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Immortal Freeloader 148
🕑 Added 2024-08-31 03:51:01 +0000 UTCWhat I was doing was certainly heavy-handed, as evidenced by the presence of all six Foundation Establishment cultivators at the entrance, their approach banned by the formation itself. However, I ignored their intimidating presence as I stood against them, giving them a mocking smirk.
However, even as the time ticked, they failed to react, still discussing what to do, so five minutes later, I had let the arena disappear.
The moment the arena disappeared, several disciples attacked me at the same time. Fire meshed with water, turning into a threatening wave that would have destroyed a small town if it wasn’t for the formation around me, neutralizing it completely.
Lightning flashed from the formation, hitting every single one of them, forcing them to faint. However, that was not the full extent of my trick. An illusion appeared over them, showing them disintegrate, while several places opened on the ground, pulling them underground to a new room.
Having a few sect prisoners in my growing prison wouldn’t be amiss.
The Foundation Establishment cultivators immediately triggered several alarms. I tried to block them, but from their reaction, I failed to do so. The talismans were easy to block, but two of them used artifacts designed for that purpose, and blocking them without knowing their working principles was harder.
Still, I didn’t let it bother me. It would still take some time for the Golden Core cultivators to arrive, and even then, I was prepared for their presence.
Ignoring everything, I moved to the second checkpoint group. This time, I learned the technique even faster. One minute to reach Perfection, making them envy me even more as I returned to the arena. “Come on. Is this all your precious sects can do, watch a poor rogue cultivator show off.
"Impossible," one of them muttered, his voice barely a whisper. "No one can learn this technique so quickly."
“Not an itinerant cultivator. He must be a spy.”
“Maybe a demonic cultivator,” another responded. “It must be how he had achieved it.”
However, while they were discussing, several cultivators pulled various techniques — both written, and locked in jades — and put them on the measure. A pale light appeared, weighing their sacrifice … and finding it wanting.
Since I had risked things, I wanted more than a bunch of Qi Gathering techniques.
Was it greedy? Certainly. But, I had a feeling that today would be the final day of the mystic land, and I wanted a proper haul for it. Soon, one of the Foundation Establishment cultivators passed a jade to a Qi Gathering cultivator, who placed it there.
They were not gifting them to me, so it wasn’t surprising to see the system not reacting, but I didn’t care about that. I was more interested in getting the seeds which then I could recycle through Janassa. All I needed was a few decent techniques that at least reached Golden Core.
As for valuing the techniques they sacrificed, I cheated in a more ordinary manner. Whenever they put a technique, I checked the contents of it roughly through the formation and assigned a value.
With the intervention of the Foundation Establishment cultivators, the first challenger soon appeared. A Peak Qi Cultivator of Kartpa Valley. “Finally, someone not poor or coward,” I shouted loudly, as angering them was to my benefit.
The more they attacked me, the more I could imprison them, which was critical to ultimately trigger the System.
“You have pushed your luck too much,” he declared.
“And you talk too much,” I said as I rushed forward. He tried to attack me, only to realize his fist attacks not working due to the gloves he was wearing. I sent him away with a palm strike. “Idiot. Of course, you can’t use any artifact here” I declared.
And, sent him out of the arena with a palm technique.
Meanwhile, I just wanted to be prepared against any potentially dangerous technique.
Before they could gather another set of techniques to gain the right, the arena disappeared. I walked to the third one and started practicing the techniques.
I decided to add another bait.
“Let’s disrupt his concentration. Someone, preach him some techniques,” a voice reached from a corner.
One of the Qi Gathering Cultivators did that and started preaching to me a sword technique. I made a show of stumbling, but that was the extent of my distraction. He stopped.
[Cultivation Difference Bonus - 60; Insult Bonus - 160 (Capped)]
[220x Return - Heartless Blade - Beginner, Perfection]
“It worked, but we need a stronger technique and more insights,” I once again used the formation to mix with the general murmur, glad that the System didn’t consider that as an attack. It should have, but it wasn’t the first time the System’s categorization didn’t make any sense.
Not to mention, I had noted that Insult had a looser definition, as my attempts with my prisoners had shown.
Soon, my surroundings had been filled with a cacophony of noise, as they started granting me even more. The corner of my vision was filled with notifications, which was a nice confirmation of the viability of my plan.
I pushed my acting skills to the limit as I focused on the swirling energies on my palm, beginning to build within my palms. Twice, I let it explode, letting my hand bleed. That part was believable, because learning cultivation techniques was not an easy process. A single misstep could result in catastrophic injury.
There was a reason cultivators treated disturbing someone’s solitary practice session as a reason for a blood feud, the same level as killing one’s brother.
“I won’t surrender, you useless lot,” I said even as I nodded in determination, as if I was determined to prove them wrong. I closed my eyes began to channel my Qi even more intensely, and started to rapidly climb the stairs of skill proficiency.
Meanwhile, I used the formation to shout once more. “Everyone. Use different styles. Art, music, formations … whatever you can use. It’ll be more confusing that way.”
That made people start switching their lessons. It was intentional, as the more varied their lessons were, the more I would learn. My mood got even better when, after a quick chat, Foundation Establishment cultivators joined the mix as well.
I made a show of vomiting blood when they joined in and even crouched down. Instead, I was busy activating the rewards I received one by one, which rapidly covered the information I lacked in basics. With hundreds of Qi Gathering cultivators speaking at once, each with their own hobbies, cultivation arts, and techniques, my information basics jumped further and further.
Cheating was certainly fun.
This time, it took about three hours for me to ‘learn’ the technique to perfection. I had thought about delaying it a bit more, but I was afraid of the arrival of the Golden Core cultivators interrupting my fun.
Before that, I want the cultivators to act even more desperate.
It proved useful, as soon, as more Foundation Establishment cultivators arrived, giving me more and more cultivation.
The only problem, every single technique they had taught, whether that came from the Qi Cultivators of Foundation Establishment, they didn’t even reach Golden Core, let alone Nascent Soul level like the Kartpa Alchemy technique did.
Admittedly, none of those techniques actually carried the name of Entsa or Kartpa. Considering the temporary nature of the outer disciples, maybe they were not allowed to learn such techniques in the first place.
It wasn’t exactly a problem, as my growing expertise in techniques that covered every single topic from music to assassination went a long way to compensate for it.
Even if I had been interrupted immediately, I was still happy with my growing list of competencies. I had attempted that twice more, but before I could complete it properly, half a day later, a suffocating presence I recognized as a Golden Core Cultivator appeared.
As much as I wanted to taunt him, the moment he appeared, the formation flared. “How dare you interrupt my legacy test,” the fake voice boomed even as the formation closed around him, and filled with poison.
“Impossible,” he gasped even as he smashed against the formation several times, the outer side weak enough to allow him to escape.
Even as he retreated, I used the formation to spit out everyone in the formation, and the fake mystic land pulled underground… and immediately dissolved there. In its place, I filled it with layers and layers of traps, each linked with a dose of poison I created with my alchemy.
And, those formations went the opposite way of Markas, just in case.
It was both an excuse for it to disappear … and a bait for experts to visit.
I wanted to see if I could get a lesson on formations from a Golden Core, which was my biggest lack.
Then, I retreated, my breathing rapid. I had just committed the riskiest act of my life.
I just hoped that it didn’t blow on my face.
