body was this tiny, and once they were home, Tang Ze¡¯s parents looked down at him as he was placed on a sofa and about to doze off for an afternoon nap.

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    ¡°Remember - we will always love you.¡±

    The scene shifted yet again.

    Tang Ze found himself in a classroom, and much like before, it was as if no one could hear or see him.

    He didn¡¯t remember this classroom, though it was clearly from back on Earth. It was also either an elementary school class or a kindergarten based on the ages of the students, and as he scanned them, he found a familiar face, and took a step back.

    It wasn¡¯t his younger self - it was his younger brother!

    ¡°Alright class,¡± the teacher said, drawing everyone¡¯s attention to the front of the classroom. Tang Ze vaguely recognized her as one of the newer teachers - at least for the time that is. Both he and his younger brother had gone to the same school, but he wasn¡¯t being taught by the same teachers Tang Ze had been. This was someone new, but someone whom Tang Ze did recognize by face if not by name.

    If he recalled correctly, that meant that he would be in the sixth or seventh grade at this time.

    ¡°We are going to spend this period drawing - and the topic is - anything! Whatever you want to draw, go ahead!¡±

    The kids all pulled their crayons out, and naturally, Tang Ze walked over to where his younger brother was.

    It was odd - he was pretty sure that he had never been in this classroom, meaning that the Grimoire of Heaven could indeed manifest knowledge that he himself didn¡¯t know about. Perhaps it was true then - there was nothing that escaped the eyes of Heaven, even when it came to other worlds apparently. Either that, or it was generating this room based on what it thought that Tang Ze would think that this classroom would look like.

    Fifteen minutes in, the teacher walked by his younger brother and asked, ¡°Tang Jun, what did you make?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s me and my big brother,¡± Tang Jun said, holding up his drawing. It was a simple crayon drawing that you would often see kids make, and showed two people holding hands. ¡°My big brother is the coolest!¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m glad to hear that,¡± the teacher said with a warm smile.

    The words tugged on Tang Ze¡¯s heartstrings. It was probably one of the few times that anyone would¡¯ve called him ¡®cool.¡¯

    There was a reason that his parents put most of their aspirations on Tang Jun and not on Tang Ze, at least, once they found that Tang Ze wasn¡¯t ever going to accomplish something big in his life. The care and affection he¡¯d felt back when he was a toddler had withered away as the years crept on by and he found himself unable to keep up with his parent¡¯s expectations.

    His brother had always been the better student and worker, though for whatever reason, Tang Ze recalled, always seemed to look up to him.

    Which made it all the worse that Tang Ze had been able to do nothing to save him¡­

    ¡®My big brother is the coolest!¡¯ - those words brought tears to his eyes.

    His younger brother had always looked up to Tang Ze, and what had he, Tang Ze, given Tang Jun in return? When it had mattered most, he had found himself unable to act.

    He had found himself wishing a million times over that he could go back in time, push his brother away, and take that knife blow himself instead.

    His heart seemed to nearly erupt in pain as the scene dissolved.

    ¡°No!¡± Tang Ze cried out. Even if it was just a dream, and even if it wasn¡¯t real - he wanted to be able to see his brother again, he wanted to indulge himself even if it was only for a moment longer.

    But the grimoire had other plans and did not care for his protests.

    Tang Ze now found himself standing outside a run-down apartment building back on Earth.

    He didn¡¯t recognize this place either, though he found himself walking up the steps and through the wall of one of the apartments into someone¡¯s place as his legs were working on their own.

    Odd, he didn¡¯t recognize anything even when he was inside the place - it was completely foreign to him.

    There were two people fighting inside of it, one was a man yelling at a cowering woman, the man was clearly drunk. Tang Ze didn¡¯t recognize either of them, though as he turned his head, he saw a young child cowering in the corner.

    Nope - the kid didn¡¯t look familiar either, but Tang Ze found that he couldn¡¯t look away from the boy now, as if his head was locked into place.

    The boy grew older, going from being about ten to being a teenager, and all of a sudden, in the span of a few breath¡¯s time, was an adult.

    And it was then that Tang Ze recognized him.

    How could he not?

    The man whose face he oftentimes saw in his dreams.

    A man whose face invoked the deepest of hatred within himself.

    The man then lurched forward, and just like he had back on Earth, charged with a knife, but this time he wasn¡¯t targeting Tang Jun and came directly for Tang Ze.

    Pain began to blossom across his stomach before disappearing as suddenly as it had come, as he now found himself in a dark hallway with a mirror in front of him.

    Only, his reflection was different from his actual self. The mirror image of Tang Ze looked like it had had the life drained out of itself, and all of a sudden, Tang Ze¡¯s eyes moved to see that there was something gripping onto his mirror image, like an unwanted piggyback rider.

    It was a malformed creature that had a face that vaguely resembled Tang Ze¡¯s, though it was as if someone had taken his face onto a plastic mold and then melted it slightly near a fireplace. The creature had a spider-like body attached to its head, and was gripped to his mirror image tightly, fangs near the neck of the reflected Tang Ze.

    And right then, Tang Ze felt a huge weight on his shoulder, and turned his head to see the malformed creature in the mirror was as a matter of fact, clinging to him in real life as well.

    Just like in the mirror, it was riding atop his shoulders, latched onto his body like a leech. No matter how much Tang Ze struggled, he found that he couldn¡¯t get it off of himself. ¡°Where¡¯d you come from? Get off me!¡± Tang Ze screamed.

    In response, the creature whispered into his ear, speaking in Tang Jun¡¯s voice, ¡°I was always here.¡±

    And with that, the scene shifted, and white light washed over Tang Ze as he found himself back in the room with the Grimoire of Heaven still open to its first page.

    The elder he had seen earlier walked in and said, ¡°Time¡¯s up!¡±

    The incense stick in the room had burnt out completely.