Chương 248: Story 29,The Path Of Least Resistance. Chapter 2
I watched then as the doctor picked up the zombie and then brought it into his shop... And after a moment of thought, I walked past the crowd of people watching the scene wearily.
Coming into the shop I saw that the stone exterior gave way to softy darkened with lacquer wooden walls and flooring. With the doctor who was in front of me pausing as he brought the zombie woman behind a desk leading to the back of his... Practise?
I honestly wasn't sure what to even call this clinic.
But after a moment the guy came back from around the back with a wry smile crossing his face. "Hello, young man. May I help you?"
I nodded slowly and asked a bit awkwardly. "I am looking for silver needles, and some five-year-old Moongrove herbs."
The Moongrove herbs were herbs that weren't even on the ranked herbs list, but they had the ability to when taken or mixed into elixirs or pills increase the speed of qi along with having absorbed a hint of gentle moon and yin qi.
Actually... From the acupuncture book, the Moongrove herb was technically considered a potent poison adaptative with how it would act as the catalyst for allowing much more violent poisons to integrate with the qi of the poisoned target.
And five-year-old herbs for unranked spirit herbs weren't too expensive honestly so long as the herbs didn't have weird growth conditions.
Many clans and Sect's had underground grow houses apparently and with just a couple of minor spirit stones to enrich the area, they could harvest in mass large amounts of unranked spirit herbs like the Moongrove Herb and others every few years.
The doctor raised an eyebrow before taking my form and shrugging. "Very well, I won't be asking you any questions as to why you need silver needles along with a minor qi poison."
I bowed my head slightly and replied calmly. "It's not to do any harm to anyone if that helps. Its just for my own studies."
He just made a humming noise before he said. "Wait here, I will get what you need from the back."
But even as he did so, I locked eyes onto his Green Providence Halo and I decided to peek to see what his opportunity was.
[The doctor was in the back of his dark office, with the zombie woman's corpse lying atop a raised operating table of sorts. And the doctor was wrist-deep into the chest of the zombie corpse.
I watched as the doctor with a frown pulled out a small marble and he muttered. "The tenth and final zombie core I need... I have no idea which fool is daring to make zombies in the capital but they are a strong fool who is trying to make wild Foundation Establishment Zombies with their own cores."
Then I saw as he took the last zombie core he needed and he intertwined the core between what looked like a braided necklace of still living and pumping blood vessels that were pumping blood endlessly around the necklace that now had an even ten cores.]
I drew back my mind from his opportunity and I shuddered at the memory of the corpse and his so-called fucking opportunity. Granted he wasn't the one making the zombies... But he was also clearly profiting from it to an obscene degree and had made some kind of artifact from it.
A couple of seconds later the doctor came back with a small leather square along with a flat rice paper package. "That will be five silver bars."
I hid a slight wince at the cost of the silver needles as I knew they were going to be expensive with how they were obviously pure silver but I still forked over the majority of my money.
With the goods in hand, I bowed before I retreated from the clinic not wanting to stay around the evil cultivator any longer. From there I headed straight to my home as I wanted to get started with cultivation in some way.
After quickly heading home I got into my room and paid the extra fee for a hot bath so with a hiss I got into said extra hot bath and scrubbed myself of any dirt... Before realizing my reincarnation gave me an extra squeaky clean body actually.
Either way! While still in the bath as I knew I was going to get nasty with how I would be manually opening the qi cycles with the [Acupunction and Piercing the Heavens.] the method that the book described from the notes I had taken.
"First is the Spring Acupoint in my left elbow..." I muttered as I took a deep breath as I knew this was going to hurt in the worst way. And I needed to keep my body under strict control lest I shatter the silver needle as it poked open the acupoint.
Getting a needle that was filled with Qi from the Moongrove herbs stuck in my arm after it broke would be... And extremely painful affair to fix after all and I certainly didn't have the money to pay for someone to cut me open to pull the bits of needles out of me.
The acupoints of the [Acupunction and Piercing the Heavens.] method were in highly sensitive points on the body, the elbow points for example were directly into what people would call the funny bone when stimulated or hit.
So I knew this was going to be a bitch to say the least.
Next I ground up the Moongrove herbs I got that were at least five years of ago and not more then ten as then they would be too violent for my body that was lacking qi.
Then mixing the ground-up herbs in a plate filled with just a bit of boiling water, I watched the water turn a bright silver as the boiling water activated the qi within the Moongrove herb.
Dipping the first needle into the concoction, I hissed as I felt a flare of pain and electricity shoot through my primary arm.
"One down... Four more to go." I muttered and then I got back to work putting the other needles that were filled with the neutral Qi of the moongrove herb into my other elbow's knee's and then finally into my forehead.
I shivered as heat bloomed into my head and I frankly felt sick even as I started hurriedly breathing the [Acupunction and Piercing the Heavens.] method of qi breathing that wasn't even a true cultivation method.
And as soon I began breathing according to that method I flinched as the silver needle in my forehead popped out and fell into my bath water. Then the rest of my needles fell out of my elbows and knees with a soft clinking noise as they hit the bottom of the bath.
"This... Is uncomfortable, but it's not-" My words were silenced as I abruptly vomited everything in my stomach into the trash can outside of the bath and then the burning feeling grew in my body.
I groaned softly as I clenched as burning heat flared in actual pain that I couldn't just push down mentally. And as I looked at the sources of the pain, I saw in my elbows and knee's pitch black blood was leaking out of the tiny holes that were made in the acupoints.
"Gonna need a thick bandage for that... This method is extremely useful, but having my body literally leaking all the impurities out over time is going to suck." I muttered thickly as I just slumped into the smooth back of the bath with the water turning a dark brown in but a couple of minutes.
-
A few minutes later I felt something pop in my chest and my breathing became so much easier and I realized that my first Meridian had been opened!
But then... I realized a major fucking issue. "I don't have an actual cultivation method to breathe in qi!" I screamed into my pillow while I bound my elbows and knees up in sweatbands that had been soaked in some herbs to keep them clean.
I stood up and then I went back into the bathroom and I gave a wane smile as I could see in the reflection of the mirror my own Providence Halo was green now that I had the possibility of cultivation!
"Now. Where the hell can I find a cultivation manual?" I muttered as I dragged my hand across my face.
As it wasn't like I was going to just come across a cultivation manual in a pile of trash...
'Or can't I find one?' I mused as I got up and then I left the room and hurried across the capital city of Shanghai and went to the gambling district which was 'next door' to the red light district...
But as I was walking towards one of the major casinos I saw in the one of the alleyways was a woman in bright blue clothes that staggered out of one of the whore houses and I saw another man stumble behind her.
Normally I would think they were just drunk... But the woman actually had a fucking purple Providence Halo above her head!
Instantly I paused with people pushing past me and grumbling but I was undaunted as I instantly threw my mind into that purple halo.
[She had been tracking a series of disappearances of people across the city of Shanghai. People literally up and disappearing from their very homes when just leaving to go to another room. For weeks she had tracked the disappearances and only recently did she catch hints.
One of the people who disappeared was found wandering outside this pillow house. A whore house of better repute where the girls were beautiful and expected to be used far more gently and be more on the side of entertainment.
The woman was noted as being unresponsive and generally clinically apathetic to the woman who found her in the gambling district after she had wandered over there away from her minds.
And through her own inspections of the woman... She had learned the woman who had disappeared had lost her very soul!
-
Knowing the place was of ill-repute and there being many cultivator guards who would also intercede should something happen and make a lot of noise she then broke into the facility and found in its basement a large supply cache of materials, but most importantly dozens of men and women who had their souls devoured by a demon!
The very demon who when coming down into the basement had drawn the woman into a tight fight using its talent with soul aphrodisiacs, but with her talent in the righteous way she cut into the demon greatly before her body began to fail as she tried to escape.]
I hurriedly pulled my mind out of the Halo as I realized the major opportunity was the treasure trove down in the hidden basement inside the pillow house and already the cultivator woman was being dragged into the whore house by her black hair that had orange streaks through it.
'Fuck... I want that opportunity, but I can't get past the demon. God knows if she is even meant to get the opportunity or whatever. Hell for all I knew she gets her soul damaged before she makes a comeback or something.' I thought before biting my lip and going in.
I came into the alleyway and after a moment I saw a brick lying against the building in front of some trash... So I picked up the brick and I went in through the back door of the whore house following the demon and the righteous cultivator.
'The demon must have taken her into the hidden tunnel.' I thought and I pushed open the false cabinet down the hallway and I saw a flash of the demon's who just looked like a normal somewhat overweight human cloak.
I quickly... But very carefully and quietly snuck down into the underground of the secret ritual room and as I came down I was instantly greeted by the ritual's glyph being blindingly bright in power.
"You may have damaged a bit of my life force with that Earth-ranked sword you worthless cultivator, but I already have my Demonic Core! It was only your sneak attack that harmed me!" The demon boasted loudly as the woman with black and orange hair glared at him from within the glowing ritual.
"Any last words before I eat your soul, cultivation, and body and you so lovingly refined for me haha?" He laughed out loudly.
But even if he was a demon core demon, which should match a Golden Core Cultivator, I without any cultivation had the strength to stand up to his aura. That's how weak and trash his cultivation was from only eating mortal souls en-mass.
Taking a deep breath I came up closer behind the demon while throwing a glance at the pile of loot in a pile from the side where the demon have obviously stolen it from his victims.
But as I got closer, the demon paused and his gloating stopped as he muttered. "What is that delectable smell?"
A loud crack was his answer as the brick slammed into the back of his head pushing him into the ritual circle with the demon screaming.
"No! You bastard! I am the demon Zheqi, and I won't be attacked by a fucking mortal!" He raged in pure unbridled mad fury at having just noticed I wasn't even a cultivator.
Which was probably how I managed to sneak up on him to begin with.
But as he turned his back to the woman she took advantage of his lack of attention and a sharp crack rang out as she slammed a knick she had hidden within her outfit directly into the demon's knee.
"You bitch!" The demon Zheqi snarled as he kicked the woman across the ritual circle and with a loud thum she hit the barrier on the other side with her vomiting blood onto the ritual which glowed ever brighter.
But in that moment I rushed forward and as the demon snapped back at with with the woman's own sword that I had seen in her Providence Halo... I didn't give him a chance to use it.
As I channeled all my strength and I just chucked brick at full speed with the demon cutting the brick in half in mid-air...
But even then, one-half of the brick hit him directly in the eye, and then the other half of the hit spun lower and hit him in the chest. Directly over the large gash across his chest where the woman had cut him deeply.
And then I saw the ritual dim as the demon vomited a mass of black blood that hissed and boiled like active acid as it hit the ground.
"What a fucking demon, literally dying and being beaten by an orphan without any cultivation. Seriously what a fucking waste of a demon." I taunted with the demon's face turning from deathly pale to blue with rage.
"You dare! I will take your blood and extinguish your next nine generations you filthy rat!" He snarled and I swallowed slightly as he stiffened his back and advanced on me with mad hatred in his eyes.
But as he got close I embraced my keyboard warrior held up my arms and yelled out. "If you stab me that means you are gay!"
Just as he was going to stab me with the sword and the force of my words actually made him stagger with black blood shooting from his gaping chest wound as he coughed in fury.
But that wasn't it... I then made sure he could never be gay as I just kicked him straight in the balls. With no holding back, full power, shin to nuts, my shoes kicking into his ass cheeks.
It was the kick that would remove bloodlines, and make millions of men who could have seen it on youtube back home cringe in shared pain.
The kick was enough... The demon's hand loosened on the woman's sword and I grabbed the demon by the wrist as he instinctively leaned over.
A loud wet squelching noise rang out as I slammed the edge of the blade into his throat.
'I got this!' I thought as he dropped the blade where I grabbed it and then my vision blurred as his palm shot forward and the next thing I knew was pain as I slammed into the wall across the room after bouncing across the floor several times.
The demon's voice was filled with mad insane if anything laughter as he gurgled through his slit throat. "Hahaha! Youuu you have the Luck Dragon Physique, a physique that will make me into an immortal demon."
I just lay there on the ground for a minute as he approached towards me and then as he grabbed my foot I went to drag me into the ritual circle with the woman. I went to slash at him with the woman's sword I had hidden.
But in response he just leaned back and then as my sword sailed past his fat chest kicked it further to the side and then he stomped on my arm breaking it with a loud cracking noise.
With the white hot pain shooting through me making me howl at the pain.
"Oh you are going to be screaming alot more in a couple of minutes boy... Tell you what though, for the great ability your physique will be giving me. I shall allow your body to be buried whole, I won't even eat you ahaha!" He cackled with mad glee.
But with him having stomped on me knee and being so close, I was able to grab the knife the woman slammed into his knee and violently twist and wrench it downwards with a wet cracking noise.
"Fuck you!" I spat as I then slammed the knife directly into his stomach as the demon groaned and then from the side came the woman with the black hair who had gotten back up.
And having taken back her sword, a loud cutting noise and a softer crack rang out as she cut through the distracted demon's head.
The burning bright ritual circle abruptly faded into darkness with only the sound of the woman's soft panting along with my own hiss as I brought my broken arm against my chest as I tried to stop the shooting agony.
"Why... Why are you here?" The woman spoke with a slurred voice.
My lips twitched in the darkness of the room that only was lit up now by a couple of weak lanterns which reflected the soulless gaze of the half dozen meat puppets down here that the demon was using to fill his whore house with.
I coughed and with pain clear in my voice I said tiredly. "I saw a literal demon dragging you into its murder basement... Just because I don't have a cultivation manual doesn't mean I will watch something that terrible happen."
It wasn't even me being a white knight or anything in my view... I wasn't some sociopath who would see a box of puppies floating down a river and just watch them float by.
Even if it inconvenienced me, I would do my best to get those puppies out of the river as a 'good person', not an 'evil person' who would throw rocks into the box to make it sink and hit the puppies, or be 'neutral' and just watch.
The woman was silent for a moment before she got up with a slight hiss of pain. "Then... What is your name? I won't leave this debt unpaid."
I grunted before I said dryly. "My name is Jake Bariss."
Thankfully although this world was earth just built off cultivation there was still a vaguely European place with English names though way out here on this side of the world, my names weren't so uncommon.
I managed to get up as my legs thankfully weren't hurt and I went over to the stash of supplies which were next to the soulless victims of the demon and I asked. "So what are you going to do with the victims? And what is your name actually?" I asked as I peeked back into the woman's halo from the side.
[Within the pile of goods were several cultivation manuals, traded and bought en-mass from other demons by trading the humans including low-level cultivators that the demon had captured.
Within the pile of cultivation manuals which were meant to be used as bait to capture would-be cultivators, was a very thin cultivation manual made of an oddly thick almost living wood that had living flames running through it.
That cultivation manual was called 'Everburning Tree of Transcendence' which was one of the opportunities she had when she would much later combine the dozens of cultivation manuals into a far greater one.
The Cultivation Manual which would be known as the Devouring Heavens and Hell Manual.]
Her Providense Halo dream ended and I blinked as I felt some pain in my head and honestly... A sort of hollowness inside of me but, I shook it aside as I took the best manual in the Everburning Tree of Transcendence which was a Fire and Wood element manual.
Which perfectly fit my alchemist-focused spirit root.
"My name is Zhu Yuan... What book did you take? Is it a corrupt cultivation manual?" She spoke with some steel in her voice.
But I shook my head and pointed it at her so she could read the title and seeing the wood and fire icongraphy she visibly relaxed at seeing the book wasn't like wrapped in bone or human skin.
"What are your qualifications in cultivation?" She asked suddenly after she popped a couple of pills into her mouth which made me blink as I tucked the manual into my pants so I wouldn't lose it.
And hearing her question I replied honestly. "I have no idea, I never got tested due to being an orphan, but I do have my first Meridian open even without a cultivation manual or anything."
This was completely true, the breathing method combined with the absolute bullshit acupuncture technique from the [Acupunction and Piercing the Heavens.] the manual was completely game-breaking for helping people just get started in getting cultivating.
Zhu Yuan gave me a long look before she approached and then she said more quietly. "Here, I have a pill that will help your arm heal much quicker. Can I make sure your arm will set correctly?"
Knowing I needed it to be done I grimaced but nodded with Zhu Yuan gently putting a finger to my lips before I could react and a pill fell into my mouth that instantly melted into a sweet liquid that I swallowed chokingly.
As a soft click rang out when Zhu Yuan took my arm and pushed the broken pieces of my forearm back into place with her sharp qi running through my arm.
"Ow." I said kinda pitifully but having your broken arm snapped back into place wasn't something pleasant to say the least, especially as I felt her sharp qi that felt like it could cut me up from the inside.
Zhu Yuan however chuckled slightly as she pulled back and she said with interest. "You truly don't have a flicker of Qi inside of you... And you do have a physique even if I can't recognize it as the Luck Dragon Physique." She mused more towards the end.
But either way I coughed and then said. "Well, Zhu Yuan... It's certainly been interesting to meet you to say the least. But I need to go, I have to give cultivating a try now that I at least have a manual."
Zhu Yuan's thoughtful expression broke before she looked at me with a raised eyebrow.
"What? Why would you leave? Don't you want the reward for helping kill a Golden Core demon?" She asked incredulous.
I just deadpanned and said flatly. "I have zero cultivation... What would it make others think if I got involved to take a slice of the pie? No, staying out of the limelight until I have some cultivation, resources, and most importantly some kind of backing is the most important for me."
There was a moment of silence before Zhu Yuan said with a slow nod. "I understand then... Hmm, you do have a fire and wood spirit root. So go ahead and take that cauldron,the books on the spirit roots, and alchemy materials in the pile."
The woman gave me a long look before she said. "This will be my repayment to you Jake Bariss. But beyond that, what Sect will you attempt to join?"
Taking a small bag I began filling it up with the books and materials she said to take, and hearing her question even bent over I shrugged and said honestly. "A medium to smaller sect. I rather be embroiled in conflicts with other sects over resources than fighting self-righteous fellow sect members for my own resources."
I shivered feeling Zhu Yuan's qi leak out before she sighed and said. "I see... That is a valid thought process to take. But Jake, I do have a suggestion."
Feeling the pressure in her words I gave her my full attention when I had sorted out the books and she gazed upon me with a weight in her gaze. "I belong to the Five Elements Sword Sect. It's the largest and most powerful sect in the Shanghai region with us having over three hundred pocket realms and dungeons within our territory."
She stepped forward closer to me and said honestly. "Jake... When I inevitably share this meeting with my master and the elders, they inevitably see my memories about the Golden Core demon. They will then know you have a rather valuable physique. I will frankly be in a lot of trouble should I let you go to another sect to inevitably rise up to at least become an Elder."
My lips twitched before I sighed as I imagined this honestly would happen with my reincarnation and going through the void between universes. Going through such things not to mention my cheats was obviously going to have an effect on my body.
"Ok, so I should just join your sect then?" I asked with what could have been a smile... But honestly I was really, really off put by the soulless husks sitting against one of the walls of the ritual room and just staring at us with empty eyes.
Zhu Yuan sensing where I was looking grimaced and but nodded. "Yes Jake, granted you would need to compete for resources but given your physique its likely you will be able to gain more allotted to yourself to begin with."
After a moment I nodded before exhaling and saying. "Alright then... I will join the Five Elements Sword Sect then. Is it actually just a sword sect though?" I asked with a wry smile.
She blinked at my question as she shifted and then she shook her head. "It's Sect Master and Head Elder's are all Sword Cultivators yes. But it also has a healthy amount of black smiths, alchemists, and other secondary profession masters to keep the sect self sufficient."
Then Zhu Yuan said firmly. "Alright that is enough questions Jake. Go back home, I have already marked you with my spirit energy so I can find you later after I meet with the Justice Guards."
With that I just smiled wryly and I left through the secret entrance before leaving the back of the whore house with a couple workers looking at me in confusion as I came up from out of the secret door.
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