Chapter 29
Egg-cellent Nesting
Yue barely managed to retreat to 'her' hut without screaming out further.
She held the feather within her hands as though it was her newborn child, fragile and a fall away from breaking. She had to use Qi to steady her hands and prevent them from shaking, lest she dropped it. Though she knew that it was foolish--the feather would be just fine whether she dropped it or threw it into an active volcano, she couldn't help it.
Did she doubt her Master's words? No.
Even if they were insane and something that would invoke mockery in the outside world, she knew that her Master wasn't simply 'bragging'. If he claimed that the feather had the ability to procure an attack at the level of an Earthly Immortal... she believed it. But just because she believed didn't mean she believed.
Earthly Immortals, after all, were the figures of mythology. One of the first pieces of knowledge that every child learned in the schools was that the Ashlands, at the moment, only had one Earthly Immortal--the Venerable Sword God, Sect Master of the only Tier X Sect on the continent, Immortal Sword Sect.
And yet, supposedly, the quaint, faintly-glowing feather lying calmly on her palm had the ability to produce an attack at the level of the strongest known figure on the continent. How could she not shake with terror and trepidation?
Deep down, she felt like she should swear to the heavens to never use the feather--should an attack of that magnitude truly appear within the Lower Ashlands, she was far from clever enough to contemplate the consequences.
But... if he handed them out as though he was handing out candy, perhaps, in her Master's eyes, something at this level was... partly worthless? Had she been his Disciple all her life, perhaps she could rationalize it as him wanting her to be safe, but that wasn't the case. Even if he was nice towards her, they'd only just begun their journey as a Master-Disciple pair. There was no reason for him to hand her what was effectively a weapon that could bring about the end of the entire Sect.
Was it a test? Yes, perhaps. Maybe this was his way of testing her honesty and her heart. If she were corrupted, she would go and immediately use the feather to exact vengeance.
She was pulled from the thoughts by a gentle touch of a paw--glancing down, she saw Blackie climb on top of her lap and look up at her. It seemed to 'grin', almost, as she looked at the feather. Extending her paws, Blackie began to gesture--almost like a person would. Whether she wanted to believe it or not, it seemed to Yue that Blackie was telling her that it was 'fine'. That she could do with the feather whatever she wanted.
That was even heavier of a burden, however.
Thus, just before falling into deep meditation, she swore that she wouldn't use feather unless she was about to die. It would truly become the last resort, and she would sooner lose a limb or two rather than unveil to the world the existence of her Master.
**
By the time Leo woke up, Yue was gone.
Once again, he mulled over his choice the last night--if the feather, perhaps, truly was something remarkable... was it right for him to hand it over? What if she sold it and never returned? Or, worse yet, what if she gathered a bunch of cultivators and used the feather to kill them all? Wouldn't that weigh terribly on his conscience?
Even if he knew her and liked her well enough, they'd barely just met, after all. For all he knew, the anger she felt toward her family wasn't as simple as he believed--perhaps it ran much deeper, with hatred coursing through her veins, igniting her heart into one of vengeance.
Alas, he was not afforded the luxury of mulling over his choices this morning--for a new quest appeared.
This time around, it came from the friend who liked to curl up within his robes and around his arm. Well, it turned out that 'she' liked to curl up around his arm--Long Johnson turned out to be Long Jane-son, which just didn't roll off the tongue quite as naturally.
['???????' beseeches you to help her]
[After grueling, 800 years long pregnancy, she is ready to lay an egg]
['???????' asks you to build her a warm and secure nearby]
[Time Limit: 2 days]
[Reward: <Plain Poison Immunity Physique>]
Looking at the (admittedly cute) face of the snake, Leo was a bit flummoxed. There was the whole pregnancy thing, sure, but he was fairly certain that the system mentioned something akin to '800 years long pregnancy', which he did not compute. As the window was no longer there, he convinced himself that he'd simply added a zero or two to that number, settling his mind.
Unlike with previous 'nests', there was no new building with all the ingredients gifted to him. It seemed, for the first time, the system 'wanted' to see whether he was capable of solving anything on his own.
Since he had about as much knowledge of snakes as a toddler did, he had no clue what kind of a nest snakes sought during pregnancy, labor, and before the egg cracked and whatnot. But, nonetheless, he swore to build one to the best of his abilities.
Before starting, he prepared meals for everyone, and while they finished off the food, he looked around the nearby trees--there was a roughly sixty feet wide clearing that was slowly expanding, but there were still a few untouched trees there (such as the one housing the owl's nest).
"No, wait, does it have to be near a tree...?" ultimately, he didn't know.
Sighing, he crouched, picked up a twig, and started drawing on the dirt. Long Jane-son (it truly lost the charm) was quite large, and seemed capable of illusions of sort. After all, whenever she wrapped around his arm, she was quite tiny and light, but on the outside and while eating, she seemed well over twenty feet long at least.
As such, he had to scale the nest to not only accommodate her vastness, but also the egg. Who knew how big an egg that was gestating for 800 years would become.
"No, no, it must have meant something like 800 hours. Yeah."
Eventually, he went out and gathered materials for the mud hut, constructing the seventh one. Once it was up, he went inside and started digging into the ground--luckily, being a cultivator meant that he was able to dig out dirt with his bare hands rather easily. He went deep and wide, and even began decorating the hole a bit as the dirt was rather sturdy when not touched by Qi.
After the hole was dug, he mulled for a moment before deciding to craft a single torch and light it up within the hole. However, after a few minutes, he began to choke on the smoke and decided against it.
Leaving the hut, he was still uncertain.
Ultimately, he didn't know how to make it perfectly comfortable, so he decided to simply decorate it. He brought a bucket of water from the pond and settled it in the corner; the corner opposite of it was a home to several jugs of the fruit juice, while the other two corners had plenty of his famous vegetable stew. He also lined the bottom of the hole with straw, and even took the pillow he was using and put it at the bottom.
Feeling at least somewhat satisfied, he wiped his forehead (of the non-existent sweat) and went for a quick bath. By the time he'd returned, the snake had occupied the mud hut and, eerily, there was a door-like contraption at the entrance that seemed to disallow others, including Leo, entry.
Similarly, unlike with all other mud huts, there was nobody on top of it or even around it. It was as though the forest knew to stay away from the mama snake.
Just then, he felt something churn within his stomach--a mere second later, he was lying on his side, convulsing, as he felt fire burn through his veins. It was so painful that he cried out 'till his throat burned, but, eerily, no animal came to his aid.
Just as he thought he was finally about to die, it all stopped--the pain ended, and the burning sensation within his veins became a cooling and embracing one. He was still on the floor, covered in sweat and tears, for a moment believing he'd thought up the entire episode in his head. But the window floating in front of his eyes confirmed otherwise.
['???????' was extremely pleased with the nest!]
[Your reward has been upgraded from <Plain Poison Immunity Physique> to <Moderate Poison Immunity Physique>. Additionally, once a month, you can squeeze a single drop of the <Soul-Paralyzing Poison> out of you which can paralyze cultivators up to Nascent Soul Realm]
['???????' has entered a long process of egg-laying and cultivating. It will take anywhere from 3 to 10 years. You will need to replenish the water and food every 30 days; otherwise, there is a high chance that either '???????' or the child might perish]
[<Moderate Poison Immunity Physique> -- in the Ancient Serpent Clan, during the Immortal Age, newborn heirs were bathed in 33 different poisons for 33 days. Those who managed to survive for at least 3 days inherited <Moderate Poison Immunity Physique>, though were considered failures and most often banished from the Clan]
Leo sighed, lamenting that the system was being rather stingy. Then again, the only thing he did was build a rather unremarkable shelter. Thus, perhaps, the reward was appropriate.
Even if it was just a minor 'physique', any protection against poisons was nice. However, he swore he'd avoid quests granting physiques from now on--the pain he experienced for those few seconds was something that was unbearable.
Standing by the perishing flames of the campfire, he once again found himself bored--sitting down cross-legged, he began to meditate in accordance with the <Hallowed Paradise>. This time around, he managed to cycle his Qi thrice through the guidelines before he fell flat on his bum and got hungry. Luckily, there was a gourd of juice nearby that he chugged down, quickly recovering. Strangely, he didn't pass out this time around, and after the single gourd of juice, he felt fully refreshed.
Pondering for a moment, and noting the dozen or so still-filled jugs of juice... he decided to go on a bit of a mission.
Chapter 30
Foundation Establishment
With the jugs of fruit juice scattered neatly around him in a circle, Leo sat cross-legged once again and closed his eyes, imagining himself inwardly. Taking the shimmering strands of milky-white Qi from the center of himself, he began to guide them once again. Though the route was simple, it was rather exhausting--mentally and physically.
However, each time he got tired, he reached for a jug of the juice and took a few swigs, replenishing lost energy and Qi. Bit by bit, he felt the quantity of Qi grow--from a small, pebble-sized bundle, to a slightly larger pebble-sized bundle. As for whether he was growing stronger or not, he was entirely uncertain.
Beyond simply focusing on guiding the strand of Qi through himself, he pondered on his wants of this life; for now, he was entirely content being here, in the forest, cut from the rest of the world, spending his days feeding animals and completing their random quests. At some point, however, he would leave this place and enter the unknown, outside world. Would he still be content being a nobody? Probably.
Ultimately, he wanted a life void of stress and boredom--he wanted to explore the world, visit all the breathtaking vistas it had to offer, meet all manner of unique people, and understand it as well as he understood Earth. There was beauty in his ignorance, he realized--starting from the blind corner of the world, he had a lifetime of places to explore, foods to eat, and people to meet.
At some point, he entered a strange haze--it wasn't quite the state of enlightenment, merely its ersatz. He'd stopped thinking about guiding the strand of Qi and was doing it unconsciously. Bit by bit, Qi in his dantian expanded and began to crash against the walls.
Unbeknownst to him, he'd reached a bottleneck--the dividing wall between Qi Condensation and Foundation Establishment Realms. Most cultivators of the world were more than half his age when they met this barrier, though few, if any, were as relaxed about it.
After all, though the strength difference wasn't terribly incomprehensible between the two realms, the passage determined a good amount about one's future potential as a cultivator.
Animals gathered around Leo who'd, eerily, began to levitate above ground--there was a strange, kaleidoscopic glow embossing his frame, vapors of white smoke dancing around him like flames. He began to emanate a peculiar hum, low and droning, as an image of a banyan tree appeared behind him--it was a barely discernible mirage, though its roots ran beneath him and into the maw of the world, while the sprawling canopy remained perfectly symmetrical. It looked like a looming shield over him, shading him from the sun and basking in the glow he was exuding.
The mirage faded as quickly as it appeared, and Leo landed on the ground as the tension between animals seemed to have vanished; they returned to their nests and homes and lives, as though nothing transpired.
[Consumed <Bead of Nirvana> whilst breaking through to the Foundation Establishment Realm]
[<Bead of Nirvana> guarantees Perfect Ascension]
The windows faded before Leo could open his eyes and see them.
Inwardly, he felt the sense of peace and serenity that he'd never felt before in his life--they were fleeting, however, and once they were gone, they left a strange, almost aching yearning in their place.
Sighing, he opened his eyes and saw a rather massive window floating there that startled him. There was a lot of information, and he never knew when it would vanish, so he quickly committed it all to memory.
[Congratulations on breaking past the boundary of Mortality and beginning your Immortal Journey]
[You have reached 'Foundation Establishment Realm' -- just as spires ascending toward the skies cannot hold the weight of the winds without firm foundations, so those in pursuit of Immortality cannot do so without a Foundation]
[Excess Qi had expanded and strengthened your meridians]
[Excess Qi had expanded and strengthened your dantian]
[Excess Qi had purified, strengthened, and evolved your Spirit Roots]
[<Mid-Tier Earth Mortal Roots> ---> <Peak-Tier Tri-Elemental Mortal Roots>]
[Your vitality has been increased!]
[Your strength has been increased!]
[Your Qi has been increased massively!]
[Your lifespan has been increased!]
[You may now project Qi in elemental forms!]
[...]
[Congratulations on passing the first barrier!]
[System Level: 2]
[System XP: 13/20]
[...]
[Additional rewards: <Basic Flying Sword>, <Talisman of Protection>, <Seed of Dao>, <Wisp of Wood Qi>]
[<Basic Flying Sword> -- crafted from the finest Qi-purified steel, it is neither the sharpest nor the most durable, but it is a weapon trusted by many. Infusing Qi into it will allow you to form a tether and control it with your mind. The distance, power, and maneuverability are dependent on the quality and quantity of your Qi]
[<Talisman of Protection> -- a vaunted treasure of the weak, the talisman will protect the wearer from a singular, lethal attack. Can block an attack from a Nascent Soul Realm cultivator]
[<Seed of Dao> -- contains trace amounts of Laws of Dao. Can study it for insights into the function behind the form]
[<Wisp of Wood Qi> -- contains trace amounts of True Wood Qi. Can study it to reveal the source. Absorbing True Qi of the elements increases the chance of successful Nascent Ascension massively, in addition to allowing the formation of Perfect Nascent Soul]
[... your journey, however inconsequential, towards Immortality has just begun. As a bonus, a temporary list of possible System purchases with XP will be available for the next 2 hours. You may only make one purchase of your choice]
[1. <Wisp of Fire Qi> -- contains trace amounts of True Fire Qi (Cost: 10 XP)
2. <Food Pellets x20> -- keeps you from being hungry for 7 days (Cost: 5 XP)
3. <Sword Array Art> -- project the image of your sword threefold and strike in the direction (Cost: 12 XP)
4. <Pill of True Energy x3> -- temporarily suspend Qi exhaustion. Lasts 10 seconds. Become severely hampered after expiration for 1 minute (Cost: 10 XP)
5. <Basic Cottage Blueprint> -- learn how to build a basic wooden cottage. Comes with the following furniture: a bed, a praying mat, a bench, a chair, a dining table, a storage chest (Cost: 13 XP)
6. <Cauldron of Autonomous Cooking> -- allows for automatic preparation of the simplest of meals (max of 3 ingredients). Extremely slow, cumbersome, and lacking in taste (Cost: 1 XP)
7. <Basic Qi Pill x10> -- increase the speed at which you gather Qi by 25% for 1h. Effect is increased to 40% for 2h for your Disciples (Cost: 8 XP)
8. <Fire Palm Art> -- strike out with an open palm and coalesce Qi into a slow-moving fire palm (Cost: 13 XP)
[Good luck, and don't die!]
Leo rubbed his eyes rather comically as he tried to put to memory all the information that he got. Four items seemed to fall out of the blue sky and land in front of him immediately after--a very simple-seeming sword, about thirty-five inches in length and two and a half fingers wide. It shimmered beneath the sunlight, its edges appearing cold and deadly. Its guard was rather simple and flat, and its handle was wrapped in leather.
Besides it was a piece of paper no larger than a palm of a hand with a strange, runic character written on top of it that Leo didn't recognize. However, he quickly picked up the talisman with great care and shoved it into his robes--it was a life-saving treasure, after all! Even if he didn't know exactly how strong someone at a Nascent Realm was, usually, in the cultivation world, it tended to be the starting realm of the big shots!
The last two items were rather similar--both were almost like seeds of a fruit, very rough to touch. The <Seed of Dao> was purely white and seemed aglow with strange sheen. If Leo looked at it directly for longer than just a couple of seconds, he began to feel light-headed and dizzy. As such, he set it aside for when he wanted to experience such states.
The <Wisp of Wood Qi>, on the other hand, seemed no different from any random seed--in fact, Leo was half-tempted to plant it and see what sprouted out in a few years. However, just like the <Seed of Dao>, there was something about it, almost like someone drew blinds on what was 'inside', preventing him from seeing it.
For a moment, however, he set aside all four of the rewards and focused on the window in front of him. If he could, he'd buy them all--but he could only buy one. Though the cauldron was initially tempting, seeing its shortcomings eliminated it quickly. It was likely the sort of tool that was used in a war to produce massive quantities of food regardless of speed and quality.
He was also tempted by the cottage, as he was tempted by the true energy pill, and even the <Fire Palm Art>--though, he had to admit that the only reason he was tempted by it was for the fantasy of shooting fire out of his hands, as the art itself seemed remarkably useless.
Ultimately, and without too much contemplation (as he feared he'd make a selfish choice), he ended up buying ten <Basic Qi Pills>. To him, at least, it was the best choice, both short-term and long-term. So long as Yue didn't betray him and ran off with the feather, she was his greatest safety net. Making her strong was making him strong--and she seemed like someone who could easily sit for two hours, wholly unmoving, to make full use of the pill.
As soon as he made his choice, he saw his System XP dwindle back down to 5, causing him to sigh. It was a devil's game, he realized--though he was desperate to level it up and unlock new functions, the temptation of buying things... was too big.
Right then, ten pills appeared in his lap--they were small and perfectly round, and a quick sniff revealed that they had a rather sweet and alluring scent. Though he was tempted to pop one in right then and there, he endured and put them away as well.
Standing up, he stretched and enjoyed his bones cracking like thunder. There was one thing he was desperate to test out, which prompted him to pick up the sword and close his eyes.
The leather handle was perfectly comfortable to the touch, and he guided the strands of Qi from within him towards it--unlike while he was in Qi Condensation Realm, the speed at which he gathered Qi was just about six times faster. Within a second, a strand shot through his meridians and into his palm, entering the sword right after.
As he let loose the grip and opened his eyes, he saw the sword floating in front of him, suspended in midair. A child in him awoke as his lips stretched out into a massive grin--guiding the thin, Qi tether between him and the sword with his mind, he began moving it around. He all but burst out into sonorous laughter at the sight, but as he got distracted, the tether broke and the sword fell down.
However, even that wasn't enough to ruin his mood--he was able to control a sword with his mind! If he got good enough with it, didn't that mean that he'd be able to jump on top of it and fly?! Naturally, he wouldn't go too high--what if he fell?! However durable his body was, it was certain to break from a high fall.
He began to hum a rather pleasant tune while gathering materials for his next creation--the sword scabbard! He was certain he knew how to make it!... probably!
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