35 Anomalies (1/2)

”I-I saw a few Core Formation and Nascent Soul elders enter the pagoda. They said as your cultivation increases the pagoda's difficulty would also… increase…”

Han De didn't know how to respond to that. Core Formation and Nascent Soul elders going into the pagoda? Are they not worried about losing face?!

'The entertainment situation is worse than I thought. I guess introducing c-sports wouldn't be such a bad idea after all…'

During his 4 hours long drug-fueled discussion with Tan Renshu, Han De had coined the term 'c-sports'. Saying 'competitive pill making' every time was somewhat goofy, he also couldn't just call it sports since that had mortal connotations. Han De recognized the importance of correct branding and decisively chose C-Sports. He also gave some branding examples to Tan Renshu so he could utilize it for other products as well. Marketing was unexpectedly primitive in this world.

'Ah, nevermind about that. What to do with Ning Bi…'

'I can't even learn her Cosmic Destruction, so improving on that is impossible. Increasing her cultivation will only make things worse. She might even regress instead of making progress. Wait.'

Han De's expression turned sour. His Hidden Expert A character was still in early access, he didn't even realize he was leaking his mood.

'System? You wouldn't subtract Profound Points if Ning Bi regressed, would you? You wouldn't be that cruel, no, I don't believe it. Besides, it would be impossible for Profound Points to go into negatives, right? System? F#$%! SYSTEM!?!'

Naturally, there was no response.

The entire situation was iffy to begin with. The quest itself was too out of character for the System. No failure conditions? Bonus for extra floors? Too reasonable, too generous. Han De was afraid to think about what would happen if his Profound Points really did go into negatives. Would the System leave? Would he receive a debt notice? Would he have to pay daily interest as long as his points were in negatives?

'Shit. Shit. Shit. Damn. What to do, what to do.'

'A new weapon might improve things but it probably won't be ready for some time, I should get an update from Elder Xiang.'

'Honestly, from past experiences, I get the feeling that even if I don't do anything she probably would end up getting some power-up out of nowhere.'

Han De thought about it for a while. His sample size was still just one. Betting everything based on a single instance was way too risky for his tastes.

'I should just give her some generic bullshit right now then hurry Elder Xiang to finish one of the warglaives. She can reach the 7th floor with her crappy ceremonial weapons. Even a rush job star iron warglaives would be a good upgrade for her. Then, at worst, I can just let her rest for the remaining days to prevent a regression.'

Han De held back his sigh then looked at Ning Bi.

”Reaching the 7th floor without your Breach skill means your foundation has a good start. You created your Cosmic Destruction art and your Breach skill at the same time. They are meant to be used together. From now on you should spend equal time in training with and without Breach.”

”Breach allows you to perceive your surroundings. But do you know what you are perceiving? Is it light? Spiritual energies? Or something else?”

Han De stared at Ning Bi. He switched into Profound Expert once again. Hidden and Profound Experts had a lot overlap anyway, the important thing was to use the right tool for the job.

”When you look at me, what do you think you are seeing?”

After a momentary pause, Han De closed his eyes for increased effect.

”Your eyes can only perceive light. Light is made out of countless small particles. As they travel the void their path can be bent or distorted.”

Han De raised his hand and used his Heaven Defying Tyrannical Scripture to create visual distortions. He could use his martial art to bend the path of light. Unfortunately, this effect was mostly useless. If he practiced enough he might be able to become invisible, but he could only influence photons. He couldn't do anything about his spiritual energy.

Ning Bi watched and listened to her master as optical distortions around his hand kept changing. In front of her master, a single chrysanthemum flower bloomed then disappeared without a trace after a few seconds. If she wasn't watching everything so intently she would've thought she imagined it.

”What do you perceive when you close your eyes?”

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Han De slowly and dramatically opened his eyes, then looked at Ning Bi.

”Free your mind.”

'Hopefully, this act will keep her busy until her weapons arrive…'

* * *

The next morning Han De went over his drafts. He was deeply concerned about the events he encountered ever since he came to this world. One commonality in all of them was that Han De himself was always in a reactive position. It felt as if he didn't have any control over his life. He felt that this re-education might be a good opportunity to try something different.

Truthfully, he didn't have high hopes for his lackeys. As long as they could be used for intelligence gathering and some other simple tasks without causing side effects he would consider it a success.

He decided to delay the improvements in the cultivation methods. Using any amount of Profound Points was a risky endeavor right now. His buffer of 111 points was already too close for comfort. Han De made a mental note to keep a sizeable amount of points to prevent future accidents. Only in a true emergency would he deplete his reserves.

'Alright, at least initially, this is a good start. It covers the basics. Obviously, re-education has to be an ongoing effort. Rome wasn't built in a day.'

Han De burned all of his drafts. He didn't want anyone to see the terms MC or Xianxia on his notes. He had also used the Latin alphabet instead of the Chinese characters. Even if the risk of leaking this draft was nearly non-existent he still wasn't going to take the risk of exposing himself as a transmigrator.

'If I do get exposed someday, my best option would be to pose as a reincarnator. Maybe I should start dropping some hints about that to prepare for the worst-case scenario. Actually, I could use Seven Luminaries Reminiscence as a cover and pretend that I recovered some memories from my past lives or something. That might work?'

He made a mental note about exploring the possibilities. This plan was feasible as long as no one could prove his soul was different than the cultivation idiot's.

Han De started writing on a new scroll. This time he used a brush instead of a quill and used Chinese characters. He wasn't sure if they were actually the Chinese characters of Earth, but they looked pretty similar to him. After a satisfied nod, he contacted his lead lackey.

Han De had asked for 5 swords. His previous sword could be called balanced. It wasn't focused on speed or combat. Now he asked for one sword designed entirely for speed, one for combat, and a balanced one like his previous one. The last two were speed and combat focused swords for the Nascent Soul realm. They weren't suitable for Core Formation experts, but at the right time, they could serve as trump cards. A burst of speed from a speed-focused Nascent Soul sword could save Han De's life, even if it wasn't sustainable.

'With the equipment required for forging, the time dilation effect of the cultivation realm would lose some of its effectiveness. He should still be able to finish everything in a week. The first set of warglaives should be done within a day.'