Immortal Freeloader 49 (Patreon)

As I noticed a movement outside the window in the dark of the night, I realized that, once again, my little comfortable bubble was about to be destroyed. 

Again. 

Two more weeks passed since the Queen decided that a little closeness was helpful when it came to training. It was as fun as it was torturous, particularly since the Queen was satisfied with teasing me while receiving my endless massages while faking incompetence.

Our schedule was settled. We spent most of the day in the training room, and the nights, she spent alone upstairs, resting and cultivating.   

Spending my whole way caressing her body without moving forward was a special torture of its own, but it was better than working in the garden the whole day. 

Also, there was no arguing about the benefits, especially after she broke through to reach Peak Bone Forging, increasing the multiplier further. It was why, when I managed to trick her into giving me another blast of pure Qi by faking some kind of overflow from the basement, the reward had been incredible. I currently have 35 strands of Qi in my inventory, ready to be used. 

Maybe it was her usual habit, or maybe it was an effect of her isolation, but whenever she got distracted by my message, she focused on her teasing, and started caring less about the questions I asked. 

Well, to her they might be inconsequential, but to me, they were nothing less than a treasure. 

The biggest benefit I received was the Thousand Petals Meditation Technique, finally reaching Minor Immersion, which I only dared to activate after sneaking out of the palace one night, outside the capital. The Major Immersion was still sitting in my inventory. 

I didn’t dare to use it. 

Though, while that was the biggest benefit, it was far from the only one. My talisman technique reached Perfection, while my calligraphy reached Minor Immersion to support it. At this moment, I was far better than her in creating talismans, which was an amusing detail. 

I also managed to learn two more talismans, protection, and purification, in addition to cleansing, increasing the number to three. Unfortunately, I still lacked the materials for it. 

Apparently, it required a lot of special stuff, brushes, ink, paper, and many supporting stuff. I wasn’t able to convince her to give me that. 

Yet, the biggest benefits were the gate transformation technique and the palm technique I received, both already at Perfection. The gate transformation technique was a fundamental way of transforming my gates to hasten the cultivation speed. I wasn’t planning to actually use it, but having that information resolved a lot of questions for me. 

At least, I knew the rough process of transforming and reinforcing the gates. A lot of the techniques focused on how to minimize the subdued Qi that was required to support the gates. 

I was tempted to do the opposite, as my System clearly didn’t care about the impact, and just the realm. 

Palm of Verdant Cleansing was a cultivation attack technique, one that finally taught me why cultivators were that scary. Even at Qi-2, which was the lowest realm required to use that technique, a cultivator could kill a Connate realm artist. 

That cultivator would be wiped out otherwise, requiring several days of rest to refill their dantian, but it was still devastating. And, according to the Queen, that was just a basic technique, the kind that was taught to the disciples with little potential. 

With it finally reaching Perfection, I felt confident.  

Confident enough to confront the party that had just passed through the gate. A team of six martial artists, each dressed in black. 

The Queen was upstairs, cultivating. I went out, disguising myself with a simple cloak as I approached them. “We have to be fast. Hit fast, destroy the protections, and retreat,” someone reminded from the center of the formation as they moved. 

They were clearly aware of what was going on. 

I decided that the intimidation was the way to go. 

“But first, it’s time to finally let my cultivation rise,” I said. I had been delaying opening my first gate for a while, afraid of losing multipliers, but taking some risk was necessary. I couldn’t face a Connate Realm cultivator without it. Though, even with it, it would be a challenge. 

 The Qi Gathering first realm was too restrictive in terms of using power. I pulled another strand from my Inventory, and channeled it to my first closed gate. It devoured. I pulled another strand. It devoured again … only after consuming ten of them, some kind of buildup happened. 

One imaginary slam, and the bottleneck shattered. The gate devoured my Qi greedily, and a link between the gate and dantian built up.  

My first meridian. 

I pulled two more strands, nourishing both my dantian and my gate to be stronger, allowing them to hold and manipulate Qi easily. Previously, my dantian could barely hold the Qi equivalent of one strand, and after the breakthrough, it almost doubled. Nourishing it further increased its capability some more.  

Just like that, I was stronger, though it cost quite a bit. Still, it allowed me to manipulate Qi better, so it was a correct tradeoff. 

I appeared on their path … ready to use the Palm of Verdant Cleansing for the first time. Technically, I  shouldn’t be able to use it, as I hadn’t opened my first gate, and therefore couldn’t push my Qi out. 

But, the Thousand Petals Meditation Technique provided an incredible benefit there. It was designed to slowly gather Qi motes to activate the technique, therefore it shouldn’t have any battle application. But, after it reached Minor Immersion, it allowed me to manipulate Qi motes around me very well. 

As long as I was in a Qi-rich environment, I could gather Qi around me, and replicate the technique with a lesser effectiveness. The only drawback, I had to stand still for a while. 

It was perfect for the current circumstances. I still had Qi strands I could use for cultivation for emergencies. 

“Stop,” I said as I appeared on their path, not letting them approach the palace. 

“Who are you—” one started, but I was already prepared to move. I waved my hand, and a palm print appeared in front of me, black and crackling, and slammed against him. “C-cultivator,” he gasped in fear. 

They looked afraid, but the old man at the center of the formation still looked defiant. “Great Immortal. It’s a business of the royal family. Is it appropriate for you to involve yourself with the business of  Kartpa Valley —” he started, name-dropping a familiar one. The same name as that man who attacked the city lord’s manor back in Markas. 

I remembered the rumors of some other cultivators getting involved to force the Queen to give up several protective items before forcing her to the Spring Palace. Apparently, it was not a rumor. 

Did I want to get involved with the other cultivators? Not particularly, but I wanted to lose my only reliable source for cultivation knowledge even less. So, I decided to bluff. 

“I don’t care,” I said as I waved my hand again, and a palm strike flew toward the old martial artist. He dodged, too fast to be anything but a Connate realm one. He didn’t dare to attack, looking shocked. I attacked again, still looking lazy, but this time, I used four attacks at the same time. 

None of them were strong enough to kill someone, but it was still enough to scare them. The density of cursed Qi around me dropped significantly. 

“Great Immortal—” he started.

“Shut up,” I said even as I decided to take some risk, using her famous lost brother. I didn’t want to declare war against them completely, afraid of stronger cultivator intervention, but delaying tactic should be useful. “I made a promise to her brother. No one could attack her … for three months,” I said, carefully watching his expression.  

It was a blind bluff. I would have loved to send them away completely, but I was afraid that it would get the cultivators behind them annoyed. I was betting that, by giving a time limit, it would be convincing enough. 

“Three months,” he said, relaxed. “It would be my honor to follow the orders of the Great Immortal. No one would attack here for three months.” 

“Good, but I still need to make sure it sticks,” I said, then used the Qi cyclone around me to raise the dust from the ground, and while the view was blocked, I dashed forward. I used my martial movement art. I couldn’t have won against a connate realm artist, but when I moved, their reaction was to scatter. 

I caught up with the old man and put my hand on his back. Destroying his cultivation with essence would have been hard. 

The abundant cursed Qi, on the other hand, made it instantaneous. I channeled it to his core, damaging his lifetime of effort. I didn’t expect him to attack, but I was still ready to activate a strand of Qi just in case.  

Destroying his cultivation was not a nice thing. 

But then, neither was trying to assassinate a Queen indirectly through cursed Qi. 

I watched them run away, wondering if my show would be enough. Still, I didn’t return to the palace immediately. First, I walked toward the palace door … before I disappeared under the bushes and crawled back. 

Not a move fitting for an immortal. Hopefully, they would believe that I had just disappeared like the other cultivators I had observed. 

I returned to the palace. The Queen was unaware of the commotion. 

Still, my declaration just put on a clock in our presence. I needed to leave this place in three months. Ideally, after making sure the Queen had the ability to keep her safe. Connate realms was easy … but I had a feeling that it wouldn’t be enough. 

Maybe I should see if I could find a way to heal her. Things would be much easier if she could actually recover her previous cultivation. At Fifth Realm of Qi Gathering, she would have the chance to defend herself … not to mention, the potential higher multipliers. 

But, for that, I needed more information than she could provide. An interesting dilemma.