I had a maniacal grin covering my face as a flurry of emotions went through me. I had needed a Body Cultivation manual… and I had received! What godlike timing, I praised, you amazing System! I waved my hand as two pill canisters appeared. I frowned at the medicinal smell, which I couldn’t exactly complain about, before deciding…

What was wrong with pill chugging? Nothing! Everyone needs a little boost here and there, even if that boost is completely unnecessary… It was still needed! Very needed, I justified, to my cultivation. I titled my head back, and dumped the pills into my gaping mouth. Instantly a pill had gotten stuck in my throat! I began coughing like an old person with Covid-19, and cursing far more than a sailor would in the midst of an ocean expedition. I frowned, before face palming.

This was what was wrong with pill chugging! Obviously, the only down-side was… choking. Yes, choking was the only plausible downside to this. That is my conclusion, and I nodded my head sagely. I could feel the judging stares of the Four Auspicious Beasts on my back, and I blushed furiously, an indignant sputter saying all they needed to know; ‘You didn’t see that, got it!?’

I shook my head, cursing the pills and John(I would beat him up one day, I really would), before taking the pills at a much slower, safer pace. Ah, who was I trying to fool? I snorted at the thought, and dumped the pills back into my mouth before swallowing them all at once. I was assaulted by a pleasing rapid current of sensations as the pills worked their magic. A small smile unveiled itself on my face as I laid back, and relaxed. The feeling receded quickly, to my annoyance, but their benefit had faded.

My Body Cultivation had soared! It was very near the point in which I could identify it, and then begin to isolate and refine my Blood Qi. I smiled; this was a pleasant day, full of surprises. I nodded at the Auspicious Beasts, and then began to cultivate again. Quickly, I was shocked at how much more difficult cultivation had become as soon as I hit the Qi Refinement stage! I grit my teeth, a slight bout of annoyance flashing on my face, before I sighed in annoyance.

Just like that, two weeks passed.

By the time I had hit the first small realm in Qi Refinement, one wisp of Qi refined, it was my second month in this world. My stomach… was empty. I shouldn’t be surprised, my body was in the shape of a baby, no matter how high my cultivation was. I would inevitably get hungry. So, what would I do? I would, of course, go hunt! I laughed before I even finished the idea, before walking up to the Auspicious Beasts.

“Hey, Baihu, Qinglong, Xuanwu, and Zhuque. I have a competition for you! Whoever brings back the most dead animals in a day, gets a prize!” I spoke excitedly, and they all looked interested. They seemed to discuss something among themselves, somehow, and then looked back at me. Baihu, Qinglong, and Zhuque accepted. As for Xuanwu… well, he had a funny look on his face. He just muttered something about turtles, and speed.

It took almost a full day before the rest of the Beasts returned back to camp. Xuanwu kept me company, feeding me his deliciously thick Qi, for me to cultivate with. Although my speed had slowed down quite significantly, I still sped along, watching absent-mindedly as the four beasts returned. Zhuque, Qinglong, and Baihu all arrived in their own whimsical fashion. Qinglong, soaring through the air in a spear-like manner, Zhuque with her beautiful wings, and Baihu with the steps of a tiger. I suppose he was a tiger, which made sense. They each arrived with a couple tonnes of food each.

Zhuque had a lot of birds, and other animals that lived in the air… including some kind of weird, mutated eagle. Qinglong had marine life, and aerial prey… but Baihu had a lot of denser, larger food. In all honesty, I really couldn’t decide the winner but… Qinglong definitely had more overall food. It may not be as filling, but it would last much, much longer than Baihu’s or Zhuque’s. Just as I was about to crown Qinglong the winner, and tell him what his reward was… Baihu spoke.

“Wait, Zhongji! I still have one more animal I don’t have here.” Baihu spoke in an imposingly deep voice, which betrayed his previously young, immature child voice. Slightly shocked, I just nodded dumbly as Qinglong, Zhuque, and Xuanwu all looked interested as Baihu sprinted off. It took several hours before Baihu was seen on the horizon again, the other three auspicious beasts wondering if he had cheated, before a gargantuan body was seen behind him.

It had to have been a hundred miles in both latitudinal and longitudinal size, before I was finally able to see what it was. It was… a giant mouse. The fur of it was green, and a pair of dominating black horns on its head. But, it was still… a mouse. Baihu’s final catch was a mouse? Yes, this mouse alone would make him win the competition but… really, such a large beast was a mouse? I was almost impressed. Almost. The only problem with it… was that it was most definitely still alive.

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

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Zhou had been living fine, up until a month or two ago. He had been living fine, eating well, and growing in the forests of Taoqi. He was classified as a Rank Four Demon Beast, which was impressive in its own right, but then… the entire world folded in on itself. Several hundred times. And then, it expanded again. Zhou had found himself… in an egg. This didn’t make sense, he thought. Mice weren’t born from eggs… Zhou had a sinking feeling about this whole situation.

The feeling had largely disappeared the last two months. Zhou had broken out of his shell in the first couple of hours, and he had mostly retained his large size and cultivation. The thing he was most worried about were his horns, however. They had randomly sprung up one day, and had massively boosted his intelligence, potential, and strength. He did a rapid dash to a nearby pond he could see, only to be relieved. And then, he resumed daily life in a new habitat. He had at some point wondered when Cultivators would begin to explore their new region, just as he had, and how long it took until he had infamy again.

Would he finally be recruited into the army of Chou? That was Zhou’s ultimate ambition. The Demon Lord Chou was one of the stronger beasts in the region, and even large empires weren’t able to take him out easily. Zhou wasn’t too sure of the circumstances, but was almost positive Chou would be recruiting almost everyone in the region, as such a situation would lead to a large power vacuum.

So, Zhou relaxed for the last two months. He had eaten, he had cultivated, and he had dominated this area; he had claimed it as his own. That was, until he had noticed the Black Sands. Zhou had seen them a long time ago, when he had first been exploring, but had been scared off by the mighty Qi in the center. So, when he felt that Qi multiply almost four-fold… he had scurried to get into a secluded cultivation. That was two weeks ago. Then, the Tiger came. He called himself Baihu, muttered things about his saviour and things, but Zhou didn’t pay attention.

He knew this was one of the people who caused the Qi surge in the Black Sands! Zhou stayed hidden. But, alas, Baihu had still found him. To Zhou’s surprise, he had… actually managed to fend Baihu off slightly! It was due to Zhou’s horns, of course. They generated quite a large amount of Defensive Qi. Baihu’s attacks were mighty, and he was extraordinarily fast. So he tried to escape, foolishly showing his backside to Baihu… who quickly took advantage, and literally bit him in the ass! He felt like crying...

This led to him being shamefully drug across the Black Sands, nearing the center at a maddening pace; His ass bleeding along the way, and a Dragon, a Vermillion Bird, and some large prey constantly flying back over. He was dropped in front of a pile of dead animals, and he saw a Cultivator in front of him. Zhou had never stood a chance, he noticed, as he looked around.

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I stared in amusement at the mouse, my lips twitching. Qinglong and Zhuque just snorted in amusements, and then realized. They had definitely lost! Where was their giant mouse? Their large prey? They stared at their own piles in increasing sadness. I just laughed; The mouse stared at me in worry. I took a deep look at its horns. Hmm… They were quite conical. Perhaps I could use them as the head of a Spear? I wonder what rank the twin Spears would be… Silver, perhaps?

I shook my head; If I were to use such legendary materials as Spear heads, even when I had no polearm, wouldn’t I be a laughing stock? I suddenly gripped onto the left Horn, before frowning. It… had hurt me! Not only that, I felt my feet get pushed back. It was difficult to move. Qinglong, Zhuque, Xuanwu, and Baihu all instantly moved closer. I waved my hand at them.

“These horns… are quite large, sturdy, and feel like silk. They would make for a good material for armour. Baihu wins, by the way. This… rat? This rat is big enough to beat you all by itself, haha.” I merrily spoke before I realized something.

My gift… was based on hitting a new cultivation realm. I felt a cold sweat drench my back, as I looked at Baihu, my mouth twitching wildy. Baihu just sighed at my antics, before saying that it was fine. I sighed in relief, before saying that I would definitely give him a gift in the future. Baihu… was just too kind! I shook my head. I sat down, and began cultivating.

Another month passed. This denocated my third month on this weird planet.

I got up, relaxed. We had long since reached the very center-point, which was then I noticed something odd. There was… no cause of this Qi. It was natural. It didn’t make sense, but I paid no heed to it. I had already hit the second small realm, and was probably half-way to getting to the third Refined Qi wisp. I could vaguely tell my limit in this realm was nine wisps, and that marked my talent. There would, for a normal person, be three Qi Wisps in this realm. Ah, how it felt to be a genius… At this point, the food that Baihu, Zhuque, and Qinglong had collected were slightly rotting; So I had devised a plan. I would learn Qi Formations, and figure out a way to preserve them. That was a week ago, and my plan had actually been going rather smoothly. I had figured out several formations, ley line locations, and designs.

The most important one I had discovered… was a low-ranking Illusion Formation. It worked well, but it wouldn’t be enough to fool stronger people. I could already see some discrepancies in the surroundings that this covered, so I couldn’t imagine how poor of a quality this was. I walked out of the formation, and summoned my two Qi Wisps and began to intertwine them with reality, an invisible pressure bearing down on my surroundings.

This was a self-created technique(inspired by another novel) I titled, “Cultivation Pressure.” By forming a barrier of Qi Wisps around something, the air density would increase several fold. It was truly an awe inspiring technique, one I had already written a manual for. It was low quality though, as was the technique. I was searching the horizon before I noticed something odd. The wastelands… had begun to grow green? I squinted a little, my eyes were not deceiving me!

The trees and grass growing in the wasteland, however, seemed dead and lifeless but upon closer inspection were gold mines of Qi! This place was truly meant to become a cultivation wonderland. Speaking of which, I hadn’t seen heads nor tails of cultivators since I had come to this world. Were they truly still stuck in caves? I sighed. I turned my head, and looked at our prisoner, Zhou. Baihu had learned his name a while ago, and we weren't sure whether or not to keep him. We decided... to keep him prisoner for now.