Immortal Freeloader 101 (Patreon)

Once the threats of the assassination had ended, my next destination was Markas. Particularly, the valley I had created for Pearyin. It was time for another visit.

I ignored the forts of the Tiger Fist army. Their construction had slowed down significantly after their latest change of strategy, focusing on the rebellion rather than Markas. I didn’t go there either. I had already extended the outer layer of the detection formation to the city, so I didn’t need to check periodically.

The moment I stepped through the protective layers, I was greeted by a wave of pure Qi. And, immediately, a sense of comfort enveloped me. I wasn’t suffering from the danger of Qi starvation with my inventory full of Qi, but the sensation of comfort was different.

It was like breathing using an oxygen canister and walking around in the mountains, but the difference had only turned noticeable after Qi concentration had reached a certain point.

No wonder most cultivators didn’t like leaving their sects.

Pearyin was once again at the center of the valley, surrounded by trees and flowers as she meditated. She was merely at the Third Stage, contrasting greatly with the amount of Qi she had absorbed during the past two weeks.

I approached without alerting her, examining her cultivation speed. She still built her gates instinctively, but the speed she absorbed was different, occasionally slowing down and picking up speed. “It looks like you can control your cultivation better. Good work,” I said.

Her eyes opened, her concentrated expression turning into a beautiful smile. “Sir, you’re here,” she said with a beautiful smile. “Do you have any orders?”

I opened my mouth to say no, but at the last minute, I changed my mind. “Actually, yes. I’m going to give you another task,” I said as I moved toward my cottage, which I had yet to use. “I want you to build another building here. It’ll be my library, and you’ll be tasked to guard it,” I said.

“You can trust me, sir. I won’t step inside, or let anyone walk in.”

I waved my hand. “No, you can walk in and read anything you want. Just don’t take them outside the building,” I said. The library was another excuse to bypass the System restrictions. The System didn’t like me giving things away, but letting someone else use them, as long as I maintained ownership, was not a problem.

Then, I removed the three scrolls from the System.

Her eyes widened as she looked at the scrolls. I didn’t blame her, because even I was impressed with them. Of the three techniques, three of them were Peak-Yellow Quality, and one of them was Low-Black. Also, all three were impressive cultivation techniques, each with its own aura. Holding all three of them in my hand, even I felt intimidated.

Nine Draws Mirage Dagger felt almost invisible, but also radiated a sense of sharpness. It was a confusing juxtaposition, which would have been meaningless if it wasn’t for my expertise with a similar technique.

A similar confusing sensation also affected the other two techniques.

“Why don’t you start building the library first, then you can read them,” I offered.

Pearyin bowed enthusiastically as she started using her Qi to take down a few trees and started processing them.

Meanwhile, I opened the first scroll. The Furious Palm of Nine Tsunami. I started with that because of two reasons. The first, I already had two palm techniques, and even the weaker one was at Perfection, which gave me the best chance to understand the technique without any potential nasty side effects.

Also, I wanted to see if there was anything wrong with it before passing it to Pearyin.

As I unfurled the scroll, I was glad that I started like that. The aura it radiated intensified, and I felt suffocated, like I was trying to push through endless waves trying to bury me.

Tsunami indeed.

Still, it took a few seconds for me to take that mental illusion under control as I focused on comprehending the technique … a process that had gone surprisingly well. A few minutes later, I was able to replicate the first move easily. An hour later, when Pearyin was putting the finishing touches, I could move through all nine moves.

It was merely at Beginner competency, but still an impressive achievement. It looked like my initial assumption about similar techniques creating a basis for the technique was even more correct.

“Do you want to study this?” I said as I passed the technique to Pearyin. Meanwhile, I opened the next technique. Desolate Quake of Seven Swings … and promptly closed it when the aura slammed against me like an angry bull.

I had thought that the sensation of being suffocated was bad enough, but it was nothing compared to the effect of the saber technique. It was like trying to run through an earthquake on a metal surface, which had been shattering and forming sabers that attacked me.

It was a mere illusion and nothing more, but it actually rattled my gates, forcing me to repair them with some subdued Qi. It was a minor injury, but it would have taken an ordinary cultivator a week to repair.

I didn’t work with that technique, merely a minute, or maybe five. The aura made it a bit confusing. However, either way, that time was enough for Pearyin to not only comprehend the Furious Palm technique, but also raise it to a level I couldn’t assess. Easily, Minor accomplishment.

Or, perfection, I adjusted as a sudden glow surrounded her, raising her to the Minor Immersion realm. “Stop,” I called her even as I focused on the light that was diffusing from her, and the inspiration that followed. I went through the nine moves once more … and felt myself reach Minor Familiarity smoothly.

Fascinating.

Not the achievement of earning another rank. Thanks to the System, I was used to jumping multiple stages at once. However, the difference between the two was different. From the System, the information arrived in a complete form, while the inspiration gave me the strength to resolve its mysteries.

The system was still superior, of course, but there was no harm in having additional methods. Particularly since there was a limit to the techniques I could launder through Aisnam. For example, I couldn’t give her the Furious Palm of Nine Tsunami technique without making her suspicious.

Even her mysterious allies had to have some limits to stay believable.

Pearyin watched me practice with a confused expression, no doubt wondering about my display of incompetence, but she was too shy to ever take the initiative to speak about it. It gave me some time to consider how to best leverage Pearyin’s ease of breaking through.

“Follow me,” I said as I brought her to one of the hills.

Once we arrived at the hill, the first thing I did was reinforce the formation. I based the protections on what did it took to contain the breakthrough of the formation skill, and made sure to build it strong enough to contain another light effect hundreds of times stronger.

While I did so, she built another building, this time to function as a dojo. I reinforced that with multiple formations as well.

I pulled a high-grade wood plaque from my inventory and wrote one word, infusing it with my conception.

Palm.

“From now on, I want you to practice your palm techniques here,” I said.

“Should I start with the Verdant Palm, or Tsunami?” she asked.

“For the moment, just focus on Tsunami,” I said. I didn’t know what would happen when two techniques mixed, but I wanted to test it on the secret cave of Formations first. No need to waste a potentially one-time resource.

“As you wish, sir,” she said as she started practicing the technique once more, her hits devastating enough to destroy the dojo if it wasn’t for the formations even using her Qi at minimum.

Furious palm indeed.

I watched as she danced between the moves, trying to follow her patterns. Soon, another glow appeared, even more intense. Major Immersion.

I practiced under its effect, feeling my competency deepen. It wasn’t enough to bring me to Major Familiarity, but it was still impressive enough. We continued practicing, and soon, she reached the Minor Integration.

This time, the multicolored glow landed over us. I once again found myself in floating on the mysterious path that felt like a mountain and a bridge at the same time… I reached the next stage of expertise. Yet, even after the glow faded, the effect remained. It was far easier to practice palm techniques here, like I was gliding on ice.

Pearyin continued to practice, losing herself in the ecstasy of development until another, even more intense multicolored glow covered us, but this time, the path felt even more robust. I could feel that, under my feet, there was solid ground.

Pearyin continued to practice. I called her to stop, but she didn’t hear me, lost in practice. I thought about interrupting her, but she was in a state of epiphany. According to what I had learned, trying to wake someone up from epiphany was far worse than waking up a sleepwalker, with the potential to hurt them.

“Well, that would not do,” I muttered, and started building another, stronger formation, one that would keep the inevitable invasion of glow.

Just as I completed the third layer, another multicolored glow appeared, but this time, it didn’t spread. Instead, it turned into an ephemeral gate, and what followed was a path.

Pearyin took a step.

And disappeared.