Fifteen days had passed since the battle, and I lay down in the master bedroom of my mansion for the first time since arriving in this town.

It was a luxurious room, with a bed so large I could lie sideways and still have ample space to sleep comfortably. Lamps provided warm lighting, and the room was awash in purple hues. From what I understood, purple was an expensive color to produce. However, it made the room feel like a decorator with questionable taste had worked on it.

What kind of showboating asshole owned this place before me? It was clear he was more concerned with flaunting his wealth.

Regardless, I wasn't planning to stay in town for long. With the monstrous beasts defeated, my job here was done.

Since the poison mist dropped, servants had been filling the halls of this mansion. Many people had volunteered to help with my recovery. Also, half of the town was destroyed, and this mansion was large enough to house several families.

I shifted in my silk sheets to find a more comfortable position. While the bed was top-notch, the cast on my broken arm limited my options for comfort.

At least the arm was healing. I should be able to use it normally again in a couple of days. The arm would have healed faster, but it had been badly broken, with chunks of bone lodged in my tendons and flesh.

Thanks to being a cultivator, my healing was much faster than most. I wouldn't suffer permanent damage or lose strength in my arm, but the break had been severe. The gorilla had likely fractured it, and the harpy's final blow shattered it completely.

While my broken arm was the most obvious injury, I had many others, from cuts to fractures in my back and more.

I shifted on the bed and removed the silver sheets. They felt uncomfortable; such luxury made it hard to rest.

The recovery environment had been harsh for a week after the battle. We had to camp in the forest, and only I could set up arrays to protect us from the freezing winters and hypothermia. There was no way I would let the people I had worked so hard to save die from the cold.

That week had been tough for everyone, but at least no one had complained, and after our victory, most were still in good spirits.

Unable to rest on the bed which felt like a soft sludge, I got up and walked around the room. But even this didn't help with the hideous purple splattered everywhere.

Luxurious didn't always mean comfortable.

I walked out of my room, and immediately, two guards bowed toward me.

"Lord Liu Feng, how may we help you today?" they said in unison, like a practiced recital.

"No need to worry, I'm just going for a walk," I replied, walking away. "You guys can take a break too. Go get something to eat. Standing around all day doing nothing can be quite daunting."

Walking through the halls, I saw many maids dusting, mopping, and cleaning the windows. They all had their respective responses when they saw me, and most didn't even seem fake. Still, having people act this way around me was always a bit uncomfortable.

During these days of rest, I couldn't train, and something had been on my mind.

How did French maids exist in this world? Xianxia was usually an ancient China-like world with magical powers. I wasn't an expert in history, but I was pretty sure there were no French maids in ancient China. Also, given the temperament of Cultivators, I couldn't see how something like French maids came to be.

My best theory was that some perverted transmigrators in the past "invented" maids. Weirdly enough, that made the most sense.

I walked down the stairs and finally exited through the mansion's front doors, greeted by the sight of a snowy garden and bone-chilling cold.

The outside of the mansion was very different from the inside, where I had placed low-level heat arrays. Even the pond in the corner, which used to house fish before Speedy ate them all, was frozen.

Speaking of Speedy, he was now a small hill of snow in the yard. The big guy liked sleeping in the snow.

As if sensing my presence, the small snow hill shook, and Speedy poked his head out to look at me. He had grown a bit during these weeks since the fighting. Soon enough, I would have to widen the gates, or Speedy wouldn't be able to enter or leave the mansion.

Well, he didn't go out much anyway. However, it was the thought that counted in these kinds of things.

I approached Speedy, my feet shuffling through the cold snow. Before the snow could seep onto my clothes, I used the Dancing Jade Armor Technique. It wasn't even visible to the naked eye at its lowest level. Then, I activated a heating array. This array was typically supposed to boil its victim but had many uses.

With the martial technique handling the defensive part, I used the most minuscule amount of Qi to erect the barrier, as there was no need to take precautions against the smallest force breaking it.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Grafting array effects into martial techniques was advanced stuff. It could be pretty useful and combat-effective, though I hadn't had the chance to test it out yet.

I got close to Speedy and rubbed his head, feeling his cold skin against my palm as I had disabled the technique around my hand so I could touch him. My hand now seemed small compared to Speedy's head, which was the size of a big barrel.

It felt like just yesterday that I could hold Speedy in the palm of my hand.

I stared into Speedy's deep green eyes and wondered what could be going on inside his head.

Taking a deep breath, I appreciated the town's clean air. The poison gas had cleared now, though the governor and I had warned the citizens not to do anything foolish like eat snow. There might still be poison residue in it.

Sure, snowstorms and even a rainstorm had washed away much of the poison. Thankfully, the town had a proper sewer system, so the only things dying from the poison should be the sewer rats.

"What a shame," I muttered, continuing to pat Speedy.

If most of the monstrous beasts' corpses hadn't been poisoned, Speedy would be having a feast. Especially that Foundation Establishment gorilla—Speedy, could have grown bigger and stronger eating all of those.

Though nothing was as exciting as the battle, many things had happened during these two weeks, like finding the gorilla's corpse or discovering that some of the monstrous beasts had entered a type of hibernation to slow their heartbeats and stop the poison from spreading too quickly. Of course, their efforts were futile, and we killed any beasts hanging on to life by using diverse methods.

I sighed and felt my Qi reserves, which hadn't fully recovered since the battle. They were almost full but not quite there yet. The average amount of spiritual roots affected not only how fast someone cultivated but also the speed at which they recovered their Qi.

At the same time, I hadn't meditated or done anything to hasten the recovery. Plus, I had been putting up arrays whenever it was convenient. No wonder cultivators always wanted spirit stones and used them as currency. If I had used spirit stones, I could have regained all my Qi in about eight hours.

But since I was in no condition to fight, Qi was useless. It was as good a time as any to see how fast my natural Qi recovery speed was.

I looked at the balcony and thought it would give a nice view of the town. Walking there was a pain, and straining myself too much was not a good idea, just in case. So, I went for something in between.

With only a thought, a translucent green armor appeared next to me. It was the Dancing Jade Armor Technique, except I used it outside my body.

I jumped up, and the armor clasped its hands together like it was preparing to receive a volleyball. Then I landed on its hands, and with it throwing me and my own jump, I landed on the balcony in one leap, despite it being three stories high.

The jade armor dissolved into nothing, and I now had a better look at the town from the balcony. It was not as pretty a sight as I had imagined. Half the town was destroyed, and many families lived together, sometimes sharing bread and food with strangers.

There were some rebuilding efforts, but progress would be slow since it was winter. Working through a snowstorm was just asking people to get sick and die, so the governor and I were cautious about that.

Usually, I would have had Body Tempering Cultivators work on something like this. Their tough bodies could handle any strain or cold. But there were only two dozen Body Tempering Cultivators left. Most of them were injured, and they had all fought hard. They deserved their rest, and I wasn't going to be a slave driver. Those men had lost friends and family, brothers in arms... they needed time to grieve too.

This last battle had been purely about survival. The winner had gained nothing more than that. Even the monstrous beasts we had killed—most of their bodies were filled with poison and had turned bad. There was no way the governor could sell them or turn this into an economic opportunity. We had also drained many spirit stones to create that poison mist.

No... perhaps there was one person who benefited from all of this.

Using my new understanding of my martial techniques after the Trace, I formed a curved, moon-like blade from translucent green energy, adding the Falling Moon Claw Technique.

The attack shot forward faster than I could see, and even though I barely put any effort into it, it carved through the yard like a hot knife through butter, leaving a large gash.

No slashing motion or hand movements were needed. Pure Qi control and simple thought were enough to create this attack, which allowed me to shoot it from any angle I wanted.

Despite everything that had happened, one thing was certain: I had grown stronger by leaps and bounds. The previous me who came into town wouldn't stand a chance against the current me. I could easily kill him in three seconds.

As I leaned on the balcony railings, I sensed the governor's Qi signature approaching.

Not long after, he arrived at my front gates with a frown. He looked around and then saw me. His face eased up, "I sensed a strong attack. Is everything okay? I thought some monstrous beasts might have sneaked in."

His eyes wandered to the yard, which was cut in a straight line from the pond all the way to the wall, as thick as a tree and deep enough to be a well.

"Yes, everything is alright. I was just testing a new move. Sorry for making you come here," I apologized.

He nodded and smiled, which shattered his strict and serious old-man persona. "No worries, I was about to come and meet with you anyway."

There was a fifty percent chance that what he just said was bullshit. These people had started kissing ass harder now that the battle was over. Now that they had seen my abilities and how we had risked our lives together, they almost respected me enough not to lie to my face. So, I gave the governor the benefit of the doubt.

"Really? What for?" I raised a questioning brow, a smile playing on my lips.

With the battle over, I had handed power back to the governor. So, I was no longer involved in any political bullshit. But the governor had done nothing to show anyone he was back in charge. Technically, I was still the power behind everything. The governor, who had been grumpy about me gaining power, no longer seemed interested in reclaiming it.

"I sent letters to all nearby towns, spreading the news of our victory and what happened," the governor said, his forehead wrinkling with reluctance. "Few answered back, but those that did asked about your Monster Encyclopedia Book."

"Really?" I asked, surprised.

"Yes, and don't worry if you don't want your books to spread around. I know what you did before by distributing the books to all the defenders because we were in an emergency," the governor explained.

"Sure, give them the books," I waved away his worries before he could continue. "Also, tell them they're free to spread the knowledge as they like."

It wasn't like my Monster Encyclopedia had any significant discoveries. I had mostly learned from existing books on monstrous beasts and organized the information.

He nodded and then hurried back toward his mansion. He was probably going to work on a load of paperwork dealing with the planned reconstruction of the town, with the clan heads bickering and scheming against each other.

As for me, I was just chilling. Political matters like that had nothing to do with me anymore.

Ah, life without political bullshit was quite enjoyable. Even my broken arm seemed like a minor inconvenience compared to that nonsense.