"Qi is truly miraculous." Zhishi Wu looked at all of his extremities and made sure none of them were harmed in the fall
Goldilocks slowly descended from the sky in an elegant fashion and looked at him with a curious expression.
"That's weird I expected you to break at least one arm, it seems you might be worth the effort after all."
"You actually dropped me assuming I'd break one arm!" He was considering if he should have taken his chances with the princess instead.
He had spent the entire week learning how to utilize his Qi properly and the basis of it was weaponizing it as an auxiliary force during combat, he realized the Qi was used as a force to amplify his power, pushing things like his strength and speed to greater heights.
He also learned that when you reach the late stage of Qi condensation you'll be able to integrate Qi into more complex areas of your body even being able to speed up mental processes via Qi.
"It seems you have an idea of the basics at this point."
Zhishi Wu walked up to a nearby tree and put his palm on it.
"I need to channel Qi into this tree until it shatters." He said as he sent Qi rushing out of his body and into the tree.
The tree violently exploded as if someone had struck it with dynamite.
Goldilocks's had a slightly surprised expression.
"This ingenuity is exactly what I will require in the future."
She started to walk towards Zhishi Wu and tossed something to him.
"This is a storage ring, It has some items that will help you cultivate in the future you can access it after reaching the foundation establishment stage." she explained with a slight smile.
Zhishi Wu nodded his head to communicate his appreciation.
"I'm grateful for all your assistance, I will be sure to repay you." He cupped his fist and looked her in the eyes.
He handed her a notebook.
"I remember that you liked stories, I've written a few here."
She held the book for a moment before it vanished, Zhishi Wu was looking around awkwardly he was never great at saying goodbye and despite his relatively long life on earth he spent much of his time traveling, he was never able to build a lasting bond with someone.
"I'll read them and critique them harshly." She said with a strict tone before letting out a small laugh.
"Once you feel like you have accomplished everything you want on this small island come to the mainland and find me, I'll see you there, and make sure you watch out for snakes."
She waved her hand and the space in front of her split into two.
"This is void walking, I'll tell you about it when you come see me." She walked through the tear and it closed behind her.
"..." Zhishi Wu was amazed, the moment he felt as though he had a grasp on this world he would be surprised again and again.
"Did she just leave me on a cliffhanger? And what was that about snakes? Forget it, I probably need to grab some sort of mask to cover my face before leaving this place."
He said as he picked up pieces of the tree he had just shattered.
…
In a small village at the base of the mountain within a hut built out of bamboo a sense of hopelessness filled the room.
"Please there must be something you can, I've already asked three different physicians."
A young man dressed in ragged clothing was pleading to a physician at his side, the physician was middle aged and wore a green robe.
"Forgive me for my incompetence Gu Yun." the physician quickly left, In his mind he wasn't truly sorry, he was afraid that whatever disease the child had was contagious.
On the bed within the hut a 7-year child lay with a burning fever and scarlet rashes all over his throat.
"Little Gu, you have run out of options, go up the mountain with my grandchild and seek the sage." An old lady who walked into the hut suddenly spoke.
"Mother, how can I risk my son's life on some story." The man held his head with both his hands and looked down at the ground.
The old lady walked over to him and put a hand on his back.
"Child, if the sage does not appear to save your son then he simply was fated with a shorter life. At least with this he'll have a chance to live."
The man contemplated his choices and decided to listen to his mother, he wrapped his child in a blanket and began to walk through the mountain.
"Little Liu don't worry, I'm sure we'll be able to find the sage on this mountain."
The man climbed the mountain through sheer tenacity hours flew by and he had to set up camp for the night.
He stayed awake while he rested and watched his son who was still sleeping. The exhaustion had taken its toll on him when suddenly he heard something, he instantly stood up and was snapped out of his groggy state.
He scanned the area and looked around for any dangers but to his surprise there was nothing there.
A voice deep in the forest spoke voicelessly as if it was speaking yet no one could hear.
"A test of character, how convenient."
The morning arose once more and the man picked up his child he continued to trek through the first going through muddy areas, poisonous areas and even areas infested with beasts, until he saw it.
A man wearing a grey robe with a wooden mask that had serpent like features on it with a black and grey color scheme, his skin had a glow that seemed almost ethereal there was no way that this man was a mortal.
Gu Yu who had journeyed through the forest without sleep came to a optimistic conclusion and instantly kneeled in front of him.
"I greet the great sage of Kunlun mountain."
"...." Zhishi Wu was unsure of how to respond he had come here to hunt some food before leaving but now he was actually faced with a man who had a child on his back who also addressed him as a great sage of Kunlun mountain.
"Please great sage I beg you, cure my child I fear he may not live long." the man kneeled a second time nearly splitting open his head.
"Show him to me." Zhishi Wu spoke in the most sagely voice he could think of, although he did have sympathy for the man he wasn't doing this for free, he was going to get information out of this, or at least that's what he told himself.
The man laid down his child and unwrapped the blanket while Zhishi Wu assessed him.
"Scarlet rashes and a fever, isn't this an infection." Zhishi Wu remembered the symptoms from his previous life, this was a simple case of scarlet fever.
The only issue was there were no antibiotics in this world, or at least what he knew of it.
"Think, Think!" He yelled at himself internally, and then it hit him, Goldilocks had taught him that Qi has had medicinal usage since the beginning of time itself.
He closed his eyes and begun focusing on the child it was going to be a difficult process but he had an idea of how to cure him, he was able to weaponize Qi by telling it to explode, what if he was able to weaponize Qi but specifically against the infection within the child's body.
"Slowly flow out and cover the child's body." He internally instructed the Qi and it moved as he said and sat there.
"Now slowly move into his body and purge foreign substances." he had formed mental images of what wasn't foreign such as the structure of cells and then instructed the Qi to get rid of anything that didn't fit that criteria.
This process required an incredible amount of concentration and he began to sweat under his mask, but as the seconds passed by the redness on the boy's neck faded and the fever decreased until he woke up.
"D-Dad?" he said in a groggy voice as he gained consciousness.
Gu Yun had tears of joy in his eyes as he hugged his child.
"You're squeezing too tight." the child struggled in his grasp.
Zhishi Wu gazed at the scene and tried to remember his parents but unfortunately he had no pleasant memories like that to speak of, internally he felt a sense of envy but it was fleeting.
Gu Yun turned to face Zhishi Wu and kneeled for a third time.
"I am eternally grateful to the sage."
Zhishi Wu wanted to ask him some questions but was unsure of how to present them in a sagely manner so he took a roundabout way of phrasing them.
"I feel that the world is shifting, what say you young one?" he cringed internally but was unable to act on it.
"Change, I guess there is the fact that the magistrate has decided to go to war with the neighboring county, but I probably can't comprehend the change you speak of great Sage." Gu Yun spoke with his head still bowed.
"COUNTIES?? DID GOLDILOCKS REALLY TOSS ME INTO THE MOST UNSTABLE PART OF THIS SUBCONTINENT??!!" Zhishi Wu instantly vanished from the man's side and appeared in a tree far away.
The kingdom of Tianchi didn't have counties, nor did the Amman kingdom and the sects definitely did not, meaning that he had ended up in the middle of the proverbial wasteland of the sub continent, the eastern kingdom that did not even have a name at the moment.
He sat down on the branch and started to talk to himself "This sage identity might be useful."
As he thought about ways to utilize said identity he felt a cold breath behind his back and the air suddenly became stale, before he could turn around he heard an ancient voice that sounded incredibly terrifying speak very slowly.
"A sage you sssay."