Taking Advantage

(Forget Worry)

Chu Xiaotian's face turned ashen. The excitement he'd felt at thinking he had taken the first step toward becoming a strong cultivator vanished completely.

Falling from heaven into hell was far more painful than never leaving hell in the first place. He had finally arrived in a world that seemed straight out of legend, with a chance to become a peerless powerhouse, only for the Corpse Poison inside him to block his path. Chu Xiaotian was nearly driven mad. In his mind, he cursed the zombie that had bitten him—and all eighteen generations of its ancestors—over and over.

Ba Dao had been discussing some matters with Xia Xue, but he had also noticed Chu Xiaotian's condition. With his cultivation, he had sensed everything Chu Xiaotian had done. Under ordinary circumstances, someone who had only just begun practicing a cultivation method couldn't sense the presence of the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, let alone draw it into their body. Only those with exceptional talent could manage it in such a short time.

Chu Xiaotian's initial progress proved he was one of those exceptionally talented people, and Ba Dao had been overjoyed. Any cultivator would want to take on such a gifted disciple. But what happened next had plunged him into dejection. Chu Xiaotian's body actually devoured all the spiritual energy that entered it. That would surely sentence his cultivation path to death. At first, Ba Dao had refused to believe it too, just like Chu Xiaotian. But after more than a dozen failed attempts, he had no choice but to accept the truth.

He hurried over to Chu Xiaotian and took hold of one of his wrists, carefully examining his condition. The more he looked, the tighter his brow furrowed. Chu Xiaotian's body seemed perfectly fine, yet it devoured all the spiritual energy that entered it. Ba Dao couldn't make sense of it.

"Ba Dao Hall Master, what's wrong with him?" Xia Xue stood beside Ba Dao, her brows knitted as she asked softly. She wasn't strong enough to sense what was happening inside Chu Xiaotian. She could only guess from instinct that something had gone wrong with his cultivation.

Ba Dao didn't answer at once. Only after a long moment did he frown and say, "His constitution is very strange. All the spiritual energy that enters his body gets devoured."

Ba Dao hadn't detected the Corpse Poison inside Chu Xiaotian. He could only attribute what he'd seen to Chu Xiaotian's constitution. Such constitutions weren't common in this world, but neither were they unheard of. Ba Dao, at least, knew of them.

"Can I still cultivate in the future?" Chu Xiaotian asked as soon as Ba Dao finished speaking. This was what concerned him most.

"It'll be difficult. Very difficult. With a constitution like yours, you could only cultivate your physical body. But without spiritual energy to temper it, you won't achieve much. Most likely, you'll never get past the Tenth-Stage Body Refining level." Ba Dao slowly shook his head and sighed. He had thought Chu Xiaotian possessed extraordinary talent, only to discover that he also had such a bizarre constitution, one that had cut off every path forward.

"Is there no one in the entire Great Xia Dynasty who can help him?" Xia Xue asked Ba Dao, a glimmer of hope in her eyes. She understood how determined Chu Xiaotian was to cultivate, and knew that being unable to do so would deal him a heavy blow.

"It's hard to say. But even if someone could, given his circumstances, I'm afraid..." Ba Dao's answer was uncertain. He might be the strongest person here, but in the Great Xia Dynasty as a whole, he was little more than a bottom-tier cultivator. He hadn't traveled far, and knew little about Chu Xiaotian's strange condition. What he did know was that Chu Xiaotian had neither money nor influence. Even if a solution existed, no one would likely be willing to help him.

Chu Xiaotian and Xia Xue were both clever. They understood perfectly well what Ba Dao had left unsaid.

He had just found a path to becoming a powerhouse, only to have it cut off in an instant. Overcome with dejection, Chu Xiaotian rose listlessly, thanked Ba Dao, and handed him the Mad Battle Blade Art, which had only three stages. Then he walked out, staggering from side to side.

Ba Dao watched him. His lips parted as if he wanted to say something, but in the end, he said nothing. With a sigh, he let Chu Xiaotian leave. Xia Xue thanked Ba Dao, then hurried after him.

The blow Chu Xiaotian had suffered was severe. He seemed to have completely forgotten Xia Xue's presence and walked aimlessly toward the edge of town. Xia Xue understood how he felt and stayed silent, following quietly behind him. After what had happened, she had even forgotten that she was supposed to go to the Hundred Herb Pavilion and trade pills for medicinal herbs.

The two walked in silence, one behind the other. An hour later, Chu Xiaotian reached the entrance to the valley where Xia Xue lived. Looking at the river flowing out of the cave, he stopped and sat down beside it, silently watching the rushing water. In a world where cultivation was possible, every man dreamed of becoming a supreme powerhouse, and dreamed fiercely. But now, Chu Xiaotian's path to cultivation had been brutally severed, leaving all his hopes in ruins. There was no need to ask how much pain he felt.

"Don't worry. The Great Xia Dynasty is vast, and it has countless powerhouses. This is only a small town. Somewhere out there, someone may know how to cure your constitution." A delicate fragrance drifted over, accompanied by Xia Xue's gentle voice. She sat beside Chu Xiaotian, her face serene and smiling as she turned to look at the young man sunk in despair.

"That may be true, but I'm a penniless nobody with no influence. Who would help treat me?" Chu Xiaotian gave a bitter smile. He didn't have much hope. Whether in his previous world or this one, people without money or influence had little chance of getting anything worthwhile.

"Have you forgotten? I'm an Alchemist. I may not be strong now, but I'll grow stronger before long. When I do, I should be able to find someone to help you. And even if I can't, once I see my master, someone of his standing should be able to help. You saved my life, so let me repay you." Xia Xue turned to look at Chu Xiaotian and spoke earnestly. This was the only way she could think of to help him.

Chu Xiaotian's heart stirred. What Xia Xue said seemed quite possible. From the way the people of Greenwood Town treated her, it was clear that alchemists held a very high status throughout the dynasty. Even a first-rank Alchemist—the lowest rank—was treated that way. A seventh-rank Alchemist like her master needed no explanation. Chu Xiaotian's problem might be nothing more than a single sentence for someone like him. But soon, his spirits sank again. He suddenly realized that the odds of it working might not be very high.

Xia Xue would need to become a fifth-rank Alchemist before she could meet her master, and Chu Xiaotian doubted that would happen anytime soon. At the very least, it would take more than ten or twenty years. Xia Xue had met her master at fifteen, yet at seventeen she was still only a first-rank Alchemist. That showed just how difficult it was to advance as an Alchemist. If it really took that long, then by the time ten or twenty years had passed, even if the Corpse Poison inside him could be completely cured, Chu Xiaotian might no longer be able to cultivate. He understood all too well that the older you got, the harder cultivation became.

Of course, those were only thoughts in his mind. Chu Xiaotian didn't let any of them show. Xia Xue had meant well, after all, and he couldn't treat her kindness like donkey's liver and lungs.

He gave Xia Xue a profoundly grateful look, then seized the chance to take her delicate hand. His voice seemed to choke with emotion as he gazed into her eyes and said solemnly, "Xue, you've been so good to me. I don't even know how to repay you. I've decided—I'll give myself to you. Wherever you go from now on, I'll follow."

Chu Xiaotian had never pursued a girl before, but he'd picked up some advice from a few uncles back in his village. The keys to winning a girl over were to be bold, attentive, and shameless. In his eyes, Xia Xue was breathtakingly beautiful. In all his eighteen years, he had never seen a girl so beautiful—not even on television. Now that he'd finally met someone like her, he'd be better off banging his head against a wall and dying if he didn't pursue her. This time, he threw away every last shred of shame, all so he could cling to Xia Xue's side. And as he made his exaggerated declaration, he was more than happy to take her little hand and savor the strange sensation.

Xia Xue was only a seventeen-year-old girl, and she had lived in the mountains her whole life. She knew little about the ways between men and women. Though the Hundred Herb Pavilion's manager, Pi Yanxing, had often leered at her, no one had ever touched her. When Chu Xiaotian suddenly grabbed her hand, her pretty face turned crimson. Her heart raced like a startled deer, and she was so flustered that she forgot to pull away or answer him.

Chu Xiaotian gazed steadily at Xia Xue. His face wore an expression of desperate gratitude, but inside, he was over the moon. He knew that what had just happened would leave a deep impression on her. He had taken the first successful step toward winning her over. If nothing unexpected happened, this little beauty, beautiful enough to topple kingdoms, would eventually be his.

Of course, that was the best-case scenario. If some powerful figure stepped in and stole her away, there was no way he could protect her in his current state. To keep that from happening, he needed to become strong. No matter how he turned it over, everything came back to the same question: strength. With strength, nothing would be a problem.