William woke to a familiar ceiling, only this time, he hadn’t soaked the mattress in sweat from a horrible dream. His sleep was extremely pleasant, all things considered.

After all, he wavered on his decision to allocate the stat points to his Spirit attribute until he dozed off from his internal debate. Perhaps that was an exaggeration, as he was primarily waiting for any indication of Wang Xiaoling's return, but when Wu Chang failed to notify him, he abandoned that and went to sleep, deciding to deal with the stat points in the morning.

He wasn't about to increase his Qi when he wasn't in his peak mental state since sleep weighed on him. However, that was no longer a problem.

Spirit: 8 (6)

Points: 20

From the alert he had gotten back when he had raised his Spirit to five, it seemed that his soul damage effect was lessened by his natural attribute, not by the number after the reduction. It made him want to smack himself in the face since the decision he uselessly hesitated on was whether he should increase his Spirit to fifteen or twenty.

The answer was stupidly simple. Increase it to fifteen for now, then assign more points when he was satisfied with the other attributes.

William threw the blanket off his body, reluctantly got out of the comfortable bed, and sat on the hard floor. He wanted the stability the floor could give him so there would be no distractions when he was circulating the additional Qi that would be available to him.

[+7 Spirit]

[Trait Modified | Soul Damage (Minor) - 17% Attribute Reduction]

He immediately closed his eyes and started to take deep, steady breaths as he commanded the newly available Qi to flow through his meridians, letting his body get acclimated to the change before concentrating it into his lung meridian.

It was a slow process, but at least there was no repeat of William having to cough out blood due to poor planning. By the time the last drop of Qi had entered his lung meridian, circulating the energy had almost become as simple as breathing. It made him realize that while cultivating might not give him the benefits that most other cultivators get, it was still greatly helpful in achieving instantaneous command over his Qi.

After all, that was his goal before leaving Xuanjing City.

[Modified | Spiritual Energy: 60/60 (20% per Hour)]

William exhaled slowly and opened his eyes, grinning at his accomplishment, no matter how minor it seemed. It was still unbelievable to him that he was a cultivator.

He stood up and pulled his status screen in front of his vision.

Name: Wei Liang (William Davis)

Age: 13

Level: 17

Experience: 232/2125

Cultivation: Qi Gathering (1st Level)

Health: 1000/1000

Spiritual Energy: 60/60 (20% per Hour)

Spirit: 15 (12)

Strength: 20 (16)

Stamina: 10 (8)

Agility: 20 (16)

Luck: 30 (25)

Points: 13

Traits:

Soul Damage (Minor) - 17% Attribute Reduction

William’s smile grew even wider when he noticed the additional change. The decreased effect of his soul damage caused his Luck to change from twenty-four to twenty-five. Again, it was a minor accomplishment, but it felt like he got a free point added to him.

He quickly threw on his robes and left the room, heading directly to the reception, where Wu Chang was waiting.

“Good morning!” Wu Chang bowed deeply, “How may I help, esteemed cultivator?”

William’s happy mood faltered slightly before he forced it back up. Wu Chang acted far too servile to be comfortable when he saw his sect robes. He even tried to waive the meager cost of the room, at which point William shoved a Silver into his hands before leaving for the room.

“Did Wang Xiaoling return last night?”

“No, she didn’t,” Wu Chang bowed deeper, “I apologize, esteemed cultivator.”

William’s lips twitched at how Wu Chang was scared to even look at him for too long. With a resigned sigh, he said, “Alright, let her know I’ll be at the Jade Healing Clinic if she comes back.”

“As you command.”

William had to resist making the man stand up straight but was scared he might cause him to die of shock. He could only assume that Wu Chang had terrible experiences with cultivators in the past. With a slight shake of his head, William exited The Golden Lotus before making his way to the Clinic.

With plenty of spiritual energy available, he wanted to try and spar with Ren Bo if possible. If not, he would head to the Qi refining rooms and practice his martial skills by himself until he was satisfied.

Or, that was the plan until he had to move himself to the side of the street, following the actions of all the mortals surrounding him as a horse-drawn carriage dangerously sped through the newly formed space.

William clenched his fist at the arrogance of the carriage owner. Still, he stayed in place, observing that it was just slow enough for nobody to get seriously injured. He saw plenty of mortals cry in pain at sprained ankles from moving too quickly, but it was all something a few days of rest would cure.

Just when he was about to ignore the senseless commotion, the carriage came to a screeching halt, as if that made any sense without brakes. He frowned when the mortals started whispering nervously and backed away as if more afraid of what would happen than when the carriage looked like it would run them over.

The driver had hopped down from his seat and opened the door before moving aside, letting the person inside step out.

For the first time since William had come to this world, he had a… reaction.

Every female cultivator he had laid eyes on seemed to be unbelievably attractive, with Elder Yu at the top of that list. Still, none of them made him fidget on the spot nervously. Sure, he was stunned by their beauty, but they weren’t trying to flaunt it by dressing to highlight their bodies.

The woman that stepped out of the carriage was. She was wearing a traditional cultivator’s robe, but it showed far more bare skin than he had seen with anyone in the Jade Healing Sect. It was fitted to hug her slender figure as if it would be a crime not to display the assets she possessed. While it was dangerously provocative, it didn’t go to the extent of the women William had seen in the brothel, which somehow made it worse.

He saw her looking around at the crowd before moving in his direction. Even her walk was alluring if that was at all possible. The intricate embroidery on her black silk robes came to life with her every step. It exuded elegance and purpose, and despite all of these attractive physical features and mannerisms, what William paid attention to the most was the underlying strength in her aura.

[Name: Mei Lingxi | Level: ?]

All of the gaping took place in less than the span of a second, which he hoped would be drowned out by the drooling mortals around him. He had no idea why this woman had stopped in the middle of a packed street and put on a fashion show, but he didn’t want to gain her attention.

William saw Mei Lingxi stop a short distance away from her carriage and talk to a child that seemed to be crying. She smiled as she handed the child something, but he was more interested in the mortals that started to move again, seemingly broken from their daze once they could no longer see Mei Lingxi’s face clearly.

He discreetly put himself in the middle of the growing crowd and patiently matched their pace. Perhaps it was too cautious of him to act like this, especially since the woman only stopped to comfort a kid for some reason. Still, it was better to be safe than sorry.

William was confident that he had been unreasonably lucky with finding cultivators that seemed to be on the saner side of the spectrum, but it was only a matter of time before he was confronted by some lunatic. Prince Yuan was an example, though that man was more interested in Lan Yin than him.

However, if one Prince Yuan existed, there must be countless more like him in the Empire, let alone the world. And while William might have been happy that Young Masters existed due to the fact that they were legendary stepping stones on the road of cultivation, it didn’t mean he wanted to meet one right now.

William was about to breathe easy when he was about to escape, but he should have known better.

“Stop.”

That word was said in a gentle tone rather than a yell or anything uncouth. But it still felt like it was right next to William’s ear.

The group of mortals around him instantly came to a halt, forcing him to follow unless he wished to trample the mortals under his feet.

“Little Brother Wei, I halted my trip for you. Why don’t I take you to your destination in my carriage?”

William knew it. He knew she was trouble. He should have bolted the moment he saw the question mark where her level should be.