Sect Leader's Rise to the top!

Kai explored various corridors, however, all he could find was a set of dead ends and nothing else.

"This can't be it. I refuse to believe that someone left such a powerful beast in this cave for no reason. They had to have been using it for some...thing..."

Kai's thoughts strayed as he starred at the latest dead-end wall. He had just noticed that it seemed a lot smoother and more even than the surrounding walls.

[Qi-Detection!]

Kai was instantly surprised by the result.

[Stone-Door][Qi 23]

"Haha!, So it's a door!", Kai exclaimed while feeling the door's smooth texture. "I can't sense any Qi coming from the other side. Is it empty?", Kai said to himself as he inspected the door carefully looking for a way to open it.

Kai spent the good part of an hour looking for secret leavers or hidden pressure plates but couldn't find anything.

"Ok, let's go with Plan-B", Kai said as he watched a certain timer hit zero on his interface.

[Create-Manual] Kai whispered with his right hand on the door. The door quickly turned into little motes of light and became a single dusty parchment of paper. Although he could only use it once an hour, Kai had long realized the diverse uses of [create-manua].

Kai picked up the parchment and absorbed the information. It turned out to be a [F-Rank] martial arts manual that would make doors slightly easier to open.

"Useless...", Kai said as he instructed the system to forget the skill. Kai had experimented with hundreds of [F-Rank] manuals over the last few months and he quickly discovered that the vast majority were completely useless. Only a certain few had interesting effects, however, most were not even worth mentioning. This was why Kai was so eager to find items with high Qi-content.

The stone wall was now gone and Kai saw a small walkway. He carefully entered it while inspecting each corner before moving forward. One of the perks of [Qi-Detection] was that Kai would be able to identify traps as long as they were not too well hidden.

The walkway was long but had no obvious dangers. After a few steps, it opened up into a medium-sized stone room. The room was filled with empty bookshelves. in the middle of the room, was a large table with surgery tools lying on the table.

There was a strong stench of decay flowing within the room that repulsed Kai as he quickly covered his nose with his sleeve.

"Everything in here looks old, whoever lived here must have abandoned it long ago...", Kai became extra cautious as he looked around the room. There was dust and cobwebs everywhere which further strengthened his assumption that this place had long since been abandoned.

Kai wandered around the room looking for anything of value, but all the items he found were ordinary. When he was just about to give up, he noticed a bookshelf towards the back of the room that still had a few books on it.

Kai walked up to the shelf and carefully picked up two books. Kai opened up the first one but could not understand most of it. The words and concepts used in the book were obviously of a higher level than Kai could understand, so the best he could do was gain a general idea of what the book was about.

"It seems this is a book explaining Qi concepts?... If I can decipher it, it could be useful in my cultivation!. I'll need to do some studying...", Kai thought as he opened the second book.

"Hmm, this second one is easier to understand, it's a diary of some sort. I'll have to read through this when I have time". Kai quickly flipped through the pages to see how many had been filled in. As he did so, a small object fell from in between the two pages and landed by his feet. Kai picked it up and noticed that it was a small and thin leather bag.

Kai was curious and inspected the object.

[Spacial bag (low grade)][ Qi1756]

Kai was beyond shocked and could only stare at the little bag. "Looks like my luck is really good today!", Kai exclaimed excitedly. The old man from the Qin family had used a spacial ring in front of Kai, so Kai knew that these types of spacial items existed, however, they were obviously not something he could just buy from a normal store.

Kai had already asked around for these items, but his search was fruitless.

"But now I found my own spatial item!". Kai quickly focused his Qi on the item and could sense the size and contents inside of it. The size of the space was not very big and Kai estimated that it was only slightly bigger than a backpack. He wouldn't be able to put large weapons inside of it, but it would be a perfect place to put the few valuables that he had.

The inside of the bag was also completely empty which disappointed Kai, but he quickly reminded himself not to be greedy and proceeded to place the two books inside of the space. He also planned to put all his coins and remaining Qi-Crystals into it once he got back home. Over 40,000 gold coins was a large sum that Kai did not want to lose, and so he wouldn't carry them around outside unnecessarily.

When Kai placed his items into the spacial bag, he noticed that the exterior had increased slightly, showing that there were now items inside of it. Kai remembered that he was completely naked after having turned off his scales, so he quickly looked around for something to cover himself with. Kai found an old robe that he dusted off and threw on. Kai reminded himself to put an extra set of clothes into his pouch from now on since this wasn't the first time his clothes had disintegrated during a fight.

Kai continued to search around the room in a good mood. He was determined not to miss any good stuff and continued his search. He moved shelves and even looked for hidden passages for hours but came up with nothing in the end.

"Well, today has already been really profitable, so I should be thankful", Kai thought as he left the room. Kai was confident that whatever deranged lunatic that had been using this place was long gone based on the age and accumulated dust, but he still didn't want to stay there longer than he needed due to the strong stench.

Kai left the cave-room and then rushed out of the cavern. He moved quickly while carefully avoiding any beasts or Hunter groups along the way. Kai reached the agreed-upon meeting point and linked up with his disciples again. He was glad to see that they were OK and had defeated quite a few [Stone-Ram].

His disciples were shocked by his appearance but did not raise any questions. They had felt the earth-shaking earlier which ended just as quickly as it started, so after seeing their master's appearance, they assumed he had something to do with it.

Old Lao did not waste time and quickly tallied the total haul of materials to Kai. The amount would be enough to net them over 15 gold on the open market which was really good money. However, the real prize for Kai was the 10 [Grade-2] hearts that they had acquired. This was the exact amount that Kai needed to finally progress his body cultivation stage to [Mortal-Grade 5]. Kai's fighting style meant that the hearts of the creatures he hunted would be destroyed, so he was glad that his disciples were able to collect them for him.

[Body Cultivation Progress: [Mortal Grade-4]

[Life Essences required for next promotion]: 190/200 [Grade-2 Essences].

Kai led his disciples back into the carriage and they headed back to Huang City. Kai sat at the back of the carriage and was eager to make some progress, seeing as he had been fairly stagnant for the last few days. Kai opened up his status page and took a detailed look.

==[Status]==>

[Name]: Kai (No Last name)

[Age]: 14 [Life expectancy = 45 years]

[Internal Cultivation Level]: 6th Level of Qi Condensation

[Body Grade]: [Mortal Grade-4]

[Health]: 80 /80

[Qi]: 101 /700

[Qi Gather Rate]: [1 Qi / 10 minutes]

[Status]: Healthy

==[Stats]==

[External Strength]: 10+(0)

[External Defense]: 18+(0)

[Internal Strength]: 12+(0)

[Internal Defense]: 10+(0)

==[Equipment]==

[Headpiece]: None

[Necklace]: None

[Body]: Old Robes (Grade-1: External Defense:0)

[Feet]: None

[Ring]: None

==[Cultivation Manuals]==

=[Internal Cultivation Manuals]=

>[Tempest Dragon's Law] [D-Rank] based on [Grade-3] Wind Elemental Heart-Crystal]

Limit: Peak of Foundation Establishment

[Qi Gather Rate]: 1/ hour

[Active]: Gain the Wind Deity's ability to convert normal Qi into Wind-Qi.

[Passive 1]: Absorb latent Qi within the air passively. Qi gather rate is also increased based on the wind elements within your vicinity. the base is (+5 Qi per hour)

[Passive 2]: Damage received from All Qi-based attacks is reduced by 15%. Damage received from Wind-Qi-based attacks is reduced by 50%.

[Current level]: Qi Condensation Level 6

[Qi Breakthrough Requirement]: 700 Qi

==[Body Cultivation Manuals]==

>[Primordial Dragon Physique] [D-Rank] based on [Grade-2] [Fungus-Ape]

[Limit]: Mortal Grade-6

[Action]: Consume the Life Essence of defeated foes to increase your Body cultivation]

[Life Essence is stored within the heart or gallbladder]

[Passive]: Body automatically produces parasites that boost metabolism, detoxification, and physical recovery by 100%]

[Body Cultivation Progress: [Mortal Grade-4]

[Life Essences required for next promotion]: 190 /200 [Grade-2 Essences].

==[Martial Arts Cultivation Manuals]==

>[Twig] [F-Rank] based on [Grade-1] Twig]

[Technique]: Passive Footwork. slightly increase balance when standing still]

>[Hare Leaps over Moon] [F-Rank] based on [Grade-1] Vicious Hare]

[Technique]: Active Footwork, Can perform a short leap at unprecedented speed in any direction

[Cost]: 1 Qi

[Cool down]: 1 minute

>[Corrosive Dragon Stance] [ E-Rank] based on [Grade-3][Roaming Spider Venom]

[Ability 1, Active]: Adds a corrosive attribute to physical attacks

[Cost]: 2 Qi per attack

[Ability 2, Active]: Infects any attacker with corrosive poison

[Cost]: 1 Qi, lasts 30 seconds

>[Primordial-Dragon's Scale Armament] [D-Rank] based on [Combination] of [Grade-2][Rock-Wyrm] & [Fungus-Ape]=

[Ability-1, Active]: Gain Stone-Scales that significantly increase physical and Internal defense. When attacked, defense is further increased]

[Cost]: 5 Qi per minute

[Duration]: 1 minute

[Ability-2, Active]: Gain 'Stone-poise', making you immovable for 3 seconds]

[Cost]: 1 Qi

[Cool-down]: 30 seconds.

>[Dragon's Whispers] [E-Rank] based on [Grade-2] Rock-Wyrm]

>[Ability 1, Active]: Gain the hive mind ability, allowing you to communicate telepathically.

[Cost]: 1 Qi

[Duration]: 30 seconds

[Distance]: 1Km

=[New Entry]=

>[Unnamed Internal Martial Arts Manual] [D-Rank] based on [Grade-3][Demon Hound Core(Unstable/Critical)]

[The Demon-kin forged their own path in the underworld after having been cast off by the heavens. There they waged their eternal struggle against all who stand on the side of the heavens, defiantly battling with hate-filled hearts for all eternity]

Limit: Peak of Foundation Establishment

[Qi Gather Rate]: 0 (Passive Qi cannot be absorbed by demons as mandated by the heavens)

[Active]: Vengeful: Gain the Demon's insatiable will for vengeance. Absorb the blood of your enemies to recover health and a certain portion of their Qi.

[Passive 1]: Demon-kin: your external appearance will be altered to that of the Demon-kin, granting a boost to physical and Qi-based attack damage + 50%. (This transformation is permanent).

[Passive 2]: Insatiable and Unstoppable: When out of Qi, all Qi-based attacks will use life force as fuel while also dealing increased damage of 100%.

[Additional Trait: Unstable/Critical]: The longer one practices this technique, the more unstable his mental state will become until he is finally driven to insanity and becomes a true demon.

[System Warning, Host's cultivation slot is full. Would you like to forget [Tempest Dragon's Law]?

==[System Functions]==

>[Create Manual]

[Create a random manual from selected base material]

>[Qi Detection]

[Detect the value of Qi within an object. The detection limit is based on host's cultivation level]

>[Sub-Core Manual]

[Grants host ability to transfer manuals to Sub-Cores]

[Grants host ability to enhance or destroy Sub-Cores at the cost of Qi]

[Sub-Cores cannot be enhanced past the level of the Main-Core]

[Current Sub-Core Limit]: 4/5

>[Manual Customization]

[Manuals can be combined with a chance to create Manuals of a higher Rank depending on the Qi spent]