The Golden Finger

"By the way, there's one more thing."

After thinking it over, Qi Fei decided that focusing only on the stone carving wasn't enough to be safe.

He still needed to find out Linley's exact strength.

"Please, give me your orders."

The butler stood to one side.

"Our Fenlai Kingdom has an Ernst Magic Academy, doesn't it?"

Qi Fei wore the expression of an idle young master who knew nothing about studying.

"Yes. Your mother graduated from that academy."

Seeing Qi Fei's expression, the butler didn't suspect a thing.

He even looked a little helpless.

"Cough, cough. Of course I know that."

Qi Fei put on an embarrassed expression.

"I was wondering, don't you think it's time I found a suitable wife?"

Because his predecessor had behaved so outrageously, Qi Fei couldn't simply tell the butler to investigate Ernst Magic Academy.

He had to approach it from another angle.

The moment Qi Fei finished speaking, the butler's eyes lit up.

"Of course."

He spoke with excitement.

A capable and suitable wife would definitely be able to keep their current family head in line.

The Cadmus Family could still be saved.

"Then I'll trouble you to keep an eye out for me."

Qi Fei wasn't actually looking for a wife.

He remembered that Linley's wife, Delia, was in the same year as him.

As long as he could find out Delia's age, he'd be able to determine Linley's current situation.

"Yes."

The butler didn't pay any attention to Qi Fei's expression.

After all, an elite from a magic academy would certainly be able to keep this generation's family head in line, just like the previous generation had.

Once he had confirmed that Qi Fei had nothing else to discuss, the butler took his leave and went to make arrangements concerning the magic academy.

Watching the butler walk away, Qi Fei sighed inwardly.

I hope the news is good.

Then Qi Fei made his way to a secret chamber deep inside the Cadmus Family Castle.

The chamber held all the inheritances the Cadmus Family had collected over the years, so only the family head was allowed inside.

Qi Fei had come for the Cadmus Family's core inheritance, a Battle Qi Secret Manual called the Red Dragon Secret Sword.

It was a fire-style Battle Qi Secret Manual, created by the family's third-generation ancestor.

His predecessor had cultivated this very manual.

Back when his father was still alive, his predecessor had studied and trained diligently. He could practically recite the manual by heart.

Now, he had even forgotten many of its details.

If Qi Fei wanted to pick up his cultivation again, he would have to memorize the Battle Qi Secret Manual all over.

It was truly a lamentable turn of events.

"Hm? Is there something wrong with my memory?"

In the secret chamber, Qi Fei set down the Battle Qi Secret Manual, a little puzzled.

Though the manual had originally been created by the third-generation ancestor, it also contained many contributions from later generations.

It covered Battle Qi cultivation, combat techniques, experience, precautions, and much more.

It was about half the length of the Xinhua Dictionary.

Yet after reading through it once, Qi Fei remembered all of it.

Even if his predecessor had once memorized it, this kind of memory seemed rather unreasonable.

"Could the fusion of two souls have strengthened my mental power?"

Qi Fei immediately thought of this familiar trope from transmigration novels.

Neither he nor his predecessor had been a genius with perfect recall.

Aside from the fusion of their souls, he couldn't think of any reason for such a change.

"If that's really the case, it'll make improving my strength much easier."

Battle Qi cultivation was closely tied to physical fitness.

His predecessor's body had deteriorated to the level of a Level 2 Warrior. Recovering his former strength quickly was practically a pipe dream.

Magic, however, wasn't constrained by the body.

As long as one had enough mental power, training in magic was no slower than training as a warrior.

Even if his mental power was only just passing and couldn't help him advance quickly, magic would still give him another way to fight.

What was more, the magic in the Coiling Dragon World had all been simplified by the Chief Gods from the Laws and Profound Mysteries of their respective elements.

It was quite useful as a reference for cultivation beyond the Saint Realm.

Qi Fei didn't even have the confidence to break through to the Saint Realm, but a person still needed to have dreams.

Maybe one day he'd break through.

With that thought, Qi Fei immediately began searching through the secret chamber.

The many inheritances collected by the Cadmus Family naturally included material related to mages.

He skipped the attribute and mental-power tests and went straight to the material on meditation.

The former had already been tested by his predecessor: he had an intermediate affinity for fire and a low affinity for earth. The latter required the help of a mage, and Qi Fei had no access to one.

So he could only begin by trying to meditate.

"This doesn't look too difficult."

After a long while, Qi Fei set down the manual in his hands.

It contained plenty of information, but its core principles were simple: clear the mind, set aside distracting thoughts, sense the elements, and absorb them from the surroundings.

In wizard-genre novels, it would probably count as one of the simplest meditation methods.

"I hope my guess is right."

Qi Fei closed his eyes and began his first attempt at meditation.

As a newcomer without anyone to guide him, he made little progress.

Half an hour passed. He still couldn't sense the elements around him, and he couldn't even rein in his stray thoughts.

But as a transmigrator, Qi Fei had a clear-eyed understanding of his own abilities.

So even though meditation was proving difficult, he didn't lose heart. He continued to empty his mind and clear away his distractions.

After an unknown amount of time, Qi Fei felt his mental power stir faintly.

Then the surroundings suddenly changed.

The secret chamber filled with books became a vast, white room.

It was so spacious that he couldn't see the far end.

"I thought I'd have to wait a while before anyone else showed up."

A childish voice tinged with the weariness of age came from behind him.

Qi Fei instinctively turned around.

Two boys who looked vaguely familiar stood behind him.

One of them was staring at the other, his eyes filled with the same wariness and confusion Qi Fei felt.

"Think it over carefully. It should all be in your mind."

The boy being watched spoke to them both.

"...It's all in my mind?"

Qi Fei was puzzled.

Then countless pieces of information flashed through his mind, and he finally understood what was going on.

"So this is clone cultivation."

Qi Fei relaxed.

These two boys were versions of himself from other worlds. There was no need to be on guard.

"Hello. I'm Qi Fei, from the Yulan Continent in the Coiling Dragon World."

He greeted the two boys.

"I'm also Qi Fei. I'm from Yangzhai, Yingchuan, in the Mythical Three Kingdoms world."

The boy who had been stared at introduced himself.

"Heavenly Jewel Change. Heavenly Bow Empire."

The boy who had been doing the staring came back to himself and named the world he'd transmigrated to.

As soon as he said that, the other two Qi Feis immediately focused on him.

"No way. Heavenly Jewel Change?"

Coiling Dragon Qi Fei couldn't help looking the boy up and down.

"Wasn't that the kind of thing we used to read for... that?" Shen San Qi Fei added.

What he remembered most about that novel was the protagonist's many wives.

Especially the triplets.

They had certainly opened his eyes back then.

"That author started out writing that kind of stuff, so the protagonist of Heavenly Jewel Change is pretty normal."

Heavenly Jewel Change Qi Fei shrugged.

In other stories, there were even final villains who got defeated by one shot from the male lead.

"By the way, I feel kind of bad for Zhou Weiqing, too."

Heavenly Jewel Change Qi Fei recalled some news he'd happened to see before transmigrating.

"Why?"

Coiling Dragon Qi Fei asked, puzzled.

So much time had passed that he'd nearly forgotten the novel.

"In the author's new work, it seems he killed off Zhou Weiqing's triplet wives."

Heavenly Jewel Change Qi Fei put it simply.

"?!"

Hearing that, Coiling Dragon Qi Fei remembered, too.

Not only had Zhou Weiqing lost his wives, the author had also written him as a cowardly clown who begged for a God Position because he was afraid to die.

"Sounds like he really hates that novel."

Shen San Qi Fei clicked his tongue.

"Forget it. Let's not talk about depressing stuff. We still have something important to do."

Heavenly Jewel Change Qi Fei clapped his hands, drawing the other two's attention.

The other two Qi Feis immediately understood what this version of them had in mind.

The most important part of their clone-cultivation golden finger—the Sharing ability—was something they hadn't tried yet.

"So, shall we?"

Heavenly Jewel Change Qi Fei held out both hands.

"Let's do it."

Shen San and Coiling Dragon Qi Fei grasped them at the same time.

In an instant, the three of them began sharing their memories, cultivation, talents...

Coiling Dragon Qi Fei was the first to feel a power flow into his body.

Then he saw Heavenly Jewel Change Qi Fei's past.

Heavenly Jewel Change Qi Fei had also transmigrated into another person's body.

But unlike Qi Fei, who had woken up free to fool around with maids, Heavenly Jewel Change Qi Fei had been dealt a much worse hand.

He had transmigrated into the body of a seven-year-old boy whose entire village had been slaughtered by an Evil Attribute Heavenly Jewel Master.

Although he had survived the transmigration, he had suffered massive blood loss and multiple broken bones. Even with a little first-aid knowledge, Qi Fei hadn't been able to save himself.

Fortunately, Zhou Shuiniu—the marshal of the Heavenly Bow Empire and the father of the original protagonist—had already been tracking the killer before the massacre.

That was how he arrived in time to save Qi Fei's life.

Qi Fei had survived, but the damage to his predecessor's brain left him mentally unstable.

The only thing he could reliably do each day was cultivate Heavenly Power.

Four years later, once Qi Fei had cultivated enough, his Heavenly Bead awakened.

Only then did he return to normal and enter the Shared Space.

Before Coiling Dragon Qi Fei could react, he saw another set of memories.

This time, it was Shen San Qi Fei's past.

Unlike Coiling Dragon Qi Fei and Heavenly Jewel Change Qi Fei, Shen San Qi Fei had been born into his new world.

Perhaps because the God Three World had its own mental-power system, his memories had begun returning gradually when he was young.

That had earned him the reputation of a child prodigy.

Then, at the age of four, he said something so outrageous that a local shaman tied him to a tree and muttered over him for an entire day and night.

And this was only the beginning of his run of bad luck.

At six, after making a name for himself by arguing with children from other families, the Yellow Turban Rebellion began.

Everyone's attention turned to the great upheaval, and no one cared about an ordinary little kid anymore.

At nine, just as he'd finally become a nominal disciple under a great Confucian scholar of the Xun Family, his parents died.

Qi Fei had no choice but to give up his studies and return home to observe the mourning period.

At twelve, his mourning period ended, but so had the most important early Three Kingdoms event for dividing up the spoils: the Eighteen Route Lords Campaign Against Dong.

It was only two days ago that Liu Bei, who had taken part in the Campaign Against Dong, came to Yingchuan to recruit talent at the suggestion of Chen Xi, the original protagonist.

That was when Qi Fei finally realized which world he'd transmigrated into—and fully awakened his memories.

"You..."

Coiling Dragon Qi Fei let go and looked at his counterparts from other worlds, his expression complicated.

He'd been able to use his cheat from the moment he transmigrated and make a killing, while they'd already been struggling in other worlds for years.

He couldn't help feeling a pang of guilt.

"It's fine. We made it through."

Heavenly Jewel Change Qi Fei said casually.

"Things can only get better from here."

Shen San Qi Fei chimed in.

"...Yeah."

Coiling Dragon Qi Fei answered, his thoughts heavy.

"Come on, don't dwell on it. We still have things to do."

Heavenly Jewel Change Qi Fei reminded him, holding out his hand.

"I know."

Coiling Dragon Qi Fei clasped it again.

But this time, apart from the small amount of memory he'd gained after Sharing, he got nothing.

"Did it work?"

Shen San Qi Fei asked.

"I only got a little of the memory from the first time we Shared. I didn't feel that power flowing into me."

Coiling Dragon Qi Fei shook his head.

"Looks like it won't work. Then let's try leaving for a while and coming back after we've digested the power."

Shen San Qi Fei suggested.

That would also give them a chance to check their gains individually.

So the three agreed on a rough time and left the Pure White Room one by one.

Coiling Dragon World.

Qi Fei opened his eyes.

The surroundings were just as they'd been before he entered, as though the whole thing had been a dream.

But Qi Fei knew perfectly well that it hadn't been.

"My cultivation... I'm already a Level 4 Warrior?"

Qi Fei moved to an open area in the secret chamber and lightly tested his arms and legs.

Thanks to the power of the Qi Feis from the other worlds, he'd already recovered most of his original cultivation.

He even had a feeling that he'd be back at Level 5 within two days.

Qi Fei was quite pleased with that.

The only disappointing thing was that the Physical Jewel and Will Jewel shared by Heavenly Jewel Change Qi Fei seemed to have some kind of problem.

Qi Fei could sense their presence, but for now, he couldn't use them.

He didn't know whether he just needed time to adapt to the new environment or whether they couldn't be used at all.

"Forget it. I'd better get used to this power as quickly as possible."

Qi Fei started with a set of radio calisthenics to warm up, then practiced his control according to the instructions in the Red Dragon Secret Sword.

If he couldn't keep his power under control and let everyone see his cultivation, he wouldn't be able to explain it.

Before long, Qi Fei had gained basic control over the Dou Qi in his body.

That was probably thanks to the three of them combining their talents, along with the results of the other two Qi Feis' years of cultivation.

So he didn't get complacent. Instead, he continued practicing.

After a while, Qi Fei felt fatigue deep in his muscles.

Only then did he slowly rise and bring his training session to an end.

"Whew—time to rest. I might as well check how my mental strength is while I'm at it."

Qi Fei shook himself out and stretched his tired muscles.

Then he found a place to sit, closed his eyes, and tried to meditate.