Chapter 36: Info Dump // Rivalry
Meixiang was emitting a faint green aura, the colour of aura that only those who reached the Core Formation stage could emit.
For the body tempering stage, there was no aura. For Qi formation, the cultivator was able to emit a faint yellow aura.
It is said that the aura they were emitting was "Qi", but for those who had reached the Qi foundation stage, they could only use the qi to reinforce their physical attacks.
For cultivators in the Core formation stage, Qi becomes more volatile and maleable, but at best, they could only use it to transform their aura and inflict little to a large amount of damage depending on the level of the stage they were at.
By extending the aura, it meant that the aura was able to incorporate a martial technique with the characteristics of beasts.
It is said that beasts are the closest beings to nature, which in turn is closest to Heavenly creation. Though there are plenty of martial techniques that do not use beasts as a reference.
There were some that used other characteristics of nature such as trees, plants, mountains, bodies of water, and even the characteristics of humanity itself.
One example of this is Tang Xiurong's martial technique. With her characteristic of an Empress, she was able to make a supreme martial art.
However these martial techniques are very, very rare, and most cultivators end up using beasts because of how difficult it is to make a stable and powerful technique that involves a nature other than beasts.
Which was why Tang Xiurong only completed the Supreme technique when she became one of the top Immortal Experts in the Immortal realm. After that, she began her conquest and along with it was her accomplished supreme martial art which was [Empress' Conquest].
For martial arts, there are also different grades namely; Basic, Intermediate, Unique, Supreme, and lastly was Godly.
Most cultivators in the Xianxia world only had basic grade martial arts. Intermediate grades were highly sought out while Unique grades were considered as national treasures.
Supreme grade techniques were myths and as for Godly? Only a few cultivators had been able to show such prowess, and even then, they were all Immortals who stood at the top of their generations.
According to Tang Xiurong, most Immortals in the Immortal realm suffer from the same problem. While most Immortals had Intermediate and Unique grade techniques, only those who had deep and strong backgrounds could have a Supreme martial arts.
Basically, positions such as Young Master or Mistress of a great family, Head Clan of a Sect, and many more varieties of special positions in a group or sect were qualified to learn Supreme martial arts.
In short Supreme martial arts were very, very valuable, and Godly techniques were myths in the Immortal realm.
Moving on, In every cultivation stage there were three levels namely: Infant level, Middle level, and Peak level.
What divided each stage was that each stage increased in the amount of Qi that they can gather, which is very similar to the level of mana circle mages had.
The Infant level was 20%, Middle level was 50%, and Peak level was 100%.
The difference is that the mana circles of mages continuously grew at each level meanwhile cultivators reset whenever they reach the next cultivation stage and replace their Qi with an even better quality.
So basically, if a Peak level (100% capacity) Qi foundation breaks through the Core formation stage, then they would be at Infant level (20% capacity) Core formation stage.
That was what it meant when cultivators would reset to the Infant level when they breakthrough the next cultivation stage.
(A/N: If this didn't make any sense then I just really suck at explaining things. Just comment any questions or clarifications and I will be sure to reply.)
Back to the present, Zed, Jingfei, and Lan'er stared at Meixiang in amazement.
Reaching the Core Formation stage at 14? Meixiang was truly the prodigious genius of the era in the Xianxia World.
Noticing the black mucus-like substance that spread across his bed, Zed's attention drew to it.
'This is...'
After examining it for a little while, he immediately recognized that it was the very same contaminated mana he had removed from his brain.
Not wasting another second, he asked Meixiang about it.
"Meixiang, did this stuff come out of you?"
The celebrating girls stopped as Meixiang turned to answer Zed's question.
"Yes. To be precise, we call this liquid [Impurity]. Whenever a cultivator breaks through the next stage, their body is refined by Qi and the impurities will be expelled from the body... resulting in this."
She grimaced while looking around at the mess she had made.
The smell was unpleasant so all of them took a bath first thing in the morning. Zed became preoccupied with his own thoughts and even forgot to cover his eyes, not that any of the girls reminded him to do so.
Within the bathtub, Zed was brainstorming about the impurity that Meixiang had mentioned. He wondered what the difference was between the impurity he had compared to the impurity a cultivator had.
'This impurity thing... it was a negative condition to me, but it doesn't seem to affect cultivators in any way.'
'They simply state that their body improves as if the impurity was in their body in the first place…'
'If so, where does that leave me, a mage? Why did the impurity only appear after absorbing someone else's main circuit, and did this impurity substance exist back in my world?'
Zed was left with multiple questions, but very few answers, with some, he just came up with a conjecture of his own.
"Hello? Zixin?"
Only when Meixiang stood directly in front of him did Zed snap out of his thoughts. He finally realized where he was and immediately shut his eyes closed.
However, the image in his mind had already been recorded making him remember that Meixiang was rather well developed in the chest area.
Zed had never noticed it, nor was he interested about it, but now that he had seen the budding peaches, his mind grew erratic despite the way he felt.
And so... He escaped.
'Evil thoughts begone. Evil thoughts begone. She is a child. She is a child. Evil thoughts begone. Evil thoughts..'
His mind became comparable to buddhists attempting to achieve nirvana, Zed wanted to clear his mind.
He would never allow himself to feel anything, even the slightest indecent feeling towards a person he respected as well as a person he considered his family.
With that said, he abruptly exited the bathroom.
Lan'er and Jingfei glared discontently at Meixiang.
"Sister Mei! Why did you have to wake him up from his thoughts!"
"I agree with Lan'er, I finally had the chance to reveal my entirety to brother Xin..."
Meixiang didn't step back as she reproached with the same fire.
"You two should be ashamed of yourselves! You ought to take care of yourselves more especially since both of you are growing ladies!"
Lan'er shouts, "It's precisely because we're growing that we're taking the time to enjoy our brother's company now!"
The bathroom grew quiet while Meixiang and Jingfei listened to Lan'er's outburst.
"I know... I know that we will grow up to become adults in the future, and... we will not be able to spend time together like this anymore…"
"Brother is clearly drawing a line with me and I will only trouble him further if I keep remaining stubborn about it."
Her lips slightly trembled as she continued. "Brother... brother is trying his best to raise us. He wants us to grow independent of him, but... I hate it... And!"
She looked at Jingfei and Meixiang in the eyes. "Brother says that all he ever wanted for me was to grow up to be a strong, independent woman, and I plan on becoming one."
"I want to become a woman strong enough to protect brother. I want to be a woman worthy of him."
"However.."
Lan'er grimaced and sighed. "My time as a child is limited and I will soon grow up to become a youth."
"Which also means... I will never be able to spend my time with my brother like this again."
"His body is growing.. my body is also growing and pretty soon, we will become a man and a woman. As such, we won't be able to do simple things anymore, such as bathing together or sleeping together."
Lan'er understood this very well, and although she hated it, she can do nothing in front of an inevitable force such as time.
So at the very least, she wanted to savour every moment of childhood she had with her brother, especially now that she was about to become a youth.
And soon after that, an adult.
She dreaded the thought of not being able to spend intimate time with her brother anymore, but... she aimed to become the woman who would wed her brother.
The only reason she was able to accept the way things were, was because she thought that in the future, when she was strong enough so that no one could bother them, she could then spend more intimate moments with her brother as his wife.
She even looked forward to making a family with him one day.
In other words... Xue Ruolan wasn't just a simple girl with a brother complex, but had an ultra hardcore brother complex.
And this was once again, made clear to Jingfei and Meixiang.
The rivalry in their hearts ignited as they all aimed for the same person.
Meixiang realized that Lan'er wasn't simply acting spoiled. How could she? Lan'er was, after all, one of the smartest people she knew.
As it turned out, she was making the most of the little time she had left in her childhood before entering her teens.
Meixiang thought that Lan'er was indeed a worthy rival in terms of both talent and with the person they both liked.
As for Jingfei, she noticed the crackling thunder between Meixiang and Lan'er.
Jingfei maintained a simple and innocent smile, as she knew that her sisters weren't properly setting her in their sights.
She had no problem being underestimated. In fact, she was grateful for it. Jingfei planned on taking full advantage of their underestimation and hid her real capabilities.
So one day... they wouldn't know what had hit them.
Jingfei was thinking in terms of both personal strength and Zixin's heart.
Tang Xiurong who had been watching since the very start, nodded her head in approval of their healthy rivalry.
Life is more fun when you have true friends to accompany you on your journey.
(E/N: More like fellow harem members…)
-
Meanwhile, Zed focused on making breakfast while deciding to put off the issue with impurities to a later date.
He would observe Lan'er, Fei'er, and Meixiang's breakthroughs for now and see the connection between their impurities.
How it exactly expelled from the body and where it directly came from.
'Was it from the bone marrow or the blood cholesterol?' Zed was hoping to find out the source.
On the other hand, cultivation was becoming more and more appealing to him. He was curious to see what it exactly meant to become a cultivator who pursued eternity.
As he was thinking so, the three girls exited the bath with a strange yet determined atmosphere.
Zed didn't mention anything and proceeded to prepare plates on the dinner table.
However, he and Meixiang accidentally made eye contact, resulting in Zed's memory of her body flashing in his mind.
He practically spent his entire previous life as a dedicated scientist so he had no time to get close or even get to know any women.
Which was why he had no friends, family, or a wife.
Zed immediately withdrew his gaze albeit weirdly before continuing what he was doing, not knowing the fact that his face and ears were flushed.
Meixiang felt slightly shy but giggled as soon as she saw Zed's reaction.
'Finally..' Zed was finally acting his age and was seeing her as a member of the opposite sex.
Although Zed was very caring and affectionate to someone he considered his family, it was vexing for Meixiang since she wanted the other person to see her as a love interest and not remain as his best friend or sister.
Jingfei and especially Lan'er were suffering from the same situation.
Thud.
Meixiang was brought back from her thoughts when Lan'er kicked her beneath the table with a sulking expression.
"What was that about taking more care of our bodies? You hypocrite!"
Meixiang decides to play the fool and responded. "What are you talking about?"
"Tsk!"
Lan'er becomes frustrated as she realized that even if she did the same actions, it wouldn't affect her brother since he had seen her body since she was a baby.
So he would most likely never be able to see her in that way. Which is why she was very jealous of Meixiang and Jingfei.
"Sly... sister Mei is sly..." Jingfei mutters to herself.
"What's wrong with you three?" Zed asked as he placed down the last dish.
"""Nothing."""
All three girls answered simultaneously.
"O...kay?"
Thinking it was something only girls would understand things, Zed decided to not mention it and take his seat.
After enjoying the delicious breakfast accredited to Zed conjuring seasonings, the day went on while celebrating Meixiang's successful breakthrough.
Edited By: WorthyAdversary