After my brief lecture, Liu Zhi stayed silent for a moment, then slapped me on the back.
"Good luck" - he said before walking off without even saying goodbye. No matter, I’d teach him some manners when it came time for me to ascend to the fourth level. Judging by today’s sparring results, next time, I’d need to fight a tenth-level opponent, and there was only one person like that around here — Liu Zhi.
The story of my breakthrough to the third level spread through the camp almost immediately. If my advancement from the first level to the second could be explained as me being on the verge of it already, breaking through to the third level in less than two weeks was utterly abnormal. I was quickly labeled as a "cultivation monster," and everyone started asking how I had achieved it. I kept mysteriously silent, occasionally mentioning a "secret cultivation technique." When these words resonated with the story of Li Douche’s death, people became absolutely convinced that I had been the one to take down all four guards at once.
Three days later, another shocking piece of news rocked the camp: Liu Zhi had unexpectedly broken through to the first level of Foundation Establishment. Normally, a cultivator had to spend about a year preparing for such a transition. Yet Liu Zhi achieved it in just three months, earning himself the reputation of a genius.
That evening, Liu Zhi sought me out and pulled me aside for a private conversation.
"Tan Ji Tao, thank you for the breakthrough technique. As you can see, I was able to ascend to Foundation Establishment with its help."
"Congratulations" - I said with a smile. - "You can repay me by sparring with me when I’m ready to advance to the fourth level."
"And when do you plan to have this fight? In a couple of weeks?" - he asked, attempting to joke.
"Yeah, about that" - I replied in a completely serious tone, shutting down his humor.
"Pfft!" - Liu Zhi coughed unexpectedly, wiping blood from his face.
"What’s wrong with you?" - I asked, alarmed by the sight of blood.
"I lost concentration. Starting at the Foundation Establishment level, if a cultivator experiences sudden shock or surprise, their internal Qi can go out of control and damage their lungs. It’s not particularly dangerous, but if you keep pushing yourself, you could even lose a cultivation level."
"Well, then you’d better train your composure, because being around me, you’re going to be surprised a lot."
"So, you weren’t joking?" - he asked, still stunned.
"No. But two weeks is an optimistic scenario. It’ll probably take a little longer."
"Three weeks, then?" - he joked again.
"Yeah, about that."
"Oh. Well, thanks again for the technique. Tai Chi is also planning to attempt a breakthrough soon. Thankfully, we know a Foundation Establishment cultivator at the sixth level who’s willing to help with development rather than just beat someone into unconsciousness."
"That’s an important detail" - I said with a smirk.
"Tell me, after Li Douche’s death…" - he began.
"Li Douche committed suicide" - I interrupted, shutting down unnecessary questions. - "No need to revisit that. Let bygones be bygones."
"I see" - Liu Zhi said, looking at me with a hint of fear.
"Do you have any more questions?"
"No. As I understand, asking you questions is a bad idea, you might share something I’d rather should not know."
"Exactly" - I confirmed. - "Take care."
With that, I gave him a slight bow and walked away.
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Liu Zhi’s comment about me sharing a "technique" was eye-opening. To me, these were just obvious observations anyone could arrive at with a bit of reasoning. But for him, they turned out to be "ancient secret knowledge" beyond the comprehension of ordinary mortals. This perfectly illustrated the locals’ inability to think independently.
All they dreamed of was finding a "powerful technique," rather than creating one from scratch through proper research. Concepts like science were virtually unheard of here, with people attributing all unexpected success to "art" or "luck."
My newfound popularity among the students had an unexpected side effect. That evening, it started raining heavily, so I decided against sitting out the storm in a tree and opted to sleep in my "legitimate" quarters, where they always kept a bed available for me. As soon as I entered the house, Liu Qiang approached me, flaunting her nearly bare chest and an extremely short dress. Her desire for intimacy was obvious, but she wasn’t content with mere visual seduction. She reached into my pants, whispering in my ear about how handsome, strong, and amazing I was.
Naturally, the hormones in this body surged to my head, and my behavior was quickly governed by the baser instincts of my anatomy. Although Liu Qiang didn’t fit my personal standards of beauty, my body didn’t care, it just wanted someone. So, I indulged. Our housemates tactfully left to spend the night with friends, allowing me to relax and explore every way I knew to exhaust Liu Qiang in bed.
Not only did Liu Qiang learn what real sex was, but to her surprise, she also broke through to the third level of Qi Condensation. My sperm, once inside her body, worked no worse than an elite pill. Overwhelmed with gratitude, Liu Qiang promised to please me whenever I desired, day or night.
But it didn’t end there. The very next day, all of my lover’s girlfriends heard about the miraculous qualities of my sperm. Suddenly, every girl in the camp wanted to sleep with me to experience a free cultivation breakthrough. I indulged myself, choosing only the most beautiful girls and making them spend hours pleasing me with their mouths.
A week later, the rainy weather ended, and with it, my bout of "spermatotoxicosis" subsided. I moved back to my tree. Interestingly, in all that time, no one had figured out where I was cultivating. Mainly because, I had discouraged potential stalkers with preventive beatings. Usually, after a single broken bone, people realized it was a bad idea to follow me. Additionally, the tree I climbed was concealed by thick bushes, making it impossible for anyone to see my climbing. This arrangement gave me a sort of "meditation chamber" where I could escape the attention of my eager admirers.
Two weeks later, I accumulated enough Qi to approach the fourth level. My training fight with Liu Zhi allowed me to break through to the next stage once again. I assumed I could advance to the fifth level in the same way, but I encountered an unexpected obstacle. Previously, when I reached the maximum capacity of Qi in my channels and body, the energy would simply stop accumulating and spill out of my body at the same rate it was absorbed. However, at the fourth level, my Qi Thread became a bottomless pit, absorbing any amount of energy.
Two weeks after the breakthrough, people in the camp started anticipating another defiance of logic from me, but… nothing happened. I remained stuck at the fourth level. Even another intense fight with Liu Zhi yielded no results, despite us hammering each other with punches. Clearly, I had encountered a bottleneck in my cultivation and needed to find a way to overcome it.
Of course, I could use a weak Qi pill to force a breakthrough. However, after thoroughly analyzing these pills, I concluded that the energy they contained was of poor quality. While it was dense, its characteristics were inferior to mine — too "loose" and unstable. Even at the fourth level of Qi Condensation, my Qi felt superior to the Qi of the first level of Foundation Establishment that Liu Zhi emitted. Thus, I decided to resort to pills only if I couldn’t advance to the fifth level by the end of the six-month training period.
Careful inquiries revealed that none of the sect applicants had ever managed to reach the sixth level of Qi Condensation. In other words, the growth of the students was deliberately capped, likely through the distributed pills. The density of their energy matched the fifth level and could not propel one to further development.
Meanwhile, life in the camp went on. Master Sam Su Sam successfully completed his duties and left for the central sect branch. His teaching duties were taken over by three instructors, who focused solely on the basics. Sam Su Sam, in all his time here, had only covered the contents of two books: The Eight Twists of the Great Serpent and The Rainbow Qi Technique. The first book was about methods of accumulating Qi, while the second discussed ways to imbue Qi with various qualities, such as elemental manifestations. This served as the foundation for later techniques like fire manipulation or earth control.
Realizing that attending further lectures was pointless, I decided to shift my focus to alchemy. Aside from Chu Zhu Zhu’s "open" lectures, there were closed workshops dedicated to identifying and collecting alchemical plants. These sessions were limited to just ten of the most gifted students. Naturally, as soon as I expressed interest in attending, I was immediately added to the list, and the "most hopeless" student was removed.
The "ostracized" student was, of course, offended and decided to take revenge. However, he didn’t attempt to fight me, as he had a realistic assessment of his abilities. Instead, he was arrogant enough to try to "knock me off from my pedestal" with the help of the teachers.
On one day, after a lecture, Chu Zhu Zhu announced that a complaint had been filed against me and demanded that I follow him. Five minutes later, we arrived at my "garden." Accompanying us was the very "outcast" who had started this nonsense against me.