Chapter 40

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Translator: MadScientist

Chapter: 40

Chapter Title: Absorbing Star Great Law

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Mystical steam rising ethereally.

The clear, resonant sound of water droplets echoing through the air.

What’s there to say.

I’d succeeded in creating an awesome spirit herb garden.

The Jade Pool.

In Eastern legends, it’s passed down as the pond near the peak of Kunlun Mountain, by the residence of the Queen Mother of the West.

In the world of alchemy, who cares about that—it was an auspicious jade-colored pool like no other.

Don’t sweat the details.

In this world, crossovers like this were a dime a dozen.

Anyway.

The gallery was loving it.

Maybe because they were all Martial Gods who’d reached enlightenment, or maybe the Jade Pool’s sanctity was bursting through the live feed.

Even to me, someone who didn’t know much, it looked insanely cool!

How awesome was it, you ask?

Get it?

It was an insane passive income machine that produced spirit pills just by sitting there.

‘Ha...’

Was this really the same pathetic Unyielding Magic Sword who’d whined every time he failed to make even a low-grade spirit pill during alchemy trials?

Sure, I’d burned through all the Ether I’d stockpiled,

but this time, I didn’t pass out and perfectly created a spirit herb garden that sprouts new herbs right on cooldown.

And this thing didn’t stop at just one peach tree.

It even had a passive effect boosting growth for all water-affinity spirit herbs and medicinal plants planted here!

‘The problem is, stuff like that doesn’t exist in this world.’

Honestly, that part was a bummer.

Can’t have it all, I guess.

Feels like everyone else gets the freebie and I’m left out.

But what can you do.

You can’t fill up on the first bite.

If I keep living and diligently smack down mutants, another growth opportunity might come along.

“Alright.”

Clap—

I clapped to liven up the mood.

Then, looking toward where the camera angle was facing, I said,

“That’s it for today’s broadcast. See you next time, gallery fam.”

Today’s stream had been a huge success.

I’d successfully tended the spirit herb garden.

I wanted to cultivate more, but sadly, I was out of materials.

Creating a spirit herb garden required Ether.

Fundamentally, to make more, I’d need to farm Ether by beating down mutants.

But I couldn’t leisurely farm Ether right now.

Because I’d eaten that red pill and learned the truth.

‘It’s not just me getting stronger.’

The mutants were powering up in their own way, and the raiders were building their forces.

Even the nearby village had mutants blooming like flowers (literally), and far off, raiders were forming their own communities.

Hell, illegal drugs were circulating in those communities, with raiders eating them to try evolving into mutants. Who knows what hybrid monstrosities they’d dark-evolve into later.

In short, I needed to craft passive income items on the side while culling mutant numbers and raising my own realm.

You might say, “Since you have to hunt mutants steadily anyway, just farm while you’re at it.”

“But it feels ominous. My gut says if I follow a steady growth path, I’ll get weeded out in the power creep.”

To reiterate, this world boasted a crossover mishmash worldview—like a chaotic stew of Earth writer’s genre experiments gone wrong, where even the author had lost the plot.

And those kinds of crossover worlds usually spiraled into insane power inflation before you knew it.

Mixing bits from everywhere was fun, but it left the writer unable to tie up loose ends, sending power levels to Andromeda.

Better to minimize travel time, and instead of slow farming, sweep everything in one go.

For that, I needed a power-up event right now.

Which brought me back to the basics: what power-up event?

“What else? A new martial art.”

Influenced heavily by Earth-1’s authors, I was a hybrid warrior far from orthodox.

The easiest way to get stronger was, of course, learning a new martial art.

Not that “learning” meant getting a new one handed down from the gallery folks.

Lately, I’d vaguely felt that I wasn’t fully mastering even the Heavenly Mechanism Calculation Method and Yin-Yang Five Elements Scripture I was currently practicing.

So what I needed now was a spin-off version of my existing martial arts.

And that foreshadowing from last time.

I immediately summoned the Colorless Bird.

Nope.

I do miss my master.

Colorless Bird Master was cute, pretty, strong—everything.

But this time, that was just an added bonus.

Master was easy to please.

Truth be told, I love Master too!

After a brief master-disciple fluff session, Master got to the point.

That was the aggressive application of the Yin-Yang Five Elements Scripture that AlphaGo had spoiled before raiding the monster flower last time.

I hadn’t known before, but now it was time to learn its dark side, which rivaled top-tier destructive power.

Oho.

What could it be? What insane dark side required this bridge step?

The dark side of the moon level?

Curiosity bubbled up, but as a good, obedient disciple, I decided to follow Master’s instructions.

Following Master’s words, I bolted out of the shelter.

For reference, while I’d been crafting the passive item and receiving alchemy guidance, the brutal cold outside had eased up somewhat.

The existing snow had piled up another layer—no, three layers higher,

but this was better.

That extreme cold wasn’t survivable for humans.

‘There it is.’

Trekking through the thick snowfields and approaching the city outskirts, I ran into a mutant prowling nearby.

Before learning martial arts, I’d have fled in terror, but now it was different.

This guy was my textbook for martial arts practice.

“Hey there.”

I waved like greeting an old friend.

Its detection range was pathetically short, so the snowfield-wandering mutant only spotted me when I called out loudly and turned this way.

And then,

“Gr, grraaaaaah!!”

Like reuniting with a long-lost buddy, it charged at me like a maniac.

“Yeah, I’m pretty damn glad to see you too.”

Facing the oncoming mutant, I recalled the new Yin-Yang Five Elements Scripture application Master had just explained.

She’d called it an intermediate step before the dark side, but the method was simple.

“Grraaaaaah!!”

A brutish hand lashed out.

Staring straight at that ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠writhing fist, I extended my own hand.

Snap—,

Wrists met, tracing a graceful curve.

Like grafting a new flower onto a tree.

Blending seamlessly, as if always meant to be.

This technique I’d learned during Heavenly Mechanism Calculation Method training.

Flower Grafting.

“Grraaah?”

The mutant’s eyes bulged as its savage punch intertwined with mine like a magnet.

Not missing the opening, I thrust my other hand forward.

“Gurk?!”

A choking gasp was crushed from the mutant as I gripped its throat.

It reflexively swung its free hand, but my movement was a step faster.

‘The operation is brutally simple. Just run the Yin-Yang Five Elements Scripture incantation in reverse.’

The original incantation achieved supreme harmony from within.

So what if you reversed it?

The answer came instantly.

“G-grrrk?!”

The mutant’s body jerked rigid, throat still in my grasp.

With my body as the axis, the Yin-Yang Five Elements flow reversed—and the harmony linked to that hand collapsed inevitably.

As a result, convergence became divergence.

What should gather scattered,

what should converge exploded outward.

The central axis remained me, so the changes hit the periphery.

Like this mutant in my grip right now.

Suuuuck—

Primal energy flowed from the mutant into me.

Through inner gate, Hegu, Quze, Zhongwan, straight to my dantian.

In an instant, the energy-sucked mutant withered like a deflated windpipe.

Thud—.

Gazing at the pathetically collapsing mutant, I uttered the name of this technique Master had taught me.

“Absorbing Star Great Law.”