Zhao Yao tried to concentrate, but his mind was in scrambles.
'Who exactly was he?' He always felt like he was the writer from Earth, and now after his Master pointed out, he realized it wasn't that simple.
He didn't want to believe his personality was affected by the merging.
Was his Master telling the truth about his reincarnation all the time? Was he really the reincarnation of the Founder Ancestor?
Even though he may have merged with the 'Other' one and inherited the other's pains, memories, and feelings, his way of thinking didn't change. His mind was still that of the writer from Earth.
Zhao Yao started meditating.
Did it matter what he was before?
To the current Zhao Yao, what mattered was the future that was in front of him. That's were his purpose lies.
Zhao Yao realized his purpose in life was the same as the purpose behind the creation of this 500,000-year-old soul.
To be Great.
To become the Great.
To achieve the Great.
As a writer, Zhao Yao could imagine the reason why the Founder Ancestor tweaked his own soul. It's because he failed to reach the realm he wanted.
And hoped his future reincarnation could surpass it with the help of the accumulated soul.
'What was my goal?' Zhao Yao thought as he smiled.
Zhao Yao always wanted to create an Epic story that people love and remember forever. In his whole life on Earth, he strived for it and failed to make an impact.
But this time it was different.
He could create his own story by HIMSELF.
He could create his own story not through his pen but through his own actions.
He wanted to make an Epic Legend of himself.
One that the people of the land will revere and talk about for generations.
He wanted to be a Legend.
Zhao Yao felt like his heart started beating louder.
"Lub Dub."
It was like an engine had started inside him.
"Lub Dub. Lub Dub. Lub Dub."
Zhao Yao felt like hundreds of heart bumped inside him.
He was able to sense his own soul.
It was deep and layered that he couldn't see through. He couldn't see through it.
But, Zhao Yao felt comfortable like never before.
"This is the beginning of the Legendary Zhao Yao."
Zhao Yao was grinning imagining his great future adventures and exploits.
"That's enough dreaming, start using your soul to sense the Qi."
He heard his Master speak to him through his mind.
Zhao Yao snapped out and started concentrating.
He remembered what he learned from his memories and what his Master told him.
Qi was everywhere in the World, and he needed to carefully harvest them.
He tried to sense them.
And this time, his soul aided him with the temperature vision he saw before when he tried to remember what happened after Zhao Ping gave him aphrodisiac.
It wasn't the temperature, he was sensing. He was sensing Qi all along. That was why Zhao Ping had a brighter color.
He sensed the Qi in the room, and it was abundant. It was almost as bright as Zhao Ping's body.
'Did my Master gather the Qi for me?' He couldn't help doubt.
'Wait. How does Master look?'
Zhao Yao tried to extend his sense and eventually succeeded. But...
'How?'
His Master didn't have much Qi in his body. It was like he was weaker than Zhao Bo.
Even the Merry beside him was brighter.
Zhao Yao wasn't an idiot. He understood that his Master could control how he appears to other's senses.
"Spying on your own Master, huh?" He heard Master Lu speak and saw his Master's Qi disappear completely.
He couldn't sense a single trace on his Master.
"Haha. Yao'er, I will tell you something. If you see someone you think is in higher realms, don't use your sense on them, or..." As his Master spoke, his Qi reappeared and got brighter with each passing second.
It was like a sun had appeared beside him.
Zhao Yao started sweating, and his heart started to beat erratically.
"Yes, Master."
With his acknowledgment, his Master's Qi turned back to the initial state.
"You are a clever kid, guess what will happen. Now, stop wasting your time and make use of the Qi I gathered here." Immortal Lu scolded.
Zhao Yao realized that if he used his senses without caution on someone powerful, his senses could get blind, and he could even die from it.
Zhao Yao didn't delay and started focusing on his cultivation. He had to beat Zhao Ping in the Selection Contest. This cousin of his was a renowned 8th Qi Layer Martial Artist.
Zhao Yao knew it won't be easy beating him with 5 days of cultivation. But he also knew that with his Master's help, he could breakthrough levels like he was taking an elevator.
'Zhao Ping, wait for your ass-kicking.'
Zhao Yao used the 'Eternal Seeker' technique to attract the Qi he sensed to his body. It was slow but steady.
He controlled the Qi into a thread and slowly made it enter his body. It was more like electricity as he felt the tingles and numbness in his body where it passed through.
According to the technique his Master gave him, he had to connect the Qi into one part of his body. As a veteran cultivation novelist, Zhao Yao chose his dantian.
Cultivating in real gave him a different feeling than all the time he wrote them.
After successfully connecting, all his Master's technique asked of him was to visualize something.
'It didn't matter what you visualize, as long as its something with repetitive motion and accumulating nature.'
He considered bricklaying or Tetris building but eventually decided to stick with making a ball.
Instead of laying, where he had to give full focus to prevent gaps, he could just rotate and tighten it carefully.
Zhao Yao liked ball making as well. He had a childhood where he didn't have money to buy a ball. Making balls from thrown out rubber bands and used balloons was something that he always fondly remember.
He knew how to make a yarn ball. He considered himself a professional.
Rotating with great care, Zhao Yao started building his Qi ball.
The technique asked him to visualize until he saw most of the structure he build disappear.
He didn't know how long he spent making the ball.
It was mentally exhausting. Many times he wanted to take a break.
'Don't get discouraged, take your time, and build carefully. Think of a big number, and imagine that you had to do that much repetition to breakthrough. At first, the big number might scare you, but that number always helps you work forward.' His Master whispered to his mind, even he was afraid of breaking Zhao Yao's concentration.
'A number?' Zhao Yao thought of 10,000 and started making the ball with much more focus.
************
It was harder than Zhao Yao thought.
As the Qi ball got bigger, the rotation became harder to make. He had to be extra careful to not cause any error due to hastiness.
Zhao Yao was so focused that he was fully immersed in his cultivation unaffected by time.
In his mind, the ball he created looked perfect. Bigger than his fist, it looked like a machine made Yarn Ball.
He kept making the ball larger.
'Who was he?'
Zhao Yao was someone who wrote five novels at the same time. He was someone who never gives up once he set his mind on something.
Zhao Yao was working towards 10,000 rotations, but he lost count after awhile.
As Zhao Yao was about to tightly make one more rotation, he suddenly felt a wave of energy flowing through his body.
"Did I breakthrough?" Zhao Yao excitedly looked at the ball he built and it was much smaller, a size of a pebble.
Zhao Yao cut the thread from outside and opened his eyes.
"Congratulations, my disciple. You have successfully become a cultivator." He saw his Master in front of him with a smile.
"Thank You, Master." Zhao Yao stood up.
His body felt sore, but he felt energetic.
Zhao Yao felt that he became a different person. He felt his body became much stronger than before, and he felt great.
'If 1st level Qi Gathering feels this way, what will the higher realms feel like.'
Zhao Yao took a deep breath and tried to channel his Qi.
"The amount of Qi you have is 3 times more than a normal person. Your soul is very useful."
Master Lu said as he offered a plate with food for him to eat.
"Is it?" Zhao Yao smiled, happily.
The daylight in the room signified his new beginning. But he was short on time.
"Master, eating can wait. I need to breakthrough more levels." Zhao Yao sat back, ready to cultivate. "With my 3times Qi capacity, as long as I break through to level 4 or 5 Qi Gathering, I should be able to beat Zhao Ping."
"Don't be hasty, Yao'er." His Master warned.
"I know Master, But I only 4 days to do this." Zhao Yao knew he was short of time, so he tried to convince his Master.
"4 days?"
"Yes." Zhao Yao confirmed.
"Yao'er. I want you to know that you spent cultivating for 2 days and 3 nights." Immortal Lu calmly said.
"WHHHHAAAATTTT?"
"Yao'er calm down. It's almost evening now, so you probably only have 2 nights and 1 more day to the contest." Immortal Lu explained.
"Only 2 nights?" Zhao Yao sat with his eyes wide open. How was he going to defeat Zhao Ping this way? There was no way he could do it.
'Damn your "Snail" technique, Master.'
Zhao Yao was in a crunch.
The only way left to him was his Scheming mind. After all, he was a Master Plotter.