"Is it that easy to cultivate?"
He had broken through to the late stage of body refining not too long ago, from what he had seen of cultivation it should not be this easy to climb through the stages.
"Body refining is not truly cultivation it's merely a prerequisite to achieving QI condensation which is the true first step on to cultivation."
She grabbed a shining pill out of thin air it was as if she had plucked it out of nothingness itself.
"This is a QI sensing pill, it will temporarily increase your ability to sense QI and guide it into your body."
"Qi sensing?" Zhishi Wu thought to himself as he grabbed the pill, he was familiar with some Taoist concepts from his previous world but he was unsure if they would be the same here.
"Can you really make things appear out of nothingness?" he was curious to see the mechanism behind this sorcery.
"I merely snatched this pill off the dead body of the prince, I don't usually carry garbage."
"..."
"That didn't really answer my question." he thought to himself.
This time as he took the pill he was prepared to feel some sort of immense pain but surprisingly the first few seconds were completely stale he felt almost no change.
"This pill doesn't wo-"
He stopped mid-sentence as he began to see the effects manifest, he started to see traces of that aura that he had seen from the tiger and Goldilocks everywhere, the air held a surreal glow, something started to emanate from the fire, even the ground he was sitting on started to showcase the same aura.
"You are beginning to see QI within your surroundings, stay calm and take it all in."
Zhishi Wu was far too immersed in this new feeling to hear anything Goldilocks was saying. The Qi was the main focus of his attention and forced him to zone out, it was akin to a child opening its eyes for the first time and seeing the brilliant visuals of color.
Just when he was basking in awe of Qi , he suddenly started to feel his head explode like someone had split it open.
"UHH!"
He keeled over and fell onto the floor clutching his head yet rather than close his eyes to remove the stimuli he continued to look at the Qi in his surroundings.
"You're suffering from something, it seems you did not need this pill to begin with." Goldilocks continued to sit by the campfire and made keen observations about the situation.
She threw some more wood into the fire.
"Now it's just a matter of your tenacity and will power."
Zhishi Wu didn't hear anything she was saying and continued to direct the Qi into his body, the mysterious energy flowed into his very veins and arteries, he felt like he was a junkie that was getting his high off some drug.
"I can feel it, this goes beyond satiating me, I'm not sure how to describe it, I feel like a phone that was dead gaining an insane burst of electricity." he was thinking of ways to understand the phenomenon but couldn't quite put a finger on it.
Finally, he achieved terminal capacity and felt like if he took in any more Qi he would explode.
"It's time, now you tell it that you do not require any more, make your intentions clear."
Zhishi Wu tried to follow the instructions, he slowly sat up in a lotus position and attempted to communicate with the energy via his intent, he could feel the energy wasn't sentient but it wasn't inanimate either, it existed on the boundary.
As the energy slowly stopped rushing into him, he opened his eyes and saw the previously raging energy had settled down and was more akin to colors that lined his surroundings.
"This is truly interesting." he said as he let out a sigh.
"Straight into the middle stage of Qi condensation, did you have an epiphany or something during your breakthrough?" Goldilocks asked as she sized him up
"I, I'm not sure." he clenched his fist and didn't feel much different, he always felt the change in power with his previous breakthroughs but this didn't have any obvious differences.
"Don't expect to speed through stages like you have so far, this initial head start was to honor the deal I had with you, which was to put you forward on to the path of cultivation." Goldilocks stood up as she spoke.
"That's enough theoretical talk, now it's time to whip you into shape." she walked over to Zhishi Wu with a somewhat concerning smirk.
"Is this part of the deal optional?" Zhishi Wu asked as he slowly backed up only to find himself pushed up against the wall of the cave.
…
CRASH!
A precious vase worth hundreds of gold coins smashed against the wooden wall of the secluded building.
"YOU INCOMPETENT BASTARD! I LEAVE ONE SIMPLE TASK TO YOU AND YOU CAN'T COMPLETE IT, ARE YOU A FOOL?"
An man that looked to be in his 40's starred down Bai Wushi as he stood in front of him.
"Father I-"
SMACK!
Bai Wushi an existence that was said to be one of the peak levels of power across the entire sub continent was actually smacked across his face.
"You dare make excuses, it was a simple mortal kingdom, how can I trust you to manage the sect when you can't even deal with a single mortal kingdom."
The old man was dressed in clothes similar to Bai Wushi adorned with robes decorated with inscriptions of flame.
Bai Wushi kneeled on one knee "I understand my incompetence, I understand that the nation would have been a good trading chip for life extending pills. But I don't understand why this has you so upset, I can procure pills in other ways the kingdom was just one of them."
His father looked down on the ground trying to calm his fury while letting out a huge sigh.
"Do you really think I would risk annihilation of our sect for a measly mortal kingdom, you're hopeless."
Bai Wushi eyes widened but he did not let his father see that, he was a sect leader respected across the lands and yet this man had the audacity to act out in front of him, he had to take it however he was the weaker one in this situation.
"The person in charge of that kingdom has the potential to resonate with their bloodline and enter their ancestral grounds, if we had been in control of the current monarch we would have been able to see it."
"See it?"
The old man stood up and walked towards the glistening pond he had behind him as he stared into the water where a carp was swimming.
"The ability to turn a carp into a dragon."
"Old man, don't speak in riddles to act wise." Bai Wushi thought while rolling his eyes.
"Find that child and offer it to the queen of Tianchi as compensation."
"It shall be done father." Bai Wushi stood up and left the wooden house quickly.
"AND LIFT THAT RAIN SUPPRESSING FORMATION!" the old man grumbled as he sat into a lotus position
…
"Prince Zu- Inner disciple Zumo it seems your friend little Chen was not as competent as you thought he was." A woman sitting behind a veil spoke to the former prince who was standing opposite to her.
"Indeed, I am disappointed I even made sure our martyr was at most initial stage of body tempering." he said as he rubbed his chin to make it seem like he was thinking.
"Is this amusing to you?" The woman's voice carried a trace of power in it, the pressure from the voice forced the prince to kneel.
"Not at all your highness, sect leader, matriarch, lordship. I merely stated the facts. Although in terms of alternative explanations you may chalk it up to a third party that helped that boy escape."
The woman behind the veil didn't speak.
"Very well since you love to flaunt your intellect I'll assign you the task of finding that child and delivering him to me, once he is here all his secrets shall be revealed."
Zumo Tian slowly started to walk backwards. "I'm sure you don't want a Qi condensation disciple doing this alone."
He abruptly stopped when he bumped into an invisible wall behind him, it was composed of Qi.
"Of course not, you will be accompanied by sect elders and they will make sure you have no time for nightly activities while you are assigned this mission." there was a tone of mockery within her voice
Zumo Tian fell to his knees and spoke.
"This injustice shall not be forgotten!"
"Take him and have him start his duties tomorrow morning." The woman behind the veil spoke to the guards standing on the opposite side of the hall.
"Is there really no room for negotiation?" he said as he was dragged across the hall.
"Option one you do this, option two I dispose of a useless fool."
"I will hunt this damned bastard to the end of the world." Zumo Tian stood up and ran out of the hall quickly.
Another woman wearing a thin white robed appeared out of nowhere.
"Is he really worth so much trouble, dispatching elders to hunt him."
"4 people in a room, a QI condensation cultivator, two peak body refiners and one child at the initial stage of body refining. The child is the only one that leaves."
…
A week had passed since Zhishi Wu had become a fugitive and the entire nation of Tianchi as well as various sects had gone crazy from looking for him.
"OK just like we practiced." Goldilocks and Zhishi Wu were floating 50 meters off the ground by their cave.
"I'll drop you and you try not to die." She spoke with a gleaming smile on her face.
"Can we rethink thi- AHHHH."