Charges Banked: 12
[POV: Xiao Ren]
[Location: Magic Beast Mountain Range – Eastern Cliff]
[Time: Morning]
Sunlight burned away the mountain mist, painting the cliff face in gold and shadow. The Wolf Head mercenaries hacked through thick vines with impatient swings, their progress slow and noisy. I walked at the formation's rear, medic's satchel heavy on my shoulder.
I checked my reserve. Twelve charges banked—a dragon's hoard earned through patience and minor Feats. I hoarded them deliberately. Wild herbs were mostly Tier 0 or Tier 1—useful for capital, but unworthy of my daily miracle. To break through cultivation ceilings, I required Tier 2 or Tier 3 materials.
And according to the [Restored Survey Map (+1)] tucked against my ribs, we stood directly above such resources.
"Nothing but rocks and serpent holes," Mu Li grumbled, kicking a stone over the precipice. The Wolf Head Young Master's patience frayed with each passing hour.
My gaze drifted to Xiao Yixian. She knelt near the cliff edge, examining a cluster of azure blossoms—Cloud-Mist Flowers, rare and valuable.
I approached with deference, adopting [Persona: The Helpful Medic].
"Miss Xiao," I said, pointing downward along the rock face. "Does that blue shimmer suggest a Spirit Vine?"
She squinted. Behind a curtain of dead vines, a faint cerulean glint caught the light.
"It might be," she murmured, eyes brightening. "Extremely rare."
She secured a rope around her waist and lowered herself carefully. As her fingers closed around the vine, her foot slipped on moss-slick stone. She swung hard against the dead vines.
Crunch.
The vines offered no resistance. She fell through them—and vanished into the rock itself.
"Miss Xiao!" Mu Li shouted, lunging toward the edge.
"I'm unharmed!" her voice echoed upward—hollow, resonant. "There's... a cave hidden behind the vines!"
Mu Li's eyes ignited with avarice. Concern vanished, replaced by naked greed.
"A hidden dwelling?" he barked to his men. "Torches! Ropes! We descend!"
I adjusted my pack straps, falling back slightly. The script unfolded precisely as calculated.
Well. Chaos required only a single nudge.
[Location: The Ancient Cave]
Cool, dry air greeted us within—scented not of beast musk, but of aged stone and faint spiritual residue. Mu Li led with sword drawn, ten mercenaries fanning out behind him. Xiao Yixian walked center formation. I trailed last, crossbow concealed beneath my cloak.
We reached a stone gate carved with faded cloud patterns.
"Open it," Mu Li commanded two burly guards.
They pushed. The gate groaned open on ancient hinges.
Click.
My ears caught the subtle trigger-release—a hair's breadth of sound lost to the mercenaries' heavy breathing.
[Item: Gravity Crush Mechanism]
[Tier: 2]
"Down!" I shouted, throwing myself sideways.
I did not play hero. I simply tackled Xiao Yixian, rolling her away from the gate's center.
Thwip-thwip-thwip!
Black arrows erupted from wall slits—too fast for mortal eyes to track.
The two gate-openers became pincushions before their screams could form. Arrows buried to the fletching in throat and chest.
Silence returned, broken only by dripping blood.
"Status?" Mu Li demanded, voice trembling with rage rather than grief. He glanced at the corpses. "Expendable losses."
Xiao Yixian pushed me away, cheeks flushed. "You saved me," she whispered, eyes wide with confusion.
"I stumbled," I lied smoothly, brushing dust from my robes. "Clumsy footing."
Mu Li glared into the darkness beyond the gate. "Advance. Cautiously."
We moved deeper. The corridor opened into a circular chamber—walls carved with celestial maps now faded to ghosts. At its center sat a skeleton upon a stone dais, spine straight as if in meditation even in death. Before it hovered three stone boxes, suspended by forgotten mechanisms.
The inheritance.
Mu Li laughed—a sharp, hungry sound. "A cultivator of merit. Likely Dou Spirit stage or beyond."
He rushed forward.
I held my position, eyes locking onto the boxes.
[Item: Stone Box 1][Contents: Seven-Colored Poison Manual (Tier 2 – Xuan Special)]
[Item: Stone Box 2][Contents: Purple Cloud Wings (Tier 3 – Xuan High Class) & Scorched Astral Record]
[Item: Stone Box 3][Contents: Blue Eagle Beast Flame (Tier 2 – Beast Flame Technique)]
Hehehe.
A Tier 3 item.
Purple Cloud Wings—a Xuan High flight technique. Flight was the ultimate early-game advantage. With it, mountains became pathways, enemies became irrelevant.
And I possessed twelve charges to refine it.
But what was the scrap? I focused my intent on the yellowed parchment peeking out from beneath the scroll.
[Item: Scorched Astral Record ]
[Tier: 1 (Incomplete)]
[Description: A quarter of an ancient chart detailing the celestial alignment of nine stars and two moons—an astronomical event occurring once every millennium. Contains dormant energy requiring an extreme-heat catalyst to decode. Temporal countdown engaged (Estimated: 3 Years remaining).]
I mentally swiped past the notification. A Tier-1 puzzle piece. A three-year countdown to a glorified stargazing event? Even if the alignment was an omen for some grand ruin opening, I'd need to scour the entire continent for three other pieces just to read a chart that didn't even have a destination marked on it.
In this world, you survived on tangible power, not cryptic astrology.
Mu Li seized the boxes. Cracked them open one by one.
"A poison manual?" He tossed the first to Xiao Yixian with contempt. "Worthless. Suited to your trade."
He opened the second. Hands trembled. "Purple Cloud Wings... Xuan High..."
His breath hitched. "This rivals the wealth of minor kingdoms."
Third box. "Beast Flame technique. Xuan Low. Acceptable."
He closed the lids. Turned. His men shifted subtly, blocking the chamber's sole exit.
Camaraderie evaporated. The cold mathematics of profit-sharing took its place.
"Miss Xiao," Mu Li said, smile sharp as a dagger's edge. "Medic Yao. You have served adequately."
"We agreed on ten percent," Xiao Yixian said, clutching the poison manual to her chest.
"I revise the terms," Mu Li replied, drawing his sword. "You leap from the cliff. Survive the fall, keep your lives. Refuse..."
He shrugged. "We add your corpses to the ravine's collection."
"And if we decline both options?" I asked, voice flat as packed earth.
"Then you die here," Mu Li said simply. "Dead men file no claims."
I assessed the odds. Ten mercenaries—average seventh-star Dou Disciple. Mu Li—second-star Dou Practitioner. Myself—third-star Dou Practitioner concealed beneath a medic's guise.
Direct confrontation: unfavorable.
Well. Preparation favored over brute force.
"Execute them," Mu Li ordered.
My hand dipped into my sleeve.
"Hold your breath," I whispered to Xiao Yixian.
I withdrew a black sphere—walnut-sized, matte finish. A Smoke Pellet crafted weeks prior via cold synthesis (charcoal, pine resin, sulfur) and restored to perfection with a single charge.
[Item: Smoke Pellet (+1)]
[Tier: 1]
[Quality: 100% (Restored)]
[Description: Particulate matter compressed to optimal density. Upon impact, releases light-absorbing cloud filling fifty cubic meters in half a breath.]
I hurled it at Mu Li's feet.
CRACK-HISS!
No gentle puff. A wall of absolute blackness erupted—thick as ink, cold as grave soil.
"My eyes!" a mercenary screamed. "I am blind!"
I required no sight. I had memorized the chamber's geometry in three seconds upon entry.
Step. Step. Grab.
I snatched both stone boxes from Mu Li's hands. His sword swung blindly through empty air.
"My hand!" he shrieked as my boot connected with his wrist—bone cracking audibly.
I seized Xiao Yixian's arm. "Run."
We burst from the smoke-cloud into the corridor's dim light. Sprinted past the triggered arrow slits. Emerged into blinding sunlight.
"The rope!" Xiao Yixian cried.
Severed. Cut cleanly while we were within the cave.
Mu Li erupted from the entrance, face smeared with soot, eyes burning with murder. His men fanned out behind him, blocking the narrow ledge.
"No escape!" Mu Li snarled, advancing with measured steps.
I glanced at the precipice—hundreds of meters to jagged rocks below.
Then at Xiao Yixian. Terror filled her eyes—then resolve. She drew a bamboo whistle from her sleeve.
Pheeeee!
A shrill note pierced the mountain air.
From sun-drenched clouds above, a massive blue shadow descended—wings spanning fifteen paces, talons like curved daggers.
The Blue Eagle. Her companion.
"Jump!" she commanded, seizing my wrist.
We leaped into empty air.
Mu Li's sword slashed downward—too late. We fell freely for three heartbeats before the eagle's back caught us with practiced grace.
"CURSE YOU!" Mu Li howled, shrinking into the distance as we soared skyward.
I clung to feathered down, the two stone boxes pressed against my chest.
Safe.
Ohhh. A quiet laugh escaped me—quickly stifled. Not triumph. Satisfaction. The joy of a plan unfolding precisely as calculated.
I looked at Xiao Yixian. Pale, trembling, but unharmed.
"You... you stole his inheritance," she stammered.
"He voided our contract," I replied, securing the boxes within my pack. "I merely collected the penalty."
[Location: Blue Eagle's Back – High Altitude]
Wind whipped past us as the eagle climbed toward cloud level. Adrenaline faded, leaving hollow hunger in its wake.
Xiao Yixian sat opposite me on the eagle's broad back, the wind tugging at her sleeves. She had not spoken since our escape.
Her fingers wrapped tightly around the jade-green manual Mu Li had tossed to her—the Seven-Colored Poison Manual. She held it like a lifeline... or a serpent coiled to strike.
I noticed the faint distortion around it before she spoke.
Poison manuals were not meant to pulse with life.
"Don't open it yet," I said quietly.
Her hand froze mid-motion.
"You know what it is?" she asked, voice carefully neutral.
"I know what it rejects," I replied. "It does not reject you."
I extended my perception, allowing the system to reveal what eyes could not see.
[Item: Seven-Colored Poison Manual]
[Tier: 2 (Xuan – Special)]
[Quality: 72% (Fragmented)]
[Enhancement: 0/2]
[Description: Cultivation method requiring Woeful Poison Body constitution. Warning: Fatal backlash upon incompatible hosts. Current state: fragmented pathways cause uncontrolled toxin leakage.]
The manual pulsed faintly—not with malice, but with discrimination. A key seeking its lock.
"This inheritance was never meant to be learned safely," I said. "It does not guide. It tests."
Her breath caught.
"So Mu Li—"
"Would have perished attempting the first circulation," I finished. "That is why he called it trash."
Silence stretched between us, broken only by wind roaring past the eagle's wings.
"And me?" she asked softly.
I met her eyes—saw not fear now, but the dawning weight of understanding.
"For you," I said carefully, "it is both poison and salvation. But in its current state, it leaks. It harms what you touch without intent."
She looked down at the manual, knuckles white. "Then what must I do?"
I reached out, placing my palm flat against the jade cover.
"I cannot change what you are," I said. "But I can align the method to your nature. Remove the friction that causes leakage."
She nodded once—sharp, decisive.
I shaped my intent with crystalline precision:
Harmonize the fragmented pathways. Align cultivation sequences to Woeful Poison Body resonance. Eliminate uncontrolled toxin leakage while preserving the method's core essence.
"Restore."
Expend Charge.
Energy flowed—not gentle, but purposeful. The manual shuddered in my hands. Seven colors bled across its surface—crimson, amber, gold, emerald, sapphire, indigo, violet—swirling like oil on water before weaving into a stable, harmonious spectrum. The faint grey pallor that had clung to nearby grasses when she moved... vanished.
[Upgrade Complete]
[Item: Seven-Colored Poison Manual (+1)]
[Tier: 2 (Xuan – Special)]
[Quality: 100% (Restored)]
[Enhancement: 1/2]
[Description: Cultivation pathways realigned to Woeful Poison Body resonance. Uncontrolled toxin leakage eliminated. Method now accepts host without resistance.]
Well. Eleven charges remaining.
Xiao Yixian's shoulders relaxed a fraction. The air around her no longer carried that subtle chill of involuntary contamination.
But the manual still pulsed with latent potential—like a seed waiting for fertile soil.
I placed my palm upon the cover once more. Shaped a new intent—not correction this time, but cultivation:
Awaken the symbiotic relationship between cultivator and poison. Transform passive toxicity into conscious expression. Let poison become an extension of will, not a burden to be managed.
"Evolve."
Expend Charge.
The manual glowed—not with violent light, but with deep, internal luminescence. The seven colors settled into a single, shifting hue that seemed to drink the sunlight and return it transformed. The pages within rustled softly though no wind touched them.
[Upgrade Complete]
[Item: Seven-Coloured Poison Manual (+2)]
[Tier: 2 (Xuan – Special)]
[Quality: 100% (Evolved)]
[Enhancement: 2/2]
[Trait: Poison Genesis]
[Description: The cultivator no longer refines external poisons. Poison is born within the body as a natural expression of cultivation. External toxins may be absorbed, restructured, or rejected at will. New poisons may manifest based on emotional state, constitution, and cultivation realm. Poison ceases to be a foreign threat—it becomes an extension of the self.]
Ten charges remaining.
Xiao Yixian closed the manual slowly. The poison did not surge outward. It sank inward—integrating, becoming part of her essence rather than something she carried.
She gasped—not in pain, but in revelation.
"This..." she whispered, fingers tracing the cover with newfound reverence. "This is not something I learn. It is something I become."
I said nothing. Some truths required no confirmation.
She looked at me then—not with gratitude, but with the quiet respect of one craftsman to another who understood the value of precise work.
"You carry many secrets, Medic Yao," she said.
"Only careful preparation," I replied. "Secrets attract trouble. Preparation attracts opportunity."
She nodded slowly, gaze drifting toward the distant peaks where clouds gathered like unspun silk. The eagle banked eastward, wings catching thermal currents with effortless grace.
[Omake: The Rations]
[POV: Xiao Ren]
Hunger gnawed at my belly—a dull, insistent ache.
I withdrew a dry ration bar from my pack—hardtack baked weeks prior in Wu Tan City's communal ovens.
[Item: Travel Ration Bar]
[Tier: 1]
[Quality: 60% (Stale)]
[Enhancement: 0/1]
"Maximum nutritional density," I murmured. "Zero waste."
"Restore."
Expend Charge.
The bar darkened. Surface smoothed to flawless uniformity. Air pockets vanished as flour and grain compressed to theoretical limits.
[Upgrade Complete]
[Item: Dense Ration Bar (+1)]
[Tier: 1]
[Quality: 100% (Restored)]
[Enhancement: 1/1]
[Description: Nutrients compressed to molecular efficiency. Single bite provides five thousand calories of sustained energy.]
Good. Nine charges remaining.
I broke off a piece. Chewed.
The taste was chalk and cold iron. Instantly, my stomach cramped—muscles seizing as my body attempted to process a week's sustenance in seconds.
"Ugh," I groaned, doubling over on the eagle's back.
"Are you unwell?" Xiao Yixian asked, concern softening her voice.
"Efficiency," I wheezed, clutching my abdomen, "requires compatible digestion rates."
I wrapped the bar carefully. Made a note in my mental ledger:
Next restoration: specify "digestible density" alongside nutritional concentration.
Charges Banked: 9