Lin Chu gestured at his stomach. His Proto-Core glowed there, like a heart moving Qi over his meridians. The Qi in it was a blend of two parts purple and one part blue, swirling in a vaguely ominous way.
"This is Cold Soul Vessel Proto-Core, aligned with Death and Water elements and helpful in using them. It also lets me use Death energy of dying to recover my spent Qi, even if I don't actively focus on doing so. This is extremely useful in large-scale battles, and it's mostly thanks to it I have the moniker Soul Collector."
My eyes widened. No wonder Lin Chu looked so relatively fresh even after the recent fight.
"Is this a rare Proto-Core technique, Master? All the other Lin clan cultivators I've seen have different Proto-Cores."
"It's both rare and difficult. It was passed to me by my late mother, Elder Lin Kwan, who helped me understand it. Despite her help, it took me ten years to form the Cold Soul Vessel Proto-Core. Also, when creating a Proto-Core, there's a risk of failing and crippling yourself to stay at the Qi Foundation level for the rest of one's life. And the more complex the Proto-Core, the higher the risk."
"Well, if I understand how to make one Proto-Core, why not make three?" I muttered. I felt that making only one Proto-Core will just bring me back to the basic cultivation other people used. It wasn't the worst, but it was naturally less balanced…
Why should I settle for inferiority when I could have something much greater?
I wished I could remember more of my dreams—names, techniques, the way Qi flowed in people's bodies. That surely would've been useful. I wondered idly if there were people who fully remembered their past lives as cultivators, and if they got an advantage over others because they knew everything they needed about cultivation already.
"Overconfidence is a slow and insidious killer, Disciple! However, there are ways of getting Proto-Cores besides techniques. It's possible to implant a Beast Core, an Artifact Core, or even Proto-Core of another cultivator. Neither of these methods is easy or without its own consequences."
"Either way, you still haven't increased your dantians to their maximum size. Until you do, there won't be enough Qi in them to form a Proto-Core." Lin Chu gestured at my sword. "So return to the Purple Dragon Claw. Considering how grave Fen Kuang's injuries are, you have a couple of weeks to learn it."
"I will, Master. Thousand gratitudes to you for these lessons…"
I was still talking while Lin Chu pulled his flying sword from the sheath on his back and stepped on it. In seconds, he flew off and was gone.
"Yeah, you are not the one for wordy politeness, Master. Oh, well." I turned to an untouched training dummy. "Let's try to do the Purple Dragon Claw technique right at least once today, Yujin."
On my third attempt, the Purple Dragon Claw blade wave hit a dummy. It didn't even cut it in two, but since my Qi was all spent anyway, I finished training for now.
The daylight was still bright, my headache was at manageable levels, and Lin Chu didn't set me up with other tasks.
So I went to the city. In the Lin Manor, the only place to relax available to me was a tavern in the nearby village. In my few weeks of living there, I visited it a few times, alongside with Fu Zhou's grave. It had wine that could make even a cultivator drunk and women who were very knowledgeable and kind as long as I paid them. However, a big city like the Thousand Swallows city surely had much better places to enjoy life in!
Besides, there were some shops I wanted to visit.
I never had the time to actually walk over the Thousand Swallows city, with all the war going on around. The atmosphere of this large human anthill was really pleasurable. People walking around on their business, merchants hawking their goods, brightly painted houses—it was so refreshing.
Lin Manor was a bustling place, but too regimented for my liking. Here, at least, people wore more colors than blue and purple.
Things weren't all great, though. Fugitives argued with locals and begged for alms; soldiers walked over the streets, getting into trouble; thieves used the opportunities given by crowds.
No one dared to steal from me, though—my clothes spoke about my status as a cultivator of the Lin clan clearly enough.
As I approached the more middle-class areas of the city, I saw a pair of street urchins playing on the street. In their careless play, one of them ran into a pedestrian.
The middle-aged man in moderately expensive clothing immediately began shouting at the young boy, who was profusely apologizing and looked like he was about to cry.
No one paid attention to the second urchin, who stole the man's purse and was about to hide in the nearby alley.
I walked past him with the light steps of a ghost, my robes slightly brushing the boy's back—but when he turned around, I wasn't there anymore.
I was walking back to the middle-aged man, who already shooed the other boy—the distraction—away. A pleased smile stretched across my face.
My childhood pickpocketing skills only got better with extra speed and dexterity given by cultivation.
"I think you dropped this, Uncle," I said, offering the man his coin pouch.
"What?! Oh, my purse! Dropped it, you say? Someone must've tried to steal it! How could that—Oh." He took it from my hands and then seemed to realize who I was. The man bowed deeply. "Master, you—I, um, I apologize that you felt like troubling yourself with this trifle matter! Please, let me compensate you for your time and honesty."
He reached into the purse, but I stopped him with a wave of hand and smiled my friendliest smile instead.
Money was nice, but Lin Chu already paid me enough.
"Please, do I look like I need it? If you want to thank me, Uncle, just show me the city. And please, no need to be so awed—I'm simply a lowborn disciple of the Senior Brother Lin Chu, Ru Yujin."
The man bowed again. He was, as expected, was only more awed by the mention of the famed Vice-General of the Lin army. A more helpful shopping partner, I would have a hard time imagining.