Chapter 86 - Breakthrough (Final) (Patreon)

After killing the two previous cultivators who made his job easier by throwing something akin to a smoking bomb inside the warehouse, Lucina piled up the dead bodies to be used later.

Next, he was about to check what was near the beach, but noticed the quickened heartbeat hidden in the shore disappear just as he took a step ahead. Furrowing his brows, he focused his hearing to amplify his senses. That was when he heard a flutter of wings.

Long accustomed to stalking prey through crowded cities, his hearing instinctively filtered ordinary sounds into the background and focused on whatever stood out as unusual.

And the sudden appearance of mechanical wings flapping inside the warehouse was far beyond unusual.

Moving swiftly, Lucian spotted a metallic hornet flying in a straight line through the smoke. To most people, the construct would have appeared fast and silent. But to Lucian, however, it was slow and sounded like an irritating little machine buzzing loudly through the darkness.

Observing it, he noticed the metallic hornet approaching a young woman before slipping beneath her clothes. Then, realization dawned on him the instant he saw her face.

This is Shui Shan. She is Shui Song’s sister, he thought, remembering the cultivator missing from the warehouse. So the person hiding near the shore was Shui Song. What a shame she never entered.

Lucian raised a hand, intending to kill Shui Shan immediately, only to pause halfway through the motion.

Why did Shui Song retreat? She could have sensed the Qi fluctuations and decided to seek help, but abandoning her sister without even checking wouldn’t fit what I learned about her, Lucian thought while approaching the smiling Shui Shan.

Without concern for propriety, Lucian searched Shui Shan’s body methodically, brushing against her curves and hidden areas until he located the metallic hornet concealed beneath her robes. Pinching the construct between his fingers, he immediately felt it was very durable.

An artifact, he concluded, tightening his grip against the metallic shell. Interesting. What exactly is it used for?

While pondering the matter, Lucian heard another approaching figure outside the warehouse and realized the final bait had arrived.

Carefully storing the hornet artifact in his inner robes, Lucian issued commands through the Rune of Lust for all the mortals inside the warehouse to disperse and return to their daily lives. The hypnosis would gradually fade alongside their memories after a night’s sleep.

Their usefulness had ended, and killing them now would be an unnecessary risk. He could not allow the relatives of the dead cultivators to also be at the same sacrificial site. The reason was simple, as he had no intention of letting others understand how he, or rather how the Tidal Church, had lured the cultivators to a slaughter spot.

As the hypnotized mortals began leaving the warehouse, Lucian instructed them to gather the ordinary corpses and dump them into the sea while ensuring they exited through the opposite side of the street. The dead cultivators, however, were his to keep.

After a few seconds, Lucian watched Courtesan Yuan Yuan crawling weakly across the floor, blood trailing behind her. Knowing her death would attract unnecessary attention, Lucian sighed before grabbing her by the hair and lifting her until she faced him directly.

She was still crying uncontrollably. The false emotional despair implanted through hypnosis overwhelmed even the very real agony of her shattered ribs and pierced leg, proving just how deeply the Rune of Lust had affected her mind.

Staring at the courtesan, Lucian considered his options. He had to heal her. If he just disposed of her corpse, there could be problems later. Lucian knew very well how far men could go because of lust.

Should I turn you into a ghoul or a vampire?

A ghoul required his continued support and risked being discovered. In contrast, a vampire functioned more like an independent predator capable of surviving alone so long as certain rules were followed.

No, this is not a choice, Lucian decided while shaking his head. I’m still too weak to create a vampire without consequences.

His gaze darkened slightly.

Nonetheless, if I turn her into a ghoul, that will make four. The next one afterward will reach the threshold, one step away from awakening the Curse of Pride.

Scowling at the thought, Lucian was reminded once more how little he missed dealing with the curses. That realization only strengthened his desire to become a cultivator and escape the endless cycle of curses and boons.

Next, he activated the Rune of Pride. A crimson symbol shaped as a five-horned crown manifested upon his forehead, surrounded by shifting sigils that pulsed with crimson light.

Devilish Arts: Boon of Pride – Heavy is The Crown

Shoving his hand into Courtesan Yuan Yuan’s mouth, Lucian felt a slit open across his skin as blood flowed directly into her body. Then, he threw her back onto the ground, and the rune faded from his forehead as her transformation began.

Lucian left her there without another glance, knowing she would continue obeying the previous commands while remaining completely unaware of the changes overtaking her body. She would vomit blood and trash for a while, but once she was able to move, she would leave on her own.

When he finished dealing with her, he turned toward the newest arrival. With cold eyes, he watched the Tidal Church believer, Hei Yi, wandering through the warehouse searching for something, utterly oblivious to his presence.

Soon, she found the corpses, and joy immediately spread across her face. With difficulty, Hei Yi dragged them across the warehouse floor and arranged them into a strange pattern.

Lucian did not understand its meaning, nor had he ever seen such a symbol before, but fragments of Elder Blue Scale’s memories allowed him to recognize that it was connected to the Three-Headed Serpent.

Hei Yi moved nine corpses into the desired positions before using the blood scattered across the ground to paint lines connecting them together.

Moving while coldly watching her, Lucian had deliberately kept aside the two Qi Refining cultivators whose bodies remained relatively intact and mostly filled with blood, leaving Hei Yi to work with the remaining corpses instead.

When she finally completed the arrangement, she stepped into the center of the warehouse and waited in silence. Her expression showed how eager and devoted she was!

Meanwhile, Lucian memorized the position of every corpse in case he needed the information later before activating the Rune of Greed. He externalized the rune entirely, and a crimson symbol resembling a single eye being gouged out materialized upon his right palm, shifting endlessly amidst twisting sigils.

Devilish Arts: Boon of Greed – Blinded by Power

He siphoned every remaining drop of blood from the nine corpses, drawing in not only the blood still inside their bodies but also the blood soaking the warehouse. He left the markings and weird characters on the floor, however.

The corpses shriveled rapidly into mummified husks, Hei Yi’s fanatical smile standing in contrast to the horrifying scene surrounding her.

Feeling his reserves replenished and the remnants of Qi from the dead cultivators now stored within him, Lucian picked up the two preserved corpses and left the warehouse. There was no need for him to remain for the next stage of the plan.

Rushing toward the sea, Lucian went to the opposite side of the busy street and ship-filled docks. There, hidden among the rocks nearby, a short man anxiously scanned his surroundings, struggling to see in the darkness.

“Prepare the boat,” Lucian ordered, startling Little Crab. “We’re leaving.”

Lucian did not consider himself careless. Several days earlier, after receiving the information about the site, he had ordered Little Crab to prepare provisions and be ready to take him away. He had even hypnotized the mortal spies assigned to watch Little Crab, making them believe they had been observing the smuggler doing a bunch of random chores for the past two days. 

Because of Lucian's orders, Little Crab had spent the entire afternoon and night waiting there in the dark without daring to sleep or allow himself a moment of distraction.

Now, hearing the command, while he could not properly see Lucian’s figure in the darkness, he recognized his boss’s voice and noticed the two corpses being carried. So, without hesitation, he hurried to obey. Nonetheless, he was soon surprised as, for the first time since they had met, his boss helped him in his task, pushing the boat into the water.

Lucian even threw the corpses inside and began rowing alongside him! 

Little Crab became so frightened by Lucian’s unusual helpfulness that he barely paid attention to the bodies anymore. Only after climbing aboard did he finally glimpse Lucian's face beneath the moonlight. Unable to control himself, the smuggler let out a terrified squeak.

“Keep rowing in silence if you don’t want to become like them,” Lucian whispered, narrowing his eyes toward the distant warehouse.

For now, it remained quiet, but within an hour at most, he hoped that it would become the talk of the entire city. 

Rowing alongside the frightened Little Crab, Lucian waited until they were far enough from shore before letting go of the oars and crossing his legs.

Sweating heavily, Little Crab hurriedly rowed with his deformed arms to maintain the current speed while Lucian began cultivating.

It would take several hours for them to reach their destination, and Lucian intended to make full use of that time. So, while Little Crab guided the boat by the stars overhead, he refined Blood Essence and, alongside it, directed the stolen Qi to open his remaining meridians.

First, he refilled all previously opened meridians with Qi. The Rune of Sloth dispersed the Qi every time he transformed. Using the stolen Qi and Blood Essence, he restored the Governing Meridian, the Conception Meridian, and the Greater Yin Earth Meridian. Then came the Bright Yang Meridian, the Reverting Yin Meridian, and the Greater Yin Metal Meridian.

For last, with a final push, he completed the Lesser Yang Descending Meridian, the Lesser Yang Ascending Meridian, and the Governing Crown Meridian. 

As he approached the bottleneck once more, Lucian noticed that reopening the meridians and maintaining the Qi flow through them required less Qi than before. Unable to fully understand why, he ignored the matter for now and followed the next steps according to Xu Hua’s memories, using Blood Essence to carve the pathway of the tenth meridian.

Beginning from the liver, the pathway descended toward the foot, traveled through the leg and groin, then returned to the lower abdomen before connecting to the upper abdominal node where the other meridians converged.

With this, the Absolute Yin Wood Meridian was opened.

Lucian heard his own voice echo somewhere in the distance as his mind clouded once more, the newly formed meridian immediately demanding additional Qi. Next, using the stolen Qi, he pushed onward and formed the eleventh meridian.

This pathway began at his heart, extended toward his back, fused with bones and several other meridians, then gathered again at the node within his upper abdomen.

Accompanied by a terrible pressure, the Lesser Yin Fire Meridian opened.

Lucian could sense the remaining stolen Qi would not be enough to complete what he aimed to do. Still, he forced himself forward. Starting from the kidneys, Blood Essence carved pathways through every internal organ, touching parts of every meridian before descending into the growing aggregation of meridians inside his upper abdomen.

The moment he completed the twelfth meridian, the Lesser Yin Water Meridian, pain erupted throughout his entire body.

The node of blood and stolen Qi within his abdomen pulsed violently, as his body demanded more Qi.

Part of Lucian had understood that the remnants of Qi left within the two corpses beside him would never suffice. So he remained seated there, cross-legged, as his open meridians slowly began to atrophy, all his progress threatening to collapse.

“I don’t accept this!” 

Lucian roared, snapping his eyes open and scaring Little Crab badly enough that the smuggler nearly dropped the oars.

Gnashing his teeth, Lucian activated the Rune of Lust. He had deliberately avoided one particular function of this rune after noticing how unpredictable its effects could become among the cultivators.

But now, almost alone at sea, he no longer cared.

Lucian had experimented with the boar's leather, the wooden puppet, and his vampiric runes. Through those experiments, he had learned what wouldn't work and how difficult it was to deal with Qi.

Because he took so many wrong paths, he decided to carve a new one.

A rune with a four-fingered hand grasping a neck formed in his brain, and Lucian condensed his intent into a single command.

“Gather!”

His shout spread across the sea. The sheer force of it made Little Crab faint. Then, pressing both hands against his upper abdomen, Lucian shouted once more through his burned face, pouring every drop of Blood Essence into the Rune of Lust.

“Qi! Gahter!”

The surroundings were tainted crimson for a brief moment as his intent spread through both sea and sky.

“Qi! Gather! Here!”

Finally, under the influence of his intent, the surrounding Qi obeyed.

Lucian felt his meridians recovering as the node at the center of his body swelled. Most importantly, as his Blood Essence depleted rapidly, he could feel the Qi flowing within him.

Unlike most cultivators, Qi did not flow through his mouth and nose, travel to his Spiritual Root, and then spread through the meridians.

In Lucian’s case, the Qi entered through his skin, at the endpoints of the meridians throughout his body and converged into the node at his upper abdomen. This made the process more painful and unnatural.

And because he lacked a Spiritual Root, the gathered Qi accumulated inside him as chaotic mist. Like an overinflated bladder, his abdomen slowly began to swell, the twelve meridians forming a node that twisted and expanded inside him.

I lack a spiritual structure capable of gathering Qi. Lucian’s thoughts raced while he searched for a solution. The Rune of Greed functions to Blood Essence similarly to a Spiritual Root for Qi, so a medium is needed.

He had pondered this problem ever since inheriting Xu Hua’s memories. A Spiritual Root was not merely a physical organ. It had effects, as the name implied, at a spiritual level. If it were only an organ, Lucian would have long devoured one from a cultivator through the Rune of Gluttony and be done with it.

Unless he recovered his strength, however, he had little means to deal with things beyond the physical realm, so he needed another approach.

And through Xu Hua’s memories, alongside his own understanding of Qi flow and the strange patterns carved into the Azure Magpie Forest’s boars and the child wooden puppet, Lucian had arrived at a hypothesis.

What if Spiritual Roots and meridians were nothing more than living formations etched into flesh and soul? What if cultivators use breathing techniques to activate and guide these inner formations?

Part of this insight also stemmed from Resonant Sea Ancestor’s lectures regarding Qi and the natural order. Another part came from years and years of study and dealing with strange powers in his old world.

Uncaring about where and how the idea surged, Lucian would test that theory. He did not understand the language of formations enough to create a Spiritual Root from scratch, but he was smart enough to create a shortcut.

Picking up his remaining dagger, he sliced open the abdomen of one of the corpses in the boat, taking care not to damage the area surrounding the Spiritual Root. Then, he opened his own abdomen with a clean cut.

Blood spilled freely as he reached inside and grabbed the swollen node formed by his twelve connected meridians. The grotesque mass pulsed and writhed as Qi gathered within it. After glancing at it, without hesitation, he shoved the living node into the dead cultivator’s upper abdomen.

At first, nothing happened.

Then the mass suddenly twitched.

Lucian watched closely as the node writhed violently, the meridians shifting and reshaping themselves under the influence of the corpse’s remaining Qi channels, as though instinctively attempting to transform into another structure.

If left alone, the unstable Qi would eventually burst through his meridians before the transformation could complete.

Realizing he had to interfere, Lucian grabbed the second corpse, bit into the man’s neck, and drained his blood. He rapidly refined the Blood Essence, used the Qi to feed his meridians, and simultaneously guided the writhing node, helping the changing meridians to stabilize into the desired form.

The pain of having his insides squirming would have driven most people insane, but Lucian barely noticed it. His entire focus rested on the sensation of Qi flowing through him and around him.

What did those formations lack? What did the dead boar, the wooden corpse, that silver box lack? He thought, almost collapsing in madness as he waited. It's intent! A will behind it to control Qi! I may not understand it enough to trigger formations, but I understand the body! I understand meridians! And this corpse has the framework of a Spiritual Root!

As time passed and he lost enough blood to fill ten ordinary people, Lucian began laughing in uncontrollable glee.

It had been tens of thousands of years since he had felt this happy!

Because between his hands, within the corpse’s abdomen, the writhing node of meridians had finally taken shape. It looked like a small ginseng with two bigger roots connected to the twelve meridians.

Lucian could sense the surrounding Qi, gaseous and hard to grasp. Far beneath the sea, he also sensed two distinct concentrations of Qi different from the rest. One was almost certainly Water Qi, while the other he could not identify yet.

Lying back against the boat while looking at his bleeding abdomen, Lucian knew that the time for his next slumber had arrived. He pushed the Rune of Sloth to empower his body with the remaining Blood Essence.

“Little Crab,” he called, kicking the smuggler awake.

When he opened his eyes, the smuggler nearly suffered a heart attack upon seeing the amount of blood covering the boat .

“We will proceed with the other plan,” Lucian said, glaring at him through his remaining eye. “Take me to the swamp. After that, pay those people you talked about to transport the freshly dead. Do not do it alone! Follow the steps I told you, or others will discover where I am.”

Listening to him, Little Crab trembled as he remembered the plan.

“I’ll remain there for three or four months,” Lucian calculated, recalling that the first slumber would last seven to ten days, while the second would stretch from seventy to over a hundred days. “Afterward, I will heal you, as promised.”

Nodding frantically, Little Crab answered, “Yes, Boss.”

“Do not disappoint me,” Lucian muttered before turning his eye to the night sky.

Because so little time had passed since the last activation of the Curse of Wrath, he did not need to concern himself with it. Besides, he had made a plan to account for his wound. He would need to allow the Curse of Sloth to activate and use the forced slumber to heal. The only requirement to do so would be a constant supply of blood to sustain the transformation, which would also strengthen the enhancement.

Although the original plan had not unfolded exactly as he intended, Lucian was glad his true objective had been achieved.

He had become a cultivator!