Chapter 6: The Rogue Cultivator

Lan Mei looked almost convinced, yet a faint shadow of doubt still lingered in her eyes.

Chao Lingxi folded her arms. "Prove it."

Kai Tianxie felt the new Insight Point settle in his mind like a cool drop of water. The system chimed softly.

Ding!

Side Quest: Proof of Legacy — Completed.

Reward: 1 Insight Point 50 Cost Points awarded.

System Shop now unlocked.

Both women stared at him, waiting.

Kai kept his face calm. "When I inherited the ancestral will, an ancient legacy imprinted itself directly into my mind. The knowledge is here."

He tapped his temple.

"I just need time to sort it."

Chao Lingxi's eyes narrowed. "I said prove it."

At that moment, the Kai voice spoke internally in his mind, measured and precise:

"He spoke of an ancient sect, golden and eternal,

and in the telling, it was a lie, a beautiful lie —

the kind that blooms in silence,

petals of falsehood unfurling until the ruin itself believed it had once been paradise."

A quiet smile touched Kai's lips. Perfect timing.

He accepted the scroll Lan Mei offered — an Earth-level technique called Ambient Breathing.

The moment his eyes passed over the text, the Eye of Wisdom activated on its own. Even in passive mode it catalogued every line, every hidden principle.

But Kai wanted more.

Full Scan Mode.

Insight Points: 1 → 0

Knowledge slammed into him like a tidal wave — not just the words, but the living rhythm of the technique, its synergy with wood-element qi, the exact breathing pattern that turned ordinary air into a roaring river of spiritual energy. The volume was crushing. His skull felt ready to split.

He cut the scan instantly.

Pain exploded behind his eyes. Ears ringing, vision blurring, qi channels burning. For three full seconds he couldn't even speak.

"It's nothing," he said, voice steady despite the headache pounding like a war drum.

Then he explained — calm, precise, flawless.

"Ambient Breathing is an Earth-level art. Its passive rhythm mimics natural respiration and vegetative growth. The third form is where it truly awakens: the cultivator's breath synchronizes with ambient spiritual energy, creating exponential gathering efficiency in forests or verdant areas. That's why it pairs so powerfully with wood-affinity techniques and regenerative methods."

Silence.

Lan Mei's eyes widened. Chao Lingxi's arms slowly lowered. Neither could find a single flaw.

Lan Mei's gaze drifted, distant. A memory she had buried for years clawed its way back.

A few years earlier…

She and her younger brother Lan Fu had been abandoned in a desolate graveyard. The stench of rotting flesh never left the air.

One day, ten-year-old Lan Fu watched a cultivator slaughter a gang of bullies and declared, "I want to become like you."

The man smiled. "Anything?"

For five years he trained them. For five years he broke them with humiliating labor. When the training ended, the mask came off.

He forced them to rob shops, turning them into wanted criminals.

Then came the night everything shattered.

Lan Fu returned to find their "master" pinning Lan Mei to the ground, hands groping with ugly entitlement.

"I protected you both," the man sneered. "Now repay your master properly."

Lan Fu charged. One palm strike collapsed his lungs.

Lan Mei snapped.

She grabbed an apple knife and drove it into the man's side. While he laughed at her brother's dying gasps, she poured every drop of qi into Vein Lash, binding his limbs, and slit his throat in one clean arc.

Blood sprayed across the room.

She dropped beside her brother, cradling his face as his eyes fluttered shut.

"I've avenged you," she whispered, tears falling onto his still chest.

Back in the ruined courtyard, Lan Mei blinked hard, pushing the memory down. Her voice came out rough.

"…You really do have the legacy."

Chao Lingxi studied Kai for a long second, then gave the smallest nod of respect.

Kai exhaled through the fading headache and smiled.

The first real believers had arrived.