“Vilya? Haven’t seen her since… Well, since you took her.” The head of the Heavenly Peach said.

[Figures…] I grumbled. The high-end brothel was the first one I visited, but as I expected, she was not there. Nor was she in any of the other, less famous ones.

It was sad to say, but I didn’t really know much about her. I didn’t know if Vilya had any friends, family, or even acquaintances in the Sect. Sure, she knew people in the Heavenly Peach, but they weren’t close and nobody knew where she was.

I knew her energy signature, but scanning the entire Sect was… Well, above my abilities, that’s for sure. And there were so many Spirit Accumulation Outer Disciples, that I didn’t have the mental capacity to examine every one of them.

Of course, I made a few rounds through the parts of the Sect where most people gathered, but I had no luck. Not that I expected to find her so easily. There were about 10.000 people from the younger generation at around her level, aged 20 to 30.

Heck, I even visited my old friends in case they had seen her. They didn’t, but it was worth a try. I also spoke with them about what was going on, and if there was anything new, but it was much of the same. As it turned out, things changed extremely slowly in the Cultivation world. Unlike on Earth, things here took decades instead of months or quarters. Anything interesting happening advanced slowly. For a Cultivator a few months or years was nothing. Since young they learned to be patient and slowly improve, biding their time.

In the end, I resorted to blatantly scanning crowds of people, but then those being scanned began giving me hostile looks, so I stopped. I had no luck finding her on my first day, or the second, or the third.

I gave up after that. If she was in closed-door Cultivation somewhere, I would be just wasting my time.

Returning back home, I visited the arena and the machine I had built there. The Forge was just where I had left it, devoid of power. Nothing changed.

I summoned Tiny and constructed his upgraded body, powering him up with the old cores. I still had the three peak Golden Core beast cores and so I sat on the ground and began carving. It was slow going, but there was progress. I had to be really careful not to accidentally make a mistake. It took me so long to get them, I couldn’t afford to waste them.

A few days later, they were done. Carved, covered with runes, and the special ink baked into them for the best efficiency. They would serve well as energy tanks for Tiny.

[High five, Tiny!]

I lifted my hand and Tiny slapped it. I grinned. I could see the smoothness of his movements increase after getting a power boost. With bigger reserves, he could use more energy at once, making him more active. He still stayed still like a statue while not moving to conserve energy, but his activities were much better.

[Alright, that’s one week down, just… 599 to go till I’m free!] I paused and then dread washed over me. [Oh, fuck me...] A year on this planet was slightly longer than that of Earth. There were 12 months but every one of them had 35 days. So, yeah… 60 weeks per year.

And a decade was such a long time! Maybe it wasn’t much for Cultivators, but I wasn’t one of them! I barely had magic for two years. I was a child born in the age of computers, of instant and constant dopamine spikes… Ten years… that was torture!

Okay, maybe not real torture, but it was still bad. I didn’t like it. Sure, there were people to interact with, things to learn, stuff to do, but being limited in something just made me want to do it more.

I was getting increasingly frustrated, and without Vilya to release the tension, I briefly considered banging my head against the wall. At least it would be something new.

Apparently, when people were beyond bored and in solitude, and they had the option to press a button that would give them an electric shock, they would do it. Anything was better than nothing, even pain.

And then something clicked in my brain.

I could make use of pain, of bloody torture. I was a Body Cultivator, was I not? And I knew the perfect thing for that too.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

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[Yup, I’ve officially gone insane.]

I stood in the middle of the Arena, with Tiny watching from the side. Around me a Formation drawn with my blood and beast cores dissolved inside it. A potent magical ink that had served my needs well.

[Beast Slaughter Formation! It’s done!]

It was slightly modified, of course. If I saw something made once, I could copy it. It wasn’t perfect, obviously, but it was good enough. Due to the slight modification, it only activated when I wanted it to, and it had no barrier surrounding it since that would be a waste of energy. Oh, you thought it was for safety? So I could escape in case of danger? No, I just didn’t want to waste Spirit Stones.

I took off my robe and neatly folded it some distance away from the Formation and then with a deep breath, stepped inside. I transformed into my higher form, growing thick red scales, various spikes, and even horns. I was naked, but I didn’t appear naked. Lizards had some interesting ways of hiding their bits inside their body, which was cool. It was also really useful to have some important body parts protected. I knew I could regrow it all if an accident happened, but what if something went wrong? A one-in-a-billion chance. Better not risk it.

I gave a mental command, and the Formation flashed to life. Blades of Spirit Qi formed, spiraling through the limited space they had with no real pattern. They spun around and swirled in the air randomly and soon I felt a stinging sensation on the back of my leg. I instinctively turned, but then a blade sliced open my cheek, and then one pierced my stomach and spun around, carving a line through my chest. I immediately regenerated, but then another dozen blades flew randomly around or through me, doing even more damage.

I winced at the sharp, stinging pain, but it was manageable. Compared to the collar, it was nothing. Each cut was instantly regenerated with the tiniest speck of Qi, rebuilding my flesh a fraction of a percent stronger than it was previously. I figured that if I continued like that for a few hours every day, my defenses would quickly skyrocket.

Now, there was no accurate way to measure my improvements, but based on what I felt, a 1% daily improvement wasn’t out of reach. I just had to really push myself every single day.

Then again, it was doubtful I could sustain such a stupidly expensive way of training. Every five hours the Formation would use up two Spirit Stones, despite being incredibly small and efficient. So basically two Spirit Stones every day. That was a lot. It meant I could barely sustain the training regiment for a single year!

Another energy blade cut deep into my body, taking with it a splattering of blood. I subconsciously groaned and then pulled the crimson liquid back inside. It was so annoying. Cutting all the sensitive spots and shit. It was necessary, of course, I just wished there was a better way.

At least none of my bones were cut. Well, they were damaged, but the blades weren’t strong enough to pierce them completely.

Dragon Tyrant Forging Obsidian Bones.

Oh, yeah, the Body Cultivation technique got upgraded again. It was the best one I had, clearly. It had the longest name after all. It had to be the best.

Or maybe not. Who the fuck knows? I sure for sure didn’t. I had no idea how to grade the techniques I held in my possession. There was so much conflicting information from the three Sects. All the Elders and Disciples that made up my mind… Was it Mortal-grade? Probably not. Earth? Maybe… Spirit? It was certainly possible, but perhaps it was even Heaven-grade.

I had no idea, and I didn’t care. Because it was a brand-new technique. Created by yours truly. Combined from many other decent techniques. With a pinch of Dragon on top. Because, obviously, everything was better if you added a Dragon.

Oh, you got a stone? How about a Dragon Stone? Bam! Instant fame. A normal sword? Bam! A Dragon Sword! Legendary item, I tell you.

So, yeah… Dragon Techniques, made for a Dragon, which I was… partially. Okay, about 3% of my bloodline was from a Dragon. I mean a Dragon subspecies. Same shit. It was the same, just, you know… weaker.

Don’t get me wrong, anyone having even a smidgen of a Dragon’s bloodline would be way better than the base model. Clearly nowhere near the real thing since those beasts were the kings of the continent, but uh…

Why was I rambling again?

Oh, yeah… The torture, I mean Body Cultivation. Yeah, well, turns out that getting chopped up into tiny little pieces kinda hurt. And it was maddening. I barely just started and I was already sick of it.

Whose stupid idea it was to Cultivate like that? Such a thing was inhumane! The guy that came up with it had to be high on his own farts or something. Possibly a drug-addicted masochist. Definitely a drunk at least.

Still, even if I disliked the unusual training regiment, I could feel it working already, so it was difficult to stop, all things considered. Between the irritating pain of having my flesh sliced open and the knowledge I would eventually become invincible if I kept doing it, I decided to focus on the latter. Especially after getting beaten to a pulp by a Grand Elder not too long ago.

That was quite the experience, one I didn’t plan on repeating any time soon.

But, as the minutes stretched into hours, and as day turned to night, I began hoping, praying, for something to wake me from the monotonous nightmare I found myself in. And yet, nothing happened.

As a man, I had to learn to endure the solitude and pain, the boredom and sorrow, all on my own.

I mean I could have a person with me, but, literally everybody I knew that was on my level died, so… yeah.

I stopped the Formation, went to get something to eat, and then went straight to sleep. I hoped the next day would bring some excitement to my life, or at least break the monotony of repetition. Oh, how naive I was…