- Location
- Bosnia
Trolling!
Broken Adventure
- Thread starter theaceoffire
- Start date
- Crossover
- Status
RageMage
Sir "Shitshow in the making"
- Location
- Vienna
I imagine that trolling would be right beside "Suprise" and the current Master of that one would be Pinky Pie.
Fragnostic
Cheshire
- Location
- Neko City
Also in these stories there's something called Dual Cultivation where you cultivate with a partner.
Yes, it's sex.
And it's something right up this story's alley.
Methinks that healer assistant is going to get some soon.
Unless there's a Young Mistress visiting?
Yes, it's sex.
And it's something right up this story's alley.
Methinks that healer assistant is going to get some soon.
Unless there's a Young Mistress visiting?
- Location
- Behind you
He is, currently, like 14 years old. Dont think itll happen for a while
- Location
- kentucky
has that ever stopped any 14 year old in modern society these days now think of how assbackwords the place he is now they dont give a fuck as long as she or he can father or mother a child they will its totally fucked in the head yes but that stuff happens these days in the less developed nations aswell
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- Location
- Israel
It does stop them when they're characters in a fiction on SV, because the chapter will get modslapped for sexualizing a minor.
Now let's stop before thread gets modslapped, yeah?
Addressing relations.
- Location
- Here
Worse than that, immortals can remake their bodies pretty easily. ALL of them are attractive, and some young women can be thousands of years old (or young boys can look ancient, for example).
There will be no sexual content involving the main character until he is at least 18-21, if not more. This is made easier when you realize that sitting in a cave and cultivating for 50 years or so is common in this world.
Plus, dude is going to be busy. He has things to do.
That said, just because he won't be banging around until later (if at all) doesn't mean he can't be friends or nice to women or people in general.
Also also, I feel I must point out: The MC is currently on fire. Sex isn't high on his mind, even if he HAS hit puberty. Hopefully he finds a less painful way to cultivate before burning his eyes or genitals.
Personally, I think the 'dual cultivation' aspect comes from, and the source I'm getting this from is an old Conan RPG book on Hyborian age China, the fact that the Male Essence is supposed to be limited while the Female Essence is infinite and nurturing. Basically, by masturbating a man would lose his magical essence/power while it would have no effect on a womans. But here is the thing! Sex allows that essence to be transferred from the Greater Container (the female) to the Empty Container (the male) which would refill the mans essence and indeed expand it. So, having sex with many women would in a mystic sense, empower the man.
How did marriage fit into the above? To put it into Xianxia terms it makes an array/seal/formation that increases the efficiency of the transfer of the female essence to a particular man and indeed weaponizes it to damage the male essence of anyone who sampled your wife... who would also have their essence damaged by the entire thing.
Enter the Xianxia 'Pure Yin Cauldron' for 'ritually rape this woman, usually a virgin for maximum results, to massively increase a males mystical power' trope. When they combine, it adds into the entire mess I ranted on about a while back, with the fact that brothels would be fairly common and it would not surprise me if some sects encouraged the frequent sex/promiscuity to have another source of cultivation that would require not much effort (though from limited sources, the woman getting off multiple times would increase the benefits). And would keep marriage as well, because it would again, provide an advantage.
And that is my daily rant.
Otherwise, have to say that you do a nice job of how he reacts to human contact after being a outcast and the nurses reaction to his healing rate. Also, a funny way of reducing the medical bills
How did marriage fit into the above? To put it into Xianxia terms it makes an array/seal/formation that increases the efficiency of the transfer of the female essence to a particular man and indeed weaponizes it to damage the male essence of anyone who sampled your wife... who would also have their essence damaged by the entire thing.
Enter the Xianxia 'Pure Yin Cauldron' for 'ritually rape this woman, usually a virgin for maximum results, to massively increase a males mystical power' trope. When they combine, it adds into the entire mess I ranted on about a while back, with the fact that brothels would be fairly common and it would not surprise me if some sects encouraged the frequent sex/promiscuity to have another source of cultivation that would require not much effort (though from limited sources, the woman getting off multiple times would increase the benefits). And would keep marriage as well, because it would again, provide an advantage.
And that is my daily rant.
Otherwise, have to say that you do a nice job of how he reacts to human contact after being a outcast and the nurses reaction to his healing rate. Also, a funny way of reducing the medical bills
- Location
- Canada
Didn't Adam have a deal with his wives that he'd let them approve new girls? Even if this Adam is a shard of his soul and won't remerge until after his death it's still Adam...
- Location
- Here
Personally, I think the 'dual cultivation' aspect comes from, and the source I'm getting this from is an old Conan RPG book on Hyborian age China, the fact that the Male Essence is supposed to be limited while the Female Essence is infinite and nurturing. Basically, by masturbating a man would lose his magical essence/power while it would have no effect on a womans. But here is the thing! Sex allows that essence to be transferred from the Greater Container (the female) to the Empty Container (the male) which would refill the mans essence and indeed expand it. So, having sex with many women would in a mystic sense, empower the man.
How did marriage fit into the above? To put it into Xianxia terms it makes an array/seal/formation that increases the efficiency of the transfer of the female essence to a particular man and indeed weaponizes it to damage the male essence of anyone who sampled your wife... who would also have their essence damaged by the entire thing.
Enter the Xianxia 'Pure Yin Cauldron' for 'ritually rape this woman, usually a virgin for maximum results, to massively increase a males mystical power' trope. When they combine, it adds into the entire mess I ranted on about a while back, with the fact that brothels would be fairly common and it would not surprise me if some sects encouraged the frequent sex/promiscuity to have another source of cultivation that would require not much effort (though from limited sources, the woman getting off multiple times would increase the benefits). And would keep marriage as well, because it would again, provide an advantage.
And that is my daily rant.
Otherwise, have to say that you do a nice job of how he reacts to human contact after being a outcast and the nurses reaction to his healing rate. Also, a funny way of reducing the medical bills
There is also the whole "Male == Yang, Female==Yin, in harmony==Yin/Yang, boosts both" for the people who willingly dual cultivate without the males destroying the woman or the women draining the guy dry. Yin Yang features heavily in a LOT of stories, although in my opinion the best are the ones where there is no rape involved.
Seriously, not a fan of rape. I don't care if you were drugged, and she was drugged, and there was poison that requires sex to fix, or whatever blah blah blah. At the very least, APOLOGIZE later. Some stories the guy is like "Man, after that awkward forced situation I am now in love with her but for some reason she doesn't like me?" and I just want to punch the jerk and scream "Sex has big consequences for women in these society! A guy is praised and a woman is ruined goods! And that doesn't even bring up the whole possible child thing or stolen cultivation levels!"
Adam has cultural norms from outside the system, and I am ok with this.
Honestly it would be interesting to see Adam go for something like the Dao of Science, Understanding or Research, as in Cultivation worlds things like Scientists or researchers don't really exist (or in some cases are actively discouraged, especially when it comes to mortals) due to a variety of factors.
Like heavenly lightning striking down anyone who tries to understand/talk about things like Gravity, Weak/Strong forces etc on lower worlds due to being considered higher/primordial laws.
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- Location
- Australia
Honestly, a DAO of FIRE would suit him. Most of his power works with fire in some way, I think it was his first power? (Can't remember) but he has used it for most things, he could also use it like a Phoenix, and use the fire for rebirth/rebuilding. After all, fire is one of the key aspects of humanity, you just have to remember the myth of Prometheus.
A Dao of Energy would be more likely in that case, he might have started with Fire but that evolved over time. Wouldn't make sense for him to regress back to just fire after having such a massive understanding of energy in general.
- Location
- UK
When this isn't even satirical...
- Location
- Australia
True, while he does "build and design" things most of what he does revolves around Energy.
Fragnostic
Cheshire
- Location
- Neko City
Well, this is taking burning passion to the extreme, I guess...
Um, the nurse is from the burning sword sect. Him being on fire should be a normal part of the sect sort of thing. I can just see her being interested in him as he seems like he'd fit right in.
Um, when he really starts doing the Dao thing, he should already have several mastered. Come on, he should have the entire Dao of Fire mastered far, far beyond what the local Immortals would believe is possible. Sure, we know he has moved on to a more generalized Dao of Energy, but they wouldn't have a clue about that existing.
From a local's POV, he might just start as an extremely good at Fire usage and personal healing.
Adam could wake up spend the next 5 years doing good deeds/repaying his local debts/joining this sect. After 5 years, he'd have that basic excuse, I must go there to sit and let time pass by for a hundred years or so.
I would find it highly ironic if the best stuff that Adam's research comes up with actually does require him to sit still for long periods of time. It would drive him utterly mad.
Um, when he really starts doing the Dao thing, he should already have several mastered. Come on, he should have the entire Dao of Fire mastered far, far beyond what the local Immortals would believe is possible. Sure, we know he has moved on to a more generalized Dao of Energy, but they wouldn't have a clue about that existing.
From a local's POV, he might just start as an extremely good at Fire usage and personal healing.
Adam could wake up spend the next 5 years doing good deeds/repaying his local debts/joining this sect. After 5 years, he'd have that basic excuse, I must go there to sit and let time pass by for a hundred years or so.
I would find it highly ironic if the best stuff that Adam's research comes up with actually does require him to sit still for long periods of time. It would drive him utterly mad.
Oh yeah, i'm just waiting for Adam to throw his hands up and do something utterly crazy when it gets too much. Become the first Cultivator who can do all that boring cultivation while moving/doing normal stuff and blow everyones minds.
Nice going so far. I love cultivation novels where the MC atleast researches what, why and how of cultivation!! Like Empire of Salt or Dao of magic on Royal Road. Looking forward to how this develops as I'm really not sure about the Invincible novel as base. Seriously couldn't read it. It reads like a bad 'wrong boy-who-lived' fic.
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- Location
- florida
Does anyone have a recommendation for the source content of this part of the adventure? I have a bare bones idea of what this story is like but it sounds kind of interesting
- Location
- Here
It is in one of the Informational Posts but it is a translated work called 'Invincible'.
I mostly like it because the powering system is interesting. Your Martial Spirit is a thing (Animal, Object, Element, etc) that shows off how talented you will be, allows you to more easily consume heavenly/earthly energies, and will grant innate special abilities as you raise in cultivation level.
Those abilities will improve in quality and effect as well as you get stronger. You can even merge with your Martial Spirit, gaining traits or abilities in the process for the duration.
Arc 2: Fire.
- Location
- Here
This probably wouldn't be as painful if he was working with Water energy or something.
Adam focused on his arm, again burning the scar as fresh flesh slowly regenerated. Because it needed to be healed TONIGHT before the Healers or that Assistant came in and saw his arm covered in burns. Each wave of flames burned less material, as his reborn flesh grew more and more fire resistant.
Hurt like hell though.
The worst part? The regrown flesh thing was a side effect. He was technically conditioning his meridians to handle Flame based energies better, the regrowing meat thing was an unintentional secondary result of the process. Hopefully when he reached the muscle refinement part of Cultivation, this type of conversion process would be much less painful.
There were many positive side effects though.
He paused in his work, 'Research' reviewing his progress.
Then focused on one of his less damaged meridian nodes. This one was 97% functional, part of his upper left shoulder area. With focus, he allowed the Flame and Binding energy to consume the spiritual conceptual point.
Then, as his body reformed slightly more fire resistant material... he overwrote the healing process to mimic the meridian point on his RIGHT shoulder. These nodes were all fairly similar to each other, but he had seen so many rebuilt by the Flame tempering process that he felt this could be the answer he was looking for.
It took a long time due to how many sensing techniques he was running and how slow he was working... and the pain was unbelievable. But ever so slowly... he watched his spiritual point rebuild.
It was not aligned correctly.
It was weak.
It would require further refinement, as if it was a newborn...
But it was fully present, no damage detected.
Another Flame bath had it regrow properly aligned.
A third evaporation had it develop flexibility and slowly gain proper reinforcement.
So... it was three times slower than working on a functional meridian. It took more than three times the amount of concentration and energy. And it hurt... REALLY REALLY BAD.
But... Adam turned towards the dozens of damaged meridians on the left side of his body.
Now there was a path forward.
Well. Later. Later there was a path forward.
With a sigh, he focused back on his right arm and the burn scar still clearly visible.
If he was going to deliberately char his own body, he needed to know how to heal burns first. Really, really well.
'Research' hummed along as Adam continued to watch his flesh glow, blister, char, and regrow. The rest of his mind was technically 'Cultivating' with ten strands of power in the background, but his body was so weak it was all being consumed before a single cycle could complete. So he couldn't actually develop his own Battle Qi yet. Slightly annoying.
Ah well, a healthy body was worth slowing his own progress.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Adam winced as the furious healer's assistant stormed out of the room.
She had freaked out.
And that was AFTER he healed most of the burns. What was left just looked like a bad blister more than anything. Still, the burn medication cream didn't hurt anything, even if they stopped his medication to ensure it wasn't a bad reaction. And she stopped yelling as much.
Meh, lack of medication wouldn't slow him down much.
Side note, he had to be careful to clean the testing area of his skin before attempting to use his Flame refinement technique. Because until he gets better control or can internalize the generated heat entirely... well.
Burned impurity sludge turned into the WORST smelling gas ever after evaporation. He nearly vomited, and considering how he NORMALLY smelled these days that was impressive!
He had managed to convey to some extent to his healers that the burn was an expected result through some... complicated charades. And managed to request some books to assist in learning how to write, as his neck bones may be mostly recovered but his vocal cords were not. And not being able to read made following cultivation notes difficult. Eventually he got some texts to work with.
...They were children books. But it was good enough for 'Research'. Thanks for the meal.
So despite the success of his 'meridian rebirth' technique, he didn't want to stress the healers out more by consuming half his body in fire. Also, if he took the time to do more study, Adam could eventually (hopefully) reduce or eliminate the 'burn yourself to ash' part of the process. Because that hurt.
Before he could consider his next steps the door slammed open again, the woman who had been helping him stomping towards his bed. "Right, if you are going to mess around with fire you should have SOMETHING to work off of. Your village didn't give you anything worth anything about how to work with Flame energies..." She glared at his arm. "Clearly."
With more care than her attitude would suggest, she gently placed some hand copied notes on his bedside table. "This isn't exactly the standard Cultivation Technique given to new Outer Disciples. Not really allowed to share that kind of stuff until you officially join the Burning Sword Sect." She glared at Adam, the boy holding up his hand in surrender... causing her glare to lower a few steps. "Don't share this. It is my personal cultivation notes, and although I had to leave a lot of pages back in my room unless you officially join it should be enough to stop you from BURNING YOUR DAMN FLESH."
Huffing heavily, she paused and took... several deep breaths. "Right. I need to go cool down a little, I will help you read this after your next cleaning, please STOP INCINERATING YOUR BODY, and we will get things sorted. Alright? Alright."
And she was gone again.
...Well now Adam felt a bit guilty about self mutilation. That was a first.
He checked his memories even as 'Research' continued to examine all past classes and lessons he had in this world and matched up what it could to the already memorized children books, his eyes absently memorizing page after page of the newly provided notes. The process was slower with one hand, but with his mind so occupied things were easy enough.
So his village was under the protection of the Burning Sword Sect as was expected. It was in their territory, and his people would warn about Spirit Beast invasions while searching the local edge of the forests for cultivation resources and harvesting lumber to sell to other towns and cities. Cultivators could pretty much ignore hot or cold weather, so the non-mystical stuff was sold to the many, MANY civilians that lived closer to society.
From what he could remember about the Sect itself when mentioned in the Village, there were tiers of membership: Outer Assistant, Outer Disciple, Inner Assistant, Inner Disciple, Personal Assistant, Personal Disciple, Elder Assistant, Guest Elder, Elder, the Patriarch, and the Ancestors. Each level could give orders to those below, with the Patriarch being the leader the Sect and the setter of all rules therein.
Ancestors tend to be former Patriarchs and Elders that grew in power to the point where direct interference with the Sect was considered socially unacceptable, but would act as a social backbone to the Sect as a whole: A deterrence to outside attacks or anyone attempting to bully the Sect when in times of danger, but who would mostly spend time cultivating alone somewhere. Some even ascended to rumored higher planes of existence or other worlds, establishing new Sects for their old ones to eventually join and gain support when they reached new Realms of cultivation.
So that assistant, Miss... uh. Whatever her name was.
He frowned. Seriously, no one ever introduced themselves and he couldn't exactly talk right now. Miss Assistant then.
That woman sharing her cultivation notes was VERY trusting and beyond gracious. He wouldn't abuse this level of kindness, but SHE didn't know that... it was a heavy risk sharing this kind of information with some crippled child. He wouldn't tell anyone of course, but at this point trying to hide her actions may be too late... Sect members with higher levels of cultivation could sense people and actions miles away easily, and their enhanced brains could process that ocean of information without fault. If they cared enough to look that is... no way to tell at this point anyway.
Yeah, he would have to repay this massive gift at some point.
Adam winced as he watched his childhood again. Without the support of 'Research', he had just been a smarter than intelligent boy... with many unknown and useless languages stuffed in his head. He tried to learn what he could, but... well, again, he didn't get much support from the people other than his mother. And other people didn't matter back then anyway, he just wanted to work hard and be the best he could because SHE wanted him to be awesome! And... and he would be.
Now that he had the advantages 'Research' granted, each weak or uncertain teaching experience from his mom was carefully examined. Unmentioned social norms and 'everyone knows' data was now being extrapolated, combined with bits of text he had seen, fragments of lessons he had overheard, and conversations he had not been officially a part of.
But even as his mind rapidly gained advanced language skills and started sorted various cultivation tricks and tips from his memories... more disturbing things were also uncovered.
His mother had been tired. Very tired. Strained. And trying... oh so hard, to help Adam to grow and become his own man. For a woman raped and abused by the society around her, she passed none of that burden onto her child.
She was a good woman. And if this ended up being the only parent he could remember, at least he had an amazing example.
He sniffled a little before forcing his mind to focus on memorizing the notes Miss Assistant, that nice woman, had provided.
It was hard enough to read this thing with one eye without stupid tears getting in the way.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Third Elder Cho waved off her assistants and glared at the many reports on her to-do list.
The initial suggestions and actions she had taken about this 'Cánfèi' boy had seemed easy enough and reasonable.
Then things got complicated.
First of all, she (like most) assumed the heavily injured boy was going to just die. She mainly funded his recovery medications to ensure his death would be as peaceful and painless as possible. It was only right after all, one of her Sect accidentally caused his injuries while fighting that beast.
Then... the mess started.
The boy showed signs of recovery, as few as they were. She had been ecstatic! Her medical division had taken a few risks and could now claim a massive achievement! Her standing would shoot through the roof, and she would save a child who could and SHOULD have died weeks ago!
While forcing a serious and mature expression on her face, she had eagerly gone to visit the former leader of 'Forestend' Village to let him know that the final victim of the incident was expected to survive and possibly recover to some extent. She felt lucky to catch the man, mostly recovered from his own wounds, as he was in the process of gathering the survivors of his people to move to a new village location being sponsored by the Burning Sword Sect.
The meeting went poorly.
With a sigh, she began sorting her mess into piles.
The problem came down to superstition.
The child Cánfèi was born after a rival village attacked, his mother raped by a small time famous villain from abroad. Though justice was done to the man, that already cast a black mark on the boy's future, fair or not. This was compounded by the woman herself.
She was a beauty. The village of Forestend called her the 'Wood Fairy', and her gentle voice and kindness had charmed strangers and broke hearts for years. Having her violated by outsiders left the people angry, the rapist death left them without a target.
So they turned toward the babe.
The mother knew this of course. She immediately began to campaign for her boy, reaching out to family, repairing relationships, forgiving past slights, making many deals and agreements. Even as a bastard she convinced her father, the boy's grandfather, to allow him to carry the family name, as her family basically was the nobility supporting this outpost. Cánfèi may even eventually inherit the family head position, if he preformed well enough.
Unfortunately, the child made another strike against his future.
He was strange.
Not dangerous, not malicious, no... in fact, if he had terrified people it may have stabilized his situation and given the people an outlet for their feelings.
No, he was quiet. He watched. He listened. Anything and everything had him absorbing information like a sponge. He slept little, and if not reminded he would forget to eat for long periods of time. Thankfully his mother paid attention to his needs carefully, but it was odd.
Odd things were dangerous. They were signs of Martial Spirit attacks, of possible infiltration by demonic Sects, even of some sort of tribulation or worse!
And this child was too calm. Too smart. Too strange.
His mother worked harder. Every moment she was attempting to earn more money for food, to convince children to play with her baby, to earn or borrow learning materials so he could discover more of the world.
As Cánfèi grew, his mother had to make... more distasteful deals. A single mother with little support from her family had to do things to ensure her child could thrive. But she did it all with a smile.
When she died, according to Elder Cho's investigation after, things went bad.
The many deals she made fell apart. The people stopped sending food she had paid for, children avoided the boy despite agreements, resources she had gained were taken away without concern, and oaths that had been sworn were broken. Her unnatural child was no longer a concern now that his talented and attractive mother had passed on.
What resources the child should have had were confiscated by his Grandfather for other children with better family histories.
But the odd child survived.
The village grew... concerned. Possibly some felt guilt, knowing that if they had died the loving mother would have accepted their children with open arms and that honest smile she always wore. Others just saw a child that should have suffered badly without proper care somehow forcing himself to prosper. Either way, the people were watchful.
As the boy lost formal methods of learning, he grew cautious. Sneaky. He would spy on others taking lessons or cultivating, attempt to mix into crowds and convince the slower children to ask questions that no one would bother to answer if it came from the strange child himself. Texts went missing before reappearing elsewhere, food supplies were somehow accessed without a culprit getting caught...
And the child would not die.
He trained, even without the support of a Martial Spirit. While such effort was considered worthless, he insisted on sculpting his body to the extent his age would allow. Without a visible source of income or food, he managed to stay healthy even as his skills at infiltration improved. Almost against their will, the people started to respect someone who could do so much with so little. A few children would spend time with him, a neighbor or two would offer him some leftovers, his Grandfather began to reluctantly send him some basic learning materials.
And then there was the infamous 'Martial Spirit Awakening' ceremony.
Cánfèi's Martial Spirit was broken glass. Trash. Literal trash.
He lost all sympathy. After a few half-hearted attempts to test his 'talent' failed, the concerns about the child escalated. Now, bad things that happened were somehow due to the boy. The village began punishing him in small ways for things they couldn't prove. Food missing? His fault. Tools missing? Why investigate?
That he was ACTUALLY guilty of these things due to how little access to food or resources he had didn't matter.
Staying healthy became harder, staying clean even became an issue as he couldn't risk showing up at public bathing areas without being abused or hassled. His mothers things were taken away, his house was stripped of what little he had left, and even minor injuries became dangerous because getting treatment was no longer a guarantee.
But he would not die.
When the Spirit Beast attacked, even the people he saved claimed that he had drawn the thing into the village due to the bad karma he drew to the village.
When Cánfèi was heavily damaged during the fighting, apparently the village had been relieved. The stain on their people was finally facing his long deserved ending.
And Elder Cho's naive and happy notification of the child's health started a shit storm.
She sighed again, moving another request for the boy's execution to the deny pile and two more exorcism (THEN execution!) requests to another pile.
This was the Burning Sword Sect damn it, they wouldn't slaughter an innocent child to make some traumatized assholes feel better!
What little leverage the Forestend villagers had was already spent quickly as they tried to get a paralyzed child closer to death. Thankfully unsuccessfully. At least a few of Elder Cho's current supporters were doing so ONLY to spite the annoying people who kept bothering others about the issue. Two people even donated to Cánfèi's medical bills out of pure contrariness, which was slightly humorous in a dark way.
She glanced again at the most recent medical notes. NO one had expected the child to have talent. Absolutely no one. But all the medication carefully permitted, the close care, the high quality food and clean water... it had stimulated his Martial Spirit and awoken SOMETHING.
Basic Houtian Realm Warriors wouldn't notice it, and even Peak Tenth Order Xiantian Realms like her had to strain to understand the situation... but the child, not even fully at Initial First Order Houtian Warrior stage, was able to manipulate and somehow refine Flame energy for his own use. Further, he was going through something of a rebirth process similar to the legendary actions of their founder, who was able to explode into flames and reform at full health during his battles at the cost of some of his cultivation base.
This child was going to be a member of her Sect even if she had to bribe the bastard.
She snorted. 'Cánfèi' indeed. A whole village was handed raw gold and they shat on it.
Adam focused on his arm, again burning the scar as fresh flesh slowly regenerated. Because it needed to be healed TONIGHT before the Healers or that Assistant came in and saw his arm covered in burns. Each wave of flames burned less material, as his reborn flesh grew more and more fire resistant.
Hurt like hell though.
The worst part? The regrown flesh thing was a side effect. He was technically conditioning his meridians to handle Flame based energies better, the regrowing meat thing was an unintentional secondary result of the process. Hopefully when he reached the muscle refinement part of Cultivation, this type of conversion process would be much less painful.
There were many positive side effects though.
He paused in his work, 'Research' reviewing his progress.
Then focused on one of his less damaged meridian nodes. This one was 97% functional, part of his upper left shoulder area. With focus, he allowed the Flame and Binding energy to consume the spiritual conceptual point.
Then, as his body reformed slightly more fire resistant material... he overwrote the healing process to mimic the meridian point on his RIGHT shoulder. These nodes were all fairly similar to each other, but he had seen so many rebuilt by the Flame tempering process that he felt this could be the answer he was looking for.
It took a long time due to how many sensing techniques he was running and how slow he was working... and the pain was unbelievable. But ever so slowly... he watched his spiritual point rebuild.
It was not aligned correctly.
It was weak.
It would require further refinement, as if it was a newborn...
But it was fully present, no damage detected.
Another Flame bath had it regrow properly aligned.
A third evaporation had it develop flexibility and slowly gain proper reinforcement.
So... it was three times slower than working on a functional meridian. It took more than three times the amount of concentration and energy. And it hurt... REALLY REALLY BAD.
But... Adam turned towards the dozens of damaged meridians on the left side of his body.
Now there was a path forward.
Well. Later. Later there was a path forward.
With a sigh, he focused back on his right arm and the burn scar still clearly visible.
If he was going to deliberately char his own body, he needed to know how to heal burns first. Really, really well.
'Research' hummed along as Adam continued to watch his flesh glow, blister, char, and regrow. The rest of his mind was technically 'Cultivating' with ten strands of power in the background, but his body was so weak it was all being consumed before a single cycle could complete. So he couldn't actually develop his own Battle Qi yet. Slightly annoying.
Ah well, a healthy body was worth slowing his own progress.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Adam winced as the furious healer's assistant stormed out of the room.
She had freaked out.
And that was AFTER he healed most of the burns. What was left just looked like a bad blister more than anything. Still, the burn medication cream didn't hurt anything, even if they stopped his medication to ensure it wasn't a bad reaction. And she stopped yelling as much.
Meh, lack of medication wouldn't slow him down much.
Side note, he had to be careful to clean the testing area of his skin before attempting to use his Flame refinement technique. Because until he gets better control or can internalize the generated heat entirely... well.
Burned impurity sludge turned into the WORST smelling gas ever after evaporation. He nearly vomited, and considering how he NORMALLY smelled these days that was impressive!
He had managed to convey to some extent to his healers that the burn was an expected result through some... complicated charades. And managed to request some books to assist in learning how to write, as his neck bones may be mostly recovered but his vocal cords were not. And not being able to read made following cultivation notes difficult. Eventually he got some texts to work with.
...They were children books. But it was good enough for 'Research'. Thanks for the meal.
So despite the success of his 'meridian rebirth' technique, he didn't want to stress the healers out more by consuming half his body in fire. Also, if he took the time to do more study, Adam could eventually (hopefully) reduce or eliminate the 'burn yourself to ash' part of the process. Because that hurt.
Before he could consider his next steps the door slammed open again, the woman who had been helping him stomping towards his bed. "Right, if you are going to mess around with fire you should have SOMETHING to work off of. Your village didn't give you anything worth anything about how to work with Flame energies..." She glared at his arm. "Clearly."
With more care than her attitude would suggest, she gently placed some hand copied notes on his bedside table. "This isn't exactly the standard Cultivation Technique given to new Outer Disciples. Not really allowed to share that kind of stuff until you officially join the Burning Sword Sect." She glared at Adam, the boy holding up his hand in surrender... causing her glare to lower a few steps. "Don't share this. It is my personal cultivation notes, and although I had to leave a lot of pages back in my room unless you officially join it should be enough to stop you from BURNING YOUR DAMN FLESH."
Huffing heavily, she paused and took... several deep breaths. "Right. I need to go cool down a little, I will help you read this after your next cleaning, please STOP INCINERATING YOUR BODY, and we will get things sorted. Alright? Alright."
And she was gone again.
...Well now Adam felt a bit guilty about self mutilation. That was a first.
He checked his memories even as 'Research' continued to examine all past classes and lessons he had in this world and matched up what it could to the already memorized children books, his eyes absently memorizing page after page of the newly provided notes. The process was slower with one hand, but with his mind so occupied things were easy enough.
So his village was under the protection of the Burning Sword Sect as was expected. It was in their territory, and his people would warn about Spirit Beast invasions while searching the local edge of the forests for cultivation resources and harvesting lumber to sell to other towns and cities. Cultivators could pretty much ignore hot or cold weather, so the non-mystical stuff was sold to the many, MANY civilians that lived closer to society.
From what he could remember about the Sect itself when mentioned in the Village, there were tiers of membership: Outer Assistant, Outer Disciple, Inner Assistant, Inner Disciple, Personal Assistant, Personal Disciple, Elder Assistant, Guest Elder, Elder, the Patriarch, and the Ancestors. Each level could give orders to those below, with the Patriarch being the leader the Sect and the setter of all rules therein.
Ancestors tend to be former Patriarchs and Elders that grew in power to the point where direct interference with the Sect was considered socially unacceptable, but would act as a social backbone to the Sect as a whole: A deterrence to outside attacks or anyone attempting to bully the Sect when in times of danger, but who would mostly spend time cultivating alone somewhere. Some even ascended to rumored higher planes of existence or other worlds, establishing new Sects for their old ones to eventually join and gain support when they reached new Realms of cultivation.
So that assistant, Miss... uh. Whatever her name was.
He frowned. Seriously, no one ever introduced themselves and he couldn't exactly talk right now. Miss Assistant then.
That woman sharing her cultivation notes was VERY trusting and beyond gracious. He wouldn't abuse this level of kindness, but SHE didn't know that... it was a heavy risk sharing this kind of information with some crippled child. He wouldn't tell anyone of course, but at this point trying to hide her actions may be too late... Sect members with higher levels of cultivation could sense people and actions miles away easily, and their enhanced brains could process that ocean of information without fault. If they cared enough to look that is... no way to tell at this point anyway.
Yeah, he would have to repay this massive gift at some point.
Adam winced as he watched his childhood again. Without the support of 'Research', he had just been a smarter than intelligent boy... with many unknown and useless languages stuffed in his head. He tried to learn what he could, but... well, again, he didn't get much support from the people other than his mother. And other people didn't matter back then anyway, he just wanted to work hard and be the best he could because SHE wanted him to be awesome! And... and he would be.
Now that he had the advantages 'Research' granted, each weak or uncertain teaching experience from his mom was carefully examined. Unmentioned social norms and 'everyone knows' data was now being extrapolated, combined with bits of text he had seen, fragments of lessons he had overheard, and conversations he had not been officially a part of.
But even as his mind rapidly gained advanced language skills and started sorted various cultivation tricks and tips from his memories... more disturbing things were also uncovered.
His mother had been tired. Very tired. Strained. And trying... oh so hard, to help Adam to grow and become his own man. For a woman raped and abused by the society around her, she passed none of that burden onto her child.
She was a good woman. And if this ended up being the only parent he could remember, at least he had an amazing example.
He sniffled a little before forcing his mind to focus on memorizing the notes Miss Assistant, that nice woman, had provided.
It was hard enough to read this thing with one eye without stupid tears getting in the way.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Third Elder Cho waved off her assistants and glared at the many reports on her to-do list.
The initial suggestions and actions she had taken about this 'Cánfèi' boy had seemed easy enough and reasonable.
Then things got complicated.
First of all, she (like most) assumed the heavily injured boy was going to just die. She mainly funded his recovery medications to ensure his death would be as peaceful and painless as possible. It was only right after all, one of her Sect accidentally caused his injuries while fighting that beast.
Then... the mess started.
The boy showed signs of recovery, as few as they were. She had been ecstatic! Her medical division had taken a few risks and could now claim a massive achievement! Her standing would shoot through the roof, and she would save a child who could and SHOULD have died weeks ago!
While forcing a serious and mature expression on her face, she had eagerly gone to visit the former leader of 'Forestend' Village to let him know that the final victim of the incident was expected to survive and possibly recover to some extent. She felt lucky to catch the man, mostly recovered from his own wounds, as he was in the process of gathering the survivors of his people to move to a new village location being sponsored by the Burning Sword Sect.
The meeting went poorly.
With a sigh, she began sorting her mess into piles.
The problem came down to superstition.
The child Cánfèi was born after a rival village attacked, his mother raped by a small time famous villain from abroad. Though justice was done to the man, that already cast a black mark on the boy's future, fair or not. This was compounded by the woman herself.
She was a beauty. The village of Forestend called her the 'Wood Fairy', and her gentle voice and kindness had charmed strangers and broke hearts for years. Having her violated by outsiders left the people angry, the rapist death left them without a target.
So they turned toward the babe.
The mother knew this of course. She immediately began to campaign for her boy, reaching out to family, repairing relationships, forgiving past slights, making many deals and agreements. Even as a bastard she convinced her father, the boy's grandfather, to allow him to carry the family name, as her family basically was the nobility supporting this outpost. Cánfèi may even eventually inherit the family head position, if he preformed well enough.
Unfortunately, the child made another strike against his future.
He was strange.
Not dangerous, not malicious, no... in fact, if he had terrified people it may have stabilized his situation and given the people an outlet for their feelings.
No, he was quiet. He watched. He listened. Anything and everything had him absorbing information like a sponge. He slept little, and if not reminded he would forget to eat for long periods of time. Thankfully his mother paid attention to his needs carefully, but it was odd.
Odd things were dangerous. They were signs of Martial Spirit attacks, of possible infiltration by demonic Sects, even of some sort of tribulation or worse!
And this child was too calm. Too smart. Too strange.
His mother worked harder. Every moment she was attempting to earn more money for food, to convince children to play with her baby, to earn or borrow learning materials so he could discover more of the world.
As Cánfèi grew, his mother had to make... more distasteful deals. A single mother with little support from her family had to do things to ensure her child could thrive. But she did it all with a smile.
When she died, according to Elder Cho's investigation after, things went bad.
The many deals she made fell apart. The people stopped sending food she had paid for, children avoided the boy despite agreements, resources she had gained were taken away without concern, and oaths that had been sworn were broken. Her unnatural child was no longer a concern now that his talented and attractive mother had passed on.
What resources the child should have had were confiscated by his Grandfather for other children with better family histories.
But the odd child survived.
The village grew... concerned. Possibly some felt guilt, knowing that if they had died the loving mother would have accepted their children with open arms and that honest smile she always wore. Others just saw a child that should have suffered badly without proper care somehow forcing himself to prosper. Either way, the people were watchful.
As the boy lost formal methods of learning, he grew cautious. Sneaky. He would spy on others taking lessons or cultivating, attempt to mix into crowds and convince the slower children to ask questions that no one would bother to answer if it came from the strange child himself. Texts went missing before reappearing elsewhere, food supplies were somehow accessed without a culprit getting caught...
And the child would not die.
He trained, even without the support of a Martial Spirit. While such effort was considered worthless, he insisted on sculpting his body to the extent his age would allow. Without a visible source of income or food, he managed to stay healthy even as his skills at infiltration improved. Almost against their will, the people started to respect someone who could do so much with so little. A few children would spend time with him, a neighbor or two would offer him some leftovers, his Grandfather began to reluctantly send him some basic learning materials.
And then there was the infamous 'Martial Spirit Awakening' ceremony.
Cánfèi's Martial Spirit was broken glass. Trash. Literal trash.
He lost all sympathy. After a few half-hearted attempts to test his 'talent' failed, the concerns about the child escalated. Now, bad things that happened were somehow due to the boy. The village began punishing him in small ways for things they couldn't prove. Food missing? His fault. Tools missing? Why investigate?
That he was ACTUALLY guilty of these things due to how little access to food or resources he had didn't matter.
Staying healthy became harder, staying clean even became an issue as he couldn't risk showing up at public bathing areas without being abused or hassled. His mothers things were taken away, his house was stripped of what little he had left, and even minor injuries became dangerous because getting treatment was no longer a guarantee.
But he would not die.
When the Spirit Beast attacked, even the people he saved claimed that he had drawn the thing into the village due to the bad karma he drew to the village.
When Cánfèi was heavily damaged during the fighting, apparently the village had been relieved. The stain on their people was finally facing his long deserved ending.
And Elder Cho's naive and happy notification of the child's health started a shit storm.
She sighed again, moving another request for the boy's execution to the deny pile and two more exorcism (THEN execution!) requests to another pile.
This was the Burning Sword Sect damn it, they wouldn't slaughter an innocent child to make some traumatized assholes feel better!
What little leverage the Forestend villagers had was already spent quickly as they tried to get a paralyzed child closer to death. Thankfully unsuccessfully. At least a few of Elder Cho's current supporters were doing so ONLY to spite the annoying people who kept bothering others about the issue. Two people even donated to Cánfèi's medical bills out of pure contrariness, which was slightly humorous in a dark way.
She glanced again at the most recent medical notes. NO one had expected the child to have talent. Absolutely no one. But all the medication carefully permitted, the close care, the high quality food and clean water... it had stimulated his Martial Spirit and awoken SOMETHING.
Basic Houtian Realm Warriors wouldn't notice it, and even Peak Tenth Order Xiantian Realms like her had to strain to understand the situation... but the child, not even fully at Initial First Order Houtian Warrior stage, was able to manipulate and somehow refine Flame energy for his own use. Further, he was going through something of a rebirth process similar to the legendary actions of their founder, who was able to explode into flames and reform at full health during his battles at the cost of some of his cultivation base.
This child was going to be a member of her Sect even if she had to bribe the bastard.
She snorted. 'Cánfèi' indeed. A whole village was handed raw gold and they shat on it.
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- Location
- UK
These sect people are odd... Its almost like they are... reasonable.
- Location
- Hell
Weird isnt it?
Normally they would be spouting some stuff about honour power overwhelming! Or other weird stuff.
And here we have a logical caring and responsible sect.
That's rare as hello.
- Location
- St Joe MO
Another great chapter thanks. It almost seems that each chapter just isn't enough and I am always left wanting more. Of course the same is true of Core Threads so that must just mean you are a great FanFic Author. Though shorter your other two stories are quite good too.
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