Who Said A Mosquito Can't Cultivate?

With the sun moving under the horizon as the moon gradually rose up to prominence across the night sky, it was now night. To be honest, I wasn't expecting for night to come that fast. I guess it's because I was engrossed in cultivation? Hmm…I guess that's the reason why cultivators can spend up to thousands of years while in secluded cultivation.

At this point in time, I had already amassed an additional 1000 points of qi, bringing my total amount of qi at the moment to about 1400 points or so. As to why I was being slightly unsure right now, it's because I probably exceeded the number 1400 by a bit, which is more beneficial than detrimental.

As for the cultivation of my body, it has not stopped as of yet, with 50 hammers still simultaneously hitting my skin from the inside consistently. My progress to reaching the second stage of body cultivation is quite vague when compared to the second stage of qi cultivation as I only needed to amass a certain amount of qi to break through. Nonetheless, I could feel the improvements of body cultivation as the hammers continue to well…hammer on my skin.

I could not help but feel that each and every cell on my skin contained the power of a small bodybuilder, which would definitely pack a punch when applying that force onto my attacks. Of course, that was just a feeling, not what's really going on inside my cells. Anyways, I estimate that my progress to reaching the second stage of body cultivation is not that far, around 70 or 80 percent, a great contrast to my speedy progress before meeting Yang Bailian.

Should I increase the number of hammers hammering me?

Anyways, since it was now night, and since Yang Bailian learned from her past mistakes of not acting like a slave, she stopped at an area that had a decent amount of trees and was close to a running water source, unlike last night where she slept in an area where there was only a sparse amount of trees.

As she stopped to possibly take a rest, she then lightly tapped on my body, which had now stopped cultivating qi as she said, "Bell, we're stopping for now. I'm going to have a quick meal."

"Alright then," I replied, thinking about increasing the amount of qi hammers inside my body. "Take your time."

"Err…" But just as I finished replying to her statement, I could not help but sense that Yang Bailian had something else to say to me. From the sound she was making alone, it was not impossible to deduce such a thing.

"What is it?" I asked, deciding to stop hammering my skin for now. Surprisingly, all of the qi hammers I crafted dispersed at the very instant I stopped. Now I know. Next time, if I ever decide to stop hammering, I'll just store them into my dantian so it just becomes qi. A win-win situation, don't you think?

It took a while for Yang Bailian to speak her mind, but what she said could possibly help me out in the long run, purpose-wise.

"Can you protect me for a bit?" she asked while I was on top of her head.

"What for?" I asked back, starting to fly off as I made my way towards the front of her face.

"I'm…going to start cultivating," Yang Bailian answered not long after. From that alone, it was enough of a reason for me to agree. But then, she added, "D-don't think that it's fruitless for you, Bell. The r-reason as to why is because once I have qi in my dantian, I can also cultivate a movement technique that would allow us to reach Red River Town faster."

With that addition, if I could agree 200 percent, I definitely would. I thought the idea of cultivating for her would take longer to pop up inside her mind, but it seemed that it wasn't the case. Of course, since I was slightly excited to see another being cultivate other than myself, I could not help but ask, "What kind of techniques are you going to cultivate for qi and body?"

"Wind-based cultivation techniques," Yang Bailian answered my question as her eyes radiated a clear aura. "First off, it would allow me to move faster. Second, it would allow me to use the martial techniques that my father left before he died."

"Does your family specialize in Wind-based techniques or something?" I could not help but ask, because if she had a physique that was inclined to the Wind element, she would definitely make great strides. Now, why did the talk of physiques pop up?

That's because while I was upgrading the parts of my physique to the next level, I could not help but notice that the effects of the physique had changed after the qi gathering and meridian section of the system was replaced with bona fide cultivation.

Rather than boost the efficacy of skills based on the element and permanently increase my qi gathering proficiency, it instead boosted the acquisition rate of qi of that certain element, as well as the efficacy of the skills based on that element!

Aren't you thinking what I'm thinking? If I had martial techniques or cultivation techniques based on space or blood, I would've been at a higher realm by now! Unfortunately, I obtained a qi cultivation technique that seemed to lean on the element of Soul, while the body cultivation technique I obtained seemed to lean on the element of Earth.

Am I going to form two more physiques so the speed of my cultivation goes faster? Well…since I can amass a great amount of blood in this Expert Mosquito mode, why not? It could even allow me to fulfill Jeff's goals faster.

Anyways, Yang Bailian shook her head as she replied, "Not at all. My father just got a fortuitous encounter when he was a child, which is the Wind-based cultivation technique I have with me right now. He was actually pretty compatible with it, allowing him to reach the stage of Qi Condensation before well...you know, died."

"I see," I replied. "Do you think that the technique is compatible with you?"

"Probably." She shrugged her shoulders. "My father was cultivating this technique before I was born, so I may have become slightly inclined to the Wind element."

"Okay then," I said through my proboscis. "I'll protect you until you finish cultivating."

Hearing those words come out from me, Yang Bailian could not help but become slightly joyful as she said, "Alright then. Give me a few minutes to make myself comfortable."

And with that, she then started to gather up some dried wood as she hastily built up a campfire. It only took her a few attempts to successfully get the fire going, which quite surprised me because she didn't look like someone who could make fires. Anyways, she then grabbed a bit of water from the running water source nearby and started to satiate her hunger and thirst.

To be honest, by the looks of it, she was just eating and drinking the minimum amount necessary for her to move onward. Then again, I could understand what she was doing since we're out in the forest, rationing her supplies and refilling what could be refilled. If we were inside civilization, she would definitely stuff herself full.

It took her around ten minutes or so to make herself comfortable as she satisfied herself enough with food and water, as well as rest. By the time she did, she urged me to fly over her body and keep an eye out for possible beings that might distract or stop her from cultivating. I agreed to her requests, flying over her body with Void Presence+. As to why I activated that skill, I cross-referenced our surroundings with the information map in my mind at the very moment we stopped, coming to the conclusion that we were around a fifth of the way to Red River Town.

Though we were still a sizable distance away from the town, I could not help but notice that we were just a few kilometers away from what seemed to be extremely small human settlements on the information map, bringing me to the conclusion that there could be a chance of bandits possibly finding out where Yang Bailian is.

Of course, as the mosquito that wants to avoid giving humans trauma as much as possible with my current form, I decided to activate Void Presence+.

"You can start cultivating now," I said, seeing that Yang Bailian had an aura of unease about her. Fortunately, after saying those words, that aura had dissipated as she closed her eyes while sitting cross-legged, attuning herself to the worldly qi in the surroundings.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

Ten minutes later after attuning herself, a few strands of qi started to manifest around her body, with all of them taking on a light green color. Not only that, all of those strands glowed a faint light, illuminating the surroundings just a tiny bit. To be honest, looking at how others cultivate qi, I could not help but become entranced at the beauty of the movement of qi.

Clop. Clop. Clop.

Eh? What sound did I just hear? Also, why is it somewhat close to where Yang Bailian is? After hearing those sounds, I could not help but put almost all of my focus towards my antennae as I still paid a bit of attention to what Yang Bailian was doing.

A few seconds later after hearing those weird sounds, the green qi strands that surrounded Yang Bailian's body then started to enter her body from the head. At this moment in time, I activated my Qi Perception, allowing me to see what was happening inside her body.

The strands of qi slowly but surely made their way to where her dantian was, passing through multiple meridians along the way. Since it was Yang Bailian's first time, it took a couple of minutes for the strands of qi to settle down in her dantian as a small sound of explosion resounded throughout her body.

I guess this means that she's now a bona fide Qi Proliferation cultivator. Anyways, she continued to absorb a bit more qi for a few more minutes, possibly having the intent to progress a bit more in the qi department so she could utilize qi for her martial techniques.

Clop. Clop. Clop.

It was around this time that I heard those weird sounds once again. Wait a second…aren't those sounds the sounds horses make when they're moving? Why are horses so close to where Yang Bailian is…oh. I see now.

Since Yang Bailian had already broken through the first stage of Qi Proliferation, it was fine to alert her of what I sensed since she was just amassing qi to use.

"Yang Bailian, I heard horses a while ago. I think you should hurry up and cultivate your body if you're planning to do so after amassing qi," I said with the intent to make her hurry up a bit.

Whoosh!

At the very instant she heard my voice, she decided to stop absorbing qi as she opened her eyes and stood up from where she was sitting cross-legged. I guess she's going to postpone the body cultivation after the problem is eradicated, it seems.

"Where are the sounds coming from?" Yang Bailian asked me, looking around the surroundings while probably trying to sense where the sounds were coming from.

"They're about a hundred meters away from where we are," I replied, activating my Spatial receptors to its full potential as I saw three men on horses, heading towards where we were. "It's a group of three. What do you think we should do?"

"Why not give them a taste of their own medicine?" she answered my question, an intent to kill slightly suffusing out of her. Is this a part of her first personality? Or was it a part of her third personality? Either way, I'm liking her choice.

"Sure," I replied before lightly chuckling. "Do you want to make the move against them, or do you want me to make the move?"

"It's better if you make the move," Yang Bailian replied, her senses taut as she could now probably hear the sounds of horses nearing where we were. "Although I don't know how you become invisible, it'll give us an edge to instilling fear in them, don't you think?"

"Alright then," I replied, chuckling a bit harder than before as I was pretty amused. "I'll make a move once you say so."

Rustle! Rustle!

And just when we were finished talking to each other about who would kill the group of three, the three of them revealed themselves to the two of us, with small blades grasped in their hands as they rode on horses.

Thud. Thud. Thud.

Since I was invisible, the three of them could only see Yang Bailian, who was acting a bit scared at this moment in time. I'm definitely sure that she's not really scared, considering the fact that we talked about who would kill who a while ago. Then again, I like her style.

"W-w-who are you three?" Yang Bailian looked at the two of them, her face becoming slightly pale with a fear-stricken expression on her face. "W-w-what do you want from me?"

Holy shit. How the hell do you manipulate your expressions like that?

At this point in time, one of the three men that revealed themselves to Yang Bailian stepped forward, a slightly lecherous chuckle coming out of his mouth as he eyed Yang Bailian from head to toe. His appearance was quite effeminate. I'm pretty sure that if he was actually a good guy and was a cultivating genius, multiple girls would definitely swoon.

Unfortunately, he was a bandit. Indeed, the small human settlements I noticed on the information map were bandit dens.

"Hey," the effeminate guy said to Yang Bailian. "You look kinda cute. Why not come with us and stay with us for the night to have some fun?"

Is this the forced copulation incident all over again?

Instead of declining the man's request, Yang Bailian's expression underwent a great change as a light smile appeared on her face, her complexity returning back to normal as she replied, "Oh, so that was the case. Why not have some fun here instead?"

Oh boy. I feel like she's going to use a pun soon...I like it.

Surprised by Yang Bailian's reply, the three guys could not help but blush as the effeminate man said, "I-it's better to do it inside a home so people don't see us, r-right?"

"Don't worry," Yang Bailian licked her lips in a slightly seductive manner as she continued, "I'll make sure to suck each. And. Every. One. Of. You. Dry~"

'Ranged Absorption!'

And that's…when I made my move.