Data-Driven Daoist

“Get them!” Yu Han shouted so loud that Sima Yan took a step back.

Pang Jiming and Ma San drew their weapons, and the other teens followed suit. But Huang Niuniu acted fast. She jumped up onto the tarp-covered cart. Grabbing a shovel, she lifted the tarp and scooped up some leftover shit from the day before.

“Out of the way!” she shouted at the top of her lungs, moving the shovel back as if she were about to fling it.

“Don’t you dare, whore!” Sima Yan scuttled back, sword held in front of him.

“Move away, or you’ll get a face full of shit,” Yu Han said. By now, he’d loaded his shovel too from the driver’s coach.

The donkey pulling the cart had stopped upon seeing the road blocked. Now, with Sima Yan out of the way, the creature slowly trotted forward.

Sima Yan and Pang Jiming glared at Yu Han with bloodshot eyes. Their sword hands trembled. Ma San looked as if he were about to lash out, but a hysteric ”No!” from Sima Yan stopped him in his tracks.

There were others around too—ordinary disciples coming and going from the Marketplace. All stopped to look at the strange standoff.

The shovels remained aimed at the dozen or so kids. The donkey moved forward. Soon, Sima Yan’s group was left behind, boiling in rage.

“That’s what I fucking thought,” Yu Han yelled, spitting.“Don’t you have any honour, coward?” Sima Yan yelled back.

Huang Niuniu made a motion as if to throw the load. Sima Yan yelped and immediately shut his mouth.

Laughter rose from the onlookers. A Senior Brother bent over, slapping his thigh. More followed. Sima Yan’s face turned so red he looked like he was about to pop, and Pang Jiming put a hand on his shoulder.

“They’re not worth it, my lord,” he said. “Just some nobodies, without even the guts to go to Martial Arts training or meditation practice.”

“That’s right, Brother Sima.” A girl grabbed Sima Yan’s hand, pressing against him. “Just a fatty and his fatter hag. What can they do?”

“Pang Jiming,” Yu Han shouted. “We’re Cultivators now. Grow some balls of your own and quit licking Sima Yan’s.”

Insults were thrown back. There was a dangerous gleam in Ma San’s eyes. Yu Han stared them down until they were out of sight.

They dumped their shovel loads back onto the cart, and Huang Niuniu took her seat next to him on the coach. “That girl was Liyi Tong if I remember correctly.”

“You know her?”

Huang Niuniu shook her head. “She’s jealous of Shi Miao and Song Yinuo.”

“Not of you?” Yu Han stopped his gaze before it could linger on her curves.

“I’ll blind you.”

They went through the back roads of the marketplace. As expected, the disciples in charge of maintaining order there didn’t let them pass by with a stinky cartload. ṝ

There were wooden shops between lines of tent-like stalls. Hundreds of disciples milled about. In the distance, they could see the Reward Hall, and beside that, the Mission Hall.

The cart rounded a small hill. One side of it was filled with stalls mainly selling low-grade herbal potions and poultices. One vendor loudly touted his immortal pest repellant, while two salvage dealers got into a fistfight trying to impress a customer.

At the top of the hill were some cooking stalls selling unfussy food. The prices were cheap here, the worst of the lot doing business. Because rent was cheap—after all, the waste tank was just downhill.

When they reached it, the sky had already clouded over. A grey gloom covered the sun. It would rain soon.

“We go by the plan,” Yu Han said. He’d shared his analyses from Deep Sleep.

Huang Niuniu nodded, brandishing her ribbon whips. “Sound and strike?”

“If things get tough, we run to the shrine.”

Yu Han brought out the token and pointed it at the stone tank. The token glowed slightly, and a slight mental prick hit Yu Han. He accepted the prick, just as Senior Wen taught him.

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The stone hatch opened. Despite the clouds, the daytime still offered enough light to see inside the tank.

It was just a hollow cavity, with stone stairs going down. For a few minutes, nothing happened.

One Filth Eating Ghoul peeked out. Then more.

“Ugly.”

“They literally eat shit, girl.”

“Maybe a hero will be born among them, with eyes in the right places?” Huang Niuniu unclasped the whip buckle, ready to strike at a moment’s notice.

The Filth Eating Ghouls started gathering near the hatch, but they didn’t step out. They growled, cried, screeched. In the daylight, their eyes didn’t glow.

Finally, one stepped out. It looked up at the sky, its mismatched eyes squinting. It gurgled, looked at Yu Han, and took a few more steps forward.

Its brethren followed.

The first one inhaled, its abdomen bulging.

“Ready?” Yu Han moved into a lunging stance.

The Ghouls screeched.

Lifeforce -7

The nausea hit. Yu Han gritted his teeth through it. The other Ghouls around the one that screeched stumbled, unsteady.

“Now!” Yu Han lunged forward with a Swift Hoof Lunge. The spear-like blade of the halberd pierced the head of the Ghoul.

Pure Qi +1

Two snaking whips shot out to Yu Han’s left, wrapping around the lanky upper limbs of two Ghouls. The whips pulled taut, and the two Ghouls were flung away.

Yu Han breathed in so deeply that some of the stink bypassed the coverall helmet’s protection. He yelled.

The Ghouls who were trying to get up flinched back.

Stone Cutting Chop! Heavy Ox Swing!

The first attack sliced one, the next bisected two.

Pure Qi +2

From the corner of his eye, he saw another creature being flung away by a whip.

“Remember to kill them!” Yu Han shouted.

“Don’t rush me!” a hoarse cry returned.

Yu Han’s shout served to disorient the three rushing at him, too. It was akin to strategies of shouting and clanging metals to keep beasts away.

He struck out with his halberd, mushing the brains of one. The other two managed to get their claws in.

Lifeforce -11

“Get away!” Yu Han shouted. They flinched but almost instantly pounced back.

They’re getting used to the sound.

Yu Han kicked one away, but the other tried to bite his arm. Yu Han punched. Monsters though they may be, these creatures were only the size of toddlers. Yu Han chopped down and put it out of its misery. The one he kicked had somehow grabbed hold of his leg.

Yu Han stomped on the monster. With a loud squelch, the Filth Eating Ghoul burst like a gore-filled balloon.

“Why won’t you die?” a shrill voice yelled. Four Filth Eating Ghouls lay around Huang Niuniu with their heads twisted in the wrong direction. A fifth was trying to get her, and the girl was randomly whipping it. Finally, one whip managed to tangle the creature’s torso.

She pulled, and it flew towards her. She kicked out; the Ghoul flew back like a basketball. She ran up to it before it could get to its feet and jumped, stomping on its head with all her weight.

The fight was over.

“I got 6 Pure Qi,” Huang Niuniu said.

“I have 5.” Yu Han had killed seven, while Huang Niuniu took care of five.

“The math is wrong!” Huang Niuniu said after counting.

“Maybe Pure Qi isn’t given per kill. How’s your Lifeforce? I lost 21.”

“…40.”

“That’s because you go hand-to-hand even though you have a weapon.” Yu Han handed her his dagger.

“Are you sure?”

“This dagger cost 150 spirit stones.”

Huang Niuniu kicked his shin lightly. No Lifeforce was lost, even though he lost some when Huang Niuniu hit him with friendly fire.

Have to look it up.

She took the dagger nonetheless.

They removed the monster cores. They were given a special bladed scoop for it. Then they dumped the corpses onto the cart. The well lid had to be removed manually. If it was a month ago, Yu Han would never have been able to do it.

With Huang Niuniu helping, it wasn’t that hard. The girl had her first Heavenly Allocation in Body, after all. And Yu Han suspected she had put quite a few points into Strength.

They lowered the large bucket, then took out a long rope and tied the pulley of the well to the donkey. Then they entered the stone tank hatch.

The cesspool stunk. There were a few strange plants growing here and there.

“Look, that one’s like you.” Yu Han pointed at a brownish stalk with a leafy flower on top. The edges of the petals glowed slightly. Even in the lantern light, the luminescence wasn’t lost.

“That’s an ingredient for the Fasting Brew!” Huang Niuniu perked up.

“Oi.”

“It’ll be fine if we boil it.”

Yu Han’s stomach dropped. He spat out some polite curses and started shovelling. After the large bucket was full, he went up and had the donkey pull it back.

They spent an hour loading waste onto the cart. Afterwards, they headed up the hill again. Surprisingly, it didn’t rain, and the sky was clear again. They were nearing afternoon.

“Wait here,” Huang Niuniu said. She took a side path into the marketplace.

Name: Yu Han (Johan)

Level: 1

True Qi: 74 / 200

Pure Qi: 10 / 200

Primordial Qi: 0

Lifeforce: 699 (-21) / 720

He assimilated two Pure Qi into True Qi by normal meditation and gained five.

Ox Tail 72 Sweeping Forms

True Qi: 77 (+35) / 200

Ox Tail 72 Sweeping Forms showed good progress too. At this rate, he could level the mastery up in a few days.

What a strange world. These Arts and stats. It was hard to consciously notice the differences when they went up.

Yu Han didn’t know if it was normal to become so proficient in just a month. In his past life, he’d seen weapon masters on YouTube claiming that real-world mastery might take years.

On the contrary, in ancient times, many hastily drafted soldiers were farmers and serfs. They wouldn’t have had much training, but they could cleave and chop and sever a head from a body nonetheless. Not to mention, most of those commoner soldiers would use spears—something quite close in form to a halberd.

So is it the Art that’s making me proficient? Or is it just a numerical representation of my natural proficiency?

Huang Niuniu returned carrying a basket full of herbs. “I can make the Fasting Brew now.”

“You realise we’ll be eating those… Is it a good idea to put them on a shit-covered cart?”

“It’s fine if we boil them.”

“Oi.”

Huang Niuniu stuck her tongue out. Despite that, the basket was thoroughly covered with fabric, so it probably wouldn’t be contaminated.

“Next one?” Yu Han asked. The day was still young.

“We can. But Senior Wen said the other stone tank might have more monsters.”

She thought for a bit.

“Let’s do it.”