Data-Driven Daoist

Chapter 32: Path Closed

“Aren’t you going to unsheathe your dagger?” Pang Jiming taunted. “You like doing that, don’t you? Filthy beggar.”

“Are you teaming up to bully a new recruit?” Yu Han said. “We can’t be challenged for one year. You can’t—”

“Challenge?” Buff Baldy sneered. “I’m at Level 10, the final stage of the Body Tempering Realm. Do you think you’re even worth a challenge?”

He took a few forceful steps towards Yu Han and grabbed him by the collar.

“What are you—” Yu Han couldn’t finish the sentence as he was thrown towards the centre of the field. “Fuck!” He flew like a thrown ball and crashed against the ground with a painful thud.

“Junior Yu Han, this won’t do. Me and the other Sect Seniors spend our time and effort to teach you techniques. But you totally disregard us!” Buff Baldy said with a booming voice. “Come now. Demonstrate the steps, it’s simple! If you do, I might even reward you with Spirit Stones.”

Yu Han got up.

What the fuck is this? His mind was muddled. The impact had left him seeing stars. The ground beneath felt unsteady, as if he was still on the ship.

And there was a storm raging.

“This is my first day! How do you expect me to—”

“Senior Brother, let me do the demonstration.” Sima Yan stepped forward.

He went into horse stance, then repeated the forms of the Eye of the Storm Martial Movements. From the punches to the kicks to the spins. It wasn’t perfect. It lacked substance. But the form was there.

“You planned this,” Yu Han blurted out.

Sima Yan ignored his comment and finished the movement. He bowed to Buff Baldy, and then to the audience.

Buff Baldy started clapping. “Excellent! As expected of a Sima Scion. Like your elder cousin, a dragon amongst men you are. It probably won’t take you long to enter the Inner Sect either.”

He gestured at Yu Han with his chin. “You, on the other hand. What a wastrel. Can’t even do the first movement! Not even a horse stance.”

He got into a stance, hand pointing towards Yu Han. “But I’ll give you a chance, seeing as it’s your first day. You’re free to use any tactic you want against me, and I’ll use my righteous martial arts. If you can leave even a scratch, you’re forgiven. I’ll even give you a hundred Spirit Stones. Ready?”

Yu Han felt his body sink into an icy pit. He wasn’t getting out of this one. He unsheathed—

“Go.” Buff Baldy was in front of him before he could take the dagger out.

A fist hit his stomach, and a wave of pain radiated from the point of contact.

“Fatty, you offended someone you shouldn’t have,” Buff Baldy whispered. “Each time you come to the practice field, you’ll end up in the medical hall for a week. Don’t blame me for this. We all have to survive.”

Yu Han couldn’t breathe. It felt like his organs were flipping into the wrong positions. The inside of his body screamed.

It itched. As if his bones were being ground to dust.

His vision turned red. The only clear part he could see was the impassive face of his attacker.

Then it was just red.

***

Yu Han sat in the white space of Deep Sleep. He brought up the status screen.

Name: Yu Han (Johan)

Level: 1

True Qi: 15 (+10)/200

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Pure Qi: 5 (-2)/110

Primordial Qi: 5

Lifeforce: 14 (-321)/648

I was halfway there.

He echoed the status screen from the morning.

Lifeforce: 335 (+284)/648

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One punch to the guts, and 321 Lifeforce was gone.

So it’s like HP?

How did it work? Was it an exact numerical representation of his current health, wounds, injuries? Or was it more metaphysical?

I passed out. Yu Han felt a heavy fatigue. Like his eyes were not awake, even if his mind was. He prodded the place where he was punched.

In the Dreamscape, it appeared normal. But with a hit so hard, there should have been a bruise.

Is it only what I see? But Yu Han could echo sounds and smells too. And touch, partially. Heat was harder.

He concentrated on his abdomen. A dull throbbing appeared. Ouch.

But it was muted. The force of the punch had spread all through his body, and now his entire body felt weak, as if held down by weights.

He echoed a chair. Lifted it up. Then smashed it on the ground.

“Bloody slut-fathering, mule-fucking—”

The cursing continued until true sleep took him.

***

“Why the hell am I here again?” Yu Han awoke in Deep Sleep again.

Judging by what had happened, he would appear in Deep Sleep even if he was knocked out. But twice in a row?

What does the data say?

He would appear in Deep Sleep when he slept. He would appear in it after being knocked out.

But then again, when he was first knocked out, it was the same as losing consciousness, and not truly a state of sleep. Just like how sedation wasn’t sleep, and neither was fainting nor a coma. Even if his body was in that state of unconsciousness long enough, it would not naturally enter a state of sleep.

At least, I think so. Yu Han tried to echo the podcast episode where he heard this. A dialogue between a sleep expert and some podcast host.

Right, unless magical mumbo is involved. One guess could be that his body had fainted after the punch. Then he was taken somewhere to recover. His body naturally recovered, and he would have woken up. But something had forcefully inserted him back to sleep. Perhaps for the express purpose of recovery.

+1 True Qi

Name: Yu Han (Johan)

Level: 1

True Qi: 21 (+6)/199

Pure Qi: 0 (-5)/110

Lifeforce: 54 (+50)/648

True Qi had increased by six in total. Five of them came from Pure Qi, which was at 0 now. And one True Qi was his natural gain.

A night has passed. It could also be that regardless of whether he was sleeping or fainted, he could enter Deep Sleep at night, but that was a worse guess than the former.

Can’t rule it out. We’ll need to test more.

Lifeforce had increased by a whopping fifty in one day. So something was happening to his body that increased recovery.

I’ll go with the first guess. Deep Sleep needed true sleep. But it could be imbued by medicine too.

Yu Han waved his hand and the old showcase full of ceramic and china appeared. Grandma’s treasured collection.

He immediately felt weaker. Johan’s memories needed more “fuel” to echo.

Then Sima Yan appeared, and Buff Baldy. Yu Han opened the showcase, then picked up a teapot.

He threw it towards Buff Baldy’s bald head. It went through it like the mirage it was, and shattered on the ground.

He had broken this teapot in a tantrum in real life too, as he had done to the chair.

Yu Han clapped, then held his hand out towards Buff Baldy’s mirage.

“Be material!” he shouted. Something intangible left his body, and he felt weaker yet.

He picked up a teacup and threw it. This time, it shattered on Buff Baldy’s head. No wound appeared. The mirage only stood there.

“Heh.” It helped him vent. That’s what was most important.

***

He woke up, vision blurry. He was lying on a warm bed, a soft pillow under his head and a feathery blanket covering him.

A wooden ceiling stared back at him. A snake dangled from one of the arches. It hissed, then slithered away.

His vision cleared.

He was in some kind of cubicle, like the infirmary beds covered by white curtains. One side was open.

Huang Niuniu sat on a stool, sewing an azure-white robe.

I’m only wearing aloincloth. The money pouch, the Bronze Membership Token of the Sea of Gold Commerce, and… what else?

Dagger. Thank God I left the books and halberd at the Sea of Gold Commerce. Storage cost five Spirit Stones a month, and was only discounted for Bronze Members. Can I get it back without the token?

Huang Niuniu came over, gazing at him from above. Her green eyes were clear as emerald. If she wore a suit and a skirt, she’d look like a highly successful Japanese office lady.

“I bet you could cosplay as 2B,” Yu Han blurted out. Why did he say that? Ugh, my head hurts.

Huang Niuniu nodded, then went away and continued sewing.

“…I’m awake.”

“Go back to sleep.”

“Ugh.”

Deep Sleep lasted longer the third time. He woke up again to poking and prodding. An old man with three strands of hair on his head helped him sit up. “No permanent internal injuries. You’re lucky that Gong Muhua held back. Only lifeforce depletion.”

“Can I sue him?”

“Like in court?” The old man was taken aback. “It was merely an accident in the practice fields. It happens.” He patted Yu Han’s back, then pulled the needles from his body.

“Ouch.”

“Be brave, young man. Simple acupuncture shouldn’t hurt,” the old man said. “You leave today. Gong Muhua already paid the fees. What a nice senior, taking responsibility for his wrongs. Don’t trouble him too much.”

“He said the same would happen every time I went to the practice field.”

The old man shook his head. “Then you endure it. The new Sect Leader won’t let such things happen for long. But now, there’s just too much… Aye. Be a good lad. Your dao companion has been waiting on you for three days.”

“She isn’t.”

“Blind. Take the chance when you have it. Listen to this old man. When I was young…”

The story lasted an hour. An epic tale of how the old man met his wife in a mountain cave inside the heart of a sunken island.

He left when Li Yao and Fang Zhao showed up.

“You’re up.” Li Yao patted his back. There was a complicated look on his face. “Good. Don’t worry, tubs. We’ll get back at them.”

“Brother Yu, it’s nice to see you awake,” Fang Zhao said. “I was worried the internal force would have left permanent damage.”

“You guys…”

“Sorry,” Li Yao said suddenly. “I was a bad brother.”

“What happened?”

“That bastard, Gong Muhua, said that anyone who ‘conspires’ with a coward will receive no teaching from him. And I—”

“I don’t expect you to take the fall for me. I’ll figure something out. Just go, man.” Yu Han shook his head. He would have left Li Yao if he was in that position.

“Li Yao tried to sneak into Sima Yan’s hut and got caught,” Huang Niuniu said. “He was flogged ten times. Sima Yan somehow convinced someone high up that it was your idea. They’ll take away the first month of Spirit Stone stipends for you.”

Yu Han groaned. “Can I just go back to sleep?”