Perfect Harmony
Now that his disciple had reached the second realm of cultivation, it was time to make her some combat manuals.
Right now, her cultivation was all bark and no bite. All she could do was haphazardly materialize the spiritual energy, and not utilize it efficiently or effectively.
Liu Feng pondered to himself.
"Should I make one right now? I only have 20 DP..."
He browsed the techniques that cost 20 DP and under. There weren't many, and the ones that he could afford weren't very good either.
"Hm, should I make a bad manual then?"
His DP turnover rate was relatively fast now. He thought that he could afford risking all of his 20 DP to make a bad manual and gain a bit of profit.
"If I succeed in failing this time, I'd be able to get 30 DP in return. Not half bad."
Liu Feng also had the option of making a mediocre manual, but as soon as it crossed his mind, he immediately dismissed the idea.
If he made a good manual, it would at least benefit his disciple. Conversely, if he made a bad manual, it would benefit him, and in turn, his disciple. However, if he chose to make a mediocre manual, it wouldn't benefit him or his disciple whatsoever.
"So it's decided: I'll make a bad manual!"
With the 20 DP he had on hand, Liu Feng opened the system and started making a manual.
"Since Little Rong is my only test subject-- ahem, disciple, I need to tailor this manual to her constitution. Last time, I didn't take that into account and ended up failing to fail."
Liu Feng kept Shu Fanrong's Frostfire Spiritual Root in mind and picked the parts and techniques that seemed the most incompatible.
After careful consideration, Liu Feng finished the manual.
[Ding! Manual "Perfect Harmony Combat Technique" created.]
———
Perfect Harmony Combat Technique
Grade: ungraded
Characteristics: ungraded
———
"Heh. Perfect!"
Liu Feng's understanding of Shu Fanrong's new constitution was that it was highly based on conflict and chaos inside of her body. As such, he made a manual that had no contradictions.
"I'm a genius. This is bound to fail!"
As the manual flushed into his mind, he wrote it down on another notebook word by word with nothing but a general understanding of what it meant.
.....
Shu Fanrong looked at the large Quarter-Pure Spirit Stone in marvel.
"Wow, wow! This rock has so much more spiritual energy than the air!"
The only downside was that the energy inside the Spirit Stone had a neutral attribute, unlike the red and blue orbs that Shu Fanrong was absorbing earlier. Because of this, the purification and assimilation process of the energy was slower than before.
Of course, the plentiful amount more than made up for the drawback of a neutral attribute.
Since there was much more energy she could take in, Shu Fanrong had sped up her cultivation process overall.
"Master won't be disappointed!"
She closed her eyes, eager to continue.
Unbeknownst to her, the chaos within her brewed slowly but surely. The balance was tipping onto one side or the other unsteadily.
After all, there was a reason that the Frostfire Spirit Root was extremely rare, if not completely non-existent.
Chaos couldn't so easily be tamed.
A while later.
Shu Fanrong opened her eyes to a sunrise.
"Ah, it's morning?"
She glanced at the sun in confusion. She could swear that it was about to turn nighttime the last time she had her eyes open.
"No way, did I fall asleep on accident?"
Shu Fanrong started to panic.
What a waste of time!
"Wait, but..."
She looked at the Quarter-Pure Spirit Stone beside her.
The bottom was still smooth and emitted a soft white radiance, but the upper half was a dead gray. Shu Fanrong gave it a little puff.
Whoosh!
The upper half of the stone turned into dust and scattered like fog along the winds.
Shu Fanrong quickly figured out what it meant.
"I didn't fall asleep. It was just that I didn't notice I was cultivating for so long already!"
She realized what her master meant by cultivating for years and years in one session. Even though she was just in the second realm, her sense of time was already getting distorted!
Otherwise, there was no way she could drain this much Spiritual Energy from this huge Spirit Stone before she fell asleep.
There was also the matter of her not getting hungry anymore, at least, not as quickly as before.
"Ah, Little Rong. I see you've finished your cultivation session."
Shu Fanrong turned her head with a smile. "Master!"
However, her steps slowed down as she approached Liu Feng in shock.
"You, Master..." Shu Fanrong looked at Liu Feng's tired face. He looked like he aged a few years!
"How long has it been, master?"
Liu Feng frowned.
"What do you mean? It's only been about 12 hours."
"Huh? Then how come you look older than before?"
"...I just feel a bit tired." Liu Feng was dumbfounded. "Nevermind my appearance, here you go."
Shu Fanrong took the notebook from Liu Feng and skimmed through it. "What's this for, master?"
"Little Rong, this is a combat manual. See, you have a large amount of Spiritual Energy now, but you don't know how to use it efficiently. It's like handing a paintbrush to a child."
"What?" Shu Fanrong pouted. "I'm not a child anymore! I'm already 12!"
"Oh, but you are a child when it comes to usage of Spiritual Energy."
Liu Feng felt ashamed spitting these words out. After all, he himself could be considered as more of a child than Shu Fanrong, a literal child, in terms of cultivation.
"With this manual, you will learn how to use your Spiritual Energy. Instead of an uncontrollable spring, you can become a faucet."
"Huh? Master, what's a faucet?"
"..."
Damn, I forgot this world has no faucets yet.
[Ding! Alert: A cultivator of unknown origin is approaching the sect barrier (northwest section). Host, please take caution.]
The system's abrupt prompt alarmed Liu Feng.
"Uhh, nevermind what a faucet is, Little Rong. Just make sure to study the manual and use it. Your master has something urgent to do."
"Un." Shu Fanrong nodded hastily.
Liu Feng quickly ran down the mountain.
While making his way, he asked the system inside his head.
"System, you have an alert for these kinds of situations? And it's free?"
[Ding! The Sect Barrier currently erected has the property:
"Oh, so it's from the barrier itself." Liu Feng felt like he had to commend the Sect Master more.
"System, can you show me an image or something?"
[Ding! The Sect Barrier currently erected does not have the property:
"Tsk, so stingy. Whatever, I'm almost there anyway."
As Liu Feng came closer to the barrier's border, he stopped.
He climbed a tree just behind the barrier and hid inside the leaves, waiting for the intruder to show up.
As expected, a man in a black robe walked up the hill towards the barrier, his hands grasping the handle of a sheathed sword.
"System, how strong is he?"
[Ding! The Sect Barrier currently erected does not have the property:
[Ding! As the target is not a member of the sect, the system cannot sense their cultivation.]
Liu Feng got nervous. He was a lowly Body Tempering Realm cultivator, while the person outside was at least Lv. 20. Although the possibility was slim, there was a chance they could be higher than Myriad Spirit Realm, the strongest that the barrier could block.
In such an event, what was he to do?
"These bastards! You've already destroyed and killed everyone in the sect, what more do you want by coming here?"
The black-robed cultivator stopped. He glanced up, meeting Liu Feng's eyes.
"—!"
Fortunately, that only lasted for a split second as he looked around a bit more.
Liu Feng sighed of relief. "I thought he saw me. What a coincidence."
The cultivator waved his hand. His azure ring twinkled as a talisman popped up in his hand.
"A communication talisman."
Liu Feng was well-aware of the talisman's purpose. It was a bit like FaceTime.
After all, Jiang Hua handed one of those to him to talk to her during the night.
Those memories made him smile. How could he forget how eager Jiang Hua was to listen to One P*ece that she even sacrificed her cultivation time at night to listen to the story?