Chapter 15: Chapter 15

Lan Xiaohui has been asleep for a while. It took her several hours to completely absorb my Essence and for a while I worried that she might not survive the ordeal. It certainly was not as difficult as my breakthrough, but I could help her slightly by managing her Qi flow through that sliver of sentience in my Essence.

I wonder if Wukong had done the same for me and if that is why I survived my ordeal. Even though we did not share an official contract, Wukong was, after all, an expert in body cultivation, much like the other monkeys. Perhaps the other monkeys weren’t experts, but were all assisted by Wukong. Perhaps that is how the demonic ape society came to be.

It seems plausible now, the more I think about it.

Lan Xiaohui did not literally turn into black jade like I did. She may have merged her physique with mine, but she did not practice my cultivation methods. I am not so certain she would be capable of cultivating a method that I practice; I am a sword of metal and jade. She is a human of meat and bones.

My Dao is not yet deep enough to even conjecture if she could practice my method and obtain the same benefits I did — albeit in a different manner than sprouting a new, hardened blade and a black jade fuller — but even with my limited understanding, it seems somewhat plausible.

That is to say, I can see a way in which it could be beneficial, I just cannot see how she can collect her vital humors — her very important blood — and circulate it without depriving her organs of oxygen and nutrients, and dying.

I don’t have organs, so I don’t know. My breakthrough was also extreme in every way. I just cannot imagine how her fragile body could withstand even one rotation of Essence, due to its violent nature — and not to mention that she has a lot more blood than I do.

For her cultivation, the manual is the best choice after all. The Heaven and Earth Qi Rotation method. I did not really consider the Heaven grade manual to be such a big deal.

I am a Divine realm Heavenly Treasure. My grade does not go any higher than that. I believe, and I may be proved wrong in the future, that I am a one-of-a-kind artifact and that, in this grade, no direct comparisons are possible anymore.

This does not seem to translate into direct power, but may simply be an indicator of my sentient nature and potential. Even so I now possess an Immortal grade physique and I practice an Emperor grade body cultivation method.

Heaven grade? What a joke! To me, it is just barely good enough to not be turned into kindling. Yes, I am also aware that my biased point of view is just that — extremely biased.

My spiritual roots are Mortal grade anyway. I am not sure the Heavens would not punish me if I were to dare cultivate such a sophisticated method — compared to my roots. I suppose everything is relative like that.

My roots are, relatively, as many grades separated from the Heaven grade as it, itself, is separated from my Emperor vessel refinement method.

I become curious now, and it seems like an unplanned shutdown won’t affect the outcome of the situation, so I risk using [Critical Analysis] on the manual.

[ Heaven and Earth Qi Rotation is a Heaven Grade spirit cultivation method suitable for the Qi Condensation, Qi Refinement and Foundation Establishment realms. Gather the Qi of Heaven and Earth into the dantian and absorb the principle of the Grand Dao to form the Pillars of Foundation. ]

[ Cultivation efficiency factors: Sentience factor: 311%. Physique factor: 241%. Spiritual Roots factor: 14% ]

[ Total efficiency: 31%. ]

[ Analysis: Gained Insight on the Dao of Qi after studying Heaven and Earth Qi Rotation. ]

[ Analysis: Heaven and Earth Qi Rotation method learned. Mastery: 14% ]

I am not certain how my subroutine comes up with the number “31%”, but I assume that there are other factors involved, or that their weight is different. My [Critical Analysis] ability is still low-to-mediocre. For example, the grade of the method is not even considered into the factorization.

The fact that I have learned the method in this manner also comes as a surprise. I did not think the Talent could do such a thing, but it makes sense in hindsight.

Still, it is rather unfair. In my past incarnation, when I was deployed, I was equal to all like me. My molecular structure was identical, even on the quantum level, to every other unit of my class. I had no inherent advantages or disadvantages.

But, in this incarnation, there is no such thing as equality. All are born with different destinies and different fundamental properties. Whether one is a genius or a pauper seems to be merely determined by the fortune of one’s birth. Can hard work even overcome such an obstacle?

Perhaps spirit cultivation is simply not for me. I cannot overcome the disadvantage of my pitiful Roots. Even improving my Physique was something as close to rebirth-without-death as I can imagine. I discarded my old body and forged a new one.

I cannot simply rip out my Spiritual Roots and replace them with a better version.

[ Point Exchange ]

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[ Earth ] Spiritual Roots improvement (10,000 BP)

I stand corrected.

I do not remember seeing this option before. In fact, I’ve become aware that the Exchange offerings change over time. Some things remain the same, but not all, and I cannot comprehend the reason as to why. I still do not understand why some offerings necessitate Blood Points and why some require Soul Points. The reason seems obvious — at the tip of my figurative tongue — but I just cannot figure it out.

There has to be a reason. It cannot be purely random chance.

[ Analysis: Gained Shallow Insight on the Dao of Meta after meditating on the Point Exchange. ]

Meta? Meta-what? It feels somewhat relevant but I cannot yet determine why. If it helps me cultivate, it doesn’t matter what it is.

It does however make me wonder if it possible to improve my Spiritual Roots without spending Blood Points. I know that with a sufficiently deep Dao of Arrays, I could change my core formation to allow myself to fly. Well, if I also had hands to perform such a task in the first place. In fact, many of the things I could do myself — no doubt over many years of studying and practice — cost Blood Points, while the things I absolutely have no capability of obtaining naturally — as far as I know, at least — cost Soul Points.

Like a bolt out of the blue, it hits me.

[ Dao of Meta: Grade 0 -> Grade E ]

That is exactly what it is! This changes many things. My understanding of the Point Exchange also deepens, and I become aware that the Dao of Meta refers to it and its operation.

I wonder if this is something specific to Heavenly Treasures, or the Divine grade. But with my deeper understanding of the Dao of Meta, I have a strong suspicion that this is not quite the case, but that it is also true.

Perhaps the Dao of Meta is a theory on the function and principle of this universe or the Grand Dao itself. Though I do not know yet how this refers to me, my subroutines or the operations of my unconscious master. Or mistress. Does it matter?

I turn my attention to her and realize that she is awake. How long has she been awake? In fact, how much time has passed? I become woefully aware that I had become incognizant of time ever since I accessed the Point Exchange.

Judging by her expression, she wants something. She looks at me every now and again, and then waits patiently. Maybe she realized I was busy.

Now that she is officially my owner, [Telepathy] is as easy as breathing. If I breathed. The point still stands.

“Do you need something?” I ask her.

Lan Xiaohui shakes her head. “No,” she says. A pause. “Are you still offering food?”

Oh, right, she hasn’t eaten in a while.

I eject the corpse of the cultivator from my Dimensional Array.

“Eat,” I tell her.

She stares at the corpse, surprised at first, but then with pure disgust. “I can’t eat that!”

So picky.

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