Chapter 20 – The Life of a Celebrity Can be Very Rough

If Ren expected to see any results from his new technique, he could only be disappointed. On the surface it seemed to be business as usual. But the waters were too muddy to see if anything else was changing. He smoothly broke into the 7th layer of the qi gathering realm and was progressing steadily as the months flew by. There were only 8 months left for the opening of the inheritance.

He continued to peel back the mysteries of the Causality of Karma step by step. A lot of the language used to describe the technique was unnecessarily flowery and poetic. It would often leave him scratching his head. But with time, he began to understand the essence of the technique.

It was divided into three parts. Creating strengthened bonds of Karma using the seed of intent. The seed would be taken up by the counterpart. The word referring to the other was so inconsistent that Ren decided to call them “inheritor” to suit his sensibilities. In the second part, it suddenly switched to using flames as the metaphor. Like an ember that is slowly nurtured to a flame, it would grow. It spoke of the Fire of Life and Fire of Achievement. The second term, Fire of Achievement was frequently interchanged with Fire of Action, or Fire of Endeavor.

Ren suspected it was mainly the repeated tampering of the manual that left it with such incongruencies. From what he understood, the second step was about the actions of the inheritor and how their achievements or karmic debt were created. This seed or ember would grow before being pulled back along the karmic threads tying the cultivator and inheritor. There were also warnings against pulling back too much, as it would settle the debt between the two, and the thread would be dissolved/burnt.

The final part was using these reflected flames to grow your own. Or in other words, cultivate using the reflected power. While most sections were damaged, it was this section that was most affected. Ren worried that the biggest problem was in this step because it didn’t mention anything about a filter. If the karmic sin or merit was simply reflected back and he cultivated using both good and bad, no wonder it had such a high risk.

It must have been the doing of the corrupted monk, who further changed the cultivation manual. If the balance had tipped too far on the negative side, he must have developed a heart devil. This step gave exact knowledge of the good or evil your actions directly caused to the world and those around you. Ren may have sympathized with the monk, but he couldn’t forgive him. Because it looked like after being affected, instead of righting his wrongs, he had leaned into it and changed the manual to generate greater power from karmic sin.

Ren had started by using the first step only. This step was the least harmful. It was still harmful in the sense that cultivators could be pulled down by the weight of their karmic attachments and be unable to break free, but for that to happen, it would take a long time. Still, he used the technique sparingly. It would have been easy to practice it with every action he took, but there were just too many unforeseen consequences.

He could build connections with the plants he grew, but what if he sold them to someone who used them to make a poison pill to harm someone or used to make a weapon that, for whatever reason, was used to kill an innocent or used to feed a spirit beast that went on a rampage? According to snippets in the manual, all these actions could lead to indirect karmic sin. It would have a weaker effect on him but would still have an effect.

While there were just as many possible positive outcomes, the manual scared Ren too much for him to be cavalier wielding it. So he mandated limitations for himself until he fully understood the method or managed to create a filter for the final step. Unfortunately, Ren had not a single idea how manuals were created, modified, or merged. He just knew it was possible to take the strengths of different methods and build a new one. If he fixed the manual, he could cultivate it without reserve.

Ren made a promise to himself to not use the seed of intent for anything other than building connections he wanted to keep for a long time. He wanted to build his puzzles and write books and intended to do so for a long time. Having a degree of separation between his actions and the actions of others was the best way to play it safe.

While hesitant about it, he also resolved to maintain the same level of sincerity with his relationships. His friends and family, his seniors and juniors, all would continue to be treated the same. As for any existing grudges, perceived or otherwise, he certainly didn’t want to add fuel to the fire. It was better not to tie himself too firmly to anyone at this stage. He could always change his mind in the future.

The rest of his routine was mostly unchanged. He cultivated every morning. Practicing with all his new techniques, such as his sensory, movement, and fist techniques, had widened a lot of his meridians. Now when he cultivated, the qi flowed more evenly through all the channels and not just those used by the Grass Blade Manual.

Once he was done cultivating, Ren then worked on his fields. He had grown more at ease with his current rate of spirit plant growth. Three of the 5 spirit plants were sown based on custom orders from senior disciples or anyone willing to pay. The other two plants would be to help balance the others, their environments and needs to ensure they all grow to maturity and are of good quality. Recently he had been contemplating increasing that to 4 spirit plants based on orders per batch, as he now had a solid foundation of experience.

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With the careful planning and the formations he had already set up, he had very little to do other than wiggle the strange dance of the Nurturing Rain Sutra. The little Myriad Path Tortoises loved it and would wiggle their butts along with him as they enjoyed the shower of qi. While growing beyond the expected pace, they were still an extremely slow-maturing species. Ren didn’t mind; it meant they would stay small and adorable for longer.

They showed no indications of settling into any qi attribute, but already their effect was noticeable on his fields. They fed on pests and, with a little training from Ren, specific weeds that were abundant in his qi rich courtyard. They had very limited intelligence at this stage, but as spirit beasts, that would change as they came into their power. Ren sometimes worried if he should take up a beast tamer technique before then.

It wasn’t always necessary if the beasts were docile by nature and raised well, but sometimes without a restricting technique, they had a tendency to buck their owners’ control and flee. Ren didn’t think it was likely with his companion pets but felt it was worth considering. He had put it off for later, as he still had plenty of time before it was needed. And more importantly, not enough resources to spare on a new technique.