This Young Master is not Cannon Fodder
chapter-208

Tianyi didn’t dare to use his true or spiritual sense carelessly after exploding twice. Surprisingly, his body wasn’t damaged by the explosion, but the same couldn’t be said for his clothes and items. His clothes were in tatters, his coronet just scattered gold fragments on the ground, and even his spatial ring was slightly cracked.

If a spatial ring were to be destroyed, that didn’t mean all the items would be lost, but that also didn’t mean the items within would be unscathed. When a spatial ring was destroyed, all the items inside would be damaged due to the spatial inventory collapsing. The better the spatial ring, the more likely the item would be destroyed.

Tianyi had no intention of testing whether his inventory of items could withstand a spatial collapse. Plus, he knew that there was quite literally a mountain of items inside, and that would be a chore to move if he couldn’t use a spatial ring.

The only item that wasn’t damaged by Tianyi’s double explosion was the jade pendant on his waist, the Mountains and Seas Formation. Giving the items to Daoyi for safekeeping, Tianyi started to experiment with the limitations of his new realm, but not before asking Daoyi to go to his room and bring new clothes for him.

He had no desire to be seen streaking through Jade Peak, thank you very much.

After much experimentation, Tianyi discovered, to his horror, that he could not release any true qi or even his spiritual sense, or his cultivation would reset to the initial stage of the Singularity Realm. Not being able to use qi was a huge detriment to cultivators, especially to Tianyi, whose greatest strength was his overbearingly powerful qi.

Practically everything a cultivator did require qi or spiritual sense, such as unleashing techniques like the Heaven Suppressing Palm or refining artifacts. Even the abilities that came with a new realm, such as the Nascent Soul Realm’s sky walking, required qi. No matter how knowledgeable or omnipotent a cultivator was, without qi, they could not accomplish much.

To make an analogy. It was much like how electronics, such as phones, required electricity. Without electricity, the phone might as well be a hunk of plastic and metal with absolutely no use. In essence, Tianyi was a high-end hardware with no energy source.

There were instances of cultivators unleashing techniques using their mastery of concepts, but that only meant the cultivator used the bare minimum amount of qi to the point that there were no qi fluctuations or any other signs of qi usage. Even when Tianyi used the spacetime concept to imitate a venerable’s ability to fly, he still required qi.

There was only one way to unleash a technique without any energy source, and that was to have mastered a law of the world. If Tianyi mastered a Law of Spacetime, he would not need to worry about not having any qi. Those who mastered laws were cultivators that had the qualification to enter the Seamless Immortal Realm! Of course, powering them with energy would make the technique more powerful.

Instances like his mother, who could become an immortal monarch after a few hundred years, were the exception of exceptions. It wasn’t like there weren’t instances of cultivators entering the Pathfinding Immortal Realm and becoming a true immortal within a hundred years, but Tianyi had never heard another case like his mother. And she one-uped that by entering the Extremity Immortal Realm within a thousand years!

The more I think about it, the more it seems like Mother is the protagonist of some novel. First, she had a tragic childhood and would have likely descended into anonymity had she not been discovered by her Master. Her experiences are legendary too: having a fortuitous encounter like upgrading her heavenly yin spiritual vein into the heavenly extreme yin spiritual vein is completely protagonist-like! The only thing missing is a romantic character who would be willing to sacrifice the world for her.

At that thought, Tianyi held his chin in his hands as he narrowed his eyes. Yeah, I can’t imagine that. If it were some cliche plot, the man’s love would cause Mother’s frosty temperament to thaw and understand emotions. Like Hell!!!

Speaking of which, that man couldn’t be my sperm donor, could he? Tianyi wondered as traces of faint killing intent appeared in his eyes. Yeah, no. If I meet him, should I kill him?

Truthfully speaking, Tianyi didn’t have much hatred towards his sperm donor, but that didn’t mean he would happily jump into the unknown man’s arms and call him father. The experience of two lifetimes had taught Tianyi that fathers weren’t reliable. In fact, he would rather not have a father than have one enter his life later.

But thinking about his mother being lovey-dovey with an unknown man just sent chills down Tianyi’s spine and made him feel a sense of loss. In the end, it’s Mother’s decision, so I have no right to interfere. If I killed him, it might make mother sad or dislike me, so I won’t do such a foolish thing.

After that small episode, Tianyi resumed experimenting with his new realm and made a few more discoveries. His realm didn’t automatically rise, and he would need to cultivate consciously. In fact, if he slacked, then his cultivation might start regressing.

The possible regression was due to the nature of the Singularity Realm. Tianyi was forcibly compressing his cultivation into a single point, and when you forcibly compress matter, it has a tendency to resist and return to its natural state.

All in all, Tianyi could only conclude that the only improvement he had was that he had a stupidly strong body and that he was spell-less.

Lovely.

Not long after, Daoyi returned with a fresh set of clothing. It was another purple robes and gold coronet much like the one he previously wore, only in a different style. After changing into the new clothes, Tianyi stepped next to Daoyi and attempted to return to Jade Peak Palace.

It was at this point that Tianyi realized he couldn’t fly or use a flying sword. He sheepishly looked at Daoyi. “Daoyi, can you give me a ride?”

Daoyi’s face showed an expression of confusion and asked the reason. After hearing the reason, Daoyi didn’t even attempt to hide her amusement, much to Tianyi’s displeasure. “Tianyi, I feel that your cultivation is very…unique.”

Tianyi huffed and stepped onto Daoyi’s flying sword that she brought out.

“So, how are you going to fix your problem this time?” Daoyi asked along the way.

“Fix?” Tianyi repeated. There was nothing wrong with his cultivation. It was just the nature of the Singularity Realm.

“Yeah, when you first entered the Core Formation Realm, your body couldn’t take it, so you conceived a new martial method in order to fix that. So, how are you going to create a method to use your qi?” Daoyi asked. She also attempted to make a cultivation method on a whim, but only then did she discover how hard it was.

Tianyi did have Menfei’s help for his Nine-Five Scripture, but that was only in the early stages. Tianyi had also given Daoyi a copy to look at, and she was dazzled by the complexity. She didn’t know if Tianyi knew or not, but he had an unnatural high talent for cultivation method creation.

Her answer came in the form of an awkward laugh. Tianyi knew that there was no chance in hell he could alter the cultivation method within a thousand years or even a hundred thousand years. When he created the Singularity Realm chapter of the Nine-Five Scripture, it was due to unique conditions that he would likely not experience again.

Two years later within the Temporal Void Domain, Tianyi was silently cultivating on the fourth level. He had forcibly broken through in order to increase his understanding of the concepts of time. Time was the other side of space, so improving his understanding of time will increase his mastery of spacetime.

Perhaps, he might even master a Law of Spacetime, but Tianyi thought that was an unlikely chance, at least currently. What Tianyi hoped for was that with his increasing mastery of spacetime, his cultivation would go faster. He was doing everything he could not to be a cultivator that could only use his body.

However, some things were still different. Whatever floor Tianyi was on, the Temporal Void Domain lost its temporal effect. Tianyi could still get nausea because the time dilation still operated, or at least tried to.

His agreement with Sect Master Xia and the Buzhou Immortal Sect had to be put on hold as he could not create pseudo realms without his qi or spiritual sense. When Sect Master Xia first heard of it, his whole face froze before it started twitching nonstop. He even said, “What kind of cultivator loses abilities as they advance?!”

Tianyi had no words of rebuttal.

Another thing Tianyi discovered in the two years was that he was practically invisible to a cultivator’s spiritual sense. Actually, it included immortals like Sect Master Xia. He had the qualifications to be a top assassin now!

If the Nihility Sect were to learn of Tianyi’s unique state, they would likely fork over a fortune to learn Tianyi’s cultivation method, not that Tianyi thinks that it is possible to replicate the Singularity Realm.

The only way to detect Tianyi was through physical senses such as sight, hearing, smell, and touch. Taste could likely also detect him, but he wasn’t in a hurry to test that particular hypothesis.

Tianyi stood up from his position and walked down the Temporal Void Domain. I feel as if my progress has reached a bottleneck, and it won’t be likely for me to advance. Should I go temper myself? Sect Master Xia said that my body is powerful even among true immortals, so I shouldn’t encounter too many dangers.

When Tianyi stepped out of the Temporal Void Domain, he saw Su Bojing and Ba Shifang waiting for him.

“Young Master, your clone said it’s time for him to advance to the next realm.” Su Bojing courteously announced.

Speaking of his clones, they were also affected by Tianyi’s current state. They felt as if they had lost all connection with Tianyi, causing Donghai Longzi, his second clone, to rush back to the sect upon sensing this.

Tianyi nodded. His clone had stalled his cultivation while waiting for the eight essences to be delivered, and now everything was prepared. Tianyi didn’t bring the clone to the place he transcended his Core Formation and Nascent Soul Heavenly Tribulation, as he wanted to test the Heavenly Dao’s reaction to his clone.

Su Bojing brought Tianyi and Ba Shifang to an unused piece of land on Jade Peak. To Tianyi’s surprise, Daoyi also tagged along with interest. He would have invited Xi Ri had he returned.

Under the three spectator’s eyes, Ba Shifang began Core Formation Heavenly Tribulation.

Tianyi had already sensed something different even though he could not release his spiritual sense. The gathering tribulation clouds felt more…Tianyi struggled to find the exact word.

The best he could word it was that the heavenly tribulation was peaceful and apathetic as if it was only doing its duty. Tianyi could still recall the outrage laden within each of his own heavenly tribulations and the random attacks.

When he merged all three cultivation styles, he had noticed that the tribulation lightning didn’t strike him, but he hadn’t thought much of it at the time. He thought even less when Duwa’s divining had incurred tribulation lightning to strike him. He also thought nothing of it when he hadn’t been struck by lightning in the Demon Cage Realm since it was a different realm, but he still hadn’t been struck after returning to the Huang Realm.

It was as if the Heavenly Dao had forgotten about him. Or perhaps, the Heavenly Dao can’t sense me at all!

Tianyi was even more sure of his guess as Ba Shifang continued forming his embryonic cores. Before each core popped out of his spiritual crucible, Ba Shifang would ingest an elixir containing an essence of the eight symbols. With Tianyi’s experience, Ba Shifang’s process was even smoother than Tianyi’s. The first bolt only struck after all eight embryonic cores formed!

There were no small tricks played by the heavenly tribulation either. Each lightning bolt came in sequences, with each more powerful than the last, but all within the scope of a Core Formation Heavenly Tribulation. Ba Shifang was experiencing eight Core Formation Heavenly Tribulation instead of a merged Core Formation Heavenly Tribulation like Tianyi had.

Unlike when Juedai Fenghua underwent her tribulation, it didn’t upgrade to a Nascent Soul Heaven Tribulation. Nor did it target Tianyi. Tianyi was sure that the Heavenly Dao was blind to him.

But why? Although my clone cultivates the Eight Symbolic Cores, Four Direction Souls grade of the Nine-Five Scripture and is weaker than my Nine Mandate Cores, Five Heaven Souls, it still exceeds the Core Formation Realm. Why is the Heavenly Dao not reacting as it had with me? His clone’s power would be a whole realm more powerful, especially his qi.

The only reason I can think of is because of my clone’s heavenly spiritual vein. Mother also upgraded her spiritual vein, but she didn’t incur the same tribulation like I had. Heh, it seems the root of the Heavenly Dao’s anger towards me is because I had absorbed and stole the Heavenly Dao’s tribulation essence. Tianyi made a small smirk at that. His current state made him helpless, so he would amuse himself as much as possible.

After a day, Ba Shifang had successfully entered the Core Formation Realm. Like Tianyi, he didn’t form a lifebound artifact since he had to direct all his attention in overcoming the heavenly tribulation.

Per Tianyi’s design, he now had eight spiritual cores correlating to the eight symbols. The spiritual cores were all gold ranked. Ba Shifang didn’t attempt to make a violet-gold ranked core because even his main body could only form one in the condition, and balance was more important. Even if he didn’t have a violet-gold spiritual core, the eight cores exceeded those that possessed a violet-gold spiritual core.

Like Tianyi, Ba Shifang produced true qi of chaos since the Nine-Five Scripture had the Primordial Heavenly Scripture as a base, but unlike Tianyi’s, his true qi of chaos was grey and didn’t contain countless motes of light within.

Ba Shifang could tell it was weaker than Tianyi’s true qi of chaos but still more powerful than almost all other true qis. It would be more correct to term Tianyi’s qi as the true qi of primordial chaos.

Could the tribulation essence be the reason my true qi of chaos is different from my clone’s? Tianyi thought. It seemed that the reason he produced the true qi of primordial chaos wasn’t because of his cultivation but his dao tribulation lightning spiritual vein.

Before Tianyi could examine and test Ba Shifang’s current ability, Daoyi dropped a bomb on him.

“Tianyi, I’m going to transcend my Nascent Soul Heavenly Tribulation next.”