Fighting to be Kind in a Cultivation World

Chapter 394: Building Trust Amongst Dust

As she lays back, along with all the other skeleton creatures she’s just raised, I decide to help pass a few of her tests.

Doing something that I haven't introduced to the demihumans yet, until I came here, for security purposes. Renewing their qi.

With my hands outstretched, I allow them to shimmer with a gentle glow as I heal her qi reserves and fatigue, both physical and mental. Her eyes widen, as she can feel the exhaustion disappear and her qi reserves for her foundation establishment cultivation return.

With the most important part, being that none of her connections have been released.

She shoots to her feet, rushing over to me.

“You… Master James… did you do that?”

With a mysterious smile, I nod.

The wheels are whirring in her head as she contemplates how she can use this to her advantage. I add in some bait.

“…this doesn’t have to be a onetime thing. In fact, I can have this continuously happen, at a lower level, of course.”

Her eyes spin at this offer. She takes some time to recollect, before making a decision. She gives a deep bow before shouting her appreciation.

“Thank you for instructing me, Master. I’ll do whatever you’d like me to.”

I shake my head.

“No, you don’t need to thank me to that extent. I’m glad I could help.

“Not only that… but we haven’t even gotten into teaching you the real cultivation method yet.”

She nods, showing me she hasn’t forgotten for even a moment. I proceed with my instruction, my voice quiet, but resonating clearly in this space.

“Now here’s the major thing to remember with this method. While it is necromancy, at its core… it’s puppetry, animation, and giving life to something without it.

“For what you previously had, you may have only been able to handle skeletons, because you caught onto the basic concept of this… puppetry. However, the complex actions needed to handle flesh and the resistance to movement weren’t built. With the proper method, you will already have the foundation built for you.

I sit down next to her, gesturing for her to do so as well.

“Okay… for us to unlock this, we will need to do a certain series of actions. First, let yourself cycle your qi, just like you would normally for the OCS method.”

She dutifully follows my lead, sitting next to me, cycling her qi. As specified, she isn’t using her derivation of the method, just the standard way.

“Okay, I’m going to unlock a portion of the method for you. As I do so, you should be able to see and feel the nature of your qi change slightly. There will be some additional things, but we’ll start here.”

Nodding at my words, she opens her qi pathways for me to adjust them. Moving my hand to her back, near her middle dantian, my qi interacts with hers.

Dang, since she's in a higher realm than mine, it's immensely difficult to move hers. And unlike when using my healing method, I’m getting no guiding help from my cultivation method of influencing her qi, like normal, because this isn’t about healing her.

Which means I’m having to use my Qi Condensation cultivation base to affect her Peak Foundation Establishment one, which is already near to passing the boundary to Core Formation.

It feels like I’m trying to use air to move syrup.

Fortunately for me, I have a lot of 'air', so this can still work.

Using the sheer volume of qi available to me, I’m able to make the adjustments. Attuning her qi to the energies of life and death. To control and manipulation.

Even though there isn't anything like the Dao in this world, one can specialize the use of qi toward certain aims. Like my healing qi, transformed from regular qi.

For her, I’m optimizing her body to better utilize this, as well as making one important change. As she cultivates using the standard OCS method, I lead her circulating qi in specific ways, normally unattainable alone and far too complex to do without knowledge. A code, built into the OCS method.

Interestingly, she had already unlocked a small portion of the code, which allowed her to use some of the necromantic aspects. This complete process takes around 30 minutes.

As we do this, I sense some of the other demihumans briefly approaching the training area, only to quickly turn around when they see the hills of bodies and countless skeletons.

I don’t blame them. I’d be terrified too.

After this time, a feeling similar to a lock opening resounds between us. I’ve fully unlocked her path in the OCS method. A massive smile crosses her face, as the very nature of her qi has now been shifted. Similar to how my cultivation method converts regular qi into healing qi, hers does for necromantic styled qi.

Which will make her even more efficient in raising creatures.

The real difficulty was adjusting it so it won’t prevent her from using normal qi.

“Okay… I have a copy of the original OCS method on this jade slip. Try reading it. You may discover something interesting.”

As I say this, I pull out one of the OCS method jade slips in my storage, handing it to her. She takes it and inserts her consciousness into the illusion of it.

She'll be witnessing that the content of the slip has transformed entirely. After all, the unlocking process affects not only her, but how she interacts with qi and the world. The method on the slips is tailored to watch for this, so it will drastically change to match the unlocked person.

But there's an experiment that may have been even more important than the method built into this process.

The quantum encryption that I had placed within the jade slips, to make this unlocking process work.

In each of these jade slips, I had used quantum encryption to secure the information and made it so that the layers of extra cultivation methods within couldn’t be deciphered without the key, even by cultivators that might have stolen the jade slips.

And that key is the adjustments made to the user’s body and qi.

With this in mind, I patiently wait to see if my experiment was a success.

I know my scan has told me everything was perfect… but that’s very different from seeing it work yourself.

After another 30 minutes, an astonishingly fast amount of time to have learned the cultivation method, her eyes open, and she whispers the name of the cultivation method.

“Omni Necrotic Puppetry.”

The power to control anything that once lived, making it act as if alive again, puppet it, or move with her whims.

An example of the power of this method… is that she can control oil. Specifically, fossil fuels.

After all, those are dead things that used to be alive. Same with dead skin cells that are still on the surface of someone’s skin. The list goes on.

She turns to me, her voice low.

“…why would you give something like this to me?”

She knows I know she distrusts me. Even with the contract.

And this method, like my Boundless Healing cultivation method, is strong enough that large sects would go to war, to get even a taste of it.

As before, honesty is the best option.

“It’s because I know you want to do good things with your abilities. To protect your family and those around you.

“I think that you have amazing potential. More than anyone else I ever met. If I can help you achieve that, while helping you be a force of good in this world… that would make me happy.”

I pause, adding in more.

“Not only that, but you already know the situations with our demihumans group.

“There will come a day that we will need to fight against those who will seek to get rid of you guys. For having cultivation and potentially freeing other demihumans from the curse. With this ability, you will have a chance to protect yourself… and show others that demihumans were never inferior to others.

“That despite being scary at times… you can be the kindest people they know.”

As I say this, I look her in the eyes. Conveying my sincerity and belief in her to the best of my ability.

Her stare, reading my face and my actions, seems to have culminated into one emotion from her.

Shock.

Perhaps because a human would actually give her enough power to completely demolish all we've built.

She looks away. But gives me a nod and a bow.

“… I won’t let you down, Master James.”

Her next words have a weight beyond her years.

“I’ll show them all. That we can rise above where we’ve been placed.”

And there it is... the seed that will enable her to develop into a future sect leader. Protecting demihumans from those who would seek to harm them.

With another nod, I say the next words.

“I’m glad to hear it. Now… let’s see what you’ve got.”