Chapter 11 – Manipulating Daddy

Ken sat with his parents for dinner after Sol left and his mom told Haoran about Ken's new interest in books.

"Is it true, Ken? Do you want Daddy to get you more books?"

"No, Daddy. I only like the books Mommy gives me."

Haoran looked at his son with a broken heart, while Mei smiled victoriously.

"See? I told you he will understand who loves him more."

"Bullshit! You must have bribed him behind my back!"

"Don't swear next to Ken."

"Oh, right."

Ken fought back the urge to roll his eyes. His parents started using a sound barrier for their nightly activities only when he started talking, but for the whole year before that, he heard his mom screaming profanities during nighttime for hours.

Ken went back to his room after dinner and waited for his words to take effect. Soon, he heard steps outside his room.

"Bingo."

He smiled inwardly but kept a straight face when his father entered the room.

"Ken, Cutie, did you miss me?"

"Um, no. Mommy was with me."

"What? But you love both of us, right?"

"I don't know."

"Ken, look what I brought you!"

He took out a book and gave it to Ken. He stopped trying to give Ken candies long ago; whenever he tried in the past, Ken just threw them to the ground. It's not like he didn't like candies, but he wanted to force his parents to bribe him with better things.

Ken looked at the book briefly and saw the title "The Tales of Venerable Lena" and looked away. He wasn't interested in legends and stories; he wanted concrete information he could use.

"I don't like it."

"What, why not?"

"It's not fun."

"No, no! This book is a lot of fun. It's much more fun than Mommy's Alchemy books. This one has fun stories! How about I read some to you?"

"No. I like Mommy's books."

"Um, is there anything else you like?"

"Yes, Mommy said I will be able to make pills like her when I grow up, but I first need to get a dantan and meridans."

He pronounced it wrong on purpose to make it sound like it was the first time he heard those words.

"Haha, you must be referring to the dantian and the meridians!"

"Yes. I want to surprise Mommy with my knowledge. Will you give me the best books about how to get those things?"

His father thought for a moment. It would be dangerous if Ken tried to follow the manual without instructions and without being in the first stage, but Ken couldn't read. But if Ken couldn't read, then his request was weird. Was it because babies didn't make sense?

"But Ken, you can't read. How will you know what's written in the book?"

"You can teach me to read. If you don't want to, I can ask Mommy or Sol to teach me."

"No, I want to! I will come every night and teach you. I will give you the book tomorrow and start teaching you to read, what do you think?"

Haoran planned to give him the manual but steal it back after teaching him to read. He would get Ken's love, keep Ken out of danger, and Ken wouldn't be able to blame him for the book's disappearance. This was killing three birds with one stone!

"Okay, thank you, Daddy. I love you!"

Ken gave him a big smile and Haoran's heart melted. After Haoran left, Ken finished writing the new manual he was working on for Sol.

The next day, Sol came and gave Ken the three books she borrowed from the library right away. They weren't manuals, but books with a lot of general knowledge about the dantian and the way it worked.

There were a few techniques described along with their effects, but the descriptions weren't enough for the readers to be able to perform them. At least not for the readers who weren't Ken.

"Sol, I managed to get a slightly better manual for you. Learn it, and we can try it out after you finish memorizing it."

The whole manual was around 40 pages, and Sol already knew 80% of it since it was based on the manual she gave him, so she should be able to finish memorizing it in under 2 hours. Overall, they had around 10 hours to spend together before his dad came back from work.

"REALLY? Thank you so much, young master! I promise to always be by your side!"

Sol shouted excitedly as she took the manual with her hands. Her face turned downcast when she saw it was just papers instead of an actual book.

"Young master, perhaps… are you the one who wrote it?"

"Yes, any problem?"

'Of course there's a problem! How could I trust a cultivation manual written by a baby for a stage he didn't even reach?!'

She screamed inwardly but maintained an awkward smile outwardly.

"No, no problem at all. Let me read the manual first."

She opened the manual and saw Ken's ugly handwriting on the first page.

"Hehe, Young Master's handwriting is like flying dragons and dancing phoenixes." (1)

She laughed nervously as her doubts piled up faster than dirty dishes in a single man's apartment.

"Wait, it actually is!"

She said with an astonished voice after she flipped a few pages and saw the beautiful handwriting on the latter pages.

"Stop wasting time and memorize the manual. You can trust me."

"Fine, I will give it a try."

She said with a depressed tone and went to memorize it. 2 hours later, Ken finished reading the three books and Sol finished memorizing the new manual.

"Young Master, let's eat lunch first this time."

45 minutes later, Ken sat in Sol's lap again and wrapped his short arms around her.

"Young Master, it still feels weird when you tell me to take off my clothes."

"Stop talking nonsense and start cultivating."

Sol closed her eyes and started cultivating. She found the techniques surprisingly easy to execute, and everything felt like it was falling into place. Ken did his best to match the technique to Sol's specific constitution while keeping it simple and close enough to the original manual, so she wouldn't have too many difficulties.

He understood that Sol didn't have his memory or intelligence, so she couldn't memorize dozens of different Qi manipulation techniques for every step in the process and use them all at the right times.

Ken closed his eyes and focused on the differences in her body and saw the changes and improvements. Sol was ultimately his guinea pig for methods that he wasn't 100% sure were safe.

"Young Master, I'm sorry for doubting you! This manual is a total treasure, I will never doubt you again!"

Sol's excited screams echoed in the room as she jumped in elation. This was even better than the pills!

The pills were a one-time thing, while the manual would help her through the whole stage. She just didn't know she was on the right for doubting him; he wasn't completely sure those would be the results. He was just sure enough to be willing to let someone else try it.

"Good, how's your progress?"

"I feel like I progressed almost a whole hundredth in awakening my next meridian!"

It didn't sound like much, but that's what she achieved in under 2 hours. If she could cultivate 3-4 hours a day, she'd be able to progress by at least 2%, which would mean she'd finish awakening the next meridian in under 2 months, a huge improvement compared to her former pace of 6 months per meridian.

"It will even give me a better chance of getting some of my minor meridians opened!"

She said happily.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, one is officially in the Dantian and Meridian Awakening Stage when they finish awakening their 12 major meridians. At that point, they can start advancing to the next stage."

"What about the 8 minor meridians and the 45 collateral ones?"

"They aren't mandatory. However, the more you open, the stronger you get. Even more importantly, you will be able to advance in your cultivation much further in the future."

"I see. But your manual only included the 12 major meridians, how will you awaken the rest?"

"I will save as much CP as I can and try to get a manual and give it to you to improve it for me!"

Ken thought for a moment and realized his father probably wouldn't even think to give him the one with only 12 major meridians as the outer sects use. They probably only held a copy of this incomplete manual to control the outer sect, not to use it themselves.

"Wait a few days first. Just get me more books about the dantian and the meridians. I will figure out something."

"Okay, Young Master, you can trust me."

He could reinvent the techniques described in the books she gave him about the dantian, but it was pointless to do so before getting all the data he could from the manual his father promised.

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A/N: Flying dragons and dancing phoenixes – Chinese idiom meaning really beautiful handwriting, but often used as sarcasm. Sol at first used it sarcastically but then changed her mind.