Exactly what was going on here, Gu Chengming genuinely couldn't puzzle out.
This didn't look like a normal technique registration — other technique entries usually came with far more detail — yet this Arnold Invincible Technique showed nothing beyond its name and its favorability. It reminded him, oddly, of how things had gone with the Great Thousand Record, back at the very start.
Per what the Master had said earlier, this technique was the transformed remnant soul of some ancient mighty figure...
In other words, he now essentially had the remnant soul of some ancient power lodged inside his own body.
— And now he even got the 'wizened old grandpa hidden inside the protagonist' trope?
Just as Gu Chengming was thinking this, the ancient tome that had sunk into his brow suddenly resurfaced from his Sea of Consciousness, condensing once more into the shadow of a scroll before him and the Master.
The Master showed not the slightest surprise at the sight — if anything, he looked as though he'd expected it, and smiled. "Well then. It seems the Senior has decided to acknowledge you."
Gu Chengming looked to the Master, who stood with his sleeves folded, smiling. "In that case, go ahead and ask whatever you wish to ask. If this old man lingers here, the Senior will likely find me an eyesore."
With that, he flicked his sleeve, and his form slowly faded away where he stood.
Meanwhile, the wisp of technique-afterimage at the center of the chamber slowly solidified, at last taking the form of a somewhat childish-looking young girl.
She looked to be no more than fifteen or sixteen, right at that budding age, her round face still holding onto a trace of baby fat, her eyes curved in a way that gave her an unexpectedly endearing, cute charm.
— This was the 'foremost body cultivator of the cultivation world in that era' the Master had spoken of?
The instant she looked up and saw Gu Chengming, her eyes lit up in a flash.
"Are you from my body-cultivation lineage?"
According to the Master's earlier introduction, this Senior had been, in her own era, the foremost body cultivator of the age — a Seventh Realm Sovereign contemporary with Jiahao Sovereign himself.
In his mind, Gu Chengming had quietly pictured someone bronze-skinned, muscles knotted like rope, a hulking brute who could level a mountain with a single punch. Instead, standing before him now was a girl whose chin was still soft and round.
The gap between this and his mental image of 'the age's foremost body cultivator' was, to put it mildly, considerable.
Still, whatever the case, she was a Senior, so Gu Chengming offered a bow.
The girl waved a hand, entirely unbothered. "No need for all this formality. We're both from the body-cultivation lineage, so we ought to help each other out. Just call me Arnold."
Hearing the name, Gu Chengming's expression turned a touch complicated.
Senior, why is the top of your head so pointy?
Arnold looked as though she'd just been forcibly roused from within his own brow — her expression carried a trace of weariness. She began by asking a few trivial questions about the present age; only after Gu Chengming answered a handful of them did he learn that this Senior had lain sleeping beneath that stone platform for a full thirty-some years.
Realizing he'd disturbed her peaceful sleep, he felt a twinge of guilt.
Still, the questions that needed asking had to be asked.
Choosing his words carefully, Gu Chengming laid out, one by one, the matters he most wanted answered on this visit — events from before the Great Tribulation, the origins of the Free Heaven Dharma-Station, information about Jiahao Sovereign, and so on.
At the mention of the Great Tribulation, Arnold's brow furrowed slightly. She rapped her own head with a knuckle, looking utterly blank, as though a great many things simply escaped her.
Gu Chengming's heart sank — he figured tonight's inquiry was about to come up empty.
But the instant he spoke the four words "Jiahao Sovereign," Arnold's eyes lit up at once, her voice climbing a notch. "Jia — Jiahao! I know this one!"
She sat up straighter, wearing a rather smug look, and began recounting everything she knew, unhurried.
The Free Heaven Dharma-Station was one of the earliest Dharma-Stations Jiahao had ever proven, drawn from a position on the main trunk of the Sentient Beings Bough — and it had long since reverted to Heaven.
"Back when Jiahao came looking for a fight with me, he used this very Free Heaven to make his escape."
"?"
A question mark rose, unbidden, over Gu Chengming's head.
As everyone knew, Jiahao Sovereign's strength ranked extremely high. Going by what this Senior Arnold had just said... even allowing for a measure of boasting in her words, it still meant she'd been, at the very least, on the same level as Jiahao Sovereign himself.
That, combined with what the Master had told him before bringing him here—
— the foremost body cultivator of that era's cultivation world...
"Senior," Gu Chengming finally asked the question weighing on him, "above the Seventh Realm, do a body cultivator's methods still hold any use at all?"
Arnold thought it over for a long moment, then said, somewhat troubled, "Of course body-cultivation methods can't withstand the rules of a Sovereign's Dharma-Station — but you can use body-cultivation methods to deal with the Sovereign himself."
There she went again with her Arnold-babble.
Listening to this bit of left-hand-versus-right-hand sophistry, Gu Chengming thought that this Senior really had trained her body to some kind of extreme.
Arnold, oblivious to his private commentary, carried on regardless.
After a rather difficult, information-poor exchange, Gu Chengming gradually pieced together this Senior's "methods" —
— her single most core Dharma-Station, named Shatter Myriad Laws.
Its authority was equally outrageous: brute force alone could shatter ten thousand laws — so long as you were strong enough, every Dharma-Station's rules could be smashed.
[Hundred Bones Resonance, eyes lit up: Heavenly Emperor Gu, Heavenly Emperor Gu! So enough raw strength really can ignore the rules! This Emperor knew it all along!]
As if she'd caught some stray sound, Arnold reached out and patted Gu Chengming's shoulder with easy familiarity, her expression suddenly filling with gratification.
"So body cultivation still has a future after all! Little friend, the mantle of my lineage will have to rest on your shoulders from here on!"
Gu Chengming's expression turned a touch awkward. "But I'm not a body cultivator, Senior. I'm a sword cultivator."
Arnold blinked, then launched right back into her Arnold-babble. "Sword cultivation's fine too..."
"If you're practicing the sword, you won't need to spend so much time cultivating the body — which frees up time you can then spend cultivating the body."
Gu Chengming: "..."
In his mind, he could practically picture the single-threaded code this Senior must be running on.
[while True: if body_cultivate: body_cultivate() else: body_cultivate(); if enemy_encountered: if enemy_weak: body_cultivate() elif enemy_strong: body_cultivate() # because you need it even more elif enemy_is_a_sovereign: body_cultivate() # body cultivation works on sovereigns too; if injured: body_cultivate() # cultivating the body heals; if uninjured: body_cultivate() # not being injured just means you haven't trained enough; if free_time: body_cultivate() else: make_time().body_cultivate(); if want_breakthrough: body_cultivate(); if dont_want_breakthrough: body_cultivate() # must still cultivate even without wanting a breakthrough; if sword_cultivator: body_cultivate() # sword cultivators must cultivate the body too; if technique_cultivator: body_cultivate() # technique cultivators need it even more]
A discovery on par with the internet's most infamous meme-tier code!
Setting aside the bizarre content of her Arnold-babble, just as the Master had said, she truly did have a firm grasp on a great many secrets from ages past.
Taking advantage of the moment, Gu Chengming gradually drew out one scrap of old news after another — the early origins of the Unfettered River lineage, old accounts of Jiahao Sovereign's past clashes with several other Sovereigns, and even a few lost Dharma-Stations that the Great Tribulation had erased down to nothing but their names.
But whenever he probed toward anything truly crucial, this Senior would naturally slip right back into her Arnold-babble, leaving Gu Chengming thoroughly exasperated.
Well, never mind — she'd been asleep for thirty years; remembering this much already counted as impressive.
With that thought, he moved to rise and take his leave — only to find that the instant he stirred, Arnold popped up right alongside him, falling into step at his heels and heading straight for the passage they'd come in through.
Gu Chengming paused where he stood and glanced back at her. "Senior, are you—?"
Arnold answered without a trace of shame. "I want to go take a look outside!"
— Senior, didn't you just say you were exhausted from thirty years of sleep?
Still, he couldn't quite bring himself to say it out loud.
The sound of the stone wall parting echoed from the end of the passage. The moment Gu Chengming stepped through the narrow gap, he ran straight into the Master, who stood with hands folded behind his back in the side courtyard, waiting for the two of them to emerge.
The Master had worn an air of easy calm — but the instant he made out the figure trailing behind Gu Chengming, that composure cracked.
This Senior had been sealed here for a full several thousand years — had she shown the slightest sign of stirring, he ought to have noticed it long ago.
The Master weighed his words for a moment, then couldn't help but ask, "Little friend, what exactly did you do?"
Gu Chengming's own expression turned equally awkward. "Senior Arnold said she wanted to come out and take a look around."
Standing in the side courtyard, Arnold swept her gaze around with open curiosity, then suddenly pointed at the schoolhouse not far off and nodded.
"Little Li Gou, this Imperial Academy of yours has really grown. Not bad, not bad."
The instant Gu Chengming heard this, his expression twisted. He glanced instinctively at the Master, whose face had gone thoroughly complicated, his earlier composure nowhere to be found.
The Master cleared his throat, an unusual flicker of embarrassment crossing his face. "Senior, carelessly speaking another's true name is a grave taboo in the cultivation world."
"Then how about I call you Big Li Gou instead? If someone overhears, at least it'll fool them a little."
"That's no different at all from what you just called me."
Arnold let out a solemn "oh," then added, "Fine, I just won't say it anymore."
Gu Chengming thought privately that the very first thing this Senior did upon stepping out was doxx someone — and this was the first he'd ever learned that the Master's name was Li Gou.
With that thought, he hastily cleared his throat, pretending he'd heard nothing, and turned to cup his fists toward the Master. "This junior will take his leave now."
The Master glanced at Arnold, who was still looking this way and that without a care in the world, then at Gu Chengming, and for a moment looked thoroughly worn out.
After a long moment, he sighed and waved a sleeve. "Off with you, then."
Gu Chengming didn't dare linger a moment longer. He hurried out of the side courtyard, sweeping along the Senior, who was still eyeing the Imperial Academy with great relish.
The whole way back to his own courtyard, Arnold stayed thoroughly excited, stopping to examine anything and everything that caught her eye.
When they passed the liveliest stretch of the market street, she suddenly pointed at a stall selling sugar figurines and asked, "What's this?"
Gu Chengming answered simply, "A sugar figurine."
Arnold let out a curious "oh" and reached out to touch one, but Gu Chengming caught her hand before she could. He handed the stall owner a copper coin, bought a sugar figurine, and pressed it into her palm.
Cradling the sugar figurine, Arnold's face brightened at once. She leaned in close and murmured, "Little friend, this world of yours really is a lot more interesting than the one I remember."
Gu Chengming gave a noncommittal grunt of agreement, his mind already turning to another matter —
— back at the Imperial Academy, her Arnold-babble had rolled off well enough. But the moment she'd stepped outside it, the full extent of how carelessly this Senior spoke and acted around outsiders had become abruptly, alarmingly clear.
She'd let slip the Master's true name without a second thought. If she ever crossed paths with a few more Sovereigns down the line, there was no telling how many earth-shaking secrets this Senior might spill next.
After a moment's thought, Gu Chengming decided his most pressing task now was to get this Senior properly settled, before she stirred up some trouble in the Capital that really shouldn't be stirred up.
With that in mind, he quickened his pace, steering Arnold around several of the more crowded street corners, and made straight for his own courtyard.
Once back in the courtyard, Gu Chengming settled Arnold onto a low chair in the main hall.
He sat down across from her, his gaze landing on the line at the bottom of his vision — [Arnold Invincible Technique: 5/Stranger] — and felt a fresh headache coming on.
By rights, this Senior Arnold currently existed within his own body in the form of a cultivation technique — and yet she could also condense a physical body and walk around outside. It was a genuinely bizarre state of affairs.
Was he meant to 'win over' this Senior, and that was why she'd become a technique? Or had she always existed in this world in the form of a technique to begin with, and the whole 'Seventh Realm Sovereign' backstory was just something appended after the fact?
Or perhaps her present form of existence sat somewhere between a remnant soul, a cultivation technique, and some lingering projection of a Dharma-Station?
And if her favorability climbed high enough, just how would this Senior respond?
Just as he was mulling this over, Arnold suddenly stirred in the hall.
The sugar figurine in her hand was all but gone by now, and her gaze had fixed on the map hanging on the hall's wall.
After studying it for a moment, she rose without a second thought and walked over to the map, standing on her toes to peer closely at the place names marked on it.
But she wasn't especially tall, and even on tiptoe she could barely make out the lower half of the map.
Watching her, a thought suddenly struck Gu Chengming.
This Senior might be an ancient Sovereign, but the body she currently wore was, after all, only that of a fifteen- or sixteen-year-old — there was a great deal she'd have to feel her way through all over again.
With that thought, he rose from his chair and walked over to stand beside her.
Arnold seemed to notice him approaching and caught on at once, spreading both arms wide in an unmistakable request to be picked up.
Gu Chengming lifted her by the arms, and just as he was about to turn her around, a line abruptly popped up at the bottom of his vision:
[Arnold Invincible Technique favorability +5]
[Current favorability: 10/Stranger]
[Usage unlocked: Swing]
"?" A question mark appeared above Gu Chengming's head.
Usage: Swing... what did that even mean?
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