Still, Qiyu was not particularly worried.
As his spiritual power increased, he had discovered that his awareness of his surroundings was no worse than that granted by a single-tomoe Sharingan.
Moreover, this heightened perception extended to his own body.
The finer his observations became, the more precise his control over every movement grew.
Daoist cultivation improved a person in every aspect rather than strengthening only one particular area.
As his cultivation technique advanced, the spiritual energy within him would also increase tremendously.
Chakra was not the only form of power in this world.
Spiritual energy permeated the air at all times.
Ordinary people simply could not perceive it.
Rather than calling it spiritual energy, Qiyu preferred a more scientific term.
Ambient spiritual energy.
Of course, discussing science in the world of Naruto sounded somewhat ridiculous.
Compared to chakra, a power that placed immense strain on every part of the body, spiritual energy might be somewhat weaker in terms of raw offensive strength.
However, it could multiply a cultivator’s lifespan several times over.
Besides, that supposed weakness was only relative.
Once his understanding of Daoist arts reached a sufficiently high level, there was no telling which power would crush the other.
The problem was that chakra offered a far faster path to strength.
For an ordinary person, merely completing the stage of Refining Essence into Qi could take more than a decade.
That was without even mentioning the three greater realms beyond it: Refining Qi into Spirit, Refining Spirit into Emptiness, and Refining Emptiness into Dao.
If progress went poorly, crossing a single realm might take an entire era of shinobi history.
Fortunately, Qiyu had a cheat.
Every time he upgraded his cultivation technique, his cultivation progress advanced alongside it.
The two strengthened each other.
And the little girl sitting beside him was constantly supplying him with Gratitude Points.
They had only been sitting together for a little over ten minutes, yet his Gratitude Points had already risen by more than fifty.
At this rate, he would need only twenty days to gather the thousand points required for his next upgrade.
She truly was a treasure.
And that was the Gratitude generated by just one person.
Compared to Malice Points, Gratitude Points were indeed much harder to obtain.
However, they also had far fewer uses.
If he devoted all of them to upgrading his cultivation technique, Uchiha Qiyu could afford to wait.
A cultivation technique had to be upgraded three times before advancing to the next grade.
Its grades were divided into Yellow, Profound, Earth, and Heaven.
Back then, the shameless cultivation game had deliberately used this system to stall players’ progression.
Whenever a player entered a new cultivation realm, the technique’s grade would reset to the lowest level.
In other words, after Uchiha Qiyu advanced the Azure Nether Art to Heaven Grade and entered the Refining Qi into Spirit Realm, the newly advanced technique would reset to Yellow Grade.
He would then have to raise it through every grade all over again.
Once the technique reached its limit, his cultivation would advance to the next realm—only for the technique’s grade to reset yet again.
Those unscrupulous developers had certainly known how to milk their players dry.
After calculating everything, Qiyu had realized that advancing from Refining Essence into Qi to Refining Qi into Spirit would require a total of twelve thousand Gratitude Points.
And judging by the damned system’s usual habits, each upgrade in the next realm would cost ten times as much.
That meant he would need one hundred and twenty thousand Gratitude Points to advance from Refining Qi into Spirit to Refining Spirit into Emptiness.
His cheat was not nearly as outrageous as it sounded.
Otherwise, after beginning his cultivation at the age of four, he would not have spent two whole years merely advancing from the Mortal Realm to Refining Essence into Qi.
He silently opened his status panel.
Uchiha Qiyu
Realm: Refining Essence into Qi
Cultivation Technique: Azure Nether Art — Profound Grade +2
Daoist Arts: Five-Element Dao Arts
Fire: Proficient
Lightning: Proficient
Wind: Intermediate
Water: Beginner
Earth: Beginner
Artifact Manipulation Art: Proficient
Beginner Fist, Body, and Movement Techniques: Proficient
Artifact Refinement: Beginner
Pill Refinement: Beginner
Cultivation: Intermediate
Formations: Intermediate
Gratitude Points: 250
Malice Points: 5,000
Faith Energy Collection Range: Konoha
Player, please complete the exploration objective as soon as possible.
Qiyu stared at the cultivation technique section and immediately felt melancholy.
He still had a long road ahead of him.
However, when his gaze fell on the Malice Points, a faint smile appeared in his eyes.
“Konoha really is a wonderful place.
I gained four thousand Malice Points just by coming to school.
“And somehow, I earned another thousand on the walk from home.”
That was also why Qiyu enjoyed wandering around the village whenever he had nothing else to do.
But when he saw that raising his Fire Release proficiency from Proficient to Perfect required one hundred thousand points, his expression instantly darkened.
Just how many irritating things would he have to do to raise a single elemental art to the Transcendent level?
“Qiyu-kun, did something upsetting happen?”
Sitting beside him, Izumi had watched his eyes brighten and dim in turns.
Unable to suppress her concern, she asked softly.
“No, Izumi.
I was only thinking about something.”
Seeing the worry on her adorable face, Qiyu smiled gently.
“Qiyu-kun, you can tell me whenever something is troubling you.
We’re friends, aren’t we?”
Izumi still did not look reassured.
Qiyu shook his head helplessly at her earnest expression.
This girl truly was sensitive to the emotions of others.
He had indeed felt somewhat depressed just now, but how could he possibly explain the existence of his cheat?
His eyes turned thoughtfully before he looked at Izumi with a gentle smile.
“Izumi, help me persuade Itachi to smile more often later.
He keeps everything bottled up.”
Izumi burst into laughter.
“Qiyu-kun, how can you say that about your little brother?
“But don’t worry.
I’ll help.
Mother says that people who smile often will be blessed with good fortune.”
Watching the little girl smile until her eyes curved into crescents, Qiyu could not resist reaching out and stroking her smooth hair.
“Then Izumi must be a girl blessed by good fortune.
After all, you look so adorable when you smile.”
Izumi’s face flushed.
She lowered her head slightly but did not resist his touch.
“Qiyu, you’re not much older than me, so why do you always feel like an adult?
You’re always so gentle.”
Seeing Izumi behave like an obedient kitten, Qiyu felt a pleasant warmth in his heart.
She usually tried to act like a considerate older sister, and whenever she did, he could not resist stroking her soft hair.
Only those who had once stood beneath the rain would patiently shelter others from it.
People who cared so deeply about the emotions of others were rare in any world.
As the two continued interacting, Qiyu received another wave of Malice Points.
He did not need to guess where they had come from.
Several boys were casting jealous glances in his direction.
Once again, Qiyu could not help marveling at the treasure he had found.
Just then, the classroom door was gently pushed open.
A man wearing a Konoha shinobi flak jacket stepped inside.
His appearance was somewhat unkempt, and he swept his gaze across the restless students.
“Ahem!
Hello, everyone.
My name is Nomi Ikkaku, and I will be your teacher from now on.”
The moment he spoke, the whispers filling the classroom immediately died away.
Qiyu reluctantly withdrew his hand from Izumi’s soft hair.
The girl was simply too well-behaved.
He had found it difficult to let go.
Turning his attention forward, Qiyu quietly studied the new teacher.
Nomi Ikkaku did not waste time with unnecessary words.
He picked up a piece of chalk and swiftly wrote his name across the blackboard.
“Next, I’d like each of you to come to the front and give a brief introduction.
“Tell us your name, what you like, what you dislike, and what you hope to do in the future.”
With that, Nomi Ikkaku stepped aside and began calling the students forward one by one.
“My name is Yamanaka Sonoko.
I like mountain flowers, I hate insects, and I want to become a happy gardener.”
“My name is Harugami Shujin.
I like…
I hate…
and in the future…”
“My name is Kawabi Kinri.
I like…
I hate…
and I want to…”
One student after another quickly finished their introductions.
As expected of children, their dreams were simple and sincere.
Some wanted to become Hokage.
Some wanted to earn vast amounts of money.
Others wanted to cook endless varieties of delicious food.
Their aspirations encompassed humanity’s most basic desires, along with countless wild and impractical fantasies.
Eventually, it was Izumi and Qiyu’s turn.
Under the gazes of the other students, Izumi shyly walked to the front of the classroom.
“Hello, everyone.
My name is Uchiha Izumi.
I like peaceful lives, I hate war, and in the future, I want to become a happy wife.”
After finishing, Izumi blushed and hurried back to her desk.
Before sitting down, she cast a shy glance at Qiyu, who was already preparing to stand.
Qiyu smiled and nodded to her before calmly walking to the front.
He swept his gaze across the classroom.
Some students looked at him with fondness, others with indifference, and a few with obvious jealousy.
“Hello, everyone.
My name is Uchiha Qiyu.
I like living freely, without restraint.
I hate prejudice being forced upon me.
As for the future…”
As he spoke, Qiyu casually glanced at Nomi Ikkaku.
A notification appeared in his mind.
Malice Points +100.
So it was this man after all.
The stronger the person, the greater the Malice they could generate.
“In the future, I want to see how high the heavens truly are and how deep the earth extends.
“I want to see what lies at the end of time.
“I want to witness every color scattered throughout the boundless sea of stars.
“And I want to protect everything that matters most to me.”
The moment Qiyu finished speaking, the entire classroom fell into absolute silence.
Beside him, Nomi Ikkaku’s expression tightened slightly, his eyes flickering with uncertainty.
Qiyu paid no attention to what the others might be thinking.
He gave a shallow bow and walked down from the platform.
He had not been exaggerating.
Once he transcended the many realms of cultivation, shed his mortal body, and attained the supreme Dao of immortality, everything he had spoken of would become perfectly ordinary.
But as he walked that path, he had no intention of losing what he cherished now.
He would pursue immortality.
And he would protect his family.
The two had never been in conflict.
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