As I moved to the outskirts of the city, I received the first benefit of the storage ring. I put the recently acquired book in it and passed the security checkpoints easily before leaving the capital behind. Could have escaped the city regardless? Certainly, but I wanted to test my newest toy.

I didn't pull the book out immediately after I had comfortably arrived at the outskirts. I had other chores to handle. First, I stopped by my hiding spot and took the talisman supplies and various items with me including the two remaining spirit stones, happy that I no longer needed to leave them lying around but keep them with me in an emergency.

My second stop was the tunnel leading to the capital. I gathered some more cursed Qi, wondering whether I would discover the reason that Cursed Qi stayed around like a bubble rather than dispersing widely once I started reading the formation book.

Then, I started pulling cursed Qi, preparing for another visit to Pearyin. I was much more reluctant to steal Qi after the mysterious trapped being spoke to me, showing that not only it was alive and conscious, but also it had a rudimentary awareness of what had been going on, but leaving Pearyin to starve was not an option.

I gathered the Qi into a tight ball, this time, confidently gathering a hundred strands into a tight orb. I had tested with fifty the day before and it worked well, so I decided to risk it. The journey went without a problem — thankfully — and when I arrived, Pearyin was still sitting cross-legged, lost to the world.

I replenished the Qi for the chained talisman-based purifier and checked its output before I interrupted her, and when the task was finished, I turned my attention to her.

"Hello, beautiful," I called, breaking her meditation, but only after making sure an interruption wouldn't cause an accident. "Why don't you come here and give me a hug."

"H-hello, sir," she answered, her beautiful face brightening with a smile as she stood up. She closed the distance with an excited step, faster than I expected. I kissed her, she murmured in satisfaction, but I didn't miss the way her arms wrapped around me a bit too tight, showing her distress.

That part wasn't shocking. Being a cultivator might have been a dream for her, but not in the same way being a martial artist was a dream. In a way, for her, being a martial artist was like a homeless person getting an executive-level job, with enough money to buy a nice house, representing safety and security.

Cultivation represented winning the lottery, riches too far from her comprehension that it became more comforting than scary … in a country with lax security, where any criminal might attempt to rob those riches with impunity if it was known.

And, admittedly, abandoning her in a cave with strict instructions wasn't exactly the best way to help her process that revelation. I kept hugging her even when she pulled back from the kiss and rested her head against my chest, listening to my breathing.

I wanted to sigh, but I held it back, afraid that she would misunderstand and think it was about her rather than the situation.

Still, it was not all bad. Even with all my System-provided improvements, I wasn't equipped to deal with a cultivator-backed martial artist war that I somehow continued to end up getting involved in after several attempts of pulling back. I had no doubt that, someone with the proper training — and perspective about the local dynamics — even with a fraction of my tools, could have dealt with the crisis already.

Consoling a woman feeling distressed was different. It was my true area of expertise, particularly if the lady in question was already familiar with me. I let her keep hugging me even as I sat in a corner, leaning against the wall while my hand drew small circles on her back.

As for pushing for more, I avoided it. As much as I enjoyed her enthusiasm in the bed if I initiated something, she would see it as an opportunity to serve me to prove herself, which would foster an even deeper codependency.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

Even at its best, dealing with a clingy girlfriend was a frustrating experience. I didn't want to experience that if the girlfriend in question — or whatever Pearyin thinks herself as — had not only the ability to cultivate, but do so in a way that was exceptional even among the cultivators of this world.

Her dantian was still absorbing Qi, with no end in sight, which meant she had yet to properly stop into the first stage, yet the passive improvement she had received was more than I did when I reached the Qi Gathering Second stage.

Certainly not the ideal obsessive stalker to have.

I let her hug me, her tenseness disappearing slowly. She didn't seem inclined to speak, and I acquiesced to her wordless request. One hand stayed on her back, gently caressing her back while she purred. At the same time, I pulled the book from the storage ring.

Pearyin didn't react to it, as she had seen me do more amazing things.

I opened the book. The first page had some information about the book, outlining how the disciples that were lucky enough to touch this book should thank three elders who had gone all that trouble compiling a book to teach them, and hoped that they would contribute to the eternal glory of the Nabata sect, which would stand strong for hundreds of thousand years.

The irony: it was the sect that had been destroyed by that mad swordsman Xantum.

Still, that fact was comforting for two reasons. It showed that it was unlikely the owner would come looking, as they had bigger problems. Also, it explained the source neatly, coming from the ruins of the mansion that had been destroyed.

That fact renewed my desire to raid the auction house, maybe even the royal treasury. Who knew what other valuable items they picked from there.

Still, rather than dreaming about the treasures hidden there, I started reading the book, hoping that it would share some similarities with Talisman Crafting to allow me to make quick progress, and fearing that it would be like the first time I had tried to understand the meditation technique and comprehend nothing.

The answer, it turned out, was somewhere in the middle. Talismans and formations had nothing in common — well, at least, if they did, it was not something I could identify immediately other than both using Calligraphy as a foundational skill to draw the necessarily complicated symbols. In essence, talismans were cultivation spells, suspended in a medium through special tools and methods.

Technically, it was possible to convert spells to talismans, and reverse. I wasn't able to do that, because I knew nothing about how to use spells, let alone create them.

Formations were … different. As different as computer programming and organic chemistry. At least, what I could remember from the college classes I attended, which wasn't much. As a student-athlete, I only attended classes after four hours of exhausting morning training, and most of those classes passed in a haze.

I spent four hours reading, just to get a general idea of how they worked, which was possible due to the book being written as an actual primer for beginners.

At its very core, formations were like computer programs, very temperamental computer programs with certain parts only worked under various circumstances, requiring the cultivator to assess and understand every single detail about the environment. Setting even the most rudimentary formation was an effort that would take weeks.

I continued reading, hoping that, just like talismans, greater expertise would allow me to set the faster.

Then, I continued browsing, trying to understand how to set up intricate arrangements, etched onto various hard surfaces to channel Qi appropriately to unleash unique features they were designed to do, whether to collect, refine, or store Qi, create barriers, unleash devastating attacks, even provide passive security that would selectively allow people to access.

One good thing was that, unlike talismans that required very delicate materials, formations worked on a variety of items, because they didn't need to hold Qi. That was one big advantage of their stability. Of course, the book still went over the advantages and disadvantages of various materials, like spiritual jade working orders of magnitude better than ordinary rock, but that part, I didn't care at the moment.

The advantages and constraints I operated under were completely different from others.

Unfortunately, as the darkness started to arrive, I was yet to achieve anything but understand the index of the book, showing once again that learning cultivation arts required not only some kind of unique aptitude, but also years and years of effort.

Or, a way to cheat.

It was why, before I left, I wrote another letter from Aisnam's mysterious allies, one that told the story of an intercepted delivery along with some other details, and asked her to make the best of her opportunity. If Aisnam could learn it, I could in turn benefit from System lessons.

I closed the book and put it back on, ready to leave. "I'll see you tomorrow, sweetie," I said as I kissed her. She responded, but when I tried to pull back, her lips stayed connected.

"Don't go yet," she whispered gently.

"As you wish," I chuckled and kissed her again, this time with far more passion. I didn't want to initiate it so as not to feel indebted to her … but it was a different issue when she was the one to demand it, even gently.