Chapter 74 – Tiny Parts of the Whole (I)

Chapter 74

Tiny Parts of the Whole (I)

What’s a man to do in distress but distract himself?

Thus, here I am, atop my freshened bedding, stomach pressing against a mattress that may as well be a month-old loaf of bread with how hard it is, playing around with my toy.

Ever since I learned the fancy ways of Endless Shadow Steps, I realized that I didn’t necessarily have to wait for my body to be fully purified to use most of these things.

For instance, while Heart-Stitching Art didn’t really have nearly as much of an effect on me as it did on someone like Long Tao, it did do a magical little thing when I used it just a little while ago–it calmed my anxious gut! Something that was only possible with a bottle of te–never mind.

The Shadow Steps also inspired me to want more, as they were the first time I truly felt magical in this world. Yes, it was quite wonderful, being able to use Qi as this fantastical energy otherwise unfound, but the scope within which I could do it was so minimal it didn’t feel that special.

It was a double-parter, too: on one hand, there was me, an Earthling with no experience using Qi and fearful of misusing it and costing myself the future; on the other hand, there was Lu Qi, who had less than no interest in becoming a master at wielding his namesake and never bothered learning much past the basics.

Take those two together, mush ’em up, and you get the scaredy little cat called me.

Shadow Steps, though, opened new doors for me, but I’m still unwilling to make an art specifically for me, as it’d be such a waste. Windfalls of Creation Points like the ones I got recently won’t be a frequent thing, after all–

[Monthly (Locked) Quest Completed — Help your disciple, Dai Xiu, reach the 7th stage of the Qi Condensation Realm within 1 year]

[Reward: 100 Creation Points]

[Bonus Reward for quick completion: 100 Creation Points]

–aaaand I just bit my tongue.

Hm.

As I was saying, windfalls of mythological-level wealth are impossible to just chance upon randomly in this world, after all…

…

Nothing?

Tsk. And here I thought I had the magic touch to conjure whatever damn well I wanted. Guess not.

Okay, so, Dai Xiu reached the 7th stage, and Long Tao is–wait, when did that bastard reach the middle of the Foundation Establishment?!! Are you breaking through by just BREATHING, you bastard?! Do you know that most people spend literal decades breaking through to the mid stage?!

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

Ah, whatever. It’s not worth the blood pressure.

I close my status window and descend the stairs; unlike before, they don’t creak. That old monster Hua has been hard at work fixing a whole bunch of things and apparently did the stairs too.

No, seriously, just how many people in the world can say they have a freakin’ Demigod repairing stairs for them? I may legit be, like, one of the four, right?

Just as soon as I descended, a young girl came streaming in from the outside, a wide smile hanging on her face.

“Master, I broke through!” Dai Xiu exclaimed, her hair whipping backward. Once more she seemed bound to hug me but stopped herself the last second and patiently waited for praise, I’m assuming. Which was free to offer, thankfully.