Chapter 854: Cultivating Through Disciples (Patreon)

Even though I was only a Stellar Realm cultivator and had no idea on how to help a Civilisation Realm cultivator who had just got his eyes burned out, I still took another step towards my master.

“Don’t move,” the Sect Master said, raising a hand to stop me.

I froze mid-step to see thin golden threads materialise around us and drifted towards his face. As they slipped into the two black pits, the crusted black skin around the sockets softened and turned pink while the blisters sank back into the flesh. Then something white began to form, round and wet, inside both hollows. Intricate designs followed, a dark ring appeared in the centre, then a pupil. 

Whatever this technique was, it clearly wasn’t cheap, I could see a bead of sweat rolling down his temple and his jaw clenching so hard that I worried his teeth would crack. When the last of the smoke vanished, the Sect Master blinked a few times, and then the eyes that met my gaze were his usual, healthy, dark eyes.

I was very glad that he had his own way of recovering his eyes because while blue sun healing worked wonders on cracked ribs, it wasn’t at the level of recovering limbs or vital organs, especially for a Civilisation Realm expert.

“What happened?” I asked.

Before answering, he sat back down into his cushion while motioning to me to take a seat too.

“I have cultivated the Dao of Karma for over a thousand years,” he said finally, “and I have never thought a person’s karma could burn so brightly. It was worse than a mortal staring straight into the sun at noon.”

“That bad?” I asked, raising both eyebrows.

“No, it is worse.” He shook his head. "If a karmic cultivator weaker than me looks at you with their full sight, they could die.”

"Wait." I held up a hand, struggling to accept what I had just heard. "So if some Life Realm karma cultivator walks down the street and takes a good look at me, they just… drop dead?"

“A Life Realm expert would be crippled, but a Stellar Realm cultivator would be killed instantly.”

Hearing that was surreal. For karmic cultivators, I was a walking hazard. For their sake, I hope they don’t get nosy and decide to take a peek, because if they do, I won’t be able to save them.

"I'm sorry, Master," I said, lowering my head. "That's the second time this year you've had your eyes burned out." I grimaced. "I'm not thrilled about being in the same group as something that eats worlds for fun."

"Every technique carries risk, and Karmic Sight is no different," he said, giving a dismissive wave with his hand. "Though I must admit, I never thought I would see this day.”

Seeing the confusing expression on my face, he continued.

“When I first picked up the technique, I was younger than you are now, and I remember reading the warning written on the final page that some karmic cultivators have died just looking at someone’s karma. I had thought it was pure exaggeration at the time, like most cultivation methods have their ridiculous claims, but now I realise it is true.”

The expression on my master’s face was one of naked surprise, which was something I rarely saw from the ancient cultivator. He was clearly struggling to accept the reality even now despite it standing right in front of him.

Seeing that the Sect Master has had his eyes burned out twice in the span of a few months, it was probably a good idea for him to invest in some protector visor or something. So I decided to tell him.

"Something to protect my eyes?" He asked.

"Yeah." I said, trying to work out how to explain it since short sightedness wasn’t an issue for anyone who entered Qi Condensation.

“You know how some old mortal scholars wear lenses to help them read? The ones with two round pieces of crystal in a thin frame that sits on the nose and hooks behind the ears." I circled my fingers in front of my eyes to show him. "Now imagine the same thing, but the crystal is carved with formations that filter out whatever hurts you. You'd still see the karma, just a dimmer version. Or you could make one strip of crystal that wraps across the face from temple to temple. Whatever you think suits you.”

“That is a very strange thing to wear,” he murmured. “But I can see how a formation that filters anything that can harm me could be useful despite how ridiculous it might look.”

“I’m sure Elder Chen Yong would be up for the challenge to create something like that.”

“Yes,” Yuan whispered, losing himself to the idea.

As for me, I had to hold back a smile at the thought of one of the strongest people in the sect walking around looking like the latest X-Men recruit. That would be a sight to see.

“Master,” I said, focusing back on the matter at hand. “Since I have enough karma to look like a walking sun, what can I actually expect?"

“The world will tilt in your favour and everything you attempt will have a higher likelihood of succeeding,” he began. “Even those in your presence will benefit without having to lift a finger. A friend attempting a breakthrough at your side will find the energy settles more smoothly. A merchant will knock a few spirit stones off his price and never understand why."

"That sounds nice."

"It is. But that’s not it,” he continued. "If someone wants to harm you, they will find their luck turning sour. A disciple plotting against you may suffer a qi deviation in the middle of his scheme. An assassin's blade may snap in its sheath. And if a cultivator far stronger than you ever has you at his mercy, with his hand raised for the killing blow, something will happen."

"Something?"

"An elder will happen to fly overhead at that exact moment and want to help you, without even understanding why. An old injury in the enemy’s meridians will flare up randomly. The ground under his feet will collapse into a cave nobody knew existed. The details change every time, but the result doesn’t. Killing you will become extremely difficult, and even if they do somehow succeed, the karmic backlash could end up being fatal.”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I thought after saving the Realm of the Chosen that my luck was good. But this…this was pure plot armour. It was the exact thing that I used to roll my eyes at when it came up in cultivation webnovels out of nowhere to save the protagonist from certain death without any real explanation. But I had it for real, in a way that made sense.

“You still don’t truly understand what you’ve done,” the Sect Master said, bringing my attention back to him. “Let me explain it like this. The karma you gathered from saving a true world is enough to let me breakthrough again.”

From previous conversations with my master, I knew that our bond allowed him to benefit from the karma and progress of his disciples. It was one of the main reasons why I never had to worry he would betray me. My success was his success literally. But to hear that he was about to breakthrough to the Peak Civilisation Realm without having cultivated himself was unbelievable.

“You’re right to be shocked,” the Sect Master nodded. “It is unheard of for anyone in the Civilisation Realm to breakthrough twice within a few months, but this is the fruits of cultivating a karmic method and finding the right disciple. So thank you. It is all thanks to you.”

“No, master, you deserve this.”

I meant it. He was the one who saw potential in me and Wu Kangming, and decided to take us in. He didn’t envy our talents. Instead, he nurtured us in a way he thought was best. But what was making my head spin was that if the Sect Master broke through again, he would stand at the peak of the Civilisation Realm, which was the highest realm in the Cultivation World.

Sure, there were rumours of realms beyond it, the Divine Realm, the Eternal Realm, whatever name the scholars preferred that century, but every cultivator who supposedly broke through to them disappeared, so nobody knew whether they had actually ascended or just died. This meant that the man, whose eyes I had just burned out, was about to become one of the most powerful people in this entire world because of me. I always had a premonition that time would come, but I never thought it’d come so soon.

“Do not think that your karma makes you unstoppable,” the Sect Master said. “Every time it saves you from death, it will take a large chunk out of your karmic reserve. And then there are those who are powerful enough to push straight through the protection it offers and kill you regardless."

The back of my neck prickled.

"There is also a second danger," he continued. "There are cultivators who walk paths that will target you for your karma, and others who are immune to karmic protection. Some of whom will sever threads, erase them, and even feed on them. So be careful of them."

"How will I know who they are?"

He was silent for a moment.

"It is unlikely you will know, at least not until it is too late." His gaze drifted to the door as a complicated expression crossed his face. "I met one such cultivator recently."

I waited for him to say more, but he didn’t, instead, he rose to his feet.

"We will speak about this properly when you are ready to leave the sect and recruit your first disciple," the Sect Master said, "but now I need to prepare for my breakthrough. It is certainly not something to attempt while one's eyes are still settling."

I almost laughed. I wasn’t certain, but that seemed like it was a joke, especially since he had admitted to practising them after having heard that humour was a useful teaching tool for the younger generation.

"Thank you, Master,” I bowed. “Good luck with the breakthrough."

"Luck," he said with a hint of a smile, "is the one thing I will not be short of thanks to you, my disciple."

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