Don't Own anything.
'thought'
"Speech"
"Tvs, Radios, and Text via book or newspaper... when those are around..."
"Well." I mutter.
I'm not exactly sure how long I have been in there... but I know for a fact it has been at the very least a few months...
How can I tell this?
Well, it's summer now, for one.
That probably means... I've missed the final parts of the war.
There's little point to going back, now... so, I'm going to do what I planned to after the war had finished.
China.
Clearly cultivators exist in this world. Ones without my advantages... that man was a stage two and had a bunch of stage one disciples.
Without my poison conversion... the path to getting to even stage one is fraught with difficulties. You would need numerous fortunate encounters to rise to that level, let alone a stage two... and what that man said... he called America a 'Chi Deprived Continent'. Is that perhaps the reason I was only ever able to find one singular cultivation ingredient before coming to Europe?
There has to be a reason for this... there's no way that it just so happens to lack that much natural energy.
I can figure that out... at a later date, I suppose.
I run a hand through my hair, letting out a quiet sigh.
I can tell it hasn't been that long since I started meditating... I had to steal an extra set of clothes from the last town I passed through. No security cameras.
They either haven't been invented yet, or they are still in their early stages and really expensive. Either way. Stolen shirt and pants... a wallet taken from the pockets of some dude who tried to mug me in the dead of night... I've more or less gotten all of my living expenses. I forage for most of my food. Eating whatever mushrooms and other plants I find regardless of if they are poisonous or not.
This new path of mine is... impressive. That's as much as I can tell at the moment. I awakened an ability for my mouth, ear, eyes and finally skin.
It appears that crippling my cultivation and starting again had the benefit of awakening a special ability for my ears... last time I missed out on one... but it seems that I re-awakened my abilities that I had already unlocked, like my eyes.
Could a cultivator theoretically unlock abilities related to all acupoints if they repeatedly redid their base cultivation?
ShouldI do this?
…
No.
Some abilities aren't that good. I was lucky with my eyes and heart actually being something useful.
However, most other natural abilities can be replicated by either techniques or future. It is also possible that I DON'T keep abilities once I reset... and I have just gotten lucky, in which case... it would be wise to note lose what I have so far, an ability in every single acupoint barring brain, and nose.
I stare into a small hand mirror I had gotten for myself, my long hair trimmed somewhat to be more manageable. Going from the middle of my back to about chin-length.
My eyes harden slightly as numerous little golden arches appear around my eye, looking like a dazzling golden flower.
The original name for these eyes were the 'Triple Jade-Green Snake Flower Pupils'… and well, that perfectly described what they were. Three petals, green in color, and they manipulated snakes.
Now, according to my inherent bodily knowledge... their name should be the 'Octuple Liquid-Gold Mystifying Rose Pupils'.
In addition to the original snake charming aspects... I am given some fairly interesting abilities... abilities that I am fairly certain are sort of infringing on Naruto's copywrite.
I'm unsure, as I've never watched Naruto- and it's still a good- at bare minimum- thirty years or so before it gets created... so there's no real way of knowing.
Basically, I can capture and store snakes in my eyes. I'm fairly certain there was a Naruto eye which could transport people to a pocket dimension...
Then there's the illusion aspect, which I'm ALSO fairly certain Naruto had.
The way my eyes differ, however, is that I actively drain the essence of snakes I have stored within the pocket dimension.
That is incredibly useful.
That is the only reason I am even considering crippling my cultivation yet again and starting from scratch.
What if I unlock- or upgrade- my already unlocked talents up to be comparable to that?
Why it is useful is actually a fairly complex matter, but I'll get to that in a moment.
The reason why I am hesitant... is one key thing.
The chance that I could have just gotten indescribable luck.
five of seven current acupoints unlocked a special trait.
The heart's one of ten thousand. The eye's one in two- and the much lower chance of getting something ACTUALLY useful instead of like... binocular vision which all more advanced cultivators would gain in some capacity- the mouth's one in fifty thousand... I can't even begin to estimate the brain's chances... and there's another part of me that doesn't want to repeatedly cripple my mind and re-awaken it over and over again as that would probably affect my mental capacity in some manner- as yes, unlocking my brain acupoint seems to have increased my information processing ability somewhat... just not enough for me to label it as a 'special ability'.
Ears has a one in one thousand chance and skin... is much like the brain... I have no reference to figure out just how rare unlocking a trait would be.
What would happen if I lose all of this? This incredible advantage?
My teeth have been sharpened, hardened and I process consumed elixirs at a faster- and more efficient rate.
Theoretically I should be able to eat metal in the future and digest its 'elemental chi'. But even if I couldn't, it would still be quite a boon due to the increased efficiency with medicines, something that would already benefit from my natural skyrim alchemy skill tree gifted from god.
Ears have given me a form of echolocation. Something that... could probably be learned through some sort of cultivation art or technique so it's not a 'unique' or 'style defining power' like my eyes or heart, but it's nice to have while I am weaker, I suppose.
Skin has given me something called 'Jade Scales'. Which means my skin is basically as hard as rock, now.
Useful, and likely will only improve as I grow stronger.
Now, my eyes...
Ohoho my eyes.
First I should probably explain something about the human body when it comes to cultivation.
A human, when they are first born is given a small portion of energy from their mother's womb called 'Inborn True Ki'. Not to be confused with the fourth stage of cultivation, 'Inborn' and it's 'Inborn True Essence' which is sort of similar, but vastly different.
Inborn True Ki, the kind your mother gives you as a child, can be used as immense nourishment for your body during your early years. Therein lies the issue. Early Years. Inborn True Ki dissipates by the time the person in question is ten years old... unless, of course, they are taught cultivation from a young age and manage to keep it contained, at which they can harness it and use as an unpurchaseable personal cultivation elixir to increase to size of their own ki pool quite substantially.
This true ki makes a cultivator's journey far easier. Someone who begins to cultivate at the age of four, while their bodies are still growing and changing, tend to become a stage four cultivator at the bare minimum. With a strong enough backing, and if they are fortunate enough, they could likely reach this level before they even reach thirty years of age.
So. What does that have with my Mystifying Rose pupils?
I devour the strength of snakes trapped within my personal world. Their life. Their true ki.
And for recently hatched snakes...
Their Inborn True Ki.
This... is a vaguely evil thing to do, yes. Killing a bunch of infants to make myself stronger... but it's just animalistic snakes. I don't plan on doing it to a bunch of infant spirit beast like Diablo... even if it would be vastly more efficient.
I may need to get some form of snake farm, honestly. The amount of power I'd get from a single snake would be negligible... but what about one thousand?
Probably not even a fraction of what an infant would have... but that's the thing. I'd be able to continually gain it.
Anyways, onto questions other than 'should I re-do level one of cultivation over and over again'...
Another question on my mind would be 'where the hell am I?'
I started in the Austrian Alps, then just started walking east. Following the rising sun.
It has been like... fifty days since I started my journey.
I think I'm in like... Hungary?
I might have moved beyond it and have waltzed into Romania, though.
I'm unsure.
All I know is that I don't speak the languages.
I know a bit of German, yes, and quite a bit of Chinese, but not Hungarian... nor whatever they speak in Romania...
Romanian?
I think it's Romanian.
Regardless, my journey is quite a boring one.
I haven't found anything interesting yet, nor have I made any REAL progress to opening my lung acupoint.
I've passively gathered like... maybe five percent or so during my walk throughout the untouched valleys and mountains.
I've made good progress, all things considered.
Keep up that pace, and I'll be at stage two in a couple of years.
Just keep on walking into the sunrise, Picking up bits of language as I go.
It's a peaceful life.
"You... have... er... Blood Block." I tap my head with two fingers.
"Yes, mi-a spus Doctor" the old woman on the bed states.
"Fix?" I ask while pointing at myself.
"mă puteți ajuta?"
Ah. Shit. Didn't get that last bit.
"Îmi pare rău că nu mă pricep la limbă." I casually state, a phrase I have been forced to say a surprising amount the past one hundred days.
It means 'I'm sorry, I'm not good with the language'… I think...
She points at me, then to her heart. "Fix?"
I nod twice, telling her that I can fix it. "Pot repara."
She shifts in her bed, fully laying down as I reach into my bag, pulling out one of the only things that wasn't utterly destroyed during my fall into the chasm.
Some were bent, sure, and I had to get rid of them, but the large majority survived in their protective case.
I gently turn over the old woman's hand and begin rubbing the space just below the bottom of the palm where the wrist bone meets the hand.
Her tense shoulders relax, causing her eyes to widen.
Seeing that her body has been eased with one rapid motion, three silver needles gently poke through her wrinkled skin, trailing up her arm.
I ask her if it hurts, causing the woman to shake her head 'no'.
I nod slowly and insert a few more needles.
I can see the woman's eyes widen as her hand begins to twitch slightly.
This woman... I don't know her name... has been bedridden after a stroke.
Something which I shall now be fixing.
She lets out a long gasp as I insert an eighth and final needle in her shoulder.
I lift one finger. "One more."
The woman nods twice.
The needle in my hand flickers as I put it just behind her temple.
She looks at her arm in genuine astonishment, her foot begins to wiggle.
"You fixed it?!" She seems genuinely surprised.
I nod my head once with a smile on my face as I gently remove the acupressure needles.
I stand from the chair I had pulled over to her bedside, placing it back where I got it with a small nod.
I offer a single wave as I walk towards the door.
"Wait!" The woman calls out.
I turn slowly, looking back to her.
She reaches over to her bedside table and quickly rifles around in it.
A moment later she has removed a few dozen bills and holds them out to me.
"Are you sure?" I question, causing a bright smile to appear on the woman's face as she nods twice.
I smile and take her charity. "Thank you!"
"No! Thank you!" She replies, tears beginning to prickle at her eyes. "Name?"
"…"
I point to my chest. "Zhongli."
I have decided to take on an entirely new identity... that name, was frankly the first thing that came to mind, as I was thinking about my new deeper and richer voice.
In terms of Mora... we have no Mora.
Or, well, in terms of Leu we have... about a thousand Leu.
That's... a fair bit. I think I saw a loaf of bread for like eight or so a while back.
This is more than enough to buy some steaks to spoil Diablo and myself just a bit.
A tremendous weight shoves down on me from all sides as I grit my teeth.
This...
This is nothing!
I rise to my feet from a kneeling position a savage grin on my face.
The world thinks that THIS is enough to stop me?!
With a small shout, my power explodes upwards.
Then...
I can feel it.
My gathered power.
It's like I am a bottle of wine... the pressure within rising higher and higher.
And suddenly...
Pop.
My energy surges, raging around me for a brief moment before being drawn inwards.
I take a deep breath, the nice clean air of my surroundings cooling my throat as a small smile forms on my lips.
I've done it...
Stage two.
Deep within myself I can feel it... true ki.
I have entered the 'True Master' level... the stage which is honestly fairly impressive... by mundane standards.
A 'true master' would be capable of being the leader of a shadow organization quite easily and have quite a lot of prestige... in the normal world, that is.
Most 'True Masters' in actual non 'utter joke' sects range from age eight to eighteen.
So, I, a twenty two- plus however many years I stayed in that cave- year old am just a little bit behind.
Stage three is called the 'Battle King', and... old cultivators maaay have jumped the gun in calling the stage before it 'true master'.
Regardless, the way through stage two is quite simple. You need to open eight dantians called the 'Dragon Dantians'
You won't be seeing any special ability from these, sadly, but with each unlocked you see a minor improvement in your ability to manipulate chi and your overall capacity for it.
The first dantian is called the 'Origin Dantian'. Which is sort of similar to an egg, I suppose.
It flows up into the Tail Dantian, then the Claw, then to the 'Foot', then from there it goes to the palm, neck, head, and then finally 'horn' which is when you get struck by lightning by the world.
I lift a hand towards a nearby tree, gathering this newfound power that is coursing through my body like blood.
I flick my finger, causing a small golden bead to shoot out towards a nearby trunk.
Bark is sheared away as the wood within splinters.
"Hm." I mutely hum as I look to my smoking index finger.
That is highly inefficient. I used about ten percent of my overall energy to do something that likely would only kill a normal human if I managed to shoot them in the head.
Against a stage one cultivator, it would likely only rend the skin. and I'm talking about one without the skin acupoint.
To think that that sort of attack would barely even leave a bruise on me. That is proof that I am growing stronger.
This new level of strength... it causes one question to spring to mind...
'How do I pave my own path with this?'
How to I make this special?
The second stage involves creating your Dantian. The path your chi will move throughout your body.
The main thing about it is 'image', according to my implanted knowledge.
Each and every person has a specialized path that they are most accustomed to.
The problem is that it is difficult to figure out just what a person has the greatest affinity towards. Then comes designing an entirely new path for your Dantians which is extraordinarily difficult.
The more you have, typically the better your Chi manipulation will be, but, after eight there's typically a steep drop off in efficiency.
The first, the origin Dantian increases your overall manipulation ability by about fifty percent, but the seventh, only improves it by a further five percent or so... the eighth is special in that it doesn't actually do anything until AFTER you have ascended to the next tier, but it is possibly the most important alongside the origin dantian for an additional plus fifty percent.
Anything beyond that would see a STEEP decrease in power for efficiency, although it is theoretically possible to have nine dantians open, hell, more than nine even, It's just... it takes an average cultivator... one who has no fortunate encounters about five years to open a single dantian.
You could, by all means, unlock a thousand dandians... but it'll take you five thousand years and the collective increase in potency might only be... one hundred percent? At maximum? Maybe a little more if you are really attuned to the image.
The classic eastern dragon is used because it holds a special connection to the last trial of the first realm, the 'fish leaping through the dragon gate' trial. That makes it so anyone has a reasonable affinity with the dragon 'constellation' of Dantians.
My Dao name is Venom Dragon. I have JadeScales, sharpened and hardened teeth, my Lung Acupoint special trait allows me to basically breathe an elemental breath like a dragon- in my case, it's poison- and I have pupils that can control serpents, the thing that most people believe the origin of the dragon mythos comes from.
Even if that isn't true.
I seem to hold a tremendous affinity for dragons...
But nothing for poison...
Poison and medicine may be an even larger intrinsic part of my very being than dragons...
Wait. Isn't there an Ordinator Alchemy perk that deals with Dragon Shouts?
To find a perfect pathway for me, one that I will gain the largest benefit from... I'd need to combine dragons and poison...
What about... specific dragons?
World Serpent?
No. He isn't technically a dragon, and his path would be even simpler and faster than the standard dragon due to his lack of limbs, but due to my affinity, it might come out as equal to someone who practiced the normal way.
However.
That is not who I am.
I am not a man to take shortcuts. I am the type of guy to meticulously do something over and over to give myself even the slightest edge. The stronger and more solid the foundation... the taller the building can grow, after all.
My eyes widen briefly as a certain dragon comes to mind.
"Yamata No Orochi..." I whisper quietly among the tweeting birds and gentle calming breeze
Eight Heads. Eight Tails.
It is sometimes called the eight headed serpent, but it has legs.
Origin. Eight Tails. Claw. Foot. Palm. Eight Necks. Eight Heads. Eight Horns.
Hold on... this is actually very structurally sound.
The world itself likes things to have meaning.
I turned eight original Dantians into Eight, Eight, Eight, and Eight.
The only thing that would make this more perfect would be if the remainder all added up to eight as well.
I scratch my chin as I narrow my eyes.
Who says that it can't?
Two claws, two feet, two palms. That brings me up to thirty nine. I will be forced to create a new dantian... but where and what? It should be something that embodies the myth of the Yamato No Orochi... but what?
I sigh and shake my head.
'ah well, I'll think about it later. The Origin is the one thing I cannot alter. Every Dantian path will have an origin and it could take me five- or more- years to unlock it, so I've got time. Time to meditate. Time to travel. And time to think.
I tilt my head as I hear something, a hiss of breath between teeth.
I quickly begin moving through the trees, chi flowing through my body, enhancing my body and increasing my speed somewhat.
I flip over the edge of a cliff, sliding down the mountain face for a moment before jumping off it and landing gracefully on the ground below.
I look around briefly, a frown on my face as I-
A small rock tumbles further down the cliff, causing me to turn, seeing a small cave that is hidden away in the rocks.
I walk forwards quickly making my way into the cave.
Purple smoke assaults my nose for a moment.
Poison?
Fairly potent. Is that burned red lotus root? There's also some ethereal nightshade in there.
A poison of this toxicity would probably knock a state two cultivator on their ass fairly quickly... for myself?
Eh. Mine's better.
I quickly make my way deeper.
My body is rooted in shock as I find... a girl?!
What the hell is she doing here?!
She breathes heavily, her breaths coming out in short pants as she remains motionless with her eyes closed.
'holy shit she is ALIVE.'
She has chin-length purple hair, a little skull hair clip in it, her skin is frankly dazzling. No acne, smooth skin, and no blemishes.
She wears primarily purple, with a little cloak around her shoulders.
Seeing that she is alive... I should probably keep her that way.
I take a deep breath, sucking in as much poison as I can, gently picking up the girl as she quietly groans.
I carry her outside of the cave and lay her down, causing the girl to crack open a single eye.
"Ngh- wha..."
'that's... Chinese?'
Her dress is very eastern as well-
Cultivator.
I didn't notice it before, but she is a cultivator like myself. In fact, she seems to be a little bit stronger than I am.
"Are you alright?" I question.
"It's... still around here." She whispers. "Be... careful..."
I can see two little red dots on her forearm... she has been bitten.
A large serpent slithers from the cave according to my echolocation. It isn't as large as Diablo was that one time, but it somehow seems even more opposing as I turn to face it... It is blue in color with hate-filled purple eyes.
"…"
My eyes glow brightly and suddenly it is laying completely still, faceplanting in the soil.
"…"
I turn back to the girl and quickly begin jabbing her pressure points with my acupressure needles.
She begins squirming under the discomfort of my newly created counter poison.
I look over the blue serpent I have just physically dominated and force it to lift its head and extend a fang.
I run a finger down the front of it and let out a low hum gently touching the sides of the snake's head to feel just how full the poison sacks are... as in, how much it injected into this poor woman.
That is... potent.
It would likely give my current state a shock like Diablo's did the first time I told her to bite me.
Score! That should give me more than enough energy to finish establishing my first Tail Dantian!
But. I can worry about that later. First, there's a jade beauty to save.
"…"
I just got bingo. Sweet.
Anyways, looking at the venom of this... er... 'Violet Eyed Azure Serpent' I can tell she'd need about twenty acupressure pokes worth of my current counter-venom to counteract its own.
The only reason she is alive currently is because she is one: she is stronger than me. If I had to make an estimation, I'd say she's a second stage cultivator like myself, but she is fairly close to the end of that...
She's likely to break through in a decade or so, and considering her age? She must be pretty impressive.
The second reason as to why she is still alive is because she seems to be a poison cultivator like myself.
"Oh? That's an interesting acupressure technique." A voice behind me hums.
"GAH!" I gasp.
"FUCK!" I loudly curse in English a moment later, whirling around, hands raised, Diablo's head rising from around my neck and letting out a menacing hiss.
Standing a good thirty feet back is a man-
Huh...
Yeah, that is a... strange look.
He wears a lab coat. Black pants, has brown hair swooped back as if he had just assumed a super saiyan transformation with little pink bows in it, and his eyes have dark circles so deep that it looks like he hasn't slept in about a month.
His location is also strange as I could have sworn he was looking over my shoulder not even a second prior.
He offers me a small wave, a tired smile on his face.
I take a deep breath an exhale.
"Let it go, Arthur." I mutter under my breath as I return to my patient. "If he wanted to kill you, you'd be dead."
"Who are you, and what do you want?" I ask blandly.
"My Dao name is Medicine Master." He begins.
And, of course he is a cultivator.
I've been in China for only a week, and I've already come across not one, but two cultivators.
"That name is... a bit presumptuous, isn't it?" I question.
"Hn. Perhaps. But it embodies my goal. May I ask for your name?"
"Arthur Steele... or It was, until I fought a stage two cultivator a while back and got thrown off a cliff and assumed dead... now I go by Zhongli... as for my Dao Name... Venom Dragon."
"Venom Dragon? That is... a powerful name." The man nods slowly. "It implies that you are quite experienced in the poison arts, is this true?"
"I dabble." I shrug as I lay the final acupressure needle within the woman.
I rise to my feet, turning to face the man yet again.
I look over him with a frown. 'he is... strong. Far stronger than me. Is he a third stage? Pfft- what am I saying, of course he is. The question I should be asking myself is if he is even higher than that.'
"You have quite the interesting creation, there." He gestures to the little glass bottle at my hip. "It is a venom that actively seeks out toxins within the blood stream, correct."
"It does." I nod once.
"That is utterly genius! Did you invent that yourself? Or is it a secret recipe from your sect?"
"I made it myself... as for my sect, I don't have one of those."
"You are telling me that you are a loose cultivator?! I could have sworn that with these serpents you were a part of the Venom Glade beast taming sect."
"Sorry, I am getting ahead of myself." The man sighs. "I just get excited when I come into contact with a healing method I haven't seen before... or a particularly unique medicine or poison."
"As for why I am here, I smelt poison and I got curious." The man simply announces.
He lets out a low hum. "If I had to guess, this girl is probably from the Poison Mist Sect. They tend to send their disciples out near the peak of the True Master stage to go out and capture some sort of venomous Spirit Beast."
"Well, it seems that you have this handled. I was in the area looking for some jade moon grass that has been growing for at least ten years. I should get back to searching."
"Ah!" He snaps his finger suddenly. "I apologize. It appears I forgot the custom."
"Custom?" I echo.
"It is customary for a senior to give their juniors a gift on their first meeting."
He looks between me and the unconscious girl and lets out a single sigh. "I have a pill on me that would be reasonably good for cultivation, but I only have one."
I cup my chin, a sudden greedy glint in my eye. "Do you have any poisons? The more potent the better?"
"Pardon?" He mutters. "What could you want with a poison that potent?"
"Thanks to my heart acupoint, I am able to store, enhance, and benefit from consuming poisons. I plan to greatly dilute the poison and proceed to drink it to increase the speed of my cultivation."
"You unlocked a special ability with your heart acupoint? That's quite rare! Congratulations. Very well, give this pill to the young woman here when she wakes up, and you may have this poison here.
A little corked bottle floats towards me and a little wooden box like one would put a wedding ring is placed beside the woman.
"This is millennium ebon flower shade extract. Potent enough to kill an Inborn cultivator two times over and hamper a fifth stage like myself for a short time. You will probably want to dilute it anywhere from three hundred to one thousand times... depending on your relative poison resistance... this sort of gift should allow you to make full use of your innate ability, and it will probably allow you to even ascend to the third stage."
Ah. So he was fifth stage.
Fuck.
He floats off the ground then offers a simple wave... lands on a floating sword... then blasts off into the distance.
"I was not expecting this when I woke up today." I mutter absentmindedly.
"Sss-sss." Diablo nods twice in quiet agreement.
Well, here's another chapter of Cultivator-Kun's wild adventure. In which he just ponders about his future a lot and helps a jade beauty survive! Plus, he met a powerful cultivator who gave him some bone hurting juice.
But Arthur is all 'The Pain just makes me stronger' like a masochist.
I'm really tired.