Chapter Eight: Integrating into the New World

 A teenage boy with medium length blond hair styled into a ponytail with curtain bangs. He has yellow-amber eyes, and a single black stud earring on his left ear. Cloud and swallow motifs, as well as heavy asymmetry, appear often throughout his outfit.

While his outfit was made of a blue and black Hanfu robe with gold and pink accents, with its flared sleeves reaching just above the elbow. A turquoise bamboo flute is affixed to his belt, alongside a small pink pouch.

This was the description of a boy reported to the Eight Mysteries Sect. The mysterious appearance of a formidable martial artist was the biggest pain to any local sect. These foreign outsiders were often able to change the direction of war through surprise attacks or betrays which was a massive pain to everyone around them

Yet, when the sect had deployed several of its elders to determine the location of this martial artist, they all came up empty-handed. After checking around the local area, they discovered an anomaly. 

It had only been twenty years since the founding of the sect, and yet there was already a massive cavity filled with a crystal-like substance. This anomaly was immediately reported, and through constant research it was shown that this could be a potential material. 

Its sturdiness and flexibility proved to be of great use to the master blacksmiths back at the smiths. Through this amazing discovery they were able to create a weapon fit for a great master of martial arts. 

This material was dubbed the Six-Phase Ice due to its crystalline appearance and pure beauty whenever it made contact with any sources of light. The reason why it was partially named ice was due to the fact that any substance that made contact with it had frozen. 

The flesh of martial artists were not an exception, and yet this made it an even deadlier weapon. 

While the sect was filled with happiness due to their new found resource, the creator of this mysterious substance was nowhere to be seen. 

The original search for the young man eventually faded after several weeks of no response and no results. It was not worth dedicating manpower to a fruitless search when they could now dominate their local area with guarantee.

Meanwhile the person they were searching for was in a place hundreds of miles away already.

…

Why did I let myself be spotted by those people at Green Ox Town…? 

Well at least I determined the timeline, kinda. The answer would be that I have no clue where I am in the timeline, but I know it's before the birth of Han Li at least. The only fact I remember about his childhood was that he was a farmer raised in a household of 5, one bigger brother and one little sister.

Since I couldn't find anyone who had a name similar to Han Li or his childhood name, "Second Idiot". I should have at least 30 years before the invasion, if I'm not hundreds of years early at least. 

Anyways, I have been able to slowly pry open this damn bag. Originally I thought I would have to become a cultivator first in order to use Qi to open it, but it seems that my mana functions the same.

I seem to remember that in Foundation Establishment, they are able to change their Qi from a gas-like form into a liquid form, which was later referred to as "Mana". Perhaps it's the same mana I have.

Regardless, I have been able to finally open the bag and the loot is quite good if I were to say so myself!

There's a total of 138 stones of weird colors which I'm assuming are spiritual stones, the foundational currency of the cultivation world. And there's also a bunch of weird paper and fur, which I'm assuming is talismans. 

Though most of the talismans seem to be of low quality as the ink is already fading, and the paper being extremely easy to tear.

The biggest harvest from that battle was actually a jade slip. I originally thought it was one of those foot padders they used to boost height back in the day, but when I sent my mana inside to check I got quite the surprise. 

It was eerily similar to being dunked in cold ice water, but instead of wet hair and being uncomfortable, it was actually quite nice. Knowledge from the jade slip slowly flowed into my mind and I was able to see that it was a cultivation manual.

The name of the manual is "Red Flame Tips" and it's a basic fire cultivation technique that reaches the grand completion of Qi Refining. 

After walking around for 30 minutes or so I decided to try and cultivate the technique in hopes that I have a root at least. 

The result was that I could see the spiritual energy in the air, but none of them came to me. I was able to see some light blue spiritual energy that hovered around me, but I wasn't willing to take the risk to absorb it yet. 

I had to be cautious and at least understand what the manual was telling me. The result was a grueling headache of trying to find the meridians inside my body and how the manual depicted left and right inversely. I want to beat the crap out of whoever made this. 

In the end I decided to attempt to absorb the light blue spiritual energy in a totally not reckless move which could have killed me. It was a gamble I had to take in order to not get hunted by that last douchebag. 

…

As Yanqing finally adjusted himself to a comfortable lotus position, he took the risk in circulating the technique in an attempt to absorb qi. 

Light blue energy quickly gathered around his body and attempted to enter, but due to the inadequate usage and near incompatibility of the technique only some of the energy was circulated properly. 

After an hour or so of meditating and cultivating, Yanqing ended the session as his back and butt was beginning to hurt from sitting on the rough edges of the cave.

Although his mood was soured by the uncomfortable sensations the rough cold floor brought, he was also elated at the fact that he did indeed have a spiritual root. 

Yet, the moment he tried to use his newfound energy was also when his heart dropped to the lowest point. The energy he outputted… was cold and icy. 

A piercing scream could be heard as birds flew away from the surrounding trees that it originated from. Several seconds later, if one were nearby they could hear repeated slams against the floor. 

"Out of all the possible roots… Why did it have to be ice? I mean it's cool and all, but I already have [Ice Control]..." Yanqing spoke while crying in the corner of the cave. "If it was any other root I would at least have a chance of creating artificial roots in order to supplement my original root, but a mutated root is basically what happens when a double-root mutates. So now I need to get three demon cores in order to supplement my roots. And the Ice element is made of water and metal, meaning I need to get fire, wood, and earth cores…"

"If it was a water or metal root I could easily accomplish this by using the transmission portal and hunting some of the fake-dragon beasts, but now my plans are ruined…" 

Due to Yanqing's messed up time perception, he had unknowingly sat there for over an hour drawing circles in the cave. 

…

After a week or so of grueling work, Yanqing was able to finally condense the Qi within him. As the gas substance stabilized, he felt an immediate change within his body. 

The air surrounding his body and his chosen cave began to slowly drop in temperature. His body began undergoing certain changes, rewriting parts of his defective DNA. His body soon became stronger, and now there was another substance within his body that provided him power. 

With his newfound cultivation of 1st Stage Qi Condensation he was now able to use spiritual energy to sense the areas around him. Previously he was able to use his blood to forcibly form a connection via his [Ice Control], but now he was able to use the tendrils outside of it.

His yellow amber eyes soon opened, and there were some emotions of elation within his eyes which soon calmed down. 

Higher level cultivators could prevent others from noticing their spiritual energy and cultivation, meaning that one could not tell whether or not one was powerful with their own eyes. Even with the Heavenly Eye Technique they were prone to falsehoods.

Yet, if a young man with absolutely no spiritual energy leaking went into town, they would be targeted. But it was different, he could now leak some energy pretending to be a young master of a clan. 

Since he had achieved some level of cultivation he could now masquerade as a high-level cultivator. With his current ability to use a flying sword he could pretend to be a Foundation Establishment cultivator and enter into the world of cultivation for real. 

Confusion settled in as he realized he reached a crossroad once more.