Yin Hu and the girls had been traveling hard for the past few days. Their pace had been pretty quick which allowed them the freedom to stop and rest earlier than they would have otherwise. A few hours before dark just for practice and Katas.

The whole rushing out of the bandit town and directly into the forest like a group of fugitives affected the speed of their progress. It went from the ridiculous pace they set from the beginning down to a slow crawl that took forever for any changes to occur. So much so, it was visible to even the girls.

Hence, the change they made.

Two hours when they woke up. Early sunrise. Wake up, wash up, prepare mentally, meditate for ten minutes, and then tackle the Tai Chi Katas without any break. Not that they needed them. The girls had built serious endurance for training.

Yin Hu was proud of them and their recent drive to become the best nukes possible.

While it may have taken longer than expected, the girls did finally break through and finish the last stage of perfecting their meridians for D.E.Y.M.P. and its effects. Yin Hu based their preparation on the Compendium and the tell tale signs it had hinted at during his reading. A certain form of dizziness and stumbling that struck them simply because their bodies expected more Qi running through their meridians than it was receiving.

There were other signs, but that had been underlined in the book.

Both of their cores and Spiritual Roots were not capable of producing enough Qi or gathering it from the world to satisfy the hunger and power they were outputting. Yin Hu would need to figure out a way to better optimize them. Maintenance should be near zero while they have the ability to output at the highest levels. Not high maintenance affecting how much they can put out at their peak.

It was the small stuff that made the difference.

Yin Hu was adamant on perfecting their entire process. Even if it required strange things to do it. He trusted the Compendium to be a good guide for him, but it was not the end all be all. The creator's progeny did not survive longer than a few millennia after all.

They were ganged up on and jumped, yes, but they should have been even stronger. Any weaknesses cleaned up and made into strengths. But they never got the opportunity. Letting their methods become lost to time and somehow reaching him through a system reward. Not that he minded. He was happy he had such a useful resource.

Jun and Shui stared at him.

They had just woken up not too long ago. The morning dew still affected the greens around them. The girls shivered slightly but Yin Hu didn't understand why. It felt perfectly fine to him. Even then, he didn't ignore their woes.

He was sure they were nowhere close to him physically. Maybe that included his resistance to weather and shifts in temperature? That would be an incredible boost, then again, his robes and clothing tended to make anything like that a distant memory. Keeping him in perfect temperature at all times.

Yin Hu pulled out two cloaks for the girls. Made specifically for keeping them in said perfect temperature. No matter what the weather was. Blizzard, heat wave, desert, or even the frozen wastelands of the poles.

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"Thank you, Ancestor." Both said at the same time. They were quick to wear them.

"Good," Yin Hu said. He waved at the two bottles in front of him. D.E.Y.M.P. "It's finally time. Both of you have completed the last Katas in the technique manual. Perfecting your meridians. Now you shall advance your Spiritual Roots."

The girls nodded. Faces bright. Eyes wide. They couldn't help the large smiles or the shared looks of joy that filled their faces. Yin Hu couldn't blame them. This was something that should have been impossible if Jun was to be believed. Only the largest most powerful sects would waste resources like this, and only on the greatest geniuses they had around.

No one else.

Yin Hu had over five hundred of them just sitting there. It couldn't have been such a scarce resource if the system was so quick to give them out like cookies. Right?

"Go ahead." Yin Hu said, waving them forward.

Each girl picked one up. They studied the bottles for a moment and then looked at him for guidance. Unsure what they were supposed to do exactly.

Neither was he.

They system was quick to inform him that it was medicinal and was used by drinking the contents. Everything else would take care of itself within the body. They need not worry about any dangers and difficulties as long as they completed all the prerequisite things mentioned by the Compendium.

"Drink."

They nodded. Jun popped the cork to drink. Only to stop right at her mouth and turn back to Shui. The little girl was struggling with opening it up. Jun extended her hand to help, but Shui was adamant to accomplish it herself.

It only took a few more minutes for her to give up and hand Jun the bottle. Upset at her lacking abilities.

Jun uncorked it and handed it back.

Both girls popped the bottles into their mouths and drank the contents without pause. Clearly grimacing from the taste, but they continued anyway. Until the bottles were empty. Strangely, everything left the bottle when they were drinking. Nothing remained, not even a drop or residue. Flowing as a single liquid unit.

Yin Hu shivered. He couldn't imagine what the consistency felt like. Thankfully he couldn't drink it even if he wanted to.

"That was so nasty!" Shui said, wiping at her mouth and gagging.

"Medicine was never made to taste good, Shui. We've had this conversation before—"

Shui huffed. "I know. Doesn't mean I can't hate it. Disgusting is disgusting. Even if disgusting helped me get stronger or healed me. It's still nasty and terrible and atrocious."

Yin Hu blinked at the large word Shui used. She had put emphasis on it. Clearly making a show of her reaction at this point.

Both girls dropped to their faces. Knocked out.

Yin Hu jumped to his feet and rushed to them. He hadn't felt anything at all. Confused and lost. He flipped the girls and found them still alive but unconscious. Had they been attacked? Who or what was it? Why couldn't he feel anything at all?

He activated his perception ability. It had been getting stronger the more he used it. Blessing him with another reward a couple days ago even though he found nothing of note ever since the tiny blip of Qi he found right before meeting with Cai Xeufang. The one that happened to be around Jun and Shao Yating's battle.

Prodding them did not help. Neither did spilling some water or shaking them either. Nothing worked.

The system pinged. A notification appeared in front of his eyes.

Dragon Emperor Yazhu's Miraculous Potion System Activation!

Spiritual Root Activation…

Calculations Occurring…

Numbers recalibrating…

Process Timer:

12d 18h 20m 54s

Fuck! There's a timer to this too? Why the hell did they not tell me before I made the girls drink it?! This place is too dangerous to have two unconscious girls to carry alone. Anything could ambush me and I might not even notice!

Yin Hu stopped to think. He needed to figure out how to deal with this situation and now. There was no time to waste or procrastinate this issue. No. He needed to figure out whether he would be forced to wait here for the duration of the time or whether he would push on. If he did push on, he needed to find a way to carry them and mitigate the risk of a predator ripping their throats out while he was distracted.

Or worse. A parasite taking host on their bodies.

He shivered at the thought.

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