Immortality Starts With Generosity

Chen Haoran had missed Lan Fen’s presence when she was in seclusion training.

He was beginning to regret that thought.

Lan Fen seemed to have heard that thought as she stepped into his guard and forced her wooden practice sword against his. Chen Haoran flexed his qi and with his superior cultivation base pushed her away. Lan Fen floated back like a leaf with the force and stepped back to the line she had drawn earlier in the dirt.

A line he hadn’t been able to force her past once.

He stepped after her quickly, flitting from side to side to attack her on her flank. Lan Fen predicted his strikes and parried them away one after another with superior skill. He swung upwards, hoping to use his greater strength to force open her guard, but her sword flowed like water around his own and harshly rapped him on the knuckles forcing him to drop it.

As he cradled his hand Lan Fen tapped him on the shoulder with her sword.

“My win again,” she announced.

Chen Haoran grimaced. Fighting with Lan Fen showed him how extraordinarily lucky he had gotten three days ago. As well as how unlucky their opponents were that they had to fight the monster in front of him. Lan Fen’s eagle-like eyes seemed to see through every movement and her superior skill left his powerful strikes hitting the air. He couldn’t imagine how strong she was at the Ninth Layer if this was her at her weakest.

“You really know how to make a guy’s cultivation feel useless,” he said.

“While a Qi realm is just as vulnerable to a weapon as anyone else it is not as easy as I make it look,” she replied. “I stood at the Ninth Layer of the Qi realm, it is a mistake to compare me to a regular mortal.”

“Mistake noted.”

Lan Fen smiled and nodded at him. “Do not feel too disappointed, you have a much better awareness of the basics than most beginners.”

“If only I was aware enough to use my Earth level technique,” he said. He was still kicking himself for it days later. How much easier would the fight have been if he hadn’t panicked and used the Canyon Carving Sword instead?

Lan Fan considered him for a moment.

“Use your technique on me,” she said.

“What?” Chen Haoran was startled. He knew Lan Fen was strong but she couldn’t parry the Canyon Crossing Sword. “No that’s just dangerous.”

“I will be fine,” she said. Lan Fen locked eyes with him and he saw her confidence he felt his waver. Maybe she did have a way to deal with his technique?

“Fine,” he finally said. “But be careful.”

“Naturally.”

Chen Haoran brought up his sword and recited the Canyon Carving Swords Sutra in his mind as he channeled his qi. What he wielded was not a sword but a river. As all water did it flowed from high to low and followed the easiest path. Through stone, through mountains, whatever stood before you is nothing more than that. Carve a path through and reach the end as those rivers did.

Canyon Carving Swor-

Chen Haoran’s back hit the Earth and he felt both his breath and qi leave him in a single pained exhale that left him dizzy. Lan Fen stepped into sight and dominated his vision. Her mouth moved but he couldn’t hear her and he soon became distracted by her sleeveless training uniform. He hadn’t paid attention to it before but her arms were rather muscular and he was sure the rest of her body was just as toned combined with her warrior features she looked less like his sparring partner, and more like a general stepping onto conquered land.

“You look like a warrior,” he blurted out in a daze.

Lan Fen blinked in surprise but smiled at him. “Thank you but that is not what I asked.”

Chen Haoran had no idea what she was talking about as his senses returned to him. At least he didn’t before what he said suddenly struck him. He covered his face with his hand and groaned both from pain and embarrassment.

Lan Fen huffed a laugh and dropped a towel on his head. “Do you know what happened there?”

“You didn’t even give me a second,” he said.

“I gave you ten seconds,” she responded. “Do you see the issue?”

Of course, he did. If he had tried to use the Canyon Carving Sword last time then he would have been gutted like a fish. It wasted too much time to use it in an actual fight.

“Is it possible to get any faster with practice?”

“Of course but there will still be a vulnerability if you use it without thinking,” Lan Fen said.

“Awareness huh?” The point she was making was obvious.

“Yes,” she said, sitting down next to him. “A fight is all about the next moment. It’s up to you to make sure it is the best one of your life and the worst one for your opponents. And you cannot do either if you are not thinking.”

“Thanks, Lan Fen.” Despite getting handed his ass more than he could count Chen Haoran appreciated Lan Fen’s training.

“You are welcome.”

They both sat in silence, catching their breaths. Chen Haoran circulated his qi and found it easier than before. Ever since fighting for his life the blockage he had been dealing with had finally loosened and kept clearing up more with every training session he did with Lan Fen. Still, while it looked like the problem was solved it was best to ask Lan Fen.

Hearing his question Lan Fen didn’t immediately say anything but instead pinched his arm. He didn’t know what she was feeling for but she apparently found it after a few seconds.

“You ate too many cultivation supplements in too short a time, causing a bottleneck.”

“Is it that obvious?” That was his guess as well but figuring it out just by pinching his arm was a little much.

“It’s a common issue for cultivators in aristocratic families, especially those with low-grade spirit roots,” she said.

“Low quality?” Were there different grades of spirit roots too?

“Yes, low-grade, middle-grade, and high-grade. How fast one absorbs and processes qi depends on the quality of the spirit root.”

“So people without spirit roots can’t cultivate at all then?” he said.

“Everyone is born with spirit roots,” Lan Fen patiently explained. “Not everyone has the opportunity to cultivate, however, and some can have their spirit roots crippled and cannot absorb qi at all.”

“Do you think I have a low-grade spirit root then?”

“I do not know. It could be low-grade or it could be a particularly atrophied high-grade one. Spirit roots are a part of our bodies, if they are not maintained then their performance will inevitably drop. Without a Talent-Testing Formation or a higher realm cultivator to check, I cannot know for certain which it is.”

“Well I don’t think it’s that bad, I’ve been progressing pretty fast after all. Once I’m out of this bottleneck I should reach the Sixth Layer.”

“I believe you should be prepared for it to be slower from now on,” Lan Fen said.

“Why?” he said, sitting up. It couldn’t have been because of the supplements right? He didn’t accidentally screw over his future again did he?

“You previously stood at the Fifth Layer. Though you regressed to the Third the path forward had been one you walked before,” she said.

“But I didn’t know anything about cultivating before this was my first time.”

Lan Fen shook her head. “Cultivation is an act of continuous self-perfection of one's very being. Though your mind may not remember your body did not forget the traces of higher greatness it housed.”

“That’s why you said you couldn’t be compared to a regular person,” Chen Haoran said, realization dawning on him.

“In part yes,” Lan Fen said. Her enhanced physicals might not compare to a First Layer cultivator in a direct showdown but combined with her superior skills and experience it gave her the edge to keep up with higher-level cultivators. “This is your first time cultivating to the Sixth Layer, even with cultivation supplements it won’t be as easy as before.”

At least that made his next decision easier.

Chen Haoran waved his hand and in front of him appeared a small pile of pills, herbs, and elixir. The rewards he received from the Gifting power. Lan Fen only arched an eyebrow and didn’t comment on how they appeared from thin air.

“These are for you,” he said.

“I take it these are what you have been using yourself?” As she said it Lan Fen waved her hand and the pile disappeared before his eyes.

If he had to put it in game terms then Lan Fen had some kind of inventory space, if that was the same power she used to get the drop on the assassins back then she could hide in it as well. Chen Haoran felt briefly jealous, his anxiety would kill to have a power like that instead he was stuck with a Sugar Daddy System. Regardless tit-for-tat was in play and he studiously ignored Lan Fen’s display. Their boundaries had been set.

“Yeah, I’ll try to get you more but Manager Lin has been running into issues with buying them,” he said. That was something that had to be fixed asap. Lan Fen needed the resources and he needed Lan Fen to recover as quickly as possible. After what she told him it was obvious that she’d reach the Ninth Layer again faster than he would and she was the superior fighter besides. It only made sense that the sooner she recovered the safer he would be.

“The auction will more than resolve that issue,” she said. “We just have to have the funds prepared.”

“I have plenty of money right now you know,” he said.

Lan Fen shook her head. “I want to clear out the whole auction, we will need more.” She looked him over and her eyes began to shine.

Chen Haoran felt a distinct chill run through him.

“Perhaps we could kill two birds with one stone."