I crouched over the scattered pile of books, staring down at what had to be at least a hundred different texts. Most were barely holding themselves together, stitched with scraps of cloth, bark, or what suspiciously looked like human skin. Honestly, it tracked. Dad always did his best writing when he was half-lucid and completely out of his mind.
If this were a proper legendary Xianxia story, I'd find some epic immortal technique buried in a jade slip, right? Some super badass cultivation method to kickstart my path to glory?
Yeah, no. Heaven wasn't feeling generous today.
"You're telling me you can only translate four of these?" I grumbled, shooting a look at the empty air where Qiu's voice came from. "There's like a hundred books here!"
"I am not a code breaker, User," Qiu snapped back. "Almost all these texts are written in completely different ciphers! And don't get me started on the ones in literal scribbles. How your father managed to read any of this garbage is a mystery."
I tapped my foot against the dirt, unimpressed. "Can't you, like, pull some AI bullshit? Brute force it?"
"User, I am a biomechanical engine. My processing capacity is directly linked to your body. I don't have infinite computing power—unless you want me to spend millennia brute-forcing this mess."
"So basically... you're worse than Windows."
There was a sharp, offended silence.
"Eh, just stating facts, man." I shrugged, ignoring the colorful string of curses Qiu started mumbling in my head.
Man, who knew machines could sulk?
I turned back to the books we could actually read, flipping them open one by one. The titles weren't exactly inspiring.
Steel Bear Body Technique. The Five Elements Sutra. Demon Heart of Impurity. Asura's Craving.
I hummed under my breath. Some of these were definitely not righteous immortal hero material.
The Steel Bear Body Technique was first. Pretty much exactly what it sounded like—an external body cultivation method. Refine your body until it is as tough as steel, move like a bear, hit like a bear. Simple, brutal, effective. Probably the Xianxia equivalent of a fast food meal—nothing fancy, but it worked.
Definitely seemed like it was common, too. The manual even mentioned it was widely circulated among low-tier sects and mercenaries.
I set it aside and picked up the Five Elements Sutra and the Demon Heart of Impurity next. These two were a little more complicated.
The Five Elements Sutra was actually kinda neat. It focused on mastering elemental forces—fire, water, earth, metal, and wood—through talismans and spells. A solid all-rounder technique. Unfortunately, it needed a ton of materials to practice properly. Elemental stones, spirit-infused paper, special inks... yeah. Definitely not for my broke ass.
The Demon Heart of Impurity, on the other hand, was just straight-up evil. Like, capital-V villainy at its core. Its whole purpose was cultivating heart demons—sneaking into people's minds and twisting them apart from the inside out. Sounded cool on paper, sure. But it needed live test subjects to make any real progress.
I was broke and not a serial killer, so... yeah, no thanks.
I rubbed my forehead. "Man, Dad really was a bastard if he penned something like this, huh?"
"You are not wrong, User," Qiu deadpanned.
Finally, there was the last manual—Asura's Craving.
Now this one actually caught my attention.
It was a vicious, high-risk body cultivation art that let you absorb blood, flesh, and qi to gradually evolve yourself into an Asura—a demon-like being of immense strength and resilience. The more you devoured, the stronger you got. But it came with one massive, flashing red warning sign.
Deviate even a little?
Instant madness. Ugly death.
And not the quick kind either.
I shut the book with a soft thump, weighing my options.
In the end, it boiled down to four options. Steel Bear Body was safe, simple, and, if I was being honest, a little boring. Five Elements Sutra was definitely cooler, but came with material requirements that would bankrupt me before I even started. Demon Heart was about as evil and impractical as it sounded. And Asura's Craving? Absolutely insane power, but using it was basically the same as lighting a fuse and waiting to explode.
I sighed, sitting back on my heels, thinking it over.
"Well... nothing good comes easy, right?"
Qiu made a noise that sounded suspiciously close to a groan.
"User... please do not pick the technique most likely to kill you."
I ignored the comment and flipped the Asura's Craving manual open again, my mind already made up.
"Hey, Qiu," I said casually. "You said you can control energy, right?"
"Yes, User," Qiu answered, voice dry. "Currently, I can absorb, balance, and manipulate your body's Qi capabilities to a certain degree."
"Perfect! Then you can just make sure I don't die."
There was a long, deeply suffering pause.
"...Very well," Qiu said, clearly begrudging every syllable.
"Alright. Let's get started then."
I sat down cross-legged, resting my palms lightly on my knees. Taking a slow breath, I started cycling through the introductory methods laid out in the Asura's Craving manual.
The technique was brutal, even at the first step—there was no gentle coaxing of energy here. It was like stirring molten iron through my veins. Every breath I drew burned a little hotter, and I could feel my blood roaring under my skin, like a drumbeat pounding just slightly out of sync with my heart.
Qiu murmured quietly in the back of my mind, making small adjustments, nudging the flow here and there, keeping the boiling chaos from tearing me apart.
"Steady, User. Expand your channels. Do not force it—let the Qi carve its path naturally."
I grunted, too focused to answer properly. Little by little, the sensation smoothed out. The chaotic current found rhythm, then shape.
A faint warmth started rising from my skin, curling around me like a thin mist.
I cracked an eye open and blinked.
A soft, almost imperceptible crimson aura was flickering around my body—thin, wavering, but definitely real.
I closed my eyes again and focused, cycling the technique slower now, letting the power of Asura's Craving settle deeper into my bones.
Hours passed in a slow, burning grind. I didn't stop, not even when the ache started to build in my limbs or when my breath turned ragged. I pushed through it, feeling the pressure inside me build, layer by layer, until finally—
Something cracked.
It wasn't loud. It wasn't even physical. But I felt it, like a dam bursting open somewhere deep inside my chest.
The world sharpened.
It was like my senses had been wrapped in cloth my entire life, and now, suddenly, everything was clear. The air tasted different. The earth beneath me buzzed with life. The faint threads of Qi in the world brushed against my skin like invisible rivers.
"Congratulations, User," Qiu said, voice steady. "You've achieved the First Stage of Qi Refining."
I opened my eyes, grinning.
"Huh. That was easy. Guess I really am the Son of Heaven."
"You would not have been able to absorb that much Qi in mere hours without my assistance," Qiu said, already slipping into lecture mode.
I ignored the jealousy. "I truly am a peerless genius."
"You would have suffered Qi deviation twenty-seven times and died screaming as your orifices bled out."
I clapped my hands once, sending a small puff of dust into the air. "Huzzah for my genius—and for you, my trusty sidekick!"
There was a pause.
"...Huzzah," Qiu said in the flattest voice imaginable.
I chuckled under my breath, feeling the lingering hum of power coiling under my skin.
My first step on my cultivation career!
Seamless breakthroughs with only mild amounts of effort—truly, I was born for this whole cultivation protagonist thing.
—
The moon hung high over the sky, casting a pale glow across the empty fields. Night was at its peak, cold and still.
I stood in the middle of a meadow overlooking a small farm on the outskirts of the village, arms crossed and gaze steady.
"This is unwise," Qiu said, voice cautious in the back of my mind.
"It's a must. I have to reclaim my Face. It's what a true protagonist would do."
There was a beat of silence.
"...You're telling me," Qiu said slowly, almost exasperated, "that stealing pigs is your grand plan for reclaiming Face?"
I nodded sagely. "I was face-slapped. Now I must pork-slap them in return."
"You're just making this up as you go, aren't you?"
"Nonsense," I said, voice filled with righteous conviction. "I'm truly embodying what it means to be a cultivator. The cultivation manuals said it clearly—being extremely brutal to anyone who's ever wronged you is standard practice! I read it in the novels."
Qiu stayed silent for a second longer than was probably polite.
"...And this has nothing to do with the fact that you like eating pork?"
I grinned. "Oh no, it absolutely does. They're still animals, but they've inherited properties from Thunder Fiend Valley. Their blood and meat have natural Qi conductivity. Perfect cultivation material. Mayor Zhao usually serves them up to cultivator restaurants—or gifts them to wandering cultivators for favors."
Qiu sounded reluctant but had to admit, "That... is true. But isn't Zhao related to a sect?"
"Yep! The Northsea Sect. But Zhao has already left with his daughter for the main branch. That's at least two weeks away from here. The only cultivators that were in the village were Deacon Yu and, well, my dear old dad." I paused. "And since Dad's dead and the Deacon left with Zhao, easy pickings!"
Qiu hummed, sounding thoughtful. "At least you've thought it through. Aren't you afraid of backlash, though? They'll probably figure it was you."
I shrugged. "Nah. I buried all of Father's stuff in one of his old hidey-holes before starting this mess. So I can just come back and dig it up if we ever need to. Besides—there's nothing left here for me anyway, so I'm gonna leave tonight anyway."
I stretched, cracking my neck with a lazy pop.
"Plus, I hear Thunderfire Boar is absolutely delicious roasted."
"You just want to eat, you fool," Qiu muttered with a sigh.
I grinned wider.
The night air was crisp against my skin as I sprinted through the fields, the farm coming into view. A rough fence circled the property—barely high enough to keep people out, let alone determined pigs.
I vaulted it without even slowing down, landing lightly on the other side.
The Thunderfire Boars were mostly asleep, their bulky forms sprawled out across the field. Even at rest, they looked dangerous. Their skin was covered in strange, jagged burns that still hummed faintly with crackling fire, like the remnants of a storm trapped under their hides.
I grinned under the black cloth mask I'd tied around my face.
Time to go to work.
Without hesitation, I activated Asura's Craving. A translucent crimson aura erupted around me, seeping into the air like a rising mist. I felt the shift immediately—two extra phantom arms unfurled from my back, crackling with power, and a monstrous, ghostly Asura mouth yawned open above my head.
For a second, I understood why people lost themselves to this technique.
The sheer euphoria—the pure rush of strength roaring through my blood—was incredible.
Still. No time to get lost in it.
Mask tight against my face, aura pulsing, I moved.
I didn't have any fancy martial arts training, but what I did have was raw momentum. I bent my knees and lunged forward, slamming into the first Thunderfire Boar like a battering ram. The phantom Asura mirrored my motion, wreathed my arm in its translucent claws—and ripped.
The boar went down in one brutal tear, its blood spraying into the air.
The phantom mouth snapped open and devoured it instantly, half the boar's body disappearing in seconds under the gnashing teeth.
I could feel it—the surge of energy, the way my aura thickened and coiled tighter around me. My body practically sang with it.
"Careful," Qiu warned. "You gotta pace yourself. If you let the Qi spiral out of balance, you'll go mad even with my help."
"Got it," I licked my lips with my rising tide of hunger.
The other Thunderfire Boars were awake now, screaming and thrashing. One of them spotted me and lowered its head, sparks dancing across its tusks.
I barely had time to register it before it charged.
The hit knocked me clean off my feet. I hit the ground hard, breath leaving me in a rush.
"User!" Qiu's voice rang out, a flicker of real concern bleeding through.
For a second, I just lay there, staring up at the endless night sky.
Then I pushed myself up, a wide grin splitting my face under the mask.
"You DARE?!"
I roared with laughter as the Asura's crimson aura blazed brighter around me, burning away the aches like they were nothing. The phantom mouth howled soundlessly, mirroring my madness.
I bolted forward, charging straight back into the fray.
Tonight, I was having that one for dinner.