The Ultimate Cultivation Breakthrough

After another six hours of suffering, something happened.

I was too tired to be angry. Too hungry to be frustrated. My mind let go.

And suddenly, the symbols on the scroll began making sense. I felt energy shift inside me.

Like a river finding its course. Like power waking up.

The scroll's teachings clicked. A spark of Qi ignited inside me. I broke through.

The White Jade Beauty's eyes widened.

Big Wu dropped his imaginary food. "Holy shit, bro...did you just level up from STARVATION?"

The scholar ghost adjusted his glasses. "Fascinating. He's using hunger as a meditation tool." I stood up, dizzy but stronger.

The White Jade Beauty studied me. "You might not be completely hopeless."

I grinned. "You gonna feed me now?"

She smiled. "No." I collapsed.

Lying face-down in the dirt, I considered my life choices.

Once, I dined on celestial peaches, and drank wine brewed from thousand-year-old dragon fruit.

Now? I was licking condensation off a rock.

Big Wu floated beside me, shaking his head. "Damn, bro. You used to make gods kneel, and now you're out here eating air."

The White Jade Beauty watched me struggle, sipping tea. Real tea.

My stomach growled loud enough to summon demons. I groaned. "I broke through a whole realm! Where's my reward?"

She raised an eyebrow. "Your reward is strength."

"…Strength can't make soup."

She smiled. It was a cruel smile. "That's exactly why you're still weak."

I wanted to cry. Desperation Breeds Genius, or Madness

Since no one would feed me, I had one solution left.

"I would steal food?" I asked, looking at her grinning face.

"Yeah! After all, I am done training your weak ass!" She said, and Big Wu smirked at me.

" Well, it's time to go back home..." It seem, the sect master, had let down the lock for me to go out when I am through. Like a feral beast.

I staggered toward the Sect, and when straight to where the other disciples sat, feasting on steamed buns, roasted fish, and fragrant rice.

A young disciple glanced at me. "Oh look, the newcomer's still alive."

"Did they got hint of sect's master's Torture Training grounds?" I ignored him. My target was the fat steamed bun in his hand.

My hunger overpowered my dignity.

I lunged. The moment my fingers brushed the bun, he punched me in the gut.

I flew back ten feet.

Big Wu winced. "Oof."

The White Jade Beauty continued to sip her tea.

I wheezed on the ground. "What is the three of you doing here?"

"Taking a casual look at your new mortal sect!" She said, not looking at me.

I needed a better plan. A Supreme Lord's Grand Strategy For Stealing a Bun.

Immediately I retreated to the nearby bushes like a scheming villain.

Step 1: Create a distraction.

Step 2: Acquire bun.

Step 3: Escape like a shadowy legend.

Big Wu floated next to me. "Are you actually plotting a heist for a single bun?"

"…Yes."

He sighed. "I respect it." With steely determination, I prepared to execute my greatest battle strategy yet.

But before I could move... A hand appeared in front of me. Holding… A steamed bun.

I looked up. The White Jade Beauty stared down at me, her face unreadable.

"…Eat."

I hesitated. "Is this poisoned?"

She smirked. "Wouldn't you like to know?"

I took the bun. I ate it. It was the best thing I'd ever tasted.

Big Wu shook his head. "Damn, bro. You got hand-fed by a beauty. I've never been so jealous in death."

I ignored him. Because for the first time since reincarnating.... I finally felt a little bit of hope.

The bun was heavenly. Soft. Fluffy. The kind of thing I once wouldn't have even noticed in my celestial feasts.

And now? I nearly cried while eating it.

The White Jade Beauty watched me, her expression unreadable.

"Why?" I asked, still chewing.

She raised an eyebrow. "Why what?"

"Why give me this?"

She smirked. "Because it's funny."

I froze mid-chew. Funny?

I swallowed, resisting the urge to throw the bun at her face.

Big Wu floated next to me, nodding wisely. "She's messing with you, bro."

I knew that. But right now, I needed food more than pride.

A Supreme Lord's List of Grudges Updated

Sect disciple who punched me in the gut.

The White Jade Beauty, for mocking my suffering.

My past self, for being too powerful to worry about basic survival.

The heavens, for making food taste so good yet so unattainable.

I needed to get stronger. But first... I needed to get even. The Art of Petty Revenge

Since I couldn't win a fight at aleast for now, I did the next best thing. I stole their shoes.

One by one, I snuck into the disciples' sleeping area, and vanished their footwear.

By morning, the training grounds were chaos.

"Where are my boots?!"

"Who took my sandals?!"

"Who in their right mind steals ONE shoe and leaves the other?!" I pretended to meditate, ignoring Big Wu's choking laughter beside me.

The White Jade Beauty glanced at me. "You look suspiciously at peace."

I smiled serenely. "A Supreme Lord never stoops to petty revenge," she mused.

"Of course not," I said, eyes closed.

And yet, the Sect was now full of barefoot disciples, struggling through morning drills.

Big Wu wiped a tear. "I have never been prouder of you."

Training Begins And I Suffer Again

Despite my brilliant victory, I was still pathetically weak.

Which meant it was time for training.

The Sect Training Elder, a grizzled old man with a face like a dried walnut, gathered the new disciples.

"You lot are weak. We'll fix that."

I nodded. Good. Finally, some real cultivation training. Then the Elder threw a massive boulder at us.

"Carry this up the mountain. If you fail, no food." …Excuse me?

I stared at the boulder in horror. It was twice my size.

The White Jade Beauty picked hers up with one hand, in an attempt to humiliate me, I supposed...

The sect disciple who punched me smirked. "What's wrong, newbie? Too heavy?" I smiled. A Supreme Lord never complains. Then I collapsed under the weight of the boulder.

Big Wu sighed. "Bro, you might actually die before getting revenge." I had never been so determined to prove him wrong.

The boulder crushed my spine like a vengeful ex-girlfriend stepping on a bug.

I gasped, arms trembling as I barely stopped myself from getting flattened. Was this how I died? Not in a grand battle, not fighting gods, but as a rock pancake?

No. Absolutely not. I had enemies to take revenge on, sect elders to slap, and a certain White Jade Beauty to one-up.

Gritting my teeth, I lifted with my legs. A Supreme Lord never submits.

Big Wu, floating uselessly beside me, shook his head. "Bro, your Supreme Lord dignity is dying faster than your muscles."

I ignored him. The Art of Not Dying Under a Rock. The sect disciples grunted, and strained under their own boulders, trudging up the mountain. Some were strong. Most were struggling.

And then there was me...pinned to the ground like a crushed cockroach.