Arc 1: The System Of Unlimited Cunning
Chapter 5: Half A Year Later

Jett wakes up. Looking around, he finds himself in a room. He attempts to get up to leave but instantly collapses in pain. Trying to catch himself on the table next to him, he topples it over, causing the pitcher on it to clash with the ground, making a loud sound. Jett then hears someone running up a set of stairs and sees the door of the room swing open.

Standing there was a woman, in her mid-20s. She quickly went over to Jett, picked him up, and carefully placed him back on the bed. She righted the table and refilled the pitcher, then poured a cup for Jett. Finally, she sat down in a chair next to the bed.

“You must be careful. When Xiao and Bai brought you here, your whole body was in bad shape. A lot of your organs were damaged and bones were broken,” she said while taking the glass back from me.

“How is Jack doing?” Jett asked quietly.

“Jack is doing better than you. He's already up and moving. Just relax. I will go and tell them that you have woken up,” she replied.

She then got up and walked out of the room, closing the door behind her. After she left, Jett started to meditate to assess everything that was wrong with him. He noticed that most of his body injuries had healed themselves naturally, but then Jett noticed something even worse. His dantian was damaged, causing him to not even be in the Qi refining stage anymore.

After a few moments, Jett hears knocking on the door. He quickly says, “Come in.” The door opens to reveal the girl from earlier, followed by Jack, Xiao, and Bai. They enter, and Jack sits down next to the table.

“How do you feel?” Jack asked.

“Not that good. While she went to get you, I checked my own body. Though my organs and bones have mostly healed, my dantian has been damaged, so it will take a while for me to heal all the way,” Jett replied, giving a smile.

“This... I am sorry,” Jack replied.

“It is fine. It is the cost of using a cultivation boost,” Jett replied. After a few seconds of quiet, Jett then asks, “How long have I been asleep for? It seems like you are fully healed.”

No one replied; they all looked at each other. After a few minutes of silence, Jack looks at Jett and says, “It has been half a year since we escaped. You have been asleep for half a year.”

When Jett heard this, he questioned what he had just heard. “How could it have been half a year? Is that the price I have to pay to use the scroll? Around what time is it then in the novel? Has he already killed the fire emperor? No, if I calculate correctly, he should be currently in the beast kingdom.” Jett thought for a few minutes. Jack was letting him process this himself.

“I see, it has been half a year. Ha, what a price - what a price,” Jett said while laughing.

“Jett it's OK. Here are some pills. They should allow your dantian to heal. We will let you rest. If you need us, ask my sister Jang-mi. She has been taking care of you for the past half a year,” Jack said while placing the pill bottle on the table. Then he got up and left with Xiao and Bai.

"So your name is Jang-mi, that's a pretty name," Jett said, looking at Jang-mi.

“Tha... thanks,” Jang-mi replied with a blushed face, then ran out, causing Jett to have a puzzled expression about why she just ran out like that.

Jett didn’t think much of it and just grabbed the bottle, took out one pill, and swallowed it. Quickly, he felt Qi circulate, so he crossed his legs and meditated, gathering the Qi around the dantian to heal it. For the next week, Jett had only done this, ate, and talked to Jang-mi.

After a week, Jett had fully healed his dantian, and he had learned a lot as well. First off, he was currently in the village presided over by the speed clan. It was the clan that Jack and others had come from. This explained why the movement manual Jack gave to Jett was of such high quality. Jett wondered if this had caused Jack to receive some punishment since he allowed outsiders to learn. To his surprise, Jack was punished a little but still got away with only a slap on the wrist. According to what Jang-mi said, it was because Jett allowed them to escape, so they took it as payment for the help.

He also learned that though his dantian was damaged, the Qi that leaked was absorbed through the body not only to help heal the organs and bones but also to strengthen them. Jett was able to get up and move now, finally going outside. The first thing Jett did was breathe in fresh air. While walking around, Jett received some side glances from the villagers, since he was an outsider.

Jett quickly spotted a hill and decided to go up it and sat down. To his surprise, after taking in the fresh air and calming down and relaxing, his cultivation quickly broke through, arriving at the Foundation Establishment Stage. He was happy, but the next moment he felt dread. The clouds above started to swirl and turn gray. Thunder started to roll in as well. Jack and an elder quickly ran up the mountain after seeing this and saw Jett sitting.

“What is going on? How are you passing a lightning tribulation?” Jack quickly asked.

“This is a lightning tribulation?” Jett asked back.

This time the elder chimed in, “Of course it is. But how can you just breaking through the Foundation stage cause this?”

Jett didn't immediately respond. He quickly thought, “Could it be due to heaven knowing that I am not a person of this universe, so it is rejecting me? Or could it be the scroll causing it?” Jett, of course, knew he could say that, so he instead said.

“It must be my cultivation technique since it allows me to do other stuff. Maybe it gets rejected by heaven more. So I have to face the heavens in turn for cultivating.”

The elder looked at Jett for a while then nodded, then brought Jack down the hill so they don’t get caught up in the lightning tribulation. Just a few minutes later, the first lightning bolt struck down at Jett. Jett took the hit without any skills, causing him to cough up blood. Jett was now scared; he thought it was still enough for him to pass since it should be as strong as his realm, but he couldn’t even handle the first bolt.

Jett then heard someone scream from below, “You dumb ass, use the techniques Jack has given you. Allow them to absorb the lightning. We, in the speed clan, use lightning as one of the base elements of our techniques.”

Right then, the second bolt came down. Jett quickly got up and employed the Fist technique from earlier. Thinking on his feet, Jett recalled the names of the two techniques: "Thunder Fist" and "God Speed." He realized that they did indeed incorporate lightning as a fundamental element to enhance their power. However, the movement technique employed both lightning and wind.

Jett then saw the third bolt start to form. He realized that it would be better to absorb the bolts into the movement technique so that he would be faster. So that's what he did. When the third bolt came down, he used it to absorb it. After receiving it, the clouds started to part ways, and he figured out that his lightning tribulation was over.

Jett noticed that at the bottom of the hill, a lot of villagers had gathered to watch. He quickly went down the hill and arrived in front of Jack, Jang-mi, and the elder.

“Thank you for the advice from earlier, elder. I didn’t know the techniques could do that,” Jett said. Jett then heard Jack snicker.

“This is my father, Jong,” Jack said, still laughing. Jett realized that he made a mistake. Though Jack's father might be old, he was still far from being an elder.

“It's fine. Though we cultivators, being 80 isn't old, but it can still be an elder for someone as young as you,” Jong said, giving Jett a nod. Then he quickly said, “Jang-mi, quickly bring Jett back to your house. He needs to stabilize his new realm.”

Before Jett could say anything, Jang-mi grabbed his hand and walked back to her house. Arriving there, Jett just went to the room he was staying in and sat down on the bed. He quickly started stabilizing his realm.

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