Steadily Upgrading Everything!
Chapter 35: You can hide behind me.

Chapter 35: You can hide behind me.

The glowing scroll hovered above the coffin, suspended in air like a forgotten relic finally returned to the world.

John stared at it, his body aching, hand still broken, blood crusted on his lips.

The ghost spirit was gone, pulled back into her prison, but the aftertaste of her power still clung to the cave’s damp air.

With trembling fingers, he reached out and grasped the scroll.

It was cold.

Far colder than it should’ve been.

As if it had been carved out of death itself.

The moment his hand touched it, the world around him dimmed again.

Not a hallucination this time, a memory, one not his own.

Darkness bled through his vision and a voice, ancient and feminine, filled his ears. Smooth and sultry, but soaked in blood.

"You seek power... then learn of its price."

His knees buckled, and the scroll unrolled in his hands, not into words, but into visions.

A battlefield.

Mountains of corpses. Rivers of blood. Screaming souls torn from flesh.

In the center stood a woman, the same spirit John had seen.

She floated in the air, her long black hair drenched in gore, her eyes glowing like twin stars from a dying world.

Men, women, children, no one was spared.

John saw her raise her hand and a beam of light shot from her forehead, not like a spell, but like the judgment of heaven itself.

The beam carved through hundreds of bodies in one blink, burning flesh and soul alike into ash.

Their cries echoed in John’s ears, haunting and raw.

"I carved this technique from death," her voice whispered. "Forged it from agony."

Another vision.

A great temple.

Dozens of chained cultivators knelt before her, some weeping, some hollow-eyed.

One by one, she reached into their skulls with her fingers of light and drew out pieces of their souls.

Each fragment she consumed, her forehead glowing brighter.

"Three hundred thousand souls... their minds shattered... their essence stripped."

"All to learn how to pierce the soul. How to destroy from within."

The scroll pulsed in John’s hand, now glowing with red-hot symbols, carved in the shape of twisting spirits screaming in silence.

He fell to his knees, gasping.

"You... killed... so many..."

The voice laughed, a cold, echoing thing that filled the entire cave.

"Only those who fear power call it evil."

"But you, little cultivator... you survived my mind prison. You have the will to burn a world if it stands in your way."

The scroll folded itself shut, the visions ending.

Only silence remained.

And then a whisper.

"Use it well."

John sat alone, trembling.

The technique was now etched into his mind, not like a manual, but like a brand burned into his soul.

The Spirit Beam, birthed from a massacre.

"She slaughtered hundreds of thousands... to create one technique..."

He looked down at his broken hand and bloodied robes.

He had survived her trap. Not by strength, but by breaking himself to escape her illusion.

"And now she’s given me her legacy."

Not with affection.

Not with kindness.

But because he had earned it in her eyes.

He looked forward, the faint light of the scroll now gone, and whispered with a hoarse voice,

"If I ever use this... I better have a damn good reason."

And with that, he stood.

And walked forward, carrying with him the weight of a power drenched in blood, fire... and the silence of three hundred thousand dead.

"That cultivator must even be more powerful than Core Formation Realm, no way she killed so many with just blue Core!" John thought and gulped his saliva, he was lucky that her power was suppressed.

After spending six whole days resting inside the eerie cave, John’s body had finally recovered enough to move.

His muscles still ached faintly, and the sharp pain in his ribs served as a reminder of the brutal escape and the mental torment that followed.

Yet, he was alive, and more importantly, he was stronger.

During those six days, the silence of the cave had been broken only by the steady hum of cultivation and the mechanical rhythm of his system’s upgrades.

His [Twelve Circle Slashes] had already advanced to Level 4.

The blade technique now felt instinctual, each movement embedded into his nerves, ready to be unleashed with deadly precision.

With a deep breath, John stood up and looked around.

His eyes, sharper than before, caught the outline of a narrow path behind the now-sealed spirit coffin.

Curiosity piqued, he followed it slowly and discovered a narrow stone door, half-buried beneath creeping moss and dust. With effort, he pushed it open, and light flooded his vision.

He stepped out into the open, blinking.

The wind brushed against his face, and he realized he was standing near the top of the ravine again.

Looking down, he could just barely see the rocky bottom where the Ten Tails Black Tiger had once chased him.

A sigh escaped his lips. "What a mess," he muttered. "I barely survived, but I came out with something even more valuable."

His thoughts wandered to the Spirit Scroll he’d acquired, Soul Piercing Gaze, a deadly technique born of hatred, pain, and unending slaughter.

It wasn’t just a skill, it was a legacy of massacre.

The spirit who created it had drowned cities in blood, channeling all her madness into a single point of destruction.

That legacy now sat inside John’s system, waiting to be wielded.

Opening his panel, John’s eyes flicked over his stats.

---

[System Panel — Updated]

Name: John Coral

Age: 25

Cultivation: Spirit Seed Realm (1235/3200)

Upgrade Slot: Empty

Skills:

• Meditation (Level 6 – Max)

• Breathing (Level 5 – Max)

• Spatial Awareness (Level 5)

• Slow Toad Breathing Skill (Level 10 – Max)

• Double Face Lizard Technique (Level 7 – Max)

• Basic Flame Control (Level 3)

• Alchemy (Level 5)

• Twelve Circle Slashes (Level 4)

• Soul Piercing Gaze (Level 0)

---

"I don’t have time," he whispered. "The combat test starts day after tomorrow."

With no hesitation, he placed Soul Piercing Gaze into the auto-upgrade slot and set the level cap to two.

He didn’t know how far he’d be able to use it at that level, but even a fraction of the original spirit’s power would be enough to turn the tides.

[System Panel — Updated]

Upgrade Slot: Soul Piercing Gaze (Level 0) (1/100) (Upgrading at 1 point per 10 minutes.)

With the upgrade begun, he steeled his nerves and looked in the direction of Nine Sky Clan.

"I need to get back before sunset."

Then, without looking back at the ravine or the horrors he faced below, John’s figure blurred as he rushed across the wilderness, every step bringing him closer to the next test, the Combat Trial of Blue Cauldron Sect.

By the time John reached the outskirts of Nine Sky Clan, the sun had long dipped beneath the horizon.

The silver glow of the moon washed the roads in pale light as quiet lanterns flickered across the town’s buildings.

His legs ached from the long journey, but there was a calm steadiness in his steps, like a man returning from war.

He didn’t speak to anyone.

He didn’t look back.

He simply walked straight to the same Nine Sky Inn he had once called his temporary home and booked a modest room.

The innkeeper welcomed him with sleepy eyes and a yawn, and John didn’t bother with pleasantries.

Once inside, he threw himself on the bed and sank into the soft linen.

That night, John slept like a stone, dreamless and still, his first peaceful sleep since the tormenting hallucination of ten lonely years in a desert.

Next Morning

The early rays of dawn streamed through the window as John sat up.

His muscles tensed, reminding him of the deep bruises and cuts he still carried from his fight with the Ten Tails Black Tiger and the endless swarm of cave bats.

And obviously him breaking his hand, that has mostly healed but still hurt.

"I should get properly healed before the combat test," he muttered.

After a quick breakfast of flatbread and tea, he made his way to a local apothecary, one of the reputable ones in Nine Sky City.

Inside, a wrinkled old woman with sharp eyes examined him.

"These injuries have mostly healed on the surface, but your inner meridians have slight tremors. You pushed yourself too hard," she said.

John simply smiled and paid the thirty spirit stones without negotiation.

After some cleansing incense, three healing needles, and two cups of thick herbal paste, the pain in his chest subsided and the slight throbbing in his legs faded.

"Come back in a week," the apothecary said, "you’re young, but you don’t want your Qi channels to knot permanently."

"I’ll try not to get stabbed again," John replied dryly and left.

That Evening

As the sun dipped again, he decided to take a slow walk through the lantern-lit streets of Nine Sky City.

Just as he passed a teahouse, a familiar voice rang out.

"Oi! You’re alive!"

John turned.

Riara Greenblade, clad in a loose robe of emerald green, waved at him with a grin.

For a moment, John froze.

He hadn’t seen a real person for ten years.

Not one. Not even a voice.

His hallucination had drained his spirit, it had made him forget what laughter sounded like.

What human warmth felt like.

And now she was here. Smiling. Real.

Emotions threatened to rise.

A lump in his throat, a burn behind his eyes.

But he didn’t let them surface.

He swallowed it all down and smiled faintly. "Barely made it."

Riara squinted. "You’re acting strange."

John raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"You’re usually smug or sarcastic. But now you look like someone just brought you back from the dead."

He chuckled to deflect. "Maybe they did."

She frowned for a beat longer, then waved her hand dismissively.

The John smiled "Forget it. Come on! I’ll show you a real restaurant tonight!"

Moon Leaf Diner was a small, tucked-away place on a side street.

Its wooden chairs creaked and the walls were stained by years of cooking smoke.

Riara sniffed the air and made a face. "Ew. Grease. This place smells like fried radish and regret."

"It’s cheap and good," John smirked. "I figured you’d enjoy something ’humble’ for once."

"I have a refined palate, thank you very much," she replied, nose in the air.

But after two bites of the crispy spirit chicken and steamed lotus buns, her expression changed.

"...Okay. This is unfairly good."

John smirked again and took a long sip of spirit wine.

As they ate, Riara leaned forward. "You know... the last few days, more and more monsters have passed the alchemy test. Rumor says Silver Tooth Clan had five participants who all refined the pill within ten batches. And a Flame Lotus Sect disciple made one on his first try using a beast flame."

John kept eating quietly.

"We were lucky," she continued.

She raised a chopstick. "Also, you can rely on me during the combat test. I’ll make sure you don’t get kicked out. Even if you hide behind me."

John laughed. "You? Protect me?"

Riara nodded proudly. "Absolutely. As long as I don’t break a nail."

They chatted a little more until the restaurant dimmed for the night.

John walked her back toward the main road.

"Well," Riara said, stretching her arms, "see you tomorrow, weakling."

"See you, narcissist."

She grinned and walked away, waving over her shoulder.

John stood there for a moment, watching her disappear into the crowd.

Then turned, walked slowly back to his inn, and collapsed onto the bed.

Next Morning.

The moment light touched the room, John woke up instantly.

Today was the Combat Test.

And he was ready.