The essence of Qi condensed by the mysterious sprouting seed: his dew.

  It has always been pure green like the leaf it was produced from.

  Same with every strand and wisp in the earlier cultivation stages.

  This meant his dantian was always filled with green.

  The only exception was the misty-pink memory strands copied through his dream cultivation art.

  That sort of blush on those formerly green strands was obviously impure, for more reasons than one...

  But regardless, that was him taking the initiative to stain them!

  Now here… was a drop that was tainted by impurity—not by choice, but by something beyond his grasp, and...

  It wasn’t the last!

  Bubai’s focus traveled back to the leaf that was still condensing new drops.

  The next drop, and the next... all has this peppery-red speck of impurity swimming in it like a little tadpole!

  “Bloody Merlin, what even is this? Did this seed get affected by some poison?”

  No. Unlikely.

  If he actually came into contact with a venom terrifying enough to taint this mysterious cheat, it would most likely kill him outright before his cheat has the chance to get corrupted!

  Of course, he can’t rule out that he was targeted by some esoteric, magical curse, but...

  “No, no… this has to be something else. This looks more like... an internal change of the seed’s power?”

  “As far as I know, what gets produced by my cheat must be a boutique. At the very least, there’s no way it would just start harming me out of nowhere…”

  Following this train of thought, it’s quite easy to check whether this was his seed’s new power or if it was external influence.

  “Hey, only one way to find out... just try it and see what happens!”

  Do what he thinks.

  A thought brought that impure dew to his external dantian.

  Bubai relinquished his control over it, allowing the dew to naturally dissolve like ink into water…

  Almost immediately, a familiar refreshing feeling activated his machine mind mode, but at the same time…

  He actually felt a strange heat course through his body!

  It wasn’t particularly hot, more like a soothing sauna.

  But that effect quickly faded away, even sooner than the mind-enhancing buff brought by his dew.

  “…Huh?” Bubai’s divine sense hastily gave his body an in-depth scan, checking for any abnormalities, but... nothing.

  “That’s it? Just a little warmth? What, did my dew just evolve into a portable heater? No wait—”

  Heat… red… fire?! Could it be...

  “Absorbing that magic beast core earlier really gave me some plot armor?!”

  But seriously, what kind of plot armor is this?

  No status screen to tell him what changed in his body? That’s fine.

  But where was the cliché xianxia divine revelation that enlightens him with intuitive knowledge of the ability?

  All he got was a little heat indicator… but what else will that tell him besides what he already knows?

  Bloody Merlin, he still can’t tell if it’s an armor or a ghost!

  Bubai sighed inside. “Guess I’ll have to absorb enough of these new dew drops to find out…”

  “For real, this cheat of mine... can’t it just directly hand me some proper plot armor for once? Always have to make me grope around to figure it out, huh?”

  If his life were a story, this was exactly the type of plot armor that gets pulled out whenever the unscrupulous author feels convenient, huh?

  Or maybe… the lazy author still hasn’t bothered fleshing out the details yet?

  “Haha, yeah right. Life is not a story… Enough of this fourth-wall breaking nonsense and focus on cultivating to break the power wall!”

  Bubai grounded himself back to reality, putting everything into recovering his energy.

  When fully focused, time for cultivators really do pass in the blink of an eye.

  The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  Spirit beans and spirit stones burned away like dry grass in a wildfire, and before he knew it…

  The circulation of Qi stopped and Bubai opened his eyes.

  “Hmm. At the cost of three spirit beans and 18 spirit stones, my dantian got fully filled back up according to the ratio of 9:1, green dew versus pink mist…”

  The efficiency’s not bad, but morning has arrived.

  He got no sleep, but that wasn’t anything new.

  His dew worked like coffee, keeping him alive and kicking.

  Not too abnormal though.

  For many walking on the road of cultivation, meditating was like sleep.

  Even for normal foundation builders, it wasn’t too difficult to go days without actual rest.

  As for him? Well... do plants need to sleep?

  Click.

  The jade door eased opened and in stepped his iceberg waifu carrying a basin of water.

  "Morning."

  "Morn."

  The jade-like beauty was now dressed in a rather liberal purple-and-white gown that made his gaze follow her all the way to his side.

  The basin got set down. Xiao Lan wrung out a towel and handed it over. “Wash, then go?”

  Bubai took the damp towel and smiled. “Help me get dressed after?”

  “En.”

  And thus began the sacred daily morning routine of washing up and wiping down, down, down, down, dowwwn…

  Ahem. Nothing inappropriate for children happened. Obviously.

  He can’t afford to be distracted at times like these!

  He’s a busy man. She’s a busy woman. They know their priorities.

  Right now, it was all about getting ready. Yes, that’s right. Just getting ready...

  Bubai let his mind wander, conducting the last check on the poison-coated weapons he moved out from his storage space.

  There was a bit of everything, including mini-crossbow needle bolts fashioned from the leftover wooden formation chips.

  But except for the single sword he reserved for execution, the rest of the arsenal mostly belonged to the class of hidden weapons and small blades like daggers.

  That was the best he could do. After all, the poison in his hands was limited.

  Fortunately, the poison used on each was leagues deadlier now, thanks to the generous sponsorship from the poison-hand smiley face.

  Then, there was his special scorpion poison…

  Today, there should be plenty of willing experimental subjects volunteering to test the extents of its effect.

  Well, anything that should be done is done. All is ready, just like…

  Bubai let his gaze drift down to the woman gulping down her breakfast like her daddy was about to go out to buy milk and never return.

  That pretty face was a picture of silent professionalism, like a secretary burying her emotions beneath duty.

  Those purplish lips feels so cold, yet at the same time, it was so hot when it was stuck to her duty until…

  They were finally free to report on the results.

  What’s the result? A well-earned bonus!

  Oh yes, that was her reward for taming the monster known as morning wood.

  Ahem! Ahem!

  Bubai cleared his throat.

  Xiao Lan barely spared him an upturned glance then indifferently finished cleaning up.

  She then stood up like nothing happened. “Get dressed.”

  Bubai nodded, hopping off the bed and tugging on his pants.

  His hands then found the inner robe he prepared for the day, conducting a last inspection of the heart protectors sewn to it.

  Behind him, his waifu helped him tie up the hair that grew out a bit since yesterday.

  Satisfied that everything was sturdily in place, Bubai shed his old inner robe and slipped on the fresh ones.

  Once done, he spread his arms, letting his waifu drape on the black outer battle gown.

  The waistband got fastened, then needle canisters and storage pouches got secured to where they belong.

  Next came the set of leather armguards. Those slipped onto his forearms.

  His arm then stretched out, letting his waifu take care of the rest.

  While Xiao Lan fastened the strings, she suddenly spoke. “Swords have no eyes. This can’t stop.”

  Bubai smiled. “I know. But it’s better than nothing. Besides, I didn’t get these to block heavy blows, but specifically for…”

  From his storage pouch, Bubai fished out the mini sleeve crossbow sponsored by that Long Batian crusader and slotted it inside a hidden groove within his other armguard.

  He then slipped the trigger wire onto his third finger like a ring.

  “There, perfect. It’ll be hard for anyone to notice this unless their spiritual sense can get under these wristbands.”

  Xiao Lan gave his sneaky set-up a glance.

  No praise. No rebuke. Just quiet, steady hands ensuring that the armguard was secured in place.

  Once that was done, Bubai smiled confidently and went over to the tall bronze mirror.

  A bonafide cookie cutter cultivator stared back at him…

  Now that’s a warrior... a killer, prepared to walk death’s throne.

  It was perfect… well almost. The face kinda ruined it.

  But oh well. This was as close as he gets to dressing for the occasion.

  Shifting his gaze to the beautiful waifu appearing besides his own reflection, Bubai unhooked a pouch from his waist and handed it over.

  “Here. Lan’er, help me keep this mid-grade pouch... temporarily.”

  Xiao Lan accepted the pouch and calmly opened it.

  But when she saw what was inside, she froze.

  Inside the storage space lay a collection of ordinary necessities like clothes and silver taels alongside cultivator stuff like a handful of Bigu pills and spirit stones.

  All these were nothing new to her.

  What seized her heart and made her normally impassive face freeze over like a lake in midwinter was a single jade slip that she recognized to be...

  The key to the tower.

  What does giving this to her mean?

  Those glassy blue eyes slowly lifted, looking at the man for an explanation.

  Immediately, Bubai was hit by a chill, cold like an eternal winter.

  This time, her aura wasn’t suffocating like her earlier Shura mode, but his heart was still quite scared.

  Not of danger, not of guilt, but misunderstanding.

  He finally succeeded in breaking the ice, and he was really afraid she would shut him out again over a little misunderstanding!

  But panic won’t help. Just suppress it and calmly explain what he must.

  “I’ve rented a shack under a pseudonym in the outer sect and dug a cellar underneath. I’ve left the map in the bag alongside makeup and a few changes of outfit for disguising yourself. Just in case, if anything happens to—”

  A cold hand blocked his mouth.

  “No.”

  “…” Bubai blinked, then gently grabbed her wrist to take her hand down, “Lan’er—”

  But she didn’t let him finish. Her other hand dropped the pouch and blocked his mouth again, firmer this time.

  “No. Wait for you. Always.”

  Bubai stilled, gazing into those eyes that lost their chilly detachment and was now firmer than bulletproof glass.

  Honestly, how can his heart not feel a little fluffy when a women tells him with such unshakable conviction that she’ll wait for him?

  But… but… this… isn’t this the worse timing to do so?!

  He’s literally about to head off to battle...

  He doesn’t want to be superstitious, but for Merlin’s sake, please don’t set him up with some cliché wait-for-an-eternity drama flag!

  Alas, the spilled milk can’t be taken back.

  Sigh. Bubai felt a bit helpless inside, but he didn’t force the matter anymore.

  Grasping her cold hand in his, he connected his forehead with hers.

  “Lan’er, I can’t promise anything... but even if the sky falls one day, I’ll wait for you there.”

  For a moment, neither of them spoke.

  Her cold fingers tightened around his, gripping him so hard it nearly hurt. Then…

  “En…” She let go.

  Bubai squeezed out a small smile then turned away, walking out…

  A promise drifted back over his shoulders.

  “I’ll be back.”