Lin Mo Chen blinked a few times, staring at the man a couple seconds too long, like someone had just asked him if he knew how to breathe underwater. In the end, all he could get out was, "Pardon?"
Tilting his head, the red-haired man let out a soft laugh. The crimson flames around him stirred with the movement, casting an ominous glow across the white space.
"It's a simple question, kid. Have you tried it or not?"
"Of course," Lin Mo Chen replied, smiling sarcastically without realizing it, "every Monday, after breakfast. Then I wash it down with some Frost Scorpion venom tea."
The red-haired man let out a short bark of laughter. "Ha! Brat, you've got a weird sense of humor."
Lin Mo Chen didn't think it was funny. Absorbing Huan Qi straight from a spiritual beast core. You didn't need to be a genius to know what would happen. Beast Huan Qi was chaotic, wild, full of impurities. Trying to absorb it was like trying to quench your thirst by swallowing hot coals.
It was the fastest way to end up actually crippled or go insane.
"Are you trying to kill me?" he asked, this time without any sarcasm. "Because that's the fastest way to do it," he added, rolling his eyes.
Nodding like it was the most normal thing in the world, the red-haired man said, "That's why nobody does it... but with my method, brat, you won't have to worry about any of that." When he finished, he looked straight at Lin Mo Chen.
This time, his reader's curiosity was slowly eating away at his common sense. What kind of method is that?! I've read about a bunch of them, but in those novels you always need a special physique!
He was really tempted to take this weird man as his master... If I keep following this plot, I'm going to get myself into a lot of trouble! I'm not the protagonist, I don't believe in pies falling from the sky!
With that thought, he made his decision. "What if I say no?" he asked, looking up. "Will you let me out of this place so I can go live my life in peace?"
"I could," the redhead said, "but is that what you really want?" At those words, Lin Mo Chen's expression darkened.
"What do you mean?" he asked, frustration growing. "I just want to cultivate and live in peace." Lin Mo Chen's voice didn't sound so sure by the end of the sentence.
Curling his lips into a barely-there smile, the man spoke in a deep voice. "Brat, what you call living quietly is reaching ninth-rank Ling Qi at twenty-five, Ling Zhe at forty, and then being stuck there your whole life until you die of old age?" After a pause, he continued, "What I saw this past month isn't someone who wants to live a mediocre life and be forgotten in some remote village."
Every word hit Lin Mo Chen hard. He clenched his fists without realizing it, thinking about everything that had happened this past month and the days before.
He remembered the first day he'd opened his eyes in this world. He'd wanted to live an exciting life, to explore this vast world. Even now, after a month of getting beaten down by reality, he'd subconsciously decided the right way to survive was to hide.
But even if he hid, he ended up running into exactly what he wanted to avoid. There was no mistake about it, even if he ran, sooner or later he'd run straight into the plot.
If I'm getting dragged in even when I do nothing, then at the very least I need to be able to defend myself and my family! Disasters will come sooner or later! As he had that thought, a scene flashed through his mind.
Weak and helpless, watching his quiet life get destroyed by some third-rate villain, with nothing he could do but die pathetically.
Yeah... what was I thinking, trying to cultivate in peace in a world like this? It would never be kind enough to let me do that! The hesitant look in Lin Mo Chen's eyes changed without him noticing.
"Fine! As long as you don't make me do anything flashy, I'll accept. So, will you help me get stronger?" he asked, looking up, his eyes clear, giving the impression he'd found some kind of truth.
This time the redhead didn't bother hiding his smile. "I knew you'd make the right decision, brat. I don't know what you mean by flashy, but I'll just help you cultivate."
"Since you want to learn from me, then you must pay your respects to your teacher," the man said, floating up and settling into a dignified pose in midair, tucking his legs beneath him.
"I have to pay my respects to you?"
"Are you crazy?! You won't show me respect and you expect me to teach you my great methods? Dream on, kid!" A mocking smile spread across the man's face. It seemed like he was doing it more for fun than out of tradition.
With a dark expression and muttering under his breath, Lin Mo Chen could only pay his respects to this strange man in order to learn under him.
After watching Lin Mo Chen pay his respects, the redhead nodded, satisfied. When he spoke, his voice had lost some of its distance. "My name is Huo Can. You don't need to know anything else about me, kid. The only thing you need to know is that you won't lose to that boy named Lin Xuan."
When he heard that, Lin Mo Chen's body tensed up. Shit, Master Huo, don't say stuff like that, we're gonna get struck by lightning! He really believed it. It was fine to want to not fall behind, but trying to surpass the protagonist... no thanks, he didn't want to die that fast.
Seeing Lin Mo Chen's reaction, Huo Can's face turned slightly dark. "I've been wondering for a while... but why do you react so weirdly to that brat named Lin Xuan?"
Lin Mo Chen's eyes went wide when he heard that. Giving a slight cough, he quickly changed the subject. "Um, Master, since I'm your student now, what great technique are you talking about? If it's that powerful, it must be Zhen level, right?"
"Close," a mischievous smile crossed Huo Can's face, "actually, it's something better than a Zhen method."
"Something better than a Zhen method?"
His heart skipped a beat. Lin Mo Chen swallowed and asked, rubbing his hands together greedily, "What kind of extraordinary method is it, Master?"
"Low-grade Fan level." The mockery in Huo Can's eyes made Lin Mo Chen freeze.
"Master, you're messing with me, how can that be better? Even the technique I'm cultivating now is mid-grade Fan." Lin Mo Chen was sure he'd been scammed.
"Calm down, brat. Since you're my disciple, I'm not going to give you trash... This technique is special. The more beast cores you consume, the stronger it gets." You could hear the pride in Huo Can's voice at the end.
"It can get stronger?!" Surprise filled Lin Mo Chen's face.
"It can get stronger," Huo Can nodded with complete certainty.
"Have you used it, Master?"
"No, I use a different method."
"Then how do you know it gets stronger?" Lin Mo Chen asked doubtfully, feeling like he was talking to a senile old man.
"Look, there's no time for this. It's explained in the manual, but there's no point in showing you now. The current you couldn't practice it anyway."
Still skeptical, he decided to drop it. Realizing another problem, Lin Mo Chen asked, "So how are you going to help me reach the ninth rank of Ling Qi?"
Nodding, Huo Can continued, "Very simple. You just need to bring me the blood of a low-tier first-rank spiritual beast and we can start practicing."
Lin Mo Chen's eyes went wide. "Blood from a low-tier first-rank spiritual beast? Why don't you just kill me now? Do you have any idea how much that costs?"
Hearing that, a look of disdain crossed Huo Can's face. "Brat, that's your problem, heh. When you have it, we can continue." As he finished speaking, he moved one of his hands and the space around them began to blur.
Panicking, Lin Mo Chen shouted, "Master, don't be so cruel to your disciple! I'm poor and I have no status, I'll never be able to get that blood!"
Before the space shattered completely, Huo Can's sleepy voice sounded. "Don't worry, I have a feeling you'll find a way."
In the middle of a quiet forest, a fat hen was resting on the head of a young man who was sleeping peacefully. With a sudden movement, he sat up quickly, startling the hen.
One look was enough to realize he was back exactly where he'd passed out. He didn't have any of his injuries, and the black stone was nowhere to be seen.
"...Was it a dream? General Fatty, give me a report on what happened while I was asleep." Thinking it had all been a dream, Lin Mo Chen smiled wryly when a voice sounded in his head.
"Kid, stop talking to a chicken. I don't want people thinking my disciple is crazy."
He let out a huge, long sigh. Yeah, right! How could that have been a dream!
"Master, why did you pull me out of the white space, and how do you expect me to get that stuff?"
"First, keeping our souls in that state consumes a lot of energy, and second, if you can't even complete that simple task, how do you expect to get far, kid?"
That made sense to Lin Mo Chen, but it wasn't any less annoying. As he thought about it, he realized something else. "And the black stone, Master?"
"That thing? Look at your neck." Doing as he was told, Lin Mo Chen looked down, only to see a metallic, obsidian-colored pendant hanging from his neck.
Of course! I guess carrying a rock around everywhere wasn't very practical!
After his sarcastic remark, he braced a hand on the ground to stand up and started walking back home. ...If I consume a beast core, then my cultivation will advance.
A voice sounded in his mind. "Sure... if you want to explode, that is. Forget about beast cores. Until you get that blood, you can't even start practicing the technique."
A shiver ran down Lin Mo Chen's spine as he imagined himself exploding. Shaking his head, he pushed the thought away.
Well, I guess now I have a shopping list from my ghost master too! With that thought, he started walking, followed by his hen.