Data-Driven Daoist

“Still no luck,” Yu Han groaned. This wasn’t the first time he tried this.

The array never activated.

The essence that was used was what was needed to secrete the ink. Yu Han had already confirmed this with normal tests.

It’s just… he had hoped, because essence was being used anyway, maybe a bit would permeate into the array drawing and activate? That would be a huge unfair advantage.

He could then print arrays left and right!

But I can’t.

Yu Han re-absorbed the ink. He could do so. It too cost essence though. It seemed the ink sac would regenerate ink either way, but Yu Han had a hunch it passively used his qi and lifeforce to do it. In his Inner Awareness, he could see a greater quantity of lifeforce entering the ink sac whenever he would use the ink up, along with faint trickles of qi.

He then tried ‘writing’ with the tendril. Ink only secreted through the tip like that of a pen. He could control it far better than he could control his hand.

“I mean, look at this circle. Have you ever seen a more circular circle?” He complained out loud.

He could draw faster and with more precision, even if he didn’t print-stamp an array.

But the array wouldn’t activate.

He reabsorbed the ink.

Despite the failures, after getting Inner Awareness, Yu Han had a far better understanding of his limitations.

He could draw shape- and script-arrays now. Only a few, but a few was more than zero.

He had the Inkwell Tendril.

He had a clue to clearing his trial.

His gaze moved to the mirror portal to Mirror Earth.

He knew, in his guts, he could enter now. Ever since he’d reached the realm true qi cap, he could.

Was that the precondition? That he had to be at the true qi cap?

Or maybe he had to have the trial notification? Those two things were highly correlated, perhaps even causal, but were not equal.

Maybe it had something to do with intention?

Intention.

Could that be the missing ingredient why the print-stamped arrays and tendril-drawn arrays did not work?

Or was it really the need to actively imbue essence? Maybe there was a way to use essence without having to consciously control it, like how his bloodline arts used spiritual energy?

Could he… draw the essence-extracting array the brush had onto his tendril?

Too many questions.

But Yu Han was not discouraged. None of these questions were life-threatening. Things were looking up. They’d make their courtyard when Fang Zhao got back. Safety in numbers, right?

They could recruit more disciples! They’d start a business in the centrum marketplace. Maybe even the city? He had to help Huang Niuniu with her revenge. He had a score to settle too, revenge against that bone-masked demonic cultivator. Jie Tong was still kicking.

He had to meet his sister again.

He’d help Fang Zhao figure out the mystery of Mistress Miao, Zirong Peihou, and maybe even his parents?

He wanted to go back to Riversong Commandery City and get back his godsdamned property. He’d take Li Yao, and help him tie up any loose ends.

So many things to do!

So… did he really need to go back to Mirror Earth to pass his trial? Maybe he could research about pre-emptively passing them like he did with tribulations. Or getting the dao to give him a new one, like it did with Niu’er.

Maybe, all that was left for him on that side was dad. He’d go back to being Johan.

A psychopathic, narcissistic, machiavellian, loser. An unloved jerk. A guy with nothing but his bank balance and portfolio.

No more-than-friends-less-than-lovers Niu’er, no Li Yao to shit-talk with, no Fang Zhao to bully and Fei Rui to tease.

No nothing.

He closed his eyes. He cultivated. He slept.

***

The first thing he did after waking up was practise arrays.

Draw.

Draw.

Draw some more!

Even if he didn’t pass the trial the normal way, grinding the skill itself was a huge plus by itself.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

He wanted to add offensive power to his halberd. If shape-arrays could be used without much loss of efficiency in a modular way, maybe he could make his own armour set?

After a while, he noticed something strange.

Am I… getting less headaches?

No, he was getting the same amount. He tried to draw an array too complex for his skills, and halfway through his head started throbbing.

He gave up. And timed his recovery, and where he had to stop.

He did this a few more times and jotted the numbers down. His gut told him his recovery was faster, but he needed empirical evidence.

He would practise arrays in his dreamscape, and then check over the next days if he really did improve.

Maybe it’s like a muscle? The more I use, rest, and reuse, the better I get at using it? Or rather, resisting the strain?

Numerical representations in the form of an art or trait would be really helpful, but the dao was silent.

Yu Han practised until he used about a quarter of his essence.

He would practise with another quarter again at night, then in his dreamscape he would try to empty the tank.

Rinse and repeat.

Ah… maybe grinding isn’t so bad after all?

In fact, it was fun. He never had this much fun trying to lose weight! It was unfair!

He hauled his ass off the mat and took his halberd. He checked it over. The shaft was wood, attached to the metal head securely in a socket. It had metal straps running down the wood secured by what looked like rivets. The metal head itself was one contiguous piece, or it was melded together after the spear-tip, the half-moon dagger-axe, and the inward-facing hook-scythe were forged.

Yu Han would not risk taking the shaft and metal head apart. He had no confidence that he could put them securely back together again.

So if he wanted to design some kind of modular array, it needed to be on the existing architecture, or he could attach other components.

There’s also the power source. It needs a place to attach spirit stones. That would be a huge weakness though, right? In video games, you always throw your fireball at the enemy monster’s jewels.

Yu Han didn’t believe for a second that his potential enemies would let his weakness off the hook.

He’d have to first learn how to draw the arrays. The control shape-arrays from Chao Chuan’s notes were the obvious choice.

Then he’d have to engineer the design so that it wasn’t too unshapely to wield.

I’ll do it later.

Yu Han got into stance. He practised through the morning. Rain came and went. Fei Rui woke up. The crab dragged his nest blanket and towel through the mud and placed them in his real-world stash.

「Yu Han. Take this coconut. Oh and maybe 10 days more and I can beat up the tribulation. Okay? I need… stuff. Meow Miao said it’s stupid that I couldn’t share my tribulation but I still don’t wanna. But it’s all right for me to say that I need one earth-grade spirit stone. C-Can I have one? Please?」

“Can I give you 10,000 mortal-grade spirit stones?”

Fei Rui shook his body.

「It needs to be earth-grade, or it won’t work.」

“I’ll exchange for it then,” Yu Han said. He wanted to go to the marketplace anyway. He could drop by the Sea of Gold Chamber of Commerce.

After wrapping up the practice, he checked up on Huang Niuniu. She was asleep. They had agreed to meet up in the afternoon either way.

They would hunt some ghouls and clear cesspools. She would head over with Feral Spot to lure the Wispstream to the sea.

Yu Han would head back to the Night Alchemists’ Yard alone and look up the archives.

On his way to the marketplace, he came across Sima Yan’s group.

“The week had been going so well, but now you ruin it with your weighty smell,” Sima Yan spat. There was more vitriol in his voice than usual. “Crawl back to your night-soil tanks, ungrateful pest.”

“Where do you poop?” Yu Han asked. “Careful nothing happens there and the night soil gets clogged again.”

“You would not dare!”

“Try me, bitch.”

Pang Jiming dragged Sima Yan away. Their whole courtyard probably had Yu Han marked as an arch-enemy.

“This is not over. You are nothing but a slave. A subject, and you’ll know your place soon.”

There were more threats, but nothing Yu Han hadn’t heard as Johan. In fact, it was tame.

But one boy kept staring at Yu Han.

Ma San.

Bushy Beard’s little brother. The Riversong guard who had looted the dead body of Yu Han’s mother, and then bullied and harassed him until the very last moment.

He’s dangerous.

Yu Han… didn’t want to nip problems in the bud with lethal force. Heck, even Johan would not want to. Murder was murder, and he was anything if not civilised.

Yu Han lost track of Ma San among the traffic. He shook his head and walked towards the Sea of Gold Chamber of Commerce.

The place was gaudy as always.

Yu Han wished it was his.

“Welcome back, Master Yu,” Little Three called out. Her smile was made with the essence of HR and her eyes settled on him like he was a fat piece of meat. “How may I help you today?”

“I’d like to exchange mortal-grade spirit stones for an earth-grade one.”

“That would be 13,300 mortal-grade spirit stones. Since you are a second-tier bronze level member, the markup is only 13.3%. Oh, and congratulations on reaching your level 2 true qi limit.”

“My, I am so grateful,” Yu Han grumbled. “Are you stalking us?”

“We wouldn’t dare. Neither do we have to.”

What’s her cultivation level again? This woman is too unsettling to be a weakling.

The transaction was fast. They changed the crystals without having to pry open Yu Han’s fingers to get his spirit stones.

Peace was the best method.

This was nearly half their loot from the Mad Bloodhounds. The courtyard had already agreed that Yu Han could use part of it at his own discretion. It would be worth it for a level 11 Fei Rui in their team.

“Is there any other matter where we may be of service?” Little Three asked. “Perhaps you would like to purchase a few texts on shape-arrays? Or how about whereabouts of the Trueforge Fang exiled scion?”

“Why does 1 gold note cost 1 spirit stone here, but in the outside world I can buy more? Why does a normal knife sell for 150 spirit stones here but outside I can buy it for 1 gold note?”

“If you want to buy the information package, it would cost 15,000,000 Stormy Reef mortal-grade spirit stones. The why of the secrets of spirit stones isn’t a secret, though it isn’t widely shared knowledge either. The how is, zealously guarded by each faction. You could probably find out the why of the matter by asking the right person. Perhaps a Shu clan scion? Even Tan and Wen would do, though Dong might not care and Liangs won’t bother even though they might be more knowledgeable. The information packet explains the full process. The whys, hows, whats, wheres, and even the whens. It comes with bonuses to your membership too. Care to purchase? ”

“Nope, see you later.” Fifteen freaking million? Are you kidding me?

“Master Yu, then the Sea of Gold Chamber of Commerce awaits your next visit. We expect great things from you.”

“Cheers.”

Stormy Reef spirit stone, huh?

The earth-grade spirit stone was also hexagonal. Unlike the mortal-grade ones though, the light inside looked more… dense? It spiralled in a pattern, like a nebula trapped in glass.

It this a Sea of Gold spirit stone then? Either they are mined or machined. Which is it? Or is it both?

Why did they lose their value? What did they gain? How were they procured?

Yu Han exited the gaudy gates and headed over to the temple. He would donate a ghoul core to purify his body of the unbalanced feeling Little Three gave him.

“Li Yao?” He spotted a familiar face. “So this is where you were.”

“Tubs, go away.”

“What’s with the dress?”

“Piss off. Before I snap your punk-ass—.”

“Bwahahah! Wait till I tell Niu’er—”

“You court death!”