Public Commons. Night.
Stepping out from a stall, Bubai cast his gaze upward, allowing the moonlight of the mist-shrouded moon to illuminate the sharp contours of his face.
A subtle smile accentuated his charm even further. "I should be sleeping after an entire day of work, but... who needs sleep when you can cultivate."
With a tap, Bubai leapt skyward, executing a light, graceful landing on a nearby stall.
Then, using light steps, Bubai effortlessly traveled across the rooftops of the stalls, leaping from one to another and making a beeline out of the desolate Public Commons District.
Soon, Bubai reached a high rooftop vantage point. His hawk eyes instinctively sought out the distant Sultan palace - its imposing gates and walls bathed in a faint glow radiating from the courtyards below.
Rumors whispered that within those walls resided the sect's most enchanting won, though even a peek was a near-impossible feat for ordinary disciples.
It's impossible to fathom the countless unseen formations guarding the palace, not to ntion the presence of a Nascent Soul ancestor.
Shaking off the thought, Bubai turned away and continued his rooftop journey, gliding across the sect grounds with ease.
"No wonder others like to travel on rooftop. It's so much faster than going through the winding roads."
Alas, not all structures stood tightly packed together, so larger pavilions even posing as obstacles.
Most Qi-refinent disciples lacked the strength to leap over the wide gaps, and climbing over the large pavilions would be more ti-consuming than just walking around them.
Without utilizing his full strength, even Bubai would find it challenging to travel through this parkour course.
Usually, he took the normal road like a pedestrian because he was inclined to hide his true abilities when possible, but tonight, his aim was speed.
Soon, he arrived at one of the pre-marked locations he had scouted out during the past month, "This should be a good spot."
Swooping down into the shadows below, Bubai slinked around to ensure the absence of prying eyes.
"As I expected, there is a ti gap in the patrol."
Finally concealing himself in the darkness, Bubai activated his mysterious Qi-gathering formation. This ti, he was no longer doing it in short bursts, but with full strength!
Sensing the Qi rapidly gathering toward him, Bubai spread his arms, embracing the encroaching darkness. "Very fast indeed. Just the density is a bit lacking, not as great as the tower."
Still, the pace was incalculably faster than his basic Qi-gathering thods and cultivating with the mortal twins using the Sun Furnace thod.
Then again, the won back at ho were mostly reserved for cultivating his mory Qi nowadays. So, they weren't the right benchmark for a comparison.
For a more accurate reflection…
His hourly Qi-gathering pace now still fell short of harvesting a foundation establishnt cultivator like Xiao Hong, almost about half as slow in comparison.
However, his mysterious formation's pace definitely rivaled his speed during his visits to the Jia family.
Indeed, very fast. Alas, this pure Qi-gathering session lost out on so of the other benefits present during dual cultivation- Ahem. Let's not get distracted.
Despite the apparent emptiness around him, Bubai remained upright, ready to bolt at any given mont. His eyes also scanned the darkness, vigilant and alert, while he ntally counted the passing ti.
Simultaneously, he rapidly consud his Qi to saturate his body, maintaining a constant state of clarity while also preventing overflow in his mysterious space capacity.
In under half an hour, he already sensed the thinning of the Qi in the vicinity.
For cultivators with wood-attribute spiritual roots, this occurrence would typically be attributed to the fact that wood-attribute Qi was scarce in the desert and wasn't a sign of concern, but Bubai knew his mysterious formation applied universally. It wasn't just wood-attribute Qi thinning out, but all!
So, even a brief absorption duration could cause noticeable Qi fluctuations, a risk detectable by any nearby Foundation Establishnt or higher-level cultivators!
But now, most of these detectors were gone, which mitigated this risk. So, he had less scruples.
However, absorbing more Qi was still very risky because it would lead to an influx of Qi from surrounding areas, creating a highly conspicuous phenonon even from afar!
So, it was ti to get going soon.
Temporarily shutting off his Qi-gathering formation, Bubai lded into the shadows once more, swiftly navigating through the alley. He crossed several streets before leveraging the walls to catapult himself back onto a rooftop, ready to head to his next destination.
Less than 30 minutes per spot, but he had plenty of locations to cover... all over the sect!
75% 77% 79% 81% 82% 83% 84%…
A couple of hours into the night and Bubai's saturation progress had already soared! His reserves also hovered comfortably in the 80 to 90 percent range, easily maintained despite his wanton consumption.
However, his unrestrained absorption of Qi eventually did not escape notice.
Bubai had spotted more and more Law Enforcent Hall won patrolling the rooftops, with a noticeable increase in flair compared to earlier.
"Seriously, I only caused a bit of Qi disturbance, and they're already swarming like hornets."
The response wasn't entirely surprising though. The situation he caused was far from normal.
When other cultivators gathered Qi in public, it won't draw too much attention because no matter how much Qi they absorbed, they would only draw upon certain attributes.
So, when other cultivators observed this with Qi-sensing techniques, they might not even notice the disturbance. Higher-level techniques would sense the Qi being drawn away, but abundant Qi would still remain in the atmosphere.
On the other hand, his unique thod left his surroundings void of Qi. Even without a visible phenonon, cultivators trained with advanced Qi-sensing techniques could still detect the abnormality!
The complete loss of all Qi in an area usually signaled the birth of an exotic treasure or the possibility of spatial turbulence causing all the Qi to leak away into the unknown – a phenonon typically tied with the birth of a secret realm or spatial instability.
The law enforcers were tasked with monitoring the sect. So, they were certainly determined to understand if the disturbance was a temporary anomaly or a potential hazard.
This was the reason why the law enforcers were searching so fervently.
Unfortunately, this added a layer of difficulty to his Qi heist, requiring him to constantly change his location.
Fortunately, the law enforcers were looking in a completely wrong direction, sparing him from being labeled the most suspicious target solely due to his roaming at night.
Still, he had to tone down his speed, sticking to the shadows and ground-level, even abandoning so planned spots to retreat far away from the expected ranges of the law enforcers' spiritual senses.
It's fine if he was discovered out on a "casual" night walk, but it would be very bad if he was caught in the midst of his crazy absorption. At that ti, it wouldn't matter if he was Liang or Ah Niu, he would definitely be dragged back for an interrogation and inspection.
Geniuses were welcod in any sect, but keeping their genius status usually hinged on sufficient backing. Without a mountain behind them, any genius discovered to be capable of rapidly gathering Qi will only be a coveted tonic, even more so for other dual cultivators.
He didn't want to end up being the furnace for an elder in the palace…
Ceasing his cultivation at another location, Bubai once again lded into the shadows, ready to move on to the next area.
Suddenly, Bubai's instincts tingled, alerting him to a disturbance in the air above! Shooting his gaze upward, he imdiately spotted a pair of embroidered boots descending from above!
Reacting swiftly, Bubai dodged backward, pulling away from the approaching threat with rapid speed.
However, the runes arranged in a cloud pattern suddenly glowed, and the descending boots seed to defy gravity, stepping on thin air and closing in on him even faster than his land-based speed!
Cloud-Treading Boots?!
Whoosh! The last sight Bubai caught was the scene of toned female legs spreading wide before he was engulfed in darkness. Oof-
Thankfully, his resilient body withstood the collision, and he didn't get knocked out or down. He only staggered a few steps back before stabilizing himself.
"ow? Where did he go ow?"
Reaching up with his hands to grasp the smooth legs that wrapped around his head, Bubai attempted to speak, but his voice was muffled by the garden in the darkness...
"ow?!" The catwoman's tail stood erect, bristling, as her face exhibited a montarily slack expression.
Shaking her head to dispel the montary lapse, the catwoman then looked down, "ow you are!"
Placing her hands on Bubai's head, she used it as an anchor to pivot around, eventually settling on the other side, sitting on his shoulders.
Finally seeing light once again, Bubai licked his lips. The taste… wasn't bad.
Monts later, he felt the soft hat settling on top of his head as the catwoman leaned forward, her face dangling upside down in front of his, "Finally found you, ow!"
Bubai raised a brow, giving her a smile, "Looking for ?"
"ow! ow!" Miss ow nodded excitedly, "Ben ow looked all over for ow. Where was yummy fish hiding ow?"
Undeterred by the extra weight, Bubai walked forward with stable steps, ready to head to his next destination. "Busy. Closed door cultivation."
"ow. Nya wonder!" Miss ow sat up, crossing her arms over her chest while her tail swished back and forth, occasionally brushing against his arms, "ow just knew nya fish can hide from ow in the sea!"
Bubai rolled his eyes slightly, "So, why is Miss ow looking for ?"
He imdiately received a pat on his head from his feline companion, "ow, for a very, very important ow of course!"
"Oh?" Bubai looked up, noticing an unfamiliar female law enforcer pausing briefly on a rooftop above, only throwing a glance at him and the catwoman before passing through the air above. "What is it?"
Miss ow bent over, hanging in front of Bubai's face once more, her wide, dilated eyes staring into his, "Ben ow is hungry."
"…" Bubai pushed her head back up to get a clear view of the road.
Pushing his arm away, her head dipped back down, her cat ears facing him and twitching slightly, "Feed ow."
Bubai's steps ca to a halt. "No."
"ooww?!" A startled expression crossed her face, her cat ears swiveling sideways, "Whyyy nya ow!"
"No task."
"ow!" Miss ow shook her head before her transford paw patted his face, her cat ears sticking upright, "Yummy fish can still feed Ben ow. Owner will give yummy fish good pay."
"I haven't even gotten paid for last ti." Bubai shot her a sharp glare before pushing her head back up. "So no. Go ho."
"ow! Nyaaa!" Grasping his head with her hands, the dissatisfied catwoman began to rock back and forth on top of him, "Ben ow is hungry! Feed ow!"
Bubai adjusted his balance, but feeling the weight sway like a turbulent boat above him, his lips twitched slightly. This cat… it seems he won't be getting rid of her tonight.
Bubai's eyes rolled slyly, "Fine. On one condition."
"ow!" Miss ow leaned back down, baring her canine teeth happily, fixing her gaze on the pleasing face, "ow is it?"
"Help cultivate."
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