[Last Emperor] Chapter 16 - Unexpected Rewards and Plans shifting (Patreon)

The system pinged him as soon as he reached his cave entrance. Pinging loudly in his mind and startling him. He was in sneak mode and had not gotten out of it yet, the chiming ping seemed to echo in the entire forest. Even if he knew it was all in his mind.

He ignored it for now. Tao Zi would worry about what the system ping was later considering he hadn't received a physical reward from it. There were more important things he needed to accomplish before sealing the entrance of the cave. Most important among them was grabbing another massive boulder and working it into place.

Tao Zi moved the original boulder back to where he found it. Tiger approached the entrance but did not step out, only watching from a distance as he worked to pick up another boulder and place it near the entrance.

A bigger boulder.

More sturdy and looked like it could take a much bigger beating than the previous one. He needed every ounce of advantage he could come up with. Even if it was marginal. He placed it over the entrance and sealed him and Tiger inside. The rascal chirped at him before returning to its cat bed and walking in a circle a few times. Falling asleep a moment later.

Tao Zi took a seat on his own bed. His mind ran a hundred miles per hour with what he had seen at the chimp camp and the sheer amount of them. He couldn't possibly kill them all. Worse was if he made the mistake of letting them know he existed out here.

He could already imagine a horde of chimps working together to move the boulder and flood into his cave. This was considered a safe zone, but even then it would not hold if it was attacked by a few hundred monsters at the same time, all with the intention of eating him alive.

Looking around did not show any back entrance or a secret hatch to escape the cave.

Only a front door.

Should I move? I don't exactly remember anything Chi Chi told me to memorize.

He knew it was a bad idea the moment he thought about it. The very design of this spacial rift was a gradual increase of difficulty until you reached certain exit points. Except that he probably needed someone on the outside preparing to open a rift for those exit points to keep open for him.

A sect would usually take care of that, protecting the rift and keeping it fueled for anyone entering this place. Except his own sect had thrown him here in an attempt to murder him without sullying their hands with his blood.

Thoughts like this left a horrible taste in Tao Zi's mouth. He was betrayed by everyone that he knew even if he was a prodigal member of what was a very proactive group of people. Highly motivated and willing to murder anyone that stood before them in their pursuit of glory and the pinnacle.

He shook his head.

Tao Zi got up and got himself a few cups of pure clean water from the cat bowl. Sending it to the spacial ring a couple times before pouring himself some in a rudimentary wooden cup he received as a gift the day before after doing enough squats to cause them to tremble with each step.

Another reward that, while it was nice to have overall, did not fit the struggle. That seemed like a theme the longer he continued to push himself past his limits. Not that he was going to stop any time soon. The possibility of something actually worth all the work put together was too great for him to pass up so easily.

He felt like a degenerate gambler, addicted to the thrill and unwilling to stop. Except this came at the cost of too much lactic acid build up in his muscles. More pain than he would have ever attempted to seek out in a normal world.

The system pinged him again.

Congratulations on your exceptional action!

Executed your first high level trap!

Reward 9 Qi Exp

Reward 23 Qi Exp

Battle Concluded!

Adjacent Experience and Battle Involvement Detected!

1x HellHound kills -

17x Mortal Stage Chimps

2x Mortal Stage Orcs

4x Mortal Stage Deers

1x HellHound Claims -

1x Burned, filthy, stained underwear

Total Rewards -

20 Qi Exp

71 Body Tempering Exp

Tao Zi blinked at the notification he received. He was getting so much experience for the HellHound killing a small army of monsters. All due to him setting the underwear on fire and it attracting the monsters like a moth to a flame.

70 body tempering exp?! By itself? Holy shit, did I discover a cheat within the cheat?

He wondered how many times could he do the same trick before the orcs and other beasts and animals started figuring out exactly what he did. That would happen unless he planned it out better. Spread the amount of time before doing the next one by a week or two. In hopes he could extend the life of this trick.

More importantly, he could already see the advantages in a roundabout way.

Tao Zi wondered how many chimps the HellHound solo. Would it be capable of clearing the chimp infestation by itself? He laughed. There was no way it could, but that would save him a lot of trouble. Either it clears enough that the cave and camp had only a manageable number he could pick off, or it would die something brutal and he didn't need to deal with it slamming into his boulder every few days trying to get in.

It was a win-win situation he could not pass up.

Even if he was getting a portion of the reward if he had killed them all himself.

Tao Zi pulled out his status page.

Status -

User A009328s815hh8: Tao Zi

Clan Affiliation -

Error… Banished from Sect/Clan

Cultivation -

Qi Initiate Stage 5

Cultivation Progress -

▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▱▱▱▱▱▱▱▱ 52%

Body Cultivation -

Body Tempering Initiate Stage 4

▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▱▱ 89%

Dao -

Unfounded

Domain -

Locked and Unfounded

Spirit -

Un-Solidified Intent/Spirit Connection

General Tips and Hints:

Tactics and intelligence will take you further than brute force!

He marveled at how much growth he had received in the short amount of time he had been here again. Just this latest reward had jumped his Body Cultivation by a ton. Putting him closer and closer to the next stage and hopefully, he could have both types of cultivation stay close to each other. Develop in more ways than the average cultivator could.

Tao Zi felt a surge of motivation again. It happened every time he received a large boost in Exp of either kind or a good reward. He had suspicions that he was being mentally manipulated slightly somehow, the same way he was physically being altered by the system.

All that needed to happen for him to break through to the next stage of the Qi Gathering Realm was to fall asleep. No heavenly tribulation. No breakthrough test and being sent into a mental trial to test his worthiness and strength.

He wasn't an idiot to complain when he had something so valuable in his hands, but it did cross his mind.

Multiple times.

Tao Zi stood up and took advantage of the burning motivation. He pulled out his sword and began another journey of 10,000 stabs into strikes combination. The same one over and over again to burn the large amount of energy he had in his system so he could start lounging again.

Being able to lay down and relax was an important part of his day. Especially after accomplishing his large goal. Figuring out where the chimps were, distracting the HellHound, and receiving an unintentional reward that was probably the biggest individual one he had received so far. Tao Zi did not remember another incident that had given him so much before this.