The sun rose in the east, illuminating the dark sky, and announced the arrival of the next day. The youth hadn’t slept that night and vigilantly kept his eyes open against any potential threats as well as added fuel to the campfire. So far, he hadn’t been attacked.

The night went by peacefully and the meat had been fully smoked. He wrapped the meat jerkies in leaves which he washed with river water and stored them inside his robes. And, he set off. But this time, he was headed upstream.

“Oi, oi, why are you heading back?” Jian Gong appeared in front of him.

“It’s safer up there,” the youth explained as he walked. “I mean think about it. When the explosion happened, there were only four plausible reasons why it happened. But let’s focus on the common denominator among them- that being, there was a fight going on.”

“Ah, so you think that whoever must have fought must’ve left by now?”

He nodded, “Exactly! The explosion already scared off all the Deviant Beasts downstream, so there’s a high chance that there won’t be any upstream.”

Jian Gong seemed unsure, “Won’t it be a bit too risky?”

“Well, yeah. But it’ll be even riskier to head downstream.”

“Ah, fine, let’s head up there then.”

“Don’t forget, my poisons are still drying up there.”

Jian Gong made a sound of acknowledgment but didn’t say anything. As they walked upstream, the scenery gradually changed. The forest seemed more ravaged the further they traveled upstream. Broken trees, crushed boulders as well as the occasional corpse of Deviant Beasts littered the place. It seemed the stampede had started off quite disorderly.

“This is an actual clusterfuck…” Jian Gong marveled with his jaw agape.

“…fuck me,” it seemed that the youth agreed with him.

The corpses and broken trees increased and soon they came to a place where there were neither trees nor any signs of life. Looking at the greyish-brown soil under his feet, he looked ahead where there was a giant crater filled with ash and the black remnants of the explosion. The blast radius was close to a mile in length.

Seeing such a sight, the two of them had no words to express how they felt. Speechlessly they advanced towards the center of the explosion. The ground was cracked in a cobweb pattern at the very center.

“Nothing here,” the youth spoke after a cursory glance.

“Were you expecting to find something?” Jian Gong mocked.

“I was expecting that there might be a chance,” the youth shook his head. “It’s obvious that if the fight was over an item, the victor would’ve already taken it.”

“True,” Jian Gong nodded. “So, what do you do now?”

“Honestly, we’re at a crossroads here,” the youth said helplessly. “We’re at the center of the explosion. If we tried to head further upstream, we’ll probably run into Deviant Beast. The same goes for heading downstream.”

“I think upstream is your best bet. I’m pretty sure villages are built upstream.”

“Yeah? Upstream it is then! But first, let me check on the poisons.” Having decided, they headed to where the youth had left his poisons to dry.

“…you’ve got to be joking!” the youth groaned when he saw what had happened to his poisons. They were either trampled or filled with sand. In summary, they were unusable.

“There goes one of your weapons,” Jian Gong shook his head in regret.

The youth sighed and scratched his head helplessly, “Ah, fuck it! Let’s go.” The two headed upstream.

This time, the forest looked less and less devastated the more they walked. The two walked and made idle gossip.

“Oh, hey!” the youth seemed as though he recalled something.

“What?” Jian Gong looked at him.

“I just realized…”

“Finish your damn words!”

“I just realized that I can absorb beast cores now!” the youth had an excited look on his face.

“Ah, that’s right! You were absorbing Qi with all your acupoints before. So, how does it feel to use a One-Acupoint Cultivation Art?”

“The former felt like sucking water through a straw while the latter feels like drinking from a glass.”

“The analogy’s not quite right but I get what you mean. It feels faster, right?”

“Definitely. It’s convenient too. Seeing as how I can now absorb beast cores, it’s definitely an upgrade.”

“The Mono-eyed Whip Rhinoceros was only at the Fourth Stage of Qi Refinement. You won’t get any substantial gains even if you did absorb them. If you want to advance faster, absorb the beast cores of the Deviant Beasts at least at the Seventh Stage.”

“But I’m at the Sixth Stage!” the youth spat out in disbelief. “You want me to fight something stronger than me?”

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“Oh?” Jian Gong sneered, “If advancing realms was so easy, won’t everyone be a cultivator by now?”

“Fine…” the youth pouted and sulked. “I’ll try to absorb this beast core, keep an eye out for me.”

“Sure.”

Because they had inside the forest to approach the blast zone, they hadn’t returned back to the riverbank and continued to head upstream through the forest. Now, that he was going to absorb the beast core, he decided that the riverbank would probably be safer. He walked onto the shore and sat in a lotus position with the beast core in his hand. Closing his eyes, he started cultivating.

Meanwhile, Jian Gong sat on a nearby rock. He softly said, “Status, show me his Poison Resistance.”

A blue screen appeared in front of him.

[Poison Resistance(0.09%)]

“He really should raise it,” Jian Gong pondered.

[How does using the One-Acupoint System allow him to absorb beast cores?]

“Oh?” Jian Gong looked at the screen in mild surprise, “You should know this, right? After all, you’re the one who has full access to the Monarchs’ knowledge.”

[Only the First Monarch ever absorbed Qi from all acupoints and even then, it was to perfect the Celestial Monarch’s Art. After he perfected it, he didn’t use all acupoints. He didn’t even kill a single Deviant Beast in his lifetime.]

Jian Gong chuckled, “He’s got a one-track mind, huh? Fine, I’ll answer it for you. My guess is that it’s probably impossible to have enough focus to spare on the beast core. It’s much harder to focus on multiple things instead of one. Having to absorb Qi from 107 acupoints and making sure you get it right probably needs a great deal of concentration. I don’t see anyone being able to spare a thought for the beast core.”

[I remember him feeling that it was incredibly easy to absorb Qi through all his acupoints.]

“That’s just because of the Perfect Harmony Body,” Jian Gong shook his head, “It just makes it a bit easier. And making something incredibly difficult ‘a bit easier’ doesn’t really make it easy-to-do.”

[So, it’s a useless feature of his constitution.]

“Essentially, yes. There are some things that not even god-given gifts can overcome.”

[It seems that Yang Yunfan did not have Myriad Elements Spirit Root.]

“Really now?” Jian Gong seemed more than surprised to hear this fact. “Did you go through his physical body’s history?”

[Yes. He had a High-Grade Fire and Earth Double Spirit Root.]

“Bruh, what the fuck? Did the fragment of the 『Creator’s Soul』 give him that much of a power-up?”

[Possibly. The powers are randomized, the 『Creator』 saw to it himself.]

“Well,” he sighed. “I don’t see his powers helping him when it really counts.”

[You’ve felt it, haven’t you?]

“How can I not, especially when it’s this obvious?”

[One of those instances is happening right now.]

The screen disappeared, prompting Jian Gong to look back at the youth who was still cultivating.

A giant lizard slowly crept closer to him. Its body was covered with dirt but underneath that, Jian Gong could see that it had fern-colored scales. Its frills were larger than its head. It was as long as a dining chair and had sharp claws that were barely poking out. It had a savage expression as its forked tongue licked its face. It slowly crept towards the youth.

[Aren’t you going to help, Observer?]

“Remember what you’re here for, Status!” Jian Gong admonished. “I’m here to observe, not babysit.”

[He did ask you to alert him.]

“If he gets mad, I’ll tell him the exact same thing.”

[…I wonder why he made you like this.]

“We all inherited one part of him. Just like you inherited his desire to be helpful, I inherited-”

[His sadistic nature.]

“You can see it however you fit. But as I was saying, some of us have jobs fitting towards our traits, while others…” his voice trailed off as he looked at the screen with a meaningful gaze.

The screen seemed to have dimmed a bit. He didn’t look at the screen anymore and focused on the youth.

The lizard was right behind the youth. It inched its neck forward and opened its maw revealing two short but sharp teeth. At the next moment, it bit down like a vice.