Chapter 61

  A Little Respite

  "I'll think about it." Those were Elder Qin's parting words as he left, rather grim-faced, leaving me wondering whether I'd made the right decision.

  It was one thing to fight for my disciples, but, technically speaking, that girl wasn't actually a disciple--she was a burden. No, wait, she's a guest. Yes, a guest. Big distinction there.

  And she was a planted guest at that, the Sect Master's thinly veiled attempt to figure out what the hell is happening on the Lonesome Peak.

  So... why the hell am I going out of my way to help her?!

  Haah. It's such a burden being a good guy.

  Khm.

  Speaking of being a good guy, it was time for my monthly quest--I'd already decided to not recruit any more disciples as my wealth reserves don't seem capable of even supporting the ones that I've got, the 'Epic' quest of Dai Xiu reaching the Foundation Establishment was still some ways off, and so that left the last one...

  This time around, the RNG landed on the 'Use Creation Points to upgrade a Mortal-Tier art into an Earth-tier one', with the solid reward of... 30 points.

  I'm actually wondering what the profit margin will be--maybe 5 or 10 points? It, solidly, isn't even worth the trip down the mountain, but as I'm quite bored and with nothing better to do, I decided to go visit the dear library. I hadn't been in a while, actually (well, two weeks or so 'a while'), and I figured I'd actually have to teach my disciples some of the Sect's own manuals. Otherwise, won't there be too many questions?

  The atmosphere in the sect had turned strange ever since the declaration of war; there were far fewer kids going in and out past the gates, the marketplace had ballooned in scope as everyone tried whatever they could to get stronger, and the sect had already internally announced that they'd spare no expenses--so long as the kids earned them.

  Well, nothing to do with me.

  I ignored everything and beelined for the library; I was usually ignored for the most part, especially after my repeated visits, but this time... not so much.

  "Elder Lu, welcome!"

  Hm?

  Why is he smiling? Why is he being so polite and nice? Did he hit his head?

  "Khm, yes, hello."

  "Do you need any help finding a book? Just a few days ago, we got a new batch of Darkcliff Tales. I hadn't read them yet, but, according to some others, they are quite good." Yes, he most definitely hit his head. The very same Deacon who never so much as glanced at me was now going out of his way to be nice. There's only one explanation.

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  "Some other time. Uhm, save them for me, if possible."

  "Of course. Anything you need, Elder Lu!"

  "..."

  Alright, that creepy encounter aside, I entered the library and ignored the many strange gazes as I headed over to the most accessible section of the entire building--its Mortal-tier Arts. There were literally hundreds of books littered across over a dozen or so bookshelves.

  Mortal-tier arts were... well, to be honest, most of them were utterly useless. As an example, there's this art that I randomly picked up called 'Heaven-Defying Kick'. It has two forms: the pre-action, which is just a pose with slightly parted feet pointing in the opposite direction, and the kick, which is just your most basic roundhouse kick.

  No, really.

  That's it. That's the entire 'art'. And it is not an exception, I'll tell you that much. Most of these are exactly the same; it's not until you get to the peak of Mortal-tier arts that you find some that incorporate the Qi at least a little bit.

  This is also one of the primary reasons for the discrepancy when kids fight--if you only know how to flail your limbs and not much else, you practically stand no chance against those kids who've learned Earth-tier arts that deeply incorporate Qi.

  The art that Xi Zhao studied and that I 'fixed' is actually an exception, as it's part of a manual with a far higher grade. In a way, the kid was both lucky and unlucky, but it was not my place to judge.

  I wasn't going to take any low-level garbage and waste points upgrading it, so I perused countless tomes for over half an hour looking for the perfect one. I endured the gazes, the chatter, and the hubbub of why an Elder was reading through Mortal-tier arts, but it wasn't easy. More than once I wanted to shout, 'Don't you have a war to train for?!' but I held back.

  Eventually, I managed to find my golden crown--Rippling Kick. A simple name for a simple art. It, too, only had two forms--the pose and the strike—but the strike portion was vastly more complicated than almost all others within the rank.

  It actively infused Qi through specific pathways within the meridians of the foot, and the end result was that it would create a 'rippling' and 'staggered' sort of damage; if the kick landed, it would reverberate at least a few times, sending shockwaves into the victim's body.

  It was already peak-Mortal-tier art, and upgrading it to Earth-tier was as simple as clicking a button, spending 15 Creation Points, and, voilà, I have gained an Intermediate understanding of the upgraded art.

  It went from having 2 forms to 5; the upgraded version had a variety both in the direction of kicks as well as Qi pathways. Its Qi use was vastly more optimized, and it could actually break through minor barriers now.

  Though it isn't exactly an earth-shattering upgrade (he he), it went from theoretically useful to occasionally useful. I netted 15 extra points and gained an art that I can teach the kids (will I, though? maybe Dai Xiu, as she uses her body to fight rather than a sword), and only lost a little bit of dignity.

  On my way out, the head-damaged Deacon interrupted me again, smiling as widely as I came.

  "Did you find what you were looking for, Elder Lu?"

  "Uh, no luck today," I shrugged it off. "I will come back a bit later for the Darkcliff Tales."

  "Of course! I have already reserved the finest copies for you!"

  "... hm. Okay."

  It's really sad--just a few weeks ago, this guy was completely normal, nothing wrong with him, and here he was, broken just a short while later. Life comes at you fast, and nobody knows that better than I do, so I sympathize. But I really wish he'd stop.

  I didn't hurry back toward the peak, instead visiting a restaurant and eating a hearty meal. Yes, it is better than plain rice, but honestly... not by much. It's mostly that they toss in a few pieces of meat (which are borderline inedible without me using Qi to dice the meat up a bit), and the broth isn't boiled water.

  Ultimately, though, cultivators viewed food (and nutrition in general) as something to overcome rather than indulge in--the only thing they wanted to eat were precious herbs and Qi-enriched meat.

  Me? Nah.

  Even if the day comes when I can beat back the hunger by licking my lips, I will be eating. Food is a pleasure, and one day when I rule this world, everyone will understand it as such.

  ... Wait a second.

  Did I just think 'when I rule this world'?

  Hmm.

  Maybe I damaged my head, too?