"The food," I said as I extracted myself from the hug a while later. "It'll get cold if you don't eat it immediately."

"You're right," she said as she sat on the floor even as I served her the food. "How about you?" she asked.

"Don't worry, I already ate while preparing," I said. She looked at me questioningly. "I didn't know if they would allow me to stay with you once I brought the food," I said, then looked toward the formation as if I expected it to create a gate for me to leave. It did not. "It looks like they want me to stay. Perfect," I said with a big smile and fed Aisnam directly.

She blushed. "Stop, they are watching," she muttered but didn't actually stop me.

"So," I said with a shrug. After I glanced at her for a while, I acted like I had just noticed the pile of books in the corner. "What's that?" I asked.

"They are for you," she said. She blushed a bit before continuing. "I arranged all of them as a gift for you."

I would have teased her for stretching the truth for a bit, but I was too busy gasping at the system result. Almost two hundred notifications.

[Cultivation Difference Bonus - 60; Pampering Bonus - 85 (Capped)]

[145x Return - Six Slash Dead Sword, Cultivation Technique - Black-Low Grade]

[145x Return - Endless Flame Alchemy Technique - Yellow-Peak Grade]

….

[145x Return - Great Wave Sword Control Technique, Cultivation Technique - Black-Peak Grade]

[145x Return - Endless Sea Foundation Building, Cultivation Technique - Black-High Grade]

"You're the best," I stammered, and not even teasing her. She had just given me more than a hundred complete manuals, across every topic, covering everything from combat techniques to gate construction. There were multiple books for alchemy, formations, talismans, and even beast taming. Meanwhile, there were multiple combat techniques for eight main weapons, namely sword, saber, spear, staff, bow, fist, palm, and kick.

A treasure trove indeed. What I had would probably rival the libraries of some of the sects, and I doubted that any would just let others control those techniques.

A fascinating output. Now, I just needed to find a way to recycle them efficiently.

Once we finished with the food, Aisnam returned to practicing her Tsunami Palm Technique. Luckily for me, at this point, she was quite used to my questions interrupting her training, and had no problems teaching me. And, since she had already reached Major Accomplishment, her teaching was very efficient.

[Cultivation Difference Bonus - 60; Pampering Bonus - 85 (Capped)]

[145x Return - Furious Palm of Nine Tsunami - Beginner, Minor Immersion]

An excellent reward. I decided to reward her by carefully pulling the other palm techniques from my inventory and making them appear in front of her, once again encased behind a Qi screen that prevented her from talking to them.

"T-that's … incredible," she gasped as she started examining the other techniques, overwhelmed by the opportunity. Meanwhile, I had pulled the other books from my inventory and spread them across the other hills. There was no point in keeping them in my inventory at the moment.

Asking Aisnam's help while I guided her to the other hills during a tour was a much better opportunity. However, I wanted to leave that for later. For the moment, I wanted her to study Palm techniques as much as possible. The more expertise she developed, the easier it would be for her to learn.

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While she studied, I left the formation to get her some tea, and once outside, I activated the skill I received, knowing that it would only hasten her learning further. Of course, the bonus from Minor Immersion was nothing compared to the constant inspiration from that gate, but every little bit counted.

With the Furious Palm Nine Tsunami added to the mix, I was the proud expert of three different techniques. Moreover, I realized something fascinating. Thanks to the combined expertise of the three, my ability to understand palm techniques improved.

I was holding an incomplete palm technique manual in my hands which I had purchased. I had been holding it mostly for show, not expecting to understand anything, as it was missing quite a bit. Yet, once I processed the Furious Palm technique, the technique started to make sense despite missing portions.

"Excellent," I muttered. While I wanted to use the System to cheat as much as possible, the ability to handle them directly was still a valuable benefit. Ideally, I wouldn't need any, but like it was with everything, it was better to have and not use than the reverse.

More importantly, it could benefit Aisnam directly. Once I improve, I could write some guides for her, which she could use to improve further, until she reached at least Perfection in multiple weapons.

I didn't forget that she still needed to fight against a Foundation Establishment cultivator, and my most recent experience showed just how big of a challenge it was. Of course, I had every intention to sabotage that fight and let her win, but the more eye-catching her abilities were, the more believable her victory would be.

However, that was for the future. At first, I connected with the formation, trying to observe the presence of the others. The five foundation establishment cultivators still stayed around the capital, and currently, there was no movement around it.

It wasn't true for every location. To my surprise, a sizable army of martial artists was leaving Markas and marching toward the nearest city, their speed suggesting that the weakest member was Bone Forging, similar to the Tiger Fist attack.

I might have been scared if they were moving toward the capital, but luckily, they were moving in the opposite direction, where one of the rebel armies was moving around. Probably some kind of counter-attack, I assumed, but even if they decided to betray, it wasn't exactly a huge problem.

At this point, even armies didn't scare me. There were too many tricks I could pull to protect the people I wanted to protect, especially from growing a nest. Thanks to a combination of the spirit vein and my expanding library, I felt safe despite the escalating danger.

With that in mind, I returned to Aisnam's side with a pot of tea. "Hello, my beautiful madam. It's time for a break," I said even as I brought her a tea made from spiritual plants.

"Delicious," she muttered. "Though, whoever prepared requires more experience. They ruined the leaves," she commented.

I shrugged. "Do you want me to warn them?" I asked, acting like I wasn't the one to prepare the tea.

"No," she said. "We're guests here. It's better not to mention it."

"Does it really make that much difference for Qi-infused tea," I asked, prompting her to ask. As much as I didn't care about tea, having the ability to prepare it might be beneficial in terms of my disguise.

"Of course it does," she answered pointedly before she started giving an angry but very pointed lecture on appropriate tea preparation … or at least, that was what she claimed. Halfway in, it started to feel more like a philosophy class than a cooking one.

Though, ultimately, the System agreed with her interpretation rather than mine.

[Cultivation Difference Bonus - 60; Pampering Bonus - 85 (Capped)]

[145x Return - Tea Preparation - Beginner, Major Immersion]

[145x Return - Essence Tea Preparation - Beginner, Perfection]

[145x Return - Qi Tea Preparation - Beginner, Perfection]

I shrugged even as I picked up the pot to bring it back. Once I had left the formation, I triggered all three methods, receiving a great deal of information. I had to admit, it was greatly complicated, but even having all that information didn't suddenly help me.

Yes, correctly prepared tea had some benefits, but that was true for all kinds of foods and drinks. I still didn't understand the deal about the tea.

Ultimately, I shrugged, writing it off as a cultural reverence I was missing. "At least, the next time I prepare the tea, I'll make her happier," I said, ready to claim that I had taken the same lessons from the apothecary to impress her.

Aisnam would appreciate it.

Once I cleaned the pot, I visited the essence plant garden I had raised, collecting some of the plants that had been forcibly matured thanks to the excess Qi before I turned them into apothecary medicine, wanting to empower the army at the capital even further.

"I wonder how the cultivators would look if they realized the amount of Qi I'm wasting for essence plants," I chuckled. However, while it was technically wasteful, it was like exchanging gold for water. No matter how excessive, a man dying of thirst in a desert would always make that trade.

Once that was done, I visited the capital, raising the cultivation of Aisnam's shadow guard even further, bringing the number of connote realm martial artists to two hundred, which was truly a shocking number.

Then, I returned, ready to have another study session with Aisnam.

It was time for her to take a break from palm techniques.