1 Prologue
I am recycling CTH for another ATG fic... (Can't write anything that has the word 'Che' in it.
If you like MC being the average Young Master, instead of Cliche Cultivation MC who robs and murders his way through things.
And like something like Clan building, Mc joining a sect being part of it, etc... Everything that a Young Master would do. Then this is it.
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When you realise you are reborn in a deathtrap world, where only an Ancestral Goddess Favour or some long-dead God blood allows you to live without worry, and you have none of these.
That's when you start thinking about how you want to survive when you have mediocre talent.
This was my case as well, I had 11 opened Profound Entrances, which means my talent was just around that average bar.
According to the elders, my potential is just around the middle stages of Spirit Profound.
So from the very beginning, I was just part of the background group. Living in a Chinese-like world with Chinese-like beliefs is quite strange but at the same time, it was good.
They leave me alone and I just become one of the background people.
I was not one of the two specific groups:
Either trash, like Xiao Che
Or, extremely gifted, like Xia Qingyue.
That sweet middle gives me the anonymity, that stealth bonus if this was a game.
However, this made me experience what it means to live in breeding grounds or like a colony of ants.
Chinese are all about quantity over quality. Each elder has at least 4 to 5 women, this means each woman produces around 3 to 4 kids. This makes around 20 to 30 children. Those have similar amounts of children as well.
So…just like that, I have around 140…cousins?
Though, not everyone is like that. The fifth elder by the name of Xiao Lie only had one wife and just two children. Even now he only has a single grandson which is…unheard of…
In this place.
Why? Because he is not working to return to the Xiao Sect!
For some weird reason, everyone thinks that breeding like rabbits will help you return to your origin. Though this tactic has some merits… eventually your family will produce a talented child.
The current leader of the young generation is Xiao Yulong. He is around 4 years older than me and he is already at [Fourth of Elementary Profound] he started cultivating 2 years ago.
I did watch him practise, like everyone did, as the Clan Leader who is his father made everyone watch his pride and joy train.
Though it left me dumbfounded. The first Great Realm of cultivation is [Elementary Profound] it's where you put your stamina into Profound Veins.
In English, this means you put your sweat into it, you make your muscles burn from all that exercising.
It means you need to make your veins active so that you could start gathering Profound Energy from outside.
So it's strange that they are not training their muscles, but constantly training the arts we inherited from Xiao Sect's disappointment Xiao Beili who is the founder of Xiao Clan.
The guy got expelled after finding out that he has garbage talent which I assume he had less Profound Entrances than the minimum required to stay in Xiao Sect.
Most likely between 13 to 14 is good enough for Xiao Sect. But that guy had less since his mother was just some average maid.
That one entrance makes a large amount of difference. It's like having permanent active buffs in an RPG game, it's all about those percentages.
Anyway, back to the arts. Xiao Yulong is constantly going through the katas of the art.
While this is good to know the art, the muscles are not working at maximum. So he is not adding that vitality to the veins.
It's like he is performing at 50% the whole time.
'This is embarrassing to watch…'
After watching the idiot for several hours we were left to our devices.
For the past 10 years, I have been doing everything an average cultivation Joe would do…well…average kid, I haven't started to cultivate properly yet.
I didn't jump to cultivate as it was impossible. Starting before 12 is not recommended. As if you by accident reach Nascent Profound you can cripple your future potential.
Though it doesn't mean you can't prepare for the cultivation.
I already acquired 50 KG of those purple crystals found outside the city limits.
A very basic storage ring was good enough for them. Just from the rough memories I have, the Phoenix Emperor said there will be enough for several generations of Sovereign Profound cultivators.
So one could say I have a ticket to the peak existence of the Profound Sky Continent. Now I only need to remain a background character and watch how Yun Che does his thing while I do mine.
This was the plan. But just from me doing basic exercises I felt something manifest in my body.
I had a breakthrough!
'You got to be kidding me!!!'
I looked at my hands with disbelief.
'Is it this easy? Or it's just that those fools are doing it wrong!?'
I frowned for a bit. It could be that the elders are just stupid. They are continuing to practise the same way Xiao Bieli did.
Looking at my hand for a bit. I felt a small bit of something flowing in my body.
'So This is how Profound Energy feels like…'
Thinking for a while, I decided to start learning how to control it.
This is one of the most important things in Primal Chaos, and that is mastery over the main energy.
Starting with flowing into the hand, from left to right, from right to left.
From one leg to another, so on and so forth. Constantly manipulating the energy. Until I picked up how to make it feel that I don't have it.
It is not that difficult, what is difficult is to keep it under a leash.
*Ding*
{You have created [Profound Energy Control] art!}
"...Eh?"
"...is…this my golden finger!?" For a second I exclaimed. Since I was in a Chinese place it's appropriate that I use Chinese slang!
"Status?"
Nothing…
"Skills?"
Nothing…
"...Okay…Arts?"
A window popped in front of me.
There was a single icon on it.
I pressed on it.
[Profound Energy Control] (1/10) {0.21%}
[Basic Art]
[An art dedicated to increasing control over Profound Energy]
"Okay… not bad…at least I have some sense of what I have to work with…"
I stroked my chin before deciding that I should learn more about my power, this is essential to see what I can do and not.
~~~
One of the basic things was to see if I can make anything into art.
Which is not, it turns out that the only thing that works is if Profound energy is involved. Even then it has to be in the form of some sort of art.
For example, simply dashing with Profound energy while sending energy in the feet doesn't work.
What works is if the energy is sent at a specific time giving slight explosiveness to the dash.
Well… as much as one at [First of Elementary Profound] could get.
Though this dash did become an art!
*Ding*
{You have created [Dash] art!}
The art isn't something special but they have levels to them.
And me playing the whole day with the Profound energy control only increased the [Profound Energy Control] to level 2!
While it sounds little the increase was considerable.
Knowing some of the boundaries with the power I have does help me a lot.
This will allow me to plan my training regiment.
After learning dash, I proceeded to walk towards the clan library. This time I will be looking at more than just regular knowledge.
Regular knowledge is fascinating when you are part of the world.
For example, Sacred Grounds are so mythical to the common man of the Blue Wind Empire that it's almost as if we are talking about some gods…and not people from distant lands.
Even a Sky Profound is like a fabled existence that the people of Floating Cloud City can only dream of!
So it's quite interesting to read these tomes. But this time I wasn't there for this.
Instead, I went for the basic techniques available for the juniors of the Xiao Clan.
As I arrived there I saw an array of kids of different ages mingling among themselves.
My background character aura easily allowed me to go over and pick something they have no interest in.
"Cousin! That's the Basic Fist! Take the Wind Thrust. With that one, you can work towards Xiao Wind arts."
"...Oh? Thanks!" I nodded at him and took the offered book. These are the basic arts of Xiao Clan…a washed-down art of another washed-down art.
Twice washed down what Xiao Sect teaches their disciples.
Regardless, after taking the art, I retreated to my small pavilion. If I want anything bigger I need to show results.
As always it's the same strength that speaks for you.
Anyway, I got the art and started practising according to the manual.
A hand-thrust art that can be a fist or a palm strike, but what is important is the movement and release of the Profound energy at a specific time.
After a few tries there was a notification sound.
*Ding*
{You have created [Arm Thrust] art!}
I smiled for a bit before dismissing the window. I continued with the practice before I felt tired.
It was time to rest.
~~~~~~Weeks Later~~~~~~
I knew something was off… just weeks into this but I already reached [Second of Elementary Profound].
The [Arm Thrust] Doesn't fasten the cultivation speed. It is my basic training regiment. I was careful not to expose myself while training in that style.
Push-ups, sit-ups, and squats with some good meals helped along the way.
The [Profound Energy Control] worked as no one perceived my entry into [Elementary Profound]. Otherwise, I would have Xiao Yulong staring at me long ago as that prick was a jealous little shit.
We are still kids so people don't pay too much attention but as a background character, I can easily observe him and his minion Xiao Yang.
Though as weeks have passed I realised that I am flying through the early realms at a rapid pace.
By the time I was 11, I was already at [Seventh of Elementary Profound]. Higher than Xiao Yulong who just reached [Fifth of Elementary Profound].
This made me lower the intensity of the physical training. Instead, I focused on improving my Profound Arts.
[Profound Energy Control] has reached level 5 and the amount of percentage it gets lowered significantly.
[Dash] was at level 3, as it was something I am not working a lot on.
[Arm Thrust] was at level 8, and there is some wind behind that thrust. The amount of force it releases is much higher than my Cultivation.
Regardless, it was time to learn some other things, as I need to branch out. Alchemy and pill-making sounds good as in one of my library dives, I spotted some elementary pill making manuals... or theories, since I doubt my clan acquired any pill-making techniques.
The thing about these alchemy manuals is that everyone reads them with hopes of learning the fabled art.
But none of them learn jack shit. They leave the book with confused looks.
Today it was my time to do it. This whole thing was like a ritual to try to learn the art and then leave with a confused look.
When I got my hands on it, I was confused as well.
It was not a manual or tome with a technique. It was a journal of one of the Beili sons travelling with some low-level alchemist who told him a few things about alchemy.
There are no techniques in this book, only what this son recalled from his encounter with an Alchemist.
'Hmm… So to cast alchemist fire one needs rapid frictions of profound energy to ignite the flames and use Profound energy as fuel. Though the issue is the types of flames.
It is extremely easy to turn them into destructive ones instead of fire which refines materials.
This is the reason why alchemists are so rare. It's like only people who are crackheads and obsessed with fire are alchemists.'
After reading the whole journal I left and instead went over to check out Xiao Clan arts. The watered-down version of Xiao Sect arts.
With Wind Thrust down, it was time to see another basic art.
It was the Hawk Claw. It's a slashing move used with the hand and fingers. You spread out the fingers and slash out as if it's a claw.
'Hmm…so… you guys just spread out a single profound art into many smaller arts just to make it look like there are a bunch of arts…'
I thought sarcastically. Though such a method does mean that if you learn all these small moves you will develop and learn the watered-down version of Xiao Sect art.
'I wonder if I learn all of these will I grasp the true Xiao Sect art?'
Thinking for a bit I decided why not?
I do have a whole year before I start proper cultivation.
So after picking up this manual, I went back to my pavilion where I started to practise the claw strike.
It was not hard after learning arm thrust as I already practised sending Profound energy into my hands. Now it was to send energy into the fingers.
*Ding*
{You have created [Claw Strike] art}
After learning this new art I proceeded to train them both.
It didn't take long for the Arm Thrust to reach level 10. The cap and then proceed to reach that 100%.
I was wondering what will happen after it reaches that lvl 10 100%. It was a pleasant surprise, it was evolution!
{[Arm Thrust] art has evolved into [Wind Current Thrust] art}
When I saw this I realised that my cheat is quite broken as it could potentially evolve further and further into breaking the boundaries of the norm.
Quite terrifying.
But anyway I proceeded to spend the remaining year practising the arts, and enjoying living the mundane life of the background character.
That was until I broke through to [Nascent Profound] when I became 12 years old.
When I reach that stage I can emit Profound energy from my body. So sticking around in my courtyard is no longer feasible.
This means that I should start practising outside the Xiao Clan.
My destination was the mountain just outside Xiao Clan. It's a picturesque place, to stay even further away I proceeded to practise on the other side of the mountain. Even further away from Xiao Clan.
Though I can barely control my excitement now I can start practising Alchemy and fire in general.
~~~~~~???~~~~~~
It started recently. Because of how her pond is located and how the mountain is she was able to notice a figure walking into the depths of the mountains.
When she saw that it was someone similar to her age she panicked. Someone just wandering into the wilderness!
It is not a secret that the mountains have beasts who are as strong as [Nascent Profound].
So she was worried.
Secretly she followed this kid. She was confident with her cultivation as she started to practise cultivation early.
Though she was baffled to see him being even stronger than her!
'Who is he? I would have known if Xiao Clan was such a talented individual.' She frowned when she saw his cultivation being at [First of Nascent Profound].
The girl continued to watch him for some time. Her eyebrows only continued to widen as she saw him practise Profound Energy control. She saw sparks fly from his palms until she saw him produce fire.
She had never seen anything like this. Her understanding of the Profound Arts is that it takes a long time to create and master them.
One of the reasons why Sects exist is as they safeguard the arts they create, and only allow members of their sect to practise them depending on the contribution they give.
But she just witnessed the creation of an art. Or at least she thinks it's a creation. There were no motions of him practising something from a book. Like checking one or going through some sort of motions.
All she saw was control of Profound energy in a certain way.
After watching him for a while she retreated to her family grounds.
She is wondering who he is. She is going to ask her father if he knows anyone like him. He is after all dealing with that clan.
…
…
…
Though this was not the end, she saw him return to the same spot over and over again. Day in and day out.
In mere few months, he broke through to Second, Third, and then [Fourth of Nascent Profound].
He would cultivate, and perform some sort of exercise. Practising the fire arts, wind arts, and hand-to-hand combat which she is certain are Xiao Clan arts.
It only frustrated her that her father could not help her. He didn't hear about this Xiao Clan member. As there are thousands of them.
And she didn't want to reveal anything about him as she understood that he was doing this in secret.
Then… a fairy visited her.
"...I would like to offer you to join Frozen Cloud Immortal Palace." A woman with an icy tone said while floating in the air.
"Your talent is extraordinary, and it's wasted in such a backwater place."
'Backwater? Do they have methods like he uses? Do I miss something?'
For a moment she thought about this.
"...Miss Fairy… how long would it take for me to reach True Profound?"
Her question got the fairy confused but she nonetheless answered.
"...With your talent, you could reach it in a year and a few months."
Her eyes widened, the fairy thought that this was because the girl was shocked by the rapid speed…
But it was the complete opposite.
'So… slow… I saw him train… even if I join Frozen Cloud he will leave me in dust…'
"...I respectfully decline the offer."
This is not what wants, she will find another way.
