Ye Yang's Diary: Teaching Ah Yin Gomoku
After absorbing all the energy essence of the Mandala Snake, as well as its Soul Bone,
Ye Yang's luck seemed to have worsened somewhat. He rarely encountered suitable Soul Beasts anymore.
Strictly speaking, his standards had risen considerably.
He couldn't even be bothered to attack Soul Beasts that were only a hundred years old or so.
Without spending points to activate his devouring skill, he could only convert one tenth of their Soul Power.
Hunting beast souls to gain a few years of Soul Power hardly seemed worthwhile.
He also found several-hundred-year Soul Beasts and Thousand-Year Soul Beasts rather unrewarding.
Only Soul Beasts two or three thousand years old seemed barely worth the effort.
But near the outer region, there weren't many Soul Beasts of that age.
His cultivation had finally settled into a steady routine.
In this region, there were also almost no Soul Beasts capable of threatening him.
Cultivation had grown monotonous as well.
To pass the time and keep a record of his cultivation, he began writing a diary.
Of his eighteen leaves, he used the one with the Blue Silver Overlord Spear as a pen.
The leaf beside it served as his diary. He carved words into it, writing his entries on its underside.
"Sixth day of the sixth month.
Today's daylight was nearly a minute longer than yesterday's. Going by the traditional solar terms of my old homeland, the Dragon Boat Festival has already passed, so it should be the summer solstice, the day with the longest daylight of the year.
So I'm making today the summer solstice and setting the date as the sixth day of the sixth lunar month.
Why? Because I like '666.'
When I first transmigrated here, the spring breeze was blowing, and the plants were poised to burst into growth. I've placed that around Arbor Day, March twelfth.
I'm setting it as the second day of the second lunar month, when the dragon raises its head. Great luck and good fortune!
It's been exactly twelve days since I hunted and devoured the Mandala Snake. The weather is hot, and the dog days have arrived.
The heat doesn't matter, but in those twelve days, I've only killed three Soul Beasts a little over a thousand years old, one over two thousand, and two three-thousand-year-old ones.
Although I've accumulated another 28,300 points, the amount spent when I encounter a powerful Soul Beast is frightening too.
I gritted my teeth and didn't use any points.
Hunting them was easy enough, but I could only convert one tenth of their Soul Power. As a result, my Soul Power has only just passed 6,000 years. Sigh.
Reaching a hundred thousand years, taking human form, and getting Ah Yin into bed is still a distant dream.
My future wife Ah Yin, though, is utterly astonished by how fast I'm growing.
But how could she know how impatient I am?
Without a hundred thousand years, I can't take human form. I'm with a goddess like her every day, yet I can't even hold her hand. It's truly stifling."
"Seventh day of the sixth month.
My future wife Ah Yin noticed me using a leaf to write and draw on another of my leaves, and she found it strange.
She also thought these Chinese characters had a special charm and were beautiful.
Obviously. Chinese characters have been passed down for thousands of years. Of course they're beautiful.
Of the hundreds or thousands of writing systems in the world, only Chinese characters can be used for calligraphy!
So today I held her slender jade hand and taught her to write in the dirt. She was very happy.
I was happy too. I let a three-thousand-year-old Soul Beast go. How could it be more important than pursuing my wife?"
"Eighth day of the sixth month.
That silly roe deer I let go yesterday came back.
It's actually a deer with glowing, branchlike antlers. It's very beautiful, so I call it a 'Light-Horned Deer.'
Today Ah Yin was absorbed in practicing her writing by herself, completely focused.
I quickly killed the Light-Horned Deer with my roots and used points to devour it quickly.
3,000 points for 629 years of Soul Power.
Most importantly, my wife Ah Yin didn't notice. She was happy about learning new Chinese characters. Worth it!"
"Eighteenth day of the sixth month.
Ah Yin is far too gifted. She already knows more than five hundred commonly used Chinese characters, about as many as a second-grader.
Most importantly, her handwriting is even better than mine, graceful and delicate yet imbued with a vigorous, forceful charm.
Compared with hers, my handwriting, which once soared like dragons and danced like phoenixes, looks like ghostly scrawls.
So I taught her six-in-a-row to distract her."
"Twentieth day of the sixth month.
Six-in-a-row was too simple, a little game played on a nine-square grid. Ah Yin lost interest again and wanted to practice writing!
With no other choice, I brought out my trump card and taught her gomoku!
Back in middle school, I used up eighteen exercise books playing it and swept through the whole school without a single defeat.
I liked drawing ○; my opponents drew either × or √.
Thinking about it now, those eighteen exercise books could have bought a real set of playing pieces.
This time, I didn't hold back. I made the pieces myself out of twigs.
I dyed them with Blue Silver Grass juice. I have blue pieces, and Ah Yin has silver ones.
Ah Yin was happy playing, and I casually named her Ah Yin. She didn't object.
I was happy too, hahaha."
"Twenty-first day of the sixth month.
Played the game and flirted with Ah Yin."
"Twenty-second day of the sixth month.
Played the game and fished for a beau."
"Twenty-third day of the sixth month.
Today Ah Yin actually peeked at my diary!
She even asked me what 'fishing for a beau' meant. I didn't answer, and she actually grabbed my leaf and forced another look.
When she saw 'flirted with Ah Yin,' she understood instantly, her face flushed with embarrassment and annoyance.
Sigh, a miscalculation, a miscalculation."
"Twenty-ninth day of the sixth month.
The day before yesterday, I found an Emerald Demon Bird, a very small Soul Beast with tremendous attack power.
They're scarce and feed on the brains of Soul Beasts. Like the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger, they're the common enemy of Soul Beasts.
Although this Emerald Demon Bird only had 2,800 years of Soul Power, it could easily hunt and kill a 5,000-year-old Soul Beast.
For the first time, Ah Yin supported me in hunting it. She even took action herself, using the Blue Silver Domain to intercept it as it fled.
This fellow had powerful attacks, was extremely fast, and was also very cunning. It was incredibly hard to catch!
This time I really had to bleed points, spending 14,000-half my total-to devour it!
A sixty-percent Soul Power conversion gave me 1,700 years of Soul Power.
The Soul Power was secondary. Most importantly, I gained 158 mental points!
That means it originally had 260 points of Spiritual Power, several times that of an ordinary human!
Even within the Spirit Connection Realm, it had reached the middle stage.
Sure enough, you are what you eat. The ancients truly did not deceive me.
After devouring its mental points, my Spiritual Power also broke through to 233 points, barely entering the Middle Spirit Connection Realm.
With Spiritual Power this strong, even without a mental attack technique,
I can use the most primitive mental collision to give an ordinary human, or a Soul Beast less than 8,000 years old, a concussion!
Fucking awesome!"
"Seventh day of the seventh month.
Today I told Ah Yin the story of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl. I'm great at spinning a tale, and I made it full of twists and turns.
Ah Yin was completely enthralled. I clearly saw tears glistening in her eyes.
Most importantly, there was also some shyness and affection in the way she looked at me.
Hahaha, too bad I don't have hands or feet! Otherwise, I could press my advantage, run my hands all over her, and definitely win her over!
I'm writing my diary early today because I'm about to make a breakthrough!
In a little while, with Ah Yin's usual help from the Blue Silver Domain, I should be able to let things fall into place and easily break through to ten-thousand-year cultivation.
From now on, I'll be a Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast too!
If anyone kills me, the Soul Ring that appears will be black too (crossed out). That sentence is unlucky, but unfortunately I can't erase it from the leaf."
Beside a small river, silver ripples shimmered in the moonlight.
Ye Yang stopped writing with his leaf, looked at Ah Yin beside him, and smiled. "Ah Yin, let's begin!"