[Last Emperor] Chapter 22 - Savory Meal (Patreon)

Tao Zi opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling of his cave. Multiple stalactites threatened to drop from their precipitous heights direction onto his skull. Sharp, pointed, and teetering at the very edges of collapse.

His stomach growled something fierce. Screaming its complaints to him as loud as it could possibly have done. It began to knot itself. Tao Zi winced at the discomfort of what felt like days of no food or water. Nothing to sustain himself other than hopes and dreams that he would not die of dehydration and starvation.

The system flickered before him before finally stabilizing. Showing a different font than usual, words that seemed to swim in a language he didn’t—

Everything cleared up in his eyes. The words began to make sense as the most common written language of this cultivation world he had been on. Not the languages from earth he had been expecting.

System fully unlocked!

The Last Emperor’s Cultivation System!

“Well done. You have shown your worthiness. Take my system and become a true Monarch. Become the Last Emperor and rule in my stead! At least until my destined return…”

…

Qi Initiate Journeyman Breakthrough Successful during Unconsciousness…

Spiritual Roots purification, repair, and upgrade successful…

Reward System Upgraded…

Basic Shop System Activated…

Spend Exp for a random chance at something special!

*Amount of Exp provided to the shop directly correlates to rank of given items*

Tao Zi stared at the long string of notification. He had unlocked the full system? What the hell was up with that cryptic and, quite frankly, evil sounding ending to the message he received? Use experience to buy a random chance to get something? Was this a gacha game mechanic? 

Or was it basically a sign in system that also had rewards for doing things?

It was just too much going on at the same time.

He had received nearly 300 Qi Exp and 175 Body Tempering Exp just for unlocking the system and finishing his breakthrough alive. Leaving him with almost 800 experience left after the breakthrough. They had not vanished into the ether. 

Tao Zi let out a sigh. 

Everything felt strange. As though he sat between clouds, drifting with the wind. He stood up, mentally aware of the black sludge all over him and Tiger’s hissing from the corner of the cave. Tao Zi left from the elevated perch and landed lightly next to the shower area that he had cleaned right before leaving to complete his big plan. 

Same one he was about to ruin once more. 

He hopped in place, landing on his toes and pushing off them too. Gave a few punches to an invisible foe or a dozen. Let his Qi flow through his body, but not anything external, just to get a feel for how quick it responded. Only to nearly let it surge out of him in a massive wave compared to anything he had tried to use before. This was another whole level of sheer quantity. 

If his core had held about a tub of bucket of Qi before, then this was more like three full tubs of the same thing. It might be marginally more in terms of quality, but the amount made up for it many folds over. 

The biggest difference he felt was from the advancement in his body. He felt weightless. Floated across the ground with a comfortable feeling that filled his entire being. He would need to get used to this. Tao Zi couldn’t imagine attempting to run while he felt like this. He would crash into every single tree, bush, boulder, and whatever monster was in the way too. 

Maybe he could use that as a viable tactic. 

Bulldoze through his enemies with nothing but momentum and blue flames coating his body. Starting an entire forest wildfire just to get a single chimp.

Tao Zi laughed at the idea and got to work cleaning himself. There was no haste this time around. No grand plan to execute or hundreds of chimps to kill in a single day. Nothing that pressed him to do anything but make sure he was perfectly clean this time around. 

It took five tries before Tiger was willing to approach and complain about how long he had been asleep. Chittering, chirping, nipping at his forearms, and meowing a sad tale of no food and no water. Tao Zi could understand its pain. 

He filled the bowls up for the orange rascal. 

Then pulled out the small doe that he had stolen from the odd group of chimps before the big battle occurred. He cut it up, doing his best to not mess anything up. He was sure he contaminated the majority of it after piercing the stomach. He gagged as filth spewed out. He only salvaged the legs and parts of the hind quarters. The rest he was too disgusted to even look at, so he burned it then and there. 

He made a makeshift campfire and prepared himself some glorious, tender, and delicious meat. 

Salivating as he watched. Stomach grumbling the longer it took. 

The large leg he put on the fire dripped with juices. Bubbling and sizzling in the fire. The wood and meat gave off an aroma that filled the entire cave. Tiger had given up on his food to sit by Tao Zi and salivate with him, laying out and unable to tear its eyes off of the campfire. 

He couldn’t even blame it. Neither one of them had anything good to eat in what felt like decades. More so after they were without food for a few days simply due to Tao Zi being comatose during the Spiritual Roots Upgrade and the breakthrough to the Qi Gathering Journeyman Stage. Both of which were amazing accomplishments he had never considered until he was thrown into the rift.

Silver linings and whatever else mysterious bullshit the elders would say. 

Tao Zi took a deep breath as he pulled out a dagger and a cat themed plate. Placing the large, juicy, saliva inducing large cut of meat on his plate and tore a few small pieces off. Tiger put a paw on Tao Zi’s arm and gave him the most pitiful, manipulative kitten and full of tears eyes possible. 

He caved as he gave the cat a few pieces of the meat.

Then he took his own bite. He closed his eyes as he savored the taste, not an ounce of seasoning or salt. Just meat and a charred taste from the wood that nearly made him cry in joy. This was so much better than eating wild vegetables and roots every single day. 

It was heavenly. 

Or maybe his palate had been ruined so much that anything that vaguely tasted decent was the greatest thing he ever had the honor to taste. It was a tough situation he knew, but he couldn’t care less at the moment. 

Everything was looking up for Tao Zi. 

He had meat on his plate. A rascal cat that was begging for more at this moment. Broke into another realm in both body and Qi cultivation. One of the two HellHounds was dead. Less orcs out there for him to deal with. The chimp base was destroyed. 

Best of all, he had a ton of experience he could use to attempt to test the sign in reward system. Hopefully receive an ability that would make a real difference out and about and make him stronger. Or maybe a super powerful weapon that could shoot plasma out. Or a summon that was well into the Foundation Establishment Realm that would stomp every single thing he ever encountered. 

Tao Zi shook his head as he slapped Tiger’s straying paw away from the largest hunk of meat. Giving the rascal another tiny piece instead. 

He knew that it was unlikely. If the system followed a trend overall, then he probably would get cat armor at the Golden Core Formation Realm or a manual on how to become the cat. More wasteful items that would go to Tiger and he would likely never use again. 

The system pinged him again. 

You currently have 792 experience available!

Please use them within the allotted time frame or risk losing them entirely…

Option 1 - 

Apply to respective cultivation methods as broken down previously…

Option 2 - 

Use the Basic Reward Shop!

Timer - 

77d 59m 59s

Tao Zi had nothing to lose at this point. Growing stronger and stronger without any heft behind his attacks would not help him. Both the HellHounds and even the orcs, like Zarfu, were not only at his current stage, but they were experienced in the ways of war and battle. They didn’t have a cheat system, so they had to develop in ways other than just cultivation. Developing weapon arts or scale and whatever else special abilities each one had. 

While he still struggled to get used to his new found strength currently. 

He needed to bolster his current strength and form a foundation he could build off of instead of blindly going up the ranks. It was only a matter of time before he found an obstacle he couldn’t just dominate with his super speed cultivation. 

Tao Zi selected option 2 and placed all 792 experience points. 

Praying to gain something over powered—