Yung debated using Empathic isolation and wondered if it would be cheating. Hmm, I can just ask—Whoa!

The moment his attention slipped, the zombie-rabbits jumped. Yung instinctively used total Empathic isolation as he stumbled out of the way quite disgracefully. The voidfiends landed beside him, missing. Or rather, they were easier to dodge now that Ziyou Maque had pointed out their pattern.

They looked confused. Then they spotted an equally confused Ziyou Maque and ran at him.

But Yung took his newly acquired tang dao and stabbed the running monsters in the back, one by one.

“Yuck!” He said.

“Kii!”

“Still gross.”

The feeling of the sword entering flesh, breaking bone, and spilling blood was a wrong kind of slimy.

He did not like it one bit.

The scent of decay and death assaulted his nostrils as he pulled the sword up. It stung his throat and eyes like ammonia, thick and heavy in the air. Yung tried his best to hold in the vomit. Silky’s cooing helped.

As the last of the voidfiends were culled, Yung decided to reconnect the Empathic links. He covered his body with Heart qi, letting Silky take the reigns.

He had noticed that Silky was far more adept at controlling Heart qi than he.

With that done, he willed thread spinning, and the Empathic links snapped into place again.

Ziyou Maque noticed him immediately.

"That's…" With a serious look, he said, "Quite the scary ability you got. From Lord Yaoguai, I guess?"

Yung neither confirmed nor denied.

“Should I be using it?” Yung asked, “The fiends lose sight of me instantly, which is fine. And it’s way easier to kill them. But won’t I lose out on training?”

“Guahaha.” A loud laughter rang out.

It was Elder Gangkai. The elder snickered, then said, “Survive first. Then all else.”

“Youjin Gangkai is right.” Ziyou Maque flicked a voidfiend intestine away with his palm, “It just means we gotta craft your training to maximise your talents. What use is it for an archer to get up and close with a tiger?”

“That makes sense,” Yung remembered a concept from his previous life. Unfair advantages: focusing on what areas one competitively excels over enemies.

“Brother Yung,” Youjin Chao ran to him, “I must say, I am amazed. No wonder those Malignant moon thugs couldn’t even see you. They had no chance if Imperfect Heaven 2nd realmers like Uncle Maque cannot.”

Yung blushed; being praised was a kind of funny feeling, “Ehehehe. It’s nothing I tell you. Besides, this is all Silky, not me.”

“Be that as it may,” Ziyou Maque said, “Looks like scouting won’t be an issue if you’re up to the task. But! You still need to learn what weeds not to step on. I won’t ask for the details, but your dao shard doesn’t make you impervious to damage in addition to enemy senses, does it?”

“Uh, no,” Yung replied, pondering.

Dao shard? Oh, he thinks Empathic isolation is part of one. No wonder, with me asking people for their dao shard shapes recently. What a nice coincidence.

"Then we must discuss this," Youjin Chao suddenly said with a severe tone, "Brother Yung, when you turn yourself invisible, can you actively turn back?"

“I can.”

“What if you get knocked out by something? Does the invisibility null by itself?”

“Then I can’t,” Yung replied, realising where Youjin Chao was going with this. “The invisibility stays for a time. About an hour or two… If something like that does happen, you won’t be able to find me. If I get poisoned somehow….” Yung shivered at the very possibility. He had not prepared for such contingencies.

“That could be dangerous. The worst case imaginable.” Youjin Chao said.

“I can go selectively invisible, though.” Imperceivable, actually, but let’s keep that to myself.

“Oho.” That caught everyone’s interest.

The group had moved to a corner of the clearing, not engaging the remaining chaosfiends, who were happy to return the favour as they scattered from the area after confirming the spring was safe. They seemed to know that renyao rarely damaged these constructs and oftentimes, actively protected them, as they were an essential revenue source for spirit stones and all manners of other treasures.

Before displaying his skills again, Yung wondered if he was being buttered up to disclose his capabilities. Honey pot felt nice, but not when a guy was doing it. This could be bromance?

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

Yung shook that disturbing image out of his head.

“Let’s do it with Youjin Chun since she’s been glaring at me for a while, Brother Chao.”

Yung shut off the heiress’s protests and severed the Empathic link.

The heiress, mid complaint, paused. She looked around in confusion, then turned to Elder Gangkai. The man pointed at Yung. The heiress had a blank look in her eyes as she shook her head.

Yung rejoined the thread, and Youjin Chun yelped before flushing red.

“Brother Yung,” Youjin Chao thought for a while. “Try it with me next, and send me a sound transmission.”

“No, go invisible to everyone. Let’s confirm if you can send a transmission to any of us.” Ziyou Maque said.

Yung had Youjin Chao, Ziyou Maque, and Ling’s spiritual imprint. Three was the limit for the dummy token.

Yung clapped his forehead, “I’m dumb! Let’s test it now. As expected of the main—, I mean, Brother Chao. You’re a genius when it comes to battle strategies.”

“I feel like you are belittling me.”

“Nonsense! Now here I go.”

Yung used total Empathic isolation again. Everyone was prepared this time, but it was still a jarring experience reading by their empathic links.

Yung put some qi into the token, then said, “Mr Watson, come here; I want you.”

Nothing but crickets.

Yung cancelled his stealth. His Heart qi reserves were taking a big hit with all this experimentation.

“Anything?”

All three of his contacts shook their head.

“Say, Young Yung, was it instinct that you went invisible to everyone when the voidfiends attacked?”

Yung nodded shyly, “It costs more, but it is easier to go full stealth. Selecting targets one by one takes too long.”

“Then your focus should be clear. After we return, practice improving the control of your ability.” Ziyou Maque said with finality, “Young Chao’s concerns are real, lad. If you brush your hand on the wrong tree while no one can see ye, go full invisible, and die, then that would truly make for a shitty comedy. For this hunt, stay close to me, and nothing will go wrong.”

***

The excursion started off well.

After deciding not to walk around like a pedestrian on a battlefield, where neither allies nor foes could detect him and where arrows and spears had no eyes, Yung trained target-specific empathic isolation.

The wretched bloodhound currently sniffing the air in confusion, was an immensely helpful training buddy.

Yung rejoined the link.

“Woof! Grrr!”

Yung cut it again.

“Grr…err?”

And rejoined it.

“Kii?”

“Let me have some fun please.”

The voidfiend kept changing states from aggressive to confused, like a machine with two commands.

Perhaps they are biological machines like viruses. Only following their genetic code to the T.

Yung removed his sword from the fallen fiend’s neck, wiping the putrid blood with a large leaf.

“Good, yer familiar with their movements now. Even if you’re absolutely, positively, very, very bad with sword arts, you can put down fiends by playing to your strengths.”

“Has anyone told you that you’re a bad teacher?” Yung asked.

Ziyou Ling perked up, “How’d you know?”

“Ling’er!” Ziyou Maque boiled, “Stop dawdling and start herding!” She was in charge of luring isolated fiends for Yung.

Ziyou Ling kicked a rock with an angry grumble, then dashed into the forest.

They had left the clearing where the fiend wars had happened a while ago. Ziyou Maque had sent a sound transmission to his subordinates before leaving all but the two Imperfect Heaven 2nd realm cultivators at the clearing.

“And you can eat voidfiend meat?” Yung had asked, staring at the pungent body parts laid about with shock. They honestly looked like mutant mystery meat. Yuck!

“You can. If you boil it properly.” Ziyou Maque had explained. “The toxic stuff gradually vanishes after they die. All that’s left are qi-rich meat and blood. That stink you smell is the poison decaying into a rot bulb.” The gang leader had pointed at a tumour-like thing rapidly expanding on a Wretched hornbeast’s decapitated head, “Easy to cut and wash away without harming the meat. After a good wash, it’ll look no different than pork.”

“You can’t be serious.”

Ziyou Maque shrugged.

***

Chao took stock of his pills.

Still good.

The pills looked like ordinary Spirit qi boosting pills but were a secret recipe by his mother’s clan. They primed the spirit. While his special Origin qi boosting pills primed the body.

Chao hoisted his rusty sword, then stood up.

“Elder Brother Chao, wait!” Youjin Chun called out.

He didn’t. That woman had lost all rights to meddle in his life. Ignoring her, Chao walked to where Ziyou Yung was taking on a herd of about a dozen Wretched Hornbeasts.

“Ohoho, how the turns have tabled! Despair, zombie jackalopes. You’re kind doesn’t belong in eastern mythology!”

Chao was speechless.

The shorter boy moved with the grace of a one-legged scarecrow.

But the voidfiends could not pin him down. Ziyou Yung walked up, stabbed them like he was poking a turd with a stick from five feet away, and then moved on to the next target.

Chao couldn’t help but marvel.

Ziyou Yung claimed this power came from Lord Yaoguai. But Chao wouldn’t be the one to negate that accomplishment.

Since his own prowess now came from the unruly mirror fortress and multitudes of pills.

Yet he knew all too well, only one thing mattered in their bid for immortality. To use anything and everything at their disposal to get what they wanted.

Chao heard a whistle. It was Ziyou Ling. But something was wrong.

He saw the reason in a moment.

“Dusk valley lionsss!" The dark-skinned girl came running through the bushes, and behind her was a pride of feline chaosfiend with fur as dark as the night sky.

The dusk valley lions were colossal creatures, even the smallest ones towering over their enemies like carriages. Their pale yellow eyes shimmered with an eerie glow, and the golden sun-shaped spot on their forehead was like a beacon of power. As they snarled a feline screech, their sword-like fangs and sharp claws were a sight to behold, and their bulging muscles flexed with every movement.

“Wait, isn’t that an Imperfect Heaven 3rd order boss?” Ziyou Yung screamed, panicked.

“You’re talking about the strongest one. These beasties also have to cultivate their way up.” Ziyou Maque explained with a sigh. “And the Imperfect Heaven 3rd order one is known to detest other lion pride.”

“Oh, oh yeah. Damn. My bad.” Ziyou Yung scratched his head.

If there was one thing Chao hated about the younger boy, it was this.

A seemingly unashamed cowardice that Ziyou Yung even took pleasure in accepting. Displaying. And no effort fixing.

Why does Fairy Su take such an interest in him? Chao pondered this question.

Chao was hopelessly enchanted by the celestial fairy from the moment he laid eyes on her. The image of her ethereal beauty lingered in his mind, as if an otherworldly force had magnetised his thoughts to her. When their eyes met for a fleeting moment, he felt as though he was struck by lightning, and in that moment in his innate vision, she glimmered with a halo of otherworldly light, taking him into a magical realm beyond his imagination.

It was a feeling Chao knew quite well; his grandmother had schooled him on his particular constitution with tomes worth of lessons.

Su Nanya definitely had an extremely high-grade yin physique, complementing his own half-awakened extreme yang body. Calling, beckoning, yearning. Compared to Su Nanya’s arctic ocean, Youjin Chun had been a block of table ice. And compared to his own inferno, Ziyou Yung should not even be called a blaze.