An entire week passed ever since YagWan and his disciples had been thoroughly defeated. Running away with their tails tucked. He didn't mind letting them go for specific purposes that aligned with his need to train the girls. Prepare them mentally.

He had been given a clear warning of what they would look like if he did not. The strangeness of Gao Qiang. How easily the lanky fellow was defeated by Jun during their spar. Unable to react or counter attack. Even when Jun was supposedly a few smaller stages weaker than him.

Then there was the bullshit artist YagWan himself. Probably a product of his environment.

Yin Hu shook his head again. Focusing on Jun who was currently sitting in front of him with her eyes closed. Channeling her Qi around her body. The Compendium required that he check them for improvements. Make sure the katas were working.

He had not been confident he could at first. Delaying it for as long as he could until there was no chance to delay any longer. So he bit the bullet. Quickly finding it much simpler than he expected it to be. Qi in her body stood out like a raging river in a silent forest. While you were inside said river.

Impossible to miss.

Yin Hu could even tell where she had seemingly smoothened out her meridians compared to other parts they had not done yet.

Only finishing the first set of Katas a few hours ago. He allowed them a few hours to rest, recover, and prepare themselves to channel whatever amounts of Qi they had for his test. The girls had been fidgeting ever since he told them. Acting strange compared to the freeness of their movements just a moment before that.

Which had changed from the previous week after their few moments of being frozen like statues. That had been another weird thing. One he ignored. The girls had too many similarly eccentric moments for him to count on both hands. Focusing on all of them would only make him go crazy. Best he focused on more important parts. Like not turning into demonic cultivating, murder hobos.

"Good. Good." Yin Hu said as he compared the meridian he was looking at to the older ones.

The change was night and day.

One that seemed like strong current in a white river compared to a trickle of a dam. Things forcefully blocking the passage of Qi. Preventing her from taking advantage of the rank she was currently in to its fullest capabilities. Limiting her greatly.

It wasn't the veritable flood of endless Qi and power the Compendium promised. But it was an improvement. One he could see when he had been blind to it himself. Vast improvements at that. Growth that would make all the difference in the long run if his plan worked out.

But that left him with questions of his own that he could not answer.

Why couldn't he cultivate when even little girls could? Was it locked away? More disappointing system shenanigans he could not fix no matter what. But then why did he have a core? Why could he see into it when prompted? Why was it almost barren? Only enough Qi, it looked like, for his robes and basic functions to keep him clean and fresh.

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It made no sense to him, but without the system and a process to figure it out, he was stuck this way. Though he had ideas he could try. Maybe test a weapon or two, ones he knew had special abilities. Of which he had no clue which ones did or didn't. He needed Jun or Shui to unlock whatever ability came with connecting with their spirits brought forth.

He had never seen a spirit himself. So he assumed it was because he had never unlocked them or truly became one with his weapons. Unlike Shui and hopefully Jun soon.

They would be his test parameters. See what they could accomplish with their unlocked abilities. Then compare that with what he could do. From there he would figure out how strong he was in comparison to two individuals he would be studying and testing. Building the very strength they use.

A perfect method if he was to be asked. Yin Hu couldn't think of a way it wouldn't give him the information he needed.

Just a matter of time.

"Good, Jun," he said again. "Prepare to move onto the next kata. Both you and Shui. After this one, we won't need to work in isolation and away from distractions. The base of your meridians would already be established."

"Yes, Ancestor!" Jun shouted and jumped to her feet.

Then rushed to drag the snoozing Shui into doing more katas. Said little girl was tucked into the bed with her favorite new toy, a supposedly overpowered hammer that had a spirit she unlocked and connected to.

Yin Hu had done her first. A test before attempting it on the older and wiser Jun. Just in case he needed to lean more heavily on his ancient being persona one more time. Thankfully, he did not. Working out perfectly in the end. Maybe he had a talent for developing disciples after all.

It was unexpected, but better than the opposite to be true.

Add onto that his miraculous items within his spacial bag, and his dream of creating nukes could be reality.

Yin Hu opened the Compendium again. It would take another two weeks before they could finally return to the town. More time for him to relax and lounge. Enjoying the atmosphere and the natural ambience of the area. It was serene.

An ambience he was thoroughly enjoying. Even if it resulted in random strangers popping up and finding them here. After YagWan, two more individuals located them. Both of whom walked into the clearing with blades drawn only to run away as soon as there was someone there.

More proof to Yin Hu about his mental weakness theory.

Yin Hu moved to the entrance of the cave. After the way the trio of master and disciples had appeared and were hidden, he hadn't let the girls go out without his supervision. He had almost forgotten what type of world they were in. Tricked by how weak the spider assassins were in comparison to what a cultivator worth their salt might have been.

Would he have even noticed if YagWan had not been a con artist? Would the girls be dead already? While he was busy lounging and sipping on the tastiest tea on the planet?

He would not allow it to happen again.

Now, he kept his lounging chair there. With a perfect view of the surrounding forest line around them. His spear stabbed a few feet away. Sinking into the stone. Like a hot knife through butter. It was a good warning for anyone else that appeared who didn't have significant mental weaknesses and actually posed a threat.

Yin Hu had bemoaned his fate of appearing so far away from civilization. In some backwater village. Full of refugees and the incredibly weak. But considering everything that had happened, he probably was lucky instead. He didn't need to deal with anyone strong. The power level a better form of tutorial and gradual ratcheting up in difficulty than the island was with its system.

Now he just needed to figure out where the closest city was and whether it was infested with demonic cultivators.

It would be best to find a righteous sect affiliated city. Even if they were profit motivated monsters compared to the actual real righteous block. He would be able to speak their language. The amount of money he carried at all times would flood their economy if he so desired.

Another source of strength he could take advantage of actively.

The bandit town didn't have potential to build and create businesses with. No trade routes. No real economy. Everyone wallowed in self pity and abject poverty unless you were powerful.

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