Quixotic_being
Fulfilling every contract to the letter
He still hasn't fixed his throat for some reason though. Maybe he'll save it for when he is closer to physical God hood.
Broken Adventure
- Thread starter theaceoffire
- Start date
- Crossover
- Status
- Location
- Earth, Sol System, Virgo Supercluster, Earth-1218
He hasn't fixed his throat because his last three repair methods: Lit himself on fire, lit himself on fire again, and melted his flesh. Not optimal healing methods when dealing with the throat.
- Location
- Canada
I'd like to see a short POV from his guards' perspective. It must be pretty interesting to be trusted to guard someone so productive, who is literally re-writing how things get done in the Sect, but also pretty stressful, since that same brat can also decide on a seeming whim to chop off his own arm to test a healing technique. I could see their own internal thoughts being something like "WHAT THE FUCK, YOU'RE A GENIUS, YET WHY ARE YOU SO STUPID!?"
I'd be amused at seeing Sister Quan vacation with him on Worm while watching others manage him for a change. She'd basically be adopted family due to her relationship with Adam.
Her actually seeing him in his natural state with his true powers would stun and relax her. In many ways, it would make total sense to her. He was acting so oddly as he had the memory of all those rather high tier powers. He started with Recovery whose job it was to entirely heal him. He then went to playing with fire if I recall correctly. He didn't invent his research until later. To find out just how much that he actually understands of fire and has done with it would make total sense to her.
That would explain everything. No wonder the idiot was trying to do everything while being covered in flames!
There was only a minor thing that I was curious about. Adam commented that he detected such and such many folks around. We never knew if he detected a spy or such when he reported to the guards.
Anyone that routinely keeps watch on the Sect would wonder why they are spending the resources to guard this one boy. Healing him is one thing. Guarding him from the village was also in character for them and they'd be more irked that they were even tested and came up short at guarding the child. None from the village should have gotten within range.
The point is that there might be someone around watching it all and wondering why he has suddenly become so valuable. I could see tempting others to indirectly learn more about the situation.
I liked the bits with his student. I can't wait until Sister Quan figures out that girl is likely one of the better ways to manage him. Adam if you hurt yourself, she'd cry. She'd cry a lot. And it would totally be your fault!
Nah, doubt it would work as he doesn't seem to care that Sister Quan would also cry if he hurts himself. That doesn't seem to slow him down much. It's only because she's right in the room with him that she seems to have any effect on him at all. Turn her back on him for 5 minutes, and he is back to his previous behavior. Such a child!
Her actually seeing him in his natural state with his true powers would stun and relax her. In many ways, it would make total sense to her. He was acting so oddly as he had the memory of all those rather high tier powers. He started with Recovery whose job it was to entirely heal him. He then went to playing with fire if I recall correctly. He didn't invent his research until later. To find out just how much that he actually understands of fire and has done with it would make total sense to her.
That would explain everything. No wonder the idiot was trying to do everything while being covered in flames!
There was only a minor thing that I was curious about. Adam commented that he detected such and such many folks around. We never knew if he detected a spy or such when he reported to the guards.
Anyone that routinely keeps watch on the Sect would wonder why they are spending the resources to guard this one boy. Healing him is one thing. Guarding him from the village was also in character for them and they'd be more irked that they were even tested and came up short at guarding the child. None from the village should have gotten within range.
The point is that there might be someone around watching it all and wondering why he has suddenly become so valuable. I could see tempting others to indirectly learn more about the situation.
I liked the bits with his student. I can't wait until Sister Quan figures out that girl is likely one of the better ways to manage him. Adam if you hurt yourself, she'd cry. She'd cry a lot. And it would totally be your fault!
Nah, doubt it would work as he doesn't seem to care that Sister Quan would also cry if he hurts himself. That doesn't seem to slow him down much. It's only because she's right in the room with him that she seems to have any effect on him at all. Turn her back on him for 5 minutes, and he is back to his previous behavior. Such a child!
Tisaku
Head Chief Thinkomancer
- Location
- That place where I live?
Poor Quan, she is not going to take the Flame Metal pants that Adam inevitably makes well.
Arc 2: Armed and Nowhere To Go!
- Location
- Here
Adam Chongsheng was grounded.
...It was a bit nostalgic.
Anyway, the reason no one freaked out about a child going numb and robotic for a few weeks (Yikes!) was because his state was documented. It was a state of 'Enlightenment', a rare occurrence that allows Cultivators to advance quickly in unnatural ways as they commune with Heavenly spiritual energy.
Basically, before Adam received those jade slips from his (temporary?) teacher, he had been approaching each issue in his life with a scientific attitude. Select cells, modify them, duplicate them, etc etc.
AFTER he was exposed to so much CONCEPTUAL healing abilities from Healer Jin, something inside had clicked. He fell into a strange communication state with... something. Possibly the Plane he was on itself. And then exchanged information.
The massive external spiritual energy cultivation network out there absorbed his concepts, his method of thought, his experiments... and in return, Adam received conceptual versions of that same data, pushing his raw and dangerous 'Regrowth Technique' into the new, more abstract ability: 'Flesh of the Avatar'.
While the Regrowth Technique forced Adam to watch for cancer, nutrient levels, organ health, to individually handle each stage of progression, etc... 'Flesh of the Avatar' was a series of thoughts, expressed through cultivation techniques. At the highest level, the overall highest concept was this: 'Your body is an Avatar for your soul, such Flesh can be reformed.'
It was utilized by asking one's cultivation a series of questions using energy patterns: 'What is the Flesh?', 'What form should Flesh be?', 'How does Flesh regress?', 'How does Flesh move?', 'How does Flesh heal?' and 'How should Flesh progress?'.
Each question was a series of individual steps. The first line defines the area to be healed or designated, the second converts the body segment into Cultivation Cells, the third changes the state of those cells into 'storage mode', the fourth moves storage mode cells into the area or reforms the material, fifth determines what a healthy version of that body part should look like, and the last ('Flesh Progress?') forces the Cultivation Cells to evolve into the best possible NON-CULTIVATION version they can be for the examined target.
Instead of Adam having to do all kinds of checks and balances, these interesting energy patterns basically ASKED the body of the target itself what the correct answers SHOULD be... or maybe it asks this Realm's specific Plane instead. It asks SOMETHING anyway, and uses the answer to avoid issues like overgrowth of cells, cancer, cell decay, and so forth.
Upgrading Adam's many skills and cultivation techniques were just incidental benefits granted in the process of learning what he needed for the skill 'Flesh of the Avatar' to properly operate.
Of course, now that he WASN'T starving, thirsty, sleepy, and high on the energies of heaven and earth... slicing off his arm after going through so much EFFORT seemed stupid.
If he had been in his RIGHT mind, he would have only cut off a finger or something. No one would miss a pinky for a few weeks compared to losing their arm... AGAIN.
Back to his current situation, this version of 'grounding' was honestly a forced recovery period.
Both Healer (Teacher?) Jin and Sister Quan had put their foot down, insisting that he rest. And to be fair, Adam was so close to collapse at that point that he had been arguing to stay awake while facing the wrong direction entirely.
How embarrassing.
Right, focus on the good things.
While Adam couldn't easily use the conceptual abilities granted to him via Healer Jin's jade slips directly, 'Research' had instead quickly applied the many explained concepts involved to his own tricks and sensing methods. As a result, ALL of Adam's abilities now required less internal Battle Qi to operate, everything was more efficient, and he was able to cut out a lot of complexity as the strange 'Ask reality for answers' method was far less complicated than watching the vibration patterns of collapsing matrices of half controlled energy spirals.
Before, he needed direct contact with other people and Cultivators to examine their systems and watch changes... now? Adam was able to examine anyone within his domain of control. Which would be very convenient in the future when watching his test subjects, no doubt.
Oh, and the improved 'Houtian Realm First Order Essential Cultivation Method' had impressed a lot of Sect members upon review... but in a way it was too late.
All nine children had already reached and completed the creation of their Cultivation base, all nine reaching First Order Warrior. They would follow the new method and find it easier in the process, no doubt, but the huge impact of rapid advancement was already over. Ah well.
Little Tianshi wasn't a First Order yet, of course. Her progress slowed without Adam stopping by to provide more Binding energy to work with for her cultivation circle. At least she was able to take advantage of the improved 'Gentle Rebirth Body Cultivation Technique' (Version 2.0007! Success!) with what little energy was remaining while he had been busy slowly going mad communicating with other level entities. Or whoever/whatever it was.
He would have to stop by and fill her cultivation circle back up. Maybe make two... or design an emergency reservoir and supply method? Was that even possible?
Adam made a note so he wouldn't forget to check.
Right, another issue: During the weeks of 'Enlightenment' his body had apparently activated his Seven Pulse Cultivation method several times... and made stupidly advanced progress. Far more than his internal estimates had suggested even, although the legends say that fast cultivation during Enlightenment was a common experience. He was currently 83% on the path to Third Order Warrior, the eight impurity cleansing periods thankfully light considering his body has already undergone the 'Rebirth' process. Or at least, someone had cleaned the worst of the gunk off his body for him.
Again, embarrassing.
His massive improvement rate had ALSO freaked out the many, many people watching him. Meh, they needed to calm down a bit. At least he wasn't jumping straight to Forth Order or something crazy.
The entire situation in general felt strangely better now that Adam was focusing less on better Cell advancement tricks and more on the concepts involved behind everything. His previous progress wasn't a waste or anything, if it hadn't been so unusual Adam may have never attracted the attention of the Heavens in the first place, missing the enlightenment moment altogether! It was just... more fulfilling going the conceptual route, which was expected of beings in this Realm.
It was a fascinating experience though. With much effort, he was able to pose his OWN questions while cultivating, and the answers were... a bit hard to parse out but very interesting.
'What natural energy flows exist?', 'How do Warriors become more efficient when cultivating?', 'How to enhance spiritual stability?', these questions and more with some effort were actually answered by the spiritual energies being cultivated by Adam's method as the Binding energy vanished into his body.
...Though without being in the moment of Enlightenment, the answers were odd. 'Research' was overwhelmed with a mass of images, smells, noises, and odd patterns as a form of response, and Adam was spending most of this recovery process letting 'Research' try to tease it apart. Not a lot of progress yet, but at least it was something to do... entertainment was lacking here.
His face broke out in a grin as he HELD A PLATE in his left hand! His Left. Goddamn. Hand.
Right, better eat the food on it too.
As he enjoyed Sister Rong's cooking (Or one of her people's dishes, it wasn't clear who was actually involved), Adam made some mental notes and decisions.
First, learn how to use 'Flesh of the Avatar' on animals. Because he had no practice or 'Research' on using this new skill on someone or something else, and he didn't want to liquefy the test prisoners. It would be a waste of good data on morally acceptable targets if he did.
He also wanted to ensure that the step 'How should Flesh progress?' worked as expected. On someone like his Disciple or himself, it should leave the healed section as Cultivation Cells... or even let him choose! Otherwise, it should turn them back into healthy but somewhat normal body cells as the target's body would desire.
Because if he was going to regrow criminal limbs, he didn't want those crafted limbs to be super-powered, fast healing, advanced cultivation accelerating cells. If it was for Sect members, no problem. A pedo-rapist? Yeah, they don't get to have that. NONE of that.
So, animals first. Which would suck, because Adam found most of them cute. Not cute enough to go vegan or whatever (Which was good since in THIS realm plants can eventually become sexy people with sentient minds), but it would still be a depressing process trying to heal something that was going to be a delicious side dish later.
Glancing at his left arm, he wondered...
Would everyone he healed get awesome glowing blue tattoos and girly fingernail colors?
Most would probably be fine with that, getting an arm or leg back was worth looking strange... or maybe it was all a side effect of Blue and Binding energy. It would be interesting to find out!
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
The room was quiet.
Still in a meditation stance, the Patriarch of the Burning Sword Sect sent a spiritual message to his attendant.
Silence fell again.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Elder Cho felt... so exasperated. "The Patriarch is doing this to me on purpose. He has to be."
The fifty new Guards stayed knelt. The Elder was trying to ignore them. "The boy is going through a healing period, is held in a small recovery room and such... and he already has forty-nine guards. Which was ALREADY too much. Too excessive. Politics in action."
She grunted. "The brat can't even walk outside now without being surrounded by our people, and that old man wants me to basically double them!? Why! And we now know your hiding skills didn't even phase the child, so he can SEE ALL OF YOU. And NONE of you noticed! Why he hasn't questioned our Sect's sanity already is beyond me."
Apparently one of the original fifty, some Guard named Shu was sent back to camp to undergo retraining... and within moments, FIFTY. MORE. GUARDS.
She glared at the leader. "Are you all even cleared to know WHY your protection target is so damn important?"
More silence.
She fell back into her chair. "The list is too long, but a high level summary: You are all marked as protection detail for the Burning Sage."
THAT got some reactions. Rumors of boy Adam's odd actions had already spread over the rumor vines.
Her glare was intense. "I want to warn you: Anyone daring enough to enter the Sect and willing enough to attack our previously assigned forty-nine guards will likely be so strong that the addition of an additional fifty or hundred guards would mean nothing. Literally nothing. This task, for you, will likely be both boring AND pointless."
The glare fell away to weariness. "I have no doubt you are being brought close to the child in an attempt to bolster the odds of your social faction benefiting. Regardless of who supports your groups in the background, however, you WILL do your jobs to above expectations. Am I clear!?"
Loud sounds filled the room as the fifty guards pounded their chest twice.
She nodded. "Good. Now get to work and start being pointless wastes of resources like your Elder supporters ordered you to be."
...It was a bit of an awkward atmosphere as the group left the room.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
The 'Houtian Realm First Order Essential Cultivation Method' research team was beyond fascinated.
If one examined meridian routes commonly followed to become a basic Cultivator, it would very apparent very soon that the various paths didn't need to visit your whole body. The spiritual network didn't directly connect to specific parts of the mortal body, and depending on the Cultivation Technique followed paths could even change over time. Even if a limb was ignored by your technique, it would still be exposed to your Battle Qi and improved.
But even compared to their many, many past examples... This new method was odd!
If one was to make a model of the body and show this new meridian route for progression... it was a simple circle within the torso. A bit squiggly, a tiny amount of wonky, but basically a boring circle.
What was very odd however, was how many meridian nodes that simple circle managed to touch and pass through! Far more than expected, especially for a route with no strange twists or complicated timings... after seeing what the children had been working with, none of the Sect researchers had been surprise at how easy it was for them to get started. To reach initial-First Order Warrior.
No, the shock was finding how rapidly these children were now advancing toward Second Order! Those with low grade talent were progressing with no issues, no setbacks, no strain as they gathered more and more power, stabilizing their spiritual network at an astounding rate. Those with near acceptable grade talents were progressing as if they were rare talents! An impressive rate!
The lack of complexity, the ease of directions and simplicity of the experience... it acted like an equalizer for the entire process. The daily sessions of 'Gentle Rebirth Body Cultivation Technique' advancement (Version 2.0007, whatever that meant) wasn't hurting anything either, as several children again surged ahead of estimations as they progressed further using the newly improved Gentle Rebirth Technique Adam had provided before nearly butchering his own limb.
...And hadn't THAT been a shock. Sheesh.
Their documentation process was interrupted by a hole opening up in the floor.
Everyone stared... as a series of wooden canes were shoved into the room. "Ah HA! I knew I was close!"
Some random Sect member's head popped up through the floor. And stared at the massive number of socially high standing Sect members.
Brother Hou had a blank face. "I don't suppose any of you are secret grandpas?"
...One Researcher raised a hand. "My son had a kid a few days ago?"
The odd man nodded. "These canes are for you."
The hole closed. One of the workers who was formerly from the Orphanage sighed... "I'll message Brother Zhanfei to make sure Brother Hou is taking the correct medications."
The Researcher was examining the strange objects. "...I kind of like them. Not sure why there are covered in oil though."
Another man hummed. "To improve the skin? My wife oils her hands before she goes to sleep."
His neighbor nudged him. "I'm sure she does, know what I mean? Right?" Everyone looked at him strangely. "Right, I will shut up now."
Department Lead Healer Jin walked in with purpose. "Everyone be careful walking around for a few days, please! A man outside smuggling thirty burning wood clubs was just tackled by almost a hundred guards. No clue how he got this close to our cave through security."
He held up a hand holding a jade slip like it was pure gold. "Now, who wants to see Adam's notes about his most recent modifications to his tests and methods? I warn you now, it is VERY fascinating."
The room slid into chaos.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Right, examine the patient.
...Yep, that is a pig. Damn it is a cute pig.
Focus.
Adam touched the animals missing leg.
'What is the Flesh?'
The back right leg of this animal, hip downwards. Adam's Battle Qi formed odd shapes over the surface.
'What form should Flesh be?'
Cultivation Cells. Memories of his own cultivation helped the process.
'How does Flesh regress?'
Storage mode. The stump and scar tissue brightened into glowing blue liquid, oddly not spilling from the stump.
'How does Flesh move?'
...Progress slowed, but the limb stretched... flowed... his energy began running low. This required cell duplication and rapid growth, very tiring. Best stop here than midway.
'How does Flesh heal?'
The fluid converged into structure, the Storage mode converting into Active mode as the flesh solidified. Stabilized. Compared to the power requirements for rapid growth, this was almost free in cost!
'How should Flesh progress?'
And the mass turned a healthy pink again, the stump now several inches longer and colored like the rest of the pig.
Now that Adam's abilities had advanced, he was even able to numb the area under construction... after the screams of the animal reminded him to do so.
All that time ignoring pain made Adam forget that he could block the stupid process. Fixed it now, and this particular pig was artificially asleep and shouldn't be feeling any issues at all... Probably.
Adam made a note to ask the future prisoner patients if it worked correctly. It would suck if pain was blocked but the area itched or something. Or worse, felt great and people started cutting parts off to get healed again. Because if the concept existed, there was kink for it out there somewhere.
Leaning away from the sleeping breakfast dish, Adam grinned as he kept doing stuff with his left hand. Sorting the paper work into piles, straightening his bed sheets, moving random things around.
Left hands were awesome, anyone who said otherwise should lose theirs for a few months and learn to appreciate them more.
Still couldn't write with it, but even before his memories returned he had been right handed, so that wasn't a big deal. Just being able to TRY and doodle with his returned part felt awesome!
He glanced back at Sir Bacon the Fifth.
It uh. It had been a good idea to test on animals first.
Sir Bacon the First had completely liquefied during stage 'How does Flesh regress?' when Adam reduced him into a liquid... then into a dry mound of storage cells piled up like sand. Fixing it didn't really work, he hadn't taken an initial scan having not expected such a big issue!
Sir Bacon the Second turned into a perfect sphere. Somehow. Bones and everything shifted, the animal could be rolled and whatnot with no issue. All while still alive, and oddly happy with the situation. It really threw Adam off his game for a while, and even after being shifted back into a pig like shape... well, Adam needed a new test subject. That breakfast item would look strange when cooked later, he was sure, since it wouldn't calm down till he turned the stupid pig back into a sphere. The servants found it cute... maybe it was an odd survival mechanism? Whatever.
Adam forced himself to forget Sir Bacon the Third. Life was better that way.
Sir Bacon the Fourth had healed perfectly fine! And was being kept alive and uncooked to see if there were any long term issues with his recovery. Thankfully the healed swine had no strange tattoos and its hair and trotters weren't blue, so that was a good sign! Assuming he doesn't explode, or try to turn into a cube or something.
Unlike the more lucky Sir Bacon the Fourth, the Fifth here would be subjected to 'Research' suggestions. Right now Adam was testing how to convert other limbs into repair material for critical wounds... Because if a Warrior survived the big battle long enough to reach Adam for treatment, he could finish the patch job! Theoretically.
Other tests included faster and safer methods to numb body parts and put the brain to sleep without long term issues, short term body modifications to cause the limb to act as its OWN cast and keep things still, hopefully without soul burning pain...
And lots of sensing improvements. So... so many!
At this point, his Shard domain was able to control all energy within six feet of his heart, where the crystal liked to hang out using 'Growth' when 'Research' wasn't being used. But even when not actively cultivating, the swirls of Binding Energy and Blue Energy flattened into discs and floating like a pair of stacked backpacks invisibly behind Adam's body kept gathering power over time. Low level, continuous improvement.
The structure of the energy Swirls just... encouraged loose energy to decay and reinforce the existing flavor of power now. To keep himself from being distracted all the time, Adam had commanded his Shard to drag that energy excess away and slowly fill the massive storage space within his Martial Spirit itself. With the most refined energy generated stored away safely, Adam managed to keep the overall power of the twin swirls from spiraling out of control or exploding into fire or something. So that was good.
While the effects were far, FAR stronger with 'Purification' or 'Growth' active, even when using 'Research' the Shard within his heart would slowly purify and grow the energies stored within itself, ready to be used later by Adam for cultivation techniques, methods, or abilities. The Shard's own nature of being a fragment of solidified energy helped improve powers that came into contact with it, being actually stored within had a much greatest effect really.
As his heart was part of Adam's spiritual network, minute improvements continued to grow over time even without active cultivation... even if at a vastly reduced rate. Point was, his body, spiritual meridian network, and Shard were connected. Closely.
This meant Adam's Battle Qi could interact through his Domain as if it was direct contact with other people, and anyone who entered his Domain could be targeted in very odd and hard to detect ways... being able to examine someone's cultivation base without detection was simple at this stage. In fact, he may even be able to apply the 'Sleep' trick from healing remotely, which would surprise an attacker or two at some point.
'Prepare to die, you handsome stranger you! Oh no, I suddenly feel woozy and tired! You win THIS time Adam Chongsheng, you attractive bastard!'
Yeah, just like that.
Adam hummed happily as the pig slowly shifted, 'Research' examining the changes and trying to find concepts strong enough to enhance the process but vague enough to be flexible. It was a relaxing process. And with his current level of control, no random blood balloons!
He shuddered, Yeah, Sir Bacon the Third never happened. At least it was mostly easy to clean.
...It was a bit nostalgic.
Anyway, the reason no one freaked out about a child going numb and robotic for a few weeks (Yikes!) was because his state was documented. It was a state of 'Enlightenment', a rare occurrence that allows Cultivators to advance quickly in unnatural ways as they commune with Heavenly spiritual energy.
Basically, before Adam received those jade slips from his (temporary?) teacher, he had been approaching each issue in his life with a scientific attitude. Select cells, modify them, duplicate them, etc etc.
AFTER he was exposed to so much CONCEPTUAL healing abilities from Healer Jin, something inside had clicked. He fell into a strange communication state with... something. Possibly the Plane he was on itself. And then exchanged information.
The massive external spiritual energy cultivation network out there absorbed his concepts, his method of thought, his experiments... and in return, Adam received conceptual versions of that same data, pushing his raw and dangerous 'Regrowth Technique' into the new, more abstract ability: 'Flesh of the Avatar'.
While the Regrowth Technique forced Adam to watch for cancer, nutrient levels, organ health, to individually handle each stage of progression, etc... 'Flesh of the Avatar' was a series of thoughts, expressed through cultivation techniques. At the highest level, the overall highest concept was this: 'Your body is an Avatar for your soul, such Flesh can be reformed.'
It was utilized by asking one's cultivation a series of questions using energy patterns: 'What is the Flesh?', 'What form should Flesh be?', 'How does Flesh regress?', 'How does Flesh move?', 'How does Flesh heal?' and 'How should Flesh progress?'.
Each question was a series of individual steps. The first line defines the area to be healed or designated, the second converts the body segment into Cultivation Cells, the third changes the state of those cells into 'storage mode', the fourth moves storage mode cells into the area or reforms the material, fifth determines what a healthy version of that body part should look like, and the last ('Flesh Progress?') forces the Cultivation Cells to evolve into the best possible NON-CULTIVATION version they can be for the examined target.
Instead of Adam having to do all kinds of checks and balances, these interesting energy patterns basically ASKED the body of the target itself what the correct answers SHOULD be... or maybe it asks this Realm's specific Plane instead. It asks SOMETHING anyway, and uses the answer to avoid issues like overgrowth of cells, cancer, cell decay, and so forth.
Upgrading Adam's many skills and cultivation techniques were just incidental benefits granted in the process of learning what he needed for the skill 'Flesh of the Avatar' to properly operate.
Of course, now that he WASN'T starving, thirsty, sleepy, and high on the energies of heaven and earth... slicing off his arm after going through so much EFFORT seemed stupid.
If he had been in his RIGHT mind, he would have only cut off a finger or something. No one would miss a pinky for a few weeks compared to losing their arm... AGAIN.
Back to his current situation, this version of 'grounding' was honestly a forced recovery period.
Both Healer (Teacher?) Jin and Sister Quan had put their foot down, insisting that he rest. And to be fair, Adam was so close to collapse at that point that he had been arguing to stay awake while facing the wrong direction entirely.
How embarrassing.
Right, focus on the good things.
While Adam couldn't easily use the conceptual abilities granted to him via Healer Jin's jade slips directly, 'Research' had instead quickly applied the many explained concepts involved to his own tricks and sensing methods. As a result, ALL of Adam's abilities now required less internal Battle Qi to operate, everything was more efficient, and he was able to cut out a lot of complexity as the strange 'Ask reality for answers' method was far less complicated than watching the vibration patterns of collapsing matrices of half controlled energy spirals.
Before, he needed direct contact with other people and Cultivators to examine their systems and watch changes... now? Adam was able to examine anyone within his domain of control. Which would be very convenient in the future when watching his test subjects, no doubt.
Oh, and the improved 'Houtian Realm First Order Essential Cultivation Method' had impressed a lot of Sect members upon review... but in a way it was too late.
All nine children had already reached and completed the creation of their Cultivation base, all nine reaching First Order Warrior. They would follow the new method and find it easier in the process, no doubt, but the huge impact of rapid advancement was already over. Ah well.
Little Tianshi wasn't a First Order yet, of course. Her progress slowed without Adam stopping by to provide more Binding energy to work with for her cultivation circle. At least she was able to take advantage of the improved 'Gentle Rebirth Body Cultivation Technique' (Version 2.0007! Success!) with what little energy was remaining while he had been busy slowly going mad communicating with other level entities. Or whoever/whatever it was.
He would have to stop by and fill her cultivation circle back up. Maybe make two... or design an emergency reservoir and supply method? Was that even possible?
Adam made a note so he wouldn't forget to check.
Right, another issue: During the weeks of 'Enlightenment' his body had apparently activated his Seven Pulse Cultivation method several times... and made stupidly advanced progress. Far more than his internal estimates had suggested even, although the legends say that fast cultivation during Enlightenment was a common experience. He was currently 83% on the path to Third Order Warrior, the eight impurity cleansing periods thankfully light considering his body has already undergone the 'Rebirth' process. Or at least, someone had cleaned the worst of the gunk off his body for him.
Again, embarrassing.
His massive improvement rate had ALSO freaked out the many, many people watching him. Meh, they needed to calm down a bit. At least he wasn't jumping straight to Forth Order or something crazy.
The entire situation in general felt strangely better now that Adam was focusing less on better Cell advancement tricks and more on the concepts involved behind everything. His previous progress wasn't a waste or anything, if it hadn't been so unusual Adam may have never attracted the attention of the Heavens in the first place, missing the enlightenment moment altogether! It was just... more fulfilling going the conceptual route, which was expected of beings in this Realm.
It was a fascinating experience though. With much effort, he was able to pose his OWN questions while cultivating, and the answers were... a bit hard to parse out but very interesting.
'What natural energy flows exist?', 'How do Warriors become more efficient when cultivating?', 'How to enhance spiritual stability?', these questions and more with some effort were actually answered by the spiritual energies being cultivated by Adam's method as the Binding energy vanished into his body.
...Though without being in the moment of Enlightenment, the answers were odd. 'Research' was overwhelmed with a mass of images, smells, noises, and odd patterns as a form of response, and Adam was spending most of this recovery process letting 'Research' try to tease it apart. Not a lot of progress yet, but at least it was something to do... entertainment was lacking here.
His face broke out in a grin as he HELD A PLATE in his left hand! His Left. Goddamn. Hand.
Right, better eat the food on it too.
As he enjoyed Sister Rong's cooking (Or one of her people's dishes, it wasn't clear who was actually involved), Adam made some mental notes and decisions.
First, learn how to use 'Flesh of the Avatar' on animals. Because he had no practice or 'Research' on using this new skill on someone or something else, and he didn't want to liquefy the test prisoners. It would be a waste of good data on morally acceptable targets if he did.
He also wanted to ensure that the step 'How should Flesh progress?' worked as expected. On someone like his Disciple or himself, it should leave the healed section as Cultivation Cells... or even let him choose! Otherwise, it should turn them back into healthy but somewhat normal body cells as the target's body would desire.
Because if he was going to regrow criminal limbs, he didn't want those crafted limbs to be super-powered, fast healing, advanced cultivation accelerating cells. If it was for Sect members, no problem. A pedo-rapist? Yeah, they don't get to have that. NONE of that.
So, animals first. Which would suck, because Adam found most of them cute. Not cute enough to go vegan or whatever (Which was good since in THIS realm plants can eventually become sexy people with sentient minds), but it would still be a depressing process trying to heal something that was going to be a delicious side dish later.
Glancing at his left arm, he wondered...
Would everyone he healed get awesome glowing blue tattoos and girly fingernail colors?
Most would probably be fine with that, getting an arm or leg back was worth looking strange... or maybe it was all a side effect of Blue and Binding energy. It would be interesting to find out!
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
The room was quiet.
Still in a meditation stance, the Patriarch of the Burning Sword Sect sent a spiritual message to his attendant.
Silence fell again.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Elder Cho felt... so exasperated. "The Patriarch is doing this to me on purpose. He has to be."
The fifty new Guards stayed knelt. The Elder was trying to ignore them. "The boy is going through a healing period, is held in a small recovery room and such... and he already has forty-nine guards. Which was ALREADY too much. Too excessive. Politics in action."
She grunted. "The brat can't even walk outside now without being surrounded by our people, and that old man wants me to basically double them!? Why! And we now know your hiding skills didn't even phase the child, so he can SEE ALL OF YOU. And NONE of you noticed! Why he hasn't questioned our Sect's sanity already is beyond me."
Apparently one of the original fifty, some Guard named Shu was sent back to camp to undergo retraining... and within moments, FIFTY. MORE. GUARDS.
She glared at the leader. "Are you all even cleared to know WHY your protection target is so damn important?"
More silence.
She fell back into her chair. "The list is too long, but a high level summary: You are all marked as protection detail for the Burning Sage."
THAT got some reactions. Rumors of boy Adam's odd actions had already spread over the rumor vines.
Her glare was intense. "I want to warn you: Anyone daring enough to enter the Sect and willing enough to attack our previously assigned forty-nine guards will likely be so strong that the addition of an additional fifty or hundred guards would mean nothing. Literally nothing. This task, for you, will likely be both boring AND pointless."
The glare fell away to weariness. "I have no doubt you are being brought close to the child in an attempt to bolster the odds of your social faction benefiting. Regardless of who supports your groups in the background, however, you WILL do your jobs to above expectations. Am I clear!?"
Loud sounds filled the room as the fifty guards pounded their chest twice.
She nodded. "Good. Now get to work and start being pointless wastes of resources like your Elder supporters ordered you to be."
...It was a bit of an awkward atmosphere as the group left the room.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
The 'Houtian Realm First Order Essential Cultivation Method' research team was beyond fascinated.
If one examined meridian routes commonly followed to become a basic Cultivator, it would very apparent very soon that the various paths didn't need to visit your whole body. The spiritual network didn't directly connect to specific parts of the mortal body, and depending on the Cultivation Technique followed paths could even change over time. Even if a limb was ignored by your technique, it would still be exposed to your Battle Qi and improved.
But even compared to their many, many past examples... This new method was odd!
If one was to make a model of the body and show this new meridian route for progression... it was a simple circle within the torso. A bit squiggly, a tiny amount of wonky, but basically a boring circle.
What was very odd however, was how many meridian nodes that simple circle managed to touch and pass through! Far more than expected, especially for a route with no strange twists or complicated timings... after seeing what the children had been working with, none of the Sect researchers had been surprise at how easy it was for them to get started. To reach initial-First Order Warrior.
No, the shock was finding how rapidly these children were now advancing toward Second Order! Those with low grade talent were progressing with no issues, no setbacks, no strain as they gathered more and more power, stabilizing their spiritual network at an astounding rate. Those with near acceptable grade talents were progressing as if they were rare talents! An impressive rate!
The lack of complexity, the ease of directions and simplicity of the experience... it acted like an equalizer for the entire process. The daily sessions of 'Gentle Rebirth Body Cultivation Technique' advancement (Version 2.0007, whatever that meant) wasn't hurting anything either, as several children again surged ahead of estimations as they progressed further using the newly improved Gentle Rebirth Technique Adam had provided before nearly butchering his own limb.
...And hadn't THAT been a shock. Sheesh.
Their documentation process was interrupted by a hole opening up in the floor.
Everyone stared... as a series of wooden canes were shoved into the room. "Ah HA! I knew I was close!"
Some random Sect member's head popped up through the floor. And stared at the massive number of socially high standing Sect members.
Brother Hou had a blank face. "I don't suppose any of you are secret grandpas?"
...One Researcher raised a hand. "My son had a kid a few days ago?"
The odd man nodded. "These canes are for you."
The hole closed. One of the workers who was formerly from the Orphanage sighed... "I'll message Brother Zhanfei to make sure Brother Hou is taking the correct medications."
The Researcher was examining the strange objects. "...I kind of like them. Not sure why there are covered in oil though."
Another man hummed. "To improve the skin? My wife oils her hands before she goes to sleep."
His neighbor nudged him. "I'm sure she does, know what I mean? Right?" Everyone looked at him strangely. "Right, I will shut up now."
Department Lead Healer Jin walked in with purpose. "Everyone be careful walking around for a few days, please! A man outside smuggling thirty burning wood clubs was just tackled by almost a hundred guards. No clue how he got this close to our cave through security."
He held up a hand holding a jade slip like it was pure gold. "Now, who wants to see Adam's notes about his most recent modifications to his tests and methods? I warn you now, it is VERY fascinating."
The room slid into chaos.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Right, examine the patient.
...Yep, that is a pig. Damn it is a cute pig.
Focus.
Adam touched the animals missing leg.
'What is the Flesh?'
The back right leg of this animal, hip downwards. Adam's Battle Qi formed odd shapes over the surface.
'What form should Flesh be?'
Cultivation Cells. Memories of his own cultivation helped the process.
'How does Flesh regress?'
Storage mode. The stump and scar tissue brightened into glowing blue liquid, oddly not spilling from the stump.
'How does Flesh move?'
...Progress slowed, but the limb stretched... flowed... his energy began running low. This required cell duplication and rapid growth, very tiring. Best stop here than midway.
'How does Flesh heal?'
The fluid converged into structure, the Storage mode converting into Active mode as the flesh solidified. Stabilized. Compared to the power requirements for rapid growth, this was almost free in cost!
'How should Flesh progress?'
And the mass turned a healthy pink again, the stump now several inches longer and colored like the rest of the pig.
Now that Adam's abilities had advanced, he was even able to numb the area under construction... after the screams of the animal reminded him to do so.
All that time ignoring pain made Adam forget that he could block the stupid process. Fixed it now, and this particular pig was artificially asleep and shouldn't be feeling any issues at all... Probably.
Adam made a note to ask the future prisoner patients if it worked correctly. It would suck if pain was blocked but the area itched or something. Or worse, felt great and people started cutting parts off to get healed again. Because if the concept existed, there was kink for it out there somewhere.
Leaning away from the sleeping breakfast dish, Adam grinned as he kept doing stuff with his left hand. Sorting the paper work into piles, straightening his bed sheets, moving random things around.
Left hands were awesome, anyone who said otherwise should lose theirs for a few months and learn to appreciate them more.
Still couldn't write with it, but even before his memories returned he had been right handed, so that wasn't a big deal. Just being able to TRY and doodle with his returned part felt awesome!
He glanced back at Sir Bacon the Fifth.
It uh. It had been a good idea to test on animals first.
Sir Bacon the First had completely liquefied during stage 'How does Flesh regress?' when Adam reduced him into a liquid... then into a dry mound of storage cells piled up like sand. Fixing it didn't really work, he hadn't taken an initial scan having not expected such a big issue!
Sir Bacon the Second turned into a perfect sphere. Somehow. Bones and everything shifted, the animal could be rolled and whatnot with no issue. All while still alive, and oddly happy with the situation. It really threw Adam off his game for a while, and even after being shifted back into a pig like shape... well, Adam needed a new test subject. That breakfast item would look strange when cooked later, he was sure, since it wouldn't calm down till he turned the stupid pig back into a sphere. The servants found it cute... maybe it was an odd survival mechanism? Whatever.
Adam forced himself to forget Sir Bacon the Third. Life was better that way.
Sir Bacon the Fourth had healed perfectly fine! And was being kept alive and uncooked to see if there were any long term issues with his recovery. Thankfully the healed swine had no strange tattoos and its hair and trotters weren't blue, so that was a good sign! Assuming he doesn't explode, or try to turn into a cube or something.
Unlike the more lucky Sir Bacon the Fourth, the Fifth here would be subjected to 'Research' suggestions. Right now Adam was testing how to convert other limbs into repair material for critical wounds... Because if a Warrior survived the big battle long enough to reach Adam for treatment, he could finish the patch job! Theoretically.
Other tests included faster and safer methods to numb body parts and put the brain to sleep without long term issues, short term body modifications to cause the limb to act as its OWN cast and keep things still, hopefully without soul burning pain...
And lots of sensing improvements. So... so many!
At this point, his Shard domain was able to control all energy within six feet of his heart, where the crystal liked to hang out using 'Growth' when 'Research' wasn't being used. But even when not actively cultivating, the swirls of Binding Energy and Blue Energy flattened into discs and floating like a pair of stacked backpacks invisibly behind Adam's body kept gathering power over time. Low level, continuous improvement.
The structure of the energy Swirls just... encouraged loose energy to decay and reinforce the existing flavor of power now. To keep himself from being distracted all the time, Adam had commanded his Shard to drag that energy excess away and slowly fill the massive storage space within his Martial Spirit itself. With the most refined energy generated stored away safely, Adam managed to keep the overall power of the twin swirls from spiraling out of control or exploding into fire or something. So that was good.
While the effects were far, FAR stronger with 'Purification' or 'Growth' active, even when using 'Research' the Shard within his heart would slowly purify and grow the energies stored within itself, ready to be used later by Adam for cultivation techniques, methods, or abilities. The Shard's own nature of being a fragment of solidified energy helped improve powers that came into contact with it, being actually stored within had a much greatest effect really.
As his heart was part of Adam's spiritual network, minute improvements continued to grow over time even without active cultivation... even if at a vastly reduced rate. Point was, his body, spiritual meridian network, and Shard were connected. Closely.
This meant Adam's Battle Qi could interact through his Domain as if it was direct contact with other people, and anyone who entered his Domain could be targeted in very odd and hard to detect ways... being able to examine someone's cultivation base without detection was simple at this stage. In fact, he may even be able to apply the 'Sleep' trick from healing remotely, which would surprise an attacker or two at some point.
'Prepare to die, you handsome stranger you! Oh no, I suddenly feel woozy and tired! You win THIS time Adam Chongsheng, you attractive bastard!'
Yeah, just like that.
Adam hummed happily as the pig slowly shifted, 'Research' examining the changes and trying to find concepts strong enough to enhance the process but vague enough to be flexible. It was a relaxing process. And with his current level of control, no random blood balloons!
He shuddered, Yeah, Sir Bacon the Third never happened. At least it was mostly easy to clean.
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- Location
- Dhaka, Bangladesh
PPPPPPFFFFFFFFFFTTTTTTT!!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA OH GOD YOU MADE ME SNORT MY MILK.
Quixotic_being
Fulfilling every contract to the letter
I... you!... are not wrong, I guess?
Also I meant with Flesh of the Avatar, he could be talking right now.
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- Location
- Earth, Sol System, Virgo Supercluster, Earth-1218
That was attempt #3, he still hasn't mastered the "turn select bits into liquid while keeping others solid" bit which is necessary.
Theoretically he could do it now if he performs a Tracheotomy to cut a wind hole below his vocal chords, heal his vocal chords while breathing through the otherwise superfluous hole, then heal up the extra hole after his vocal chords stop being a messy puddle of human goo. (Sister Quan will probably object to him taking a sharp knife to his neck without a LOT of explaining)
- Location
- Israel
Well, couldn't he convince the healers by teaching this amazing method of saving people who are choking from a crushed/blocked windpipe? He will even let them practice on him as he needs a hole like that (temporarily) in order to mel- I mean, burn/heal or melt/heal his throat.
Tisaku
Head Chief Thinkomancer
- Location
- Somewhere in Space
Huh...who knew? Pork dreams of becoming Meatballs. Guess I should stop cooking meatballs with cow.
When he heals his throat, will he breathe blue smoke or sound like roaring fire when he speaks?
Maybe he could make a formation that mimics the purification spirals he has following him around. This could then drip feed Tianshi's circle to keep it from getting too large, and Tianshi using it and a limiter would keep her circle from getting too full.
I did like that the new grandfather liked the cane trap.
I feel like that is only part of the proper response. Someone should be looking in to how this teen is burrowing through rock, avoiding all the many many guards, and bypassing any formations to prevent such a thing (mentioned when Quan noticed something "holding back formations").
- Location
- Home
Since it's Adam, it's more likely will be hilariously embarrassing for him in some ridiculous way, like blowing out words in fire, smoke constantly escaping the corners of his mouth and his voice sounding blue.
- Location
- Sector ZZ9 plural Z Alpha
So it looks like he can detect even "hidden" warriors in his range without even noticing they're trying to hide
Starting to become a running gag here 🤪
Really enjoying the story, enjoyed your others on FF as well hope they get continued
Jonn Wolfe
(Verified Sarcastic) (Not a Wolf)
- Location
- Beyond Sanity Since 1971
What I really don't get, is why Adam hasn't just whispered in order to speak. You really don't need vocal chords to form quiet words after all. 
- Location
- Israel
Because whispering still uses the vocal cords in the exact same way talking does, only with larger airflow over a wider gap which dries it out and makes that raspy sound so ubiquitous to whispering.What I really don't get, is why Adam hasn't just whispered in order to speak. You really don't need vocal chords to form quiet words after all.
Next time, google it
- Status