Immortal Freeloader 73 (Patreon)

“Umm, sir,” she whispered as she looked at the dust in her hand. “What had just happened?” 

“Nothing much. It’s more or less how it’s supposed to react,” I said, my voice wooden. I was angry, furious even, but I did my best to hide it. I had a feeling Pearyin would take that personally, and that was the last thing I wanted. 

I was angry at myself. 

I was a moron. Why the hell I was so confident in my half-assed knowledge of cultivation about how Pearyin would react. Clearly, slowly learning meditation arts and meditating wasn’t the only way of absorbing Qi. 

Naturally, there must be something unique about Pearyin that led to it. I had heard the mention of special physiques when I was in the cultivation market. Unfortunately, the knowledge there was nothing more than idle gossip, so the reliable information I had on the topic was pretty basic. 

They were rare even for cultivators. They could come with benefits, drawbacks, or a combination. And, it was never a smart thing to reveal their presence. 

Of course, Pearyin having one of those physiques was literally one in a million, maybe even lower. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the first sign of probability having a … flexible quality since my arrival. 

“Come here,” I said as I put a blanket on the ground, and positioned the calligraphy art I had created for her. “Sit down and close your eyes,” I asked as I put my hand on her stomach, ignoring her reaction as I examined her body. 

I focused on her dantian immediately. Since she didn’t actively use her essence to cover it up, her Qi was easy to discover. Her dantian was already open, and more importantly, her immortal root was churning the Qi she had received with a shocking speed. 

The initial stone I had passed her was the biggest I had, mostly to show off. It had almost a complete Qi strand, which had been enough for me to activate my Dantian completely, which signified the proper entrance to the first stage. 

Yet, for Pearyin, a strand was clearly not enough. Her dantian aggressively devoured any Qi that was completely subdued by her … which was happening far faster than anything Aisnam — or any of the itinerant cultivators I had seen at the market — was capable of. 

It looked like her Immortal Root was superior as well. 

From a more general perspective, it was excellent news. The speed their immortal root processed Qi was the biggest bottleneck the cultivators faced in their early stages, and their other biggest concern, was the nebulous bottlenecks, usually factoring in once their cultivation grew to a certain point. 

Unfortunately, with her dantian aggressively devouring any Qi that was converted to complete her breakthrough, that speed was less of an advantage. 

She was at real risk of starving, or at least, the Qi equivalent of it, which was not good. That was the main reason the cultivators didn’t hang around mortal kingdoms — with some rare exceptions. I hadn’t seen any cultivator suffering from it, but from what I heard, it wasn’t pretty. 

And, now, Pearyin was under real risk of it. How inconvenient. 

For a moment, I thought about dragging Pearyin to the secret tunnel. By setting up a smaller version of Aisnam’s cultivation chamber, she would have the Qi she needed. 

But, the moment I thought that, I vetoed it. I liked Pearyin, but she wasn’t exactly a picture of mental fortitude, and I didn’t want to see how she would react if that cursed being trapped behind the door started to whisper to her. 

As for bringing her to Spring Palace, that was even more a terrifying idea, for more predictable reasons. Technically, there were no promises between me and Aisnam, but I wasn’t naive enough to think that Aisnam would be happy if I suddenly dragged another lover to her place. 

And, Pearyin was too transparent to hide it. 

As for transferring her my Qi, there was one big problem. The system didn’t appreciate me passing its gifts, and unless I faced a very dangerous situation, it wasn’t a gamble I wanted to make with Qi strands. Luckily, there was still still the indirect method. 

“Close your eyes, focus on your heartbeat, and don’t open them without my say,” I ordered her. 

“Yes, sir,” she said, quick to obey my command. Which was good. I stuffed another spirit stone into her hand, watching it being drained with a shocking speed as well. But, that was inevitable. 

At least, it gave me the necessary time to play around. First. I pulled a dozen protective wards and placed them around the cave, making sure that there would be no Qi flow outside. 

Then, I pulled half a dozen seeds from my pocket, collected at the Misty Mountains. 

I buried them around the cave, each alongside a shocking number of essence pills, which would be a good — and very expensive — substitute for fertilizer a spirit plant required. Luckily, the endless blossom was a wild plant with limited needs, as well as an ability to metabolize essence directly as fertilizer. 

There was a reason its presence was ubiquitous on the outskirts despite the cultivators constantly selling them. 

Hastening their growth with Qi was harder, but my skill with spirit plants was at Perfection, it was far from impossible. Particularly since I was willing to spend thirty strands from my inventory at once, which was an amount that would hurt any other Qi Gathering cultivator seriously. Even Aisnam’s dantian barely held twenty strands at full capacity, and she was at the eighth stage of Qi Gathering. 

It was a significant investment, one with bad returns in the short term, but ten minutes later, the cave started to be filled with first motes of Qi … which were promptly drained by Pearyin. 

The output wasn’t enough to keep her cultivating at full speed, but it would keep her from starving, which was all that was needed. The preparations were complete. Now, it was time to have a more complicated talk. Leaving without saying anything was tempting, but with everything that could go wrong, it was a needless risk. 

I sat in front of her. “You can open your eyes,” I said. 

“Sir. This time, meditation felt very different. Like—” she started, then fell silent as she felt the cave was filled with flowers. “How —” she started, but I silenced her with a gentle press of my finger. 

“You have just managed to absorb Qi,” I said. A little direct, but at least, with her double cultivation, there was no risk of heart attack or stroke. 

She froze for a moment, trying but having trouble processing what I had just told her. Understandable reaction. “Q-Qi… L-like a … c-cul … cultivator,” she said, stammering horribly as she tried to let out one sentence. I didn’t interrupt her, letting her finish it. 

“Yes. You’re a cultivator,” I said. “That stone you absorbed was a spirit stone, filled with Qi,” I said. 

“How about you, sir?” she asked. 

“I know a few cultivators,” I said, not willing to reveal my own cultivation yet. I still didn’t trust her capabilities when it came to keeping secrets. “Those flowers are spirit plants, and they’ll radiate Qi for your consumption,” I explained. 

She still looked at me blankly, trying to process the shock, which was far bigger than the time I casually elevated her into a martial artist. After all, back then, she at least had to practice and receive an acupuncture treatment. 

Here, she just touched a stone. 

“How is this even possible?” she asked. 

“Truthfully, I don’t know,” I admitted. Unlike martial arts, my knowledge of cultivation was highly limited other than the select few topics and techniques. Her condition was one of them. And, since I couldn’t even answer her most important question, there was no harm in hiding all of it for the moment. “You must have some kind of special physique or something, otherwise, you shouldn’t be able to absorb it without proper technique.” 

She nodded. While she processed that, I thought of answers to potential follow-up questions, like why I had spirit stones with me? How come the cave was suddenly filled with Spirit Plants? Why do I even know that much about cultivation? Those were the bare minimum I expected, and ten times more questions would be reasonable. 

Yet, Pearyin stayed silent. Not a strategic silence, but one filled with acceptance. 

With a sigh, I pulled a protection talisman. The least volatile talisman I had. “Let’s teach you how to activate talismans, so in case of danger, you can protect yourself,” I said. 

“Thank you, sir,” she said, just as respectful despite her new status as a true cultivator. How predictable. 

“First, close your eyes try to reach your center, and bring your Qi to the surface. Just like you’re trying to manipulate your essence—” I started, only to stop when her finger was immediately covered with Qi. “Very good. Now, press at the center of the talisman, and let go,” I said. 

That required a few repeats, but soon, she was surrounded was a Qi shield. “Excellent work,” I said. “With that, you can protect yourself from any martial artist, and a weak cultivator.” 

She nodded, and I pulled passed her a few talismans, showing her how to use them as well. However, even after giving her tools to keep her safe from any situation she might face, she was still panicking. 

Clearly, a different, more primal method was needed to let her relax…