Chapter 70: To Do, or Not?

Shen woke up from a long deep nap. His head was heavy, his spirit felt drained. Why was he feeling this way? Slowly he remembered what happened before he fell unconscious. He sighed inwardly and opened his eyes.

He felt as if he couldn’t bear the brightness, and he instantly shut his eyes down. “Kitty, are you trying to blind me?” he complained.

When he opened his eyes, finding Kaidi smiling with a relieved expression. She was so bright that Shen had to close his eyes.

“Stop speaking nonsense. You were unconscious for two days straight. What happened suddenly? Your spiritual power was drained to the point that made me scared to death," she paused and shouted with anger, "I don’t care if you die, but don't drag me with you!”

“Don’t be so harsh. Come, give your master a kiss.” Shen didn’t mind her words. He knew her enough to translate her words automatically.

“Here, kiss my palm.” Kaidi angrily pushed her palm on Shen’s lips.

Shen immediately licked on her palm, causing her to be startled and retract her palm. “You, sicko, pervert. How dare you do something like that...” Kaidi backed away and wiped her hand on the bedding, not willing to keep this sicko’s nasty saliva on her hand. She threw the plate of Heavenly Emperor Palace to Shen. “What did you do to this plate?”

“Hmm? What do you mean?” Shen took the plate and checked with his Absolute Upgrade.

[Heavenly Emperor Palace +1]

The upgrade was successful as he expected, but confused why did the Absolute Upgrade rune suddenly devoured his spiritual energy…

“I don’t know what you did but after the light faded away, the Treasure Energy on the plate got purer and increased in quantity and quality. I would say, it increased by almost 15%-20%” Kaidi said as she gazed at the plate in Shen’s hand.

Shen took a few moments to digest what Kaidi said, “Hmm, so you are saying that the energy in this plate became higher in quality and also increased in quantity?”

At the weird words of Shen, Kaidi only nodded. But it caused Shen to fall in deep thought. Did he upgrade the treasure energy of this palace? “No, that’s impossible. Admitting that I upgraded the treasure energy, there’s no way for me to increase them in quantity. What I can think is that I upgraded the palace, and the treasure energy was a side-effect.” thought Shen. This was the only outcome he could find, else he had nothing to make sense.

Now the question was, to upgrade the plate again, or not? Shen seriously considered it. After two minutes he shook his head. Just the first upgrade almost killed him; he wouldn’t dare try it now. If upgrading the palace needed spiritual power, he will first increase his spiritual power before trying to upgrade the palace.

“I’m not sure either, but it is probably a side-effect of the upgrade,” Shen said.

“Upgrade?” Kaidi looked confused and curious at the same time.

Shen thought for a long time before finally opening his mouth, “...Mm, it’s one of my abilities. I can strengthen any items, but I still can’t use this power freely. The reason my spiritual power suddenly depleted was also because of this ability. You can’t tell it to anybody, it’s a secret!”

He might be able to hide his cheat from the other girls, but Kaidi would definitely find about it. They were already close with each other, and if he hid something important from her and she found it, it might even hurt her feelings.

“That’s...” Kaidi became speechless. What kind of ability was that? Strengthening any items, and that’s too by a good margin. From how he said, it seemed he could also upgrade more than once!

She understood why he was so hesitant to about it. If it was her, she might not have revealed this information even to the people she trusts. Since he revealed his secret to her, he expressed his trust at the same time.

She nodded. “All right, it’s a secret.”

“Good! Let’s go to the other realm, and we will set it up there.” Shen said and left the realm. He didn’t notice that Zhen Kaidi was trying her hard to say something, but when he left the realm she let out a large sigh. She wanted to share her secret with him but couldn’t bring herself to say it.

Defeated, she entered the Mortal Realm.

———

Shen returned to the outside world and left Kawa on his tent before he entered the Mortal Realm. Kawa won’t take any action as long as any hostile creatures don’t enter five meters away from the tents. He ordered so because Shen won’t be with the girls always. If they are not vigilant enough, they could lose their lives in the wilderness.

When Shen entered the Mortal Realm, the first thing that caught his eyes were two small porcelain bottles. He opened one bottle and instantly medicinal property rushed out of it. He opened another bottle and this time he only got a whiff of medicinal property.

These two bottles contained two upgraded pills. The first one was upgraded more than five hours ago, and the other was three hours ago. Shen found a problem from the upgraded pills. After a certain amount of time, the upgraded pills would lose their efficiency. He understood the pills didn’t lose their efficiency, even when the medicinal effects left the pill but they remained present in the porcelain bottle.

“Hmm, so after the upgrade, I can keep them in a fine state for three to four hours.” Shen thought as he found Kaidi just a few meters in front of him.

Both of them entered the plain area, which was in the middle of the Mortal Realm and stood in the place they already decided to set up the palace in. Just a hundred meters behind them was the large waterfall. Shen took the plate and placed it on the ground.

“What now? Expand?” Shen wondered as he mentally thought to expand the palace. In a matter of seconds, a giant golden palace stood in front of him.

Kaidi was amazed by the majesty of the palace, and Shen was amazed at how the small and light golden plate became a palace which he couldn’t even see the end of.

“Shen, let’s go inside!” Kaidi excitedly said. She couldn’t wait to go inside the palace. Although she was in it last time, there was nothing to see. Death in every step. Completely different from now.

“Why not you go alone? I already disabled all the traps. Find the treasury for me in the meantime. It will be midnight soon, and I have to use the time before that,” said Shen.

Kaidi nodded and started climbing the stairs. Shen stopped for a few moments before returning to outside and then to the Immortal Realm.

———

The next morning, the sun was yet to show up on the horizon. Shen stood outside Yan QingQing’s tent and called her out, “QingQing, wake up.”

Surprisingly enough, she came out just after a single call.

“Yes, erm... Teacher?” Yan QingQing tilted her head as she thought what to call Shen. His position was much higher than herself, and he didn’t look old enough to be called as Master either. Out of all things, she could only call him Teacher.

“It’s alright, you can call me Shen. We are about the same age, anyway.” Shen said calmly as he walked a little farther away from the tents.

“What?!” Yan QingQing was so shocked that she stopped in her tracks. She was sure that Shen was at the very least 19 and possibly be 21.

Noticing such a strong reaction from QingQing, Shen couldn’t help but question her, “What? Is it that surprising?”

“Same age...” Yan QingQing muttered, “I’m sixteen you know!” She clarified her age just in case Shen got her age wrong!

“Hmm, yeah. I’m the same,” Shen became confused as to why she looked so surprised, “Alright, I think you know the basics of Martial Arts but I’ll mention some important things. Cultivation can be generally split into 2 paths. First is the foundation building, and the second is the martial techniques. Combining both together will let one unleash formidable might.”

Shen educated Yan QingQing about the various meridians and energy channels within the human body. Prior to this, Yan QingQing had already learned many information from the Yan Family, thereafter it was easy for her to follow Shen’s teaching. His teaching was very informative and clear due to Shen’s understanding of Absolute Medical Manual and cultivation experience.

“What kind of weapon do you prefer? I have techniques for different weapons.” Shen asked as he reached the end of his explanation.

Yan QingQing thought for some moment as she said, “I prefer spear but so far I had only a little experience with it.”

Shen frowned a little, “Spear is one of the hardest weapons to train with, and if you want to gain mastery on it, you have to work hard. Since you chose spear, I’ll impart you with one of my major and side cultivation techniques and basic spear techniques.”

Shen had basic techniques for all weapons from the Absolute Upgrade, but they were only a collection of basic actions. He couldn’t understand what was the purpose of those strange movements but he learned them. He only learned sword techniques and skipped the others.

“Come closer, I’ll pass on the techniques.”

QingQing got closer and stopped one meter away from him. Shen got closer and grabbed her head. His face gradually got closed in.

QingQing panicked. No one could be calm at this moment, “W-what are you doing?!”

“Hm? Imparting you with the techniques.” Shen’s face got increasingly closer to her, and at some point, she couldn’t help but focus her gaze on Shen’s lips. She couldn’t break away from his grip. Will she be kissed by him? How was this imparting technique? It was definitely him definitely forcing himself on her! Was this his target from the start? Then why through all those troubles? But thinking about the girls by his side, she shook away that idea. They were definitely drop-dead gorgeous beauties, he had no reason to do something like that. At that moment, she could only trust him. Not like she had any choice.

As she closed her eyes and prepared herself for the impending kiss which she couldn’t stop.

Shen stopped before her face. He was only planning to touch his forehead with hers. But no matter how he looked, she misunderstood his intention. Closed eyes, parted lips. Did this girl think he was trying to kiss her? And rather than getting out of his grasp, why did she even parted her lips?

Only then did he realize, although his grasp on her was “light,” it was impossible for Yan QingQing to break free. Let alone break free, she couldn‘t even budge it. As for her parted lips, she must have convinced herself that it was required for imparting his techniques.

Now the question was, to do, or not? What will she think about him if he really kissed her? Normally giving someone techniques only required him touching them, and if he masterfully controlled his Qi of Absolute Strengthening Technique, he could impart techniques without even touching them. His reasoning to touch forehead with theirs was only to leave a deep impression on them.

Looking at her parted lips, Shen thought it would be rude to make her wait any longer. The index and middle fingers of his right hand lifted her face upward, as the thumb finger trailed on her pale white lower lip. She gave him a refreshed feeling, unlike Mingyue Gelou, Zhu Qing. Mingyue Gelou was devoted and Zhu Qing was like an enchantress, and QingQing gave him a feeling of a refined flower. QingQing was already 16 and went through the coming age of ceremony; she was considered an adult according to the world of nine continents.

He felt Yan QingQing’s body shivering with his finger trailing on her lower lip. He didn’t hesitate anymore and slipped his tongue in her mouth, his lips pressed on hers. The startled QingQing only gave Shen the chance to take control over her tongue, as they coiled and twisted together. Shen willed the Absolute Duo Manual to circulate at the same time.

Although it circulated passively during intercourse, it was possible to cultivate just with a simple touch from different sex, but the efficiency was non-existent in those cases. But here they were basically “connected” with each other. Not as good as intercourse, but the efficiency was much better than touching. Combined with his cultivation being on the Martial King Realm, Yan QingQing could reap more than enough benefits.

As the Absolute Duo Manual circulated, Shen almost lost his concentration once. He immediately imparted One Nurturing Will. As for the minor cultivation technique, he gave her a cultivation technique that mainly focused on meditation. It was given to him by Yu Ruyan, while it had no purpose in cultivation, it helped him easily entering the meditative state. After he was done with them, he passed the spear techniques one after another.

The whole process took twenty-five seconds, but Shen didn’t hesitate to take advantage in that time. He already kissed her; now holding back would only be his loss! He totally explored her mouth, tasted her saliva and even mixed his saliva with hers.

When he broke the kiss, QingQing’s body weight fell on Shen. She heavily heaved for breath. It was her first kiss... it was passionate and a bit overwhelming.

“The techniques are already in your head. The cultivation technique you see is only there to help you to enter the meditative state. After you enter that state, you will find the main technique I gave you,” Shen calmly said, as if the event just a moment was insignificant.

He took out a porcelain bottle. “Take this, you will take one pill after every 24 hours from now on. This will help you speed up your cultivation.”

QingQing took a pill from the bottle and instantly her spirit gained clarity; she felt boundless energy coursing through her body. “I feel boundless energy in my body. This pill is almighty!” QingQing exclaimed, her cheeks flushed pink because of the earlier event! Her lips became blood red, which was a striking contrast from earlier.

Shen only found her more charming now, feeling the lust inside him he took a deep breath to calm himself down and coughed, “This pill only increases your cultivation speed, not your strength. The reason your strength increased was because of my dual cultivation technique.”

Shen used his Absolute Vision to check her strength and felt disappointed. The boundless energy she felt was only 5,000 jins of pure strength. For a mortal, this was indeed a boundless amount of strength, but Shen expected her to gain at least 10,000 jins of strength.

“Dual Cultivation Technique?”

“Yes, as for the details, ask Su Rou when you find her free. Now start cultivating according to the meditation manual.”

QingQing followed his words and sat down, cultivating according to the manual. But how can it be so easy? Especially after what Shen did a few moments ago. Whenever she closed her eyes, her mind flashed the scene of that moment.

Mediation was a quintessential practice in the way of cultivation. This was especially true when it came to cultivating higher-tiered martial arts. If one could not even calm one’s heart, one would not be able to go far on the road to become an expert.

Shen saw her struggling to calm down and stopped her. “Don’t force yourself, the more naturally you approach meditation, the more naturally it comes to you. Practice with the spear techniques and only try to meditate when you think your mind is in a relaxed state.”

QingQing followed his advice and stopped trying.

Shen took out an oversized wooden stick, it was three meters in length with the right amount of thickness that didn’t feel too thin or thick either, “For now train with this. We will buy a suitable spear for you when we reach Greencloud City.”

She took the stick and held it like a spear before she tried thrusting and piercing.

Shen called Kawa as he introduced it to QingQing, “This is my contracted wolf, Kawa. You don’t have to worry here and can train freely. It will keep you safe. I’ll check on the others. You can go ahead with practicing.”

Shen looked at the sky while leaving behind Kawa and QingQing, who was checking out the demonic contracted wolf. The sky was still dark, it might take 15-30 minutes for the sun to appear, also the time when the girls should start waking up.

He decided to wake them up, while “imparting” One Nurturing Will to them. He licked his lips as he entered the tent of Wenren Wushuang.