Chapter 18

  Vast-Body Dantian (I)

  After a nice, juicy verbal trouncing he delivered, Long Tao retreated to the house, leaving me to pick up the broken pieces of my heart.

  My carefully laid out plans all went up in flames within seconds, leaving me feeling... rather desolate. Now, I could focus that desolation into starting the construction of the dwelling, but I'm feeling a bit petty... so, I won't.

  Instead, I decided to descend the mountain yet again and visit the other desolates of the sect--hmm, no, I can't share the same layer of depression with them. That's very inappropriate.

  I didn't have much hope, and as the heavens say, when you least expect it...

  The first two checks returned completely abysmal results--both, just like the two kids yesterday, were on the brink of dying, with one having a few months and the other up to a year. Their talents were barren to nonexistent, with very little future.

  However... the third one was different.

  [--Creator's Eyes used]

  [Target: Dai Xiu]

  [Age: 12]

  [Talent: Mortal(Sky)]

  [Cultivation Realm: First Stage of Qi Condensation]

  [Cultivation Method: Spirit Sword Harmony, First Volume]

  [Martial Arts: None]

  [...]

  [Traits]

  [Qi-Poisoning (Epic) -- target's Qi channels have been deviously poisoned very early on in their life, leading to the degradation of their talents]

  [Vast-Body Dantian (Epic) -- target has a unique constitution, where in they do not possess a common dantian; rather, their entire body acts as one]

  [Loyal (Common) -- will showcase an above average sense of loyalty]

  [...]

  [Assessing suitability...]

  [...]

  [Special Physique (Mortal -> Heaven -> Jade -> Ancient -> ???), Vast-Body Dantian (Jade), discovered. Currently in the state of corruption due to Qi-poisoning]

  [Recommendation: due to the poison, it is impossible for the target to cultivate proper methods; Qi-poisoning needs to be carefully expelled first. Have the target drink Mildew Qi Tea three times a day and never try to channel Qi. Poison will be dispelled in, at most, 60 days. After that, assign a suitable Body Cultivation Method, preferably of at least peak-Earth tier]

  A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  [Final assessment: can either disappear or flourish; the target's talent is not stationary, and there is a great chance to evolve in the future thanks to the unique constitution. Will require a lot of resources and exceptionally high-level Cultivation Methods, but the yield can be remarkable]

  ...

  Wow.

  Wowza, even.

  This was the thickest 'status window' yet, and boy... does it tell a story.

  It doesn't really give insight into the circumstances, just the body's current condition. Maybe there's an upgraded version of the system? Or maybe an upgraded version of Creator's Eyes? Regardless, it turns out that I do have the charm of luck.

  The girl in question was just about as skeletal as the others, but there was still fire in her eyes; in fact, she was the only one who met my gaze. It was just for a moment, and she quickly looked away, but it was more than the rest.

  Mildew Qi Tea...

  There's a faint memory of it nestled in the depths of my mind; it wasn't a cheap tea, by any means, but it wasn't a particularly expensive one either. The reason the impression was so vague was simply because the original Lu Qi didn't drink tea. Wines? He knew every wine within ten thousand miles, yes, but tea? Yeah. There were gaps.

  60 days... won't that mean I might have two Disciples competing? Now, Dai Xiu's talent wasn't anywhere near Long Tao's, but that was just for now. The system did say that her talent could evolve depending on progression in the future.

  Hmm. Wasn't this a bit too easy? Ah! Maybe the heavens were giving me that start-up boost? Like when you play gacha games and the first few draws are usually really good, but then you roll stinkers the next 100 times unless you pay... a lot?

  Tsk. Damnable pay-to-win circumstances. Whatever, I'll take what I can get.

  "What's your name?" I walked up to the girl and asked, startling her.

  "... D-Dai Xiu..."

  "How old are you?" I was asking partly to confirm the system's information but also to confirm that she wasn't brain-muddled.

  "Twelve..." she replied rather weakly, her lips trembling.

  "Come with me. From now on, you'll be my second disciple." Here's the thing--my bad reputation stinks to high heavens, and if I told this to other disciples, even the ones that didn't have that much talent, they'd all simply extricate themselves from my presence.

  However, for kids here with no prospects and no future, my reputation didn't matter. They were bound for death, either way, and if I could offer them life--even a despicable one--they'd take it.

  Of course, as I've ascertained before, that's far fantasy. Forget kids, by the time I was forty, I couldn't even date 25-year-olds. It was like they spoke a different language, to be honest, and they all had this secret code that I wasn't privy to.

  Bottom line--they made me feel old. Like, old.

  "Y-yes! A-ah... Elder... can, can you p-please h-help my brother? I--I will do anything..." I glanced over at the boy next to her; he appeared older, around fifteen or sixteen, but without Creator's Eyes, that was about as much as I could discern.

  Sure, there was the fact that he looked ill and sallow and a breath away from death, but as to why...

  He wasn't her actual brother--they looked about as different as humanly possible. While she had light-brown hair, soft features, and rather radiant green eyes, all paired with (presumably, under all that dirt) pale skin, he had black hair, black eyes, and copper-dyed skin.

  Nonetheless, what was the harm? Lonesome Peak lacked labor, and even if her brother had no talent, he still had a relatively developed (if emaciated) body.

  "Hm," I gently helped her up before lifting the boy's body and tossing him over my shoulder. He was light--extremely light, almost like a feather. I presume in part it was because of my cultivation, but it was also because he really did weigh quite little. "Can you walk?"

  "Y-yes." she said.

  "Uphill?"

  "..."

  I grabbed and lifted her up as she sat in my other arm, her tiny ones flung around her brother and my neck.

  It was quite a sight, I imagine, as there were even more eyes locked onto me. I heard them, heard them all... but I chose not to remember. The vile things they were saying made my skin crawl, but I couldn't even chastise them.

  I will say, however, that despite the original Lu Qi being quite a monster, he really wasn't as bad as they were painting him out to be; he'd never attacked a kid or even forced himself on someone. He mostly just went to brothels and found willing companions within the sect.

  He was angry and violent on occasion, and he never bothered denying any of the rumors, so... this was the image.

  Goddamn.

  How long will it take me to get rid of the reputation? A lifetime?!

  Yeah. At the very least.