John was used to having strange visions, at this point. They were always terrifying, often painful, and deeply unsettling. John was not thrilled to discover his latest nightmare had followed him into the real world.
The book still lay there, damp bloody words whispering a deadly promise. John took nearly an hour to calm down before deciding to read it. Just like waking from a nightmare, the effect of his vision faded over time. As it did so, John felt more and more foolish for how he had acted, he was embarrassed to have run away from the Deputy Librarian. Even with how terrifying it had been, he really gave a disappointing display.
The other factor was the book itself. John read basically every book on claw techniques in the sect, the introduction of them all at the very least. None of them felt right to him. Maybe the Sparrasso technique wouldn't work either, but John was pretty sure it would suit him perfectly. This was not the first time he had been... interfered with.
When John considered whether or not the book could make him strong enough to have defeated Lambert faster, or to eventually defeat the Sect Leader--that's what cemented his decision. What's the worst that could happen?
John spent the rest of the night reading the Sparrasso Claw technique. The book was undoubtedly odd. The pages were inked in his own blood, and the words remained damp even as he read--blood spilled on the covers and spine of the book dried quickly. The book described a savage and domineering fighting style, at times it was filled with the ferocity of a rabid bear, other time it had madness and unfathomable sharpness. Best of all, as John skimmed the later chapters it had techniques for qi-formed claws specifically. It described a method to use a cultivators elemental affinity to produce those claws, blood specifically in the case of the book, but it was adaptable. John's physical qi should have a unique advantage in the technique.
After reading the first few chapters, John couldn't stop himself from going outside and trying the movements. He didn't have a set of metal claws yet, he would need to get some in the morning, but just working though the motions with his hands left hif overjoyed. Every movement felt as natural and efficient as breathing. Learning the spear had been an effort, his body felt unnatural and he would stumble overhimself, kind of like learning to dance for the first time. Here it was like his body simply knew how best to move already.
His body knew it already, but seeing the techniques played out in front of his eyes on the page is what really unlocked his potential. Each new technique gave him a new tool in his combative capabilities. John was looking forward to bringing his claws to bear on demons and corrupt Elders alike.
----------------------------------------
Other than working on his katas and cultivating, John spared a precious few hours to work with Benjamin who had made a serious breakthrough in alchemy. The tuberous Weird plants that John found on his excursion with Kai were proving useful. Just like the Morning Dew Peach tree, where John had pushed a nexus of Weird energy into the peach before separating it, the potato plant generated a large number of smaller nexuses which John would push into the tubers and isolate. Benjamin could do so too, but it took a lot more effort and he would need to reduce the entire plant in his cauldron-dantian to do so. John sped up the process considerably.
The main benefit of having readily available Weird qi nexuses was imbuing various pills with a Weird specific effects. Any regular pill works for Weird cultivators too, but the effect is usually modified by the specifics of the Weird cultivator. John for example, gets little use out of standard qi-gathering pills since he needed to 'hunt' qi on his own to get the full effect, while an stamina recovery pill works as intended. Mark using a stamina recovery pill would have significant losses however, before he turned into a statue anyway. A Weird qi-gathering pill was closer to a living animal though, given the autonomous nature of the qi nexus, and thus consuming it worked great for John.
Luckily, producing pills furthered Ben's cultivation as well, so there was a virtuous cycle of benefits between them. Between the new pills and John's ruthless cultivation discipline the past two weeks, he was already pushing 55% full in his dantian. Before long he would enhance his muscles and unlock a new world of fight performance. What really excited John, and Benjamin once John explained his ideas, was the possibility of manufacturing their own Weird spirt stones.
Theoretically, by refining a qi nexus and a spirit stone at the same time, Ben could imbue the nexus into the crystal. The Weird qi would then consume and convert all the energy left in the stone and make it readily available for Weird cultivators! Brainstorming around led John to a series of other shocking plans. If they could master moving Weird-qi nexuses into other objects, they could generate new plants for the garden, further fleshing out the possible Weird pills available, or as John hoped--they could create new spirit beasts to artificially raise and hunt. John dreamed of a room full of man-made Weird spiders making webs of pure silken qi that he could take for himself. Much needed to be researched and perfected before that would be possible, but John felt he had peered into the cultivation method that would take him all the way through Golden Core and beyond.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
----------------------------------------
Unbeknownst to John, there was someone who was very excited to meet him. Someone who had been counting down the days for two months of his imprisonment festering in unrealized vengeance. John had been so focused and busy that it took him several minutes to notice Disciple Ye standing outside the garden. He looked extremely disheveled, though not quite malnurished. John was a little surprised to see him in the Inner Sect, since last they had met Ye was still at the Qi Condensation tier. Wasn't the prison devoid of qi? It was hard for prison to be a punishment otherwise, since cultivators already spent so much time locked up in tiny rooms doing nothing.
"Congratulations on your advancement." John eventually spoke. No reason not to be the bigger person yet.
"I don't need your congratulations!" Ye spat.
"Very well." John closed his eyes to continue cultivating, but he didn't hear Ye padding away.
"..."
Realizing he had basically dismissed himself, Ye got even more agitated before shouting: "How is it that you get a private garden! No one is allowed to cultivate in the gardens of the Inner Sect!"
John rolled his eyes. "It's not private, Disciple Benjamin and Disciple Mark also use the garden. As for the rest, it's none of your business, now leave." Mark technically used the garden, at least.
Ye looked about to shout something again so John interrupted him before he could say anything. "You're disrupting my cultivation, leave."
Ye looked around for a few seconds, and then to Johns surprise, actually left.
It was a few minutes later when Ye returned with Lady Song and Elder Song in tow.
"I challenge you to a duel!" Ye shouted.
John furrowed his brow in annoyance. He vaguely recalled this exact scenario happening three or four months ago, only Lady Song had been the one to offer the declaration then.
"Do you feel better now that your girlfriend is here?" John offered, he couldn't believe how these two acted some of the time. Elder Song frowned, Lady Song blushed, and Ye stammered gracelessly at John's implication.
"You will address Lady Song properly!" Elder Song admonished.
John ignored him, the Elders could only demand you to do something when acting in an official capacity, John checked the rules pretty thoroughly when he last got scammed by Elder Song. Since this was clearly a personal capacity, he was free to do what he liked. Some Elders used their official authority to bully others on smaller issues, but if you didn't give in they had little recourse.
Ye looked like he was still waiting for an answer to the duel invitation that he clearly expected John to accept. He was about to turn him down and tell him to go away when he paused. Actually, John did find that he needed more resources. His contribution points were running a little low, Ben could use the injection of capital to get started on the more important experiments, and John wanted to accumulate resources to speed up his cultivation even faster. He was willing to push his advancement as fast as possible now.
"I'm guessing you want me to hand over this garden if I lose?" He ventured.
"Of course! It's not fair that you get a garden and I don't!" John suspected Ye had admit a little more than he ought to with that statement, but Ye was either shamless or stupid enough to not let it show on his face.
"And what do you stake in return?"
Ye clearly hadn't thought it through that far as he visibly went through an internal discussion before responding with: "All the contribution points I own!"
John sighed, was he supposed to fall for that? That's what he gets for entertaining these two...
"And... how many points is that exactly?" It was a little over 500, one seventh of what Kai and John had earned in a round of missions. Not to mention the garden was a critical piece of infrastructure for all of his coming plans.
"That's not enough."
The three visitors huddled together a little bit and discussed their options. John could probably hear them if he extended his qi over to them but he didn't bother, opting to cultivate for the few moments they would give him.
"10,000 contribution points, between Lady Song, Elder Song, and myself." Ye eventually offered.
'Wow, is Lady Song his benefactor or what.'
John kept that thought to himself and considered what they had said. That kind of money could get him a lot, but it was still not worth the risk. It was definitely possible Ye could win through some method or another, even though John thought it was unlikely, unlikely didn't mean assuredly after all. The real concern was that they even had the confidence to offer terms, were they planning some trick? That was almost definitely it. John also considered whether or not the Sect Leader would even allow them to take over the garden in the end. Ultimately John was only allowed to operate it because the Sect Leader wanted to see results from the Weird cultivators. If John was stupid enough to lose it, he would be discarded as easily as all the lives lost in the Outer sect.
"Ten thousand points is still not enough. Over my time in the sect it will be worth much more than that in terms of my progress. How about this, if you win you get the garden, if I win, I get the ten thousand points and Elder Song transfers his position as Elder of the Disciplinary Hall to me." Now they were both asking for the unreasonable.
"Deal!" Ye shouted right away. Elder Song opened his mouth but didn't say anything. Given that he didn't smack Ye into the cobbles either...
Yeah, they were up to something.