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"Want to hear how I seduced lizard women?"

'Elder Chengzhe… I think I'll be fine…' the walk to the Myriad-Arm Sect was, by all means, not that long if one went directly for it, but the phantomatic old man had decided that now was a good time to try and explain to Xiao how to pick up beastfolk ladies, and it was like the flow of time came to a crawl and the young man's vital energy was being drained away.

"Really? This one actually worked quite a few times"

'Did it?'

"Ah! See? I knew you were interested, and this one works for many manners of the scaly lizard women! You just need to walk up to her, be casual, if they are of the cold-blooded variety, they won't like if you are too heated or boisterous, stay calm! And you look her straight in the eyes, and say : 'In a dragon's hoard, you would be the most precious treasure' and boom, she's in your bed" the old made some wild gesticulations to go along with his story, always staying at the same distance in front of Xiao despite never actually taking any steps.

'Mmh… That works?' the youth was a bit skeptical that such a lame pick-up line could work so well.

"Of course! I wouldn't have fertilised so many eggs otherwise-"

'Alright… And it couldn't have been because you are a practitioner of draconic cultivation techniques?'

"..."

"Wait…" the old man stared up at the sky and then popped out of existence, needing some time to process the fact that, perhaps, his success had had nothing to do with his talent with words.

Xiao sighed, he didn't dislike the old man at all, he found him to be rather good company in fact, but he was a what one might call a 'horndog', especially when it came to beastfolks, demons and the likes, he seemed to hold the women of the other species in higher regards than actual human girls for some reason.

He could just ask the old master, but he did not, for he feared the answer, Chengzhe already had the bad habit of going into excruciating details out of nowhere, no one sane would want to hear the story of why he liked the type of women he did.

In any case, pushing these thoughts aside, Xiao finally found himself before the way leading up to the gates of the Myriad-Arm Sect, he remembered that when he was reading the story, that he had found this arc quite nice, a good mix of slice of life and training for main character, as well as a good place to meet character and get some exposition on how the power system works, well, one of the power systems at least, out of the few hundreds the author had decided to stuff in like their story was some sort of broth.

Although he remembered quite a lot from the story itself, having been in this world for while, he was already well aware that things were very much organic here and that details weren't added in the novel, or that things could be entirely different, as his bad experience in a certain impoverished town had taught him.

Approaching the gates, he saw an outer disciple that looked younger than he did, the boy greeted him politely and fetched the device that would be testing his inner energy, both the quantity within his body and its purity.

"Simply clutch it as hard as you can" instructed the disciple.

"Huh, that's handy, we used to need someone with good energy sensing skills…" the spectral old man appeared into view again, unseen by anyone but Xiao he casually inspected the device.

"Ah yes, I do not get it" he muttered under his breath, stroking his beard as though he had just done something impressive.

"That should be enough" the disciple retrieved the spherical object, opened a small hatch using his fingernail and inspected the results, his face going from neutral to a frown before he started throwing some glances to the sides.

"Hum… Wait right here, alright?" the outer disciple skittered away like he was escaping and disappeared behind a regular-sized door just next to the grand gates.

'So far, it's just as I remember it' thought Xiao to himself.

The protagonist's energy quantity and purity were naturally already impressive from the very beginning, and also, although Xiao hadn't quite understood at first when reading, the main character was also in possession of something else concerning his energy, which that it had a natural external flow, basically, the quantity was so great or something, that it overflowed and formed a natural, protective layer, at least, it would once the seals were removed.

"Young Xiao, the call of power is an alluring one…" Elder Chengzhe suddenly started being solemn "...But do not forget its purpose"

'Oh, is he going to give actual, good wisdom?'

'What is its purpose, Master?'

"Its purpose is to be flexed in front of fertile women- As a mating ritual, the more power you have, the more effective it is! And thus, the more your seed will spread, do not forget, Xiao! There is no grand purpose to our lives than to procreate for as long as we live!"

"I, for myself, had over three-hundred, confirmed, children by the time I passed on and became a ghost possessing this emerald pendant… I believe you can surpass me, your face and personality are plain, but your strength shall be overwhelming! Make sure to become rich too, just in case"

Xiao did not say anything, and just stared at the old man.

'Sure, Master…'

"Why the hell are you not pumped up, are you into me-"

"Excuse me for the wait, I have brought one of our venerable elders to assist me…" the outer disciple walked right through the ghostly apparition, and quickly stepped aside.

'And now, I should be meeting Elder Gang-' he turned and instinctively bowed to show his respect, but quickly found that there was no old man before him.

Although not every detail could be in his mind, he was fairly certain that the protagonist was supposed to meet with Gang, one of the elders of the Myriad-Arm Sect, and one of the stronger ones as well, he was supposed to be a well-balanced combatant and the perfect mentor to teach the main character into the arts of combat early-on.

Naturally, such an important mentor figure would be introduced early on into the arc, only that Gang was definitely not supposed to look like that.

"Xiao… Tell her she has beautiful eyes…" whispered the ghost.

'Elder Chengzhe… Please do not distract me…'