A Waste of Time

Chapter 11: Forgotten Tides

Five minutes after Ru consumed the petal of the Evil-Eye Flower, the creek’s water finally calmed. The Swordsman stood up and gestured for Daemon to keep the second petal — he wouldn’t need it yet. A faint, shimmering aura faded from his form, leaving the air crisp and charged with silence.

He’d only gain further Comprehensions once he advanced a few more Sub-Realms within the Qi-Gathering Realm.

“I only need two stalks of the Moon-Leaf Grass to apply all my Comprehensions from these past years. Little Jia will need the rest more than I will,” Ru said. He took two stalks, chewed them slowly, then sat back by the creek.

This time, his advancement was quiet but unmistakable. At first, a single blue cloud flickered below his Dantian. Ten minutes later, four blue clouds pulsed steadily. A fifth threatened to form, but Ru suppressed it for reasons only he knew. A faint tremor in the air, a hum beneath the earth, marked each step.

“Big Brother Ru is already in the middle ranks of the Qi-Gathering Realm... unbelievable.” Jia’s awed whisper lingered in the clearing. Daemon squeezed her hand gently.

“Now it’s your turn. Make him proud — show him what real talent looks like.” He gave her hand one final pat.

Jia nodded, released him, and sat down to prepare. Daemon, Ippo, and Ru quickly cleared the campfire, moving everything worth saving out of the way. The rest could burn if needed. The faint, acrid scent of smoke already teased the air.

“Contain her flame and stop it from spreading beyond twenty meters,” Daemon ordered, pointing at the few trees that might fall and ruin everything. “Cut these down too. I don’t want her turning into a meat patty if they fall on her head.”

Ru’s eyelid twitched, shame flickering behind his calm expression. He hadn’t even considered this.

“Right away.”

Swish. Clank. Creak. Crash.

Daemon didn’t even see him move. One moment, trees stood. The next, they lay felled. Daemon’s calm mask hid the chill running down his spine. Thank the heavens I met these two when they were weak — or I’d be sharing Ao’s coffin right now.

“Teach me, Kakashi Sensei!” Ippo yelled, bouncing like an excited monkey.

“Kakashi... Sensei?” Ru tasted the words. “What does that mean?” He tried to look serious, but he kept glancing at Jia, clearly hoping she’d seen him in action.

“Who cares?” Ippo grabbed his instructor’s arm. “Your favorite student’s fighting spirit is burning for—”

Daemon stopped listening. He’d heard enough of that nonsense.

Jia’s breathing pattern was different from her brother’s: short inhalations, long suppression of Fire Qi, then a forceful exhale of turbid Qi — walnut-sized puffs of acrid, light-brown vapor.

Crack.

The first Spirit Stone crumbled to sand. She didn’t even notice, fully focused on gathering and refining Fire Qi into her Dantian. She trusted her brother to protect her — and the dangerous boy backing it all.

Crack.

The second Spirit Stone followed. The expelled Qi darkened, the acrid scent thickening. The temperature spiked. Noon heat turned scorching. Steam rose from the fallen trees Ru had cut earlier. The air itself shimmered like glass.

Is she really affecting the surroundings this much? Daemon wondered, just as he heard another crack — sooner than expected.

Whoosh. Crackle.

The campfire roared, quadrupling in size. The cut trees no longer just steamed — now thick smoke coiled upward. Above Jia’s Dantian, a red cloud formed, pulsing like a newborn star.

Ru, the only true Cultivator present, saw more than the others. A whirling maelstrom spun above Jia’s head, pulling in wisps of Fire Qi from the air to feed her Cultivation. He knew this shouldn’t be possible. Her Cultivation Technique, Burning-Embers, was garbage — the lowest grade available. This phenomenon shouldn’t exist.

It meant only one thing: her Spirit Root quality was far beyond his own. He had thirteen Root-Hairs of Water, six of Wood, and a scattered handful of lesser ones — barely passable. Yet Jia, needing five Fire Spirit Stones for her first step, showed signs of at least thirty Fire Root-Hairs. Maybe more.

And in the core of that red cloud flickered a shadow of crackling purple Lightning.

Should I ask him? Ru hesitated, glancing at Daemon.

Daemon squinted. “If you need to fart, just fart. What’s with that look? It’s unmanly.”

Sigh. “I’d like to ask Young Master for the Spirit Stone of the Lightning Attribute. I believe Jia could benefit greatly.”

“Here.” Daemon tossed it to him without hesitation. “You put it in her hands. It’s blazing over there and I just bathed.”

Ru clutched the purple Spirit Stone, gratitude heavy on his shoulders. This Spirit Stone could help Daemon with the Yellow-Scale Fruit, yet he gave it up instantly. Ru burned that memory into his mind.

Activating his Water Qi, Ru cooled the area enough to approach without disturbing Jia’s breakthrough. He stepped in, dropped the Lightning Spirit Stone in her hand, and retreated.

Crackle. Vzzzt.

Purple Lightning bloomed at the center of the red flame in her Dantian. Ru watched as strands of Lightning Qi danced toward her body, pulled through the maelstrom, then drawn into her mouth with each breath.

Crack.

Five Fire Spirit Stones and one Lightning Spirit Stone — and now the clearing within thirty meters was hell on earth. Trees blazed, earth scorched, creek water boiled as it passed her.

Gradually, the blazing inferno eased. A second cloud formed at her Dantian, clear as day.

“Eat the petal of the Evil-Eye Flower,” Ru said when he felt her stirring. He didn’t want her distracted.

Jia’s hand slipped into her robe, retrieved the petal, and placed it in her mouth.

Ru circled the area, dousing stray flames while she sank into deeper Comprehensions.

“She’s pursuing Fire as her main path and Lightning as secondary. One petal won’t be enough to refine all that,” Ru said quietly to Daemon.

“Take two more. Just in case.”

Ru accepted them, a heavy warmth swelling in his chest. His benefactor’s generosity had spared them decades of struggle.

Inside, Ru vowed to serve Daemon loyally, to the point of shamelessness if needed. In this boy’s hands, their future blazed brighter than any flame.

Jia now sat in the charred center of a blackened circle. The air vibrated, crackling with stray arcs of Lightning.

As the chaos subsided, Ru coated himself in Water Qi, stepped close, and whispered, “Open your mouth.”

He tossed both petals in and slipped away — just in time. The zone around Jia flared once more into a no-man’s land. A haze of smoke floated above her as visible strands of Lightning danced in and out of view.

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