126 Chapter 125: Family (1/2)

”You're what now?”

Dad was gaping at me from the other side of the screen. I had contacted him through an online video cam software and was speaking with my family in real time.

”Um, I'm going to explore a tomb. So I might be gone for a couple of weeks…maybe a month, if something happens.”

Usually I would contact my parents every weekend through video cam. So when I was out on a mission for weeks, like that time with the Void Whale, I would notify my parents beforehand that I might not be able to talk to them online. It was only common courtesy, after all. And of course I wouldn't have any Internet connection out on the field.

”Eh…I thought you would be going home…”

In contrast, Mum looked a little upset. I felt a little sorry, but I couldn't back down. Not when I had an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity presented to me.

”Normally I would, but I have been assigned to conduct an expedition. It would be remiss of me to abandon my duties.”

Mom frowned, not buying my bullshit for a second. Obviously I wasn't doing this out of duty but out of personal benefit. After all, if I found any treasures, artifacts or spirit weapons, I could stake my claim on them.

Seeing her expression, I sighed.

”What did you expect me to do? Return home, and then wait for the clan members from the main family to come over and mock me for being a martial arts instructor despite being so young, and then I beat them up? And it's not as if I have a sick sister waiting at home for me or something.”

”We don't have a sister,” my younger brother Fei Ji pointed out, puzzled. I nodded vehemently.

”Exactly!”

”Uh…”

My family glanced at each other, not sure what was going on. Evidently none of them had read Wu Dong Qian Kun.

Sighing, I continued. ”I'll have to go to the tomb and conduct an exploratory expedition tomorrow, so I won't be around for the next few weeks. I have no idea how long it'll take.”

”I see. Be careful.” Dad grinned. ”Make sure you bring something back!”

”I'll try my best,” I replied dryly, aware that my chances of grabbing something valuable while competing against the elite cultivators from all over the Great Zhou Empire were miniscule. Even so, Elder Zhao and Elder Tie had a point. If I didn't even take the first step and try, the chance would remain at zero.

If there was even a 0.0001% chance, then I should try it. It wasn't as if I had anything to lose other than my time and efforts, which I could have invested in training. Even then, I could make the argument that going out into the field would earn me invaluable combat experience that was worth much more than any number of years of training.

”Tomb exploration?!” Mom cried out in dismay. As always, she was worried about my safety. ”Isn't that dangerous?”

”I'm a martial artist, Mom,” I pointed out. ”Danger comes with the role.”

Mom looked at me disapprovingly. ”That's why I said you shouldn't be a martial artist. You should just attend a normal academy and learn safer skills…like being a lawyer or a doctor.”

Fuck. Even in this timeline, all Asian mothers cared about was having their sons get a ”bright” future by being a lawyer or a doctor. It was always lawyers and doctors. I was getting sick of hearing that. not only did I suck at healing (I wasn't Yun Che and I certainly didn't spend an entire lifetime learning under the most famous doctor, and I doubted Doctor Gui Yi would ever take me as a disciple), I was a little queasy around blood (unless I was spilling it – but treating wounds and performing first aid made me uncomfortable).

As for lawyers, it was an utterly boring and dull job. I hated having to memorize legal codes and all that crap. Furthermore, unlike the stereotype that lawyers were rich and successful, if I remembered correctly, back in my timeline, there was an oversaturation of lawyers. Not every lawyer could work in huge firms, and those who did faced a great deal of stress. As there were too many lawyers, many of those who graduated with a law degree had to confront the very real threat of unemployment. Unfortunately, it was the same in this timeline as well.

”Wu'er is strong. He'll overcome this and do well. I can't wait to see what he brings back!”

As always, Dad was encouraging. He tried to hold back Mom and give me the freedom to do what a man had to do.

However, Mom looked unconvinced. She pressed her fingers against the table nervously, her skin turning pale.

”Don't force yourself, don't be too reckless, take care of yourself, make sure you're in a group where there are others who will look after you…”

She was rattling off a list of what I should do, to the point I was blanking off and just nodding to go through the motions.

”What sort of treasure do you plan on finding, Brother?” Fei Ji asked. I shrugged.

”I wouldn't know. I'll only find out when I actually get there and explore.”

”That's my boy!” Father guffawed proudly. Mom shot him a sharp gaze, but didn't say anything because she knew it would be pointless.

”Weren't you trying to learn smithing or something? Or was it Spirit Engraving? Shouldn't you be searching for materials that would be useful for your smithing?” Fei Ji pointed out. I grimaced and shook my head.

”Do you think the materials I'm looking for would conveniently appear in front of me? Moreover, there's intense competition coming from all the other sects. All the elite young cultivators are coming for this expedition. I might actually return empty-handed.”

”Don't worry about that,” Dad assured me. ”Just do your best. At least you'll gain invaluable experience out of this.”

”Yeah.” So that was where I learned that logic from. Like father, like son.

”Speaking of which, how is your progress with smithing going?” Fei Ji was curious. Unlike me, he intended to go to a technical school and learning engineering. One day he was going to build a faster-than-light spacecraft. Or so I wanted to believe. ”I remember your academy is the one who pioneered artificial qi, right? Any new developments on that front?”

”A few, but not much.”

When artificial qi first came out, researchers saw it as an exotic material, a revolutionary substance that could change the understanding of the way Nature worked. Prior to the invention of artificial qi, everything ran off natural qi. Cars, electric equipment, televisions, computers, the Internet, even satellites – these were all powered by qi.

Drawing natural qi from the surroundings and converting them into electricity within sophisticated devices within the equipment, such devices could theoretically run off unlimited amounts of energy from the environment and persist forever. Of course, the components still suffered wear and tear, but we didn't have to worry about running out of qi.

The invention of artificial qi had altered that somewhat, and people talked about creating much more powerful, more advanced devices using artificial qi. For example, faster than light travel for spacecraft, more powerful and sophisticated artificial intelligences that run on quantum technology, and even powerful robots. From what I heard, the battle puppets and test dummies were being powered by artificial qi.

But as a new technology, artificial qi had its limits. For one thing, it was ”impure”. Just like uranium, if there were mixed isotopes within the raw material, it couldn't be used to power nuclear reactors. Compared to pure, natural qi (which was often in a purified form), unrefined artificial qi was horribly inefficient.

In other words, the current technology where devices processed and ran on natural qi drawn from the surroundings was still vastly superior to artificial qi technology. That wasn't to say artificial qi was entirely useless. It was still widely used to boost the Wu Ling Academy students' strength, medical treatments (transfusion of artificial qi to sustain a severely injured cultivator's life), and other cultivation procedures, but in terms of mechanical technology, it was still far behind. Well, they seemed to have used it to great effect for powering battle-automata and mechanical puppets, so I had to give them that, though. Though I couldn't see a greater use for that in the broader aspects of society other than purely military application.

And even then, natural qi was more efficient. It was just that these battle-automata ran on vast amounts of qi that they couldn't operate long on just surrounding natural qi alone. While artificial qi was very inefficient, the sheer bulk of it readily available and accessible meant that we could pump the battle puppets with vast quantities and had them run. Not smoothly or perfectly, but at least for extended periods of time beyond tnose that operated solely on natural qi from the surroundings. I was sure they would continue to improve the technology in future.

”Yeah, that's true.” Fei Ji considered for a while after I ranted and rambled about the inefficiency and flaws of artificial qi. He frowned. ”Is that why you refuse to absorb artificial qi?”

”Not by choice, I assure you. My body rejected artificial qi.” Leaning back in my chair, I sighed. ”I'm not stupid enough to refuse something that's free and beneficial if the academy is willing to give it to me.”

”Isn't that bad?” Mom asked, concerned. I smiled and flexed my arm to reassure her that everything was fine.

”No. I found a way around it, and I think it's actually much better not to have artificial qi. The more quantity of qi, the more impure it is, and the more difficult it is to purify it. Besides, my martial arts doesn't rely on brute concepts like 'more equals strength'. It's all about technique.”

”Are there any known side effects of artificial qi?” Fei Ji asked. I shook my head.

”Absolutely none. Everyone's doing fine. There isn't much difference between artificial qi and natural qi other than the impurity level. Artificial qi is a lot more impure, but that's about it. Otherwise they're pretty much the same.”

”Well, I'm glad you overcame that hurdle. And you did us proud by finishing second in your academy tournament. Congratulations again.” Dad puffed up, looking pretty pleased. I scratched my head, looking a little embarrassed.

”W…well, anyway, I should get off soon. I need to do some preparations.”

”All right. See you then.”

With that, I switched off the webcam program and shut down my computer. Rising to my feet, I stretched myself before I embarked on my preparation journey.

*

On my way to the store, I caught sight of a familiar figure.

”…Zhu Jiao?”

I waved at his direction, but he didn't see me, so I hurriedly jogged over to catch his attention he seemed to be leaving a supermarket, with a bunch of groceries in his hand. He almost dropped the plastic bag (or synthetic fiber bag, since there were no fossil fuels and no such thing as plastic in this timeline, so we used a substitute in the form of synthetic fibers).

”Whoa! Fei Wu! You surprised me!”

I snorted. ”I doubt that. Nothing surprises you.”

”You'll be surprised.”

I noted the heavy use of irony, but said nothing. Instead, I moved on to the more important topic.

”What are you doing here? Buying gorceries?”

”Yeah…sort of.”

For some reason, Zhu Jiao looked down. I hurried to catch up with him, noticing that most of the contents in his bag seemed medicinal. He had gathered quite a lot of herbs and ingredients for nourishing soup, such as wolfberry.

But the herbs were what caught my eye. Wasn't that big red one the Snow Azure Penguin Fruit? And another was a Frost Berry that was rich in yin qi. In fact, many of the herbs looked as if they were designed to supplement someone's yin qi.

”By the way, have you heard?”

Zhu Jiao was asking me. I shook my head.

”Heard what?”

”About the Nascent Soul Stage practitioner's tomb in the Heavenly Fire Mountain Range. It seems like everyone is flocking to explore it.”

”Oh, I've heard of it,” I replied honestly. ”I'm planning to participate as well. How about you? Do you intend to join the fun?”

”Yeah.” Zhu Jiao chuckled, but I noticed his laughter was hollow. ”I plan to. There's something I need to find at all costs.”

”What happened?” I asked, aware of his worried tone. ”Did something happen?”

”Oh, no…it's just my sister.”

”Huh?! You have a sister?!”

I almost yelled. Why didn't anyone know of that?! I had been friends with Zhu Jiao for five years now, and this was the first time I heard that he had a sister. I resisted the urge to grab his collar and shake him wildly, instead just forcing myself to shouting.

”Since when did you have a sister?!”

”Since about…ten to twelve years ago, I guess?!”

Zhu Jiao looked nonplussed, as if he didn't think informing his friends that he had a sister was anything worth mentioning. Then again, even if we were friends, we never really asked about his family. That was partially my fault.

”You…guess?” I repeated incredulously. ”How can you not know your sister's age? She's either ten years old or she's twelve.”

”Um, actually, she's seventeen, the same age as us.”

My jaw dropped at the revelation. I wasn't sure I was hearing the bastard correctly.

”Wait, what? Then how the heck is she your sister only ten to twelve years ago?” then it struck me. ”Ah…a stepsister? One of your parents remarried?”

”No, no. my parents never remarried. She's not a stepsister…she's more of an adopted sister. I ran into her in the fields about ten years ago, and she had been abandoned and left to fend for herself. She was on the verge of starving to death, so I brought her home and fed her. My parents were only too happy to adopt her, and we got all the paperwork done, so she's officially my sister and a part of our family.”

Holy fuck! What sort of protagonist development was this!? Clearly this was the sister route, where the sister character was not a biological sister, which opened up possibilities for her to be Zhu Jiao's love interest. No doubt Zhu Jiao doted on her, and most likely this sister was deeply in love with him for saving her. She definitely was one of his harem candidates, next to Bai Ning Xue and Qing Xin Xia.

Zhu Jiao's harem seemed to be growing. No, it was already large to begin with, that fucking bastard. And he didn't even seem to realize.

Suppressing the urge to rage and scream at him, I instead put on an expression of concern. Convenient plot progression and harem candidate aside, for Zhu Jiao to be purchasing these must mean only one thing.

”What happened to your sister?”

”She has a special…constitution.” Zhu Jiao looked at me helplessly. ”Have you ever heard of the Terminus Demonic Body?”

”No,” I replied truthfully, though that sounded awfully familiar. ”I'm guessing that it has something to do with yin qi.”

”As expected, you're well-read.” Dude, I just said I hadn't heard of it, never mind read about it. Nonetheless Zhu Jiao continued with his misunderstanding before I could correct him. ”It's a type of constitution that is purely yin-based. No yang qi is able to exist within her body because of the highly domineering yin qi that circulates in her system.”

”That sounds tough,” I murmured. For most cultivators, cultivating meant absorbing and refining both yin and yang qi, and then fusing the both into yuan qi, or at least having both yin and yang qi exist and circulate around their bodies in a harmonious manner. For someone to only possess a single type of qi, that sort of situation was exceedingly rare.

And often very deadly.

”I learned from Mas…I mean I learned from someone that the only way to treat this condition is for her to absorb various kinds of yin qi. The more potent the yin qi, the better.” Zhu Jiao clenched his fist. I noticed his slip, but didn't say anything. Evidently Qi Lin, Zhu Jiao's ghostly master, wanted him to keep his spectral existence a secret. I had no intention of exposing it either. Zhu Jiao had to stay as a special snowflake protagonist with a ghostly master guiding him, after all.

”So that's why you bought so many yin-based herbs,” I observed. Zhu Jiao nodded.

”That's right. It is impossible for Qing Tan to absorb yang qi. The yin qi would merely consume whatever yang qi she absorbed, so no matter how much yang qi is provided, it will never be able to neutralize the demonic yin qi in her Terminus Demonic Body. She'll never be able to properly cultivate like normal people.”

”Ah…” I suddenly remembered a passage from a book I had read a couple of years ago. ”But she can still cultivate…it's just that she will be purely yin qi-based. This sort of yin-based cultivation can be extremely powerful.”

”That's right…but she has to survive it first.”

Zhu Jiao looked grim. I couldn't help but feel sorry for him, and I nodded.