Ancient Being Predecessor of the Primordial Era: An OP Mc LitRpg - Cultivation - Development, page 37
If they could learn to casually use them, they would turn into nukes quicker.
Yin Hu frowned. His initial goal had always been to make sure the girls become said nukes as soon as possible. Not rushing the process, but keeping a sustainable but unrelenting pace to get them stronger. Yet, he had been having regrets.
He didn’t want them to become nukes too fast anymore. Yin Hu actually cared about them now. He cleared his throat, opening his eyes and staring at the stars above them. There was enough sense in his brain to know that power gained too quickly was power that corrupted just as easily.
Whether that fact changed due to it being a cultivation world or not was beyond him.
Yin Hu could only work from the perspective that he knew well enough. That included a guarantee that power unearned was almost worthless in the eyes of its beholder. He knew he was being overly cautious.
Maybe it was okay. Maybe it wasn’t okay.
“Ancestor?” Jun said.
Her voice nearly startled him, but his constant practice of keeping his persona saved him. He turned to her silently. Nodding for her to continue speaking.
“When we get out of the forests and to the other side. What do we say? Where do we go? How do we convince people that we aren’t aiding Demonic Cultivators?”
An alibi? Jun’s right, we’re going to need one. Especially if my fears about the original Hu family being betrayed are true.
“I'm assuming you’ve been thinking about this the whole time tonight?” Yin Hu asked.
Jun smiled and nodded.
“Go ahead. Let me hear it all.”
“Well, the Righteous Sects right now aren’t actually righteous sects. Right?” Jun said with an expectant look. She was making a point. Slowly taking him along the ride of her thought trail to convince him of her final decision.
Yin Hu nodded.
“Mhm,” Jun’s smile was growing wider. “They’re actually the Neutral Bloc. Money motivated above all other things in general. Willing to sell their own families if the right price is offered, regardless of who is paying. In a lot of situations, they aren’t that much different than Demonic Cultivators on the bad end of things.”
“What are you suggesting then? They don’t seem easily convinced of strangers appearing and leaving them be. Especially if they will try to take advantage of the situation for their own personal gain.”
“I’m suggesting we act like a traveling merchant family. Merchant cultivators!”
Yin Hu began to comb his beard. Thinking over her words carefully and what it would mean for them. The longer he digested them the better they sounded. He had not even considered making an alibi. Just escaping the demonic lands and into righteous lands, everything else would take care of itself.
The biggest thing that struck him was the fact that they could basically launder his wealth through the fake cover up. Make all their income legal and hopefully keep all the vultures away. Of course, he wasn’t going to be throwing cash around like an idiot.
He had some common sense after all.
“I have it all thought out in my head!” Jun said excitedly. She was bubbling, nearly jumping up and down while seated.
Yin Hu smiled at her enthusiasm. “Must have taken a while, huh?”
“A few days! I even thought of a business we mainly trade in, a backstory for us that fits the narrative and doesn’t sound weird, even a family name that would be perfect for us three to hide our identities! The Yin family. Like your surname, Yin. It’s perfect and even the truth. No high level cultivator would be able to tell if we are lying or not because, technically, we aren’t!”
Jun went on for the next few hours detailing her entire plan. Going over every single point in excruciating detail, and then adding some more just to be safe. A few things she thought up only at that moment of time.
It did not end until she keeled over. Falling asleep. Yin Hu had to help her into her bed roll. Tuck her in.
While he could only return to his lounging chair. Get comfortable. And hope that this would be the day he could finally get a wink of sleep. He doubted it though. Shut-eye had not been in his wheelhouse for longer than he could remember. There was no indication he would suddenly end up falling over with drowsy eyes anytime soon.
Chapter 77 - The Bleak Forests
It took a few more days of traveling towards the Bleak Forests until it was clear and obvious they were at the edge. Yin Hu, Shui, and Jun stood in a small break in the forest. All along the edges of the Demonic Bloc territory and that of the Bleak Forests.
No trees grew for as far as he could see in a long corridor. Almost as though someone cleaned the area up of any trees, grass, bushes, or anything else other than dirt. Making sure to keep the side they had come from in a straight line of trees without a single one out of place. It left a strange feeling in Yin Hu’s chest.
Yin Hu could not say the same for the other side.
Haphazard placement that looked far more natural than what the tree line they exited was. Twisting branches and trunks. The leaves looked sharp to the touch and a strange darker green that did not sit right. It was out of a horror movie. Thick bushes and ferns. Menacing flowers with stems and branches covered in thorns. Dry vines that went up and down a few trees, a few hanging loosely and swaying to the breeze around them.
“It's so quiet.” Shui said. She held onto Yin Hu’s robe, hiding behind him.
“A-Ancestor, are you sure this is where you want to go? I haven’t heard of anything good that could possibly happen in this forest. Only scary tales.” Jun nervously chuckled, wringing her wrists at the thought of entering that forest.
“We’re here already. There is no going back now.”
Yin Hu felt both girls nod, then, in almost perfect unison, audibly gulp. They were clearly nervous.
He figured it was more survivable than facing down the next level of the mob bosses and a real army that would be marching towards them at any moment now. All looking for a vendetta after Jun slapped around their young master. First it was an Elder and some princeling probably. Now the next level of the difficulty stage would arrive.
Would it be a group of nuke level elders that would search for him? Or would it jump straight to their strongest members with the reaction Cai Xuefang had to him. His persona and maybe even his inherent strength enough to scare the old man.
That had been a thought he had been struggling against for some time now.
His assumption was that his physical strength and whatever little Qi or cultivation he had was enough to keep him around Dong ZhenKang’s strength level. Maybe even slightly below, but the reaction he had been getting consistently made him start to even question his sanity and power.
Yin Hu had spent, on a conservative estimate, millions of years on the island. Constantly trying to improve himself, learn to cultivate, or anything else he could achieve to receive a level up and rewards. There was no time he could remember where he lost that passion until the day he jumped off the edge and into unconsciousness. Waking up on this cultivation world.
Mentally unaffected to the degree he expected himself to reach. He should have gone insane within months if he was being generous to himself and yet here he was.
Normal enough.
Yet, the issue of his power remained unresolved.
Millions of years of attempting to figure out his strength made it difficult to see anything other than average at best. He never had a connection with Qi or any other energy source. Locked away behind the system and whatever mechanism that had broken, preventing him from using everything he had been rewarded with to their fullest potential.
Even now, he could accept that he was strong enough to have Cai Xuefang shivering in his boots. Especially with the way Dong ZhenKang spoke about him and Shao Yating. Though Yin Hu never did manage to meet the other man. Supposedly the son-in-law Jun had been hurt by.
It was a good thing too.
“You’re frowning,” Jun said. Breaking him out of his thoughts. “You don’t ever frown, Ancestor.”
He turned to her. Noticed her worried expression. Yin Hu smiled to alleviate the air around them, his thoughts had been a mess ever since seeing Jun in the state he had. “Everything is fine. Just thinking is all.”
I need to start training again. Can’t have my nukes die before they fully transform into nukes, right?
Yin Hu had other weapons that came much later than his DragonsWrath. Weapons that he assumed were much stronger considering that they arrived with even larger rewards than anything he had gotten so far. A few with a few million experience and entire tubs full of Superior Mana Stones.
Swords and spears mainly.
Being idle and relaxing all the time no longer seemed applicable in the current situation. At least until Jun and Shui grew up or reached a strength threshold. Otherwise, it was only a matter of time before one of them was irrevocably hurt.
The situations and issues they faced seemed to grow in number and intensity.
From a bullshitting YagWan with extremely weak disciples, all the bounty hunters searching for them, until whatever the Black Door Palace Sect was. Or was it a green door? Yin Hu wasn’t sure exactly, but that was beyond the point currently. Then somehow finding them in the middle of a forest was the issue.
“What are you thinking about?” Shui said.
“I,” Yin Hu felt a menacing smile spread across his face. “... am thinking about all the new training and hard work I am going to put the two of you through soon enough! We had a few rest days. Now we return to our regularly scheduled drilling!”
Shui cursed under her breath. Jun laughed.
“C’mon. Let's not waste anymore time. Best we make haste and get out the other side of the forest as early as possible.” Yin Hu said as he started walking.
The girls followed without question. Though Jun began to make a humming noise when they entered the forest proper. The sun was blocked by the overhead canopy of thick leafage and branches. It was dark even in the middle of the day.
Yin Hu turned to her with a questioning look.
“This place is stuffed with more Qi than I can casually cultivate. It changed so fast! How can it not leak out when we were standing just outside of it?”
Stuffed with Qi?
Yin Hu willed his perception sense to activate again. He searched for any sign at all that this place could carry any form of Qi or energy. Finding nothing at all the entire time he looked. Yin Hu tried three times before he gave up. There was absolutely no Qi that he could easily recognize.
Assuming that Shui and Jun could tell, it only proved his theory on his inability to use it. His training would be focused on growing his strengths rather than waste time trying to figure out what was going on with his cultivation.
He had read enough to the Compendium to know that Heart Demons were a pretty big part of being a cultivator.
Yin Hu had no intention of creating them for himself on a matter he may not be capable of achieving at any point. For now, he would continue to develop his physical properties and take advantage of his greatest strength. The spatial rice bag. Weapons that could shake the world on their lonesome if their titles and names were to be believed.
Plus with the way Shui and Jun reacted to their own gifted weapons, he was sure the later ones were on the higher end. Especially if it could create literal glass at the point of impact. The amount of power and heat that was required to cause that made his head spin.
Jun’s nuke potential skyrocketed with that discovery. She had been very clear that it was the weapon and its spirit that helped her achieve her goal and not exactly her only.
Which was exactly what he was looking for. For now though, he would stick with his favorite weapon. Train to use DragonsWrath. Become the best spear wielder to ever touch one. Or maybe good enough to keep the two rascals and trouble magnets out of dangerous situations.
Chapter 78 - Practice?
Three weeks of travel. Jun had been walking within the Bleak Forests with her Ancestor and Shui. Trudging along through bushes and trees. Dodging any thick foliage, boulders, and destroyed areas they couldn’t pass.
Forcefully heading in the direction the compass, she had been given, pointed.
Not a moment of unnecessary rest. Drilling and training every single day since she had gushed and explained about her wonderful idea to keep their identity hidden. Something they would not have to deal with for a few months at minimum, though it was wise to make sure they had the story down and consistent.
Whomp!
Whomp!
Jun focused on the bowl of rice before her. Allowing herself to continue her trail of thought.
Quite frankly, she did not want to watch her master deal with any fallout if curious individuals dug too deep into their identity. People eavesdropping and nosying into matters that did not concern them happened often. Hu Shui was one of them too.
It would only be a disaster if anything like that occurred.
Whomp!
Whomp!
Especially after what she’d seen so far from her Ancestor. Never before had she seen him practice. All his encounters and any fight tended to end before she could catch any movement or feel any Qi at all. Quicker than a second of time. Or ancient monsters that dominated the world would bow and scrape before him, begging for their lives.
She still remembered the old bounty hunter that radiated more Qi than she could have produced in an entire year. YagWan’s disciples were also extremely powerful. Only the fact that her sword carried pressure that equated to a domain made the field of battle even for them.
Allowing her to beat him through attrition rather than her own greater strength.
That same pseudo domain provided her the strength to pierce through Shao Yating’s liquid Qi. Carving his neck and eventually cutting deeply into his palm. Even with his attempt to defend himself. Trying his best to make a show of crushing her in the process of doing so as well. Jun was grateful the fool was so haughty.
Jun took a bite of the rice. Enjoying the sudden burst of Qi that flooded her meridians and rushed into her core.
She had not noticed how much energy there was in every bite before. Only after breaking into the Liquid Core Stage could she have a proper perspective on what type of heavenly rice she had been eating ever since he had shown up.
Her estimation of what Yin Hu had done for them surged higher and higher.
Jun had broken into the next stage for her core. Allowing for many folds of Qi to be stored and used for greater effect. Concentrated enough that a single drop could have matched the amount of Qi she had carried within her Gaseous Core. The difference was between a tub of water and an entire lake. She couldn’t imagine the amount Cai Xuefang’s core held, or maybe even the Dark Gate Palace patriarch.
If the difference between her old self and now was this vast, the next rank could only be exponentially greater.
She paused for a moment. Taking her time to cultivate the massive amount of Qi flooding in her. Wrangling with the wild beast of uncontrolled power. Squeezing and pushing, churning and gathering them into liquid drops of Qi. All like the little two page manual her ancestor had provided for her.
A heavenly—
Whomp!
World shaking—
Whomp!
Earth shattering technique that turned the grueling process of cultivating Liquid Qi for someone as new as she was into a manageable and almost effortless one. Again, pulling back no punches to provide her with something that entire sects and nations would fight for.
Sending out their most coveted sons and daughters, shakers and strongest powers, maybe even awakening their own ancient ones in order to involve themselves in a battle that would change the entire trajectory of their lives.
Whomp!
Jun had been handed the tiny manual like it wasn’t that important. With a promise to give her something better eventually once she established herself and consolidated her growth and development.
Whomp!
“To imagine that I would witness this again,” her weapons spirit sat next to her. Elbows on her crossed legs, hands hold her face up. “To see my master swing a blade. Even if he does not deem you two worthy of seeing his artistry and mastery.”
Jun looked up. Eyes drifting from the spirit next to her back towards Yin Hu. Shui was dozing off after stuffing her face with three bowls of rice without attempting to cultivate or take advantage of the Qi each bite carried. Not that she needed to yet. That process probably started at her stage or Yin Hu would have already provided them with a tool to do exactly that.
She would not doubt him ever again.
Yin Hu stood there in the middle of the clearing. Wearing monk clothing made for battle, solid gray with a wrap around his hips to keep the tucked shirt in and the loose pants on. In his hands was his spear. Red dragons glowing on its shaft. The black blade sucking the light out of the small clearing, making the fire flicker oddly
The terrifying piece gave her goosebumps and shivers when she looked at it. Ever since she broke into this realm now.
She had been blind.
“Aren’t you blessed, little tramp.”
“Don’t call me that.” Jun whispered, her eyes unable to break from her Ancestor practicing a strange technique. Something she had never seen any spear user do. Swinging his spear like a sword, occasionally stabbing. “I’m not a tramp.”
Must be an esoteric technique I can’t possibly understand. I'm just not strong enough. Or smart enough. Maybe not even have enough potential to understand what could possibly be going on.
There was a lot that Jun didn’t understand about her Ancestor, but it was not her place to question. She had learned that time and again, making her look like an idiot whenever she fell into doubt. It was not a good feeling.
Whomp!
Whomp!
Jun gulped. She could see the world shift around every strike. No Qi. No effort used. Nothing but unadulterated power. Maybe even hints of Dao he did not attempt to use intentionally. The world around her seemed to shiver just like Jun did whenever he struck. The darkness receded for a moment. The light breeze around them froze for a second before continuing.
