Chapter 25 - Rewards

                                    

                                          


                          
        
                          
Back in my room, the system beeps me and I pay attention as it should be regarding my reward for completing Teng Hua's wish.
                          
[Ding!]
                          
[Congratulations host! You have granted all three people their wish and have obtained <Growing Vegetables 101> from Zhang Yi, <Basic Arithmetic part 2 of 2> from Teng Hua and <Basic Arithmetic part 1 of 2> from Zhang Zhi.]
                          
[Ding!]
                          
[Basic Arithmetic has been successfully collected, compiling...compiling...Ding! Basic Arithmetic has been successfully compiled! Congratulations to the host for successfully obtaining Basic Arithmetic!]
                          
(Umm...Growing Vegetables 101? Wait, I granted all three wishes?)
                          
[Beep!]
                          
[Yes you did host. Good job!]
                          
(Wait system, what am I supposed to do with Growing Vegetables 101 and Basic Arithmetic? I do not want to grow vegetables and I already know how to do basic arithmetic! I was even awarded an MSc in statistics during my last life!)
                          
[Beep!... *pause* ... *pause*]
                          
(heh heh, system have you finally made a mista-) before I could finish taunting the system another beep sounded.
                          
[Beep!]
                          
[Basic Arithmetic has unlocked a new feature: Calculator!]
                          
(...Seriously?)
                          
...
                          
Soon dinner came and everyone gathered at the middle hall where the mock courtroom was already cleared and a large dining table was present with chairs around it.
                          
"As much as I like eating jerky with your seasoning lord Shang, I still prefer eating normal food instead!" Zhuge Pang says with his mouth full while chewing on a huge chicken drumstick. It seems like tonight's chicken dinner was provided by Teng Hua since she was happy about the outcome of today's trial.
                          
"Shi er, you did well today, especially how you took control of the court. However, you must remember that while you can give justice to these poor villagers, sometimes it is better not to do so unless there is a grave misconduct on the part of the mayor. This is because once we leave, the victim will have nobody to protect him or her and sometimes they might be killed." Uncle Tang explains to me the reason why travelling judges do not normally go against the mayor's decisions.
                          
"Thankfully you remind Teng Hua that she will still be living with the Zhang family and she generously gave five chickens to Zhang Yi as she understands that it was the thief who was at fault." Judge Cui continued explaining in a casual manner.
                          
"My lords, I have already drawn a portrait based on the description of the thief from the people that had seen him. I suggest we take a look at the portrait after dinner together." Sima Di makes a suggestion and the judges nod their heads in acknowledgement.
                          
I guess the system decided that because I reminded Teng Hua that they are neighbours, the act of Teng Hua giving five chickens to Zhang Yi was attributed to me and the system decided that I had granted his wish so I received <Growing Vegetables 101> from him. 
                          
Watching the chickens disappearing quickly and even the reserved Moddy who has not spoken much compete for the chicken on the dining table as if they were gold bars was interesting.
                          
...
                          
After we all had finished our dinner and cleared the plates away, Sima Di brought out the portrait that he has drawn of the thief. When he unrolled the portrait, everyone made a frown at the face depicted.
                          
This was because this portrait was useless and it cannot be used to identify the thief at all. In the portrait, half of the thief's face was bandaged up and we could only tell that he had black hair and green eyes, or at least his left eye is green. Sima Di then took out another portrait and unrolled it. On this portrait, is the thief without any bandages but his face was swollen and bruised all over.
                          
"This was how the person who found him and bandaged him up described him to me." Sima Di explained, however, this portrait too was useless as the proportions of the face are all wrong as there was so much swelling.
                          
"The people who interacted with him said that he never took off the bandages and even started wearing a straw hat later on. He also hardly talked and would only mutter softly so nobody could say for sure what kind of voice he has. However, some of the farmers who own the farms on the outskirts of the village saw him flying when he left the village. They did not tell anyone as they believed that nobody would believe them." Zhuge Pang spoke with a smile on his face.
                          
"A cultivator...This makes things tricky..." I softly say out unconsciously and people around me who hears what I said nods.
                          
...
                          
Ever since I started practising the standing meditation, the amount of qi in my body was constantly reduced as it polished my qi, but I had also absorbed all the spirit stones that were given to me by my parents, so the amount of qi grew eventually. 
                          
Later on, when I was breaking through into the realm of qi flow, the transformation caused me to absorb a huge amount of qi, and the amount of qi in my body increased by a huge amount. After the transformation, I had about six times of what I had during the disciple selection.
                          
As I never stopped practising Standing meditation, my qi was reduced by 20 percent since I had entered the realm of qi flow.
                          
I had already absorbed all 120 spirit stones that my father gave to me but this did not let me reach my original amount of qi. Instead, I found out that I could gather qi from the heavens and earth just by creating a small suction force on my hand, similar to the suction force that drill punch creates when I execute it. 
                          
This had never worked before and I believe the reason that it works now is due to the qi pathways that a cultivator in the realm of Qi flow has.
                          
The qi in a Qi Flow cultivation is constantly moving and constantly flowing along the qi pathways. When I practice Standing meditation, the flow of qi moves faster but is also exhausted faster. I believe this is the qi being polished, as the impure qi is somehow "burnt" away. 
                          
 On the contrary, when I am absorbing qi, the flow of qi becomes slower and the stream of qi becomes more opaque and thicker. 
                          
I have not been able to practice my martial techniques much since we were almost always on the road, but when I do, it seems like they require lesser qi to execute the purer my qi is. 
                          
Recalling that the cultivation for the realm of qi flow is to create whirlpools, I tried to create one in my body but I failed miserably. I was not even able to move the qi outside of the qi pathways and whenever I tried to move the qi out of the pathway, it would feel as if my entire body is being torn apart.
                          
Those crazy web novels often tell you that when you feel pain you should just bear with the pain and push through, but I am pretty sure that if you feel pain, it means that your body is telling you that you are doing something wrong and you should not continue what you are doing.
                          
Tonight, I will try to cultivate again. This time, I will create the strongest suction force with all the Qi that I can use.