The next morning, the trio sat around a small campfire, finishing off the last of their breakfast while Che Fu tended to the horses. Morning mist still clung to the air, and the soft light of the sun filtered through the trees, casting a warm glow over their camp. Liang Wu stretched, feeling content after another of Daiyu's excellent meals, which were just what he needed after a long night of cultivation.
"Well, that hit the spot," he said with a satisfied burp, patting his stomach. "But there's something I need to ask you, Daiyu."
Daiyu looked up from her spot near the fire, her head tilting slightly in curiosity. "What is it, Master?"
"I want to see your Status Screen," Liang Wu said, his voice casual but direct. "I'm curious about your physique."
Daiyu's eyes widened. She hesitated, glancing down towards the hem of her robes. However, two twin peaks blocked her view, and she began fidgeting with her sleeves. "My… Status Screen?" Her voice was soft, with a not-so-subtle hint of shyness. "I've never shown it to anyone before… It's embarrassing."
Daiyu's heart raced as she spoke. She had always felt conflicted about her physique— she knew it was powerful, yet it held her back in the most frustrating way. The idea of revealing it to Liang Wu, especially after he'd taken her in as his maid, felt terrible. What if he judged her?
Chen Li Li, sitting beside them and sipping tea, cringed slightly at the sickeningly sweet tone Daiyu used when addressing Liang Wu. No matter how long they traveled together, she still hadn't gotten used to the affectionate way Daiyu acted around him.
Liang Wu's expression softened. "There's no need to be embarrassed. You're now this god's personal maid and a disciple of my sect. I'll make sure you become one of the most powerful beings in the world."
"I don't need to be powerful, as long as I can stay by your side," Daiyu mumbled, her voice barely above a whisper.
Liang Wu's sharp ears picked up on her words. He straightened up, his tone turning more serious. "If you want to stay at my side, you'll need to become powerful." He paused, watching her reaction carefully. "Let me be clear—I'm injured right now, but once I recover, my goal is to regain my powers and find out what's gone wrong with my true body. If you can't keep up with me, I'll have no choice but to leave you behind."
"There he goes bragging again." Chen Li Li muttered from the side.
Daiyu's eyes shimmered with unshed tears at the thought of being left behind. She glanced at Chen Li Li, who was pointedly ignoring the conversation but seemed more interested than she let on. After a long moment, Daiyu sighed and nodded. "Alright… but please don't laugh."
With a slight wave of her hand, a translucent screen appeared before her, shimmering with a soft, blue light. Both Liang Wu and Chen Li Li leaned in to examine it.
Status Screen
Name: Liu Daiyu
Nickname: None
(Yu Ling's Comment: We should call ourselves Jade Beauty!)
Cultivation Realm: Qi Forming (1st Stage)
Level: 2 (5/200 EXP)
Skills: Cooking (Mastered) | Steel Hand (Human-Grade)
Physique: Heaven's Might (Heavenly Immortal-Grade)
Currency: 10 Qi Stones & 1.5 Gold
Liang Wu's gaze immediately landed on her physique. "Heaven's Might Physique, huh? That's impressive."
He scanned the rest of her Status Screen, pausing at the comment from her System Helper, Yu Ling. He let out a small chuckle. "Yu Ling is right—'Jade Beauty' would be a fitting nickname."
Daiyu's cheeks flushed, and she quickly looked away. "Everyone says the nickname function is cringy, though…"
"Urk!" Liang Wu winced. He wanted to deny it, but after traveling with these girls for the past few days, he was beginning to see just how out of touch some of his ideas were.
After spending hundreds of years cooped up in his domain, playing games and reading novels from Earth, he hadn't interacted with anyone in ages. Now that he was back in the real world, the realization that he may have gone a little crazy was slowly dawning on him. But that didn't mean he planned on changing anytime soon.
Chen Li Li leaned closer, squinting at the screen. "What's so special about this physique?" she asked.
Liang Wu nodded toward the Status Screen. "Heaven's Might Physique grants unparalleled physical strength. It's highly coveted by body cultivators. If Daiyu announced her physique to the world, body cultivators would be fighting each other to take her in as a disciple. However, it comes with a downside—Qi gathering is painfully slow. That's why she hasn't progressed much."
Daiyu looked down, her shoulders slumping. "It's true… no matter how hard I try, I can't seem to gather enough Qi."
Liang Wu's eyes glinted with excitement. "That is because your physical body is too powerful, so Qi has trouble flowing through your meridians. But don't worry, I've got just the thing for you." He sat up straighter, his tone growing serious. "I'll teach you a God-Grade Qi Absorption Technique. It's a cultivation method designed to allow the user to absorb almost infinite amounts of Qi, but there's a catch—it normally weakens physical strength."
Daiyu's head snapped up. "Wouldn't that be bad for me?"
Liang Wu shook his head. "Not for someone with the Heaven's Might Physique. The downside of the technique won't affect you at all. In fact, it'll be the perfect balance."
Daiyu's eyes sparkled with hope. "Really? You'd teach me something like that?"
"Of course, you're my maid now. It's my duty to ensure you reach your full potential."
Chen Li Li, who had been silently observing, suddenly spoke up. "Wait a minute, if you're teaching her some fancy technique, what about me?"
Liang Wu shot her a quick glance. "Would you like a cultivation method?"
Chen Li Li shook her head, extending her hand toward him expectantly. "No. I want a God-Grade skill."
Liang Wu grinned mischievously. "Sure, but only if you give me a kiss first."
Chen Li Li's hand curled into a fist as she slowly retracted it, her Qi subtly vibrating the air around her. "How would you like to die?"
"Okay, okay, it was just a joke!" He laughed nervously and pulled out the jade tablet he had gotten from the beginner loot box. "Here, take this."
She examined the jade tablet with interest. She was incredibly surprised when the system told her this was a God-Grade technique, though her expression quickly turned unimpressed. "Is this the transformation technique you used the other day?"
"Yup." He nodded, grinning. He knew she had been secretly wanting to get her hands on the Beast Transformation Technique ever since she saw his bear form.
"For that joke, you owe me another technique." She crossed her arms, glaring at him.
"That's the only one I have, unfortunately," he said with a regretful shrug.
"Aren't you a supposed god? How come you only have one God-Grade technique?" Her skepticism was evident, though she couldn't hide her surprise that he even had a God-Grade technique in the first place.
"Haa… It's complicated. I purposefully made it so I can't learn or pass on any techniques I had learned before, except for cultivation methods. I truly want this world to become one in which everyone can be cultivators," he said thoughtfully. "Oh, but martial arts aren't restricted! I can teach you those."
Chen Li Li's interest piqued; she had seen him fighting those three men the other day, and his martial arts prowess was marvelous to watch.
"Fine," she said, though her mock-disgruntled expression was betrayed by the gleam in her eyes.
Liang Wu smirked, turning to face both women. "Great! I'll teach you both martial arts. You'll need a strong foundation if you want to keep up."
Chen Li Li smirked, folding her arms. "I'm not letting her outshine me."
Daiyu giggled softly at Chen Li Li's determination, while Liang Wu clapped his hands together. "Alright! Let's get started."
---
The next few days passed in a blur of intense training. Liang Wu personally guided Daiyu through the process of learning the Qi Absorption Technique. Although it took time for her to control the flow of Qi properly, her determination and Liang Wu's guidance soon helped her Qi absorption speed skyrocket. The technique, designed to drain physical strength, instead worked harmoniously with her Heaven's Might Physique, making her power surge.
"Daiyu has begun to master the cultivation method. Now it's time to begin your martial arts training," Liang Wu said as he stretched out his sore muscles after sitting in meditation all night.
He was originally planning on teaching them the basics to build their foundation. However, he was surprised to realize that both women had a solid foundation in martial arts already.
His plans thus changed—now he would teach the two the martial arts he was most confident in. The first was a nameless footwork technique—a swift, elusive style that he had crafted in his youth. It had evolved over time to become the most feared footwork technique by many of his enemies. Granted, only those who had survived were afforded the luxury to fear it.
"We'll start your training with a footwork technique. Footwork is the most essential tool for a martial arts practitioner. The technique I'm about to teach you is the greatest footwork technique created to date." He paused for dramatic effect. "After all, I'm the one who created it!"
Daiyu clapped, and Chen Li Li rolled her eyes.
"If it's so great, it must have a name. Why don't you tell us? Maybe we've heard of it," Chen Li Li asked. When she heard that it was something he created, she was ready to hear some stupidly flamboyant-sounding name and a useless technique.
"My footwork has no name and was never disseminated. However, you've probably heard of the next technique I will teach you. It's called—Lightning Strike!"
"Pfft! Everyone knows Lightning Strike! That's been the most popular palm striking technique for the last few hundred years!" Chen Li Li found it hilarious that he was trying to pass off the technique everyone knew as something he had created.
Even Daiyu gave him a skeptical look.
"Haa... show me the Lightning Strike that you know, and I'll show you the true Lightning Strike." He already knew they wouldn't believe him. Lightning Strike was a technique he had made popular in his youth. The move had only begun spreading about two hundred years ago when someone found a notebook he had written, containing notes on his experiments in creating the technique. He had thrown the notebook out as it was useless because those experiments had not produced the results he wanted.
"Okay, I've mastered Lightning Strike!" Chen Li Li said excitedly. She was eager to show off. "Hiya!" She shouted as her palm thrust forward with blinding speed.
"Good speed!" Liang Wu was impressed by her speed, but that was not the true Lightning Strike. "But that isn't Lightning Strike. I'll give you a demonstration of the real Lightning Strike."
He got into a relaxed stance, as if he were just standing idly. It definitely didn't look like a proper martial arts stance. "You should cover your ears," he advised casually.
Daiyu followed his advice and placed her hands over her ears. She actually wasn't planning on covering her ears until Yu Ling told her to.
As for Chen Li Li, she stood there with a bored expression. Unfortunately, her System Helper, Xiao Bai, wasn't as helpful as Daiyu's.
"Hup!" Liang Wu shouted suddenly, his palm thrust out. However, his move looked slower than Chen Li Li's.
Boom!
A loud sound, reminiscent of thunder, echoed as his palm strike completed.
"Ow!" Chen Li Li crouched on the ground, holding her ringing ears.
"I told you to cover your ears," he told her, but she couldn't hear him.
"Wow! How did you do that?" Daiyu shouted. She was having trouble hearing; her ears were also ringing, though not as badly as Chen Li Li's.
"I'll tell you both when her ears recover," he said while pointing to the girl on the ground, squirming in pain.
—
When Chen Li Li recovered, he explained the Lightning Strike technique to both of them. The principle behind the technique was to disorient your opponent. It was specifically crafted to be used against cultivators in a higher realm. Since cultivation enhances all senses, the loud and unexpected noise would deafen the enemies, and the relaxed stance was to lower their guard.
Chen Li Li reluctantly agreed that his technique was better than the one she knew, and she threw herself into martial arts training with her fierce competitive spirit, while Daiyu's raw strength made her an intimidating sparring partner. Despite Daiyu's physical advantage, Chen Li Li's quick reflexes and agility allowed her to hold her own.
During one particularly intense sparring session, Liang Wu grinned. "Not bad! You both have great potential. Daiyu, with your physique, you'll be unstoppable once you completely master the Qi Absorption Technique. And Chen Li Li, your speed will make you a force to be reckoned with."
Chen Li Li wiped sweat from her brow, breathing hard. "I'm not letting her win that easily."
Daiyu smiled, feeling her newfound power coursing through her veins. "I wouldn't expect anything less."
Liang Wu watched them both with satisfaction. This was the first time he'd ever trained disciples, and the experience was more fulfilling than he expected. "Alright, that's enough for today. Rest up—we've got a dungeon to explore soon."
Chen Li Li and Daiyu exchanged excited glances, ready for whatever challenges lay ahead.