AI Cultivation: Reborn as a Sword -
Chapter 52: World Eater Breathing Method
Lan Xiaohui’s self-destructive confidence left a good impression on me. I am sure if I had a mood attribute, it would be sky high now. Unfortunately, I do not. My mood is very simple and straight-forward. Either I am hungry, or I am not hungry. And, well, I am always hungry.
I need more Blood Points and Soul Points. But that is not my only hunger. I want knowledge. I want power. I want to see conflict, chaos and mayhem. I have not felt so much entertainment — if it could even be called that — as when Zhao Wei tried to poison my Lan Xiaohui, and her decision not to kill him was even more dramatic.
I wonder why it is this way — this desire to see more of events like this? Perhaps this is what is called life.
Still, whether my sentient soul desires to live or not is ultimately of no concern to me. Beyond the embers of excitement and anticipation I feel, I approach my situation with cold calculation. These things are just distractions. My objective now is to reach the Foundation.
Lan Xiaohui opens her aperture and the flow of Qi falls into her at a rate that is considerably more impressive than before; as if reaching this new realm has allowed her to consume more of the Qi of Heaven and Earth.
By comparison, when my aperture opens it dwarfs hers. The inrush of Qi is so potent that the bubbling hot spring surface begins to revolve around us, as if we are the center of a whirlpool.
Immediately, I feel Lan Xiaohui’s heart waver and tremble, introducing irregularities in the flow of Qi between us.
In all honesty, it surprises me as well, but only marginally. It is the natural consequences of possessing a talent called [World Eater]. Even though I still don’t know what it does, I understand that it allows me the capacity to perform the function of its namesake, even though I cannot divine what that function is. But the mechanics of it are clear to me: My aperture can open wide enough to consume all.
[ Cultivation speed: 3,144 Qi/day. Efficiency: 1,012% ]
Even if I compare this result to my previous attempt, the efficiency numbers still do not match up. It is off by a significant margin for a nearly ten times increase in efficiency. Though I can see that there are many factors that could affect this — such as the environment and the significant change in my “breathing method”.
I turn my attention to my cultivation method, and assess it with the [Critical Analysis] talent. It responds with some useful information that I am now capable of understanding, with the increase in the talent’s grade.
[ Heaven and Earth Qi Rotation ]
[ Internal efficiency factors: Spiritual Roots (145%), Immortal Vessel (360%), World Eater (560%). ]
[ Overall internal efficiency factor: 645% ]
Clearly, this information is incomplete nor do I yet understand it. First of all, the numbers do not match up. Not in my overall efficiency, or the overall internal efficiency factor. Considering that this itself is a factor, there must be more, and I do not yet have the information on them. Second of all, this doesn’t take into account the ambient contributions to efficiency, or from such things like dual cultivation or Alchemy.
Even after all this time, my Dao is not yet deep enough to comprehend how it works. But that is fine. It is like excitement or anticipation. I don’t need to understand it. It works.
It works very well.
I can sense Lan Xiaohui’s rising panic, tempered only by her rising admiration and awe. I can feel her heart dangerously approach closer and closer to regarding me once more as her master or teacher. I find this particularly bothersome, because if I did not have an awakened sentience, she would likely see me as a profoundly exceptional tool.
Maybe one day her Dao will be deep enough to understand that even objects can contain and teach the Dao. They don’t need to have the ability to think.
And on the topic of my ability to think, I decide to coalesce my consciousness into one whole and dedicate my entire focus to breaking through to the Foundation Establishment realm, and forming more than nine pillars in my dantian.
I also mentally prepare myself for being struck by lightning again. I wonder if I should tell Lan Xiaohui to prepare herself as well, or at the very least, not sit inside the pool where she would likely get electrocuted into Blood Points. But on the other hand, being struck by lightning improved my spiritual roots. Maybe it could improve hers too?
I decide against giving her a warning. After all, we are inside a cave. How could lightning possibly strike here? It would be absurd.
Just as that thought crosses my mind, I feel Lan Xiaohui’s heart waver even more. Dark storm clouds begin to form inside the grotto. Even though they are only a few meters in size, and rumbling with thunder, when I look at them through my perception, it is as if they blanket the entire world. This strange anomaly of perspective catches me so off-guard that I feel small and weak compared to those clouds.
And then I feel a new emotion. Anger.
Do you really hate me this much, Heaven?
I make a mental note that the next time I break through, I will bury myself deep underground.
Sword Qi rises off my surface, falling upwards and towards the clouds hovering nearly thirty steps above our heads, glittering in the darkness of the grotto with a profound light. Slowly, they form an umbrella above us, like a myriad of solar panels constructing a Dyson Sphere around a star.
Lan Xiaohui holds me tightly against her chest, and rests her head over my hilt, completely shielding me from the forming storm above my head.
“Don’t worry,” she whispers, but I can hear the fear in her voice. Despite her bravery, I can sense her reluctance, but also the opposing force of conviction. “I will protect you, no matter what.”
I consider telling her that the lightning cannot harm me. My body is a perfect superconductor. The possibility of electrical damage due to waste heat generation is nearly non-existent.
At that very moment, I hit the bottleneck, and the massive amount of Qi revolving inside my body comes to a complete stop as if trying to reverse, and it exerts such a force that my entire body shudders, causing the hot spring to splash and generate large waves.
My very first pillar forms in that instant, rising from the sea of my dantian, and to me, it appears like a shining rod that materializes from nothing, made out of pure, crystallized-solid Qi. As its formation completes, it hums, creating another powerful vibration, and my Qi begins to revolve through my meridians once more.
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