Chapter 15

  Plans Manifest(?) (I)

  [--Creator's Eyes used]

  [Target: Mu Bei]

  [Age: 14]

  [Talent: None (Forcibly tried to ascend to the second stage of Qi Condensation; failed, resulting in backlash)]

  [Traits]

  [Dying (Common) -- doesn't have a long while to live; cannot be saved by ordinary means]

  [Addicted (Common) -- addicted to a local opiate]

  [...]

  [Assessing Suitability...]

  [...]

  [No Special Root found. No hidden physique. Broken talent]

  [Recommended: short of a Sovereign intervening, the target is destined to die within 30 days. Host cannot help]

  ...

  [--Creator's Eyes used]

  [Target: Long Shan]

  [Age: 16]

  [Talent: Low-Mortal]

  [Traits]

  [Dying (Rare) -- extremely sick due to his cultivation going berserk. Has less than 48 hours to live]

  [Unconscious (Common) -- drifting in and out of consciousness]

  [...]

  [Assessing Suitability...]

  [...]

  [No Special Root found. No hidden physique. Broken talent]

  [Recommended: the target is impossible to save within this realm. Guaranteed to die within 48 hours]

  ... yeah. You know, I recall this young man who suddenly had an idea not too long ago--'hey, what if I went down to the most downtrodden part of the sect to search for talents?!'... What the hell was he thinking? Nothing, that's what.

  I should have never come, to be honest. This is just... depressing. It is depressing on so many levels that it is difficult to truly express it. Even if I wanted to help for some altruistic reason, I couldn't; practically 80% of the kids here looked little different than the two who were dying. Did that mean ALL of them were dying? Probably not. But they were on their way, at least.

  Tsk. One day, when I become a Sect Master, I'll make sure this isn't a reality anymore.

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

  Couldn't they have at least kept them outside--whoa! Wow. Did I really just consider that? Sheesh. Maybe this world is changing me faster than I thought it would.

  Anyway, as I found nothing but more reasons to kill myself, I spun around and left, ascending the mountain yet again. Luckily, I didn't run into any of the Elders that seemed to love stopping Lu Qi and lecturing any which way, hoping that some of the Daoist teachings would stick.

  None ever did, however; this man was, through and through, a pleasure-seeking fiend. Sort of like a heat-seeking missile but for, well, pleasure.

  All the same, without any interruptions, I arrived at the peak relatively quickly. As always, my devout disciple was nestled in the corner and cultivating; as he was my disciple, I always had access to his information with Creator's Eyes, which let me know that he had already broken through to the third stage of the Qi Condensation Realm.

  Alright.

  So, he's a lunatic.

  The average time to break through to the third stage was... three years. Yep. In this backwater, it roughly went one stage a year.

  It did, however, speed up after that, actually, as the biggest reason why it took so long initially was because the kids were still adjusting and learning.

  Naturally, since Long Tao was a reincarnator, none of that mattered. He could very likely speedrun his way through the initial realms should he choose to do so (and have enough resources); I just hope he won't actually display it. All other kids, at best, would be at the first stage. Most probably won't have even reached that.

  If he stepped out with his actual cultivation, there's no doubt in my mind that he'll be taken away from me immediately. And, well, I really can't afford to be losing disciples.

  I ignored him and let him be, retiring to my bedroom. There were quite a few papers in the nearby cupboard, so I took them out, prepared the quilt, and started jotting down the ideas I was having about this place.

  The first order of business was to construct Long Tao's dwelling. It won't be anything complicated, just a two-parter with the bedroom/cultivation chamber and the 'living room' of sorts. He'd still come over here to eat and learn.

  The second order was redoing the walls; I don't know how high quality the plaster will be, but any quality would be better than what I have now. The issue, of course, is that I have absolutely no clue how I'd even go about redoing the walls. So, for now, that's shelved to the side.

  There were the Spirit Stones, too. Though I'll reserve most of them for cultivation (not just of Long Tao, but Daoist Mu's disciple, too), I'll probably also have to create a pile for spending.

  While Elder Qin's gift was quite generous, most of it was within the Spirit Stones realm. Though other things were amazing, they wouldn't immediately fix the numerous issues we have over yonder. Hm? Is yonder the right word? Ah, let's not risk it--issues we have over here.

  Aah, my fingers hurt.

  Well, not really, but the script of this world is really uncomfortable to write. It had elongated and strangely swirly letters that curled unto themselves. Ah, that's beside the point.

  The point is that I have the general plan in mind: build a dwelling for Long Tao -> invest a lot of Spirit Stones in him -> buy enough materials to expand the dwelling once I recruit the second disciple -> pray that any of this crap yields some Creation Points.

  Even though I've learned quite audacious things about Elder Qin, I was regretting spending the 15 points on it. With them, I didn't feel quite as... destitute.

  No, really, there was nothing else--Lu Qi was so broke that, if he had a wallet and I opened it, dust bunnies would fly out. He'd already sold whatever valuables he ever had in pursuit of hedonism, and there was nothing left.

  Perhaps that answers the question as to how I woke up in his body--maybe the heavens were so pissed off at him that they decided to give me a chance after I got unjustly bent over by a car? Hmm. Well, anything's possible, I guess.

  Forget it.

  Since there's nothing else to do until tomorrow, maybe I ought to try cultivating. So, I got into the 'standard' lotus pose, closed my eyes, and started drawing Qi from my dantian through the meridians... and it was the most excruciating thing in the world.

  According to the Sect's cultivation method, I ought to feel a 'spring-like' sensation, a cooling breeze; but, no, my talent is severely, astonishingly, mind-bogglingly bad. I still wonder how on God's green earth the Sect Master managed to turn this waste into a Spirit Manifestation Elder.

  Even I, who knows like 4 things about cultivation, can recognize that this is bad; perhaps, just like Elder Qin, Spirit Sage, too, held some audacious secrets. I wonder how many points it would cost to take a peek?

  Hm? Did I just sound like a pervert? No... right? Nah, can't be. I've only perved once in my life, and even that was respectfully.