Mastery

"Mastery?"

Huan Wei looked at the panel in front of him. The Mouth of Flame was a Class C technique. According to the system, it only had 4 levels. Huan Wei had already maximized it to the highest possible level.

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[Wandering Realm Technique] Mouth of the Flame Level 4/4 (Class C)

Fire Qi Technique. Ignites the Cultivator's Qi and sent it forward in the form of a spirit animal.

Next Level: 0xp

[Mastery]

Fire Qi Intensity +50%

Explosion Size +50%

Spent Qi -50%

Requirements:

Fire Wisdom Level 2

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"This..." Huan Wei looked at the odds that mastery would bring him. "Much more power using less Qi. Perfect..."

Then he saw the requirements. "Fire Wisdom... That doesn't seem to be something I can gain with experience points from killing things."

Wisdom... A cultivator could only gain wisdom through insight. Reading hundreds of different books was useless for those who lacked the insight to understand them. Only those who could grasp the essence of things would have wisdom. It was about feeling.

"My Fire Wisdom is still Level 1. I cannot unlock mastery in this situation. Wisdom is not something I can gain right where I sit. It will have to wait for now."

Huan Wei entered the house through the back door. At that moment, he saw Huan Chao covered in blood. In his hand was some kind of rhinoceros head. Its horn was a bright blue color. The skin looked very thick. It also looked like the head had been ripped off, not cut off. The meat on the neck was torn.

Huan Chao placed the head in a frame, ignoring the blood that covered it. He was trying to make sure it was securely pinned in place. But the rhino head was too heavy. "Fuck, I'll need a new frame."

Just then he saw his son coming in. After a brief glance at him, he quietly turned away and continued his work.

Huan Wei stopped as he passed by her. He had a great desire inside him. He wanted to tell him. Maybe then he would appreciate the young man a little. Maybe he would feel a little proud.

But did Huan Chao deserve it? "No, no, he doesn't," he thought.

Still, his father was a wound inside Huan Wei. When he was little, he admired his father's power. People were afraid of him. While other children's fathers spent their lives in ordinary jobs, Huan Chao was always off to war. He fought and killed monsters that most people had never seen. Huan Wei was proud of this as a child.

Then he realized that his father hated him. So his admiration faded. It was replaced by an obsession to earn his father's respect.

"I have perfected the Mouth of Flame," he said suddenly. "I have now learned all the levels of the technique."

Huan Chao said nothing. So Huan Wei kept talking. "I must also say that I have won almost all the fights at the martial arts school. Master Guiren always stops the fight so that my opponents don't get hurt any more."

His father was still minding his own business. Huan Wei wanted him to say something, even if he was angry with him. Silence was more annoying than anything else.

"Did you kill Ran Qianfan?" Huan Chao's sudden question shocked Huan Wei. The man dropped the head in his hand and turned to his son. The wild eyes of a hunter just back from a hunt met the eyes of the boy who was trying to prove himself to him. Huan Wei did not know what to say.

"No," was all he could say. "If I could have killed him, I would have done it."

"You didn't?"

Huan Wei saw meaning in Huan Chao's eyes. It was the look of someone who knew the answer to his question.

"You... You already know."

Huan Chao turned away in disappointment. He had a wry smile on his face. "I thought you finally had the courage to accomplish something. And here you are telling lies to avoid taking responsibility even when it's just the two of us."

"What I did-"

"Go to your room, Wei. Don't bother me."

Huan Wei wanted to answer, but his mouth wouldn't open. For the first time in his life, he had faced Huan Chao's expectation. He had screwed that up too. Perhaps if he had spoken out bravely, his father would have respected him. Huan Chao had kept silent all this time, even though he knew about the murder. Huan Wei had missed the chance of a lifetime. He bowed his head and walked quietly to his room.

When he closed the door, he felt his eyes getting wet. He dried his eyes with his hand and pulled himself together. He could not be weak. He had to be strong. For the respect he had for his two lives, he had to be strong.

For a few minutes he watched the sky through the window in his room in silence. Even his thoughts were silenced. Absolute silence, like the Black Void. It was cold and struck a primordial fear in his heart. No matter how much he screamed, no one seemed to hear him.

Finally he got up and sat cross-legged on the floor. He took out the pill Chiu Ti had given him. "High Level Wandering Qi Pill..." he said to himself.

"Under normal circumstances, it should make my breakthrough to the next phase much easier. But the endless hunger in my soul is devouring every bit of energy that enters my body. This will be the third pill I have taken and I am still in the early phase. Maybe this time will be different."

He quieted his mind again. It had not been easy to stop thinking about Huan Chao. He was responsible for most of the scars on his soul.

Then he put the pill in his mouth and swallowed it. He would have to wait a while for the pill to take effect.

Alchemy was one of the truths of this world. Those with a talent for it could awaken the alchemical fire in their souls and use the myriad resources of the world to make countless elixirs and pills.

Alchemy did not stop there. Rune Symbols, the ability to turn even a simple metal into a Heavenly Treasure, could only be used by an alchemist. All over the world, alchemists were drowning in money.

Energy pills were also simple alchemical items. It gave them the Qi one needed to drain from nature, thanks to the ingredients and the miracle of the alchemical fire.

The pill began to melt in his stomach. When its essence was released, Huan Wei's Qi pool and meridians were filled with the energy emitted from it. This put some strain on his energy system. The young man's whole body was contracted.

He took calm, deep breaths without losing focus. The main thing about using Qi pills was to absorb the foreign Qi that entered the body and keep it in the Qi pool. So that the energy system would accept it and it would help one's growth.

But some things never let themselves be forgotten. Huan Wei's hungry soul began to rapidly consume the Qi provided by the pill. The Qi in his meridians was getting less and less. Using all his focus, the young man sent all the amount he could channel into the Qi pool.

The essence of his soul was in the Qi pool. He had to absorb as much as he could before it was all consumed. The pressure continued to decrease. Huan Wei sweated yet did not stop focusing. He wanted to get the most out of it.

When his soul finally consumed the last bit of Qi, Huan Wei was still in the early phase. He had not succeeded in breaking through.

He took a deep breath. He went to the bathroom to wash his face. The cold water felt good. Back in his room, he opened the system panel once more. He wanted to see how far he had come.

---

[System Panel]

Name: Corrupt Cultivation System

User: Huan Wei

Spendable Points: 2

Strength: 15

Endurance: 15

Agility: 10

Dexterity: 12

Intelligence: 20

Luck: 5

Perception: 12

[Cultivation Realm] Wanderer Realm Early Phase

Xp Remaining to Next Level: 1110

[Body Tempering Realm] Oak Body

Xp Remaining to Next Level: 2960

[Wisdom]

Fire Wisdom Level 1

Blood Wisdom Level 0

---

"I only gained 390 experience points. Well, at least it reduced the 3-day period to almost 2 days. If I don't see Master Guiren for the next 2 days, I can enter the middle phase."

Then his attention was drawn to the points he hadn't spent. "I wonder what to give them to, Oozing Soul is good for now. Maybe I should strengthen my attributes? After all, I get into a lot of fights. Or luck?"

He dismissed the thought. "I've come this far with a luck of 5. Trying to increase my luck will only bring me closer to ordinary. I need to be above the ordinary."

He gave both points to strength. He knew this would make him stronger than people who only had the Oak Body. It would make him stronger in fights. It would make it easier to crush people in melee combat.

"Maybe I don't have to spend two days?" he said to himself. "It seems that the system rewards me for many things I do for the first time. So if I accomplish something I haven't done before, it will give me more stat points."

He thought of things he could do. He had been in the Moist Forest many times before. He had fought and defeated many of the simple monsters. Maybe he should hunt something stronger?

"Yes, I must go deeper. But there is another power I must have for that."

He cleared his mind and re-ignited the Qi in his body. "I need to understand fire."