Cultivation is Creation

The first order of business after winning a fight to the death? Cleanup. It's not the glamorous part they write about in cultivation novels, but it's arguably one of the most important. Leave evidence lying around, and suddenly you're dealing with revenge plots and angry sect elders rather than focusing on your cultivation.

I looked down at the three bodies sprawled in various positions around me. Their blood was already starting to pool on the stone, dark and accusatory. If I was going to do something about this mess, it needed to be now, before anyone stumbled across the scene.

Even in this seemingly run-down part of the city, three dead cultivators – sorry, Rouqin – wouldn't go unnoticed for long. Especially not when they worked for someone important enough to send assassins after the young master whose body I now inhabited.

"The ground here is mostly packed earth," I observed, kneeling to press my palm against the soil. Despite years of foot traffic and neglect, I could sense the dormant potential in it. Life always found a way, even in the most unlikely places. "That should make this easier."

Reaching out with my awareness, I contacted the scattered weeds and stubborn grass that had pushed through cracks in the stone pathway. They were hardy things, adapted to surviving with minimal resources in this qi-starved world. Or rouqi-starved, I supposed I should say. The terminology here would take some getting used to.

The plants responded sluggishly to my call, nothing like the eager symphony of growth I was used to commanding. But they responded nonetheless, roots beginning to shift and expand beneath the surface.

"Interesting," Azure commented. "The local flora seems to retain some basic compatibility with your techniques, despite the difference in energy systems."

I nodded, continuing to direct the underground network of roots. "It's like... speaking the same language but with a heavy accent. They understand what I want, but the execution is slower, less precise."

Still, slow progress was better than no progress. I guided the roots to wrap around each corpse, weaving them into natural cocoons that would help mask any residual spiritual traces, then I began sinking them deeper into the earth.

"True," I agreed, brushing dirt off my hands. "But I'm a wood cultivator, not a fire one. We work with what we have." I paused, looking down at my blood-stained robes. "Though right now, what we have is a lot of evidence to get rid of."

Speaking of evidence, Yggy was still out, its vine form wrapped protectively around my wrist. The little plant had saved my life – our lives? – but having a clearly supernatural plant visible probably wasn't the best idea.

"Time to go home, little friend," I said softly, patting the vine. Yggy rustled its leaves in what might have been protest, tightening its grip slightly. "Don't worry, I'm fine now. Well, mostly fine. Somewhat fine? Let's go with 'not actively dying' and call it a win."

Yggy seemed to consider this for a moment, then rubbed itself against my hand one last time before dissipating, its essence returning to my inner world. I could feel it settling back into its usual spot, probably already planning how to protect me from the next batch of assassins.

"Master," Azure called out, "while the immediate threat has been neutralized, we should consider that these men's disappearance will likely be noticed quickly. Their employer—"

"Elder Zhou," I finished, remembering the fragments of worry and hatred I'd picked up from the young master's consciousness. "Yes, I imagine a Tier 2 cultivator—sorry, Rouqin—won't be too happy about losing his enforcers."

While I'd managed to defeat these Tier 1 Rouqin thanks to my runes and Yggy's timely assistance, going up against someone at Tier 2 would be another matter entirely.

“Hopefully he isn’t anything stronger than that…”

"From what we've overheard,” Azure tried to reassured me. “There don't seem to be any Rouqin at the Tier 3 stage or above in this world."

"Yeah, but we both know how that usually goes. There's always some ancient monster hiding in a cave somewhere, maintaining their cultivation through whatever means necessary." I paused, considering. "Though in a world that's slowly dying, maintaining high-level cultivation must be... challenging."

"So, what now?" Azure asked.

"Now?" I looked around the alley. The blood would be harder to clean up completely, but the morning dew would help dilute it, and the first rain would wash away most traces. "Now we find somewhere quiet to figure out exactly what we're dealing with. I'd rather not get into another fight until I understand this body's capabilities."

And there were a lot of questions to answer. How did rouqi compare to qi in terms of practical application? What were this body's actual limits? And most importantly, how was I going to handle having a roommate in this new body of mine?

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***

I made my way through the slowly awakening city, keeping to back alleys and shadows. The warehouse district gradually gave way to what looked like a park or garden area – probably belonged to one of the wealthier families back when this city was more prosperous. Now it was overgrown and neglected, perfect for someone who needed to do some undisturbed cultivation. ṙåN𝙤𝐛ΕS̈

I found a secluded spot surrounded by thick bushes and old trees. The vegetation would help hide me from casual observation, and more importantly, would warn me through their connection if anyone approached. Sometimes being a plant cultivator had its perks.

Settling into a cross-legged position, I took a deep breath, it was time to find out what I was working with.

Status Update - Current Body:

Name: Han Renyi

Level: Tier 1 Rouqin

Core Essence:

Soul Essence: 500/1250

Spiritual Essence: 300/1100

Physical Essence: 350/1150

"Well, that's interesting," I muttered, studying the numbers. My soul essence was already beginning to recover now that I had a proper vessel, which was expected. What really caught my attention were the spiritual and physical essence readings.

When I'd possessed Tomas in the Two Suns world, his body had been completely devoid of spiritual essence – just an empty vessel waiting to be filled. But this body, while not matching my usual reserves, actually had a respectable amount of spiritual power. More importantly, I could feel it slowly increasing.

"The World Tree Sutra appears to be converting the local rouqi into proper qi," Azure explained. "The energies are similar enough that the conversion is possible, though not particularly efficient."

I nodded, feeling the familiar warmth of the Genesis Seed working within me. "So, we can actually recover spiritual essence here? That's... unexpected."

"Yes, though there are limitations," Azure cautioned. "The rouqi is significantly weaker than proper qi, requiring a much larger quantity to produce useful amounts. Additionally, the ambient energy here is..." he paused, searching for the right word, "sparse."

I nodded, remembering what I'd overheard in the tavern earlier. That man's description of rouqi being like soup in his grandfather's time, now reduced to trying to breathe through a wet cloth... it wasn't just poetic exaggeration. This world really was dying, its energy slowly leaking away like air from a punctured balloon.

"I've calculated the likely recovery rate," Azure continued. "At current environmental levels, it will take approximately one week to fully restore your spiritual essence reserves."

"A whole week?" I whistled softly. "That's... inconvenient. So basically, without any pills, treasures, or formations to speed things up, we can only use our full power once before needing a seven-day recovery period?"

"Correct. Though you do have the option of partial usage and slower recovery."

I shrugged, trying to stay positive. "Well, it's better than having no qi at all. And in the meantime, we can experiment with using rouqi directly. Might learn something useful."

"Speaking of learning opportunities, have you noticed anything interesting about the physical essence readings?"

I turned my attention back to those numbers. Three hundred and fifty out of a possible eleven hundred and fifty – not terrible, considering the circumstances. What was interesting was how that compared to cultivation levels I was familiar with.

"This body's physical strength is equivalent to what I'd expect from a third-stage Qi Condensation cultivator," I mused. "Pretty impressive for someone who just broke through to Tier 1. Either everyone in this world is naturally built like a brick wall, or..."

"Or young master Han's family invested significant resources in improving his constitution," Azure finished. "Given what we've seen of their current financial situation, that seems like a substantial sacrifice."

I nodded, my fingers brushing against the fine fabric of the robes I was wearing. They were well-made but showing signs of wear – probably handed down or repurposed rather than new. A family spending everything they had to give their heir the best possible foundation, even as their fortunes declined.

"Well," I said after a moment, "at least we can repay some of that investment. Once my soul essence recovers fully, we can convert some of it to physical essence using the Tri-Essence Harmony technique. By the time young master Han gets his body back, he'll have the physical capabilities of a sixth-stage cultivator to work with."

"Speaking of this body," Azure, "have another look at the meridians."

Turning my attention inward, I began a careful examination of how rouqi moved through this vessel.

The channels were... strange. Not exactly like the meridians I was used to, but not completely foreign either. They felt rougher somehow, less refined, like comparing a dirt path to a paved road. Both would get you where you needed to go, but one was clearly more developed than the other.

"The structure is fascinating," Azure commented. "Unlike Wei Ye's artificial channels, these appear to be natural formations. However, they're significantly less complex than what we typically encounter in our original world."

I froze. "Wait, are you saying this body is artificial too?"

"Not exactly," Azure replied. "It's more like... Consider Wei Ye as a first-generation prototype, specifically designed and constructed. Young master Han's ancestor might have been similar, but after generations of natural reproduction..."

"The artificial aspects became naturalized," I finished, understanding what he was getting at. "Like Wei Lin being fully human despite his father being a construct." A thought struck me. "But that means..."

I sat up straighter as pieces started falling into place. The Celestial Sovereign who had created this world. The disappearance that seemed to mark the beginning of its decline. This strange energy that was almost, but not quite, proper qi...

"Azure," I said slowly, "what if this isn't just any world? What if it's someone's inner world?"@@novelbin@@

"The evidence would support that theory," Azure agreed. "The Genesis Seed's fruit sending us to inner worlds would explain much of what we've observed. The degradation of energy quality, the slow decay of the environment..."

"Because the cultivator who created it is dead," I continued. "Their inner world is slowly collapsing without their power to sustain it. The fruit we ate was already starting to rot – that must have been a sign of the world's condition."

"That raises another question..."

I beat him to it. "Where's the inner world spirit? Every inner world has one, it's a fundamental part of their structure. So, where's this world's Azure?"

I felt Azure about to respond, but before he could, another voice spoke up in my mind – younger, uncertain, but definitely distinct from both Azure and my own thoughts.

"Hello? Can you... can you hear me?"

Well. It looked like young master Han had recovered enough for a proper conversation. This should be interesting.