Failure to Fail

Liu Feng watched Wu Nao intently.

This was in case the manual succeeds once again, Liu Feng would have something of a reference for his next attempt at sabotaging his disciples.

For the first dozen or so minutes, Liu Feng stood there quietly, his gaze directly on Wu Nao. Unfortunately, not much was happening, other than Wu Nao sweating a bit.

As time passed on, Liu Feng whistled a bit to overcome his boredom.

After more time passed, Liu Feng started tapping his feet in an irregular rhythm. The determination that he had to watch Wu Nao cultivate was slowly waning.

The tapping got faster and faster for a while, before stopping completely.

An entire hour had passed uneventfully.

"Wu Nao! I thought I told you to hurry? Come on, cultivate faster!"

Meanwhile, inside Wu Nao's mind, under constant pressure from his master, the cogs started to turn.

"Master Liu, he keeps telling me to go faster. Is it a hint?"

Wu Nao delved into his master's words while continuing to follow the manual's instructions in a rushed manner.

As he recalled his early days as a rookie blacksmith when he was just 14 years old, Wu Nao imparted those memories into his interpretation of the manual.

"The manual instructs me to breathe the air in the surroundings in a violent manner. The air should be heavy and swift, like a hammer of sorts, tempering my body inside. Meanwhile, this constraining position where I cross my limbs, eyes, and fingers, forces the air to travel faster through my body due to the contracted vessels—is this it?"

Wu Nao felt like he had reached an enlightenment.

His breaths went faster and faster, each time with more force than before.

Liu Feng watched as Wu Nao hyperventilated and retreated a few steps back.

"I feel like he's about to explode... A Peak State Pill should be enough to restore him, right?"

Liu Feng became unsure. For someone to explode because of his experimentation was too much for his own conscience.

With a gulp, he decided to stop Wu Nao—but it was too late.

"Stop!"

Boom!

A huge pressure was released from inside Wu Nao's body, blowing away any and all objects around him, including the bed, the desk, and even the walls of his own house! It was as if a basketball had exploded after pumping it with too much air.

Liu Feng was forced back a few meters before keeping his balance and staying on his feet.

Meanwhile, the sun was now clearly visible as the ceiling had flown somewhere far away.

As the dust settled, Liu Feng saw a faint silhouette within. At the same time, he received a notification.

[Ding! One or more of host's Creations have been used. The system has graded them appropriately.]

———

Edifice Reforging Technique

Grade: Lesser Yellow

Characteristics: Suitable for those with a Metal attribute.

———

"Eh, it worked, what a shame..."

Liu Feng had expected as much, but he was still disappointed. His plan of turning left to go right was a failure.

"As I thought, striving to make failures is better for the time being. Rather than succeeding to make a mediocre manual, completely failing is more attractive."

Meanwhile, Wu Nao was beaming. He looked around and saw the presence of small little orbs that he assumed were spiritual energy. They were subtle and hard to see, but he could undeniably see them.

That meant one thing—he had succesfully broken through!

Not minding his house being blown to bits and pieces, he excitedly shuffled towards Liu Feng in an effort to be acknowledged.

"Master, I've broken through!"

Liu Feng mildly nodded. "Hm. Work harder."

After which, he left.

Wu Nao stared at Liu Feng's departing back in a daze.

His feeling of accomplishment was crushed. His master's voice, there was a trace of disappointment!

"Does that mean, I did something wrong?"

Wu Nao grabbed the notebook and reread it from start to finish.

.....

"So that plan is a no-go. What a waste of DP."

As he lamented about the amount of DP he had left over, he tried to think of a bright side to this situation.

"Well, I guess I can distribute this manual to the villagers with a Metal attribute. At the very least, I can increase my turnover rate."

Looking at the list of disciples, he counted the number of villagers with a Metal attribute.

"Out of two-hundred something villagers, only eight have a Metal attribute? And only one of them is on par with Wu Nao. The rest have either four or five attributes..."

Liu Feng shook his head. The most he could hope for this group was reaching the Spiritual Awareness Realm. If all of them reached this realm before the next turnover, then he would gain about 70 more DP.

However, considering the nature of four and five-attribute spirit roots, there wasn't much hope in their situation.

He shook his head. This little experiment of his had cost him most of his DP.

"In the first place, it was a stupid assumption to make. Me not being able to fail when trying to doesn't mean that I will when I don't. Besides, I've only tried ever tried to make a bad manual twice. It's too small a sample size to make any sort of hypothesis."

Liu Feng decided that he shouldn't be trying to make good manuals for now. And so, as he looked at the measly 10 DP in the system, he felt lost on what to do once more.

"Ten more days until the next turnover... and an unknown amount of time until the village gets attacked again."

As he sighed, he saw Shu Fanrong arriving from the distance.

"Ah, Little Rong, you're back. Have you gained anything fruitful in your adventure?"

Shu Fanrong shook her head. "The mountains are really empty. Master should accompany me. You know the mountains like the palm of your hand!"

Liu Feng smiled. "Then let's explore the mountains later. For now, I need to stay here."

Hearing his response, Shu Fanrong turned sour. She avoided her master's headpats and ran back home.

"Aiya, what a little brat."