Chapter 4

  Heart-Stitching Art (IV)

  Dragon swallowed me, yet I felt fine.

  Fire burned me, yet I felt fine.

  I drowned, yet I felt fine.

  It was as though I experienced a thousand deaths, yet any time I felt like my mind was shattering, a strange sense of calm overcame me.

  When I opened my eyes, I was lying flat back on the floor, staring at the old ceiling, a system's window fluttering in front of me. That was... quite something. In a way, beyond description.

  [Congratulations, Host, on creating Heart-Stitching Art]

  [...]

  [Heart-Stitching Art]

  [Type: Special Art]

  [Rank: mid-Sky Tier (Mortal -> Earth -> Sky -> Heaven -> ???)]

  [Host Comprehension: Minor (None -> Minor -> Intermediate -> Perfected -> ???)]

  [...]

  [Sutra of heart and mind; allows the cultivator to resist the arrayed temptations beyond reality and clear one's mind of external influences. ??? mastery allows for total immunity to all Heart Poisons and Curses under the ??? Realm.]

  [...]

  [Creation Points Value: 433/100 (allocated Beginner Bonus)]

  [Comprehension Difficulty: Intermediate (Easy -> Difficult -> Intermediate -> Prodigious -> ???)]

  [...]

  [No 'Creation Bonus' allocated due to the Art being system-generated]

  [...]

  [New Quest: Pass on Heart-Stitching Art to your Disciple and help him reduce the effects of the Curse]

  [Rewards: upon passing of the Art: 10 Creation Points]

  [Upon suppressing the Curse: 30 Creation Points]

  [Good luck!]

  It was all a bit too much, but I think I'm beginning to grasp the most basic 'loop.'

  Complete quests -> Earn Creation Points -> Scout out special Disciples -> Create Arts and Methods suitable for them -> Earn More Creation Points -> Rinse and Repeat. Luckily, the kid chose me. If he hadn't... oh, the heavens.

  There was no way I could go down and pass the art immediately. I at least have to pretend for a bit; speaking of which, how can I pass it on? After all, this wasn't an actual kid. If I simply showed up with a perfect counter to a curse that a potential Immortal struggled with, won't he have questions? The ilk that I won't have answers for?

  Even if he can't do anything to me now (presumably) due to the differences in strength, protagonist halo would soon kick in and propel him into new strata. One in which he would be able to kick my ass with relative ease. After all, not only was my current cultivation earned almost entirely through pill popping, it wasn't even particularly high.

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  Per the body's memories, it went Qi Condensation -> Foundation Establishment -> Spirit Manifestation -> Revolving Core -> Void Transformation ->... that was it. The strongest person in the Sect, the Sect Master, was at the early Void Transformation stage, and there was nobody known within this small corner who was above that realm.

  I just barely qualified as an Elder, but there were already Core Disciples with higher realms than mine, all capable of kicking my ass.

  The calming part was that it seemed I'd be able to use the methods I create, too. Perhaps, once I scrounge together some Creation Points, I'd be able to create a method to reforge this absolute waste of a body and expel the innumerable pill toxins that have pilled(heh) up.

  For now, though, that was a pipe dream.

  There was just one approach to this--be vague, vague as all hell. The kid doesn't know me, nor does the monster hiding within. If I'm just vague enough and maybe play up the 'Master' role as though I'm bullshitting my way through it... I might just be able to squeeze by.

  Night passed rather quickly, as it was already late evening by the time we arrived.

  I couldn't sleep even for a moment, though that was to be expected; cultivators didn't sleep, they meditated. Well, my past self did neither--he drank and passed out, which was a kind of sleeping, I suppose.

  Oh, how I dreaded the dawn. After all, today... Today I had to pass on the Art.

  What if he thinks I'm some sort of a grubber and decides to kill me? No... no, I have to have confidence. How many times was I nearly fired back on Earth because of my incompetence, only to squeeze by like the weasel I was? Too many to admit, in fairness.

  So, I took a deep breath, wondered whether the nearby bucket of water was clean enough to splash on my face, decided against it when I saw some green stuff floating on the surface of it, and descended.

  My disciple, dear Long Tao, was precisely where I left him: meditating in the corner. It seemed that my arrival disturbed him, prompting him to open his eyes and glance my way indifferently. Oh boy, those certainly weren't the eyes of a thirteen-year-old boy. I felt a faint chill, ignoring it quickly as I put on my best smile.

  "Good morning, Disciple," I said.

  "Good morning," at least he bothered responding, I suppose.

  "Let us go out," There was no way I was going to teach him anything in this mess; when I pass on the art and he starts learning it, I have to clean this crap up.

  "Hm," for an old monster, he wasn't bad. At least he bothered masking it, however slightly.

  "The main cultivation method of Spirit Sword Sect is its namesake--Spirit Sword," I dug deep into my memories and started talking as we left. The air was so, so, so much better outside. I should have slept here, I think. "However, you have to be at least at Foundation Establishment to start learning it. Until then, the Scripture Pavilion provides the Disciples with a variety of low-rank Mortal Methods that they can use for Qi Condensation Stage," heh, look at me. Don't I look like a proper Master?

  "Hm," of course, the kid knew all this. But... we were writing a play here.

  "Before that," this was the key. Taking in a deep breath, I prayed that this day wouldn't be my last. "I'd noticed something last night while you were meditating. I don't know precisely what it is--maybe even you don't--but there was... something odd about your heart. Like a duality--in one moment, you seem to possess no talent; in the next, you seem... inscrutable. It could just be me--after all, I am not that well versed in things—but to be on the safer side, I have a recommendation for you."

  "Hm?" It seems this piqued his interest; so far, it was going great! After all, I was still alive. His brows arched as he finally turned his gaze from the Sect below and to me.

  "When I was a bit younger, I stumbled upon a strange Art," I said, taking out a few scattered pieces of parchment from my robe. Luckily, the system provided the copies and, per my request, made them seem worn-out and old. "I've tried studying it, and in the many years since, I've grasped some minor things about it. It's called 'Heart-Stitching Art'. It won't help you cultivate faster or make you stronger, but it has a decent effect on one's heart. Just to be on the safe side of things, before you start trying to condense Qi, study this for a week. If you'd prefer to skip it, that's fine too; it might just be my paranoia."

  The boy took the parchment with a passing interest; however, that 'passing' quickly became 'intense'. He scrutinized every page, and I felt sweat coalesce on my back. A monster like him could probably discern far more about the art than I could, despite me being technically the one who created it.

  ... hey. Wasn't that depressing?!

  System!! Why do I have to comprehend the Art I created? Does that make any sense?!

  ...

  Alas, there was no response, just silence. Similar to the one between the master-disciple pair.

  Ten minutes passed, and I dared not even squeeze a word through my teeth. The boy was wholly engrossed in the 'aged' parchments, the look in his eyes changing and evolving rapidly.

  It seemed he'd finally studied it enough, putting the pages back together and giving them back to me.

  "Ah, no, don't worry. You hold onto it if you are going to study it."

  "... thank you," he said. "Master."

  Eh?

  Eeh?

  Eeeeeeeeeh?

  Did that kid just call me Master?